Chapter 8: The Boy Is Mine

SEBASTIAN

"I seriously think I may have flunked that exam," Sebastian groaned as he and Tina walked to Glee rehearsal from the science wing of the school on Friday afternoon. "I thought I was prepared, but then, when I had the test in front of me, I didn't know a single thing on it."

"Well, that's okay," Tina assured him, giving him a friendly pat on the arm. "You'll do better next time."

Her cocky smile said it all: she definitely felt more confident in her test-taking abilities than Sebastian did at the moment. He couldn't help but roll his eyes as they entered the choir room.

As usual, everyone was mingling amongst each other as they waited for Mr. Schue to arrive. Sebastian and Tina both headed over to where some of their fellow seniors were hanging out by the piano. Artie had his elbow resting on the top of the instrument, pressing random keys as Blaine tried to play a tune while Sam jokingly sang off-key. There was truly never a dull moment with the New Directions.

Mr. Schue entered the choir room from his office a minute later, clapping his hands and signaling for all of the kids to take their seats on the risers. Sebastian slumped down into what had now become his "usual" seat, the one next to the empty space where Artie always parked his chair.

"Still no Kitty?" Sebastian asked as Artie locked his wheels into place and gave a sad shake of his head.

"I talked to her yesterday when I went to pick Ella up from cheer practice, and I told her that I really want her to come back to Glee Club and play Rizzo in the musical," Artie replied, before adding: "We could have avoided all of this if you hadn't run her off in the hallway."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Forgive me- next time, I'll just let you freeze," he retorted.

Before Artie could come up with an equally sassy response and escalate their little squabble any further, Mr. Schue began talking.

"Alright, guys. With the auditions for Grease behind us, and Sectionals coming up just around the corner, we need to start preparing our setlist. We're up against The Warblers, so we have to be amazing," Mr. Schue told them.

"Don't forget about the Rosedale Mennonites," Artie reminded him. "Any show choir that can raise a barn in under five minutes deserves mad respect."

Sebastian tried his best to swallow the lump in his throat that had formed at the mention of The Warblers. Though he hadn't left the team on bad terms by any means, he knew firsthand how talented The Warblers were- and he also knew that they had probably been working on their numbers for weeks now (Sebastian hated how the New Directions never seemed to know which songs they'd be performing until the week before). As much as Sebastian wanted to beat them, he knew that they wanted to beat their former leader that much more.

"So, since we have plenty of new voices on our team this year, I figure that it would be good to bring back an old favorite tradition of mine…" Mr. Schue continued, a smile creeping onto his face. "A duets competition!"

Artie, Sam, and Tina were the most excited, cheering loudly at the idea. The other members of the New Directions didn't quite get the hype.

"Of course, the winners will win a meal for two at Breadstix, and, like always, your partners will be chosen by fate. I put all of your names in this hat, and one by one, you'll come up and select your partner. Who wants to start us off?"

"Me! Me!" Tina's hand shot up in excitement as she skipped over to where Mr. Schue had placed his hat on the piano.

She reached her hand in and mixed up the papers before pulling one out and reading it, the enthusiasm visibly draining from her face. "Sugar."

Artie offered to go next. "Sam!"

"Yes!" The blonde boy pumped his fist in the air before fist-bumping his new partner. Sebastian rolled his eyes in response. He could only imagine what song those two not-so-closeted nerds would choose to sing.

Sebastian found himself holding his breath as, one by one, fate chose the partners and his name had yet to be called.

"Sebastian," Spencer finally announced, holding up the slip of paper he had just selected from the hat.

Sebastian's face lit up, but he didn't want to appear too excited, so he just smiled in the other boy's direction.

Ha! Take that, Tina Cohen-Chang! Sebastian thought, looking over to see that Tina was already flashing a death glare his way.

After the last of the pairings were decided, they all split up and headed off to a secluded spot in the choir room with their partners so that they could start to prepare their duet.

"Hey, man," Spencer greeted Sebastian as the other boy took a seat next to him in the back left corner of the top riser. "I was kinda relieved when I pulled your name," he confessed, causing Sebastian's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. "I mean, you've clearly got a lot of experience with singing and stuff. This is all so new to me."

Sebastian smiled at him warmly and felt himself blush. He would be just thrilled to take Spencer under his wing as his young Jedi and show him the ropes (even if he was still getting used to the inner workings of the New Directions, himself). Even more appealing, though, was the opportunity for them both to win dinner for two at Breadstix…

Sebastian wanted to reply with, "Hey! I was hoping I'd get you too!". But he didn't say that. After all, he didn't want to scare him away. So, instead, he opted for a nonchalant shrug and an accompanying smirk.

"You could've fooled me. I watched your audition for Grease," Sebastian told him. "Your duet with Ryder was really good. You could have told me that you'd been singing classic rock for your entire life, and I would've believed you."

Now it was Spencer's turn to blush. "Yeah? Well, I guess I do know that genre of music pretty well. It's my ex's favorite," he admitted. "It's all he ever wanted to listen to when we were together."

He?! Did he just say "he"?! Sebastian's mind was racing a mile a minute. He did hear him correctly, right? Surely he hadn't made that small detail up.

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'he'?" Sebastian couldn't help but ask.

"Oh. Yeah," Spencer replied, his face turning even pinker as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I'm gay. Is that… uh… gonna be a problem?"
Sebastian was quick to shake his head. "No! I'm gay too! Same with Blaine. And the jury's still out on Artie- he claims he's straight, but, as his brother, I have my reservations," he told the younger boy. "Not Sam, though. He's as straight as they come."

A big grin appeared on Spencer's face just then. From his experience with playing varsity sports, Sebastian was willing to bet that Spencer didn't have many gay guy friends. Lucky for him, though, he had come to the right place.

"Well, anyway, why don't we do something from the '80s for our duet?" Sebastian suggested. "How do you feel about Michael Jackson? Or, maybe, Journey?"

…

ARTIE

"And that's how I got Spencer to come out to me within the first three minutes of us sitting together," Sebastian was telling Tina and Artie smugly from the passenger seat of Artie's car later that afternoon.

"Ugh," Tina groaned. "I can not believe that my gaydar was off again." She pulled out the ten-dollar bill she owed Sebastian after their bet and tried to hand it to him, but he refused.

"Keep it for now. You can just give me a twenty pretty soon, once I make my move before we take the stage in Grease." Tina rolled her eyes at the boy's overconfidence.

Sugar had invited the Glee Club seniors over to her house after rehearsal for a movie night and get-together. None of them had ever been to Sugar's place before, but if the way she dressed and carried herself was any indication, they knew to expect nothing short of massive and extremely expensive.

Artie drove up the driveway, and they could see that their assumptions were correct as soon as a booming white house with extravagant-looking pillars came into view.

"Holy sh…" Tina began to say, the rest of her sentence dying in her throat as she peeked at the enormous residence through the front windshield from her spot in the back seat. "This huge house for just three people?!"

Sebastian shook his head in disbelief. "Our house is half of this size, and there's six of us and a wheelchair!"

Artie and Tina both stifled smirks at that comment, not wanting to give Sebastian the satisfaction of making them laugh. The Abrams-Smythe family's house wasn't small by any means, and it fits their family well- even if it was a little snug sometimes. However, Sebastian did have a point; what would a family of three even do with so much space? Well, they would find out soon enough.

Artie parked behind Sam's old clunker of a pickup truck as the rest of the seniors- Sam, Blaine, Brittany, and Joe- were climbing out.

"Uh, big place, huh?" Sam stated the obvious, his thumbs hooked in the front pockets of his jeans as he gazed up at the mansion. The others waited patiently in the driveway as Tina handed Artie the pieces of his chair for him to assemble. After he had put it together and hauled himself into it, the seven friends headed up the walkway.

"Look," Artie said, pointing at the ground. "See the way that the pavers are arranged at forty-five degree angles? That's a herringbone design. It's more expensive than normal because the bricks on the edges need to be cut down. See?"

Artie looked up and was met with a confused look from Sebastian. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what is it with you and all this useless information?" he asked.

Artie just shrugged as they reached the front door and Blaine rang the doorbell. Not a moment later, Sugar was standing in the doorway wearing her usual skirt and top combo with a giant bow on her head and her infamous heart-shaped sunglasses.

"Welcome, hotties!" she greeted them holding open the door and inviting them into her lavish marble-floored foyer.

Upon entering, the seniors were met with a winding double staircase leading to the second floor. The huge painted portrait of Sugar and her parents that hung on the wall in the entryway did not go unnoticed by the other kids, who all glanced around with wide eyes and open mouths. It was also hard to miss that everything in their house was white, white, white.

"Please take off your shoes at the door," Sugar directed them. "I don't want your outside germs in here. Yuck!"

The simple command left Artie feeling a little conflicted. He looked down at the pair of black Vans sneakers he was currently wearing which Sebastian had forced him to buy on one of their trips to the mall. The white soles were unscuffed, naturally looking brand new. As the others toe'd off their shoes, Artie raised his hand slightly, catching Sugar's eye.

"That means you, too, Artie," she answered, reading his mind. "Shoes are shoes, and they are not allowed in my house."

Before Artie could even protest that his had never actually touched the ground before, Sebastian had knelt down in front of him, grasping an ankle in one hand and pulling off his shoe with the other.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Artie asked his wicked step-brother in surprise, his voice low enough so that none of their friends would hear.

"Helping," was Sebastian's simple answer as he tossed one shoe into the pile before moving onto the next foot. Artie rolled his eyes before sitting back and allowing Sebastian to continue, as to not start an unnecessary scene in front of their friends.

When all shoes were off, per Sugar's request, the crew followed her around as she gave them a mini house tour. On the main floor alone, she showed them the indoor swimming pool and sauna, the dining room which had enough seats at the table that the Duggar family could come to dinner, and three different living rooms, each one fancier than the last. Artie noticed that there were also an unnatural amount of pianos dispersed throughout the house.

Finally, they reached the kitchen- and with good timing too, because everyone was starving. Sugar had told them all that she'd have plenty of food available, so nobody had bothered to eat anything beforehand. Everyone was under the impression that there'd be pizza, chips, and desserts- what they always ate whenever they hung out together.

However, that is not what was set out for them on the buffet table.

"What is this?" Tina asked Artie under her breath. Laid out for them to consume were fancy meats, cheeses, crackers, and grapes. Lots of grapes. Some of the hors d'oeuvres were pinned together on fancy-looking toothpicks, while others were just piled on a wooden board. Artie had to admit that this food looked less like what teenagers would normally devour when hanging out, and more like the free samples you get to snack on while shopping at Costco.

Sugar- oblivious, as always- did not notice the look of confusion being shared amongst her friends. Leave it to Sam to be the one to finally speak up and ask what they'd all been thinking.

"Sugar, this… spread… is great and all, but do you have any…" he tried to think of a nice way to put it so that he didn't sound ungrateful or something. "Uh, pizza? Or something?"

Sugar looked offended that he'd even asked.

"Pizza is poor people's food, Sam," Sugar scoffed, looking surprised that her friends thought so little of her. "Yuck. I would never serve that to guests. Charcuterie boards are what's 'in' right now."

"One time Lord Tubbington signed us up for a boujee charcuterie board making class and charged it to my dad's credit card," Brittany said, to nobody in particular.

The other six seniors shared yet another knowing look with one another before loading up their plates with the little appetizers. Sebastian, despite growing up in Paris and being surrounded by fancy dishes for his entire childhood, was a notoriously picky eater. Knowing this, Artie turned around in his seat just in time to see Seb piling up his dish with only grapes. As expected, Sebastian looked miserable at his meal options, which caused Artie to have to bite the inside of his cheek to avoid giggling. Catching his brother's eye, the taller boy mouthed "We're ordering pizza when we get home!", to which Artie just nodded his approval.

The group sat down briefly at Sugar's much-too-large dining room table to pick at their "meal", though most of them had lost their appetites by now.

"Okay! Time for a movie!" Sugar decided, jumping up and leaving the room, abandoning her empty plate on the table. Stunned, the others followed her a second later, also leaving their plates behind, for the assumption was that the Mottas had probably hired somebody to clean up after Sugar and her posse.

Sugar pushed a button on the wall, and before any of them knew it, an unsuspecting door slid open.

"You have an elevator in your house?!" Blaine asked. The tone of his voice hinted that he wasn't sure why this surprised him.

"Aw, Artie! Now you and the other robots can come downstairs with the rest of us! Isn't that awesome?" Brittany's face lit up and Artie forced a strained smile. It was kind of insane (and convenient) that the Mottas had an elevator on-site. It sure beats having to scoot down the stairs on his butt- or even worse- having to be carried like a toddler.

The friends piled in the elevator, and when the door opened again, they stepped out into the most insane home theater Artie had ever seen. Ten comfy leather recliners faced a massive flat-screen television set. To the side, there was a machine popping freshly made popcorn, and a concession stand, fully-stocked with every candy imaginable. Suddenly, the kids' appetites returned, as they all prepared to consume their weight in popcorn.

"Here's a spoonful of Sugar for you all," Sugar said, seeing the awestruck looks on her friends' faces. "Daddy loves movies. So he made the coolest movie theater right here in our house! Also, P.S., he is not in the mafia." Her friends were too distracted by the concessions to even bat an eye at her rather suggestive last statement. "Anyways… what movie should we watch?"

Sorry if this chapter was a little boring! It was mostly filler and laying the groundwork for some of the upcoming chapters. I promise that the next chapter will be much more interesting. ;)

Please leave me a review if you enjoyed!