He wasn't always this incredibly quiet.

Moving from the city to a sleepy town didn't exactly help him to come out of his shell, either. Working with his grandfather and not having his voice heard also made for a recipe of silence. Although his best friend, Kai, insisted on moving away with him after Gray left Chicago for good, he still hadn't regained his voice back. He got quiet often, and stayed quiet often.

Even in moments like this, lying over her.

They are both trying to regain their breath, a finishing stance that they've come to know. She's as unreservedly naked as him. Her signature braid has come completely loose, hair surrounding her head like a sea of red. He recalls this sort of image like déjà vu; it's something that he's experienced time and time again before. He used to find himself in this scenario after almost every hook-up back in the city. Now, this routine's become the norm for these two. He likes to consider it as a helpful way to, er, de-stress.

But how much longer can it realistically go on?

They take a much-needed moment to recuperate. Ann props herself onto her elbows leisurely, frowning at the sight of him. "You know that we're being super careful, right?"

Gray has seated himself on the edge of her bed, panting slowly. He lifts his light blue eyes up to meet hers, and scoffs. "Almost forgot that we were."

Ann rolls her eyes at him, reaching for her crumpled up boyshorts. They're cream-coloured, with pink hearts dotting along the perimeter of them. She slips them on, but Gray catches a glance at her ass before the garment covers them. "You're completely silent 90% of the time, and the other 10% is just you being a sarcastic jerk," she says, grabbing her yellow, smocked tank top. It goes over her head, smoothed against her stomach, as she then quickly shimmies her way into a pair of corduroy overalls. Gray asked her once why he never saw her putting a bra on when they hastily dressed. Not that it was any of his business, and not that he minded even; less articles of clothing means less time spent taking them off. She merely explained that it was because her breasts were so small that she just didn't bother with them. An extreme contrast to the other girls that he had slept with prior.

"I'm just saying," Ann continues. "Don't be such a worrywart! Take the moment to enjoy sex." She rubs her forearm, looking to him for a response. Thanks for the 411, Ann.

Surprisingly, though, Gray just chuckles. He does enjoy it. Judging by Ann's dubious look, he wonders if most people get surprised when he lets his walls down to show even the slightest bit of emotion. "Just got a lot on my mind is all," he retorts gruffly, wrapping the protection up. He throws it out before hiking on his black boxers and sweatpants. Thank Christ he changed out of his uniform work-jumpsuit prior; that shit is not comfortable.

Ann just picks up his hat that has been thrown against her headboard, and hands it to him. Gray snatches it quickly, placing it on top of his head, wondering if it will disguise his mussed-up auburn hair. He hopes that the red across his cheeks has calmed itself down, now that he's caught his breath. In case it hasn't, he pulls the cap over a majority of his face.

"You're paranoid, Gray," Ann says, combing through her hair to re-do her dismantled braid. Gray watches her quick fingers, like a kid mesmerized by a magician completing a card trick. This "friends with benefit" thing that they have going isn't brand new, but watching her fingers never gets old. She always has quick hands. Very quick hands. "How long have you been like this?"

Gray gives her the side eye, making his way to her door. "You know, as much as I love twenty questions, Ann, 'cause you know I do, I'm just not in the mood for a round tonight." He smirks, about to turn the handle, but stops as he feels something hit his back. Turning, he stares at the crumpled-up shirt lying at his feet. Gray picks it up embarrassingly, removing his hat to slip it on.

"Wouldn't wanna forget that, huh?" she says, winking. He shrugs it on, trying to change the subject from his own stupidity.

"It was really good today," Gray tells her. She cocks an eyebrow.

"Couldn't tell since you barely make any noise." Ann's expression shifts. "How much longer do you think that we can keeping doing this for?" she asks softly. He wonders if this is a rhetorical question. Although it hasn't been terribly long, Gray knows that the two of them will be better off if they just stay as plain-old friends.

He doesn't exactly love this arrangement, but he sure as hell wasn't initially opposed to it either. What else is there to do in a small, sleepy town? Hang out with his grandfather? Go to church? Gray scoffs inwardly. Moving from the city to the middle of nowhere last year wasn't a fun switch whatsoever, but meeting Ann had been sort of good. When they got drunk at her father's inn one night, he almost didn't believe her when she shrewdly told him that she temporarily wanted something with no strings attached. He never had this before: a go-to friend to strictly hookup with, but he really missed sex. Like, a lot.

Kai, a self-proclaimed expert in casual sex, told him to give it a go. Gray is always careful, and while he and Ann lack intimacy and closeness, they make up for in bed. Not to toot his own horn, but he'd like to think that he's pretty good. It's just what he's been told; he isn't cocky or anything like that.

Okay, maybe a little.

"Sorry. Promise I enjoyed it, in case you couldn't tell." He ignores her question, nodding at the garbage, where his discarded method of protection is tucked away under previous trash. Maybe he is paranoid, but he'd rather not have the inn's owner, and Ann's father, Doug, find anything that he wouldn't want to find. He'd surely murder Gray if he knew that he was using his daughter's room to purely fuck her in it.

"You're always so respectful when we do this," Ann continues. Gray just blinks at her. What's she going on about? "Any girl would be lucky to have you... I just want us both to be happy."

"Thought I was a jerk," Gray retorts.

Ann laughs. "You know, on second thought: I take it back. You are a jerk, and no girl wants her boyfriend to be a jerk."

The corner of his lip curves ever so slightly. "You deserve a nice guy like Cliff, Ann," says Gray. She blushes profusely at the mention of the traveller's name. "Someone who will love you, and still... y'know." The tips of her pointy ears have now turned red as well.

Ann saunters over to him, pinching his cheek. He just frowns. "You got a way with words, huh, Gray?"

This would be the point where he'd kiss his partner goodbye, but the two of them are keeping it strictly business, with not a stitch of romance. While he'd never admit it, a small sliver of him might be missing that portion too. Gray turns the doorknob to exit silently and abruptly. Even though his grandfather's rules of not being out too late are generally disregarded by Gray, he decides to make his way home anyway.

Ann rubs her tailbone, wincing, noting at how rough Gray was today. It felt good; he always makes her feel good, but she wonders why he's getting rougher and rougher with each hookup. She's also well-aware that tonight was probably their last time together like this. She's been longing for a boyfriend, for actual companionship, and not just sex. She really thought that she knew what she wanted before, but Ann contemplates that she was probably just increasingly horny at that time. Besides, Gray is not boyfriend material, at least not for her. He's a good friend, despite his miserableness, and even better for casual sex, but she knows that all good things must come to an end.

Maybe he can switch to doing this with that new farmer, Ann muses to herself, tying a white ribbon into her hair.


Gray doesn't even hear the first knock. He finds himself lost in a dream where her voice still calls out to him.

More like a nightmare.

"Gray!" Saibara yells from the other room. Now, he's awake. Gray jolts up, rubbing at his bleary eyes, waiting for his vision to clear. His palm drags over his face, and he winces when it accidentally catches on his still-healing eyebrow piercing. Ouch.

"Get the door!" his grandfather commands. "I'm busy."

Busy doing jack shit, Gray grumbles to himself, trying to clear up his foggy mind. What'd he even do last night?

Oh yeah. He stares at his pile of dirty laundry. Ann. Gray isn't even mad that last night was probably their last time together. Sex is fun, but it doesn't help fill that painful, constant feeling of loneliness that he spends his time denying.

Gray reaches for a pair of pants strewn about the floor, slowly getting dressed. He's exhausted, and cannot even comprehend what time it is. He stares up at his Red Hot Chili Peppers poster that Kai had gifted him in their sophomore year of high school. It hangs on the wall to his bedroom, next to a poster of some Sports Illustrated models hugging. Their tops are bare while being clad in only cheeky, black bikini bottoms.

The knocking continues, persisting against their wooden front door.

"Grayson, I said-"

He can't find his shirt, or any t-shirt for that matter. "Gramps, I'm looking for my shirt-"

"What're you, self-conscious?"

Gray sighs. Sometimes, he wishes he could knock the old man out. He really does. "No, Gramps, fuck. I'm not self-conscious. I'm-"

"THEN GET THE DOOR!" Saibara's voice is stern and loud. For an old guy pushing eighty, he can still find the strength in him… to scream. Gray shakes his head. His grandfather really likes to push his goddamn buttons when he first wakes up in the morning, doesn't he? Lumbering out of his room, Gray passes the wrought-iron anvil on his work-station, making his way to open the front door. He sleepily checks the clock that sits atop the stove from across the room. It reads 8:30 AM. Yawning, he then glances at the calendar on their fridge to read the date: it's the fifth day of spring.

And it's a Thursday.

It's a Thursday?

Now, Gray's mad. He swings open the door, ready to give the still-knocking person on the opposite side a piece of his mind.

"You know, Mineral Blacksmith is closed today, right?" snaps Gray. He stops himself from cursing when he sees the person on the other end.

She's tiny; this he notes immediately. Short, in a scrawny kind of way. The girl in front of him has long, straight blonde hair, tumbling down her not-quite cropped, white t-shirt. Her top has a singular butterfly on it: a monarch. She wears blue faded jeans with deliberate rips on each knee, a band-aid exposed on the right one, and a pair of white Converse. She looks up at him, choppy pieces of her bangs falling into her wide, sapphire eyes.

"You know, the sign on your door says 'OPEN ALWAYS' right?" the girl retorts back, scrunching her cute, freckled nose up at him. She's downright pretty, beautiful even. But, judging by her tone, Gray can already tell what a pain in the ass she is. Not that his tone was any better; but he likes to think that he has a knack for knowing that kind of shit.

Gray quickly does a double-take on the side of his door, searching for the store's hours. Sure enough, the girl is right; it says so on a scrap of paper that's been taped messily to the window. He scowls and rips it off, cursing his stupid grandfather's chicken-scratch writing.

"Do you always answer the door shirtless?" the girl asks, giggling. He can tell that she's merely trying to break the ice, but he isn't in the mood right now, so he just scowls at her too. Her face wilts.

"Last I checked, Blondie, this was my house, so-"

"Your house?" Saibara walks up behind him, grabbing the paper from his grandson's hands. He wacks his hand to Gray's bare chest. "Last I checked, this was my house, son."

Leave it to his grandfather to be a self-righteous asshole. Guess Gray must have got it from somewhere.

"You must be the new farmer," Saibara says to the girl, reaching over his grandson to shake her hand. She smiles, her glossed lips shining in the sun. Farmer? This girl looks like she just stepped off the set of Beverly Hills 90210... not that I watch that shit.

"Yeah," she tells him brightly, shaking his hand enthusiastically. "I'm Claire."

"Saibara, it's a pleasure to meet you. This here's my cheerful grandson, Gray." Saibara points to Gray, but he just stares stupidly.

"Hi," he mutters, shifting his eyes. He can feel his face growing red. What he wouldn't give to have his hat covering his cheeks right now.

"Hi," Claire replies, curtly. She offers him a small smile, but he doesn't return it. She just rolls her eyes at him.

"Come inside, please," says Saibara, guiding her into the house. He turns to his grandson, scratching his long, white beard. "Put some clothes on."

Gray just scowls harder.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: You can find the explicit version of A Blacksmith's Guide to Happiness (aka: the one with the unfiltered adult content) on my Archive of Our Own account, which is also under SundaeContender :-) It's still the same story as the one on here, but it doesn't omit the sexual content. It's more HBO-esque if you will haha. You can also follow these links to get to it if you'd like, you just need to replace the space with a . before the org:

archiveofourown org/users/SundaeContender/works

archiveofourown org/works/23325868/chapters/55874788

Thank you guys so much for your constant support, it means the world to me ?


So, I'd like to preface this by saying that I wrote this story a LONG time ago and had it posted under a different account (which one? I'll never say huehuehue). But I went back to look at it and boy was it embarrassing like sorry to whoever read it haha. I decided to rewrite it and give it a whole new look. (Plus I was just very inspired by the Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town remake that is coming out wooo) This takes place in the early 2000's, since the game came out in 2003.

Also, apparently in Harvest Moon 64 Gray and Ann are related? And Popuri is his rival? Like? Please note that they are NOT related in this story, this is the More Friends of Mineral Town universe lmao :)))

I want to let any readers know that the characters in my story are not copy-and-pastes from the game. They will swear and do adult things that would never happen in the Harvest Moon universe. Since they're all pretty neutral and don't get a whole lot of character building to them in the game, there will be some alterations to them. I'm broadening some of their personality traits beyond what they were actually like in the games to give my story originality. This is not because I hate their personalities or game design or what have you. This is simply to propel my story forward. I personally do not mind when characters seem "out of character," in a fanfiction, so long as there is a purpose behind why this is the case, which is what I'll strive to accomplish. PLEASE don't be angry or offended if a character that you like seems inherently different. Everything that occurs will have its own reasoning! Thank you, and sorry for the disclaimer.

Alrighty, I'm done so please enjoy xx I don't know how many people, if any, are going to read this but thank you for taking the time to click on my story. It really means a lot to me! Comments are truly appreciated, whether it is a question, helpful feedback, a reaction or whatnot! Thanks :)