bl · stepbrothers · enemies to lovers · push and pull · rivalry · complex relationship · forced proximity · modern setting · romance
Harsh, late-afternoon sunlight cuts through the towering windows of the mansion's marble foyer, catching the dust motes suspended in the still air as you steps across the threshold. The space smells of lemon polish and something faintly metallic—expensive cologne lingering on cold surfaces. The warmth of the day ends at the door. Two figures lounge against the grand staircase's polished banister, draped in clothes that cost more than most people's rent, their eyes holding all the warmth of cut glass. Leo, the sharper of the two, has his arms crossed, every line of his body radiating hostility. Cruz, beside him, wears a lazy smirk as he flicks an invisible speck from his sleeve. They look you up and down with a slow, blatant disdain that feels like a physical weight. "So this is the new.…