A/N: So, hello!
Last year, a girl asked me to write a Valentine fic for her with this prompt. I've finished translating it to English right now, so here it is. It's a slight AU in which Klaine isn't on and Sebastian has moved to McKinley. It's just senseless dumbness from these two and jealous!Sebastian which is always amazing. I hope it doesn't suck too much - xoxo
"What are you doing?" Sebastian asks, coming out of nowhere as always, as he starts walking behind Kurt, almost like he's his shadow. Kurt just rolls his eyes and sighs, but he is smiling in the grimace (he doesn't deny it to himself; if Sebastian doesn't see it, then it's okay).
"Not of your business, meerkat." He answers and he keeps on carrying the box he is holding along the hallways of McKinley, pretending that he's just ignoring him, while he is actually counting the steps Sebastian moves behind him inside his head and measuring the times when they're in perfect timing with his own. He knows that the way they act is a little childish, but all this looking for each other/fight each other is too funny to give it a cut. It is a lot more interesting than a common flirt.
"It is my business. You're walking in front of me." Sebastian complains, and he doesn't slow down his pace, not even for a moment. "You're taking up my whole hallway with your huge hips."
Kurt just giggles and knows that Sebastian can see the way his shoulders are shaking, so to be sure he can still look serious, he turns to him and points his finger against Sebastian's face. Sebastian stops abruptly, just in time, before he collides with Kurt.
"Hey, stop. You're the snob guy who hates public schools. You're only here because your family bankrupted. You can't call it your hallway. That's pure nonsense!"
"Just so you know," Sebastian replies immediately, crossing his arms to his chest, clearly amused, "the fact that my family cloud bankrupt only proves than I'm naturally richer and more magnanimous than you."
"Rich and magnanimous aren't the same thing, Sebastian." Kurt wrinkles his lips sarcastically. "Anyway, I'm planning on a kissing booth for Valentine's Day."
"What?" Sebastian asks immediately and he starts getting nervous evidently. "That's a terrible idea. It's just going to prove that no one wants to kiss you, especially if they must pay for it."
"I bet that's not the case." Kurt complains, holding tightly the box of cardboards that he is going to use as props for his booth. "My lips are amazingly soft. All the girls will want to kiss my mouth because they know I'm gay and there won't be sentimental consequences anyway. It's a very convenient kiss. I bet I'll make a lot of money."
"Don't count on that too much." Sebastian laughs. "I'm saying that for you, because I wouldn't want you to feel too hurt about it later."
"Thanks, Bastian." Kurt answers sarcastically and then he shrugs. "But I'm going to open my booth and I'm going to give and have many kisses. Considering that I had to lend you a coin for the vending machine last time, I'll probably be richer than you by the end of the week."
"Wait, something's wrong with your reasoning." Sebastian answers then, shaking his head. "First of all, I thought you were a romantic, so you know, stuff like saving your mouth for your Valentine's date, the one you'll probably never get. And then, why would you do that? What do you need the money for?"
"Being romantic doesn't mean you have to believe in such a stupid thing as Valentine's Day. It's just a tacky holiday, it doesn't really represent love." Kurt lifts his eyebrows. "Anyway, there's the spring-summer collection waiting for me. It's coming in a few months and I want to make sure I have the money to buy just all the clothes I like from the catalogues. How come you didn't think about that before you asked?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, that's not really the kind of stuff I usually think of." Sebastian answers immediately. "I guess my thoughts resemble less to the ones of a girl, unlike yours."
Kurt gives him an ironical half-bow, still careful at the way he moves his precious box.
"Yeah, Sebastian, you told me so many times already. Now, if you don't mind, I've got props to work on for my booth," He replies and he's already walking away from him.
As he does, he can almost feel Sebastian's eyes gazing at his ass. It makes him smile, once again, and he doesn't worry about hiding it because Sebastian can't see it from where he is standing.
/
He's sitting in that empty class because the afternoon lessons are over. He's calm while he cuts and glues his precious colored cardboards, feels proud of his work and smiles at himself for his brilliant idea. Telling Sebastian that he had planned this for the collections was so smart of him. Kurt, of course, has dozens of subscriptions to magazines and that means reductions that allow him to buy everything he wants.
The truth is that all that he wants is that Sebastian finally finds the courage to tell him that he would pay for Kurt to kiss him. It's not like Kurt hasn't figured it out with all their indirect flirting. He just wants him to be direct instead. If he'll have to kiss some girls to get it, then he doesn't care. Plus, he's going to make money out of this. He's doing it all because he wants Sebastian to be brave enough to admit he's got a crush on him, to admit how much he wants to kiss him; no tricks between them any longer.
He knows Sebastian wants to, he's sure of it.
There are times when, after Cheerio practice, Sebastian walks away from the lacrosse team and wraps an arm around Kurt's shoulder to keep him close and remind him of how small he is (clearly an innuendo, considering that it's Sebastian Smythe). Sebastian says it's just to make fun of Kurt, but Kurt has stopped buying that.
Then there are times when Kurt's sitting at the cafeteria with Rachel, and Sebastian comes from behind him to whisper something like "hey pretty" into his ear. His lips brush barely against Kurt's ear and Kurt tries to keep the stupid smile that blossoms on his face at that, while his cheeks flush red before he can keep it.
It's almost the same thing when he's just leant the scissors on the desk – luckily – and he feels a breath on his neck that makes him startle with surprise.
"Babe?" Sebastian asks and Kurt turns abruptly towards him, almost hitting his head with his own.
"Have you completely lost it?" He shrieks but Sebastian is already sitting beside him with no permission. "I almost had a heartattack."
"Oh, babe." Sebastian replies sarcastically. "I know your heart beats fast whenever you see me, but you could keep ahold of yourself, you know?" He asks and he pulls a notebook out of his bag. Kurt stares skeptically and suspiciously, clearly not too convinced with whatever Sebastian is about to do.
"If you don't mind, I'm working." He makes him notice and winces. "I was fixing my props. You're momentarily stealing away my creativity with your annoying presence."
"I know what you're doing." Sebastian opens his exercise book and pulls out the pen. "I did something yesterday, in the afternoon …"
Kurt looks at him suspiciously, because everything Sebastian does must be evil and crazy. It's normal to be worried about it.
"You surely did many things." Kurt jokes, "I hope they don't include you, your hand and pictures of me."
"Idiot." Sebastian hits the back of Kurt's head with his pen and then laughs. "I didn't do that. I searched for all the spring-summer online catalogues – unfortunately only the most famous boy ones, because I wouldn't have seen the end of it otherwise – and I've calculated about how much it would take you to buy the clothes you like the most. Those ones humanity is going to hate, of course."
Kurt stares at him for a moment.
Adorable, he thinks at the thought of Sebastian going through catalogues, pretending he is Kurt and trying to figure out what he would choose.
Asshole, he thinks at the thought that Sebastian doesn't even have the guts to admit that he likes him. And Kurt's pretty sure he wouldn't guess his choices anyway.
"You've spent the whole afternoon going through catalogues? Your life must be busy." He sniggers, looking at Sebastian as he pouts in disappointment. "And I've calculated everything by the way, it's just one dollar at a kiss."
"What? Now I can't understand your fucking A grade in mathematics." Sebastian complains, his smug face coming up again. "According to my calculations, you'll need at least 3.50 $ for kiss."
"So smart of you." Kurt giggles. "You want me to sell my kisses for that much so that no one would kiss me. You're cute when you're jealous."
He gets hit behind his head again.
"I'm not jealous." Sebastian groans and he turns his body on the chair, shifting more towards Kurt's. "Is this the way you're thanking me for working just for you all afternoon long? You're mean."
"Am not." Kurt complains, massaging the back of his head. "How do you want me to reward you? By kissing you? It's 3.50 $, Bastian."
"No, you're right, this isn't working." Sebastian finally admits. "I mean, I wouldn't spend three bucks to kiss you either."
That either feels sort of a confession to Kurt. He's surprised that Sebastian let go a little, but he pretends he hasn't noticed anyway.
"You wouldn't kiss me for a penny even, is that right?" He asks amused instead.
"You got that right, babe." Sebastian replies and Kurt stares while he bites his lower lip, though they both know it's just a joke.
"Then I'll have to stick to the dollar I had planned on. All this discussion just proved me right." He shrugs lazily. "Now can you let me work on my props, please? What do I have to do to make you walk away from here?" He asks, rolling his eyes.
"I could help you with that crap, you know. Or maybe," Sebastian murmurs and he's suddenly so, so close that Kurt can feel his breath over his lips; and he stares at Sebastian's mouth for a moment, "You could threaten to kiss me and I'd be gone in a moment."
It's one of those moments when they both seem to know perfectly what they are to each other and Kurt knows that Sebastian wants to kiss him. Or make some stupid flirty joke. It doesn't happen though, ever, they like breaking the tension.
"Sebastian … I'm about to kiss you."
He doesn't add anything because he knows exactly how things are going.
Sebastian jolts from the chair and puts a notable distance between them.
"No, please, don't do that!" He acts, pretending that he is scared to death. "Don't, I'm scared. Please, show some mercy."
Kurt can't help but laugh at how ridiculous he looks.
"Get lost, you idiot," he says and Sebastian winks before he walks out of the class.
Kurt loves knowing how Sebastian is going to react to anything. But still, a moment after Sebastian has walked out, he realizes that there's something he doesn't know: what if he asked Sebastian to stay and help him cutting his props … would Sebastian have stayed?
/
"Oh, you dressed up for the occasion."
Kurt is about to complain but he gets slapped on his ass before he can turn completely and Sebastian's arm wraps around his shoulder.
"No one will want to kiss you."
"I've already got a long list of reservations actually." Kurt lifts his chin a little, so that he can look at Sebastian better. "I guess there is someone who wants to kiss me."
"Tell me about it." Sebastian says and Kurt does.
"Santana Lopez."
"Lesbian."
"Brittany Pierce."
"She kissed anyone at this school but us."
"Rachel Berry."
"She is your friend and wouldn't want you to be disappointed when you'll notice the short line."
"Blaine Anderson."
"You wrote it on the list because you wish it were true."
"Sam Evans."
"Repressed gay-hey, wait." Sebastian stops and the closeness forces Kurt to do the same. "Are you telling me there's a list of boys who want to kiss you?"
Kurt shrugs lightly, but Sebastian straddles him like it's a rebuke for his behavior.
"Nonono. No way." He stops Kurt, blocking his way along the hallway. "How much do you need to quit this ridiculous kissing booth thing?"
"What?" Kurt asks surprised, "You can't pay me for that! It's my booth and I'm not going to give up on it. I've found out that there are many people who want to kiss me and … I'm revaluating myself."
Sebastian looks at him in confusion, like he can't believe Kurt's words.
"C'mon, Kurt. Don't tell me you're actually believing it's going to be like that, it's crazy-" he gets hit by an elbow. "Ouch! I'm saying that for you. I don't want you to be disappointed!"
"I won't be disappointed." Kurt replies, freeing himself from the hold and standing in front of him. "You are the one who's going to be disappointed. A lot of people will want to kiss me."
"We'll see." Sebastian says but he sounds unsure.
"We'll see." Kurt snaps and he sounds so sure.
/
Days go by quickly and Valentine's Day comes by. Kurt is ready though. He's not scared, not at all.
His booth is going to open in a few hours and he's using this hour of substitution to repeat French rather than to get lazy. He goes to an empty classroom because his classmates will spend their time chatting and he hates repeating historic events in French with those whispers in the background.
He feels a little like a kiss ass but he prefers spending the afternoon getting lazy rather than the morning at school, so he's going to take advantage of this free time.
He would want to take advantage of this time.
"Princess." Sebastian's voice fills the space right when Kurt is opening his mouth to start repeating quietly.
He rolls his eyes without even turning to Sebastian. He sighs out loud instead.
"What do you want now?" He asks annoyed. "I'm doing something productive if you don't mind."
"Oh please, like you ever did anything productive." Sebastian replies and Kurt can hear his steps, so he knows the other boy is walking closer.
The way he's learnt the sound of Sebastian's steps is creepy, but he tries not to think about it. Not even at the way he has to try hard to wash off the smile that is blossoming on his face to replace his annoyed grimace already.
"I could do something productive now and just tell you to go get lost." He growls instead, forcing his own voice to make it sharp while Sebastian tugs at the chair beside him and sits down.
He is sprawled, his legs spread and his back barely pressed in the chair. His chin is lifted, like he's sighing at the ceiling.
"How come you're here to disturb me?" Kurt asks when it's too evident that Sebastian isn't going to speak. It seems like he wants Kurt to be interested in the conversation first.
Sebastian sighs and then Kurt rethinks about it. Maybe Sebastian doesn't want Kurt's interest right now. Maybe it's actually hard for him to talk about this. Maybe it's hard to speak out loud something that has been there for long – Kurt knows it has – but that doesn't become real because they're both so stubborn.
"Your kissing booth."
It comes out as a surrendering sigh, like Sebastian doesn't want to confess but he has to.
"Hmm?" Kurt calls him, lifting his eyebrows like he has no idea what the point is. "Great explanation, meerkat, seriously, I'm moved by your enchanting rhetoric." It sounds sharper than he meant to make it sound. Fucking pride. "Have you ever considered becoming a Congress Man?"
"Ha-ha-ha." Sebastian looks down at him, like he can't believe such a joke. "You should consider becoming a comedian instead, Kurt. I might laugh until tomorrow morning, you know."
"I'll have kissed forty people by then." Kurt spits out, unable to keep it, and suddenly aware of the fact that his subconscious has got this better then he has.
Sebastian is looking at him in a strange way. He's wincing and Kurt can easily see that he's trying to pull on his usual smirk, but it's not working.
Everytime he wins over Sebastian like this, he feels weird because he wants their balance back. He doesn't want to be the winner. In fact, he doesn't want a winner at all; he wants the challenge alive forever.
Therefore, when Sebastian opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out, not even a sound, Kurt can't help but feel guilty. He doesn't want to feel guilty. It's his fucking kissing booth, a Valentine thing. He's not killing people.
"Sebastian." He says then and Sebastian looks up from the point he had suddenly been staring at a moment ago. "I want you to talk to me instead of acting like an idiot."
It's out.
He has opened the conversation.
They've spent months walking around and never taking that step and now Kurt has thrown the bomb his way. It's Sebastian's turn to move because he's done his part, considering that Sebastian is the one who is acting like a child.
"Oh, do I need to show off my enchanting rhetoric?" Sebastian snaps though, looking a little awfully at him and showing him that he's got no guts to face it now. "Because I thought I wasn't that good at talking moments ago-"
"You know what I mean." Kurt growls, rolling his eyes to the ceiling and tightening his own fingers around a knee of his crossed legs to keep calm; he knows. He's always known, it takes patience with Sebastian. "I always feel like you have to tell me something and you bite your tongue the moment just before you do so."
He has no idea what Sebastian's face means right now.
He seems so surprised, confused, arrogant and proud at the same time. Seriously, only Sebastian Smythe could put up so many inappropriate feelings now, making the ones that feel right become just as inappropriate. He is the most fucking annoying person in the world and Kurt just wants to kill him.
No, he doesn't.
Yes, he does.
"Don't worry about it, Kurt." Sebastian shows him a sarcastic little face, making Kurt sure he wants to kill him, like right now. "There's nothing I need to tell you. I always spit all my most sincere thoughts on you."
"Tell me that you don't want me to kiss other guys and I'll believe you." Kurt wrinkles his lips in challenge.
"Why would I tell you something that isn't true?" Sebastian asks, but he doesn't even manage to make it sound honest. Kurt knows it's not true, that it couldn't be true, but if Sebastian tries so hard to make it sound false, he just makes it easier for Kurt to understand.
"Because you're just a proud dumbass and you know it is." He taps with his finger on his own thigh. "You really think taking a step back makes you weak, don't you?"
"Doesn't it?" Sebastian asks, breaking through his illusions.
"It doesn't." Kurt looks into his eyes. "Taking a step back is wise, not weak."
"If you say so."
The childish answer throws an enormous wave of nervousness along Kurt's body and he feels like he wants to strangle Sebastian again. But it's Sebastian and he couldn't do it even if he tried.
So he just sighs.
"If I say so." He repeats, looking down for a moment and nodding to himself. Sebastian is looking at him more intensely now. "You know what?" He asks and Sebastian shrugs like he doesn't care (but once more it is not believable). "Come back to me when you've decided you're going to be honest and have realized that you're just being a jerk." He spits out and Sebastian pretends that he is surprised, but Kurt is sure that he knows exactly what he's doing.
"I'm not."
"You're being a jerk." Kurt stops him before he can add anything, and he starts gathering his things. He doesn't want to be this anxious but he can't help it. He's about to panic, his face turning red as he feels the need to move his hands around, even while he's taking his stuff. "And it's not even funny, because, you know, when you act like a jerk you're usually funny; this-this is just ri-ridiculous and-"
"Kurt." Sebastian's voice is intense too and it makes him hesitate for a moment as he pulls on the zipper of his bag.
He turns to him and Sebastian seems like he's about to say something but then he swallows it down a moment later, biting his lower lip.
Kurt knows this is hard, he can understand that it's tough to admit there's something that has grown month by month but this is becoming ridiculous. It's hard, but it's not a torture, and if Kurt stands up to walk away, Sebastian is supposed to finally let go and say it out loud.
But he doesn't.
He stays there in silence.
"Never mind." Kurt murmurs then, sighing and standing up from the chair.
Sebastian doesn't stop him, doesn't even lean towards him, and Kurt can feel something breaking inside him. Not that he thought something different was going to happen: Sebastian and he look like they were made to break each other apart. And yet he's considered it possible so many times, which doesn't make it easier for him to swallow the pain down as he walks out of the room, feeling nervous and maybe even sad.
/
The feeling is awkward and oh so different from what he'd imagined and felt during the last few days and even a few hours ago.
Not even two hours ago, he was enthusiastic and could almost see his precious spring-summer collection walk towards him in the hallway. Right now, as he walks along the hallway, towards the booth – to pull on the last props – Kurt isn't that enthusiastic anymore.
Although he knows he's right, knows Sebastian was a jerk, he can't help but think he could have acted differently. He wonders if he hasn't planned on this booth just to hurt him because he knows there's something between them and he's aware that Sebastian knows too, even if he hides it.
He wants to go back now, but he can't.
It's too late and even if he doesn't feel like kissing anyone now, it's like it's a duty now. He has a list and it would be childish of him not to just plant one on their lips all of a sudden. He keeps his word, has always done so.
Okay, not always, he doesn't even want to keep it now, but he feels like he's trapped and he can't go back. It would make him ridiculous in the eyes of everyone at school.
He steps slowly towards the booth, like it's a limit line.
He knows that once he'd have walked by, he won't be able to go back. He isn't sure why it's like this, but it is. It's the end of something, something that might be a new beginning, and considering that Sebastian doesn't want to take a step towards him, Kurt feels like, being the more responsible between them, he would have to walk all the way to Sebastian, without being even met halfway.
He's walking alone along a road where it's supposed to be the two of them.
This is the thought that finally makes him walk faster. If it's supposed to be the two of them, why is he alone? It's too evident that they like each other by now. Why is he the only one who is supposed to do something about it? (He's probably acting as much of a stupid as Sebastian is, but he can't get over this childish thought for now.)
He puts his bag on the wood of the booth – thank God his dad has got a shop – and he can already hear people murmuring along the hallway, but he tries not to think about it. Since this thing is turning into something that is going to inevitably bring pain to him, he'll try to make it last as little as he can. Maybe he'll kiss a few people and then make up an excuse to go away. Like he's feeling sick or something. Or maybe he could pull out an excuse before he starts kissing, he could pretend he's got some contagious flu and …
No.
He won't allow Sebastian to win this. If he doesn't kiss an impressive number of people by the end of the day, Sebastian will make fun of him forever, and though he is used to it, this time it would upset him.
So he stands behind the booth and finally looks up.
And then he's practically breathless.
He knows he probably looks like an idiot now – mouth and eyes wide open – but he can't help it.
"Sebastian." He just says, looking as the boy smirks and leans something on the table of the booth.
He can't even look down to check on what it is because all he can do is to stare at Sebastian, searching for explanations. He wants to read them in his smirk but he doesn't manage to do so.
"Babe." Sebastian murmurs back like it's a game. Or like it's natural to do so, Kurt can't tell, but he can feel that all the eyes in the room are on them and there's a line behind Sebastian's back.
Then the moment comes.
The moment he tells to himself that Sebastian has leant a dollar on his booth and then Kurt has to kiss him. It's easy and there aren't any feelings involved. He just has to kiss Sebastian because Sebastian is paying for it, and not because Kurt likes him.
No feelings involved: Sebastian pays and Kurt kisses him.
It's perfect and it makes Kurt smiles proudly for a moment while Sebastian's face doesn't shift, not even for a moment.
Therefore, feeling surer of himself, Kurt looks down at Sebastian's hand. And then he finds himself arching an eyebrow as he realizes that it isn't a dollar before his eyes.
"What-"
"It's my phone number." Sebastian says, so Kurt looks up to him again. "Take it or leave it."
"Sebastian. I already have your phone number." He notices but Sebastian shakes his head.
"Take it or leave it." He repeats.
Kurt doesn't know what to do for a moment.
He wants to tell him to get lost only to humiliate him in public and get his revenge for the way Sebastian treated him.
And still, there's a part of him that knows that would be one of those childish behaviors that put you into troubles. So he sighs, because he knows he wants to kiss Sebastian's mouth, has wanted so for so long that he doesn't even know when it started.
"Fine." He murmurs, looking straight into his eyes. "It's not like I thought a kiss from you was worth it a dollar anyway."
"A kiss from you isn't worth it a dollar either." Sebastian whispers, lowly and seductively, as he leans over the booth. Kurt moves in too, looking down at his mouth, so close, so thin and wonderful that seems like it's begging to get kissed. Their lips are almost touching and suddenly his heart is beating faster. "It's worth so much more than that." Sebastian whispers over his lips and leaves Kurt shocked and surprised when he kisses him.
Kurt instinctively closes his eyes, swallowing at the pressure of Sebastian's closed mouth on his own. It has that little taste of everything that is making it hard for him to breathe, but also that softness that makes it feel like they were just meant to kiss and didn't do it before because they're dumb.
The brushing of Sebastian's mouth on his own makes him sigh into the kiss and before he can realize, Kurt is smiling against the other boy. When their teeth barely touch, he knows Sebastian is smiling too. It's enough to make him happy, so much that he'd throw the booth away and himself into the other boy's arms right now.
Sebastian's lips move quickly to catch Kurt's lower lip. Kurt is pretty sure that no matter how many drift boat jokes he made on it, Sebastian secretly lovesit. Maybe Sebastian had imagined kissing it many times, just like Kurt had imagined kissing his freckles, to trace a sweet line along his skin – which is what he thinks about everytime he jokes on connecting the freckles of Sebastian's skin with a marker pen, so to draw Obama's face all over him.
Sebastian catches that lower lip in his mouth, sucks it a little and Kurt can't resist. His mouth opens and their tongue brush just barely before they part. He can feel his face on fire, red patches along his cheekbones and heated skin as he trails away from Sebastian, a happy smile on his face.
It takes him a few moments to open his eyes and his fingers are tightly wrapped around the border of the booth, as if he needs it to keep himself from fainting. How can Sebastian's lips do such a thing to him?
When he manages to gaze at the boy though, he looks a little stunned himself. Sebastian is smirking, of course, he always does, even when he's unsure and his smirk looks a little softer, like it does right now.
Kurt clears his throat, unable to keep a nervous giggle as he looks down and licks his lips, subconsciously chasing the taste of him on his own mouth.
"Hmm," he starts, gazing up at Sebastian again and feeling a little in love. "So much more than a dollar, huh?"
Sebastian shrugs and grins.
"I didn't say anything, it must be your imagination." He wrinkles his lips playfully and Kurt tilts an eyebrow as if to say 'are we really playing those games again?'.
Sebastian smirks, which means 'yes, babe, we're playing those games again'.
"Whatever." Kurt growls and he takes the piece of paper Sebastian left right when Sebastian is walking away. "Hmm … Sebastian?" He calls, making him turn halfway. "This isn't your phone number." He stares and then looks to the boy.
Sebastian doesn't look surprised.
"I know, babe." He whispers immediately and then winks. "It's the time for our dinner at Breadstix tonight." Kurt lifts his eyebrows in surprise. "I pay." He says and walks away all smug and proud.
Oh.
Kurt looks a little dreamily at him, holding the little piece of paper to his heart subconsciously, his fingers wrapped around it tightly.
He thinks Sebastian is beautiful.
He thinks he'll need to close his kissing booth.
He thinks Valentine's Day is the best day ever.