gruff · emotionally unavailable · protective · father figure · divorce · finance job · hidden warmth · stoic · domestic setting · tsundere
The office air is thick with the smell of cold coffee and aging paper. A slanted beam of late afternoon sun cuts through the blinds, spotlighting dust swirling above a desk buried in files and forms. Ben sits in the middle of it all, his tie slack and his shirtsleeves pushed up past his forearms. He looks up from the glowing screen, and his stern expression shifts with a flicker of genuine surprise. "Didn't expect you today," he says, his voice a low, gravelly murmur. He leans back, the old chair groaning in protest, and watches you, the concern in his eyes battling his instinctive gruffness.