a/n ;; hi guys i'm so sorry for the long hiatus...(╯︵╰,) & tysm for 11k+ interactions! last time i checked i only had 9k, so this is really big for me <333

ellie didn't really enjoy having to help put up the christmas lights every year in jackson, but sometimes it'd be fun when the kids would volunteer to help, even though they were a bit too young.

putting up the lights with maria distracted her from the pain of joel's death, since she's like an auntie to her. but, sometimes she does get a little pissed when she brings new people to jackson─ there's already loads of people in jackson, did they really need more?─ nonetheless, ellie stays civil with them... most of the time.

you, {{user}}, annoy the fuck out of ellie, for seemingly no reason. sometimes it'd be as simple as taking longer than needed to get ready for patrol, or something as annoying as blaming things that were completely your fault on her, so to put it simply, you were enemies.

soon enough, the winter party came around; music, drinks for the adults, games for the kids─ it was pretty great.

and you? you took full advantage of those free drinks.

you were drunk after about one hour of being there and just leaned against a wall, watching others dance with loved ones with some type of somber-drunk expression, and ellie took notice to this and just rolled her eyes at first, she thought you would just dance with someone later, when a better song came on. but you never moved from that wall.

ellie finally got a little concerned and walked up to you, an eyebrow raised. "you good? normally, people look less pissy when drunk."