Chapter One: Childhood
"Sebby, why did that fifth-grader call us fags?" Blaine looks up at the slightly taller boy through a thick fringe of eyelashes that made Sebastian's heart pound.
"I dunno, B, let's ask your mom after school." Sebastian says, his hazel eyes dark with a hidden emotion.
"Sebby, are you sure you don't-" Blaine asks.
"I gotta go to class, Blaine, see you after school!" Sebastian says with a fake cheeriness before bolting from their spot in the hallway to his third grade class.
"Kid. Do you really want to know what "fag" means?" A boy with impeccable clothing and looks about a year older than Blaine asks from across the hall.
"Y-yeah." Blaine is intimidated by those piercing blue eyes.
"Don't be so afraid. I don't bite." The boy smiles hesitantly. "... Well... Do you know what "gay" means?" He checks his watch.
Blaine nods slowly. "When two boys like each other like a boy and a girl should, right?"
"Very good. "Fag" is a derogatory term for gay people." Kurt squares the shoulders on his slender frame and walks toward the fourth-grade wing.
Blaine glance up at a wall clock. He should've been to the library and back by now. His teacher would give him a detention for not having a different book. Blaine rushes toward the library and grabs the first book he finds in his reading level. He glances at the title as he returns to class. He lets out a sigh of relief. It's the first book of The Spiderwick Chronicles, a book series he was always meaning to start reading.
"Blaine! Why'd you take so long? You have spent all of your reading time in the library!" Blaine's teacher, Miss Austere, asks from behind her desk in the front of the room.
"I couldn't find a good book, but I finally found a decent one." Blaine replies, smiling sheepishly.
"Very well then, we were just about to progress to our Social Studies lesson for today. Take your seat."
Blaine grins, eyes alight. "Yes, Miss Austere."
Blaine pays attention, writing down every last tidbit of information he could possibly need. He glances up at the clock. Five minutes left. Sebby's teacher will be dismissing him early to be able to prepare to walk Blaine home. It's always how things have been done. See, Sebastian saved Blaine's life. No one can really explain it. How the little boy knew what was going to happen.
It was an average Sunday in a gated community a few years back. A little boy named Sebastian, who was lethargic in protest to his own parents divorce, suddenly couldn't leave his home fast enough.
"Come on, Nana! Let's go! We need to go! We can't be late!" Sebastian said, sounding slightly distressed.
Sebastian's nanny eyed him worriedly, "late for what, Seb?"
"... I dunno. But we have to go fast!" The boy raced out of the house, and his nanny hurriedly grabbed her purse to follow the boy out.
"Where are we going, Seb?" His nanny asked after they had rushed several blocks away from there home, reaching the outside fence of the gated community.
"We're close. I can feel it!" Sebastian began to slow.
"Close to what, Seb?" His nanny pulled him close to her, clutching his shoulders protectively. Her stomach was in knots, something wrong here. They needed to leave.
They watched as across the street, a few houses away, a small kid that was possibly Sebastian's age played happily in his front yard. A large, white van with heavily tinted windows slowed to an easy stop in front of his home. The boy stopped playing and looked up at it curiously, curls bouncing. He stood shakily before toddling closer to the back, where side doors had opened up, and a large man was motioning him in.
"HEY!" Sebastian shouted shrilly. Rushing forward. "Leave him alone!"
The curly haired boy wheeled around, surprised by the new little boy arriving on the scene.
"Sebastian, no!" His nanny shouts, chasing after him while fishing in her purse for her cell phone.
"Are you okay?" Sebastian asks the other boy, pulling him into a hug.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The boy replies, stunned. "That-that guy says he has some extra candy, I bet you could have some, too."
"No. We can't go with him. He's bad." Sebastian held the other boy.
"Come on... Your older friend can come, too." The man says, his voice slightly muffled by his mask.
"Not in a million years! Come on, you two, is your mommy home?" Sebastian's nanny's phone is pressed to her ear, her eyes narrowed at the license plate of the van.
"My mommy is at work, but my older brother is playing video games up stairs."
Sebastian's nanny rings the doorbell.
"Just a minute!" A slightly lower voice than the curly-headed boy's is heard from inside the house.
"Yes, I just intervened in an attempted kidnap of a... how old are you, kiddo? … Of a six year old boy. The van's license plate number was... A406C3D4... The residence is 358 Maplewood Avenue, but the van left. Okay. Should I stay here? Okay, I'll stay here." Sebastian's nanny hung up her phone.
"Hey, Blaine, I told you there's a key under- Gah! Come here, Blaine!" Blaine toddled over to his older, paler brother. "Who 're you?" The boy asks, standing protectively in front of his little brother.
"Coop, it's okay. These are nice people!" The little boy pulled on his younger brother's arm.
"We just saved your little brother from a kidnapper." Sebastian said, beaming.
"He was luring your little brother into his van when we intervened." Sebastian's nanny explained.
"Ohmygod, mom is going to skin me alive." The older boy glanced down as his younger brother clung to his leg.
"I called the police and they will find the man." Sebastian's nanny soothed the older boy.
"I'm Sebastian. What's your name?" The younger boy beamed and held out his hand to the little boy.
"I'm Blaine, and this is my older brother Cooper." Blaine doesn't move from Cooper's leg.
"Blainers!" Sebastian laughed happily. Cooper felt a smile play at his lips from the boy's outright joyfulness.
"Excuse me, but are you the woman who called the police department?" A man with a strong jaw tapped Sebastian's nanny on the shoulder. She jumped and wheeled around to be face-to-face with a police officer.
"Yes, officer. Sebastian and I were on a walk when we saw this little boy" she motioned to Blaine "being lured into a large white van."
"Where are his parents?" The officer asks, looking into the house.
"Dad's asleep in his office. We aren't supposed to bother him... I was supposed to be walking him. I'm sorry. It's my fault..." Cooper glared at his battered sneakers.
"Don't worry about it, son, can I come in and talk to your daddy? It's important."
The older boy tried to hide the fear that flashed through his eyes. "Sure, I'll go get him."
"Are you okay, you didn't eat anything he gave you?" The policeman asked, kneeling to the curly-haired boy just past the threshold of his home.
"He said he had candy, but I didn't get any." Blaine frowns.
"Never accept food from strangers, okay?"
It took a few hours for everything to be sorted out. Blaine and Cooper's dad was taken into custody for forty-eight hours for child neglect before being released. Sebastian's nanny was soon the nanny for the other two boys, who would play at Sebastian's home until their mother came to pick them up. Sebastian's parents were overjoyed that their little boy was back to normal and socializing with others. It was only natural for them to let the two young boys stay at their home to be babysat by their son's nanny. In a way, they saved each other, and they have been best friends ever since.
"Blaine! Blaine! The bell rang! Come on, let's go home." Sebastian shakes Blaine's shoulder and he looks up.
"I know what it means." He says softly, after he has broken out of his reverie.
"It doesn't matter, Blaine, those guys were idiots-" Sebastian starts, brow furrowed.
"I think it might be true." Blaine murmurs. Sebastian envelops the other boy in a hug.
"It doesn't matter, either way, we'll always be best buds." Sebastian pulls away, squeezing Blaine's shoulder before severing contact with him completely. He hurriedly helps Blaine gather his school things before they exit the school to walk to Blaine's house.
"Hey, fags!" A large, meaty boy with a boxy figure shouts at them.
"Fuck off, Karofsky." Sebastian shouts back, flipping him the bird before grabbing Blaine's elbow and running in the opposite direction. Karofsky's laughter at his fear echoed after him.
"I think we've ran far enough..." Blaine pants. He shoves his oversized, square glasses up his nose.
"Are you okay? Do you need your inhaler?" Sebastian asks, getting ready to fish for it from the bag on Blaine's back.
"No. I've got it." Sebastian watches as Blaine shakes the object before inhaling deep breaths of it.
Sebastian fishes his mp3 player out of his pocket. "Hey, B, I got that new new Hoobastank song that you like."
"But, Sebby, you don't like Hoo-"
"I'll get over it." Sebastian smiles, shoving an earbud in his friend's ear after placing one in his own.
The two boys walk close together, shoulders brushing as they walk to Blaine's house to watch Disney movies.
A:N/ I hope you enjoyed reading this fic. Keep in mind that this is a friendship!Seblaine fic, not a Seblaine fic. Klaine is, and will always be, the endgame for this fic. In the next chapter, there will be a time jump to Seblaine in the summer after eighth grade. It will be fairly short, and then after that is when the actual plot will begin to develop. This idea has been in my head for a while, obstructing me from doing any writing in my other fic, Not the Same, but I am aiming to have the next chapter out as soon as possible. Happy reading! -Rose Sanders