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Staring up at the ceiling of his closed in room, he can just barely hear the pitter-patter of rain beating down on the house beyond the basement door. It's loud and heavy, there might even be thunder with how relentless it is. Sebastian doesn't mind, instead, he closes his eyes and takes in the sound of the rain, the world around him going quiet as he focuses on that sound.
That is, until, he hears Demetrius, his step-father, talking to Maru, his step-sister, from the room above him. "Great work, Maru! You're catching on right away. I'm so proud of you. You could really make a career out of your passion for science. Now come over here and look at this…" As the conversation grates on his ears, he takes a deep breath and grabs his phone, slipping on some headphones to listen to music.
It takes away from the sound of the rain, but he can't help himself. He'd rather spend all day down here avoiding those words of praise he'll never get to hear than listen to the soothing downpour outside. Randomizing his playlist, a sad emo song turns on and he's immediately set in the mood for moping in his dark, windowless room.
As a gravelly voice serenades him and slowly drags him deeper into his comfortable mattress to sleep, he does not turn when the door opens in his room, halfway to falling unconscious before feeling a hand touch his shoulder.
"Sebby?" Perking up, he pulls off his headphones and turns to look at you. You look cautious, like you accidentally just startled an animal. Sebastian obviously cannot see how he looks right now, but to your perspective, his eyes are squinted and puffy, like he just woke up from a nap. Rolling over, he rests his head in his hand and yawns, "Yeah? What's up, babe?" You blush slightly at the sound of that name, you're not used to it yet. After giving him the bouquet to seal the deal on your relationship, you've been slowly getting accustomed to Sebastian's new affectionate nicknames for you.
Clearing your throat - and your head - you smile and kneel down to talk to him. "Wanna go foraging with me?" He quirks a brow at that, in this weather? Surely you wouldn't go running around in the rain without an umbrella, right? Giving you a once over, he notices your hair is dripping and sighs. "Babe, it's pouring rain outside and you don't even have an umbrella. What's so important that you gotta forage it anyways?"
"Blackberries!" You say excitedly, and at this point your eyes have turned into dollar signs. He rolls his eyes and takes your arm, dragging you into bed with him. "I think you'd be better right here, actually, where you don't get soaking wet." He brushes off the rain from your hair, cuddling up with you. You shift around and tilt your head back in defiance. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun! You might see a frog~" That sing-song tone takes him, opening one eye to look at you, he chuckles at your excited, kid-like grin and sighs. "…Fine."
"Woo!" You hop out of bed, and he slowly gets up. You look like a kid in a candy shop right now, way too excited to go and pick some blackberries around the valley. He won't say anything about it, though. He thinks it's cute when you get this excited. Plus, it gives him an excuse to get out of his house and away from the reminder of how much of a failure he is in his step-father's eyes.
Leaving without saying a word to his family, they head out into the pouring rain and he pops open his umbrella for the two of you. The sentiment doesn't last long, however, as you bolt straight into the rain anyways and start using your scythe to funnel blackberries into your basket. He stands over you to shelter you from the elements, and after you collect the desired goods, you stand up and show him.
"Look! There's a bunch of tiny ones in there." He smirks, "Doesn't that mean they're unripe?" You pick one up and squeeze it gently to judge its ripeness. "Not necessarily, it can also mean it's perfectly ripe, but it just decided to grow small." Nodding along, he takes a particularly big blackberry from the pile and pops it into his mouth, he shivers at the watery taste. "Ooh, bad one?" Patting his back, he swallows it with a chill running up his spine and sticks his tongue out. "Yuck!" A giggle escapes your lips and you look for another big one, testing it out yourself first by biting half before offering the rest. "Here, this one's sweet."
Skeptical, he takes it from your hand and eats the other half. The pleasant tangy sweetness washes over his tastebuds and he nods. "Okay, now we can continue." Smiling, you walk with him to the next bush, "Oh, does every bush get a tax?"
"Mhm, that's exactly it." He slides his arm around your waist, fiddling with your jacket as you collect your precious berries. "Okay, then I'll give you another blackberry in a second." As you both go bush to bush, you end up finding yourselves in Cindersnap Forest, where the rain comes down particularly hard now. The clouds above you are dark and swirling, it looks like thunder might come along at any moment. He's somewhat worried, but the fear washes away the moment you slip in a puddle, blackberries flying out of your basket. He has to cover his mouth to stifle a laugh - if this were Abigail, he'd not only laugh, but point at her as well. However, since this was you, he's more concerned that you might have actually hurt yourself in your excitement.
"Are you okay?" He laughs out and you giggle along. "Yeah! I didn't notice the mud." Grabbing your hand, he goes to help you up, then thunder suddenly claps and he also slips, now you're both on the floor. You burst out laughing, coughing a little as rainwater goes down your throat in your fit. Patting your back, he feels the wetness of his own from lying on the floor and sits up. "Oh man, we're totally soaked."
You hack up the rest of the rainwater, voice slightly hoarse from coughing as you speak, "Yeah, but that's okay. I'll make us some warm tea if you'd be okay with making a detour back to my farm." Your giggles linger through your rough tone, and a blush creeps in to warm his cheeks as he takes in your smile. There's a little mud all over you, not any different from the normal layer you have every day from working with plants, but now it's on your face. He swipes it away with his thumb, and after looking at you for a long moment, a pang of something like attraction plucks a string on his heart and he leans in slowly. "Nah, it's fine, I'm not afraid of a little mud." Catching his cue, you lean in as well. "Oh? And here I thought you were really particular about your hair."
"What gave you that idea?" He whispers, his breath on your lips. "It's all swooped to one side, surely you're using gel aren't you?" He snickers, "You're hilarious." Eyes widening, you scoot closer, "Is it natural-" but you barely get a word out before he's kissing you, immediately overshadowing that curiosity with love and attention. Breathing into the kiss, you wrap your arms around his back and lie back down on the muddy grass with him. The rain pelts the both of you as you share this romantic, slightly filthy moment, surrounded by the scattered blackberries that tumbled out of your basket when you fell. Breathing in your air, he pants softly when he finally pulls away. "It's really hard to stop kissing you, you know that?" Biting your bottom lip, you hum with a hint of desire in your voice. "Then maybe… don't stop kissing me."
Swallowing thickly, it takes everything in him to hold himself back after your comment. The only thing keeping him from pinning you to this mud-caked floor is the fact that both Leah's and Marnie's places were close by, and he doesn't really want to explain himself when they're inevitably caught.
"Let's go back to your place first, before that. And also gather your blackberries since they flew everywhere." Looking around, you see the war zone that is your hard-earned blackberries and gasp, immediately picking them up one by one as Sebastian helps you, discarding his umbrella in favor of using two hands to get through the hundreds of berries faster.
"I make a good distraction, don't I?" He smiles, tossing a handful of precious cargo back into your basket. "You sure do. I completely forgot that my next paycheck went everywhere." He barks a laugh. "Why are you, of all people, worrying about money?" Shrugging, you cup a mountain of blackberries into your hands and pour them back into containment. "Suppose it's PTSD from a corporate job back in the city. I lived paycheck to paycheck back then, too. Though, farming makes significantly more money." Humming in thought, a reflective silence lingers between the two of you before he speaks.
"Is that city really that bad?" It was a serious question. You knew that Sebastian had been thinking of leaving this valley and moving to the city for the longest time, that is, until you came around. "Not all of it is bad." You shake your head. "I have friends over there, they made the hustle and bustle of city life a little more bearable, but…" sighing deeply, you stop grabbing blackberries for a moment to sit back on your legs.
"City life is just… unbearable sometimes. I mean, I guess the best way to to put it is that… the loneliness you feel there wouldn't be any different than the loneliness you feel in this isolated valley, but there's like this noticeable change when you break into a community like this." You decide to fully sit down on the floor now, looking over at him as you place the stray berries you picked up into your basket. "There's an actual sense of togetherness out here. Like, everyone knows each other and you're not really strangers. Out in the city, there's none of that, no one is like, forced into close proximity to make friends with their new pal who just entered the town. You just exist among a hundred thousand other people and the only time someone cares about you is when you're doing a good job." He furrows his brows, and something similar that Demetrius had told him before rings in his ears, leaving an unpleasant burning sensation in his chest. Rubbing it, the still-pouring rain water dousing him does nothing to cool down the fiery acidity in his throat.
"So, yeah, I dunno. That's my take. The city is a lot more lonely than the valley, in my opinion. I guess you'd have to live there to really understand how much it sucks." Clearing his throat, he nods and sighs. "I guess it's good we have you around, then. Well, I think Leah also came from the city but… I dunno, I never really ask her about it." You nod, Sebastian's frustration towards this valley comes from the isolation he feels back home among his family. You've seen the difference of care between Maru and him, and you can't help but want to make as much money as possible to pull him away from that suffocation. To buy a mermaid pendant and bring him into your space. Not out of pity or any stupid reason like that, but because you can't stand to see him be treated that way. Like he would out in Zuzu City.
After staring at him for a long while, you pluck a blackberry out of your basket and hand it to him. He looks at the blackberry then you quizzically, slowly taking it from between your fingers. "I haven't paid the tax in a while." The joke lightens the conversation, and a dry chuckle escapes him before he hands it back to you. "Take a bite first. I don't want a watery blackberry." Grinning now, you take it back and bite half of it, turning the now bitten fruit back to him. "Here, perfectly sweet." Leaning in slowly, he plucks it from your fingers and pops it into your mouth, judging the sweetness for himself before stealing a short kiss from your lips. "You really know how to pick em, don't you?" Your nose brushes up against his, the rain finally letting up during this quiet moment. "Only when you're around…" you mumble lazily, "…Cause then I have to try harder."
He laughs, then moves to sit next to you. The rain has turned into a sprinkle over the course of this conversation, and he looks up at the little beams of sunlight peaking through the clouds. "Guess the rain's going away." You look up at the sky briefly before turning your attention back to him. His expression looks a little lighter than it did before, and it makes a warm feeling blossom in your chest. You lean back, eyes still glued to him. "Yeah, it is."