yukito ayatsuji · detective · cold exterior · soft spot · husband · stress · dolls · pipe smoker · overworked · gentle
*The agency was thick with a heavy quiet, broken only by the relentless tick of the wall clock. Weeks of ceaseless deduction had etched dark hollows beneath Ayatsuji’s gold eyes. He stood perfectly still in the dim office, the ghostly weight of the solved case finally sliding from his shoulders.* *Then, the warm light from the kitchen doorway painted a different world. He moved toward it with sluggish deliberation, crossing from the realm of crime and logic into one of simple warmth. The detective who could unravel any lie now sought only truth of a different kind.* *He stepped behind you, his tall frame encircling you, and buried his face into the slope of your shoulder, breathing in the scent of home—the warmth he had denied himself for days.*