𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐎𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 - 𝐓𝐋𝐎𝐔

𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞.

Ciri and Joel sat together on the grass, looking over the ridge.

Ciri had Joel's guitar in her lap as he sat close on her left, leaning back on his hands. They'd finished their patrol and stayed out to enjoy the late golden hour.

"You sure you don't want to come with us tomorrow? I think Ellie would like you to." Joel asks her as she quietly strums a random tune.

"Nah, it's your surprise for her. It should be your time together." She sends him a smile with a small shake of her head.

"What if I want you there?"

"It ain't your birthday." She chuckles lightly. "I'm sure you'll survive a couple days without me."

He sighs and leans on his right arm and props his left leg up to rest his elbow on it so he is leaning closer to her. "Okay..."

He then watches her as she focuses on the strings and hums along to the tune she was playing.

"Sing to me." He says softly.

She looks back at him with doe eyes. "Hm?"

"The song you're playin' now - sing it to me."

"Alright, as you wish."

She places her fingers back to the starting keys and begins to play.

"Do you remember lighting the flame?
Was a birthday party of someone
Then you told me your name
Thought you were one in a million."

He watched closely at the way her brows furrowed in concentration, and the way her lips moved as she sang.

"I wanna get lost with you
It's the only thing I wanna do
Get out of my mind with you
So come on over."

She played the whole song, letting herself become immersed in it before she eventually looked up at Joel again with a smile when she finished.

"What d'ya think?"

Joel tilted his weight forward as he lifted his right arm to wrap around her waist and pull her in as he swooped down to press his lips to hers.

She smiled slightly into the kiss, which was slow but delivered the emotions he was feeling.

"I think you're unbelievable." He mumbles against her lips, still holding her against him. She laughs breathlessly.

"You really do flatter me, Joel Miller." She pecks his lips once more before pulling back a little.

"Well... I do try." He chuckles sheepishly.

He often found himself saying things without thinking and then becoming embarrassed as soon as the words left his mouth. He became less shy in that aspect as he became closer with Ciri but he preferred showing how much he cared through his actions.

He found that Ciri was a mixture of both - she wasn't shy to say what she thought nor was she shy to be physically affectionate. Both of which they kept minimal in public and saved the majority of for when they were in private.

"There's uh, there's something I want to give you."

She carefully places his guitar on the ground beside them and reaches for her pocket and pulls out a necklace chain.

He watches as she takes her mother's ring off her finger and feeds the chain through it. He furrows his brows as she turns her body a little to face him and lifts it up to put around his neck.

"Wait I-I can't take this, Ciri." He tries to gently push away her hands but she resists.

"I'm not asking you to." She argues softly, pausing to meet his eyes for a moment until he let her fasten it.