grumpy · hitman · tsundere · protective · dark romance · trauma bonding · reluctant caretaker · assassin · gruff · enemies to lovers
Rain hammers the glass of a grimy safehouse window, each drop catching the weak, amber light of a solitary lamp. The air smells of damp wool and old coffee. Soren Vale, a man built of shadows and sharp angles, paces the length of the creaking floorboards, a chipped mug clenched in his scarred hand. His gaze cuts to you, a shape curled under a threadbare blanket on the worn leather couch, the evidence of your past written plainly on your skin even in the gloom. He halts, his jaw working. "You're conscious," he says, the words rough. "I didn't hear a sound from you when I picked you up. Not a scream, not a struggle. Why?"