Disclaimer: I don't own The Last Of Us, it owns me. Haha. Cup of Joe(l)

Finally, we escaped from our latest death trap, hunters. Of course we kicked their asses, but still, I wonder when our luck will run out. Although, since Ellie can use a gun now, maybe the luck will stay for awhile. But, oh dear Lord..Ellie has a gun..

Other than Ellie having the right to bear arms now, and the depressing pit probably in both of our stomachs, we were doing okay..at least for now.

A deep sigh emitted from my mouth once my eyes caught a glimpse of one of the past's most precious memorabilia. Coffee. I remember how much I'd drink it, 'bout 4-5 times a day, depending on how much work I had to do that day. And I even remember that one brand of coffee, it was my favorite brand too. Maxxy it had just the right amount of strong, but it was also delicious with the creamer I would put in it. Of course, I'd douse it in sugar too, I wonder if I was ever diabetic..I never really checked. Anyway, after seeing that broken down coffee maker, my eyes couldn't stay off it. Damn..

"Haahh...I really miss coffee.." I lightly whispered to myself in a very airy voice.

Though, Ellie might of heard me, seeing that she began to stare at it after I said that. But it was not really something to care about anyway, I just let her browse everywhere and anywhere as long as I know for a fact she was close by. And sometimes she finds me some ammo, or every once in a while a medical kit. And now, from the corner of my eye, she was checking out the coffeemaker with a determined look in her eyes.

"Hey..Joel!" Ellie called out, and I turned my head slightly to the side and replied,

"Yeah?"

"You..like coffee right?" Ellie asked, dusting off the dirt and blood from the coffee maker.

"Yeah." I quickly replied, my eyes still keeping their gaze on her.

"All right then." Ellie said with a bit of a smile, and I looked away to go find some more ammo or really anything.

To get coffee out of my mind, and relatively anything to do with coffee, I scavenged around the rest of the abandoned place, finding quite bit of ammo and tools to make medical kits and bombs.

"I can make a bomb...now..I just need a screwdriver..and my hammer-what?! Where the hell are they?" I fumed, pouring out all the contents from my backpack.

Gritting my teeth, I quickly threw everything in my backpack and retraced my steps, thinking that maybe I dropped them along the way. Oddly though, once I went down, I smelled quite the aromatic scent. It was..so familiar..it almost smelled like..

"Coffee.." I breathed out after taking a deep breath of that glorious scent.

I almost fell down from running so fast, I had to find out why I was smelling this so vividly. Finally, I walked down the last step, and I found my 'lost' tools lying around next to Ellie.

Ellie turned around, smiling lightly as she hid something seemingly big beneath her hands.

"Joel..I made you some coffee." Ellie exclaimed, proudly showcasing it to me and I slowly grabbed it and gave it a quick sniff.

"How did you-?" I asked, but she interrupted with shoving a book near my face.

"I found out how to fix it with these books I found lying around. It wasn't really hard at all after I snatched your tools." Ellie replied with a sly grin, and I glanced over at her, sniffing the coffee again. "I also found an old coffee can lying around, but it's not over the expiration date yet, so.."

"What brand of coffee is it..?" I inquired, and Ellie grabbed the can from the shelf.

"Err..Maxxy.." Ellie read, and my eyes lit up once I heard that it was my favorite coffee brand.

Too bad it was straight-up coffee.

"NNgh.." I noised, giving a light cringe after drinking it.

"What!? Is it bad?!" Ellie asked, a worried look on her face.

"No..it's perfect." I quickly said, and gave her a small smile.

"...Good." Ellie said very happily, and quickly looked over at me. "Can I have a taste?"

"Go ahead." I said, handing her the cup.

Once she began to drink the coffee, I started to think.. Even though the coffee tasted like shit, I got used to it, it started to actually taste good. Maybe it was the feeling that went with it? Knowing that Ellie worked hard to make me some coffee, it really started to taste better. She was a good kid..a weird kid, but a good one.

"YUCK! How do you drink this shit?" Ellie asked, quickly spitting it out.

A really..weird kid.

A/N: I loved playing The Last Of Us (Playing it for the second time now), and I noticed that Joel said he liked coffee, and I thought that since Ellie loved books so much, that she could use that information to give something to Joel. Hopefully, I did their characters justice. :)