Author's Note: This story begins a little before the game actually starts. Jack has not moved into the farm yet :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.. I own nothing :\
Gray's blood was boiling in rage.
He was not going to feel bad for snapping at her. He was not going to continue to stare at the door she slammed in her leave. If anyone should apologize it was her.
Gray knocked an ore off his desk in frustration.
He had only been in the town for a total of two seasons and she was already under his skin.
He had enough stress from his grandfather about his crappy blacksmith skills without Ann interfering every few seconds. Did he really think he would make a good blacksmith apprentice? Did he really think this was going to his niche in the world?
Did he really choose this over college?
Gray sat down on the edge of his bed collapsing his face into his hands. The more he held everything in, the more he felt like he was going to explode. He couldn't stand the sight of his room right now. He was sick of the ores and hammers. He was sick of his grandfather and girls who kept their red hair in a big stupid braid. He hated her overall's and he was sick of her annoying and cheerful outlook on life in the morning.
That's when he heard the knock at his door, and he felt his insides cringe.
He knew who it was, she always knocked the same way. He hated that too.
She opened the door slowly, only poking her head in. "Hey."
Gray didn't say anything, he didn't even lift his head up from his hands.
"Uhm, I just wanted to ask if you would want to go on a walk with me?" Gray's head shot up.
"What? Ann, why would I want-"
"Look," she said cutting him off before he could finish. "take it as my way of saying sorry, okay? I realized I shouldn't have said what I did and.. yeah. So there." Their eyes locked for a moment before she glanced down to the floor.
Gray's eyes narrowed as he let out a breath of air. He was still angry.
"If I go with you, will you leave me alone for awhile?" Ann looked at him with a slight smirk on her lips.
"Sure."
"Where are we going anyway?" Gray said as he walked a step behind Ann, watching her braid swing back and forth with each step. Stupid braid.
"Gray, take a deep breath of fresh air and relax." She said with a slight laugh that danced through the air.
"Fresh air? Ann, we're walking past the Poultry Farm. The air smells like chicken crap." Ann just laughed and continued down the street. She stopped when they came to an abandoned farm.
"Do you think it's okay if we take the shortcut through here? The old man who used to own it died a little bit before you moved into the Inn." She was staring out onto the overrun field with a frown on her face.
"Well, I don't think he'd mind then Ann."
"Gray!" She said as she turned around and smacked him in the arm. "Be a little respectful!"
"You're the one that wants to take a shortcut through his farm." He said taking a step back from her.
She narrowed her eyes as she started to climb over the old gate. "Coming?" She said when she noticed he hadn't moved. Gray raised his eyebrows under the rim of his hat as he followed her.
Gray hadn't really ventured further then the mine before, so when they started on this path that led out of the farm and up a hill he started to get curious.
"I haven't been this way before." He said as they started to get near the top.
There were different colored grasses that he had never seen before, and patches of flowers between the trees. It smelt like fresh rain which caused him to look up and notice the giant gray rain clouds up above them.
"Gray! Come look!" He looked over to see Ann standing at the edge of a cliff. A little too close for comfort. He walked over and looked down, it was a straight drop. "Gray, I didn't bring you up here for you to see how far you could fall. Look at the view." He lifted his eyes up and smiled. It was a pretty good view. You could see the whole town and the ocean in the background.
"Alright, that's pretty cool." He said taking a step back from the edge. Ann threw up a triumphant fist into the air and laughed.
"Forgiven then?" She said with a smile.
"Guess so." Her face and mouth dropped causing the young blacksmith to stifle a laugh and pull his hat down over his eyes.
"What?" Ann said in disbelief. "You guess?" Gray continued to laugh at her expression and didn't even see her coming when she tackled him to the ground.
"Ann! Get off!" He struggled underneath her.
"Not until you say you love me Gray!" She then started the tickle attack game.
Gray hated being tickled. He hated it. "Ann!" He gasped between laughs. "Seriously! Get off!"
"What's that Gray? She said as she laughed with him. "I didn't hear you say you looove me." She let out a cry as Gray suddenly knocked her off and got on top of her, holding her hands down over her head.
"Are you done?" He said.
She just squirmed under him.
"Are you done?" He said again.
She continued to squirm.
"Look Ann, either you say you're done or I'm going to tickle you." He said his face getting closer to hers.
"You wouldn't!" She said slightly horrified. He just laughed as he launched into his own tickle attack.
It was no surprise that Ann somehow squirmed her way out of his grasp and took off running through the trees, with Gray running close behind.
Laughter echoed around them and leaves crunched under their feet with every step. Gray had no idea where he was going and almost tripped right over her when she had suddenly stopped. She was gasping for breath and still slightly laughing, "Truce," She said quietly, "truce."
Gray was gasping for breath too, hands on his knees as he bent over trying to catch his breath. When he looked up he saw that Ann's braid had come out.
In that short moment he realized that he actually liked her red hair. He liked how here overall's were a little too big and how one strap was slightly falling off her shoulder. He liked how she was smiling at him as her chest rose with each breath she took. He took note to how close she was to him.
She was leaning against a tree, and as he rose their faces were only a few inches apart. He looked down at her as her eyes looked into his. The air seemed different being this close to her. He had never been this close to her. He leaned toward her face slowly at first, her eyes wide and questioning.
He kissed her soft, and slow. Ann never expected it to be like this. To feel like this. She closed her eyes and felt his hands pull her closer to him by the small of her back. Her own hands went under his hat as fingers tangled and locked into his hair. It was then she realized what she was doing.
She immediately broke the kiss and pushed him away. "You just stole my first kiss."
Gray just looked at her dumbfounded, a loss for words. "Ann, I'm-"
"Do not tell anyone about this." She said taking a step back as he tried to move closer. He took another step forward only to have her push him away again with a little more force then he expected. He stared at her speechless for a moment before he watched her turn around and run off.
She just left him there, confused.
It started to rain on his walk back to the Inn.
Gray was confused when he opened his bedroom door to find Ann standing there. "Can I come in?" He thought it was weird that she had asked, she had never asked before.
"Uh, sure." He said taking a step to the side as the red head walked in. He closed the door behind her. "Usually you don't ask." He let out a nervous laugh which he then turned into a cough when she didn't start laughing with him.
It was just Ann.
Why was he so nervous?
She looked up at him and took a step forward causing him to take a step back. "Uhm." He backed up into the wall with her standing in front of him, just looking at him. "Ann? What's up?"
"I want to try something." She said slowly before she took another step towards him. She went up on her tip-toes and put her hands on his shoulders. She looked at him, as if expecting him to push her off. When he didn't, she closed the distance and kissed him.
Again, it was soft and slow. Just how he had kissed her earlier. Again, he pulled her closer and again her hands found their way under his hat. The only difference was she didn't pull away.
When they broke apart they were each breathing a little heavier then normal. Gray could feel his blood heating up through his veins. "Sorry about earlier." Ann said quietly.
"You're forgiven." He said instantly.
"For both things?" She smiled up at him. He smiled back and kissed her again, picking her up as they slid down the wall. Ann in his lap as he deepened the kiss.
"Does that answer your question?" Gray said in a haggard breath, looking up at her under the rim of his hat.
Ann just smiled and laughed.
For the next few seasons things were almost perfect. They were great at keeping their secret, no one knew anything. That's how Ann wanted it.
"I'll die if Dad finds out!" Was a common reaction Gray would find himself hearing every time he brought up that he was tired of hiding it. He never won that argument, but besides that he was happy.
About a season after their first kiss, Gray woke up one night to find Ann sneaking her way into his bed and cuddling with him. "Uh, Ann?" He had said questioningly. She just smacked him on the head and held on tight to him.
"Nothing like that, I just thought it would be a lot warmer if we fell asleep like this." She then got quiet, "Is this okay? I promise to leave before Dad wakes up." Her whisper flew into his head.
"Yes, of course. I don't mind."
They started sleeping like that every night.
They would catch each other throughout the day when no one was around and steal kisses from each other. Behind the Inn, or in the kitchen. They'd kiss in the back room of the blacksmith's or in the hallway at the Inn. One time they were under the pier at the beach.
It was kind of fun to hide it, they both admitted that.
Everything was great and Gray couldn't believe how everything had turned out. Who would've thought he'd find a relationship with the girl that caused him nothing but grief the first two seasons he was in town?
One night, when they were falling asleep Ann whispered love in his ear. He had heard girls say it to him before, but it seemed different now. When he said it back, it was the first time he truly did mean it.
The next day a lonely traveler came to live at the Inn for awhile.
Change was in the air.