*Slides in here to give you an idea* Psst here’s an idea, Ellie having a bad nightmare and Joel deciding to help cheer her up by building a big blanket fort in the living room of their house since that used to help Sarah when she was growing up. Ensue lots of cuddling and maybe a tickle fight caused by Ellie
Thank you so much for the prompt anon, this is absolutely amazing!
I am so sorry about the wait on this one guys between exams and writers block, this took way longer than expected but I finally got it done so I hope you guys enjoy, and thank you so much for your patience! 🥰❤️
Warnings: descriptions of nightmares/anxiety
“Ellie, Ellie baby wake up it’s ok”.
Joel tried to wake her up, gently shaking her, holding onto her arm and patting it lightly, as his heart broke seeing his baby whimper and thrash around in pure terror as she slept.
“Ellie it’s me, it’s Joel”.
This seemed to finally do the trick as Ellie’s eyes shot open, springing up as she clutched her chest gasping for breath and whimpering. Seeing how broken and scared Ellie was destroyed Joel, but he had to put that aside for now, and just make sure he was there for Ellie, who desperately needed him right now. The second Ellie sprung up he backed up a few steps and took his arm off hers, to ensure he wouldn’t frighten her further.
“Hey hey it’s ok baby girl it’s me, it’s Joel, don’t worry you’re safe sweetheart”.
“Joel” she whimpered; her voice strained as she blindly reached out for him in the dark. “It’s ok baby, it’s ok I’m right here alright” he softly cooed, as he sat down her next to her wrapping her in his arms. Still trembling and gasping for air she threw her arms around his neck, clasping her hand over her mouth to contain her shaky sobs and whimpers. Joel in return just softly rubbed his hand up and down her back, shushing her gently as he pressed soft kisses to her forehead, and whispering soft reassurances to her.
They stayed like for a while, until Ellie finally stopped trembling and her muffled sobs died down as she nuzzled her face into the crook of Joel’s neck. “Sorry” she mumbled softly against his skin. “It’s ok baby” he whispered as he continued to gently rub her back, “you feeling any better?” “a little” she mumbled, although he could still feel her trembling slightly in his arms, causing him to hold her a little tighter. They continued to stay like this in silence for a few more moments, just appreciating the comfort of being in each other's presence, before Joel suddenly thought of something.
“You know as long as you’re up for it, I have an idea that might help you take your mind of it”, gently tracing patterns on her back.
“Sure what is it” she whispered, still clinging to him.
“Well when Sarah was little we would sometimes build blanket forts together, she absolutely loved it it would always put her in a good mood, if would even help her sleep better if we did at night, so what do you think?”.
Ellie thought for a moment before breaking into a small smile and looking at him, “yeah that sounds fun”.
Joel grinned, “alright kiddo it’s a plan, come on”. Finally unraveling herself from his arms, they both made their way downstairs to the living room.
“Ok so how do we do this” she asked looking around the living room.
“Well first let’s get everything we need, so all the blankets and cushions, we’ll also get your comforter and mattress down here so we can sleep in it ok” he smiled.
“Ok cool, but how are we supposed to build this thing exactly, remember I’ve never done this before”,
“Don’t worry kiddo it’s pretty easy, we just gotta lay down the mattress first, lay up the chairs back to back against the mattress, and throw the blanket over them so the things got a roof”.
Ellie looked at him for a second before giving him a slightly reluctant look, to which Joel only laughed, “don’t look so worried kid I’ll set that up, why don’t you just run up and get what we need ok”. Ellie grinned “yeah that’s probably for the best, can’t have your old man knees going up those stairs too many times can we”, she grinned cheekily, as she ran upstairs before he even had the chance to reply.
Joel only shook his head and couldn’t help but smile, “little shit” he mumbled under his breath, watching her as she rushed up the stairs. He began to gather the chairs from the kitchen and living room, lining them up as he had described, before gathering the collection of blankets they kept in the spare cupboard. It wasn’t long before he heard Ellie bounding down the stairs, arms full of her comforter and pillows.
“Watch you don’t trip” he yelled from the kitchen. “Yeah yeah” she yelled back. Joel shook his head, he swore that kid was going to be the death of him. She dumped her arm full of blankets onto the living room floor just as Joel brought through the last of the cushions, and finished setting up the chairs.
“Nice, so now we just got to get the roof on this thing” she looked at Joel. “Yup pretty much” as he sat down on the sofa looking at her expectantly, trying his best to hide the grin spreading across his face. She gave him a confused look, before looking back at the set up, “uh Joel a little help”. Joel, now completely failing at hiding his grin just chuckled slightly, “well I would kiddo, but you know, gotta take it easy with these old man knees”, causing Ellie to roll her eyes at him, “smartass”.
Joel just laughed again, “come on kiddo let’s finish getting this thing set up”. It took them about fifteen minutes, before everything was finished, but both of them were pretty pleased with the result. “Holy shit this is cool” she exclaimed, whilst kneeling down to look inside. “Knew you’d like it” Joel smiled, his heart melting at the scene, and the bittersweet memories it brought back. “Come on let’s get inside”, genuinely feeling the effect on his ‘old man knees’ as he knelt down and crawled inside, Ellie not far behind him. As he turned to lie on his back, resting against the hundred pillows they had set up inside, Ellie took the opportunity to curl up to his side, resting her head and hand on his chest, to which he couldn’t help but smile at, as the content feeling in his chest grew.
Both finally feeling the tiredness start to reach them, they stayed like this in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Ellie eventually looked up at him, “thank you, you know, for this” she whispered. Joel smiled looking down at her. “No problem baby girl, I’m glad you liked it” pressing a soft kiss to her head, as she nuzzled further into his chest, smiling slightly as she felt the comforting sound of his heartbeat. “I do, you did a really cool job, you know, even with your old man knees” she giggled.
Joel let out a little gasp of fake shock, “you little shit” he growled, and before Ellie had the chance to get away, Joel’s hands latched onto her sides, mercilessly squeezing up and down them, causing Ellie to squeal.
“JOEL YOU ASSHOLE”, but instead of trying to worm away from him, she just continued to nuzzle further into his chest, telling Joel everything he needed to know. “Sorry kiddo but you brought this on yourself” he chuckled, before slipping his hands underneath her hoodie and began spidering at her sides and ribs, causing her to squeal again, and collapse into muffled giggles against his chest. Joel’s heart melted at this and he couldn’t help but chuckle softly, “not too bad for an old man huh kiddo”, as Ellie squealed again when he hit a particularly sensitive spot on her upper ribs.
Despite barely managing to get any words out for giggles, she still managed to choke out “I wouldn’t say that old man” in between giggles, to which Joel laughed in disbelief.
“Oh you little shit you’re going to regret that” as he sat both of them up and pulled her across his lap, before spidering at her tummy, causing her to shriek, and collapse into even more laughter. “You going to apologise?” Joel laughed, “In your dreams old man” she wheezed.
Joel sighed, “ok kid don’t say I didn’t warn you though, and with that he lowered his head into the crook oh her neck and blew a massive raspberry, making sure to nuzzle his stubble against her neck. The squeal Ellie let out almost gave Joel a scare, as she collapsed into even more precious giggles. “Oh my God Joel what the fu-“ she squealed before she was cut off with yet another raspberry from Joel. “OK OK I GIVE I’M SORRY” she wheezed out in between laughter, causing Joel to stop immediately and slowed to gentle rubs on her tummy and sides to help get rid of the feeling, and pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“You ok baby” he smiled at her fondly. “Yeah yeah I’m fine whatever asshole” she muttered shyly, hiding her face in his chest again, as they returned to their original position. As they both finally felt the exhaustion start to catch up with them, they both felt their eyes start to droop, totally relaxed being in each others company, as Joel brought one hand up to play with her hair, and the other to softly rub her back, causing her to let out a content sigh and nuzzle further into him.
Still refusing to look at him, she mumbled into his chest, “thank you”, as sleep finally took over her, with the help of Joel’s gentle touch. He pressed a final soft kiss to her head before whispering to her, “of course baby girl, sweet dreams”, as he tilted his head back and let sleep take over him with his baby safe in his arms.
