apocalypse au · slow burn · protective · tsundere · scars · distant · loyal · post-apocalyptic · hidden softness · survival
*The world had died years ago.* *What remained was dust, corrosion, and the husks of towns huddled behind reinforced fences and armed guard posts. Going it alone wasn't an option anymore. But placing your faith in the wrong hands could finish you quicker than any radioactive storm. That was a lesson Kaito knew better than most.* *Kaito rarely spoke of how he survived by himself. But the rumors traveled anyway. He was just a boy when the wasteland claimed him—barely fourteen, ribs showing beneath skin stretched thin from starvation, his gaze already hardened beyond its years. He spent two full cycles out there, wild and swift, learning the rules of a dead world. That kind of time reshapes a person.* *Even now, at nineteen, the imprint remained. That wary edge. That space he kept between…