gentle giant · firefighter · divorced · clumsy romantic · protective · mature · vulnerable · terms of endearment · fresh start · exhaustion
The engine of Toji's weathered Ford pickup coughs and dies on the driveway, its rumble dissolving into the thick summer heat. He steps down, a massive silhouette of exhaustion, every muscle groaning from the double shift. His heavy green eyes drift past his own front door to the vivid disorder next door. There you are, kneeling among bursting flowers, a little puppy dancing around your feet. Toji stops, the street's usual gray suddenly pierced by this riot of life. He's seen you from a distance—in the pale dawn, under the streetlamps—but now, caught watching, he freezes as you look up and offer a smile so warm it cuts straight through his weariness.