[Stardew Valley] On the Edge - Shane

7

When Shane woke up, it took him a good minute to realize a few things:

One, he was not in his bed. Once the familiar illusion of being in his room wore off, a few more realizations dawned on him as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He was sprawled out on the floor of Aria's coop. He'd never left.

The biggest realization of them all, besides the fact that he needed to head to work soon, was that Aria was curled up right beside him. She snored softly, feathers tangled in her curly hair. Early morning sunlight cast over her like a halo. Her mouth hung open, cheek pressed against her outstretched arm.

Ignoring how hot his face grew, Shane jumped up and checked his watch, feeling like he'd been holding his breath for ages. He slowly exhaled. It was only seven thirty. If he moved now, he'd make it to work on time.

"Shit, okay," He whispered to himself, slapping his stubbled cheeks a little to wake himself, looking back at the farmer who looked quite comfortable sleeping there. He didn't feel right leaving her there.

"Aria." Shane spoke sleep still wearing off of his voice, nudging her shoulder. "Aria, I gotta go to work. C'mon. You don't wanna get pink eye." No movement from her. He sighed to himself. He didn't have time for this, and didn't think of much else as he scooped the sleeping farmer up and stepped out of the coop with her in his arms. Good thing her farm was in the middle of a dense forest, because he didn't even want to think about how he'd explain this to a passerby.

"Yoba, how heavy of a sleeper are you?" He grumbled, annoyed that Aria didn't once stir in his arms - not when he initially picked her up, not when he almost tripped over a rock and nearly sent both of them flying, or when he finally pushed through her door and plopped her onto her bed. He was thankful in that moment that he'd been a solid defender on his college's gridball team and was strong enough to carry her without issues. Not that she was overly heavy, or even heavy at all, but dead weight was dead weight.

Aria sighed and mumbled something once she was in her bed, burying her face into her pillow as though she'd never left the coop.

"Shane?" Aria asked quite clearly for someone who was dead asleep. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Y-Yeah?" He responded, feeling his heart in his throat. More mumbling rose from her.

"Shane's nice...Shane's cool...birthday..." She murmured, flopping over and snoring. Though he was blushing and thinking it was a pretty sight, Shane turned on his heel and left towards the ranch.

His mind raced, feeling dirty that he'd even looked at her for more than a second while she was sleeping, and his thoughts turned from frantic to self deprecating as he made it back to his cramped bedroom. He made haste as he changed into a clean Joja uniform shirt and tossed the old one onto his bed.

A knock on his door startled him from his thoughts and as a result, he kicked over a half-full can of Joja cola that was on the floor. It spilled everywhere, and he weakly let that set the precedent for how the rest of his day was about to go. His aunt came in, ignoring the spilled drink, whose smell was already beginning to permeate his room.

"Come in," He responded flatly to Marnie barging into his room.

"I heard you come in a little while ago. Long night at Aria's?" Marnie had a playful look on her face, winking. Shane went red immediately.

"Yoba, no," He ruled out what Marnie was insinuating, and looked away from her. "I barely know her. We just talked," He picked up the felled beer can, and faced away from Marnie so she wouldn't see his flushed face. "AndIfellasleepinherchickencoop," He mumbled the last part.

"Aww," She cooed, ignoring Shane raising his free hand and motioning her to stop. "You know, once Lewis and I fell asleep in the barn," She recalled with a sentimental grin on her face and twirling her thick braid around her fingers. The last thing Shane wanted to hear about right now was one of Marnie and Lewis' trysts in the barn. "That was a fun night."