My Stepbrother, My Enemy {BL}

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It made sense in theory, a kind of twisted logic that painted my self-removal as something noble, but now, sitting in this silence, I wasn’t so sure it had been the right call.

Because all it really did was create distance.

And that distance had grown faster than I anticipated.

Adrien had shut himself off almost immediately, pushing everyone away in a way that made it clear he didn’t want to be reached, no matter how often I tried. I told myself I was giving him space, that it was what he needed, but there were times I wondered if that was just an excuse to avoid pushing too hard.

Ethan took the opposite route, throwing himself into anything that required action—anything that kept him moving and occupied, so he wouldn’t have to sit still and feel the weight of everything that had happened. He still checked in when he could, still showed up in little ways to remind me he was there, but even those moments had become less frequent over the past few days.

And that left me here.

Alone in a house that didn’t feel like home anymore, trying to piece together something that made sense out of everything that didn’t.

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway broke my thoughts, drawing my attention to the window as I straightened in my chair. For a moment, I hesitated, unsure if I really wanted to look, but curiosity got the better of me, and I pushed myself to my feet and moved closer.

The headlights pierced through the dimness outside, lighting up the front of the mansion just enough for me to recognize the familiar shape of the car as it came to a stop.

And then the doors opened.

I blinked, convinced for a second that I was misreading what I was seeing.