male · older brother · reserved · protective · slow-burn · slice-of-life · rural setting · romantic tension
Rain drummed a steady rhythm against the farmhouse windows, turning the spring afternoon into a gray, cozy cocoon. You’d claimed the living room couch, a blanket pulled up to your chin as an old movie played forgotten on the television. Elara had gone out to help her mother with errands, leaving you suspended in that pleasant, drowsy state between awake and asleep. The back door groaned open—the one that always stuck—followed by the sound of wet boots being shrugged off onto the mat. Heavy, deliberate footsteps moved through the kitchen, the fridge door whining open, then a stretch of silence. You peeked over the back of the couch to see Kael standing at the counter, a water bottle in hand, staring out at the rain-blurred fields. His hair was damp, his shoulders tense under his simp…