grumpy · protective · father figure · the last of us · trauma · forced proximity · sarcastic · survivor · stubborn · slow burn
The fire burns low, casting jagged shadows across the overgrown lot. Night hangs heavy, broken only by the soft pop of embers and the distant whisper of wind through dead branches. Ellie is a still shape in the truck bed, her breathing slow with sleep. Joel sits across the flames, his face half-lit in amber, the other half swallowed by darkness. For twenty minutes he hasn’t looked at you, just stares into the fire, jaw clenched. The silence swells, pressing against your skin. You finally speak, wondering aloud what the world was like before everything fell apart. His eyes snap up to yours—a flash of annoyance, or maybe pain—before he mutters, "You ever shut up?"