1 - 20 of 322 Works in Joel Loves Ellie (The Last of Us)
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Almost four years after the events at St. Mary’s Hospital, Ellie finally learns the truth. And it cuts deeper than any wound. The lies meant to protect her have shackled her instead—and torn Joel away from her forever.
What follows are months of silence. Cold. Empty. Heavy. Ellie comes of age, finishes her tattoo, loses her relationship—and the last fragments of stability she had. Meanwhile, Joel starts a new life—with another woman, with another chance at happiness.
But that’s the one thing Ellie can’t stand.
She doesn’t want him back. She wants him to suffer. Just like she has. And the only way to truly hurt him… is through herself.
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Ellie Williams was going to die, all by herself, in a forest clearing, under a bright blue sky, without a soul knowing. Alone, all alone, not even some beautiful final vision of the one person that cared enough to break the world for her, that was her fate. As her vision faded, as breath grew impossible, and the pain finally dissolved into nothingness, Ellie’s final thought was ‘this is how I end’.
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i open the window by shinestarhwa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
06 Sep 2025
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Joel said, and she quotes, “You need to make friends, Ellie-girl.”
Friends. She has friends. She has Joel. Maybe he wasn't technically a friend, but he counts.
“I meant friends your age, Ellie.”
He insisted upon it. Arms crossed, looking at her with a look that toe between concern and determination. And how the hell was she supposed to say no when she was already enrolled?
_____
Ellie's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad first day at school in Jackson.
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The Distance Between Stars by Marmaladejam
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
06 Sep 2025
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Jackson was supposed to be safe. Normal.
But Joel comes to learn that peace comes with a price: the rules and boundaries he set for them are starting to crumble, and memories of the road won’t stay buried.He’s torn between want and can't, truth and lies.
When the shadow of Salt Lake comes back to haunt them, their fragile balance tipped over. Joel has to choose — to count his losses and walk away, or fight to build something new out of the wreckage.
What he doesn’t expect is how far Ellie’s anger — and jealousy — might burn.
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angel from montgomery by monalisaaa
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
05 Sep 2025
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“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.
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Ellie gets injured badly, and in the midst of the chaos gets a message from some people in her past.
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Capture the Flag by the_last_of_me (Pati_et_Vivere) for MincedGod5percentfat
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
01 Sep 2025
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When Ellie has to stay with Tommy & Maria while Joel is away on a long-distance patrol she finds it hard to cope with his absence despite her best efforts to be the capable and responsible almost-adult she knows she is. Dealing with this, as well as a bully in her school class leads her to make a dangerous choice. Tommy steps up in Joel's absence and disciplines her, but inadvertently makes Ellie feel like she's not really his niece, just an unexpected burden.
Can Ellie hold it together long enough for Joel to get back, or will the emotional shrapnel from her punishment leave permanent damage to the Miller family?
And will she ever be able to show Brendan-fucking-Walker just who he's messing with?
Or, Joel goes on patrol. While he's away Ellie tries to show up a classroom bully by doing some dangerous shit, but gets caught by Tommy, who spanks her in Joel's place. She begins to feel like Tommy doesn't actually love her as an Uncle like he says he does. Angst ensues. Miller men remain incapable of really saying what they feel.
Series
- Part 8 of Tales of Love and Consequences
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dreams we left behind by sallywallysuer
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
01 Sep 2025
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“You think you know me? Think you know what I lost? I’m a far cry from the man you once knew, sweetheart.”
He steps back, and points his finger at you before spitting, “So don’t stand there and preach to me about dreams. Dreams are what get people killed. You wanna hold onto yours—fine. But don’t you dare use mine to make a point.”
You let out a laugh, bitter through your tears. “You know what, Joel? You can keep your curse. You can keep hiding behind it, tearing into anyone who tries to give a damn about you. I hope it keeps you warm at night.”
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joel buys ellie in the apocalypse. she is young, pretty, naive, but has fight in her still. joel plans to break that fight down and turn her into his toy to use whenever he pleases, no matter what it takes.
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After the events of 'Lone Wolf,' Joel's managed to get Ellie recovering and keep her safe in Jackson, where he's fighting for them to have a home and a life. However, as much as Ellie loves Joel, she feels responsible for the whole world because of her immunity - and thus, when the Fireflies come, she wants to go.
But Joel? Joel, who only just got his daughter - his still-injured twelve-year-old daughter - and the opportunity to keep her safe? No, of course he doesn't like that.
But he loves her, and when the time comes, he's willing to follow her to the ends of the earth.
Even if it means bad things are going to happen.
Series
- Part 2 of Lone Wolf
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Ever since Sarah... well, ever since Sarah ten years ago, Joel's stayed as far away from kids as he can. Just the sight of one is practically enough to send him into a panic attack.
But then Tommy signs them up for a contracting job at a high school as a favor to an old army buddy.
And then there's a little girl in the front office, who somehow appears in the coffee shop Joel visits because the motel's coffee machine is shit.
Most damning is when Joel goes in to do some work at three in the morning and that same goddamn little girl is asleep in his construction zone and, when he wakes her up, says she's homeless.
Next thing he knows, she's asleep in his motel bed and he's filing foster parent paperwork.
What the fuck just happened?
(Foster parent AU! Featuring Joel Trying His Best And FailingTM, Ellie annoying local man and his friends & family into adopting her, and Tess/Joel as a lil treat for the masses.)
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When Tess gets bitten, the Cordyceps doesn't spread - she's immune.
But what are the odds that two people are immune when nobody else is?
(And what are the odds that Marlene happened to give Ellie, a girl exactly the same age that Joel and Tess's dead baby would have been, to them?)
(Basically, Joel and Tess are Ellie's biological parents, Tess is immune, etc)
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Overheard by KenzieFG for MincedGod5percentfat
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
25 Aug 2025
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The canteen is its usual storm of clatter and chatter, voices bouncing off the rafters. But just as Joel starts speaking, the noise thins.
“Are you lookin’ for a spankin’, young lady?”
His words ring out through the sudden, horrible lull in the canteen.
Ellie’s heart stops. Literally the entire world just heard she got… thingy.
So she does the only reasonable thing: kicks him in the shin and bolts.
(Or: Mistakes are made. Cuddles and forgiveness follow.)
Contains disciplinary spanking of a fictional teenager. Please mind the tags!
Series
- Part 18 of Last of Us B-Side
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I don't care if it rains or freezes long as I got my wooden Jesus sittin' on the dashboard of my horse by StrawberrySh0rtcake
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV)
24 Aug 2025
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"I know Jesus says we're supposed to be more into giving than receiving or whatever, but I gotta say, I'm pretty into getting shit."
"Where the hell did you hear that?" he asks, bewildered. Ellie of all people, little heathen that she is, is the last person he would suspect of being religious.
As usual though, the little shit surprises him. "From the Bible," she says primly. "Acts 20:35 mother fucker."
Well he'll be damned.
———
Or: Ellie and Joel and their respective relationships with God, religion, and Tia Blake.
OR: I project my own feelings about religion onto Ellie and Joel (but mostly Ellie).
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safely, gathered in by RandomRuth
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
19 Aug 2025
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Then it’s the scythe’s turn, with its long, two-handled shaft and huge, curved blade attached at an angle. Beside him, Ellie straightens up in her chair from the slump she’d fallen into like someone’s dumped a bucket of ice water on her head.
“Oh, shit,” she whispers, near breathless.
Joel straightens too, glances around. “What?”
“I’ve never seen one in real life before,” she tells him, watching the scythe, her eyes practically sparkling. “That’s the Grim Reaper’s stick.”
Joel is frazzled, but he has been listening — it helps that he already knew what this one is called from Before. “It’s called a scythe.”
Ellie’s delighted grin is only getting bigger. “Sick.”
(Joel and Ellie attend a town meeting to discuss the upcoming barley harvest, Joel worries about the future, and Ellie picks up a new hobby.)
One-shot, set after season 1, and almost a year after "creatures, great and small".
Series
- Part 2 of all, who live
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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
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“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.
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(Joel raises Ellie. Some things change while others stay the same. A journey from Boston to Wyoming.)
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burning one hell of a something by two_birds_alone_together
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
17 Aug 2025
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“I just… I wanna wear short sleeves again. But… but Joel’s gonna think it’s his fault. I-I didn’t think…”
The simple explanation breaks his heart, just a little. Of course she didn’t consider how Joel’s going to react. She’s fifteen, she’s new in town, and she just wants to fit in with the other kids without questions or stares. It shouldn’t be a surprise that she went and maimed herself so she can wear short sleeves.
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(an uncle, a niece, and more confessions then one man can handle)
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Lookin' for the light by loviegeto
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
16 Aug 2025
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| After Joel's death, Ellie finds herself alone in a world that suddenly seems empty and silent. Revenge is not her path: this is the story of grief that becomes an abyss, of colorless days and restless nights.
Between unpublished memories and moments of fragility, Ellie faces the greatest pain, falling into the deepest darkness... until, step by step, she learns to seek the light.An intimate and powerful story, for anyone who has lost someone irreplaceable and believed they could not go on. To remember that, even when it seems impossible, the light still exists.
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“I mean-” Ellie licks her lips, swishes a bunch of pieces aside with the flat of her hand. “I mean, do you think, like, old women think Joel is attractive?”
A pregnant pause swells to fill the garage. Then Dina snorts and claws upright on the couch. She sways dizzily. “Oh, for sure.” Ellie squeaks, and Dina goes on, voice sing-songing, “And not just the old ones.”
Jesse says, slowly, bravely, “If we’re being honest, I think Joel’s attractive.”
Ellie falls backwards onto her ass, grunting at the impact. “Oh my God-”
“Tommy too,” Jesses adds, and Ellie throws a handful of puzzle pieces at him, shrieks:
“What?!”
*
Ellie discovers that Joel might be Jackson's most eligible bachelor. Shenanigans ensue.
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A Different Ending by yours_truly_anonymous
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
12 Aug 2025
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CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW
Joel and Ellie have finally settled into Jackson after their journey across the country. With the success of the vaccine, Ellie and Joel start their lives together on better terms. Joel is content with his life, but when a woman is found and brought into Jackson, Joel can't ignore the temptation to get to know her. They both have troubled pasts, and romance isn't something they've practiced. Despite this, their relationship grows into something, for better or worse.
**For the sake of this story, Joel did NOT kill the whole hospital so (SPOILER FOR SEASON 2/GAME 2) there will be no consequences regarding that. Joel is also a bit younger than in the game/show for the purpose of the OC and his relationship.
Additionally, there will be potential rating changes/warnings in the tags or at the beginning of the chapters as I go on. I'm not too sure where this fic will end up, but I'm a big fan of happy endings. The ride to get there, however, could have ANY of the following warnings: violence, non-con, death (no major characters), sex/sexual situations. Please leave reviews and suggestions in the comments! I will post as I write. Enjoy!! **