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There was a lot to like about the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. Sam had no doubts that it was the best festival Pelican Town had to offer.
He liked the jellies themselves, of course. They were gorgeous to look at, and the way they calmly drifted through the ocean all lit up inspired him to branch out and write ballads, or even lullabies. Every time he picked up his guitar to try, he got distracted with something faster, but he was sure that he’d get a slow song done one year, when the mood was just right.
Sam really liked the tradition he started with his boyfriend Sebastian: making the first hot chocolate of the year to share while they waited for the jellies to come in. The weather usually wasn’t cold enough for it. Even in the dark, Sam could tell when Sebastian was getting flushed and overheated in the hoodie he insisted on wearing year-round. Even so, he could tell that Sebastian liked the tradition too, because one year Sam tried to change it to the last lemonade of the year, and Sebastian was not having it.
But what Sam liked most of all was…
“Isn’t it so crazy that we’ve officially been together seven years?” Sam marveled as he passed the thermos of hot chocolate back to Sebastian.
He took the thermos, but didn’t drink from it. “Seven years? What are you talking about?”
“Because it feels like just yesterday that we were still pretending we were only friends.” Sam leaned back on his palms — even though the pier was majorly uncomfortable to lean on like that — and looked up at the clear night sky. “And now it’s been, like, almost Vincent’s whole lifetime.”
“Dude,” Sebastian said in the tone that he always used when he thought something stupid was happening.
“What?”
“We’ll be together eight years this year, and it isn’t even our anniversary yet.”
Sam bolted upright. “What do you mean? Of course it is.”
“No, our anniversary is the Stardew Valley Fair,” Sebastian insisted.
“That can’t be right,” Sam insisted back. “Nothing ever happens at the Fair, what happened at the Fair eight years ago?”
Sebastian blinked in Sam’s direction. The thermos almost slipped from his hand, so he set it between them on the pier. “I won you those fake sunflowers! You don’t remember? You still have them!”
Of course Sam remembered those sunflowers. They had a place of honor right on top of his dresser, so they were the first thing he could see every morning when he woke up. They’d gotten really dusty over the years, so they were probably just as bad for his allergies as the real thing, but he loved them anyway. He’d never get rid of them, even though…
“Wait, I didn’t know that was a boyfriend thing,” Sam said. He took the thermos back for himself since Sebastian wasn’t drinking it.
“Dude!” Sebastian repeated.
Sam hurried to correct himself. “No, I mean, obviously things happened that day. I definitely didn’t forget making out in the Community Center after the Fair. But I didn’t think we were official until the Moonlight Jellies the next year.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, because that’s when we said ‘I love you’ for the first time.”
“You didn’t think we were official until the ‘I love you’s?” Sebastian asked as he reached his hand out for the thermos.
Sam took another sip before he gave it to him. “Well, yeah. If making out was all it took to be official, then wouldn’t our anniversary be ten years ago?”
Even in the dark, Sebastian’s cheeks were so bright red that it was practically radioactive, and it definitely wasn’t from the hot chocolate. “That day was different.”
“Why? Because you ran out of your bedroom like it was on fire after?” Sam asked with a smirk.
Sebastian groaned at this old memory. “Only because we weren’t ready to admit we were gay yet.”
“Pfft, ‘we’,” Sam scoffed. “I was totally ready after that day.”
“Even in front of your parents?”
“Okay, yeah, I probably would’ve ran too if it happened in my house. But still!”
“Alright, whatever, then we were official the first time we experimented.” Sebastian took a long, slow drink from the thermos. He sounded less moody when he added, “However you count it, it’s still not seven years.”
Sam went back to his stargazing while he thought about that. Sebastian joined him, and they enjoyed the comfortable silence while they traded the thermos back and forth. It wasn’t completely silent, since they could hear all their neighbors chatting on the docks by Willy’s shop, but it was good enough for them. They’d always found it easy to create their own little bubble when the rest of the world was loud.
“Moonlight Jellies is a cooler anniversary though,” Sam eventually decided. “It’s, like, poetic and shit. Way better than the Fair, or some random Friday when we were kids.”
Sebastian laughed. “So we’re just picking our anniversary based on what’s cool now?”
“Why not?” Sam turned to look at him, and brushed away a lock of jet-black hair that was falling over his eyes. “It’s not like we’ve ever been traditional in the first place.”
Sebastian caught Sam’s hand from his face and held it, resting it against his thigh instead of the scratchy pier. “That’s true.”
“And our anniversary is gonna change whenever we get married anyway,” Sam continued. “Might as well just celebrate when we want to for now.”
“I like the sound of all that,” Sebastian said with a smile.
Sam took a sip of hot chocolate, and almost spit it out when he got an even better idea. “Wait, what if we picked our original anniversary? Like, the very first one from eleven years ago?”
“Eleven years ago?” Sebastian looked confused for a bit, then it was clear on his face that it hit him. “When you moved here?”
“Yeah! And I said right away that we were gonna be best friends.” Sam almost laughed at how eager he’d been in the past; it reminded him of how Vincent was now. “I mean, I’m sure you thought I was just some loser new kid, and I definitely didn’t know I was gay yet, but like, with hindsight or whatever. I for sure knew you were gonna be important from day one, dude.”
Sebastian was still and quiet for a bit. He got that same faraway look on his face that Sam wrote a song about once, the one that Abigail pretended to gag at the first time he played it for the band. Sebastian loved it, though, and that’s all Sam cared about. Dozens of songs later, and that one was still their favorite.
Finally, in a soft voice, Sebastian told him, “I didn’t think you were some loser new kid. I knew you were important too.”
Sam was starting to get a little bit flushed himself, and without a doubt, it had nothing to do with the hot chocolate. “Good, then that’s our official official anniversary.”
Sebastian leaned in close and kissed Sam on the forehead. “I love the way your brain works.”
“Oh yeah?” Sam scooted closer to him. “What else do you love about me?”
Sebastian tried to look fake-mad, but he always sucked at that when Sam started teasing him. So, he kissed him again instead, on the lips this time. Under the taste of hot chocolate, there was love, and safety, and all of the most comfortable things in the world. Like it always was with Sebastian, the mood was just right.