The Blue Chick (Shane X Male Reader)
On a sunny day, while his husband is working again on the farm, Shane focuses back on his own little chicken coop at the corner of the farm. Although the couple already has an entire barn of them, Shane feels there is a certain satisfaction in taking care of them.
Today, as he feeds the chickens, he notices something odd. Usually, the eggs he gathers will either be sold off, used at home, or gifted to his family. However, today he discovers a strange kind of egg—a blue egg.
Shane, being a chicken enthusiast, of course knows about the rare blue chicken. He took care of them before at Marnie’s place. However, he never encountered a situation where one of the eggs mutated into becoming a blue chicken. And all he had heard about it was that this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment—a miracle.
He quickly makes up his mind. He wants to keep the egg and wants a chick to come out of it. As he gently grabs it, a sudden anxiety hits him. What if he screws up? What if he accidentally drops the egg? What if it gets too cold or too hot?
Feeling like he’s going to mess it up, he takes the egg back home, walking slowly and carefully while doing so. As he gets to the house, he notices his husband harvesting some blueberries.
“Uhm… Y/N?” The farmer looks back, quickly seeing Shane softly holding something. “Can you help me?”
Y/N stands up and walks over. “What’s the problem?” He then looks down, seeing the blue egg. “Is that a blue egg? Is it from Marnie’s?”
“No. It was in the coop.” Shane says, still feeling nervous to the point of sweating a bit. That, and the summer heat isn’t helping. “You know how rare these are, so I want to keep it. I’m just… nervous that I’ll screw it up.”
Y/N hums, looking back at the egg. “We need a place to safely keep it. Like a box or basket or something. Clean straw on the bottom. We can change its position without issue if it needs more warmth or not. It will take a couple of weeks, so when the time comes, we put in some water as well.”
“R-right.” Shane gulps, looking down at the egg. It’s going to take a lot for him to take care of it.
-
Inside the house, in their bedroom, the couple sets up a small nest on their desk. Inside a cardboard box, there is hay on the bottom, creating a soft floor. A heat lamp ensures the egg has enough warmth, while it rests nestled inside the box.
The couple looks down at it. While the farmer looks satisfied, Shane feels concerned. “You sure this is it?”
“Chickens sit on eggs to keep them warm. The lamp will do the job.” Y/N replies. “We just have to check in once in a while to see if everything is okay.”
Shane knows this. He’s lived long enough with Marnie to know how chickens are supposed to be taken care of. And yet, he still feels anxious.
“Shane, you alright?”
Shane looks away, a bit caught off guard. “Uh—yes.”
“You look nervous.” Y/N says. “Trust me. I’ve taken care of plenty of chickens, and so has Marnie.”
“I know, I know…” Shane responds, looking back at the egg.
Y/N can tell that despite the reassurance, Shane is still restless. “Look, it’s a good thing to feel concerned. It shows you care.” He puts an arm around his husband, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Just don’t get sick worrying about it, alright?”
Despite feeling like he might, Shane forces a small smile. “Alright.”
-
One night, Shane has nightmares about what happened in his life—the years he feels were wasted, the opportunities he lost, and the mistakes he made. The last one is the worst: when he got drunk, got angry at his husband, and accidentally stumbled into the box where the egg was kept. The dream ends with him seeing the egg completely shattered, the chick never born.
Waking up, Shane breathes heavily. He quickly looks beside him, seeing the man he loves peacefully asleep. Rubbing his eyes, he looks back at the box on the desk, the heat lamp still shining. The egg should be fine. Even still, Shane wants to check on it.
Wearing just an oversized green gridball jersey and boxers, he makes his way to the nest. All the while, he stretches what he considers his old body, which cracks a bit. It doesn’t take long to arrive at the desk, and he peeks down. The egg appears to be completely fine.
“Thank Yoba…” Shane mutters.
He can still feel his heart beating heavily. There is no way he can sleep now. He knows he needs to calm down and accept that nothing bad has happened and there is no need to panic. Still, if he can’t even take care of an egg, how can he take care of someone young…
Feeling stressed, he decides to get something to eat. He grabs a bag of chips from the kitchen and returns to the bedroom. From there, he sits against the desk and, while looking down at the box, eats the chips.
He doesn’t even realize how long he has been staring at the box, simply processing his dream, until he hears murmurs coming from the bed. There, he hears a groan, as well as his husband shifting and sitting up.
Y/N lets out a yawn as he speaks. “Shane?”
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t want to wake you up.” Shane admits, feeling apologetic.
Sensing something is wrong, Y/N gets out of bed and stands up. “Everything alright?” The farmer still sounds tired.
Shane puts the bag aside, scratching the back of his head as his husband walks over to him. “Couldn’t sleep. Got the nightmare… again.”
Y/N hums, his eyes locking on the chips bag. “Stress eating?”
Shane looks away, only now realizing what he’s doing. Feeling embarrassed, he avoids his husband’s eyes. “Right… sorry.”
“It’s fine. Better than you getting drunk.” Y/N replies, giving him an assuring smile before glancing at the egg. “You really are something, getting worried over an egg.”
Shane remains quiet, and the other man notices.
“Just teasing. You know I like it when you act so soft.”
Y/N gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. This makes Shane smile a bit. He moves over, putting an arm around him as they both look at the egg.
“The chick is going to be fine. But try to focus on yourself as well. The chick is going to need a good human dad to take care of it.” Y/N leans in and speaks softly into his ear. “That means plenty of sleep and lots of hugs from this amazing guy.”
Shane chuckles, looking aside, his face still close to his husband’s. With a soft smile, he leans in to give a quick peck before speaking up. “I still don’t understand why you wanted to be with me.”
“Because you’re a sweet, funny, and handsome guy.” Y/N says with a wink.
Shane playfully scoffs. “More like an old, grumpy, out-of-shape guy.”
“I prefer ‘young enough,’ ‘straightforward,’ and ‘more to love.’”
This makes Shane laugh. “You can spin anything into a good thing.” He lets out a yawn before speaking again. “Fine. Let’s hit the hay.”
-
After that night, Shane felt a lot better. He made sure to accept his husband’s words and not put too much stress on himself. After all, whenever he doesn’t take care of himself, it hurts those he cares about. He already learned this when he was drinking, and to his surprise, he had to learn it again—just in another way.
A couple of weeks passed, and Shane was preparing dinner for himself and the farmer. As he cooks some pepper poppers, he hears something odd. He pauses for a second and focuses on the sound. It sounds like the cracking of something soft. He looks back at the bedroom, wondering if this might be the day.
He quickly turns off the stove and heads to the bedroom. That’s when he reaches the box and sees that it indeed is what he thinks. On the hay, there are eggshells falling apart. The chick appears to be fighting to get out, its head pushing against the shell.
Shane is stunned, simply staring at it as the chick manages to create an opening. With all of its strength, the wet blue chick gets out. Its eyes slowly open and close, experiencing its very first moments of life.
“Shane, I’m home!”
Shane hears his husband entering the house. He simply looks back and finally speaks up.
“The egg has hatched!”
It doesn’t take long before he hears fast footsteps, with the farmer rushing in. He stands next to Shane, looking down to see the small blue chick. The farmer smiles immediately, happy to greet it.
“Hey there, lil’ guy.”
He gently picks the chick up. Looking down, he checks it as it looks back at them curiously. The man softly caresses the newborn.
“It looks like a healthy baby. He’s so cute.” As he smiles, he looks over at Shane, who is smiling as well, though still just staring. “Do you want to hold it?”
Shane is a bit taken aback. He looks unsure at the baby, though he feels reassured by his husband’s smile. “Yes.”
The farmer gently hands the chick over. Shane holds it carefully, sturdy but not rough. Although a bit nervous, he looks happy and satisfied as he stares at it.
The farmer puts his arms around Shane, giving him a gentle squeeze. He looks down at the chick. “Told you the baby was going to be fine. You did well taking care of it.”
“Yeah…” Shane hums. “But now it’s a baby. We still need to take care of it.”
“Be happy you married an amazing farmer. I’ve raised enough chicks from Marnie into healthy chickens.” Y/N says, placing a kiss on his husband’s cheek.
Shane nods. He feels positive about it. Hell, the egg managed to hatch and the chick seems to be fine. Maybe he can truly be someone who deserves to be called a dad?
“We should tell Jas and Marnie about it.” Shane says, remembering the support he received from both of them. “They would love to meet this lil’ guy.”
-
The next day, Jas and Marnie visited the farm. The little girl is playing with the blue chick. They are both at Shane’s chicken coop, with Marnie observing them while caring for the chickens.
All the while, Shane and Y/N are sitting on some lawn chairs next to the house. Both of them are drinking water as they chat and enjoy watching the chick play with Jas.
“Just look how happy they are.” Shane comments, smirking. “We should let her visit more often.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” Y/N says, looking back at his husband. “Jas is such a sweetheart. She’s like a little sister.”
Shane would agree, even if he’s the godfather to her. Thinking of that, he reflects on the entire egg situation and his thoughts, realizing something: the fact that he was projecting his fears onto the egg. Taking a big gulp of water, he finally speaks up.
“Y/N… do you ever think about… getting a child?”
Y/N looks a bit surprised. “Oh—uhm—yeah. …You?”
“Yeah, but… I feel like I would be a bad dad.” Shane admits, feeling a bit scared to speak about it. “Like… you know what a mess I am. I feel like I still want beer, and when I can’t, I just eat like crap. And even if you’re alright with me being ‘more to love,’ it isn’t something I’m proud of… I don’t even have a normal job or dreams… I’m just a guy who likes chickens, loves his farmer husband, and loves his godchild and aunt. Nothing much.”
Y/N hums, understanding him. “I get it. And I understand if you’re scared of having one, but you’re not alone. You’ve got me. We’ll raise them together. And if it means anything, I think you did great with the egg—and you’re going to be great raising the chick.”
Shane hums, then responds with a small smirk. “Stress eating aside?”
“Just means you’re getting a dad bod. Means you’re a great dad.” Y/N jokes.
“You’re using ‘getting’ very generously.” Shane chuckles, smiling warmly. “You really think I would be a great dad?”
“Yes. It will be rough, sure, but a great one. You get into it just like you got into raising chickens.”
Shane smiles. Maybe Y/N is right. Maybe he would be a good dad. Yeah, it’s going to be tough, but he needs to accept that. And it’s okay—because even if he messes up, he can always make it right. He did it once before, and he can do it again, even if he prefers avoiding it.