Work Text:
They found it while on patrol.
It.
Her, Tommy said.
Or a big ass piece of useless metal garbage as Ellie liked to call it.
Tommy called it a beauty even though it wasn't, but Joel didn't tell him that. Ellie's dismissive snort did. It was the kind of annoyed snorting only a teenager was able to form and that was best left alone or ignored altogether.
Joel just called it a motorcycle.
It was nothing special. Nothing extraordinary. Just a plain old bike sitting in a parking garage of what once might have been a vacation home. Likely unmoved for more than twenty years. The tires were flat. Rust was eating away at the varnish that might have been red once. It was hard to tell with the amount of dust collected on it. The dried out leather of the seat was cracked, breaking apart. It would definitely have been in an even worse state if it had been sitting all those years out in the open. Left behind and discarded because who had a need for a motorcycle in times like these. These days you’d take a horse or if you were lucky and could find gas, a car.
There wasn't really a need for motorcycles anymore. It was a relic. Possibly still good for some spare parts to be used for Jackson's cars.
Joel couldn't remember the last time he had rode one. He used to have one, but ended up selling it so Sarah could participate in a football camp one summer and to buy a much needed new fridge. It was money well spent, even Tommy said so, although he would have loved to keep the bike. Maybe the last time had actually been on Tommy's 18th birthday.
So of course it was Tommy who was eyeing the bike longingly looking like a kicked puppy when Joel and Ellie insisted on continuing their patrol and yet it was Joel’s mind it was stuck in over the course of the whole day.
Joel was standing in the kitchen preparing dinner, when the backdoor opened and Ellie let herself in without knocking like she always did, grabbed some juice from the fridge without asking like she always did and poured some into a glass.
Some time around last year she had transformed from a bubbly girl who never shut up into the kind of teenager who mostly consisted of snark and eyerolls and snorts. Joel was honestly surprised she still came over for dinner and movie nights regularly. Not as often as she used to, but she still did.
She hopped onto one of the kitchen counters, took a sip from her glass and finally said “Hey.”
“Hey.” He shot her a glance but decided to not comment on her sitting on the counter. It was futile. And if he was honest, he didn’t really care all that much.
“So what kind of shitty movie’s on the menu today?”
They decided on Point Break. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen it. And the only thing he really remembered about it was that the Keanu Reeves character recognized his opponent by his butt - which Ellie, of course, being Ellie pointed out as soon as it happened and wouldn’t shut up making jokes about for the next couple of days.
Joel kept thinking about the bike and Tommy’s birthday, yet it took him a couple of days to actually make the decision and ride out to have another look at that rusty motorcycle. Ellie caught him, Shimmer close behind her, just when he meant to ride out.
"Joel, wait. Where are you going?"
He stopped in his tracks as he heard her voice behind her.
"Just ridin' out." He shrugged. His horse tried to nudge him forward.
“On your own?” She eyed him with suspicion. Eyes flitting between him and the saddlebags with tools sticking out from them.
“Why not?”
"You are going to try and fix the stupid motorcycle for Tommy's birthday, aren’t you?"
That kid was still too smart for her own good.
He didn’t answer at first, just grabbed the saddlehorn, put his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself upwards on the animal. The horse gave a snort, eager to head out. "You wanna come?" He asked her in return.
"Hell yeah."
“So you really think we can fix that thing up?” Joel watched as Ellie prodded one of the sad looking flat tires with the tip of her sneaker. “You think it’s worth it?”
“I think it’s worth a shot.”
She crossed her arms. “Yeah, we just….” Ellie circled the bike. “... Have to change the tires, clean it up, probably exchange basically every single part and then sell our blood to Maria for some gas. And all of it in what - a month?” She shrugged. “But yeah, it’s worth a try.”
And they did.Try, that was.
And the hardest part didn’t even turn out to be finding the parts they needed. It was hiding their plans from Tommy.
“Tommy asked me if you’re angry with him.” Ellie revealed one day. They had taken the bike apart as best they could. Thankfully the former owner had left behind a lifting ramp. It was in a better condition than Joel had initially feared it would be and so they had begun cleaning it up, refreshing the engine oil and exchanging most rubber parts. It wasn’t supposed to survive years. Just one birthday.
“And what did you tell him?” Curious, Joel looked up from his task.
“That you aren’t.”
“I feel a ‘but’ coming.”
“But that you’re meeting someone in secret instead and don’t want him to know.” She snickered about her own idea. “It will keep him distracted for a while.”
“Thank you very much.”
She laughed harder at his annoyance as she kept checking the rubber tubes and the gas tank for leaks.
“So what about you?” Joel asked after a while.
“What about me?”
“Who are you meeting?” He tried to sound casual, didn’t look up from the rusted exhaust pipe he was cleaning.
“If you start talking about Jesse again, I’m gonna leave right now.” She sounded more amused than annoyed, but there was a hint of nervousness in her voice.
“I was rather thinking about Cat.”
She became awfully quiet.
Joel cleared his throat, still trying to keep it chatty. Not too tense. Afraid she would end up shutting him out, if he wasn’t careful.
“So... she’s working on your tattoo,”
“Yes.” She absentmindedly touched her arm. The outlines of a moth and ferns hiding the scar underneath.
“It looks good.”
“Hm-hm.” She had stopped working on the bike, fiddled around with a broken dried out rubber band. He could see it from the corner of his eye.
“And you like her?”
Ellie commenced working on the bike, searching for leaks, exchanging broken tubes and polishing the gas tank.
There was a long pause. Not really silent. Filled with the sound of work. Of scraping metal. Working tools. Muttered thank you’s when they handed each other tools and spare parts.
“We really don’t have to talk about this.” Ellie said after a while.
“I know.” He stopped and looked up from his task, waited until she stopped too and looked at him. Her gaze didn’t meet his eyes, instead transfixed on something behind him. “I just want you to know that you can talk to me about it. If you like her. Because I want you to be happy.”
Joel searched her eyes.
“Okay.” She said after a while.
“Okay.” He agreed with a reassuring smile. “Hand me that wrench.”
They worked well as a team. Faster than Joel had originally anticipated. They went to work on the bike as often as possible, whenever they weren’t needed in Jackson. As often as they could handle without neglecting their responsibilities in town and drawing too much attention.
“Joel?”
“Mh?”
“Do you think I -” Ellie stopped loosening the screws on the back wheel. They had been lucky so far. They had found another broken down bike, that had only been crashed recently by a couple of hunters. The gas tank was empty, but the tires were working fine and with some effort and Jesse helping out, they had been able to transport them to their project.
“- do you think I’m infectious?”
It made him stop as well, look up from his work at the front wheel to look at her.
“What? “
“Do you think I could infect anyone?”
“No, Ellie, I don’t think so.”
“But you don’t know.”
“No.” He answered in all honesty. “I don’t. But we shared enough water bottles on the road for me to be sure about that. You’re immune. Not infected. And especially not infectious.”
“Okay.”
“Why are you worried about that?”
“I don’t know, I just -” A shrug, her eyes avoiding his again as Ellie picked up her tools again. “- I don’t want to infect anyone by I don’t know - kissing them or something.”
He tried to act like he didn’t sense her awkwardness, fought hard not to crack a smile.
“It’s normal to be anxious when you like someone.”
“Shut up.” Ellie didn’t sound as harsh as she could have, just kept staring at her own task, ears and cheeks burning red.
The hardest part of this endeavour lay yet ahead of them. Harder than finding new motor oil. Harder than it had been to transport the scavenged tires to their makeshift repair shop. Maybe even harder than keeping Tommy distracted. No, the hardest part would be to try and convince Maria to let them have some gas to fill up the bike.
"No."
Maria's voice was the voice of a woman who didn't take any kind of disobedience lightly. It was a do-not-fuck-with-me, no-nonsense kind of voice. And "Can we have some gas to ride an old motorcycle around the block" was very much and obviously deep in nonsense territory.
“C’mon, Maria, it’s just for one ride”, he argued. “And we could use the bike afterwards for patrols or trade it with that gang of stupid bikers that come by once a year.”
It was the last part that had to eventually have convinced her - at least she acted like that was the reason. Obviously not because of the prospect of seeing her husband’s overjoyed face should this work out knowing she helped out creating it or anything. Of course that couldn’t have been it.
The bike was as good as ready. If you squinted just hard enough, it looked almost new the way it proudly stood in front of the garage. If you ignored the rust stains and the faded color and blind lights. Joel and Ellie both stood in front of it, mirroring each other in their pose, arms crossed, examining the result of their work with a critical gaze.
“You wanna give it a go, kiddo?” Joel finally asked. Her head jerked around to face him.
“Why me?”
“Why not.” Joel walked over to the vehicle and gave the cracked leather seat a reassuring pat. “C’mon.Let’s just see if we can get the engine to work. If we actually did our job well enough so Tommy can use it he probably won’t wanna share. So now’s your chance.”
Curiosity triumphed over hesitation. Joel watched as she threw her leg over the machine. It made her look small.
And as if from a different time.
Joel talked her through the steps, held it steady as she tried to kick-start it. Nothing. Disappointing silence.
Ellie gave it another try.
Another.
The engine came alive with a roar. Screamed, almost, like some ancient beast. Smoke rose from the exhaust.
Ellie’s eyes were shining with excitement. Big and bright, as he held onto the handles. In a way it was a shame that they wouldn’t be able to keep this thing. He knew she would have loved it. A shame that times weren’t different. That she would never be able to take this bike and just ride it across the country without any worry.
Just before he could get lost in the thought, the engine died with a sad gurgle.
“Well-” Ellie looked at him, shrugged. “- it was worth a shot.”
They both broke out into laughter.
“Am I finally gonna meet that secret person you’re seeing?” Tommy was in a good mood, almost seemed a little giddy as he trailed behind Ellie and Joel to what had become their workshop hideout. “Bit of a weird birthday gift, if I’m honest.”
“I ain’t seeing no one.” Joel corrected him and squinted at Ellie who still chuckled at her own idea. “Ellie made that up.”
“Oh.”
The garage came into view. With the door closed nothing indicated that they had been working here for weeks.
“So what are we doing here? That’s not our usual path.”
Neither of them answered, they just exchanged a look and headed towards the garage. Ellie opened the door. It swung open with the screeching sound of metal scraping on metal.
“Happy Birthday.”
Tommy, giddy as a child on Christmas, eyes shining with excitement pushed the bike outside, gave the tank a reassuring pat and swung his legs over the machine.Tested the seat. Then she shot them a questioning look.
“Go ahead.” Joel offered him a reassuring smile.
Tommy kick-started it routinely. Like he had done this a thousand times. The engine came alive immediately. Ellie and Joel exchanged a look. Proud. Maybe a little smug.
Tommy made it roughly a hundred meters until the engine died on him and the exhaust pipe fell off. And yet it didn’t matter. Tommy’s face told them that it didn’t.
It had been worth a shot.