Fandom: Harvest Moon
Pairing: Skye x Jill
Theme set: Beta
Warning[s]: None.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon.

#1 – Walking

Meeting Skye for the first time is pure coincidence, really—Jill just happens to be walking up to the mansion to return a book that Lumina had dropped, and out of the doors comes a suave, silver-haired man who puts a brilliant blush on Jill's face with one look.

#2 – Waltz

But then he reveals that he's a thief, and he manages to waltz his way out of trouble with good looks and charm, and as he leaves a starry-eyed Lumina in his wake, Jill marvels at how little time it takes for her to hate him.

#3 – Wishes

He'd never been much for wishes—if you wanted something, you had to make it happen, not sit around and wait for Santa or Mommy and Daddy or whoever to fulfill it; on his way out of the valley that night, though, he glanced up at the stars and found himself hoping that he and that pretty brown-haired girl with the ponytails would meet again.

#4 – Wonder

The next few weeks, she sometimes spots him around the Valley if she's out late; sometimes he'll see her and give her that wink and enticing smile, and she scowls at him and turns away while a little voice in her head reassures her that of course she doesn't wonder about him, not at all.

#5 – Worry

"It's just that some of the villagers are a little worried," Thomas says hesitantly, staring at the piles of broken stakes, shattered stones, and torn weeds that litter the far end of Jill's fields; Jill swings her axe high and breaks yet another log into pieces, then turns to Thomas with the sweetest smile she can manage and says, "Why?"

#6 – Whimsy

One night, he decides completely on a whim to walk by Jill's farm; it's his bad luck that she happens to be coming out of the fields, and that she happens to be holding a watering can, and that she throws it right at his head.

#7 – Waste/Wasteland

It hits him hard, the watering can, and it sends him plummeting for the ground, straight into a mud puddle left over from yesterday's rain; as she stares at his unconscious form on the ground the only thing she can think is: Oh, shit.

#8 – Whiskey and Rum

But the whole thing actually turns out to be good, in that funny way the world sometimes works: she carries him to her house and sets him up in the bed and takes care of his ugly head wound, and when he wakes up the next day with a headache and a bruise but nothing else wrong, she goes and gets them both drinks from the Blue Bar, and it's only when they get drunk together that she finally thinks that maybe he's not so bad (and hopefully he won't take revenge on her for putting a big bruise on his head).

#9 – War

But just because they now have a strange sort of truce doesn't mean that she entirely likes him, because he's still a smooth-talking thief and she's still a slightly headstrong girl with a bit of a temper, and so it's like a game of tug-of-war between them, each one cautiously baiting the other under a mask of bravado.

#10 – Weddings

By some coincidence, three couples get married in that Spring alone; as Jill sits in the row and claps wildly at each couple's kiss, she can't help but imagine standing up there herself with a certain someone else.

#11 – Birthday

Coincidentally, her birthday is the day after his; they celebrate by making dinner together, and as they're eating his phenomenally good curry, she admits, "I have to admit I'm impressed; I didn't think you were good at anything other than sneaking around."

#12 – Blessing

Afterwards, he kisses her forehead and whispers, "It's a blessing to have you here," and she blushes bright red, because even though it's the same kind of typical smooth-talking he's known for, it seems more precious to her somehow.

#13 – Bias

"Well, you know, maybe he's not completely evil," she grumbles to Vesta and Marlin; Vesta gives her an incredulous look and Marlin looks like he's about to choke, and Jill suddenly remembers that she has to go put the chickens back in the coop.

#14 – Burning

One day he shows up at her house with a warm forehead, and even though he looks a little faint, she believes him when he says he's fine; later, though, when he's lying in her bed burning up completely, she bustles around frantically looking for a wet washcloth and wishing that she hadn't listened to him.

#15 – Breathing

His fever lasts all night long, and when it finally breaks near dawn, she lets out a sigh of relief and collapses into a chair, listening to the sound of his blissfully unlabored breathing and thinking that there's nothing she'd rather hear.

#16 – Breaking

"You know, I just might," she answers tightly, when he asks if she's going to kill him for shattering her best china plate, the one that her grandmother gave her a few months before she died.

#17 – Belief

He'd heard of the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites, of course, but he'd never really been sure if he believed in them or not—but when Jill talks at length about tea parties and winning at Memory and losing at poker, he doesn't really think she could make all of that up.

#18 – Balloon

"It's just a stupid balloon," he mumbles, a little embarrassed, but she's absolutely delighted at the sight of the bright yellow rabbit head on a string that he brought back for her from the city, just like the ones her parents got her when she was a child.

#19 – Balcony

She borrows Romeo and Juliet from Lumina and reads the whole thing in one sitting; for the next week she has dreams about Skye climbing up a balcony to kiss her under moonlight, and she goes brilliant red whenever Skye bops her playfully on the head and asks her what she's daydreaming about.

#20 – Bane

It's really great that the villagers are starting to warm to the idea of her and Skye—but, Jill thinks miserably, sometimes she wishes that certain women of the town weren't warming to Skye himself quite so much.

#21 – Quiet

"You were so quiet that I couldn't hear a word you said," Skye said jokingly at the end of one of Jill's long, loud, and rambling rants.

#22 – Quirks

One of the strangest tastes he's ever seen is her insistence on having sliced pumpkin on her pizza, but by the eleventh or so time she's forced it on him, he's slowly starting to think it's not that bad.

#23 – Question

"So when are you asking him to marry you?" Muffy wonders aloud when they're drinking one night; Skye goes bright red and Jill chokes on a mouthful of liquid and almost has to be subjected to the Heimlich Maneuver.

#24 – Quarrel

But on the way home, Jill suddenly finds herself saying, "So when are you going to ask me?" without thinking about it, and when he suddenly says that he has to leave, she watches him go with tears in her eyes and wishes that he was back here fighting with her.

#25 – Quitting

He doesn't come again for days—and she's been disappointed and rejected and hurt plenty of times before, but this time it feels like she's finally been completely broken, like giving up is the only option.

#26 – Jump

And then, one night she wakes up in the dark and there he is, standing there; she practically jumps out of her skin at the sight of him, and before she can remember that she hates him, he holds out a hand and presses a Blue Feather into her palm, the only apology she needs.

#27 – Jester

Just about everyone Jill talks to thinks that she's joking when she announces that she's engaged to Skye; the only person who really seems to be completely excited for her is Muffy, and Jill can't help but wonder if that's just because Muffy gets the chance to wear a bridesmaid's dress.

#28 – Jousting

"Hey, Skye," Jill starts to say over the book she's reading on various sword-fighting activities; Skye doesn't even glance up as he replies, "No, we are not trying jousting."

#29 – Jewel

Engagement rings aren't exactly customary around here, and it's a little late, but when the diamond ring that Skye ordered from Flower Bud Village finally comes in, Jill couldn't care less about traditions and timing; all she cares about is getting the ring on and thanking Skye in the first method she thinks of, and not necessarily in that order.

#30 – Just

And when the wedding itself finally arrives, it's not customary, either—a quiet ceremony in the woods with her and Skye and the Harvest Goddess—but later, when Skye hesitantly asks if she was okay with the whole thing, she beams at him and says, "It's just perfect, Skye."

#31 – Smirk

A week after the wedding, he playfully asks if he gets an anniversary present; the next day she goes to the city with Muffy, comes home, and strips out of her clothing into the red bra and matching panties she bought; his jaw drops to the floor and she smirks as she says, "How's this for a present?"

#32 – Sorrow

He receives word in the mail one day that his mother, who he left behind a long time ago, has died after a long illness; Jill doesn't say a word, just pulls him into her arms and holds him as tightly as she can manage, whispering, "It's okay, it's okay."

#33 – Stupidity

He spends long periods of time sitting silently alone after that, cursing himself and his stupidity and wondering why he'd never gone home to see his mother; it breaks Jill's heart to see him like this, but all she can do is sit beside him and stroke his shoulder, praying that they make it through this.

#34 – Serenade

When they're walking in town one day, they come across Gustafa playing a love song for Nami in front of about ten smiling villagers; Jill mutters to Skye, "I won't be mad if you never do that for me," and Skye can't help the brief smile that flashes across his face.

#35 – Sarcasm

"Oh, no, I'm fine," she says through gritted teeth as Skye stares at her fallen in a pile of mud and tries very hard not to burst out laughing.

#36 – Sordid

She comes into the house completely filthy and angry enough to kill something with her eyes; however, her mood gets a lot better when a smiling Skye offers to help her with her bath.

#37 – Soliloquy

"Just how many ridiculously long speeches are there in Hamlet?" Jill demands irritably; Skye sighs and replies, "Just how many Shakespearean plays are you going to read?"

#38 – Sojourn

Their plans to take a trip to the city are interrupted when Jill abruptly begins throwing up into the trashcan just before they're ready to leave; Skye takes her to the Clinic against her will and forces her to lie down, and she looks up at him miserably and says, "I know this can't have been your idea of a day trip."

#39 – Share

But whatever unhappiness either of them had is quickly dissipated when Dr. Hardy, after checking Jill, shares some very good news with them: "Looks like you're going to have one more in the family."

#40 – Solitary

Skye has always appreciated the occasional moment of alone time, so when Jill asks for it, he knows without even looking at her morning-sickness-induced glare that giving it to her is the best idea for all involved.

#41 – Nowhere

"Do you think the ocean goes somewhere, or does it just keep going on into nothingness?" she asks him one day as they're sitting out on the beach; he knows that the logical answer is that eventually the ocean washes up on the shore of another town somewhere, but the way she asks the question, it makes him think.

#42 – Neutral

He always tries to keep a calmly blank expression when she screams at him and calls him names, because he knows that she's pregnant and stressed and doesn't mean any of it, but it's not until later, when she slips beside him, crying and completely miserable, that he lets the emptiness fall from his face as he pulls her into his embrace without a word.

#43 – Nuance

Neither of them like to speak up when something's really bothering them; instead, they both become masters of reading body language and facial expressions, and their ability to read each other's minds scares some of the other villagers.

#44 – Near

He wasn't particularly pleased when she went on that long walk by herself at night, asking her what he was supposed to do if something happened and no one was nearby; she thought he was just being overprotective at the time, but when her water breaks in the woods and she falls to her feet with a gasp, she wonders if maybe he's psychic.

#45 – Natural

She hopes that their daughter gets Skye's naturally shiny silver hair and sparkling emerald eyes; he hopes that their daughter gets Jill's long brown hair and naturally bright purple eyes.

#46 – Horizon

They go to watch the sunset on the beach one night, him and her and baby Anya, and as Skye watches the golden sun sink into the earth in a brilliant flash of color, he looks over at his wife and child and wonders at how blessed he is.

#47 – Valiant

Although she's good with most animals, she really can't stand snakes at all, but when one gets in the house while Skye is holding Anya, Jill summons every ounce of bravery she has in her and cuts its head off with her hoe; afterwards, she collapses into a chair, paper white but relieved.

#48 – Virtuous

One day it hits him that it's been a long time since he thought about stealing anything, and he wonders when he got to be the good guy; then Jill comes into the room and he smiles, thinking, When I met her.

#49 – Victory

In her spare time, she teaches him all she knows about farming, so that he can help her pass the knowledge down to Anya when she's grown up, and on the day that he finally gets all the farm chores done on his own, he can't help but gloat most of the day.

#50 – Defeat

But his victory is short-lived, because over dinner that night, Jill grins mischievously and says, "Since you're so good at it, I guess you can start doing them all from now on, right?"

i worry that there's a lot i didn't touch on. but whatever. i'm honestly so glad to be writing fanfiction again. and skye x jill is so cute.

review?