Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and their creators.

A/N: I want to thank the people that are reading this story. Thank you for the comments and follow.

Chapter 6: The start of a Friendship

It took Joel and Ellie a few days to finish painting the house. After that, Ellie came to help Joel with a few other things. Joel wanted to finish the back porch, so Ellie wants him to teach her how to cut the wood and do other things. She was not really interested in that kind of work, but it was a good excuse to come since she already finished with the things inside the house. While teaching her how to do a few things, they talk more about themself. Well more Ellie than Joel, but he did tell her a few more things about him and that makes Ellie happy.

Sometimes when Ellie goes back home, her aunt asks her where she went all day. But Ellie only told her that she goes to the lake to pass the time and write. Yeah, she told Joel that her aunt knows about the job and him. But the truth is that she only told her that she was doing some errands for some people and the rest of the time she was on the lake or walking in the forest. Sometimes she told her that she goes to a friend's house to spend some time there.

She was lucky that her aunt believes her, and only tells her to be careful and that she needs to get back to the house before the sunset. Ellie doesn't want to lie to either of them, but if she tells her aunt about Joel, she is never going to let her go there again. She will think that Joel is just a sick man that wants to take advantage of her. She knows that Joel is a good person, he is a little quiet and sometimes seems sad, but she knows that he is never going to do anything to her.

When Ellie is not with Joel, she stays in her room most of her time after she does the things in her house. When she is alone in the house, Ellie writes in her diary things that happen during the day. But after spending too much time with Joel, she noticed that she is writing a lot about him. Being with him somehow makes her happy and not so lonely. She doesn't care about the fact that he is way older than her because when she is with him it makes things look better for her. She doesn't know why, but somehow Joel makes her feel better.

( Two weeks later )

"Are you going to tell me where we are going?" asked Joel while he followed Ellie on a path inside the forest.

"Don't worry we're almost there, I think. I always go there from my house, so maybe 5 minutes more," she replied without looking back.

Joel looks around watching his surrender. "Yeah, you said that 10 minutes ago. And you're not the one carrying all these things.

Yesterday Ellie came to Joel's house and as he does not have any job for her, Ellie offered herself to show him a good place to go fishing. So after one hour of talk torturing, he accepted the offer and told her to come the next day and take him there. So today Ellie shows up at his house with a backpack and a fishing rod. After Joel gets ready, they walk out of the house and go into the forest.

"You said that you like fishing and hunting, so you should be enjoying the trip. This place is beautiful and a lot of people come to this place during the summer. I can tell you where all the good places are here. I have been exploring this place for the last 4 years," After that Ellie stopped in front of a big fallen tree. Soon Ellie starts to climb a fallen tree, so that way they can cross to the other side. "You see this tree, it wasn't there last year. We had a big storm here last winter and a lot of trees fell down. Lucky for us this is the only one that blocks this path, so that means that we're close now." says Ellie while she was getting to the top of the fallen tree. Soon she is on the top, Ellie starts looking to the other side. "Yeah, we're close, I can see the lake from here."

Joel stops as soon as he gets in front of the tree. "I don't think I can climb that with all this," Joel started to put a few things down to the ground.

Ellie turned around and looked down at him. "Okay I can help you with that," Ellie got on her knees and bent down to grab some of the things that Joel was carrying. "I don't know why you bring all this stuff, the only thing we need is our fishing rod and bait."

"Yeah, you said that now. But if we're going to spend half a day out here, it is good to bring some food and water," said Joel, passing her one of the bags. "We also need sunblock, bug repellent, and this little back to put the fish we catch."

"Yeah, yeah… just past me, the other bag." as Joel up the bag toward her Ellie had to lean more down and Joel saw her bra through her t-shirt. He quickly turned his head to the side while Ellie grabbed the bag and put it on the top of the tree. "Okay pass me the other things," she said, lowering herself again.

Joel tried not to look at her, it wasn't appropriate for him to see her underwear. But he didn't tell her anything, so she did not feel embarrassed. After Ellie gets the things to the other side Joel climbs the fallen tree and jumps to the other side too. After he picked up all the bags and his rod, they continued walking the path.

A few minutes later they arrive at a broken wood fence and Joel watches how Ellie starts to cross through it. "Hey what are you doing?" he said as soon as he got close to the fence and noticed that it could belong to someone.

Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "I'm crossing the fence, what do you think?"

"You can't do that, this looks like it is someone's property, we can't go in there that will be trespassing." He said with a serious tone.

Ellie laughed a little. "No need to worry, this place has been abandoned for a long time. Nobody lives here anymore."

"Are you sure? Because I don't want to get in trouble or get shot."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You're worried about this after all the things you told me you did when you were a kid? C'mon, nobody even comes to this area. That is why this is one of my favorite places to go when I'm boring," Ellie smiled at him and turned around to continue walking. Joel shook his head, not sure about this, but he started to follow her.

After 10 minutes, they arrived at an abandoned cabin that was close to the lake. The cabin was a little messed up and half covered by trees and weeds. The structure seems to be solid, Joel can see that the painting is almost gone and some walls have holes in them. "Are you sure that no one lives here? Or come to check this place?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I've been coming here since I was 13 and it has been like that as much as I remember. I never see anyone come here or check this place. The old road that comes to this place is all covered now by the forest, you even can't see if you don't know it is there," Ellie walked to the entrance of the old cabin and started to take her backpack off. "We can leave our things inside," she said looking at him. "Don't worry I've been here lots of time, I even sleep in here a few times too."

Joel enters the cabin and walks toward her. He stopped as soon he got closer to her. "Why did you sleep in place? This does not look like a good place to be, especially alone. Well, that is if you come alone or with some friends."

"Joel, I already told you that I don't have any friends… until now. Besides nobody knows about this place. You're the first one that I bring here," Ellie put her backpack on the floor beside broken furniture. The place was almost empty, the few furniture in there we're all broken or damaged by water or for the time there. "C'mon the creek is on the other side of the cabin." Ellie grabbed her fishing rod and walked out of the place and ran fast to the other side.

Joel put his thing on the floor and grabbed his rod too and the small bag for the fish. "I hope that you're right about the fishing here, it's going to be a bad walk all the way here for nothing." He started but Ellie already was out and couldn't hear him.

Ellie gets to the small pier on the back of the cabin and waits for Joel. Soon he gets there and she moves into the small wooden bridge. "I can tell you that this is the best place to fish. As nobody comes here we will cash a few good ones." Ellie walked in the little pier until she got to the end, then she sat down and started to put the bait on the rod.

Joel walks behind her putting the little back on the floor behind Ellie. Then he sat down beside her. "Are you sure you know how to do this?"

"Dude, I been living here for the last 5 years. Of course, I know how to do this," she moved her rod around and threw it to the like. "Now watch and learn… I bet that you never go fishing in Texas."

Joel laughed at that. "Don't even think that Texas is all desert, we have a few lakes and rivers to Y'know."

"Well, what about a little competition? The one that catches the bigger fish... wins. And the loser will clean and cook them?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Joel asked with a smirk on his face.

"You bet I do… and I can sure you that you're going to lose mister," Ellie elbowed him on the side and smiled. Ellie moves the rod line out of the water and waits for him to finish his.

After he finishes with the preparation, both of them lunch the line into the water and waits. After a while, Joel notices how she was enjoying herself. He feels good to see her like that, it was like she never had this kind of fun before. And that makes him feel good too.

After a while, Joel stood up and walked back to the old cabin. When he came back he brought a few sandwiches and juice bottles with him, so they could have some lunch. After they eat Ellie takes out a little book from her back pocket and starts to look at the pages.

Joel looked at her with a curious expression. "What you have there?"

"Oh you're going to love this," she said holding the book on one page. "Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak." She looks at him and giggles. "Did you like that… Oh is more."

Ellie starts to read from the little book. "I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me."

"I have a few jokes about unemployed people, but none of them work" she starts laughing hard now. Joel looks at her, not getting the jokes.

After she stops laughing for a minute, she starts to read another on another page. "Last night, I dreamed I was swimming in an ocean of orange soda. But it was just a Fanta sea" She laughs again. "Did you… get… it. It was a... Fanta… sea…"

Joel smiles a little, but not at the joles, but how Ellie laughs at them. "Are those pun jokes?" Joel finally asked.

After Ellie stops again, she looks at him and answers. "Yep, the best there is," she moved closer to him and showed him the cover of the book that he read. 'The Best Pun joke of 2015' "Here there is another one."

"I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over." She starts to laugh again.

Joel was looking at her, wondering if this was the first time she did this with someone. And after a few minutes, he starts to laugh at the last jokes too. They pass a few hours on that little pier, joking around and catching a few small fish. But in the end, Ellie wins the competition when she catches the bigger fish of the day. It was late afternoon when they decided to call the day and head back to Joel's house. So soon Joel and Ellie walk back into the old cabin. They pick up their things and start walking back.

They talk a little more on the way back. Ellie told him that she hadn't gone to that place to fish in more than a year. And that it was the first time that she brought someone with her.

She told him that she goes there a few times a month just to be alone or read a book. Joel was wondering why she likes to be alone all the time. Sure he likes that too, but he has his reason for that. But why does a girl her age like it that? She was young and full of energy so why does she prefer to pass her time alone. She likes to spend time with him now, even if he doesn't talk much about his past life. That was something he didn't understand, but if she felt happy with that, he is not going to deny that to her. Joel is not really sure why he wants to do that, but deep inside he is starting to like passing time with this girl. After one hour of walking, they finally arrived at Joel's house.

"Soooo... you're going to cook the fish now?" asked Ellie while Joel opened the back door of the house.

Joel looks at the sky for a moment. "Is getting late, so maybe it is better for you to get back home before it gets too dark," says Joel while entering the house. "I can take you if you want, it is not good for you to walk in the forest at this hour."

Ellie smiles on how Joel was getting too protective of her. So soon he was inside she followed him in. "Well, it's not going to be dark any time soon and I'm hungry. Besides you lose the bet, so I want my fried fish now." She says with a mocking tone.

Joel put the bags on the floor and the one with the fish on the kitchen counter. "That will take more than an hour. I bet your aunt is going to be asking where you were all day."

Ellie put her backpack on the couch in the living room, then walked toward the kitchen. "Nahhh, she told me yesterday, that she needs to stay out of town for a few days. So I will be alone at home all weekend," Ellie says while sitting on the stud in front of the counter.

Joel looked at her with a surprising impression. "Your aunt is going to leave you alone all weekend?"

"Yep… She does that sometimes. She said that it was because of her work. But I'm starting to think that she has been spending her time with some guy. I bet she is fuking him right now in a motel or something." She giggled at that.

Joel was surprised to hear her talking about her aunt like that. "Hey! watch you languish, young lady, that is no way to talk. And you should not be saying those things about your aunt are not right and you don't know if it is true."

Ellie roller her. "I don't know, maybe it's true. I asked her once if she was visiting someone out of town. And even if she didn't say she was, she did not deny it either."

"Well, I don't know your aunt, but it is not nice to talk about her like that," Joel looked away, trying not to get a discussion with her. So he grabs one of the fish and starts to get in clean.

Ellie watches Joel while he opens the fish and starts to get his guts out. "I don't like this part, it's so gross."

"Well, it's part of the cooking if you catch your own fish," says Joel putting the fish inside on the sink. You said you were fishing before, so what do you do when you cook it?"

"I don't, I put it in the fridge so my aunt can cook it later. She doesn't like to do that either, so sometimes she gives the fish to one of the neighbors. That is why I haven't been fishing for a while."

Joel starts to use a knife to take out the scale of the fish. "Well, that is too bad. Cooking your own fish is part of the fun," Soon the first fish was ready, Joel moved away and grabbed the other one. The big one that Ellie catches and starts to work on that one. "So you're going to stay alone in your house all weekend?"

Ellie was watching Joel while he put the other fish on the sink and cleaned it. She started to think of the wonderful day she has today. So after some thinking, an idea came to her mind. "Well, if you're so concerned about me being alone at home. Maybe I can stay here until she comes back."

Joel up his head and looked at her. "Are you kidding? You can't stay here."

"Why not? You said that it is not good for me to stay alone at home for a few days. So maybe I can stay here until my aunt comes back."

"I don't think that is going to be a good idea," says Joel while he was putting the fish in a pan.

"Oh, c'mon… I will be quiet and good... please… pretty please!" Ellie leaned forward and put her hand together and put a poppy sad face.

After a few pleading, Joel looks at her. "Ellie that is not right okay, I'm an old man living alone. It is not right for a 16-year-old girl to stay the night in a man's house. Sorry, but I can't let you stay here. Besides what your aunt is going to think if she finds out."

"Nothing, because she doesn't need to know. I can text her and tell her that I will stay at a friend's house… Please, just for tonight?" Ellie put a sad face again.

"Sorry but my answer is still no. Look I will cook the fish so that way you eat something before you go, but after that, I will take you home okay."

Ellie crossed her arm and looked away. "I can't believe you are going to let me sleep alone in my house. After all the things you said. I thought that you care about me, but I can see that you just are the same as the rest of the people here," Ellie stood up and went to the living room.

Joel stops what he is doing and walks toward her. "Look is not that I don't care about you. But you need to understand that if people find out you stay here for the night is going to look bad."

Ellie turns around and looks at him. "I don't care what people are going to think, because we're just friends and we're not doing anything wrong."

Joel doesn't like the idea of letting her sleep alone in her house, even if she said that it is okay. But letting her stay here is not going to be good for him either. "Look, Ellie... I know that we're not doing anything wrong, but people can talk and say things that are going to be bad for both of us. So let me finish the cooking and maybe we can talk about this okay?"

Ellie noodles and goes to sit on the couch. Joel goes back to the kitchen and after he cut some vegetables, he put them in a pot. Then he put the fish on the frying pan and start to cook them.

After that, he goes to the living room and starts the fire on the Cheyney. Ellie just stays there with a sad face. Soon the food was ready, both of them sat on the kitchen counter and ate food. They barely talked while they were eating. After the finish, some thunder started to sound outside.

"What the hell?" Joel stands up and walks toward one of the front windows. Soon he moved the curtains to the side, he saw the heavy rain that was starting to fall.

Ellie stood up and walked to the window and stopped beside him. "I guess I will stay for the night after all," she said with a smile on her face.

Joel closes the curtains and looks at her. "What are you talking about, is just a little water, I can take you back home in my truck." Soon he finished another load of thunder that can be heard outside scaring the shit out of him. "What the fu-?"

"Ohhh, c'mon Joel you're going to take me and let me there alone with this weather? Besides, I'm a little afraid of thunder, so please can I stay here with you? pleaseeee…"

Joel starts to think for a moment. He can see the pleading eyes on Ellie, and even though he thinks this is not a good idea, he can't let her sleep alone there with this rain. "Okay you can stay, but just for tonight… I will take you home in the morning, okay?"

"Yayyyy!" She moved closer to him and hugged him. "Thank you, Joel, you're the best. I promise not to bother you… much. You're not going to regret this I promise."

Joel doesn't know why but he has a bad feeling about this. I hope not. said Joel in his mind.