CowboyLikeBellie
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a half-step to the left by PenAndInkPrincess
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
26 May 2023
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Summary
It’s not that Ellie means to stalk the couple she catches lurking in the shadows at 1 in the morning after sneaking out of her dorm because sitting in the room alone was making it hard to breathe, but fellow curfew-breakers can hardly expect privacy. All’s fair in love and rule-breaking or whatever their English teacher said in one of the rare classes when they were learning something not related to FEDRA policy.
And there’s something in the way the man holds his hand out to help pull the woman up over a crumbled brick wall that she just can’t look away from.
There’s a gentleness there despite his size and obvious strength that makes her breath catch for just a second. It’s too far for her to hear what they’re saying, but the woman says something with a little half-smile and presses her hand to the man’s shoulder, and the casual affection of the gesture fills her with a nameless want.
So, trailing them at a distance it is.
(AU in which Ellie follows Joel and Tess around and meets them with no Fireflies involved)
Series
- Part 1 of a half-step to the left
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 65,146
- Chapters:
- 8/8
- Comments:
- 477
- Kudos:
- 3,283
- Bookmarks:
- 906
- Hits:
- 63,153
Bookmarked by CowboyLikeBellie
20 Mar 2026
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Ashes to Ashes by MessyDepressy95 for midnight_society
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
09 Mar 2026
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Summary
She's whiter than sin and beat to hell, blood crusted up under her nose and around her mouth when he gently lifts the poorly stitched together sack up and away from her face with hands that don't feel like his own.
All of maybe seven or eight, if he had to guess, kids somehow looking both younger and older than they're meant to these days.
She looks like a baby to him, her features all soft despite being so damn thin.
With an odd sense off detachment, he rolls up her sleeves and checks both arms before moving onto her legs in search of any sign that's she's been infected, but the tell-tale climb of Cordyceps is nowhere to be found, no bite mark to mock him. Not on her back that's a swirl of blackened bruising and bumpy spine or on the hollow of her stomach that's just as tender and hard to look at, the cut of her ribs striking.
There ain't a thing on her outside of a list of hurts that's a mile long and etched into her skin.
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Joel stumbles on Ellie at the bottom of a pile of dead bodies meant for the burn pits, one shallow breath and a steady heartbeat is all it takes to undo him.Bookmarked by CowboyLikeBellie
10 Mar 2026
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Family By Another Name by MessyDepressy95
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
04 Nov 2024
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Summary
“You’ll kill me” it’s said with such conviction that his heart tugs painfully at the accusation. She’s four, what the hell could a four-year-old have done to be so sure that he’d kill her should she tell him?
“I ain’t gonna kill you, no one is going to kill you.” He keeps his voice firm and laces it with conviction just like hers.
He’s making her a promise, swearing an oath. Nobody’s laying a finger on her.
Not now, not ever.
He dares a motherfucker to try.
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My take on how the cross-country journey would have gone had Ellie been in Joel’s life for years before they left the QZ. Or Joel is dad-shaped in every version of the time-line.Series
- Part 1 of La Familia
Bookmarked by CowboyLikeBellie
09 Mar 2026
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Summary
Just a regular day, but they were the days Ellie liked the most.
Then Tommy came over.
That, in itself, wasn’t the problem. The problem was the fact that he had interrupted their breakfast by pounding on the door like someone was dying. Ellie flashed a look to Joel, but he was already standing, looking slightly worried as he walked toward the front door just beyond the kitchen. Tommy beat him to it, opening their front door just as Joel reached it.
“Joel.”
The word was spoken with such soft desperation that Ellie was on her feet in an instant. Something was wrong, something was happening, and whatever it was had Tommy shaken enough to say Joel’s name like that.
“Joel. There’s a woman at the gate.”
(Or Sarah lives! somehow! And Ellie is forced to realize her place besides Joel now that his REAL daughter is home)
Series
- Part 1 of Placeholder Verse
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 26,556
- Chapters:
- 10/10
- Comments:
- 230
- Kudos:
- 1,080
- Bookmarks:
- 205
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- 20,537
Bookmarked by CowboyLikeBellie
06 Mar 2026
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Lay Your Weary Head Upon My Chest by MessyDepressy95
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
21 May 2025
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Summary
"When I say go, you go." He's panting, terrified and hurting like a son of a bitch from the chest strap of the seatbelt jerking tight, but he needs Tess to take one fucking command.
For once in her life, he needs her to listen to him.
"You slip through the wall, and you get Ellie the fuck out of here. I will find you after." Her lip curls into a snarl, fury and irritation chafing her expression. He knows that she's pissed, but they ain't smuggling partners on a run gone sideways right now.
They're parents.
"We don't get to leave, Joel. That was the fucking deal." And it still is. He's trying to get them all out alive.
That means she needs to run, and he needs to handle the fucking hunters opening fire in the direction of their family.
"I ain't leavin' and neither are you; this is just temporary." Hoping like hell he ain't lying to her, he tightens the strap of Ellie's sling and insures she's pressed tight against Tess.
He'll get back to them, and he'll mow down every fucker that tries to get in his way.
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Joel finds baby Ellie after Marlene fails to show up for Anna, he and Tess make the hard decision to raise her themselves.Series
- Part 1 of Teensy Baby Ellie
Bookmarked by CowboyLikeBellie
04 Mar 2026