Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

Spring 1, Year 1

I can’t procrastinate anymore. I’m going to have to look at the farm anyways, might as well get it over with now. As I head south, there’s a staircase down to a weird rectangle of land, with stairs up to a small hill. At least my legs will be toned in no time. There’s a river in the middle of the farm, and there’s just trash all up and down it. A few fish here and there too. On top of the small hill, I can see another, bigger hill with mud and extremely shiny rocks. Those look cool. There’s three ‘bridges’ (planks of wood), but two of them are blocked by either large stumps or enormous boulders. The one that can be used is out of the way and inconvenient.

Behind the hill with the shiny rocks, there's a patch of land leading to an altar or shrine of some sort. That’s not creepy at all. I need to check it out before I do anything. Getting over there is a bear, and I end up trying to figure out how to use my scythe to chop down some stubborn fiber. Some of them scatter seeds around, so I picked them up to see if I can grow something from them.

As I approach the shrine, I can start to see a note. So apparently the farm isn’t as secluded as I thought. Shit. I definitely need those locking door knobs. Maybe even a deadbolt too. I got the letter. It’s tattered, brown and a bit faded. It read, “Wait for my return at the dawn of the 3rd year.” Great. Holy crap. What third year? This note has definitely been standing for over three years. So what am I supposed to do now? Get those door knobs?

Now with that new anxiety, I’m going to try to clear out an area around my cabin for the parsnip seeds and the mixed seeds from the fiber.

***

Geez, that absolutely winded me. I’m pooped. I cleared, tilled, planted, and watered them. Phew. Now, I think it’s time to explore town. I saw there was a pretty good bar in town, so I might go there. If I get to know the regulars, then everyone will at least hear about me through the grapevine.

The town isn’t too big, it’s homey. There’s a medical office, town store, bar, four houses, a trailer, a library, black smith, and a JojaMart. Ew. Their capitalistic greed led them here? This place is so small it couldn’t even be placed on a map. They found it and put a fricking super center here? For what I was, I was still pretty high-up in Joja. There’s no way I didn’t know about this. Whatever. They didn’t know about a whole dead man in their office.

Okay, sidebar, they had cameras on us. Those fuckers had a whole fucking light system telling us when to work and when to take a break. Sure, it’s efficient. Back to the cameras, they had real-time footage of that man rotting. I mean, unless they’re studying how the body decays, they should have at least moved the poor man. He probably died from a stress induced heart attack. What about his family? I never really knew any of my coworkers, but he was nice to me. He smiled at me on our breaks. Yoba, can you please let that guy rest in peace. Bro did not have any time to sin.

Fuck. I forgot for a moment why I even came here. The bar is called the Stardrop Saloon. It's got a trash can right outside the entrance, and it smells like there’s some fresh meal in there. As I take a quick look around, the coast is clear, and I open the lid. Fresh bread! It’s pocketable, so I pocket the bread and head in. I’m quite poor right now, so I need cheap food.

There’s a big man with an even bigger mustache behind the counter drying glasses. A woman with electric blue hair and a flowy red dress is going back and forth behind the counter organizing things. A sloppy woman is at the end of the bar, yapping a mile a minute, but really just slurring nonsense words together. A petite ginger sits at a table by herself, eating a salad. She’s kinda cute. There’s an older lady drinking lightly, facing the wall. On my right, there’s an ashy man smeared with black dust and is kind of sweaty. More sweaty than general meat sweats, but not like he just worked out. He keeps glancing over his shoulder at the blue haired lady. I can smell an earthy smell coming off of him. He smells like if a g was melted into an Axe body spray. I’m guessing he’s the local blacksmith because bro has not removed his apron.

Up in the corner near the fireplace, a man stands holding a pint. He’s wearing a Joja sweatshirt over a soccer jersey, with tousled black hair, eyebags, and a general mean disposition. He smells like commercial cleaner, booze, and dead hopes and dreams. Me too, bud. I head to the counter and order a pint, but decide against it. 400g for a beer? Ridiculous. Empty handed, I approach the brooding man.

“Hey, I just wanted t-” I start.

“I don’t know you. Why are you talking to me?” He interrupts.

“Wow, okay, point taken,” I responded.

Okay, that may not be the best start to my introductions. I finally made it around the bar and found out everyone’s names. The dusty man is Clint, who is the local blacksmith. I was right. The lady facing the corner is Marnie, who can sell me livestock. The ginger with a braid is Leah, who lives in Cindersap Forest. The mustache man is Gus, the owner of the saloon. The lady with the blue hair (and pronouns?) is Emily. Emily lives with her sister Hailey, after their parents left them.

The mysterious mean man is Shane. Apparently he’s Marnie’s nephew, and pays her rent to stay. I don’t know how he’s doing that. He can’t be a well paid employee in Joja, because it’s only a super center, not a marketing or other building. Shane can’t have high rent considering he spends 400g on beer everyday.

After that weird experience at the saloon, I think it’s time to head home.

Spring 5, Year 1

It’s been a few days, and I’m starting to get the hang of it now. Is my back in a constant state of pain? Yes. Are my shoulders permanently sore? Yes. Have I lost 5 pounds in 5 days? Yes. Do I feel and look great? Yes. Do I smell? Yes.

My second day back I got a letter in the mail from a man named Willy. He gave me his old bamboo rod, so I’ve been fishing with what little energy I have left in the day. I’ve been clearing more and more land during the day, and using more mixed seeds from the fiber to plant. I’ve aired out the house to get rid of that Grandpa smell.
I wonder how the post system works. There’s no post office in town, so do people just hand deliver letters? I feel like it would be more convenient to just talk to me. Or do they send it through Lewis, and he then distributes it while picking up the stuff from my bin. That’s how Willy was able to contact me a few days ago, and now I have a letter today too.

This letter today read:
To our valued JojaMart customers:
Our team members have removed the landslide caused by our drilling operation near the mountain lake. I'd like to remind you that our drilling operation is entirely legal (pursuant to init. L61091, JojaCo Amendment). Responsible stewardship of the local environment is our top priority!

We apologize for any inconvenience this accident may have caused.
As always, we value your continued support and patronage!

-Morris,
Joja Customer Satisfaction Representative

So there is a reason as to why there’s a Joja here. They’re exploiting the valley. Of course. I am quite ashamed to say that I had a hand in getting the JojaCo Amendment. It was a part of my job! How was I supposed to say no?

No use dwelling over it now, I kinda want to go check out what was behind that landslide. It was north of the mountain lake, so I want to go back there and see what it is. Maybe they’ve got some good forageables back there.

I found a cave, and I went in and found an old man standing there over a ladder down into a pit. He explained that it was a ladder into the mines, but they could get dangerous. He gave me his old rusty sword and told me to go to the 5th level. I mean okay dude whatever.

I’ve been learning about how to use the valley to make money. I’ve been picking Daffodils, Leeks, Wild Horseradish, and Dandelions. I’ve used that silly box to sell my fish. Yesterday, I watched Livin’ off the Land, and I found out that Spring Onions are a thing.

To Shane’s demise, I’ve been talking with him everyday. For some reason, I really want his respect. I don’t know if it was the mean introduction, or his affiliation with the soul sucking Joja Co, but I want to be that man’s friend. The fish I’ve caught have been selling pretty well, so I might be able to buy him another beer today. He said it was his favorite thing, which I don’t know if I should be concerned about. The fact that he’s separating himself from the others around town is weird, but mysterious to me. I’ve always been under the impression that the loner nerds are always the best friends, so I want to become friends with him as fast as possible, especially in such a close knit village.

Today I need to get more parsnip seeds, as I picked mine yesterday. They sold pretty well, even if they were the first things I planted ever. I’ve planted more parsnips, and other crops. I got 490g because I’ve harvested my first plants ever.

I began heading to Pierre’s shop (because no way in hell am I going to Joja), but I got sidetracked by Lewis. He brought me north of the Town, near an old shabby building. As we entered the dusty main room, we both were shocked by the impeccable tree hut someone built in the left corner of the room. It was new amongst the broken ambiance of the rest of the building. Lewis suggested that it was probably Vincent and Jas who built it; but I don’t really believe that.

After he turned around and continued to yap, (this man’s qualification for mayor was a doctorate in yapology), something appeared behind him. It poofed into existence right behind him, waved at me, then disappeared as soon as Dr. Yap turned around. He thought I was crazy for freaking out over rats. That was not a rat.

As soon as he was done explaining about the situation with Joja, I had to go back in to explore what those ‘rats’ were. It was as if the apple from the Apple Jacks commercials became sentient but cute at the same time. I don’t want to let Joja take over this building and force them out. I have to find a way to fix this place up though. It would be beautiful, and a good way to cement myself as an actual member of the community.

While exploring, I found a golden piece of paper with some weird ass letters on them. I love this town and everything, but people have got to stop leaving cryptic ass notes everywhere. Like, there’s not that many people in town. Just tell them yourself. Why do I need to find them for y’all?

After that weird experience, I want to head back to the saloon. I want to actually talk to people instead of reading their notes. As I head down, I meet up with Shane.
“Hey, we got off to a pretty bad start, I just want to say hi. I just wanted to meet everyone in this town,” I explained.

“No, I don’t have time to chat with you,” he says curtly.

“Dude, can you be friendly even once? I see you like gridball, can we maybe talk about that?” I ask.

He walks on, and continues to ignore me

“Okay, whatever. You aren’t even worth my time!” I yell back, frustrated.

Even if he’s not worth my time, I still want to be friends with most people in this community. I want to be his friend. He doesn’t seem like he has many friends. It’s discouraging though. I think I’m going to soften him up by getting a round for him every now and then. It can’t hurt that bad, and maybe that means that he can indirectly afford to buy a live stream of the latest gridball game.

As I saunter into the saloon, I’m greeted by many more people than there normally are. I needed this badly. It’s such a small town, but it’s so hard to find everyone. Lewis said that if I meet everyone, he’d give me 100g. There’s the regular crew, but also Robin and I’m guessing her husband? Damn, he’s so lucky. Pierre is standing at the bar. Marnie is now chatting with Lewis, but she’s abnormally red. It’s too early for her to be drunk, so I’m confused. A man with luxurious locks is at Leah’s table. There’s also noise coming from the next room, so I think someone is playing pool. I head up to Leah and Mr. Pantene Commercial and re-introduce myself.

He responds pompously, “Ah, the new farmer we've all been expecting... and whose arrival has sparked many a conversation! I'm Elliott... I live in the little cabin by the beach. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

He has maybe the sharpest jawline I’ve ever seen. It’s surprising how sharp it actually is. A temptation in me wants to run my fingers down his jaw. I want to swirl his hair in between my fingers too. The seawater is doing wonders for his skin too. He’s a beautiful man, I have to admit.

I then got to the bar to get Shane a pint. He looks like he could use one. The sheer juxtaposition of Elliot to Shane is whiplash inducing. But in some funny backwards way, Shane may be more handsome than Elliot. Shane is a gruff masculine man while Elliot is a delicate lil baby wimp, but beautiful while having limp wrists. I fork over the 400g for a beer, and head over to give it to Shane.

“Oh wow, [PLAYER NAME]! How’d you know this is my favorite?” he exclaims.

“So does this mean you wanna talk to me now?” I ask.

Absolute radio silence from the mysterious man.

“Okay, whatever man. I don’t care,” I say, “Maybe I don’t want to be friends with someone that doesn’t even know my name.”

I tried to walk away nonchalantly but I know I must have been fuming so hard that steam came out of my ears. I started heading to the second room of the saloon. It had two arcade game stands, a vending machine, two couches, and a pool table. A woman with neon purple hair is sitting on a couch while laughing at the two guys playing pool. The one closest to her is a man with extremely tall blonde hair. I kinda wanna touch it to see how crunchy it is, but I don’t want to ruin his hard work. The other guy is this dude with box dyed black hair, dark clothes and a general cold disposition. He’s beating Crunchy man by a long shot. I start to walk up to the lady with the purple hair.

I introduce myself, and she says, “Oh that's right...I heard someone new was moving onto that old farm. It's kind of a shame, really. I always enjoyed exploring those overgrown fields by myself.”

“Wait, did you leave that cryptic note on the shrine?” I ask.

She says nothing, I hope I didn’t sound too crazy.

The two men playing pool are Sam and Sebastian. Sam is Captain Crunch(y hair) and Sebastian is the emo. I think I’ve made enough rounds for today. I’m so mad that people seem to just ignore me after they’ve said their quote of the day. I don’t think they do that with each other.

Whatever. I’ll do anything it takes to become a part of this community.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Spring 10, Year 1

I’m no longer sore everyday. I got a letter from my mom in the mail, and she gave me cookies. I think that’s the hardest part of coming here. I got away from my old Joja life, just to move away from everyone who still cares about me. I haven’t even escaped Joja fully. What Lewis said stuck with me. It looks like it used to be a grand building, I don’t understand why it has to be that building for a warehouse. It also doesn’t even make sense for a warehouse. It’s on a hill, with no access to a road, and across a river from the actual storefront.

I’ve learned what those little apple rats are. After my encounter with them and that weird note, I got a letter from a man named M. Rasmodius.

It read,
“My sources tell me you've been poking around inside the old community center.
Why don't you pay me a visit? My chambers are west of the forest lake, in the stone tower. I may have information concerning your... 'rat problem'.
-M. Rasmodius, Wizard”

So obviously I had to trek over and find this ‘wizard’. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t really explored Cindersap forest, so I was a bit discombobulated around the lake. However, I was able to find a purple cart pulled by a pig on Friday and Sunday. She sold many different kinds of things, but I feel like it was a bit pricey for the goods she had.
I came across the tall whimsical building, which has to be his ‘chambers’. It’s a tower with a grey roof, a gold chimney, and vines creeping up the sides. It’s a nice place for something in the middle of the woods. As I got closer to it, I started to smell a mixture of his latest tincture and what he had for breakfast.

When I opened the door, he lit up and immediately went into detail about what the things were. He even brought me to his summoning circle, and pulled up a hologram of the apple rats. He called them ‘Junimos’ and said that they were forest creatures.

“Ah… come in,” says the purple haired man that I can only assume is the M. Rasmodius from the letter, “I am Rasmodius… Seeker of arcane truths.”

“Here, I’d like to show you something,” he says as he saunters over to the summoning circle. “Behold!” he cries as he summons a green apple rat.

I told him about the scroll, and he teleported away. I’m not even phased anymore. There’s probably weirder shit in this valley. He comes back through the front door and tells me that I have to be ‘one with the forest’ to understand the ‘true nature’ of the scroll.

He decided that this means I have to drink from his cauldron. I don’t see a point in protesting this, so why not? I reluctantly chug the portion he gave me. It tastes like straight pine tar and bird crap. I have to control every muscle in my body to not puke it back into the cauldron.

My vision starts to go green, and trees start floating. I guess I missed the undertones of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Leaves start floating too. I feel like I’m sitting on a patch of fluffy moss, but I’m actually being held up by my armpits by the wizard. That was some strong stuff. Something in me is feeling pretty magical right now.

***

After that, it’s pretty late at night, and as I’m walking home, I see Shane standing on the dock in the forest pond with a lantern at his feet. Curious, I head towards him and end up standing next to him.

He notices me and says, “Up late huh?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s been a long week overall,” I responded.

“Here, have a cold one,” he says as he hands me one of his cans.

I opened it and thanked him for it. I kinda need it after that wild ride that was the wizard. We sat there staring at the water for a while until he let out a tiny belch.

“Buh…Life.”

“Yeah…What about it?” I ask.

“You ever feel like… no matter what you do, you’re gonna fail?”

“Yeah, I mean that’s kinda why I came here, you know? What made you bring it up?”

“Like you’re stuck in some miserable abyss and you’re so deep you can’t even see the light of day?”

“Yeah… I feel you my man.”

“I just feel like no matter how hard I try… I’m not strong enough to climb out of that hole.”

“It definitely takes a lot to dig yourself out. If you ever need a hand, I’m only a short walk from you. Come visit me anytime. I’d like the company.”

I now realize that I’ve been gulping down this beer. It’s definitely pretty strong. I understand why he likes it. I’m pretty buzzed right now.

“Heh… fast drinker, huh? Man after my own heart.”

“I guess so…”

“Just don’t make it a habit… you got a future ahead of you still.”

I can’t think of a good enough response, so I stay quiet.

“Welp, my liver’s beggin’ me to stop. Better call it a night. See you around, [PLAYER NAME]”

“Okay, Shane. I’m serious though. You can always drop by. I won’t complain. I’d like to see you around more.”

He chuckles as we walk together until I have to split to go to the farm. Every time I stumbled, he instinctively reached out for me until I corrected myself.
Today was a good day, even if it was just me getting blazed twice.

Spring 20, Year 1

It’s Shane’s birthday today. Now’s my chance to show him that his cold front won’t stop me. I’ve given some birthday gifts, like the amazing looking daffodils for Hailey and Vincent. I could have easily gotten 45g from each of those. But I don’t want to screw this up with a dinky flower, or the same gift I’ve been giving him since I’ve arrived. I decided that I’m going to shell out 600g for a pizza today. Just for him, I went fishing asap in the morning just to make sure I didn’t lose too much money.

He’s started to warm up to me, except for the occasional insults here and there. I really want to find my place, and I think becoming friends with some people here would help. If I’m going to be real right now, there’s something different about Shane. There’s something in the air that makes him pique my interest especially. I thought it was because of his chilly exterior and mysterious personality, but I don’t even know if I’m right about that now. He seems like he could be such a teddy bear if he trusted me.

I’ve felt this way before, the latest one was my ex wife before we got married. She was the sassiest woman ever. Shane is like an alcoholic man version of her. He also seems like the type of guy to throw a toaster at me. I think the reason I want to get so close with him is to relive the time I lost with Joja. But I don’t like him like how I liked her. She was my soulmate. He’s not even a friend. Yet.

As I walk into Shane’s room, I realize that it’s the first time I’ve been here. Shane isn't here, so I kind of snoop around. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Maybe I’ll find something out about him to make conversation.

You know how everyone’s house has a distinct smell? Marnie’s farmhouse smells like a mix of straw and pumpkin spice Febreze, but the light version of Febreze because Lewis is sensitive to strong smells. It’s only taken me 20 days to figure out what’s going on between them. Shane’s room does not have any Febreze in it whatsoever. It has a very manly smell, but not in a cologne way, but in that raw smell of man smell. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s not BO, but it’s also not a manufactured good smell either. It’s slightly sour, but not in a pungent, disgusting way. It’s very comforting.

He has a huge console hooked up to the TV in his room. Wait, I might actually be able to talk to him about this! After a little while, I realize that he’s connected to a 'Code Sultan XL'. So that might be a sore spot for him. He also has an extremely shiny gridball in here. I think he may like gridball. I’m not too sure though. He also has a radio next to his bed. I think it’s that combo clock where it’s an alarm clock and plays the song he set when it goes off. On the other side of his bed he has a book tucked away that reads, “How To Care For Chickens.”

I feel creepy because I’ve been standing here for so long. I need to find him, this is going to be pretty important for us. But because it’s a Friday, I think I’ll wait until tonight to make it seem more meaningful. I mean it is meaningful, but I want to seem like it too. I don’t want to screw this up tonight. If I can pull this off, I’ll have an actual friend in the valley for the first time since moving in. I cannot stress about how stressed I am now.

***

After doing some ‘calming’ fishing, it’s finally time to talk to him. As I head into the bar, there’s the normal Friday crew. Shane looks abnormally shit faced. Maybe Gus gave him a birthday round or two. I do my usual rounds of talking to everyone before actually buying the birthday pizza.

“Hey Shane, how’s your day been?” I ask cheerfully.

He slurs back, “What do you want from me? Money? I'd give you a pot of gold to leave me alone!”

“Dude, what the fuck? I’ve talked to you every day, and you still treat me like this? I haven’t seen anybody else talk to you, and now I know why. Who even are you? I don’t know what I’ve done to you to deserve this,” I yell back. Whatever, “I got you this pizza or whatever. Happy birthday man.”

“You remembered my birthday? I'm impressed. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome dude. Just don’t say shit like that again.”

He doesn’t respond, but I’m fine with that. I hope I wasn’t too mean. But that sucked so much. Why would he say that? I’ve been trying so hard. I really really have been. I’ve tried to start up a conversation everyday. He shuts me down everyday. I could just as easily ignore him. I could save my money and spend it on farm equipment. I could have chosen to ignore him and write him off as an NPC. But no. I didn’t. I chose to talk to him. Every. Single. Day. Even if I was greeted with his cold shoulder. I hoped for so long to thaw his shoulder off, day by day. And today he slapped me in the face with a glacier.

I’m a pretty tall dude. I’m not going to lie, I can be pretty scary when I’m angry. While what Shane said did hurt me, I hope I didn’t scare him. He’s kinda short at maybe 5’8”. I was angry earlier, but I don’t ever want to use my height as a scare tactic. I don’t want to loom over people, or make them feel small. Some women like it when I do that, but I can’t understand why. I don’t think he dug it at all. I shouldn’t have gotten as mad as I did. It was obvious that he was piss drunk.
Whatever. I’ll apologize tomorrow. I don’t want to see him again.

Spring 21, Year 1

I’ve definitely calmed down a bit. I think I want to talk to Shane ASAP today. I feel terrible. I exploded at him on his birthday. I feel so bad about it. I hope he doesn’t internalize it. I yelled at him even though I knew he was struggling.

As I approach Marnie’s house, I see Shane leave. He’s holding his head and he winced at the door shutting. I really hope he forgot about it. As I approach behind him, I can feel the butterflies in my stomach spaz out. I really hope he can find it in himself to forgive me.

“Uh… hey Shane,” I say tentatively.

He startles, but once he realizes it’s me he goes back to normal.

“Hey. Sorry if I came off as rude when we first met. It takes me a while to warm up to strangers.”

“No, I’m so sorry that I exploded last night. I can’t believe I said that,” I explain.

He tensed up, so I think I may have affected him even more than I thought I did.

“Shane, I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking. You mean a lot to me, and I really want to still be friends with you. I got too hot headed last night.”

Shane winced when I said friends. He stopped in his tracks and turned to me.

“Listen [PLAYER NAME]. I don’t blame you at all. Every time I try something new it goes horribly wrong. You learn to just stay in a shell. That applies for relationships too. I never try to become friends with anyone. Because of nights like last night. I needlessly hurt one of the most important people in my life right now for no reason. Please, don’t ever apologize to me. My comment yesterday was unnecessary to say the least. And you responded appropriately. You’ve gone out of your way to talk to me. I abused your kindness day after day. And you still kept trying. I’m sorry [PLAYER NAME].”

‘Shane… you can’t be serious. You don’t have to apologize either. I do want to ask two things of you though.”

“What are they?”

“Did I scare you? Have I been annoying?”

“[PLAYER NAME]... you couldn’t be annoying. I’m very glad you’ve chosen to stick around. That will never be annoying.” He blushes a bit and looks at my shoes before continuing, “I have to admit, you towering over me made me realize how much I…affected you. But then you still gave me that pizza. That was more shocking than scary. Oh shit what’s the time? Fuck…Listen, I have to go to Joja now or else Morris is going to tear me a new one. But I want to say sorry one last time. Bye, [PLAYER NAME], I’m sorry.”

He walks backwards with a sad face for a bit before turning around and hauling ass to Joja Mart.

I can’t say I’m anything less than shocked. I still feel so bad. He looked like he wanted to cry. I want to cry. I yelled at him. I ruined his birthday. I did this. And he feels bad? I have work to do, so I guess I’ll do that for a while.

Making friends is hard sometimes.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4
Spring 22, Year 1

Me and Shane have been talking for a bit. We’ve forgiven each other, and Shane has finally opened up more. Today is his day off, so he invited me to hang out with him in his room. I said I would take a while because my farm is starting to pop off, but I was later than I expected. After the rain, weeds have been sprouting up everywhere. It took me two more hours than I expected. I took my new horse down to Marnies and tied it up on one of her fence posts.

As I enter Marnie’s farm house, I realize that Shane’s door is wide open. That never happens. Once I get closer, I see Marnie looking at the floor with a very concerned face. She mutters, “Oh dear…”

“Hey Marnie. What’s wrong? Where’s Shane?” I ask, worried.

The warmth of his room has turned from comforting to worrying. The smell of alcohol strengthens with every step I take towards his room. I passed Jas, who is standing by the kitchen table, looking at me with anxiety in her eyes.

As I approach, Marnie turns to me and asks, “[PLAYER NAME]… Can you do something? He’s out cold.”

“I mean sure, I guess I can,” I respond tentatively.

Shane lets out a burp/moan as I head toward him. I don’t want to startle him too badly, but he’s in a stupor right now. I know sometimes people try to take showers to sober up. Maybe I could use my watering can to achieve the same effect? I poured water on him and he sprung up. He had the most bewildered face I’ve ever seen.

Marnie exclaims, “Shane! What’s the matter with you? All you do anymore is mope around your room and drink beer!”

“Well, I mean…” I start to say as she cuts me off.

“What’s your plan? Don’t you ever think about the future?”

“Hopefully I won’t be around long enough to need a ‘plan’…” Shane answers while turning around.

Jas gasps and runs out of the room. She had been slowly sneaking into his room quietly and no one noticed until now. She sobs all the way into the kitchen as Marnie chases her to console her.

Shane looks down at the ground and mutters an apology. He turns away from me and falls to the ground.

I start towards him.

“Hey Shane,” I say while kneeling down next to him.

“Why are you bothering me? I want to be alone,” he retorts.

“I’m not leaving you alone. You’re crying, Shane. I’m not leaving any time soon.”

Something takes over me. I instinctively reach over and give him the biggest bear hug I’ve ever given. My heart was racing, but he hugged me back instantly. I could feel him bury his head in my shoulder. I can’t help but hug him tighter. I can feel him start to cry, but I don’t want to mention it. After a few seconds, I said his name quietly. He pulled away from me.

“You're really persistent. I guess I'm just surprised that anyone would be interested in talking to me,” he whispers almost inaudibly.

“Why wouldn’t I be? You’re the best friend I have here.”

He looks extremely somber and he stays quiet. I don’t want to push him any further. I’ll stay silent until he wants to talk. I want to tell him that it’s okay and that I’m here, so I put my hand on his thigh.

“[PLAYER NAME], why do you stay with me? I don’t have a future, I’m just a hopeless drunk. But you stayed. Even fucking Marnie doesn’t do that.”

“Shane… You matter to me. I’ll stay with you for as long as I possibly can. And even then I’ll stay an extra five minutes. I want to help you Shane. You’ve already helped me in many different ways.”

“…[PLAYER NAME]… will you go check on Jas for me? I didn’t mean for her to hear that.”

“Sure…” I say as I eye him suspiciously. “But I’m coming back, so don’t do anything stupid. I’m serious. Stay put.”

“No promises,” he says while winking at me.

I leave the room to find Marnie and Jas in Jas’ room. Marnie is comforting her as she cries so hard I think she may vomit.

“Hey Jas… how’re you doing?”

“Uncle Shane… *sob*… What does he mean… he mean when he says, ‘I won’t be around long enough to need a plan’. I don’t want to leave again. I don’t want him to leave. I’m happy here.”

“Jas, no one is leaving. Both you and Shane are going to stay in Pelican Town. No one is going anywhere.”

“Hic… are you sure?”

“I’m very sure. I have to go back to Shane now. Are you feeling better?”

The front door creaked open and slammed shut pretty loudly.

“Y-Yeah. I guess I am.” She turns to Marnie. “Can you stay though?”

I get up and leave as Marnie is soothing Jas more. As I approach Shane’s room, there’s no one in it. I yell his name to get no response.

He left. I sprint out the door. I run all around Cindersap before I stumble upon Shane at the cliffs near the sewer. He’s face down, completely soaked in rain. He’s drooling slightly and crying.

“Shane! What are you doing?! I told you to stay put!”

“I… I’m sorry… *hic*”

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

“M…My life…”

“Shane…” I crouch down and run my fingers through his wet hair.

“It’s a pathetic joke… Look at me… Why do I even try? …*sob*…”

“Shane.”

“I’m too small and stupid to try to… to take control of my life. I’ve been coming here often recently and looking down… Here’s a chance to finally control my life… These cliffs…”

The rain starts pouring down harder.

“B… bu… *blaap*… but I’m too scared, too anxious. Just like always. [PLAYER NAME], all I do is work, sleep, and drink …t… to dull the feelings of self hatred. Why should I even go on? Tell me… T… Tell me why I shouldn’t roll off this cliff right now.”

I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been in this situation before. If I say the wrong thing, I could lose him. I don’t want to be the reason just because I said something wrong. I have no idea what to say.

I put my hand on his shoulder and say, “The decision is your own. Just know that I’m here for you,” I solemnly respond.

He sits there for a moment and responds quietly, "Thanks... I appreciate that... I really do…”

I sit there, crying in the rain with him while surrounded by empty beer cans. He’s still face down, but I think he stopped crying. I reach over and wipe the spit from his face. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him. He’s so much to me.

“…I think you should take me to the hospital now.”

Realizing the severity of the situation, I locked in and used all my pent up adrenaline to drag him to my horse. Marnie helps me shoulder him onto the horse face down, and I take off with him to the clinic. If he falls off, I don’t know if I could carry him alone. Harvey has to be open. I don’t think Shane can wait much longer.

We get to the clinic and I start pounding on the door. I’m yelling Harvey’s name, I’m pounding, I’m crying, I’m shaking Shane to try and keep him awake. When Harvey opens the door, his eyes widen as he sees Shane’s limp body slung over my horse. He rushed to get Shane off. We carry Shane and get him on the closest bed we can. Harvey is rushing at 100mph to get his stomach pumped before the rest of the alcohol hits his bloodstream. Harvey also puts in an IV at a record breaking time.

Harvey puts up the curtain wall and assures me that he’s going to be fine. Harvey also tells me that he’s worried about Shane’s mental health. He said that he’s going to connect Shane with one of his counselor colleagues in Zuzu City.

I asked if I could go in and sit beside him, and Harvey said I could. I pull up a chair and look at his passed out body. He looks so peaceful compared to ten minutes ago. I want to hug him, hold him, and never let him go. I can’t believe I almost lost him forever.

The realization hits me all at once and I collapse over his side. I held onto the arm without the IV in, and cried for a good thirty minutes. My eyes were so swollen, I could barely see him anymore. That made me cry harder. I don’t want to lose him. I don’t want to live here without him.

Before I left, I held his scruffy face. He’s so handsome, even after all of this. I don’t know why, but I gave his forehead a peck as I left. He let out a soft moan as I pulled the curtain back. I have to go home at some point, so I started walking back. I didn't even take my horse back. I need time to think by myself.

I know that we’re just friends. I know that Shane is okay now. I know we’re good friends. But something in me burns whenever I think about him. Thinking about him makes my cheeks warm, and my chest tight. It makes me want to find him and hug him. It makes me feel something I’ve never felt before.

I never thought this way. I never thought of anyone else like this. I always thought I was destined to be a regular guy with a regular life. But I’m here now. I’m a farmer in the smallest town in the Ferngill Republic. Anything can happen here, I’ve changed so much already.

I don’t think I like Shane like that. I thought I still had to find the right woman for me. Or settle for a woman that made me the least miserable out of all the other women. I didn’t think I was the problem. But whenever I think of Shane, it’s different. It’s the Hallmark movie feelings, the type of feelings only described in sappy pop songs. There’s no way this is just friendship. It can’t be.

But I’m supposed to be a straight man. I can’t figure out that I’m gay now. I’ve passed that mark. I had a wife. Most people figure out that they’re gay in high school. Why didn’t I?

What about Shane brought this out of me? Why him? And, he’s probably straight. There’s no way in hell he’d think of me like that.

I think we might be better as friends. Friends who deeply care about each other. Spring 23, Year 1

I think I’m going crazy. I wake up and I’m still thinking about Shane. I hope he’s better today. If I don’t see him around, I’ll check the clinic for him.

I open the door and I face him at my doorstep.

“Hey…” he starts.

“Hi Shane! I’m glad to see you again!” I say, while suppressing the urge to give him another hug.

“I’m really sorry about what happened at the cliffs. That was…embarrassing.”

“I’m just happy you’re still here,” I say while failing to suppress a blush.

“Wow, it was that serious, huh? I can hardly remember…”

“Shane… you were in the clinic overnight. Of course it was that serious,” I say while giving into the urge and slipping my arms around his waist. “I’m so glad you’re trying to get better. I’d miss you too much if you didn’t.”

He hugs me back, but holds me tighter than he has before.

“I don’t want to leave you feeling like this anymore… I don’t want to leave anyone feeling like this anymore. Jas is probably terrified right now. Marnie’s probably disappointed.”

“I’m not terrified of you. Or disappointed. I care for you Shane. I really do. I can’t tell you how much I feel for you.”

“Thank you,” he says while pulling his head away from me. He still has his arms wrapped around my neck though, and then he hugs me again. I can’t help but bury my face in his neck. His stubble is grown out to an itchy length, but it feels so soft at the same time. He smells so good right now. The hospital scent still lingers, but he smells so fresh at the same.

He leaves, and I have to calm myself down again. Men aren’t supposed to be that emotional; but whenever I’m with him, I don’t care about what I’m supposed to feel. We’ve cried together, we’ve worried together, we’ve hugged each other. He’s finally opened up to me. I've definitely opened up to him.

My mailbox is overflowing with mail, and I can’t ignore it anymore. Immediately, I noticed three letters from Shane. He sent me two recipes, one for pepper poppers, and one for a strange looking bun. He also sent me a frozen pizza yesterday that I never got the chance to open. He’s so sweet. It was worthwhile to become his friend, even if he was rude at the start.

There’s also a note from Lewis, reminding me of the upcoming Flower Dance. Shit. How am I supposed to go? I don’t think anyone wants to dance with me. Really, my only friend here is actually Shane. I’ve been giving little gifts here and there to some people, but I don’t think it’s enough. I forgot my only goal. Oh well. I’ll go just to see what it’s like.

I wanted to talk to him again, so I walked down to Marnie’s house. To my surprise, Shane is home. He’s now slugging back cans of sparkling water. I greet him and sit down on his bed.

“Buh… Where’s the Joja Cola?” he asks.

“Dude, you know no one actually likes those things.”

“[PLAYER NAME], can we just hang out today?”

“Why do you think I’m here?”

“Please?”

“Of course, Shane.”

He ended up moving up to the bed with me and we talked the day away while he had his radio going in the background. I swear he’s gotten a lot more touchy-feely lately. The whole day we always had something touching, whether it was our legs or hips or even his hand on my leg or shoulder. I’ll admit, I liked every minute of it, but he doesn’t have to know that.

Maybe I’ll dance with Shane tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Spring 24, Year 1

Today’s the day. I’m rushing around the farm trying to finish up the work for today but not fast enough to become sweaty. I think today I might tell Shane that I like him. Or maybe I won’t. We’ll have to see if I have the balls for it.

9am rolls around and I get on my best suit. Yesterday, Shane told me that it should be a blue suit, but I don’t have that. So I’m wearing my best clothes that I have in hopes that it’s good enough.

I got down to Cindersap and saw streamers near a wooden plank bridge. I guess I have to cross there to get to the dance area? I crossed while trying not to piss myself. I don’t know why Lewis thought this was a good idea.

Once I got past the bridge, I saw that everybody in town was there. Even Linus, who doesn’t like people. Shane is standing by the catering service provided by Gus. Of course he is. For a man to tell me to bring an all blue suit, he’s dressed pretty normally.

“What’s cookin’ good lookin’? Where’s your fancy all blue suit?” I tease while giving him a playful shove on his chest.

“We change into them. It seems like somebody,” he says as he pokes my chest back, “didn’t get the memo. The memo I explicitly told him yesterday.”

“You did not!” I protest.

“I’m too busy eating the bean hotpot to pay attention to you.”

“No you’re not. Can I ask you something?”

“…Yes?”

“Will you be my dance partner? I-I don’t know if any-“

“You want to be my partner for the Flower Dance?”

“If you let me finish you would know that.”

“Okay. I look forward to it.”

He accepted! I’m going to dance with Shane! He taught me the rudimentary steps to the dance until Lewis called for the Flower Dance to start. I told him that I would go on the girls side, and he let me.

We definitely got some… stares to say the least. I think Jodi was clutching her pearls at the beginning. George refused to look our way. Pam sat there and stared at us, but with more curiosity than hate. At the end we broke off to slow dance with our partners.

Shane and I fell right into rhythm as two left footed twins at this part. I let Shane take the lead for this dance, and we figured it out in the end. I’m so happy right now.

By the end, there was no room left for Yoba between us. Shane slowed down and let me lead while we embraced for what felt like forever. I rested my chin on his head while he leaned into my chest. We ended up syncing our breath to each other.

When Mayor Lewis called for the end, Shane and I walked home together. I held his hand as he crossed, and he kept holding my hand as I crossed. However, we didn’t let go until we got to his room and sat down. I knew it was late, but I wanted to hang out with him more.

We got to talking, and he reflected on how he’s changed already.

He said, “Life isn’t so bad… at least I have frozen pizza and eggs.”

I couldn’t help but smile at this. He laid down and made fun of me for it, but I think he was happy that I noticed it too. I ran my hands through this hair one last time before getting up to go home. It was 12am already.

He hugged me once more before I left, and I swear he picked me up. I think the feeling is mutual between us.

But there’s this one little bug in my ear telling me, “What if it’s not? What if Shane is just being friendly? You're so selfish. Don’t tell him. You’re going to ruin your only friendship.”
I don’t want to do that. I bought him a bouquet immediately after the Flower Dance. I carry it around all the time. I’m never going to use it though.

Although, I seriously love hanging out with Shane everyday. Instead of going to the saloon to hang out, I go to the saloon and get a Pizza or a plate of Pepper Poppers and bring it back to Shane’s. Jas sometimes steals a slice of pizza, but she hates how spicy the Pepper Poppers are. Everything has been great so far. I shouldn’t ruin anything.

Summer 1, Year 1

It’s a new season. It’s getting hot, and so is our relationship with each other. I spent the night at his house a few times last week. He only has a twin, so he either ends up sleeping on the floor, or we squeeze in together. He usually has to work in the mornings, so I try to let him take the bed, but he refuses to let me sleep on the floor either.

He found out that I’m renovating my house, so he refuses to let me sleep there until it’s done. I’m thankful for it, the constant hammering gave me a migraine. I keep trying to let him sleep alone, but he refuses and waits until I’m too sleepy to protest sharing the bed.

I’ve woken up a few times to his arms around my waist. Which it doesn’t make sense because I should be the big spoon. He’s almost falling off the bed because of me. He has a chair in his room too. I don’t know why he insists. When I get up, he gets up too. We get dressed together and then go about our days, then come back and chill later.

One time, I came back and heard Marnie and Shane talking.

“Hi Shane… you look unusually happy today,” Marnie comments.

“You’re right… I haven’t felt this light since I was a kid,” he explains.

“Let me guess… Gus had a clearance sale on canned beer?” she asks sarcastically.

“Haha, good one,” Shane grumbles. “No, actually. I’ve been drinking sparkling water instead of beer… and I feel great! You know, sometimes I forget that I really do have friends, people who care about me. And it’s okay for me to rely on them… it doesn’t make me weak.”

After he says that, it feels like someone is stabbing me. Cold races through my chest as I continue listening.

He walks over to the kitchen while Marnie remarks that he looks sharp.

“Hi Jas. I’ve got something for you,” he says while putting down a red gift box.

“Th…These are real bunny-jewel slippers!!” she yells while jumping on him to give him a hug. “B…But these are so expensive! How did you afford them?”

“I’ve cut back on an expensive habit. I have a lot more spending money now!” he explains.

I have to leave.

I walk myself over to the pond in the forest. I’m so happy for him. I truly am. He deserves happiness. But he referred to me as a friend. We’re just friends. It’s confirmed. I’m glad he’s found help. I’m so unbelievably grateful that he’s still here. I love him, even if it’s supposed to be just platonic love. It hurts being so close to him while realizing that he doesn’t feel the same way I do. I’m happy for him.

Despite my efforts to not start crying, I feel a few tears break the flood gates. The rest follow behind until I’m sitting in the forest ugly crying. I’m so happy. Why can’t I just be happy for him? I told him that I’ll always have his back. Why am I so jealous?

These last few days have felt like heaven, but they didn’t mean half as much to him as they did to me. I feel so much, just to find out that it’s a facade built up by my own delusions.

With my head in my hands, sniveling, I don’t notice a figure approaching me from behind until he sits right next to me. He doesn’t say anything, but immediately pulls me into an embrace. This time, I fought my way out of it, only for him to hold me tighter.

“P…please, leave me alone. I don’t think I can talk right now.” I sniffle.

“No, I’m not going anywhere. What’s wrong?”

“Leave me alone. I don't want to see you right now.”

“I’m not leaving you alone. You’re crying. I’m not leaving any time soon. You can tell me what’s wrong, or you sit in silence while I stay with you. Those are the only two options.”

“Shane… you don’t want to know. I promise.”

“I do. You know so much about me already. I promise I can handle this one thing. You handled so much for me.”

He loosens his grip to turn my face toward his. I fight harder and look away. He’s not the problem, but he also is the problem simultaneously. He doesn’t know he’s the problem. He doesn’t need me to be another lost friendship. I don’t know if I can say anything, so I give in and let myself cry onto his shoulder. My sobs are so violent that it shakes both of us. After I calm down a bit, I try to actually look at him again.

“Sh…Shane,” I choke out. “I have to tell you… something.”

He doesn’t respond, but continues to stare at me intently.

“But I don’t want to ruin us…” I continue, “I don't want to push you away.”

“[PLAYER NAME], please. You know I got you. You’re my dawg for life.”

“Shane, please. I’m trying to tell you something I've been holding in for a long time.”

“I’m sorry. I’m listening. Please, I want to know. I can handle anything you say.”

“I… I think I like you.”

His face immediately softens as he chuckles. “I like you too. What’s the problem with that?”

“No, Shane… You don’t get it, do you? I like…” I mutter while pulling out the bouquet, “...I like you. I’ve been trying to come to terms with it. I… I’ve known for a while. But I haven’t told you because what if-”

He cuts me off, “...You want to get more serious? I feel the same way.” His face is a burning pink. I can feel his heart pick up against mine. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’ve been in love with you for the longest time.”

“I thought you were straight? What happened? Are you joking? Is this a prank?”

“What? No, of course it’s not a prank! I never told you because I knew you were straight! You have an ex wife!”

“You made me realize what love actually felt like. I’ve been denying myself because I’m not supposed to be gay! I don’t think I can take it right now.”

“I’m not joking! [PLAYER NAME], you have to realize what this means for me too. Some random guy stumbles into my life, and one season later; I’m holding him while crying because he likes me back? This is unbelievable.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll be yours forever and always, as long as you let me be.”

“Shane…”

“I’m kind of nervous. Aren’t you?”

“Of fucking course I am!”

I can’t think of anything else to say, so I flop the rest of my body weight onto him. The tears come back, but they don’t sting anymore. He…feels the same. I just… I can’t believe it. My heart needs a break, but my heart also needs him.

“Shane… I think my renovations are done today.”

“Wait, but that means…”

“No, it doesn’t mean. It comes with a new queen bed. You can come over anytime.”

“Are you sure? We can take a break if you want…”

“No! That’s not what I’m trying to say at all! I want you at my house. Tonight, tomorrow night, and forever.”

I’m dating the Valley's hottest bachelor. I’m Shane’s official boyfriend.

I belong.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Summer 1 con’t

“Well, what do you want to do now?” Shane asks.

I answered his question with a question,“What are we supposed to do now?”

“Can we just sit here? I’m just… shocked, I guess.”

“Does this mean I’m your boyfriend?”

He pauses for a moment before responding tentatively, “Well, yeah. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“Of course. But doesn’t it sound a bit juvenile? We had a crush on each other, then flirted, then became boyfriends? I’m imagining two schoolboys figuring themselves out, not adults with jobs. Hell, you have a kid and I’ve already been married.”

“You’re overthinking it. You always seem to stress over stuff that you don’t need to stress out about.”

“Nuh uh dude. I’m thorough. What if people here don’t like us anymore? I really want to fit in here, but it’s gonna be hard if half the old people here hate us just because we’re us.”

“Who cares? If they’re gonna blacklist you over something as simple as love, you don't want to befriend them anyways.”

“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure Ol’ Wheely burned a hole in your back with how hard he was staring.”

He chuckles before muttering,“Shut up man.”

“How are we supposed to t-“

He moves his face closer to mine and tells me to shut up before ramming his mouth into mine while I’m talking.

I slowly give in to his touch as my worries drip away. He takes all of my anxiety with the taste of him. All I want is him right now.

“Let’s take this somewhere more private. Follow me,” I say while leading him to my house.

We get to the door and enter. He takes the collar of my shirt and pushes me into the nearest wall to continue. He moans quietly as I press my face harder into his. We go on like this for a while until our lips are swollen. I take his arms and lead him to the bed.

I pull him on top of me as his hands start wandering. I break from him to start unbuttoning his jersey.

He pulls away and stands up before timidly saying, “[PLAYER NAME], please… I love you.”

I stop to look up at him. “Well…yeah?”

He looks down and says, “I don’t know how to explain this.”

“What’s up?”

“I loved everything before this, but something just isn’t clicking right now.”

I take my hand off of him and respond, “Oh, okay. We don’t have to do anything.”

“No, but I want to do something,” he says as he waves his hands in the air frustratedly.

“I’ll give you space until you figure out what you’re comfortable with.”

He reaches out and grabs my hand, “Wait, no. Don’t leave.”

I turn around to say, “Sure.”

“Are you mad? I didn’t mean t-”

I grab his hand with one hand and turn his face towards me. I make sure I’m making eye contact before continuing, “No, of course not. I want you to feel safe. I don’t need anything from you, especially if you don’t want to do anything like that. All I want is to make sure you’re good.”

“But, you-”

“Shane. My loving boyfriend. You’re being stupid right now. Just relax. I’m still here. I’m not mad. I’m not going to leave you. What I am gonna do right now is make Pepper Poppers with today's harvest.”

“You sound mad.”

“Nuh uh. It’s not a problem. At all. I don’t care what you do right now, as long as you’re happy with it. You can stay here, you can come cook with me, you can go out onto the porch; you can do literally anything and I’ll be here for you.”

He sits silently before getting up and following me.

“Do you want any help?” he asks meekly.

“Sure, can you make the cheese filling?”

“Okay,” he says while getting the stuff out, “Thank you, [PLAYER NAME]. This means a lot to me.”

I shrug before saying, “It’s really not a problem. I don’t know why it would be.”

“Well, like… I don’t know. No one has been that understanding I guess. Some people don’t really stop when I say I’m uncomfortable. Or they just get mad. This one chick got so mad at me, she quit her job the day after and left Zuzu City.”

“That’s one helluva lore drop. I don’t see how it’s that controversial. It’s not like you’re withholding something they need. All I want is to know you’re good.”

Shane turns around with a bowl filled with spicy cheese paste and asks, “The stuffing is ready, do you have the peppers?”

“Yeah, do you want to fill them?”

“Sure. You know, I’ve never actually made them. I usually get them frozen or from Gus.”

“The oven is preheated for when you’re done. Lemme get your bowl afterwards too.”

“How are you so nonchalant about this?”

“...I’ve made Pepper Poppers before?”

“No, stupid.”

“I just don’t care about it. I care about you. We also just started dating today too. It doesn’t have to go that fast. Or it doesn’t have to happen at all. I just want you. The happy version of you. I don’t want uncomfortable Shane. Or unhappy Shane. I. Want. You. Period.”

“I don’t know why I’m comfortable with everything but that.”

“It’s just who you are. You don’t need a reason. That’s simply reason enough. Aren’t you the one who called me an overthinker?”

“Yeah, but you were worrying about stupid stuff. This is a valid concern.”

“It’s valid, but you’re thinking too hard. You’re gonna give yourself a headache.”

He walks over and puts the peppers in the oven before slipping his hands around my waist from behind. I can feel him shift to his tiptoes to put his chin on my shoulder. “Thank you, [PLAYER NAME].”

I rested my head on top of his before replying, “No problem.”

Summer 11, Year 1

It’s finally time for the Luau. Shane’s been hyping me up for it. He says it’s his favorite festival all year. I’ve noticed that he really likes hot peppers, so I’ve been growing some. I got a few really nice looking ones, so I’m going to bring one to the potluck, and then surprise him with the rest of them.

We’ve become public recently to a few people. Obviously, we told Marnie. Her response was actually pretty funny; she was mad at us but also so accepting too.

“You guys just realized it now? It was painful watching you two be so lovey dovey without a label greater than friends. Everyone in the aerobic class won’t stop asking me about you two’s weirdness. I’m happy for you, but why did it take so damn long?”

We also told some other people too, like, Emily and Gus. Emily was pretty surprised. She acted pretty nonchalant, but I think she was secretly disappointed. I’ve seen the way she’s looked at him over the bar. They are friends though, so I might be reading into it too much.

I’m pretty sure most of the town now knows between middle aged women gossip and bar talk. Which I’m not mad about, but I secretly hoped to see their reactions when they found out.

Shane’s basically already moved in at this point. He spends most days at my house, save for every Monday and Friday. I know we’ve moved fast when it comes to relationships, but I want to move us further already.

He seems so miserable every day he has to work. I’ve been making absolute bank as a farmer, and if he were to permanently live here, he wouldn’t have to be that tired all the time. It’s hard to be just dating when his favorite pair of boxers lives in my dresser.

Sometimes we go back to his place to use his console. It usually ends in us staying the night together because we lost track of time. If I’ve had a long day at the farm or in the mines, we go over to his room and hang out. But instead of us playing games together, he plays video games while I watch and fall asleep on his bed. Sometimes he wakes me up to go home, or sometimes he sleeps on the chair. He doesn’t try to share the bed, no matter how much I protest in the mornings.

Today we woke up in his room again, and Shane did his usual greeting in the morning. He took my ankles and dragged my legs off the bed, then he took my arms and pulled me up into a hug. He put on his normal gridball jersey and Joja Corp hoodie. I put on my trendy farmer drab.

He doesn’t have to go to work today because of the Luau, so he walks around with me as I do my farm chores. He lingers for a while in the chicken coop. Once I’m done, we walked down to the beach. It turns out he forgot to bring something for the potluck.

“Dude, you reminded me about this. How could you forget?” I ask as I get him something from my chests.

“I used to just dump a beer in there and hope for the best.” He explained.

“It definitely doesn’t get hot enough to cook the alcohol off.”

“You don’t know that. You’ve never been to one.”

“I know how cooking works. You helped me cook.”

“That is not at all equal to The Luau. Your cooking is bomb though.”

“Our cooking was bomb. Whenever you help me out it turns out better.”

“I just pour beer in there and hope for the best. That’s the secret technique.”

I’m too worried to keep up the banter. I get to the point and ask, “Mhm, sure. How do you want to go about this today?”

He slightly turns to me and asks, “What do you mean? Like us?”

“Yeah, are we gonna soft launch or hard launch or just act normal?”

“I mean, considering we slow danced sensually and then promptly left the dance hand in hand, I don’t think we can really soft launch.”

Oh. I kind of forgot about that. So much has gone down. Maybe I’m a little too anxious.

“But my question still stands. What are we gonna do? We’re the only openly queer couple here.”

“We’re gonna do what we want. If we hold hands, then we hold hands. If we want to go our separate ways and talk to our friends, we’re gonna do that. We could do both.” He shrugs and scans my face for my reaction.

My brows furrow unwillingly before continuing, “…hmmm. I’ll follow your lead.”

As the ground beneath us fades into sand, Shane grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze before splitting to go to the hot pepper chutney. Shocker.

I make my rounds around the entire town, except for George. He’s a crab on the beach.
He always seems to have a problem about something and I just don’t want to have to deal with him. The sand in his wheels probably has him in an even shittier mood.

Emily is dancing alone to the speakers. Every now and then I catch her staring and trying to catch Shane’s gaze before her more frivolous moves. I glared at her, but I don’t think she saw me.

Me and Haley start talking about recent events. I haven’t seen her in a while, and boy was she curious about the current events.

She saw me and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, it’s [PLAYER NAME]! I haven’t seen you in so long!” She pulls me into a hug before letting me explain.

“Hey Hailey. What’ve you been up to?”

“Oh, nothing much. But it sounds like you’ve had some adventures recently.”

I blush before teasing her, “I wouldn’t exactly call them adventures…”

“No, you have to tell me what’s up with you and Shane. Everybody has a different story, and no one can figure out what’s true or not.”

“I mean, what’s there to say? He’s a great guy.”

“Ugh,” she pouts, “Are you guys actually dating now?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“You’re an ass.”

“Some could say that.”

“We all saw the hand thing earlier. Just tell me already!”

“What hand thing?”

“[PLAYER NAME], there’s no way you’re actually this fucking dense.”

“Oh, cmon’. It’s a little funny.”

“Shut up and tell me already!”

I sigh obnoxiously before continuing, “We are…”

“Dude, spit it out.”

“…dating.”

She gasps dramatically while bouncing. “I fucking knew it!!!” She turns to Alex, grabs his forearm and squeals, “I told you so! You owe me 50g! Hah!”

“Girl, ya gotta chill. It’s not that deep.”

She gasps again and turns to me with the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen before whispering, “Does this mean I have a gay best friend?”

“I- um, wow,” I stutter while grabbing the back of my neck, “I guess so?”

“Fuck yeah! I’m that bitch with a gay best friend. Ugh, I finally lucked out!”

“Is this why you wanted to know so badly?”

“Well, duh. But I also wanted to ask you for Emily.”

I eye her suspiciously, “What about Emily?”

“You do know that for the longest time Emily had the biggest crush on Shane? I feel like that was pretty common knowledge.”

“It hasn’t even been two seasons since I moved in! How was I supposed to figure that out?”

She shrugs and says, “By just observing. She’s not that good at acting.”

I ask, “Do you know if she’s the type to move in on a taken guy?”

“Well, I don’t really know about that. But I definitely wouldn’t put it past her. I love her, but I just can’t figure her out sometimes.”

“Oh. Thank you, Hailey. I am gonna have to leave and put my thing in the potluck. See you around though?”

“Well, duh. You’re my gay bestie now.”

I roll my eyes and leave toward the soup bowl. Once I’ve done that, Lewis calls us all in to watch the Governor take the first sip of the potluck.

"I trust that you all put high-quality ingredients in the pot this year. We don't want the governor to regret his visit to the valley!” he says as the Governor saunters up to the pot.

He slurps obnoxiously before exclaiming, “Oh my… that’s the best soup I’ve ever tasted!”

Lewis walks over to the side and tries it.

“You’re right… It’s delicious!” Lewis agrees.

Everyone else now lines up to take a portion. Me and Shane hold back until the end because he says it ‘has more flavor’. I think he just wanted an excuse to show us off to everyone as we held hands in line.

It was pretty good soup. Shane and I sat on the deck and watched the sea roll in. I see why they call it the Gem Sea. It looks like a giant ever moving aquamarine. After Shane gets done with his bowl, he sets it aside and sighs pretty loudly.

I take the bait and ask, “What’s up this time?”

He grins mischievously before asking, “Do you wanna do something crazy?”

I grin back, “Like what?”

“You just gotta trust me.”

“Ugh, fine.”

He grabs me and kisses me right on the pier. The entire town lets out an audible gasp. He tastes like a more spicy version on the soup, and I’m still hungry for more.

Despite what I want, I pull away from him because we don’t need to make out in front of the entire town just yet.

We're official now.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

Summer 21, Year 1

I’ve found something out. A few days ago, I went to Marnie’s to get some hay before she closed for two days, but before I could, Jas pulled me away.

“Uncle Shane’s in the barn. He said…Uh…He said to tell you he wants to show you something.”

As we head into the barn, we can hear Shane talking to himself.

“That should do it… It’s the perfect home for you hens. We’ll have the best eggs in the whole valley! Fresh and healthy, with rich golden yolks. Not like those pale, sickly Joja eggs…”

He sighs before continuing, “...You know, Charlie… I was thinking… A guy like me is always teetering on the edge of despair…know what I mean? But you and the other hens are going to keep me upright from now on… I know it.” A chicken clucks and he asks, “What’s wrong…too much pressure?”

Me and Jas walk in and he puts the white hen down. It’s a barn full of luxurious looking blue hens. They look expensive. Their tail feathers are curved in a circle, and their breast feathers are all puffed out.

“Hey, [PLAYER NAME]... so, what do you think?”

I walk over to him near the feeding troughs. “Where did you get these? They look like gems!”

“My special blue hens… I’ve been raising them for the last few months.”

“They look so healthy!”

“I…Well, I won’t be living here forever, and I wanted to pass something on to Jas. I’ve been teaching her how to care for them. I want to feel like I’m not just a leech on the world. I want to contribute somehow, even in a small way like this.”

Jas walks over and joins us. She points out her favorite to me, and she picks her up to show me how beautiful she is.

“You know that we’re also hatching chicks? I’ll talk to Marnie, and we can probably hook you up with a chick or two,” Shane says, “I’d like to see some on the farm.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

So, obviously, I wanted to see if I could get a blue chick or two. I talked to Marnie and got the hay, but I also got two new chicks. One was a brown chick, but the other was a blue one! Shane did tell me that they were basically like white chickens, but I wanted at least one because it looked cool. Maybe I’ll show Shane when he gets back.

I need to run some errands today, so I’m heading to town. I catch Haley as she’s leaving to go to the beach.

“Hey, queen!” she squeals as she runs up to my side.

“Hi, Haley,” I responded.

“What’s up bestie? You look happy! Did Shane give you…” She gives me a sly up and down look, “...a morning ‘surprise?’”

I take a second to register what a ‘morning surprise’ is before scolding her, “Haley! What?! No!” I twist my face from a look of shock into another risque look, “...And who says I’ll tell you about it?”

She leans into me and giggles like she just found out a secret. She’s a very expressive woman. She always clutches onto my arm to express multiple emotions. She could be an actor, if it didn’t rely on her actual emotions.

She gets serious and says ominously, “Okay, but like, I have to tell you something.”

“I… uh… Okay? Spit it out.”

“Emily is torn right now. It’s no secret that you and Shane are like a real couple now.”

“I would hope so… Considering the hard launch at the Luau a week ago.”

“Yeah… Emily is not having the best time right now.”

“Because of me and Shane?”

“Yeah. I don’t think you realize how close they were to actually dating. They’ve been in, like, a non-committal relationship for years. Like, I’m pretty sure they’ve at least kissed before.”

“What? Why am I just finding this out?”

“I don’t know, but I have to warn you. She is not the happiest camper right now.”

“Warn me about what?”

“She’s crazy, [PLAYER NAME]. I don’t know much about her but some rock outside has misaligned her chakras or something. She loves those stupid jems to promote ‘healing.’ I personally think that rocks are stupid, but that’s just me. I don’t get the hype around them, especially the ‘Prismatic Shard.’”

I blow past her digression, “No, she’s always been super nice to me. I don’t believe you. I don’t think she’s crazy.”

“Okayy… Just don’t say I didn’t warn youuuu,” she walks off toward the beach as she draws her sentence out for dramatic effect.

“Mhm… We’ll see about that.”

I’m not gonna lie, that got me fucked up. What does she mean crazy? I don’t think she’s crazy. But also, I don’t know her that well either. Haley is her sister.

Whatever. I guess I’ll talk with Shane about it if it comes up. I get why he wouldn’t tell me, but also, I feel like he should’ve at least mentioned it. I understand that they’re friends, but I can’t stop thinking about ‘What if she tries to make a move?’

I trust him. I don’t think I trust Emily though. I know Haley likes being hyperbolic, but I also know that Emily has shamelessly tried to get Shane to look when she shook her ass at the Luau.

I continue stewing on what Haley said as I finish my weekly chores. I know Haley isn’t trying to split us apart, right? She has her sights set on Alex, and she keeps referring to me as her gay bestie. I don’t think she has any ulterior motives.

As I get home, Shane greets me at the door.

He smiles, “Hey, [PLAYER NAME]. I’ve actually been having a pretty good day so far.”

I respond a bit colder than intended, “I’m glad.”

“What’s wrong?” He asks with a quizzical look.

I switch the topic of conversation, “I’m sorry, it’s nothing. The chores are starting to get to me. I bought a few new chickens today! Wanna check them out with me?”

His eyes light up before accepting. We head out the door, and he slips his hand into mine. That makes me think that Haley was definitely being too dramatic. I don’t know why I doubted him.

We get to the coop and enter, and he immediately spots the blue chick.

“You got one? What’s her name?”

I look sheepishly at my shoes before revealing her name. I hadn’t thought that Shane would actually ask about it.

“Well... She’s Cola.”

“[PLAYER NAME]... Is it cuz her feathers are blue like a Joja Cola?’

“...Maybe.”

“I thought you hated that company. I mean, I think everyone does. Except for the ass-kissing Morris.”

“Chill out. I’m gonna make money off of Cola, so that means that I’m making money off of Joja’s concept. I’m also gonna make better quality eggs than their pale crap. It’s like a subtle middle finger to Joja.”

He dismisses me and says, “Mhm. Whatever you say babe. Can I pick her up?”

“Of course. I also got another brown chick too.”

He grins at me and says, “I love having handfuls of chicks crawl all over me.” I can’t help but look at the blue chick and think of Emily and her electric blue hair being in his hands for a hot second.

I rolled my eyes at it and asked him, “Do you want a coop here for Charlie? You seemed to really love her.”

“I mean, definitely sometime in the future. Before Winter, maybe. How do you know Charlie? I don’t think I told you her name. ”

“Okay, I’ll work on that,” completely side-stepping the question.

“It’s not a priority though. I want you to focus on this amazing farm first.”

“I will, I will. But this is basically our farm now. You can have some things on it too.”

He turns to me with a shit eating grin, “It’s yours until we get married.”

“Slow down there bucko. It hasn’t even been a season.”

He shrugs, “Yeah, but like… I think we know each other well enough.”

“I’ve got a few skeletons in my closet that you haven’t found.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

I can’t think of anything to say.

He crosses his arms in triumph, “That’s what I thought.”

I cross my arms and fake pout, “You may have a point.”

“Just saying… Although I don’t know where to get a Mermaid’s pendant.”

“Mermaid’s pendant?”

“I keep forgetting that you’re a newbie here.”

I grimace at him, “Shut up.”

“A Mermaid’s pendant is what you give someone to become engaged instead of a marriage ring. It’s got some ties to the Valley’s lore, but I don’t remember the story that well. I know it has to do with rain.”

“Oh. So does everyone here know about this?”

“Yeah, it’s like one of those old traditions that don’t make sense to anyone outside of it. I think all the married couples here have corresponding Mermaid’s Pendants. Robin and Demetrius might be an exception, because Demetrius loves the jewels and nerdy stuff.”

“Huh. Maybe there’s something in the Library with more information.”

“Probably... Do you think we’re gonna get married, [PLAYER NAME]?”

I feign nonchalance to say, “If we play our cards right, maybe.”

He gently sets down the sleepy chicks and we head back inside. We get ready for bed together while starting a new banter every 5 minutes. It’s so easy to talk to him. I honestly think I lucked out. I got him before Emily could.

Summer 28, Year 1

I’ve been thinking about what Shane said. Does he think we could get married? I looked into it, and there’s a sponsored ad in the Library by Pierre to get bouquets. He also mentioned that there’s an ‘Old Mariner’ during the rainy days. Supposedly he shows up on rainy days. Yesterday was a rainy day, so I took a walk down to the beach. I was going there anyway to get a new rod, so it just made sense.

There’s a river flowing into the ocean, but there’s some sand on the other side of it. There’s no Old Mariner on the main side, so he had to be over there. I thought I could probably fix the bridge, so I did. I walked over, and there was a bearded man wearing a purple shirt hidden in the tree line. I’ve never seen him before, so he had to have been the Mariner.

“Hello, Sir,” I greeted him.

He looked at me with his piercing blue eyes, “Ah, I can see it in yer eyes… There be a special someone in yer heart. Just so happens I’m sellin’ a ‘Mermaid’s Pendant’. Give that to yer intended, and they’ll know exactly what you mean.”

“So you’re the Old Mariner?”

“That be me.”

“How much for the pendant?”

“This here amulet costs 5,000 doubloons.”

“Uh… Do these work?” I showed him 5,000g instead of doubloons.

“Aye. Thank ye lad. Don't be shy, now. Show that amulet to the one you intend to marry."

He handed over the pendant to me. My hand went through his for a split second. The coldest cold I’ve ever felt shot up my arm and into my neck. I pulled my hand away from him and grabbed the pendant.I clutched it before saying, “I will. Thank you. Goodbye!”

I immediately stuffed the pendant into the depths of my bag. I just wanted to buy it then so that way I can give it to him later. I wouldn’t have been able to buy it during the Winter.

I still don’t know when I’ll give it to him. I feel like it would still be too early for now, but I could totally see it happening later. I’ve hidden it in my house. I don’t think he’ll find it anytime soon. I like this tradition better than rings because pendants are one size fits all, unlike rings. It’s completely secret.

Today is the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. Apparently everyone here regards it as the end of summer. It takes place at night though, so instead of hanging out with Shane at home, we went to the bar instead.

The usuals are here, so I go and talk to Leah and Elliot while Shane goes to his old corner. As I get chatting, I glance over and see Emily talking to Shane. My grudge against her poked me in the ribs, but I eventually ignored it and went back to talking with Leah. She got onto a niche tangent about the difference between working with the grain of wood and against it, so I zoned out again and looked at Emily.

She’s got Shane at the bar now, and whenever he makes a joke, she leans in and grabs his bicep and gives it a squeeze. But her hand lingers there, and she doesn’t remove it until he shifts away from her.

I let Leah finish her thought, and move towards Shane. I stride up to his side and loop my arm through his as I kiss him on the cheek. He looks at me for a second before deciding that asking why I did that wasn’t worth his time.

“Hey babe. I’m getting kind of bored. Do you want to play pool with me?”

“Uh… sure? I’ll join you in a sec, can you rack the balls?”

“Of course babe.”

I peck his cheek again before walking away. I know Emily had to have seen that one. It’s a shame, because I would love to be her friend, but I don’t want to be friends with someone who will try to steal my man.

He comes over and hugs me from behind. “Hey babe. What’s wrong?”

I try to look as innocent as possible before responding, “I just wanted to play pool.”

“You’re sure? That was quite the display for pool.”

“Honor a poor man’s wish?”

“Of course. Are you sure you’re not mad? About anything?”

“Can we just play pool?”

“If it’s about Emilly, I can explain i-”

I cut him off curtly, “I told you, I just wanted to play pool.”

“Okay. I’ll drop it for now.”

“Good. You can go first.”

We played pool until 10, and we headed to the beach together. Any jealousy I had washed away. I do feel bad for being so jealous, but the signs aren’t looking good. Between Haley’s warnings and her not-so-sly moves in, I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s something wrong. I really want him to keep his friends, but she sees him as something more. It’s the fact that we told her about it, but she still had Haley ask for me.

At the beach, we split up again, and I went and talked with Haley and Alex.

Alex greets me with a compliment about my tan, and that gets Haley to turn towards me.

“Oh my god, hey!” She looks at my face and her tone shifts, “Oh. What’s wrong?”

“...I think you’re right about Emily. She was feeling Shane up at the bar today.”

“I told you so. I don’t know why you didn’t trust me. And aren’t you guys sober now?”

“Yeah, we just stopped by to hangout before this. Emily used it as an opportunity to openly try to pull Shane though.”

She turns a slight shade of green, “Ew.”

“Don’t say ew to that. He’s my husband.”

Her face immediately crinkles, “...Husband?”

A blush creeps up from my neck, “...You know what I meant.”

“Sounds like a Fruedian slip if I’ve ever heard one. I bet Lewis would be giddy to officiate his first gay couple.”

“Those are big words for you.”

She rolls her eyes and points towards the other pier, “Shut up and go take your man back from her.”

I turn around and lock eyes with Emily. She grins at me before moving in to hug Shane. My blood boils. Who the fuck does she think she is? I try to compose myself as I storm over to where they are. Emily pulls away from him and greets me instead of backing away like she did at the bar.

“Well, hello there [PLAYER NAME]. How nice of you to finally join us,” she says cooly.

I bristle as I respond, “I had other friends to talk to. But it seems like you’re still stuck with the one. Clint told me to tell you that you look pretty in the moonlight. Maybe you should go talk to him for a change. He’s a single man with a steady job.”

“Oh, but me and Shane were having the best of times. Isn’t that right, Shane?”

He doesn’t respond. She looks discouraged for a moment before continuing, “Doesn’t Shane’s skin just GLOW in the candlelight?”

“His skin always glows. You would know that if you were dating him. But you’re not. Go away now.”

She turns a deeper shade of red than her dress and storms off towards Clint. I can hear her start to loudly lament about how rude I was.

Shane rushes to apologize, “Babe, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t. We'll talk later about this, but right now we can enjoy this together.”

He takes me by the waist as Lewis sends off the boat with the lantern. Jellyfish start creeping into the shoreline. Willy told me about a rare green one, so I started straining to see if I could spot one. Shane shifts to his tiptoes to try and see what I’m looking at. I point out the one green jellyfish, and he lets out an audible woah. As they continue floating in, the green one gets closer and closer to Shane and I. It gets to the point where if I dunked my hand in the water, I could touch it’s head.

Eventually, they float back off into the Gem Sea. Willy comes up to me and remarks that he’s never seen a jelly get that close before, nonetheless a green one. He said that it has to mean something important, but he’s not into that ‘divination’ stuff.

On the walk home, Shane tries not to be awkward, but that ends up making it more awkward. I honestly don’t know how to handle this. It’s not Shane’s fault that she’s been trying to steal him from me, but it’s also a grey area. Why didn’t he tell her to stop?

Once we get in the door, he sits me down at the table and starts off with, “I’m sorry. I didn’t think she’d go that far.”

I cooly respond, “You can’t control her actions. But why didn’t you stop it?”

“I didn’t want to be mean to her. She was one of my friends before you even moved here.”

“I mean I get that, but there were zero boundaries set up. Boundaries are a part of any friendship, platonic or romantic.”

“I’m sorry, [PLAYER NAME]. But I don’t want anyone to come between us. You know I’m loyal.”

“I’m not saying that I don’t trust you. But I’m wondering why you let it go on so long. I get that you guys were in a situationship, and she thought that she could use your guy’s past to leverage herself.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Haley told me. She told me everything.”

“You’ve talked to her about this?”

“She told me that Emily was heartbroken. And desperate.”

“Why have you been spending so much time with her?”

“I could ask you the same thing about Emily.”

“We were friends before I even knew about you.”

“Haley is my friend now.”

“What exactly has she told you?”

“That Emily is desperate and thinks she can get you back. And I believe her now.”

“She’s one of my only friends though, [PLAYER NAME]. I don’t want to lose her.”

“She tried to take you away from me! That’s not friendly behavior! You need to set some boundaries!”

“I don’t want to be mean!”

“It’s not! You did nothing to shut her down. Please, I want you to tell her that you’re a loyal boyfriend.”

“I’m going to bed. We’re too tired to have this conversation. I’m going to Marnie’s. I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Shane… please…”

He turns and speed walks out.

I don’t understand this. I don’t think my asks were too big. He also seemed to get a little upset at my friendship with Hailey. I don’t think there’s anything wrong between us.

She’s been calling me her “GBF”(gay best friend) since the Luau. She’s progressed to calling me… the alternative word for a bundle of sticks. Or the Irish word for cigarette. She’s been calling me that name every time she greets me. If we’re being real, she’s not a threat to anyone but Alex. I feel bad for that poor man sometimes.

I love Shane. I really do. As the only queer couple, we stick out wherever we are. I know Shane has issues with being perceived. It makes him anxious. I can’t help but think that he could leave me for Emily to fit in better.
Fall 1, Year 1

Shane doesn’t show in the morning, so I decided to start on my farmwork for the day instead of chasing him down.

I went to Pierre’s and while I was buying my seeds he whispered to me, “I’m sorry for last night. I know what that feels like. It sucks. Also, pumpkins are a big hit this time of year. Abby loves them.”

I can’t stop my face from showing my honest reaction to the whiplash I just experienced before saying, “I… Uh, okay. Thanks. I guess I’ll get 10 pumpkin seeds then.”

That stuck with me for the rest of the walk back. I kept thinking about his sympathetic words, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I forgot the entire town was probably watching. Oh god, I hope I wasn’t embarrassing, I forgot I was being perceived.

I’m chewing on my thoughts while hoeing, and I didn’t see Shane approaching me.

“Hey, [PLAYER NAME].”

I dropped my hoe and screamed the loudest scream I’ve ever scrumpt. I whipped my head around to face a terrified Shane.

I gripped my chest and bent over before gasping, “Holy shit dude. That got me. Sorry. You’re a very silent man.”

“I said your name like five times. You must’ve been hella zoned out.”

“Yeah… What’s up?”

“...I’m sorry. I was being pretty hard-headed last night.”

“You’re good. I wasn't very understanding.”

“Emily caught me today while I was heading here. I took the long way so I could think.”

“Oh.”

“She caught me off guard. Maybe not as off guard as you were, but still. I pulled away from her, and told her that she can’t do stuff like that anymore. She tried to play stupid, but once I went into embarrassing detail of last night, she told me I was being cruel and turned around and went home.”

My grudges spew out, “Cruel? She’s the cruel one! Trying to take my man in front of me? That’s not cruel?”

Shane grabs my arm, “Shh, calm down. You don’t have to worry about it anymore. I seriously didn’t mean for her to get in between us.”

“I’m sorry. She’s not reacting the best. If you want to still be friends with her, I won’t stop you.”

“I don’t know if she still wants to be friends with me.”

“You can always talk with me and Haley,” I offer, “She does slur though. But I’m pretty sure she means them in an endearing way. I’m like 98% sure it’s endearing.”

“Thanks. If I’m being honest, I haven’t been open to too many friends in town. I regret it. My closest friends were you and Emily, but I think Pam took her spot.”

“Honey, we need to get you away from the banquets and into conversations at the next festival.”

“Nuh uh. Gus’ food hits too hard. I don’t regret my choices that much.”

“King, please. You can’t surround yourself with chickens all the time.”

“I can and I will. Speaking of which, where’s Cola? I want to hold her.”

I sigh and gesture vaguely towards the coop. He kisses me on the cheek before giddily heading over to the coop.

That wasn’t that bad honestly. I don’t know why I doubted Shane. He’s a great man. I’ve never felt this before with my ex girlfriends. Or wife. He makes me feel comfortable, with or without him. I didn’t trust him, and he showed me that I could. I love his foolish ass so much. I hope he loves me as much as I love him, even if I can be dumb as hell sometimes.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight
Fall 14, Year 1

It’s almost the Stardew Valley Fair. Apparently this is a huge deal for this little town. Tourists come in for this fair. I’m definitely hype for it, but not as much as Shane is.

He loves this fair. It’s a huge deal for him. He’s started to stay at Marnie’s more and more to prepare. He’s been brushing cows. I didn’t even know you could do that. He says that they’re gonna shampoo it before the fair.

My point is, he’s busy and hype and overall full of energy again. I love his passion for animals. Especially chickens. You don’t normally see people get all lovey-dovey over non-mammalian animals. But he does. He cares for every single one of them. He’s just perfect.

I’ve been notified by Lewis that I can set up one of those Grange Displays. It’s a silly little competition between vendors in town to see who has the best looking display of goods. I technically count as a vendor with how much Lewis has to truck out every night. I’m doing pretty good for myself, if I do say so.

If I’m being honest, I kind of miss Shane. Yes, we do spend most nights together. And yes, I see him at least once a day. But now with all of the things he’s doing, it’s such a small amount of time. Don’t get me wrong, I love that he’s doing what he loves.

But he loves me, and he could be doing me too. (If he wants to of course). I miss him following me around the farm, yapping my ear off. Or us doing work in silence. I miss his presence. It’s not the same. I get that it’s temporary. But I can’t stand it.  And I know that I sound like a broken record. But I crave him so deeply. I miss my love.

It’s actually lowkey crazy what we’ve done together. I moved here approximately 70 days ago, and now I have my first boyfriend, we moved in together, and I bought him the equivalent of an engagement ring already. I know it’s super fast. So I’m not going to actually propose anytime soon. I just wanted to prove to myself that I’m that committed.

I’m scared that this honeymoon phase won’t last. I want to love him for the rest of time. But it feels like every couple eventually falls out of love. I don’t want to lose him or not love him anymore.

I think I’ll still love him. I certainly do now. I’ve been loving him ever since the Flower Dance. I’m glad I found him. It’s so weird thinking about how finding a whole ass dead body led to me finding the gay love of my life. I’m way richer now than I was before when I was a high paid Joja worker.  RIP that one dude, your death was not in vain.

These are just all my thoughts as I do my daily work. The hens are laying some pretty good quality eggs, and I have some amazing quality crops that I’ve collected over the last few months. I want to win this grange display. Maybe some of the tourists will start looking for my goods if I win.

Apparently Marnie also is doing the grange display. So I do feel bad about wanting to beat her with eggs from a chicken that she sold me. But I really want to win. I don’t know what happens if you win, but I desperately want to win. I won the egg hunt by two eggs, and I need that rush of accomplishment again.

After all my chores are done and all nine of my produce items are safe in a chest, I got started on making dinner. I made Pepper Poppers again because he’s been working so hard and he deserves some homemade fried food. Don’t tell him that I told you this, but I despise working with the mushy peppers after I roast them. It feels like boogers mixed with that shitty dollar store water slime. Oh the things I’ll do for some good ass food.

Finally, around 10pm, Shane stumbles through the doorway. He barely gets out a smile towards me before shuffling towards the bedroom, stripping his sopping wet clothes with each step he takes. I follow him into the bedroom silently, trying to figure out what to say.

I decided that it’s best to not say anything, and I helped get him fresh new pajamas. I caught his eye and he just stared at me with a glazed expression. I squeezed his arm in an attempt at silent support. He turned to me and pulled me by my waist into a ‘hug’. It was more like he pulled me over before he almost collapsed.

I held him up for a while before asking if he wanted to sit down. I could feel him nod against my chest, so I repositioned him and plopped him down on the side of the bed. I lifted my leg and put one of my knees against his hip as I moved his fluffy dark brown mop of hair out of his face. He closed his eyes and leaned his head into my hand.

“Long day, huh?” I ask rhetorically.

“...I’m…so tired. It’s been so much…” he whispered back to me. “I almost lost my job at Joja today. Morris yelled at me for the third time this week. I’m so tired.”

“I almost fell asleep standing up. I’m mixing up stock,” Shane continues, “I can’t think at all, and when I can it’s thinking about my chickens. It’s so bad. I’m failing everything. I’m failing everyone around me. Do you ever feel like the whole world is scrutinizing you like some disgusting insect? That’s how I feel. I feel that a lot right now. Every time I try something new it goes horribly wrong. You learn to just stay in a shell.”

I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I moved closer to Shane and just held him. I can feel the grief radiating off of his body.

“…I’m sorry, [PLAYER NAME]. That was…a lot,” he says.

“No, no it’s not that. I understand that it’s been a long few weeks for you. It’s okay to feel stressed out about it. Just remember you’re not alone. Ever,” I respond.

He doesn’t say anything back. He then takes my hand off his head and lays on his back. I traced his forearm with my finger for a while before getting up. I walked over to the kitchen, threw the now cold Pepper Poppers in the microwave, and brought them back to the bed.

Shane was still lying down but now with one of his arms over his face, so I shook his knee to get his attention. Instead of looking at me, he turned his head away from me and sniffled.

I said out loud, “Hey babe… I made some Pepper Poppers? You hungry?”

Still no response. I got up and placed the plate on a nearby shelf and came back over to him. I put my hand on his thigh again, but he pulled away from me and finally gave a response.

“…I think I need some space right now. I’m gonna go back to Marnie’s,” he says.

“No, you stay here. You need it. I’ll go to Marnie’s. You need a break from that place,” I said as I started leaving, “I love you, Shane. No matter what you might think. I love you.”

I walked out the door before he could even respond. He’s been working from basically 6am to 1am every day. Of course he’s burnt out. What hurt the most was just how defeated he looked. He looked so miserable.

I was no help to him. Whatsoever. I did all the wrong things. I don’t think I helped. I’m supposed to be there for him, and I couldn’t. Oh Yoba, I hope I didn’t worsen things. I faltered. I couldn’t even try to comfort him.

My mind continues to race as my body shuffles to Marnie’s house on auto pilot. I’m deep in thought until I’m pulled back to reality by Marnie repeating “HELLO?” loudly.

“Uhhhh, sorry. Can I crash in Shane’s room for the night?” I ask, dazed.

“Uhm, sure. You know where it is. Whats wrong with you? Shane do something? I swear to Yoba, I can’t and won’t stand to see him destroy this per-“ Marnie continues.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. It’s just…” I trail off as Marnie continues to spout off.

I ignored her and plopped myself on to Shane’s old bed. It lost almost all of its Shane smell. That was the best part. It was like he was here. But now that it’s gone, it feels so lonely in here.

I can’t help but debate going back just to cuddle him more. I wanna be with him, even though I can’t even fucking try to help him.

Ugh. I’m a terrible boyfriend.

Fall 15, Year 1

Marnie let me stay in Shane’s old room, but kept asking me why. I couldn’t bring myself to say the reason why, so I just kept avoiding the question. I took my time in the morning when getting back to the house. I tended to the barn and the coop before I made my way inside.

As soon as I stepped foot in the door, Shane yelled a greeting and shuffled out to meet me.

“Hey baby! I missed you! Those Pepper Poppers really hit the spot. You’re such a good cook. I made some coffee for you. Sit down with me!” He bursts.

Taken aback by this sudden mood change, I grab the coffee and sit with him.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he starts, “I was just so overwhelmed. You really didn’t have to go to Marnie’s. I feel bad that I-“

“Shush,” I interrupted, “Don’t feel bad. It’s okay. It’s not like I haven’t spent the night there before. And I’m sorry that I didn’t react appropriately last night. I feel so bad about it. You des-“

Now he cuts me off, “Nope. You don’t get to feel bad about being a decent human being. You did everything that I needed.”

He lifted the coffee cup from my hand and put it on a nightstand. He took my head in his hands and pulled me into the longest kiss we’ve shared in a while.

After we got done, he turned somber again.

“I missed you. I missed you so much. I neglected you to wash barn animals. I’m so sorry,” he said.

“I missed you too. But I never felt neglected. You had important things to do. Don’t apologize for having a hobby,” I responded.

“…I don’t know why I felt like that yesterday.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well… I know that I was tired and pissed from work. But all of my tendencies came back. They might have even gotten worse. I felt the same as I did at the cliffs. Nothing actually changed. So much of my life has changed. But not this.”

“Well, having different circumstances now doesn’t mean you’re automatically healed. Having a boyfriend won’t ‘heal’ you. It’s normal to continue to be suicidal. It doesn’t make you worse for it.”

“But something should have changed. I felt as lonely as I did when you hadn’t even moved to the valley. I felt so alone, even with you right there. I was just so small. I don’t know… I’m sorry. I feel bad for everything that’s happened.”

I took his head in my hands and made him look at me before saying, “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault. I love you. So much.”

He takes this in, but doesn’t respond immediately. I slowly got up from the bed. I turned to him and took him by his wrists and pulled him up, and pulled him into a bear hug. We swayed together in an embrace before I took his hand and led him outside.

I opened the gate and let go of his hand while he rushed to greet every chicken. He gently picked up each and everyone of the chickens and coddled them and told each of them how they're the prettiest things in the whole wide world. I had to bite my tounge before I made a snarky comment on how I was supposed to be the prettiest thing in the world.

He immediately tried to fill the food trough and collect eggs, and faltered when he saw that I did them already. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. He’s so predictable.

As he neared the last few chickens, he stood up and said, "Take a picture, why don't ya? You've got your crackhead concentration eyes going again. What're you thinking about?"

I snapped back into reality before replying, "Wha... OH. Sorry king. My head's in the clouds right now. Cloud 9, to be exact."

"C'mere. I feel like I haven't seen you at all for a long time.”

Then we made out, right there in the middle of my chicken patch. And I couldn’t think of anything more romantic.

I started thinking that I could hear footsteps, but it just sounded like chickens playing. So we continued until I heard a loud, “AHEM.”

I pulled away from Shane and whipped around to see a face I only barely recognized.

“I see you’re…having fun here,” the figure sneers.

“What are you doing here?! How did you even find me?”

“I saw the article about you in the Stardew Tribune. So obviously I had to come out and see what the big deal was. Obviously, it’s nothing too exciting, seeing as you’re here with your own boytoy,” He comments harshly.

Shit. The Stardew Tribune. They mailed a letter of recognition to me and asked to write a story on my experiences at the farm. I said yes, forgetting that literally anyone could find it.

“What do you even want? Money? Try working on this farm for a day. You’ll see why I earned it instead of you. Grandpa gave me this land for a reason, because he knew it would just sit and rot under your lazy control. You can’t just stumble into my life,” I reply angrily.

“Like I’m scared of some fairy. I thought I raised you to be better than…this,” he says while motioning up and down at Shane and I.

“You barely even tried to raise me! Leave. Now.” I shouted.

Shane grabbed my hand in support.

“No. I’ve come to collect my past due child support. Where’s my old goodie two shoe son? Or has he been corrupted by this fag of a ‘man’?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine
Fall 15, Year 1

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Leave me alone. He’s my husband, and you barely even fucking count as a fath-“ I yelled.

My father interrupts, “I showed up to almost every birthday. I was active in your life. You’re just an ungrateful little fa-“

“The only thing you’ve ever contributed to me was being the sperm bank before leaving. You don’t even deserve to be on my soil, yet here you are, poisoning the land with the pure laziness and entitlement that you’re dripping,” I counter.

“Oh so now he’s sweet and spicy. You got a bit of a tongue on you now. Too bad that has to end,” he growls.

He raised his hand while I started my next bout of angry words. He struck me with the back of his hand.

I lost my footing and stumbled backward. Shane stepped in front of me and took my father by the collar of his shirt.

"Go. Away," he growled in a deep tone. He shook my father to solidify his point. "Leave us alone. You have no right here," he said before harshly pushing my father to the ground.

"I deserve this! I did everything for him! You didn't have any right to corrupt my boy. Yet, here we both are. Now leave us alone while we talk about familial matters," my father says to Shane, attempting to speak down to him while he's still on the literal ground.

"Nah. We're family now. You heard 'your boy'," he says sarcasictally while he did air quotes with his hands, "We're much more of a familiy than you've ever been," Shane used his foot to push my father back down to the ground.

"Get your dirty poor ass off of my shirt!" my father yells as he’s scrambling to his feet before Shane could do anything about it, "You'll never be his real family!"

My father continued to scream in Shane's face until all of a sudden, Shane raises his hand and slaps him with the back of his hand. My father yowled in pain, and started to lunge at Shane with all the force he could muster. Before I knew it, I stepped in front of Shane and took the full blow.

Unlike last time, I was ready for this attack, and I was able to absorb it before taking my father by the tie and snapping his neck down. He yelped, but I continued to use his tie to drag him back to the bus stop before throwing him back on.

I blocked the doors with my body from outside the bus while he tried to push past me. I looked up at Pam and said in a grave tone, "Keep him in line. Take him to some Zuzu city bus stop. He can cover the fees."

She nodded at me and closed the doors. As the bus drove off, I could hear him bang on the windows and yell various slurs at me.

I sauntered back to the farm, only to find Shane comforting the poor chickens who watched this entire debacle. I couldn't help but smile at his devoted love to chickens. I walked over to meet him as he started to comfort Cola.

"Hey," he says, almost in a whisper.

"Hey," I return in a light tone.

"You good?" he asks.

"Never been better," I responded.

He looks at me with confusion twisted into a soft smile. "You sure?"

"I'm fine. Really. Don't worry about it."

He doesn't say anything back. I can tell he's trying to figure out a way to talk to me about it, but I don't want to. So I tell him that I'm going to the Spa. I leave my backpack and run up to the Spa.

The chlorine smell hits me from the entrance as I open the doors to the guys side. Looking down the long hallway, I can see that Alex had the same idea as me. He's busy doing bench presses and doesn't notice me. After he finishes his set, I watched him grab an egg from a carton near his bench, crack it, and pour it into his mouth. Honestly, it's impressive. Can I say that I’ll ever do that? No. Do I wish I could? Yes.

He must’ve heard me giggle to myself a little bit before turning around and becoming beet red.

“Uh… I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually be here. Uhm. Can you…not tell Haley? It really helps my gains though. Look at my bicep growth,” he says as he flexes an absolute python on me.

“Wow, damn. Maybe I’ll have to try some of those eggs out,” I say as I limply toss my noodles arms vaguely.

“Hey, everyone starts somewhere. You ever play gridball? I was the team captain. You look like someone who used to play with me. He was a senior though when I was a freshman. I loved him, he was the best player we had,” he reminisces.

“Uh, yeah actually. I only played a year though because I sucked at it. Gave it a shot my senior year and got benched the entire season. Sports were never my thing, really. But I want to start working out. I need to be strong for my farm now. Had a coyote take out one of my chickens, and I can’t lose another one,” I explain.

“That had to have been devastating. Especially for Shane, right? Haley tells me all about what you tell her. I told her that I don’t care, but she yaps away. Tell Shane I said sorry.”

Oop. I forgot about Haley’s large mouth.

“I’ll keep it in mind. You have any tips for a beginner?” I asked.

He then showed me around the cramped weight room, and we bonded over the fact that we both played gridball in some way.

After we got working out, Alex randomly started talking to me in the middle of his set.

“Y’know, I’m glad you came to the valley. Seeing someone like Shane fall in love was good for the valley,” he says calmly.

“What do you mean ‘someone like Shane’?” I ask.

“Well, like… someone like you and Shane. Y’know… a little…” his voice turns to a whisper, “…gay?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at this. “You do know that gay isn’t a slur right? You can say it loudly.”

“Well, but like… Anyways, I’m glad that even… gay people can live in our small little Pelican Town. I have a feeling that we’ll see more… gay couples arise from the shadows.”

“Like a gay secret society?” I ask, trying not to giggle.

“…Yeah. The SGG. That’s a good name. It’s been opening seeing a gay couple be so…happy. I see all these old geezers who hate their partners, and then there’s you two. Happy as a Clam. Everyday. It’s sweet knowing that Shane’s getting better now, thanks to having someone that let him be his true self.”

“…Where is this all coming from? I thought you were homophobic? At least your Grandpa is.”

“[PLAYER NAME]. I need you to keep this as a secret. Like, never ever tell anyone secret. Like, not even Shane,” he says with the most serious face I’ve ever seen.

“…Uh, sure. I’ll keep it.”

“I’ve been looking at Sebastian recently. He passes by my house every rainy day. I can’t help but notice him. He’s… strangely attractive. I want to get to know him, but he pushes me away. He thinks I’m trying to make fun of him. But I’m not! I swear I’m not,” he admits.

A light bulb finally went off in my head, “Ohhhhhhh. Youre bi-curious. You’re curious about guys, but not too much to try anything.”

“YES! THATS IT! I’ll never actually make any moves on him. But I mean for a skinny guy…”

“My lips are sealed. But, we just started talking, why did you tell me?”

“I figured you would understand…this. And I know you’re friends with Haley. You cannot tell her though. Like, she’d lose her shit. I’d never hear the end of it. ”

“Fair enough,” I said.

We continued our workout in silence until he said he was feeling the burn. He asked if I wanted to walk with him, but I declined and decided to push myself a little further.

I did a few more reps of each exercise that he showed me before putting on my swim trunks and heading to the actual spa part. It’s a huge steamy pool that’s heated to be the perfect temperature. It relaxes all of my muscles and it gives me more energy for the day.

The shape is oddly…familiar. I feel like I’ve been in this pool before, but I know I haven’t. Im getting an odd sense of deja vu right now, but it couldn’t have happened before. But, it's a distinct memory. I swear.

In the middle of my confusion, I can hear the door open behind me. It’s Alex; who for some reason returned.

I ask him, “Hey bud, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to come back… Y’know, I’ve never actually been in here before. It’s all just the weight room for me,” he says, with a tone that I can’t quite recognize.

“Come on in if you want. I swear it does wonders for my muscles,” I offer, hoping to make this less awkward.

He cautiously walks in, and immediately dunked his head in once he got to the bottom of the pool floor.

He exclaims, “Wow, this is nice! It may even be worth my tax dollars!”

“What taxes do you pay?!” I ask, bewildered because I have not payed any taxes so far.

“Okay, maybe not my taxes, but like you know what I mean.”

I shrug and let it go. We sit in silence together, interrupted by the occasional splashes from Alex.

He breaks the silence, “…I just wanted to say thank you. Thanks for the label. Thanks for reaffirming that I’m not a complete freak of nature, at least not just yet. It really…fixed what I was confused about. It’s nice knowing that I’m not the only one. That there’s so many people out there like me who feel the same way, enough to make a label.”

“No problem. I get that confusion and worry sometimes still too. It’s just something that comes with being different. It’s…odd,” I respond.

We splash around and talk more about our experiences with the gay community until we both decided that it was time to get out.

Once Alex turned around, I realized why this pool looked familiar. His wet dark hair against his toned neck and shoulders remind me of someone.

Oh.

I shook my head and continued following him out of the pool area. We ended up changing and leaving the Spa all together before I split off to go to the farm.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what I saw in the pool. For a split second, I was transported back to a memory, but I’ve never had that memory before. It felt like a familiar dream, but there were too many details for it to not be a dream.

I was stewing on my thoughts as I walked into the farm again. I beelined right for the house, but I was stopped in my tracks by Shane. He looked at me with confusion in his eyes, and a comforting smile.

He greets me and I respond hesitantly. He then takes me up into one of the biggest bear hugs I’ve experienced. It almost rivaled the one from after the Flower Dance.

I tensed up at first, surprised by the suddenness of his actions. I eventually melted into his arms, and we stood like that for a long time.

He broke the silence with, “…You wanna grab a pint?”

“…sure,” I agreed.

We silently held hands as we both sauntered to the saloon together. Periodically, Shane would gently squeeze my hand.

We arrived and he ordered me a pint and he went over to the vending machine and got a Joja Cola. Eugh.

“You seriously are willingly drinking one of those?” I ask with a playful disgust in my voice.

He shrugs, “I’d be laughed out of the bar if I asked for sparkling water so…”

I giggle and shrug to myself before we both fell into an awkward silence. I can’t help it. I don’t want to talk about it. He does. And what sucks the most is that we both know that I should talk about it.

I finally open up, “You wanna talk about it?”

He shrugs nonchalantly and says, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I’m here if you need.”

I dramatically take a deep breath, and I prepare myself mentally for this before Pam slams the door wide open.

She immediately made direct eye contact with me, and yells in my direction, “YOU! YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAININ’ TO DO.”

The entire bar crowd erupted into gossipy whispers as I turned to Shane with an ‘Oh Shit’ type of look. I got up and followed her outside to the benches in front of the saloon.

“Who was that?” she asks.

“…my father,” I respond solemnly.

“Who does he think he is?”

“A king in need of long due taxes.”

She lowers her voice and asks, “Why did he come out here if he knew he was gonna see… you guys?”

“He didn’t. Last he knew, I had a wife.”

She chews on this information for a while, ”…Oh. Also, he refused to pay me. I hate askin’ ya this kid, but that was an expensive trip…”

“I’m sorry, Pam. I really didn’t mean it to be a hassle. Does 1500g cover it?”

She stood up to pocket the money, “Yeah, that should be enough. Thanks kid. The apple fell far from the tree on this one,” She pat me on the shoulder and started heading to the saloon.

I slowly followed her outside back inside and sat back down with Shane. The whole bar had its eyes on me, but I didn’t say anything.

Shane broke the silence by asking me to play pool, so we walked over there and talked away from their prying eyes.

He whisper yells, “What was that about?”

“My father didn’t pay the bus fee, so I had to foot the bill,” I explained.

“Aw, sorry. You still wanna talk about it?”

“Eh, sure, but can we go somewhere more private?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten
Fall 15, Year 1 con’t

We walked out of the saloon and left the town gossip circle. I slipped my hand into his and I let him lead the way. We walked into Cindersap, and we ended up on the dock into the pond in the northeast corner.

He lit the lanterns on either side of the dock, and we sat down together on the edge. I started swinging my legs and took a deep breath.

“…Um, Welcome to the family,” I say halfheartedly.

He chuckled a little bit before asking me, “Why did he want ‘child support’?”

“He viewed me as a burden. Simple as that. Can’t blame him, honestly.”

“But, you were a child? His child?”

“Heh, like that matters to him. I was basically his investment. Like, if he dealt with that shit for 18 years, then he’d be able to harass me for the money after. And I’m guessing he only remembered about me after the article. How stupid of me, honestly. I thought the article was going to be a wholesome celebration of my achievements. But no, it just told desperate people where to find me.”

“It’s not your fault that he tried to take advantage of you. It was supposed to be a celebration of you. Remember your mom saw it? Remember the letter she sent, where she was so proud of you? That’s why you did it. Hell, I’ve been proud of you too. And I didn’t even read it. Don’t let the one bad apple ruin the orchard you made yourself.”

The scene from earlier started replaying in my head. How smug he looked. Like he had just “found me out”. How angry he got.

The slap. How he almost tried jumping Shane. The pure look of entitlement and anger and homophobia across his face.

The slap. The way he tried using his manipulative words to get power over Shane after being shoved to the ground.

The slap. The way Shane stood up for me.

The slap.

The slap.

The slap.

The sl-

I feel Shane’s arm wrap around my lower back and his hand lands on my waist as I spiral further. His silent support is helpful, for sure. But, it’s not enough. My heart still has holes torn through it. And he’s using bandaids to patch it up right now. My eyes are starting to leak and he’s using duct tape to patch the drips.

I choke back most of the tears and turn to look at Shane. He’s looking at me with concern twisted across his face as his brows subconsciously knit themselves into a seemingly dense unibrow.

Helplessly, I feign a weak smile. That gets him to smile at me while he pulled my chin to face his. He looks into my eyes, and I can see on his face that he’s looking for words to say something. The wheels are turning, but there’s no workers home.

I can’t help but laugh to myself. Here we are again at this pond. This stupid, useless pond in the middle of the forest. And every time we’ve sat together at this dumb little stupid pond, I’ve cried. Which granted, it’s only twice. But it’s weird that it’s happened that often.

There’s still so many feelings swirling around in my chest. It felt like I was getting sucked into a whirlpool of my own mind.

But with Shane by my side, maybe I can stay afloat for a little while longer.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven
Fall 16, Year 1

Well, it’s finally the fair. Shane left early today to help Marnie move the animals. He’s worked really hard for this.

I feel bad because yesterday was his one rest day before the fair, and we planned to spend it together. But instead, we fought my dad and then I ran away from him and my feelings. And spent all day in the spa.

I hope I didn’t hurt his feelings too badly. But I’ll make up for it today. I promise. I tended to a few crops, then got my stuff for the grange display. Once I got to town, I realized why this was such a big affair. There’s two game booths, a chance wheel, a strength competition, a clown, a buffet, the grange stands, and an entire ring of the farm animals. It’s a huge fair and it spans all the way to the river.

I tried to beeline my way over to Shane’s area, but I was promptly stopped by Lewis. He told me to set up my display so that he could judge it. Begrudgingly, I did so. I got a few peeks at Pierre’s stand, and the man was not just joking. He meant buisness. However, some of his older produce was wilting and no longer presentable. So, I still have a shot at winning.

Marnie’s was impressive with a giant cheese wheel, but was lackluster in everything else.

Willie’s had a bunch of fish, but they smelled and I’m pretty sure that a few had googly eyes on them.

I finished and headed over to Shane’s section. It was right below Alex’s house. It was a ring of show pens. One for chickens, one for cows, and one for pigs. Shane had to stand next to the cows, as they were the unruliest of all the animals he brought.

“Impressive, you even managed to bring my favorite animal!” I exclaimed sarcastically.

“Huh, and which one would that be?” he says, sensing my sarcasm, but deciding to play along
with it.

“You.”

Trying to play it smooth but failing, he blushes deeply before turning my attention to the actual animals. “These are what I’ve been struggling over for the last week and a half,” he says with a sarcastic inflection.

“Looks like it paid off. No mud to be seen on any of them. You did great, honey,” I say while approaching behind him and slipping my hands around his waist.

Shane puts his hands on mine and turns his head to face mine. We sway a little bit while I pepper his cheek and neck with little kisses.

Our little moment is interrupted harshly by a harsh, mucus-y cough. I pulled away from Shane to find the source.

I meet Lewis’ eyes as he rushes, “I- uhm, I’m sorry for interrupting your little… moment. But the judging is done. You got first place, [PLAYER NAME]. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.”

I thank him and turn back to Shane. We giggle together at the mayor’s awkwardness.

“So, how much did you win? That sounded like a pretty full bag,” Shane asked.

“It looks like… a thousand star tokens. But, better yet, I get to put the winner title on my out of town produce.”

“Dude, a thousand’s so much!! You HAVE to do the betting thing. Remember, put half on green,” Shane exclaims, ignoring my produce stuff.

I give him a quick peck and turn to leave to clean off my grange. He smacks my ass and gives me the biggest shit eating grin when I turn back and face him, a joking frown spread across my face.

—-

After raising my blood pressure betting all of my star tokens, I finally won an extra thousand, putting me at two thousand.

I went back to the farm area to hang out with Shane more. We bantered back and forth for a while until Jas yelped.

A distressed Jas exclaims, “A hen pecked me! Ow!! Uncle Shane, I need help!”

“Oh, did she get you? Lemme see that,” he says, trying to suppress a giggle.

“It’s not funny,” she pouts.

“Wha-, no of course it isn’t. Who said it was?”

“Shane,” she says pointedly.

“Uncle Shane,” he corrects.

Jas rolls her eyes, “Can I please get a bandaid?”

“Sure, stay here with [PLAYER NAME].”

“But… Aunt Marnie said I shouldn’t talk to strangers,” she timidly points out, side eyeing me.

Shane lets out a short chuckle before promising her that I’m not a stranger. I sat down, leaning my back against one of the animal enclosures. Jas also sits down, but at the other animal pen across the way. We sit silently together, she’s plucking grass and I’m zoning out and staring at the saloon.

After a while, I heard her gasp. I turned to look at her, but then my hair was yanked upwards. She starts giggling as my arms flail up to feel a cow trying to chow down on my brown locks. I got it to drop my hair and turn to look at Jas. She’s collapsed on the ground, giggling. Vincent, who’s also been watching, starts laughing at me too.

Shane turns the corner to see the fiasco of the two giggly children and a confused partner.

“What’s happened here?” he chuckles.

Humorously, she starts, “The… eheheh… farmer got eaten! TEHEHEHEH, his face-“

“His FACE! BAHAHAH,” Vincent interrupts.

Shane pats the wet spot on my head and also laughs at me. I feigned a pout while they all giggled together. Eventually Vince and Jas got up to do some carnival games.

Shane helped me up and we wandered up to Gus’ burger pit. As we made it up the stairs, the aroma of sweet barbecue hit us, and Shane squeezed my hand in excitement. Once we got a place, Shane promptly guzzled four burgers while I worked on one.

“Buh… *belch*… I love these things. Wish he’d make them more often. *Buurppp* The sauce… it’s so good,” Shane groans.

“So good that you got it all over your face. Cm’ere,” I say, licking my thumb and reaching out for his face.

He closes his eyes while I scrape off the residue. But this one spot still stays. I lick my thumb again and go back at it. And I can’t lie, the sauce tastes a lot better off of Shane’s face.

The stupid spot won’t get off. Shane opened his eyes and was met with me staring at this spot crossly. I ended up standing up behind him and taking his face between my hand and my torso, pinning his head up while I scrubbed.

Finally, he says, “Babe, as much as I love staring up at your fat man tiddies, I think this is a little overkill.”

“Ugh fine. Y’know, we wouldn’t have this issue if you were more careful,” I say as he stands up.

“Maybe it was my plan all along,” he says smugly.

I feigned surprise, “Oh really?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy?” he asks while dodging my incoming hit.

I laughed and slipped my hand into his. Shane mentioned that we should try some carnival games, so I let him lead me over to the fishing tent.

We passed the grange stands on the way, and Pierre was still pouting by his stand while Caroline cleans it down.

He paid 50g and let me have the first round. The operator gave me a dinky little bamboo rod and wished me luck.

I started fishing, but I was used to using my iridium rod everyday. I pulled my arms back, preparing for a big cast like I usually do. I heard the operator yell NO, but I was already mid-cast. My arms flung forward with the fishing rod, but the hook lagged behind.

There was a piercing pain in my shoulder, and I cried out in pain.

“AUGH!! WHAT WAS THAT?” I screamed.

Shane runs over and yells, “CALM DOWN,” and he put his hand on my shoulder.

Once I stopped squirming, Shane pulled the strap of my overalls down. He pulled my shirt collar down as far as possible, but he still couldn’t get a good look at what happened.

“Take this off. Now,” he demanded.

“What? No, there’s children here. I’m not taking my shirt off,” I responded.

“It’s fine, take it off. I need to see how bad this is. You’re bleeding, by the way.”

I reluctantly do as he says, turning my back to the crowd. I think I can hear Shane’s breath hitch for a moment, but it’s so light that I end up doubting if I even heard something.

Shane’s calloused hands center around the radiating pain in my back. He rubs around it, checking to see if it hooked around and pierced the skin again.

“Hmm… okay. This isn’t so bad. It’s bleeding like you took a chunk of skin out, but it’s not even an inch deep. I’m gonna pull it out now, is that okay?” he asks.

“Just get it out of me please.”

He warns, “Okay, this might hurt a bit.”

With a sharp tug above my shoulder blade, he pulls it out. I can’t help but cry out a little, and Shane rubs my arm in solace. Then he rustles in his pockets for something. He sticks his hand out, and I look to see what it is.

It’s a little Wumbus Band-Aid.

“I got it for Jas, but she didn’t end up needing it. I think you need it a bit more now,” he explains.

Shane sticks it onto my back and turns me around. He cups my face in his hands and looks at me with a caring, stern face.

“You. You need to recognize your own strength,” Shane scolds.

“No promises. Now give me my shirt,” I demand.

He pretends to think, but instead holds my shirt above his head. He gives me the smuggest look and traces the faint outline of my abs.

However, I was able to pluck it out of his hands with minimal effort.

He starts, “You… are getting a tetanus shot tomorrow. But for now, wanna try the slingshot or do you wanna go straight to the fortune teller?”

I say, half-jokingly, “Slingshot game, my treat.”

“Uh…no. I’m paying,” Shane says incredulously.

I mimic him, “Uh…no. I’m paying for this and that’s final.”

“Ha. Ha. But seriously no, you’re not paying.”

“LAST ONE THERE GETS TREATED TO A GAME!” I yell as I worm out of his hands and sprint away.

I can hear Shane muttering profanities after me, but I get there first and pay. Shane finally saunters up and picks out a slingshot.

He attempts flinging a stone, but the slingshot snaps awkwardly and sends the rock only about three feet. He attempts to shoot another one, but the result is still the same.

“Hey, do you want some tips?” I ask.

“I only want yours~; Ahem. Yes I would love some help. ”

“Shane Gwaltney!” I lightly smacked his shoulder, then chose to ignore him. “Okay, so you have to pull it all the way back.”

Shane tried to imitate me, but still couldn’t completely get it.

“Cm’ere,” I say as I corral him into my arms, grabbing his wrists, “You need to pull this far back. Like, almost to your cheek. You feel that?”

He nods against my shoulder and lets out a soft grunt of acknowledgement. I let go and let him do it by himself.

He broke one of the blue targets! Shane actually ended up winning a few star tokens. He combined them with mine and we kept walking down the fair. I chatted with Robin and Leah about their woodworking adventures while Shane awkwardly admired Clint’s metals and Marlon’s weapons.

Once we said our goodbyes, Shane and I walked down to the graveyard. There was an ominous red tent propped up, and The Wizard was standing next to it.

Shane stopped me and whispered, “Hey, I think that’s the guy in the tower near Marnie’s. He’s a little crazy… Sometimes we hear, like, screaming.”

“It’s fine, let’s go,” I assure him. Little does he know, this man spoon fed me the one substance that made me trip so many balls, they quickly became cubes. Then triangles. Then diamonds. Then a 4D thing. And then I got sick.

Actually, maybe it’s not fine.

Ignoring my previous dealings, I led us down to the tent. The Wizard watches us with a blank face, saying nothing. In the tent, I see a hunched over old woman. She doesn't look a day over a hundred. Behind her, I can’t see the back end of the tent. It’s dark, except for a few bright spots.

As we get closer, it looks like the night sky is behind her. Like, not a picture. THE night sky. The stars are twinkling behind her.

As I approach, she stares intensely into her orb, not noticing my presence. I lightly kind of call out to her, which makes her violently snap her head back. She scans me up and down, with a disdainful expression on her face. Her eyes flit behind me, and I turn to find the subject of her gaze. Shane is still hanging back, extremely interested in a random bush.

I turn back and look at her. “Wait, you’re the lady from the TV! You’re Welwick!”

“Ah, yes. My orb is already swirling with visions of your future, young one.”

I see a sign that says that each fortune is worth 500g. I hastily pull out about 500g and slide the fistful towards her.

“Ahh…yes. I see you at the beach. There’s some kind of event taking place. You walk up to Haley and say something funny… Hmmm… It seems like you two are good friends. Interesting, I see you and Shane working together on a farm. You seem very pleased about something. Ah, the crystal ball has gone dim. That’s all I can do for you, young one. Now, just keep in mind that the future isn’t set in stone! Whatever I’ve told you today can still be changed, if you set your heart on it. Farewell.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much. Here, you deserve more,” I exclaim, sliding an extra 100g across to her. She starts protesting, but I’ve already walked away.

I head to collect Shane from his bush of interest. He’s still slightly kicking at it vaguely, ignoring the surroundings around him. I decide to reach for his hand, trying to lightly graze it as I draw nearer to him. Before I can reach him, I watch as he raises his hand, shakes it so that the sleeve is covering his hand, then touches his cheek with it.

I slow my pace and soften my tone, “Hey baby…”

“Oh. *sniff* Hey, sorry. It- it just creeped me out. The situation, I mean. Sorry about that,” Shane mumbles, avoiding my gaze and still staring at the bush.

“No, it’s fine. What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing. I’m good. Wanna cash in your star tokens?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I said I’m fine.” He kicks at the bush, pulling back the branches with his foot to reveal something. “Look at this rotten ass egg. Forgotten. Wonder how long it's been there.”

“Okay, actually, that’s kinda funny. But are you okay?”

“I’m good for now. I promise.” He laced his finger between mine, adding a few reassuring squeezes. “Let’s go cash out the tokens.”

Recognizing that I was literally feeling the same way as him like two days ago, I dropped the subject for now and followed his lead. He’ll talk about it on his own time. I just need to be here for him when he’s ready.

We walk hand in hand to the vendor, lightly chattering the whole way there. Shane’s mood lightened as we kept talking about mundane things. The whole time, he brushed his thumb across the back of my hand slightly.

As I approached the vendor, I slipped out of Shane’s hand and started talking to the lady. She showed me her stock, and it had the juiciest looking Stardrop fruit ever. It was locked in a display case, with a steep 2,000 token price tag. I had already won 2,000 tokens between the massive win and the gambling, so I bought it as fast as I could.

The leftover amount of tokens amounted to about 300 tokens. I looked back at Shane, preparing to ask him to choose something he liked. But, he wasn’t paying attention again. The lady then offered to show me the lesser priced items, so I turned back around to look at what she just pulled out.

It was just one item, but it was a plate of Pepper Poppers. She said she worked with Gus to get these, and they were only 250 tokens. Immediately, I bought them, and she handed the still-warm takeout box to me. I thanked her and turned back to find Shane.

As I walked up to him, he snapped out of his world and lit up. I tucked the box behind me, hiding it from his sight. I did show him the Stardrop, and he congratulated me, saying that it was really hard to ever get one of those.

Most people had already left the fair by this point. The sun was setting, casting a somber orange glow over the landscape. It was a really fun fair, especially for such a small town. Tourists had even braved the long drive from Zuzu to join in. The quaint old-timeliness of the fair and the town as a whole really gave it an extra appeal.

Shane said that he had to help take down the animal pens, so we split ways. Still guarding the box from his line of sight, I left for the farm. At this point, all of my animals were heading into their respective residences. All my machines had finished up their work. I only had to collect what was produced, and then I could set my plan up.

— —

After thoroughly packing the wooden bin, I set off to the real work. Shane had to be coming back anytime soon, so I had to work quickly. I layed a few logs in the Lincoln log formation and set stones around it, making a haphazard fire pit. I lit it, which offered me more light to work with for the rest of the plan.

I rushed inside, got a cast iron pan and my old twin sized blanket. I laid the blanket out around the fire, making sure not to get it too close. I set up a little cooking station with the pan, then gently transferred the pepper poppers into it.

I laid down on the blanket, took off my dirty boots and fussed around with how flat I could get it before giving up and laying back down. I decided to wait here for Shane, gently attending to the pepper poppers in the meantime.

As the time passed 12am, I completely took the peppers off the fire and just laid down on the blanket. He should be coming anytime soon. It had been such a good day, there shouldn’t be any reason for him to avoid me. Should I walk down to Marnie’s and help out? Should I save this for tomorrow? Is he upset that I left him behind at the graveyard?

Letting my thoughts consume me, I laid on my back, looking at the stars. My eyes connected the dots, making my own constellations. Soon, my thoughts calmed as finding new shapes took over most of my thinking capacity. He’s probably still working. He’s not mad at me, if he was I’d know. Maybe he’s sleeping over there because it’s so late. He’ll tell me in the morning. We can talk through this. Maybe he’s working through whatever happened at the cemetery. He’ll need space for that.

I’m fine. He’s fine. We’re going to be fine. As long as I’ve got this farm and him, we’ll be good. I love him. He loves me. We’re happy. He’s extremely sweet under his previous gruff demeanor. I love him. I’m loved. He’s loved. He loves me.

And with that, I drifted calmly off to sleep, comforted by the heat radiating off the fire and the twinkle of the stars above.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve
Fall 17, Year 1

Still asleep on the blanket, I kind of felt something settle next to me. I was mostly asleep, so my tired assumption was that it was probably a barn animal that wandered out of its barn to sleep in the warmth of the fire. Missing my usual cuddle session with my cat; I reached up, patted the animal's hair a bit, then wrapped my arms around it and fell right back into a deep sleep.

___

Softly, Shane’s morning voice coos, “Hey, hey, no, calm down. It’s time to wake up. Calm down, it’s just me, but it’s time to wake up now.”

A scratchy, “Huh? Let go of me, Mphf, stoppp,” tumbles out of my throat.

The figure I’ve been holding onto all night wrests itself from my grasp and stands up.

Now a little deeper, his voice continues, “It’s just me, wake up. C’mon. Let’s get up. Take my hand. You got this. You’re doing great… No, actually try. You’ve got chores to do, it’s time to get up.”

I continue groaning, but he manages to pull me up onto my feet. He reached up and rubbed the sleep crust out of my eyes before giving me the tiniest peck on my nose. His eyebags rival Squidwards from that one episode. His hair is tousled, giving that hot nonchalant bed-head look. He gives me his best attempt at a tired smile before dropping my hands. He bends over to pick up the blanket, revealing an extremely dusty patch on his side.

“Oh, uh, sorry, but I scarfed down the pepper poppers too. They were just looking at me funny and they needed to be consumed quickly,” Shane joked.

A warm blush tinged my cheeks, “Haw haw. I tried to keep them warm, but you know.”

“They were perfect. Thanks babe, love you.”

“Love you too,” I returned with a grovely voice.

Shane eyes me up and down. “Someone’s got a frog in his throat, huh?”

“...No,” I lied blatantly.

Shane rolls his eyes and continues picking up. He sends me inside to drink water despite my insistence to help out. As I headed into my house, I opened the door and immediately kicked something on the ground. It was a tiny box, wrapped tightly in a blue Joja paper bag. On top of it was a handmade card.

It read:

Hey Dude,
Sorry about the fair. You’ve been an awesome supporter throughout everything. Sometimes the stress gets to me, y’know? I’m so lucky to have found someone like you. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to just leave the fair on time. And I know that I’m wasting time writing this, but I wouldn’t be able to get this out otherwise. I know we’ve been moving relatively quickly, but I can’t help but be grateful you moved here when you did. I’m so glad we met. I don’t think I’d be here if you hadn’t been by my side, truth be told. I’ve been doing the steps my therapist told me to do. I’ve been taking note of every time I’ve felt happy. When she asks me to recount them, I realize that you’re usually somewhere in that moment. She made me keep a gratitude journal. Yet the only things I’m able to put in there are because it reminds me of a moment with you. I’ve been secretly practicing the Flower Dance so next year we might be able to take the Flower King and Queen crowns from Alex and Haley. I’m pretty sure Mayor Lewis would explode if we turned the crowns into Flower King and Other Flower King crowns though. I’ve been rambling on, and I’m still wasting time at Marnie's this late at night, but there’s so much I want to tell you. I might not be the best boyfriend ever, but I have the best boyfriend ever, so it balances out, right? Anyway, I love you a lot.

From Ya Boi,
Shane <3

After finishing the letter, I turned the box over and unwrapped it. Inside were two tickets. They’re for the ZuZu Tunnlers. Apparently, Shane’s team is playing in ZuZu City tomorrow. I don’t really like gridball all that much, but I really want to spend time with him. I’ve missed him so much.

With a warmed heart, I set the tickets and note on the counter before grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water. I took a long swig. The water rushed down my throat, irritating it more. It didn’t do anything to soothe my sore throat or restore my voice. I decided to refill my glass and try water again.

Mid-chug, I could hear the cabin door open behind me. Shane’s boots made a recognizable clunk against the floorboards. His footsteps grew closer before I felt his hands slip around my waist. His chest was pressed against me as he went on his tip toes, lifting my shirt along with him. I felt his 5 o’clock shadow press into the crook of my neck.

As I finished my second glass, I relaxed back into Shane, allowing for him to relax back to his normal height. A warm sensation flowed from my chest into each of my limbs with each passing second we stood in this familiar embrace. I relaxed my neck, letting our heads relax against each other too.

Finally, I broke the silence, “Your note was really sweet. Thank you.”

“No problem. I was gonna tell you about the tickets earlier, but I forgot,” Shane responds.

“I can’t wait. It’ll be my first professional Gridball game.”

He smiles against my cheek, “Really? Now I’m really glad I got these. I can’t wait to watch them with you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” he says, plunging us into a comfortable silence.

___

After a while, he pulls away from me. Cold settles back into my limbs the more we’re apart.

Shane asks me, “Your voice didn’t sound better, does your throat still hurt?”

“Uh…yeah. I’ll be fine though, it’s just a little cold.”

Shane rolls his eyes and reminds me to stay safe. With that, I go back outside to start my usual farm work. I start with the chicken coop, collecting eggs and starting to process them, refill the troughs, and clean the floor.

As I’m raking the chicken turds off the floor, my muscles ache. Like, a lot. I’m probably just sore from sleeping outside last night. I feel stupid now because it was not worth it. I should’ve just packed up for the night. But here we are.

___

Moving on to the barns, I have to chase down each cow and milk them. Usually it’s not too bad, but I forgot my little milking stool. So now I have to kneel down to milk each cow. If they start moving I need to move FAST because I don’t want to be stepped on or kicked. Or worse, tail-whipped. Tail whips hurt so badly too.

Shane came outside sometime in the middle of my milking session, and he offered to help feed the cows. He went inside the barn as I was wrapping up the last few cows. I always save my first cow, Bessie for last. I always give her a little extra scratches because she was my first calf.

I went over to Bessie, but already I could tell something was spooking her. Usually it’s just some grass, so I gave her a reassuring pat before kneeling down to reach her udders. Instantly, she startles, so I try to bolt upwards before she can do anything to me.

On my way up, I instantly got lightheaded. My knees locked for a second before my vision went dark. I felt myself fall back just as fast as I stood up.

___

“Hey, hey. You’re good. Come here,” Shane mutters as my vision slowly returns. “How long have you been like this? … Ah, like you’d know. Are you okay? Here, lemme see that.”

Shane’s fingers reach around my head, scanning my scalp. “Okay, no blood, that’s a good sign. How’s your head? Can you hear me? What happened?”

A pathetic groan leaks from my lips, but other than that, I can’t really make out any words. Not like I want to anyways.

“Here, follow my finger,” Shane says, moving his finger across my face. “Okay, you’re probably not concussed. Do you think you are? Sorry, I’m asking a lot. Here, lemme get you-” Shane grunts while crouching down to grab both of my hands. He positions his feet on top of mine, anchoring me to the ground.

He tugs HARD on my arms. It forces my torso up, which he catches with moderate struggle. With a firm grip, he hoists my torso over his shoulder, balancing me precariously. It hurts, but what am I supposed to do? Stay there?

He carries me into the cabin, and gently lays me down on the bed. It’s an awkward maneuver, but he pulls it off. At this point, my limbs feel like lead. I can barely move without pins and needles shooting through me.

Worried etched deep in Shane’s wrinkles, he stands above me and wipes my clammy hair from my forehead. His usually piercing green eyes are now rendered down to light marbles. His calloused hand reaches to hold mine before I unwillingly wince away from him. This makes him furrow his thick brows even more.

Even now, he’s deeply handsome. The gruff exterior he had so proudly worn just a few weeks ago has completely dropped. Someone new shined through now. The real Shane stood in front of me.

Real Shane is deeply anxious. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He cares more than he can express. Real Shane is the man I knew I’d find. Real Shane was who I’ve been fighting for this whole time. And I can’t even appreciate it because I stood up too fast.

This is stupid. I feel so stupid. I got myself sick and passed out as soon as Shane finally got rid of all his stress. I just planted him right back where he was. This is stupid. He should be mad at me for the dumb moves I’ve been making. Yet here he is. Not angry.

While my mind spirals, Shane continues scanning me up and down with worry pouring off of him. Eventually, he quietly leaves the room, heading towards the kitchen. Finally alone, I curl up into a ball, trying to fight through the heavy hurting pain. I let myself drift off to sleep, hoping this too will pass.

___

When I wake up, I lock eyes with the mustached doctor. He was just about to shake me awake, but instead he readjusts his tie and starts his usual doctor jargon. I zoned out and let the man speak until he was done. He did a pretty thorough examination, checking my scalp and back for injuries, and checking my responses for signs of a concussion.

Eventually he stood up and declared to Shane, “Yeah, he’s fine. Let him rest for a while. He’s also probably got some cold developing. All he needs is some rest and relaxation for a few days, that was a pretty nasty fall.”

Shane handed the man a fistful of G and exchanged some gratitudes before the doctor left. Shane entered the bedroom and rounded the corner to sit by my side while I laid on my back. I turned my head to look at him through weary eyes, just to realize he was tearing up now too. He sat criss cross apple sauce on his side of the bed, looking down at the tickets he had just given me.

After looking at him for a while, I finally croaked out, “...Hey. Are you okay?”

Shane’s face immediately changed while sniffling quickly. “Oh, heh, yeah. I’m fine. It’s…nothing.”

“Shane…” I scold.

His voice wavering, “I’m serious. Don’t worry about me. It’s nothing. You need to sleep, I’m serious.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I said I’m fine! Stop asking,” Shane snaps, finally getting his voice in check.

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

Shane takes a deep breath, “No, no, I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m still kinda shaken up. Doesn’t mean I can snap at you though.”

“Hey, no, it’s fine. What’s wrong?”

His eyes laser focus on the bed before starting, “I, uhm. Well, when I came out of the barn and didn’t see you, my heart dropped. But then when I saw you there passed out… I kinda freaked out. And I know right now, that logically, you’re not hurt. But I’m still reacting as if you’d actually had like… Well, you know.”

I could feel my heart shatter, “Oh, Shane…”

Shane looks to the other side of the room, completely hiding his face before lifting a sleeved arm to his face. “It’s stupid. Sorry. It’s just me being stupid,” he added with a sniffle.

Seeing him like this broke my heart. “No, it’s not stupid.”

Instead of responding, he returned to his tickets in hand.

“Heh, they feel so dumb now. I was so excited for them. But that feeling’s gone now.”

“We can still go, I’ll be fine. It’s just sitting in a different area.”

He dismisses me, “No, I can’t do that to you, it’s not the same.”

“You’re not the one doing it to me though.”

“Dude, I can’t let you go like this.”

“Good thing I’m a grown man that can do whatever he damn pleases,” I said with conviction while propelling myself over his legs, reaching for the tickets.

Taken aback, he almost let go of the tickets before snapping his arm away from me. My arm landed across his lap, while I still tried to reach for the tickets. He chuckled a bit to himself before running his free hand through my hair.

“Don’t you think I’ve had my head groped enough today?” I asked rhetorically.

Curtly, he responds, “Nope. Relax, please.”

“But I want the ticket,” I pout.

“Relax,” he says with a serious demeanor.

“...Fine.” I let my arm drape across him, brushing the bottom of his upper thigh. My hand roamed around until I found a cargo pocket to fidget with while I shifted my torso a bit higher onto his other leg.

We stayed like that for a solid fifteen minutes before I rolled back onto my back. Shane got up from the bed and changed into his pajamas. He took off both his shirts, revealing his torso. He’s not muscular. But with each twist and turn, another muscle flexes its presence. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier man. Unfortunately he covered himself up with an old graphic tee.

A cough works its way up my throat, startling Shane in the middle of taking off his pants. He looks up at me and blushes before returning to changing. His legs are the same as his upper body. His legs are round until he shifts his weight back and forth, forming lines of where his muscles meet each other. His boxers cover a modest square of him, hugging his hips well.

I don’t even mean it in a ‘Oh my boyfriend is SO sexy’ way but I mean it in a ‘Woah, he hides all this under a jersey everyday and cargo shorts, I need to soak up the sight’ way. Again, he slides on some ratty old basketball shorts, hiding his handsome frame once again.

He crawls into bed, and I turn to cuddle him. We fall asleep in this embrace, and once again all feels right in the world.

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen
Fall 18, Year 1

Light poured through the windows, forcing me slowly awake. As I woke up, I could feel that my arm was asleep. Shane had ended up on top of my arm, and now I have to try and squeeze my fist without waking him up.

When Shane chuckled at my attempts, I realized he had been awake this whole time, but didn't realize my hand had gone to sleep. He shifted off of my hand, but pulled me in closer for an embrace. After a while, he craned his neck up, and kissed my forehead.

“Oh, baby…” he cooed as he pulled back from my head.

“What?”

A caring tone whispers into his voice, “You’re burning up. Oh, dude you’re like sick sick now.”

“Nuh uh, I’m just hot from sleeping,” I responded indignantly.

“No, I’m one hundred percent sure you have a fever.”

Hoping to move this conversation into a lighter tone, I joke back, “If I’m sick, shouldn’t you get away from me? Y’know, germs and all that?”

Recognizing my sass, Shane immediately spits back, “Unlike someone here, I pride myself on a strong immune system. Y’know, like how I didn’t get sick from sleeping outside ONCE!”

“Okay, calm down or I’m gonna fart on you. I’m locked and loaded right now, don’t play with me,” I warn.

“Let your demons loose, babe, it’s a no judgement zone,” he says, while ripping a FAT ONE.

I recoiled away from him, “EWWWWWWWUUUUUHHHH, you’re so nasty bro. You’re so lucky I love you.”

“What?” he asks, feigning incompetence, “You started it, not my fault.”

“You’re so gross, what was that?!”

“The sounds of a free man, that’s what.”

And with that remark, my high ground shattered beneath me as we both fell into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. When we finished, Shane sat up and faced me with resolve in his eyes. He put the back of his hand on my forehead again despite my protests. He tutted with disappointment before getting up and speeding out to the kitchen.

I got up to follow him, but all my muscles ached as I rose. I pushed through it, ending up in the doorway before Shane spun violently around in the kitchen. He then shooed me away with the spatula like grandma shooing a stray dog. I couldn’t even be mad, it was funny.

With that, I turned back around and sat on my side of the bed. But then I started getting really cold, so I quickly slipped back under the covers. And with that, I had just put myself in the direct line of fire of the absolute dutch oven Shane had left earlier.

I loudly expressed my disgust again while Shane lost his shit again in the kitchen. His laughter rang through the cabin, filling every open square inch, and them some. It’s a laugh full of warmth, something I want to record just to hear it again and again. It feels like a blanket, with the feeling of home and security handwoven into it.

While he’s busy doing whatever in the kitchen, I nodded off, falling into a light sleep.

___

Once again, I wake up to Shane over me. This time, he has a plate full of food, and in the other hand he’s precariously gripping a mug. He’s using his knee to jiggle the mattress underneath me.

“Hey, sit up. This is for you,” he says as I start repositioning myself groggily. He adds reassuringly, “Yeah, good job.”

Shane handed me the plate of food delicately. It was a grilled cheese sandwich, and the mug was half full with tomato soup.

“I know it’s not breakfast food per se,” Shane starts sheepishly, “buttttt I don’t care. If it hurts your throat too much to eat, just drink the soup and I’ll make more soup in the meantime.”

“No, this is perfect. Thanks babe.”

Shane dipped back out into the kitchen as I started to chow down. As I was in gooey cheese heaven, he came back in with his own food and plopped back down on his side of the bed. We sat there for a while, both eating in relative silence.

But, the silence wasn’t awkward. Neither of us felt the need to say anything to fill the air. There wasn’t any tension. And trust me, I always end up filling up dead air with utter nonsense.

From the corner of my eye, I can see him eating. Just him. His legs are still, the plate is resting precariously on his thigh. He let his core relax, revealing just a little more pudge than he used to let on in the saloon. I don’t know what it is about this Shane. But he just looks more… real.

He looks like an actual human. Before, everything about him seemed almost fake. The facade he wore wasn’t just socially. Along with the false gruff exterior, he also had a false look to him. The scowl he wore was simply just a mask. His tensed shoulders had spent years waiting to relax.

I can’t help but feel the same love for him that I’ve felt recently. It burns in my chest, just begging to be acted upon. I’m his boyfriend. Through and through. We’ve been through…a lot. From just getting over the stupid infatuation phase, to slowly coming out to people, to the Luau, to the whole Emily situation, my father’s interruption, the Stardew Fair, and now this. He’s been by my side through it.

I don’t usually believe in soulmates. But if I did, I’d be pretty sure I found the one in Shane.

After we had finished eating, I took our plates back to the kitchen and loaded them in the dishwasher. My head was pounding, my throat was still sore, and now my nose is starting to block up. I stumbled my way back to bed and tumbled headfirst back into my spot. I fell back to sleep almost immediately.

___

Again, I woke back up to Shane checking my forehead with a soft-planted peck. When he pulled back, I could see his hair stuck to his face, his brows knotted themselves back up again, and his hands were shaking.

“Woah, woah. What’s wrong? Are you okay?!?”

“Calm down, it’s nothing. I did all the farm work. Holy shit, you’re so strong. Do you know how many times I had to take a break and eat? I think I downed like, 5000 calories today. And I burned like 18,000,000 calories. Look, my arms still think they’re working,” he says as he sticks his hands out.

“Wait, you did the entire farm routine?! Like, watering, tending to animals, picking the orchards, and setting machines?”

“I’m pretty sure I got all of it. I spent the morning repairing a few of the fences. They should be as good as new.”

“I’m so sorry, I slept the day away. I could’ve at least helped out. Ugh, thank you so much.”

“Shut up, you’re fine. I’m just glad you actually got some rest. How’re you feeling?”

“Ehhh,” I started before I realized it’s almost time for us to go to the Tunnelers game. “I’m fine. You wanna start heading for the bus right now?” I finished, trying to redirect Shane’s attention away from me and back onto the game.

“That doesn’t sound fine,” he says, eyeing me suspiciously.

“I swear, I’m fine. I gotta brush my teeth and throw on some clothes and we can go.” I shoved off my blankets and started speeding off to the bathroom.

“We’re not going,” Shane says bluntly.

I stopped in my tracks. “What? But, this game… You were really excited for it. What happened?”

His tone shifts, “I was thinking while doing the work today. We’re just gonna watch it from here.”

“No, it’s fine, I swear. We can still go.”

“I don’t want to go anymore, and you can’t even go. I sold our tickets to Alex and Haley. But you know what we can do?”

Warily, I asked, “What? You just sold them??”

His eyes roll up to the ceiling as he asks, “We still have, like, two hours before the game starts. Are you okay enough to cook?”

“I think so…” I answer warily, still in shock from the fact that he actually sold the tickets.

“Do you wanna teach me how to make pepper poppers? I bought the ingredients from Pierre’s today too, sorry.”

“Oh, uhm, sure! You look like you need to shower first though,” I said, eyeing the still sweaty Shane in front of me.

He chuckles a bit before peeling off to the bathroom. This gave me enough time to pull out all the ingredients, the bowls needed, and the beaten up recipe card Shane had given to me almost half a year ago. He definitely knew how to cook these. He sent me the recipe. Hell, we’ve MADE these together before. But I’m not gonna turn down an opportunity to spend time with him. Especially after he canceled one of the biggest events of the year just because I have a stupid head cold.

I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed in myself. He’s probably been waiting years for this. I can still remember the pure joy in his voice from when he finally gave them to me. It feels so stupid to cancel it. He even sold them before checking on me because he knew I’d lie for him.

After a while of chewing on my thoughts, I heard the bathroom door open. Out emerged a fresh new Shane. His emerald green eyes shone in the light, glistening with some kind of happy emotion.

He dipped into the bedroom, presumably to toss his dirty in the place I’ve started affectionately referring to as the ‘Shane’s Corner Of No Return’. Instead, he emerges, gripping a green cloth and walks towards me.

“Here, put this on. I got it for you.”

“Huh? Oh, thanks! Is this a jersey like yours?”

“Yeah. There were no men’s sizes though. So I got you the women’s version that I thought was big enough. It’s a large,” Shane shrugs.

“Aw thanks! I can’t wait to match with the handsomest guy I know.”

“Heh, have I ever met him? A hot Tunnelers fan is hard to come by. Other than Alex, of course.”

“You’re a dork ass nerd.”

Shane just chuckles at that while I take off my existing shirt. I unfurled the wadded up shirt, and looked at it. On top of this jersey having shorter sleeves than the male version, there was one distinct difference. The collar was gone, and was instead replaced by a very low v neck. The sides were taken in, removing the usual baggy factor of jerseys.

I decided to turn away from Shane as I slipped the shirt on. It clings to my frame, outlining everything. My pecs really are poppin tho, I get the appeal now. My lack of boobs means that the v neck hits at the top of my sternum. Some of my chest hair peeks out the top, and I can’t even be mad about it. It’s hot. The bottom hem of the shirt hits just above my belly button. No matter how much I tug on it, it won’t go down.

Shane’s breath audibly hitches once he realizes how tight and cropped this shirt is. I took that as my sign to turn around and reveal the front to him. His eyes immediately dropped to my chest.

“Bro, my eyes are up here. You’re just like the other men, it’s disgusting,” I joke while pressing my hands to my chest.

Shane saunters over to me, “I can’t help that I wanna see my boyfriend. Is that too much to ask?” He gently lowers my hands and traces where the neckline hits. I can see his eyes wandering, and I can see the wheels turning behind those eyes.

“Doesn’t this make my abs look good?” I said while I flexed what little abs I had.

Shane scoffs at that. “It makes all of you look good. Holy shit, you look so perfect,” He says while running a hand up and down my torso. Finally, he slips his hands down my hips and across my lower back as he kisses me.

We stood in that embrace for a while, a mix of light kisses and Shane muttering about how ‘pretty’ I am. He started nipping at my neck as he ran his hands up and down my back, feeling every square inch. Giggles racked my body as he did this, a mix between being ticklish and pure bliss of just being this close to Shane.

Eventually, Shane peeled himself off of me, eyes still locked on my torso. I couldn’t help but continue giggling at this situation.

“What’s so funny, can’t a guy ogle his hot boyfriend in peace?” Shane joked at me, making me laugh even louder.

My tone light, I joke, “I have a suspicion that you bought this for a different reason.”

“Imma be so deadass, it was the only one. But I’m not complaining,” Shane feigns ignorance.

I looked down at my shoes, mustering the cutest stance I could, “You should put it on, or something.”

“Heh, no. It’s yours, not mine.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun,” I jokingly prodded.

Quickly changing the subject, he says, “Don’t we have some Pepper Poppers to make anyways? No time for a fashion show, silly.”

“Ughhhhh, I guess we should start on them. But you’re gonna wear this someday or another.”

“Yeah, when hell freezes over. Hand me the peppers.”

We got to work making the poppers, Shane cutting and cleaning out the peppers and me making the cheese filling. The kitchen fell silent, except for the monotonous mixing and chopping noises. It wasn’t awkward though.

____

After we had finally placed the peppers in the oven, Shane sauntered over to the living room. He switched on the TV, flipping through channels until he found the Gridball one. He plopped himself down on the couch, and motioned for me to join him.

I did so, sitting myself directly next to him, leaning on his shoulder with my legs kicked lazily behind me on the couch. Shane wrapped his arm around my shoulder, so I had to reposition my head onto his chest.

I watched the screen as the camera darted back and forth down the field, showing off each masterful play by the teams. So far, no one had scored any points, the defense and offense of each team was very good. I could feel when the Tunnellers were in a tight spot on the field because Shane would hold his breath, like making any noise miles away from the actual game would upset the play.

My eyes grew heavy again, the urge to sleep tugged on my eyelids. I didn’t want to fall asleep during this, so I instead decided to try and figure out the rules of the game based on observation alone. It’s almost like reverse engineering the game, and I like trying to figure out behavior patterns.

Eventually, the timer on the oven beeped, sending Shane and I up off the couch and darting towards the kitchen. He was closest to the oven, so I grabbed a few stray oven mitts and tossed them gently at Shane. He caught them masterfully, and turned his attention to grabbing the fresh Pepper Poppers.

They almost glistened with deliciousness coming out of the oven, showing off the handiwork we had both poured into this. Shane already had a paper plate in hand, trying to scoop up the scorching hot peppers like a shovel. He got four halves onto his plate and handed it to me. I thanked him and watched as he did the same for his own plate.

We both booked it back to the couch, this time sitting on opposite ends as we waited impatiently to scarf these down. Shane kept touching the peppers, trying to gauge the heat, but instead getting burnt each time. He marked each attempt with a various, “Ouch!” or “Owie!”.

I blew on mine, trying to speed the cooling process up. It worked, and eventually we both were able to eat the Poppers in peace. Each bite Shane took, he remarked with a, “Mmmmmm,” or, “This is so good…” The capsaicin in the peppers dislodged any left over muc

Honestly, this is better than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t think tonight would be this good, given that we’re still at home. But honestly? Being able to curl up on Shane in a quiet environment with fresh homemade, homegrown Pepper Poppers was way better than sitting in a loud, cold, metal stadium with an arm rest separating us.

When we were both done, I took his paper plate, set it on top of mine and walked to the kitchen to throw it out. I heard Shane repositioning himself on the couch, and smiled with the thought of the possibility of cuddling back up with him.

I ducked down, opening the cabinet to reach the trashcan. With one smooth motion, I trashed the plates and stood back up to face the living room again. I saw Shane sitting weirdly stiffly on the edge of the couch, looking like he was about to shoot up off the couch at any given moment,

Mentally questioning it, I decided not to comment on his weird posture as I sauntered back, this time looping behind the couch to drag a finger across his shoulders as I passed behind him. Shane tensed up under my touch, something that doesn’t happen normally.

I crossed his front, deciding to sit a medium distance away from him on his left side. His left hand is fidgeting weirdly with his shorts and his right hand is hidden behind his thigh. Shane’s right leg is bouncing up and down rapidly, creating a faint tapping noise across the floor boards.

“...What’s wrong?” I ask tentatively.

“Uh, nothing. Nothing’s wrong. I’m just watching the game.”

Deciding to brush it off, I respond with a wary, “Okay…”

He doesn’t respond to this with words, instead opting to bounce his leg even harder. Shane eventually relaxes back into the couch, and I opt to cuddle right up next to him like before. I can hear his heart racing, a much faster beat than before. Shane’s arm now drapes across my shoulders, but his fingers are now rubbing light circles into my chest.

I go back to deducing the rules of this game, hoping Shane will calm down if I’m not focusing on him. Eventually, I can hear his heart slow, and his hands follow suit; opting to just rest on my chest now. I took this as an opportunity to place my left hand across his waist. His stomach raises and lowers my arm with each breath he takes, moving me in rhythm with him.

It’s a really sweet scene, and I’ve missed this. I know I keep reflecting back on before the fair, but the time now really means so much to me right now. It’s overwhelming at some points, especially when we hit patches like the fair. A part of me has always been ready to run away from commitment, and usually I’d do so with my work. That’s the reason my wife left me.

A line Shane told me a while ago has stuck with me. I’m pretty sure I’ve thought about it every day since. It’s something I use to ground myself whenever I spiral. It keeps me from automatically running away.

He said, “Baby, you’re a star in my valley.”

And I responded, “Baby, that’s what I dew.”

Shane has been able to stop me from running away from my problems. Just by existing, I don’t have as strong of an urge to leave as I did before. I love him. Truly. And I know he loves me. As long as we’re together, I think I can make it in this small farm and small valley.
_____

As soon as I know it, halftime rolls by. Ads after ads are blaring at us, trying to convince us that we actually DO need this item. It only has one purpose, and can’t be reused; but we still need it. I rolled my eyes at this blatant display of consumerism and turned my attention back to Shane.

We’re still in the same position, but now he’s got a palmful of my tits. In return, I slid my arm down his waist and rested across his hips. I started fidgeting with one of his belt loops, sliding it under my nails.

Eventually, Shane started to move. He shifted his hips up, sliding back to the front of the couch. I lazily sat up, giving him enough space to actually get off the couch. When he did, I laid back down, positioning myself like a dramatic mermaid; hand over my forehead with a slight arch to my back.

I could hear Shane chuckle at my stupid pose, so I removed my hand from my face and scanned the room to try and find him.

Instead of finding his face above me, I made eye contact with him head on. My heart flew up to my mouth as I realized his eyes were misty, his brows knotted together in the same anxious look I’ve seen from him before, and a wobbly smile stretched across his face with a blush tinging every square inch of his cheeks.

I cocked my head in confusion as I sat up, finding that instead of standing like he was before, Shane had gotten on one knee. I flew off the couch, now towering above him. Shane choked back a gulp before taking a shaky breath.

In his hand hung a single tiny Mermaid’s Pendant.

“I know it’s not the ideal situation… And I didn’t plan this. I don’t know what I want to say. But I know how you make me feel. I know how much you mean to me. I know I owe you my life, honestly. I’ll never be able to pay back what you’ve done for me. But maybe this is a step in the right direction. It feels like it is. I love you, a lot. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t think I’ll ever find someone like you again. So, will you marry me? Please?”

My mouth fills itself with different dialogue trees. All of them positive, all of them fighting to say what they want to say. Yet none of them are good enough. I can’t form any sentences that mean anything. I’m still standing above Shane, a man who just bared his heart out to me. And all I’ve been able to do is utter incoherent nonsense.

All I need is one word. Three letters. One syllable. With that one word, I could change the trajectory of my life for good. I could start anew. I could have the man I love. So why can’t I just SAY it? There’s nothing stopping me. I’ve said this word multiple times. I’ve said it 29 times in this story alone.

The words clog in my throat. I can’t say anything. I hear all my thoughts. I hear my thoughts go darker as Shane’s face twists from an eager nervous to a worried nervous. His eyes darken as each second passes without a response from me. More sentences leave my throat just to get hidden behind my teeth. I can’t say anything. My mouth is moving, my eyes are tracking him. But I just can’t use my vocal cords.

After the longest minute of my life, Shane stood up. He pocketed the iridescent shell. He swallowed hard one more time before looking at me again. The face that had just regarded me with all the softness in the world had hardened up. His eyes seemingly shrunk in his skull. The blush turned to pallor in his cheeks.

“I, uh, I’m sorry. This wasn't the right timing. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry. I’ll just leave. I don’t know. I shouldn’t have done this. You can turn off the game if you want. ”

My heart shatters. Glass shards stab my lungs. Everything turns to lead as I realize what my inability has done to Shane. I’ve hurt him because I couldn’t just fucking say it. I’m so pissed. At myself. My mouth fills with even more sentences, more to get taught on. I need to vomit but nothing can pass my lips. No words, no bile, nothing.

Shane looks at me uncomfortably. His face is cold, not giving any more emotion. He wore the same face I was met with when I first saw him. I just watched a man’s heart break within five minutes. I watched HIS heart break.

My mind raced with ways to fix this. I waved my hands frantically in front of Shane, hoping to mimic my true intentions. Instead, he just glared at me and started towards the door. I got even more crazed, trying to signal anything other than my implied rejection.

In a stroke of genius, while Shane passed me by, I opened one of my chests. I had to dig through its contents, shuffling through almost a year’s worth of junk I’ve forgotten.

“Forget it. Nothing you could give me will make this up,” Shane pipes up as he grabs the door handle. “I’ll see you around.” Shane opens the door and swiftly leaves, shutting me in the cabin alone while digging through my chest.

Something jammed itself into my finger, and I knew it was what I was looking for. I grabbed it, tearing it out from under piles of junk. Taking a slight glance at it, it still shone a deep royal blue. My struggle to retrieve it had snapped the string, but as long as the body was intact, the message was the same.

I raced out the door, slamming it shut behind me. Shane cringed at the sound, but still didn’t turn back. Finally, my stomach heaved out the first word I’ve been able to say.

“SHANE,” I yelled, projecting as far as I could.

He kept walking, speeding up a bit.

More words spilled out of my mouth, freed from the clot I harboured earlier, “Shane, please! I love you! Come back! I can explain! Shane!”

Shane kept walking. I started sprinting toward him, ignoring the crops I’m probably trampling in the dark. Tears filled my eyes with each step I took. Bounding across feet of land, catching up to Shane, I’m still hollering to him. Shane starts running now too, trying to get away from me. He’s not listening, just running.

We pass my coop, barn, and gardens. Everything I’ve built with him by my side passes us as I continue to try and keep up with him. Shane’s now crossing the area I haven’t been able to maintain, it’s overflowing with trees and stones alike.

He ducks between trees, not keeping his path straight. I try following while still running towards him, my need to catch up overrides my usual sense of safety. The mucus from my sickness clogs my throat physically, sending my lungs into over drive to try and compensate.

Before I know it, I’m on the ground. My ankle radiates with pain as I realize where I am now. My vision blurs with a familiar white-hot pain. This time, it radiates up my leg and down my feet. I cry out in pain, breaking the still of the night with a wail of pain. I wrapped my hands across my ankle, trying to soothe the throbbing.

A hand reaches out for my hands, prying them away from my leg. With that, the thing I’ve been holding falls to the ground. Shane ignores it to instead check the damages I’ve done. Tutting, Shane gently lowers my leg after he’s done assessing the damage. He looked at me, slight care painted delicately over his face.

I reached for the ground, trying to scan for the item I dropped. It’s the mermaid’s pendant that I purchased in Chapter Seven.

“Shane, here. I love you, I don’t know why I couldn't say anything. I love you. I want to marry you too. I want to be your husband. Forever and ever, You’ve done so much for me too. I’m sorry. I love you so much. I know I hurt you, but I don’t ever want to see you leave again. Please.”

“What? You’ve…had this? You WANT to get married? Where did you get this? You WANT me? YOU want ME? Why? What? Why didn’t you just say yes, you oaf.”

“I was trying to tell you. I just couldn’t. I’m sorry. I love you. I want you. For life. Please. I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything.”

“I love you too. Fiance.”

“Not to ruin this or anything, but your fiance may need to visit Harvey real quick. Or something.”

_____

After Dr. Harvey drained a mere 1000g from me, I got sent home with a wrapped ankle, bandages, and Shane. He held my hand while the doctor scrambled to access my ankle. He brought me to the clinic. Shane again pulled through in my time of need. I really do love him, even if he surprised me with this proposal.

Shane walked beside me as I wobbled my way home, struggling to get across the stone pathway. We walked hand in hand, despite the air being tense with unsaid emotion.

Shane broke the silence, “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good now,” I responded. I quickly followed it up with, “Sorry.”

“Shut up. Stop apologizing. I’m sorry for getting you in this mess. All over my meltdown.”

Something burned in my chest as I said, “I love you.”

“You’re a dumbass for doing so,” Shane grumbles.

“Call me stupid if that makes you feel better, but I’m never not going to love you.”

"You're stupid.”

Deciding to change the topic before Shane spirals more, I ask, “Did you get my pendant? I don’t remember if I pocketed or you took it.”

“I, uh, I took it. But I forgot to give you yours,” he said as he started digging in his various pockets. “Here, stop for a moment.”

I stopped as Shane turned to face me head on. His eyes were filled with the same emotion I had seen when he proposed. When he was happy. Shane motioned to tilt my head down, and of course I did.

He slid the necklace over my head, past my ears, and settled it onto my neck. I looked back up at him while he fiddled with it to get it centered in the middle of my chest. Shane stared intently at the necklace, a lot longer than he should have. He’s avoiding eye contact with me still, which is fine because I’m staring directly at his face, taking in each and every pore on his face.

I’m still wearing the obnoxiously tight shirt, realizing Dr. Harvey woke up at like 10pm just to wrap my sprained ankle while I was wearing some women's clothes. He also had to do all that while both me and Shane were trying not to cry in front of him. That had to have been his worst 1000g yet.

Once Shane finally decided he was done with my necklace, he silently handed me his pendant. The strings are still broken, making it a really shit necklace. I motioned for him to turn around, and he did so. I slipped my hands over his shoulders, allowing for each side to rest on different shoulders.

I tied a tiny granny’s knot slowly. It shrunk into one tiny knot, securing itself around Shane’s neck. I lowered it gently, making a scene just like Shane had made with mine. It feels silly, but also really heartfelt at the moment. I slid my hand into his as I stepped to his side.

We continued the slow walk together, finally reaching our home.