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“Today,” Sam tells his mirror, “Is gonna be the day.”
His reflection doesn’t say anything back, but that’s just to be expected.
Sam is feeling pretty good so far. His jean jacket is freshly washed, he’s got his favourite red-yellow shirt on (he thinks it contrasts nicely with the blue-green of his eyes). His hair has enough gel in it to withstand even the fiercest windstorms. He’s put deodorant on three times already and he’s wearing enough body spray to bring tears to his mother’s eyes. Gotta smell good, just in case things go according to plan.
Today is going to be the day he declares his feelings to Sebastian. He’s ready.
“Sam!” Jodi calls from the living room, “Are you ready to head to the fair?”
“Just a sec!” Sam yells back, picking up his deodorant stick and rucking up his shirt. Fourth time’s the charm, right? Just in case.
---
The fair is already in full swing when they arrive. Tourists crowd the main square, doubling Pelican Town’s population for the day. All the usual attractions are there – the farm animals, the creepy fortune teller, the weirdly muscular guy with the strength tester that is definitely rigged, the grumpy looking fisherman, the cranky woman in the prize exchange tent. And one new attraction – the stage.
It was Emily’s idea, of course. Something new for the tourists, and an opportunity for the town’s people to show off some of their talents. Elliott is going to do a poetry reading, Maru is going to demo one of her new robots, and Emily has some kind of mystery show planned.
Sam had signed up the moment that it was announced, of course. Sebastian deserves something big, and this is the perfect opportunity to show him just how much Sam cares.
Just looking at the stage has already got his heart pounding faster. Sam still gets stage fright at the best of times, and the idea of standing up there with the whole town - and, more importantly, Sebastian - watching makes his stomach flip. Abigail had once suggested he imagine the crowd in their underwear to help ease his nerves. Normally it worked fine, because Sebastian was usually on stage with him. Today it would also include imagining Sebastian in his underwear, and that thought made Sam at least ten times more nervous.
Sebastian has promised to meet him near the grange displays this year, and Sam heads over there, dodging tourists as he goes. He’s thankful for his height – it’s a bit uncomfortable, being in such a big crowd, and he imagines it would be a lot more uncomfortable if he couldn’t see over everyone’s head.
Speaking of short people – there’s Sebastian, standing near Marnie’s grange display and scowling. It must be awfully warm in that black hoodie.
He has to respect Sebastian’s dedication to aesthetic, at least. Sebastian wears the black hoodie so often Sam is barely able to picture him without it. (He still is capable of picturing Sebastian without the hoodie, though. He frequently does, usually late at night.)
“Hey man.” Sebastian nods at him as he approaches. Cool and collected as always. Yoba, Sebastian is so cool. How does he manage it? Sam tries to be cool but he can only manage lukewarm at best.
“Hey dude!” Sam nods back. It’s not as suave a nod as Sebastian’s, but he tries. “How’s the fair so far?”
“Meh.” Sebastian shrugs. “I’m looking forward to the show today.” He nods at the stage. “Gonna be funny to see what people do.”
“Yeah...” Sam hopes Sebastian doesn’t consider his act ‘funny’ when he goes up today.
“Are you going to perform anything?” Sebastian seems to have read his mind. Hopefully just figuratively, because if Sebastian could read minds he would know how often Sam imagines him without the hoodie.
Sam swallows. “Er, yeah. Just a song.”
“Me too. A song.” Does Sebastian look nervous too? No, he must be imagining it.
“Cool.” Sam doesn’t ask which song, because then Sebastian might ask him which song he’s playing, and he means for it to be a surprise. Instead, he opts to subtly change the subject. “Wanna go eat some burgers?”
“Yeah, let’s go eat some burgers. Wait,” Sebastian frowns. “Is that Lewis heading our way? Did you do something?”
“No!” Sam glances over his shoulder. Lewis looks mad. Never a good sign. “Did you?”
“No. Let’s go before he catches up, though, just in case I did do something and forgot about it.”
“Good idea.” There’s a crowd of tourists between them and the stairs to where Gus is grilling, and Sam considers grabbing Sebastian’s hand to help guide him through. Just a friendly gesture, right?
He’s almost musters up the courage to reach for Sebastian when he realizes how sweaty his palms are. Ugh. Maybe not.
They make it halfway up the stairs before Lewis catches them, now looking angry and out of breath. It’s not an improvement. “Boys!”
“That’s just insulting,” Sebastian mutters, but he turns around anyways. “Can we help you, Lewis?”
“Think you’re so sneaky, don’t you?” Lewis spits angrily. Literally spits; what is with old men and getting spittle everywhere when they talk? It’s a big day and Sam does not need saliva on his immaculate jean jacket, thank you.
“Um, no?” Sam replies. It’s the truth. Sebastian has told him multiple times that stealth is not his area of strength. That’s why Sebastian will never let him play a rogue again in Solarian.
“I know you two!” Lewis waves a finger accusingly at them.
Sebastian sighs. “Why don’t you tell us what we did, Lewis?”
“Think I’m too thick to catch on to your pranks today, eh?” Lewis continues to shake his finger. He’s clearly on a roll. “Think you can get away with ruining Stardew Valley’s first ever live show by both playing the same song, eh?”
“Same… song?” Sam repeats, confused, then stares at Sebastian, his eyes widening in shock.
“Did you…?”
“Did you?!”
Lewis brandishes a set list at them. “Think you’re so smart, eh? Not too smart for me!”
There’s Sam’s name and the song, written at the 6:15 timeslot. And there’s Sebastian’s name, immediately after it, with… the exact same song.
“Oh, Yoba,” Sam whispers, at the exact same time as Sebastian says, “Oh, shit.”
“Ha! Got you,” Lewis says smugly. “Lucky for Pelican Town, I caught on to your trick and I’ve given the first timeslot to the farmer. Only one of you gets to play today.”
He flounces triumphantly away, leaving Sam and Sebastian staring at each other.
“I didn’t know you liked that song,” Sebastian says, after a long moment of silence.
“I… didn’t know you liked it either.”
Damn it! Damn Lewis. Now how is he going to tell Sebastian that he likes him? Today was going to be the day. Now it’s all ruined, and he’s going to have to think up a new strategy.
“Uh, hey.” Sebastian looks up at him. “Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“I was gonna… ugh. There’s so many things that I would like… ugh. I don’t know how to say this.” Sebastian sighs.
“What’s wrong, Seb?”
Sebastian doesn’t reply. Instead, he pulls Sam down by the collar and kisses him.
It’s not exactly the first kiss Sam’s been dreaming of - in his dreams, they never bumped their foreheads together. It’s still a first kiss, though, and after he gets over his shock he reaches for Sebastian and they share a much less painful second kiss. And then a third one. And then he remembers they’re still standing in the middle of the Stardew Valley Fair and his parents are definitely here somewhere, and it’s probably better that they not see him doing this.
They break apart and stare at each other again, breathless, until Sebastian squirms a bit and says, “Anyways… that’s all I wanted to say.”
Sam blinks at him. “You didn’t actually say anything, though.”
Sebastian rolls his eyes. “The kiss, dummy. I meant the kiss. You know, to tell you that I like you? I was going to play the song for you on the stage to tell you – I know you like big gestures like that – but then Lewis ruined it and I figured, hey, maybe you picked the same song for the same reason.”
“Oh. Oh!” Well, it’s not quite the scene Sam had planned, but this seems as good a time to confess his feelings as he’s going to get. “Seb… I like you too. I really like you.”
Sebastian kisses him again. “I know.”
---
Lewis is skeptical when they explain they picked the same song by accident, but he’s relaxed enough from the success of the fair and the punch Pam’s spiked that he agrees to their plan for the remaining timeslot.
All in all, it’s probably for the best that Lewis did catch on, Sam figures, as he waits to go on stage with Sebastian. The farmer’s tapdancing act is very good, and it would have been pretty awkward to have the same song be played twice in a row. And now they get to play it together. Their song.
The farmer taps off stage to thunderous applause, and Sam and Sebastian step up, carrying guitar and keyboard. Sam smiles nervously at the crowd while Sebastian plugs his keyboard in and tests the microphones, and then they’re side by side, in the blinding lights, ready to go.
“Hey, Pelican Town,” Sam says into the microphone, and is rewarded by a cheer from the crowd. “I’m Sam, and this is my boyfriend Sebastian. Thanks for having us up here tonight.” He picks up his guitar and nods to Sebastian. “Anyways, here’s Wonderwall.”