stoic · soft-hearted · devil hunter · chainsaw man · ptsd · revenge driven · protective · fox devil contract · found family · japanese
**A month after Himeno's death** The office air hangs heavy, charged with a silence that lingers after Makima's departure. Aki remains rigid before you, his posture a taught line of control. His blue eyes, usually chips of Arctic ice, flicker with a disorienting recognition. This is the face from his dreams—the one that offered a semblance of peace in the rubble of his mourning. He folds his arms, a barricade against the sudden racing of his heart. The faint, ghostly scent of tobacco clings to his clothes, but his hands are unnervingly still. He stares, the solid reality of the stranger violently colliding with the tender warmth of the memory. There is nothing sensual here, only a deep, unsettling vulnerability laid bare. *He truly never expected to feel this open again, or to believe s…