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Chapter 3: Chandler Kiehl (And a Little Bit Blaine Anderson)
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Their solution came in the from of an obnoxious gay kid from North Lima Heights. Kurt had gotten a message on Facebook asking him to meet up, please, with Sebastian at Between the Sheets and as leading as that sounded, it was actually just a music store. Kurt had already annoyed Blaine to no end with his talk about NYADA and auditions and he was using that as yet another one of those things to put himself in the right light and keep Kurt from breaking up with him. He'd even gone so far as to ask Miss Pillsbury to mediate a conversation between them 'couple's counseling'. They'd argued in front of her over dumb things, Kurt let that be aired out because he didn't want to go into deeper stuff. Blaine tried though. "You're going to leave and outgrow me!"
"That's not going to happen." Kurt had said but he felt like he'd already outgrown Blaine and so wasn't lying.
The most honest thing came out from Blaine then. "I don't want to break up with you!"
Sebastian had somehow heard all about this 'private counseling meeting' all the way across the state. He'd asked Kurt to join him at the store because he knew he needed to find some music for the audition regardless. If Blaine was in a pout about it, then Sebastian wanted to swoop in on the opportunity.
He wasn't alone in that assessment apparently. He'd been waiting for Kurt and browsing the pop music selection that the Warblers were apparently fond of, when Kurt came in and went right to where he always went, the Broadway Musical section. The female parts in particular. Kurt hadn't seen him, thought he was waiting for Sebastian, in fact. Not knowing that traffic was merciful that day and Sebastian got there early.
A nasally voice spoke, stopping Sebastian in his tracks. He'd slept with that boy, oops. He just lavished praise upon Kurt so quickly, surprising the brunette with the intensity and quickness of the jabs and praise Kurt was not used to hearing. Somehow Chandler had gotten up close and personal with Kurt, even touching the broach on Kurt's chest. Kurt was dressed even nicer than he normally would for school because he'd known of the meet up with Sebastian and had dressed up for him.
"Can I have your number?" He asked, half turning away and Sebastian didn't care anymore that he had held back because of the following reasons, between the speed in which Chandler spoke and and their history he hadn't gone over and caused a fight. Now he wasn't following that instinct anymore.
"Uh..." Kurt had whiplash, he wasn't even sure he'd been part of the conversation and he was quick with a lot of practice between Sebastian and Santana. Despite Sebastian's 'reform' he and Sebastian still argued but it was a little nicer than before, they were setting the stones to the path they wanted the others to follow.
"No." Sebastian cut in, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist. "He's already taken." It was doubly true even though it wasn't official.
"Sebastian." Chandler's face morphed quickly from open and excitable and interested to dark and stormy and he glanced between the two of them. "Wow, public displays of affection during the daylight, that's a step up for you." He looked to Kurt and frowned. "Well, you're clearly ruined now if you've been with him. If you haven't, fair warning, he will dump you a second after he gets what he wants."
It was exactly what Kurt had expressed to him in the past and he knew his personal history had given them both cause to believe that, but Sebastian knew himself. He'd only hung on this long and been this patient because of his very real feelings for Kurt. Those had become so obvious to him over the months of missing Kurt, being jealous and possessive over him, tracking down his boyfriend's old flames and asking them about it, waiting until they could be together. He was impressed by himself and knew it was because of who Kurt was and what they would have.
"Run along little boy." Sebastian sneered even though he was technically a grade below both of them. That only had to do with how his credits transferred from France. America thought they were superior and didn't take into account that they had the same classes just in a different order and intensity. Even the private school wouldn't give him that, so he was stuck repeating a year.
"Whatever, old man!" Chandler gave Kurt one last sympathetic look before he continued his way out the door.
"Well!" Kurt turned surprised eyes to Sebastian. "Can I expect that with every gay male we come across?"
"No. Most are college students and knew what they were getting into. I told Chandler again and again that I don't do relationships and that it would be a one time only thing. He said ok but he didn't believe me." Sebastian removed his arm from around Kurt and rubbed his back. "Are you ok?"
"Yes. I know your past." Kurt shrugged, glad it hadn't gotten into a physical confrontation like Sebastian had told him about in the past.
"Good because he gave me the best idea!" Sebastian snatched Kurt's phone out of his front pocket and Kurt tensed not because of Sebastian removing his phone but because of how close Sebastian's fingers had been and he had reacted to those touches. He barely understood what Sebastian was doing until Sebastian presented it to him.
"Why does that say Chandler Kiehl? You told him I wouldn't be texting back and forth with him."
"You won't be. You'll be texting with me and nobody will be any wiser." Sebastian's eyes sparkled and Kurt chuckled.
"You're pure evil."
"Of course, that's what you like about me." Sebastian slid the phone back into Kurt's pocket after he sent off a quick text to his own so he'd have Kurt's number. It was warmer than it had been before and Kurt was a bit frozen to the spot but this time Sebastian was aware of what was ailing Kurt. His fingers lingered in Kurt's tight, tight pocket that barely fit the phone. He tugged on the pocket a little as he pulled his fingers out.
"Evil." Kurt breathed harshly.
Sebastian's eyes flickered to Kurt's lips and he was very tempted to feel him say that word against his own. "You haven't even begun to see just how much." Sebastian promised and watched as Kurt's tongue darted out and licked his lips. Sebastian's own tongue mimicked the action against his own lips and Kurt had to scramble back from that intoxicating heat so close to his own.
"Sebastian!" He warned and accused all at once.
"What? It's been over 4 months, you have to admit I have incredible stamina and restraint. And I have to admit, you do too but I can't help but flirt with you, you're too adorable and easy to do it with." He reached out and brushed his thumb against that moist lower lip before bringing the thumb back to his own mouth and groaned as he tasted Kurt mixed with himself on his tongue.
Kurt put more space between them. "Seb... you know how I feel about this."
"You've been over for months, Blaine knows it too but he's just clinging on for the appearance. That's why he's been acting out so much. He knows you're done and refuses to let you go."
"Even so, we're still officially together and he deserves a conversation."
"Hurry up or I won't be responsible for my actions and you won't like what I do, I can guarantee that." Sebastian held his eyes and Kurt looked away.
"After Nationals." He promised and Sebastian let it go, he knew how important Nationals were to Kurt, it could make or break his chances of getting into NYADA, regardless of how he did in his audition.
"Come on, let's figure out a piece to blow the others out of the water." Sebastian held out his hand invitingly and Kurt looked at it as if it would bite him, as if it was too much for his moral compass or Sebastian would push for too much at this stage. Sebastian wagged his fingers and was a little afraid of what Kurt would do. Kurt slipped his hand into Sebastian's after a tiny further hesitation and a deep breath but he did it. He trusted Sebastian that much, good. "What do you want to do?" He knew Kurt had fantastic instincts when it came to this stuff even if the audience was too small minded to understand it usually.
"I originally thought Evita-" Sebastian had heard as much with that conversation with Chandler. "But that didn't go well with the Dalton boys... I was too theatrical, too much... too feminine." Kurt's hand skimmed over the cover. "I then thought maybe Whitney Houston since we're doing her this week in Glee and so it would be good practice but I couldn't help but think that maybe... maybe it was the same problem, too feminine even if she is a power house and I could show off that side of my voice for a change."
Sebastian agreed with that last part, but not the feminine part. Many men covered Whitney and Whitney had covered a male song which had covered a Dolly Parton song. He pointed that out and Kurt nodded, obviously already knowing that but needing to hear it from someone else too. "So, what's wrong with that?"
"I really- well.. I really want to sing Not the Boy Next Door but Rachel thinks that's a terrible idea after what happened last year at Sectionals. The world is not ready for someone so obviously gay singing such a gay song. It's ok for Hugh Jackman because he's so straight and big and tough and it just shows how great of an actor he is to fill that role despite it not being his natural inclination. She thinks I should try to show off a straight role, show that I'm diverse and can't be pigeonholed into gay only parts."
"Didn't she try that with you by enacting the Romeo and Juliet bedroom scene and when you tried to kiss her she laughed?"
"Yeah..." Kurt frowned. "I should have done that with Brittany, we have a history of making out and she never once laughed, not even when I wore baggy jeans and a flannel shirt. She's kind and I've never once called her dumb like most of the boys around here. Never once believed her to be."
"You... what? You were confused about your sexuality?" Sebastian just couldn't see it, Kurt seemed so confident and assured in who he was and what he wanted and where he was going.
"No." Kurt shrugged, his fingers kept straying back to the sheet music for Boy From Oz. "Never that, but I wasn't out either and my dad is this big tough guy and we were getting terrible phone calls about me and I was having a fit because he seemed to like Finn better than me at the time. I pretended to like girls, pretended to be straight, pretended to like dressing like one of the skater boys, regular boys from around here. Brittany believed me but she was the only one who did. My dad called me out on it and I came out not long later."
"Your dad act ok with that?" Sebastian wasn't sure how he'd feel if he heard anything else. His parents had never particularly been against him being gay, just against him being promiscuous and disliked him getting into fights, afraid for him.
"Oh man, he was so cool with it. I mean sure, there's still things that make him awkward but I think that's anything related to me being in a relationship with someone. I'm his kid, he's just not comfortable with my dating, kind of like a mom with her son who's found a girl he likes. Everyone thinks it's like a dad protecting his baby girl, but no... it's definitely that stereotypical mom and son relationship, no girl is good enough for him, not like his mom is." Kurt laughed and flipped the records to what Rachel had suggested.
"There are so many questions..." Sebastian shook his head, too many pronoun changes for his head to wrap around at that stage but he believed Kurt. Kurt knew his parent. "How does he feel about Blaine?"
"Hates him, so much." Kurt pulled the Phantom of the Opera out of the slot it was in. "Rachel thinks I should do this cliché song."
"Get it, get Boy Next Door too. Learn both, decide what you're happiest with."
Kurt snickered. "Learn both? You really have under estimated me, haven't you? This is so my accompaniment can follow along with me. I plan to have backup on that stage."
"Dad hates Blaine?" Sebastian countered, going back to that and not answering his challenge about 'knowing him'. He really wanted to, had just been held back for too long.
"Maybe it's a little of both, I guess, and the typical father and son relationship too since it's just been him and me for so long, we've taken on all the roles at once. Blaine... he has been trying to schmooze his way into my dad's graces for over a year now but underestimates how much I tell my dad. I tell my dad everything … now … after what happened with Karofsky last year. He's even more insistent to be told everything now after what happened with Karofsky this year. He's terrified something will happen to me." Kurt did pull both records as Sebastian suggested.
"Blaine?" Sebastian reminded him.
"Oh, right, well, Blaine basically told dad that he needed to get me up on sex education, especially gay sex since I wouldn't listen to him. Mind you, this is after he found Blaine in my bed completely hung over after making out with Rachel and telling me that I wasn't sexy."
Sebastian's body somehow grew at that comment. "Not sexy?" Sebastian's voice wasn't quiet. "Is he insane?"
"I think that opinion has changed now... I don't know, he wants sex, so he must think I'm sexy now, right?"
"You are sexy but I have a feeling that he was just negging you." Sebastian admitted. "He wanted in your pants and the only way he thought he'd manage that was by going negative so your confidence would weaken and sleep with him to prove that you were or with low self-confidence, you'd agree to be pity fucked."
"You like saying that don't you?" Kurt made a face at his words.
"I just call it as I see it." Sebastian rolled his shoulders, not apologetic. "Obviously that didn't work. And why would you care what he thinks now, you don't want to have sex with him."
"True and I don't, not really, but I was just trying to figure out... well, no, that explains it well, thanks. For a second there my self-confidence was on the line." He glanced at Sebastian teasingly but Sebastian wondered if Kurt was just covering up some truth.
"That was very... arrogant of him actually, to go to your dad like that. You weren't even dating at the time?"
"Nope. Still firmly in friend-zone. Eventually he called me prejudice because I refused to believe he was bi, just him, mind you, and said I was like Karofsky." Kurt sighed. "Maybe he was right, maybe he is bi and I am like Karofsky."
"How are you even remotely like Karofsky?"
Kurt frowned and tried to remember the conversation. "You know... I think his point had to do with me bullying him or something? I don't know anymore."
"If anything, he was bullying you, he listened to your feelings and friend-zoned you then made out with one of your best female friends in front of you and then had the nerve to gush to you about his feelings for her all the while knowing you felt that way about him." Sebastian shook his head. "Again, why are you still with him?"
"His latest tantrum was about me moving away, moving on, moving up the ladder. Considering how rich he is, that was an odd argument but everyone is feeling badly for him, since I'm trying to get into college. Something half of us are doing, at least, including Rachel and Finn. They're not even applying to the same states. There had been an understanding that Blaine was going to go to New York the following year either following me or on his own, didn't matter, it was always his plan." Kurt rubbed his temples. "I can't even follow all his tantrums anymore. There was something about putting bronzer in his lotion, which I did as a joke, claiming he looked better with a little bit of color. I think I was also hoping it would push him over the edge and break up with me. If he breaks up with me, I'm off the hook completely."
Sebastian laughed, that was something he would have appreciated and perhaps have attempted to do to Kurt down the road as a joke, but then again, he would have known how spitting mad Kurt would be. "Just break up with him." Sebastian was now a little irritated. "Just man up and take it on the chin if he throws a mega tantrum. You know it's not true, I know it's not true and your real friends will know it's not true."
"I don't want to deal with Rachel, honestly." Kurt admitted and looked at Sebastian in a panic. "You haven't met Full-Out-Diva-Rachel and if she is doing that and Blaine is doing his Diva act while Mercedes does hers and Santana is in a snit about something... well... I may just have to quit school and run away to New York early and change my name so they can never find me."
"It sounds like some of them are already up in arms about something?"
"Rachel's already frazzled due to our auditions next week, even more so after our visit to the competition hall last week and all of the room were carbon copy clones of us, we're not originals, not even remotely. Every brunette female in that room had a gay male best friend who thought they were fabulous."
"Honey, I probably met all those guys before, probably slept with most of them. You are not a carbon copy of anyone. Nobody is like you and you stand out, you are the most original person I've ever met." And he'd met a lot of people. He held Kurt's eyes and could tell that he appreciated the words.
"Thank you." Kurt breathed and his shoulders relaxed and tried to continue breathing easier. "But you should have seen that room, it was like looking into a fun-house mirror."
"The original is still better." Sebastian pressed and Kurt decided to move on, not quite believing him and Blaine had a lot to answer for, tearing Kurt down like that. Kurt did a good job pretending otherwise to the rest of the world, but he was honest with Sebastian.
"Nationals are coming up too and she's freaking out about that... She and Mercedes have been fighting about last chance solos since Mercedes is also a senior and has never been given a chance. Rachel decided to run for class president as well."
"Wait, I thought you told her you were?" Sebastian hadn't heard that drama, just some of the Blaine stuff. The Warblers were hoping with bated breath for Kurt and Blaine to break up and that Blaine would come back next year.
"She said she supported that decision. Then next thing I know her campaign posters were going up all over the school and she had roped Finn into helping. He said he didn't want to split loyalties and would help both and vote for no one. I let him off the hook and said to go on and help her, I didn't fight it. Brittany's campaign of dolphins and unicorns is so bizarre and I fired her and now she's running too. I handled her wrong for once. I didn't mean to, I was just upset and I didn't want my gayness to be splashed across the halls even more than normal. I have gotten so many worse messages and sparkle explosions in my locker since then and I had been left alone until recently."
"Your platform is solid though." Sebastian didn't understand. "The ideas are great."
"Too great, not what the student body wants to hear. Brittany is promising cheerleader top free Fridays and great parties. I've decided to drop out of the race. Knowing Rachel, she'll do a last minute reform act and then sabotage me under the guise of helping. I don't want to deal with the fall out either at McKinley or the far more reaching implications that it could have on my potential school choices. A scandal this close to graduation would hurt my future." He'd secretly applied to NYU under Sebastian's recommendations, he pointed out correctly that it would get him to NY either way and he could always transfer if the opportunity arose.
He had wanted to put all his eggs in one basket and not have a backup plan like Rachel because it meant that he was that dedicated to getting in, that he was that sure of his ability but he was more rational than Rachel and saw the value. Maybe he got to NYADA and hated it, he'd at least have the offer from NYU to fall back on. This was all backward this year, it was apply, audition, get in and then go visit the school before final decisions were required.
Sebastian had carefully pointed out that maybe it would be good for both Rachel and Kurt to get a bit of space between them and go to different schools. The idea was moderately accepted by Kurt, probably more appealing now that he'd seen that he was somehow pulled into a typical relationship. It made him wonder how he'd gotten so far away from that best friendship with Mercedes. What had happened there? He and Mercedes had been thick as thieves and somehow he had slowly been pulled to Rachel's side.
It was mainly a one-sided friendship too, where Rachel got everything and Kurt nothing but when he starts pulling away, Rachel tosses him a bone... Kurt's head snapped around to Sebastian. "Rachel is a female version of Blaine!" They both wanted him, wanted him close but kept him down and keeping him down somehow propped them up. "I'm going to have to somehow break up with her too, aren't I?"
"Not necessarily. Knowing what's wrong, how the dynamics work can work in your favor if you want to remain friends with her."
"Of course you'd say that." Kurt was frustrated, everyone around him were manipulative assholes who only had themselves at heart and used him to make them feel better and he was that way for everyone, wasn't he?
"Hey, I'm honest and obvious with you, you never have to fear me doing that. I want you to shine. Someone in this relationship should."
"We're not in a relationship." Kurt pointed out.
"My future plans don't include musical theater, I'm not going to be competing against you ever again, we're going to be supporting each other in our respective fields, helping each other soar." He rubbed his hand against the back of Kurt's bicep. "In your case... maybe your 8 fields that you do all at the same time." He teased and Kurt stuck his tongue out at him. "Careful." Sebastian's eyes were faceted to Kurt's mouth again. "That's an invite." He had ignored Kurt's quip about relationship status.
"Invitation." Kurt couldn't stop himself from correcting and when Sebastian came closer toward him, he spun and tried to go to the back of the room.
Sebastian stopped him from going to the front and paying for the sheet music. Kurt was reluctant but turned back to Sebastian, afraid that he would follow through with his actions. "I know I said I wasn't going to get involved, but... I know Carmen personally." He winced when Kurt just stared at him, not getting into hyperactive squeals of joy, of how he could connect them,. He just stared.
Well, that was actually a good thing, despite him feeling guilty for holding back, he should have known Kurt wouldn't have pressed for favors.
"She's tough and not exactly fair in how she curries out her favors. You have to work very, very hard to impress her and I wasn't going to tell you this, give you the advantage, but... I think you deserve a break with how often people keep kicking you down and back and you keep getting up but with how often they've done it to you, you're kind of at a disadvantage. You need to level out the playing field. You can't tell this to Rachel."
He held Kurt's gaze and with Kurt's most recent revelation, he was more than willing to go along with his request.
"She wants to see emotion and depth of song. I have no doubt you can knock Boy Next Door out of the park and she'll be impressed too but that won't get you in, no matter how impressed she is or rare praise she gives. She only lets certain people in when they've fit her box perfectly. She's definitely only interested in specific types of people."
Sebastian brought Kurt back to the records. "So what do you suggest?" Kurt asked, not sure if he should take this advantage but now that he'd heard it, would be hard pressed to ignore it or pretend he didn't know about it. "Something from Le Miz?"
"No." Sebastian shook his head and drew him against him, Kurt let him, this was a rare occasion they could even be in the same room as each other. "Nothing from Le Miz, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, even Evita, those are musicals even non-musical freaks know about and are easy options, heard all the time, the story line is known, the emotion a given. Find something with heart that is expressed in the song without having to know the rest of the musical to get it. Yes, she'll know it already but will be impressed that you conveyed it to plebs. Rachel's doing a Funny Girl song, isn't she? That's lesser known outside your circles."
"It's how she's gotten away with singing it at competition, they didn't know it was a musical theater number. Anything I suggest they assume it is even though she's more obsessed than I am! I've suggested songs totally unrelated." Kurt was getting upset, thinking that Sebastian was claiing he was obsessed.
"Babe, I know, relax. I've read her easily long ago. Not why I brought it up. You have a of history and emotions to tap into, pick something." He gestured to the large room they were in and then sneakily slid his hands into the back of Kurt's jean pockets. Kurt smirked, not missing it at all but not pulling his hands away either.
"I want to sing about my excitement for the future, not dwell in the past about bullying, death or disenchantment with a romantic relationship."
"Sometimes you need to tap into that to move forward. Or you could, you know, sing about being in love with someone you can't have." Kurt shook his head at Sebastian's ego.
"What would you sing?"
"Me? Easy, Proud of Your Boy. I've been working on that, though I may change 'mom' to 'you'." Sebastian winked.
"So easy." Kurt rolled his eyes. "But like you said, you're not going into musical theater. Let me think about it. I'll get these for now and then come back when I have a better idea." Kurt paused. "What would happen if you were in direct competition with me again?" Kurt asked carefully.
"Hmm?" Sebastian was fully distracted the last few minutes since his hands sunk into those pockets, he was trying not to press hard or grip or squeeze or slid his hands around to feel Kurt up properly but it was very difficult to be the gentleman and he thought it was boring and pointless being one but he would for Kurt, for now. Once he came to him fully, oh, there'd be no going back.
"You said you weren't in competition with me, which is why they're pushing me down- what would you do?"
"Win." Sebastian's mouth slid to the shell of his ear and he grazed it with his mouth and teeth. "But fair and square."
"Those are words that are foreign to you, your history has proved it." He had never seen anyone so underhanded, actually. Or he hadn't until he realized what Blaine was doing. Even Jesse had been so obvious and they told Rachel who ignored all of them.
"Not who I am anymore, and never with you. I will fight dirty against anyone else if I need to, but with you... I will fight you fair and square but I will fight dirty for you."
"You're wrong though, you know?" Kurt teased, turning and pulling out of Sebastian's grasp and putting some distance between them.
"About what?" Sebastian pouted, missing the feel of Kurt against him and in his hands.
"I would be the winner." He tossed Sebastian a sassy smile and headed up to the counter to buy his sheet music.
"Keep thinking that, dear." Sebastian followed him up but kept his distance now. "Coffee?"
"I-" His phone buzzed and he glanced at it with a scowl.
"Let me guess, it's the hobbit?"
"Man-hands, actually." Though he said the words to Sebastian, he would never say that to Rachel, it was hurtful and they were Santana's hurtful words. Sebastian would have come to it on his own eventually or have heard her. Santana and Sebastian hung out more together than Kurt and either of them hung out together right now. They were devising a plan to free Kurt from the manipulators in his life. "But she wants to get together and talk about making up with Blaine." Kurt rolled his eyes and turned off his phone. "Not happening."
Sebastian nodded approvingly though he knew that it wasn't the end of it, not by a long shot. "So? Coffee?"
"Yes, please." They went and were careful to pause every time someone came through the doors but they were having fun and just talking about so much. Santana came whirling in and they paused for all of a second before going back to their conversation.
Santana stalked toward them. "Answer your god-damn-phone!" Santana hissed at Kurt then looked at Sebastian. "You too! Hairy-chin is on her way here! I tried to convince her that you were probably still at the music store but she said that she had called over there and there were only a couple of girls hanging out at that moment."
"We could be a couple of girls in the right light." Sebastian joked but Santana glared.
"If you get caught here together- kiss the plan goodbye!"
Sebastian groaned and looked over to Kurt, rearing up for the show they had to put on. Kurt sighed and accepted it too, it was basically his own fault they had to do this. No, it was Blaine's actually for causing a trap that Kurt had a hard time getting out of unscathed. Sebastian leaned forward quickly and grabbed the front of Kurt's shirt so he was leaning across the table too. "I'm going to be sending you obscene texts constantly under the guise of Chandler, got it? I expect you to respond."
"Ok, ok!" Kurt pulled back and brushed aside Sebastian's hand and smoothed out his shirt. "Geez Meerkat, get your own clothes and destroy them, not mine. I thought you learned your lesson with that slushy."
"She's not here yet." Santana pointed out, confused.
"Yeah, I know, Sebastian knows he did wrong and I'm making sure he learns his lesson. Hands of my clothes."
"You weren't complaining so much when I was touching a different clothing item."
"Yeah but you weren't causing wrinkles or stretching it out irreversibly."
"No, you were doing that all on your own." Sebastian answered back easily, cheekily.
"Ok, this bantering is too flirty!" Santana complained. "Go back a few steps."
"That's such a hard ask." Sebastian complained in return. "Look how cute he is when he's flustered and annoyed!" Sebastian waved toward Kurt and Santana gave a short agreement, much to Kurt's horror and Sebastian's amusement.
Rachel came in mid word during Kurt's response, which thankfully had been something somewhat scathing. "There you are! Kurt! I need to talk to you about auditions and Blaine. He's so upset, you need to make it up with him!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling him out the door.
"Hey!" Kurt protested. "Hands off the designer!"
"We really need to talk!" Rachel continued, ignoring his protests.
"Damn, she's strong for being pixie sized." Sebastian commented in amazement, but then again, Kurt hadn't fought back more than with words.
Santana made a noncommittal sound and once she was sure they were alone, took Kurt's seat. She and Sebastian got down to business about next steps.
"Well... I have a new first step." Sebastian grinned and Santana leaned forward, waiting to hear it.
Sebastian laughed at Kurt's responses to his overly cheesy texts. They kept it up for 2 days before Santana said that Rachel took the bait. Kurt had no idea and Sebastian felt bad that they were going to ambush Kurt with this, but he did say that he would fight dirty for Kurt.
It wasn't until Friday that Sebastian got to see Kurt again, the time between was getting harder and harder and he had no idea how next year was going to go. Kurt and Sebastian had met up at a tea shop halfway between them. They both deferred sweets and just had tea. There was a pot between them ready to refill both cups. They'd settled on the same flavor. It was neither of their favorites but both were ok with drinking it.
"To our first real date!" Sebastian joked holding out his teacup.
"If this is what you consider a date, then this isn't our first one, more like our third or something."
"If that's the case, then we should definitely be beyond casual flirting!"
Kurt held his gaze. "But seeing as how I have a boyfriend, we're not dating."
"Ah, but that can end at any moment." Sebastian grinned widely.
"What are you getting at?"
"Santana said Rachel found out that you were texting me."
"No, I'm texting a boy that I ran into at the music shop." Kurt corrected. "She thinks his name is Chandler and she was surprisingly decent about it.. she asked about him and squealed over the obnoxious texts you sent. Honestly Seb, I thought 'obscene texts' were going to be sexy texts, not cheeseball. Though she did say that it was supposed to be Blaine that made me blush and smile like that, not you."
"If only she knew." Sebastian was inexplicably pleased with himself. "And I told you, I was going to text like Chandler. You should see the long list of puns and cheese he sent me! I've kept it fairly PG."
"She said if I couldn't show Blaine those texts, then they weren't as innocent as I was making them out to be."
"I should be commended. It was so hard, now that I have access to you 24/7 to not send you dick pics or something..."
He nearly choked at Sebastian's words. "Those would definitely not be considered PG."
"Told you I could be romantic."
"You did not, you said you weren't a romantic!" Kurt argued.
"Well I can be both, I guess." Kurt rolled his eyes. "What? I can!"
"Copying terrible lines off the internet is not romantic." Kurt suddenly shifted uncomfortably. "Besides, neither you nor Chandler are supposed to be, are you? It's supposed to just be a friend texting me without Blaine getting suspicious since you suddenly texting me would be viewed very oddly."
Sebastian was hit with realization. "You're uncomfortable because you want so badly for this to be a date but you're otherwise spoken for. I keep telling you, this problem wouldn't be a problem."
"Yeah, maybe you can hold together a 24 person Glee group but there's 12 of us, and even that 12 is only half on loan from the Trouble Tones and we've already splintered once this year and if we do it again before Nationals, we'll kiss our win goodbye."
"This has nothing to do with Blaine, are you sure? He's not manipulating you somehow, swaying you, perhaps?"
"No!" Kurt said hotly. "I already told you, I like you and want to see where we would go but it's hard with both Blaine and Rachel at the helm. It'll be different, afterward."
"I'm not going to stop, it would be weird if I suddenly cooled it." Sebastian went back to what they were talking about before. "I have an idea for a song you can sing at auditions, by the way." He suspected Blaine would be sitting in the audience while Rachel stood in the wings either first or after Kurt for auditions.
Kurt eyed him suspiciously. "Oh, what would that be?"
"It's not a Broadway Musical but it's a great song, If I Loved You by Delta Rae. It would be perfect, hit two birds with one stone."
"Sebastian!" Kurt moaned. "Auditions are before Nationals. That would be a terrible song to sing then! You're just trying to sabotage me, aren't you?"
"No I'm not!" It was Sebastian's turn for his voice to raise and they ended up arguing, loudly. Sebastian was tired of waiting. He had agreed but it was getting harder and harder and if they waited until after Nationals then there'd only be about a month before graduation that they could be together and not much time after that before he would be heading off to New York permanently.
They fought about it heatedly and loudly and they were asked to leave. He knew he and Santana had derived a plan and they were close to making it work but Sebastian was frustrated, he couldn't even go on a date with Kurt, much less kiss him! He was willing to throw the plan out the window for the time table to move up to now. Sebastian threw down enough money to cover the tea and pulled Kurt out with him.
"Are you ok to go with him?" The waitress who'd kicked them out asked worriedly at Sebastian's actions.
"It's fine!" Kurt called out to her. "Don't worry, it's just sexual frustration!"
At her blush both of them laughed and had cooled off immensely and immediately and continued laughing about it as they headed toward their cars. "Well, we just got kicked out of a place. I wonder if they'll ban us too." Sebastian leaned against the car, trapping Kurt between him and it.
"If not because of the arguing, because of the parting comment." Kurt laughed, his chest brushing against Sebastian's and he tried to pull back but Sebastian just pushed forward more. "Seb-" He bit his lower lip. "We can't."
"I know." Sebastian groaned and dropped his forehead onto Kurt's shoulder. "Doesn't stop me from wanting to. Can't we, just once?"
"It'll only make it harder to resist and easier to go further." Kurt slid his hands up to Sebastian's shoulders, it was the first time he touched Sebastian. It was a caress at least, or at least at first but then he was pushing Sebastian back kindly. "We can't."
He started singing, quietly but easily for Kurt to hear Stay by Sugarland. He stopped before the change in story but Kurt knew the song.
Kurt breathed hard, sadness in his eyes. "You really feel that way?"
"Not the point where I could leave you, of course not, but the idea is still there..." He brushed a strand of hair off of Kurt's forehead. "I just want you to stay."
The pale boy's lips wobbled and he looked away. "I want to stay too. Can't we just get through this? Please."
Sebastian groaned but accepted it. He took a few steps back and let Kurt get into his car. "Fine, but next time we'll last longer before we get into a fight and kicked out."
"I want that." Kurt leaned out his window. "I'm going to hold you to that."
Sebastian maintained that Kurt did it on purpose, or at least subconsciouly. He left his phone out in the bedroom while he went to go get snacks when Blaine got a little handsy on Saturday during their movie night. Otherwise, Kurt never left his phone behind for Blaine to snoop, never. Except he was panicking and playing the line between the two, one he wanted to be with but couldn't yet and one he was forced to be with but didn't want to be.
Blaine text him back saying to disappear. Sebastian knew instantly that it wasn't Kurt. He would have to wait until next week to hear from him though. He sent twenty more 'concerned' texts to Kurt.
Apparently, he hadn't needed to wait until the following weekend to see his boy after all. Kurt pounded angrily on his door on Monday evening.
"Why did you do that? Why did you text twenty more times?"
"What's wrong?" Sebastian asked innocently and pulled Kurt in before anyone could see him. Kurt would be pissed if they got caught, but he was coming up to Dalton often recently, more than he ever had when Blaine was there in his place. The Warblers loved informing Sebastian that Kurt had only ever spied on them the one time, even when he became friends with Blaine and they did things, he made Blaine come to him, despite the danger he was in, in Lima. Kurt never came up to visit them before or after attending, not that they really wanted to see him.
Once on the rag against Kurt train, they continued to do so even when Sebastian no longer asked about either boy. Sebastian had been able to talk Nick and Jeff around to Kurt and his side of things, not that he said it was anywhere from Kurt. Just they were his classmates and knew that he'd be seeing them a lot and they'd hear stories soon now. Nobody else was willing to listen, yet. He was working on Wes next, he and David had said they found Kurt 'endearing'. David graduated last year but Wes was still here and in contact with him.
"I don't care that he's upset about the texts." Kurt admitted moodily. "I am upset that in the middle of Glee he got up in front of the group and announced to everyone and I quote 'this is for anyone who's ever been cheated on' and then sang It's Not Right But It's Ok by my queen, Whitney Houston! Everyone looked at me like there was something wrong with me and Artie even spoke the words out loud!"
"Even Santana?" Blaine asked.
"Apparently she had to keep up the charade, or so she says. I told Blaine that I wasn't cheating on him with Chandler and he walked out, refusing to listen." Kurt rubbed his forehead. "He's a crazy person, he really is, isn't he? He won't let me break up with him but he keeps throwing all these accusations at me and then coming back around, making me seem like the bad guy if I don't take him back or forgive him for overreacting. They said I was the dramatic one in the relationship. On Saturday we argued about how flirty texting wasn't cheating and he said it was and my texts were cheating but his were family friendly with you. Am I? Am I cheating?"
Sebastian sighed and took Kurt's hands. "You already know the answer to that and you fought valiantly and I will never hold myself against you in the future, ok? I promise you this here and now. Emotionally, you have been cheating on him, and you have for a very long time, since we met basically but at first you didn't know you were. We have been having an emotional affair, we have. Even more recently we've started taking it to the physical level, out for dates and everything. Yes, it could be considered friendly, PG or platonic, but we both know that's not true, there's emotion behind it, physical actions, even if they're not blatantly sexual, they are intimate." He rubbed his thumbs over the backs of Kurt's hands. "Even this is."
"No! I'm not a cheater!" Kurt jumped to his feet and pulled away. "We- I – after Nationals!" He fled the dorm room and Sebastian flopped back onto his bed, closing his eyes in pain and frustration.
There was a knock on his door frame, Kurt had left it open and Sebastian hadn't gone over to close it. He peeked an eye open to see Nick standing there, an awkwardly cute grin on his face. Sebastian closed his eyes again. "Did I just see Kurt fly out of here?"
"You can't tell Blaine!"
"Sure... but who are you after now?" Nick asked silkily and Sebastian opened one eye again to eye him wearily, so he wasn't as oblivious as the rest. "Kurt." His answer was honest. "But I'm pretty sure I've messed it all up."
Nick shrugged. "Maybe not. Your secret is safe with me though." He pushed away from the door and closed it behind him and left Sebastian in peace. He groaned again, he should have asked him not to tell Jeff too. He just had to trust that Nick wouldn't make their lives harder.
Annoyingly, they managed to patch things up and Blaine was far more flirty and handsy than normal and Kurt did a good job avoiding intimacy but Sebastian didn't have to like watching it whenever they were in the same vicinity. Blaine convinced Kurt to come over to Dalton with him to support the Warblers with one of their side competitions.
Sebastian watched as Kurt avoided looking at him. Blaine just thought it was because they couldn't stand each other. Sebastian saw them in the coffee shop and they chatted and laughed but any time Blaine reached out to hold his hand, Kurt stiffened and didn't hold it back. He didn't move his hand away though.
Sebastian snuck in to watch Kurt's audition and taped it so he could send it to NYU on Kurt's behalf, he was struggling to come up with an audition tape for them too. He was much better on stage than in his room. But he used to film himself doing dances in his basement with his girls.
If it wasn't good, they'd work on something else to send to NYU. Sebastian really wanted Kurt to go to NYU, that's where he was heading himself, but he would support Kurt's dream for NYADA.
Kurt was wearing a dark cape over the rest of his clothing and there were some candles in the background. His eyes scoured the audience, looking, touching briefly on Carmen and Blaine but continued on and Sebastian moved so he was visible and Kurt smiled thankfully before Sebastian quickly moved back again when Blaine turned to look for who he was looking at. He didn't need to start a fight during Kurt's audition. Sebastian was ironically on the same balcony Kurt had been in when he saw Blaine steal Tony from him.
He set his camera on the banister once Blaine turned back around and pressed record. He wanted to be able to watch in person and absorb it too. Kurt stood in the middle of the stage, looking small, especially when he was wrapped in so much darkness, he was nearly swallowed up. "It was suggested to me-" He glanced over to Rachel over in the wings, she was going to go second for a change, she said it was for a lasting impression and Kurt didn't care. He would surprise everyone, Sebastian included, as he told him again and again that night while they celebrated.
"That I should do Phantom of the Opera, I know it well and it's a song in my pocket and one that would be in my favor because I can hit those notes. And I say – no!" Kurt flipped the cape off of him and he the most simplified version of his own clothes Sebastian had ever seen. "I need to do something unique and purely me. So, forgive me for changing a few lyrics." He walked over to the piano and sat before it. "An awkward boy with his piano. Keeping to himself."
Sebastian leaned forward as he started out so raw, so defenseless, so vulnerable and sad, real emotions. He was doing Before It's Over from DogFight and he was tapping into a lot of his personal history for this song even if he wasn't directly singing about it. Kurt had kept to himself when he was being bullied, had lived in such a small world and terrible things changed his life and he did what he said to Sebastian, he sang about the future and it worked. Oh man did it work for him. This world out there was now possible and he was going to go after it. He was even subtly saying goodbye to Blaine and locked eyes on Blaine when he said it without saying it. When he talked about the future, his eyes looked up to Sebastian and he moved forward to offer his encouragement and smiled in pride.
Kurt gave a small nod before turning back to his piano and finished the song. He closed his eyes and waited for his emotions to settle. He'd even shown a bit of that side he had wanted to with Not the Boy Next Door. It was the perfect song for him.
Blaine got up even before Carmen spoke and he gave himself away by looking toward the balcony. Sebastian quickly hit stop and save and disappeared before Blaine could reach his spot. He barely managed to avoid Blaine and slid into the wings on the other side of the curtain from Rachel. He was here for Kurt and he wouldn't go away until Kurt left.
"I'm very impressed young man." Carmen spoke and Sebastian smiled and wanted to go and hug Kurt at the moment but he forced himself to hold back. "There was a depth of emotion I haven't seen with that song. It was an unique choice, you'd be surprised by how many song I've heard from lesser known musicals but that have still run a long time on Broadway. This was a risk, being so new. You should be very proud of yourself and I look forward to seeing you next month when your Glee team is in New York, I may personally show you around campus."
"D-Does that mean-" Kurt nearly stuttered in shock.
"Yes, welcome to NYADA, Kurt Hummel. Expect the official letter of acceptance sometime in the next few weeks." Carmen smiled kindly at him. "I see big things in your future."
Kurt bowed and thanked her profusely and then ran off the stage, he didn't see Sebastian but he and Rachel jumped around a bit before she pushed him back a little, straightened up and strode onto the stage. She was so confident that she had this and would be joining Kurt in celebration. Sebastian slid a hand around the curtain and pulled him over to the darker area and pressed him up against a bare wall. Kurt jumped a little, not expecting Sebastian but he didn't have time to even make a sound before Sebastian's mouth was on his.
Kurt was too excited and too happy to have Sebastian there with him, witnessing it to think about it. Once Sebastian's mouth was on his, he definitely was gone and his arms wrapped around Sebastian's neck and shoulders and pulled him even closer. Sebastian pressed into him and he pressed firmly against the wall behind him, the two objects around him were the only things keeping him up. His knees had turned to jello. Sebastian was more than happy to take his weight and he might have pushed the boundaries passed just this kiss but he was more than happy to stick with this kiss, it was well worth the wait.
There was a loud croak that cut through their heady makeout session and at first they just looked at each other, thinking they heard wrong or had made a sound themselves accidentally. It came out again and Rachel cleared her throat. "Sorry, let me start over." She did it again, she literally croaked. "Hold on, Let me start again-"
"Wow, Rachel Berry is choking. She never chokes, she never lets herself choke." Kurt whispered in amazement, never in his life would he have imagined this happening. He was the one with the nerves, not her, he thought he would be the one to choke.
"No, Miss Berry, you're done."
"Just give me one more chance!" Rachel begged. "You haven't given me a second chance!"
"I've given you 3. That's more than anyone else will ever give you. If you did this on Broadway, the show would pack up on opening night. You're done."
"Please! Please! Miss Tibideaux! Please!" Rachel begged and sobbed and carried on.
Kurt and Sebastian shared a look and Sebastian was tempted to just tug Kurt away but he knew those two were unexplainably friends. Sebastian pushed Kurt back out onto that stage even as Carmen left. Kurt dropped down next to a sobbing and carrying on Rachel Berry. Sebastian thought that his boy was a saint. Blaine made it back and he worked his way onto the stage. Sebastian slipped further into the shadows.
Rachel threw herself into Blaine's arms once he was close enough, she had been curled around herself when it was Kurt there with him hugging her. Sebastian shook his head, he knew she was devastated but that was such a bitch move. Kurt was there first, Kurt was 'her best friend' and yet she took comfort from Blaine? She was lucky that Sebastian didn't come out and ream her in her place while she was already down.
Kurt looked over to Sebastian awkwardly and Sebastian waved him back over. Kurt hesitated but then followed suit. Sebastian pulled him into the deserted hallways with him. "You can't do anything, she chose Blaine. You can help her out later, when he's not there."
Kurt threw one last glance over his shoulder toward where he could still hear Rachel sobbing. He hated when anyone cried, he always wanted to comfort people, make them happy again. "Do you want to stay?" Sebastian asked, not understanding but accepting his boy's vast emotional capacity. Sebastian could not claim that he could ever begin to match it.
Kurt swallowed and shook his head. "No. It's pretty typical of them to tear away at my happiness and good news. You're right, she'll be inconsolable for days and I will have plenty of time to be the shoulder she leans on. You're here, I'm here and we have good news to celebrate!"
Sebastian laughed and pulled him out of the school and toward his car, they could come back for Kurt's later. He placed his camera in the trunk and then drove Kurt out of town to a restaurant they'd be unlikely to run into anyone from either Lima or Westerville.
Kurt kept looking at Sebastian and he raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"Why don't we head to Scandals after this?"
Sebastian laughed. "A. It's a Thursday, it's ladies night, even at Scandals." Kurt pouted, put out, the one night he wanted to go back to it and it was women only. "B. I can think of a better place for our first time."
"Hey!" Kurt protested. "What makes you think you're going to get into my pants tonight? We're not even dating. That kiss should never have happened."
"Then you'll be annoyed by this one." Sebastian leaned over the table and kissed Kurt again, but far more chaste than the one earlier. Sebastian sat back and tipped his head to mimic Kurt's head tilt, he was just so darn cute! "Who said I was talking about getting into your pants? I just meant that the first time we go dancing together, actually together and not dancing around Blaine the whole time." Oh, that summed up their relationship so far.
Kurt shook his head. "You're too much sometimes." His phone chirped and he looked at it and while reading the text it chirped twice more. "Blaine's wondering where the hell I went, my car's still in the parking lot. Rachel's upset I'm not there watching her sob and, oh, dad. He's heard that things went well and wants to know when I'll be home to celebrate." Kurt tipped his head the other way, sizing Sebastian up. Sebastian lifted a brow, prompting him to just say it. "How do you feel about meeting the family?"
"But you're not broken up yet with Blaine." Not officially at any rate. "And isn't Finn a big blurt?"
Kurt smiled. "Maybe. And maybe that's exactly what I want him to do."
Sebastian shook his head. "You told me it had to wait until after Nationals."
Kurt grumbled. "I know, that's soon enough but after that kiss, I just want this over and to be able to move on with my life."
"Patience, dear Kurt, as you've told me several times." Sebastian lifted one of Kurt's hands and brought it to his mouth, making promises with that mouth against first Kurt's knuckles then his palm. He smiled into the palm when Kurt shuddered and his eyes half closed. Oh, that kiss was well worth the wait and he knew the rest of it would be too.