1 - 20 of 35 Works by liveandletcry
Navigation
Listing Works
-
Tags
Summary
Jesus Christ, this kid was more green than the moldy carpet under his ass was red, and Jack could already feel the squish of his blood saturating the fabric, and he was right. He was woozy already, and loosing blood fast. He can't sit up to see his leg, but it must be arterial. Clarity comes with a rush of adrenaline. If he can't get this kid to get his shit together, that's game over. And refuses to die in a suburb.
"Okay." He starts with a practiced, forceful calm. "Two steps here. First, you're gonna slap a tourniquet on my leg, and then you'll radio for EMS." The kid fumbles in three wrong pockets over a few long seconds before pulling out a tourniquet, and he fumbles to separate the velcro strap so that he can open it up.
TLDR: If Jack dies, Robby's going to kill him.
Updated Whenever
-
Tags
Summary
This might be a fluke. It could be stress and grief and age. It could be menopause. It might. He was never that regular to begin with, so that's no help. He'd just been stretching his T too thin and now everything it had been holding off for so many years was crashing down on him all at once.
But it might not be. It could be more.
It could be some part of Tess that he gets to keep.
Joel leaves Boston with Ellie and much more than he bargained for
Or:
The T4T Joel and Tess oops, right? fic
PSA: To be cringe is to be free, the tags are accurate, so you know exactly what you're getting into. Hoping to update weekly.
-
Tags
Summary
“He’s trying to be here for you.”
That’s all he ever did, she thinks, fuming. Try. Try to make up for what he did. But he thinks he saved her life. He told her he’d do it again. He could try to talk to her, or try to be there for her, but, he never once considered that what she needed from him was the thing she fucking asked for. His trying was worse than if he just left her alone.
Ellie scoffs. “Can he stop?”
TLDR: Ellie gets bitten on patrol while she and Joel are still on the outs. Uncle Tommy to the rescue
-
Grave Men, Near Death, Who See With Blinding Sight by liveandletcry for Fiachra
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV)
16 Jul 2024
Tags
Summary
A week later, someone said they were setting up a safe zone north of Houston. Clearing out other people’s homes, their apartments, storefronts, churches - and refitting them to house a more permanent base of operations, but also to hold whatever displaced civilians made it that far. It was rumored to be full already. Thousands of people clamoring up the main interstate were waiting in make-shift camps, in their cars, hoping to get in.
Nobody as far out as Austin held half a shot of getting to that zone, and probably never had.
But they couldn’t permit the growing presence of Infected. Some guy in his unit says over breakfast one morning that they called them that because anybody left holding a lick of power was too busy ordering the mass murder of civilians to come up with anything better. Tommy thinks he’s probably right.
TLDR Sarah is bitten and Joel refuses to leave her - Tommy goes on because his big brother told him to.
-
Tags
Summary
The ground rumbled lightly beneath their feet. Her uncle adjusted his grip, sparing a glance down to her before refocusing on the treeline ahead. Ripples tore through the winding creek that made up the moat. Her smile grew with each approaching step. Her dad came up to her side, resting a hand over the back of her neck and squeezing. The bull protested louder, then the trees began to quiver, crack. and fall.
Then she felt her, rumbling so impossibly low that she could hardly be heard, vibrating deeply in her chest.
“Here she comes,” Tommy said, voice low. “Watch close, she’ll be quick.”
Ellie couldn’t stop watching. She wondered who possibly could.
TLDR: It's like if the Millers worked at Jurassic Park
-
Tags
Summary
They agree, looking over their haul in the early dawn, that strategically placing loaded pistols around the school seemed a good bet. After pulling a rifle for Dina, of course, the remaining weapons are scattered with reasonable optimism that they’ll be found and used for their intended purpose without incriminating them. They’ll claim to have found theirs just like the others.
The first day there are a few foam darts left on the street, and Ellie is hopeful.
The day after is quiet.
On the third day, Ellie realizes, dropping behind a bush to avoid a whizzing foam bullet, that children cannot be trusted with guns.
TLDR: Ellie and Jesse find a set of Nerf guns on patrol and bring them back to town
-
Tags
Summary
“Sit for a second, we need to talk,” he says.
Something flashes over her face and he hasn’t had a second to parse it out before she says, “You wanna go to the town.”
“Yeah,” he says.
“Are you going to leave me there?”
He’d been working his spiel, stay quiet and close. How to find him if they get separated. She thought he was going to leave her there?
“No,” he says, “No, Ellie, I’m not going to leave you there. We just need supplies.”
-
Tags
Summary
“Emma’s pregnant again.” Joel counters.
Tommy’s voice is muffled talking to someone else, wind whipping against the speaker as he steps away from whoever he’s out with. “Goddamn Joel, I thought she was in Italy or somethin’.”
“It ain’t mine,” he defends, “asked about that, she said it was, and I quote, a toss-up.”
Tommy grunts, “and how is that your problem? Sarah’s upset?”
Joel groans, “doesn’t know yet. Asked me if I wanted it – also a quote. Same deal.”
“Same deal,” Tommy pitches, incredulous, “she asked if you wanted her baby with some other guy by sayin’ same deal?”
Joel hums his confirmation, the idle sound of traffic from Tommy’s end filling the line.
“And you’re fuckin’ thinkin’ about it, aren’t you?”
Series
- Part 1 of EmmaVerse
-
Tags
Summary
It had been months since Ellie had looked him in the eye when he looked through his kitchen window on the wrong side of dawn one morning to see her trampling around in the grass with some squirmy little thing twisting between her ankles before shooting off to circle the yard, a black and white blur, before coming back to her side. Joel hears her, muffled through the glass.
“Dude, go piss.”
She’s in an old tank top and shorts, barefoot in the grass, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as the puppy circles, lanky and loping across the yard. Every time he catches sight of her he can’t help but watch. He gets his second-hand reports from Tommy and Maria. From Jesse, on occasion. It’s not the same as seeing for himself that she’s alright. Ellie’s got a good bit of muscle on her, but she’s not too lean. She doesn’t look beat like he knows he must.
The puppy drops into a play bow, tail wagging excitedly and she rolls her eyes. “Go piss or we’re going back to bed.”
TLDR Ellie gets a dog and Joel will take what he can get
-
Tags
Summary
Ellie starts on paired patrol 4 months before her 17th birthday, 3 weeks after he’s able to walk to the dining hall and back without his cane, and 6 days after Tommy tells him that he won’t be put back on the roster. The new kids are filling in spots left by the old guard, well-seasoned by this point, he says. Joel knows it’s because he still can’t ride and he’s actually as slow now as he thought he was years ago.
But, he can sit, and he can work a radio. He can talk some hot head or panicked kid out of a sticky situation from the musty old couch in the house closest to the gate that was used for office space and clearing new residents more than anything else.
Joel knew he couldn’t go out with Ellie like they always planned, but he wasn’t going to let her out there without him in her pocket. He knew better than to trust that shit would stop happening in a world full of it.
-
Tags
Summary
Two sets of eyes land on him immediately as he comes through the door. Ellie’s leg is bouncing a mile a minute as she whispers back and forth with Dina at their kitchen table. The hardly restrained panic is rolling off of her in waves and his chest seizes just to see it in her eyes.
“What’s going on?” He asks.
Ellie looks back to Dina who gestures sharply for her to explain. “I think something’s wrong with Maria.”
TLDR The Millers have a demon problem
-
Tags
Summary
“I didn’t see – I didn’t see him,” she argues.
“I know, but fuck.”
Tess is glaring holes in the side of her head for what feels like an eternity before she’s in motion, “I’m going to pull him back here and guard his fucking body. Go get Ellie, right the fuck now. And Tommy. Do not – “
“Obviously, I’m not telling Dad, Tess.”
“Go,” she snaps. “Quickly, please.”
TLDR: Settling in Boston up to Ellie's 21st Birthday - Sarah is doing her best to be a good big sister
Series
- Part 2 of Dark!Sarah AU
-
Tags
Summary
It seemed reasonable, at the time, to assume that if Tommy could drag her over to show her the pups without incident, he could do the same for Ellie.
They hear Ellie’s exclamation first, excited chattering. Then silence. She sets their silverware out and imagines fondly that her husband is regaling her with observation and fun facts that could mostly be credible.
The idealistic version of it is shattered pretty quickly.
TLDR: Tommy finds a skunk's nest in his back yard
Series
-
Tags
Summary
“They didn’t say anything. I just wanted to be careful.” She wipes the back of her hand on her shirt before swiping at her cheek again, more blood. She must have made a bigger mess of them than she thought. “They saw where we’re living and could have followed us back. Isn’t that enough?”
His face contorts, “Sarah Leigh Miller, if you think that was a good enough reason to take 3 fuckin lives, kill 3 people – over a what if?”
“We don’t know them – “
“Exactly,” he snaps. “If you really think this is ok then – I don’t know what to say. I know I raised you better than that.”
She sets her jaw and replies, “I’m protectin’ my people. You raised me exactly like this.”
TLDR: Sarah lives and is better suited for apocalypse living than anyone expected.
Series
- Part 1 of Dark!Sarah AU
-
Tags
Summary
They’d only been in town a couple of weeks.
Ellie had already been torn up about being left for the day while he was on shift. He sighs heavily, trying to script out exactly what he’d need to do when he got back. They’re through the gates before he has much more laid out than to be really sure that she understands he’s fine. Apparently they were going slow enough or maybe he was just that unlucky today because Tommy’s standing right by the gate as they come through.
“Christ, Joel, what the hell happened? Day fuckin one?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Joel argues. “Beam fell out of the roof in that damn cabin.”
TLDR Joel gets injured on his first patrol shift.
-
Tags
Summary
Tommy sets down his fork and sits back. “Oh, yeah. The town hall this past weekend. They were taking nominees for the new council position.”
He nods, he and Ellie had decided to skip in favor of going out on a hunting trip cut short by a summer storm.
“I wasn’t the only one who put you up for it,” he says, “verdict came back this morning on official candidates and you’re in the running if you want it.”
That’s definitely not what he was expecting. “I uh,” he clears his throat, struggling, all of the sudden, to quash his overwhelm. It’s a tightness in his chest that for once doesn’t feel suffocating. “I don’t know what to say.”
Maria rolls her eyes, “I’d start with whether or not you’d like to accept the nomination.”
-
Tags
Summary
Ellie can feel it. She’s jumpy and no more than 2 feet away from him even when they settle down to pick through their packs for dinner, not running through each room exploring and digging through drawers like she usually would.
“You okay?” he asks, when the ceiling creaks above them and she nearly jumps out of her skin.
She shifts nervously and looks around, “I don’t know, man, I just feel like - It’s weird in here, right?”
It is, but she won’t sleep if he confirms her anxiety, so he shrugs, “not weirder than anywhere else. Just an old house.”
Joel is reminded that the outbreak didn't just change things for the living
-
Tags
Summary
“Little bitch.”
His vision goes dark when some asshole snaps it at his kid, taking a step too close, and then all he can see is red. All he can feel is fear and rage. He won’t let anyone hurt her. He hears noise around him, feels hands on his waist, his shoulders. None are strong enough to pull him off or break through his rage until his elbow catches something when he recoils sharply for his next punch and he hears Ellie shout.
“Fuck,” she bites, and he’s still got the asshole’s shirt balled tight in his other fist when he looks over his shoulder to see her holding her face. She moves her hands and she’s shaking, her lips and chin already stained with dark red blood when she meets his eyes. She covers it quickly, “Joel,” she says with the same gentle firmness she uses trying to talk down a spooked horse, “I’m okay.”
He hit her.
-
Tags
Summary
The jangle of keys and the lock clicking are shockingly grounding.
“Hey,” her Dad greets softly. “Sorry I’m late,” his grimace tells her what she could have guessed. She looks at her phone for the first time in hours, it’s nearly 11.
“It’s fine,” she says, looking at her sister on the couch behind her, only half covered with a loosely knit blanket. “Ellie’s knocked out, I was going to wake her up and send her to bed, but I guess I lost track of time.”
Her dad shrugs off his coat and toes off his boots, “I got her.”
Sarah shifts out of the way when he leans down to haul Ellie up off of the couch and tries not to let their quiet exchange tear her apart.
“I fell asleep?” Ellie asks with a yawn.
“Still are, probably,” her Dad quips softly as they reach the stairs, “whatcha dreamin about?”
Ellie grumbles, not fully awake, “Your ass getting home on time.”
Silence. Then, “sorry kiddo. I’ll make it up to you.”
-
Tags
Summary
Ellie inhales and chokes, eyes landing on her attacker’s body, “why can I hear his heart?” She asks quietly, “he smells -” she cuts herself off and her eyes come back to his, wide with fear, “this isn’t real.”
“It is,” he says, “and it’s ok. Check your side for me?”
Her eyes narrow, but she reaches down to pull her shirt up, the rain washing the blood from her skin after just a few moments to reveal smooth unbroken skin. “Holy shit,” she breaths, “What the fuck?”
He lets her feel it over for another few seconds, letting her reassure herself that this was real, and she was okay. “I wouldn’t have saved your life just now if I was going to hurt you. I made you stronger, but you know that comes at a price.”
“What price,” she asks quietly, eyes dark and flicking over to the man across from them and sticking there.
“It’s what you want most right now,” he says, and she swallows, salivating, he’s sure. “What’s your name?”
She does look away then, standing and shifting nervously on her feet, looking between him and the street like she might bolt, “Ellie,” she says eventually.