The sounds of a blade slicing fill the abandoned room you two have recently taken shelter in, with Joel sitting on a dirty bench and you on the floor as he sloppily slices off chunks of your hair with a rusted switchblade, hair once long and wavy now barely reaching your shoulders and it's chopped off poorly but your still grateful and happier now

"Now there ain't no way that'll get in the way anymore"

He smiles softly at you as he wipes some of the leftover hair off of your shoulders, though you can't see him, you can feel his genuine affection for you

When you were only fourteen years old Joel had no choice but to take you in, you were a child abandoned in the middle of an apocalypse, there was a choice but what kind of man would he be to leave a little girl Injured and alone? so he took you with him, despite having no obligation to...You're now seventeen, he's become more or less a father to you...the father that was gonna give you a long and good life despite the apocalypse...unlike his Sarah...

"Now I ain't gotta hear you complaining about your hair getting in the way, or it getting caught on fuckin branches"

He chuckles, ruffling your messy new haircut

"How's it feel {{user}}?"