I had never been confident about my appearance. I was smaller than smaller than average. My hair was too soft and fair. My eyes were too big, my eyelashes too long, and my cheeks were stained with a permanent rosy colour. If I would have been considered pretty if I was a girl But I wasn't. I was boy, and a teenager to boot. I had only managed to endure all the teasing up until now by telling myself that once I turned into my teens I would hit puberty and lose my feminine features, but that didn't happen. I was fourteen and looked like a ten year old girl.

It was irritating and was harsh on my self-consciousness, but I could have dealt with it. It wouldn't have been such a terrible problem if I hadn't gone and done something incredibly stupid. I fell in love. With Aria.

Aria wasn't a big girl, just average height, but since she had hit a growth spurt six months ago she was now almost a full head taller than me. She was a keen fighter and could handle even the heaviest of swords, and the muscles in her arms and legs had become more pronounced as she had grown. She wasn't particularly cute. Her face was pretty enough, she had warm grey eyes and a bright smile, but her hair was a constant mess. She was older than me, too, just a little.

She was always getting into scrapes. Cammy giggled and teased that she was more of a man than I was, but I couldn't laugh along. A girl didn't want a boyfriend they had to bend their knees to kiss. A girl didn't want a boyfriend who was prettier than she was. Julia had told me so, when I was using the baths.

I had decided long ago that I would wait until I was at least the same height as Aria before making a move, but recently I had began to see the flaw in my plan. With Aria growing taller and taller and me staying practically the same height, it looked like it would be at least five years before I'd be able to confess, if ever. Seeing Aria's mother worried me even more. Alicia was a tall woman- what if Aria grew to be that big? I'd heard somewhere that a boy almost always grows to be taller than his mother, but Mom was a lot shorter than Alicia. Even if I managed to match her height, I'd still be over half a head too short.

I sighed and leaned my head against my desk in despair. A second later I felt something sharp jabbing into my side.

"Hey." It was Orland, prodding me with his pen. "Pay attention." He nodded towards Mana, who was teaching a recipe for Relaxation Tealeaves. I should have been making notes. I usually liked Mana's lessons. I loved cooking in general- but lately I had been somewhat reluctant to step into the kitchen. Cooking was girly, wasn't it? I had to show Aria that I was a true man.

Orland, who was occupying the desk in front of me, turned back to face the blackboard. I leaned my cheek against the palm of my hand and frowned at him enviously. He was so much more manly than I was. He was tall, and lean without being skinny. He had enough strength to match Aria, unlike me. His face was hard-boned and chiselled. My own cheek felt too chubby with baby fat under my hand.

Absent-mindedly I raised my eyes to scan the wall, which was collaged with old paintings and notes. Above the blackboard were the framed photographs of the class. Byron took a school photo every year, and the black-and-white pictures dated back to when the school first opened. Each photograph was structured in the same way- tallest at the back, shortest at the front. I had been at the front since my first day of school. As my eyes travelled across the pictures I began to frown. Compared to the others, I had barely grown at all.

All my friends had been growing up gradually, and I had been left behind.

It wasn't fair. I ground the words into my notebook, making deep grooves with my pen, cutting through the paper onto the next page.

It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair.

I had tried so hard to grow at least a few inches in preparation for tomorrow. I had done all sort of stretches and exercise routines alone in my room, trying to force my body into growing, but nothing had worked. When I made a mark on my height chart, I saw I had grown barely an inch since last year.

I was bitterly disappointed. I had aimed to change just a little by summer nineteenth, to grow a bit taller or to lose some of my baby fat. If I had managed that, then maybe I could drag up the courage to ask Aria to be my partner at the Dance Festival tomorrow. But it seemed that I would spend yet another year sat on the bench at the side of Sainte-Coquille Park, watching my friends laugh and dance with each other, and burning green with envy.

I knew no girl would want to dance with a boy who was a full head shorter than her. I had studied Mother and Father carefully last year, and Mother had rested her head on Father's chest as they swayed in time to the music. They had looked so happy. I wanted Aria to look that happy when I asked her to dance with me, and so I decided to wait until I was the man she deserved. All I could do was hope that nobody took her heart during that time.

I heard a scraping of chairs and looked up abruptly to find everyone packing away their pencils and test books. Had Mana dismissed the class already? I sighed. I had been getting far too caught up in my thoughts lately.

Cammy and Roy left the classroom quickly, hand in hand. They were already over eighteen and would be finishing their education soon. They were keeping their relationship quiet, but it had been obvious to us all for a long time. Nobody would be surprised if we were hearing wedding bells in Alvarna in a few years time. I couldn't help noting that they were the same height.

Orland glided out of the room in silence, not sparing the rest of us a second glance as usual. The temperature seemed to rise at least five degrees as soon as he had gone.

Sera, Serena, Leann and Aria were huddled around a desk at the back of the classroom, gossiping. I picked up my things and headed for the door, raising my head high and trying hard to stride as gracefully as Orland could. I tripped over my own feet as I passed the girls. They burst into nervous giggles and asked if I was okay.

"I-I'm fine," I mumbled, my cheeks burning. I ducked my head.

"Hey, Leonel, don't you think Leann should go with Orland to the Dance Festival tomorrow?" Serena piped up, swinging back and forth on her chair and grinning from ear to ear.

Leann gasped and swiped playfully at her. "Serena!" she giggled, pretending to be angry. She turned to me. "Please don't pay any attention to her, Leonel. She doesn't know of which she speaks!"

"Ah... Um..." I struggled with what to say. I didn't want to embarrass Leann by saying the wrong thing, and being surrounded by four girls was nerve-racking for any hormonal teenage boy, or at least I hoped it was.

"Well, if you want to go with Orland, you'd better ask him soon," Serena continued, nodding at Leann. "If you're not careful, Aria will snap him up!"

"Hey!" Aria laughed and raised her hands defensively. "Orland and I are just good friends!"

"That's what Leann was saying last year, and look what happened," Sera pointed out, and Aria frowned.

"Oh, stop it you two," she said. She looked across to me and smiled nervously as if to say 'what am I going to do with them?' I swallowed and shuffled my feet, looking away. "Are you going to ask anyone to dance with you tomorrow, Leonel?" she asked. Immediately I felt myself blush.

"W-Well... I don't know," I said, forcing a smile. "I haven't really thought about it."

"But this is the most important festival of the year for a girl!" Sera gasped. I knew she didn't mean it the way I heard it, but her words still stung.

"I'm not a girl," I mumbled under my breath as I turned and carried on walking.

It was always the same. To them, I wasn't a boy. I was one of them, 'one of the girls'. I didn't want to be one of the girls. I wanted them to whisper about me, not to me, like they did with the other boys. I'd had to endure being told how 'hot' Orland was a thousand times. After one particularly long gossip I asked a little indignantly what they thought about me.

"Oh, well, you're cute." was the answer. I didn't feel satisfied by that, even though I had heard Cammy refer to Roy as cute several times before. There was the 'cute' as in you'd like to date someone, and then there was the 'cute' as in you'd like to squeeze their cheeks and take them home to be your little pet. I definitely fit into the latter category.

When I got home I spent nearly four hours trying to stretch myself. I even went so far as to hook my feet around the bottom of my bedstead and grip the top with my hands and pull, like a rack. I just ended up hurting my ankles on the wooden posts.

I went to bed feeling very cross indeed, and woke up the next morning in a bad mood due to lack of sleep. I didn't want to get up, but Father forced me to, telling me I should at least make an effort. I pouted. I didn't see why I should make an effort when he was so cynical about the Dance Festival himself.

I avoided the Sainte-Coquille Park on purpose and headed straight for the school. I sat on the steps and sulked, picking at the grass and intentionally scuffing up my shoes in the dust. I could hear the gentle music flowing from the town centre and suddenly felt very, very lonely. Mother and Father had left to dance for a while, and none of my friends were around. I wanted to cry, but no, no, I wouldn't do that. Big boys didn't cry.

Instead I wiped my nose on the back of my hand and leaned back against the school doors. A voice far away was calling my name. I opened my eyes.

"Leonel!"

I sat forward. "Aria...?"

She was trotting towards me from the path that lead to her farm. I hurried to my feet and brushed myself down. She came to a halt in front of me, smiling broadly.

"We were missing you!" she said. "Me and the girls, I mean. What are you doing out here?"

I faked a laugh. "Sorry, Aria," I said sheepishly. "I guess this festival just isn't my thing."

She frowned. "Why not?" She reached for my hand, and I snatched it back out of automatic reaction. I immediately regretted it seeing the hurt look on her face. "Please, Leonel," she said. "I'll feel bad leaving you all alone, and besides, it's not the same when one person is missing." She tried to pull me along with her but I backed away, letting my smile fall.

"Aria, please don't," I begged. She gave me a questioning look and I looked down at my feet. "It's embarrassing, dancing on your own."

"But I do it," Aria said innocently. My eyes snapped up, wide and disbelieving.

"What...?" I said. "Bu-But, weren't you going with Orland?"

"I said me and Orland were just friends," Aria said, putting her hands on her hips. She sighed. "You could just say you don't want to dance with me, you know. I wouldn't mind. Well, I would, but you know what I mean!"

I stared at her, my mouth hanging open like a dead fish. "B-B-But..." I struggled. "But, wouldn't you feel embarrassed?"

"Why would I?"

"Because!" I burst out, angry that she didn't understand my predicament at all. "I'm shorter than you! Doesn't that bother you?"

"No, not really," Aria said plainly, as if she was announcing tomorrow's weather. "Does it bother you, Leonel?"

I lowered my eyes. I was sure my face was bright red by now. Slowly, I nodded.

There was a long pause. I couldn't bring myself to meet Aria's gaze, though I could feel her looking at me. Suddenly she reached down and touched the back of my hand. I hesitated before turned my palm up, and she linked her fingers with mine. She didn't seem the care that my hands were smaller and more delicate than hers. I looked up at her; she had her head raised as she listened to the music emitting from the park.

"Let's dance here this year," she said. "If you want to, that is... Do you want to?"

"Yes," I squeaked. Then I clamped my free hand over my mouth and cleared my throat. "I-I mean, yes." I made sure to lower my voice a pitch. Aria just laughed.

Neither of us knew how to dance, not really. I knew the starting position from memory, but none of the footwork. Awkwardly I placed my trembling hand on Aria's hip, wishing she didn't wear such tiny shirts so that I wouldn't have to touch her skin. My hands were getting sticky with sweat, and I panicked over it and expected Aria to pull her hand away, but she didn't.

Slowly we began to sway in time to the music. I wondered if Aria really didn't mind that I was so much smaller than her. It certainly didn't seem that way as she bent her knees and ducked her head to let me twirl her under my arm and giggled whenever we went wrong and ended up bumping into each other.

In the distance the song ended and we split apart. I bowed, as was the custom, and Aria bowed too, though she was meant to curtsey. I smiled. I might not have been much of a man, but Aria wasn't much of a lady, either. And if she was willing to accept it...

"Thanks for humouring me," she smiled shyly. "That was fun."

"Yeah," I agreed. My mouth was dry. Taking a deep breath, I made a bold move. "D-Do you want me to walk you h-home?" As soon as the words were out I was desperate to force them back in. I immediately tried to take it back. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

But Aria was already linking her arm in mine. She looked down at me, pink-faced and beaming. I jerked my head away, blushing furiously. What was I doing?! It was tricky to walk in such close proximity, especially considering the difference in size, but that didn't matter. Not when my heart was racing a mile a minute.

We said our goodbyes quickly and shyly. The atmosphere was awkward enough already, and I wasn't about to risk making things worse by blurting out something stupid. We hesitated for a second; neither one of us seemed to want to be the first to turn our back.

"Well," said Aria awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. "I'll see you tomorrow." And she leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

I stumbled back as if I'd just been stung by a wasp, clutching my cheek and opening and closing my mouth, unable to get any words out. She kissed me! She kissed me! She kissed me!

"Sorry! Sorry!" Aria cried, as flustered as I was. "Did you not like that?"

Try as I might, I simply could not get a word out. My face was on fire, and I could still feel Aria's kiss on my cheek, singing my skin. "Wh-Why..." I choked out eventually, "Why did you do that?"

Aria burst into nervous laughter. "I-I thought it was obvious!" she said.

Obvious? What was obvious?! The only reason for her kissing me I could conjure up in my baffled state was that she li... liked me. Me! Barely five feet tall, with a face like a little girl's- me! That was impossible!

...Right?

"But..." I began weakly. "But... I'm a boy, and I... look like this."

"So?" Aria said. She smiled. "I sort of like how you look, y'know?" And she hopped up the steps leading to her door and turned to wave goodbye to me before disappearing into her house.

I swayed where I stood for a moment. My head was still spinning. What just happened...? If I was dreaming, I didn't want to wake up! I wondered if Aria meant what she said, about not caring that I was smaller than her. Did that mean I'd been worrying over nothing? Still dazed, I turned and staggered towards the town. My little legs meant that I had to take two steps for every one a normal-sized person would have to take, but for some reason that didn't matter so much any more.

Because, when it came right down to it, the only person bothered by my size... was me. I realised that now. And if everyone else was fine with it, then maybe I could be too. Maybe I could learn to accept myself for who I was. Eventually.

I began to smile. I stopped dragging my feet and put a spring in my step. I might have been the smallest person in Alvarna. But right now I felt like the tallest person in the world.

–

Such a cheesy ending, but I thought it was sweet! I have noticed that Orland does indeed get all the love in the Rune Factory fandom. Roy is never paired with Aria either, but I don't mind that so much because his relationship with Cammy is made as obvious as it can be without them being married. It seems that Leann and Orland have a lot in common and are good friends, so it makes sense (at least in the Harvest Moon universe!) for them to be paired up. Leonel, however, gets no-one, which I find very unfair, because he's so cute!

I confess, I am one of those people who wants to squeeze his cheeks and take him home to be my little pet. But Aria understands him a little more than that, thankfully!

This was written for the Vilage Square's contest forum, the theme being 'education/learning'. My idea, if it wasn't obvious, was to have Leonel finally learn to accept himself.

I'm not expecting many reviews in all honesty- the Rune Factory section isn't all that big on this site, and not many people seem to like Aria/Leonel. Like I said, it's all about Orland- I love Orland, but it's nice to give the dorks a chance, too! I'd like to get at least five reviews, but like I mentioned in another fanfic of mine, maybe that's wishful thinking!