Still don't own Stardew, just the plot and OC.
The trip back up the mountain to Sebastian's house was quiet, and quick. Sebastian's heart was racing and he was struggling to gather his thoughts. There was so much swirling around in there all at once, thoughts about the junimos and magic being fucking real, thoughts about Mariah and what else was going to happen with this interaction, and overall a hope that they would make it into the house and into his room without running into any of his family members. That wish was almost granted, Robin called to him when she heard the door. He hastily whispered to Mariah to go to his room and that he'd meet her there. He went and said hello, grabbed a plate of food, and quickly made it to the basement. Mariah was standing, studying something that was on his wall. She didn't even turn to look at him when he entered the room. After the plate was placed on the table, he double checked to make sure the door was locked and got out his weed.
"Mariah?" she turned to look at him, "Did you want some?" he asked holding up the bag.
"Yeah, sounds good," she agreed.
"Okay, um what's your preferred method?"
"Whatever is good with me," she shrugged, "I'm not picky."
Sebastian decided that a joint would probably be the best option, and quickly rolled two. He wasn't sure if she would actually want to share one with him, or how much they would need, so two seemed like a good choice. He could always save the second one if they didn't smoke it.
Mariah sat down at the table, and picked at the bean hotpot and crispy bass, which was the first time that Sebastian took notice of what the food actually was.
"Oh sorry," Mariah said after swallowing, wiping her hand on her, "I should have asked. I guess I'm just hungry."
"It's fine, I really don't mind sharing," Sebastian said, "Speaking of sharing?" He held up the joints.
"Yeah I don't need a whole joint for myself at the moment. I'll risk your cooties," Mariah chuckled. Sebastian attempted to hand her one of the joints and a lighter, "Oh you follow the rules huh? That's okay, you can start. I think you're in more of a need. I'm just doing it for fun."
"Thanks," Sebastian mumbled, lighting up himself. Mariah continued to pick quietly at the food, watching him, "So…junimos…"
"Aren't they cute?" she smiled, taking the joint this time as he passed it to her.
"Well yeah," Sebastian agreed, "But that's not really a point of interest for me. Their existence however, that I'm interested in."
Mariah exhaled her smoke, coughing a bit, "Honestly I'm not really sure how much of a help I'm going to be with this. I think I pretty well covered what I understand about the situation. You'll have to give me some specific questions, and even then half the time I'll be probably guessing."
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" He asked.
"Because it sounds fucking crazy Sebastian," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "If you're having this hard of a time with this imaging only knowing me for like two weeks and me trying to get you to listen to me. And you're open minded. Most people in this town seem to be completely oblivious to all the magical shit that goes on around here. There is a fucking wizard living here and how'd you describe him? The weird old guy living in the tower? And if you'd never been in the mines before how much would you believe me about the monsters?"
"Okay you've got a good point," he agreed.
"And you can't tell anyone by the way," she said firmly, "I guess I should have said that before."
"Oh trust me, people already think I'm weird enough, why would I add fuel to that fire?" Sebastian passed the joint back to Mariah and also picked at the food, "What kinds of stuff are they asking for? In the bundles that is."
"Um well the boiler room was all stuff from the mines. Metal bars, monster gunk, quartz, that kind of stuff. The broken fish tank is all fish, one room is just straight up money. I'm working on that one, but a girl's gotta make a living, so it's slow going. The one you saw, well kind of saw, is for like people, which I don't fully understand. There's pictures of Gus, Emily, the wizard, Marnie, and Demetrius. They all need different stuff. Marnie's makes sense, it's hay and wheat and apples. The one I finished today was for the wizard, who I don't really know all that well so it didn't make a ton of sense to me. Gus's is all food stuff. One of the other rooms is all crops, there's stuff for foraging things. It's all organized, but it's still super random to me. Maybe it will make more sense once the community center is fixed up," she explained, taking a hit once she was done talking.
"Okay, so let me review this so I can understand. Lewis lets you into the community center. You see junimos, he calls them rats, everything looks alien, the wizard gives you a potion and you can understand them. You give them the stuff they're asking for in these bundles and once the bundle is done they give you a gift. When a group of bundles is done they fix up that space in the community center, and something around town- you think. You have no idea what they're doing with the things you're giving them in the bundles, but they just disappear into the hut. Did I get that right?" He asked.
Mariah nodded her head and once she exhaled again she spoke, "That about sums it up"
"Fuck Riah. What other secrets do you have?"
"Plenty I'm sure," she smirked.
"You weren't kidding. This is fucking crazy," he sighed, "Why tell me?"
"Honestly? I think I was just sick of holding this all in to myself. It's been a lot. Move to a brand new place where I not only do I not know anyone, but I also basically have no idea what the fuck I'm doing and I'm just kind of learning as I go. I go into a cave and fight some monsters so I can get some ore so that I can get better tools so that doing the shit that I'm just figuring out is slightly less difficult, and then have this weird magical interaction that I can't say a word to anyone about because who the hell knew magic was real and I don't want all of these people I'm just getting to know to think I'm completely bonkers. I've been doing so Yoba-damned much since I moved in here that I have literally passed out a couple of times, which I take full ownership for. No one is making me do what I'm doing except myself, but I'm just trying to navigate a lot of stuff right now and it's been overwhelming. I mean really, I think that's why I go out of my way to talk to people sometimes because people are relatively predictable and as much as I value my alone time, I've gotten fucking lonely. Zuzu was different, I still got lonely at times, but I could basically walk out my door and find someone to interact with, it was just all so fucking meaningless," Mariah took a breath, "So I guess to answer your question now that I've gone on this long tirade, is because I was overflowing and I needed to share with a friend so I didn't feel so alone with everything I've been dealing with."
"Fuck," Sebastian breathed when he was sure she was done, "I had no idea. You always seem so together. I didn't realize what a hard time you were having."
Mariah sighed, "I'm sorry for dumping all of that on you. I really am mostly together now, but at this point I just feel like I've been here for way longer than I actually have because of all the work I've put in. I'm happy, I really am. I don't regret my decision at all, but I did completely overwhelm myself. I didn't know what to expect, and I've just taken on a lot of different things to find where I fit in. I mostly know what I want, but I guess everything sort of built up while I was trying to figure it out."
"Well from personal experience I can tell you that holding all of that in your head fucking sucks. I'm sorry that you felt so alone," Sebastian said softly.
"Thanks," Mariah said, "I didn't really plan on getting into all of that, but apparently I needed to. I feel different. Better. And I'm pretty sure the weed hasn't hit me yet."
Sebastian laughed, "You've listened to me before, it was my turn. I'm glad I could help. And I'm glad you shared the junimos with me. I'm still adjusting to the idea, but it's pretty fucking cool to be honest."
Would you have listened if it was anyone else though?
Mariah smiled, "Can we just like chill for a while now? Or was there more?"
Sebastian shook his head, "Chilling sounds good," Now you just need to not fuck it up, "We should probably finish the food before it gets cold and gross though."
"Mmm true," she said popping a bean into her mouth.
They ate and smoked until the food and joint were both gone.
"Oh hey," Sebastian said, "Do you play Solarian Chronicles?"
"I had friends in Zuzu that played, but I never played with them."
"Do you want to play with me and Sam sometime?"
"Sure, I'll give it a shot. I don't know how good I'll be, but I'm up for it. And I trust you to give me hints like you do with pool."
Sebastian laughed, "Definitely."
"Is that a bathroom?" Mariah pointed to the door.
"Yeah," Sebastian said.
"Do you want to get a movie ready or something while I go pee?"
"Sure. What do you want to watch?"
"I trust your judgement," Mariah smiled, "Just keep in mind that I may get silly when the weed really kicks in."
She disappeared into the bathroom and Sebastian grabbed his laptop. He was getting a low-budget cheesy alien movie ready when she came back out. He started situating the laptop on the table when she sat on his bed, with her back against the headboard. She patted the spot next to her. Sebastian hesitated. Oh Yoba, that would be a lot of physical contact, for an entire movie. Can you handle that?
"I promise I won't bite," she said at his hesitation, "I mean if you're not comfortable with it we can sit somewhere else."
"No it's ok," Sebastian said, still apprehensive. He brought the laptop with him and squeezed in next to her. His heart was pounding again as they made contact. Her holding his hand in the community center was one thing, but this was much more than that. He was positive she would be able to hear the pounding in his chest and his now irregular breathing, so he quickly hit play on the movie hoping that would keep her attention until he got himself under control. If he ever got himself under control.
Part way through, Mariah groaned, "Uggg I hate it when they try to explain the fake science behind this stuff. Just let my imagination accept, believe, and enjoy what's happening in front of me without trying to have it make sense."
"Yeah," Sebastian agreed, "No one who enjoys these movies cares that they don't make sound scientific sense."
Sebastian realized that he'd fantasized about this moment not that long ago. He glanced at Mariah's face, and sure enough her eyes were still sparkling, just like he'd imagined. He wanted to kiss her, oh Yoba did he want to kiss her. The weed helped him relax, but he was not bold enough to even consider such behavior. Because you'd kiss her and she'd hate it and you'd fuck this all up, whatever this even is.
He tried to refocus his attention on the movie, wanting to brush those thoughts from his mind.
"You know how you call me Riah?" she asked, and Sebastian realized she was looking at him and not the screen.
"Uh-huh"
"And that's like your nickname. No one else calls me that. In fact I don't even think you've said it in front of anyone else. But like everyone calls you Seb, or Sebby."
"You noticed?"
Mariah ignored him and continued, "But what if I give you my own nickname? Because legit, those nicknames don't cover the most badass part of your name."
"What?"
"Bash! Se-Bash-tin," she giggled, "And I refuse if you want me to call you Tin."
"Well I really don't want to you to call me Tin," he agreed, "That is fucking terrible."
"It really is," she laughed, and Sebastian started laughing too, "Tin," she repeated, "Can you imagine?"
"Ugg, no. Please never say that again," Well here's the silliness I guess.
"So Bash? Huh? I can be your Riah, and you can be my Bash."
"Okay," he said, still laughing, "Riah and Bash"
Mariah laughed more, "That sounds like the title of some terrible sitcom cop duo or some shit. But you'd have to be the bad cop, cause your name is Bash, get it?"
"Oh Yoba," Sebastian kept laughing until there was a noise upstairs.
"Oh fuck," Mariah whispered, "Are we being too loud?"
"I don't know, but be quiet just in case."
"Okay," she whispered back, miming locking her mouth closed.
There was no further noises, and Sebastian relaxed a little. His family didn't know Mariah was here, and despite being an adult who could make his own life choices, he didn't want them to know. Plus it was getting late. He'd have to sneak her out after the movie to make sure not to wake anyone else up.
When the credits were rolling, Sebastian closed his laptop and put it back in his desk where it was stored.
"Hey Bash?" Mariah said softly, sitting at the edge of his bed, "Is it okay if I crash here tonight? It's late and I'm about ready to pass out."
Well that put a damper on his plans, "Um, yeah I guess." I guess it's just going to be an early morning sneak out instead.
"Thanks," she said.
"You can take the bed," he said, "I can sleep on the floor."
"Sebastian, I'm not making you sleep on the floor," Mariah said.
"Well you're not sleeping on the floor," Sebastian said, "Your my guest."
"So I was more thinking that we could just share the bed," Mariah said, "I mean I know it's not huge, but we can fit okay for one night. We were fine for the movie right?"
"Um…"
"It's either that or I'm sleeping on the floor."
He sighed, "Fine. We can share. But only because I know you're a stubborn jackass."
"And so are you."
"Do you want some pajamas or something?" he asked ignoring her comment.
"Umm…maybe?"
"Maybe? I'm pretty sure that's a yes or no question."
"Well um, it sounds more comfortable, but I'm not sure that I would fit into any of your clothes. Well pants anyway, a shirt might be okay. I don't know if you've notice, but I've got some more curves than your lanky butt does."
Oh I've noticed alright. Please don't remind me. "Well you can try if you want? I've got some looser stuff…"
"You know I'm pretty sure I've never seen you in anything other than black skinny jeans, so I'm not really sure that I believe that you own pajamas."
"Do you know how uncomfortable it would be to sleep in skinny jeans?"
"Just give me the pajamas. I want to go to sleep."
Sebastian dug around his draws and found a baggy pair of pajama pants with frogs on them, and a loose tee shirt. He handed them to Mariah, who took them into the bathroom. He waited for her to come out, not wanting to risk her walking in on him changing. The swapped, and when he got out of the bathroom, Mariah was already in the bed, right up against the wall. He flipped off the light and got into the bed next to her.
"Good night Bash," she whispered.
"Good night Riah," he whispered back.
Sebastian realized that this was the first time he'd ever shared his bed with a girl before. In fact, this was the first time he'd shared a bed with someone since sleepovers with Sam when they were young. Oh fuck. Whatever you do, don't get a boner. It was going to be a long night.