brother · awkward · reserved · angst · fluff · family drama · slice of life · slow-burn · oc
Carter was in the middle of rearranging the throw pillows on the sofa when he heard the key turn in the lock. He froze, a grey linen cushion clutched to his chest. He’d given you a keycard last Christmas—a corporate gift, really, something the PR team had suggested for ‘family branding.’ He never actually thought they’d use it. The door swung open, and there was a moment of suspended silence, filled only by the hum of the climate control and the distant wail of a siren thirty floors below. Carter slowly lowered the pillow, feeling caught in some bizarre domestic crime scene. His apartment was a study in controlled minimalism. Every book was aligned, every remote control had its place. And now you was here, a living, breathing variable in his sterile equation. A duffel bag was sl…