About a week later, Blaine felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He stopped his absent toying with the hem of Kurt's shirt to answer it and smiled. "We just got invited to Scandals," Blaine purred in Kurt's ear, smiling fondly at the way Kurt looked up at him with innocent eyes, his pencil hanging crookedly from his lips. Kurt removed the pencil with a confused expression. "By who? And what's Scandals?" he asked, wondering if he should have already known what it was. Blaine let his fingers dance back over to Kurt's waist, stroking the small of his back softly with his thumb. "You remember Sebastian, right? The guy I introduced you to at the Lima Bean," Blaine's voice had held a note of teasing. He knew all too well that Kurt knew exactly who Sebastian was. Ever since they had spent time with the boy at the Lima Bean, he had become a frequent topic of conversation between the two boys. Neither could deny their fascination with him, and since they both felt that way, neither felt threatened and it was actually sort of fun, having a mutual crush.
"Yes, I remember," Kurt mumbled, his cheeks tinging pink ever so slightly causing Blaine to grin in amusement. "Well, he just invited us to go to Scandals, a local gay bar," Blaine tried to keep any feeling he had towards the idea out of his voice, wanting to know how Kurt felt about it without being swayed by him. He needed to know that Kurt was completely okay with it before they even considered accepting. Blaine wanted to impress Sebastian and he knew Kurt did too, but Kurt's comfort and safety was priority number one in Blaine's book. "C-could we even get into a bar?" Kurt asked tentatively. Blaine nodded and showed Kurt the text message on his phone. "Sebastian can get us a couple of fake I.D.s. However, if you are uncomfortable with the idea, we won't go, end of discussion," Blaine assured, gauging Kurt's expression carefully. Kurt looked up at Blaine with a determined smile. "Let's do it," he said. Blaine appraised him for a moment before grinning.
Three hours later brought a couple of slightly nervous boys pulling into the Scandal's parking lot. Blaine was wearing some dark jeans and a purple shirt, while Kurt was wearing some sinfully tight skinny jeans and a light button down shirt. Blaine almost had trouble driving if favor of staring at Kurt in all of his beauty. When they got out of the car, they noticed a boy, about their age, watching them. The young man did not looked too pleased to see them and walked towards them with a grimace. Kurt clung to Blaine's hand immediately and Blaine patted his shoulder in reassurance. "You must be Kurt and Blaine," the young man said once he was within normal speaking distance. "We are," Blaine answered politely, and watched as the young boy pulled something out of his pocket. Blaine surveyed the boy for a moment, wondering if this must be Jake. He had dark black hair that slung in his eyes a bit. He obviously worked out regularly as he was showing off a lot of muscle under his tight clothes. His eyes were a piercing green, not breathtaking like Sebastian's, but extremely cold.
"I'm Jake," the boy said, finally speaking again as he handed them both a card. "Sebastian asked me to give these to you. If you get caught, don't either of you dare tell anyone where you got them," Jake finished, piercing each of them with his eyes before walking away from them and back into the building. Blaine blinked before looking over at Kurt to give him a reassuring smile, seeing that his boyfriend looked a little afraid. "It'll be okay, Kurt. Come on," Blaine said, gauging Kurt's reaction. If needed he would pull Kurt out of there and go back home, but for now they seemed to be doing okay.
Thankfully, the man at the door allowed Kurt and Blaine to enter with no trouble. Kurt let out a long, relieved sigh while Blaine looked around for Sebastian. "There he is," Blaine said, pointing at the bar. They walked over to Sebastian and Jake, who was standing beside Sebastian like a guard dog, and greeted him. "Hey, Sebastian," Blaine called, waiting for Sebastian to turn around and face them. It took a moment before Sebastian slowly turned with a nervous look on his face. Both boys could immediately see why as Sebastian's left eye was black, blue, and swollen. "Oh, Seb," Kurt exclaimed before he could stop himself. He sat on the stool next to Sebastian and gently ran his thumb along the edge of the bruise. "That looks so painful. What happened?" Kurt asked, looking at Sebastian with the utmost concern. He heard Jake grunt over them and quickly removed his hand from Sebastian's face with a guilty look towards Blaine, but Blaine's attention was solely on Sebastian as well.
"I, uh," Sebastian hesitated before putting up his classic Sebastian grin, "Let's just say we're not all good at dancing on furniture like this guy." Sebastian tilted his head towards Blaine, who gave a soft smile and blushed. One look at Kurt and you could see that he wasn't buying it. "You got a black eye dancing on furniture?" he asked, knowing that grin of Sebastian's was forced. He'd forced enough smiles in glee club before meeting Blaine to write a book. Sebastian opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Jake. "Yeah, he's pretty clumsy," the boy said coldly. Kurt glared up at Jake but Blaine put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Why don't we move this to a table?" Blaine suggested, not liking the way Jake was standing over Sebastian and Kurt. "Sounds good," said Sebastian, standing quickly. Blaine looped an arm around Kurt's waist and led them to an empty booth. He glanced behind them to see that Jake had an arm draped over Sebastian's shoulder, practically around his neck. He watched as Jake whispered something lowly in Sebastian's ear before sliding into the booth across from Kurt and Blaine. Blaine immediately wanted to know what on earth Jake had said to Sebastian as Sebastian's eyes were now locked on the table, not looking at anyone. This was not the Sebastian that they had first met only about a week ago.
A waitress came over to their table and smiled at them. Blaine ordered non-alcoholic drinks for him and Kurt, wanting to keep his senses to keep an eye on Sebastian. Jake ordered a beer for himself and Sebastian, ignoring the face Sebastian made when he did. Blaine couldn't help but smile at Sebastian. The nose crinkling thing was something that Kurt would do and it was adorably similar. Jake was the first to speak when the waitress left. "You know, the point of a fake ID is that you can order alcohol," he said, snark in his tone. "They don't have to," Sebastian spoke up. Jake fixed Sebastian with a stare that made Kurt shrink back and it wasn't even aimed at him. "So, Jake," Kurt said, trying to lighten the mood. "Are you in the Warblers as well?" Jake made a scoffing noise. "No, I'll leave that stuff up to Sebastian." Blaine's eyes never left Sebastian's face. He looked dejected but like he didn't want anyone to notice.
Sebastian spoke after a minute, "Jake is on the debate team. He's really good too," he said, smiling up at Jake who merely nodded dismissively. Blaine wanted to punch Jake. Sebastian was a catch and here his boyfriend was treating him like he didn't exist. "Here you go, dears," the waitress said as she set all of their drinks in front of them. Sebastian toyed around with the bottle but didn't take a sip until Jake nudged him and glared. A few more attempts were made at conversation, each one shot down one way or another by Jake. Kurt and Blaine were growing increasingly annoyed with the slightly older boy and wished he would snap out of whatever attitude he had going. "Sebastian, are you alright?" Kurt asked eventually, noticing that Sebastian was just staring at the label of his bottle blankly. "Yeah, of course," Sebastian said, flashing Kurt a wide grin, however, the grin was gone the second Sebastian looked back down. "We'll be right back," said Jake, grabbing onto Sebastian's elbow and practically dragging him out of the booth.
The second they were out of earshot, Kurt spoke up. "I don't like him. I don't like him at all. What is Sebastian doing with that creep?" Kurt said through gritted teeth. "I don't know, baby, but I don't like him either," Blaine replied, wrapping an arm around Kurt and kissing him on the cheek. "He has absolutely no regard for Sebastian's feelings. Hell! He acted as if Sebastian wasn't even here." Kurt was clearly frustrated at the dark boy. "We would be so much better for him," Kurt finished, causing Blaine to chuckle. "My oh my, hasn't someone gotten used to the idea of the three of us," Blaine teased causing Kurt to blush darkly. "You want it too," he accused, hiding his face in Blaine's shoulder. "I do," he agreed, "but Sebastian has to want it too, and right now, despite our opinions of him, he is with Jake and we have to respect that." Kurt rolled his eyes and sipped his drink. Blaine watched him and chewed his lip. "I'm going to go check on them," he said slowly. Kurt nodded and watched him climb out of the booth.
Blaine found them in the small alcove near the restrooms. They seemed to be having a serious discussion and Blaine, not wanting to eavesdrop, began to back away until he hear his name. "I told you! Blaine, Kurt, and I are just friends. They don't think of me that way," Sebastian insisted. Blaine hid behind the wall and listened, knowing he might feel guilty about it later but he wanted to know what was going on. "God, Sebastian! How fucking blind are you!? Blaine was practically undressing you with his eyes and that didn't seem like the first time Kurt has touched you like that!" Jake accused, causing Blaine's mouth to fall open slightly. He was not undressing Sebastian with his eyes! Well, maybe he had before, but tonight he certainly wasn't! "Well, that's what happens when you give someone a black eye. Other people are going to be concerned," Sebastian bit. Blaine's blood boiled at those words. Jake hit him! Blaine couldn't imagine ever striking Kurt no matter what happened. Blaine heard the unmistakable sound of someone being slammed against the wall. "Shut up, you stupid little shit!" Jake seethed, "I told you what would happen if you ever told someone about that, and I always keep my promises. Believe me, Seb, little Kurt and Blaine wouldn't be able to put up with you for very long! You'd be out on your ass again in an hour, waiting around outside of Scandals for some old geezer to shove you around a bit. Is that what you want? Or would you rather be a good little bitch and stay with me?" Jake asked. Sebastian bit his lip. "I'll stay with you," he mumbled. Jake slapped him across the face hard. "I can't hear you!" he yelled. "I'll stay," Sebastian said thickly, tears pricking his eyes as he held his cheek. "Damn right you will," Jake said, shoving him into the wall once more before walking away. "Don't come back until you've pulled yourself together!"
Blaine thankfully went unnoticed by the darker boy as he passed. As soon as he was sure he wouldn't be seen by Jake, Blaine darted into the alcove. "Sebastian?" he said, walking slowly to the figure who had curled into a ball on the floor. Blaine knelt in-front of him and ran a hand through his hair. Sebastian flinched at first but then leaned into the touch. After a moment, Sebastian looked up with a tear streaked face. Blaine gently put two fingers under his chin and lifted his face to see the damage of the slap. Sure enough, Sebastian had a red welt that was quickly raising in the shape of fingers. "You're not going back to him," Blaine said firmly. "Blaine, I," Sebastian started only to be cut off. "You're not! He's only going to hurt you more! You're roommates, right?" Blaine asked, looking into Sebastian's green eyes. "Yes, we're roommates," Sebastian answered. "Fine, you're coming home with me tonight, and in the morning we'll call the headmaster and tell him there was an emergency and that you need a different room," Blaine stated, going into problem solving mode.
Blaine stood and gently pulled Sebastian up with him. Blaine stopped when he was standing in-front of the taller boy. "I don't want you to get hurt. Kurt and I protect the people we care about," Blaine said, hoping Sebastian understood the underlying message. He didn't want to flat out tell Sebastian that they were into him like that but he wanted Sebastian to know. Blaine cupped his cheek lightly for a moment before pulling him out of the alcove, thankful that Sebastian wasn't protesting. When the got back to the table, however, neither Kurt nor Jake were there. Blaine looked confusedly at Sebastian and his blood ran cold at the concerned look on Sebastian's face. His blood positively froze at Sebastian's next words. "We have to find Kurt."