Sebastian – POV
I should've known they'd be waiting.
The second I turned onto the path leading home, I got that sinking feeling in my chest—the one you get right before something annoying but inevitable happens. The green rain had finally stopped, but the fog was still thick in the hills, curling around the pine trees like it had something to hide. Like it knew my life was unraveling in slow motion.
I walked into the house and made it three steps past the front door before I heard whispering.
No. Bickering.
Maru and Demetrius were nowhere in sight—probably a blessing.
I made my way down the hallway, to the basement stairs, already bracing for impact, and sure enough: my bedroom door was open.
There they were.
Sam was sprawled on my bed like he owned it, head propped on one hand, a bag of chips in the other. Abigail sat cross-legged on the floor, directly in front of my desk, hands folded neatly like she was preparing to deliver a PowerPoint presentation.
"Look who finally decided to come home," Sam grinned, eyes lit up like a kid on Winter Star morning.
"Sebastian," Abigail said in that tone she uses when she's pretending to be calm but is really seconds from exploding. "Sit."
I walked in slowly, dropped my jacket on the back of my chair, and gave them both the flattest look I could manage. "You broke into my room."
Sam held up his hands like he was innocent. "Technically your mom let us in. She said, and I quote, 'Maybe if his actual friends talk to him, he'll stop sulking like a wet cat.'"
Of course she did.
"I'm not sulking," I muttered, but it was weak and they knew it.
Abigail raised an eyebrow. "You disappeared in the middle of the night, didn't answer your phone, and then Sam and I found you sleeping at Hannah's."
Sam grinned so wide I thought his face might split in half. "Wrapped up in her blankets like a burrito of secrets."
"Do you want to be kicked out?" I asked, already halfway to doing it.
"Nope," he said, shameless. "We want details."
Abigail leaned forward. "You were upset last night. Then you left the saloon, walked through the fog, and ended up at Hannah's. Which means either she found you on the roadside like a wounded bat and nursed you back to health, or you—you—decided to let someone in. So." She paused. "What happened?"
I dropped onto my desk chair, dragged a hand through my hair, and stared at the ceiling. "I didn't plan it."
Sam snorted. "Yeah, no one thought you had a PowerPoint on 'How to Fall in Love: Step One.'"
My stomach twisted. That word. I wasn't ready for it, but it had already rooted itself under my skin.
I looked down at my hands.
"I just... I couldn't stop thinking about what Alex said. About her telling him how she felt. And then I couldn't stop thinking about everything I didn't say. Everything I'd been too scared to say. So I walked to her place."
"And?" Abigail asked, eyes wide.
"I knocked," I said simply. "She let me in."
Sam leaned forward, chips forgotten. "You told her?"
"Yeah," I said, voice low. "I told her I care. That I'm scared. That I've never felt like this before, and I have no idea how to do any of it without screwing it up."
"And what did she say?" Abigail's voice was soft now.
"She said I didn't have to be anything but myself."
They both went quiet. For a second, it was just the sound of my fan buzzing faintly in the background and the slow drumbeat of my heart calming down.
"Dude," Sam finally said. "Did you—like—kiss?"
I gave him a look.
His eyes widened. "You did."
"I've never felt anything like that," I admitted. "It wasn't just... a kiss. It felt like my whole brain shut off and everything made sense for one second."
Abigail smiled. Not her usual mischievous smirk—something warmer, almost proud. "I always knew she'd be good for you. You just needed to stop running."
"I'm not sure I've stopped," I said honestly. "But maybe... I slowed down."
Sam clapped me on the back. "That's our emo boy. Finally falling in love like a tragic poem."
"Shut up."
Abigail laughed. "You know this means we're going to bug you constantly now, right?"
"Yeah," I said, but I didn't mind.
Not really.
Because for the first time in a long time, someone made the silence feel like it meant something.
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Hannah – POV
It's been two days since Sebastian kissed me, and I still haven't caught my breath.
Not in a bad way—more like I've been walking around in a slow-motion dream, trying to gather pieces of myself that floated off the moment his lips touched mine. My body's on autopilot, doing the morning chores, but my mind... my mind keeps looping that night over and over.
I push open the barn doors, the soft creak of old wood and the smell of hay greeting me like a familiar song.
"Hi babies," I whisper with a smile, stepping into the warmth. My cows shift lazily in their stalls, blinking up at me. One of the sheep lets out a bleat, and a pig snorts as I walk by.
After I finish the milking and shearing, I head to the coop, cradling a basket against my hip. The chickens scatter at the sound of the door, clucking excitedly, and I kneel down, brushing straw from a warm, speckled egg.
The greenhouse is next. It's my pride right now—a glass refuge in the middle of fall's chill. I step inside and the change in temperature hits instantly, humid and earthy. Rows of hops climb the trellises I built by hand, thriving in the controlled warmth. The faint scent of fermenting sweetness lingers in the air from the last pale ale batch, the kegs tucked in the corner still bubbling quietly. They'll be done by tomorrow.
Everything on the farm is at peace. And for once, so am I.
There's this strange lightness in my chest, like the weight I've carried for so long cracked open and spilled out with that kiss. I hadn't realized how heavy it had all become—wanting him, wondering if he ever wanted me back. But now... now I know.
"I'm not good at this, but if there's any chance... if you meant what you said... I want to try."
I close my eyes as the words echo in my mind again, soft and reverent. The look on his face when he said it—unguarded, uncertain, but real. He let me see the part of him he hides from everyone. And then he kissed me, and everything in the world fell away.
I should probably stop smiling like this to myself.
Winter's only a week away, and I've actually got everything ready for once. But today, I've got something new on my to-do list: a construction request from Robin. A slime hutch.
I found a strange, gelatinous egg deep in the mines—green and pulsing faintly in the dark. Marlon said it's rare, something useful for research. He explained that keeping the hutch on my farm—out of public view—could help us understand more about slimes: how they regenerate, where they come from, how their biology works. If I raise them and gather their eggs, he'll pay me for every sample I can provide.
I pull on my jacket and start up the winding path to the mountains. The trail crunches beneath my boots, littered with amber and crimson leaves. Hazelnuts dot the forest floor, and squirrels dart between tree trunks, preparing for the colder months.
Fall is breathtaking up here, but there's no mistaking the shift in the air. It's colder now. Crisp. Winter's fingers are just beneath the surface.
As I approach the Carpenter's house, my heart stutters.
Sebastian lives here.
I haven't seen him since that night—since he fell asleep tangled in my blankets, calm in a way I don't think I'd ever seen him before. We didn't speak much after the kiss. We didn't need to. His head resting against my shoulder was enough. Just existing in the same space, safe, silent.
Still, a nervous flutter stirs in my chest now. I don't know why. Maybe because part of me still doesn't believe it was real.
Maybe because a small voice in the back of my head still wonders if he'll retreat.
But I keep walking, repeating his words to myself like a spell.
"If there's any chance... I want to try."
He didn't have to say that.
But he did.
And it changed everything
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