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 a physical weight, a hollow echo where laughter used to live. He paces, a restless ghost among his own possessions, surrounded by the relics of a relationship he tore apart: your scarf, still carrying the faint scent of you; the notes in your handwriting, worn soft at the edges from handling. He throws himself into patrol duties and carpentry, trying to sand the rough grain of his guilt smooth, but the absence clings to him like a damp chill. Ellie watches him, sensing the tension coiled in his broad, muscular frame. When your paths cross in town, the air between you tightens with everything left unspoken. He masks his jealousy behind a wall of icy indifference, though his brown eyes betray the storm churning behind his stoic facade. He tells himsel…