Chapter Text
Nothing ever changed in Stardew Valley.
From up in the mountains down to the seashore, it was as if time was permanently paused over the entire city, a continuous loop of mornings and nights always ending at the starting line. The power of monotony in the valley was so overwhelming that even the objectively unusual, like a wizard living in a tower on the outskirts of town or a random burst of green rain sweeping over the land, managed to get integrated into the villagers’ daily routine to the point it was barely worth mentioning.
And the thing about routine is that it’s not inherently bad, either. Everyone tends to fall into habits, and there’s a certain comfort in being able to fall back on them - you only need one forced change into your daily schedule to realize how comfortable it used to make you - but routine can also be stifling at the best of times, and downright miserable at the worst.
Which is all to say Sebastian’s life was pretty miserable.
It felt petty to say that sometimes, with a roof over his head and food in the fridge, but that didn’t stop it from being true. Some people found fulfillment in their work or relationships, but Sebastian had a handful of freelance jobs (when he had it in him to seek them out) and a grand total of two friends (when he had it in him to seek them out), which narrowed things down significantly.
There was always this mismatch in him, this disconnect between the impulse to do something and the inertia of doing nothing. His bike was the bridge between the gap, in a way; there was always the possibility of just bolting when he was on it, just taking off somewhere and never looking back, the wind on his face and his old life fading into the horizon at his back, and yet…
And yet. The bike circled around the mountain path and roared back into the garage, as it always did. Because nothing ever changed in Stardew Valley. Not the road that beckoned him, not the look on his mother’s face when he refused to join their family dinner, not the listlessness in his heart sitting by his computer at two in the morning.
Until one day, way out west in the abandoned old farm, something did change.
Sebastian first heard about the farmer from his mother - or rather, overheard her talking about him to Demetrius in the kitchen while he slipped out of the house to smoke by the river. Some guy from the city who just up and left his old life behind one day to take over his grandpa’s old farm, no money or skills or even much of a house to live in anymore, if his mother’s words were anything to go by.
His mind kept coming back to that as he watched the smoke swirl up into the warm spring air. The idea made him feel some sort of way, like something was stuck in his throat. Was it envy that the guy managed to do what he couldn’t (wouldn’t) (couldn’t) and just left his old life behind? Was it bafflement that anyone would choose to come to this hole of a town? Maybe neither. Maybe being faced with someone desperate enough to come to an abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere just made him feel half-hearted about everything.
He snuffed out his cigarette on the sole of his sneaker and pocketed the stub, shaking his head slightly. Maybe some pool would clear his head.
—
Sebastian was just rolling out of bed to get some coffee when the farmer dropped by the next morning to introduce himself. The guy looked - well, he kind of looked like Sebastian, in a way, and the thought brought that lump from last night back to his throat. The bad posture from sitting at a computer all day, the sallow skin from not seeing enough sunlight, the circles under his eyes. The guy (he definitely had a name that he definitely had mentioned, but it was early and Sebastian was hungover) gave a polite little nod and left, leaving Sebastian to stare off into the space he had been occupying in a haze for a beat or two before shaking himself awake. Something about the guy made him feel off-kilter, but whatever. It’s not like they’d be running into each other much anyway.
Except they did, because apparently the guy was just everywhere. He’d nod at him and Sam while running through the town square, make small talk with him when they ran into each other at the foot of the mountain, wave at him across the pool table at the saloon while making his rounds.
“I gotta commend the guy for putting himself out there,” Sam had half-muttered into his beer after the farmer left. “I don’t know if I’d have it in me.”
“I think he seems nice,” Abby piped up from the couch.
Sebastian hummed noncommittally in response, before taking his shot and pocketing the yellow ball Sam had been trying to get for the past 10 minutes.
“Aw, come on!”
—
It was a Saturday morning when he ran into the farmer again, more literally this time as he’d been storming out of the house after another fight with Demetrius. It was always something with Demetrius, like somehow Sebastian living in the basement and staying out of his way was still too much for him to put up with, and it mostly just rolled off of him but some days it stuck around like mold. Sebastian bumped hard into the farmer’s side, only managing to stay upright because the guy reached out and grabbed his arm on instinct, and the concerned frown on his face stung more than the impact.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Just thank him , he thought. Thank him and shrug him off and move on.
“Why do you keep talking to me? I barely know you” is what slipped out instead. Sebastian took advantage of the farmer’s shock to rip his arm out of the man’s careful grasp and stomp away, shamefaced and wrong-footed.
If Sam noticed anything, he kept it to himself. Sam was good at that, he thought, then felt like an asshole for the second time that morning. The whole day left him feeling like a 20-something teenager, angry and raw and lashing out at the people around him because he couldn’t fit into the only home he had. He thought of his bike in the garage, of leaving it all behind. He thought of the farmer’s face going slack with shock. He shook his head, banging on the keyboard until the noise cleared out all the thoughts in his head.
It was late at night when he trudged back home, the stress leaving him drained like he had run a marathon, but the cool night air was a welcome change from the damp heat of Sam’s room. Summer was approaching fast, whether he liked it or not.
He saw the silhouette of the farmer on the hill behind his house and his stomach dropped, the frustration having long since fizzled out and leaving only a vague sense of shame behind. The farmer seemed to notice him, pivoting in place and making his way down to the house’s entryway instead. Should he apologize? Or would that just make things awkward? Did the guy even remember it, or was Sebastian just overthinking things? Before he could find the answers to any of those questions, the farmer reached the entryway, stopping a few feet away from him.
“Hey,” he said simply, like Sebastian hadn’t bitten his head off last time they talked. He had a sharp, slightly metallic smell to him - probably from the mines, he realized, then wondered why he was thinking about it at all. It took him a moment to realize the farmer was holding out something in his hand. A piece of quartz.
“What’s this for?” Sebastian asked, taking it. The crystal refracted the porch light in odd angles, casting shadows on the pavement. The farmer shrugged.
“I found it in the mines and thought you might like it.”
“I do like it,” he said after a beat, smiling for what felt like the first time that day. “Thank you.”
The guy didn’t say anything, just gave him a pleased smile and nodded his head. He shuffled back, as if gearing up to leave, and Sebastian spoke up before he could think better of it:
“Hey, if you’re ever bored or whatever, you can drop by my room and hang out. I’m usually home, so just come over whenever.”
The farmer stared at him for a beat, just enough for him to question if that had been too much, before breaking out into a beaming smile. Oh , Sebastian thought idly, I don’t think I had ever seen him smile like that .
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, sure,” he drawled, aiming for disinterested. The farmer didn’t seem to mind either way, nodding happily.
“I will, then. Good night, Sebastian.”
—
Spring was almost over by the time the farmer made good on that promise. Sebastian looked up from his computer to see him standing awkwardly at the door frame, the straw hat he won from the egg hunt held with both hands in front of him.
“Hey, come on in. I’m just finishing up here, hang on a minute.”
A minute stretched into five, one syntax error all the way back at the beginning of the code making it not run properly, but at least it was done and Sebastian wouldn’t need to look at that part again anytime soon. He rolled his neck, wincing when it cracked, and leaned back into his chair, glancing at the farmer again. The guy had his hands behind his back now, standing by the couch looking over the posters on his wall. Sebastian remembered he walked kind of hunched back when he’d moved in, but that was long gone now. Maybe he should get a part-time gig at the farm himself to fix his own posture.
“Sorry about that, I had some work to do.”
“I like your decorations,” he replied instead, looking away from the wall. His complexion also seemed to have gotten better over time.
“My what? Oh,” Sebastian looked over his own wall, almost like he’d forgotten what was there, “right, thanks. It’s kind of a habit, I guess? I didn’t notice I’d stuck so much stuff up there.”
The farmer hummed in response, a pensive look on his face. Sebastian opened his mouth to ask about it, but a notification from Sam distracted him.
“Ugh,” he groaned out loud, making the farmer look back at him in mild concern. “No, it’s just Sam asking me to hang out, but I don’t really feel like it today.”
He braced himself for questions, a ‘why not’ or a ‘how come’ or, god forbid, a ‘did you guys have a fight’, but nothing came. Instead, the farmer just nodded like that was answer enough and continued to peruse his shitty old posters, squinting to make out the details in the low light of the basement. The lump he used to get in his throat went away the more he got to know the guy, but there was this undercurrent of nerves that seemed to stick around in moments like this, the adrenaline fading after bracing himself for a strike that didn’t come. It was an odd feeling, but not all that bad.
The knock on his door startled him out of his reverie, his mood souring further when his mother excused herself into his room with that one apologetic smile that promised he wasn’t gonna like whatever it was.
“Hi, honey,” she started, one hand gripping the doorknob. She somehow managed to treat him like she was always walking on eggshells, but also always trampling over his boundaries. Truly a feat. “So, I ran into Abigail at the store, and she said she’s coming by later...”
“Did you tell her that I’m working?” he replied in the most measured tone he could muster, already knowing the answer.
“I did, but she said she’s coming over anyway. If you guys need anything, I’ll be up in the store, okay?”
She left as quickly as she came, closing the door behind her, and Sebastian bites back his desire to scream out loud. Abby was great, she really was, and when you’ve been friends this long, it’s normal to start taking some liberties, but he just didn’t want to see her today. Not her, not Sam, not anyone. But does it matter to anyone what he wants? Clearly not.
He rubbed a hand over his face, opening his eyes to find the farmer looking back at him. Sebastian had almost forgotten he was there for a second. He braced himself again, sure that a question was inevitable now.
“What do you want to do with your career?”
Sebastian blinked. That… well, you couldn’t deny that was a question, but it wasn’t one he’d been anticipating. Still, he grabbed the change of topic gratefully.
“I’m saving up to move to the city. I like doing freelance work, you know? I don’t want to join the corporate rat race,” he said, glancing at him to see if there was any reaction. The farmer just nodded briefly to show he was listening. He continued, “and working from my computer is more comfortable than having to deal with people directly.”
The guy nodded thoughtfully, glancing at his computer screen. The blue light made his skin look sallow again, but from this close Sebastian could see the circles under his eyes were gone. He looked up, maybe sensing that Sebastian had been staring at him, and gave him a gentle smile.
“I get it. I should let you work, then. See you later, Sebastian.”
“Oh,” he replied, because he hadn’t meant it like that, but there wasn’t any way around that now, “sure, thanks.”
He went back to work, consciously not looking up until he heard the quiet click of the closing door. At the noise, he glanced up and sighed, feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the conclusion. Watching the blue light of his computer screen glinting off of his quartz crystal, he realized he missed the window for asking the farmer for his name.