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“You don’t touch her,” Tommy says. “You don’t fuckin’ touch her!”
“Not really in a place to be making demands, old man.” The man's hand leaves Ellie's hair, coming up to her chin instead. He moves the gun from her temple to the back of her head. She resists the urge to bite him, her teeth clenched. “Gotta be from a settlement. No one who’s been out for long is this clean. No girl stays out long either. Always hiding ‘em behind walls. Don’t leave much for the rest of us.”
Joel’s told her about people like this. People who wander around the country alone or in pairs. Usually very young men who don’t fit into even hunter groups for one reason or another.
“Sometimes they’re even worse than the groups," he'd said. "They don’t got anyone holding them back.”
When Ellie and Tommy are attacked, Tommy is forced to put his own potential for brutality on full display. They deal with the aftermath.
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
10 Jan 2025
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ten mile stilts by marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
10 Jan 2025
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For a long minute, she stands in the hallway with her blanket wrapped around her and takes in the stillness of the house: the shadows pooling beneath the table and counters in the kitchen, the muted thumping of the wind against the siding, the low crackling of the logs in the woodstove. The open staircase in front of her yawns like the mouthpiece of some humongous beast. Joel’s breath is raspy, labored; the chill creeping in under the front door sinks its teeth into her feet. She could close her eyes, she thinks, and she’d be there-
She shakes herself till her vision spins. She’s not there. Colorado and all the horrors she endured there are a thing of the past. She’s here, and she’s now. She’s in her home in Jackson and she’s safe, and Joel-
He’ll be alright, she thinks. Her teeth are chattering. He’ll be okay. He has to be.
*
A blizzard hits Jackson, and Joel is sick.
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
29 Dec 2024
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one more song about moving along the highway by becomethesun for two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
24 Dec 2024
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Ellie goes quiet again, pulling her knees to her chest. Joel has half a mind to turn around and take her home, call off work and let her hang out on the couch watching YouTube videos of other people playing video games, which she seems to prefer over actually playing games herself. But it’s the last week of eighth grade, she should be in class, and on top of that, everything he’s read says that grieving kids need structure, routine, normalcy. He knows it’s what he needs, too. He can imagine how easy it would be for him to fall apart and shut down, the same way he did when he lost Sarah.
But now there’s another little girl, sitting here in his truck, fiddling with the car door lock switch, who’s depending on him to keep his shit together.
—In an outbreak-free world, Joel makes a promise to Tess to look after Ellie. Together, Joel and Ellie navigate life, loss, and something like family. (Featuring cameo appearances from some familiar faces and the healing power of a Taco Bell Baja Blast.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 4,468
- Chapters:
- 1/2
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 18
- Kudos:
- 50
- Bookmarks:
- 6
- Hits:
- 443
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
25 Dec 2024
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All Over Again by Nandorluna for cardigains
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us
18 Dec 2024
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Joel catches the front tire with practiced hands, sets it spinning with enough force to create a soft whirring sound that echoes in the garage's shadows.
“See how the tread’s still in a straight line?” His finger traces the air in demonstration, his other hand automatically shooting out to grab Tommy's shoulder when the boy leans in too close to the spinning wheel – he’s got enough scrapes on his face already, his chin still red and glistening. “Means you didn’t bend the rim.”
“Cool.” Tommy grins up at him. “Next time, I’m gonna use a ramp.”
“You don’t have a ramp,” Joel points out with the roll of his eyes.
The tire's spin gradually loses its momentum, then staggers to a stop. Joel rights the bicycle easily, toe nudging the kickstand into position when Tommy informs him: “No, but I could, if you help me build one.”
Joel snorts. “Now, why am I gonna tell you no?”
--
Joel, through the years; his family, and how he takes care of them - and how they care for him in return.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 1,850
- Chapters:
- 1/4
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 30
- Kudos:
- 33
- Bookmarks:
- 6
- Hits:
- 386
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
19 Dec 2024
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still life: flowers in the hands of a girl by marchflower for mirananananan
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
24 Dec 2024
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Their fragrance lingers on: weak and tepid, drained and subdued, but there.
There: the Rockies on their right and miles of wheatgrass to their left, the sun overhead a pulsing, livid thing. The Nebraskan prairie, its clover that high summer yellow, so tall that it’d tickled the underside of Ellie’s chin when she’d ran through it. That first snowfall in Wyoming, the flakes delicate and wispy, fairy like as they sifted down through the pale pink haze of sunrise. All those nights around the fire, all those days with her feet aching and her nose running and her heart taking flight around her chest. Those first months, before Jackson and Joel’s betrayal, before the university and Silver Lake. Before she was a victim; before she was a broken child, a broken promise.
Before the lie.
*
Ellie and Joel's journey, told one flower at a time.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 20,753
- Chapters:
- 3/3
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 51
- Kudos:
- 109
- Bookmarks:
- 18
- Hits:
- 1,435
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
16 Dec 2024
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Migrating Monarchs by ciaconnaa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
29 Dec 2024
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“I’m still getting used to that.” Ellie tells him. “Someone caring where I am all the time.”
Joel chooses his words very carefully. “It’s my job. I quite like it, if I’m honest. ”
She smiles, a little wry, expression molding into something awkward to hide the tremble of her lip. “Interesting take considering I’m the government equivalent of a last draft pick.”
He hums in acknowledgement. “But you’ll always be my first round pick. That’s what counts.”
or;
It's been twenty years since Sarah died and he fell apart. It's been fifteen years since Tommy couldn't take the heartbreak of helping someone who didn't want to be helped and left without looking back. And it's been ten years since Joel's started to rebuild.
It's day one of fostering Ellie Williams.
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
30 Nov 2024
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sparrows at dawn, ravens at dusk by marchflower for lkay09
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
12 Nov 2024
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Don’t even need to be big, he’d told Sarah once. He tells Ellie that now, watches her face fold and unfold, a flower in bloom. Don’t even need to be big - because what a fucking privilege it is, he thinks, to be twenty years past the end of the world and still holding that dubious honor of cradling all the small parts of a little girl in his hand.
*
Two different girls. One dad.
Because even after the end of the world, parenting doesn't change all that much.
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
12 Nov 2024
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Summary
“I mean-” Ellie licks her lips, swishes a bunch of pieces aside with the flat of her hand. “I mean, do you think, like, old women think Joel is attractive?”
A pregnant pause swells to fill the garage. Then Dina snorts and claws upright on the couch. She sways dizzily. “Oh, for sure.” Ellie squeaks, and Dina goes on, voice sing-songing, “And not just the old ones.”
Jesse says, slowly, bravely, “If we’re being honest, I think Joel’s attractive.”
Ellie falls backwards onto her ass, grunting at the impact. “Oh my God-”
“Tommy too,” Jesses adds, and Ellie throws a handful of puzzle pieces at him, shrieks:
“What?!”
*
Ellie discovers that Joel might be Jackson's most eligible bachelor. Shenanigans ensue.
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
06 Nov 2024
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Let Me Be Your Shelter by MessyDepressy95
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
12 Dec 2024
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“You are not replaceable, I am not temporary.” He’s holding her face in his hands, wiping away the tears that try to fall from the corner of her eyes.
She’s had a shit childhood, one he wishes with every fiber of his being, he could replace for her.
He can do this, though. Be here for her now.
“Look at me kiddo, I know you are not Sarah, and I don’t need you to be. I need you to be Ellie; funny, brave, and so goddamn smart, Ellie.” His heart tugs painfully in his chest as her face screws up in an anguished expression.
“You are enough just as you are, and anybody who tells you different will find themselves laid out for spit’n that kind of bullshit at my kid.” He tucks her into his chest as the first broken sobs burst past her lips.
She might be eighteen, a legal adult, but she’s still just a kid looking for the comfort of a parent.
Something she’s never had before. He’ll be that for her, if she’ll let him.
From now until the earth claims him.
—
Another modern/western vibe. After Ellie ages out of foster care in Boston, she greyhounds it out to Wyoming to work at Miller Ranch, where Joel is waiting in that dad shape of his.Bookmarked by Gemlo4
06 Nov 2024
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battle over something stupid by two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
05 Nov 2024
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“Right,” she mumbles, turning to attach her bedroll to her pack. She’s slower and foggier than usual, and just about every time she has to use her core muscles — which is every time she fucking moves — her back protests as if it has the right to make her feel like shit. With a deep breath, Ellie closes her eyes and centers herself before turning back to Joel.
Fuck, he’s standing right there. Did he notice? She admitted weakness in front of him before, but she’d just shot someone up close for the first time, so sue her. She won’t make that mistake again; Joel won’t appreciate her being a pussy just because she’s in a little pain.
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(ellie williams and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day)
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
05 Nov 2024
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enough of dying species by marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
30 Oct 2024
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“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “He - he’s mine.”
Gil scrutinizes her for a long minute; she tries not to squirm beneath his attention, beneath the heat of his appraisal. She knows what he sees: an impetuous child, a runaway with muddy boots, another girl awash in the great violence of their world. She squares her shoulders, sticks out her chin, and he softens.
“He’s very lucky to have you,” Gil says, and that’s that, but his words stick with Ellie long after he’s gone, after the nursing staff has turned them out for the night. Ellie follows Maria and Tommy home and thinks over and over again how luck has nothing to do with it; luck is so scarce in this world, rarer even than love. Ellie hasn’t seen the likes of it in years. No, it was never luck that drew her and Joel together, once upon a time. It was something greater entirely.
*
Joel survives Abby's attack. In the aftermath, Ellie struggles to heal.
*
Fulfills the prompt: recovery
Series
- Part 9 of Whumptober 2024
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
30 Oct 2024
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the road to nowhere by captainredspade (CodenameArtemis)
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
26 Oct 2024
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Summary
Ellie wakes up in a hospital bed with her wrists and ankles restrained.
Marlene tells her that it's for her own good.
(whumptober prompt: surgery )
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
27 Oct 2024
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in the cold light i live (i only live for you) by marceltheshellwithflipflopson
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
26 Oct 2024
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Five times Joel gave Ellie his coat, and one time he didn’t.
Bad Things Happen Bingo – Shaking and Shivering
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
27 Oct 2024
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leafmold paradise by marchflower for captainredspade (CodenameArtemis)
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
25 Oct 2024
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Summary
But then Joel starts patrol. And he’s gone - outside the walls, without her there to watch his six, to stand on his bad side and hold his rifle for him when he needs to look for something in his bag. He’s got partners, sure, but they aren’t her. They don’t know him like she does: they don’t know the gait of his steps, the hitching whine of his left knee, the beat of his heart. Knowing Joel - the good and the bad and the funny and the painful and the sad- has been her job for a year. It was what she did. But now they’re in Jackson, and things are different. They have to be different.
So she goes to school, and Joel goes on patrol.
And Joel gets hurt.
*
After Joel is injured on patrol, Ellie spirals.
*
Fulfills the prompt: nightmares
Series
- Part 8 of Whumptober 2024
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
26 Oct 2024
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the death of myth-making by marchflower for nicoli_boli
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
20 Oct 2024
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She’s basically ruined everything: Joel and her are off the patrol roster, and everyone in town’s treating her like she’s diseased, and all their neighbors and friends except for Dina are mad at them, or scared of her. She’s never been a popular kid - she’s too loud and too crass and a little too feral for that - but she’s always been moderately well liked here in Jackson, and to have that stripped away so suddenly and for something she can’t control hurts.
And it hurts even more to watch Joel bear the brunt of the repercussions for her mistakes. Joel takes a lot of pride in being a good neighbor and being active in their town. She knows he thinks that this whole thing - her and Jackson, their family and their life - is a second chance for him, and he’s always been so careful not to fuck it up.
And now it’s all gone to shit, and it’s all her fault.
*
Companion piece to "lady lazarus"
In the aftermath of the unveiling of her immunity, Ellie struggles to feel safe and accepted in Jackson.
*
Fulfills the prompt: Emotional Angst
Series
- Part 7 of Whumptober 2024
- Part 2 of like sticky pearls
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
21 Oct 2024
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a quartz contentment by marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
15 Oct 2024
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Summary
“I’m fine,” she says stiffly, and he sighs, rubs the back of his neck, peers up at her.
“It’s alright-”
“I’m fine.”
Her voice is too loud in the icy darkness of their kitchen. Joel stares at her a second longer, throat bobbing, lips pressed thin. “Alright,” he says at last. “But you - if you aren’t, you can tell me. Okay?”
*
During a hard week of winter, black outs roll across Jackson, and one of Ellie's childhood fears rears its head.
Luckily - she has Joel.
*
Fulfills the prompt: childhood trauma
Series
- Part 6 of Whumptober 2024
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
15 Oct 2024
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starved in desert wild by marchflower for lkay09
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
11 Oct 2024
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Summary
It reminds her of that winter on the road, after Silver Lake, when they were both so beaten down that they could barely hunt or walk or scavenge for weeks. They’d sat holed up in that old gas station and ate cold beans and frozen berries and once or twice, some squirrels, some little rabbits. The meat was always stringy and tough; Ellie remembers the way it’d felt going down, greasy and slick, the way it pooled like rancid oil in her stomach. Some nights she’d have to sit propped up all night against Joel’s shoulder and breathe with her mouth open to keep from puking. She never, not once since they’d come back to Jackson, thought that she’d ever feel like that here.
*
After the horde settles in around Jackson, the town faces dire consequences as their food supply starts to run out.
*
Fulfills the prompt: Starvation
Series
- Part 5 of Whumptober 2024
- Part 2 of little girl found
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
12 Oct 2024
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suitcase full of stars by BarlowGirl
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
20 Dec 2024
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She picks up the keychain. It only has one key on it, and it’s a boring keychain, just one of those stretchy plastic bracelet ones that look like hair ties.
But it’s still a house key.
“You’ve known me for less than eighteen hours.”
“Highlight of my life,” Joel mutters.
Or: Another foster kid au!
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 69,511
- Chapters:
- 11/11
- Comments:
- 233
- Kudos:
- 538
- Bookmarks:
- 108
- Hits:
- 11,022
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
11 Oct 2024
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some unimaginable bird by marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
08 Oct 2024
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Maria moans, shakes. She asks for Tommy, then Rafa, then Tommy again, tears glittering darkly on her cheeks in the guttering light of the rocket stove, and Ellie crawls to her side, wedges her aunt’s head beneath her arm, crushes her hand in her’s.
“We’re okay,” she tells her. She’s going for calm, for collected and soothing, but the words keep getting tangled up behind her teeth and the hole up around her keeps going blurry and then sharply prismatic as her tears spill, salty and fast, down her cheeks. “We’re okay,” she says. “We’re okay, we’re okay, we’re okay-”
The wailing of the storm drowns out her lies.
*
While on a trail ride, Ellie and Maria are ambushed by hunters and injured. Ellie gets them both to safety, but she’s forced to stay alert as a snowstorm rolls in and her aunt’s life rests in her hands.
*
Fulfills the prompt: sleep deprivation
Series
- Part 4 of Whumptober 2024
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
08 Oct 2024
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Summary
“This stuff happens. It’s part of the learning process, Ellie.”
Ellie swallows a mouthful of water and sets her teeth against the ache in her jaw, against the argument she wants to make: that she should be done learning, that she’s been scrapping and surviving and training for years now. She shouldn’t have missed that Infected. She shouldn’t have holstered her gun. She thinks about what it’s going to feel like to have to make that report to Tommy, the way his eyes are going to darken in disappointment. The way Joel’s gonna fuss over her stupid fucking head and press his lips together in that way he does when he’s trying not to say what’s on his mind, which is gonna be “you aren’t ready for this” or “I told you so.”
*
Ellie is excited to go on her first paired patrol- right up until she’s bitten.
And she doesn’t realize it until someone else spots it.
*
Fulfills the prompt “not realizing they’re injured”
Series
- Part 3 of Whumptober 2024
- Part 1 of like sticky pearls
Bookmarked by Gemlo4
06 Oct 2024