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Uncle Points

Summary:

“So….” She trailed. Tommy turned to look at the girl, humming. “You won’t tell Joel, will ya?”

“No, I won’t. I promised to not tell your parents, didn’t I?” Tommy assured her with a firm voice, then added, “That includes Joel too.”

“But like Joel is your broth-“ Ellie was interrupted by Tommy’s words. “I gave you my words, kiddo.”

“Also I’m not like a regular uncle. I’m a cool one!”

Or five situations in which Tommy gained uncle points.

Notes:

I wanted to write this ever since ep.6 came out, I finally felt inspired enough to write.

Please ignore any mistakes since this is unedited.

Enjoy reading it :)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Joel loves Tommy more than anything, that much is clear. The fact that this journey only started because Joel was so worried about his little brother says a lot about how important this Tommy is to her Joel. 

 

She was happy that Joel finally got to reunite with his younger brother, really. It’s just there was another weird unpleasant feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach the moment she saw Joel hug that man. 

 

She couldn’t place the feeling. It’s not exactly sadness, but also not anger. It’s something in the middle ground mixed with fear. She’s not certain why she felt the way she did. The only thing she knew is that she didn’t like Tommy at all. 

 

She disliked him even more when he knocked on her temporary bedroom door the morning after the fight with Joel. She disliked him for not being Joel. She disliked him because Joel trusted him enough to ditch her with him. 

 

Joel didn’t abandon her though. He gave her a choice and she chose him without any second thoughts. They left, shit happened and months later they found themselves back at Jackson. 

 

Maria and Tommy were more than helpful in the first few weeks back. They helped them adapt and settle into the safety that Jackson provides which was harder than anyone might think, especially after being on guard for their lives for months.

 

However, that didn’t mean she warmed up to Tommy easily. Afterall, being grateful and actually liking someone are two separate things.

 

Tommy, of course, wasn’t blind to Ellie’s passive aggression towards him. While the girl quickly warmed up to his wife, she didn’t hold the same affections for him. She couldn’t be more obvious about her feelings and he understood. He understood where she’s coming from. 

 

Joel is the closest thing she’s ever had to a family. Of course, she’d feel possessive of him and the fact that Joel actually has him, a real family, unlike Ellie must be threatening. The girl didn’t understand that she’s as much of a real family to his older brother as him. She had brought back his old brother, the one who’d joke around, the one he had always looked up to. So she’s also a real family to him by extension.

 

It’s been so long since the last time Tommy had been an uncle, but he’s confident that he can still ace the cool uncle thing. 

 

That’s why he began to pay more attention to Ellie, trying to find ways to gain uncle points.

 

He started with movies because no teenager has ever refused movies before. Sarah used to love movie nights despite the fact that she used to sleep through almost all of them. 

 

“I was thinking about having a family movie night at ours. What do you think?” He suggested over breakfast one day. Joel shrugged and looked at Ellie to observe her reaction. She simply nodded nonchalantly and it’s settled. Despite her apparent nonchalance, Ellie’s heart did a flip at the mention of the word ‘family’, she couldn’t decide if she liked it or not.

 

They watched Jurassic Park, a movie about dinosaurs -Tommy’s choice- for the sole reason that Ellie is strongly passionate about dinosaurs. He learned that information from Joel and concluded it’d be the perfect way to approach Ellie, using the power of dinosaurs.

 

Ellie stayed attached to Joel’s side during the whole night. She interrupted Tommy’s attempts to speak more than once and she still directed a few passive insults at him but they’re less heated than usual and Tommy counted this as a win. 



*************

 

Tommy had been observing Ellie more intently, trying to find a common ground they could stand on. He noticed what gets her excited and what bores her out and he found out that the girl is in love with astronomy, something he had been zealous about when he was much younger than she is.

 

He remembered the book Joel gifted him on his tenth birthday that talked about all things related to outer space. From the big bang theory to the first human to walk the moon and other great astronauts. 

 

He had been overjoyed by Joel’s thoughtfulness and had read that book a couple of times. He had kept that book for decades even when the outbreak had started, it was among the few things he carried from home. 

 

Time to pass it on, Tommy decided.

 

“I have something for you, Ellie. How about you come home with me?” He suggested while they were working together in cleaning the stables. “Also Maria made some cookies and she wants you to have some.” 

 

Ellie hummed in agreement and went back to work. 

 

After an hour or so, they were both making their way home. Tommy was walking a few steps ahead, Ellie following close behind. 

 

“So what is it that you want to show me?” Ellie broke the silence, raising one eyebrow.

 

“It’s a surprise. I’m sure you’ll like it.” Tommy smiled which caused Ellie to roll her eyes. 

 

Ellie was actively trying to get along with Tommy now, she knew he was also trying. He’s a good man. He’s funny and goes out of his way to make her feel included. 

 

Still she can’t shake off this fear that was slowly taking over her heart, growing there just like cordyceps. She is an imposter among them. Tommy is the walking human reminder that she’s an intruder, the odd one out.

 

She was lost inside her head, she didn’t even notice them arriving at their destination. She was greeted by the great smell of Maria’s baking. 

 

“Hi there, Els!” Maria smiled. “Please take a seat. I’m almost done decorating the cookies.” 

 

Ellie did as she’s told and Tommy kissed his wife and went upstairs. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He announced.

 

“How has your day been?” Maria started the conversation softly.

 

“Tiring.” Ellie simply replied. “These cookies smell so good though!” She added with a smile. 

 

“I’m back!” Tommy spoke loudly. He came down stairs holding an old book. “Here this is for you, kiddo.” He placed the book on the table and pushed it towards Ellie. 

 

Everything Astronomy, The title read. Her eyes widened and she immediately looked up to Tommy, unbelief taking over her features. “Where did you get it from?” Ellie wondered in awe. Tommy smiled and ruffled her hair. She was so excited, she didn’t even mind that

 

“This book was gifted to me by Joel.” He told her. “My tenth birthday gift. I was such a nerd back then. I would always talk his ears off about astronomy, so he saved up and bought me this. I’ve kept it ever since then.” 

 

“But now you’re giving it to me?” Ellie couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice. “Besides, it's a gift from Joel that you clearly value.”

 

“I’ve already read it a couple of times before. I haven’t read it for many many years now. It’s sitting on the shelf only and I think you’d appreciate it more.”

 

Ellie understood what he was trying to say, I don’t mind sharing Joel with you. So she simply accepted the gift and thanked him for it. 



*************



Ellie made friends a few months after moving in. Jesse and Dina. They’re around the same age as her. She started going out of the house more and Joel was very much pleased with this change.

 

However, teenagers were always up for trouble -even in a post-apocalyptic world- which is why Tommy wasn’t really surprised when he caught the three of them in the bar, after dark, attempting to steal a bottle of alcohol. After all, he was once a troublesome boy. Though, that was ages ago. He still remembered the many times Joel got scolded by their mother for not keeping an eye on him. The times where Joel would stay awake, waiting for him to come home. 

 

They all stood with their heads to the ground, ashamed. Tommy sighed with exhaustion. It was a long day and he didn’t have the energy to deal with mischievous children, especially not Ellie.

 

“So whose idea was it?” Tommy interrogated, summoning his best commanding tone.

 

“It was mine.” Jesse and Dina said at the same time Ellie said, “It’s Jesse’s.” 

 

What a fucking traitor, Jesse wordlessly accused the brunette.

 

Tommy held back a chuckle because he’s supposed to be the responsible adult and all. He took a deep breath and spoke again.

 

“Jesse and Dina, you do 2 weeks of laundry, while Ellie does one.” Tommy announced without leaving a space for discussion. “Now, we all forget what happened here. I don’t speak a word of this to your parents and this won’t happen again, are we clear?” They all nodded.

 

“Say it!”

 

“Yes,sir!”

 

“Okay, now you all need to go home.” He walked out of the bar with the three following behind. 

 

Jesse and Dina went left where their homes were, leaving Ellie and Tommy to walk together in silence. Ellie cleared her throat and jogged a little to catch up to Tommy. “So….” She trailed. Tommy turned to look at the girl, humming. “You won’t tell Joel, will ya?” 

 

“No, I won’t. I promised to not tell your parents, didn’t I?” Tommy assured her with a firm voice, then added, “That includes Joel too.”

 

“But like Joel is your broth-“ Ellie was interrupted by Tommy’s words. “I gave you my words, kiddo.” 

 

“Also I’m not like a regular uncle. I’m a cool one!” Tommy cheerfully said and Ellie exasperatedly rolled her eyes. 

 

“No but seriously, I understand the boredom of peace after all the chaos, you know?” Ellie nodded. “I also understand the temptation of doing something forbidden. When I was your age, I used to sneak out and get drunk with my friends. Joel would always be awake, waiting for me to come home. He’d scold me and then our mom would scold us both, the next morning. She’d mostly scold Joel though. Parents tend to blame the oldest siblings because they usually see them as an extension of themselves.” Tommy smiled at the memories and Ellie stayed quiet. 


Joel wouldn’t hate you even if you got yourself in troubles, Tommy was trying to say. He will always be by your side, just like he was by mine.

 

They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached their homes. “Thank you, Tommy.” Ellie said and ran across the street to her home. Tommy simply waved goodbye and went to his own home. 

 

Ellie’s fear was very much still present, however it has stopped growing and has started to fade.

 

Uncle, she smiled, his words ringing in her head as she fell asleep. 



************



They’re all at Tommy’s watching some romcom, when the main character tripped and fell in a water fountain which caused Tommy to laugh out loud and look at his older brother.


Joel seemed to immediately know what Tommy was thinking as realization, and then horror washed over his eyes.

 

“Tommy, no.” Joel warned sternly and Tommy’s grin widened like a devil, “Tommy, yes!”

 

Joel basically jumped to where Tommy was sitting to cover his mouth which caused Tommy to laugh even more.

 

“When Joel was in high scho-“ Tommy tried to speak but his voice was muffled. 

 

Maria and Ellie exchanged looks and soon they were on their feet trying to restrain Joel and pull him off of Tommy. 

 

Tommy took a dramatic deep breath, “Thank you! He almost killed me!” 

 

“Tommy!” Joel, who was now held back by Ellie and his sister-in-law warned again, but it didn’t have the same effect. 

 

“Our story starts when we were in high school. Joel was a senior and he had the biggest crush on this popular girl and he was planning on asking her to be his prom.” Tommy spoke between giggles and shaky breaths while Joel looked like he’d rather be dead than listen to whatever Tommy’s talking about, but he knew he was defeated. It’s three against one. Ellie and Maria were both too invested, they were nodding and Tommy was living for the embarrassment he was causing.

 

“He had this grand plan to ask her in the middle of the school and he even asked her friends to help and all. Everything was perfect according to the plan until Joel tripped and fell into the fountain in front of the whole school because he had forgotten to tie his shoes!”

 

“What happened next?” Ellie asked between loud fits of laughter. Maria was tearing up with how hard she’s laughing. Joel was simply trying not to murder a certain someone.

 

“His crush turned around and pretended that she didn’t see him. He became known to the entire school as the failed promposal guy.” 

 

“What a loser. God, I’m embarrassed for you!” Ellie teased Joel with a grin. Joel was now determined to avenge his dignity.

 

“No because how do you even fuck up this bad?” Maria questioned and Tommy laughed harder, trumphant for making a joke out of Joel. 

 

“You think this one is funny. How about you tell us about Veronica, TomTom?” Joel’s revenge operation had immediately begun. 

 

“No! Today is about embarrassing you, not me!” Tommy basically shouted, but Maria cut him off. 

 

“I think I’m interested in this Veronica.” She chuckled and Ellie nodded in agreement.

 

“Joel!” Tommy warned. “If you speak a word about Veronica, you’ll leave me no choice but to tell them about the time you accidentally dyed your hair pink.”

 

“Joel with pink hair, seriously?” Ellie basically vibrated, “I have to know about this one!”

 

They spent the night hearing embarrassing stories about everyone and the movie became a mere source of background noise by the end of the night.

 

Ellie’s heart swelled with joy, because she finally understood what belonging is. She didn’t even try to belong or fit in, she just did.


In that exact moment, Ellie’s fears withered away all at once.

 

************

 

Tommy and Maria had made extra pancakes and he decided it would be a great opportunity to bond with Ellie by sharing the extra with her. That’s how he ended up finding Ellie crying silently in her bedroom, curled into a ball on her bed. 

 

Joel was out on patrol earlier than usual that day and Ellie had been nowhere to be found around the house when he arrived, so he just assumed she’d be asleep in her bedroom. She immediately wiped away her tears and sat up, when he walked in.

 

 “Tommy, I didn’t expect you.” She tried to sound natural, but failed due to her rough voice and red puffy eyes. 

 

“Hey, kiddo, are you okay?” He slowly approached and sat on the opposite end of the bed. 

 

“Yes, I’m totally fine.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Tommy which broke Tommy’s heart. 

 

“I can clearly tell that you’re not. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, but you don’t have to lie about being fine.” Tommy tried to be as gentle as possible. “It’s totally normal to not be fine, sometimes.”

 

“I know It’s just….” Ellie trailed while picking at the skin around her nails. She didn’t even make eye contact with him which made his chest feel heavier. It wasn’t usual for the talkative girl to be this anxious or at least not that obvious with it. 

 

“You can tell me anything, if you’re comfortable to share then I’d be happy to listen.” He assured her by giving her shoulder a squeeze. 

 

“It’s just so silly. You’d certainly laugh at me.” She was still avoiding his gaze. 

 

“I won’t laugh, I promise.” The older man promised and took one of her hands in his to stop her from hurting herself further. “Also nothing that makes you this upset is silly. If it caused you this much distress then it certainly is anything but silly.” 

 

Finally her eyes met his and she let go of his hand to wipe away a stray tear. 

 

“Yesterday after dinner, I saw Dina and Jesse kissing behind the dinner hall. They didn’t notice me and I left quietly, but for some reason it made my chest feel tight.” More tears came out of her brown eyes as she recalled the scene. 

 

“I don’t like this. Why am I crying because my two best friends are kissing each other? Am I a bad friend for feeling this way?” She aggressively wiped her tears away. 

 

Tommy squeezed her shoulder again to let her know that he’s listening, “That’s totally normal. It’s okay to be upset that your two friends are closer than you thought. I’d probably be more than upset, if I were you.” 

 

“It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad friend, but you also have to know that Jesse and Dina loving each other as more than friends doesn’t mean they love you less. The love you hold for your friends is quite different from the love you hold for your partner, but it’s just as intense.” Tommy said as he looked in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. 

 

“…. Is it also okay, if I wished to be the one being kissed?” Ellie looked down at her hands again. Tommy was stunned into silence for a few seconds, but recovered quickly. 

 

“Of course, it’s also okay.” Tommy stated matter of factly. “Feelings are out of our control. As much as we want to hold them back, they refuse to be held or contained and I think it’s better that way. Humans would be much more horrifying, if it weren’t for their emotions or maybe we’re horrifying creatures because of them, who knows? What’s certain though is that they’re out of our control and we’re not bad for feeling a certain way.”

 

“If I’m a good friend, I’d be happy for them. Not whatever I’m feeling.” She made eye contact with him and all he saw in her eyes was self-loathing. Since he knew she viewed Sarah as the physical manifestation of the word angel, he decided to bring her up.

 

“When Sarah was in 7th grade, she had a crush on her best friend. A blond girl named Madeleine or something.” Ellie’s eyes widened for a second but she kept quiet. “Anyways long story short, one day Madeleine started dating an older boy and she was so in love with him. She talked about him all the time. Sarah would cry every day after she came home from school. She also used to think that she was a bad friend because her friend was so clearly happy, but she hated it. Joel had told her then that the heart works in a complicated way and we are not held responsible for whatever the heart wants.”

 

Ellie’s heart was filled with sudden relief, she couldn’t explain. She didn’t even realize that she leaned forward and hugged Tommy, who was perplexed at first, but slowly wrapped his arms around her back. 

 

The way Tommy talked about Sarah loving another girl, feeling jealous and getting comforter by Joel, like it was the most normal thing in the world made her heart race with joy. 

 

They won’t hate me, whenever I’m ready to tell them. They’ll still accept me as part of their family. That thought alone was enough to comfort her.

 

She pulled away and asked, trying to fill the silence, “How did Sarah get over Madeleine though?” 

 

Tommy chuckled, “She started liking the girl’s brother.” 

 

Ellie bursted into laughter and Tommy joined her soon. 




Notes:

Comments and kudos are very much appreciated! I hope you liked this and enjoyed reading it.