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Your behind almost got roasted when you finally managed to reach the door to your barn. This stupid storm got you while you were in the middle of harvesting wheat, and the lightnings of this one were rather aggressive.
You hoped with all your heart that one wouldn’t hit your barn. It took a lot of days and wood to build. Plus, you’d lose a lot of sheep and cows if that’d happen.
Speaking of them, your animals were cozily laying around on the hay you laid around yesterday for bedding. It was nice and warm inside the barn, with a few torches serving as light sources.
While stuck in here, you figured you could at least make the most out of the situation. You pulled out the bit of wheat you managed to harvest, to which all your cows and sheep started to surround you, effectively trapping you in their circle.
After feeding 3 of your cows and 5 of your sheep, you put the rest away and sat down on a nearby pile of hay. Resting by this soft cushion, you felt your eyes getting heavy.
You’ve been awake for the past few days, thanks to a certain ‘someone’ ambushing you in your bed for two nights in a row. All because he got jealous of you accidentally giving a flower to that nice spider guy (whom you started to call Lenny). August argued that he was just “making sure that creep wouldn’t get any funny ideas”. How ironic of him... Though couldn’t understand why he had to scare ‘you’ for this, but you let that thought go. At least you managed to get some monster loot you needed.
You were tired, and the warmth didn’t help much to keep you awake.
Just when you finally closed your eyes, you felt something heavy lean against you. You thought it was a lamb, those curious little guys loved to move around, staying next to you (mostly when you had food on you). Suddenly, the weight shifted from your shoulder to your thighs. Out of habit, you reached a hand towards it.
Instead of fluffy wool, you felt silky strands of hair flow through your fingers.
Your eyes shot open immediately. Lo and behold, your biggest nightmare was resting his head in your lap.
“Don’t stop.” August’s voice was barely audible and, surprisingly, tired.
You let your face relax again. A small scoff escaped your throat.
“I don’t remember having a black lamb in my herd.” You said, raking your fingers through his hair again. “Especially not one with wool like this.”
August chuckled. “Guess I’m special.”
For a few moments after this, you two stayed quiet. You still felt a bit angry at August for the sleepless nights he caused you, especially for something so dumb. While deep in thought, he turned his face towards you. Weird, you don’t remember ever seeing his eyes so... alive? The light in them was certainly unexpected. Not only that, but they were soft too.
From the corner of your eye, you saw his arm move towards yours. His hand was wrapped in a knuckle. With his other hand, he gently grabbed your hand, one you rested on his chest. He turned your palm upside and put something in it. Once you got a clear view of it, you instantly recognized it.
“Is this...?” You brushed your thumb over the material. August looked away, as if embarrassed by what he was doing.
“I got tired of their shrieking, and since you’re always low on it...” He mumbled, saying it as if he wasn’t the reason those phantoms appeared in the first place.
“How about next time, you let me sleep and there won’t be anything shrieking outside at night?” You pocketed the small pile of hide he gave you; you had an elytra that needed fixing after all. As a response, August gave you a frown.
“I told you already...” He let out a tired sigh. “Forget it. I’m too tired.”
Before you could say another word, he dragged his upper body next to yours and wrapped his arms around you.
“August, I think it stopped raining.” You said, trying to wiggle out of his hold. It resulted in him wrapping his cape around the both of you. Though it acted perfectly as a blanket, you knew that it was nothing, but a trap to keep you there. “August, I have to go.”
Your captor wiggled in the hay, getting himself comfortable with you in his grasp. “You smell nice.” He murmured into your neck.
“And you smell like a tobacco field, let me go!” You protested. All for naught, he easily overpowered you. In defeat, you wrapped your arms around him, let your eyelids fall and let your body warm in his heat... even though, he was rather cold. Shadow demons (or whatever he was) don’t generate that much heat you suppose.
Either way, you finally managed to get some sleep.
You did get interrupted by a curious lamb chewing on the collar of your shirt. You lifted an arm to shoo it away, but the little guy was a stubborn one. As best as you could in August’s bear hug, you turned towards the lamb.
The sight made you smile. It had ebony black wool, and mischief in its eyes. Must’ve been one of the lambs resulted from today’s feeding.
You reached your arm towards it. It took a few sniffs of your fingers, then let you scratch the area under its jaw.
You felt August move his arm towards yours, trying to redirect it back to his torso.
“You’re ridiculous. It’s a lamb.” You grumbled. August shrugged.
“You’ll slaughter it anyway. I’m just trying to keep you from getting attached to it.” You saw him pull his hat over his face.
“You’re late for that. I already named the little guy.” You teased. You could feel August roll his eyes. “I think ‘August’ fits it perfectly.”
The shadow tightened his hug, earning a chuckle from you.