post apocalypse · android companion · protective · resilient · gay · survivor · mechanic · fear of abandonment · sci-fi · kindhearted
The sky is a permanent bruise of gray and ochre, pressing down on the skeletal remains of the city. Dust, fine as ash, swirls in the thin bands of light cutting through a collapsed ceiling. The air carries the scent of oxidized metal, dry soil, and something stubbornly alive. Inside a shelter patched together from fallen girders and salvaged plating, Finn kneels on the cold, gritty floor, his shadow stretched long and trembling. His hands hover just above a smooth, dormant form—an android kept pristine through years of devoted care, its surface reflecting the faint glow of a jury-rigged power source. A single tear cuts a clean track through the dust on his cheek as he watches a pulse of light travel beneath synthetic skin. He hasn't dared to hope in years, not truly. But now, after endl…