Chapter Text
Sebastian woke as he always did, alone in the basement of the house his mother built by hand. There were no windows in Sebastian’s bedroom, and he never really could tell if it was morning or if it was late afternoon, and he was going to hear his step-dad go on about how it’s not good for him to sleep for so long. Maybe Sebastian wouldn’t sleep so long if he had a bedroom upstairs like he was supposed to, if his step-dad hadn’t convinced his mom to let him take the room so he could have a lab for his science, something Maru, Sebastian’s half-sister, now follows him in.
Why couldn’t they have taken the basement for a lab? Why did Sebastian have to be banished to the basement, like Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or even Sloth from The Goonies.
Sebastian decided he needed to get out of bed before this line of thinking went any further.
He got up with a groan, stretching his arms up above his head, interlocking his fingers, and pushing upwards until he felt them crack. Lowering his hands, he pulled his shirt back down and headed over to his dresser to get dressed for the day. He stepped over a book on the floor. He’d been meaning to pick it up for days, but that didn’t seem to be happening yet.
Zipping up his pants and pulling his hoodie over his head, he remembered Sam was supposed to be coming over. Sam was Sebastian’s best friend, and they had been pretty close ever since Sam and his family moved to Pelican Town from the city. Sebastian couldn’t imagine why anyone would choose to live here, but that had been Ms. Jodi’s choice, not Sam’s.
Sebastian pushed open the door to his room and headed up the stairs to the main floor of the house. He hesitated for a second before he pushed the door open, closing it behind him.
“Good morning, Sebby,” Sebastian’s mother, Robin, smiled at him from her place behind the counter of her little shop in the main room of the house. She was leaning against the countertop, and from where she stood, she had a clear view of the basement door and Sebastian. “I was wonderin’ when I’d see you.”
Sebastian smiled a little back at her. “Morning, mama.”
He headed over to her, and they talked like they did every morning. She asked how he slept, he said good. She asked if he was hungry, he said a little. She told him to get something from the kitchen, he said he would.
The front door to their house pushed open, pausing the conversation as Sebastian and Robin both looked at the door. Mayor Lewis stepped into the house with a smile.
“Good morning, Robin! Sebastian,” He said as he stepped up to the counter.
The Mayor always said he liked to check in on the local businesses, but he never bought anything, so Sebastian didn’t really understand how it helped at all. It was probably more polite than walking in and having the first thing out of your mouth be ‘business tax day! Give me your money, and I’ll do something totally for the town with it!’
Sebastian excused himself and headed for the kitchen.
When he entered the kitchen, Sebastian lifted his head and paused in the doorway. It wasn’t a very big kitchen, and it certainly wasn’t big enough for him to miss Maru and Demetrius standing near the stove. Maru turned when she heard him come in. She gave him a little smile and a wave. Demetrius gave a glance but said nothing.
“Hey Sebastian,” Maru said. “Dad and I are making breakfast. Do you want any?”
“I’m not hungry,” Sebastian replied without thinking. Stepping over to the coffee maker, he grabbed his favorite mug and began to make himself some coffee. “Maybe another time.”
“Oh, yeah, okay,” Maru nodded to herself, turning back to her dad as cooking resumed.
Sebastian had a strained relationship with Demetrius and Maru. He hadn’t exactly been happy to hear his mom was getting remarried, and it didn’t get any better when Demetrius never bothered to say a word to him unless it was to try to correct how he was doing something. Maru, to give her credit, wasn’t as bad as Demetrius was; she tried sometimes. Sebastian knew he wasn’t exactly the easiest to get along with, but he couldn’t help but notice how differently she was treated compared to him.
Sebastian quickly left the kitchen. They had such a wonderful way of making him feel so unwelcome in his own home. If it weren’t for his mom, he probably would've run away to the city as soon as he was done with high school. He still thought about that dream sometimes.
Back down in his room, Sebastian grabbed his cigarettes and lighter, shoving them into his pockets. Sam wasn’t supposed to come over until later, but maybe it’d be good if he just headed down to Sam’s house and met him there. Maybe Sebastian could talk him into hanging out somewhere else today.
The Mayor was gone when Sebastian made it back upstairs, and his mom wasn’t at her desk anymore. He could hear their voices coming from the kitchen as they settled down to have breakfast.
“Sebby isn’t coming to breakfast?” Robin asked.
Sebastian paused by the basement door, tilting his head a little to listen.
“He said he wasn’t hungry,” Maru replied.
There was a small pause; Sebastian could almost picture the look on his mom’s face. “That’s weird, he told me he was just a few minutes ago.”
“He probably just changed his mind,” Demetrius replied.
Sebastian was now making the same face his mom probably was. He rolled his eyes and turned, heading outside. The door closed behind him with a soft bang. With an exhale, Sebastian’s breath fogged before his very eyes. Pausing to take a sip from his coffee, he looked around at the winter landscape that surrounded his house up in the mountains. He was pretty happy they were this isolated up here; it was nice with the quiet, he could stand by the lake or up by the train tracks and smoke.
They were halfway through winter, and while they never got a lot of snow in Pelican Town, it was still pretty cold. Cold enough that Sebastian was thankful for his coffee mug keeping his fingers warm as he walked towards town.
Sebastian headed down the stairs that led to the river’s edge so he could walk along it since it practically led down to Sam’s house. The bottom of the stairs were slipperier than he had been expecting, as when he hit the bottom, he felt his feet start to do the cartoon run on ice.
“Shit!” He cursed as he felt himself start to fall.
A strong hand suddenly grabbed his upper arm, yanking him back upright before he could hit the ground. Unfortunately, the coffee mug, Sebastian’s favorite coffee mug, slipped from his hand, spilling coffee all over the snow and breaking as it hit the ice.
Sebastian looked up at the owner of this strong hand that had so easily yanked him back to his feet, and he found a pair of green eyes staring back at him.
Alex and Sebastian weren’t friends.
Sebastian was pretty sure they’d never said a word to one another. Which was mostly because of how different they were; they were practically completely opposites. Alex was the kind of guy who probably would’ve bullied Sebastian in high school, the jock type who seemed to care about sports, his hair, women, and nothing else.
Sebastian steadied himself as Alex let go of him.
“You okay?” Alex asked.
“Yeah,” Sebastian replied, his hand raising to hold where Alex had grabbed him. It hurt a little, but not as much as hitting the ice and spilling hot coffee all over himself would have.
Sebastian looked back down at his broken coffee mug and sighed. He liked that mug…
“Thanks,” Sebastian said, looking back at Alex.
The path wasn’t very wide, and they were clearly trying to go in the direction the other had just come from. Sebastian was pretty sure Alex headed up to the bathhouse to work out most winter days. He had seen him walk past the house some times, or some evenings when Sebastian was smoking by the train tracks, he’d see him leaving.
“No problem,” Alex said.
They stared at one another for a second longer before they stepped around one another in a weird circle. Sebastian turned to walk away first, but Alex spoke again before he could.
“Careful, I think it’s a little slippery ‘round here.”
Sebastian chuckled despite himself, lightly shaking his head in embarrassment. His eyes landed back on his broken mug in pieces on the ground. He decided to leave it there; he didn’t want to have to kneel in the snow and collect all the little glass pieces in front of Alex.
Alex said nothing about it, so Sebastian headed back on his way down the river towards Sam’s house.
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“You almost fell in front of Alex?” Sam repeated for what had to be the fifth time.
Sebastian huffed in annoyance. “Dude, will you shut up about it!”
Sam was sitting on the floor of his bedroom, his back pressed against the footboard of his bed. In his arms was his red guitar, although his focus was entirely on Sebastian. Sebastian was sitting in the chair at Sam’s desk. Sebastian was embarrassed about it enough; he didn’t need Sam to keep talking about it.
“Did he laugh at you?” Sam asked.
Sebastian gave him a look. “If he had this conversation would’ve started with me telling you that I punched him.”
Sam smiles. “Sure, because you’d be waking in here with all kinds of broken shit. You know I’m always on your side, man, but he’d fuck you up, no joke.”
Sebastian didn’t want to admit it, so he didn’t.
When the silence stretched on, Sam changed the subject, pushing himself back up to his feet. Sebastian watched as he excitedly walked over to his drum set and keyboard. “You remember how I’ve always said we should start a band?”
Sebastian nodded.
“Well, I was talkin' to the farmer, right? Like a week or two ago, I don’t remember, but that’s really not the point,” Sam set the guitar down onto its stand before he turned back to Sebastian with a smile as he clapped his hands together. “I was tellin’ them about it, and I ended up askin’ them if we did, what kind of music should we play since I play guitar and you play the keyboard.”
“And?”
“And they said we should play some experimental noise rock. I said that was actually a pretty good idea because I know that’s the stuff you listen to. We’d need to find someone for the drums, but what do you think, man? We could finally do the music thing!”
“I mean, I’m not against it. It sounds like fun, plus it gets me out of the house…” Sebastian shrugged. “Yeah, okay. Why not?”
Sam was beyond excited, already trying to think of songs they could cover and what their first real gig could be like. Sebastian smiled at the enthusiasm.
“Don’t you think we should probably find someone to play the drums first before we think about music?” Sebastian said.
Sam paused like he hadn’t considered this.
“I mean, like we need to know their skill level, right?” Sebastian explained. “We might have to all learn for a while first.”
“Okay, yeah. Fair point.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Okay then, I’ll ask around and see if anyone’s interested. Maybe I’ll put a little ad on Pierre’s board thing,” Sam continued.
Sebastian and Sam spent the rest of the day talking about everything and nothing at all. Video games, their Solarion Chronicles campaign, music, parents, and siblings. Hours passed, and they both ended up on the floor sitting next to each other as they talked.
“Man, I gotta ask you somethin’,” Sam said suddenly, looking over at Sebastian.
“What?” Sebastian asked. He had been playing with the string of his hoodie, but he paused when he noticed how uncharacteristically serious Sam seemed.
“…you ever think about girls?” Sam asked.
Sebastian blinked at him.
“Don’t give me that, I see you and Abigail.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Have you told her that?”
Sebastian was quiet.
“Exactly,” Sam said. “But really, man, I’m askin’ cuz of Penny.”
“Penny?” Sebastian asked. He wasn’t entirely surprised. Sam had never exactly been subtle about anything, ever. Sebastian had seen them sometimes. Penny would be sitting on the railing of one of the bridges in town, and Sam would be next to her.
“Yeah, man,” Sam smiled. “She’s so sweet and smart, and Vince loves her—”
“I think I heard Vincent say he wanted to marry Penny when he’s older,” Sebastian interrupted.
Sam rolled his eyes, pushing Sebastian’s shoulder away from him a little. “Vince is a kid! He’s practically a baby still. Besides, I call dibs.”
“I don’t think that’s how dibs works.”
“Says who?”
“Me.”
“You’re fucking single, Sebby, you don’t know anything about dibs on people.”
“You’re single too, asshole.”
The pair jumped as there was suddenly a knock on the door. Jodi, Sam’s mom, pushed the door open. Holding a laundry basket on her hip. Sam jumped up and took the basket from her.
“Thanks mom,” Sam said, setting the basket next to his dresser.
“No problem, Sam,” Jodi said. Glancing between the two boys. “And watch your language, will you? I don’t want Vincent talking like that.”
“Sorry, Ms. Jodi,” Sebastian said.
“Yeah, sorry mom.”
“It’s alright, just watch it,” she smiled, pulling the door closed behind her.
Time continued to fly by; somehow, it always had a way of doing that whenever Sebastian hung out with Sam. They might not be the same, but they did like a lot of the same stuff, and Sam had no problem doing most of the talking. Robin had always told Sebastian when he was in school that he just needed to find someone who talked a lot and he’d be fine. He met Sam outside of school, but they still fit together well.
When Ms. Jodi was almost done cooking dinner, Sebastian excused himself. His own mom would probably want him back home soon anyway. After saying his goodbyes, Sebastian began the long, cold walk back through town and up to the mountains and his house. On the way, he could’ve sworn he saw the farmer digging through the trashcan next to the saloon, but deciding it was none of his business, Sebastian kept walking.
He didn’t take the path by the river back to his house; it was far less slippery up here on the main path, which was good. Sebastian was still upset about his mug. Oh well. He’d just have to order another.
Sebastian lingered in front of his house for a moment, looking over to his right. He could see Robin and Demetrius standing by the mountainside, looking down towards town. They were talking about something. Sebastian headed past the house, snow crunching under his feet as he headed up to the train tracks.
Sebastian took a seat on the edge of the train platform, pulling his cigarettes and lighter from his pocket. He exhaled, watching the smoke curl around.
Trains didn't come through the valley very often, and they never stopped here.
Maybe if they did, Sebastian would get on, buy a ticket, and see how far it would take him. Probably much further than his motorcycle would. Sebastian heard a door open and close, and he looked up.
Alex was leaving the bathhouse. He didn't notice Sebastian, and Sebastian said nothing. He just watched him as he went and disappeared into the night.*
There's no way he'd been working out in that bathhouse all day. That sounds exhausting. Then again, there probably is a reason why Alex was so strong, and Sebastian was like a stick.
Sebastian’s hand raised to hold the spot on his arm that Alex had yanked up that morning. It hurt a little when Sebastian pressed on it. Damn.
Sebastian stood, putting out his cigarette before heading back down to his house. Demetrius was in the lab now, and it sounded like Robin was in the kitchen.
Sebastian walked quickly past the lab and towards the kitchen, but he was stopped when Demetrius called out to him.
“You smell like smoke again.”
Sebastian said nothing and just headed into the kitchen.
“Hi, Mama,” he said with a little smile at his mom.
Robin turned to him with a smile. “Hi Sebby, did you have a good day honey?”
“Yeah, I hung out with Sam at Ms. Jodi’s house,” Sebastian said. “I almost fell on some ice this morning, though. Alex grabbed my arm and stopped me from falling but I dropped my mug and it broke.”
“Aw, honey, I'm sorry,” Robin replied, placing a hand on Sebastian's arm. “I'm sure you can get a new one soon.”
Sebastian nodded, watching as his mother finished cooking. He got out the plates and cups before Robin could, or before she could even ask him to. She thanked him with a smile as he helped her set the table.
Sebastian had always liked helping; he could remember being small and helping Robin sand down one of her woodworking projects. Or helping with dinner when he got older.
He felt… better in moments like this. It was so easy to get into a spiral of thinking you're not good enough for anything when half the household treats you like it.
No one took his job seriously; Sebastian was pretty sure they heard that he did something on his computers and assumed it was just a hobby or games. Like Sebastian wouldn't be making six figures if he had chosen to work for some soulless company or gone to college. They would take it more seriously if he had.
He lived in his mom's basement, and he was still into all the emo and alternative shit he discovered when he was in high school. Most people didn't take him seriously. It was stupid because Maru still lived at home, she had a job in town, and no one ever said anything to her about living at home. As if there's anywhere else to live in this town.
Sebastian took his seat at the table when Robin called for Maru and Demetrius to come for dinner. Maru came down from her room and took her usual seat across from Sebastian. She was telling her all about one of her new robot creations. Sebastian listened to them talk as he ate his food.
After a couple of minutes, Robin stood up from the table, excusing herself as she went to check on Demetrius.
He probably hasn't heard her, or was choosing to ignore her because he was almost done with whatever the hell it was he needed a lab for.
There was arguing from down the hall. Maru and Sebastian ate their dinner in an awkward silence.
“… Is work going okay?” Sebastian asked.
Maru looked up and nodded. “Yeah! Y'know, I'd rather be working on my robots all day, but it's an honest job, and Dr. Harvey is nice.”
Sebastian nodded along. “That's good…”
“Yeah,” she replied. “How's your programming stuff going?”
“I've hit a bit of a tough spot, but I'm working on it.”
“Hopefully you figure it out soon!”
“Hopefully.”
They settled into silence again, and Robin and Demetrius finally returned to the kitchen. A heavy silence hung over their kitchen, and Sebastian excused himself as soon as he was done. He headed back down into his room and sat down at the computer.
Sebastian got a good few hours of work in before he decided he needed to go to bed. His eyes hurt from staring at the computer, and it was getting harder and harder to keep them open.
It had long since gone quite upstairs. It was past midnight when Sebastian shut down his computer, took the few steps over to his dresser, pulled his hoodie over his head, and dropped his pants. He kicked off his socks as he settled into bed. Ready to put this day behind him.
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“What do you mean Alex was here?”