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In Sheep's Clothing	By : ParisWriter Category: +G through L > Harvest Moon Views: 2169 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
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- 17
Chapter Fifteen

Klaus checked his pocket watch as he hurried in the direction of Raeger's restaurant. It was already half past nine and he had less than an hour and a half to not only convince Raeger to let him make use of his kitchen, but to also make the madelines he wanted to give Avery for White Day. He knew he should have prepared sooner, but he had completely forgotten about the holiday until he'd been in the city the previous day and seen all of the decorations hanging in shop windows alongside advertisements reminding passersby to 'Get Your Sweetie Some Sweets for White Day'.

He'd meant to pick up something on his way home, but a couple of his meetings with clients had run late and so by the time he was finally finished for the day he'd barely had enough time to get back to the station and catch the last train heading toward Oak Tree Town. It was just as well, though. More likely than not, the stores were probably sold out thanks to all the other men who had waited until the last minute to get gifts for their wives and girlfriends. At least this way, his cookies would be hand-made and a true gift from his heart.

He took the steps up to the restaurant's front door two at a time and knocked loudly. He knew Raeger would be doing his prep work, so he might not be heard if the younger man was in his storage room behind the kitchen. To his surprise, the door opened much more quickly than he expected, revealing a rather tired and cross-looking Raeger.

"Let me guess," he said before Klaus could offer any sort of greeting. "You're here to make something for Avery for White Day?"

"I am," Klaus confirmed, giving him a slight nod. Raeger sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, then stepped aside and gestured toward the interior of the restaurant.

"Welcome to Raeger's Impromptu Cooking School For Stupid Men Who Can't Remember When the Fuck White Day is Until it Comes Up on Their Calendars," he announced.

Klaus gave him a confused look and stepped past him, then blinked in surprise at the sight which met his eyes. Several of the men from town were grouped around the two large tables in the center of the establishment, each of them equipped with their own makeshift cooking station. Gunther and Maurice were at the table farthest from the entrance helping Otmar, while Marian was at the other table with Fritz, talking to the young farmer and making him blush as red as his hair.

"You can go over there with Marian and Fritz," Raeger instructed him, heading behind the counter and rummaging around under it for a bit. "Here. It's my last one, so lucky you got here in time to use it."

Klaus walked over and took the madeline pan from him, thanking him quietly, then went over to join Marian and Fritz at their table.

"Klaus! Help me!" Fritz begged when he saw him approach, moving to stand behind his taller frame. "Marian's being mean!"

"How am I being mean?" Marian asked, hands propped on his hips. "I merely asked who you're planning to give those treats you're making to."

"I doubt you asked as simply as that," Klaus remarked with a smirk, shrugging off his long coat and folding it over the back of one of the chairs nearby.

"I did so!" Marian argued, crossing his arms over his chest, his chin rising defiantly.

"Maybe the first time. But I'm guessing he didn't want to say and so you began badgering him." He turned to look back over his shoulder at Fritz, unbuttoning the cuffs on his shirt. "Am I right?"

"Yes!" Fritz exclaimed, even as Marian was adamantly shaking his head.

"Don't bother the poor kid, Marian," Klaus admonished his best friend, rolling up one sleeve, then the other as he continued speaking. "He probably doesn't want the girl he likes to know that he's the one giving her a gift."

"Or, you know, maybe he just doesn't want you spreading his business all around town," Raeger added, setting down a tray of supplies on the table in front of Klaus.

Marian gasped dramatically, placing a hand to his chest. "Like I would do such a thing!" Klaus and Raeger both looked at him in disbelief.

"Hey Gunther! Maurice!" Raeger called over to the other two men, waiting until he had their attention. "How'd you two hear about Avery and Klaus finally getting together?"

"Marian," Gunther simply stated.

"Yeah, Marian told me, too," Maurice said. Raeger nodded and turned back to the doctor, quirking an eyebrow and smirking in satisfaction that his point had been validated.

"Wait! You're the one who told me!" Marian accused him.

"I only told you because I knew how eager you were for them to finally admit their feelings to each other and I figured you would want to know it finally happened."

"Someone telling you something doesn't automatically give you carte blanche to go around town telling every other person you meet about it," Klaus reminded Marian, causing him to pout. "Especially if the person you heard it from isn't the direct source. What if Avery and I hadn't really decided to start dating? What if Fritz had been mistaken about what he thought he saw? Then you would have been spreading false information around town. You don't want to be known as a bad gossip, do you?"

"No," Marian muttered, finally giving in. "You're right. I guess I just get too carried away, sometimes, especially when it comes to the juicy details of other people's relationships."

"Now, apologize to Fritz," Klaus told him as one would instruct a child who had misbehaved.

"I'm sorry, Fritz," Marian apologized, as he had been instructed to, giving the younger man a slight bow. "I should not have been so aggressive in my attempts to get you to tell me who you plan on giving your White Day gift to. After all, it's none of my business if you have a thing for Agate."

Klaus heard the farmer sputtering behind him and looked back to find Fritz blushing even more furiously than he'd been before. His brown eyes briefly looked up to him, then he shyly averted his gaze and made his way back to his spot at the table without saying another word. Marian let out a chuckle and Klaus looked over to him, receiving a wink and a satisfied smirk.

"You mean to tell me you knew all along who he's planning on giving his gift to, and yet you still hounded him?"

"I simply wanted to hear him admit that he likes her," Marian remarked with a shrug. "After all, if one can't verbalize their own feelings out loud then they will never be able to fully accept them as truth. Right, Klaus?"

Klaus huffed a bit and began setting to work on the madelines he had planned to make for Avery, placing the ingredients Raeger had so graciously provided him with out in a line next to his mixing bowl. Everything had already been carefully measured out into tiny, individual glass dishes, but as he looked over the various ingredients he suddenly realized that he had no clue about how to make madelines. He knew what they looked and tasted like, but he'd only ever purchased them, before.

"Put the eggs, vanilla, and salt into the bowl and mix them together," Fritz quietly instructed him, as though he could read Klaus' mind.

"Thanks."

"How did you know I like her?" Fritz asked. Klaus looked over and found the farmer staring into his own bowl as he sifted flour into it, his cheeks still faintly colored pink, then turned his attention to Marian.

"You made it pretty obvious, the way you've been so awkwardly trying to flirt with her every day for the past two weeks whenever you ask if she could take your animals to the safari."

"I just think she's nice," Fritz said quietly, setting down the sifter and picking up a spoon to combine the flour with the other ingredients in his bowl. "She helped me out a lot after Granny died, and she's easy to talk to."

"And she's kind of cute, right?" Marian asked, his voice once more taking on the overly-curious tone he had whenever he was trying to pull some juicy gossip out of someone. Klaus cleared his throat to get his attention, then shook his head in a silent warning once the doctor's eyes were upon him.

"Why are you even here?" Klaus asked bluntly. "White Day is when men give the women they adore gifts. That... doesn't exactly apply, in your case. If anything, I figured you might be sitting around waiting for a gift from somebody."

Marian pouted. "He doesn't know I like him. Or, if he does, he's shown no signs of liking me back. This way, he'll have no choice but to face me and let me know how he feels."

"Still..."

"I'm not waiting almost an entire year until Valentine's Day rolls around again, Klaus. By then, he might have moved on to someone else. I need to make my love known, once and for all!"

Fritz snickered as he sifted more flour into his batter. Klaus also heard some quiet chuckling coming from Gunther and Maurice, and a look over to Raeger confirmed that he, too, had heard the doctor's outburst as he was smirking from ear to ear while he carefully spooned his own batter into the shell-shaped molds of the pan.

"So the doc's in love," Gunther managed to say through his laughter. "Good fer you! Hope he likes ya back."

"I don't suppose you'd indulge our curiosity by telling us who the lucky man is?" Klaus wondered, raising an eyebrow. He already had a vague notion of who it might be, but he didn't want to simply make assumptions.

"Sorry, darling, but my lips are sealed," Marian replied, winking at him.

"Well, now we know who everyone is givin' their madelines to but you, Raeger," Gunther remarked, grinning at the chef.

"I'm making them for Avery," Raeger replied without looking up from his work. "And before any of you cry foul, Klaus knows she and I are best friends and that she loves sweets. These are meant as nothing more than a gift of friendship."

"Yer makin' two batches, there," Gunther pointed out. "Who's the other for?"

"I know!" Fritz blurted out. "It's for Lillie!"

"Fritz," Raeger growled the farmer's name, making it sound like a curse word.

"What?" Fritz asked, blinking innocently. Then he suddenly looked over to where Maurice was standing and gasped. "Ohh... right. You're her dad! Oops."

Klaus carefully watched the man in question. His muscles had instantly stiffened when Fritz said Raeger planned to give Lillie a White Day gift. He remained completely motionless for a moment, then calmly set down his utensils and walked over to the counter. He stood across from Raeger, his mouth set in a firm line and his eyes narrowed slightly as he appraised the younger man, but the chef did not back down. Standing to his full height, his bright blue-green eyes never wavered from the challenging gaze that was set fully upon him.

"You have intentions for my daughter?" Maurice finally spoke, breaking the near-silence that had descended upon the restaurant as everyone else – save for Otmar, who was blissfully unaware of the sudden tension in the room and continued working away on his madelines – had turned to observe the exchange.

"I only wish to give her a peace offering, sir," Raeger informed him. "I recently had a hand in something which caused her great pain, and I wanted to try to help her feel better."

"You had better not hurt her," Maurice warned, leaning over the counter and pointing a finger in Raeger's face. "Everyone in town knows you're a no-good womanizer, and I won't have you adding my daughter to the ever-expanding list of names in your little black book."

"I would never intentionally hurt your daughter, sir," Raeger promised, and Maurice seemed taken aback by the sincerity in his tone of voice. His eyes went wide and he leaned back several inches, his hand slowly falling down to rest upon the counter top. They continued to stare each other down for another full minute, and then Maurice finally gave a single nod and walked away, going over to Otmar to assist the old man with putting his batter properly into the molds of his pan.

Fritz let out an audible sigh of relief, and Klaus looked over to find him mouthing the words, 'I'm sorry' to Raeger. Glancing back over his shoulder, he then caught Raeger mouthing back, 'I'm going to kill you' with an angry look on his face as he shook his head. He then returned to what he had been doing before the entire confrontation started, and Klaus turned back to his task at hand. Marian caught his eye, however, and looked meaningfully from him to Raeger.

Klaus nodded at Marian's unsaid statement, then focused once more on his work. He didn't need the doctor to say anything. The sympathetic look in his eyes had been enough to get the message across. Klaus had known all along that Raeger was a younger version of himself. Just like he had to contend with Avery's mother doubting that he was a changed man, so too would Raeger have to deal with Maurice refusing to believe he would ever do anything but break his eldest daughter's heart. The only difference was that while Delilah Durand lived miles away in the city, Maurice was in the very same town as Raeger and his potential sweetheart. Dating her would mean he would have to face that critical gaze every day. Mauirce would be carefully observing his every move, just waiting for Raeger to screw up and break the promise he had made to never hurt her. Then... well... Klaus couldn't say he would ever want to be in Raeger's position, if that were to happen.

He supposed maybe he could have a private chat with Maurice later and attempt to calm the man's fears. He didn't like the idea of telling someone he barely knew about his past, but Raeger had been instrumental in him and Avery finally coming together. Maybe if Maurice heard that people could change from someone who was proof of the fact, he might cut the younger man some slack.

Klaus looked over at Maurice to find him still stealing glances at Raeger while he helped Otmar, grinding his teeth as he did so.

Then again, he thought to himself, maybe there really is no helping him.

Avery smiled happily and leaned over the table outside Raeger's restaurant, holding a madeline in her outstretched hand and aiming at Klaus' mouth.

"Come on... just try one," she encouraged him, waving the tiny, shell-shaped cake about in front of his lips. "I know you don't like sweets, but these aren't overly sweet, I promise."

Klaus chuckled and leaned forward, biting the cake in half, and Avery smiled at him. She began to pull her hand back, intending to eat the rest of the madeline herself, but he caught her by the wrist and held her gaze as he slowly took the rest of the confection in his mouth, wrapping his lips around the very tips of her fingers and gently prying it away from her grasp with his tongue. She let out a soft gasp at the gesture, and he placed a kiss on the heel of her palm and her wrist, his eyes never breaking contact for a second.

"Avery! Can we have some of your cookies?" Melanie called as she ran over to where they were sitting, dragging Lutz along behind her. "Lillie won't share hers!"

Klaus released Avery's hand from his grasp and sat back in his chair, adjusting his coat a bit. A blush began rising in his cheeks, no doubt from embarrassment at having been caught in a somewhat intimate moment by the children.

"I told you, Lillie, I'm not supposed to have sweets!" Lutz protested, pulling his hand out of her grasp and reaching up to straighten his glasses.

"If your mom doesn't let you have sweets, then how come you love chocolate ice cream so much?" Melanie threw back at him, causing Lutz's cheeks to turn pink.

"Here, you two can take these," Avery told the young girl, holding out a box tied with a pink ribbon.

Melanie cooed happily as she accepted the present, but Lutz protested once more.

"We can't eat those, Melanie! It's too close to dinner time!"

"We'll just eat a couple right now," she assured him. "And we'll save the rest for later."

"But-"

"No buts!" she insisted, grabbing his hand once more and leading him back toward the inn.

"Thanks, Avery!" she called over her shoulder, and Avery laughed as Lutz started arguing again about why they shouldn't be eating the treats and Melanie yelled at him to stop being such a stick in the mud.

"Were those the ones Raeger gave you?" Klaus wondered, and she turned her attention back to him, still smiling, and nodded.

"I didn't really need two boxes, and I sure as hell wasn't giving them the ones you made me."

"I'm sure his turned out much better than mine," he said, reaching across the table toward her hand and gently caressing the backs of her fingers. "Mine are too dense and I left them in the oven bit too long."

"They're perfect, Klaus," she assured him, raising her hand up off the table to link her fingers with his. "Remember last year's Flower Fair and what you said to me about that pathetic excuse for a rose I gave you? The same holds true here. Sure, Raeger is an excellent chef, and I'm sure his madelines were perfectly executed... but I still think yours are more delicious because you made them for me."

"Flatterer," Klaus muttered, turning his head away in a vain attempt to hide the fact his cheeks were burning up. Avery smiled and released his hand, then stood from her chair and rounded the table to sit in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You're so cute when you blush," she teased him, causing the color in his face to intensify. She giggled at the sight and rested her head upon his shoulder, placing soft kisses along the side of his neck.

"Avery," he said her name in a quiet groan, a hint of a warning in his voice.

"Hmm?" she hummed against his throbbing pulse.

"Not here," he pleaded, gently pushing her away. "What if the children come back?"

"It's not like I'm going to straddle you and ride you right here in the middle of the town square, Klaus," she whispered against his lips before kissing him briefly. "I'm sure they can handle seeing two adults kissing."

"They already saw a bit more than that before they walked over here just now," Klaus informed her. From his vantage point, he had been able to see their approach before Melanie had made their presence known.

"I sincerely doubt they had a clue what was going on," Avery assured him, her voice turning a bit breathless at the memory of how his tongue had slid between her fingers in a not-so-subtly suggestive way.

Klaus let out a short chuckle. "Melanie is rather mature for her age. I think she may have the hots for Raeger even more than her sister does. Believe it or not, she actually had her sights set on me, prior to that."

"Oh?" Avery feigned angry suspicion, narrowing her eyes at him. "So that's how it is? I'm going to have to watch out for every cute little girl who bats her eyelashes at you?"

"Perhaps," Klaus played along, trying not to smile and failing. "You know how much I like younger women, after all."

"You cad!" Avery slapped him in the chest and the two of them stared at each other in silence, each of them desperately attempting to hold on to their serious expressions. After a minute, they both burst out laughing and Klaus wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, his opposite hand resting upon her leg. Avery snuggled against him as their laughter slowly abated, and he began slowly running his hand up and down the outside of her thigh.

"I love you," he told her. "And I'm glad you enjoyed your gift."

"I love you, too," she said. "And thank you for making them for me."

He kissed the top of her head, then tilted his head slightly and pressed a second kiss to her forehead. She pulled back a bit to look up at him, and he pressed his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly. Avery kissed him back, and Klaus gently prodded at her lips with the tip of his tongue. She sighed softly against his mouth, but Klaus didn't take advantage of it, and instead continued with his gentle, mostly-chaste kissing.

"Well, well... You two certainly have come a long way from your days of denying you had feelings for each other."

Klaus let out a groan of frustration when he felt Avery pull away at the sound of Iris' voice. He should have known better than to enter into any sort of overt public displays of affection while they were in Oak Tree Town, but it had been a good day and Avery was happy and so he'd been in a romantic mood and hadn't been thinking properly.

"Well, what can I say?" Avery told the other woman with a shrug. "It's hard to keep my hands off him."

"Who could blame you?" Iris replied, giving her a wink. She then set down the two books she had been carrying in her arms and handed each of them a copy. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to give these to you. They're advance copies of my latest novel."

Klaus took the book that was offered to him and looked it over. It was a simple hardbound volume with a blank blue cover and silver lettering on the spine.

"The dust jackets are still being printed, but I just couldn't wait! I'm so excited to hear what you two think about it!"

"Moonlight Rendezvous," Avery read the title on the spine, and Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Another romance novel?" he asked Iris, and she blinked at him a few times, surprised by his reaction.

"I thought you didn't mind reading romances?"

"Not occasionally, but this is... what? Your fourth one in a row?"

"I can't wait to read it, Iris," Avery said, eagerly opening the book and flipping to the first page. "I'll start tonight."

"Wonderful!" Iris clapped her hands together, smiling once more at them. "Well, then, I'll leave you two to get back to what you were up to before."

She winked at them and then headed into the restaurant, likely on her way to get some dinner, and Klaus' stomach let out an audible growl as the smells of Raeger's cooking wafted outside when she opened the door. Setting his book down on the table, he reached up and gently pulled Avery's copy from her hands and closed it, then placed it next to his.

"I was reading that," she pointed out, pouting a little.

"I know, and feel free to stay up all night reading it later," Klaus told her. "Right now, though, I think we should get some dinner."

"Okay," she agreed, nodding and getting up from his lap. "Should we eat here?"

Klaus grimaced and shook his head as he stood. Normally, he would have had no problem with them dining at the restaurant, but if they went in right now he knew that Iris and Raeger would likely bug them continuously and they wouldn't be able to eat in peace.

"Why don't we go to my house, and I can cook for you tonight?" he suggested. "Consider it a little extra something for White Day."

"I like that idea," Avery agreed, smiling and rising up on her toes to kiss him. "I didn't know you cooked, though."

"I had no choice but to learn when I was in college," Klaus told her, gathering up their books and tucking them under one arm. "Marian would show up at my place whenever he got dumped and demand I make him something to eat while he cried and whined about how much his love life sucked."

"I see," Avery said, laughing. "In that case, you must be a very good cook, with all the practice you surely got."

Klaus chuckled and offered his other arm to her, and Avery linked hers through it. Avery picked up the box containing the remainder of the madelines he'd made for her, and the two of them set off for their evening in together.
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In Sheep's Clothing