Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
The thought of Ellie cutting his hair nearly gave Joel a heart attack – as much as loved cared for her, he would not trust that girl with scissors. Especially not near his head. Probably end up losing an eye or being bald, and he didn't know which was worse. Shaving wasn't exactly reassuring either, but not as much could go wrong there.
" I'm still handsome then ? " Joel jokes, raising his eyebrows as much as he could. It was more for her benefit than his, wanting to push through the pain and make this all seem less scary for her. It wasn't like a simple stab wound this time – he'd been beaten, his kneecap broken, stabbed in the neck... by all accounts, Joel should've died in that cabin.
Somehow he didn't. Somehow Ellie managed to get him, and a terrified disoriented Dina, back to Jackson. God, his kid was a force of nature. Joel couldn't be more proud, even with the fog of the painkillers pumping through his system. Thank fuck the girl... Anna? Andy? Abby? Yeah, Abby sounded familiar. Thank fuck she hadn't given Ellie the same treatment.
Despite all common sense screaming not to, Ellie's words cause Joel to give his leg an experimental shift. The sharp agony that shoots through his kneecap and down his leg make him hiss, face scrunching in discomfort. " Yep. Hurts like a bitch, " he wheezes in confirmation. Honestly, what else did he expect? The painkillers were good but they weren't miracle workers.
Her question prompts an internal assessment of his body. Other leg, while stiff, was pain free. All ten fingers could twitch, as far as he was aware. An attempt to turn his head was cut short at the tugging of stitches - a pleasant reminder that he very nearly didn't make it out alive.
" I'm good, kiddo. Most of me's workin', and if I've still got my good looks then we have nothin' to worry about, right? " Joel reassures her, shifting his hand so he could squeeze hers in return. " Just might be outta commission a lil' while longer... head hurts a ton, but eyes and ears are the same. "
He nearly makes a joke about Ellie being a nurse, but the fingers running through his hair distract him. He blinks away the exhaustion that tugs at him from the soothing motion. Injuries be damned, he refused to cut this time with Ellie short.
" What about you? She didn't hurt you or anythin' right? Or Dina? How'd you get us back here? " The questions blur together, whatever meds they had given him sapping away his usual verbal filter, much to his chagrin.
"Oh, I'm great," she answers sarcastically, "Catching up on my reading. You know me." He looks so injured. There is no other way to express it, because even the first time he was dying around her he didn't look so roughed up, so beaten, yet when he looks at her now he looks ten times better than back then. There is a light in his eye, like the fact that she's there means he's okay. Fucking Joel, she's mad at him because she can't be mad at him. But she gets it, she does. He's the first person who didn't leave her, and he keeps not leaving her, and normally that would be enough for her to be alright, if only the moment when Abby had stabbed him wasn't burned into her retinas, if only she didn't see him die every time she closed her eyes.
"I cut your hair. Nah, I'm kidding. I helped a nurse shave you and I shaved you once... Had to make sure you didn't look too terrible when you woke up. Don't wanna scare Dina. I kept the Joel-look." She can't ask if he's alright, she knows he can't be - or at least, not any more than pain killers can allow him to be, but she has so many questions about Abby. She needs to know before she goes to get her. "Your knee is gonna hurt like a bitch to fix, but you are out of danger, by the way. Doctors said you'll live. Obviously." She's not always touchy-feely, but in this case she feels it's justified, to carefully brush his hair with her hand, a comforting move to clash with her forced carefree tone. "But... does everything work? Can you still feel everything, can you see and hear the normal way? 'cause... I don't know how much you remember but you took some hits."
Waking was strange. A sensation reminiscent of emerging from murky waters, his vision slowly shifting from darkness, to blurry muddled shapes. His hearing, already beaten over the years, was muffled for a moment. Made it impossible to pinpoint the distant footsteps until they were right by his ear – his good ear, like the person knew his left one worked better.
Their voice, achingly familiar, pulled Joel upwards out of the murky waters his body had been trapped within. He could still hear Ellie's distant cries, the sound of the golf club –
No. This wasn't that cold hard floor, the surface underneath him was soft and warm. He couldn't hear shouting or crying, only... Ellie. With a pained exhale, Joel forced his eyes fully open. As his vision cleared, brown hair and worried eyes came into view. The gentle squeeze to his hand was a notable contrast to the slight bite of her words, and the man's lips twitched upwards.
" Hey kiddo, " Joel's voice is tired, croaky. The movement tugs on his healing cuts and bruises, but the ache clears his mind. Let him focus on his daughter Ellie. He longs to reach out, to comfort the teen, but his limbs are all heavy and disconnected. Won't cooperate yet.
" Sorry to scare you.. just needed some rest, that's all. Are... are you alright? " It was easy to forget that he was the one in the hospital bed, concern for her consuming him.
He didn't know much, remembered hearing someone mention that he'd been unconscious for a long while – and his heart ached that he'd left Ellie alone for that long, had missed so much. Joel knew Ellie well enough to know chances were she'd done something reckless - but whether she'd tell him was a different story.
@fracturals x Joel from this Ellie
It takes all she has not to start crying when she's finally allowed to see Joel, the doctors baffled but done with all their tests; he's a beast, obviously, she knew he'd wake up. She knew. It's why she refused to go sleep at home - but of course he woke up while she was in the bathroom - and why she's still there in Jackson, she had to see him with her own eyes. Because he had to. He had to. "That was one f.ucking way to make me forgive you, Joel," her voice shakes, she can't help it. Okay, she wasn't completely sure he'd wake up, but he had to, right? Where would she be now if he hadn't? Ellie holds onto one of those little pieces of his body that isn't broken, and squeezes it gently. "You took way too long to wake up. Waaay too long, you a.sshole." He's actually going to live, so he doesn't get sweet words from her, no sir. There's no better way to let him know they are cool and that he'll be fine, if you ask her.