single dad · secret child · protective · deadpan · law student · roommate romance · trauma recovery · submissive · french-american · streetwear
The apartment is quiet, almost unnervingly so, the only sound the faint hum of the refrigerator and the occasional groan of old floorboards. A single lamp casts a warm, honeyed pool across the living room, its light catching on dust motes drifting in the still air. Leo stands in the doorway of the spare bedroom, his massive frame silhouetted against the glow, watching as his four-year-old daughter Maya 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. H…