THE NEXT MORNING, Joel had followed through with his threat. Tommy was the one to come knocking on Ellie's door at the crack of dawn, giving her a small nod of the head and not bothering to speak to her because there was a high likelihood he wouldn't get a response that was more than an angered grumble.
They shuffled through the town in silence, snow crunching under their feet and sighs leaving their noses until they reached the stables. Tommy led her to the end of the row of horses where only two of the stalls were occupied— Shimmer and Geronimo. Ellie expected to stop in front of the first option but tilted her head when she was brought to stand in front of the second choice.
Her eyebrows raised when she saw Ralph and Joel catering to the black stallion in front of them. Joel was making sure the saddle was secure while Ralph was giving Geronimo pets and scratching his face lovingly. 'Did you two come here to say goodbye or something?'
'No.' Joel sighed, securing the buckle of the saddle with a clink. 'We came here to steal a horse and go.'
'Woulda gave you one.' Tommy told his brother, hand on the strap of his backpack.
'I know. Anyway, that was thirty minutes ago, and I guess...' Joel sighed, pausing and peering over the top of the horse to look at Ralph, a silent prompt for him to take over the emotional conversation.
'You deserve a choice, Ellie.' Ralph gently steered Geronimo's face away from him when the horse attempted to leech some more pats off of him, stepping forward and starting to get serious. 'Joel still thinks you'd be better off with Tommy, but I think that we can kick ass just fine by ourselves.'
'Then, let's go.' Ralph was barely able to catch the duffle bag that Ellie launched at him in time, catching it by one of the straps before pulling it up into his arms fully. She turned around and walked towards Shimmer, hopefully able to hide the relieved smile on her face. Tommy and Joel shared a look with each other while Ralph shrugged and went along with it, happily waddling over to Geronimo and finding a place to store Ellie's belongings.
It took a couple of minutes until Ralph was leading the horse out of the stable, Ellie taking care of Shimmer while Joel and Tommy shared a sad look and Lou was off by the stables speaking with Bowie. Probably thanking him for donating a horse to their dysfunctional cause.
'Lou, let's go!' Ralph called out, half wanting to break up their conversation and half wanting to get out of there before Tommy made any more passive-aggressive remarks. He hadn't yet, but Ralph could sense that one was coming.
She turned around and gave a thumbs up, then veered around and still kept speaking to Bowie. He seemed very sad to see her go, even though they had been here for less than a day, and she was just as upset. Ralph was too busy boosting Ellie up onto Shimmer to see the quick hug that she had given him, and that was probably for the better.
Eventually, she said her goodbyes, and headed over to the three of them. She grinned at Ellie and accepted Ralph's hand as he hauled her up onto the horse, his limbs beginning to get tired with all the assisting. Stretching his right arm across his chest, he stared at Joel with a smile. 'Don't tell me that you need help too.'
Joel laughed and shook his head, and with a fake sigh of relief, Ralph waved for Lou to make room and grabbed onto the saddle, tugging himself up. Joel continued to stare over his shoulder at the man, smiling to himself, and he dragged that out because he knew he would be met with one of Tommy's disapproving frowns when he turned back around.
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borderline - the last of us.
Fanfiction'we're on the borderline, caught between the lines of pain and rapture.' in which ralph leaves his bedroom door unlocked, a nosey neighbour blackmails him, and now he's stuck backpacking across the country with his daughter and a strange little...
