Tomato Juice

This is my first try at humor, so... laugh!

Hope you enjoy! :D

Edit: Changed misspelled Maia to Maya. Thanks Clairabelle

Edit repeat: Haha. How embarrassing... I spelt embarrassment incorrectly. Yay for edits!

Gill sat at the familiar wood desk, brow furrowed as he read a shipping statement that hadn't gone through once again. Holding the paper with one hand, he jotted numbers and letters on a small yellow notepad. His rhythm was sequential. Look at the paper. Take a note. Double check. And look at the paper again for the next set of figures. Usually, he'd continue like this all day, skipping lunch, and after the workday was through, he'd grab the latest book he was reading and head home.

When Akari began work at the Town Hall, she determined to make him eat at lunchtime, claiming that a light meal made all the difference in the world. So, finding the young man too stubborn to change his hard-set habits, one day Akari brought an abnormally large glass of tomato juice with her small lunch. Correctly assuming that he wouldn't be able to resist his favorite food, she was quickly gratified by a salivating Gill slurping down the coveted drink. This was their tradition. Everyday, she'd come to work, everyday, Gill got his cup of tomato juice.

But today was harvest day. Akari didn't work there during harvest due to the large amounts of fruits and vegetables she had to pick. No Akari, no tomato juice.

Gill's stomach growled hungrily. He scowled. With each growing second, his empty stomach became more obnoxiously distracting. He tapped his pen, watching the clock tick away the lunch hour. It wouldn't hurt to leave for a short while, would it? It was only two; he could be back in fifteen minutes and still get all his work done... His stomach grumbled again."Elli, I'll be back in a bit."

Down at the Sundae Inn, Chase leaned against the bar counter, a dishcloth on his shoulder. It was after lunch, so he had a break before the dinner rush. Sipping a root beer at the bar, Luke chatted to the idle chef."So I gave one last swing at the old oak and 'TIMBER,'" the carpenter yelled with a grin, "This wood is a beaut. Perfect to make a sturdy table or a good old closet. You should-"

Gill strode into the Inn, looking particularly grumpy.

Taking this as something to distract the boring conversationalist, Chase nodded his head to the door, "As interesting as that is, check out grumpy Gills over there. Looks like he ate one of Maya's cement cookies."

Luke laughed and looked behind him, as Gill sidled up to the bar.

"One large tomato juice." Gill ordered.

"Coming up." Chase walked to the fridge and pulled out an icy cold cup of red tomato juice. Setting it before the platinum blonde, Chase gave him the price. Gill paid, then left, without a single thank you.

"You're welcome? ...I know he's the mayor's son and all, but why does he have to be so darn prissy?" Chase steamed.

"Maybe it's all that tomato juice. It's too tart, so it makes Gill stingy. I bet hot sauce would make it taste better. Hot sauce is good on everything." Luke replied.

This got Chase thinking.

"I wonder what happens if you put hot sauce in a workaholic's favorite drink..."

"Yeah, a whole bottle." Luke added.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You're thinking about tacos?"

"No," Chase sighed, exasperated, "I'm thinking we should go give Gill a spicy surprise he'll never forget."

"Oh. Yeah. I knew that."

Sipping at the red liquid, Gill quickly felt better and thus continued working.

Drink, look, jot, check, look, slurp, jot, sip, sip, check.

By the time he was halfway through the juice, he'd only written two orders. The doors opened and an energetic Luke sauntered in. As Elli always handled the visitors, Gill didn't look up from his desk, taking another swig of his drink.

"Good afternoon, Luke. May I help you?" Elli greeted cheerily.

"Actually, I came to talk to Gill." said Luke, walking over to the counter where Gill sat. "Hey, Gill. I wanted to look at the money stuff or whatever for our shop ten years ago. Could you get it for me?"

Gill nodded grumpily, glanced longingly at his tomato juice, and headed upstairs to the antiquated filing area, the attic. As soon as he was gone, Luke ran over to a side window and threw it open.

"Chase..." he whispered.

Holding three bottles of flaming hot Tabasco sauce, Chase popped out of the bushes.

"Bring it here," he said, unscrewing the bottle caps.

Careful not to bring attention to his less than honorable intentions, Luke brought the cup, which was currently at fifty percent of its volume, to the orange haired cook. As Chase emptied some of the cup and filled it with the spicy substance, Luke heard a quiet voice come from behind him.

"Luke, why are you taking Gill's tomato- Chase? What are you doing wi-?"

Luke jumped and covered Elli's mouth with his hand. "Shhh!"

"Of all people, I wouldn't expect you to be the one doing the shushing, Luke." Chase said sarcastically, then addressing Elli, "Don't say anything to Gill and you can come have lunch for free at the Inn for a week."

Elli looked thoughtful and Luke removed his hand from her face.

Smiling, she said, "Make it two. And don't tell Gill."

"Deal." Chase grinned.

Elli took her seat and Chase handed the volatile concoction to his dastardly cohort. Shortly after he set the cup back on the desk, Gill came down the stairs holding a dusty, yellow folder.

"Here are the records."

He made his way to the desk. Chase now walked in and, casting a sidelong look at their working scheme, he struck up a conversation with Elli about a new cooking technique. After blowing off the dust and giving a great sneeze, Gill handed the folder to Luke.

"Thanks, dude." Luke said, flipping the folder open and walking to a side of the room. Of course, still within sight of the victim.

They waited, waited for that first sip, waited for the reaction. Gill shuffled his papers, sat down, and picked up his pen. Chase asked Elli a question. Luke turned a page. Gill picked up the cup. As the poor, hungry, unsuspecting boy took a drink, all heads turned to watch. At first nothing. He set the cup down, lifted a paper, and began taking notes again. Then his mouth opened and he panted a little. What was going on? He took another sip and started to sweat. Didn't drinking usually cool you down? His cheeks were pink as he began gulping down the red liquid. The heat was too much now.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" he yelled, as he shot toward the bathroom. Chase and Luke silently laughed as they followed the bright red boy.

Elli called to Gill from her desk, "Are you alright, sir?"

He didn't answer, instead frenziedly splashing water on his tongue. That didn't help. In fact, it made it worse. His eyes watered and he ran back out of the bathroom.

"Eldi, mu toung id on thire! Helb be!"

The two pranksters were in fits, trying to contain their laughter at the sight of the uncomposed mayor's son.

"Um..." Elli held back a smile, trying to maintain her composure, "Milk usually helps, but we don't have any here." then as an afterthought, "I heard tomato juice helps too."

"I twied thad alweady! Id madb id hodder!"

Luke and Chase exploded laughing. Gill looked at them vehemently.

"Whad are ou tou lapbing aboud!"

Their noise increased.

"Oh, ou tink thid id do thunny, don ou!"

Gill gulped down more of the contaminated drink.

Luke was on the floor, holding his stomach.

"I can't breathe!" he wheezed.

"This is even better than I imagined!" Chase chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye.

Gill fanned his tongue, tears pouring down his face, when sudden realization struck. He stared at the two devilish boys, tricking him for no reason, laughing at his expense, and worst of all, ruining his lunchtime. His red hue was now more than heat.

"Ou! Ou dib dis didint ou!"

Gill's fists clenched. His face contorted with pain, rage, and embarrassment. His burning tongue lolled venomously. With a horrible, gurgling yell, Gill flew at them. But since they weren't half blinded by watering eyes, they easily evaded the enraged tomato.

"Oh no! We've angered the Grumpy-Gilly-Monster! Run, Luke, run!"

"Chase, the Gilly-Monster is going to get me!"

Gill took a swing at Chase and completely missed.

"Whad's de madder, Gildy? Can'd takc a liddle dyoke?" Chase egged him on.

Suddenly, the doors swung open again and in strode a sweaty Akari.

"Hey, Gill. Chase wasn't in, so I brought some of Dolly's milk for y-"

Everyone stopped and stared at her.

"Whoa! What happened to you?"

Gill ran over to her, grabbing the milk, and chugged it down. The two pranksters froze, looked at each other and back at Gill, then simultaneously said, "Bye!"

They charged out the door, Luke waving back at the confused farmer with a huge grin.

After Gill finished the very large bottle of milk, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and breathed heavily. All of the sudden he felt extremely dizzy.

"Gill? Are you alright?"

Akari's worried voice came through faintly.

"Thanks. Milk. Akari." he panted, trying to keep from falling over as he walked back to his desk. He didn't realize he was tottering forward, because in the next second, he had fallen on the floor.

"Gill!"

Akari kneeled next to him and rolled him over. "Gill?"

"I see spots."

"Are you okay?"

"Very pretty..."

"I think you should just sit for a while," she said uneasily, pulling him over against the desk post. Gill closed his eyes, muttering things beneath his breath. Elli wandered over, now regretting going along with the plot.

"Should I go fetch the doctor, Miss Akari?"

Akari looked up at Elli, "Yeah, but you might want to find out what Chase and Luke did so you can tell Jin."

Elli shuffled nervously, "Um... They replaced his tomato juice with hot sauce..."

Akari eyes widened, and then she giggled.

"What?" Elli asked, confused.

"That was brilliant."

"But he's hurt..."

"No, he's just disoriented from shock and too much hot sauce. As far as I know no one has died from that," she giggled again.

Elli smiled, "Oh," her smile widened, "Well, anyways, I've got free lunch at the inn for two weeks, because of this little ordeal. Would you like to come with me tomorrow?"

Akari's smiled understandingly and bobbed her head up and down, "Sure!"

"We'll take Gill with us. He could use a day off after this."

"Just keep him away from the hot sauce."

The girls laughed and Elli headed back for her work desk, taking Gill's work with her. Akari sat next to Gill, leaning against the desk, legs outstretched, and closed her eyes as well. A break from all her work. She breathed out deeply.

Gill opened his eyes slowly and sat up a little. His movement alerted Akari and she quickly did the same.

"Gill... You okay?"

He rubbed his head, "Y-yeah, I think."

Akari stood and offered her hand to him. "Can you stand?"

Gill took it and Akari pulled him up.

"So... What did you do to invoke this horrible plague upon you?"

His reply was calm. Maybe too calm. "Whatever it was, I am not going to take this lying down. I'm going to make them pay..."

Akari grinned and looked away.

"What?" Gil asked.

"You are going to make them pay?"

"Yes."

"You?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"...Really?"

"Why is this so hard to believe?" Gil exploded, flailing his arms.

"...'Cause it's... You."

"Akari!"

"Okay!"

They have awakened the Wrath of Gill. Can Gilly really make them pay? Either way, they're going to get it…Maybe.

It was really fun writing Gill with a speech impediment. Whether Tabasco hot sauce can do that or not. Anyone watching me would have thought I was crazy, because I was mouthing the words aloud. Thad wad thun.

Hmmm... Good or not good? That is the question. I would love it if you'd tell me, because whether good or bad, there's going to be a lot more. Any helpful critiques would be most welcome. Suggestions as to what evil things Gill can do to Luke and Chase would be great. Also, I really want to keep in character, so if you can tell me of any, and I mean ANY, little nuance I missed, even grammar, I'll hug you, and squeeze you, and call you George. Unless your name is George. Then I'll call you Harold. :D

Well, that's all. Hope you liked it! This is my first fan fiction ever! Do the happy dance!

(By the way, I do not own anything. Especially not Tabasco sauce or Harvest Moon.)