Fair warning. This is where the smut starts. It's still going to be intermittent, but this is where it starts.


16 Fall, Year 3

The Fair

I obviously had to come to the Stardew Valley Fair, because I have to win the grange display competition. I arrived with a basket full of produce under one arm and my biggest pumpkin under the other, and Harvey was there to help.

I did win – kind of expectedly, since I've even persuaded a crocus to bloom early. Pierre is not happy with me, but then I didn't participate in my first year and I was pretty pathetic in the second, and he won both times, so he should be fine. After all, the mayor does these things like the Fair and the Luau to attract visitors from outside and show off what we in the valley are capable of. It's a little illogical that there's even a contest connected to this. We're all displaying our finest wares anyway.

But I did win, which means I have star tokens to spend – another thing I didn't have in previous years. I also actually feel safe enough to spend some money, which adds up to mean that I want to try all the games this time.

I do laughably bad at the slingshot game, mediocre at the 'test your strength' booth, and win a bunch of tokens at the fishing booth.

"You must have a lot of opportunity to fish at home," Harvey comments, "with the river running right past your front door."

I shrug.

"I also spend more than enough time chopping firewood and mining to win that strength game, I should think."

"Oh, those games are all hacked anyway."

We're walking around a bit to look at the other grange displays and then I see the top of a tent sticking out from over one of the bushes on the edge of the graveyard.

"There's something in the graveyard too? That's kinda weird."

"It's a fortune teller. Speaking of hacks."

"Really? Let's see what she has to say."

"You're not really going to spend a hundred gold on that, are you?"

"Just once in my life. I've always been curious about what those people actually say. See how good she is at reading me."

I head for the graveyard.

"Last spring you were still foregoing any form of fun because you never had any money," Harvey complains, coming after me.

"That's exactly why I have money now. Stay out of her line of sight, we'll see how good she is."

I go over to the fortune teller. Strangely, I spot the wizard from the tower standing not far off. I guess these magic lovers attract each other. I'm not going to inquire.

"Welcome, young man. I can see you are keen to know what the spirits have in store for you," the fortune teller says with that mysterious voice they also do on tv.

I'm really not entirely sure what to make of these people yet. I've ended up believing in magic – I've needed to, with the stuff I see in the mine, never mind that talking bear or the junimos. The fortune teller on tv seems pretty spot-on about lucky days. This one might still be a hack, though.

"How much is it?"

"A hundred gold in exchange for the future." Her face makes clear that she believes I shouldn't consider that a high price. I count the coins onto her table.

"There you go. Tell me all about your spirits."

"I need to concentrate," she says, and lifts both hands cupped around her crystal ball, staring intently at it for a minute. She begins to talk in gibberish, then finally switches to an understandable human language: "Spirits of this realm and the next, please show me your arcane knowledge..."

Well, she does sound like the wizard. These people really like the word 'arcane'.

"Yes, I see something... The mists of time and space are pulled from my eyes... I see... a chicken!"

"A chicken," I repeat, a bit underwhelmed.

"A mysterious blue chicken that sits in a coop with other brown and white chickens. A man with black hair picks it up and shows it to you."

Black hair? Sebastian? I'm almost ready to laugh out loud.

"The scene fades... great and powerful spirits, let me pierce the veil yet again... Oh!" A dramatic pause follows. I shut up and wait, unimpressed.

"You commune with the junimos?" she whispers at me. Now I'm impressed.

"Yes. They moved into the abandoned community center because it was... well, abandoned. They're helping me fix it up."

"A noble cause with noble aid. I am glad to find another with The Gift so close to my friend Rasmodius."

And now I'm uncomfortable. I don't have any kind of gift, the man forced me to drink down a cup of his forest magic juice.

"Okay, well... Is that all?"

"I can see no more. Go with the blessings of the spirits, my friend."

I suppress a comment about not being her friend and just leave. I find Harvey exactly where I left him and put on an amused face.

"So, what did she say?"

"Something weird about a black-haired man and blue chickens."

"Black hair? Shane? He helps Marnie look after her chickens."

Shane, of course. Logical I didn't think about him.

"May be, but blue chickens? That's just ridiculous."

"Back where I come from, there was a farmer who had chickens with a very special silvery color that he called 'blue'. I don't know if that's maybe some kind of convention, like black and tan dogs. Maybe she meant something like that. I imagine the people from the fair see all parts."

"Maybe. Guess if I really want to know I might have to ask Shane, which I'm not really up for anyway."

"So do you believe that was a hundred gold well-spent?"

"Well, at least she did her little spiel, pretty much like what they do on tv. Spouting a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish, talking about 'arcane' and 'mysterious' and what not. It's the show you pay for," I shrug. "Not doing it again, though."

"Is there anything else you would like to see?"

"Another one of Gus's free burgers. That sauce he has is addictive."

"You already had three of those. Where do you keep putting them? That's a lot of fat, you know."

"I burn it all anyway." I lift up my shirt. I may not have those chiseled model washboard abs, but my stomach is nice and flat. "It's not healthy not to have any reserves, either. Is there anything else you'd like to see?" I ask while I start heading toward the park.

"Not really. It's the same every year. You spend money to win star tokens, but there isn't really anything worthwhile to spend the tokens on, and you can't exchange them back for money. To be honest I generally don't bother coming outside for the Fair."

"Well, if you'd prefer to be inside... we can do that."

So I eat my burger and then we go to his apartment. We sit down on the couch opposite the tv and he turns it on. Harvey has some kind of history channel I don't have. Right now there's a documentary on about how the war with the Gotoro Empire got started.

I like watching nature documentaries, but I don't really like looking at a bunch of political intrigue. Also, I have more interesting ways to pass the time in mind. I'm just not sure what Harvey might think about them.

We kiss. We hold hands, even in public, though not often. We slept in each other's arms one night. But Harvey never seems to make any move toward sex, and I don't know if it is because he doesn't feel up for it, or because he might think I don't. It would be stupid if each of us was just kind of waiting for the other to make the first move.

Well, one way to find out. First I turn my head toward him to get his attention. It takes him a couple of seconds before he apparently gets uncomfortable and looks at me. With a mischievous smile, I get closer.

"I'm going crazy waiting for you, Harvey."

His eyebrows rise and he scoffs like he can't believe it.

"You've been waiting for me, have you. I've been doing the same."

"I figured," I grin.

I reach over further and kiss him. I want to go slow, take my time, but it's hard to hold back – already my pants are starting to feel tight. I turn, put a leg over one of his, start rubbing his chest through his shirt. He strokes my leg; his other hand is on my chest, but we both don't have a lot of freedom of movement this way. I'm not receiving any objections, so I get on his lap. After a second's doubt, I also take my t-shirt off. I have nothing to hide from him.

I pause and let him look at me – he seems intrigued. After a few seconds he sits forward, puts his arms around my back and peppers my chest in kisses. He sucks on my nipples. I'm losing my mind, caressing his head and back, grinding myself up against him just a little bit.

This is amazing, but not what I was thinking of right now. I gently pull him away from me, have him sit back against the backrest, kiss him and start unbuttoning his shirt. Always with the button-downs, our doctor. I let my hands roam over his chest. He may be less fit than me, but I don't care. With that blush on his face, wide pupils, breathing quickly, his full attention on me, there's nothing sexier in the world.

I move one hand over the front of his pants mostly to see his reaction first. His eyes close and I see his adam's apple bob up and down. When he notices I'm not doing anything else, he looks up at me and sees in my face that I'm waiting for permission.

"Go ahead," he says, his voice trembling a little. I go on rubbing him up and down. He feels pretty big; I wonder if it's the pants doing that.

I unbutton and unzip his pants. He's tense, watching my every move. I rub him a little through his underwear and then free him completely.

I have to take him in for a moment. That is big. And now he's biting his lip, watching me worriedly. So this is why he was tense.

"You look like you're expecting me to get scared," I grin.

"Are you... telling me you're not?"

"Well, you're definitely a lot bigger than I am." I put my hands on either side of his head on the backrest of the sofa to lean in close and kiss him tenderly. "But I trust that you'll do everything in your power not to hurt me."

"That, I will," he confirms earnestly, and kisses me back. I wrap my hand around his penis and slowly start pumping it. Harvey groans into my mouth and I can't help but smile. I'm surprised myself at just how much satisfaction it gives me to make him feel good, how much I'm enjoying being this close to him.

"I love you, Harvey."

"I love you too, Evan."

This is the first time I hear him say those words. It sends a thrill through me. I continue my ministrations.

Then I think of something else. I take one of his hands and inspect the palm and insides of his fingers. The skin is soft and there's not a scar on them.

"What... are you...?"

In answer, I hold my own hand open next to his, full of calluses and patches of dry skin.

"Do you happen to have any kind of lubricant? Lotion, vaseline...?"

"It's no problem."

"Harvey, I have to use vaseline on myself. It's going to be a problem if I keep going like this."

"You're not going to like it."

That's a very unexpected angle.

"What could you possibly use for this that I wouldn't like?"

"Truffle oil."

Now I am stunned.

"No, I am dumbfounded, but I guess I'm glad that it actually turns out to have a useful application. Really, though?" I feel like I have to do a mental double-take before I can believe it. "That's what you've been using it for?"

"Not for lubricant, exactly... Almost any food-derived oil can be used for skin care and will at least hydrate dry skin. Olive, almond, coconut, grape seed, you name it. Some of them contain extra vitamins and such, but all of them will do the trick."

"And you don't have any of those other ones lying around in your cupboards?"

He looks down now, guilty.

"You prefer truffle," I conclude. By this point I am really just amused. I always have found it rather stupid to spend so much money on something you can barely taste in the food it's added to. Good for me, because profit, but stupid.

I get off him, walk into the kitchen, and get the truffle oil out of the cupboard, the bottle I gifted him. It turns out he could use a new one, too. I have to get on that quickly. The pigs don't work in winter. It's a good thing I always keep a few of everything for myself. Especially the things Harvey likes. I pour a little bit of the oil into my hand while walking back, keeping the bottle with me – I don't know how quickly I might need more.

"You're not angry?" Harvey asks.

"I told you, it cost me nothing." I get back on his lap. "Just some time and energy. And I really am kinda glad that it has another use than cooking." His erection has gone down a little, so I start by stroking just the underside, with one finger, up and down. "It always seemed such a waste to me, for a person to pay so much for this stuff."

"In cooking, it's like sesame oil," he breathes. It's visible that he needs some effort to focus on what he wants to say. "A little goes a very long way."

"Sesame oil doesn't cost a thousand gold though."

Harvey has apparently decided he has more important things to focus on right now. As I wrap my whole hand around him again, his head falls back to the sofa, his eyes close. His hands stroke my thighs mechanically. As I go on, every now and then I find him looking at me – at what I'm doing, but also just at me.

"Like what you see?" I offer, trying to do whatever is described in books as a roguish grin.

"You're the hottest thing I've ever had a chance to touch."

And now he has me blushing. I bite back a comment about him being a doctor, though – he's not going to like that, and it's not the time. I keep on doing what I'm doing.

I'm marveling at what I'm touching, as well. It feels unusual – wider than what I'm used to – and though my one previous partner hasn't had that effect on me, I feel like I just can't really process what I'm doing. I do this for myself just about every day, and this should feel about the same in my hand and more impersonal in my head. But there is a warm, firm, living thing in my hand that isn't me, that I for some reason really like to have in my hand, and also I just can't look away from Harvey. His breath is my breath. His pleasure reverberates in my belly. I feel like I'm trembling, but I'm not, it's something inside of me. This is so beautiful.

I never expected it to be like this.

Also, he is very quiet. His breathing is the only thing I get to hear. Aside from that groan the first time I touched him, he hasn't made another sound. Still, he's breathing quickly. When he looks at me, I can see barely any awareness in his eyes. He's moving with me, his hands clutching at my thighs. He's nearing the peak. I'm just missing the noise.

Well, if I let him blow his load like this, it's going to be a mess, and I have no spare clothes with me; I should move. I quickly get off him, kneel between his legs and apply my mouth where my hand used to be. Harvey lets out a big sigh – now here's some noise.

"Ahhh... You don't... have to..." he starts, but I just wink at him. I only have the head in my mouth anyway, I'm not going to push it any further now, I'm still using my hand for the rest. He doesn't insist. His hands are on my arms now, his hips pulling rhythmically, his eyes fixed on me.

Then, I notice he's expanding. Right on the edge, then. A couple of thrusts later, I can feel the oily liquid spurting out into my mouth. I have to swallow quickly to keep up, but I keep on moving, milking every last drop out of him. He still makes no sound other than his breathing.

I slowly let go of him. He's a beautiful mess.

Something pulses in protest in my own pants.

I sit down on the sofa next to Harvey while his breathing goes back to normal and put an arm around him. I once heard something from my sister to the effect of a man not being worth anything if he doesn't snuggle after – I don't know if Harvey thinks about it that way, but I'm not going to take that chance right now. He hugs me back, so it seems I've hit the bullseye.

"I'm afraid you're going to need to clean up a little. I didn't get it all," I comment softly. He nods.

"Let me get you something to drink first."

Well isn't he a perfect gentleman. He pours me some juice and then disappears into the bathroom for a minute. I sit down on the sofa again, one leg pulled up, getting comfortable.

When Harvey comes back out, he sits down next to me, looking serious.

"I did something not medically recommended, did I," I comment.

"Counter-indicated is the word. You don't go down on a man without asking where he's been."

"Guy in high school. Nobody else since. You told me."

"While in my case that is indeed all there is to it, not everyone needs to feel a personal connection to have a one night stand," Harvey explains carefully. "Besides, even if you've had only one partner, and that partner had only been with one person before them, you don't know how far that chain goes, and who is in it."

"Well, you are a doctor. I kind of would have expected you to have done some tests at some point, take medicine if necessary, and I would've expected you to tell me if you had anything incurable before I opened your pants. I gave you the opportunity."

"I am glad that you trust me like this. But not every man is this trustworthy."

"I would not have done this with another man. Never did."

"Okay. I'll trust you on that. May I ask about your previous partners?"

"One guy, in college. Never got any further than blow jobs. He wanted to move things along more quickly than I was interested in and then he refused to take no for an answer. I kicked him out of my dorm. And I asked for medical records before I was going to touch him with anything else than my hands. He nearly bailed on me right then," I chuckle.

"It seems I owe you an apology," Harvey concludes. I shrug.

"I've been asking for credit, but I guess anyone can do that. So I'll prove to you that I'm worth it, then you give me credit. Deal?"

"You have it."

"Perfect."

"Now if you don't mind coming back here, I still have a job to do." Harvey puts a hand on my thigh to illustrate what he means.

"No obligation."

"Of course not. I am also not sixteen anymore," he winks.

"You want me back on your lap, do you? Wasn't I getting too heavy there?"

"I quite like it."

"Do you? Well, in that case..." I get up, think for a moment and just take off my pants and underpants. "I don't like constraints," I explain half apologetically. I don't expect him to complain, and he doesn't, it's just... there's always a lot of 'just-in-cases' involved in getting intimate with someone new.

I straddle Harvey again and the first thing he does is pull me down for a kiss. This time, he's in charge, and it's surprisingly different – he makes me follow him. The fact that he is still mostly clothed, with only his shirt open, while I am completely naked, adds another dimension to this. I have not yet seen most of him. Harvey does seem to enjoy looking at me. He does so while his hands roam over my chest, my back, my behind, and my thighs. He's avoiding the most sensitive zones, probably on purpose – not that he needs to, because my mind is doing the work for him. I'm breathing hard already. Well, he can play his little game. I'm not going to bite that hook, even though a certain part of me feels severely ignored so far.

"Oh, Evan. You're beautiful."

Without waiting for a response, he starts kissing my chest again. His hands move over my back more firmly and knead my behind. He latches on to a nipple and, a second later, pulls me toward him, more or less forcing me to rub myself up against the front of his pants. I have to catch myself, putting my hands on the backrest of the sofa again to prevent falling into Harvey. The friction feels great and has even more effect because it's completely unexpected – and that's without mentioning the thrill I get when he takes charge like that. It reminds me of something.

"Hey," I say into his ear. Harvey immediately stops everything he's doing.

"What is it?"

"Nothing's wrong," I chuckle. I guess I should've thought of that interpretation. "Remember the first time I came to watch the moonlight jellies? When my calf was all cut up?"

"Vividly. I had to force you to come into the clinic."

"And force me to stay when you decided to get your needle out," I add.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to apologize for that. It was necessary."

"I'm not asking you to apologize," I answer with a wide smile. "That was hot."

Harvey pauses for a moment.

"Really now?" I can hear a grin in his voice.

"Should I not have told you that?"

"You might regret it." He pulls me up against him again. This time I'm expecting it and move with him, letting out a groan that has nothing to do with effort. He releases his grip and then pulls me back again, and I take the hint and keep on going in the same rhythm. Initially, the extra friction helps, and in the meantime Harvey's hands are all over me. After a while, though, I need more.

"Please, Harvey," I whisper in his ear. "You've got me waiting so long."

He chuckles.

"Because you ask so nicely. Hold still for a moment."

I pause. Harvey looks around – I've put the truffle oil on the table, so I quickly get it for him. He pours a little into one hand, hands it back to me, and I twist the top back on and put it on the table again.

He thoughtfully takes my penis in his hand – my four and a half inches are nothing compared to his solid nine – and for a moment I feel like I'm going to be coming in two seconds. But he moves... so... slowly. I grab the backrest of the sofa again and try thrusting into his hand a little, to show that I want it faster, but he just tightens his grip on my thigh with his other hand.

"Shh."

At the same time, he looks up at me, gauging my reaction. It's a game he's playing, and if I react badly, he'll cut it out.

Hey, if he's comfortable enough to be playing games already – and ones I like, at that – I'm not going to stop him. I give him a grin and shut up. A wide smile spreads on his face and he averts his eyes, looking down at what he's doing.

"I may need it a little bit faster to stay hard. If you're planning to do this for a long time."

"Not this time. You've waited long enough."

He accelerates fairly quickly, and soon I'm moaning my appreciation with every breath. I try to hold still – he hasn't loosened his grip on my thigh – but my hips start twitching out of my control. Then I notice a familiar tightening feeling in my lower belly.

"Harvey... I'm gonna come," I pant, expecting him to do something to keep himself clean. Harvey looks up at me, still looking all flustered himself. His hand moves from my thigh up to my chest to rub my nipple with his thumb, sending extra thrills down south.

"Go ahead," he answers, now focused on my face. He wants me to come all over him.

Well, he has clean clothes here.

As he's let go of my thigh now, I'm free to move, and it's liberating just to be able to follow his rhythm instead of trying to hold still. The tight feeling in my stomach winds itself tighter and then releases in a snap. A long groan rips out of my chest. Long ropes of half-liquid semen spurt out onto Harvey's chest and his hand, and just seeing this revs me up even more.

I drop my head onto Harvey's shoulder, trying to catch my breath. In truth, I am not completely satisfied. If he kept on going, I could easily come again. But I'm not going to ask for that now. Harvey starts caressing my hair while he waits for me to come down. He still has my penis in his other hand.

"You know, I was trying to prevent a mess like this," I chuckle, still out of breath. I sit back to look at the damage I've done. Harvey smirks at me, scoops some of my semen off his chest with his thumb, and puts it in his mouth. I stare at him half-shocked.

"And here I was told porn causes unrealistic expectations."

"Worse than that, it causes some very bad manners. But if you recognize the moves, I'm sure you've seen some."

"I try to stay away from it. I've been led to believe it's much better to learn from a person who knows the ropes."

Harvey frowns.

"By whom? That isn't exactly the... generally accepted point of view on that subject."

"Please don't tell me you're all about sticking two virgins together and letting them figure it out with, in some cases, barely a concept of 'wrong hole'."

"No, believe me, I agree. I have seen some ways in which ignorance can cause a lot of grief... those cases tend to end up on my examination table. I'm just curious as to where you got it from. City dwellers didn't use to be that different about these things, the last time I was there."

"My mother. 'You've got to learn to ride on an old bicycle'," I recite in a falsetto voice. "My dad's eight years older than her, so I guess she knows what she's talking about. My sister was too romantic to take that advice to heart, and she was less than pleased with her first experience with her virgin boyfriend."

"So you've been looking for an old bicycle?"

"Not specifically an old one, but... I don't know. For most of my life, boys of my age were always so childish that trying to get close to them felt like a waste of my time. I hoped that would get better in university, and then I met the frat boys."

Harvey chuckles.

"You didn't check the library?"

"Spent most of my time there, but would you want to be interrupted in the middle of reading a book?"

"Depends on the book."

"I'll remember that," I smirk at him. I start getting up off him – he's going to want to get cleaned up. "Which books are off-limits?"

"Detective novels." Harvey gets up as well and goes into the bathroom again.

"Medical journals? No?"

"If you find me reading one of those, feel free to interrupt." He closes the door.

I stay the night again.