CHAPTER ONE
Author's Note: I had been working on this story for quite some time now. I hit a wall because of how heavy the topic is, but when I reread it earlier, I kind of felt the drive to continue it. I know I still have a few in the works, but I felt like I had to post this one. I think it's a good plot, but I need your opinion of it too. I do hope you'll all enjoy this story, even if it's very dark and heavy-themed.
Warnings: Mentions of severe violence and major character death.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, Ryan Murphy does. If I did, I'd make Kurt and Sebastian fall in love with each other and do very dirty things to each other every episode. I'm not making any money off of this either. If you sue me, you'll be sorely disappointed since I'm broke. :D
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Detective Sebastian Smythe stepped out of the black SUV he and his partner, Nick Stewart, were driving. A beat cop immediately walked towards them to give them an overview of why they were called in at such an ungodly hour in the morning, even if they were still, technically, on the clock.
"Two men were beaten to an inch of their lives in this small alley close to where they apparently live. At first we thought the motive was plain robbery seeing as both vics look to be pretty well off, but the more we snooped around, the more we're suspecting hate crime. They were both wearing wedding rings, and true enough, we just found out that our two vics are married. Recently married from the looks of it, since their driver's licenses are brand new. They're both being rushed to St. Mary's as we speak," the beat cop said as he led the two detectives towards the crime scene, still reporting what the first responders found in the crime scene so far.
Sebastian brows furrowed as he nodded curtly at the beat cop as soon as he was done giving his update and grimaced at the amount of blood on the ground when they stepped under the yellow tape to get to the crime scene. "I'm assuming someone got either stabbed or shot, with the amount of blood here," he said. Even if he had been with the 83rd precinct for more than three years, seeing so much blood never did sit well with him. And knowing that the victims were a gay married couple, it felt worse. Sebastian wanted to run to a corner of the alley and throw up, but he stopped himself. No way was he going to blow chunks in front of all these cops and CSIs milling around his crime scene.
He saw his partner look at him from his peripheral and his frown deepened. "I'm fine, Nick," he muttered to his best friend, to which Nick snorted in response. Sometimes he hated that his best friend knew him too well. Being friends with Nick for almost eight years had its drawbacks, and him knowing Sebastian too well, even with all his walls up, was definitely one of them. Not that he didn't appreciate it, especially since it helps when they have to solve cases, but he just hates that the shorter man can read him like a fucking book.
He and Nick had been classmates at Dalton Academy for Boys back in Westerville, Ohio and they both moved to New York to study. Sebastian was supposed to take up pre-law at Columbia, but fell in love with Criminology when he got to read some of the books Nick always brought home from NYU. With his father wholeheartedly agreeing to his decision and his mother's hesitant support (she was just extremely worried that his precious boy will get hurt, or worse, killed, while on duty), Sebastian transferred to NYU and started taking up Criminology after a semester of pre-law at Columbia. After graduation, they both immediately joined the police academy, then the force, both of them moving up the ranks from beat cop to detective in just a little over a year.
Nick turned to look at him more closely. "No you're not. Stop lying to me. Come on, let's check who our vics are."
Sebastian followed Nick's lead as they approached the CSI who was taking photos of the blood pool. "Danny," he greeted the CSI, nodding at him as he put on a pair of latex gloves.
"Hey. So, this was definitely not a robbery because whoever beat those two guys up were not after their wallets," the CSI handed two clear plastic, zip-lock evidence bags that contained the wallets of the vics to Sebastian before continuing. "Vics' names are Blaine Devon Hummel-Anderson and Kurt Elizabeth Hummel-Anderson."
Sebastian's felt the wind get knocked out of him the moment he heard the names. He glanced at the flipped open wallets and saw the driver's licenses in each that confirmed everything the CSI said, the familiar faces staring back at him.
"What? Let me see that!" Nick exclaimed and grabbed evidence bags. Sebastian heard his partner's breath hitch. "Shit, Seb…i-it's Blaine and Kurt," Nick managed to gasp out. He finally turned to look at his best friend, eyes wide and face pale. He couldn't stop the churn in his stomach anymore and flew off to the farthest corner of the alley to throw up until he was dry heaving. The tears that formed in his eyes and the burning sensation in his throat offered no comfort.
His brain kept chanting the names over and over again. Blaine and Kurt. Blaine and Kurt. It was soothing in a way that shouldn't be. He never became friends with the two boys. True, he had mixed feelings towards Blaine and Kurt when they were all still in high school, especially after everything that had happened between the three of them back in Ohio, but Sebastian never thought that their paths will cross here in New York. He never thought nor hoped that their paths will cross in such a tragic way.
Sebastian felt a soothing hand on his back and a bottle of water appeared in his line of vision. He took the bottle gratefully and took a mouthful, swirling the liquid in his mouth first before spitting it out. He repeated the action twice before finishing off the contents of the water bottle by drinking it.
"Come on, we have a job to do. Let's wrap this up and go back to the precinct to check if the chief can pull us out of the case," Nick said. He straightened up and faced Nick while wiping his mouth with his handkerchief.
"Why would I want to be pulled out from the case?" Sebastian asked, his voice sounding hoarse and raspy. Nick just gave him a look that conveyed a million messages, none of which he felt comfortable with.
Sebastian sighed. "I'm fine Nick. I don't need to be pulled out. I actually prefer to be the one to handle this case anyway. Gives us both motivation to catch the bastard who did this to your friends." He watched as Nick eyed him carefully. He shook his head and returned Nick's gaze with a steely glare. "I said I'm fine, Nick."
Nick shrugged and started walking away from him. Sebastian closed his eyes and pressed the heel of his palms against them. The pressure was comforting and he felt like he was able to breathe normally again. He dropped his hands to his sides, opened his eyes and took a deep breath before schooling his features to one of passive professionalism and made his way back to the crime scene.
As he was walking back, he saw the same beat cop they were talking to briskly walking towards Nick. He whispered something to Sebastian's partner and he watched as Nick grimaced and scrubbed his face. He watched as Nick's normally happy eyes fill with sorrow as his best friend turned to look at him.
"What is it Nick?" Sebastian asked, stopping dead on his tracks at the look on Nick's face.
"Seb...i-it's Blaine…o-our investigation just turned into a murder case."
For the second time that day, Sebastian felt the wind get knocked out of his body.
