The Last of Us Joel Miller Character Study S1E1: Proud Soccer Dad
I spy a soccer ball near the garage door, and I believe it confirms this team picture on the pinboard is Sarah's soccer team, which makes Joel a Soccer Dad.
Whether or not Joel coaches, you know he is showing up for every game, cheering his daughter on, spitting faces of disgust when the referee fucks up an important moment, taking Sarah and her team out for ice cream after their games, celebrating her wins and giving her empathetic words of encouragement when they don't.
Joel is the loveliest Soccer Dad you can imagine. Trust me.
WARNING: LONG POST! NO TRIGGERS - FEEL GOOD VIBES GUARANTEED! (Unless your heart is, like, literally made of stone!...)
ANYWAY!
So I'm going to tell you a bit about my Dad! 😍
The whole reason why I express myself creatively is because of my dad. My love of reading and writing comes from him. He is (along with my mum of course – if you want a lesson in equality and the example of “sensitive, new age man” my dad’s pic is under the definition) and always has been my biggest supporter – the person who is guaranteed to be in the front row cheering me on. I didn’t have a soccer mum growing up, I had a soccer DAD. Dad was the one who took me and my brother everywhere on the weekends! I was very lucky and privileged growing up – dad would take me to singing lessons, piano lessons, tennis lessons (I tried other activities too but I won’t mention them…basically cause I sucked lol). Dad was the one who listened and encouraged me when I wrote my first song – music was my absolute passion (and still is)and he would spend hours with me workshopping every performance I would prepare for, every recital...He was my Alpha before I knew what that term meant.
WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS???
I'm glad you asked - I'll tell you 😉
As most of you know - I have recently created my author page on Facebook. This year I have made a conscious effort to connect to those with like-minded interests. HP FANFIC! I’ve found my people!!! Specifically on the platforms Facebook and Tumblr (I still suck at it…but I’m trying!)…I’m also a lurker on Instagram.
MISSY GET BACK TO THE POINT!
Here it is: My dad is an Indi Author! I know! How BAMF is that?! He’s retired now, but back in the day he was an English and History teacher. He also taught English as a Second Language for a while and eventually moved into Higher Education in which he taught young adults with learning disabilities – his program was designed to teach them essential life skills (like budgeting, shopping, skills that would lead to getting a job) He would come home and tell me stories about his students and one of their favourite activities: Reading the newspaper together as a class and discuss the current events – dad was an amazing teacher and he is an amazing man.
When dad was an English teacher at High School, one of the activities he would run when teaching creative writing was an activity he had dubbed: “speed writing”. Now that I’ve become a part of fandom author community - I have literally only just put two and two together and realised my dad was running “sprints” in his classroom 😱😱😱
Again! What an absolute BAMF!
MISSY! YOU’RE RAMBLING AGAIN - GET BACK TO THE ACTUAL POINT!
Okay, Sorry! I'll try again...
Dad isn’t on social media (though mum is), he doesn’t use a mobile phone (but mum does – you see where I’m going with this?). As an independently published Indi-Author on Amazon (I’m gonna share the link – don’t worry), I’ve told him about the benefits of social networking. He’s been reluctant…I decided at the time not to push. Recently though, I shared with him the fact that I’ve been writing during Covid 19 – not songs and music, but stories. I told him I’ve found a safe haven in fanfiction – I’ve found people I wish I knew years ago! I’ve found friends who I’m now collaborating with (back in the day I was never in a band or anything like that). I’ve told Dad about my experience publishing my little ficlettes and stories on AO3 - how I was receiving reviews and feedback. I told him about ‘Kudos”.
His ears suddenly perked up and bless him – he said “Do you think your friends would look at my story too and do you think they would leave a comment?”
Well friends, now you *know* - I’m a daughter on a mission!
My dad’s alias is Raymond Jeffrey. His birthday is the 12th of December and I’ve been thinking...What can I possibly give the man who has literally fuelled my love of writing? Who has constantly encouraged my creativity. What does he truly want?
The answer is Kudos people!!!!!
My dad isn’t interested in the amount of sales or rankings his book gets – It’d be nice, but it won't stop him from writing his trilogy. He's already a thrid of the way through book 2!!! (BAMF!)
So friends, if I may be so bold - can I ask you to reach out and leave him a review on Amazon? Even if it is as simple as a phrase of encouragement to keep writing, to continue? The way we do in Fandom?
That would be simply magic!!!
I’m not asking you to buy his book, but if you have Kindle I’d love for you to give his original work a go and leave him a review.
Dad literally painted the artwork himself (and then had mum scan it as a PDF in order to upload it and then use it as a cover). My mum has been simply amazing – she’s his Alpha and has encouraged him on this life long goal to write a book.
Dad currently had 10 sales in total (some are purchases made by family from overseas) and recently he cheekily introduced himself to his new neighbour (my folks recently moved during Covid 19) as an ‘internationally selling author’(Omg Dad! 😆🤣😂 ). He's also hired a woman to professionally format and edit his book for SPAG – so his book has actually been professionally Beta’d (when I told him I had met people who loved Betaing for funsies he was shocked and also secretly I think he was a little jelly 🤭🤭🤭).
So yes, can you help me friends????? Be a part of this movement I’m trying to start?!
I would literally love for him to suddenly get a flood of reviews and have no idea why!
I plan to share this post with him for his birthday.
i promise you do not want to think about calum coaching the soccer team for his children :((( don’t do it :(((( (also what is it like to be the most talented writer EVER. 💜)
OOF Yes I do. (also oh my gosh stop, you’re making me blush I love you. 💖)
The door shut loudly, causing Calum to peak his head around the corner from the kitchen. You threw the duffle bag onto the ground and your daughter and three other little girls clad in their soccer gear went running to the backyard while laughing, Duke happily bounding behind them to join the party. Calum watched as they shut the door behind them and then looked back at you. Your hair was a mess and you looked as if you had just run a marathon that you never trained for. Calum raised his eyebrows and handed you a bottle of water. “What happened to you?”
You cracked open the bottle and chugged half of it in one sitting. “The coach for their team decided to quit at the last moment, and no one there knew a single thing about soccer-“
“Football.” Calum interrupted taking a sip of his own water bottle. Raising his eyebrows at the argument you two continue to have.
Your eyes narrow, “- SOCCER, except for me.” Calum chuckled, twisting the cap back onto his water bottle. “So I filled in. But here’s the thing, I barely know anything about it too. The last time I play I was, like, six and I was the kid who stood around and watched because I hated running. Still do, can you tell?” Calum laughed and kissed your forehead. “When did you get home? I thought you didn’t come to practice because you were going to be at the studio all day.” You asked, finally feeling a little bit more normal.
“I had just walked through the door when you came crashing in.” Something in his eyes changed, almost as if you could see the physical light bulb above his head turning on. “Maybe I could be the new coach? I mean, I played football,” You rolled your eyes and he smirked, “For a long time.” He turned and walked towards the kitchen starting to pull out stuff to make a snack for the four little girls running around in the backyard.
You followed him and finished off the water bottle. “Would you have time with all the time you’ve been spending in the studio?” You leaned against the counter and watched Calum cut a few apples.
He shrugged. “I could make time. Plus, I need to do something while we’re not touring so I don’t lose my mind.” He smiled at you and you raised your eyebrows.
“Well, I guess you could just show up at the next practice all ready to go, Coach Calum.” You spoke his name like it was candy, causing all of his hairs to stand on end. You fingers trailed up his arm as he set the knife of the counter and wrapped his arms around your waist. “Who knew I’d end up married to a soccercoach.”
“Football!” He growled playfully at you before pressing his lips against yours followed by a fit of laughter.
**
On Saturday morning, you woke up and rolled onto your side to cuddle against Calum, but the empty space next to you caused your eyes to shoot open. You sat up and looked around the room, Calum nowhere in sight. The comforter crinkled softly as you threw it off you and you walked through the house in an effort to find him. Finally, you caught sight of him. He was outside in the garden, a soccer ball between his feet. He was wearing an old jersey he had hanging in the closet and was wearing a pair of shorts he wears to work out. He kicked the ball back and forth and you watched him. Who knew Coach Calum was so delectable to look at. A smirk pulled at your lips as you turned away from the backdoor to get your daughter up and ready for soccer practice.
As Calum drove, you sipped on your homemade iced coffee, feeling like one of those soccer moms who have an unruly crush on the coach of their kids soccer team. Only in this case, you can brag about your crush. Calum pulled into a parking spot and hopped out of the car faster than the speed of light. Calum followed his daughter to the field, clad in a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt, a silver whistle hanging around his neck. One of the other kids dragged the netted bag of balls to the field and Calum gathered them all together. You sat in your lawn chair, crossing one leg over the other and pushed you sunglasses up your nose as Calum started talking.
“Hi everyone, I heard that you lost your coach, so I have decided to step in. My name is Calum and I played foot-“ He stopped himself and looked back at you. You grinned almost devilishly waiting for him to call the sport something different than what he usually calls it. He looked back at girls and huffed, “-soccer for a long time while I was a kid.” The satisfaction was stupid, but oh-so amazing. A breathy laugh fell from your chest and as the girls from the team started to line up as Calum had asked them to, he looked at you and shook his head.
Calum was the most amazing coach, and the team seemed to love him. Who wouldn’t love him, though? He was so kind and had so much knowledge of the game, but knew how to make it fun so a bunch of seven year old’s would be just as interested as he was. All team members waved at Calum as they made their ways to their cars with the parents and Calum smiled as he tightened the drawstring on the bag of soccer balls. As he threw all of the soccer equipment into the car, you skipped with your daughter to the car. Once everyone was in, Calum started the trip home. “You’re a good coach, daddy.” Your daughter voiced from the back seat.
Calum looked at her through the rear view mirror and smiled. “Thanks, baby, you really think so?” You turned to watch her nod and smile. Calum’s face lit up and you reached over to grab his leg.
He looked over at you and switched his hands on the steering wheel so he could lace your fingers together. You winked at him and stayed quiet until you got home. You daughter ran into the house and towards her room and you grabbed Calum’s hand, pulling his back towards you. He eyebrows knitted together as his hands rested on your hips. “Not only are you a good coach,” You said while standing on your toes to press a kiss to his throat. “But you’re a hot one too.” His throat worked as you placed another soft kiss to the same spot.
He looked back towards the bedroom and groaned in slight frustration. Without saying a word, he squeezes your hand and pulls you down the hall and into the bedroom.
Which then got me thinking: if Hailey’s the soccer mom, does that mean Jay’s the soccer dad in this scenario? Since she had a ring on & they did the op together??
Which then led me to remember the photo of Jesse from a sports game (I think soccer!) from the fall time that a fan account posted. Which then led me to this:
aka: an AU when Jay & Hailey are soccer parents (w/the best snacks of course...if Jay doesn’t eat them all first!)
