the stars in your eyes | t.s. one shots

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It's one of those nights, the kind of night where the sky is painted in vibrant pinks and oranges and yellows. The kind where the crescent moon begins to peek out before the sun has fallen into its nightly slumber. The kind of summer night where a breeze blows just lightly enough through the humidity that hangs in the sky, taking any uncomfortable edge off without sending shivers over your skin.

It's also Taylor and Travis's first night in their new home. The ranch that they bought outside of Nashville, their first piece of property that's truly theirs. They closed on it this morning, both of their names being signed on the dotted line before a copy of the key was pressed into each of their palms.

This is it for them- they both know it. In a few years' time, they'll be settling down. Travis will retire and they'll make the farmhouse into their full-time residence. They'll raise a family together, grow old sipping their iced teas on the rocking chairs of the wraparound porch. The future is something that is wide open, but for the first time, feeling within reach for the couple.

Their new place is a fixer-upper. They don't have many things yet- only a bed to sleep on and a fridge filled with the bare minimum amount of food they'll need for the next few days. They're going to have to get a construction crew in- renovate the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen, take down all of the old and faded wallpaper and paint things in a color scheme that will be entirely theirs to choose. They want to take out the wall between the living room and the kitchen, replace it with one that's got a sort of window that they can look through so that Taylor doesn't have to miss anything exciting on the football game on TV when she's pulling the nachos that she made for dinner out of the oven, or so that they can speak to each other and carry on a conversation even as they're in separate rooms doing their own separate things. They want the space to be more open, not divided by a door that can be shut and locked. There's so many things that they want to do to the house, so many ideas that are living only inside of their imaginations right now.

But neither Taylor nor Travis cares that their house isn't perfect yet. They only care that it's theirs.

So they're spending their evening in the field that's now on their property, hands intertwined as they walk toward the barn where Taylor hopes to someday have a horse and maybe a few chickens. She can so clearly envision teaching her daughter how to ride someday- something that she learned when she was only a child but has never left her bones. Not many people know just how well she can ride.

Just behind the house is a patch of gravel with an in-ground fire pit and a few benches situated around. There's a backyard with a tree that someday, will hold a treehouse and a tire swing. There's an in-ground swimming pool. There's a sky full of stars and no other humans as far as the eye can see.

This house is perfect- Taylor and Travis are convinced. It's their own little slice of paradise. As the stars begin to come out, the couple finds themselves at the fire pit, Taylor's guitar in her hand as she wears one of Travis's flannels, the buttons open to reveal a black cropped tee shirt, denim shorts, and a pair of white cowgirl boots on her feet. "Sing for me," he'd requested. "I'll make the fire, and we can cook some hot dogs and marshmallows."

It wasn't the first time he'd asked her to sing for him. In fact, quite the opposite. He loves hearing her just play around, feel the strings under her fingers as her voice floats softly and lightly in a sweet melody. She loves to write, but sometimes, she also loves to just play her favorite songs. That's what she's up to tonight, with Travis joining in every now and then, on songs that he knows, a glistening smile on his face as he does so. While he's the first to admit that he's not got a career in singing, he can carry a tune and loves a good night at the karaoke bar, or even better, a sing-along around the campfire.