Part 3

Part 3

Hi! I am so glad so many have read this. This story is really just meant to get my ideas onto a surface. Hope you like this next part, and feel free to interact with me if you want. It would be fun lol<3

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She didn’t know what to make of the man across from her. He looked like her, but nothing like her mother. His tail flicked with an air of ease like he wasn’t being stalked by predators, confident it seemed. Or maybe he is too confident in his skills that he doesn't think he needs to be careful? 

  His hands suddenly stop their movements, making her stop breathing and crouch lower. She watches as his ears tip reflexively to the side in her general direction. 

Being so young she cannot tell that she is still making noise, alerting Jake to her presence. 

She waits for him to do something;  to let out a warning growl, perhaps a hiss, and to start prowling toward her. The rock she sharpened during the day while laying against her mother, digging into her hand from her unyielding grip. She does not have claws like her mother, or as large of teeth as her, but by golly was her will unlike any other. 

Ever since the night she encountered the man, she has been fascinated. Who is he? Why does he only have a rock? (Logic isn’t one she is familiar with) Is he alone? Is he hungry? That has to be it, there is only one reason he keeps coming back to her favorite play spot. But there is something about him that allows her to feel calm, to feel at ease. Allows her chest to feel warm again, to feel almost whole as it once was during a time she can’t quite remember. He reminds her of someone but she is unsure who it is. Reminds her of a time when there was warmth all the time no matter what. All she understands is that the necklace around her neck gives her the same calm as the man in front of her. Next time, she will bring food. Yes, that will allow him to feel at ease around her too! The same way her protector was when she found her. 

To Jake's dismay, he listens to her scurry away into the night. Tonight is not the night it seems.

Another part to this series? I have no clue, I’m just adding all my thoughts. Please enjoy!! <3

(And again, this is only mildly edited lmao)

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Jake returned each night to the spot where he has the encounter with the little girl. Saying goodbye to his wife, who worries for the little girl who is seemingly alone. (Mother instincts really kicking in) And giving his two young sons a kiss goodnight.

From the glimpse he got of her, the child’s young features are the only indication that she could be as old as his sons.

That thought alone halted Jakes movements, the rock he currently used to sharpen his blade ceasing in sudden panic. The mere thought alone of his sweet unsuspecting boys out in the deep Pandorian jungle by themselves makes his body ridged. Very unlike the marine he was trained to be, trained to not freeze at speculations. At fears that haven’t happened. Despite that, thinking about such a young girl out here on her own in the unpredictable environment, makes him itch to move and search for her.

How could have she end up in the care of the Palulukan. The apex predator of the Jungle. Probably the same one who chased him through the jungle on his first exposition with Dr. Grace and Norm.

Considering her circumstances, being with it is the safest place she could possibly be. But, it is not the ideal conditions for her to grow in. She should be able to learn about her culture. To play and eat as much as she wants. Not to have to hunt each day, to live off of what she can scavenge. To fight to live.

That is why he is here, the deep parts of the jungle with nothing but his knife to protect him, in hopes to find her.

Although it is well past eclipse, the jungle is still very much alive. A whole new ecosystem waking up. The chirps and squeals of unseen creatures. The bioluminescent jungle floor lighting up with his every movement. And the slight rustle and fast breaths coming from his right.

He wants to smile victoriously, fist bump, to yell in na’vi celebration at his win after so long. But he doesn’t, the only indication that he is aware of the new presence is the slight twitch of his ear and the quickly hidden smirk.

stupid cat boy

Safe and Sound, Vol 4.

Joel x Daughter!reader, Ellie x Reader (adorable lil crushes rn)

Warnings: episode 4 of the show, basic TLOU violence. Lots of dialogue. Fluff, angst all of it in one.

Words: 5.4k

Safe and Sound. Vol. 3

“You sure you know how to work that thing?” You ask as you take a cloth from your bag and wipe your face, looking at Ellie through the mirror. Ellie, who had most likely found the gun at Bill and Frank’s blissfully aimed gun in front of the mirror, mimicking the firing sounds. As you wipe away some dust from your cheeks, which you guessed came from falling down (Let’s just say, just as you were in school, Rei…Ellie and you had made everything a competition much to the dismay to Joel) after getting tackled by Ellie while trying to get out of the truck. At the moment, Joel was doing some adult thing while you and Ellie wandered, so you both had found yourselves in the bathroom, the ground overgrown and the windows broken in, nonetheless, the cracked mirror did just fine. 

With a shrug Ellie looked to her friend, watching you as you leaned forward on the countertops, and she smiled, “Do you know how to shoot a gun?” 

“Kinda gotta if you have Joel and Te-” You paused and cleared your throat, “If you have smugglers as parents.” As you spoke you started to put away the rag until you noticed a smudge of dirt on Ellie’s cheek and mindlessly you leaned forward and wiped the dirt off, and when you turned back to put the rag away you didn’t see her go red. You both were silent for a moment and you then looked up at her from where you knelt to get to your bag, “Can…Can I ask you a question? Don’t gotta answer it.”

Without skipping a beat, thinking it was going to be related to something completely different, Ellie nodded and then took a step closer to you, “Yeah, shoot.”

As you thought of a way to phrase the question you couldn’t help but sigh, you knew it would most likely be a sore spot but you had to know, “Wha-what happened?” 

“Whatcha mean?” 

“When you and Riley vanished.” You said as you pulled your dirt covered backpack over your shoulders, and you met her gaze, you saw the pretty brown eyes lose their light and you stood, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, I just…” With a motion around you rolled your shoulders a frown appeared on your face. “I missed you guys. I thought-God I thought you died! I thought both of you-”

“Riley got bit too… I had to…I had to shoot her.”

You stopped your rant and you held your breath, just by judging by the past few days and the few small talks about school and your friend group you had assumed Riley was gone, you had made a guess, but still, hearing it made your heart drop. Riley was the only one who knew of your little ‘crush’ on Ellie, Riley had been your friend for so long that the words made your blood run cold; not as intense as Tess’s infection or Bill and Frank’s letter, but it made you stop for a moment, just to chew on those words. “Oh.”

  Ellie shrugged, looking away from you, and then shoved the gun back into her pack and then slipped it back on. “Don’t talk about it.” 

A small nod, “Okay.” 

It took only a few moments of staring at each other before you sighed and walked past her, leaving her alone in the bathroom. As you walked out of the small, desolate, gas station your eyes wandered around the open desert. It was dry, sandy and if you were honest with yourself you could feel yourself getting a sunburn from the sun, even though ninety nine percent of your skin was covered and you had only been in the sun for a few minutes, still you could feel it. As you go over to the truck you open the door and throw your bag in, it took you a few minutes to figure out where Joel was. But you had found him, blowing into a tube to get the gasoline out. 

You watched for a moment, and then you sat down on the other side of the gas tank leaning your head against the tire, which you were unaware would leave a large black tint on your hair. “I wanna throw a rock at Ellie’s face.” 

Joel looked up at your sudden statement and thought for a good few seconds before speaking, he knew that one of your many things was odd remarks that were very normally violent. However, the notion baffled him, but he assumed you and your friend had simply a small talk that maybe didn’t end well. As he shifted his weight he looked at you. “Do I want to know where that came from?” 

“No where,” You reply blankly looking towards your shoes, lightly hitting them together, the light tapping sound bringing you ease but it also gives your mind to focus on. Then what followed was another, unnecessarily long pause, “This week has been a shit brawl.” 

To that, Joel chuckled, “One word for it, baby.” As your eyes went back to Ellie, who walked over to them, he knew what was going on. After all, that was his babygirl, he knew you better than you knew yourself, and just by judging by the stories you had told him on those after school nights and then the few interactions he had seen with his own eyes in the past few days. He knew, he knew you were smitten. Which made everything all the worse, it meant it would be hard for you to let Ellie go, but it also gave him new motivation to keep Ellie safe…and he wouldn’t lie, Ellie was slowly starting to grow on him, but barely. 

While Ellie walked over you tilted your head, just to see her better through the waves of heat and the glaring sun. This week has been the most confusing week of your entire life, Monday: School, come home to find your dad going rampant trying to find his brother again. Tuesday: Find out your crush/best friend is actually alive! Try to escape the QZ, almost die. Wednesday: No more mother for you. Thursday: Have fun in the forest! Friday: find out the only people you trusted outside of your family are dead. Saturday: try not to burn alive in the desert. What a pleasant week.  You narrow your eyes as Ellie stands beside a car in front of you. 

“We gotta do this every hour.” 

“Gas breaks down, it’s kinda…” You shrug and nudge the gas tank with your foot, “Like water.” Random facts you had learned because of Bill, he was rude but he helped you learn a lot of things. 

Joel nodded, “Back in the day we could go 10 maybe 12 hours without having to stop. Could’ve gone anywhere.” “So, where’d you go?” Ellie asked. 

“Nowhere.” Joel replied and then went back to blowing into the tube which made the gas go into the tank. 

By the sight, Ellie took a small step forward, just to where her shoes were touching your pant leg and she looked at Joel, “Nice. How does that work?” She said as she looked at the tube. 

“It's a siphon,” Joel replied nonchalantly, only to be met by two girls with very questioning looks stare at him, obviously wanting more information than he had given them. “It’s when liquid…travels against gravity,” By that point he heard his daughter begin to giggle but he went on, “Because pressure-” 

Ellie interjected, a small smirk on her expression, “You don’t know.” 

“I know it works.” Joel retorted as Ellie turned away and started to wander off, which he really couldn’t have, for a large majority of reasons so he called out. “Don’t wander.” He glanced at you trying to see if you would go with Ellie but your eyebrows frowned and you lightly and close to unnoticeably shook your head. So he frowned and repeated himself, “Don’t wander, Ellie.” To that he watched as Ellie turned around and dropped her backpack on the cover of a car. 

“This is your fault then.” Ellie remarked as she glanced back at Joel and started to open up her backpack, from the corner of her eye she saw your smile and she then grabbed her joke book from the back and opened it, reading the first joke she saw, “It doesn’t matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationary.” She grinned as she glanced up, seeing Joel unnamused expression, and she then closed the book and pointed to the cover, “No Pun intended, volume too, by Will Livingston.” She looked at Joel, slightly dismayed he had yet to laugh at the joke, “Volume too. Look. You get it? Too. Like T-o-o?”

“Jesus.” Joel grumbled as stood up, which only fueled Ellie even more. 

“What did the mermaid wear to math class?” 

You hopped to your feet, “Oh! You told me this one-

“No! No, no no, you gotta let,” Ellie turned to Joel, “Joel, what did the mermaid wear to her math class?” She looked at him, a smile on both of the girl’s expressions but Ellie frowned as Joel kept his stoic demeanor, “An Algae Bra.” Ellie laughed as you snickered at the joking, lightly nudging your shoulder, “Like, algebra!” Her laugh only made you laugh more and so forth, until Ellie looked back down at the book and continued to read through her giggles, “I stayed up all night-”

“No.” 

“Wondering where the sun went. And then it dawned on me.”

“You two go wait in the truck.” 

You frown and grumble, you should have expected that reaction if you were honest, but nonetheless, it made you mildly upset. “Dad, come on-”

“No, go wait in the truck.” 

Ellie smiled and put her book back into her bag, “Just so you know, you can’t escape Will Livingston.” As you followed her towards the truck she called out, “He’ll be baaack.” 

Needless to say, he was back within seventeen minutes of the car ride. Joel wouldn’t say out loud but he was thankful for it, it kept his girl entertained and Ellie from asking forty thousand questions about the artist that she had found a cassette on, so in all, it made the car ride all the more entertaining, and a bit more peaceful. Of course, Ellie had questions about the outbreak, such as all of the cars were to the side of the road and her remarks on tanks and other things but for the most part it just consisted of the two girls giggling in the backseat. So, he had expected that to be the same case when they had pulled over into a meadow to start setting down, and it had been. Until after dinner, then it was just uncontrolled hyper from both of the girls. So, as he looked down at the map he listened to Ellie chase you through the meadow and vice versa. 

He wouldn’t lie, it was nice to hear the controllable laughter from you, it had been a while since he had heard it. Longer than a while actually, he would get a small laugh but nothing like he was hearing just then, if he were honest with himself he would actually say it stung a bit, hearing his baby get more joy from a friend than from him. Maybe it was his own fear that sprung such an insecurity, but he kept you safe…he kept you safe, that was his job as a father to keep you alive. And he would be damned if he failed again.  

For a split second you were out of breath as you tackled Ellie to the ground, but then you both started laughing again, laying on your sides and staring at each other as the laughter slowly faded. Fuck,  not normal emotions, you were happy, you wanted to stay like this. Laying in the meadow forever, smiling and giggling with her, these weren't normal emotions. They were so strong, so deep, and you absolutely hated it. You weren’t sure of what to make of it, you knew it was a ‘crush’ as your mother would say, but this didn’t feel like a regular old crush. However, you would throw the idea of anything else out the window, you were young you didn’t know….right? 

“You don’t die on me, Ells.” 

Ellie cracked a grin and held out her hand, using her other one as a support for her head, “I won’t. You gotta live if I gotta stay here though.”

You smile and take her hand, “Swear on my nonexistent grave.” 

-/-

The next day had gone well, you all had packed up, Joel getting his coffee so he wondered if you and Ellie would expect him to be nicer. Well, he may be a bit kinder but he knew his daughter knew not to expect a miracle as far as his demeanor went, and Ellie, well, she just grumbled about how awful it smelled for a while until they all had gone silent for an hour or maybe a bit longer. You had fallen asleep during a conversation between Ellie and Joel so you weren’t sure how that ended but when you woke up it was because the speed of the truck was dropping and when you glanced out each window you noticed that the cars on each side of the road were much more condensed and when you scooted to the center seat to look out the front window you saw the street was blocked off right before a bridge by a semi truck. 

“That can’t be good.” You mumbled, your voice still clouded by sleep so what they heard was an incoherent jumble of words. So you didn’t get a reply as your father pulled the truck to a stop and opened the door, giving you and Ellie a brief order to stay and then climbed out of the automobile. Your eyes stayed glued on your father as he walked ahead, rifle in hand, seeing him kneel down in front of the semi and then seeming to think for a moment before coming back to the truck and putting the rifle in the backseat with you. 

As Joel climbed back into the truck, Ellie looked at the map, “Where are we?” To that you pointed and Joel replied. 

“Kansas City.” 

Ellie leaned over to look at the map closer as Joel took it and placed it on the steering wheel, “How far back do we have to go to get around this?” There was a very long pause between the time she had said that and between the time where Joel put the map back in Ellie’s lap and restarted the car, “What are you doing?” There hadn’t been a reply instead all she got was the car turning around and then going a different direction. It took a total of ten minutes of turning and whatnot before she had found herself, well Joel technically, driving through some back roads in between buildings. The entire time he had been asking her questions on how to get back to the highway. 

“Where the fuck is the highway?” 

Ellie frowned and lightly hit the map with the back of her hand, “I don’t know. I’m all turned around.” With that she heard you grumble and reach your hand to the front, so she handed you the map.

“What street are we on?” 

“Jesus,” Ellie groaned, “I don’t know.”

“Two lefts and one right and two more lefts…” Your small mumble was mainly for you,  trying to remember how you had gotten here, your finger lightly tracing along the map lines, “Ah! Found us!” You frown and flip the map upside down, “Wait no…Are we going north?” 

“I don’t know, this is my second day in a fucking car.” Ellie retorted and to that she felt you kick her seat. 

“Wasn’t asking you.” You then lean forward, looking at Joel, “Dad, are we going North?” Before he got the chance to reply he slammed on the brakes and you used your hand, putting in on the radio to keep yourself from going too far forward. 

Ellie leaned forward to see past you, staring at the cement pillars, “Is that the QZ? Where the fuck is FEDRA?” Just as the words left her mouth, her attention was brought to ahead of her, just as Joel’s and yours were to someone yelling ahead of the truck. In front of them there was a man, toppled over in pain, limping closer to them. From the car she could make out a few words such as ‘please help!’ Instead of any other reaction, she saw Joel use one hand to push you into the back and then use the other to grab his seatbelt. 

“Put your seatbelt on.” 

With her eyes staring forward Ellie reached for hers, “Are we gonna help him?” She didn’t see your father and you made eye contact through the rearview mirror, having a small conversation and not saying a word. 

“No.” With that Joel put the pedal down and the car accelerated, to which the man, who hadn’t even been hurt, screamed and jumped out of the way. 

Her eyes looked up and she saw a man standing on the side of the building, about to push something that looked very heavy down. “JOEL!” It was too late though, the cement block crashed onto the windshield, shattering it. There wasn’t even time to recover from that, the next thing is that the tires started to deflate And then after that someone appeared right in front of the car with a gun. Which ultimately led to the car crashing into a storefront, shattering the glass panels that kept the outside…outside. 

“Are you okay?” “Yeah.” Ellie replied to Joel’s quick question. 

“Not hurt, nothin?” 

“I don’t…I don't think so.”

Joel then unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to look at you, “Baby, baby, can you look-” When you brought your head up all he saw was the blood from the broken nose, “Okay, okay,” He leaned even more back and unbuckled yours, which was good timing because if you had kept your head where it had been, you would've gotten shot. Then it was unspoken: you grabbed your bag from the car as you ducked down and Ellie and Joel made a move to get out from Ellie’s side as you opened your door and clawed out. 

You looked to your dad, the taste of copper in your mouth, and you handed him his rifle.You heard the person outside demand things but none of the words really processed in your mind, “Dad-Dad,” 

“It’s okay,” He lightly cupped your face, and then looked over to Ellie, “You’re safe, nothing will hurt you, babygirl, nothing will hurt you.” 

As you bite your tongue to keep in a horrendous poorly timed joke, meanwhile Joel checked his ammo and then looked to the wall, glancing at Ellie and then back to his daughter, “Hey, you see that hole? Can you squeeze through?” After he was done speaking another gunshot went off, a moment went by and he nodded to himself even though there was no reply,, “When I say go you crawl to that wall, and you squeeze through and you don’t come out until I say, okay?” 

Fuck that.

A small shiver went through your spine as the glass of the car door was shot out and you looked to your father, he knew you had been around gunfire before, more than any child should have, he knew you were desensitized to it.. So he kept his attention on Ellie, who’s eyes were so wide and fearful, “They’re not gonna hit you. Look at me!” He shook his head, “They’re not gonna hit you. You stay down, you stay low and you stay quiet.” Once he saw Ellie nod, he gave a quick glance to you, and you quickly gave him a half hearted nod. “GO.” 

That’s what you and Ellie had done, you right behind her as she crawled through the hole in the wall. Again, with the looking back when you knew you shouldn’t, it was a recurring theme with you, you glanced back only for a split second, just long enough to see Joel fire a few times and then you made yourself crawl through the hole and when you pressed yourself to the wall, holding your breath your eyes caught something.

Shit, shit shit. A clicker. Does God hate me this much?

Mindlessly your hand flies to Ellie’s mouth and you move over slightly, just so you would be closer to the clicker that was caught underneath a fallen…something, you weren’t sure what that was in all honesty. But it was almost out from where it was pinned due it’s quickened thrashing due to all of the noise around, you slowly start to draw your gun but then you realize that even if you landed a shot on the clicker, it would take a few more and once you shot they would know you and Ellie were there and…Your mind ran and you put the pistol back and then drew your knife. “Ellie,” Your voice whispers, your eyes on the clicker which was one good kick away from getting out, “Ellie, I need you to be silent.” 

“What-No,” She grabs your arm as she whispers your name, “Whatever the fuck you’re thinking, don’t do it.” After that you didn’t have the time to respond, you had shoved her to the ground as the clicker made a jump to you both. Ellie brought herself back, her eyes stuck on you; the low whistle you gave as you backed yourself into a corner on the opposite side of the room. Her hands went to her backpack, she wanted to grab her gun and shoot, yet all she could do was stare in horror as the clicker lunged for you as you made the whistle higher pitched and you dodged the grasp, and with a swift motion the knife went into the back of the clicker’s neck, and you pulled it out and backed away again. 

Another high pitch whistle and the clicker jumped towards you, and once the clicker fell you fell to your knees and just started bringing the blade down onto it. The body was limp for a solid forty seconds before you had stopped. 

Ellie slowly let out a gasp, wanting to stand and run to you, hug you and thank you, however she felt the inordinate need to go help Joel. You were obviously fine right here, well physically, so she had vanished behind the wall.

-/-

“There’s a really tall building, like four blocks away.” Ellie spoke quietly as she peered out of a small slit in the newspaper covered windows. Her eyes looked around the streets, watching the trucks zoom past every so often. After she had shot the man in the leg and after Joel had killed him she assumed they were now a target, so they needed to get out of Kansas city, soon. 

Joel nodded, kneeling down in front of you from where you sat on a box, “Yeah, saw it.” He replied to Ellie. 

“So, that’s the one?”

Ater a moment, Joel looked up at you, still talking to Ellie but mainly checking you for any wounds, “As soon as we don’t hear a truck, we move. As fast as we can.” He had wiped all of the blood and gore from your face but the blank expression was the one thing he couldn’t get rid of, so after a moment he heard Ellie shuffle and then sit down. “You wanna tell me what happened?” 

You think for a moment and then lightly clear your throat, “There was a clicker behind the wall, I…I didn’t get bit.” 

Ellie looked at you, “She took it all by herself, pretty badass.” “Pretty stupid,” Joel retorted and then sat down beside you, putting his arm around your shoulder and letting your head rest on his chest. “But I guess…sorta badass.”

You rested your eyes shut as Joel and Ellie began to talk, you weren’t sure what had happened on the other side of the wall, and you were certain you didn’t want to know. One of your biggest talents, also the one you had never told your father,  is that you could block out everyone’s voice when you wanted, so that is what you had done, resting your eyes shut, just letting yourself feel safe for a moment. 

That’s all you needed, was a few moments to collect your thoughts and try to calm yourself. So, when your father had lightly nudged you so he could get up, you did so, watching as he went over to Ellie and adjusted her grip on a gun. Ohhhhhh, she shot someone. That made a lot more sense than whatever it was you had been thinking had happened. Still, you were lost in your own little world so everything they were saying went in one ear and right out the other. However, the cue to zone back in was the boarded up panels on the door being torn off so you stood, having not taken off your backpack you just walked over to Ellie. 

“You're a badass too, Miss Humanity Saver.” You chip in with a small nudge, offering a half hearted smile. 

Ellie grinned, “I don’t even compare to you.”

“Oh, flattery, flattery. Kill one clicker for a girl and now she loves you.” 

“Hmmm, that would make a great flirtation tactic. Save a life, then marry them.” 

You rolled your eyes to her rebuttal of your joke, your voice had been whispers so Joel really hadn’t even heard any of your conversation. So when he had said something that anyone else would’ve found comforting and heartfelt, you just squinted as Ellie seemed to take the words to heart, must of been because of their conversation you had chosen not to listen to. Great, now you had FOMO for something you were there for. Good job, Miller.

-/-

Ellie frowned as they upon the stairwell, “We’re going up 42 flights?” She knew the answer was yes, but she really just needed to get the complaint out of her system otherwise…well she wasn’t sure what would happen but she knew she needed to get it out. Out of the corner of her eye she saw you scoff, your flashlight shining on Joel’s back. 

“Forty-five,” Joel replied as shone his light up the steps, “But no. Not all the way.” 

Ellie glanced up and then to him, “How far?” 

“As far as I can make it.” You laugh lightly as Ellie does the same, and you begin to walk up the stairs, “So, a level and a half?” You say lightly as you hear Ellie follow you and Joel. You must have made it about thirty or so floors before your legs wanted to give out from under you, mainly due to the soreness,, so when Joel motioned his head to duck down a hall, you gladly obliged. As you and Ellie took a few steps down the hall to catch your breath and you turned around and shone your flashlight to your father, who sat on the ground while panting you went back over to him. 

“I sometimes forget you're my old man, not just my ol’ man.” You say and reach your hand out, “C’mon, dad, not too much further.” 

“Gimme a minute.” 

Ellie spoke while looking at you both, “Get up, you lazy ass.” 

Joel gave her a glare and then took your hand, “I do not like your friend.” 

“Well, I do, so ha-ha.” 

With a grumble Joel walked ahead of the girls, “Lazy ass” He scoffed, “Fifty six years old you little shits.” To that all he heard were a few chuckles. 

The next thing that happened was that you found somewhere to sleep, grabbing a few sofa cushions and laying them out for each of you. You and Ellie had settled down on two of the little cot-like things meanwhile Joel, who had broken a few windows, scattered the glass in front of the door. Ellie was rightfully confused by this so she kept calling Joel, getting no reply so she would do it a bit louder and still no reply, until she was close to yelling it.

“Joel!” 

“What?” He snapped back, looking at you but you pointed to Ellie so he looked at her. 

“What are you doing?” She questioned. 

A small pause, as if he were wondering if she was that stupid or not, “I don’t want someone sneaking up on us while we’re sleepin.”

“Ohhh,” Ellie said as Joel set the bucket down, “I get it. Crunch, crunch, crunch.” She then tilted her head, “You sure you’re gonna hear it?”

You nearly gagged on your water at that remark. 

“Of course, I’ll hear it. That’s the damn point.” 

“Okay,” Ellie said as she laid down, “Well, good night.” To that, you also laid down and Ellie watched as Joel did the same. There was silence she fully expected to be kept until the morning. 

  “Hey,”

 Ellie opened her eyes to Joel's words, “Yeah?” 

“When we were talkin bout hurtin people, what did you mean it wasn’t your first time?”

Oh. You shouldn’t say anything, don’t say a word, just stay quiet and no one will talk to you. And thank god, they didn’t. Because it was true, you were a god-awful lair. Your eyes just open and look at Ellie as you see her shift onto her back, saying a quick ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’ and you frowned, it must have been hard shooting Riley. But you knew it wasn’t your place to pry, so you stayed quiet as Joel said okay and the room went quiet again. Maybe now you can go to sleep, you really were ready for it. Just a small break from reality, sleep seemed so-

“The reason I asked if you would hear the glass or not, is cause I’ve noticed you don’t hear too well on your right side. Just like you,” Ellie watched as you opened your eyes,  “Don’t hear well on your left. Together you make a full deaf person. Is it because you were shot there?” 

You frown, she can’t just insult you like that and then get all deep like that again, even…even if it were true,, “Hey-” You had been cut off by Joel.

“Probably more from shootin. So if you wanna keep your hearin I would keep to that knife.” 

Oh yay! Another silence, you can go back to sleep, well start to sleep. Just a few more moments and you would be off to dreamland, peaceful slumber-probably not-but a girl could dream-

“Hey, Joel.” 

For fuck’s sake Ellie-

“Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?” Ellie smirked as she saw you open your eyes, and of course you smiled with her, even though you just wanted to sleep, and she knew this. 

Joel shifted from his sleeping position, “What?” 

“Yeah, it runs in your jeans.” Ellie smiled wider as you snickered, hiding your face in your rolled up coat and Joel turned to look at her, and she bite back on her own laugh as he gave her a glare. 

“Jesus.” Joel sighed and then lightly laughed, which he knew would only cause his daughter to start laughing, which it did, and then Ellie to laugh more. “That is do goddamn stupid.” 

“But you laughed,” You chuckled as you turned to lay on your back. 

Ellie nodded, “You so laughed, motherfucker.” 

“I didn’t laugh.” Joel retorted. 

“Oh that is a lie-” 

“Yes, you did.” 

Joel shook his head lightly, “Jesus, I’m losin it.” 

You smiled and you laid back down in a comfortable position, “You so are Ol’ man.” 

Ellie snickers, “Losing it big time.”

-/-

After you had fallen asleep the next thing you realized was there was a cold gun barrel to the back of your neck.

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Tag list: @holb32 @porcelainteacupss

Safe and Sound Vol. 5.1

As always, comments and feedback make my day! Love y’all! 🤍🤍🤍🤍

I forgot how fun it is to physically write stuff down. So much easier to edit things and get ideas out. But now I’ll have a notebook full of fanfics that I will have to hide for forever.

dilf!jake gif set <33