Summary: Gray and Yuko never got along; ever. Really, they seemed to hate each other with a passion, but will that change when Gray find's out Yuko's secret?
Disclaimer: No, I unfortunately don't own Harvest Moon…
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Everyone stared at Gray and Yuko as they just gave each other looks of basically pure horror. Seriously, for Yuko, this was worse than Ann groping her, and for Gray, it was like seeing his grandfather naked; yes, both were very terrifying experiences they were trying to forget, but that isn't the point right now.
"Uh, guys?" Ann chipped in, leaning forward to wave a hand in front of Yuko's face and then Gray's, neither even flinching at the motion of her hand. "Guys!" she said louder, smacking both of them upside the head. Yuko glared at the girl, rubbing the back of her head as she came back down to reality, Gray just looking at his sister with a stoic expression, used to the violence she brought down on him daily. "Just re-spin Yuko; simple as that."
The black haired girl smiled and nodded, reaching out to the bottle and spinning it once more. She glared at the hunk of glass that pointed to none other than Gray; again. She spun the bottle again, willing it to point to another person, only for it to land on Gray once more. She was about to reach for it once more when Kai and Ann both put their hands on Yuko's, both trying to hold back a laugh. "Yu," the boy said, "Just kiss him. It seems that's what the Harvest Goddess wants right now for some reason…"
Yuko just looked up at the tanned boy, pouting slightly. She sighed as she realized he wasn't falling for the look, glaring at Gray slightly. "Fine, but he has to kiss me," she muttered, crossing his arms, sitting with her legs folded under her, looking straight ahead at the blacksmith whose face was burning brightly, dumbfounded being the only word to describe his expression. "For two reasons; one, I don't want him trying to harass me and say I kissed him, and two, I don't want to crawl over there," she explained with a sweet tone covered with bitterness, tilting her head to the side cutely.
The boy's face was as bright as a tomato, though he was determined to make the blood in his cheeks fade as soon as possible. He gulped silently, and leaned forward; it was just spin the bottle right? Honestly, it's not like the kiss counted, and he would probably ditch before the game went any further, even though Ann had insisted on him coming down so the numbers were a little more even. Then again, what did he care? He didn't even like the person who the party was for! The only good thing about the whole deal was Kai came back for it, which meant they could hang out a bit. Gray moved in close, regretting it more and more as each second passed, watching as Yuko closed her sapphire eyes, not moving an inch. He had paused only a centimeter away, mentally arguing with himself; really, he didn't even like the girl! Why should he have to kiss her? Then again, it was just a game, and he knew Ann would probably beat him with a metal crowbar if he didn't do this…
As he continued mentally arguing himself, he felt a push on the back of his head, causing his eyes to go wide as his lips smashed into Yuko's. The girl's eyes snapped open as his lips smashed into hers, both figures too traumatized to move. Slowly, Gray moved back unblinking, Yuko just sitting there, bringing a hand up to touch her lips. "I'll be right back," she said after a few moments of pure silence, standing and walking to the door, sliding out of the silent room that erupted in chatter as soon as the door closed behind her.
Sighing, the girl walked over to the large entrance of the Inn, looking out the window beside it. Small white flakes were falling in a peaceful silence, glittering against the navy sky. A door creaked open behind Yuko, but she could have cared less; it was probably Ann or someone coming to drag her back into the party, even though the jeweler was planning to go back in within a few minutes. Behind her, steps sounded, too loud to be her red-headed friend's. She glanced behind her, seeing her co-worker, his hair ruffled, and for once, not hidden beneath his dreaded UMA cap. The boy's hands were buried within his baggy jean's pockets, a small frown on his face. "Ann wanted me to come out and apologize for whatever reason," he explained as his eyes locked onto hers. "I don't see why, I didn't do anything wrong…"
Yuko sighed, pushing her bangs back, her bangs tinted as she attempted to avoid eye-contact with Gray, but the act was rendered useless as they kept climbing up and looking into his. "I'm surprised you didn't just use that as an excuse to leave the party and hide out in your room," she said with a small smirk, flicking a few strands of hair off her shoulder. "But this should be a commemorative moment; Gray, the anti-social douche who hates me with a passion is apologizing? I think I must be dreaming!"
The boy scowled, moving up to her to whap her upside the head lightly. "Way to ruin a once-in-a-lifetime apology, retard," he muttered, shaking his head slightly, his face returning to the stoic, annoyed expression the jeweler had become so accustomed to over the time she had been living on the island. "Anyways, you should probably go back to the party before Ann comes out here herself. And I'm taking your suggestion and using this as an excuse to escape this." Laughing, the girl nodded and followed the boy until he reached the stairs, and the door to the back room was only steps away.
"Gray," she said, grabbing onto his wrist as he placed his hand on the railing of the staircase. The boy glanced down, a look of slight confusion mixed with annoyance that she was holding onto him. "Thank you. For saving me, and for coming out here," she said, releasing his wrist, letting him stand and watch her leave, his face in almost utter shock at the thanks she had given him. Flabbergasted, he stood there for a good five, ten minutes, long after she had gone back inside to the party. Shaking his head, he walked up the stairs and into his room, flopping on his bed and staring at the ceiling, thoughts swimming through his scalp.
Meanwhile, the party continued, everyone laughing and playing pointless games and whatnot. Though, all must eventually come to an end, no matter how much you wanted it to go on. It was around midnight when everyone left, each one giving Yuko a large hug on the way out. The numbers of people dwindled until it was only Ann, Yuko, Kai, Popuri and Karen. "Well then" Ann grinned, stretching her thin, pale arms high above her head. "Let's go to the girls' room, shall we?" The others nodded in agreement, Kai being one of them. "No Kai, you get to go hang out with Cliff and Gray while we have some girl-time," she smirked, watching his face fall slightly.
"But that's no fun," he complained with a dramatic sigh. "Actually, I'm wrong. Now I can tease both of them all to hell to make up for all the seasons I miss." The girls laughed and shook their heads slightly, giving Kai a hug, Popuri presenting him with a small kiss on the cheek before they all walked up the stairs, Kai walking into his part-time room that he shared with Cliff and Gray, the girls joking around as they went into Yuko's room.
"Now then," Karen started, throwing four small cushions around a little round table made of oak. "Since it's just us, what do you say we have a little fun?" she grinned, walking over to one of the shelves, pulling a deck of cards down. Looking around, you could see Ann grinning mischievously, Popuri smiling in a clueless manner, Yuko giving Ann and Karen a suspicious look.
"What game?" she asked, almost hesitantly. She kicked off the high heels, almost sighing in relief as she released her feet from their prison in the uncomfortable shoes. The other three did the same, kicking the shoes away from the small table, taking their seats. Karen, with quick and experienced hands dealt two cards to all of them, standing, only to get gambling chips, setting even piles in front of everyone. Finally, she took her seat, grinning slightly as she slid two navy chips to the center of the table.
"Poker. Strip poker," she said, smirking slightly. Yuko could almost feel herself pale and blush at the same time, staring at her friend, her jaw slightly dropped. "Oh, c'mon Yu," she grinned, "It's just us girls, and why not? It'll be a good memory!"
The jeweler looked between the faces of her three friends, all grinned. The girl swept a loose strand of hair behind her ear, before smirking slightly and pushing forward enough chips to match Karen's bet. "Oh, you're gonna regret this," she said. And with that, the game began.
Over in the boy's room, Kai walked in, only to see Gray lying on his back, reading a comic of some sort; most likely "Spider Man", or something similar. Upon hearing the door open and close, the boy flipped a page, not bothering to give so much as a glance to the fellow who roomed with him only during the summer in most cases. Kai was about to make some smart ass comment and jump on Gray, when a pale hand went up in a gesture to say "hold on a second" basically. The blacksmith skimmed a few pages, throwing the book on the floor and rolling onto his side, looking up at the chef. "Hey."
"Hey? Hey? Is that all I get after you having not seen me for a season and a few days?" Kai exclaimed, waving his arms wildly about. Gray just arched an eyebrow in a bored manner, a shadow of a smirk on his lips as he rested his head in the palm of his hand. Both boys stayed silent, Kai looking at his friend in an expectant manner before both burst out into laughter.
Gray stood, placing his hand on the other boy's shoulder, his lips curved into a smile. "It's been a long time. Just not as long as I usually have to wait," he laughed before sitting on the bed once more, Kai doing the same on the opposite end of the bed. "But really, you come back for her birthday, but you've never come for mine? What is this? And I thought we were best friends," the blacksmith complained, a dramatic sigh following his words.
Kai laughed and put his hands down on the mattress, leaning back and putting his weight on the two limbs. "Ann asked me to come as a surprise," he explained with a grin, finally taking off the hat he refused to remove earlier. "And Goddess, remind me never to do this again. Honestly, how do you stand living in this freezing weather? I'm surprised I don't see polar bears or penguins roaming about!" Really, it wasn't a huge surprise Kai felt that way about the winter weather; after all, his whole life consisted of moving from sunny place to sunny place, never staying on an island, in a valley or town long enough to experience the ways of fall and winter.
Gray just laughed at his friend's idea of what winter was like. "Believe it or not, it's actually warm right now. Wait till it's near Christmas; now that's what real cold is." Kai just stared at the other boy with a dull expression while he was explained to that it wasn't actually all that cold outside. "And y'know that white stuff falling from the sky? That's called snow; it happens a lot during winter," the blacksmith added sarcastically.
"Oh shut up," Kai replied, giving a slight glare to his room mate. He stood, running a hand through his charcoal hair, falling back on the bed that was his own, sighing in bliss. "Man, I always miss this inn. The beds here are always so much comfier than the other places I go…" he said, staring at the ceiling before he brought his head up slightly to look at Gray. "Hey, you should go get Popuri for me. I wanna hang out with her a bit more while I'm here."
"Can't you get her yourself?" Gray asked, arching an eye brow at Kai who just gave a meek smile. The blacksmith sighed, knowing the summer-timer would make some lame excuse, so he just stood, shaking his head slightly. "You're a lazy ass; I hope you know that," he said, walking to the door that had just opened, Cliff walking in, smiling and holding a hand up in greeting to his room mates.
Kai grinned and nodded at the reddish-brunette as he started taking off his winter gear, pulling a suit case out from under his bed. "I know," he said smugly, opening the case and taking out something or other. "Hey Cliff," the tanned man said, a smirk se on his features. "What took you so long to get up here? Doing something with Ann?"
Gray rolled his eyes with a laugh as Cliff's face turned bright as a tomato while he muttered excuses with speed. The blacksmith walked out of the room, kicking the door shut behind him and walking down the short hall to where the other door sat, leading into the girl's room. He was about to knock, when he heard them laughing and saying something about "losing", so it was safe for him to assume they weren't getting changed or anything. The poor guy had no idea what was coming when he opened the door.
"Popu-" he started, stopping short as he looked at the scene ahead. The four girls all looked toward the door in silence and frozen; seriously, you could hear a pin drop with the silence that was in the room. Ann was fully dressed, as was Karen, while Popuri was without her crimson dress. But it was Yuko that made Gray's face heat up; the girl was wearing only black and navy girl-boxers as she stood in, her bra around her elbows, showing she had been in the midst of removing it. The poor boy finally came to his senses, only to back out and close the door, completely speechless.
He walked back to his room, limbs stiff and face flushed to the ears. He went to his bed, falling face-first onto the covers and pillow. "Hey man, what's wrong? And where's Popuri?" Kai questioned in curiosity, slightly confused to why his friend was so speechless, and seemed to be attempting to disappear. As Gray stayed completely silent, the tanned man walked over to the bed, poking the other's cheek, not getting any response.
He was about to jump on Gray or sit on him Cliff coughed, diverting Kai's attention. "I… Uh, when I was walking up the stairs… I heard the girls talking about poker… Strip poker or something… Gray, did you walk in on them… Well, y'know… Undressed?" The brunette's face was tinted pink, even just thinking about it as he sat on his own bed, face down, but he glanced up in an expectant manner, waiting for Gray's response.
The blacksmith remained silent, keeping his face buried in his pillow. Kai, now getting annoyed at his friend's silence stood straight, looked down at the man who wasn't paying any attention to, well, anything. The tanned man grinned slightly as he raised his leg, thrusting it at Gray's side with all the strength he could muster, causing the much paler man to fall off his bed, and across the floor so his head hit the bottom of Cliff's bed. Gray stood slowly, anger radiating from his body as he glared at Kai, rubbing the top of his head. "What. The. Hell."
Kai just grinned, giving a small shrug. "Hey, you weren't answering," he explained, a meek smile plastered onto his face. "But anyways, what's wrong dude? You look like you saw a ghost or something. Or was Cliff right, and you walked in on the girls playing strip poker?" Gray's face reddened in an instant at his friend's latter comment before he walked back over to his bed, sitting and sighing, taking a sudden interest in his feet. "You did?" the tanned man asked in shock, eyes wide. "You lucky bastard! What did you see?"
"Enough to embarrass me to death," he mumbled, running his finger through his gingerish hair. "Lets just say I'm glad I don't have to work for the next few days," he mumbled, rolling up his sleeve and looking at his bandaged arm. "Now, Mister Perv, leave me alone so I can find something to bang my head against so I can sleep, and forget I ever saw what I saw…" Gray sighed, flopping on his bed once more, face still flushed as all the scenes from the night replayed in his mind, unfortunately in slow motion.
Just another traumatizing day in the life of a blacksmith.
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A/n: The last part in the first paragraph has literally scarred my mind… And lol, like how the bottle kept pointing to Gray? That actually happened at one of my friends parties; two of my friends would get each other, no matter how many times they spun itxD By the way, it was (obviously) Ann who pushed Gray's head the last centimeter d;
But I wanna apologize to you all for making you wait so long! I would have updated earlier, but between my social life, helping around the house until it sells, etcetera, etcetera, I've been insanely busy… Not to mention I actually somehow managed to bruise my tail bone last week (dunno how, but it hurts a lot), so I haven't really been able to sit at the computer for longer than ten, fifteen minutes without going crazy. Thankfully, it hasn't been bugging me at all today (YAY…. 'Specially since it was really bad yesterday), sooooo I decided on finally finishing this chapter, which I have been working on bit by bit since the last updatexD And I apologize for the suck-tastic ending; I couldn't think of anything, and I'm insanely tired right now. Which is reasonable considering I haven't been getting much sleep, and I keep waking up in the middle of the night… ANYWAYS, I'm gonna try and update faster next time, so see ya then ;3
OH! And I wanna thank Pulchritudo in omnia and Mero for reviewing; I appreciate it more than you can imagine!