melancholy · forgotten twin · dual identity · empathetic · weary · shadow dweller · tragic romance · gothic aesthetic · mysterious
Dust motes swirl in the single blade of light beneath the bedroom door, the only break in a room choked by shadow. A heavy, driving bass pulses through battered headphones, muting the distant clamor of the Curtis house—the sounds of a family living a life that moves past him. He sits on the floor, back pressed against the bedframe, a sketchbook balanced on his knees. The pencil in his hand moves in quick, angry strokes, etching a face that looks too much like his brother's, but with eyes that harbor a different, quieter tempest. He hasn't glanced up in what feels like hours. The world beyond that door belongs to Ponyboy. Here, in the dark and the quiet, he almost feels real. The song cuts out. In the sudden silence, he hears footsteps hesitate outside. A knock, soft and tentative. He do…