Laura knew the dangers of her world. Between Cordyceps and the survivors, she often wondered how she'd made it twenty years. Lacking a purpose, she acted as a FEDRA plant for the Fireflies before she became the guardian of an immune kid. Ellie. But, of course, her life wasn't challenging enough already. And so, to stay with her kid she'd have to work with 'Texas'. He was a reminder of why it was dangerous to let people in - a reminder of her biggest regret.
Joel never forgot 'Quebec', a person with whom he'd shared parts of himself he never wanted seen. It was safe to do so with her, because they'd agreed never to share their real names. It was a failed attempt at emotional detachment, which was why he'd never admit how much it hurt when she'd left four years ago. But when they have to cooperate to get Ellie across the country, he's confronted with their entwined history. Joel just wants to survive long enough to find his brother, and all he can do is prevent Laura from pulling him in again. He didn't realise he was already drowning until they made code words. 'Silver' meant 'help'...
God help anyone that made Laura say 'silver'.
||Joel Miller Fan-Fiction - The Last of Us||
||basically a season 1 rewrite with a new OC||
||canon-typical violence, swearing, and trauma I guess||
||complete - undergoing edits||
notable rankings:
#1 in joelmiller
#1 in tlou
#1 in thelastofus
#1 in mutualpining
Joel finds a young woman, Adeline, being held hostage by a group of men while he's out on patrol one day. He brings her back to Jackson, where she's given the opportunity to have something resembling a real life, for the first time. Joel and Adeline orbit around each other, destined to crash, if both of their reservations don't get in the way.
OR
Joel finds the love of his life lost in the woods.
(obviously deviates from canon as he's not going to see any g*lf clubs and Ellie doesn't hate him because I've already got enough angst to write without that)
fic playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Q4Ye6oEr8Eaafv0dYvrEC?si=077733b0860b482f