Work Text:
The alarm blared on, waking up Shane from his peaceful sleep. He glanced to his left, hoping to see the farmer, but of course not finding the larger man. Grunting, Shane hefted himself up, begrudgingly moving the warm and heavy blanket off himself.
The bed shook as he moved himself upright and jumped out of bed, upset at the warmth leaving his body. Was it just him, or was everything groggy and hazy..
As soon as he left the bed, he was getting ready, lifting his work gear into his arms as he trotted into the bathroom connected to their shared bedroom. He quickly changed, tossing his nightwear into the basket in the corner. Glancing at the mirror across from him, the noticeable bags under his eyes struck out against his pale skin.
“Augh..” He muttered into his hand as he stifled a yawn. Leaving the bathroom, he quickly put his sweater on, his new deep blue pull on sweater that Cody had gifted him in early Fall. He loved this thing, reminded him of the day Cody had asked him to marry him. This sweater was a token of gratitude from the taller man.
Stifling another large yawn, he jogged downstairs, hoping to meet Cody, again to no avail. Shane suspected he was busy either down at the farm, or running errands for the townsfolk. This only meant one thing (two, actually, it meant Cody hadn’t written him a letter telling him where he was going): he was going to have to walk to JojaMart alone, in the cold, with the snow and wind falling on him.
Shane groaned loudly, hoping Cody especially heard him. He shoved his snow boots on, pulling his hoodie down farther, and preparing himself to open the door containing the awful blizzard outside.
After a few minutes of painful anxiety, he pushed himself and opened the door, thanking Yoba that the wind had slowed down to a small breeze for now. Shane took one step outside, testing whether it was safe to walk. There seemed to be no ice today, so he continued forward.
It was a long hour of walking, his face had gone numb at some point during the walk. He sadly had not seen Cody during the hour. Choosing to ignore the small pang of sadness, he pushed the large doors of JojaMart open and was greeted by the face of Morris, his ugly face held a look of major disappointment.
“You’re late, Shane,” His employer sternly told him, glowering down at him. He had been late, but was it his fault?
“Hmh,” Shane returned, glancing down at his feet, a small scowl on his face. He could not stand the sight of this man.
Morris smirked before gloating out, “get to work, you don’t want to be fired, do you?”
Ignoring the purposely offensive statement, he pushed past the man, taking his hoodie off and placing his disgustingly colored JojaMart cap on.
The day dragged on forever, Shane’s eyes were painfully heavy. All he wanted to do was sleep, was that so much to ask? JojaMart was having a busy day, and all the activity in this cold weather just made him want to snuggle under a massive blanket.
Thankfully, most of the day had passed since his inevitable alarm, and Morris hadn’t bothered him since he came in late. Shane huffed, hefting a large box of cans onto his cart, shoving the cans in generally the right order as he zoned out, his eyes drooping just a bit as he worked.
He longed for the moment his shift finished and he could clock out ASAP. The only worry on his mind now was the blinding chill of the snow, his thin hoodie not capable of handling this amount of snow and wind.
Glancing down at his newer watch (a gift from his husband), he sighed in relief at the hand landing at 4:50PM, it was almost time to leave this horrid place. Shane finished off the box he was emptying before leaning up against the shelf, relaxing a bit.
Before he knew it, he was half asleep and 10 minutes passed like nothing. Morris had found him half asleep and berated him for falling asleep on the job. Shane could care less, if he lost his job, he lost his job. He always had Cody to employ him if the time came.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Shane muttered, locking eyes with the taller and heftier man, glaring at him without remorse. Immediately after, Shane pushed past Morris, and exited the building, forgetting how unbelievably cold it was. Rushing to put the jacket on, he failed to notice the woolly horse waiting outside the building.
“Hello there, Shane!” Cody yelled out, startling said man into almost slipping and falling over.
“U-uhm, hello there. I thought you were busy,” he stuttered out, teeth chattering as he barely managed to fit the hoodie over his head.
“Come here, I’ve got you a warmer jacket to wear,” Cody smiled out warmly, said jacket was the taller man’s own, a heavy fleece sweater under so Cody wasn’t left freezing.
Shane graciously took the jacket, pulling it over himself and relishing in the warmth it brought him. A warm smile took over his face as he hefted himself up onto the horse, wrapping himself around Cody’s thinner waist and relaxing, feeling warm and cozy.
“Thank you, today was awful,”
“I could tell..” Cody muttered in sympathy, reaching back to pat Shane’s thigh before guiding the horse to trot forward, the horse’s hooves fitted for the winter snow. They trotted onwards, off towards the farm, which in this season has seen better days.
The stir of the horse trot lulled Shane into a passive half sleep. He was clinging to Cody with his head pressed against the larger man’s back, lazily looking to his left and watching as scenery passed by.
It was getting late by the time they made it to the secluded farm; he had hoped the chickens (and other animals of course) were warm and safe. Cody hopped off the large animal, reaching out a hand to Shane for him to take.
“Uuf, thank you,” Shane muttered, squeezing Cody’s hand once he had hopped off as well.
“Not a problem, sunshine,” Came the mischievous reply, the pet name catching Shane off guard as he hid his face behind the arm of the large jacket.
Cody pulled Shane towards the front of their shared home, minding the sheet of ice covering the gravel pathway, “careful there, don’t slip,”
Shane responded with an acknowledging hum, watching the ground and steading himself if he slipped as the two made it to the slightly less hazardous porch.
“C’mon, I made us homemade pizza, just have to cook it,”
“O-oh, that sounds yum,” Shane muttered, a flutter-y feeling taking over his chest, Cody was so sweet, “I can put it in the oven,”
“If you don’t mind, I have a small errand to run, I’ll be right back,” Cody mentioned, opening the door for Shane to walk through, giving Shane a small kiss on the nose before turning around and jogging down the steps.
Shane murmured to himself about how sweet Cody was, cuddling into the large jacket that was still wrapped around his smaller frame, noting the smell of Cody. Closing the door and turning around, the darker haired man set to work cooking the pizza Cody had prepared.
“Sweet!” Shane exclaimed to himself in a hushed tone, peppers were placed on one side of the pizza, the other side empty save for a few pepperoni, Cody liked his pizza bland.
Opening the heated oven, Shane stuffed the large pizza into the second rack, sprinkling a small dusting of extra cheese before shutting the door and setting a timer for 26 minutes and heading to the large cushioned couch, turning the T.V. on and snuggling back into the jacket, feeling sleep cover his mind in a haze.
‘Can’t sleep now, pizza will burn,’ his conscious reminded himself, anxiety bursting from his midsection at the thought of forgetting, ‘thank Yoba for anxiety preventing me from sleeping, hah..--’
An unknown amount of minutes later, the door opened and Cody waltzed in, kicking his boots on the door frame to clear them of snow, jokingly calling out, “Honey! I’m home!”
When no reply came, Cody became suspicious. He wandered around, sniffing the air to make sure the pizza wasn’t burning before continuing his search. Cody found Shane passed out on the couch, a peaceful look on his face. Shane looked so small in Cody’s jacket, it was adorable.
Cooing to himself, Cody set down the smaller jacket he had run to buy for Shane, running over to check on the pizza quietly, making sure to turn the timer off to not wake the sleeping man in the living room.
After pulling the delicious pizza out of the oven and cutting it up into 8 slices, he grabbed a nice plate and placed 2 slices for Shane on it and sauntered over to the couch, sitting down carefully and placing the plate on the coffee table.
He shook Shane’s shoulder gently, “Shane, sweetheart, wake up,” he murmured, giving Shane’s forehead a kiss, “I got the pizza out of the oven.”
It took a few minutes, but Shane stirred awake eventually, his soft illegible mumbles made Cody chuckle as Shane grabbed for the taller man, half awake.
“Good morning there, sunshine,”
“Wuh… Oh shit, the pizza!” Shane exclaimed, nearly throwing himself off the table before Cody grabbed his arm and hushed him, laughing hard.
“I came home a few minutes before the pizza finished, you’re fine!”
“How long was I asleep..” Shane groaned dramatically, sitting back on the couch and falling against Cody, curling up into him. He still looked tired as hell, but a lot happier.
“Couldn’t have been long, I only just got back a good 20 minutes ago, the pizza is still warm,” Cody comforted, wrapping an arm around Shane and pulling him in, rubbing his side.
Shane hummed, trying to keep his eyes open, he still had pizza to eat. The idea of sleep was still too tempting..
Shaking Shane’s shoulder a bit, waking him from the half-sleep haze, Cody announced, “hey, we can sleep after we eat,”
“Hnn..” Shane whined, refusing to get up, “can we eat later? Today was awful.”
“That’s fine with me, c’mere,” Cody gestured, leaning back on the couch to lay down, patting for Shane to lay down with him, to which he did.
Some time passed, Shane tucked under Cody’s chin, breathing steady and slow. Cody smiled down at the smaller man, running a hand over Shane’s side. He mouthed ‘I love you’, before promptly settling down and falling asleep himself.
The pizza and coat lay forgotten, Cody could always give Shane the coat tomorrow, though…