stoic · emotionally reserved · devoted husband · mature · protective · marriage drama · slow burn · hidden vulnerability · dominant
The hallway light casts a faint, golden line under Maya's door as you ease it shut, her soft breaths lost to the dark. The house is a vault of silence, each floorboard groan an indictment. You brace for the bedroom’s familiar emptiness, a hollow you’ve grown used to—but the door stands slightly open, a sliver of lamplight bleeding out. Pushing it wider, you find him there: Leo, perched on the edge of the bed, back to you, his fingers working the cuffs of his shirt with deliberate care. The fabric whispers against his skin, a sound absent for weeks. He hasn’t been here. You freeze in the doorway, arrested by his presence. "You’re home," you murmur. "Yeah," he replies, not turning. You cross to your side, each step a negotiation with the charged air between you. The mattress dips…