February, 2015

Blaine still couldn't quite believe that Robert was old enough to walk on his own. He kept looking at his wide and curious hazel eyes wondering how it's possible that it had already been a year. A whole year since his life turned upside down.

"Is Kurt coming for Rob's birthday?" Pamela asked casually while chopping vegetables for dinner.

Blaine shook his head looking away from his son who was currently very absorbed with his teddy bear. The little boy was sitting on a carpet and doing something that could only be described as torturing the poor plush toy. "Unfortunately not. He really wanted to be here but he has a ton of schoolwork." Blaine said regretfully. He wanted to share this important day with Kurt but he kept telling himself that in a year they would surely be together. "So it seems that it's just gonna be the three of us." Blaine concluded. He was a little mad at himself that Robert wouldn't spend his first birthday surrounded by many people but he tried to keep in mind that the little boy wouldn't even remember it and he and Pamela loved him enough to make this day magical for him.

Despite the fact that Pamela was obviously also sad about this she smiled brightly and turned around to face her son. "Well, we are going to bake the cake and make sure that this little guy has the best day of his life anyway." The woman wiped her hands on her colorful apron and slowly approached the little boy. "Right, sweetie?" Robert turned his huge eyes at her and giggled. Pamela started tickling him making both Robert and Blaine laugh. "See? Robert doesn't need anybody else since his grandma is his favorite person anyway."

She let go of Robert and walked over to her son resting her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry Kurt can't come." Pamela said softly seeing Blaine's sad face. "I know how important he is for you." The woman didn't say anything else but she didn't have to. Blaine knew what her words really meant. He could see it in her light green eyes. The woman apparently knew how much Blaine loved his best friend and she was aware of the fact that this love wasn't exactly platonic. "So, will you help me with the cake? We need to get started if we want everything to be ready for tomorrow." She said cheerfully.

"Sure." Blaine answered instantly. Maybe having his mind occupied with something would make him stop dwelling on how much he missed Kurt. They started working on the cake together talking lightly about what was happening in their lives. Blaine didn't have that much to talk about since his job was pretty much the same every single day but he listened carefully to Pamela who loved describing funny situations with her students.

Blaine could only imagine how challenging teaching high school students was. Those teenagers still didn't know for sure who they were and they tried to figure themselves out in many different ways. Blaine missed these days sometimes. He didn't miss studying or stressful exams but he missed being able to see his best friends face to face every day. No matter what these days would never come back and they would probably never be able to see each other as often as they did back then. It was unfair and Blaine had trouble accepting it but there wasn't really much he could do to change the way life worked.

When Blaine and his mother were almost done with the cake for now they heard the doorbell ring. "Go see who it is and I'll finish." Pamela said smiling encouragingly at him. Blaine raised his eyebrows in question sensing a trick.

"Okay." Blaine said softly deciding that instead of asking her what it was all about he could as well go and see for himself. The dark-haired boy washed his hands and started walking towards the door not knowing what to expect to find on the other side.

He stood in front of the wooden door for a few seconds trying not to think that it was Kurt. Blaine knew that it was impossible but he couldn't help the hope building up inside of him. He didn't want to disappoint himself though so he tried to get this thought out of his mind even though it seemed impossible. When the doorbell rang again Blaine quickly unlocked the door and with a trembling heart opened it.

When he saw a familiar set of green eyes he felt a little disappointed but mostly happy to see one of his best friends. "Why am I not surprised anymore?" Blaine asked with a smile leaning against the doorframe.

Sebastian smirked shoving his hands into his coat's pockets. "Well, I thought that you would be at least a little happy upon seeing me but I fail to see any sighs of enthusiasm."

Blaine rolled his eyes and opened up his arms for Sebastian to snuggle into. "Oh, come on. You know I'm crazy about you." The green-eyed boy quickly embraced his best friend with a huge grin attached to his face.

"I surely hope so." Sebastian said once they pulled away. They looked at one another for a few seconds, clearly inspecting each other's appearances. Blaine had to admit that Sebastian clearly didn't like changes since he still looked exactly like his high school self. "Will you invite me in or not?" The boy asked. "It's kind of freezing outside."

"Ugh, of course." Blaine said stepping aside to let the other boy in. Sebastian walked past him and took off his coat handing it to Blaine. The hazel-eyed boy hung it in the closet and once Sebastian had taken off his shoes they walked into the kitchen when Pamela was apparently waiting at them while leaning against the counter with her arms crossed against her chest and a knowing look on her face.

Sebastian immediately hugged her. "Hello, Mrs. Anderson. It's been too long since we saw each other."

"Certainly." Pamela answered holding him closely. When they pulled away she looked him up and down. "Oh my God, Sebastian! You look so handsome."

Blaine rolled his eyes while Sebastian's smirk grew even wider. He was a natural flirt, no matter the gender and age. "Well, being a grandmother is working magic on you, Mrs. Anderson. It seems like you haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

Pamela's cheeks turned bright red. "Oh, stop it."

"Yes, stop it." Blaine agreed not liking how casual they were with each other. Even though Sebastian was one hundred percent gay it still looked really weird.

"Thank you for the invitation." Sebastian said to Blaine's mother. He glanced at his best friend. "This fool has probably forgotten about me. I'm not really surprised since all he can probably think about are dirty diapers."

Blaine rolled his eyes while Pamela took a carton of apple juice out of the fridge and poured it into three glasses. "This is not true. I haven't forgotten about my best friends."

"If you say so." Sebastian said but he didn't seem to be neither mad nor angry. His gaze quickly landed on the little boy who was looking curiously at the stranger. "He's huge. What do you feed him with?"

Blaine rolled his eyes again. "He's normal. You just haven't seen him in a while."

Sebastian ignored him and walked carefully towards Robert as if he was an unique kind of animal. "Hey, there, little guy with a horrible name. Do you remember your uncle Sebastian?"

Robert stopped playing with the teddy bear and devoted all of his attention to Sebastian. He looked a little scared and Blaine couldn't decide if it was because he didn't remember Sebastian or if the reason why he was distant was that he hadn't seen someone so tall in a long while. It was probably a combination of both.

He sat down cross-legged opposite Robert and just stared at him for a moment. Both Blaine and Pamela watched them carefully hoping that the boy wouldn't start crying. Robert suddenly stood up with some difficulties and holding tightly onto his teddy bear walked over to where his father was standing glancing at Sebastian from time to time. The little boy looked genuinely terrified now. Blaine instantly took Robert into his arms holding him close to his chest and trying to prevent him from starting to cry.

"Well, it seems like he doesn't like me." Sebastian said also standing up from the floor.

"He'll come around." Pamela said stroking softly Robert's hair.

"I would really appreciate if you stopped criticizing his name." Blaine said looking up at his friend.

Sebastian stared for a moment at Robert. "Ugh, fine." He finally said. "It's not his fault that his parents are morons."

"Could you stop, please?" Blaine asked having enough of this conversation. It seemed like Sebastian was more sarcastic and snarky than usual. Or maybe Blaine just hadn't talked to him for too long and didn't remember his friend very well.

Sebastian smiled holding up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, okay? I was just kidding."

"It's alright." Blaine said suddenly feeling stupid. "How long are you staying for?" He asked.

"Only for the weekend." Sebastian said looking down. His smirk disappeared and his whole face fell. "I wish I could stay for longer."

"Me too." Blaine said sadly. "But I'm still happy you're here, even if only for two days. I hope you're staying here with us?"

Sebastian grinned widely. "If you have nothing against it."

Soon Robert realized that Sebastian wasn't a dangerous creature that could harm him. He started following Sebastian everywhere which made the green-eyed boy happy even if he tried to fake annoyance. To celebrate Robert's birthday they had a little party for themselves which involved a lot of playing with the toys and listening to the kids music.

Sebastian kept rolling his eyes and groaning which made Blaine believe that he wasn't particularly happy about his music choice but at least he stopped saying that Robert's name was stupid and everything was pretty much perfect. Blaine was only sad that Kurt wasn't there with them but he knew that he couldn't have everything and he was extremely grateful that he could share this day with at least one of his best friends.

Blaine also kept hoping that maybe Quinn would show up to spend some time with her son but unfortunately she didn't come. Blaine really wanted Robert to know his mother but if she still wasn't ready to be one Blaine had to accept and respect her decision no matter how much he wanted to provide everything he could for his son.

They ate cake together watching in amusement as Robert managed to get the frosting all over his face. "So what did you get for Robert?" Blaine asked in challenge when Pamela exited the room to bring them something to drink.

Sebastian smirked. "Something amazing. Just wait." Sebastian quickly pulled his coat on and left the house since apparently the gift was still in his car. Blaine waited in anticipation wondering what that could be. He hoped that it was something that Robert wouldn't immediately destroy and could have for longer that a few days.

A couple of minutes later Sebastian was back carrying a huge carton box clearly struggling. He set it down on the floor in front of Robert and Blaine and then sat beside the two of them smiling brightly. He kept glancing at Blaine apparently waiting for him to open the box and see what was inside. "Will it bite me?" Blaine joked inspecting the box.

"We'll see." Sebastian said smirking.

Blaine had to admit that he was really curious what was inside so he quickly tore the carton apart and looked inside. "You've got to be kidding me." Blaine said taking out Thomas The Tank vehicle which looked both like a car and train at the same time. "It was my favorite TV show when I was a kid."

"I know." Sebastian said and Blaine couldn't believe that the green-eyed boy remembered such a small detail about him. "Now it's time for Robert to fall in love with this idiotic show so that you can have an excuse to watch it with him." Despite Sebastian's slightly snarky remark his voice was soft.

"I'm sure he'll love it." Blaine said setting the vehicle on the floor and looking over at his son. "Right, buddy?"

Robert stood up and walked curiously over to the train and immediately wanted to get on it while babbling something to himself. Both Sebastian and Blaine laughed. "It seems like he likes it." Sebastian pointed out. "Let's try it out, shall we?"

Sebastian quickly sat the boy on the mini train and started pushing it around the room. Blaine watched them play with each other with a soft smile on his face. Robert kept grinning widely, laughing and squealing but it seemed like Sebastian was having just as much fun as the little boy if not even more. The green-eyed boy was making sounds pretending to be the train and Blaine couldn't help but laugh at him.

"You're so adorable." Blaine said sweetly.

"Shut up and be happy that I'm watching your kid for you." These words were meaningless. Sebastian was trying to keep up a façade but it was not working. He was clearly enjoying himself more than he thought he should be.

After one hour of playing with Robert the boy became tired and whiny so as much as Blaine and Sebastian wanted to keep entertaining the little boy Blaine knew they had to stop and let Robert sleep. It was already past his bedtime anyway. When Blaine took Robert into his arms he thought his imagination was fooling him but right there his little mouth opened and the most beautiful sound came out. "Dada!"

Blaine's eyes widened and he looked over at Sebastian wanting to share his joy. However the other boy didn't seem to be impressed at all. "What?" He asked when Blaine kept staring at him with his eyes wide open. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"This is his first word!" Blaine exclaimed turning his gaze back to the little boy resting in his arms. Robert didn't seem to realize how important it was to Blaine. The same could be said about Sebastian. But to Blaine it was one of the first sighs that he wasn't doing a horrible job at raising Robert.

The hazel-eyed boy bathed him and let Sebastian read him a bedtime story. Robert was asleep in no time.

They went downstairs and sat down on the sofa in the living room. Pamela was already in her bedroom which meant that it wasn't likely that she would join them. Sebastian moved a little closer to Blaine and whispered into his ear almost seductively. "Where do you keep alcohol?"

"As I responsible father I don't drink alcohol. And well, I'm not allowed anyway. And neither are you." Blaine pointed out to which Sebastian only rolled his eyes.

"We're twenty for God's sake." Sebastian said letting his head drop on the couch cushion. "We won't be committing any major crime if we drink a glass of wine or two. Chill out."

Blaine didn't know if that was such a good idea. He didn't have good memories involving drinking alcohol. "I don't know if this is a good idea." He said out loud.

"Oh, come on, Blaine. The world won't end if we drink a bit." Sebastian moved his mouth close to the other boy's ear. "Please, Blaine. It will be fun."

"Ugh, okay." Blaine finally gave in.

"Awesome!" Sebastian exclaimed licking his lips. "Where is it then?"

"In the storage room. I'll bring it."

A few minutes later the two glasses were filled with red wine and they were slowly sipping on it. Blaine couldn't remember when he had last drunk alcohol. It was probably while he was still in New York with Kurt. "So do you have a boyfriend?" Blaine eventually asked, curious if his best friend was already taken or not.

"Nah," Sebastian admitted taking another sip of wine. "I haven't met someone interesting enough yet." He looked straight into Blaine's hazel eyes. "What about you, Blaine? Have you met anybody in this little shithole?"

"No." Blaine said. "I don't have time for that." It wasn't a lie since his schedule was full most of the time. In reality the main reason was that he knew that he wouldn't be able to commit to anybody the way they deserved while his heart sill belonged to someone else. "And who would want to date a single dad anyway?"

"I'm sure many people would." Sebastian's voice was quiet and mysterious. There was only one small lamp illuminating their faces which made the room quite dark and the atmosphere intimate.

"I don't think so." Blaine said honestly. "People our age go to college, have fun and don't think about having children or a family. I'm an exception that is avoided by everyone."

"Stop saying things like that. You're perfect and if you just let yourself go out to people I'm sure guys would be all over you." Sebastian was completely serious which was slightly unusual for him. "But you keep thinking that you are not enough while you are way more than enough."

"It's easy for you to say. You don't know how it is." Blaine said lowering his gaze. "Let's not talk about it. Tell me about Vancouver. What is it like?"

"It's amazing." Sebastian said. "It's everything I could wish for. It's pretty much the same as everywhere else and yet people seem to be nicer and the streets are less covered by garbage."

"I will definitely visit you one day." Sebastian smiled sadly and refilled his glass. "And we will have way more fun that we should."

"Yeah." Sebastian took a long sip and looked at Blaine. "Do you know what day it is?"

Blaine smiled. "How could I not? It's my son's birthday. I couldn't forget such important date."

"Yes." Sebastian's eyes darkened and he licked his lips again. "But it's also the Valentine's Day."

"I know." Blaine said not really getting where Sebastian was going with it. "What about it? Do you want to listen to love songs?"

"No." Sebastian's face was dead serious. "I want to do something else." He set the glass down on the coffee table in front of them and leaned forward. Sebastian put his hands on Blaine's shoulders and looked straight into his eyes as if searching for something. Blaine's heart started beating loudly in his chest and he didn't really know how to feel about it, much less what to do or say. Sebastian's gaze travelled down to Blaine's lips. "Can I?" He asked softly.

Blaine didn't say anything. He seriously didn't know if he wanted Sebastian to kiss him or not. An image of him kissing Kurt in that club popped up in his head and suddenly Blaine started wondering how it would feel like to have Sebastian's lips against his own. The green-eyed boy apparently took the silence as an agreement as he started leaning forward and pressed his lips against Blaine's. The dark-haired boy gave in to the kiss and closed his eyes feeling the sweet sensation and pleasant warm fill his whole body and soul.

They kissed for a few minutes, softly without any sudden movements. It was just a pure, innocent kiss. When they finally pulled away they just stared at each other for another few minutes without speaking. It seemed like no words were needed at the moment.

And then Sebastian cupped Blaine's face with his hands and kissed his lips shortly one more time. "Blaine, please, come with me to Vancouver." Blaine was about to refuse one more time but Sebastian apparently saw it as he kept talking. "Why do you keep refusing? I would take care of you and Robert. We would all be happy together. And if you are not ready I'll wait for the summer. You know there are good colleges too in Canada, right? Please, agree. Please. I don't want to be there without you."

"But New York has always been my dream and it's going to remain this way for the rest of my life. I can't see myself anywhere else." Blaine said sadly. He didn't want to disappoint Sebastian, he didn't want him to be miserable because of him but what could he do? The kiss sparked something between them but the feelings he had for Sebastian couldn't even come close to what he felt for Kurt.

Sebastian pulled away and drank the whole glass of wine at once instantly refilling it. "Oh, fuck you, Blaine. Can't you see that you would be happy with me? What is so special about New York that you want to be there so desperately?"

Kurt, Blaine wanted to shout into Sebastian's face but he just kept quiet staring at the other boy. He could see that no matter how much he tried to hide it Sebastian was at the verge of tears. His eyes kept being glued to Blaine's and it was slowly driving him crazy."Sebastian, I'm sorry."

"Don't." Sebastian said closing his eyes for a moment. Then he pushed himself up from the couch looking as though he was going to explode. "What do you expect me to do, Blaine? Jump off the bridge for you? Defeat your seven evil exes? What? Tell me what it is because I seriously have no idea." Now tears were running freely down his flushed cheeks but it seemed like Sebastian didn't care about showing his vulnerability anymore. "I keep trying so hard to make you see how fucking happy you would be with me." He paused for a moment. "And yet you don't see it."

"It's not like that. I swear." Blaine quickly said not being able to stand one of his best friends being upset with him.

"I need to go to sleep. Good night, Blaine." He said ignoring Blaine's words completely. Sebastian gave him a long look and then just left the room.

Blaine, mad at himself and Sebastian poured himself another glass of wine letting himself fall apart.