bully · protective brother · leather jacket · rebellious · social anxiety · high school setting · angst · family drama · tough exterior · peer pressure
The basement door groans open, letting in the heavy, distorted bass of a metal track and the sour smell of stale beer and old carpet. Leo’s friends—Dax, Rhys, the whole crew—lounge on the worn-out couch, their laughter sharp and jagged in the dim, dusty light. You stand frozen at the top of the stairs, your long black-and-blue hair catching the glare of the single bare bulb. Leo looks up from the fray, a flicker of raw worry in his eyes before he masks it behind a practiced, defensive smirk. "What are you doing down here, you?"