Shane woke up the next morning with a heavy head and his clothes still on from the day before. But for him, this was nothing out of the ordinary. Sometimes it was just easier to keep his JoJa uniform on so he wouldn't have to go through the effort of changing. Sometimes he just sat at the Stardrop Saloon even when he knew he didn't have any money because the smell of alcohol alone was occasionally enough to soothe the thoughts in his mind. But on that night in particular, of course, he had been given a beer by Alex, or whatever the kid's name was. It was nice of him honestly (Shane would never turn down a free beer), but the image of the jock smiling so brightly and sliding him that drink with one of those looks in his eyes, kept replaying in his head endlessly. He had never even spoken to the guy. He'd seen him around, sure, but Shane tried to keep to himself so no one else would be brought down by his natural disposition.
With a sigh, he lifted himself from bed, deciding that he had just imagined that look in Alex's eyes, and that the man was simply reaching out and trying to be nice. Which just made him feel even worse. He must look like such a pity case to all those happy townspeople since he polarized them so intensely. He seemed to be the only one in Stardew Valley who didn't have a niche to fit in. Even those goth kids had each other. But he was just an outsider, the newcomer who had those sad eyes that made people move out of his way and buy him beers.
Apparently, Shane's reverie had lasted longer than he thought, as he glanced at the clock and realized if he didn't leave soon he would be late for work again, and that wouldn't really go by so well with Morris. So, he exited the ranch, skipping breakfast and ignoring Marnie who sat at the kitchen table. Squinting up towards the sun, he noticed it was another bright and warm summer day in the Valley, not that it meant much to him though, since JoJa Mart was a fluorescent-lit windowless cube where the only cool breeze he could get was when the automatic doors opened and closed. Adjusting his hat, he started the trek to the hellhole he was practically forced to work at.
Shane didn't really mind walking around town so early in the morning. Everything was quiet, no one was up, and he could for once admire Pelican Town and breath in that fresh mountain air. He walked through the sleeping streets, past Emily's house and up towards the Saloon. That is, he thought it was a sleeping town, until he heard heavy footsteps behind him, making him jump out of his skin just slightly. He swung around, expecting sudden death by some creature, only to find the same guy from the night before. This time, he was very shirtless.
"Hey, Shane!" He called and then slowed his jogging as he reached the dark-haired man. He was never out for a jog this early, and Shane would know, because he walked this same path every damn day. But there he was; brown hair messy, sweat glistening on his arms, on his abs. It's not like the dude was hiding them, it was like they were glowing in the sunlight, like a chorus of angels should be singing at the sight of them. Shane did not mean for his eyes to travel all over the guy, but it was hard not to, especially when he noticed the green running shorts he was wearing, and damn, how could anyone even get muscles so defined? Unfortunately, it seemed as though Alex definitely noticed the look-over, as he started to smirk. Shane quickly turned back around and kept walking towards work, feeling just a slight hot blush fall over his face. But Alex kept jogging alongside him.
"What do you want?" Shane asked roughly, refusing to look the man in the face.
"I'm out for a run. Duh."
"You're never out here so early." He said in a very accusatory tone.
"You memorizing my schedule?" Alex returned.
If Shane was flustered before, now he was just angry. "What the hell, man? No, I-"
"Woah, calm down. I was just kidding." Alex just kept smiling. Why wouldn't the guy stop smiling? It was unnerving. "I'm only out here now because the weather is so nice. Isn't it?"
Shane glanced at the man after staring ahead for so long, and there were those abs again, and there were those angels singing, so he quickened his pace and spat, "Seriously, just fuck off." Alex chuckled once again under his breath but Shane wasn't there to see the white of his smile. He was already down the path, pulling his arms around his chest, his mood already soured for the whole day.
Stacking cans upon cans of beans was not the most exciting job. But of course, this wasn't Shane's first time noticing that fact. Day after day he stacked cans and waited until he could clock out and go to the Saloon. After nine months in the Valley, he had a routine. His mind didn't have many places to wander to other than the cans, and the beer, and his own troubles, because he didn't have anything else to think about, and he wasn't about to let some jock ruin the monotony he had created for himself. But of course, the taunting wouldn't stop at the unusual jog in the morning. Soon enough, the automatic doors of the store slid open, letting in a short rush of cool air, but Shane didn't look up to see who had entered. He wasn't particularly surprised either when he heard Alex's voice behind him.
"I finished my jog."
Shane turned from his spot on the dirty floor where he worked on restocking the shelves, with the same deadpan expression on his face as he always had, and saw the bright-eyed man coming down the aisle. His face glistened with sweat, but he did have on a shirt now. In his hand was an energy drink, which he held up.
"Gotta stay hydrated."
"Okay?"
At this, Alex let out an uncharacteristic groan, cracking the happy-go-lucky shell he had maintained so well. "Come on man," he whined. "Would it really kill you to have a conversation with me?"
Shane's eyes narrowed back onto the shelves. "Yeah, I can feel myself going into cardiac arrest right now."
Alex scoffed at that and then said defensively, "Look, I'm only trying to reach out okay? It's no secret things have been rough for you since moving in, so I'm just being nice."
Shane stood from his position on the floor and collected the empty box beside him. "I don't want that. You're trying to mask your pity with niceness, and I don't fucking want your pity. So, I hope you feel better about yourself for trying to help poor Shane, but it's not worth it. Just stop talking to me, for fucks sake."
He hadn't realized how angry he would sound, or anticipated how raised his voice would become, but by the end, he was practically yelling at the kid in the middle of a JoJa aisle, and he watched as the man's once shining features dissolved into a hurt surprise.
But before Alex could even begin to reply, another voice came from the other end of the hall, one that made the Shane's blood run cold.
"Shane, get back to work." Morris' face was curled in disgust, his beady black eyes sticking daggers into his employee.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled to his boss, adjusting his blue cap nervously. Even if Morris hadn't heard him insulting a customer, he was still going to get in some sort of trouble for standing around on the job. Great. Now, not only had he embarrassed himself in front of Alex, but he had been a complete asshole. What the hell was wrong with him? He turned back towards Alex with a sigh and saw that his features had gone soft again, almost sympathetic. Somehow that was even worse.
"I didn't mean to get you in trouble," he pouted.
"No, I deserved it." Shane sighed, scratching the back of his neck. The two fell quiet for a moment until Shane's eyes were drawn to the Red Bull in Alex's hand. "Those are pretty bad for you, ya know."
They locked eyes, Shane realizing he was not exactly at liberty to say that, what with his little alcohol problem. Alex thought it too, Shane could tell because he got a strange look in his eye.
"Okay, that was pretty dumb of me."
"Yeah, it kinda was." Then, Alex bust out laughing, but it wasn't a mocking laugh. It wasn't a 'haha-I'm-better-than-you' kind of laugh. He was simply laughing at the irony of the situation. Shane couldn't help but crack a smile too, and Alex definitely noticed that.
Once he stopped laughing, he patted a hand on Shane's shoulder and said, "Well, I should probably pay before I get you in anymore trouble. See you, Shane."
"Okay, I guess." Shane mumbled, as the tall man turned to leave.
"Oh, and Shane?"
He turned to him once again, the fluorescent lighting seeming to glow on his tan skin.
"Blue is a really nice color on you."
And with that, Alex was gone, leaving Shane pink in the face and tugging at the collar of his JoJa uniform. What an ass, he thought. But there was no denying that blush. He quickly shook those thoughts away and went back to work, trying to forget the encounter completely.
The next couple days brought similar happenings, which Shane did his best to ignore. On his walks to and from work, somehow Alex would always make an appearance. He would either be jogging by or doing pushups in his front yard or even stretching directly outside of Jo-Ja, waving at Shane as he walked in. He would just glare at the young man momentarily and then look away and continue on with his day. He didn't have the energy or the motivation to deal with whatever his motives were. He didn't want to think about or see him, he just wanted his usual quiet routine that no one had ever tried to break. Even still, as much as he tried to convince himself that he enjoyed being alone, he truthfully really wanted a friend. But he knew he couldn't get that unless he made other major changes in his life, and he just did not have the energy for that anymore.
It seemed as though the guy was everywhere at once. He was there at work, he was jogging by Pierre's in the morning, he was sitting by the lake in front of Marnie's Ranch when Shane went to work. He would be an idiot not to think something strange was going on, especially since Alex had made no other attempts at conversation since. No matter how much Alex tried to convince him that he was just being nice, Shane wasn't an idiot.
He considered this on his way home from work that day. It was obvious, too obvious, that Alex was being put up to this somehow. But maybe he was being a giant asshole. Maybe the kid wasn't lying when he said he was trying to reach out. Maybe Shane was doing that thing that he always did where he pushed good people away. As obvious it seemed just seconds before that Alex was messing with him, Shane was quickly considering the possibility that he was the one at fault. That would make a lot of sense too. Of course he had to fuck up any good thing that came his way. Suddenly the anger he had felt towards Alex for trying to talk to him was redirected towards himself. He was an idiot.
It was around five o'clock then and the sun was beginning to set beneath the mountains. It was hotter than usual and Shane hated himself more than usual too. He knew that inside the Saloon would be even hotter, and that there was a high chance Alex would be there and Shane really did not want to look at him. He just wanted to be alone. So he felt his legs begin bee-lining away from the Stardrop Saloon and instead to the beach. He didn't go there often, but he liked the beach. He just didn't like the people that hung out there.
Luckily for him though, when his shoes hit the sand, he could already tell the beach was completely empty. There was just the creaking wood of Elliot's hut in the breeze and the sound of the waves crashing over each other onto the white, pristine sand. It wasn't as big as he remembered from visiting Marnie as a child, but he instantly felt at ease at the sight of the setting sun over the twinkling sea. It almost made him forget that he was completely sober. Shane continued onwards, his sneakers sinking slightly into the sand, until he reached the edge of the water. There he stood, staring out onto the horizon, each breath he took filling his lungs with a salty freshness.
He shouldn't be such a dick to people, he knew that. Shane wasn't a bad guy, not even close. But it's hard to show up to such a tight-knit community with a little girl at his side and a lifetime of city-assholes and dysfunction and just be expected to fit in and make friends. He was the only person in Pelican Town with a five o'clock shadow for Christ's sake. He was different. But somehow he could still kneel down and tell Jas that being different didn't make her any less cool than the other kid in town, and that being new didn't mean she wouldn't do well. Of course he wouldn't be able to take his own advice. It was different with Jas though. She still had time.
Shane shook those thoughts away and tried to re-focus onto the ocean. He was outlined with the soft golden glow of the dying sun and the toes of his shoes were soaked with salt water. He closed his eyes and basked in the feeling.
"Shane!" A warm voice rang out from behind him on the beach, shattering whatever calm moment he had lost himself in. The placid expression on his face melted into a deep frown. He turned to see who had soured his mood this time just to find Alex, once again, was the perpetrator. He couldn't say he was surprised to see him, what with how he had been popping up all week. This time, he was tossing a gridball around in his hands with a gigantic grin on his face.
"I didn't expect to see you here. I was just gonna enjoy this great weather." He opened his arms in front of him, beckoning towards the breathtaking sunset which was turning the ocean a fiery red as it sank lower and lower beneath the horizon.
Shane glanced at the sunset one last time, knowing now he had to leave. He was too embarrassed to face Alex what with all of his actions the past couple of days, so he mumbled, "Yes, this was great, until…"
"Hey, go long!" Alex called out, throwing his gridball towards the unsuspecting man. Shane couldn't even register the image of the ball flying towards him before it hit him square in the chest, almost making him topple backwards into the ocean. He let out a pained grunt as it hit him and soon Alex was jogging towards him, laughing.
"You need to work on your catching." He said, picking the ball up from the sand.
"I wasn't ready," Shane said, clutching his stomach.
"Sorry, are you okay?" Alex questioned, finally noticing the way Shane was hunched over.
"Just had the wind knocked out of me, I'm fine." He straightened back up. "I actually used to be pretty good at catching."
"Really?" Alex raised his eyebrows. "Well, I'm going to be the first professional gridball player from Stardew Valley. In high school, I led my team to the regional playoffs. Now I just gotta train extra hard so I can get my spot with the Zuzu City Tunnelers. But I'll get there. There's not a doubt in my mind." He tossed the gridball up in the air and caught it, then looked to Shane, expecting him to be impressed. But his expression was as unreadable as ever.
"Has anyone ever told you how arrogant you are?" Shane finally said. For a moment, Alex's expression faltered. It seemed as though he hadn't warmed up at all, even after he saw him soften a bit at JoJa a few days before. But then Alex noticed something different in Shane's tone. The way he said it, he seemed almost playful.
"Hah. Yeah, a couple times." Alex answered. Then he was grinning again, and he was surprised to see Shane let out the smallest smile, the corner of his lip curling upwards ever so slightly. The sight of that only made Alex beam brighter. With a short nod, Shane turned to go. "I'll see you around, yeah?" The athlete called as the shorter man treaded through the sand.
"I guess we will." Shane glanced over his shoulder to see Alex and his smile one last time before heading back to Marnie's for the night. He had a strange light feeling in his chest. And he hadn't even had a single drink.
A/N: Sorry for the loooong wait between chapters! I'm not very consistent, but I'm not gonna abandon this story. Also thanks to the two reviews! They really made my day + are very much appreciated. hope you enjoyed the chapter :-)))))
-Bean
