Johnathan Rourke posted to your wall: Happy birthday, Blaine. Put our check to good use!
Santana Lopez posted to your wall: Britt insisted I was a bad friend if I didn't send this as soon as the notification hit, so many happy returns.
Wes Montgomery posted to your wall: Happy birthday! Check your messages.
Madison McCarthy posted to your wall: Happy birthday from me, Mason, Dani and Jane!
Elliott Gilbert posted to your wall: Happy birthday, Blaine. Dave and I will be by later with your present.
Rachel Berry posted to your wall: Happy nineteenth birthday! Jesse and I made sugar cookies, I'll come over later to give you them and join in the celebration.
Sugar Motta invited you to an event: NEW DIRECTIONS AND FRIENDS END OF SUMMER SUGAR SHACK BLOWOUT!
Sugar Motta posted to your wall: Hoping to see you and the entire Anderson family at the party! Tell Cooper to answer my texts :*
Sugar Motta posted to your wall: And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
From: Artie Abrams
Tina kept me up until three perfecting your birthday cake. You better like it.
Trying to ignore the incessant buzzing of his phone at such an obnoxious time of the morning - in the age of social media, birthdays are the worst when all he wants to do sleep for just a little longer - Blaine rolls over in bed and tucks his face into the crook of Sebastian's neck, inhaling the familiar sharp scent of his cologne and letting out a quiet hum of contentment. "I hate birthdays," he mumbles into Sebastian's skin, feeling his boyfriend's fingers skate lightly down his spine, making him shiver. "Doesn't matter if you want to sleep in, people start posting on your wall too early to ignore it."
"Poor baby, getting all this attention on his birthday from all these friends," Sebastian teases gently, and Blaine smacks at him sleepily. "Is being the centre of attention a bad thing?"
"It is at eight thirty in the morning," Blaine says, lifting his head to look into Sebastian's eyes, bright in the early morning sun slipping through the blinds, smiling at him softly.
"What about being the centre of my attention?" Arching an eyebrow and smirking slowly, gaze heated, Sebastian leans in to kiss Blaine, arms wrapping more firmly around him and inching him onto his back. Gazing at him through half-closed eyes, cheeks heating and pulse racing, Blaine arches into the mouth gliding kisses down his chest and shoves his phone into the nightstand drawer as it vibrates again.
Sebastian smirks darkly up at him as he mouths at his hard cock through his underwear, Blaine fisting spirals into the sheets as he watches Sebastian's head move between his shifting thighs, eager for more. Nothing can invade this moment, nothing can make this mean any less, nothing can distract him. He can feel his affection for Sebastian grow, can embrace how he feels with Sebastian hovering over him with dark eyes gleaming, gasp into each heated kiss and writhe beneath those hands. He comes with a cry, and laughs at Sebastian noses at his neck and murmurs, "Happy birthday, babe."
"Get off me, I need to shower," Blaine says and bats gently at his boyfriend, only allowing a few more kisses dotted over his shoulders and neck before he slides out of bed and into the bathroom, feeling powerful and sexy knowing he's being watched.
Cleaned up and still flushed and loose from Sebastian's talented lips and hands, Blaine can't help the thrill when he pulls Sebastian's shirt over his head, carefully arranging the collar to cover the darkest lovebites. Sebastian's arms slide around his waist, a perfectly handsome couple in the mirror, and Blaine can't help the way his breath stutters when Sebastian kisses up his neck and nips gently at his earlobe. "Do you really have to leave, babe?"
"It's my birthday, I have to see my family," Blaine says apologetically, leaning into the warm familiarity of Sebastian's half-naked body, still damp from the shower. "You're coming round later, I'm sure even our fledgling relationship can survive a few hours apart. You'll get to meet my grandparents, and my gran always brings a ridiculous amount of food, it'll be a feast." Carefully turning around in Sebastian's arms, he kisses him and smiles. "Thank you."
"As always, it's my pleasure," Sebastian says and kisses him again, in that way that makes his knees turn to liquid and his entire body curve towards Sebastian like a magnet, craving his touch. "You don't seem like someone about to leave." He laughs, and Blaine just looks up at him with what he thinks Tina would describe as slavish adoration.
"Honeymoon phases are a wonderful thing," he says, and kisses Sebastian one more time before he tears himself away to shove his shoes on and get out the door before he does something stupid like fall straight back into bed with his boyfriend of around eleven days. They haven't even really been on an official date yet - mostly cuddling on a couch in one of their houses, watching TV, exchanging kisses and ultimately ending up in bed.
He's never known anything so physical before. His desire for Dave was never like this, never felt like this - an endless fire, banked just under his skin, desperate to escape and blaze. He never felt like he lost himself in a frenzy of grabbing hands and scratches down his back and sides and eager lips everywhere on him. This is everything he's never had before and now wonders if he'll ever leave behind. From the moment he stormed out of his house after the argument with Kurt, the moment he decided to go to a pair of arms that would welcome him in with no betrayal, no lying, no weird signals and up and down and messing with his head, Sebastian has been the most wonderful boyfriend he could ever have asked for.
Sure, his feelings for Kurt aren't slipping away yet. But it's not even been two weeks yet, and he's still angry and hurt and confused. When all of that can fade into acceptance, when he can let himself acknowledge the fact that Kurt just used him, because he was a pair of lips and he let him in so naively, his feelings will fade with that betrayal and he'll be free of the confusion that's plagued his summer.
"The wandering hero returns!" comes a shout as soon as he approaches the driveway, and Tina jumps down from Artie's car, pulling at the collar of his shirt and looking at him critically. "Hair's good, some of those hickies are a bit obvious. My concealer's in my purse, help me get Artie and I'll give you a quick repair job. Can't face your parents looking like that."
"Blaine's parents have had their fair share of hickies over the last few months," Artie says from the driver's seat as Blaine opens out his wheelchair and sets it firmly on the driveway. "And I'm not just talking about your dad, Blaine. I think your mom's seeing someone secretly."
"Well, she'll tell me when she's ready if she's seeing someone," Blaine says confidently, and he and Tina help Artie into the chair before she sits him down on the porch steps and starts carefully applying concealer to the worst mouth-shaped bruises. "Maybe I'll end up with even more steps, and more complicated family ties to explain to people. I'm just going to start saying everyone is my cousin."
"People are going to think it's pretty weird if you tell them your dad's husband is your cousin," Tina says, and Artie laughs. "Okay, much better," she adds, capping the concealer with a flourish and bopping the end of Blaine's nose with the tube. "Stop getting so many hickies. They're a bitch to hide from your family."
"Tell me about it, with you and your latent vampire tendencies," Artie says, and Blaine grins at the affronted noise Tina lets out and gets them both inside before they can start arguing. His family are already waiting with hugs and a pile of neatly-wrapped presents, all talking over each other to wish him a happy birthday and a lucky year and a wonderful life.
Unwrapping everything with exclamations of joy, carefully setting out his cards in a patchwork and putting the checks and bills from distant family members into an envelope, Blaine tries very hard not to feel the sting that Kurt - at Walter's side, of course, wearing a T-shirt with a print of the New York skyline and a pair of tight jeans - only contributed to his birthday haul by adding his signature to the present from Walter. A few short weeks ago he was being described as one of Kurt's best friends, and now they're barely on speaking terms, Kurt's 'happy birthday' dull and quiet, their gazes unable to meet. Even telling himself repeatedly that it's Kurt's fault - Kurt messed him around, Kurt lied, Kurt kissed him when he shouldn't have, Blaine didn't initiate any of it, he was strung along by someone who is flashing around their engagement ring for all to see - doesn't stop it from hurting that he's lost someone when their friendship came so easily and felt so right.
"People are coming over around three o'clock for lunch in the garden, and of course drinks with adult supervision," Pam says, and Blaine rolls his eyes towards Tina and Artie. "Dave is bringing Paul, and Rachel asked if she could bring her dad, since she doesn't get to see him often but still wants to come. And, of course, Burt and Carole are coming along a little earlier to help set up."
"Sometimes I think we're stealing you away from your parents," Walter teases lightly, and Kurt smiles up at him. Blaine can't help but see the way his whole demeanour changes, lighting up, so in love, and feel his stomach clench painfully at how wooden things have become between him and Kurt, while his connection with Walter seems only to have grown with Blaine's fading.
"It's not stealing if I'd rather be with you," he says, and kisses him in that way that walks the line between appropriate for a public space and something couples should keep for when they're alone. Tina rolls her eyes and drizzles syrup onto a pancake before rolling it up, helping herself cheerfully to some orange juice.
"Are you guys going to that big party Sugar's invited us to?" she asks, and Blaine just shrugs. "I asked her what it's actually about, and apparently they've done it every summer since the class of 2012 graduated, just as a way to say goodbye for a while. We can invite parents if we want, as long as she has all the names so she can complete the seating plan accurately. And if there's anyone we would prefer not to sit with, we have to register that complaint ASAP." She rolls her eyes and adds, "You'd think she was organising a military engagement instead of a party."
"It'll be fun," Artie says bracingly, squeezing her hand. "We really should say goodbye to the new friends we've made, and maybe we can have a little more time with the rest of the gang going back to New York, just so it's not too awkward." Addressing Blaine now, he says, "We double-dated with Dave and Elliott a couple of nights ago - we were going to ask you and Sebastian to make a triple, but we thought you're a bit carried away with the physical aspect of your relationship for now - and Elliott was telling us the New York gang do potluck dinners every Monday night and trade around whose apartment they go to for it."
"So, basically, at some point we're going to have a bunch of people in our apartment and if we're not at least friendly with them it'll be awkward," Tina clarifies sweetly, perching in Artie's lap and squinting against the sunlight to look up at Blaine. Blaine's glad they're alone in the garden, because she barely lowers her voice when she asks, "What's up with you and Kurt? You were friends like two weeks ago, and now he barely looks at you."
"He has issues with me dating Sebastian," Blaine says. Well, it's not entirely untrue. "He thinks Seb is just a cheap playboy who'll use me and dump me. He's just being judgemental - Seb's already talking about when his schedule will let him come and see me when we go back to college." Finishing off his first pancake, he stares down at his plate and murmurs, "I'm scared about being in a long-distance relationship."
"Oh sweetie, you'll be fine," Tina says gently. "Long distance works out easily if both people put the effort in, and I know you like Sebastian. You'll put the effort in, and he will too, and it'll work out between you. Things go up in the first few months, Bling. It's after that phase you find out whether you're really compatible or you just fall apart at the first fight."
Sebastian arrives early, on the heels of Burt and Carole, and Blaine has never been more pleased to see someone, kissing him without worrying about what his family will think and staying close to his side all evening, through all the people bringing him presents and all of those who decide to stay, and Rachel dragging out a karaoke machine and Santana whooping encouragingly when Pam and Carole decide to duet on I'm So Excited. He invites Sebastian to be his date to the New Directions party when they're curled up together in the cool dusk outside, the wind tugging at their clothes and the grass whispering against exposed skin, and Sebastian kisses him and murmurs, "I'd love to."
When the festivities are done, and everyone has gone home at long last, Blaine leaves the bathroom in a haze of steam to Kurt on the landing, about to go to bed. "How are things with that two-bit playboy?" he asks, venom in his voice and fire in his eyes. "Did he break your heart yet? I bet he's fucking someone else right now."
"We're exclusive, meaning he's not kissing anyone else or trying to get anyone except me into bed," Blaine snaps icily. "Maybe you don't know what exclusive means even with a ring on your finger, but he does and he respects me."
"Drop him," Kurt snaps, eyes flashing and arms folded across his chest. Even in the midst of his anger, Blaine can't help but notice his biceps, even as he wishes he didn't. "This is getting old and tired already. Your dad is fragile, and the thought of you out on the town with someone like him is making him seriously worried."
"If you tell him what really happened between us and explain why you put me through what you did, I'll break up with Sebastian." Only silence greets this statement, and Blaine says, "Didn't think so."
Things between him and Kurt don't get any better in the next few weeks, the last of the summer. They don't talk despite being together so often with Kurt taking advantage of every single second he can possibly spend with Walter. Blaine spends more and more time with Sebastian, or with Tina and Artie and Dave, and often Elliott, getting coffee or wandering the streets or just sitting in a back garden enjoying each other's company. He gets to know Mason and Jane, and Jesse and Rachel, trying to familiarise himself with the people he'll be around when they go back to New York.
The party night is as crazy as he would've expected from the group of people in question, with the addition of a few stray Warblers and some parents, all clearly with the same goal to say goodbye in style in mind. Accepting the hand Sebastian offers to get out of Elliott's car, Blaine glances over at another car and does a double-take seeing Virginia - joining in with the merriment before she moves to London - take hands with Myron and smile into his eyes. "When did that happen?" he asks as he catches up to Madison - the most likely to know what's going on with people at any given time.
"Engagement party," she answers immediately. "Myron's so infatuated he's decided to set plans for next year in stone instead of drifting around here and go to London with her. Never a dull moment with friends like him."
"I'm loving not getting so many random texts from Sugar now she's chasing Cooper," Dani says as they watch the girl in question dart across the parking lot with a bright smile. "I really hope she wears him down, three weeks with her and he'll be taken down a peg."
Sitting with Tina, Artie, Dave and Elliott, Blaine can't help but be glad that Kurt must've asked Sugar to be seated away from him. His table is on the other side of the room, even if Brittany keeps waving at Blaine and trying to beckon him over, so Blaine can ignore the looks Kurt is giving him as he moves closer to Sebastian and listens to Sugar's squealing introduction for the night. "This is the third annual Sugar Shack Blowout, and I hope there's going to be many more! For all of you who are here with us for the first time, we're about to eat and drink and sing and dance and cry and have a ton of fun, so I hope you all bought a designated driver! Let's get this party started!"
Laughing at each other, dizzyingly in love, Dani and Madison are singing Talking Body and Blaine is laughing as he dances with Sebastian, feeling his heart swelling with joy in this moment, with familiar arms around him and eyes looking into his with such fondness and that smiling mouth inches above his. Breath catching in his throat, he brushes a kiss against Sebastian's lips and can feel the smile when Sebastian holds him closer and kisses him harder, only pulling away when Sam wolf-whistles from nearby and gives Blaine a thumbs-up through the crowd.
The night seems to stretch on as the lights flash and so many people go up to sing, Sebastian there for every song, watching from the sidelines with a smile when Blaine gets swept aside by Brittany, snatched up for a duet by Rachel, laughs his way through something silly with Mason and Madison. When the twins are singing All Out Of Love, both teary-eyed, much later in the evening, Blaine sways in Sebastian's arms on the dance floor, the whole world feeling like it's just the two of them. Sebastian leans in, kisses his neck and whispers, "I'm really going to miss you, Blaine."
Blinking back the hot prickle of tears - it's late, he's emotionally drained from the long evening - Blaine murmurs back, "I'm going to miss you too. A lot," and leans in for the kiss, slow and bittersweet, tainted by the separation coming in the morning. When they separate, he sees Kurt looking at them from his table, where he's waiting for another drink, and wonders if it's just the lights making his eyes look so sad.
He says his lingering goodbye to Sebastian that night, in slow kisses and drifting caresses and hips pressed together, and leaves in the grey dawn of the morning for the airport, half-asleep in the back of Artie's mother's car, tucked deep into his NYU hoodie and waiting in the departure lounge for others to finish their goodbyes. Sitting on her suitcase and flipping through her phone, Santana glances up at Mason and Madison openly sobbing and attracting some worried looks from innocent bystanders and says, "They do this every time. And they have to race across the airport to hug like some romantic comedy whenever they're reunited. They are the most twin-like twins I have ever met."
"Everyone cries when we have to say goodbyes," Jesse points out, and it's true. Elliott's cheeks are definitely streaked silvery with tears and he doesn't seem to want to let go of Dave. Tina is hugging everyone and crying while Artie waits for her - their flight isn't the only one taking off soon, and it seems everyone has goodbyes to say.
"Give that boy an Oscar," Santana murmurs as Kurt sobs loudly again, kissing Walter and clinging to him.
"Don't be mean, he's really worried about leaving him after he only just had a heart attack," Brittany says sternly. "But Walter insisted he went back, and I agree. He'll never get back on the horse if he waits even an extra day. Summer has to be over at some point."
After ten more minutes, Santana gets sick of waiting and goes to drag the stragglers towards the gate, resolutely ignoring the waving and the shouts of, "I'll call you when we land!" Through a streak of amazing luck, Blaine is sitting next to Santana for the flight, with Jane across the aisle and quietly comforting Mason, and Kurt is two rows back with Elliott. The nightmarish idea of having to sit next to Kurt for the journey has been haunting him for days.
But, partway through the flight, when it's quiet and a lot of people are napping or working with headphones firmly in, Santana turns to him and quietly says, "We need to talk. Kurt's been telling me things - things that have been happening between you and him. I want to say this as politely as I can: please don't do anything that could jeopardise Kurt's relationship with Walter." She raises a hand when Blaine opens his mouth in a fury and says, "I don't care what you think about who's been initiating things, you have the power to stop it. I can't stand idly by and watch Kurt hurting himself like this, so I'm putting my foot down. No more between you two."
Irritation pressing on his chest, Blaine snaps, "Trust me, it's not going to be a problem anymore," and feels dark gratification at the way Santana looks shocked at the venom in his voice. "He lied to me and screwed with me, and I can't just take that lying down." That seems to be enough, and Santana leaves him alone for the rest of the flight.
When the taxi pulls up outside the apartment block, a sense of incredible calm settles over Blaine. Even the effort of heaving their luggage up the stairs doesn't seem so bad when he collapses on his bed and looks up at the familiar ceiling, happy to be home. His phone vibrates when it's landed on the bedspread, and he tugs it down to smile at the message.
From: Sebastian
I miss you already. As soon as I have a concrete schedule I'll let you know and come out and visit. Start negotiating with your roommates for an empty house now ;)
It's sweet, and it makes Blaine laugh, and he opens it to text back. But he can't help but notice that it's been almost a month since he so much as exchanged a text with Kurt - and to think about how many times he's sat and watched the cursor blink for minutes at a time, wondering what to say to heal the void between them. Wondering how best to articulate what is complicated and tangled.
Wondering how to say 'I still compared my boyfriend's kisses to yours and you come out on top every time.' Wondering how to say 'I'm scared the feelings I have for you aren't going to go away even when I stop being angry.'
Wondering how to say 'I think I could be falling in love with you.'
And wondering if he can safely say 'And I'm terrified.'