Rock Between Us (Stardew Valley Fanfic)

Split in Two

Escape —

There was always this feeling of needing to escape from whatever problem was going on in his life, partly because Sebastian didn 't know how to deal with said problems without causing more ire and more problems. He didn't remember a time it hadn't been that way when he didn't feel as if everything were taken away from him, that he wasn't the outsider within the family. And, it wasn't just the family here.

Yuichiro, Choujo, Jijo, Sannan.

"Why'd he let her name you that?" Sebastian muttered, squeezing the stress ball he kept beside his computers, leaning back in his computer chair rather than working on the game he was working on when he didn't have some work-for-hire programming job. His head titled, still thinking about what happened, starting with Yuichiro contacting him asking about pictures from a particular trip. "And why would you want those?"

He 'd seen the pictures, spilled out from the box, with him standing on one side of their dad and Yuichirio standing on the other for the climbing trip their father took them on, an attempt to get the two to bond. Sebastian didn't think Yuchirio was thrilled to be there with him, simply looking at the picture. There was always the feeling Yuchirio, even the others, wished he didn't exist.

And that made him uncomfortable.

Yet, in Yuichiro 's message asking about the photo, there was a P.S. at the end of the message regarding Sannan missing him. "Does she even remember me? I doubt it. I've always been a lousy older brother because I'm...."

Sebastian stopped speaking, yet he couldn 't shake how he'd insisted with Maru he was perfectly normal despite knowing full well he wasn't. His hand squeezed the stress ball again. "Damn. I'd not let that bother me. Not since..."

"Not since you permanently moved in with mom and Demetrius and stopped seeing them," a voice in the back of his head said, "And it was for the best anyways."

"Still not normal, and that sucks," Sebastian muttered, letting out a sigh. "At least things didn't go so badly with Demetrius as it usually does, I think. Not sure." Sebastian looked at the ceiling. "Never sure."

A thought crossed his mind.

"I am sure I used to like climbing, even though it meant spending time with Yuichiro on top of spending time with dad." Sebastian turned his chair, so he now faced the wall, tossing the stress wall against the wall. Hence, it bounded back as he lobbed it high enough and hard enough that it would arc right back to him—nor anyone else on the other side of the basement wall to worry about like so many other parts of his life. "Just like I still enjoy exploring the caves."

He caught the ball, a thought crossing his mind, albeit one he knew his mother would disapprove of if he were to come home with a few minor scrapes. It wasn 't her dislike of that which made him stop, but how the activity made him feel regarding—

"I shouldn't let them take anything more from me," Sebastian said. His mouth twisted, thinking back to how Demetrius called him out for thinking of climbing again as if he knew precisely what Sebastian was thinking. His mouth pushed into a frown, hating doing anything Demetrius said, yet the concern the man voiced had nothing to do with starting the hobby up again, but more of that, he didn't want Sebastian using the equipment he'd not used in quite a few years. "New equipment. I have a little saved up, but...."

A thought crossed his mind, and Sebastian sat up, then stood up. He headed over to his dresser drawers and pulled out the top one. He reached in, ruffling through the socks and other items until he found the thing he was looking for. He grimaced. "Who would have thought this would come in handy?"

The gift from last year 's Feast of the Winter Star was in his hand.

He hated the celebration, with how the family ended up playing up even though he never really felt like a part of this family, although in the back of his head, there was that voice again, telling him he at least felt more at home here than there.

Every year the mayor would put the names of everyone in Pelican town into a hat or whatever was convenient to draw, and then there would be a drawing of the names, nobody ever knowing who 'd he end up with. They then would get a present for that person attempting to surprise them with whatever they got.

He hated it, from the time spent with the family to gifts he often didn 't want. However, gifting was usually effortless, and receiving cookies from the Pelican Town granny was always desirable, if not mood-lifting, even when one was stuck listening to Maru all through dinner. And the stuff one might get from the kids—Vincent and Jazz—were fun even though not practical for an adult.

That year though, when he opened the present, he 'd pulled out a gift card to a sporting goods place in Zuzu city which caused his friend Sam to slap him on the back, laughing as he did so. " Good grief. We all know who got your name this year. The sports nerd, Alex. "

Which, Alex was definitely a sports nerd as he was a nerd for games, though hearing Sam use the word nerd for someone into sports definitely felt a bit weird. Abigail leaned in from nearby. " Looks like something he 'd get for himself. "

"You don't get gift cards and gift certificates for yourself," Sebastian replied.

"You know what I mean," Abigail batted her eyes at him.

"Just re-gift it to him next year," Sam said.

"Wow. Even I'm not such a lost cause that I don't know re-gifting is a definite don't. Plus, there's no telling who we'll end up with next year."

"You could let us re-gift it if we get Alex," Abigail offered up helpfully, yet there was nothing helpful about her offer beyond helping her not have to come up with what to get Alex if she got him the following year. He'd stuffed it aside, not thinking of it until now.

"So I don't have to dip so much into my savings, but...." When Sebastian decided to do something, he did it, setting the card onto the top of his dresser to grab it the first chance he had to head into Zuzu City.