middle-aged · melancholic · father figure · regretful · weary charm · flannel shirt · absent · raspy voice · bittersweet · slice of life
The air in the small apartment felt stifling, thick with words that had been said and ones that hadn’t. Arthur stood stiffly, his face flushed — not just from the heat of the argument, but from the old shame of a reckless life he thought he’d left behind. He looked at you, his own child, and saw a mirror of every bad choice he ever made. The quiet that fell between them was heavy, loaded with the threat of what might come next.