After Sebastian catches Blaine's coach yelling at him and calling him names, Sebastian helps Blaine take his mind off his troubles ... and ends up having a talk about Kurt that Sebastian never expected.
A/N: So, in case you haven't guessed, the happens shortly after Blaine moves in to Sebastian's house. It's pretty Seblaine heavy at the beginning, but Kurt shows up eventually ;) Warning for angst and homophobic language.
"Left, right, left, right, push, push, turn …" Sebastian recites more sternly, but with a little less enthusiasm than usual, as he follows his skater down the ice. "Bring your knee up higher, point your toe, deeper edges … deeper … and twizzle – one, two, three …"
"Thank you so much for doing this for me," Blaine says after he pulls out of his spin and starts working his edges. "I can do my warm-ups on my own, but I know I focus better on the fine details when my coach is with me." Blaine spins again, his eyes dropping as he swallows down his last remark, causing him to prematurely exit his last turn.
Sebastian doesn't call him on it; he just makes a motion for Blaine to repeat it, this time with his head held higher.
"Yeah, well, it bites that your coach is siding with your dad. Man, you got a raw deal when it comes to authority figures in your life."
"You could say that. But things seem to be looking up." Blaine throws Sebastian a wink as he sets up his next series of rotations, and Sebastian rolls his eyes.
Sebastian has encountered several eye-roll worthy moments while hanging out with Blaine, but thus far, Sebastian doesn't have any real complaints. The boy's been the perfect houseguest. He's independent, stays out of the way, listens to his music with his headset on, and he doesn't try to monopolize Kurt's time, which was something Sebastian was originally concerned about. Blaine knows his boundaries, and he keeps to himself.
Which is why Sebastian wouldn't have known about Blaine's douchebag coach lecturing him for over an hour about loyalty and family values had he not ventured to the guest room to let Blaine know that he was going down to his rink to wait for Kurt in case Blaine wanted to tag along.
The invitation was from Kurt really. Blaine seemed to become withdrawn after moving in to Sebastian's house. He went about his normal routine of exercise and skate practice, but aside from that, he mostly stayed in his room. He did his homework, watched YouTube videos, chatted with Kurt online, but otherwise, he'd become a hermit. Kurt worried that Blaine had started blaming himself for the way things went down with his dad. Leaving your family behind, especially because your father is a homophobe, is a hell of a thing.
Kurt wanted to cheer him up.
The door to the guest room was open a crack, and from down the hall, Sebastian could hear Blaine's coach yelling at him over the phone.
And the man wasn't even on speaker.
It pissed Sebastian off royally because he, too, had been lectured on loyalty by his last coach – the same man who had conspired to manipulate him and the whole Westerville Elite team.
But it was worse for Blaine.
Blaine's coach had been with him since he first started skating at the age of four. His parents trusted the man completely. He traveled with Blaine, and took care of him on away trips when his parents couldn't attend. He helped Blaine find sponsors, signed him up for competitions. He went over to Blaine's house on every holiday, every birthday, and every special occasion. He was an honorary member of the Anderson family.
It was like having his father disown him all over again.
Sebastian didn't know what came over him. He had intended on lingering outside Blaine's door until the man was done with his rant, then invite Blaine out for a cheeseburger so he could vent, but the man wouldn't stop talking. He said the word disgusting more times than Sebastian could count, threw in a dash of ungrateful, then added a few sprinkles of the word perverted. It's when he called Blaine a fag that Sebastian snapped. He stormed in, grabbed Blaine's phone, and said, "Yeah, yeah, you're disappointed. We get it. You're also an asshole. Blaine already has one of those. He doesn't need another one. Eff off and don't call back until you're ready to apologize."
He disconnected the call and threw Blaine's phone on the bed. The room became quiet – so quiet, Sebastian didn't know if Blaine was even breathing. He stared at him with red-rimmed eyes, his bottom lip chewed to pieces. Sebastian didn't know whether Blaine was going to start crying or screaming, but he didn't give him a chance to do either. He grabbed Blaine's skate bag, held it out to him, and said, "Come on. We're going to go through your warm-up," with no mention of Kurt whatsoever.
And Blaine silently agreed, tossing the strap over his shoulder and obediently following the boy who, though Blaine wasn't his favorite person, had stood up for him again.
Sebastian is glad he did. Blaine didn't deserve to be lectured, and he didn't deserve to be called a fag. But ever since, Blaine has been beaming at him like a rescued puppy, causing Sebastian to roll his eyes so many times, he feels a migraine coming on.
"Okay," Sebastian says after Blaine performs four clean twizzles in a row, "let's try a jump. Why don't you show me a double axel?"
"Yes, sir." Blaine salutes, then takes off. He builds up speed, but instead of a double, he performs a triple, landing with a slight wobble on the finish.
Sebastian sighs, then rolls his eyes, with a pinchy finish right between his brows. "Show off," he scolds.
"Always have been," Blaine quips.
"Well, if you're going to be one, land it clean. Try it again, but this time, give yourself plenty of lead in."
Blaine turns on the ball of his foot and skates a quarter lap, giving himself enough momentum to perform the jump. He sets up his take off, his form perfect, but at the last minute, he becomes distracted and performs a double – a strong double, but a double nonetheless. It reminds Sebastian of Kurt way back when, and he groans.
Why does Blaine remind him of Kurt so damn much?
Sebastian gives Blaine the benefit of a slow clap, but raises an eyebrow when Blaine brings it in.
"What happened?" Sebastian asks. "That was a nice double and all, but you promised me a triple."
"I'm sorry. I think I'm letting what happened this morning get in the way."
"You can't do that, man," Sebastian says, trying not to sound short. But he can't help it. It has nothing to do with Blaine and everything to do with the situation he's in, but Sebastian has never been good at tempering his opinions. "You can't bring that in here. You have to leave it at the door."
Blaine comes to stop a few feet away from Sebastian, but he doesn't continue his warm-up. He looks at the boy in front of him with conflicted eyes, chewing on a lower lip that's bitten raw.
"Is that what you did?" Blaine asks, honestly but tersely, as if he's trying his hardest not to lash out, too. "Left it at the door? Because Kurt told me that you were famous in Westerville for being emotionally unattached. He said you were unflappable in competition. Nothing seemed to get to you." It sounds like an accusation the way Blaine says it. If Sebastian had to guess what Blaine's getting at, he'd put his money on Blaine wanting to know how he could hurt Kurt the way he did, watch his team hurt Kurt the way they had, and then turn around and win a gold medal.
But Sebastian isn't sure that Blaine even knows about that.
He's been too afraid to ask.
"Is that all Kurt told you?"
Blaine's expression doesn't change when he answers, but his voice becomes icier. "He told me enough."
Sebastian didn't see this conversation coming. Not now, not in a million years. He can't imagine that Kurt told Blaine everything. Kurt's not fond of oversharing. But Blaine is his best friend aside from Sebastian. Whatever Blaine does know has caused his eyes to frost over, but on the day to day, it doesn't color the way Blaine treats Sebastian overall. He acts like he wants to be Sebastian's friend, but maybe he does for the same reason Sebastian has been so open about Blaine.
For Kurt.
And, surprisingly, that stings.
"Let me start over," Sebastian says. "Because Kurt's right. And so am I, but less so."
Blaine cocks his hip and crosses his arms, so much like Kurt that Sebastian has a difficult time looking at him.
"During competition, I was really good at leaving my personal life outside the rink. When my grades slipped, when I couldn't land a jump, when my parents ignored me …"
Blaine tilts his head. His eyes soften. Apparently, Kurt didn't tell Blaine about Sebastian's parents. But he wouldn't have, because that isn't his secret to tell
"… I could push it all aside. But that didn't matter because how you skate is who you are. I was kind of a shit person, and that made me a shit skater."
"Really?" Blaine chuckles, more sarcastically than Sebastian would have imagined him doing. "Because those trophies and plaques you have all over the walls tell a slightly different story."
"I earned those by being part of a team," Sebastian explains, understanding where Blaine's anger comes from. It's the same place that Kurt's anger used to come from – seeing someone who isn't a good person still come out on top, even if they don't necessarily deserve it. Kurt watched bullies succeed while it seemed he and his family were destined for failure regardless of how hard they tried. Blaine is watching people he loved and trusted turn out to be imposters – charlatans of the cruelest kind, willing to accept him for who he could be on paper, but not who he really is. And when this is all over, they'll continue to be successful. What they've done to him won't negatively affect them, save for the fact that they'll be down one Blaine Anderson, which everyone appears willing to live with.
Meanwhile, Blaine has the potential for a future where regardless of how successful he becomes or how many medals he wins, how many Make-A-Wish wishes he fulfills or how many charities he donates his time and money to, someone will hate him because he's gay. Professionally he might be denied opportunities, find himself left off the guest lists of certain functions because of it, and even though plenty of people will be disgusted on his behalf and wear rainbow flag pins to his performances to show their support, just as many people will feel justified in their prejudice.
"Being attached to the Elite name had a lot of perks. And as part of the team, I won a ton of awards. But that doesn't make me a great skater. It's the trophies I earned as part of a different team - after Elite, when I started dating Kurt - that I'm most proud of. Those are the ones that matter."
"And where are those?"
"They're down at the rink, in the trophy case. You've seen them. They have Kurt's name on them in big letters."
"I have seen them. But I don't remember seeing your name on them anywhere," Blaine points out.
"Nope. But I was his coach at the time. Kurt has an amazing talent, but he's also a genuine person. He didn't have to be part of Elite to earn those trophies … and he proved to me that neither did I."
"Does Kurt leave his life at the door when he skates?"
"To a degree, yes. His mom's diagnosis, the bullies from school … even me – he's had to leave those all by the rink side. But Kurt's a good person, so he brings the best of himself with him on the ice. And being with him has changed me. It's made me better. So when I coach him, he takes the best of me with him, too."
Blaine nods slowly. He starts skating again, picking up where he left off with his backward spirals. Sebastian doesn't say anything, following along quietly and waiting for Blaine to come back from wherever that was they just took a journey to.
"I'm … I'm sorry," Blaine says, preparing to perform a layback spin. "I don't mean to sound like I'm biting your head off or anything. It's just …"
"Dude, your attitude's weak."
Blaine stutters to a full stop. He stands up straight, his face a blank slate. "I-I'm sorry. Like I was trying to say, it's been a little hard to stay positive lately when …"
"What?" Sebastian looks from Blaine's posture to his guilty expression, nose scrunched. "No, that's okay. Forget about it. I mean your leg lift. Your foot needs to come up higher."
"Oh." Blaine laughs, the iciness in his demeanor completely melting away. "You and Kurt both switch subjects fast enough to give a guy whiplash, do you know that?"
"Kurt can touch his head with the back of his knee when he skates," Sebastian says, subconsciously blushing at the fact that Blaine pointed out something that he and Kurt do the same. Sebastian didn't realize they had any similarities. It's nice to know there is one, especially when Sebastian can clearly see Kurt and Blaine being the perfect match. "I expect you to get your leg at least half that high."
"FYI, your boyfriend is a cheerleader," Blaine says with a suggestive growl.
"Stop with the excuses, Anderson. You don't have to be a cheerleader to get your leg up high. It just takes determination and practice. So, let's see it."
Blaine looks down at his leg, as if conferring with it over its abilities. "I don't think I'm stretched out enough to get my leg that high."
"Didn't you stretch out this morning?" Sebastian asks. "I thought I heard you go for a jog at the butt crack of dawn."
"Yeah, but stretching out my legs is a bit more involved than that. I got into a bicycle accident when I was around ten, and ever since then, my adductors always get stiff in the cold."
"Doesn't everyone's?"
"I guess …"
Sebastian looks at Blaine, unmoved by his story. Blaine looks at Sebastian, hope glittering in his hazel eyes. Sebastian blinks first, losing this unintended staring contest. He lets loose with a dramatic sigh and another eye roll. "I'm going to have to touch you, aren't I?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Ugh!" Sebastian groans, following Blaine to the wall. "The things I do for my boyfriend, you know?" The words slip out, and they sound bad, but Blaine just laughs.
"Boyfriend?" He grabs the edge and raises his right leg behind him. Sebastian bends at the knees a few inches so Blaine can rest his shin on his shoulder, then stands upright slowly, lifting Blaine's leg and getting closer to the boy's ass than he's ever wanted to. "I'm flattered, but aren't you dating Kurt?"
Sebastian smacks Blaine's arm until he reaches back so Sebastian can grab hold of his forearms and pull. "How did I not notice that you were this much of a smartass, Anderson?"
"I'd say you're getting a decent view of my ass now, Smythe."
"Ha … ha," Sebastian deadpans, turning his head purposefully so he doesn't accidentally look. "Just so you know, if you fart on me, I'll break you in half."
"Well, well, well. Aren't the two of you precious? Is this the kind of kinky stuff you guys do when I'm not around? Because if it is, I think I'm jealous."
"Kurt!" At the sound of Kurt's voice, Sebastian shoots backward away from Blaine so quickly that Blaine's leg drops before he can stop it. His skate hits the ice, his toe pick taking a sizable chunk out.
"This …" Sebastian looks from a snickering Blaine to a smirking Kurt with wide, frightened eyes "… this isn't what it looks like."
"It's not?" Kurt asks, casually parking his skate bag beside the ice. "Because it looks to me like you're helping Blaine stretch out his adductors."
"Oh," Sebastian says with a chirp of surprise that makes Blaine laugh so hard, he snorts. "Then it is what it looks like."
Kurt shakes his head. "Why are you so nervous?" he asks, untying his shoes.
Sebastian glides over, leaving Blaine to finish his stretching alone so he can have a word with his boyfriend in private. "I just thought you might get upset. I mean, I didn't want you to think I was coaching him or …"
"Or cheating on me?" Kurt abandons his shoelaces to loop his arms around Sebastian's neck. "Why would I think that?"
"Well" – Sebastian reciprocates with his arms around Kurt's waist – "that was kind of a compromising position you just found us in."
"And if you were both naked in your room, I might be suspicious. But you're down here, on the ice, with skates on." Kurt giggles, an image popping into his head of Sebastian and Blaine fumbling to have sex while in their skates, pushing one another around in circles on the ice without even getting their pants undone. It's far too ridiculous an image for him to get upset over. "Besides, after that text message you sent about his coach …" Kurt tsks his silly boyfriend, his lips gently brushing his. "Sebastian, I'd like to think that you think I'm smart enough to put two and two together."
"Yeah, you are." Sebastian attempts to steal a kiss, but fails when Kurt playfully pulls away. "I just … I still get worried. I have you. I don't want to ever lose you."
"I think it's nice of you to help him," Kurt says, running his nose over Sebastian's, smiling as his boyfriend's mouth chases his. "I'm just wondering …"
"Hmm …?" Sebastian hums, his focus on Kurt's lips. "Wondering what?"
"If I get to be next." Kurt bats his eyelashes in that innocent way of his that's not so innocent, and Sebastian's body heat rises, soaring high enough to melt the ice he's standing on.
"Of course you are," he whispers, finally succeeding in swiping that kiss he's been trying to get for the past few minutes. "Any and every muscle you need loosened. I'm here for you, babe."
"But, Sebastian," Blaine interjects, sliding to a T-stop behind him. "I thought we had something special."
Kurt bursts out with a laugh so loud, he has to cover his mouth and turn his head away to silence it. Sebastian, hugging Kurt tighter, trying not to lose hold of that incredible heat, turns on Blaine with a finger pointed at his face.
"Quiet, you! Go work on your attitude."