Author's Note: Hi all. Yes... I know it's been absolutely forever since I last posted a chapter. I've been really bad when it comes to writing lately. My gamer side got the better of me, so I apologise for that.
Just a quick thanks for those who've taken the time to read this so far, and for those who've followed and favourited the story. Thanks especially to my reviewers for taking the time to let me know what you think. I love hearing from you all. You guys definitely make me want to keep writing, so I definitely appreciate that.
LvSammy: I didn't mind the Klaine story in the show (though there were definitely times I wanted to smack Kurt, I'm not gonna lie), but I can't help but imagine all the 'what ifs', and Blaine and Sebastian had some lovely chemistry. Or else I just really liked how close they seemed to become behind the scenes, at least until Sebastian buggered it all up.
julia3132: Hi again! I remember you from my previous fic, and I'm glad you found your way to this one. Thanks very much for your review and I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far.
Darrinia: Sebastian is definitely being a good guy in this fic... giving Blaine exactly what he needs and just generally being there for him. As for the rest... I'll just let you wait and see.
myescape13: Yeah... I admit I didn't really enjoy separating the two of them again. I loved having them in the same city together, but sadly it couldn't last forever and they both have lives to get back to. I was actually quite proud of him for not taking advantage... usually the Sebastian's I write aren't quite so saintly.
Ana: Thanks very much. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. :) Hopefully I don't disappoint.
Guest: *laughs* No... definitely not finished. I was mostly done on this chapter but your review actually pushed me to finish it... I realised that you were right... that could be seen as an end, so I figured I had better get the next chapter up before people start thinking that's it. So thanks for that.
Anyway, now that I've taken up all your time getting those replies back, it's time for chapter 8... and it's a long one. I hope you all like it.
Surprisingly accurate once again for someone who knew nothing about serious relationships, Sebastian had been one hundred percent correct about Kurt's reaction to his week long absence. The minute he'd stumbled wearily through the door into their apartment he was hit by a small meteorite in the form of his fiancé and found himself enveloped in probably the tightest hug he could remember receiving in his entire life.
"Oh thank God! You're back!"
Blaine just nodded slowly, disentangling himself to drop his carry-on by the door and make his way through the room to flop on the couch.
"What happened to you?"
"Hmm? What?" Honestly he was too sleepy for any kind of discussion – and maybe a little too jetlagged – and if Kurt was going to get all pissed about how long he'd been gone and what he'd been doing... well that shit could just wait until he'd gotten some solid sleep.
"What happened to you?" Kurt asked again, indicating the way he was lounging across the furniture. "You look exhausted. Are you okay?"
Blaine just nodded, even as his eyes started drifting closed. "Yeah... just a little tired. It's been a long week." Not strictly true because his week with Sebastian had flown by; partially, he felt, because he'd been having so much fun and partially because he'd been dreading coming back to... well actually Kurt seemed to be pretty cool about his disappearing act. He hadn't even asked...
"Where'd you go?"
Ah. There it was.
"Just... away. I needed some time."
"Time for what?" An aggressive and almost petulant tone eased its way into Kurt's voice now and Blaine wanted to sigh aloud; it was a sure sign that they were about to get into an argument. Momentarily he toyed with the idea of telling him exactly where he'd been and with whom – really give him something to get upset about – but dismissed the thought a moment later.
Wasn't worth it.
Instead he answered the question honestly. "Time to think." And before Kurt could ask the question he added, "About us."
He hadn't opened his eyes yet – really he should or he would totally be falling asleep right here – but he could almost feel the frown on the other's face in Kurt's silence.
"What about us?" And when he didn't respond immediately, Kurt snapped. "Would you just look at me when you're talking to me and stop with this whole exhausted act?"
"It's not an act," Blaine explained, really not in the mood to pander to the guy's temper, but he did sit up so he could look at his fiancé. Then he sighed, shaking his head. "This isn't working, Kurt."
Kurt's frown – he'd been so very right about that – darkened further at this pronouncement. "What's not working?"
For a long moment, Blaine just stared at him in disbelief – the guy was either completely thick or else in denial. Probably the latter because he knew his fiancé wasn't exactly an idiot despite his behaviour at times.
"What's not working?" he repeated, his disbelief easing throughout every syllable. "Us, Kurt. This. This isn't working."
"I..."
"No, could you please just listen for a moment and let me get this out?" And when Kurt's mouth snapped shut, his eyes dark – God he was furious – Blaine continued. "I'm not saying that it can't work, that it will never work, because it did once upon a time. It's just... not right now. It's not working, Kurt. I'm not happy and God knows I have no idea if you're happy or not because you don't tell me. Hell, I barely see you these days. And when I do see you and I try to fix things – try get everything back on track – we just end up in a fight and I'm back where I started. Honestly Kurt, I'm just... I'm tired of it, okay? I can't live like this anymore. We either need to talk this through and fix things, or I..." but his voice trailed off and he shrugged helplessly, not quite ready to say the words aloud.
For a long time Kurt just stared at him and it was clear that he was feeling more than a little overwhelmed with the sudden deluge of feelings and emotions that Blaine had just thrown at him.
Eventually he spoke; his voice darkly furious. "I don't respond well to ultimatums."
Blaine couldn't help but sigh aloud, shaking his head. "It's not an ultimatum, Kurt." And when Kurt opened his mouth to speak, he continued quickly. "It's not. I promise, I'm just... I'm just telling you how I feel. How I've felt for a long time. I just want to fix things. I want to be crazy and in love again. I want to look forward to coming home to my fiancé because right now... I don't."
It was another long moment before Kurt spoke again, some of that anger diminished from his eyes, but his stance – arms folded tightly across his chest, body rigid – suggested he was clearly still upset by the direction this conversation was going. "You really feel that way? Are you really so unhappy?"
His words were tight and sharp, but the very, very brief flash of fragility in his blue eyes made Blaine relax just a little. "Aren't you? Do you like how things are between us at the moment?"
"I..." Kurt opened his mouth to speak, hesitated and closed it again, and slowly – very slowly – those arms unfolded, his shoulders drooping just a little. "No. I don't."
Blaine nodded then, watching as Kurt circled the couch, taking a seat beside him, blue eyes finding his own, a frown – this one thoughtful and sad – pulling at the corners of his mouth. "How do we fix this, Blaine? I want to fix this. I want everything back to how it was... before."
"Before New York."
And Kurt just nodded. "Yeah. Before New York."
Blaine (6:14am): Hey there. Haven't heard from you in a while. Thought I'd check in... see if you made it home okay.
Blaine (7:45am): Bas?
Blaine (8:07am): You okay?
He didn't know why he was so worried when he didn't hear immediately back from Sebastian. After all, it was mid to late afternoon there – honestly time differences confused the hell out of him – and he was probably already in class. He'd mentioned on their last day together in England that he had been putting things off that were slowly catching up to him. He was most likely busy, caught up in the life he'd pushed aside so he could spend time with his friend in London. Surely there wasn't anything more to it than that.
Right?
When he hadn't heard back later that night he was beginning to worry, shooting off several texts in an attempt to get something back from the other guy. The fact that he hadn't heard from his friend since he'd gotten on that plane to England, coupled with the way Sebastian had been acting that morning – so quiet and withdrawn – only made him worry all the more.
Had he done something wrong? Had he upset Sebastian somehow? Is that why he wasn't replying to any of his texts. He could sense that his distress confused Kurt more than a little, as did his constant need to check his phone whenever it made so much as a single chirp. Eventually, obviously fed up with this behaviour, Kurt snapped.
"God Blaine, relax a little... Jesus. You're making me nervous with all that fidgeting. What the hell is your problem anyway? What's got you so distracted?"
He'd started when Kurt started speaking, glancing quickly over at his fiancé before sighing and putting his phone back down on the coffee table. "I know, I'm just... I'm expecting a text." He knew immediately upon seeing Kurt's expression when he mentioned the text that he was going to ask who he was expecting to hear from so he decided to divert the other's attention. "What're you working on?"
Kurt looked down at the sheaf of papers in his hands, before giving a heavy sigh. "Nothing much, unfortunately. A guy at school – Adam – wrote a musical... wanted to know what I thought, but apparently it's not really his thing."
Blaine nodded, considering this. "You've mentioned Adam before. He's that guy, right? The head of the Adam's Apples?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah, that's him. He's a pretty talented theatre major, but I don't think he's much of a writer. I mean... the concept is great... but the writing doesn't really do it justice."
When his phone chimed halfway through Kurt's explanation Blaine resisted the urge to shoot it a glance, focusing instead on what Kurt had just told him. "That's a shame. Is he willing to let someone else take over on the writing? If the concept is as good as you say, might be worth sending it to someone who could write it better?"
Kurt just nodded. "He might have to because this is... it's just bad. Almost painfully bland. I'd be struggling to keep my eyes open if this was playing in front of me."
Blaine just laughed quietly. "High praise. Maybe tone it down just a little when you offer your feedback."
"Why?"
For a moment Blaine wondered if Kurt was joking. "What do you mean, why? Because it's mean." He saw the way Kurt's nostrils flared a little at that and continued before the other could start arguing. "I mean sure, tell him it needs work, maybe a rewrite, but there's a line right? You can't just tell him point blank that it put you to sleep?"
"He said he wanted honest feedback."
"Honest, yes. Derogatory, no. If the concept is as good as you say, you need to encourage him to continue, not to bin the thing and give up entirely."
Kurt just shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. "Whatever. You just don't understand the relationship Adam and I have... if he said honest, he means honest."
"Yeah but..." but Blaine was beginning to sense the futility of the argument and seeing the flash of irritation in Kurt's eyes, just shook his head. "Whatever. Do what you like."
Kurt's frown didn't bother him as much as it used to he noticed then as he reached out to grab his phone, checking his messages.
Rachel (7:33pm): Can you please pretty please tell Kurt to ANSWER HIS PHONE?!
Disappointed again, Blaine recounted the message to Kurt, and deciding that he definitely wasn't going to be receiving a message from his friend that day – it was already late in Paris now after all – Blaine set his phone aside.
"You wanna watch a movie?"
"Um..." and Kurt's eyes were a little distant as they looked up into his, before shaking his head quickly. "Nah I should probably call Rachel and then finish this thing." And he tossed the sheaf of paper to one side as he reached for his phone.
"Mind if I do? It won't disturb you?"
Kurt just shook his head. "No, go ahead. Watch whatever you like."
It was after almost a week of radio silence from Sebastian that he decided something must be wrong. He'd done or said something – maybe when he'd been flat out drunk that evening – that had upset his friend. He had to have. That or something horrible had happened... why else wouldn't Sebastian have texted him back?
Had something happened to the train taking him back to the city? Had he even taken a train back to the city or had he caught a cab and been in an accident? Had his flight back to Paris crashed into the ocean or something?
He heard his phone chime, glancing briefly at it to see a text from an unknown number. Frowning, he checked the message. It was pretty simple and very short.
Unknown (5:55pm): Hello again.
Hello again? Looked like someone might have gotten the wrong number.
Blaine (5:55pm): Sorry... I think you might have the wrong number.
Unknown (5:55pm): God I hope not. Took me ages to track this one down.
Blaine (5:56pm): Who is this?
Unknown (5:56pm): It's Sebastian.
Blaine felt a rush of warm relief and he couldn't help his smile as he rushed to reply.
Blaine (5:57pm): Oh thank God! I was starting to imagine all kinds of horrible things... car accidents, planes crashing... that kind of thing.
He could picture Sebastian laughing at his over-reaction; just the thought of it causing an ache somewhere deep in the pit of his stomach.
Unknown (5:57pm): *laughs* Dying in a plane crash would have been a real feat considering I took the train home. The tunnel flooding maybe?
Blaine (5:58pm): Oh God... what a horrible thought. Hold on just a sec while I program your number into my phone.
Unknown (5:58pm): Holding on...
Quickly Blaine added the new number to his phone before returning to the texts.
Blaine (5:59pm): I'm back. Hi again.
Sebastian (5:59pm): Hi Back, I'm Sebastian. What happened to Blaine?
Then after only a moment...
Sebastian (5:59pm): Sorry. I know... terrible joke.
Blaine (6:00pm): I was about to say...
Sebastian (6:00pm): How're you, anyway? How'd everything go?
Blaine (6:00pm): Woah, woah, woah... not so fast. What the hell happened to you? Or I suppose more correctly to your phone? You lost it, I assume?
Sebastian (6:01pm): Not exactly. I was a bit distracted on my way back into the city and I dropped it.
Blaine (6:01pm): And you didn't pick it up? Didn't notice you dropped it?
Sebastian (6:01pm): Oh I noticed. But when it hit the ground it bounced a little...
Blaine (6:02pm): And?
Sebastian (6:02pm): And it ended up on the subway tracks.
Blaine (6:02pm): Oh.
Sebastian (6:03pm): Yeah... less than a minute later and it was toast. At which point I remembered the great advice given to me earlier this year to back up all my contacts onto that magical thing called the 'cloud', just in case.
Blaine (6:04pm): That is great advice. I assume you hadn't taken it.
Sebastian (6:04pm): Of course not. Also... why do NONE of the Warblers have your number?
Blaine (6:05pm): Actually MOST of the Warblers have my number. Who'd you ask?
Sebastian (6:05pm): Trent.
Blaine (6:05pm): Trent DOES have my number.
Sebastian (6:05pm): I knew it. Suspicious bastard wouldn't give it to me. After Trent I asked Nick.
Blaine (6:06pm): I thought Nick wasn't speaking to you.
Sebastian (6:06pm): Still isn't. Haven't heard back yet.
Blaine (6:07pm): *laughs* And then what?
Sebastian (6:07pm): Then I tried through NYADA... apparently they don't have a Blaine Anderson registered.
Blaine had to chuckle at that one. He had wondered in the past whether Sebastian had assumed he went there with Kurt. Guess this answered that question.
Blaine (6:08pm): Well they wouldn't. I go to NYU.
Sebastian (6:08pm): Okay well that makes sense I guess. And then failing everything else... I called your father.
For a moment Blaine stared at his phone, surprised at the lengths Sebastian had gone to in order to track him down. Going so far as to speak to his father – a man who, by definition, wasn't exactly the most helpful man in the world.
Doubly so, he imagined, when it came to men trying to track him down.
Blaine (6:09pm): You spoke to my dad?
Sebastian (6:09pm): I did. Told him I was an old friend from school and was looking to get in touch.
Blaine (6:09pm): And?
Sebastian (6:10pm): And nothing. Guy gave me your number. At which point I sent you a message and here we are.
Really Blaine wasn't altogether surprised that his father had taken the time to answer Sebastian's call. A call from an unknown number could mean a new client, and God help him if the man ever lost any potential business. That phone took priority over every single other thing in the man's life.
Including his family.
Still... he supposed if he ever did want to get in touch with the man he could simply call from an unknown number.
Good to know.
Blaine (6:11pm): Okay wow... Are you sure I'm worth all that effort? All I seem to do these days is bitch about my love life.
Sebastian (6:11pm): You're worth a whole lot more than that, Killer. Besides... your romantic drama keeps me satisfied that I'm NOT in a steady relationship.
Blaine (6:12pm): Yeah well...
Honestly he had no idea how to answer that comment, something about it making him feel more than a little uncomfortable. Unsure what was making him feel that way, he tried to think of something further to say when Sebastian texted back.
Sebastian (6:13pm): So... tell me how it went. Judging from your earlier comment I'm willing to bet not well?
Considering how he might reply to that, Blaine took a while to compose his next text, typing a reply only to delete it before trying again. Eventually he settled on something a little vague then hit send.
Blaine (6:19pm): Actually not too bad. We talked pretty honestly. Was very blunt. Things are okay. Better than they were, but a bit awkward now.
Sebastian (6:19pm): He was pleased to see you though, right? Definitely NOT keen on ending things?
Blaine (6:20pm): No, definitely not.
Sebastian (6:20pm): I was right then. Totally knew it. Can you picture the incredibly smug grin I'm wearing right now?
He could and it only made him miss his friend so much more.
Blaine (6:21pm) Yeah yeah... Fine. I admit it. You were right.
Sebastian (6:22pm): Never doubted me for a second. Well that's good then. Glad everything is going smoothly.
Blaine (6:22pm): Thanks Bas.
He looked up then as the door to the loft opened; Kurt returning for the night with... a friend?
Blaine (6:23pm): Kurt's home. Gotta run. 'Night Bas.
Sebastian (6:23pm): Goodnight, Killer.
Closing the messaging app, Blaine rose to his feet, setting his phone carefully on the coffee table before making his way over to the two standing across the room to greet their guest.
"Hi there."
A wide smile split the handsome face of the young man as he offered his hand. "Hi I'm Adam. You must be Blaine."
"I am. It's nice to meet you at last. Kurt mentions you all the time."
"He does, does he?" And he nudged Kurt playfully with an elbow. "God I shudder to think."
Kurt just smiled non-committedly at that as he hung his coat up by the door. "I invited Adam so we could go over our notes on his musical. Rachel should be over in a bit."
"Okay, no worries. You need me to get out of the way?"
Adam answered with "Oh you're not in the way" whilst Kurt, speaking at the same time said "That'd be good yeah."
For a moment there was an awkward silence, both guys sharing a quick look before Adam shrugged, obviously deciding to stay out of it. Feeling a little hurt that Kurt obviously didn't want him involved – especially seeing as how Adam didn't seem to mind his presence – Blaine just nodded and moved to grab his phone from the coffee table before retreating to the bedroom, wishing at the same time that he hadn't been so quick to dismiss Sebastian earlier.
He could really have used someone to talk to.
