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Drifters, a book of Tess and Joel by Arien
Fandom: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
10 Nov 2025
Summary
This series comprises of:
1. A mostly canon-compliant origin story of Tess, following the first 20 years between Outbreak Day and the events of TLOU and
2. A very non-canon-compliant fix-it fic that you can either take or leave, depending on whether you like happy endings or not and
3. A collection of stories based on reader prompts that further the tale.
- Words:
- 757,838
- Works:
- 23
- Bookmarks:
- 86
Bookmarked by Vathae
20 Nov 2025
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vanishing hours by 6hoursgirl
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV), Prospect (2018)
08 Nov 2025
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Summary
In the winter of 2025, Joel Miller hires Anna Williams to help as an office manager at his thriving construction business. An odd friendship blossoms between them, but Anna has secrets and a baby on the way, and Joel has a monkey on his back.
Bookmarked by Vathae
08 Nov 2025
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Firefly Tommy Miller AU by Nandorluna
Fandom: The Last of Us, The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
20 Nov 2025
- Words:
- 83,702
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 1
Bookmarked by Vathae
01 Nov 2025
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Summary
“Do you want to put away Ellie’s things?" Tommy asks. "We can put them in the attic for now.”
“The hell would we do that for?” Joel lifts up his dead little girl’s shirt, rolls his eyes at the dirt stains that didn’t come out, and folds it neatly.
Tommy swallows. “Cause she died, Joel. And maybe it’s too hard right now to…” he cuts himself off. Joel isn’t listening anymore. He unfolds and refolds the same shirt, his eyes glassy. “Joel—”
“—You got the roster out for next month yet? Was hoping to get Ellie’s birthday week off, I’ve got plans.” He shakes his head. “16, jesus.”
Tommy drops it. Ellie keeps living.
Ellie is presumed dead. Joel doesn't react the way Tommy thought he would.
Written for Whumpter Day 16: Repressed Trauma
Series
- Part 3 of Whumptober 2025
Bookmarked by Vathae
22 Oct 2025
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Summary
Joel and Ellie deal with some stupid cold temperatures and assorted shenanigans (the not-fun kind) in and around the town of...Dinosaur, CO.
Come find me on tumblr under the same username :)
Bookmarked by Vathae
14 Oct 2025
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brokenhearted, running wild by two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
28 Mar 2025
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Summary
“This is private property.”
Her head snaps up, eyes narrowed as her lips curl into a snarl. “No shit? I thought this was a public fucking park.”
Joel levels a glare at the kid as he loads the washer. “It ain’t. These machines are for residents, not runaways.”
“I’m not a fucking runaway,” she snaps, squaring her shoulders and drawing her backpack closer. “And I am a resident. Kid of the week for the Jenkins. You know, the people who live in 3E?”
“And the Jenkins have you down here doin’ laundry after school every day?” he asks with incredulity.
She glances around the room, a uniquely teenage disdain in her sneer as she surveys the silent machines. “Obviously.”
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(joel is an apartment super, ellie is a foster kid. they orbit each other in every universe.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 38,383
- Chapters:
- 10/10
- Comments:
- 128
- Kudos:
- 598
- Bookmarks:
- 142
- Hits:
- 11,529
Bookmarked by Vathae
27 Sep 2025
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Summary
After Kansas City, Joel and Ellie agree it'd be safer if people believed they're father and daughter.
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“I don’t really get it,” she said, “but I trust you.”
Joel blinked down at her, wearing that same expression from last time: like he wished she didn’t trust him at all. But then he wiped it away and refocused on the road ahead of them, a long brown ribbon unspooling over the gently rolling hills. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Ellie. You know that, right?”
“Yup. Thought that was already established, given I trusted you to watch my back during the clicker swarm, but—” She shrugged. “You got me this far. I trust you’ll get me even farther.”
Series
- Part 2 of take on me
Bookmarked by Vathae
15 Aug 2025
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what dads do for daughters by mercess
Fandom: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
10 Apr 2023
Summary
Sometimes dads murder. Sometimes dads braid hair. It's the little things.
- Words:
- 28,055
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 52
Bookmarked by Vathae
09 Aug 2025
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Summary
Riley gets bit in the mall, but Ellie doesn't.
Joel takes her anyway.
There’s no grand purpose for her existence, nothing to make her worth saving.
Joel loves her anyway.
Series
- Part 1 of The Garden
Bookmarked by Vathae
07 Aug 2025
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this is me trying (at least i'm trying) by BarlowGirl
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
17 May 2024
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Summary
It wouldn’t be so bad if she was alone in Jackson like she was in Boston. She’d figure out where she fit and she wouldn’t really care if people liked her. She’s done it before when they made her switch schools.
But she’s not. She’s here with Joel, and she doesn’t want him to be embarrassed by her. She doesn’t want him to regret this. To regret her.
OR: Ellie adjusts to living in Jackson.
Bookmarked by Vathae
18 Jul 2025
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Keep Going by stainedglasspanel
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
08 May 2023
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Summary
Joel sounds a thousand miles away. “Ellie? Are you listening? I said, don’t you *ever* do that again.”
Well, she thinks deliriously, that won’t be a problem after all.
“Ellie, what—?”
It feels like she has no control over her body anymore, like it’s someone else who is extending her arm, pulling back her sleeve, and exposing a ring of broken skin. She hears Joel stop breathing when he sees it too.
She's been bitten.
________AU where Ellie is already traveling across the country with Joel when she gets bitten.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 32,553
- Chapters:
- 6/6
- Comments:
- 169
- Kudos:
- 1,572
- Bookmarks:
- 440
- Hits:
- 23,211
Bookmarked by Vathae
07 Jul 2025
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Summary
Joel looks up as Tommy steps back up to his side, the cuffs of his shirt wet with blood. Joel glances back to see Maria laid out on the bed, Isaiah’s baby blanket knotted tightly around her head. A dark patch of blood is already spreading on the light blue fabric.
As Ellie reloads and aims out the window, her jaw clenched, Joel’s gaze meets his brother’s. Tommy’s dark eyes, normally so full of laughter, are grave, fear tracing itself across the tense line of his brow. They stare at each other for a long moment, grim resignation growing in the air between them.
“You got any better ideas?” Joel asks. Tommy’s lips thin, but he shakes his head as he takes his rifle back from Joel.
“None. Get them ready, I’ll cover us,” Tommy says, his voice curt as he turns back to the window and raises his weapon.
***
Bookmarked by Vathae
07 Jul 2025
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Summary
Ellie clings to Tommy’s arm that forms a bar across her neck and shoulder, brown eyes wide with fear but fixed on him with utter faith that he will know what to do, that he will fix it. He can’t stop his hands from shaking as they hang uselessly in the air in front of him, one palm up in surrender while the other hand reaches toward Tommy in supplication.
“Tommy, little brother, give me the gun. Just put down the gun and we can figure—“
Tommy swings the pistol toward Ellie, and the bottom drops out of Joel’s world.
Bookmarked by Vathae
06 Jul 2025
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- Words:
- 37,011
- Works:
- 4
- Bookmarks:
- 107
Bookmarked by Vathae
30 Jun 2025
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Summary
Joel’s seat moves a bit, indicating that someone has sat down next to him. There’s no overtly offensive smells coming from them, so that’s a small blessing, but he doesn’t open his eyes. Please let them not be chatty, please let them just sit there for the next ten hours and leave him the fuck alone.
The bus starts rolling from the station, the noise level cresting briefly and then dropping back down again, and Joel finally opens his eyes, chancing a glance over at the person sitting next to him.
Scratch that – the kid sitting next to him.
(joel & ellie greyhound-ing it across the country in an apocalypse-free world)
Series
- Part 3 of alterations
Bookmarked by Vathae
09 Jun 2025
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a monster broken by the rules of love by two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
06 Jun 2025
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Summary
“We need to get to the science building.” Her voice cracks; she doesn’t give a fuck. “Now.”
Joel shakes his head. “Ellie—”
“No, listen to me,” she insists, grabbing one of his hands with both of hers. “They… I think they can make it quick. The cure. And… and it’s on your leg, so we have a little time—”
“Ellie.”
“We have… Joel, we have to move. Now.” She jumps to her feet and grabs Callus, leading him to Joel. “Now, Joel.”
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(joel gets bit at the university of eastern colorado)
Series
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 29,075
- Chapters:
- 4/4
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 65
- Kudos:
- 252
- Bookmarks:
- 66
- Hits:
- 4,076
Bookmarked by Vathae
08 Jun 2025
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you and me on the rock by marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
27 Jul 2023
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Summary
“Oh, come on.” Ellie takes a step towards him, her hands balled into fists. “Don’t be like that. We’re a fucking team, Joel. That’s not fucking fair.”
“You know what ain’t fair?” Joel snaps. He stuffs one arm, then the other, into his jacket. “Is having to sit here and listen my own goddamn kid tell me they think I’m too old to do my fucking job anymore. That ain’t fair. That aint right.”
*
Just Ellie and Joel doing what they do best: pissing each other off and patching each other up.
Bookmarked by Vathae
06 Jun 2025
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Summary
Tommy sighs, scrubbing a hand over his pinched face. He has a pretty good idea about what happened there, and it’s twisting the knife in his heart a full three-sixty. Joel, in pain and delirious with it, stuck twenty years in the past and begging for his baby girl. Probably with a head injury to boot. “My brother has no living children, ma’am. He might be experiencing some confusion.”
“Your brother is unconscious, Mr. Miller. He isn’t experiencing anything at the moment. And I can assure you, the minor in our care is very much alive.”
or:
The story of Ellie and Joel, as told to Tommy, who would have liked to have known he had a niece before it became hugely, urgently relevant. (Modern AU)
Bookmarked by Vathae
22 May 2025
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resonance by PenAndInkPrincess
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
21 Apr 2023
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Summary
When Joel calls his name and comes jogging towards him in Jackson, pulling him into a hug as fierce, as joyful as the ones he got when he was back on leave during his army days, he thinks, Is that all it took? I just needed to leave him alone to let him heal? I could’ve just fucking ditched him and then gone back? It’s a painful thought, that his own attempt at support just hindered Joel’s healing, but it’s a giddy one, too, the idea of his brother back with him.
Then he sees Joel catch a kid who almost falls off of her horse when she dismounts, the motion as easy and thoughtless as if he were-
Oh, he thinks, when he sees the way the girl looks at Joel, all sass and no regard, clearly not afraid of him in the slightest, the way she uses his personal space as her own without a second thought. Oh, you paternal fucker.
(tommy loses the person his brother was on the night of the outbreak) (it takes 20 years and a mouthy little punk to get him back) (ft. miller brother feels, ellie being feral, ellie thinking she and tommy are mortal enemies, and star wars)
Bookmarked by Vathae
20 May 2025
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this could either break my heart (or bring it back to life) by lkay09 for two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV)
25 May 2024
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Summary
Joel stops, all the muscles in his body locked up, the rifle half-raised and the barrel pointed at the knees of a mangy man with a thick neck and stringy hair. He’s got one hand locked around the back of Ellie’s neck, fingertips gripping hard enough that even from here Joel can tell she’ll have bruises.
His other hand is pressing a thin blade against the front of her throat.
He nods at the gun in Joel’s hands. “Drop it.”
(bad things happen bingo - knife to the throat)
Series
- Part 4 of bad things happen bingo
Bookmarked by Vathae
18 May 2025