2. Complicated – Joe and Kurt

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.

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"Did you mean to cut those legs so weird?"

"Hm?" Joe looked away from the work he hadn't really been focusing on.

Now that Kurt had asked, Joe saw the problem with his handy work. The chair legs appeared to be of different lengths. Joe flipped the chair so would be standing by itself. There didn't seem to be a single leg that was perfectly even in length. Woody would be completely displeased with how Joe had been so careless as to mess up the measuring and cutting process. Joe had been polishing the chair up, so he had plenty of chances to catch the problem earlier in the creation process.

"Looks like someone could really get some entertainment out of this think, huh?" Joe joked, scratching his head. This was classic Joe material.

"It looks like you're pulling influence from your early work," Kurt pointed out. There was a bit of bite to the words. Kurt didn't want to put his brother down, but he did want to make sure Joe was the best carpenter he could be.

Joe looked from his brother to his project. He knew Kurt was right about his sloppy work, but he hadn't planned on messing up so much.

"What's the ruckus over here?" Woody asked. He had moved from his station so swiftly that the brothers hadn't noticed him. "That looks like a chair with some character, Joe."

"Uh yeah," Joe looked at the floor feeling like he had really screwed up. "Sorry, sir."

"What's the meaning of this?" Woody's voice remained calm, stoic. The old man was incredibly patient after working with lumber his whole life.

Joe could feel Kurt's eyes on him, begging the same question. The bandana clad man sighed and looked up in order to look his boss straight in the eye.

"There is a party this afternoon for the two new farmers. I've been doing a lot of work helping set everything up, so I wasn't too focused. I'm sorry, Woody," Joe explained the situation a bit quickly. The party had been so exciting. New people were exciting.

Woody was quiet a moment as he considered this. "Okay, boy, you can go get on with your party."

Neither of the boys was terribly surprised. Woody was a hardworking man, but he always knew that breaks were necessary. He had to teach his apprentices that in order to have their best work, they had to be in the right mind.

"You'll be working on your new project of making a large cabinet for Spring Farm starting tomorrow," Woody announced. "Go enjoy the party today. Have fun."

"Yes!" Joe exclaimed.

Woody chuckled and walked to the home section of the shop. The phone was ringing and there was a lunch to be prepared.

"Okay, bro," Joe looked to his brother. "The party starts at three. You don't have to worry about coming early and helping set up. Everything's covered."

Kurt was quiet for a moment. The smile began to fade from Joe's face the longer his brother took to respond.

"Joe, I don't know if I should go," Kurt admitted. "I'm really not feeling a party. Besides the new year was just a few days ago."

"Kuuuurt," Joe whined. "Jack was the only one who got to go the New Year's celebration. Tina came later on that day."

Without another word, Kurt looked down at his own project. He had been making sketches of different things he wanted to build. Dimensions scribbled by every line. Each piece of work contained so much detail, contained so much of what Kurt could see in his head.

"Why do you insist on being so complicated?" Joe asked throwing his hands in the air. Exasperated.

There was no replay from Kurt, mainly because he honestly had no clue how to respond to his brother. However, there was a reply from Joe. Stomping feet. Slamming doors.

-x-

About half an hour passed after Joe had left. The birdhouse style clock was marked the passing time in such a slow manner. Each tick left Kurt feeling guiltier and guiltier.

Did he really make things so complicated? Kurt thought he was a pretty simple guy. Maybe there was a bit of a challenge involved in getting him to break out of his shell. That wasn't complication though.

"Still here?" Woody asked drawing Kurt out of his thoughts and away from his project.

"Yeah."

"Might as well make yourself useful then," Woody handed Kurt a delivery sheet.

Many of the tasks had already been ticked off. There was only one delivery Kurt would have to make.

-x-

The town square was starting to fill up as villagers made their way to the party. Everyone was excited to really welcome the new farmers to town. Jack and Tina seemed to really enjoy all the attention and the farming manuals they were receiving.

There was ease in finding Joe. His starry bandana and loud laugh always made the young carpenter easy to spot in a crowd. Kurt made his way over to his brother before hoping his arrival would be a pleasant surprise.

"Hey."

Joe turned away from Ellen and Tina. His smile vanished, replaced by confusion.

"What is that doing here?" Joe asked looking slightly embarrassed.

"Sign here please," Kurt handed his brother the delivery form. He set the crooked chair his brother had made that day between them.

"Woody sure knows how to clear up any arguments," Joey said as he signed the delivery noticed.

"He sure knows how to clear up any complications," Kurt replied a small smile on his face.

"Well, Kurt," Joe smiled back. "Tina has began growing crops on the River Bud property. She's thinking she'll be able to put in a chicken coop in the next couple weeks."

"Sounds good."

"And Jack is talking with Ann about mining. He's been in the caves a lot since he's been here."

That was obviously Kurt's cue to go and talk about his hobby with Ann and the new farmer. He and Jack had talked a couple of times about gathering gems. Perhaps he had gotten more room in his rucksack by now.

"Wait," Tina piped in before Kurt could walk away.

Joe and Kurt looked at the pigtailed farmer. She smiled and pointed to Joe's chair.

"Is that for sale?" She asked.

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