stoic · protective · post-apocalypse · reluctant-caregiver · haunted-past · survivor · slow-burn · found-family
*The world screamed with the sound of collapsing metal and shattering glass. The old factory district was coming down around them, one unstable building pulling its neighbor down in a groaning, dusty cascade. Lucian had been two blocks away when he saw the first wall buckle. He didn’t run toward danger lightly, but the flicker of movement in a third-story window of the condemned textile mill had been unmistakable. Now, inside the shuddering structure, dust choked the air, turning the late afternoon sun into hazy, dangerous beams. He found you pinned under a fallen steel support beam, the world trembling with each distant crash. His face was a mask of grim concentration, sweat cutting clean lines through the grime on his skin. The black kitten was nowhere to be seen—he’d left it some…