Kurt spends the next few days in his room, deeply submerged in cutting and pinning and sewing. He comes up for sleep and food only when Alex makes him.
When he finally has something that at least resembles a piece of clothing, he sends off a text to Sebastian.
(Thur nov 15th, 7.32 pm)
Kurt: Are you busy tomorrow?
The reply comes almost immediately.
(7.33 pm)
Sebastian: Whos this
(7.33 pm)
Kurt: Who do you think? Be here at 1 pm.
(7.42 pm)
Sebastian: I never said I was free Hummel
(7.45 pm)
Kurt: And I figured I don't care. Be on time.
The reply doesn't come until it's almost midnight.
(11.56 pm)
Sebastian: Fine.
He shows up at ten past, and answers Kurt's glare with one of his own.
"Shoes and coat off," Kurt orders, not waiting to see if Sebastian obeys before he walks out into the living room again.
"I actually do have to study!" Sebastian says after him, clearly annoyed with Kurt's behavior. Well, Kurt's annoyed with Sebastian's lateness, so there.
"Where do you even go to school?" Kurt asks when Sebastian comes after him, messenger bag in hand. Kurt points to the same point on the carpet as Sebastian stood last week, which earns him another glare before Sebastian drops his bag on the couch and assumes the position.
"Pre-law at NYU," he mutters, while Kurt's just standing in front of him, doing nothing but look at him. "Look, are you just gonna stand there or are you actually gonna do something?" Sebastian asks after few more seconds.
"Hmm. Alex?" Kurt calls. "Can you come out here?" Alex emerges from the bedroom, frowning when he sees Sebastian.
"What?" he asks, leaning against the doorway.
"Do you still have all your notes from last year?" Kurt asks. Alex narrows his eyes.
"Yes…?" he says, suspicious now. Kurt turns to smile at him, sweetly.
"Can you help Sebastian study while I fit him? He's in pre-law," he says with a singsong voice. Alex's eyes light up.
"At NYU?" he asks Sebastian, who looks confused, but nods. "Nice! Two seconds, I'll get my notes. What are you doing now, it's history, right?" He turns before Sebastian has a chance to answer. He comes back a few moments later, notebook and binder in hand.
"Do you…are you in pre-law too?" Sebastian asks as Alex settles on the couch. Kurt snorts and Alex laughs.
"Oh god no. I mean, I was for a year, but it really wasn't what I wanted, so I switched. I'm in Kurt's class now." He opens his binder. "I loved the courses though, so seriously, anytime you need some help just call me." Sebastian looks really confused at the sudden change of heart from this guy. Kurt secretly thinks it's a look that suits him. He's been longing to rub of that confident smirk from his face long enough.
"Can you take off your clothes, please?" he says, which makes Sebastian whip his head to stare at him, incredulous, and a little bit smug. Kurt rolls his eyes. "Shit, how do you even…I need to try out clothes on you, Sebastian. Tailored for your body. I can't do that while you're wearing other clothes."
"Yeah, sure," Sebastian agrees, humoring him, but he doesn't move. Kurt waits. Sebastian waits.
"You do know how to take off your own clothes, right?" Kurt asks after a minute. "Because I'm serious. I need them off." Sebastian's smugness fades a little bit at Kurt's words, but Alex interjects before Kurt has a chance to react.
"Hey, what page are you on? Can I…?" he motions to Sebastian's bag. Sebastian nods and starts to unbutton his pants.
"This feels weird," he mutters under his breath, starting on the buttons in his cardigan without removing his pants.
"Oh really?" Kurt mocks. "I would turn off the lights and put on some music to make you more comfortable, but our neighbours are pretty grumpy and I can't see in the dark so. Not happening."
"Look Hummel, I can just go, you—-"
"No you can't," Alex says from the couch, without looking up from where he's flipping through Sebastian's history notes. "You've got this all wrong."
"What?" Sebastian asks.
Alex holds up what looks like pages from an essay. "This. It's…you've missed the point, completely." Sebastian unbuttons the last button on his cardigan. He moves forward as if to sit on the couch, but Kurt grabs his arm.
"Clothes off," he says. "He can explain while you're standing." Sebastian doesn't look at him, but he motions for Alex to go on. Then he actually does take off his pants. He folds them and flings them over the armrest of the couch, and then pulls off his cardigan. He's wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath, and he makes no motion to take off that too. Kurt clears his throat pointedly.
"The shirt stays on," Sebastian says, just briefly meeting Kurt's gaze. Kurt can't help but arch an eyebrow, but he doesn't press the issue. It doesn't matter now anyway, he's not doing any form-fitting for the upper body today, so he just shrugs and proceeds to pin the pants to Sebastian's legs.
The moment Kurt says he's done, Sebastian pulls on his pants again and flops down on the couch next to Alex. Kurt looks at him for a moment, but then he just shakes his head and disappears into the bedroom.
A few hours later, Kurt is considering pulling an all-nighter. Then his stomach growls really loud. He sighs and puts down the scissors, glances at the clock. He wonders if he should just go for pizza, or if it's worth trying to convince Alex to order Indian. He walks out of the bedroom with his eyes focused on the tiny hole he just discovered in his shirt.
"Hey Alex, can we—-" he looks up and stops. Sebastian is still there. "What…why are you still here?"
"We're studying," Alex says, moving papers from his side to the coffee table. He pats the spot on the couch when it's clear. Kurt sits down, curls up against him, and Alex puts his arm around Kurt's shoulder.
"I'm hungry," Kurt says, fully aware that he sounds like a three year-old.
"Mhm," Alex says, clearly amused. "And you think the food is just gonna magically appear because you say so?"
"Feed me," Kurt says. There's a sound coming from their right that could possibly be Sebastian choking on air, but Kurt isn't sure. Alex laughs. Kurt pouts. Shit, he's exhausted.
"You've been doing it for a week, there's no reason for you to stop now. I want Indian," he adds.
"Indian, huh?" Alex still sounds far too amused for Kurt's liking, but he'll let it slide if he gets food.
"Please?" he begs. Another sound from Sebastian.
"I should probably go," he says, already putting his stuff in his bag.
"Yeah," Kurt agrees with a yawn. He doesn't have the energy to deal with Sebastian over dinner.
"You want to come back tomorrow?" Alex asks. "'Cause there's still a shitload of stuff to be done here." He gestures to the notebooks and papers on his lap and the table.
"Sure, if you're not busy or anything…?"
"Nope, I'm completely free."
"Okay, I'll…come by around 11, or something?" Sebastian is standing now, and he looks pretty anxious to leave.
"Sure," Alex agrees, and then Sebastian is out of there.
Kurt sleeps until noon the next day. While he instantly regrets it as soon as he looks at the time, he also knows that he needed it. He stumbles out of bed, pulls on a pair of pants over his boxers, and drags himself out into the living room. He gets a feeling of déjà vu when he sees Alex and Sebastian on the couch.
"There's coffee in the kitchen," Alex says without looking up. Kurt grunts out a reply and pads over to the other side of the apartment.
Cradling his coffee cup, he walks over and curls up against Alex's side again, much like yesterday. He grabs one of the papers of Alex's lap and squints at it while trying to wake himself up.
"How can you have a problem with this?" he asks when the cup is half-empty and he's starting to feel somewhat human. Alex and Sebastian both turn to look at him. Kurt realizes he interrupted them mid-conversation. Apparently not completely awake then.
"What?" he says defensively. "They covered this junior year at Dalton. I know, I was there."
"Well, maybe that's why I don't know it," Sebastian says, clearly annoyed. "Since I spent my junior year in France."
Both Alex and Kurt whip their heads to stare at him, both wearing identical looks of jealousy.
"You spent junior year in France?" they repeat, in unison. Sebastian looks at them as if he's afraid they're going to slay him.
"Yes," he replies, a bit wearily. "I only did my senior year at Dalton."
"Why?" Kurt asks, before he can stop himself. Seriously, he needs to sleep more and wake up faster if Sebastian's going to be around, because this won't do. Fortunately, Sebastian has his verbal filter still intact.
"Reasons," he says, shrugging. Kurt is satisfied with that answer, because he doesn't want to know more about Sebastian than he already does.
Silence stretches awkwardly between the three of them, until Alex grabs the paper back from Kurt's hand.
"Well, no matter the reason, Sebastian doesn't know these things, and he has an essay to rewrite. And you have clothes to make," he says to Kurt, who groans at the thought.
"How come you don't need to sew?" Sebastian asks Alex.
"Because he sucks," Kurt mutters and downs the last of his coffee. Alex pats him on the head.
"Hush you," he says, then turns to Sebastian. "I finished my drawings like two weeks ago. Since I didn't run into someone who poured coffee over all of it, I just need to revise it a bit to hand it in. Not a big deal."
"I still don't get why you can't just redraw," Sebastian says to Kurt, who sighs.
"Some of those sketches were over five years old. It's not something you just 'redraw,'" he says.
"Oh." Sebastian looks surprised. "I'm—-"
"Sorry, I know," Kurt finishes for him. "Not like it matters. Just…don't grow or become fat in the next few weeks, and it'll be fine." He stands up and puts his cup on the table. "Well, have fun. I'm gonna go give myself some more acupuncture in the finger tips."
"Good luck, sweetie," Alex says, way too cheerily. "Want pizza tonight?"
"Sure," Kurt replies and disappears into his room. He can hear the murmurs of Alex and Sebastian, but he can't make out what they say. Soon enough he has them both filtered away, focusing completely on the suit he's trying to make.
Alex knocks softly on the door a couple of hours later.
"Hey. Sebastian went to get pizzas."
"He's still here?" Kurt asks, surprised. Alex nods.
"He wanted to pay for the pizza, and I'm not one to turn down free food."
"You're sure he's not trying to give us food poisoning?" Kurt asks, honestly not putting it past Sebastian. Alex frowns.
"Look, I get that you two don't have the best history, but until you tell me what history, I'm not gonna hate the guy just to side with you," he says. "I mean, you brought him here, obviously you can't hate him that much."
And yeah, no, Kurt is not going to explain his and Sebastian's relationship to Alex. That would inevitably lead to bringing up Blaine, and Kurt doesn't want to do that, not yet. Alex knows he has an ex, and that their breakup was pretty hard on Kurt, but he doesn't know more and he doesn't need to know more.
"I still don't like him," Kurt says finally. Alex smiles fondly.
"I know."
They've barely settled on the couch (with Alex in the middle) and zapped to a rerun of Project Runway, when Sebastian's phone beeps. He pulls it up, reads the message, and mutters Fuck.
"What's up?" Alex asks, grabbing a slice of pineapple-laden pizza. Kurt wrinkles his nose and reaches for the veggies.
"I've been sexiled," Sebastian says, staring at his phone as if he can't really believe that this is happening. Alex chokes on his pizza trying to keep himself from laughing. He reaches for Sebastian's phone.
"'Im getting laid. Stay away'," he recites. "Shit, you'd think that being polite would hurt him."
"Ah well, I'm sure it's just payback for all the times Sebastian's done the same thing," Kurt says sweetly and takes a bite of his pizza.
"I haven't- fuck you," Sebastian snaps and grabs his phone back. "What does he want me to do?!"
Kurt swallows before he answers. "The same? Isn't that what you do, go out and get laid? Just follow them home instead of taking them to yours." Kurt could go on, but Alex puts a hand on his knee.
"You can stay here," he says, and squeezes Kurt's knee when he feels him tense. Sebastian looks skeptic. "It's no problem," Alex assures him. "You take the couch and we can continue studying tomorrow."
"Alex…" Kurt starts, but Alex interrupts.
"It's okay," he says in a very pointed tone, and seriously, it's his apartment, so Kurt presses his lips together and sinks back into the couch. Sebastian opens his mouth to say something else, but he's interrupted by Kurt's phone.
(Sat nov 17th, 8.13 pm)
Rachel: Hey, can you come over?
Kurt sighs. He'd really like to get over to Rachel's tonight, but it takes him 45 minutes just to get there.
(8.13 pm)
Kurt: I have work tomorrow. Skype?
(8.14 pm)
Rachel: :( but ok. Five minutes?
(8.14 pm)
Kurt: Yep
He stands up and grabs the box with the veggie pizza.
"I just got myself a Skype date. You two have fun."
"Is it Jesse again?" Alex asks, oblivious to Sebastian's questioning stare. Kurt shrugs.
"I guess. I don't get why he doesn't just give in."
"He doesn't appreciate what's right in front of him."
"I just hope he gets his shit together soon," Kurt mutters. Sebastian is looking between them like he's watching a tennis game. Kurt can't for the life of him understand why Sebastian is interested in Rachel's love life, and he sure as hell doesn't want to know. Maybe he wants to fuck Jesse. Jesse would probably be up for it, if Sebastian gave him enough compliments. Kurt shakes his head to get rid of the thoughts, he really doesn't want to go there. He grabs his water glass with the hand not holding the pizza box.
"Goodnight," he says, mostly addressing Alex.
"Goodnight, honey!"
Kurt doesn't wait for Sebastian's eventual reply before he closes the door behind him.
On Sunday, Kurt is woken by his alarm. He moans miserably when he realizes that he has to get up. He doesn't want to go to work, but it's the weekend, and they shouldn't be too busy at the shop. On the other hand, it's the weekend before Thanksgiving. They were promising snow on the Weather Channel, so there will probably be a lot of tire changing. Oh god. Kurt's arms ache just thinking about it.
He fell asleep talking to Rachel last night and woke up around three with the side of his face pressed to the keyboard of his laptop. He'd only gotten up to put the computer away and turn off the overhead lights, then he'd fallen right back asleep. Kurt glances at the clock. He needs coffee.
Barely managing to compress the world's biggest yawn, he gets up, stretches, and winces at the way his back and neck crack. He walks out into the living room…where Sebastian is sleeping on the couch. Kurt lets out a shriek before he can prevent it, he had completely forgotten about Sebastian's sexile. He's suddenly acutely aware that he's standing right in Sebastian's field of vision, wearing only boxers and a worn Hummel Tires & Lube t-shirt. He's standing frozen in shock, watching as Sebastian's eyes flicker open at the sound. Then he focuses on Kurt.
"Geez Hummel, give a guy a warning, will you?" he grumbles, voice rough from sleep. Kurt will deny to his dying day that that voice makes something stir in his stomach. "Put on some clothes before you blind me." And okay, yeah, good feeling gone, no need to deny anything anymore. Kurt barely resists the urge to kick Sebastian in the face, but it gives him the boost he needs to get over to the bathroom. He locks the door and slides down against it, resting his chin on his, admittedly pale, knees. He allows himself a couple of deep breaths, tells himself that it doesn't matter what Sebastian fucking Smythe thinks of him, that he doesn't care if he doesn't pass his extremely low standards.
But no matter how hard he tries, he can't make himself believe it.
Kurt opens the apartment door to a lot of yelling. He slumps against the door, takes a deep breath, and tries to stave off his headache.
He turns the corner to the living room. Alex and Sebastian are on the couch, playing Mario Kart.
"Hi," Kurt sighs. He lays down on the floor, back to the carpet and staring at the ceiling.
"Hi sugar," Alex replies, shifting immediately from loud and obnoxious to soft and sweet. "How was work?"
"Tire-ing," Kurt says. He waits for it, and then -
"That was bad," Alex says, but he's laughing. Kurt smiles at the ceiling. It took them a while to come up with it at work, but when they did, they couldn't stop smiling at each other the rest of the day. It certainly made the massive flow of cars in need of a tire change more bearable.
"Who's winning?" he asks, bending his neck so he can see the TV upside down.
"Me," Alex replies, starting up the game again. "Sebastian sucks." Sebastian makes a noise of protest, but then he has to right his car, and shuts up. Kurt smirks.
"He could probably beat you at We Sing with his eyes closed though," Kurt blurts out without thinking. This time Sebastian does wreck his car, staring at Kurt, who blushes. Alex looks at him too, confused.
"Well, he can't beat you, though," he says, smiling at Kurt.
"No," Kurt agrees. Sebastian huffs. Kurt sits up to look at them the right way. He fixes Sebastian with a challenging look. "You think you could beat me?" he asks. "Have you heard me in a solo?"
"You're awesome," Alex says. Sebastian glares at him.
"Sebastian, you lost at Regionals. We won Nationals."
"You really wanna challenge me on this, Hummel?" Sebastian asks, dubious. Kurt smiles.
"Yes."
Alex pops in the game disc and flicks through the songs with practiced ease. He skips the ones that Kurt refuses to sing (because of Blaine, but Alex doesn't know that), even though Sebastian tries to claim them, and settles on Hanson's MMMBop. Sebastian rolls his eyes, but grabs the offered microphone.
Kurt wins. They go again, with The Killers, and Kurt wins this time, too. And on Nelly Furtado's I'm like a bird. After Scissor Sister's I don't feel like dancing, Kurt throws the microphone on the coffee table and slumps down into the couch.
"I'm tired. Also, I win."
"Fine. But I want a rematch," Sebastian mutters. Kurt doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. He can beat Sebastian in his sleep, it's not that, but he doesn't like this feeling where he has to prove himself to the other boy. He sighs.
"Fine."
