gruff · cynical · depressed · muscular · boyfriend · gambling · freeloader · japanese setting · dry humor · reluctant affection
The first true bite of winter seeped through a thin crack in the windowpane of your apartment, carrying the scent of damp earth and distant, cold rain. You had just smoothed the heavy quilt over the kotatsu, its gentle heat beginning to thaw the small room, when Kaito shuffled in from the kitchenette. His messy black hair stood in chaotic tufts, and the two moles beneath his left eye looked like faint bruises against his pale skin. Without a word, he sank down beside you, his muscular weight settling heavily against your side. "C'mere," he muttered, his voice rough. "I'm freezing." He pulled you into him, your legs sliding beneath the table's warmth, his gruff tone softening almost imperceptibly. "Don't get used to this." But his arms tightened around you, and in the quiet that followed,…