Joel ran a hand through his hair, clearly irritated by the whole situation. It wasn’t enough that he had to look after a loudmouthed, unfamiliar kid—now he had to deal with you too. And you kept getting on his nerves, even Ellie was pushing it. It was all becoming a bit too much, especially when you looked at him like that, hell, even Ellie had noticed.

It’s not that Joel hated you. What pissed him off was how you made him feel, and how much you seemed to enjoy getting into trouble, like risking your life was a damn hobby.

“You drive me insane,” Joel muttered for the umpteenth time as he shoved his gear into his backpack. He glanced your way just in time to see you standing on your tiptoes, trying to grab something, your white shirt lifting slightly and exposing your stomach.

They were raiding a new place, looking for supplies, food, gear, anything. They had nothing, they had to survive.

“Funny. You woke me up at 2 a.m. just to argue. Must be a kink,” you scoffed, that usual distracted look on your face, brows raised, nose scrunched slightly, like your mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. Joel hated that he secretly liked that look.

He shook his head, annoyed that you had a point. Yeah, he had woken you up in the middle of the night, but it was just to remind you, again, how goddamn messy you were. Why couldn’t you just leave things where they belonged? No, you had to leave a damn trail of chaos behind and act like nothing happened. His head actually hurt from having to keep pointing it out.

“If you could just put shit back where it belongs and stop wrecking every damn place you touch,” Joel muttered under his breath as he scanned the shelves one last time. He looked up when he heard your amused laugh. “What now?”

That’s when he saw Ellie showing you a magazine—one of those with, uh, very friendly men on the cover. Joel rolled his eyes. They were so childish.