The beginning of my wonderful life
Chapter 1 – wet rain
The pale youth strode around the land he now called his own. The sun was shining, but over the edge of the beautiful valley were clouds promising rain. Come to think of it, he didn't very much like rain. It was far too wet for his taste. Hmm, was there such a thing as dry rain? If so, that was how Phage liked his rain. Not wet, but very dry. A cool breeze blew past him, ruffling his flaming orange hair, his bright blue eyes watering automatically at the sensation.
Everything around him was strange and alien. The young man had always been a city dweller, was always proud to say he was born and bred to be such. Now here he was, standing in the middle of a farm that his father's father had owned but never made prosperous. It was good solid land. There were some fallow fields the grass slightly uneven with a serene strong tree with pink leaves being pulled into the air by the gentle wind. He was standing in front of the currently empty chicken coop at the moment; which of course happened to be situated between two plots, one not in the slightest fertile and the other however was just a little. A couple yards away, an extremely large plot of good soil existed, probably the best on the farm he had inherited.
Phage McDougall was not at this point in time, the happiest person on earth. He walked over to the single room building that was to be his house. Two small puppies played with each other around his ankles, as if to play peek-a-boo. When Takakura (the friend and partner of his grandfather that lived on the farm) was showing him around the valley, and around his new home, these two small dogs showed up. The older male had asked him if he would like to keep one of them. Not being able to choose between them, Phage had decided to keep both puppies.
"Bob, Joe, stop it! I need to get into the house!" Phage said sternly, looking down at the two.
Both canines looked innocently up at him, ganging up on him with the baby eyes that were their expertise.
"Don't look at me like that you two…" Phage pleaded, shutting the door behind his followers.
Dragging his feet, the exhausted male collapsed on his new bed. He could feel the foot of the bed sink down as the babies pulled themselves up on to the mattress. It wasn't long before they unintentionally gave him a back rub while padding up and down his back. Phage groaned, feeling his back pop by one of their movements.
Thinking back on Takakura's grand tour of Forget-me-not Valley, the day had been mentally tiring. By the time they had gotten back to the farm, the sun was setting and all the poor boy had wanted to do was sleep wherever he happened to fall on his way to his bed.
I wonder what the old man meant by 'I suggest you get married, and quickly. Your grandfather always wanted this to be a family farm.' Phage thought. Why in the hell would it be any of that old geezer's business whether or not he got married? He thought back on his potential options for marriage, that is if he wanted to get married anyway. Who ever said he wanted to get married? He sure didn't. Looking back on his potential marriage suspects he groaned. He rattled them off in his mind: well, first there was Celia…
The first place they visited was a smaller farm near the steep path that led out of the valley. As soon as they walked into the area where the fields were located, they bumped into a girl watering plants.
"Hello Takakura." Said a charming girl around Phage's age.
She had espresso brown hair and gentle grey eyes, her cheeks were rosy from working in the fields. Her smooth pale lips formed a warm smile at them as she brushed back a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of the orange bandana holding it back. She wore a modest frock that was a grey-green in color and a gingham apron over it, feminine pointed brown boots covering her feet.
"Good afternoon, Celia. This is Phage; he's the boy I was telling you about. The one who's taking over the farm." Takakura explained.
Celia nodded, looking over at Phage and blushing slightly, holding her hands together nervously she said, "Nice to meet you Phage, welcome to the valley."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too."
Suddenly a tall beefy woman with frizzy blonde hair pulled back in a rough ponytail made her way towards them with long strides. This woman was intimidating to say the least. She wore big red goulashes and on odd yellow dress with a burlap apron. Her eyes were a wild green and her face stout and determined.
"Takakura, this the one you were telling us about, right? He's a handsome one, that's for sure. Don't you think so Celia?" The woman gave Celia a furtive look.
Phage was taken a back at this stranger's boldness. Celia blushed furiously, looking down at the ground, avoiding Phage's eyes at all costs.
"Um, thank you…I guess." The youth took a step back, just in case she went wild like one of those Amazon women he had seen on the discovery channel once.
Takakura nodded, "This is Phage, Phage this is Vesta she grows crops and sells seeds here on her farm. This is where you can buy seeds and fertilizer for your farm. By the way, Vesta, where's your brother?"
"He's in the office sulking about something or other. He'll be around later; you can come by and meet him tomorrow if you would like Phage."
The male nodded, looking over to Takakura.
"We'll be going now Vesta. Phage still has to meet the other people. Good bye Celia." Takakura said his good byes and Phage waved to the women as he walked off.
Phage sighed, he rolled over and looked up at the ceiling, the puppies had already fallen asleep, and they were curled up next each other at the foot of the bed. Celia was shy, and charming. However cute she was, Phage hadn't felt any spark, or any nervousness around her. To be truthful, he had felt more nervous around Vesta then Celia; and for very different reasons. Then of course, there was Nami, now she was…well, Phage couldn't really think of a word to describe her.
Takakura stopped outside of a tall building with two beautiful balconies in the front. The doors opened and an attractive young man with smooth golden hair parted straight down the middle walked out to greet them.
"Hello friend!" He grinned enthusiastically.
"Yes, hello Rock. This is Phage." Takakura introduced the two.
Phage smirked, he had a feeling he would become good friends with Rock.
"How are you farmer? I suppose this is going to be a bit odd for you, a city-ling that you are." Rock said sympathetically.
Phage felt a strong connection immediately with this fellow male for his insight and sympathy.
"Yeah, I can barely believe I'm here." Phage responded casually.
"Well, there may not seem like much to do here. But it's definitely more peaceful than the city. You'll get used to it. Stop by if you want to hang out, I'll show you the ropes." Rock smiled.
Phage nodded, his eyes suddenly caught by the beautiful fiery headed enigma sitting cross-legged, perfectly balanced on the narrow balcony rail.
"Hey, you probably shouldn't be sitting like that; you'll fall off and break something!" Phage shouted up to her.
"You mean, I might break you." The woman replied crisply, staring him down coolly.
Rock rolled his lips inward, his eyes laughing.
"What did you just say?" Phage asked incredulously.
She ignored him; instead she slid off the rail and landed inside the balcony rails, walking inside the building. There was a soft click as a door was closed.
"Don't get upset my friend. That was Nami; she's a traveler and has been staying at the inn for a year now. She's friendly with some of the villagers, but to new people or to other visitors she's not so nice. She can be hard to handle sometimes, but really she isn't that bad once you get to know her." Rock told him.
Phage calmed himself down enough to look at Rock and tell him thanks and see you later. He had a feeling he wouldn't get along very well with Nami.
Sun was just now creeping in through the curtain less window, and Phage could hear his stomach groaning at the lack of food within. The youth looked over towards the miniscule kitchen that was supposed to help support him food wise.
"Yeah, right…" Phage scowled, pushing himself up off of his bed where he had fallen asleep not five hours before.
The puppies weren't sleeping; they were running around the house. Bob was currently chasing Joe, and whenever Bob was going to turn around and run the other way, he would skid to a stop on the slippery wood floor and run the other way. To any normal person this would have been quite amusing. Phage wasn't any normal person, and therefore was very annoyed.
"Stop it!" He shouted.
Both canines skidded to a stop at his bare feet, looking up at their master with wide puppy eyes. Phage sighed, and then turned to look into the fridge. Nothing, there was no food, or really anything in the fridge. What in the hell? His jaw dropped, and consequently, so did the bottom of his stomach. The young man hadn't prepared any food to bring here because he thought the old geezer would have given him some! But noooo, there was no food, and he was very, very hungry…
Gripping his grandfather's fishing pole tightly in hand, and a basket full of wild grasses in the other, Phage made his way up to the waterfall. Takakura had said that was the best place to fish. Woopdidoo… Phage came to a halt at the waterfall, carefully setting down his grasses he had picked. The male walked closer to the waterfall and cast his lure into the water. Now, the waiting came. Phage did not like to wait, but if it meant he would eventually get food, why then waiting was his favorite thing in the world.
Three long hours later, Phage had managed to get six large fish out of his trip. He walked home wearily. Now, if he could just find some butter somewhere, he might be able to make a salad his friend Rock had told him about the other day. Where would he find butter? He didn't very well have a food processing building, and he had no clue where his cow Bessie went. She was a true Houdini, that cow could just disappear whenever she felt like it!
Sighing heavily not the first time that day, Phage walked into this house and began chopping up the 'mugwort' he had found outside his house on the chopping board, every now and then rinsing it with water. He then moved the chopped grasses into a bowl on the counter next to him. After this, he took one of his six fish (putting the others in the fridge) and put it into a skillet with some water, cooking it for a good five minutes. Phage grinned at the luxurious smell, slowly adding the mugwort bits into the skillet. His stomach growled loudly, sensing food. Finally, when ten more minutes had passed, Phage poured his creation onto a plate he found in a cupboard under the sink. The tall youth sat down at his table, and dug into the food he had just prepared. Wonderful juices filled his mouth as he tore into the Big Nayame he had caught. One glance at the clock, however, made his eyes start watering. It was already 3:00Pm and he had gotten nothing done but the task of feeding himself. Not only that, but he had no clue where Bessie had gotten to.
After Phage finished he lunch, he walked outside and first decided he would go find Bessie. A half hour later, after walking the entire valley, he found her back in the field. When she saw him, she mooed happily and trotted over to the fence to greet him.
"You are one weird cow, you know that?" He told her, rubbing her head like he did the dogs.
Bessie looked insulted for a moment, but then continued to enjoy his patting, "Moo!"
Phage smiled down at her, accepting an especially wet lick on the cheek he jumped over the fence.
"Okay girl, I need to get some milk to send off to town. You wouldn't mind me, would you?" Phage looked hopefully down at her.
Bessie shook her head, smiling she used her large forehead to push him in the direction of the tool shed.
"I'll be right back with a bucket and a couple of bottles." Phage called to her, hurrying off to the tool shed.
A couple of days ago, and Phage had been a charming lady's man city slicker. Now here he was in a valley in the middle of nowhere, talking to a cow (that he owned) named Bessie, who had the magical ability to disappear. He sighed heavily, entering the tool shed, Phage grabbed the bucket he found on a long wooden shelf and headed back out to the field. There Bessie was waiting.
"Alright, stay still." He told her, kneeling down beside her, he put the newly obtained silver bucket under her udders.
In less than 20 minutes, he had four bottles filled with milk. Phage took two and put them in the shipping box inside the storage room. Walking back to his new house, the youth kept the other two for him. Relishing in the fact that he was done with his chores for the day, he decided to take a walk.
Looking around, the male took a moment to enjoy the surreal beauty. After a few minutes of simply following his feet, Phage found himself sitting on the beach staring out at the beautiful ocean, waves lapping up on the shore dangerously near his feet. He laid down on the sand and watched time fly by, the sky darken and cloud sheep drift through blue fields.
Finally, the youth decided it was time to head home. When he stood and turned around, he noticed a boy sitting under the picnic shelters further down the beach, just watching him. Phage paused mid stretch, returning the odd stare, and resolved the idea to head over to the strange staring-boy.
"Hello." Phage greeted, thinking this sounded awfully stupid he added, "I'm new here, I'm taking over the farm over there."
Just in case the stranger was directionally challenged, Phage pointed it out to him.
"I was sure I'd met everyone in the valley, but apparently I missed someone." Phage winked coyly and his unusual companion blushed slightly still looking down at the ground.
"Hi, I'm Phage, what's your name?" The farmer squatted down, falling back on his posterior so he could see the boy better.
"Jack."
Chapter 2 – inopportune shyness
It would seem that this boy sitting opposite him (Jack was his name) was extremely shy, or embarrassed for some unknown reason, or both. Phage observed Jack, taking in his appearance. He actually looks the part that I'm supposed to be playing, Phage thought. Jack had rough dark brown hair with a tall cowlick in front; he had dark blue eyes and a soft but strong face. His hands were covered by red and black working gloves and he work rugged blue jeans that had a significant amount of dirt on them. His plain white button up shirt was tucked into his trousers and had a stain on it that looked like it could've been ketchup.
"Am I really that intimidating?" Phage asked his companion.
"Don't give yourself so much credit." Jack looked up at him smartly.
"Well, here I was thinking you were the shy and modest type." Phage commented.
"Really?" Jack asked, his previous shyness gone.
"Really. Averted eyes and a blush usually is the heads up." The orange haired youth explained, smirking broadly.
"It also could be a heads up that the person who introduced themselves first has a really huge zit on his chin." Jack retorted.
When Phage put his hand to his chin to feel if he did have a huge zit, Jack leaned back and laughed.
"Hey Phage, you know if you do this, people look really funny." Jack held four fingers up in front of his face and waved them back and forth real quick.
Phage followed suit only to realize he had been tricked again. He glared at the other tween viciously.
"Hey, I didn't lie! I said people look funny, and I was right, you looked really funny!" Jack laughed again.
Phage could feel a smile creeping onto his face, but quickly he pushed it away as he stood up. He had had enough of this; there was no way he was going to sit around and be tricked into doing stupid things by someone he didn't even know. He was not made purely for other people's amusement.
"Hey, don't go! I'm sorry. How bout we go to the blue bar for a drink? I'll pay." Jack offered.
Phage sighed, turning around he offered the male a hand. Jack took it and stood up.
"Where's the blue bar again?" Phage asked.
"Just follow me, I'll show you."
"Takakura was running around town these past few days telling everybody that someone was finally going to start up that farm over there." Jack pointed toward Myishi farm, "He said it was the grandson of the guy who originally owned it. Everybody's been pretty excited about you showing up."
"Why?" Phage questioned looking down at the brunette.
"Well, not that many people come through this valley and even less move here for good." They had finally reached the blue bar, and Jack opened the door for his taller counterpart.
"I can understand that."
"Hey Phage! Nice to see you friend!" A bouncing blonde blob attached itself to Phage's torso.
"Hi Rock, what's up?" The blonde party-man pulled back and looked up at him blankly for a minute, almost as though Phage had asked a really tough question.
"Oh!" Rock smiled, just figuring out the question, "Nothing much, I just came over to the bar for a moon trip. I was gonna head back when I saw you come in."
"Hi Rock." Jack greeted.
"Hello Jack!" The two exchanged a hug.
Phage scratched the back of his neck while watching the exchange. He smiled at Jack falling over, and then impishly pulling Rock down with him so they would both receive bruises. When Rock fell on top of Jack, Phage felt a spark of slight anger. A sudden vision of Jack moaning in pleasure from Phage's own teasing tongue shot through his mind. Phage was brought back to reality by Griffin asking him if he was alright.
"You look like you just saw a ghost or something." Griffin stated.
"Oh I'm sorry bout that, I'm fine really. I just kind of zoned out." Phage walked over to the bar and took a seat.
"So, what'll it be?" Griffin asked him.
"Um…" Rock sat down and while giggling madly whispered in his ear, "You want a stone oil."
Phage nodded and made his order. While the older man was fixing the drink they filled the room with pleasant chatter. What's up? Oh, really? Cool. Yeah, me too. How am I? I'm good thanks. It was the usual banter between people who don't really know each other that well. Suddenly Phage was interrupted by Griffin handing him a foaming mug of some dark bitter smelling liquid.
"There you go, drink up. That'll be 300 gold." Griffin told him.
Phage grumbled that Jack was paying for it. Then Griffin looked expectantly at Jack who confidentlypulled outa wad ofodd colored bills and set them on the counter. Phage picked up the mug and downed all the contents in one gulp. For a moment or two, all Phage could taste was the bitter, slightly sour concoction... then suddenly he was hit with an almost orgasmic pleasure in his taste buds that knocked him off his chair.
When Phage got back up he looked wide eyed at the wildly laughing Jack and Rock sitting in the seats next to him. They had known this would happen. Phage's eyes narrowed.Hehauled back an experienced fist and was about to send Rock's head spinning when the blonde said something that made him double over laughing.
"Don't hit me, I'm too pretty!" Rock exclaimed in all seriousness.
Jack snorted, wisely covered up his face and turned away. Phage, not knowing any better continued on laughing until Rock tackled him and started smacking him like a sissy. In fact, Rock wasn't even looking at him, but had his eyes screwed shut with his head turned away he was aimlessly making smacking motions with his hands in the hopes he would finally make contact with the offending person. Finally, Phage figured out if he laid down at a certain angle, Rock's wildly swinging hands wouldn't make contact with him and he could just watch himflail aroundamusinglywithout inflicting harm.
By now it was near midnight and Phage decided he should probably head back to the farm. The male bucked his friend off of his stomach and onto the floor and accepted the hand Jack offered him.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Let's head out before Rock's realized we've left." Jack told him.
"How long will that be?" Phage laughed.
"Probably twenty minutes or so, he's had three moon trips and about five stone oils." Jack explained as they headed for the door.
"See you later Griffin." Both youths waved at the older man who returned the gesture politely before continuing to watch Rock squirm on the floor.
Jack and Phage walked leisurely towards the farm.
"Does Rock always get piss drunk like that?" Phage asked.
"Yep. He's a partier by nature. Rock is at the blue bar almost every night." Jack sighed and leaned back his head to look up at the starry night sky.
The rest of the way they walked in companionable silence. When they reached Phage's door, Jack paused.
"Um, it was cool meeting you Phage; maybe we could hang out tomorrow?" Jack looked down at the ground shyly.
"Sure." Phage looked down at the shorter male fondly.
Without thinking, Phage reached his hand down to gently lift up Jack's chin, in one swift movement Phage claimed his companions lips with his. It was a short sweet kiss that lasted only a few seconds but when Phage pulled back Jack gazed at him with confused and shocked eyes. A flash of uncertain longing crossed Jack's face before he sprinted off the farm and away from Phage as fast as he could.
Phage groaned and walked into his house, slamming the door behind him. The pale male collapsed onto his bed and gripped his hair angrily. What the hell was that? He asked himself. Why did you kiss him? You're straight! Or, at least Phage hoped he was. But then again, if he was straight, why had he felt so jealous when Rock fell on top of Jack at the bar? Why did he kiss Jack? Do you like Jack? No, I don't like Jack, I just want to fuck him senseless…wait, what's wrong with that sentence? Did I just think about fucking a guy? What's wrong with me?
Phage rolled over and stared at the ceiling bitterly, "Fan-fucking-tastic…"
Chapter 3 – God…damn…weeds
When Phage woke up the next morning, his head was pounding and everything seemed to be tinged with rainbows. He was excruciatingly confused and dizzy. He knew he was in his house because the demon dogs he had taken in were now coating the bottom of his feet with a thick layer of saliva. With an annoyed sigh the pale youth let his head fall back onto his pillow. What had happened last night? Why was he experiencing a hangover? Because you were drinking, you idiot! Phage's brain responded with resounding pound of pain in his cranium. That's funny; he only remembered having one drink. That was some powerful alcohol.
Phage rolled off the bed and stood up, he took two steps before he slipped on his spit covered feet and fell on his posterior in front of a chair threatening to fall on him. This was not a good time to have a hangover. There were a lot of things that needed doing. Phage had to figure out how to grow crops. Bessie had most likely repeated her infamous disappearing act, and if Phage wanted to ship some milk he would definitely have to go and find her. What time was it? The red head looked over at the clock on his bedside table and found that it was around one in the afternoon. Holy shit! The male shot to his feet only to be punished with destructive migraine for moving to quickly. Working hard to bare through it, Phage left the house, leaving the door wide open. Two happy go lucky puppies tagged along after him, as Phage went to go check the storage building. Maybe Takakura had already gotten back and left some money from the sales of the milk. I hope so… Phage thought.
Grumbling loudly, Phage pushed the door open and entered the frigid building, there was a colorful tin can on the table along with a thick spiral note book. Next to the large crate was a cold dairy box that had been labeled as 'the shipping box'. He sluggishly shuffled over to the money tin and picked up the lid, inside was close to a thousand gold bills. The twenty-year-old was so happy at the sight of money he thought he might cry. Picking up the crisp currency, Phage lovingly rubbed it against his face.
"Money…oh, how I love you so…"
"Hey, Flack, you said this guy would be good!"
"I didn't say he would be good, I said he would be interesting."
"Nack, it's obvious the idiot is attracted to money! And not in the way normal people are!"
"Nick! Shut up, maybe he's simply intoxicated."
"Wow, Flak that makes him so much better!"
"Nick, listen to me, big people fall into three categories: druggies, alcoholics, and the just plain stupid. There is no such thing as normal!"
Phage turned around to see three small beings. One was wide wearing a bright yellow coat; he had a big read nose, pale skin, pointy ears, and green hair. Next to him were two other smaller things (most likely the same species as the aforementioned come to life garden gnome) one in a red coat with blue hair and a narrower body, and the other was wearing a blue coat that had extremely long sleeves. Surely, Phage thought, this must be hangover induced hallucinations…right?
"What are you looking at you freak!" The blue coated garden gnome asked.
"Well that's the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think?" Phage asked the hallucination.
If the Phage of three weeks ago were witnessing this, he would probably commit suicide. Here Phage was, in the middle of nowhere, on a farm that supposedly belonged to his grandfather and some weird Takakura guy, talking to some garden gnome like hallucinations induced by what must be some of the most powerful alcohol on earth. Great…
"Okay, I need to go do chores now, so…I'll leave you garden gnomes to bickering inside the storage room." Phage bowed to them and then promptly left the storage room.
He decided that the first thing that he was going to do was get some milk from Bessie, if he could find her that is. When Phage wandered over to the field he had his hands over his eyes. Cautiously, he removed them and saw that Bessie was in fact standing out in the field. She hadn't disappeared yet.
"Bessie!" He yelled.
The cow looked up and then let out a happy moo. Then she ran over to the fence. Wait, did cows run? Did they gallop? Did they trot? Whatever was the fastest gate that cows could muster, Bessie was surely going it now. When she arrived at the fence she held her head high and gave him a wet sloppy kiss on the cheek. Phage scowled and proceeded to wipe the cow spit off his face when Bessie reached up her tongue and licked his hand too. Sighing heavily, the young male looked down at her in defeat. Bessie smiled and mooed happily.
"What am I going to do with you?" He asked, using his spit covered hand to rub small circles down her wide neck.
An hour later, Phage had secured four bottles of some of the best milk he had ever tasted or smelled. Because of this, he labeled each one with a big S for super. Phage looked down at the shipping box proudly. He was starting to get used to this, he might even be enjoying himself. The male left the storage room and decided if it was really safe to go visit Vesta to get seeds or not. She was really scary…and I like Celia but I'm not sure that I want to marry her…but I really want to keep my limbs intact…oh what do I do? Phage thought in despair. While he was thinking, his traitorous feet were leading him slowly but surely over to Vesta's farm.
"Damn feet!" He shook his fist at them angrily.
I must look really out of my mind…Phage thought. Here he was talking to himself and cursing at his feet. Woopdidoo! Soon he found himself in front of Vesta's office and he gulped before knocking on the door. He was fully prepared to face Vesta, he had thought up a plan on how to keep all of his body parts with him and get the seeds on his way over here. But what he wasn't prepared for was the tall dark and handsome that opened the door. His hair was a shining lustrous mass of black curls and a grim scowl. His eyes were a steely grey and he was staring at Phage in a studious way.
Phage decided to speak first, "Um…I'm here to buy some seeds."
"Come in then." The man told him, walking behind a large wooden table.
Phage followed him in and shut the door behind him. Phage's tall dark and handsome pulled out amoney tin, a calculator, a notepad, and a large pen.
"Here, look through this and decide what it is that you want." His dark haired counterpart flicked an order sheet over to him deftly, while looking over his notepad.
Phage looked down at his order sheet and was amazed out how many different things there were to buy here. Looking down the list Phage discovered something…the seeds sold more than the fruits on average. The seed that cost the most was the banana seed. If he could raise the tree really well, and maybe if he could figure out how to make seeds, he could sell them in town for a really high price and…
"Hey man, are you going to order something or just stand there all day? I have work to do you know."
Phage checked off the box next to Banana seed and in the number box he put one.
"What's your name anyway? I didn't meet you in town the other day." Phage asked him.
"Marlin." He replied stiffly, "The amount you ordered of that seed will cost you 1,500 G."
Phage smiled at him confidently and pulled out a large wad of money and put it down on the table. Marlin grimaced and picked up the currency, flicking through it. He stopped about ten bills short of the grouping and tossed ten of them back before putting the bunch still in his hand into his money tin.
"Have a nice day." Marlin said, writing down the order and the money transaction.
Phage nodded, picking up the seed bag that Marlin had tossed at him as well as the left over money. He walked out of the office and back towards his farm. When he got there, he read the back of the package in his hands carefully.
Soil: Any
Season: Fall Winter Spring Summer (Harvest in summer)
Growth rate: Slow
"Okay then, guess I'll plant it in this plot here." Phage turned toward the plot of least fertile soil and felt his jaw hit the ground at the sight now presented to him.
There were weeds, not only little annoying weeds, but 'Roar, I'm going to eat you for dinner' big weeds. This was not good. Those weeds weren't there just the other day. Phage hated weeds. He found himself in the tool shed, looking desperately for garden gloves. When he found them, he wisely picked up the heavy scythe he found on the wall. Phage walked back outside toward the plot of soil but didn't make it there. He was glomped with frightening speed by a fuzzy blob of snuggling brown hair.
"Uh, hello to you too." Phage blushed a bright red and knelt down to see who his attacker was.
A bright and happy face appeared real close to his. Beautiful golden eyes stared innocently into his.
"Hi Phage!" She said gleefully.
"Hi!" He said right back before asking, "What was your name again?"
"Lumina, you silly! You're so funny Phage." She looked down at the scythe he had carefully set down and at the garden gloves covering his hands, "Whatcha doing?"
"I was going to go weed, but-"
"I want to help!" The small girl shouted.
"Um, sure. I'll take the scythe and you can use these garden gloves. I'm sure you don't want to get too much dirt under your nails." Phage pulled his garden gloves off and putthem onto Lumina's hands.
They were big and floppy on her, but she didn't really seem to care. Off the girl bounded to the plot of dirt beginning the difficult attempt at pulling out a monster weed all by herself. Phage grinned happily at his new helper. He got up and walked over to the plot too and took the base of the monster weed out of Lumina's hands. Taking the scythe he quickly and efficiently cut the large leaves of the weed off leaving the root easy to pull out. Lumina beamed up at him and pulled out the root so hard she fell back on her bottom. Phage laughed before setting to work on the rest of the small field.
They had spent more than two hours on the small plot. All the weeds were scattered around them and Lumina had already started picking them up and putting them into a trash can she had hauled outside from the house. Within those few hours, Phage had gotten to know the girl well. He knew that she was just teasing if she smiled at him and scrunched up her nose. He knew if she wasn't when she was scowling and her eyes were flashing with spirited anger. When the girl was smiling weakly, but the happy sentiment didn't reach her eyes, he knew that something was wrong. Phage now knew about her love for piano and that she was so afraid of failure she almost didn't want to play anymore.
"Phage, I love to play piano but…I'm just so afraid of hitting the wrong notes, I don't want to upset grammy. I don't want to play anymore; piano isn't fun when you're afraid."
"Then don't be afraid, hit a wrong note once in a while. That's how you learn stuff, isn't it? From what you've been saying about your grammy, it sounds like she really loves you. I don't think she'll be mad. You should stop being afraid and just play for the fun of it. Don't stop, I still haven't heard you playing piano and I would be a sad panda if I didn't ever get to." Phage grinned sympathetically over at his younger counterpart.
"Thanks Phage, that's what I'll do. You can come and listen to me play tomorrow if you want!" Lumina was beaming now and Phage was happy, he didn't like to see the little angel upset.
Phage watched her drag the trash can over to the larger outside trash can and empty all the weeds into it. She smirked triumphantly and put the small bucket back inside the house before running outside and tackling her new found friend. The young male laughed at the tired girl lying on his chest. A few weeks ago he would have told the girl that she was weird, he didn't even know her, and that she should bug off. But now, Phage would never say something tothe girl, let alone think it. Now that he had gotten to know her, Phage had a habit of thinking about her as his little angel. He had even called her that if only he was speaking soft enough that nobody would hear him. Every time he called her that heavenly compliment, she would smile and blush a little. Phage was ten years older then her at the age of 20, and he felt more like a fatherly figure to her than like a friend. Soon he realized that she was sound asleep.
Phage looked at his watch and saw that it was 4:00 Pm. He shifted the sleeping girl in his arms so that he could stand up and carry her without waking her. The young man decided that he should probably take her home, it was getting late in the afternoon and he didn't want to worry Romana. He walked through the village and up the hill to the villa where his little angel lived. Phage knocked on the large oak doors politely and was let in by Sebastian the butler who served there.
"Oh, why hello Phage. What was Lumina up to? She looks worn out." Sebastian led Phage up the grand stair case, speaking softly.
"She came over to my farm and asked if she could help me with my chores. I let her and we had a blast. I might like to have her over another time." Phage said happily.
The 20-year-old carefully placed Lumina's sleeping form in the older man's arms and placed a soft kiss on the girl's forehead. Lumina smiled gently in her sleep and sighed as Sebastian carried her into her bedroom. The small cheerful girl and helped remove the bane of Phage's existence (weeds), and in Phage's book that would automatically make anyone his friend. So much for the god damn weeds.
Chapter 4 – Smithie the banana tree
Phage had set his alarm clock to about 8:30Am, so as not to wake up in the middle of the day once again. It was a bad habit that he needed to break as soon as possible. There was work to be done, and you didn't get that much work done when you wake up in the middle of the day. Phage was outside plowing up a good spot to plant his banana tree. When he finally planted the seed, watered it, and put some fertilizer on it…he was very tired. Walking over to the field, Phage hopped over the fence and fell to the ground in front of the large tree situated in the center of the pasture. The pale youth closed his eyes and sighed deeply, farming actually took effort. Phage decided that he did not like effort, effort was quite exhausting. Not only that, but when three little hangover induced hallucinations of talking garden gnomes are bugging you while you're trying to do your chores, well…that only makes effort a lot more annoying than it had been before.
"Um, Phage! Hey, where are you?"
Holy shit! Phage thought, what did Jack want now? Maybe he was here to beat him up for that stolen kiss the other night. That would be very, very bad. He laid still hoping that Jack wouldn't spot him in the grass. Suddenly there was a loud moo, and Bessie appeared above him, licking him vigorously on the face.
"Bessie! Stop!" He said in a fierce stage whisper.
That seemed to be enough however, for only a moment later, Jack appeared above him. Phage very afraid, looked up at the shorter male hoping that he would still live to see tomorrow.
"Uh, there you are…what are you doing lying down in the middle of the pasture?" Jack looked at him confusedly, offering a hand to help him up.
Phage uncertainly took the offered hand and said, "I was really tired and this is where I happened to fall."
Jack nodded and now that Phage as standing over him he blushed, "I'm, really sorry for running away from you the other night…I just, I've never been kissed before…and I guess I was kinda freaked out."
This was definitely a surprise; Phage had expected the small brunette to be upset, angry, and scary even. But here Jack was, apologizing to him.
"Its okay, I couldn't help myself, you were just too…cute." Phage was about to trail off when Jack looked up at him with a huge blush and a sheepish smile.
Before Phage could do anything, Jack had glomped him and wasn't letting go. The taller male smirked before returning the embrace, slightly gentler. After that they decided to meet later that night at the beach for a real date.
Later in the afternoon, Phage had been watering his new banana tree once more, and milking more money out of Bessie, and a strange voice popped into his head. 'Hello, thanks for watering me again, I was getting so horrendously thirsty I thought I'd wilt right there and then.' Said the intrusive voice.
At first, Phage ignored the voice and decided to go put away his tools and put the milk he had acquired into the shipping box. He was relieved to find more money in the money tin, and decided that maybe he would buy something from Van as a present for Jack. 'Why are you ignoring me? I feel so unloved…' Phage feeling very frustrated thought that maybe if he answered the voice just this once it would go away and never bother him again. Um, who are you and what are you doing in my head? 'Well, I'm Smithie your banana tree. (At this Phage sniggered) I guess we have some sort of telepathic connection. I'm not sure who started it, but I think it might have been the harvest sprites.' Oh…who are the harvest sprites? This was it, Phage knew it, the men in the long white coats would be here to pick him up and send him to the loony bin any day now. 'They're the small garden gnome like things that live in the spring near your house. They are much attuned to nature, and I think they think you needed a wake up call.' Phage laughed, I don't need a wake up call. 'Well, I think they think you do. It's probably because you've been so mean to them lately.' I haven't been mean- 'So they've forged this connection between us so I can be a sort of conscious to you.' A conscious? Great… 'You know Jiminy cricket? Like in that movie Pinocchio.'
"Whatever." Phage said aloud, he turned and looked over towards Smithie, and his jaw dropped, maybe he was just seeing things.
By now however, everything that happened to him in the past few days said otherwise. There stood Smithie, fully grown and producing pre-harvest flowers. 'Believe I'm me now?' Smithie asked him. The leaves the tree shook mockingly under the influence of some non-existent wind. Phage smirked, now he just needed a seed maker and maybe he could…
"Phage! I need to talk to you a second." The old geezer came puffing up behind him, his hands on his knees.
"What is it?" Phage asked, turning around to look at his business partner.
"I saw this really interesting machine in town while I was selling your milk. It made seeds out of crops. If you can manage to scrape up 6,000 G I can probably order it from town and have it brought out here to the farm." Takakura exclaimed looking excitedly up at Phage who couldn't believe his luck.
"Sure, I'll definitely save up, I write down the order in the notebook as soon as I manage to save up that much money okay?" Takakura nodded and then left.
This day was turning out to be a really awesome one. Come to think of it, earlier that day he had been sulking in the fields afraid of being beaten up. Now he had a date with the guy he liked, a fully grown banana tree (also his conscious Smithie), and a really good reason to save up money. Phage dug around in his pocket, he ended up pulling out a thick wad of bills. The tall youth counted, he came up with 2,543 G. If he could save up 6,000 G he'd be making a lot more money.
Phage walked down towards the beach, trying to calm himself down. It was almost 8:00Pm the time they had decided to meet. The male had abandoned his smelly work clothes and put on a burgundy red muscle shirt and his cleanest cargoes. He attempted to comb down his spiky hair but failed miserably inevitably giving up. Phage had managed to find at least three different flowers, and tried very hard to arrange them in a way that would be eye-appealing to his new found mate. He had tied the arrangement of flowers up with some twine he had found lying around on the tool shed floor.
When he arrived at the beach he almost melted at the sight. There was Jack lying on the beach staring out into the ocean propped up on his elbows. His hair was hanging in front of his eyes, and he had changed from 'I'm the farmer not Phage' clothing style to a loose mocking t-shirt and some baggy pants that were hanging down below his navel, teasing Phage with a sight of the other male's exposed mid-riff.
"Hey…" Phage called out.
Jack looked up and at the sight of the home-made bouquet in Phage's hands; he scrambled to his feet and ran over to his date. He examined the bouquet and smiled, smelling the warm enticing perfume Jack looked up at Phage as if to ask if they were a gift for him. Phage nodded and handed the flowers to his date. Jack's smile got wider and he took the arrangement out of the taller male's hands.
"Thanks, I love it." Jack walked over to the picnic shelters, putting a little more wiggle-waggle in his walk than necessary.
But Phage could've cared less; the idea of Jack teasing him had him following like the horny puppy that he was. Soon they were both sitting under the picnic shelter lying next to each other silently surveying one another.
"You know, when you aren't dressed like you're the farmer not me, you look even more amazing than usual." Phage decided that wasn't his best line he had tossed to a date before, but then again he was just overwhelmed by Jack's presence that he didn't know what else to say.
Jack blushed and nervously brushed his fingers against the flowers in his hands. He looked up at Phage and opened his mouth to speak.
"You know, I was so nervous when I first met you I had no idea what to do. When I'm with strangers I usually come off as a smart ass because I don't really know what else to say. It had been such a long time since anyone new had ever really come here for good, I was kinda surprised when you came along." Jack had a strange expression on his face, it was almost like he was trying to frown and smile and the same time but not succeeding as gracefully as he would have liked.
Phage grinned at that and replied, "Its okay, I think I've said ruder things to old ladies that wouldn't get out of my way in the grocery line, so I think you're safe."
Jack laughed at this and putting the flowers above their head he snuggled closer, until he was comfortably resting his head against Phage's chest. Phage had to work extremely hard not to gasp at the contact. His heart starting racing and he felt this tingling feeling in his stomach that shot sparks to the rest of his body. His mind ordered him, wrap your arms around him you idiot! Phage did as his mind told him. At this, Jack sighed in content. He had never really had a date like this before, Phage now realized. Mostly, the dates were with woman and they consisted of going to dinner and then going to the movies. The common and simple structure of pretty much everybody's date plans. It was easy and traditional. But now Phage was sure what to do. He was nervous, almost as though if he didn't one thing wrong Jack would break into a million pieces in his arms.
Phage laid his head down on top of Jack's and softly kissed his scalp, before nuzzling the soft brunette hair with his face. Jack chuckled slightly before moving his head up so he could look into Phage's eyes. At that moment Phage was paralyzed by Jack's movements, he knew that Jack most likely wanted to kiss him, but now that Jack actually wanted this Phage wasn't sure of himself. Jack took the initiative by claiming his mate's lips with his, Phage however incapable of starting the kiss at the moment could take over once it had been started. There tongues came together in sweet dance, Phage not trying to take it too far just in case Jack got nervous. Finally the need for air broke the kiss, and Jack his mouth still slightly parted closed his eyes in bliss. Phage loved that look on Jack's face. But he loved the fact that he had put the look on Jack's face more. Phage looked at his watch; it was already close to ten. He should probably take Jack back to the inn, if he didn't Ruby would get worried and then would most certainly punish Phage later. The 20-year-old explained the situation to Jack who then pouted.
"But I don't want to go home!" Jack whined, quickly grabbing his flowers as Phage lifted him up bridal style.
"Sure, you want to stay with me now Jack, but think about it. If you stay out late with me, then Ruby will get worried, find out you were with me and then track me down and brutally maim me. You know how much Ruby cares for you." Phage explained carrying him towards the inn.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't tell her that you were with me, and then she couldn't-"
"Jack, this is Ruby you're talking about. The all knowing woman, the omnipotent. She knows everybody in the valley and by process of elimination she'll find out it's me eventually. And then she'll track me down and brutally maim me."
Jack sighed and hopped out of Phage's arms once they had reached the main door to the Inner inn. The small brunette looked up at his date longingly. Phage took the hint and leaned down to kiss him again, this time the kiss was shorter and gentler than before. The red-head pulled back and said good bye, and that they would meet again tomorrow. Jack smiled and hurriedly went into the inn.
Phage heard a soft moo behind him and whirling around, discovered that it was Bessie. He groaned to himself before patting her on the head and grabbing a firm hold on one of her small horns to make her follow. Bessie trotted alongside him reluctantly. Finally, when Phage had put her in the barn, fed her, and allowed her to kiss him good night it was 10:30. The male wandered into his house and collapsed onto his bed with a content but tired sigh. Good night Smithie… 'Good night Phage…'
Chapter 5 – A supremely awesome life…
Phage was decidedly happy. He had started harvesting bananas and making seeds, which of course were selling very well and Phage found himself rolling in money. Smithie proved to be no threat, and when Phage needed to just sit around and talk he would often go and sit in the shade Smithie provided and have long talks with him about the randomness of life. Bessie still disappeared whenever she felt like it, but Phage had managed to get her a collar with a bell on it. So if Phage ever needed to ship some milk he could just listen for the jingle of the bell on Bessie's collar. Most of the people in the valley had gotten used to the sight of a large normal cow trotting around the village or taking a nap outside of Inner Inn. The farmer had now accepted the fact that the garden gnomes (or harvest sprites as they preferred to be called) were in fact real beings not alcohol induced hallucinations. Just recently he had bought two chickens, a female and a male. The female had been named Scrambled; the male had been named Roasted. Phage did in deed have a twisted sense of humor. Every day Lumina would show up during the summer and help harvest the Bananas that she could and help put them in the seed maker. Phage and Jack were "together" and were getting slowly closer. The male found thoughts of marriage drifting through his mind every once and a while but wasn't sure about Jack, what was he feeling?
Phage had finished picking bananas, collecting seeds, shipping milk, finding eggs, and stocking his fridge with things from around the valley. He gave Bessie a final pat on the head and then hurried towards the Inner Inn. Phage really needed to talk to Jack about where their relationship was headed. Okay, so usually Phage didn't think about this kind of stuff, but he really cared for Jack, he might even love him and he didn't want that to go away. He found Jack sitting in his room on the second floor, writing in his journal. At the sound of someone entering, Jack closed the large book and set down his pen.
"Hi love." Jack stood up and made his way over to Phage where they shared a long passionate kiss.
When they broke apart Phage knew now more than ever he needed to broach the subject.
"Jack, I was just wondering…"
"Yes?"
"Where do you see this heading? I mean, I love how we are now but…what about the future. Don't you want to you know…maybe think about living together or something?" Phage knew that he was skipping around the topic of marriage but at least he had gotten to the point of moving in.
Jack smiled and squealed excitedly, almost squeezing the life out of his boyfriend.
"I would love to move in with you Phage! Oh my god! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to think of it!"
Phage blushed a deep red, so Jack had already been thinking of moving in with him? Great, he really wanted to talk about the other…thing…but now he thought that would be rushing it a little. So Phage decided maybe that he should live with Jack for a while to see what it would be like waking up to him every morning, and coming home to him after a day of work on the farm…the fantasies in his mind only stated bliss but Phage still needed to be sure.
Later that afternoon, Phage was sitting on his bed watching Jack run around his house like an excited ten year old on Christmas. You'd think by the way he's bouncing off the walls that he's never been in my house before… 'Yes, but he's never been in your house knowing that he's going to be living there, has he?' You're probably right Smithie.
"You like it that much huh?" Phage laughed, moving his arms so that he would be prepared for Jack as he tackled him.
"Well, it's not everybody's dream home, but if I'm living here with you its my dream home." Jack said happily, snuggling into Phage's chest.
Phage loved the moment he was living in right then. The happy moment was interrupted by the sound of the two males' stomachs growling.
"So, uh…what's for dinner?" Jack asked, smirking.
"The usual and what you will probably having for the next long while unless you decide to take dinner into your own hands: Mugwort fish." Phage said in mock cheerfulness.
Jack sighed but smiled anyway, "I'll get the stuff out okay, I think your banana tree is going to get mad at you if you don't go water it."
Phage watched in shock as Jack bounded the short distanced to the kitchen area and start pulling out random things from the fridge. How does he know about you Smithie? 'Uh, sorry Phage but I couldn't help it. I had to make sure he was good enough for you! So I introduced myself…and we had a lovely conversation. I say you have impeccable taste…' Smithie…You were worried about whether or not Jack was good enough for me? What are you, my mother now? 'Why do I feel as though I'm suddenly on the Jerry Springer show?' Shut up!
Phage went outside and after getting out his watering can he proceeded to water Smithie even thought he was probably would have survived until tomorrow at noon. But whatever, Smithie was giving him the look. Whatever, Phage went back inside and saw that Jack had already started cooking two servings of the dish.
"Is Smithie less grumpy now?" Jack asked pleasantly, turning around to deposit one fish onto each plate before pouring the mugwort sauce onto both.
Phage came and sat down at the table in his usual place, nodding. He waited for Jack to sit down before taking a bite of his fish. The food he had been eating for the past several weeks tasted much better in his mouth than it had in a while. There was something different in the way that it tasted.
"Hey, did you do something different to the fish; it tastes a lot better than it had before." Phage curiously poked the fish with his fork.
"Silly, I only added a bit of milk and some pepper to the recipe. That's how I was taught to make it." Jack smiled at him before wolfing down the rest of his fish, Phage following suite.
"I need to go check up on all the animals then I'm going to bed because I have to wake up early. The alarm goes off at 7:30Am, I'm warning you now so I don't want to hear any whines in the morning." Phage pointed his fork at Jack threateningly.
Jack snickered slightly before cleaning up the dinner mess while Phage headed out to check up on the farm as he had said he would. Bessie was sleeping in the pasture, while Scrambled and Roasted were eating dinner in the chicken coop. When Phage asked, Smithie replied that he was in fact fine and that he didn't need anything. After that, Phage checked on the milk he had put in the shipping box, every one that he had put in there was still where he had left it. Looking at the notebook and the order sheet there wasn't really anything that Phage could think that they would need. So he headed back to the house. Once inside, he locked up made sure Bob and Joe were lying in the dog bed he had got for them and then got dressed for bed. When Phage got 'dressed for bed' that usually meant taking his shirt and shoes off and then collapsing on top of his bed.
When he felt someone push him against the wall and then pull the covers up and over him, Phage was about to growl before he realized it was just Jack crawling into bed. The red-head smiled and looked over at his alarm lock turning on the auto-alarm he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
The next morning, the alarm went off and Phage reached over to pound it into submission as usual. This required a little more effort than it commonly did because the task now involved reaching an arm around Jack. Phage removed Jack's arms from his waist and with cat like skill crawled over him and off the bed. The taller male was pleased with his job well done at avoiding waking Jack. He put back on the same shirt as yesterday, pulled on his shoes and back pack then started to head out the door.
"Eat breakfast." Jack said tiredly from his place in bed.
"But I have work to do! And you, you're supposed to be asleep!" Phage pointed in an accusatory fashion in Jack's direction.
"Whatever, but I expect you to eat breakfast before noon." Jack grumbled, before turning back over in bed.
Phage left the house without eating breakfast, and started his chores for the day. He never ate breakfast in the morning. Didn't Jack know that? It kept him from starting on work right away. Whatever… Phage walked over to Smithie and watered him, put some fertilizer around his roots before walking towards the chicken coop. He had made up his mind. He patted both poultry on the heads before deftly collecting the eggs that he found beneath Scrambled. After that he found Bessie and milked her, getting about four bottles of milk or so. Phage gave her a good rub behind the ears and a kiss on the forehead before heading back into the house. Jack was sitting stubbornly at the table.
"I told you to eat breakfast!" Jack said, pouting and crossing his arms over his bare chest.
"I know, and I am. I just went to get us the ingredients for breakfast." Phage retorted, getting out a skillet and setting down his back pack.
Phage cracked open two eggs and poured in a little milk. After that he expertly mixed the eggs until he somehow ended up with scrambled eggs. Mixing in the chopped ferns he had found the other day, Phage soon brought the skillet to the table where he put it on top of a cooling plate. He picked out two forks and two plates, setting one of each in front of his boyfriend. He then brought the spatula over to the table from the kitchen counter and served some to Jack and some for him. Then he sat down and challenged Jack to say anything about him not eating breakfast. When Jack gave him a satisfied but still unhappy pout, Phage started eating his concoction. The fern actually tasted well mixed in with the eggs.
"Phage, I love you." At that moment Phage almost choked on his bit of egg, actually spitting some back on to his plate as to save himself from his death.
Jack looked at him panicked, with a slight hint of regret on his features.
Phage took a deep breath before responding with a sort of rasp to his voice, "Yeah, I love you too Jack."
Jack still didn't look quite so reassured, Phage gave him an 'I'm okay I just almost died via choking on scrambled eggs with fern' smile. Jack returned the grin with one of his own and continued eating his breakfast.
After breakfast, Phage watched Jack wander around the farm, eventually sitting beneath Smithie writing in his journal. Phage swore that for the rest of the day Jack was glowing. The smile of pure happiness never left his face. And Phage was glad, he was about to finish putting some more milk in the shipping box and go sell some seeds to Van when the harvest sprites showed up around his ankles.
"What's up?" He asked them, closing up the shipping box.
"Phage we found something really cool!"
"Yeah, it's a blue feather!"
"You're supposed to give it to someone you really like so I want to give it to you Phage!"
"No, I want to give it to him!"
"No, I do!"
"I do!"
"Shut Up!"
All three harvest sprites looked up at the frustrated man and then silently led him to their tree home. There, they showed him the feather that they had been arguing over giving to him. Phage accepted it and was about to go home when Takakura came up to him and told him that he had found a blue feather in the tool shed. The youth tried desperately to rain in his shock while waiting for the older man to show up.
"Those are really hard to come by. Here we use them as a sign of engagement. Usually you get them for the girl you want to marry and then you have a private ceremony. We don't have very fancy weddings here." Takakura explained.
Phage shook his head as though he had no idea as to how it got there.
"I would feel bad for your friend Jack. I mean where is he gonna go when you finally settle down with a nice girl? I doubt your wife would want your best friend living with you." After hearing Takakura say this, Phage finally decided he should tell the poor old man the truth.
"Jack is my boyfriend, Takakura and eventually I'm going to ask him to marry me. I'm not going to 'settle down with a nice girl'." Phage said crisply, looking over a very shocked Takakura.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have said anything…" Takakura left him standing there alone at the entrance from the spring path to the farm.
"Whatever…" Phage sighed and headed over to Van's store booth.
"Hi Phage, you're here to sell seeds I presume?" Van asked.
"Yep. The seeds turned out pretty good this past collection." Phage said casually.
Recently, Takakura had saw him having difficulties taking the large crates full of banana seeds into town. The next day, Takakura had shown up with a young healthy horse and a sturdy wooden cart and harness. Phage had named the horse 'Born Free' but usually called him 'free' for short.
Phage walked over to the back of the cart and started unloading the large crates full of seeds, setting them over in front of Van. Van's face split into a large grin at the sight of the high quality seeds. Phage knew that he and Van were now immersed in a business together. Phage brought him high quality banana seeds by the dozens which Van paid a large price for. Then Van would go the next town over where they were really gullible and sell them for double the price. Both men were making substantial money through the arrangement. Van now expected Phage every one of his business days. The red-headed male then came back to stand in front of Van crossing his arms over his chest.
"So how many seeds do we have here, Phage?"
"72 S quality Banana seeds, Van. That's what you have." Van's eyes grew wide he hurried to get his money box.
Phage watched the obese man waddle over to his stand under the sun cover, to unlock his money box. From there, he pulled out a large tray filled with purple bills. Each bill was worth 1500 G. Phage watched in pure bliss as Van counted out 72 purple bills, which he then handed to Phage.
"There you are Phage, that's 1500 G for each seed package, coming to a total of 108000 G." Van smiled, loading his precious Banana seeds into a large box underneath his sun cover.
Phage took the money and put it safely into his wallet. The youth nodded at Van, shook hands with the man and then turned Free in the direction of home. Phage led Free (who was pulling the cart) down the path and around the corner onto Myishi Farm. When they got there, Phage took Free's harness off, and removed the rains from his face, before turning him out into the pasture.
Phage walked over to where Jack was sitting writing in his journal, and collapsed next to him. Jack looked up at him and then snuggled into his shoulder, closing his journal and setting it down on the ground next to him.
"Guess what I have?" Phage asked in a sing song voice.
"Tone-deafness?" Jack replied.
Phage playfully hit his boyfriend on the shoulder before pulling out the thick bundle of purple bills. Jack's eyes widened.
"In my hands, my friend is 108000 G! We have enough money to get a milk room, a food processing room, another room for the house, and at least 2 star cows! Maybe even some more fruit trees and another seed maker. This farm can finally become successful, Jack!" In his happiness, Phage claimed the lips of his boyfriend.
Phage deepened the kiss by pushing his tongue into Jack's mouth and stroking his boyfriends tongue sensuously with his own. Jack moaned and kissed back. When the need for air broke the kiss Phage smiled down at Jack before running over to the tool shed. He knew now more than ever that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jack. Not only did he love the brunette but he now knew that he had means to take care of him till death do they part. Phage emerged from the tool shed holding the blue feather behind his back, Jack was still sitting under Smithie's large strong branches with a confused but happy look on his face.
"What do you have there, Phage?" Jack asked playfully.
Phage came up to him, and got down on bended knee, "Jack, I love you more than anything on this planet. I now know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to care for you and love you, so I don't know if I put this in your hair or whatever but will you marry me?" Phage took the blue feather out from behind his back.
Jack looked close to tears, the smile on his face and the look in Jack's eyes told Phage that the answer was yes. The 20 year old took the blue feather and placed it gently in Jack's scraggly brown locks of hair. Phage never would have thought in a million years that he would be here right now, living like this, and loving the man in front of him. But what the hell. The beginning of a supremely awesome life most definitely started that day for Phage and Jack.
TBC…