Work Text:
There was a harsh whipcrack of thunder, so loud that it might have been as close as the barn. Yang grimaced, opening her eyes. There was always a little anxiety during thunderstorms, that something would go wrong. A tree might fall on the barn, a shed might get struck and catch fire. There was always the vague worry that a chicken had gotten caught outside somehow. Usually, they were needless worries, but Yang worried anyway.
Blake shifted against her, curling closer in the sweet way she always did. She always made herself so small when she slept.
Autumn rainstorms were always such tumultuous things. When they went out in the morning, Yang knew the ground would be coated in drowned orange leaves and the trees would be a little more barren. Just another step closer to winter. Still… storms like these weren’t always bad. Blake was just one example of a storm gone right.
It had only been a couple weeks since Yang had fought her way through the rain and into the barn, intent on feeding the animals and finishing her chores as quickly as she could. Rainstorms were the best times to curl up in bed with a book, or wrap herself up in a blanket to watch TV. There was little to do on a farm in the fall during a rainstorm. The delicate lettuces and greens were safe in the greenhouse, and the outdoor crops were hardy enough to handle some rain. She’d hurried up the ladder to the hayloft, already thinking about a hot shower and pulling her pajamas back on.
Instead, she’d found Blake, tucked between a couple bales of hay.
Her first thought was that she should run back to the house and call the cops. The farm was far enough away from Vale that they never had problems with the homeless squatting in their barn. For a brief moment, she even considered running back for her gun to scare her away. But the girl in the hayloft-- Blake-- had been small and thin; Yang had enough muscle on her that she could’ve overpowered her if necessary. When Blake sat up, it was immediately clear that trying to overpower her would have been the wrong thing to do. Blake was injured.
Her dad would have probably killed Yang for inviting a homeless stranger into their house, but it couldn’t have been the wrong decision. It’s what Summer Rose would have done, she told herself as she got Blake inside and settled her in. Summer would have never let a battered girl stay out in the cold. She had always wanted to help others out of bad situations, and in her condition, Blake certainly qualified. Yang hadn’t thought twice about taking her in, at least until the rain let up.
During those days of rain, Yang had grown fond of Blake’s company. She’d spent weeks on the farm by herself, and it was nice to share her meals with someone. Though she didn’t pry into Blake’s business, their conversations were easy and their silences were comfortable. Just having someone around had been such a nice change to Yang’s lonely world. Her days weren’t so dreary and long when Blake was around.
So when she offered Blake a job on the farm, she’d been relieved that she accepted.
Another crash of thunder, and Yang tightened her hold around Blake. The delicate ears on the top of Blake’s head twitched, tickling her chin.
“Y’okay?” Blake asked groggily, opening one eye.
“Aren’t I supposed to be asking you that?” Yang teased, brushing aside a curling tendril of black hair. Blake huffed, though Yang couldn’t tell if it was from sleepiness or amusement. Lightning flashed, and the gold of her iris caught in the light. If it wasn’t Blake, it would have been eerie.
“Did I wake you up?” she asked, sounding confused. It was a reasonable question. She was prone to nightmares, and often woke Yang up with her thrashing and her whimpers. Those nightmares were the aftershocks of what Blake had endured, haunting her even after she’d escaped her old life. She found comfort in Yang’s arms, in Yang’s bed, in the soft, sleepy kisses that made the nightmares fade.
“Nah, just the rain,” Yang replied. She let silence fall, smiling a little as she watched Blake’s ear cock to listen to the patter of rain against the roof.
“Oh.” Blake rested her head on Yang’s chest, closing her eye again. “That’s good. That it wasn’t me, for once.”
Yang laughed, and even in the darkness, she saw Blake’s lips twitch into a small smile. “None tonight?” she asked anyway.
“No.” Blake slid an arm around Yang’s waist, pulling herself closer to mold into Yang’s form. “It’s easier to sleep when it’s raining, I think.”
“Maybe we should get one of those white noise machines,” Yang suggested, rubbing circles into her back. “Then you can hear it all the time”
“It’s not the same,” Blake mumbled. “It’s better when it’s real. And, like… I don’t know. The air gets heavier. It’s nice.”
“And the smell,” Yang added. “I love the smell of rain.”
“Mmm.” Blake looked up at Yang, that same smile on her face. “S’nice.”
Yang lowered her head, giving her the lightest kiss. It was a kiss for peace, for sleep, for rain. Blake sighed blissfully, returning it.
There was a softer rumble of thunder, and Yang broke the kiss to look out the window. Blake followed suit, curious. Lightning flashed.
“What is it?” Blake asked.
“The paranoia that comes with responsibility,” Yang quipped, only half-joking. Blake’s eyebrows slowly slid up.
“Huh?”
“Like… I know we took care of everything. But I still get worried, that maybe we forgot a chicken, or maybe a goat got stuck outside, or something.” She gave a short, quiet laugh. “It’s stupid.”
“I don’t think it is.” One arm still around Yang’s waist, Blake pushed herself up onto her other elbow. “It’s not stupid to worry.”
“Worrying doesn’t do any good.”
“That doesn’t make it stupid.”
“Can you just let me win the argument?”
Blake rolled her eyes, but pretended to consider. “No.”
Yang sighed dramatically, pleased when Blake offered her a consolation prize in the form of another kiss. Yang closed her eyes. Somehow, her worries lessened just a little. She may have lost their short-lived argument, but she certainly won something else. She huffed a little breath of laughter into their kiss. Blake pulled back, smiling, even though she didn’t know why.
“What’s so funny?”
“Not funny.” Yang grinned. “Happy.”
“You’re laughing because you’re happy?”
“Yep.”
And then Blake was laughing, too. Still chuckling a little, they both sank back into the pillows, and Yang reached down for the blanket, pulling it up over their shoulders. It was so cozy, snuggling up to Blake in the darkness. She couldn’t even remember what it was like to sleep alone. She didn’t want to.
“It’s so… nice. To do this,” Blake told her quietly, as if reading her thoughts. “Before… with him… it was never like this. It was never… nice, like this.”
Beneath the blankets, Yang stroked Blake’s arm with her thumb. The very first night she’d slept in Yang’s bed, she’d said, You make me feel so safe.
For the first time, Yang could feel that for herself, too. She hadn’t realized it was something she’d needed, but the way her irrational fears over the storm were soothed by Blake’s touch, she finally understood what she’d meant. She nuzzled her face into Blake’s neck, pushing the blanket away just a little.
“Probably the nicest I’ve ever felt,” Yang agreed, kissing her neck lightly. The bruises that had been there were gone, but skin hadn’t been the only thing about Blake that was healing. Blake sighed dreamily, arching her neck encouragingly. Yang moved her lips upward, pausing at the corner of Blake’s jaw. She felt Blake’s hand curve around her hip, settling comfortably, content just to touch.
She could probably kiss her forever, Yang thought. She could kiss her into eternity.
It was still raining when they rolled out of bed the next morning. Blake pulled her hood over her ears, lips quirking into a small smile as they stepped out into the rain together. It was a cold rain, so similar to the one that Yang had found Blake in. In a few weeks, rain like this would become snow.
Yang liked the idea of curling up with Blake in front of a fire with mugs of hot chocolate, comfortable and warm as snow fell outside.
Trying to get the hay into the goat stall was a mess. Goats hated going outside in the rain, so the whole herd clustered at the door, waiting for their breakfast. Yang and Blake waded through the little goats, who kept trying to snatch bites of the hay before they could even set them down. Yang groaned.
“They’re so entitled!” she complained as one goat pushed herself up, placing her front hooves on Yang’s back. With such a wide, pregnant belly, it was a wonder the goat didn’t lose balance. “Get down!”
Blake was laughing, which stopped abruptly with a gasp as another goat tried to do the same to her. “Hey!” she exclaimed, and then let out a squeak as another one jumped up. Still not used to the sheer force of goats, Blake took a tottering step back, then lost her own balance. She fell backwards, losing her hold on the flake of hay.
Yang doubled over with laughter as Blake covered her head. Already, one of the goats was sniffing at her hair curiously. If given the chance, they’d try to taste it. “They’re monsters!” Yang announced, recovering from her laughter long enough to reach a hand down to help Blake up.
“If I’d known what I was getting into, maybe I wouldn’t have agreed to work here so quickly,” Blake muttered, but her smile betrayed her joke. Instead of letting go, Yang pulled her closer, wrapping her arms around her waist playfully.
“They’re charming monsters,” she insisted.
“Like you.”
“Aw, you think I’m charming. I’m flattered!”
Blake rolled her eyes, but her grin widened. “As charming as a monster can be.”
Laughing again, Yang released her, bending down for the dropped hay before Blake could. Since the goats had already descended on it, Yang had to shove a few out of the way to pick it up. Blake looked on, bemused, as she tried to dust off her backside. She shook her head in disbelief while Yang raised the flake of hay over her head.
Aside from that mild mishap with the goats, they got through the morning chores without much trouble. They ran back out through the rain to feed the other animals, who lived in various sheds around the farm. Yang didn’t even bother with a hood. She shook her hair loose, closing her eyes and letting the rain dampen it.
“You’re gonna get sick,” Blake pointed out, seizing Yang by the arm and dragging her along, picking up their pace.
“I won’t get sick!”
“Don’t test it.”
Even though the rain was nice, going inside was nicer. With their chores done, they went back to the house and the heat it offered. Yang sighed happily as she pulled her jacket off and hung it on a peg in the mudroom. Blake followed suit, shuddering as her body adjusted to the increase in temperature. With the rain still coming down hard, there was little they could do outside. Today, they could afford to relax a little.
“It’s weird, to just… not do anything,” Blake commented, sitting on the bench and pulling off her workboots.
“Don’t get used to it,” Yang warned. “Once kidding starts, we’re going to be on our toes.”
“So you keep saying.” Blake stretched her long arms out over her head, then gave a great yawn. “So now what?”
“Back to bed, maybe? You look tired. Or we could just watch TV, or something.” Yang leaned against the wall, wondering if Blake was imagining the same things she was imagining: curling up under a blanket, using each other for warmth, maybe dozing off. It was what rainy days were good for, and Yang wanted nothing more than those simple luxuries.
“That sounds tempting,” Blake said, clearly trying to suppress a smile. It was almost like she didn’t want Yang to see her eagerness. “With you?”
Yang was half-tempted to tease- no, you have to do all of that alone, or who else would you do it with? But in the short time she’d known Blake, she knew that this sort of teasing wasn’t what she wanted, or needed. Blake still needed gentle reassurance, and it was something Yang was more than prepared to give her.
“Of course,” she said instead, voice taking on a softer tone. She opened an arm. Blake hesitated, then rose, letting herself be pulled against Yang. “Rainy days are perfect for spending time with each other, right?”
“Yeah.” Blake didn’t try to hide her smile anymore, letting one unfurl. It was such a pretty smile. Every new smile felt like a victory, in some way. From what Blake had told her about her old life, she hadn’t had as many reasons to smile before. Now, it was something she did often.
“I know I’m putting some sweatpants on,” Yang told her cheerfully. “I intend to be comfortable for the rest of the day.”
Blake chuckled as Yang let go of her. She started to lead Blake toward their bedroom, but stopped when she realized Blake had. She turned around, to see Blake had wandered to a window, looking outside into the rain. Eyebrow raised, Yang joined her, looking out. The thunder and lightning had stopped, but rain was still falling, streaming steadily off the barn roof.
“Whatcha looking at?” Yang asked, a hand going to the small of Blake’s back.
“I was just thinking…” Blake paused, instinctively sidling closer to Yang. “I’ve always enjoyed the rain, you know? I mean, not being in it, but watching it. But when I came here, I was so sure that I hated the rain. That I wanted to, like… move to a desert, or something, so I’d never have to deal with rain again.”
“Can’t say I blame you,” Yang replied, amused. Blake had been so waterlogged on the day Yang had found her in the hayloft that her dislike of rain would have been justified.
“But… I can’t hate the rain. Not really.” She looked up at Yang, a tender light in her eyes. “Not when it brought me to you.”
For once, Yang had no words, no witty comeback, no perfect way to respond. She stared at Blake in surprise, feeling a blush creeping into her cheeks. The only thing she could think to do was tilt her head, to meet Blake’s lips with her own.
For once, the storm filled Yang with a sweet sense of peace.