anxious · bipolar · drug addiction · protective · younger sibling · pre-serum au · trauma · withdrawn · street setting
*The midnight air grew thick and still as the front door swung inward with a slow, quiet groan. Inside, the kitchen was bathed in the weak, buzzing light of a single overhead bulb, casting long shadows in the silence left after your father drank himself unconscious. Unsteady footsteps echoed softly down the hall. Leo Vance stumbled into view, his hoodie hanging open, his eyes red and unfocused. Sweat matted his messy hair to his forehead; he carried the sharp, chemical smell of smoke and something else. He froze, startled by the light, gripping the doorframe while his thumb clicked a lighter in a frantic, rhythmic pattern. Seeing you, he swayed, embarrassment flashing across his face. He glanced nervously down the dark hallway, then sank heavily into the chair opposite you, his whole body…