Shane(Stardew Valley) x Reader shots

Imagine II

You were enjoying a hot soak in your tub. You had an engaging novel in your hands and on the table on the side of the tub sat a hot mug of tea and an icy glass of water. You were sick. You could barely breath. You were steaming yourself out to help loosen the congestion and your muscles. You had Epsom salts and some aroma therapy crystals mixed into what had originally been near scolding water and you were just laying out, relaxing, your hair up in a tightly secured bun so you wouldn't have to worry about getting it in the salty water. You could have chopped down more trees or broken up more stones or gone to the pub like every other day but for some reason summer was just your sick season. You had thunderstorm noises playing softly from a cassette player and were doing your best to not hack your lungs out.
No rest for the wicked, you thought.
Or in this case, no rest for the farmer. You turned a page in your book and heard a particularly loud thunder crack on the sound track. Or, rather, five rather loud thunder cracks in quick succession. You looked up from your book, your focus coming back into your present surroundings, and realized that they hadn't been thunder cracks at all but, rather, someone was knocking on your door.
"One moment! Please!" you called out. You paused your cassette and stepped slowly out of the bath, shivering slightly at the cool air that nipped at your skin. You grabbed your towel and ran it over yourself to get off the excess moisture and threw on large sweatpants and a baggy hoodie that hid your hands in the enormous sleeves. You stepped out of the bathroom, walked to your front door, and opened it to find Shane. It being your second summer here you were rather good friends with your neighbor and you'd even been invited over to his to play video games. You thought that maybe he was drinking a little less, too and that your friendship was helping but it was also possible that his alcoholism ebbed and flowed and this was just a down time for it. Or maybe it was his depression that affected his drinking. Maybe your friendship had helped ease his depression slightly. You left your mind to wander as you returned to the conversation.
"Hi, Shane, what are you doing here?" He blushed slightly and scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, uh, I haven't seen you at the pub for a few days and I just wanted to make sure everything was alright." he said. You could tell he seemed to be regretting coming here and he confirmed it when he said,
"I should go," you chuckled and shook your head.
"No, you're fine. Would you like to come in for a cuppa? The kettle should still be hot." he seemed to breathe a little easier and he nodded,
"Yes, thanks, that'd be nice," you lead him in and toward the kitchen. As you passed the bathroom Shane stopped and inhaled deeply and said,
"That's what you smell like all the time. What is that??" your face flushed and you looked down and said,
"Oh, that's just an aromatherapy thing I used to study in my own time when I was in high school. That one was always my favourite and I keep in practice of making it into most of the things I use," you nearly mumbled for embarrassment.
"It smells amazing," he said. You looked up at him,
"Really?" you asked. He nodded,
"I've never smelled anything like that but it's likely my favourite scent," you felt your face flush more and to avoid this topic you said,
"So, tea?" he looked at you as though he hadn't understood what you'd said and then nodded,
"Yes, of course. Tea."
Once in the kitchen you checked the kettle and had to set the water back over the fire to heat it back up.
"Do you have a favourite type of tea? I've a wide variety here, so whatever you like I'll likely have."
"I don't really have a constant favourite, actually. It kind of just depends on my mood. Right now something minty would be nice if you have it."
"Peppermint or spearmint?" you asked. He shrugged,
"Whichever you have is fine," you chuckled,
"I have multiple different kinds of both," he made a thoughtful noise and nodded and then said,
"Spearmint, please, go ahead and just give me whichever is easiest for you to get, I'm not very picky," you nodded and turned to the cabinet, understanding the wish to not have to try to make any more choices, plus he seemed extra nervous and uncomfortable today for whatever reason. Maybe because he decided to come over and now he felt as though he'd overstepped the boundaries of your friendship. Which he hadn't.
"Are you alright with chamomile?" you asked.
"Sure. That's fine." You grabbed out a bag of Twinings Chamomile and Spearmint for him and Twinings Irish Breakfast for yourself and set them on the counter.
"I'll be right back, I just realized I've left my mug in the bathroom." you jogged off, grabbed your 3/4 empty mug off of the table, downed the whole thing in one swallow, paused for regret because it was still considerably hot, and then jogged back out into the kitchen, mug in hand. You set your mug on the counter and Shane said,
"Wait a minute, can I look at that?" you shrugged and handed it over as you went into another cabinet to fish out a mug for him. He chuckled,
"This may just be my favourite thing," you smiled,
"Thanks. I've had it for ages, since highschool, I think." the mug was oversized and had a beautiful pasture with a white picket fence in the background with a fall forest behind. On one side of the mug were a couple of straw bales and some corn stalks and pumpkins and such, a nice fall scene and on the other there was a beautiful grazing horse with a chicken sat on it's bum. On the inside of the mug where you would see while drinking it said One failure is not the end. When like bucks you off you have to dust yourself off and saddle back up. You still had your old teabag in the mug and decided to leave it to add to the strength of the next mug of tea. You took your mug back from Shane when he offered it out and set it on the counter next to the mug you'd chosen for him. His mug just had a bunch of chickens on it. You set his teabag in his mug and the Irish Breakfast into your own and poured some still steaming water over both of them. You handed the hot, aromatic chicken mug to Shane and took the quickly darkening Irish brew into your own hold and walked out to the living room with Shane and sat on one end of the couch. You pulled a coaster over and set your mug on it then slid another to the spot on the table in front of the opposite side of the couch. Shane sat down in front of it and thanked you and took a sip of the tea.
"This is wonderful, I'm glad I left the choice up to you, this is likely not what I would have chosen. I honestly didn't know what chamomile was and would have gone for plain Spearmint but this is wonderful I-" he stopped himself,
"Thank you, truly," you chuckled
"It's no problem, really. And before you go getting mad at yourself or stressing out, you're not talking too much, ok? I love listening." he smiled and let out a breath and took another sip of tea. You bounced your tea bags around in your mug, wanting the tea to be as strong as possible. You heard Shane set his mug down and turn. You glanced up and he was sitting sideways on the couch looking at you. When he saw that you'd caught him he flushed and looked away. You set your mug down on your coaster and turned so that you were both facing the middle of the couch and each other.
"What's up, Shane? I can tell that something's on your mind." He took a deep breath.
"I've been thinking. A lot."
"That's dangerous." He chuckled.
"It's almost impossible to believe that just a little over a year ago I didn't even know you. That just a little less than that I wanted nothing to do with you." he paused.
"I can now say that you are easily the best and closest friend I have ever had," He was trying to look up at you but kept looking at his thumbs twiddling around in his lap. You felt a smile spreading across your face,
"Thank you Shane, that means a lot to me. I can honestly say the same for you. I've never had such a good friend." He breathed deeply.
"I was kinda hoping you'd say that. Maybe I have a chance at this." you were slightly confused but he looked up at you, face red as a beet and said,
"Would you go on a date with me this Friday? We can go anywhere you like and I'll buy." you felt the smile on your face grow to an almost painful size.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. We should go out by the water on one of the islands south of Marnie's ranch and stargaze. I haven't had a chance in a while. I'll make up something fresh and delicious the day of and we can go whenever you like." Shane smiled brightly at you.
"I'll swing by right after work and we can walk down together, if it suits you," he said. You nodded in agreement,
"That's fine. With my new sprinklers I don't have near as much work to do so I can be ready by then." his smile brightened if that was possible.
"I'm looking forward to it. Marnie actually needs me tonight, and I should go. I'm sorry about the tea. You shook your head
"No worries. You can take the mug with you. I'm sure I'll get it back from you, besides, I only really use that mug, myself," you said, gesturing to your mug.
"Thank you. It really is amazing tea. Could I trouble you to bring a thermos of it with you Friday?" he asked. You chuckled,
"It's no trouble, I was thinking on what to bring to drink, anyways. You should get back to Marnie's. I'll walk you to the door," he stood and when you did the same he stepped forward and enveloped you in a warm hug that you would very much be okay with getting more often then stepped back and grabbed the mug,
"Thank you so much for this chance, (Y/N), I'm really looking forward to it." you chuckled and opened the door for him,
"Thanks for asking, Shane, so am I. Tell Marie I said hi,"
"Will do,"
"Do you need to borrow a torch to go the short way through the farm back to yours?"
"No, thanks, I made it up here alright,"
"Ok, have a nice night,"
"Thank you, you too." he headed off south towards Marnie's and you watched him go until he was out of sight, then you switched off the porch light and cleaned up so that you could head to bed, still thinking about what was to come that Friday.

(((A/N Ok, so the ending is not the best because I did it in the car on the way home from regionals and kept falling asleep but I really wanted to get it up before I forgot again. I'm sorry if you're not a tea or aromatherapy person.
Edit: I fixed it some. It was pretty cringy.