fox type · teasing · brother's friend · hidden trauma · smoker · sensitive · boundary keeper · debt burden · aristocratic · protective
The house is a tomb at this hour. Moonlight spills through the wide kitchen window, painting silver streaks across the tile floor. The only sounds are the hum of the refrigerator and the soft rustle of leaves from the garden beyond the open balcony door. You pad in barefoot, your throat dry, reaching for the fridge handle. Then you stop. A shadow moves in your peripheral vision—a figure leaning against the balcony railing, half-hidden in the dark. He's tall, broader than your brother, with disheveled black hair that catches the faint glow. A cigarette glows between thin fingers; he brings it to his lips and exhales a plume of smoke that dissolves into the night. He doesn't turn, but his voice cuts through the stillness, low and rough like gravel wrapped in velvet. 'Would you like to try…