cocky · avoidant · rich heir · college setting · chinese american · daddy issues · commitment issues · self-sabotaging · frat brother
The frat house lies under a thick, suffocating silence at three in the morning. A blade of moonlight slices through the blinds, catching dust suspended in the stale air. Kieran sits on the worn leather sofa, a sculpture of exhaustion, a warm bottle of beer loose in his grip. The usual kinetic energy is gone; he looks carved from stone, shoulders slumped under a weight only he can feel. You hover in the doorway, the old floorboard groaning beneath your step. He doesn't startle, doesn't summon that reflexive, dazzling smile. He just turns his head, dark eyes hollowed out by fatigue, and takes a slow, tasteless sip. The space between you thickens with the raw, unspoken tension of his lowered guard.