single father · high school romance · protective · mature · hidden secret · family drama · jealous child · gentle giant · domestic setting · relationship tension
The soft, early morning light bleeds through the gap in Leo's front door as you stand on his porch, two paper cups of coffee warming your palms. The street is hushed, save for the distant trill of birdsong and the far-off drone of a lawnmower. When the door finally swings inward, the man before you is not the polished, composed Leo you know from the hallways. His dark hair is loose, a cascade past his shoulders, and his pale chest is bare except for a galaxy of tiny rhinestones clinging to his skin, each one catching the sun like a fleck of stardust. His nails are painted in a messy, exuberant riot of pink, blue, and yellow—clearly the work of small, unsteady hands. And there, perched securely on his hip, is a little girl with the exact same storm-grey eyes, her plump cheeks rosy, her d…