Emo boy [Stardew Valley]

Chapter 29 - Claustrophilia

CW: Chapter contains sexual tension

Seb POV

It's fun to finally pick up on fishing with Sam again, especially now, considering Sami is here, too. It used to be our favorite activity, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. I glance over at Sami who's looking through her bag, desperately trying to find something.

"I don't have any bait left, but Willy always leaves some in the basket next to his front door. I'll go get some", she explains, then heads over to the other side of the docks, leaving Sam and me by ourselves. I'm watching my hook swim around the ocean, when Sam speaks up.
"I'm sorry for the cock-block earlier. It's almost as if I completely forgot you two are living together", he apologizes.

I quickly wave my hand to tell him to forget about it, "it's not a big deal."
"It is, though. I ruined an intimate moment with your crush. I have to make it up to you, somehow." "I'm gonna push you into the water if you continue guilt-tripping yourself", I threaten him. Finally he chuckles and stops apologizing. I take a look in his bag and find our
fishing diary from years ago.

"Remember to take pictures so we can continue this, Sam", I remind him. He smiles at me in return and reels in an eel. "By the way, how come you're so good? Not out of practice at all", he asks me whilst watching me carefully guide the hook into the water. "I have a great teacher", I state whilst glancing over towards Willy's store on the other side of the docks.

Sam looks at me in confusion. I roll my eyes in return, "Not Willy. Sami."
Finally he gets it and replies with an ooh. I'm glad Sam has noticed that my skills haven't gotten worse. I want him to know that I missed our traditions so much that I've been planning on keeping them up again. I want him to be aware of how important he is to me.

Finally Sami returns behind us and places an extra bag of bait next to our basket, then assures us that she did leave money under Willy's doormat. As if I would've expected anything else from her. I've noticed Sam has been sneakily glancing at his phone and sending out messages every now and then, but I can't figure out who he's talking to. Probably Penny. I notice him silently laughing to himself, like a villain scheming a mischievous plan.

He notices a few jellyfish swimming around and quickly points at them, "Look!"
I glimpse over at Sami who's gritting her teeth nervously. "Don't worry, they can't sting you up here", I try to calm her down. Suddenly, I notice Sam nudging me, making me jump.

"Did you hear that?", he whispers. I look at him skeptically and slowly shake my head. He shushes me, before I can even have the intent to speak. We can hear the sound of someone, or something, screeching from somewhere on the beach. I want to be concerned, but the feeling of Sami gently clinging onto my arm and hiding behind it fills me with courage, and the urge to protect her. As if I were a caveman or something.

Sam clinging onto my other arm makes me roll my eyes, though. I have the feeling he's pranking us. He doesn't act like this when he's truly afraid. But, I know him well enough to be sure of the fact that this prank has a meaning. He has a reason to be doing this, and I suppose I have to play along to make it work. We can hear another screech, and another one. All of us are frozen in place, when the sound of something dragging along the dock makes our fight or flight responses switch on.

"Shit, we have to cross the connecting dock before it gets to us!", he screams. I swiftly grab a hold of Sami's hand and follow my best friend's instructions. After arriving back on the sand, the weird noises don't stop, and neither do we. All of us continue to run, so focused on escaping that neither I or Sami notice Sam disappearing from next to us. While running, I examine our surroundings to find an old storage cabin near Elliott's hut, and lead us to it.