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Sebastian never thought the day would come where he would meet someone who was a bigger mess of a human being than himself. Then he met Shane, and before he could even fully process the hot mess that man was, Haru came barreling into town.
It was a gradual process, starting off with Sebastian overhearing Maru talking about how often she saw Linus-- the homeless man who didn't live far from their house--dragging the new farmer into the clinic. She'd mention that the farmer was never there for any serious injuries, just from dehydration and exhaustion.
On the few times Sebastian ran into the other man-- usually stopping by just to drop off gifts for everyone [not just him, shut up Maru]-- he always seemed pretty cheerful. Bits of his red hair would be sticking out of his buns--the sweat causing the hair to stick to his neck-- and there'd always be smidges of dirt on his face, but his smile was always bright and his green eyes always seemed to glow unnaturally.
(Abigail would always insist that Haru's eyes were actually glowing, and Sam always seemed pretty interested in the idea that maybe the farmer wasn't completely human, but Sebastian could never take her seriously.)
It wasn't until Sebastian invited Haru to play a game with him and Sam that the cheerful mask seemed to be peeling back a bit. It wasn't anything overly serious, just Haru showing up without any trace of dirt or sweat on him and him untying his hair half way through the game, that Sebastian finally noticed how pale his skin was and the dark, heavy bags pressed under his eyes.
It was then that Sebastian realised that Haru was really, really, tired. All the time, 24/7.
But then Haru's green eyes flashed and he smiled at him from over the table.
"Ready to try again?" His voice was clear-- not too loud (like Sam's) or too quite (like his own)--and calming. Half of him wondered if Haru was always so calm simply because he was too tired to put any energy in anything other than his farm, but despite that Sebastian could feel the tension in his shoulders melting away like it was never there, and the fire that always raged in his heart seeming to settle down a bit.
"Sebastian?" Sam asked in a teasing tone, waving a hand under his friend's nose; ignoring the look of disapproval that Haru gave him.
Sebastian jolted a bit at Sam's voice, only just now realising that he had been staring at Haru with wide, doe eyes.
"Oh." Sebastian let out an embarrassed cough, diverting his eyes down at the table to try and distract himself from Sam's irritating smirk and Haru's small, reassuring smile. "Uh, yeah. I'm ready."
"Good!" Haru's eyes once again flashed, and from the corner of his eye Sebastian swore he saw Sam look away; bringing up his hand to cover his eyes, like he was trying to block out the Sun. Sebastain's attention was drawn back to the farmer as the other man lightly hit the bottom of the stack of cards against the table; signaling that he was done shuffling the cards. "Let's begin!"
Sebastian gulped a bit. Abigail had told him that the farmer had a pretty bad competitive streak, but Sam had simply said that Abigail was being a sore loser: upset that the farmer had beaten her high score in one of the arcade games.
Sebastian was a fool to believe anything Sam said.