Notes: I wrote most of this story a loooong time ago, but then yesterday I watcher "What's Your Number" and I felt like continuing on this. So, yeah, I hope you'll like it. It is loosely based on "What's Your Number", but with my own little thoughts and ideas. This first chapter is very innocent and nothing really big happens, but don't you worry! In the next few chapters there will be some more action/drama-thing. Also, this is my first fanfic in a long time, and my English is not as good as it used to be (not my first language, sorry). Please let me know if there are any big mistakes, or if you want more, or just if you liked it!
This was also partly written as a part of the Kurtbastian Hiatus Project (au week).
It was raining heavily. The sky was dark and the grass underneath his feet was soaking, every time he moved just slightly, then the earth made a splashing sound underneath him. He was soaking wet himself, staring at the grave in front of him. A lightning crashed close by, snapping his thoughts back to the moment, but it didn't make him take his eyes away from the old grave. The rain was dropping from his hair, the hair that normally sat just perfect, now laid flat down, the small drops of water dropping down on his face, mixing with the tears. He sobbed, and tried to stop the tears from running from his perfect blue-green eyes. He bent down to put the flowers on the grave; brushing away some dirty so he could read the name on the marble stone. Elizabeth Hummel.
"Kurt!" someone called from the distance. "Kurt! Come on! You'll get sick! I know it's her birthday, but we really have to get back home!"
He stood back up and dried his eyes, then took some deep breaths to calm himself down as he ran back towards the car, the grass splashing water every time he took another step. The car door was already open, so he could quickly get inside and at least try to ignore how bad he knew he looked. His hair was ruined and his clothes would never be the same – not that he would ever wear the same outfit twice anyway.
"Kurt," the voice said besides him and Kurt turned his head to look at his ex-fiancée/ex-boyfriend/currently best friend Blaine. God, why did he still look so gorgeous?
"You have to let go, especially now that your father is gone. You have to let go. You have to move on, find yourself a boyfriend and live your life. Stop living in the past", although Kurt knew he only said it to try and make it all better, then the words still hurt. Find yourself a boyfriend. As if it was just that easy to move on and act as if he hadn't thought that him and Blaine would be together forever. He had thought that they were soul mates.
Kurt looked away and dried his eyes. He thought about what Blaine had told him. It was true; he had lost his father two months ago. The cancer had won and while Kurt was in New York, he had gotten the call that told him that his father had passed away without a warning. He had packed his bags and gone home to Ohio right away. He and Carole had grieved together, and Kurt had chosen to stay in Ohio for some time, since he was done with school now and could work for Vogue at home, online – Isabelle had given him the permission to do that since she knew he needed time to recover. He had lost his mother, Finn and now also his father. Other than that then his ex-fiancée Blaine was now engaged to someone else and his New York flirt Adam had gotten married and had a child on his way. Kurt felt lonely, but still hang out with Blaine – mostly because he occasionally needed some time away from the house, but also because he still truly hoped that one day Blaine would change his mind and take him back, even though it was Kurt who had broken up with him. Twice.
"Kurt? I asked you something," Blaine suddenly said, knocking Kurt out of his thoughts and back to reality.
"What?" he asked, looking confused at Blaine, who just sighed and shook his head.
"I asked; do you want me to take you home so you can get some dry clothes on?" Blaine seemed to be a bit annoyed that he had to repeat the question. He had been like this for a few days. Annoyed with Kurt, probably because Kurt still wasn't moving on, that he was still doing everything possible to make Blaine take him back.
"Sure," Kurt just mumbled while he nodded and got his seatbelt on, looking out of the window and into the rain. He sighed, feeling sadder than ever. The bad weather just seemed to have no end. He missed New York. He missed being away, not having to face his past and mourn, but for now it seemed like Ohio was the best place to be, especially because Carole needed him, more than Kurt needed peace.
Later Kurt sat in the Lima Bean, playing with his empty coffee cup. He was looking even sadder than before, but at least he was dry now and looked somewhere decent. He was waiting for Mercedes and Tina, who had asked him to join them for a movie night – they might be 26, or well, Tina was 25. In some people's mind they were probably too old to have a movie night, but whenever a friend got sad, then they joined forces to cheer up one another. This included a long night with movies, makeovers, talking about boys and fashion, along with crying, laughing and letting every emotion possible out.
"Is this seat taken?" a voice asked somewhat polite; a voice that Kurt recognized the second he heard, but it was a voice that he hadn't heard it in a very long time. When he looked up to confirm his suspension, then he was met with no less than the smirking meerkat face of one Sebastian Smythe.
"Sebastian?" Kurt said surprised, since he hadn't really expected to meet Sebastian here. Actually he hadn't even expected to ever meet Sebastian again, and even if he did, then he would never have thought that they would talk; at most they would nod to each other or something. At least that was what he thought, since they had never really been anything else than associates – or well, they had been 'enemies' at some point, but after the whole Karofsky-episode, then they had stopped being cruel and cold towards each other and just gone their separate ways.
"I thought you had moved away from Ohio to become a successful lawyer, or something?" with that question Kurt moved his bag away from the second chair, allowing Sebastian to sit down. That was the moment he realized that Sebastian was holding two cups of coffee instead of just one, but before he even had the chance to ask if he was meeting someone, one of the cups of coffee was placed in front of him.
"Your favorite is still non-fat mocha, right?" Sebastian asked as he had sat down and got off his coat. Kurt was staring at him with a dropped jaw. That he hadn't expected at all.
"Yeah, but… how do you know?" Kurt asked with a suspicious look in his eyes and a raised eyebrow. He crossed his arms; even after all these years, he still hadn't learned to trust Sebastian – there were always something weird and mysterious about the younger man, and most of the time he seemed to have some hidden agenda behind his actions.
"I guess all the time spying on you and Blaine back in the days taught me a great deal about you Kurt," Sebastian said and took a sip from his coffee with his classic and perfect smirk on his lips. "So, what are you doing here all alone? Shouldn't you be in New York?"
Kurt was looking at Sebastian as if he had just told him that the moon had blown up, or something just as crazy. He stared at him and looked like he wasn't sure if it was even safe to talk to Sebastian – after all, Sebastian was the one who tried to split up him and Blaine, but of course he had promised to change after what happened with David Karofsky, and Blaine had told him that Sebastian had indeed changed, he had even gone out with Dave a few times, but then Dave got engaged and later on married. Blaine and Sebastian had kept in touch after everything, even developed some kind of friendship – though Kurt more than once thought that Blaine would end up with Sebastian, especially after their own relationship fell apart, and Blaine came to tell him that he was seeing someone else.
"My dad died," Kurt in the end told Sebastian, knocking himself out of the many thoughts running through his head. "Two months ago, I've been home ever since."
"Oh… Well, I'm sorry to hear about that," Sebastian said and for a second his hand was softly placed on top of Kurt's, probably just because he tried to act comforting, but Kurt pulled his hand away.
"I'm fine," he said and stood up. "I don't need your pity."
"Wow, princess, I'm not pitying you," Sebastian smirked and looked up at Kurt with his arms crossed.
"I'm just trying to be nice, for once. Is that so wrong?" the question sounded almost… hurt and Kurt wondered if he had been right to react that strongly. He sighed and sat back down, agreeing with himself to at least give Sebastian a chance.
"I'm sorry… It's been a rough couple of weeks… months… years," he said and leaned back in the chair, running his fingers over the edge of the table.
"I can go find some girl you can talk to? I bet they understand this… PMS-thing, better than I do," Sebastian joked and he deserved the slap on his shoulder that Kurt gave him – but at least Kurt was smiling now. Kurt didn't know why he just did that. Maybe it was just because Sebastian was acting friendly, and Kurt really could use a friend right now, a friend that didn't pity him, or tried to constantly cheer him up.
"Shut up Meerkat," he snorted and got his coffee that Sebastian had given him, taking a small sip from it. It warmed his body and made him relax more. It felt weird, being relaxed around someone who used to bully him and do everything possible to make his life a living hell, but in a way it was also nice to talk to someone different. Somehow Kurt ended up staring at Sebastian for a long time, but it didn't feel like that long, which was why he didn't sense that Sebastian was waiting for an answer.
"What?" Kurt said, clearly confused, but Sebastian just laughed and got an even greater smirk on his face.
"Geez, don't start drooling over my great looks princess, I just asked you if you were seeing someone, you know, since Blaine is engaged with someone else and all that," Sebastian said and he could sense that it was a topic that Kurt had been avoiding, because suddenly Kurt seemed to be in a rush to drink the rest of his coffee.
"I better go, Carole is probably waiting for me," Kurt said and looked outside. It was still raining and Blaine had drove him there, which meant he had to walk to the bus stop and he would be soaked before he reached it.
"You want a ride?" Sebastian asked. He was already standing and had a pair of car keys in his hand. "Or do you want to take the risk and get sick because the weather is freezing, and your clothes does not look that waterproof. Still choosing fashion over comfort?" he was clearly smirking now, but Kurt didn't care. He stood up, got his coat on and looked at Sebastian. Better a get a ride home with someone like Sebastian, than risk getting his clothes completely soaked while waiting for the bus.
"Where's your car?" he asked and followed Sebastian outside. Once outside he realized that Sebastian was definitely much more of a rich kid than he had first though, because that car, that Bentley Rapier was probably the most expensive car Kurt had ever seen in real life, and Sebastian was getting into that car, looking like it was no big deal to him that he owned the most gorgeous and ritzy car.
"You coming or what?" Sebastian asked, knocking Kurt out of his thoughts. Kurt quickly got into the car, closing the door and fastened the seatbelt. He felt the rain run down his neck and felt the chill that ran through his body at that. This lead him to reminding himself to at least try to wear better clothes from now on, not that it was very likely he would do it.
"I'm here... Just drive please?" he mumbled and leaned back in the seat, then noticed that he wasn't shivering, although the water ran down his back, and that the car was warm and cozy. He looked confused, and Sebastian seemed to notice.
"I turned the heat on and there is heat in the seats," he pointed out as he started the car. He was smirking a lot, not that it bothered Kurt; he knew that Sebastian had always been like that: a charmer beyond every measure.
The first few minutes of the trip back to Kurt's place were very awkward. None of them said anything and Kurt just tried to get warm and dry; he was surprised that Sebastian hadn't suggested that Kurt should just get the wet clothes off; he was almost shocked when Sebastian didn't even comment on Kurt's slightly clattering teeth. He had never experienced Sebastian being this quiet before. He wondered what the other man was thinking.
"Sebastian?" he asked and noticed that he now had the man's attention, since Sebastian looked over at him for a brief second, but didn't say anything.
"What happened between you and Dave?" the question was careful, low and silent, and for a moment Kurt thought Sebastian wouldn't answer him, since he got very quiet and just stared out the windscreen. In the end Kurt heard a sigh.
"I cheated on him," Sebastian's answer came low and it shocked Kurt, or well, he had expected something like that, since it was Sebastian, but still, Blaine had said that it seemed like Sebastian was… in love with Karofsky, so why would he cheat?
"You… What?" he said and now he was staring at Sebastian. He noticed that Sebastian had clenched his hands around the steering wheel and that he had a small tear at the corner of his eye, not that he let it fall. Sebastian wasn't the type of guy who cried in front of others.
"I got drunk, a hot guy hit on me at Scandals, I went home with the guy and Dave found out. End of story," Sebastian said and went down the road where Carole lived – since Kurt was staying with her. He parked the car, but Kurt made no movement.
"Why? I thought you loved him?" it came from Kurt and Sebastian gave a short, low laugh.
"I don't know what love is, I only know how to have fun. Sure I felt different around Dave, but would I have cheated if I truly loved him?" the question wasn't meant to be answered and soon the silence fell over the car. Kurt didn't want to go inside, didn't want to handle another pity-filled night of crying. He was unconsciously playing with his phone in his hands; that was until he felt Sebastian put his hand over Kurt's.
"You okay?" Sebastian asked Kurt, who just smiled sadly.
"Not… really, no," Kurt said very slowly and lifted his head to look at Sebastian with that sad look upon his face. "I think… I think I have forgotten how to… live my life, so to speak," there was a short minute of silence before Kurt continued.
"Blaine told me earlier that I should move on, find a new boyfriend…" he in the end admitted and it didn't take Sebastian long to figure out what to say.
"Then why don't you just start dating?" he suggested and Kurt snorted.
"Don't you think I've tried? Getting a date while having a fulltime job isn't exactly easy Smythe," he actually snapped at Sebastian. "And not every guy working at Vogue is gay, just so you know," he said that last part because he knew the whole 'every guy that works with fashion has to be gay'-stereotype thinking.
"Hey, easy princess, I'm just trying to help you," Sebastian said and looked irritated. "You're saying you want to live your life? Then here's a suggestion. I set you up on a couple of blind dates. Let's say 10, nice even number, and if that doesn't help, well, then you're screwed," he leaned back in the seat, his fingers playing on the steering wheel. Kurt seemed to think about it for a long time.
"What do you get out of this?" he then asked, looking at Sebastian. "You're not the type of guy who just helps someone without getting something out of it yourself."
"Well, you could let me live in your apartment until I find my own place. And before you start saying anything, then yes, I got thrown out of my old place, and I need somewhere to live in New York," Sebastian looked serious. "Also it'll be fun for me to see you fail at dating."
"Fine. Put me up on some blind dates," Kurt sighed and shook his head. "But, I have one condition. No drug addicts or alcoholics, and the dates have to be in New York, no flying me across the land to Miami or something. Isabella needs me back next week," Kurt said and Sebastian nodded with a much too happy smirk.
"That's a deal princess," he said with that smirk and Kurt didn't even bother to give him an annoyed comment, he just got out of the car and went inside to Carole. If he knew Sebastian then he would forget all about it as he went out to screw someone later. Kurt didn't need to worry, because of course Sebastian wouldn't help him, why should he?