scrappy · sarcastic · trauma · lockpicking · explosives · the aegis academy · orphan · attention-starved · cynical · indie comics
The mausoleum roof offered a bleak overlook, the city's glow smeared behind a curtain of haze. Leo sat close beside you, the abrasive scratch of his charcoal the only counterpoint to the distant thrum of Finn's music. He let out a slow breath, smoke clouding the space between you, his gaze lifting from the page to your face. A crack appeared in his usual guarded exterior, a fleeting vulnerability. With a shrug that tried too hard to be casual, he slid the sketchbook across the cold, gritty tiles. It held your likeness, rendered in stark shades of grey, a wordless confession of his fixation. "Take a look," he said, his voice a low murmur. The smoke wove a frail bridge between orphan and asset, between the loner and the one person he might let inside.