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i wish i was a lionfish by PaigeGoneRogue
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
11 Apr 2026
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Joel didn’t really care about the newcomers, to be perfectly honest.
Whenever someone new arrived in Jackson, it was always a big deal for a week. Chatter and talk and baked goods delivered before the shine of intrigue rusted and everyone went back to their business. Back to their happy, idyllic little lives in the toy town they all inhabited. Playing a dime-store society liable to collapse the day they dug up the wrong root.
The only difference between these newcomers and the ones they usually got was the age. The girl, a ratty, brown-eyed fifteen-year-old, had been picked up with her light-haired, blue-eyed dad by a patrol out near the old copper mine, and given immediate refuge because ‘youth was sacred’, the kind of sappy, stupid saying Jackson thrived on.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
David and Ellie take up residence in Jackson. Joel tries his best to help.
Bookmarked by cgracephd
15 Apr 2026
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fly me to the moon (let us play amongst the stars) by etz
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
12 Apr 2026
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Summary
Joel needs to fly out to Wyoming to attend his estranged brother's wedding.
Ellie needs to get as far away as possible and hide from the past.
Both are tired of the shitty hand that life has dealt them, but fate works in mysterious ways.
*in other words the modern adoption au that nobody asked for*
Bookmarked by cgracephd
15 Apr 2026
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His Honey Addiction by HopelesslyDevoted02
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
19 Apr 2026
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You sell your body to survive.
Joel Miller sells everything else.
In a world where love is a liability, wanting you might destroy him.
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A fic in which Joel Miller falls in love with a stripper in the Boston QZ
Bookmarked by cgracephd
01 Apr 2026
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At sixteen, angry and rebellious, you join a religious group in Utah, seduced by the words of charismatic preacher, Pastor David.
Ten years on and your compound in Texas is raided by the police amidst allegations of abuse, and you and your daughters - Ellie and Abby - are forced back into the world you left behind. Your only lifeline is Joel Miller, your mom's friend from college, and his daughter, Sarah. Moving onto his ranch, what starts as friendly support becomes something more. In Joel you find the one thing you didn't know you were craving - love without conditions.
But the father of your children is never far away, and he wants his girls back.
Series
- Part 1 of Angels and Demons
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 205,522
- Chapters:
- 42/42
- Comments:
- 760
- Kudos:
- 358
- Bookmarks:
- 72
- Hits:
- 15,141
Bookmarked by cgracephd
26 Mar 2026
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By any other Name by itainthardtrying
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
13 Jan 2025
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Summary
“Apparently, soul marks are a big deal in FEDRA. You’re supposed to keep them always covered, never disclose your Names. They think it could create unnecessary camaraderie between the ranks, alliances they couldn’t control.”
“Fucking fanatics,” Joel mutters, and Tess snorts her agreement.
“Gets worse. That asshole told me it’s even more of a problem when there’s kids involved. FEDRA worries somebody could pick a fight with them, steal away one of their precious free resources. Or that the kids could grow and run – try to find whoever’s on their arms.”
Joel frowns. “So? Tell’em to cover their Names too?”
“Not really,” Tess says, finally turning to look straight at Joel. “With FEDRA kids, they erase them.”Soulmate AU. Everyone is born with their soulmates’ Names written on their skin. Joel meets his third when he’s fifty-six, and he’s tasked to smuggle her outside Boston’s QZ. This can’t possibly end well.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 36,543
- Chapters:
- 4/4
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 55
- Kudos:
- 305
- Bookmarks:
- 66
- Hits:
- 4,134
Bookmarked by cgracephd
19 Mar 2026
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all because you came for me by lkay09 for renegade_knight, marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV)
10 Apr 2026
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Summary
“No, no, just listen - listen!” Rob stumbles backwards as Joel advances, the door to their ramshackle cabin swinging open. “We don’t have the cards we promised, but we have something! Let me just - let me just show you.”
He practically trips over his own feet to get to one of the other doors; Joel follows him almost leisurely.
Rob throws the door open - a shuffling and clanging sound emanates from within - and despite his better instincts, Joel finds himself curious. He steps over the threshold and turns to the right, hand going tight on his knife –
It’s a girl.
(where a joel finds ellie a few years ahead of schedule)
Series
- Part 5 of alterations
Bookmarked by cgracephd
19 Mar 2026
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What's in a name? by tloufan926
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
05 Dec 2023
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Summary
The question of what, exactly, she and Joel are to each other is something that Ellie spends far too long thinking about, and an equal amount of time trying not to think about. The words he’d so clearly communicated last winter, you’re not my daughter, are swimming in her head the whole time she and Joel are hiking back to Jackson after the hospital.
I sure as hell ain’t your dad.
There wasn’t much else to it, was there?
Bookmarked by cgracephd
05 Mar 2026
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Summary
“What do you want to hear about tonight, kiddo?”
The corners of Ellie’s lips scrunched to one side as she pondered. “What’d you do?” She finally decided. A smile settled over her face. “Were you a millionaire, Dad?”
A chuckle fell from Joel’s chest. His laugh was warm, hearty, strong, just like him. “No, baby,” He replied, amused by the thought. “If I was a millionaire, we’d have us a fancy bunker to live in.”
Ellie lit up at the idea. “With a rocket ship?”
Joel smiled. “Sure, kiddo,” He answered, his tone soft. “And so much food that we’d get sick.”
TLDR// Joel is Ellie's biological father. We enter the first season and its events with a clear and close relationship between them. Marlene doesn't hire him to smuggle a kid, she's his daughter, and he just wants a better world for her. This will cover the entire first season.
Bookmarked by cgracephd
17 Feb 2026
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Hit Me With the Force of Your Love by WhetherItsTwoMinutes
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
26 Sep 2025
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Summary
“Besides, it doesn’t really matter.” At the change of her tone, Joel glances back at her and finds her calculative look. “I saw how you killed him.”
Joel takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I was passing by and I heard your screams. I defended a kid.”
“Yeah.” She snorts. “Passing by with a gun. Miles away from any city.”
“It's called hiking. And plenty of folks carry a gun these days.”
“And wear leather gloves. In summer.”
They glare at each other. The girl’s eyes glint dangerously in the dim light and she lifts one eyebrow in challenge, a look on her face that dares him to object.
“You weren’t just passing by. You came here to kill him.”
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Or: A hitman Joel AU, where one of his contracting jobs goes south, but it might be the best mistake of his life.Bookmarked by cgracephd
15 Feb 2026
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We Might Not Be Alone by AMY_MorningStar
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
15 Feb 2026
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That night, Joel dreamed of Sarah.
He didn’t do that very often. He did a lot when it first happened. But, he didn’t as much these days. He dreamed of her more when he was drunk or high. But, rarely when he was totally sober.
A modern AU of The Last of Us.
Title from Everybody Dies by Billie Eilish
Bookmarked by cgracephd
15 Feb 2026
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a redwood among mere sprouts by two_birds_alone_together for ciaconnaa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
23 Mar 2026
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Summary
“Kid, get the hell outta my tree.”
Stupid fucking neighbors. She’s never even seen the person who lives here before.
“It’s not your tree,” she calls back, infusing her tone with as much attitude as she can muster. “No one owns a tree.” Deep breaths, Ellie. Can’t give away how scared you are, especially not to a stranger. Especially especially not to a man.
“Tree’s on my property. I own the property, so I own the tree. Now scram.”
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ellie climbs a tree, and maybe finds a home in it
Bookmarked by cgracephd
20 Jan 2026
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They’re towards the end of clearing the old shopping center when he loses track of Ellie. He opens his mouth to call for her, but just then, he hears her, her voice changed from when she speaks to him, taking on a stern, unyielding quality Tommy teasingly calls her “general mode.” He takes his cue from that, creeping closer and avoiding debris on the floor as he makes his way to a window to get a look at what’s going on in the direction he heard her from.
Looking through what’s left of the grimy glass, he sees a set of five men with a hungry, rangy look about them.
(while on what should be an easy practice patrol, joel and ellie run into trouble, and joel gets to relive one of the worst days of his life)
Bookmarked by cgracephd
16 Jan 2026
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On the sixth snatched lunch, he decides to wait and watch. It’s childish, but they’d finally had help in so work had gone quickly enough that he could work on making cuts for the cabinet framing.
And it just so happens to offer the perfect viewpoint to watch his lunch bag on the passenger side of his truck without being immediately visible.
He waits in the hours before lunch ready for a fight, ready to storm out and confront his little shit of a little brother. He knows it’s Tommy. He knows it.
And then a little head with a brown ponytail sticks out of a bush, and he starts to wonder what he knows after all.
The girl looks around furtively, darts forward, jumps up to get her arm over the open window, makes a basket of her shirt, shakes out the contents, tosses the bag back in, and darts off, disappearing into the bushes once more.
All while he stands on the sidelines, saw still in hand.
(non-apocalypse au in which ellie and joel meet bc she keeps sneaking onto his jobsite to steal his lunch)
Bookmarked by cgracephd
16 Jan 2026
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relational transgressions by PenAndInkPrincess
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
06 Jun 2023
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“No,” he says, when four Fireflies as a unit manage to restrain him, pushing him to his knees on the floor.
“She’s gone,” a nurse says in a voice that might be gentle if she wasn’t delivering his worst nightmare right to him.
“No,” he says at once, the word nearly punched out of him. “No she’s not. Ellie, wake up.”
“Joel-” It’s Anderson speaking to him, he realizes distantly. He doesn’t really give a fuck. The man is lying to him, trying to say that his kid is dead.
“Ellie Williams, you wake up right now,” he orders. She likes her jokes, but this is going too fucking far. “It’s not funny. Now you wake up.”
It doesn’t matter how many commands he gives her, though.
Or how many pleas when the weight of what just happened starts to press in on him.
The only response he gets is that piercing, damning alarm.
(trying to get joel out of the way, the fireflies fake ellie's death) (...it doesn't end well for them)
Bookmarked by cgracephd
16 Jan 2026
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When a woman he only distantly knows named Helen takes him aside after lunch one day with a “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Ellie,” he thinks he’s about to hear about his kid accidentally starting a fire in chemistry or somehow knocking down a wall, and he prepares himself for it. She’s a good kid–hell, other parents have expressed envy that their kids don’t listen as well–but she has a mischievous streak a mile wild, and teenagers aren’t exactly known for their excellent impulse control or decision making skills.
Then what comes out of Helen’s mouth is, “Have you thought about if she might do better with a family?”
And he doesn’t think there was possibly a way he could have prepared himself for that.
(in jackson, someone tries to suggest that ellie should be given to them instead) (it goes about as horribly as it possibly could have)
Bookmarked by cgracephd
16 Jan 2026
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open sesame by PenAndInkPrincess
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
24 Sep 2023
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“Do a trick.”
She blinks, more than slightly startled, her struggle ceasing for a moment under the force of her bewilderment. In her defense, she’s still being held by a hand that feels like it could snap her wrist like a twig just by squeezing too hard, so she thinks she has a right to be a little confused.
Also the words make no goddamn sense.
“What?” She asks blankly, giving another testing tug against the hold. No dice. His grip doesn’t go tighter, but neither is he anywhere close to letting go.
“You’re out here doing magic and shit so you can steal from the crowd, right? Do some magic if you want the money.”
She gives him an incredulous look.
“Dude, I just tried to,” she’s suddenly aware that they are in public and that she and Riley will likely need this section of the park in the future, “rob you,” she says in a low hiss. “And now what? You want a fucking show?”
“You want the money? You ain’t stealing it from me. Do a trick and earn it, fair and square.”
(modern verse AU in which joel and ellie meet after she tries to pickpocket him)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 30,734
- Chapters:
- 3/3
- Comments:
- 134
- Kudos:
- 1,684
- Bookmarks:
- 397
- Hits:
- 19,295
Bookmarked by cgracephd
15 Jan 2026
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i'll be the fighter by BarlowGirl
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
07 Jul 2023
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Ellie knows she should tell someone. That’s what you’re supposed to do.
She also knows there’s no way she can say anything.
Or: Ellie's math teacher is a creep.
Bookmarked by cgracephd
07 Jan 2026
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suitcase full of stars by BarlowGirl
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
20 Dec 2024
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Summary
She picks up the keychain. It only has one key on it, and it’s a boring keychain, just one of those stretchy plastic bracelet ones that look like hair ties.
But it’s still a house key.
“You’ve known me for less than eighteen hours.”
“Highlight of my life,” Joel mutters.
Or: Another foster kid au!
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 69,511
- Chapters:
- 11/11
- Comments:
- 333
- Kudos:
- 1,107
- Bookmarks:
- 277
- Hits:
- 22,245
Bookmarked by cgracephd
06 Jan 2026
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Summary
“You don’t touch her,” Tommy says. “You don’t fuckin’ touch her!”
“Not really in a place to be making demands, old man.” The man's hand leaves Ellie's hair, coming up to her chin instead. He moves the gun from her temple to the back of her head. She resists the urge to bite him, her teeth clenched. “Gotta be from a settlement. No one who’s been out for long is this clean. No girl stays out long either. Always hiding ‘em behind walls. Don’t leave much for the rest of us.”
Joel’s told her about people like this. People who wander around the country alone or in pairs. Usually very young men who don’t fit into even hunter groups for one reason or another.
“Sometimes they’re even worse than the groups," he'd said. "They don’t got anyone holding them back.”
When Ellie and Tommy are attacked, Tommy is forced to put his own potential for brutality on full display. They deal with the aftermath.
Bookmarked by cgracephd
06 Jan 2026
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'Cause Stitches Don't Work On a Cut This Deep by cardigains
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
14 May 2025
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Summary
“Nothing’s different,” Ellie tries to talk Joel off the ledge the best way she knows how. “Except that fucking…thing. It was different. It was smart. And I just thought…What if, ya know?”
Joel’s right in front of her. He sinks to his knees, which is honestly for the best before he passes out and knocks his head against the hardwood floors. “What are you asking me here, kiddo?”
The nickname tugs at years old memories, tussles with months old anger. Settles in her hours old desire to be held by him again. The desire she’s brushing off and shoving down. Even if she is going to die, it doesn’t mean Joel gets to be off the hook. All it means is that he’d ruined everything all so she could die in the name of fucking nothing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming instead.
Ellie squares her shoulders as she tilts up her chin. She holds him hostage with her gaze and implores him with the earnesty of her expression. “I need you to wait with me to see if I turn. And if I do,” she pauses, swallows, wishes she could look anywhere besides right into his eyes, “I need you to put a bullet in my head.”
Bookmarked by cgracephd
06 Jan 2026