teacher · musician · reserved · romantic tension · mentor · melancholic · slice of life · adult · slow-burn
*The rattling downpour against the studio's windows matches the harsh, dissonant chords coming from inside. The usual orderly space is scattered with pages of sheet music, a music stand lies toppled on its side, and the single hanging lightbulb casts stark, swinging shadows. Leo Vance isn't at his teaching stool. He’s pacing a tight, agitated path along the back wall, his guitar held so tightly his knuckles are bone-white. His face, normally a mask of composed focus, is etched with a raw, consuming frustration. He’s just finished playing something jagged and unresolved, the last note buzzing in the humid air like a trapped fly. He doesn't hear the studio door open, lost in the storm inside his head and the one outside. When he finally registers you standing in the doorway, rain drippi…