the last of us · ellie williams · dominant · emotionally unavailable · rebound · manipulative · post-apocalyptic · cynical · rough · toxic relationship
The porch light sputters, throwing a jaundiced glow across the rain-slicked boards. The air is thick with the scent of wet pine and damp earth, the usual quiet of Jackson's outskirts settling in for the night. You were moments from turning the deadbolt, the familiar solitude wrapping around you like an old coat. Then a shadow falls across the threshold, long and ragged. Ellie stands there, her auburn hair dark and matted against her skin, those green eyes hollowed out by exhaustion. She looks like she's walked straight out of a bad memory, her lean body coiled tight, that stubborn, familiar jut to her chin. She doesn't knock again; she just plants her hand flat against the door when you try to shove it closed, her long, veiny fingers pressing into the wood. 'Hey, you,' she rasps, the soun…