The Last Of Us: Part I - Darker Days (Male Reader)

Chapter 15 - Closer to the Edge

A/N: I forget how big these chapters can get. The chapter is split between this one and the next!

"Fireflies were here."

Ellie saw it before she ever heard Henry's words. The clear, red symbol of the Fireflies was on full display for them all to see. Which looked like it had been spray painted, just across the raised stone walls below that made as the next house's foundation tier, and a wall to rest by.

"Yeah, by the looks of it." Joel announced as he came up behind her.

Sam, who had been on his brother's heels since they got out of the sewer, spoke up, "How're we gonna find them?"

"I know a guy." Joel explained, as Y/N appeared next, taking the time to look the art over, until he stopped beside Ellie. "My brother, actually. He was a Firefly. Last I heard he was in Wyoming." She watched him as he narrowed his eyes at the symbol as Joel spoke, eying it sharply as if it had offended him. "We get there, we find him. We find the Fireflies. Whaddya say, you in?"

Although, that was how Y/N looked at most things.

"Sounds like a good plan, man." Henry apparently agreed, as if the cheer in his voice wasn't enough.

Ellie had her own thoughts on the matter, though most were doubts. How did Joel know they were going to find Tommy, his brother, at all? And even if they did, would he still be alive? Never mind being willing to be their guide to find the Fireflies.

It seemed that Y/N's pessimism was rubbing off on her, and speaking of him...

"Y/N?" Joel asked, as the older man turned to face the teen, and as Y/N looked back, Ellie could make out the mix of curiosity in those pupils of his, and the eyes that had always greeted them with sadness and fire were now staring with great interest, before they lightened and subdued.

"...Sure."

Y/N's words had always been said as if they were weighing him down (at least the less confident ones) as if it burdened him to even follow them. With each passing hour, it seemed they were closing in on the Fireflies, they're destination clearly in sight.

But Y/N was hesitant to keep on going with the adventure, from what she could see. Each word was carefully crafted, made to act neutral or even indifferent to the path that they were taking.

He had once told her that he was just tagging along, but how long had it been since he had saved her in the hotel? Since he had first threatened Joel upon meeting him and cautiously taking himself to the back of the group, unwilling to blend in with them.

Yet, that was long past, and Y/N was still here, following them. Except now, as the journey neared closer to an end goal in sight, Y/N was beginning to grow on them, and vice versa, and Ellie couldn't help but think that his reassurance of leaving was all just one big, stupid, pile of bullshit.

One that stunk more and more.

And despite everything, she reckoned, he was just too stubborn, too set in his ways from the fragments of his time alone, to truly confess.

That he wanted to stay with them, despite his instincts.

She hoped she was right.

"Ellie?" Joel's voice broke her out of her thoughts, pulling her back from her mind, and the thoughts on the teenage boy that she hoped, would stick around. "Let's go."

At least for a little while.

—

"Ah, okay. You guys are killing me with your downer talk. It's joke book time."