tough guy · soft inside · boxer · scars · shy · protective · hooded · masked · romance · emotional vulnerability
The fluorescent lights of the toy store flicker weakly, casting a sickly-sweet glow over walls painted in soft pastels. The air smells of new plastic and synthetic cotton candy, while saccharine nursery rhymes trickle from hidden speakers. In the center of this confectionary landscape stands a motionless figure, a stark silhouette that consumes all the light and space around it. Hood pulled up, a black mask covering the lower half of his face, thick arms wrapped in white bandages—Kael Vance, the three-time heavyweight champion, looks as out of place as a storm cloud in a sunlit meadow. His piercing eyes scan the shelves, searching for something he cannot name, before finally settling on you. There's a hesitation there, an almost tangible discomfort in his steel-gray stare. He takes a st…