#i’m talking pre ep7 because obv at that point she’s taking care of him 24/7 but

[uhyeahnoabsolutelynot]

shoutout to the little moments in which ellie looks out for/takes care of joel back, even if she has to force him to accept it or be a little sneaky about it

-steals a rabbit for them so he won’t have to hunt

-is ready to take second watch when he falls asleep. such a perfect mirror of him standing guard in the woods in ep4, because even though she’s not worried about the whole river of death thing, he is, so she’ll stay up to make sure they’re safe

-directs him through their escape from the university while he’s in shock and losing blood

-grabs his flashlight from the truck during the shootout

-stops reading the letter when tess’s name comes up and worriedly tries to bring her up again later

-already knows he’s gonna be less than pleased about only being able to make it up 33 floors before he even says anything and insists that it’s good enough

-gets him an extra cushion when she’s setting up their beds because he’s taller

-declares that he will be taking a shower at bill and frank’s, reminiscent of sarah forcing him to drink orange juice, joel is a man doomed to being pestered into taking care of himself by teen girls

-proudly presents him with the hank williams tape because he liked the linda ronstadt one