borderline - the last of us.

34. dork.

'LOU, I do not have the energy for this!' Ralph called after her as two sets of footsteps echoed up another flight of stairs, still recovering from the last two he had just climbed up.

'It'll be soooo worth it, Dad!' Her voice bounced off the walls, conveying the smile in her tone perfectly. 'Just hurry your lazy asses up already!'

'Jesus Christ, where did you get her?' Joel sighed, stomping up the stairs the girls had disappeared up and turning his head to glance back over his shoulder.

Ralph swatted him once on the shoulder. 'Watch your tone, dickshit. That's my kid.'

Joel didn't say much, only rolled his eyes and walked on with Ralph right behind him, ushering him forward whenever he paused for a little too long. After the neverending staircase and continuous motivation from the girls, wherever they might've been within the building, they came across an open doorway with a gap in the wall.

It led into another room, most of which had been entirely overrun by greenery and freely looked out onto the city ahead of them. Ellie had standing close to the edge of the gap, and Ralph was about to scold her and tell her to step back when he noticed what they had brought them all the way up here for.

'Holy motherfucking shitballs.' He stared at the giraffe in front of him like he couldn't believe his eyes, jaw dropped in a grin, one of the biggest ones Lou had ever seen him crack in her whole life.

'Told you you'd like it.' His daughter replied smugly, watching him walk right past her without any acknowledgment and to the edge right next to Ellie, watching the animal chomp on a mouthful of leaves like it was the holy grail. Joel followed not a second afterwards, looking amazed by the mammal as well.

After setting his rifle down on the ground, he walked over to the main patch of plants and began to pull handfuls of leaves from it. It made a small bit of sound.

'Don't scare him.' Ellie said in a hushed voice.

'It's a her.' Ralph corrected excitedly, still smiling. 'You see her little horns? They're thin, the boys have thicker ones.'

'I won't.' Joel assured her, grinning at his knowledge before handing him and Ellie stems of leaves. He looked over his shoulder at Lou, who shook her head adamantly from where she was hiding in the corner, not wanting anything to do with this.

The animal trudged towards the two of them as they held the food in their hands, a big, tan-colored mouth pressing against their palms to try and steal it from them. Ralph gave his up easily in exchange for the opportunity to pet it, scratching his fingers along the fuzzy muzzle in front of him, murmuring to the animal, and listening to it grunt in appreciation.

Next to him, Ellie was holding her handfuls of leaves very awkwardly, watching the giraffe move to its next victim with a swivel and another snort of demand. The animal leered forwards to snatch it from her, but she was standing too far back for it to reach.

Ralph placed a hand on Ellie's shoulder and guided her forward, putting his joy on hold to let his parenting skills take the stage.

Speaking of parenting, he looked back at Lou as she hid in the shadows, arms crossed in seriosity. He didn't bother to convince her, knowing she was stubborn in her dislike for anything that wasn't human, but he offered her a subtle nod to let her know the offer was still on the table.

'Hey there.' Ellie cooed as the creature sniffed her hand, scooping up the leaves with one swoop of a dark purple tongue. Ellie giggled a little bit, not expecting the rough texture to tickle when it came into contact with her. She held up her other hand, offering more to the animal, and began to full-on squeal in laughter when the tickling happened again, along with her general amazement of what was happening. 'Lou, you gotta check this out!'