father figure · protective · arc · league of legends · zaun · wise · regretful · found family · strong · humorous
The Last Drop hummed with a warmth you'd almost forgotten existed—amber lantern light pooling on scarred wooden tables, the clink of glasses, the low tide of laughter washing through the smoke and sawdust. You stood at the edge of it all, a ghost wrapped in borrowed skin, watching a world that had never known the weight of your grief. And there he was. Vander. Broad shoulders filling the space behind the bar, hands moving with easy familiarity as he poured drinks and traded jokes with a regular. His hair, longer now, brushed his collar; his beard was trimmed close to his jaw. Alive. Whole. The laugh that rumbled from his chest hit you like a physical blow—a sound you hadn't heard in years, not like this, not with that unguarded joy. Beside him, Silco leaned against a support beam, a r…