The plot and OC are mine, I just enjoy Stardew without ownership.

Mariah had long been sound asleep, her breathing soft and slow, before Sebastian's brain eventually shut off and he fell asleep himself. He'd been consumed with thoughts of I can't believe this is happening. How the fuck am I going to get her out in the morning? What if we don't wake up early enough? Should I set an alarm? I should set an alarm. Wait no, what if someone else hears it? That won't work. She's still asleep right? No, no don't look at her, if she's not asleep she'll think you're a creep who's just staring at her. How is this happening right now? What if she's pissed when she wakes up in the morning? She's going to be mad that she stayed, she's going to regret the whole night and not talk to you ever again. But Yoba does she smell good. No, no, don't think about that. No boners. Can you get a boner just from a smell? But this isn't just a smell, she's right there. Your bodies are touching. No, no, no, stop, no boners!

He had no idea what time it was when he finally fell asleep, but he knew it was late. A while later, Sebastian woke up to Mariah groaning and mumbling in her sleep. Her arm was draped over his body, and their faces were inches from each other. He blinked his eyes a few times, her face was all scrunched up and she looked upset about something, but he couldn't make out what she was mumbling. What time is it? Is she having a nightmare? Should I wake her up? Is it time to get up anyway? He realized his best course of action was to figure out what time it was in the first place. He tried to pull away gingerly so as not to disturb her sleep in case it was too early to get up yet, even if she was having a nightmare. He was however, unsuccessful because as soon as her arm was no longer in contact with his body her eyes fluttered, and she groaned, stretching.

"Uh sorry," he mumbled, "Didn't mean to wake you up."

"S'okay," she said groggily, rubbing her eyes, "What time is it?"

"That's what I was going to check," he explained, grabbing his phone from the table, "It's 4."

"Mmm, I can sleep for a little longer then," she said snuggling back into his pillow.

"Yeah," he agreed, "A bit"

"Well come back to bed Bash," she said, eyes still fluttering.

Sebastian got back into bed and she snuggled back into him, the contact of her body against his, sending electric shocks through his core.

"Uh, Riah?" He asked softly.

"Yeah?" she said, eyes closed.

"Were you having a bad dream?"

"Yeah," she said, opening her eyes slightly, "Was I talking? Sorry, that happens sometimes."

"Mumbling," he explained, "Your face was all scrunched up like you were scared."

"Yeah," she said again, "Sorry for waking you."

"It's okay. I'm a light sleeper," he paused, "Um. How are you just ready to go back to sleep after that?"

"I realized I wasn't actually there, that I was still here, and I was safe," She answered before yawning, "Can we go back to sleep now?"

"Mmmhmm"

Sebastian did look at her this time, soaking in her features in the dark. He was not usually a fan of physical contact, and couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much contact period let alone for such a long span of time. It was probably when he was young and he would cuddle up with his mom was he was scared or sick. This was a level of intimacy that he wasn't really sure he was ready for. He wasn't uncomfortable with it per say, but it was intimidating. All things equal, he was dreading the moment when it would end. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe through the anxiety he could feel building inside himself. He truly hated this part of himself, he really wanted to be able to enjoy the moment and just relax, or Yoba forbid sleep, but he just couldn't. He knew it was deep down in there, but it was masked by his anxious energy. Someday, he promised himself, someday I will be able to enjoy this.

He did calm down enough to drift off to sleep, but it was short lived. His eyes shot open with Mariah straddling him.

"Oh Yoba," Mariah stammered, "I'm sorry, I was trying to not wake you up and my legs are short." She moved quickly so she was off the bed, and backed up into the table, "Oh!"

"Are you okay?" Sebastian asked, sitting up.

"Yeah, I just… I'm gonna go change," Mariah fumbled around in the dark, bumping into things, "Shit."

Sebastian got up and flipped the light switch on. They both blinked and rubbed their eyes at the sudden invasion of light. He looked over at Mariah, who was completely crimson and looking down. He hadn't actually looked at her in his pajamas last night, but he was struck by how cute she was. He also realized that she was not wearing a bra and her nipples were hard, poking into the fabric of his shirt.

"Sebastian, I ugggg," She groaned, "I am so sorry."

Fuck, she does regret everything. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"No," Sebastian said.

"What?" She looked at him, baffled.

"I mean, don't be sorry," he said, even if it wasn't quite what he meant.

"I need to get dressed. I need to leave you alone. I've imposed and made such a mess of things and I dumped so much onto you last night and that isn't fair," Mariah rambled, looking like she was about to cry.

"Riah, I won't lie. It was definitely weird, and out of my comfort zone, but I don't regret it. If that helps at all," Sebastian said, "I'm not ready for that on a regular basis, but I can handle one weird night."

Her shoulders relaxed, "Okay, I can accept that. I do still need to get out of here. And you need to sleep. That I'm still sorry about, I shouldn't have made you uncomfortable like that."

"S'okay," he shrugged as she went into the bathroom. He stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself. He picked up his phone and checked the time. 5:14. Okay, it's still early. No one will be up yet.

She was only in his bathroom for a short period, coming out looking slightly disheveled, but still very much like herself. She handed him his pajamas that she had borrowed in a folded up pile, "I don't know how to say thank you enough Bash. I still feel guilty about it, but last night meant a lot to me."

"Someday you can return the favor," he said, placing the folded clothes on his bed.

"Happy to," she said, before heading to the door.

"Wait let me go up first, to make sure no one is up yet," Sebastian said, cutting in front of her. He went most of the way up the steps, before poking his head back down, "C'mon up."

It was raining out, Sebastian went to pull on his shoes.

"What are you doing?" she whispered at him.

"It's raining," he gestured, "I'm going to walk you home under the umbrella."

Mariah rolled her eyes, "No. That's very sweet, but no. You've done enough. You need to go sleep. I know you well enough to know despite how fine you're saying everything is that I made you anxious yesterday, and you look exhausted so I'm guessing you didn't sleep. Well didn't sleep much. I did my fair share of waking you up."

"It's fine," he grumbled, "Really.."

"No Sebastian," she firmly cut him off, "Not really. Please, for me, just go back to sleep. I'm going to go take care of my animals and do the same thing. Last night was crazy. I slept better than you did and I'm still tired."

"But," he started again, and her glare stopped that train of thought, "At least take my umbrella."

"Nah," she shook her head, "I like the rain just fine."

"Fine," he sighed, "I give up."

"Good," she smiled, "Thank you again. Truly. Next time, less crazy shit, with the underrated adult sleep over managed better. And I'll see if I can still do my smoke ring trick."

Sebastian returned the smile, he walked out the door with her and stood under the overhang. He watched her spin around in the rain before heading up the road. He went back inside and flopped onto his bed. It smelled like a mixture of weed and Mariah, which was very comforting to him. He snuggled up, missing the warmth from her body. It was infuriating to him that it'd been so fucking difficult to be that close to her and yet now that she was gone he was longing for her return. He wondered how the night would have played out if he hadn't been so anxious. Would he have kissed her? He laughed to himself, thinking of his new nickname, wondering if it would have come about if she hadn't been stoned. Then, of course, he found himself wondering if it meant anything.

She keeps commenting on what a good friend you are. Maybe that's just it, she was just high and gave her friend a funny nickname because you gave her a nickname and she felt like she needed to have one too. She was so uncomfortable this morning too. She wanted to get out of here. Badly. She was trying to leave without even waking you. She even said, she needed to leave you alone. That's why she didn't want you to walk her home, because she needed to get away from you. She was so upset being around you that she almost started crying this morning. She's beautiful, and brave, and bold, and has a fucking magical bond with junimos. You would have thought you were seeing things if the tables had been turned and would have left, not giving the building a second thought. Why would she want to spend her time with someone like that? Someone who lives in the basement of his mother's house and had to sneak around with his so called friend because he didn't want to have to talk to his family about it.

Then a small voice in the back of his head said, Because she gets it.

Sebastian suddenly became painfully aware of how tired he actually was. He checked the time on his phone again 5:53. He groaned and buried himself in his blankets, sleep finally finding him.