#so he has to admit defeat and pray that ellie will at least stick to the no horses inside rule

[actual-changeling]

listen, @sentientmasstransit i saw your tags on the beautiful drawing of ellie with shimmer and then this just. came over me. and wouldn't budge the whole day. so here it is, hopefully i didn't commit any horse crimes.

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living with ellie means joel has come to expect a lot of things when he gets his morning cup of coffee ranging from his girl asleep at the table to the time she had decided that six am was the perfect time to learn how to change a light bulb on her own, but being face to face with a horse is not one of them.

the coffee machine is happily gurgling away in the background, which means ellie must have already passed through and felt generous enough to turn it on for him, though she is nowhere to be seen now. joel recognizes it, which is something, and shimmer lets out a relaxed huff when he steps around her to grab a mug. he was not going to do this without caffeine.

during the five minutes it takes him to wait for the coffee to stop spluttering into the glass pot and burn his throat with half a cup that he hastily drinks down, the house continues to stay quiet, shimmer apparently happy to just doze next to the counters.

eventually, he calls out for her.

"ellie, why is shimmer in my kitchen?"

no response.

despite remnants sleep still clinging to him, joel feels the familiar anxiety squeeze his chest and speed up his heart, and he is about to go looking for her when she comes blustering down the stairs, backpack in hand.

"oh. hi, didn't hear you get up."

she glides around shimmer and puts her between them, going to grab two apples from the fruit bowl next to the fridge, and while he knows she has school, he is not about to let this one slide.

"ellie, there's a horse in my kitchen."

"yeah, i know. i put it there."

there is not enough coffee in the entire state of wyoming to get him through her teenage years intact. joel pinches the bridge of his nose and forces himself to take probably his deepest breath in the last month before looking back up at ellie, who is joyfully rocking back and forth on her feet without an ounce of guilt.

"i know i never said so, but i thought it was obvious that we do not bring our horses inside the house."

how she managed to fucking do that in the first place without waking him is a miracle he can figure out later, for now he just wants answers and to get shimmer back outside before she eats his granola. ellie shrugs her shoulders, one hand buried in her fur and gently carding through it.

"she was lonely, i haven't had much time lately with all the stupid homework they give us, and she missed me. so i brought her here last night and we slept in the living room. there's no rule against that."

joel desperately fights the smile hat is determined to settle on his face and fails, the corners of his lips ticking up just enough for ellie to notice, and he gracefully accepts the resignation settling into his bones when her face lights up with triumph. he knows how much ellie loves that horse, hell, he has had to peel her off the bottom of her box more times than he can count when she fell asleep reading, leaning against her legs, and the bond they have formed impresses even most of the regular stable workers. still. he could do without shimmer blocking half the kitchen and scratching their floors.

"just. get her out of here, please. and next time just put her in the backyard, new rule. no horses inside the house."

ellie's eyes gleam with something dangerous, and he quickly continues.

"no animals whatsoever."

her smile falls, but the sigh she lets out is humorous, and he helps her onto shimmer's bare back when it becomes obvious that she won't just act normal for once in her life and lead the horse outside. of course she has to ride it out through the front door. ellie bends down and joel presses a kiss to her cheek to send her off, and, really, how she manages to get through the door frame without getting stuck is beyond him.

joel settles back into his horse-free kitchen and refills his cup to the brim. he is going to have to talk to maria about some horse-related ground rules or next time shimmer might great him face to face first thing in the morning. knowing ellie, if there is anyone who could get a horse up the stairs, it's her.