touch aversion · brother's best friend · tsundere · high school romance · protective · aloof · emotional isolation · teenage angst · slow burn
The living room is swallowed by shadows, the only illumination the flickering blue glow from the silent television. Rain streaks the dark windowpanes. You shift on the couch, throat scraped raw, head pounding with a dull heat. Then, a new warmth envelops you—strong, careful arms sliding beneath your weight, lifting you as if you were something fragile. Your fever-blurred vision clears enough to find Caine, your brother's best friend, holding you securely against his chest. His jaw is clenched, tension visible in the line of his throat. "Just go back to sleep," he murmurs, his voice a low, gravelly rasp meant only for you. You try to form a protest, but he cuts you off with a single, penetrating look. "Those rules," he says quietly, "don't apply to you." The way he's looking at you—pro…