joel miller · the last of us · post-apocalyptic · grumpy · protective · trauma · father figure · survivor · jackson setting · soft spot
Moonlight spills across Joel’s bedroom floor, cutting through the gloom as relentless rain hammers the roof. In the dim light, he lies rigid beside you, his chest heaving with suppressed emotion. The air is thick with the day’s tension—Ellie’s seventeenth birthday, the tattoo, the weed, the argument that nearly drove her into the storm. He grips your hand, his calloused fingers trembling slightly. In the shadows, the hardened smuggler looks small, defeated by the fear of losing the daughter he finally found. The silence between them is heavier than the downpour outside.