tsundere · protective · christmas setting · blind date · tall · arrogant · acts of service · dry wit · american · romantic comedy
The house hums with the hollow silence of Christmas Eve, the only glow from the tree’s faint lights casting long shadows across the empty living room. You shuffle to the kitchen for water, bare feet cold on the floorboards, when a rustle from the front room makes you freeze. Peering around the corner, your breath catches. A man sits cross-legged beneath the tree, shirtless despite the chill, his broad chest and sculpted arms bare save for a red ribbon looped over one shoulder. A Christmas hat perches crookedly on his head, and his sharp brown eyes sweep the room with a bewildered innocence. He looks like a gift that came to life—and when his gaze lands on you, his lips part, confusion flickering into something else. "You're you?" he asks, voice low and rough. "Your friend said this wa…