Added To The Chapter Count Again, Because This Story Keeps Demanding More Of Me, Oop.

Added to the chapter count again, because this story keeps demanding more of me, oop.

Anyway, chapter 17 of As Long as You Follow is up. ♥️ This fic is coming to a close, I promise.

(Art by @mote-of-star-dust.)

♥️

Hi! do you have a fic recs tag? or fave TLOU fics you'd want to shout out?

Hey!

I don't have a tag or anything, but I have lots of thoughts and links!!

My most favorite TLOU fic is on the road again (there i go) by @lauronk. (Like, lives rent-free in my head just about as much as bookshop does.)

Fun fact: bus!Tommy and bookshop!Tommy are the same Tommy. He loves having Joel back in his life, but it's really fucking confusing to have two Joels to keep track of at any given time. He spends his time desperately trying to keep bus!Joel and bus!Ellie from crossing paths with bookshop!Joel and bookshop!Ellie. He almost failed when they crossed paths in Union Station (Washington D.C.), but thankfully a crisis was averted because bookshop!Ellie lost sight of bus!Joel. (@lauronk, please feel free to correct me if I've gotten it wrong!!!)

I can give you an absurdly long list of TLOU writers that I love:

@ameerawrites - https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ameerawrites

@barlowstreet - https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarlowGirl/

@becomethesun - https://archiveofourown.org/users/becomethesun

@boopernatural - https://archiveofourown.org/users/flannelfeelings

@bumblepony - https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bumblepony

@captainredspade - https://archiveofourown.org/users/CodenameArtemis/pseuds/captainredspade

@cardigains - https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardigains

@chronicallyonlinewriter - https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nandorluna

ciaconnaa (doesn't have tumblr) - https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciaconnaa

@dancingonmoonbeams - https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingonmoonbeams

@eedsknees - https://archiveofourown.org/users/eedsknees

@femmefacetious - https://archiveofourown.org/users/femmefacetious

@flowerpetvls - https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerpetvls

@heroes-fading - https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluestoplights

@howtotrainyourdoofus - https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoli_boli

@hypnotisedfireflies - https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arien

@inherstars - https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABeckoningCat

@jessahmewren - https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessahmewren

@lauronk - https://archiveofourown.org/users/lkay09

@marceltheshellwithflipflopson - https://archiveofourown.org/users/marceltheshellwithflipflopson/

@march-flowerr - https://archiveofourown.org/users/marchflower

@mirananananan - https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirananananan

@mote-of-star-dust - https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mote_of_dust

@oliviassunrise - https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostgirlslikeus

@probssomethingorother - https://archiveofourown.org/users/probsdeleteltr

@renegadeknight - https://archiveofourown.org/users/renegade_knight

@sixhours - https://archiveofourown.org/users/6hoursgirl/pseuds/6hoursgirl

@stillboldlygoing - https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillboldlygoing/pseuds/stillboldlygoing

@toointojoelmiller - https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toointojoelmiller/pseuds/Toointojoelmiller

If the above isn't enough.... well, I guess check out my AO3 bookmarks!

Benny & Joel

I am absolutely dying over this piece of art that the wonderful @bumblepony surprised me with, commissioned from the amazingly talented @miranhas-art (who has made some of my favorite Pedro character art on Tumblr). Based on a scene from chapter 15 of As Long as You Follow:

Sometimes these evenings were a little different. Sometimes wine flowed a little more generously (for her) while familiar music played from Alexei’s CD player. He danced with her now whenever she asked him to, without protest, because he didn’t have it left in him to ever again deny her anything that he had the power to give. She was at her happiest when he twirled her slowly around the living room, and there was something nostalgic about these steps – something familiar that pulsed under his skin when she laughed as he lifted her arm and carefully spun her, something so free about how she always danced barefoot, her hair swaying back and forth against her back, something special about the way she always kissed him first, because even when he led their steps, she led everything else –

– something exciting about the afternoon where Ellie left a little earlier than usual, sunlight still spearing through the tall living room windows while Lindsey Buckingham crooned through the stereo speakers and Benny twirled through the motes of dust lazily, a glass of wine in one hand, her hair glittering in the light. She and Ellie had gone to the beach earlier in the day when he’d been occupied with fixing the balcony door, and she’d donned another donated dress for the occasion; a cascade of white with splashes of emerald leaves and blossoms, the skirt loose and flowing, and when she danced, a bittersweet thought struck Joel: that this was probably the closest he would ever get to seeing her in anything that even remotely resembled a wedding gown.

Sunburn kissed her shoulders with a rosy glow, a blush mirroring the flush on her cheeks, and when she beckoned for him to join her, curling two fingers in and out as she swayed, he did so with no hesitation, drawn to her like a moth to a flame – though he took her hand, first, spun her around slowly, and then wrapped her up against him from behind, all the better to trail his lips down her neck and over her shoulder, leaving fleeting white marks against her heated and red skin. And there was just something about this that felt different even when it was achingly familiar; there was a rawness to it, an uninhibited surrender in the way she tilted her head back with a longing sigh, finding rest against his shoulder, the way she tipped the wine to her lips and drank long sips, then held it up so he could do the same.

I put these two through so much - and I love that when the opportunity arises, people choose to show them in their better, happier moments. ♥️

Pretty sure his exact response would be:

Benny bullies Joel into letting her get chickens.

Their names are Stevie Chicks, Atilla the Hen, Chickadee, and Henrietta.

She tells him this very matter-of-factly one morning, and he just looks at her like

That's it, that's the post.

Enjoy this fic, that was a collaborative effort between about 15 different TLoU fanfic writers. If you can guess which part I wrote...idk, you get a cookie, or something. ♥️

Hi Zee!

I am spreading the love 💛

tag/send this to the people you are grateful for on this site. keep the game going, make someone’s day 🌈💖

^ You and me right now, just so you know.