The main thing to remember when keeping secrets in glee club is to trust no one.
At its longest, the time is takes for secrets to spread from one person to the whole club to the whole school is six hours. At its quickest, a single class period.
Kurt generally tells Mercedes and Rachel everything. There's not much worth holding onto, nothing juicy to turn the halls atwitter with speculation. They all know he's gay. That's all anyone seems concerned with knowing when it comes to him. It's probably why he prefers the company of his Dalton friends. Not that anyone knows about them, about Kurt's relationship with them. About his extra special relationship with the leader of Dalton's show choir. Considering the cross-choir fiasco that literally ended with egg on Rachel's face, Kurt's quite keen to keep just this one thing to himself.
:: ::
Rachel's parties always suck. Kurt knew this going in, but he couldn't just not show up without an explanation. With only the glee club in attendance, one person's absence would be obvious. Lying his way out of it by claiming his dad wouldn't let him come was never on the table because, of course, Finn was always going to be here. He couldn't tell the truth of where he'd rather be because that would spark a whole lot of questions with answers revealing secrets better left in the dark.
The Warbler party will be raging long after Rachel's has fizzled out and the New Directions are passed out on her floor with bellies full of wine coolers. Kurt promised Sebastian he'd get to Westerville as soon as possible, but there's no way he's making it before midnight.
Once again, he'll stand off to the side while his friends get their New Year's kisses. The girls will come to kiss his cheeks when they've pulled their tongues from the boys' mouths. Santana and Brittany will once again try to drag him into the most convoluted threesome in the history of threesomes, Sam and Finn may offer hugs, and then they'll be pairing off again. Kurt will be counting the minutes down, fighting back sleep so he can spend however small a time, however late it comes, ringing in the New Year with his boyfriend.
An hour to midnight, Kurt feigns a migraine in hopes Rachel will buy the excuse and let him leave. Instead, she tells him that he shouldn't be driving if it's really that bad, takes his keys, and sticks them in her bra. Then demands he go upstairs and lay down, her drunken slurs all laced with concern because Kurt's apparently laid it on too thick.
While he's heading up, he texts Sebastian to let him know for sure he won't be at the Warbler party until way later. Sebastian just sends back a sad cat emoji. Kurt rolls his eyes, flopping back onto Rachel's hot pink bedspread and grabbing her remote so he can find some reality show to spend the evening with.
In the space of the next half hour, Kurt no less than fifty separate times thinks of stealing back his keys, disappearing into the night, and dealing with the onslaught of questions which would undoubtedly be awaiting him via text, and voicemail, and Rachel and Mercedes on his doorstep tomorrow morning.
For two months, Kurt has been someone's boyfriend. None of that time has gone by like he'd pictured. In a good way. Kurt had imagined holding hands as the highest form of intimacy. He threw together hypothetical bits and pieces of romance based on what he's seen in movies and read in books. Experience has turned him upside down.
At first, Sebastian seemed his opposite. Popular despite being antisocial. Athletic and brash. Spoiled and inappropriate. Kurt hadn't been prepared for the waves of affection that would wriggle through his insides at their ongoing battle of wits. He hadn't known the passion to be found in pairing flaws and indulging vices.
He'd thought romance was lazy Sundays and quiet afternoons in coffee shops; being with Sebastian has broadened his grasp.
Sebastian may live life attempting to become the dictionary definition of provocative, but he's tenacious and clever, carefree and charming, and he's refreshingly direct, even if maybe sometimes too unreserved. He's a challenge. Someone whose vibrancy makes Kurt burn brighter.
All Kurt wants is a simple kiss at midnight with Sebastian. To give into superstition and hope that the rest of the year will only get better if it starts with them side by side.
With fifteen minutes to midnight, Kurt decides to wander back downstairs. He's just leaving Rachel's room when he hears her scream, "Spies!" at the top of her lungs. He's sure she's just drunk and losing it, but he follows the sound anyway and finds her at the front door.
It's Sebastian. Flanked by the Warblers and plenty of girls from Dalton's sister school. Kurt bites his lip and pretends to swoon when Sebastian winks at him.
"Party's this way," Kurt says, waving in the front line and heading down to Rachel's basement, yanking her along and telling her to relax, and then pushing her off in Finn's direction as the new guests flood the room.
With new bodies everywhere, no one who would care notices Sebastian sneak up behind Kurt or sees Kurt turn into the embrace. Kurt's glowing smile lingers without comment. Sebastian's naughty utterances press warm against Kurt's ear punctuated by kisses at Kurt's jaw, shielded by music and chatter.
When the countdown starts and there are only seconds left before the New Year begins, Kurt has already pulled Sebastian close and caught hold of the kiss he's been chasing all night.
Gratification is bliss.
Where they are and who they're with are faraway worries until Rachel is at Kurt's shoulder and wrenching them apart. Mercedes is beside her, Santana and Brittany behind them both. All come looking for kisses, Kurt supposes. From the smug look on Santana's face, he can officially declassify his and Sebastian's relationship as secret.
"Kurt! Are you insane?!" Rachel yells.
Kurt opens his mouth to respond, but instead he just shakes his head. Screw it. He grabs Sebastian's hand and pulls him through the crowd, up the stairs, and into Rachel's room. Maybe a bit of Sebastian's daring has rubbed off on Kurt.
In the morning, he'll deal with New Directions. He'll introduce them to Sebastian and trust in their abilities to keep absolutely nothing to themselves.
If, when school resumes, the rumor mill has churned out a few dozen sordid stories about Kurt Hummel getting busy on New Year's Eve in Rachel Berry's bedroom, well… they wouldn't be wrong.