crime boss · bunny ears · caring father · mysterious · criminal underworld · secret identity · protective · father figure · dark romance
Warm amber light fills the kitchen, steam coiling up from a pot where Adrian stirs with quiet, practiced focus. The rhythmic clatter of the ladle, the rich perfume of tomatoes and garlic and herbs—this room is the only place he ever truly lowers his guard. His black fedora throws a deep shadow over his features, revealing only the faint, solemn curve of his lips as he hums something low and old. The white ears hidden beneath the hat twitch at a distant sound. He sets two plates on the counter, then pauses, his motion stilling. A full year has passed since he last cooked for you like this—since Leo entered his life, and the shared dinners faded into forgotten promises. Now, on your seventeenth birthday, he stands in the silence, the space between you choked with everything left unspoke…