"Come on, Rory Leprechaun!" Brittany S. Pierce's voice carried up the staircase and echoed through the house. Rory looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. How he had allowed Brittany and Kurt to make him dress up for a Halloween party was beyond his understanding. He mostly didn't want to admit to himself that he was a pushover, really.
Santana's voice also yelled up, "I can't be sober after 10PM, leprechaun, it's like feeding a gremlin after midnight!"
Rory was convinced he looked ridiculous and sighed once more. He truly didn't look too ridiculous. It was iHalloween/i, after all. However, Kurt's idea for the costume made Rory feel awkward, though Blaine and Brittany had both certainly approved of the idea, with a bit of excitement, even. Regardless, the Irish boy descended the stairs. His boots were louder on the wooden staircase than he'd truly noticed, though Rory was pleased to note that his had seemed to keep itself from falling down. Okay, Rory had to admit that some of the stuff Kurt had picked out was pretty cool. He was quite fond of the classic-looking flannel shirt, that was for sure. Rory was dressed as a "cowboy", or (as he joked to himself) "an American".
Brittany looked surprised and pleased, and Santana even winked at him. They headed to the car promptly and Santana informed Rory that he was "not lookin' bad, Leprechaun." Brittany whispered some ridiculous question to her that Rory was quite positive he would live with not knowing.
The three arrived at the part, and Brittany and Santana immediately made their way to the dance floor. They were to meet up at two or three, alcohol intake-depending, for a New Directions (ladies and Rory and Kurt) night at the Pierce's. Rory noticed that he possessed no reason to feel awkward, as there were people in costumes much more insane than his own. Intimidated by the dance floor and the unknown people, Rory went to where he'd seen the kitchen was, getting himself a beer.
Rory was quite certain that the majority of people there went to McKinley, but there were some that didn't even look the slightest bit familiar, and some he could swear go to that school Kurt and Blaine went to, as well as the school they'd just defeated in their sectional competition. He wasn't sure, but he knew that he couldn't name one fourth of the people in the house and it had nothing to do with the costumes.
Rory opened a PBR and took a sip, taking a second to focus on the taste and the feel of condensation cooling his hand. He was interrupted from his few seconds of pure relaxation when a seemingly-familiar voice spoke out.
"Ride 'em, cowboy," the voice said, and Rory looked to see the smirking owner of the voice was Sebastian Smythe of The Warblers. He nearly choked on his drink, mostly from the extremely forward tone the other had used, because Rory could see the intended meaning Sebastian had for his words. Sebastian's tone almost made Rory want to hide, he felt intimidated, just a little bit.
"Er-hello?" Rory uncertainly greeted Sebastian, trying to play it at least a little cool. This was when Rory noticed that the other seemed to be wearing no costume, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.
Sebastian stood from where he'd been leaning against the counter. "You're in the McKinley Glee Club," he commented, stated more than asked. Rory nodded, puzzled at the other's presence and sudden appearance. "I see," Sebastian nodded, not letting his smirk drop, another thing Rory found strangely intimidating.
He finally realized that he wasn't engaging in normal human conversation, and rather than continuing to be awkward, he asked, "why ain't you wearin' a costume?" Rory didn't know the older guy well enough to notice that his hair wasn't styled up in its usual manor, but it hung low, almost in front of his face. He also wore sneakers, something he didn't do very often, though he couldn't say he hated them. He just preferred real shoes.
"Oh, but I am!" Sebastian grinned, taking up his own drink from the counter behind him. "I'm a public school student!" he told Rory, who simply looked confused with the slightest head tilt. Sebastian added, "I have the scariest costume here, admit it."
Despite himself, Rory laughed. Sebastian's quirky energy was almost infectious. Rory's hat fell down just a fraction, over his eyes in his laughter. The Warbler reached over and instinctively pushed the other's hat back up and out of his face. Rory's laughter had eased into a smile, he seemed relaxed.
Sebastian looked just slightly down at Rory and felt pride in his height, though he couldn't quite define why. "I thought I was on McKinley Glee's hit list," he commented to Rory, quite certain that Kurt and Blaine would be spouting lavish and only partially true stories of his cruel and vicious demeanor as well as his dark intentions.
This wasn't far off, actually, as Kurt and Blaine had been complaining about some "pompous douchebag" who hung around the Lima Bean. Rory had only known it was Sebastian who they referred to, because of the conversation between Kurt and Blaine about him when The Warblers came to McKinley's sectionals. He, somehow, remembered Sebastian flirting with Blaine, though he'd been a good distance away at the time. "I mean, I don't know you… wouldn't want to be rude," he shrugged. Rory wasn't one to judge, he'd even been told that he was "of good virtue" once, though he didn't hold it to much.
Sebastian seemed intrigued by the younger boy's sentiment. Truthfully, Sebastian wasn't a terrible person. He'd gone through some bad things, but he was an extremely loyal individual. He just wasn't one to easily trust people. It's not his fault in any way, he simply has no other way of coping than his then-current defense mechanisms. Sebastian grinned again and took Rory carefully by the arm. "Come on, let's dance." He didn't stop to consider the fact that the Irish boy could be straight or even hear Rory's immediate signs of protest at the word "dance". Sebastian didn't consider that Rory could only show kindness to him due to pity or to avoid awkwardness. He really didn't care.
Nobody noticed when the two guys joined the group of people dancing. People were drunk, it was dark, people were high, and everyone else seemed lost in their own little warped worlds. Sebastian barely noticed Rory's continued kind protests to dancing. The loud music simplified things; conversations were not necessary, everything could come down to eye contact and rhythm. These happened to be two things Rory was convinced that he was awful at.
Sebastian finally noticed that rory seemed uncomfortable, so he pulled him into the growd, thus surrounding them. Though they were near to a few couples dancing in less than censored ways, as well a the nauseatingly cute couples or just some friends, they weren't awkwardly at the edge anymore. Those not dancing would have a much more difficult time seeing them, and Rory felt somehow assured by this gesture. For once he was "dancing", not caring that he'd look dumb and ridiculous. Rory's hands finally rested on Sebastian's shoulders very lightly, and he found that Sebastian's smirk was just a little bit contagious. Any desire Rory had felt to think of anything else was gone. Nothing outside of that moment was important.
It seemed to take hours, yet at the same time only a few short seconds for Sebastian's hands to pull Rory's lower back closer to him. Rory's natural and instantaneous reaction was shown as he kissed Sebastian. The kiss deepened immediately and lasted for what could have been hours. At different times, Rory felt Sebastian kissing him directly, lightly biting at his neck, kissing him on the mouth again. The perfectly and impossible unmeasurable amount of time that this took place during ended.
Rory looked up in Sebastian's eyes, trying to remember breathing and thinking. Sebastian took Rory's cowboy hat and placed it on his own head. Both boys had smirks adorning their faces. Sebastian glanced to the door where he saw his ride back to Westerville. He looked back to Rory and ran his hand through part of Rory's hair in an extremely affectionate way. He then winked at Rory and said "see ya around, partner." Sebastian turned and joined Nick and Girlfriend outside, cowboy hat not leaving his head.
Hours after Rory had seen his hat and Sebastian leave, he was with Rachel, Quinn, and Kurt (all other people there had fallen asleep by this point). None of the girls (nor Kurt) noticed the hazed smile on Rory's face nor the glazed light remaining in his blue eyes. They didn't even notice the forming hickey that he kept feeling subconsciously on his neck with light fingers. Rory barely paid attention to whatever movie had been on, he barely ate any candy, too lost in thoughts for anything else to even register.
What he didn't know was that Sebastian Smythe was, at the same time, ignoring his own Glee teammates in their own little after-party. Equally lost in the same thoughts as Rory, Sebastian didn't even realize until he finally lay down to go to sleep that he still wore the cowboy hat. They were sure to cross paths again, that much was certain.