[Joel doesn't fight her resistance, no matter how weak. He lets her slump against him and waits, tension settling all through his body in the most exhausting ways. In the back of his mind he's on guard for some sort of attack and it's in that moment that he realizes what Tess meant by what do you know about us? This clumsy attempt to stay close, over something he'd done that she would probably always hate him for, all mixed up with a precise plan to bolt if he needed to.
Shitty people. Fucking bastard. But if she'd known what he'd been through, maybe she'd see his side easier. He has no idea if that's true or if he even deserves that chance. The words to explain it to her aren't coming easy, so he lets her cry against him with his body as still as a statue and-- and then she says shoot me too and he feels his first twinge of doubt. If Tess had lived, all the way to the end, if she woke up in that room with him, would he have shot her too?
Now there's a nightmare he doesn't need. It'd probably be visiting him in his sleep tomorrow night. Joel swallows and puts a hand on her shoulder, and then he slowly turns away to restart his descent towards the exit. Let's get on with it, then.
He almost expects her to pull a gun on him instead. He's on guard for it.]
It was a year. We'd been through all kinds of hell.
[He feels a little pissed off, anger rattling away somewhere inside him like distant thunder. Not really at Tess, not when he knew the wound was fresh-- just an incomprehensible and overwhelming anger that gnaws at him all the while. They'd fought so fucking hard to serve these demands, these needs that other people had, just to give them a chance to steal everything away without asking if that was what either of them wanted. Fucking people. They could always be counted on to screw you over first.]
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Shitty people. Fucking bastard. But if she'd known what he'd been through, maybe she'd see his side easier. He has no idea if that's true or if he even deserves that chance. The words to explain it to her aren't coming easy, so he lets her cry against him with his body as still as a statue and-- and then she says shoot me too and he feels his first twinge of doubt. If Tess had lived, all the way to the end, if she woke up in that room with him, would he have shot her too?
Now there's a nightmare he doesn't need. It'd probably be visiting him in his sleep tomorrow night. Joel swallows and puts a hand on her shoulder, and then he slowly turns away to restart his descent towards the exit. Let's get on with it, then.
He almost expects her to pull a gun on him instead. He's on guard for it.]
It was a year. We'd been through all kinds of hell.
[He feels a little pissed off, anger rattling away somewhere inside him like distant thunder. Not really at Tess, not when he knew the wound was fresh-- just an incomprehensible and overwhelming anger that gnaws at him all the while. They'd fought so fucking hard to serve these demands, these needs that other people had, just to give them a chance to steal everything away without asking if that was what either of them wanted. Fucking people. They could always be counted on to screw you over first.]