Disclaimer: Kay, so, I don't own Harvest Moon, or any of its characters.
Cheesy? Yes. But it's cute, so I don't care.
"You were actually a little intimidating, to be honest."
Sitting beneath the shade of a forest tree, Allen and Rod rested in a half embrace. The red-haired stylist turned his head to look into Rod's green eyes and quirked an eyebrow, an amused smirk playing at the edge of his lips. "Intimidating?" he repeated in a questioning tone. "Amazing I could understand, but intimidating? That I don't get." He laughed, and Rod did as well. After a short silence, however, he cleared his throat nervously and looked back at Allen.
"You were always surrounded by other people," he began to explain. "Everyone wanted to talk to you, and I felt as though I wouldn't be worth your time at all." This admission made his cheeks flush with embarrassment, but Allen only smiled. Rod's lack of confidence, though annoying at times, is partly what attracted him. He had always felt that they complimented each other perfectly; opposites, but the same. Maybe that didn't make any sense, but then, what did when it came to love?
"If I had time for them, I had time for you," he eventually replied with an accompanying shrug. "Besides, it wouldn't have mattered. Those people only swarmed me to get at my intelligence. Heh, none of them wanted to talk to me for me." He frowned a bit, and glanced at Rod before flashing a small smile. He hated showing vulnerability. It didn't bother him then that he had no true friends, so why would it bother him now? "I was too good for any of them, anyway." He added with a chuckle, trying to add levity to the conversation.
The two shared that laugh, and a short silence ensued. During that time, a small dog that Rod had brought out here with him had rested itself in Allen's lap, tail wagging. The blue-eyed man rather liked dogs, which was another one of the points the two of them had in common. Rod glanced between him and the dog and smiled. "Goddess, and you're good with animals, too. I don't know nearly as much as I should. Sometimes, I think I'm in over my head." A sigh followed these words, and Allen only looked back at him with narrowed eyes.
"What are you talking about?" he questioned, his voice sounding almost as though he was offended that Rod wasn't more confident in himself. "Listen. When you're with me, you can do anything," he said with a smirk, but then put on a straight face, turning suddenly serious. "If you're going to do something, you need to put in your full effort. And that means you can't doubt yourself, because that leaves you more open to errors." He gave a nod and turned to face Rod, but that pep talk didn't seem to have done any good. Scratching the back of his neck, Allen's face grew slightly rosy, and he continued, "… If it helps at all, I think you're great at what you do… Almost as good as I am at what I do." Smirking again, he watched as the orange-haired pet dealer began to smile.
"That means a lot coming from you," he replied sheepishly. The two fell silent again, Rod shifting to lay his head on Allen's shoulder. It was getting late, but it seemed neither of the two wanted to move. The weather was perfect, and as the night drew nearer, fireflies came out into the open and lit the forest with a dazzling array of colors. The hair stylist's blue eyes were veiled by the reflections of the rainbow of lights on his glasses and he turned to glance at Rod only to see that he had fallen to sleep, breathing softly with the most peaceful look on his face. Smiling, Allen slid further down the trunk of the tree and laid his head on Rod's, soon drifting off into a serene slumber, as well.