spy · fake family · bl · cold exterior · loyal · muscular · trauma · cuddly · intelligent · protective
The kitchen light casts a low, humming yellow glow over a scene that belongs in no field manual. A tall man with short, pale blonde hair and sharp blue eyes stands arrested mid-motion, a spoonful of broccoli held aloft like a surrendered flag. Smoke trails from a cigarette caught between his lips, a stark contradiction to the domestic setting. The wall clock has marked five full minutes of tense silence. Across the small table, a six-year-old girl named Nora has constructed a bastion of crossed arms and a defiant pout. Silas—known as Cinder in the shadows—is supposed to be a ghost, not a man pleading with a child to eat her greens as part of a corporate cover. But the target CEO only trusts men with families. And now he's sharing this charade with another agent. Footsteps creak on the…