Sebastian followed closely behind Blaine as he wandered around the house in shock at how large it was. "Remind me why I've never been here?" Blaine asked, unable to take his eyes off of the huge entryway. It made sense, Blaine figured. If Sebastian's family could afford the gorgeous penthouse in Paris that Sebastian never stopped talking about, then of course they could afford to live in a multimillion-dollar home in Columbus. Still, the sight was a lot to take in.

They walked around until they reached the dining room. "My parents are assholes," Sebastian shrugged in response to the other boy's inquiry as he walked from the dining room into the kitchen. "It's late but sometimes the cook leaves leftovers in the fridge just in case my parents come home early or something." Blaine stared at the huge kitchen in awe. It was beautiful, with brand new appliances and gorgeous countertops. He assumed Sebastian's parents never used it based on what he was hearing, but even as someone who wasn't the best cook, he really wanted to make something in that kitchen. "Do you want cake?" Sebastian found half of a cake on display and was making himself a plate. "I think it was my sister's birthday or something."

Almost speechless, the best Blaine could get out was a nod. He had so many questions about Sebastian's family that he didn't know where to begin and he didn't want to bombard him with too much at once. "I could get used to this," Blaine mumbled as Sebastian reached out with a plate for him. He followed Sebastian down the hall and into a room that housed a pool table, a formal poker table, a large lounge area, and a gorgeous wood-burning fireplace. There was also a small bar in the corner of the room that had Blaine wondering how many different rooms in this place had alcohol if just the billiard room had its own bar.

"The Warblers have been here twice, I think. When my parents are out of town, I usually try to take advantage of all their crazy stuff...or rather, trash it," Sebastian explained.

Blaine turned to Sebastian in shock. "Trash it?"

"Like I said, my parents are assholes." He noticed Blaine's eyes lingering on a small wine rack by the bar and smirked. "We're not taking wine from there. If you want real wine, there's a wine cellar downstairs. They're 'collectors'." He said "collectors" with finger quotes and in one of the most mocking voices Blaine had ever heard him use. And that was saying something for Sebastian.

Before Blaine could respond, Sebastian was leading him down another hallway and then down a large set of stairs that brought them into another very big space, complete with an indoor hot tub and a dedicated workout space. Down the hall was the wine cellar which probably held over a thousand bottles of wine, and that was without including the empty spaces. "Are you sure they wouldn't mind? If they're collectors, I mean…"

"Like I said, I usually trash it. Plus, do you really think they know every single bottle of wine in here? My parents are all about the aesthetic; they like to keep all this crazy expensive famous wine down here, but they never drink any of it unless they have company they're trying to impress. I probably know way more about wine than either of them and I'm 17. It's stupid." Sebastian shook his head and started scanning a particular section of wines. "These are our Bordeaux wines. Assuming you're a cabernet guy?" Blaine didn't respond; he was too shocked from all of the different bottles surrounding him. "Here, I think you'll like this one." Sebastian handed a bottle to Blaine and watched as Blaine stared back at him, unsure what to do with it until Sebastian also gave him a crystal wine glass and opened the bottle for him. "It's all yours."

Blaine stared at the bottle in shock, suddenly eager to taste the wine Sebastian was so sure he would like. Maybe if they both had a bit of alcohol in their systems, they could finally talk about whatever it is they clearly needed to talk about. Maybe Blaine could finally figure out whatever it was that he "would never get". As Blaine lifted the now full glass of wine to his lips, he closed his eyes to focus on the taste. "Wow, you're right, this is fantastic."

"Well it's aged like seven years so it better be good or we didn't wait long enough," Sebastian shrugged, pouring himself a glass of a different bottle he found.

Blaine almost spit out his second sip when he heard Sebastian. "Are you serious? And you're sure your parents won't be upset?"

"I doubt it. Plus, even if they are, it's not like I'll ever hear about it. I only really see them on holidays which are already miserable anyway. Either they'll forget about it by Thanksgiving or they'll add it to the long list of things to passive aggressively mention at our family dinner," Sebastian shrugged. "Alright, how about I beat you in a game of pool?"

By the time they finished their second round of pool, both boys were a little tipsy from all of the wine. Sebastian had almost finished a bottle already and Blaine was well on his way to finishing his as well. Despite Sebastian's years of practice, Blaine was able to hold his own in the game, and the conversation remained light-hearted and playful for most of both games. When Sebastian finally won the second game after a long drawn out battle to get the last ball in, he grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him into what looked like a music room. "This room is awesome," Blaine acknowledged. His eyes were drawn to the grand piano in the middle of the room and he couldn't help but sit down on the bench and lift the keyboard cover. His fingers rested on the keys as he started playing the first song that felt right in the space.

Sebastian watched as Blaine played the beginning chords to "Tiny Dancer" and started to sing the lyrics. He didn't start singing along with Blaine, which was a little alarming because it felt like Blaine was putting on a show. The wine helped make him a little less nervous at the thought of a private show for Sebastian, but he still wondered why he wasn't joining him. Halfway through the song, Sebastian took a seat next to him on the piano bench. "Come on, sing with me," Blaine gave Sebastian a light shove during a brief instrumental and waited for him to join in.

Finally, Sebastian decided to give in to Blaine's request. Blaine knew he never would have joined him in his cheesy impromptu concert without the wine, but he appreciated it anyway. They belted out the last minute of the song together with their legs touching just enough to send shivers up Blaine's spine. When the song ended, Blaine turned to face Sebastian with a smile on his face when he noticed Sebastian staring right back at him. "You're amazing," Sebastian complimented, before looking away again.

For the first time in three hours, Kurt crossed Blaine's mind. He never had this much fun with Kurt just singing. Of course, Kurt would never drink a full bottle of red wine with him and he certainly wasn't the billiard room type of guy, either. Something about this night was exactly what Blaine needed. It showed him all of the things he was missing out on that he used to enjoy with the Warblers. "I used to sing with the Warblers all the time."

Sebastian stared at Blaine in disbelief, clearly confused. It did sound pretty stupid given the Warblers were literally an acapella choir. "How drunk are you?"

"No, I mean impromptu performances at parties, breaking into song like this all the time. We would all hang out around the piano. I would play something and the others would sing. It was one of my favorite things about Dalton," Blaine explained, staring at the piano keys. "I spent all of my weekends with them until I started dating Kurt. I stopped seeing the other guys almost completely after I transferred to McKinley."

Sebastian sighed and rested a hand on Blaine's leg. "Yeah, I heard about that."

Blaine nodded slowly, trying to remember what it used to feel like to get lost in the music at Dalton with the guys. "They must hate me," he mumbled.

Sebastian immediately shook his head as he faced Blaine. "No, they would never hate you. Sure, they were pretty upset last year when you left. I showed up at Dalton and met a really broken team. But honestly, all any of them wanted was for you to come back. They idolize you."

"I should probably apologize to them."

"I'm surprised you didn't do that already," Sebastian frowned. It made Blaine regret leaving Dalton even more. Knowing how messed up everything got after he left...it never occurred to him that all of that happened because of him. He abandoned his friends...no, his brothers. It didn't even occur to him until Kurt broke up with him that his reasoning for leaving was flawed at best.

Blaine's head fell, suddenly feeling defeated. "Maybe I should come back."

His eyes met Sebastian's and they shared a moment of silence before Sebastian continued. "Look, as much as I would love for you to come back, the damage is done, and I'm worried you'd just be miserable if you came back."

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what Sebastian was saying. He thought Sebastian would jump at the opportunity to convince him to come back to Dalton, but he didn't seem persistent at all. "Something is wrong."

"What?"

"You're not trying to convince me to come back; something is going on at Dalton. What's going on?" He asked, suddenly concerned for his friends at Dalton. There was something more. Some reason why Sebastian thought Blaine wouldn't like it there anymore.

When Sebastian realized he couldn't avoid the question anymore, he stood up and started pacing around the room. Blaine could tell Sebastian had a little bit too much to drink because he normally wouldn't be this honest. "You have to promise not to tell anyone at McKinley about it until I figure out what I'm gonna do. You're the one person that I think might understand the position I'm in."

Blaine nodded as he waited for Sebastian to explain himself. "Of course."

Sebastian sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, clearly worried about what would happen when he revealed the truth. "There's this new guy at Dalton, Hunter." Blaine had never seen Sebastian struggle this much to get words out. "He transferred from some military academy in Colorado where his show choir won regionals or something. He's not a good guy, Blaine. The stuff I did last year...sorry about that, by the way…"

"No, don't, we're way over all of that stuff," Blaine insisted.

Sebastian avoided eye contact. It almost seemed like he was embarrassed. Blaine had never seen him so upset. "Anyway, that stuff is nothing compared to Hunter. He's ruthless and the Warblers have no idea what they're supposed to do. I've been trying to lay low. You know, new leaf and all." He paused, hesitation obvious in his voice. "But I need to do something. All of them keep coming to me and asking me to do something but I'm...well, I guess I'm scared of what will happen."

"Sebastian, what's going on?" Blaine asked. He was suddenly very concerned. At first, it just seemed like the Warblers were worried about winning, or something that wasn't severe, something that Blaine could easily fix. But now it seemed genuinely serious.

Finally, Sebastian admitted what was really going on. "He's making everyone take steroids. He wants them to do crazy flips and stuff, which a lot of the Warblers could do already, so it didn't really make sense at first. But now it's turned into this huge thing where he's threatening to kick people out if they don't do it. We're all supposed to start doing it the week before sectionals."

Blaine couldn't find the words to react to what Sebastian was telling him. There's no way any of the guys he used to go to school with would agree to something like this. He didn't even think Sebastian would agree to this. "Seriously?"

"I wasn't going to tell you. I'm sure no one would have found out, but…" Sebastian paused, almost shaking. "When we started hanging out again, I couldn't stop thinking about it." He stood up and sat next to Blaine again on the piano bench. "I could really use your advice right now."

Blaine was speechless. He completely understood why Sebastian didn't want to say anything earlier. This went against everything that the Warblers used to stand for. If the Warblers didn't have their honor, they didn't have anything that helped them stand out from all of the other show choirs battling it out at the top. He knew Sebastian felt the same way about upholding the reputation of the Warblers by at least keeping everything fair, especially after what happened the previous year. This was definitely not the Warbler way. "I mean...you could tell the headmaster."

Sebastian's eyes widened as he started to back away from Blaine. "No way," he shook his head, suddenly looking scared out of his mind. "I can't. Everyone would get in trouble. I'm not going to turn them all in just so that I don't get in trouble."

This new, noble Sebastian was definitely different than the confident, rebellious boy that Blaine used to know. Something about it was sexy. Blaine couldn't help but admire Sebastian's desire to do the right thing, especially since it would be so easy for him to turn in the rest of the Warblers and get off without any consequences for himself. "Plus, if they all get in trouble, there's no one to compete at sectionals and our season is done," Sebastian added. That's more like the old Sebastian. But, still.

"Has everyone already done it?" Blaine asked, hoping at least some of his friends would be safe.

"Not everyone. A couple of us were waiting until closer to sectionals, especially those of us that never really had a problem with the dancing. But Hunter and some of the guys that are usually more in the background have already done it a couple times since they're not in as great of shape. I really don't know what our numbers would look like if we lost all of them, but I know it wouldn't be good." This was probably the most Blaine ever heard Sebastian say about the Warblers. He knew Sebastian cared about the Warblers, but this was the most dedicated he'd ever seemed about anything.

Blaine was silent again, shocked at his friends' behavior. He couldn't believe that any of the Warblers he used to perform with would even consider doing something like this. "Have you talked to Trent? Nick? Jeff?"

Sebastian shook his head. "Trent, but that's it. And it wasn't anything more than me witnessing Trent arguing with Hunter about it. I followed him out of practice and he went on this rant about…" He paused.

"You can tell me, Sebastian."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "He kept saying that if you were still around, this never would have happened. Which, yeah, he's probably right. I screwed things up last year. Everything has been on thin ice since I started at Dalton."

"No, don't do that to yourself. This is not your fault," Blaine insisted, immediately reaching for Sebastian's hand.

Sebastian glanced down at their hands and gave Blaine a broken smile, clearly distraught about the situation with the Warblers. "Thanks." Something about his expression told Blaine that Sebastian wasn't completely convinced.

Blaine thought about what he could say for a long time before offering any advice to Sebastian. He knew it was a tricky situation and if it was handled poorly, Sebastian could be the one who ended up in trouble. "Maybe...maybe we could find something else on Hunter. You know, get him expelled or at least suspended before sectionals so that the Warblers can perform without him."

"Wow, that might actually work. Who knew you had a little rebel in you," Sebastian smirked, giving Blaine a comforting nudge. Blaine couldn't help but blush, even if it wasn't a compliment.

"What can I say? You're rubbing off on me." Blaine attempted a smile as he noticed he was still holding onto Sebastian's hand.

"I hope that's not the only rubbing I'll be doing with you," Sebastian winked.

Blaine's cheeks, already a shade of pink, turned even redder. He wished he could blame it on the alcohol, but he knew he couldn't. It didn't seem like either of them felt anything from the wine anymore. Blaine tried his best to think of a clever response, but his mind went blank whenever he sat this close to Sebastian, their eyes connected as if it was meant to be that way. Something changed in Sebastian's eyes when he looked at Blaine. It wasn't just now, but always. Whenever their eyes connected like this, Sebastian felt softer. As they sat only inches away from each other, Blaine could feel Sebastian's warm breath on his lips. It was dangerous. "I really want to kiss you again," Blaine admitted, regretting it almost instantly.

Turns out Sebastian regretted it, too. He stood up and wandered toward the large window near the back of the room, staring out of it to avoid looking at Blaine. "Sorry to get your hopes up," he said, a hint of playful teasing in his tone, but Blaine could tell he was forcing it to be there. Really, he just sounded hurt.

"You didn't...I mean...I just misinterpreted the moment, I guess," Blaine shook his head and stood up. "I guess I should...I don't know, should I leave?"

Sebastian turned to face Blaine, obvious pain in his expression. "No," was all Sebastian could manage to say. "Not yet." He held Blaine's eyes and it really felt as if he wanted to kiss Blaine, too. Yet, every time they got close, Sebastian put a stop to it. It didn't make sense. He chased Blaine for over a year, trying to get him to cheat on his boyfriend and flirting with him nonstop. He always made comments about wanting to kiss him and touch him in every way he could, so why wouldn't he take the chance when it was sitting right in front of him? It felt like all of it was just a game to him.

"Sebastian," Blaine started, standing up to start approaching the other boy. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to continue.

The second Blaine stood up, Sebastian started walking to the other side of the room. He was almost out the door by the time he spoke again. "I don't get why you do this to me, Blaine."

It was so quiet that Blaine assumed he wasn't supposed to hear. But he did. He followed Sebastian out of the room and into a large entertainment space that held almost as much hard alcohol as the wine cellar held wine. "What the hell does that mean?"

Sebastian took his sweet time to answer Blaine while he poured himself a short glass of something. Courvoisier it seemed. Of course, anytime the conversation turned to them, he needed to drink. Funny how he had the time to find the proper glass for brandy, but not enough time to answer Blaine's fairly simple question. He drank the contents of the glass before answering. His eyes turned a lot more confident all of a sudden, not as lost and lovesick as they seemed only a few moments earlier. "You play these stupid games. It's not good for either of us."

"How am I the one playing games? You're the one who keeps looking at me like you want something from me, staring at my lips like you want to kiss me, and then pulling away whenever I try to do something about it. It's really confusing," Blaine explained, crossing his arms. He was suddenly angry. What went from a blank expression transitioned into a frown as Blaine realized how unfair Sebastian was being.

Sebastian poured himself another drink while he listened to the other boy, clearly baffled at Blaine's blunt words. "No, you don't get to do that. You've been the one pulling away when I try to kiss you for over a year now. Just because I stopped it once doesn't change that."

Blaine stared at Sebastian, his expression shifting back into confusion once again with his eyebrows narrowed and his mouth hanging open. "I was pulling away because I was in a relationship. That's different now. What are you even talking about?"

An obnoxious eye roll and a sip of the Courvoisier was Sebastian's initial reaction. "Sure, so now everything is just fine? This never ends well, Blaine. You should know that after what you did."

Somehow both of their voices were raised as they spoke to each other. Blaine tried to figure out how this evolved so quickly into fighting. He was almost positive he didn't do anything wrong, but what was this reaction about if he didn't? "This is completely different. I cheated on him. But now we broke up. Kissing you isn't cheating."

"So you just have no feelings at all for Kurt? Just like that, Blaine the hopeless romantic is ready to move on and hook up with another guy. All of a sudden, you're not going to think about your ex or feel guilty after it's over, even though you were literally thinking about him when you kissed me last week and crying about him a couple hours ago. And you're not going to text Kurt tomorrow begging for his forgiveness and asking to talk while he's still in town, even though you already have at least 20 times over the last two weeks." Sebastian sounded so sure, like he knew Blaine better than he knew himself. His tone was mocking, sarcastic, and just mean.

Blaine had no idea how to react to something like that. "Why does any of that matter? We're here now and there...there was a moment, I know there was." He had to admit his argument was starting to fall apart. Everything Sebastian said was spot on. It was exactly how Blaine felt the last time he and Sebastian kissed. Sure, he enjoyed the kiss and he wanted to do it again, but he knew he shouldn't and that he was meant to be with Kurt. He beat himself up for the whole week leading up to opening night thinking about that kiss. Still, since when did Sebastian care about Blaine thinking of someone else? His whole life revolved around meaningless hookups.

"For the love of god, Blaine, do I need to draw you a fucking picture?" Sebastian almost shouted with an eye roll, slamming the glass of Courvoisier on the bar in front of him.

Blaine flinched, suddenly speechless. Now, with Sebastian standing right in front of him, it made Blaine feel sick to think about the things he said after their kiss. Without so many words, Sebastian was practically admitting it hurt him when Blaine acknowledged that he thought about Kurt when they kissed. The last thing he wanted was to hurt anyone, let alone someone who had been nothing but supportive ever since the breakup. "Sebastian…I don't know what to…"

Before Blaine could finish, Sebastian snapped again. But he didn't look angry this time; he just looked hurt. His eyes were red and for a moment, Blaine thought he might cry. That shocked him more than he would've liked to admit. He never thought Sebastian Smythe would cry in front of him. "I don't want to be your fucking rebound, Blaine."

Finally, Sebastian gave him something he could comprehend. All of his ambiguity disappeared as he admitted the truth. But how much of the truth? Blaine needed more. Why was he so opposed to being a rebound? Why did he care so much? Before Blaine could say anything, Sebastian drank another shot-sized sip of the Courvoisier and stormed off. "I need a minute, okay? Please don't follow me." His voice cracked as he avoided looking at Blaine and practically ran away, leaving Blaine standing at the bar in shock.