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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
- 4
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Chapter Four

Klaus usually enjoyed the yearly concert, but this year he was dreading his decision to attend. Iris had insisted he go with her to watch Mistel play, as he had every year since they moved into the house near his and converted the downstairs into an antiques shop, and any protests he made had fallen upon deaf ears.

It wasn't that he didn't like the show the villagers put on. He would have had no qualms with attending if it wasn't for the fact that he had been purposely avoiding Avery ever since the day he nearly kissed her. She'd stopped by his house a few times since then, but he'd always told her he was busy and sent her on her way rather than inviting her in for coffee like he normally would have. She stopped after a couple of weeks, and he'd felt so bad he sent her a birthday present: a full-sized bottle of the perfume which – when it was finally released to the public – would bear her name. But then he had promptly refused to attend the Summer Harvest Festival the very next day, which Marian informed him she had taken first place in for the vegetables category.

He felt like a hypocrite. He had lectured her about how she shouldn't string people along, and here he was, sending her mixed signals.

He hadn't been at all surprised to see her sitting next to Raeger when he and Iris arrived at the trade depot. She had her hair down again, though part of it was pulled back on one side and held in place with a silver butterfly barrette. He noted that she was wearing the same dress she'd had on the day she presented him with that rose for the Flower Fair, and part of him wondered if it was the only one she owned. He'd only ever seen her in that one dress, aside from her farming clothes. Perhaps she just wasn't the sort of girl who liked getting dolled up that much.

"You're staring," Iris whispered to him, and he turned to find her smirking. "Why don't you go over there and sit next to her?"

"Can't you see she's here with Raeger?" he pointed out to her.

"Oh, come off it," Iris grumbled then began waving her arm about in the air as she called Avery's name to get her attention.

Klaus tried to avoid her gaze when she turned her head to seek out whoever was calling for her, but as soon as her eyes fell upon him she smiled and he couldn't look away. She raised her hand and waved at him and he nodded and gave her a small wave back, the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly. She then gestured for them to join her where she was sitting, and Iris looped her arm through his and began to lead him through the crowd of people who had not yet claimed seats of their own for the concert.

"Tell me, Klaus," Iris said, keeping her voice low as they passed by the local innkeeper and his daughters. "If Avery is supposedly so smitten with Raeger, then why is that the first time I've seen her smile in weeks?"

He didn't have an opportunity to make any sort of remark to her comment, as Avery stood from her seat and approached them once they were close to where she and Raeger were sitting.

"Miss Ingersson, I read your latest novel, and I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it," Avery gushed, causing Iris to chuckle.

"Please, just Iris is fine," she assured the younger woman. "I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Hopefully you'll like the next one just as much, if not more."

She turned to Klaus and winked at him, and he narrowed his eyes slightly at her. She was up to something. He could tell. For as old as she was, Iris had the mischievous nature of a child and was often plotting some sort of scheme in the back of her mind. Normally, those schemes made it onto the pages of one of her books, but he had a dreadful feeling that this time things were going to play out in the real world rather than some fictional one.

She suddenly took a seat, purposefully leaving an empty space right next to where Avery had been sitting, and patted the chair next to hers as Avery sat back down. Klaus moved to take the chair on the opposite side of Iris, but Marian beat him to it. The doctor flashed a toothy grin, knowing he'd given Klaus no choice but to sit next to the very woman he'd been avoiding. With a sigh, he finally sat down next to her. No sooner had he taken his seat than he found her hand resting upon his arm.

"I'm glad you decided to come," she told him, flashing that sweet smile of hers once more. "You've been working so much, lately... I was worried you might make yourself ill."

Now he felt even worse for having brushed her off. All this time, she simply thought he'd been busy with work – which wasn't entirely untrue, but most of the time he'd merely been keeping to himself and catching up on his reading. He'd been trying desperately to push her away and out of his thoughts, while she seemed to have been constantly thinking of him and worrying for his well-being.

"I'm fine," he assured her, his tone a bit shorter than he would have liked. Her smile faltered slightly and she pulled her hand away from him with a nod, then turned her attention to the stage as the performers took their places and Veronica stood up to announce the start of the afternoon's concert.

The small band started off with a light, airy tune which served as the town's unofficial anthem, then segued into a lively little jig. Melanie pulled Lutz to the area in front of where the stage had been set up, and the two of them performed a dance together, the poor boy blushing all the way to his ears the entire time. Next came a few tunes which had been requested by various residents of the town, and then came the time for the traditional Sweethearts Dance. Klaus rose from his seat with the others and turned to find a confused Avery still in her chair.

"This is the part where we clear the chairs aside so that the couples of the town can dance," he explained to her, reaching out and taking her hand in his to pull her to her feet. Avery blushed and silently picked her chair up, then followed Raeger over to the side of the stage and placed her chair among the others.

"I'm going to ask old Mr. Otmar to dance," Iris announced, pointing to the elderly owner of the general store, who was standing by himself on the other side of the makeshift dance floor.

"Oh?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Where is Madam Eda?"

"She hasn't been feeling well," Avery answered, her voice full of sadness. Klaus turned and found her with her head hanging low. "She said she was too tired to come, today, but insisted Mr. Otmar be here to enjoy it for both of them."

Klaus frowned at that. He'd heard rumors about Madam Eda's decreased involvement in the town's trading, and he remembered Avery telling him that the older woman had gifted her with the only cow she had remaining on the farm she and her husband had started decades ago. He'd assumed she was simply of an age where she wished to finally retire and enjoy the simpler things in life – and perhaps finally pursue some romance of her own with Otmar – but it seemed maybe things weren't so idyllic.

Without thinking, he reached over and placed his hand in the small of Avery's back, wordlessly offering her some comfort with the hope of bringing her smile back. She turned her head and looked up at him, giving him a weak smile, and he saw a sadness in her brown eyes that made his heart feel tight. He couldn't help but wonder if, perhaps, a part of that sadness had been his own doing. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to her, but he didn't know what. He didn't want to give her false hope by assuring her Eda was going to be fine, and he really wasn't sure how to properly apologize for his recent behavior toward her.

"I'm sorry," he simply said. She nodded and reached up, placing her hand upon his arm, and he slowly pulled her closer to him.

"Man, I bet ol' Otmar is enjoying himself right now," Raeger remarked with a hearty chuckle, breaking the moment between them. Klaus quickly released Avery and she took a step back away from him as she turned to address the chef.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look!" Raeger instructed her, pointing to where Otmar was dancing with Iris. Due to their height difference, the old man's line of sight was directly aimed at his partner's breasts.

"Pervert!" Avery scolded Raeger, shoving him in the shoulder. Still, she was smiling, and Klaus found himself mentally thanking the younger man for that.

"Raeger, dance with me!" Klaus heard the voice of young Melanie plead, and the chef looked over at the girl with a smile.

"I'm too old for you, you know," he insisted, bending down to put himself closer to her height.

"Please?" she whined, batting her big blue eyes at him. Raeger glanced up to the performers on the stage, then turned back to her.

"Well, I suppose one dance won't hurt," he agreed, giving her a wink. Melanie cheered and grabbed his hand, then dragged him onto the dance floor, and Klaus chuckled when she climbed onto his feet to 'dance' with him.

Klaus looked out over the other couples who had taken to dancing together. Gunther and Corona were cozied up together near the center of the crowd, the large carpenter beaming as his young wife rested her head on his shoulder. Iris' younger brother was dancing with the guildmaster's daughter, while the guildmaster herself was dancing with Melanie's father, Maurice. A young woman wearing a green beret who Klaus didn't recognize was dancing with Giorgio, which was odd since he usually paired off with Marian. Even stranger was that Marian was dancing with Fritz, of all people.

He cocked his head to the side in curiosity when his old friend's gaze met his and he nodded toward the clumsy farmer with a questioning look. Marian rolled his eyes and then nodded his own head toward Avery. Klaus shook his head slightly, causing Marian's perfectly-painted lips to become set into a firm scowl.

'Dance with her,' he mouthed.

Klaus sighed and looked over to Avery. She was standing awkwardly next to him, staring at her hands and quietly humming along with the music. He reached out and gently brushed her long, golden hair back from her face and behind her shoulder, and she raised her head to look at him.

"Would you care to dance?" he asked her. She smiled shyly, said yes, and Klaus felt his heart start to hammer wildly in his chest as he took her hand and led her out among the others.

Keeping her hand in his, he placed his opposite hand at her waist while she reached up to place hers upon his shoulder, and the two of them began to dance to the slow, calm tune being played by the band. He looked around at the other couples and found Iris and Giorgio both smiling at them. Then, out of nowhere, something slammed into him and sent him crashing into Avery. He whipped his head around and found a blushing Fritz, who quickly apologized as he and Marian twirled off to another area, the doctor winking at him over his dancing partner's messy red hair.

"Sorry," Klaus apologized to Avery as he looked down at her and started to put more room between their bodies once more, but she tightly grasped the lapel of his coat and prevented him from backing away.

"Don't," she said, her voice barely audible, and she looked up at him with a renewed sadness in her eyes. "I don't know why you've been pushing me away so much lately, but it's really been bothering me."

Klaus was at a loss for words. "I... I didn't think you would... be okay with me after what happened before."

"You were trying to make a point," she reminded him with a small shake of her head, her eyes never leaving his.

"I crossed the line," he protested. "I could have easily made my point without putting you in that position."

"Klaus, I really don't care about what happened," Avery said, then immediately began biting her lip as she averted her gaze from his. She remained silent for a bit, then spoke once more.

"I mean, I do care, but I wasn't angry. Well, I was..." She shook her head and blushed as she tripped over her words. "But what upset me was that you've been avoiding me. I like you. I like spending time with you, and I thought... I thought we were friends, at least."

"I like you, too, Avery," he told her softly, his tone of voice nearly giving away that he liked her as more than just a friend. He cleared his throat and raised his hand from her waist to her chin, turning her gaze from his chest to his face.

"Let me make this up to you," he requested. "We'll put all this... unpleasantness behind us and start over."

"I'd like that," she agreed with a smile.

"Come by for coffee tomorrow?" he offered.

"Tomorrow's Wednesday," she reminded him with a chuckle, and Klaus felt a bit dumb. He'd forgotten that he would be spending the next day tending to business in the city, but she had remembered.

"Thursday, then," he amended, and Avery nodded in agreement just as the music ended.

"It's a date," she told him, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the cheering and clapping of the crowd. Klaus smiled at her and she blushed, no doubt realizing how she had just mirrored his words from when they had made their first arrangements to meet at his home for coffee.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming today!" Veronica announced. "Let's give another round of applause to our talented musicians!"

The crowd erupted into another warm round of applause and cheers, and Klaus suddenly paled when he saw Marian walking up onto the stage to join the guildmaster. He had completely forgotten about this recent addition to the festival that he and Giogio had come up with.

"It is my honor to turn things over to our esteemed Dr. Marian, who will be announcing this year's Music Festival Sweethearts!"

"What's that?" Avery asked him as Veronica stepped aside to turn the proceedings over to Marian. Klaus shook his head, panic starting to grip at him when the doctor caught his eye and gave him a wink.

"Nothing good," he replied without looking at her. He should have known something like this would happen. It was why Marian had encouraged him to dance with Avery, why he and Fritz had 'accidentally' bumped into them so they ended up dancing closer together. He vaguely wondered if Iris had been in on it, too, with the way she had insisted they sit next to her and Raeger.

"Thank you, Veronica," Marian said, bowing. "Can we have a hand for our beautiful guildmaster, who single-handedly put this event together?"

"Come on," Klaus said, grabbing Avery's hand and attempting to escape with her before the latest round of applause completed. He stopped short when Giorgio stepped in front of them with a huge smile on his face.

"Now, now... You two can't leave!" the flamboyant farmer scolded, shaking a finger at them. "The festivities aren't over yet!"

Klaus groaned and let go of Avery's hand, sending an apologetic look her way. The poor girl looked utterly confused, but he knew that soon she would become aware of exactly what Marian – and Giorgio, by the looks of it – was up to.

"Our runners-up this year for Music Festival Sweethearts are... Iris and Otmar!" Marian announced, clapping for the odd couple. "You two looked so darling out there together!"

The rest of the townspeople also clapped, and Iris gave a small curtsey while Otmar simply beamed with pride. Klaus searched the crowd for Gunther and Coronoa, who had won the past two years in a row, and silently said a prayer to the Goddess that Marian would keep their winning streak going strong.

"And now, for this year's Music Festival Sweethearts..." Marian paused for dramatic effect, his eyes jumping from Mistel and Maria to Raeger and Melanie, and then finally settling on the carpenter and his wife. Klaus let out a relieved sigh.

"Klaus and Avery!" Marian cried out excitedly, his attention suddenly shifting to them, and Klaus clenched his jaw in annoyance. Behind him, he heard Giorgio chuckling as he pushed the two of them toward the stage.

"What... I don't get it..." Avery said, looking around at all the others, who were clapping, cheering, and – in at least one case – whistling at them.

"It has been decided by the Beautiful Dreamer Alliance that the two of you were the best-looking, most romantic couple during the Sweethearts Dance," Giorgio explained to her, guiding them up onto the stage to stand with Marian, who handed each of them a bouquet of roses.

"We're not a couple, though," Avery pointed out before Klaus had the chance to do so.

"Oh?" Giorgio said, feigning disbelief. "Well, no matter. Iris and Otmar aren't technically a couple, either, after all."

"Well, then," she said, looking to Klaus and smiling. "Perhaps we should just gracefully accept our win?"

Klaus smiled a little and raised her hand to bestow a kiss upon the back of it, eliciting another round of applause from the crowd. They then took a bow before heading off the stage and going their separate ways. Avery went over to Raeger, who was talking to Lillie with Melanie still clinging to one of his hands, and he joined Iris and her brother. He didn't hear much of the conversation around him, though, as his attention was fully focused upon Avery while she chatted and laughed animatedly with her friends.

He'd chew Marian out for this obvious setup another day. For now, he was content to just see her smiling.
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In Sheep's Clothing