A/N: I'm really excited to share this chapter with you. I've been hinting here and there a bit about Sebastian's past, and I know some of you have picked up on it and commented on it. It's a bit more than hinting in this chapter, though still intentionally vague; that being said, read with caution. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

"Sebastian Emmett Smythe, you will attend the party this weekend. I don't care what plans you have, what could possibly be more important than your family?"

"Oh I don't know, mom, maybe I just have friends?" Sebastian says into the phone, rolling his eyes.

"Well dear I'm sure they won't mind you cancelling for your grandfather's birthday," his mother says, "it only happens once a year."

"I'm not cancelling on him," Sebastian says firmly.

"Oh, him. Is this a boyfriend?" she asks, and he can hear the teasing smile in her voice.

"No, it's not a boyfriend," he says quickly.

"Why don't you bring him with you?" she asks, like there was ever a chance of him doing that.

"No. Absolutely not." There's no way he's bringing Kurt to this party. It would just be too weird. And besides, on top of everything else, they're not actually a couple, so... no. Absolutely not.

"Well then I don't know what to tell you. Either you bring him with you, or you cancel your plans with him, because you're coming home this weekend and you will be at your grandfather's party."

"Nobody will notice if I'm not there, mom," he argues, though he knows it's a losing battle.

"I'll notice," she says sternly, "and I'm sure your grandfather will notice if you don't attend his birthday."

"I doubt it," Sebastian grumbles.

"Sebastian," his mother scolds, but she doesn't argue his point. "Your father and I will be there to pick you up after school on Friday. Let me know before then if we can expect your friend."

"I'm not bringing him, mom."

"Fine dear, but you know we would love to meet him. Your first boyfriend," she coos.

"He's not my boyfriend. And even if he was, you wouldn't be meeting him at grandad's birthday party anyway."

"If you say so, honey. I have to go now, but I'll see you Friday, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," he sighs.

"Be ready."

"I will be!"

"I love you, Sebby," she says sweetly.

"I told you not to call me that," he says, scrunching his face up at the nickname.

"And I told you I'll never stop calling you that," she replies, and he can hear the smile in her voice.

"Fine," he sighs in defeat, "I love you too."

"See you Friday."

"What time are you coming over on Saturday?"

"About that, Kurt, um... I have to cancel this weekend," Sebastian says into the phone.

"Oh," Kurt replies, and Sebastian can hear the disappointment that he tries to mask in his voice, but he doesn't ask why.

Sebastian figures he should explain anyway. "It's my grandfather's birthday, and my parents have decided my attendance is imperative."

"Ah but of course," Kurt teases, "someone needs to be there to make sure it's really a party."

Sebastian laughs lightly at the comment. "I'm not sure even I could liven up one of those family parties."

"I'm sure it's not so bad," Kurt reasons.

"You've never been to one," Sebastian counters.

"I've been to family parties," Kurt argues, and Sebastian smiles because he can practically hear Kurt rolling his eyes.

"Not with my family."

"And whose fault is that?" Kurt challenges, and Sebastian can hear the smirk in his voice.

The comment catches him off guard; he knows Kurt is teasing, but he also knows that Kurt would come if he asked, and he's not quite sure how to feel about that. He recovers quickly though, and hopes Kurt doesn't notice. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to go."

"I don't know, it might be fun," Kurt muses, "we could make fun of all your old relatives together."

"Well, maybe someday," Sebastian concedes, before he even really realizes what he's saying.

"That would be nice," Kurt says, a little quietly, a little tentatively, like he's not sure if it's okay to say it.

"We'll see," Sebastian says, trying to brush it off, and he regrets saying that already but it's sort of too late to take it back now.

"Right. We'll see," Kurt agrees, and Sebastian can't see him but he can tell that the other boy isn't smiling anymore, which just makes him feel even worse.

"Look, I have to go, but I'll text you later, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Kurt says.

"Bye, Kurt."

"Bye."

Sebastian takes a champagne flute from the tray offered to him. His parents don't typically let him drink – they don't know about his many nights at Scandals, of course, one of the perks of boarding at Dalton rather than living at home – but they allow it on special occasions like this. He's glad, because he'll need all the alcohol he can drink if he wants to get through this evening. He leans back against the wall and takes a sip of his champagne as he surveys the room. Great aunts and uncles, distant cousins, family friends fill the large room, clustered together in small groups as they chat amongst themselves. He doesn't particularly want to talk to any of them, but he figures he should, or else he knows he'll hear about it from his mother. But at least he isn't here; not yet, anyway. He downs the rest of the champagne – nobody is paying close enough attention to him to notice his lapse in etiquette – and ditches the glass, picking up another on his way to the couch where his cousins Erin and Samantha are sitting together.

"Sebby, hi!" Erin exclaims happily, standing to hug him in greeting.

"Hi Erin," he says, hugging her back reluctantly; she always has been very touchy-feely, and he's learned by now that fighting it only encourages her.

"Hey Seb," Samantha says with a slight smile, and thankfully she stays firmly planted on the couch.

"Sam," he greets her with a nod as he takes a seat in the chair beside them.

"So Sebastian, any cute boys in your life lately that I should know about?" Erin asks, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"None that I can think of," he replies.

"No cute boys, or no cute boys she should know about?" Sam asks, cocking an eyebrow.

"Definitely the latter," Sebastian says with a smirk, and Sam snorts.

"So there are cute boys?" Erin asks with excitement, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "Come on, Seb, I'm old, I need some gossip."

"I don't think so," he says, taking another sip of his champagne.

"You're no fun," she pouts.

"I'm all kinds of fun if you ask the right people."

Sam barks out a laugh at that, and Erin rolls her eyes.

"Well, I told mom I'd help her organize the gifts, so I'm going to go do that. You two kids have fun," Erin says as she stands and smoothes out her dress, then heads off toward the doorway.

Sebastian relaxes back into the chair. He's the youngest of his cousins, but after him, it's Sam, and luckily she's always been pretty chill. She was the first person to guess he was gay several years ago, even before his parents, though of course he'd denied it at the time.

"Balcony?" she asks, gesturing toward the back of the house.

He smiles at her and nods, then stands and follows behind her as she leads the way through the house toward the sliding glass doors at the back. They step into the chilly night air and Sebastian slides the door closed behind them. They walk out to the edge, Sam leaning against the railing of the balcony and holding a joint out to him, raising her eyebrows in a wordless question.

"Thanks," he says, taking it from her, and then she's lighting one of her own before offering the flame of her lighter to him.

He doesn't make a habit of smoking weed; it's not something he ever goes out of his way to do. But he's not opposed to it when it's offered, and Sam is the biggest stoner he knows so he'd expected this when she suggested going outside, and he'll take whatever he can get to help him get through this party. He inhales deeply, then breathes out a big puff of smoke as he looks out over the empty yard.

"Thank god you're here," she says, shooting him a sideways glance and a smirk, "these are always so boring."

"I tried to get out of it, but no such luck."

"You'd leave your dear cousin all alone to deal with all these old people?" Sam asks with mock hurt.

"In a heartbeat," he says with a grin.

They stand there silently for a while as they smoke, content only with each others' company, until Sam speaks again.

"You see Ezra yet?" she asks, a little awkwardly.

Sebastian stiffens ever so slightly at the mention of the man's name. "No, not yet."

"I'm sure he'll be here," she says dryly.

"I'm sure he will be."

Ezra is his uncle by marriage; married to his mother's sister Marilyn. He'd never really figured out why they were married, despite having spent so much of his childhood at their house; or, more accurately, Ezra's house, because Marilyn was nearly never home, she couldn't seem to stand her husband. So that meant he'd spent a lot of time with his uncle Ezra.

He hates Ezra.

Sam spent a lot of time at the house as a child, too, and she seems to have a similar hatred for their uncle. They've never talked about it, but... Sebastian is pretty sure he knows why. Pretty sure they hate him for the same reason.

Sam snuffs out her blunt on the edge of the railing and tucks it back into her bag. "I'm going to head in. You coming?"

"I think I'll stay out for a few more minutes," he replies, "I'll see you inside."

She gives him a small salute, and he smirks as he salutes back, then he's left standing on the balcony alone. He extinguishes his own blunt and leans forward on the railing, inhaling the crisp winter air. It's quiet and peaceful, and he thinks about what it might be like to bring Kurt to meet his family. Even when he'd come out, he'd never really expected to ever want that. Not that his parents were unsupportive; his whole family, really, was surprisingly good about it, and his parents especially were very supportive and assured him they still loved him and nothing would change that. He just never really thought he would feel this kind of connection with someone. He'd always felt so... alone, drawn into himself, he didn't think he could feel like this, but it's not something he can really deny at this point. The more time he spends with Kurt the more he likes the other boy. It's kind of unfair to Kurt, he realizes, what he's doing. There's no real reason they shouldn't be boyfriends, other than Sebastian being... being what? What is he being? He's hesitant but he doesn't even have a reason, really, if he's honest with himself. He's scared, but isn't everybody the first time they find something like this with someone? Kurt is ready, Kurt has been ready for a while, he's just waiting for Sebastian. And maybe Sebastian is ready, too. He'll talk to Kurt about it. He's not sure how – he really isn't very good at talking about his feelings, even when they're good feelings – but he'll have to figure out how to bring it up, what to say. He smiles to himself, imagining Kurt's reaction when he tells the other boy he wants to be his boyfriend, the smile – that beautiful smile – that will grace Kurt's face, the smile that only he can put there.

Yeah. He wants this.

He pushes off the railing and as he turns to head inside, the door slides open and a man steps out onto the balcony.

"Hey Sebby, what are you doing out here all alone?" the man asks, sliding the door closed behind him as he steps closer.

Sebastian tenses, takes a step back until he's pressed against the railing again. "I was just about to head inside."

"Haven't seen you in a while," Ezra says, walking to stand beside Sebastian and placing a hand on the railing. "Feels like you're never coming to our get-togethers anymore."

"I've been busy," he says tersely.

"Right, right, that fancy private school you're at now. Dawson, was it?"

"Dalton."

"Yes, that's it. Dalton. How's that going?" Ezra moves his hand from the railing and rests it on Sebastian's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "I'm sure you're doing just great, smart kid like you."

Sebastian shrugs his shoulder out from under his uncle's hand, takes a step away. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"No, I suppose you're not," Ezra says with a smile. "They grow up so fast," he muses, "it's too bad, really. And you were such a cute kid, too."

"Yeah," he agrees, more so to make the man stop talking than out of actual assent, as he begins to make his way back toward the door.

"Not going to stay out and chat with your uncle Ezra for a few minutes?" the man asks as Sebastian walks away. "We used to have so much fun together, Sebby."

Sebastian doesn't respond, just pulls the door open and walks through, pulling it shut again harder than absolutely necessary. He has no interest whatsoever in spending any more time than necessary with Ezra.