Pairing(s): Kurt Hummel/Sebastian Smythe, Jeff Sterling/Nick Duval
Rating: E
Word count (for this part): 13 000~
Genre: Slash, Humor, Omg What the Fuck is This I Wrote, No One But Me is Going to Read It
Summary: Three years after he last saw Kurt, Sebastian did NOT expect to bump into the man again, /especially/ on some crazy convention for Japan-nerds that he didn't want to be at anyway. Or: In which Sebastian is a great friend, Kurt is a cosplayer, Jeff loves manga and anime and Nick just goes along with it all.
Warning(s): Cosplaying? My nerdieness? Omg - Hetalia.
Beta: Olinka
Disclaimer: Glee is owned by RIB and Fox. No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Note: So this was actually the first Glee fanfiction I wrote - but seeing that I completed it while being in the middle of writing LIAR for the Kurtbastian Bingbang round one 2012/2013, my beta (dearest Olinka) and I agreed that it wasn't our first priority to get this into shape.
I came up with this crazy idea of a plot in the summer of 2012 and just started writing it, thinking that I should try to write something small. BUAHAHAHAHA - the finished (but not completely beta read) work is almost 40k. And I am crazy.
But to make the timeline clear: This is three years ahead of season three; Sebastian is in his second year of collage while Kurt is a senior/just graduated.
THE KINGDOM OF AWESOMENESS
DAY ONE: BAD FRIENDS
Sebastian was a fantastic friend. In fact, he was probably the most wonderful friend one could ever wish for. Most people might have argued with him on that, saying that he wasn't a good friend at all because of his charm, superior mind, self-preservation, and his general snarkiness and rude manner. But he really was the most brilliant friend to ever walk this earth. Because if he wasn't, why else would he ever spend three days in Baltimore, Md., on some weird, idiotic convention, as a birthday present to a friend, huh?
Jeff had been going on and on about his Japanese cartoons for years now, ever since he found some old videos of Pokémon from his childhood when he was packing up for college. And being Jeff, he watched them, of course, when he should actually be packing, and he had a nostalgic moment (though Sebastian himself was more fascinated by the fact that Jeff still had a VCR to watch the damned videos on). Being a reasonable person, Sebastian had thought that Jeff would get down from his nostalgia and either throw the videos away, or put them in a box and let them collect dust in his parents' basement for an indefinite future until he found a place of his own after graduation. When his parents would demand that he got his stuff because they didn't want to have it any longer, he would find the old videos again and re-watch them while he should actually be unpacking, and then he would be all nostalgic again. But Sebastian had been sadly mistaken. Sadly. Because instead of just doing the normal thing like any other guy would, Jeff had become obsessed. It was like those videos had brought a peculiar creature to life that lived on "anime," as it stubbornly called these weird shows. And it just kept growing bigger and bigger, getting more and more hungry for androgynous people with large eyes, colourful hair and twisted stories with plots Sebastian couldn't even begin to understand.
Unfortunately for Bas, those old episodes of Pokémon kindled Jeff's interest in anime in general, not just Pokémon, so much that he would endlessly pester both Sebastian and his boyfriend Nick about it.
Nick was far more okay with Jeff's new interest, and he actually tried to understand what the hell Jeff was on and on about, but Sebastian was confident that Nick didn't understand half of what Jeff was saying. If anyone would ask for Sebastian's opinion, he would gladly tell them that Nick was a lovesick fool, and that was why he put up with Jeff's ranting all the time. But no one did ask for Sebastian's input, and since he found that the piece of information was rather important, he usually ended up declaring it rather loudly to both Nick and anyone else in a ten foot radius. Nick didn't appreciate it at all, but what was Sebastian to do? Glance over the whole thing and say nothing about the fact that he was worried over his friend's mental health? No. He was such a loyal friend that he always commented on Jeff's unhealthy obsession and Nick's will to just go with it, whenever he got the chance, just as a little reminder. And as you can imagine, he was given the opportunity rather often.
"Just wait till you fall in love," Nick would normally say whenever Sebastian went perhaps a little too far.
"Yes, I hope it'll be some crazy guy who has an obsession with fake nails or something," Jeff continued. "And then you'll know all about manicures and walk around with pink nails and stuff."
Even though Sebastian was quite mean from time to time (hell, even he could admit that he could be childish), Nick and Jeff were very dear to him, and he wouldn't replace them for anyone. They were close friends, and neither of the three did take each other's crap despite insulting one another on a daily basis. But the most important thing was perhaps that Nick and Jeff accepted Sebastian, with all his flaws and also his finest points –– that being his charisma, intelligence, loyalty and his rather attractive face –– and they were there for him and made him laugh. So that's why Nick and Sebastian decided that for Jeff's 20th birthday they would give him something that he really wanted. And that's how they ended up giving him a trip to Maryland, for a three day convention in Baltimore at the end of the summer, with hotel and tickets and everything. And of course they couldn't send Jeff over there all by himself, God knows what he would get up to, so they both were to go with him.
And that's the story why Sebastian was there at all. He's just a great friend, don't you agree?
The place where the convention was held was full of weird-looking people. Sebastian saw people dressed in the most outrageous outfits, with wigs in colours that made his eyes hurt, carrying oversized weapons and stuffed animals and stuff. Some of them were half naked, girls mostly, and oh, there are only so many boobs a gay guy wants to see, ever.
And what was with all the noise they were making? People were more or less screaming at each other, and their constant squealing, along with chattering and laughing, wasn't making Sebastian any more positive about the whole thing at all. And they weren't just speaking normal English either, but some strange language that everyone on the convention seemed to communicate in, even Jeff who was saying something that sounded like English, but was still completely injudicious. One girl whom Sebastian happened to overhear was trying to speak English with a French accent of all things, and when he turned around to glare at the woman for vandalising such as beautiful language, he only managed to see a glimpse of her, with her blond shoulder-long hair and her blue outfit with red pants, and then she was gone. Good thing for her, he thought, because he would probably have thrown a fit.
Jeff, on other hand, looked like he had died and went to heaven, and he was basically running around, speaking that strange language while Sebastian and Nick had a really hard time keeping up with him. It was just a matter of time really before they got separated.
Sebastian sighed and looked around one more time, trying to spot Jeff's blond hair or Nick's raven cowlicks, but no such luck. He was just about to pull up his phone and call Nick, asking where the fuck they've gone, when someone bumped into him from behind, and he lost his balance for a second.
"Excuse me," said the one who had walked right into him, and Sebastian turned around to give the offender a piece of his mind.
All snark comments and insults were quickly swept away, as he stood face to face with a person that he did not expect to see. But the thing was that he didn't look at all like he used to. Sebastian stared at him, very confused about the fact that his eyes were red and not the usual outburst of green, blue and brown like Bas remembered that they were. And his hair –– it was grey, and he had this cross, a cross Sebastian could only associate with Nazi Germany and military uniforms, around his neck, and he wore a dark blue military uniform. And for some reason unknown, there was a yellow bird on top of his head.
"Kurt?" Sebastian asked because it was Kurt Hummel underneath all that crap, wasn't it? What the hell was he doing here, dressed like that?
Kurt frowned at him, like he was trying to understand what Sebastian was saying.
"Vhat are you talking about? I am ze awesome Prussia, you can recognize me because of my pure awesomeness," Kurt practically shouted at Sebastian in a weird German accent, gesturing madly with his hands and looking at Sebastian like he owned the world even though Sebastian was taller than him.
Before Sebastian even got the chance to open his mouth and ask him if had gone completely mad, Kurt was speaking again.
"And who is zis Kurt anyway, huh?" he asked, pronouncing his own name so it sounded like 'Kurdt'. "I should probably kill you because you mistook my awesomeness for somebody else's, but seeing zat you're a stupid American who doesn't even know his ovn history, it can't be helped. But mistake my awesomeness again, and I'll make you veep like a little baby girl man boy, kesesesese~"
Sebastian was so not following, what with Kurt speaking so fucking fast with that odd accent about stuff that didn't make any sense at all, and then he started laughing in a way that was seriously freaking Sebastian out.
All the sudden, Sebastian heard some kind of upbeat music starting to play, and Kurt stopped laughing and pulled up his phone, which was apparently the source.
"Oi!" he shouted into the phone in place of a greeting. "Vhere ze fuck did you losers go?"
Sebastian watched Kurt's (because it was Kurt, wasn't it?) rude manner in silent fascination, as the man listened with a snort to whoever was at the other end, before talking again.
"Vell, I'm awesome, and I never get lost, you vere obviously momentarily blinded by my awesomeness and couldn't keep up vith me. I did not get lost! Yeah, yeah, shut it tomato-head, I'm coming, zough I don't see vhy you can't come to me since I'm ze most awesome one anyvay." Kurt had started walking away, still talking into his phone, when he suddenly turned around and smirked at Sebastian. "You better vatch your back," he said, and this time Sebastian was sure he was talking to him and he smirked widely. "Next time I'll invade your vital regions if you're not careful." He winked at Sebastian's stunned face before turning around and walking away without a glance.
Sebastian was left staring at the spot where Kurt had disappeared from, wondering just what the fuck had happened.
It had been Kurt, he just knew it, although he was starting to doubt it because of the odd way Kurt had been acting. For starters, he had never heard the boy curse, no matter the circumstances; neither had he ever called other people losers or was so obviously rude as he had been. And he had been using the word 'awesome' far more often than what should be considered acceptable for a sentence to even work grammatically. Then he had been saying it all with a German accent of all things, and generally behaved like a total jerk. And let's not forget the look –– what the hell was that all about? He had been dressed in a way that reminded Sebastian of a Nazi uniform, only it had been dark blue and not green or black. Thankfully, the outfit hadn't had a red band with a swastika on it, much to Sebastian's relief. Apart from that, he had looked like an albino with that grey hair and those red eyes. And what had he called himself? Oh, that's right – Prussia. Sebastian knew that he deliberately hadn't paid attention to all Jeff's crap, but he was pretty sure that 'Prussia' was something he'd read about in a history book some time ago, and it wasn't an actual person he had been reading about.
But Sebastian didn't get any time to come up with some kind of logical explanation to all that before Nick and Jeff was there once again, and he was left feeling like the strange encounter had just been a dream.
"There you are, dude!" Jeff exclaimed and forced Sebastian to look away from the spot where Kurt had disappeared. "What happened?" Jeff continued. "You were right there, and all the sudden we turned around only to find you gone."
"You'll find that you actually walked away from me, smart arse," Sebastian snapped.
"Damn, someone's grumpy," Jeff teased, and now Sebastian was really starting to get pissed off.
"Hey, are you okay?" Nick asked, concern in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought I saw someone, that's all," Sebastian said.
"Who?" Nick wanted to know.
"No one important, and I'm not even sure if it was him," Sebastian said and then started to follow Jeff who was going somewhere again, effectively making sure that Nick wouldn't ask any more questions that Sebastian really didn't want to answer.
Nick got the hint and dropped the whole thing, and for the next hour or so the two of them were dragged around by Jeff to different parts of the complex. Sebastian didn't register most of the things that were going on around him, and, to be honest, he didn't really want to either. But his oblivious state seemed to come to an end, like all the good things do, and it did in the worst possible way.
Sebastian didn't really know what they were doing, but all of the sudden Jeff exclaimed "Oh my God, it's France!" and started more or less running and before Sebastian knew it, he was standing face to face with a pair of red eyes again.
Neither Jeff nor Nick seemed to notice that Kurt Hummel was right there though, and in a distance he could hear Jeff's voice telling the blond girl in a blue cloak and red pants that she was a wonderful France and Nick asking how the hell someone could be a country. However, Sebastian wasn't paying attention –– his focus was fully on Kurt who was looking back at him with unreadable eyes. The silent exchange between them was soon broken when Nick looked at the other ones in 'France's' group.
"Kurt?" he asked, and Kurt broke the eye contact with Sebastian to look at Nick with his red eyes.
"Long time no see," Kurt said in his normal voice and winked at Nick. Jeff finally seemed to have caught up with his surroundings.
"Oh my God, Kurt!" he exclaimed, sounding hysterical. "Kurt, is that really you?"
'Yes Kurt, is it really you?' Sebastian silently asked.
"Yeah." Kurt smiled, and it was finally his own smile, a facial expression that Sebastian recognized as Kurt's and not the character that he was apparently dressing up as.
"Holy fuck, you're dressed as Prussia!" Jeff continued, and now he was definitely hysterical.
"Indeed I am, aren't I awesome?" Kurt smirked devilishly, and Sebastian stared because that wasn't the Kurt he was used to.
"You totally are," Jeff agreed.
"You know these guys?" A girl asked Kurt, and Sebastian finally looked away from the boy to look at what seemed to be his friends.
Apart from the tall girl, who Sebastian recognized as the one he had overheard speaking with a French accent just hours ago, there were two other girls. The one who just talked to Kurt had long light-brown hair under a white headscarf, and she was wearing a big, green dress and a white apron. Her eyes were really green, and furthermore, she was carrying a frying pan for some reason. That surely beat all the other oddities he'd seen today by far.
The other girl was much shorter than the rest of them. But Kurt was rather tall, compared to the average girl, and 'France' was quite tall too (although Sebastian noticed that she had a pair of boots with high heels, so maybe that's why), and the girl in the green dress was neither tall nor short. But the third girl was about the same height as Sebastian remembered Rachel Berry being. But that, and the fact that they were both brunettes were just about the only things those two had in common. For starters, the short girl's hair was short and rather untamed, like Kurt's hair also seemed to be, and she too had really defined green eyes. She was wearing some kind of uniform, too: The whole outfit was beige, and it had a lot of pockets. In addition, she seemed to have some white bandages on both of her legs just below the knee and dark brown shoes. She was also more tanned than the others.
"Yes," Kurt answered the brunette, and that was all the information he gave her. "I didn't know you watched Hetalia, or were into anime at all, Jeff."
"Yeah, well I started re-watching my old Pokémon videos ––"
"While he should had been packing," Nick injected.
"–– and then it sort of escalated," Jeff continued. "I started watching on the internet, and I think I was on youtube when I found Hetalia, and I had to google it and stuff because it was very confusing."
"Oh God, I know. And it's so logical, and they really start from the beginning and explain it all slowly too, don't they?" Kurt said with a sarcastic chuckle.
"Exactly. But seriously, you and your friends look amazing."
The whole group seemed to shine up at those word, and all the girls smiled brightly at Jeff.
"Do you see who we are?" the girl in the green dress asked.
"Well Prussia, of course," Jeff said, nodding at Kurt, "and it was France who caught my attention in the first place," the blond girl grinned, "and you're obviously Hungary," he said the the girl in the green dress, "and you're Spain," he said to the short girl.
"I don't get it, they're countries?" Nick interrupted.
"Well yeah, that's the concept of Hetalia –– every country has its own character, and the characters are the countries' stereotypes," Hungary tried to explain. "France is a perv, for example; America's an idiot and so on."
"But I've never heard of Prussia," Nick said.
"Oh no, he didn't," France said quietly, and all the sudden Kurt had yanked Nick forward by his t-shirt, and was giving him a murderous look.
"Nou you lissen stupid American," he said in a low voice, and the German accent was back. "I taught your country hou to be awesome, and if you ever forget about me again I'll send Gilbird on you, and you're sure von't forget my awesomeness after zat."
Nick looked frightened to death for a second, but then Kurt's fear-inspiring façade cracked, and he broke out in laughter, letting Nick go and pulling back.
"God, you should have seen your face, Nick," he said through his laughter, shaking his head.
"You have to excuse him," France said. "Whenever he has a costume on, he's always more or less in character, and Prussia really would kick your arse for not remembering him."
"Is that so," Nick said, trying to pull himself together.
"Sorry, Nick –– it's just that I can't resist such an golden opportunity when it's given to me." Kurt smiled at Sebastian, but he didn't look regretful at all. "And I'm being rude, well-being me –– being Prussia, I'm just acting like normal. But anyway, these are my friends Olivia, Kimberly and Ann," he said, gesturing toward Hungary first, then Spain and, lastly, France.
"Nice to meet you," Jeff said. "I'm Jeff, and these two are my boyfriend and my best friend who really don't want to be here."
Everyone laughed at that, well, except Sebastian who was more or less in agony. He really didn't know how to handle the situation; therefore, he hadn't actually said a word throughout the entire conversation. It bugged him, but at the same time he didn't know what else to do, and it felt kind of safe not to say anything at all. So he decided that he was going to silently observe the others (or Kurt really, but hell had to freeze over before he admitted that) and just stay out of their weirdness. But fate conspired against him it seemed.
"I'm Nick," Nick said, "and the unusually quiet one here is Sebastian."
"Your name is Sebastian?!" Ann and Olivia exclaimed at the same time.
"Kurt, his name is Sebastian," Kimberly said, pulling in Kurt's sleeve in a restless manner, like she wanted some kind of explanation. Sebastian would have liked one, too.
"Yes, I'm aware," Kurt said, rolling his red eyes. "But that's just as far as the similarities go."
"Are you sure? He's quite tall," Ann said, eyeing Sebastian up and down in a way that he didn't like at all.
"Are you a butler, Sebastian?" Kurt asked him, looking sternly at him, and Jeff and Nick were outright laughing beside him.
"No, I'm not," he spat out.
"Are you a demon?" Kurt continued.
"Some would definitely argue that he is," Jeff chuckled beside him, and apparently it was the wrong thing to say because the girls were all smirking triumphantly.
"See!" Ann said.
"Well, he's still nothing like him, I assure you," Kurt said.
"What the hell are you on about?" Sebastian demanded to know.
"Look, the thing is that in Japanese the word 'butler' can also be read as 'demon,' and someone made a whole manga, which then became an anime, out of that concept. And the demon-butler's name is Sebastian, and that's why we're freaking out," Olivia explained.
"Seriously?" Sebastian couldn't help but to ask because really?
"Yeah, well the character was voted the Sexiest Man in Anime 2011*," Kurt said.
"Wait, I have a picture of him on my phone," Olivia said and started going through Kurt's pockets because apparently he had her phone.
"Jeez Olivia, I can pull it out for you!"
"And you don't have 'a' picture of him, you have like a million," Ann said.
"Well, can you blame me?" Olivia said and Kurt opened his jacket, showing off the black button-down shirt he had underneath, and pulled out an iPhone from an inside pocket before handing it over. Olivia quickly flickered through her phone and then shoved it into Sebastian's hands.
Jeff and Nick looked over his shoulder at the raven haired man on the screen, dressed in a smoking, pouring up tea and looking like every thirteen-year-old girl's dream. Sebastian felt sick.
"Well, you're certainly nothing like him," Nick said with a grin.
"What's the name of the anime?" Jeff wanted to know.
"Kuroshitsuji, or Black Butler in English," Kurt said, as Sebastian handed the phone back because he really couldn't stand knowing that he shared his name with a character like that. "But if you're gonna watch it, I seriously recommend that you read the manga instead –– it's so much more gay."
Oh God, do I even want to know, Sebastian thought to himself.
"Yeah," Ann was saying dreamingly.
"Holy crap, guys, we really need to get going!" Olivia interrupted before Jeff would ask just why it was so gay.
Kurt looked at his watch. "Gott, you're right." He took Olivia's phone and put it back in his inner pocket in a hurry.
"Where are you going?" Nick asked.
"Walk with us," was all Kurt said and then started going toward the exit of the building, Ann walking next to him.
"We're going to another building where they have all the cosplay shows and contests," Olivia began explaining as they walked. "We're a cosplay circle you see, the four of us and two others, and we've actually become somewhat internet famous with our skits and photos, so we're kind of professional you could say."
"As in professional cosplayers?" Jeff asked, as he walked next to Olivia with Nick holding his hand beside him, leaving Sebastian at the back with short Kimberly who was throwing him not at all discreet side glances every now and then. Sebastian made a mental note to suffocate both of his friends with a pillow when they would fall asleep later on.
"Yeah. It's not like it's a profession or anything, but we do know what we're doing, and we manage to produce some brilliant stuff if I may say so myself. And the administration seemed to think so as well because somehow they knew about us, and we were asked if we could hold a lecture about cosplaying, how you do it and stuff."
"Really? But that's amazing!" Jeff said.
"Thank you," Olivia smiled as she took the frying pan in her hand and tucked it under her arm. "So naturally, we're sending Kurt in to do the whole damn thing while we just sit and watch," she deadpanned, and Ann laughed in front of them.
"Yeah, that basically sums it up," she said, turning around to face them. "We chose him because I can't stand on a stage and talk to an audience –– I can only act. Olivia always gets too sidetracked, and Kim is shy as hell."
"And I'm a guy," Kurt said, not turning around.
"Yeah, that too." Ann was smirking, as she looked forward again and patted Kurt on the shoulder teasingly.
Olivia and Jeff continued to talk all the way out of the building and until they got to the other one, with Ann and Nick occasionally saying something, while Kimberly kept looking up at Sebastian and Kurt and Bas staying both silent.
They were lead into another building, not far from the one they came from, and they stopped outside two double doors where a lot of people were already waiting to get in.
"Right-o," Olivia said, "I'm gonna go with Kurt and help with the technology and stuff. You'll take a place for me, right?" she looked at Ann and Kimberly and promptly handed over her frying pan to Ann.
"Of course, who do you take us for?" Ann said.
"The other two thirds in the Bad Touch Trio?" Apparently that was funny because everyone, except Nick and Sebastian, laughed, including Jeff.
"See you later," Kurt said to all of them and then walked away with Hungary.
Ann and Jeff quickly got into a discussion about something, and Ann more or less forcibly made Kimberly a part of the conversation. Sebastian was beginning to like fake-France more and more: She was not as talkative as Olivia, but neither did she stare like Kimberly, and she kept both Jeff and Kimberly occupied, so that they didn't bother Sebastian. She was growing on him, despite her terrible fake French accent.
"You're awfully quiet," Nick said beside him, quietly so that it was only a conversation between the two of them.
"What do you expect me to say?"
"I expected you to complain a lot more, to be honest."
"How do you know I'm not just saving it all up for later?"
"While that could be it, I don't think so, since you're usually very quick to comment on everything." Fuck, Nick really did know him too well.
"Then I guess I just have nothing to say," Sebastian finally admitted.
"Is there perhaps a particular reason to that?"
"This wasn't what I expected, if that's what you mean."
"God, yeah I know what you're getting at," Nick trailed off. "I really didn't see that it was Kurt at first, with the hair and eyes and the uniform he was really unrecognisable."
No, he wasn't, Sebastian thought to himself. Sure, he looked different, but you could easily see Kurt under all that crap, and it was still Kurt's voice, even though he could apparently manage to lower it down, so that he didn't sound like a girl all the time.
Sebastian was stopped from saying all of that though, which was probably good because the doors suddenly opened, and people started welling into the auditorium.
"Come on, let's find a nice place!" Ann called out, waving the frying pan over her head in a way that was life-threatening to all around her.
"We should probably get some seats in the front, so Kurt can see us," Kimberly said in a very small voice; amazingly enough, everyone heard her. They walked wordlessly to the front of the auditorium, Ann making a way through the crowd for everyone else to follow.
"Here would be good, wouldn't it?" she asked and pointed with the frying pan at the third row where there was a large empty spot in the middle.
"Yeah, it seems to have room for all of us," Jeff confirmed.
Ann walked in first, followed by Kimberly and then Jeff and Nick, leaving Sebastian at the other end.
"Can you take the frying pan and place it next to you, so Olivia can sit there?" Ann leaned forward and asked him when they had sat down.
Figuring that he'd rather sit next to Olivia than Kimberly, he nodded in confirmation, then took the pan that was handed to him and placed it on the seat next to him. It was surprisingly light for a frying pan.
Olivia soon joined them; Judging by her phone in her hand, Sebastian guessed that she had texted to one of her friends, so she would know where they sat.
"Thanks for holding the seat," she said to him with a smile, as she sat down.
"Wasn't that hard," he said. "Your pan is a lot lighter than I thought it would be, though." He didn't really know what made him start a conversation with that girl who was apparently obsessed with his fictional namesake and was dressed as Hungary, of all things. But even though he wasn't looking, he knew that Nick was smirking next to him because Nick was a douche.
"It's not actually a real frying pan, but thank you, I'm really glad you thought it were," Olivia said. "It's actually made of cardboard, gauze bandage and paint; otherwise, there's no way I would have managed to carry around a real frying pan for three days." Ann's waving the frying pan in question suddenly made much more sense.
"Why do you have it though?" Sebastian asked because he really didn't want to sit there quietly and stare at the empty stage, and Nick was not an option at the moment, since he seemed to have stepped into dick-mood. And although Sebastian would rather die than admit it, he somehow wanted to be liked by Kurt's weird friends. He decided to come up with a logical explanation to that later: It would probably involve some level for revenge or humiliation for Kurt, just to make him feel better about it all.
"It's a part of Hungary accessories and what she usually has; like Prussia with his bird, you know the one on Kurt's head, Hungary has a frying pan. It's because she was asked by God in one episode to hit France with it the next time she saw him, and she's usually illustrated with it."
"She was asked by God?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow because really, what kind of shit was that anime?
"Yeah... Hetalia's quite random, and it only makes sense half of the time, but yes, she was asked by God to do that."
"Okay..."
"But every character has his or her unique thing, like Hungary has a frying pan, France has a rose, Spain a tomato, America has a hamburger of course, and Prussia has Gilbird."
"Gilbird?" Sebastian asked.
"The bird on his head. Every country also has a 'human name' as it's called, and Prussia's human name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, so his bird's name is therefore Gilbird. I don't know why he has it though."
Suddenly the stage lit up, and Sebastian and Olivia both turned to the sage.
"Was he okay, Olive?" Ann leaned forward and whispered rather loudly to Olivia.
"A little more nervous than usual, but he's gonna be fine, you know Kurt," Olivia leaned forward too and answered. They didn't say anything after that because Kurt stepped onto the stage right then, carrying a laptop and a microphone which he placed on a podium at the right side of the stage. His jacket was still open, and with the black shirt showing underneath, the sight of him made Sebastian's stomach drop. He looked really good, although Sebastian would take that confession to the grave. Kurt then pulled up the laptop's screen and went around the podium to pick up some wires that he connected with the laptop, and suddenly the laptop's wallpaper was projected on a big white screen behind him. The wallpaper was the logo of the convention Sebastian saw, and he guessed that that wasn't Kurt's computer.
Kurt picked up the microphone and switched it on. "Okay, can you hear me?" he spoke into the mic.
"Yes!" was the loud answer from the audience, one that Sebastian didn't join in to.
Kurt laughed fondly. "Well, that's good. I'm just gonna pull up the presentation here, and then I'll start," he said, looking down at the laptop again and moving the arrow with one hand while he held the mic in the other. "Here we go," he said and clicked somewhere, and then there was a photo of him and his three friends and two others, a boy and a girl, that Sebastian didn't recognize. They were all wearing costumes, Kurt and the ones he knew were dressed like they were today, while the other boy had blond, back-slicked hair and wore a green uniform, similar to Kurt's. The girl had very dark, short hair and a lock that stood right up in her hairline. She wore a long navy blue coat with a white jabot and glasses. Above them was a title saying The Guide To Cosplay.
"Okay, let's begin," Kurt said and walked to the middle of the stage where he was met by a roar from the audience, Sebastian excluded. "Hello, I'm Kurt Hummel, although today I'm also going under the name of Prussia slash Gilbert, as some of you may have noticed." He smiled at no one in particular, and people giggled around Sebastian, as if what Kurt had said was even remotely funny. "Today I'm gonna talk about cosplay, what it is, and the basics you need to know if you want to cosplay yourself. I would appreciate if you waited to ask your questions until the end of the presentation, just so it won't get too confusing," he said smoothly. "Those guys behind me are, well, me and my cosplay circle, and if you're wondering why there are only four of us here today, Germany and Austria couldn't make it. But anyway, let's get started." Kurt walked back to stand behind the podium where he clicked on the laptop to change the picture, but Sebastian just faintly noticed it because his eyes were glued on Kurt.
He had seen Kurt on stage before, many times, such as when McKinley High did West Side Story or during some of New Directions' performances, but he came to realize that this was very different. For starters, Sebastian didn't have some brilliant plan to crush Kurt and his teammates today, neither was Kurt an 'enemy' who stood in the way of something Sebastian wanted. They were reduced in a way to being just Kurt and Sebastian, and he had absolutely nothing to lose or gain by sitting there and listening to Kurt. The other big difference was that it was only Kurt on the sage, not him and some other people next to him, and he demanded Sebastian's full focus. Finally, he was talking, not singing. Although Sebastian had never voiced it (and he would gladly take this secret to his grave), he did think that Kurt could sing rather well, but there was a big difference between talking and singing. Kurt's own words were the only thing he was hearing, not the lyrics to a song that someone else written, and it didn't really matter what Kurt was talking about because Sebastian found that he wanted to hear what he had to say.
Meanwhile, Kurt continued with his lecture, talking about cosplay's origin, the name was short for 'costume play' apparently. "Now, if you want to start cosplaying, there are some things you would need to consider. Apart from the obvious struggle of choosing just the right character," the crowd laughed, Olivia giggling madly, as if she was in on a private joke, "there's of course the issue of clothes. My personal advice to anyone interested in cosplay is joining or even starting a circle with other people who share your addiction because cosplay can be such a huge burden really if you're gonna do it all by yourself, and in a circle you can help each other, and you won't have to do everything. And it's a lot more fun when you can share the experience with others, too.
"The one thing that every cosplayer should learn how to do is to sew. Cosplaying is expensive, and if you're a normal person with an average income, then it really helps if you learn how to make stuff yourself. Obviously, you can't make everything yourself, unless you are some gifted wonder-cosplayer that is, and shoes, for example, is something that you usually can't make yourself. Second-hand stores are a gold mine. You can find real bargains there if you look hard enough. In fact," he looked down at his knee-high boots, "I think I found these boots at a flea market, to be honest, and I know for a fact that Ann, who's cosplaying France today, found her red pants in a junk sale in Manhattan. But you obviously can't find the whole Prussian uniform at a second-hand store, and if you're not good enough to make it yourself yet, you would have to buy it. There are companies that sell whole cosplay outfits, everything from the wig to the shoes, and some even customize, so you just have to measure yourself and then order it online. However, it can be rather pricey, and keep in mind that you're not allowed to take part in many competitions if you haven't made the outfit yourself. You kind of need to buy wigs and shoes of course, but everything that's actual clothing, no matter if you're a robot, a pokémon or Sailor Moon, you need to put it together yourself. And like I said, that's hard, especially if you are planning to cosplay Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, I mean that would be a challenge..."
The crowd laughed again, even Nick who seemed to know whom Kurt was talking about. Sebastian felt totally out of place. What kind of a strange world was this anyway –– where the norm was to walk around in colourful wigs and with contacts, talking how to play dress-up? If it weren't for the fact that he was sitting in the middle of the row, right under Kurt's eye and in the front where everyone would notice him, he would have left quicker than Olivia could say "what the fuck." But even though he didn't care what Olivia or the crowd behind him or even what Kurt thought of him, he did care about Jeff. Because he was there for Jeff's sake, because Jeff was one of his two closest friends, and, therefore, he had decided to suck it up and endure these three days of hell for him. That was a promise he made silently to the world just when he and Nick came up with the whole idea, and he was not going to break his word just because Kurt Hummel decided to make an appearance after three years of silence, dressed in a blue military uniform with a yellow chick on his head. Jeff (and Nick too for that matter) was more important than Sebastian's personal pride and his opinion about this whole convention, even if his thoughts were somewhere along the lines that everyone willing to be here should be sent to a mental hospital.
For his own mental health, he decided to tune out what Kurt was talking about, so he was only vaguely hearing Kurt talk about how his group of friends specialized on different things that apparently needed to be done. Ann and Kurt sew most of the things (no surprise there, Sebastian quietly snorted); Olivia did the editing of all the sketches and photo shoots they apparently took, and Sebastian didn't catch more than that and thanked God for it.
After a period of time that could both have been just ten minutes or a full hour, Kurt said. "Okay, anyone got any questions?"
There was a moment of hesitation before a wave of excitement swept through the audience, and Sebastian heard the rustle of fabric, as hands flew up in the air.
"Oh mein Gott, have I been that unclear?" Kurt asked, as his eyes swept over the audience, and they all laughed, even Sebastian who chuckled faintly. "Right, Sailor Jupiter, there to the left, what's on your mind?"
A girl in something that looked like a school uniform that had been changed into a superhero outfit stood up at the right end of the auditorium, on Kurt's left side. "It's not that I didn't think that male cosplayers didn't exist, but I kind of thought of them like unicorns; you know, only Britain could see them," she said, and it made absolutely no sense at all to Sebastian, but beside him Olivia burst out in laughter, bending forward and labouring for breath. Kurt laughed into the mic before moving it away from his mouth, and Sebastian could see that he was laughing hard.
"Yeah, well," he pulled himself together. "The short answer to that is that I'm a unicorn, and you're magical." The crowd cheered at that, and someone whistled. "The long answer would be that there are male cosplayers out there, but as you know it's mostly women who cosplay. And personally I just love clothes and fashion, so for me cosplay is combining my passion for clothes with characters that I love, getting to make costumes and dress up as them. And yeah, it takes a certain kind of person to actually do that, and it is somewhat more acceptable for girls to cosplay than for boys, but screw that."
The crowd applauded at Kurt's big words, and Ann were screaming "Yeah, that's right!" fist-pumping the air. After a while it settled down, and the girl who had talked about unicorns sat down.
"Okay, next question. Er, you there, with the green ponytail." Sebastian didn't even bother to turn around because he really didn't need to see her after Kurt's description.
"Where are you from?" was the question.
"I'm from Ohio, a town called Lima, but I live in New York currently."
So Kurt had made it out Lima after all? Sebastian felt oddly glad about the knowledge.
"Next, eh, yeah, you there." Kurt nodded to someone in the crowd.
"Eh, I saw you and your cosplay group earlier this summer at Anime Expo, and you were really good."
"Oh, thank you," Kurt said.
"But I mean you were really good, as an actor, and I wonder how you manage to do that."
"Wow, I didn't expect that." Kurt smiled at the girl who had complimented him, and fuck that was a beautiful smile. "But to answer your question, I'm actually not only a cosplayer, I'm a real Broadway nerd too, so the passion for acting has always been there I think. As a matter of fact, I took several acting classes in college, New York's Academy For Dramatic Arts if you're wondering, and I learnt so much about acting there. But when it comes to portraying characters when cosplaying, it's like getting to know them on a whole new level and kind of letting them possess your body. For example, now that I'm Prussia I had to learn how to speak in German accent for starters, so I looked it up on YouTube. And then I do a lot of research about the character. Hetalia has its own wiki, and I frequently use it to get a bigger picture of the characters, Prussia in this case. I also reread and rewatch the series to see Prussia in action and observe how he acts in certain situations and so on. I kind of run this character's analysis in my head and try to figure out how he would react to everything and why. Then the final step is actually when I put on the costume, even if it's just the contacts or the wig or Gilbird or something, and all the things I know about him just sort of come to life, and I'm him. But of course you don't have to do all that, I just do it because I'm obsessed and like to know everything, even though we're not going to even mention it." Kurt paused and laughed to himself a little, looking down before looking at the girl again with a grin on his face. "I should warn you though that I have a tendency to stay in character more or less all the time as long as I'm wearing the costume. And I just act out whenever I'm given an opportunity. I mean today alone I bumped into an old acquiescence of mine whom I hadn't seen in years, and I think I managed to really freak him out when I went all Prussia on him." Olivia looked past Sebastian at Nick, and so did the rest of the group, all of them laughing, but Sebastian looked at Kurt who was looking back at him, and he knew that Kurt wasn't talking about Nick at all. "To my defence, his facial expression was absolutely priceless," he continued in a low, conspiratorial voice, not taking his eyes off Sebastian.
It felt really strange and sort of thrilling to share this with Kurt. Sebastian didn't understand why Kurt hadn't told anyone about it, because judging by the way his friends were acting they all thought that Kurt was referring to Nick. But knowing that Kurt had some kind of influence over Sebastian left an unpleasant aftertaste, as if it gave him the upper hand in whatever game they were playing. They had barely spoken to each other apart from when Kurt had bumped into him, and Sebastian couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. One thing's for sure –– he really wanted to know what was going on in Kurt's head.
After the laughter died down, Kurt finally looked away and took another question.
"Will you be participating in the cosplay contest tomorrow?"
"Of course, what do you take me for?" Kurt said teasingly. "My group and I will be doing a skit."
"What's your group's name? I want to look you up later," was the next question.
"Well since you ask, I'm not shamelessly promoting my group. The name is Porcelain Cosplay –– you can just google it, and you'll find both the YouTube channel and the deviantart. And I can only take one last question, then I'll have to get my arse off the stage before the administration starts to yell at me for making this longer than I should. Er, okay, Ichigo* at the back, you get the last question."
"I actually follow your group on both YouTube and deviant, and since you cosplay as a lot of different characters, I was wondering who's your favourite character and why?"
"Oh Gods, well that would be a really hard question if it wasn't for the fact that I've had this conversation with my friends on the way here actually, luckily for me. Northern and South Italy are my favourite characters, and don't make me choose one of them because they're the same country, and together they complete each other. Not that I ship it, I'm GerIta* and Spamano* all the way, and I mean come on, it's practically canon," Kurt seemed to have said something great because the audience went completely bananas at his last words, shouting out their agreement or disapproval, and Kurt just took in all that noise with a tiny grin on his face, like he was pleased with the outcome. "Anyway, I'd love to get into a discussion about pairings, and it really is just unbelievable that I managed not to mention my ships until now," Kurt said over the audience, making them shut up. "However, I really need to get off the stage now. Thank you all for listening and not throwing stuff at me, you've been a wonderful audience, and I've hope you've learnt something." Kurt walked to the middle of the stage again, and everyone started clapping as he bowed, even Sebastian. When Kurt looked up again, his eyes fell on Sebastian who felt as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't. But then Kurt smiled, that beautiful smile again, and Sebastian couldn't take his eyes off of him, as he turned around, took the laptop and walked backstage.
As soon as Kurt was out of sight, it was like the air went out of Sebastian, and he realized that he had been sitting in the same position the whole time, barely moving at all. He bit his inner cheek, almost drawing blood, as he stood up with the others, but he didn't want it to show that he was stiff from being tense the whole lecture. They moved slowly out of the auditorium, following the stream of people, and Sebastian was quite glad that he had Olivia in front of him, so he knew exactly where to go.
"We'll meet up with Kurt outside," she turned around and told them, her phone in her hand.
It was a relief to come outside. Sebastian sucked the air into his lungs, and it felt like a ten ton block had been lifted off his shoulders.
"You can't stand crowded places?" Olivia looked up at him with calculating eyes, holding her hand over her forehead to avoid the sun from blinding her.
Sebastian chuckled at her comment. "I have no problem with them, it's more that I like being outside than inside."
"I wouldn't take you for an outside person."
"Well what's the fun in being predictable?"
Kurt came out of the building right then, looking like he'd been running or something by the way he was out of breath.
"Wow, what happened to you?" Jeff said.
Kurt looked at him with a smirk, and something told Sebastian that he was in between being himself and the one he was dressed up as. He seemed to slip back to himself though, as the edges around the smile softened, and he gave out a breathless laugh. "Yeah, well I, or Prussia really, figured that the fastest way to get out was to take a detour to avoid the crowd, and that I should run, so it would go faster."
"Typical Gilbert," Ann said.
"So how was it?" Kurt asked, sounding self-conscious for some reason.
"It was fantastic," Olivia assured him. "You were smart and witty and goddamn hot standing there with your jacket open."
Kurt looked at her doubtfully. "I was gayness personified, jabbering all about how I loved to make costumes," he deadpanned.
"And I'm positive we're gonna get a lot more views after this because you know how women love gay men," Ann said. "Being a guy who is into cosplay and a gay man, really I'm surprised that you weren't molested on your way out."
"It's always nice to know that you're not at all using me to get more subscribers for our channel," Kurt said, and Sebastian couldn't stop his mouth from twisting up at the comment. Kurt looked at him just then, and once again Sebastian felt like he had been caught under Kurt's watchful eye. But instead of retreating he looked back, not really sure what it would do, but not willing to back down from the staring contest he and Kurt had seemed to develop. Kurt's iris was still red as ever, contacts he had said, and the grey hair was a wig. Although Kurt really pulled the look off, there was a part of Sebastian that wanted the outrageous fashion clothes from the women's section back, instead of the blue military uniform which Kurt undoubtedly looked stunning in. It wasn't just Kurt there in front of him, it was that weird character that he was dressed as, and Sebastian wanted to see Kurt, and just Kurt, if even for a second.
They both looked away at the same time, as Olivia handed her phone back to Kurt, making him take it, and Sebastian's phone vibrating in his pocket, telling him that he had a new text. Curiously, he pulled his phone up to see who it was, just to find that it was from his baby sister.
From Sis': Traumatized yet?
Almost, Sebastian typed back. I think I would have to go through therapy after this, he said and then pressed Send.
The answer came second after.
From Sis': Honey, you already do.
He couldn't suppress a chuckle at the text, it was so nice to have a conversation which he actually could follow to one hundred percent, and his sister always seemed to bring a smile to his face even during the most inappropriate situations. He usually repaid her by doing the same.
The conversation had continued around him while he wasn't paying attention, and he looked up to find Kurt looking at him again. But Kurt's eyes weren't filled with fondness, curiousness, or calculation; instead, he was giving him a hard and cold glare, for the first time in years. Sebastian really didn't know what he had done to deserve that glare, and he frowned at Kurt who just seemed to get even colder.
"Anyway," Kurt said, demonstratively turning his head away from Sebastian. "What are your plans now?" he asked Nick and Jeff.
"Er, well, I thought that since we're so near the part of the game part of the convention I thought about checking it out," Jeff said hesitatingly.
"We're going back to the main hall to load up with pocky, but we'll probably see each other again, right?" Kurt said, and although he sounded sincere, Sebastian wasn't fooled. He saw that Kurt wanted to get the hell away from him, the question was only why.
"Oh, yeah," Jeff said somewhat taken aback.
"If not, you can always come and see our skit tomorrow," Olivia said, smiling warmly at them.
"Can't miss that, can we?" Nick smiled back.
"See you around," Kurt said and then started walking away, Kimberly and Ann following him. Olivia looked at Sebastian one last time and gave him a little shrug, as to say that she didn't know either what had gotten into Kurt, and then she gave them one last "goodbye, it was really nice to meet you," before going after her friends.
"What the hell was that?" Nick said after they had left and immediately looked at Sebastian.
"Don't look at me. I didn't even say anything," he said dully.
"Maybe, but still," Nick shrugged. "Who was the text from, by the way?"
"Claire, she wondered if I was still sane."
"You're a lot of things, Sebastian, but sane has never been one of them," Jeff said with a smirk, and Sebastian punched his arm, grinning despite himself.
"And you're an utter freak," Sebastian shot back.
"Proud of it."
The rest of the day were filled with many people squeezed together in small spaces, Jeff fanboying and talking to more random people, and Nick and Sebastian more or less following after him, making sure that he didn't get hurt. Not once did they see Kurt or any of his friends again, and while Sebastian thought that it wasn't really odd since the convention was huge, he still felt as if Kurt was avoiding him. And he really shouldn't care if Kurt were in fact avoiding him, but he did, and he was man enough to admit it. Only to himself though, in the privacy of his mind. He'd be damned if he said it out loud.
After a long day, Nick, with the help of Sebastian, finally managed to persuade Jeff that they should head back to the hotel and get some sleep, and that the convention would still be there tomorrow. They took a detour through Burger King and bought some dinner, and although Sebastian didn't really like fast food places, he was too hungry to even bother to complain. It was food, it was fast, and it made his growling stomach shut the fuck up.
The hotel wasn't so far from the complex where the convention was held, only a few blocks, and it was a relief because he was tired. Who could have guessed that this kind of shit was so exhausting? Not to mention that it had been hot as hell back at the convention, with all the people, standing on top of each other, every single one of them radiating body heat. He really didn't understand how Kurt could walk around in a wig and that uniform of his. He must have been dying underneath all those layers.
Sebastian was the one who had the key cards to the room, which was on the fourth floor of the hotel. He walked ahead of the other two and locked up the door before basically just walking over to the sofa and falling down on it. The room was for three people, but in reality it was a double bed and a sofa that was big enough to sleep on and was made with sheets and pillows and everything –– insinuating that it was meant to be slept on.
Sebastian had actually realized over the years that being snobbish didn't really get him too far, and having parents who loved him so much that they were willing to take away all his assets and throw him out on the street if it made him understand the meaning of gratitude, he quickly learnt to keep his mouth shut most of the time. But old habits die hard, and it wouldn't be him if he had nothing to complain about, but he knew to pick his fights. And the sofa was rather comfortable, despite being a sofa, and he'd much rather sleep there than to share a bed with Nick or Jeff, or the two of them together. Been there, done that, never doing it again. Never.
But while Sebastian was completely done for the day, Nick and Jeff still seemed to have some energy within them, those horny fuckers.
Sebastian looked up to find both of them on their bed and saw how Jeff rolled up on top of Nick and started whispering things that Sebastian really didn't wanted to hear. Fast as lightning, he got up and declared that he was going out, grabbed the keys, which he had thrown on the TV table in front of the bed, and then slammed the door shut behind him. He was out. He leaned against the door, sighing to himself. Now he had to stay away for at least an hour before his goddamn friends were done fucking, those arse-hats. Sure, two years ago he would probably have done the same, but Christ, all he wanted was to sleep. That wasn't going to happen though Sebastian told himself, and he pushed off the door and started walking down the corridor to the elevator.
The hotel had a restaurant on the bottom floor, where they were going to get breakfast in the morning, Sebastian had made sure of that when he booked a room for them, and he faintly remembered reading that they had a bar that was open till late at night. Not that Sebastian was going to drink, the last thing he needed was a hangover, but he was going to see if they served coffee there, or else he was just going to take a soda. Anything to kill some time.
He was walking down the corridor when a door suddenly flew up, filling the air with a chatter of voices.
"I'm going out!" he heard Kurt shout, and sure enough a second later he saw the man himself rushing out of the room before he got an answer, slamming the door shut and then leaning against it, sighing, just like Sebastian had done only minutes before. He wasn't wearing his uniform anymore; in fact, it was only Kurt and no one else who was leaning against the door. But he wasn't wearing the usual designer clothes either. Instead, he just had a pair of jeans, still skin tight though, and a red hoodie that was too large for him and had "McKinley High" written in white letters on it. He had a plain, white pair of sneakers on his feet, and his usually perfect hair looked like it just had been pushed back in one swift movement. The whole look was strangely hot.
"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you in normal clothes," Sebastian said, making Kurt jump and notice for the first time that he wasn't alone in the corridor.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Kurt snapped, looking like Sebastian's mere presence offended him.
"At the moment, I'm talking to you, but I gather that wasn't what you asked for," he said, walking towards Kurt.
Kurt just glared at him.
"I got a room just down the hall, together with Jeff and Nick," Sebastian explained, jerking his head in the right direction.
"You gotta be kidding me."
"You really think I would go through all the crap necessary to just casually happen to be here when you decided to burst out of your hotel room, just to catch you wearing a hoodie?"
Kurt looked down at his clothes, and his cheeks were turning red. Sebastian found the whole thing oddly cute.
"Yes, well, these are my convention clothes, I just go around like this on conventions or in the safety of my home," Kurt told him, and Sebastian pictured Kurt walking around like that in a home, casually holding a coffee-cup in his hand and sitting down in front of the television, putting on a movie or something.
Oh, that's right, coffee.
The exhaustion that had been momentarily forgotten by Kurt's sudden presence came back with a heavy force, and it felt as if he could fall asleep on the floor if he stood still for another second.
"Well, I'm going to need caffeine if I'm going to stay awake any longer, so I better get going," he said and started walking to the elevator again.
He didn't know what to expect, but he didn't expect Kurt to catch up with him and continue their conversation, that's for sure.
"Why would you need to stay awake at all?" Kurt asked, as soon as he was walking next to Sebastian.
"Because I don't fancy falling asleep on the floor, and I need to stay awake for at least an hour before I can get back to my room," Sebastian said as they reached the elevator, and he pressed the button.
"Why would you have to stay out of your own room?" Kurt asked bewildered.
"Why do you think?" Sebastian just looked at him, and he could see the penny drop in Kurt's eyes.
"Oh," was all he said.
"Yeah, 'oh.'" The elevator arrived then, and Sebastian stepped in, Kurt following him. He pressed the button to the bottom floor and argued with himself for a second if he was going to ask which floor Kurt was going to, before deciding that he could press his own fucking buttons.
"Why are you here then?" Sebastian asked, even though he hadn't intended to.
"The girls are going nuts in there, and I couldn't stand it anymore and just decided that I needed some change of air."
"And they just started flipping out over nothing?" Sebastian asked sceptically.
"There might have been a discovery of a little rip in a costume," Kurt looked up at Sebastian, rolling his eyes. "And of course I couldn't fix it, no, even though I made the goddamn thing, and the world was coming to an end, and it could most definitely not be solved by a thread and a needle."
"Sounds absolutely smashing," Sebastian said, and Kurt just stared at him for a moment before breaking out in laughter.
"You're like the first person ever whom I've heard using the word 'smashing' while not cosplaying Britain," Kurt said, as the doors flew up, and they both stepped out into the lobby, stopping there for some reason.
"Yes, well, there is an explanation to that, actually," Sebastian said.
"Oh? Care to tell?"
"Care to tell how you ended up in a cosplay outfit?"
Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line for a moment, studying Sebastian like he was trying to make a decision about something.
"I'll make you a deal," he finally said. "I know a diner nearby that's open 24/7 and serves drinkable coffee. I'll take you there, and you buy me a cup of coffee, and I'll answer your questions if you'll answer mine. Honestly, I should add."
"Well now that I think about it, I've only actually lied to you once, when I first met you."
"How assuring," Kurt said in a cold voice.
"But seeing that I've got nothing better to do, show me the way, your majesty."
Kurt smiled at the comment oddly enough, and then started walking, leading the way. He hadn't been lying when he said that it was nearby either, the diner was practically around the corner. In daylight, Sebastian might have passed it as shabby, but it was more or less concealed at night, with only streetlights and the lamps inside lighting it up. It was a typical city diner, with the long service counter, the floor-mounted stools and the booths. There was a young and rather tired woman standing behind the counter as they walked in, and she looked up at them with a blank stare. Apart from her, there was an old lady in the far end of the diner, having some kind of soup.
"A whole pot of coffee and some milk, please," Sebastian said to her and was given a nod.
"Are you planning to stay up whole night?" Kurt asked as he sat down in one of the booths, Sebastian sliding down opposite him.
"I plan to stay awake. It's a miracle that I still am really, I'm exhausted." Sebastian leaned forward over the table, putting his head in his hands with his elbows standing on the table.
"Yeah, conventions do that to you, it's just over nine PM, and yet you can just drop dead any minute."
"How are you still awake then?" Sebastian asked, looking up at Kurt. "You should be dead right now, yet you're more alive than I am."
"I'm used to conventions. Been to what, five conventions this year alone. You usually manage to develop a system by then."
"And how does that work? Because the two of us might not be close at all, but even I know that you would never be caught in those clothes normally."
"Yes, I do let go of my normal habits on conventions, practically living on Japanese sweets, energy boosts and fast food, with the occasional coffee whenever I find a place that can live up to my standards." Kurt smiled, looking out the window, something that was undoubtedly memories flickering though his mind and Sebastian thought faintly that he would like to hear them. He didn't ask though because waitress came just then, and both of them looked at her.
She was carrying a tray with a whole coffee pot that came straight out of the machine, a large creamer and two coffee-cups, and she placed it all on the table in silence. She poured coffee in both of their cups and then took a table mat that she had with her and placed the coffee pot on it, before walking away.
Sebastian poured milk into his cup before handing the pot over to Kurt, who did the same, while he took a pack of sugar from the jar with sugar, salt and pepper that stood on every table. He ripped the package open and added it to his coffee, stirring his coffee with the spoon that the waitress had already placed in his cup beforehand. He took a sip then and didn't even try to stop the sigh of relief that came with it.
"Good?" Kurt asked behind his own cup.
"Heavenly."
Kurt laughed softly. "Well, that's good."
They sat there in comfortable silence for several minutes, just drinking coffee and reloading, before Kurt spoke again.
"Okay, I really want to know, 'smashing'?" He raised an eyebrow, eyeing Sebastian skeptically, and Sebastian couldn't help but to smile at Kurt's whole demeanour.
"I'm a quarter British," he said, and Kurt's expression morphed to utter surprise.
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. My mum's half French, half British, and dad's American, which makes me and my sister a quarter British, a quarter French, and half American."
"Wait, wow, you got a sister? And just because you're a quarter Brit, it doesn't mean you talk like them."
"One question at a time, princess," Sebastian teased.
"Fine. Smashing?"
"I've spent many summers in London with my grandparents, and no matter how hard I try I always come back to the United States with a British accent. Nick and Jeff always find it hilarious, and they make me sit through Harry Potter or Sherlock marathons just because I always speak British afterwards."
"Oh God, I'd pay to hear that."
"You can probably arrange something with them if you ask nicely enough."
Kurt chuckled and looked as if he was actually planning to do just that for a second, before he moved on to another topic of conversation. "Okay, sister?"
Sebastian debated for a moment whether he should answer the question or demand to ask Kurt something himself first. In the end, though, he came to the conclusion that Kurt would be more open to answering Sebastian's questions in return if he granted Kurt this.
"Yes, I have a little sister; she's four years younger than me. Her name's Claire."
"I wouldn't take you for an older brother," Kurt said.
"You're not the first one. You should have seen Jeff's face when he first met her. It was the first time he had ever been in my house, and she opened the door, dressed in her nightgown with purple elephants on it. I was just coming the down the stairs when she opened the door and greeted him with 'What do you want? Make it quick because commercial breaks don't last forever, you know.'"
"Oh God, what did Jeff do?"
"He stuttered that he was there to see me, and Claire immediately thought that he was one of my 'guys,' as she likes to call them, and she said so. Jeff countered with that he actually had a boyfriend, which Claire answered with a 'so?' And then they finally noticed that I was standing on the stairs, laughing my arse off."
"She sounds like a wonderful counterpart to you," Kurt said lightly.
"She is. And she's having the time of her life mocking me for being here."
"I can imagine."
"My turn then. How did Kurt Hummel end up exactly in a grey wig with a little bird on it?"
"It's platinum blond."
"Doesn't seem to change the fact that you had a bird on your head though." Sebastian smirked a little, and the corner of Kurt's mouth turned upwards, like he was trying to suppress a smile.
"Well, I got into NYADA after some fuss," Kurt began. "And I was given this roommate named Jake. He turned out to be really nice, and he had a girlfriend, Felicity, who was going to a college nearby, studying economics. She was always around, so I got to know her too. She liked to read manga, and she told me about certain stories sometimes, but it never really interested me to be honest. The concept of reading backwards just seemed like idiotic, why would I want to read something that was more difficult to actually read? And if her summaries were anything to go by, it either sounded really messed up or just bad to be honest. But then I made friends with a girl from class, Olivia, and she shared Feli's passion for manga. They bonded over it and started to make each other even more obsessed. Feli also had two friends from her school, Kimberly and Ann that is, and all six of us started to hang out. Then I think it was Olivia who found Hetalia somewhere, and she showed it of course to Feli who made us all watch it. We've all been forced to watch some anime before, but I don't know, Hetalia was different in so many ways. And every episode is just five minutes, and you don't even have to watch them chronologically, and you can watch them on YouTube, so yeah, I watched, I laughed, I got stuck. And of course Hetalia was portal to the world of manga and anime, like a freaking gateway drug." Kurt smiled a little and took a sip from his coffee.
"That still doesn't explain why you started cosplaying though," Sebastian remarked.
"Yeah, well, I love to act and sing, as you might have figured out, and playing characters that you love, doesn't matter if they from Hetalia or Wicked, it's just such an experience. You really get as close as you possibly can be because for the moment you're them, and it's just mind blowing really," Kurt laughed a little. "But the official version is that we started going to conventions and got completely blown away by the cosplayers. Ann and I just went over the moon really, and Kimberly found all these different cosplayers on YouTube and divantart and tumblr, which she showed us of course, and the whole idea of cosplaying just grew, more and more. So we decided that we were going to try it because it seemed fun, and yeah, look where it got us." Kurt shrugged and smiled softly, looking Sebastian in the eye.
"What did Blaine say about about it all?" Sebastian asked, and everything open and easy about Kurt was slammed shut in the blink of an eye, as the smile dropped and he looked away. Sebastian immediately wanted to take his question back, but he couldn't of course.
"He didn't say anything. Or, well, he doesn't know, so how could he?"
"Oh," was all Sebastian had to say, his mind going completely blank.
Kurt bit his lip, clearly uncomfortable and seemingly at a loss of words too. He looked hesitant, and Sebastian guessed that he was debating about telling Sebastian just why Blaine was not aware of his new hobby. And Sebastian wanted to know. God, he wanted to know more than he ever should, but he didn't want it like this. He wanted to hear it from Kurt when Kurt was willing to tell him. Therefore, there was only one thing left to say...
"Don't you have anything else you're dying to know about me then?" He smirked at Kurt again, almost seductively, and he was relieved to see the other man relaxing in front of him.
"Well, now that you ask," Kurt looked back at him again, a matching smirk to his own across Kurt's face, "I'd like to know what happened to you after you graduated from Dalton."
"You would, wouldn't you?" Kurt gave him an irritated look because of his inability to answer right away, and Sebastian's smirk just widened. "I went to Harvard after graduation actually."
"Harvard?" Kurt sounded surprised and looked both appalled and impressed all at once.
"Yes, Harvard College. I'm going to be a lawyer."
For some reason, it felt odd and rather embarrassing to tell Kurt that he was a student at Harvard. He knew he really shouldn't feel this way –– it was Harvard, one of the most prestigious schools in the country, yet Sebastian dreaded Kurt's judgement. Instead of meeting Kurt's eye, he refilled his cup, which was empty anyway, before finally looking up. He was about to ask if Kurt wanted a refill too, but Kurt's eyes were unreadable and somewhat calculating, which made Sebastian pause.
"What?" he snapped.
"Nothing," Kurt said, shaking his head, but they both knew that it was a lie.
"Just spit it out," Sebastian demanded.
"I just thought it would be so typical for you to go to a school like that."
"What are you insinuating?"
"That whole 'I can't stand the smell of public school', 'my father's the state attorney' thing that just makes me realize that I should have seen that coming."
"But you didn't?"
"I don't know!" Kurt snapped.
Sebastian sighed and leaned back, studying Kurt. "Let me guess then. You thought that I was more or less forced to attend to a school like Harvard and select a prestigious profession, like a lawyer or a doctor, and continue the tradition of having a highly paid job and be a snob till the end of time, yes?"
Kurt opened his mouth, undoubtedly to protest, but the look on his face had already told Sebastian that he had been right.
"Well you're wrong," he said before Kurt got the chance to defend himself. "My parents don't care what I do with my life, as long as I'm happy, and it's legal. This is their discreet way of saying that they won't approve of me becoming a drug-dealer, a whore or some Don Vito Corleone."
"But if you can do anything you want, why do you want to be a lawyer?"
"Because I can. If I got the privilege to have parents that can pay for any school I want, I'd be stupid to waste an opportunity."
"But why lawyer then?"
"Well, maybe I enjoy proving that I'm right on a regular basis and shove it in people's faces."
Kurt laughed at that, and the tense air around them melted, as Sebastian smiled too.
"Yes, well that sounds more like it," Kurt said with laughter still in his voice.
Their conversation ran smoothly after that, and it was only the realization that they had drunk a whole pot of coffee that made both of them wonder just how long they had been sitting there. Sebastian didn't look at the time though, fearing the late hour and what it meant. He paid for the coffee, just like he said he would, and then the two of them started to head back to the hotel, still talking. It was still dark outside, much to Sebastian's relief.
"But what are the odds that we would get rooms not only in the same hotel, but on the same floor?" Kurt said, as they stepped into the elevator.
"Ending up in the same hotel isn't that surprising really; I mean it's a damn good hotel, great location and so on. But the same floor, well it was just meant to be, wasn't it?" Sebastian said jokingly, smiling.
"Oh yes, definitely," Kurt agreed sarcastically.
"By the way, could you tell your friends that I'm gay?" Sebastian said, and it must have seemed out of the blue by the way Kurt was looking at him.
"Sure... Why?"
"Because that girl, er, Kimberly, she kept staring at me like she wanted to hit on me but was too shy to even try."
Kurt laughed, and it was such a wonderful laugh, his whole face lit up, and Sebastian felt his stomach drop. "Do girls flirt with you often?" Kurt asked.
"More than I ever want to endure," Sebastian admitted.
"Why didn't you just tell her yourself?"
"Well, turning someone down requires them actually talking to you. I think I heard Kimberly talk once or something."
Kurt chuckled. "Well, that's the advantage of being a flamboyant gay: you're almost never mistaken for a straight guy."
"Almost?"
"Yes, well, before I came out, my friend Mercedes actually thought that we were dating when we hung out, even though we watched Sound of Music and so on."
Sebastian couldn't help laughing out loud, trying to picture Kurt's face when that proud black girl he remembered asking Kurt if they were dating.
"And I kind of panicked when then she said that, and I didn't know what to do, so I told her I was interested in Rachel of all people," Kurt continued.
"Rachel."
"Yes, don't judge me, I was fifteen and insecure. And nowadays girls still flirt with me because I'm cosplaying. My sexual orientation doesn't seem to matter then."
"You're kidding."
"I most certainly do not. You can check out the comments on YouTube and deviantart –– some are really alarming."
"Don't mind if I do then," Sebastian smirked.
The doors to the elevator opened, and Kurt and Sebastian stepped out on their floor. Suddenly, the whole light-hearted atmosphere was gone, and they walked in tense silence toward Kurt's room.
"So," Kurt said, turning around when they reached his door. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He looked like hadn't meant it to come out as a question.
"I guess so. If we don't meet at breakfast, I'm pretty sure Jeff and Nick are going to drag me to your show."
"Oh."
"Yeah, well, see you."
"I guess." Kurt gave Sebastian one last scrutinising look before turning around, opening the door and going inside without a backward glance.
Sebastian sighed and headed to his own room. Once inside, he thought he shouldn't turn the light on because Nick and Jeff could be sleeping, but when he opened the door he found that it was already turned on. His eyes went to the bed where Jeff and Nick lay, their arms crossed and facial expressions stern.
"Do you even know what time it is?" Nick snapped at him.
"I'm sorry, Mother."
"Oh no, don't you mother me," Nick protested.
"You kind of are the mother, though, because Jeff just topped you, and that makes him the father."
Nick flushed, while Jeff looked rather pleased with himself.
"But for your information, the only thing I drank was coffee to stay awake while you were making children." And with that Sebastian went into the bathroom before one of them could protest once again.
*True story, dearest Sebastian Michaelis (as that is his full name) went against Usui Takumi 2011 in the final and won. Although personally I wouldn't care too much who won, I love them both :P If you want a reference, just search for "Sexiest Man in Anime 2011" on youtube and you'll find it sooner or later (because I'm too lazy to do it for you...)
**From Bleach
***GerIta is the ship name for GermanyxItaly/Northern Italy
****and Spamano is the ship name for SpainxRomano/Southern Italy