ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: Joel gets clingy in the kitchen while you’re making breakfast, and Sarah walks in just in time to be grossed out.
ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: Joel Miller x reader
ᴀ/ɴ: no apocalypse au and break from the usual stuff, cause i’m getting burnt out on writing for YJ. 😔
The sun has barely made it past the horizon, peachy-pink light slipping through the cracks in the blinds and painting stripes across the tiled floor of the kitchen. The house is quiet, miraculously so, and you’re standing barefoot in front of the stove, flipping pancakes with one hand and nursing a cup of coffee in the other.
You’ve always liked the mornings. When the world’s still quiet and nobody needs anything from you yet. The house smells like coffee and butter and the faint trace of the laundry detergent Joel likes, the cheap stuff, fresh as mountain air or something corny like that. The pan sizzles as you pour the next circle of batter.
You don’t hear him at first, he’s too quiet for a man his size, but you feel it. The warm shape of him sneaking up behind you, arms sliding around your waist like nothing new. His chest presses into your back, solid and familiar.
“Mornin’ baby,” Joel mutters, voice still thick with sleep. “smells good in here.”
You smile without turning around, leaning into him just enough to feel how he exhales, slow and content. “Good morning to you too.”
“Was good ‘til I woke up alone,” he says, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand before tucking his chin over your shoulder. “Didn’t even leave a note.”
“You were snoring when I left,” you say, nudging him gently. “I figured waking you up would’ve been dangerous.”
Joel snorts. “I don’t snore.”
“You do. Loudly.”
“Mm..” His hands slide a little lower on your hips. “Can’t prove it.”
“I should start recording you.”
He huffs a laugh against your neck.
You set the spatula down and glance at him over your shoulder. “I love you. Even when you sound like a lawnmower in your sleep.”
That earns you one of his dry, lopsided smiles, the kind that pulls more on one side and softens the edges of him. He kisses your cheek, then your jaw, then behind your ear, unhurried.
You roll your eyes. “Joel. I’m trying to cook.”
“Yeah? Feels like you’re tryin’ to kill me,” he says, voice low. “Standin’ here wearin’ my shirt, smellin’ like coffee and sugar and whatever it is you put in those pancakes that makes em’ taste so good. It’s cruel.”
You glance down. It is one of his shirts, soft with age, oversized, and hanging low on your pajama-covered thighs. You stole it a long time ago and never gave it back.
“Pretty sure it’s just flour and butter.”
“Yeah, well,” he mutters, kissing your neck again, “I’d do anything to keep you right here.”
You’re about to make a sarcastic comment, something snarky, maybe flirtier than it needs to be, but then—
“Seriously?” Sarah’s voice cuts through the moment like a knife. “Do y’all have to be gross before 8 a.m.?”
Joel doesn’t even flinch. Doesn’t let go, either.
“Mornin’ to you too, sunshine,” he drawls, sounding entirely too pleased with himself.
Sarah stares him down from the doorway, hoodie swallowing her frame, hair a frizzy mess. “You’re disgusting.”
Joel raises his brows like it’s the greatest compliment he’s ever received. “Good. Means I’m doin’ my job.”
You stifle a laugh and slide a pancake onto a plate. “Pancakes?”
She trudges over like she’s doing you a favor. “You encourage him,” she mutters to you, grabbing a fork.
“I heard that,” Joel says, finally letting go of you as he makes his way to the coffee pot. “And I’m hurt. Deeply.”
“Yeah? You’ll live.” Sarah says, slumping into a chair.
You hand her the plate and slide into your seat, watching as Joel pours himself coffee with all the grace of a man who’s half-awake and irritated that he’s not still in bed.
Sarah’s gaze flicks to him and then back to you.
“Did you sleep okay?” you ask her.
“Would’ve been better if I didn’t hear Dad talking in his sleep through the wall.”
“I don’t talk in my sleep,” Joel says flatly, sitting beside you with a groan as he lowers himself into the chair.
Sarah doesn’t even look up. “You said ‘cordless impact driver’ four times. Real intense, too.”
Joel just shrugs, takes a sip of coffee and you snort, almost choking on your drink.
He shoots you a sideways glance and casually drops one hand to your thigh under the table, thumb brushing lazy circles over your skin. Always touching you, even if it’s just that.
The kitchen settles into that kind of soft, sleepy quiet, just forks on plates, the low hum of the fridge, and the comfort of shared space. You love mornings like this. Safe. Familiar.
Joel reaches out and tucks a piece of hair behind your ear, giving you his full attention.“You doin’ okay today?”
You nod, leaning into the touch. “Yeah. You?”
He grunts. “Better now.”
Sarah makes a dramatic gagging noise. You nudge her under the table with your foot.
“What?” Joel says, unfazed. “I can’t be sweet?”
“Not before breakfast,” Sarah mutters, but she’s smirking into her glass of juice.
Joel leans over and kisses your cheek. “Look away then. This is grown folks’ business.”
Sarah rolls her eyes so hard you can hear it. “Disgusting.”
You smile and curl your fingers around his on your leg. Joel gives you a look, half fond, half long-suffering. You lean in, whispering just loud enough for him to hear. “Just wait til she brings someone home.”
ellie acting recklessly and being a brat as some say, stems from two things.
first; joel keeps having a final say over decisions regarding ellie, despite the fact that she is an adult and they are not exactly on speaking terms. joel repeteadly does not respect ellie’s wishes. ellie can’t train probably, ellie can’t go on patrol because what would joel say. she’s fed up with the fact that she could set the goddamn settlement on fire and no one would say shit because she’s joel’s kid.
joel and ellie fall out because he decided to make a decision for her. and he continues to do so, despite knowing that ellie disagrees with that. jesse, tommy and even dina know that at the end of the day, it’s what joel says and not ellie. she is fed up with not being taken seriously, so she rebells, hence the supermarket store. her recklesness costs her a bite.
the city council does nothing - maria senses that ellie is telling the truth and they are off the hook, left to apologise to kat and that’s all. nonetheless that ellie and dina could have put the whole group at danger, had there been more runners. you see it in her demeanor, when she walks off.
second; ellie lost a purpose. for the entire roadtrip across the states, ellie sees people around her die and she is left hopeless — the guilt holds tighter around her neck; she needs her immunity to mean something. people had died on the way to get her to fireflies and she needs herself to believe, they didn’t die for nothing. riley, sam, tess. kind of like all those firefly soldiers that killed themselves after joel rampaged the hospital. all the deaths, the time, the pain, was for nothing.
ellie hangs onto her immunity; she’s too deep in her survivor’s guilt to see clearly. she needs their deaths to not be left in vain. and joel not only robs her of that - he continues to lie to her for several years. ellie’s entire world falls apart. she’s reckless because she has nothing left to lose, anymore. the one thing, the one thing that could have, in her mind, fixed it all, was gone. and there is joel, who, after what he had done, continues to have a say over matters in her life.
I have a theory about what will happen in today's chapter.
(Spoilers from the game), in the game this scene is seconds before Jesse's death, but this happens because Tommy is attacked by Abby, who gets there because she found the map that Ellie lost when she k1ll3d Mel and Owen, which makes me think that this scene could be Tommy's arrival, because I'm not sure if we'll see Mel and Owen.
DAY ONE FAN HERE, I've been so excited for season 2 after such a strong first season! Here are my spoiler thoughts on episode one!
Just to get it out there first, I've seen some of the complaints online about Bella, but I must say they aren't warranted. Bella isn't video game Ellie's exact body type, duh, but I think it's mostly just ignorance surrounding the physical capabilities of ANY woman that size. (I'm aware of Bella's they/them pronouns, I'm using she/her since the character they play is a woman.) As an avid WMMA fan, I can tell you firsthand some of this little ladies are BEASTS and strong as hell. Just Google Weili Zhang lifting Shaq. Mind you, she's 5'4 and competes at 115 pounds. Ellie does nothing in this episode that couldn't be replicated by any other able-bodied woman her size with sufficient training and exercise. Ugh, sorry, had to get that out of my chest, people are so dumb!!!
Okay, so overall I really enjoyed the first episode. As a huge fan of the games, I was extra curious how they were gonna kick off the season, and this is very much the calm before the storm. We get a very good look at what life is like now 5 years removed from the violence of season 1. Seeing more of Joel as a member of this commune was great, as we didn't get much of that in the game. His therapy session with the always amazing Catherine O'Hara was far and away the best scene in this episode. The way she completely blindsided Joel with her brutal honesty was excellent, I was mesmerized by all the subtle shifts in emotion in both of them as the scene progressed. Pedro Pascal was awesome, his eyes go from guilty panic to hardened resolve in a matter of seconds, truly A-plus acting here, and his final assertive "I saved her" was a well earned gut-punch, ESPECIALLY if you know of what's to come.
All of Ellie's scenes were well done in my opinion. Ellie is your typical 19 year old tomboy. She plays rough, takes unnecessary risks, scoffs at authority, has killer taste in music, and is PISSED the fuck off at her dad. For good reason too, but I suppose non-gamers don't know why yet, so I do appreciate that Ellie's real issue with Joel isn't revealed here. The eternal debate surrounding The Last of Us is "Was Joel right?" in his actions at the end of the first game/season 1. I have VERY strong feelings on this, and I like that so far the show seems to be trying to challenge Joel's die-hard defenders opinions by offering us detailed glimpses of just how Joel's actions that day have affected not only the last 5 years of Ellie's life, but her overall life-trajectory.
The standout new-to-the-series performance is easily Isabela Merced's Dina. I loved her in the games, and I think I may love her more so far in the show. Her relationships with both Joel and Ellie are well constructed, and beautifully acted. Her scene with Joel was sweet and earnest, I love what little we've seen of their relationship. And her and Ellie are so perfect together. Seeing them fearlessly venture into that store to go infected-hunting was a joy to watch, which I felt was a purposeful nod to some of the fun that can be had with a friend who's along for the ride in real life watching you clear this level in the game. The bottle toss was the cherry on top!And omfg don't get me started on her big New Years scene with Ellie. With lines ripped straight from the game, Isabela is able to perfectly capture Dina's eccentric yet ever so smooth seduction of Ellie in a way that honors the source material and even elevates it to new heights, all while providing some expert dark foreshadowing. Don't believe the haters, this show was perfectly cast.
Okay, now on to my only reservation about the premier, and that's Abby and crew's appearances that bookend this episode. So far, I'm sold on Kaitlyn Dever's Abby. That "We kill him slowly" at the beginning of the episode was chilling, not only for it's menace, but also for the raw vulnerability she is able to show at the same time she makes this violent promise. This is a broken individual who has lost everything, and I believe her when she says there will be hell to pay. All that being said, I'm not sure why we got her motives revealed THAT early into the season. Her shocking introduction in the game was so well done, I'm kinda sad we won't experience that same feeling in the show. That being said, I have confidence in the team that they know what they're are doing and I'm not one of those fans who needs the adaptation to be an exact copy from the source material, because duh, it's a different medium, with different rules and ways to engage with the audience!
So overall, I would rate this episode a solid 9/10. The standout scene is easily the therapy session, as it shows what the tv medium is able to provide to such a beloved and rich story. The intro to the Stalker variety of infected was a cool sequence, perfectly spooky and well shot to satisfy the need for action. They say we'll get more infected this season, and so far this is a great start. But this is definitely a character-focused premier that takes it's time with our protagonists in their new lives five years removed from the first season. I'm very excited (and terrified) of what's to come!
Have the creators of The Last of Us tried suing AMC over the TWD: Daryl Dixon plot yet? A grumpy older man comes across a child that a select group of people view as special and believe to be immune to a zombie virus, and then the series revolves around him protecting said child? C'mon, AMC.
