➣STAB WOUNDS AND A SOMEWHAT GREATFUL PAITENT✓
Joel Miller x platonic! Reader | Ellie Williams x platonic! Reader
summary: after joel gets stabbed back at the university, it's up to you and ellie to try and fix him back together. but what if the actual thing that needs to be fixed is you and joels relationship?
cautions: heavy mentions of blood and injury, some cursing, lowercased words, somewhat bad writing, maybe some spoilers, description based writing, and could be ooc actions/dialogue, angst angst angst, some humor to cover up the big bulge of angst, and I wonder if anyone really reads this section of my writings.
word count: 1,889 words | 9,982 characters.
authors note: f uppercase words. it's been a while since I've watched tlou on hbomax so give me a break will ya? some of it may be inaccurate but I don't think it will kill you. also sorry for being gone for so long lol. if this fic was good, call it my redemption, if it was trash...call it a filler.
prompts: "You deserve a day off. Please, just take it." @creativepromptsforwriting
m.list | request | rules ☆
since joel got stabbed it seemed like everything started to slow down. you and ellie had managed to find an empty house in an abandoned neighborhood after throughly making sure that you were not being followed. after quickly going each floor making sure there weren't any clickers, you settle joel down on a dirty cot in the basement.
ellie looks at you after placing a ragged blanket on the unconscious man, "we need to clean him up."
glancing back at her, you kneel down to his level to peel back the blanket. the flannel he was wearing had rips in multiple places, a huge gap in the spot where he was stabbed. the dried up blood on the fabric had started to crust making the shirt stick to his skin. moving it gently to not hurt him, you take note that blood had no longer flowed from the wound, but there was a thick layer of something over it.
sighing, you place the shirt back and spare ellie a look, "i need you to do me a favor," ellie nods quickly, "i need you to try and find something to help clean up the wound. it most likely needs to be stitched up. i know it's a stretch and everything might be gone but we need to fix it up."
ellie agrees quietly and goes to the staircase leading to the main floor, but hesitates and retreats, "what...am i looking for exactly?"
you grab your discarded bag from next to joel's head where you left it when you first came in and start to rummage through it. your fingers hopefully dance around the limited items in hopes to find him something to eat until you can go out and hunt, "um," you sniffle, taking notice of the breathe in the frigid air, "a needle, scissors, chopsticks, i mean anything will work as long as it's sharp. oh! and some string. just bring me whatever you can find and i'll work with it."
ellie nods and dashes up the stairs, almost tripping on the last step. you roll your eyes and turn your attention back to joel who was still fast asleep. it had been a long time since any of you had the time to stop and rest so you decided it was better to let him replenish his energy rather than run on empty.
you let your fingers softly caress the crown of his head and sigh, grim and healing scars liter his forehead and cheeks, you lightly scratch at the dirt but give up after seeing it wouldn't go without a wash.
underneath your fingers joel shifts underneath the blanket, you retract and replace your hand on his cheek, he groans with every movement. face scrunching, tugging at the pain in his body.
you frantically look towards the stairs, wishing that ellie would hurry up just a little more. "ellie, quickly!" from upstairs a distance voice shouts "i'm coming!" followed by a hollow thud.
you internally cringe. there was a metal canteen tied loosely on the side of your belt loop with a shoe string, you swiftly untie the knot and spare some drips of water on a ripped cloth you found in your sack and drag it lightly above the grays in his eyebrows. a sudden and firm grip finds its way to your wrist, halting your movement. you look down and see joel now wide awake and alert, his bleak eyes staring back at yours.
"where's ellie?" a hiss comes after. unfazed, you remove his hand and drop it to his chest, continuing with the cleaning.
"good morning to you to sunshine," your voice monotone with a unamused smirk, he makes a taunting noise in return as if saying 'how funny', "she's upstairs getting some supplies," you ring out the cloth and dab the dry parts on his now clean forehead, "speaking of which- ellie!"
as if your voice commanded her, she stumbles down the stairs with an arm full of items, but stops short when she sees joel eying you down, “i’m here-! holy shit he's awake."
"yeah," you grumble dropping the cloth on your lap, "come say hi."
she runs over, not before dropping everything in your laps without a second look, and rushes to the old mans side. she takes a good look at his face, moving it around with her hands. a worried glint passes over her face as her eyebrows furrow, then as quickly as it came anger replaces and she weakly slaps him across the face. you suppress a snicker. "don't ever do that again! you know how scared we were?! we had to haul your big ass on top of callus and y/n was worried and frantically looking for a place for you to recover-" joel glances at you, you avoid eye contact, "and don't even get me started about how much blood you lost, we thought you were going to-"
you quickly cut ellie off with a nervous laugh, noticing the quick breaths coming from joels chest, if he didn't die from the infection then he was certainly going to die of high blood pressure, "oh-kay! that's enough from you, how about you go over there and read one of your comics while i fix him up?" you stand up and grasp ellie by her shoulders and start pushing her to a snug corner in the basement.
"but-!" she starts but you lightly shove her.
"that wasn't a choice, go!" you give her one last exasperated shove and turn back towards joel who was struggling to get up. "no!" you shove him back down, keeping a firm hand on his shoulder. in return he gives your hand a bewildered look, "you are hurt, you need to be patched up, or you will die. if you ever try to get up again i assure you that the infection isn't going to be the thing to kill you, you understand me?"
joel shrinks in his place and stares over your face, after a minute he reluctantly nods and his body relaxes. "thank you." a relived sigh leaves your lips, grateful that you don't have to fight him anymore.
you give a look over the items ellie gave you and- god bless, in the pile were a small needle, string, and a small bottle of jack daniels, along with a surprisingly clean dish towel. you give a quick glance at joel to see him looking at you already with a intrigued squint. "don't look at me like that." you mummer. taking the needle you dip it in the bottle of alcohol and place it on the clean rag and move everything to the side where the wound was.
after threading the string through the small loop in the needle, you take the rag and splash the liquor on it. before you could place it on the floor joel stops you and motions towards the bottle, "gimme it."
confused, you slowly had over the drink and he swipes it, chugging half the bottle down. deadpanned, you snatch it back and place it on the floor, "joel."
"what? if you were in my position you'd want to be drunk too."
"why?" you question, pulling the blanket down and pulling his shirt up. "you don't trust me?"
"no."
"remember your life is in my hands." you place you hand just above the wound and look towards him with the needle in the other. grimacing, you press down on his stomach, "brace yourself."
after a couple hours of white knuckles, gritted teeth, incoherent sorries and gut wrenching pain, you had finally finished the stitches. halfway through ellie had taken her spot across from you, occasionally patting joel's temples free of sweat with the rag you abandoned.
without looking at her, you reach out your hand and motion towards the canteen on the floor. getting the memo, she hands it to you and grasps the back of joels head gently, lifting it up for you to better access his face. "joel." you hum quietly, raising the canteen to his lips, pulling at the bottom one, "open up, you need to drink something."
he emits a grunting noise of protest but doesn't fight it when he feels the cool water fill his dry mouth. he was half asleep, the pain from earlier wearing him out, draining him of any energy he gathered form when he passed out before.
he opens his mouth but a hoarse noise replaces any words he tries to form. you give him some more water. he coughs and wets his lips, looking to you, then ellie, then you again. "d...did you search the area?" his voice slightly cracks.
you roll your eyes and drop the canteen, "what do you think i am? a fucking noob? of course i searched the goddamn area."
"did you search the house."
you give him a blank stare, "ellie did."
"did you-"
"why do you doubt me so much?" you wouldn't call your tone annoyed, maybe disappointed, ellie noticed a hint of sorrow, "i mean i got you this far, ellie's not dead, i'm not dead, you're not dead so I honestly don't see what the issue is. do you have something against me?" your voice pitches an octave up like someone about to cry, though there is not a tear in your eyes.
joels face scrunches up, as if he was taken aback and grunts.
ellie abruptly stands and dusts off her pants, "well i'm going to go," she motions to the two of you, "i don't know what the fuck is going on but i don't want any part of it. so i'll be in my corner reading and trying not to cringe."
you watch as she walks off, then look back towards joel with an annoyed glint in your eyes. after a moment of just staring at each other you shake your head towards him, "so?"
he says nothing, and you have to look away. you been with ellie and joel since loosing tess, and that was months ago. after being through everything with joel it wouldn't kill him to be a little kinder. hell you just saved his life and all he does is just stare at you. a wave of emotions comes over you without any caution and you have to cover up an aggressive sob with a cough. "whatever," you go to stand, kicking the items out the way, pushing the almost empty canteen of water towards him. "you've just been through hell, so you deserve a day off. please, just take it."
you over to ellie who was deep in her comic, "ellie, you have a gun right?" she looks up at you, her lips between her teeth and nods, "if he tries to get up shoot him."
her body shakes from her quiet giggle and mumbles nice. you walk to the wooden staircase and pick up the shotgun you left when you first came in. "i’m going hunting, i can imagine we're all hungry."
before you walk up the stairs you spare joel a glance, to find him staring back at you. his eyes furrowed, a deep frown prominent on his lips, his eyes watching you with despair. please don't go, they say but only if you could read eyes.
you sigh and walk out the door.













