Shane X Female Reader - Stardew Valley

Chapter 48: The First Snow

"Guess who's not going into work today?" Your fiancé quizzed excitedly as he returned from the living room and beelined to his dresser.

You were surprised to see him, given the fact you had just kissed him goodbye and were contentedly settling into your book, still in bed. "You?"

"Mhmm." He quickly threw his JojaMart uniform back into the closet and hopped under the covers. "There's no way I could get to work in this weather."

"What weather?" You looked to the windows, but the blinds had been pulled shut. Shane obliged and got out of bed to open them. In doing so he revealed a winter wonderland that had magically appeared overnight. You thanked Yoba for taking Marnie's advice and installing automatic feeders and heaters in the chicken coop last week. It was Winter 4, officially 3 weeks before the Feast of the Winter Star and the first snow of Winter.

You had seen snow before, but watching as the pearlescent serenity of the white snow slowly blended into the cool gray sky was something brand new. It shook you to your core with its beauty and you were struggling to react properly to what you were seeing. "It's gorgeous."

"I know." Your fiancé replied, taking in the view as well as he returned to his spot next to you. "It's so pretty but for some reason, seeing it bums me out." He looked down at you. "My psychiatrist says it's 'seasonal depression' or something ... I don't know."

"I can understand that." You agreed. "The beauty and colors of the other seasons are gone now. It's a little upsetting to comprehend."

"Mhmm. Crazily enough, Winter is my favorite season. I love the cold and the snow, it feels really peaceful. It also makes me feel awful, though. I try to take my mind off of it when I feel the seasonal depression coming on, like right now. I try to think about you or Jas and try to occupy myself with things to do."

You were feeling sympathetic to your partner when an idea hit you. "I have the perfect idea baby!" A grin broke out across your face as you came up with the perfect plan to pep up your partner. "Why don't we start decorating Jas' new room? We're cooped up in here, we should make the most of it. Right?"

Shane had mentioned in passing that he was planning to quit his job at JojaMart in late winter, so Spring would be a great time to get married. Somehow the date 'Spring 1' had been tossed around, and you both seemed keen on it, tentatively booking it as your official wedding date.

That being established, you had called Robin the day after talking with Marnie to come up with a plan to build Jas' room. She set to work on it instantly, wanting to make sure it was built with plenty of time to spare before the wedding, giving you and your fiancé ample room to get the project completed and surprise his niece.

You had ordered some soft purple wallpaper from the catalog at Pierre's General Store and Shane had made an employee order at JojaMart for hard-to-come-by furniture that he thought she would like. This included a loft bed, which still had to be assembled, and several ready-made counterparts like dressers, nightstands, and even a colossal doll castle that probably stood taller than the little girl herself.

Neither of you had come around to doing any of the work for this yet, so the room sat cold and empty with boxes and decorations. You knew you were weeks away from when she would start living here part-time, so you might as well get started sooner rather than later.

You had upgraded her room to include weatherproof windows to prevent any draft from getting in, so the room wasn't too chilly when you arrived, but it definitely wasn't warm. The cold snowy air had a bite to it that even quality glass couldn't beat, so you decided to turn up the heater, which seemed to help.

"Why don't I make us some coffee while you figure out where you want everything to go, babe?" Shane suggested, tiptoeing out of the room and back towards the kitchen. He made a good point, so you got to thinking.

He returned after a moment holding two steaming mugs of joe. It was warm and robust, everything you needed to shock your system into focus. You quickly explained the layout to Shane and grabbed some wallpaper.

You decided it would be best if Shane started assembling Jas' loft bed (something she had apparently wanted for a long time) while you began wallpapering. It wasn't necessarily difficult work, just slightly time-consuming. Especially since these were both typically considered two-person jobs, so you occasionally had to stop what you were doing to help each other out. After a few hours, you both completed your work with seeming serendipity.

"The wallpaper looks beautiful, chickpea." Shane wrapped his arms around your waist from behind you as he rested his head on the top of yours. "I know she will love it."

"Me too." You beamed hopefully. "It actually wasn't too hard to do, so if for some reason she hates it we can always do something different. Setting this up with you is surprisingly fun."

"I know." You felt a warm hum in his chest, instantly telling you how happy he was at that moment. "Imagine when we do this before we have kids. Jas can run around and help us set it up so you won't have to do too much work. We can paint two of the walls blue in case it's a boy, and two of them pink in case it's a girl."

"Or we could just wait until we find out." You chuckled.

Even though you couldn't see, you could feel Shane roll his eyes. "You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that, right?" He teased. "I just get excited. I can't wait to experience life with you, and all of the things I never thought I would get. It's still really hard for me to comprehend that I got lucky enough to find you and have you take any interest in me, especially after I was a total ass to you for a long time. You've already given me so much that I didn't think I would get to have in this life: a loving relationship, hope for the future, a beautiful fianceé, no, wife, a dog, and a little family that I can call my own. You, me, Jas, Pepper, and whoever else may stumble in along the way."

You weren't expecting painting a room to get so emotional, yet here the two of you were, your silent tears slowly running together as they streamed down your rosy cheeks. "I- I love you, Shane." You whispered in a harshly cracked voice. "You gave me all of those things, not the other way around."

"Not true." He objected, but you were both too emotional to object too heavily to each other's very accurate statements. "I love you too, (Y/N)." He breathed into your hair. "And this whole decorating a room thing has really worn me out...want to go back to bed?"

"I thought you'd never ask." You grinned, grabbing his hand and pulling him along as you raced along towards your bedroom.

"Hold on!" Shane laughed, following closely behind you. "I'm not as young as you, unfair advantage!"

The two of you immediately stripped down and hopped back under the blankets in your pajamas as you let the rush of comfort wash over you that only came from the emotional and physical presence of each other. You snuggled up against Shane's chest as he turned off his lamp, letting only the pale gray lighting from outside trickle in through your partially opened blinds. You felt nothing but serenity and a wholesome type of pleasure you knew would be accompanying you for the rest of your life.

✏️  A/N: Hey all! I thought this chapter was posted on Sunday, but it looks like something messed up! I blame my shotty internet (just kidding, probably something I did wrong!) and I'm so sorry that you're receiving your "Shane fix" late! I really hope this sweet chapter made up for it! Next week's installment, Chapter 49: Girls' Day, will be released this Sunday, October 9, 2022. Thank you all so much for your patience! xoxo Kira