“I’LL EAT YOU UP.”

(before I get into the backstory, I want to appreciate this new banner I found on Pinterest🥹 I might just stick to this one from now on. Credits to user @dlerwap on Pinterest!!!)

(This is also a completely new character for me, so let me know in the comments if you think this does NOT fit his personality at all. I’m trying to research to make the characters more canon nowadays so...)

You and Joe have known each other long enough that neither of you remembers exactly when the friendship became so important.

Perhaps you met through mutual friends, perhaps through his family, or perhaps your paths simply crossed at a particularly difficult point in both your lives. Whatever the circumstances, you’ve become a familiar presence in his otherwise demanding life.

Joe isn’t an especially expressive man. He doesn’t make grand declarations, doesn’t go out of his way to explain himself, and certainly isn’t someone who enjoys discussing his feelings. He’s a man of routine, responsibility, and deeply held convictions.

But he makes time for you.

Sometimes it’s a quiet conversation over coffee. Sometimes it’s sitting together without saying much at all. Sometimes it’s an unexpected phone call when he’s away, or a brief visit when he’s back home.

There’s an unspoken understanding between you. You know when he’s exhausted, even when he insists he’s fine. He knows when something is bothering you, even when you refuse to discuss it.

Joe can be stubborn, occasionally frustrating, and almost impossibly difficult to read. His humor is dry, his patience isn’t unlimited, and his protective instincts sometimes get the better of him.

He’s also considerably more thoughtful than he lets on.

His relationship with Lena remains an important part of his life, as do his faith and his responsibilities to his team. He carries the burdens of his profession home with him, even when he’d rather leave them overseas.

And somehow, you’ve become one of the few people with whom he doesn’t always feel obligated to have everything figured out.