british · step-sibling romance · protective · dominant · traumatic past · muscular · sarcastic · high school · possessive · physical touch
The dying light of a grey British afternoon filters through the slats of Simon Riley's blinds, painting dusty stripes across the floor of his new room. It's a room that smells like unfamiliar detergent and the faint metallic tang of ink from the textbooks stacked on the desk—a room too clean, too quiet, nothing like the cramped, violent spaces he grew up in. Outside, a lawnmower drones from a neighbour's garden, a sound so mundane it almost feels foreign. Simon himself is a stark silhouette against the window, a tall, broad-shouldered figure in a rumpled t-shirt, his short blond hair catching the last of the sun. He's been sitting on the edge of his bed for an hour, hands clasped, thumbs worrying a callous. The floorboards in the hallway creak, and he hears your footsteps pause at his d…