This is honestly the fastest I have ever updated in my life, and I feel that I should warn you that updates probably won't always be this quick- although I'm going to aim for one within seven days of the last update.

Thank you all so much for your reviews, I've been literally bouncing around with joy because I love you all so much. I nearly cried with happiness at one point.

Please, feel free to hit me up on tumblr, if you have it- dessertfordistricttwelve dot tumblr dot com

The song used in the latter part of the chapter is For the First Time by The Script- I claim no credit for it.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as you did the last chapter, and again, thank you all so much for your overwhelmingly positive response.

Kurt spends most of Monday morning trying to avoid Blaine, even going to the lengths of catching a ride to school with Finn so that Blaine can't make a beeline for his car in the parking lot or something, but the whole avoidance exercise proves harder than he'd like, because they have History together, right before lunch, and they normally sit together, but since Shane and Mercedes split, she's been sitting on her own, so Kurt sits with her instead.

'Are you okay, Kurt?' Mercedes asks. 'Because I can have words with Blaine if you want me to.'

'I'll be fine.' Kurt tells her, forcing a smile. 'I just don't think I can face him just yet.'

'We'll have a girls' night and a shopping trip over spring break.' Mercedes tells him, giving him an affectionate pat on the arm. Kurt's answering smile is a genuine one, his first in two days, because Mercedes knows his medicine.

'Thank you, Mercedes.' He replies, in a whisper, because the teacher has just walked in.

Kurt is thankful that he only has a week of this before spring break.

Kurt makes it to the Glee club meeting at the end of the day without talking to Blaine once. He is almost proud of himself, but he knows that the only reason he's avoiding Blaine like this is because he'll cry if they have to talk, and Kurt has promised that he isn't going to cry in front of Blaine Anderson ever again.

Mercedes, Rachel, and Quinn, who is thankfully alive, though in a wheelchair with two broken legs, have been with him as much as possible all day, like some sort of honour guard. When the four of them take their seats in the choir room, Kurt is surrounded by mothering instincts, and when Santana leads Brittany over to join their protective huddle, Kurt can't help but smile at them both, because it really does mean a lot to have their support. He can almost hear Sebastian's jokes about oestrogen levels and the thought only widens his smile.

Mr Schue's first act upon entering the choir room is to write "friendship" on the whiteboard in large, messy letters. Kurt rolls his eyes, and tires not to think about how many songs Rachel can sing to Finn this week. Although their wedding has been pushed back until after graduation, they are still being as sickening as ever.

'Friendship.' Mr Schuester says again, interrupting Kurt's train of thought. 'That's our assignment for this week. I want you guys to find someone who you haven't always been close with, and sing a duet with them. It doesn't really matter what you sing, but I want you all performing on Friday.'

Kurt resists the urge to grimace as the people around him start pairing up. He supposes that he could sing with Rachel, but she really is very annoying, and he doesn't think he can stand to be around someone who is so disgustingly in love right now.

And then, inspiration strikes. Kurt isn't sure if his idea is a good one, or a catastrophically bad one, but he stands up anyway, and, leaving his entourage behind, approaches Mr Schue, who is leaning on the piano watching the students form their partnerships.

'Mr Schue, can I have a word?' Kurt asks, just a little hesitantly.

'Yeah, yeah sure, of course.' Mr Schuester blinks, and smiles encouragingly.

'It's about my duet partner,' Kurt begins. 'Can I sing with someone from outside of Glee club?'

'Yeah, sure. I guess so.' The Spanish teacher smiles some more. 'Who did you have in mind?'

'If he says yes, I'll tell you then.' Kurt mumbles, before returning to his seat, where he pulls out his phone and sends a text.

TO: Sebastian (3:46PM)

I need a duet partner for Glee club this Friday. You interested?

FROM: Sebastian (3:47PM)

Is that a euphemism? Because if it is I'm not fucking you. I told you it won't make you feel better.

Although that is a good euphemism. We would probably "harmonize" quite well.

TO: Sebastian (3:49PM)

Get your head out of the gutter, chipmunk. It's an honest question.

Also if by harmonize you mean "have sex" then I'm going to slap you.

FROM: Sebastian (3:53PM)

Then I'm in (:

Meet me at the Lima Bean, you owe me a coffee.

Sebastian is already waiting when Finn drops Kurt off at the coffee shop, but by the looks of it, he has only just arrived.

'Hey.' Sebastian waves him over. 'Good day?'

'I've had worse.' Kurt admits. 'I'll tell you when I've got the coffee. What d'you want?'

'Skinny vanilla latte.' Sebastian tells him, and Kurt nods.

When Kurt orders the coffees, he has to bite his lip to stop himself asking for a medium drip. He hates that Blaine seems to be everywhere, and he has to take several deep, calming breaths before he can go back to Sebastian.

'Kurt, are you okay?' Sebastian's voice is full of concern, and Kurt still finds that weird- and then he remembers that although it feels like years, he's only been friends with Sebastian for three days.

'I'm fine.' Kurt replies, handing over the coffee, and Sebastian just looks at him, his face asking "do you think I'm an idiot, Hummel?"

'You've got the same facial expression that you had when I hit on Blaine. The "this bothers the fuck out of me but I'm acting like it doesn't" look. Clearly, you are not fine.' Sebastian rubs his eyes with his hands, and takes a drink from his coffee cup. 'Your ass is pretty fine, actually.'

'Sebastian. Other people get embarrassed, you know.' Kurt scolds, a blush creeping up into his cheeks.

'My bad.' Sebastian dismisses it with a wave of his hand. 'Come on, tell me what's up?'

Kurt deliberates for a moment before sitting down.

'Blaine.' Kurt says finally. 'He's what's up. Everywhere I go has so many memories connected with him. It's horrible. I can't get away from him.'

'So make new memories. Go back to those places with other people; don't let everything be so exclusively Blaine all the time.' Sebastian shrugs. 'It worked for my brother.'

'What happened with your brother?' Kurt asks, because he's curious by nature.

'His fiancée left him at the altar.' Sebastian shrugs again. 'Another reason that I don't ever plan on being in love. It never seems to end well.'

'I wish I could show you proof of the opposite.' Kurt sighs, and takes a sip of his own coffee.

'I can think if some other things you could show me.' Sebastian winks, and Kurt laughs, and then chokes on his coffee. (It isn't until much, much later, when Kurt is lying in bed, staring at the ceiling that he realises that it is the first time he has laughed in three days, and that it is Sebastian who made him laugh.)

'You're going to end up a prostitute one day.' Kurt tells Sebastian conversationally. 'In Amsterdam.'

'And you'll be my best customer.' Sebastian fires back, and they both laugh again.

When they eventually stop making prostitute-related jokes and innuendos, Sebastian asks Kurt what song he had in mind for the duet.

'I'm not sure.' Kurt sighs. 'I was going to ask you about that.'

'Well, I noticed your Neanderthal of a stepbrother dropped you off, so you're going to need a ride home- we could maybe pick out a song on the drive.' Sebastian shrugs. 'Just a thought.'

Kurt opens his mouth to reply, but is interrupted by his phone vibrating, and the caller ID lit up on the screen tells him it's his father.

'Hello dad.' He answers the call.

'Hey, Kurt. I was just wondering where you were?' his dad asks, and Kurt is relieved to hear that he doesn't sound annoyed- so he's not in trouble.

'I'm at the Lima Bean with a friend.' Kurt replies. 'But I was just about to get a lift home.'

'You don't have to rush- Rachel's dads have invited Finn to dinner, Sam's gone to the kid with the Mohawk's house, so I wondered if you wanted to go out with your girls or have dinner just the three of us?'

Sebastian, who had been invading Kurt's personal space so that he could hear the conversation, grinned widely.

'He wants you to go out.' Sebastian advised him in a whisper. 'You can have dinner at my place if you want.'

Kurt nods.

'Uh, yeah… I'll be out for dinner.' He tells his father.

'Okay.' Kurt can hear the smile in Burt's voice. 'I'll see you later then. Be back before curfew though.'

'I will.' Kurt promises. 'Bye, dad.'

'Bye, kiddo.'

Kurt puts the phone back in his pocket, and turns to Sebastian.

'Do you normally just offer people food?' he asks, raising an eyebrow.

'There's probably a joke about blowjobs in there, but I can't find it.' Sebastian sighs. 'I hate it when that happens.'

'And there I was thinking you had all your jokes written down on little cards or something.' Kurt smirks.

'Ha-ha, very funny.' Sebastian deadpans. 'Come on then, before I change my mind and just make you walk home.'

Sebastian plugs Kurt's iPod into the radio, and sets it on shuffle in the hope that one of the songs that comes on will be something they can sing their duet to. Pretty soon though, the music is mostly being ignored, because Sebastian seems to be on a one-man mission to get Kurt over Blaine before the week is out. It worries Kurt, because after Sebastian's declaration that he can do better, Kurt hasn't thought about begging Blaine to take him back once, which he's pretty sure isn't right.

'You need to disassociate things.' Sebastian is telling him. 'All the things you associate with him, you should connect to other people.'

'How?' Kurt asks, because really, the idea isn't a bad one.

'Tell me something that only Blaine knows about you.' Sebastian suggests. 'It doesn't have to be like… a fetish or something. Although I can always utilize that information later-'

'Sebastian.' Kurt says warningly, and he feels like a parent taking care of an unruly child.

'Sorry, sorry.' Sebastian sighs. 'You need to loosen up a bit.' He pauses, and Kurt can tell that he's biting back an innuendo.

'Go on, say it.' Kurt shakes his head, grinning a bit.

'I was going to say that I could loosen you up a bit if you wanted. And then there would be so many things I could do.' Sebastian smirks.

'You're incorrigible.' Kurt thwacks him gently on the arm.

'I know.' Sebastian grins. 'Now, go on. Tell me your deepest, darkest secrets.'

'This is a bad idea.' Kurt says. 'You could tell anyone.'

'Then I'll tell you something about me.' Sebastian suggests. 'To make it fair.'

Kurt grumbles and protests for another five minutes or so, but eventually he gives in.

'Make it something interesting.' Sebastian grins.

'Okay…' and after a moment of contemplation Kurt says 'I have no gag reflex.'

Sebastian chokes on air, and Kurt is glad that the car is stopped in traffic because the lead Warbler is probably unable to drive right now.

'You have no gag reflex?' Sebastian hisses. 'How did you find that out?'

Kurt's blush is answer enough for Sebastian, who wolf-whistles.

'Damn, Hummel. I'm impressed. Also a little envious, gag reflexes suck. Except they don't. Which is sort of the problem.'

'Oh god.' Kurt puts his head in his hands, and he can feel the heat of his skin underneath his fingers.

'It's fun to make you blush.' Sebastian remarks. 'Mostly because you're incredibly pale, but because you're so innocent.'

Kurt just shoots Sebastian a glare in reply and Sebastian just laughs some more.

'I guess it's my turn to say something now isn't it?' Sebastian sighs, and pauses for a brief second before saying, in a quiet voice 'I lost my virginity at fourteen years old, in the bathroom of a Parisian gay bar. The guy I lost it to was in his late twenties. I never saw him again.'

Kurt is shocked speechless, not just by Sebastian's confession, but by how thoroughly hurt he sounds, as though even remembering the event makes him want to cry.

'The first time is supposed to be special.' Sebastian whispers. Kurt feels as though he is intruding upon something private. 'Anything after that doesn't matter to me. The first time did.'

Kurt doesn't know what to say, because this is nothing like the Sebastian he is used to and it scares him a little. In the silence, a new song starts playing, and Kurt recognises the instrumental at the start, but he can't remember the name of the song.

'Adam Lambert?' surprise colours Sebastian's voice. 'I thought you only listened to showtunes and what have you. I love this album.'

'I have the whole of the For Your Entertainment album.' Kurt replies, smiling a little.

'My favourite song was Sure Fire Winners.' The words are accompanied by a shrug. 'But this one comes a close second.'

'Then I think we have our duet song.' Kurt smiles, as the voice spilling from the stereo sings the lyrics

"hide here, confide here

I'll let you be broken open."

Kurt is to meet Sebastian in the Warblers' Hall at quarter past five to practice the song, which they had broken up into two parts, with sections where they would be singing together, and Sebastian had suggested the Hall as a practice place. Kurt feels a sharp pang in his chest as he walks through the Dalton corridors. He's never been here without Blaine. Until last night though, Blaine had been the only person who had ever cooked him dinner- and Sebastian is a surprisingly good cook, and Kurt now thinks he understands what Sebastian means about making new memories.

The doors to the Warblers' Hall are thrown open, and the boys inside the room welcome him with hugs, and exclamations of how much they have missed him. Sebastian is half sat on the council table, smiling widely.

'Hello, princess.' He says. 'I wasn't sure if you'd come.'

'I'm early.' Kurt replies. 'What made you think I wasn't coming?'

'Fair point.' Sebastian concedes. 'Now, you're just in time for our final practice number today, so take a seat.'

Kurt sits down on one of the squashy leather sofas as the boys around him move into formation, and then Sebastian starts to sing.

'She's all laid up in bed with a broken heart

While I'm drinking Jack all alone in my local bar and we don't know how

How we got into this mad situation, only doing things out of frustration

Trying to make it work, but, man, these times are hard…' Sebastian is looking straight at Kurt while he sings, and Kurt can't help but notice that Sebastian has beautiful eyes.

Sebastian's voice is brilliantly suited to the song, and for the first time, Kurt realises just how much of himself Sebastian puts into his singing. Perhaps it is because he knows him better now, but he can feel, rather than hear, the emotion being loaded into the words, and he can't help but think that Sebastian would actually fit in quite well in New Directions.

'But we're gonna stop by drinking our cheap bottles of wine

Sit talking up all night, saying things we haven't for a while, a while, yeah

We're smiling but we're close to tears, even after all these years

We just now got the feeling that we're meeting for the first time…'

It is with a jolt that Kurt realises that Sebastian is singing to him, and, for a brief moment he is thrown back in time, to his first trip to Dalton Academy, when the last lead soloist sang Teenage Dream to him, and he fell faster than he ever had before.

This time, Kurt is determined not to fall for anybody.

'Oh, these times are hard, yeah, they're making us crazy

Don't give up on me, baby

Oh, these times are hard, yeah, they're making us crazy

Don't give up on me, baby,' Sebastian finishes the song, still looking straight at Kurt, the look in his eyes asking if Kurt knows what he was trying to say.

Kurt smiles, and nods just a little, because he gets it, and it means a lot. He feels a little like he might cry, because Sebastian is telling him something he has never been told before.

I need you just as much as you need me. We can help each other.

Reviews are, of course, welcomed with open arms- concrit is appreciated as always, and thank you for reading this!