Prompt for After the Raven: There's a farm task neither of them want to do/bad weather/early morning, how do they decide who has to do it/get motivated? Or: Holsom Swawesome Date Night Extravaganza^tm. You rock, btw! I love your writing so much!
i’ve been sitting on this prompt for like 10 years but now it’s finally time. thanks so much @maegonstorm for your patience!
after the raven has had his say aka the poly farm au: tag, read it on ao3!
Jack stands in front of his neatly plotted garden, hands on his hips and shoulders back. The gate sways back and forth with the gentle breeze. He can hear his hives buzzing and Holster’s goats bleating in the distance, but for now his attention is on the scene in front of him.
“I don’t see how it’s my problem.” He says calmly, tearing his eyes away from the garden to glance over at Holster, who’s standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He’s wearing the faded Falconers baseball cap and Jack takes a half-moment to appreciate how the blue fabric brings out his partner’s eyes, beautiful and bright even as Holster’s gaze narrows.
“You don’t see? Are you blind?” Holster squints down at him. Jack just shrugs and Holster mirrors the gesture, dramatic as ever. Jack raises an eyebrow. If that’s how he wants to play it, fine.
“No, but you almost are.” Jack shoots back, and it’s not really a chirp if it’s true, is it? Does that make it more chirpy? Jack’s not sure (he’ll ask Holster about it later, when this whole situation is put to rest, and Holster will take the opposite point of view just because he can and they’ll debate over dinner and the dishes and even over getting ready for bed but when the lights are off and they both settle under the covers Holster will wrap an arm around his waist and tell Jack he’s right because it’s his turn to win, damn it, and Jack will kiss him because that’s the reward for conceding gracefully and Holster will chirp him between kisses until they fall asleep or Jack decides to really give him something to chirp about) but he presses on. “Maybe that’s why you think this falls under my jurisdiction.”
“You’re kidding me,” Holster scoffs. He’s wearing the deep green flannel that hugs his shoulders just right, and Jack takes another half-moment to drag his gaze over the rounded curve of his bicep. Holster ducks down, intercepting Jack’s wandering eyes, only straightening up when he knows he has Jack’s full attention. “This is all you, Jack. This is one hundred percent your issue.”
“She’s your cow,” Jack says, turning to look back at the cow standing smack dab in the middle of the garden. Liz is happily chomping away at the tops of Jack’s carrots and it looks like the beets are next. She’s already worked her way through the herbs, leaving hoof prints in the basil and knocking over the potted rosemary but Jack draws the line at root crops.
“In your garden! You always say the garden is yours!” Holster shoots back. Liz looks up at the sound of his voice and moos, softly, but Holster just waves her off.
“Because you’re terrible at growing things. You’re a farmer who can’t farm.” Jack says just as Liz turns to the squash, and he can’t stand by and watch her go through his butternut and acorn patches.
“Well, now I’m definitely not going to help,” Holster says, and they stand there in silence for a moment, just watching Liz chew on some pumpkin leaves. Jack waits, because he knows he can. A moment later Holster heaves a heavy sigh, dipping his body to the side as he gives in. “Arm wrestle you for it. Loser has to get her out of there.” Holster suggests, and Jack has already picked out which fence post to use.
They square off, hunched over the fence with their hands clasped and foreheads almost pressed together. They count down and the contest begins. Jack ducks in, trying press a kiss to Holster’s cheek to distract him but Holster jerks away just in time. Jack thinks, for just a second, that his gambit actually worked when Holster’s arm moves back but the next thing he knows Holster’s slammed his arm back and is crowing in victory. He reels Jack in by their still-clasped hands and manages to land four of the six rapid fire kisses he aims at Jack’s cheeks before pushing the gate aside to step into the garden enclosure.
“What are you doing?” Jack asks as Holster steps over the carnage of flora. “You won!”
“I just wanted to beat you!” Holster calls over his shoulder, and Jack has to laugh because that’s somehow charming, and the way Holster reaches out for Liz makes his heart skip another beat. “C’mere, baby,” Holster coos, as if he’s speaking to a puppy or child instead of a 1300 pound animal. “I know, fences are hard.” He scratches behind her ears until she gently headbutts his chest, and when he walks out of the garden she follows him. Jack closes the gate behind them and jogs a few steps to catch up with them, linking his fingers with Holster’s as Liz bellows behind them.
