Chapter 1: Elliott and Harvey Run Into Each Other After Their Split
Chapter Text
In the spring after moving to a new town, Harvey had found himself entangled in a passionate love affair together with another man. Though their love was condemned by society, it persisted and grew in secret, behind closed doors and drawn curtains. Elliot had thrusted himself head first into their passion with little fear. He was a romantic at heart, and found no issue with what they were doing. He believed that love transcended societal norms of right and wrong. Their love being forbidden didn’t matter. It even made the whole thing more exciting for him. Their love became a protest, subversive in a way most ordinary loves could only hope to be. It was everything a romantic like Elliot could’ve ever wanted. Harvey was the more pragmatic of the two. He’d initially moved to Pelican Town in order to further his career. Him getting snarled into this love affair hadn’t been part of his original plan. As their affair stretched on, deepening in intensity and consequently stake, he began feeling more and more that this wasn’t what he wanted. In contrast to Elliot, love wasn’t everything to Harvey. He filled his life with many more meaningful things beyond that primitive, carnal lust for another. He was an intellectual, and tending to his intellect was his utmost priority.
One day, Harvey had simply had enough. Their affair had gone on for too long. Elliot didn’t fit into Harvey’s image of himself nor the vision he had of his future self. He wanted to accomplish everything that the unspoken rules of society prescribed him. He wanted to make a career and become successful in his own right, which included marrying a woman. Unlike Elliot, he didn’t strive to be subversive or odd or to protest. Harvey wanted nothing more than to fit in. He was getting old; he didn’t have time enough to keep procrastinating on the inevitable. There wasn’t time enough for him to waste on his puerile passions. He had to let Elliot go. The same thing went for Elliot. He needed to focus on his writing if he ever wanted to succeed in life. Splitting up was what was best for the both of them, Harvey decided.
Harvey stopped reciprocating and their relationship soon fizzled out. They slowly stopped speaking to each other, greeting each other while out on the town, or even acknowledging each other’s existence. Harvey began avoiding Elliot. Splitting up proved to be very lonely for the both of them. Elliot was spiralling. Of course Harvey wanted to help Elliot, but people had started talking, so he wasn’t able to. He wished that Elliot would be understanding of this. It wasn’t that Harvey didn’t care, he was simply powerless, because any efforts to help Elliot would simply make the talk worse, and the talk was worse than anything else. He spent his days living in wilful ignorance of Elliot’s declining mental state.
Elliot continued seeking Harvey out, to varying degrees of success. But it would be a lie to say that Harvey wasn’t charmed by these attempts at rekindling their old affair, as much as he was terrified by them.
A couple of days after the first snowfall of Winter, Harvey and Elliot ran into each other on the town square. They were entirely alone. Harvey was driven by a need to be polite. Normally, he’d avoid Elliot. But when directly confronted by him, it would’ve been more conspicuous to try to ignore him, rather than to engage in polite conversation.
They shook hands and greeted each other in a way that was becoming of two men.
“How do you do?”
“How do you do?”
Harvey put his gloves back on and held his hands behind his back.
“Wonderful weather we’re having”, he said.
He was adamant on keeping their relationship strictly friendly. He treated Elliot similarly to how you would treat an acquaintance who you’ve drifted apart from for no reason in particular. He treated Elliot as if life had gotten in the way of their relationship.
Elliot smiled, allowing his gaze to linger on Harvey for longer than what was comfortably friendly.
“Truly”, he said slowly, as he savoured every single phoneme of the word. “Haven’t you gotten used to it yet?”
Harvey dared to exhale half a laugh. Water vapor clouded around his mouth.
“Gotten used to what?”
“The beauty.”
“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.”
There it was again, the wilful ignorance.
“The beauty of this valley. Don’t you see? You’re no local, and neither am I. We’re not used to this”, Elliot gestured vaguely at everything surrounding them, “you least of all, seeing as I came here before you.”
“You came seeking beauty, Elliot. I was looking to further my career.”
“You don’t mean to say that you’re indifferent to it— beauty?”
Harvey shook his head.
“No, no”, he briefly met Elliot’s now worried eyes, “of course not. All I’m saying is that one has got to prioritise.”
Elliot trampled the ground impatiently, rubbing his mittened hands together. He couldn’t leave in order to escape the cold just yet. He had unfinished business with this man.
“Well, what could be more important than beauty?”
“It’s not… I just don’t have the time.”
“You seemed perfectly able to make time for it. What changed?”
Now Harvey was getting impatient. He began looking at some point far beyond Elliot, as if preparing to head off in that direction. He didn’t like how Elliot was speaking of their affair through a conversation thinly-veiled by its philosophical nature, in which Elliot was beauty and Harvey himself.
“Harvey”, pleaded Elliot.
“Yes?” he answered, slight irritation in his tone of voice. He also lowered his voice, like he didn’t want anyone to hear him. There were likely other townsfolk running about, just out of sight but within earshot.
“What changed?”
Harvey shook his head.
“I never had the time”, he said “Won’t you just— let it be?”
“Let what be?”
Elliot knew exactly what Harvey was referring to, he just wanted to hear him say it. He kept pursuing the admission from Harvey’s moustached lips.
Harvey swallowed dryly. A silence fell between them that lasted for a couple of uncomfortable moments. Elliot refused to speak, whereas Harvey was entirely unable to.
“Well, it was nice seeing you”, Harvey eventually broke the silence.
“You can’t leave”, protested Elliot.
“It’s been a pleasure.”
Harvey began walking, but Elliot grabbed his arm. He could feel it tense up beneath his thick coat.
“What do you want?” said Harvey quietly. He kept lowering his voice, getting more scared of being seen or heard by the minute.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
Elliot had never quite understood Harvey’s sudden change from loving to cold.
“I can’t do this. I’m not—“
Harvey pulled his arm away, and Elliot let him go. They stared at each other in silence once more.
“Fine”, said Elliot. “Go.”
For the first time during their whole encounter, Harvey found himself unable to leave. He was frozen in place, staring at Elliot.
“Elliot, I’m sorry”, he said softly.
Something had stirred within Harvey, but it was too late. Elliot didn’t want to hear his apologies, and so it was he who finally stormed off, leaving the other in a beginning snowfall.
Harvey was left standing all alone in the town square. He felt conflicted. On one hand, upsetting Elliot had been the last thing he’d intended on doing. On the other hand, the thought of them reawakening what once had been was so terrible that it was almost unthinkable. The thought had hardly crossed his mind since their split — at the very least not until nighttime. Harvey was lulled to sleep by the thought of Elliot each night, only to forget all about it in the morning. He didn’t remember Elliot until the next night. A part of his subconscious recognised this, and so it steered Harvey away from Elliot during the day, for fear of those thoughts and dreams becoming true once more.
Pelican town was covered in a thin layer of snow. The town square was scattered with footsteps heading in one direction or another. Harvey could make out a figure coming toward him in the snow. The image was corrupted the vision of Elliot which occupied his mind’s eye. But it wasn’t Elliot coming back, it was Marnie.
“What weather we’re having”, she remarked, for the wind has risen, rendering the snowfall bothersome to the average pedestrian.
“Truly”, said Harvey.
She passed him. Harvey didn’t see where she went, nor did he care all that much. His mind was still stuck on one thought: that of Elliot.
He slowly began making his way back to the clinic. Duty called.
Chapter 2: Harvey Meets Elliott On A Train
Notes:
This is really short, but I wrote it and had a lot of fun writing it. It’s supposed to be Harvey’s first time going to Pelican Town, and he meets the stranger, Elliott, on the train. He notices that he’s a poet, they introduce themselves, and brief conversation ensues
Chapter Text
”What’s your name?”
The man vigorously shook my hand. ”Elliott Vanderwaal.”
“Harvey Meyer. How do you do?”
“How do you do?”
Nondescript scenery passed us by. At certain points there were horses or cattle or sheep. Mostly wilderness stretched out in all directions, in which the wild animals hid, out of sight for the train or its passengers. They hid behind trees, in the valleys of the mountains, in the brooks and streams, at the bottom of lakes or high up in treetops.
“Where are you headed?” asked the young poet.
“Pelican Town,” I answered.
“So am I,” said the poet. “I’m living there.”
“I’ll be living there, too, as the new doctor.”
“You’re the new doctor?” the poet laughed. “I’ve heard a lot about you, but I’m starting to think that none of it’s true.” I must’ve looked bemused, and so the poet continued. “Of course, it’s all hogwash. Rumours. I know that, now that I’ve met you.”
I would’ve liked to inquire about what exactly the poet had heard, but decided against prodding further for the sake of remaining polite.
“I’m glad.”
The train whistled through rolling hills and tall, verdant mountains, backdropped by a cloudless, blue sky.
“Is it always this beautiful here, in Stardew Valley?” I asked.
“You’re not from here, are you? I thought I‘d heard an accent.”
The poet seemed in a good mood. He was all smiles.
“Right,” I said. “I’m not from the Valley.”
“It’s not always this beautiful. Just usually,” he looked out the window, trying in vain to fix his eyes on any point in the passing landscape, “that’s why I came here. I’m from the Valley, just not from Pelican Town. But word of that place travels far, and for good reason. Many seek it out, but few choose to stay.”
“But you did?”
“Yes,” he said. “On the beach. In an old little cabin. You won’t miss it.”
Was this an invitation? Understanding much of anything that was coming out of this man’s mouth proved to be difficult. He had a habit of speaking poetically, as he’d likely call it. I’d say he was beating around the bush.
“I’m not sure if I’ll be down there. I’m not much for swimming.”
“There’s other things to do than swimming.”
“Like what?”
Elliott paused. In the silence that followed my question he let his gaze linger out the train window. Before, his gaze had kept finding its way back to me. Now it was firmly focused on the passing scenery. In this way he was silent for a moment.
“Well, I can think of lots of things.”
Again, I didn’t want to pry further into this delicate poet’s mind than what was necessary. I decided to leave him be, and to not pester him with any additional questions.
BummedBuffalo on Chapter 1 Thu 09 Jan 2025 04:33AM UTC
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