Kurt and Art approached Sebastian, who was sitting in a small alcove inside the entrance in the building that Art had said to meet them. He stood up when he saw them.
Art hugged him and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Not really, but enough is enough. If Santana doesn't provide more photos by 5pm, whoever it is will just move on to the next person who offered to do it. Dani didn't come with me today so that if whoever is behind this was watching, they'd believe that Santana had a chance today since she's given them the excuse that she couldn't catch me alone the last two days."
"Come on. We need to move to the hall outside the classroom they're in."
They positioned themselves on the opposite side of the hallway. Sebastian texted Kurt the results of his test. A few tears escaped Kurt's eyes, which he wiped away and nodded. He wrapped his arm around Sebastian's waist and squeezed gently before he let go to stare at the door again.
"Are you going to tell me who it is yet?"
Two non-uniformed campus security guards walked up and stood one on each end of the trio.
When students began exiting the classroom, the security officers stepped towards the room. When Jeff and Nick came out, each one was escorted to where the other three were standing.
"You two need to come with us. We're trying to play this really low-key. So, walk with us and don't cause a scene if you don't want everyone to know what's going on."
Nick and Jeff complied. The security officers accompanied them to a small empty classroom. They ushered everyone in, and stood on either side of the door outside the room, preventing anyone from leaving the room.
Sebastian didn't hold in his rage any longer and stepped towards Jeff. "What the fuck do you think the two of you were doing?"
Jeff took two steps back and tried to cover the panic in his eyes, but he didn't say anything.
Sebastian didn't back down. "We already have proof, Jeff. What you say will determine what I do with that proof."
"Why is Kurt here?"
"Because this affects him as well. You didn't answer me. Why the fuck would you hire people to kiss me?"
Nick spoke up. "It was a frat thing. Hazing is against the rules, but people come up with ways to bend the rules. We have automatic bids because of our dads. Please don't get us kicked out of our fraternity. Our dads will disown us."
"Why is it is such a big deal?" Jeff asked. "You were always all slutty and man-whorish. It's not like you haven't kissed or fucked a ton of guys. What's kissing another four people?" He realized what he had said in front of the adult in the room with them. He stopped talking.
"Because the three people who sexually assaulted me in the last three weeks were the third, fourth, and fifth people that have kissed me. I didn't kiss back, and it was completely non-consensual."
Art spoke up. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Arthur Smythe, Sebastian's father and Ohio's Attorney General."
"Jeff Steriling."
"Nick Duval."
Art nodded and continued. "You two can be tried for conspiracy to commit sexual assault and for sexual assault. Stalking because you had to follow Sebastian or hired someone to do it for you in order to be able to give his whereabouts to his assailants. Reckless endangerment because you had no proof that these men wouldn't push farther than a simple kiss or that they wouldn't injure Sebastian while attempting to fulfill their goal. Plus, there's the added issue of the STIs that Sebastian could have possibly contracted. The three men you hired can be tried for sexual assault. All five of you can be charged with aiding and abetting each other to commit sexual assault. And you could all end up on sex offender lists."
"Oh, God." Nick said. "It was supposed to be a prank. We didn't even come up with the idea."
Sebastian turned on him. "Then whose idiotic idea was it?"
Jeff answered. "I mean, we did help refine the plan. We're not entirely blameless obviously. We did pay for the photos. We needed them to prove that we had pulled the prank off."
"What was with offering more for more intense kissing?" Sebastian asked.
"Oh, that was Blaine's idea. He said it would motivate the guys to stay close enough to you to get a better photo. The first week's photo barely caught the guy kissing you."
"Blaine can go to hell. He's going down for this," Sebastian said. "I want him picked up, Dad. I'm done with playing nice. He's at Oberlin."
"You're sure."
"Absolutely."
Jeff looked over at Kurt. "You've still not said why you're here."
"Because Sebastian is my boyfriend."
"Wait, what?" Nick said in shock.
Nick countered with, "You said 'yes' at the proposal in March. You're engaged to Blaine."
"I'm not. I gave the ring back less than an hour later. Sebastian and I have been dating for nearly six months."
Jeff exclaimed, "That box was from Kurt."
"It was. We were just friends then," Sebastian said.
Nick asked, 'So, you gave him the ring back the same day?"
"I did. We had been broken up since last October. He had begged me to consider us dating again two days before the proposal. I had agreed to give us a chance. But I insisted that he had to be willing to sign a 'No-Cheating' contract."
Nick and Jeff both looked confused.
"He cheated on me two weeks after I came here last fall. I broke it off with him then."
"No way," Nick insisted.
"Yes." Kurt was resolute.
Sebastian moved away from Jeff, and went to stand behind Kurt. He needed the comfort of Kurt's touch to remind him to stay calm and not punch Jeff. "You've caused a lot of damage. You had no idea who would respond to that ad. People who need money and are willing to sexually assault people aren't all that discriminatory."
"I don't get what you mean," Nick said.
"I mean that we went in for STI testing. The only one we could be tested for yet came back negative, but who knows about the others."
"Oh, my God," Nick said. "Oh, my God. Do you mean AIDS?"
Jeff said, "You can't get AIDS through saliva."
"No, but if the people kissing as open sores in their mouths, it can be transmitted through small amounts of blood."
"Are you going to turn us in for this?" Jeff asked.
"I'm going to take a play out of Kurt's playbook and say 'no' because it's the kind thing to do. But this first STI is just the beginning. Just because it was negative doesn't mean that this is over. We couldn't even be tested for the other ones because the exposure was too recent. I have several months of testing coming my way, unless we round up the three guys you sent to assault me and we have the three of them tested." He moved away from Kurt again and stood closer to Nick this time. "Let's just say it was the first guy has an STI. The other two guys may have gotten whatever STIs first guy has from kissing me."
"Oh, God," Nick said again.
"I won't press charges, but you two will cover the costs for all of the STI testing for all three of the guys you hired. And the cost of treatment for the second two, should the first guy be the one with an STI. Or the third one if the second guy has one."
Kurt spoke calmly with ice in his voice. "You've made Sebastian feel unsafe on campus at the school he's wanted to attend for several years. You turned what was his happy college experience into being afraid after the second assault. The third one only ended the way it did because Sebastian used self-defense training to subdue the assailant."
"We didn't think–"
Kurt interrupted Jeff. "You didn't think, and that's the problem. Throwing money around for a prank. Ooh, so funny. Next time call random people and ask them if their refrigerator is running."
Jeff looked at the floor.
"I've been where you are," Sebastian pointed out. "The one acting like everything is fun and games until it isn't, but that was two years ago. Knowing that Blaine had something to do with this makes it make more sense."
Art finally spoke. "You'll hand over your phones. I'll keep those for the rest of the afternoon. You need to unlock them. They'll be used to collect evidence. You'll come with us to the police station and give your statements. Afterwards, Sebastian can decide for certain that he's not going to press charges. Once the other three men are in custody, arrangements will be made for them to be tested."
Nick and Jeff removed the passcodes from their phones and handed them to Art.
"Are you going to contact our fathers, Mr. Smythe?"
"Sebastian has chosen to offer you grace. I will follow his wishes and not contact them. However, I will be contacting Mr. Anderson. Your best bet is to stop interacting with Blaine. I'll need both of you to sit down and write out exactly how this 'prank' was planned, including who did what and when to the best of your recollection. You may not speak to each other. You'll have to use a pen and paper so that I can be assured that you're not communicating with each other via the internet."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison. They moved to seats and pulled out notebooks and began to write.
"I'd like to speak to them with just Kurt, if you'd step outside with the officers, Dad."
"Sure, Sebastian."
Sebastian waited for the door to close. "You know nothing about me. What were you doing? Sitting around and telling made up stories about the Parisian slut you went to high school with that attends school here too? 'Oh, he's had sex with hundreds of guys, he'll probably even think it's funny and ask the guys for their phone numbers to hook up with them later.'"
Jeff looked sheepish. Nick looked like he was going to throw up.
"You made false assumptions and risked MY life and now the health of the man I love."
Nick's and Jeff's eyes flashed to Kurt in surprise.
Jeff asked, "From what you said earlier, did you mean that you'd only kissed one guy before Kurt?"
"Yes. Jean. In Paris. He and I went school together."
"Wow," Nick said. "You strutted around Dalton like you had lived it up in Paris, new guys all the time. Like none of us could ever be good enough to compare to whatever older, more sophisticated guys you picked up when you went out every weekend."
"Most of those weekends I spent at home in Columbus, or at my aunt and uncle's in Lima my junior year, and sometimes my grandparents in Columbus. Occasionally, I'd spend the weekend with all of them when we'd fly here for the weekend to see a show or visit my other aunt who lives here."
"You are shattering the entirety of the image I had of you," Jeff said.
"I'm sure," Sebastian said curtly. "What you shattered was my general impression that you two were decent guys. I even thought we were on friendly terms."
"Were you serious about the STIs?" Nick asked.
"Yes, absolutely. And we have to be tested for others still. Each STI has a testing window. Like you can be exposed to someone who has a cold, but you don't catch it right that second. It takes a few days to incubate before you get sick. So, even if I was exposed to other STIs, I can't be tested for them yet. And unfortunately I didn't think about the possibility until I had already kissed Kurt, so now he's at risk as well. That's why you're going to pay for the guys you hired to be tested. Of course, we'll still be having tests done months from now. This isn't a 1-week problem. If any of my assailants are positive for anything, we'll still be having tests months from now. Your little prank has royally fucked up my life. You do realize that some of the STIs are lifelong, right? Even if you don't die from them, they don't go away."
"We get it. We screwed up. Let us do what your dad said before he comes back in here and wants to know why we aren't done yet. We have classes to get to as well."
"And you think we don't?" Kurt smarted back. He rolled his eyes and crossed the room and wrapped his arm around Sebastian's waist again.
Sebastian moved to the desk at the front of the room and sat on top of it, sliding back to make enough room for Kurt to sit in front of him. Sebastian propped his chin on Kurt's shoulder and wrapped his arms around him. Kurt put his hands on Sebastian's thighs and ran his fingers along this jeans softly.
Jeff looked up and stared at the two of them. "How long have you two been together? I know you said, but I was freaked out at the time."
"Nearly six months," Kurt answered icily.
"Congratulations," Jeff said. "I'm really sorry, Sebastian. I know that changes nothing, but honestly it was just a stupid prank that we didn't think through."
"I'm fully aware of what it's like to be where you are. I appreciate the apology. Please go back to writing."
Kurt traced the words "I love you" on Sebastian's leg, which made him squeeze Kurt just a bit.
Jeff spoke again, "Besides the icy death glares from Kurt, the two of you look very happy together."
"We are," Sebastian said. "Just finish. I want to ask you questions and I can't until you've completely your written statements."
Nick got up and handed his to Sebastian. "I'm really sorry." He went and sat back down. He put his notebook and pen away, and then sat in silence while Kurt and Sebastian read what he had written.
A few minutes later, Jeff finished. Kurt and Sebastian read his statement before asking any questions.
Sebastian asked, "So, you two had been in contact with Blaine this whole time?"
"Not really," Jeff answered. "He called us about a month ago, I guess. He was in town visiting Cooper, who was filming a movie. He took us to visit the set. It was cool. We brought him here to a party at the frat we're rushing."
"And that's where this 'not hazing' prank planning started?"
"Yeah," Nick said.
"Got it. Let's go give these to my dad and get things rolling."
Kurt slid forward and waited for Sebastian, taking his hand and interlacing their fingers. Sebastian opened the door and give Art the papers. He read through them. He went back inside with them and asked them several questions, and had them write the answers on the same sheet of paper. Once he had the information he needed, he pulled out some legal documents.
"You can request legal counsel to look these over before you sign them, if you'd like."
Nick read through the page. "I'm good. I'll sign. I'd rather not get our family lawyer involved."
"Yeah, double same for me." Jeff signed his form as well.
"Then, we're done here. We have to get down to the police station to speak with the three mean you hired."
Jeff said, "There was a fourth, but he didn't yield any photos the last few days. He said some girl was hanging around Sebastian every time he tried to kiss him."
"That was the person we used to find you," Kurt said tersely. "They haven't committed a crime."
"Got it," Jeff said. He shrugged. "Like I said, I know that apologizing repeatedly is not useful. It's up to you whether you ever want to have anything to do with us again. We've been so caught up in trying to make straight As while rushing and doing all of the frat stuff that we've not stayed in contact with anyone."
Art spoke up. "That's why rushing as a freshman is a bad idea. Bids should only be an option starting a student's second semester – once someone has gotten the hang of how to be a college student."
Nick nodded. "That's a valid point. We came in with guns loaded and our heads puffed up with our bids and we thought we could do it all. Studying, partying, rushing. Not a good idea. And now, I'm not sure what will happen because we don't have a month-long prank to prove ourselves with."
"I'll be talking to Greek oversight committee. This 'non-hazing' hazing with also stop. I'm pretty sure that when the Attorney General of another state and a US Congressman pays them a visit tomorrow morning that you'll be free and clear of your pranking obligations."
"Congressman?" Nick asked.
"My dad," Kurt said coldly.
"Oh. I didn't know."
"It's fine. Are we done here?" Kurt asked.
"Yes," Art said. "You remember that there is no speaking of this to anyone ever. Don't change the password on that gmail account. I'm going to have it changed after the evidence is collected. If you change it or tell Blaine what's going on and he changes it, that will violate the terms of the agreement you signed and Sebastian may very well decide to press charges against the two of you."
"We understand. We won't say anything to anyone ever," Nick said.
"Good choice." Art put the papers in his briefcase. He gave them a time to be at the police station and the address and left with Kurt and Sebastian.
The three assailants were sitting in a small room in the police station where lawyers were allowed to confer with their clients without surveillance. Sebastian, Kurt, and Art walked in together.
"Oh, God," the man who had been the second to kiss Sebastian said when they walked in.
"Obviously, I'm Sebastian, and you are?"
"Martin," the guy who had kissed him last said.
"Johnny," the second assailant said.
"Manny." He took a deep breath. "Manuel, actually, but everyone calls me Manny."
"Got it. I assume you have some idea why you're here."
"Well, now that you're here, I do," Johnny said. "Please just tell me there's some way to avoid a trial or jail time. I don't even know what crime I committed, but whatever it is, what can I do?"
"Well, it's simple," Sebastian said. "You all write confessions, sign them, agree to my terms, and you all walk out free men."
Manny snorted, "Yeah, sure." He rolled his eyes.
"Look, I've been young and stupid before, but you all kissing me leaves me at the mercy of whatever germs and STIs you three might be harboring and Johnny and Martin could have caught anything that Manny gave me. And Martin could have caught anything that Manny or Johnny gave me."
"I'm going to throw up," Martin said. "God, I just needed rent money to not lose my place. I knew this was a scam. You hired us to kiss you for an art project, and then we get pulled in for committing a crime that no one has explained yet."
Art said, "Sexual assault."
"For kissing someone?" Johnny asked incredulously.
"Any form of non-consensual sexual contact can be sexual assault. And I didn't solicit any kisses. It was set up by people who know me as a practical joke. That's why I shoved Martin off my lap. I had no interest in being kissed by anyone besides my boyfriend."
Kurt tipped his head slightly letting the others know that he was the boyfriend.
"I don't have any STIs and I'm not sick," Johnny said. "I haven't had sex in so long. Umm." He closed his eyes. "Five months, two weeks. That's when my girlfriend moved to Oregon for her new job. Her company flew her out there and she's paying for our place out there on her own so she has no money. My lease is up the end of this month, but I hadn't managed to save up the money for a flight yet when I saw the ad. I told her about this arrangement. She was all for it. She said, 'Kiss the dude so you don't have to couch surf for two weeks after you move out to get the cash for your flight.' She was actually thrilled. I gave my 2-week's notice on Monday after I had enough money to pay my rent for December – and after I got the money from kissing you. I had no idea that it was someone pranking you. That sucks, man. My girlfriend and I would NOT have been on board with that. Now, I feel bad. I mean I didn't even think anything about it possibly being fake. I work at an expensive restaurant as a server and I've seen guys from Columbia order a whole cheesecake for, like, $60, and then smash it because they were drunk and thought it would be funny. It never ever crossed my mind that you weren't just some rich guy studying art like the ad said." He dropped his head to his hands and ran his hands through his hair.
Martin was the next to speak. "I did it because I needed the money. I'd never kissed a guy before, but I figured, what the hell. I could use $1000 bucks. It seemed straightforward enough. I got a photo of you and a picture of where you'd be at various times of the day. I went and sat next to you and waited for you to finish eating. I figured that would add to the surprise since I'd sat there for five minutes and hadn't done anything. I was shocked when you shoved me to the ground and then I ended up with my arm pulled up behind me. I was pretty angry about that. I felt like I had been set up. You asked surprise kisses and I ended up with a sore ass and a bruised wrist out of it. And I didn't get enough to cover my rent since I didn't manage to French kiss you."
Sebastian said, "Look, I'm sorry about your wrist. I'll make it up to you and give you the difference."
"You're going to give me $500?"
"Sure. As long as you agree not to pursue charges against me for the bruising."
"Done," Martin said. "Any chance you can give it to me today? I get evicted this weekend if I don't pay it by this afternoon at 6:00."
"Sure."
"Damn. You've saved my ass, dude. You don't by chance know anyone looking for an apartment do you? I got a nice 2-bedroom place that I cannot afford on my own. My jackass brother just up and left town with my girlfriend and left me hanging. We were splitting it three ways, but I could manage half."
"Sorry, I don't," Sebastian said. "Your brother ran off with your girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Totally sucks. That was the week before I saw the ad. They'd been cheating for the last like six months. One of my friends saw them making out and told me."
"Being cheated on totally sucks." Kurt agreed. "Make a free Wix website and put photos of the apartment up on it. No address, just the neighborhood and general info like between 107th and 108th, or whatever. Make a generic email just for this. Then, make a nice flyer with a good written description of the apartment. Black ink on a nice color paper. Go look at other listings from rental agents to see how to make it sound good if you have to. Make the sheet to hang up with pull-off tabs for your email. Take the flyers and put them up at all of the colleges around here. I bet you find someone within a week. It's the time of year that first years that moved here really want to move out of the dorms if they haven't enjoyed living there."
"Dude, that's a bitchin' idea. And I can get that done by, like, tomorrow. I mean, I'm not a college student, but I could live with one that pays half the bills. I got nothing against smart people. I just love the place I got and I really don't want to lose it. I do not want to go back to riding the subway for an hour each way every day. It took me a few years to get a nice place near where I work."
"Which is?"
"This little recording studio – Spins . I'm, like, really good with getting all of the cords and systems running. And I don't have no degree or nothing. I learned it all on my own, but the dude who owns the place gave me a chance to prove myself. I also do freelance work for band tours when they need extra hands to get everything hooked up."
"Cool," Kurt said.
"It is. I've gotten to meet a lot of cool people doing it."
Sebastian wanted to move things along. "Manny?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you willing to sign?"
"I don't know, man. I got a rap sheet already. I don't need to be signing a confession. I don't have any STIs. That I'll tell you for sure. My fucking dad knocked up my mom when she was 14 and she had me. And then another asshole knocked her up again when she was 16 and 17. My brother, the one born when she was 16, he knocked his girlfriend up at 15. Fuckers. Stupid fuckers. Bought myself a damn Fleshlight when I was 14. Damn thing works just fine. I have no fucking interest in being a dad. I'm 18 years old. So anyway, I don't have any STIs, but like I said, I got a rap sheet already."
"Alright, would you be willing to sign a form saying that you agree to STI testing and that you will immediately report the results to my father?"
"Yeah, man. Whatever. I done said I don't have any, so I'm not concerned about that. But I can't go to jail. My mom's last fucking boyfriend beat the crap out of her and I managed to get rid of him by testifying against him, but I'm paying all of our bills 'cause she can't work now. Not until she gets the cast off her leg at least. And of course, the place she worked fired her when she was in the hospital for a week. I can't go back to juvie, well, I guess it'd be jail now that I turned 18 a couple of months back. I haven't even graduated from high school yet. I was going to use the money to get the extra stuff my mom needs. Like she's got Medicaid and all cause she's disabled, but, like Bandaids and crap, aren't covered. Like she can get prescriptions covered, but I have to pay for the Tylenol myself. And I had to pay for some chucks for the bed, those waterproof things because she went through more than she's allowed. God, she's 32 and she's incontinent because of what that asshole did to her. Look, I have to go. I'll sign whatever about the STIs and I'll go tomorrow after school, but if I'm late to my job, I'll get fired and then I won't even be able to pay our electricity bill."
Sebastian looked at Art, who nodded. He handed him a slip of paper with the name of a nearby clinic. He handed him a second sheet. "Give them that so the cost is covered. It also lists the tests we're requesting. You need to know that this will require a blood sample, throat swab, and a urine test. We will not be testing for drugs."
"Got it. I don't do drugs anyway. I swear to God that I just want to keep me and my mom safe. I'm applying to several CUNY schools. I'm done with this crap."
Art nodded. "If you don't show up by Friday at close, I'll be obligated to file for a warrant."
"Yes, sir. I get that." He signed the paper Art had put on the table near him. "Can I go now?"
"Yes," Art said. He handed him a business card. "Call me if you have any problems getting the tests done."
"Yes, sir." He took off out of the room, practically jogging.
Art looked at the others. He slid two statements to them for them to sign. A few minutes later, he gave both of them his card, a slip of paper with the address, and a form like he had given Manny.