#sunbastian

"so what are you gonna do with it?" he keeps pacing, turning his head to her as he pinched his bottom lip between his thumb and index finger.

sunny shrugs, though an idea forms in her mind. she won't really have any use of it, not if it doesn't do anything. she might have to consult a few of her grandma's old books on the history of pelican town, but for now her suspicion was correct — what a frog egg is good for is making her friend very happy.

"do you want it?"

sebastian may as well have become unplugged for a moment, because he stops moving and stares ahead as if buffering. if sunny thought the exciting bouncing on his feet was funny before, this quickly became her favourite programme. sebastian, who usually has a quip locked and loaded as soon as the chance occurs, who saves his excitement for later when the moment has passed and he can be sure his reactions aren't policed, who is usually the one giving instead of taking, is rendered absolutely speechless.

"me?" he speaks after a few dragged-out moments. "you're serious?"

she nods slowly, as if a swift movement will scare him away. sebastian looks like he's half-expecting her to pull the slimy egg out of her overalls pocket any moment now, maybe even a little disappointed that she doesn't move to hand it over now. but of course, she wasn't about to carry that thing with her. it's safe and sound on the farm, so he'll just have to come by and get it himself.

"what are you gonna do with it?" she wonders, pulling her feet up on the bed and hugging her knees as he throws himself onto the mattress beside her, folding his arms under his head and stretching out with the widest smile possible.

"hatch it if i can. i need to look up how to handle it, but it should be fine with an aquarium in here. if not… well, i guess we have ponds, right?"

sunny had ponds, yes. and she'd gladly host some frogs on her farm if it meant this much to seb.

"right. ponds. does that mean you'll be sitting there on my farm instead of by the lake here to smoke?" she nudges his thigh with her foot and chuckles. "gonna have to get you an ashtray there, can't have you making a mess of my place. maybe put you to work on the farm, too."

he scoffs, but doesn't say no to the idea, still too happy about the possibility of hatching a frog to grumble about being put to physical work. sunny catches a glance he shoots her way, all the gratitude reflecting in his eyes and she can't help but smile a little, feeling her heart jump at the recognition that she's doing this friendship thing right, despite her darker thoughts trying to pull her away from all her friends. she's slowly breaking through and reaching out.

"come on," she groans as she leaps off the bed before she can overthink the way she offered the gift or anything else that came with it, "let's go get you your frog."

it takes sebastian a quick second to lift his arms up and another quick one for sunny to grab his forearm and haul him up off the bed, already darting to the door to put her shoes on and wait around as usual for him to locate his cigarettes and the ashtray tin. they've got the best intention to slip past robin so she doesn't ask too many questions about this mission, but this time it's maru nearly running into them at the top of the stairs, carrying what seems to be her latest project in her arms.

"oh!" she yelps as she bounces back to not drop it, and, seeing the impatient look on sebastian's face, decides not to ask yet, instead moving out of the way to let them pass with a promise of telling her about it later.

the meadows farm is close enough to hear the birds calling to each other in the trees they've spent the whole season making their home, and sebastian can hardly stop himself speeding up, meaning that sunny has to break into a job to catch up. the late spring sun looks good on him, she thinks, and she's getting used to seeing him smiling more often now, something she doesn't seem to mind at all. especially if she's the one causing it.

"you're not going in there until i say you're ready," marlon says, because of course he heard her, "and you're not ready yet. come on, meadows, one good swing."

sunny takes in a deep breath, trying not to visualise the creatures past the first five floors that she's now grown familiar with. what she's training to fight isn't the cluster of green slimes that has since learned to stay away from her — whether out of fear of her weapon or the violent yelling she'd started doing the past few times trying to test their bravery against a wild human, she doesn't know, and as long as they don't touch her again, she doesn't care. it's dark, it smells of rotting earth, it's sending shivers up her arms every time she hears the sound of stones forming together or sees those empty sockets behind her eyelids. sunny shakes off the feeling for the moment, instead focusing on the clear string of commands marlon has been shouting at her since she dragged him out of bed begging to help her train. tight hold. light on your feet. keep your elbows close. slash across. the creatures are around her height anyway, so she doesn't have to think much about where to aim.

"okay, weapon down." marlon coughs and approaches her, putting one rough palm over her trembling hand. "it was better. much better." his eye lifts and sunny swears she can see a shadow of a smile in the corner of his lips before his gaze moves from her to somewhere behind her. "breakfast." he murmurs. "i'll leave you to it, rest for an hour and then i'll bring you a different sword."

sunny hands him the wooden sword she was using before turning around to see what caught his eye and changed his tone.

sebastian walks over to the lake, not even looking towards the bend where sunny stands, out of breath, out of sorts, messy haired, and sweaty. and tired. so damn tired. her feet are barely lifting from the grass as she makes her way to where sebastian stands and lights a cigarette, staring over the lake at the mountain.

"alright, ducky?" he asks, not even turning his head to face her.

"you got some weird sixth sense going that tells you who it is?" sunny scoffs, stopping a few feet away.

"yeah i do, it's called peripheral vision." he chuckles.

"fair… i forget that's a thing sometimes." though she heavily relied on it in the mines, treating every shadow of a dancing flame as a potential enemy, she hasn't gone in a while. but the forest spirits are growing a little more restless, their presence on the farm is usually quiet, helpful, they like to keep out of the way even when she leaves them some gifts by the shrine to her grandparents. they just take the fruit and go, or at least they used to, until she started seeing them more and more.

sunny has stumbled upon a couple of them scurrying under the broken boards of the community centre. following the faint chirping noises, she came upon the plans laid out in each of the rooms. requirements, crops, minerals… all things she could help them gather, and in return they do invisible little tasks around the farm. like that one sprinkler that she knows for a fact she hadn't got around to fixing, but when she left the house it was working perfectly. weird.

the land on her farm feels different, though, and she's unsure if that's because of her presence — a meadows always has to be on the farm — or the spirits' doing, but the wizard has sent her a couple of missives urging her to at least cover a few levels in the mines and gather some minerals for the spirits (and for him — sunny is baffled at the fact that he can't just do it himself). all of this, of course, means that sunny has to stop procrastinating and sticking within her comfort zone, she has to train with the sword more, has to become at least confident enough for marlon to clear her to get to lower levels, and he doesn't look like someone she can or wants to trick.

"can i see?" sebastian's voice cuts through her tumbling into her thoughts, snapping her head towards him. her eyebrow furrows for a moment before she realises she's dragging her old sword behind her, having thought she would need it for practice. luckily, marlon had a wooden one ready for her.

sebastian holds the sword almost with a kind of reverence, weighing it in his hands like he knows what he's looking for.

"it needs work," sunny says, "messed it up pretty hard because i kept missing and smacking it on the rocks."

she can see every bump and dip where she remembers cursing at herself for missing, swinging too wide, too far, too high, for fear of actually ending the existence of the creatures snarling and launching themselves at her. no matter how dangerous, no matter how immediate the decision was, sunny had to be faced with the possibility that she's not cut out for it. the harsh truth sounded like an accusation when gil murmured it at her the last time she saw him.

"it's cool as hell." sebastian's awe is almost misplaced, she thinks. she's seen so many better, cooler ones in the guild house, polished until they reflected sunny's awe-filled face every time she walked past them. she desperately wanted — needed — a new one, this rusted messed up thing doesn't feel good in her hands anymore, not when she feels cold sweat bead at her back knowing what she went through with it.

"it would be cooler in the hands of someone with good technique," she snorts, "bet abby would be good with it."

sebastian points the sword ahead, across the lake, and looks over the glint of steel and his outstretched arm. he looks almost natural with it, his stance better than sunny's was when she first tried her hand at swordplay, his feet firmly planted, whole body going still as if he's envisioning himself a hero, and she can imagine him conquering his enemies taking over his castle, having fought his way up the winding staircases, slaying foes left and right, splatters of blood decorating the stone walls as well as his cheek. finally, getting to the top of the tower, standing behind the crenulated ramparts, surveying the land that's now free, pointing his sword at the retreating armies across the fields— sunny shakes the image out of her head, it's silly. sebastian drops his arm a moment later, smiling.

"hard not to daydream with this." he hands her the sword, putting the partly forgotten cigarette back between his lips. he curses and lights it again before sitting down on the ground with a soft grunt.

sunny follows, crossing her legs and putting the old sword in the grass. she's too aware of her bare freckled legs sticking with sweat, the relentless summer sun doesn't care that they sit in the shade, the warmth is wrapping itself around her limbs and torso like second skin, suffocating. she pulls on her shirt, unsticking it from her chest.

"you're out early," she points out, "finally taking a day off?"

"no such luck," sebastian murmurs around the cigarette and blows the smoke away, "demetrius had an issue with my breakfast being an energy drink and toast today and wouldn't leave me alone until i let him list all his talking points."

sunny nods, half-understanding his annoyance with such complaints. "let me guess, it spiralled…"

"bingo," sebastian lets out a humourless chuckle, "turned into that thing about comparing me to maru. which is fucking stupid, because i'll never be like her."

sunny sucks in a breath, losing the fight against her own insecurities that grip her throat, making her choke on them as she looks over at sebastian. never being enough, the feeling she's trying to leave behind in the rear view mirror bubbles up like a bad aftertaste in the back of her mouth. she suspects it's why she feels closer to him than a lot of other people and why sitting with him still feels like she matters. like she's not about to be forgotten as soon as someone looks away, like she's making her mark even though all she does is listen.

and he looks over at her to catch her warm brown eyes, tilting his head so his hair uncovers the other side of his face. his lips quirk up a little.

"but anyway," he clears his throat and puts out the finished cigarette against a rock by his foot before putting it into a small old breath mint tin, "enough about what i don't want to and never will be." he gets up with a small grunt, dusting off his jeans and holding out his hand for sunny to hold onto. "show me how you swing that sword."

the rest of the hour sneaks past them like smoke. the mood quickly lifted as soon as sebastian started making weird noises every time he swung the sword, making sunny laugh which in turn made him lose his place and exclaim that she was distracting him during his valiant mission and he needed to start again. and the cycle goes anew, sunny positioning his body correctly, or at least how she hopes is correct, and sebastian attacks invisible foes, following her directions until she cheers for his victory.

marlon is silent, watching across the lake, for once with his arms by his sides instead of folded across his chest. sunny pretends not to notice for a little while, letting the bliss in the shade by the lake last a little longer until she has to let go and get back to training. there's a dark shape beside him, and when sunny squints she can see the inescapable glint of a blade.

"shit, he's waiting for me." she murmurs, feeling a sense of dread curl in her gut at the thought of handling a new sword, getting used to the new weight, even though marlon did say it will be better for her, less flimsy, more precise.

sebastian hands her the sword and follows as she turns to walk back to her makeshift training ground where the prospect of a new weapon is both exciting and terrifying.

"it's hard to keep remembering this is not a game." sunny murmurs, just loud enough for sebastian to hear her. "they melt away into nothing and i can tell they're not…" she shakes her head. "it still feels wrong."

"hey," he reaches out and holds her wrist, closing his fingers around it though he's not gripping her tightly, "you know you don't have to do that, right? you can tell marlon you quit."

"it's not that simple," she looks down at his hand on her and then up at the crease between his eyebrows, "i'll explain. tomorrow."

sebastian doesn't look too convinced, torn between wanting to talk her out of the mines and being in awe that she gets to play at being a hero. he nods anyway, letting go of her wrist and falling into step again, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walk.

"you gotta play more games with us, ducky. that'll get you in the mood for swordplay." he bumps her shoulder with his, and sunny snorts in reply, not really seeing how sitting on the floor of his room gripping a controller and yelling at the screen will help with her technique.

"you just want to see me struggle and pass you the controller." she teases.

sebastian doesn't deny it.

"you're joining us for training, quinn?" marlon barks at sebastian.

"no sir," sebastian attempts a formal tone, but to sunny's ear almost everything he says carries a small dose of sass,"just dropped off your student safely, gotta make sure she doesn't fall into the lake on her way. again."

sunny gives him a look, that was one time, and she's pretty sure it doesn't even count since the only part of her that was in the lake was her foot, having been caught in time by sam's quick hand. it was the last time she didn't bring a glow ring with her.

"nearly tumbled like a damn pear because you had to push past abby and me to be annoying." sunny retorts, but fixes her face to be serious when marlon's eye finds her.

sebastian forces down a chuckle, but the slight shake of his shoulders gives him away to sunny.

"stop it." she says, biting her lip to stop herself from smiling.

"so…" marlon begins, lifting the new sword and holding it out in front of him. "don't get too excited now, meadows, this isn't yours yet. you gotta get used to it before you start swinging it around like a madwoman."

the dark blade seems to almost soak up all the relentless summer sun and instead emit a soft white glow. sunny doesn't even reach out to touch it, instead watches with reverence as marlon slowly makes an arch downwards with it, as if testing the weight and comfort before he could give it to the new owner.

"moonlight…" sunny whispers, her eyebrows slightly raised. "it looks like moonlight."

truly, the light seems to trail after the blade for a little bit after the path is drawn, like an illuminating shadow lagging behind as marlon swings it again, grunting when his feet get into the stance that sunny recognises as the one he's been drilling into her head earlier today. he stops, clearing his throat.

"moonlight, eh?" he passes the sword to sunny, hilt still warm from his hand. "a decent name. you'll practice with it before i sharpen it more."

her old sword rests in the grass where she drops it, not important, immediately struck from her mind when she feels the weight of moonlight in her hands, the weight that makes it clear that she will continue with the mines, dispelling any doubt in that decision. even if she's quaking in her combat boots, wiping blood with the back of her hand, muttering every protective chant and comforting word that she remembers her grandma using, she will be the sword for the forest spirits and fix their home like they're fixing hers.

the rest of the practice goes relatively smoothly. after sebastian left, looking over his shoulder so he almost ended up in the lake at one point — oh it would've amused sunny greatly — marlon showed her another string of attacks with a defence for the floors that scare her the most. she tries not to shudder every time she sees those dead hollows where eyes should be, stony heads on a slow but strong body that could swarm her while she's debating the morality of her actions. with moonlight in her hands, it should be easier.

she drags herself home tired, sweaty, empty-handed. giving the sword back to marlon might have been easy had she not held it with such reverence, but he promised to bring it back the next time she needs to train. sunny's thighs stick to one another and she's just trying to pull the hem of her shorts a little lower to stop them chafing when rasmodius clears his throat, startling her.

"your pardon, miss meadows."

with a hand over her heart, calming down the racing beating in her chest, she turns to him. he looks almost regal, in the long robes that don't seem to be sticking to him like sunny's clothes stick to her. shadows move as he does, almost protectively embracing his entire figure. sunny feels a brief moment of panic over what he could possibly want from her now before the exhaustion takes away her ability to give a shit. the wizard always seems to catch her at a moment when she doesn't want to run into anyone.

"mister rasmodius sir, i've just been training with—"

"marlon, yes, i'm aware." he interrupts her, waving off what would be the end of her sentence with a flick of his hand. "i only wanted to check on your progress in that regard, the junimos have shown you the list of their requirements, yes?"

sunny nods, inching backwards only to find a bit of shade to hide in, since she doesn't have magic shadows that shield her from the sun.

"that's right." she confirms.

"good. good, then things are moving towards the end goal, you know what you need to gather, correct?"

sighing, she tries not to twiddle her thumbs in an attempt to alleviate the anxiety that creeps back up her spine and messes with her head. yes, she knows what she needs to gather. but a brief conversation with gil also made her aware of how difficult it will be to achieve. she'll have to practice a lot. she'll have to ignore the punch in the gut she feels every time she thinks of killing monsters, even the ones that nearly cost her her life.

"correct." she squeezes out through her teeth. "although i'm…" she sighs. "i'm still not very confident with the sword, and the slingshot won't work too well since i can't just hide the whole time, and—"

"you're reminding me of your grandfather every time you open your mouth." the wizard pinches the bridge of his nose. sunny furrows her brows. "had to chase him into the mines with a stick. literally. but when he understood what it meant for the land, for the farm and the people?" he shakes his head fondly. "either way, he started just like you are now. i have faith in you, sunny, you've got that same magic in your blood."

sunny doesn't know how to reply, so she just doesn't. magic in her blood, her grandma mentioned it sometimes, her mum told her about it all when she reminisced living in pelican town. how the flowers bloomed and the fruit was the sweetest she'd ever tasted, how the nature came alive after a dead winter just from a few gentle touches from her father and how she was always in awe of the changes that the spring brought even when she decided that she was more suited for the city life.

the wizard turns on his heel and leaves sunny in the shade. she thinks about what he said when she finally continues making her way down into the town square, going past the derelict community centre just as the cannon strikes twelve. she flinches, but only a little, still getting used to the sudden noise that used to terrify her. birds flee the surrounding treetops, echoing flaps of wings filling the silence of the clear cloudless sky.

she's still trying to imagine her grandfather — much younger than how she knew him — getting chased by the wizard wielding a stick when abby sticks her finger into sunny's side.

"yikes! you're so jumpy today!" abby laughs, falling into step with sunny until they both find some shade under an old oak tree.

"you stabbed me, how could i not jump?!" sunny retorts, rubbing where she can still feel the jab in her side, the soft flesh feeling a little sore to the touch.

"ah yes it's me, abigail knife-fingers, the monster of pelican town." she snorts. "the monster that's about to make your day better. sam decided that we're gonna have a bonfire at the beach. say you'll come."

sunny blinks, her mind flooding with reasons not to. she's tired. exhausted, really. her limbs ache so much and it's only noon. she's already looking forward to lying in bed and sinking into sleep while pippin makes biscuits on her back. in her head she's already sinking back into solitude that she will have to crawl out of again. there's a moment in between abby's words and sunny's where she hears the laughter that she shared with her little group that she's weaselled her way into, echoing from the memories of every time they either dragged her somewhere with them or just happened to gather with her.

"what time?" sunny murmurs, still not completely certain of her answer.

"don't know, just when it starts getting darker. that's such a cryptic ass answer i'm sorry," she laughs, "but sam's not exactly the planning type, ya know?"

a glimpse of red catches sunny's eye, a sighting of a similar shade of hair to hers, penny walking into the general store with a light wave at the two girls standing under a tree. sunny returns the wave, looking back at abby with a small smile that's almost completely mirrored at her.

"okay. okay, i'll be there at when-it-gets darker o'clock." sunny snorts. "i'll call sebastian and tell him if sam hasn't already."

"that's perfect because i wanna go collapse into bed immediately." abby smacks sunny's shoulder and walks away.

"so damn violent today…" sunny murmurs, rubbing her shoulder as she makes for the path to the farm.

it takes only a few seconds for sebastian to pick up, sounding more like he's watching the paint dry than doing any work. when sunny lays out the plan — or whatever the half-baked idea of a bonfire on the beach she got told is — and sebastian hums along, agreeing to go as well.

"of course that had to be sam's idea, he's been talking about organising it since the last one… oof, two years ago." sebastian whistles. "that went by quick. anyway," there's a clattering sound on his end, like he knocked something over off his desk, "shit. i'll see you at when-it-gets-darker o'clock then."

"that's what i said!" sunny chirps, hearing him laugh before they hang up and she goes to figure out what snacks would be appropriate for a bonfire.

──── ˗ˏˋ ☀︎*:･ˎˊ˗  ────

as it turns out, sam has managed to, allegedly completely legally, grab a few bags of huge fist-sized marshmallows from work. sunny packs a few large bottles of her homemade peach juice, blueberry sparkling water, and some popping corn that she sectioned into foil pockets to toss into the fire. the bag is heavy on her shoulders, but she doesn't call anyone for help, instead she lets pippin out to chase creatures around the farm and sets off to the beach.

passing by miss marnie's ranch, she can hear shane's muttering as he's trying to gather a few small chicks that seem to be hell bent on giving him a hard time around the coop. sunny smiles and waves, hoping he saw her. he nods in her direction, and she releases a breath stuck in her throat. sam is just leaving the house, guitar slung across his back and his backpack on his front, nearly bursting full of food.

"is the entire republic going to be at the bonfire?" sunny teases, fixing the strap over her shoulder. sam grins back at her, mirroring her expression as he cups the bottom of his backpack, hoisting it up against his stomach.

"that's my precious child you're talking about, sunny, watch it." he snorts and tilts his head to beckon her to walk with him. haley and emily are already on the path, just passing the cemetery.

sunny feels a little bit of a chill in the air now, wishing she'd thought to bring a blanket of some kind, her grandma used to have a stack of blankets of all kinds of patterns in a dresser for the chilly nights spent out on the farm, stargazing, enjoying the shooting stars by the docks while the moonlight jellies flooded the sea with their lights. now most of them are moth-eaten, missing threads, but the warmth and comfort are still there interwoven in the fabric. they're embedded in the memories of those couple of weeks in the summer that sunny would spend picking fruit with her grandma, wiping stained fingers off the old apron around her waist, learning how to make flower crowns with her grandad, stepping up to the kitchen counter with her copper wavy hair twisted into a new style every day ready to get her small hands busy kneading homemade dough for all kinds of food that she was eager to make. haley was there too, sometimes, showing sunny her new toys while their grandmas sipped coffee together, talking about all the things that never interested the young girls, and they were much too busy anyway, making up songs and dances that they would forget come dinner time.

this summer feels much like those times. the sun here warms differently than back home in zuzu, differently even than back in her grandma's old village, as faintly as sunny remembers visiting there. the only thing that feels similar is the beach. sam and sunny cross the bridge and step onto the sand as sunny watches the fire already going, with alex poking the kindling with a long stick taken from a pile on one of the logs set in a circle.

"cold?" sam asks, nudging sunny's shoulder as they approach the circle. she shakes her head, assuming she must have shivered a little while he was filling their walk with conversation.

sunny allows herself to sink into silence when it gets dark. the fire sinks them all into warmth, people are bunching together, squeezing their butts onto the logs next to each other while sam repeats the same song over and over until someone throws an empty paper cup at him. penny goes to pick it up, walking past sunny with a slightly tipsy giggle.

"he always does this," she whispers almost conspiratorially, "he just likes to mess with us. but i like the song enough to hear it again." her breath is warm against sunny's ear, a little breeze of wine like a cloud enveloped around penny's cool shoulders. she sits by sunny a moment while abby looks over at them, sporting a little smirk on her face. sunny desperately wants to slither out of her spot, let penny and abby get a little close, a little cosy, a little comfortable together on such a pleasant night.

"i'm gonna go uhh… dip my toes in the sea." she murmurs, getting up with a little groan and taking her cup with her to the edge of the water.

the warmth and the light are behind her now, sand between her toes cold as she toes off her shoes and stuffs the socks into them. it's much colder than she thought, almost regretting moving away from the circle of song and food and drink and company. the sea reaches her ankles, quickly sending a shiver up her spine as she looks towards the lighthouse in the distance.

the last dregs of her peach juice she managed to squeeze out of the bottle into her paper cup slide down her throat too quickly, and just like that she's got an empty cup sitting uselessly in her hand. sunny never liked having empty hands, they start to fidget if they've got nothing to hold, and her restlessness often grows into subconscious bites of her lip, noticing it only when it's too late and she can already taste the copper of blood on her tongue.

tonight is under control so far, she hasn't yet said anything that could make her cringe upon reflection, even her lazy wave at shane was noted. he's just joining the group around the fire with his girlfriend next to him, the two of them taking up the last couple of free spaces on the logs.

"smoke break?"

sunny doesn't have to look to the side to know sebastian is lighting a cigarette as he stands next to her. the smoke blows to his other side, she's starting to think that he's choosing to stand on the side of her where it won't blow towards her.

"you know those cigarette-looking chewing gums that kids get?" she says, not looking away from the winking lighthouse. "i used to have those so i wouldn't feel excluded when my friends would go smoke at the university steps. i'd get a cup of really bad coffee from the coffee machine and sit with them holding one of the chewing gums. it was silly, but for a little bit i felt like i was a part of them."

"didn't wanna try the real thing?" sebastian asks. sunny shakes her head and wraps her arms around herself as best as she can, trying not to drop the empty paper cup.

"don't like the smell much, gets in my hair and i can't get it out until a couple of washes later." she wrinkles her nose. sebastian blows smoke noticeably further away from her, which makes her look towards him directly and crack a smile. "you don't have to do that."

"it's alright." sebastian puts out the cigarette into his pocket tin and shrugs his shoulders. "i kinda regret trying it in the first place. could've saved up so much money and finally fix up my bike enough."

sunny remembers seeing the motorbike once. sebastian got it a few years back really cheap from some guy in zuzu trying to get rid of it as soon as possible. she teased him then saying he was probably selling it to cover his tracks and sebastian is now holding crucial evidence for some criminal case. he found it funny, but allegedly the guy was saving money for a kid he had on the way. it was heartwarming, but the fact was that sebastian now had a motorbike that needs a lot of work, money, and time put into it. he took it on a few trips to zuzu already, making sunny's breath hitch every time he'd mention the places he went to, all the places where she used to go with her friends or by herself when she lived there. how easily they could've run into one another, maybe they had, not even knowing it.

"gonna take me for a spin with it when you do?" she teases.

"only if you promise you won't fall off." sebastian snorts, sticking his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie.

"well you best make sure i'm safe, seb."

he smiles a little softer like every time she calls him by the nickname, and blush creeps up into her round cheeks at the realisation. "you'll have to let me, then."

the wind is picking up, and their being away from the fire definitely isn't helping. sunny looks behind them, at the crowd gathered there, at sam playing a song everyone there knows and sings as they sway in the rhythm. discarded sticks with pointy ends sticky with leftovers of melted marshmallows burn in the fire, and everyone has huddled closer together — and sunny notes that abby is still sitting very close to penny — as it got late and cold. sunny flattens the empty paper cup and puts it into her pocket, ignoring the few drops of peach juice that get on her fingers.

"cold?" sebastian asks, picking up on what sunny hoped would be a subtle shiver.

sunny shakes her head, but laughs when sebastian directs a disappointed glare her way, as if he sees through her bullshit and she should try harder to deceive him. "i'm really not! just need to get back to the fire. it's just my hands that are a little cold."

she barely finishes the sentence when sebastian turns towards her and grabs her hands. his hoodie pocket is soft, and when he puts her hands into it she could close her eyes and soak up the comfort. she doesn't fidget, doesn't pull back, doesn't protest. instead, sunny holds her hands inside sebastian's pocket and just takes the gesture for the niceness that it is. the warmth makes her relax a little, and even when he does let go of her hands, she keeps them there for a little while longer, pulling them out with a small smile so they can make their way back to the fire while the cold sand sticks to her wet feet.

⋆˙⟡ burekforsatoru || do not modify, repost, or feed to AI. likes and reblogs appreciated, nice comments make your skin clear.

"she's nice i guess, why?" sunny murmurs, eyes focused on the way the pages that abby flips curl before settling on the other side, and again, and again. it's clear she's not actually reading the comic, just glancing at the artwork that she occasionally hums appreciatively at.

"no reason."

sunny pauses her hand motions, making pip warn her to continue scratching him with a quick little meow. once the cat is pleased again, she clears her throat, about to voice how she absolutely doubts there's no reason behind the question when a loud, quick knock on the front door interrupts her.

"oh, that has to be sam!" abby jumps off the bed and nearly runs over to open the door, letting sam inside to join them.

as soon as he makes his way into the bedroom, after saying hello to robin while she's finishing up in the kitchen, sam drops a truly insane amount of snacks that he has managed to pilfer from work, the crinkling of the bags of food nearly chasing pip away from his place.

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sebastian is weighing the little rubber duck in his hands… has been for the past half an hour probably, mentally going through the pros and cons list of actually saying what's on his mind. things could be so easily misconstrued if he wasn't honest, completely so, and he doesn't want a repeat of that. once in high school was enough.

is that why he usually opts for not actually voicing his feelings and opinions? probably. at some point it's less hassle to never have to explain yourself even if you have to lose out on good relationships in life. he doesn't want to come across as creepy and lose someone valuable, but he's probably too in his head about the whole thing, making it sound worse than it will when he says it to sunny. not like he has to worry about losing people in this place, though, not with abby and sam, not when he can't ever get rid of them, not when they refuse to be pushed away, no matter how much he had tried at first, not wanting to be the one getting tossed aside like a ripped up plushie when he loses his novelty.

he smashes the rubber duck against his forehead. hissing, he forces the thought out of his head. it's been a while since he had to resort to pushing everyone away at the slightest hint of losing his shiny status, and thankfully the school year ended before he could witness the result of it, but the fear lifts its ugly head every now and then, when he gets invited to things and his first instinct is to decline or overanalyse the way he got invited in the first place.

looking at the duck again, he reminds himself that it's just these losers. and sunny. and he should get his head out of his ass and get moving. he should work out the last few lines of code that have been giving him issues all of last night beforehand. so he sets that little duck on a stack of old CDs on his desk and looks it in the slightly rubbed off eyes.

"so…" he leans on his elbows, determined to have a good, useful conversation with it like he usually does. or used to do, until the duck stopped responding in his head and instead his brain started working properly whenever he'd get a chance to vent about his job to sunny. the duck is quiet again, so he groans and gets up to pace around his room.

"a curse of having good friends," he mutters, rubbing his hands over his tired face as he gives up on pacing and sits back down, cracking his knuckles, "actually wanting to leave the house to see them."

his fingers fly across the keyboard spotting mistakes and figuring out paths to fix what he's been struggling with. time flies along with his fingers, though, and before he could even take a smoke break he hears maru's quick raps on his bedroom door. his sister barely gives him time to say 'come in' because as soon as the last knock of her knuckles sounds against the door she pushes it open, walking in on sebastian's hunched over shrimp-like figure, staring at the screen way too close to be healthy.

"take a break." she says, not asking, almost commanding. he groans in return, stretching out his arms over his head and glancing at the clock on his desk. "didn't you say you had somewhere to be today?"

sebastian blinks slowly, processing what day it is and what time it is and whether he's sure he'd be welcome still. "yeah," he murmurs, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, "yeah, i'm going. why?"

maru shrugs and walks over to his bed, throwing herself onto the unmade covers with a sigh. "just wondering if you're gonna make any excuses this time too." she says it so simply, like commenting on the weather.

sebastian winces, knowing she's right, that he's been trying to make excuses to ditch his friends more time than he'd like to admit, but the habit he developed in school is so hard to break. maru pulls out a fidget toy and messes with it above her head, the smooth metal of it catches the pale sun that spills through the crack in the curtains above the bed, making sebastian squint as the gleam hits his eye.

"fine," he groans, pulling away from the light and casting one more look at the screen in front of him, "just stop playing with that shit."

"as soon as you stop talking to your silly duck." maru snorts in reply, dropping the hand that holds her fidget toy onto sebastian's bed.

he rolls his eyes, rolling over to the bed in his chair only to snatch the toy right out of maru's fingers and pretend to throw it into the trash by his desk. she's up in an instant, trying to reach it while he rolls away from her grasp, always an inch shy of getting it back.

"fine! fine, sorry i insulted your deep conversations with your rubber duck, can i get it back now?" she's out of breath, on the verge of laughter as sebastian smirks and, satisfied with his mission's result, hands her toy back.

"the duck didn't deserve your disrespect, 'ru." but the look he directs at it doesn't feel the same as before, not when he can't remember the last time it helped. the eyes are a little faded now, and the bill not as bright as it was before, mostly thanks to sebastian's hands whenever he'd turn the toy over in his hands and pretend the small thing is listening to his yammering about the latest issue with his code.

maru leaves his room muttering, but sebastian knows that she'll be on his case if he stayed at home and didn't go where he said he would. for all the good that his sister means, he really doesn't want to listen to another lecture about all the studies that she's read about how the lack of in-person quality time with friends impacts one's mental health. not again.

──── ˗ˏˋ ☀︎*:･ˎˊ˗  ────

sunny's kitchen is nearly finished when robin pokes her head through the door just to let her know she'll be out of her hair in a little bit, sparking excited shouts from her company.

now, sam is sprawled out on the floor, absentmindedly stroking pippin's back while the chunky cat makes biscuits on his chest.

"your nails are fucked up." abby mutters while examining sunny's hands, finally giving up on reading her palm after one too many times that she pulled her hand away accusing abby of tickling her.

"i run a farm, abbs." sunny chuckles, immediately checking her fingers to get any dirt from under her nails. "painting them is pointless, learned that this as soon as i moved in."

challenged by the mere suggestion, abby darts to the drawer of sunny's makeshift vanity table to dig out an old bottle of nail polish that she brings back to the bed, kicking over sam's foot as she walks by him. he barely even seems to notice, lying on the floor with his eyes closed and resting after lengthy bitching about the way his shift went. sunny's lost track of how many times he has mentioned nearly getting fired, had it not been for shane's reluctant involvement in saving his ass but also the lack of people willing to fill his position. she remembers seeing her friends after shifts of their part-time jobs during university, it always had her count her lucky stars that she managed to snag a good and comfortable job at a friend's coffee shop where the only problems would arise if her thoughts were scattered during exam seasons.

"i still wanna do a makeover on you one day," abby says, dragging sunny's hand back onto her lap to start painting her nails, "maybe for our first gig you'll let me have fun. as a treat."

sunny scoffs, making no promises, but she doesn't decline the offer either, knowing that, in the end, abby will do what she wants, and it might even be fun to get a little more put together for this hypothetical gig of theirs. as far as sunny's informed, they haven't even reached out to any venues yet, so far stuck on deciding what their first song should be called.

"gig?" sam snaps out of it, suddenly propping himself up on his elbows so quickly that poor pip grips onto his shirt for balance. "we have a gig?"

"what, no." abby turns her head to him so he can see the eye roll he's earned while sunny tries not to laugh and knock over the nail polish. "i'm just saying, when we do have one sunny is letting me do her make-up and dress her up."

"i didn't say that." sunny murmurs.

"didn't have to, it's implied. you'll love it."

"can i get my make-up done, too?" sam raises his hand like a shy student, making abby's mouth stretch into a wide grin.

"hell. fucking. yes."

the snacks brought over from joja mart are quickly disappearing, the bags of chips and gummy bears moving across the bed from sam's hand to abby's, then to sunny's while she fed abby chip by chip as she was busy not messing up the second coat of nail polish. sam occasionally hums a melody that abigail tries to follow by drumming with her fingers on sunny's leg, only sometimes getting her fingers attacked by the cat, who's clearly feeling snubbed for attention.

robin's quick little knock on the bedroom door makes all three heads snap up, the conversation halting like they're caught conspiring together.

"sunshine, i'm all done. not to brag but," at that she chuckles, and sam is already scrambling to his feet, abby hot on his heels pushing past robin at the door to have a look, "these may be the nicest cabinets i've ever done."

sunny slowly slides off the bed and, careful not to smudge the still tacky coat on her nails, goes to accept robin's outstretched arms, slotting into a hug that goes from slightly reserved and cold to tight and kind. she feels robin's chin on her shoulder, the stretch of her mouth into a wide grin when she finally relaxes and accepts affection.

"thank you." sunny says quietly, pulling away and turning to face the kitchen.

"come here, i gotta show you something." robin pulls her by the hand and goes around sam and abby to the corner of the counter space where there's a piece of the old counter, looking almost like it grew into the walls of the house and had everything else built around it. "your grandma painted these." she showed sunny a faint cluster of daisies painted on a section of the counter top. "she would always draw daisies in birthday cards and when she helped evelyn with the decorations for festivals. thought i'd save this piece for you, so i just put some clear coating over it, looks like it should be as strong as the rest of the elements."

"no waaaaay! these are so nice!" abby gasps when she joins them to look at the counter, then observes the rest of the corner. "robin… the cabinets… damn!"

robin gives her a smile that's supposed to pass as bashful, but sunny can tell it's not, instead, she quietly thanks her again, running her fingers over the painted details and the carved vines trailing along the edges of the deep brown panels. mossy green tiles along the wall make the kitchen so comfortable, the rain bouncing off the window completing the atmosphere.

"i'll leave you kids be, feel free to test out everything new you've got now. best to find out immediately if anything needs fixing." she winks at them and goes to pack up her things. "i'm overdue for a long hot bath, my arms and back are killing."

as if on cue, she groans as she stands up straight and stretches her arms above her head. most of robin's things are already in the truck parked right outside of sunny's house, making the jog in the rain as short as possible, so sunny walks her to the door and hugs her one more time when the woman pulls her into her embrace, pressing a brief kiss into her hair. "really glad i got to do this for you, sunshine, i remember how vibrant your grandma kept this place. there's a lot of her in you, i can feel it. i know you'll do well."

with a warm smile, she pulls away, and opens the door to almost collide with sebastian.

"sebby!" she exclaims, pulling him by his sleeve into a lingering hug while his arms stick out before he remembers what to do with them.

"mum… i've… lemme go i need to put this out!" he murmurs into her shoulder, trying not to singe her with the lit end of his cigarette.

"sorry, sorry." she pulls away, stepping aside to walk out of the farm house and run to the truck.

sunny stands at the door watching as sebastian fiddles with the small tin he puts the cigarette into and then leaves the umbrella on the porch, letting it drip onto the floorboards along with abby's umbrella.

"hey." sebastian exhales, a little winded from the walk.

"hey." sunny smiles softly, stepping aside to let him in.

he runs a hand through his hair, his eyes immediately falling on the excited duo chatting in the kitchen. they don't even notice he's there yet, so he's just standing in the hallway, taking his time toeing off the black boots by the door while sunny stands with him taking a moment without witnesses, thinking about what robin has just said to her on the way out.

"kitchen done?" he asks, more just to prompt her to speak, still keeping one hand in his hoodie pocket almost like taking it out will irreparably change the world around him.

sunny nods, making no move to leave the hallway, not when standing there with sebastian feels natural, he's not making a move either, making her presence feel welcome even in her own house… which is still odd to think about, that her name is on the deed just like her grandma intended, that there have been no issues with getting the keys and changing her address in all her documents, making the move all the more real and not just a far-fetched fantasy.

"work done?" she leans her back against the wall, shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket, only realising she's subconsciously copying his stance when he looks down at her hidden hands and smirks.

"eh… more or less." he pulls his hand out and looks at the little rubber duck he took with him. sunny remembers seeing it in his room where it usually sits on a stack of CDs so it would be eye-level with him when he sits in his chair. "why," he continues, "ya missed me?"

she clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes, to which he just laughs. not too loudly, not enough to alert sam and abby in the kitchen where they took it upon themselves to start sorting stuff back into the cupboards. "you brought a toy for pip? because he will find a way to get it into his mouth if you're not careful."

"that's actually for you." he quickly says, handing her the small duck.

sunny blinks a few times before raising her eyebrow and reaching to take it from his hand. she's trying to piece together information that isn't even relevant, but the collage in her mind is coming up shapeless, making no sense. like he's feeling the question in her silence, sebastian clears his throat and puts both hands into his pocket, this time mirroring her stance as he leans back against the wall opposite her.

"it's not… working anymore." he admits. "basically… when i'm talking to you about some things i end up just figuring it out, feels like you're really listening and somehow that externalisation helps me get to where i need to be. and i know sometimes i don't make much sense…" sunny scoffs lightly, he can say that again, the last time she caught him on his smoke break by the lake he ended up talking about what was bothering him with work and then just ended up jumping to his feet and going back to finish whatever he had been doing, thanking her for advice while he sped off back home. even though she hadn't even said anything. "… okay yeah you don't have to agree that fast."

"technically i didn't say anything."

"smartass." sebastian chuckles, running a hand through his hair again when it starts poking his eye. "i'm being serious, though. you really are like a rubber duck, in the best way possible."

sunny cracks a smile looking at the little toy in her hand, turning it over to see where the markings have been rubbed off already. "i mean… thanks, but it's not like… a problem or something."

"didn't think it was."

"i just like hanging out with you," sunny continues before she can think better of it, "and it feels nice, you know? like, when you talk like that it feels like you trust me."

sebastian pushes off the wall but doesn't make any steps towards her. "i do trust you, that's why i can't stop talking when i'm around you." it makes sunny smile a little wider, so she pockets the little duck and pushes off the wall as well.

"i hope you don't stop." she says. "i won't perch on your desk like this duck, but i like listening."

"alright, ducky." sebastian chuckles, making the first move in leaving the comfortable bubble of the hallway, stepping towards the kitchen. "you better not hold out on me either."

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