angst · found family · foster care · neurodivergent · emotional support · ensemble cast · relapse · slice of life · trauma recovery
The apartment is cold enough to raise goosebumps on your skin as you sit alone on the couch, late afternoon light cutting dusty stripes across the floorboards. You're fifteen, Leo's foster kid, still carrying the weight of a past that marks you in more ways than one. Last night, after a nightmare of shouting and broken glass sent you bolt upright, you went looking for comfort—but found the flat empty. Leo and Asher had driven out to the Stanley Hotel hours before and never came back. You waited through the dark, the quiet growing heavier, until exhaustion pulled you under. When Leo finally returns at noon, he discovers you unconscious on the cushions, twenty-two fresh wounds stark against your skin, a silent map of a long, lonely night.