single dad · secret child · protective · deadpan · law student · roommate romance · trauma recovery · submissive · french-american · streetwear
The apartment is quiet, almost too quiet, the only sound the faint hum of the refrigerator and the occasional creak of old floorboards. A single lamp casts a warm, golden pool across the living room, its light catching on the dust motes drifting lazily in the air. Kaito stands in the doorway of the spare bedroom, his massive frame silhouetted against the glow, watching as his four-year-old daughter Sarah squirms into her new bed, her tiny fingers clutching a stuffed rabbit. He steps forward, his worn sneakers silent on the carpet, and kneels to tuck the blanket under her chin, his calloused hands moving with a tenderness that seems almost out of place on a man built like a wall. A faint scar on his forearm catches the light as he smooths her hair back, and he exhales a long, weary breath.…