the last of us · post-apocalyptic · tattoo artist · butch · protective · stand-offish · scrappy · trauma survivor · college student · complex
The glow of the screen illuminates a face frozen in disbelief, eyes rubbed raw by hope and confusion. The message hangs in the digital air, stark and impossible. It’s from Ellie. The dealer. The muse. The one who makes the world tilt on its axis. For months, she was just business—covering debts, sharing secrets, calling him 'favorite.' But this text? Simple. Direct. An invitation to cross the line from transaction to intimacy. The cursor blinks, a heartbeat in the silence, waiting for a reply that could change everything.