A little over a week later on Sunday morning, Kurt woke up before the sunrise. He kissed Sebastian on the neck where he could just barely reach from the way he was lying on him. He spoke quietly. "Hey, Bas?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Remember when you came to visit and you took me to the waterfall in Central Park?"

"Of course," He stretched a bit and kissed the top of Kurt's head.

"Can we go now? If we get dressed quickly, we can get there and watch the sunrise again."

"Sure." He stretched again and smiled.

They sat where they had when they had gone in the spring. This time rather than sitting side by side, Kurt sat in front of Sebastian and leaned back into his chest. Sebastian took the opportunity to wrap his arms around Kurt and kiss along his neck.

"It meant a lot to me that you came with me that day. I was still so torn up inside, we walked and sat in silence, but it was this really comforting silence. You weren't expecting anything from me. I could just not be alone for a while."

"You already had a plethora of things making demands of your time. The fact that you chose to spend some of your extremely limited time with me meant a lot to me."

"I was a hamster on a wheel back then. Things were hectic last week too. I love Fashion Week. I really do, but this is perfect. I had so much schoolwork to do to catch up after eight days of total fashion that I'm just now able to breath again. As weird as it sounds, I'm looking forward to sitting down tonight after rehearsal and making a schedule. I just think more clearly when I have a schedule to look at."

"Can we make a combined one too? Rather than having mine and a copy of yours, I think I'd rather have mine and a copy of our combined schedules."

"Sure." He put his arms over Sebastian's and interlaced their fingers. "When you came to visit, it was the first time in a really long time that I started to believe that someone would enjoy my company when I wasn't doing something for them."

"Well, I definitely enjoy your company."

Kurt closed his eyes and focused in on his other senses. He could feel Sebastian's soft lips pressing against his neck gently, so lightly that it almost tickled, yet was completely relaxing. Birds chirped happily and noisily in the trees. The juxtaposition of the ultimate urban environment that typically clashed with the nature that reigned in Central Park hadn't yet started in earnest so early on a Sunday morning. Nature was still winning. He left his eyes closed and focused on breathing mindfully, filling his lungs as he inhaled deeply through his nose, followed by exhaling slowly through his mouth.

He let his mind wander. As of the previous Monday, they had been together three months Three months together. Three months and he had never once felt undesired. He had had flashes of feeling like he was too much or not enough numerous times, but Sebastian had doused those ideas like a fireman's hose on a campfire. Being with Sebastian was different than anything he'd ever contemplated or experienced. He was wicked smart and funny. They still sparred verbally, but it always ended in one of them winning the battle by kissing and tickling the other into surrendering. Sebastian was often the instigator still, but it was all done in love. Thinking about it gave Kurt an idea.

While Kurt had been in his head wandering around, Sebastian was focused purely on the physical contact between the two of them. Every nerve was on edge and firing rapidly at every contact point. Their bodies close together produced a warmth that made the cool, moist, pre-dawn September air seem chillier, causing Sebastian to shiver.

Kurt turned just enough to kiss Sebastian. "Are you cold, sweetie?" He leaned forward enough to slip his jacket off and hand it to Sebastian. "You sacrificed your waterproof windbreaker to keep our butts dry. You wear it for now. I'm leaning against you, so I'm warm. I'll put it back on when we get up and you can put yours back on."

Rather than pretend to be okay, Sebastian took the jacket and put it on. "Thank you." His tone swiftly changed to flirting. "It's just because you're so hot pressed up against me like this." He wrapped his arms back around Kurt.

The sun was peeking up over the horizon as they got comfortable again.

Kurt relaxed back against Sebastian. "Thanks for coming with me."

"Coming with you is one of my favorite things." He pressed his lips back to Kurt's neck and licked along the edge of Kurt's ear.

"Bas!" Kurt said, as if scandalized.

"Yeah, babe?" Sebastian responded, sounding as innocent as possible, while not letting up on the kissing.

"I love you."

"Mmm… I love you too."

"You can come with me all afternoon."

"Oh, really? Wherever you're going, I'm in."

"I'm pretty sure that I'm the one that will be in."

"Kurt!" Sebastian was silently laughing too hard to say anything else at that point.

"Yes, sweetie?"

He propped his forehead on Kurt's shoulder and tried to get himself under control. "I'm definitely up for you being in."

"Already?"

Sebastian started laughing harder again. "Oh, God, stop."

"Usually it's, 'Oh, God, don't stop." Kurt continued to tease.

Sebastian was laughing so hard that he had to force himself to take a deep breath several times. Once he could talk again, he said, "Maybe we should take this conversation to the waterfall."

"Mmm. I accept your offer to make out with me by the waterfall."

Sebastian squeezed Kurt a bit before standing up. He pulled Kurt to standing, took Kurt's jacket off and offered it to him. He picked his up and shook it off before he put it back on. "Who said anything about making out?"

Kurt stepped closer and looked down very obviously and smirked. "I'm pretty sure you don't have a banana in your pocket."

Sebastian started laughing again. He stepped closer and kissed Kurt. "No banana. Definitely no banana."

Kurt led them over to the rock he had sat on the last time they had been there, but this time he kept hold of Sebastian's hand and they sat together. They hadn't seen anyone else on the walk back, so Kurt scooted closer to Sebastian and put his hand on Sebastian's thigh and ran his fingers along his leg drawing patterns.

There was a slight breeze, causing the leaves to move arrhythmically. The sun seeped through the nascent color-changing leaves, some crimson and some gold here and there dotting the greenery everywhere. The water cascaded, trickled, and dripped, splashing into the surface of the water below creating a serene, yet interestingly unique sound.

Kurt took a deep breath and closed his eyes and listened to the sounds the water made. Sebastian scooted a little closer and wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist. He looked all around the area, noting six different types of birds in a matter of minutes, as well as several squirrels, two of which were chasing each other, and even a raccoon that was watching both the squirrels and the two of them.

"Babe," he said almost silently. "Open your eyes and look up to the right just a bit."

Kurt looked, "A raccoon. They're the cutest nuisances." After he watched it for a few minutes, he said, "He's watching us and those noisy squirrels. He's adorable." After the raccoon climbed higher and out of view, Kurt closed his eyes again.

Sebastian stared at him this time instead of looking around more.

It didn't take long for Kurt to notice. "You're staring at me."

"How can I not? You're beautiful. And so sexy."

Kurt opened his eyes and turned. He locked eyes with Sebastian and smiled. "And you are gorgeous and brilliant. And I love you." He leaned towards Sebastian and kissed him.

Sebastian realized that it had been a while since Kurt had deflected his compliments, which made him smile. He reached out and cupped Kurt's face one-handed and kissed him. "I love you too."

Kurt smiled and pressed his forehead to Sebastian's. "It's so relaxing here. I wonder if we download a waterfall track if that would help me on nights that I struggle to sleep."

"We'll find one today and try it tonight."

"It won't bother you, will it?"

"Not at all. If it helps you sleep, I'm all for it. You mentioned plans for this afternoon. I didn't know we had any. Is it a surprise?"

"Plans?"

"Yeah, you said I could tag along, so it must not be a study group or something."

"My only plans are to spend the whole day with you. Sundays are our time together, right?"

"Well, they have been all summer, but we never actually said anything concrete about it for when school started and you were gone all day last Sunday."

"You're right. We didn't. I'm hoping that it still will be. Time for just us on Sunday mornings and afternoons. And then we have band rehearsal and we could do things with other people in the evening after that, if you want. Or if you don't want to block of Sunday afternoons, we could just keep the morning for ourselves."

"I do think we should block off time for ourselves. If I get to pick, I choose all day. I hadn't really thought about how different this semester would be. I'm not spending more time on schoolwork, but I'm spending time working on a bunch of different classes rather than just two, so it's a lot different. I only met maybe 40 people this summer. Since the classes were so intense, there was just a small group of people in each one. But I have a lot more people in some of my classes now."

"And I'm meeting all new people too. I know the dorms don't serve dinner on Sunday evenings. We could start inviting a few people over every Sunday for a pitch-in dinner. That way it wouldn't cost us any more than a regular dinner, and we could try making some friends. I've loved all the time we've had just the two of us all summer, and I think we both really needed it. We're in a really good place now. We've worked out how to negotiate and navigate our lives together, which is saying a lot for two people who were very much loners and handled everything on our own before."

"We have come a long way, haven't we?"

"We definitely have. And I'm really glad."

"You turned me into a sap."

"I refuse to accept blame for something that was your choice. The fact that you think I'm beautiful and sexy is all on you."

Sebastian cracked up laughing. "Fair point. I'm right though."

He nudged Sebastian a bit with his shoulder. "But you can still be a bastard to anyone else you choose to. I'm not stopping you," he teased.

"That's true, but I'm not unhappy anymore. I'm not out to sabotage anyone to get ahead anymore either. I haven't been for quite a while. I've learned my lesson. Now, I'm all about making sure I'm the best I can be. I've left the rest of that nonsense behind. If someone else is better than I am because they're naturally better at something or worked harder at it, then so be it. I can't live my life chasing after the top spot by bringing others down. I have to be willing to accept that I either did my best or I did as much as I was willing to do to succeed, and let that be that. Otherwise, I'll just be undermining my own future success by making everyone in my field dislike me. No one will want to collaborate with me in the future if I burn people now."

"Very astute for 18," Kurt smiled at him. "See, I told you." He nudged him again. "Super smart. And increasing in wisdom. Very sexy."

"Astute, huh?"

"A word first used by Adam when he was trying to charm me into going with him to listen to the Apples sing."

"How's he doing?"

"Great. He's loving being in the play. It's gotten great reviews. He sent them to me when I asked him to. I'm so glad for him, but I miss him. He was just this ray of sunshine in a dark point in my life."

He kissed Kurt on the temple. "I'm glad you had someone who brought a bit of light to your life back then."

Kurt nodded and smiled sadly. "Me too. I'd love to see him in the play somehow. He still hasn't managed to come up with a way to record it since it's against the rules of the theater to have recording devices in use during a performance. He's still working on it though. So far, he's convinced them that recording at least once scene would be good publicity. But the play is doing well on its own and no one is convinced that the cost of doing it would make a difference in sales."

"The bottom line, unfortunately."

"Yes. I want to perform on Broadway, but it's kind of frustrating to think about how many shows I'd like to see that I don't go to because the ticket prices are just so high. There are so many people who would enjoy it but will never get a chance to because of the price."

"That's true, but you're not actually one of them anymore. You just feel like you are."

"That's true, but I haven't quite gotten over the feeling that, as much as I would enjoy going to a show, the fact that I could buy a week's worth of groceries for the same price makes it hard for me to just do it."

"I get that." He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "If we're going to have time to look through the areas you like before it's time to meet Isabelle, we're going to have to get going."

Kurt closed his eyes and rolled his head in a circle stretching his neck. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay. Next weekend cane we buy whatever is good to feed ducks and do that?"

Sebastian smiled. "Sure. We can look online and find some other hidden places that are cool to visit in the park too."

Kurt scooted to the front and got down and waited for Sebastian. He still didn't see anyone around where they were or hear anyone. Once Sebastian was standing in front of him, he wrapped one arm around his neck and the other around his waist, putting his palm between his shoulder blades and pulling him closer. He pressed his lips gently along his jawline until he got closer to his mouth and kissed him before they headed back out of the forest into the urban jungle.

Sebastian unlocked the door and let Kurt in. After he stepped inside, he turned back to lock the door. When he turned back around he saw Kurt slipping his shorts off already holding his shirt in his hands, and his shoes were in his other hands. Sebastian didn't think he had locked the door slowly enough for Kurt to have already managed to be undressed down to his boxer briefs, but he wasn't complaining. He stood gazing just long enough for Kurt to turn and catch him gawking.

Kurt raised his eyebrow. "Well?"

"I'm missing something here."

"Actually, no. You're not missing enough," Kurt teased. He turned back and swaggled his hips, trouncing off around the wall.

Sebastian re-engaged his brain and followed along.

"Well, it seems that you are coming with me," Kurt teased. "That's a good start. I'm sure that I can still manage some solo play, but that was not what I had in mind for this afternoon." He dropped his clothes into the basket and put his shoes on the shelf. "You seem to be moving in slow motion. Did you eat so much Dim Sum that you're in a food coma? Would you like some help with your clothes, sweetie?"

"Wait, what?"

"Your clothes." Kurt stepped closer. "You're still wearing them." He unfastened Sebastian's belt. "Earlier you said you were up for me being in. Did I misunderstand? I mean that was my plan for the afternoon. But my seduction skills must need honed because stripping in the kitchen didn't seem to work."

"I thought you were changing to go back out. You said I could go with you."

"You can and are going with me. To the bathroom, to our shower, where I'm going to have my way with you and hopefully you with me, and then I'm going to give you a little time to yourself in there while I get our bed ready."

"Oh! OH! It sounds perfect. I thought you were teasing in the park. I thought you actually had plans for something like a museum or an art show or something or some place for us to explore, but you wanted it to be a surprise."

"Mmm. Not what I had in mind," Kurt kissed down his chest as he unbuttoned his shirt. "I was thinking more along the lines of exploring each other some more, but I can get dressed and we can go back out if you want."

"Oh, no, no, no. I like this idea. Please continue."

"You're sure." He stopped momentarily.

"Absolutely."

Kurt went back to undressing him.

A couple of hours later, after a second quick shower, the two of them were cuddled up in the corner of the sofa with books, both in singlets and their boxer briefs.

Kurt's mind wandered from his book and to the new song they had written together as he sat thinking about everything that had happened over the last six months, more like ten months. His dad's cancer, the treatments, and his recovery. Getting into NYADA and now going to CCNY. Blaine's Christmas visit, his own stupidity at Valentines' Day, the the proposal, and engagement he backed out of, which he was really glad about. Moving into Sebastian's place, Finn dying, and moving the rest of his belongings to New York. The change in his family dynamics and how they had improved recently. Working so hard, never having time to relax.

All of those things passed through his mind rapidly as he sat completely relaxed, snuggling with Sebastian, who he loved whole-heartedly, more than he had ever loved anyone. His mind stopped whirring at a frantic pace as it replayed him getting to know Sebastian. The corners of his mouth slowly turned up into a smile as he thought back to what he had been thinking about in the park earlier that morning, Sebastian visiting him and making sure he was doing okay.

He thought about how how close he and Sebastian had gotten, all while being so far apart. He did his best not to feel bad about how closed off he had been and how little he trusted Sebastian's sincere offer of friendship at first, but through the trials and two steps forwards and one step back moments they had, their friendship had come out strong.

He smiled a bit more as he considered how Sebastian's family had accepted him and how loved he felt by people he hadn't even known for not quite three months. He and Jillian had hit it off, and Marley had become a close friend as well. Sam was back in his life. Santana had become a friend as well. There had been a few setbacks, like the fight in the alley and removing Rachel from his life, at least temporarily, but there had been so many good things. The words they had written for their new song came back to him again and he began to hum lightly.

Sebastian noticed that Kurt hand't turned a page in his book for at least ten minutes. "Hey, babe?"

"Mmm hmm?" Kurt responded, Sebastian's voice pulling him from his reflecting. He realized that he had been humming. "I didn't mean to bother you."

"You weren't bothering me. I just noticed that you had quit reading. Is everything okay?"

He turned and pressed a gentle kiss to Sebastian's neck, below his ear. "Everything is fine. Really so much better than fine. So, so much better." He put his book down and wrapped his arm across Sebastian's chest and slipped his hand up his neck and into his hair. "Do you want to work on that song we've been working on for a while before we leave for rehearsal? That's what I was originally thinking about." He gently kissed Sebastian on the lips. "I was just thinking about how much has changed in my life. A year ago, attending Fashion Week was an impossible dream, which came true as I spent the last eight days living and breathing fashion with Isabelle. And I didn't know that I could feel like this, with you. I've never, ever felt secure in any of the friendships that I've had. Six months ago, my self-esteem had slipped so low that I stood there and agreed to marry someone just because I thought no one else could ever love me. I was certain that I was too much for anyone to ever be able to love all of me, that I would always have to keep some part of myself hidden away, that I would have to be less 'me'. And look at me."

"I always like looking at you." Sebastian kissed the top of his head and slid his hand along Kurt's bare arm. "Very sexy."

Kurt rolled his eyes, not because Sebastian had said that he was sexy, but because he was being his snarky self while still listening. "Seriously, though. I'm sitting here with you in my underwear, wearing nail polish, and my hair's not fixed."

"Very sexy, like I said."

"Bas!" Kurt said, slightly annoyed.

"Babe, I love you so much. Don't get annoyed. I think back to where I was a year ago, and like you just said, sitting here with you like this was not even a possibility in my mind. I'm just so glad you're happy here with me because I'm happy too, which isn't something I expected at all. The most I had really hoped for was that I would like going to school here. I wanted to start over and do a better job than the last two chances I had been given to do that. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt how incredibly lucky I am to have been given a third chance. This time I'm certain that I've gotten it right. You're here with me. And every morning I wake up next to you, I smile because it's not just a dream."

Kurt scooted up so that he could kiss Sebastian properly. After several minutes of kissing, Kurt pulled back and leaned back into Sebastian's chest. "So, now that we're both certain that we're happy and completely loved, do you want to work on our new song?"

"Sure."

"Elliott and Dani worked their magic on it and sent me sheet music and a guitar track last night. I saw it in my email when I checked before we sat down to read."

"Excellent."

"In theory, everyone else could learn their parts tonight and we could perform it tomorrow evening."

"Let's practice with the guitar track and see if we can be ready to sing it for everyone in a couple of hours."

Kurt and Sebastian climbed into the car Isabelle had come in to pick them up. Once they were situated inside, and the driver had pulled off, Sebastian asked, "Did my parents put you up to this?"

"What? Picking the two of you up?"

"Yeah."

"Nope. Not at all. Can't a proud aunt be a groupie these days?"

Sebastian laughed. "I suppose so. I'm pretty sure that no one's ever really been able to stop you from doing whatever you wanted to."

"That's true. And you won't be the first," she teased. "Plus, I really do like listening to you all sing. It reminds me of when I first came here myself. I found a group of people that I enjoyed being with. I'm actually still friends with a couple of them. Plus, I need something fun in my life now too. I told you that I'd want to spend time with you now that you live here, so unless you specifically ask me not to come, I will when I can manage it."

Sebastian nodded. "We like having you come. I just didn't want you to be doing it out of obligation."

"Are you singing something new tonight?"

"We are."

They had gotten up and performed a few times over the course of the hour and a half that they had been there. The crowd was enthusiastic and energetic, so they decided to go ahead with their plan to try out Kurt and Sebastian's new song.

It started out with just Dani playing the guitar. Kurt and Sebastian sang the lead and harmony. As the song progressed, Elliott and Chandler joined in on the keyboard and guitar. Dani joined in on bass and sang backup with Santana.

We're in the homestretch of the hard times.
We took a hard left, but we're alright.
Yeah, life sure can try to put love through it, but
We built this right, so nothing's ever gonna move it.

When the bones are good, the rest don't matter.
Yeah, the paint could peel, the glass could shatter.
Let it rain
'Cause you and i remain the same.
When there ain't a crack in the foundation,
Babe, I know any storm we're facing,
Will blow right over while we stay put.
The house don't fall when the bones are good.

Call it dumb luck, but babe, you and I
Can't even mess it up, though we both try.
Not it don't always go the way we planned it,
But the wolves came and went, and we're still standing.

When the bones are good, the rest don't matter.
Yeah, the paint could peel, the glass could shatter.
Let it rain
'Cause you and i remain the same.
When there ain't a crack in the foundation,
Babe, I know any storm we're facing,
Will blow right over while we stay put.
The house don't fall when the bones are good.

When they sat down, Isabelle said, "I know where you go the inspiration for part of that. Your mom says that about houses that she decides they're worth flipping."

"She does," Sebastian agreed. "Kurt and I were talking and I told him about the phrase. After dealing with what we did a couple of weeks ago, we talked a lot and we came up with the song."

"I liked it a lot. I recorded it and sent it to your mom and to you."

"Thanks."

She pulled out three iPads and put them on the table. "I brought photos like you all asked for. You can share and look at them."

Sam wasn't all that interested, so he and Kurt and Sebastian talked while the others looked through the photos. Isabelle took the opportunity to move and sit next to them. She quietly brought up the idea of Sam modeling and gave him the name of someone she knew personally to help him get started if he was interested.