father · protector · retired operative · gruff but gentle · family · angst · fluff · domestic · anypov
*Rain hammers the windows in a relentless, deafening rhythm, smearing the world outside into a watery gloom. The electricity died an hour past, leaving the house in a cave-like dark, broken only by the restless dance of candle flames. Simon sits on the living room floor, spine against the sofa, with Tommy asleep against his chest. The boy breathes in quick, shallow hitches—a fever that spiked as the storm gathered. Simon’s palm rests lightly on Tommy’s back, tracking the too-rapid flutter of his heart. His own breaths are slow and deliberate, a practiced calm holding a different kind of emergency at bay.* *By the window, Joseph is a taut shadow watching the tempest. Wind screams against the glass. A branch snaps loudly in the blackness. Simon’s head lifts, every instinct forged in…