Sebastian stepped back just a bit so he could look Kurt in the eyes. He saw the same love and joy and excitement that he felt in Kurt's eyes. A huge, almost goofy, grin spread across Sebastian's face.
Kurt slid his right hand up and wrapped it around the back of Sebastian's neck. He closed the small space between them and kissed him. "I love you, Bas. I love you more than I even knew I could love someone." He ran his thumb along Sebastian's jaw line.
Sebastian pulled Kurt closer and nuzzled his face into Kurt's neck. "I love you too."
Kurt slid his hand down Sebastian's shoulder and placed it on his upper arm. He started to sway and slow dance in place as he sang quietly into Sebastian's ear.
Can I just see you every morning when I open my eyes?
Can I just feel your heart beating beside me every night?
Can we just feel this way together 'til the end of all time?
Can I just spend my life with you?
"I've never heard that song before, but my answer is 'yes' to all four of those questions. Yes, yes, yes, and yes."
Kurt smiled and chuckled. "It's actually a duet. You could learn it and we could sing it together sometime."
Sebastian kissed him sweetly. "I'd be honored."
"Let's sit back down for a few minutes." Kurt stepped back toward the bench. He sat down and bent his left knee and turned so that he was sitting half criss-cross facing Sebastian. "I bought rings, but I had also considered the option of a tattoo on our ring fingers, but I didn't know how you'd feel about that. You don't seem to be bothered by mine, but that doesn't mean that you'd like one of your own."
"I'm not opposed to the idea. What made you consider tattoos?"
"Well, during combat class and during performances I can't wear a ring. They make stage makeup that could cover over a tattoo during a performance."
"That makes sense. So, you have rings?"
"I do. I looked around in New York and didn't really find anything that jumped out at me. I decided to look after we got here. I went out the day that you went with Celeste and Grandmère to the bank."
"Do you have the rings with you?"
"Yes." Kurt pulled a ring box out of his satchel and opened it, showing it to Sebastian.
"Oh, wow. That's unusual, but I like it. What is the stone or inlaid piece?"
"It's actually Roman glass."
"Real Roman glass?"
"Yes. Each ring is unique because they're handmade."
"Will you show me the other one?"
"Sure." He took the other ring box out of his satchel and opened it.
Sebastian took the box and compared the rings. "The glass color is slightly different but the size of the 'stone' area of the rings is pretty close to the same. And they're not the same design, but they have a similar feel and them. Some rope and a little scrollwork or twists and the look of multiple bands or rings that meld together on the back. The glass is a mixture of greens and blues. They're really interesting to look at."
"When I saw them, I just felt this connection to them for both of us. It's this beautiful piece of wearable art that's been made from something that was broken. The glass is mostly blue and green and it also reminded me of us. And even though it can never be put back together the way it was or be what it used to be, it's been put together in a way that's really beautiful still."
Sebastian wiped his eyes and handed his ring back to Kurt. "Will you put mine on me?" He held out his hand.
Kurt took the box from him and pulled the ring out. "You're sure? You can have a different ring or no ring."
"I want this ring that you picked out for me." He continued to hold out his hand.
Kurt took the ring out and slipped it onto Sebastian's finger.
"Can I put yours on you?"
"You can. Or you can pick something out yourself, if you want."
Sebastian opened the ring box back up and took the ring out. "You put a lot of thought and care into finding rings and choosing these particular rings for us, and I really like them. I love what you see in them and how you related it to us." He took Kurt's hand and slid the ring on his finger. He brought Kurt's hand up to his mount and kissed his knuckles before he interlaced their fingers and put their hands on his leg. "I love you so much."
Kurt leaned toward him with a smile that flashed through his eyes. Sebastian leaned in as well. They met in the middle and they kissed.
"I love you too."
"Tell me about how your ring search. What other things did you find along the way?"
"Well, I was looking for something non-traditional and unique. First, back in New York, I looked at spoon rings made from actual antique silver spoons. I liked the historical aspect and the individuality of the rings, but I kept looking. I also looked at signet rings, but to be honest, the ones I liked were antique ones, and were obviously handmade from their uniqueness and lack of perfection. Unfortunately, they were just weren't what I was looking for exactly, and even if they had been, they were WAY out of my price range."
Sebastian laughed. "I bet. I've seen photos of some of the really cool signet rings in history books."
"I saw these rings Monday and they just had this Old World feeling to them. They're individually crafted and the glass is obviously slightly different in each one. They came with authentication papers on the Roman glass in them. I left those back at Aunt Celeste's. I just liked how they aren't perfect, but they're really beautiful, yet completely masculine. And I already told you how they made me think of us."
"I agree. They are really beautiful and yet still very masculine. Will you put this ring box back in your bag? I didn't bring my bag with me when we left."
Kurt took it from him.
"Scoot closer to me. I want to take a picture of us here."
"Slide your leg behind me so I can lean up against your chest." He scooted closer to Sebastian and toward the front of the bench.
Sebastian repositioned himself.
"Let me hold your phone. Wrap your arms around me and hold me close. I'll hold the phone out and take the picture."
They got in a good position and Kurt took a few photos.
He held it where they could both see. "We look good," Kurt said.
"We do. You look especially happy."
"The man I love said he wants to marry me. How could I not be happy?" He shifted forward a little and turned his head and kissed Sebastian.
Sebastian took his phone back. "If it's okay with you, I'm going to post this one to our Facebook pages and send it to your parents, Sam, Isabelle and Grandma with a 'Happy New Year!' note."
"Sure. Your ring can be seen in the picture, but mine can't. That will prevent it from being a subtle engagement announcement. Do you want to tell the five of them that we're engaged?"
"Of course, but if you want to wait and do it in person, we can do that, but other than Isabelle, it will be a while before we see the other three."
"Maybe we can just send the photo and the New Year's greeting for now. It's a little after 3am there right now. They won't read the email for at least five hours. We can Skype them from Aunt Celeste's using the WiFi later today and tell them. That's as close to in person as we can get for a long time since we don't have any plans to go to Ohio any time soon."
Sebastian held Kurt close. "Why wouldn't I want to tell people?" He kissed Kurt on the cheek before he released him. "Come on. Let's get up and move. Just sitting here is starting to get too cold."
"Do you want to go for a walk and talk or go back to Aunt Celeste's?"
"Let's walk around the neighborhood a little, and then head back. One more kiss first?"
"Of course."
They kissed until they were breathless.
Sebastian opened his eyes and met Kurt's. "We're engaged."
"We are."
Sebastian leaned forward and kissed him again. "Ready?"
Kurt grabbed their cups. "Lead the way." He tossed them in the trash once as they exited the park. Once his hands were empty, he reached for Sebastian's hand and took it. "As for why you wouldn't want to tell people, I don't know, but I don't want to make assumptions. I don't want you to feel pressured in any way."
"How long have you been planning this? You said went ring shopping in New York."
"About a month."
"Really?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Well, it was perfect. And I don't feel pressured at all. I feel calm and excited. Maybe calm isn't the right word." He thought for a few seconds. "I feel secure and settled and exceptionally enthusiastic about it."
Kurt laughed. "As oxymoronic as that sounds, it's a perfect description."
"I love hearing you laugh."
"Well, that's a good thing because I feel happy around you." He squeezed Sebastian's hand. "I'd like to get married here."
"Really?"
"Yes. We only have five people that I would want to be at the wedding in the States. My parents could afford it as long as didn't spring it on them at the last minute and they could stay with one of your family members. Sam would be the only one who wouldn't be able to come up with the money easily. And you have close to 40 family members here, plus any family friends or other people you'd want to invite. And the off-chance that any of my family that's here would want to come."
"Keep in mind, though, that everyone here is used to a 2-part wedding. Everyone has to get married at the mairie, and then most people have a wedding ceremony after that. So, technically we could get married in New York, bring the paperwork with us here to the mairie to officially record and file it, and then have a wedding here with everyone."
"So, we'd just have my parents, Isabelle, Grandma Smythe, and Sam go with us to have a civil ceremony at the courthouse, or wherever it's done in New York?"
"We could. It's an option, if getting the other five here turns out to be an issue."
Kurt glanced at him while they walked. He had the biggest grin on his face again.
"You look like the cat that got cream instead of skim milk in his bowl."
"I AM the cat that got cream." He stepped closer to Kurt and let go of his hand so that he could wrap his arm around Kurt's shoulders.
Kurt wrapped his arm around Sebastian's waist. "Make that two cats with a bowl full of cream," he teased.
"I think this calls for a mid-morning celebration dessert. I know just the place, if it's open."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
A couple of hours after they had left, they returned to Celeste's place and let themselves back inside. Celeste and André were nowhere to be seen. Kurt and Sebastian hung their coats up in the closet in their room. Kurt turned around from hanging his up to find Sebastian lying on his back in the bed with his boots off. He patted the bed inviting Kurt to join him.
Kurt went around the bed slipped his boots off and lay down next to Sebastian, who turned on his side and waited for Kurt to move his arm so he could snuggle up with his head on Kurt's chest. Sebastian placed his hand on Kurt's heart. Kurt put his left hand over the top of Sebastian's. Kurt ran his fingers through the back of Sebastian's hair, causing him to make noises between moaning and purring in pleasure.
"You said you had been thinking about ring tattoos. Did you do any drawings?"
"I did. I'll show you when we get up or whenever you want to see them. Are you sure you're okay with this? Unless your family is out of the norm, it seems that couples here don't get engaged for a long time."
"I guess that's true."
"On the walk back when we were talking about telling people I realized that I hadn't really considered the cultural implications. I apologize for that. Now that I actually think about it, Georges and Letti are just now moving in together, and they've been together for four years, three years as adults, and they aren't engaged. Patrice and Leon had been together for three plus years when they got engaged. Is your family going to think I've jumped the gun? Will they be secretly upset by my abrupt proposal?"
"Well, I think one main difference is that Georges and Letti were both still living with their parents while they were in school. No rent, no expenses. It's not like they were living on their own and moving in together would have saved them money. It allowed them to not have to work. If they had moved in together before now, they would have had to work while they were going to school. And living expenses are as high here as they are in New York, so they would have had to work close to full-time to live together. And that's not impossible, but a Bachelor's degree is completed in three years here, rather than four, so the coursework is pretty intense. They would have had no time to spend together. Now that they've both been working for several months, they were able to save up to move out and live together. Patrice finished an enormous amount of schooling in a short period of time and living at home made more sense than dragging that out and working at the same time. She and Leon got engaged and she moved in with him not that long after finishing her degree. Our situation is different. We've already been living together for 13 months. I never specified to anyone that we had only become a couple right before we came this summer."
"So, there's a good chance that everyone thinks that we were together for an extended period of time before I moved in with you?"
"I didn't lie to anyone. No one actually asked. I hadn't been keeping in contact with anyone really. You knew that. They probably just think you were part of my life during the time period when I wasn't keep in contact with them. By the time I came last winter, you were already living with me. And given the somberness of the time when I was here last year, no one really grilled me on our relationship status or where you slept."
"That makes sense. And no one has ever actually asked."
"Right – because it's private. They did ask when we met and we honestly answered that we met in Ohio and that we were both 18 at the time. As much as PDA is commonplace, people's romantic lives aren't really a common topic of conversation. Like I would never consider asking when Georges and Letti first had sex. It's like everyone knows it's a normal part of life. It's not as taboo here, so it's not as titillating? I'm not sure. No one knows when we became a couple. People don't make big deals out of little things like month-iversaries, like I've heard people talk about in the States. Maybe it's because once a couple is a couple, it's seen as a permanent situation. Whereas, it seems to me that in the States that a couple's relationship status isn't stable until they're engaged. I don't know. From what I've seen, which I'll admit isn't much, it seems like people here are more realistic. They go into a relationship seeing it as a commitment and something that they have to work at to make it a good relationship. I guess what I've seen in the States is one or both of the parties being really reckless with how they treat the whole situation."
"More of a 'Let's try this out and see.' versus 'I'm going to put my all into making this work.'"
"Yeah. And I know that's being very broad and generalizing a lot. You're not like that. You're an 'all in' kind of guy. And there are other people like that, but I don't think they're viewed as the norm."
"I agree, which is why I kept asking you questions the night you told me how you felt because I don't do casual sex or friends-with-benefits type of relationships. I wasn't aware of any of the cultural differences then. I needed to know that you were 'all in' as well."
Sebastian tipped his head back and kissed Kurt on the neck. "I know, mon feu. You were scared, but you took a chance on me. You gave me the chance to prove to you that I can be trusted."
Kurt kissed the top of his head. "I do trust you. I'm not scared anymore. Like you said earlier I feel secure and settled and I want to grow old with you. I want to travel with you. I want sit on our sofa and snuggle and read with you. I want you to sit behind me and hold me close while we drink coffee in the mornings. I want to dance with you. I want to lie close to you and just be with you."
"I want all of that too. When were you thinking of getting married?"
"I had considered spring break, but that wouldn't give us very long here. After graduation is a possibility. I'm not 100% set on a date or anything. I just know that I want it to be something we enjoy, not something that we fight over." Kurt kissed the top of his head and interlaced their fingers. "If the process and planning isn't enjoyable for both of us, I would rather go down to the courthouse, just the two of us with Sam as our witness, and have a quick legal ceremony and get back to enjoying our lives together." He continued to run his fingers through Sebastian's hair as he talked. "No decorations or themes or venues are worth being upset with you. What typically happens when a couple gets engaged?"
"Well, in religious families, I guess it's probably still traditional for the groom to talk to the bride's family ahead of time and get their blessing ahead of time. After that, there's usually a small church ceremony and a family party. I don't think there's any equivalent event in the States. I've heard about these engagement parties, but I've never been to one. Our family isn't religious and even if they were, we wouldn't have a church ceremony because the two of us aren't religious. And even if we were, the church wouldn't allow it. The whole engagement ceremony thing is mostly to give the close family members a chance to meet each other, and in the past to give the families a chance to approve or disapprove of the pairing. I remember something about the woman not being able to wear the ring until after both families had approved of their engagement. I'm not sure how much of that still goes on. The things I've heard are from stories that Aunt Celeste, Aunt Louise, and Aunt Vivienne have told."
"I see."
"Matthieu and Suzanne got married when I was about 12, I think. I wasn't really paying any attention. I don't recall any type of engagement party that I was a part of. I did go to their wedding. Fernand and Joanna and Simone and Garren got married when I was in Ohio. I met Joanna and Garren when I was here last winter. And Patrice and Leon got engaged before we came last summer. So, I'm as out of the loop about what is expected as you are."
"Okay."
"And even if there's still some archaic tradition of asking the father of the bride for the bride's hand in marriage, neither one of us will be brides. The only parent involved in our lives is your dad. And as far as I can tell, he already approves of me."
"He approves, so does Carole. Not that I've told them anything about asking you to marry me. I just know that they both really like you."
"We can Skype with your parents, Sam, Isabelle, and Grandma later like we had already said."
"I don't want anyone to feel obligated to host a party. All of us were already together last weekend and we'll be together for Patrice and Leon's wedding. I'd rather the focus be on them before their wedding. Maybe we should go over to Grandmère's and tell her first?"
"That's a good idea. But I have another good idea."
"What's that?"
"You roll over and face me and we kiss."
Sebastian scooted back a bit and Kurt rolled onto his side. He started their little kissing game, causing Sebastian to laugh. It didn't take Sebastian long to cave and kiss Kurt for real, still smiling. They lay in each other's arms, lost in the pure pleasure of kissing.
Sebastian's phone alarm went off. He rolled over and picked it up. "As much as this is what I really want to do, your proposal completely pushed our plans for today right out of my head. We're supposed to be at Georges and Letti's new place at 1:00 to help them assemble everything they're having delivered from Ikea."
"We need to leave, don't we? Are we already late?"
"Nope. It's just 11:30, but we need to change into the most comfortable clothes that we brought with us."
"Sweats it is." He scooted over and crawled on top of Sebastian and pinned him to the bed and kissed him. "We'll continue this later."
"I'd rather continue it now. We have to undress anyway." He pulled Kurt's shirt untucked and ran his hands along Kurt's lower back.
"You're right. Now's good." He pushed up onto his knees and began to unbutton Sebastian's shirt.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
"You're late," Letti said. "That's not like you. Is everything okay?"
"Better than okay, much better," Sebastian said, cheerfully. "Where's the truck?"
"Later than you," she teased. "What's going on?"
He stepped closer to Kurt and wrapped his arm around him. He glanced his direction and Kurt smiled at him, stepping even closer and leaning into his side.
"Kurt asked me to marry him this morning."
"That's great!"
"What's great?" Georges asked, as he came around the corner carrying a box.
"Kurt asked Sebastian to marry him. They're engaged."
Georges sat the box down and pulled Sebastian into a hug. Sebastian was clearly surprised, but hugged him back. "You deserve all the happiness in the world. I'm so glad for the two of you. We saw how good the two of you were together this summer. I was so excited for you that you finally had something – someone good in your life."
Letti looked at Georges and he nodded.
"This morning when we came to flat, we went upstairs and as soon as I closed the door behind us and turned around, Georges was one knee and he proposed." She took her glove off and showed Kurt and Sebastian her ring.
"It's beautiful, Letti," Kurt said. He stepped closer and hugged her. "Did you talk about a date?"
"No, not yet. We're just super excited to finally be living together."
"There's the truck," Georges said. "I'm going to run this up. I'll be right back down."
The delivery guys carried the larger boxes up. The other four took turns carrying the other boxes up. A half-hour later, everything was inside their flat.
Kurt looked around once everything was in. The flat was rectangular with the narrow front wall being comprised of a double window that was half window, half door that led out to a small balcony. The door into the flat was in the back right corner of the room, and opened back to the left against a short wall. Behind the door was the door to the bathroom. Due to its small size, the door opened outward. Other than the bathroom being a small room off the left side, taking up a corner of the floor space, the rest of the flat was open space with no closets or cabinets of any type.
Letti was super excited and gave them a tour. She opened the bathroom door. "It's really cool because the previous owners redid the bathroom. We can fit a washing machine in that open cabinet under the sink. And the shower is fabulous." She came back out of the bathroom and stood in the center of the room. She pointed to the wall that ran along the bathroom. The small wall the bathroom door was on extended a couple of feet past the door, creating an alcove along the side of the wall that faced the room. "That's going to be the kitchen area. The fridge is going in the corner. The sink will be in the middle and a stove on the end." She turned and pointed to the left wall when facing the windows. "This whole side of the wall is going to be cabinets and storage." She pointed to the opposite wall. "This will have the convertible sectional."
"What do you want to do first?" Kurt asked, nearly matching her level of enthusiasm.
"The sectional will be last. I'd like it if you and Sebastian could put the kitchen cabinets together first because we can't move in until we can eat here. I didn't want to ask you two to paint because I don't want you to mess up your clothes. That's what was in the box that Georges brought up. We're going to leave the kitchen area white except the small part that will show at the top of the cabinets. We're going to get those cool glass tiles and tile the wall area between the countertops and the cabinets. We're going to paint the rest of the room a really pale turquoise. We're not going to waste paint on the wall with all of the cabinets. We'll just paint the part at the top and the small section that will show where we have to leave space for the refrigerator door to open back."
Kurt and Sebastian nodded. Everyone looked through the stack of boxes to find all of the pieces to the storage units to move them to one area. They stacked all of the boxes for the sectional in one area as well.
"If anyone has a sewing machine, you could pick out some nice looking king-sized sheets and I could turn them into curtains."
"We actually bought curtains that we like, but they're for narrower windows. I bought two packs. I was going to take them to a tailor or just leave them hang in three sections. We don't need the fourth panel, but they came in sets of two. Could you sew the three panels together?"
"More than likely."
"That would be amazing if you can. I'm pretty sure that Aunt Vivienne still has a sewing machine."
About an hour later, Patrice and Leon showed up to help. They began assembling the top cabinets for the kitchen area. Once they had gotten all of the cabinets assembled, the top of the wall was dry enough to start the installation. Leon had borrowed tools from a friend and Patrice oversaw the process, knowing exactly how to do it and making a good foreman by explaining what Kurt and Sebastian needed to do.
By 7:00, they were all hungry and tired. They ordered pizzas from a place nearby and sat around on the floor eating them after they were delivered.
Georges looked around. "It's starting to look like what we had imagined."
Letti leaned up against him and smiled. "It really is. I really like the pale turquoise. We saw some other places we liked that actually had a bedroom, but we couldn't afford that. Prices here are insane. I'm sure they are in New York as well."
"They are," Kurt said. "In Manhattan a place like this would be probably $2000-2500 a month, depending on its exact location. The first place I lived in New York was $1800 and it was bigger, but it was empty. Brick walls, a wood floor, and a tiny bathroom. We had to put in appliances and stuff like you are, but it was a rental. And it was a 45-minute train ride, not counting the walk to and from the subway stations. We put up curtains for the room dividers. It was not a good living situation."
"You said you two met in high school," Letti said curiously.
Kurt answered. "We did. Bas was at the private boarding school I had gone to the year before, which was about 90 minutes from where I actually lived. I had gone back to the school in my own district the year he started there. We were in rival show choirs, but since I had gone there the year before, we had quite a few mutual acquaintances."
Sebastian added. "I didn't really make any friends that year. I wasn't in the right mindset to put any effort towards reaching out."
Everyone nodded.
"I graduated and moved to New York at the end of the summer after that school year and got a job at Vogue working for Isabelle. He had another year left of high school. I knew she was from Ohio, but I didn't find out for a while that she was Sebastian's father's first cousin. We met up again after he moved to New York."
Patrice said, "Is one of you two going to enlighten us as to why you're wearing very similar rings that you didn't have on last night?"
"Kurt and I are engaged."
"Congratulations! That's exciting. Who all knows?" she asked.
"Well, we told Letti and Georges when we got here. We went to Grandmère's place on the way here, which is why we were late."
Letti said, "It's okay. You got here before the truck, which is what counts."
Sebastian asked, "Who all knows about the two of you?"
"I told Patrice, of course. But Georges and I haven't been to see our parents yet because we had to go get this stuff this morning. We'll tell them tonight."
"You four and Grandmère are the only ones that know. We'll Skype Kurt's parents and my grandma and Isabelle when we get back to Aunt Celeste's."
Patrice examined Letti's ring. "It's really beautiful, Letti. I know you always wanted a gorgeous opal ring and Georges did a good job."
He smiled. "I just paid attention when she saw rings that she liked."
"Paying attention is a good thing," Patrice said. She turned and took Sebastian's hand. "Your rings look like Roman glass."
"Yes," Kurt said.
"You got these here in Paris, didn't you?"
"I did. Earlier this week. I looked a lot of rings in New York and didn't find what I was looking for."
She took his hand next. "I like how they really are similar, yet completely different, but from a distance, they look alike."
"Thanks."
Kurt got up the nerve to ask. "I may be half French, but I really have no experience with day-to-day life here other than the time I spent last summer. What happens after a couple gets engaged here? What will your parents do once you tell them this evening?"
Letti said, "It's not going to shock them or anything. We just bought a flat together. The only thing that will be a surprise is how he did it and what my ring looks like. As for what they will do – they'll probably just have dinner with Stella and Tristan and the two of us. We might talk about a timeline at some point, but maybe not."
"So, there won't be a big engagement party or anything?"
She said, "I think that type of thing is something that some people do with their friends, but I don't know anyone personally who has had one. Maybe older people who aren't really close to their families? I'm not sure, but we're not having one."
Patrice said, "When we got engaged, our parents got together at Leon's parents' place and the six of us had dinner. We told them about me moving with Leon and we told them that we'd start considering dates once we'd lived together for several months and looked into ideas and options."
Georges said, "Enough relaxing. There are more cabinets to put together."
Letti encouraged them by saying, "Now that there are six of us working on them, it should go faster."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. He ran his fingers through Sebastian's hair and kissed him on the top of his head.
From his cozy spot on Kurt's chest, Sebastian asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"You, us. Just relaxing. And thinking. They had to get really creative with only having about 200 sq. feet. Setting the benches for the table at the end of the sectional like end tables and getting that table that folds down on both sides and is only like 10 inches across was a great choice. I'm excited to go back and help them finish getting everything put together and in place."
"I'll take you to Aunt Vivienne's tomorrow morning. Once you've finished sewing the curtains, you can come to Georges and Letti's. I'll leave you with my phone so you can make sure not to get lost or call Georges if something changes. Are you sure you want to spend the afternoon working on their place? We don't have to. You can bring the curtains and we can go do something else."
"I really like them. Do you not want to spend the day at their new place again?"
"Yes and no. I really do want to, but it makes me remember working on putting everything together in New York by myself. I had just started to see the therapist that Isabelle set me up with. I hadn't even opened up to Isabelle much at that point – just enough to be friendly-ish since she was trying to help me. Building all of their stuff with the rest of you is so much fun, but it does bring that time in my life back to the forefront of my mind. But the 'yes' part of my answer is the real answer. It's just hard for me to believe that things are so different. I never considered that I might find someone who could seamlessly fit into my family here. It's like a dream sometimes."
Kurt brought Sebastian's hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles. "Well, you're aren't imagining things, but I do understand that feeling. The thought that I'd find someone who loves the real me is hard enough for me to believe, but that your family accepts me is doubly hard to believe. Every day that we're here makes me want to stay all the more. Are there other people you'd like to spend time with?"
"Georges and Letti and Noelle and Patrice have been my closest friends for a long time. We went to the same schools, and except for Patrice, we were in the same class throughout the lower grades. And I'm not sure if you remember because I probably only said it that once when I first drew the family tree for you, Aunt Celeste and my grandma were very close and when she died, Aunt Celeste pretty much took my mom in as her own daughter. She included me and my mom in everything she planned for her own two kids, their spouses, and kids. Damien was enough younger than us that we'd play with him when we were all at George's and at family gatherings here, but we never included him when we ran around with our friends because he was just a kid. He was 9 when we started high school. When I left, he was 12. Patrice was ahead of us in school. But like I said, she wasn't super social and she hung out with us rather than kids in her grade. She started college the year the rest of us started high school. We had other friends that were in our grade, but when I went to Ohio I didn't keep in contact with them either. When we came last summer, it was like a huge reunion plus an amazing vacation with you. I loved every minute of it and I didn't really feel the need to reconnect with anyone else at the time because there was the underlying feeling that it might be the last time I got to come for a long time. It was more important to me for the two of us to travel together and to spend the rest of the time with family. But if we're going to be able to come more frequently, I might be more inclined to look people up. I'm not sure. By the time we could come back again, five years will have passed since I spent any time with anyone I was friends with back then. I've changed in that five years. Of course, I'm still myself, but I'm not that happy-go-lucky 17 year old they knew anymore. I'm a grown man, who has been through a lot and come out the other side of a really dark period to be happy and whole again. If we ever decide to move back here to stay, we'll both meet new people and I might run into old friends and rekindle a friendship with some of them, if it seems like an adult friendship is a possibility."
"That makes a lot of sense." Kurt reached over and picked his phone up. It's almost 11:30. Are you ready to Skype everyone?"
He tipped his head back and Kurt tipped his head down to kiss him. "Sure."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
"You two were up and about early this morning," Carole said.
"We got up fairly early this morning, but it's weird because the sunrise is so late here this time of year. That picture we sent was taken about 9:00, which was only 15 minutes after sunrise."
"Oh, wow," Carole said. "That is a late sunrise."
"And it's dark by a little after 5:00," Kurt said.
"Did you have a fun New Year's Eve?"
Kurt nodded. "We did. We went to see the fireworks down near the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing, but super crowded."
"I like the picture. You both looked really happy. I'm going to print it."
"Is Dad around?"
"Yeah, he's watching the Rose Bowl or the Cotton Bowl? I'm sure he told me who is playing, but I've forgotten."
"Those games go all day. There's like four in a row. Is it close to half time?"
"There are actually five today and three of them were on at the same time. THAT I remember."
"I'm sure Dad fussed about the need to change between channels."
She rolled her eyes. "I'll go see if I can pry him away." She moved out of the camera range.
A few minutes later, they both into view.
"Hey, Dad."
"Happy New Year's. Did you two do anything exciting? I know it's late at night there already."
"Did you see the picture we sent?" Kurt asked.
"I did. You look happy – like you're having a good time over there."
"We are."
"We took that picture a few minutes after I asked Sebastian to marry me."
"You're engaged?" Carole asked excitedly. "You did say 'yes', right, Sebastian?"
"I said 'yes'," he said with a huge grin on his face. "Of course I said 'yes'."
"Congratulations!" she said. "I'm so excited for you."
"Thanks," Kurt said. "We're excited too."
Burt said, "Well, I can't say that I wasn't expecting that at some point because I was. Have you thought about when?"
"I want to get married here. We haven't set a date or anything, and I know that plane tickets don't grow on trees. But Sebastian has a lot of relatives here and I have five. You know that I've been keeping in contact with Mémé Jacqueline and Aunt Danielle. We'd want you two, Grandma Smythe, Isabelle, and Sam to be at the wedding. I'm sure that Sebastian's Aunt Celeste will let you stay here with us. She has three bedrooms. Sam can sleep on the couch here, if necessary. We can work it out. All of Sebastian's great aunts and uncles have an empty bedroom and over half of his aunts and uncles do. The other half still have kids living at home."
"I'd LOVE to go to Paris!" Carole said enthusiastically.
"We'll work on it, bud. It'll work out. You two are happy together. That's what matters."
"Thanks, Dad. You can go back to watching the Rose Bowl. We need to call Grandma Smythe and Isabelle too."
"Alright. Congratulations. We'll talk again soon." He moved away from the camera view.
Carole said, "I won't keep you two since it's so late there and you need to make more calls. Thanks for calling and telling us. You're so good together. I'm really excited for you two."
"Thanks," they said in unison.
Kurt said, "We'll talk soon."
"Bye."
Kurt turned to Sebastian and kissed him on the cheek. He squirmed and ran his hand across the area.
"That tickles."
"Ah, the perils of the beard. I might have to try it out on your ribs."
Sebastian covered his ribs protectively. "You wouldn't."
"I might…"
Sebastian laughed. "Maybe just a little bit."
"You know if you don't like it, I'll stop."
"I do know." He rearranged a little bit and kissed Kurt. "Grandma or Isabelle next?"
"Well, in theory, we could do both at the same time if we both connect to the internet and make separate calls."
"We can try."
Kurt got his phone out of his backpack, where he kept most of the time because he didn't have an international calling plan. "Alright. Let's see what happens. I'll Skype Isabelle."
Grandma Smythe picked up first.
"Hello, Sebastian, dear."
"Happy New Year, Grandma."
"To you as well. And Kurt. That was a lovely photo of the two of you I got this morning. I take it that you're enjoying your visit."
"We are."
Isabelle called back after having missed Kurt's call.
"Hey, Isabelle. Sebastian has Grandma on his phone. It's our makeshift way to do a conference call using Skype. Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year to you. So, why are you two calling both of us at the same time?"
Sebastian was the one to answer this time. "Kurt asked me to marry him this morning. We took that picture we sent this morning right afterwards."
"Well, that would explain why the two of you were grinning like loons," Isabelle said.
"I told them it was a lovely photo," Grandma Smythe said.
"Oh, it is, Grandma. They just looked extra happy in it, and not in a cheesy Happy New Year's way. Congratulations!"
"Yes, dears. I'm happy for the two of you. You're not eloping while you're there are you?"
"No, Grandma, but we would like to get married here. We'd like you two and Kurt's parents and Sam to come here."
"Sebastian has so many relatives here that he would like to be part of the wedding."
"I understand, dear. I'm not sure that I'm up for a flight to France, but we'll see. Isabelle, your parents, and Sam could make the trip easily. I'm assuming that you've told them."
"We just hung up from talking to Kurt's parents. We've only told four of my cousins and my Grandmère so far here. We'll tell the rest of them as we see them."
Isabelle said, "Well, as soon as I know what you want to wear for this most amazing occasion, I will start looking into finding it for you."
"Thanks, Isabelle."
"It's nearly midnight over there," she said. "I won't keep you up. We can talk more when you get back."
"Yes, Isabelle is right. Thank you for calling and sharing your good news, dears. Good night."
"Good night," they said in unison, and disconnected both calls.
Kurt pressed Sam's name.
"Hey, Kurt. Happy New Year!"
"Thanks."
Sebastian moved closer to Kurt.
"Hey, Sebastian."
"Hey, yourself. We called to tell you something besides Happy New Year."
"What's that?"
"Kurt asked me marry him this morning."
"I KNEW it! Congratulations!"
Stacey came into the camera viewing range. "You knew what, Sammy?"
"Kurt and Sebastian got engaged."
"That's cool!" She ran off again.
Kurt laughed. "That was quick."
Sam said, "I'm happy for the two of you. My good news is that my family likes Lexi. She got here two days ago. That's where Stacey ran off to – to go back to playing with Lexi."
"That is good news. I won't keep you. It's nearly midnight here already."
"Get some sleep. Thanks for calling and telling me."
"Of course, we called to tell you," Kurt said. "You're our best friend. We'll see you soon, I hope."
Sebastian said, "That wasn't a hint. That's a request."
"Got it. I'll come for the weekend soon. I promise. See ya." He disconnected the call.
"We need to get some sleep. I have curtains to sew in the morning and you have cabinets to put together."
He took Kurt's phone and put it with his and crawled across the bed and sat in Kurt's lap. He ran his thumb across Kurt's lower lip. "Ah, but right now, I have these perfect lips to kiss." He kissed Kurt, and they kissed until they were breathless.
"You make a valid point there." He pulled Sebastian towards him and resumed the kissing.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
When Kurt arrived the next day a little after noon, all of the storage cabinets were put together and were in place. The curtain rod was up. Kurt, Sebastian, and Georges worked together to hang the large curtain up.
Once they let her open her eyes, Letti exclaimed, "I love it! I like how it doesn't have any gaps now. We just need a way to be able to open it all the way back more easily."
"All we need is a dowel rod. We can cut it and use the drill to put a hole in it and fasten it to the curtain. Or maybe you can buy one. At our hardware stores, they sell clear acrylic ones as replacements for the ones that come with blinds."
"I'll have to look," she said. "Next up, the sectional."
They got the directions out and stacked the boxes for each part together. Noelle and Edmond arrived about ten minutes later. Letti opened the door and let them in.
"Oh, my!" Noelle hugged her. "Letti, it already looks so perfect in here. Just like what you had described. I love those curtains."
"Thank you. You're just in time to help us put the sectional together."
They divided up into two groups and got to work on the two sections. Once they had finally finished, they moved the two parts into position. They all stepped back and looked around. The dark royal blue sectional was the same color as the darkest blue in the curtains, which had a white background with three colors of blue geometric shapes. The pale turquoise walls were the color of the palest blue in the curtains.
"It looks so nice," Letti said. "All that's left is that stuff." She pointed to another pile of boxes. "We have the shoe cabinet that's going to go on this wall." She pointed to the small wall the bathroom door was on. "And the table still needs assembled. I also have coat hooks to put on the wall by the door. After that, all we have left is to paint the doors the same color of white as the cabinets, but we can do that tomorrow."
Georges went over to the stack and pulled one of the boxes off and handed it to Sebastian. He and Kurt got busy assembling the shoe cabinet, while the others worked on the other two projects. Once they had the cabinet together, they got it fastened to the wall.
"We're going to need to get going," Sebastian said. "We need to get back to Aunt Celeste's and change to go to dinner with Kurt's family."
"It's looks really great in here. When the appliances are delivered Monday, this place will be perfect," Kurt said.
"Thanks for all of your help," Letti said. "I hope you have a nice time at your aunt and uncle's."
"My grandma's been slowly coming around. Old ideas are hard to overcome and the shock of all of it was a lot to take in when I was here this summer. We've been corresponding here and there. I send her emails about what I'm involved in and doing and she's sent me a few emails back. We're making progress. I can't imagine being in her position. I mean I know I was surprised to find out that she was alive and that I had other relatives, but that was a good surprise. I can't imagine living all those years thinking her child had died about 15 years after she thought she had."
"Hatred is so awful," Letti said.
Edmond looked very confused.
"You guys can tell Edmond the story. We need to go so we aren't late."
They grabbed their coats and waved to everyone as they left.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After dinner, the seven of them moved to the living room. Clara and Victor took their dining chairs with them, placed them in front of the TV, facing the sofa, and sat down. Kurt and Sebastian sat in the love seat, leaving the sofa to Mémé Jacqueline, Danielle, and Gabriel.
Mémé Jacqueline nodded to Victor, who got up and got a book off a nearby shelf and gave it to Kurt. He sat back down.
"Go ahead and open it, just briefly so you can see better what it is. Clara and Victor helped me with it. I didn't want to give up my original photos and things I had saved that Elizabeth had drawn or composed, but they took the originals and turned them into that book. I also wrote out some stories from when she was growing up and they typed them in. I included the ones I had already sent you. I don't have any idea how all of that technology works, but it came out really nice."
Kurt opened it up and saw some baby photos and flipped through a few more pages. He saw drawings and some poems. He closed the book and sat it next to him on the end table. "Thank you." He wiped his eyes. "I will read every word." He looked at Clara and Victor. "Thank you for taking the time to do this for me."
"You're welcome," Victor said.
"I have a little tablet I can use for emails and watching shows that they got for me last Christmas, but I'm not very good at most of it. They let me use their laptops to open the video files you sent of your performances. Despite having no idea what you were saying, your talent is quite obvious. You have a lovely voice."
"Thank you."
"I know all of this is still difficult. And none of us really knows how to make it easier," Danielle said. "We'd really like to know about your life. What was your childhood like? How did you spend your time? What were your favorite activities?"
Kurt nodded. "Okay. I guess I can tell you about some of that, but I'd rather it not just be a one-way conversation. I'd like to get to know all of you too. Maybe we can choose a few questions and we each answer them in turn. We don't have other plans for the evening. If you're willing to stay for a while, we are too."
Danielle looked around at everyone else and no one seemed to have a problem with the idea. "Alright. Maybe we can each start with…" She thought for a minute. "How about favorite childhood book and why it was your favorite."
They went around the room and answered. When it was Mémé Jacqueline's turn, her answer surprised everyone.
"I didn't have a favorite book as a child or young person. We didn't live here in Paris back then. I grew up pretty isolated and my mother taught me at home. I was only allowed to read history books or the Bible, which was in Latin. I did study some Latin, but merely enough to recite key passages my father deemed important to know. He was a very practical man, who had no time for nonsense or tomfoolery. He believed that idle hands were unacceptable. From very young, I was given chores to fill my free time. Those behaviors were deeply ingrained. I didn't read much back then. I honestly didn't even know about fiction books until I moved out of my parents' home. I married Jean and moved to the closest city to where I grew up to live with him. I started to read a little more after Elizabeth got old enough to learn to read because she wanted to go to the library. I didn't dare bring silly books home, but I would read books while we were there. Sometimes it took a long time to get through a book if someone checked it out, but I would just read part of another one and keep track of where I was on a small paper I kept in my bag. I found that I enjoyed some fantasy books or fiction books set in another time. I read mostly books for pre-teens at first. As I got better at reading, I read more advanced books. I bought a French dictionary with Jean's permission by telling him that it was for the girls for school, but I used it myself as much as they did. I can't really name a specific book that was my favorite, but I enjoyed books about King Arthur quite a bit." She looked to Kurt to go next.
"Well, I had so many that I loved, but I liked books that had characters who managed to overcome the problems in their lives and succeed despite the difficulty of their situations. By the time I was 10 or so, I was already being teased and told that God hated fags and that I would burn in hell. I didn't like the idea that there was some all-powerful being somewhere who created me and supposedly knew everything about me, but made me in a way that caused others to hate me and gave me no way to gain his approval since I couldn't change the thing about myself that made me hated. I'm not a religious person, but I did pray for a while. Nothing changed. I wanted to be accepted. I prayed to be straight. I still liked boys and nothing I did made that stop. I even attempted to date a girl when I was older. I escaped to the worlds in the books to avoid the hatred of those around me. I hoped to one day find a place where I could be myself and I could find people who liked me and didn't consider me to be a terrible person without even getting to know me. I kept doing the things I loved like sewing and creating clothing designs, and singing, despite being tormented for it. Fiction books helped me survive the real world." Kurt wiped his eyes again.
Mémé Jacqueline spoke again. "My father was very strict. I moved to Paris after Jean died. Now that I am older and I've seen how Gabriel treats Danielle and the kids – I began to question my upbringing and hers and Elizabeth's. I didn't know any men who were gentle and kind. Jean was less strict than my father and he didn't make so many demands on me or Danielle and Elizabeth. But when I went through Elizabeth's stuff, I found those poetry books and books of drawings that she had hidden in her half of their room. I'm assuming that she had others from when she was older, but that she took them with her."
"She drew, but if she had books of poetry that she wrote, I've never seen them. I suppose it's possible that my dad has them somewhere, but since he can't read French, maybe he kept them to himself since he didn't know what they said? I'll ask. I just know that whatever happened after she left, she considered it final. She never told me that she had a sister and she told me that her parents were dead. She may very well have said 'aren't around anymore' or some other euphemism since I was a child."
"I'm assuming that Jean told her that she was no longer a member of our family and that she had no family. I have spent a lot of time thinking, trying to remember back then to see if there's anything that he did that gave any indication that he was lying and I haven't been able to come up with anything. He was absolutely convincing. I knew nothing about international laws about deaths of foreigners while in the United States or anything. I never questioned his statement. After you came last summer and we met, I did some inquiring. What he said could not have been the truth because it didn't follow any of the international laws on transporting remains. But I swear that I didn't doubt what he said back then. He was utterly convincing by being absolutely detached about the whole thing. Acting like it was just another fact of life, like water is wet. He said, 'I told her not to go. I even forbade her to go. She didn't listen and look what happened.' That's all I remember him saying about it."
"I believe you, Mémé. I do know what it's like to trust someone and have them utterly destroy that trust."
"I'm sorry to know that you understand at such a young age." She looked at Sebastian.
"No, Mémé. It wasn't Sebastian who did it. He's a good man."
She nodded. "I also went to talk to some people about being gay. I'm old and I'm not well-educated. I'm learning about how to use computers, but I'm just not very good at it yet. I made my first email account after I got my tablet last Christmas. I know the church condemns being gay, just like they condemn divorce and other things. But I spoke to a few different people. One priest just showed me a couple of places in the Bible, but he didn't really have anything other than his own opinion about it besides those few verses. I went and talked to a couple of other people – one at a support center for gay people and another at a clinic. Both of them were very informative. I wasn't sure how to reconcile what you mentioned earlier – the Bible's claim that God knows each of us from before we are born and the very convincing scientific research that I was provided with showing that being gay isn't a decision – that despite many people wanting to stop being gay, nothing, even terrible things the support center told me about, has the ability to change anyone's sexual orientation. I cried reading the stories people had written about things they did to try to stop being gay and the things that other people had done to them to make them stop. I just want you to know that the inner conflict between believing the Bible is true and believing the science and personal stories are true will no longer affect how I feel. I'm just going to leave the inability to reconcile the two in a place in my brain where I file things like not understanding how rockets work or how heart transplants work or how I can use a phone that is not plugged into anything and make phone calls or how a supercomputer fits inside that same phone. I'm an old woman and I don't have to understand to feel the genuine hurt and pain in those stories. You've only mentioned that you were mistreated, and I am not asking you for details."
"Sorry to interrupt. I just want to make sure that you realize that my father was very loving and supportive. He wasn't one of the people that made my life miserable."
"I didn't think he was, but I can understand you wanting to make sure that I didn't. As I was saying, I am an old woman and I have been given the opportunity to be a part of your life. I am not going to squander that because I don't understand the issue of predetermination and the science behind people being born gay and not able to choose otherwise. Protestants and Catholics have been arguing for centuries on the issues of predetermination according to that priest I talked to. I didn't even know there was a word for the idea. If people a lot smarter than me can't figure it out, what makes me think that I need to? I bought myself a Bible in a modern French translation and read the parts that had what Jesus taught in them. He said lots of things about loving people, especially your family, and he said lots of things about not judging people and he didn't seem to care much for hypocrites. He said to love everybody. I may not be smart enough to understand the arguments about doctrine and all that stuff the priest talked about, but I understand perfectly fine when Jesus said the two most important things were to love God and to love everyone the way you want to be loved. Even a simple woman like me can understand that. I can do that. You are you and I want all of us to be a part of your life in any way that we can, given that you live so far from here. I don't want you to leave this time wondering if your family accepts you. I'm not going to be part of that. I lost Elizabeth because I didn't stand up to Jean when he threatened to disown her if she left. I won't do that again over the fact that you love Sebastian."
Tears were streaming down Kurt's face. Sebastian scooted closer and wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulder. Kurt leaned into him. Danielle got up and brought a box of tissues out and took a couple for herself before she handed the box to Kurt and sat back down. He wiped his eyes and nose.
He took a couple of deep breaths, willing himself to stop crying enough to speak. "Thank you, Mémé."
She got up from the sofa and walked over to the love seat and held her arms out. "I can't undo the past, but I'm really glad that Sebastian's uncle helped you find us."
Kurt stood up and hugged her. "Me too."
She stepped back and went back to sit on the sofa. She looked at Danielle and said, "I think your conversation starting topic was perfect."
Danielle smiled and nodded. "What she said goes for the rest of us. Not that any of the rest of us had any issues with you being gay, but the part about wanting to be part of your life in any way that we can."
Kurt nodded, and then turned toward Victor and Clara. "Can I ask you two something?"
"Sure," Clara said.
"It's okay if you say 'no', but the two of us and some of Sebastian's cousins and their partners are going to go out to a karaoke place tomorrow evening. Are the two of you actually friends? Or do you have your own separate group of friends?"
Victor answered, "Yes, we're actually friends. Some of our friends are mutual friends. We also have other friends that we do things with separately sometimes since we've made some friends in college."
"I'll go with you. What about you, Victor?"
"Sure. I'm an okay singer, but nothing amazing. As long as the whole place isn't filled with people who sing like you, Kurt, I should be okay."
Clara said, "I won't get up and sing, but I'll cheer for the three of you and any of Sebastian's cousins that get up and sing. You said Sebastian's cousins were bringing their partners. Do you want the two of us to come alone or can we bring ours?"
"Sure. Either way is fine." Kurt had finally relaxed again. He reached over and put his hand on Sebastian's leg. "I have something else to share with you. Sebastian and I are engaged."
"Congratulations!" Danielle said. "I noticed the rings you're both wearing, but I didn't want to intrude and ask about them."
"We're currently hoping to have a wedding ceremony here at some point in time, but it will take some planning."
"Of course," Danielle said. "Weddings always take a good bit of planning."
"We're in the unusual situation of not hosting some type of parental get-to-know-each-other type of dinner or anything." Kurt looked at Sebastian and he nodded. "Sebastian's mother is also deceased, and his father disowned him for being gay. His mother's parents are also deceased. His mother's grandmother is still alive. His father's grandmother and her granddaughter Isabelle are his only relatives that acknowledge him in the States. But if the five of you are interested in meeting his great aunt Celeste and her husband André, who took over the role of grandparents when his died, we'd be glad to arrange that at some point. We're not leaving until the 17th. I'm not sure if Sebastian or his family have any other plans besides one his cousins' wedding on the 15th, but I'm sure we can work something out. You all can talk about it later, and let me know."
Danielle nodded. "I actually made custard for dessert, if you'd like some."
Kurt's eyes lit up. "Yes, please. We brought a silly game that my parents gave us for Christmas, if you'd like to try it out."
"I'm not big on games, but I'll be adventuresome and give it a try," Danielle said. "Bring the chairs back to the table and we'll learn how to play."
An hour later, they had all enjoyed themselves rolling the pigs and laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole game. Gabriel finally spoke a bit and everyone seemed to finally relax around each other. When they had had enough, Kurt collected up the game and put it in his satchel.
They went back into the living room area and grabbed their coats. Kurt picked up the book Mémé Jacqueline had given him and carefully put it in his satchel.
"Thank you for this," he said as he put it in his bag. "It means a lot to me that you three took the time to make this for me."
Mémé Jacqueline hugged him again. "You're welcome." When she stepped back, she said, "It was a pleasure to get to know you two a little better. You have that competitive glint in your eye that Elizabeth had when playing games."
Kurt smiled and nodded.
They said their goodbyes to everyone else and headed out.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Before they made it back to Celeste's place, Sebastian got a text from Victor.
-Mémé would like to meet your great aunt and uncle. Please let me know when a good time would be and I'll be sure to bring her if my mom and dad are at work. We have school break still this coming week. If it can be on a weekend, we could all come, if you want us to.
Sebastian showed Kurt the text, and then responded.
-I'll talk to them when we get back and let you know. Not quite there yet.
"I feel like I need to pinch myself to prove I'm not dreaming, but I'm afraid that I'm in deep enough to be past that point. If I'm comatose and all of this is a dream, I don't want to wake up."
"If you're dreaming, then they must have you on one hell of a narcotic to induce this detailed of a dream."
"I know." Kurt stopped, causing Sebastian to stop abruptly since they were holding hands.
Sebastian turned and looked at him. Kurt stepped forward and kissed him. Sebastian was surprised, but went with it. He wrapped his other hand around Kurt's back and pulled him closer.
"As much as I enjoy a romantic kiss on the sidewalk, just a few blocks from here we have a nice warm bed we can get into after we shower, where we can kiss all we want without being so cold."
"Sounds perfect."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After spending quite a while enjoying kissing without being cold, Kurt turned over and Sebastian held him close. He kissed the back of Kurt's neck. He ran his hand along Kurt's arm and then down his hip and onto his upper thigh. "You are so sexy. You drive me crazy. And not only are you super sexy, you're kind and loving and smart and talented. You haven't told a single person that you got one of the leads in the spring musical or that you had one of the leads in the fall play."
"It hasn't really come up."
"Well, I think I might just brag to everyone tomorrow about how my fiancé is super awesomely talented."
Kurt laughed. "If you do, I may feel the need to brag about how MY fiancé wrote an amazing senior thesis paper and got top marks."
"Hmm. Maybe I'll just tell them what an amazing kisser you are."
"Is that so?"
He kissed along Kurt's shoulder.
"I know what you're doing."
"And what's that?"
"Scoot back." Kurt waited and then turned over and got up on his hands and knees and pinned Sebastian to the bed. "I threatened to tickle you with my beard and didn't follow through. And you're intentionally saying things to get me to tickle you."
"Who me?"
"Yes, you."
Sebastian looked away and feigned innocence. "Could be."
"You're so much fun. I love you." Kurt kissed down his neck and slipped his shirt up a bit and did what he had threatened to do.
"That is oddly comforting in a totally ticklish way. It's also a big turn on, so if you want to save it for another time…"
"Was there something else you wanted to talk about?" Kurt sat back up on his knees, straddling Sebastian.
"I just want to make sure you're actually okay with everyone coming over here tomorrow and everything."
"I really am. It's still a weird feeling knowing that I had, well, have family members here, but I'd like them to meet your family, who has been nothing but welcoming and amazing to me. I just hope everyone gets along. I think they will. Georges and Noelle coming over and meeting Clara and Victor ahead of time is nice of them. And I hope we all have fun. Anything else?"
"I can't think of anything else, other than wanting you so badly to go back to what you were doing – and this time don't stop. I promise to be very quiet. I want you so bad. I love you."
Kurt leaned down and kissed him. "I love you too. You never need to beg, mon abri. Let me get what we need."