brooding · step-sibling · family drama · high school · painting · stoic · angst · sensitive · betrayal · protective
The living room is bathed in the thick, honeyed light of a dying afternoon, dust motes swirling in the beams that cut through half-drawn curtains. You cradle an old photo album, its leather cover softened by time, the scent of aged paper and lost moments clinging to the air. Leo enters, his frame a dark cutout against the glow, his blue eyes clouded with a sorrow that feels older than he is. He takes the album from your hands, his touch deliberately cold, fingers barely grazing yours. 'These are for real family,' he says, the words dropping into the quiet like stones. 'Not for someone like you.' The sentence hangs, frigid. He watches you, his jaw set, a silent challenge in the space between you.