Hello there ^^
This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, somehow it got out of hand. Well, there will maybe be 3-4 parts, if someone reviews i will surely update faster. Well, I hope someone will read it at least :)
There maybe some words that do not fit in the context, since I am not a native speaker, same goes for spelling/grammar issues.
Moreover Gill might be a bit OOC, I tried my best though.
-Ary-
Hang you up [inspired by Hang you up-Yellow Card]
Pairing: Gill & Akari
1.4. 2008
Gill was just studying the public spending which his father tended to forget to do. Maybe because jumping around town and annoying the inhabitants was so much more fun to do, thought Gill to himself, when a petite girl, who had to be the new farmer his father had spoken of, entered the hall. Gil decided to ignore her since the wide smile on her face already indicated that her sunny personality would surely be an annoyance to him
But when she placed herself right in front of him and started to prattle on and on about her farm work and how happy she was to finally meet him, he couldn't ignore her anymore. Once again Gill had had the right indication, the girl did really annoy him to no end.
"In case you may not have noticed, Miss Tsukioma, I am quite busy. Yes, I am the Mayor's son and I take it that you are the new farmer. I wouldn't have thought that my father would succeed in leading some poor fool to our island to take over that run-down farm. Well, even if you are pleased to meet me, I am not overly enchanted by your presence. Unless you are here to pay back the money for your property, you are free to let yourself out, the door is right behind you. Like I said I'm quite busy." Instead of getting upset or angry, like he would have expected, the girl just smiled sweetly at him and left the hall with bouncing steps after calling him "quite the grumpy one". Not that he would be interested in her appraisement of his character…
25.4.2008
"You….." said Gill coldly when Akari stepped into his home on a lovely Sunday evening.
"Yes, me " answered the farmer, while taking a small bag out of her rucksack and holding it out to him. "What is this? " said Gill, staring full of suspicion in direction of the brown paper bag.
"Well, I heard from someone that you like tomatoes so I figured that you could try some. They are the first tomatoes that I have grown, I hope you like them," Akari told him.
"Someone told you? Could that someone possibly be small, round and related to me?", Gill inquired. "Well there might be a chance", laughed Akari.
" I see. Well, it is not like I would hate tomatoes I guess I take them, but if I get a stomach ache I will hold you responsible."
"I'll take that risk, because of the fact that if they do taste good you'll surely be a little nicer the next time we'll meet" said the petite brunette and gave him a cute wink before she left.
STOP! Had he just a minute ago actually thought of HER as cute? Something had to be seriously wrong with him. She was annoying, right? Always smiling and far too cheerful, never taking something seriously…
No, she definitely was not cute at all and there was no need to try her tomatoes! He was sure he would just get a stomach ache. So he simply took the bag and threw it into the dumpster before going back to his room to skip through some papers.
12.6.2008
When Gill arrived exactly at 7 am at the town hall, that irritating farmer girl was already waiting in front of the building and not even for the first time in the last 2 months.
She smiled brightly at him and held out a little bottle filled with a red liquid which Gill recognized as tomato juice. "It's made by me", the girl said still smiling brightly.
"I can't accept it then", explained Gill matter of factly. "It might be poisonous."
"It might, but it might also be really really good, those were shining tomatoes and Chase taught me how to make really good tomato juice. He even complimented me whilst complaining on Mayas last attempts to cook up such a simple dish", replied Akari with a slightly hurt undertone.
"Well, if Chase complimented you it can't be too bad, that much I will admit. He is a jerk but he knows a lot about cooking", Gill took the flask and had a small sip. "Well it is surprisingly good but it is a simple dish after all, right? Everyone could to that much. Why is he teaching you anyway? Are you bribing him with presents too?", Gill asked.
"Bribing?, Akari said stunned, You think I have to bribe people to make them like me? You're really something else. I don't do this to make them like me. I do it because I am grateful to be a part of this community so I want to give something back."
"Really now? I figured you just wanted to engage in a prospectus marriage and that giving away presents was your way to woo the bachelors here. " You thought I was wooing you?", Akari replied with a laugh,
"That is…. well, never mind. I just wanted to get to know you better. Somehow I thought there was more to you than just your snotty facade. But I seem to be in the wrong after all. You are indeed a stuck-up brat that thinks of himself far too highly. With your attitude nobody is going to want you to look after this island. Even your father would be a better choice, because contrary to you he doesn't suffer from social dyslexia. How could I ever think being friends with YOU would be a good idea? Hells, you are calling Chase a jerk? You are far worse. He might be a bit stand-offish and sarcastic but he is at least honest to himself. You on the contrary…."
"Are you finished now?", interrupted Gill her impatiently. "I really do not want to interrupt your flow since you seem to have a lot to narrate but it is not the time for bedtime stories now and you are starting to tire me out a little. Therefore I decided to commence with my work now. Contrary to you I have to do something useful. By the way can you dispose of the juice? It not compatible with my refined taste after all. And in future please do not bother giving me presents since you should have already noticed that I have no interest to further engage in building a relationship of any kind with you", saying those cruel words he turned around and went into the town hall.
Akari stood for a moment perplexed in front of the door, muttered a low-voiced "bad jerk" tried to regain her composure and called her horse to make her way back home. She really didn't mind at all, it wasn't like she was hurt by his words.
That's what she told herself at least.
9.8.2008
It was summer and the sun was enlightening the town hall, whilst the future Mayor was fidgeting on his chair, denying the fact that his mind was unuasally distracted.
"Gill?", Elli inquired in a low voice, could you grace me with your attention for a minute? I happened to look at the tax return of Dales Bar it's peppered with wrong numbers. How could you not notice? Normally you..."
" I am going out" ,interrupted usually polite Gil the young woman and left the town hall. Before he even noticed himself, he had half arrived at the smelly farmer's wracked shed. But he assured himself just to have come to inquire when she would finally decide to pay back the loan for her property. Not because of the fact that he was a bit worried since she did not show up again after their last conversation. After their little misunderstanding he waited for her to come and apologize but she had never come till now.
So maybe something was wrong with her, maybe she was sick? After all it was Gill's duty to make sure that all inhabitants were well. Plus she really had to pay back her loan so it was fully justified to leave work like this and check on her.
At least that was what he told himself.
When he arrived at her doorstep he heard soft giggles coming from the inside. He could barely stop himself from thinking that she almost sounded cute and knocked on the door wondering if she had any visitors.
Akari opened the door and grinned at her unexpected visitor clothed in a yellow summer dress which complimented her chocolate brown hair and brown-golden eyes just fine, not that he had noticed though. But her grin slowly vanished while she was looking at him. "What bring you here Mr. Future mayor? How can I be of your service? Is there something I have done wrong? Is the grass on my lawn too high or do my cows make too much noise?", the girl inquired with an almost cocky attitude.
Gil wondered at how he had almost found her cute just a few seconds ago. "Even when you look like this your way of speaking reveals that you are nothing more than a smelly farmer girl", he said, looking rather content with himself.
When Akari tried to close the door he extended his arm to stop her from closing it, without taking in account, that they were both of the same height and due to Akari's work she was the stronger one.
Therefore the door slammed shut with his fingers caught in between. After a short silence a lone cry disrupted the peaceful summer morning which made Akari open the door once more. "I am really sorry I didn't think that you would stop me from closing the door. Step in, I am going to patch you up, you're bleeding a bit."
" I'm bleeding really, somehow I I don't feel to good", said Gill with a slurred voice. Quickly Akari put her arms around his waist and accompanied him to her couch. "Lay down and put your head on the cushion, I'm getting some gauze bandages and ointment to treat you. Your hand is going to swell up so you may not be able to use it for the next few days", said Akari apologetically.
"But I need my right hand to write!", protested the now pale Gill. "Then take it as a short paid vacation ", she said shrugging.
Gil felt too weak to give her a snarky return so he just bore with it for the moment. After getting the gauze, alcohol and ointment she gently cleaned his wound, applied the ointment and wrapped his hand in gauze bandages. It felt almost nice to be treated so gently, her hands were surprisingly soft and warm. She also gave him some pain killers and the advice to see Jin in case that the pain would worsen. "Thank you", he said sincerely and saw a small smile creeping up on Akari's lips, but then something forced him to ruin the budding understanding again…
"It was your fault anyway, one has to be careful when closing the door.", he criticized her.
"Yeah, one really has to be careful, because people try all the time to stop one to close it, but then those people notice that they are too weak to hold it open and get stuck in between, that really happens all the time", she uttered sarcastically.
" I see you were with Chase again, you have become quite the sarcastic one", replied Gill.
"And what is it to you with whom I spend my time? You said that you have no interest in getting to know me, right? I remember that part quite well"
"Well I remember the parts where you called me a brat", he said.
"You forgot that I also called you a jerk", Akari replied angrily.
" Oh yes thanks for remembering me, now I finally know why I like to talk to you so much", answered Gill still trying to keep his cool.
"If you don't like it, why are you even bothering to come here?"
"I had some business with you", he said, "you still have to pay back the loan on your property."
"So that's the reason you came here for?", the girl inquired.
" What else could there possibly be?", Gill retorted. "Well, I somehow thought you came to apologize or to tell me that you were a bit worried about me not showing up. I even thought of going to the town hall to apologize myself. I am glad that I didn't do it though, since you clearly didn't waste a single thought on me. You just came to collect your debt. Well I don't have it now, I am going to bring it to the town hall next week if it's fine with you", said Akari.
"I am seeing you next week to accept the payback of your loan. I hope for you that my hand is well till then", said Gill and made his way to the entrance.
"It will be, I am good in tending to wounds like that. I have two big brothers who always got into some kind of trouble, so I'm used to treating them", Akari said sternly, "Since there isn't anything else to discuss I am going to close the door now once again. Please don't try to get stuck."
After closing the door Akari took a deep breath and turned around to see a worried Finn fluttering up and down in front of her. "This guy has not been very nice to you" Finn said,whilst he was making a worried face. "He just doesn't seem to know how to get along with people. But it's not my turn to teach him right?," Akari said. "Even if I feel kind of obliged to do so, but he is really a handful. Anyhow, I'll go out soon to take a cooking lesson from Chase.
"You are hanging out with him a lot lately", Finn smirked, "Akari liiiiikes Chase", he sang, swirling around her head. "Yes I do", admitted she, " but not in that way. He just does remind me a bit of Kasey you know. His snarky attitude is pretty similar to Kasey's." "But", said Finn, "if you don't like Chase that way who else are you in love with then?... I know its Gill right? Right? You liiiike Gill".
" Me? Liking HIM? Don't be ridiculous, how could I possibly…..never mind I, I have to go now see you later ,Finn", with that she practically stormed out of the door.
Finn thought to himself that the task he now saw in front of himself was going to be even more difficult than the chiming of all the bells….