Chapter Text
A Stretch in the morning is what begins Jess’ day. A shower to freshen his mind and body of any of his anxieties about how the day could go. An Apple to chew on while he checks stock as he prepares merchandise to be loaded up in the truck before he revs up the engine and makes his way into megapolis to set up shop. Driving through the city brought some kind of childlike excitement light up within him as he went by plenty of interesting sights from the weather station, arcades, and plenty of restaurants with pleasant smells coming from them.
Truthfully despite Jess telling himself things would be fine, in the back of his mind couldn’t help the worry that was lingering about being in the city for the first time since he was a kid so he had no idea how to navigate through a city, much less one as big as this one. But then Jess would think about where he came from, all of the trails he’s had to overcome and he’d not only be filled with pride but also a newfound determination that made Megapolis seem like horseplay.
It wasn’t long until the farmer was finally in his habitat within the bustling market, quickly setting up his stall with fresh fruit, milk, and a couple of the pies he baked earlier that morning. And soon any worries Jess had completely vanished as customers either browsed with nothing but kind words to say about his stand or happily purchased his wares with barely a need of convincing which might of stroked his ego just the slightest.
“Thank you and please come by again!” Jess called out to the pig demon and his friend who bought a couple of vegetables from his stand as they made their way to an attractive demon woman who called them over leaving him to put away the money and lean back with a sigh as he reached up to wipe some sweat from his brow that was building up the sun scorching down with seemingly no remorse for any soul who decided to journey out in the wrath of the heat.
‘Nothing a drink of water couldn’t fix’ He thought with a hum picking up his water bottle happily letting the coldness of the drink soothe himself into a nice moment of relaxation only for Jess to immediately spit it out baffled by the worst pick up line he’s ever heard. “Hey, are you a kind of fruit? Cause you're driving me bananas~” The man in front of him looked as if he lifted a weight with a single finger with how proud he was of his god awful attempt of flirting that caused Jess to recoil on the inside while outwardly he raised a brow and crossed his arms.
“Are you gonna buy something or just spout out pick-up lines you got from the internet?” This appeared only to perpetuate the strange man’s flirting as he leaned on the counter looking absolutely full of himself with a mischievous grin and brows raised higher than his own.
“That depends are you on the menu Peaches? Cause I’ve been craving you for a while.” At this Jess groaned, taking off his hat to run his free hand through his tangled locks, the whole time giving the guy a tired stare while he studied him.
Jess would admit that he was quite the attractive fellow with bright orange locks that framed his perfectly tanned face and golden eyes complimented with eyeliner and orange shadow that shined as bright as their color with mirth and he just might have been swooned if it wasn’t for the words from his mouth and his attitude. He wishes he could be flattered that this guy was flirting with him but usually when things like this happened to him in his old home it was for one reason.
“You do realize I’m a man right?” He huffed out while hiding the fact he was kinda peeved with this guy’s attitude when he’s trying to run a business but his words confused the man making him stand back straight showing that he was a good bit shorter than the farmer. “Uh yeah? Isn’t that obvious.” The honest perplexed look on his face stopped his thinking for a moment before causing a soft flush to spread across his face but Jess would blame it on the heat before he’d ever admit it to being anything else.
“Right…I’m sorry that was pretty rude of me.” Jess rubbed the back of his neck nervously then offered out his other hand with a small smile. “My name is Jess, Jess Chao I’m still getting used to everything around here so pardon me if I misunderstand something I promise I’m working on it though.” He explained but the redhead batted no eye and reached happily to shake his hand and for a second his hold seemed to linger before Jess pulled back.
“Don’t sweat it I mean having someone as handsome as me flirting with someone as handsome as you probably doesn’t happen too often from where you're from right? But I think I might forgive you easily if you can let me take home some of those peaches. What do you say ‘peaches’?”
The farmer looked unamused but complied as he turned around to gather a couple of peaches and put them in a bag. “Just Jess is fine I’d rather you not call me a nickname as personal as peaches seeing as I don’t even know you,” Jess explained handing him the bag while the other just grinned at him. “ I suppose we’ll have to get to know each other better than won’t we Mr. Chao,” Kong replied leaning back on his heels with perfect balance despite having all his weight on them, and in his mind, he kinda wished he’d lose his footing just to his confidence could get knocked down a peg.
“We’ll see about that but I believe giving me a name would be a start.”
“Just call me Kong. Trust me if you knew my full name you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off me.” Kong chuckled, swiping his finger under his nose cheekily while Jess rolled his eyes at the idea. “Trust me I’m barely containing myself at this very moment.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice but Kong was either oblivious to this or chose to ignore his tone as he didn’t look fazed in fact he looked smug.
But before he could try and flirt with him again a ping interrupted him as Jess lifted his arm to look at his watch and his eyes widened. “Oh shoot sorry to cut this short Mr. Kong but I actually need to close up for the day as I need to get back home to start on chores around the farm.” all of this came out in a rush as he began to ramble obviously passionate as he talked about tending to his cattle, harvesting the crops, yardwork, so much that it began to tire the redhead out despite his amusement towards Jess’ passion about it.
“Will you be here tomorrow?” He leaned back on the counter as he watched the farmer start packing away his wares and taking note of what he had sold wanting to bring more next time as he didn’t even glance back at Kong as he answered him. “Luckily for you, I’m still working out the days on when I’ll open my stand because I want to see which days would be the best so for the next couple of weeks I’m going to be opening up every day at 6 through 10 to find what days I’ll be the busiest.” Jess then picked up the leftover pie that no one bought with a frown only to smile as he turned towards the redhead.
“Here I’d hate to have this pie go to waste so why don’t you take it? I’m not the best cook but I’d say I know how to make a pretty damn good pie if I do say so myself.” He stated proudly with a puff to his chest as he watched Kong eagerly take it from his hands and he was sure if the other man had a tail he’d be wagging it excitedly at the treat.
Kong looked at the pie in his hands and smirked as he looked back at the farmer. “Peach Pie huh?” His voice teasing but Jess just waved him off as he bent down to pick up one of the baskets to begin to set out of the way. “It was coincidence also don’t expect me to go giving you free food next time I work hard on my stock so you better pa-” Jess cut himself off because when he turned back around the other man was gone and in his place was a pouch that when he went to open it he found a good bit of money in it along with a note reading ‘See you tomorrow Cutiepie~” with a drawing of a monkey with a mischievous smile.
Another flush heated up Jess’ face but he quickly shook it off and with one last huff he started to load up his truck as he tried to get his mind off the attractive asshole with a cute smile.