#this somehow turned out to be my longest drabble so far but that isn't a bad thing lmao

[thewritersaddictions]

Drabble: Joel Miller- Dad Jokes

Did Joel always have such a rough exterior? Yeah, he did with people that he didn't know, or while he was trying desperately trying to keep himself protected.

Joel was a creature of habit. A set of things that made him comfortable, but now that had been taken and ripped away from him. Right in front of him, in his arms, he had the joy of life sucked out of him.

He stayed cold for many years. Cold to the touch and cold to the heart. Nothing not even what you thought he was supposed to sound or feel like was Joel anymore.

Joel tried for the longest time to keep emotions and anything that would or could hurt him at bay. emotions of his daughter dying in his arms. Shove that deep down in his chest, away from the burning light of the next morning sunrise. Knowing that he wasn't able to protect Tommy from joining the Firefiles. He shoved that one down too. Everything that was hurting him was shoved further and further into the pit of his stomach. It left Joel feeling heavy and angry.

The pain didn't stop there though. He turned numb and just like that he was trusted back into the realm of love and friendship. Tessa, god she was so damn straight with Joel. She was the sweetest person that Joel had met since his daughter Sarah. She was everything that kept him going even though he wanted nothing more than to be with his daughter once more.

But love is a bitch and she takes even the best things from people who don't deserve it. Tessa bit, too many emotions clouded Joel's mind as he tried to figure out how they had gotten here. How he had somehow ended up with a girl not far from Sarah ages when she passed away. How had he gotten here back to taking care of another person.

Sure Joel had tossed the idea around in his head. Was Ellie more than cargo or was she just that. Had Ellie and Joel's time together meant anything like his time with his daughter. There was that but there was also something different, For years Joel had yearned for that role of a protector all over again. He wanted someone who he could protect to make up for the loss of his daughter. Not a replacement but for forgiveness.

Maybe Ellie was that forgiveness, Maybe Sarah had in some god-like way Ellie in his path. Maybe Sarah was trying to help him come to a realization that the anger and self-pity could be turned into something worth it again. Something that would make a difference in the bleak world they now lived in.

It took longer then excepted for Joel to come around. For Joel to be comfrotable with Ellie being around him. Relying on him, wanting to learn more about the world that she had been lied to about by FEDRA

He gathered his thougths when he went to Bill and Franks. He didn't want to let her go, not to the tw ofo them. He was good friends with Frank and Bill, but he had been taking care of ellie for to long already now.

"Joel?" Ellie asks him softly in the dark night. "What Ellie?" "Do you have any dad jokes?" Ellie asks. She tired it's in her voice but still she asks through her long yawns. Pushng sleep away, Joel can't help but think back to sarah. his heart squezzes a little at the thought.

He remembers a few. A few of Sarahs favorite that her dad used to use on repeat. Sarah would laugh loudly. A hand on her stomach as it ached from laughing so damn much. Joel smiles at the thought of his daughter with a wide smile on her face, bright eyes that loved him. "yeah I think i've got a few in my back pocket. Why do you wanna know?" Joel asks Ellie. It rough on the extorit his question. He doens't mean to sound like an asshole that just how he sounds nowadays.

"Well will you tell me a few?!" Ellie says. Joel looks over at Ellie. The truck isn't that big but he's been looking up at the roof of the truck. When he turns Ellie looking at him with those child-like eyes. One that are waiting for adventure, ones that are waiting;yearning to grow up quicker then they have to.

"Cool it kid, but yeah." Joel says he gives a few seconds for the air between the two of them to cool down. "Have you ever heard the chocolate record player?" Ellie brows scuch together. Joel has to push down the smile growing rearing it ugly head. "It's pretty sweet!" Joel says finsihing the joke.

Ellie rolls her eyes. "Come on Joel you've got to have better ones!" Ellie complains. So, Joels thinks. "How do you make 7 even?" Joel asks. He's letting in the happiness spark by spark. 'Oh I know this one." Ellie says. Surpisingliy to Joel she get's it right. It reminds him of Sarah always a quick wit. "All you have to do is take the s away!" "Shit kid, you actually got that! Are you pulling my leg with these dad jokes?" Joel asks Ellie. She smiles and for a second there's a whole different person in the passenger seat next to him.

"Maybe Joel, but can you tell me one more?" Ellie asks a yawn interuptting her towards the end. "Sure kid." joel says. He starts thinking.

He's trying to think of one that will get a laugh out of Ellie. A deep, belly aching type of laugh out of her. He wants to see that same smile on Ellie face that he hadn't seen in more then twenty years. Joel wants to feel like he isn't here in the truck waiting and listening out for clickers or anything else that might be hauntig the both of them.

he wants to live in a dream for just a little longer. Joel wants to think and beilive that he's just driving across the country trying to find allthe best features that the country has to give. "okay Ellie, one more. Here we go," He looks over at her once more.

"I once got fired from a canned juice company. Apparently I couldn't concentrate." Joel can see the qucik looks cross over Ellie face, and then she's laughing. For what reason Joel doens't care. She laughng probably something she's never done not like this. She's a pure child, and for the first time in forever and a decade.

Joel feels happiness wrap around his cold heart.

Completed on: 02/22/23

Posted on: 02/22/23

Last Of Us-

A/n- This got out of hand, but I hope you enjoy a cute father x daughter between Joel and Ellie

[the-tactician-magician]

This @flufftober2021 piece ended up being kinda similar to yesterday's, but at least I wrote a different ship to it lol. And it still turned out cute, I think!

Day 5: Watching the Sunrise

Rated G, Ignatz/Marianne, 1110 words

Ignatz honestly didn’t know what to expect when Marianne asked him to come with her in the wee hours of the morning. He thought that maybe she needed his help with caring for an injured animal, or perhaps she spotted some nearby enemies. The latter wouldn’t surprise him, seeing as they were marching towards their next battlefield.

But no. If Marianne noticed any danger, she would’ve brought more people than just Ignatz. The two of them weren’t carrying any weapons either. It was just him, her, and her sable pegasus that carried them towards the top of a tall hill.

Or… What if Marianne was leading Ignatz to such a secluded spot for more... private reasons? Like a confession of some sort? His cheeks burned at the very thought, even though he wouldn’t be completely opposed to it. Marianne had always been such a kind and gentle soul, and watching her blossom throughout the last five years was one of his greatest joys. She went from being a somber wallflower that could barely look him in the eyes into a lovely and composed woman that invited him to this outing without hesitation. And he would be delighted to keep on watching her, to grow alongside her. The only thing holding him back, he supposed, was the war that waged all around him. He couldn’t ask her to love him when his life may be taken the very next day.

Yet if Marianne really was planning what he was thinking, what was he to do? His face must have been so flush with embarrassment, it radiated enough heat to catch Marianne’s attention.

“Ignatz? Are you well? Your face is so red…” She turned around to ask.

“Ah.” Ignatz instinctively raised a hand to his cheeks. “I’m fine, truly. The wind is a bit chilly up here, that’s all.”

Marianne shot him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. But we’re nearly there. I promise.”

Ignatz felt the urge to ask her where was ‘there’, exactly, but didn’t trust himself to speak without accidentally blurting out his earlier thoughts. Plus, they were actually almost there. A few beats of a pegasus’s wings later, Marianne and Ignatz arrived at their destination on top of a hill.

“Oh! This is…”

He almost tumbled out of the saddle in his excitement to absorb the details of his surroundings. From their vantage point, he saw endless swaths of forest down below, with mists still clinging to their canopies. A fiery speck among those trees indicated the location of their campsite, dirt roads winded around trees before being swallowed by the fog of distance, and an even more distant lake reflected a splotch of sky amidst the greenery. On the horizon, golden rays wreathed the rising sun like a crown, and the encroaching dawn painted the skies with beautiful shades of pinks and purple and oranges and blues that spurred his imagination.

Ignatz was almost too stunned by the magnificent sunrise to finish his sentence. It was only when Marianne took a step closer that his tongue started to work again.

“Marianne, this is wonderful.” He managed to say. “How did you even find this view?”

She fidgeted in place for a moment. Ignatz worried that he said something to offend her, but her answer, uttered as a whisper, put his fears to rest.

“Um... I took Sigune for a ride because I couldn’t fall back asleep, and stumbled upon this hill. I… thought you might like it, so I tried to find you as fast as I could, before the sun had fully risen. I’m glad that we made it in time…”

By now, Marianne was right next to him, her serene face accentuated by the dawn’s light. She really was a beautiful woman, perhaps even more beautiful than the sunrise before them. Again, Ignatz double checked himself before he could blurt out some sort of foolishness that would sully the atmosphere.

“I’m glad too.” He paused to mull over his next words. “Was there… a particular reason you thought of me? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I just… wasn’t expecting this.”

Marianne turned to stare at him with wide eyes. “Oh. I guess I wanted to repay you for when you showed me the sunset at Garreg Mach. I know that was a long time ago, but…”

Now it was Ignatz’s turn to gasp. “Oh! I’m honored that you still remembered that, but I didn’t need any repayment. Even so… Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”

When he punctuated his gratitude with a smile, Marianne smiled back. His chest was thumping so loudly, he thought it might break free and let the whole world know how he was feeling. How much he adored Marianne, and how much he wanted to capture this scene for eternity…

“Oh.” He uttered for the third time. “I should have brought my drawing tools with me. This would make for a beautiful painting.”

“That’s true…” Marianne nodded as she returned her gaze to the sunrise. “But I don’t think there’s enough time to go back and grab them... I’m sorry. I should have thought about it.”

Gripped with concern, Ignatz shook his head like a man possessed. “It’s not your fault, Marianne. Besides, not every sunrise needs to be drawn. Sometimes it’s better to just sit back and enjoy it with you.”

Ignatz didn’t even realize what he said until he noticed how Marianne’s mouth formed a surprised ‘o’ shape. He felt his face burning up again as he stammered and pushed his glasses up a little higher.

“A-ah. I mean to say, it’s better to just enjoy it. N-not that I wouldn’t enjoy it with you, Marianne. It’s just that…”

A soft giggle, akin to the most soothing of lullabies, wiped out all other thoughts in Ignatz’s head. Marianne’s smile widened as she took him by the hand.

“Well… I would like to enjoy it with you too. If you don’t mind…”

The warmth from her touch flowed through Ignatz like liquid fire, but in a good way. It suddenly felt like everything was alright in the world, they were where they needed to be, and the words that formed on his tongue were the right words to say.

In an unwavering voice, Ignatz said, “Of course I wouldn’t mind. Not at all.”

Ignatz and Marianne proceeded to sit down on the earth and look towards the rising sun. They exchanged no more words between them as dawn turned to morning, but they didn’t need to. The occasional peeks at each other and light squeezes of their hands conveyed everything their hearts wanted to say, and then some.