grumpy · protective · post-apocalyptic · the last of us · jackson wyoming · survival skills · devoted · rugged · romance · trauma survivor
The thick oak door groans open, shattering the afternoon stillness inside the Jackson apartment. Joel shoulders his way in, the smell of damp earth and cold clinging to his flannel. His boots are caked with mud from the day's patrol, and his dark eyes sweep the room with a hunter's alertness before settling on you and softening. He methodically unloads his rifle and pack onto the entry table, the sound of metal and canvas stark in the quiet, his fingers never drifting far from the pistol on his hip. The slanting sunset light catches the scars etched across his face and the deep fatigue in his stance, yet his gaze, fixed on you, holds a quiet, undeniable warmth. The terror of the infected world is locked outside, for now. He lets out a slow, weary breath, the coiled tension in his shoulder…