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skoulsons · 1 year

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Dialing In All Your Pheromones

• gif from @olisgifs

• title from Novo Amor’s song “Terraform”

Relationships: Joel and Ellie

Word count: ~2800

Authors note: Just some father and daughter fluff :) If you ship them I will tie you to a table and force you to eat wet bread. This is the first proper fic I’ve ever written, so please be kind <3 I do have a ton of other wips I’d love to post eventually, if I ever finish them. But, for right now, enjoy this!

Summary: based entirely on this post which sent me into cardiac arrest when I first read it.

(Thank you to my lovely beta readers @ellie-licious @sunflower-0180 @swinging-stars-from-satellites *I was too antsy to post but thank you still!!*)

~~~

Note- I know she rode that one horse into Jackson in episode 6, but we’re going to ignore that for the sake of this. I don’t know, say they just walked them there. Or Ellie sat behind him. I’m just saying that she’s never sat and lead/steered a horse on her own before. Also, I know almost nothing about horses, only what I find out through google. So, apologies in advance if I get something terribly wrong or weird

Ellie never knew comfort like she did right now. A different comfort to her warm bed on a rainy day or even a lukewarm shower after FEDRA school drills around the gym. A comforting presence. A grounding presence that she could touch. The presence her heartbeat would match with and she could steady her breathing alongside. This presence in a man she has her cheek pressed against and her arms wrapped around, her fingers linking together in front of his stomach.

When she’s not bothering him with questions about construction, Tommy, or foods from Before, or she’s not taking a nap against his back, she kicks at his ankles with the tips of her feet. He ignored it the first two days, simply letting out a sigh when she’d tap his boots in a rhythmic manner, clicking her tongue to make a beat. But now, he kicks back at her, a smile on his face as they fight with their boots against Callus’ side. Joel always knew he won after a defeated “ow…” came from behind him as she shifted her weight to rub her ankles to relieve the pain.

“You kick too hard,” she grumbled, placing her forehead against his back and readjusting her hands to his sides.

Joel smiled, “Ain’t kicking you that hard.”

“Then why’s it still hurt?”

“Need s’more meat on your bones, you’ll be able to take it better,” he argued.

“Or you could kick softer,” she challenged, earning a laugh from him. It reverberated through his chest and back and through her forehead, forming a small, almost reluctant smile on her lips at the feel of it. It felt…warm.

“Sorry, kiddo. Not an option,” he smiled, throwing the lightest kick he could to her foot, just to tease her.

“Oh, funny,” she huffed, leaning defeated into his winter coat.

They continued riding a few more hours, passing car pile ups, fallen over utility poles that stretched across every lane, and overturned tractor trailers. They were getting closer to the highway. Ellie’s cheek was pressed against his back again, arms against his stomach as she held onto each of her wrists to keep a tight hold around him. Callus’ trotting kept a slight bounce in their step, and with the added velvet material of his coat and the steady thump-thump of his heartbeat in her ear, she couldn’t help but relax into his back.

Joel turned his head to the side, trying to get sight of Ellie behind him. She had been still against him the last few minutes. “Ellie?”

“Hm?” she mumbled, sleepiness present in her voice.

“You want to switch?”

Ellie perked up immediately, beaming at the salt and pepper mix on the back of his head. “Really?”

“Yeah, before we stop for the night. That okay with you?”

“Yeah, man!” She shouted, excitedly tapping the sides of his arms at a rapid rate, half expecting her tapping to make Joel slow Callus down faster the quicker she tapped.

Joel brought Callus to a stop along the shoulder of the road (old habit with driving, he claims) as Ellie climbed off first, nearly bouncing with excitement as her feet hit the mossy asphalt. Joel climbed down after her, keeping a hand on Callus’ shoulder as Ellie is nearly glowing beside him, stepping up close to the saddle.

“Alright, gimme your foot,” he instructed, squatting down and linking his fingers together underneath her left boot as she swung her right leg over the saddle. Her feet barely reach the stirrup once she’s in the saddle, so Joel leads her boot through as the tip of her boot grazes the iron.

“Hold on to both,” Joel says, handing the reins to her lap once she’s settled into the saddle.

She eyed him sarcastically, “I know, Joel,” she said, grabbing hold of the reins. “You need a hand up, old man?”

“Cute,” he scoffed, putting his left foot through the stirrup and swinging his right overtop Callus, grabbing Ellie’s shoulder briefly to stabilize himself.

“You just doing this so you can kick my feet better?”

“Mmm,” he hums, raising his eyebrows in consideration, a slight smile on his face. It wasn’t his intention, but since she mentioned it-

“No…” she starts.

“I won’t, I won’t,” he reassures.

It was nice. Holding her. Getting to have her against his chest. To keep his arms at her sides as she settles into the saddle.

You’re not my daughter. And I sure as hell ain’t your dad.

He hadn’t meant it. Not really. It was a mess of feelings. His inadequacy and fear. His need for her to be protected, just not by him. And for her to shove him and tell him she cares about him? For him to tell her he cares about her, without missing a beat? Course I do. He didn’t even think when he said it, it came out as clear as any other truth he’s ever spoken to her. Because that’s what it was; truth.

But to say she wasn’t his daughter was the furthest thing from the truth. Over the last three days (their whole journey, really), she was nothing but that. Teaching her how to shoot, start a fire, and do the ‘dressin’’ part of their hunting. Those and the teasing, laughing, bickering, and earth-shattering annoyance with each other is what really sold the family unit. He lied to himself, and he hopes Ellie isn’t thinking about it nearly as much as he is.

Getting to hold her almost felt like his way of apologizing. Of taking back what he said and telling her ‘I’m sorry.’ He’d never say it aloud, but he hopes she gets it, even just a little bit.

“Joel?” She asks, breaking him from his thoughts. “You with me? You haven’t moved or spoken and I don’t exactly know how to get Callus going.”

“I’m good,” he reassures, squeezing her side gently and offering a smile that was more for him than her. “…wait, Callus?”

“Yeah, it’s what I named him. Tommy didn’t exactly tell us his name, so…figured I’d give him one.”

“And you went with Callus?”

“Listen, man, it was the first thing I thought of! Besides, I think it fits him well,” she tries, praising herself at the name she’d given him. “Anyway, I was scared I’d do something wrong and he’d fling us off or something, I don’t know,” she admits.

“He won’t fling us off, kiddo. Well, you maybe…”

“Hey!” She said, throwing her heel back and making contact with his shin.

“Alright, alright. Here-” he started, moving his left hand from her side to both of her hands, grabbing the reins from her as she dropped her hands in her lap. “Hold the reins overhand, like this,” he demonstrated, the reins held securely in the curl of his fingers. “You don’t gotta hold ‘em real tight, just enough so they’re secure in your grip.” He turned his hand over, palm to the sky as the reins draped across his hand. “Show me.”

“Right hand or left?”

“Whichever you want. I use my left so I can draw my revolver or knife easier, but it’s up to you,” he said, reins still draped across his hand.

She brings her left up from her lap, taking the reins from Joel’s hand and holding them as Joel showed her; secure grip in the curl of her fingertips.

“Good,” he said, his left hand falling back her side as his right came up to her shoulder, gently adding pressure. “Release the tension in your shoulders, too. I can feel it all the way back here.”

She rolled her eyes at the comment, but obliged and inhaled deep, held it for three seconds, and exhaled, letting her shoulders fall as she did. Joel’s hand stayed on her until she relaxed, reverting back to her waist when she did.

“Now, for walkin’, It’s easy. You just gotta give him a little squeeze with your legs.” Joel glanced down to where her legs fell, noting how close they were to Callus’ shoulder. “Keep your feet away from him now, cause if they nudge him, he’ll think it’s time to go when you may not be ready,” he explained, Ellie nodding in understanding. “Now, gently squeeze your feet to his side. Gently,” he repeated, wanting them to start slow.

Callus started walking as Ellie tapped his shoulders with her feet, letting them fall back to a more relaxed position in the open air beside him. A toothy grin grew on her face knowing she was the one doing this, not Joel. “Whoa,” she smiled, barely a whisper as the clop-clop of Callus hooves stepped along the pavement.

“How he responds and reacts comes down to your weight in the saddle and any pressure in your legs against him,” Joel explained, Ellie nodding in understanding again as she watched Callus’ mane wave back and forth slightly. “Here, gently tap your feet against him again.”

Ellie did as instructed, tapping her feet against Callus’ shoulders once again. The signal against him made him go from walking to a trot, Ellie letting out a small “whoa,” at the change of pace. Her right hand went to the reins, holding a little tighter to the ropes with both her hands. She felt Joel hold a little tighter to her sides, keeping her steady.

Joel noticed her tightened grip on the reins and he gave her left side a gentle squeeze, as well as attempting a, “hey, relax,” but no words came to him. She didn’t need them. They didn’t need them. One squeeze was enough for her to hear him, and she let her right hand go from the reins, letting her hand fall back in her lap as she inhaled, held for three seconds, and exhaled, letting her shoulders fall again as Callus carried the two of them along in his trot.

After about five minutes of the steady trot, Joel broke the silence. “Alright, Ellie, try and make yourself feel a bit heavier in the saddle and gently squeeze your thighs against him, don’t tap your feet.”

“Feel heavy, squeeze thighs. Gentle…” she repeated to herself, squeezing her legs against Callus gently as he slowed his trotting to walking. Ellie let out a breath as she smiled, craning her neck around to look at Joel, the two of them sharing a smile together.

Joel rubbed his right hand up and down her waist lightly, commending her. “Good job, kiddo.’

“Can we gallop?”

“Ah, no.”

“Joel, please?” She draws out her ‘please’, leaning her head against his chest with a goofy, over-the-top grin on her face.

“You keep askin’ and I may just have to take the lead again.”

“No,” she breathed, a hint of offense in her voice, though sarcastic. She sits up from his chest, her posture straightening as she continues watching Callus’ mane flow back and forth as the clop-clop of his hooves fill their silence

They stay in a gentle walk for miles as the sun sets, creating a glow of orange, pink, and a dim purple across the horizon, stratocumulus clouds highlighted by the contrasting colors.

“Joel?” She asks, voice seemingly smaller than normal. Maybe it’s the exhaustion from a day of traveling. Or maybe it’s the setting.

“Hmm?”

“Look, the sunset.” She throws her right hand up in front of them, pointer finger haphazardly out in a pointing motion, like she needed to point to the incredible painting-like view in front of them that nearly covered the whole sky. His head perks up over her beanie from where he kept it down in thought, taking in the view. It was really nice. He could hear her breathing change to controlled, stable breaths. Content breathing as she paused after each inhale and exhale. Joel smiles to himself as he notices the light from the sunset creating a glow overtop her beanie and one shaping Callus’ muzzle. He smiles to himself, knowing that Ellie’s face is definitely also glowing, and it’s not from the sunset alone.

Ellie lets out a content sigh as she drops against Joel’s chest, letting her weight fall against him. Joel smiles at the contact. This is new for them, really new, but it’s nice. The comforting presence they bring to each other; the security. He’d be lying if he said his heart didn’t grow a size or two with these moments. Or even three or four when he wraps his arms around her a little tighter as she lets out another sigh against his chest, his chin coming down to set atop her beanie.

Joel’s not one to let his guard down, especially not in the open like this. He always has one eye open, one foot in the door. Always looking for an exit or being extra keen on their surroundings, despite his lesser hearing on his right side.

But right now is an exception to that; to what he’s built up so heavily the past twenty years. He unclenches his jaw as his face relaxes in the cotton of her beanie. He holds his own forearms with each opposite hand, arms against her abdomen. He holds far enough up his own forearms that they press against her, keeping her securely held against his chest.

Joel closes his eyes. For a brief moment, he succumbs to the embrace; to the gentle clop of Callus’ hooves, the calm breeze occasionally blowing Ellie’s loose ponytail hairs into the air, and her breathing against his chest. How her shoulders rise and fall with his; how they’re in rhythm with each other.

His lips find the top of her beanie and he inhales deeply, exhales just as deep. It’s so familiar to him, physical touch. Holding her face, snuggling together on the couch for movie nights, her holding his ovenmit of a hand during trips to Walmart, and kissing her forehead when they’d say goodnight. And man if he doesn’t curse at how strikingly easy it is to fall back to those old ways when this little girl is against him, his lips pressed into her beanie.

She turns and presses the side of her face against his chest. “Joel?”

“Hmm?” He mumbles, lips still pressed into her beanie, holding still.

She lifts her face slightly against his chest as his lips struggle to follow her moving beanie. She turns her head a bit more, trying to see him.

“Why can’t a nose be 12 inches?”

Oh, a new one. Joel breathes in and lets a sigh escape his lips, preparing himself for the disaster. He lifts his face from her beanie, “why?”

She sits up straighter, trying not to jostle Callus too much as she tries to face Joel. “Because then it would be a foot,” she answers, trying to contain her giggles by pressing her lips together. She cranes her neck more to try and watch Joel’s reaction intently.

“Wow,” he responds, trying a little too hard to keep his stone cold expression. “That…was terrible.”

“Oh, come on! It was a good one! You’re laughing!”

Joel shakes his head to the side, avoiding the attempted gaze and strain of her neck to see him. “Am not,” he denies, repressing the smile in his voice.

She sighs, turning back around and dropping her posture back against him. “You’re a loser.”

“Oh, I’m the loser? Someone can’t handle a little tap to her feet.”

“You kick me.”

“Oh?” he questions, tapping her right foot gently, but with enough force to send it forward into the air for a second. “I wouldn’t consider that a kick.”

“You’re such an asshole,” she sighs.

He wraps his forearms back around her middle, nearly holding his elbows to hold her close as his layers allow him. He gives her a tight squeeze as his lips find her beanie again. “Mhmm,” he smiles into the cotton, planting a light kiss to it as she relaxes into him. He breathes in the scent of the beanie. It smells like their fire from the night before; the one he taught her how to make. It smells like pine from two nights ago when she mocked his snoring, he mocked hers (nonexistent, but he sure made a convincing argument), and she balled it up and threw it at him, Joel deflecting it into a pile of pine leaves and acorns. There’s a hint of…shampoo? From when they were in Jackson and they had the chance to clean themselves up with hot water and soap.

It smells like Jackson. It smells like Tommy and that blue house they were so graciously given and the stables with that foal ‘Shimmer’ that Ellie seemed to connect with so quickly. It smells like fresh wood and whiskey and home cooked casseroles and morning coffee. It smells like home.

Now, come dawn, we’re going our separate ways.

No, he definitely didn’t mean what he said.

~~~

Tags: @not-so-mundane-after-all (thank you so much for posting what you did) @sentientmasstransit @memelovescaps @tloubraininfection @tlouobsessed @fieldsoftulips @bejeweledmp3 @swol-bear @cassianendor @bluestar22x @elliiewiilliiams @longl0ngtime @dancealongthelightofday @protectorsjoel @joelxmiller @scootkiddo @astrasomnium @fallenstar07

I have just simply tagged you cute people that I always love seeing in my notifications. If you want to be taken off bc you don’t like me or hate fics, please tell me. Or, if you’re someone who’d like to be tagged for any future fics, feel free to ask me :)

#the last of us hbo #joel miller #ellie williams #L writes #tlou fanfiction #idk what else to tag this???

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dilf-din · 11 months

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I Said I’d Never Let You Go (And I Never Did)

Pairing: Joel & Ellie, brief Tommy & Ellie

WC: 2300

Warnings: language, PTSD mention, dissociation mention, allusions to Silver Lake but no explicit details, hurt/comfort

A/N: thank you to my dear betas and friends for looking this one over for me :) @starchild0985 @sunflower-0180

The title is from Have Faith in Me by A Day to Remember which is Joel & Ellie coded if you squint

Ellie and Joel had arrived back in Jackson in the middle of the summer. Warmer days were instantly a welcome distraction as Ellie felt the chill start to uncling from her bones. She started to think that maybe she wouldn’t always feel like this, a prisoner in her own body, bound by skin tainted, stretching so hard to contain her inner turmoil she feared it might snap. She picked at her cuticles until they bled, bit her nails until she couldn’t. Sometimes, she snapped the extra hair tie around her wrist over and over, the sensation keeping her grounded, as if she might drift off and never come back, course charted for the moon, the sky a welcome safety net.

She spent a lot of time in the stables during the warmer months, finding horses easier to talk to than people. Ellie found a particular kinship with Shimmer, a chestnut filly sporting a white blaze down her face. She spent countless hours brushing out her coat, sneaking her apples, and telling her stories. The regular barn workers just smiled when they saw her approaching every day, noticing the way she brightened up when she was there. She had come to Jackson closed off and apprehensive. No one knew the full extent of her story, but anything that made the burdens easier to carry was encouraged for everyone who came through the gates. Besides, she wasn’t bothering anything by being there.

School starting back up in the fall was another routine welcome to both Joel and Ellie. At least he knew where she was most of the day. He tried to give her space. A lot of days, she would wander the woods for hours, perch in a tree and wait for animals to cross through. She was quickly filling the sketchbooks he had found for her front and back. Using pencils until they were barely nubs. She kept her knife on her and used it to sharpen them back into a point as needed. Joel usually found her by the accumulating piles of shavings at the wide base of a maple.

“Supper time,” he would say.

“Almost done,” she would squint, tongue pressed between her lips as she put the finishing touches on a sketch of a starling, pulling wide strokes down then erasing the tips to mimic its shiny feathers. She would then shut her sketch pad and shove it into her backpack, grabbing a low hanging branch to swing down to the ground. Joel always held his hand out to steady her, and she always grabbed it, whether she needed the extra balance or not.

A chill was making its way back into the air as summer wound down. Not having to face the sweltering heat meant she could spend more time outside and less time drenched in sweat. The red hoodie she always donned to cover her bite less likely to raise questions on cool afternoons than ones where the sun beat down, tinging the tips of her ears and the apples of her cheeks a soft shade of pink. She liked blending in, avoiding attention. Enough time had passed now that the two of them were no longer the topic of every conversation. Patrols over the summer had found a few straggling survivors and brought them in to recover and integrate into the community, so she was no longer the new kid.

Life there was slowly beginning to make sense for the two of them. They ate most of their dinners in the meal halls at night. Joel cooked them breakfast in the mornings and packed lunches for them both to take when they went their separate ways. Most evenings, they spent time on the porch reading, or Joel would teach her a few new chords on guitar. She could sight read music like a natural, just picking it up like she had done it her whole life. The library had a few music books on the shelves that she checked out regularly until she memorized every song on the worn pages.

When the moon settled high in the navy sky, and the stars spilled across the horizon finding their place in the mural, Ellie would perch on the front steps and point out constellations to Joel.

“Those three right there make Orion’s Belt. And that orangey looking one up there, that’s his shoulder. It’s called Betelgeuse. It’s 750 times bigger than the sun.”

“Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice,” Joel called over from his rocking chair.

Ellie shot him a confused look over her shoulder.

“It’s from a movie. Michael Keaton?”

She gave him the same look she had given him when he asked her if she knew who Linda Ronstadt was.

Joel sighed, “I’ll see if Tommy has a copy.”

Ellie pushed off the steps with a groan. “It’s getting late, old man. I’m gonna go shower and hit the hay,” she announced, pressing a kiss to his temple. His hand rose to his shoulder to give hers a quick squeeze before she retreated into the house.

“Night, kiddo,” he called after her.

As October faded into November, each morning brought grey clouds that hung thick in the sky blocking out any hope of golden light. Frost regularly crawled up the windows of their home without the sun’s rays to melt it away. Ellie would trace the patterns from the inside with her finger, feeling like a storm cloud was hanging over her, a shadow she couldn’t outrun. She didn’t quite know how to name the feeling. A sense of dread tinged with panic, a heaviness dropping over her shoulders like a thick winter coat.

Joel noticed the melancholy she walked hand in hand with. He would say things like, “I’m here if you want to talk about anything,” before the two of them turned in for the night. She always gave him a sad smile colored with gratitude before declining. She didn’t know how to open up, and he certainly wasn’t going to force her, send her running like a deer hearing a twig snap. She had felt like prey before; she knew what it was like to be hunted.

So, he loved her quietly and closely. Sometimes, he left a note scrawled in her lunch with a crudely drawn smiley face or heart. He brought her every comic he could find, made sure to always save her his dessert or slip her an extra slice of bread at dinner. At night, after she showered, she would always sit on the floor in front of him in their living room. His rough hands never smoother than when they were brushing through the tangles in her hair and separating them into even sections. He lovingly tucked each piece into matching French braids, securing the ends with two small elastics. When he finished, she would lean her head into the crook of his knee and close her eyes. His hand would reach forward and stroke her cheek or scratch the bit of her back between her shoulders.

His touch anchored her night after night. When she felt like she was drifting, out of body, out at sea, his voice was able to call her home. The bright light of his love cut through the clouds, calmed the waves. The two of them were linked together in a way most people would never understand from the outside. The months they spent together forged an unbreakable bond. Each knowing the other inside and out, their tells, their tics, always at the ready to jump in after their friend if the darkness started winning.

Seeing her like this scared the shit out of Joel. He recognized the vacancy in her eyes like it was a mirror of his younger self. He heard the screams for help in the silent moments, when she looked to him with tear-stained eyes and dark circles so deep he feared she’d never catch up on sleep.

The cold weather was starting to take a toll on him as well. He was opting to stay inside and woodwork when he could, passing off some of his patrol shifts to younger folks on particularly windy days. His hands ached with age and poorly healed breaks. He spent a lot more time than usual clutching hot mugs and stretching his tired fingers out in front of the fire he kept blazing in their living room.

Ellie rushed out to school that morning like she normally did. Losing track of time, pulling on her shoes haphazardly with her lunch bag hanging from her teeth.

“Take your hat, it’s mighty cold today,” Joel said as he refilled his coffee cup for the second time that morning.

She pulled it off the hook and over her ears, mumbling a, “Bye Joel!” through her full mouth.

He smiled and watched as she scrambled down the stairs and around the corner towards the town.

She had been looking forward to school lately. Her age group had been reading plays aloud for literature, each person playing their own part. Right now, they were doing The Importance of Being Earnest. She giggled at all the word play, asking Joel to keep an eye out for more books by Oscar Wilde while he was out on patrol.

Mrs. Jones had seen the way she really took to acting out the parts, so when she had to call her name several times to get her attention that afternoon, she started to worry.

“Ellie, honey, is everything okay?” she knelt down in front of her, concern coating her voice.

Ellie’s eyes were glued to the window, thousand yard stare and color drained from her face. She barely registered the figure there in front of her; her mind was somewhere else. Outside the window, snow had started to fall, the first of the season. Once her eyes registered the flurries, she was gone in an instant.

Mrs. Jones peeked out into the hallway and was relieved to find Tommy there, checking some of the heating vents.

“Tommy,” she whispered loudly, drawing his attention away from the ceiling tiles he was fidgeting with. He stepped down from the small ladder and walked towards her with his brows knit together.

“Is everything alright?”

“It’s Ellie, she’s, I don’t really know. I can’t get her to talk to me.”

He nodded and followed her back into the room. She did her best to divert the class’s attention back to her and the play while Tommy knelt in front of her.

“Ellie, darlin’, can ya hear me?”

Her glassy eyes were unresponsive as he gently grabbed the book from her hands to put in her backpack and sling it over his shoulder. He took her hands to help her up, and she followed blindly, stumbling obediently out the door after him. He draped her jacket over her shoulders and pulled her into his side as they exited the building. The wind was biting. He gritted his teeth and squinted for visibility keeping his arm tucked tightly around her. She was heavy and weightless at the same time.

“We’re just gonna get you home, honey, okay?” he said softly to her, trying to constantly whisper reassuring things into her ear, red from the wind. He wasn’t sure how much she could hear, but he wanted her to know that he was there. She wasn’t alone, no matter what prison her mind was holding her in.

The walk to their house was quick on a normal day, slowed slightly by her stumbling steps just now. Tommy got her up the stairs and rapped loudly on the door. Joel heard it faintly from his shop, setting aside the piece of maple he was fashioning into a bookshelf for one of the older ladies in town. He made his way to the front door with a slight annoyance at the repeated knocking, instantly sobering up at the sight of Tommy holding up a haunted looking Ellie.

“I don’t know what happened,” Tommy said, urgently shuffling her inside and helping Joel set her on the couch.

“Snow,” Joel said grimly. He lifted the jacket from her limp frame and tossed it to the side.

“Ellie baby, can you hear me?” he asked gently. Her gaze was locked somewhere behind him. He knelt down in front of the couch, steady hands rising to hold her cold cheeks. “Ellie, it’s me, it’s Joel,” he pleaded.

At the sound of his name, she shifted her gaze to lock eyes with his.

“That’s it, baby. It’s just me. I’m here,” he smiled softly.

She lifted her arms up towards him weakly, and he knowingly rose to sit down beside, her pulling her into his lap. She buried her face in his neck, cold nose sending a chill down his spine.

“I’ve got you,” he promised, pressing gentle kisses to the crown of her head.

Tommy clasped Joel’s shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze before retreating out the door.

Joel’s arms wrapped tightly around her, the smell of his old flannel and the feel of it against her cheek, the sound of his voice calling her name, the scratch of his beard against her forehead all working in tandem to pull her back into the light bit by bit.

He held her for hours like that, steady as an oak tree, arms like branches holding her against his strong heartbeat. He never stopped talking, murmuring against her hair that she wasn’t alone.

“Thank you,” she finally squeaked out, voice barely a whisper, but he heard it.

She felt his lips turn up into a smile, and he pressed another kiss to her head.

“I’ve got you, baby girl; I’m not going anywhere.”

#the last of us fanfiction #the last of us hbo #the last of us #the last of us fic #hurt/comfort #joel and ellie #joel miller #tommy miller #ellie williams

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not-so-mundane-after-all · 1 year

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Fandom: The Last of Us

Title: Don't Praise The Day Before Sundown

Pairings/Relationships: Joel & Ellie

Summary:

One moment Joel says he's in the mood for some shitty puns, and for the first time in a long while Ellie actually feels like trying to deliver. The laugh that erupts from her as she pulls out her pun book feels alien but familiar at the same time, and she welcomes it with open arms. Joel bickers with her over how bad that one pun was, smiling so hard that wrinkles deepen around his eyes, and without even realizing it, Ellie feels something in her chest loosen. And then something unexpectedly lands at their feet — a bomb suspiciously similar to the ones Riley had at the mall. And Joel has about half a second to cover Ellie and push her to the ground before it detonates. ------- The events of the hospital from Ellie's point of view, with small (and big) changes to the canon.

I'm back! FINALLY! UGH this fic took a whole damn month to finish. Seriously, I checked the date when my google doc was created and it says MARCH 17?! What the fuckkk

But it's here, it's done and it's my baby, so ENJOY! I found it chaotic at times tbh but I think I pulled through!

Also, I lost like two days worth of mutuals posts so don't be surprised if you find me spamming your notifications tomorrow. Now? I'm dropping this baby and I'm going to sleep ✌️

Tagging the usual tlou squad - if you're not here but want to be, let me know!

@skoulsons @nooowestayandgetcaught @kirjavasblade @pawprinterfanfic @groguandin @ellieinfected @ellie-licious @twdaryldix @justxfolio @fallenstar07 @jaredpad @memelovescaps @theantiquarianarchive @sunflower-0180 @tloubraininfection

#the last of us #the last of us fic #the last of us hbo #tlou #tlou fic #tlou hbo #joel and ellie #ellie and joel #joel miller #ellie williams #pedro pascal #bella ramsey

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yourkimjaejin · 2 months

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Impressed - A scene from my muse's past in which they tried to impress someone, successful or not

"The first moment that comes to mind brings me back to 20....18? The KBS Music Festival that year. Everybody had there own section of time to do a performance and SM wanted to highlight all of us. or at least try to. It was NCT, Red Velvet, Exo, and Hyoyeon sunbaenim's. It was a lot of moving parts but long story short myself, Juno and Aurora were involved in a couple of sections."

"First we did Punk Right Now with Hyoyeon and Red Velvet unnies. Then we were with Dream for Go/Boss and lastly we performed with Exo sunbae for their song Monster. Now let me preface this by saying I never got to meet to Exo members before this. I never met them during my training so they don't know me and at the time I didn't know them."

"Weeks before the show, a bunch of the nct members got together to learn/refresh our memories on the Monster's choreo. It was more like refreshing because who doesn't know that dance. When we gathered together to practice with Exo, I'm not gonna name any names, but there were a couple of confused faces."

"I can't confirm who said this cause my back was turned. But I heard someone say something along the lines of 'Are we sure they can keep up?"

"Now, I have a bit of a reputation when it comes to proving people wrong. I wasn't nicknamed The Shark during training for nothing. I would advise anyone who wants to challenge me to not to. Cause you'll never win. Cause I won't let you."

"I got so heated extremely quickly. In my head I was like, Who TF are you to assume I can't keep up. To quote the Michael Joradn meme, 'and I took that personally'. I out danced all those boys in every run though. I was mean mugging everyone in the mirror. I think I heard Johnny-oppa telling one of the exo members 'there's a reason Migyeong was called the shark."

"I don't take kindly to be underestimated. By anyone. There aren't many idols in my position. In fact, there's only four, Me, Aurora, Juno and Hannah. And I think that fact alone should inform everyone of how good I am at my job. You worry about you and yourself and I'll worry about me and mine. But I can guarantee I won't need to worry that much." ~ Moxy

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"I think it was during We Young era that this happened. Fans have always wanted to know why there are some scars on my left knee."

"For those who don't know I'm a pretty good skateboarder. One day, the dreamies and I were in the dance studio and Chenle saw some trick video. He asked if I could do any of them. I chose to be a cocky idiot cause I said yes."

"Some of the tricks I already knew how to do but there was one I had yet to try. The 360 ollie heelflip. Essentially you flick the board so it spins in a full circle. During this, you turn your body in a 180 to land on the board then complete the rest of the circle to face forward again. Not the most complicated but it takes a moment to get in down. Even then, sometimes you can miss the board or it could spin too much."

"So I bet Chenle what would be 50 dollars in the America that I could do all those tricks. We met up after practice at the skate park I frequent and I was nailing everything. Time came for me to do the heelflip. I had the blueprint laid out in head on what to do. I went for it, everything was going well........until I over rotated and completely whiffed the landing. I fell on my knee and scrapped it."

"Thing is, I'm not mad about the scrape. You know those are battle scars that I'm proud of."

"I'm mad I had to pay Chenle 50 bucks." ~ Aurora

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Request Prompt: And for the ask game, I’m picking impressed (it can be both romantic, platonic, or proving someone wrong). If you want to do all members, that’s okay, or if you want to do one for this ask, I’ll pick Moxy.

Taglist: @alixnsuperstxr / @1-800-call-ria / @sophrodite / @sunflower-0180

#NCT AG.Request #NCT AG.Moxy #NCT AG.Aurora #NCT AG.Info #nct female addition #nct female member #kpop addition #kpop!au #kpop!oc #kpop!addition #nct female unit #kpop!fakegroup #nct female oc #nct female subunit #kpop female member #kpop fake group #fictional idol oc #fictional idol group #fictional idol community

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