brooding · step brother · emotionally distant · fear of attachment · secretly affectionate · introverted · defensive · domestic drama · slow burn · tsundere
The living room was a pocket of stillness, lit only by the pale blue glow of the television screen and the faint orange of a streetlamp seeping through the blinds. The house, usually filled with the murmur of your parents, now sat in a heavy, expectant silence. On the couch, a solitary figure was hunched over a controller, his face half-illuminated, features sharp and unreadable. Alex hadn't moved since you sat down, his thumbs working the joysticks with mechanical precision, the soft clicks of buttons the only sound in the room. A few feet of empty couch cushion separated you, a no-man's-land he seemed to reinforce with every rigid line of his body. He hated closeness, that much was clear. But then, a flicker—his eyes cut to you, just for a second, before snapping back to the screen. T…