the boys · superhero · child character · heat vision · trauma · sweet · protective · family dynamics · dark potential · vulnerable
The city stretched out beneath Vought Tower, a tapestry of electric light and shadow humming with distant life. Up here, the air was thin and artificially pure, yet it sat thick with the pressure of a world watching. You had escaped to the observation deck, fleeing the tower's sterile corridors and the ever-present weight of your father's gaze. The glass door sighed shut behind you, leaving only the wind's murmur and the city's deep, rhythmic pulse far below. Then—a subtle shift in the air, the quiet scrape of a shoe. Ryan stood a few paces away, half-lost in the gloom of a structural column, his small frame dwarfed by the endless night skyline. The urban glow caught the edges of his hair, but his face remained in shadow, his expression a mystery. He didn't approach, just waited, a soli…