Next Door Neighbors
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Listing Series
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all i needed was someone (when the whole wide world felt young) by cardigains for eedsknees
Fandoms: The Last of Us (Video Games), The Last of Us (TV)
20 Dec 2023
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Summary
Much like the other day, Ellie ends up sitting on the porch steps. Joel’s back even quicker this time. Almost like he’d left his first aid supplies sitting out and ready to attend as needed.
More cleaning, this one hurts less. More gel liquid, this time rubbed in a bit better. And more bandaids, these ones something other than plain, boring beige. Not princesses either, usually the first thing adults reached for when they mixed the two factors of Little Girl and Injured together.
Nope. This guy has dinosaur bandaids.
“Dude, I fucking love dinos!”
Joel’s head swivels up, eyes going from her carefully patched up elbow to meet Ellie’s gaze. She wants to ask him how he knew. She wants to ask to see the rest of the designs in the box. She wants to tell him all of the other things she loves.
“S’pose I picked right then,” he says, almost like he’d been standing in the aisle, contemplating what exactly that might be.
“You did,” is how Ellie answers him, not bothering with a thank you.
//
or: Ellie is Joel's next door neighbor who's hellbent on learning to ride a bike to get where she needs to go. Little does she know that place is right across the street.
Series
- Part 1 of Next Door Neighbors
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used to wish i was anything to anywhere (to anyone) by cardigains for marchflower
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
15 Feb 2024
Tags
Summary
“Thank you, baby girl.” Metal hits the ceramic edge of a plate. There’s the squelch of doused french toast being lifted out of a river of syrup, the muffled sounds of chewing. “Been a long time since someone…” Joel clears his throat for like the third time in two minutes. “Imma keep this someplace safe.”
“Whatever, man,” Ellie manages to find her way back to flippant, feeling the twisting, twining thing within her stomach finally beginning to settle, finding that the sugary sweetness is bright and tacky on her tongue. “It’s just some blueprints.”
Joel chews like he’s thinking. Somewhere along the way, Ellie’s learned what it looks like when he’s thinking.
Eventually, he says, “No, it ain’t.”
//
or: A little peek into the journey of settling in and becoming a family that's not afraid of titles and the certainty they hold.
Series
- Part 2 of Next Door Neighbors