TOWARD HOME

[avery11]

Note: This story can be read as Gen or Slash, depending on your preference.

Toward Home

by

Avery11

The farmers’ market in the little village of Les Vignes sur Mer was busy, typical for an afternoon in late September. The crowd, mostly locals, wandered from stall to stall, filling totes and baskets with the last of summer’s bounty-aubergines and vine-ripened tomatoes, sweet Provençal peaches and jars of lavender honey.

Illya accepted a sack of nectarines from Monsieur Armengaud, and passed over a handful of euros with a sigh. “These prices, Maurice-a scandal.”

“Oui, Monsieur,” the portly vendeur chuckled, stepping into his accustomed role. “More expensive every season.” It was an old joke between them.

Illya inhaled the wild, fruity scent of the nectarines, and his face relaxed into a smile. “But worth the sacrifice of a few euros, I suppose.”

“Naturellement!”

Their weekly ritual thus completed, Illya slid the nectarines into his basket beside a jar of tapenade, some lovely chanterelles and a bottle of the local wine, and started up the long hill toward home.

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Read the rest of the story on AO3.

READ MORE: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50732242