Gridball Jerseys and Cigarettes
Sebastian x Alex
☆ Chapter One ☆
Hey guys and welcome to my latest fic! It is a multiple chapter fic! I don't know how long it will be just yet, and I don't know the update schedule as of right now. I'm really excited about this and I hope you enjoy!
Summary: Alex has had a crush on Sebastian ever since they were kids. Their friendship fell apart, but Alex is determined to fix it. Will their relationship work? Or is it doomed to fail due to Alex's Grandfather's strict views?
Word count: 1,686 words (sorry for the short chapter, it just ended naturally at this length)
Warnings: Weed use, implied suicide, parental death, implied homophobic slurs, OC farmer
Sebastian was weird. Always wearing black, tattoos on his hands and a face full of piercings when he put on his concerts. His nails were always painted black, and his pierced ears always had a black plug in. A cigarette was always in between his lips. He was weird, bad news, the kind of guy your mama warned you about.
Or at least that's what Alex kept trying to tell himself.
In reality, Sebastian was sweet, polite, and had a laugh that was infectious. He didn't laugh often, but when he did? The sound was magical. Alex always wished he could be the one making Sebastian laugh, the one making his lips quirk into a lopsided smile.
Alex could pretend that he wanted this out of a need for friendship. He could pretend that he wanted friends who weren't girls, weren't men ten years older than him. But it just wasn't true.
He wanted these things out of a different need.
It had started when he was a kid, seeing Sebastian sitting on the swings by himself at recess. Alex had felt bad, but another boy approached the noirette. A blonde boy with a friendly grin. And at his approach, the seemingly lonely boy looked elated. His face lit up, eyes bright.
Alex had felt a strange swooping sensation in his gut when he saw that look. He didn't know what it meant, but ever since that moment, he couldn't help but seek out that boy with his eyes.
He learned the boy's name when he was tossing a gridball with his friend, and accidentally nailed the poor kid in the head.
"Sebastian!" the blonde boy cried out.
Alex stuttered out an apology, but Sebastian glared at him and stormed off. His guts twisted, and he felt a pang in his heart. Alex nearly abandoned his game to chase after Sebastian, but felt that might be strange.
A week after this incident, Alex and his mom came to Pelican Town to visit his grandparents. Usually they would come to the neighboring town to visit Alex, but his mom had insisted on coming here. It took ten minutes before Alex caught sight of him.
Sebastian was sitting by the river, feet dipping into the cool water. The blonde boy from school sat near him, showing off the wheels on the heels of his new shoes.
Did they live here?
Sebastian caught sight of Alex and frowned. Terrified, Alex darted back into his grandparents house, heart beating fast. Was Sebastian remembering the gridball incident?
Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case. The town was small and Alex couldn't avoid him forever. He learned the blonde boy was named Sam, and they decided it would be fun to wander through the forest together. Alex couldn't believe his luck.
They even started hanging out at school. Elementary school went by in a breeze, and the three boys were overjoyed when they learned they would all be going to the same middle school.
But then Alex's life flipped upside down.
His grandmother showed up at the school, and Alex was called out of class.
"She was…sick," his grandmother said. "This…sickness…caused her to have to go to the hospital. She's with Yoba now, Alex. She's not sick anymore."
His grandmother's words barely registered. Alex's mother, the one constant in his life, was gone. Dead. Never coming back. It wasn't until years later that he learned about depression, the "sickness" his mother had.
Alex didn't cry, not once. He was too numb, too shut off. He took off that year of school, trying to heal. His grandparents took him in, uprooting him from everything he knew, bringing him to a new town.
Sebastian and Sam tried to visit, tried to help. But Alex shut them out, occasionally lashing out at their attempts to cheer him up. Their friendship became strained, and eventually dissolved.
He watched Sam and Sebastian grow into the men they were from a far. His grandfather however, did not approve of them. He used cruel words to describe them, throwing in a slur every now and then. Alex's grandmother was distressed by these words, but you could only tell that from her expressions. She never said a word.
Alex met a nice girl in town named Haley. She was beautiful, but didn't come close to Sebastian. Her lips were plump and soft, but anytime Alex looked, he immediately thought of Sebastian's mouth. He wondered what those piercings would feel like if Sebastian kissed him.
Alex's grandfather seemed to approve of Haley, and always asked when Alex would finally grow up and ask her out. Eventually, Alex finally did, but was turned down.
"I don't like guys," she had said, eyes challenging him to say something rude.
"Oh," Alex said. "I guess we can check out girls together!"
Haley had laughed, and it wasn't long before Alex confided his deepest secret to her.
"I think I like Sebastian," he had said quietly, watching Haley take a picture of a cute rabbit.
"Really?" Haley had said, thrilled.
"Yeah. I think I have for like, years. I dunno." Alex said, shrugging.
"Are you gonna tell him?" Haley asked.
"Haley, I don't even know if he likes guys," Alex said, exasperated. At the look on Haley's face, he frowned.
"What's that look?" he asked.
"Sebastian is bi," she said. "I thought everyone knew that!" She whipped out her phone and began texting furiously. Her phone dinged a few seconds after she put it down, and she giggled when she read the message.
"Who're you texting?" Alex asked.
"Oh, Emily and I are making fun of you for thinking for even a second that Sebastian is straight."
Alex glared daggers at her, and Haley cackled. But it kind of made sense. Alex thought those slurs his grandfather said were based on simple appearance, but maybe that wasn't the case. He suddenly felt angry.
"My grandpa says…things…about Sebastian and Sam," Alex admitted. "But I didn't realize he knew."
Haley made a sound like an angry cat. "George is an ass," she said furiously. "I wish I was surprised by the fact that he said that."
Alex nodded. His grandfather was an ass, he couldn't deny it. He tried to ignore it though. George and Evelyn were the only family members he had left. He couldn't lose them.
Making the decision not to tell Sebastian was an easy one. They weren't on bad terms, but they never hung out. It was easy to avoid him, easy to pretend he felt nothing.
That is, it was easy until the new farmer showed up.
His name was Léo, and he had moved into the rundown farm at the edge of town. Supposedly his grandfather Davíd had left it to him, and Léo had decided to move in.
Alex wouldn't have given him much thought normally. But he couldn't help but notice how close the new farmer was getting to Sebastian. He was getting equally as close to Sam and Abigail, but Alex didn't notice that.
Léo was making Sebastian laugh. Léo was catching frogs in the rain with Sebastian. Léo was going over to Sebastian's house and hanging out with him. Alone. In his room. Alex had to shoo unpleasant thoughts out of his head when he had first heard about Léo's visits.
"You are so jealous," Haley had said one day, watching Alex pout as Sebastian and Léo walked past the ice cream stand.
"Am not," Alex mumbled.
"Looks like "denial" isn't just a river in Egypt," Haley said in a sing-song voice.
"That was bad and you should feel bad," Alex said, rolling his eyes.
"Doesn't make it any less true," she fired back. "But I think if you paid closer attention, you'd see that Léo is not your competition."
"What?" Alex asked, confused.
"I was visiting Leah–"
"Nice," Alex said with a grin, making Haley blush.
"Shut up asswipe," she said, but a smile gave her away. "As I was saying, I was visiting Leah, and we happened to pass by Marnie's place. Marnie was outside talking to Mayor Lewis, and I overheard her saying that Léo keeps making "sad cow eyes" at Sam, and that they need to hurry up and get together already."
"Sad cow eyes…?"
"You'd understand if you looked at Léo while he stares at Sam. It's ridiculous. Honestly, I think he got close to Sebastian in order to get close to Sam."
"Oh," Alex said, looking shocked.
"I really think you should at least start talking to Sebastian, even if you don't tell him your feelings right away," Haley said. "I think you'll feel better."
It took about a month before Alex finally walked up to Sebastian, determined to speak to him. The man was smoking, but it wasn't a cigarette. Alex wrinkled his nose.
"That's not a cigarette," he said bluntly. He internally cursed himself. What kind of shit opener was that?
"No shit," Sebastian said, amused. Alex swallowed thickly at the tiny smile that graced Sebastian's lips.
"What is it?"
Sebastian finally looked up at Alex, his face neutral, but his eyebrows raised. "Are you serious? You don't know what this is?"
"Way to make a guy feel dumb," Alex said looking down and kicking the dirt.
"Don't feel dumb, I was just surprised. It's weed," Sebastian said. "You want a hit?" he asked, offering the joint.
"Oh um…I've never smoked anything before," Alex said. "How do I…?"
Sebastian paused, and then smiled. "Let's try something simple," he said. "I'm gonna take a hit, and then I want you to open your mouth."
Alex was confused, but did as asked. When his mouth opened, his heart began to race. Sebastian was leaning in. He was close, too close! Alex's brain nearly shut off as Sebastian opened his mouth as well, their lips so close to touching.
Slowly, Sebastian breathed the smoke into Alex's mouth. He pulled away, and Alex knew his face was burning.
"I uh…I gotta go…" Alex said, flustered. "But um. We should hang out sometime!"
"Sure," Sebastian said, and winked at him. "See you 'round."
