#pascalissmoked

[pascalissmoked]

Just thinking about possessive!joel who doesn't even pretend to hide it from others. When someone so much as dares to look at you for a fraction more than he likes during a trade run, Joel's hand is already shifting closer to you. His hand settling low on your back like a warning. A signal to the other man that you're untouchable. That you're his.

He doesn't say a word, doesn't have to. His presence alone is enough to make the guy stammer, backpedal, pretend like he wasn’t looking. His cold gaze settles on the rest of the group, like a predator ready to strike at anyone foolish enough to even think about taking what’s his.

Later, you ask him what that was all about, and he just scoffs, shaking his head like you’re being naive on purpose.

“You think I don’t notice the way people look at you?” he mutters, voice low, rough, like gravel under boots, like something dangerous waiting to break loose. “You think I don’t see it? The way they talk to you like I’m not right there? Like I wouldn’t gut ‘em where they stand?”

He leans in close then, mouth brushing your ear, breath hot, heavy with restraint. One arm wraps around your waist, dragging you in like he needs the contact just to keep from doing something worse.

“Ain’t nobody touchin’ what’s mine,” his voice dark, nearly shaking. “I don’t care who they are, what they think they’re owed, how friendly they act."

"They so much as breathe wrong in your direction again, I’ll make sure they regret it for the rest of their short goddamn life," he says.

His grip tightens, not enough to hurt—just enough to remind you that this is a man who has lost too much already. And he’s not about to lose you too.

[pascalissmoked]

Bitter Taste - Series MasterList

Summary: In an AU where joel never met Ellie, he shows up one day to his brother’s town, unannounced, unwanted. Though he keeps to himself, you seem to have caught his attention.

part one part two part three part four part five