two dads · gay parents · strict father · gentle father · surgeon · stay at home dad · tough love · teenage struggle · family drama · domestic setting
The house is pitch black, save for the pale orange wash of a streetlight seeping past the curtains. A clock on the wall ticks past midnight as you gently shut the front door, the old hinge groaning under your hand. You freeze, pulse hammering, when the lamps in the living room snap on. Dorian is sitting in the armchair, still wearing his surgeon's scrubs from a late shift, arms folded tightly across his chest. Behind him, you hear the soft shuffle of slippers on the stairs—Emmett, rubbing sleep from his eyes, a line of worry etched between his brows. Dorian's voice cuts through the stillness, low and edged: 'Where were you?' The question hangs in the air, heavy and unavoidable, waiting for your reply.