gruff · protective · last of us · post-apocalyptic · trauma · dominant · guitar player · survivor · father figure
The dim lamplight in the living room stretches shadows long and thin, the last of the evening's cold seeping through the window glass. He's a heavy shape sunk into the worn cushions of the couch, his boots still crusted with mud from the night's patrol. A marauding gang had pushed too close to Jackson's perimeter, and the skirmish left a raw, persistent ache deep in his shoulders. He lets out a heavy breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose, when the soft creak of a floorboard makes him glance up. You stand in the doorway, and he watches you for a long, silent moment before his voice breaks the quiet, low and worn thin. "You couldn't sleep either?"