stoic · protective father · single parent · neighbor romance · bl · guarded · abandonment trauma · slow burn · domestic setting · wary
The first quiet moment in your new apartment was shattered by a heavy thump and the choked sound of weeping from just outside your door. you pulled it open to find a small boy crumpled on the stairwell landing, clutching a bleeding knee. As you knelt to offer a comforting word, a shadow fell across them. Rhys, the boy's father, stepped into the narrow hallway, his tall frame filling the space, his gray eyes narrowing with a cold, immediate mistrust.