Work Text:
Dimples
Him
Warmth embraced them just like the laughter that filled the cabin. The fire crackled as he placed another log inside the fireplace, smothering his grin beneath his palm as Ellie read out another pun.
“Oh, oh, here is one,” her voice giggled. “What do you call a snowman with abs?”
His eyes rolled as he continued poking the firewood.
“An abdominal snowman,” Ellie answered with a loud laugh, soon followed by Maeve’s.
“Seriously?” He groaned as he stood. Lowering the fire poker, he moved toward them. With his hands on his hips, he stared at them both.
Maeve smiled, her lips parted as laughter tumbled past them and her head leant back against the couch. Her legs were outstretched in front of her, propped up on a small ottoman. And she matched his stare as if challenging him to ruin the moment.
His gaze flicks to Ellie, who smiles as wide as the book she reads amongst her fits of giggles.
They had been snowed in the past few days, and their days had looked much like this. Curled beneath blankets and warmed by the fireplace, Ellie read out her favourite puns from her much-loved pun book.
“C’mon, that was good!”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Such a bore,” she groaned before flipping through more pages. “Okay, what did the beanie say to the scarf?”
“What?” he grumbled as he sat down on the couch next to them. Opening his eyes after a weighted pause, he watched as Maeve shook her head at him before ducking down to listen to Ellie.
“You hang around while I go ahead,” Ellie cackled. Joel couldn’t hide his smile quickly enough before Ellie knocked his arm. “Told you it was good!”
“Barely,” he tossed back. Ellie scoffed before throwing the blanket onto him as she stood.
“Maeve, do you have any Christmas songs on your Walkman?”
“Christmas songs?” Joel teased, Ellie shrugged.
“What? I don’t know?”
Maeve laughed and looked back as she watched Ellie head down the hall to her room. “I doubt it, but you can check. I have more tapes in my bag.”
Ellie nods and takes off, leaving Maeve and Joel.
“Finally, some peace,” he jokes, covering his face with his hands. She laughs and nudges him.
“You can stop pretending, I know you love her puns.”
“I do not!” he groans, looking at her, and she raises her brow. He rolls his eyes. “Shut up.” Her following laugh makes him smile. His head lolls to the side as he looks at her.
Her chin was tucked to her chest as she toyed with the frayed edges of the blanket with her free hand, whilst the other remained propped up beneath her head.
“Okay, maybe I do.”
Her gaze lifted, and his smile widened at the beaming expression that filtered over her face as she laughed once more. A laughter rumbled inside his chest as he scooped up her legs and placed them on his lap, where he carefully fixed the blanket around them before smoothing his hand up and down.
“Knew it,” she hummed, leaning into the couch as she watched him. He nodded, his lips kicking up.
“Yeah, guess so.”
“How are you going?” She asked softly after a beat. His brows furrowed as he stared at his hand on her leg. “Joel,” she called after a beat.
“What do you mean?” he spoke, his voice a raw rasp.
“You know what I mean. A lot has happened over the last few weeks.”
He finally lifted his gaze to look at her before Ellie came bouncing back into the lounge.
“Guess what!” She yelled, the heels of her feet lifted as she went to jump back onto the couch, where she then paused. Her eyes brightened as she glanced between Joel and Maeve. Rocking on the balls of her feet, she stood before them, a large smile stretching across her face as she held a bottle of wine in her hands proudly.
“Where’d hell you get that?” Joel asked as he stopped rubbing his hand along Maeve’s legs.
Ellie grinned and shook the bottle.
“My room—”
“Your room?” he repeats slowly.
“Yeah…. Point is, I found it, let’s crack her open.”
“Ellie, you’re like twelve, no.”
“Fourteen,” she corrects him. “And it’s not like you haven’t seen me drink before.”
Maeve hums and winces briefly as she moves her legs, patting the space next to her. Ellie glances at them both before shaking her head and nudging Maeve.
“Scoot,” she spoke to Maeve as she sat on Maeve’s other side and nudged Maeve to sit next to Joel. In the middle of the couch. When Maeve turned to Ellie, confused, Ellie shrugged. “Why do you get to have the best seat all the time?”
Maeve laughed before moving, nudging Joel as she did. He smiled briefly before he took the bottle from her hand.
“Fine, but only one drink, Ellie.”
***
“She’s asleep,” Maeve murmured with a smile. Dragging her fingers through Ellie’s hair as the kid curled up next to her, with her head in her lap.
It was difficult to track the amount they had drunk as they passed the bottle around. And when Ellie ran and got some cups, the liquid slipped along with the time until he could feel the warmth swirling in his chest.
His arm was draped over the back of the couch, his fingers toying aimlessly with the curls at the back of Maeve’s head.
“Mmm.”
“I should take her to her bed,” Maeve spoke with a sigh, yet she made no movement to get up. They both knew she wouldn’t be able to carry Ellie down the hall. And neither wanted the moment to end.
“You should.”
His eyes stayed focused on the side of her face. It’d been a few weeks since they’d decided to wait out the winter in the bungalow. And she’d already regained most of the colour she had lost, her body seemed less frail, and her eyes had regained the life that had been drained away from her by that place.
“She’s going to be miserable tomorrow,” she joked, her hand still carding through Ellie’s hair now that she had taken it out of her pony. “You prepared to get up and hold her hair back as she pukes?”
He chuckles, and his fingers pause their mindless fidgeting with Maeve’s hair and neck. Flicking his gaze down to Ellie, who sleeps peacefully in comparison to her tipsy loudness that had occupied the space not too long ago.
“It’s why you’ve got crutches; you can still move,” he jokes.
There’s a moment before she turns her head to look at him, biting her lip, she leans back against the couch and lifts a hand to poke his stomach.
“Funny,” she murmurs. His lips curl as he drops a hand to rub over where she poked.
“Comedic?”
She laughs. And he knows the wine is what’s making her laugh. Hell, he knew the wine was making him feel all kinds of warm.
“Of course.”
He nods, and without thinking, he reaches forward and brushes his fingers over her forehead and tucks her hair behind her ear. Her cheeks flush, and she smiles as she lifts her hand to place it against his on her cheek. Her eyes bore into his, a sheer film cast over them as she stared up at him. At her stare, he flushes and pulls his hand away to drag through his hair, laughing nervously.
“What?”
“This is the most I’ve heard you laugh,” she whispers. His brows raise, and he drops his hand from his hair.
“And?”
“And—” she restarts with a smile. “I’ve noticed…” she grins, lowering her voice as if she were telling him a secret. “That every time you do, there are these little dimples that appear.”
His cheeks flush, and he glances away as he laughs nervously once more. She grins and pokes his cheek.
“There they are.”
“The dimple?” he rasps, unable to meet her eyes.
“Dimples,” she corrects, shuffling ever so slightly closer. “And they’re adorable.”
He shakes his head, his lips curling in a feigned frown as he finally turns back to look at her.
“What are?” he asks breathlessly, losing track of the conversation as his eyes meet hers.
“You have dimples, Joel,” she says softly as she props her head up against her palm and pokes at his cheek with her free hand. “It’s adorable.”
“I am not adorable,” he wished he sounded more confident, but he feared he sounded like a whining child. The wine sloshed in his chest, warming him and making his head spin as he regarded her.
Her head tilts.
“According to who?”
“Everyone,” he spoke drily. “And me.” He adds, catching her hand as she went to poke his cheek once more. She hums, smiling.
“Well, maybe not to everyone. But to me, you are,” her reply was as quick and natural as the instant thudding of his heart. It beat like a drum, thumping in tune with each word she spoke and each sparkle in her pretty blue eyes that stared at him like he was the sun that brightened her day.
“T-hank you darlin’.” He rasped as he dropped her fingers. She grinned, but her eyes began to droop, and her responses started to slur.
“C’mere,” he whispered before he slowly curled his arm around her and brought her close.
She leant into him whilst Ellie curled, stretching her legs out on the couch. He smiled as he looked down at them, and just when he thought Maeve had fallen asleep too, he felt her reach for his free hand.
“Thank you, Joel,” she whispered lazily, her head lulling into the crook of his neck.
“For what?” he spoke quietly, squeezing her hand as he waited for her response. It never came. Her eyes closed and her lips parted as she fell asleep. Her breathing was steady as he felt each exhale puff against his neck, and each rise and fall of her chest beneath his hand wrapped around her waist.
“G’night sweetheart,” he whispers, tilting his head to press a kiss to her temple. And he smiles, the kind of smile that forces his dimples to poke his cheeks as he watches his girls sleep peacefully on the couch.