For my Twitter buddy Nora. This one is for you, my friend!
6am on a Sunday morning.
Sheamus had asked for a few hours away from WWE-related events that day, he quickly remembered, and Vince McMahon had been fuming at the request, but had let him off.
Must be the luck of the Irish, he thought, smirking at his use of the cliché. He lifted himself from the bed, quickly checking himself in the mirror and grabbing a few pieces of clothing, tossing them on.
Glancing at the picture of him and her that he had on his bedside table, the one possession he took with him everywhere, he smiled.
Walking a few miles, just to see her? Totally worth it.
Strands of the early sunlight were stretching themselves out across the floor of the hotel lobby. The young female receptionist looked over at him, almost as if she was trying to silently ask him what he was doing awake so early.
Sheamus decided, within a second, that he didn't want to waste time on her.
He could easily be doing it with another girl.
Striding out confidently through the door and into the open air, he began his journey.
He didn't bother to count the minutes he was walking for. All that he was able to decipher was that, at some point, the sun had risen to a point where his pale skin was sure to burn a little.
This fact soon took over, replacing a mindset that had been peaceful just a few moments ago, and making him a tad paranoid. Coming to a stop, he thought the matter over. What if she notices how I look? What if it throws off our conversation? What if-
In all his hurried looking around, he paused his thoughts, stepping back a little so he could admire a sign that indicated he had finally reached his destination, without even realizing.
It read, in big, golden letters, Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.
Straightening himself up, he passed through the middle of the arch, and into the dusty field. A large, muscled man, with light green eyes, dark blonde hair, wearing a loose checked red shirt and jeans, chewing on a stick of wheatgrass, was digging over to Sheamus' left side.
After a few seconds, he looked over to him and smiled. "Oh, howdy there, Sheamus!" He walked over to him, dropping his tools.
"Big Mac! How're you doing, fella?" Sheamus asked, slapping his back.
"Not bad, not bad." he replied, a Southern accent clear in his voice. "You're here to see Applejack, right?"
The Irishman nodded.
"Alright then, I'll go get-"
"OH MY GOSH, SHEAMUS!"
The loud voice made both men startle, but that feeling subsided as they saw who had made the noise.
"Haha, there she is!" Sheamus said, kneeling down and letting Apple Bloom, Applejack's younger sister, jump into his arms. Her hair was a unique style, scarlet red, and was tied by a large pink bow. She was wearing mud-stained, denim dungarees, a yellow short-sleeved t-shirt, and small brown boots. Her amber eyes were full of youth.
"D'ya want me to get Applejack for ya?" she asked.
"Wait, how did you know-?"
She giggled, cutting him off. "More like how did I not know! It's obvious that you two are in looove!" She giggled again, while Sheamus blushed outright, gaining a stern look from Big Mac.
"W-well, we've been friends since childhood, but I wouldn't go as far as to say-"
He stopped speaking, slowly placing Bloom on the ground and standing up, brushing the specks of dirt off his clothes and standing up.
Even though she was standing some way away from him, it took all of his effort for him not to rush over to her in happiness.
Fortunately, she came to him first. Her blonde hair was tied into a ponytail; she was wearing an orange checked shirt that was a bit shorter than her brother's, a pair of jeans, and her signature brown cowgirl hat.
"Sheamus, hey!" she called, greeting him with a hug. "What're you doin' here so early?"
"I convinced my boss to give me the day off." he explained, struggling to stay focused.
"Lemme guess...luck of the Irish?"
He nodded, laughing.
"Well, anyway," she said, wiping her brow, "I guess you came here to help me out on the farm?"
"Yeah," he replied shakily. "That, and…" He beckoned her to come closer, and Applejack obliged.
"I sort of really wanted to see you, AJ."
Her emerald eyes widened for a moment, but she soon looked to him with an almost knowing smile.
"Don't worry, it'll be our secret." she promised, winking at him before turning and walking towards the barn where all the farming equipment was kept.
After she had turned her back on him, Sheamus breathed out heavily, wondering how he'd managed to get away with that remark by the skin of his teeth.
Seeing that Big Mac and Applebloom had already begun to move, he followed suit.
The sun had seemed to speed up its ascent into the sky as soon as Sheamus had arrived at the farm, and it was now bearing down on his back, as he was hunched over, digging into the soil with a shovel.
He had to keep his eyes to the ground during the job, but the allure of his best friend's beauty was too much to overlook.
From one glance at her, it was already obvious that she put her heart and soul into what she did, just like Sheamus did with his wrestling. Maybe that's why we're so close, he mused.
There was around ten minutes of shovels coming down hard into the ground, and bending down to plant seeds, before standing up again and restarting the process.
It wasn't that Sheamus wasn't enjoying himself; it was just that the entire cycle, after only a short while, was starting to get a little laborious. Perhaps it's the lack of conversation?
Almost on cue, Applebloom sighed, slumping forward slightly. "AJ, can I take a break now?" she asked.
For a moment, the older girl seemed to be angry at her younger sister, but she soon smiled kindly. "Of course, sis." she replied. "Big Mac, would ya mind just lookin' after her whilst Sheamus and I continue working?" She turned to the redhead. "I mean, if that's alright with you…"
"It's completely fine." he cut in. "Let Applebloom get some rest for a bit, eh?"
The smiling southern face then turned towards him for a second, without saying a word, before she beckoned Sheamus to go with her to another part of the field.
He waited five minutes, working as he had done before, before he really started considering the words he wanted to say.
They might not be alone for much longer, so his window of opportunity was even shorter than he had imagined.
Opening his mouth to speak, it was obvious, then, that he was more than a little surprised that Applejack took that moment to be exhausted from the heat too.
"Whew! I see what my sister was on about now! Hey, Sheamus?"
"Yeah?"
"Whaddya say me and you go sit under one of those trees and drink some apple cider in celebration of our work?"
It took a moment for him to take it all in.
"You'd really let me do that?"
"Sure. You deserve it, workin' without complaint for so long in this weather!"
Laying down his shovel, still with a bemused look on his face, Sheamus walked over to the tree in question, letting out a sigh of relief as he sat down, the shade's effect noticeable immediately.
As he took a sip of the bitter liquid, Applejack sat down beside him.
"Y'alright?" she asked, after gulping down some cider herself.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.
"I dunno, ya just seem a little nervous." she replied. "Ya sure there's not anything bothering you?"
There were two ways the conversation could go from here. One way was that he could lie, and use one of the many other things that were bothering him as a substitute for what he really wanted to say.
The other was that he could be honest with her, as she had always been with him, and let the discussion take its own course.
The repercussions of the second would probably be massive, but Sheamus didn't care about that.
She would understand.
She had to understand.
"Applejack, there's something I really need to tell you. It's important." He said, standing up and walking out from the tree.
"Go ahead." She replied, doing the same.
He breathed in, saying the words he'd thought about saying for a long time before now.
"We've been best friends since we were kids. It's different now we're a little older, but we're still close, right?"
Applejack cocked her head slightly at the statement, but nodded nonetheless.
"Well, how would you react if I told you that I…that I've been starting to like you in a more romantic way over the past few months?"
That last bit came out a little too quickly, he thought to himself immediately afterwards.
Applejack's face was now void of any discernible expression.
Sheamus wondered whether he'd destroyed an almost 5-year bond there and then.
"You really like me? I mean, n-not that I like you too or anything, but-"
Sheamus chuckled. "Element of Honesty, I swear…"
She blushed, her face wrinkling into a frown for a second, before softening into a smile again.
She took a few small steps forward, so that she was standing opposite him, the size difference between the two now comically apparent.
"Sheamus, ya know I'm not the girl to use big fancy words that often, so…"
Rising up ever so slightly onto her tiptoes, she pressed her lips against his. All the heat from that morning's sun suddenly rushed to Sheamus' head, but Applejack grabbed his shoulders, ensuring he kept balanced.
"There," she said after breaking the kiss, "how's that for honesty?"
Sheamus had no idea how to react, deciding to instead look around for Applebloom and Big Mac. They were nowhere to be seen, and he was drawn back to Applejack's face, which was covered by a humble smile.
"So, Sheamus…how about we finish that cider?" She gestured to the bottles, which had ben propped up against the tree trunk during their discussion.
"Sounds like a plan."
Together, they sat down under the tree, hands overlapping one another.
"To us?" Applejack asked, holding her bottle up with her free hand.
"To us." Sheamus repeated back softly.
Sheamus felt himself reach a point of almost drunken bliss as he clinked bottles with AJ, letting the cider wash through his body.
In that beautiful moment, he knew, as the sunlight framed her face perfectly, that his happiness wasn't due to the alcohol at all.