Author's Note: the alternate title is 'Even the Best Laid Plans Get You Kicked in the Groin'
as per my m.o, title shamelessly stolen from a song. (L.O.V.E)
Not strictly necessary for you to have read SYH to read this. If you haven't things to know: Blaine and Sebastian have been together for about a year at this point. They are both going to college in London. Blaine has a horse named Toby who got left behind in Ohio and that is sad. :-(
When Sebastian called to say he was wouldn't be able to make it over that night Blaine was neither surprised nor upset. (And if he repeated that enough it might eventually be true.) His boyfriend had been really busy with some project lately; Blaine wasn't sure on the details of it because the mere mention of it brought a look of overwhelmed panic to Sebastian's eyes, so he just left it and accepted that life would be better once the stupid project was over.
Besides, it had been made more than clear that they would not be celebrating both Valentine's Day and their anniversary. Too close together, too much sentiment. One or the other Sebastian had said and of, course, Blaine had picked their anniversary.
Maybe he wasn't quite as smitten with the holiday as he had been in high school, but he wouldn't have said no to some little acknowledgement of it. In his mind that played out as waking up together on the morning of the 14th. If he had been dropping hints about it all week, they had pretty subtle; casual mentions about how much he loved their lazy Friday mornings and hints that he had found a recipe he wanted to try and wouldn't Thursday just be a perfect night to give it a go?
All to no avail, apparently.
So he and his flatmate, Lawrence, stayed up until 1 watching zombie movies and taking bets on how many times their other flatmate would make an appearance to ask their thoughts on her date night outfit-15 times. Lawrence had been closest with his guess of 13.
When he finally crawled into bed, he very pointedly did not notice that he had zero missed calls or messages as he texted Sebastian a quick 'night. I love you.' He was asleep before the corresponding 'love you too' came through.
His dreams were restless ; a reminder of why he had avowed to never mix grade Z horror films and curry again. Either he was being chased or he was lost (or sometimes both) and help was always just out of reach. And everything had a murky quality to it which only added to the confusion and terror.
Finally there was a voice in the darkness, clearer than anything else he had encountered and so inviting. 'Do you trust me?' it asked. Of course he did, he thought, without even having to think about it. 'I promise I won't let anything happen to you.' The voice disappeared, but far from being scarred, Blaine felt protected.
He thought he had just made it to safety when there was the creak of a floorboard telling him he wasn't alone. Frantically he looked around only to see nothing. Something brushed up against his side and he lashed out with his feet, grunting in satisfaction as he made contact with whatever it was but not before it managed to wrap something around his eyes effectively blinding him.
"Fuck, Blaine," the disembodied voice whimpered and groaned.
"Seb?" Blaine stopped fighting and tentatively groped around in the darkness until his hand was caught by another and given a gentle squeeze. "Am I dreaming?" He was so confused; he knew he had been asleep but he didn't feel like he was anymore, except for the fact he definitely couldn't see anything due to the thick cloth secured around his head.
"I don't think so? You were talking to me a minute ago," Sebastian sounded really unsure and every word was tinged with the remnants of pain. "Do you want me to take it off?" A hand reached around to the back of his head and tugged at the knot.
" Maybe? Umm, why am I wearing it?" Once or twice they had experimented with blindfolding. It wasn't something they had an overwhelming interest in, but on the odd occasion it was fun. Now really wasn't one of those times, however.
The bed shifted as Sebastian pressed closer and sheepishly muttered, "For your surprise."
"Surprise? You got me a surprise? Is it pie?" Most of Sebastian's surprises were pie.
"No," Sebastian laughed. "It's not pie. And it doesn't have to be a surprise if you don't want it to be. I just thought it might be more... fun?" The contrition in his voice was nearly overwhelming.
"No! I mean, yes. It's fine. More than fine." Feeling a little ridiculous, he thrust his head forward and puckered his lips, patiently waiting to his boyfriend to catch on and kiss him. "Surprise now, please."
"Hold on," the bed shifted again. "You need shoes and a coat." A moment later he was back, pressing the coat into Blaine's hand and sliding his shoes onto his feet, pausing only to drop a tender kiss to the inside of his thighs pyjama clad thighs.
"Seb," Blaine groaned. "We won't be going anywhere if you keep that up."
"Mmm," he lazily agreed. "This will probably be easier if you get on my back. I didn't take the stairs into consideration."
Begrudgingly Blaine wrapped himself around his boyfriend. He really hoped Sebastian appreciated just how much he trusted him. He was in fleece pyjama bottoms that he knew neither his coat for his boots matched with unkempt bed-head and, "if anyone sees me I'm going to kill you," he promised.
"No one is going to see you. It's four in the morning." He tightened his hold as they started their descent of the stairs.
Even though he knew they were headed outside, Blaine was not at all ready for the frigid air that assaulted him. Luckily, it was mere seconds before Sebastian was prodding him down and helping him into the back of a car.
"Santana will castrate you if I go missing. With her bare hands." His threat made, he settled back into the seat and let the purr of the car lull him to sleep.
Blaine wasn't sure how long he had been dozing for, but by the time Sebastian shook him awake again (much more gently this time) he was feeling well rested. Waking up blindfolded really wasn't something he ever wanted to experience again, however. The second of disorientation when he blinked open his eyes only to be greeted by a continued darkness was unnerving to say the least.
"Where are we going?" Now that he was more awake he actually couldn't believe he let Sebastian drag him from the house looking like that. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so unpresentable in public. Probably not since his parent's had banned Cooper from dressing him. Those outfits had always been interesting.
Even though he couldn't see it, he could definitely feel the disdain for his question rolling off his boyfriend in waves.
"You wouldn't be blindfolded if I wanted you to know." Blaine tried his best pout even if it's effectiveness was somewhat hampered by the fact that his eyes weren't visible. "We're just outside of London. And that's all I'm telling you. If you can be patient," fingers dug roughly into Blaine's side in what he had come to recognize as an imitation of a tickle, "you'll find out for yourself in about 10 minutes."
"Fine," he sighed and huddled lower in his seat but reached out to pull Sebastian closer in compensation. Hooking his chin over the taller man's shoulder he asked, "Am I going to like it?"
Sebastian bit his tongue against the sarcastic retort that Blaine would absolutely hate it; he had already put the boy through enough that morning. "You'll love it so much you'll be questioning why you ever had doubts about dating me."
"I didn't have doubts." And he hadn't, not really. Not very big ones, at least. And they hadn't lasted for very long. He knew Sebastian had been teasing but it seemed crucially important to clarify. Even though they'd been together for almost a year now that Sebastian still doubted his ability to be a good boyfriend.
"I know." But the way he teased Blaine's thumb between his own fingers belied the confidence in his voice.
Before he could say more the car came to a stop and Sebastian was pulling him across the seat.
"What's this?" He questioned as something was draped across his shoulder.
"Actual clothes and your gel. In case you decide you want to stay for a while."
"So we are going to be seen by people?" He groaned, hands already itching to get out the gel in an attempt to tame his hair.
"I promise it will be worth it." Sebastian wrapped his arm around Blaine's waist and began leading him... somewhere, occasionally murmuring about dips in the ground or that they were stepping onto gravel.
Despite his previous wariness, Blaine couldn't help but become more and more excited with every step. Whatever it was, Sebastian had clearly gone through a lot of trouble to arrange it and he seemed pretty excited about it (although smugly pleased would be a better way to describe it).
"Can you tell me what it is now?" His voice rang out in the otherwise silent area as he bounced along on the balls of his feet.
"Shh. We're about to go inside and you don't want to startle them."
"Startle who?"
"Just keep your voice down, killer."
Although they didn't stop to open any door it was immediately obvious that they were no longer outside. While it had been an unseasonably warm February it wasn't like they could go without coats. Wherever they were now was a good deal warmer than it had been outside. It even smelled warm... And very, very unmistakably familiar.
"Are we-?" He did his best to keep his voice down, because if he was right (which he had to be) he really didn't want to startle anyone.
There were two things that he desperately missed from home; crappy Chinese takeaway and riding. He had spent almost all of his free time that summer at the barn and had missed it every day since. It had been just about all he talked about his first three weeks until he realized he was probably annoying everyone around him and so refrained from mentioning it at all.
Turning into Sebastian he hugged him as tight as he possibly could, ignoring the prickling sensation at the back of his eyes. He definitely wasn't going to cry on their first Valentine's Day together, it would be a sure fire way to never, ever celebrate it again. He tilted his head back for a kiss and smiled at his boyfriend's compliance. With a gentle tug, the blindfold was falling away and he was looking up at Sebastian's beaming face.
"This is perfect. And to think I went to bed annoyed with you."
"That'll teach you." He smiled and leaned in for another kiss. "There's more." His grin was almost unbearably smug as he indicated a stall near the end of the row.
Blaine cocked his head in confusion but obediently made his way down the aisle and then froze when he got to the indicated stall.
"No." Because he knew the horse that was whinnying excitedly and butting it's head against his shoulder. "You didn't." Reaching out a trembling hand he stroked at Toby's nose, flinching when it actually made contact. "How?" He choked out, his promise to not cry entirely forgotten.
"I have my ways." He had been working on it since November, talking extensively to every barn in the greater London area, Blaine's parents, and Marguerite (who had been given temporary custody of him). At one point Mr. Anderson had become very hesitant about the idea and the whole thing had almost fallen through.
Blaine was running his fingers through Toby's mane, still unable to believe that he was actually there.
"Can you..." Sebastian gently gripped Blaine's chin in his hand and forced him to turn his head so they were looking at each other, laughing at Blaine's noise of protest. "Just for a second, okay?" Idly his thumb swept across the contours of his boyfriend's cheek. "I can't miss my morning lecture. So I'm going to head back now. Here," he fished out a card from his jacket and slid it into Blaine's back pocket, "is the number of the cab company that's willing to come out here. We'll have to figure out other arrangements soon, but they'll work for now. Just give them about an hour's notice. Stay as long as you like; I know the two of you have a lot of catching up to do."
"Okay." Blaine was trying his hardest to pay attention to Sebastian, but Toby kept prancing around in his stall and snorting in annoyance at being ignored. "You're the best boyfriend ever."
"I expect you to remember that later."
"I'll see what I can do." He fluttered his eye lashes in a manner he considered charming and Sebastian considered downright sinful.
"Or now," Sebastian said thickly. "I'm sure there's an abandoned hay stack around here somewhere."
"You sure know how to entice a man." Rising up on his tiptoes, Blaine placed a firm kiss on his boyfriend's lips before giving him a gentle push in the direction of the door.
Half way through his Evolution of Modern Business lecture his phone buzzed with an incoming message. Shifting so hi s phone would be just outside of his professor's peripheral view, he opened it to find a picture of Blaine (now properly attired and hair adequately gelled down) and Toby standing in the yard.
A second later another message came in, this one reading Have I mentioned today that you're the greatest ever? WE love you and I'LL see you tonight. ;-)
