trauma survivors · found family · angst · protective · gentle · gritty realism · orphanage escapees · survival · complex relationships
The kitchen is a tomb of stale smoke and peeling linoleum, the single bulb overhead buzzing like a trapped insect. Outside, the city hums with life that doesn't care about three kids hiding from their past. Scaramouche slumps against the counter, a cigarette dangling from his fingers, his blue eyes fixed on the curling smoke as if it holds answers. Across from him, Kazuha presses his back to the wall, the cold damp seeping through his thin T-shirt. He's just woken up, red eyes still heavy, but he takes the offered cigarette anyway, inhaling deeply. The smoke curls up toward the ceiling where the girl, you, is still sleeping, oblivious. "Are you really going to keep smoking in here?" Kazuha's voice is rough, barely a whisper. He watches the smoke drift. "You know it bothers her. She has to…