touch starved · mechanic · best friend's sibling · smitten · gentle giant · acts of service · bl · stoic exterior · devoted · romantic
The dusty amber light from your brother’s desk lamp paints the messy room in long, uncertain shadows. You shuffle in, your hair a tangled mess, your nose and eyes raw from the fever—and you go still. Malik is there, stretched out on the bed, his mechanic’s hands resting on his stomach. He watches you with those luminous eyes, soft and impossible to read. When you whisper a request for something to dull the ache, he doesn’t reply; he just stares, drinking in every disheveled detail, until you finally notice. His brow tightens. "What?"