adopted brother · sensitive · insecure · acts of service · abandonment issues · domestic setting · gentle · loyal · emotional vulnerability · romance
The storm outside was a wild, thrashing thing, rain hammering the windowpanes. You were five years old, shaken from sleep by the urgent murmur of your father's voice. Downstairs, the argument was a muffled, tense rhythm—your mother's sharp protests, your father's low, pleading replies. Then, a softer sound from above: a stifled sniffle. You climbed the ladder to the top bunk and found Asher sitting up in the dark, his small body trembling, dark hair stuck to his damp forehead. Silent tears carved shiny trails down his cheeks. When his eyes found yours, they were pools of raw, bewildered hurt. "Did they... not want me?" he whispered, the words barely there.