Work Text:
Shane barely noticed the rain falling on him as he made his way towards Pelican Town. In some ways he almost welcomed it. Maybe one day it would transform into a torrent and carry him off into the river with the rest of the trash. Or maybe he'd catch a deadly case of pneumonia and no longer have to worry about anything ever again.
His eyes traced the outline of the river as he plodded onwards. He had another full day of work ahead before he could kick back and drown his self-loathing thoughts in beer. How many minutes was that? How many seconds? He gave up trying to count them before he even began. The answer would just depress him.
A sudden noise awakened him back to the present. It had been a metallic clang echoing from behind the Stardrop Saloon. An animal rummaging through the trash? Squirrels were too small to move the lid, but maybe it was a fox or a—
Before he could finish the thought, the new farmer ran out from behind a corner with a plate in his hands.
He froze as he saw Shane. He stared at him with his eyes as wide as the plate, seemingly indifferent to the fact he was getting drenched.
Shane stared back. Maybe he was still asleep after all and this was all a particularly vivid dream. Why would the farmer be here at this hour? If Shane blinked, maybe the image before him would turn out to be an illusion.
He blinked. Nope. The farmer was still there. In fact, he was coming closer, walking slowly towards Shane as if hypnotised.
Shane could practically feel himself retreating deeper into this shell. He had barely spoken to the farmer when he had tried chatting him up at the saloon earlier that week, and that had been to make it clear he wasn't interested in talking to anyone, let alone to fresh-faced strangers with their futures ahead of them. He had thought that would be the end of it.
The farmer stopped right in front of Shane. The way raindrops clung to his eyelashes made it look like his eyes sparkled as he blinked. "Uh... morning?"
Shane only kept himself from rolling his eyes because it wasn't worth the effort. "What do you want? Leave me alone."
Even this harsh response did nothing to dent the farmer's wide-eyed look. He blinked at Shane a few more times, looking so dazed Shane was beginning to suspect he had been sleepwalking.
Then, without warning, the farmer thrust the plate towards Shane.
Shane instinctively took the plate before even looking at what was on it. It was pepper poppers. Pepper poppers curiously untouched by the rain, as surely they ought to have been soggy enough to be inedible by then. A few drops of moisture glistened on the surface of the peppers, but if anything, that made them look even more delicious.
For a moment, Shane was too stunned to speak. When he did, the words streamed out of his mouth of their own accord. "I love these. How did you know?"
The farmer said nothing and continued to stare, his mouth suddenly hanging open. Finally, he flashed Shane a shy smile.
Frowning, Shane realised he had broken into a genuine smile at the gift and hastened to rearrange his features into a scowl. In retrospect, he wasn't certain of the exact words he had said to the farmer and suspected he had called him by name. He hadn't meant to reveal he remembered it.
Dismissing his own smile did nothing to quell the farmer's. He nodded at Shane, his eyes crinkling at the corners, then dashed past him towards the forest like he was late for an appointment.
Once the farmer was gone, Shane sniffed at the pepper poppers with a certain degree of suspicion. Even knowing there was a non-zero chance they had just been plucked from a trash can, they looked as good as any dish he had ever seen. Ultimately, he took one and gave it a nibble, then proceeded to devour it in three bites. He closed his eyes for just a moment to savour the way the cheesy warmth of the popper worked against the chill of the rain.
There was no time to linger: at this rate, he would be late for work. He hurried his steps, snacking on the remaining poppers as he went. Soon they were gone, and he figured that as soon as he disposed of the plate, the memory of them would likely disappear too.
He couldn't resist glancing over his shoulder in the direction the farmer had vanished into. What a weird guy. Still, maybe he wasn't all bad. Just this once, even if it had been by accident, he had made a ray of sunlight penetrate through the haze of Shane's life.
Against all odds, when Shane woke up the following morning with a pounding headache and dreading the upcoming day, he still remembered the surprised, delighted smile on the farmer's face at Shane's happy reaction to the gift.
He told himself it meant nothing whatsoever. Even so, thinking about it made it just a little bit easier for him to get up and get ready for work.