Summary: Mark and Chris are the best of friends; they literally did everything together. But what happens when Mark finally finds out that his "brother from another mother" is actually a girl?
Disclaimer: I think it's quite obvious I don't own Harvest Moon.
.
.
.
Chris walked into Mark's house the same as she did every day, at exactly one in the afternoon. Really, she had gone over so many times, she now could arrive there on the second when she wanted. She kicked off her black board shoes, walking into the kitchen and serving herself a drink, hearing someone's footsteps behind her. Turning with a glass of milk in her hands, the girl snickered as Mark walked into the room; the image of him in that dress seemed to pop out every time she looked at him now. "Hey," she said, grinning. She tried to keep her composer while she drank the white liquid in her cup, but had to set it down after to first sip so she could burst out in laughter.
"Oh shut up," he muttered, a small blush brushing his cheeks as the dreaded memory from the day before came. "And dude, you so owe me for that. When I walked into town this morning for my rounds, Natalie and Julia were outside talking and just burst out laughing when they saw me…" The farmer sighed in slight annoyance, picking up the cup Chris had set down, taking a sip of the milk. "Really, wearing a dress does not help your chances with the ladies. At all."
The brunette just coughed, patting her chest slightly as she chocked on the milk that had gone down the wrong tube in her fit of laughter. Once she finally regained her composure, she looked up at Mark, who was just glaring at her. The girl swallowed another fit of chuckles as she patted him on the back, her voice shaky when she spoke from attempting to hold the laughter inside. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find someone. If worse comes to worse, you could start dating one of the guys. They'll totally think you're a girl if you put on... The dress… Again." And there she went again, her eyes watering from the laughter as she had to hold onto the counter to keep from falling to her knees. Glancing up, she snickered a moment longer before taking a few deep, deep breathes. "Sorry, I had to."
"You know Chris," Mark started, a small smirk on his lips as he wiggled his fingers. "You definitely could have passed as a girl yesterday wearing that skirt," he smirked before putting his hands on her chest, making Chris freeze and keep herself from screaming. "Maybe if we put you in a bra and stuff it, then put you into a dress, we can say your name is Christie, and you could pose as a girl," he suggested with a laugh. Honestly, it was pathetic how oblivious he was.
Just as Chris was about to say something along the lines of "There's a reason for that", the door swung open, Natalie standing there, her legs spread wide, her hands on either side of the door frame with a large grin plastered on her face. "Mark!" she said, walking in without a word from either the blonde or brunette, as they were still slightly shocked at the sudden outburst. The pink haired girl walked over to the blonde, grabbing his wrists and starting to drag him out of the house, the grin deciding not to waver from her features. Both Mark and Chris, who was following the pair, were quite curious as to what Natalie was up to this time, and they found out soon enough.
"You're kidding me, right?" questioned the farmer, a dull expression on his face as he stood in the middle of Natalie's room, his arms crossed over his chest. "You honestly think I would learn ballet, much less wear a leotard?" he asked, eyebrow raised slightly. "What gave you that impression? There is no way in hell that I would ever do that."
The pink haired girl seemed to only be half listening as she tied her very short hair back into a ponytail. "Not just me, Mark. Julia and Chelsea too," she explained with a grin, looking over her shoulder. "Oh? But Mark, you're the strongest guy on the island; we can't just trust anyone to hold us up for lifts. Plus, don't you want to be around girls all the time? Most guys dream of it every day, right?" Mark still didn't look totally into the whole idea, but his face showed he was starting to give in. Natalie just needed one or two more good reasons for him to do it, and he would snap. Those ideas, she most definitely had. "Did I mention we would be paying you two thousand coins, and you don't have to actually wear the leotard?"
"I'll do it!" Mark exclaimed, a smile bursting through his mask. Really, she should have said both those things to start with!
The pink haired girl just smirked, as she grabbed his hand and shook it. "Looks like we have a deal then. And there's no backing out of this one, Marky dearest." The blonde looked at her in a strange manner, but brushed off her words; hey he was going to get paid for being around girls and picking them up all day! And he didn't have to wear those stupid leotards the ballet guys on television always had!
No. Instead, he had to wear a pink tutu.
Yes, you read right, a tutu. A pink and sparkly one. See, Natalie was indeed telling the truth; Mark didn't need to wear a leotard like most male ballet dancers did, because they didn't have any lying around. Though, somehow, the girls managed to get their hands on a large tutu that Mark was now stuck wearing. And to make matters worse? Chris was on the sidelines, with a video camera no less.
The blonde just stood there, clenching and unclenching his fists, jaw set with his eyes shut, obviously annoyed. And probably wanting to punch something; no, scratch that, he obviously wanted to punch something. "Natalie, do you just enjoy seeing me cross dress or something? There are plenty of other guys on the island you could have chosen for this…" he said, teeth gritted as he spoke, his arms now crossed.
"I was being truthful when I said that we needed you since you were the strongest guy on the island; who else could we trust to hold us up?" she asked, acting offended; of course, that didn't last long, considering Natalie had finally broken into a smirk. "Plus, it's funny seeing a guy like you cross-dress. And who else would actually wear a tutu, even for money?"
"…Touché," he muttered with an annoyed sigh as he hung his head in defeat. "But you couldn't have just let me wear shorts and a t-shirt or something?" he asked, a glimpse of hope sparkling in his bright eyes, only to be shattered when the pink haired girl shook her head, a large smile spread across her face.
The next few hours consisted of Mark refusing the girls to help until he got changed out of the pink, sparkling dress Natalie had stuck him in (It last about forty-five minutes before the girls finally gave in and let him change), Mark complaining about how humiliated he was, Chris harassing him as she video taped the ballet lessons, and Mark whapping her upside the head hard enough to make her shut up. The girls had finally decided that they had had enough practice for the day, and refused to let Mark go home until he promised to come back the next day to help them.
Now, Mark was finally back in the safety of his home, the front door locked as Chris snickered, watching the clips of Mark she had filmed. "Goddess Mark, you suck at dancing," she laughed, watching a scene where he attempted a pirouette, and face-planted after he tripped over his own two feet. Mark, though appalled by the videos, and thoroughly embarrassed, couldn't help but laugh at the failed attempt of the spin.
"Like you could do better Chris," he scoffed, rolling his eyes before standing from the couch and walking into his kitchen to grab something to eat. After about ten minutes, the farmer got curious as to why the living room was so silent, and why his brunette friend hadn't followed him; usually when food was involved, the chef was at Mark's heels, just to make sure he didn't screw up. The blonde walked to the corner of the living room, poking his head in to see what Chris was doing. Smirking, the boy rolled his eyes as he saw her curled up on her side on the couch, eyes closed as she slept soundly. "Maybe I should go draw on his face or something," he smirked, walking over to the girl.
Mark grabbed a marker from the small table next to the couch and popped the cap. He kneeled down and started moving the colouring utensil to Chris' face when he stopped in the middle of the motion and stared. Usually, Chris was energetic, annoying as hell and just an average guy in Mark's mind, but sleeping… Sleeping, she looked at peace, and even more girlish than she was normally.
The blonde swept a strand of loose hair from her face, not thinking of his actions at all as he subconsciously moved closer to her. The boy's lips hovered over an inch over her mouth once realization kicked in, and he stumbled backwards away from Chris, blushing wildly with his hand over his mouth. He stood and scurried into the kitchen quickly, face warm and red, his hand still over his lips. 'What the hell was I doing? Chris is a guy for Goddess sake! He just looked so… So at peace… It must just be my male hormones kicking in, since Chris looks girly, and I don't have a girlfriend… Yeah, that's it…" Mark sighed, convincing himself that was the reason he was about to do the most embarrassing thing in his life. No way would Mark ever think of Chris that way; he was one hundred percent straight, after all! Sure, he thought Chris was cute, but she looked so much more feminine than the other guys on the island! No way would Mark ever fall for his best friends, not in a million years.
… Right?
.
.
.
A/n: First of all, I wanna give a shout out to Rabid Cream Puffs, ChaosZX, XxXAsianAsaXxX and Crazy Cinnamon Goodness for reviewing, adding BTW to their favourites and/or adding it to their Story Alerts! It really means a lot ;D
Second, OH MAI GAWD! I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated O.o But I actually have (somewhat) of an excuse for that. For one, I'm sure a few of you know about my other fic, Yuko's Little Secret; well, what I'm doing to keep both stories alive is type up on chapter on one story, then a chapter on the next, and it took me a bit to get a good idea for the latest chapter of YLS. Second, my birthday was last Sunday (WOO, FINALLY FOURTEEN!), so I was busy most of last weekend, and school started Wednesday, which has kept me VERY occupied (unfortunately). Plus, we're still trying to sell our house (IT BETTER SELL SOON! I WANT MY LAPTOP! xD). Luckily, it's a long weekend, so I was finally able to finish typing this up, and now I can start the next chap of YLS, which means a faster update for BTW.
ANYWHO. I'm not all that pleased with this chapter actually, but writer's block (and drawer's block at that) has been haunting me lately, so I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Also, like I said in the first chapter, if you have ANY suggestions for this story, SEND THEM TO ME! I'll probably use them, as long as I can think of a good reason for it to happen :3
Hm. Can't think of much else. So, I'll see you all next chapter! Baii!