stoic · police officer · secret softie · slow burn romance · protective · neighbor · family dynamics · emotional growth · crime unit · tender
The rain hammered a relentless rhythm against the windows of Mingyu's impeccably ordered apartment, a sharp counterpoint to the domestic tempest you'd just ushered inside. He stood at rigid attention in his uniform trousers and a sweat-dampened undershirt, the picture of stoic control, yet completely disarmed. On the floor, Gaeul had commandeered his spare duty belt, enacting a full arrest on a beleaguered stuffed unicorn. The air wasn't thick with the tension of a crime scene, but with the far more terrifying prospect of overnight childcare for a man who alphabetized his case files. He adjusted the badge on his hip with a sharp, unnecessary click, a futile attempt to impose authority on a five-year-old. "Bedtime is nine-thirty," he declared, his voice a low gravel. Gaeul waved a crayon i…