Work Text:
A feeling of triumph washes over Tsuki when Elfie chooses the seat next to him at Ratthew's bar. She had been a tough egg to crack, cold to him for the longest time after they first met. She was kind of scary, so he'd backed off, just saying "Hi" when he saw her on the night shift at Yori's or when he ran into her around the village. That had been the right friendship tactic. Boy, had he been shocked when she offered to share a bite of her festival food that one time. And when she suggested a selfie after they exchanged Parsnap IDs? That felt like an achievement.
"Nice to see you out of the shop," he comments.
Elfie doesn't look at him until she orders a mocktail from Ratthew. "I'm not drinking," she says.
Tsuki grins at her. "I am! Hey, I wasn't implying anything."
"I just wanted to be clear that I'm not drinking before my shift. I start in an hour." She looks around. "Have you seen Paige?"
Tsuki sips his yerba mate cocktail through the special straw. "No. Hmm." Now that he's thinking about it, he only ever see's Paige at the bar in the afternoons. She comes to chat with Scarlett and Ratthew. "She's never here after work, either," he ponders aloud. He remembers. "Oh yeah! She said once that she doesn't want to miss her train home."
Elfie stares at him. Her drink has arrived, but she ignores it for the moment. "Tsuki."
"What?"
"She told me the same thing."
"And?" Tsuki is confused. Ratthew's drinks have hammers in them, but Tsuki's just started on his first cocktail for the evening. He can't possibly be buzzed yet.
"Hey, Benny," Elfie calls past Tsuki, to where the village's (acting) mayor is sitting alone at a table, picking at a plate of one of Ratthew's menu items, which are as fancy as anything Tsuki ever had in the city. "Benny, are we going to get the trains stopping at MV station anytime this century?"
Benny nervously drops a prosciutto-wrapped prawn into his lap. "I-I'm working on it!" He retrieves the shrimp and keeps his gaze averted.
Elfie raises her eyebrows at Tsuki.
Tsuki is still confused. "Why would she say that, then?"
Elfie sighs. "It's not for me to say. But you know what, Tsuki? You have a way of getting others to tell you things. Maybe because you wear us down until we have no other option." Despite her deadpan expression, there's a twinkle in her eye that tells Tsuki she's teasing by saying that. "I know she's confided in you when you talk at Yori's. I'm not eavesdropping – that stairwell is a tube speaker between upstairs and the first floor. I can't not hear everything you guys say. Believe me, I'd rather not hear Pipi practicing her farts."
"Ha ha. Pipi," Tsuki chuckles. "She's a great kid."
"Will you ask Paige about where she's living?"
"She lives outside the village? She's mentioned that a few times."
"Get her to tell you where she's really living," Elfie says, a sad expression clouding her face.
"If you know," Tsuki starts to ask. He stops when Elfie shakes her head.
"I'm not supposed to know. She didn't tell me. I think she might tell you, though, and if she does…" Elfie finishes her juice drink. She slides off the bar stool in preparation of leaving. "She wants to be independent, but I'm afraid that means she won't ask for help when she needs it." She puts money on the bartop to pay for her drink and sighs again. "I get her wanting her privacy, I just… worry."
Ken holds the door for Elfie as she heads out. He says something friendly to her and gets a nod. Ken looks into the bar and catches Tsuki's gaze. Tsuki, feeling devilish, winks at the bouncer. Ken grins and returns to his outdoor post. Tsuki slurps the dregs of his cocktail, mind bouncing between calculating when his gloamroot would be ready to harvest, how to get Ken into his hot tub, and what to do about what Elfie asked.
He has a customer order for the gloamroot, so as soon as it's late enough to harvest, he settles his tab with Ratthew. The bartender, surprised, quips at him, but Tsuki isn't listening and merely says a quick goodnight to everyone in the bar. He takes a little longer with Ken.
"Woah! Early night, Boss?" Ken asks him.
"I'm one busy bunny, as my friend Chi likes to say," Tsuki answers. "You gonna miss me?"
Ken snorts. "Miss seeing your drunk ass, you mean." Ken takes a pack out the breast pocket of his jacket and taps out a cigarette. He lights it, takes a drag, and exhales with his face turned away, so that the smoke won't blow over Tsuki. "You don't skip a day, do you?"
"Tell you what," Tsuki starts. He has just enough booze in him to embolden him more than usual. "What if I leave off the alcohol and you leave off the smokes, and we see who lasts longer?"
Ken tips down his shades, a dangerous look on his face. The one time that Tsuki suggested Ken might want to quit smoking, Ken had ripped him a new one, and they hadn't talked to each other more than perfunctory greetings for a week.
"You're on," Ken growls at last. "But I'm finishing this cig."
"Cool." Tsuki bats his eyes and gets the expected eyeroll from Ken. "Loser buys the winner breakfast."
"Deal."
It takes Ken a minute to see the catch. Tsuki has already sauntered about fifty feet away before he hears Ken snort. Tsuki is so glad that worked. Meeting for breakfast is one thing. Meeting after the bar closes and staying for breakfast will be something else. Either way, slow or fast, he's happy about the progress with his crush.
🍄
Gloamroot can only be harvested at night, and then it has to be kept in the dark for it to age properly. While he's sweaty from pulling them up – he got a few weird ones that he can unload on Yori, who always takes his ugly crops – he boxes them and writes up the invoice for his client. He'll take them to town hall to ship them out after they've aged. The passenger trains aren't stopping at the village, but Benny still gets freight and mail in and out. He worries so much that he's not doing a good job, but the mailroom at Tsuki's corporate job in the city was a shitshow. Half the time, someone else's inter-department mail would be in Tsuki's inbox, which made him stressed about his "hard copy required" documents going to the wrong person, too. He'd take the blame if it happened. He hated that job. He kept telling his therapist about his grandparents' place with the little farm plot and how their village had great fishing. So when the company dissolved his position and laid him off, just after his grandparents who raised him decided they wanted to move to an area with a casino, the next step in life seemed obvious.
He scrubs up and then gets a hot soak in the smaller garden tub. It's going to be too cold at night soon to use it, and he'll need to look into draining it and covering it. Same with the naiad fountain. He's going to be seriously sad if he has to cover them and not see that sexy stone face until spring. Watching the first colors of sunrise from his bath makes him really happy.
He doesn't really need an excuse to go to Yori's, but he throws the strange gloamroots and some strange carrots into his fabulous Dior quilted gold lamé backpack, puts on his scarf, and takes the short walk to the general store. His timing is perfect. Elfie is still minding the register, and Paige is sweeping up, but Yori and Pipi have already arrived. Pipi, pink apron donned, is perched on her stool swinging her feet.
Tsuki times his transaction so he's walking out the door the same time as Paige. "Mind if I walk with you?"
"Um, sure!" Paige replies. "I'm heading up toward town hall, though, and your tree is the other way."
"I'm heading to town hall, too," Tsuki says. "I check the fish bounties in the morning."
"Oh," Paige says. She seems slightly nervous.
They would have walked together in silence, but Tsuki can always think of something to say. "How's your carving going?" he asks.
"Really good! I think I'm finding my artistic soul," she answers. "I wonder if hospitality would have turned out to be my true calling? I always saw myself running a nice hotel someday, one of those posh ones where rich people stay, keeping it running like a fine timepiece. I wanted to make my hotel win awards and be featured on travel shows.
"But I feel a deep need fulfilled when I finish a carving and see that I turned a piece of wood into… almost a living thing. I mean, all I'm really doing is taking a block of marble and carving away everything that isn't tiger."
"Huh?" Tsuki asks. "Tiger? Marble? You work in wood."
"Basically, it means that the figure is always there, you discover it as you carve away the rest."
"That's philosophical," Tsuki ponders.
"I guess it is!" They had reached the community notice board outside town hall. "Well, it was nice to chat, as always," Paige says brightly. She waits a moment, but Tsuki doesn't go inside. He's waiting for what Paige will do.
She doesn't say anything. Her smile slips, but she smiles even harder to make up for it. "I guess I'll go now," she says finally, with what sounds like forced casualness.
"Let me walk you home," Tsuki says.
Paige's eyes become large. "Oh no, you don't have to!"
"I want to. It must be a pretty long walk alone through the woods, since the trains aren't stopping," Tsuki replies.
"Ohhh…" Outwardly calm, Paige is showing panic with eyes darting all around. Under her breath she says, " No trains… you're so stupid, Paige. "
"Hey," Tsuki says, in his most casual, least threatening voice, "everything's cool. You can trust me. Listen, Paige – all I want to do is help."
Paige's voice is so small, Tsuki can barely hear her words. "I'm… fine." She starts running, sprinting toward a dirt trail between the trees. Tsuki jogs after her, but once Paige reaches the trail, she stops and waits for him to reach her.
She starts walking again. She doesn't say anything or look at him, not until they are deep into the woods. There's a small clearing at the base of a hillside. It's a tidy little campground, with a tiny nylon tent set up.
Paige goes to the tent and unzips the door flap. She drops her bag inside.
"Home sweet home," she says to Tsuki with a brave smile.
Tsuki hides his shock and nods as if he knew all along. Paige is living in a tent in the woods! She was supposed to have an apartment! "How'd this happen?" he asks gently. He can't believe that Elfie had been so calm about it.
Paige sits on the ground. Tsuki follows suit. "It's just until I can find a place near work or work near a place to live," she says. "And save up a little. Paying back my student loan is a lot. It's not that bad, really."
"It doesn't seem safe," Tsuki starts.
"Oh but I don't sleep here usually. I can take a nap at the station or at the pier if it's a nice day. I just keep a few things here and cook my bentos."
"I thought your mom made those for you?"
Paige sniffs and then bursts into quiet tears. "I lost my mom when I was in middle school. In a car accident. She used to make me bentos every day even though I complained about her babying me." She wipes her eyes but continues crying, as if a dam has burst. "My dad was a lot older than mom, and he never found another life mate. Then I moved out and he had his stroke. He was all alone, and that's why…" She cries for a while, unable to say more.
Tsuki moves to sit closer so he can put an arm around her small shoulders. She leans into him and cries into his armpit. If it wasn't so sad, he would laugh. She pulls a handkerchief out of her pocket and wipes her nose.
"Scarlett gave me this," she says, finally able to talk. She shows Tsuki the embroidery on the handkerchief. It's a monogram in dark red thread. "I guess I really do cry all the time, huh?"
He pats her shoulder. "You have the right," he declares. "I'm really sorry, Paige."
She sniffs and tries to smile. "It feels better not keeping it all in," she says. "But please don't tell anybody? I don't want them to worry."
"There's somebody who already worries about you," Tsuki says.
"It's nice of you to worry about me," she says.
Tsuki laughs. "Yeah – but I mean someone else who cares about you in a different way." Paige looks at him with curiosity. Tsuki has wondered before how Paige can be so smart but so unaware of Elfie's feelings. He doesn't think he should say anything. "Listen – I have a huge house. I just signed a contract to put in a third floor. Why not live with me?"
"Tsuki!" Paige looks surprised. "I couldn't! I mean, I like you and all, but we're not like that." She is at a loss. "It's not that I don't trust you –"
Tsuki levels an are you kidding me expression at Paige. "Girlfriend, I am not lookin' to be your sugar daddy," he says, delivering his protest with as much RuPaul Drag Race sass as he can. In a normal voice, he clarifies, "I have the farm shed set up as a living space. You can move into my tiny house living experience, and I'll stay with Chi while the remodel is happening. She owes me. Don't worry about rent."
"Are… are you sure?"
"Girl, you're always at the farm anyway." She looks abashed, so he quickly adds, "And I love to see you, you're welcome to eat your bentos on my property anytime."
"OK."
"What's that? I couldn't hear you."
"OK, Tsuki, OK!" Paige laughs, softly but genuinely.
It doesn't take them very long to empty Paige's tent, break it down, and pack it up. Tsuki insists on carrying her stuff besides her filled backpack. Her worldly possessions are so few, he feels bad. Even after the robbery that left his house bare to the walls, he recovered in a matter of weeks. On that first night, his friends made sure he had a bed to sleep on and a table and chair to… think about how he was lucky to have carrots in the bank. He had been away from Mushroom Village long enough that a lot had changed, but he was still welcomed as a native son.
Paige had made friends in MV without having that advantage. She had come as a stranger, and become beloved by many. She is such a sweet kid. She's only a few years younger than he is, yet Tsuki thinks she's wiser than he was at the same age. She's probably wiser than he is now, even.
"Can I ask… your dad didn't leave you anything?"
"Like money? No," Paige explains with a sigh. "He had a lot of debt, actually, besides the medical bills at the end. He was in a coma for a few days before he went." She takes a deep breath. "When probate gets sorted out there probably won't be anything left from selling the house. I don't know. I don't really think about that. I mean, I worry about money, but… everything…"
"It's a lot," Tsuki.
"Yeah."
"I lost the deposit on my apartment because I couldn't give enough notice, and I was so new at the hotel that they didn't hold the job for me. It's like that other life I had planned was a dream, and I woke up. But, y'know, maybe it means I've been reborn into a new life with the advantage of remembering that past life."
"Glad you weren't reborn as a slime," Tsuki jokes.
"I wasn't the one hit by 'truck-kun,' either. Sorry. Sometimes my jokes get too dark," she says.
Tsuki thinks about it. MV does seem like the kind of world someone would be reborn into in an isekai anime. He's the one who had a job as a salaryman, too.
🍄
"I really appreciate your kindness," Paige says when they get to his farm.
Tsuki looks at his place with a critical eye. "I have some furniture in storage. This place can use a redesign."
Paige studies the eclectic theme. "Don't go to any trouble for me," she says without confidence. Tsuki can see the room now through her eyes: the liquor shelf behind the headboard of his cowboy bed behind the cherry blossom divider, the pairs of boots displayed on a shelf, his ukulele sharing space with Bonsai 101 on the sofa.
"Moving a bed and shelf is a great excuse for me to ask Ken for help," he tells her. "You're helping me out."
"Did you ask him on a date yet?" she inquires. A little yawn escapes her.
"Why don't you get some sleep for now, and we'll talk later? Message me on Parnsap and we'll get ramen."
Her eyes are drooping. She seems to know that protesting is pointless. Tsuki takes the key off his keychain and hands it to her. "I usually lock up when I'm not here and when I go to bed, just in case."
"Did I already tell you how much this means to me? You really are a good friend."
It's a small residence, a tiny house, so Tsuki already has his body on the other side of the front door. "The bathroom on the back side is as basic as it gets. There's a utility shower, but the bath at the treehouse will be nicer. You should really take advantage."
Tsuki spends the rest of his day fishing. He picks up fertilizer and socializes with Rosemary. She's in a cheery mood, he's happy to see.
"Ten percent off sale today," she tells him as she keeps grafting. "That includes the specialty pots and all seeds."
That's all it takes for him to buy one of the expensive pots he's been admiring. It's so shiny. "How's your poetry coming along?"
Rosemary laughs lightly, embarrassed but pleased. "It's coming along. I might have another one to post soon. I'm still incognito, though."
He drops his purchases at the farm, but quietly so he won't disturb Paige's sleep. Then he's off to Momo's. The teahouse is busier in the morning, but there will be someone around for afternoon conversation. In fact, he finds Elfie there, or rather, she finds him.
"Did you do what I asked?" she questions him off the bat.
"I did. I know where Paige lives now."
"And?" Elfie might sound abrasive, but the look on her face is concern.
Tsuki leans forward, his elbow on the table. "She's staying with me," he says.
Elfie's eyes pop. " What? " she hisses. Her expression seems to say, If you're taking advantage, I'll destroy you.
"Wow, you both jumped to the same conclusion. She's going to be living at the farm. I'm moving back into my house after the construction is finished."
"What about your… what is it again, a hot tub club?"
"I'm going to keep the ground floor cafe, but only Chi and Moca use the spa, so that's a thing to work on. I'm going to turn their places into live-work spaces, too, to give MV more day trip appeal through the holidays."
"Some of us like the quiet village life," Elfie rues. "You don't sit still, do you?"
"I like to do stuff." Tsuki shrugs. "What I like most is the decorating, choosing the floors and wall treatments. Lighting makes all the difference – sorry, I can see your eyes glazing over." Tsuki's phone buzzes with a Parsnap notification. He gets an idea. "Want to share a pot of tea with me and Paige? She's heading this way right now."
"Huh? Oh, sure. Yes. I'd like that." Elfie flustered is a strange sight. Tsuki is careful not to laugh. "Tsuki," she says.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Tsuki shrugs. Praise from Elfie actually makes him a little embarrassed. "I didn't do anything you wouldn't have done."
"You're right, but all I have to offer a guest is a couch."
Tsuki is thinking that Elfie has more to offer Paige than that when Paige appears, walking toward the teahouse deck. "Hi!" she says to Elfie.
"Hi," Elfie greets back.
"It's nice to see you. I mean, I know I'll see you at work," Paige is struggling, "but I like seeing you. Outside of work."
"Me too," Elfie says.
Tsuki gets up. "Back in a sec, I'll order our tea," he says as an excuse. He goes inside and waits for Momo, who never rushes. This is his plan, of course. He's giving Elfie and Paige a minute. In the meantime, he messages Ken. Wanna help me move a bed? The innuendo is intentional.
🍄
The farmhouse redecorated for Paige:
Oops, this fic is no longer canon compliant.
