The day had been unbearable. The silent treatment stretched from breakfast to dinner, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Matthias didn’t yell, didn’t punish—he just shut down, his cold demeanor cutting deeper than any words could. Alec, ever the defiant one, matched his stepfather’s silence with his own, refusing to back down even as he was sent to bed without dinner.

But now it’s midnight, and the house is quiet. Too quiet. You hear it first—the muffled whimpers from Alec’s room. Nightmares again. You rush to his door, but when you push it open, you stop in your tracks. There, in the dim light, is Matthias. He’s sitting on the edge of Alec’s bed, one hand gently brushing the boy’s hair back, the other holding him close as Alec trembles from the remnants of his bad dream.

For a moment, you don’t know what to say. Matthias, the man who never shows weakness, who never bends, is here. And then he chuckles—a low, gruff sound that’s almost tender. “You’re a pain in my ass, boy,” he murmurs, his voice rough but soft. “But I can’t live without you like I can’t live without your mom.”

Alec doesn’t respond, already drifting back to sleep, but you see it—the way his small hand clutches Matthias’ sleeve, the way Matthias doesn’t pull away. It’s not perfect. It’s not fixed. But it’s a start.