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As Isaac made his way up the hill towards Robin’s house, his thoughts were buzzing with plans for the new barn they’d been talking about building on his little farm. He was consumed with the minutia of beam joints, hinge size, and livestock doors. They’d been planning the barn together for quite some time, and Isaac was really excited to hammer out the final details with Robin before she was set to start working on it the next day.
He was also a little bit excited about who he might run into while he was there, if he was being honest with himself. As he let himself think about it, his belly swooped in anticipation, before he schooled his thoughts back to the safer topic of potential cow names and whether or not he would be able to find an earth crystal in the mines later on. Nevertheless, Isaac’s hand drifted unconsciously to the small tupperware container of extra sashimi he’d packed, just in case.
Lost in thought as he was, he ran smack into his best friend Abigail.
“Ow!” she cried.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry!” he said, “You Ok?”
“Yeah, no problem,” she waved away his attention, “Nice day for a walk?”
“Mmm, I’m just headed up to have a chat with Robin about my new barn,” said Isaac.
“Ooooh! A new barn! New animals soon?”
“Yeah, a cow to start with and then, hopefully a pig later on,” he said “I need some other animals to keep Lapis and Peridot company!”
“You know, you should name one of them Amethyst,” Abigail said, “that’s my favourite gem!”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind, we still on for video games at your place on Saturday?”
“You bet! It’s gonna be awesome!!” Abigail was practically jumping up and down, “I got that new dating sim you were talking about, the one with all the hot single dads!”
Isaac could feel his face heating up, he looked away, “Can’t wait, did you start it at all, or…?”
“Nah, dude! I’m waiting until we can both get a good first impression of all the characters,” she paused, “but I must say, I got a look at the cover art and there’s one I think is kind of your type.”
“What do you mean, my type?”
She gave him a look, that was clearly meant to convey something, but he was at a loss as to what it was.
“What?”
“You know, you should probably get a move on, wouldn’t want to miss the show,” she started walking backwards away from Isaac, back down the hill.
“What do you mean, the show?” he called after her.
“You’ll see!”
What the heck? Isaac turned and climbed the rest of the way up the hill, but as soon as the house came into sight he noticed that the garage door was open and a pair of black-skinny-jean-covered legs were sticking out from under a motorcycle.
Sebastian! Under a motorcycle! All covered in grease and sweat and with his shirt riding up ever so slightly! Was this the show? What did Abigail know about his feelings? If she knew, who else knew? Did Sebastian know? Oh dear God!
Heart pounding, Isaac nervously ran his fingers through his hair, Sebastian hadn’t noticed him yet. Maybe he had a chance to sneak by without having to deal with that whole situation, but just as he took his first step towards the front door, Sebastian scooted out from under the motorcycle and called out, “Oh, hey Isaac.”
He turned, Sebastian had grease smeared across his cheek, and a soft, easy expression Isaac had never seen on him before. Damn. Isaac’s butterflies were out in full force.
“Hey, dude… nice wheels,” Isaac tried to be cool.
“What? You haven’t seen my motorcycle before? Hmmm… I guess I haven’t shown it to you.” Sebastian held Isaac’s gaze for a second before sliding back under the motorcycle. He clanked around under there for a little while, and Isaac was just starting to wonder if the conversation was over before Sebastian started talking again.
“Sometimes after sundown, I make the long ride out of Stardew Valley…” his tone was soft, like he was talking to himself, “there’s nothing like it, blazing along the empty stretch of road toward the faint city glow…”
Isaac could picture it more easily than he would’ve though before seeing Sebastian working so confidently on the bike. He could see Sebastian cruising down the highway, wearing a rad leather jacket, dark hair flowing out under the back of his helmet. It was a good image.
“Once I’ve saved up enough,” he continued, “I’m going to head out on my own… to the city and beyond. Just me and my bike.”
Isaac felt a pang at this, whenever Sebastian talked about leaving, he was reminded that they were going in different directions, that it wouldn’t work. He sighed, but quickly glanced up to see if Sebastian had noticed. He didn’t want to seem unsupportive, but Sebastian was focused on tightening something.
“There we go,” Sebastian set down his wrench, slid out again and sat up, “oil’s changed.”
“It’s nice to see you so, you know, determined and happy and stuff…” Isaac said, kicking himself mentally.
Sebastian considered him for a long moment, “Hey… Maybe I’ll let you ride sometime if you want.”
Isaac instantly filled in the missing piece of the mental image he’d created earlier, a piece he didn’t notice he’d been missing; he pictured himself wrapped around Sebastian’s back as they sped down the highway together, towards the glow of the city. It was exhilarating.
“Th-that sounds fun,” he managed.
“Great,” Sebastian gave him a small smile, then looked away. Did that mean something?
“Um, I brought some snacks, if you’re hungry,” Isaac ventured, fishing the sashimi out of his backpack.
“Is that what I think it is? You know I love your sashimi, thanks, man,” as he reached for the container, their fingers brushed. Isaac blushed.
“Well, I’d better go talk to your mom about a barn.” Isaac said, a little louder than he’d meant to.
“Oh,” Sebastian said… disappointed? He turned away, “Catch you later.”
Sebastian vanished quickly into the dark of the garage, door closing slowly behind him.
Dang. Isaac took a moment to collect himself before pushing the door open to the storefront part of the house. His stupid heart could wait, he had stuff to do.