Story of Seasons Fanfic - Fritz x Annie -

Getting to Know You

 Fritz gestured this way and that as he bumbled along the old, steep, flower-lined path down the mountain, "Over there are the orchard, tea and spice fields! Oh! And there are the bee, flower and tall crop fields! Down this way are the leafy crop fields and the root crops! If you come this way you can get to town while walking past the grain field and rice Paddy! Elise owns those, she is SUPER RICH!" He bounded about like a scruffy ball of energy, running this way and that with no particular objective. It was like he was running just because he had legs. Seeing his enthusiasm invigorated Annie, who unknowingly began to laugh at his antics.

"Huh? What did I do?" Fritz stopped, like a deer in headlights. Annie pulled herself together, straightened up and coughed.

"Ahem! N-Nothing! I was just enjoying the lovely day! Just really nice out today, and it makes me happy!" Fritz smiled at this.

"This way!" He motioned for her to follow him as he bounded over a bridge to what looked like two very different farms: one purple, the other orange.

The purple farm was organized and beautiful, with sparkling fountains and fields of flowers. The orange farm was quite a bit less astounding: it stood in a mess of crops scattered about haphazardly, with old bits of rope and scraps of lumber simply flung about. No one could possibly live in such a pig sty.... Could they?

Fritz motioned towards the beautiful purple farm: "That one there belongs to Giorgio! He's a real swell guy, great farmer, too! And over here is MY humble abode!" Fritz led Annie down the crooked road to the orange farm. Annie swallowed hard as she tried to think of something to say.

"It.... has... a lot of.... character!" Annie tried her best at a complement. Fritz smiled even wider than before and laughed happily, fully convinced that her compliment was genuine.

"It's great huh? I worked really hard on it and I think it shows!" Fritz sat down with Annie by the river that ran by his farm and pointed towards the way they came. "If you would have turned left instead of right you woulda went right to town. Elise, the last farmer lives there. You can sell things, eat at the restaurant, buy antiques and a whole lot more!" 

The two sat by the riverside and talked for a while as the sweltering heat beat down on them from above. "Geez, it's hot!" Fritz exclaimed as he took of his scarf and wiped some sweat off his brow. "Whaddaya say we take a dip?"

Annie looked inquisitively at Fritz. Swim? Where on earth would we do that? Surely he didn't mean in the river, and not in their work clothes. "Well, sure Fritz," Annie started, "But i don't know where we would do that and I didn't bring a bathing suit with me for the move..."

Fritz chuckled, "Well, we're sitting right in front of a beautiful river, and I never wear a bathing suit anyways!" Fritz stood and began peeling off his vest and kicking off his shoes. Annie turned beet red and instinctively crossed her arms over her chest. He couldn't possibly mean.... But we've just met, and we're out in the open where anyone could see!  Fritz pulled off his socks and dived into the water in his work shirt and pants. 

The air rushed out of Annie as she sighed with relief, finally understanding Fritz's innocent meaning. She tentatively stepped toward the edge of the water and investigated the current while Fritz splashed about happily, paying no mind to anything around him. The water was deep, cool and tempting, but the current was menacing, and the water would be far too deep for Annie to be able to touch the bottom of the river bed. Fritz, taking note of her hesitation, spoke up playfully.

"Haven't you ever swim in a river before? Hop in, it's easy, you'll see! I won't let you drown, promise!" Fritz chuckled and gestured for Annie to jump in. She peeled off her kerchief and pulled her long pink hair into a messy bun atop of her head. She then took off her apron, kicked off her shoes and wiggled out of her stockings so that she stood in only her teal blouse and orange skirt. She stood at the edge of the small, wooden platform Fritz had built over part of the river, and dipped her toes in the water shyly. Fritz swam over to the platform and gazed up at Annie with a smirk. "You aren't scared, are you?" he chuckled. Annie felt her face getting hot as she blushed at his accurate diagnosis, but she would not let anyone in this new town underestimate her, particularly not so soon.

With that, she jumped into the river, causing a tidal wave that bowled Fritz over. As he resurfaced, he stared in a stupor at Annie, then spit out the mouthful of water he had just ate and began laughing hysterically as he swam to where she was proudly treading water. He grabbed her shoulders with both hands, putting the two of them slightly off balance and yelled, "That was AWESOME!!!! You are a natural! Man, you got some air there, hahahah!!!" 

At first, Annie was taken aback by his outburst. He was, after all, screaming in her face a mere hour after they had first met, but his genuine excitement was endearing and Annie couldn't help but laugh back timidly in reply. 

As the afternoon passed Annie learned quite a bit about the other farmers with whom she'd be in competition working in Oak Tree Town. There was Eda, who she'd been living with. She was old and weak, so she couldn't take on much physical labor anymore, but she had the most experience out of all of the farmers. Giorgio, Fritz's neighbor, specialized in growing flowers, and had appeared in spreads in popular farming magazines. Elise was the richest farmer in town, and she only oversees the work her employees do for her. Then there was Fritz. Though he seemed energetic and determined, the evidence insisted that he was slightly incapable of running his farm on his own. Still, his child-like optimism was endearing, and Annie couldn't help but smile as she admired this aspect of his personality while he droned on. All of a sudden, however, a strange look passed over Fritz's face.

Fritz clutched his stomach as it grumbled loudly, the gazed up at Annie, blushing while he scratched the back of his head. "Hahaha.... I guess all of the swimming must have worked up my appetite... Hey, Eda gave you some money to get food, didn't she? Why don't we head into town? I'll introduce you to my best friend, he runs the restaurant! He'll be so glad to see me...." Fritz continued to blabber as he grabbed Annie by the hand and pulled her towards town. Oh no... She thought, My clothes are all wet from swimming and I'm about to meet everyone in town for the first time... I can't believe that this will be their first impression of me... I hope Fritz knows what he's doing... She glanced at the blank expression on Fritz' face and her heart immediately sunk.

I'm doomed.