AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This chapter would not have been possible without my friend gigundoly! Where would I be without her ideas and contributions?! Major thank you going out to her!

Chapter 14: Summer Nights

SEBASTIAN

Once they'd gotten Artie and Quinn cozy in the back of the truck, Sebastian, Griffin, Ella, and Sam set off for a large, old tree which worked out to be the perfect spot to set up their own picnic. As promised, they were still within earshot of Quinn and Artie in the truck, but they couldn't exactly see them or anything. Sebastian knew that their relationship was still fairly new, so he was pretty sure they'd make smart decisions on their own and leave the physical stuff to just cuddles and maybe some kisses during the fireworks. Griffin kept stealing glances at that truck, however, and Sebastian could sense what the eldest brother was thinking. Being that he was related to Artie, he was undoubtedly overthinking the whole thing and worrying about every potential aspect that could go wrong. Except, the way they'd set this up, there really wasn't much that could go wrong.

"Did we not just give them the most perfect gift or what?" Sebastian asked as he set out the camping chairs they'd brought along. As he did so, he felt a rather itchy spot on his leg, right at his sock line. He scratched at it without really realizing what was happening at first, then it dawned on him that they were in a grassy field and he was something of a bug magnet.

"Here!" Ella tossed Sebastian some mosquito spray– the Deep Woods extra-strength kind– and he cringed at what that toxic, harsh chemical stuff was going to do to his skin, right before spraying himself from head to toe anyway. Quinn and Artie had the right idea, staying out of this tall grass, but Sebastian knew better than to climb in and sandwich himself between them.

"So, we're here," Sebastian said. "How long until the fireworks start, uh, firing?"

"Another hour or so," Griffin said, looking amused by Sebastian's shocked reaction. "Well, it isn't dark yet! Had to get here early to get a good spot. Look, it's a family tradition. Or it was. A few different years. See this tree? This is an excellent climbing tree. Much harder to get down than up, though. Found that out by spraining my ankle. Artie, on the other hand, did a most impressive dismount and got down without a scratch on him…"

"Aw, man, they found me," Sam chuckled, looking down at his phone. "My mom and dad are watching us right now. They just parked and Stevie and Stacey want to crash our party. She's sending them over with a bunch of those freezer pops in a cooler for us. Her idea of a peace offering, I guess. You guys mind if they hang with us?"

"Of course we don't mind!" Ella exclaimed. "I've never met your little brother and sister, Sam."

"Once you meet them, you may mind," Sam warned her.

At that moment, Sebastian noticed the way that Griffin glanced over his shoulder at the truck again, and it began to irritate him.

"What do you keep turning around for?" Sebastian asked him, after the third or fourth time. Seb knew that Griff had a habit of being overprotective of Artie, and he thought he ought to get over that at some point. Had Artie not already proven himself capable of being alone with a girl?

"Just making sure they're good," Griffin said defensively, turning back around to face forward and crossing his arms over his chest like a pouty little kid.

"They're fine," Sebastian told him, slapping at a mosquito that landed on his knee. "What, do you think somebody's going to drive off with them or something? Do you have your keys?"

"Well, yeah, but–"

"Alright, great. Then there's nothing to worry about," Sebastian said, coming off a little snappier than he would have liked to, but whatever. "Mind your own business, okay? He's an adult. You should, I don't know, start treating him like one."

Griffin had nothing to say back to that, probably because he knew that Sebastian was right. He opted to just stick his tongue out at him instead, an expression which Sebastian returned.

Two blonde children– that Sebastian guessed were Stacey and Stevie Evans– chose that exact moment following Griffin's immature gesture to come marching through the grass, both of them holding onto the handles of a large cooler that held not only popsicles but probably other things as well, judging by the way they struggled a bit.

Stacey giggled at what she'd just witnessed. "Are you guys brothers?" she wanted to know.

Sebastian looked at Griffin. Well, the Abrams siblings could not deny they were related. Sebastian didn't look exactly like them, but he didn't look not like them either. He smiled a little, with the realization that they almost could pass for actual siblings. Griffin seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Almost," Griffin said, reaching for their cooler. "Here, I'll take it. Whoa, it's heavy, what all have you got here?"

"Popsicles," Stevie said simply, plopping down to take a seat beside his older brother on a picnic blanket they'd spread over the grass. "And sodas. But Mom said that me and Stacey can only have one or the other."

"Sammy, can we pleeeease have a soda too?" Stacey begged, clasping her hands together, sticking out her lower lip, and blinking her eyes in her big brother's direction. Sebastian had to give it to her, she was pretty convincing.

"I'll tell you what," Sam said, crossing his legs at the ankles and leaning back onto his hands. "You can each have a pop, and if you can agree on a soda, the two of you can share one. As long as no one tells Mom. It'll be our secret, okay?"

Sam winked at her, and the little girl dissolved into a fit of giggles, throwing her arms around his neck in a huge, appreciative hug.

"Seb, do you want anything?" Ella asked him. She was kneeling on the picnic blanket and rifling through the cooler, probably to find the pink freeze pop that Sebastian knew she preferred.

"Sure," he said. "I'll take a Coke."

Ella dug through the cooler some more before producing a maroon can and holding it out in his direction. He accepted it, turning it over in his hands as he studied the design on the can for a moment. It wasn't actually Coca-Cola, it was the value brand sold at Walmart that just said 'cola' on the side. As someone who'd never had a reason to purchase anything but the real thing, Sebastian had never tasted the grocery store brand before. After hesitantly peering at the list of ingredients, he concluded that it probably had to taste similar enough to the real deal for it to be called that, so he shrugged and popped the tab open.

"Stevie, would you like to split one of the orange sodas with me?" Sebastian overheard little Stacey sweetly ask her other brother, who nodded excitedly.

"Here, I'll grab that for you," Sebastian offered, stooping down and selecting the bright orange beverage from the cooler. While he couldn't be bribed with enough money to taste-test that seemingly radioactive concoction, he knew that many kids enjoy it. He pulled the tab open before handing it to Stacey. "There you go."

"Thanks," she said, accepting the drink with both hands and taking her first sip before surprising Sebastian by climbing up to sit on his lap.

"Oh. Um… Okay…"

Sebastian noticed Ella watching as Stacey made herself comfortable, choosing to get up close and personal with the guy she'd only just met rather than sit on the ground with her brothers. Sebastian caught Ella's eye for a moment, and he must've looked as shocked as he felt because she had to glance away in order to stifle a laugh.

He wasn't sure what exactly to do about the situation. It wasn't that he had a problem with Stacey sitting with him. He didn't. Not really. He just hadn't made up his mind just yet about how he felt about tiny humans– children– in general. Thanks to his upbringing as an only child who'd also come from only children, Sebastian lacked both siblings and cousins. It was hard for him to fully form an opinion on little kids when he didn't have any sort of experience with them, aside from having once been a child himself.

If Stacey picked up on his slight discomfort, she didn't show that it bothered her. The little girl just remained contently on Seb's lap, chatting with the others and continuing to pass the orange soda back and forth with her brother.

To Sebastian's relief, the time spent waiting passed quickly, thanks largely to the handful of Fourth of July memories the others were exchanging that he could listen in on. Ella talked about the times that they'd spent the holiday at the ballpark (which Sebastian was surprised to find out had happened more than once), and Griffin shared about the time they'd gone camping and seven-year-old Artie had mistakenly walked through a bed of poison ivy. The holiday became a little less adventurous, it seemed, in the years that followed Artie's accident. After they'd put the pool in the backyard, that tended to be the annual plan for Independence Day. Sam launched into a recap of what his family had done last year. Their parents had been in the middle of moving, so the kids went to stay with family on the Jersey shore. They spent the holiday checking out all of the attractions on the Atlantic City boardwalk, and Stevie and Stacey were animatedly chiming in with all of the details, making everyone laugh in the process.

One thing was for certain about these Evans kids: not only had they all inherited their identical blonde hair, but there didn't seem to be an introverted sibling in the bunch. They could all talk your ear off, and Sebastian even found himself thinking it was kind of sweet to watch the way that Sam joked around and interacted with his siblings, despite them being so much younger than him. Sebastian owned up to the fact that he didn't have all that much experience in the kids department, but he didn't think Stacey and Stevie could be more than, like, seven and eight. That would make them a whole decade younger than Sam! Sebastian's step-siblings were all within four years of his age, and even that could seem like a lot at times. He couldn't imagine being in high school and having a first grader running around.

"A couple of drinks left in here…" Griffin noted, fishing through the cooler. The sun was starting to go down, which meant that Stevie and Stacey would soon return to their parents' car to watch the fireworks show. "Do your parents want these back, Sam?"

"Nah, they said take it. It's their way of thanking me for entertaining the rugrats so they could have some time alone…" Sam pretended to shudder at the thought. "Anyone want one more?"

"Artie and Quinn might," Griffin suggested. "Maybe I could just poke my head in and–"

"Not again, Griff," Ella groaned, taking the words right out of Sebastian's mouth. He merely looked at Griffin and smirked, as if to say, 'what she said'.

"I'll take them over," Sebastian said, Stacey hopping off of his lap as he got to his feet to take the last two sodas out of the cooler. "I can be much more, you know… subtle."

Sebastian abandoned his initial plan of being nonchalant pretty quickly, however, when he remembered that being irritating was a lot more fun than being courteous. Sorry, Artie.

"Hey, you two in there!" Sebastian called as he neared the truck, banging on the side of it before its inhabitants came into view. "Everyone decent?"

"What do you want, Sebastian?" Artie grumbled as he rolled his eyes to the back of his head dramatically.

"Jeez. Relax. I come bearing gifts," Sebastian replied, unbothered by Artie's chagrin. "Soda, anyone? Sam's parents dropped them off."

"I'm okay," Quinn answered noncommittally, cozied up to Artie's side.

"We're good," Artie said through gritted teeth. "You can leave us alone now." He was very clearly trying to clue Sebastian into his annoyance, while also trying not to tip off Quinn. He was doing a horrible job at both.

"Oh, well. Your loss then," Sebastian shrugged, slipping the two chilled cans into the pockets of his shorts. "But I also came to check on you guys. See if you needed anything. Griff wanted to be the one to come over, but I told him you'd probably prefer me," he said, ignoring the daggers that Artie was currently shooting at him with his eyes. "So, how's it going up here? Nice and comfy? Good view? PG-rated actions only, right?"

"Yes," Artie replied again sternly. He was no longer trying to hide the way he most certainly wanted to kill Seb. "Now go away."

"Well, okay. You know the deal. Give a yell if you need anything," Sebastian told them again before waving and heading back toward their spot in the field, chuckling to himself the whole way back.

…

As soon as they'd arrived home from the fireworks show in Delphos, Sebastian had gone straight upstairs. He seriously needed to shower off the toxic bug spray and the germs he'd acquired from being in a field all night, and he also still hadn't bathed after work or after swimming in the pool. It'd been quite a long day, and, understandably, he felt disgusting.

A long, steamy, shower did just the trick, but the moment Sebastian got comfortable on his bed, he heard his name being called from downstairs.

"Hey, Seb?" It was Artie.

Sebastian groaned. "What?" he yelled back, not bothering to move an inch from his comfy bed. He was too exhausted.

"Wanna… come down to my room? And talk?"

When he could be winding down after this long day and heading off to bed? What kind of question was that?

"Not really," Sebastian replied, raising his voice a little louder than necessary so that his brother could hear him from the second floor of the house and through his closed bedroom door. Was it kind of an asshole move? Maybe. But since when did Sebastian ever care about the way he came off to others?

With that, Sebastian rolled over onto his side and began scrolling through the day's Instagram posts. He swiped by what felt like hundreds of red, white, and blue patriotic pictures, each one more ridiculous than the last. No matter how hard he tried, he didn't think he'd ever understand the holiday's hype.

A couple of minutes later, Sebastian had just given up on Instagram and had moved onto his Twitter feed when the door to his bedroom was pushed open. Seated on the carpet floor was Artie, flashing him his most annoyed look as he did his own version of barging in– much like Seb had a habit of doing to him. Sebastian was surprised to see him there, and he did feel kind-of-a-little-bit bad for making Artie go through all of the extra work of inching up the stairs one by one. It would have been a hell of a lot easier for Sebastian to have just gone and met him at the bottom of the stairs, and they both knew it.

"Originally, I'd wanted to thank you for helping me out tonight and improving my overall experience, but it seems that you've decided to stay true to your ways of not making things easy for me," Artie commented as he made his way, scooting on his butt, into Sebastian's room– the one that had belonged to him, once upon a time. Seb could tell that he was out of breath, but he was attempting to mask that with humor.

"There's no need to thank me," Sebastian told Artie, who, once he was fully in the room, remained on the floor and leaned back on his arms for support. "It wasn't a big deal. It's not like it was anything that you couldn't have come up with on your own."

"I know," Artie said. "But, still."

The second that Artie started talking, Sebastian's bug bites started to act up again. They'd been temporarily soothed by the hot water from his shower, but now his senses were working in overdrive, determined to drive him absolutely crazy. He began itching.

"You made me and Quinn's night really romantic and special," Artie went on. "Except for the part when you snuck up on us." Sebastian looked over at him guiltily. "Could've done without that, but you get the point. I don't get to feel like a regular guy all that often, and tonight… I did. That meant a lot to me." Artie paused when he noticed the way that Sebastian had started to writhe around on top of his twin-sized bed. He cleared his throat. "Uh… you good?"

"No. I got freaking eaten alive by mosquitoes out there," Sebastian complained as he continued to claw at his legs. "I sprayed myself down with the bug spray your mom threw in the bag right when we got there, but I still got bit all over. How did you not?!"

Artie shrugged and looked down at his pants, pulling up a pant leg and inspecting his lower limbs which were also covered with the same tiny red bumps that Sebastian was violently itching in front of him. "Oh. I got bitten, too," Artie told him, unbothered. "Just can't feel it."

"You're lucky."

Artie gave him kind of a weird look but didn't say anything else about it. He just went back to what he'd been saying before.

"Listen… what I was trying to say is… thank you. I don't think I would have enjoyed tonight at all if it hadn't been for you and your idea," said Artie. "And I know you don't think it was all that important, but… to me it was. I want you to know that I appreciated it. A lot."

"Well, okay," Sebastian replied, not quite knowing how to respond to Artie's sincere gratitude. They were teenage brothers, after all– they were usually bickering, not expressing such deep emotions like this. "You're welcome, I guess."

"How'd it go for you guys?" Artie asked, shifting his weight as he sat on the floor. Noticing this, Sebastian briefly considered asking him if he was okay down there or if he wanted to come sit on the bed, but he decided not to. He knew better than to act like he knew Artie's needs better than the guy himself. Like Artie had just said, all he wanted was to be seen as a normal guy. "Out in the field. We couldn't see you from where we were. Did you guys sit under the big tree?"

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded before asking, "How did you know that?"

Artie grinned. "That's always been Griff's favorite spot. Did he tell you about the time he sprained his ankle falling out of the branches?"

"He said he slipped on his way down."

"Hmm, I bet that's what he told you," Artie smirked. "Not exactly the full story. Mom had called us down when it was time to leave and he tried to imitate my 'perfect 10' worthy dismount. I stuck the landing, of course– I had strong ankles back then– but he slipped off the limb before he could even attempt it and needed a trip to the emergency room. He's lucky it was just a sprain. He could've broken his arm or something."

"Ouch," Sebastian commented as Artie sat in front of him smugly. He'd heard countless stories like this before– of Artie one-upping his big brother when it came to athletic feats. He knew that it was a characteristic of his life from before that Artie was most proud of. "Fireworks were good," he went on. "Sam's brother and sister sat with us for a bit when they brought over popsicles and sodas."

"Stevie and Stacey were there?!" Artie asked, excitedly. "Man, now I wish I was sitting with you guys. Quinn's gonna be upset she missed out on seeing them, too. She and Sam dated a few years back and she got pretty close with his siblings."

"Really?" Sebastian knew that Quinn and Sam had dated, but he hadn't realized they were that serious.

"Yeah. Sam and his family were kind of going through some tough stuff at the time and they were living in a motel," Artie shared, looking kind of guilty for telling his friend's secrets like this, even if Sebastian had moved on from weaponizing pieces of sensitive information about members of the New Directions against them. "When he wasn't at school or football practice, Sam was working a part-time job to bring in some extra cash to help with bills and stuff. While he did that, Quinn helped out by babysitting the kids. They were so little back then…"

Then it all started to dawn on Sebastian. The cheaper, off-brand sodas. What Sam had said during their shift about not having someone out there who could help him get his foot in the door someplace in the future. How, despite being newly seventeen, this wasn't the first job Sam had worked. The seemingly-unconnected pieces were starting to fall into place.

And it was all making Sebastian feel like an asshole.

"Oh, wow," Sebastian said, unable to hide his shock at learning what the outwardly happy-go-lucky Evans kids had been through. "I didn't know. I mean, Sam made, like, a little comment on our break at work today about our family lives being so different, but I didn't know they'd been homeless or anything."

"Yeah, it was a hard time for them," Artie acknowledged. "Sam tried to keep it from all of our friends, but people were nosy and started to pry, and then the truth came out." Artie shrugged before seeming to remember how Sebastian had spent the first part of his day. "And, oh yeah, work! First day! Everything go okay? Sam said you're a natural."

Sebastian twisted his face into an expression that simply said, 'I don't know about that', and realized he had a decision to make. To fess up to Artie about the day's chaos, or to pretend it had all been super easy for him? Neither option sounded particularly favorable.

"You, uh, were right. About the crowds for the holiday," Sebastian told him, scratching the back of his neck and deciding to just go ahead and come clean. "Everything went okay, for the most part, but it was busy. And I had a few not-so-great customers who kind of threw me off my game. Sam had to come to my rescue a few times. Makes sense now– that he's so good at interacting with rude customers– knowing that he'd worked jobs like that before."

"Don't sweat the small stuff and you'll be fine," Artie advised him– speaking as if he had any experience whatsoever in the workforce. "You're competitive and determined. Those are qualities that, like, every employer looks for. Today may have been a little crazy, but tomorrow will be better. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Sebastian silently nodded, leaning over to scratch at the bug bite on his ankle again.

"Anyway, I should get going," Artie said, checking the time on his watch. "I've still gotta shower and do all my nighttime things." He began to scoot backwards on the floor again, this time heading back out toward the hallway that would lead him downstairs. "And, by the way, my mom probably keeps some calamine lotion in the medicine cabinet if you want some real relief from those," he added, nodding to Sebastian's current situation.

Artie then resumed his unique way of getting around upstairs and was almost to the door when Sebastian called after him.

"Hey, Artie?" Artie glanced up and their eyes met. "Thanks."

He wasn't even sure about to which part he felt the need to thank him for– the fact that Artie believed in him enough to offer him some heartfelt advice, or just simply for the information about where Nancy keeps the topical cream. Maybe both?

Artie gave him a tight-lipped smile and a shrug before feeding the same phrase back to Sebastian that he had been repeating earlier.

"It's not a big deal."