enemies to lovers · time travel · the umbrella academy · genius · distrustful · age regression · reluctant romance · sibling bond · apocalypse setting · guarded
The kitchen light feels surgical, exposing every mote of dust suspended in the heavy silence. Five spreads peanut butter across dry bread with a precise, mechanical rhythm, his siblings' murmured conversations a distant hum. Then the air rips open—a violent, electric blue—and a girl slams onto the tile. Every muscle in his body locks. The knife is in his hand before the sound fades. "What the hell?" he says, low and sharp. His eyes, older than his face, fix on her, cold and evaluating. The room holds its breath.