Bill x Frank

Bill x Frank is the slash ship between Bill and Frank from the The Last of Us fandom.

HBO Series
Before meeting Frank, Bill was alone and desperate. Four days after outbreak day, on September 26, he was the only one person who hadn't been herded up from their local village and left in a shallow grave. Once everyone is gone, Bill starts taking whatever he needs or wants from his neighbors’ homes and local stores, even managing to get the power back on because no one is guarding the New Bedford Natural Gas plant. Soon, he manages to have a heavily-protected compound with vegetables growing in the garden, chickens to provide eggs and other forms of protein, sustaining himself.

However, he sees on his security monitor that one of his traps caught something. So Bill approaches it cautiously, and finds a helpless Frank trapped in the backyard pit. Frank proves that he is harmless, unarmed and not infected. But Bill is still suspicious so he tells Frank that he'll let him go, unharmed. Frank begs if he can at least have something to eat because he hasn't eaten in two days, promising to not tell anyone about Bill's hideout. Bill, at first, seems to be taking pity on Frank by inviting him in for dinner, but it’s clear almost immediately that he is taking pleasure in both the company and the chance to show off his skills as a host. And he gets flustered (although he doesn't say it) when Frank loudly proclaims how much he loves Bill's cooking.

Before he goes to leave, Frank gushes over Bill's piano. Frank gets excited about playing something for Bill, rifling through the music until he finds something he intuitively knows to be Bill’s. As Bill watches Frank play the piano, he grows uncomfortable, and Frank suggests that Bill should play instead. And as Bill plays, it’s clear the song, a romantic one, has an intense emotional connection for him as he deeply feels the music while singing. After he's done Frank asks Bill who is the girl he's singing about, to which Bill replies that there is none. Frank instantly gets Bill, and replies that he knows. Slowly, seeing if Bill is ok with it, Frank gets closer to Bill, going for a kiss, and Bill gets up, accepting the kiss. The two share a passionate kiss and make it clear that they both feel the same.

This kiss was emotionally important for the two of them that as they separate, Frank has tears in his eyes, and Bill is deeply moved. Frank then asks for Bill's name and tells him to take a shower. When Bill returns, Frank is waiting for him in his bed, shirtless. Frank asks Bill if he’s ever done this before, and Bill tells him he did once with a girl, a long time ago. And they tenderly kiss, Frank tells him that if he'll do this, he'll stay with Bill for a few more days, asking Bill if that's ok. Bill says it is and the two of them start kissing and have sex for the first time together.

Three years later, Bill and Frank are living together and they are having a little fight over Frank wanting to decorate their house a little bit, with some flowers and a couple coats of paint. But Bill doesn't want to use the resources on something that feels "pointless." Bill then genuinely asks Frank why he needs this, so Frank says: "Paying attention to things, it's how we show love, this is my street too, just… just let me love it the way I want to."

- Frank

This is enough to convince Bill, until Frank throws in that he’s also going to fix up some of the shops in town, and Bill scoffs, so they start to argue like an old married couple over some silly joke. However, what Frank is serious about is inviting friends over at their house. Bill somberly says that there are no friends to be had. But Frank reveals that he has been talking to a "nice woman" over the radio. Bill is shocked to hear this, so when the guests, Joel and Tess, show up, he is cautious, with his gun on the table, near him, much to Frank's annoyance.

Frank and Tess instantly bond, as they were already friends. But Bill is still weary of Joel, so Frank puts up the excuse that he needs to show Tess something inside, to leave Bill and Joel talking together. Joel tells him that they should work together, but Bill stays firm telling him that they're self-sufficient. But Joel mentions the fence and how it can corrode, so if they team up, he can help with that. He still doesn't convince Bill. But as they say goodbye, Joel tells him that in no time, raiders will come, and the fence won't be as useful. After a tense silence, Bill replies that Frank and him will be fine, which is the queue for Joel to leave with Tess, who was saying goodbye to Frank.

Three years later, they have settled into a domestic life together. The two of them are exercising together, running around the block, when Frank tells Bill that he has a surprise for him. Their run ends as Frank leads Bill to a surprise, gently covering his eyes. When Frank reveals his surprise, he excitedly reveals that he's gardened up a strawberry patch, explaining that he traded their friends, Joel and Tess, one of Bill’s guns for a packet of seeds. Bill is not mad, but teasingly shakes his head. Frank holds his hand, leading him to crouch beside him. And as the two of them try one of the strawberries, they giggle together and enjoy the moment. But as time goes by and they remain sitting next to the strawberries, Bill opens up to Frank, apologising for getting older faster than him and confesses that he had never experienced fear throughout all the zombie apocalypse, until he met Frank and had someone he deeply loved and was afraid to lose. Frank caresses his face and the two of them then share a passionate kiss.

Some time later, the first time they encounter danger in their lives together is when raiders assault the town they are in. The newly fortified defences hold up, but Bill is shot and only survives because of Frank, who quickly realizes Bill's absence in the bed, next to him. He goes outside and finds Bill fighting off the raiders, so Frank quickly takes him inside the house. Bill feels like he's dying, losing a lot of blood from the woud, yet he still only thinks of Frank, giving him a list of what he needs to do to survive after he dies, how to stay alive and who to contact. But Frank is determined to save his life, so he presses hard on the shot wound, to stop the bleeding, while caressing Bill's hand. Knowing Bill so well, he knows what he needs, so he starts asking him questions about his instructions, to keep him awake and talking.

Many years later, Bill is not only alive and well, but living his last days on Earth with Frank. Frank has suffered from major health problems over the years and has lost most of his mobility. So he's using a wheelchair, and has difficulty using his hands, but is still painting. His favourite subject. Bill. Through the paintings in the house, you can see the progression of Frank’s illness, with the later ones becoming more untidy, some left unfinished. But still, Bill hung them on the wall.

One morning in 2023, Bill wakes up to find Frank sitting up beside him, somehow out of bed despite having needed Bill to get him into bed the night before. Bill is upset, worried that if he was up all night getting into his chair, he’d fall asleep in the chair during the day. Frank tells him he won't fall asleep and even promises that he will stay up purposely. When Bill asks him why, Frank states that this will be his last day. Bill pleads with him to reconsider, but it’s no use. Frank’s made up his mind, and he needs Bill to see that. He tells him that he’s not going to lie to him, every day wasn't a wonderful gift from god, that he’s had a lot of bad days, some with Bill. But confesses that he had way more good days with Bill than with anyone else, so he asks Bill to just give him one more good day together. "Take me to the boutique, where I'll pick outfits for us. You'll wear what I ask and we'll get married and you cook a delicious dinner. And you'll crush all these [pills] up. Put them in my wine and I'll drink it. Then you will take me by my hand, bring me to our bed and I will fall asleep in your arms."

- Frank.

After Frank lays out his plan for his final day, Bill's heart is breaking and he's now fully sobbing. He devastatingly says that he can't do it. But then Frank asks him if he loves him, to which Bill obviously replies with a "yes." So Frank asks him to love him the way he wants Bill to. And so Bill agrees. The day goes exactly as Frank requested. They dress up, and get married. Marriage equality wouldn’t begin to be legalized until a year after the infections started spreading, so in this timeline, marriage is something they would never know they would have been allowed to do, so they make this a very intimate and precious moment between them. And as requested, Bill makes dinner, the same dinner he made Frank on their first day together, including the same wine. Except now, instead of sitting at the opposite heads of the table, they sit together.

After dinner, Bill brings out a new bottle of wine, pours two glasses, and then empties the bag of crushed pills into one of the glasses. Frank drinks his in one go. And then, Bill does the same, without telling Frank that his would kill him too. But as always, Frank is able to read Bill like no one does, so he asks Bill if there already were pills in the bottle, to which Bill replies "enough to kill a horse."

And then, the night is over, and Bill takes Frank to bed, for the last time. Not too long after, one of Bill and Frank's friends, Joel, and his companion, Ellie, go to their house. In it, they find that Bill has left Joel and Tess, who is now dead, a letter with his final words. Bill and Frank's dying wish was just to be together, and to be left alone together, so the letter asks that nobody enter their room. And nobody did, so as Ellie and Joel rode away after grabbing the resources Bill left for them, a shot of the window of Frank and Bill's room left open to ventilate is shown.

Game
Bill and Frank were partners who lived together isolated in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Frank grew tired of Bill's survival-oriented way of living and left him. He stole some of Bill's supplies and his car battery, trying to leave town. However, he got several bites from infected and hung himself so as not to succumb to the infection. He left a note to Bill: "Well, Bill, I doubt you'd ever find this note cause you were too scared to ever make it to this part of town. But if for some reason you did, I want you to know I hated your guts. I grew tired of this shitty town and your set-in-your-ways attitude. I wanted more from life than this and you could never get that. And that stupid battery you kept moaning about -- I got it. But I guess you were right. Trying to leave this town will kill me. Still better than spending another day with you. Good Luck, Frank"

- Note from Frank, The Last of Us

In the events of the game, Bill reluctantly helps Joel find a car because he owes him. Bill criticizes Joel for accepting the mission of taking care of Ellie. Bill tells his story of how he once had a partner, somebody he cared about. However, Bill says that looking after someone like that is only good for getting yourself killed in this world.

Later, Bill's plan is ruined due to the missing supplies. As he and Joel argue, Bill finds Frank's body hanging. Joel asks who he is, and Bill says Frank was his partner. He is distraught for a bit, then says, "Well fuck him." He later realizes that Frank is the one who stole his stuff and car battery. While searching the house, Joel can find Frank's note and give it to Bill. After reading it, Bill says, "That's how you feel. Well, fuck you too, Frank. Fuckin' idiot," and throws the letter away.

Behind the Scenes
"Before Frank comes into his life I think he has superficial happiness, like a squirrel who has nuts stored away for the winter. But, boy, that squirrel sure would like a hug."

- Nick Offerman, who plays Bill, on whether Bill was happy before Frank showed up.

"Bill and Frank are the embodiment of the show's overarching interest in outward love and inward love - the people who want to make everybody better, and the people who want to protect particular people at any cost."

- Craig Mazin describing Bill and Frank's relationship.

"And there’s a hesitation. Bill hesitates because he’s looking, he’s just suddenly seeing how handsome this man is, standing there in the light. And that’s something that Frank’s brain is incredibly attuned to. It’s that fast.  There’s a moment there, if you watch that scene again, where he kind of smiles. And he smiles because in his mind, he’s like: I got you, I know you. And from that point forward, it was about, in my mind, about Frank thinking to himself: look, maybe I get lunch and I move on, I don’t know, but let’s just see where this goes."

- Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the show's creators, talking about the first moment Frank realizes that Bill is gay, on the HBO TLOU podcast.

Songs

 * Long Long Time | Linda Ronstadt

Fanon
Bill and Frank's relationship has been praised by fans of the show and critics as "one of the TV moments of the decade," and as a queer love story that "will go down on history." Since the HBO series is an adaptation of the game of the same name by Naughty Dog, this has brought millions of fans who were unfamiliar with the game to the show. And thousands of video reactions on YouTube show fans of the show moved to tears by Bill and Frank's love story. A lot of fans of the show loved how Bill and Frank got to find the love of their lives and live this incredible, and incredibly unlikely, post-apocalyptic love story in the middle of the hostile universe of ''The Last of Us."

Many are praising the episode not only for its beautiful, start-to-finish portrayal of a queer relationship, but also for spotlighting that older men can be gay and live beautiful love stories too, despite the lack of such representation on screen. Some have compared the 80-minute episode to Carl and Ellie’s relationship at the beginning of Disney’s Up, in how it crafts a love story so heart-warming, but ultimately gut wrenching. This comparison led to many fans of the ship making edits of Bill and Frank's scenes with Up's characteristic background soundtrack.

Some people were so emotionally affected and overwhelmed by emotions after watching the episode depicting Bill and Frank's love story that they called their love story "tragic," and a minority of people even claimed that the show was one of the many Hollywood mainstream stories that succumb to the "bury your gays" trope. However, queer fans of the games and/or show were quick to point out that couldn't be further from the truth, since their story not only subverts the trope, but also fights it off, giving Bill and Frank the love story they deserve, and the ending they want, on their own terms. Matt Mather, who was already a fan of the games, said that “as Bill said at the end of the episode, this wasn’t a tragedy. They had a happy ending. I feel like LGBTQ+ characters are so often killed off for shock value or they have these really tragic ends to their stories. While Bill and Frank’s ending was undeniably sad, it was happy too."

However, queer fans of the relationship were cautious of homophobes that would just hate on their relationship for the simple fact that this is a gay love story. Following its premiere, episode three of The Last of Us was review-bombed by bigoted gamers who were upset at the portrayal of Bill and Frank's love story. The support for this love story was so widespread, that it even triggered big conservative critics, like Ben Shapiro, to make rants about it that were even dunk un by Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, one of The Last of Us main characters, in the hit HBO series.

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Media

 * The Last of Us fans hail groundbreaking gay love story: ‘This will go down in history’ (PINK NEWS)


 * The Last of Us: Why Bill and Frank's Love Story Is So Important (CBR)


 * Love At The End of the World: Bill, Frank, and Queer Representation in ‘The Last Of Us’! (AFTERBUZZ TV)


 * The Last of Us showed a gay love story to the mainstream audience who need to see it most (THE TAB)


 * How ‘The Last of Us’ did Bill and Frank justice – and impressed many LGBTQ fans (CNN)


 * ‘The Last of Us’ tells a new but familiar queer love story (THE WASHINGTON POST)


 * The Last of Us' Bill & Frank Episode Is One of This Decade's Best TV Episodes (OUT)


 * HBO's The Last Of Us Reclaims The Queerness Its World Forgot (KOTAKU)