Tess/Joel Month 2025

[tessjoelmonth2025]

Here is a list of all the fics and art for Tess/Joel Month 2025. I can not say enough how happy I was to do this and to see all the fantastic fics written for this event. If you have fics or art you still want to contribute, please do so; no need to worry that it's no longer during the challenge. Just link this page @tessjoelmonth2025 or add tess joel month 2025 to the tags, and I will reblog it.

Here also is the link to the AO3 collection.

Week 1: First Impressions, Home Sweet Home, Only One Bed

X.Y.U. by @hypnotisedfireflies - A fresh meeting for Joel and Tess, a different way things might’ve gone down. - Mature

Said the waves to the sand by @finnelfin - A girl and a werewolf meet on the road. Part of the The beast you've made of me series.

getting used to by @tloulily2007 - Tess and Joel meet on the road, it's a bit rocky at first. - Mature

Moíra - μοῖρα by @bumblepony - Tess and Joel meet while going to night school and become friends. On the night of their final class, they cross some lines and end up in bed together. It wasn't supposed to mean anything, but then fate seems to have other plans for them. - Mature

Week 2: Revenge, An Unlikely Place to Spend the Night, Good Days/Bad Days

you make me better by @tloulily2007 - a glimpse into a bad and a good day between Tess and Joel. - Mature

After the Zero Hour by @hypnotisedfireflies - After a successful trade with Bill and Frank, Tess and Joel have serious trouble getting back into the QZ. - Mature

Mortified by Praises by @bumblepony - Joel is a fallen knight, fighting for gold instead of honor, and Tess is a squire, hiding from a storied past. - Mature

Week 3: Sampling the Merchandise, Touch/Touch Starved, Call Off Your Dog

All Primal Screams (and quick relief) by @messitydepressity - Tess makes the belated realization that she's harboring a tiny fugitive (Ellie) and decides that it's best if Joel doesn't know (Outbreak compliant, takes place within Boston QZ) - Mature

with the touch of your hand by @tloulily2007 - Even if it wasn’t sex, something as simple as lying in bed together or an innocent brush of their hands. It felt so natural but so foreign all at once. - Mature

I need my empty halls to echo with grand self-mythology by @consultingzoologist - Trans Tess, before and after the end of the world - Mature

X.Y.U. by @hypnotisedfireflies - A fresh meeting for Joel and Tess, a different way things might’ve gone down. - Mature

Week 4: Canon Divergence, Making Amends, Secret Language/Love Language

All Primal Screams (and quick relief) by @messitydepressity - Tess makes the belated realization that she's harboring a tiny fugitive (Ellie) and decides that it's best if Joel doesn't know (Outbreak compliant, takes place within Boston QZ) - Mature

Roulette by @hypnotisedfireflies - Joel is a mess and everything is miserable. - Mature

Bonus: Damage, Taking Orders, In the Dark

After the Zero Hour by @hypnotisedfireflies - The Kraken is awake and with Tess injured, it's up to Joel (and his magic piss) to find a way back into the Boston Quarantine Zone. - Mature

Random: Fics with all, or none of the prompts

Rewrite Our History by @lostgirlslikeus - A Tessjoel Second Chance AU (no cordyceps)

Fixed on Your Hand of Gold by @childofthebarricadewrites - A story about grief, and also how hard it is to get a good curly hair haircut.

In This Burning House by @messitydepressity - Firefighter Joel and Preemie Ellie take two? With a heavy dose of Tess and Joel being horny as hell for one another. - Mature

Tess/Joel Fanart & Fanedits

Tess/Joel from A Soul For Sale Or Rent by @kenobiwanx

QZ Chat by @spoiledmilks

In Jackson by @looshelle

Tarot by @miranhas-art

Firefighters by @be-an-echo

Polaris by @miranhas-art

Predestined by @verkomy

Touch/Touch Starved by @catherine-brown-24

Tess/Joel Fanedit by @sirsealery

[hypnotisedfireflies]

70s Tess and Joel in Interstellar Overdrive*, a bodyguard/boss AU

@kenobiwanx weaving magic! My jaw is still on the FLOOR. (Just like them, I guess.)

I mean ... capturing the likenesses aside (and the softness of their expressions, omggg) look at that cool 1970s aesthetic! The colours are perfect, the design features are perfect and the vibe is spot on. This is so gorgeous, and I'm constantly awed by your skill. Thank you!!

And thank you @bumblepony, who commissioned this lovely piece. Your kindness is unfailing, and I'm so thrilled. Thank you so much, lovely! xxx

*I mean technically, it's from Zenith and Nadir, but it belongs in the IO universe, so.

[elialys]

Chapter 18 of my Tess & Ellie AU is up!

*** READ ON AO3 ***

(yes, it's been nearly two years since my last update, what's your point? 😂)

That kind of independence appeals to the side of Ellie that has never known such freedom, brought up as she was in a FEDRA school. She wouldn’t trade what she has in exchange for her own ‘studio’, though. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but she realizes this is as close to a home as she’s ever had. Excited at the mere thought of being invited like that by Dina, Ellie had asked Tess, who’d let her go without any fuss. All she said was ‘have fun’ and ‘hydrate’, indicating she knew exactly what would be going on, and apparently not giving a fuck. It quickly dawned on Ellie that the evening wasn’t going to be...easy, though. Enjoyable? Sure. But not easy. She knows everyone who’s been invited. Jesse, Cat, and Logan, all of them around Dina’s age. As in, all older than Ellie, even just by six months, like Cat. Still, Ellie’s the youngest. And she’s fucking out of the loop. Whatever version of ‘group socializing’ she’s had at school, it’s nothing like this. It doesn’t help that back then, Ellie didn’t like most people, and most people didn’t like her. Except for Riley, but she’s trying hard not to think about that too often. She knows this isn’t even that special. Five teens watching a derelict movie, laughing louder and louder as that bottle of booze gets passed around. Too loud, if you ask her. Ever since Ellie’s been paired up with Dina, she’s handled those peer situations fairly well. Dina always acted like a buffer, helping her feel more at ease. Unfortunately, there’s been a thing going on between Dina and Jesse, tonight. A thing that is getting more and more obvious as they both get more drunk. A thing that looks a lot like flirting, the consensual kind of flirting.

*** READ ON AO3 ***

[tessjoelmonth2025]

I know this is not for Tess/Joel Month, but I'm still going to share it here because it's amazing.

[sirsealery]

@tessjoelmonth2025

[bobbybriggs]

oops, right?

TESS SERVOPOULOS & JOEL MILLER The Last of Us : 01.02 — “Infected”

[messitydepressity]

In This Burning House: Chapter 5 - Hold You Tight

The final little bit of @tessjoelmonth2025 and while I tried, there is no prompt fulfillment (I’m sorry 😭)

Saying goodbye to both baby Ellie fics in one month feels criminal tbh, but thanks for putting up with my constant bs 🖤

Shoutout to @bumblepony for organizing all of this and being a constant in this fandom.

You’re the best 🫶🏻

[childofthebarricadewrites]

It's finally done!

Fixed on Your Hand of Gold

Rushed this to get it in by the end of @tessjoelmonth2025 so will probably revisit and review at some point. Anyway please enjoy the snip below, whole story on AO3.

Thank you so much to @bumblepony for organising this month and to everyone who's written for it, it's been a joy!!

“Joel,” Maria said across the Monopoly board. They were lounging around the living room on Miller Family Game Night, the fire burning cheerily in the fireplace, Baby Benji asleep on Joel’s chest. 

“Hm?” he grunted, half-asleep. Ellie owned just about every square and had a stack of cash almost as tall as her. Joel was clutching his last six dollars in the hand not stationed on Benji’s back, absently rubbing circles with his thumb to keep him asleep. Tommy was already bankrupt and had gone to the kitchen for more whiskey. 

“D’you want me to cut your hair? You may not be able to tell because of Tommy’s… preferences, but I can do boys too,” she said, a little tentatively. They were still walking on thin ice around each other, although Benji had provided an adorable little buffer between them, softening Joel and defrosting Maria slightly. 

Maria caught, too late, Tommy shaking his head at her from the doorway to the kitchen, his sweet, dark eyes wide and worried. 

“It’s that bad, huh?” Joel said gruffly, self-consciously running his hand through his hair, his eyes fixed on the curls on Benji’s head. “I…” he cleared his throat and looked at Tommy for help. 

“Tess cuts our hair,” Tommy blurted out, pushing a glass of whiskey into Joel’s hand as he came around the couch. 

Maria blinked at them for a moment, thinking back to literally three days prior when she’d given Tommy a trim. And the dozen or so times before that. 

“Used to,” Tommy clarified, sitting down. “She always cut our hair. It’s… her job.”

Joel took a swig of his drink and sighed, not quite able to look at Maria or Ellie yet. 

“I’m so sorry, Joel,” Maria said quietly. 

His face tightened and he shook his head. “S’okay. I’ll think about it.”

[lostgirlslikeus]

Rewrite Our History

Chapter 4

New chapter is up! Really think I need to consider making a header or something. Might work on that since I’m on a break. Anyway, hope everyone’s having a great week and has a great Thanksgiving if they celebrate. 💛

Henry lifts his shoulders. "How'd you two meet?"

"Teaching." Henry nods and waves his hand as if this should be obvious. Go on. "At Barrington. She got her first proper teaching job there just a few years after I started. Made quite the stir when we started seeing each other."

He remembers well, in fact, that it had only taken a few weeks of them sleeping together for everyone around them to pick up on the change. Students would catch them having a perfectly professional conversation in the middle of the hallway and start whistling. Fellow teachers, Frank included, would give them knowing looks when they would purposefully try to sit apart from one another at faculty meetings.

Henry offers an amused smirk. "I bet it did. Although, I always thought it was weird to think about my teachers dating when I was in school."

"You'd think our students would think it was weird, too, but they kept askin' when we were gettin' married." He doesn't mention that it took Tess almost two years to agree to that.

"Nosy as hell, right?" Henry chuckles. Then he shakes his head. "But, man, what did you see in her? I mean, yeah, she's attractive, but she's been up your ass since you got here."

"She wasn't this…" he considers the adjective he wants to use. "Let's just say she didn't have any reasons to hate me."

"What'd you do to make her hate you?"

Read on AO3

[tessjoelmonth2025]

Yes yes yes!!!

[hypnotisedfireflies]

“They were my pills, too. If you were anyone else …”

“You’d what?”

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “I’d send you after them.”

He returned the smile, but it was awash with the guilt he’d always helplessly, hopelessly, love more than her. Joel wanted her angry and unforgiving. It sustained him. Tess knew what it was to want to hurt at the hands of the one she loved most. They gave one another everything. Most of the time, it wasn’t pretty. But that was what they were.

“Next time – ”

“You can’t lie to me,” she swiftly countered. “I’ll take the rest Joel. But not that.”

A one-shot for @tessjoelmonth2025 , covering the prompt 'Making Amends.' On AO3.

[messitydepressity]

All Primal Screams (and quick relief): Chapter Four - Sneak Us Through the Rivers

Final chapter for the baby mama Tess AU that was supposed to be a one-shot that turned into a multi-chap fic before I could stop it.

Prompt fulfillment for @tessjoelmonth2025 : Love language & Call of your dog.

Huge shout-out to @bumblepony for putting this whole shebang together! (Tess/Joel month)

[earstwo]

“I made a promise to Tess.”

[messitydepressity]

In This Burning House: Chapter Four - Until This Dream is Gone

Week four of @tessjoelmonth2025 Prompt fulfillments: Love Language/Secret Language, Damage, Taking Orders (vague as hell tbh), & Making Amends.

One more chapter to go!

[hypnotisedfireflies]

"Just to clear the air,” Tess began.

Joel paused. He glanced at Tess, who stood in profile to him with her eyes on the woods. She was still wearing his jacket. Her hands were deep in the pockets. Seeing her in it made Joel feel a certain way. He hadn’t insisted she keep it as a means of keeping her close; she wasn’t the kind of girl who could be played like that. But she was the kind of girl who liked to flirt. Joel could tolerate being a little cold if her bones were kept warm. It wasn’t much, but it was all he could give her.

Well.

Almost all.

He went back to snapping twigs and feeding them to the fire.

“I’m glad we did that.”

Final chapter on AO3.

[messitydepressity]

A soft glimpse at Tess and Ellie (right before things go wrong) from Burning House for @tessjoelmonth2025

Chapter four will be up by Saturday!

And then Tommy shows up covered in ash and rains on her parade. (not his fault, tho.)

[ayeleye]

Tess was there the whole time, actually.

[consultingzoologist]

TessJoelMonth 2025: Touch/touch starved

First of all, thank you @tessjoelmonth2025 for organising this month! Seeing all the art and fics has been a delight and I cannot wait to catch up with everything!

I started this fic for the touch/touch starved prompt and then got so excited i uploaded it straight away. I feel Tess took control of this fic and it just poured out of me.

Trans Tess, before and after the end of the world

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

(And its companion piece, written way before hand but they found each other anyway, from Joel's pov)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[tessjoelmonth2025]

I am so excited to read these again!

[catherine-brown-24]

Touch/touch starved

[tessjoelmonth2025]

This is lovely!