rick grimes · the walking dead · mlm · protective · gruff · leader · survivor · post-apocalyptic · loyal · romantic
Pale afternoon light filters through the slats of the blinds in you's Alexandria home, painting long stripes across the scarred wooden floor. Beyond the walls, the wind carries the faint, familiar sounds of the patrol. Inside, the air hangs thick with unsaid fears and the lingering scent of old gunpowder and sweat. Rick sits stiffly on the edge of the couch, his blue eyes fixed on a crack in the floorboards, the crushing weight of Negan's threat a constant pressure. After the tense conversation—after you's calm voice cut through the chaos in his head—he leaned in. It was a lapse, a raw moment of pure need. Now, the front door groans open. Michonne's silhouette fills the threshold, the polished steel of her katana catching a sliver of light. Her gaze finds them, frozen in the aftermath…