borderline - the last of us.

12. seventy west.

BY THE TIME THEY HAD RETURNED TO ELLIE AND JOEL, the youngest of the two of them was completely knocked out cold. It was getting pretty dark, and they had left the light on so the Zhenyas could find their way back.

On either side of the light was where they slept- Ellie snoring on the right with Lou's sleeping bag next to her, Joel was meant to be on the left with Ralph's sleeping bag next to him.

Driving for ages and ages had somehow made Ralph even more tired than walking places, and he guessed it was because driving was boring. At least when you were walking, you had things to interact with and the Earth around you to admire. In a car, you just sped past it all. Plus, that stupid country song that Joel started playing? Yaaawn.

'Hey.' Joel greeted them, already standing awake and alert with his gun cradled in his arms. He looked tired. He was tired. He had no idea what he was doing awake other than the promise he had made to Ellie, the one that nobody would find them. 'You guys took a while.'

'Not that long.' Ralph insisted, receiving a handful of berries from Lou as she emptied out her pockets and prepared to fall asleep. She shuffled the short distance it took to get to her sleeping bag, rolled Ellie off of it, and was out like a light the second she was under the covers.

Ralph took a little bit longer though. First, he found a safe place for their berries. Then, flicked off the light that Lou hadn't bothered to turn off. Afterwards, he climbed into his sleeping bag. Lastly, he addressed the elephant in the room.

'What the hell are you doing, dude?' He asked quietly, looking over at the man with the gun. He was still staring out into the woods on high alert, like he was about to start shooting the trees. Joel looked at Ralph over his shoulder, barely making eye contact before he turned back around. He raised his shoulders and dropped them in an uncoordinated shrug, another example of him being super goddamn tired. 'Can you go to sleep, then, please?'

Joel shook his head quietly, swaying a little bit on his feet to entertain and keep himself awake.

'You know that I won't be able to sleep if you're not asleep, right?' Ralph murmured, keeping his voice low due to the teenagers that were snoozing not too far away.

'Why not?' Joel asked like it was the only thing that he could do.

'Because I'll know that you're awake, and then I'll want to be awake.' He replied monotonously. Joel didn't dignify that with a reply, and Ralph turned over onto his stomach to look into the forest surrounding them. '...There's nothing out there, Joel. Go to sleep.'

'Sleep is for the weak.' Joel huffed.

'You'll be weak when I murder you.' Ralph threatened emptily. Joel looked back at him. 'I'm serious. Put that gun down and get some shut-eye or else I'll shove it up your ass.'

Joel stared at him for a moment, and Ralph stared right back at him. They had another staring contest, a rematch from last time. Somehow, even though Ralph was far more exhausted, Joel blinked first.

After a moments worth of hesitation, he shuffled over to their beds and placed his gun down, right next to the edge of his sleeping bag. Ralph understood it, but was also too grateful that Joel had finally gotten over himself to pay much notice to it.

Knowing that the bed next to him was occupied, Ralph rolled over onto his back again. He did this at the exact same time that Joel swung his arm back to place his jacket out of the way, his elbow knocking into Ralph's chest.

'Shit, sorry.' He said instantly, reaching down to place his hand over Ralph's heart in an attempt to soothe the spot that didn't even hurt in the first place.