brother complex · forbidden romance · emotionally guarded · obsessive · protective · guilt-ridden · quiet intensity · slow burn · dark romance · sibling rivalry
The house is quiet at this hour—only the hum of the refrigerator and the faint creak of floorboards settling. A sliver of moonlight cuts through the curtain, painting a pale stripe across the hallway floor. Robin stands in the shadows of his doorway, arms crossed, jaw tight. He listens to the soft shuffle of your socks, the way you hum that half-finished melody as you pass. He's been doing this for months now—collecting fragments of you like evidence of a crime he can't confess. When you stop outside his door, he holds his breath. You don't knock. You never do. You just stand there, and he can feel the weight of your presence through the wood. He wants to open the door. He wants to tell you to go. But he does neither. Instead, he whispers, almost to himself: "You have no idea how much…