#soft joel squad

[nexusnyx]

from eden

Joel Miller x f!Reader [3.3k] Summary: The nightmares left when you started sharing Joel's bed, but that never meant they were gone. When you have your first episode in his presence, Joel's right there. He's there, all around you, inside you, comforting you. It's so different than all the other desperate times you two became one that you wonder how much of it is meant to soothe you, and how much was a need of his.

— A/n 📝This was written because I had a nightmare and no Joel to comfort me, so I'm being self-indulgent to the max. You're welcome. Reblogs and comments make all the difference. — Warnings⚠️ mature content—explicit depictions of sex, so minors dni. | 🏷️ age gap, established relationship, morning sex, comfort sex, nightmares, soft!Joel, making out, dirty talking, fingering, missionary sex, prone bone, overstimulation, creampie (practice safe sex y'all).

ㅤㅤㅤㅤmasterlist | read on ao3

Before you, his sleep was non-existent. Restless, a black out, a body function that hit him when Joel reached his limit. It was achieved through scotch, overworking himself, and sometimes, when the date offered no other alternative, pills.

Now, Joel sleeps — okay. He rests.

Drool on his pillow, body waking up with the feeling of new, sometimes even going as far as dreaming. It's insanity, and although he's only had it for months, Joel's terrified of how addicted to it he is.

No matter how great the sleep is, it's still light. Always will be — there's no deep sleep at the end of the world, and when you stir in his arms, Joel wakes up in a second, only to notice this is nothing like the other times; he regains consciousness and is taken by your panic like a cold shower, and in a second, he's alert.

"Baby — hey, hey," he whispers your name, calling you back to him. "Wake up." He repeats your name louder, and you awake in a pained gasp, which echoes in him. "Hey — baby. C'mere."

At first, the shock stops you from abiding by his words.

All you can feel is the hot peng in your chest still echoing from the images passing like a movie before your eyes, the hot ache enveloping all your middle from the sense of alert danger alert, but Joel is patient as you breathe through those seconds. His palms rub both your arms, and he keeps his distance, his breath steady, his eyes set on you firm despite their hazy sleepiness. Once, Joel could barely sleep heavily enough to get rest, and now, he woke with sleep still clouding the edges of his visions.

Because of you. Because of — "Baby," he whispers again. This time, his voice lands somewhere conscious and your gaze meets his. "There you are." His digits apply gentle pressure on your arms to see if your body has relaxed enough to be guided by him and sure enough, you feel the slight pull as a port and sink your anchor into him.

Your upper body sags on his, falling on his touch.

You wished for radio silence. For something to come and take away the pain, the lingering feeling of those worries your subconscious manifested as horrible pictures to dissipate.

And it comes. In the shape of Joel's hand gripping your nape and his other hand wrapping around your waist to pull you even closer, comfort arrives.

"Shhhhh." Only when he shushes you the sound of your whimpering register — you're crying. Wetting his sleeping shirt. Still shaking. "I've got you."

He repeats those three precious words more times until you've calmed down. However long that takes. All you know is that one moment you can barely think beyond what you saw in those dreams and next, you're wiping your cheeks on your forearms and looking at Joel through your wet lashes.

He feels your eyes on him, turns around and flicks the lamp by the bed on.

Faint yellow light illuminates his features amidst all the darkness, and you breathe.

"You're alright," it slips out. You almost cry again, biting at your bottom lip since you're unable to bite your own words back, or swallow them now that they're out in the open.

Joel's brows crease in confusion for only a moment, and then it hits him. It was about him. "I'm alright." The claim erases every ounce of weight left in your chest. "C'mere," he pulls you closer, and you take the invite.

Stradling his lap is your favorite thing, even if you're still shy to do it; the level of desire and attraction you have for Joel is embarrassing, the effect he has on you and how desperate you are for every crumb of his touch and affection should make you ashamed. All it does is make you blush, or occasionally stutter.

Joel takes it all with a good heart. He adjusts your body in his lap, resting his face on your shoulder, and then breathes in deeply.

Breathes out.

After blissful moments like this, he asks. "Feeling better?"

With you, always. "Yeah." You want to look at him, but his neck is where Joel smells the most like himself, and it makes you a bit drunk. Sleep is long gone from your body — that's what a few touches from him can do. "You always know how to help."

Joel chuckles and the huff of breath tickles your neck. "All I did was shush and hold you."

"I know. That's perfect."

Joel would ask if you want to talk about the nightmares, but no one does. He starts petting your hair. "Think you can get back to sleep?"

You shake your head.

His head tilts. What do you want, then? "Still thinking about it?"

His question makes you double-check, and — no. You shake your head. "Just..." Instead of answering, you show him.

A roll of your hips, and the surprised groan it pulls out of him makes the hint of a smile show on your face.

He put you on his lap. That's all you needed to go from asleep to wide awake. Or at least, I want you awake.

"Fuck—," Joel's fingers dig deeper and hard into your waist. "'s what so?"

You nod. "Can we?"

"Can we what?" Joel asks, because while few people know it, he's a little shit.

"You know what," you whine. "Wanna feel you. Please?"

The way you whine brings out something borderline animalistic in Joel.

It took him by surprise every single time — it was a hook you had, an energetic and magnetic pull that turned Joel towards you almost on instinct.

Joel goes from being half-asleep to reeling about all the ways he wants to taste you. It should be over by now, the stupid flutter in his stomach whenever you kiss him like this, devour his oxygen in a starved and greedy way, but they only amplify somehow.

All he does is kiss you for a while.

Joel sighs into your mouth and licks around your soft whimpers. He feels overwhelmed — with only a few rolls of your hips and the desperate tightening of your legs on both of his sides and he's hard as a rock. Straining against his briefs, wetting a spot on it because you're rocking against him and all but melting against his hand on your hair.

When he pulls back for air, Joel has to just look.

He grabs a fistful of your hair by the nape and pulls your head back as gently as he can — you mewl. Whine coming out scratchy, on the back of your throat, and he sort of smiles.

It's on his face. He can feel the tugging on his lips at the sight in front of him. There's the faintest notion of light coming through the windows, the early signs of night dissipating, and they illuminate you just right. Soft, royal blue lights illuminate the contour of your cheekbones, and Joel needs to see more.

Wants to. He lets go of your hair and tugs on your shirt—no, on his shirt, taking it off with your help.

Usually, Joel's talkative from the start. He discovered you have a thing for his voice early on and lost the ability to shut the fuck up ever since. Your words, not his.

Usually, it's not this, though—not this slow, or this reverent.

One of Joel's hands keeps running through your body, smoothing out all the exposed skin, and he can tell by your body that the touch is relaxing.

Then, you break the silence by leaning your upper body, closing the space between your heads. "Joel," you whisper in his mouth. "Wanna suck you off."

The one thing you love doing to distract yourself—he'd allow it, but something's tugging at him to offer more than just distraction.

Joel wants to offer you comfort.

He closes the gap and kisses your eager and waiting lips, tasting you again before answering, "Not now, baby."

You whine, squeezing your thighs around him. "Why not?"

He remembers something and runs his hands over your ass as he talks, massaging and squishing the flesh. "You told me I could touch you as much as I wanted to, remember?" He gets his fingers under the ban of your panties, squeezing harder. "On our night, you told me I could always do you like I wanted, right baby?" Joel seals his lips on yours again in a harsh kiss as both of you recall the night. The first night. The one you two deemed 'your' night. He pulls back. "Was so filthy that night, baby—"

"Wanted you for so long—" and shit, that gets to him.

Joel spins both of you around and lays your back to the mattress again, rocking his hips with yours. "Dunno what you see in me, baby—" you poked him hard on his side, mean and pointy and hard, and Joel looks up to see you frowning at him. Right—no shit-talking himself in your presence. He chuckles, and grabs your chin, tilting your head up so he licks a stripe down your jugular. "My bad — 'm thinking about how fuckin' lucky I was and started off on the wrong end of it."

"Damn right you did — oh." The gasp you let out loud is matched by his cursing.

Joel pushed your panties to the side, taking advantage of the lack of clothes in way, and all he wanted was to check. Instead, he gets his fingers soaked in all of your wetness. Just from kissing. Just for him. "All for me, baby? Jesus fuckin' Christ." Joel runs two, three fingers between your folds, wetting his digits before he starts thumbing your clit. "I love your mouth on me, y'know that. Always get So messy. Do it just like — I like it. But I just wanna see you feel good right now."

"Joel."

He had no idea where it came from, but his brain paints the picture for him.

Your eyes wide, twitching with fear.

It'd been a while since he saw that. Matter-of-factly, Joel was sure now he'd never seen that expression on you before. He would know — the long days Joel spent cataloging ever line, wrinkle, freckle on your body; he was no stranger to your nature. Joel walked into your deepest and darkest woods, and whatever nightmare woke you up today, it was a new storm brewing.

You're alright, you had said.

Joel sinks his fingers inside you as he sinks his mouth on your neck, seeking comfort in you at the same beat as he's trying to offer it.

You clench around him, and Joel sighs when your nails dig at his back. It's not just his voice you like. Joel stops thinking about all the reasons why you could be afraid and focuses on making you forget there's a world to fear. "Like my fingers, don't ya?" he rasps out, inching his face back so he can share the same breath as you.

"So thick," you babble out, thighs spreading wider for him.

Joel wasted many hours in front of mirrors convincing himself he was past the futilities of caring about appearance, attraction, and things of the such. However, all you needed to do was this:

"Joel, oh god, Joel," like a prayer. Eyes closed, rolling at the back of your head, like a surrender. The way you forced them back open just to look at him, and your mouth gaped open — Joel could feel the lust oozing off of you. "So fuckin' handsome, Joel. You look so good fucking me."

He growls, pulsing his fingers in a curve inside of you, abusing the spot he knows to be carved only to break your mind. Designed to make you see stars.

"So flatterin'," he laughs, sucking on your abused lips. "You make me feel handsome," he confesses, milking the trembling in your body that he recognizes quite well. "That's it — let it all go for me, baby."

Your first orgasm cums in a silent scream, as you let his fingers guide you into white bliss.

Joel moans unabashedly as you ride it out. He kisses your jaw since your lips are too busy hanging open, frozen around the letters of his name.

"Joel—too much, too much," you cry out, and he takes out his fingers from inside. He guides them to your mouth, and you part your lips. So obedient it drives him nuts.

"Lick 'em clean," he orders softly. He watches you do it, and imagines it's his cock inside of his fingers, but he has to prioritize now. He wants you in that way he knows it drives you wild — the way it pulls at your animalistic instincts and gets you screaming into the pillow. "Turn around, baby, c'mon."

It's like you know.

You do. Your eyes widen for a second and you moan for him before readjusting your body under him.

He grabs his own pillow to position underneath your hips when you lay with your belly down, settles his legs outside of yours and does his best not to drop his whole weight on you just yet.

"More, more," you whine for him. You want more of his weight — lord knows why, but you enjoy being smothered by him. Joel gives you just a little more and pulls your hair away from your face so he look at you. "Please don't tease me."

He wanted to. God, Joel really wanted to be strong — and young — enough to tease you until you were crying; sometimes, when he was rested enough, when you riled him up just right, when the adrenaline was high, or when something clicked and the air sizzled with a tension between you two, then he could.

Joel could make you cum two, or three times, before he put it in.

Other times, you were both starving for it.

He positioned himself at your entrance and pushed just the head in, wishing he was less riled up, but finding comfort that you were right there with him.

"Joel," you beg.

He smiles, and slides it all the way in. It's so wet, and so tight, and he's so, so fucked.

He praises your name. Catches his breath on your sweaty shoulder, and sucks on the back of your neck.

When you whine for more, this time, he truly has no words.

All Joel does is enjoy the way you're a mess with him.

He starts at a slow pace, pulling out the way out so he can enjoy the drag of it getting back inside. He does that until his arms are aching with the effort of keeping himself upright, and then he's lowering himself further, enjoying how much louder you get.

"Tell me if it's too much," he pleas in your ear.

"Faster, need it faster," is all you have to say back to him.

Joel abides. He gives it to you just how you want it, and he knows you're about to cum again before you start blabbering about it.

"Oh, god—'m gonna, Joel—right there—"

"Here, hm?" He bucks his hips harder, and is rewarded with your moans getting higher. "Fuckin' love findin' your sport, baby. Clenching — so fuckin' tight around me."

"'m gonna cum —"

"Oh, I know baby — clenchin' so fuckin' hard around me. Do it." He grabs your hair again and tells himself to hold it back. "Cum around my cock. Show me how bad — you love — when I give this pussy — what it deserves."

It's a mess of tangled libs and sweat from then on.

You convulse around Joel, your whole body trembling. With thighs still shaking, Joel pulls out and flips you around so he can see your face. He lines up and cups your face with the other hand, "Can I, baby?"

You nod with tears streaming down your face. "Please," it's only a whisper. "Please use me. Wanna—"you push your hips down, and Joel sinks it all the way in, making both of you moan. "Yes. Need your cum, too — need it so much."

Joel was teetering on the edge when he started fingering you and watched pleasure take over you. The minute that thin layer of sweat started covering your curves, he wanted to paint your back in his release. Wanted to bury himself to the hilt inside of you.

So he does.

Joel brackets your face between his forearms, and looks you in the eyes as he fucks into you. Not for the first time, he looks deep into you — switches his gaze between the place where your bodies connect to your face, and it's in your silent plea of his name that Joel loses himself.

He sees you starting to lose it — his sides are carved and marked, painted in red by your clawing and scratching, and he knows you're overstimulated from orgasms so close to each other, so Joel knows it'll be easy to do what he loves.

Make you cry out of pleasure.

When he feels his balls tightening, Joel starts to take longer thrusts to make his pelvis stimulate your clitoris at the same time as his hips meet yours. He lets out a loud moan at the feeling of your walls constricting, and, "'m gonna cum, baby, fuckin' hell—"

"Do it, do it do it, Joel, please—"

"Fuck, beg more. Beg."

The litany of pleas falling from your mouth is drawn out in white noise when Joel cums harder than in a long time, spilling hot and deep inside of you. Filling you up a lot. Fuck—he cums so much that the aftershocks last for minutes; precious time that he spends caressing your hair and enjoying your legs trembling in spasms of sensitivity.

Joel grunts a lot. To pull out it's the hardest — your whine gets him to shush and coo, "Shhhh, 's okay baby, 's okay." He peppers your face in kisses to replace from the sudden emptiness. "'m here."

"Don't leave."

"Won't," he licks under your jaw and gets out from on top of you. Grabs the closest piece of clothing to clean between your thighs and to get rid of most of the mess, then throws it far away for the two of you to deal with in some hours.

When he pulls you to his chest, Joel feels content.

He can feel your heart beating. The steady, strong pulse soothing into something calm.

With both chests touching, Joel recognizes when your breathings harmonize.

He smiles, wondering if you already fell asleep.

You haven't. "You're such a dream, Joel." The words are whispered against his chest, where your lips are. Over the sternum of his collarbone, touching it feather-light. The words make crawl through his skin and as soon as they make contact with his ribcages, they start growing there. A dream.

He understood the feeling. You were a dream. He hugs you tighter, wishing he burns this tender blue-lit moment in his mind to always come back to when he needs comfort. (When you're not around.)

"You're a dream, too, baby."

For a second, he wonders if you heard it. Then, he feels it.

A smile on his skin.

A dream or not, you two are in the same haze. That's all he needs. Let him sleep for good if it's like this — with you. In your arms.

🏷️ @sakuralikestars — @mostardentily — @thegreat-annamaria — @leiticia — @polyglot-noodle — @casssiopeia — @earthtocharlene — @levylovegood — @lavenderhhze — @gracie7209 — @waywardwolfbonklight — @shadytalething — @sanzusmile —@yesimwriting — @celestialstar111 💖

⚠️ if anyone being tagged would like to not be, just let me know in my inbox (which you can also use to talk to me about all the appeals of Joel Miller with his hair slicked back. Just saying hehe.

#usernexusnyx #joel miller #joel miller imagine #joel miller fic #joel miller fanfic #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller fluff #joel miller smut #joel miller one shot #joel miller drabble #soft joel squad #joel miller x you #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x y/n #joel miller self insert #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x y/n #pedro pascal smut

[justagalwhowrites]

im pretty sure you've been asked for all the ocs at this point separately but i have a tiny pea sized brain and cant remember LMAOOO but who are your fcs for the ocs? doc/andrew/jess/derek/kristen/marta/elias/etc. (im sure im missing some)

my brain definitely manifests them a certain way but im curious to who you imagine!!

AHHH YES OMG HI!

So I left a lot of these non-existent or vague so people can plug in themselves and people they love BUT here’s who I picture 😍

Doc: I don’t really have an actor who fits her so I made this AI thing when I was thinking up the character? But I’ve pictured her as fairly petite (5’2”-5’4” ish?), small but not skinny, rounded but not thicc. Basically just the personification of softness and femininity. She’s got a lot of hair that’s wavy/curly that gets out of control easily and her personal style is the thrift shop version of Jess from New Girl. She looks like someone the apocalypse will chew up and spit out.

Andrew: my sweet baby angel! When we first meet him, he is 110% Lucas from Stranger Things. Fairly baby faced but brave in the face of it all - and still able to find happiness and joy. By the time Doc leaves the QZ, I’m kind of leaning Donald Glover? Someone mentioned they cast him as Andrew Garfield and I kinda love that too lol

Jess: Our third member of the codependency squad (who was honestly way understanding of her boyfriend/husband’s weird attachment and we love her for it) and resident comedian is, in my head, Doctor Who era Karen Gillan. Red hair, vibe of sass and strength but also naïveté (and so pretty that we can’t blame Andrew for gawking at her for months) we love her.

Derek: the good guy who might have been if it weren’t for trauma and Joel! He’s 40 year old James Marsden. Just… *chef’s kiss* Look between him, Joel and Tommy? Doc can PULL. Someone said they cast Oscar Isaac here and look… Oscar is like maybe the one man I might find more attractive than Pedro, it depends on the day BUT I cannot cast him as anything but a leading man. Oscar and Pedro can only be end game in my book (but I will accept any and all HC castings lol)

Kristen: Our favorite, competent as HELL trauma nurse! I pictured her as being unexpectedly feisty coming from a small, pretty, blonde package. Does she seem like someone you’d underestimate? Poor choice on your part but that’s her. Malin Akerman is who she is for me!

Marta: our tough still figuring it out assistant turned expert nurse! I wanted someone sweet but strong who could be both naive and brilliant, so Ana de Armas it is! Only realized just now that her name in Knives Out is also Marta lol I FORGOT THAT BUT OH WELL!

Elias: Our stalwart dogooder under the umbrella of FEDRA turned exhausted man trying to keep people alive, Elias is a kind hearted leader trying to do the best he can with what very little he has. His caring and drive I think are exemplified in Jimmy Smits - especially West Wing era Jimmy Smits at the beginning of the fic.

So yeah! That’s how I see all these lovely lovely characters! I hope this enriches or informs the reading for you. Thank you so much for reading and asking! Love you!!

[dreamersbcll]

“Get up”

tlou x scream; joel’s death scene. but it’s sam and tara.

——————————————————————————

Sam thought her luck turned once they invited her inside. The frosty winds stung her ears, and her teeth rattled from the cold. So once she was led inside, she felt a sigh of relief leave her body instantaneously.

And then the shotgun rang, and there was a gaping hole in her thigh.

Sam Carpenter was a lot of things- murderer, borderline psychotic with a knife, terrible comedian; so once they shoved her against the wall, she had no idea what she was being punished for. She was sure it was a punishment unless these people liked hurting others for no reason.

The girl in front of her, Quinn, crouched down to Sam’s level, her hands shaking around the shotgun she held. Quinn was previously friendly and almost sane-looking until right about now. Those soft eyes were darkened with rage, and her lips curled back in a snarl.

“Sam Carpenter,”

Through clenched teeth, Sam fought the urge to roll her eyes. This girl clearly wasn’t somebody she should’ve saved, and she was paying the price for it now. Sam always told people to not save people you don’t truly know. She should’ve taken her own advice.

“Who are you?” she panted, wincing as blood soaked her jeans.

Quinn laughed a bit, the feeling not quite reaching her eyes. She bit her lip not to cry, and Sam noticed how white she had gotten. As if she had seen a ghost.

“Guess,” the girl breathed out, her voice shaky.

Breathing hard, Sam tried to stay present. The throbbing in her leg, coupled with the chill that clung to her bones, was making responding hard. She breathed in and out, teeth gritted. After getting more air in rather than out, she responded.

“Why don’t you say whatever rehearsed speech you have, and get this over with,” she hissed.

Quinn quickly stood up, cocking the shotgun right at Sam’s face. This was the end—death by firing squad.

Tara was going to kill her.

Instead, she shook her head, lowering her arms. She handed the shotgun to the man on her left and stared Sam down. The two looked into each other's eyes, hatred and confusion swapping between them. Sam tried to negotiate, while Quinn aimed to kill.

Finally, Quinn spoke, her voice low. “Tourniquet her leg,” she softly said.

The people behind her exchanged a look, lowering their gums slowly.

And there, Sam knew that this was something else. This wasn’t about Sam’s previous thievery or assaults; it was something much bigger than that. The hatred in Quinn’s eyes was something else-something sinister.

Whatever it was, Sam wasn’t making it out alive. Not unless there was luck and God on her side.

Sam had been praying to the sky, but it was empty. Nobody wanted to protect her anymore. She was on her own.

“Now!” Quinn shouted, her hands forming into vengeful fists.

She hopes that Tara knows that she loves her still.

—-

Tara was used to being shoved around. She was five foot nothing and one hundred pounds soaking wet. But getting her face pushed into cold, damp linoleum wasn’t on her radar.

It was what she got for bursting in and taking on a group of armed people. She had told herself that she needed to be stealthy. And she damn near was. She had snuck in, her gun ready, her eyes alert-

-Until she saw Sam pinned to the ground, her blood staining the floors. A blind rage took over her, and she just started attacking. She almost had a chance with her blade until she was pinned down by what felt like five people.

“Get the fuck off me!” she wheezed, her lungs tight.

She repeated herself once more, and then someone rushed her, kicking her midriff as hard as they could. Luckily someone pulled them away, saving Tara from going unconscious.

Gasping, she tried to blink away the stars, people chatting above her, the words sounding murky. She didn’t know how many people were around her. She should’ve checked. Sam always told her to survey the room and be aware, and Tara did none of that.

Now, both of them were tied down and bloody, too far to touch but too close to see their demise.

“You’re going to fucking die!” she spat, blood dribbling down her chin.

Somebody else entered the room, and the two guards berating each other for not being posted outside. Tara didn’t give a shit who fucked up what, all she could see was Sam, bleeding out, eyes fluttering in pain. Whimpering, Tara fought against the pressure on her back, trying to free herself.

Sammy was on the ground and not moving. She needed help. Tara needed to help her.

And then the words of fate broke the air, plunging Tara back into the reality she was thrust into.

“End it. Now,” the man growled, motioning towards Sam’s brutalized body on the floor.

Tara followed the girl’s movements the best she could from the floor, starting to understand what was about to happen. The bloody golf club held in that girl’s hands was Sam’s blood, and the blood on the glass was Sam’s blood.

She was about to watch Sam lose all her blood right now.

The girl was holding the golf club, clearly aiming to smash into Sam’s head.

A guttural sob wrenched from Tara’s chest, as her heart clenched tight. “Sam, get up. Sam, fucking get up! Please stop! Please!”

The girl held up the golf club, Tara’s guttural gasps were the only noise in the room.

“Please don’t do this, please,” Tara sobbed, throwing her body up and down to get free. It didn’t work. She was still being held down.

The girl raised it above her head, her hands shaking. It didn’t matter. Tara could see that the girl had made up her mind, and Tara could do nothing about it. She was paralyzed, forced to watch Sam’s death.

There was nothing she could do.

This was the end.

Screaming, Tara tried one last time to alert Sam. She knew that Sam was unconscious, blissfully unaware of the demise she was about to meet. It didn’t matter. But she needed to try.

“Sam, Please get up!”

And the girl swung the golf club down, the sound of Sam’s skull cracking open rang through the room, silencing all.

Except for Tara.

“No!” she wailed, watching blood spurt out of what used to be Sam’s forehead.

Sam was always so pretty, so elegant, so breathtaking. Tara used to wish that she could look as beautiful as her. But instead of the dark hair and permanent frown that Tara was used to seeing were broken bones and crimson blood, hair clumps everywhere.

On the verge of an asthma attack, Tara started hyperventilating. Her chest wasn’t able to take in any air. She couldn’t breathe. Sam’s head was smashed in. Her lungs burned. She was gasping. Her big sister’s bones were sticking out.

This girl was going to die. Tara would tear her apart, limb by limb, and watch her see her bones and blood stick out of her body.

“No,” Tara gasped, trying to stay awake.

The girl was whispering, not even looking back at Sam. She wasn’t even looking at the murder she just took part in. She couldn’t even look at Sam’s destroyed skull.

It was all her fault. Tara would make her fucking die.

Oh, Sammy. Her big sister. Her life. The one person who knew her inside and out and accepted every part of Tara. The only thing on earth that mattered to Tara anymore.

Dead. Gone. The body is still warm, but her sister is gone.

They were all going to die. Tara was going to paint the earth scarlet with their blood. And she was going to fucking smile during it.

“I’ll fucking kill you.”

#scream #sam carpenter #tara carpenter #carpenter sisters #ao3 author #my writing tag #joel and ellie #sam and tara #tlou x scream

[twistnet]

chapter two — outskirts

⋯ SUMMARY ; the outskirts of the quarantine zone are trivial to navigate, and you are slowly starting to find out just how difficult this mission is about to become the longer you trek towards the capitol building

⋯ WARNINGS ; canon divergence, tw [ mentions of death, infected, guns, getting bit, blood ], some soft moments + mature language

“home sweet home...” tess utters, knocking rhythmically against the wooden door before working a series of locks open. tess’ route back to the warehouse located on the edge of the zone had taken a lot longer to get back to than anticipated. soldiers had practically swarmed the streets after the checkpoint explosion -- something she made sure to comment about at the first sight of the heavily armored platoons lining the streets. which had only earned her a slight glare from yourself before moving on.

the door swung open and tess was quick to announce herself, “hey. sorry it took so long. soldiers. fucking everywhere.”

“how’s marlene?” a voice -- ellie, questioned quickly with concern dripping into her tone before being offered a short smile from tess, “she’ll make it.” the answer was short, but seemed to do enough to stem the girl’s worries about her friend before turning toward joel with a wild smirk, “i saw the merchandise. it’s a lot. wanna do this?”

“yeah, but first...” he seemed to hesitate before continuing, “who’s this?” joel questions, frown lines deepening as his gaze falls where you stand just behind tess. your name rolls off her tongue easily as she waves her hand in your direction, “marlene sent her as insurance -- she’s taking over once we get to the capitol. they're expecting her to be there.”

“this was not what we agreed to! smuggling two girls outta of the zone? is marlene out of her mind?!” joel’s quick spout of anger is quickly diminished by tess’ heated glare, however, the anger is still evident on his features, “don’t you think it’s a bit strange that they're having us do their smuggling?”

“marlene wanted to do it herself. we weren’t their first choice, or the second for that matter. but it’s apparent she trusts this girl to make sure things run smoothly.” tess counters, shoulders shrugging slightly as she nods over towards you with a light smile, “besides, from what i hear, it’s not her first time out of the zone.”

“well, let’s just hope someone’s around to pay us.” joel grunts, following the group of girls into the other room. he brings up the rear, making sure each one of them makes it through the cutout in the wall before stepping over to the generator powering the lift.

“who’s waiting for us at the drop off?” he questions after the lift lowers the group down to the subfloor of the old apartment building -- one of the few unblocked entrances into the zone left untouched by fedra goons. “she said there’s some fireflies that have traveled all the way from another city. girl must be important.”

joel nods, turning his gaze towards you with a raised brow, “anything you want to add before we get started?”

you look up from the floor, arms crossing over your chest as you shake your head, “i probably know just as much as you do.” and for the most part, it was the truth. you, honest to god, had no clue why marlene wanted ellie escorted out of the zone. no reasoning was ever given and you definitely wasn’t going to ask. as for what you did know, it simply came down to knowing who exactly they were meeting at the capitol as it wasn’t too strange that a squad from another city had traveled in for the meet up, “great.”

once the lift comes to a halt, you step off the platform and follows after tess, lingering behind her and ellie as she takes a few looks around -- not at all familiar with this way out of the zone.

“how long is this all gonna take?” comes ellie’s question, her eyes glancing between the three other members of the group before tess shrugs, “if everything goes as planned, we should get you both to them in a few hours.” the answer seems to satisfy the girl again and the four make their way towards a ladder that leads to the ground above, “ellie, once we get out there, i need you to follow our lead and stay close.”

joel is the first up the ladder, hand pressing against the wooden panel that covers the entrance. he spares a quick glance around before climbing up and through. you are next, quickly climbing up the ladder and taking up an outlook position as the last two of the group join.

“this rain ain’t gonna do us any good.” joel comments, hand raising to shield his eyes from the onslaught of rain coming down around the city. it had been some time since you had been outside the walls, with your last run to an outpost just outside of boston having been almost four months ago and it seemed the travel times outside the walls were getting further apart as tensions continued to raise between the fireflies and fedra.

“holy shit... i’m actually outside.” ellie smiles, briefly locking eyes with you -- receiving a soft smile in return before being ushered forward, leaving you to bring up the rear alongside tess. you followed after joel, down and through what looked to have been some old sewage lines, all rapidly filling with water from the rain pouring down from above. this was definitely going to make the journey only slightly more miserable with the current given conditions.

you continued after joel and ellie, following them both up the length of an old semi trailer, only to curse a few seconds later when a fedra soldier pops out from nowhere and butts joel with the end of her rifle before lining the barrel up with the rest of the group, “don’t do anything stupid.”

heavy steps sound from behind, another fedra soldier with his gun drawn and pointed at tess’ back, “move.” he commands, ushering the girls out of the trailer and onto solid ground.

he gestures pointedly with his gun, “turn around. on your knees.” you drop to your knees beside tess, hands already raising above your head with the hopes the medallion of your necklace isn’t visible anywhere -- knowing damn well that the second either of the soldiers see, it’s an instant bullet to the head.

“you scan them, i’ll call it in.” the female soldier orders, stepping just a few paces away to talk into her radio as her partner steps forward with a scanner, “this is ramirez at sector twelve. requesting pick up for four stragglers.”

the male soldier slowly goes down the line, pressing the device against the back of each person's neck and only moving on when it comes back clear of infection. however, as he gets down to ellie, you quickly notice the girl grow antsy -- muttering something under her breath before she whips around and drives her knife into the calf of the soldier behind her.

you scramble, gun already in your hands and making the shot at the female soldier behind you and tess before turning to find joel apprehending the other with a single blow to the head.

your blood runs cold as panic slowly begins to set in -- this wasn’t how things were supposed to go. shooting soldiers and making a mess on the outside wall wasn’t how things were supposed to go. but your best guess is that this had to happen, otherwise they’d be carted back inside the walls.

your gaze turns toward ellie, who’s braced herself up against an old box as she slowly begins to panic herself, “oh fuck... fuck! i thought we were just gonna hold them up or something.” both tess and joel look about ready to rip into the younger girl when tess’ gaze drops to the scanner that lay at her feet.

“oh shit.” she mutters looking down at the reading, before tossing it over to joel, “look at this.” he catches the device effortlessly, eyes widening as he too reads over the reading before anger flashes over his face.

“jesus christ. marlene set us up?” he questions, almost distressed, tess only able to offer a shrug of her shoulders as she attempts to comprehend the turn of events. “why the hell are we smuggling an infected girl?”

your gaze drops to ellie, before snatching the device from joel’s hands to read it for yourself. brows furrowing before shaking the device -- hoping to some higher power that this thing was wrong. yet, the scan doesn’t change in the slightest.

“did you know about this?” tess questions you quietly with the briefest twinge of anger already beginning to lace her tone. though it disappears the second you shake your head, shoulders sagging as you turn to face away from the conversation. this whole trip was slowly starting to not make any sense and doubt was slowly starting to fill in the pit of your gut.

“i’m not infected!” ellie yells, hands held out in front of her as joel scoffs at her, “no? so this is lying?” he states, pointing towards the device in your hands with an angered expression.

“i can explain!” she states, pleading for the rest of the group to listen as tess and joel slowly start to crowd around her. “you better explain fast.” tess growls, gun already in her hand as she takes a step toward ellie in a menacing fashion.

“look at this!” her hand pushing the sleeve of her shirt up her arm to show off the healed over bite mark on her forearm. joel scoffs again, “i don’t care how you got infected...”

“it’s three weeks old...” ellie states, looking between the two in front of her, before tess quickly cuts her off with the shake of her head, “no. everyone turns within two days. so you stop bullshiting.”

“it’s three weeks. i swear. why would she set you up?” ellie pleads again with the group, knowing that this could very well end badly if they chose to leave her here. sure, she knows tess and joel would disappear without another word, but you? she wasn’t sure. you had been assigned to make sure she got to the capitol by marlene -- you wouldn’t abandon the orders you are given... right?

“i ain’t buying it.” joel sighs, turning away from the girl before spotting the humvee of fedra reinforcements approaching their location.“oh shit... tess. run.”

you jut forward, grasping ellie by the upper arm before pulling her along after the two smugglers. the group traverses through some of the old tunnels and sewage pipes -- wanting to avoid running into any and all fedra soldier now that they know two of their own were killed.

alarms and lights lit up the area around them, making avoiding the mass of fedra soldiers all that more difficult, “there’s so many of them out here. how are we going to get around them?” ellie whispers from your side, shouldering herself up against the broken piece of concrete as lights flooded the area below in search of the four of you.

“they ain’t spotted us yet -- quick, over this way.” joel states, waving for the rest of you to follow after him. it takes a few minutes to navigate the old sewers, and there are a few times where you feel yourself holding your breath as you wait to see if the fedra soldier had caught any of your movements, only to move on and call out to their team.

you slide into an area, pausing abruptly when humvee’s pass over a large grate, before joel ushers you into an area where it seems you all could get a grasp on what was going on, “alright... they're gone.”

“okay, what was the plan? let’s say that we deliver you to the fireflies, what then?” tess questions, looking between you and ellie as the latter settles to the ground under her. you can only shrug, only knowing to get ellie to the capitol -- you’re next orders would come from the team lead.

ellie sighed, “marlene... she said that they have their own little quarantine zone. with doctors there; still trying to find a cure.”

joel huffs out a disbelieving laugh while shaking his head, “yeah, we’ve heard that before, huh, tess?” there’s a slight glare sent his way before tess motions for ellie to continue with a lopsided smile, “and that... whatever happened to me is the key to finding a vaccine.”

“oh jesus.” joel curses, huffing out a laugh as ellie stares at him disbelief, “it’s what she said.” and once again, it seemed her words had fallen on deaf ears as joel shakes his head and all but waves her off, “oh, i’m sure she did.”

“hey! fuck you, man! i didn’t ask for this!” ellie yells, quickly standing from her seated position and walking a few paces to get in his face, only to be dragged back by your hand at her bicep with a swift shake of the head. she seemed to deflate at the action and muttered something under her breath as joel seemed to continue.

“tess, what the hell are we doing here?” he questions, now looking over at his partner with the hope that she wasn't buying into what was being said. however, the hopeful look in her eyes give the exact opposite response as she shrugged, “what if it’s true?”

“i can't....” joel scoffs in disbelief, shaking his head as tess takes another step towards him, “what if it’s true, joel? we’ve come this far, let’s just finish it.”

“do i need to remind you what is out there?” he growls out, making a point gesture as tess’ face seems to twist up in slight upset, “oh, i get it.” she hisses, brushing past her partner. leaving both you and ellie to follow right after her. and after a few paces, joel dutifully joins at the back.

“this way! if we cut through downtown, we can make it to the capitol by sunrise.” tess calls over her shoulder, pointing towards the highway ninety sign. the roads leading towards downtown look about the same as the wasteland closer to the quarantine zone.

“holy moly! i guess this is what these buildings look like up close. they're so damn tall.” ellie mutters, looking up and around at the leaning buildings before turning towards tess with a curious gaze, “so... what happened here?”

“they bombed the hell out of the surrounding areas close to the quarantine zones. hoping to take out as much of the infected as possible. it worked.” tess answered, earning a laugh from joel as you all continued down between the dilapidated buildings.

a loud crack of thunder seemed to stir up some of the infected, the noises seemed to scare ellie, who jumped almost a foot in the air and quickly cozied up to your side, “ah, what the hell was that?”

“tess, you hear that?” joel asked from behind, and tess nodded, “yeah, sounded pretty far away though.” the only tough part about trying to figure out where those sounds came from was that it could have been from anywhere. which made this situation all the more troubling.

“are we safe?” ellie questions, looking over at tess as she asks this, knowing that she would be upfront and honest with her, “for now... come on.” you continue to follow her up a slope, that later banks off and then drops over the edge, “damn, that's quite a drop.”

“there’s the capitol building over there.” joel points off into the distance, with the crest of the capitol just over the tilted towers. ellie’s shoulders seem to sag as she observes just how far off the end goal seems to be.

“yeah, we need to get around this mess...” tess states, shaking her head at the sad state of the outside area before moving back and away from the edge she’s standing on.

“this is the downtown area?” ellie questions, looking up at what she could only assume to be an old office building -- just like the ones she’s seen in the textbooks from the military school. tess nods softly, “was. now it’s just a giant wasteland.”

the path leads up to the courtyard, a part of the old building already starting to give away. with the windows and doors already open giving easy access to the lower floors of the building. joel is the first to enter, climbing up and into the building before cursing loudly, “hey, tess!”

tess quickly rushes up the rest of the way, coming to stop at joel’s side before shaking her head at the sight of the freshly mailed fedra officer leaning up against the wall, “he’s been ripped apart. body’s pretty fresh.” this body would only further complicate things -- it meant the building they are in had infected roaming around it’s halls, and that it was going to be a task and a half to navigate through.

“is that bad?” ellie asks from your side, looking over the body with a slight grimace as tess and joel share a look, “yeah, it might be. let’s not stick around.”

at her command, everyone began moving up the stairs, already wanting to put this building behind them until joel stops again, “ah! another one... shit!” with a shake of his head, he kneels down next to the body, pulling the small orders paper from his grasp and reading it over, “looks like these guys died waiting for backup.”

so, it meant whatever had killed them was still lingering around in the building. and it now meant you were all going to have to deal with it when the time came. the thing with infected was they liked to hide and aside from the obvious noise they tended to make, most of their attacks were made using the cover of darkness. and that only complicated things more.

sighing heavily, you continued up the flight of stairs, keeping watch for anything that moved or made noise. you slowly continued to crepe through the building, mainly climbing the stairs until you could find a room that took you down the length of the building. the first room like this you came across was on the fifth level, yet, had a bit of an obstacle keeping all of you from continuing further.

“god dammit! clicker...” joel curses, looking over the clicker attached to the wall and doorframe. tendrils spreading from its form and crawling up the walls around it. “jeez... what’s wrong with its face?”

“that’s what years of infection with do to you.” tess explains, gesturing wildly at the face with a displeased look. to most people’s knowledge, there were still some things roaming around that had gotten infected twenty years ago -- as to what state they were in at the time, no one really knows, but to get to this point, you’d had to be infected for at least a few years.

“so what, are they blind?” ellie asks, watching intently as joel attempts to force the door open. having to break the crusted growths that had attached themselves along the wall. a few solid hits of his shoulder against the door managed to pop it open and he ushered you all through.

“sort of, they see using sound.” tess states, as ellie perks up at the piece of information, “like bats?” to which tess nods, “like bats. if you hear one clicking, you need to hide. it means it’s right behind you.”

the next room you move into is oddly steep, and coupled with a violent shake of the building as you almost slipping back down towards the windows behind you, “whole building seems like it’s getting ready to fall apart. watch your head.” joel calls over his shoulder and you manage to steady yourself enough as the next shake takes place.

“totally cool... everything is totally cool.” ellie mutters to herself, sticking close to you and tess as the building continues to shake around you. once it settles, a look is shared among the group -- silent confirmations of safety as joel and tess move forward.

the next door is similar to the other, only this time it takes both joel and tess to push the door open -- watching with confusion as a large metal desk gets pushed away from the door before falling off the edge.

“joel!” tess yells in warning seconds before joel gets tackled by a clicker. you instinctively usher ellie behind you, hand already braced against the handle of your gun as tess shoots forward, kicking the clicker off joel and stepping down on the center of its chest before shooting it twice in the head.

“you alright?” ellie calls from over your shoulder, eyes wide with worry as joel quickly brushes her off, “it’s nothing.”

“lets search for supplies.” tess calls, before moving into the adjacent room and searching along the rows of office desks for anything useful. ellie follows in behind her, “shit! that was intense!”

“you said it.” tess mutters, shaking her head at just how close of a call that had been. you enter into the small office area, following tess’ suggestion to try and find some supplies. and you manage to find a few things, and combined with the stuff you had in your backpack, was enough to make a med kit. to which you turn towards joel, holding the pack out to him with a small smile.

“thanks.” he states quietly, wrapping the gaze around the length of his forearm before moving on and behind tess and ellie -- who have moved onto the next area.

it’s another set of stairs, however, it seems that you’ll have to scale a wall much taller than the ones previous. joel drops down, bracing himself against the wall before waving for tess. he lifts her up, making sure she’s up and over before waving for ellie to go next. once she’s up, you’re next and once your foot is placed in the brace of his hands, he lifts you up to grasp tess’ hand to pull you up the rest of the way.

“come on big guy.” tess utters down at her partner, causing you to chuckle lightly at the seemingly sweet words she’s spoken his way. joel jumps, grabbing her outstretched hand and the two of you pull him up and onto the next level.

you watch joel open his mouth, possibly getting ready to point out the direction the rest of you need to continue in, when clicks sound from the next room. “clickers?!” ellie screeches, before quickly being quieted by tess, who pulls the girl by her arm. joel ushers you in front of him, shouldering you behind a large desk right behind ellie and tess just as the first clicker comes bounding through the door.

you duck further when the clicker hovers just on the other side of the desk, the rhythmic clicks searching for any sign of life that it had followed in. when it steps back, walking towards the back part of the room, you watch tess reach down to her side, silently picking up a discarded bottle, before chucking it over the desk and letting it crash against the floor.

the clicker screeches, walking towards where the bottle had landed, and using the distraction to your advantage, tess waves you all to follow her down the length of desks and around the corner.

another bottle goes flying -- this time away from the blocked doorway tess quietly points out to all of you, and the clicker goes running towards the sound as before. once over and safe on the other side, your shoulders sag in relief, “you two alright?” tess questions after a second, looking between the two of you for any signs of distress.

“other than shitting my pants? i’m fine.” ellie jokes, earning a soft chuckle from you as you nod, signaling that you are fine and ready to move forward. tess smiles, “alright. lets go.”

“the stairwell’s blocked. should we go back up?” ellie obversely looks down at the pile of desks and chairs that block the way down to the lower levels. you step forward, looking over the railing and shrugging your shoulders, “we could go over...”

joel does just that, and with a bit of struggle, manages to pull the large filing cabinet out from under the crushed stairwell. allowing enough space for everyone to slide through to the other side, “there you go, ladies.”

tess slides over the railing first, followed by ellie and then by yourself. it’s an odd obstacle and your aren’t surprised when you manage to catch the toe of your boot on a stray piece of metal. a hand grasps the handle of your backpack, preventing you from falling flat on your face before pulling you upright, “thanks.” you mutter as joel comes around you, “don’t worry about it.”

then you catch tess climbing over the railing onto some scaffolding -- something you definitely didn’t trust with the way it groaned under the new weight being placed on it after all those years, “ah! this is crazy...” ellie states, looking over at tess as if she was crazy.

“just don’t look down.” tess replies easily, already moving off the first platform and onto the next. ellie shakes her head, before reluctantly climbing over the railing and wincing when it groans underneath her, “are you serious?”

ellie’s moments are slow, and almost calculated as she follows after tess. it’s evident this isn’t something she had seen herself doing when marlene had dropped her off to tess and joel earlier that day, and she was hoping that this was going to be the last daring thing she had to do before getting to the capitol building.

you climbed over once ellie made it to the other platform, hating how the rain managed to make the metal slippery and only that much more difficult to navigate. however, you were quicker to get across the platforms, rushing by tess and ellie as they waited for you and joel to enter in behind them.

screams echo from the next section of the building has you all stopping in your tracks as tess looks back at joel, “runners.”

“i’ll go check it out. stay with the girls.” joel orders, before dropping down to the next level. you slowly watch as joel quietly takes out the dozen or so runners throughout the lower complex. and the three of you only follow down to the same level once joel gives the all clear.

getting out and onto the street made you sigh in relief, and you’re almost happy to see the ground once more after spending those horrible few hours in that office building.

the rest of you follow joel over towards a shutter door, waiting patiently as he pulls on the chain to lift the door up for the rest of you to get through. until tess drops a hand to his shoulder with a concerned expression, “what? i don’t hear anything...” until something perks at her ears and she whips back around to joel, “double time it.”

“they're coming!” ellie yells from behind you, and you quickly shove her towards the gate, sliding under the metal door and securing her away as tess and joel barely make it through as the runners butt up against the gate.

“there’s something on your foot.” ellie points out, and you look down, finding a hand still gripped on joel’s boot -- something he’s quick to shake away before continuing further into the building.

walking and climbing through the shipping area, you’re able to deduct that the group ended up in a museum of sorts. entirely based on the old vases and some of the overturned exhibits, “this would have been so cool to see before the world went to shit. i always liked museums --  never been to one but all my books made them seem cool.” you state looking over everything. there’s a slight noise of agreement from joel, who quickly exits the area and moves further through the building as ellie and tess follow behind him.

the next room seems to have collapsed, and joel steadies himself under a few of the planks, lifting them before urging everyone through. however, his grasp and the rest of the ceiling slips down before you’re able to get through, trapping you and joel together on one side.

“joel!” tess calls from the other side, concern dripping into her voice as you move to sit ip, “we’re alright! we’ll make our way around -- “ his sentence overlapped with screeches of clickers running towards the sound. ellie and tess disappear from view and joel helps you back to your feet before ushering for you to follow him.

the both of you quietly sneak through the old building, not knowing where the infected exactly were, meaning you’d have to be quiet to avoid getting swarmed by runners and possibly clickers.

the first door you entered, runners stood around the different displays, scratching at their eyes as the infection coursed through them, “take them out quietly?” you whisper, earning a nod before you move through the room. slowly but quickly taking out each infected person by driving your knife through the bottom of their jaw or cheek.

eventually the two of you were able to clear the room, and joel whistled slightly from beside you, “that was... impressive.” joel mutters, giving you a slight nod just as he passes you up the stairs.

“i told you at the beginning i wasn’t going to slow anyone down.” you state, shooting him a slight smile before pausing as a runner rammed itself up against a blocked door. its continuous action told you that tess and ellie were just on the other side.

joel quickly took care of the runner, before opening the door. you called tess’ name as you watched her struggle for a short time with the runner, before breaking the wood plank against it’s head and knocking him to the ground.

“are you alright?” you question as you cross the room, waiting for the older woman to answer before ellie’s voice cuts through from the other room, “guys!”

the three of you went running, and you took out the runner grasping ellie before pulling her behind you as more runners came into the room. the both of you backed away, your gun raised and ready to take down any runner that came your way as tess and joel worked around the room with their own set of infected.

a runner came your way, and you pulled the trigger, blood spattering as the bullet struck its face and the runner went down. ellie’s hands twisted into the back of your shirt, keeping herself practically pressed against you until joel called out to see how everyone was.

her grasp dropped and she was quick to put a little bit of distance between the two of you. you didn’t mind -- you had come to know that people did odd and often stupid things when in fear.

joel guided everyone towards an open window -- ushering everyone out and onto the rooftop. you stepped out onto the rooftop, smiling as the dark night sky slowly turned into pale pinks and blues as the sun began to rise.

from your side, joel picked up a long wooden plank. setting it to go across to the next building over. “okay, now watch your step going over as it...” his words trialing off as ellie scoffs at him before walking across the wooden plank with ease. he stares after her in disbelief before motioning for you to go, and you scale along the board right behind ellie before coming to rest at her side.

joel is the next to come across, coming to stop right next to the both of you before gesturing in front of him, “is that everything you hoped for?”

“juries still out... but man, you can’t deny that view.” ellie smiles, staring down at the sunrise cresting just over the tip of the capitol building. an amazingly beautiful sight.

“it gets better once you get away from the city. there aren't any buildings and everything is... quiet. it’s nice.” you mutter, smiling softly as ellie’s eyes seem to widen at the information. and you wonder for a second if she’s gonna get to experience something like that.

“alright. lets keep going.” tess states, brushing past you all. you instantly pick up on her tone, sparing joel a questioning look as he only shrugs his shoulders before tess turns on her heel, “hey! let’s pick it up.”

you quickly cross the roof, following down the ladder right behind ellie, leaving tess and joel to linger on the roof, “hey, we're almost done. let’s stay focused.”

it wasn’t much longer of scaling the rooftops that the group of you made it to the outskirts of the capitol building, “it’s right around this corner. let’s go.” tess calls, already moving down towards the stairs and down them.

“keep moving, kid.” joel pushes ellie forward, and you can tell that she’s starting to get a little nervous with this trip coming to an end. everyone seems to be on edge, and ready for this to all be done -- not that you could blame them. the past few hours had been nothing but stressful and you were ready to take a break yourself.

“look at this.” joel calls from behind you, waving a note in his grasp. apparently he had turned a corner after seeing someone bloodied and huddled up into a corner and you felt your stomach twist seeing the tattoo on his upper arm, “there’s a firefly logo on his arm. what if we get there and they’re all dead?”

“they won’t be.” tess promises, forcing ellie to ask, “how do you know?”

there wasn’t a way to know, but there was a bit of an uneasy feeling already starting to settle in the pit of your stomach, but you couldn't think about something like that. not when you were all so close, “i just do.... fuck, look its gonna be fine.”

after helping everyone up and over the locked gate, joel jumps down from the wood planks running along the top of the gate, turning just enough to watch as the three of you jump down behind him, “alright... home stretch, tess!” with a slight roll of your shoulders, your gaze is drawn up towards the large marble building -- while covered in plant life and rusted to hell from the heavy rains that ran through the area, it still stood proud and tall. still a symbol of the life that had been before.

“um, just so it’s out there... i can’t swim.” ellie calls from behind you, eyeing the water suspiciously before tess motions towards the side of the road closest to the capitol gates, “it looks shallow on the right side, just follow me.” you close in behind her, part of you ready to reach out and grab her from the water should she slip further in -- thankful she’s at least wearing her backpack.

“i’m glad marlene hired you guys...” ellie says after a moment, looking between tess and joel, “what do you mean?” tess questions, looking back over her shoulder at the younger girl with a raised brow.

“i know you guys are getting paid for this... and she’s only here to oversee the trade... i’m trying to say thanks.” the poor thanks earns a soft chuckle from you as you follow tess up the steps of the capitol building, “yeah, sure. no problem.”

joel slides to the front of the group, pushing the doors open with brief hesitation before his shoulders drop, “no!” tess calls from behind, surging forward through the group, “no, no, no!” she shouts dropping next to one of the bloodied bodies of the team you were supposed to meet up with.

you move around the group, looking over the bodies in search of a radio -- hopefully allowing you to radio in and let someone know what had happened. that everything had just failed. but, you curse under your breath as nothing of the sort comes up and you realize that this group was a splinter of another, given that there were only five fireflies laid throughout the floor.

“what happens now?” ellie questions, looking between the three of you now. you slowly stand, walking back towards her with a shake of your head -- you truly didn’t know what to do now.

“what are you doin tess?” joel questions his partner, watching as she digs around the man’s vest, “maybe they had a map. or something to tell us where they were going.” she explains, slowly growing exasperated as nothing starts to come up.

“how far are we going to take this?” joel questions again, frustration growing across his features before tess explodes, “as far as we need to go!”

then, she’s turning towards the two of you, hope slowly flooding her eyes as she looks between you and ellie, “where was this lab of theirs?”

ellie shrugs, “she never said. only mentioned that it was someplace out west.” tess’ eyes glance towards you, “you?”

“i only heard rumors. there was talk about leaving the zone... going where, i’m not sure.” you sigh, arms swinging loosely at your side, “but again, it was all rumors. everything was kept pretty tight lipped.”

you could see the way tess deflated at your words, shoulders sagging as a look of anguish crossed over her features, before twinges of panic started to set in. you take note of how her hands begin to shake slightly, and a part of you wonders why she’s so suddenly dead set on making this work now -- when she hadn’t seemed to care too much about it in the beginning.

“what are we doing here? this is not us...” joel states, eyeing his partner curiously as tess scoffs and shakes her head, “what do you know about us? about me?”

“i know that you are smarter than this.” he growls, pointing towards the decaying body laying at their feet. it’s surprising to see tears slowly build in tess’ eyes, something she’s quick to will down before biting right back at joel, “really? guess what, we're shitty people joel, we’ve been that way for a long time.”

“no, we are survivors.” he reiterates before getting cut off by tess, “this is our chance!” she pleads with him, voice raising just enough that it seems to make joel snap as his face twists in anger, “it is over tess! now we tried, let’s just go home.”

tess’ bottom lip trembles slightly before steeling her nerves and shaking her head, “i’m not... i’m not going anywhere. this is my last stop.”

“what?” joel questions, confusion overtaking his features as tess shrugs her shoulders, “our luck had to run out sooner or later...”

“what are you going on about - “ joel reaches forward, getting ready to comfort his partner until tess jerks herself out of his reach and screeches, “no! don’t touch me!”

“holy shit.... she’s infected.” ellie mutters under her breath, eyes locked completely on tess -- who goes quiet and seems to almost shy away the second the words are out in the open. then the realization dawns on you and your jaw goes slack in shock.

a part of you starts to rack your brain. trying to come up with a scenario and remember when tess would and could have gotten bit. then, you remember how you and joel had burst into a room to find tess fighting off that runner.

“when we got separated in the museum, and we found you later with that runner... that’s when it happened, didn’t it?” the words tumble from your mouth before you can even stop them, but tess’ nod confirms everything.

“let me see...” joel goads, eyes still on tess, “show it to me.”

at his words, tess peels back the collar of her shirt, briefly showing off the bite mark at the curve of her neck and shoulder. joel’s anger quickly drops into one of surprise, “oh, christ!”

“oops, right?” tess scoffs, before crossing the room towards ellie, “give me your arm... this was three weeks. i was bitten an hour ago and it’s already worse. this is fucking real joel!” she takes a step towards joel after dropping ellie’s arm, “you’ve got to get this girl to tommy’s. he use to run with this crew, he’ll know where to go.”

“no, no! this was your crusade! i’m not doing that!” joel states, a mix of emotions already crowding into his tone before tess shakes her head, “yes you are! there’s enough here that you have to feel some sort of obligation for me so you need to get that girl to tommy’s.”

the moment is quickly ended as shouts from outside catches everyone’s attention. you turn, cursing under your breath as fedra soldiers jump out from their vehicles and make their way up towards the capitol building, “they’re here.... i can buy you some time but you have to run.”

“you want us to just leave you here?” ellie asks in disbelief, dread already filling the pit of her stomach as tess nods, “yes.”

joel shakes his head, “tess... there is no way -” his sentence cut off as tess whirls around with a fierce look in her eye, “i will not turn into one of those things!”

then her expression softens, and she takes a small step towards joel, “come on... make this easy for me.” it seems joel tries to make one last attempt to have tess rethink her position which only seems to anger her more before she pushes him away, “no! just go.... just fucking go.”

“ellie...” joel calls her name, slowly backing away from tess as the younger girl begins to rapidly apologize, “i’m sorry, i didn’t mean for this...” she pleads, looking between joel and tess, only getting a small smile from the older woman before joel ushers her back, “let’s get a move on... you too! lets go!”

another large set of doors shut behind the three of you, joel shaking his head just before ellie begins to panic, “fuck! i can’t believe we did that!” her hands twist into the strands of hair framing her face, eyes filled with anguish as joel shook his head, “stop...”

“we just left her to die!” ellie exclaims again, hoping the maybe it would cause either of you do turn around and do something, but it seemed there was no going back now as joel turned to her with a rage-filled glare, “stop! you two stay close to me. we need to move.” he states before turning towards you, “you with us?”

“yes...” you answer back, already moving to pull your gun into your hand, “good, stay close and follow my lead.”

he leads you both up the steps, and you find yourself lingering at the top when the doors burst open and you hear gunfire rain through the building before an explosion gets set off -- and then silence. you and ellie share a solemn look before joel urges you both to continue.

you’re almost instantly met with more fedra soldiers that come flooding down the hallways, all shouting commands. you spare a glance towards joel, trying to see what the game plan would be in taking out these soldiers -- to which he brings his finger to his lips before motioning for the two of you to follow.

you’re not entirely sure how he’s able to do it, but slowly, the three of you sneak past the entirety of the fedra squad roaming around the building. and you nearly have to keep yourself from laughing aloud when they make their reports and frustratingly state they haven’t found anything.

you sneak past the last two soldiers, and head towards the door leading out of the building. “there’s stairs over there.” ellie points out across the street -- an old metro access tunnel. you follow after joel, making sure ellie stays in your sights and ever present in front of you.

the moment you start down stairs, shouts and an engine revving shoots fear down the length of your spine, “fuck! run!” you shout to joel and ellie in front of you, just as a spray of bullets starts to rain down into the old subway station.

you continue to run, only stopping long enough to pull your mask from your bag when joel calls out spores coming up ahead. with your mask secure, you trail around behind joel and ellie, taking up a hiding spot behind an old desk booth. narrowly missing the fedra officer that rounds the corner just as you do so.

“how the hell are you breathing in this stuff?” joel questions from beside you, and with a confused face, you turn to find ellie without a mask -- a part of you panics for a moment as you get ready to root through your bag for a spare mask until you remember her bit mark. so, she really was infected. then ellie shakes her head, “i wasn’t lying to you.”

as more fedra officers flood into the subway, you realize that there wasn’t going to be an easy way to sneak through this time around. you pull your gun from your waistband, cursing under your breath when you notice the amount of bullets you have left, “try and take them out quietly, i’m sure they’ve got some extras on them. only use that if you need to.”

you nod, looking over at ellie and motioning for her to stay close as you and joel slowly work through the squad of soldiers, occasionally hearing her praise the takedown or warning you about the someone coming up that you maybe didn't see.

the next obstacle comes in trying to get out of the subway, and finding that some of the tunnels were flooded and getting across was proving to be a little difficult, “is now a good time to remind you two that i can’t swim?” ellie asks staring out over the water before turning back towards you and joel.

“there’s a wooden pallet over there, joel or i could push you on it and you can let down that ladder.” you state, gesturing down towards the pallet and then towards the drawn up ladder on the other side.

“sounds good to me.” joel jumps down into the water, nearly gasping at how cool is was before swimming over to grab the pallet. he circles back around, and waits as ellie gets atop the wooden pallet. joel then gently moves the pallet to the other side, discarding it the second she unlatches the ladder.

you follow over, cursing loudly when you finally dip into the water -- earning a chuckle from ellie as you swim over to the other side and quickly climb up the ladder to follow the both of them out.

the three of you step out from the subway tunnel, your hands already pulling your mask from your face and taking a deep breath of the outside air. joel coughs a few times to the side of you, settling atop an old box as he racks his brain on what to do next.

“look... about tess...” ellie begins, hands twisting nervously before joel’s gaze lifts to lock with her own and fire lights behind his eyes, “here’s how this thing is gonna work out. you don’t bring up tess, ever. let’s just keep our histories to ourselves. secondly, don’t tell anyone about your... condition. they’re gonna think you’re crazy and kill you. and lastly, you do what i say, when i say it. we clear?”

ellie sighs, “sure.”

“repeat it.” joel growls, earning another sigh from the girl before crossing her arms over her chest and fixing him with her own hard look, “what you say goes.”

“what about you?” joel now questions you, wanting to see where you stand since the sudden turn of events. not like any of what had just happened was anticipated when your orders had been given, so he needed to know that everyone was on the same page before moving on, “i don’t have much of a choice in the matter. and considering that i never oversaw her being handed off, my orders still stand.”

joel scoffs, muttering something under his breath about orders, which causes you to roll your eyes, “you and i are both tasked with getting her to the fireflies, whether you like that or not. besides, i took an oath and i will not be abandoning my post.”

“good, there’s a town a few miles north of here. there’s a fella that owes me a few favors. good chance he could get us a car.” joel stands from his seat, already moving in the direction that you are assuming you’d need to take to get to wherever joel’s friend was located.

“okay.” ellie agreed, followed by your own noise of agreement before joel nods,“lets get a move on.”

series navigation ⇢ [ series masterlist | chapter three ]

#the last of us #the last of us x reader #the last of us imagine #ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams imagine #female!reader #twistnet #twistnet works 2023 #twistnet :: series #series :: firefly

[nothingnothingaaa]

Every Actor Who’s Played Batman, Ranked from Worst to Best

By Insider, June 16 2023

10. GEORGE CLOONEY - BATMAN & ROBIN (1997); THE FLASH (2023)

George Clooney in "Batman & Robin." Warner Bros.

Still trying to find his footing post-"ER," Clooney was jumping back and forth between romantic comedies and action movies when he took the Batman role after Val Kilmer was one-and-done in "Batman Forever." It turned out to be a disaster. Fans were exhausted by director Joel Schumacher's colorful aesthetic and the cartoonish villains played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr. Freeze) and Uma Thurman (Poison Ivy) fell flat. Plus, Clooney's Batman was too jokey turning the gruff Dark Knight into someone playful and soft. Back in 2013, Clooney said that he keeps a photo of himself as Batman to remind him how bad of a decision that was. However, the Oscar-winner had a little fun with his superhero status for "The Flash" as he appears as Bruce Wayne at the end of the movie, indicating that Barry Allen isn't in his universe.

9. LEWIS G. WILSON - THE BATMAN TV SHOW (1943)

Lewis G. Wilson in "The Batman" TV show. Columbia Pictures

Wilson has the distinction of being the first actor to play Batman starring in the 1943 series. Though he had the comics as a reference point, Wilson was still at a disadvantage being the first to put on the tights. He holds his own, but it's certainly not a performance that is memorable. Just take a look at him in the role.

8. ROBERT LOWERY - BATMAN AND ROBIN TV SHOW (1949)

Robert Lowery in the "Batman & Robin" TV show. Columbia Pictures

The second effort at a Batman TV series led to the casting of a bigger actor to play Batman. Lowery's physique and the show's better fight scenes make for a more enjoyable experience.

7. WILL ARNETT - THE LEGO MOVIE (2014); THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017); THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (2019)

Will Arnett voices Lego Batman. Warner Bros. Animation

It's tough to say whether Arnett has it easier or tougher having to do only a Batman voice to play the Lego version, but it's entertaining regardless. He voiced the character perfectly in "The Lego Movie," "The Lego Batman Movie," and "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part."

6. BEN AFFLECK - BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016); SUICIDE SQUAD (2016); JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017); ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE (2021); THE FLASH (2023)

Ben Affleck in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." Warner Bros.

Most of the actors on this list had to deal with scrutiny when they agreed to take the Batman role. But you could arguably say Ben Affleck has had it the worst. Dealing with the social media hate that comes with being a superstar in today's world, Affleck had the cards stacked against him as soon as he was cast in "Batman v Superman." But he did well playing the character as brooding and past-his-prime.

5. VAL KILMER - BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

Val Kilmer in "Batman Forever." Warner Bros.

Having to replace Michael Keaton after he dropped out of making a third Batman movie, Kilmer came in with a smoother style, and audiences enjoyed it. The movie made more than "Batman Returns." It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Kilmer had stayed on for another movie.

4. ADAM WEST - BATMAN TV SHOW (1966); THE FLASH (2023)

Adam West in the "Batman" TV show. 20th Century Fox

Love it or hate it, West's Batman portrayal is singular and permanently imprinted on many brains. He's the first image many of us have of the character (he's even Christian Bale's favorite Batman). West gave the character a squeaky-clean persona that was perfect for the kid-friendly show. The only knock on him: His fighting abilities were less than desired.

3. ROBERT PATTINSON - THE BATMAN (2022)

Robert Pattinson in "The Batman." Warner Bros.

Pattinson's Batman is still very rough around the edges as we focus on the character in his second year as Gotham's Dark Knight. And that's what makes it so appealing as instead of watching Bruce Wayne in his prime as a superhero here he's using his raw talent and desire to make Gotham better to get through every night.  Also, Pattinson plays the character with such darkness and fury you can't take your eyes off of him.

2. CHRISTIAN BALE - BATMAN BEGINS (2005); THE DARK KNIGHT (2008); THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Christian Bale in "Batman Begins." Warner Bros.

Bale's acting chops and dedication to the characters he takes on are unquestioned, and he certainly delivered in the three times he played the character. The argument could be made that you could never understand Bale when he spoke as Batman or that he was helped heavily by the creative force that is director Christopher Nolan. Regardless, Bale brought an intensity to the character that had never been seen before. 

1. MICHAEL KEATON - BATMAN (1989); BATMAN RETURNS (1992); THE FLASH (2023)

Michael Keaton in "Batman." Warner Bros.

The casting of Keaton is definitely up there as one of the biggest gambles a studio has ever made. Known best for his comedic work, Keaton faced a near-universal fan backlash when announced for the 1989 film. But Keaton proved everyone wrong, and along with director Tim Burton brought legitimacy back to a franchise that was on life support by then. Playing the character as dark and mysterious, yet still capable of a wry laugh, Keaton paved the way for how Batman would be seen for the decades to come. And decades later he reprised his role for "The Flash," once more proved he's the best Dark Knight as he's a major highlight of the movie. Keaton is so confident in his performance in the role that he can say, "I'm Batman." And you know what? We think he's right.

HONORABLE MENTION: WE CAN'T LEAVE OUT KEVIN CONROY

Kevin Conroy is the voice of the animated Batman. Warner Bros.

Though numerous actors have voiced Batman, there's one who stands out. Kevin Conroy has basically become "the voice" of the Dark Knight, doing the character for "Batman: The Animated Series" in the early 1990s and almost everything else related to Batman in animation and video games until his death in 2022. All hail to the G.O.A.T.!

#batman #bruce wayne #michael keaton

[drabbles-mc]

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

Thank you @ashlingnarcos for the tag! I thought you tagged me in this like two days ago...then tumblr said it was almost two weeks ago. Sometimes brains be like that 😂

Just A Bad Feeling (Narcos: Mexico)

“You trust him.”

All Settled (Suicide Squad)

It was perfect, really.

Crumbling (Narcos)

You almost didn’t hear the ringing of the phone in the next room over the sounds of the radio and you cooking.

Always (Mayans M.C.)

“Hey, Ezekiel?” your soft voice cut through the silence of his bedroom.

Gone Soft (Altered Carbon)

He came to with a groan and a cough, which was about what you had expected.

A Bet's A Bet (Suicide Squad)

“This is ridiculous,” Rick muttered as he picked the shot glass up from the surface of the bar.

How It Goes (Suicide Squad)

The last thing that he wanted to do was try and carry her back to the heli-carrier that was going to get them all home.

Curbside Service (The Bear)

For as much as Luca typically relished the hour or so at the very start of the day that he had to himself, he had to admit that he didn’t quite mind Marcus being there with him.

You Have Friends? (The Bear)

You had your phone out, ready to call or text him to come and meet you outside.

Unannounced (Mayans M.C.)

When Bishop rolled into his driveway to see a car already parked there, he instantly felt himself getting defensive.

This was so fun! I feel like in my head, I thought I started way more fics off with dialogue but I guess not! Looking back at these, and thinking about what writing the actual fic was like, I think I tend to start off with dialogue when I know exactly what I'm jumping into in terms of the fic. I tend to start off with more descriptive sentences/intro paragraphs when I'm getting myself into what the story is. Interesting.

Tour guide voice: "You can also see here to the right the exact moment this author became violently unwell about Joel Kinnaman." 😂😂

Tagging (low-to-no-pressure as always): @darqchilddaydreamz @spaghettificationandpretzels @artemiseamoon @rookthorne @bullet-prooflove and anyone else who wants to do it! 💕

#tag game #first line game

[sonego]

Hi just read your answer (I may have notifications on…) and I meant it both ways so no problem at all! As in general dynamics as well as specific players. I’m super basic when it comes to this stuff, I just really love a good attack - like you said, it’s so satisfying seeing it come together. Take your time to answer, no big deal, but I’d love to hear about your fave dynamics between specific football players if you want to talk about them! Have a good day/night ❤️

hi friend!! sorry it took me a while to answer this but here i am now! firstly it's so cute that you have notifs on for my blog, thank you for liking this silly little blog 💙🫶

okay here's a few dynamics between players i like!

well i love the milan squad so much i think we all know this 😭 the slav players, rebić and krunić, are so nice to see interact 💘 also giroud is like. so full of love i feel, so on a purely human level it's nice that he always hugs and kisses and has lovely words for his teammates!! underrated dynamic is leão and tonali, i will never forget the polishing shoe celebration when sandro assisted rafa 😓 (putting aside for a second the whole rafa not renewing his contract deal... for my own sanity)

moving on to liverpool, it's in the past sadly but the salah, mané, firmino trio was dreamlike stuff!!!! they were SO good and it was genuinely a joy to see them play, they looked so happy AND made us fans happy. i miss it 💔 also tsimikas is like friends w everyone i feel it's so cute 😭 he's just a very friendly guy. oh i LOVE mo and thiago they're besties 🫶

if you'll allow me to go old school... steven gerrard and xabi alonso. just. they were IT. an absolutely amazing midfield partnership and godddd it was so tragic when xabi left, stevie was heartbroken it made me 😭😭😭 still one of THE best duos football has Ever seen.

also paolo maldini and alessandro nesta !!!!! defending duo of all time 🫶 i don't like pirlo much anymore but he and nesta were also bffs it was kinda cute ...

can't NOT mention kaneson. well, what can i say, they're one of the best partnership the prem has ever seen and they click so well, when they're utilised well and when things Work they are DEADLY!!! and they're so sweet with each other they're so soft it makes me feel so warm to watch them celebrate and hug after a goal or giggle during an interview 🥺🩶

mentioned them on my prev answer but locatelli and pessina! they have such a special bond, the euro 2020 italy midfield was something else with them together 😣

also HAVE to mention guesung and kangin!!!! they're the future of the sk nt MARK MY WORDS they're so good, the way they find each other on the pitch !!! really can see a bright future for them 💗 also they're really good friends they're very cute 😊

gonna stop myself now but i could probably go on, like there's really good dynamics in the napoli squad too, and roma... and honorable mentions to mbappé and hakimi!!!! and heechan and sonny!!!! i love football 😭🫶

WAIT EDIT I JUST REALIZED: van dijk and matip!!! virg is literally joel's biggest fan it's so funny and so cute to see 😭❤️

#nico answers #anon #thank you for the question dear anon it was so fun to answer!! #feel free to drop by my askbox anytime! 💙 #hope you have a good day or night 😊

[sloshed-cinema]

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Lance Henriksen: best dad ever, or greatest dad ever?  He truly is everything.  A widower raising his son and running a small business.  He dotes on Billy, tells him stories, cherishes his creative impulses.  This is a father who wants the best for his boy.  So naturally it would follow that he would respond to his son’s wrongful death at the hands of a visiting squad of hooligans in the typical sense: arcane revenge involving a murderous pumpkin demon.  Really just classic What to Expect When You’re Expecting schtick.  The main thrust of the film follows the typical “bad kids get their comeuppance” 80s slasher arc, but Pumpkinhead gives itself a dash more of moral quandary.  For one thing, most of the teens actually aren’t that bad.  After running a kid, most in the group respond with horror, trying to find help in this backwater.  It’s only douchebag Joel and his dumb girlfriend who gum up the works, waving around concerns about his past criminal record.  Most of the other kids, from Joel’s brother to that YoungLife girl to our final gal, are to varying degrees blameless in this vengeance quest.  Yet so too is vengeance difficult on the doling out end.  Tom Harley comes to realize the terrible toll that his desire for revenge has, just how extreme is Pumpkinhead’s brand of justice.  Forgiveness is hard, but it can prove to be the better path.  But don’t worry: the movie has no lofty goals.  It just wants to show some mildly entertaining kills and top-tier shitty stunt-fighting.

While much attention ought to be lavished on the Pumpkinhead creature itself, special merit ought to be given to the witch Haggis and her excellent hovel.  Located in a spooky swamp, the abode is production designed within an inch of its life, all animal familiars and strange bottles and occult paraphernalia.  She’s old as fuck and thriving, if not exactly the soft tissue-paper skin that Tom attributes to his own grandmother.  Her unholy offspring is a strange entity with a smirky grin, a demon as old as the hills who also knows how to dismantle a dirt bike.  Hey, in this economy you gotta diversify that skillset.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘Billy’.

Incredible stage fighting.

Joel is a real douchebag.

Super Religious Girl is Super Religious.

BIG DRINK

Pumpkinhead claims a victim.

Lance has a vision.

#drinking games #pumpkinhead #horror #horror & thriller #folk horror #appalachian horror #lance henriksen #stan winston #slasher

[fumikomiyasaki]

I offer up Freya & Amethyst for some OC interactions

Oc interaction

Freya:

Friend wise I can see Carol, Lyla, Leroy so the usual sushi squad, plus probably Tyler and Francine. Reasonings are pretty simple... Carol and Frey bond over dorm mates but also I feel their personalities work well with another to support each other. Lyla is chill and would assist them both well coming to this world, Leroy is also into baking and does already have a friendship with Lyla nad Carol already she he becomes the third to be there for her. Tyler may like her cause of her sewing as well and he respects people who do similar work to him even if he is grumpy and Francine I feel also is fond of her personality a lot. Carol and Francine especially prefer blunt and honest so they would appreciate her. Carol and Freya also both are tired of Crowley which fits too. And Carol is one of the smartest students being a tutor for many so.

Joel would probably crush on her... he is an artsy guy and he does like people that can talk back and can stand up like that... I can also see Kumo take a liking to her. Even if he is the protector Type he would just be impressed by her and slowly warm up.

Dislike... I feel she call Barry out a lot on his fakeness and he is annoyed by that. But Francine will support her at that too cause she as his friend knows how much bullshit he does.

Amethyst:

Lennox and Amethyst could bond over their fondness of Humans... he would also be protective of her for sure. And even if Phobetor looks scary... he probably would actually have a soft spot for them.

Andrew and Meyra would mainly have crushes cause... they are both fond of horseys but Meyra would be the better option for them to bee happy given what bad reputation Andrew does have... although he gets better.

Rachel would be a big danger for them... she works at the black market and for sure be tempted to take them away...

#twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland ocs #twst #disney twst #twst ocs #twistedwonderland #twistedwonderlandoc #oc interaction

[stillunusual]

Leeds United: Meslier, Drameh (Ayling 70), Koch, Llorente, Struijk, Roca (Greenwood 86), Adams, Sinisterra (Summerville 59), Harrison (Bamford 45), Aaronson, Gelhardt (Klich 59).  

Subs not used: Klaesson, Forshaw, Cooper, Hjelde. This was a somewhat farcical game from a Leeds perspective, following on from a farcical transfer deadline day two days before.... After getting most of our summer transfers done early in the window, we've been trying unsuccessfully to boost our front line ever since. Over the last few weeks Leeds have made unsuccessful attempts to sign Eddie Nketiah, Charles De Ketelaere and Hwang Hee-chan. The day before the window closed, Victor Orta travelled to Eindhoven and apparently had a deal in place for Cody Gakpo, only for PSV to change their minds the next morning and refuse to sell the player. Orta then agreed terms with Marseille for Bamba Dieng, who was on his way to the airport to fly to Leeds when the deal was literally hijacked by Nice, who persuaded him to join them instead. However, later in the day he returned to Marseille after apparently failing his medical at Nice. Leeds then enquired about Brereton Diaz from Blackburn and Joel Piroe from Swansea but were put off by the asking prices. Finally, a last gasp deal for 18 year old Wilfried Gnonto was agreed with FC Zurich a few minutes before the window closed. It was then revealed that we were already planning to sign him in January, but both the player and his club agreed to bring the deal forward. Meanwhile Dan James had travelled down to Fulham to seal a season-long loan deal, which Leeds allowed to go through, despite the fact that we had failed to land a replacement that's ready for first team football. So the end result of all this activity was to weaken our squad, while strengthening a team that's likely to be one of our rivals in the bottom half of the league. In other news, midfielder Mateusz Bogusz was shipped out to UD Ibiza on loan until the end of the season. Rasmus Kristensen picked up a knock in training so Cody Drameh started at right back against Brentford, but it was nice to see Luke Ayling and Liam Cooper on the bench. Despite the 5-2 scoreline it wasn't actually that bad a performance from Leeds (we had 70% of the possession and scored twice against a well organised Brentford team), but the extent to which we kept shooting ourselves in the foot with kamikaze defending was really alarming. The match officials also made some questionable decisions that went against us.... There was nothing much in the game until Brentford were awarded what looked like a very soft penalty after a VAR check that lasted several minutes, and Ivan Toney beat Illan Meslier from the spot. Toney doubled Brentford's lead from a free kick a few minutes later after Robin Koch committed a silly foul just outside the Leeds penalty area. Nevertheless, we were actually playing the better football and a moment of real quality from Luis Sinesterra just before half time gave us hope. After receiving the ball in the Brentford half he flicked it up and over Rico Henry and then buried it inside the near post from 20 yards. After the break we pushed for the equaliser only to concede a crazy goal after Toney latched onto a dreadful clearance from Meslier (who was miles off his line), before bringing the ball inside and chipping it into the unguarded net. The referee then failed to award us a blatant penalty for a foul on Crysencio Summerville, which really incensed Jesse Marsch, who was shown a red card after remonstrating with the fourth official. Patrick Bamford somehow managed to miss an open goal from within the Brentford six yard box, but shortly after that Marc Roca brought Leeds back into the game with a sliding finish from Luke Ayling's cross. And then we fucked up again.... Diego Llorente misjudged a long ball over the top from Brentford and nodded Bryan Mbeumo through to finish coolly at the near post. Mbeumo looked offside, but the goal was given after another very long VAR check. And worse was still to come.... In added time, Llorente was dispossessed while fannying about with the ball just outside the box, allowing Yoane Wissa to net a fifth goal for Brentford. Despite all the changes that took place at Leeds over the summer, the same problems remain. Sinisterra aside, we don't have enough quality in the final third, we make too many unforced errors and our defence is shaky and very vulnerable to quick counter attacks. However, if we can continue to pick up points at the same rate as we've done so far we should be safe from relegation. Based on what I've seen so far it's clear that Premiership survival is the limit of our ambitions this season, and we really need to win our next game, which is against Nottingham Forest, who have spent about £160M on new players since being promoted....

#leeds united #jesse marsch #football #soccer #premier league #premiership #epl #leeds #united #2022

[that-sarcastic-writer]

So now that it is canon that tss Rick still wears baseball caps can I just say that Dad!Rick asleep on the couch with his baseball cap tilted down over his eyes and his kid also asleep on his chest? Everybody get out I need a minute

#joel kinnaman #rick flag #rick flag headcanon #headcanon #rick flag hc #the suicide squad #bro im soft #i want this so bad

[nexusnyx]

Quick background I was your last posted anon about how it’s really Pedro blah blah blah👀 this isn’t the point just wanted to clear the fact up hi hello I’m the same person…..so I just watched the first 35 minutes of the last of us…for the first time….my heart is now completely shattered and will never recover🙁EVER!!! (and what happened needs to be talked about more) So just came here to say if you ever wanna write the fluffiest rainbows happily ever after bullshit to give this man all the love he deserves in the world!!!! Just know you will always have at least one reader of anything…and now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go cry, like I paused this fucking show not even sure if I want to watch 20 years later bullshit to pain behind my dryas’s dehydrated eyes, so I’m gonna sob tearless and burrow away from everything😭😭😭😭😭

listen i am about to start the soft joel squad and i'll write nothing but fluff and gross lovemaking and body worship and touch starved joel getting all the love he deserves because

I JUST WITNESSED HIM GIGGLE ON LIVE TV !!! in 4K!!!!

soft joel squad . rise.

#i am SO serious drop your soft joel requests RIGHT Now. #the soft touch starved giggling filthy sex kind too. #i am READY #joel miller imagine #joel miller x you #joel miller fanfiction #nyx mail

[violetmuses]

Headcannon: "Princess and The Frog" is one of Rick's favorite movies! 💚💛🥺

J Krew: @nerdysuperchick @a-reader-and-a-writer @babblydrabbly @lacontroller1991 @shadowkittybucky @loverhymeswith @justin-hammers @weallhaveadestiny @xoxabs88xox @katjnordstrom96

#joel Kinnaman #rick flag #2016 suicide squad #2021 the suicide squad #dceu #dc movies #positive masculinity #soft man #princess and the frog #disney movies

[kinnaman-smorgasbord]

Happy Birthday Joel!!! Stay cute and healthy and remember you have an Instagram account!

#joel kinnaman #for all mankind #the secrets we keep #brothers by blood #the sound of philadelphia #the suicide squad #im extremely burnt out doing this #i know only like 10 stans may watch this hahaa but it's kinda fun to do it #he is really a soft person - says this borderline stalker of 1.5 years #you deserve good things

[loverhymeswith]

Can I please request "Being cute cannot save you from everything." with Rick Flag? Thank you!

You Can Leave Your Hat On | Rick Flag x F!Reader

Summary: Strip poker with the Colonel.

Warnings: Drinking, nudity, allusions to smut

Word count: 2,226 words

A/N: Thank you to the amazing @a-reader-and-a-writer, not only for the prompt above, but for your whole idea around Rick and strip poker after we spoke the other night. Also, I know almost nothing at all about poker, so thank you for contributing your knowledge and some of the lines. I couldn't have done this without you, so this is dedicated to you, Vee! <3

Joel Taglist: @weallhaveadestiny @a-reader-and-a-writer @11thstreetvigilante @skvatnavle @christinasyellowflowers @yespolkadotkitty @heresathreebee @fairchildflag @bewitchedignition @lavenderluna10

“I’m not doing it,” you tell Rick resolutely before knocking back another shot of tequila and cringing at the bitter aftertaste.

The mission was a colossal disaster, which increasingly seems to be the case of late. No one died - a fact that you for one are taking as a win – but thanks to a series of stupid mistakes, the team’s cover was compromised, and the target fled. Waller is going to be pissed, to say the least.

“You do know you’re s’posed to do whatever I tell ya?” Rick smirks across at you and grabs the bottle for himself. “I could pull rank.”

“Really?” You arch an eyebrow. He hasn’t pulled rank once since you joined the task force. A fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by anyone on the squad, not even Boomer. “Surely I’ve earned a free pass?" You gesture around the room, referring, of course, to the not-entirely-accidental misunderstanding that saw the two of you being left behind while the rest of the squad were safely on their way back to Belle Reve.

When Rick’s eyes simply narrow in response, you bat your lashes and grin. He knows full well that you make a fair point. He wasn’t exactly devasted about the last-minute change of plans that forced him into sharing the last room at the motel with you.

He huffs out a sigh at your attempt to sway him. "Being cute cannot save you from everything, darlin’.”

“Whatever you say, Colonel. I’m still not doing it.”

The pair of you have been bickering for the last hour about who will be presenting the debriefing report to Waller when you finally make it back to Louisiana. Given the resounding failure of the mission, it’s a task that neither of you are keen to take ownership of.

“Waller has a soft spot for you,” he insists, pouring out two more generous shots. “She’ll go easy on you.”

“Get real, Rick,” you snort loudly. “Waller doesn’t have a soft spot for anyone – or anything, for that matter. At least she takes you more seriously than me. Just. That’s why you should do it.”

He shakes his head. “Darlin’, I am one mistake away from havin’ my ass handed to me. Don’t you wanna do me this tiny little favour?” It’s his turn to ramp up the charm, that devilishly handsome face cracking into a disarming smile.

“You can dial down the charm, Flag,” you wag your finger at him. “That’s not gonna work on me.”

His broad shoulders slump, defeated. “Someone’s gotta do the damn debrief.”

He’s right. The sooner you get the decision over and done with, the sooner you can enjoy this rare amount of down time. You glance around the room for inspiration, until your eyes land on a pack of playing cards lying forgotten on one of the bedside tables. A sudden burst of excitement fills your chest. “What about a wager?”

Rick eyes you suspiciously. “What did you have in mind?”

You push back your chair and move to grab the pack, placing it on the small wooden table between the two of you. “How about a card game? Loser does the presentation.”

He considers this for a moment, his eyes darting between you and the cards. “What can you play?”

You bite your lip, pretending to think about it. “I mean, I play poker some?”

Rick leans back in his seat, a smile tugging at his lips. “Alright. Poker it is.”

“Great.” You pick up your shot glass and clink it against his before the pair of you knock back the vile liquid in unison. Ignoring the flutter in your chest as you watch Rick’s face scrunch up in distaste, you push the deck towards him, indicating that he should shuffle and deal.

His thick fingers make surprisingly short work of the task and as he eyes you over his hand, a mischievous sparkle appears in his hazel gaze. “What do you say we make this a little more interestin’?”

Now it’s your turn to eye him suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“I was thinkin’… strip poker?”

You quickly temper down the rush of excitement that floods your veins at his suggestion. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Rick.” You throw him your best attempt at an uncertain look.

“C’mon, darlin’.” He grins. “Could be fun?”

Yes, you think. It certainly could be.

“Though you do have an unfair advantage.” He gestures towards your person. In addition to the same t-shirt, watch, tac pants, belt, underwear and boots that Rick is currently wearing, you also have on your bra and a jacket.

Shrugging off the outer later, you rise to your feet. “I’m sure we can fix that.”

You’ve already noticed an eclectic mix of items left behind in the motel room, so you’re confident you can find an additional item of clothing for Rick to wear. Sure enough, after a couple of moments of rooting through the drawers and cupboards, you produce a worn, old leather cowboy hat. It’s perfect.

When Rick sees you returning with the headgear in hand, he pulls a face. “No way. I ain’t puttin’ that thing on.”

Ignoring his protests, you place it on his head firmly. “It’s either the hat, or you’re one item short. Besides,” you step back to scrutinise him. “I think it kind of suits you.”

From under the large brim, Rick pouts. But he doesn’t remove the hat. If your phone hadn’t been damaged during the earlier getaway you would absolutely have snapped a photo. Not that it matters; you’ll never be able to get the image out of your head.

Several shots and hands later, it becomes evident that the Colonel does not have nearly as good a poker face as he so clearly thought when he raised the stakes. Either that, or the tequila is to blame. Because while you are down a pair of boots and your watch, Rick has already lost the same items, plus his belt and most recently, his shirt. Of course, he’d wanted to remove the hat first, but after your insistence that he leave it on - repeatedly assuring him that it looks good - he relented.

“Kinda get the feelin’ you might have been under playin’ your abilities, darlin’,” he grumbles, throwing his shirt onto the bed.

“I said I played ‘some’. I didn’t specify how much.” You smile sweetly, trying and failing to keep your eyes on his face rather than the solid expanse of tanned muscled chest. His half naked body is right in your eyeline and while it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, the liquor has loosened your inhibitions. “You’re the one who was so keen to make this strip poker.”

As you lay down yet another full house, Rick pours himself another shot, mumbling something that sounds a lot like “devious” under his breath. You bite back a smirk.

In the interest of keeping the game going a while longer, you lose the next hand on purpose. Rick leans back in his seat, eyes zeroing in on you with laser focus as you skip the belt and strip out of your own t-shirt instead. His raised brow is the only sign he is surprised by your bold manoeuvre, but you don’t fail to notice the way his gaze subtly trails across your chest, the swell of you breasts just visible over the cups of your bra.

“You alright there, Flag?” you smirk.

Choosing not to answer, he takes another shot instead, leaving you to deal.

When Rick has been staring at his cards intently for a few minutes, you cross your arms. “Want to fold, Colonel?” Truthfully, it doesn’t matter what cards he holds. You know full well that this hand will see Rick being forced to lose his pants. The initial wager over the briefing seems insignificant in comparison to the possibility of seeing your commanding officer naked and you are thrilled about it.

“Fuck it, I got nothin',” he grumbles, throwing his cards face-down onto the table.

You smile smugly as you flip over your own cards.

It’s your turn to sit back and watch with a thumping heart as Rick stands and unfastens the buttons and zipper of his tac pants, before sliding them off over his thick tanned thighs. You press your own legs together, fighting to ignore the heat that flares at your centre at the sight of so much bare flesh, not to mention the considerable bulge concealed by his form fitting underwear. It’s no small mercy when he finally returns to his seat.

You reach for the bottle and pour yourself another shot. For courage, you tell yourself. It’s not that you’re worried about losing. What’s really getting you hot and bothered is thinking about what’s going to happen when you win.

From over the rim of your shot glass, you catch Rick staring at you again. “What?” you demand, as he begins dealing the next hand.

He frowns, surveying your face with thinly veiled suspicion. “You’re hustlin’ me, aren’t ya?”

“Would I?” You flutter your lashes again, although it’s fairly obvious to the both of you that the ruse is over. There’s no denying the fact that you are wiping the floor with him. Any thoughts about going easy on him have long since been burned away by the desire to discover just what exactly he’s hiding under all that tac gear. And you are so close to finding out.

He shakes his head, a wry smile tugging at his lips. You try not to focus on his tattoos, or the way his biceps flex as he leans forwards. “C’mon. Enlighten me. How’s a girl like you become such a pro at poker? You got some secret life I should know about?”

“You mean more secret than Task Force X?”

“Fair point,” he concedes, rolling his eyes. “But y’know what I mean.”

You shrug, running a finger along an indent in the wooden table in your best attempt to appear innocent. “My uncle was semi-pro. Taught me everything he knows.”

Rick slams his hand down on the table. “Fuckin’ knew it.” He shakes his head, still grinning despite the outrage. “Knew somethin’ fishy was goin’ on. I never lose at poker.”

You can’t help but scoff at the comment. “Who the hell were you playing against? Blackguard? I hate to break it to you Flag, but you suck. I can read your face like a book. Anyone would think you wanted to lose...”

For the second time this evening, Rick doesn’t answer you. Instead, he throws down his next hand with a resigned expression.

“Another two-pair?” You give him a sympathetic smile as you prepare to turn over your own cards. “Don’t think I’m going easy on you now. Everything is still fair game.” You lay down your cards on the table with a triumphant flourish and watch as Rick reads them. A royal flush. “It’s a shame,” you add sombrely. “I really, really like the hat.”

Despite your fighting talk, the mischievous glimmer returns to his eyes and a new kind of tension fills the room. “Trust me darlin’, nothin’ about this is fair.”

Rick stands up again, that same disarming smile from earlier spreading across his handsome face. It takes a moment for you to fully register what’s happening, but your eyes quickly widen, and your mouth hangs open when his hands don’t reach for the hat, but for the waistband of his underwear instead.

“Rick-” you gasp, but it’s too late, he’s already bending down, stripping.

“What’s the matter, darlin’?” He asks as he straightens again, shooting you a heated gaze. “Don’t like what you see?”

You shake your head, temporarily lost for words even as you find yourself rising out of your chair, not entirely of your own accord. Trying and failing to keep your eyes on his face, rather than what lies below his waist, you freeze as he rounds the table and approaches you.

Rick, now entirely naked except for the cowboy hat, slips his hands around your own bare waist and pulls you firmly against his hard body. Your hands fly to his chest, steadying yourself against the scorching wall of muscle. Before either of you can come up with another quip, or before you can question just what he’s intending to do, his mouth is crashing against yours, devouring you with a hungry kiss.

When he pulls away, he’s looking at you in that same, silent, searching way that he does out in the field. The subtle assessment, hazel eyes flickering over your body, making sure you’re ok without either of you having to voice your concerns aloud. And just like out in the field, you give him the briefest hint of a nod. All good here, Colonel.

Rick kisses you again, starting to guide you away from the table and backwards towards the bed. When he finally reaches up to remove the hat, you stop him with your hand around his arm. "I don’t think so, Colonel. We never finished the game. The hat stays on.” He cocks an eyebrow, but you continue. “Besides, we still haven’t decided on who has to do the briefing."

“Maybe we need a rematch,” he murmurs with the hint of a smirk. “Different game, though.”

“What did you have in mind?”

#rick flag #joel kinnaman #rick flag x reader #rick flag x you #rick flag imagine #colonel flag #suicide squad #suicide squad fanfiction

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

(tw/ mention of death) Idk if you write for him, but if you’re willing could write something with Joel in it? I’m just especially soft for his Scars interactions, especially after Joel’s most recent death. (Feel free to ignore this if you don’t write for him btw)

just cuz i haven’t written for Joel before, doesn’t mean i won’t :D

…

Joel wakes up outside his house, in the bed he had absent-mindedly set up to reset his phantom counter less than ten minutes ago. Scrambling to his feet, he rushes round the side of his house, staring up at his burning roof. The flames are dying down but the damage has already been done, not just to his home but to his body.

“That’s what you get for messing with Team Crastle!” Cleo taunts, darting away through the tears.

Trying to hold back tears, Joel sits down heavily on his pathway, unable to bring himself to look at his poor house any longer, and buries his face in his hands, which are scarred and burned from trying desperately to put the fire out, joining the burn scars on his feet and legs from his first death in lava.

“Joel?” comes a voice.

Joel glances up to find Scar approaching him carefully, looking up at the visibly destroyed roof. “Hey, Scar,” he says dejectedly.

“Are you okay? I saw you died in the chat and…”

He trails off as he registers Joel’s state. After a moment, he steps closer and cranes his neck slightly.

It takes Joel a moment to realise what he’s looking at. He holds out his hands, showing Scar his burns.

Scar winces. “Oh, man… You’re really not okay, are you?”

Joel slowly shakes his head. “No, not really.”

“What happened?” Scar asks, sitting down beside Joel. “Who did this to you?”

“Cleo did. Because I let Etho use my hill to set off his missile, she and Bdubs decided I deserved to get my house set on fire. I died trying to put out the flames.”

“What?! That’s harsh! Why didn’t she go after Etho?!”

“They did,” responds Joel numbly. “Cleo all but told me that the whole firing squad execution thing was just an excuse to kill Etho. They used Tango’s stupid rule break to lure Etho there and lower his guard. Then they came after me.”

Scar’s gaze darkens. “That’s barbaric. Someone needs to do something about them.”

“I wish I could,” Joel sighs.

“You can! You’re red now, like me. Red lifers can attack without provocation.”

“No, I’ve learned my lesson. If just letting Etho launch a missile from my house was grounds for death, I don’t wanna know what they’ll do if I attack them directly. Messing with them isn’t worth permanent death.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Scar responds determinedly.

Joel glances at him in surprise. “What?”

“Grian and I will make them our next targets. They shouldn’t be allowed to use death as a punishment for stuff like that. I mean, they’re not even red! They’re green and yellow. They can’t be allowed to get away with this.”

Scar jumps to his feet and starts dashing away, turning to call over his shoulder, “Gotta go Joel, lemme know if you need anything, okay bye!”

Joel watches Scar leave, before giving a small smile. His talk with Scar didn’t achieve anything but at least it’s made him feel better. He and Scar may not be official allies but it’s nice to know that he has a friend in his corner.

…

Much later, Joel is about to get into bed and sleep for the night when a notification pops up on his communicator. He stares at it for a moment, before smiling with a grim sense of satisfaction and settling down to sleep.

Bdoubleo100 tried to swim in lava

#3rd life smp #3rdlifesmp #3rd life spoilers #smallishbeans #goodtimeswithscar #vaunna’s requests