"I know we had plans for this morning," Sebastian said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"But?"
"But that was Nick. They want to meet us for breakfast before they go do whatever else it is that they came to do."
Kurt scooted closer and kissed him. "Alright, but not for the whole morning. Give them the Copper Cup address and tell them we'll meet them there in 45 minutes."
"You're sure?"
"They drove all this way to see us. We can at least go drink coffee with them. Plus, we only live five minutes from there. That gives us at least a half-hour." He winked at Sebastian.
Sebastian texted Nick back, put his phone on the nightstand, and then rolled back over. Kurt encouraged him to move even closer until he was lying on top of Kurt, who had managed to get a little of the massage oil onto his fingers which made what he wanted to do more comfortable.
After another round in the shower, they dressed quickly in jeans and hoodies and made it to the Copper Cup on time. It was crowded when they got there.
"Breakfast is on us," Jeff said.
"Why don't you two tell me what you want and I'll get in line while you three scout out a table we can sit at."
The four of them stood together in line long enough for Nick and Jeff to decide. Jeff handed Kurt his card, and then the three of them moved back to the other side of the shop to wait for someone to get up.
Sebastian said, "I know you have questions. Go ahead. Ask me, not him please."
Nick said, "We all thought he had married Blaine. When did they get divorced?"
"Kurt was pressured into a wedding ceremony. They didn't have a marriage license at the time. The ceremony wasn't legally binding. Sam and Mercedes talked some sense into him. He called it off with Blaine and never went through with the legal part of a marriage license and a judge marrying them. And he came back to New York."
"Pressured?" Jeff asked.
"Long story, which is not mine to tell. But the factual part is that he broke up with Blaine in May of 2014. Blaine went back to Ohio. They were back together for about four days before they participated in the wedding ceremony at the end of October. They didn't spend that weekend together and they haven't been together since Kurt called it off the Monday after the ceremony. This isn't really a topic I want to discuss. And I don't want you to bring it up to him. We're happy. Let us be happy, please. I know that you and Blaine were friends, but he's been out of Kurt's life for a long time now, over 16 months."
"No, actually we're not friends with Blaine anymore," Jeff insisted. "We haven't seen him on purpose in, well, I don't even know how long. We certainly haven't gone out of our way to spend any time with him since the steroids incident." Jeff insisted. "We like Kurt. We always did. Blaine was always an attention hog and he was pretty much a jerk to Kurt when we look back on things. At the time, Blaine seemed so amazing, but looking back we see things we didn't see at the time. We all thought they were dating from before Kurt came to Dalton. Blaine hovered over him and kept everyone else away from him. He told us that Kurt needed time to get caught up, which made sense, but spring semester he still hogged Kurt's time, never giving the rest of us much of a chance to get to know him. He was always putting his hands on Kurt's shoulders or taking his hand and leading him places. What else would any of us have thought? It's not like Dalton encourages PDA. Sure, being gay there is fine, but Blaine's level of touchy-feely-ness with Kurt was about as high on the PDA meter as most guys were willing to go. We didn't know what to think when he proposed the GAP Attack. Obviously we had all been wrong about them dating prior to that."
Nick said, "Looking back, we can see how things went. We sang a song that was supposed to be for Regionals and Kurt was totally not into it. He even sat down on a bench in the hallway. Looking back, I think he was just fed up with Blaine's showboating. Kurt was born to stand out and Blaine kept telling him to fit in. Blaine tossed all of the sheet music up in the air and made a big scene in the hall with that song. It was all so over-the-top. Kurt was losing interest after the GAP Attack and Rachel's party. He was tired of conforming. He was tired of 'doo-wopping' as he put it. Blaine pulled him back in by offering to let him duet with him at Regionals. We didn't win, obviously. Blaine's song choice was terrible and we only had a few days to work on it, which meant no choreography. Kurt went back to Lima not long after that, but Blaine had already asked him out by then."
Jeff said, "Anyway, we aren't Blaine fanboys. Not anymore, at least. Especially, not after what he did to the Warblers with the steroid thing. And when I heard you say that he had cheated on Kurt, I was glad I was out of town that weekend."
"I feel horrible about that," Sebastian said. "I thought he would turn Blaine down flat. I wanted to see him embarrass Blaine, but all of his McKinley friends were pushing him back towards Blaine the entire five months they had been broken up. If I had known that, I would have refused his request. Kurt didn't have anyone on his side. All of those people were pressuring him just by being there. It was too hard to stand up for himself when he was alone."
"Is that what happened when they got back together?" Jeff asked.
"No details from me. It's not my story. I didn't want to discuss any of this today. I actually never wanted to discuss any of it, but I know that people are curious."
Jeff said, "So, whatever that was about Kurt having a mini freak-out over schoolwork and vanishing after the wedding when he sent out that message looking for him in New York?"
"That was Kurt coming to his senses and going to stay somewhere else for a while to have time to get his head on straight. He did come back here to New York a few weeks after that, after he figured out what he wanted to do. Anything you've inferred from online posts that weren't directly from Kurt is probably not correct. The facts are that he broke up with Blaine not quite two years ago. Blaine went back to Ohio. Four months later, Kurt went back to Ohio to help Rachel reboot the Glee Club at McKinley. Kurt and Blaine had been broken up for well over five months when they got back together for four days and participated in a wedding ceremony. Kurt realized that being married to Blaine was not what he wanted and this time he had the support of two people, which he had not had before. Previously everyone had been Team Blaine. He eventually returned here in November. He got his job back at Vogue. He and I reconnected. We became friends. We fell in love. And now we're married.
"We'll stop asking questions," Nick said. "You're right. It's in the past. Just like that cocky attitude you had when you first came to Dalton. You changed around Regionals our junior year and you never went back to acting like that."
Sebastian saw Kurt coming their direction with a tray full of stuff. He stood up and took two of the cups off the tray and sat them on the table and reached for the other two. Kurt put the tray down in the middle. They grabbed their pastry choices off the tray and Kurt put it on the stack near the door and came back. They passed the drinks around until they had the right ones.
"So, what brings you to the Big Apple this weekend?" Kurt asked.
"Well, spring break is this next week. We're flying down to the Florida Keys early in the morning. Tonight we're going out to celebrate Trent's 21st birthday. We'd love for you two to come too, if you have time."
"When are you going out?" Kurt asked.
"Well, we're going to dinner at 8:00 and then out to wherever he's picked after that," Nick answered.
"My parents are staying until brunch tomorrow. We'll have to let you know later. We last saw them in Ohio at Christmas, so it's been a while. If they decide to call it an early evening and go back to Grandma Smythe's after one movie, then we might be able to."
"Sure," Jeff said. "Just text one of us and we can tell you where Trent has decided on."
With the shop being so crowded, they talked some while they ate, but finished fairly quickly and cleared their table to make room for new people. Once they were outside, Kurt hugged Nick and then Jeff.
"Thanks for coming last night. I'm sorry that I've ignored your invitations by not reading any of the group posts. Once things settle down a little in a few weeks, I promise to do better."
Jeff said, "You're forgiven. I feel much less slighted now that I know that you've ignored everyone, not just us." He mock punched Kurt in the arm.
"You two, Trent, and Thad were the nicest to me while I was at Dalton. At least Thad laughed at my jokes."
"He'll be there tonight," Nick said. "He goes to Harvard, but it's only about a 4-hour drive. He's driving with Jon and David."
"Wes isn't bring his gavel as his date, is he?"
Nick and Jeff both laughed. "I think he leaves John Jay at home when he goes out socializing."
"John Jay?" Sebastian asked.
"That's what we called the gavel. John Jay was the first Supreme Court Chief Justice. He carried John Jay with him all the time. Kurt really stumped Wes when he hid John Jay. Everyone else pretty much just hid the gavel somewhere in the Warblers room, but Kurt made it more personal and hid John Jay in the pocket of one of his blazers that needed to go to the cleaners in his wardrobe in his room. It made Wes look like he just misplaced it on his own and forgot where he had put it. Kurt totally got away with it and we each had to chip in to get him this sweater than he wanted."
Kurt smiled. "I still have that sweater. It was worth every penny you all paid for it and all the trouble it took to get into Wes' room to hide the gavel."
"What we should have done was to rally the troops to pay your tuition and keep you at Dalton. By the next year, your dad could have afforded it after he got elected."
"The past is over. Should haves and could haves need to stay in the past, unless there's some way to change something that still needs changed."
"That's a valid point." Jeff belted out. The past is in the past!
Kurt just shook his head at him. "I'm glad you two came." He hugged the two of them again.
Sebastian followed Kurt's example and stepped forward to hug the two of them. "We'll let you know about tonight. If we can't make it, maybe we'll be able to the next time."
"Thanks for taking us out to breakfast," Kurt said.
"Sure," Nick said. "Congratulations again. We're really glad the two of you are happy."
Kurt leaned into Sebastian. "Thanks. We really are."
Sebastian wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist. "We'll do better at keeping in touch."
Nick and Jeff headed towards the subway and Kurt and Sebastian headed back to their apartment.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
After they took their boots off and put their jackets in the closet, Sebastian wrapped his arms around Kurt. "We need to talk."
"About what?" Kurt kissed him.
"About something I don't want to talk about. Come on." Sebastian kissed him and led him over to the sofa. He fluffed the pillows in the corner and pushed the ottoman into the corner as well. Sebastian climbed into the corner and waited for Kurt.
He moved Sebastian's knees apart, sat between them, turned sideways a bit, bent his knees so that his legs were over the top of Sebastian's left leg. He leaned into Sebastian and snuggled in close. "Okay. So, what's up?"
Sebastian wrapped his arms around Kurt. "Mmm." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I really like it when we sit like this."
"Me too." He tipped his head so he could kiss Sebastian. He completely relaxed and melted into Sebastian and closed his eyes. He reached up and ran his thumb along Sebastian's jaw. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I'll always be here for you. Or if you've decided that you don't want to talk about it, we can just snuggle."
"Yesterday, after I left NYADA, I got quite a few texts and Facebook messages."
"Oh?"
"It seems that when we changed our relationship status last summer, that we had that particular setting set to 'Family Only'. When we changed our status yesterday, it was still only family members that could see that. But when we changed our last names…"
Kurt interrupted, "Everyone saw the name change."
"Exactly. At some point, you must have added Rachel to your 'Family' list."
"I did. I had forgotten about that. I changed it a long time ago when I first moved here. I had her as my emergency contact as well."
"Well, she is the only one that could see our relationship status on your Facebook wall besides your parents and your relatives in Paris if you added them to your family list at some point."
"Mémé doesn't have a Facebook page, but the others do. I didn't add them to the family list because I haven't honestly been posting much of anything. If I had added them, I would have remembered that Rachel was on the list. So, no one saw our status update last summer. And we never posted any photos of us engaged in any type of PDA, so people just assumed that we became good friends. And us changing our last names prompted people to chime in with their thoughts on the matter. I'm assuming that some of their thoughts were unsupportive."
"Well, I only got one truly rude message, but I didn't actually read it. Sam filtered through them. It was from Tina. He said he might try to talk to her to figure out what her problem is."
"That's probably a good idea. I might participate. She and I used to be friends and then she just turned on me after Blaine cheated on me. She had a huge crush on him for who knows what reason since she had known he was gay from the get-go. So, only one unsupportive one?"
"And two undecipherable ones as far as their meaning. Puck's said, 'That was fast.' And Artie's message said, 'Say what?'"
"Well, I don't know how to interpret either of those myself. My inclination would be that Puck was just being a smartass and is waiting to see how you respond. He was fine with the birthday photo. He's probably the least likely to hold what you did in high school against you. He was a grade A jackass and he's turned his life around, so he's more likely to believe that you could have done the same. We both know that you weren't actually a jackass, but the few months that he knew you, you behaved like one."
"Right. And Artie?"
"Who knows. It doesn't really matter to me though. But if we find out that it was meant negatively, I can block him and you can block him from messaging you again. You're more concerned about what I'm going to find when I turn my phone on, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Well, if any of the apprehension is a concern that something one of them wrote will make me feel differently about you, it doesn't need to be. They don't know you. I do. I love you and I'm right where I want to be. Nothing anyone says will make me change my mind about you. Now, it very well make me change my mind about who stays on my friends list. I can understand people having questions. I cut people out of my life, so no one has known what's been going on, so questions are understandable, but outright rudeness, I don't have any need for that in my life and those people will just be cut out." He placed gentle kisses along Sebastian's neck. "This is our life. I love you more than I thought possible. I trust you. No walls. Just us."
"And I love you. All love and trust, no walls. I just didn't want you to be surprised. No, not surprised. Surprises are good. Blindsided is better. I didn't want you to be blindsided by a bunch of rude texts and messages."
"Well, I appreciate you telling me. Maybe I'll look through them later. Right now, I think I really want to spend the next two hours making love with my husband." He resumed kissing Sebastian's neck.
"That does sound like the perfect way to spend the rest of the morning."
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
At noon, Sam, Burt, and Carole knocked on the door, and then Sam unlocked it and let everyone in.
"Mmm. It smells good in here," Carole said, as they stepped inside.
"That's because lunch is nearly done," Kurt said. "Here, let me take your jackets." Kurt took Carole's, and then Burt's and hung them in the closet. "You're welcome to sit on the sofa or at the table. It will be done in about five minutes."
Burt and Carole sat down at the table. Sam made everyone's drinks. Kurt and Sebastian headed into the kitchen to finish everything up. Kurt worked on getting the Brussels sprouts just right, so Burt would enjoy them. Sebastian pulled out a tray with two roasted cauliflower heads on it and slid a different tray into the oven. He put the cauliflower on a serving platter and placed it on the table with a bread knife.
"That's unusual," Burt said.
"Give it a try, Dad. You might like it. And you have to eat some of it to get any dessert." Kurt put the Brussels sprouts in a serving bowl and carried them to the table as well. "Sebastian made Tarte Normande, which is a French apple tart."
"I'm sure the cauliflower is tasty," Burt practically sassed, as he cut some off and put it on his plate.
Sebastian followed him to the table with the BBQ baby smokies.
"Now, we're talking," Burt said.
Carole just shook her head and smiled. "You two spoil him."
"Well, this was all Sebastian's doing. He worked to prep everything during the week while I was at tech rehearsals. And he still came and met me every evening so I wouldn't have to come back home so late by myself."
"Well, my taste buds thank you," Burt said. "I love these things."
He served himself and everyone followed suit. They all sat and enjoyed the food. When the timer went off, they had nearly finished. Sebastian got up and pulled the tray out of the oven. He sat it on the stove to cool enough to cut. Kurt and Sam collected up the plates. Sebastian carried the slices of tart to the table.
"This looks delicious, Sebastian. You've outdone yourself," Carole said.
Burt took a bite. "It's really good. It's different, but I really like it."
"Me too," Carole said. "There's no cinnamon, but there's another flavor I can't pinpoint."
"Brandy," Sebastian said. "You can take two pieces of it with you for Grandma and Isabelle to have before you all go to the theatre."
"I'm sure they'll like that," Carole said. "I really liked the show last night. I didn't really get to tell you last night."
Kurt smiled. "It was a lot of fun. I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"You were really good. With that make up and the glasses and the clothes, you looked old enough to be my brother, not my kid. That part was a bit weird."
Everyone laughed.
"It won't be long and I'll be super clean shaven again. They'll probably have it done right before I go on stage every evening. I'm supposed to be a senior in high school in Dear Evan Hansen."
"It will be a big change to go from 40-something to 18," Burt said.
"It's a challenge, but I like challenges."
"Yeah, I know," Burt chuckled.
"Are we back to the paella? I'll have you know, I've perfected that."
Burt chuckled. "You'll have to make it for me some time."
Everyone else looked lost.
"I wrecked the kitchen one night trying to make paella on my own when I was 9."
Sebastian smiled sweetly and put his hand on Kurt's leg under the table. "You were ambitious. That's a good thing."
Burt looked at Sebastian looking at Kurt with such love in his eyes. "It is. You're right. Ambition and hard work have gotten him this far in life. It is a good thing. Lima tried to squish it right out of him and then the people who came here with him from Lima kept on doing it."
Sebastian's eyes flashed.
Burt realized his mistake.
Carole changed the subject. "So, the guys are going to see the Knicks. That should be exciting."
Burt said, "I'm looking forward to it. They lost by one point last night, but the Pistons aren't quite as good as the Celts, so I think they have a better chance of winning tonight, but last night's game was a humdinger. 105-104. That was some shooting going on. I watched some of the highlights this morning."
"Sounds like it," Kurt said. "That's a high scoring game."
"Speaking of the game, we need to head out soon. I hate to eat and run, but it was delicious," Burt said. "I appreciate you going to all that effort for us, Sebastian."
"Oh, you're welcome. I'm glad you liked it. Let me get the tart packed up to take with us."
Kurt got up too and packed up the other leftovers and put them in the fridge. He went down to their room to grab his bag with all of his stuff that he needed in it. Sebastian followed him a couple of minutes later. He closed the door behind him.
He opened the closet and said, "Which one of these isn't a dead giveaway that I don't even know the rules to basketball?"
"Wear your Columbia hoodie and athletic shoes."
"Got it." He pulled Kurt into a hug. "I'd rather come watch you again, but I will be a good son-in-law and try to enjoy myself at the game."
"I love you." Kurt kissed him. "Thanks for trying. It means a lot to me."
"You mean everything to me. I can learn to watch basketball once a year or whatever. I love you too." He stepped back and pulled his hoodie on over his head and grabbed his running shoes. "How's this?"
"Very sporty. You'll fit right in." Kurt stepped forward and kissed him again. "Let's get out there before we get teased." Kurt put his bag over his shoulder and opened the door.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
Kurt sat down at the dressing table in front of the flower from Sebastian. He opened his water bottle and added a little fresh water to the vase. He sat staring at it for a few minutes before Bonnie walked up behind him.
"Thinking about your sweetie?"
"I am. While we were here working out the tech issues, he worked ahead on his schoolwork so he could prep my dad's favorite meat dishes for today. He even made a French apple tart for dessert. He's on his way to a Knicks game with my dad and our best friend and he doesn't even know the rules to basketball."
"He sounds like a keeper."
"I already did that. Yesterday." He picked up one of the playbills laying a couple of seat downs and showed it to her.
"You got married yesterday?"
"I did. My parents and our best friends came into town to see the musical and we arranged a ceremony yesterday morning so they could be here for it. One lives in LA, and my parents live in Ohio. Our other friend goes to one of the SUNY schools northeast of here."
"Well, congratulations."
"Thanks. Are you ready to make me a middle-aged man again?"
"I am. Go get your clothes changed. I'll be around here somewhere, working on whoever is dressed."
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
The show went well, just as it had the night before. Afterwards, Kurt changed and stepped out to greet people with the rest of the cast. He looked to where Sebastian always stood expecting the spot to be empty, only to be surprised by seeing him there. He ran over to him quickly and threw his arms around Sebastian's neck.
"You're here!"
Sebastian caught him and wrapped his arms around Kurt's lower back. "Of course, I'm here."
Kurt let go and went back to where the rest of the cast was. People were already waiting, so he began to sign the playbills he was handed and he posed for a few photos with mostly fellow students. About 10 minutes into it, Sebastian spotted Blaine in the line. He moved across the hall and slipped into the cordoned off space and leaned back against the wall out of the way. Kurt saw him move and looked down the line and didn't see anyone, but he knew that something was up. It didn't take long for Kurt to spot Blaine's curls.
Blaine eventually made his way up to the line and had everyone sign his playbill as he came down the line. Kurt had taken the end spot after he hugged Sebastian. Blaine handed Kurt his playbill. He signed it and handed it back.
"I hope you enjoyed the show."
"It was good. So, it's true. You married Sebastian."
"I did."
"That doesn't look like a wedding ring."
"Well, I picked it out and it's on my hand on the finger people traditionally wear wedding rings on. I say it's a wedding ring, so it is. Please move on towards the other hall to exit. You're stalling up the line."
"Can we talk after this?"
"There's nothing to talk about."
"I'll buy you coffee. Just talk to me."
"Meet me at that coffee shop we used to go to in Bryant Park at 7:00."
"That's not for over an hour."
"I have some things I have to do first. Take it or leave it."
"Fine. I'll be there at 7:00." He walked away.
Sebastian stepped closer to Kurt and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder.
"Let my dad and Grandma know to meet us at 7:00." He told Sebastian the name of the place. "Tell them we're meeting Blaine there."
"Got it."
Kurt greeted the rest of the people who wanted to meet him before he went back into the dressing area. Sebastian followed him.
"Why did you agree to meet him?"
"Because I want to put an end to this once and for all. Ask Grandma whether she can get a cease and desist letter written up by her lawyer, well Isabelle's lawyer or whoever."
"Mr. Marshall is OUR lawyer now."
"Okay. See if she can get OUR lawyer to write up something that tells him to stay away from me."
"I will do that. Come here first, though." Sebastian held out his arms. He wrapped them around Kurt.
"How about you come with me to the showers up in the dance hall? They should be empty this time of day. I'd like to shower before we meet with him."
He squeezed Kurt gently before he let him go. "Sure. Let's go up there."
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
Kurt spoke quietly, directly into Sebastian's ear. "We still have to keep quiet because Cassie lurks around the dance studio a lot." He licked down his earlobe and pressed him into the shower wall.
Sebastian nodded and kissed up Kurt's neck until he reached his lips and pressed in, kissing him passionately. A few minutes later, they were both a little shaky and trying to catch their breath.
Sebastian began kissing his neck again. He reached for the shampoo and washed Kurt's hair, while Kurt washed his. After they rinsed, they used Kurt's body wash and their hands to soap each other up. Once they rinsed again, Sebastian dropped to his knees. When Kurt caught his breath, he switched places with Sebastian. When he stood back up, they stood under the spray together and held each other close, kissing again.
Kurt said, "Let's get out before our luck runs out."
Sebastian kissed him once more before grabbed his towel and stepped out. Kurt followed behind. They redressed. Kurt used his travel facial kit and washed his face carefully in the sink to get any remaining stage make up off. He moisturized, and then turned to get dressed. Sebastian was right behind him and pulled him into a kiss before letting him go.
Kurt got dressed and packed everything up. He put his jacket on and put his duffle on crossbody. They headed downstairs and out the building hand in hand. Once they got outside, Kurt offered Sebastian an Altoid.
"You're going to have to get more of those if we keep this up," Sebastian teased.
"Not a problem," Kurt smiled at him and leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek. "We can add them to the weekly shopping list."
"Good idea. I might add a travel toothbrush of my own to your kit."
"We can do that too." Kurt squeezed his hand.
"You seem really relaxed."
He leaned in and spoke more quietly. "Your hands and mouth tend to have that effect on me. Actually you have that effect on me. Thinking of you, even. When I looked up today and you were there, my heart just soared. I wasn't expecting you to be there, but there you were. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I wanted to be there. The game was nearly over. I left before anyone else the crowd started to leave and took the subway."
"What did you tell my dad?"
"That I needed to meet you. He gave me that smile he gives me a lot and patted me on the shoulder and said he'd see me later."
"What smile?"
"The one that says he knows how head over heels I am for you, and that he likes that about me."
"I see." Kurt started to swing their hands between them happily. "Well, I'm just as crazy about you." He started to hum "Crazy for You" and attempted to twirl himself into Sebastian's arms.
They both ended up laughing because the duffle was causing problems.
"We'll have to do that later when I'm unarmed," Kurt said, still laughing.
"You could work that bag into some self-defense moves. The duffle-drop or something."
"That's actually not a bad idea."
A few minutes later, about a block from the coffee shop, Sebastian's phone pinged with a text. He took it out of his pocket and read the text. "Everyone's there besides us and Blaine. They've got a table already."
Kurt started humming some western showdown music. Sebastian cracked up. Kurt changed to whistling a cowboy lament style song.
"You're so much fun."
"I do try." Kurt tipped his nose up and looked to the side.
Sebastian leaned to kiss him on the cheek, but Kurt turned his head and kissed Sebastian on the lips, startling him, but he joined in quickly. "I love you." He was still chuckling.
"And I love you. Let's go in." Kurt pulled the door open and saw everyone seated together at two tables they had pulled together.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
Kurt dropped his bag in the chair next to Isabelle. Sebastian waited and retook his hand and they got in line. Kurt ordered a large smoothie with yogurt to split with Sebastian. They waited and took their drink to the table.
Isabelle started, "So, we had Mr. Marshall draw up a cease and desist letter in the most gentle of legal terms. This is like a first warning. We don't want to start a legal battle of any sort. We just want him to leave you alone."
"Right. I've asked him numerous times now."
"Sam actually had the dates, which I had included in the letter," she said
Kurt looked at Sam, confused.
"Look, Kurt. I screwed up the first time and I wasn't going to let him get his claws into you again if I could help it. Each time you told me you that you had talked to him and asked him to leave you alone, I wrote it in my phone calendar."
Kurt nodded. "Thanks. I wrote them in the notebook I keep for my counseling sessions, but I don't have that with me right now."
Isabelle handed Kurt the letter. "Go ahead and read it yourself before he gets here so you're familiar with what it says.
Kurt read through it, put it in the envelope and sealed it slightly. "That seems adequate and not terribly confrontational or threatening."
Blaine pulled the door open and stepped inside. His expression fell, but he quickly covered it over with a smile. Kurt stood up and motioned him over to the table.
"Feel free to get a drink first, if you'd like."
"Um, I'm good actually." He sat down at the end of the table in the only open chair.
Grandma Smythe was seated on the other end. To Blaine's left were Burt, Carole, and Sam. To his right were Sebastian, Kurt, and Isabelle.
"I was hoping to speak to Kurt alone."
"I'm sure you were," Kurt said. "But that's not going to be happening today or in the future, as far as I'm concerned." Kurt picked up the letter. There was also another sheet of paper with it.
"You'll need to sign that sheet that you received the letter in the envelope," Burt said. He slid a pen to Blaine.
"What is this?"
Burt answered, "Just sign the paper that you've received the letter and then you can read it. I'll sign as a witness, as will Isabelle, Kurt, and Sebastian."
Blaine signed it. Burt took the paper and the pen. Blaine opened the letter and read through it. The other three signed as well.
Before Blaine had a chance to start reading, Kurt said, "It lists the dates that I have verbally asked you to not interact with me, specifically detailing what that meant. It also lists the dates that you went against my wishes, and in what way. This is a written request prepared by my attorney asking you to stay away from me. Should we end up in the same public or private event at the same time, I am asking you to stay 10m away from me, or the largest distance possible, if the venue is to small to allow such a distance."
Everyone gave Blaine time to read through the letter.
Once he looked up, Grandma Smythe spoke gently. "I do not understand the trouble you are having with following Kurt's wishes, but we will no longer stand for you harassing him. Please heed the request. I do not wish for this to progress any further."
"Further?"
She responded, "Further, yes. Requiring us to send more legal paperwork to your permanent address in Columbus through certified mail."
His eyes went wide briefly before he regained control. "Yes, I see."
Kurt spoke next. "While you are here, I will speak to the issues that you brought up by the stage door earlier this afternoon. Sebastian and I are married. Everyone sitting at this table was present for the ceremony, which was performed legally here in New York City. Your opinions on my life choices are of no interest to me. If you approach me in public again, I will not acknowledge it. We have nothing more to say to each other. You are not part of my life now, nor will you be in the future. Any possibility that we might have one day resumed contact with each other has been negated by your lack of willingness to leave me alone as I have requested for the last 16 months. You should notice, if you did not already, that implying that you and I have been spending time together on social media is one of the specific requests that I made that seems to have been ignored. You will make sure not to do that anymore or you will be in violation of this written request."
Blaine nodded.
Burt spoke up. "I trusted you. I found out a lot of things after that ceremony in Indiana. Things that if I had known at the time would have caused me to ask you and Kurt to step down from the platform to quietly join the groomsmen. Several of those things add up to you being somehow involved in getting Kurt to agree to marry you on the spot that day after only having broken up with David Karofsky a matter of days prior to the ceremony and having been broken up with Kurt for over five months prior to that. Now that I'm not as busy as I used to be, I may feel the need to look into that. I'd suggest you abide by this written request to leave Kurt and Sebastian alone from now on."
Blaine retorted, "You can't possibly trust him. He nearly blinded me."
"Yes, I'm aware. I've also been told by more than one witness that Kurt's clothing was his target and that if you hadn't jumped in the way, Kurt would have needed to have his outfit dry cleaned or specially cleaned somehow, but there would have been no physical harm other than wearing cold, wet, sticky clothing. We all made bad choices as teenagers. I'm pretty sure you remember making an improper song choice for your choir to sing to a closeted young man in a GAP?"
Blaine looked surprised that Burt knew about that incident.
Kurt said, "Something you never apologized for. You got him fired. Sebastian apologized for what he did and he didn't continue with the childish shenanigans."
Burt continued, "I'm sure we could go around the table and everyone here can name some incredibly stupid and immature things they did as teenagers, but the thing is that we stopped. We matured by reflecting on our bad choices, and then we attempted to make better ones. You seem determined to keep making the same ones. You're a couple of years past your teens. Start to think more about your actions and their consequences. Leave Kurt and Sebastian alone. It's a simple request."
Carole spoke gently. "I think you should consider seeing a therapist. It's been invaluable to me in dealing with losing Christopher all those years ago, and then losing Finn. A relationship ending, for any reason, can be devastating. You need to take this meeting as the absolute end to any type of relationship with Kurt and Sebastian. Isabelle has lived here in the City for many years. I'm sure if you're looking for a therapist, she could recommend one to you."
Isabelle said, "Yes, of course." She pulled her phone out and took a piece of paper that Carole offered her and began to write down a few names and phone numbers. When she finished, she passed it down to Blaine. "All of those people come highly recommended by people I know who've seen them and are doing well now."
He took the sheet and folded it in quarters and reached down to put it in his jacket pocket. "Why are you even here? Why would Kurt's boss come to something like this?"
"Isabelle is my second cousin," Sebastian answered. "She's my dad's cousin. Her mother and my grandfather are brother and sister."
Blaine didn't say anything.
"I apologize. I failed to introduce myself," Grandma Smythe said. "I'm Imogen Smythe. Isabelle is my granddaughter. Sebastian is my great grandson."
Blaine nodded.
Kurt said, "I don't think there's anything left to say. I think we'll all be on our way. We have plans this evening."
Sam and Isabelle took that as their cues to collect up everyone's coffee cups and put them in the dish bins. Grandma Smythe called for the car.
Kurt said, "Get some help, Blaine. I know you're not happy at NYU and you don't want to go back to Ohio. Maybe go stay with Cooper and audition for roles in LA for the summer and sublet your place out. Get help before then. Figure yourself out." He stood up. He grabbed his duffle and their smoothie and waited for Sebastian. Kurt took his hand and let him out the door.
Carole got up and put her hand on Blaine's shoulder. "I know it hurts. I've been there, but actions have consequences. You made choices that led to this outcome. Like Kurt said, get some help and move on. Find what brings you joy and pursue it, so long as you're not pursuing Kurt." She followed Kurt and Sebastian outside.
The others followed them outside. They walked a little ways down to a wooded area and Grandma Smythe sat down.
"Well, I hope he takes this seriously and stops harassing you now, dears." She looked down at her phone. "The car is here."
Isabelle said, "I told them we wouldn't be more than 30 minutes, so he just drove around the park a few times."
They all squeezed into the car with Isabelle, and the three guys sitting on one side.
After the car pulled out, Kurt said, "I saw the look in his eyes when you mentioned sending legal papers to his permanent address. I think he will do as we ask just because he doesn't want his parents to find anything out," Kurt said. "I'm half inclined to tell them something anyway, but I don't want to push Blaine to the point where he's a danger to himself. There is no outcome for him in which he gets to maintain the image he's been portraying. No matter how many insane stories he makes up, at least some people are going to figure out that he's been lying. He did this with me and June Dolloway. He continued to make me think that I was going to be part of the showcase until the very last minute when he could no longer hide the fact that I wasn't. I got very upset. At the very end of his showcase, he defied her and asked me to sing with him. I did. He waited until there was nothing she could do about it besides look bad in front of a group of people."
"I remember that," Sam said. "I liked the song you sang with him the best of all."
Kurt smiled, and then shifted back to the topic at hand. "My bad decisions over the years rewarded this behavior in him. He learned that waiting me out was the way to get me to come around. I conditioned him to behave this way to some extent. When I would say 'no' and eventually give in, I taught him to try harder to convince me or that he could wait me out until I didn't have the will to continue to refuse."
"Well, that was then and this is now. No more of him tonight. I've been told that we're watching some spy movie," Grandma Smythe said.
"That's true," Sebastian said. "Sam picked the movie up this morning."
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
Sebastian unlocked the door and let everyone in. Sam took over jacket hanging duty while Kurt and Sebastian started in the kitchen.
Sebastian spoke quietly, "I didn't know that Grandma and Isabelle were coming for the movie. I'm not sure that I have enough food for everyone."
"How about if I make some chicken strips for those who don't want spicy wings and I'll make some fried rice as an option? It won't kill my dad to eat less salad than you had planned, and he'll be all the happier to eat the fried rice. And if everyone wants spicy wings, we can just eat the chicken strips ourselves."
"That sounds perfect."
By the time they had their plan set, Sam came over to help them. Sebastian got the wings in the oven first, and then moved on to chopping up the lettuce and tomatoes for the salad.
"Could you slice up three of the chicken breasts in the freezer?" Kurt asked Sam.
"Sure."
The three of them worked together like a well-oiled machine. Isabelle sat at the table, pulled out her laptop, and burned a copy of the wedding photos to another DVD and gave it to Carole. Grandma Smythe sat down with them as well.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I'll get some printed Monday. Thanks for taking us out shopping yesterday. I had a lot of fun. I don't have much of a selection where we live. I'm still fond of my jeans, but I like fun shirts and accessories. Mercedes had fun too."
"So did I," Isabelle agreed. "And this afternoon was a lot of fun too."
Kurt jumped into the conversation. "So, you liked Wicked?"
"I loved it," Carole said.
"So did I," Grandma Smythe said. "I loved the staging and the music was great."
Isabelle put a second DVD in a sleeve and handed it to Kurt.
"Thanks. I'm excited to look through them." He took it in and put it on his desk. "Okay. Let's start the movie and when the food is done, we'll stop it and eat."
Isabelle packed her computer up and sat on the sofa. Everyone got comfortable. Sam sat on the far right end. Sebastian put a pillow behind him and leaned up against the sofa between Sam's knees. After he turned the lights off, Kurt sat between Sebastian's legs and leaned back against him. He pressed play on the remote and MI5 started. About 40 minutes into the movie, Sebastian's phone vibrated. He nudged Kurt and the two of them got up and went into the kitchen and stir-fried the rice and sautéed the chicken strips in garlic with some soy sauce. When the timer went off on the oven, they pulled out the Buffalo wings. They transferred everything to the table.
Sam paused the movie and turned the lights back on. Everyone sat around the table.
"Buffalo wings?" Burt asked. "Now you are definitely my favorite son-in-law."
Sebastian laughed. "There are savory chicken strips for those not willing to risk their tongues on the Buffalo wings."
Grandma Smythe said, "I can't say that I've ever had any of these, so I'm going to give it a try."
"The celery and blue cheese dip does a lot to knock the heat if it's too much," Kurt said.
She took some of the blue cheese dip and a couple of celery and carrot sticks. She took a bite of the chicken wing and continued to eat it. "It's a different kind of heat, but it's no worse that some of those Indian dishes I like so much." She took a few more chicken wings.
Burt said, "I might just have to come to New York more often if I'm going to get BBQ smokies and hot wings."
"Burt Hummel, don't you dare act like I feed you boiled chicken and cabbage," Carole chided teasingly.
"I know, I know. I'm just teasing. Carole's a great cook. I'm a well-fed man. I eat vegetables every week that I didn't know the names of 10 years ago."
Kurt chuckled. "I'm proud of you, Dad."
"Smartass," Burt said, rolling his eyes. "These are great, Sebastian."
"I just followed Kurt's recipe." He winked at Kurt.
Once everyone finished eating they moved back to the sofa to finish watching the movie. Kurt and Sebastian packed the leftovers and cleaned quietly. They joined everyone again in the living room once they finished.
When the movie ended, Sam made his way around the room hugging everyone. "Lexi did her best to sleep all evening and she's coming in on the train. We're heading to stay with her family down in South Carolina for spring break." He hugged Kurt last. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks. I'm really glad you've been able to stay as long as you have. I still miss you being here. I'm used to it now, but I still miss you."
"I miss you too." He released Kurt from his bear hug hold on him. He grabbed his jacket.
"Where's your bag?"
"I put it in the back my truck before I drove over here."
Kurt hugged him again. "Come see us soon, okay?"
"I'll call you and we'll work it out." He opened the door. He waved to everyone and closed the door behind him.
Grandma Smythe said, "I think I'd like one of these ottomans. Maybe you two can take me out to pick one out sometime soon."
"I'm sure we can," Sebastian said.
Sebastian got everyone's jackets out for them.
"Thanks for dinner," Isabelle said. "You know how much I love a home-cooked meal." She hugged both of them.
Grandma Smythe was next to hug them. "We'll see you two tomorrow for brunch."
The two of them headed toward the elevator while Burt and Carole finished putting their jackets on. Kurt hugged both of them and the two of them hugged Sebastian.
"Welcome to the family, if I didn't say so before," Burt said. "You're a good man, Sebastian. I'm glad the two of you have each other. Thanks for dinner. It was great."
Carole echoed his sentiments, "It really was. See you two tomorrow morning."
Kurt locked the door and turned around only to be pushed back gently against the door and thoroughly kissed by Sebastian. He ran his hands through the back of Sebastian's hair, causing him to moan lightly. When they broke for air, Sebastian asked, "Do you want to go join the Warblers in celebrating Trent's 21st birthday?"
"I feel old. It feels like my 21st birthday was ages ago."
"A lot of things have happened since then, but you're not old. Experienced. That's it."
"I think that sounds worse than old," Kurt shook his head.
Sebastian chuckled, "You might be right. But do you want to go?"
"Sure, if you do. I haven't seen most of them since well, you know. And before that, it had been Regionals the year before."
"When you so gallantly gave me the evidence you had and gave me a chance to reform."
"Some of them I haven't seen since I left Dalton nearly five years ago. They'll be the ones you've never met, like Wes."
"And his gavel."
"And hopefully NOT his gavel," Kurt chuckled. "He was ridiculous with that thing. I'm going to go pull out the sweater my excellent hiding skills earned me." Kurt headed into their bedroom and pulled it out of his stack of sweaters.
"That one?"
"Yep."
"Won't you be hot dancing in a sweater?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out how to work around. It's mostly open triangles. Maybe if I wear a singlet underneath?"
"Would be sexy, but it might still be too hot."
"I'll take my chances. If I get really hot, I'll take it of and just wear the singlet for a while and fold it neatly inside my jacket in the coat check. I'll wear one of the ones I have with the higher armpits that looks more like a tight-fitting tank top." He grabbed a pair of artfully faded skinny dark wash jeans he had gotten from the vault that fit like a glove, but had enough stretch to make them easy to dance in. He tucked the singlet in, pulled the sweater on, and put on a belt with a stylish buckle and some super comfortable black ankle boots. He styled his hair and put on some eyeliner and a light coat of mascara.
When he came out of the bathroom, Sebastian looked him up and down and said, "No."
"No? What do you mean no?"
Kurt looked in the mirror again and couldn't find anything wrong with how he looked. He came back out, still confused.
"How am I supposed to keep my hands off you with you dressed like that?"
"No one said you had to keep your hands off me," he winked at Sebastian. "Actually, I quite like your hands all over me." He walked closer and kissed Sebastian.
Sebastian slipped his index finger into one of the triangles and ran it along Kurt's bicep. "Help me pick out something to wear. I can't think of anything besides sticking my fingers in the holes in your sweater and touching your soft skin." He moved behind Kurt as he stepped in front of the closet and slipped his fingers into different spaces and kissed the back of his neck.
"We are never going to get out of this room if you keep that up."
"Spoilsport."
"You're the one who asked me to go OUT with you," Kurt teased. "You could have asked me to strip right there in the living room and dance naked with you and I would have started undressing."
"Well, why didn't I know that was an option?"
Kurt shrugged a little and leaned back into the neck kisses.
"I'll file that away for future purposes."
"You do that," Kurt teased. "If you leave hickies on my neck, I'm not covering them up."
Sebastian licked him provocatively.
"Now, we are for sure not going to make it out of this room."
Sebastian gently pecked the back of his neck and said, "I'll be good." He carefully removed his fingers from the sweater and wrapped his arms around Kurt instead.
Kurt refocused and looked through the closet. He pulled out a pair of straight-fit black jeans and a light blue, long-sleeved, lightweight chambray shirt.
Sebastian stepped to the side to take the outfit from him and gave him a confused look. "You think I look hot in this? This is how I dress pretty much all the time."
"I know. And yes, I think you look hot in that. If you want to look more club-ish, let me mess you hair up a bit, wear a singlet underneath and leave the shirt unbuttoned three buttons down."
"What color singlet?"
"Black."
"Okay. Shirt in or out?"
"In. With this belt. When we get there, roll your sleeves up so that your forearms show."
Sebastian put everything on, Kurt did his hair, and he put on some black boots from the Vault that he could dance in.
Kurt gave him a once over. "Very hot. Let's go." Kurt leaned towards him and kissed him.
"I'd say maybe we should go with our travel wallets, so we avoid being pick pocketed."
"Works for me."
Once they were ready, they grabbed black leather jackets and headed to the club to meet up with everyone.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
There was a line when they got there, but it didn't take too long for them to get inside. They checked their coats and headed into the crowd to find Jeff. It didn't take them too long since they had texted when they were in line. He had already made his way towards the coat check.
"I'm glad you two decided to come. We've got a booth back this way."
They followed Jeff through the crowd.
"Kurt and Sebastian!" Trent said enthusiastically. "Thanks for coming! And congratulations."
"It's good to see you. And thanks. Happy birthday!" Kurt said.
Jeff got the other Warblers' attention and they all came over to the booth and sat down. "You do still have it," he said.
"I said I did."
"Has what?" Jon asked.
"That sweater we all had to chip in to get him when Wes couldn't find his gavel for a week after Kurt hid it."
Wes looked at Kurt. "That was you?"
Kurt laughed and nodded.
"No one would ever tell me who had done it. You're devious. First endearing, then devious."
"You didn't find me so endearing after I transferred."
"I know. I've felt bad about that. I really did think you were pulling some kind of show choir sabotage trick on us. But I should have gotten it through my thick skull that most people don't just have money sitting around in their bank accounts to transfer 90 minutes from home just to spy on a choir. But I was young and hyperfocused on improving the group. We were still transitioning from basically a standing 'stool choir' to a show choir. The only thing that had ever mattered was someone's ability to sing. Then suddenly, we needed choreography and newer more popular music. I'm not sure any of it was a good idea given how things went. The group might have been better off sticking with their traditional a cappella style."
"Hindsight still doesn't always clear up our view," Kurt said. "It's hard to know. For some guys it gives them a chance to shine in ways they otherwise couldn't and for others, they probably refrain from auditioning now because they can't keep up with the dancing or being a vocal band member."
"That's true," Wes said. "I did hear that the school has opted to only allow a faculty member to be the advisor since Blaine flaked out and left part of the way through the school year, leaving the group without an adult to oversee it."
Kurt chortled, but tried to cover it over by coughing. "I think the adults leading show choirs might need to be older than we were. It's too easy to feel like one of the group still. Or maybe it should just be that a former member of the group shouldn't be able to be the adult in charge until age 25 or something."
"I can see how that would make sense," Wes said.
Trent said, "So, how did you two meet back up?"
Kurt answered, "Sebastian had a extra bedroom in his place when Sam and I needed to find a place to live when we came back to New York. So, we ended up as roommates after his second cousin suggested it. She also happens to be my boss at Vogue."
"So, you did the enemies to friends to lovers schtick?" Trent asked.
"Well, after a long talk before Sam and I moved in, we got past the enemies thing, which hadn't actually been the case since Regionals my senior year. Sebastian apologized sincerely back then. So, I guess acquaintances to friends to lovers. How about the rest of you? Girlfriends, boyfriends?"
David, Trent, and Thad didn't respond.
Jon said, "I have a girlfriend, Lucinda. We've been dating for three years."
Wes said, "I have a girlfriend. Her name is Katie. We've been together going on four years. Once she graduates in May, I'll ask her to marry me. Her parents and mine have already approved the match. I met her my sophomore year when she came to Harvard as a freshman."
"Congratulations," Kurt said.
Wes nodded. "I still have to finish law school and she has to finish graduate school before we can get married, so two years from May more than likely. You graduate this year, and Sebastian next, right?"
Sebastian answered, "I took an extra class each semester and one in the summers and I had some AP credits, so I 'm graduating in May too."
"That's impressive," Nick said. "Columbia has strict rules about that from what I've heard."
"I'm not sure, honestly. I just met with my advisor and went over everything a year ago before the spring semester started."
"Where do you go to school, Trent?" Kurt asked.
"I'm studying bass at Juilliard."
"Wow. I didn't even know you played bass."
"I love it. I've been taking some composition courses as well, so we'll see. So far, I've only been composing string quartet pieces. My hope is to get a spot in a symphony somewhere and maybe have some of my pieces chosen as performance pieces at some point in time. Nick and Jeff said you had news, but they didn't know if they were allowed to share it."
"Oh. Well, I haven't been broadcasting it or anything, but I'm playing Evan Hansen when Dear Evan Hansen opens off-Broadway in three weeks."
"That's impressive," Thad said. "Congratulations. They said you have one of the leads in NYADA's production of Mamma Mia! right now."
"I do. I'm playing Sam Carmichael."
"He was great," Jeff said. "You should all go see him if you have time. When's the show tomorrow?"
"It's a matinee again tomorrow, at 3:00."
"We might be able to swing that," Wes said. "We could still get back to Boston by 10:00. We'll talk about it."
"It's fine if you can't. I understand. Next weekend we have two shows on Saturday and the matinee on Sunday. We didn't have a show this evening because we're performing Monday night so that people who have friends who are in shows can still come see ours."
"That's a cool idea," Nick said. "I hadn't thought about how people performing in shows never have time to go see other shows."
"Yeah, most off-Broadway and Broadway performers only have Mondays off. Most shows have 8 or 9 performances each week. A matinee either on Wednesday or Thursday and on Saturday or Sunday. Some shows have matinees on both days on the weekends. So, it's possible for someone in a show to see other shows at one of the matinees on the day or days their own show doesn't have a performance."
They sat around and talked for a little longer and then got up to dance.
Kurt pulled himself flush with Sebastian. They moved together fluidly with no hesitation. Sebastian led and Kurt easily flowed with him. He had learned every minute indicator of a change in movement. It made every dance look like something practiced and polished. They eventually took a break and sat back down.
Thad and Wes weren't far behind.
"Your girlfriends don't mind you dancing with other girls?"
"Oh, I don't have a girlfriend," Thad said.
"Katie doesn't mind as long as I keep it PG. I don't hook up. I don't slow dance with anyone. Sometimes she comes with us. Next week is midterms, though, and she had a paper that she had been working on and ended up scrapping it and started over early in the week. Something about how she seemed to have a lot of sources initially, but when she got into the fine print, most of them were based on the same study."
"That's tough," Kurt said. "I had one professor who kept assigning papers that the only reference books for were in the NYADA library in the reference section, so I had to stay in the library to do them."
Thad changed the subject. "Either you were hiding your dancing skills or you've improved a lot."
"Both. I was Cheerio before I went to Dalton, so I wasn't a bad dancer, but I wasn't good at freeform dance. I needed set choreography that I could learn and practice until I perfected it. But I've been taking private lessons with the Advanced Dance TA for quite a while now. That helped me get over my anxiety and improved my technique as well."
Sebastian laughed.
"What's so funny?" Wes said.
Kurt answered. "Sebastian's the Advanced Dance TA."
"I see." Wes smiled. "Well, the lessons were a success."
"Thank you," Sebastian said, feigning smugness.
"Miss July found us dancing in the studio a year ago in December and she asked him to be her TA. He started when the spring semester started, so this is his fourth semester doing it, since he did the summer session as well."
"I enjoy it. It's a nice break from my regular classes."
Kurt asked, "What time is it? I didn't bring my phone."
"11:32," Sebastian looked at his, and then answered.
"I hate to run out, but we're having brunch with my parents before they leave town tomorrow morning, and then I have the matinee show to do tomorrow afternoon."
"It's fine," Thad said. "Maybe you can come out with us again some other time. And maybe more of the guys will make it then. It's the first weekend of spring break for some of them, so they aren't around."
Wes said, "I actually think it falls to me to plan your party. I'm not sure how exactly the by-laws are written. It might be Thad. Anyway, maybe we'll just do it together. We'll get in contact and see when we can set it up. Maybe on a Sunday morning, as strange as that sounds. But with you having shows every evening and potentially the weekend afternoons as well, it might be the only time you have available."
"That works for us. We could have a nice brunch somewhere instead of dinner. Just let us know," Kurt said. "We're going to head out. It's too hard to find everyone before we go. Tell them we'll be in contact."
"Will do," Thad said.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
They took a quick shower and got in bed when they got home.
Kurt raised his arm and made room for Sebastian to lie on him, and then wrapped his arms around him. "I really love dancing with you."
"Me too. We've gotten to where it's comfortable and enjoyable all the time. We're so in tune that we move together easily."
"You lead gently. It just took me a bit to get accustomed to feeling your subtle change-in-movement indicators. It's like a language all of its own. We just had to learn each other's body language."
"One of my favorite pastimes." He ran his hand down Kurt's arm until he reached his hand.
"Is it?" Kurt said coyly. "How interesting." He pulled Sebastian's hand up to his mouth and kissed along his fingers up to his wrist and up his forearm until he couldn't reach any higher. "Mine too."
"Mmm. That kind of tickles."
"Mmm hmm. And you like it."
"I do."
Kurt took a deep breath and let it out. "It's been a very, very long day. The last two days have been like a whole week's worth of events. I'm still a bit wired, but now I'm finally relaxing."
Sebastian wiggled a bit. "I can sleep on you, right?"
"Of course." He kissed the top of Sebastian's head and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm having fun with the show, but I'm glad there's no performance tomorrow evening. I just want to stay in and snuggle up with you. I know you've probably got some studying to do with next week being midterms. We'll snuggle up on the couch and you can study while I go over my lines and do some reading too."
"Sounds perfect." Sebastian's voice was fading. "I love you."
"I love you." He relaxed and let the warmth of Sebastian's body and rhythmic breathing lure him to sleep.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
Kurt managed to slip out of the bed the next morning and get his phone out of his duffle. He got back in bed just as carefully.
Sebastian just snuffled a bit and scooted up closer behind him. "Bathroom?"
"That and I grabbed my phone. If I can't sleep, I might as well get this over with. No point in delaying it any longer. I'm tired of not having my phone with me."
Sebastian kissed the back of his neck.
Kurt decided to start with the texts. He scrolled down to the bottom and started with the ones that had come in first.
-I can't believe you married the criminal chipmunk. When you said you had a date, I didn't think you meant him.
Kurt responded.
-I wish you and Brittany continued happiness.
As soon as he hit send, he blocked her number.
-So, is he as good in bed as he made himself out to be with all that swagger back in high school?
Kurt responded.
-That's none of your business, Puck. But thanks for keeping my happiness in mind. At least you're not telling me how to live my life.
Kurt kept reading. Brittany's was simple.
-I hope he makes you happy. That's all I ever wanted for you.
-He does. He really does. He's amazing.
He skipped the text from Dave, leaving it for last. He moved on to the Facebook messages. There weren't many and the few he got were all supportive. Adam, Marcus, Sebastian's cousins, his own cousins and his Aunt Danielle, and the Warblers he had as Facebook friends. He responded to all of them with short responses and went back to Dave's text. When he opened it, he realized there were quite a few. The first one was just about an hour after they changed their names on Facebook.
-Congratulations. You told me that you were engaged, but I didn't realize that you were getting married so soon.
-Are you leaving town for a honeymoon?
-Erik and I are actually going to be in NYC this weekend.
-We're leaving soon and driving. It's the first weekend of spring break for us. We're going to the Knicks game tomorrow and then driving up the coast and through the mountains like you told me you and Sam and Sebastian did last year.
-I just realized your phone is off because you're performing. Duh.
-I'll quit texting after this, I promise. Let me know if you have any time to talk on Sunday. We'll be in town until about noon.
"Sebastian?"
"Yeah?"
"Dave wants to meet up and talk today. He and Erik are here in town. They're going to follow the path of our spring break trip last spring."
"He wants to talk?"
"Yeah. He didn't say why."
"Sure, I guess."
"It would have to be between like 11:30 and 12:00 because of brunch and he said they're leaving town around noon."
"Offer him that. It's all you can do."
Kurt texted Dave back.
-We can meet around 11:30, if you're still available.
Kurt rolled over and faced Sebastian. "I didn't have any mean messages. I blocked Santana because she wasn't nice, but she wasn't as mean as I've known her to be. And Puck just wanted to know if you're good in bed."
Sebastian chuckled.
"I told him that it was none of his business, but I appreciated his concern."
Sebastian chortled.
"I realized that Tina can't send me messages at all. I had blocked her on my phone back when I was still in DC. And when I reactivated my Facebook account, I blocked her to start with. But Sam's right, maybe we should try to talk to her face to face. I'd like to know why she's so angry with me. If I legitimately did something to upset her, I will apologize. Maybe we can look to see whether Brown is on spring break the same week we are."
"I'll look this afternoon and I'll see how long it would take to get there."
"Thank you." Kurt burrowed into Sebastian's neck and wrapped his leg over Sebastian's pulling him completely flush. He began to kiss and nibble and lick Sebastian's collarbone.
"Mmm." Sebastian's breath sped up. "Will you?"
"Yes."
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
They had brunch at the restaurant near where Kurt and Sebastian lived. Burt dropped the ladies off and parked in the visitor's spot. Kurt and Sebastian walked with him back to the restaurant. They seated themselves with the rest of their group and picked up their menus.
When the server came by with their drinks, they were all ready to order. It didn't long for them to be served. Everyone enjoyed their meals.
"So, you have another week of Mamma Mia! performances?" Burt asked.
"Yes. Starting a week from tomorrow, I will feel like I have time to breathe."
"I'm glad," Carole said. "You've been working yourself too hard, but I understand why. Getting the chance to open a show is exciting."
"It is. And I'm looking forward to it. You're coming back the first weekend in April, right?"
"We are, honey."
They finished eating and continued talking. Eventually around 11:00, they finished up. Isabelle had a car pick Grandma and her up so that Burt and Carole could head out of the City. Burt and Carole walked back to the parking garage with them.
"You were great, honey. We'll see you again in about a month." She hugged him. She turned to Sebastian next. "We're so glad to have you as part of the family now, honey." She hugged him tight.
"Me too," he said before he let go.
Burt pulled Sebastian into a bear hug. "Take care of each other, like you have been." He hugged Kurt next. He spoke quietly, "You did good, kid."
"I think so too." He squeezed him before let go.
They both got in Carole's car and waved as they drove off.
{]:[} {]:[} {]:[} {]:[}
Kurt waited on the sidewalk outside the parking garage so that Dave would see where to turn. He pulled in and Sebastian handed him the visitor's hang tag he still had in his hand and pointed to where to park.
Kurt had seen selfies of them together, but when Erik got out, he saw that Erik was almost as tall as Dave and had a leaner build, but wasn't slim. He had slightly wavy, dark brown hair, cut short with a traditional side part. He and Dave walked across the lot toward them, hand in hand. Dave looked happier than Kurt had ever seen him.
"Erik, this is Kurt and Sebastian."
"It's nice to meet you," Kurt said. "I've heard a lot of good things."
"So have I," Erik said. "It's nice to meet you as well."
He and Sebastian greeted each other as well.
"So, tell me whatever it is that has that huge grin on your face," Kurt said.
"I will. Let's get to where we're going first."
They walked down to the Copper Cup. Dave pulled the door open, and they all went in and got in line. Once Sebastian had his drink, he walked away to find them a table, while Kurt waited with the other two.
Dave still had the huge grin on his face as they sat down.
"So, tell us," Kurt said, excited with anticipation.
"We both got into law school at the university of Chicago," Dave blurted out enthusiastically.
"That's excellent news," Kurt said. "I knew that you had applied several places in big cities."
"I really wanted Chicago. I like New York and we did apply a few places here, but University of Chicago just seems like a good fit."
"Congratulations," Sebastian said. "I'm glad for you both."
"Thanks," Erik said. "We've known for a few weeks, but Dave wanted to wait and tell Kurt in person. Moving to Chicago is part of what made us decide on this road trip. We decided we wanted to go on an East Coast trip since we're moving farther west for school in the fall."
"Kurt has some big news that he has just started sharing," Sebastian said.
"What?" Dave asked.
"I'm the lead for an off-Broadway show that opens in three weeks."
"Oh, my God, Kurt. That's amazing. Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"And the obvious congratulations on getting married," Dave said.
"Thank you," Kurt said. "We're both really happy."
"I can tell," Dave said. "You look relaxed. I'm not sure that I've ever seen you look relaxed."
Sebastian smiled and ran his thumb across Kurt's shoulder from where he had his arm across the back of Kurt's chair.
"It's a new look," Kurt sassed. "Very in for the fashionable young millennial."
Dave laughed. "God, you're such a smart ass. Never change."
"No need to now," Kurt snarked back. "Sebastian doesn't mind."
"I'm pretty fond of your smart ass, or you know, your ass in general."
Dave just shook his head and chuckled. "Good for you."
They chit chatted for another ten minutes before Dave said, "We won't keep you. I know you have to go get ready for your show this afternoon. I'm sure you're great."
"Well, I'm really glad to hear that you both got into the programs you wanted to," Kurt said.
They all stood up and put their cups in the dish bin on their way out. They headed back to the parking lot. Erik got in the car.
"I'm working on that 10-year plan," Dave said, as he walked past Kurt and Sebastian to the driver's side door.
Kurt smiled. "I know." He waved as they drove off.
