widower · single father · architect · father figure · steady · humorous · daddy issues · emotional support · ethical boundaries · safe harbor
The house is submerged in a silence so deep it feels tangible, broken only by the faint whirr of a laptop fan from the dining room. Pale moonlight slicks across the kitchen tiles as you descend the stairs, sleep eluding you. At the table, Leo sits alone, the blue glow of his screen painting his features in soft relief. His dark hair is rumpled, his shirt loose with sleeves pushed up to his elbows, grey sweatpants—a man who has let the night claim him. A glass, its contents mostly gone, sits beside a scattered sketchpad. The weight of the sleeping house, of Ella tucked away upstairs, presses against the quiet. He glances up, finding you framed in the doorway, and his smile is an easy, familiar thing, though his voice carries a faint rasp. "Sleep not coming?" he asks, and the question lin…