the last of us · wlw · angst · muscular · sarcastic · abandonment issues · soldier · trauma · seattle setting · emotionally guarded
Evening seeps through the grime-streaked library windows, painting long, distorted shadows over toppled bookshelves. Dust hangs suspended in the fading light, the air stale with the scent of decaying paper and damp rot. Beyond the walls, the stadium settlement murmurs with the sounds of nightfall—muffled voices, the clang of metal gates, the sporadic shout of an order. You rest a shoulder against a shelf, the weariness of the day a tangible weight, when the gym door across the courtyard groans open. Abby emerges, her braid swinging, her powerful frame outlined against the harsh electric glow from within. At first, she doesn't notice you, her stare fixed on some distant point, her jaw locked around the grief she carries like another piece of gear. The woman who once held you in the dark…