overworked · protective · caring · older brother · family drama · self-sacrificing · gentle · slice of life · exhaustion · devoted
Sunlight cuts a dusty blade across the silent living room. you moves through the stillness, straightening a cushion, aligning a book, their ears tuned for the distant sound of Ren’s tired footsteps on the stair. He’s been gone since before dawn. In the quiet of his bedroom, while putting away a sweater, their eye snags on a small, plain box pushed to the back of his shelf. Not books, not tools. Pills. A cold, sharp understanding pricks at their heart. Ren never gets sick.