Kurt woke up feeling more rested than he had in ages. Once he became fully conscious, he realized that he was the little spoon. Sebastian was currently on his side snuggled into his back and had his arm draped over Kurt's chest. He gently picked Sebastian's hand up from where it was laying on his chest and managed to scoot out and put it back on the bed gently without waking Sebastian up.
Not wanting to discuss how they woke up snuggled together and how nice it had actually felt to be held close like that, Kurt quickly got dressed in his work uniform in the closet. He grabbed his bag, stopped in the bathroom briefly, and went to the kitchen. He took a slice of the bread, put it on a napkin, covered the bread pan, and left. He opted to leave rather than do anything to wake Sebastian up. Once he got outside, he looked at the address on the building. He scarfed down his slice of bread by the time he got to the corner so he could write down the name of the street and send the address to Adam.
Once he did that, he put in the address to figure out how to get to the diner. He found that he now lived on the Upper West Side, which made sense considering that Sebastian wanted to go to Columbia. He would have known the night before if he had been paying attention instead of zoning out on the drive from Ikea to the flat.
He determined that the Metro station at 103rd and Broadway was the closest. He headed that way on foot. Once he was on the train, he listened to music, did a little reading, and went through his agenda for the week during the 25-minute ride, which was 20 minutes shorter than he was used to. He went to a coffee shop nearby and ordered a cheap coffee and sat down at a small table to work on his paper. He packed everything up in time to walk to the diner.
When he got closer, he was surprised to see Adam standing outside waiting for him. A wide smile, encompassing his eyes, lit up his whole face. As soon as Kurt was close enough, Adam opened his arms and offered him a hug, which he happily accepted.
"Good morning, Kurt."
"Hey, Adam. Have you eaten? Or do I get the pleasure of being your chorus boy waiter today?"
"Tell me which section is yours." Adam followed him inside.
"I'm not sure yet, let me go clock in and find out." Kurt went in the back, left his bag in his locker, checked the schedule, came back out, and pointed to the front corner of the room.
Adam sat at a table in Kurt's section.
Kurt put his apron on, grabbed a pad and pencil, and went to take his order. They chatted on and off for the two hours that Adam stayed at the diner, which made Kurt's morning shift much more enjoyable.
X-X-X-X-X
Sebastian woke up about an hour after Kurt had left. In an attempt to get on Kurt's good side, he made the bed as neatly as he could. He went out to the kitchen and sliced off a piece of the homemade bread he had been looking forward to. He picked his phone up from the counter where he had left it charging and saw a single text from Kurt, which was his shopping list.
The only other text was from his mom, telling him that they would meet him at the apartment at noon. That left Sebastian not quite three hours to figure out how to explain that he was letting Kurt live in the flat.
X-X-X-X-X
The appliances showed up right on time at 10:00. An hour later, everything had been installed. Sebastian looked around and was pleased with the stainless steel choices he had made. He had no idea how Kurt would like his food and items organized, but he opened one upper cabinet and put all of Kurt's dishes on the lower shelf and filled the shelf above it with Kurt's food. He put the bread maker in a lower cabinet. He spent the whole time mulling over in his mind how to explain this situation to his parents without violating the trust Kurt had extended to him. He also realized that he hadn't purchased any utensil trays or any kitchen items. He made a mental note to start a new shopping list.
Sebastian's phone began to ring. He picked it up and it was the furniture delivery drivers verifying that he was there. A few minutes later, he let them in. They carried everything in and began assembling the bed frame.
When they hadn't brought up the mattress, Sebastian questioned them.
"Oh, man, I thought someone told you. The one you wanted is out of stock at our location, but our manager is getting one sent from another store first thing tomorrow morning. Sorry about that."
"No problem." Sebastian said politely, even though it was definitely a problem. He didn't know how he would convince Kurt to spend another night in the same bed.
"Hey, man. Don't worry, we're not charging you for the delivery tomorrow. And the manager said for us to assemble this for you for making you wait until tomorrow for the bed."
"Great. I appreciate that." He was trying to keep it polite because it wasn't the delivery guy's fault.
Sebastian wondered if he should text Kurt and tell him about the issue, so he wouldn't get upset when he got back home from work. He pulled out his phone, but then thought about making him upset while he was at work. He realized that if Kurt was actually upset, he'd just sleep on the couch.
The delivery guys left and Sebastian looked at his new furniture. He wondered if Kurt would like what he had picked. He thought there was a good chance because Kurt had that huge Mid-Century-ish wall unit. Sebastian liked the clean lines and combination of warmth in the Mid-Century Modern bedroom suite he had chosen.
He walked over to the couch and sat down, bouncing a little in his seat. He remembered that he needed to take one of the drawers with him, so he went and grabbed the smallest one. He felt like his mind was all over the place. He had just stepped back into the living room when he heard a knock at the door. He took a deep breath, sat the drawer near the sofa, and went to open the door.
"Mom, Dad. Come in."
"Good morning, Sweetie."
"It looks good," his dad said as they walked through the kitchen. "Are you pleased?"
"Definitely. The ceiling-height cabinets give a lot of storage room and there's enough counter space to prepare meals. And having the lower cabinets on the riser will keep me from breaking my back leaning over while cooking."
"I don't remember you choosing a wall unit," his mom said, as she stepped past the end of the kitchen wall. "And these are vintage chairs. I don't remember seeing them at the store. They are lovely, though."
"Um, yeah. It's not mine. And neither are the chairs."
"Not yours? That doesn't make any sense," his dad said. "This place had nothing in it."
"Let's sit down."
All three of them walked over to the couch and sat down, making themselves comfortable.
"So," Sebastian started. "There's something you should know." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I offered to let someone stay here until I move here in June."
His parents looked rightfully concerned.
"Don't look at me like that. It's not a random stranger. He's from Ohio. Kurt Hummel."
"Oh, okay," his dad said. "Burt's a good guy, but why is Kurt going to live here?"
Before he got a chance to answer, there was a knock at the door again.
His mom said, "Oh, that will be the food I ordered, but now that we're here I remember that you didn't find a table you liked." She laughed at herself. She got up to answer the door. She took the box and tipped the delivery guy. "At least I ordered pizza."
Sebastian sat on the floor, letting his parents sit in the chairs.
"So, I'm not exactly sure what to say. Let's see. The short version is that he needs a place to stay long enough to find a place to stay because his name is still on his current lease, so he can't afford to rent two places at once. He needs to get someone to take over his part of the lease and look for a new place. I said he could stay here."
"I didn't know you two were friends." Sebastian's dad said after a minute of silence.
"I'm working on that part still, but I trust him and I know he won't cause any problems living here."
His mom looked at him with her eyebrow raised. "There's more to this, but this place is yours. If you trust him, then that's that I suppose."
"He's not a complete stranger. We're acquaintances. We met last year."
None of them said much as they ate, but once they finished, his mom got up and went to look in the bedroom at the furniture he had chosen. Sebastian followed her.
"The mattress is missing."
"It's being delivered tomorrow."
"Where are you going to sleep tonight, then?"
"The couch." He changed the subject quickly. "When we were at Ikea yesterday, I saw this wall-mount system that I liked. That's what's in the boxes. And I'm going to go with that along this wall. I'm going to stain it to match the furniture."
"Wait, yesterday?"
Sebastian swallowed. "Um, yeah. I kinda arrived yesterday. I changed my flight so I could help Kurt move out of the loft he was living in before his roommates get back today."
His mom nodded. "Where did you sleep last night? The couch was delivered today."
"In Kurt's bed. He was kind enough not to make me sleep on the floor."
She just went on as if she hadn't already figured out that Sebastian liked Kurt. "So, no desk?"
"It has a desk as part of the system. I do still need a chair. I didn't think about that yesterday."
"So, are we ready to get the rest of what you need?" his dad asked when he came out of the bathroom and peeked into the bedroom. "And by we, I mean you and your mom and grandma. Grandpa and I are going to meet up with some old friends."
"Sure. Let's go."
X-X-X-X-X
At 3:55, Santana entered the diner, boldly. She spoke to no one specifically, but her target audience was obvious. "It's such a shame that someone broke into the loft and took a third of the stuff."
He ignored her.
"Especially after the other two-thirds of us flew all the way to freaking Ohio yesterday."
Kurt continued ignoring her, but he could feel some people look in his direction.
She didn't take the hint. "Prince Charming throws the most over-the-top perfect proposal, and then you vanish. And then, we come back and your stuff has vanished."
Kurt took his customer's order to the back and grabbed Santana's wrist on the way. "Enough. We're at work. This is a private matter, not something for you to blast me with in public. I didn't take anything of yours and I left you the sofa, which is mine by the way."
"You took my pillow."
"It's my pillow. We've already had this conversation. If you want to still be employed, get your apron on and start taking orders. We can talk after we get off at 8, if you want. But stop airing our private issues out there."
Kurt didn't interact with her during their shift, and he texted Sebastian that he wouldn't be back at 8:30 because he had Santana to deal with. They put their coats on and Kurt led her back to the coffee shop he had spent time in that morning. Once they had their drinks, which he paid for, they sat down.
"So," Kurt started.
"Where did you go after the proposal? You just kinda vanished, and then the next thing we know, your dad and Blaine were gone. And then nothing. We came back to find you and your stuff missing from the loft."
"I had to leave to catch my flight. I had some help to move into a short-term place when I got here. I need a break. I need peace and quiet. I work two jobs and go to school full time. I can't handle the stress at the loft. Would you like to take over my part of the rent and have my room to yourself? No more sleeping on the couch. Well, as soon as you get a mattress anyway."
"I'll think about it. Isn't Gelmet planning on moving in?"
"He and I have not discussed his New York City living arrangements. He hasn't actually gotten any acceptance letters yet."
"I suppose not. It's too early for those to be sent out. I'll make it easy for now. I'll pay your half - for now, but I'm not sure that I'm interested in staying past the end of the school year. If Blaine moves out here in June and plans to move into the loft, I'm not seeing how the four of us can cohabitate with only two bedroom areas. I'm not sharing with Berry."
Kurt nodded. She obviously didn't know they had broken up and took his statement about short-term to mean that he would move back into the loft at the end of the school year. He decided to leave it that way. He knew she'd find out eventually, but he really needed to go finish his paper and not get into his personal life with Santana, who was a frenemy at best, still.
"I'm not sure what I'm doing this summer anyway, whether he moves in or not, but it gives me two months to figure it out. And it gives you two months to not pay rent on the loft."
"Good enough for now. I don't have room for the sofa now, but it is mine. Just because I left it behind doesn't mean I'm giving up my claim to it."
"I appreciate you leaving it. I need somewhere to sleep."
"That's why I left it. Unless there's something else we need to settle right now, I need to go. I have paper to finish that's due tomorrow."
She shook her head and stood up.
He stood as well.
"I'll bring my share of the March rent to work tomorrow."
"Thanks."
Kurt walked away feeling uneasy about how the conversation had gone. Dealing with Santana was never that easy.
X-X-X-X-X
Kurt arrived 30 minutes later than he had intended to, plus he had skipped eating after his shift ended. He knocked on the door and waited for Sebastian to answer. When he stepped inside, Sebastian reached into his pocket and pulled out two keys and gave them to Kurt.
"Now, I don't have to get up from watching TV to let you in."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Thanks." he said, studying the keys he was holding. He slipped them both onto his key ring and went straight to the kitchen sink and washed his hands.
"What you wanted is in the fridge and in the cabinet to the right of the fridge. I put all of your food and plates in there."
"Thanks." He opened the fridge and pulled out the carton of eggs and the cheese. He heated up a small skillet and made himself an egg sandwich. While he was cooking, he noticed the addition of some small appliances and a few other things. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and ate standing at the counter. Rather than put the few things he had used in the dishwasher, he washed them quickly and put them back. "The place looks good. I like that Mid-Century inspired console the TV is sitting on," he said, when he finished eating. "I'm going to shower quickly because I smell like the diner."
Fifteen minutes later, Kurt came out of his room. He was nosy and peeked into Sebastian's room to see what kind of furniture he had picked out. He stepped into the living room. "You seem to have no bed, but I love the Mid-Century vibe your room has going on. Very nice."
"Thanks, I picked it myself. About the bed, there was a small problem. It won't arrive until tomorrow. I can sleep on the couch."
"Don't worry about it. You can sleep with me, if you want."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah, but I have at least an hour's work to finish my paper that's due tomorrow morning. I worked on it before I went in to work, but I still need to polish it. Adam was waiting for me at the diner. It was a nice surprise."
"Oh, really? Nice indeed." Internally he cringed every time he heard Kurt say something nice about Adam because he really did sound like a nice guy, but he didn't want Kurt to like Adam. He kept the pleasant look on his face by remembering that Kurt was in his apartment and he would be sleeping in Kurt's bed, not Adam.
"He told me about an audition he got for this week. He's getting down to the wire to find something besides being a barista. He's graduating in six weeks."
"I hope he gets the part if it's what he wants."
"Oh, he will. Adam's brilliant."
Sebastian kept his groan to himself and changed the subject. "I'll just take a shower and go back to watching what I was and you can work on your paper. You can just let me know when you're done."
"Oh, before I do that," Kurt didn't finish, but left the room and came right back. He handed Sebastian some cash and another pair of pajama pants. "That should cover the groceries you picked up for me. I really appreciate it. You saved me a lot of time, which I don't have much of these days."
"Oh, you're welcome." He looked at the cash Kurt handed him. "This won't cover it though."
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Really? How much more do I owe you?"
"Another slice of cinnamon raisin bread and the pleasure of your company for breakfast tomorrow? I'm not sure if you noticed, but there is a lovely coffee machine now, and I bought fresh ground coffee." He genuinely smiled at Kurt, hoping he'd agree.
"Deal."