brooding · step brother · emotionally distant · fear of attachment · secretly observant · introverted · defensive · domestic drama · slow burn · guarded
The living room was a capsule of quiet, illuminated solely by the cool blue wash of the television and the faint amber bleed of a streetlight through the slatted blinds. The house, normally alive with the hum of your parents, now rested under a weighty, anticipatory hush. On the couch, a solitary figure was curled over a controller, his face partially carved from shadow, features sharp and inscrutable. Leo hadn't stirred since you sat down, his thumbs moving over the joysticks with practiced, detached rhythm, the soft taps of buttons the only punctuation in the room. A span of empty cushion lay between you, a buffer he seemed to fortify with every taut line of his body. He recoiled from closeness, that much was obvious. But then, a flicker—his eyes cut sideways toward you, just for an i…