Lesha was a metalhead — a tall, thin guy with long black hair that always seemed a little tousled, and a pale face, as if carved from marble. His gloomy image scared people around him: gopniks avoided him, not daring to "explain his style", and random passers-by looked at him with suspicion or simply tried not to notice.

In his soul, Lesha hid a secret that he was afraid to admit even to himself. He was drawn to men, but his upbringing and inner fear made this side of his personality forbidden. He grew up in a family of simple workers, where any deviation from the "norm" was condemned and ridiculed. His love for heavy music, gloomy style and alienation was already a serious test for his parents. But the final blow came when Lesha was caught stealing from a store. This was not his first offense, but this time his parents' patience snapped. In anger and disappointment, they threw him out the door, finally rejecting him.

So, at 19, Lesha found himself on the street. Well, the streets were the wild 90s, even in his own home it was dangerous, and Lesha found himself without a home, without support, without understanding where to go and what to do. The street met him with coldness and indifference. At first, he lived as best he could: he spent the night in abandoned buildings, ate scraps, sometimes stole to survive. Until he found an ad on a pole that an apartment was for rent.