A/N: I don't own Harvest Moon, Natsume does. This is kind of a follow-up story to the event in Animal Parade called Flowers for Mira where Perry wants to give some flowers to her to "cheer her up"...I just recently saw this event and the whole time I just kept thinking, "How would Julius react to this craziness?!" So I kinda wanted to ramble about it in a story...

Flowers for Mira

Julius spit out his tea as he nearly choked, trying to regain his composure. "Wait, he did what?!"

Mira cleared her throat nervously, surprised at his sudden outburst. "Why do you look so surprised? He told me that I should put them at my husband's grave. He's always trying to cheer me up these days."

They both stared at the vase of blue flowers sitting between them on Mira's desk.

"Are we talking about the same Perry here? Little guy in the church that looks like he's twelve?"

"O-of course," Mira answered. "Well, there's only one Perry here. This is such a small town…you know that."

Julius frowned, crossing his arms as he leaned back into the couch he was sitting on. Mira knew that look; he wasn't pleased about something. Why was he suddenly sulking about Perry?

"Well," he finally spoke up, "I just didn't take him to be that insensitive of a guy. What nerve."

"What are you talking about, Julius? He just gave me some flowers to cheer me up."

"Guys don't just 'give women flowers to cheer them up,' Mira," he stated simply. "Perry has a crush on you!"

Mira nearly spit out her own tea this time, a nervous blush tinting her cheeks slightly. "Wh-what are you talking about…? Julius, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard…sometimes your sense of humor really takes me by surprise, you know…"

Julius stood up defiantly, his teeth gritted as he watched his boss. He set his hands down on her desk with a loud thump. "Hey, this isn't some kind of joke, I'm being serious! Trust me, I'm a guy! I know these things, you know. And I'm telling you, Perry has an obvious crush on you!"

Mira continued to blush, doing everything she could not to make eye contact with the energetic young man in front of her. She awkwardly tried to ignore him, taking another sip of tea.

"Fine, if you don't believe me, then why don't you ask him? Or better yet, maybe I'll go ask him."

That got Mira's attention, as her eyes widened and she quickly stood up. She reached for Julius' arm as he started to turn. "W-wait, Julius! P-please… don't say anything to him! I'm telling you, it's not what you think."

"No, no, I'm curious now. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

"Julius!" Mira pleaded with a look of utter horror, her hand still grasping his sleeve tightly.

Julius may have been dramatic and teasing, sometimes even interloping to amuse himself in the small town, but he certainly wasn't cruel. He let out a sigh as he watched Mira's desperate attempts to reason with him.

"Alright, Mira… I promise I won't say anything to him," he said, as much as this promise pained him. But he still had other ways to get to the bottom of this. "I'm just going to investigate this!"

Mira reluctantly released her grip on his fancy red sleeve, a slight sigh of relief escaping her mouth. "Fine… All I'm saying is that it's not what you think. You're going to be disappointed."

Julius headed towards the door, looking back at her before exiting the accessory shop. He grinned at her. "We'll see, won't we?"

After making his way down the Garmon Mine District, he found himself without a plan. How exactly was he going to get this little altar boy to fess up? How could he find the proof he needed to reveal this scandalous affair? More than anything, he worried about Mira. It had already been a year and a half—closer to two years, even—since her husband, Julius' boss, had died. He was the mastermind behind the accessory shop, the best appraiser Julius had ever seen. Mira and her husband were like the perfect couple; they were happy, well matched, and shared the same dreams.

Mira had fallen apart since his death.

She had just recently been able to return to work, thanks to a little push from a certain farmer and Julius' desperate pleading, but it didn't take a genius to see that she was still broken. His absence had turned her into a new person, a lonely, sorrowful widow. She was devoted to the very memory of him in her life.

Julius didn't usually know what to say when she would sometimes casually bring up her husband's name, sometimes making a comment or even bringing up an old memory she had. He didn't want her to live the rest of her life in sorrow, but he knew that she loved remembering him. For Goddess's sake, she still visited his grave daily, sometimes even more than once a day. He would normally indulge her for a moment, as he also shared many memories with her husband, and then casually change the subject. It wasn't healthy for her to think about him this much.

That being said, Julius still tried his best to help alleviate even a little of the woman's pain. He was a gentleman and knew how to make a woman smile and make her laugh. He spent a lot of time with her, if anything to give her some company so that she wasn't alone with her thoughts of her deceased husband.

Even so, she wasn't ready for…an admirer, regardless of what the innocent pastor thought about her. Julius sighed. It didn't even make sense.

As he made his way down the hill he came to a small house surrounded by a large field full of crops. He made his way closer, trying to make out if anyone was home. Finally, he saw something move within one of the rows of crops, a small figure emerging from the greenery.

"Molly!" Julius called out enthusiastically.

The figure stopped, looking towards the direction of the purple-haired visitor. She shot up a hand to wave at him as she made her way out of the maze of crops.

"Morning, Julius," she happily chirped as she took a little bow before him, slightly exhausted and out of breath. "What are you doing here so early? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Well, I was, but I decided to take an early break today. I have some things to take care of."

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Things to take care of? Why does it always concern me when you say things like that?"

Julius chuckled, crossing his arms. "Oh, Molly, don't be silly. It's nothing bad. Anyways, I thought I'd stop by because I need a second opinion on something."

She gulped. She had been a close friend to Julius for a while now, ever since the spring when she had arrived in this town. This wasn't the first time he had asked for an opinion of hers, or a favor usually resulting in disaster.

"Oh no…not an opinion…the last time you asked my opinion on something I couldn't look at you for days without blushing!"

"Oh come on, it's nothing personal," Julius assured her coolly, not acknowledging her comment with much more than a subtle smirk. "I just wanted to run something by you."

Molly sighed. "Fine, I give up…what is it?"

Julius remained silent for a moment, shuffling his feet as if he wasn't quite sure how to form his words. He frowned, resting a finger on his lip as he pondered with downcast eyes.

"Uh, Julius?" Molly asked. A million things went through her head as she tried to imagine all the crazy things that he might ask her.

"Hmm? Oh…well… I just… do you think it's…weird at all that Perry gave Mira some flowers?"

Her eyes widened as his question registered in her mind. "U-um, flowers…? What…kind of flowers?"

Julius crossed his arms again, watching her conflicting facial expressions. "Well, they were blue. Blue Mists, maybe?"

Molly felt herself look away nervously, unable to keep eye contact with him. "I, um…well… I don't think it's too weird. He just wanted to cheer her up and make her smile…you know?"

Molly saw his eyes narrow as he analyzed the information, continuing to watch her. "Wait… that's what Mira said. How did you know about that? Don't tell me everyone already knows about this?!"

"Hold on, Julius, it's not like that," she assured him as her hands rose up defensively. "I don't think anyone knows, I'm pretty sure Perry wanted it to be kept a secret…"

"So how do you know about it, then?"

I knew he would see through me, Molly thought as she sighed. "Well, you see, I'm the one who gave him the flowers to give to her…"

Julius blinked before his mouth opened. "You what?! Are you kidding me? You helped him get those flowers?"

Molly continued to keep a worried smile on her face as she scratched the back of her head innocently. "Well, I mean…he told me he really wanted to cheer her up…and I care a lot about Mira, too, so I thought 'why not,' ya know…?"

She highly doubted he was even listening to her explanation as he paced the ground as he thought.

"Did he say anything else about her?" he finally asked as he turned to face her once again.

"W-well… I mean…he did say that he was really…'intrigued' by her."

His eyes widened as he reached for her hand, giving her a yank as he started to walk off. "This is outrageous! You're coming with me."

"J-Julius, let go! Where are we going?"

Molly tried to pry his fingers from her own, but his grip was too strong for her.

"To see Perry, of course, where else?" he replied, his normal calm tone returned to his voice.

"Why do I have to go with you?"

"This is your punishment for supplying him with flowers for Mira!"

"Punishment?" Molly asked nervously as he continued pulling her towards the direction of Harmonica Town. She couldn't see his face, but she knew he probably had that smug smirk that he always had as he dragged her across the area.

Luckily the only person that the two had passed by on the way to town was Simon, who looked a little confused to see Julius with a death grip on the young farmer girl, who had finally accepted her fate and had stopped complaining. Ultimately, Simon decided against asking; he probably didn't want to know.

When the two arrived at the church grounds, Julius finally released his grip from Molly. "Alright, I need you to distract him for me. Can you do that, darling?"

Molly sighed. "What are you going to do, Julius?"

"I just need to see if I can find anything, like a diary or love letter or something…just anything will do!"

"You're going to search through his belongings?" Molly asked incredulously, resting her face in her hands. "How do I always get dragged into these things…literally?"

"Look," Julius reassured her, placing a strong hand on her shoulder, "just go along with whatever I say and everything will be fine!"

"Ugh," she rolled her eyes as she sighed.

They slowly entered the church, and Molly could feel her heartbeat quicken. Perry noticed them from across the church and gave a polite wave. "Welcome, you two…what brings you to the church today?"

Julius faked a smile, reaching again for Molly's hand. "Hello, Molly and I had something we wanted to talk to you about."

Molly looked to Julius quickly, mouthing "what are you doing?!" as Perry nodded curiously. "What can I do for you?"

Julius bit his lip thoughtfully before he spoke. "Well, you see, Molly has some things she wanted to pray about, and we decided we should come talk to you."

Molly nearly fainted. What was he doing? She started to stutter in protest when she felt Julius elbow her gently in the side. He shot her a strict glance as his ruby eyes studied her. "Y-yes," she said in what came out as a squeak.

Julius rewarded her with a smile. Not his usual cheerful smirk, but a smile one would give to another to show gratitude. This was apparently his way of saying 'thank you' for all the hell she was probably about to go through.

Perry then shifted his eyes to Molly, which added to her nervousness. "Please, tell me what's troubling you, Molly. I'll do everything I can to help pray with you."

"It's rather personal," Julius suddenly added. "It might just make her uncomfortable if I stand around here…I'll go to the back room, if that's okay with you, Perry."

Molly felt herself blushing…what was she going to say? He had set this up perfectly for himself, but he had failed to help her out with this situation!

Perry nodded. "Um, sure, make yourself at home. This won't take long." He turned his attention back to Molly as Julius pranced triumphantly past them towards the back rooms. He turned to give Molly a wink as he disappeared into a nearby room.

Perry took one of Molly's hands to lead her towards the center of the church in front of his pulpit. His leading hands were less demanding than the determined grip of Julius that she had suffered all day. "So, tell me, Molly. What exactly is the problem? You can tell me anything."

Her eyes searched nervously throughout the church as she tried to think of a viable excuse…just enough to hold him off and distract him while Julius did whatever it is he was doing back there.

Her silence made Perry frown. "Please, Molly. We're friends, even. I want you to feel at ease here with me. Is this about Julius, I assume?"

Molly blinked at the sound of his name, nervous that they would be found out if she didn't say something quick. "W-w-well, yes…you could say that…um… J-Julius is…"

"Are you two…together?"

"Um! Well…we've been talking about it, and…um… I think we're ready…"

Perry's eyes widened. "You're ready? Like for the real thing? Wow, you guys must be really close and dedicated…"

Molly blushed. "Ehhh…yeah…something like that. So I just really wanted some advice…you know…about taking the next step. Yeah…relationship advice."

Perry clapped his hands together with a warm smile. "Of course! Anything for you, Molly. After all, you did help me out the other day…with Mira…"

She noticed that he started to blush a little. "R-right," she replied quietly. "So…what do you think?"

"Hmmm," Perry thought intently for a moment. "I'll talk with Mayor Hamilton, alright? I'll get back to you and let you know as soon as I find out something."

She raised an eyebrow slightly. Why did he need to talk to Hamilton? Oh well, it didn't really matter. Much to her happiness, she heard Julius bust through the back door quite loudly, a frown pasted on his face. He sauntered over to where the two were standing and quickly grabbed Molly's hand for the last time that day.

"Are you ready, Molly? Good to hear it, let's go," he quickly huffed as he pulled her along with him as they started to exit the church.

"Uh, th-thanks, Perry!" Molly called out to Perry as she was being pulled away.

Once they were out, she could tell by the look on his face that Julius didn't find what he was looking for.

"All of that for nothing?" she asked sadly, closing her eyes. She was just glad it was over.

"I couldn't find a single thing," Julius growled as he balled his hand into a fist. His rings clinked into each other as they touched. "Thanks, anyways, for helping me… see, that wasn't too bad, right?"

"Speak for yourself!" Molly protested, crossing her arms as she started to walk away. "I can't believe you made me do that! You owe me!"

"Yes, yes, anything, my dear! I promise! I'm still not done with that guy, though. I've got to do something about this before the whole town knows about it! It's such a small town, you know…rumors spread and people talk!"

He ranted as he caught up with her, following her down the town pathways. "So what did you guys talk about, anyways?" he finally asked her with a mischievous smirk.

She cleared her throat as she avoided eye contact with him, afraid she might blush if she thought about it too much. "Nothing much, really… I just made up some stuff to buy you some time, right?"

"You're such a doll, thanks again, Molly."

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Julius handed Mira her cup of tea before plopping down on the couch. A couple days had passed and he still hadn't found out anymore about Perry's secret crush on Mira, but he was far from giving up. Every time he looked over at her desk and saw those stupid blue flowers, he was reminded of how he needed to find a way to convince Mira that the young pastor was in love with her; she just wouldn't believe him no matter what he said.

Mira took a sip of her tea. "So, Julius… I hear that I'm not the only one with a secret admirer."

Julius perked up at the comment. He looked to her with a raised eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"I heard that you also have an admirer…and you're even getting married soon. When were you going to tell me?"

Julius spit out his tea. He couldn't tell if the look on Mira's face was hurt or if there was a hint of satisfaction underneath her expression somewhere.