Shane X Female Reader - Stardew Valley

Chapter 14: A Hint of Anticipation

"Hey." Shane tapped you on the shoulder, shocking you out of your texting trance. You slammed your phone shut and looked up, eyes wide, at him. You were afraid he had seen your messages and spoiled his surprise.
    "Who were you texting?" He asked. He shook his head. "Nevermind, that's not my business." He turned around and started walking to the elevator.
    "Wait." You said, stopping Shane in his tracks. "I was texting Marnie, but I can't tell you because it's a surprise for your birthday."
"My birthday?" He laughed as he pressed the button to call the elevator. "Don't remind me." You could see that there was a bit of distress in his eyes as he uttered the last line while his hands rummaged distractedly through his jacket pockets.
You laced your left arm through his right and leaned you head onto his bicep. He tensed up momentarily, caught off guard by your forwardness, but quickly loosened up. He took his free and gently rested it atop of yours, still comfortably around his forearm. Your stomach fluttered with his touch, but you tried not to let him catch on. "Oh, come on!" You laughed, trying to lighten his mood. "Tomorrow's going to be great."
"Easy for you to say." You looked up at him just to see him looking at you with his dark green eyes. The elevator dinged open, and you both waltzed on without breaking your grasp on his arm. "You aren't turning 30 tomorrow."
You shook your head. "30 really isn't old, Shane. I'm on my way to being 30 too, you know."
"No, you're young. Be happy with it. I wish I was still younger like you." He sighed as the elevator doors closed, letting the silence settle between you two. You both looked straight forward, watching the now motionless elevator doors.
"So...how was your appointment?" You asked him, still looking at the elevator doors. You were trying to be supportive but not invade on his privacy.
"I mean... it was as good as I could have expected." He said. You could feel him shrug. "Then again, I don't know what I was expecting."
"Well, I'm glad it wasn't a bad experience." You offered.
He nodded his agreeance. "Yeah, it was definitely positive. It did get pretty deep for a bit though. And he wants to meet with me here in the office every month and additionally every month on an online video call so he can talk to me and Dr. Harvey together."
"That sounds like a good plan." You added, trying your hardest to be supportive when you didn't know what you were doing. "He seems like a smart doctor."
"Definitely." Shane agreed. "He really opened my eyes. I didn't realize the effect that I was having on the people around me." He finally looked down at you, breaking his eye contact with the elevator. You looked up at him as he turned to you and grabbed your hand in both of his. You felt your cheeks heat up as his touch radiated through you. "I'm really sorry for what I put you through. I'm just so, so..." His voice trailed off and you could swear you saw his eyes start to water. He turned away from you and let go of your hand as the elevator doors began to open.
You walked out of the elevator and the building into the bustling Zuzu City. As you stepped onto the white cement sidewalk, you both simultaneously realized you didn't have a clue as to where you were going.
"Do you want to get some lunch?" Shane offered. You nodded your reply. "What are you hungry for? We could go somewhere fancier, if you want."
"No, something fast and cheap sounds good." You said.
"Perfect," He laughed. "I'm a fast and cheap kind of guy." He grabbed your hand and started walking down the street.
"Where are we going?" You asked, trying to keep up.
"There's burger place right down the block." He pointed up ahead to a sign. You were relieved to see that it wasn't a JojaBurger, but instead it looked like a small business.
"How come you know so much about this part of Zuzu?" You asked him casually as you approached the restaurant.
"The gridball stadium is right around the corner," He said, pointing in the direction of the stadium you had been at not an hour earlier. "I would always come to this burger place after the games when I lived here. I haven't been in at least a couple years, though." He smiled sadly. Your heart leapt out of you chest when he mentioned gridball. You never thought you'd be so excited about sports. He sighed, grabbing your attention. "I'm glad to see this burger place is still here though."
You quickly realized that this was an interesting type of restaurant. Instead of sitting in the restaurant, you sat outside to eat. Instead of a waiter coming to take your order, you merely walked up to the window and ordered for yourself. You instantly understood the appeal and why Shane liked it.
You both stared at the menu in front of the building. There were so many types of burger combos, you had no clue what to get. You decided to play it safe and just get a regular burger. "Ready to order?" Shane asked, looking over at you. You nodded and you both headed over to the cashier window.
"Hi! What can we get for you all?" She asked cheerily between loud smacks of the gum she was chewing.
"Uh, I'd like two double patty burgers? With fries?" Shane asked the cashier.
She nodded, entering his order into the machine. "Anything to drink with that?"
"Uh, maybe a Joja Cola?" Shane asked. She nodded and put his order in before turning to you.
You were a little less confident than Shane as you ordered. "Could I please get... um... just a regular burger and fries?"
"Of course!" The cashier smiled. "And to drink?"
"Water, please." You said, gaining your confidence.
"Perfect, your total is 37 Gold." The cashier replied, looking between the two of you for payment. Shane paid the total before you could even try. "Thanks, your order number 182."
You followed Shane to go sit down on one of the small benches surrounding the tables. "Thanks for buying lunch." You smiled at Shane. "Well, thanks for buying the whole trip." You both laughed.
"It's not a problem, thank you for coming with me." He replied.
"Anytime. Today has been great."
Shane smiled down at you. "It really has." You scooted slightly closer to him, edging him to make the next move. He slid in as well, and very, very subtly put his arm behind you, resting it on the top of the bench.
You wanted more. You wanted to just be completely in his arms. That was too forward, though, so you simply rested your head on his shoulder, prompting him to wrap his arm tightly around you. It felt amazing. You tilted you head to look up at him and he was already looking back down at you. Your faces were inches, no, centimeters apart. This was you chance. You could kiss him right now and see if he still had feelings for you. You leaned your head in closer, testing the waters. Your noses were nearly touching. He leaned in further, like he was about to kiss you when-
"Order 182!" Someone yelled from the window. You both broke away, startled, and looked back at each other. Your heart raced as you looked at Shane and thought about your almost-kiss. He looked back at you, perched on the opposite side of the bench.
"I'm gonna go get our food." He quickly got up and went over to the counter, leaving you alone in your nerves. He quickly returned with a very full bag of food and two drinks. He sat down right next to you and started going through the food, handing you yours.
"We'll need to eat fast though." He said, glancing at the time. "It's nearly 1:30. Pam will be here soon."
You guys got to eating and chatting, neither of you acknowledging the fact that you had nearly kissed moments earlier. After a few minutes, you heard the bus pull up to its designated spot.
"Last one's yours," Shane said, holding out his nearly empty cup of fries. You looked at him sweetly for this gesture and then quickly grabbed it.
After, you threw away your trash and ran to catch the bus. "Ready to head home, kids?" Pam asked as your scrambled onto the bus after Shane and followed him back to the seats you had sat in earlier.
You sat down next to him and threw your pack into the seat across the aisle. Shane yawned. "It's been a long day, and it's only two in the afternoon!" He laughed. You agreed with him.
You were both fairly tired, so the trip home from Zuzu City was fairly uneventful. Pam put on some light music, and the two of you sat in mostly silence. As you began to pass through the Calico Desert, however, Shane wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you in close to him. You were utterly shocked by this, and the butterflies in your stomach danced all around. "I'm so tired." Shane laughed sleepily, pulling you in even closer. "I'm gonna go home and take a nap after this. I have the rest of the day off, anyways."
"Me, too." You agreed. You let yourself lean your head onto his shoulder and he quickly rested his head on top of yours as well. You sat like that, just listening to the music, until the desert's palm trees began to turn into the valley's variety of trees. You sat up a bit to look outside. Shane must have taken your movement as a hint that you didn't want to be "cuddling" with him like that anymore. He sat up immediately and pulled his arm away from you.
"Sorry." He mumbled, resting his hands nervously together in his lap. He stood up before you could say anything else as the bus came to a stop at Pelican Town. You stood up with him, grabbed your pack, and headed off the bus. "Hey, I'll walk you home, if you'd like." Shane offered as you started to head towards the farm.
"I'd love that." You smiled. He wants to spend time with you! "Are you sure it's not too much work? I know you're tired."
"Yeah, I wanna make sure you get home safe." He responded as he started to catch up to you. "Plus, it's faster to go through your farm anyways." That made sense.

✏️  A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, all! I hope that each and everyone of of you has a wonderful Valentine's Day, whether you're celebrating with friends, family, or significant others, or just going about your day as usual. I also really hope that you enjoy this chapter! Our next installment, Chapter 15: Some Birthday Presence, will debut next Sunday, February 20. I also want to remind everyone that my requests are ❗️OPEN❗️, if you want to see any other fanfic from me. Thank you all so much for reading, and once again, Happy Valentine's! 💘 xoxo Kira