Kurt waits for thirty minutes before he finally puts the key into the ignition. After that, he waits more. He knows that he agreed to go to Sebastian's, but no matter how many times he rolls that thought over and over again in his head, he can't bring himself to willingly drive there.
So he forces himself. He pushes every single thought of doubt from his brain about Sebastian, and Michael week, and the slushy and oh God Blaine falling Blaine screaming Blaine clutching his eye that bastard that bastard I'll kill him I'll—
With an audible gasp, he slams on the brakes as he suddenly becomes hyperaware of a car horn as he drives closer and closer to a head-on collision, and he swerves frantically, nearly taking out someone's mailbox but just barely missing the SUV in the other lane and oh thank God he came to. No matter how much he loves them, he'd rather not end up like one of the characters out of a John Green book.
It's a two hour drive, but between wasting time talking to his Dad on the phone and listening to his favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber's Best Works CD to calm down, the time goes by much too fast for Kurt's particular taste.
He wants to say that he's not surprised when he pulls up to something that he supposes is Sebastian's house but rather looks like it belonged to Queen Elizabeth, but he really, really couldn't help his slack jaw. He parks slowly, careful not to bump into anything or accidentally drive over any flowerbeds, and then gets out just as gently, eyeing Sebastian's home in awe.
He walks up the three front steps, several feet long and a pristine white marble, and Kurt almost doesn't want to step onto them in fear of someone jumping out and screaming at him about defiling the artwork.
But he does, and now he's in front of the door. He lifts a hand to knock, tugging the strap of his messenger bag more tightly around his shoulder, and raps his knuckles on the door. It's so quiet that for a moment he wonders if he should just force himself to knock loudly, but then a dog is barking and it's as if the whole house has come alive. He waits for a while, at least another three minutes, and he can hear … Sebastian, yelling? No, not yelling. It's not that violent. But he's upset, that's for sure.
"Just …" His voice draws near and Kurt takes a step back. "I'm fine, Ri. You're in worse shape than I am, you know—" The door swings open, and there's Sebastian, suddenly as silent and still as a plank of wood, only moving to hang up the cell phone he's holding. "Kurt." He acknowledges, a hint of confusion tainting his voice.
Kurt blinks owlishly, and then rolls his eyes. "Did you honestly forget in two hours flat?" He snips, placing a hand on his hip and pursing his lips. "I've heard of Alzheimer's starting early, but nineteen? Isn't that pushing it a bit?" He asks, one eyebrow raised.
"Eighteen." Sebastian corrects, crossing his arms over his chest and not looking the least bit amused at all. And with the movement, Kurt finally notices what he's wearing. Or what he isn't, really. He's shirtless, for one, and Kurt doesn't want to admit to himself that Sebastian has a nice body, but he really, really does. His tanned skin is stretched over the muscles on his chest and stomach that weren't ridiculously prominent, but still there and still very much noticeable. His hip bones jut out bit, just over the waistband of his boxers, which are sticking out of the oversized sweatpants he's wearing, hanging low on his hips. "And if you're finished checking me out, you can come in any time you want."
A hot blush rises to Kurt's cheeks before he's even fully registered what Sebastian has said, and when he does the embarrassment's ten times worse. He wants to say something in return, to deny his staring, but by that point Sebastian's walking away and Kurt's eyes are dropping to the curve of his ass and okay, fine. He might have been checking him out a little bit.
He steps inside, and admittedly, the house is actually smaller than it looks from the outside. But it's far from distasteful. Deep mahogany wood line the floors and the immediate pieces of furniture like the coffee tables, the railing on the staircase just to Kurt's right, the picture frames and even some decorative bowls. Expensive-looking rugs line the three hallways from the door, one straight ahead, another directly east to where Kurt's standing, and the other is directly opposite the second, and it also happens to be the one Sebastian has disappeared down.
Kurt hurries down the hallway, and it isn't very long until he reaches what he guesses to be the living room, with three large couches, two loveseats and a worn-out recliner that looks a bit out of place with the new-looking shiny furniture surrounding it, but it also brings warmth and hominess to the room, and Kurt actually smiles a little.
"Mr. Kurt!" A happy, shrill voice squeals, and Kurt blinks in surprise when he looks down to see Audrey clinging to his leg. He debates for a moment as to what he should do with the position – either hug her back, pat her head, or pull away – but she's already gone and moving to Sebastian, who's currently gripping the arm of one of the couches in a death grip.
Kurt watches in deep confusion as he lowers himself slowly onto the couch, his mouth opening in question when he winces as he reaches the soft-looking leather. He winces even more as Audrey climbed up onto his lap, but smiles nonetheless.
"Um." Kurt mumbles, unsure of what to say.
Sebastian glances from Kurt to his daughter quickly, and then smiles again. "Audrey, why don't you go see if Zeus is lonely or not?" And that's all it takes to set the girl off, and she excitedly scampers off, but not before Sebastian's able to sneak a small kiss onto her temple. Kurt blinks again; he still has trouble with that – that Sebastian's actually capable of affection.
"Sit down." Sebastian invites gently, cutting into his thoughts, and so Kurt does, watching suspiciously as Sebastian slowly pushes himself up and moves to the same couch as Kurt, wincing as he did with the first couch.
"Are you okay?" He asks skeptically, eyeing the boy next to him.
Sebastian releases a few soft, dry chuckles under his breath. "Grand." He answers simply, and Kurt can't tell if it's sarcasm or not. "But anyway. Down to what matters. Do you have any toddler-specific party ideas, or should I pitch you some of the things she likes?"
And so that's how it is for the next hour. Talking over plans for the party, laying out color schemes, 'eh'-ing and 'oh'-ing and nodding and grimacing at each suggestion and combination. And somewhere in between looking at different picks and purples and discussing tiaras as opposed to party hats, Kurt starts to wonder where Rian is. He asks as much, but Sebastian just mumbles something about an appointment and continues on to talk about decorations, and Kurt assumes that that meant the topic was to be dropped.
Still, he can't help but wonder what an appointment meant. And not only that, but he's curious about the fact that Sebastian didn't say 'at home,' with a raised eyebrow and just the suggestion of a glare in his dark eyes, like he'd expected. It occurred to Kurt, then, that he has subconsciously assumed that Rian lived with Sebastian.
Another half-hour passes, and then it's really starting to get late. "You should be getting home, Hummel." Sebastian says to remind him of it, and oh, wow, is it seriously almost eight already? "Wouldn't want your Daddy to pull a shotgun on me." Another breathy chuckle, and Kurt rolls his eyes.
"Don't jinx it, Smythe." Kurt mumbles, and then an actual laugh erupts out of Sebastian. Kurt smiles, deciding that he likes the sound of it. "I'll leave the books and swatches here for you to look over with Rian." He says, standing up and straightening his skinny jeans.
"Alright." Sebastian replies, and when Kurt turns and he's silent, he half-expects that Sebastian's unashamedly staring at his ass or something equally as vulgar, but when he turns around he saw that Sebastian's staring, sure, but not at his backside. Not at anything, really. Just off into space. Kurt tries to follow the line of his gaze, his eyes following the invisible path to several spots on the wall, knick-knacks on the fireplace, the TV which they'd only just recently turned on … but he doesn't see what the interest in any of those things would be. "—later?" He turns, and Sebastian's looking at him again.
"Huh?" He asks dumbly.
"I'll see you later." It isn't a question that time.
"Yeah." Kurt nods. "Okay." And then he leaves.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
'Later' turned out to be a lot later than expected.
It's three days later, and Kurt's actually surprised that it has taken so long. He'd gone to the Lima Bean each day at the usual time, and then he'd waited longer than usual, until he knew that if he didn't leave for school right that freaking minute his Chemistry teacher would skin him alive.
But sure enough, there Sebastian is, walking through the front door like everything's normal. Kurt watches him as he goes to the counter and orders his coffee, and then eyes him even harder, willing Sebastian to feel his gaze and turn, to see Kurt.
He doesn't look up, doesn't look at Kurt, but somehow he still finds his way to Kurt's table and sits. Only then does he look up. "Kurt." He nods, taking a sip of coffee.
"Where have you been?" He asks in return, quietly and sternly, as if he's a worried housewife whose husband didn't come home until one when he said he'd be back at eight.
Then, as if he can read Kurt's mind: "Don't worry, wifey, I wasn't cheating on you." He says, one eyebrow raised.
Kurt rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean. Why haven't you been here for the past two days?"
"Were you counting? Oh, Kurt, I didn't know you cared so much."
Annoyed, Kurt sets his jaw and moves to get up. "Fine, if you're going to be an ass about it—"
"Hey, whoa, calm yourself, sweetheart." Sebastian stops him, catching his wrist. "Don't be so goddamn sensitive, Jesus, I'm just messing around with you." Kurt doesn't sit, so Sebastian sighs and continues. "I just wasn't feeling well the last couple of days. Rian practically locked me in the house because I was in such horrible shape and she didn't want me leaving."
"Did you? At all?"
"No. I repeat: locked in."
"I figured you were the climbing-through-windows type."
"I am. Usually. But I wasn't in good shape for it."
"Is that why you were in so much pain the other night?"
Sebastian pauses. "What?"
"I'm not blind, I noticed you wincing." Kurt told him.
"Right. Yes. That was it."
"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"
"What would be the fun of coming clean when I can mess you around for a little while?" Sebastian retorted, shrugging and dropping his hand from Kurt's wrist. The skin tingles, but Kurt ignores it. "You're just sucking the fun right out of this, sweetheart."
"Don't call me that." Kurt rolls his eyes and sits back down again, finally.
"Noted." Sebastian murmurs. "So, what have I missed these past couple of days?" He asks, leaning back in his chair. "How's the pretty boyfriend?"
"How's the pretty daughter?" He shoots back, not missing a beat.
Sebastian grins. "I'm beginning to like you, Hummel."
Kurt contemplates his answer. "And I'm beginning to fear that that's mutual." He eventually says, and takes a leisurely sip of coffee as they slip into a comfortable silence.