Kurt had survived three weeks of rehearsals for two musicals and he was on his way into the auditorium for the first evening of tech week for Mamma Mia! He stood in the hallway near the backstage area with his arms around Sebastian, who was holding him close. Kurt stepped back just enough to kiss him chastely. "Thank you for dinner. It was great. And getting to see you was an even better surprise."

Sebastian kissed him. "I'll be in the library studying. Text me when you're about done. I'll pack up and come back to meet you."

"M'kay." He hugged Sebastian and let go.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

Sebastian was in the hallway waiting for Kurt when he came out. He reached out and took his bags long enough for Kurt to get his coat on. Kurt took them back, took Sebastian's hand, and they headed out the building.

"How did it go?"

"Decently. No big issues. Just the usual lighting and timing issues to work out."

"That's good."

"How did your studying go?"

"I worked on that paper I've been working on. I think it's done, but I'm going to let it sit for two days and look at it again on Thursday. It's not due until Monday, so that still gives me time to work on it if I think it still needs improvements. I have a few midterms that I'll start studying for tomorrow. I feel better now that the paper is done."

"I know that feeling of relief. I'm getting close to that point with this show. I really like it, but I'm glad I just have a couple more weeks of the insanity of working on two shows. I'm looking forward to Friday."

Sebastian shoulder-bumped him. "Me too."

When they got in the subway car, Kurt scooted as close as he could to Sebastian and leaned into him and closed his eyes. Sebastian squeezed his hand a minute before their stop to warn Kurt. He opened his eyes and they got up to exit. Once they were back outside, they started to talk again.

"I'm ready to go home and go to bed," Kurt said.

"Sounds good to me."

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening, Sebastian met him at the end of rehearsal and they took the subway home together. It wasn't until Thursday evening when they got home that Kurt realized that Sebastian hadn't been working on schoolwork while he was in evening rehearsals when he opened the fridge to get some orange juice.

"Hey, Sebastian?"

"Yeah?" He answered from the laundry closet. He put the basket down and went into the kitchen when Kurt didn't say anything else.

"What's all this?"

"Oh, I made that marinade and put chicken wings in it so we could have them Saturday."

"You made my dad's favorite spicy wings? And is that the bleu cheese dip?"

"Yep. And the celery and carrot sticks are in there too. I got the stuff to make the BBQ mini smokies you said he loves." He opened the freezer. "I got the Brussels sprouts that you said he'll willingly eat with the mini smokies. All of the stuff for a chopped salad, except the lettuce and tomatoes, is ready in the fridge too. We'll serve it with the chicken wings."

"Is that a cheesecake?"

"Umm, yeah, but you weren't supposed to see that."

"Why not?"

"I made it for tomorrow. I was going to put it down in the fridge when I came out to check the locks on the door."

Kurt wrapped his arms around Sebastian and nuzzled his nose into Sebastian's neck. "When did you have time to do all of this?"

"I just put all of it into my schedule. I worked on assignments ahead of time so that I'd have the time I needed to do this stuff."

"It's amazing and perfect. Thank you." He kissed Sebastian on the neck. "Any other surprises?"

"Mmm. I don't think it's a surprise, but I got a text from Grandma saying that your parents had arrived safely. Mercedes' flight leaves at midnight L.A. time and Isabelle is picking her up tomorrow morning and taking her home to let her take a little nap and to get ready. Of course, Sam will be driving in tomorrow morning. I took his suit to Grandma's earlier today."

"You are very efficient. A very sexy trait." Kurt kissed up Sebastian's neck towards his ear. He spoke quietly, directly into his ear. "One of your many sexy traits."

"Mmm. Is that so?"

"It is." Kurt didn't move away from Sebastian, but he pulled his phone out, connected it to the speaker, started some music, and put it back in his pocket. "Dance with me?"

"Definitely."

They repositioned themselves and began to move around the room together. After a couple of songs, Kurt stopped moving. "I'd love to keep dancing, but you were starting some laundry and I have a few things to get washed for tomorrow as well. And we need to pack clothes to wear later in the day." He kissed Sebastian. He pulled his phone out and turned the music off. "Let's get that laundry done. I'm ready to snuggle."

An hour later, they were curled up in bed together.

"You're sure about the photographer, right?" Kurt asked.

"I am. We'll get a photographer when we have the ceremony in France. I'm fine with Francine coming in afterwards and basically doing some family photos. Unless you changed your mind and want her there during the ceremony."

"I don't. I want it to be private. This is personal for us. It's not a secret and I'll tell anyone who asks or that I just feel like telling. I like this idea better than going to the courthouse, but I still want it to be simple. We've already added in singing to each other and together, which would obviously not be a part of a civil service with a judge. No fancy dresses that people will never wear again, no matching cummerbunds, or enormous amounts of flowers from a florist. What we chose is simple and elegant. Everyone is wearing black and white. With just six guests, they're all part of the wedding party. The photos will look good in color or black and white. I want you to be happy too, though."

"I am happy. The chair covers, the curtain to give us a backdrop, and the catered lunch afterwards with the black tablecloth with the table runner that matches the chair covers and a few live flowering plants in the center is perfect. I just want it to be calm and enjoyable. No frantic, last-minute craziness. It's for us. We should enjoy it."

Kurt scooted forward a bit and kissed Sebastian with a barely-there kiss, which started their back-and-forth kissing game. Eventually, it was Sebastian that pushed forward and started kissing passionately, which Kurt joined in on immediately.

When they broke apart for air, Kurt said, "Still just as amazing." He ran his thumb along Sebastian's jaw. "Thank you for making all of that stuff. It's just the kind of thing I would have done if I had had the time. I really appreciate you taking the initiative to do something for my family that I would do for them."

"They're about to become my family too, you know?" He smiled at Kurt and kissed him on the forehead. "Just like Grandma and Isabelle and a whole motley crew of French people who love you."

"I haven't forgotten. I miss them. I really do love being there with you. I'm sure I'd still like it if I went alone, but being with you there is amazing. It still feels kind of surreal. Sometimes, I feel like I'm in a dream. The best dream." He rolled onto his back, inviting Sebastian to snuggle up. "I know this is real. It's just so much better than I had imagined it could be. I love you so much."

Sebastian wiggled and wriggled and snuffled into Kurt's neck and wrapped himself all around Kurt. "And I love you." He ran his fingers through Kurt's hair and down his neck before stopping with his hand over Kurt's heart, leaving it there as he fell asleep.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

Friday morning, the sun was shining when the alarm went off. Kurt reached out to turn it off. Sebastian was sprawled out on top of him still, but he did manage to get his arm free to pick the phone up to stop the beeping. He wrapped his arm back around Sebastian.

"Mmm. Good morning, gorgeous."

"Good morning, handsome. I love it when you snuggle me like this. I didn't think I ever would, but I do."

Sebastian took a deep breath. "Are you ready to get up?"

"Yes and no. I excited, but I'm also comfy."

Sebastian chuckled. "Me too, on both accounts." He ran his fingers along Kurt's arm. "I thought I would be nervous, but I'm not. I'm just excited, like you said."

"Let's go eat breakfast and get ready. The car's going to be here in an hour. We'll snuggle more tonight after the show."

Sebastian untangled himself and propped up on his elbow. He leaned over and pecked Kurt on the lips before getting out of bed.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

They checked in at the desk on the way into. Grandma Smythe's building. They waited for the elevator and stepped inside when the doors opened.

Once they closed, Kurt said, "I love you." He squeezed Sebastian's hand.

"And I love you. I want you to know that I am completely at peace with my decision. I want to do this."

Kurt nodded and smiled. "So do I."

They exited the elevator and walked to Grandma Smythe's door. They knocked before they let themselves in. They closed the door behind them and saw that everyone was there.

Grandma Smythe was the first to greet them. "Come on in, dears. We have everything just about ready. The last thing to go up is the curtain, once we're on the other side of where it's going."

They hung their coats up, left their bags in the entryway, and followed her into the living room. Sam and Mercedes carefully moved the last of three sections of dark gray and white textured curtains together so that they covered over the end of the hall. Each section was about a meter wide, extending to each side of the hallway. They stepped back and made sure all three were even and straight.

"Perfect," Grandma Smythe said.

The six dining chairs had been fitted with fabric covers that matched the curtain and had been placed in a slight semi-circle about three meters back, at the farthest point. The two large indoor flowering trees that Grandma Smythe had in her dining room had been moved to the edges of the center curtain, one on each side.

Isabelle herself had become an officiant so that there would be only family at the event, counting Mercedes and Sam as chosen family members.

The six of them took their places, as did Kurt and Sebastian. They stood next to each other with Kurt to the right. Burt sat in the end chair closet to Kurt with Carole to his left. Mercedes sat to her left, and then Sam. Isabelle sat to his left, with Grandma Smythe on the end closest to Sebastian.

Kurt spoke first. "As you all know, music is a big part of our lives. And we've both chosen a song to sing to each other to start the ceremony. We've not told each other what songs we've chosen. Sam's going to play his guitar for both of us. I changed the words to my song just slightly."

"So did I," Sebastian said.

Sam grabbed his guitar from the stand he had it in behind his chair. He began the introduction to Kurt's song. Kurt and Sebastian turned and faced each other. Kurt reached out for Sebastian hands and held them. He began to sing.

Let the bough break, let it come down crashing

Let the sun fade out to a dark sky.

I can't say I'd even notice it was absent,

'Cause I could live by the light in your eyes.

I'll unfold before you what I've strung together,

The very first words of a life-long love letter.

Tell the world that we finally got it all right.

I choose you.

I will become yours and you will become mine.

I chose you. I choose you.

There was a time when I believed them

When they told me you could not come true.

Real love was an illusion.

But then you showed me, and everything changed.

And I believe in something again.

My whole heart will be yours forever.

This is a beautiful start to a life-long love letter.

We are not perfect. We'll learn from our mistakes.

And for as long as we have, I will give my love to you.

Tell the world that we finally got it all right.

I choose you.

I will become yours and you will become mine.

I chose you. I choose you.

I choose you.

Sebastian squeezed Kurt's hands gently, as Sam played the intro for his song.

When we're born into this world, we don't really get to say.

Little boys and little girls handed to brand new families.

There comes a time in life when we finally get to choose.

And I choose you. I choose you.

We can't give our two cents on how tall we want to be.

We don't get an opinion on our ethnicity.

But the one I spend my life with, that I'm going to choose.

And I choose you. I choose you.

I choose you to be by my side.

I choose you to hold me at night.

It's the biggest decision I'm about to get right.

I choose you. I choose you.

I once worried I would not know what to do

If I were in these shoes.

Standing here it's clearer than the sky is blue

That I choose you. I choose you.

With so little we control, even if I have to break some rules.

I'm going to choose and I choose you.

I choose you to be by my side.

I choose you to hold me at night.

It's the biggest decision I'm about to get right.

I choose you. I choose you.

I choose you.

Kurt smiled and stepped closer and hugged Sebastian. He stepped back again. Isabelle got up from her seat while Sam put his guitar away. She stood behind Kurt and Sebastian who were still facing each other.

"We've come here today to witness Kurt and Sebastian pledge their lives and love to each other. Kurt, please start by stating the vows you're making to Sebastian."

"Sebastian, you offered me a place of refuge from the storm my life had become. You showed me that I don't have to be anything I'm not in order to be accepted and loved. I'm not too much. I'm not lacking. I am enough. You really listen when I talk and what I say is important to you. And the reverse is true as well. I cherish every secret you've ever told me that I will never share. I treasure every moment that we've spent talking about so many different things. Your mind is beautiful. I love snuggling up and listening to you talk. I have no doubt that one day you'll be the writer you want to be. You have an amazing way with words. I will be there to support that dream in any way that I can. I love you more than I can possibly explain. I love the way your eyes light up when you tell me something new that you've learned. I always want to be that person you share your discoveries with. I promise to be the best partner I can be, to love you unconditionally, to listen to you when you share your heart and thoughts and dreams, to enjoy every good thing that comes our way, and to comfort you when things are hard. I will be honest, trustworthy, and faithful to you. I chose to spend the rest of my life loving you."

"Sebastian, please state the vows you're making to Kurt."

"Kurt, you brought hope back into my life. You came in and changed my life for the better. You offered me your friendship, which was the most amazing gift I've ever been given. For a long time, I had given up that anything would ever get better. I was on the wrong path, one that I hadn't chosen and didn't want to be on, one that would have never led me to the amazing life I have with you. I never want to imagine my life without you in it. I love your laugh, your smile, your mind and your creativity, your generous and caring nature, and how much of yourself you put into everything. I promise to continue to support you in your dreams, to respect your choices, to love you forever, to be faithful to you, to be honest with you, and to stay by your side through the good times and the hard times. I promise to continue to be annoyingly flirty and affectionate, as well as endearingly sarcastic." He winked at Kurt and continued. "I'm looking forward to every day that I have with you cooking, dancing, singing, laughing, reading, talking, ending each day snuggled up in your arms and starting each new day the same way. You will always be my first choice."

Isabelle said, "No ceremony can create the marriage that you want. Only the two of you can do that together, through love and patience, through dedication and perseverance, through talking and listening, helping and supporting and believing in each other, through tenderness and laughter, through learning to forgive and learning to appreciate your differences. These are all things you have vowed to each other to do. This ceremony allows those of us here to witness and affirm the choice you've made to stand together as partners for life."

She paused for a moment.

"Kurt and Sebastian have chosen to continue to wear the rings they've been wearing since their engagement because of their meaning to the two of them, which they are going to share with us."

Kurt said, "Our rings are not identical, just as Sebastian and I are not the same."

"But each ring is made from the same components, just as we are."

"The inlaid section are made from ancient roman glass pieces that were broken and can never be returned to their original form, but the broken pieces have been put back together in a way that is still beautiful."

"The bands are made of twists and turns and curves. Sometimes we think life would be so much better if it were just a straight, easy path, but our journey is rarely like that. The twists and curves in the road can be really amazing."

"Sebastian, I choose to wear this ring as a symbol of your love for me. Although there will be times that I cannot wear it, I will look forward to being able to put it back on because seeing and feeling it on my finger reminds me of our love."

"When you put this ring on me in my favorite park in Paris, my heart filled with joy. The person I loved most in the world loved me enough to want to marry me. And today, I'm doing just that. Wearing this ring brings me joy and I gladly wear it as a symbol of our love for each other."

Isabelle spoke again. "The vows you've made to each other today in the presence of your family and friends show your love for each other and the commitment you are making here today. By the power vested in me by the State of New York, I now declare you legally married. You may kiss." She stepped back.

They each took a half step forward and kissed gently before stepping back again without letting go of each others hands.

Isabelle stepped closer again. "I present to you the newlyweds, Kurt Eli Hummel- Smythe and Sebastian Fontenay Hummel-Smythe."

Sebastian turned and let go of Kurt's hands long enough to hug her. Kurt hugged her next. Everyone else stood up and came up to hug both of them as well.

Isabelle went downstairs to bring Francine up, as well as authorize the catering company to bring the food up. Francine and Isabelle slipped back through the curtain and Francine started taking photos of the grooms as well as their guests. One of the catering company employees carefully slipped over the half-height wall and began placing the serving trays on the counter as they were handed to him. By the time the photos were done, the food was set up. The catering staff removed the curtain dividers on their way out. Isabelle escorted everyone back downstairs and returned to the flat. While she was gone, the chairs were placed back around the table.

When she came in, the guys were all hanging their suit coats in the entryway closet to get more comfortable before they ate. Kurt and Sebastian had worn the Givenchy suits with the long suit coats for the ceremony. Isabelle had provided two coordinating, but not matching black and white vests. They both wore regular ties. Everyone else was dressed in black and white as well, like they had asked.

After they finished hanging up the suit coats, they formed a line and went through the buffet of food on the counter. Kurt and Sebastian went first and sat at the head of the table together on the piano bench.

Once everyone was seated, the conversation picked up again.

Carole was sitting next to Kurt. "Can I see your rings? I haven't gotten to see them up close."

Kurt took Sebastian's hand and put it next to his on the table where she could see. Once she had looked carefully, he interlaced their fingers and put their hands between them on the table.

"They really are unique and lovely. You found them in Paris, right?"

"I did. I had done a lot of looking here, but I hadn't found what I was looking for. When I saw these, they just struck a chord. They were just what I was looking for, even though I had no idea what that was when I started looking."

"I like them," she said.

"Like what?" Burt said as he turned his attention to Carole and Kurt.

"Their rings."

Kurt extended his had towards Burt.

"They are different and interesting. They suit you," he said. He turned to Mercedes. "How's the touring life going for you?"

Mercedes talked about life on the road for a while. She changed the topic to Sam and school.

"I like it a lot more than I thought I would. There's a lot more creating than I had anticipated. When I had briefly considered college back in high school, I gave up on the idea before I really even looked into it because I assumed that it would be a lot like high school with the majority of the classes being things that I would never use as an artist and would struggle to pass, but it hasn't been like that. It's a lot more hands on and fun."

"What about you two?" Mercedes asked.

Sebastian answered first. "I did my senior thesis a little earlier than most of the students, so my semester has been less stressful because of that and because I took a class last summer, I was able to take a more interesting guided elective this semester."

"What does 'guided' mean?"

"It means that I can't just pick Intro to Statistics or Microbiology or something. There's a list of acceptable courses I can choose in different departments, but they all center around language in some way. I've already taken my required courses in math and the sciences."

"That makes sense," she said. "What about you, Kurt?"

"I have the regular classes that seniors take in the spring. Madame Tibideaux excused me from five weeks of Advanced Stage Combat so that I could rehearse for both musicals. Once spring break is over, I'll have to resume attending the course."

"Given her general demeanor, I didn't figure she do even that much," Mercedes said.

"Well, me getting the role in Dear Evan Hansen will bring the school a fair bit of free advertising with my bio including the school I attend."

Sam asked, "Do you have plans for a honeymoon or anything?"

Kurt answered, "Well, at some point we'll go back to Paris and have a reception there for Sebastian's family and mine to attend. Once we've done that, I assume we'll go some place for a few days."

Sam nodded.

Carole asked Grandma Smythe, "What do you think of living in New York City so far?"

"Well, it's a big change. That's for sure. I think I need to find some other indoor flowering plants. Just adding the ones for the table today have brightened the room up. They'll get plenty of sun and they'll help make the place feel more warm and inviting. The windows are nice. It's weird not being able to walk outside in the gardens, but the terrace does help since I can at least sit outside. Once it warms up a bit more, I'll be able to stay out for longer and I'll be able to put some potted flowers outside as well. I feel less cramped than I had anticipated that I would, which is good. The open layout makes a huge difference."

"I do like the layout. It's a little like Kurt and Sebastian's with all of the shared rooms being open."

"That's what drew me to this particular apartment. I looked at several and the rest had walls dividing the rooms. I just felt like I went from closet to closet. I know I'm old and spoiled, but I'm glad I held out to find this place. And as for the company, it's great." She smiled and looked at Kurt and Sebastian, and then at Isabelle. "I've had visitors several times already. I like getting to see three of my favorite people more often. Once you get to be past the age where you can travel and do things on your own, it's less fun. Moving here won't make me able to leave and do things on my own that I couldn't do in Ohio, but living in this flat allows me to do things for myself that I haven't been able to do in a while. It may not seem like much, but since the kitchen is so near to the living room, I can get up and make myself tea whenever I feel like it. It's not a 20-minute trek from my bedroom to do it. And when I was stuck in that chair after my surgery, I had to get someone else to do it. This is much better. I'm going to have someone come in once a week to clean the bathrooms, dust and mop, and do my laundry, but everything else I can do for myself here."

"I can understand wanting to be able to do that," Carole said. "When we bought our current place, we bought a ranch house for similar reasons. We had both lived in multi-story homes since ages ago and we decided that not having stairs would be in our best interest. I really like not having to go up and down stairs to do the laundry."

"I finally had to give in and have one of those chair stair lifts installed on the back stairs after my surgery. I stayed in the library for a while, but once I could be up and around, I still couldn't get up the stairs. I like this much better. And as I said, I like having people come visit me. You get to a certain age where everyone else your age is as stuck at home as you are. I'm going to take up a hobby soon. I haven't decided what yet. I loved playing the piano, but my fingers just won't cooperate these days."

Kurt spoke up. "If you ever composed music of your own, we could get Garage Band for you. You just use a computer and you can make your own band. And you can play the melody at any speed and then speed it up in play back. It would help accommodate for the uncooperative finger issue."

"I'll let you two show me. I was thinking about some of those computer word games that are supposed to help keep your mind sharp."

"We could do that too. You could get an iPad, like I use for work. We'll show you and you can think about it."

"That sounds lovely, dear," she said and smiled at him.

He smiled back. "You could get a Kindle and download books. The cool thing is that you can change the font and the size of the words so there's less eyestrain."

"The next time you two come over, you can get me up-to-date on my choices. And we can play Tangoes."

"I'll have to get a new pack of cards. You've probably been practicing with the ones you have," Kurt winked at her.

"Now, now. You know there's no fun in winning if you have to cheat to do it, dear."

He nodded and chuckled. "Mmm hmm," he teased.

She just shook her head at him and smiled. She raised her voice just a bit. "I just wanted to let everyone know that we do have a cake for a little later, just in case you need leave some room for that. Once everyone has finished eating, Isabelle can oversee packing up the rest of the food."

A few minutes later, Sam and Mercedes got up and offered to collect the plates. Kurt and Sebastian's offer to help was rejected. They moved the piano bench back over to the piano at Grandma Smythe's urging. Kurt sat down and played some pieces and parts of some classical songs he had once known from memory. Sebastian pulled out a tambourine, the music for their song, and Kurt's Dear Evan Hanson music. He began to play the piano parts to a few of the songs while everyone else besides Grandma Smythe worked to either load the dishes in the dishwasher or pack up the leftover food.

Once they finished, they came and stood around the piano. Grandma Smythe joined them. Sam grabbed his guitar to play along. Kurt began the introduction on the piano. Sebastian joined in with the rhythmic clapping. Sam joined in. And Mercedes caught on to why she had been given a tambourine and picked up when to come in. Kurt started to sing and Sebastian joined in on the harmony and they sang "Be My Forever" together.

When they finished, Grandma Smythe said, "That was just lovely, dears. Your voices sound so nice together. And I like that song a lot. I've not heard it before. It's really upbeat and fun."

Carole said, "The songs you sang earlier were really touching as well."

Isabelle nodded in agreement. "Shall we go ahead with cutting the cake?"

Kurt grabbed the tambourine and music and put them back in his bag, while Sebastian carried the piano bench back to the table. They sat down together again. Isabelle brought the cheesecake out that Sebastian had made and placed it in front of them with a slicer and the dessert plates. They let Isabelle take a picture of them cutting it. They sliced it into 8 slices and passed them around the table. Once everyone had a piece, the two of them each took fork and picked up a bite and fed it to each other, which Isabelle took a photo of as well, and then put the camera away.

Once they had taken a bite, everyone else tucked into their own slices.

"This is fabulous," Mercedes said.

"Sebastian made it," Kurt said. He winked at Sebastian. "He's a very good cook."

"I'll say," Mercedes said. "Why do none of the rest of you look surprised?"

Sam answered, "We've all eaten things he's made before."

"Aha! I see. I move out to L.A. and miss out on all the dinner parties."

Kurt said, "Move here and we'll invite you to our movie nights."

"That's always fun," Isabelle said.

"You know we have an extra room that's available most of the time," Kurt said. "We'll definitely have movie night if you're in town."

"I wish I could stay this weekend," she said. "I'm going to go through my schedule when I get back to L.A. and the first weekend I'm not already booked, I'm going to make sure no one books me to do anything. It's probably in the fall, but I'll let you know."

It didn't take long for them to finish their slices of cheesecake.

"What did you all decide to do this afternoon while Sebastian and I work on the governmental issues connected to getting married?"

Isabelle answered, "Ah, well, I'm taking the ladies shopping."

"I'm going to change and go down to the co-op for a while," Sam said.

"So, that leaves you, Dad."

"Well, I made a date with the very comfortable bed in the other room. I'm pretty tired from driving in late last night. I had a coffee to help keep me alert. And it did its job a little longer than I needed it to – until about 2:00 this morning."

Kurt laughed. "I see. Alright. I'll see you at the show tonight. We'll go change first."

Once everyone was ready to go, they all headed out. Grandma Smythe had a car pick the six of them up and take them to file for the marriage certificates first. Kurt, Sebastian, and Isabelle went in while everyone else waited in the car. Once they had the certificates, Isabelle got back in the car and they left to enjoy their afternoon of shopping.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

Once Kurt and Sebastian had the certified copies of their marriage certificate, they started at the French Consulate and moved from there to the Social Security office, and then to the bank. They had looked through the requirements at the DMV and Kurt wasn't willing to have a beard in his photo and all name changes required a new photo to be taken, so they were putting that off until a week from Monday when he would be able to shave the beard off.

They came out of the bank, hand in hand, with new debit cards for their accounts.

"Well, Mr. Hummel-Smythe, would you like to get a cup of coffee with me before we head to NYADA?" Sebastian asked.

"I would."

They stopped along the way and went to a Copper Cup nearby. They got in line and placed their orders. Once they had their drinks, they sat down together at a table.

"You know we've come full circle," Kurt said.

Sebastian took reached for his hand across the table. "We have. We met in a coffee shop."

"We did. Two hurting teens who reacted like injured cats, neither realizing that the other was only acting in self-defense. The timing was wrong then. We were both broken then."

Sebastian squeezed Kurt's hand and let go. He got up and moved to the same side of the table that Kurt was sitting on. He scooted his chair as close as he could and wrapped his arm around the back of Kurt's chair. "Ancient history. Look at me." He waited and kissed Kurt as soon as he turned his head. "This is our first time in a coffee shop as husbands." He kissed Kurt again. "I'm excited for you for tonight. You know I'm going to be the most annoying member of your fan club. I'm going to want all these perks – before-show coffee dates, after-show dinner dates, and first dibs on all photo ops."

Kurt laughed. "So, was that a dinner invitation after the show tonight, Mr. Hummel-Smythe?"

"It was, and the date doesn't end with dinner."

"Oh, so you're propositioning me?"

"Absolutely."

"I accept. Although, tonight there might be some interference with your plan since my parents are in town. Depending on how tired they are, they may want to go out to dessert or something, but they may just want to go back to Grandma's."

"I can live with that, but I'm not giving up the after dinner part of the date."

"Deal. You can tell me about it afterwards, otherwise I might lose my focus and forget my lines or the lyrics." He winked at Sebastian.

Sebastian chuckled. "You know what?"

"What?"

"We're married."

Kurt laughed. "I know. I was there, remember?"

"I do remember. You sang to me and you said the sweetest things to me."

"Every last one was absolutely true." Kurt started to hum the song he had sung to Sebastian. "I wonder what Sam thought when I told him what I wanted to sing when he already knew what you had chosen. He was probably relieved when he clicked on the link because he probably thought we had chosen the same song."

"He probably did for a minute, and then he probably cracked up that we picked songs with the same title. During spring break, I'm going to work on the lyrics for our first dance song so we can record it in French. I'll see what I can do with the songs we sang today as well. We could record them when we record the first dance song and play them at the reception."

"Sure. You could listen to some popular French music and see if you can find some songs you like and we can have those put into the dance mix with the other songs we've chosen so far. At least we'll get the mornings and early afternoons together spring break week. I'll be more than ready for a break by then." He finished his coffee and noticed that Sebastian had finished his as well. "Ready?" His phone vibrated. He took it out, looked at it, and put it back.

"I am. You don't have to be there for an hour still."

"Mmm hmm. That gives us time to go get the DVD from Francine. She just texted and said that she has it ready."

"That was quick."

Kurt's phone vibrated again. He checked to see what it said. He laughed. "Never mind. Isabelle is there. She's getting it and bringing it with her. She must have taken Mercedes and Carole to the Vault for some accessories and maybe shoes." He leaned into Sebastian. "I'm going to need to wash the product out of my hair so the make-up crew can fix it to their liking."

"Are you asking me what I think you're asking?"

"Well, if we take a taxi home from here…"

"Oh."

"Oh?" Kurt thought for a minute. "OH! We could try, but we can't get caught."

"You would?"

"Why is this a bucket list thing of yours?"

"No, but I didn't think you'd go for something so public."

"Well, do you want to go see if we can even attempt it?"

"I didn't think I'd go for something so public," he lowered his voice. "But I do want you so very badly."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's go try."

They tossed their cups and headed for NYADA.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

They got to the dance studio and went in the doors that were at the back of the studio, near the showers. It was an advanced pointe class. Kurt smiled and walked to the showers like he belonged there. He kept the door from banging shut after they got inside.

He and Sebastian moved quickly into one of the shower bays. They were both so worked up that it didn't take long for them to accomplish their goal and to move into separate stalls to finish showering, just in case someone else came in.

Once they finished, they dried off and got dressed again quickly. Every time they'd look at each other, they could barely control themselves from laughing. They blew their hair dry. Kurt left his droopy and Sebastian used some of Kurt's hair wax from his travel kit he kept in his school bag all the time to fix his hair so that it looked good. They grabbed their coats and headed towards the auditorium.

Once they were in the hall down away from the dance studio, Kurt squeezed Sebastian's hand. "I cannot believe I just did that."

Sebastian had a huge grin on his face. "I'm remembering something a bit more risqué in an old castle…"

"Bas, not in the hall. The hallways have ears."

Sebastian peeked into the last classroom before they got to the stairs. He pulled Kurt towards the door and shut it behind them once they were inside. He leaned against the door and pulled Kurt towards him. "Kiss me?"

"Of course." Kurt leaned in and kissed him. When they had to break for air, Kurt kissed up his jaw to his ear. "I love you." He reached around him and locked the windowless classroom door. "Put your coat on like we did in the castle."

Sebastian put it on and Kurt knelt in front of him.

A few minutes later, they switched positions.

Kurt pulled a couple of wet wipes out of his bag from them to freshen up a bit and they retucked their shirts in. Kurt pulled out his cinnamon Altoids and gave Sebastian one and popped one into his own mouth. Kurt brushed the knees of his pants off. Sebastian did the same. Kurt pulled Sebastian close again.

"I'm so in love with you, Bas." He kissed him chastely. "I have a surprise for you still. Come on."

He took Kurt's hand. They went down stairs and through a couple of halls until they were outside the auditorium. Kurt was obviously looking for something or someone that he wasn't finding.

"Riley?" He asked a girl nearby.

She pointed down the hall and to the right. Kurt followed her directions. He found Riley picking up a box.

"Hey, Riley, can I have one of those for just a minute?"

"Sure." He opened the box and handed Kurt a playbill.

Kurt opened it and looked inside. "It's perfect, Riley. Thank you."

"I get that cake for Simone's birthday, right?"

"Definitely. We'll work out the delivery details. I have it in my calendar already."

"You can keep that one if you want, but I've got to get these over to the lobby."

"Thanks again."

"You're welcome." He took the box and left the room.

Kurt handed Sebastian the playbill. He opened it and looked at the page Kurt had looked at.

His face lit up. "You had them printed with Hummel-Smythe as your last name."

"I did. I bribed Riley to wait until this afternoon to print them. I texted him earlier, once we had signed the marriage license. I was quick. I just texted the word 'yes' to him."

"I didn't even see you do it, but it's amazing to see it in print." He put it in his bag in the slot with his iPad, where he had also put the envelope with their marriage certificate.

"Shall I walk to you to the backstage area so you can get ready?"

"Yes, please. You're going back to Grandma's to meet up with everyone, right?"

"I am, but I'm going to do one thing first." He opened his bag and took the playbill back out. He used his phone to take a picture of Kurt's bio, and then put it back in the bag. "There's no secret about this playbill, right? You won't get in trouble if I post this will you?"

"I don't think so. Riley just put the box out in the lobby. The ushers will distribute them freely as soon as people start arriving."

Sebastian opened Facebook and uploaded the photo. He showed what he was typing. -Mamma Mia! opening night. Kurt's going to be great! I can't wait.- "Wait, before I do that, I'm changing my last name on my Facebook page and our relationship status."

Kurt took his phone out and changed his name and his relationship status while Sebastian was working on his. Kurt confirmed his request for the relationship status change. Kurt changed his phone settings so it wouldn't vibrate like he was required to during the show. He put his phone in the zippered pocket in his duffle.

Sebastian said, "There. Now, back to the photo." He retyped what he had written and posted it. "Let's get you backstage." He took Kurt's hand and interlaced their fingers.

They stopped a few steps back from the door.

Kurt kissed him quickly.

Sebastian hugged him.

"I'll see you after the show." He stepped inside.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

By the time Sebastian made it back to Grandma Smythe's he had gotten several private messages on Facebook and a several text messages. He went up to her flat, knocked, and let himself inside.

"Hey, honey. You look concerned," Isabelle said. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't think the word 'wrong' is the one I'd use. Sam, can I see your phone?"

Sam got up and took it out of his pocket and unlocked it.

"Can you go to Facebook?"

Sam opened Facebook. "What's going on?"

Sebastian looked at Sam's phone. He handed it back. He went to the dining table and sat down. He said, "Can I see yours, Carole?"

"Sure, honey. What's going on?" She got her phone out and sat down next to him. "Facebook?"

He nodded. He took the phone from her and looked. He gave it back and took his own phone out again and opened Facebook and opened his settings and started looking through everything. "Okay. To explain the expression I had coming in – it was confusion. Last summer when Kurt reactivated his Facebook and created some new social media accounts, he posted a picture from his birthday that had me in it. He blocked a couple of people who made snide remarks, and that was that. We've both posted things, which all of you have been able to see. What neither one of us obviously noticed was that when we both changed our relationship status, we must have had that setting set differently, I guess. I just looked and mine was set to 'Only Me'. Kurt's must be set to 'Family', which is why Carole could see it, but it's not showing up on Sam's view of Kurt's wall. But what it means is that none of the people on our 'Friends' list could see that."

"Alright," Carole said. "I still don't see the issue obviously."

"What it means is that no one knew that Kurt and I were dating, except Rachel. Kurt must have put her on his 'Family' list at some point in time. So, tonight before I came back, Kurt had a surprise for me. You all can see it if you look at what I posted. He had the playbills for the show done with Hummel-Smythe. I took a photo of his bio and posted it to my page and we both changed our last names and our relationship status to married. I've been sent several private messages and texts since I left NYADA. No one knew we were dating and now everyone knows that we're married."

Mercedes teased, "Well, that's one way to make a big splash with your news."

"Yeah. What I thought was people growing up and minding their own business for the last seven months was actually people having no idea that we were dating. They couldn't see our relationship status, but they got notifications that we had changed our names." He went ahead and set his relationship status so that it could be viewed publicly. "I just set my relationship status to public. I'm not ashamed or bothered that people know. I love Kurt and I'm never going to hide that, if that's what some of you are thinking. Honestly a few weeks back when Blaine propositioned me, I just chalked it up to him being drunk, but now that I know that no one knew that Kurt and I were dating, I realize that Blaine didn't actually know."

Burt said, "Wait, that little…" he calmed himself. "He was in contact with Kurt again?"

"He showed up at the open auditions for the swings and understudy in the musical Kurt's going to be in. An open call is when they just put up flyers in the music departments and on an online site where open calls get posted. So, we have no idea whether he knew that Kurt would be there. We haven't been telling people about Kurt getting the role yet, but word about stuff like that gets around. Blaine came to our apartment building later that evening, drunk. He was sitting on the bench in the parking area, waiting for us. He wanted Kurt to talk the director into giving him a part. We took him to the Copper Cup, not up to our place. Kurt told him that he wouldn't do what Blaine was asking. We put him in a taxi and sent him home. I just don't want Blaine to show up tonight. He showed up last fall and even had the nerve to walk back to the stage door where the actors meet people afterwards."

Burt said, "I won't say what I'm thinking. I can't believe how long I fell for his crap."

Mercedes said, "We all did, Mr. H. We all did. But I will say this now while Kurt's not around. I have never in all of my years knowing him seen him smile as many times as I did earlier today. I just wish I had realized sooner. Seeing him today just made me realize how many photos there are of him fake smiling. I want copies of those pictures Francine took of me with them. The first person that says anything negative about Sebastian is going to get shown one of those photos. I'm not going to put up with anyone badmouthing Sebastian. Maybe he was a bratty, pain-in-the-ass teenager. I'm sure my mom would say I was some of the time. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people were pains-in-the-ass when they were teenagers. But he grew up and he's a good man. He treats Kurt right and that's what matters to me."

Sebastian had tears streaming down his face. "Thanks, Mercedes."

She got up and moved next to where he was sitting. "Stand up. I'm going to hug you." She wrapped her arms around him once he was standing. "You listen here. We're family now. As soon as the show ends, I want you to take me back to where he'll be as quickly as possible. I want to get there before anyone else can. Anyone that thinks they're going to hassle him on opening night has it all wrong."

Sebastian chuckled. "Mr. Schuester, Rachel, Jesse, and Blaine showed up last semester."

"Well, Mr. Schue, Rachel, and Jesse are all busy tonight doing their own shows. I'll escort Blaine out myself, if he comes near Kurt," she said. "Who sent you messages and texts? Were they supportive or not?"

"I didn't read them yet. After the first one, I realized that no one knew. I didn't want to get upset out in public. Kurt's phone is set to silent and no vibrating, so he'll only see them if he picks his phone up and looks, which is unlikely. He zipped it into the interior pocket of his bag and he'll be too busy being turned into a middle-aged man to have time to look at his phone."

Carole reached over and ran her hand up and down Sebastian's back gently. "Honey, it's going to be okay. Kurt obviously wanted everyone to know or he wouldn't have gotten someone to put it in the playbills for the musical. I don't know how he even managed that since you weren't married yet."

"He bribed the guy whose job it was to print them with a birthday cake for his girlfriend to wait until today to print them. He texted him after the ceremony letting him know to print them with his hyphenated name. If something had kept us from having the ceremony this morning, like bad weather last night, then I guess he would have texted him to print them with just Hummel."

Carole laughed. "That sounds about right. Why don't you go ahead and look through the messages. We're going to have a light meal before we go. We were thinking of going out for some real New York City pizza afterwards."

"That's fine." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He opened his Messenger App. He put his phone down on the table face down. "I don't want to read them if they're not supportive."

Sam got up and sat next to him. "How about if I open them? If it's nice, I'll leave it. If it's mean, I'll screenshot it and text it to myself and delete the screenshot and you can write down the name and block them as soon as I finish going through them."

"Sure. Can I talk to you privately, Mercedes? While Sam's working on that? Carole can write the names down of the people who sent unkind messages."

"Of course," she said. She stood up again.

"Grab your coat." He hadn't taken his off and stood by the terrace door and waited for her.

They stepped outside together.

"You're the only one who doesn't know. And you said that you consider me family now, so I'm going to tell you something that only my family knows. When you said that a lot of teens are pains-in-the-ass, that's true, but that wasn't my problem." He explained to her what had caused him to be sent to Ohio.

She pulled him into another hug. "Sebastian, that's awful. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"It doesn't justify what I did. There's no justification for treating someone badly. I was so jealous. I thought Kurt lived – what did he call it?" He chuckled. "A gay boy's fairy tale life. He had a good family that loved him, a supportive boyfriend, and a rag-tag group of really good friends. That's what I saw from the outside – he had it all and I had nothing. I learned how wrong I was, but not until… 16 months ago. I cried when he told me the truth. And as we became better friends, he told me more."

"I wasn't an innocent party either, Sebastian. I screwed up, worse than you, because he trusted me. You acted like an arrogant playboy for, what? A few months? In the grand scheme of the things the rest of us, who were supposedly his friends, did to him, that's nothing. While your actions may not have been justified, at least you had a reason and you sincerely apologized. The rest of us have no excuse. He's forgiven me and Sam. And has come to an understanding with Rachel I guess, but I don't think anyone else has even tried, have they?"

"Puck was friendly after he posted the birthday picture. That's it as far as I know."

"I won't lump you in with the rest of the teenage pains-in-the-ass anymore. I'll put you in the category of teens who had messed up lives and made some bad choices."

"Thanks."

"You obviously love him."

"I do. So much. And I don't want him to read messages about how I'm going to cheat on him or how I'm a manwhore. Not that they care or would believe me, but he's the first guy I've ever…"

She cut him off. "I get it."

"And I'm sure the messages from some people will ask him what I have on him or how much money I offered him." He wiped his eyes. "He asked to sign an air-tight pre-nup preventing him from accessing any of my current or future money. We have one joint account that my grandma puts money in for us to travel to see our families in France. That's it. And that was a chore to get him to even agree to that."

"I bet."

"I'm not blackmailing or bribing him."

"He knows that. We know that. That's all that matters. People sending those kind of messages aren't likely to be people Kurt has been actually keeping in contact with anyway." She hugged him again. "You're a good man, Sebastian. You've made one of my favorite people really happy. And beyond that, he's full of joy and I've never seen him content like he is. He got help. He put the pieces of his life back together. You were part of that. You put your own life back together. You're good for each other." She let him go. "Look at me." She waited for him to meet her gaze. "We're going to go back inside and you're going to read the nice messages and you're going to forget about the other ones. You love him. He loves you. Nothing else matters. We're going to go watch him hit it out of the park tonight."

"You're right. You're right."

"I know I am," she sassed. "Come on."

He followed her back inside. When they got inside, there were two empty plates for them on the counter. They hung their coats up before they picked them up and put some food on them and sat down.

"Honey, only a couple of them were potentially unkind."

Sam said, "The Warblers want to throw you a party. It seems to be some sort of tradition."

He took a deep breath and let it out. "I told Mercedes about why I came to the States."

Carole smiled sadly and nodded.

Sebastian asked, "So, the impolite ones were from?"

"Tina, which I expected," Sam said.

"I'm not even friends with Tina."

"You can get messages from people you're not friends with unless you change your settings."

"I'll do that. Who else?"

"Well, Puck's wasn't supportive, but it wasn't mean. It just says 'That was fast.' But who knows with Puck. He could be congratulating you or insulting you. You'll have to interact with him to see which it is. And Artie's message said, 'Say what?' which something he said pretty frequently in high school, so for all I know he still says it a lot. I don't know how to interpret that one. He used to say it instead of something like 'You've got to be kidding.' But again, I can't tell for sure with that being all he said."

"Well, that's a lot less than I expected."

Mercedes said, "Honestly, if anyone from Lima wants to be hurtful, they would more likely send Kurt a message, not you."

"That's true." Sam agreed with her. "I deleted Tina's message. You can block her and change your settings to prevent non-friends from messaging you. That's probably a good idea anyway. If Kurt becomes famous, even just locally off-Broadway, people will start to pester the two of you." Sam slid Sebastian's phone down to him.

"I'd rather prevent that from happening." He opened the settings again and blocked Tina and changed who could message him.

"Quite a few of the text messages were in French, but I assumed that they were all from your family."

Sebastian smiled at that. "Yeah, I'm sure they are. They all love Kurt." He focused on eating the small amount of food that he had put on his plate. When he finished, he said, "I just don't want Kurt to read anything mean before he goes on stage tonight. He's worked really hard on this and he doesn't deserve whatever mean message Tina sent him or whoever else."

Burt said, "What happened to Tina? She and Kurt used to be friends."

Sam said, "Blaine. She had a huge crush on him senior year. I really don't know why, but crushes aren't always explainable I guess. Maybe I'll call her and try to see her some time." He picked his plate up and took it to the dishwasher. He went back and collected up more plates.

Burt and Isabelle got up and helped him.

Carole said, "I got that daisy you wanted. You can sneak backstage and give to him when we get there."

That brought a smile to Sebastian's face. "Thanks. I'll do that. Where is it?"

"It over on the counter in the kitchen in a small vase."

A few minutes later, everyone headed out to the elevator.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

Everyone sat down and left the end seat next to Mercedes for Sebastian when he came back.

He slipped into the stage door entrance. Since he was Cassie's dance TA, no one thought him out of place. Several people greeted him as he walked to the guys' dressing room. He stepped inside and closed the door. The girl putting the final touches on his eyeliner saw Sebastian come in, but she didn't tip Kurt off. He got a few steps away and Kurt saw him in the reflection in the mirror.

"Sebastian!" He turned around. "Aww, you brought me a daisy." He stood up and kissed him quickly and took the vase and put it up against the mirror. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I won't keep you. We're all excited to see you. I'll come back when it's over and wait for you where I did before." He slipped back out of the room.

"He's a sweetie."

"He is."

"Are orange gerbera daisies your favorites?"

"No, actually they're his favorite, so whenever I see one it makes me think of him. I never really had a favorite flower, now that I think about it. Definitely not roses, though."

She gave him one final lookover. "You're done."

"Thanks, Bonnie."

"You're welcome."

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

Sebastian and Mercedes left the auditorium right as the curtain closed. He took her hand and led her to the hall as quickly as he could. They managed to get there before most everyone else.

"I'll be able to stand on the other side of the corded area because half the people think I attend NYADA, and the other half won't have the nerve to tell me to move when I look like I belong."

She laughed. "I'll stay over there where the two halls meet. I should be able to see Blaine long before you do, if he's here and tries to come back to talk to Kurt. Turn your phone back on and I'll text you if I see him."

Sebastian pulled his phone out and set it back to vibrate. He leaned against the wall and started to read through the texts and messages that he had gotten earlier. He started with the ones from France. There was one from Georges and Letti, Noelle, Nadine, and Clara. He figured everyone else had already been in bed when he posted the changes since it was close to 11pm in France when he had done it. Once he responded to all of them, he started to read the ones from the Warblers. Several of them mentioned having a party of some sort. A few of them chided him for keeping it a secret for so long. A few others asked why he never came when he was invited to go out with the guys that were in school in New York and nearby. He knew why, but the reason was no longer a valid one. Keeping to himself had been his way of life, but it didn't need to be anymore. He was so deep in thought that he jumped when his name was called.

"Sebastian!" Jeff called out excitedly.

"Jeff?" He saw Nick coming up behind him. "Nick? What are you two doing here?"

"Well, wasn't that an invitation you posted on your Facebook wall this afternoon?"

Sebastian laughed. "I suppose so."

"Kurt was amazing. I didn't recognize him at first. The beard and glasses really threw me," Jeff said.

"You two don't even live in New York," Sebastian pointed out.

"Yeah, but New Haven's only a little more than two hours away. We come into the City once a month or so. You just never show up to any of the get-togethers."

"I was on a no-socializing restriction from my father, but he's out of the picture now, so I'll see what I can do."

"Out of the picture?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, he disowned me because I'm gay and I didn't meet the requirements of the morality clause he put in my trust fund."

"Ouch," Jeff said.

"Well, he wasn't much of a father anyway, so no loss there. Plus, my great grandmother, who insists that I call her 'Grandma,' realized what had been going on and she has stepped in and we've gotten really close. She's here. She actually moved here a few weeks back." He unclipped a section of the rope divider and let them through.

The three of them stood facing away from the people who were slowly trickling into the hallway and kept their voices down as they spoke.

"Well, we're staying on the right side of the line our fathers drew and we'll graduate next May and get our trust funds then," Nick said. "We're applying to graduate schools here in the City. Hopefully, we'll be here fall after next going to school."

"I'm hoping to get into the Urban Design and Architecture program at NYU," Nick said.

"I want to a Master's in Music Technology there. What about you?"

"Well, right now, the plan is to graduate in May, get a job doing whatever, and take a year off from school. I'm an English/Comp Lit major with a psychology minor. A plan that my father approved for my undergraduate work. His plan was that I would go on to law school, eventually join his firm, find a nice wife, and start a family in Ohio."

Jeff laughed. "Sorry. That wasn't funny, but did he not know that you're gay?"

"He knows. He just doesn't approve. I had never intended to go to law school anyway."

"And now, you're married to Kurt," Nick said.

"I am. Very happily so. As a personal favor, I'm asking that you keep your questions to yourselves for now. I only plan to get married once and today was that day. I'd like to spend the rest of it in a positive mindset."

"Right," Nick said. "Of course. I actually figured you would go back to France. I didn't think about you staying. You didn't seem to enjoy being in the States. Plus, how are you graduating this May?"

"I had some AP credits, took an extra class each semester, and one each summer. As for France, we've spent two of the last seven months there. We spent the end of summer break and winter break there. We'll go back whenever we can and we'll have a big reception there with our family."

"Our?"

"Well, besides the in-law aspect of it now, yes, 'our'. My great grandma, my aunts and uncles, and my cousins. And Kurt's grandma, aunt and uncle, and his cousins."

They both looked confused, but the stage door opened and the cast started to come out. Nick and Jeff quickly moved back to the other side of the rope.

Kurt was about the fifth one out. He looked for Sebastian first and saw him. Then, he looked out into the group. "Jeff?"

"That's me. You were great!" He held out his playbill for Kurt to sign it.

Nick handed Kurt his as well.

"Hey, Nick. How did you two end up here? I haven't seen you in ages."

"Well, Sebastian posted the bio from the playbill and we thought we'd come watch. You were really good."

"Thanks! Can you stick around for a little while?"

"Yeah, we got a room for the night," Jeff said. "Take a selfie with us."

Jeff turned around, Nick followed, and Kurt leaned in. Jeff pressed the button a couple of times.

"Thanks!" Jeff said.

"You remember Sam, right?"

"Yeah," Nick said.

"If you go find him, you can wait with him and everyone else."

Nick said, "We'll do that."

They moved out of the way and went out to the lobby. Kurt continued to sign playbills for about 15 minutes and the crowd had dispersed. Sebastian followed him back into the stage area to grab his stuff.

"Let me see if I can do something with my hair really quick." Kurt fooled with it and styled it a little more to his liking. He turned and was greeted with a kiss. "I'm ready." He put his bag in his chair and grabbed his coat. He took his ring out of the zipper pocket of his duffle and put it on. "I want to get something I can actually store my ring in."

"I know just the place. We can go tomorrow sometime. It's the sporting goods place where I bought our backpacks. They have all sorts of little storage things to keep stuff safe while camping and traveling."

"Sounds good to me. Let's get out to the lobby and meet up with everyone. I can't believe that Nick and Jeff came. Do they even live in the City?" Kurt headed back out to the stage door.

Sebastian reached for Kurt's hand. "Nope. They both go to Yale, but they said it was a 2-hour drive. They wanted to see the show, so they came. You were great."

"Thank you."

It didn't take long for them to get to the lobby. Mercedes was the first to approach him.

"You were fabulous! Just amazing." She hugged him. "And you have fanboys, all the way from Yale, I hear."

He laughed. "I do. I even took photos with them."

"I already posted them to Facebook, raving about how good it was," Jeff said.

Kurt shook his head and smiled. "Thanks, Jeff."

Burt pulled him into a hug. "They're right. You were great. I'm glad we got to see you."

"Me too," Kurt said.

Isabelle said, "We were going to go out for New York City pizza for our out-of-town guests, but what if I just call several in and have them delivered? We can talk a lot more easily that way."

"Sure," Kurt said.

"The cars are already on their way. We squeezed seven people in on the way over, but I got a second car for the trip out to dinner," Isabelle said. "I'll call the pizzas in while we wait."

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

While everyone was setting up the pizzas, Kurt slipped off to the half-bath to wash his face again. Sebastian saw him heading that direction and followed him. Kurt let him in the bathroom with him.

Once he dried his face off and put some moisturizer on, he turned and pressed Sebastian against the wall gently. "I got to practice my new signature about 30 times tonight." He kissed Sebastian. "Let's go eat pizza. More kissing later. Lots more kissing. I love you. It's been a great day." He kissed him again.

"It has been a great day. And I love you. Come on, before they start to look for us and then tease us."

Kurt flipped a few of the wood hooks down and hung his bag on the wall. They went and got in line to get some pizza. Someone had already moved the piano bench back to the head of the table, and the two desk chairs from the bedrooms had been put at the other end where Nick and Jeff were sitting.

Sam walked behind Kurt and asked him quietly, "Do they know about the other show?"

Kurt shook his head. "I'll tell them once everyone is sitting down." A couple of minutes later, Kurt said, "I know I said it earlier, but thanks for coming tonight."

Nick and Jeff said, "It was fun. We come into the City about once a month and hang out. We post about it, but you never respond."

Carole said, "He barely has time to sleep. I don't think he does much of anything besides schoolwork and got to work and to rehearsals."

"That's true," Kurt said. "I've been crazy busy since well, since forever. The last three weeks I've been in rehearsals for Mamma Mia! and also for Dear Evan Hansen."

"I've not heard of that," Nick said.

"I have," Jeff said. "It's opening off-Broadway in like a month."

"Three weeks from tomorrow we go into previews."

"No wonder you never post to social media," Jeff said. "Do you even read anything other people post?"

"Not really. When I had deactivated my Facebook account and deleted my other social media accounts, I was so busy that I didn't miss it and when I reactivated Facebook and created new accounts, I just never got back into the habit of using it. Between working, being in a production last fall, working on the costuming last fall, and taking a full load of classes, I just didn't have the time. But I won't ignore texts. If there's something you want me to know or something you're specifically inviting us to, text me. Once I graduate in May, I'll have more free time than I've had in ages, but I'll still have eight shows a week, so getting together may still be tough to do unfortunately. Being a performer cuts into being able to socialize with people who have their days full and their evenings free." Kurt stopped talking and started eating.

Jeff said, "You didn't say what role you got."

"He's Evan," Sebastian answered.

"Oh, wow!" Jeff said, even more enthusiastically than usual. "That's amazing. We have to come see that! We'll get tickets and let you know. Maybe if we come on Sunday evening, we could go out and do something on Monday since Mondays are dark."

"The show officially opens May 1st. Graduation is the 14th. After that, I'll have more free time. But you can check online, probably soon, and see the times for the performances. I haven't looked yet honestly. I just know Mondays are dark."

"We'll look and let you know," Nick said. "Where did you order this from? It's really good."

Isabelle told him the name and he put it in his phone. They all finished eating and Kurt called for a fashion show of what the ladies had picked out that afternoon. They sat around talking until Mercedes needed to go to the airport.

{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}

It was after 1:30am by the time Kurt and Sebastian made it back home. Kurt opened the door and dropped all of his bags on the floor. They hung up their coats and the garment bags.

"I'm not doing anything with any of that tonight," Kurt said, as he wrapped his arms around Sebastian. "I'm double-checking the locks, turning the lights off, and getting in the shower, where I hope my handsome husband will follow me." He let go of Sebastian, did just what he had said, and then started stripping on the way to the bathroom.

Sebastian laughed and picked his clothes up while following behind him. He tossed everything the basket and undressed. Kurt had the water warm and was stepping in by the time Sebastian made it into the bathroom. He followed him into the shower. "I know I already told you, but you were amazing. I'm definitely ready for those kisses you mentioned earlier."

"Mmm. Me too." He leaned towards Sebastian and kissed him, and then pulled him under the spray with him.

Ten minutes later, they were lying in bed facing each other.

"That was a very…utilitarian shower," Sebastian teased.

Kurt smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. "That's because my ideas will lead to us needing another shower."

"Do tell…"

Kurt rolled onto his back, turned the underbed lights on really low, pulled a bottle out of his bedside drawer, and rolled back over. He gave it to Sebastian.

"You ordered a new one?"

"I did."

"What kind is it?"

"Cherry."

"Mmm." He opened the bottle and sniffed. "It smells great."

"Now you can pick between mixing the chocolate and cherry or the cherry and vanilla or just use them separately like before."

"How about more kissing while I decide?" He kissed Kurt gently.

"We could also kiss until we fall asleep and start on the massages and pampering when we wake up since neither one of us is very good at sleeping in." Kurt ran his hands through Sebastian's hair.

"That actually sounds perfect. No one will be here until noon." He rolled onto his back and put the massage oil on his side table.

Kurt turned the underbed lights back off. Once Sebastian was lying back down, Kurt scooted over and snuggled up on him and giggled.

"What's funny?"

"I was just remembering you packing Bruce up so triumphantly." He started running his fingers through Sebastian's hair again.

"Well, no need for him when I'm around."

"Definitely not." He ran his lips along Sebastian's neck up to his lips punctuating each word with a kiss. "Sebastian." Kiss. "Fontenay." Kiss. "Hummel-." Kiss. "Smythe." Kiss. He sang a line from the song they had sung together earlier. "Will you love me forever?"

Sebastian sang back, "I'll love you forever." He kissed Kurt and rearranged a bit so they could continue kissing as they fell asleep.