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“Why do you put so much effort into everything?” Sam is lounging at Y/N’s house. Arms rest behind his head and a leg swings off the porch. When Sam isn’t slacking off, skateboarding, or writing music, he visits her farm. It’s the perfect napping place.
Y/N plucks up and chucks crops into the shipping bin. Tearing open a bag of seeds she starts replanting. “Because it’s a good work out and it’s cool seeing my hard work pay off. I’m making more money than I did in Zuzu. And…I don’t know,” she inhales deeply and smiles at the wilderness. “This place is starting to turn around. The air is fresh and peaceful.” Dusting dirt from her gloves, she walks to a tool chest to grab a watering can. “Want to help?”
“No,” Sam yawned. He burrows further into his baggy jacket. Y/N’s (cat/dog) happily curls up and also starts snoring.
She snorted. “Okay lazy bones. Why am I not surprised?”
“I’m here for emotional support.”
“Uh-huh. Can this emotional support get me some water?”
With a muffled ‘okay’ and a grunt, Sam runs indoors to get Y/N a bottle of water.
Passing by the table he notices some plants, a new rug, and a sofa. The farmhouse is still pretty empty, but it’s got a comfy style to it. He mapped out the house, wondered if she’d mind his instruments, or his skateboards, or other things cluttering her space. Does she have eyes for anyone? Or did she move from the city to live a single life in complete isolation? Would Sam’s erratic, sunburst-like lifestyle clash with hers?
People keep telling Sam he’s a good-for-nothing, or scatterbrained, and a train wreck but he wants to show everybody he’s more than that. That he can be as vital and shimmery as the sun in summer.
“What happened in there? Did you get swarmed by monsters? You were gone for almost an hour.”
“Sorry,” he plops down next to Y/N on the porch. He handed her water and she cracked the lid. “Would a cookie make up for it?”
Y/N laughed and happily bit into the [flavored] cookie, a heavenly gift from sweet old Evelyn. “Yes it would.”
For a few moments they sit in blissful silence. The midday sun is starting to descend under a shadowy line of trees. Sam wished this could last forever. Wheat stalks swing back and forth with some flowers and are painted in gold. The sky is an orange-blue, dappled with peachy clouds.
Sam jumped when he heard his watch alarm ringing. “I forgot! Band meet today.”
“Okay, see you later Sam.”
He waved goodbye, wondering if he’d have time to come back late at night to patrol the farm. Monsters often attack Y/N’s farm and Sam doesn’t want them getting into the house and hurting her.
The energetic speedster almost rams into the front door.
Sebastian stared at his best friend with an amused gleam in his dark eyes. “Didn’t sleep in today, Sam?”
“You’re late. We got a live show in a few weeks.” Abigail said.
“Sorry,” using the house keys, Sam let his friends in.
Instruments are set up and tuned. Sebastian eyed Abigail who gave her boyfriend a subtle nod. Her black lips are pursed in a curious pout.
“You almost always sleep in, Sam. Did you have to go grocery shopping or something?”
“Or were you on a date with a special someone?” She asked.
“Ah no I wasn’t –it was, I just went out for a morning walk,” Sam’s face mirrored a star shard’s gleaming intensity and slapping a palm to his face didn’t help, nor did his fumbling voice. “Can we drop it?”
The two begrudgingly dropped the subject. But they got what they wanted. Sam has a crush on someone. This nugget of info satiated their meddling curiosity for now.
“Should we play a cover or did one of you come up with a song?” Usually the three would pen a draft and shape the rest of it through playing. For the live show they decided to do covers but also create one original song. If they made enough in tips they could finally make an album, which would be great for their band. So far they’ve only released a few singles because they haven’t found their signature style yet.
“How about these?” Sam grabbed a notebook chockful of half-completed, disordered, mostly unintelligible poems confined in jumpy handwriting. Most poems were about food, skateboarding, or garbled nonsense. Sebastian flipped through until he found something that made his brain do a double take.
“These lyrics are dark,” the dark-haired smoker never thought Sam would think up of such morose and depressing songs. At first it started like a hippie dippy love song, Beatles-like even, then it got an eerie tone, but a hypnotic one.
Abigail looked at it over his shoulder and smiled. “Sounds cool! Got a riff for it?”
“Yeah. I feel like it should sound something like,” Sam played a few keys. “That.”
“Love it,” Abigail drummed along adding new dimensions. “Got it. Let’s play!”
Sam, Abigail, and Sebastian walked down from the mountain to Pelican Town. The two goths followed slowly behind Sam and exchanged looks. Sam looks more upbeat than usual –and that’s saying something. He already has the energy of an exploding battery pack.
“He’s never been that excited for anything,” Sebastian whispered to his lover. “Not even pizza.”
“It can’t be for our show today. We’re all nervous! What if we screw up? We’re gonna look like losers.”
Sam’s mind is off to distant places. He’s been staying up late at night and thinking. Thinking about the farmer, about his life, and what he wanted to do.
What does he want in life? Being a world-wide famous musician was a certain goal, but now that kind of dimmed for something much more sentimental.
She makes me feel empyreal. Lighter than air. Freer than floating clouds in clear skies. Sam hummed along, hardly paying attention to the twists and turns of the dirt road. Abigail and Sebastian flanked his sides so he wouldn’t nosedive over a cliff.
If not fame and fortune then Sam pictured a laid-back life. He hadn’t been so worried about his future. Until the farmer moved to Stardew Valley. The rainbow-colored image changes into something new. A peaceful life with a wife and a cozy house, maybe a few laughing kids bobbing and weaving between the tall crops. And if not kids, then more animals. Hell, Sam didn’t care; he just knew he was to be Y/N’s forever other half.
But every dazzling horizon has its dark shadows, its lurking doubts. Sam was nervous it’d all come crashing down. Burst into flames; turn all his hard work into pale cold ash. He’d stop being lazy and throw himself into giving life his all if he could be with Y/N in the end. But there are other, more serious threats taunting Sam.
His friends. The townspeople. Jealousy’s white-hot blade cleaves him in two whenever he hears about Y/N spending time with them. Smelting metals to help Sebastian repair his bike, stargazing with Maru and her telescope, drinking beers at the pond with Shane, helping Emily design new fashion, and playing gridball with Alex at the beach. Who wouldn’t fall for Sebastian and his cool motorcycle and musky cigarette scent? Or Abigail’s adventurous personality and bewitching laugh? Or Maru’s in-depth smarts, she has plenty of stuff to talk about. Space facts. Scientific discoveries. Robots.
I’m a nobody.
They enter Gus’ saloon and start setting up on stage. Sam’s heart hammers against his ribcage. Everything else goes numb. He mechanically circles the stage and vaguely recalls the first song, merely by muscle memory.
I don’t have a cool car or motorcycle, I don’t have chiseled muscles, and I don’t have any award-winning theories.
“Everything’s set,” Abigail yawned and stretched. “Gus better give us a good meal on the house for this. I’m starving!”
Familiar faces blur into blank silhouettes. Murmurings are just a weak wave of white noise crashing by Sam’s ears. The room is spinning and his body feels too light.
Abigail starts drumming. Sebastian calmly strolls in with his guitar. Sam’s breath hitches in his throat, scratchy and painful.
People stare silently back, blinking, waiting for Sam to sing.
The two keep repeating the starting rhythm, giving Sam a look asking him to start singing right now so we don’t fall flat on our faces, please.
[Color] eyes and [color] hair stick out from the crowd. Y/N, a smiling beacon to his ship stuck in a storm, is pulled in by her light. Sam is hurled back into the here and now. He plays the keys and gives the crowd his best dazzling smile. I don’t need to be the best; I just need to be there for her. I’m a nobody but she makes me feel like a somebody. More than a somebody. She makes me feel-
“This song is called Empyreal. I wrote it for a special someone.” Can you hear me, Y/N? I’m putting my heart and soul into this for you. For us.
And Sam isn’t going to let anybody steal his future away from him.
The applause died down. After putting away equipment and clearing the stage, Emily turned on the old jukebox and served dishes. Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian are packing up when Sebastian says, “Go on. I’ll finish packing. Order for us.”
Sam looked up with surprise and nodded.
Sebastian lit a cigarette and took a long drag. His mouth and eyebrows are creased in thoughtful silence. Abigail looks restless and she runs her fingers through purple locks. Her green-blue eyes are aglow and her deep mascara adds to her surreal gaze.
“I think Sam has a darling, Seb.”
A slight smile cracks his expressionlessness. “I think so too. Do you know who it is?”
“The farmer.”
Abigail clasps her hands together and sighed. “Isn’t it romantic?”
Sebastian’s face scrunched. He loved Abigail but he isn’t a huge fan of romance. “Until he screws it up. Sam’s a great guy but he always ends up fumbling something.”
“We have to help him!”
“I know, I know. Like I’d let my best friend lose his darling. What’re we gonna do? Should I get my knife?”
“No, no. I’ve got a better idea.”
She kissed Sebastian and did a fist pump. “I can see it now! Operation Get Sam His Darling is a go! All four of us are going to be best friends forever! And you can even be Sam’s best man at the wedding.”
The dark-haired man chuckled and followed his girlfriend back to the bar. The night isn’t over and there’s always time to spill some blood if the first plan is a failure.
Y/N and Sam sit at a booth, discussing everyday things. She had ordered them a pizza. Sam’s already five slices in and a cola down. Being this close to her makes the rest of the world melt away. He nervously wrenching his jacket –and Yoba, he felt like he was going to barf. The food only made it worse.
Just ask her on a date. C’mon Sam. Are you going to let your self-doubt destroy your future with her? Another person might come along and-
“Sam, are you okay?”
“I want to tell you something!”
Y/N jumped from the quick volume shift. “What?”
Sam smiled nervously and felt all the words he wanted to say break from a line into a tousled lump in his throat. “You make me feel all fuzzy and light inside. Like I’m on a mountaintop and seeing the seascape. I’d…do you want to-”
“Y/N, Sam!” Abigail lunges towards them and slides into the booth. Sebastian followed at a calmer pace and takes a seat next to Sam.
“I need help! I lost my signed copies of Vampire Kisses books in the woods. Can you help me look for them?”
Y/N smiled. “Sure, Abby.”
Sam sighed. Y/N’s so sweet and kind, she’d never leave a person hanging. But this time he wishes she would’ve.
“Sorry Sam. You can tell me later. Bye guys.”
The golden-haired man collapsed miserably. He’s lost to the table, staring at the wooden grain forlornly.
“Are you really going to give up on her so easily?” Sebastian asked.
Sam’s confused gaze slowly swerves to his friend, who wears a deadly smile.
“Don’t give me that look, Sam. I know how much you like Y/N. Abigail and I are here to help.”
Sam’s eyes gleam.
“C’mon, let’s go for a walk.”
“A walk? But-”
Sebastian grabs his arm and pulls Sam with him out of Gus’ Saloon. A sputtering Sam quickly became quiet with attentive intensity. He nodded fiercely to Sebastian and Abigail’s plan.
“No, I don’t want to lose her.” Sam’s eyes shine with an eerie light. An angry glint. His grip on Sebastian’s arm was a level under bone-breaking. “She’s the only person for me. Everything about her, her smile, her [hobby], and the way she laughs-”
“Then let’s go.”
Purple fog. It veils Y/N’s vision. She remembers searching for Abigail’s lost books in the woods all night until the moon reached the highest point in the sky. Then she must’ve collapsed. The morning light stabs her eyeballs, makes them water, and she squints to try and observe her surroundings.
She’s home. Same old creaky floorboards, freshly applied wallpaper, drafty windows, and the call of chickens and cows. But she isn’t under comfy blanket covers. With a pang of terror, Y/N realizes that she’s tied to a chair. And her limbs are stiff, tired, aching.
With a grunt she tries to move…and it’s unsuccessful. She tips over and lands face first at a painful angle. Now her jaw is alight with stinging pain. Great.
[Color] eyes look up sideways at the front door when she hears frantic footsteps climbing up to the porch. Sam runs in with a worried expression. He runs over to help her up. Dazed and stunned, Y/N watches as Sam darts around the house looking for a med kit. Every sound is echo-y and her vision is blurred.
The slap of a cool patch and fiery antiseptic sharpens her senses. “Good, you’re awake. Abigail’s spell will wear off soon, I promise. You’re going to be kind of sloshy-minded for a while. A few hours at most.” Sam brushed [color] hair from Y/N’s face, smiling sweetly, like he had won the lottery. “But at least I get to take care of you.”
“Whahhaas goooon on?”
His smile faltered. Why couldn’t he live in this moment a little longer? “I…uh…where should I start? You know, I think I had a feeling we’d be together from the very beginning. There’s just something special between us. And I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
Sam paused his pacing back and forth to lovingly stare into warm [color] eyes. “You got me thinking about a lot. About what I really want to do with my life. I don’t want to lose you, so I thought I’d move in. I can make music, you can farm, and we’ll live a happy life together. It’ll be,” Sam laughed and waved his arms. “Empyreal!”
Anger’s serrated blade tears through the tenacious fog in Y/N’s mind. Her voice rings with such venom and ice that Sam visibly flinched. “This is insane, Sam. Let me go. Now.”
“It’s not insane. And I’m not letting you go. Not until you love me too.”
Sensing the subtle crackling, dangerous tense energy in the room, Y/N decided to clamp their jaw shut.
“And don’t think about running away,” Sam’s voice sounds hollow. “You’ll get cursed –and Abigail is the only one who can lift them. She and Seb made markers around the farm so if you need anything, I’ll go get it, okay?”
Y/N nodded absently and Sam returned to his animated self again. “Great! I want to be a supportive boyfriend, so I’ll give it my all to make this work. It’s worth it if it means I can be with you. Are you hungry? I can make us breakfast.”
She doesn’t know what’s scarier. That Sam wants to work, that he’s trying to cook, or that she has no easy way of running and getting help.
“Say ‘aaahhh’,” Sam is holding a fork full of fluffy pancakes up. He’s always wanted to do cute couple things with his lover and now he can! But Y/N is making things difficult. “C’mon. You love pancakes. And I made them for you.”
Begrudgingly, Y/N let Sam feed her. It’d be a nice moment to look back on in their elderly years if not for the circumstances.
She wants her freedom, so she’ll do want Sam wants for now.
“How are they?”
“Tasty.” Y/N fakes a smile.
“Yes! Things are going well.” He laughed, took a few bites, and sighed. His eyes glazed over tearfully. “Abby and Seb will be here later and then we can all go out on a picnic. How does that sound?” Sam doesn’t wait for her to respond. “You know, I was jealous of them.” His grip on the knife turned his knuckles white. A violent gleam briefly paints Sam’s eyes as he talks. “I thought you’d fall for them, or someone else, and not me. But they helped me. Isn’t that great? I don’t know what I would’ve done without Abby or Seb.”
And Y/N doesn’t want to find out. But she can probably guess there’d be a lot more blood.
“So I want to thank them somehow. Got any ideas?”
She nodded.
Sam smiled and his body is no longer tense, now going slack. Y/N doesn’t want to know what he’d do with that knife. What other uses it’d have besides being in a jam jar, peanut butter, cutting butter or food. “Let’s make them a gift before going to that picnic. I want us all to have a good day.”