Potential

Abigail woke while the world was still dark, the light from the rising sun only a glimmer of grey on the horizon. Groping to find Sam's face, she brought her lips to his to kiss him gently awake. Though they could not see each other, Abigail could tell that Sam was smiling. "We should head back to town before our parents notice we were out all night," the amethyst-haired woman whispered into her boyfriend's ear.

Sam hunkered down into the couch cushions in protest. "I told my mom I might stay the night at Sebby's…" he groaned, still only half awake. "Besides, you're a really warm blanket," he pulled her close.

"Yeah, but I doubt you mentioned I'd be here." The pale woman tapped his cheek obnoxiously. "You know my mom's been suspicious of us lately." She sat up, sliding off Sam's body. "Do you really want my mom telling your mom she suspects we've been having sex?" Abigail pestered Sam. "Especially after you promised your mom we'd be careful?"

"We have been careful…" he muttered, burying his head under his pillow. Though muffled, Sam added, "And we're grown-ass adults having a completely rated-G sleepover at a friend's house."

"That doesn't mean our parents are any less likely to kill us if they find out we've been sneaking out at night!" Abigail hissed, gathering her things by the light of her phone.

Sam grumbled, but eventually rose to a seated position. He blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before stretching to better wake himself. As he stood he shouldered his bag and slowly began turning the knob to head upstairs.

"Wait!" Abigail breathed, heading toward the bookshelf on eastern wall of the room. "Didn't you say Sebastian hid something really quickly when you came over to play Solarion Chronicles?"

Sam smirked at his girlfriend's way of thinking. "Now's our chance to see what he was so embarrassed about…" he chuckled, creeping toward the bookshelf as well. He squatted down next to Abigail and gradually lifted away the books to see if they would discover what Sebastian had been so eager to hide from his best friend.

Abigail spotted a small box in the empty space Sam just cleared and flashed her phone's light onto it directly. The two clapped their hands over their mouths to suppress their laughter. "Oh, man…" the amethyst-haired woman tittered. "That's awfully ambitious for a guy who can hardly talk to a girl without blushing."

Sam nabbed the box. "We'll just borrow these…" he informed Abigail with a smirk. "But just to be safe…" he opened the carton and pulled out a single packet. "We'll leave one for them in case they get crazy," he said, shoving his hand into the void on the shelf and dropping the wrapper.

"Sam! You can't just take those!"

The blond gave Abigail a look. "Do you really think he's going to have a use for them in the next half a season? You said so yourself that it's 'ambitious' of him." He replaced the books on the bookcase. "Besides, we're almost out and I'll replace them after my appointment with Doctor Harvey next season. It's fine."

Abigail's expression twisted as she agonized over the issue, but she had to admit Sam had a point. And it's not like she wanted to go to Doctor Harvey for more on a day that was not her for her annual appointment. Her mom would find out somehow. "Just don't forget, okay?"

He planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'm not that terrible a friend, Abi. I won't leave Sebastian hanging," he vowed as he hoisted himself up and offered Abigail a hand up.

Sam slinked toward the door and slowly turned the knob to exit the room as quietly as possible, so as not to wake Sebastian and Violet. "Now let's get you home…"

Shane sat in the living room of Emily's house, waiting for the sapphire-haired woman to be ready to drive to ZuZu City. On the coffee table lay a fashion magazine, its pages opened to a particular section face-down on the flat surface. At this point the chicken farmer was almost bored enough to open it. Almost.

The click of an opened door came from behind him and Shane turned to see Haley, dressed in pink, rather than her usual blue today. She grabbed the car keys from the table that housed the globe in the back corner of the room and her heels clacked against the hardwood floor as headed for the door. "Come on, loser," she told the visitor. "I'm driving you today."

Shane paled. He never spent any significant length of time with Haley one-on-one, only little chats here and there. How would a drive to and from the city work out for them? "Is something wrong with Emily?"

Haley lowered the over-sized sunglasses down her nose, revealing her bright blue eyes. "I wanted to go shopping in ZuZu today, so I offered to drive," she explained, pushing up shades back into place and reaching up to tie her curly blonde hair into a bun atop her head. "Now c'mon, or we're going to be late."

"You do know this session is only an hour, right?" Shane doubted that Haley would get everything done in the allotted time.

The blonde smirked, "Well, after that you'll be free to help me carry my bags!" she tittered excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Now, let's go!" She opened the front door and exited her domicile, making sure to check that Shane followed.

Shane glanced back into the house, as if he were hopeful this was a prank and Emily would come out of her room at any moment. Alas, no such luck. He closed the door behind him and fell into step beside Haley.

"Just make sure we're back by 4," Shane sighed in defeat, knowing fully well this was a low-key kidnapping. "I promised Jas we'd have a tea party."

Haley shook her head, the bun atop her head bouncing slightly. "I already worked it out with Jas yesterday," the blonde assured the child's godfather. "You've been rescheduled."

"What did you say to her?" Shane had to know.

The woman in the pink tank top and matching mini skirt grinned. "I just told her that I wanted to borrow my sister's boyfriend to give him some style tips."

Shane practically choked at the comment and whipped his head around to make sure no one had heard before pulling Haley away from the path to speak to her. "What are you talking about?" the tenant farmer inquired in hushed alarm. "I haven't asked Emily out!"

Haley raised her sunglasses to rest on the crown of her head since they were in the shade. "Yet," she stated confidently, crossing her arms over her chest. "I saw you standing outside our house yesterday morning with a bouquet," the amateur photographer informed the man in front of her. "As soon as I came to answer the door - and I made more noise than normal rather than surprise you." The blonde placed her hands on her hips and leaned toward him. "You chickened out and ran off!"

The dark-haired man flushed, self-conscious that he had been caught. "You… didn't tell Emily, did you?"

"I'm a bitch, not a monster," Haley replied with a scoff, lowering her shade back onto her face and heading toward the car. "Like hell I'm going to ask my sister out for you."

Demetrius stood in the kitchen, trying to determine the location of the missing coffee pot. It was not in its usual place on the machine or in the drying rack. The scientist ran a hand through his coarse hair and massaged his scalp, replaying the events of yesterday in his mind in the hopes it might give him a hint. Come to think of it, Sebastian usually had coffee when he finally emerged from his room in the afternoons so he could continue wasting time surfing the web after a strong, caffeinated cup.

Yesterday, however, that had not been the case. Come to think of it, had he even seen Sebastian at all yesterday? Perhaps he brought the coffee pot downstairs so he would not have to leave his room. The boy practically lived in his room. Demetrius could not understand that kind of life for the life of him. There was so much of the world to discover and his step-son somehow seemed over it all after hardly witnessing any wonders of the natural world.

Still, if there was one thing they both shared, it was a need for a caffeinated beverage to stimulate the mind. Demetrius was not going to be denied his hot cup of joe. So he descended the stairs into the basement to ask Sebastian the location of the missing coffee pot. He tapped on the door. "Sebastian, I'm coming in," the man alerted the room's occupant. "I need to grab the coffee pot."

No answer. Did Sebastian really sleep so soundly that an auditory stimulus would not stir him to consciousness? The researcher sighed and turned the knob to enter the room and found himself in near-complete darkness. The sun only shone from behind the curtain, giving the rectangular panels a border of white around them. Demetrius' mahogany eyes scanned the room, trying to find a glint of the reflective glass - the object of his search. But nothing. There was not enough light to see the items in the room. He would need to open a curtain.

Demetrius attempted to be considerate and at least open the curtain above the bookshelf, rather than over Sebastian's bed. The second curtain would have been too much of a hassle anyway, now that he thought about it. Pulling back the panel furthest from the bed so not to disturb Sebastian, his foot landed on something crinkly as he stepped away from the shelf. Demetrius, concerned that he broke whatever it was, bent over to pick up the mystery item. Upon inspection, however, the man immediately recognized an unopened condom. He frowned and pinched the neat square between his thumb and forefinger. The scientists' attention, now drawn toward movement on the bed, registered two sleeping forms. Demetrius drew back the other curtain panel to better see before he made his presence known. "Sebastian, what is the meaning of this?!"

Sebastian jolted awake, accidentally smacking Violet as he catapulted into an upright position on the bed. The farmer cried out in surprise more than pain and propped herself up against the wall. The two young people in bed realized it was Demetrius, standing caddy corner to bedpost, addressing them. His step-son's face instantly twisted in anger. "What the hell are you doing barging into my room so early?"

"I demand to know the meaning of this," Demetrius reiterated, gesturing at Violet, who stared at the older man, wide-eyed and stunned.

"Everyone stayed too late in the mines last night, so we all crashed in my room," Sebastian explained, his exasperation thick in his tone. "What the hell does it matter who stays in my room overnight?"

Demetrius crossed his arms. "There are only the two of you here, so your story is not backed by the evidence," he retorted in an accusatory manner. "And then you have one of these on the floor!" He tossed a small packet onto the bed. "So it matters to me a lot!"

Violet and Sebastian both noticed that Demetrius was correct. Sam and Abigail were gone. The young woman flushed lobster red when she recognized the condom on the bed. She was about to stutter a denial when Sebastian rose to his feet to confront Demetrius.

"What the fuck does it matter to you?!" Sebastian roared furiously, balling his fists at his side. "You just waltz into my room and jump to the first conclusion that pops into your head." He pointed toward his bed, "You scare the shit outta me and Violet and then have the gall to call me a liar after I explain. I have no reason to lie to you!"

"All children lie to their parents at some point," Demetrius snapped back. "I just assumed you would grow out of the teenage rebellious phase years ago."

Sebastian balked. "Oh, so now I'm your son?" the raven-haired man spat back. "How convenient! I'm only ever your son when it's necessary to argue your authority, but you don't ever take responsibility when you've been a shitty father figure."

"Don't talk to me like that, young man," Demetrius seethed, inhaling deeply and exhaling audibly through his nose in an attempt to stay calm. "You waste all your potential sitting in your room all day while the rest of us contribute to society. I'm only trying to make sure that you don't do what your sperm donor did and strap a bright, young woman with a child and take off."

"Just because my field wasn't around when you were born doesn't mean it's not a legitimate job," Sebastian's face flashed with rage. "And once again, it's not me you're worried about, it's the 'bad influence' I have on all the bright futures of the people around me. I just drag everyone down in your eyes, don't I?" the younger man screamed.

But Sebastian did not wait for Demetrius to get a word in edgewise. "I am nothing like that asshole who ditched mom! If you took any time to sit down and talk to me when I was growing up instead of fawning over Maru, your perfect clone, you'd fucking know that!" He pushed past his step-father with his forearm to create a path of escape.

Sebastian's ink-black orbs were brimming with salty tears, but he kept them at bay for now. "Sorry you had to see that, Violet," Sebastian whispered in a far gentler tone of voice than when he had addressed Demetrius. "Let's get out of here."

Nodding, Violet quickly jumped up from the bed and grabbed her backpack, sticking close behind Sebastian until she paused at the door before heading upstairs. "Sebastian and I didn't do anything," she informed Demetrius in a quiet voice. "He just let us all stay the night because he was worried I wouldn't get home safely. I guess Sam and Abigail left pretty early." The pastel-haired woman pursed her lips before adding, "I think the only father Sebastian's ever known comparing him to his bio dad was really damaging. I hope you realize how hurtful that was to him." She then disappeared up the stairs, leaving Demetrius to discover that the coffee pot was not even in the room anyway.

Violet and Sebastian headed for Fairy Rose Farm in a tense and awkward silence. The farmer could tell that her friend grit his teeth to fight back the tears and avoided eye contact whenever she tried to engage with him. Finally, Violet had enough and tenderly took hold of Sebastian's wrist and sat him down on a rock beneath one of the grand old pine trees along the path. "It's okay to cry, you know. I won't judge you…" the woman swore to him softly, sweeping his bangs out of his face.

Part of Sebastian still fought against his needs, however. "I'm done trying to make the man who's supposed to be my father like me… It's like purposefully running myself into a brick wall and expecting it to give before I break," he countered in a cracked, but spiteful voice. Though Violet could see a single tear fall from his obsidian eyes, betraying the young man's hurt.

"You're right, Demetrius is supposed to love you like his own but he said some really fucked up things back there," Violet agreed, pulling Sebastian into a hug, and resting his head on her shoulder. "You're a great guy, Sebastian. Don't let anyone influence you to believe anything different." Once his face was out of view, the woman could feel the warm, damp stream of tears soaking her shift as Sebastian choked on his sobs. Violet stroked his head and back with one hand and tightly squeezed him comfortingly with the other. The pastel-haired woman did her best to keep her breath slow and even, to provide a soothing force for Sebastian as he wrangled with all his fraught, raw emotions.

After some time sitting on the warm summer grass and listening to the birdsong of the backwoods, Sebastian finally separated himself from Violet's embrace, wiping his face on the black sleeve of his hoodie. He glanced at her sheepishly, "Sorry about that…" he apologized weakly. Even in the shade, the heat of the day was becoming stifling. Both of them were eager to get out of the elements as soon as possible.

Violet shook her head emphatically, her wavy hair swishing with the effort. "Don't you dare apologize for expressing your feelings!" she proclaimed firmly. "While I'm sad and angry about what happened, I'm really happy you felt safe and comfortable enough around me to let it all out." The agrarian beamed at him, her deep blue orbs shining with an earnestness that Sebastian could neither deny nor ignore. "So please don't bottle it all in anymore," she requested with a reassuring squeeze to his hand. "You don't have to do that around me."

Sebastian returned the smile weakly before he spoke. "... Thanks, Violet." He dabbed his eyes once again and rose to his feet and Violet did the same. "Do you mind if I hang around the farm for a while, though?" he solicited bashfully. "I don't… think I'm ready to talk to Demetrius again right now."

"Of course, silly," the farmer nodded in response. "You're welcome at my place whenever you want!" Violet took Sebastian's hand before heading southward down the path toward home. As much as she wanted to retreat inside to escape the heat wave, she realized that the mutant crops would still need watering, so Violet headed toward the smaller pond to refill her watering can.

Sebastian saw someone ahead of them and stopped dead in his tracks. Half chuckling out of the ridiculousness of it and half from nervousness that something might be going on that he did not know about, he asked, "Do you… always have shirtless guys working on your farm?"

Elliott was mortified to be caught in such a state of undress by a lady, but now that it occurred, the damage to his reputation could not be undone. "I apologize, Miss Violet," the silky-haired gentleman pronounced regretfully, re-buttoning the top half of his shirt and tightening his tie, which he had loosened due to the sweltering heat and his belief that the farmhouse's sole human inhabitant must have left for run errands for the day.

Violet, in her lady-like grace, simply laughed off the scandalous nature of his appearance. "It's okay, Elliott. Just as long as you're not watering the flowers naked!"

The writer's honey-hued eyes widened with alarm. "Miss Violet, I would never dream of such a -"

But the owner of the farmland interrupted him to halt his vehement denial. "I was teasing you, Elliott. Don't worry!" the flowery-haired maiden pledged. Violet turned to her companion, the brooding man from the mountain - Sebastian. "Elliott wanted to give flowers as a thank-you gift and politely requested to use a small patch of land to grow them," she explained to her suitor in a vague enough manner to protect Elliott's privacy. How selfless!

"I see…" the man with well-coiffed hair uttered doubtfully, though it was clear from the gleam in his eyes it was not the lady whose intentions he questioned. Ah, that was likely for the best. Not that Elliott harbored any intent to rival his suit for the newcomer's hand, but the poet always found it best policy to trust in a lady's word over another man. The only time this habit served him ill was when it came to Cassandra.

Elliott decided it was best to make a hasty retreat so the two could recover the atmosphere of their stroll together. "I am nearly finished," he announced, quickly pouring the contents of the watering bucket onto the verdant stems of the germinating flowers. The poet noticed, however, the swollen pink hue of Sebastian's face and suspected the man may have recently wept. Had the affections of the handsome fellow in the tragically untailored clothing been rebuked by the fair farmer?

No, surely not. While there was certainly no flirtatious air about the couple, the brooding man's gaze continued to fall upon the woman accompanied by a soft smile. Was it his imagination or did the two stand closer to one another than they had previously? Not quite the minimal gap between lovers, but if the author were a gambling man, Elliott would bet a significant sum the relationship between Sebastian and Violet shifted recently. Elliott hid his smile behind his curtain of hair. Oh, I must inform Leah!

After smelting iron bars from the ores collected in the mines the night before, Violet regretfully excused herself to visit the local blacksmith to upgrade her axe, promising to be back shortly. So while he waited, Sebastian sat on the couch of Violet's farmhouse and grabbed a few items from her bookshelves to sample. Luckily, the comic-enthusiast found it was easier than expected to become engrossed with other ideas than dwell on his argument with Demetrius. At first he was embarrassed that he cried in front of Violet, but Sebastian admitted he felt a lot better after another person validated his overwhelming emotions and let him ride them out to completion. The programmer had not forgiven what Demetrius for his words, but Sebastian no longer felt the crushing weight of it all.

Still, Sebastian wanted Demetrius to acknowledge him as a fully-fledged adult. Living and working out of the same space - which happened to put him in direct comparison with the stereotypical basement-dwellers - did not help his efforts. Sebastian knew his step-father would need some kind of tangible proof of his work ethic, but what could he possibly do to prove Demetrius wrong? The programmer would think about that later.

For now, Sebastian contemplated how Violet smiled at him when he finally finished crying in the woods earlier, even after getting her clothes all covered in tears and mucus. The farmer probably did not know, but he overheard what she told Demetrius while he waited at the top of the stairs. If Sebastian had not been fuming at the time, he would have been happy to hear Violet defend him like that. Thinking back on it, his lips turned upward in a grin. Why did it feel so good to have someone in his corner? Other than some occasional banter, Violet had been on his side from the beginning.

A rare wave of motivation hit Sebastian and he stood so quickly that Bruno startled slightly from his position on the opposite couch. The dog's long, pink tongue lolled out to one side as he looked up at the dark-haired man expectantly. Sebastian glanced down at the canine and cautiously patted the animal between his velvety ears. The man was still not quite used to pets, but the German shepherd was growing on him. "Hey, you wanna head to town and back and still beat Violet home?" he challenged the dog. Bruno hopped off the couch and barked at the door, waiting for his human companion. Sebastian grinned. "I'll race you, boy!"

Violet decided to check on her crab pots in case she caught anything she could make into sushi or maki rolls. Unfortunately, that was not the case, but she removed her catches from the traps and added new bait before sinking them back into the shallows. Then, on her way home, the agriculturalist decided to make a quick stop at Pierre's for some relief from the oppressive heat. Once inside, Pierre guilt tripped Violet into buying wheat seeds to get one last harvest of them before the end of the season. The agrarian consoled herself knowing she could plant them once it got dark to avoid the worst of the weather.

As she checked out, Violet noticed Pierre fussing over an arrangement of flowers in a vase. "Special occasion with Caroline?" the cultivator queried casually, trying to drum up conversation as she made her payment for the seeds.

Pierre smirked, shaking his head. "No, farmer Violet," he informed the young woman. "These particular flowers are the gift often given when a villager wants to show romantic interest in another person." The shopkeeper pondered a moment before swapping the placement of two of the main centerpiece blooms. "I've sold two recently," the brunet reported happily.

"Two?" Violet repeated, wondering the identity of the mystery couple that could potentially form. Sam and Abigail were already a romantic pair, so they were out. Maybe Emily and Shane? Her new farmhand had blushed when Abigail posed the question about dating at Sam's birthday party. Shane and Emily would be adorable and she could not be happier at the prospect of them dating.

The proprietor of the store took Violet's small smile as a sign that she might already know the identity of one of the two bouquet-buyers. "I'm sure you're thinking of the correct person in your life," Pierre chuckled with a wink behind his thick lenses to the clueless customer. "Would you care to buy one as well, farmer Violet?"

Violet's heart began to race at the mere thought of handing a certain black-clad rookie sorcerer tangible statement of intent. "I-I…" The agrarian heard the chime of the little bell the store door made when a customer entered and immediately ducked behind a shelf to avoid being seen in her current state of anxiety.

Sebastian and Bruno made it back to the farmhouse before Violet came back, but the black-clad man suffered for it by overheating from his sprint in this heat wave. Ducking into the bathroom, the man splashed himself with cold water and borrowed a small towel, which he wrung out and kept around the back of his neck to help him cool.

Bruno collapsed in the kitchen and panted heavily. Sebastian, realizing that the canine was too exhausted to move, brought the dog a bowl full of water. Bruno lapped up the water, a puddle of the escaped droplets forming on all sides, before flopping back down onto the cool floor.

Violet seemed pleased that Sebastian and Bruno had bonded a bit while she was away when she found the two lazing about in the living room. "What did you do to my dog?" the farmer chuckled at Bruno's prone state.

Sebastian shrugged. "Just exercised him a bit," he shared, not taking his obsidian eyes from his comic book. Violet knelt down beside Bruno, whose tail thudded happily against the wooden floor as she stroked along his soft furry back.

"Did you have fun, boy?" the dog's owner cooed. The large canine nuzzled his human with a happy, yet exhausted whine. Violet laughed. "The poor thing can hardly move."

"Same goes for the human…" Sebastian grunted, theatrically turning the page of his graphic novel as if it weighed a ton.

"Poor things," Violet said, giving each of the males a pat on the head before heading toward the kitchen to get a glass of water for herself. "Can I get you boys anything?" the farmer asked the exhausted duo.

"Nah, I'm good," Sebastian declined the offer, his eyes bobbing to and fro as he read. "I chugged a bunch of water already." When the raven-hair man confirmed Violet had her back turned, he moved his secret parcel out from under the coffee table and tucked it under the couch instead. Sebastian realized he would have to sneak it out in his hoodie when he left to head back home.

The two spent several hours alternating between sitting in silence reading beside one another on the couch and chatting each other up about random topics when Sebastian reluctantly decided it would be best to head back home. "As much as I want to avoid it all forever, I can't," the programmer admitted. "I should head home now."

Violet bobbed her head in understanding and when her back was turned, Sebastian snatched the box he hid under the couch and tucked it into the enormous front pocket of his hoodie. Keeping both hands in the pocket to conceal its contents while also giving a local reason why there was a slight bulge on his stomach now, Sebastian headed for the door. Violet opened the door for him and turned on the porch light, since the sun had recently set and it was getting darker by the minute. Sebastian turned to the pastel-haired woman. "Thanks… for giving me the space to just chill today," he told the farmer. He chuckled, "Literally and figuratively - I guess."

He shifted his weight between his legs uncomfortably. "Sorry about the rude awakening this morning."

"It's not your fault, I kinda sparked the problem by sleeping over," Violet replied, fidgeting her fingers in front of her.

Sebastian shook his head, "Nah, that's how our fights usually go, unfortunately." His inky-black orb met hers for a moment. "I'll see you again soon, okay?" He stumbled awkwardly on his way out the door, but caught himself.

"Night!" Violet called out after him. "Text me when you get home safely, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" he relented, waving his good-bye as he headed toward the backwoods path home.

Sebastian was about halfway to the house when he got a text. He wagged his head as he chuckled good-naturedly, assuming it was Violet checking up on him already. But the text wasn't from who he expected. It was a message from Maru.

*I found your dad.*