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Sam lets out a contented sigh as he lies on the grass, closing his eyes and folding his arms behind his head. The light beams between the leaves above him, shifting gently in the light breeze.
There was only a few days left of summer and he was going to spend every second of it that he could outside. Sure, he liked fall. How the leaves changed. How the morning dew made spider webs look like stars. But he always loved summer the best. Days spent on the beach. Watching hot air balloons drifting over the sea. Less pollen always made his nose really happy, too, so that was a bonus.
"Ah. Photosynthesizing, I see."
Slowly opening one eye, Sam looks up at the figure staring down at him.
"You should try it. Your pale ass would probably thank you for it." He blinks open his other eye but can't help squinting when the sun hits them directly. "Fuck, you're even wearing a fucking hoodie! You won't die if the sun touches you, dude."
Sebastian rolls his eyes but doesn't give a witty or sarcastic response. Odd for him. His mother probably made a comment about it, too, before he left the house. He does lie down perpendicular to Sam, using Sam's stomach as a pillow. The conversation swings from the contract Sebastian has been working on to Sam running around with Vincent and Jas on the beach that morning.
When the conversation lulls, they just lay in comfortable silence. That was the thing with Sebastian. They didn't have to entertain each other. They could just relax, enjoy each other's company.
How long they stay like that, Sam has no idea. Long enough that he can feel himself start to drift off.
So when his phone loudly dings beside his head where he had laid it down, it scares the absolute shit out of him.
With a low groan, he reaches for it then frowns. "Abby's ditching band practice." Sebastian's head tilts up to look at him. "She and Haley are going to get tattoos, apparently."
One of Sebastian's eyebrows raise. "Does Haley have tattoos?"
"Only one that I've seen. The heart on her wrist."
"Fuck," Sebastian says, turning his head back and closing his eyes. "I haven't gotten any new ink in forever."
It had been a few months, if Sam remembers right. Sebastian was slowly working on a patchwork half-sleeve, although there wasn't all that much skin left to add to. Which was fine since Sebastian intended to keep going for a full sleeve. Sam, on the other hand, only had a few: a snail (for his brother), an amethyst and frozen tear (for his best friends), and a guitar. He has been itching for something new but nothing really inspired him.
"What would you get next?" Sam asks.
Sebastian raises his right arm, rolling up the sleeve of his hoodie. He hums, contemplating. "Not sure. I still have some smaller spaces left but I could probably start bigger pieces on my upper arm." With a sigh, he rolls his sleeve back up and drops his arm across his stomach. "You planning any new ones?"
"No," Sam shakes his head, not that Sebastian would be able to see. "I want something, I just can't think of what."
"You could get a plant basking under the sun. It'd basically be you," Sebastian chuckles.
Sam rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, you… should…" He pauses for a brief moment. "You should get a moon, you fucking vampire!"
Sebastian bursts out into a laugh. "Maybe I will!"
"You do that. And I'll get a sun!"
***~~~***
"You got matching couples tattoos?"
"We did!" Abigail says excitedly, sitting on her bed.
It was the next day, all of them hanging out in Abigail's bedroom. She holds out her arm to show off the new ink on her forearm to Sam, who was sitting beside her. A purple amethyst laying on a bed of yellow sunflowers.
"You got matching couples tattoos with your girlfriend of less than two months?" Sebastian repeats, eyebrows raised in disbelief. He sinks further into the bean bag chair Abigail usually had set up in front of her TV.
"Calm down, Mr Judgy. It's just a cute tattoo." Abigail rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Also, are you implying that we'll break up soon and I'll regret getting this?"
Sebastian raises his arms, palms out in defense. "No, I'm not implying anything."
"Well, I think it looks really good," Sam says, taking Abigail's arm again to examine the tattoo closer, ignoring the look Sebastian gives him. "The lines are really crisp. I'll need to go to this guy for my next one."
"Sammy, you have been to him." Abigail blinks at him.
"You went to Keith?" Sebastian asks.
Abigail nods. "Of course! Who else would I go to?" Ahh. Sam wasn't sure why he didn't realize. Keith had done all of his, except the snail. He had done the majority of Sebastian's and all of Abigail's, too. "I'm surprised he had time since we only decided last minute to get them done."
"I need to remember to call him," Sebastian says before shoving some popcorn into his mouth.
Abigail looks at him curiously. "Oh? What are you planning?"
"Apparently, I'm getting a moon."
"Apparently?" Abigail asks at that same time Sam asks, "You're actually getting that?"
Sebastian shrugs. "Why not? I still have spots to cover and it can be small enough to fit."
"Cool!" Abigail exclaims, her own tattoo momentarily forgotten. "What kind of a moon?"
'Crescent. A black, gothic one. I haven't really decided on how it'll look, probably'll let Keith figure that out. He knows my style."
"Oh, come on!" Sam whines, dropping back onto the mattress and draping an arm dramatically over his eyes. "Now I really want one!"
"Weren't you going to get a sun?" Sebastian asks. Sam can't see it but he can hear the smirk in his tone.
Abigail snorts above him. "That fits you perfectly, Mr Ray of Sunshine!" A hand drops onto his head, ruffling up his hair.
"Hey!" he protests, swatting Abigail's hand away and bringing both hands up to attempt to fix his hair. He knew he probably needed a mirror to fix it properly but he was not in the mood to get up. So, with a sigh, he drops his hands. "You know, I just might get it. I can't think of anything else."
Sebastian laughs. "You know you don't have to get a tattoo, right? Especially if you're only going to get one because we are."
Yeah, he did know that. But he was also very aware that once something popped into his head, it would nag at him until he did it. And a sun could be cool.
"You two should get a couples tattoo."
Abigail's tone sounded innocent. But Sam knew better. She didn't even look at either of them when she said it, instead examining her tattoo carefully. But… There. He catches the slight flick of Abigail's eyes towards him and his chest tightens.
"Why would we get a couples tattoo?" Sebastian asks, sounding confused. Because of course he would be confused.
Because he doesn't feel the same way, obviously, Sam reminds himself for the millionth time.
Abigail shrugs her shoulders. "Sun and moon just go together." This time she fully glances at Sam before turning her attention to Sebastian. Sam mentally kicks himself. That's the last fucking time he confesses anything to her. "Classic combo. Maybe a tad stereotypical and overdone but still a classic. And you two are best friends," she adds.
Sebastian hums, like he was contemplating the idea. "Yeah, I'd be down," he says after a moment.
Sam sits up, eyebrows drawn together as he watches his friend suspiciously. "You would?"
"Yeah, why not?" Sebastian shrugs, dropping popcorn into his mouth. "Me and Abs have the obsidian sword but we haven't gotten anything together."
He wasn't entirely surprised that Sebastian would want to get tattoos together. They had talked about it before. But it wasn't a topic that had been brought up for a while. Not since Sebastian and Abigail had gotten theirs and that was a couple years ago.
"Abigail?"
There was barely a pause between the knock on the bedroom door and the voice before Pierre was walking into the room.
"I need you to say goodbye to your friends," he says, eyeing Sam and Sebastian in turn. "I need you to help me with the new fall inventory."
"But Dad, I—"
"Now, please," he says more firmly, before turning on his heel and walking out of the room, leaving the door open. "Have a good night, boys!"
Abigail lets out a frustrated groan. "Would you believe I'm going to be twenty-fucking-three next season? Cause I don't think he does!"
"We know." Sam pulls her into a hug before crawling across her off the bed.
"Have fun with inventory," Sebastian adds, standing up from the bean bag chair and stretching.
"Maybe I'll run away with you two," Abigail mumbles. "Dad wouldn't be able to find me up on the mountain."
It wasn't the first time they had been unceremoniously kicked out but it could very well be the first time Pierre had locked the door of the store behind them as they left, sign in the glass window advising that it was now closed for inventory.
"Fucking asshole," Sebastian mumbles as he flicks his lighter, bringing it up to the cigarette hanging between his lips. "It's not even five. Wanna come back to my place and watch a movie or something?" He doesn't wait for a response before he starts walking around the corner of the store towards the community center.
"Yeah, sure." Sam says, immediately following him.
"If you actually want to get a couples tattoo, we can take a look at some designs when we get back to my place," Sebastian suggests.
The wind blows the smoke from his mouth towards the right, directly at Sam, and Sebastian's hand immediately moves to Sam's waist as he switches to walk on the other side of him. Like he always did when that happened.
Annoyingly, Sam's heart flutters at the touch and he nearly trips onto his face because of a stupid root from the tree in front of the community center. Thankfully, Sebastian puts out a hand to grab his arm and steady him.
"Thanks," he mumbles, giving Sebastian a grateful, sheepish smile. "Umm, yeah we can look at designs. But can we, umm… stop calling them a couples tattoo?"
"Why?" Sebastian looks at him curiously. "Nothing wrong with getting couples tattoos."
Well, no. Of course there wasn't. But… "But we're not a couple."
Sebastian slows his pace, watching at him for a moment, expression unreadable before he continues walking. "I know we're not." There was something in his tone, beyond just the obviousness of it. Something Sam hadn't heard before and couldn't put his finger on.
The rest of the walk up the mountain was quiet and there was a weird tension between them that Sam was fairly certain he was making up in his head. Glances at Sebastian did nothing to ease the feeling, even though there was nothing on his face or in his body language to indicate that he was uncomfortable or that he felt something too.
"Okay, so…" Sebastian says as he walks straight to his computer once they get into his bedroom, dropping into his chair and turning on the lamp on his desk. Sam was right behind him, closing the door. "Do you have a style in mind?"
Sebastian reaches over, rolling the old stool that sat at his old, spare computer beside him and patting it invitingly for Sam.
Taking his seat, Sam shakes his head. "No. I haven't really thought about it, to be honest."
Sebastian hums, clicking the mouse to bring up the search engine he always uses. Clearly, he had been looking up images earlier that day for the moon tattoo he was planning, the tab already open to them.
"This is what I was thinking of going for," he says, pointing at a black, gothic style crescent moon.
Sam leans closer to the monitor to inspect it. It wasn't a perfect crescent shape. The horns were needle sharp but, instead of a crisp sharp outline, black lines bleed out of it like threads, connecting the sides. It was kinda spooky and cool as fuck.
"Dude, that looks fucking sick!"
Sam turns his head to look back at Sebastian and his heart nearly stops realizing that Seb had moved forward too, face inches away from his. For a moment they stare at each other. Then Sebastian's gaze drifts down and — is he staring at my lips? But the look was gone a second later when Seb's gaze moves back to the monitor.
"So, I like this style but it doesn't really suit you, does it?" Sebastian says with a small chuckle. He leans back against his chair, pulling one foot up to the seat and propping an elbow on it. "Abs is right though. Sun and moon is a classic combination, so you're bound to find a style and design that you like. Or we can just ask Keith to do something up."
Sam scoots his stool a little closer in the limited space, pulling the keyboard and mouse more towards him and opens a new tab to search for sun and crescent moon tattoos. And, yeah, they weren't kidding. Countless images pop up, some with the sun and moon separate that are clearly supposed to be couple matching tattoos. Most of them had the designs combined in some fashion.
His eyes settle on a specific one. Black crescent moon with lines of varying lengths to represent sun rays completing the circle between the two points. It was simple. Not something Sebastian would ever have chosen.
Or so he thought…
"Yeah, I like that one, too," Sebastian says, moving closer again to the screen. Close but not to where he had been a couple minutes before. "We can do a combined design like that. Or, if you'd rather have just the sun, we can do a coupl—" Sebastian cuts himself off with a frown. "We can do a matching sun and moon thing."
Sam's stomach twists at Sebastian's correction. "You can call it couple, if you want." Yoba, he knew he was being ridiculous with this. Couple didn't need to mean romantic. It literally also meant two. Two people.
And just like that, that stupid blank expression was back on Sebastian's face. Sam absolutely hated it. Hated that, after all these years, Sebastian could still easily hide what he was thinking, what he was feeling like that. Was he pissed and annoyed that Sam was flip flopping after trying to correct what Sam had literally asked him to?
Sebastian shakes his head with a sigh. "No, it's okay. If it makes you uncomfortable…"
"No, it's not that. It's just… It's not… We're not a couple." He finishes his sentence so awkwardly he forces his gaze back to the screen, staring unseeing at the images.
The silence between them stretches for infinity. Well, of course that's not true. But it does stretch for an uncomfortable amount of time.
But then it's broken.
"Do you want to be?"
The words leave Sebastian's mouth so quietly, Sam wasn't entirely sure he had heard him right. He turns his head towards him, finding Sebastian staring at the screen. The only indication that he may have said something was the faint, light pink colour spreading over his face.
"What?" Sam whispers, heart threatening to beat out of his chest. He only gets a sharp head shake from Sebastian in return. "Seb…" He watches as Sebastian's Adam's apple bobs as he swallows. "Do I want to be…? A couple?"
Sebastian pulls in a deep breath, eyes very slowly sliding over to meet Sam's. Then he gives a tight nod.
The right way to respond to that question would have probably been with words, an actual conversation like an adult. Instead of that, Sam moves on auto pilot, leaning forward those few inches, lips brushing against Sebastian's before fully closing the gap between them.
The kiss lasts all of two seconds before his brain catches up and he pulls back with a gasp, eyes wide as he stares. "Fuck! I'm— I'm so sorry. I didn't— I shouldn't have…"
Confusingly, there was a small smile curling the corner of Sebastian's lips. "Well, I think that answered my question."
Burying his face in his hands, Sam mumbles, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
He waits for Sebastian to tell him he didn't feel the same way. That he didn't mean that he wanted them to be a couple. That he wants Sam to leave. That he didn't want to be friends anymore. That Sam had just destroyed the most important relationship in his life.
There was the low rumble sound of Sebastian's desk chair moving and Sam assumes he was pushing away from him.
But instead, thin fingers wrap around his wrists. "Look at me, Sammy. Please?"
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Sam slowly drops his hands, eyes slowly moving to meet Sebastian's.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Sebastian whispers. "I've been wanting to do that for a while."
Sam's heart somersaults hard. It takes a moment for the words to sink in. "Wait… you have?"
Sebastian nods. "I have," he confirms. One of his hands slides from Sam's wrist to lace their fingers. "So. Does that mean we can call it a couples tattoo now?"
"Oh my fucking Yoba," Sam groans, large grin pulling his lips. Honestly, Sebastian could call it whatever the fuck he wanted as long as... "Can I have another kiss first?"
He nearly melts watching the bright smile spread across Sebastian's face — a rare thing to see, even for Sam — and they both lean forward at the same time.
He hadn't really registered much of the first kiss. It had happened so fast and it had taken a moment for his brain to really catch up to what was happening. He couldn't even say for certain if Sebastian had kissed him back. So this time, he makes sure to memorize everything.
He memorizes the feeling of Sebastian's lips against his, warm and much softer than he expected. The hard contrast of the metal hoops of Seb's spider bite piercing. The feeling of his stubbly chin against Sam's. The small, almost inaudible moan Sebastian lets out when their lips part then meet again.
When they finally break apart, foreheads resting together and soft breath warming the air between them, Sebastian whispers, "So, now can we call it a couples tattoo?"
Sam chuckles. Yoba, he's suck a dork. "Fuck, I love you."
It wasn't until Sebastian pulls away a little, eyes wide, that Sam realizes what he said.
Shit. Should he backtrack? He didn't want to. Now that the words were out there, he didn't want to. But they were just lingering between them. It was way too soon to say shit like that. They hadn't had a conversation about any of this. Sure, the words were true. He was in love with Sebastian but—
"I love you, too."
His spiral burst like a popped balloon, complete with the loud pop. "You do?"
Sebastian tilts his head, giving him a flat look that screams are you being fucking serious? "Of course I do. How could I not?" He presses another kiss to Sam's lips. "I have for a long time, Sammy."
"Really?" Sam's voice is quiet. Sebastian hums his response, nodding. This time, it's Sam who moves forward to kiss him. "Okay. Then we can call it a couples tattoo."
Sebastian's lips pull into a half smile and he rolls his chair back a little, tugging Sam to move the stool closer. Once Sam settles more in front of him, he feels Sebastian snake his arms around his waist, resting his chin on Sam's shoulder.
"Okay. Which design did you like?" Sebastian whispers in his ear.
***~~~***
"So, question?" Sam asks, eyeing the new ink behind the clear film on the forearm of Sebastian's left arm. Sam's own arm was wrapped in the identical spot.
It hadn't taken very long for them each to get their tattoos. Just as Sam had expected, Keith had done an amazing job with them, doing a similar design to the sun and crescent moon one they had both liked a few days prior.
Sebastian hums in response.
"Why your left arm? I thought you wanted to get the tattoo to fill a spot on your sleeve."
Sam had gone first. He knew that the tattoos themselves would be identical but they hadn't discussed placement. Sam had assumed that Sebastian would chose a specific spot on his right arm to go with the rest of his design. So Sam had chosen his left forearm at random, wanting it to be in a spot that he could easily look at. He had been surprised when it was Sebastian's turn and he chose the exact same spot.
Sebastian takes his hand as they make their way back to his motorcycle. "I wanted it by itself, so it doesn't disappear amongst the rest of the mess on this arm. This way I can easily look at it whenever I want."
For a moment Sam can only stare. Brain completely blanking on how to respond to that. So, instead, he tugs their joined hands, pulling Sebastian closer to kiss him.
"I love you," he says when they break apart.
Happily, it earns him a large grin from Sebastian. "I love you, too," he whispers before pressing another kiss to Sam's lips.
"So, what should we get next?" Sam asks.
Sebastian laughs. "Already want another one?"
"I do! Plus, it'll help fill your sleeve." Sam pauses, twisting his lips in thought.
"Frog?" Sebastian suggests.
"Fuck yes!" Then an idea pops into his head. "Frog riding a skateboard!"