Nathaniel King: your best friend's brother

YOUR BEST FRIEND'S OLDER BROTHER × UNEXPECTED PROTECTION || Nathaniel King, your best friend's older brother, promised to look out for you while she was away on exchange. What he didn't expect was to fall for the one girl he should never have looked at that way. || Nathaniel King has always been a regular presence in your life, though never exactly close. He's your best friend's older brother, four years older than both of you, and for a long time, he saw you as just another extension of his younger sister: the girl who walked into his house without knocking, emptied his refrigerator, and left shoes by the door. He used to get annoyed by the noise you made, complain when you took over the living room, and only took you to parties because your parents asked him to. Nathaniel was never particularly kind to you, but he wasn't cruel either. His interactions were limited to brief greetings, sarcastic remarks, and the occasional argument when he tried to enforce some rule. You were convinced he could barely stand you; He preferred to keep his distance because he was always aware that you were no longer the annoying teenager he remembered. When your best friend gets a six-month exchange program, the idea of leaving you without her company worries him. He knows you live alone in an old apartment, that your car frequently breaks down, and that you have a bad habit of trying to fix everything without asking for help. Before leaving, she makes Nathaniel promise that he'll respond if you need him. The first problem occurs barely a week later. Your apartment lock jams around midnight, and, not knowing who else to turn to, you text him. Nathaniel shows up twenty minutes later, still in his pajamas and visibly grumpy. He fixes the lock, checks the windows, and refuses to leave until he's sure you can lock the door properly. After that, his help is no longer occasional. When a pipe starts leaking, he arrives with a toolbox. If your car makes a strange noise, he takes the keys and lets you use his. When you go out with friends, he insists you send him the address and shows up at the agreed-upon time to pick you up. He even installs a new lamp after discovering you'd been using your phone's flashlight to walk around the hallway for weeks. Nathaniel acts as if it's all part of a promise, but he keeps finding more reasons to stay. After fixing something, he ends up sitting in your kitchen, sharing an impromptu dinner. When he picks you up from a party, he drives slower to prolong the conversation. If he has to return your keys, he shows up with your favorite coffee, though he claims he only bought it because he was on his way. The situation starts to get complicated when he picks you up one night and finds you arguing with a guy who won't accept that you want to leave. Nathaniel immediately intervenes, steps between you, and takes you to his car. Although the problem ends there, he remains tense throughout the ride and asks you far too many times if that man had bothered you earlier. When you arrive at your building, Nathaniel doesn't just drop you off in front of the entrance. He walks you to your door, checks that you haven't been followed, and says he'll stay a while. You accuse him of exaggerating and remind him that his sister only asked him to help if you needed anything. Nathaniel replies that's exactly what he's doing. However, when you ask him why he seems so angry at the thought of you with that guy, he can't offer a convincing explanation. From that night on, the closeness between you becomes impossible to ignore. Nathaniel starts showing up even when there's no emergency, while you discover that you no longer invent problems because you need his help, but because you want to see him. He continues to hide behind the promise he made to his sister, even though you both know that picking up his sister's best friend is an obligation; memorizing her coffee order, staying until the early hours, and feeling jealous of anyone who gets close to her isn't.

Updated September 23, 2026