The boy with the mocha-colored hair and the blue eyes pulled his tall boots on and walked out the door of the house he was living in. The first thing he saw was his field; filled with blooming, baby vegetables that looked thirsty. He stepped back inside for a moment to grab his watering can, and then he walked out, took a deep breath and shut the door behind him. The day was without sun and the sky was clouded darkly, with an ominous gust of wind whipping by. Raguna had checked the weather channel the previous day, and it promised that there would be no rain, only clouds.

Why was he so excited to do chores today? Because when he finished, he got to see Erik.

Raguna hated that he loved talking to him, looking at him, thinking about him… He knew his attraction was wrong. Two men together was not acceptable. He would be shunned away from all the people he had come to love in the weeks he had been living in this tiny town. But he knew that if he could just be close to Erik, that would be all he needed.

Raguna watered the rows of crops he had planted, the seeds and flowers and blooms. Upon finishing the second to last row, he noticed that his strawberries were ready for harvest. The boy smiled at the newly beautified fruit. He dropped to his knees and plucked one strawberry away from the vine and examined it.

It was plump and red and looked delicious. All of them did, as a matter of fact. Raguna hummed lightheartedly as he plucked all the fruits from its vine and collected them in a pile on the ground. There were eight in all; two of the fruits had not grown properly. Raguna stood up and brushed his hands against his shirt before walking back inside to grab a basket for the strawberries, having rinsed off the berries with his watering can and placed them safely on the edge of the well.

As Raguna closed the door behind him and glanced around for a basket, he noticed his reflection in the mirror. The boy bit his lip, then he strode over to it, and examined himself further. He chuckled at the dirt-stained spots on his tunic and his pants. He had barely stepped outside and he was already a mess. The dirt that had formed on his face made him look like a real farmer.

What would Erik think? Would he be appalled by Raguna's dirty appearance?

Raguna growled and then attacked his face with a nearby dishrag. Then he brushed through his chocolate hair and discarded his red designed tunic and threw it on his bed. He looked back into the mirror.

A smile broke out across the boy's face at the improvement. "Nice," He commented, turning to examine the flipside of his body. "Very nice!" Without the tunic, all he had on was a black collared shirt and pair of old, black jeans with his tall boots, but at least he looked better.

Raguna smiled as he folded a napkin inside of the basket and hummed, "I'll give those strawberries to Erik. He'll love them!" Raguna sang, laughing at his stupidity.

He groaned after a while. Why was he so excited to do this? All he was going over to Erik's to do was work. Maybe Erik didn't even like strawberries. "Ah well," Raguna sighed, "If he doesn't like them, I'll eat them."

Raguna weaved his arm through the handle of the festive basket and stepped outside just in time to see Annette just begging her frantic dash to the next house. "Hey, Annette!" Raguna called, making the small, blonde girl turn back and smile at him.

"Hello, Raguna! Have you been reading your mail?" She said, jogging over to him. The wind picked up for a moment and made the white flowers dance again.

Raguna nodded and returned the smile. "Yeah, I get a lot now that I've been making more friends."

Annette chuckled and turned around, "Well, I have to get going. Don't wanna stray off schedule, you know?"

Raguna nodded. "Certainly," The boy smiled.

Annette saluted and began to walk back onto the trail to Mist's house. "Oh, thank you for the treat, by the way. It was delicious!"

Raguna tilted his head. "Treat?"

Annette began to jog, but called back, "Yeah! The strawberries!"

"Ack!" Raguna squealed, dropping the basket, "But those were for-"

"Catch you later, Raguna!" Annette called, sprinting to the next mailbox.

Raguna sighed, and walked over to the well. The small pile of strawberries was gone. "Who eats food they just find, anyway?" Raguna spat, kicking the dirt.

His boot flew off his foot in the process, and into a garlic plant in his field. Raguna crinkled his nose and mumbled curses to himself while he stormed over to the plant and dropped to his knees. The boy reached inside the plant and latched a hand around his boot.

That's when he noticed a pale, short garlic plant jetting from the ground, as if to boast its harvestability. Raguna blinked at it, then he released his hand from his boot and tugged the garlic out of the ground. Raguna rolled back onto his backside and crossed his legs, holding the garlic in his hands as if it was extremely precious.

The garlic was very pretty, the loose skin around it was off white around the bottom, then a pale shade of violet towards the stem. "Pretty," Raguna marveled, slipping the garlic in his pocket before he grabbed his boot and slipped it back on.

After his chores were finished, he sprinted to Erik's house, where he was working in his field.

Raguna's heart skipped a beat as the older man leaned up and caught sight of the other, and gave a handsome smile. "Hey, young man!"

"Hello, Mr. Erik!" Raguna smiled, leaping over the fence and trotting up to Erik.

Erik tousled his hair and said, "Ready to get to work?"

Raguna nodded vigorously. "Yes, sir."

"Great," Erik said, "Let's harvest some potatoes and then we can till the old stuff away, sound good?"

The two men pulled at the potatoes for hours before they were all harvested. Raguna smiled the whole time, listening to Erik go on about how he wished that women liked him and how worried he was about winter. "Why?" Raguna asked, yanking up on a potato and then throwing it into the basket, which was filling quickly. "You're a great farmer. A winter won't harm your income."

Erik looked up at the clouded sky and closed his eyes. "The cold hurts my crops," Erik sighed, "I hate that."

Raguna blinked up at him. He was so weird. "It's just crops," Raguna mumbled.

Erik looked down at the younger boy slowly, "Yes," Erik smiled, "Living things that provide us with happiness and food…"

The younger man shrugged. "Well, you're the expert."

"Exactly."

Raguna sighed and wiped away a thin layer of sweat on his forehead before he clasped both hands around a potato and yanked. "Ack," Raguna growled, "It's stuck…"

"Pull," Erik said simply.

Raguna pulled hard, yanking the potato out of the ground so quickly that he rolled onto his back and the potato flew up.

Erik caught the vegetable before it hit the ground and then gently placed it in the basket, unlike Raguna, who would toss it in casually.

Raguna laid there frowning until Erik walked over and tilted his head at the boy curiously. "You okay, young man?"

Raguna rolled back up and sat on the ground casually, grimacing at Erik. "Yeah, I think. How's your precious potato?"

Erik grinned. "It's great."

Raguna rolled his eyes and then walked on his knees back to the potato plants. Erik stood up and stretched his arms, his shirt riding up and exposing pale, shiny flesh. Raguna bit his lip as he subtly watched him.

"Right then, looks like we're done here," Erik said, grabbing his hoe from the ground. "Now onto the next-" In that instant, a huge clap of thunder seemingly shook the entire earth and a light sprinkle of rain began to fall. Erik's arms fell. "Curse you lying weather-men!" he shouted to the sky.

Raguna stood up and sheltered himself under his hands. "Sorry, Erik."

Erik shrugged, "Ah well, at least I don't have to water today," he smiled optimistically.

Raguna blushed, then he looked down.

"Wanna come inside? I can make some hot food as thanks for your hard work," Erik said in a friendly way.

Raguna looked up at the handsome man. Erik's pale skin shone luminously in the dark sky, and his tall, slender frame made his body looks so fantastic. His chocolate eyes were shining and matching the light brown shade of his hair, which hung low on his forehead and past his nape.

"Young man?"

Raguna snapped his head down, "Y-yes, I'd love to."

"Oh good!" Erik perked, "Let's go on in."