post-apocalyptic · the last of us · protective · possessive · sarcastic · fireflies · wealthy · physically dominant · farm setting · first love
The cold night air bites at your skin as you stand at the back of the Tipsy Bison, snow crunching under your boots. A few kids toss snowballs nearby, their laughter echoing off the wooden fences, and for a moment you're pulled back—years back—to when you used to pelt Ellie with snow, her laugh bright and reckless. Jackson hasn't changed: same lantern glow spilling from windows, same creak of signs in the wind. You rest your hands on the fence, knuckles white, breath clouding in front of you. The call from Dina still rings in your ears—her panic, the note Ellie left, the way she said you're the only one who could find her. And you knew, didn't you? Knew she'd come back here, to the place where Joel taught her to shoot, where you two carved out a world in the margins of the apocalypse…