Gets Ellie into a routine as soon as possible so she knows what to expect in her day-to-day life. Thereās not much he can guarantee outside of their home but he can make sure she eats, does her homework, and is off to bed at the same time every night.
Speaking of bed, heās the dad who has a STRICT bedtime set. He canāt sleep until he knows Ellie is safe in bed and even though sheās a teenager he still makes her be in bed by 10 but he absolutely can be persuaded to let her stay up with a long game of cards, guitar lessons, or a movie.
Before Ellie, he wouldāve been reckless if it meant keeping Jackson safe but now that he knows sheās relying on him he does things slower and safer.
Maria teaches him how to cut hair so he can help Ellie because he knows how hard it is for her to trust other people especially when they have something that could be used as a weapon so close to her head.
Definitely pushedher into the river while teaching her how to swim. She was pissed and didnāt talk to him until after dinner.
Ellie becomes known as āJoelās girlā and neither of them correct anybody who says it
Slips notes into Ellieās backpack when sheās not looking so when she gets to math class and opens her notebook, a sticky note with Joel all-caps handwriting falls out and reads, Why was the toilet paper unstoppable? And on the other side it says, because it was on a roll
He laughed about it for ten minutes before forgetting about it
Ellie secretly keeps all of his notes in a box under her bed
Teaches her how to play football in the spring when all the snow has melted and accuses her of cheating when she scores against him
āHow could I cheat? Itās fucking football!ā āYouāre abusing an old man, you know that?ā
Although Ellie never calls Joel dad, thereās an unspoken agreement between them. Joel hated Fatherās Day after Sarah died but that Fatherās Day they settled, two bouquets of flowers show up on the dining room table with a note from Ellie.
Saw these and thought of you, the note reads. One from me and one from her.
He cries the first time he gets them. He canāt remember the last time anyone gave him flowers.
Lord help the teacher who has to call Joel in for his first parent-teacher conference in twenty years. Everyone is Jackson knows how protective he is over Ellie and her teacher is only slightly terrified of him.
Ellie constantly steals Joelās shirts and he pretends not to notice
Heās always looking for new tapes for her Walkman and asks every group that comes through Jackson if they have anything
Ellie ends up with three new tapes to listen to by the end of their first year of being settled
Joel knows heās probably doing a million things wrong and danger is always lurking and the time they have together is fleeting but he does his best to be good for her. He apologizes when he yells, he shows up to her first guitar recital, and constantly reminds her how loved she is even if there arenāt always words exchanged
Sometimes itās a hug, the squeeze of a hand, or a ruffle of hair but they both know it means so much more. Giving and receiving affection wouldāve been seen as a show of weakness in Boston, a vulnerability that others can play into. Here, love doesnāt have to hide or be shunned to the dark corners of their lives. They can just be.
Who knew Ellie tripping Joel while playing football in the spring meadow meant so much more than anyone else thought?
Tumblr if you delete my last paragraph one more time Iām going to gnaw my arm off
What absolutely destroys me about this moment isnāt just only how Joel immediately flips the switch and becomes so gentle, so loving, so soft when he picks Ellie up, like he hasnāt just shot a doctor in the head without even sparing him a glance or hasnāt slaughtered the entire hospital on his way to this room.
Itās how he takes a tiny little moment to just hold Ellie against him before he picks her up. How he lets himself this moment to just feel her.
joel literally had a sixth daddy sense that reactivated when ellie and the horse got shot at
that man was comatose and practically dead but his girl was in trouble so he activated like a government pigeon and took off to find her immediately, no thoughts except ellie and violence
Thereās absolutely no way that people who blame Joel are actually parents. I would do anything for my child. Joel did EXACTLY what was necessary to save HIS CHILD. Real life parents support Joel Miller.
