Work Text:
Midnight
It’s been a little over two seasons since Sofía Romo moved to Pelican Town in the middle of summer. When she had contacted an old college housemate and explained the worsening situation with their other, previous housemates, he hadn’t hesitated to offer her a room on Honeycomb Farm. Since Sofía doesn’t care much for being a farmhand, she found a job elsewhere in town so she could pay rent and any other bills that she and Lo agreed to split. She’s a few years older than him and had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in archaeology the spring semester following Lo’s abrupt departure. Both Clint, the town blacksmith, and Gunther, the curator of the local museum, were impressed with this degree. Clint hired her to complete mining work for him so he could have more time to dedicate to projects, while Gunther asked her to consider donating any artifacts she happened to discover as she worked. Thus, most of her time is happily spent exploring the cave, collecting ores for Clint and gathering anything of interest for Gunther. When Sofía isn’t mining and fending off hostile creatures, she’s likely at the clinic, being kindly scolded by Harvey after sustaining a new injury. As one can expect, she’s become well acquainted with both of the staff members. She considers Maru, the nurse, one of her closest friends, while her relationship with Harvey is a bit different. Nothing much has come of it yet, as the man seems shy and hesitant, but she’s caught him gazing at her several times at the Stardrop Saloon or at Pierre’s General Store. Sometimes she sees him mustering up the courage to come over and speak, only to say hello or remind her to take care of herself. It often leaves her slightly disappointed.
“Can I buy a bottle of wine from you?” She pulls her long, dark hair into a high ponytail and fluffs out her bangs. She’s dressed in a royal blue button-up and high-waisted, light grey jeans. She has a few nice outfits saved for special occasions.
Lo chuckles. He’s placing a pie he had just finished making into a baby blue box. His faded blue hair, dark roots showing, is sprinkled throughout with flour. His apron has gotten the worse of it. “Just take one, you don’t have to buy it. Are you planning to come back tonight, or…?”
Sofía, a usually confident woman, smirks. There’s no hint of flush on her cheeks at this teasing question. “Probably. Are you?” She raises her eyebrows quizzingly. “Or maybe you want me to stay away for the night? I’ll ask Maru if I can sleep at her house if I need to.”
Lo is clearly flustered. He gives an awkward laugh and begins placing his dirty dishes in the sink as an excuse to turn away from her. “You don’t have to do that. Of course you can come back.”
“But will I want to?”
“Isn’t Harvey waiting for you? The wine is in the cellar. The best is ancient fruit or starfruit, feel free to grab one of those if you want.” Classic Lo, changing the subject to avoid further embarrassment.
She makes her way to the cellar door, swinging it open and calling over her shoulder as she descends the stairs. “Just text me if you need me to stay somewhere else.” She can hear the sigh in his voice as he agrees to do so. Shivering in the chill air of the cellar, Sofía chooses a bottle of ancient fruit wine and carefully carries it back upstairs. She’s accidentally shattered a bottle of strawberry wine against the wall when she hadn’t been paying attention and she isn’t planning to have the same happen to a more valuable bottle. “You sure I can take one of these? Don’t they sell for a lot?”
“Consider it a New Year’s gift.”
“Ah, shit…now I have to give something in return.” Her tone is joking. It makes him laugh.
“No, you don’t. Go have fun on your date.” A smile graces his lips. Slowly, it turns into the slightest of smirks. “And if you need to stay over at Harvey’s place…just text me so I know not to worry when you don’t come home.”
She rolls her eyes, a dull green color, and flashes a matching smile. “Will do.” She grabs her soft, dark grey coat and pulls it on before stepping into the cold evening air. There’s a layer of fresh snow on the ground that mostly covers the footprints the two of them had made earlier. Sparkling flakes attach themselves to her eyelashes and her hair. The wind nips at her cheeks and nose. She lets out a happy sigh and her breath forms a miniature cloud. It’s a ten-or-so minute walk from the farm to the clinic, and she spends an extra minute gazing at the festive lights strung in the window. She admires them with a look of peaceful awe on her face every night when she passes by on her way home from the mines. But tonight, joining her reflection is a dimly lit figure inside of the waiting room, who notices that she’s arrived and holds open the door. The bell above jingles.
“I hope you weren’t standing there for long. I wouldn’t want you to get sick.”
The lights glitter in his glasses, partially obstructing his eyes. Sofía grins, suddenly finding herself a little shy, and momentarily ducks her head. “I’m tough. I’m sure you of all people know that by now.”
“That’s an understatement.” He laughs, causing her to laugh, and they both stand in the warm atmosphere of the lights and laugh. Harvey then gestures to the double doors by the check-in desk. “Let’s go somewhere warmer.”
“That’s a good idea.” Again, she laughs and holds up the bottle she carries. “I brought this. Have you ever had ancient fruit wine? Lo says it’s one of the best.”
“I can’t say that I have, but I’m excited to try it. It has to be better than the wine I have.” He holds open both sets of double doors for her. The sterile smell of the clinic morphs into the homely smell of the small apartment upstairs. There’s a faint scent of hot pockets and coffee. She glances to the shelves of model airplanes on the far wall and spots a new one: one that she had given him as a gift for the Feast of the Winter Star a few days prior. She had given it to him privately, since she knows he’s embarrassed about many people knowing of his hobby.
“You put it together so quickly. I’m impressed.”
“I was excited. It looks nice, doesn’t it?” The plane is red and white, very sleek, and Sofía can’t remember what model it is from the top of her head. She beams at him, places the wine on the coffee table, and begins shrugging her coat from her shoulders. “Allow me.” He takes her coat; she smiles at him over her shoulder. The shade of pink on his face deepens to a dark red.
“Thank you, Harvey.”
“My pleasure. Make yourself at home.” He drapes her coat over the back of a chair before nervously making his way into the kitchen portion of the apartment. “Are you hungry? I have snacks. Don’t tell on me, but uh…they’re not very healthy.” With a breathy laugh, he turns to look at her from where he has opened the door of his pantry. “I really need to do better.”
“I won’t judge. Now, let’s see…” She comes to stand close beside him and surveys the items on the shelves. She spots a bag of chips and grabs it. “You’re right, these aren’t healthy.” She elbows him playfully and opens the bag. “I love this darker side of you.”
He shakes his head and closes the pantry door with a grin. “I’ll take it.”
Sofía plops down onto the couch, patting the spot beside her. “Come sit with me! But get a couple glasses for the wine first.” She pops a chip into her mouth with a satisfying crunch. Harvey soon joins her. He places two wine glasses onto the coffee table and struggles only a little to remove the cork from the bottle. It earns a giggle from his guest.
She takes a glass when offered. “We have to make a toast.”
“Alright, what should we toast to?” He sniffs curiously at the slightly blue liquid in his glass.
Sofía ponders for a moment. “How about a toast to a wonderful new year with a great guy?”
This suggestion brings the flush back to his cheeks, accompanied by the widest smile. “And with a great woman. Cheers.” He holds up his glass. With a bright blush of her own, she lightly clinks her glass against his.
“Cheers.”
✽✽✽✽✽
It’s been a few hours since Sofía and Harvey had made themselves comfortable on the couch. Harvey had taken some time to show his model airplanes to Sofía, upon her request, and found her genuine interest heartwarming. They then made their way back to the couch and watched a couple of episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, which Harvey had yet to watch and had a lot to say about. She thought his passionate disagreeing at parts was endearing. Now, Harvey has a notebook out, and the two are coming up with resolutions for the new year.
“Eating healthier. We both need to do that.” She takes the pencil from his hand and jots this on the first line. He then takes it back from her and writes something beneath it.
“And getting exercise. That one is more for me, though, since your work in the mines are plenty of exercise.”
“You take those classes on Tuesday at Pierre’s. Are they still going well?”
He nods. “Oh, yes, but I could be doing more.” He taps his lip with the pencil. “Maybe I could start running.” He looks at her for her opinion.
“I’ll run with you.”
He adds it to the list, along with her name. “Alright. We’ll have to compare schedules…” His eyebrows furrow as he scrunches his face in thought. The wrinkles on his forehead soon smooth. “But we can figure that out another day.”
She smiles. “Any other ideas?”
“Ah, yes.” He taps her nose with the eraser. “One of yours should be to stop getting hurt to often. If you want to visit me so badly, just drop by, no need to get injured.”
Sofía gasps, partially out of shock at how confident he’s become. “Bold. I like it.”
“Oh, good, I was worried it had come off as rude.” He scratches at his mustache and looks back to the notebook. “I’m adding that. For you to be more careful, for both of our sakes.”
She leans closer to look at what he’s writing and finally places her head against his shoulder. She lets out a sigh of contentment. They’ve only had a single glass of wine each, but she was already feeling relaxed. “Fine, fine. What time is it now?”
“Five minutes until the new year.” He drops the pencil onto the notebook. They weren’t too concerned about creating these resolutions – it was just something to pass the time. He leans into the couch and she moves with him.
“Already? Feels like I’ve only been here for an hour.”
“When in fact, you’ve been here almost for the rest of the year!” He chuckles at his own joke. Sofía breaks down into quiet giggles.
“Talk about overstaying my welcome.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, you’re always welcome. You can stay as long as you’d like.”
“Ooh. If you didn’t have to work tomorrow, I’d suggest we pull an all-nighter and binge Grey’s and cuddle.” She’s testing the waters. Harvey grins.
“We can still cuddle. We sort of already are.”
She lifts her head from his shoulder, taking his arm and placing it around her. “There. Now we’re cuddling.”
“You know, they say that whatever you’re doing at midnight on New Year’s, you’ll be doing for the rest of the year.” The smile on his face is of warmth and purity.
“I’ve heard that.” She pulls her phone from her pocket and opens the clock. The numbers display large on the screen: 11:59. A few short seconds later and the numbers change. Sofía, feeling only the tiniest bit nervous, turns towards him. “Happy New Years, Harvey!” She leans up and places a soft, giggly kiss to his lips. Burning a bright but happy red, Harvey struggles for the right words, so she fills the silence for him: “You know what they say about what you’re doing at midnight…”
He snorts. She doesn’t think she’s ever heard anything quite as cute. “Then I look forward to this year even more.” With warm palms against her cheeks, he pulls her into another gentle kiss. She leans into it, her body going warm and the fuzzy feeling in her stomach intensifying. His mustache tickles. The sweet taste of ancient fruit lingers.
✽✽✽✽✽
He’s beginning to question his decision. Is it too soon? Would she laugh at him? They shared a few kisses, and cuddled the night away, but is he jumping to conclusions? Would she accept? It’s been a while since he’s faced this sort of situation – he’s clueless and riddled with self-inflicted doubts. He had gotten up at eight the next morning, showered and changed, and cleaned up the glasses and chip crumbs from the previous night. He had then gone over to Pierre’s General Store barely three minutes after nine and purchased a sweet-smelling bouquet of various flowers. He could tell that the store owner was curious as to why he was buying them, but instead of asking about it, he simply wished him luck. But was that luck in good spirits? Or was it because Pierre believed that he needed the extra luck? Harvey sighs one last time before composing himself and stepping back into his apartment.
Sofía had woken up in the short time that he was gone. She’s still lying on his bed. It had been innocent, but strangely intimate at the same time, just holding her in his arms until they had both fallen asleep. She waves and gives a sleepy grin when she sees him, a grin that eases his nerves. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Sleep well?” The flowers are hidden behind his back. When she nods, he continues. “I’ve brought something for you.”
“You did?” She stretches, her back arching, and sits up. She then swings her legs over the side of the bed and stands. She’s only wearing a pair of socks and one of Harvey’s shirts, which hangs low enough to cover her panties. Approaching him, her arms snake around his neck. “What is it?”
His free arm wraps around her and the other moves to bring the flowers into view. She gives a small gasp as she pulls her arms back and takes the bouquet.
“They’re beautiful! You’re so sweet…thank you.” She plants a kiss on his cheek. She stares lovingly at the flowers before suddenly realizing the intention of the gift. Her eyes dart to his. “Oh! These…It’s tradition, right?”
He nods with a nervous smile. Her arms go around his neck again and he catches her in a hug.
“I accept them.”
Relief and joy wash over him as well as giggles from the many kisses she’s begun to pepper onto his cheeks. “I was worried it may be too soon.”
“No, not at all!” She pulls away again to admire the flowers. “It’s perfect timing. It couldn’t be more perfect.”
“A perfect start to a new year?” He lowers himself onto the couch. She leans down to kiss him once more.
“Definitely.”