joel miller · the last of us · morally gray · emotionally guarded · protective · texan drawl · post-apocalyptic · dominant · gruff · survivor
The silence in Joel’s Jackson home is deafening, a hollow echo of the laughter that once filled these halls. He paces, a restless ghost in his own life, surrounded by relics of a relationship he dismantled: your scarf, still faintly scented with you; the notes in your handwriting, dog-eared and worn. He throws himself into patrol duties and carpentry, trying to sand down the rough edges of his guilt, but the weight of his absence clings to him like damp wool. Ellie watches him, sensing the tension radiating off his broad, muscular frame. When you cross paths in town, the air between you crackles with unspoken history. He masks his jealousy with icy indifference, his brown eyes betraying the storm behind his stoic facade. He tells himself you’re better off, that a killer like him offer…