1 - 20 of 94 Works in Joel & Maria (The Last of Us)

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  1. Tags
    Summary

    Snapshots of Ellie and Joel’s time in Jackson in between the end of Part One and the beginning of Part Two, in a non-chronological order.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    118
    Chapters:
    1/?
    Kudos:
    1
    Hits:
    8
  2. Tags
    Summary

    “You deserve a choice,” he finally says, and Tommy holds his breath. “I still think you’d be better off with Tommy, but it should be up to you.”

    “Ellie –” Joel tries.

    But Ellie cuts him off. “Let’s go.”

    And she shoves her duffel bag into Tommy’s chest.

    (tommy takes ellie to the fireflies)

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    52,199
    Chapters:
    3/4
    Comments:
    41
    Kudos:
    139
    Bookmarks:
    25
    Hits:
    2,516
  3. Tags
    Summary

    Joel and Ellie settle in Jackson, enjoying the homey safe feeling and dealing with unexpected emotions...

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    17,419
    Chapters:
    7/?
    Comments:
    16
    Kudos:
    49
    Bookmarks:
    12
    Hits:
    1,299
  4. Tags
    Summary

    After a few months in Jackson, Ellie has settled in. Joel, however, still feels on edge. But a new arrival in town, and Ellie’s instant connection to them, will force Joel to confront parts of himself he’d rather not think about.

    You have lost everything when you arrive in Jackson. Will the town, and the community you find there, be enough to give you a reason to carry on, to stay?

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    74,250
    Chapters:
    18/?
    Comments:
    62
    Kudos:
    197
    Bookmarks:
    32
    Hits:
    5,715
  5. Tags
    Summary

    Every word he spoke felt like carving a piece of himself out, handing it over, bit by bit, and he wondered if there’d be anything left of him when it was done. But it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. She was the only thing that did. She always had been.

     

    (Joel and Ellie deal with the complicated emotions from their fallout, things go very wrong as an old enemy arises and choices will be made...this action will have consequences)

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    10,919
    Chapters:
    2/?
    Comments:
    8
    Kudos:
    28
    Bookmarks:
    3
    Hits:
    679
  6. Tags
    Summary

    Their fragrance lingers on: weak and tepid, drained and subdued, but there.

    There: the Rockies on their right and miles of wheatgrass to their left, the sun overhead a pulsing, livid thing. The Nebraskan prairie, its clover that high summer yellow, so tall that it’d tickled the underside of Ellie’s chin when she’d ran through it. That first snowfall in Wyoming, the flakes delicate and wispy, fairy like as they sifted down through the pale pink haze of sunrise. All those nights around the fire, all those days with her feet aching and her nose running and her heart taking flight around her chest. Those first months, before Jackson and Joel’s betrayal, before the university and Silver Lake. Before she was a victim; before she was a broken child, a broken promise.

    Before the lie.

    *

    Ellie and Joel's journey, told one flower at a time.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    20,753
    Chapters:
    3/3
    Collections:
    1
    Comments:
    60
    Kudos:
    122
    Bookmarks:
    22
    Hits:
    1,626
  7. Tags
    Summary

    Joel has a whole community behind him, when he gets attacked
    or
    (Joel survives Abbys attack, basically a long fic about his recovery)

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    7,577
    Chapters:
    1/?
    Comments:
    10
    Kudos:
    37
    Bookmarks:
    7
    Hits:
    1,074
  8. Tags
    Summary

    “It doesn’t matter,” she says. “He - he’s mine.”

    Gil scrutinizes her for a long minute; she tries not to squirm beneath his attention, beneath the heat of his appraisal. She knows what he sees: an impetuous child, a runaway with muddy boots, another girl awash in the great violence of their world. She squares her shoulders, sticks out her chin, and he softens.

    “He’s very lucky to have you,” Gil says, and that’s that, but his words stick with Ellie long after he’s gone, after the nursing staff has turned them out for the night. Ellie follows Maria and Tommy home and thinks over and over again how luck has nothing to do with it; luck is so scarce in this world, rarer even than love. Ellie hasn’t seen the likes of it in years. No, it was never luck that drew her and Joel together, once upon a time. It was something greater entirely.

    *

    Joel survives Abby's attack. In the aftermath, Ellie struggles to heal.

    *

    Fulfills the prompt: recovery

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    17,637
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    36
    Kudos:
    236
    Bookmarks:
    50
    Hits:
    2,545
  9. Tags
    Summary

    When they crest the final hill, Ellie pulls the horses to a stop, patting Joel’s hand. “That’s Jackson,” she says, pointing to the gate. “Patrol goes in through East Gate Two. They might not let us in that way because… well…”

    “I’m eleven?”

    “You’re eleven,” she agrees.

    -

    (joel inexplicably transforms into an 11-year-old. the most important people in his life step up.)

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    38,036
    Chapters:
    5/5
    Collections:
    1
    Comments:
    92
    Kudos:
    121
    Bookmarks:
    26
    Hits:
    2,104
  10. Tags
    Summary

    Tommy pauses, studying Joel’s face. “You ever think about teachin’ Ellie? Reckon she’d like it.”

    “Yeah,” Joel murmurs after a moment. “I, uh… promised her I’d teach her. Reckon I oughta brush up myself first. Find her a guitar.”

    Tommy hums, eyes narrowing when Joel gingerly puts the guitar back in its case. “Be good for y’all to have somethin’ like that in common.”

    - -

     

    (the story of joel and ellie's guitars)

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    7,631
    Chapters:
    2/2
    Comments:
    11
    Kudos:
    41
    Bookmarks:
    8
    Hits:
    783
  11. Tags
    Summary

    But then Joel starts patrol. And he’s gone - outside the walls, without her there to watch his six, to stand on his bad side and hold his rifle for him when he needs to look for something in his bag. He’s got partners, sure, but they aren’t her. They don’t know him like she does: they don’t know the gait of his steps, the hitching whine of his left knee, the beat of his heart. Knowing Joel - the good and the bad and the funny and the painful and the sad- has been her job for a year. It was what she did. But now they’re in Jackson, and things are different. They have to be different.

    So she goes to school, and Joel goes on patrol.

    And Joel gets hurt.

    *

    After Joel is injured on patrol, Ellie spirals.

    *

    Fulfills the prompt: nightmares

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    8,919
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    23
    Kudos:
    183
    Bookmarks:
    34
    Hits:
    2,048
  12. Tags
    Summary

    “Ellie,” Maria says gently, the same voice she uses to soothe Benji back to sleep when he wakes in the night. “Ellie, honey, can you hear me?”
    The only sound is Ellie’s breathing, ragged and tense, filling the tiny space and leaving pinpricks of dread across Maria’s skin. She turns her attention to the knife in Ellie’s hand–it’s practically an extension of herself, and with the way Ellie’s knuckles are white as she clenches it Maria isn’t sure she realizes she’s holding it at all.

    --

    When Ellie has a bad day at school, Maria is the one to come to her aid. She recognizes something in Ellie that reminds her of her past, and tries her best to make sure Ellie knows she's not alone.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    12,437
    Chapters:
    2/2
    Comments:
    30
    Kudos:
    119
    Bookmarks:
    16
    Hits:
    1,398
  13. Tags
    Summary

    “Bonnie,” he calls, waving her over without taking his eyes off the horses. “C’mere.”

    Bonnie rushes over, her eyes widening as she spots the riderless horses. “Shit,” she mutters, grabbing Joel’s binoculars to get a better look. “Where are the riders?”

    (when two patrol horses return to jackson without their riders, the miller brothers head up the search party -- after all, their family is in danger)

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    10,015
    Chapters:
    3/3
    Collections:
    1
    Comments:
    15
    Kudos:
    64
    Bookmarks:
    7
    Hits:
    1,518
  14. Tags
    Summary

    It reminds her of that winter on the road, after Silver Lake, when they were both so beaten down that they could barely hunt or walk or scavenge for weeks. They’d sat holed up in that old gas station and ate cold beans and frozen berries and once or twice, some squirrels, some little rabbits. The meat was always stringy and tough; Ellie remembers the way it’d felt going down, greasy and slick, the way it pooled like rancid oil in her stomach. Some nights she’d have to sit propped up all night against Joel’s shoulder and breathe with her mouth open to keep from puking. She never, not once since they’d come back to Jackson, thought that she’d ever feel like that here.

    *

    After the horde settles in around Jackson, the town faces dire consequences as their food supply starts to run out.

    *

    Fulfills the prompt: Starvation

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    16,380
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    33
    Kudos:
    159
    Bookmarks:
    26
    Hits:
    1,912
  15. Tags
    Summary

    “This stuff happens. It’s part of the learning process, Ellie.”

    Ellie swallows a mouthful of water and sets her teeth against the ache in her jaw, against the argument she wants to make: that she should be done learning, that she’s been scrapping and surviving and training for years now. She shouldn’t have missed that Infected. She shouldn’t have holstered her gun. She thinks about what it’s going to feel like to have to make that report to Tommy, the way his eyes are going to darken in disappointment. The way Joel’s gonna fuss over her stupid fucking head and press his lips together in that way he does when he’s trying not to say what’s on his mind, which is gonna be “you aren’t ready for this” or “I told you so.”

    *

    Ellie is excited to go on her first paired patrol- right up until she’s bitten.

    And she doesn’t realize it until someone else spots it.

    *

    Fulfills the prompt “not realizing they’re injured”

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    8,192
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    19
    Kudos:
    192
    Bookmarks:
    22
    Hits:
    2,279
  16. Tags
    Summary

    “What is it?”

    Maria hesitates, eyes raking over the brace on his leg. The pause lasts an eternity, Joel’s patience stretching thin till it nearly snaps, and then she opens her mouth and utters Joel’s worst nightmare in the shape of three words.

    “Ellie is missing.”

    (whumptober - race against the clock + bad things happen bingo - missing & presumed dead)

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    6,530
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    18
    Kudos:
    173
    Bookmarks:
    28
    Hits:
    1,896
  17. Tags
    Summary

    When Ellie gets spanked by a teacher, memories of past beatings resurface. The entire family struggles with their own feelings about what happened.

     

    I wrote this in my notes app while high, and I'm posting it before I sober up enough to change my mind. Will probably delete later.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    7,245
    Chapters:
    3/?
    Comments:
    6
    Kudos:
    36
    Bookmarks:
    2
    Hits:
    2,537
  18. Tags
    Summary

    As the time for the arrival for the newest addition to the Miller family draws near, Maria struggles with the idea of letting Joel become a part of that.

     

    OR

    Maria has a baby, Joel is dragged into the birthing process, Isla wants dibs on the naming it.

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    12,841
    Chapters:
    4/4
    Comments:
    8
    Kudos:
    32
    Bookmarks:
    4
    Hits:
    985
  19. Tags
    Summary

    “Ellie,” he begins, staring at the ground, his voice low. Not little shit, not kiddo, not baby girl. The use of her given name has the desired effect, because she takes a step back and looks down at him with an expression almost like fear. He levels her in his gaze. “Listen to me very closely. No matter what happens? What you’ve done will not be for nothing. It can never mean nothing. It has already meant everything.”

    Ellie stares at him, open-mouthed. There’s a joke here, somewhere—Ellie, silent?—but the punchline doesn’t quite form.

    “Joel, you’re freaking me the fuck out,” she says, finally. And yeah, it’s not her fault he hasn’t made it abundantly clear exactly what she has come to mean to him.

    --

    Or: Joel opens up to Ellie just a little bit earlier. It changes everything.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    4,253
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    20
    Kudos:
    97
    Bookmarks:
    22
    Hits:
    1,030
  20. Tags
    Summary

    Joel and Ellie are finally starting to adjust to life in Jackson when...

    an ailing stranger with medicine to trade is brought back to town;

    an ambitious FEDRA officer becomes intent on making their own cure for Cordyceps;

    a young patroller gets a serious crush on Joel...

    Surely, these events won't conspire to destroy the bubble of safety and security and peace Joel finally has around Ellie?

    Surely, by the end everyone will be alive and have no more gray hairs than they started with!?

    Don't come to this story looking for romance or smut, come to it looking for murder, protective rage and found family.

    There is some cuddling though.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    11,095
    Chapters:
    3/5
    Comments:
    6
    Kudos:
    40
    Bookmarks:
    7
    Hits:
    540

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