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dreaminghour · 2 years ago

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Hayden/Ewan RPF - Handmade gift

Event: @domaystic Fandom: Star Wars RPF Rating: General Audiences Prompt: 21 Handmade gift Ship: Hayden/Ewan Disclaimer: References to real people are used fictitiously. Do not share this with them! Context: Present day. Vaguely follows the timeline of my other RPF ficlets, but you don't need to read those to understand this. You can find them here on my blog. Words: 990

Ever since Hayden took Ewan on a walk around the property, he's been thinking thinking about those apple trees. He'd been apple picking in New York naturally, but that was ages ago now.

It's nearing on weeks since he's left home. Hayden doesn't pressure him for answers, doesn't even ask how long he's intending to stay, but it weighs on Ewan. Even though being here is a relief which outpaces everything else. There's something so peaceful about spending his days walking the land, running occasional errands in town, helping Hayden around the farm. It isn't something he's ever done much of. He goes to sleep dreaming of apples and sheep.

Hayden puts out apple butter for fresh buns in the mornings but Ewan tries to go easy on it; he doesn't know how much there is in the pantry. Hayden also mentioned 'winter apples' for baking, but Ewan is dreaming of that first crisp bite in the fall, which is months away yet. The weather is still clinging to cool spring ways.

But then, at last, he smells apple pie. When he looks up from the script he's been reading, spread out on the guest bed, he notices that the sun has moved further than he expected. He's making notes to send back to his agent, but this isn't time sensitive so much as an excuse to keep him out of Hayden's hair.

But a smell like that is a siren's call. He stacks all his things in a pile and leaves them on the bed, padding down the stairs to the kitchen. He meets Hayden in front of the oven.

"I was wondering when that would reach you," Hayden says affectionately.

"Just caught up in reading," Ewan says, stepping back as Hayden opens the door and pulls the pie out.

It's steaming, crust a beautiful golden color, bubbles of cinnamon and sugar bursting from the holes cut in the top. Hayden tilts the pie just slightly, as though presenting it to Ewan, and looks at him with a small smile.

"What's the occasion?" Ewan asks.

"Joel and his wife are coming over later," Hayden says, putting the pie on the kitchen's wide window ledge.

Ewan knows Joel from the time he came over to help Hayden fix one of the machines. For as much as Ewan knows the ins-and-outs of his own bikes, he doesn't know much about farm equipment.

"Just a visit with friends?" Ewan asks.

It's not that he feels as though he needs to tread softly on the subject, but the lack of people has struck Ewan as odd. The house is big, meant to be filled with a large family, lots of friends; he wants to call it lonely in his mind, to see Hayden out here with no one but an occaisional farm-hand or two, but Hayden doesn't seem lonesome. He seems solitary, but it seems to suit him.

"Joel's wife is the local sheep shearer. She trims horns and hooves as needed too. That's how I met Joel. They'll be coming by in a bit to shear them before it gets much hotter."

"Does it get much hotter?"

Hayden shrugs. "A bit. Not like California though." And he grins at Ewan in a way that makes it clear he sees something which Ewan would like to ignore.

The pie cools down, but the scent lingers. The truck which pulls up with Joel and his wife, Eileen, is quickly emptied in the barnyard and Ewan helps bag up each fleece as it comes off the sheep. There aren't many to shear; a couple hours and it's all done. Joel and his wife decline the offer of dinner, Ewan briefly wonders if its because of him, and the pie is handed over as well as payment for the service itself.

Hayden is bashful and humble about the pie, even while Joel is practically effervescent and Eileen chortles, which makes Ewan a bit mad that he won't be able to try it.

"I thought you only had a few apples left?" Ewan asks after they've brought the sheep into the barn and cleaned up for dinner. He's standing side-by-side with Hayden in the kitchen again.

"Most farmers keep sides of lamb in their chest freezers," Hayden says, "but mine's full of produce. I chop up the apples, sometimes I mix 'em up with sugar and cinnamon, and then when I need a quick pie…" He makes a ta-da gesture.

"I don't suppose…" Ewan trails off, focusing on chopping the onion with a very sharp knife for the moment.

"Sometimes a whole pie is a bit much for just one person," Hayden says, and when Ewan glances over he sees a fond smile on his face, "and I'll admit I do like the taste of my own apples."

Ewan doesn't reply. He puts the chopped onions in a bowl and then turns to watch Hayden go into his fridge and pull out a baking sheet. Laid out on it are what look like hand pies.

"Are those—?"

"Apple pies for my favorite American friend doesn't stop asking about them," Hayden says with a wink.

Ewan scoffs.

"I have a couple in the freezer," Hayden continues, "but there's usually scraps when I put together a pie fresh, so we can have these for dessert."

He puts the tray back in the fridge and comes to stand beside Ewan again.

"I'm not American," Ewan says at last, a bit quietly and only mock offended.

"Didn't you get citizenship a couple years ago?"

Ewan scoffs again.

Dinner is delicious, as Ewan has come to expect it always is at Hayden's. The smell of baking pie distracts them while they clean their plates and then they're sitting on the couch with ice cream and steaming pies.

The sky is turning dark purple and even though he knows he has to, Ewan is wondering how he'll ever bring himself to leave.

#domaystic2023 #2023day21 #dreamy does fic #dreamy does domaystic #star wars rpf #hayden x ewan #ewan x hayden #haywan

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