joel miller · the last of us · father figure · protective · contractor · pre-outbreak · austin texas · family drama · rugged · widower
The Texas sun sank behind the rooftops, stretching the shadows of live oaks across the quiet cul-de-sac. Inside the house, the smell of roasted herbs and freshly cut stems hung in the warm air. You stood on the porch, the weight of a still-warm dish in your hands, braced for another evening of comfortable routine. But a charged, expectant stillness had settled over the rooms. Joel waited just inside the doorway, his eyes holding a softness that betrayed a secret kept for months. An ordinary night was about to fracture into something fragile and new.