Disclaimers: I don't own Natsume and had nothing to do with the creation or development of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. I'm simply using the characters for my and my muse's entertainment.

Notes: I don't know how old Rock or Maya (Jack, whatever…farmer boy) is, nor do I really care. :P So in this fic, Rock is 17 and Maya's 18. Enjoy!

This is What Summer's All About by Yaoi Girl

.: Rock's POV :.

Today's a good day for a nice, long walk, I decided as I stepped out from my home and stretched, breathing in deep.

The sun's warm and not a cloud in sight. An absolutely perfect summer day indeed.

With a final stretch, I begin heading to the path next to Maya's house and towards the spring. That's a nice place to relax no matter what time of day it is.

As I walk past, I can't help but stop and watching Maya bathing his animals. I laugh and shake my head as Tobi, his dog, jumps into the water trough then out again, shaking water all over his now drenched master.

Maya, apparently having heard me laughing, turned his head and smiled to me before turning back to his chore. He really needs to get out more, but then again, farm life must be tough, and today is an ideal day to give animals a bath.

Continuing on down the path, my mother passes me on her way back to the inn.

"Why don't you help Maya today? I'm sure he'd like some company," she says with a smile.

"You know me, mom. I'm not one for getting too dirty."

She nods and walks on, though with a slight frown. I guess I could do something besides lounging about all day and doing basically nothing. But today is such a nice day to be outside and be lazy!

Then I think back to Maya, the image of him trying to block the water from his face as Tobi shook, laughing. And his white shirt nearly transparent and sticking to his body…

Where did that come from?! I'm straight. I think…okay, so I don't know really. I've never been attracted to any of the girls in our town, since I've known everyone since I was little and Nami is pretty much the sister I never had, and the girls in Mineral Town, well, they don't really appeal to me either. But I've never thought about guys being attractive to me, mainly because all of the guys in Mineral Town are taken, not to mention the fact that I've know them for as long as I can remember.

I know that I tell a lot of people that I want to go on a date with a cute girl and whatnot, but that's what people want to hear, right? The normal guy/girl relationship. But I'm not so sure if that's what I truly want.

With a sigh, I sit down and lean back against a tree next to the stream, closing my eyes as I think.

I must've dozed off for a while because it's nearly five in the evening. And Maya must be done with his work for the day…

Glancing over to the pond, I notice his horse napping while he's fishing in the spring, content in the still warm evening.

I smile as he curses under his breath and pouts, having missed a fish apparently.

For a few minutes, my gaze wanders from the red bobber up to his face, a look of pure concentration there, at least until my eyes stay there for too long.

He looks at me, apparently just figuring out that I had been there for a while and having noticed that he was being stared at.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah; just fine," I say with a reassuring smile, shortly after turning my head to look down into the stream.

Okay, so he has a really cute face and nice eyes…

I hear him curse again and the rustling of his bag as he tucks his fishing pole inside, so I turn to see him walking towards me, smiling.

"Want some company?"

I shrug and pick up a flower that's next to me, twirling it between my fingers as I study it.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right?" he asks as he sits down Indian-style, facing me.

"I've got some things on my mind, but I'm fine."

"You're just sore because I beat you at that milk drinking contest yesterday," he teased. (A/N: isn't it a pain in the ass to beat him at that?! I tore my shoulder up, but I beat him!)

"That too…"

"So…is this what you've been up to all day?" he asks me as he lays back in the grass, his head by my leg with his arms folded beneath his head.

"Pretty much," I reply as I pull off a petal from the flower, letting it drop and following it with my gaze until it lands squarely on the end of Maya's nose.

I laugh as he goes cross-eyed, blowing upward in an attempt to get it off without moving his head or hands; apparently he was that comfortable on the ground.

"Must be nice," he says after blowing the yellow petal away from his face, sighing in defeat as it drifted to land on his arm. "Being able to just relax all the time."

"Sometimes it's all right," I reply as I brush the petal from his skin, surprised when he shivered slightly as my fingers gently brushed the offending object away. "Some days relaxing is just plain boring. I need to find a hobby or something…"

You'd hardly be able to believe that he's just a year older than me with as busy as he is. Me, I'm just laid back and carefree, like a normal 17-year-old boy should be, although my mother says otherwise.

We were silent for a while and I went back to pulling petals from the flower, purposely dropping them onto Maya's face and arms, daring him to move. After about the eight petal, he relented and sat up, dusting them off and gently shoving me.

I laughed, shoving him back. He retaliated by threatening to tickle me, his fingers wiggling teasingly next to my sides, so I grab them, lacing our fingers on both hands.

From there, we push, trying to out-power the other with our arms alone, but we both jump when we hear someone yelling.

We both turn to face Takakura who was telling Maya that one of his cows somehow escaped and wouldn't follow him back to the barn, all the while, we listened, our hands stayed together.

Maya stands a few moments later, releasing my hands as he takes off in a sprint after his escapee. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Okay, so I think I might like guys, or maybe it's just Maya…either way, I already miss the feel of his warm hands. And here I am longing after his touch like a love-struck girl and I'm not even in love with the boy.

TBC

I had to do it! I couldn't just sit back and wait for someone to write a fic with this pairing!!! ^_^;

Now I'm either going to have an unexpected storm the next day and Rock ends up running to Maya's house for shelter or Rock helps Maya around the farm. You can chose, but both are going to happen in one order or the other. Any other suggestions are welcomed!

Oh, yeah! Hope you enjoyed so far! :P