He couldn't be catching on.

. . . Could he?

Of course not, there wasn't even anything to 'catch on' to. Kurt immediately tried to shake the thought from his mind. No, there was no way people could be getting suspicious, least of all Sebastian Smythe. His body hadn't changed noticeably enough. Hell, despite the shrinking number on his scale, he had been discovering fat in more and more places. It was like the less he ate, the bigger he got. He was just waiting for Mr. Shue to suggest he move up in costume size.

Then Meerkat had to go and say something about his sleep. Yeah, he had been struggling with that lately. It was difficult to sleep when his stomach kept him up until 4am, not to mention the racing thoughts that hadn't stopped running through his mind for weeks not.

He sighed down at his French assignment, pushing it to the edge of his bed and reaching for his laptop. He was not in the mood to be translating at the moment, and any attempt to work on the rest of his homework would be just as pointless. Ignoring the deep rumble in his stomach, he opened his browser homepage to Facebook. Almost without thinking, he typed Sebastian's name into the search bar. They weren't friends, but that didn't mean he couldn't still sneer at the smirking profile picture Sebastian had up. Attends Dalton Academy, speaks English, French, and Dutch (Dutch? That was new; maybe he would ask Blaine about that), born December 5th. . . He noticed it still said he lived in Paris, France. God, could this guy get any more pretentious?

Kurt snapped himself back to attention, moving his hand to click the message button. He stared at the empty message box blankly, trying to figure out just what he was doing. He typed his message and hit 'send' before he could change his mind.

Are you online?

He stared at the newly opened message box for a few seconds before switching tabs, checking his e-mail and staring at his still-unfinished homework. Screw it, he would just work on it tomorrow before school and at lunch. Instead, he grabbed his phone checking to see if Blaine had texted him. Upon seeing no new messages, Kurt just sent one himself. Blaine must have gotten sidetracked, it was understandable.

Hey babe, how's studying? That reply came almost instantly.

Long, it better be worth it though Kurt felt the corner of his mouth turn up. Blaine had been so bust studying lately, ever since finding out there was a mishap and half of his credits hadn't transferred over. He has been studying like a madman at the library for the last week or so for his Spanish placement test on Friday, trying to remember as much as he could so as to not be forced to relearn it in a lower level class.

You got an A last year, you know it just fine. I'm sure you can let up one night. Like tomorrow? He heard a small beep from his laptop as he sent his text, indicating a message there, but kept his focus on his phone. The hopefulness he had was quickly shot own as he read Blaine's answer.

Don't wanna risk it. Sry, I need to get back. Call you when I get home?

Holding you to that

Kurt sighed as he placed his phone facedown on his bed. He had said he'd call last night, too and Kurt ended up staying awake until midnight waiting for a call that never came. He couldn't hold a grudge, though. Cram sessions were a bitch on sleep schedules. Worse comes to worse, he could always just talk to Blaine tomorrow.

Shaking the thought from his head, he turned back to his laptop at the still blinking message icon. Did he really want to click it? If he knew Sebastian at all, this was all some ruse to rile Kurt up and taunt him about it later. Against his better judgment, he found his pointer sliding over to the tab and clicking.

Sebastian Smythe:

Yeah

Did you want something?

At the very least, Kurt could appreciate Sebastian's bluntness. Though if he was honest with himself, he didn't quite know where he intended to go from here. He could throw out a quick insult and end it there, pretend he had a question about French, or Blaine. . . but . . .

We need to talk.

He could practically feel Sebastian's confusion through the laptop. He watched as the icon showed a message being typed, then halting for a good minute. Kurt's heart rate sped up, and he bit his lip. Then:

Sebastian Smythe:

Meet me at the Lima Bean. Tomorrow. Your choice when. But tomorrow.

Kurt didn't know rather to be relieved or terrified at the response. This would either end badly or. . . nope, this would just end badly regardless of the outcome. But there really wasn't a way to back down now.

Blaine would be at the library tomorrow starting around 5:30. That seemed like enough time to figure out just what the hell he had been thinking when he sent the first message.

6 okay?

Sebastian's reply came right away: That works fine.

Kurt sighed and leaned back before he heard another message alert from his laptop.

Sebastian Smythe:

Now go eat dinner

The light by Sebastian's name changed from green to white, leaving Kurt with that last instruction for the night. Kurt bit his bottom lip, a habit he had picked up as of late with his recent anxiety. He didn't know what he was going to say to Sebastian, or if he would just let him do all the talking.

Sebastian's words had been what was on his mind throughout the day. He'd said he had first-hand experience dealing with… whatever he'd imagined in Kurt. Now, Kurt would be the first to admit he had a tendency to read into things that weren't there, so that could be the problem. But the way Sebastian had said it, the tone of his voice and his expression...

It terrified him to think someone would catch on to his "diet". He knew it probably wasn't the healthiest idea out there, but it had done almost nothing so far. He didn't look any different, and that was what mattered. It didn't matter how small the number on his scale got, he just did not see any improvement. But if someone knew, they might make him eat. They might think it was a problem, when it wasn't. He was only thankful that no one had seemed to figure anything out so far.

Well, even he had to admit that wasn't completely true. He had noticed Santana keeping an eye on him, though with her, it could be for a number of reasons. Then again, Quinn had been doing the same. And Mercedes… Sam had as well, ever since he moved back and had started staying with their family. He was constantly asking Kurt if he was feeling alright, and had been making comments about him not looking well. Always to Kurt directly, never in front of the other Glee members or the Hummel-Hudson clan, which he was at the very least grateful for. Mike and Tina had invited him to join them for lunch at least once a week, but he always declined, coming up with some excuse of needing to practice or study or meet Blaine.

Blaine.

Something seemed off with his boyfriend lately. It seemed cliched to say he was being distant, but that was what it was. They hadn't had a chance to hang out - just the two of them, alone - in weeks. What with all the issues with the credit transfers between schools, Blaine was stuck studying to almost every night and during the weekends. Kurt would not fault him for that. Blaine was a straight A student, and he wanted to keep it that way. He wasn't like Kurt, he was smart enough to be able to handle the coursework. Though even before he had told Kurt about that, Blaine seemed to be wary.

It was understandable, though. Everyone seemed to have changed their game as of late. The Glee club had been focusing on Regionals, with his fellow seniors also running through their post-graduations plans with one another. He was getting anxious over his NYADA callback, though it had only been a few weeks since he sent out the application. Rachel had been hounding him every chance with information she found online (Kurt wasn't entirely unsure she had obtained all of it legally.) He loved the girl, really he did, but even after three years, he still had moments of wanting to strangle her with a scarf. Especially now. It wasn't like he was unaware of just how much was depending on him getting into NYADA. Everything he had been imagining since he was a kid, all of his hopes and dreams would be decided by a stupid piece of paper. Something about that seemed just downright cruel.

A knock on his closed door dragged him out of his thoughts. "Hey, Kurt, your dad ordered pizza. Want some?" Finn's voice carried through the wood.

Kurt shook his head, more as a reminder to himself to keep things going well than in response to Finn. He'd had two granola bars this morning at breakfast, and a pear. And coffee, that counted too, right? Of course it did, Kurt, you don't need anymore. Not yet. "No thanks, I already ate."

A/N 1: So I check my e-mail earlier to find that this has been added to story alerts by 11 people 0.o Um, okay, how do I say this. . . ? Gracias, merci, 谢谢，and thank you guys for actually liking it ：）At least I'm hoping you do, based on the alerts and reviews I received. Seeing as how the last thing I wrote was an essay on Journey to the West, I'm glad to see my creative writing skills aren't totally non-existent. Although, this chapter alone is longer than that entire essay had been, so not sure what that says about my academic writing skills. . .

Anyways, reviews and feedback are beyond appreciated!

Anyways, reviews make me smile. Just keep that in mind