Title: 'Tis the Season
Author: The Fallen Sky
Rating: M-ish
Pairing: Ellie/Joel
Summary: Just a little Joellie Christmas goodness.
Warning: None
A/N: This is my first completed TLoU fic, and it takes place after the end of the game.

Feedback is welcome and appreciated!

"Forget it. I ain't doin' it." He all but growls.

"But you promised!"

"No, you promised and then told me I was doin' it after the fact."

"If you wanna get all technical, but I only did it because I thought you'd enjoy it."

He gives her a dubious look, and she relents.

"Okay, so maybe you won't enjoy it, but I will, and isn't that what really matters?" She gives him her sweetest smile in the hope of winning him over.

"No."

Her smile falls, and she practically whines. "Come on, Joel. It's for a good cause. Just think of all the kids who are looking forward to this. Do you really wanna disappoint them?"

His defiant expression, once set in stone, begins to falter. She can feel his resolve wavering and pushes her advantage.

"I know you're not a people person, but I only volunteered you for this because I thought you'd do an amazing job. And it's not like you'll be doing it alone. I'll be right there with you."

She takes his hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze, as she looks up at him with her best doe eyes. "Please, Joel? For me?"

It takes a few moments, but soon enough, his resolve crumbles into dust, his face softening as he mumbles, "Shit.", followed by a resigned, "Fine, I'll do it."

She squeals with delight as she wraps her arms around him, giving him an enthusiastic hug. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Come on, Joel! We're gonna be late!"

She hears him grumble something from the other room, probably some cuss words, followed by a clear and slightly threatening, "You better not laugh."

Moments later, he steps into the room, and she can't help but gasp and giggle, her hand quickly covering her mouth to muffle the sound. Unfortunately, he heard her and gives her a menacing look, which makes her laugh out loud.

"That's it. I ain't goin'." He says as he turns to head back to the other room.

Before he can take two steps, she's grabbing his arm, doing her best to stop him. "I'm sorry, Joel! I didn't mean to laugh. Honest."

He lets her stop him and turns to face her, his expression one of annoyance, but it quickly softens, and she gives him a small smile of thanks and reassurance before letting go of his arm and looking him over.

"Well, do I pass inspection?" It's meant to be playful, but his tone betrays his nervousness.

"You look great." She says with a smile, and she receives a genuine smile from him in return.

Her upbeat mood falters a bit when she asks with some trepidation, "How do I look?"

He gives her a once over, pauses, then looks her over again but says nothing.

She bites her lip in nervous anticipation. "Well?"

"You look fuckin' adorable." He says with a smirk.

She blushes a bit, looks down at her feet for a moment, and then punches him playfully in the arm. "You better not talk like that around the kids." She chastises.

He chuckles in response. "Can't make any promises, but I'll try my best."

She smiles and laughs along with him for a moment before sobering. "You really think I look okay? I mean, I feel kinda silly wearing these curly toed shoes. And why do I have to wear tights? What's wrong with real pants? And why is everything green?"

"You're supposed to be an elf. Elves like wearing green stuff."

"What about the tights and the curly toed shoes?"

"Hell if I know, but I meant what I said. You look adorable, Ellie."

"Thanks." She says as they share a smile.

"You look good in red, even with the big belly." She says as she playfully pats his unusually large and soft middle. "Although, you don't exactly look 'jolly'."

He scoffs at her. "Yeah well, let's see how jolly you are when you get volunteered to play Santa for the whole town. I ain't exactly looking forward to having all those kids sittin' on my lap, asking me if I'm the real Santa and then asking for presents they probably ain't gonna get."

She can tell he's still not exactly happy about the situation, but she's grateful that he's playing along, despite his objections.

"Tell ya what. When we get finished doing the whole 'Santa and his helper' thing, we can come back here, and I'll sit on your lap." She says that last part with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a lascivious smile.

She watches with amusement as his face goes blank, and his eyes glaze over for a moment as his mind goes to very naughty places.

"Hey, earth to Joel." She says as she waves her hand in front of his face to get his attention. "You still with me, big guy?"

He shakes his head and clears his throat, his voice filled with energy and enthusiasm, well, as much enthusiasm as he can muster over playing Santa for the kids of Jackson. "We gotta get goin'. Don't wanna keep all those good boys and girls waitin'."

She can't help but giggle at his abrupt change of heart. "Hold on there, Santa. Looks like you've got a little problem. Well, maybe not so little." She says with a smirk as she points to the rather sizeable tent in the front of his red pants.

"Huh?" He asks, befuddled, as he looks to where she's pointing. "Oh." He says, suddenly uncomfortable and a little embarrassed.

Again, she can't help but giggle and smile at both his predicament and how cute he looks when he's flustered. "You can't have kids sitting on your lap and getting poked by Joel Jr. They'd be scarred for life. And if you didn't get kicked out of Jackson, you'd be forever known as Pervert Santa."

She busts out laughing at his panicked expression and laughs even harder as his face turns angry and he growls, "This ain't funny."

She continues laughing as his anger fades and he all but pouts. "This is all your fault."

She sobers a bit and asks, "How is it my fault? You're the one with the raging boner."

"And who do you think gave me my..." He hesitates a moment, clearly uncomfortable saying the next part. "...raging boner?"

"Well, it is Christmas, and I've been trying to think of a gift I could give you that you might like or would at least use..."

"...And you thought giving me a hard-on was the perfect gift?" He asks, dubiously. "Seems to me it's more a gift for you than for me. After all, who do you think I'm gonna use this bad boy on?" He finishes with a smirk.

"It's the gift that keeps on giving!" She says cheerily as she begins giggling again.

When she finally calms down, she looks him in the eye and smiles the sweetest smile as she sinks to her knees and unwraps her present.

"You're a naughty girl, Ellie." He says breathlessly as he runs his fingers through her hair. "And it's so fuckin' nice."