What we left behind
- Reads 40
- Votes 3
- Parts 1
Ongoing<5 mins
Last published Sun, May 25, 2025
Before the outbreak, Y/N was Sarah's 19-year-old babysitter-bright, grounded, and secretly in love with Joel. Despite the age gap and the risk, they shared quiet nights, stolen touches, and a bond Joel never let himself name. Then the world collapsed. Chaos hit, and they lost each other.
Twenty years later, Joel finds his brother Tommy at a Jackson commune-and with him, Y/N. Alive. Different. Hardened by the world, but somehow softer with Tommy. She'd survived, found stability, and built something with the only piece of Joel she had left.
Joel never says it out loud, but it cuts deep. The past claws at all three of them: old love, new trust, guilt, and the brutal reality that in this world, love is a luxury few can afford-and second chances are almost never clean.
All Rights Reserved
#65
pedropascal
Join the largest storytelling communityGet personalized story recommendations, save your favourites to your library, and comment and vote to grow your community.
You may also like
take on me, joel miller
The world ended, but people didn't. Not entirely. Twenty years after the outbreak, survival has become second nature. But when Althea agrees to help smuggle a girl across the country, everything shifts. There's Joel: quiet, brutal, impossible. The gruff, closed-off man with blood on his hands and grief in his bones. There's Ellie: foul-mouthed and sharp-eyed, with too much riding on her small shoulders. And there's Althea, stuck somewhere between running from her past and crashing headfirst into a future she never dared to want. Love isn't safe. Hope isn't smart. But some things are worth the risk. Because in the end, it's not about what you've lost, but what you're willing to fight for, even when the world seems beyond saving.
Riptide (The Last Of Us x Teenage! Reader)
Completed (✓) •°•°•°•°•°•°•° "I've been caught up in the Riptide," "For too long 'cause it's all I know..." "I've been lettin' this shit slide," "These bad habits, they die too slow..." •°•°•°•°•°•°•° × in which a brave, teenage girl loses her family as she fights for a new one × "I won't let you hurt me anymore...this is where it ends. Right here, right now." Sometimes having a photographic memory is more of a curse then a blessing. •°•°•°•°•°•°•° A/N: I never thought that I'd have to say this but, Ellie and (Y/N)'s relationship is NOT romantic. (If you expect that, don't even bother reading this book unless you are fine with reading something that ISN'T romantic). They have a sisterly bond and nothing more! Thank you and enjoy reading 👍Complete![This Isn't The End [Ellie Williams x Fem!Reader]](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/255725349-256-k139388.jpg)
This Isn't The End [Ellie Williams x Fem!Reader]
-Set during the time frame of The Last of Us 2 but without any spoilers!- You always thought the day your mom was infected would be the hardest day of your life. Never would you have imagined that you'd end up alone in the world. Wandering, surviving. You never stuck around anywhere long, you never joined any groups, never had a reason too. But here in Jackson, things were different and you might just stick around for some reason, or someone. #1 in Ellie Williams on 3.1.2021 !! Thank you all! Completed: 4.3.21 Words: 34,495Complete
The Last Of Us: Part I - Darker Days (Male Reader)
Y/N L/N, an alone 16 year old in the apocalypse, trying to survive a world full of killers, thieves and infected. After losing his parents 4 years ago, the boy went into a place of solitude, avoiding people like the plague, or in their case, spores. But when Y/N arrives to the city of Pittsburgh, he finds an old man and a young girl trying to outrun Hunters. Feeling sorry for them, he decides to help them out. But unknown to him, he'll end up getting more than he thought he would. Y/N will ultimately decide on joining them on their quest to find the Fireflies. Why? He doesn't exactly know, but what he does know, is that these people are different. Perhaps, people he could grow to trust? (Ellie Williams x Male Reader) (I do not own The Last Of US! That right goes to Naughty Dog and their writers)Complete
Joel Miller x Reader
As Joel and Tommy seek shelter from a blizzard, they end up in your area. Not thrilled, but neither hateful towards them, you allow the two strangers to stay. By a twisted joke of fate, you three eventually meet again, facing the same enemy: Abby. She has always been a red flag to you, the cruel past with her has left heavy scars. To her misfortune, she also gains Joel's hate after almost killing Tommy and kidnapping Joel's daughter Ellie. Out of desperation, you two form a kind of agreement, promising that you help him get his Ellie back and in return being allowed to give Abby a taste of her own medicine.Complete
The Last Of Us : Ashes and Wildflowers
After Joel saves Ellie and settles in the walled town of Jackson with his brother Tommy, he thinks he's done with the world - with caring, with hoping, with trusting. His only purpose now is to keep Ellie safe. Love, friendship, connection? That died a long time ago. Enter Alice: 24 years old, stubborn as hell, beautiful as sin, and the older sister of young Dina. With her fierce spirit and softer heart, she's everything Joel has shut himself away from. But Alice doesn't scare easy. She sees the cracks in Joel's armor. And she's not about to give up. In a world where survival is brutal and trust is a risk, their bond grows in the ashes - slow, stubborn, and dangerously alive. Wounded hearts trying to heal. Ashes and Wildflowers is a gripping romance set after the events of The Last of Us Part I, where two broken souls find each other when the world seems already lost.Complete
Even When the World Comes Down (Sequel to Always & Forever)
It's been 20 years since Joel and Beth lost Sarah and it still hasn't gotten any easier. Now with the world at an end on top of dealing with the loss of their daughter, Joel and Beth's relationship has strained and are now living separate lives. Surviving at any cost is what living in this world has come to. The infected have made everyone still alive extremely cautious, humanity is not what it once was and everywhere you look, there is nothing but darkness. With Joel and Beth separated, is there still a chance that the two can find their way back to each other? Could they both find the light in all this darkness? And finally, can they still be always and forever even when the world comes down? *I don't own the characters from 'The Last of Us' video game nor the story line. Beth Logan's story line is all original.Complete
Safe and Sound// Ellie Williams
Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire _______________________________ Tate grew up as a Seraphite. She never questioned her faith, well not out loud anyways. She did her duty and expected to die in the middle of a warzone. After an occurrence she ends up in Jackson where she has to learn about a new world. Here she's safe. After an accident in Jackson, Tate finds herself back into this warzone; but this time, she's on a quest for revenge. #1 elliewilliams 11/08/2020 #2 elliewilliams 09/23/2020 #1 thelastofus 11/20/2020Complete![Darkest Desires [Joel Miller]](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/355017736-256-k722425.jpg)
Darkest Desires [Joel Miller]
When 23 year old Daisy breaks-up with her cheating boyfriend, she has nowhere else to go. When she finds herself in this complicated situation, Sarah invites Daisy to live with her and Joel. But her problems doesnt end there: she has to find a new job and her ex boyfriend doesnt want to leave her alone. And in the end, Daisy and Joel are getting more close with each other... maybe getting closer than they are allowed to...Complete
Dark Paradise - Joel Miller x OC
''If he's a serial killer, then what's the worst That could happen to a girl who's already hurt? I'm already hurt'' Aged 8 when the world fell appart, Chloe had to go through a lot to survive in one of these Quarantine Zone set up by FEDRA. When two men find her while she's escaping her persecutors, more than twenty years later, the life they offer her seems too good to be true. But the safety of Jackson's wall appears to be real, and soon she's getting attached to people around here. And to him. ¤This is a JoelxOC story, starting in summer 2035. There will be spoiler from TLOU2, so if you haven't played it, I don't recommend to read this. ¤Trigger warning are reported at the beginning of each chapter, so you can skip them. It includes : past abusive relationship, mention of rape (non-descriptive), rude language, drug allusion, suicide allusion. But stay around, because there is also a lot of fluff and tenderness, and some smut. /!\ Age gap, OC is ~30, because we all have daddy issues for Joel and I don't even care anymore.Complete
The world ended, but people didn't. Not entirely. Twenty years after the outbreak, survival has become second nature. But when Althea agrees to help smuggle a girl across the country, everything shifts. There's Joel: quiet, brutal, impossible. The gruff, closed-off man with blood on his hands and grief in his bones. There's Ellie: foul-mouthed and sharp-eyed, with too much riding on her small shoulders. And there's Althea, stuck somewhere between running from her past and crashing headfirst into a future she never dared to want. Love isn't safe. Hope isn't smart. But some things are worth the risk. Because in the end, it's not about what you've lost, but what you're willing to fight for, even when the world seems beyond saving.
More detailsContent Guidelines