Author's Notes: Thank you so much for your patience. The past week had been crazy so I am a bit behind in a lot of things. So anyway, here it is. So we get a bit of the morning after, and Kurt confronts Sebastian while the whole ex-Kurbastian thing gets addressed. Thank you to my beta for whipping this in shape, and huge thank you to those of you who are reading this story. By the way, I do have a Tumblr account where I talk about WIP and other weird stuff. You can find me at "rykerstrom(.)tumblr(.)com", please feel free to follow me, I'd love to talk to you guys.


APEX PREDATOR – Chapter 9

"Can you tell me what stopped the rain?
Where is salvation?
Science, saviors, tragedy?
May I lead the way into temptation?
Sirens screaming just for me.
And the void remains."

- Bitter for Sweet (Blaqk Audio)

Blaine stirred to the sound of light rain pattering against the window panes. Somewhere from the outside, he could hear birds chirping noisily. The somewhat dim light indicated to him that it was still early morning. For a moment, Blaine felt disoriented, confused by the unfamiliar surroundings. He felt a warm body pressed against his back and noticed a pair of arms wrapped around his waist.

"Slept okay?" The voice behind him did not have the hoarseness that accompanied long hours of sleep. Either Sebastian had been awake for a while now or he had not slept at all.

"Y-yes."

He heard Sebastian shifting behind him, and then the arms around him were gone as Sebastian got out of bed. Blaine saw Sebastian walking past him to go to the bathroom, clad in a pair of boxers. Blaine turned onto his back slowly, hissing as he felt a sharp pain shooting up his body.

Suddenly, everything from last night came rushing back to Blaine with intense clarity.

They ended up moving to Sebastian's room afterwards, where Sebastian took the time to gently clean them both up and lend Blaine a set of his own pajamas to wear. They curled up together under the covers, as the sound of the falling rain lulled Blaine to sleep.

Blaine could not help but feel awkward and embarrassed. He had no idea how he was supposed to act during the morning after. His own behavior from the night before made him blush further. Never in a lifetime would Blaine Anderson have thought that this was how it would happen.

"You should probably take these." Blaine felt the bed dipped as Sebastian sat down next to him, a glass of water and two pills in his hands. "Painkillers for when I had my eye operation last year."

Blaine tried to sit up and he took a shuddered gasp of pain as he did so too quickly. There had been blood, Blaine remembered, as Sebastian was cleaning him up the night before, muttering apologies for being too rough even though it was Blaine's idea to begin with.

"Thanks." Blaine swallowed the pills and finished the glass of water before handing it back to Sebastian. Blaine found it difficult to meet the eyes of the boy who had seen him naked less than twelve hours ago. "I … um … I just … I- "

"Blaine, calm down. Everything will be fine. " Blaine felt Sebastian's hand cupping the side of his face and he looked up. "I'll be here when you need me."

"Thank you." Blaine replied as he felt Sebastian leaning in for a kiss


The hospital seemed quiet during the early mornings. They arrived just as the doctor had finished examining Blaine's mother.

"She's stable but we believe it's best that she stays in the hospital for now." The doctor had said. Blaine could not help but wonder whether that meant his mother's condition had gotten worse, or whether that meant there was new hope.

It was something that Blaine did not want to ask. He had been trying to come to terms with the possibility that his mother might not get better. But somehow having his mother at home gave Blaine the false hope that everything was normal. Now that she was back in the hospital, Blaine could not help but feel the anxiety of the unknown rushing back to him.

"Can I see her?" Blaine asked hopefully.

"Visiting hours are later in the day," he doctor explained. "We still need to run some tests on her."

So this was how Blaine found himself back in his own empty house, picking up the mails that had piled up in the mailbox and packing clothes for his parents.

"Sebastian, you know you don't have to do this." Blaine could not help but feel bad that Sebastian was spending his Sunday helping him around the house.

"I said I'll be here." Sebastian put in some towels and zipped up the overnight bag. "I actually rather enjoy your company."

"I do too." Blaine found it strange that he actually did not feel embarrassed saying it.

"Well then." Sebastian picked up the overnight bag and walked over to Blaine. "After we dropped these off and visited your mom, how about we come back here and you teach me that Chopin piece?"

"Okay." It was strange to be able to smile again, but Blaine welcomed it all the same.


"Why are we going so far out?" Blaine looked out the window at the passing trees. They were heading into the woodlands again. "I thought we are going to hang out in town?"

"Beats me." Sebastian looked just as puzzled. "Did Hummel say anything in his text to you?"

"No." Blaine looked at his phone.

In actuality, Kurt had seemed a bit distant after Blaine told him that Sebastian would be driving them both there. Blaine could not help but feel a bit guilty about what had been happening lately. He did not even tell Kurt about his mother's hospitalization.

"How much does Kurt know?"

It was a simple question, but Blaine knew the underlying meaning. Sebastian wanted to know whether Kurt knew about them. It was a topic that Sebastian and him had yet to discuss in depth, one that Blaine had tried to avoid.

No one ever told Blaine that things could get that complicated when it came to human interactions. Blaine always thought relationships would be clear cut. It was either one was in a relationship, single, or in a fling. No one ever told him about all the different permutations and implications that could be thrown into all this.

"I haven't talked to him lately." Blaine tried to explain in the most neutral way possible. "He doesn't know about mom."

"Duly noted." Sebastian shifted gear on his car. "Anything I should or shouldn't say?"

Blaine looked at Sebastian quizzically. Why was Sebastian asking him for permission?

"I don't think so?" Blaine replied slowly.

"You know how Hummel can get, being a control freak and all." Sebastian sounded nonchalant, but Blaine could detect an edge to his voice. "I'm surprised he isn't keeping tabs on you."

Blaine did not know how to answer that. He felt awful about this whole thing. There were unresolved issues between him and Sebastian, and now things might become awkward with Kurt as well.

"Regardless, I think it's a good thing the Three Musketeers get to hang out again." Sebastian pulled into an open area. "I think this is it."


"All right, where is Hummel?" Sebastian was tapping away on his phone. "He's not answering my texts."

"Isn't that Kurt's car?" Blaine pointed at the SUV that was parked twenty feet to their right.

"Yeah. But where is he?" Sebastian was starting to look a bit annoyed. "He always does this."

Blaine wanted to ask Sebastian what he meant by that, but then he heard Kurt's voice.

"Blaine! Up here!" The voice was coming from directly above.

Blaine looked up and saw Kurt standing on top of a rather tall tree.

"How did you get up there?" As far as Blaine remembered, Kurt never told him he knew how to climb trees. Besides, that looked a bit too high up to be climbable.

"Don't miss your step, Hummel." Sebastian called out. "I don't wanna be scraping you up from the ground later."

"You wish, Sebastian!" Kurt yelled down. "Just watch this."

Kurt stepped down from the branch, but he did not fall.

"Well, fuck me!" Blaine heard Sebastian cursing next to him. "Hummel can fly."

"Pretty awesome, right?" Kurt hovered in the air. "You guys need to try this. It's not that hard."

Blaine watched in awe as Kurt descended onto the ground, looking very pleased with himself.

"C'mon, just try." Kurt tried to explain. "Relax, and imagine yourself weightless and that you can fly. And then you just push off with your feet like you would do if you can fly."

"Think of a happy thought? Right?" Sebastian said drily.

Blaine closed his eyes, putting Kurt's words into practise. After a moment he opened them, only to gasp as he saw his feet hovering slightly above the soil. "It works." Blaine whispered. "It … really works. I'm flying!"

"Oh, wow." Kurt looked impressed as Blaine began to rise. "It actually took me a few tries to be able to get that high."

Kurt followed suit and joined Blaine.

"Hey, Land Dweller!" Kurt spread his arms out as a challenge and smirked at Sebastian. "Scared of heights?"

"Fine." Sebastian squared his shoulders as he got ready. "You're asking for it, Hummel."

Blaine saw Sebastian closing his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened. A few moments later, Sebastian rose up from the ground slowly until he was a few feet above ground. Then he fell flat on his face.

That looked like it would hurt. Blaine heard Kurt trying to contain his laughter.

"Yeah, I'm great." Sebastian picked himself off the ground and tried again. He managed to get himself a little further off the ground before toppling forward and fell again. "What the Hell?"

It just felt so natural for Blaine as he descended and landed on the ground softly. He walked over to Sebastian and helped him up.

"Try it with me?" Blaine held out his hand. "I just pretended that I was already flying in the air. So why don't you just pretend about something you like?"

Blaine felt Sebastian studying him as he took Blaine's hand. And then, they were lifting off together.

"Well look at that?" Sebastian remarked a bit incredulously. "Who would've thought, the real Supermen are gay?"

"Well, are you guys going to just hold hands in the air or are we going to do something about this?" Kurt spoke up from behind them.

Blaine almost forgot about Kurt. He let go of Sebastian's hand awkwardly. If Sebastian minded that at all, he certainly did not show it.

"Blaine, why don't you take out your camcorder?" Kurt gestured at their surroundings. "We can do some amazing aerial filming here."

"You're right!" Blaine turned on the camera and manoeuvred it around them. "This is so great! I've always wanted to fly."

"I have an idea." Kurt looked up into the sky. "I'll race you guys up to the clouds."

"Deal." Sebastian stepped up to the challenge. "The loser has to buy lunch."

"You're on." Kurt took off.

"Hummel, that's cheating!" Sebastian raced after him.

In the end, Blaine won, to everyone's surprise.

They spent several hours in the clouds, racing against each other and doing aerial dives.

"No, no, no!" Kurt shook his head in disagreement. "That is not a flip, Sebastian."

"Yes it is. 360 is a flip." Sebastian demonstrated again. "See?"

"It looked more like you're spinning out of control." Kurt argued. "You're in the air, you could've been a bit a graceful."

"Right, like a ballerina." Sebastian countered. "You'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

"I think this is unbelievable." Blaine tried to stop the argument. "Look at this."

The clouds swirled around Blaine in small circular movement.

"How did you do that?" Kurt looked impressed.

"I don't know, it's similar to moving objects." The cloud around Blaine moved a little faster before they dispersed. "Now I know what it's like to be Storm."

"From 'X-Men'?" Sebastian asked. "Blaine? What's wrong?"

"Do you hear that?" Blaine started to look around. It sounded far away but was getting closer. He could not quite put a finger on what the sound was. It sounded familiar. It sounded like …

An engine.

"Watch out!" Blaine tried to warn Sebastian as a jumbo jet sped by right above them. The sudden turbulence made swept them away, and sent Sebastian plummeting to the ground. "Sebastian!"

Blaine did the first thing that came to mind – he dove after Sebastian. He could tell that Sebastian was trying to take flight again, but the air around him was too tumultuous and Sebastian did not have good enough control over his flight ability. Blaine willed himself to descend faster, he must reach Sebastian in time.

I can't let him die!

Blaine let himself go and let gravity took him in order to catch up with Sebastian. He wrapped his arms tightly around Sebastian's middle as he finally caught up and tried to slow down the speed of descend. They fell over each other as Blaine managed to land on a field, doing whatever he could to soften the impact.

"God, I'm alive!" Blaine heard Sebastian exclaiming. "I'm … alive!"

"Are you okay?" Blaine was still laying on the grass, the adrenaline rush leaving him breathless.

"Yeah, more than fine." Sebastian was leaning over him. "You saved my life. You save the camcorder iand/i you saved my life."

"I'm glad." Blaine breathed out a sigh of relief. "I wouldn't want to lose you."

It took Blaine a few moments to realize what he had just said out loud. Sebastian was inches away from his face. Blaine closed his eyes.

"Are you guys okay?" Blaine felt Sebastian pulling away quickly at the sound of Kurt's voice. "Oh good, you are!"

"That was close." Blaine got up quickly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Blaine could feel Kurt scrutinizing him. "Maybe we should make a move?"

"My house's the closest." Sebastian suggested. "Let's just reconvene there."

"Yeah, fine." Blaine saw Kurt giving both him and Sebastian another look before walking back to his SUV.


"I'm gonna get some water." Blaine announced as he stood up from the sofa and stretched. "Do you guys want anything?"

"No, I'm good." Kurt shook his head. "Thanks."

"I'll have a glass of wine." Sebastian spoke up. "You know where to find them."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Blaine thought he saw Kurt raising his eyebrows at the comment.

"I'm not serving alcohol to minors." Blaine was hoping that Sebastian was joking. "I'll be right back. Behave!"

That remark was meant for Sebastian, but it was Kurt who replied.

"Yes, Blaine." Blaine felt a tinge of iciness around the way Kurt said those words. "I'll try not to kill Sebastian while you're gone."

"Ditto." Sebastian waved.

Feeling a bit uneasy, Blaine shuffled out of the living room.

It was strange how familiar Blaine was with Sebastian's house by this point. It was much larger than his old house, but it was laid out in such a way that everything was easy to find. Blaine could tell that Sebastian's family must have hired an interior designer specifically for this. He came before a large industrial size refrigerator, wondering briefly whether Sebastian's family even used it, before opening the cabinet door beside him remotely. Two water bottles floated out and settled themselves onto the kitchen counter.

After a moment, Blaine decided to get one more bottle of water. Kurt might say he did not need anything, but Blaine was sure that they all needed some hydration after all the flying they did today.

"Guys! Do you want the water in a glass?" Blaine called out. No answers. Blaine figured he was probably too far from Kurt and Sebastian to be heard. "Glass it is then."

A noisy slam of the front door made the glasses wavered a bit as Blaine levitated them through the air. There was the sound of a car starting and driving off.

"Where's Kurt?" Blaine looked around. "Hey, what happened?"

Sebastian was kneeling over something on the ground. He was trying to pick up a broken vase.

"We got a bit crazy with our stunts." Blaine could not see Sebastian's face from where he was. "Something came up the last minute at the shop. Kurt sends his regards."

"O-okay." Blaine set the glasses down on the coffee table. "Hey, let me do this. Don't use your hands."

"You know I'm not as good with this super power stuff." Sebastian stood up. "You seem to be getting a lot stronger at this."

"I don't know, it just comes naturally for me." Blaine moved the shattered pieces from the carpet and dropped them into the waste basket. "The flying thing, that took no effort at all."

"You know." Blaine saw Sebastian was about to wrap his arm around him but hesitated at the last moment. "Nevermind."

Blaine decided that something needed to be done to address this awkwardness, but he really did not want to be the one to bring up the conversation.

Blaine sighed. Why must life be so complicated?


"Dad's going to be staying in the hospital with mom until she's discharged." Blaine talked into the camcorder. "I hope she gets better. Doctor said she actually did not seem to be getting worse, so I hope maybe we are going to have a miracle. I've done research online but there just isn't enough information about remissions and exception cases."

Blaine got up and moved to his bed, moving the camcorder along with him.

"So as you can tell, I've discovered the power of flight. It's really amazing. Many years ago, I would have said that's a dream come true for me." Blaine smiled softly at the camera. "But right now, a dream come true would be for mom to get better. I wish I have the power to heal."

Blaine leaned back against the headboard of his bed.

"I also wish I have the power to resolve complicated situations. Sebastian …" He bit his lip and felt his face heating up. "Well we … we slept together. I feel bad about it. I don't know what to think. I know he was trying to be nice. It's just strange now between us. I don't know where we stand. I don't even know where I stand with Kurt. And … you know, I'm actually not opposed to the idea of being with Sebastian. It's just so complicated."

Blaine paused the recording and moved the camcorder so that it was in his hands. He pressed the rewind button to looked at today's footage. There was the footage from when they were flying. It was quite a breathtaking view as the clouds and landscape were filmed.

Blaine was surprised when he found that the footage kept running beyond their near-miss with the plane. He fast forward and reached the point where he had gotten up to get water for everyone. What he saw next was not something he had expected.


"Are you gonna tell me or do I have to make you tell me?" Kurt had his arms crossed again his chest.

"You're going to have to be clearer than that." Sebastian leaned back against the sofa.

"You know what I'm talking about." There was a slight tremor in Kurt's voice that he usually got when he was trying to keep his temper in check. "What's with you and Blaine?"

"I think that's none of your business what we do." Sebastian countered. "You don't own either of us."

"I know you did something to him." Kurt seethed with such venom that it made Blaine cringe. "You need to stay away from him."

"Excuse you?" Sebastian had his eyebrows raised. "Did someone die and make you the dictator?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about! Blaine is vulnerable right now, you can't take advantage of him like this." Kurt raised his voice. "He's not for you to be used and thrown away!"

Sebastian let out a laugh. Blaine could feel the bitterness below it.

"You have some nerve to come to my house and tell me that." Sebastian leaned forward a bit, his posture stiff. "You, of all people, do not have the right to accuse me of using anyone."

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"You wanna do this now?" Blaine had never seen Sebastian getting this riled up before. Part of him wondered if he should just pause the tape. "Really, Hummel. You never cease to amaze me! That used to be a good thing."

"Save it, Sebastian." Kurt warned. "We're not talking about us right now."

Us? Blaine knew he should probably switch off the camcorder now. This might not be something he wanted to know.

"No, there was never an 'us'." The hurt in Sebastian's voice was evident. "I wanted to make it work, but you didn't."

"How dare you!" Kurt narrowed his eyes. The vase next to Sebastian fell over and shattered.

Blaine saw Sebastian flinched at the sudden outburst. That was a side of Kurt that Blaine had never seen.

"It didn't work because you've only always seen me as a replacement. " Sebastian said levelly. "Believe it or not, I actually wanted us to work."

Kurt opened his mouth to say something but Sebastian continued.

"Let me finish." Sebastian held up a hand. "You were never with me, Kurt, not really. You were-your mind was on him."

Blaine felt his breath hitched in his throat.

"Really?" Kurt spat, he glanced away profile to the camera and Blaine felt an ache in his chest at the pain in his eyes. "Well, there's no worry about that anymore, is there?"

"I didn't want to hurt you. And neither did he. If you want to hate someone hate me. It's not his fault."

"What makes you think I don't hate you?" Kurt smiled bitterly. "So what is this? Revenge?"

"No, Kurt. I do care; and I'd like to remain friends with you." Sebastian paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. "I care about him a great deal. More than anyone would ever know."

Blaine felt his hands trembling and he curled them into fists in order to keep his composure. There was silence after that, as both Kurt and Sebastian were in deep thoughts. Blaine could tell that while Kurt still looked upset and angry, but at least now he appeared to be calming down as he tried hard to digest the words that had been exchanged.

"If you care about him, then you better take good care of him." Kurt said finally. "I'll see myself out."

Kurt walked out of frame. There was the slam of a door and the sound of car engine starting. Sebastian remained where he was until Kurt's car had pulled out of the driveway, then he got up and started to pick up the broken vase.

The vibrating of Blaine's mobile phone made him pause the playback. He picked up the phone and saw a text message.

From: Kurt (09:03pm)
We need to talk.

(TBC)


Addendum: I noticed my chapters are getting longer. I think we're now at the half way point of the story. There will be at least one more sex scene (if not more) in this fic, that one particular one I'm referring to is needed to push the story along. You'll see. Thanks again for reading.