sunshine // joel miller

TWELVE

"I know the polite terms, and my name, that's about it," Fran says to him with a small shrug; "bus driver growing up was deaf, so..."

"Oh," Henry nodded, it was better than nothing; and it made a difference to Sam, "I'm guessing you don't have much, so... this means a lot."

"How old is he?" Fran asked him, staring down at the younger boy with a small smile. Joel in his mind was screaming at her to not create conversation. Don't get attached.

She watches Henry turn to him, asking him the question. The little boy signs back with a smile, still munching away.

"He's eight," Henry answered for him.

"Cool." Ellie nodded her head - there was a six year age gap; but it was better than the oldies she'd been stuck with, "I'm Ellie."

Fran watches Henry sign her name to the boy, Sam offering a nod at her in return before looking to Fran.

"I'm Fran," Fran says to them, signing it for Sam as she says so. She looks to Joel then, the man just staring at her with a slightly annoyed look. She raises her eyebrows at him, before smacking his leg and gesturing to the boy.

"You are not holding a grudge on an eight year old," She says to the man, Sam and Henry looking between them now; "Non essere un bambino. dì al ragazzo il tuo nome."

"Joel." He says to them then, albeit reluctantly. Fran smiles, accomplished, but it goes away at his next words, "Look, you ate, we didn't kill each other, let's call this a win-win and move on."

"Well, I'm betting... that y'all came up here to get a view of the city and plan a way out." Henry stopped the idea, brushing off his hands, "And when the sun's up... I'll show you one."

Fran looked to Joel then, the decision ultimately up to him. He gestures his head back for a talk, and she nods.

"We'll be back," Fran says to them quietly, standing and following Joel to the other room - they could still see the three from where they stood, but the three couldn't hear them if they whispered.

"Why'd you give him your jerky?" Not the first thing Fran expected to hear in their private talk, but not completely surprising from Joel.

"He's a hungry child," Fran defends her actions, "You heard his brother, who knows when they last ate."

"You barely ate your dinner yesterday," Joel argues, "and after your shoulder you need more strength."

"Is this genuinely your main concern?" Fran asks with furrowed eyebrows, "my food intake?"

"No," Joel shakes his head, crossing his arms, "more people, more worrying. We are here to get Ellie out. Not a strange man and his brother."

"It's a man and his baby brother. If this was you and Tommy, wouldn't you want the help?" Fran asks him, him staring her down at the question.

"It's not me and Tommy." He argues instead.

"Hypothetical," Fran shakes her head, "we don't know this place, he does."

"He had a gun to your head twenty minutes ago," Joel argues now, unaware of the three watching, Ellie having spilled all the gossip on what exactly was going on between Joel and Fran.