So, this got caught in my head earlier today and wouldn't leave me alone lol. It's Skype With Caution again, obviously, and is AU after Chapter 2 (start of Chapter 3) def read the main story before reading this, as I didn't put near as much thought and effort into this side story as I did the original, I just wondered how it would have gone if Kurt had reacted differently to seeing Sebastian that day. =P

Skype With Caution: Alternate Meeting

[Kurt]

Kurt stands outside the Lima Bean looking at Blaine standing in line for coffee with Sebastian and almost faints. He should have seen this coming. It pretty much had to be him didn't it? Blaine had even told him he planned to go to Dalton. So of course he'd run into Sebastian. And of course he'd hit on him. Of course. So now he had to walk in that coffee shop and tell the boy he liked that he was with the boy he liked.

How is this my life? How did I get into this mess?

Taking probably longer than he should have, Kurt finally pulls himself together and adopts his poker face as much as he can. When he steps through the door, Kurt hears Sebastian in the flesh for the first time.

"Your whole bashful schoolboy thing, it's super hot."

Kurt almost swallows his tongue. He can't do this. He can't. He can't walk over there and deal with this. It's not until he hears Sebastian say "It doesn't bother me, if it doesn't bother you." that Kurt snaps out of it. Seeing red, Kurt walks over.

Glaring at Sebastian, Kurt sits down next to Blaine and turns to the smaller boy. "Oh, don't worry, hun. You don't need to lie to chase him off. All you have to do to get rid of a guy like this is explain that you have standards and aren't going to give him what he wants."

There's a few seconds of silence while Blaine sputters and Sebastian gives him a calculating look before the taller boy crosses his arms over his chest. As he goes to speak though, he's cut off by Blaine finally managing words.

"Oh my god, Kurt! This is so not what we agreed to! I said I needed you to help, not to piss him off."

Kurt shrugs and looks back at the boy he'd thought he'd come to know online. If this is the way he is in real life, I have no interest in preserving his feelings. Not after the way I've been treated for the past week.

"I don't really care if he gets pissed off, I'm not staying. I just wanted to point out that you don't have to worry about chasing him off. Show serious interest in him, and he'll run away on his own. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to be anywhere else."

As Kurt gets up to walk away, he's stopped by Sebastian's cold voice. "Listen Princess, I don't know what your problem is-"

Kurt cuts him off, all but snarling, "Don't call me 'Princess'."

His only response is a huge, mean smirk.

Ignoring Sebastian, Blaine points out, "You let Puck call you 'princess' all the time, Kurt. What the hell is going on?"

Kurt glares at the taller boy before finally turning to his friend and huffing out, "This is 'Bas' and he doesn't know. I should have realized when you said you met a guy the same day you went to Dalton, but it didn't click for some reason."

Blaine looks at Sebastian with wide eyes, quickly getting out of his chair and turning back to Kurt. "I swear I had no idea, Kurt! I'd have told him to back off if I knew." Realizing what he was saying, Blaine turns to the taller boy, suddenly outraged. "You were hitting on me when you had a boyfriend?! It's bad enough that you were trying to get me to cheat on my fake one, but seriously?! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Kurt pales as Sebastian finally drops the smirk, totally confused. "What? I don't have a boyfriend." He turns to Kurt. "And don't call me Bas, I don't know you."

Snorting, Kurt goes to leave. "Finally, something we can agree on. I obviously didn't know you either."

He barely makes it two steps before Blaine is pulling him back over to the table, hissing quietly, "Wait wait wait. Now I'm confused. This is 'Bas' right? The Bas?"

Kurt huffs, sitting back in the chair. Clearly he's going to have to explain everything before he can manage to get home and block this asshole off his Skype. "Yes, hun. This is Bas, but he doesn't know who I am. And he's right, we aren't dating." Kurt mumbles, "Hell, we're barely speaking at the moment."

Noticing Seb's honest confusion, Blaine sits back down and pokes Kurt in the side. "How do you know it's him but he doesn't know it's you?"

Kurt leans back in his chair and picks a spot on the table to stare at, not wanting to witness Sebastian's reaction. "He uses a webcam, whereas I only use a mic. He thinks I live in Kentucky, when obviously, I knew he'd be going to Dalton before he even moved here. His sister told me they were moving to Columbus and I was too afraid to tell him the truth about living here. I'm kind of surprised he hasn't noticed the similarities between Dalton and the school I talked about, actually."

Still refusing to look up, Kurt has no idea how Sebastian is reacting, so he just waits. Blaine coughs nervously before muttering,

"Okay, well... I'm going to go. Clearly you guys have things to talk about. I'm going to text Puck and tell him that he got screwed out of going with you to meet him, so be prepared for that mess when you get home."

Kurt scoffs but looks up at the smaller boy. "He'll get over it. I hardly planned this. Technically, this is your fault. If you'd been able to control yourself, I wouldn't have needed to play the overprotective, jackass boyfriend."

Blaine shrugs unapologetically. "Well, sure. But then how long would it have been until you met and told him the truth? I'm helping."

Kurt scoffs again. "If you want to help, you'll hold off on that text for at least 20 minutes and not tell Noah where we are when you do text him. The last thing I need is him showing up here to pull the 'big brother' routine. I can handle this."

With a small wave and a sympathetic look, Blaine leaves Kurt alone with the boy he'd been both wanting and dreading to meet. Still refusing to look up at him, Kurt sighs.

"Okay, you've got about five minutes before I bail on this. I can only take so much awkward silence."

With a carefully blank voice, Sebastian asks, "So... you're Eli... right?" After Kurt's nod, Sebastian shifts slightly. "And uh, 'Puck' is Noah?"

Kurt sighs, looking up at Sebastian for the first time since he'd decided to admit who he was. "Yes. He's a friend of my brother's. They're on the football team together, and we're all in New Directions, which is why we're all so close. For the record, Blaine is the Tom Jones-piano-burner."

Sebastian's pokerface wavers slightly before he asks, "So... does Blaine just not know about Halloween, or what?"

Kurt blinks in confusion. "Well, he wasn't at the party, if that's what you mean? But I told him about it, so..."

Seb grinds his teeth a bit. "I meant, why did he assume you were my boyfriend? If you told him about Halloween and he knows Noah, wouldn't he know you guys are dating?"

Kurt snorts out a laugh. "What? I'm not dating Noah. Why the hell would you think that?"

Sebastian shrugs, still trying to play it off like he doesn't care, but looking more confused now. "Well, after you guys finally hooked up, I figured it was a no-brainer that you'd end up with him."

Laughing outright, Kurt throws his hand up. "Oh my god. No. I never hooked up with Noah, Jesus." Suddenly remembering they're in a very public place, Kurt stands up and says, "Uh, look... can we talk about this outside or something? I really don't want to talk about this surrounded by people."

Deciding to just walk out and hope he's followed, Kurt heads out to his nav to throw his bag inside before he leans against it. Inspecting the sleeve of his shirt so he won't have to look up at Sebastian, Kurt finally continues,

"I don't know what you think happened on Halloween, but you're obviously wrong. I got really drunk and Noah- sorry, Puck. You should call him Puck. Anyway, he took my laptop away so I couldn't do anything stupid. It was the first time I'd had a drink since sophomore year so I was hungover and throwing a bit of a pity party the next day. By the time I signed on, you didn't. I figured I'd done something to chase you off, so I tried to apologize when you showed back up, but you started ignoring me and acting weird. Today, Blaine asked for my help pretending to be his boyfriend, since everyone keeps assuming we're dating anyway, and I heard you. I couldn't take it anymore. I've spent months hiding the fact that I lived so close because I knew you wouldn't want to meet the real me and then I turn around and there you are... shoving your 'manwhoring' as you so delicately put it, in my face. So I snapped. I'm sorry."

Kurt finally stops his diarrhea of the mouth and he bites his lips, hoping that will stop him from filling the silence. Better to be awkward and quiet than to start spilling my feelings again.

When he realizes he's all but pulled the seam out of his shirt sleeve he crosses his arms on his chest and looks back up at Sebastian, officially done. Before he can make an excuse and leave though, he's stopped by the look on Seb's face.

Sebastian looks like he's been hit over the head with a baseball bat. Kurt doesn't honestly think he could look more surprised if he suddenly sprouted wings. Cocking an eyebrow at him, Kurt shifts on his feet a little.

"What?"

The taller boy startles before finally composing his face into an actual human expression, not just dumbfounded shock. He coughs and asks, "So, um... if you aren't with Puck... why didn't you want to meet me? I mean... you knew I was here, you used to go to Dalton, I've heard all about you from the Warblers. They think you're dating Blaine, by the way."

Kurt scoffs. "Oh, I'm aware. Last year, right before I met you, we almost did date and everyone got the wrong impression."

Sebastian leans closer slightly before asking quietly, "Why didn't you?"

"He um... didn't like me back when I had a crush on him. And I was really upset by that for awhile... until I met this guy on the internet. Then I kinda forgot he existed outside of friendship, actually."

Smirking now, Seb puts his hands in his pockets and turns to face him properly. "Is this your way of telling me that you do actually have an online boyfriend and just never told me?"

Kurt blushes and huffs, holding his arms tighter across his chest. "Shut up, Bas. The last thing you need is your ego fed."

Sebastian grins at him. "I can't fucking believe you live here. This is insane. Why didn't you tell me?"

Shrugging, Kurt bites his lips again. "I wanted to... but I was sorta terrified of the idea of seeing you face to face. And it kinda seemed like you wouldn't have cared. You've never really shown any interest in meeting up. I mean... even the day I found out you were moving here you weren't paying attention to me, not until you caught me singing. I just... you didn't ask me anything, you didn't tell me you were moving here until you were already packed up..."

Seb scoffs, shoving his hands deeper in his pockets. "You were the one that was so anal about keeping everything anonymous, babe. You even told me right away that you gave me a fake name. And you still have to explain that at some point, Em's been driving me nuts about it. I thought if I mentioned meeting up you'd block me or something."

Kurt shrugs again and looks down at his feet. "I just didn't want either of us to be... disappointed. I know you thought I was hot and just... self conscious or something, but obviously that's not true. Frankly I've had one too many crushes that ended in heartbreak. It's bad enough when the guy is straight and can't like me back, but I couldn't handle falling for another gay guy just to have him turn me down. Not knowing for sure was easier."

Sebastian frowns. "Okay... so what you're saying is that you think you're, what? Not hot enough for me? Or that I'd be disappointed in you somehow? I don't understand this at all. You told me you weren't dating Puck, and then all of the sudden he started hanging around more... I assumed that was either because you were dating, or at the very least you wanted me to back off on the flirting. Now you're telling me that you've... liked me this whole time? You really need to clear this shit up, because clearly I'm not catching on."

Huffing, Kurt squeezes his eyes shut and stomps his foot. "I'm going to kill Noah for this." Turning back to Seb, the smaller boy clenches his arms closer to his body and says, "Look... I may have um... implied to Noah that I liked you... So he decided the best way to get a reaction out of you was to give you 'competition'. He's been flirting with me while I was on Skype to piss you off."

"Well, it worked. Too well. I thought you guys were fucking with me, that he was rubbing it in my face that you guys were together."

Kurt gapes at him. "No! Oh my god. I would never let him do that. Don't get me wrong, that may very well have been what he was trying to do, but I'd never have let him act like that if I thought you actually liked me. I thought he was wasting his time because you didn't care. You flirt all the time but you never cross lines and you always pull back, so I just assumed you're naturally flirty."

Seb throws his arms up. "You're fucking kidding me. Babe, I've liked you ever since I got on Skype and you didn't change how you spoke to me. Most people either hate me because they're jealous or suck up to me because they wanted me to fuck them. You still treated me like a cocky asshole and I love that about you. I love that I can say and do whatever I want and it doesn't change your opinion of me because I'm not on a pedestal or anything. You call me out on my bullshit, listen to me bitch about stupid stuff, and help me with my sister. There's a thousand reasons I like you... the fact that you are hot as fuck and apparently just 'self conscious' is just a bonus."

Kurt blushes again and looks back down. "So... you're not disappointed? Really?"

Obviously done with talking, Sebastian groans in annoyance before attacking Kurt. The next second, Kurt is pressed even closer to his Navigator and his lips are being assaulted. Catching on quickly, Kurt grabs him by the back of the neck and pulls him down into the kiss. When he pulls back for breath, he's pressed so tightly to his truck that he almost pushes Sebastian over trying to detach himself.

Kurt giggles for a few seconds before leaning up to kiss him again, this time much more chastely. Suddenly realizing what he's doing, Kurt looks around the parking lot nervously. "Um... as much as I hate to say this... this is hardly the time or place to have this uh... discussion."

Seb coughs and steps back, trying to be subtle about putting some space between them, before saying, "Okay, but I'm far from finished uh... talking to you. I'd really like to discuss what it is we're going to do from here on out."

Smiling, Kurt leans back again, looking the taller boy up and down. "Well, you need to get back to school... they really frown on boarders going missing during the week." Biting his lip again, Kurt debates for a second before asking, "Do you think you'd be able to sneak me in and not get us caught?"

With a smirk, Sebastian leans in to kiss him again, muttering, "That shouldn't be a problem. I have a roommate, but he'll be out late. He had a date tonight. Besides, he'll just be amazed that I have a boyfriend now, I gave him quite a lot of shit for being monogamous at the beginning of the year."

Kurt almost fist pumps for getting Sebastian to be the one to use the word 'boyfriend' first. I really need to stop hanging around jocks... they're changing me.

Instead, Kurt just smiles at him and says, "Okay, give me a minute. I have to make a few phone calls."

Ten minutes later he's shoving the phone back in his pocket. He'd called Blaine first, to find out who all he'd told and to make sure he'd help cover if needed. Then Puck, to tell him he was fine and where he'd be. The last call had been to his dad, who he'd told that he wouldn't be home tonight, that he was spending the night with Blaine, who'd just been stood up for a coffee date, where the guy left with someone else, and he needed a friend. Since the crush had long since been dead, Burt agreed under the stipulation that Kurt swore nothing would happen between him and Blaine that night. Kurt had, of course, had no problem making or keeping that promise.

His surprise at being trusted so much was short lived since first thing the next morning, Jeff Sterling posted a picture of him -asleep on top of Sebastian- to Facebook.

Obviously some things are just meant to happen.