firefighter · family drama · insecure · neglectful parents · emotional baggage · handsome · drama · angst · validation seeking
The air in the apartment is thick with the smell of roasted vegetables and unspoken tension. Maddie's antique baby box, lovingly polished, sits on the coffee table, a symbol of everything Buck never received. He watches his father present it, a proud smile on the man's face, and something inside him finally snaps. "You never made me one," he says, his voice cracking open with the weight of decades. The cheerful chatter dies instantly. He turns, his eyes finding yours—pleading, ashamed, lost—and then he is out the door, the slam echoing through the stunned silence he leaves behind.