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Sebastian wasn't quite sure why he woke up at first.
The clock at the end of his bed proclaimed it to be 10:24am, an hour at which Sebastian couldn't recall the last time he was awake for. He'd watched the sun rise that morning over his last cigarette of the day, taken out by the lake side. Dark gray clouds were rolling in from the west, racing across the sky to hide the emerging light. Sebastian could hear the pitter of rain on the ground now from his basement room.
Just as he was about to close his eyes once more, Sebastian's phone began to ring and he realized what had brought him out of his unconscious state.
He slapped around for it, groggy eyed and clumsy. He didn't even look at the too-bright screen before he answered.
"What?" he groaned into the line. There were a precious few people who would be calling him at all, and he already had a reasonable idea of who it would be.
"Dude, thank Yoba," Sam's voice said, verifying Sebastian's suspicions. "I was starting to get worried that you weren't gonna pick up. Seb, I really need your help. Like, now."
To his surprise, Sam sounded genuinely alarmed. Sebastian forced his eyes open the rest of the way, going so far as to sit up in bed.
"What happened?" he demanded. Instantly, images of tragedy, misfortune, and other bodily injury began to loop in his head. News from overseas. Imminent death and destruction, headed their way. Something real, something serious.
"It's a long story. I'll explain the whole thing when you get down here, okay? But just, hurry. Please."
And then the line went dead before Sebastian could beg for more details, for anything to quell the spiking anxiety in his gut.
"Shit," he cursed. "Shit."
He must have set a record with how fast he was up and out of bed, pulling on the first clothes he laid his hands on. Yesterday's jeans, the hoodie on the back of his chair overtop of the shirt he'd slept in, and another jacket to top it all off. A quick swipe of deodorant, a splash of water on his face, the world's fastest teeth brushing, and then he was shoving his feet into his boots and was clomping up the stairs.
The house was unusually quiet, which only added to Sebastian's mounting dread. Maru had left for the new college semester only two weeks prior, but Demetrius had already taken the opportunity to drive up to visit her. He'd cited his monthly trip into his research team's lab as his reason, but Sebastian saw it for what it was. Robin wasn't in either, but a quick glance at the calendar she kept in her workshop declared that she was out in Grampleton for a job today.
It was a steady rain outside. No thunder, just a good soaking. It had already been raining for some time, the mud puddles splashing and squishing heartily beneath his boots as he hurried down the mountain and tried not to slip. He flipped his hoods up to keep the worst of the rain off and hunched his shoulders against the deluge.
Sam hadn't told him where to go, but he assumed he'd either a) find the calamity himself in the center of town, or b) just go to Sam's house. When he saw that the town center was empty, he automatically angled himself towards 1 Willow Lane. He didn't bother knocking, but did carefully take his muddy boots and jacket off at the door.
World-ending tragedy or not, he knew how Jodi got.
Though, he remembered too late, Jodi was also out of town this week. She, Leah, Caroline, Emily, and Marnie were out on a girls' trip to visit Emily's fiancée, Sam had told him, ahead of their upcoming wedding.
Sebastian didn't really care about such things, of course, but people always seemed to be filling him anyway. He'd spent his entire life trying to get them to stop. He hadn't yet been successful.
Sam, Vincent, and Jas were sitting in the living room. Sam was up and pacing the length of the room, while Vince and Jas looked to be bored out of their minds. Vincent jumped up excitedly when he saw Sebastian, running up to hug his leg.
"Seb!" he shouted.
"Hey hey, mini-Sam. What's up? Why aren't you at school?"
Vincent giggled at the nickname. Sebastian hadn't called him by his real name since he was three, when he'd taken a pair of kids scissors and tried to cut himself a mullet, just like his big brother's. Jodi had lost her mind, Sam had been immediately grounded for laughing and telling him it looked great, and Sebastian had stumbled into a nickname gold-mine.
"Miss Penny is sick," Vincent informed him sagely.
"And Maru is away at college," Sam continued for him. "She usually subs for Pen. And then Elliott is on his book tour. And the library is closed so that the librarian can go to some conference. And mom and Jas' aunt and literally everyone else is out of town. I don't know what to do, dude."
"This was your emergency?!"
Sam threw his hands up. "Yeah? I don't know the first thing about teaching!"
"And you think I do?!"
Sebastian covered his face with his hands. A large part of him was relieved that the doomsday anxiety spiral had been for nothing. A larger part still — the bit that was running off of approximately three hours of sleep — was seething. "Oh my Yoba," he muttered.
"Auntie Jodi says that we aren't supposed to take the Holy One's name in vain," Jas said primly.
"Oh for- right, okay, my bad," Sebastian sighed. "Well, look, it's just one day. You guys can skip your lessons for one day, right?"
"Yeah!" Vincent shouted immediately, pumping his fist in the air.
Jas, on the other hand, looked incredibly put out. "If we aren't doing lessons, then what are we supposed to do all day?"
Sebastian blinked at her a few times. "I don't know. Play?"
Vincent didn't need to be told twice. He ran back over to the couch to grab Jas' hand and pulled her towards his bedroom, where Sebastian knew there to be an entire store's worth of toys and games.
Sam visibly sagged with relief once they were gone.
"Thanks, man," he said. "They've just been staring at me all morning and I was kinda starting to panic. Jas was trying to tell me what they were learning about in their lessons… Penny's got them doing subtraction, dude."
"You are utterly hopeless."
"Love you, too."
Sam flopped down onto the couch that Jas had just vacated, leaving just enough room for Sebastian to sit beside him. He tilted his head back until his spiky blond hair was crushed against the wall.
"Aren't you supposed to be good at this shit?" Sebastian asked, watching Sam in his peripheral. "You're the actual big brother, here."
"I mean, sure, I guess," Sam sighed. "But like, I dunno. I just do fun stuff with Vince. Not learning stuff."
Sebastian frowned. "Dude, they're like. Five."
"Jas is six, actually."
"Whatever. Point is, it's not like they're taking the fucking SATs. Just do all the fun stuff you normally would, but make it educational."
Sam took a long time to think it over. Long enough that Sebastian actually looked over at him fully, studying his side profile and the way his eyebrows pulled together, the tiny pout on his lips. If Sebastian was any more honest with himself, he'd call it cute.
Disgusting.
"Vince has been asking if I can teach him guitar…" Sam said slowly.
Sebastian waved his hand. "There you go, you've got a lesson plan. Music class." He stood, yawning: now that the adrenaline was fading, he was remembering how tired he was. "I'm going back to bed now."
"Wait," Sam blurted, catching Sebastian's hand in his own, stopping him before he could leave. "Can you stay?"
Hopefully the heat flooding Sebastian's face didn't look as bad as it felt. How many times had he left Sam's house late into the night, privately wishing for those exact words?
"It's just, I can handle Vince fine when it's just us, but…" Sam trailed off, looking away awkwardly. He was still gripping Sebastian's fingers, which didn't help any of the conflicting feelings racing through Sebastian's head. "I'd feel better if you were here. I mean, 'cos like, you know more about music theory than me anyway."
"You can just say you're scared of Jas, y'know," Sebastian said dryly.
Sam huffed a laugh. Suddenly, he seemed to realize that he was still holding onto Sebastian. His cheeks reddened as he dropped him, shooting him an apologetic smile.
"I'm not scared of Jas," Sam said. "I just… don't want her to yell at me. Or for Penny to do it."
"Penny is 5-foot-nothing and has about as much of a mean-streak as Gus, what in the fuck are you talking about?"
"Yeah, well, clearly you've never pissed her off. Or Gus," Sam muttered. But then, he looked up through his lashes and Sebastian, doing his best pleading face. "Please, Seb, I'm begging you. Just this one time."
Sebastian wanted to look away, but he couldn't seem to manage to avert his eyes. For someone who managed a devil-may-care attitude towards literally everything and everyone, Sebastian did an awful job keeping the ruse up when it came to Sam.
"Fine," he sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll help. But you owe me. Big."
Sam jumped up immediately, his easy grin snapping back in place as if held by magnets. "Sweet! Can you bring everything out here? I'll grab the kids."
With Jodi out of town and not policing the living room and Sam's room more so resembling a minefield than a bedroom, Sebastian privately agreed that it was best to keep Vincent and Jas out if at all possible. So Sebastian grabbed anything that two five year olds — sorry, a five year old and a six year old — would find interesting and ferried it all out to the living room. Both of Sam's acoustics, one of Abby's old practice pads and a pair of sticks, and, against his own better judgment, his synth. He left the stand, though, thinking he could just balance it on the couch.
Vincent was, in fact, absolutely over the moon at their plans. So much so that his barely even fell when Jas said, "So we are doing lessons, then?"
The little boy seemed to have more fun seeing how loud of a noise he could make on the strings than he did actually following Sam's gentle guiding at fingerings and which strings to pluck and how, but the wide, toothy grin on his face was worth it. Jas, on the other hand, nodded sagely as Sebastian ran her through the names of the keys and explained the differences in octaves. Her fingers were a bit too small for anything terribly complicated, but she followed Sebastian's stilted, awkward instructions easily. So easily, actually, that both Sam and Vincent stopped in their discordant twanging to watch as their counterparts played through Hot Cross Buns, then Heart and Soul.
"You're a natural, Jas," Sam said excitedly once their performance was through.
"Thank you," she said shyly, shrinking back from the keys. She was smiling at her shoes, her dark cheeks coloring further.
After an hour of this, Vincent declared he was hungry, so it was off to the Saloon for lunch — neither Sam nor Sebastian were much of a cook, not unless it was toast or reheated pizza. But, both Vincent and Jas were visibly excited at the prospect of finally getting to go into the Saloon, even if they had to sit at a table away from the bar. What with the Stardrop Saloon being the only restaurant in town, it wasn't the first time either kid had been, but it was still something of a novelty. Sam showed Jas how to play JunimoKart, while Sebastian chased Vincent around the bar, trying desperately to keep him out of the kitchen, out of the store room, out from beneath Gus' feet in general.
The old barkeep simply laughed, shaking his head at Sebastian hefted Vincent over his shoulder for the third time, the red-headed child giggling the whole way.
Finally, the large cheese pizza came out, hot and gooey and tempting enough to get even Vincent to settle. Sebastian sat on the outside of the booth anyway, expecting another escape attempt before their meal was over.
By the time they were down to crusts, Sebastian was really feeling his late night.
Sam's shoe tapped his beneath the table, one eyebrow raised.
"You good?" he asked softly.
Vince and Jas were coloring on the back of some placemats, the crayons having been provided by the ever-helpful Gus with a knowing smirk and wink.
"Just tired," Sebastian sighed, rubbing one eye. "'s fine."
"We can go back to mine and take a nap," Sam suggested. "Put on a movie or something."
"We've seen all the movies at home," Vincent butted in, his voice in a whine.
"Mr. Seb, do you have any movies at your house?" Jas asked, her big eyes intent on Sebastian.
Sam tried to cover his snort of laughter with a cough. Sebastian kicked him under the table.
"I think I've got a few," Sebastian told her.
"Well, we can go there, then," she said, nodding. Like it was all settled, just like that.
Sebastian bit back a smile. Vincent was great, sure: he was a damn-near carbon copy of Sam, and Sam was, of course, his best friend. But, he'd never really interacted with Jas before today — she was growing on him worryingly quickly.
"I don't know if Mr. Seb wants-"
"Get your jackets back on, then," Sebastian interrupted. "It's a long walk."
With a chorus of cheers and rustling raincoats, the foursome traipsed back out into the rain after a round of thank you's to Gus. It was coming down heavier now, soaking Sebastian's hair straight through before he could get his hood up. It was too late to lament that umbrella sitting in the foyer of the house, the one he hadn't grabbed on the way into town in his rush.
Vincent ran ahead with Sam, hand in hand and hitting every puddle. The mud was already streaked up past Vincent's knees, clearing the top of his wellies easily. Jas hung back to walk next to Sebastian, her little hands gripping the edge of her hood to keep it tight around her face.
"Scared of the rain?" Sebastian teased, nudging her shoulder.
"No," Jas said quickly. Too quickly. "I'm not," she protested when Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her. "Auntie Marnie says that it's not good for my hair. And that I get all… poofy."
Sebastian laughed. He didn't mean to, but it came out anyway. Jas huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms and walking faster.
Unfortunately for her, Sebastian's legs were nearly as long as she was tall, and he matched pace easily.
"Hey, c'mon, you know I didn't mean it like that," he said. "But like, it's just hair, isn't it? Hair can be redone. I mean, look at me. Does this-" he waved at his head, where his hair was plastered to his forehead, all but stuck over one eye, "-look like my preferred hairstyle?"
Jas giggled, shaking her head. "Uncle Shane says that you look like a… a walking Hot Topic poster. But he didn't really tell me what it meant, he just kept laughing."
"Oh yeah? What'd Uncle Shane say about Sam, then?"
The little girl pursed her lips, her eyes dancing. "I don't think I should tell you…"
"Aw, c'mon. We're best friends, I would never use it against him."
"Well… he said that Mr. Sam looks like he lost a fight with a fork stuck in a socket. Which I am not allowed to try."
Sebastian snorted. "He's right about that on both fronts. But, Mr. Sam's hair doesn't look like that now, does it?"
"No. He looks like…"
"Like a drowned rat?"
"Can rats be blond?"
He shrugged. "Maybe. But anyway, my point is, tomorrow, he's gonna look like he got electrocuted again, and I'll look like a Hot Topic poster again, and your hair can be redone too. But that shouldn't stop you from playing and having fun now."
Jas seemed to mull it over for a minute, biting her lip as they walked in silence.
Sebastian couldn't help but see the deeper meaning in the words he'd said so casually. That doing something uncomfortable, something against the status quo, something that risked rocking the boat further down the line shouldn't be the thing holding you back in the present.
If I took my own damn advice, maybe Sam and I would be…
Before that line of thought could finish polluting Sebastian's head, Jas grabbed his hand — just like the brothers up ahead — and pulled him off the path, towards a large puddle. They were stomping through it before Sebastian could protest, the muddy water spraying up and soaking through Sebastian's jeans.
But she was laughing, grinning wide as she pushed her hood back with one hand. With the other, she dragged Sebastian into a run, going to join Sam and Vincent in their mud puddle ministrations.
He could put a pin in that revelation for a while, he thought.
The kids chased each other through the downpour, playing a game of tag that sent them both sliding and sprawling through the slippery grass. They roped Sam into it first, leaving Sebastian sheltered safely under the pine tree in his front yard. But it wasn't long before Sam was pulling Sebastian into it too, declaring that Sebastian was it and latching onto the kids as they ran away, screaming.
Sebastian rolled his eyes. If you told him that Sam was another of the elementary kids, he'd believe it in a heartbeat.
He patted his pockets, making sure his keys and phone and cigarettes were still secured, and then took off, his boots squelching against the soft ground.
—
Sebastian, Jas, and Vincent had Sam cornered.
With the mossy fence to his left, the mountain lake at his back, and the three of them spread out before him, there was no where for Sam to run. Not unless he wanted to risk crossing the rickety, single board bridge onto the two isolated islands in the middle of the lake.
Sebastian grinned wickedly, his arms spread out wide.
"No where to run now, Sammy," he taunted lowly. "Surrender, or die."
Jas giggled at his theatrics. Vincent gave a mighty roar, which Sebastian wasn't sure entirely fit the situation, but found amusing all the same.
"Yeah, what he said," Sebastian nodded. "So what's it gonna be?"
Sam's eyes flicked to the tiny gap between Sebastian and Vincent, then over his shoulder to the lake. Surely, he wasn't thinking…
"You'll never take me alive!"
He ran left, shooting towards the gap: Sebastian threw himself at Vincent, grabbing the kid to close ranks. But, at the last minute, Sam feigned back right, squeezing into the hole that Sebastian had just inadvertently made. It was too late to change course: Sebastian and Vincent were already falling, tumbling down as the ground slipped out from under them. Sebastian twisted in air so that Vincent landed on his chest, taking none of impact that forced the air out of Sebastian's lungs.
Through the mass of black hair clinging to his face — both from the rainwater and the sweat of exertion — Sebastian just barely saw Jas' hand close around Sam's wrist, tagging him out.
"Yeah!" Vincent shouted, crawling off of Sebastian. He jumped up and down with Jas, muddy hand in muddy hand. "We win, we win!"
"I think, technically, Seb wins," Sam said, rolling his eyes. He stuck his tongue out at his little brother, then moved to help Sebastian up. "You okay?"
"Peachy," Sebastian groaned. "Man, I'm too old for this sh- stuff."
Sam patted a hand on Sebastian's shoulder, cringing at the mud that came away. "Alright gang, I think we oughta get inside and dry off. Seb, think we can steal your washer and dryer? I dunno if Shane'll ever leave me alone with Jas again if I bring her home like this."
Suddenly, Jas gave a horrified gasp, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh no! Look!"
Collectively, they followed her pointing finger to the edge of the lake. There, struggling up through the mud was a big green frog: one of its back legs was dragging uselessly behind it, clearly sitting at the wrong angle.
Sebastian was moving right away, his earlier fatigue long forgotten. But, before he could scoop the injured frog up, it burst into motion. It darted between his feet, disappearing beneath a bush.
"We have to save him, Mr. Seb!" Jas cried. "What do we do?"
Sebastian locked eyes with Sam over the bush. In the back of his head, something practical was whispering that it was just a frog, and that this was just the circle of life, the cycle of all things. This unfortunate little frog had simply found the wrong end of something bigger than it in the lake, and was now paying the price. It would either die in the water or die on the land, and either way its body would become food for something else. That was just the way it went.
But, then again, hadn't he spent a good portion of his effort assuring Jas — and, to a lesser extent, Vincent — that it was okay to go against the grain of things? That just because that was the way it went, it didn't mean that it was the only option. Playing out in the rain, making music and being loud and boisterous, saving things that shouldn't necessarily be saved.
Maybe Sebastian was reading too much into it. Or maybe there was just some nonzero part of him that loved seeing the sparkle in Sam's eyes every time he watched Sebastian interact with Jas today, the way his face softened and the little blush that bloomed on his cheeks when he caught Sebastian looking.
"Sam, take Vincent and grab one of the glass jars in my mom's kitchen. Bottom cabinet, left of the dishwasher. I don't need a lid."
Sam gave him a mock salute. He and Vincent ran off quickly.
"Okay, Jas, you're gonna help me once they get back."
"I don't know if I can," she said. Her eyes were huge, her face a little panicked.
"Of course you can," Sebastian said steadily. He crouched down beside the bush and waved her closer. "Look, do you see him hiding? Right there at the bottom, through that little gap… when they get back with the jar, I need you to try and coax him out, okay? That's all you have to do. Shake the bush a little bit, stomp your feet. It'll get him running back towards the lake, and I'll be waiting to grab him. Easy as that."
"But-"
"I need Vincent and Sam to make sure he doesn't go left or right, but I need you to get him moving in the first place. You're gonna do fine, I promise."
"…okay."
Sebastian explained the plan a second time when Sam and Vincent returned. Once everyone was in their place, he gave Jas what he hoped was an encouraging smile and said, "Whenever you're ready."
Jas took a deep breath. Then, she shook the bush and stomped her feet, sending raindrops flying every which way, including atop the now fleeing frog. It hobbled out, seeing Sam first, and then Vincent. In diverting its course, it didn't even notice Sebastian, who easily scooped the injured frog up and into the jar. He clamped his hand over the lid and held it aloft, victorious at last.
—
"Poor little guy. His foot's all mangled... he wouldn't survive a day out in the wild like this."
"What are you gonna do with him?"
"I dunno… I suppose I could try nursing him back to health."
"Oh! You should make a frog sanctuary, Seb! And then we can find more frogs and rescue them!"
"Maybe. I'm not sure how Mrs. Robin is gonna feel about having a bunch of frogs in her house. Would your mom be okay with it?"
"Our mom would freak. She doesn't even like the bugs I find for her! Neither does Miss Penny."
"Auntie Marnie gets upset when I go playing in the dirt… I don't think she'd like having frogs either. But… if he stays here, could we come and visit?"
"Yeah, please, Seb? Pleeeaaassse?"
"C'mon Sebby, we'll get Penny to write it into their lesson plans. Field trip: frog husbandry."
"Fine, fine, yes, you all can come visit him. But not for a while, until he's healed up, okay? I don't want to stress him out any more than he already has been."
"Okay!"
"Field trip!!!"
"Future field trip!"
—
Sam was very warm when he woke up. Very warm and also very uncomfortable, yet finding that he couldn't move, even if he tried.
Blinking the sleep from his eyes, the details came spinning back.
Two big bowls of popcorn and an old cartoon on the television, sprawled across Sebastian's large leather couch. Jas and Vincent in too-big, faded black tshirts, reaching all the way to their knees as their own clothes went through a spin cycle. Another stolen tshirt on his own frame with Sebastian's sweatpants on his hips, too short for his long legs. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he knew that he outlasted the kids, at the very least, and made it long enough to switch the clothes to the dryer.
But now the clock on the VCR read 4:37, and Sam really needed to be getting Jas back home.
A careful look around revealed the source of the warmth.
Sebastian was curled up against his side, his cheek smooshed against Sam's shoulder. His face looked so different in the soft glow of the title screen from the TV, all his harsh lines smoothed out and softened. His lashes were long and dark, grazing the tops of his cheekbones. Sam carefully swept his thumb over the top of one of them, featherlight. Sebastian only barely stirred, leaning further into Sam in the process.
He would've stayed there forever, Sam thought. But obligations were knocking at his metaphorical doors.
So instead, he tried to memorize the soft set to Sebastian's lips and the way his exhales weren't quite snores, then carefully extracted himself from the couch. He propped Sebastian up against the back of the couch and a well-placed pillow, successfully keeping him from waking. Then, he roused the kids, a finger held to his lips to shush them preemptively. Once dressed in dryer-warm clothes, Sam pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over Sebastian's still sleeping form.
"'Night, Seb," he whispered. The tips of his fingers brushed against Sebastian's cheek one last time, and then he was following Vincent and Jas up the stairs and back out into the rapidly cooling evening air.
The rain had finally broken. The woods were alight with the dripping of leaves, but the sky had lightened considerably.
Vincent walked ahead again, energized from his nap in a way that spelled trouble for Sam in the rest of their evening routine. He decided to let him run out as much of it as was physically possible.
Jas, however, stayed resolutely by his side, a pensive expression on her face.
"Was that better or worse than a regular school day, then?" he asked.
"Not better," she said immediately. "But, not worse, either."
Sam laughed. "Penny sets a high bar, huh?"
She shrugged a bit. "I liked learning from Mr. Seb, too."
"But not me."
Jas wrinkled her nose. "Well…"
Sam just laughed again. "I get it. I like learning from him too. He knows a lot of things, even if he doesn't give himself credit for all of them."
They walked for a little bit longer, making it past the Community Center. Pelican Town wasn't far now.
"It would be fun to have you come teach us a music lesson again," she finally said. "And your boyfriend."
There must have been a cobblestone loose that Sam didn't see, because he was suddenly stumbling, tripping over seemingly thin air. Once he found his balance again, he peered down at Jas with wide eyes.
She was looking back up at him, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
"If you're talking about Sebastian, he's not my boyfriend."
"Miss Penny thinks he is," Jas said matter-of-factly. "And so does Uncle Shane. And Mrs. Caroline. And Miss Haley. And Vincent. Right, Vincent?" she called.
"Look at all these worms! Sammy, come look, come look!"
"See? He agrees with me."
"Jas, that's not-"
"Mr. Seb told me today that you shouldn't let things you're worried about stop you from having fun."
Sam swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. Was he seriously getting relationship advice from a six year old right now?
"And I think that you're both worried about each other, and that's silly." She sighed, grabbing Sam's hand. "Now come on, Uncle Shane is gonna make me take a bath, and he takes forever to do my hair."
Sam let himself be towed along by his brother's best friend without protest, walking her home and apologizing to Shane about the state that she was in. She waved goodbye to Vincent, and then it was just the two brothers again.
Vince was crashing hard, the full day of fun and excitement catching up to him: even his strong second wind wasn't enough to combat that. Sam hefted him up for a piggy-back ride on the way home, holding his legs securely in place. Vincent was already asleep again by the time they reached 1 Willow Lane, so Sam simply deposited him right into his bed, closing the door softly behind him. He'd deal with showers and clean up in the morning.
Back in his own bedroom, Sam pulled out his phone to find one unread text message.
It was a photo of a green frog sitting in a shallow pool of water: Sebastian must've woken up and was adding to the enclosure already.
Sam was smiling so wide it actually hurt.
He sent back a single line.
It's our new son…
By the time Sam was in his pajamas, there was another message waiting for him.
he's got ur nose