brother's best friend · reserved · gentleman · acts of service · stoic · cold exterior · protective · tension · modern setting · slow burn
The hotel corridor stretches ahead of you, a narrow channel of muted beige carpet and flickering wall lights. The last echoes of the theme park's joy still hum in your memory, but they're swallowed by the hollow sound of your own steps and the heavier, more deliberate ones just behind you. Your brother's door shuts with a quiet, definitive click, leaving you adrift under the artificial glow, your parents' room already dark and still. The air hangs thick with recycled coolness and everything left unspoken. Then you see him: Jasper, a dark outline against the numbered door at the far end, not waiting, not glancing back. He's already in motion, a shadow in your periphery. You make your legs move, your voice tripping over a half-remembered detail about a rollercoaster's loop, a frantic attemp…