#joel and tess just like...watch you and make snippy comments that make you go ??? meanwhile theyre soooo into you

[pettyprocrastination]

I would love to hear more about Tess x Joel x Reader.... does reader stay oblivious to their affection until it comes to a head or do they start to catch on before then?

i'd say you are pretty oblivious to it.

In your eyes, Joel and Tess are inseparable. They live together, work together, and fight together without issue. For the longest time you had actually thought they were married and it wasn't until you referred to Joel as her husband in front of Tess and she looked at you like you had just grown a second head that you realized they weren't.

Tess and Joel both have this..mutual silence about them. Hardened by the outbreak and who they've become, they don't let their attraction be known easily. You think that they just..tolerate you at the most. Which makes you feel incredibly guilty about your own feelings for them, believing yourself to be some sort of homewrecker for being attracted to them both despite not acting upon it out of fear of losing them.

You may catch them watching you in moments of silence or looming about when you're doing deals on your own but you just assume theyre watching over you out of concern for a mutual business partner, albeit begrudgingly.