I want to apologize again for how long it took me to update. These past couple of months have been so freaking busy and they went by so fast. Between the end of my senior year, graduation, work, and preparing for college I feel like I've barely had a chance to breathe. I want to thank each and every one of you who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this story; it really means the world to me! And if anybody out there has stayed with this story since I started it then I want you to know that you are an amazing human being and that this story is dedicated to you!
This is sadly the last chapter but I had so much fun writing this story and I really hope you guys had just as much fun reading it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon Tale of Two Towns.
Cam sighed contently and took in a big breath of fresh air. It was good to be back. He was finally out of the hospital and was able to go back to selling flowers at his little stand just outside of Howard's Café.
Cam thankfully hadn't missed too much while he was away but he couldn't help but feel much more at ease now that he was home again.
Laney came out of her dad's café and walked over to Cam, a huge smile on her face. Once she reached him she let out an excited squeal and threw her arms around him, squeezing so hard he thought his eyes would pop out of their sockets.
"Can't breathe, Laney," Cam huffed.
"Oh, Cam, I'm just so happy for you!" Laney didn't release her hold on Cam in the least. She continued squeezing him until she decided he had probably had enough. She backed away while keeping her hands on his shoulders, her bright smile still in place. "You and Ash are officially together and I just can't believe it!"
Cam chuckled and smiled down at his friend, "hehe, I can't really believe it either. But I have you to thank, Laney. If it hadn't been for you and all of your encouragement I probably never would have had the guts to tell Ash how I felt in the first place. So thank you."
Laney just beamed and shook her head, "you don't need to thank me. You're my friend; it's my job to make sure you're happy."
"Hey guys!"
Cam and Laney turned to see Lillian walking up to them. "Hey," they said in unison.
Lillian turned to Cam and smirked, "I'm glad to see everything worked out with you and Ash, loverboy."
She then turned her attention to Laney, "so I came over to take you back to Konohana with me to introduce you to some of the guys."
Laney gasped excitedly and clasped her hands together, "I can't wait! Oh you must introduce me to Hiro! He's so cute!"
"He may be cute but he's an utter health freak. It gets really annoying sometimes."
"I don't really mind; I'm kind of a health freak myself actually."
Their voices gradually began to fade away as they walked off towards the entrance of Bluebell.
Cam shook his head and laughed quietly, "girls."
"What about them?" Ash walked up the steps and over to Cam's stand.
Cam smiled at his new boyfriend, "I'll never understand them."
Ash just quirked a brow and laughed, "anyway, I was wondering if you would want to come over to my place for dinner tonight. I wanted to tell my mom about us but I wasn't really sure how to. I figured it would be easier with you there."
Cam smiled and leaned over his stand to peck Ash on the lips, "of course I'll come to dinner with you."
Ash grinned, "great! Well I have to get back to work but I'll see you tonight! Dinner's at 6:00, bye!"
Cam waved goodbye as Ash made his way down the steps and back over to his ranch.
The rest of the work day went by rather quickly, as Cam had a steady rush of customers, most of whom were townsfolk who came to give Cam a warm welcome back.
?!
"So how was your day, Cam?"
Cam was currently sitting in Ash's dining room having dinner with his family. He smiled curtly at Jessica and answered her question, "good, I had lots of customers today and a decent number of sales."
"Well that's good to hear. So you're sure you're feeling all right? You gave the entire town a good scare when you were found unconscious at the bottom of that hill."
Cam just lightly laughed, "yeah, I'm ok. I didn't mean to give everyone a heart attack."
"I'm so glad you're ok, Cam! I would have been sad if you were hurt," Cheryl kicked her legs happily and smiled at Cam from across the table.
Cam smiled back, "thanks, Cheryl, and I really enjoyed the flowers you sent me while I was in the hospital."
Cheryl giggled with joy and stated proudly, "I picked them out myself!"
"It really is so nice having you over for dinner, Cam", Jessica smiled warmly, "it's been so long since you last stayed to have a meal with us. You really should do it more often."
"Oh I think I will be here more than usual from now on," Cam smiled back.
Ash jumped in, "That's right, there's something I wanted to tell you, mom."
Jessica turned to her son and waited for him to continue.
"Cam and I are…we're dating now," Ash let out a little breath of relief once he got it out.
Jessica blinked at her son, "oh?" She was shocked at first but smiled wide once the news really settled in, "oh! That's such wonderful news! I'm happy for you two!"
Ash smiled at his mother's reaction. He knew she was a very kind and carefree woman but part of him had worried about what she would think of her son being gay. He had worried that she would be disappointed in him for not being able to bear her any grandchildren.
Jessica laughed happily, "I was starting to think Ash was never going to find somebody to spend his life with!"
"Hey!" Ash scowled at his mother's comment, causing everyone else to laugh.
"Wait, so you guys are together? Like how boyfriends and girlfriends are together?"
Everyone turned to Cheryl as she looked between Cam and Ash with a bewildered expression on her face.
Jessica intervened before either of the boys could, "yes, darling. Boys and boys can be together just like boys and girls can be together. Gender doesn't matter when it comes to somebody you care about."
"Oh," Cheryl looked between Cam and Ash again and cocked her head, "Hmm, well if there was a girl in the relationship it would definitely be Ash."
Ash looked horrified, "Cheryl!"
"What?" She said defensively, "you're prettier and Cam's more handsome. It only makes sense."
Cam started laughing hysterically and even Jessica was trying to hide her chuckles by covering her mouth with her hand.
Ash was spluttering like a fish out of water, "I am not a girl!"
"No, but Cheryl was right, you are pretty," Cam turned to his boyfriend and once again broke out into laughter at the death glare that was sent his way.
Ash's cheeks burned red from embarrassment and he buried his head in his arms on the table to try and hide.
?!
A couple days later found Cam and Ash at the pound on the outskirts of Bluebell. It was Cam's birthday and he couldn't imagine spending it any other way. He and Ash were sitting under a tree, cuddling, and enjoying the crisp fall air.
Cam smiled and hugged Ash, pulling him as close to his body as he could, "I love fall weather; it's not too hot and it's not too cold."
Ash nodded in agreement and turned to give Cam a kiss. Just as Cam was about to deepen said kiss Ash jumped up and tugged at Cam's arm.
"Come on," Ash said, "I wanna show you something."
Cam groaned, "Can't you show me later? I want to cuddle with you and continue kissing your cute face."
"Well you can resume kissing my cute face after I show you what it is I want to show you."
Cam sighed and gave a resigned, "fine."
As soon as Cam stood up Ash yanked his arm and started pulling him towards town.
"I rather like my arm in its socket, Ash"
"Oh shush, I'm not pulling you that hard. Besides, you aren't moving fast enough."
Cam just laughed, "I'm practically running, Ash."
"Barely," Ash muttered.
Once they reached the center of Bluebell Ash stopped. "Wait right here."
Ash began to walk away.
"But whe-," Cam began to question but Ash cut him off.
"Just stay there," Ash said before he scurried off in the opposite direction.
Cam just sighed and shook his head while he waited for Ash to return.
A few minutes later and Ash returned with a cardboard box in both of his hands. He walked back to Cam and smiled, "here," he said as he placed the box in Cam's hands.
"What's this?" Cam asked, looking at Ash questioningly.
Ash just rolled his eyes and scoffed, "It's a birthday present, duh!"
Cam just laughed and grinned at his boyfriend, "nice wrapping."
"Well if you would open it already you would understand why I didn't wrap it."
Cam did as he was told and opened the box. As soon as he saw what was inside his eyes went wide and he looked up at Ash, slack jawed.
"Wha…how? A cat?!" Cam pulled the tabby cat from the box and held it against his chest, "where in the world did you get a cat? Grady stopped selling pets years ago."
Ash blushed and smiled at Cam shyly, "Remember when I had random plans with Lillian a couple of weeks ago? Well I had overheard her talking about how she found a stray cat and was having trouble finding a home for it. I know that you adore cats so I figured it would be the perfect present for you. But I also knew that Howard had a strict no pets policy in his café so I made plans with Lillian so the two of us could come up with a way that you could keep the cat."
Cam just stared unbelievingly at Ash. He thought back to when Ash had first mentioned his plans with Lillian and how jealous he had gotten thinking that Ash had had a crush on the Konohana farmer. He began to mentally chide himself for always assuming the worst when Ash grabbed Cam's arm again, "here, follow me."
Cam let Ash lead the way as the two of them walked up to the side of Howard's café.
"I had Eileen build this for you."
Cam looked down at the contraption Ash was talking about. It was a little mini shelter that attached to Cam's room inside of the café.
"The cat can't get inside of your room but you'll be able to get to the shelter from you room. It'll stay heated in the winter just like the café so that your new friend won't get cold. But this shelter will allow you to keep a cat without going against Howard's policy."
Cam just looked up at Ash incredulously. He was at a loss for words and couldn't help the leap that his heart gave at the thought of how much trouble Ash went through to put all this together for him. It must have cost him a fortune.
"Ash, I- I don't know what to say. You didn't need to do all of this for me. A simple 'happy birthday' would have been fine enough."
"I know I didn't need to do this, but I wanted to. You mean the world to me, Cam. And I wanted to make sure that your birthday was extra special. And come on, a simple 'happy birthday'? From me? Your best friend and now boyfriend? I don't think so; that just wouldn't have cut it. I wouldn't be able to show my face in this town ever again if I had given you nothing but a simple 'happy birthday'.
Cam smiled and laughed as he shook his head, "how did I get so lucky to have you in my life?"
Ash blushed and replied, "I'm the lucky one."
"No, Ash, I am," Cam said in all seriousness. "You have always been there for me through everything. You were there for me when I lost my parents and I had honestly believed I would never be happy again but then you just insisted on giving it your all to make me happy and, Ash, you- you just lit my whole world up. You made me realize that I could never be sad as long as I have you by my side and I can't thank you enough. I will spend my entire life thanking you by making sure you're the happiest person on this earth because when you smile, oh Ash, when you smile I feel like my heart is going to explode and nobody will ever be able to make me feel that way but you, Ash. I love you and I swear I'll never stop loving you until the day I die and even then I'll still continue loving you because you're just that phenomenal."
Cam finished his speech and let out a big breath, his eyes scanning the beautiful boy in front of him, cherishing every inch of him head to toe.
Ash let out a shaky breath and gave a little laugh, "Cam, I feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest right now. I'm not nearly as good with words as you are but I know that you make my brain go fuzzy and my tummy flutter and your eyes make my heart melt. And I know, without a doubt, that I love you too. I love you more than anything."
Cam set his new tabby cat down in the grass and grabbed Ash around his waist. He pulled their bodies as close as they could get and tipped Ash's face upwards. He stroked Ash's cheek with his thumb before placing his lips on top of Ash's.
Ash closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Cam's neck, greedily responding to the kiss.
They kissed passionately and full of the newfound love they held for one another. Cam's heart beat wildly against his chest and his mind was spinning relentlessly. He felt as though his body was on fire and Ash was the ember that started it all.
After what felt like hours of kissing, Cam pulled back and rested his forehead against Ash's. He smiled down at the boy before him and gave him a soft kiss on his nose. He squeezed his hands and grinned again before softly saying, "thank you for giving me a wonderful birthday."
Ash grinned back, "no problem, Camykins!"
Ash laughed as he watched Cam's nose scrunch up.
"Camykins?" The boy clad in purple asked.
Ash just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I figured since we're dating now we should give each other pet names."
Cam just raised his eye brows, "pet names?"
"Yep," Ash said easily.
"Ok then, you can be sweet cheeks."
Ash laughed, "sweet cheeks?
Cam grinned wickedly, "yeah, because you have such sweet cheeks." And with that he promptly grabbed Ash's ass and gave a hard squeeze.
Ash blushed like crazy and jumped up, "hey! What if somebody saw that?"
Cam just scoffed, "we were practically making out before and you're worried somebody might have seen me squeeze your butt?"
"Well yeah!"
"Alrighty then, we can just go back to making out."
"Hey that's not what I mea-," But Cam cut him off before he could say anything else. And once Cam's tongue was in Ash's mouth Ash didn't really feel the need to worry if anyone saw them because he quite frankly did not care.