Work Text:
One week. It has been one week since Vinnie started planning out and rushing all his work on the farm to be able to have a night for himself. Well, for himself and Elliott, his boyfriend.
By autumn, three seasons into his new life on his grandfather's farm, the punk had been carrying everything pretty well. Turns out life on a farm wasn't as boring as he expected it to be.
Vinnie easily got addicted to following a strict routine of watering his crops, feeding his animals and wandering around town looking for foregables or interesting parts on people's trash cans (he's yet to understand how people threw away full baguettes or metal resources and expected no one would claim it).
Following his path, the next stop was certainly the beach to collect shells and whatever the ocean decided to bring to the coast, those always helped earn an extra coin. Vinnie totally didn't use it as an excuse to have a daily chat with the hot redhead that lived in a cabin by the sea.
By the afternoon, the farmer would take care of giving away birthday gifts or handling eventual requests listed in front of Pierre's store, looking for the wanted items or for the villagers to make the delivery, sometimes the latter being the hardest one to find. If there were none, the punk would spend the time fishing, organizing his chests or gathering resources for his future building upgrades.
His routine was finished, almost everyday, where the farmer considered the most intriguing spot of all town, the mines. It amazed him the amount of strange creatures there were, from two eyed jellies to jumpy fleas and fluctuant heads. Even with imminent danger on every floor and the often call-outs from Harvey for him to stop risking his life, Vinnie eventually found his fun in mining.
The punk had worked fiercely and calculated his steps carefully every morning to make sure no task was left undone, from farming to fighting monsters, it usually took him every single minute of his day, if not more, as he sometimes got to bed almost 2 am completely exhausted.
So his task was clear: the farmer would need to slow down for their date to work.
Vinnie watched the news intently every morning, waiting for his cue: an approaching storm.
Waking up to a rainy day would only make things easier as the few crops that weren't covered by sprinklers would be watered and the animals wouldn't demand to go out.
With the next day's early tasks out of the way, the punk would get as many things ready as possible on the previous day before 6 pm. He knew how his boyfriend prefered to sleep early, locking down his cabin's door as the sun set, so the punk planned to sacrifice some of his valuable work hours to make good of the invites to sleep over Elliott constantly sent his way.
And so Vinnie did. He planned and worked day after day to get ahead of his schedule.
Stocking up piles of wood, getting rid of many unwanted trees that still occupied most of the farm's south area, check.
Rushing his way down the mines, collecting as many gold ores, coal and stones as his backpack could carry, check.
Hiring Robin to work some extra space in his barn for his current animals and the ones he wanted to buy from Marnie, check.
Spending extra hours to fish with Willy and guarantee an extra gold, in theory, to pay for the time he would be resting, check.
Vinnie had officially become a workaholic.
In a few days, however, the news he had been waiting for: the weatherman on TV announcing, for Stardew Valley, a heavy rain day tomorrow.
It was great, Vinnie hurried out of the house to care for his animals and crops. Next, a small visit downtown, no birthdays, no requests. Almost too good to be true. The farmer headed north to keep his daily ventures towards the mine bottom.
Vinnie set his timer. He planned to leave the mine through the minecarts at exactly 4:30 pm to have enough time to explore the beach, check his crab pots and meet Elliott.
The farmer was undeniably anxious, after taking a look at his backpack he realized the pomegranate he saved for Elliott had been left home by a lack of attention on his part. He thought it would be good to bring his boyfriend a little gift since he'd spend the night at his house, but now it was too late to go back.
As planned, Vinnie left the cave and got the minecarts towards the city, quickly bypassing Clint's workshop and the public library. The path was a little longer than expected, the punk hurried his steps when his wristwatch showed he was fifteen minutes behind his schedule.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! I'm gonna be late." He muttered to himself while jogging on the stone bridge leading south.
Upon arriving at the beach Vinnie realized he wouldn't do his usual walk around the sand to collect shells, deciding looting and restocking his crab pots was more important, the punk felt a wave of joy relish on himself by finding what got caught on his trap, a big lobster, Elliott's favorite. Bingo. They will have a great dinner tonight.
After securing all of his findings for the day on his backpack Vinnie raced towards the familiar cabin east, letting out a sigh of relief when he realized the door was unlocked.
"Hey!" Vinnie opened the door clearly out of breath. "Guess who's coming to-" He took a glance around, Elliott was not home. "... Sleep over…"
The farmer stood still trying to understand the situation, it took a second for realization to crush him, today's Friday. Every Friday, most of the town gathered at the Stardrop Saloon to socialize.
"Fuck."
It was hard to know which day it is when you work as if every day was monday. Vinnie closed the cabin's door as he left, he was way too tired from his run and overall day to stick around and wait for his boyfriend to come home, as well as going to the saloon to party. In the end, he decided to look around the beach for eventual forageables, walk back to the farm and rest, the next day would be better.
The sound of raining pounding on the roof filled Vinnie with a feeling only a rainy day could, the feeling of less work. The punk opened his front door and grinned at the sight, his watered crops not ready to be harvested, meant he had only one task here: care for the animals.
Vinnie rushed towards the hen house and then to the barn to collect eggs and milk his cows, putting everything on the compactors and waving Robin goodbye before leaving.
Next, after placing everything he planned to sell on his shipping bin, the farmer made sure to get on his way out his tools, some snacks, yesterday's lobster and a totem, wasting no time to go to the mines.
This time Vinnie promised himself his plan was flawless. Instead of walking/running all the way to the beach, he'd use the totem given him by the Junimos, it was no doubt the fastest way to travel, so he'd have plenty of time to forage around the beach, check his crab pots and getting to the cabin with no problems. The farmer also got himself a few treats to guarantee he wouldn't be exhausted by the time. Finally, the knowledge of rainy days equals home Elliott, as he would rather not go out in that weather, so he would definitely be there when Vinnie arrived.
Vinnie left his farm with a wide grin knowing this time things would work out for sure.
When the farmer stood in front of Elliott's door, the rain soaking him felt like nothing compared to the butterflies in his stomach. Once again he opened the door and got in.
"Hello?" Vinnie said awkwardly, almost doubting his date was there.
"Vinnie! What a pleasant surprise!" The writer turned around from his seat, he was at his desk probably working towards his second romance. "Oh dear, you crossed this nasty weather just to see me? I'm honored."
"Good, I don't want to go all the way back under that storm." Vinnie answered as the redhead got up and walked in his direction to give his guest a hug before stopping abruptly.
"Hm? Oh, wait I'll get you a towel to dry yourself, or else you might happen to catch a cold." Elliott changed direction towards his drawers and handed Vinnie a fluffy towel, it smelled like the salty ocean. "Now, what brings you here despite all that pouring water?"
"Well, I thought about making you a surprise, you always invite me to sleep over, well, I came."
"That's wonderful! I am currently working on a sequel for my last book, the rhythmic sound of rain gave me a burst of inspiration." Elliott pointed at his desk, there were at least 4 pages written thoroughly. "Do you mind if I write a few more words? With you here I feel whatever I write will come out even better."
"Yeah, don't worry, I didn't mean to disturb your wo-"
"You never disturb me sweetheart, do not repeat that ever again." Elliott glanced at Vinnie with a serious expression that soon became soft. "When you're with me I feel like a beam of creativity is casted upon my head, I appreciate your presence very dearly."
"Ah, thank you Elliott." Vinnie felt his face burning over the other's words, he was never shown that type of kindness nor was used to feel welcome in places.
"Please, set your backpack down by the drawers, make yourself at home and tell me about your day, or even better, about your week! Don't spare any details."
"Oh wait!" Vinnie remembered the gift on his bag. "I got you something, you know, to pay for my stay tonight." The punk handed the redhead a big lobster he caught the other day.
"That's a marvelous gift, my dear! Unfortunately I do not own a stove to properly cook it for us, but I'll bring it to Gus to make astonishing lobster bisques and we can eat them the next time you come over." The writer sounded excited, Vinnie couldn't tell if it was because of the gift or the suggestion of a next sleepover, he hoped it was the latter.
"Yeah, that sounds great." The farmer did as told earlier and got a comfortable spot for him to sit.
Neither of them saw the time passing, Vinnie told Elliott how his week had been, about the newest upgrades he got for his farm and some of the next ones he was planning while the redhead kept working on his drafts, but nonetheless he was paying attention to each word his partner said, often giggling and replying to everything.
Both men were surprised to look up and see a clock marking midnight, they couldn't believe it, their talk felt like just a couple minutes long. Anyway, Elliott and Vinnie stood up and briefly got themselves ready to sleep.
The writer crawled in bed first and held the covers up for Vinnie to join him, who quickly dove in, wrapping his arms around Elliott's shoulders in a tight hug while their other limbs got tangled under the thick covers. The redhead didn't waste a moment before nudging his head under Vinnie's chin.
"Thank you for coming, darling." Elliott whispered against the tender skin of the farmer's tattooed neck.
"Anytime, babe."
"It is magnificent to feel your heat on a cold night like this." The writer said dreamily as it was a poetic verse in one of his books. "As much as the calm and quietness is good for me to concentrate, I miss hearing other voices than my own. The lonely nights seem almost endless when I fall restless upon this bed, engulfed by the thoughts of millions of scenery where I wasn't alone anymore." Elliott paused for a moment. "You are in most of them."
"You know, my offer for you to come live on the farm with me is still up." Vinnie said, the smirk on his face audible loud and clear.
"I would love to, my dearest, but I must achieve a bit more on the professional path I chose to trail, on my own." Elliott parted the embrace to look his boyfriend in the eyes. "My first book is growing in the critiques, the sequel is flourishing even above my expectations. I hope you can understand me, it's not only about the money, but about my pride as a writer and the fulfillment to reach success when so many told me it was impossible."
"I get it, sometimes I feel the same way about the farm." Vinnie confessed.
After dropping what others considered a promising career on Joja corporation and inheriting his grandfather's beloved piece of land, he felt like this would be his last chance of redemption, to prove he wasn't so useless as some people thought.
Silence filled the environment while Vinnie allowed himself to close his eyes and absorb the previous conversation. Elliott, on the other hand, enjoyed the moment to observe his lover's face, drinking in the other's presence as an addictive beverage. It didn't feel awkward, it was rather an understanding, comfortable atmosphere. A few moments later, Vinnie broke the silence.
"Buuut it would be only fair if you were to come sleep over at my place one day, wouldn't it?" The farmer didn't want their night to end in such a serious tone.
"Well." Elliott giggled at the sentence. "I guess since you attended my invite, who am I to turn down yours?"
The farmer grinned at the answer and leaned in to place a soft kiss on the writer's lips, the action joyfully reciprocated. They parted with blushes spread all across their faces and ears, even if they couldn't see it in the dark.
"El?"
"Yes?"
"How do you know so many difficult words?" Vinnie finally let out the question that had clouded his mind since Elliott started talking, the writer laughing out loud as he didn't expect that at all.
"Are you sure?"
"I swear Jodi! I left the farm past 2am yesterday and I didn't see him come back!" Robin reassured her aerobics colleague.
"Maybe he arrived after you left." Marnie reasoned.
"Oh I don't think so, he wakes up at 6 in the morning, no one that isn't a teenager can keep up that long, especially working like he does, with brutal force and all." Caroline said, agreeing with Robin.
"Hey, what are you talking about?" Emily entered the room and questioned as she overheard the conversation.
"Robin said the new farmer Vinnie didn't sleep in his house last night." Jodi explained. "She says she didn't see him return from Pelican town before she left late in the night."
"Oh, I saw him leaving the beach with a few shells some minutes ago." Emily replied, innocently, the other three women sharing a look.
"The beach? Do you think he might have stayed at Elliott's place?" Robin questioned.
"Do you mean he…?" Caroline motioned, as she dared not to speak.
"Mom, they have been dating for almost the whole season now." Abigail said as she passed by the group, leaving the room.
"I knew it!" Emily exclaimed.
"Him and Elliott? Out of all singles I woudn't think Elliott was his type." Robin added, quite surprised.
"Ah, me neither, he looked so lonesome going on the woods to chop trees, I was meaning invite him to dinner anytime…" Jodi said, a sad expression blossoming on her face, however she noticed all the looks from her friends instantly. "What? He IS handsome and useful, and I could use some company."
"Oh my Yoba Jodi."