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#I just listened to stared at from a distance the song (after waters which I had already listened to) and it has fundamentally altered my

theflowerrooms · 9 months

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to request • Eddie’s masterlist • main masterlist

Lingering Discomfort

Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Summary; usually you and your boyfriend Eddie are all over eachother, but after an awful experience with a stranger, you can’t handle anyone’s hands on you

wordcount: 1.7k

Warnings: descriptions of sexual assault and lingering affects of it, light angst, Eddie’s so sweet and lovely

another request from the lovely @tracymbcm, thank you so much for requesting <3

It was yesterday, when you were at the bookstore, standing in between the fantasy and horror isles at the bookstore when someone tapped on your back, between your shoulder blades. It was a man, significantly older than you but not elderly by any means, he was incredibly average looking man, apart from the scary grin he wore on his face, and his beady eyes that stared at your chest rather than your face.

"Don't see many pretty young girls listening to Metallica." He smirked at the band tee you wore and your heart raced with anxiety. You wondered if he could tell the shirt was too big for you, if he could tell it was a man's shirt- Eddie's. "What's your favourite song by them honey?" He asked and the petname made you feel sick.

"Um-" "Um!" He cut you off mocking you and you pouted, backing up, wiping your sweaty palms on the sides of your skirt.

"I don't- I don't listen to them. My boyfriend, he loves 'em." You didn't talk more than that and you almost flinched at the very unsubtle way the corner of his lip rose in irritation.

"That right? How old is he?" He asked, a step closer to you as you took one back. Your eyes watered as you realized any further back and you'd just be trapped against the bookcase.

"He's twenty." You hoped he didn't see your lip tremble, you hoped he couldn't hear your heart beating so fast.

"Twenty? See young guys- little boys like that don't know how to treat their girls." That's all that was said before the situation escalated and ended with you running out of the store crying. He didn't do anything more than grab your ass, but it was revolting.

You took deep breaths before you pulled out of the parking lot. Your first instinct was to drive to Eddie's house, cry into his chest and complain about the creep in the bookstore. You could see him in your head, hugging you, rocking you as he kissed the crown of your head. You didn't understand why the thought of that made you uncomfortable, you just didn't want to be touched again. What you needed was a shower, and then bed.

✽-

The next morning, Eddie picked you up as usual, he did every morning. Usually you loved it, getting to spend time with him before you started your day, and it got him to school on time, not wanting to make you late. Today you'd rather walk, every car ride Eddie would stroke your thigh, kiss you at every stop sign, squeeze in a quick make out session before you left the car.

You avoided all that. Grabbing his freehand and holding it so it wouldn't venture to your legs, fake yawning and leaning your head against the window with your eyes closed, too tired to kiss. You left his van before he got the chance to try and make out with you.

He did call you pretty, and cute in the span of three minutes, which brought a smile to your face, especially since you didn't feel pretty or cute, wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and grey sweatpants instead of the skirt and tighter top you normally would've worn, too uncomfortable to wear anything very revealing.

He walked with you into the school, slightly behind you like he usually did and you distanced yourself just slightly, so his hand wouldn't find the small of your back.

You chewed your lip as you turned around to face him. "'M gonna go talk to Robin before class." You smile softly, albeit anxiously at him, but he didn't read into it too much thankfully.

"Alright baby, tell her I said hey." He grinned and you nodded, guilty you hadn't been giving him the same attention and intimacy you normally would. He leaned forward to kiss you and you turned your head, he was fine with just kissing your cheek. "You okay baby?" He asked, glassy brown eyes searching your own. You told him you were, and you both knew you were lying, but he didn't press it.

You swallowed thickly as you turned from him, wiping the invisible kiss off of your face when you knew he couldn't see you, walking on shaky legs until you found Robin.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked, and you sighed, shrugging even though you knew. Her eyes burned into yours until you leaned against the lockers with a pout. Finally you told her what happened.

She scoffed. "Men. So many of them are fucking creeps, I thank the gods every day for the fact that I swing the other way." She rolled her eyes with a grimace on her face that matched the one that was starting to grow on your own. "Was Eddie with you?" She asked and you shook your head. "That's- well maybe that's a good thing. He would've totally lost his shit." She laughed.

That last sentence stuck with you. Why would Eddie be mad? It wasn't your fault. But then maybe it was, you could've moved away sooner, told him to stop, you could have just not interacted with him in the first place and moved on. And now Eddie would be mad at you.

✽-

It stuck in your head until lunch. And when it was lunch, you felt anxious again. You felt so guilty, especially seeing Eddie smile so big the second he saw you. When you reached the hellfire table, you pulled your usual seat a few inches away from him, so you wouldn't be pressed flush against him like usual.

You sat and he wrapped his arm around you like usual, so you leaned forward letting his arm rest on the back of your chair, that was fine.

Things were okay for the next ten minutes. You got less anxious, joining in on the conversation, things seemed normal again, despite the lack of Eddie's tongue down your throat which was common for every other lunch period.

Suddenly that normalcy ended. "You're too far baby." Eddie tsked, easily picking you up and putting you in his lap, arm over your lap and gripping the underside of your thigh, the same place that old man's hand was less than a day ago.

You leaped up without thinking, heart racing, all the eyes of hellfire on you. "Stop! Stop- just don't- don't want you touching me." Your voice shook, and tears welled in your eyes when Eddie's smile fell completely. You mistook the concern on his face for anger and you bolted, you didn't go far, only to the library, you'd favourite place in Hawkin's High, save for Eddie's arms.

You sat in the back on a soft chair, you weren't there long before Eddie found you. He kneeled in front of you, making himself look small as he peered up at your teary eyes. He placed his hand on the arm of the chair, not on your skin.

"I talked to Robin baby, do y'wanna talk about what's bothering you?" His eyes didn't look angry like you thought they would, only sweet and inviting. His lips turned to match the pout on your face, he always did it and it made you giggle, you felt your lips twitch with the beginning of a smile. It was hard to stay upset around Eddie.

"Are you mad?" You asked and his eyes immediately widened, curls swaying with his head as he shook it.

"Of course not sweet girl, I could never be mad at you baby. Especially not for something that wasn't your fault." He assured you. Immediately the guilt in your chest floated away. "Do you wanna talk to me about it baby?" He tilted his head and you nodded.

"Yesterday, at the bookstore there was this older guy." Your lip trembled. "He was askin' about my shirt 'n he called me pretty. Then he started asking about you when I told him I have a boyfriend. He said twenty year olds dunno how to please girls, and he- and he touched me." You brought your knees to your chest as the tears on your waterline started to drip over your cheeks.

Eddie's jaw tensed. "Where did he touch you?" It was tearing him apart to not be able to hold you right now, wipe away your tears. But he understood there was a new boundary as a result of what happened, and he'd respect that, keep his hands to himself until he knew it was okay to touch you again.

"He rubbed my leg- 'n he grabbed my butt." You whispered, he didn't look angry, upset yes, worried, absolutely, but he wasn't mad. "I told Robin about it 'n she said if you were there you would've lost your shit." You kept your voice down and he shook his head quickly again.

"No- no baby, well, yes. But I wouldn't have been mad at you at all, just at that guy. It's not okay for him to go around touching girls, 'specially my girl. But that's not your fault baby, you didn't do anything wrong. I promise you did good, and I'm not mad at you at all." He promised and you sniffled.

There was a beat of silence before you threw yourself from the chair onto your knees, burying your face in his chest. His arms immediately squeezed you close to him, brushing your tears away gently.

"How about we skip the rest of our classes today, head to that bookstore, 'n I'll buy you whatever book you didn't get to buy yesterday. And if that guy's there, you point him out and he and I can have a little talk, I'll make sure he doesn't touch you, or anyone else like that again, hm?" His voice was soft, calm as he pet your hair and you nodded.

"I love you." "I love you"

You didn't see that guy again when you went to the bookstore later on, Eddie's arm protectively hooked around you through each isle. He got you your book, and you even got to read the first couple of chapters to him in his arms that night.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #petalwrites #slight angst #hurt/comfort #sa warning #fluff #eddie x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst

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baptismbaby · 7 months

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✩ LIKE A DOG WITH A BIRD AT YOUR DOOR PT. 2

toxic!ellie x toxic! reader warnings: EVEN MORE ANGST. spontaneous smut but it's depressing honestly. super short because it's just a follow up. no one is happy song to listen to: waiting room by phoebe bridgers creds to elliesgalaxy on pinterest for ellie pic wc: 2.8k<3 part one

It’s been a week since you’ve broken up with Ellie. The first couple of days, she was calling and texting you but you ignored them. Dina sent a few to let you know she was there for you. You were slowly rotting away in bed, only getting up to use the bathroom. You haven’t showered since the day after. You were gonna go to your class but decided against it and haven’t shown up to any of them. You emailed your professor to let him know you “caught a bug” and if he could send you what he went over and the homework for it. You were finally caught up which meant you could sleep again. You had put Ellie’s t-shirt over a bear and would cuddle with it all day and night.

You found yourself picking up your phone to see if Ellie texted you. You kept reading what she sent you: “I fucked up. Please talk to me. I just want to see your sweet face again. Please give me a chance to fix this.”

You felt stupid. You wanted to forgive her so bad, it was eating at you. You hated being away from her and you knew you’d love her no matter what. No one else could make you happy like she made you but you didn’t want to worry about her cheating again. You would go crazy.

As you read the texts over and over again, something told you to get out of bed and get yourself cleaned up. Take a walk, get fresh air, finally eat something so you don’t feel so sick all the time. You raised up and sat at the edge of your bed, fighting with yourself over what you should do. You counted down from five and stood up, your heavy feet carrying you to the bathroom. You discarded your clothes and turned the water on to cold. You stepped in, cursing under your breath and warming it up slightly. You started to feel slightly better as you shampooed your hair. You washed the grit off your body and stepped out, too lazy to use conditioner. You took out your hair dryer and stepped in front of the mirror, a sigh escaping your lips. You still looked dirty. You had dark circles and your eyes were red from crying. Your face even looked swollen. You have never looked this bad in your life. You were going insane without Ellie.

You shoved on some sweatpants, a hoodie and converse and made your way to the door. You stepped out and looked around, the hallway eerily quiet. Almost everyone was either in a class or out doing something with friends. You started to walk with no idea where you were going. The closest exit was to the left of you and yet you continued onto the opposite side. You slowed to a stop, your stomach aching as you turned to face a door. Ellie’s door.

“What the fuck am I doing?” you mumbled. You shrugged it off as muscle memory. You never went this way unless you were going to Ellie’s dorm. You sighed loudly, trying to internally convince yourself to leave. But your body refused to move. You felt stiff. You heard something fall in her room, making you jump. You were about to leave when the door opened. Ellie stood there, her mouth open and her eyes puffy.

“It is you,” she whispered, her voice deep from exhaustion.

You were frozen. You had no idea what to say. You didn’t even plan on seeing her and yet you couldn’t force yourself to go. She looked as awful as you did.

“Come in,” she said, stepping aside. Without hesitating, you walked inside and stood there. The clothes she took from your room looked as if Ellie threw them on the floor. Ellie walked past you and sat down on her bed, staring into space. You inched forward, slowly sitting down next to her but keeping a safe distance. It felt weird being in the same room as Ellie.

“So,” Ellie breathed. “How’ve you been?”

“Not good,” you uttered.

“Me neither.”

You started to bounce your knee. You were anxious, afraid to speak in case you broke down or started yelling at her. You definitely couldn’t handle an argument right now.

“I didn’t mean to come here,” you admitted.

“That’s fine.”

“I was going to take a walk outside.”

“That sounds nice.”

You glanced up at Ellie and made eye contact. You could tell she was mentally beating herself up. She looked so tired, hurt, guilty.

“I took a shower today.”

Ellie tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. “That’s good. I need one. It’s been two days.”

“I went a week without one.”

“Oh. You never skip a shower.”

“No, I don’t.”

This was too awkward. You needed to say something to break the ice. You felt since you were already here, you should talk to her about everything that happened.

“You haven’t spoken to Lila, right?”

Ellie shook her head. “Absolutely not. Dina got her kicked out.”

Before you could ask how, you suddenly remembered. Jesse was one of the resident assistants. You couldn’t wait to call Dina and thank her. You were scared you’d run into Lila somehow.

“I blocked her on everything and deleted her number. I even told her off,” she continued.

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I know.”

You inhaled deeply and shifted, trying not to let any tears fall when a question popped into your head that you were unsure if you wanted the answer to.

“Can you tell me why?” you asked.

Ellie sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I’m not sure if I know. It was a mistake.”

“But you do know, Ellie. I’m not stupid. I know you like the back of my hand. You can be irrational sometimes but you never do anything unless you’ve thought it through. Be honest because there’s not gonna be another chance of us talking about this.”

“Why can’t you accept that this was one of those irrational moments then?”

“Because that’s not enough!” you shouted. You groaned and rubbed your temples, trying hard to calm down. But it wasn’t working. Before you knew it, the tears started to fall and they wouldn’t stop.

“I-I need to understand why,” you sobbed. “I don’t understand and I want to. You’re all I-I’ve ever known and I don’t want to start over with someone else. I can’t, Ellie! There will never be someone else, it’ll always be you! It’s always been you. But I don’t know how to forgive you so I can move past this. I-I can’t unless you tell me, Ellie.”

“I-I think it’s because… you’re all I’ve ever known too. And I was jealous of my friends who got to experiment. I didn’t plan on acting on it when Lila made a move on me but I kept thinking it was my chance. And I hated it. I regret it so much.”

Her answer felt like a punch to your gut. You were hoping she’d say something different instead of what you thought it would be. You haven’t been taking care of yourself as punishment. You blamed yourself. Did she get bored?

“I-I did everything I could to show my love to you, Ellie. Why? Was it not enough?”

Ellie stood up and began to pace around the room, hiding her face behind her hands as her shoulders shook. She uncovered her mouth to speak. “You’ve always been enough for me.”

“But I wasn’t giving you what you wanted?”

“Please,” she begged. She kneeled down in front of you but you avoided her gaze. “You gave me everything and more. I was stupid. I-I told you, why can’t we move past this?”

“I can’t stop thinking about how you looked at her in that video she sent me. You looked so… I don’t know. Not in love but happy. I think that’s worse than the act itself. You weren’t sorry until you were caught. I think it would’ve lasted a lot longer had I not walked in on you two.”

“Believe me when I say I was going to tell you. I meant everything I said last time.”

She reached out to grab your face but you pushed her hands away, Ellie fighting back hard to get a grip on your head to force you to look at her.

“Listen to me,” she pleaded. “I love you. I will give you my password to my phone. I will text you every minute of the day to update you. I will do anything to prove I’m not doing anything and that I will never do anything again!”

You wept harder, your tears falling down and landing in your lap. “I-I want to believe you so badly.”

“Try. Just try.”

She leaned forward and kissed you. You reciprocated and wrapped your arms around her, pulling her in to deepen the kiss. You had no idea what you were doing yet you couldn’t stop. You missed the taste of her lips so much.

Ellie pushed you back gently and crawled on top of you.

“Ellie,” you whimpered. “I’m so mad at you.”

“I know, baby.”

She pressed her lips gently along your jawline. She tugged the neckline of your sweater down to kiss all over your chest. You lifted it up over your head and threw it down on the floor. Ellie did the same to herself and pressed her body against yours. You held her close as she licked your collarbone all the way up to your ear. “I missed you.”

You couldn’t get the tears to stop flowing as her hands pushed your sweatpants down. You wanted this so bad but it was killing you. You knew you wouldn’t be able to leave if you went through with this. Ellie took her boxers off and dropped them onto the ground. She hovered over you, her eyes dancing along every inch of your face.

“You’re so beautiful,” Ellie said in a low voice. She kissed you again, more passionately than before. You shoved her down on the bed next to you and threw your leg over her waist, holsting yourself up so you were now on top of her. You lifted her thigh over yours and pressed your pussy to hers. Ellie moaned, her eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. The two of you grinded against each other, filling the room with obscene noises. The image of Ellie kissing Lila flashed before your eyes, making you whine as you cried harder. You couldn’t help but to think just how sad the whole situation was. It was strange having sex with Ellie. The two of you always had a connection yet you felt closer to her than you did before. Neither of you could stop crying. Somehow it made everything more intimate.

Ellie lifted you up and flipped you over onto the bed. She stared deeply into your eyes, her chest red and rising up quickly with every breath she took. She stuck two fingers inside of you and watched your body react to the feeling.

“Pretty girl,” Ellie cooed softly.

As she fucked you gently with her fingers, you reached up and dug your nails into her skin. You dragged them down along her arms, deep enough for it to draw a little blood. It was a way of getting her back for what she did to you. Ellie didn’t mind it though. She threw her head back and moaned when you did it again.

Ellie slid a third finger in and curled them upwards, hitting your g-spot. You couldn’t take it anymore. You needed more.

“Ellie,” you whispered. “I-I need something else.”

Ellie pulled her fingers out and quickly got off the bed to get the box that was slid underneath it. She opened it and pulled out a dildo and a harness, putting it together as fast as she could and sliding into it. She got back on top of you and caressed your cheek.

“I love you so much,” she said softly.

“I love you, Ellie.”

She wrapped her arms around you before thrusting into you. Your mouth fell open, letting out a gasp. You gripped onto Ellie’s shoulders as her hips rolled, her pace slow and steady.

“I wish you could see how beautiful you are right now,” Ellie mumbled.

“Sh, Ellie. I-I just want to feel you right now.”

Ellie knew why you didn’t want her to speak but felt hurt by your choice of words anyway. Even while doing this, you still didn’t believe her.

“You’re my girl,” Ellie continued. “You’ll always be my girl.”

Ellie shut her eyes and pulled out of you, lying down next to you and placing a hand on your waist. You stayed silent as a tear rolled down Ellie’s cheek. She tugged the harness down her legs and threw it back into the box, muttering something about how she’d clean it later before laying back down. She brushed your hair out of your face and gave you a sad smile. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I know… it was a bit much. It was a lot for me too. Maybe I shouldn’t have started anything.”

“Don’t,” said Ellie. “I don’t regret it at all. It was nice.”

You adjusted on the bed so that you were facing Ellie on your side. The light from the window made it seem like she was glowing. Her green eyes looked brighter than usual.

“Can you tell me what I can do to fix this?”

“I don’t know if there’s anything that can be done to fix it right now,” you responded.

Ellie sighed. “Is there anything I can do for you right now, then?”

“Hold me.”

You raised up and rested your head on Ellie’s shoulder, her cheek pressed against your hair and her fingers drawing circles on your arm. The warmth of her body nearly lulled you to sleep but you tried to stay awake. You would never leave if you woke up in her arms.

“This is over, isn’t it?” inquired Ellie.

“Yeah…”

The both of you started bawling at the same time, holding each other closer to comfort one another. Although it killed you, this was the closure you needed to be able to work on yourself and get over it.

“I think I need time to figure things out. We both do. And once we’ve had some time apart, maybe we could try being together again. But not anytime soon.”

“I’d like that a lot,” Ellie muttered with a sniffle.

“Good.”

The both of you laid there, soaking each other up for the last time before you had to go. You wanted to say something but felt everything that needed to be said was said already.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” said Ellie, breaking the silence.

“I know. Me too.”

“Maybe you don’t have to.”

“I have to, Els.”

Ellie held you tighter, burying her face in the crook of your neck. She inhaled deeply to take in your scent.

“I think I should leave now,” you said. You pulled away from her, getting choked up from the loss of touch. You wanted to lay back down again, take everything back and try again now but knew that time apart is what the both of you needed. Ellie needed time to reflect as did you. You knew it would be difficult but it would be worth it in the end.

Ellie helped you get dressed and got dressed herself. The two of you stood there awkwardly, just waiting for the other to speak. You held your arms out in hopes she would hug you. She smiled and scooped you up, holding you tightly against her chest.

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you too, Els. I’ll see you around.”

Ellie set you down and grabbed your hand. She led you to the door and opened it for you. You slowly slipped out of her grip, turning back to get another look before going back to your dorm. Ellie leaned against the frame, her eyes glistening as she tried hard not to break down. You made it to the door and looked back to see Ellie was peeking out of hers to watch you go inside. You smiled and chuckled softly.

“I made it safely,” you called out.

“I know. Just had to make sure.”

This was something the two of you have been doing since y’all started college. Usually once you got inside, Ellie would text you something stupid. You wondered if she would as you turned the knob and shut the door behind you. Before you could start to process everything that happened, your phone beeped. You began to cry and laugh as you read the text Ellie sent.

Making sure you didn’t fall on your way to the bed

I stumbled a little but made it just fine

Good. I love you. See you whenever.

I love you too.

#ellie williams #ellie williams x you #tlou2 #ellie williams smut #ellie williams tlou2 #ellie williams x reader #ellie x fem reader #the last of us #the last of us part two #angst #ellie williams angst #ellie williams x reader angst #ellie x reader #ellie tlou #ellie the last of us #tlou part 2

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theetherealbloom · 1 year

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UNEVEN ODDS — CH. 4

Chapter Four: An Orchestration of Dissonance And Innocent Surrender

Summary: The Reader is dragged into the Last of Us universe and has no choice but to watch the events unfold or will she be able to change what was already written?

Paring: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Age-gap Romance, Violence, ANGST, Swearing, Mention of catcalling, men being awful, tiny fluff, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Crying, Suggestive content, the pandemic, character death, Zombies, eventual SMUT, MY SCIENCE IS WONKY, probable plot holes, rusty writing

Word Count: 11.1k

A/N: HELLO UM! THERE ARE SO MANY OF YOU AGAIN! UM AHHHH T^T I love you guys so much, thank you for all the kind words and comments. The reblogs and then PUTTING ME IN FIC RECS WHAT– O_O Thank you guys again so so so so so much! You deserve the world <3 And as always, I put my little outline and thoughts at the end notes! Mwa ilysm

Song: Bigger Than Love by Oh Wonder

Previous Chapter -> Next Chapter | Series Masterlist

TLOU WORLD – 2023

OLD ABANDONED TRUCK STOP– DAY

You three are at an abandoned truck stop and fully aged, weathered vehicles surround the area. The sun shone on your skin as you waited for Ellie just outside the restroom door after she demanded privacy for a bit to relieve herself. You didn’t question the kid, it was the least you could do for her.

You’re secretly admiring Joel from a distance, and you watch Joel prepare the red large gas can, a clear long tube, and a siphon. Promptly, you hear the sound of the restroom door slamming open and you look at Ellie, “You good?” She nods cheerfully at you, “Yep. All good.” And then you both approach Joel, the gravel crunching beneath your feet as you did, and you slowly take notice that the asphalt has lifted from the ground strangely. You stop walking and quizzically stare at the lifted asphalt, your eyebrows knit together and you kneel down to take a better look at it, Ellie looks at you like you’ve gone insane, “Are you alright?” she asks you, and you keep your eyes focused on the ground, “Yeah, just… It’s hopefully nothing.” You say in response and push yourself upright, “Let’s go see what Joel is up to.”

Joel is currently kneeling on one knee and feeding both tubes in the tank, Ellie stands in front of him while you stand to the left of her, “We have to do this every hour?” she asked in a bored tone. Joel glances at her in acknowledgment then continues on with the siphon, “Gas breaks down over time. This stuff’s almost water.” He grabs a rag to create a seal around the tubes, “Back in the day, we’d drive 10, 12 hours on one tank. You could go anywhere.” He says as you and Ellie continue to watch him keenly, “So where’d you go?” she questioned, and he looks up at the both of you, “Pretty much nowhere.” Joel subsequently blows air into the short tube, which forces air through the short tube and increases the pressure of the air above the gas in the tank, causing it to flow through the longer tube and into the gas can. You lean your weight on one of the rusted cars and fold your arms in front of you.

“Nice! How does that work?” Ellie asks Joel and you tilt your head to the side to listen to his response, “It’s a siphon. It’s when liquid… travels against gravity because pressure…” Ellie’s lips are pressed together as she says, “You don’t know.” He stares at her before asserting, “I know it works.” She chuckles and you smirk at him, “Want me to explain it or…” He only mumbles, “Smartass,” and you roll your eyes, something truly possessed you to be bold for a moment, because you teasingly reply, “But you secretly like it.”

It earns you a look from him that causes your heartbeat to accelerate and it suddenly becomes a little harder to breathe, he only pulls away because he spots Ellie turning around to wander off, “No wanderin’.” He tells her seriously, she stops short and sighs, before saying, “Okay. This is your fault then.” She places her bag atop one of the abandoned, rusty cars, and pulls out a book with the title ‘No Pun Intended Volume Too by Will Livingston’, Joel watches her bewildered and perplexed as she reads out one of the puns from the book, “It doesn’t matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationary.” She gives a little laugh and you smile at her merriment as she shows Joel the book cover, “‘No Pun Intended Volume Too by Will Livingston.’ Volume Too. Look. You get it? ‘Too’ Like, T-O-O.” And Joel huffs and begins to stand up with a peeved look, “Oh Jesus.” But Ellie pushes on and says, “What did the mermaid wear to her math class?” You and Joel look at each other, then at Ellie, waiting for her to say the punch line, and you watch her as she slowly leans forward slowly before saying, “‘An algae bra.’ Like, algae bra.” She laughs out loud before speaking again, “I stayed up all night wondering–” To which Joel shakes his head at her, “No,” but this doesn’t deter her at all and goes on, “ where the sun went and then it dawned on me.”

Seemingly annoyed he gruffly says to her, “Feel free to wait in the truck,” and she exhales, “Okay, but just know, you can’t escape Will Livingston. He’ll be back.” Ellie puts her book in her pack and before leaving you both she says, “There’s nothing you can do to stop him.” Joel says nothing as he also leans on the old rusting car with his arms crossed, and Ellie goes to wait in the truck. You let the silence settle and give him a little bit of peace before calling out to him, “Joel.” He says nothing but he does bring his eyes to look at you. “You know it’s okay to like her. Right?” You said with the softest eyes and kind smile, and he just shakes his head, “I can’t.” You deeply exhale and push yourself off the hood of the car to stand in front of him, “You can’t or you won’t?” And he looks down at his boots, “Can’t.”

You didn’t want to put any more discomfort and decided to simply nod instead, “Okay.” He slowly brings his head up to give you a suspicious look, “Okay?” You nod, “Mhm, okay.” His eyes narrow, “That’s it? No tryin’ to change my mind?” You shrug in response, “I have a feeling you’ll do that on your own. Anyways, the gas can is full.” You raise your eyebrows, “Need any help carrying that thing?” He grumpily bends down to pick up the heavy gas can and his voice timber and low says, “I could carry you and this back to the truck if I wanted to.” You feel your brain short-circuits for a second, the warmth spreads throughout your whole body and your eyes widened in embarrassment, “Um, I’m just gonna… mhm.” And you turn to run to the truck. Joel lets out a breathy chuckle, smirking the whole time as he watches your figure run.

ON THE ROAD - NOON

The blue Chevy pulls out of the gas station and Joel has one hand on the steering wheel and his right rest on the console, while you are sitting next to him in the passenger seat, looking out at the window studying the environment, and Ellie is content in the backseat. You feel an unease settle in and create a home in your bones, not knowing what could happen terrifies you. Every possibility in your mind pops in and out, and you ponder which part of the video game did they keep or change.

“Must’ve been some truck.” Ellie says as she peers through the window glass at the back of the vehicle, Joel grunts in agreement and explains why the highways are so clear, “Yeah, they used to stick big ass plows on the back and clear the road for their tanks and such.” Ellie finds all of this very exciting and exclaims, “I wanna see a tank!” Joel looks at her from the rearview mirror and simply says, “You will.” Your eyes shift to look at Joel as he keeps talking with a wearied cynicism, “Tanks, choppers, all that stuff, but they’ll fight the wrong enemy. Just scattered around now.”

Ellie digs through the utility pocket behind the passenger seat to find another cassette tape, she raises up enthusiastic and eager, “I got something. Here. This make you all nostalgic?” She says as she pushes up to show Joel, he takes it and you peer over to look at the title cover, ‘Hank Williams, The Original Singles Collection’, Joel replies, “This is actually before my time.” And Ellie goes to sit back properly in the backseat, “Great.”

He hums appreciatively, “It’s a winner, though.” When he places the cassette tape in the player, the rattling sound of plastic can be heard before the music begins and he cranks up the volume. Joel miraculously smiles as he listens to the song, “Oh, man.” And you raise an eyebrow at him, “Of course, you’d like this, it’s cowboy music.” You said and he lets out a small but beautiful chuckle, which causes your body to heat up. The young girl continues to explore the back of the truck, digging through the other utility pocket, you hear a quiet rustling of paper as she whips out a magazine, “Got something else.”

Joel looks at the rearview mirror again to look at Ellie, while you turn to look at what she has and your eyes nearly fall out of their sockets, and so does hers. “It’s light on the reading, but it has some interesting pictures.” Your shoulders begin to shake as you try and hold in your laugh as Joel seemingly panics, “No. No, no, no. Put that back, that’s not for kids.” Ellie doesn’t listen and continues to flip through the pages, “How would he even walk around with that thing?” God, you tried to hold it in but couldn’t anymore, you’re now full-on grinning and laughing so loud and carefree, while Joel is trying his best to get Ellie to cooperate, “Please get rid of it.”

“Hold your horses. I wanna see what all the fuss is about.” Ellie says as she analyzes the magazine, while you’re practically wheezing and happy that they incorporated this part of the video game. Joel practically gives up but Ellie decides to innocently say, “Why are all these pages stuck together?” Joel has a baffled look on his face as he lets out an, “Uh… The…” Your mouth hangs wide open for a moment and you curl your hand into a fist, bringing it to your mouth to bite back from cackling again. Ellie puts him out of his misery and slaps him on the shoulder, “I’m just fucking with you.” And throws the adult magazine out the window, it flutters out into the wind and onto the side of the road, yelling out, “Bye-bye, dude!”

You smile and think to yourself, joy itself always seems to end before we want it to. Brief and ephemeral. So, this time, you decide to let go and in this moment you can breathe. It lives in your periphery. In the corner of your eyes. Suddenly, it shows up and the surprise adds to its beauty. A gratitude for all that follows

ON THE ROAD AND TO THE FOREST - CIVIL TWILIGHT

Time moves quickly as Joel continues to drive and Ellie silently watches the view from the window. You take note of the cows grazing on grass, the cars that were left to rot, and the familiar landmarks crumbling down as mother intended to take back what was hers. They must have cried themselves a hurricane because there was an earthquake and an avalanche of change. The echo, as vast as the equator, spreads across a world of bottled-up anger, and it's too late to prevent it now.

As the hours pass by and the sun slowly begins to set, you check on Ellie from the rearview, she looks fatigued from all the driving and so do you, it’s been a while since your last road trip, and you barely had time for yourself since you were stuck in the lab all day and night. Joel sees your weary eyes and frown, he also sees a similar look to Ellie, and he decides to tell you both, “All right. That’s enough for today.” He places both of his hands to turn the wheel to the right, driving off the road and into the field, straight into a thick forest filled with tall evergreen trees.

The truck comes to a stop and you all prepare to camp out for the night. You help Joel cook and prepare dinner and Ellie keeps herself occupied as she pokes around the dirt with a stick. The smell of canned ravioli fills your lungs and your mouth begins to water. Joel taps the edge of the pot, indicating that it’s cooked and you call for Ellie to sit down for dinner. The three of you sit down in a semi-circle, with you in the middle, and Joel and Ellie on each side. You gently blow on the hot ravioli before bringing the food into your mouth, chewing quietly, and amusingly watch Ellie scarf down her food quickly. Joel looks at her kind of bothered by her manners, “Slow down.” He said, and she replies with a mouthful of food, “This is slow. What am I even eating?” Joel cuts hit food using his fork and knife and answers, “That is 20-year-old Chef Boyardee ravioli.” Ellie brings another piece of pasta and answers while chewing, “That guy was good.” Joel hums in agreement, “I actually agree.” And you nod appreciatively as you finish your food.

“How long are we staying out here?” Ellie asks Joel and you look to him for his response, “I figure I’d sleep tonight and drive tomorrow all day, all night get us to Wyoming by next morning.” Ellie plays with her food as she asks, “So can we start a fire? I’m freezing.” Joel gives a pointed stare, “Now why am I gonna tell you no?” She shrugs and guesses, “Because the infected will see the smoke.” He shakes his head at her, “No. Fungus isn’t that smart. This is too remote for infected, anyway.” The answer dawns on Ellie and asks, “People?” And Joel nods, his answer to her question. She continues to press for more information, “So what are they gonna do? Rob us?” And you frown, knowing exactly what people do during war or a crisis, morals are thrown out the window and everyone can do as they please. Every crime, assault, and misdemeanor is seen as means to an end, which is to take and survive. Your knuckles turn white as you grip your fork, angry at the world and the people who choose to do all forms of wrong. Joel warns her, “Well, they’ll have way more in mind than that.” Ellie nods while pouting, “Okay.”

LOCATION UNKNOWN, A FOREST – NIGHT

Your eyes are well-versed in the dark and the mind was then created to illumine the heart. And when every constellation suddenly emerged, the remote was drawn so close by telescopes and computations. You inhale, exhale, and reset. Realizing, every living creature is in a continual state of uncertainty. Even with all of your past, you’ve just scratched the surface of what it all implies. Ellie prepares her sleeping bag and so do you, placing yours in between hers and Joel’s. “Actually smells kinda good.” Ellie said as she continues to unfold the sleeping bag, you hear Joel comment, “Well, that would be Frank’s then.” She tucks herself in and you help her as you do, lightly patting the blanket as she settles comfortably. You do the same and now you’re flat on your back as you gaze at the stars illuminating the darkness and listen to the quiet rustling of the branches and leaves of the trees, the melodies sung by the chirping of crickets. Joel checks the chamber of the rifle and ensures that it’s loaded and ready just in case of an ambush, then he places it next to him. You hear Ellie take something out of her backpack and you had a sneaking suspicion it was the No Pun Intended book. The light of the lantern slowly fades away and the shadows follow the rules and the darkness expands around all of you.

Joel is facing away from the both of you and Ellie whips out her flashlight and quickly glances at her favorite book, clicks off the light, and aloud she calls out both of your names, you look at her but Joel doesn’t respond at first, you slide out a little to lean a bit forward to his side and tap him on the shoulder, “What?” he asks, and Ellie responds, “Can I ask you a serious question?” And without hesitation, he says, “Yeah.” You smile knowingly at what was about to happen as she questions, “Why did the scarecrow get an award?” A beat passes between the three of you, and you and Joel whisper simultaneously, “Because he was outstanding in his field.” Ellie rises from her sleeping bag and exclaims, “You dicks!”

A large grin spreads across your face and Joel turns around to face the other direction, Ellie begins to interrogate the two of you, “Did both of you read this?” You hear the smile in Joel’s voice as he answers, “No.” And you give an airy chuckle, “Nope.” He sighs and then tells you both, “Now go to sleep.” Ellie makes a noise of suspicion but says nothing as she tucks the book into her sleeping pouch, the hoot of an owl can be heard from above, and the howls of coyotes from a distance.

Ellie is also gazing up at the stars with you now and begins to appreciate the way they glow and shimmer. You move your head to look at Ellie and whisper, “Psst. Ellie…” She turns her head to your side, “Yeah?” And in a hushed tone, you ask, “Do you wanna learn something about constellations?” She nods enthusiastically, “Yeah!” And you begin to whisper the explanation and details, you point and trace your fingers at the stars, your rickety astrology determined to give her hope, “Orion's belt is right above the equator of the Earth. Everyone, and everywhere can see just stars in that area. A star placed above one of the poles, such as the North Star, and concealed from us in the opposing hemisphere, obstructed by Earth itself.”

She is looking at you with her eyes as big as summer tomatoes, full of admiration and awe at your intelligence like you have all the answers, and wonders if she will ever be a woman like you. She seeks an answer to her next question, “Is Orion like a place?” You smile and in a soft voice you say, “No, he’s someone from greek mythology. In the stores, he was a giant and very handsome hunter, who had many affairs and lovers. Either his assault on or admiration for a goddess named Artemis, another god named Zeus placed him amongst the stars as punishment. Stories and text sometimes get lost in translation.”

This is when she learned to wish on stars, content she hums an appreciative thank you and you give a small smile in return. After another beat passes, Ellie poses a new question, this time aimed at Joel, who had been listening to the two of you the whole time but stayed quiet, “Those people you said… there’s no way anyone knows we’re here, right? No one’s gonna find us.”

Her words hang in the air briefly, “No one’s gonna find us.” Joel reassures her and Ellie responds with a quiet, “Okay.” She turns in for the night and begins to fall asleep. There is a sudden weight on your chest when she asked her query, and you suddenly feel nauseous at the thought of anything happening to Ellie and Joel. You close your eyes and swallow away the urge to vomit, and with the darkness, you’ve seen, your tired eyes rest and allow yourself to sleep for a while. But if you had stayed up just a little longer, you would have heard Joel leave his sleeping bag and reach for his rifle, and his footsteps walking a distance away from you and Ellie, ensuring your safety as he watches and anticipates any sign of danger, his guilt for scaring the girl keeps him up all night and the thought of you getting hurt. He holds his rifle ready, protecting the two of you who quietly snore into the night.

LOCATION UNKNOWN, A FOREST – DAWN

The sound of chirping birds wakes you and you groggily sit up. You look to your left to see Ellie who was still sound asleep, and then you see Joel standing watch with his rifle, you have a suspicion he didn’t actually sleep and Ellie’s concern kept him up. You sigh and quietly leave your sleeping bag, down your arms, a thousand satellites discover the cool breeze in the air, causing you to shiver and wrap your arms around yourself to salvage some warmth. You stretch your arms up to the sky, trying to wake your body to begin the day, then you hear the lime-green grass rustle and shake, creating whispers of sound beneath Joel’s boots as he walks toward you, glancing over your shoulder before turning to face him.

You feel his confident presence and your heart skips a beat, he greets you with his voice thick and smooth, “Mornin’.” You warmly say good morning to him in a hushed voice, you take a good look at him to see his deep eyebags, completely exhausted, and you ask, “Did you even sleep at all?” He doesn’t deny it as he shook his head, “No, I couldn’t.” You hum in response, already confirming what you thought, next, you inquire, “Do we have any coffee that I could brew? I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

“Did you not sleep well last night? Could hear you snorin’ from where I was standing.” Joel said with his tone straightforward and deep, you shrug, “Sometimes I wake up tired, and besides, I enjoy a good cup of coffee to start my day, it’s my morning ritual back home.” You make your way to the pouch of coffee grounds, open it, and inhale the aroma, and Joel observes you as you do.

You begin to brew both of your coffee, making enough to fit two insulated tumblers. You make your way into the forest, already telling Joel you needed to pee, and him reminding you in his thick Texan accent, “If you don’t get your ass back here in five minutes, I’m comin' to look for you.” After finding a bush and relieving yourself, you stand by one of the tall thick trees, leaning your weight against the trunk of the tree and crossing your arms as you watch Ellie and Joel from a distance.

You close your eyes for a moment to steady yourself and your breathing, trying to recall parts of the game you’ve seen, a little peek at what could be adapted. Unfortunately, you knew the ending of the first and second games, and you knew there was nothing you could do for the first, but the second one however…

Joel yells your name, telling you to come back already and you jog your way back, not wanting to make them wait. No one says anything as you pack up camp and hop in the truck, this time letting Ellie sit in the passenger seat while you sit in the back. The engine of the truck revs to life and Joel drives you out of the woods and back onto the highway.

Joel takes a loud sip of his coffee while you are still blowing away the steam, Ellie doesn’t seem to be impressed with the drink as she comments, “Is that seriously what those Starbucks in the QZ used to sell?” With one hand on the steering wheel, he lowers his thermos and retorts, “Well, theirs was a lot fresher than Bill saved up but, yeah, this is what they sold.” The young girl looks at it in disgust, “Smells like… burnt shit.” Joel wanting to be slightly petty, takes a long, loud, pointed sip of his coffee, before turning to Ellie saying, “Eyes on the map, or else I’m askin’ you to switch seats with Birdie.”

Your heart flutters at the nickname but you hide your smile by sipping your own coffee, looking out the window as you do. Ellie smirks knowingly at Joel but doesn’t push any further, she begins to give directions, “76 West, and then… 70 West for, like, ever. Where in Wyoming did you say your brother was?” And to your surprise, Joel indulges her, “Last contact came through a radio tower close to Cody.” Ellie straightens the map to find the tower, “Cody. Cody… Cody. Man. That is deep up in there.” Joel glances then reply, “Yeah.” The young curious kid asks him, “And if he’s not there?” He thoughtfully sighs, “Then odds are he’ll be near a settlement probably close to another city out there. Ain’t too many of them in Wyoming.”

“Chee-Yen.” Ellie tries to pronounce it, and Joel corrects her, “Cheyenne.” She looks at him in disbelief, “Che… Really?” He nods as she goes on to trace her finger along the map, “Cheyenne, Laramie… Casper? What’s his name?” Joel then asks, “Whose name?” She throws back, “Your brother.” He grunts out, “Tommy.” You smile to yourself, knowing that tone of voice is him trying to build invisible walls around himself to protect whatever he has left of his family. “Younger or older?” Ellie persists, and he answers immediately, “Younger.”

“Why isn’t he with you?” She asked and you watch Joel try to evade her inquiry, “Long story.” Ellie never knowing when to give up, persists, “Is it longer than twenty-five hours? Because I think that’s what we got.” Joel looks at Ellie with a pointed stare, mouth slightly open ready to scold her but realizes she has a point. He glances at the rearview to see you looking back at him, waiting for his choice.

His eyes go back to the road as he speaks, “Tommy’s what we used to call a joiner. Dreams of becoming a hero. So he enlisted in the Army right out of high school. A few months later, they ship him off to Desert Storm.”

Ellie turns to him quizzically but stays silent as he carries on, “It’s what they called that war. It doesn’t matter. Point is, being in the Army didn’t make him feel much of a hero. Cut to twelve years later, outbreak happens. He convinces me to join a group making their way up to Boston which I did, mostly to keep an eye on him, keep him alive.” He glances at the rearview mirror again and this time you aren’t staring back, you’re resting your head on the window, listening intently, “It’s where we met Tess.”

He takes a swig of his coffee before continuing, “And that whole crew, we… Well, for what it was, it worked. And then Tommy meets Marlene. She talks him into joining the Fireflies. Same mistake he made when he was eighteen.” Joel shakes his head in disapproval and his tone shifts into cynicism, “Wants to save the world. Pipe dream. Him, Fireflies, all of them… delusional.”

You blink blankly and frown, not agreeing with his view but understanding where he’s coming from. His world ended when Sarah died, and since she’s gone he has no reason to go back to the way things were.

“‘Course, last I heard, he quit the Fireflies too. So now he’s on his own out there and… I gotta go get him.” He states and takes a long sip of the rest of his coffee, while Ellie tries to make sense of his story, another question pops into her mind as she quietly asks him, “If you don’t think there’s hope for the world why bother going on? I mean, you gotta try, right?” A beat passes, and then he answers grimly, “You haven’t seen the world, so you don’t know. You keep going for family. That’s about it.”

Ellie moves her eyes to look at him, “I’m not family?” And he shakes his head, “No. You’re cargo.” Your form shrinks a little bit and think to yourself, and you secretly figure that Joel doesn’t mean that, but doesn’t want her treating him like a father yet.

You quietly exhale and will yourself to stop bouncing your leg up and down, grounding yourself. “And I made a promise to Tess. And she was like family.” Ellie nods before bringing up more possibilities, “What if you don’t find him?” It doesn’t take him long to reply, “I will.” She shoots back, “How do you know?” With a voice so sure and confident, he says, “I’m persistent.”

And you swore you saw him glance at you from the rearview mirror for a millisecond, but you weren’t so sure, you chalked it up to your wishful thinking. It was quiet for a bit before Joel speaks to Ellie, “You got up pretty early. If you wanna grab more sleep…” Ellie immediately replies, “Pfft. I’m not even tired.”

Ellie was in fact tired, after ten minutes of saying that, she fell into a deep sleep, and her snores echoed in the car. After two or three hours Joel pulls over at the side of the road, telling you to switch seats with Ellie since he needs help reading the map. You decided not to question it and got out of the truck as he did the same. You watched him quietly open the door, and carry Ellie from the passenger side to the back seat where he gently set her.

You climb into the passenger seat and wait for Joel to sit in the driver’s seat. The map was now on your lap and you gently traced the piece of paper, lines stretching out, with too many miles to count. Dots reminds you of where you’ve been, sometimes it feels like your inner compass breaks, and your steady true north fades. You try and reassure yourself it’ll be just fine, that whatever comes next, you’ll handle it together.

Joel quietly speaks your name so as to not disturb Ellie, you look up at him from the map, one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on the armrest console, “Tell me somethin’ good about your world.” He grumbles, and you stagger a bit before saying, “You actually believe what I said back then? You believe me?”

He shrugs with one shoulder and taps on the steering wheel, “There’s a fuckin’ apocalypse. My guess is that anythin’ could be possible now.” You lightly chuckle, “Yeah, I guess so.”

You stayed silent for a moment, trying to come up with an answer, any kind of answer, and you settle for the truth, “I don’t know. Besides the fact, we have no infected and our technology is more advanced, everything is still the same. Same landmarks, problems, the people hate the government but still need it, choosing the lesser of two evils and everyday people trying their damn best.”

He gruffly says to you, “Would prefer that over this shit.” You let out a huff, “Yeah, that’s valid.”

“Tell me about your home.” He says, and you raise an eyebrow, “Are you asking or demanding? Also, why are you suddenly so curious about me?” He’s unsure for a moment but he answers, “You already know stuff about me. It’s only fair.” Your lips form a line as you press them against each other, and your eyes shift to look at the map instead of him, “I thought you didn’t want to hear about any of our histories?”

“I think we broke that rule the moment Ellie kept askin’ about my life.” Your eyes wrinkle as you smile, “There isn’t much to say, and also I don’t really like talking about myself.” He harrumphs, “Why? You’re a scientist and incredibly smart.” You bring your eyes back to him and give him a look of disbelief, “Did you just say something nice?” His face sours and grumpily murmurs, “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Oh, I’m definitely telling Ellie later,” You smile teasingly at him, and he shakes his head, “So, what did you research, discover, or whatever?” And that question causes you to inhale through your nose deeply, “Um, in 2022 three scientists were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science. Basically, they got awarded for their research and I took an interest in what they found. I had a theory with what they discovered with quantum teleportation.”

Joel didn’t really understand the science jargon that was spitting out of your mouth so fast like lightning, but he was intrigued, “What was your theory?” You nervously removed the dirt from your fingernails as you replied, “It’s a little complicated.” He retorts, “I’m beginning to think that’s your favorite line.” You bite the inner walls of your cheek and exhale loudly through your nose. Joel senses you didn’t want to discuss it any further and the quiet returns. Only the muffled rumbling of the engine and the sound of the tires rolling on the pavement. The only occasional noise from the two of you was asking for directions from Joel and you giving him a prompt reply.

The hours go by quickly and the sun is beginning to set, the orange glow illuminating both of your faces. The truck begins to pull up to the outskirts of Kansas City and you silently pray that this will all go smoothly.

TLOU WORLD – 2023

KANSAS CITY - SUNSET

Ellie awakens shortly after you pull up to the tunnel and Joel slowly presses on the brakes to put the truck to stop. Joel turns off the engine and turns to you both before opening the door, “Stay put.” He grabs the rifle from the back and proceeds to scout the area. Ellie kindly asks to switch with you again and for a moment you almost decline, your gut feeling telling you something is wrong, but couldn’t resist the kid and again move to the back while she moves upfront.

Joel sees the tunnel to Kansas City is blocked by a SaraLee bread truck and you watch him make his way back to the truck. He opens the back door and places the rifle beside you and goes back to the driver's seat. “Where are we?” Ellie asks and he quickly replies, “Kansas City.” Ellie gives him the map and you lean over Joel’s shoulder to analyze the map, “How far back do we have to go to get around this?” The young girl questions and you watch Joel trace his finger along the many red lines. He shakes his head and sighs in frustration before deciding, “Screw it.” And he turns the key to start the truck up again. “What are you doing?” Ellie asks and Joel answers as he performs a three-point turn, “We can jog right around this tunnel take the next ramp and we’re back on the road, minute tops.” You look out the window and see the rusting cars and burned corpses of people, shuddering, you try and remember a portion of the game for some clue of what was about to happen. You weren’t in Pittsburgh, but the way this was adapted would still have the very important elements of the original intellectual property. Fuck.

Joel enters the city and it’s eerily quiet, you take note of the empty streets and zero signs of runners. “Where the fuck is the highway?” Joel states frustrated and Ellie retorts, “I can’t tell from this. I’m all turned around.” You hear him get irritated, “Don’t look at the state map. Look at the inset.”

“I don’t know where we are in that either! It’s my second day in a fucking car, man. I mean, I think we’re heading north?” Joel continues to drive and you keenly observe your surroundings and see something unusual, you spot a pile of ash and remains of people as he drives by. “It’s gotta be right. What the fuck?” He says and you try and voice your concerns, “Joel, there’s um,” but he quickly fires back, “Not now Birdie.” And you deflate a little but keep trying, “Joel, something is–” But Ellie yells out, “Stop!” The tires shriek as he steps on the breaks, and Ellie stares at something wide-eyed and you do too, “Is that the QZ?” The gates were wide open without a single FEDRA officer in sight and completely vacated, your mouth hangs open, “Shit.” Ellie presses on, “Where the fuck is FEDRA?” As if on queue, you hear someone yell, “Hey!” All three of your heads whip to the sound of the man’s voice, he’s clutching his lower abdomen and yelling out, “Please help!”

“Put your seatbelt on,” Joel demands and you and Ellie follow, you clutch on the assist grips above the car, knowing this isn’t gonna go well. “Aren’t we gonna help him?” Ellie asks innocently, “No.” You and Joel answer quickly, he floors it and the man moves out of the way screaming, “Fuck! Go… go!”

Ellie looks above and shrieks, “Joel!” And a cylinder brick falls from the sky, crashing atop the windshield glass, cracks, and fractures are created and you hear the tires pop, and you assume they’ve laid down spikes. You gritted your teeth as Joel tries to get control of the truck, and another man tries to shoot you all down, “Fuck!” Having no other options, he crashes the truck into an old laundromat, and the impact causes you to jerk forward, hitting your head slightly in the seat in front of you.

“Are you okay?” Joel worriedly questions, “Yeah.” Ellie replies and he turns to see you slightly bleeding from your head, “Hummin’ bird, you okay?” And you quickly compose yourself, “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.” He then asks Ellie, “You’re not hurt? Nothing?” She shakes her head, “I don’t think so.”

The sound of gunfire cause the three of you to flinch and duck down for cover, Joel yells and commands, “Belts off. Fast!” And what he says goes, immediately you grab your pack and rifle from the backseat, the loud popping sounds of gunfire continue as you get out, and duck behind the truck. You toss Joel his rifle and you pull out your gun, you hear the taunts on the other side, “Let’s see you, motherfucker! Give us your shit, you’ll make it through this! We promise!”

Joel pulls off his safety and makes sure his rifle is loaded, he spots a hole in the walls of the laundromat and asks Ellie, “Hey, you see that hole? Can you squeeze through?” The gunfire doesn’t let up and she shakily nods, Joel realizes that time is running out before the enemy decides to push forward, he instructs Ellie while looking at her directly, “When I say go, you both crawl to that wall and you two squeeze through and you don’t come out until I say, okay?” You try and protest but the sound of another bullet swiftly breaks the class of the truck and all three of you flinch.

Your breathing quickens and you feel the adrenaline coursing through you, while Joel’s chest bounces up and down as he pants, “And they’re not gonna hit you.” But Ellie isn’t listening, too scared and afraid of all the chaos ensuing, Joel growls, “Look at me!” She twists her head and her wide doe eyes look at him, frightened and unsure, he reassures her, “They’re not gonna hit you. You stay down, you stay low, you stay quiet.” Ellie nods reluctantly, “Mhm.” A pause during the gunfire, and you realize they’re reloading. “Okay.” He says and Ellie parrots to him, “Okay.” Joel takes that as his signal and yells to you both, “Go!” Ellie stays low and crawls through the wall, safe and secure for now. You however help Joel and shoot at the enemies. He yells your name, “What the fuck are you doing? I can handle this now go!” You shake your head and exclaim, “No! I can help you.”

He pulls you down, both of you crouching on the ground and cups one hand to hold your face, “Right now that kid is scared shitless and shouldn’t be alone.” You try again to object, but he stops you, “No, listen to me. Go through that hole and be with Ellie, she needs you.” You feel your eyes water and give him a sincere look, your voice breathy as you reply, “We both do.” His mouth parts and his eyes dart to your soft lips for just a second, so fast you almost missed it if your faces weren’t so close to each other, and at that moment your heartbeats were synchronized, and both of your breathing unsteady. Warmth fills you both and causes both of your eyes to dilate, similar to an eclipse.

Another gunshot rings out and it hits the cement on the ground, causing you to jump, Joel wipes away some of the dust on your cheek and intently says to you, “I’ve got this. I promise, now go.”

You blink back your tears and whisper, “Give 'em hell.” He stands up again to cover you while you crawl into the hole, to be with Ellie. Both of you have your back against the wall, and you try and steady your racing heartbeat.

“What about Joel?” She asks you, full of worry and concern. Instead of answering, you hug her close to you, and she buries her face on your stomach, as you try and shield her away from the noise and gunfire. Then there is a sudden silence, and you and Ellie take a peek from the hole in the wall, the sound of footsteps stepping over broke glass fills the space and you have your gun ready in one hand just in case and shield Ellie with your body.

He steps a bit closer to your hiding place and instantly there was a gunshot, you and Ellie turn away as you also held back a scream. Stillness fills the room and you try your best to listen for Joel to tell you to come out, only hearing him try and unjam his rifle. Then, the sudden slam of a door opening, and another loud pop could be heard. You hear grunts, groans, and yelling from the intruder and Joel, and Ellie urgently whispers, “We need to help him!”

You nod, and Ellie swiftly sidesteps you and climbs out of the hiding space and you go after her. You and her quietly step out and to your surprise, she’s holding her gun out, aiming directly at the unidentified man’s head, before you could even utter a word or try and stop her, she shoots him in the spine. Joel rolls over to the side coughing and wheezing as he tries to catch his breath. You gently approach Joel as he side-eyes Ellie but continues to cough, you begin first aid, loosen any tight clothing, remove the top button of his outer shirt and place your hand on his back to try and feel his lungs, and hear Ellie step a little closer to the man, her gun still aimed at him.

The man begins to plead, “No, no, no! It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s over, we’re not fighting anymore.” Ellie doesn’t say anything and still has the gun pointed at him, “I’m gonna go home. I’ll tell everyone you’re good.” His face scrunches up and he begins to cry, “I don’t know what to do. My legs don’t work. My mom isn’t far if you can get me to her.”

Joel’s breathing returns to normal and you whisper, “You good?” And he only nods, angry and upset that he got caught off guard so easily. You help him up and hear the man still begging for his life, “We could trade with you guys. We could be friends. I didn’t know. I’m Bryan. I’m Bryan. What’s your name?” He continues to sob.

Joel looks at Ellie angrily, and she sniffs. He doesn’t say anything but holds out his hand and she hands him her gun which he places in his back pocket. Joel pulls out his revolver, slowly turns around, and Bryan continues to beg, “Wait… wait.” He pulls out a knife and says, “You can have it. It’s a good knife.” You stand next to Ellie and watch Joel lean down and pick up the knife. His eyes are dark with rage as he looks at you and Ellie, his voice deep and dominant that fills a warmth in your belly, “Get back behind the wall.”

Bryan instantly sobs, “No, no, no. I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, we could just talk. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” You slowly grab Ellie to gently coax her away, and she follows, Bryan screams for his life as you step back inside the hole. Ellie hugs your middle as she lets a single tear roll down her cheek, and you hug her right back, covering her ears from his yelling and pleading. You hear the slashing of a knife and the sound of blood splattering.

You try and calm Ellie and stroke her hair as you murmur reassuringly, “We’ll be just fine.” It was quiet for a second before you hear Joel’s booming voice calling you and Ellie, “I gotta get in there, I can’t fit through.” You wipe away her tears and gently pat her cheek, “We got this, yeah?” Ellie nods, “Mhm.”

You and her take a look around the room and Ellie yells out, “There’s some stuff against the door.” Joel is quick to reply, “Can you both move it?” You and Ellie nod at each other and work together to pull the table aside while Joel uses his arm to push the door open. He manages to get in and slams the door shut, “Let’s go. Fast.” He states and all three of you push the table back in its place. Joel looks at the both of you with concern, but Ellie quickly gets her bag and says, “I’m okay. I’m good.” You say nothing and also reach for your bag, quickly grabbing a bandaid from your first aid kit and then throwing it over your shoulder. Ellie approaches Joel and opens her pack, “I got some food in here still, and I got your light still.” He grabs it from her while you are on the side quietly and swiftly, placing a bandaid on your head, no time to disinfect it yet.

“What now?” Ellie asks, trying to be brave, and Joel observes her for a moment before saying, “We go up.” And she throws her back over her shoulders, “To get a better look?” You follow them both to a door and Joel responds, “Hopefully, we spot a clear route out.” He pushes the door open and clicks on the flashlight to check if it's safe, the only sound you could hear was the dripping of water from a leaky pipe, he turns to you both and says, “Stay close.” Ellie nods, “Got it.” Joel moves forward and Ellie and you follow him to a narrow alleyway. He has his revolver in one hand and you also have your gun out.

You three duck behind a rusted car, and you hear and spot multiple vehicles driving by. They were all armed, carrying various weapons and knives. Joel signals you two to wait and walks across to open a black door, he flicks on the flashlight and with one look, signals both of you to run across the street and into the next building.

You take cover and hide in a neglected bar, with newspapers covering the large windows. Joel peeks through the uncovered patches and watches the hunters pass by, searching different buildings. “They’re not FEDRA, and they’re not Fireflies. So who are they?” Ellie asks and Joel plainly states, “People.” You and Ellie are also looking through the small patches, she quietly asks, “Are we okay in here?”

“For a little bit, maybe. Looks like they’re checking apartment buildings first. But they’ll be coming through these places soon enough.” Joel says and walks away to stand away from the windows. And you decide to sit, choosing the floor by the door of the old bar, and tend to the wound on your head. Ellie is still looking through the small patches of glass, “There’s a really tall building, like, four blocks away.” Joel’s voice is rough as he replies, “Yeah, saw it.”

“So that’s the one?” Ellie questions him, and he immediately answers, “As soon as we don’t hear a truck, we move. Fast as we can.” Joel slowly sits down on the cushion and eyes you as you busy yourself disinfecting and cleaning up the blood on your head. Ellie sits down next to you, her knees close to her chest, and by now you’re done cleaning your wound and placing a new bandage on your head. Joel has his hand on his head, his face was expressionless and exhausted. Ellie asks you and him the same question, “Are you okay?” You nod and Joel replies with, “I’m all right.” He struggles with the debrief but he gets the question out to Ellie, “Are you all right?” And she simply replies with, “Yeah.”

You watch Joel struggle to find the words to express his emotions and feelings, his reserved nature is slowly crumbling, brick by brick. He shakes his head, “Thing is, is I didn’t hear that guy coming, and… You shouldn’t have to… You know.” Ellie brings her eyes to look at him, “Well, you’re glad I did, right?” She said. His voice falters, “You’re just a kid. You shouldn’t know what it means to… It’s not like you killed him. But… shooting or… I know what it’s like the first time that you hurt someone like that.” The young girl says nothing and simply stares at him in silence. He tries again, “If you… I’m not good at this.”

“Yeah, you really aren’t.” Ellie says, and if it wasn’t so somber, if you were safely at home watching this, you would have laughed. You wonder if you should say something, but eventually figured that you needed to let them both bond and understand each other, it’s important to their story. While you believed your presence here was an accident. You push aside your feelings and stress to let them talk it out.

“I mean it was my fault. You shouldn’t have had to… and I’m sorry.” Joel sighs and looks away at Ellie, and begins to cry silently with her face turning red, you let her lean her head on your shoulder and it’s quiet. She goes to speak but her throat closes up, “It wasn’t my first time.” Joel looks at her after that to see her pure raw honesty.

Joel plays the idea in his head for a moment before coming to a decision, he reaches into his back pocket for the handgun he took from Ellie earlier, unloads the magazine, and removes the shell of the previous bullet from the chamber. The girl's head lifts from your shoulder as Joel kneels down on one knee in front of her, handing her the gun back, “Show me your grip.” Ellie does as she’s told and you watch Joel teach her the proper way to hold a firearm, “Finger off the trigger.” She holds it with one hand and Joel is unimpressed, “Now, who taught you that?” She mumbles in reply, “FEDRA school.” He nods his head, “Figures.”

Joel teaches her how to hold the gun with two hands, “Your thumb over your thumb. Left hand, squeezes down on the right. You got it?” She nods, her thumbs interlocked, which makes it harder to drop the gun when it recoils or if someone were to try and grab it. Joel holds both of her tiny hands in his calloused rough ones, “There you go. Look it.” He shakes it and the gun doesn’t budge, completely steady. She giggles as he tries again and you smile, Joel then says, “Okay?” While Ellie nods, seemingly happy, he gestures to her to give him the gun and he loads the magazine back in the gun and then hands it back to her.

Ellie takes it and as she is about to place it in her back pocket, Joel stops her, “Nuh-uh. You put it in your pack. You’ll shoot your damn ass off.” He groans a little as he stands up again and you give Ellie a high-five and she laughs again. Joel walks to your side and this time it’s your turn, he kneels in front of you and you’re wide-eyed. He gently brushes away some of your hair and checks on your wound, you feel his fingertips graze along the plaster of your band-aid. Lightly, you touch his wrist and say, “I’m fine. Promise.”

None of you move for a bit, but then he slowly pulls away and stands to remove the wooden planks boarded up on the door, you also get up to help him. He holds on to the door handle and sighs, “We’ll get through this.” Ellie blinks once and then nods, “I know.” A beat passes and he pulls open the door, you and Ellie following him out into the setting sun of the city.

OFFICE BUILDING, KANSAS CITY – NIGHT

The midnight blue covers the sky, the stars shine above you, and see the moon glimmer. You three find the side of the building but find the service door to be locked. You look above and point out a vent, Joel nods and turns to Ellie. Taking notice that Joel is this close to passing out on the ground after all the events that have happened, staying up all night to protect the both of you, driving for almost thirteen hours to get to Kansas City, and shooting a bunch of hunters. You offer to boost Ellie up to reach the vent, “Here, put your foot on my hand and then… One, two…”

“Oh shit.” She curses and you reassure her, “It’s okay, I got you.” And she manages to push open the vent and climb inside, “Okay I’m in.” And Joel decides to give out instructions, “Take a look around first. Ellie.” But she doesn’t reply, he harshly whispers, “Goddamn it.” And you say to Joel, “Just give her a second.” And a moment later, Ellie swings the door wide open, “Where would you be without me, huh?” Joel frowns, “By now, Wyoming.” You smack his shoulder, which does absolutely nothing. He glances at you and you stare back, he then walks forward into the building as Ellie takes it in stride. “Oh, yeah. Walked into that one.” The door slams closed behind you three and you take out your own flashlight to click it open.

All three of your footsteps echo around the building, while lights from your flashlights moved about the space. A minute later you see the door to a staircase that leads to the rooftop, you all walk over to it and Joel says, “All right, we’ll make our way up, and come morning, I’ll take a look at the city and find our way out.” He pushes the door open, and it squeaks as he does, shining the light in one hand and his revolver in the other, checking the dark area to make sure there’s no threat.

He walks straight while you and Ellie trail along, “We’re going up forty-two flights?” She groans, and Joel adds, “Forty-five.” The door behind you closes and you shine your flashlight to the ceiling, looking at the seemingly never-ending staircase. “But no. Not all the way.” He says, and Ellie asks, “How far?” Joel takes a breath, “As far as I can make it.” You and Ellie giggle at him and follow right behind the grump, footsteps sounding on the concrete steps of the building as you make your way up each floor.

After twenty flights of stairs, Joel is gripping the hand railing, slightly winded already, you are trying to manage your breathing with all the cardio, while Ellie is only lightly panting, she takes an opportunity to ask a question, “Hey, you know that guy who said he was hurt? How did you know it was an ambush?” Joel stops before the next landing and catches his breath, “I’ve been on both sides. It was a long time ago. We did what we needed to survive.”

“You and Tess?” She asked, and he nods, “And the people we were with. My brother too.” He looks up to check how many more to go, while Ellie can’t help herself, “Did you kill innocent people?” He turns to look at her with an unreadable expression, but doesn’t answer her question, “Come on.” But already you both already knew the answer, and still followed him anyways.

It’s a few minutes later and Joel pushes the fire exit door open and holds it out for you and Ellie to walk through. “Holy shit.” Ellie curses and Joel leans on the wall, “Yeah.” And slides down the wall completely exhausted. You are soaked with sweat and trying to catch your breath, using one hand to lean on the door as it closes by itself. “Thirty-three floors. That’s good.” The young girl comments, and you hear Joel wheeze, “It’s gonna have to be.”

Ellie makes her way over to him and kicks his boot, “Come on.” And holds out her small hand, Joel groans, “Give me a minute.” But Ellie doesn’t agree, “Get up, you lazy ass.” That does it, he grips his hand with hers and helps him up, while you finally got enough oxygen back into your system. Joel grits his teeth, “Lazy ass. Fifty-six years old, you little shit.” Ellie giggles and you smile wide and continue to trail after him.

Joel grabs a fire extinguisher to break through the glass of one of the office doors, the sharp sound of glass shattering rings throughout the room, and Joel reaches in to shake the handle open.

You and Ellie prepare to sleep, and you realize that there aren’t enough cushions for the three of you. Joel scatters glass on the ground as Ellie sits on her makeshift bed, and calls out his name as you sit cross-legged on the carpet, silently contemplating sleeping on the floor. He doesn’t hear Ellie the second time, too busy dumping out the glass.

But the third time she yells out his name he finally turned, “What?” He grudgingly says, and she asks him pointedly, “What are you doing?” And replies as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “I don’t want someone sneaking up on us while we’re sleeping.”

He puts the bucket down and Ellie realizes what he meant, “Oh, I get it. Crunch, crunch, crunch…” He walks over to the couch cushions on the floor and Ellie questions him, “Are you sure you’re gonna hear it?” Joel takes offense to her asking him that, “Of course, I’ll hear it. That’s the damn point.” Ellie leans back, “Okay. Well, good night.” And he gives a small, “Yeah, goodnight.”

You prepare to sleep on top of your backpack and Joel says your name, “What are you doing?” You turn your head to him and swallow, “Um, there’s not enough cushions. It’s okay though, I’ve slept on the floor before.” His eyebrows furrow and he huffs, “You sleep on mine then.” You shake your head, “Joel, you stayed up late, floored it all the way to Kansas City, fought three hunters, and then walked up thirty-three flights of stairs. You’re literally fifty-six and wheezing. You’re exhausted, so it’s okay, you can have it.”

Joel places his hands on his hips as he stares down at your figure, “That isn’t right though, you’re equally as tired and you got injured earlier. So take the damn bed.” He argues, this was slowly going to become a full-on debate that could have lasted till the morning, but Ellie butts in, “Why don’t you guys just share?” Immediately, your eyes go wide, and feel your face grow warm. You begin to stutter as you try and explain to her why that would be inappropriate, “Um, Ellie… I don’t think that’s—”

“Fine.” You hear him say and your head quickly turns to look at Joel, almost giving you a whiplash as you did. You blink wildly at him and shakily say, “You don’t need to–” He gives you no chance to finish your sentence, “I said fine. Do you want to share or not?” Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell is happening? He didn’t just offer that, did he? Your mouth gapes open like a fish out of water, not knowing how to act or find the right words for this. You take a deep inhale and try not to stumble over your words as you stared into his dark chocolate-brown eyes, “Are you… sure?”

He nods and gestures to you to lay down, you pinch your lips and swallow away your nerves and climb atop the cushions, using your own jacket as a pillow. Joel quietly does the same and faces the opposite of you. You bring your hands to your mouth, they’re slightly trembling as you try and calm your racing heart. Ellie is looking at you with a smirk, that cheeky little shit, she’s playing matchmaker. You mouth out the words, “Fuck you.” Which causes her to grin wider, happy with what she’s accomplished.

“Hey.” Joel's voice is deep and low from behind you, and you raise your eyebrows at Ellie, she replies, “Yeah?” He proceeds to ask, “When we were talking about hurtin’ people, what did you mean it wasn’t your first time?” You give Ellie a sad smile knowingly, the places may have changed, but at its core, the story stayed the same. She changes her position to lay flat on her back and stares at the ceiling, “I don’t want to talk about it.” He doesn’t push her and settles, “All right.” After a second he rolls over to his left and lifts his head up, to look at Ellie, you are now inches apart from him brushing his hand on your waist, he tells the kid, “You don’t have to. I’m just saying… it isn’t fair, your age having to deal with all of this.”

Ellie looks to the both of you, “So it gets easier when you get older?” You snort, “God, no.” And Joel shakes his head, “No. Not really. But still.” Ellie doesn’t say anything back to him for a bit, and he sighs, you feel his breath along the back of your neck, causing your spine to shiver at the sensation. “The reason I asked whether you’d hear the glass or not, is because Miss Birdie and I have noticed you don’t hear too well from your right side. Is it ‘cause you were shot there?”

“Probably more from shootin’. So if you wanna keep your hearing, you stick to that knife.” He says and lays back down again, rolling back over to his right side and closing his eyes, Ellie says both of your names and you look at her, waiting, “Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?” He glances over his shoulder, “What?” And Ellie continues, “Yeah. It runs in your jeans.”

You didn’t know if your humor was broken, or if you were traumatized, or just exhausted, but you giggled with her and hear Joel whisper, “Jesus.”

He shakes his head, and you and Ellie continue to giggle, “That is so goddamn stupid.” But Ellie points out, “You laughed, motherfucker.” You hear the smile in his voice, “I didn’t laugh.” The kid throws back at him, “Yes, you did.” And you agree with her, “Yeah, you most certainly did, cowboy.”

He mumbles, “Jesus, I’m losin’ it,” and you loudly agree, “Yep, you are and so am I.”

And then his invisible walls came down and allowed himself to be vulnerable, to laugh at Ellie’s stupid joke. Finally, letting his baggage down, if he was being honest, he was so tired of being afraid, and this feeling of weightlessness felt like euphoria. Your cheeks rise to meet your eyes and lines appear as you smile, listening to both of their laughter. Though the storms will push and pull, you three are slowly beginning to form a home. The years, while they were here, haven’t been so kind, but the melody of laughter reminds you to keep your heart open wide. Slowly finding the strength and the nerve it takes to keep going because you know what lies beneath is the greatest thing you have. To trust that there will be light always waiting behind even in the darkest of nights. Somehow you will all be okay.

OFFICE BUILDING, KANSAS CITY – A FEW HOURS INTO THE NIGHT

You feel something heavy and warm draped over your waist, and your head resting on something firm beneath your head. You hear Ellie yell out both of your names in urgency and blink your eyes open to find yourself wrapped up in arms, with your head on his chest. You take a deep inhale, turn your head slightly, and tap Joel awake, his eyes open, alert and confused, to see Ellie kneeling on the cushions with her hands up and Henry pointing a gun at her head. Shit.

And you both turn to look in front of you, a little boy, Sam, with orange paint on his face resembling a superhero mask, pointing a gun at you both, he brings his pointer finger to his lips, indicating for you to be quiet. Joel tries to shield you from the boy, covering your figure with his large frame, gripping your waist so tight, and breathing through his nose heavily. You feel a little paralyzed, as you can’t help but watch the train wreck about to happen right in front of you.

Previous Chapter -> Next Chapter

END NOTES:

This was probably one of the most difficult chapters to write because of all the technicalities and this episode was definitely more centered around Ellie and Joel’s relationship so I didn’t want the reader to completely overshadow that HHEHEHEHE ONE BED TROPE The moment I watched that episode, I immediately thought, I’m writing a one-bed trope (idk if i got it right tho lol I tried to make it realistic??) I had to cut a huge ass important memory from the reader but decided again it's TOO SOON also it wouldn’t add anything to the plot so I’ll add that in later My bad for taking too long to finish this chapter, it was the most intimidating episode for me to write, the loss of innocence is also the main theme of this part of the show, and my experiences with losing innocence are WAY DIFFERENT so it proved it harder to write about You can see Joel slowly giving in and opening up to both you and Ellie Tbh, to me, this is one of the more mediocre chapters I’ve written thus far but I can’t seem to edit it anymore T^T Ellie absolutely adores you and 100% looks up to you hehe (Also she definitely wants you to get with her father figure) cAN SOMEONE UPDATE ME IF THEY WERE AT A TRUCK STOP OR GAS STATION BCS I’ve read sO MANY DAMN ARTICLES trying to figure out what it was and I just settled for a truck stop T^T Thank you, guys, so much for all your kind questions, comments, and feedback aHHH IT TRULY MEANS THE WORLD TO ME Lastly, this is the last call for the taglist before I close it! OKAY BYE OFF TO EPISODE 5 I GO WRITE HNGGGG - Grace

TAGLIST:

@memento-mora @elijahssuit @tartiflvtte @lillylilly2 @kyuupidwrites @amethystwonder11 @syd-vixious @kidkrow666 @soulofapatrick @ponyboys-sunsets @superflymaterial @chaotic-imposter @vainbimbo @eva-stark @loki-an-idiot @littleshadow17 @undermoonlightwalk @afternoon-evening @notmysunnydale @slurmp69 @gyllord @aerangi @mac5323 @friskynotebook @earth-to-lottie @chaotic-imposter @kodzuvk @hawkins-2000 @reallysparklychaos @trust-dreamcatcher @darkened-writer @memeorydotcom @welcomebackfelicia @rainbowpitofdoom @omg-its-typical-aesthetics-fan @marvelsimpcz @dorck26 @evienorville @munsons-queen @little-miss-bi @mxltifxnd0m @ohjoelmiller @coalix @taestrwbrry @avengersheart @gyllord @valentine-babe

Edit: Sorry for the notif twice! The taglist completely bonked itself :,)

#uneven odds joel miller #unevenoddstaglist #uneven odds #unevenodds #joel miller x reader series #joel miller x poc!reader #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x y/n #joel miller x modern reader #joel miller x reader au #joel miller x reader tlou #tlou rewrite #tlou remake #tlou series #joel miller x reader masterlist #joel miller x reader series masterlist #ethereal writes

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moonlight-prose · 1 year

Note

i think i would go bonkers for joel and ❛ it hurts that you still can’t trust me after all this time. ❜

VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

a/n: this has been sitting in my drafts for so long, but an idea struck me so i wrote it. it's messy and all over the place and probably way too short, but i'm actually okay with it. i hope you enjoy it darling! i based it on the song by etta marcus, because that whole album has my heart.

summary: the past was off limits, but at what cost?

word count: 1.1k+

pairing: joel miller x reader

warnings: not explicit, angst, grief, joel once again being emotionally unavailable, fluff, some heartfelt romance.

The city looked different from up here. Then again, the once beautiful Boston city had turned into a small few blocks radius with people who were terrified of even breathing. Everyone had lost their hope in the QZ. Their sunken eyes and gaunt frames told you just how much people were suffering, how much they would give to have just a small piece of their past back. You used to be one of them. Once.

“Hell of a view,” you said, sipping from the canteen of water you had attached to your pack.

The echo of his footsteps came up behind you, the sound familiar and comforting after spending so long with him. “I’ve seen better.” You could practically hear the smile in his voice.

You snorted, turned to see him leaning against the edge of the bridge railing, the sun glowing behind him. “Oh yeah? Where?”

“Texas had some pretty views too.”

“Ah…of course,” you replied, biting back the smile that threatened to bloom on your lips. “Do you miss it there?”

The question was a dangerous one to ask given the circumstances. You weren’t his partner, or even his lover. You were the person who tagged along behind him. Someone he would probably feel nothing for if you were to ever die or leave his side. Which left the question to hang in the air. Unanswered.

He cleared his throat, turning back to stare at the view with a different look on his face. One that told you enough. You weren’t supposed to ask those kinds of questions. The agreement you shared was simple enough; both of you were meant to work together with an ease that only came from people who were more. The both of you were supposed to keep the other alive. That was it. You didn’t divulge secrets, you didn’t bring up the past.

What was the point? When you were both going to die eventually anyways.

You could still feel the lingering loneliness in your chest every time you looked at him. The ache that slowly ate away at your insides. Telling you that you would never be able to have more than just this—more than two people who were on the verge of breaking apart entirely. Unable to heal from the damage done to both your souls.

“We need to go,” he said, staring in the distance at the QZ. Neither of you were supposed to be here in the first place, but listening to the rules was never either of your fortes.

“Why do you do that?” you sighed, stepping away from him, adamant on catching the last few rays of the afternoon sun.

“I didn’t do—”

“You know it hurts right,” you finally admitted, unable to look at him. The sun glowed against his face, turning you breathless at the sight, and you wouldn’t be able to handle that. “It hurts that you still can’t trust me after all this time.”

His breath caught in his chest. The echo of pain in your voice breaking off a piece of his heart as he watched you struggle to fight back the flood of emotions. For months he had avoided letting you in like it was his own kind of infection. It was better to stay alone. To keep everyone at arm's length if only to save his own sanity. He knew it hurt you. Saw the crushed expression you continued to wear whenever he pulled away, but Joel was unable to do anything about it.

How could he let you in when he knew what the cost was in the end?

“I trust you.”

You scoffed, finally turning your gaze on him. The shine of unshed tears punched him in the chest. “No you don’t Joel. You never did.”

He sighed, stepping closer and half expecting you to step back, but that’s never who you were. “You know why I can’t.”

“No actually I don’t,” you muttered. “Because you never told me.”

“Honey—”

“And that’s fine. I don’t need to know your whole history, or why you’re so fucking broken. But did you ever stop to think that I’m just as broken as you Joel?” The tears that fell were hot, filled with a salty rage that he could practically taste on his tongue.

He knew bits and pieces of your history. He knew that the ring you wore on a chain around your neck used to sit on your left hand. A promise you made to another man, long before the outbreak. You had a life with that person. A home that belonged to you. Yet that was all ripped away from you on the same night it was ripped from him.

The reason he knew all of that was because you told him. You let him in to see the most vulnerable parts of you. So why couldn’t he do the same?

Breaking away from his gaze, you wiped at the tears. “Forget I said anything. It’s getting late. We need to head back before they notice we’re gone.”

Joel felt his heart drop at the prospect that this was it. This was the moment you would walk away for good. So, he grabbed onto your arm and dragged you close. He kissed you, swallowed your sharp gasp, and attempted to show you exactly how much he needed you in his life. You were his. The partner he turned to when he needed comfort, when he needed to be reminded of the person he was before all of this.

“Joel—” you gasped, your hands gripping onto his jacket.

“I will tell you,” he breathed, his forehead pressing against yours. “It’s just gonna take me some time honey. I’ve never…”

You nodded, cupping his cheeks to bring him closer. “I know.”

He shut his eyes against the sight of your smile, feeling as if he didn’t deserve the sweetness of it. Not yet at least. Tonight he would go home, explain to you what he could without breaking his own soul again, and do his best to keep you. Joel wouldn’t lose another person. He couldn’t. For now though…he admired the view of your eyes once again holding a hope he wished he could have himself.

“Hell of a view,” he murmured, his thumb running along your jaw. His breath caught at the sight of your eyes fluttering closed, your sigh of contentment rocketing to his heart.

You smiled, pulling him closer by the front of his jacket—your lips brushing against his. “Eh,” you shrugged. “I’ve seen better.”

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x y/n #joel miller x you #joel miller fic #joel miller #the last of us fic #the last of us #my writing

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nicherayyy · 1 year

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heyy! hope you're having a good day/afternoon/night so far! i've been enjoying many of your la squadra x child! reader drabbles, they're just so cute o((>ω< ))o

i was wondering if i could have some headcanons of the la squadra members letting their stands interact with the child reader (for the sake of this, we'll just say the reader is a stand user since it'd be impossible for a non-stand user to see stands)? idk, i think it'd be so cute seeing scenarios like: the reader giving little feet random useless things and just wanting it to shrink them or maybe the reader trying to teach baby face what they learned in school. not sure how the reader would interact with pesci or ghiaccio's stands since they're not exactly humanoid?? but i'm sure you'll come up with something awesome, haha. tysm!

Omg I’m crying

Child Reader interacting with La Squadra stands

Let’s just imagine that you were born as a stand user (which actually really surprised La Squadra), so you can see their stands. You’re a curious child, so the only thing you want is to communicate with your adoptive parents stands, I mean.. who wouldn’t want to.

When you first saw Man In The Mirror, well, you just stared at him. Don’t think that you were scared, just the opposite. The stand’s features were just.. so interesting. So interesting that you didn’t even blink while looking at him (this scared Illuso af). But after some time you started reading book with the stand. Meanwhile Man In The Mirror just watched over you:

“And then, a big-big hippo.. hip..”

“Hippopotamus”, Illuso corrected with pure amusement in his voice.

“Hush, I’m not reading to you”, you rolled your eyes and then looked at Illuso’s stand that was hiding in the mirror “Am I right?”, Man In The Mirror just nodded.

And when you found out that Little Feet can shrink things, oh boy. Formaggio is already used to these moments when his child asking him if he can “summon his friend because I want him to shrink this book for me”. This moments is so random the poor man doesn’t even know when you want to shrink something again.

Ghiaccio’s White Album is your personal cat. Blue haired man didn’t want you to interact with his stand at first, but he couldn’t stand you being upset so he gave up.

“Can I see a kitty?”, you asked innocently.

“It’s not a cat and my answer is”, Ghiaccio looked into your eyes full of hope “My answer is yes, you can see him” he said before summoning his stand. Ghiaccio is an angry gremlin, but even he can’t resist your wishes.

Fishing with Pesci is gonna be a thing. It’s your monthly tradition after all.

“And now pull”

“Like this?”, you asked while pulling Beach Boy out of water.

“Yes”, Pesci patted your head while smiling, “You did such a great job”

Baby Face is willing to listen whatever you say. Hears something interesting at school? He is already waiting for the interesting fact you’ll tell him today.

“Did you know that whale songs can be used to map out the ocean floor? Isn’t it incredible?”

Melone is just happy to see you so hyped up about something, so he just watches your interaction. In addition, such conversations will help develop his junior.

Risotto would never have thought that his stand can be cute to someone. Well, that was before he met you. Even just holding those little beans in your hands made you so happy.

“Can I hold beans?”

Risotto was distracted from his paperwork.

“Sure you can, just make sure not to make much noise, I’m still working”, he said before Metallica beans were summoned in your hands.

What about Grateful Dead.. well, you saw him just once. From a distance. And after that you keep asking Prosciutto to see him again.

“When will I see your stand again?”, you confront him, looking disappointed.

Prosciutto just sighed.

“I told you that never, it’s dangerous” he replied before putting you in his lap. Anyway you’ll be waiting for Prosciutto’s stand appearance, you even draw him a picture. He must feel so lonely because Pros won’t let you see him.

#la squadra esecuzioni #la squadra di esecuzione #la squadra x reader #la squadra #jjba part 5 #jojo bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken #jjba x reader #risotto nero x reader #prosciutto x reader #pesci x reader #formaggio x reader #illuso x reader #ghiaccio x reader #melone x reader #jjba vento auero #vento aureo

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smilesrobotlover · 7 months

Text

Whumptober day 15- makeshift bandages

Sorry I’m a little late, I slept in fhsksbkssbsk. Anyways this one is kinda silly, idk what I’m doing with whumptober but I’ve had this idea in my head where Legend meets the dads so here’s this silly lil thing dbsksbsksbk.

Warning for a bloody stab wound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Legend stared out at the ocean, listening to the waves as they crashed against the beach he was on. He breathed in the salty breeze, several old memories flooding his mind from the smell and sounds. He had mixed feelings about the ocean. On one hand, it reminded him of the pain and loss he had to endure, but on the other hand, he had the best memories at the beach. Whenever he got overwhelmed he would try to find a beach area to unwind, occasionally humming his song…

He was lucky that he was close enough to a beach in this world. The other heroes were great, but they would always burst into arguments and overwhelm Legend. In order to keep himself from getting riled up, he’d walk away, and so he found a beautiful beach to think about all that’s happened to him. He stared out at the horizon, watching the land across from him. But something was strange about it when he really studied it. He narrowed his eyes and noticed that there was a boat traveling to where he was.

A boat?

If Legend recalled correctly, they were the only ones here. So who was on that boat? And why were they heading towards them? He stood up and watched the boat closely. He didn’t know what that was, but he might as well figure it out before it got too close. Legend took off his clothes and took a deep breath, praying that no one could see him now, and he jumped into the water. He felt the familiar magic twisting his bones around and fusing his legs together into a beautiful pink fish tail, and he pushed against the water towards the boat. When he got close he kept his distance, but stared at the bottom of the boat. He didn’t know what he was expecting, he couldn’t see the people on the boat so he didn’t know if they were a threat. He circled the boat for a little bit, finally popping out of the water to get a good look at the people onboard. He only saw one person, but from what he could tell, they weren’t a monster. Was that the puppeteer? Legend narrowed his eyes, but he couldn’t see the person very clearly. Truthfully he didn’t know what the puppeteer looked like. But he was from either Sheikah, Hylian, or Gerudo from what he heard, so he should be on this boat, right?

The person Legend was watching suddenly looked at him, and Legend quickly dove back into the water, panicking. He wasn’t supposed to be seen.

Legend quickly swam underneath the boat, trying to head back to shore to report on what he saw. Just when he was out in the open, a sharp pain went through his tail, and he let out a scream. Legend sunk to the ocean floor as his tail throbbed, and he looked at it to see a spear straight through his tail. Blood was mixing in with the water, and the pain was so bad that he couldn’t move his tail. He quickly reached for the spear, trying to gather up the courage to pull it out, but the pain was too much. A shadow went over him, and Legend noticed that the boat was on top of him. They’re after him, he thought in horror. He was going to get captured and possibly tortured for information on the other heroes, or he was going to get murdered for being a mermaid or for being a hero or something. He needed to get out now, but he couldn’t move his tail, he was stuck. He turned and saw a net coming towards him, and he gasped as he was scooped off the ocean floor, his tail throbbing as he folded up in the net. The net pulled up quickly, and Legend broke the surface coughing.

“Let me go! Let me go!” He started yelling as the net pulled him closer to the boat. He weakly punched the air, trying to land a hit on his captors.

“Woah woah woah! Hey it’s ok, it’s ok!” He heard a man yell out, and he was cut free from the net and was carried out gently, which surprised Legend. Was he not a captive?

Legend let out a yelp when he slipped out of the man’s hold, and he fell to the ground harshly. He heard the man curse under his breath and he was leaned up against him.

“Nice going Rusl.”

“I didn’t think he’d be so slippery!”

“He’s part fish, what did you expect?”

“I—I don’t know! Leave me alone!”

Legend looked up at the man he was leaned up against, who he assumed was named Rusl. He had dirty blonde hair that reached to the middle of his neck, with some scruffy facial hair on his chin and an interesting mustache around his mouth. He had light blue eyes and had a gentle expression when he looked down at Legend. He frowned apologetically and rubbed Legend’s arm.

“That got you good,” he muttered, looking at Legend’s injured tail, where another man with reddish-blonde hair looked over. “How… how does it look, Leon?”

Leon gave Rusl a look before returning to his tail.

“Well, the spear went right through his tail so, I can’t imagine it’s anything good,” he answered, grabbing the spear which caused Legend to whimper. “Linebeck, look away,” he said, and Legend noticed a tall man with dark brunette hair turn away, looking nauseous. Rusl held onto Legend’s hand as Leon broke the spear in half, pulling it through his tail. Legend hissed at the pain and felt his tail go numb.

“Hey Leon, did you ever consider that doing that would cause splinters?” A very short man who looked a lot like Hyrule stepped up, staring at the broken spear concerned.

“He’ll be fine.”

“Not if he has splinters.”

“He’ll be fine.”

Legend gulped and looked at his bleeding tail, feeling dizzy from the sight as Leon put pressure on the wound. He felt the magic twisting through his legs and he groaned in pain as his tail split back into two legs. Leon yelped at the sight, throwing his red cape over Legend before continuing to deal with his legs.

“Woah,” he heard Rusl mumble at the sight. “You can turn into a… fish?”

Legend let out a pained breath, smiling at the kind man. “A mermaid.”

“I see. I’ve never heard of mermaids before…”

“Yeah, well, I’m not really a mermaid, it’s just an item that I use whenever I get into water.”

Rusl stared at him blankly, and Legend chuckled at his confusion.

“It’s weird I know.”

Rusl smiled as Leon sat up and turned behind him. “Oy, Talon,” he called out, “bring me some bandages!”

“We don’t have any bandages!” He heard the man named Talon yell back. He sounded like he was inside the boat.

“Then bring me something that can be used as a bandage for Din’s sake!”

“Ok ok, don’t cuss at me!”

Legend took a deep breath, trying not to pass out from the pain and the blood, and Rusl rubbed his arm again.

“I’m so sorry about this,” he mumbled, and Legend waved it away.

“It’s ok, thank you for taking care of me—“ Legend was interrupted when he saw a man walk up to Leon with bandages. He felt his heart stop when he nearly recognized him, and he sat up, almost hitting Rusl’s chin with his head. “T-Tarin?” He blurted out, and the man looked at him in surprise. He looked behind him and looked back with confusion plastered on his face.

“Are ya talkin’ to me?” He asked, and Legend felt disappointment and embarrassment when he realized that he was definitely not Tarin. His hair was thinning at the top, his facial hair connected all the way to his sideburns, and his blue eyes did not match Tarin’s dark brown eyes. Legend looked down, tears uncontrollably welling up.

“I-I’m so s-sorry—I thought you were someone else,” he stammered.

“Oh, it’s ok kid, no harm done,” Talon said softly, handing a shirt to Leon. While Leon tore the shirt apart and began wrapping his leg, Legend stared at Talon. He had such a kind face, and now that he was looking at him more, he was looking a lot like his uncle. A lump formed in his throat and he looked away.

“So, uh, what’s your name?” Talon asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m Link,” Legend said without thinking. He probably should’ve kept his identity a secret, but these men were all so kind that he didn’t think about it. Leon froze and looked at him intensely.

“You’re Link? Are you traveling with other Links?”

“Um…” Legend stopped himself this time. They were all looking for the group… was it smart to say yes? “I… uh… I don’t know.”

“… you don’t know?”

“Uh… well I…” Legend looked around, panic beginning to bubble up in his chest. Rusl cleared his throat and Legend looked up at him.

“We’re only asking because we’re looking for our respective Links,” he explained. “Y’see, my son is Link, and most of us here also have a son named Link, we were hoping that our Links would all be together.”

Legend narrowed his eyes. Rusl’s son was Link? Which Link was he the father to? He honestly looked nothing like them. Not to mention his ears were rounded, not pointed. Was his son Sky? Sky had very small ears, but so did Warriors, maybe Warriors was his son…

“Hey,” Leon interrupted Legend’s thoughts. “It’s a simple question, are you traveling with Links?”

“Leon he’s overwhelmed, be patient with him,” Talon muttered, and Leon sighed.

“I-I’m sorry, Link,” he muttered, and Legend smiled.

“Hey, it’s ok. Who’s your son?”

Leon sat up straight, a hopeful gleam in his eye. “Um, his name is also Link… and uh… he has long blonde hair, he’s kind of braided it on one side though, and he’s very young…”

Legend hummed. “That sounds like Four.”

Leon nearly jumped up at that, causing Talon to yelp slightly.

“Four? As in the Four sword?”

“Uh, y-yes. We had to give each other nicknames so… he’s known as Four, mostly ‘cause of his eyes but also because of his four sword.”

Leon smiled slightly, then looked down. “He’s alright?”

“Last time I checked, yeah. He’s safe and sound.”

Leon sat back, running a hand through his hair, looking relieved. Legend smiled and sat up away from Rusl.

“Really, all the Links I’m traveling with are fine. I’m sure they’d be happy to see you.”

The men all made different sounds of relief at that, but Legend couldn’t help but notice the Linebeck man watching him strangely. Leon finished tying his bandages and gave his knee a pat.

“We'll take you inside, and maybe we’ll find you some clothes you can put on.”

Legend wrapped the red cape around him tighter in embarrassment. “Um… it’s ok my clothes are all on the beach.”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” Leon said, standing up. “Ok Linebeck you’re safe to look.”

“No, no you are not safe to look, Linebeck. There’s blood everywhere,” The short brown haired man stopped the tall man.

“Oh come on, his leg isn’t bleeding,” Leon muttered.

“There’s still blood everywhere!”

Legend chuckled at the men bantering, they reminded him of his own group. Rusl gave a small sigh and pulled Legend closer to him.

“Let me take you inside then,” he said softly. “I am… so sorry about this.”

Legend wrapped his arms around his neck as he was lifted off the ground. “Hey, it’s ok. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault anyways.”

Legend heard the others snort.

“No it was definitely his fault,” Leon said.

“I said that I saw a mermaid,” Linebeck started up, “and Rusl wasted no time to grab a spear and chuck it into the water.”

“He was so fast I didn’t have time to process what was going on!” The short brunette chuckled.

“He has a good aim I must admit.” Legend saw a different man with strikingly blue eyes leaning against a strange bird man. “It’s not easy to throw spears into the water, I’ve definitely tried.”

Rusl looked down ashamed. “Guys, enough.”

Talon picked up on his mood and stood up. “Alright y’all, let Rusl put Link inside. Leave him alone.”

The other men stopped and Rusl quickly turned to enter the inside of the boat. Legend watched him quietly as he was settled down in a bed. Rusl grabbed some blankets and set them down on top of Legend, and before he could leave, Legend grabbed his arm.

“Hey… it’s ok,” he said firmly. Rusl stared at him for a moment but smiled.

“Get some rest. We’ll get you once we reach the beach.”

Legend nodded and watched as Rusl left the bottom deck. He sighed and laid down, happily letting himself get rest.

#idk if any of y’all remember that meme I made where the guys are all making fun of Rusl #while trauma from shooting his son with an arrow in the leg was resurfacing #yeah this is what that meme was applying to dhsksbksnsk #rip rusl #I’ve been writing him to be very impulsive/ decisive #like he just does things mostly on instinct without putting much thought into it #I mean he does put some thought into the stuff #but he’s very quick about it #he doesn’t overthink #which… honestly he might now #lol #whumptober #whumptober day 15 #whumptober 2023 #strangers across eras #link between links #lbl legend #more hint at the puppeteer :3c

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marvelmaniac715 · 3 months

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If I was in various Hatchetfield stories:

The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals:

Hive: Do you wanna save the planet?

Me: …No, and I haven’t drank nearly enough water to sing along so stop making me jealous!

————————————————————————

Emma: Take out the head and the whole thing-

Me: I’m on it, I’ll either call you when I’m done or die a hero, either way this is my main character moment, so MOVE. What are you doing with that needle, Professor?

————————————————————————

Me after listening to some of the Working Boys pitch: So which one were you dating? Was it all of them?

————————————————————————

Me in my last conscious moments before being part of the hive: Okay but forcibly controlling women isn’t very slay girl boss of you…

Black Friday:

Me: No, I actually don’t have the money to buy a Wiggly and I don’t leave the house if I can help it so I’m not going to the mall on Black Friday, text me all about it though.

————————————————————————

Wiley: I just need you to do what you do best-

Me: Read fanfiction?

Wiley: Be a mother.

Me: Dude I have no children except for my dog and I think he sees me as some sort of alien… kiss me and I’ll think about it.

————————————————————————

Me after seeing Wiggly (don’t ask why I’m in the Black and White): Why am I looking at yassified Cthulhu? And why are you British? Did eldritch dimensions get invaded by the British too? Wow, the sun really DOESN’T set on that empire…

The Hatchetfield Ape Man:

Me after seeing Konk: …I was wrong, this is nothing like Tarzan, get this man some clothes. Lucy, I know you were never the brightest in your class but someone REALLY needs to tell you what an APE looks like, delulu is not the solulu baby girl.

Watcher World:

Me: I don’t like roller coasters and it’s far too hot, I think I’ll just stay home, sorry Bill.

Time Bastard:

Me watching Ted from a distance: Wow, he really isn’t doing okay…

————————————————————————

Me staring at the Homeless Man: How is nobody realising that this is clearly Ted Spankoffski?

Honey Queen:

Me: What’s my talent? Oh, I can recite the lyrics to every single song from twelve different musicals, even the classics, that ought to win a few judges over… Linda why are you uncoiling that rope?

————————————————————————

Me staring up at Nibbly (I won the title of Honey Queen by sheer force of will) and holding out an unwrapped Snickers bar like it’s a cross: You’re not you when you’re hungry.

Killer Track:

Me: I’m trying to find this song that was sang at the Honey Festival last night but I can’t for the life of me remember any lyrics or what the singer was called…

Nerdy Prudes Must Die:

Me: Hey Ruth, can I sit in rehearsals with you? I could help you with tech and keep you company - after what happened to Richie I don’t think that any vulnerable students should be left alone, I’m surprised the adults haven’t thought this, maybe we should invite Pete too?

#team starkid #starkid #hatchetfield #hatchetverse

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ronaldofandom · 1 year

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Children of the forest

A short drabble - Bheem and Malli. No warnings.

Summary: Bheem's little one has grown up too soon and sees what her Anna doesn't share with others. She wants to take care of the protector, while her Anna would give anything to preserve her childhood.

Prompt: Bheem & Malli appreciating nature.

...................................................

‘Annnaaaaa, wait for meeee.’

Bheem stopped in his tracks when he heard the familiar voice and turned around to find the child galloping towards him.

The tiny strides weren’t as tiny anymore. Malli shared his knack for adapting to the forest floor and managing her gait accordingly. While the other kids her age had tripped and fallen many times, Malli had never had any issues navigating the surfaces. Bheem saw a little bit of himself in her. The thought both warmed his heart and jolted it at the same time.

She shouldn’t be here. This was outside the boundaries set for the kids to venture alone.

Bheem put his stern face on as she got closer.

But before he could get a word in, Malli raised her hands up in a defensive posture.

‘I know, I know. But look - I didn’t sneak out on my own this time. I promised you that I won’t worry you again, so I am asking nicely. Take me with you, Anna. It’s been so long since I went to the river.’

She pleaded in a sing-song voice, making her big eyes even bigger.

‘How do you know I am going to the river?’

Malli looked at her feet, fidgeting with her fingers.

‘Anna, I- I know when and why you go to the river. Alone.’

Bheem looked at her quizzically. How could she possibly know this? Only Jenny knew of this. He had confided in her after breaking down one night.

‘What-what are you talking about, Malli?’

Malli closed the distance between them and wrapped her small hands around his right palm, looking up at him.

‘I know about the nightmares, Anna. You have been having them since we escaped. On some nights, I sprinkled cold water on your face and it used to calm you down. I know you still have them, but you don’t tell anyone else, only water helps you then. You have that look on your face today, so I figured you were going to the river.’

Bheem knelt down in front of her, and the girl ran into his arms. Bheem held her gently.

He thought this was his secret. No one else knew, barring Jenny. But this child had grown up too fast under his yes. And had become too wise for her age.

‘Don’t tell anyone about this, ok?’

‘Why? You are allowed to have problems of your own, Anna. You aren’t just meant to solve others’ problems. Why don’t you let us take care of you?’

That’s not who a protector is, Bheem wanted to tell her. But chose not to.

‘I do have people taking care of me. There is Jenny, and now, there is you too, right?’

Her eyes lit up.

‘Yes yes. I will do whatever you say, Anna. Always.’

‘Good girl. Now, let’s go to the river.’

They walked hand in hand, and listening to Malli’s chatter, Bheem momentarily forgot about the nightmare, which had shaken him to the core last night.

Once they reached the river bank, Malli swung her feet into the water and splashed happily.

Bheem stayed still. He wanted to jump in but there was a logistical issue.

‘Anna - I know about the scars too. It’s fine. Jenny Akka told me they are better now, I keep asking her now and then. You can take off your kurta. I promise I won’t flinch.’

Bheem just stared at her this time, with his mouth hung open. What all had she picked up on? In the age where she was supposed to not have a care in the world, the child had the sense to not ask him about his wounds, knowing it would perturb him. Reluctantly, Bheem took off his kurta. True to her words, Malli did not flinch.

He jumped in, and the cold water immediately did wonders to his rapidly fluctuating emotions. He swam underneath for minutes, only coming to the surface for air and for checking on Malli, who was busy making a house from the riverside sand.

Bheem dove in again, going deeper this time and following a swarm of fishes. He loved chasing fishes since he was a child. Other kids couldn’t swim that deep but for Bheem this was second nature. A water baby, since the day he was born.

The pure water soothed his weary, tattered skin, along with his bruised heart. This should suffice for a few days, till another crude nightmare makes him question his very existence.

Reluctantly, he waddled out of the water and started drying himself with his kurta. He should take Malli back soon.

‘Anna - can I ask you something?’

Bheem turned to find Malli looking at him, almost tentatively. Bracing himself for another deep question, Bheem nodded his head.

‘How did you bring all those animals to the party that day?’

Here we go again, thought Bheem.

‘I- I caught them from the forest. And kept them in a shed close by.’

‘You caught the tigers and leopards too?’

Bheem just nodded silently.

He could tell the impact of his words had resonated with her. She was silently processing the amount of risk he had taken, and the number of times he had put his life on the line, to save her.

When she didn’t say anything for two minutes, Bheem sat down next to her and pulled her into his lap. The child snuggled into his chest and buried her face there, determined to not let him see her tears. Bheem didn’t insist, respecting her wishes.

He rocked her back and forth, and stroked her head slowly.

‘You could have died.’

‘But I didn’t.’

‘How is it logical? Risking your life to save mine?’

‘Because I am the protector, little one. It is my job to keep you all out of harms way.’

She crawled further into his chest, as if trying to believe he was still with her, despite everything he had risked to get to her.

‘Anna - why don’t they just leave us alone? We are not asking to be a part of their cities. They don’t want to be a part of this world. So why don’t they just let us be? Why do they hunt us mercilessly, when all we want is to be far far away from them?’

Bheem didn’t have an answer for her. He had wondered this many times himself. He could tell her that the world was cruel, unfair. That others thought of them as lesser humans, if that at all. That they were fighting for their right to survive, with basic human decency.

But he wanted to preserve whatever little innocence was left in her.

‘Maybe, one day, they will realise that. And leave us be. That day will come, Malli. If not in my lifetime, then hopefully in yours.’

The child didn’t seem to buy it, but she didn’t resist the comfort that his words were offering either.

‘Ok tell me - what are some things we should learn from the nature around us?’

Malli looked up curiously from his chest. He could see her brain working furiously to come up with a smart response.

‘Hmm. That we are all too inconsequential in front of nature. There are many elements in the world that mankind doesn’t understand, but nature just takes care of it for them. Like the water we drink and the air we breathe. Or the light from the sun and serenity from the moon. Is that it?’

‘That’s a great start. And you are right. We are nothing in front of the might and fury of nature. So we should do our best to respect it, preserve it and co-exist. What else?’

The girl scratched her head, then looked around herself to find more clues. When she came up with nothing, she looked dejected.

‘It’s fine. You did well. But to me, the most important thing is the intelligence and humanity of these non-human creatures. Look at these animals - they don’t hunt for fun. They don’t hunt because they want to torment other beings. They only hunt when they are hungry, only to survive. At other times, they co-exist. Humans can learn so much from them. To live and let live.’

Malli nodded appreciatively.

‘Look at these trees. They give us shade, food, wood. They hold the soil together so there are no landslides. And their leaves and seed give birth to new trees. Nature is like a mother. She just gives and gives endlessly, while we don’t understand the value of it or respect it enough. It give us birth, nourishes us, provides for us, and we don’t even take a moment to appreciate it. Remember this Malli, always be grateful for this amazing place we call home. This is the most breathtaking creation of god, we are nothing in front of it. We are fighting for our right to live freely in our home, our forest, to die peacefully here, and be one with nature once we are gone.’

Malli listened with rapt attention, amazed at the wisdom of her Anna. In that moment, she closed her eyes and prayed to Mother Nature . For the tribe. But particularly for her Anna. For him to have a life outside of just being a protector. For him to have some semblance of peace and joy and happiness for himself, not just for the others.

He was the best man, the best person she knew. To her, and to the rest of the tribe, he was a superhero. But the superhero also had his weaknesses, his troubles, his fears. He was no god. She wished the tribe stop treating him as one. So her Anna could live a little.

One day, when she grows up, she will do what she promised today. Take care of him.

............................................................

More people should take care of Bheem, shouldn't they?

Hope you liked it. As always, would love to hear your thoughts :)

@irisesforyoureyes @rambheem-is-real @thewinchestergirl1208 @eremin0109 @eenadu-varthalu @rorapostsbl @yehsahihai @budugu @maraudersbitchesassemble @justmeand-myinsight @rambheemisgoated @rosayounan @jrntrtitties @obsessedtoafault @rambheemlove @jjwolfesworld @alikokinav @iam-siriuslysher-lokid @bromance-minus-the-b @dumdaradumdaradum @lovingperfectionwonderland @annieginny @chaanv @ssabriel @milla984 @kaagazkefool @boochhaan @mesimpleone @filesbeorganized @ladydarkey @teddybat24 @stanleykubricks @burningsheepcrown @veteran-fanperson @ronika-writes-stuff @beingmes-blog @yonderghostshistories @nisreenart @chaidrivenwhore @bheemaxrama @carminavulcana @umbrulla @mizutaama @rosefulmadness @gifseafins @fangirlshrewt97 @astrafangs @sada-siva-sanyaasi @voidsteffy @stars-in-the-distance

#talesofthetigerrr #rrr #bheem #ntr jr #jr ntr #tarak #bheem rrr #komuram bheem #rrr fanfic #tigerrr2023 #malli rrr #bheemmalli

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darksiders-junkie · 10 months

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Horsemen are feeling a little down, so I guess it's your job to cheer them up with a little song :))

Part 1 with War and Death

War's song: Rises the Moon - Liana Flores

Death's song: No Matter What - Steven Universe

War

You've been traveling with War long enough to understand when he was becoming down. You could never tell from his facial expressions.

It was the silence. The separation that gave the horsemen away. Now, he was always quiet and distant. It was his nature.

Looking at him now, though, sat by the lake he chose for a resting spot, far from the fire he kindled for you. You couldn't help the way your heart clenched. This wasn't like him. He'd sit close by. He'd grunt or nod when you talked. If you were lucky, you'd even get a glance, and if you were really lucky, a response. Usually, it is a question to quell his curiosity.

You wished you could do something for him. Something to lighten his burden. But you can't fight demons and angels. You can't trek the distances he can, and you most certainly can't wiggle information out of demons. They'd just laugh in your face.

Although.. your mother, when she had been alive, always had a way of cheering you up. And just maybe, it might cheer War up too.

So you steal your resolve, and stand. Slowly making your way over to War and sitting besides him. He gives you a small glance, before staring out at the water again.

It's silent for a moment before you open your mouth

"Days seem sometimes as if they'll never end

Sun digs its heels to taunt you

But after sunlit days, one thing stays the same

Rises the moon"

The confusion on his face is ever present, but he does nothing to stop you, so you take it as your sign to continue.

"Days fade into a watercolour blur

Memories swim and haunt you

But look into the lake, shimmering like smoke

Rises the moon"

It seems he took your words literal and turned to look at the little lake where the moon reflected off in the most beautiful way.

You couldn't help but give a little snort, which in turn gets you a glare from War. You shake it off quickly to continue the song for him.

"Oh-oh, close your weary eyes

I promise you that soon the autumn comes

To darken fading summer skies

Breathe, breathe, breathe"

It seems now he's understanding not to take you words to heart, and instead just quietly listening as you sing. Staring out at the rippling waters as he let's the words sink in.

"Days pull you down just like a sinking ship

Floating is getting harder

But tread the water, child, and know that meanwhile

Rises the moon"

You can just hear the gears turning in his head. It seems he's catching onto the fact this is supposed to cheer him up.

"Days pull you up just like a daffodil

Uprooted from its garden

They'll tell you what you owe, but know even so

Rises the moon"

You take your chances and lean against him. A way of showing your support, of saying you're here. You might not be very useful towards his goal, but that doesn't mean you're useless. He seems hesitant but allows you to stay nonetheless.

"You'll be visited by sleep

I promise you that soon the autumn comes

To steal away each dream you keep

Breathe, breathe, breathe"

It's silent for a long while after you've finished. Not that you mind. You believe War got the message, and you're more than happy to stay here by his side and watch the quiet scenery before you.

"Why?" His voice is gruff, and he doesn't look at you.

"My mother used to sing me songs to cheer me up. I thought it might cheer you up too. Even just a little."

He let's out a little hum and it's quiet once more for a little while until he breaks it. "Do you know more songs?"

"Why? Want me to serenade you some more?~" You couldn't help but tease him lightly. Laughing loudly when he grunts and turns his head away from you.

"I'm kidding War, what would you like to hear?"

Death

You absolutely hated when he became grumpy. The sole reason? The quest you're on to help his brother.

Whether it be some being that annoyed him, or the fact it took him longer than he wanted to solve a puzzle, or anything small like that really.

He always became "salty", as much as he loathed when you called him that. It was true regardless, he became more sharp around the edges and in his tongue.

But today you were prepared! You were gonna sing him a song, and he was gonna sit there and enjoy it whether he wanted to or not! Because you weren't gonna travel with a salty Death until he decided to let whatever trivial problem that bugged him go!

The second he was finished setting up the camp area (which was really just the fire and some logs to sit on), you gently set Dust down with an apology when he squaked in complaint of losing you lap as a bed and headed for the horsemen.

He gave you a glare as you grinned up at him.

"What do you want girl?"

"In the light of the day

In the dark of the night

When you're raring to go

When you're tired from the fight

When you're losing your mind

Let me give you a thought

I'm gonna be right your side no matter what!"

You can see his eyes squint, likely our of confusion. "What are you-"

"In the dark of the night (in the dark of the night)

In the light of the day (in the light of the day)

When you're rising to shine (when you're rising to shine)

When you're hitting the hay (when you're hitting the hay)

I'll be hanging around (I'll be hanging around)

If you like it or not (if you like it or not)

I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what!"

You were really getting into it. Regardless of his continuous glare. Even starting to dance a little, even if you knew he'd never join you. This was to cheer him up. To take his mind off whatever got under his skin.

"No matter what (no matter what)

No matter what (no matter what)

No matter what (no what)

Oh, I'm gonna be (oh, I'm gonna be)

Right by your side (right by your side)

I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what"

He gives a little sigh, letting the tension out of his shoulders. It seems he's given up, and is just going to let you finish. Not that he'd be able to stop you without physically restraining you.

"In the dark of the night

In the light of the day

When you're rising to shine

When you're hitting the hay

Just remember this song

How's it go? I forgot

I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what"

You giggle as you see him roll his eyes. Moving to grab his hand and spin yourself, not taking it personal when he reels his hand back the second you've finished. It's honestly an achievement he even let you finish your spin. And that makes you happy anyway.

"Through whoever you've been

Through whoever you'll be

Through whatever you lose

You will always have me

At the end of your road

I'll be holding you taut

I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what

Be right by your side, Be right by your side

Be right by your side no matter what"

You leaned into his side at the end, give a little laugh when he sides steps for some space. Grinning up at him regardless.

"And that was for what exactly?"

"To cheer you up and get your mind off whatever made you salty! Can you even remember what you were so upset about?" You can't stop grinning, eager to hear his response.

He gives you a little glare at the salty comment, patiently waiting for you to finish before he opens his mouth to speak. "You have a poor idea of what 'cheers me up', and yes I still remember. One awful song and dance won't make me forget. Don't be a fool girl."

"Oh? So you need to hear it again then?"

He seems to shiver slightly for just a moment. "Consider it forgotten."

You can't help but to cackle at his response. Immediately stopping when he pats your head and turns to leave. Surprised at the kind gesture and his next words.

"Thank you.. for trying anyway."

You roll your eyes. "Can I ever get some nice words or compliments without an insult tacked onto it?"

Death gives a chuckle "Maybe one day when you earn it."

"How rude!"

Posted: July 9th, 2023

#darksiders #darksiders war #darksiders death #war x reader #death x reader #songfic #darksiders x reader

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aromanticannibal · 6 months

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Ok, Feldup recs post!

Mostly my opinion (which is wildly positive) on his most recent album, Stared at from a Distance.

youtube

Warnings, this entire album talks about Feldup's SA from a woman twice his age. It's hard to listen to, it was hard to listen to for me, who suffered through no such experiences and isn't triggered, squicked or made uncomfortable by many things.

First, I'd advise that you listen to the entire album all at once (which breaks throughout if needed), in order and with lyrics (there are subtitles in the linked video). I promise it's worth it. Now for my favorite songs :

Stared at from a Distance (2nd track, 12:06), is obviously incredible and one of my faves. It's pretty long and is way more explicit on what it's talking about than Waters (4:55), the first track (which I really liked too, the music video for it is excellently made as well). I really love the way the instrumental and beat switches throughout to accompany the story, and the end of the song made me think I was going to cry (I just needed to sneeze but tbh it's still crying material). Really good, if you listen to only one song in the album I think it should be this one. (Side note, I'm also wondering if I didn't hear part of that song when I was at Feldup's concert - it was before the album was out, but you know. I don't think I heard all of it, but maybe I just forgot).

Naked and Afraid (3rd track, 3:11) is very good and picks up very well after the second track. It makes you understand that this album really is a story you're following, and you're going to get every detail of it. The following track, Dizzy (4:11) is transitioned to so well I thought it was the same song (it's also excellent), and Fear of Abandonment (4:07) right after is like. Painful. /pos

Shove it (6th track, 03:39) is honestly terrifying to listen to, and it works very well for its subject. I don't even have much to talk about for this one, it's just really good. The 7th track, Moment of Sobriety (5:30) managed to be even scarier, because of how real it gets then (if that makes sense. The whole album is painfully real, and it reminds you of this regularly).

Crying as a Weapon (8th track, 5:20) is where I had to take a break. I think it might be one of the most relatable songs for many people who were abused, not just sexually.

Death of an Illusion (9th track, 10:23) is the other very long track of this album and it is, unsurprisingly, incredible, and one of my absolute favorites. It's also one I could relate to a lot, and its progression is very satisfying. It Never Leaves (9:09) is similar to Death of an Illusion, its continuity, and its ending made me incredibly happy.

The last one, To Love Again (4:49), is the song I enjoyed the less, musically speaking, but one of my favorites nevertheless, and a perfect ending for the album in my opinion. It also has a shift in the... well, not the narration, but I guess the message, somewhat (trying not to spoil because it's so incredible to realize to me), which entirely convinced me this is actually my favorite album of all time construction-wise.

In conclusion, Oh My Fucking God this is so incredible.

Feldup is a great person who writes incredible texts and makes excellent music. The constructions of his songs and the way his story is told throughout eleven tracks is beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful, and it genuinely is currently changing my brain chemistry /hj. It is so good. It's on Spotify and Bandcamp for sure, and I think it's on most other streaming services, and you still have the Youtube video I linked at the top. Please give it a try.

I'll quickly give my favorite songs from his other album, A Thousand Doors, Just One Key, but they're all really good too : Falling Apart (2nd track, 4:08) which is his most known song as far as I'm aware and is a fucking banger from the first notes, Mental Health (6th, 4:25), Attention (3rd, 3:54), and Stockholm (10th, 11:21), which holds one of my favorite lyrics ever (There is no cure/I am the disease).

Anyways, have a good day or night, stream Feldup's music.

#feldup #stared at from a distance #a thousand doors just one key #falling apart #music #music recs #alternative rock #indie rock #indie music #french artist #french musician #france #queer artist #Youtube

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dorizardthewizard · 13 days

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HSM (2006) rewatch pt 3

3. Getcha head in the game!

Half of these students just don’t have backpacks huh, meanwhile Taylor has a wholeass suitcase

Gabriella: I can't believe you live here. I looked for you at the lodge on New Year's Day, but... Troy: I know, we had to leave first thing.

One thing I don’t get is did the new year’s party at the lodge end right after midnight? Lame. Also if they didn’t see each other, why didn’t they text or call each other as Troy said he would?

The way Troy whispers “the singing thing” pffft this movie really is a queer allegory huh

It’s kind of funny they show Sharpay being “into” Troy in the first movie because that really isn’t relevant at all, she drops that and tries to sabotage him immediately after the audition. But I guess it makes her advances on Troy not seem out of the blue in the second movie.

Troy and Gabriella's reactions to Sharpay in this scene are a wholeass mood, Gabriella's like "you seeing this shit?". Also Gabriella is usually seen as super bubbly and nice all the time but she's been through multiple schools, she knows what's up and what kind of person Sharpay likely is. That grin when she makes the "nice penmanship!" remark? Totally a subtle dig, I love it.

Also random country flags in the background – I didn’t know Americans knew that many national flags! (I’m joking I’m joking I'm kidding)

Alright basketball time! I'm just gonna comment on this whole bit - I like how they show Troy start to consider the singing thing but from a distance, mentioning how you could extra credit for auditioning first. Like he’s testing the waters. Going with the queer allegory, this is like when you offhandedly mention something lgbt+ related in the news or whatever, just to see how the other person would react, but you could also relate to this to a lot of things. By the end of the scene, we see Troy backpedaling on the musical thing and saying it would just be “a good laugh” when it becomes apparent Chad doesn’t approve. The next thing he says is a comment on Sharpay being cute, we know from his reaction to her earlier that he doesn’t like her but he still says that here, as if he suddenly feels the need to defend his masculinity and heterosexuality. Or as a last excuse for why he might be interested in the musical.

Chad's comment about LeBron and Shaq is so funny considering the kind of guy LeBron is. Also, Chad, Michael Jordan was in a movie with the Looney Tunes years before this movie so anything goes! Still, he's definitely buying into the toxic masculinity culture and literally shudders at the idea of show tunes and costumes and makeup and anything unmanly – let’s put a pin in that ok?

Anyway he likes rock apparently, which. Hm, is this already kind of breaking a stereotype? Either way, it’s 2006 so what kind of rock does Chad listen to? Older stuff or is he blasting In the End? I NEED TO KNOW

Okayyy Getcha Head in the Game is iconic, the first “Troy is conflicted” song of the series. I love the use of the basketball sounds, and it’s just so catchy! Little break in the diegesis there when Troy hits a note a bit too musically and the others stare at him until he realises what he just did. A tier methinks.

Just keep your head in the gay. No honestly I can’t unhear that now.

Who is “J”?

Wow dicks, they didn’t put the basketballs away

#hsm #high school musical #high school musical (2006)#troy bolton #gabriella montez #chad danforth #hsm liveblog #dori watches hsm #my posts

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thesquareinthecircularhole · 2 years

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take her off your hands [Haikyuu!! Kuroo Testurou x F!Reader]

im unhinged, at work, exhausted, consuming an energy drink, and listening to country music.

unedited and i typed Kuroo and Kurro almost every time

the dude is [derogatory] here

Song: Take Her Off Your Hands by Midland

Character: Kuroo Testurou from Haikyuu!!

female reader

There's a Saturday night, Saturday lights

The work week is exhausting, especially if you are in a career that doesn't allow for weekends off (I'm looking at YOU retail). Fortunately for our main man Kuroo, his job allows him the occasional weekend off. This being one of them. A lovely Saturday night in Tokyo allowed the clubs to be boppin, and he found himself in one with a few friends from work. When you don't have to work the next day, you let the drinks flow, and that is precisely what he was doing. At the bar, he stopped dancing long enough to take a long chug of the water he ordered between fruity drinks and shots. He allowed himself a look around the bar, and that is when he saw her.

And I’m watchin' her, watchin' him watchin’ ice Just meltin' his drink, and I can't help but think If she was with me, she'd be all I could see Oh, but he's just lookin' 'round the room

God, was she pretty. Her [h/c] hair done in a quick little, and slightly messy, updo for dancing. A short black dress with gold accented flowers along the side catered to her body and curves nicely. She wore matching gold heels, which if Kuroo was to guess, would not be staying on all night. But they complimented her legs and build in a way that made his mouth water. She was leaning against the bar, her arms around the arm of a man sitting down at the bar, drinking a dark beer. She seemed to be attempting to get his attention, but from the far out look on the dude's face, it was not going to be happening. This dude, as Kuroo dubbed him in his head, was looking around the club focusing on nothing and everything, except for her.

'If that was me', Kuroo thought, 'I wouldn't take my eyes...or hands...off her all night'. Perchance if reading his thoughts, she looked around the room and locked eyes with Kuroo. Pretty [e/c] eyes highlighted by eyeliner and long, elegant eyelashes. He tipped his drink in her direction and gave the little smirk that gets most girls going. She gave a shy smile and looked away after a moment, back at the dude. 'I'm not having that', Kuroo thought to himself finishing the drink and putting it back on the bar for the bartender to take at his convenience. He sauntered over to the couple.

I'm over here watchin’ a fool who don’t know that he's wastin’ his chance Hey mister, could I cut in for a dance? You don't know what you've got if forever's just not in your plans Let me take her off your hands

"Hey, I'm Kuroo. Could I interest you in a dance?" He said, getting close to her. She bit her lip and batted her eyelashes lightly. The dude with her continued to stare off in the distance, and didn't even notice when she removed her arms from his.

"I'm [Y/N], I'd love to dance." She took Kuroo's extended hand who then swirled her into him and guided the two into the middle of the dancefloor. They swayed with the music, something upbeat that you couldn't quite make the words out to do to the overpowering amount of bass shaking the whole club.

Kuroo moved his head closer to hers as they danced together, chest to chest with fingers intertwined. His mouth was practically against her ear as he said, "That your boyfriend or something?"

"Not so much anymore. This was supposed to be a rekindling, but he's fucked out on something and I can't be bothered to care anymore." [Y/N] said, a slight pout with her bottom lip jutting out. If Kuroo were to describe it, he'd call it kissable.

"Seemed like you cared a couple moments ago," he said, not pointing out but implying from the time her arms were around the dude.

"Yeah well then a handsome gentleman reminded me of other things life has to offer." Her smile was coy and it made Kuroo's heart skip a beat as a matching smile dawned on his face.

And oh, a girl wants to be swept off her feet She didn’t put that dress on to be a Nobody man, short on romance Too blind to give her even a second glance Oh, but he's still lookin' 'round the room

"You think I'm handsome?" He says, the smile much more of a smirk now. She laughed, throwing her head back. 'I could spend the rest of my life making her do that', he thinks to himself.

"I also said you were part of what life has to offer, which I think is the larger compliment."

"I'm trying not to inflate my ego to much tonight. Besides, I'm nothing special standing next to you." She blushes at that. You know that feeling with the incredibly hot person says you're hotter than them? Yeah that's the vibe.

He spins her around again and catches a glimpse at the dude, who is nursing a slightly lighter shade of brown beer, eyes scanning the room in an entirely unfocused manner. Kuroo understands what [Y/N] meant by fucked out on something, the hazy look in his eyes suggested a whole lot of weed. He remembered reading something about weed causing a depersonalization order when you smoke to much of it, doing research for Kenma who mentioned smoking once or twice. Kenma called him paranoid and said he didn't smoke enough to cause a problem, but deep down inside appreciated that his friend was looking out for him.

"In a way, I'm glad you gave him a second chance. If you didn't I might've not been able to sweep you off your feet in this club tonight." Kuroo says, instantly dropping her into a dip. The rise in her heart rate, she couldn't tell if it came from the dip or the man. She agreed with his sentiment though. Not one for love at first sight, she did believe in "god damn I've gotta spend more time with this man" at first sight.

As she rises from the dip, her arms move up, around his neck, playing with the hair at his nape. His arms wrap around her waist, connecting his fingers at the small of her back. They continued dancing to the music, occasionally making small talk and getting to know each other. Hours and hours passed, the duo only leaving the dancefloor to get drinks.

"Want to come back to my place?" Kuroo whispered huskily in her ear. [Y/N] pondered for a moment. She did just meet the guy, but she technically did have a boyfriend, but it wasn't going to last past tonight anyway. Her contemplation was answered by a quick tap on her shoulder.

"Hey," the dude started, "I'm headed home. Are you coming with?" He asked. She blinked at him, once, then twice, surprised by the audacity.

"You won't have to worry about her anymore," Kuroo said, with his signature smirk, "Let me take her off your hands."

#haikyuu!! imagine #haikyuu x reader #kuroo tetsuro x you #kuroo x reader #kuroo tetsuro x reader #x reader #hq imagines #hq kuroo #songfic

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imhereforscm · 1 year

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Your Tauxolouve childhood fic is beautiful. 💗

Can you write a part 2? Where Tauxolouve never shared that vision with anyone other than mc. But his mother always knew something happened to him that day. He shared this vision with his parents after fighting the dark King. But him knowing about his real parents, did not change the feelings that he had for his parents. His parents accepted mc as their daughter in law and said they will love him no matter what.

I hope this makes sense. Please please please write it. 🥺💗🥺

"Paint and vision" Part 2

Genre: fluff

Warnings: spoilers for Tauxolouve's main story

A/N: The fact that Tauxolouve continues to see Nasir and Sofia the same even after finding out they're not his biological parents is something I absolutely ADORE in the game. This game really brings out the meaning of love and not just romantic love, but also one of a family, a friend, a sibling. This game is so amazing, I'm NEVER leaving this fandom.

Walking through the peaceful forest, the birds were chirping their carefree song in the distance and the gurgling water of a nearby stream could be heard from the distance.

The rays of the sun slipped through the gaps between the tree branches, falling onto their path.

Tauxolouve with Sofia were walking side by side, silence swaying around them like the summer breeze, which was ruffling the leaves above their heads.

"Louie."

Tauxolouve hummed in response, letting his mother know he heard her and was paying attention.

"How do you feel?" She asked quietly.

"What about?" Tauxolouve turned his gaze to her as they wandered deeper into the dark green forest.

Sofia stared deep into his eyes and smiled gently at seeing the shadow that would usually cloud them, now totally gone. "About your real parents. And..." She hesitated a little. "About us."

Tauxolouve stopped in his tracks suddenly, turning his entire body towards Sofia and she felt a tug of emotion at her heart, as she admired the mature and kind man he grew up to be. "Mom..."

This single word made Sofia's heart feel squeezed in a pleasant manner and her smile broadened.

"I know you're not my biological parents." He began his speech, his gaze never leaving his mother's. "But that will never change the way I feel about you."

"Louie..." Sofia breathed out his name, her eyes swelling with happy tears.

"You raised me as your own and that's all that matters." Tauxolouve took a step closer to her and hugged her close to his strong chest. This time it was his turn to protect her. "You are my mom and dad and that'll never change, no matter what happens to our blood."

Sofia chuckled through tears and hugged her son in a tight and warm embrace.

"I love you, mom."

"Louie... I love you so much..." She looked up at Tauxolouve, while still holding him close and smiled at him endearingly. "I'm so glad you finally found happiness."

He placed his hand on top of her head as he listened closely to her every heartfelt word, his fingers caressing her soft silky hair.

"I knew something happened that day, but I didn't know what exactly..." Her gaze turned a little melancholic, remembering the state Tauxolouve was in all those years. Sofia's face lightened up again, a gentle smile decorating her elegant features. "But now you're happy."

"Yes, mom, I am." He confirmed, taking her hands in his and squeezing them tightly. "I have found someone who's very, very precious to me and I'm never planning on letting her go." Tauxolouve stared at his mother with absolute seriousness. "Mom, (Name) is a human and I know history has made a bad showcase for this kind of thing, but..." He pulled her hands to his chest, right above his heart. "This only beats for her and for her alone."

Sofia laughed to herself, catching Tauxolouve out of guard at first. "You're just like him."

"Him..." He echoed. "Kronos." He said. "My father."

Sofia nodded, pride swelling up in her ribcage. "You have the same passion he did. It's truly beautiful what love can do to someone." Her gaze was drawn away from Tauxolouve and when he followed her line of vision, he witnessed you walking up to them, with your beauty shining by your entire being.

"I brought our daughter-in-law!" Nasir stated proudly and Tauxolouve chuckled at the way your eyes widened and your cheeks flamed up.

Sofia left his side and approached you, spreading her arms and welcoming you into a warm hug, which you shyly—but gladly—accepted.

"Louie." Nasir walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's perfect."

Tauxolouve smiled at himself, looking at you conversing with his mom. "I know, dad... I know."

#scm #star crossed myth #scm fanfic #fanfic scm #scm tauxolouve

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bexeunwol · 2 months

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Eun-Wol auditions for Next Gen season 2

Eun-Wol counted in his head, taking a deep breath as he paced slowly in the hallway. He reminded himself that he was talented, that he needed to use his words and be himself. That Eun-Wol was worth it. He stopped his pacing to lightly go over the choreography he had made his hands moving as his feet tapped. His name was soon called, sending the young man into a sudden panic. His heart beat faster with each step he took towards the door. Giving a bow to the woman who held the door open for him, his heart beating so loudly in his ears. Eun-Wol scanned the room and the faces of the people present, he remembered to smile before going to the spot pointed out. “Hello, I’m Yoon Eun-Wol.” He gives an awkward bow. “I prepared a dance to a song that I created, I tried to make a pop feel with a ballad flow.” Eun-Wol tried to speak clearly into the offered mic before setting it down on the floor once the music started. He completed the dance, not once thinking in the sixty seconds. Once the music started, he just moved and hoped that it was enough. Finally retrieving the mic from where he left it, Eun-Wol sat in the now provided chair to the interview questions. He took the offered water, taking a sip before confirming he was ready to continue.

"What can you bring to the table that we won't see in any other contestant?"

Eun-Wol listens closely, making sure he heard the question clearly. He smiles softly. This one was rather easy to answer, he didn’t have to think too hard. “Well, I have already done my military service, so I don’t have to leave for two years. I already served.” His smile widens. Eun-Wol hoped that his serving already helped like his brother said it would.

"What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning?"

Eun-Wol chewed on his lip, trying to think about this morning. He rubbed his chin. “Well it's most likely that I had to use the restroom. Or That I was hungry. My brain is usually mush in the mornings when I wake up. But I do remember being excited about this while I ate the dumplings my appa made for breakfast.” Eun-Wol gives a small nod. So far the questions seem easy.

"What is the most interesting place that you have been to wearing the shoes that you’re wearing now?"

Eun-Wol stares down at shoes his is wearing, lifting his right foot up to see which ones they are before returning it back to the floor. “These shoes? They have been in a dumpling restaurant kitchen, in dance studios in three countries, a military base, and I think that is about all the interesting places I think they have been.”

"What two things do you consider yourself to be very bad at?"

Eun-Wol lets out a laugh before turning pink and apologizing. “Sorry. The irony of this question got to me. Interviews seem to be one thing I think I am bad at. Doesn’t mean I am, I just feel I am bad at them. But two things I am bad at, Running long distances. Being tall doesn’t mean you can run forever. I also think I am bad at dealing with nature. Like camping and all of that, I am just bad at it all.”

Eun-wol soon falls silent and after a moment he is told he can leave. Standing up, he gives another bow to the people interviewing him before following the woman from earlier. He hands over the mic, before exiting the room and letting out a groan as he heads for fresh air.

#be:NGS2P1 #&memories

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wintersnowqueen · 1 year

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Tender

Tender- it’s the word I best like to use when describing how I feel when I have a hangover that hasn’t made me violently ill, but in theory could if I am not cautious. It’s the kind of hangover which is best cured by minimal sound, a three beverage lineup of water, diet coke and chocolate milk and very limited mobility for the day.

It’s also how I would describe myself now. Somehow on the constant verge of tears even though my period is not looming close enough in the distance to be the culprit.

In the past three years I have become more and more tender. In some ways, I suppose, it is like slipping into an old coat. There was a time in life where tears were a daily occurrence and I was unsure of who or how to be. Since moving two months prior to a global pandemic, I have had three different jobs (now currently none), two different homes, made three friends- maybe more- I no longer know how to define friendship, have discovered fanfiction, realized my parents are just humans and I have become tender once again.

I don’t really want this feeling, but every day I put on comfortable clothing and take long walks around a manmade lake in the middle of the desert listening to the same sad songs on repeat while I invent stories for the people I see day after day on a similar loop to myself around the lake.

There is the man on the blue bench which has the highest vantage point. I have gone to stand by it at times when he isn’t there, but I never take a seat. He sits with one ankle propped on his opposite knee and his arms stretched wide along the back of the bench. He comes most afternoons to spend his lunch break (I assume) decompressing from whatever job he must return to afterward. I wonder if this is the only time each day that he feels he can truly breath. He never brings food or a drink. He doesn’t look at his cell phone or a book. He simply stares out at the lake and I wonder what he sees. I wonder if when he ends his days at the office he returns home to a family he loves, but also feels obligated to. A place he once thought would make him happy, but where he now finds it hard to breath.

There is the younger man with a dangling cross earring in his left lobe. He is in perpetual motion walking the path around the lake. Each time I see him he has a new paperback he is reading while he walks. The pages he has already read are turned fully back and the spine is inevitably cracked. I think he is the kind of person that would be a lot of fun to go to a club with, but I imagine he isn’t always having fun.

There are my two favorite people, an elderly couple that drive over in a van from a house in the nearby neighborhood and walk their laps every afternoon. They each have one walking stick they rarely rely on which looks like ski pole- likely meant for hiking and not cement sidewalks. Sometimes they are side by side, other times 10 or more paces apart, but I like it best when they are holding hands and talking quietly to one another. I wonder how long they have been together. I would guess at least 30 years, but probably longer. I wonder about all the things they have endured- how they supported each other when things were tender.

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