#benji miller

[nicolethered]

Uncle Joel and Benji on The Last of Us (2x01 Future Days)

[drippingyellow]

Payback

Pairing: Joel Miller x female reader (no outbreak/au)

Summary: One noisy gift from Tommy wrecks Joel’s and your peace. Years later, Joel gets his sweet revenge.

Word Count: 1.8 K

Warnings: no outbreak, no y/n used, no reader description, no real warnings, just domestic fluff, established relationship - marriage, kinda grumpy Joel (but he is just a tired parent), Sarah and Ellie are Joel’s and your biological kids, soft Tommy, best uncle Tommy, Maria and Tommy are married, Benji is also mentioned, brotherly love and teasing.

A/N: Hello, kind people! First of all, thank you so much for the love you showed my first fic, Normal people - it truly means the world to me!🥹 This short and sweet fic was inspired by the toy microphone I found in the box of my old stuff. I assume that I drove my parents insane with that, and I can easily imagine Joel going through something similar. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Dividers credit: @/saradika-graphics

Joel and you sat on a brown leather couch in your living room in complete silence. Your knees are touching, and you are just staring silently in front of you. Both of you are exhausted from today's events, and having put the girls to bed just moments before, you need to recalibrate your thoughts before doing anything else.

“I’ll kill ‘im,” Joel says while laying his head onto the couch and sinking into it deeper.

“I’ll let you,” you say, half chuckling, closing your eyes and moving to rest your head on his shoulder.

“That fucker,” Joel whispers more to himself as he is angling his body to embrace you. 

After a long, silent moment, all that can be heard is Joel's and your snoring, which you will deny if ever brought up as you fall asleep on the couch.

Earlier today, Tommy and Maria came to visit you. You were so happy because you hadn't had a nice family day since Maria’s birthday. Tommy practically ran from the truck and into the house, beaming, holding two bags - one for Sarah and one for Ellie. Maria came in after him, laughing at her husband's antics. After greeting each other, you tugged Maria into the kitchen to show her your first successful sourdough bread that was baking slowly in the oven while Joel and Tommy sat in the living room. As he sat down, Joel eyed the bags suspiciously. 

“Whatcha got in them bags?”

“Just a lil surprise for my nieces,” Tommy said proudly, grinning from ear to ear.

“What’s the occasion? It sure ain’t their birthdays,” Joel raised his brow and looked over his brother's face.

Tommy scoffed, “Can’t a man spoil his girls ‘cause he loves ‘em? What are you now, the damn gift police?”

Joel rolled his eyes and was just about to give him a piece of his mind when girls came downstairs giggling and screaming, “Uncle Tommy!”

Both girls threw themselves on him, hugging him tightly. He hugged them back, just as tight, one arm around each of them.

“My darlin’ girls,” Tommy said, looking over both of their small faces. They hadn’t noticed the bags yet because Maria and you entered the living room.

“Aunt Maria,” Sarah first yelled, and Ellie followed after her, both hugging her before she had time to crouch down on their level. 

Maria laughed while being attacked by small hands. “I missed you, too, girls,” she said fondly.

You and Joel watched the exchange quietly with so much love for your small family. You love Maria and Tommy so much. Both are such good, hardworking, honest people, and you were grateful that your girls have people like that around them growing up.

Joel looked at you and motioned for you to sit beside him, so you plopped yourself on the armrest of the old armchair while Maria sat opposite off you on the couch next to Tommy. 

Girls' attention was now on you and Joel, already climbing to squish themselves on that same poor armchair. They keep forgetting that they are 6 and 5 and not so small anymore, but that is not stopping them from trying.

“Sarah, Ellie, I got y’all a lil’ somethin’,” said Tommy while reaching for two identical pink bags that he put next to him on the floor. 

They both looked at him with wide smiles and excitement in their eyes. Scrambling over to him, each reached for one bag. Opening the bags, you couldn’t tell who was more excited, them or Tommy. Tommy was trying to contain his excitement by bringing his fists to his mouth and gently biting his hands. Maria chuckled at him while Joel and you were trying to curiously peek into the bags.

Girls gasped as each pulled out a purple, glittery microphone with a big diamond heart glued in the middle of the handle. 

Joel deadpanned as soon as his brain caught up to what he was seeing and turned to you to see dread wash over your face. 

“Y’all like them?” Tommy damn near squealed, eyes darting from Sarah's face to Ellie's, trying to capture all their emotions. 

“YES! YES! YES!” both of them shouted, happily bouncing on their feet.

“Sarah! Now we can sing all Barbie songs!” Ellie said happily.

Sarah nodded excitedly, turning to look at you, “Can we sing now? Please, Mom, please,” she folded her small hands begging you. 

“Uh, sure girls, but I don’t know if we have any batteries left for them,” you said truthfully while Joel gave you a side glance that said you are an angel sent from heaven for thinking that fast on the spot.

It’s not that Joel or you don’t want them to sing, far from that actually, you just don’t want it to be fifteen times louder than necessary, especially after a long workday for both of you.

“Don’t worry, I done put the batteries in and I brought a couple more packs too,” Tommy said happily while pulling two more battery packs from his jeans, still oblivious to the daggers Joel is shooting at him. 

“Oh, that’s just peachy,” Joel said louder than necessary, causing Tommy and Maria to look at him. You lightly slapped his shoulder to remind him to be nice.

Girls were pulling their microphones from the boxes when you said, “What do we say to uncle Tommy and aunt Maria?”

Both of them looked at you and then turned to them and almost at the same time said, “Thank you, uncle Tommy, thank you, aunt Maria.”

“Can we go sing in our room?” Sarah asked. Joel nodded, and they giggled as they ran upstairs, and you almost immediately heard happy singing-screaming into the microphones. 

Joel's mouth betrayed him with a small smile before he turned to his brother, who was also smiling fondly. 

“Boy, have you lost your damn mind?” Joel huffed, crossing his arms across his chest and staring at Tommy.

You and Maria silently looked at each other, then at your husbands.

“What?” Tommy asked, genuinely confused.

“You got any idea what you just done? You handed ‘em a weapon - for our ears,” Joel said while uncrossing his arms and running one hand over his face.

Tommy sat there dumbfounded, still not realising what was wrong. He scratched the back of his neck while he spoke, “Well, you said they’re all into them Barbie songs, movies and whatnot…so when I saw them mics at the store, it made me think of ‘em. I love them girls, just wanted to see ‘em smile, is all.”

Joel sighed and looked over at Maria, who immediately put her hands up, smiling, “You know how he is when he sets his mind on something. There’s no changing it.”

“Yes, I know. Sounds like someone I know, too,” you said sarcastically, looking at Joel.

He just rolled his eyes at you while sighing again, he couldn’t be mad at his younger brother. Especially not for loving on his babies like they were his own. He actually couldn’t ask for a better brother, but he would never tell him that, at least not straightforwardly.  

“Sorry ’bout that, I sure do appreciate it, and as long as they’re happy, that’s all that really matters,” Joel said more relaxed now, “you just ain’t gonna realize what you done till y’all become parents yourselves,” he continued, chuckling under his breath. 

“Well,” Maria said gently, one hand finding Tommy's and the other resting lightly on her invisible bump.

Tommy squeezed her hand and began, “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons we ca-” you cut him off by jumping up from the armrest and borderline yelling, “No way!”

“Yeah, you two are finally getting the uncle and aunt status,” Maria said, teary-eyed. 

You quickly crossed the room to her, hugging her just as she stood up and whispering through your tears, “Congratulations! I'm so happy for both of you!”

Joel stood up and embraced Tommy in a thigh hug while clapping his shoulder, “Congrats brother, you are so in over your head now,” he said jokingly.

You moved to hug Tommy while Joel hugged Maria, both of you saying your congrats once again.

“Oh shit, my bread,” you remembered as you ran into the kitchen just in time to pull out a golden brown loaf of bread from the oven.

The three of them laughed at you from the living room while you yelled from the kitchen, “Everything is fine, the bread is okay.”

You came back to the living room after letting the bread rest before dinner. All four of you fell into conversation about work, kids, birth, and everything in between while the girls sang their hearts out in their room upstairs.

After dinner, the girls moved their singing to the living room and continued to sing along to the cartoon on TV long after Tommy and Maria said their goodbyes.

Your head was now pounding, and you could imagine that Joel felt the same.

“Alright ladies, time to call it a day,” Joel said gently while taking microphones from them and turning off the TV.

They whined a little, but you were quicker, “None of that, you are big girls and you know the rules. Come on now, you need to shower and brush your teeth. Who wants to go first?”

Ellie was already half asleep while standing, so you picked her up and told Sarah, “I will be back for you soon.” She nodded while yawning. 

9 years later

You and Joel find yourselves in front of Maria's and Tommy's house. It’s not unusual, as you often swing by after dropping off Sarah at her dance class and Ellie at her kickboxing class, since both are closer to their house than yours. What is unusual is the big box Joel is carrying up the driveway.

As soon as you enter the house, Benji is all over you and the box after you said it was a gift for him.

“Whatcha got in that box?” Tommy asks Joel, once you all settle into the living room.

“Got a lil’ somethin’ for my nephew, is all,” Joel says with a smug grin.

“What’s the occasion?” Tommy says, once again oblivious to the look on his older brother's face.

“Can’t I surprise my boy just ‘cause I love ‘im?” Joel says, pretending to be offended by the question. 

Tommy just looks at him and nods his head, “Course you can, I ain’t never said nothin’ against it.”

Benji opens the box, and his mouth forms an “o” shape from excitement. “Dad, it’s a guitar! Uncle Joel got me a real guitar! Now we can play together!” he yells excitedly. 

Tommy stares at the two of you in shock while you mouth “I’m so sorry” to Maria.

Joel speaks first, “You said he’s always listenin’ when you play, so I figured I’d get him his own and maybe you can teach ‘im a few chords.” 

Tommy is still staring at both of you, but with all puzzle pieces now connected and Jole laughs at the expression on his face while Benji happily plays with the strings of his new guitar.

[eltellsall]

you go on for family…. and she was like family

[elliespuns]

I'm not sorry to say this, but Benji's character in the show made me feel nothing. I looked at his empty portrayal and just couldn't see him as the nephew with whom Joel shares a deep bond. The performance felt forced, offering zero emotional chemistry for me to connect with.

That's why I struggled to engage with asks or theories about him. My imagination is so full of game Joel that it was impossible to fit this new, poorly realized character into that universe.

The 2nd season let me down in so many ways, and this is a disappointment I don't think I'll recover from.

[nonbinairyboi]

Benji and Uncle Grumpy

Digital Watercolors

Thanks to @mandaloriankait and @thedilfdiaries I needed the support on this one

Main Masterlist | The Last of Us Art Masterlist

Art Instagram

[thingsasbarcodes]

The Last of Us 2x02 - Through the Valley

[xsisterofthemoon]

For people who both played/watched the games and then watched the show: you think Tommy having a kid was a good addition or not? Would have you done differently if you had some power to decide about it?

[rugrats05]

I don't want the children of another man to have the eyes of the girl man I won't forget.