Sebastian hurried down the corridor to the dungeons. He'd been in the library during his free period and had lost track of time, so he had been shocked when he looked at the clock and realized he had 7 minutes to get from the library to Potions class.

As he turned a corner, he crashed into someone and fell onto his back. "Hey-" he snapped, looking up, and his angry words died in his mouth at the sight of Kurt Hummel standing a few feet away from him. "Oh...I-I'm sorry, I wasn't..."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I should have been looking," replied Kurt, walking over and extending a hand, which Sebastian grabbed and used to pull himself up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sebastian said.

"Oh, good," answered Kurt. "See you later," he said with a smile, and walked off.

Sebastian stood there in a daze for a few seconds, before remembering that he was almost late for Potions, and started running towards the dungeons.

Sebastian arrived just as everyone was starting to get up to get their supplies for whatever potion they were making today, and slipped into the classroom. He walked over to where he and Blaine usually sat, and set up his stuff, looking at the instructions on the board. Just as he was about to get up, Blaine came back, holding a bunch of stuff.

"Hey," said Blaine, dumping the ingredients onto the table. "Why are you late?"

"I lost track of time in the library and I ran into Kurt on my way here," replied Sebastian.

"Well, although I'm sure you'd love to spend the whole period analyzing your interaction with Kurt, we have a Strengthening Solution to make," said Blaine. "And I need you to help with that."

"I wouldn't spend the whole period thinking about him," protested Sebastian.

"No, you'd spend the rest of the day," Blaine teased. "Now come on, let's get this potion started."

In the end, Sebastian didn't spend the whole day thinking about Kurt, mostly because there wasn't much to think about. At dinner, however, he couldn't help but spend basically the whole time staring longingly at Kurt, trying to get up the courage to go over and talk to him and failing miserably. After all, what could he say? "I'm still sorry I ran into you this morning, and I'm also desperately in love with you"? No, better to just stay seated. Besides, Kurt had probably already forgotten what happened this morning.

After dinner, he and Blaine went to the prefect's bathroom. When they got there, Blaine said the password and he and Sebastian walked into the thankfully empty room. They quickly got changed and entered the heated mini-pool.

Sebastian and Blaine sat in silence for a while, and Sebastian's thoughts drifted to Kurt. If only I had the courage of a Gryffindor, Sebastian thought. Then I might be able to get up enough nerve to actually talk to Kurt.

Sebastian eventually turned to look at Blaine, who was staring into the distance. Probably thinking about Sam, Sebastian thought. "Hey, Blaine," he said, and Blaine started a little, then turned to look at him. "Any success on your front?"

"I wish," replied Blaine. "I don't know, I just- I want to talk to him, but I don't know what to say. I mean, you know I can come off a little- much, but I don't know how to get it across that I'm interested in him."

"Well, I wish I was just in Gryffindor," said Sebastian. "Then I could probably get up the guts to actually talk to him in the first place."

"Well, just because you're not a Gryffindor doesn't mean you don't have courage," Blaine protested. "Y'know- no, you know what I say we do? Let's just- ask them out. What's the worst that could happen?"

"They could say no," answered Sebastian. "And then we'd both look like idiots."

"I guess," said Blaine, who seemed to deflate at Sebastian's answer. "But we should probably think about doing something."

"Yeah, maybe," replied Sebastian.

"Well, I have early-morning Quidditch practice tomorrow," said Blaine. "So I need to go."

"Y'know, sometimes I want to play Quidditch, then you remind me of the downsides," said Sebastian.

"Yeah, whatever," replied Blaine, climbing out of the pool. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night," Sebastian called as Blaine walked away.

Sebastian decided to spend a few more minutes in the slightly cooler water after Blaine left. Eventually, he realized that he was about to fall asleep, so he ducked under the water for a few seconds, and surfaced to see Kurt entering the room.

Sebastian nearly choked in shock at the sight of Kurt, wearing a towel around his waist. His legs were mostly covered, but his chest was on clear display, all smooth and pale and lean and nicely muscled. Sebastian had to force himself to look away from Kurt's chest, and up to his face.

"It's- Sebastian, right? Sebastian Smythe?" said Kurt.

"Wha- yes, yeah," replied Sebastian, nodding eagerly. "Wait- you're not a prefect..."

"Quidditch captain," said Kurt, and right, Sebastian remembered; Quidditch captains could use the prefect's bathroom. "And quite frankly, I feel like I really need a nice long soak." As he spoke, he untied the towel from around his waist, and Sebastian had a few seconds to admire Kurt's long, gorgeous legs before they went into the pool.

"Yeah, it is nice in here, isn't it?" said Sebastian, then blushed. Merlin's beard, he was kind of having a conversation with Kurt! Maybe he wouldn't screw it up?

"It definitely is," replied Kurt. "I was actually really jealous when Finn became prefect, because he just kept on talking about how wonderful this bathroom was. But now, well, I can use it," he finished with a smile.

"Who- oh, your step-brother. Right," said Sebastian, when he remembered who Finn was. "Wait- didn't his team play yours a week ago?"

"Yeah, but thankfully, we won," replied Kurt. "We're also going up against Hufflepuff in a few weeks," he added.

"Oh...yeah, that'll be a problem," said Sebastian.

"Why?" asked Kurt.

"I, um...I- well, Blaine's on the Hufflepuff team and I- like your team," Sebastian said shakily, hoping that Kurt wouldn't pick up on his nervousness. He'd come so close to saying "I like you", it scared him.

"Well, I should probably go," said Sebastian, getting out of the pool. "I'll- see you later."

"Okay, see ya," replied Kurt as Sebastian left the room.

Even after Sebastian was back in his dorm, it took a while for him to fall asleep, his thoughts centered on his conversation with Kurt. I really need to do something about this, he thought before he slipped into unconsciousness.