A/N: Here it is, my first ever fanfic! The idea for this little one-shot just came to me one night while I was trying to sort out plot for a full sized fic I want to write. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Well this is fanfiction, does it need to be said that I don't own Harvest Moon or it's characters?

The Night Shift

"Shut up." Molly huffed as she wrung out a wet rag over a bucket of sanitized water. "I do not." It was difficult for her to ignore her co-worker's chuckles while she tried to concentrate on wiping down the already clean countertops. Business at Cafe Castanet was always slow at this hour and she'd already cleaned all the counters and tables several times. Once she was back in range to see into the kitchen, the chef on shift resumed his teasing.

"Yes you do. Every single time. It's like you inhale helium but the effect wears off the second the customer turn-"

"Hello, ma'am! Welcome to Cafe Castanet. What can I get you this evening?" Molly's voice rose several pitches as she greeted the young woman that had just walked up to the counter. She smiled pleasantly listening carefully to her order. The smile dropped the moment the women turned away to find a seat. Molly swiveled around to glare at the chef who wasn't even trying to stifle his laughter. "I said 'Shut up', Chase! Everyone's voice does that when they talk to a customer! Or when they talk on the phone, or...you know what, whatever. Just get the lady her coffee before she files a complaint."

Chase's laughter tapered off enough to allow him to fill the customers order without making a mess. Not that he would have made a mess anyway. Working the same job since his freshman year was enough to make him masterful at even the more difficult tasks.

"She won't file a complaint. You know her, she goes to our school." he said.

"What?" Molly turned to get a better look.

The girl was sitting at a small table by a window looking out at the disappearing sunset. She had short green hair and wore a similarly green jumper. A book sat on the table in front of her, propped open with her thumb. Although her face was turned away from Molly, she recalled she saw that the girl wore a pair of red, round framed glasses when she took her order.

"Oh, yeah. Phoebe right? Isn't she graduating this year too? I hear that guy Owen mention her sometimes. He said she's got an apprenticeship in an out of state college."

"Yeah, probably, I wouldn't know. Here's her stuff." Molly stuck her tongue out at Chase but took the tray off his hands.

She knew he rarely had any interest in the affairs of their peers. Though sometimes, if he was in the right mood, they would fill the lulls in their shifts with meaningless but friendly conversations about their classmates and teachers. Chase enjoyed these conversations too, though he let Molly do most of the talking. Often he paid as little attention to what she was saying as she did herself. Instead he listened to the inflections in her voice when she expressed different emotions. Without even having to look at her, he knew just what face she'd be making or how her hand would be waving through the empty air.

Chase realized he had been staring at the two girls for several minutes. He turned back into the kitchen to find something to keep him busy until another customer showed up. Molly apparently decided everything would do fine without her attention while she chatted with the Cafe's sole customer. The final rays of sunlight gradually slipped away as Molly waved goodbye to Phoebe.

Instantly bored with the absence of customers, she walked back behind the front counter where she could see Chase cleaning the kitchen. She hopped up onto the counter and sat watching him. She wondered how long it would take him to notice her. Then she began to wonder when it was exactly that he'd noticed her for the first time. How long had they known each other? They'd been friends all throughout high school so far, but didn't she also remember often playing with a peach haired boy in elementary school? To Molly it felt like they had always been friends. She knew there had to be a moment where they first met. And yet all of her early memories of them were dim and blurred together. Nothing would form into a chronological timeline.

"Hey, Chase!" Molly shouted at her friend's back. Chase jumped in surprise. Apparently he had been lost deep in thought as well. He fumbled with something in his hands but it fell and shattered on the ground. The sound startled Molly and her hands flew to cover her mouth.

"Ah, damn it! Molly, you can't sneak up on p- What the hell are you doing on the counter? It's not a chair, get down before you break something." He knelt down out of sight to clean up the shards of glass. Molly hopped down from the counter, indignant.

"Hey! You're the one that broke something, scaredy-cat! Wait, let me clean that. You're going to-"

"Ouch!" Chase's shout of pain was followed by several curses. Molly ran the short distance to the kitchen. As she expected, Chase had been careless picking up the glass. A small stream of blood dripped from his hand.

"See, I tried to tell you. Tsk. Stay there. Nope, stay! We're going to do this the right way now." Molly placed a towel over the floor where Chase's blood dripped. She then went to grab the first aid kit. Chase stood still as he was told, glowering at the wall. Once Molly returned, kit in hand, she gently took Chase by his wounded hand and began leading him towards the family restroom. She held a clean towel under his hand to make sure none of the blood dripped onto the floor. When Chase tried to resist, she simply squeezed his hand more forcefully and dragged him along more quickly. Resigned to his fate, he sighed and let Molly lead him with no resistance. Neither spoke nor looked at the other while Molly tended his wound.

"There." Molly said. She rested her hands on her hips and watched Chase wiggle his fingers, testing his hand. "So..."

Chase crossed his arms and glared at Molly, still not speaking. Molly stared back up at him. She bit the insides of her lips, trying not to laugh at his expression and the situation in general. She failed. The giggles escaped her lips before she could stop them. Although he tried, Chase was unable to hold back his laughter too.

"I'm so sorry I scared you, Chase. And made you cut your hand." Molly apologized sincerely, though still fighting laughter. Chase smiled and tugged her auburn ponytail then swiveled her towards the door gently pushing her by the shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah. It wasn't your fault. Come on, it's almost time to lock up".

The cafe was almost exactly as they left it. Both teens immediately noticed the presence of a strange man sitting alone at a table in the far corner under a burned out light. He wore a long purple robe and pants so white they looked unreal to Molly. His purple hood covered most of his head, but a brownish gray braid was visible on the left side. A large foam cup of coffee (presumably) with the Cafe Castanet logo on the front sat on the table in front of him next to a bowl of mint ice cream.

"Oh, d-...er...darn it! See, this is why I said Master Yolanda needs to schedule more than two people for this shift. I hate the night shift. Here". Molly shoved the bag of bloody towels and wipes at Chase. "Take this to the garbage while I take care of this guy. Please."

"What? No! That guy looks crazy, I am not leaving you alone with him." Molly chuckled, trying to be quiet.

"Shh! Don't be rude. He can probably hear you. Stop. Stop! Ok, fine. Just gimme a second. Wait over there." Molly straightened her apron and put on her "hostess" demeanor like a suit.

She walked quickly over to the man's table. "Good evening, sir. Welcome to Cafe Castanet. I apologize there was no one here to serve you when you came in. Unfortunately, we're closing at this time. Is there anything I can help you with before you go?" Molly held her breath, hoping the man didn't notice she was slightly afraid.

The stranger lifted his head slowly. Molly gasped slightly. One green eye and one honey gold eye looked up at Molly's autumn-brown eyes. Molly blinked rapidly. It was difficult for her not to stare. His heterochromatic eyes were surprising enough, but underneath the man's right eye, the gold one, was a small white tattoo. It made for a very vivid contrast to his dark skin. "Uh...um..."

"The money to pay for my items...is on the counter. I will be...leaving...momentarily. Thank you." He stood and bowed to Molly before picking up his coffee and walking towards the exit. Molly stood watching him go, at a complete loss what to do. She shook her head to refocus her attention.

"G-Goodnight!" she said to his retreating form. He didn't turn around or show any sign that he heard her. Then he was gone.

"That was really weird." Molly hadn't noticed Chase come up behind her. He now stood next to her, looking at the door as if the strange man might reappear any moment.

"Yeah. It was." she said.

Chase poked her arm to get her attention. "Hey, come look at this." She followed Chase to the kitchen. It looked the same as it did the last time she saw it, but now there was no sign of any blood or broken glass.

"Oh, hey!" she said. "You cleaned that up really fast."

He shook his head. "I didn't clean it. It was gone when I got here." Molly shuddered.

"O-k, that is really creepy. Come on. Let's finish closing up. I wanna go home now."

Molly tucked her phone into her bag. Chase shrugged on his jacket and zipped it up. The two of them had finished locking up the small building which now sat dark, nestled between two other buildings. They now sat at one of the tables on a far wall, the only light coming from a small hanging lamp above them.

"You don't have to wait with me, Chase. My sister probably just forgot I work late tonight. I texted her. She'll probably be here any minute." Molly wrapped her hands tighter around her cup, trying to absorb it's heat. Chase spun his around on the table between his hands.

"Nope. I am not leaving until someone other than a crazy hobo wizard shows up right to the front door and picks you up. If you got murdered, Maya would have to cover your shift. And then she'd somehow manage to poison me and I would be dead too. The cafe would lose it's only good chef. With no one around amazing enough to fill my shoes the cafe would be out of business. Master Yolanda would lose all credibility and have to live on the street. It'd be a mess, Molly. A mess." Chase managed to keep a straight face through his entire speech. Molly however had been laughing uncontrollably since "crazy hobo wizard".

"So anyway." Chase began once Molly had control over herself again. "What did you want?"

"Huh?"

"Earlier, before you broke that glass. You were calling me?"

"Hey, don't try to change the story. You broke it, not me. It was nothing important."

"Uh-uh, don't give me that. All the trouble you caused, you have to tell me what started it." Molly fidgeted in her seat, a blush beginning to form on her cheeks. Reluctantly she answered him.

"I...was just wondering...if you remembered when -and how- we first became friends. That's all..."

"What? Who said we were friends? That is so presumptuous of you. I'm not your friend." Molly threw a mint from a dish on the table. It hit him solidly on his forehead. "Ow! See? I would never be friends with someone so violent. Alright, alright. Stop. Hmm...let's see." He tapped his finger on the table while he thought. "That is such a random question, what makes you ask?"

Now it was Molly that began to tap her fingers on the table. "I dunno. I was just trying to think of my first memory of us being friends. But I can't remember. It just seems like we've always been friends."

"Sap." This time Molly punched him on the shoulder. Chase just laughed. "Fine, fine. I think it was in...4th grade? Mr. Ozzie's class. He paired us up for the, what did he call it? Oh, the 'Backyard Ecosystem Safari' project. You hated me for it because you wanted to be partners with-"

"Kathy! Yeah, I remember now!" Molly leaned in closer, getting carried away with the sudden rush of memories. She clasped her hands together where they rested on the table between her and Chase. "Oh, I was so mean to you. Sorry. Wait, but didn't you put a salamander in my hair? Jerk!" Chase's hand froze in a hovering state above the dish of mints he had been reaching for. Candy forgotten, he instead let his hand drop beside the dish. His other hand gestured chastisingly at Molly.

"Hey, that was after you pushed me in the stream because I said you needed to record our 'findings' for our report."

"Mm, no. You touched my arm. I pushed you because Kathy told me you had cooties. Sorry again. Wait so how is this the time we became friends?"

"Because after I put the salamander on your head, you threw a handful of mud at me and turned our project into a mud fight. You had fun, I guess, because you invited me to play with you at recess the next day." Subconsciously, Chase pushed the dish of candy out of the way, clearing more space for the pair's hands. "And then somehow we kept getting paired up in class. I think Mr. Hamilton thought it was punishment for the mud fight. Ah. I miss those days."

Both sat silently for a moment thinking back on their elementary years. Molly lifted her eyes to see Chase's electric lavender ones already looking at her. Suddenly something felt different. She couldn't say what, but something had changed in just that moment. Feeling her cheeks get hot, she quickly looked back down at the table. Their hands were suddenly very interesting to her. His were so close to hers. Very, very slowly, she uncurled her fingers. Very, very slowly, he opened his hands as though offering her something. The still silence and darkness of the cafe made it seem harder to breathe. That was Molly's excuse for her rapidly beating heart anyway. It was as though if either of them moved their hands too quickly something would break. For some reason she couldn't bring herself to look back up at her childhood friend, though she could feel his eyes on her. She inched one hand over his and left it hovering there. Like she somehow knew he would, Chase gently -and so, so slowly- closed his hand around hers.

Before Molly could even lift her head, a loud honking noise startled the both of them. Molly audibly squeaked in surprise. Their hands flew apart and both jumped from their seats. "Oh! Th-that must be my...um...my sister." Molly struggled to get her words out while she gathered up her things and headed for the door.

"Right! Yeah, your sister. You should... Wait, here. I have the key." The two stepped outside bathed in the light from the car's headlights. Chase locked the door behind them and turned to Molly. Neither really looked at the other. "So... I'll see you later." Chase told the air beside Molly.

"Yeah, I'll...yeah. Goodnight". Molly said to the ground.

"Goodnight". Molly tossed her things into the car. Before closing the door she waved goodbye to Chase. His eyes were bright and he had a smile on his face. She smiled back at him.

A/N: And there it is! What do you think? This one-shot kinda just happened but it's the first fic that I have actually FINISHED so I'm kinda proud of it :) I'm thinking I might write an insert about what goes on in the day-shift. We'll see! Thank you for reading~