Work Text:
After a long day of Turf War, Ellie decided it was time to head home to her shared apartment with her girlfriend, Ariel. She had won quite a few matches today, thanks to her Octobrush. When she headed upstairs and unlocked the door, she witnessed Ariel playing Mario Kart and realized she hasn't stopped since she started it today.
"Hey hun, I'm home." Ellie announces her presence into the apartment. "Hey El, I am almost done with this Grand Prix cup—it has been a literal nightmare!" Ariel responded back to her. Ellie chuckles a little as she puts her Octobrush in her safe along with her house key in the key pot. The octoling then goes to her squidling partner and sits next to her, watching her play her game in real time. After suffering yet another loss in the Grand Prix which was the fifth time this week, Ariel puts her controller down and goes to hug Ellie. "I don't think I'm ever going to beat that level of racing difficulty." Ariel uttered as she groaned in frustration.
"Well, you won't win with that attitude." Ellie spoke and rested her head on Ariel's shoulder. "Yeah, you might be right about that. Anyway, how was your day?" Ariel asked her girlfriend. "It was rather decent—I won a few matches on Turf War today, so that's something I guess." Ellie said as she leaned into Ariel a bit more. "Actually, I don't know. Today was just an "I wasn't feeling it" kinda day, you know?" Ellie continued and gazed down at her lap. "I understand, El, I have those days too—it honestly sucks." Ariel reassured while pulling Ellie closer to her. "But on the bright side, at least you are home with your amazing girlfriend and can just relax, right?" Ariel said while looking at Ellie. "Yeah, I suppose. Cod, what would I ever do without you?" Ellie replied with gratitude and appreciation.
"Lucky for you, you don't ever have to find out." Ariel smiled at her before leaning in to kiss her, Ellie leaning in as well, both their lips pressing against each other. During the kiss, Ellie kissed a little back and wraps her arms around Ariel's neck to show she was loving the affection. After a bit, Ariel broke the kiss and pressed her forehead on Ellie's with such gentleness. They stood like that for a little, just enjoying their presence as one. "So, what would you like to do tonight?" Ellie had asked Ariel. "Hmm, we could watch a movie or do other... things.~" Ariel answered alongside a suggestive tone, moving her hand onto Ellie's hip.
"Mmm, and what might that entail?~" Ellie questioned Ariel as she sits on her lap so they were face to face, her smile showing seduction behind those eyes of hers. "Oh I don't know—something along the lines of never leaving our bedroom for the night, if you're up for it.~" Ariel whispered in her ear and moving her face near Ellie's lips to kiss her once more. Ellie noticed and immediately kissed her lips to show how much she loved her. Minutes passed by until both separated their lips, both panting softly from how intense it was altogether. Suddenly, amidst all of what transpired, Ellie let out a sigh. "As much as I would love some private time, I'm not really in the mood—I am so sorry hun." Ellie apologized and laid her head on Ariel's shoulder again, yawning softly in the process.
"Oh that's ok El we can just watch a movie." Ariel says a bit disappointed but doesn't push it, so she lifts Ellie off of her and places her on the couch, then she stands up and goes looking through the movies they own. After deciding on a movie Ariel sits back down as Ellie, rests her head on her girlfriend's shoulder and Ariel hugs her waist, as they both relax and enjoy the movie. Ellie feeling a bit tired and comfy, starts to drift off to sleep Ariel notices this and not wanting to wake her up gently lifts her up, and carries her to their shared bedroom.
Ariel places her on the bed and tucks her in for the night, she then kisses her forehead and walks out of the room to shut off everything for the night, then she walks back in and gets in bed next to Ellie and she falls asleep. Ellie who was sleeping peacefully has a nightmare about the metro, about what she went through, how she had to kill her own kind... the nightmare got so bad that she started crying and screaming, she wakes up to Ariel trying to wake her up, Ellie then proceeds to cry on Ariel's shoulder "Hey El you are ok now, I promise he won't ever hurt you again." Ariel says as she soothes Ellie by hugging and rubbing her back.
Ariel then lifts Ellie's head so they can look at each other, "How about I go make us some tea would you like that." Ariel says as she wipes the tears from Ellie's eyes, Ellie nods her head and Ariel gets up from the bed and helps Ellie up as well they both walk out of the room, and Ellie goes to sit on the couch while Ariel goes to the kitchen and starts making their cups of tea. After Ariel is done making both cups of tea, she brings them over to Ellie and puts them on the table in front of them, Ariel then sits next to Ellie and turns to look at her with a concerned look.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ariel says softly, Ellie nods her head but they wait a few minutes before Ellie says anything. "I was back at that place I just remember that... phone and the way it acted, and sounded." Ellie says while Ariel stays silent, "I had to do so many tests just to see the surface... I had to-" Ellie starts sobbing again remembering what she had to go through to survive. Ariel then shifts to her and hugs her "I understand if it's too much for you El you don't have to-" "I want too." Ellie speaks up cutting off her girlfriend as she looks at her.
"I just I need too." Ellie proceeds to tell Ariel everything that she had to go through the "tests", killing her own kind and how she escaped after telling Ariel what she went through she collapsed in her girlfriend's arms just crying while Ariel tries to comfort her while trying not to cry herself, “God El I’m so so sorry I- I had no idea.” Ariel says as she starts crying for her girlfriend, after a while they both stop crying and just hold each other for a while, with Ellie leaning her head on Ariel’s shoulder and Ariel putting her chin on top of Ellie’s head.
“El?” Ellie looks up at Ariel as Ariel holds her head in her hands, “That thing can never hurt you again El, it can never hurt you again you are safe now you will always be safe now.” Ariel says as she smiles at Ellie sadly, They both hug each other again and Ariel kisses her forehead.
As the night progresses they both get tired again and head to bed, this time Ellie has no more nightmares that night and Ariel had fallen asleep knowing Ellie was safe from her nightmares that night. After tonight after 2 years Ellie finally found comfort and peace, that no matter what happens she will always have someone to talk to, someone to help her when she falls down and someone to be competitive with her when needed.
Author’s Note - hi everyone I am sideordertester (it’s my splashtag title but shortened) this is my first story in the Splatoon series uhm but I quite literally came up with this when I made my OCs and I wanted to make this I had some help with editing so I wanted to thank sonadow7ce for helping me edit it anyway I hope to write more stories about my OCs hopefully my next one will be about how they play turf war together anyway thank you all for reading and hopefully yall enjoyed it goodbye for now everyone