[Stardew Valley] On the Edge - Shane

12

Aria stirred a little once desert sunshine leaked in from the cracked blinds and hit her face. She was mostly reclined, her top half upright resting against the armrest. The rest of her was blanketed by a snoozing Shane. His head rested in the middle of her chest, bobbing up and down gently with the rise and fall of her breathing. He looked so cute, even with drool spilling out of his mouth and onto her overalls and he snored. As Aria let herself wake up slowly, she gently combed his hair out of his face with her fingers.

Two raps at the door interrupted the quiet moment.

"Guh," Shane mumbled sleepily as his head lifted from Aria's chest towards the sound. Waking up to see Aria first thing was nice, but he barely had time to even take it in. Joe barged in after the third knock.

"Mechanic's here for you," He informed them, leaving the door wide open for the sun to blind them both in his wake.

When the groggy pair stepped out to meet the mechanic, they both paused. There Sebastian stood, looking nothing like a mechanic apart from the cigarette dangling from his lips and a toolbelt draping from his waist. He stared back with an incredulous expression, his eyes darting from Aria to Shane. He barely gave them a second glance, looking towards the truck as a thin stream of smoke escaped his nostrils.

"The tire's bald. Like, completely." Sebastian mentioned with a shake of his head, and beckoned Aria over with one hand. "Come. See those metal threads sticking out?" Shane just stayed in his place, eyeing Aria following Sebastian over to her truck.

"That kid's something special," Joe seemed to magically appear next to Shane, lighting a cigarette of his own and cracking a Joja beer open. Shane thought he was bad, but at least he wasn't cracking a beer open at ten in the morning. Anymore.

"Put a line wrench in his hand and he turns into a god. But he says he wants to do something with the computer...I think those things are bad news. Real shame."

"So, he finally said something, huh. Good on him. Congrats," Sebastian mentioned as he screwed the last tire nut off. The wheel popped off and he rolled it out of the way, wiping some grease off of his cheek. He held his hand open and jerked his head towards a small torque wrench.

"Wait, what do you mean he finally said something, congrats?" Aria raised her eyebrow Sebastian just furrowed his pierced eyebrow and looked at her for a long time. Aria handed it over to him.

"Oh, Shane?" Aria realized, a grin crawling onto her face as she pretended like she was paying attention to Sebastian fixing her tire.

"He's got you good, I didn't think he had it in him. Look at you, giggling and shit." Sebastian observed, earning a jingly laugh from Aria. They both looked up as Shane stepped near them. Shane didn't get what was so funny, but Sebastian who never smiled suddenly had a shit eating smirk on his face. And Aria was tickled by whatever was said.

"Need help?" Shane asked dryly. Sebastian's smile faded once he saw Shane's annoyed expression.

"Nope, I think Aria's already got everything I needed to get the tire off. I've gotta go back to the Valley to pick up the right tire. I can take one of you back with me if you want."

Shane just grumbles, "Maybe you should go with him, Aria. Seems like you and your other boyfriend are hitting it right off," He spat coldly. A hurt expression affected her features, almost making Shane feel guilty as soon as the words fell out. Sebastian's expression hardened too.

"...You know what? That sounds like a great idea." Aria responded as coolly as she could, walking past him without looking at him. She didn't do a great job of masking her hurt at Shane's assumptions. The previous night was so nice and even as she got on the back of Sebastian's motorcycle she couldn't stop replaying the way Shane kissed her the night before. What had gotten into him, all of a sudden?