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daughtersofbelleteyn · 11 months

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I'll Move the Stars For You

Cute little Joellie fanfic for you all. Full of family fluff, Ellie sassing Joel and Joel being soft!

Summary: Joel sets up a little surprise for Ellie with glow-in-the-dark stars. Pure family fluff with lots of unsaid "I love you" for the both of them.

You can read it here on A03 or below the cut.

Enjoy!

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Ellie ran towards the porch, ducking her head in an attempt to see something, the droplets of rain lashing hard against her skin and hair. She burst the door open and entered her home with a sigh of relief.

Drip drip drip. She could hear the drops hitting the hardwood floor as she took deep breaths, trying to calm down after having crossed half of Jackson running as fast as she could.

She took off her boots, wondering where the hell Joes was. His boots and his coat were here, but he she couldn’t see him in the living room or the kitchen.

She strained her ear to catch any sound of him coming from the garage or his room when she heard the floorboards of her bedroom creak. Her whole body went on alert. Someone had entered her home. Someone was in her bedroom and maybe had taken Joel. Shit.

“JOEL?” she called as she slung her coat on the floor and ran towards the stairs.

She heard a soft “shit” and something falling on the ground when she reached the landing. She was about to turn the handle when she heard a stern “Ellie, don’t enter your room!”

What the fuck??

She froze. “Joel, are you okay? What are you doing, man?”

A sigh. “I’m alright kiddo. I’m just fixing something in your room and I had to push some furniture around and there is one behind the door. I didn’t want you to open the door wide and damage it. Tis all.”

“So I can’t enter my room because you randomly decided it needed fixing? You’re weird, old man.”

She heard him come closer and her bedroom door opened. A dishevelled, tired looking Joel put his head out. His eyes widened when he saw her state.

“Damn, you’re soaked, kiddo.”

“Oh yeah? I hadn’t noticed! I could get something warm and dry, but you know, for that I would need to be able to enter my fucking room.” She sassed.

She felt annoyed that he was in her room without her. Not that she didn’t trust him, she knew he wouldn’t go snooping around. But what if in moving furniture around he made her notebook fall open and he saw her drawings? Or worse! What she had written in it. And there was also the possibility that he would find the Christmas present she was trying to make him. She had hidden it well, but you could never know. She hated this!

He sighed heavily, playing his best “tired of your shit” kind of Joel sigh.

“Wait here,” he said before closing the door.

She huffed but obeyed him.

He came back a few seconds later and handed some warm clothes she used as pjs.

“Go shower and put this on. I’ll join you afterwards and I’ll cook us some dinner to warm you up.”

She took her clothes and tried to peek behind him, wanting to see what the fuck he was doing in her bedroom. He tsked and put the hand that had handed her the clothes over her eyes.

“Ah! No peeking! You’ll see the changes after dinner. Now go shower. And yes, you need to shower, getting soaked by rain does not replace a shower. Now shoo!” and with that he gently pushed her forehead away before closing the door.

“Old bastard,” she grumbled, annoyed that he had forestalled her arguments. They had argued over this more times than she could tell. She strongly believed she didn’t need to shower after getting drenched by rain, it was just a waste of water.

“I heard that!”

She rolled her eyes and walked towards the bathroom. She was gonna take that shower, but because she was cold and couldn’t chill in her bedroom anyway, not because Joel was right.

She quickly showered then walked down in the living room. She sat on the couch and picked the guitar that Joel had left next to the couch after their practice session last night. She strummed the chords for a while, waiting for him to come down.

He finally came down half an hour later. When he saw her practising, he smiled at her. “You sound good, kiddo.”

She blushed under the praise, “thanks.”

He walked past her and into the kitchen. She followed him with her eyes. “What were you fixing in my bedroom?”

He turned her back to her, grabbing a pot. “You’ll see after dinner.”

“Pff. Or, I could just run upstairs and have a look. Tell meeee,” she whined.

“Sure you could. And then you’ll have ruined the surprise I have planned for you and wasted the time I spent on it,” he said coldly.

The fucker, he was playing with her feelings, knowing damn well she would not do that to him.

“Fine,” she grumbled.

“Play for me while I cook? I promise I’ll show you your room after dinner.”

She rolled her eyes but said nothing. She strummed the first chord of her favourite song, the one he had taught her how to play on her birthday, after the cassette tape had broken, worn down by the too many hours she had listened to it on loop.

He hummed happily and started cooking.

They sat down to eat together, Ellie nearly bouncing on her chair, frustrated in having to wait such a long time to see what Joel had plotted.

“How was your day,” he asked.

“Good!” she said in between two bites, not caring for small talk. Her plate was already half empty when Joel had barely had his first bite. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“You know it’s useless to wolf down your food. I won’t show you your bedroom until after we have both finished eatin’,” he purposely ate the next bite very slowly, looking at her with sparkling eyes.

“You dick!” she groaned, scrapping her empty plate.

He wiggled his eyebrows and kept eating, excruciating slowly if you asked Ellie. She was sure even a 90 year old without teeth would eat faster than him. He was too proud of himself. She wondered who the kid was, sometimes.

She crossed her arms on her chest and looked at him sternly. The crinkles of his eyes remained through the whole meal, but he did speed up a little. Eating at his normal pace, at least.

When he put down his fork she jumped out of her chair and grabbed both of their plates to put it in the sink.

“There, we’re done eating. Can I see my bedroom now?”

He got up, joint creaking and without saying a word he extended his hand to her.

She grabbed it and let him lead her towards her bedroom. Once upstairs he stood in front of her door, barring her access.

“Why is there light in my room, Joel? So it’s not okay when I forgot to turn off the light, but with you it’s fine?” She was annoyed by his plotting and felt it was her right to mess with him after all. Reminding him how some of his house rules were stupid and annoying was a good start.

He shook his head fondly and exaggeratedly rolled his eyes. “You’ll see, little brat. Now, I’m gonna cover your eyes with my hand and guide you inside. You will open your eyes when I tell you, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” she said with a mock salute.

He placed his right hand over her eyes and turned her towards the door, pressing his chest against her back, letting her know he was here, she was not alone in the dark. He opened the door then nudged her forward with his left hand on her shoulder.

They took a couple of steps in then she heard the flick of the light being turned off. In that moment it hit her that she had not heard him push the furniture around before he came back down or when she was showering. The old bastard had lied.

Excitement and curiosity were coursing through her. Her mind filing through all the possibilities of what awaited her. She did not smell fresh paint. The furniture had not been moved around as far as she had heard and she could still feel the soft plush of her rug near her bed, so that much had not been changed.

He led her to her bed and made her sit down before seating on her left side..

“Ready to open your eyes?”

She nodded softly, too excited to say anything.

Without a warning he pushed her head backwards a little with his hand on her eyes before withdrawing it.

“Open your eyes, kiddo,” he whispered.

Ellie slowly opened her eyes, despite all the curiosity she had felt before, she almost felt… scared? Joel’s voice had gone unusually soft and she didn’t know how to feel about this.

The room was plunged in the dark, only broken by a weird greenish light. The light itself was coming from hundreds of little dots on the ceiling, varying in size. Wait… those are not dots, they are, “stars,” Ellie whispered in wonder.

She flicked her head toward Joel so swiftly her ponytail came whack her in the face.

“Joel!! What, what is this? This is so cooooool!”

He chuckled softly at the wonder in her voice.

“Those are phosphorescent stars, kiddo. It absorbs light during the day and it… it glows in the dark. Don’t ask me how.”

“Phosphorescent,” she repeated the word, as if tasting it on her tongue.

She looked back up to the ceiling and stared at it in silence for a minute, eyes and mouth wide open.

“I’ve never seen it before. How did you find them?”

“I saw a pack of those stars in a kid’s store during a patrol with Tommy, about a year ago. It made me think of you, so,” he cleared his throat, “I took them. There were only like, 30 or so in a pack, so I started looking for more packs throughout the year, so that it could cover a bigger surface, one day.”

It made me think of you.

“But, it’s not my birthday? Why now?”

“It don’t need to be your birthday for you to have nice things, kiddo. You were so frustrated to not be able to see the stars because of the shitty weather of the last few days, I – I don’t know, I figured now might be the occasion for you to have them in your room, that way they’re always with you.”

Ellie’s eyes started to sting, she had kept them fixed on the ceiling for too long, she thought.

He had brought the stars to her. He had gotten her the thing she loved most, after him, just because he could, just for her.

The sting in her eyes got stronger. A fat tear started rolling on her right cheek. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t just a result of staring at the stars.

She finally detached her eyes from the ceiling and turned toward Joel, crashing against him before he could do anything. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and whispered a wet “thank you.”

He wrapped his arms around her in response and he started to rock her gently. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before Ellie broke the hug. As much as she liked hugging Joel, she had stars to look at, right now!

She turned herself and moved to settle against his chest when he stopped her with his hand.

“Wait,” he said.

He scooted back towards the headboard, propping her two fluffy pillows before leaning against them. Once settled he opened his arms to her. She didn’t need more motivation to crawl up the bed and settle against him, her back against his chest, his strong arms around her. He planted a kiss on the top of her raised head.

She was mesmerised. She didn’t think she could be happier right now or could be in a cooler place. The stars were sprawling all around the ceiling, even coming down to the top of her walls, giving her the impression of being under the starry sky on a clear night.

She looked around the place when a particular star caught her attention. There were three different sizes of stars and this one was one of the biggest. It was surrounded by several tiny stars but a few centimetres below there was another big star, then another big one on its right. Her brain registered a misshapen rectangle before it hit her.

“No you didn’t,” she exclaimed, tapping her hand against his thigh in her excitement. “You reproduced the big dipper! Joel, man, this is so coooool!”

He chuckled, his laugh vibrating against her back.

“I did. I’m glad you noticed, I was afraid I messed up the proportions. What else can you see?”

“What else?” She turned to try to see his face, thinking he was messing with her. When their eyes met he only raised his eyebrows with a soft smile, waiting for her to look again.

She resumed her observations. Now that she knew it wasn't just little dots of light thrown haphazardly on the ceiling, her mind started picking up the shapes more quickly and accurately.

She first found Little Dipper, which was not far from Big Dipper. Then, a bit farther in her room, above the window, she found Cassiopeiae. Joel had placed Orion just above her bed. She smiled when she noticed it. She liked the idea of being protected by the Hunter, ever watching over her, even when he couldn’t.

She couldn’t help the squeal leaving her lips when she saw the Giraffe, the two stars representing her legs falling just above her wardrobe.

“You remembered the Giraffe!!”

“Of course I did. How could I forget Camelopardis.”

“Camelopardalis,” she corrected.

“Ah, yes. I can never get it right. Why is it called like that again? A camel and leopard, or something?”

She nodded. “Yep, they thought it was a mix between the two animals, spots like a leopard and a long neck like a camel. I didn’t know you knew about this one.”

“Well, I live with a damn smart kid who’s always telling me about the things she read about space and who taught me how to read the sky. How do you think I managed to recreate all those constellations? I learned from the best.”

She could hear the smile in his voice. His words brought a wave of warmth over her body. She couldn’t help but smile too, elated by his compliments.

She kept looking around the room when she noticed a group of small and medium sized stars forming an E above her door. She frowned, frustrated to not recognize this constellation.

“What is this one, Joel,” she asked, pointing towards it.

“That’s my favourite constellation over there.”

“Uh? I thought it was Ursa Major ‘cause you liked that it looked like a saucepan?”

“Yeah, well it’s my favourite in the sky, but here, it’s that one. That little E that always shines so bright and gives me a reason to wake up. I thought she deserves her place amongst the stars, like she always dreamed of,” he said, his voice going hoarse.

Ellie froze, overwhelmed by a surge of feelings she couldn’t begin to decipher. She was so glad for the dark, so that Joel couldn’t see the blush spreading over her face. Damn that old man and his ability to say those things to her, when all her love, all she had ever felt for him were lodged in her throat, choking her. She swallowed hard and grabbed his hands in hers, bringing them against her heart.

I love you.

“We should add a J next to it, if you have more stars,” she whispered. Afraid that if she spoke louder he’d hear the catch in her throat. “The E wouldn’t go far without the J, you know.”

“I don’t have any left, but I’ll move the stars for you tomorrow, then,” he said before kissing the top of her head once again. His lips lingered, she felt him inhale deeply before resting his cheek against her head.

They stayed quiet for a bit before she broke the silence. Her voice betraying her nerves despite her best efforts.

“I’m sorry for being a dick with you today. This, this is amazing Joel. I don’t deserve it…”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, even when you’re an annoying little brat,” he said, squeezing her hands. “ You deserve this, and so much more, kiddo.”

She hummed, unconvinced.

He planted another kiss on her head and settled deeper into the pillows, dragging her with him. She put her head on his shoulder, his left arm came to rest on her belly while he rested his cheek against her head, snuggling close. She let herself relax against him, eyes fixed on the shining stars above them.

“Tell me again the story of Orion,” he said, pointing to the stars above them.

She started explaining how Orion was one the oldest known constellation. How, according to the myths, he was a hunter and said to be the most handsome of men. She told him of the different myths about his deeds and what surrounded him in the sky. The sisters he was pursuing according to one myth, or the scorpion that caused his death, placed opposite of him in the sky.

Joel listened carefully to the stories she had told him a dozen times already. He only hummed from time to time to show he was still listening and pointed to other stars he wanted to know about.

They stayed like that for hours, until the light of the stars faded and both of them fell asleep, snuggling close.

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