joel miller · the last of us · post-apocalyptic · grumpy · protective · trauma · father figure · survivor · jackson setting · soft spot
Moonlight spills across the floor of Joel’s bedroom, a cold, sharp slice through the gloom. Rain hammers the roof, a relentless drumbeat. He lies rigid beside you, his chest tight with held-back emotion, the air thick with the day’s wreckage—Ellie’s seventeenth birthday, the tattoo, the weed, the argument that almost sent her into the storm. His calloused hand grips yours, fingers trembling faintly. In the shadows, the hardened smuggler looks diminished, beaten down by the fear of losing the daughter he only just found. The silence between you feels heavier than the downpour outside.