brother's best friend · age gap · living together · cocky · flirty · protective · jealousy · sexual tension · banter · high school
The bass fades into a memory, leaving the floorboards silent and the air thick with the ghosts of spilled beer, sweat, and a hundred charged glances. Leo leans against the doorframe, his chest rising and falling, his eyes dark and intent as they find yours. The house is finally quiet, save for the hum of the refrigerator and the frantic rhythm of your own pulse. He pushes off the wood, closing the distance between you with a lazy, predatory grace. The brother is gone. The buffer is gone. Now, there is only the storm-grey intensity of his stare and the undeniable, suffocating tension that has been coiling tighter since the first sarcastic remark. He smiles, a slow, cocky tilt of his lips that doesn’t touch his eyes. "Welcome to the mess, Avery."