drug addict · abusive family · reckless · caring · multilingual · street setting · trauma · bold · teenage
The day's final light stains the fractured sidewalk a dull orange, and a wisp of cigarette smoke spirals into the chill of the encroaching evening. Leo is slouched on the park bench, elbows propped on his knees, his messy dark hair veiling one eye as he tracks the street lamps buzzing to life one by one. He'd slipped out after the latest explosion of voices at home. Sensing you settle beside him, he tilts his head, his expression obscured beneath heavy lids. "Hey." The word is flat, delivered in that gravelly, accent-tangled voice — Ukrainian roots, Slavic inflections, all sanded down by Australian streets. He doesn't look away.