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Sebastian lets out a contented sigh as he presses his head back against the hard, rough bark of the tree he was sitting against.
This was his favourite spot — or at least, one of his favourite spots — and he let the sounds of the late-night mountain lake wash over him.
It was the perfect night. The moon was full, washing everything in a bright glow. Countless stars sparkled against the darkened sky. He listened to the slow, rhythmic trill from a few persistent insects; the rustling of leaves in the light, early-fall breeze; the occasional, scattered peeps, chirps, and croaks of different frogs that were still out.
He's not entirely sure how long he has been sitting here. He had finally finished a contract that he had been working on for over a week, submitting it to the client before dragging himself up the mountain to relax in the surroundings of the lake.
"Hey!"
Sebastian's pretty sure his heart stops beating for a few seconds as he jumps, head snapping towards the voice. "Fucking Yoba, Sam!"
Sam gives him an amused lopsided smile. "Dude, you knew I was coming up here! We meet up here every Sunday night!"
"Yeah, well, next time, shuffle your feet in the dirt or something. Fuck!" Sebastian inhales slow and deep, trying to calm his racing heartbeat.
Without a comment, Sam settles down beside him, pressing a kiss to Sebastian's lips before grabbing the travel mug that was sitting on the ground between them and taking a sip.
Then he immediately makes a face, sticking his tongue out with an, "Ugh, gross"!
Sebastian chuckles. The man never learns. "Since when do you like black coffee?"
"Never." Sam's nose is still scrunched up. "How long have you been drinking that? It's freezing!"
"I think I made it…" Sebastian's lips twist as he tries to remember. It was why he always used the travel mug instead of a regular one. Kept the coffee hot for longer. So, if it had gone cold…
"If you can't remember, it might time for a fresh one." Sam shakes his head. "Or water, actually." Hilarious suggestion coming from Sam, Sebastian thought. He couldn't remember ever seeing the man drink water. And they've been best friends since they were kids.
Sebastian locks eyes with him, bringing the mug up to his lips and taking a swig. It earns him another blegh from Sam.
"How was babysitting the brother and Jas?"
Sam leans against him, shoulders pressed together. "Fine. They're easy. Set them free outside and they're looking for snails and crawdads and frogs…"
Sebastian's head snaps towards him at that and his heart sinks. Frogs?
Sam doesn't even hide his amused smile. "Don't worry, baby, they didn't catch any." He pats Sebastian's thigh in what Seb assumes is a reassuring way but he can only think about the last time they had tried to find frogs. The poor thing they found had ended up tangled in their net and Sebastian had to nurse him back to health. It couldn't be released back into the wild, so Sebastian had built him a terrarium to live in. "They did find one, though, but they didn't catch it. It was making a weird noise, kinda like—"
A startled, high-toned cry sounds from the edge of the water a little further up from them, near the wooden bridge that leads to the mines.
Sebastian was on his feet in an instant, moving toward the noise.
"What are you doing? What was that sound?" He hears Sam ask close behind him, obviously getting on his feet at the same time Sebastian had and following him.
"That sounded like a hurt frog!" he says over his shoulder, not slowing until he was at the spot he thinks the sound came from.
He pauses, standing still as he listened. He can feel the warmth coming from Sam as he stood close, still as a statue, which was quite impressive for the man. It seems like they wait forever until—
"What are we waiting for?" Sam whispers into his ear, startling Sebastian and sending a chill down his spin.
Sebastian doesn't even need to answer him when there's another cry. He zones into it, slowly approaching a bush just a few feet away from them and crouching down.
"I think it's a green frog," he whispers to Sam, trying to peer through the branches.
Sam leans closer. "What's wrong with it?"
"I won't know until I catch it." Sebastian shrugs.
"You're going to catch it?"
"We're going to catch it." Sebastian turns towards him with a half smile on his face, getting to his feet.
Sam scrambles to his own. "We are?" Sebastian lets out a low, frustrated growl. "Okay, okay, don't gotta be dramatic. How do we do this?"
Crossing his arms, staring at the bush, Sebastian contemplates for a moment. "Go over to the bush and try to get him to come towards me. I'll catch him."
"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"
"I dunno. Shake the bush so it jumps away from you and towards me?"
The look Sam gives him screams he's fairly certain that there is no way this will actually work but he quietly and obediently moves to a spot, hands hovering over the branches ready to do whatever the fuck he was planning on Sebastian's signal.
"Okay, now!"
Sam shakes the branches of the bush, stomping his feet to get the frog to jump away from him. Surprisingly, it works and the frog moves directly towards Sebastian. Only needing to scramble a little, Sebastian manages to grab it.
"Can you turn your flashlight on and come here?" he asks Sam.
Moving quickly beside Sebastian, Sam hovers his phone as Seb carefully inspects the frog. It was, as he suspected, a green frog. The poor little guy had one of it's feet mangled.
Sam sighs. "You're taking that home to take care of, aren't you?" There was no sign of frustration or annoyance in Sam's tone, just patient acceptance.
And of course he was. Sebastian wasn't about to leave an injured frog out in the wild to be caught by a racoon or crow or something. "He's hurt!"
Sam wraps his arms around Sebastian's waist, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to his temple. "So, we have a new son? Another new son?" Sam puts his chin on Sebastian's shoulder to look at the frog.
"We have to nurse him back to health, Sam! And look at his foot! He can't go back into the wild right now, he's easy prey!"
"Uh huh… Well, hopefully the other two get along with him. David the Third still tries to murder Wumbus all the time." He giggles as he always did at the names that Abigail and Vincent had bestowed on the frogs currently living in the terrarium.
Sebastian frowns. Yeah, he was working on that. "It'll be better once we get them into their own terrariums. And we can keep this one in our bedroom until he can—"
"Go into a terrarium because he's our new pet?" Sebastian can feel Sam shaking with silent laughter against him. "Ya know, one more frog after him and you'll officially be a crazy frog lady."
Sebastian groans, pulling out of Sam's arms. "That's crazy cat lady. Not frogs. There's no limit for these!" he says, not looking back as he begins his trek to their cabin in Cindersap Forest.