monalisaaa
Fandoms
Recent works
-
it ain't me, babe by monalisaaa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
07 Feb 2026
Tags
Summary
Ellie’s eyes lit up. She tightened her palms around the embroidered patches of Mars, Venus, and Earth on the straps of her backpack and then quickened her pace as fast as her little legs could take her. The image of the house grew closer.
It was an old farmhouse. Vines clung to the faded, wooden siding. A porch wrapped around it, the paint chipped. There was a large willow tree in the front yard. A tire swing hung from an especially large branch. Ellie’s thoughts were immediately consumed with how much she wanted to ride it. The night breeze brushed her bare arms, nudging her along.
TLDR// Toddler Ellie comes across a haunted house while running away. In it, she finds a nice, though grumpy, ghost, Joel. For the first time in twenty years, he feels alive, looking after her when no one else ever has, the entire time terrified he'll lose another little girl.
-
angel from montgomery by monalisaaa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
19 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
“Hey.”
The girl’s eyes snapped up, panicked. She spared a second to glance down at the man in front of her, her eyes racing up and then looked at Joel with the exact same type of terror, before emerging with something in her hands.
Joel watched, immediately suspecting a gun. “Whoa, now-”
The girl lifted her hands up, revealing an old knife. She smeared the tears on her cheeks away, trying to seem bigger than she was, but it didn’t work.
She was a terrified kid.
The urgency in Joel’s expression blinked. “Hey,” He repeated, his voice painted soft, though he didn’t let himself hear it. The girl just stared up at him with her knife, not realizing the tremble of her own grip or the violent shakes that tore through her entire, bare body. He just realized that now. Only her knees were covering her, along with the clearly torn pair of underclothes on her lower half. She cringed under his eyes. “It’s okay,” He tried. “I’m not gon’ hurt you.”
The girl didn’t even blink. She just stared up through her tears, terrified of him.
Fuck.
TLDR: Joel finds a traumatized Ellie on the side of the road. He's immediately soft. Meanwhile, she has to learn how to trust him.
-
i walk the line by monalisaaa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
14 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
Weight claimed Joel’s face. After another crack, he lowered himself down and sat beside Ellie in her chosen hiding spot: the dining room table. What a kid. His heart softened at the thought. His silver hair brushed against their shelter; her head barely peaked above his shoulders. “I won’t let it get you, Ellie,” He soothed.
“You can’t control the fucking wind, Joel,” Ellie pointed out, sniffling.
Joel almost smiled. Ellie never missed the opportunity to be a little shit. “I won’t let anything get you,” He corrected softly. She swiveled and peered up at him with puffy eyes. He felt like himself under her gaze, a gentle dad once again for the first time in twenty years. “It sounds like a real nasty thunderstorm. That’s all, kiddo. Just some big clouds and a little lightning. You're okay."
TLDR// Ellie is scared of thunderstorms.
-
Tags
Summary
Blood.
It was fanning out under Ellie’s body, taking her and claiming her like cordyceps. After a few endless seconds, she moved in it, curled up, and then immediately whimpered as a result; the knife in her stomach had twisted.
The sound was what broke Joel out. “Ellie,” Her name fell out. Before he even knew what he was doing, he sprinted forward and then crashed right back down, scooping his arms underneath Ellie’s body. “Ellie. Oh, God.” When he moved her, the knife shifted, too, and she cried out; a sharp wince claimed his face, like a gunshot had gone off. Had it? His eyes lifted up, searching for a soldier’s flashlight.
Sarah?
No.
A different baby bleeding out on him, again his fault.
TLDR: Ellie gets hurt at the university instead of Joel. Going into winter with this change! Lots of angst and hurt/comfort <3
-
Tags
Summary
Ellie stared up at Joel after he opened the door. “Ellie,” He realized, reclaiming his annoyed face. “Can I help you with somethin’?”
Ellie shoved out a large sigh, her lunch tray still clutched between her hands. “Can I eat lunch in here?” She finally pushed aside her dignity and managed to grit the question out.
Joel brushed his thumb over the wood of the doorframe. “Don’t you got any friends to eat with?” He replied, immediately guilty when Ellie glared up at him as an answer. “Alright,” He sighed then, and made space in the doorframe for her to slip inside.
Ellie picked the desk closest to Joel’s, despite the completely empty classroom. He wished that it annoyed him, but it didn't. She could never know that, though, so he put a pout on his face, and grumbled at every pun that filled the next hour.
TLDR// Teacher AU!!!
Recent bookmarks
-
brokenhearted, running wild by two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
28 Mar 2025
Tags
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.”
-
(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:
- 145
- Kudos:
- 658
- Bookmarks:
- 164
- Hits:
- 13,122
Bookmarked by monalisaaa
04 Mar 2025
-
be still my foolish heart (don't ruin this on me) by captainredspade (CodenameArtemis)
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
18 Aug 2025
Tags
Summary
“Her name is Ellie,” she says, eyes still on the sweet, slumbering child. “Take care of her. Don’t fuck this up, Joel.”
He doesn’t respond, just watches until Marlene is gone and moves to lock the door once more, knowing it’s probably about to be a long night with very little sleep.
Glancing down at the baby – Ellie – Joel releases a slow breath. “Looks like it’s just you and me, kid.”
Fucking hell, he’s got his work cut out for him.
or
(Joel raises Ellie. Some things change while others stay the same. A journey from Boston to Wyoming.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 120,182
- Chapters:
- 18/?
- Comments:
- 334
- Kudos:
- 1,487
- Bookmarks:
- 380
- Hits:
- 43,812
Bookmarked by monalisaaa
19 Feb 2024
-
Tags
Summary
Ellie brings home a wolf pup. Joel is less surprised by this than you might think.
Doesn't mean he's pleased about it.
—
The one in which Joel thinks he knows what's going on, but he really really doesn't.
Bookmarked by monalisaaa
12 Feb 2024
-
Blood runs thicker than water by Roselees
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
15 Nov 2024
Tags
Summary
‘No. I’m tellin’ you now, no. You going away and joinin’ the Fireflies.. Fine. You ruin your own life if that’s what you want. But we ain’t taking a baby in during all of this, Tommy. No way in Hell.’
‘What’s the alternative, Joel? Give her to FEDRA? They’d turn her into a fucking soldier. Cannon fodder. You know that.’
-
In which Joel and Tess receive an unusual request from the Boston Fireflies, and the pair find themselves navigating parenthood in the midst of the apocalypse.
(Or; in an alternate timeline, Joel raises Ellie from the beginning - and this time, for as long as he has breath left in his body, nobody is going to hurt his daughter.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 257,520
- Chapters:
- 19/19
- Comments:
- 205
- Kudos:
- 399
- Bookmarks:
- 149
- Hits:
- 26,920
Bookmarked by monalisaaa
29 Nov 2023