Literally don't have a good reason this took so long to get posted. I got distracted writing some other things and real life decided to be a bitch? But still. Excuse me while I run off and hide in shame and contrition.

Before he had even begun unpacking, Nick had barged in and forcibly dragged him down the hall to Dominic's room so they could all catch up on Warbler news. They had a huge stockpile of snack food (both for throwing at each other and for eating) and several large thermoses filled with Jeff's mom's famous peppermint hot chocolate.

Most of them hadn't seen each other since they left Dalton is December and on the whole they weren't the greatest at keeping up regular correspondences. (Trent made it a point to message everyone at least once every two weeks, but you would be lucky if Jeff remembered your birthday, even with facebook notifications. In fact, the only reason Richard, David, Wes, and Blaine, had managed to stay in such close contact was because Wes had the compulsive need to immediately reply to any and all messages sent to him and had the expectation that everyone else would do the same.)

For the most part the catch up was more a chance to see each other altogether outside of practice and to shamelessly gossip. Although it wasn't an official meeting there was an unspoken expectation that everyone of them who was on campus should be there, even though many of them drifted in and out throughout the evening.

At present, the only two who were totally missing were Sebastian and Vincent who, along with the rest of the Dalton track team, were stuck in a Florida airport because their plane kept getting delayed due to mechanical issues. They, or Vince at least, were being kept abreast of the gossip via a frantic flurry of texts.

Tristan's older sister had announced that she was pregnant and it caused a bit of a scandal because she wasn't married. But she had been seeing the father for seven years so it hadn't been a total disaster. The seniors all moaned about college applications and refused to say where they had applied for fear of jinxing it while waiting to hear back. Dom's mother had caught him and his friends smoking pot in the basement and he had been grounded and had his entire stash confiscated. Trent's teenybopper sister had been caught with condoms in her school bag and she was banned from going over to her best friend's, which lead to her trying to sneak out one night. She ended up falling out of the tree by her bedroom window and breaking her wrist.

"Kids these day," Nick snorted contemptuously. "Absolutely ridiculous." No one bothered to point out that his best friend was Jeff who had a childish penchant for both randomly climbing out windows and jumping out of trees (especially when you were unsuspectingly walking beneath said tree).

They were on their third round of hot chocolate when everyone pivoted around, in eerie unison, to focus their attention on Blaine.

"My father got me an encyclopedia set for Christmas. Cassel's, 1910. The binding isn't the best, but my mother says she knows someone who can fix them; an antiques book dealer in Toledo that she went to school with." It had been yet another stellar example of the way his family worked. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the books because they certainly were interesting, even a little fun to look through and he could say with confidence that none of his friends had a set. But they hadn't exactly been at the top of his Christmas list. Or actually anywhere on it.

Fortunately, he had spent enough time around the Warblers to know to duck behind Nick in order to avoid the barrage of things thrown at him in a demonstration of their lack of appreciation for his response. He also wasn't surprised when he finally sat up only to have one last sock bounce off his nose, even knowing to direct his glare at Jeff who was innocently looking out the window.

"Nothing happened. Frey's dying fish story was more exciting."

"You can't just get a boyfriend and not tell us anything about him! That is not the Warbler way." As far as effective pouts went, Trent's wasn't that great but when the rest of the circle echoed him, Blaine finally gave in.

"…And then we agreed to just be friends," he concluded. It might not have been more boring than Frey's story, but it certainly wasn't much more interesting. Even Trent, who had always been a bit too invested in his love life, looked disappointed.

"So what does that mean about you and-"

"More hot chocolate anyone? There should be enough left for one last round!" Jeff was suddenly in the middle of the circle, dangerously brandishing the remaining thermos. The only person who jumped up faster than Blaine was Nick.

Blaine had no idea who he was about to be asked about, but whether it was Sebastian or Kurt he really didn't want to talk about it with anyone at all, and certainly not anyone in the room.

"So you saw David and Wes over the break?" Nick asked as soon as they all settled back down. "What's up with them?"

He tried to remember the best of the stories he heard and relayed them back to the group, but nothing was really sticking out in his mind. Wes was dramatically torn between two girls; Blaine's friend Marguerite and some Yale sorority girl whose name he wouldn't tell them, like it was some big secret and would mean something to them. David had made it his life goal to graduate college with a 4.0 and had spent more of his semester in the library than outside of it. There had been some roommate drama for him in the beginning, but nothing that they hadn't already dealt with. Richard had a couple of interesting stories, but most of the guys didn't really know him so he decided to save them for just the seniors.

Suddenly he missed them a lot. More than he had since he came back to Dalton and he wondered at why he hadn't so keenly noticed their absence before. Wes would've been on his right, David next to him. And Richard would be somewhere, floating around the circle and making sure he spent equally time joking with everyone. And, if he let his imagination wander enough, Sebastian would be on his left, looking too suggestive for such a public place. (It was an impossible situation, he realized. Spanning too many years and none of them were even there right now.) But still, in an ideal world…

Ben started talking and Blaine tried his hardest to listen, but no one was very surprised when he excused himself from the gathering less than half an hour later, too easily accepting of his proclamation that he wanted to be well rested for classes tomorrow. They all bid him goodnight and he felt their concerned gazes on his back as he left the room.

When he got back to his room he looked at his still packed bags and decided he couldn't be bothered. He hadn't really been lying to the guys, he was tired. So he slipped into bed and stared at the ceiling until he drifted off.

xxx

"Go back to sleep," a voice whispered into his ear while a soothing hand ran over his curls as he struggled to decide whether to be alarmed or not. His body was being gently nudged to the inside of the bed. "It's just after three. We just got in and I'm letting Vince crash in my room because his asshole of a father wouldn't pick up the phone and none of us were in a fit state to drive him home."

"Seb?" He started to pull himself awake, although the head petting and additional body heat was making it really difficult. A distant part of him remembered he was annoyed with the guy who had just invaded his bed following weeks of an inexplicable radio silence. But he was more than willing to deal with that later if it meant the scratching wouldn't stop.

"Who else would it be, killer?" He thought it sounded like the overly cautious question of someone who didn't really want to know the answer, but maybe that was just his dreamy state talking.

"Hell if I know," he assured with a sleepy giggle.

"Sleep," the voice soothed and he listened.

xxx

"You need to get up," Sebastian grumbled at him, poking his side half-heartedly. "It's ten of eight. Must've slept through your alarms."

Blaine scrambled from bed, hastily apologizing as his knee collided with something and Sebastian let out a grunt of pain. He sprinted to the bathroom, did what was probably the worst tooth-brushing job in the history of the world, and put the least acceptable amount of gel in his hair before running back to his room and frantically rifling through his still packed bag in search of socks while trying to button up his shirt.

"Don't tell me you have a free period this morning," he groaned at the lump in his bed. He and Sebastian would be having a lot of problems this semester if he didn't have class on Monday mornings.

"I wish," responded the lump. "Team's excused from morning classes. Only perk to yesterday's debacle."

Glad that he had memorized his schedule yesterday, Blaine blindly grabbed the necessary books and binders and shoved them into his satchel.

Without a thought he went back to the bed and tugged the blankets down and pressed a brief kiss to Sebastian's lips, smiling when he hummed in response and tried to deepen it. Gently, Blaine swatted at his shoulder and was out the door before he even thought what about what had happened.

It wasn't until he was just outside his classroom that his brain sparked awake enough to realize what he had done.

The domesticity of the situation wasn't really the weird part—although it kind of was. After all, he, unofficially, had a drawer in Sebastian's room and kept an extra toothbrush there. But he doesn't think he's ever been more confused about their relationship than he is now. That text on New Year's was the last he had heard from Sebastian and suddenly he was stumbling into his bed, implying that he was only there because his room was being used.

Not only that, but Blaine had dated someone since they were last together. He felt like that should change something, even though the relationship hadn't really been that meaningful or extraordinary. He's pretty positive that, if he and Eli don't stay friends, in 30 years time he won't even be able to remember his last name. But it had changed something about him.

Clearly, he was on his way to getting over his last relationship and hadn't that been the entire point of his thing with Sebastian?

By the time he made it back to his room at lunch Sebastian had gone. He considered going over to Thomas to try and find him, but that seemed unnecessarily needy. At the very least he would see him at Warbler practice later that day.

Besides, Sebastian tended to spend his lunch time at the gym so it would most likely end up being a wasted trip that left him unfairly irritated.

However, Sebastian wasn't at Warbler practice and as Blaine was informed, by a very irritated Trent, it had something to do with lacrosse obligations. They then all receive a lecture on how vital EACH and EVERY rehearsal is between then and Regionals is because they only have two months and there is every chance they'll be up against some very tough competitors. (They way Trent significantly didn't look at Blaine made it more than obvious that he was talking about New Directions.)

After that it rapidly begins to feel a bit like a lost cause; somehow Blaine and Sebastian's schedules didn't seem to sync up this semester. They had no shared free periods and Blaine's pretty sure that indoor track practices last way longer than the cross country ones did. Excepting Thursdays when Sebastian has lacrosse practice and Tuesdays when Blaine fences he has no idea what they're doing at night, but it doesn't seem to involve spending time with each other.

Following that first night Sebastian went back to sleeping in his own room and Blaine wasn't sure whether or not he was invited to follow so he didn't.

Not having to adhere to Sebastian's absurd sleeping schedule and getting to sleep until 7.30 every morning was, theoretically, great. As was not having to contort too many limbs into a too small narrow bed but somehow he hated it.

The extra evenings spent with the rest of the Warblers was, however, a fantastic benefit. After study hall they all hung out either in the Commons or, if the group was smaller, in Ben and Tristan's room. Often he found himself torn between wishing that he had done this more last semester and missing the quieter evenings he had grown accustomed to.

The thing is, he and Sebastian had spent a lot of time rebuilding their relationship and he would be damned if that were all going to be thrown away because they were too insecure or whatever their problem was. If there was a small part of his hormone-addled teenaged brain that was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his right hand, he was willing to concede that it was a problem, although hardly a contributing factor.

Not that he was expecting sex from Sebastian. There wasn't any sort of obligation there or anything. And If he wanted to go back to being just friends and lose the benefits aspect that would be more than fine with Blaine. A little shocking, maybe, but fine. Being friends with Sebastian was benefit enough. And he honestly couldn't believe he'd just thought that. Obvously he had no idea what he was doing anymore.

Vincent might have also helped make his decision when he sullenly confided, 'Bastian has been a moody bitch since training. He almost ruined SeaWorld for me, Blaine. SEAWORLD. You know how much I like sharks. I would have punched him if coach wasn't so insistent it was a bad idea and would get me thrown off the team.'

Blaine wasn't naïve enough to think he was the cause of his fellow soloists moods (maybe, a small perverse part of him hoped he was a little influential of them though.) but he was possibly foolish enough to think that he could help make things better.

"And to what do I owe such formalities?" was how he was greeted when he finally convinced himself to knock on Sebastian's door.

"Sorry, too much time spent at home," he lied smoothly, not wanting Sebastian to know exactly how unsure he was. "Next time I'll be sure to just come barging in."

"Be sure you do." Sebastian stepped away from the door to let him in, sauntering back to his desk. Which was a mess. Notebooks and discarded textbooks were strewn everywhere and various colored highlighters were scattered around. It was completely chaotic. And not the kind of organized chaos Blaine believed in.

Normally no one was more OCD than Sebastian when it came to a neat and orderly work space. Whatever was going on with him was worse than Blaine had anticipated.

"Rough week?"

"Let's call it senioritis."

Wisely, Blaine didn't comment on the fact that Smythe's were allergic to putting off work. Possibly literally. Blaine had once convinced Sebastian to spend an hour watching crappy reality television instead of working on a history essay and he had ended up with what looked suspiciously like a rash.

Instead, he settled for asking how his break had been.

"Split between Springfield, Milan, and Orlando? I've certainly had better."

"I still don't know what you have against Italy. Or Mickey Mouse. Who hates Mickey Mouse?"

"It's not Italy I mind, it's Milan. And Mickey Mouse is an overgrown rodent that's actually a guy in a ridiculous costume who spends his time getting molested by children. Or molesting adults. I'm pretty sure Pluto grabbed my ass when they forced me to take a group picture."

"How was the gala? You seemed disenchanted with it, if your text was anything to go by."

"I was disenchanted with it ten minutes after we started planning it." He sighed heavily. "The silent auction raised a lot, we gained several backers, and received the biggest donation in the history of the foundation. Chloe's delighted and certainly seemed to be enjoying herself. Rem wasn't particular satisfied, but then she never is."

"Your sister was there?

"So I was informed."

He hated Sebastian's family. As dysfunctional as his own was, Cooper would go out of his way to meet up with him if they were in the same city, much less the same room.

"Speaking of breaks… Rumor has it yours was very exciting." The tightness still hadn't disappeared from around Sebastian's mouth, if anything it only seemed to have gotten worse and Blaine could feel him getting more and more distant.

"Not really. Too much time spent at home, too little time spent at the barn. I honestly thought Toby was going to kick me when I told him I was headed back to Dalton. I don't know what he was to complain about. When I'm gone he's the most spoiled horse there. The stable hands spoil him rotten."

The look of surprised confusion and… something else on Sebastian's face was unmistakable, even if Blaine didn't understand it.

"I always forget that you have a horse." It's a confession and what sounds like an apology and he still doesn't know what it means, so he just lets it hang heavy between them. For all that he hoped to fix things, he only seemed to be making them worse. "And Eli?"

For some reason that fact that Sebastian knows his name causes something in Blaine's stomach to twist. "Eli's a nice guy. But in the end there wasn't much between us."

"Is that a reference to his—"

"What? No, Sebastian. No, it's absolutely not. Not that that is any of your business." It's reassuring to see that smirk back in place, even if it disappears into something more serious after a minute.

"Did it help?"

A question like that should be really offensive. Making it seem like there was nothing more to the relationship than the purely selfish result of Blaine getting over his ex, or like that was the reason he entered into it in the first place.

He shrugged.

"Well, I'm glad you were able to find someone. Even if it was just temporary." Not that he really sounded glad about it, or terribly sincere. But Sebastian rarely sounded sincere when he was trying to comfort; at best he sounded questioning and at worst cocndescending.

They've finally reached the crossroads in their conversation, maybe even in their relationship. It is, after all, the reason that Blaine came in the first place, to move beyond it. But now that they're there he doesn't want to be. Doesn't know what to ask or say. Sebastian takes away all his confidence and leaves him a blushing idiot who can't tell right from left.

"Come here." Sebastian says at last, holding out his arms to Blaine who automatically went to them, falling into place in the open space between his long legs. "Balls still in your court, killer. Tell me if you don't want this." Blaine shivered as Sebastian's arms slipped around his waist and his hands went into his back pockets. "Tell me you don't want this and I'll stop."

The fact that he couldn't control the moan that escaped him should have been more embarrassing than it was. "Okay," he breathed and allowed himself to be pulled down onto Sebastian's lap. On their own accord his hips rocked forward, encouraged by Sebastian's fingers digging even harder into his ass. "Fuck," he moaned.

Smirking, Sebastian mouthed his way up Blaine's neck. "That can be round two."

Thank you to all you wonderful lovelies who review, reading them absolutely makes my day whether they're lengthy novels or just a single word. And thanks to everyone who recently started following/favoriting. You're all awesome and those of you who read the entire thing in one sitting are absolute champs.

Not quite sure what posting will look like for the next few weeks. I have friends coming to stay with me for way too long and finals and packing to head back home for the holidays. But I will swear on my Harry Potter books that I'll post at least one more chapter before I leave the country.