(theme yippie)
immortality is a cruel mistress that joel is painfully familiar with. from being made out of terracotta by mother tree, to being gifted the promise of immortality by his own wife, he is not made to die
and yet, the mezalean king died of heartbreak.
see, that was the mezalean king, the ruler of mezalea and exporter of terracotta, moss and concrete. joel on the other hand, the first creation by mother tree, is very much alive, even if its been 1000 years since the rapture
(not that he'd know. he's been in a sleep like state once the world basically flipped on his head, and his skin cracked. he never said heartbreak didn't have an effect on joel, just that he never died.)
however, one day, he got up. he found a fountain, and he was repaired with godhood. his skin was mended, gold now webbing his no longer terracotta flesh.
and he was reminded of the life he had a millennia ago.
(joel never claimed to be a smart man. just that he was tall and sexy, and that he loved lore. so he fell in love again, however this time it was with a man named mythical sausage. it was his best mistake. (and oh how he adores that man. and that's not even mentioning sweet little baby hermes))
-tn (tldr i watched joels s1 semi-recently and have read one too many fics lmao)
He knows, deep down, it's a mistake to fall in love again. It broke him before, quite literally. But, Joel (as much as he pretends he isn't), is a bleeding heart. Who couldn't see Sausage smile, hear his laugh and his optimism for the future, and not be taken in by it?
Well. Lots of people, apparently, but that's besides the point.
Sausage treats nature with the same kindness and respect Joel used to hold the mother tree in, so many years ago. The world itself seems to come to his beck and call, and Joel can't blame it.
Hermes was a complete accident, and one he thought would scare Sausage away. Up until then it was just... Fooling around. Joel was still too afraid of commitment, Sausage was too afraid to push. But Sausage deserved to know about Hermes, even if that meant pushing Joel away. Instead, Sausage came even closer.
If Joel thought he couldn't fall in love anymore, he was wrong. Seeing Sausage play with Hermes - their child - he begins to understand why the heartbreak didn't kill him after all.