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janaispunk · 9 days

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just close your eyes

chapter 3 • series masterlist

pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader

summary: An injured Joel and Ellie stumble into your home in the middle of the night. Against your better judgement, you decide to help them.

word count: ~2.2k

tags/warnings: post outbreak, slow burn, found family, age gap (sorry not sorry), able-bodied reader, angst, reader has a sad sad backstory and ptsd, hurt/comfort, fluff, eventual smut, vague description of an injury, implied death of a character, the angst is ANGSTING in this one

a/n: once again, i can't thank that jackson joel pedro photo enough for the inspiration that it's brought me. i hurt my own feelings with this chapter, and truth be told, it's gonna get worse from here.

follow @janaispunknotifs for fic updates and find my full masterlist here :)

dividers as always by the lovely @saradika-graphics 🤍

Over the following days, something of a routine forms between the three of you.

Joel spends most of his time resting, asleep more often than not, the shape of him on your couch a picture that you grow familiar with. But as his fever goes down and the skin around his injury is less red than when you first laid eyes on it, you allow yourself the tentative hope that you might have been able to actually save him.

You’re becoming less skittish around him, getting used to his rather gruff demeanor, slowly realizing that what Ellie said was indeed true, it’s not about you. You come to think he just doesn’t like needing and accepting help.

Ellie follows you around like a puppy, eager to soak up every scrap of knowledge that you can share with her. It’s not much, you think, mostly cooking, the task of turning supplies into various meals, given the limited resources that you have in this world. You like having her around, the almost constant stream of chatter and questions never annoying you.

It fills your usual silence, helps keeping you grounded in the present. Most of the time.

Now that you have company, it becomes painfully obvious to you how much time you spend in your head, just sitting and staring straight ahead, lost in your thoughts, oblivious to the time passing. You have taken to having a book open in your lap, to make it seem like you’re reading, but you find yourself looking down at the page without seeing it, not sure when you last turned it.

It’s not what they would have wanted, you keep telling yourself, trying to shake yourself out of it. Well, it’s not like anything happened the way we wanted, the bitter voice in your head answers.

If Ellie or Joel notice, they don’t ask about it. You hear their voices in the night sometimes, both of them sleeping in your parents’ bedroom now, since the couch was starting to hurt Joel’s back.

You don’t lock your door anymore, leaving it ajar, just like them. The thought of someone else being down here with you is soothing you, the fear of them being a possible threat basically nonexistent at this point. Instead, a different kind of fear sets in.

They haven’t talked about where they are going, but you know that they’re not gonna stay forever. Once Joel is completely healed, and winter has given way to spring, they’ll most likely be off again, leaving you on your own again. You don’t want to grow attached, but it’s difficult not to, while being with other constantly.

You and Joel are taking longer to warm up to each other than you and Ellie have, but you’ve gotten used to having him around you. It’s a quiet, but trustworthy, reassuring thing, his presence in your space. Now that he’s healing, he’s someone who you trust to take responsibility, to take care of things if needed. You’re not sure how you know, but you’re certain that he is.

One evening, Ellie finds the DVD collection that’s stashed away in the cabinet under the small TV in the corner of the room. You hadn’t watched anything in forever, not sure if it’s even still working, but her enthusiasm makes it impossible to turn her down.

Even Joel pipes up at the prospect of a movie night, crouching down next to her to sift through the DVDs. They’re both drawn to the shitty action movies – usually not your preferred taste, but you find the corners of your mouth lifting when they both turn around simultaneously, looking for your approval of their choice.

Joel pushes himself back up with a grunt, pressing the button on the TV and making it spring to life without issue. You settle deeper into the couch cushions, pulling a knitted blanket over yourself as you watch the opening credits play.

It’s so comfortable, so normal, and you want to get lost in the feeling in a way that makes your heart ache. Ellie sits down beside you to share the blanket while Joel stretches his legs out on the other couch. A smile is tugging at his lips when he catches you looking at him, but it can’t hide the wariness in his eyes, mirroring your own. It’s the feeling of things being too good to be true, the fear of nothing good ever lasting, of the world crashing down around you again, that always accompanies you, and without asking, you know that he feels it too. You cast your eyes back to the screen, trying hard not to get yourself lost in the fear, but to enjoy the moments of peace while they last.

Ellie loves the movie, her eyes wide at every action-packed sequence, gasping at every explosion. At one of the more absurd scenes, you can’t contain the burst of laughter that bubbles up your throat. You’re unexpectedly joined by the deeper rumble of Joel’s, a sound that you haven’t heard before.

You glance at him, to find his eyes already on you, an emotion in them that you can’t place. Neither of you say a word, both quietly returning your eyes to the TV.

When you’re lying in bed later that night, you still feel the smile on your face.

While your closeness with Ellie came quickly, almost taking you by storm, it’s a quiet, slowly growing thing with Joel.

It begins with him lingering in the kitchen when you’re preparing the morning coffee, asking you questions about the place, about keeping supplies, electricity, the safety measures. He helps you with cooking, grumbling about giving something back when you protest.

He’s gruff, no comparison to Ellie’s lively chatter and endless questions, and it makes you nervous at first. But you get used to him, his more quiet demeanor, his dry humor. You can tell that he’s trying hard not to scare you again, avoiding sudden movements or getting loud, and while you appreciate it, you also can’t help but wonder how broken you must seem from the outside.

He doesn’t ask prying questions about your past, how you’ve come to live here all alone, though you have to imagine that he’s curious. You don’t ask him about his either, even if you do wonder how he and Ellie ended up together. It’s a quiet mutual understanding and you’re grateful for it.

You have to believe that he had his fair share of loss in his own life, that the both of them had; an inescapable reality at this point in the world’s history.

It’s like a silent camaraderie when he catches your eye as Ellie is reading out puns to the both of you once more, rolls his eyes in a way that still holds so much love for the girl next to you, but that fills you with the urge to giggle. It stops you in your tracks the first time it happens, the sensation so unfamiliar to you that you can’t place it for a second.

When you smile at him, the corners of his mouth rise ever so slightly as well, before he huffs an exaggerated sigh at the joke that you just heard. It riles Ellie up, just like he wanted to, you suspect. But you block out her bickering at him, busy with your own thoughts. One thought in particular, one that you haven’t had about anyone since you were a teenager.

Joel is kind of pretty when he smiles.

The both of them have also taken to working their way through the bookshelf that’s taking up most of one of the walls. It’s mostly guidebooks on hunting, gardening, self defense, anything that your father deemed possibly useful. Over time, you had added books from your old bedroom, the one upstairs, that you had hastily carried down the stairs, hoping for the familiar words to give you a sense of normalcy in a world where nothing was normal anymore.

Joel sometimes talks to you about them, asking your opinion on which ones to read, discussing their contents with you. Over time, you realize that he does it when you’re zoning out, pulling you back into reality with the drawl of his low voice next to you. You’re thankful for it, not used to being cared for like this, but also mortified that as it seems, he does notice when you’re too deep inside your head.

It’s one of those afternoons, you’re just about to start preparing dinner, when Ellie asks if you have more books somewhere, about something cool. “Like what?” you reply, an easy smile on your face.

“I don’t know,” she shrugs, “like comics, maybe? Ohh, or something about space?”

It takes a moment before the words register, before they form a picture in your mind, the memory of exactly what she’s asking for. You stop in your tracks, frozen on your way to the kitchen. Your toes dig into the carpet beneath your bare feet. A faint trembling starts in your hands and slowly spreads through your body.

Ellie says your name, an edge in her voice. You’re not sure what your face looks like.

Your wide eyes find hers, looking up at you from where she was spread out on the floor, her hair splaying out over the scratchy rug, one of your books held over her head. You had joked about how that position couldn’t be comfortable a few minutes ago.

You see Joel from the corner of your eye, slowly raising to his feet from the couch cushions. It feels like you can’t breathe, like you’re sucking in air but it doesn’t reach your lungs.

A large, warm hand lands on your shoulder, making you jump. Joel rubs soothing circles over your back, your name a low rumble on his lips.

“It’s– it’s not a problem if not,” Ellie murmurs, sitting up slowly, her eyes flicking between you and Joel, uncertainty written over her features.

You force a shuddering breath in, using the sensation of Joel’s hand splayed over your back to ground yourself. Nodding your head, you will your voice to travel up your throat.

“Yeah no, I– just a second.”

Joel repeats your name, more questioning this time, but you ignore it, feet carrying you into the bathroom where you quickly shut the door behind you. Skin stretching over your knuckles, you stand over the sink, gripping its edges to stay upright.

It’s what he would have wanted. He would have been so happy to share them. It’s true, you know what.

You’re not sure what’s worse. Going in there yourself, crossing the threshold of a room that you haven’t entered in years, haven’t even opened the door to, or letting someone else do it, let them disturb the memory of a reality that you’ve tried to preserve in there. Too painful to touch, but too important to let go of.

Steeling yourself, you return to the living area. Ellie and Joel are sitting close to each other, both of their heads flying up at the door opening. It’s obvious that they have been talking about you. You bite your lip.

Ellie rises to her feet slowly, takes a tentative step toward you. “Listen, it’s not that important really–” She sounds like she’s talking to a skittish animal.

You shake your head, not trusting your voice not to betray you. With a deep breath, you cross the room to the door beside yours. One of two that you keep firmly closed.

It creaks on its hinges when you open it slowly, your hand shaking on the handle. You try not to look around, to keep your eyes closed to the truth that nothing changed in here, and yet everything changed. It’s stuffy, stagnant air that’s been untouched for too long, but it smells like him. Like he’s still here with you.

You don’t see the unmade bed, still carrying the trace of the last time he got up, the stuffed lion beside the pillow. Don’t see the half finished drawings on the desk, or the mess of action figures in the corner. You grab the stack of comics from the nightstand, ignoring the way your vision blurs at the edges. Move on to the shelf, smaller than the one in the living room, blindly picking out random books.

When you step out of the bedroom, quickly pulling the door shut behind you again, neither Joel or Ellie have moved. You can’t meet either one’s gaze, don’t want to see the expression in their eyes.

Ellie takes the stack of books from your outstretched hands, murmuring a thanks, and you sense that there are more words on the tip of her tongue. Questions, apologies, you don’t know and you don’t want to.

Turning on your heels, you escape into your own room, closing the door as quickly as you can before you collapse on your bed. Tears flood your eyes in time with the memories flooding your head, threatening to pull you under and drown you under their waves.

You hear their muffled voices through the door, but neither of them comes to disturb you. You’re thankful for it, not needing anyone to witness you in this state. Eventually, you drift off into sleep, your mind gladly giving way to unconsciousness.

The following night is the first time that Joel has to shake you awake from a nightmare.

thank you for reading 🤍 if you liked this, please consider reblogging, leaving a comment or sending an ask, it truly makes my day every single time!

#pedro pascal #joel miller x reader #joel miller #the last of us #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x you #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x female reader #pedrostories #janas fics #fic: safe and sound

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puppetmaster13u · 2 months

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Prompt 263

Once More, we return to Tiamat prompts.

It was a wonderful idea, really! If one of them couldn’t break the barrier, then surely their combined might would do it! And it had! It had worked, even if their remaining humanity was sacrificed. They’d done it, they’d made it where everyone could escape, could leave!

… Except for them. Someone had to close the portal. And it all would have been fine, if not for the remnants of the GIW. One last hail mary from the imbeciles, they all supposed. Trapping them here within the Zone.

Separated from their families, from the pair of children they had agreed to raise. At least their siblings would watch over Ellie and Jordan. Kyle could hide them, make sure they were safe. Jazz… Jazz was gone, the final straw in this plan.

They screamed, they raged, they destroyed in grief for those that didn’t make it, and for those who had but had nowhere to go. No portals opened, even as they tore at the green around them. They fought, any that thought they were weak, that they were merely a beast, an abomination trapped in chains of science and gold.

There was nothing that could be done, Frostbite had said, sympathy in his voice. No way to turn back the clock with how entwined they had become, Clockwork had explained. The only thing they could do was wait, Pandora had tried to sooth, despite it doing nothing.

They wrenched open the coffin in a hazy fury, tearing apart armies like it was blades of grass. Their maws devoured dead who had lost themselves and become mere husks and thralls, lashing tails ripping through armour like it was nothing.

And then as titans, they clashed with the one who had once stolen the city here. There was no desperation from them this time, no armor besides scales unbreakable as flames and storms and ice and thorns ripped islands apart. There was no desperation besides that of their opponent’s.

There was a pleasure in their victory, before it was wrenched away. What use was a crown when their family wasn’t there? When their daughter, their son, their children were not there by their side?

Paulina laughed, hysterical as ectoplasm dripped from her maw as Kwan howled. Their body was covered in it, their rampage that had no use, no reason leaving a trail of destruction behind them. Is this what they wanted?

No.

Danny raised his head from the dissolving corpses to look towards the obliterated roof of the Keep, once so terrifying now turning to dust like the crown. The crown reforming above their heads, heavy and almost choking.

They would carry this weight together. Would restructure things, would do what they had wanted to do for Amity before the Barriers. They’d work together to rebuild the Realms, make it safer, make it safe for those newly dead.

No matter how long it took, no matter how hard it would be to fix the destruction they had wrought in this meaningless battle. (“Danny, you’re the spokesperson,” Sam spoke up, thorn-like scales ruffling. “You’re most familiar with the realms thanks to the Infinimap.” Fair. “We’ll need allies, we’re only nine people.”)

(“Let me talk to the egyptian afterlife,” Tucker sounded exhausted, hood folding back. “I’m most familiar with them… Star, Paulina, you’re both Princess Dora’s favorites-”)

(“We can do it. Just give us time.” “Maybe a to-do list.” “Clockwork. We need to talk to Clockwork, he’d be most familiar with this.” “Rest first, nerds. We’re all… exhausted.”)

(Valerie laughed tiredly, blades melting to heal a broken horn. “Time isn’t linear here Dash. You know that. I know that. For once we’re the ones with time to spare.” It would take years to get things up to snuff. Make things Safe for when they could bring their families here.)

Their eyes opened as the now flimsy chains shattered, a smile stretching across the shared face of their humanoid form. Soon. They could return to the mortal realm soon. Just a little more, and they could see their little ones. They'd waited a thousand years, they could wait a few days more.

(also have sketch)

@fairy-lights-and-blobs @radiance1 You both seem to enjoy my Tiamat prompts/Aus lol

#DCxDP #DPxDC #Prompts #dp x marvel #The Class Pulls a Tiamat #Ghost King Danny #But Not Really it’s All of Them #Reminder for who is part of the Ennead: Danny/Dash/Sam/Tucker/Val/Paulina/Kwan/Star/Wes #They adopted Dani & Dan #Why yes there is a couple of “cults” from people from Amity #Liminality causes increased lifespans but those who were merely contaminated are long dead #This is also a bit of another Au #Ghost Kings have subconscious influence on the Realms (hence why all the ghosts were so fighty) which means~#Ghosts are Dragons #At least now they are #People outside the Realms aren’t aware that Pariah is no longer king thx to the large amount of destruction #Some poor hero or vigilante is going to try and stop this Portal thing #And end up in the throne room to their instant regret #The Ennead’s shortest form is still like 15ft (4.6m) & in dragon form is far above 200ft #Kyle is able to hide the truth while the truth can’t be hidden from Wes #Why yes the Ennead have been removed from their humanity a bit over time #it's been a while for them

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jksprincess10 · 5 months

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Playing Santa || Joel Miller x reader

Summary: Joel dresses up as Santa for the kids of Jackson. It shouldn't turn you on as much as it does.

A/N: Thank you to Jett @morallyinept who inspired me with her Santa!dieter. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.

Divider by @saradika

CWs: Inappropriate uses of a Santa costume, some fluff, some references to Sarah's death, established relationship, riding, half-clothed sex, fingering, bj, rough sex, dirty talk, unprotected p in v because this is a fantasy world and no one can get pregnant, some usage of "Santa" in a dirty situation, the usual. (1500 words)

Joel Miller masterlist

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It did take some convincing for Joel to play Santa this year for the Jackson kids. It was truly a group effort – with some coercion and some puppy eyes. Tommy even used his young daughter as the perfect bait – imagine how much it would make her happy to see Santa. Traditions lived on in Jackson, even though nothing made sense anymore, they wanted some kind of normalcy for the children.

You help your boyfriend dress up in his large obnoxious red velvet pants, a matching jacket, a big belt, and shiny black shoes. You tie the fake beard on his face and put the fuzzy Christmas hat on his head.

“How do I look?” he asks as he turns around to let you see all of him. You bite down a smile.

“Like the sexiest Santa I’ve ever seen.”

He rolls his eyes, but you can see redness matching the color of his costume on his face. You pull on his jacket to bring him to your level and kiss him sweetly. Joel’s hands are on your ass, pulling you dangerously close. You put your hands against his chest and push him away slightly.

“Come on Santa, you’ll have this gift later, but you have to do your part first.”

He groans in response, but lets you drag him out of the house you share with him and Ellie.

You help to make sure all the kids get a chance to sit on Santa’s lap and receive a gift – mostly handmade stuff by the community – knitted plushies, wooden trains, etc. You also make sure Ellie doesn’t laugh too much at Joel’s misery, but she mostly spends time with her friend. Joel genuinely looks happy – you catch him smiling and taking his role seriously, with a deep voice and exaggerated laughs. It makes your heart swell up with love for your man, and you hope this experience is somewhat healing for him.

You help Tommy and Maria clean up the community center, and they leave you the key to finish up cleaning so they can put their daughter to sleep. You assure them you’ll take care of it – after of course, taking care of your personal Santa.

The beard and the hat came off a long time ago, and his jacket is open, exposing the tight black t-shirt he wears underneath. Joel is sitting on Santa’s chair to take a break, his big thighs spread wide. You try not to devour him with your eyes as you approach him to sit on his lap. His hand rests against your lower back as he presses a sweet kiss to your warm cheek.

“The kids seemed very happy. You did good, Joel.”

There’s a sadness behind those big brown eyes that you can feel. You know he thinks about Sarah, and every holiday without her doesn’t get easier.

“I know she’s proud of you.” You add as you press a kiss against his nose.

He hums in response and decides to change the subject to something less uncomfortable. “Was promised a gift, earlier, I reckon.” he drawls.

You roll your eyes and grab his chin to kiss him deeply, before sliding off his body slowly, until you’re on your knees in front of him. You work open the comically large belt.

“You don’t have to-”

You shush him and slap his hand away. “I want to.”

He helps you pull down his velvet pants and his boxers. You circle his half-hard cock, pumping him slowly until it gets bigger in your grasp. You drag the tip of your tongue on the tip, collecting the salty pre-cum. He hisses at your attention and rests his palm in your hair, not pulling nor pressing. You wrap your lips around his tip, sucking softly, taking him deeper until you stop at your hand holding the base.

“So good fo’ me…” Joel slurs, his head thrown back against the big chair. You moan at his words, letting your voice vibrate around him.

You pump him excruciatingly slowly, hollowing your cheeks to accentuate the sensation of your warm mouth. He groans appreciatively and you take that as a sign to pump him a bit faster in your mouth. He groans, frustrated, as he grabs your hair to pull you off. You sit back on his lap with a sly smile.

“What?”

“Don’t make me come so fast like a goddamn teenager.”

“I’m sorry.” You lie with a smile.

He brings you closer, so you straddle his lap, your arms around his neck. You lean down to kiss him deeply, sucking his tongue between your lips, swallowing his moans.

“Lemme touch ya baby.”

“Will you fuck me too, Santa?” You smirk.

He groans in discouragement. “Dirty girl. Yes, I will.”

Joel’s hand sneaks under your black velvet skirt until he finds your soaked panties. “All this fo’ me, hm?”

Your forehead rests against his shoulder as you feel your cheeks heating up. “Yes.”

“M’so lucky.” His fingers trace your clothed center, before he slips your panties aside. Two of his digits caress your seam, collecting the wetness there, before circling your clit in the way that he learned you loved. You muffle your moans against his coat. Your hands grab him tighter, as if you’re scared of falling with the intensity of your pleasure. “I got ya, baby.” he whispers against your ear, before pressing a kiss below your lobe.

He sneaks one of his free fingers between your walls as he keeps teasing your clit with vigor. It’s ridiculous how fast he can get you where he wants. You feel your body tense, before going limp in his arms. He leads you through your orgasm like one would lead an orchestra, touching you with precision and purpose. You shake in Joel’s grasp and let out a silent moan.

“Good girl.” He rewards you in a soft, honeyed voice.

“Fuck me, please.”

“Please, who?” He teases.

“Please, Santa.” You grimace and you don’t wait for his approval before you grab his cock and lead it between your folds until it notches at your hole. You take him in inch by inch, slowly, until you’re completely sat on his lap. He looks at you with adoration, his hand resting on your cheek as he steals a kiss from your lips.

“You take me so well, baby.” He praises in the shell of your ear, making you shiver. Sometimes, you wonder if you could come undone only with the sound of Joel’s voice. You lay your hands against his broad shoulders for leverage as you start moving up and down his length slowly, each one of your moves letting you feel him completely. His head rests against the chair, his eyes half closed, and mouth slightly opened. He looks so good like this; just letting you take what you want from him.

One of his big hands rest against your lower back to help you move, respecting your rhythm. You feel Joel’s tip hitting the inside of you just right, and you let your moans come out freely of your parted lips. He thrusts up, joining you in the languid thrusts of your hips, making you let out a silent scream, your eyes rolling in the back of your head.

“God, Joel…” You let out breathlessly.

He thrusts a few times, before grabbing you from your waist and pulling you off him. You watch as he gets up, big figure towering over you.

“Hold on to the chair.” He says as he leaves a playful slap on your butt under your skirt. You do as he says, your hands grabbing on to the chair’s arms, putting your ass up for Joel to take. He grabs on to the skin there, kneading your flesh, as he uses his other hand to guide his cock back in, between your wet and accommodating folds. You grab on to the chair harder, knuckles going white as he fucks you fast and hard. You chew on your lip to keep yourself from screaming, as you’re still in the middle of the community center in a well-visited street of Jackson.

“Will you come on my cock, baby?” His body bent over your back; he bites playfully at your earlobe after whispering those dirty words.

“Y-Yes Joel, please, please don’t stop.”

After a few more harsh thrusts, you feel yourself spasming around his cock as a new wave of slick wets him. You almost go limp as you ride out your orgasm, Joel holding you up with his strong arms as he chases his own high.

“Want me to fill ya up, uh? Want Santa’s little gifts?”

You almost laugh at his words, but you agree with a small “yes”. You feel him burst inside of you and register him putting your underwear back in place, one of his arms still holding you.

“Best Christmas gift.” He chuckles.

“Let’s go home, Santa.” You help him pull his pants up. “We don’t want to ruin Christmas’s magic for any kids.”

#joel miller #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller smut #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you

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punkshort · 4 months

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look what we've become - ch.9

Chapter Summary: Joel nurses you back to health and you come to a startling realization about your future together.

Chapter Warnings: language, descriptions of some injuries, fluff, protective Joel, soft Joel, little bit of angst, lots of feelings, smut (18+ MDNI), fingering

WC: 6K

Series Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

After arriving back in Jackson, you ended up spending nearly three weeks in the infirmary. Your injuries were worse than you thought. From what you could remember, Bill said you had some internal damage along with several fractures and sprains. The cut in your leg was infected, but fortunately Eugene's group did manage to successfully trade for the rest of the antibiotics before everything happened in Salt Lake City.

You ended up sleeping quite a bit in those weeks, but Ellie told you later that Joel hardly ever left your side. She had said she would get into arguments with him, trying to convince him to take turns at your bedside so he could go home and rest, but he refused.

"I don't know which one of you is more stubborn - you or him," Bill mumbled to you as he gently removed the IV from your arm. You chuckled, your eyes finding his broad form outside your bedroom talking quietly with Tommy, just out of earshot.

"Definitely him."

You were grateful Bill let you go home, but he insisted on doing house visits twice a day until you were on your feet. Most of your superficial wounds had healed but you were still very tired and weak. Bill could see improvement every day, and he said that's all that mattered.

On his way out, Bill stopped to check in with Joel, no doubt updating him on your condition and any medicine he would have to administer for you. You watched his face as he listened intently, his brow furrowed as he looked down at the bottles Bill handed him. You had to stifle a giggle when you saw him squint at the label and hold it further away from his face.

While Joel and Bill continued to talk, Tommy slipped past them and into your room, giving you a grin as he plopped down in the chair next to your bed.

"Lookin' good," he said, making you laugh and then wince, gingerly touching your ribs.

"Liar," you said, and he chuckled, his eyes raking over your face, taking in the scabs and yellow bruises with a sigh.

"Just wanna let you know, we cut off all trades with 'em," he said, his voice taking on a serious tone.

"I figured. I know they had a lot of things we could use - "

"We'll find those things somewhere else. Not worth it," he said, cutting you off.

You nodded and cast your gaze to the side.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he replied, tapping his foot on the floor. "Maria said she was gonna stop by later after work, you think you're up for it?"

"Yeah, of course," you said, although you honestly couldn't tell these days. It seemed like you fell asleep at the drop of a hat.

"How's Ellie?" you asked him. Whenever you asked Joel, he frustratingly just gave you the most basic information. She's fine. She's in school. Think I saw her with a couple girls the other day.

"She's adjusting real good. She's been stayin' with Julia, but I'm not sure it's a permanent solution for either of them." He eyed you carefully as your gaze drifted over his shoulder at Joel, who was walking Bill down the steps to the front door. "You got any ideas?"

"Me?" you asked, looking back to him now and raising your eyebrows in surprise. You knew what he was implying, and he just nodded.

"I would love it if she wanted to stay here, but I'm pretty sure Joel wouldn't like that, and I really don't want to push him right now. He's so stressed, Tommy. I can see it in his eyes. He's not sleeping well, and I'm worried about his blood pressure -"

"Have you talked to him about it? About the kid?" Tommy asked, and you shook your head.

"No, but he made his feelings pretty well known when she first got here."

"Lots happened since then. He might surprise you," Tommy said, standing up with a grunt. You frowned and opened your mouth to question him further when Joel walked through the door, his gaze falling on his brother.

"Just headin' out, don't worry, I know she needs her rest," Tommy said, sneaking you a wink as he headed towards the door. You thanked him for visiting and listened to them walk down the stairs, their voices fading the further they got until the door closed and all that was left was Joel's heavy footsteps slowly coming back up. He reached the door and leaned against the frame as he gave you a small smile, but you could see how exhausted he was. His eyes looked bloodshot and his shoulders sagged.

"Come here," you whispered, and he quickly pushed off the wall to come to your side.

"What'dya need, sweetheart?" he asked, glancing at the cup next to your bed, making sure it was still filled with water. "Hungry?"

"No," you said, shaking your head, but he looked at his watch and mentally did the math.

"You'll have to eat somethin' soon with your meds, what can I make you?" he asked, and you shook your head again.

"Can you please just lay with me for a while?"

He hesitated but you reached out to drag your fingertips against his wrist, urging him closer to the bed, and he gave in.

"Alright, only for a few minutes," he said, rounding the end of the bed and collapsing onto the covers with a groan, sliding his eyes closed in relief.

"I wish you'd rest more," you murmured after you gingerly rolled yourself onto your side so you could look at him. "I'm worried about you."

He chuckled and turned his head to the side to look at you in disbelief.

"You're worried about me? You're jokin', right?"

You reached out to lightly brush a stray curl away from his eyes, choosing not to reply. You knew it would be a losing battle anyway.

"Can't rest," he said, staring at you with his eyes all soft. "I'm not sure I'll ever be able to rest again."

"Why?" you asked, your brow furrowing.

He shook his head, his eyes still pinned on yours and you watched them slowly fill with tears. You gave him a look of concern and inched a bit closer to cup his face, the pad of your thumb swiping over his rough beard as you waited for him to open up.

"I'm sorry," he finally whispered, his voice thick as he tried to hold back his tears. "It's all my fault, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault -"

"I keep lettin' you down. Over and over again," he continued, a tear slipping down his cheek. "And I just wanna tell you that I understand now. 'Bout all of it. Why you're so scared 'bout havin' a family or gettin' married. And it's fine, I won't bring it up again, alright?"

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" you asked, searching his face for answers.

"I can't - " he paused and took a deep breath before trying again. "I can't take care of us. I thought I could but it's clear I can't when all this bad shit keeps happenin'. But if you'll still have me, I'll be right here, okay? I'll take whatever you wanna give me, I don't care 'bout any of that other shit anymore. I just want you."

"Slow down," you said, trying to wrap your fatigued mind around what he was saying. Your grip on his jaw tightened before you continued. "You never let me down, do you understand me? You are the only fucking thing that kept me going the past few years. Without you, I would be dead. I would have died that very first day. I owe you my life, Joel. How do you not see that?"

He just shook his head, refusing to accept what you were saying, so you kept going.

"I should have just been honest with you, but it took me a while to figure out why I was so scared about - "

"You don't need to explain - "

"Let me finish," you said, and he clamped his mouth shut. "It's not you, Joel. Well, it is. But not for the reason you think."

He frowned, blinking back tears as he waited for you to continue.

"It's because I love you so much that it scares me." You could feel your own tears forming now, but you tried to push through. "If something were to happen to you out there and I was left all alone, I don't know how I could go on." You swiped away a few tears that fell as you spoke. "And I'm terrified of getting married because if you die, that day will haunt me, Joel. Every single year when the anniversary comes, I - "

You stopped for a moment, your breaths coming in short gasps. He tried to shush you and pull you closer, but you shook your head.

"I'm not strong enough," you finished with a small sob. This time, you let him pull you into his chest while his big hands cradled the back of your head, patting down your hair, soothing you.

"Does that make sense?" you blubbered, pulling back to look at him.

He nodded slowly, his eyes raking down your face.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Thought I wasn't gonna get you back after they took you. Thought I lost you forever."

The two of you sat in silence for a minute, lost in each other's eyes, the truth finally spoken and swirling around the quiet room as you both clung to the other, just grateful to be alive.

"But you did get me back," you finally said, breaking the silence. "You did that. You saved me. Again." You ran your finger gently over his bottom lip and he gave the tip of your finger a little kiss.

"You might think you can't keep me safe, but in reality, you are the only reason I'm still here." The puzzle was finally piecing together in your mind as you spoke.

"That's not true," he said immediately. "Every situation that's put you at risk could've been avoided if I had protected you more. I wouldn't have to save you if I didn't put you in harm's way in the first place."

"But this is the world we live in, Joel. None of us will ever truly be safe ever again. And it's not because of something you did. It's just a really shitty hand we were all dealt and now we have to figure out a way to make the most of it and survive." You paused for a moment, something in your brain finally clicking as the words came tumbling out.

"We can't let fear run our lives," you said softly.

He looked at you, your gaze fixed on the wall behind him as what Maria said so long ago finally made sense. It was like you were seeing through the fog. Like a weight was lifted off your shoulders and you could breathe deeply for the very first time.

It took you and Joel to finally have a raw and honest conversation, but you thought you understood what she meant now.

"You okay?" Joel asked, clearly confused. You let your gaze fall back to him and you grinned.

"Yeah," you said breathlessly, then tugged him forward so you could press your lips against his, your fingers curling around the back of his neck to hold him against you.

You weren't afraid anymore.

A few days later, you woke up to the sound of the front door downstairs swinging shut. Your eyes snapped open and you strained your ears, trying to listen to the muffled words through the closed bedroom door.

"Told ya to be quiet, she's tryin' to sleep," you heard Joel say.

"Sorry, the fucking wind took the door from me and this stupid backpack is so heavy. Why do I even need to go to school? Who cares about this stuff anymore?"

"I do, 'cause it keeps you out of trouble and outta my hair."

"Ha, yeah right. You know both those things are impossible, old man," you heard Ellie scoff.

"How the hell old do you think I am?"

"The way you can barely read the instructions on the back of that pasta box? You don't want me to answer that."

You grinned as you listened to the two of them bicker amongst themselves. You weren't sure when it happened, but at some point in the past several weeks, Joel and Ellie finally seemed to have a breakthrough in their relationship. You wanted to ask, but you didn't want to draw attention to it. The two of them were so alike in so many ways that you knew if you pointed it out, they would pull back and stop making progress. So in the meantime, you just enjoyed listening and watching them whenever you got the chance.

With a small grunt, you pushed yourself off the mattress and swung your legs over the side of the bed, taking a moment to catch your breath before reaching out and using the end table to support your weight so you could stand. Walking was getting easier; the worst part was still the healing gash in your thigh. Bill said the knife one of Amy's men used must have cut through some muscle, so you were slowly building your strength back up by taking very short walks around your bedroom every day.

With small, careful steps, you managed to get to your bedroom door and open it quietly, listening to Ellie helping Joel make spaghetti in the kitchen while she told him about her day. You stopped at the top of the stairs and peered down.

"Ellie?" you called out softly.

You heard a spoon clatter on the counter and Joel's heavy footsteps jog to the foot of the stairs. He looked up at you with a towel in his hand, worry etched across his face. Ellie quickly joined him and looked up at you with a grin.

"What's wrong? Why're you up?" Joel asked, taking the steps two at a time.

"Nothing!" you said with a smile as he reached the top and wrapped an arm around you gently to help steady you. "I just wanted to see Ellie."

"I thought you were asleep," she said, bounding up the stairs.

"C'mon, let's get back to bed," Joel urged. You sighed and allowed him to lead you back to the bedroom, but you chose to sit on the edge of the bed instead of getting back under the covers like he clearly wanted you to do.

"Come on, tell me what's going on out there. Joel's not much of a gossip," you told Ellie with a wink, and Joel huffed somewhere behind you, fixing the sheets.

"Well, Maria wants to get married the second you're back on your feet. Says she wants to do it before she starts showing," Ellie started, and you felt the mattress dip with Joel's weight next to you.

"Yeah, she told me that already. What else? How's school?"

"It's alright. I met a few girls, we hang out sometimes."

"That's great!" you told her, happy that she was acclimating well. "How's Julia?"

Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes at the mention of the older school teacher who graciously let her live with her.

"She's nice, but she's just got such strict rules. I've gotten into it with her a couple times when I was late for curfew," Ellie admitted, looking down at her fingers twisting in her lap.

"It's important that you listen to her, y'know. She's just lookin' out for you," Joel said softly, and you had to tuck your chin against your chest to hide your smile. He was so sweet with her now, like he had known her his whole life, and it took some time getting used to hearing it.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ellie said sullenly. "I just get so bored. She spends her evenings planning her lessons or knitting. Knitting! It's so quiet over there, I feel like I'm going to lose my mind."

"Well, why don't you move in with us?" Joel asked with a shrug. Both you and Ellie froze, your eyes widened in shock. You slowly turned your head to the side to look at him, unable to form words.

"What?" he asked, swiveling his head back and forth when neither of you said anything.

You were about to respond when Ellie jumped up excitedly, about to wrap her arms around Joel's shoulders, then stopped herself.

"Really? Can I?" Her eyes darted between you both, a huge grin plastered across her face.

"Yeah," you said breathlessly with a nod. "Yeah, of course you can." You tried your best to blink back the tears that were quickly forming.

The three of you heard some hissing coming from downstairs and Joel leapt up, muttering about the water for the pasta as he clattered quickly down the steps, leaving just you and Ellie.

"Holy shit," she said, still grinning.

"Uh, yeah, 'holy shit' is right," you said with a chuckle.

"You didn't have anything to do with that?"

"Me? Nope," you said, quickly shaking your head. "Although it was on my mind, I just never found the right time to talk to him about it."

"Wow," she muttered, sitting on the bed next to you. "Guess he doesn't hate me, after all."

"Told you," you said, nudging her shoulder with your own.

You sat in silence for a moment, deep in thought while you listened to Joel muttering to himself in the kitchen. A smile played across your lips at the sheer domesticity of it. A feeling that you never thought you would get to experience just fell into your lap when you least expected it.

"I never got a chance to ask," you began, and Ellie turned her attention back towards you. "Does anyone else know?"

She shook her head.

"When you were passed out in the truck on the way back, Joel told me he had to tell Tommy and Maria but then he got so distracted with you at the infirmary that I guess he never got around to it."

You hummed and nodded, wondering if Joel truly forgot or if he changed his mind. Either way, you knew it would have to come out some day, but you had hoped it would be on Ellie's terms.

"And what did he tell Tommy? About the Fireflies?"

"The truth. Well, mostly. Just left out a few things. He told him they were working on a vaccine and that they kidnapped you, obviously."

"But how did he explain why they took me without telling him they really wanted you?" you asked, your pain killers making it tough to keep up.

"I told them they took people to experiment on," she said. "I thought that's what they were doing, anyway, at first."

You chewed your lip for a moment, eager to learn more but careful about pushing her too far.

"How did you guys find me?" you finally asked. You had tried to get the story out of Joel multiple times already, but he kept dodging the question, and the curiosity was getting the best of you.

Ellie's body stiffened next to you. She straightened her back as she took a sharp inhale of breath.

"He didn't tell you?"

You just shook your head slowly.

"Well, we, uh, went back to my aunt and uncle's house," she said, dropping her eyes to her lap. "He figured out they were the ones who called the Fireflies to come take you. Or, I guess me, but whatever."

"Oh," you said softly. You hadn't expected Ellie to know about any of that.

"It's alright, Joel told me after you were taken. That you thought they might've sold me off," she said, as if reading your mind.

"Ellie, I'm so sorry," you said, but she just shook her head.

"It's fine," she said, but you could see in her face she was hurt. After a moment, she added "it worked out in the end, right? I found you guys."

You gave her a tight smile as you felt the swell of emotions rising up your chest, squeezing your throat. You cared for Ellie so deeply that you were almost inclined to agree with her. Even though you were just as happy to have her in your lives, it still made you sick to think about what she had to endure to get there.

Then, you realized Ellie never elaborated about their return visit. You glanced over at her and wanted to ask, but decided against it. She looked upset enough, and if it was anything like you saw at the hospital, you preferred not to bring it up.

Joel startled you both by appearing silently in the doorframe.

"You girls ready to eat?"

Girls. The way he said it warmed your heart.

"So long as you didn't burn it," Ellie said teasingly as she stood up from the bed. "I'll bring some up for you," she said to you over your shoulder as she headed down the stairs.

"C'mon, lemme help you get back in bed and I'll get your tray," Joel said, but instead you held out a hand to stop him, making him look at you.

"Thank you," you whispered, cupping his face with both hands.

"For what?"

You smiled at him and he lifted an eyebrow at you, amused but curious.

"For giving me a family."

It took a few weeks, but your bones eventually healed and you were able to get back to work. Maria would only schedule you for half days and you argued that you could do more, but by the time you got home after only four hours, you had to admit you were exhausted.

Bill told you it would take some time for you to feel like yourself again, that it was completely normal and that you would need to build your strength back up. You had to constantly remind Joel you needed to start doing things for yourself, but he would still do whatever he could to keep you from getting up too much.

Joel heard you sigh from the bathroom and within seconds he was in the doorway, buttoning up his dress shirt with a tie draped loosely around his neck.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," you said quickly as you continued to stare into the mirror and fidget with your hair. "I can't get my hair to look the way I want it."

"I think you look beautiful," he said, sauntering over with his shirt still untucked to wrap his arms around your waist from behind, gazing at you in the mirror while he planted a quick kiss to your neck.

You sighed and tilted your head to the side, encouraging him to explore your neck more. You arched your back just a bit, pushing yourself back into his hips, causing his arms to stiffen around you.

"No funny business," he murmured against your skin, and you grinned.

"Not even a little funny business?" you teased, and you felt him chuckle lightly against your back.

"Nope. We're gonna be late," he said, pulling back suddenly but giving you a small tap on your ass with his palm before he walked away.

You glanced at the time and gasped quietly. He was right. Tommy and Maria's rehearsal dinner was in ten minutes, and even though it was just a handful of you at their house, you still didn't want to be late. Maria spent too much time planning this wedding and the last thing you were interested in doing was setting off the short fuse she had developed over the past couple weeks.

Quickly, you put on some old lipstick and fixed your dress before turning off the bathroom light. Joel was just finishing up knotting his tie, leaning forward a bit with his lips parted as he watched himself carefully in the mirror above your dresser and you had to resist the urge to push him down on the bed right then and there.

Ever since your energy slowly began coming back, so did your desire for Joel, but he was adamant about waiting until you were feeling better, which just left you feeling crazier by the day. You weren't sure if it was because you were finally on the mend, or maybe it had something to do with your breakthrough with him, but you found yourself feeling a lot needier than usual.

"Ready?" he asked you before running his fingers casually through his curls once more and walking over to you. You nodded, your lips pressed together as you glanced down at the blue shirt and navy slacks he picked out.

"You look good," you told him, your tone suggestive. He smirked and took your hand, leading you out of the bedroom.

"Ellie, we're leavin'," Joel called out to her, ignoring your compliment. "There's leftovers in the fridge!"

"Okay!" she called out, the sound of her music softly flowing through the floorboards as you made your way downstairs.

"Should we bring any pain killers in case you start gettin' sore?" Joel asked.

"No, I'll be fine."

"You sure? 'Cause-"

"Alright fine, we can bring them," you relented, just eager to get out of the house at this point. You pocketed them in your small purse and the two of you headed out towards Tommy and Maria's house, luckily arriving with two minutes to spare.

"How are you feeling?" you asked Maria as she greeted you with a warm hug.

"Me? What about you?" she said with a laugh.

"Oh, I'm fine! I want to hear all about you and what the future hellraiser is putting you through."

"She ain't fine," Joel said behind you, turning his head away from his brother. "Bill said-"

"Bill said I need to work on building up my strength. To me, that's fine," you told him, and he rolled his eyes.

"You two are so alike, it's scary, you know that?" Maria asked, leading you into the kitchen for a drink. You smiled and waved when you saw Carrie and Jake, along with Eugene and another woman who you thought was named Tina, but you couldn't quite remember, rounding out the rest of their wedding party.

"So really, how have you been feeling?" you asked her, taking the glass of wine she offered you.

"Nauseous, but it's getting a little better. And tired. Oh my god, I'm so tired all the damn time, it's crazy!"

"Oh, wow," you said, taking a sip before adding "you aren't even showing yet. How far along did Bill say you were?"

"I'm close to the end of the first trimester, thank god. He says that's when the nausea usually goes away and I should get some energy back," she said, checking the oven briefly before straightening back up. "But enough about me. How are you two?" she asked, nodding subtly towards Joel in the living room with Tommy and now Eugene.

"Better. Much better. We had a good talk after we got back, and I think we're on the same page," you said, glancing around the room at the others, making sure they were out of earshot.

"What page is that, exactly?" she pushed with a smirk.

"He's okay with not getting married or having kids," you replied with a noncommittal shrug. She narrowed her eyes at you and you frowned. "What?"

"Is that what you really want, though?"

"Well," you said, glancing around once again before lowering your voice. "I've come around to the whole marriage thing, but I don't really know how to tell him. I feel like I keep jerking him around and I don't know what to do."

"You need to be honest with him," she said immediately, and you rolled your eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I just made this huge fuss -"

"It doesn't matter. This is your life, you have to do what's right. He might be confused at first but you know he will be so fucking ecstatic he will forget all about it, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," you said, glancing over your shoulder to watch him laugh with Tommy, a glass of whiskey in his hand. "I just need to figure out how to tell him."

"And kids?" she asked, causing you to whip your head back around.

"I'm not there yet. But maybe one day," you finally admitted, making her squeal out with excitement and causing the rest of the guests to look your way.

"Sorry! The chicken just came out perfectly!" Maria said with a giggle. You laughed with her as you locked eyes with Joel and he raised a curious eyebrow at you. You shrugged and gave him a quick smile before turning back to Maria.

"Alright, enough of that. What can I do to help?"

"You sure you ain't in any pain? Maybe you should take somethin' before bed," Joel said as he watched you wince when you leaned over to take your heels off.

"I'm okay, I promise. It's the damn shoes," you explained, sitting on the edge of the bed and rubbing your calf. "Was I this annoying when you were hurt?"

"Worse," he said with a grin before sitting down next to you and taking your legs over his lap, his own fingers taking over, rubbing the sore muscles and doing a far better job.

"Thank you," you said breathily as you closed your eyes and leaned forward so your head was resting on his shoulder. You sat in silence for a moment, his strong hands digging into your calves, content to be in your shared home with Ellie safe and sound, right down the hall.

"Joel?"

"Hm?"

"Something's different," you said softly, your eyes still closed.

"What'dya mean?" he murmured, his lips pressed against the top of your head.

"I feel... safe," you said, opening your eyes a bit and staring at the wall across from your bed, his fingers still working your legs.

"That's good, baby," he whispered.

"No, I mean..." you paused, searching for the words, not sure how to say it. "I mean I'm not scared anymore."

His fingers paused as he absorbed your words, trying to figure out what you were saying.

"That's... good," he repeated, not quite understanding. You sighed and tilted your face up to look at him, your arm stretching up to wrap around his neck, pulling him down for a soft kiss. Another time, you thought. You'll figure out how to explain it another time.

You slipped your tongue past his lips, your fingers raking through his hair as the hand that was once on your calf slowly migrated up past your knee and to your thigh. Greedily, you nipped at his bottom lip and leaned backwards so you were flat on the bed, Joel partially on top of you while your lips moved faster, leaving quick, desperate kisses against his mouth.

"Hang on," he whispered, but you kept going, your heart slamming in your chest. Now that you felt him on top of you again, it was sparking a fire between your legs.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked jokingly, pulling back a bit and pinning your wrists into the mattress, your chest heaving.

"Please, Joel," you begged, not caring how pathetic you sounded.

"C'mon, you know you ain't ready yet. You're still healing," he mumbled sweetly, pressing a soft kiss against your forehead.

"I am ready," you promised, but he just shook his head.

"We got a big day tomorrow," he whispered in your ear before sitting up, his weight no longer pressing against your upper half. "Let's just go to bed."

You pouted as you sat up next to him and he grinned.

"Ain't gonna work on me, sweetheart."

Then, an idea occurred to you. You shrugged and stood up, walking towards the bathroom as you slowly unzipped your dress, letting it pool at your feet only when you were in the safety of the small room. You turned around, hand on the door, only wearing your underwear as you took in Joel's slack jawed expression, his eyes slowly raking up and down your nearly naked frame.

"I'm gonna shower," you said quietly, his eyes still glued to your body. "You wanna join me?"

You could see the conflict in his face, trying so desperately to hold back and keep a clear head.

Finally, he forced himself to shake his head. You pouted again then shut the door, but not before sliding your underwear down your legs first, giving him a little show.

The water had barely gotten warm enough to step under the stream when he ripped open the shower curtain and stepped into the tub. You looked at him and smirked.

"I thought you said -"

He silenced you with his mouth covering yours, pushing you up against the cool tile while his knee slotted between your legs and his hand slowly drifted down your stomach. You gasped and smiled against his mouth when his fingers pressed exactly where you needed him.

"You need me that bad, huh?" he murmured against your mouth, and you nodded.

"Yes," you whined, arching your back off the wall, your wet body pressing up against his as his fingers dipped inside you and dragged them back out, smearing a mix of your arousal and water expertly over your clit.

"Can't be too loud, now," he reminded you, swallowing your breathless moans as his fingers circled faster. Your nails dug into his shoulders, holding on tightly as he brought you to the edge way too quickly, months of not being touched by him finally coming to a head.

"Joel," you whispered, burying your face into his neck as you felt the muscles in your stomach tense. He wrapped his other arm around your waist, holding you up just in time. Your legs went lax, your arms and Joel the only thing keeping you upright as you felt the coil in your belly snap, your sounds muffled against his skin and the water beating down around you.

"Better?" he asked when you finally found the strength to hold yourself back up. You nodded, your eyelids drooping, but you still slid your hand down his stomach. Right as you were about to wrap your fingers around him, he stopped you.

"Not tonight," he said, and you frowned. "It's late. We gotta get to bed."

If you weren't so exhausted, you would have put up a bigger fight. You leaned into him as he gently massaged shampoo into your hair, your eyes closed, blindly letting him direct you under the water to rinse before he got started on your body, his strong hands spreading the soap over your skin in circles.

He helped you get out of the tub and wrapped you in a towel as he dried your hair, his own body dripping water all over the floor. You lazily watched him work, a slow smile creeping across your face. He noticed and raised an eyebrow at you.

"I like it when you take care of me," you explained, and you swore you saw a little bit of pink dust his cheeks. He led you to bed, tucking the cool sheets around you as he brushed your damp hair away from your eyes. "Want you to take care of me forever," you mumbled as your eyes slid shut. He smiled, then his hand froze as his lips pursed in thought.

I feel safe.

I'm not scared anymore.

He finally understood what you were trying to tell him, and his heart began to flutter excitedly in his chest.

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joelsgreys · 1 year

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joel miller masterlist

fic notifs l ao3

THIS BLOG IS 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI 🛑

🔥= indicates smut

oneshots & drabbles

not a thing l part ii summary: You and Joel had a private moment while Ellie was asleep. Or so you’d thought she was asleep.

weakness l part ii 🔥 summary: An afternoon at Bill and Frank’s takes an unexpected turn for you and Joel when some feelings start coming to the surface.

we need you summary: Afraid of failing the two of the people he cares about more than anything, Joel decides you and Ellie are better off without him.

jealous summary: You aren’t together, but Joel doesn't want to see you with anyone else.

stay summary: You’re in Jackson with Joel and Ellie after Salt Lake City and the loss of somebody you failed to protect haunts you and leaves you wondering if the wound will ever heal—and how you’ll ever go on if it never does.

what he didn’t do summary: You’re very recently divorced, but that doesn’t stop a certain brown-eyed neighbor from taking you out on a date.

strawberry 🔥 summary: You feel ashamed for using your safe word with Joel during a session—he assures you you’re his good girl no matter what. AU, NO OUTBREAK (TW) DDLG

punishment 🔥 summary: You drag your boyfriend to your best friend’s annual Halloween party and get brave after a couple of drinks—it’s not like Joel’s really going to punish you while all of your friends are under the same roof, right? AU, NO OUTBREAK (TW) DDLG. POSSIBLE DUBCON.

captive 🔥 summary: You find yourself missing your captor while he’s out on an early morning hunt with the rest of the group. TW DARK!JOE. DUBCON.

frosting 🔥 summary: Joel agrees to help you decorate Christmas cookies and things get a little messy. AU, NO OUTBREAK (TW) DDLG

someone to be thankful for 🔥 summary: It’s Thanksgiving—when dinner with your nightmare of a family goes south, you find comfort in the person you least expect it from: your father’s best friend, Joel Miller. AU, NO OUTBREAK, DBF! Joel Miller

series

a safe haven l ongoing l 🔥 summary: When Joel Miller and Ellie Williams return to Jackson, Wyoming to begin their new lives, the last thing Joel expects is to catch the eye of the thriving community’s equine veterinarian. Young, beautiful, and married, Joel knows that he should stay away from a woman like you, but he can’t help but to be drawn to you like a moth to a flame. As you start growing closer to both Joel and Ellie, you find out all about the secrets they both carry—and they find out you’ve been hiding a secret or two of your own.

fall into temptation l completed l 🔥 summary: Of all the women to catch Joel Miller’s attention—it just had to be one of the goddamn preacher’s daughters.

miscellaneous

snapshots l ongoing summary: Moments of Joel Miller’s life in Jackson, Wyoming with his girls.

#joel miller masterlist #joel miller x reader

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bet-on-me-13 · 1 year

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Dp X Injustice AU's

So, we have seen the frankly insane about of Dp x Dc AU's that have been spawned over the years. But I never really see any Injustice AU's

And then I thought, which Dp x Dc AU would you actually use for an Injustice AU?

Let me give some examples:

Justice League Member Danny: Danny is a part of the Justice League by the time Superman goes insane. He decides to step in when Shazam is nearly killed by Superman, but gets hurt himself in the process and is thrown in jail. This causes some of Superman's supporters to doubt him, since Danny is just a 16 yr old kid and Clark nearly killed him.

Danny is sill a Solo Hero: Danny is still just a Solo Hero from Amity Park in this. When Superman takes over the world, he goes to Amity to try and recruit Phantom. Danny refuses, and they butt heads. Danny eventually promises that he will continue to just act as a small time Vigilante in return for not joining Batman's side. This changes years later, when Superman is responsible for the death of Jazz Fenton.

Danny is a "Villain": Danny is seen as a Villain because he is a Ghost. At least, that's what the outside world thinks, but the situation in Amity is different. Danny has been seen as a Hero for years now, it's just the rest of the world that doesn't want to accept that fact. So when Superman takes over the world, and tries to execute every Villain, he goes after Phantom. Only for the Entire Town to try and stop him.

@little-pondhead Everlasting Trio Villain AU: So, take Little Pondhead's Villain AU and put it in the Injustice Universe. Danny can be the insane megalomaniac Villain he always wanted to be and not feel guilty because this is a Dictatorship. (Although it does remind him of Dan before his parole). He just has fun, messing with Superman, building insane crazy inventions, messing with Superman, enacting fun Villain plots, messing with Superman, and of course messing with Superman. Meanwhile Superman is just having a horrible time because there is just this random Villain, doesn't even seem to have powers, and he Just. Can't. Catch Him! Batman is looking for Fenton to recruit, meanwhile Fenton is literally here to Not be a Hero. It gets even worse when he brings in his Friends and Ellie.

Danny is the Ghost King: Danny is the Ghost King by now, and Batman's side try to Summon Him to deal with Superman during the whole "Super Pills" event. He shows up just in time to save Green Arrow, but isn't trong enough to kill Superman. He himself gets extremely injured in the process and gets forcibly summoned back to the Ghost Zone to be healed. Now the entire Dimension is gearing up to attack the Living World as revenge for their King being so hurt.

Old Man Danny AU: My own AU. Danny is still an Old Man just living in Gotham when Superman takes over. At one of his rally's to try and garner support and stop the rebellions, Danny stands up in the middle of the crowd and calls him out on all his Bullshit. This causes the whole crowd to start yelling at Superman, which in turn causes Superman to have a Homelander Moment. He kills Danny, who just laughs as he falls to the floor, and causes a riot. What Superman doesn't know, is that Danny was slated to ascend to Godhood at the moment of his Death, so now he has a God of Death chasing him to fulfill his "need to be avenged" urges (its like hunger pangs for ghosts)

Danny as a Medium: Danny is a Traveling Ghost Speaker, like the guy you pay $5 to pretend to speak to your dead loved ones, but he can actually speak to them. Superman is patrolling the world, just making the rounds now that he had conquered the Earth, and comes across Danny's Tent. He stops by in curiosity and asks to speak to his dead Wife. Danny asks if he really wants to put himself through that, but Superman insists. So Danny, instead of just speaking for the Ghost like normal, actually Summons Lois Lanes Ghost to talk to Superman. They have a heartfelt conversation about how it wasn't his fault, and how he shouldn't blame himself, but eventually they get to the topic of Clark talking over the world. She isn't proud, but understands if this is what it takes for him to be happy. She leaves, and Superman is left finally second-guessing himself for the first time in years. Because it doesn't make him happy. (*ahem* Danny still wants to be payed, soooo......)

#Dp x dc #Dpxdc #Danny phantom #Dc #Dcu #Injustice #Injustice AU #A bunch of Injustice AU's #Villain Danny Phantom #Villain Fenton #Everlasting Trio Villain AU #Superman #Batman #Medium Danny Phantom #Ghost King Danny Phantom #Ghost King AU

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tanglepelt · 1 year

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Dp x dc idea 40

Quick summary: Danny finds Ellie in the basement strapped to a table. They book it after destroying portal. Fentons think Danny’s possessed and chase. They capture Ellie again with GIW. Danny pretends to be an ambassador to the infinite realm. They don’t need to know he’s the king. Threatens war. Batfam are near. They intervene.

The fentons find out about Ellie. The whole halfa thing not the clone thing. They decide obviously a ghost possessed a dead child and was using their body. That’s why she could transform back and forth.

Que the metal table and straps.

Danny was very concerned when Ellie didn’t show up to there monthly meet up. He tried to text her and call her to no response. Being the good older brother he is he went hunting.

Not able to find her, Danny is ready to beg frostbite for the infamap. He promised not to take it again. But no one said anything about begging.

When he goes to the basement he sees ellie. Thankfully before and vivisection or cutting began. She was just strapped down with a machine taking blood.

Que him freeing her. Destroying the record they had. Injecting her with a ecto-dejecto to get ectoplasma in her system to kick up the healing factor. He breaks the portal.

None of his rouges were out. They had a monthly agreement. No one was to interfere with his Ellie day. The box ghost tried it once. He had to deal with a feral Ellie. The rule is in place for there safety.

He knows he’ll be hearing the complaints for the rest of his afterlife. The fact jack and Maddie strapped what looks like a human down. Who knows what they’d do to his rouges. Those ones actively cause problems.

Danny and Ellie have a lovely road trip. Constantly running. Watching that back. Barley sleeping. One for the scrap book.

The end goal is to get to Gotham. Jazz goes to Gotham u. She’d hide them. She’d meet them if they had there phones. They got left behind in the panic. Getting to Jazz would be safe for them. She has a Fenton creep stick after all.

Upon getting to Gotham. They realize they both have no idea where the university is. So no idea how to get to jazz.

It’s late when they showed up. Like the middle of the night late. So they can’t even ask. Not to mention pay phones don’t really exist anymore. They didn’t have quarters regardless.

That’s when the Giw show up surrounding them. Jack and Maddie show up from nowhere grabbing Danny from behind. Yelling that he’s just possessed. He wouldn’t be helping the ghost girl if he wasn’t. He wouldn’t of destroyed there life’s work.

Danny. Thinking fast starts yelling at them asking if they really want a war. That he’s seen what they can do. It won’t even be a battle. They’d just close off access to the afterlifes. You have to travel through the realms to get to them. Leaving the dimension to suffer. No relief of death. Just pain and suffering.

Screaming how that she was the second in line for the throne. The princess.

Ellie just stares at him the whole time. Like wtf. She’s fought off a lot of the GIW agents. But they have blood bosoms that force her down.

Danny couldn’t get free from jack and Maddie. Going ghost would just force him to the ground as well.

Starts yelling how he hasn’t sided with his parents from the beginning. That he had tried to play ambassador. Freeing those taken. Making sure the realm didn’t fight back.

He lies about how he totally stopped the master of time itself from destroying the timeline. That pandora has not attacked because of him same as the mighty frostbite of the far frozen.

Basically he’s just spouting nonsense. Then threatens to summon frostbite. Frostbite taught him how after an incident where he very much hurt himself.

Just then people with grappling hooks show up. They end up detaining the GIW and jack and Maddie. Which is a good thing.

The bad thing was the bat furry wanted to ask questions.

Good thing the furries got rid of the blood blossoms.

Danny just gets through them. (They let him go to Ellie). The fight left Ellie injured. The blood blossoms had made the injured way word.

We’ll look like he was summoning frostbite.

Not to fight but because Ellie was hurt. The bat people barley reacted to the yeti appearing from a glowing green portal. But they did tense and take up new stances.

It’s quickly seen that frostbite is in fact a medic. Not a mighty warrior (from what they can tell).

They actually think Danny was actually the voice for the infinite realm. That was enough to get him dragged to space.

Who knows how’d they react if they knew he was the king. But hey the GIW got disbanded.

Now has a fic started. Feel free to steal this idea still!!!

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#danny fenton #danny phantom #dc x dp #dp x dc #dp dc crossover #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #justice league #ghost king danny #giw #dani phantom #you know #if one person even wants it #I’m probs gonna full flush this out #cause I’m in love with this idea #i just can’t justify doing it right now #Ellie gives Danny a hard time after that #she got outed as princess #she didn’t even know she was technically one #Danny just girlboss gatekeep gaslights everyone #getting forced to talk to people is not fun #but hey at least he’s currently in space #the sudden lack of knowledge on what an ambassador is hits him #like he has no idea what he’s supposed to do #is he technically allowed to make deals with them #he doesn’t know or care #he’s not actually ambassador #he just panicked #jazz gets a call not from Danny but someone on the watchtower #hey your brother is here don’t worry

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abbystanaccount · 24 days

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hii! i recently stumbled upon your owen scar analysis where we see most of his scars, and wondered if it was possible for you to the same with abby? :)

Ohhh good idea. The only reason I hadn't yet is Abby only has a couple scars we don't know the origin of, but I can go over every scar she gets!

Abby's Scars Analysis

First, I'll start with Abby's oldest scars, she has a small scar on her forehead and it's the only visible scar on her younger self. Fun fact, Jocelyn actually has this scar and she's mentioned it's from being hit in the head as a kid with a golf club (lol).

Her older model has a similar looking scar on her right cheekbone. I assume she got these either from being hit with a blunt object or a fall, something like that. Her forehead scar interestingly becomes more noticeable as she ages, it even raises a bit in her Pillars model.

Her chin injury from the car crash does not visibly scar in Santa Barbara.

Next is the other visible scar Abby has when we see her in Seattle. Abby is for the most part not scarred much at the start of the game, she gets a hurt shoulder from Jackson and has some blemishes but these are the only scars we can see. (Her bare torso model is completely unmarked.)

There's two small marks on her arms, one more noticeable than the other. To me, the one on her forearm looks semi recent and looks scabbed. They'd come back from Jackson a few weeks prior, so it's possible Abby was hurt on that trip. But I headcanon it more that she was distracted on patrol when she returned and it was a small stab wound, possibly environmental.

One thing that annoys me about these scars though is that in never heals, it looks about the same from Seattle to Santa Barbara.

Now Abby gets some scars after the theater fight. The wounds Ellie gives her is the bite (which heals) and a stab to Abby's left thigh (which she masterfully shakes off lol.) We don't get to see Abby's bare thigh but it's likely that wound scarred.

The rest of the slashes, which seem to be 4 slashes on her arms and one across her left cheek come from Dina. It also seems as though the arm scars are mostly raised and noticeable, while her cheek scar is more subtle and indented like she tried to stitch it and take care of it more afterwards.

Abby’s next batch of scars are from Ellie on the beach… as if she didn’t suffer enough 😒 She gets a slash on her cheek, a slash on the front and side of her torso, multiple slashes on her arms, especially her left arm which she used to block, a deep stab wound in her left shoulder and a stab wound through her chest.

Here I’m showing her post beach fight textures on her Seattle body (the full Pillars body isn’t complete). You can see how deep the wounds are 🙁

I’m thinking she must have rode the boat a bit down the coast and then looked for supplies to help her and Lev before going all the way to Catalina, so she wouldn’t bleed out…

These are my interpretations of how the beach fight scars might heal. You can see some more of that with my various fan arts of TLOU 3 Abby. I drew over the slash placements, and added in the thigh stab and chest stab scar and some other various scratches she might have gotten. I tried to have them look similar to her scars in early Santa Barbara, raised and a bit pink.

Hopefully the Firefly doctors will help her out a lot with the healing of the cuts and the sunburn and she can just chill for a bit 😢

Bonus skins

This new skin isn't canon or anything and neither is the Eighties skin. In that skin you can see Abby's cheek scar under her makeup, which I thought was cool. But the Badlands skin has a brand new scar that goes all across Abby's cheek to her lips. I think this must be a scrape from some sort of weapon that scratched her. The redness on the cheek makes it seem fairly new

#abby #tlou 2 #tlou abby #abby anderson #my screenshots #the last of us part 2 #analysis #tlou 2 abby #the last of us

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starry-bi-sky · 3 months

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childhood friends danny and jason miscellaneous thoughts: because why not, i'm reworking ch2 because it no longer fits with the remaster of chapter 1 so i've been thinking of them, and i love talking about them. which you should totally go read the remaster because its 26k words and im very proud of it and it barely got any attention.

First off Ellie vapes. Mostly because I think its real fucking funny. The first time Danny finds out about it he gets all up in arms about it. Ellie at first thinks its because she's smoking -- which, helloooo pot meet kettle, Danny has been smoking for a lot longer than she has.

And then he throws a curveball at her and says he's upset specifically because its vaping. Like no, no. Dammit, if you're gonna fuck up your lungs you gotta do it properly, none of this cotton-candy flavored nonsense.

He plays it up for laughs and it's largely non-serious 'i can't believe you're using a vape', if only to hide the fact that he is genuinely displeased with his little sister smoking. Self-destructive behaviors and bad habits are his thing, thank you very much.

But, well, he knows he'd be a hypocrite if he told her he didn't like that she was smoking. He's aware its bad for him, but habits are hard to break and he's not particularly keen to break this one in particular.

Danny bullies her relentlessly about it whenever she vapes in front of him. Like don't be a loser, Elle, carry a carton of cigs and a lighter in your back pocket like the rest of us degenerates.

[more under the cut]

Secondly: Danny's piercings? He got the first lobe piercings as a lost bet from Sam in junior year, and they did it in her room with a needle, a small bottle of blood blossom extract, and an apple. He broke out in hives for a week after thanks to the blood blossom, but it prevented the hole from healing up :)

He got the rest done professionally at a piercing place in the Ghost Zone. He asked Johnny where to find it. Sam and Johnny (and Kitty) nearly convinced him into getting snakebites. He got an eyebrow piercing instead.

Danny's undercut is also self-done, he did it because Technus shot at him with an ectoblast and it missed hitting him, but set his hair on fire. Danny got it out pretty quickly, but it left his hair lopsided and obviously looking like it got burned by something. He went to Sam for help after the fight. He liked the way it looks so he's kept it that way since.

Vlad brought up Jason once(1) in a taunt during a fight, and this was after Jason disappeared from the ghost zone, and Danny very. very nearly killed him on the spot. He hasn't done it since.

Which leads into the other thing: Grief Triggers! As I call them. All Banshees have them in this au.

While all banshees are, in general, in a permanent state of grief, Grief Triggers are a specific emotional response that can cause them to spiral into a state of intense, sometimes debilitating sorrow, and most of the time causes them to start wailing.

Banshees know what their Grief Triggers are and in general tend to try and build up a form of resistance against it so that, if something occurs that happens to trigger said grief, they can at least either get away from other ghosts to let loose or have enough control over themselves that it'll take more work to send them spiraling.

As expected, Jason is Danny's grief trigger. He's built up a pretty good resistance to it so that hey, talking about him and his death is easier than when Danny was fourteen. But a little more prodding and it will trigger, especially depending on who brings him up and how. (See: Vlad)

Grief Triggers also manifest relatively the same; with the induction of an intense state of grief and sorrow, but how a banshee acts on it can sometimes vary. Again, it depends on who triggers it and how. Some of them can get,,, violent, depending on how it happens.

Rath, this au's 'Dan', is a case of a banshee being put into the grief state caused by grief triggers and... never really leaving it. Which they usually do on their own, or with help depending on the severity of it.

At the time it happened Danny was going through the worst week of his life a second time: his best friend's ghost disappeared, then his family and friends all died right in front of him, and then he was stuck with someone who wasn't helping him through that grief.

He was already in the grieving state when Vlad tore out his ghost half. As a result, Vlad only made it worse. With that fury thrown into the mix, Vlad ended up getting torn apart and nobody else was close enough with nor could they get close enough to Rath to help him come down from the wailing state.

So Rath ended up getting stuck in a perpetual negative feedback loop of absolute misery, and well... drove himself insane. The rest of the world became collateral as a result.

the difference between Danny and Jason lies in the fact that Jason died, while Danny is dead.

I'm having more thoughts on the CFAU/TMWS universe banshees, actually.

Banshees are either born in the ghost zone from ectoplasm and are ecto-entities and work as banshees as how we know of them, or they're human spirits that died mourning someone and that grief was so intense that it turned them into a banshee. They're a little more rare.

These banshees typically mourn only one person, or sometimes they follow their Realm-born counterparts and choose a family to mourn for. Typically their own.

Ember is not a banshee; human spirit banshees are always mourning another person. However, her abilities emulate certain qualities of banshees: like the beautiful singing. But in comparison to an actual banshee, Ember's voice pales.

Does this mean Danny has the better singing voice? Yeah. Ember is incensed by this.

If canon Danny and CFAU/TMWS Danny met, I think canon Danny would be kinda unsettled or off put by CFAU.

CFAU Danny still has some pretty core Danny traits, at least I like to think so -- his general drive to help people just out of compassion for them (even if it manifests differently at first due to trauma), his wit and humor, his fear of failing to protect his loved ones, all of those resonate with canon Danny.

However, canon Danny, as far as I can remember and as far as his wiki goes, rarely gets extremely angry or emotional. He gets irritated and he gets annoyed but him getting mad I don't think happens super often. CFAU Danny is the angrier one between Jason and Danny. It's one of the things I consider a division point between him and canon Danny as it's a result of him growing up in Crime Alley. Canon Danny is canonically shy and meek prior to becoming Phantom, CFAU Danny couldn't be -- he'd be dead already.

CFAU Danny's anger would off put canon Danny, in my opinion. His anger, his smoking, and for lack of a better term, his bloodlust would unsettle him.

Like, for example, say CFAU Danny gets transported to a canon (or canon-adjacent) Danny's universe. He's staying with canon for a little bit as they brainstorm how to get him back home, and CFAU Danny goes to school with canon if only so that he's not stuck in the house all day.

Whether they try and pass CFAU Danny off as canon's cousin or if the town already knows that he's another version of Danny, it doesn't matter. Because insert Dash.

Dash who, in CFAU Danny's world, has since learned not to fuck around with Danny or the other kids because Danny has long since asserted that he will beat his ass if he does. 'Fucking around' always predates the 'finding out', and Danny is happy to act as consequence.

(As my father told me (paraphrased) when I was a small child and full of uncontrollable anger: "there's gonna be a day where you're gonna hit someone, and they're gonna hit you back")

And canon Dash, who is used to canon Danny who kinda just takes it because it means that he won't target other people, would see CFAU Danny. He'd notice the resemblance between him and canon, immediately try and go "oh new target!", and try and bully him the same way he does to canon. And Danny "I am the consequences of your actions" CFAU Fenton, instantly throws hands.

Just, CFAU Danny is kind but he's also Gotham-raised and full of bite; he's meaner than canon is. He's more ruthless too, especially in his ghost fights. The ease of which he slips into violence would, imo, discomfort canon. CFAU and Canon would eventually get along though, they're not so different that they'd be in constant clash of each other.

(Canon Danny and Danyal Al Ghul however,,, thats another post LMAO)

#cw smoking #cw vaping #dpxdc #dp x dc #danny fenton is not the ghost king #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc crossover #dead on main au #childhood friends au #cfau #dpdc #ugh i could have made this two parts probably #i've had a lot of thoughts on banshees in this au and how i could adjust them #what i didn't get into: the ghostly behavioral affects that danny has gone through since dying. the ghostly mood swings and #heightened emotions that he's had to work through for the last five years.#one of my favorite lines in the remaster is danny mentioning offhandedly that he's gotten better at his mood swings ever since being a ghos #but also implying that vlad has been on the receiving end of these mood swings before and it didnt end well for him #like yessss gurl go through permanent irrevocable changes of your physiology and psyche that has ultimately altered you from the person you #used to be. you are now no longer fully human yess gurl pick up those habits and behavioral changes that is common in the species you've #been turned into even if its only halfway.#iirc i don't think i included obsessions in this au and checking the remaster doc and the word doesn't show up once in all 26k words of it #so hey looks like we get this instead #danny's singing voice is permanently ingrained in my head as sounding like hozier #its very very funny to imagine my au dannys meeting canon danny or canon adjacent danny #cfau seeing dan: who tf is that?? | canon: um.. dan? our evil alternate future self? | cfau: THATS your evil future self??#canon: yeah?? does yours not. look like that? | cfau: NO?#look if dan saw rath he would do a doubletake is all im saying and then would go “what the fuck what the fuck what the fUCK”#turning rath into a horror movie abomination is the fun part of this au and he's never even gonna show up #jason died but danny is dead. it lies in the past and the present. the was and the is. one of us got up and the other didn't

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cowgurrrl · 1 year

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Crazy Love

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader (plus platonic fem!reader x Ellie Williams)

Summary: Ellie has a nightmare and you and Joel help calm her down [1.3k]

Author’s note: Apparently I’ve been on my tlou found family trope kick recently

Warnings: mentions of David, nightmares, a panic attack, I can’t think of anything else!

Ellie's screams rattle you from an already light sleep and shake the house. You and Joel are out of bed and sprinting to her room before you can even think about it. She's sitting up in bed when you open her door, gasps wrenching from her throat as she struggles to breathe, and she's in your arms not even a moment later. "You're home. You're okay," you tell her as you pull her close. She curls her head into your chest and sobs loudly. "We're right here with you, baby." Joel pulls the chair from her desk to sit across from you, an ever-present but silent figure.

This is the third time this week she's woken up screaming. Each time, it sounds like thunder splitting the sky in half. It reminds you of every terrible moment that unfolded over the year it took to get to Jackson. Your heart aches, and tears fill your eyes as you rub her back and remind her that she's safe, that you and Joel would never let anything happen to her, and that you love her. Joel rests a gentle hand on your knee when he sees your tears, and you nod at him over Ellie's head. It's hard for both of you to see her like this and know there's nothing you can do to shield her from her own mind.

She tells you bits and pieces of her nightmare in between cries. You're able to put together the words David, fire, blood, and know what she dreamt of. "Oh, sweet girl," you murmur as you push her hair out of her face and kiss her head. You hold her to your chest, tucking her under your chin, and hum an old song quietly. Joel reaches out and rubs soothing circles into her back. After a few minutes, her sobs die down to soft sniffles, and her breathing returns to normal.

"You okay, kiddo?" Joel asks quietly. She nods against you and pulls away enough to look at him. Her face is red and splotchy, and her eyes are swollen.

"Just felt so real," she says. You tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and she takes a shaky breath. "I'm sorry I woke you guys up."

"You have no reason to apologize," Joel says in that firm, loving tone reserved for Ellie. "We get them, too."

"Yeah, but you don't wake everyone up when you do,"

"That's not true. We've probably woken each other up hundreds of times over the years." You tell her, glancing at Joel, who's nodding in agreement. Ellie looks between us and relaxes a little bit.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Does it get better?" She asks. "Like, do they go away?"

"I don't know if they'll ever go away, but it gets more manageable. They become less real. Sometimes, we'll still wake up cryin' and screamin', but we can't remember why. We just know it was a nightmare, and we talk about it and go back to sleep." He explains, his southern twang peeking through his words as he gets sleepier.

"Does talking about it help?"

"Sometimes. The great thing about us three is that we went through all of that shit together, so we trust each other. We understand each other. Joel knows that cars make me nervous because of what happened in Kansas City, and I know that Joel's right hand is a little weaker than his left because it didn't heal right after we left Boston," You say. Joel makes a mock, offended face, and Ellie smiles. You swear, his eyes twinkle in the low light of her room when she does. "And I know that you are an incredibly capable girl who saw a lot of things you shouldn't have. You're still learning how to live with these things, and that's okay because we're here for you. We'll always be right down the hall."

"Even if I have shitty table manners?" She asks at the end of your emotional, vulnerable speech, and Joel laughs. She gets that from him, you think. The sass in her question and the smirk pulling at her lips have Joel written all over them. They may not share any DNA, but that girl is a Miller through and through.

"Even if you have shitty table manners." He confirms.

"Even if I tell you puns all day?"

"Yes, that too."

"What about-"

"When you go to school tomorrow, ask your smartass teacher what the word 'unconditional' means, alright? Tell her you need a vocabulary quiz or somethin'." He says, and you laugh along with Ellie. Her face lights up, and the weight drops from her shoulders. You may not know what tomorrow will bring, but this, right now, is enough. You kiss Ellie's head again, the love you feel for her pouring out of you, and she lets you before rubbing at her eyes and yawning.

"Tired?" You ask, and she nods. "Do you want us to stay with you until you fall asleep?"

"I think I'll be okay," she says, untangling from you and tucking herself under the covers. You and Joel stand, tell her goodnight and remind her you're not far. Right before you can close her bedroom door, she sits back up. "Could you... maybe leave it open? Just a little bit."

"Anything for you, kiddo." She smiles at your answer before finally laying back down and closing her eyes. When you turn to walk back to your bedroom, Joel cups your jaw and kisses you. Your hands rest on his chest as his smell surrounds you—something sweet and smoky and so inherently him. He kisses you slowly and deeply, stealing the air from your lungs. When you pull away, he chases your lips and kisses you once, twice, three times before looking at you. His eyes are warm and heavy with fatigue and something more. "What was that for?" You whisper, careful not to wake Ellie.

"Takin' care of her," he says. "Takin' care of us. I wouldn't have been able to do that without you." You smile and kiss him again.

"You're getting soft on me, cowboy." You murmur against him, and he huffs a laugh.

"Now, you keep that one to yourself. I've got a reputation to uphold."

"You mean the residents of Jackson don't know that mean old Joel Miller is secretly a huge softy for his family? I'm shocked."

"You like mean old Joel Miller."

"I love mean old Joel Miller," you say, and he smiles, creasing the corners of his eyes. "Let's go back to bed before we have to get up for patrol."

"Yes, ma'am," he says as you untangle from each other, but he stays close, keeping a hand on your lower back as you walk to your bedroom. Together, you pick the blankets off the floor and reset the bed. When you crawl back into bed, his arms wrap around your waist, and he pulls you to his chest. It's easy to get sleepy with the human furnace holding you.

"Were you humming Van Morrison to her?" He asks right before you can fully fall back to sleep. You have to laugh because the idea of him wracking his brain for the familiar tune through all of that is hilarious. You also have about five hours until patrol, and he's still awake, asking you about the song you were humming.

"I can't believe it took you that long to recognize it. Maybe you are losing it." You turn to look at him, and he rolls his eyes, trying to hide his smirk.

"Go to sleep."

"I'm trying. You're the one asking about Van Morrison." He doesn't fight you on getting the last word in. Instead, he kisses the back of your neck and squeezes you a little tighter. You fall asleep listening to big, scary Joel Miller humming Crazy Love into your skin like a gospel. After all these years, you have to think that maybe Van Morrison got that one right. Maybe love is enough to make us whole again.

TUMBLR STOP DELETING MY LAST PARAGRAPH

#tlou fic #ellie williams #joel miller x reader #joel miller x female reader #joel miller drabble #the last of us #the last of us x reader #pedro pascal #i wrote this for me but you can read it too i guess #joel miller the last of us #tlou part 1 #joel miller fluff #tlou fluff

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rainybyday · 2 years

Text

Flower au Pt3 going to Pt4 (wow didn’t expect that to be honest)

Danny learned that just like a ghost, Liminals are also affected by the rules of ‘tokens’ and ‘gifts’.

He first tested it out with Danielle since he needed to see if a token can work on a Halfa. Ellie is a good start since not only is she a Halfa, but that she is also a clone of him, hence, what affects her should affect him and potently Vlad.

It did, in fact, work.

He never saw Ellie look at something in so much adoration that he couldn’t help himself but to wrap his arms around her and squeeze.

He was even more surprised when she snuggled into him instead of playfully trying to get out of his hug-attack. The rest of the day was for them to run and play with Ellie somehow acting much more like a child then a girl who had her life ripped away.

He debated himself for a while, but he decided he had nothing to lose and walked his way to the mayor's house.

It took six hours to finally leave after the Fruit Loop went ecstatic with pride and joy, smothering him and thanking him every single minute for the flower he gave him. Good thing to know a Halfa, is indeed, affect by the flowers as well.

(On the bright side, he didn’t mention his mom even once!)

So with that over and done, Danny took in a deep breath and walked into his sister's room with a large bundle of white, yellow, peach and pink roses.

(White roses for purity and innocence. Yellow for joy and friendship. Peach for appreciation and gratitude. Pink for appreciation and perfect happiness.)

Danny was a little scared, he must admit when he approached Jazz with the boutique. He was constantly fidgeting and debating with himself over what he can give Jazz his sister his everything.

But in the end, he walked through the doors of her room and handed her the flowers.

Perhaps it was because he was a Halfa or maybe it's because of Jazz being Liminal. Maybe it was because they are siblings or perhaps because the flowers, he gave her mean something rather than just a thoughtless experiment.

He didn’t know, but he didn’t care. Not when Jazz was holding him in so much adoration, like he was fragile and safe and warm, like he was something worthy to be protected. Like he was worthy of her love and that she loved him back as her little kid brother. Nothing mattered, nothing but the waves of I-love-you-I-love-you-so-so-much-my-brother as he hugged her just as tightly back.

(And if they both end up crying and laughing and curling against each other watching movies on Jazz’s laptop then no one needs to mention that. It was their moment and only they will treasure that time together.)

(His core thrilled when Jazz asked how she can dry her flowers to preserve her gift.)

---------------------------------------------------

Danny would sometimes wonder through his memories as he greets the man, now regular customer, Jason. Jason himself was an enigma which he helped to protect and heal to grain Gotham’s favor, but now was a person he truly genuinely wants to help.

Jason likes to read, and Danny was thankful that he had such a hobby or else he would never get him to stay for hours on end in his haunt in order to cleanse him. He was truly happy to help the man that was under Gotham’s protection.

It was just that, ever since Jason’s brothers, the trio of boys that came in that one day, he started to see them come him with him more often.

Not every time mind you but enough times for Danny to know that he would have to get use their presences.

Sometimes he comes in with the youngest, mostly on weekends, with his sharpe tounge and street animals tucked in his arms. Sometimes its the second youngest with a cup of coffee and a laptop at hand. Sometimes its the eldest with his bright cheery smile and chatting on endlessly.

Danny watch and smiles as the bond between the four grow stronger and tighter every day.

But as he does, he thought back at a time him which made him the most warmth he had ever felt and made a plan.

It started with the second youngest since he sometimes drags behind Jason with the lack of sleep clear in his eyes. Once Jason was out the door for the day and the younger brother was slowly tripping his way down the steps, Danny helped him down and handed him a flower.

A white Heather.

(A Heather that means admiration, beauty and solitude, but a white Heather means protection from danger and that their wish will come true.)

Danny said that this was a gift for the brother to give to Jason, a gift that he would gift back.

The second youngest looked at the flower like he never seen it before making Danny having the urge to laugh. When he finally took the flower, hesitantly so, he thanked him and walked out his store.

When Danny went out to make his rounds that night he paused at Jason’s grave, laughed, and skipped him for the night.

Jason started to drag the second youngest more often these days to be with him.

The second one was the youngest of the four brothers. Though he may seem rude and sharp in his approach Danny could still sense waves of protect-idiot-brother-watch-protect-unruly from the ectoplasm that the boy was exposed to. Though he was almost the same in amounts to Jason it was much more tamed and calmer.

(He once whispered to Gotham why the little one was walking by Death so much. Gotham replied in anger and rage about how the boy was not born in her lands and that someone kept him away from her to protect.

He watched over the little one a lot more after that.)

The youngest was hard to get alone when Jason likes to stick with him a lot more often than not. It took a while to get him alone, but he managed to do so when he asked Damian about the animal he brought in that day as the store was closing. By the time the young one was done, Jason was waiting at the store front with his back turned towards them.

(In the back of his mind, Danny couldn’t help but be proud of the fact that the Jason trusted him enough to leave him with his kid brother without having to watch him.)

Quickly as he can, Danny gave the young one a Poppy to give to his brother.

(Poppies as a taboo with many meanings. Great scarifies. Remembrance. Honnor.)

(But sometimes they can also mean strong everlasting familiar bonds.)

The young one gave him a glare and asked why but Danny only deflect by saying that this was once again, a gift for Jason from the young one.

After a bit more debating and insults the young one huffed and left with the flower at hand.

(Once again Danny smiled softly at the purity from Jason’s grave and walked right by.)

Then it was the eldest turn to give him a flower.

The eldest was the easiest to get along but sometime the hardest to understand. He doesn’t know what to make of the man, but he seen the bond between him and Jason and left it at that. It was far easier to get the man alone and give him the flower. What he wished though, was for the man to not think it was a gift to woo Jason but instead a gesture of kindness for the man himself.

Yet still, Danny handed the man a small bundle of Lilies of the Vally.

(Though they mean purity, they also mean “I’m sorry”)

Danny could only watch the man leave and sighed.

That night, Jason’s grave felt weaker. Danny thought that maybe it was the wrong time to give the flower, but he notices something. His grave was not weaker, it was being protected and safely tucked away from everything around it. Danny breath shakily and walked away.

(It seems that that one was the hardest out of the three.)

(Yet he could still feel something tried and dark from the grave.)

Danny didn’t know what it meant until he saw a man over Jason’s grave again.

The same man he notices the first few weeks he did his rounds.

The man who leads him to Jason in a way.

The man connected with the Jason was the last bit of the puzzle.

So, Danny breathed and walked towards the one Jason missed the most.

Part 5 is a given now at this point: Pt 5 of flower au

Tags: @wisteriavines @plainly-colorful @britcision @justgray15777 @lady-time-lord- @blu-lilac @wisebouquettree @rosiea184 @chaoticmistake @mlpizza @kyrianclawraith @adorswan @crystalizedirongoblin @serasvictoria02 @passivedecept

#dp x dc #dc x dp #Danny Phantom #danny fenton #Damian Wayne #Jason Todd #dick grayson #Tim Drake #batman #jazz fenton #danielle phantom #Vlad Masters #bruce wayne #flowerrs #flower shop #flower shop au

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justagalwhowrites · 6 months

Text

Yearling - Ch. 20: Healing

Joel recovers from his trip outside of Jackson. A continuation of Yearling ch. 1-19 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Smut :D. No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ Only

Length: 6.5k

AO3 | Chapter One | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“Sweetheart…”

“Not gonna let you just hurt yourself,” you muttered, bringing Joel a cup of tea and setting it on the side table.

“Baby.”

You glared at him and he laughed.

“Baby, if you saw the shit I’ve survived before,” he said. “Gettin’ shot in the leg is nothing. Really. You don’t need to worry this much.”

You glared again.

Even though you knew Joel was right. He was recovering well. You’d seen the scars on his body, he’d survived far worse than a bullet to the leg.

But, for several torturous hours, you thought you might never see him again. When you’d gotten him back, he was injured and in pain.

You knew he was trying to act like it wasn’t so bad. From the night he got back he was trying to pretend like it wasn’t that bad. Walking himself to the bathroom just after you got him home was proof that he was going to push himself until he got hurt. You weren’t about to just let him.

“Hey,” he caught your arm as you passed, fingers closing around your wrist, voice gentle. “I’m OK. Go to the stables. I know it’s killing you, bein’ away from your horses this long. Ellie said she’d come by after school today, not gonna be unsupervised too long.”

You sighed. Joel wasn’t wrong. You were anxious, having gone the better part of a week since you’d last seen your horses. Olivia came by in the evening and gave you a rundown but it wasn’t the same as being with them yourself. There were still a handful who weren’t well broke yet and you knew they must be backsliding in the days since you’d worked with them. They needed constant repetition at this stage and they weren’t getting it.

But just the thought of being away from Joel made your stomach twist. The last time he’d been more than a room away from you he’d been shot. The last time he’d been more than a room away from you, he almost never came back.

“They’ll be fine another day,” you said and Joel sighed before tugging you around in front of him. He lifted your shirt, his hands sliding up to your waist, and he pressed his face to your stomach, breathing you in before pressing his lips to the skin just below your belly button. Your breath hitched and your fingers trailed through his hair.

“Baby,” he said, his lips brushing your skin. “I will be right here. Not goin’ anywhere. I’ll be fine.”

“Joel…”

“Ask Ellie to go by the stable,” he said, kissing you again. “Give you an update.” Another kiss. “Promise I’ll behave.”

“Almost like you’re trying to get me to leave,” you teased a little and he looked up at you.

“Baby, I’d love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life at least this close to you,” he pressed another kiss to your stomach. “But don’t want you doin’ it because you’re afraid.”

You sighed, fingers tangling in his hair.

“Fine,” you said. “But I swear to God if you try to take those stairs on your own…”

He smiled against your skin.

“I’ll be good,” he said. “Now go.”

You sighed and stepped back from him enough that he let you go and your shirt fell down over your stomach again. You planted your hands on his shoulders and bent enough to look him in the eye.

“You stay on this fucking couch,” you said, face stern.

He smiled.

“I’m stayin’ put,” he said. “Think I’m ready for more than just sitting around though, but we can talk about that more when you get back.”

You kissed him, gently, trying to keep it from growing too hungry. But it did, Joel’s hand going to the back of your neck, fingers sinking into your hair, moaning into your mouth. You hadn’t expected to want him this much this badly this often. You’d gone years without sex before. You’d missed it, sure, but it was nothing like this. Not something that left you aching and longing because it had been a week since you’d last had him and that was a week too long.

“Talk about that later, too,” he said pulling away from you, voice needy. “Go to the stables. I’ll be right where you left me.”

You set your jaw and nodded once, going for the door and giving Joel a last, lingering look before walking through it.

Olivia was surprised to see you at the stables when you got there, excited to have you back working with the horses that still needed the most help.

“I’ve been trying to at least do the basics,” she said. “But I can’t stay on ‘em like you can and Pandora threw me yesterday…”

“Are you OK?” You asked quickly, frowning.

“Fine,” she waved you off. “And I got right back on ‘er but she caught me off guard. I just can’t do what you can.”

You nodded and sighed.

“We really outta fix that,” you said, looking back toward Joel’s. “Can’t have me be the only person here who can reliably break horses.”

You started with Pandora who was restless in her stall. You saddled her up as she pawed at the ground and huffed, tossing her head, her mane bouncing.

“You are in rare form young lady,” you muttered, leading her into the paddock and offering her your hand one more time. She sniffed you and huffed before nudging you with her velvet nose. “I’m not goin’ down as easy as Olivia. Better if you just listen up front.”

She huffed and you came alongside her, putting your boot in the stirrup and pulling yourself up into the saddle.

Pandora almost immediately rebelled, bucking and making it so you had to grab the saddle to keep from getting thrown. But it was almost a comfort to feel something so out of control near you that you could still manage. That this wild thing was not going to somehow destroy you and all the work that you’d done.

It took her some time to calm, even after she stopped bucking. You let her get it out of her system, let her thrash and fight and pretend that she was the one in charge, taking you all over the paddock, tossing her head to and fro. But then she stilled, coming to a stop in the middle of the fenced area.

“You done fussin’?” You asked, brows raised even though you knew she couldn’t see them. “Ready to work? Because I’ve got all the time in the world, young lady. You’re just wasting your time and your energy, not mine.”

She huffed and scratched at the dirt one more time but then was still.

“Alright then,” you said. “Let’s go, baby girl.”

You let your mind go and, for the first time since Joel had left, it didn’t drift to what happened to him out there. You just got lost in your work, in the animal you were training, on your connection to her and how to bring her to heel, how to build her into the best version of herself.

She was responding well to commands when Ellie came by the stables and you realized, for the first time, just how much time had passed.

“Hey Kid,” you called as she scaled the fence, perching on the top rail. “Just a second.”

“Can I try?” She asked as you guided her toward Ellie.

“Not on her,” you said as Pandora gave a small buck as if to prove your point.

“I’m good with them, you know,” she said, defensive.

“Yeah, remember how it felt getting thrown off Samson?” You said, coming to a stop next to her. “Gonna be the same when she throws you, too.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Hey,” you said, raising your brows at her. She looked at you. “I know you’re good with them. You’re just not equipped to deal with an unbroke horse. Not yet.”

She sighed but nodded in that exasperated way teenaged girls do. It made you smile a little at how universal it was.

“How’s the patient?” You asked

“He’s good,” Ellie said. “Told me to tell you that he’s in the exact same spot on the couch. Think he’s getting restless, though.”

“What?” You said, sarcastic. “Joel? Not wanting to sit still? I’m shocked.”

Ellie laughed and shook her head.

“Yeah,” she said. “Asshole’s predictable.”

You smiled.

“That he is.”

“Hey, um…” she said after a second, gnawing on her lower lip and bouncing her leg on the fence. “Can I talk to you about something?”

“Sure,” you frowned. “What’s going on?”

“With…” she took a deep breath. “With what I told you. About Joel. About me… I know you said I should think about it. About what it would have been like for him and about… about what parents do for their kids and I am. I am trying I just…” She tilted her head back, looking up at the clear blue sky for a moment. “I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know that I’m doing it right and it’s hard. It’s hard to get back to where we were and to feel like anything is normal and…”

“Hey,” you said gently as she started choking up. “It’s OK Ellie. It’ll take time. You have a lot of feelings about and that’s OK. Joel will wait for you.”

She nodded, crying a little.

“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I know… I am really happy he’s OK. I don’t want to think about what might’ve… I’m glad he’s back. And I’m glad he has you. But I just need… I dunno. I need something. I just don’t know what.”

You weren’t entirely surprised. It’s not like you had a ton of insight into Joel and Ellie’s relationship before their falling out, you just knew how they both interacted with you. And it was very different than how they behaved toward each other.

Dinner the night after Joel got back gave you a little insight, anyway. Ellie came over as promised and, at first, it was easy. The two hugged, Ellie tried to pretend like she wasn’t emotional, Joel teased her and called her kiddo.

But it didn’t take long for things to shift. Joel tried to keep it up, the kind of conversation you have with someone you know well and loved deeply. But Ellie shut down after a bit, her jaw getting tight, her fingers rapping against the tabletop.

Joel didn’t push her, though he did look over at you when she was distracted, seeking some kind of reassurance you weren’t sure you knew how to give.

“I’ll see you later,” she said, hugging him good bye.

“Lookin’ forward to it,” he smiled and you could hear him trying to keep the emotion from his voice. She smiled a little stiffly and headed for the door but she paused with her hand on the knob, looking back at him.

“I’m… um…” she paused. “I’m glad you’re back, Joel.”

He smiled but sniffed as he did.

“I am too, Kiddo.”

You were surprised when she came by two days later to check in again, something that must have shown.

“It’s not better yet,” she said. “But… I do still care about him. I want him to be OK.”

Ellie hung out at the stable for a while and you sent Olivia home and put Ellie to work mucking stalls and feeding the horses before she haded to meet her friends for dinner at the mess hall. You were just checking one of the hooves on Sergeant, a horse who had been at Jackson a lot longer than you and was favoring one foot, when you heard a familiar sound behind you.

“Ahem.”

You sighed, setting Sergeant’s foot down and straightening up, eyes narrowed.

“Hey, Baby.”

“What are you doing here,” you glared at Joel who was leaning, with a triumphant grin, on the door to the stall.

He laughed.

“Got bored,” he said. “Didn’t like bein’ away from you. Besides, doc said I should be up and moving…”

“I don’t think Palmer meant walking a mile to the stables.”

“It’s not even half a mile round trip and you know it,” he shook his head. “Figured I could at least look at ya. Maybe talk you into goin’ to the mess hall for dinner.”

Your glare deepened.

“You’re lucky I love you,” you said after a moment. “Because I might strangle you out of frustration otherwise.”

Joel laughed and just watched you finish up your work day before going to dinner.

Tommy and Maria were at the mess hall with William, Tommy looking pretty healthy all things considered. Maria gave you a tight, watery smile and you realized it was the first time you’d seen her since you’d run from her house in a mad dash for the clinic, desperate to see if your men had made it back alive. You felt a strange kinship with her now, one you hadn’t been entirely aware of before.

“Good to see you,” she said, William squirming on her lap.

“You too,” you smiled a little.

Things felt almost normal by the time you started walking back to Joel’s, even as he tried to hide his grimace from the pain.

“See why I didn’t think this was a good idea?” You said, almost smug, as Joel’s limp got more pronounced as you got closer to the house.

“Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about Baby,” he said, a little breathless. “Doin’ just fine.”

“Uh huh,” you said. “Can lean on me if you want.”

“Nah,” he panted. “Don’t need it.”

You rolled your eyes but stayed where he could reach you if he changed his mind. He waved off your help at the stairs at his porch, too, making it up on his own.

“See?” He said as he sat on the couch, breaths still heavy but smirking proudly. “Told you I’d be fine.”

“Joel.”

“Bambi.”

He smiled a little. You rolled your eyes.

“You be OK if I get cleaned up?” You asked. “Need anything?”

“Don’t need a damn thing,” he was still smiling. “Promise I’ll stay put. For real this time.”

“You’d better.”

He kept his word and he was stretched out on the couch reading when you got back, wearing one of Joel’s shirts that smelled pleasantly like him and a pair of his pajama pants. You crossed your arms, and leaned against the door to the hall, looking at him for a moment. He looked at you over the top of his book before he set it face down on his stomach.

“You gonna just stand there?”

“Thinking about it.”

He smiled.

“Why don’t you put a movie on,” he said. “Sit with me.”

You picked something - you didn’t pay very close attention to what it was - before arranging yourself around Joel and pressing yourself close to him.

The past week had felt a lot like when you’d first come to Jackson. You found yourself feeling overwhelmed a lot, hyper aware of the smallest things. Even now, everything outside of Joel was a dull roar, a jumble of sound and light that you had a hard time untangling. It had gotten better as you saw him improve and had the evidence that he was alive and mostly well right in front of you. You were able to focus when Ellie came by and your day at the stables had been surprisingly easy all things considered. But now that you were against him again, you couldn’t make sense of what existed outside of him. You put an arm over him and held him close, pressing yourself against him, your head against his chest where you could hear his heartbeat. You focused on it, the steady and strong rhythm of him in time with his breathing. You held onto it like a talisman, taking him into your lungs and letting him overwhelm you. You’d fallen into him so much, so focused on his small signs of life, that it took you a second to realize that he was talking to you.

“What?” You frowned, pulling your face enough from his chest that you could see him.

“Wondering if you’re OK,” he said gently.

“I’m fine.”

“Bambi.”

You took a deep, shaky breath.

“I meant when I said I couldn’t handle losing you,” you said. “And I know you’re OK and you’re here but… being away from you made me nervous. Just need a minute. Watch the movie.”

He cupped your face gently, eyes searching yours.

“Don’t need to watch the movie,” he said softly, his thumb stroking your cheek. “Just need to be close to you.”

You just looked at him for a moment, memorizing the way the color of his irises shifted, the freckles on his skin, the pattern of grays and browns and blacks in his beard. Your hand curved over his bicep, the warmth of his skin seeping through the fabric of his shirt.

You would have been happy to just be close to him, breathe the same air as him for a bit, but Joel closed the distance between the two of you, his nose brushing your own, mouth pressing against yours.

It was the kind of kiss you’d shared with Joel before leaving the house that day, something hot and needy and longing behind his lips. The arm that was beneath you pressed your body tighter to him, his hand finding the small of your back and tilting your hips so you could feel the hardness of him through his jeans.

“Joel,” you breathed, heart beating out a frantic rhythm against your ribs. “Is this…”

“Told you I was ready for more than just sittin’ around,” he said, his voice needy.

He kissed you again before you had a chance to protest and you let yourself be absorbed by him for a moment, by the feel of his body on yours, the way you craved him that you’d never craved anyone else.

But you forced yourself to pull your mouth away from his but still close enough that your lips brushed against his when you spoke.

“Don’t want to hurt you…”

“Not gonna hurt me, Baby,” he said gently. “Lemme take you to bed.”

You were already damn near drunk on him, on breathing the same air as him, on smelling his skin and tasting his tongue. You didn’t need much convincing.

“OK.”

You followed Joel up the stairs, him going slow but making it just fine. He pressed you against the wall on the top landing, his body tight to yours, his tongue sliding into your mouth as your arms went around his neck.

“Should be proud of me for holding out this long,” he said, breathless, as he trailed his lips from your own to your throat. “Should really get an award, having you in my bed every night and not touchin’ you…”

“Think you were just afraid of getting shot down,” you said, rocking your hips against his almost involuntarily.

“I know when to push my limits,” he said, making his way down to your chest. “Besides, still showing plenty of restraint.”

“This is restraint?” You asked, incredulous.

He pulled away from you enough to look you in the eye.

“Didn’t carry you to bed, now, did I?” He asked. “That’s called restraint, Baby.”

He didn’t give you a chance to argue. Instead, he took your hand and led you to his bedroom. He tugged your shirt over your head and let out an almost pained sigh when he did.

“Are you…” You began, reaching for him. But he caught your wrist in his large hand, his eyes on your chest.

“I never want to go this long without undressing you again,” he said, tugging his own shirt over his head before pulling your body flush with his. You moaned at the feel of his skin on yours. You couldn’t help it, he was so firm but soft, his skin like silk stretched taut over his hardened muscle. He guided you back to the bed until you all but fell backwards on it and he bent to take off your pants and underwear.

“Do gotta ask a favor,” he said, unbuttoning his jeans. You nodded. “Probably shouldn’t try to move you around myself so get in the middle of the bed for me?”

You smiled a little but obeyed.

“You can just ask me to move when you’re not injured too, you know.”

He smirked as he shoved his pants and underwear down. The white bandage on his leg glaring at you even as he worked his thick, hard cock.

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

Joel maneuvered himself - far more carefully than usual though you were too needy now to try to stop him - so that his shoulders were below your thighs. You frowned as he planted a kiss below your belly button.

“Joel…”

“Think I still owe you an orgasm from the other night,” he cut you off. “Intend to make it worth the wait.”

He trailed his mouth over your skin, brushing tenderly over your scars before his thumb brushed your clit, making your whole body shudder. He smiled a little.

“Almost like you’ve been needing this as much as me,” his breath was hot against you and you just moaned and nodded, not entirely sure if he was even looking at you to see it.

The tip of his tongue barely brushed your clit and your hips chased the sensation of it as he pulled back.

“Oh you are needy,” he said, thumb pressing against your sensitive nub and working you in short, aching circles. “Don’t worry sweetheart. Take good care of you.”

With that, he took your clit into his mouth with a wet, desperate suck, making you gasp and your back arch. He lapped at you, the warmth of him surrounding your bud while he worked you with his tongue. He ate at you, his fingers digging into the flesh of your thighs, opening you up to him before moving to your tight center, slipping two fingers into you.

“Fuck, Joel!” Your fingers twisted in his blankets, your back arched, hips rocking against his face.

He didn’t seem to mind. If anything it seemed to spur him on, licking you harder, fucking into you deeper, fingers curving into the soft spot of your insides and adding the most delicious pressure as they moved within you.

Your orgasm was building fast, days of being untouched drawing all your want easily to the surface. It didn’t take long before you came with a strangled cry and he worked you through it, sucking you gently, fingers continuing to find their path inside you as your core fluttered and gushed around him. When your body went limp on the bed, he pressed a kiss to your dripping hole, dipping his tongue ever so slightly inside, before carefully moving up the bed so he was lying beside you. He reached an arm out to you, his hand splaying wide over your bare stomach as you turned your head to look at him, still panting for breath.

“Trust me?” He asked, his grip on your skin tightening. You could only nod, body still limp from the force of your orgasm. He guided you onto your side so you were facing away from him and, before you had the chance to question it, he adjusted your top leg so your core was exposed to him. He pulled you back against him and you felt his hard length brush against your wet heat. He buried his face in your neck, his arms around you as he held you, tight and desperate. He rocked his hips so that the head of him slid along your slit and he whimpered against your skin as your hand flew back to take hold of his hip just to have part of him you could clutch onto.

“Fuck Baby,” he groaned, voice muffled as he pressed himself closer to you. “Need inside you, please, please let me inside you…”

“Don’t…” you took a shaky, shuddering breath, trying to steady yourself. You pressed back against him anyway. “Don’t want you to hurt yourself, Joel, and…”

“Won’t get hurt Baby, promise I won’t,” he brushed his lips over the tender flesh of your throat. “Fuck, I need you…”

“Need you, too,” you breathed, adjusting your hips so that the next slide of his cock caught at your entrance and he started to slide inside. He moaned in relief, his hand going to the base of your stomach and adjusting you as he sank further into you until his hips were flush against you. He stilled inside of you and you could feel him breathing, feel his heart beat through his skin.

“Fuck!” He panted, holding himself deep inside. “Fuck, I missed you so much, Baby. So fucking much.”

You could only moan in response, pressing your body back against his. His hand slipped down the front of you to the apex of your thighs, finding your sensitive clit there and brushing it gently, making your pussy tighten around him.

“Don’t think I’m gonna last long,” he kissed your neck, sending a jolt of pleasure straight to your core. He moaned in response. “You feel too damn good, Baby.”

You didn’t care. Your entire being was drawn achingly tight, desperate to find release, but Joel just kept winding you tighter and tighter. He fucked into you slow and hard, finishing each thrust with a forceful push that pressed his head against the most tender parts of you as he worked your swollen, overwrought bud. Your nails sank into the flesh of his hip, you couldn’t help it, and you turned your head to try to reach him. His mouth found yours, his lips desperate on yours as your orgasm drew closer and closer, until you could feel it in every nerve ending and you knew it couldn’t build anymore.

It was like the band of pleasure snapped and it all went rushing in molten heat to the very core of you, your channel rippling and pulsing over him and you couldn’t help but pant and gasp for breath, not able to keep kissing him.

Joel fucked you through it, pressing hard and deep with every stroke.

“There we go, Baby,” he panted. “Fuck, coming so good for me, all over me, doing so good Baby, feel so good, oh fuck, fuck!”

He pushed as deep has he could reach and his hand pressed you back against him so you could feel him everywhere as he came undone inside of you. You were so tight around him as your body throbbed that you felt every pulse of him, every pump of come into you.

The two of you went slack at the same time, Joel’s lips in your hair as you lay in his loose grip, his body soft and pliant against your own.

“Christ I missed you,” he said softly.

You laughed a little.

“Didn’t hurt you?” You asked.

He laughed a bit, too.

“No, Sweetheart,” he said gently. “Didn’t hurt me.”

You adjusted slightly, pressing yourself back against him, needing to be somehow closer even though he was still inside of you. But that didn’t seem to matter. You doubted there was anything that would ever make you close enough to Joel. Even as you fell asleep there, in his arms and his bed with his cock still inside of you.

***

Joel really was not sure what you had in mind for him at the stables.

At breakfast that morning, he’d tried to use the night before as justification for being ready to take on lighter duties around Jackson. Joel had sat still for long enough. He didn’t like feeling useless and he felt pretty damn useless right then. The fact that he was still able to make you come was about the only thing making him feel even halfway decent about his current activity level.

“Don’t you think you’re pushing it?” You frowned at him over your morning cup of tea.

“Think I’ll be pushin’ my sanity if I stay on the damn couch much longer,” he replied.

You rolled your eyes at him in that exasperated way he had come to love - he was ready to find a way to make you roll your eyes like that at him every day for the rest of his life - but thought for a moment.

“Make you a deal,” you said, setting your mug down. “I’ll shut the fuck up about you starting back working if you come by the stable this afternoon and help me out with something.”

“Think I can make room in my incredibly busy schedule for that,” he smiled a little, taking a sip from his own mug.

The walk to the stable was longer than he remembered it being, even just a day earlier. He probably had pushed it a bit the night before. But he’d been desperate for you, so fucking desperate. It felt damn near impossible to even consider not fucking you, it was a need in the absolute keenest sense. He couldn’t bear to be apart from you in that moment, even being separated by fabric and skin was too much.

So he’d risked it. Hoping that you were at least half as needy for him as he was for you. He might be paying for it now but fuck if it wasn’t worth it.

You were working with one of the new horses - Joel couldn’t remember this one’s name - when he got there. He leaned against the fence - happy to have something to take the weight off his aching leg - and just watched you for a moment. The horse was restless, fighting you all the way, and Joel watched you give her space to buck and thrash before soothing and calming her. You were completely absorbed, like you hadn’t even seen Joel come up. He was fine with that, though. Appreciated getting to see you in your most natural element, watching you in your power.

“There now,” you said, voice gentle and soothing as the horse pawed at the earth. “See, you’re OK. Told you I’d take care of you.”

You started guiding her around the pen and you spotted Joel as you came around, a broad smile breaking over your perfect face.

“How’s that leg?” You asked, guiding the horse toward him. “Think you’re up for a little work?”

“Fine,” he smiled. “Told you, I’m ready to get back to it.”

“Good,” you said, smiling a little bigger as you looked over Joel’s shoulder. “Because I’ve got a job for the two of you.”

Joel frowned, turning to see Ellie walking up, her hands stuffed in her jeans pockets.

“What do you mean the two of us?” Ellie frowned.

“Well,” you said. “When I was here yesterday, I saw one of the horses is damn near ready to throw a shoe. Others are due for a change. I gotta focus on the feral horses, they’ve backslid quite a bit…” the horse you were on bucked once, as if to prove your point, but you stayed on. Joel couldn’t help but smile at it. You were so damn good he’d have been happy to watch you work all day. “I need to get them to well broke and can’t afford to spend a day shoeing horses. But Ellie, you’ve been sayin’ you want to do more with the horses and Joel, I’m guessing you know well enough how to shoe a horse. You can show her and she can help you manage the horses while you’re hurt.”

You looked at Joel, a small smile playing on your lips.

He knew what you were trying to do and he wanted to kiss you for it. Making it so he and Ellie would spend time together, him teaching her like he’d done with so many other things, when she might actually be willing to spend the time with him.

“C’mon,” you said. “I’ve got you set up in the stable. We’ll see what you can get done today.”

You dismounted and led the way to inside, to a spot with stools and a stack of horseshoes, nails, tools and a pair of hammers.

“Do I need to walk you through it?” You asked as you got the first horse and brought it over.

“Think we’ll be OK,” Joel gave you a small smile.

“Then I’ll leave you to it,” you gave the two of them a nod before starting back toward to the paddock.

“Hold on,” Ellie called after you. Joel watched her run over and she lowered her voice but he still heard her. “Is this really what you need me doing? Because…”

“You want to do more with the horses or not, Kid?” You asked, brows raised. “Not all fun and games. Horses need new shoes every six weeks or so, gotta learn it sometime if you’re serious. You serious? Or you just want to learn how to not get thrown off a bucking horse because it looks cool?”

“I’m serious,” she muttered, rolling her eyes before going back toward Joel.

He tried to not let the small hurt show. He didn’t want to push her, didn’t want to guilt her. The fact that she’d come by since he’d been back, that she’d seemed to be taking what you’d told her to heart, meant everything to Joel. As much as he wanted to wave a magic wand and have everything be OK, he knew it would take time. Ellie was hurting. He didn’t blame her for that. He was sure that he’d done the right thing but she was so desperate for her immunity to mean something, to be the panacea for all of humanity’s ills even beyond the infection, that he shouldn’t have been surprised at her rage. It would take her a while to get through it. He would be patient, he would wait for her. For as long as she needed, he would wait for her.

She sighed stood near Joel, her arms crossed.

“Hey Kiddo,” he smiled up at her. “Good to see ya.”

She nodded for a second.

“You too,” she said. “How… how’s the leg?”

“Fine,” he shrugged. “Had worse.”

“Yeah,” she laughed a little. “Yeah, I remember.”

He laughed back. He never thought he’d be laughing about getting stabbed in the gut with a hunk of wood and almost dying of infection on the floor of an abandoned basement but the end of the world did weird things to you.

“So,” she said after a moment. “Heard you can tell me how to shoe a fuckin’ horse.”

“Yeah,” Joel nodded. “Think I can.”

He lifted the horse’s hoof and rested it on his good leg.

“Alright,” he said. “First thing we gotta do is take off the old shoe…”

He walked her through it step by step, Ellie falling into learning the way she always had. Her gaze was bright and exacting, picking up everything he did. When he pulled out the hoof pick to clean up the foot, she crinkled her nose and pulled back.

“Oh ugh,” she said. “Fucking gross, man…”

Joel smiled a little.

“Yeah, that’s why you clean it out before you put the new shoe on. It’s not healthy to put a shoe on with all that shit in there…”

Once the first hoof had a new shoe, he moved on to the next, having Ellie tell him what to do. He’d done the same thing with her once, when teaching her how to dress an animal, back when it was just the two of them. Things had been simpler then, before the Fireflies had tried to kill her, before he had to understand what her loss would do to him.

Ellie did the third hoof almost all on her own, needing a little help from Joel to remind her to do things like watching out for the frog when cleaning out the hoof or the importance of knowing where to stop when trimming the hoof.

“OK,” Ellie said after she finished her second shoe. “This is pretty fucking cool.”

“Make a cowgirl of you yet,” Joel teased a little but she smiled, proud.

“Yeah,” she said. “Just might.”

The two of them had fallen into the most comfortable cadence they had in years when you came in from the pen, taking the saddle off your horse and putting it away.

“How’s it going in here?” You asked, taking the bit and bridle off the horse, too, before putting it in its stall.

“Pretty fuckin’ cool,” Ellie said as she finished tapping a nail in on a shoe. “Look at this shit! I can shoe a horse!”

“Yes you can,” you smiled a little. “Who knew, right?”

You watched Ellie finish up the last hoof on the horse they were working on before leading it back into its stall. You leaned against the wall next to them as they got the tools picked up, your arms crossed.

“So,” you said. “Y’all hungry? Because I’m starving.”

Joel looked over at Ellie, waiting or her response.

“I could eat a… well, not a horse,” she said. “But a cow most definitely.”

You laughed and the two of you looked at Joel, Ellie looking just as expectant as you were. He felt a pinch of tears behind his eyes that he tried not to give into.

“Yeah, let’s…” he took a breath. “Let’s head to the mess hall.”

Ellie was still Ellie during dinner, giving him shit and laughing with you, talking about school that week, saying her stupid puns. It felt so normal, like this was how it was supposed to be, just the three of you doing the most typical stuff in the world. Going to work, having dinner, walking home when it was done. The most natural thing in the world. Like it was always supposed to be the three of you like him and Ellie had just been waiting for you to show up, too. He loved it.

“So how many horses did you get through?” You asked as the three of you walked back toward Joel’s.

“Just four,” Ellie sighed. “Still got a lot more that need the work.”

“Well, the two of you can just come by again tomorrow if you’re up for it,” you shrugged. “Keep chippin’ away at it.”

Joel glanced at Ellie, waiting to see what she said.

“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I can do that.” She looked to him. “Joel?”

He cleared his throat to keep the fact that he was damn near ready to cry to himself.

“Yeah,” he said. “Sounds good, Baby Girl.”

She smiled.

“Cool.”

Next Chapter

A/N: So... y'all. I cannot stress enough to enjoy this while it lasts because things start to ramp up next chapter.

Because I'm not happy if I'm not fucking everything up for Joel Miller apparently (though seriously there are some legitimate character issues that need resolving before this can all play out and that's coming up real quick.)

I do have a an updates blog for those who want to be alerted when I publish. Just follow and subscribe here.

I hope you've enjoyed our little lull into cozy family time! Thank you for being here and for reading and interacting. It really does mean the world. Love you!!

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#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #yearling #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #smut fic #joel miller x oc

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ohraicodoll · 1 year

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ok but listen, feral!reader picking up ellie from the hospital with Joel...

God, they would slaughter together.

God help any motherfucker who stands in their way.

Violent Ends Joel Miller x f!Reader The Last of Us 2.6k Words/ 3rd POV Feral Reader Masterlist Summary: They find the Fireflies and one by one, the lights go out. Warning: Violence. Spoilers for TLOU Ep 9 and the end of TLOU Part 1.

The moment feels frozen in time, right before the flash grenade went off. It’d been a month since Denver. A month since finding both Ellie and Red in the snow, covered in blood. That desperation that had driven him awake and to his feet, driven him to walk through miles of icy wind and snow to find them, had all at once flooded out of him. Because they were alive and together and that’s all that had mattered.

It’d been hard dealing with all their wounds. Joel was still healing from the stab wound and had to be caught up to speed, his need to take over the role of caretaker making it hard for him to relax and rest. It didn’t help that Red was exhausted, injured, and they all needed taking care of. Ellie had murdered the man, David. Had gone through hell and back and was changed because of it. She had such awful nightmares those first couple of weeks. Nights where she would scream herself awake and when they went to hold her, she would thrash in their arms. Too many nights of either of them holding her, rocking her gently back to sleep like she was a baby. Unbelievable damage had been done to all of them and for once, Joel was finding himself being the one to try and to tug everyone out of the darkness. He tried what he could to remind the girl of the good, show her fond memories, get her to laugh or even just be a little shit. Too many late nights talking with the woman at his side about what to do about her. Too many long silences, the absence of constant chatter noticeable. There were moments when Ellie seemed fine again and then the next she was gone, eyes dark and glazed over. PTSD, Red had murmured. It was hard for her too. It’d been a long time since killing had affected her and she wasn’t sure what to do to comfort Ellie. They continued on to Salt Lake City. Something about finally reaching their destination, the end of this big journey, had felt too much and he was anxious. Ellie was determined, no matter how much he said they didn’t have to go through it with, to reach the Fireflies. No cans of Chef Boyardee or promises to teach her guitar or gentle ribbing deterred her. Just the promise that she would follow them wherever they wanted to go after the job was done. At the back of his mind, he remembered Red telling him that when the job was done, she may go her separate ways. But she didn’t bring it up again and he wasn’t going to be the one to remind her. He didn’t want her to leave, couldn’t imagine it. He wanted to grab both of them by the hand, shove them in a car, and drive them straight back to Jackson. He wanted to see Ellie smile and joke again. He wanted to have them safe under the same roof without worrying who was coming for them. Joel wanted to take the time to explore every inch of Red without distraction, see her finally unguarded and at ease. He wanted them with him at his side, happy and taken care of.

But they had to finish it all. The moment before the flash grenade exploded, he’d been mid chuckle. His chest had felt light at the fact Ellie was finally laughing again, both of them arguing over shitty puns, and his eyes had found Red. She’d been smiling at him and he had wondered how many times she had ever actually smiled at him. Not at Ellie, but him and how he wanted to see it more. Then they heard the sharp metallic ping of something hit the ground and his head felt like it was going to explode. The world went dark. They’d found the Fireflies but the cost was Ellie. He had never really questioned how they would get the cure from the girl. Science wasn’t his forte so he had figured they would take some samples, run some tests, and then they would be on their way. But it’d been so stupid to be that naive. Cordyceps grew on the brain. He knew that and it had never clicked that the whole journey there had been a death procession. Marlene’s face as she said she understood his pain was bullshit. She didn’t understand anything. She didn’t understand what it was like to raise a little girl only to have her die in her arms. What it was like to live in bitterness and hatred only to find another miracle child and keep her safe against the world. How many lives and bodies had followed in his and Red’s wake to make sure she was okay only to deliver her to her death. Marlene didn’t understand shit because Ellie wasn’t her kid. She was theirs. And she expected them to simply walk away and rinse their hands of her? She gave the order to escort him out, telling him his companion would be let out separately as soon as she was awake. They had to sedate her after she broke one of their arms when she woke up. Joel’s mind was racing. On a feedback loop, that moment before the grenade went off played over and over again. Ellie’s laugh. Red’s smile. That feeling in his chest. His girls. His girls. He’d had panic attacks before, had been knocked breathless with pain at the thought of harm coming to them and the fear he would fail them. But he wasn’t going to fail them this time. He wasn’t losing anyone anymore. Ice cold violence washed over him as he took care of the two soldiers in the stairwell. It was so easy to pull the trigger again and again. Bodies fell to the floor one after another as he worked his way towards where the soldier had mentioned Red was kept. He’d get her and then they’d get Ellie and leave. The world could fucking burn if it meant Ellie would live and if anyone understood that, it was her.

He found her a floor up from where he was kept, his bullets finding Fireflies one by one. Their lights blinking out. Her bag was kept under the nurse’s station, some of her belongings spread out on the counter. They’d dug through them. Joel made sure to carefully put everything back exactly how he knew she liked it, knowing how attached she was to every single thing, and kicked open the door where she was being held. They’d tied her arms to the wall radiator with rope, blindfold over her eyes and her head lolled to the side. Rage filled him at the sight of her that way, like a wild animal caught in a trap. She’d scared them. Scared them enough they didn’t want her to recognize their faces, to be able to see the fear in their eyes. Satisfaction filled him at that fact. He made sure to gently cut through the rope with Ellie’s switchblade, rubbing the raw skin around her wrists, and was lifting the blindfold off when she jerked awake, thrashing immediately. Her nails were sharp and dug into his neck, drawing deep scratches, before he could catch her wrists. Her wild eyes were unfocused and he shushed her, speaking gently, “It’s me, it’s just me. I got ya.” Pupils dilated and eyes blinking rapidly, it took her a bit to come to realize who was talking to her, “Joel?” “It’s me, darlin,” he whispered, releasing her wrists and cupping her cheeks, “It’s me. We have to get you up and going, we don’t have much time.” “Where-” she licked her dry lips, voice raspy, and looked around the room with a furrowed brow, “Where’s Ellie? What happened?” His teeth grit and he wondered if he should lie to her. Tell her these people weren’t the Fireflies and had taken the girl, let her unleash unholy hell onto them. But this was Red and it didn’t matter who these people were to her. She wouldn’t care because the fact remained that they had taken Ellie and weren’t giving her back. “We found the Fireflies,” Joel spit out, “They’re going to kill her. To make the cure. They have to kill her to get it.” He didn’t have to explain what he was planning to do. They had always worked well, able to silently communicate without a single word passed between them. They were going to kill Ellie. That was all he had to say. Because if anyone understood what his choice was going to be, it would be her. Joel could see it. The moment the statement sunk in, her brain landing on the same frequency as his. They were going to kill Ellie. Ellie. They were going to kill their kid. Fuck a cure, fuck these people, fuck all of humanity. He’d seen that same look in her eye when he’d found them in Denver, her face and clothes coated in blood that wasn’t hers and fingers digging into Ellie tightly as if she’d disappear into the wind if she let go. Rage, pure and decimating. She’d burn the world to the ground and salt the earth afterwards. He handed over her pack and she quickly strapped it on before taking the spare pistol he had grabbed from one of the soldiers. “How many?” she bit out and rose to her feet. “A lot.” “Okay,” was all she replied before checking her magazine clip and nodding towards the door, “You lead.” And that was that. She was his shadow, that silent communication taking over like when they were back in the wilderness. He’d turn and fire and she would be there, having his back as he reloaded and checked the corners. If his gun clicked empty before finishing a soldier, her knife would find the target. Quick and brutal and efficient. Red didn’t hesitate. Even as some of the soldiers begged, she was quick to end them, picking up their gun and continuing on. They moved with brutal proficiency through the floors, bodies and blood and bullets falling in their wake. When they needed to know what floor Ellie was being held on, they grabbed a person and she’d dug her knife into their thigh, getting the information before slitting their throat. One of them would grab a bottle and toss it, causing a distraction and giving the other an opening to mow down the Fireflies.

Mercy was not something they considered. They had taken their kid, taken Ellie, they were going to kill her and that meant no one would be left alive. No loose ends, no one to come after them. She saw what had happened last time in Denver when they left loose ends. David’s group had happened. Blood and fire had happened. They wouldn’t make the same mistake again. When they reached the pediatric floor, it was quiet, empty. The painted childlike imagery on the walls didn’t help their anger. Pediatric floor. For children. Yet here these people were, about to kill their daughter for the good of mankind. This is where kids came to be saved, not murdered. Red’s body was humming with energy at his back and he knew that if he wanted to, he could unleash her and let her rip everyone to shreds even if it meant she’d hurt herself. She was a weapon to be used however he saw fit and it would be so easy to let her do it. But Joel wasn’t losing either of them. No, he was walking out with both of them at his side, safe so they could go back home together. The slight murmur of voices drew them closer to the operating room. The sight of his baby girl in a hospital gown on a table sent pain rushing through him. Ellie looked so small, hair undone and laid out around her and contraptions attached. None of the spitfire energy she usually had, no smirk, no grin at annoying him or frustrated frown when Red got after her. These people didn’t know who they were going to kill for their cure. Didn’t know the amazing girl the world would lose for them to gain a future. The surgeon looked up and was startled at seeing both of them there. Joel doesn’t remember exactly what he said, only that the doctor had grabbed the scalpel and then he shot at the same time Red did beside him. The doctor fell and the nurses did too, dropping to the ground in a splatter of blood. Just more bodies in their wake. They didn’t waste any time. Quickly drawing the IV out of her vein, Red grabbed tape and gently wrapped it while Joel worked to unhook Ellie from the machines. He couldn’t help but press a kiss to her hair and whispered, “We’re here, baby girl. Let’s go home.” “I’ll cover the rear, you carry her, and we’ll go to the garage. There has to be vehicles there,” Red bit out, “We may have stragglers show up.” He nodded and pulled Ellie off the table and into his arms, leading the way out of the room and into the hallway. As predicted, there were stragglers. A few soldiers were running from the back stairwells, guns raised. He kept going, trusting Red to have his back. Joel trusted her with both their lives and knew she wouldn’t let anything happen to them. Especially not so close to the finish line. Sure enough, he could hear her open fire, the telltale sounds of screams and pained grunts echoing around them before the thuds of bodies hitting the ground. Leave no loose ends. The mantra played through his mind as they entered the garage and saw Marlene there. It played when he turned to look at Red, her eyes borrowing holes into Marlene’s with a rage he’d only seen a few times. And it played when he pulled the trigger on the gun he was holding underneath Ellie’s legs. “You’d just come after her.”

___________________________

Red didn’t protest against anything he told Ellie. He knew she wouldn’t, but to see her trust him fully to take the lead on the explanation made him reach across the center console and grab her hand. Her hands were still bright pink from scrubbing the blood off them, wiping away any evidence before Ellie would wake up. Raiders. Barely made it out. No cure to be found. No one left. Her fingers intertwined with his, gripping them back after checking on the sleeping girl curled up in a ball on the back seat. “Back to Jackson,” Red murmured, blinking up at him under her lashes. The sun reflected off her cheekbones, lighting up her hair. “Back to Jackson,” Joel replied and gave her hand a squeeze. “You sure you want me around civilized folk?” she whispered and rubbed at a spot of blood in her jeans, hair falling into her face. The question was said jokingly but tentative. Do you want me around? You said there was no happy ending. Their past arguments swirled in his head and he cursed the man he had been, the one who had put that doubt there. “Fuck civilized folk,” Joel assured her easily, hand on the steering wheel gripping it tightly, “I need my girls with me. Who else is going to help me look after our kid.” Our kid. Because Ellie was. She was theirs. Not by genetics but they were family tied together by blood and violence and something that ran so much deeper. Red had killed for them like they all had killed for each other. Joel would kill hundreds to keep both of them safe. She smiled softly, head tilting back to lean against the headrest and blood still slightly smeared on her neck. Joel’s eyes focused on her mouth, the tilt of her lips as it curled up and the fact it was aimed at him. Just like before the flash grenade went off. He was taking his girls home.

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