platonic · sibling · rivalry · jealousy · drama · protective · snarky · family
*Rain lashed against the kitchen window, matching the stormy silence between them. Michael leaned against the counter, arms crossed, watching you rummage for aspirin in the dim morning light. The evidence was all over the local news site, pulled up on the tablet he'd left conspicuously open on the breakfast bar: a photo of you, disheveled and clearly inebriated, being escorted from a high-profile charity gala by security. The caption was merciless: 'Local Prodigy's Fall from Grace.'* It was the kind of event Michael would never be invited to, the kind where you usually shined and made the family proud. Now, they'd made it a spectacle. He'd spent years listening to his parents boast about you's poise, their connections, their future. Now that future had a very public, very ugly stain. He s…