Requested by superpotteramerica: Joel is very protective over Y/N, as they're basically father and daughter. Y/N, Joel and Ellie are trying to get to Wyoming when they find an injured boy. Joel helps him to recover and Y/N and the boy start taking a liking to each other. Joel doesn't like this, but he talks about it with both the boy and Y/N, and after this, gives them his blessing.

"I'm going."

"Like hell you are." Joel scoffed in return, his eyes rolling at me as I continued to shove my stuff into my backpack, just like my adopted dad had been doing only minutes earlier.

"Why the fuck not?" I spat as I turned to face him.

"Don't swear at me-."

"Why not?" I pushed. Joel narrowed his eyes at me.

"Y/N, you're not a stupid kid-."

"Why thank you." I responded sarcastically.

"For fucks' sake, Y/N. You're not a stupid kid, you know what's out there. So, no, you're not coming." He continued adamantly as he crossed his arms over his chest. I clenched my jaw at him, Joel simply shrugging and raising an eyebrow at me.

"I'm going."

"No, you're not."

"I'm twenty, Joel, I'm an adult-."

"And I'm not prepared to lose another daughter." He suddenly blurred out. My eyes wavered as he said that, my heart dropping slightly at his words. I looked up at him, Joel's eyes showing the same pain that they always did when we talked about Sarah. I sighed and let go of my bag, Joel opening his arms as I walked towards him. I wrapped my arms around his middle, my eyes closing and my head resting against his chest as he returned the hug. I had been living with Joel for the last ten years, since he'd found me almost dead when I was only ten. My parents had been killed by infected, and it had been a miracle that Joel had been out scavenging, and had found me mere minutes before my parents turned. He'd looked after me ever since, hence why I considered him my dad, and me his daughter. Joel had been there to get me out of tight spots from the second that we met, and so I'd always love him for that. Though even I had to admit that him being so protective of me sometimes had its downsides, like now. Joel and Tess had just agreed reluctantly to transport this girl to another Firefly base in Wyoming, and despite Joel's adamance that I wasn't going, I was. I definitely was.

"You know that I love you for always protecting me. But I'm an adult now, I'm twenty. You know that I have to go out into the world anyway for scavengers and hunts, why can't I do this too?" I mumbled. Joel sighed and took my arms, his grip pulling me back slightly so that he could look at me as he leant down slightly to be at eye level with me.

"Because this isn't just a scavenge, or a hunt. There are other people out there who will kill to get this kid, more so than normal. And you know that I will never forgive myself if something happens to you." He shook his head.

"And I'll never forgive myself if something happens to you." I returned. Joel sighed and gave me one of his rare small smiles, making me return it as I could see him giving in.

"You're not letting this one go, are you kid?" He checked.

"Nope." I shook my head. He chuckled and returned the head shake before letting my arms go and straightening back up again.

"Okay. Alright then. But you need to pack your gun, load it, pack extra ammo. But the most important thing, what's my one rule?" He checked again.

"What you say goes." I nodded. Joel returned it and sighed, his eyes flicking over my face in desperate search of any sort of reluctance, but there wasn't any.

"Shit, kid. What am I going to do with you?" He sighed again and shook his head.

"Love me and protect me." I smiled.

"Yeah. Right." He scoffed and nodded, making my smile widen as he leant down and gently kissed my head.

It didn't feel like that day had only been a week ago. And yet we were, Joel, Ellie and I. And no Tess. It had been two days since she'd gotten bitten and had subsequently sacrificed herself in order to save the remaining three of us, but it still hurt. After all, Tess had been there for as long as Joel had been, so it kind of felt like losing my mom. Now I just had to make sure that I didn't lose my dad too. I sighed and tried not to cry at the thought, the fire gently crackling away to give us the only source of light that Joel would allow as we sat in the forest. Ellie silently munched on a piece of beef jerky that we had packed, Joel's face as stone cold as I had ever seen it as he clearly tried not to look at the girl opposite us. It was obvious that he blamed Ellie for Tess dying, but I couldn't say that that was fair. All of us knew the risks of coming out here, Ellie being the only one who couldn't get infected, but we could all still get ripped apart, or killed by other people. But also, I was the only teenager, or close enough to that age, that Joel had ever travelled with. And it was fair to say that Ellie was taking longer to adapt to his rules than I had, so that was obviously part of the struggle for him. I was trying to think about that over the other tragedies of life as I heard Joel sigh.

"You okay, kiddo?" He asked quietly. I nodded and sniffed, my eyes staying on the fire as I wiped away the couple of tears that had escaped.

"Yup. You?" I returned before finally looking at him. Joel sighed again and nodded, though I could tell that he was also struggling not to cry as he also kept his gaze glued to the crackling fire.

"Y-yeah, I am. Yeah. Just worried about you." He admitted.

"Yeah? I'm worried about the fact that you answered 'pass' when Ellie asked about you and Tess." I admitted. Joel's eyes immediately raised to look at me, making me raise an eyebrow accusingly at him as he sighed.

"Shit, you heard that?" He asked.

"Fucking right I did, Joel." I nodded. He sighed again and ran a hand over his face.

"Look, Y/N, you know that things were always complicated between me and your mom-."

"And yet you still call her my mom." I pointed out. Joel scoffed and nodded, even him realising that I'd caught him out as he looked back into the fire.

"Yeah. You're right-." he stopped talking, both of our heads snapping to look behind me as we heard a twig snap in the forest behind our camp. I gulped and looked over my shoulder again, Ellie also now having frozen in her spot as Joel raised his finger to his lips. I nodded at him, making him return it as he stood up silently and ever so carefully picked up his shotgun from next to the log that we were sitting on. I also stood to my feet, Joel slipping past my body as I pulled my loaded handgun from out of the waistband of my jeans.

"I'll come too." Ellie whispered as she started to stand up.

"Don't move." Both Joel and I spoke as we both pointed at her.

"Jeez, alrighty then." She scoffed as she sat back down again. I looked forward again, though I couldn't see past Joel's back.

"Stay behind me, kid, and if I say run, you run." Joel mumbled as we crept towards where the sound had come from.

"I know the rules." I reassured, making him nod as we both raised our guns and crept out into the shrubbery. The trees were silent around us apart from the odd bird chirping, though that only heightened our anxieties. After all, one single snapped twig could mean anything from wildlife, to infected, to other people trying to lure us. So we had to be on our a-games. I looked down at the ground, my eyebrows furrowing as I saw footsteps. But there was something off about them.

"Joel, look." I mumbled, drawing the man's attention to them too as he looked down at them. He looked back up and around the forest.

"Someone's injured. Or worse." He nodded and looked down at me.

"You know me. I always hope for the former." I sighed, making Joel return it as we continued into the forest. Suddenly, he stopped us dead in our tracks, making me yelp slightly as I walked straight into his back, and stayed there. I did fancy myself a bad-ass at times, but whenever I was with Joel, I knew that I was safe, and so I'd always revert back to the weak ten year old that he'd rescued in situations like this.

"Who the fuck are you?" I heard Joel spit, making me gulp as I slowly but surely looked out from around him. My eyes widened though, as my gaze landed on an admittedly attractive guy who had to be around my age, collapsed against a tree trunk with an obvious wound to his leg.

"P-please, it's not a bite, I got shot, help me, please." He choked and shook his head.

"Shut up, and don't move." Joel snapped again, but my head was too focused on the boy as I appeared from behind the man. The boy looked at me, his eyes widening in relief as I slowly but surely started to walk towards me.

"Y/N, what-." Joel grabbed my arm and pulled me back, making me look up at him.

"We at least need to check that it's not a bite, we can help him if it's not." I scoffed.

"And what happens when it is a bite, and he suddenly turns on you?!" He returned with that expression that he did that dripped with sarcasm.

"That's what you and your toy are here for." I smiled and nodded to the gun, my hand patting his shoulder patronisingly before I turned and started to head back to the boy.

"Little shit." I heard Joel mumble, making me chuckle and shake my head as I approached the boy.

"It's okay, we're friends." I reassured as I raised my hands before tucking my gun back into the waistband of my jeans.

"I wouldn't do that, kid-."

"Shut up, Joel." I yelled back, my mind being able to picture him rolling his eyes at me as I knelt down next to the boy. His gorgeous blue eyes watched me with fear in them, almost making me scared too as my shaking hands raised to pull back the torn fabric of his trouser leg to reveal the wound. As soon as I saw it, my eyes fluttered shut and a sigh of relief left my lips.

"He's telling the truth, Joel. It's clearly a bullet wound, not a bite." I shook my head as I looked back up at him. Joel too took an obvious sigh of relief, the man returning the head shake as he put the gun on his back and started to walk towards us.

"Lucky you." He nodded as he bent down next to the boy and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, we're going to get you help." He spoke, making me nod in agreement as we hauled the boy up, both of us holding one of his arms over our shoulders as we started to help him back to camp.

"So, where are you guys from?" The boy who we'd learned was called Alex asked as him, Ellie and I sat around the fire and ate some of the rabbit that Joel had caught.

"Does anyone really know where they're from anymore?" I scoffed.

"Right. Depressing as fuck, but right." She chuckled and nodded.

"Okay, well which QZ are you from? What is a fifty-year-old man, a twenty-year-old girl, and a fourteen-year-old doing out here, all by themselves?" He smiled and shrugged. My smile dipped, as did Ellie's as we looked at each other. Of course we couldn't tell him the real truth, that was the number one rule that Joel had, so we had to lie. I personally thought that Alex could be trusted. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was a few days after we'd rescued him and since Joel had stitched up his wound, and we'd somehow been inseparable since. He was kind, funny, not to mention really fucking hot. Of course beggars really couldn't be choosers since the world went to shit, but his curly hazel locks and gorgeously icy blue eyes meant that I really didn't have to be a beggar to choose him. And by the way that he'd stuck by me non-stop since we'd rescued him suggested that maybe, he felt the same about me.

"We, um, we're sisters. That's our dad. We're out here looking for our mom. She left the QZ a week ago, and we haven't heard anything back from her. We insisted on looking for her with him." I lied.

"Nice." Ellie whispered before shoving another piece of rabbit into her mouth.

"Shit, your mom's out here? Fuck, that must be hard." He sighed sympathetically, though his eyes admittedly were more on me as I gave him a small smile.

"Everything's hard in this world, so we can't really complain in the long run." I chuckled with a falsely nonchalant shrug.

"What are you kids talking about, huh?" Ellie and I looked up, Alex looking over his shoulder too as Joel walked back towards the fire with his shotgun held over his shoulder.

"Nothing really. Alex just asked what we're doing out here. Said that we're looking for mom." I nodded, my eyes widening slightly to tell Joel the plan as I spoke. His eyes widened slightly too to show that he understood, his head also nodding before he looked at Alex.

"Alright. Alex, come with me, son. We need to have a chat." He spoke. My eyes widened for real, both Ellie and I looking at each other as Alex just about managed to get himself up.

"Joel-."

"Come on, Alex, now." Joel insisted. He limped towards him, making Ellie and I look at each other as I sighed.

"This'll be interesting." Ellie mumbled.

"Yeah. You might want to hide my gun for when they come back, I don't want to accidentally shoot Joel." I returned, making Ellie smirk and shake her head as Alex reached Joel. The greying man swung his arm around Alex's shoulder and gave me an over-enthusiastic smile, my eyes rolling again as the pair of them walked off into the forest.

Joel's P.O.V

Joel swung his arm around Alex's shoulder and gave Y/N an over-enthusiastic smile, her eyes rolling again as the pair of them walked off into the forest. As soon as they were out of sight, Joel's smile dropped. After all, what he wanted to talk to Alex about wasn't a light matter. He had wandered upon the trio almost a week ago now, and Joel did not like how close he was getting to Y/N. They had no idea who the fuck this guy really was, where he had come from or if he was here to stay, and so he didn't want Y/N to get hurt in the crossfire when there was inevitably something off with Alex. And so Joel was going to make it clear to him, in no uncertain terms, who was in charge here.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Alex asked as he looked at Joel. Joel clenched his jaw and looked at him as he cocked his gun, the man admittedly wanting to instill as much fear as possible into the younger guy as he stared coldly at him.

"Who the fuck are you?" Joel asked lowly. Alex's eyebrows furrowed at the question.

"What-."

"Who the fuck are you?" Joel asked again, this time with a spit in his voice. Alex looked at him with an expression full of confusion.

"Joel, why are you asking me this?" He scoffed and shook his head. Joel's jaw clenched again, the man looking around them briefly before moving closer to him.

"I'm asking because you and Y/N seem to have really developed something in the short time that you've been here. And she's like a daughter to me. So I need to know, and I need to know now, if your plan is to fuck us over, or to leave us. Because I need to protect her first." He spat, his face emotionless and yet cold at the same time as he stared the boy down. After all, this was Y/N's first relationship that was seemingly blooming in front of Joel's eyes, and the one thing that he knew was that he needed to protect her. Even if that was only to protect her from some young asshole leaving just after getting her to fall for him. Alex sighed and shook his head.

"Joel, even if I wasn't developing feelings for Y/N, you've all done way too much for me, for me to just up and leave, or for me to fuck you over. But please trust me when I say that I also want to protect Y/N, and I'd never do anything to hurt her. I'd rather die than hurt her, and I've only known her for a week." He insisted.

"Yeah, that's what worries me." Joel scoffed.

"O-okay, but you get my point? I like her way too much to do that to her. And I owe you too much to fuck you over. I'd rather die than betray any of you. I swear to god." He shook his head. Joel sighed and studied the boy's face, the older man looking for any flicker of betrayal, or misleading emotion. But he couldn't find any. Joel was insanely guarded, especially when it came to Y/N, and there was a reason for that. But even he could see that Alex was being genuine here. And he was admittedly grateful for that.

"Alright then. Okay then, kid. But I will give you one warning." Joel nodded. Alex raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah? And what's that?" he asked.

"You hurt her, I shoot your brains out." He nodded again. Alex smiled and returned the nod, showing Joel that he understood what was being said.

"Okay. Deal." He chuckled as he extended his hand. Joel sighed, the dad in him still reluctant to accept this fucking guy but deciding to anyway as he extended his hand too, and the pair shook on it.

Y/N's P.O.V

My eyes fluttered open, my eyebrows furrowed as my body got pulled out of sleep to see that it was still somewhat dark, and the fire was still crackling away. But then it was who I was lying against that I noticed next. I sat up and looked down, my eyes widening slightly as I realised that I'd fallen asleep against Alex's chest, the boy still asleep as his hand stayed on my waist.

"You okay, kid?" My head shot up, my heart jumping in embarrassment at the fact that Joel was sitting right there as he sat on the opposite log with his gun in his hands. I gulped and nodded as I eased myself to my feet.

"Y-yeah. Are you?" I checked as I wandered over to the log, and sat myself down next to him before pulling my cardigan around my body. He nodded and looked into the fire.

"Yeah. Well, apart from the fact that I've now had to watch you fall asleep on another man." He teased, making me playfully roll my eyes at him as he looked back at me.

"Please, I was twelve the last time that I fell asleep on you." I chuckled.

"Still, no man likes to see their daughter getting along with a guy. But it's okay. He knows that I'll shoot his brains out if he ever hurts you." He admitted. My eyes widened, my jaw virtually dropping as I looked at him.

"You didn't." I scoffed.

"Of course I did." He nodded, making me laugh and shake my head. Joel returned the laugh, both sounds dying down slightly as he looked at me.

"But seriously, kid, I can tell that you guys really like each other, you get on well. It's nice. I just want to make sure that he treats you right." He shrugged. I gave him a small smile and nodded, tears pricking my eyes at how protective Joel was of me as I leant in and rested my head against his shoulder.

"I know that you do, dad. I know." I whispered, making Joel lean down and gently kiss my head before both of us looked ahead, and continued to just stare into the fire.