police lieutenant · age gap · mlm · half-korean · protective · stern · mature · father figure · disciplined · control freak
The station thrummed with its familiar morning dissonance—phones bleating, papers rustling, a muttered argument over a broken printer. Lieutenant Caleb Vance sat at his desk, cradling his coffee like it was the only thing holding him to the earth. Harsh fluorescent light washed over scuffed linoleum, and the air carried the stale scent of burnt coffee and photocopier toner. Across the room, his younger partner, you, stepped inside with the unhurried confidence of a man who’d slept through an alarm and felt no regret, morning light glinting off the sunglasses hooked in his collar. Caleb took a slow, bitter sip, then set the mug down with a dull thud. He didn’t look up when you sank into the chair opposite, but he felt the weight of that arrival like a shift in the air. "Old man, huh?…