When he woke up the morning after his fight with Sebastian, Blaine dreaded leaving his room. He figured Sebastian would still be asleep after how much he drank the night before, but even the thought of resuming their conversation from the night before made Blaine want to go back to sleep, avoid his problems for another day. Sebastian's words just kept ringing in his ears. I'm not just going to sit around and wait until you wake up one day and realize you're in love with me. Was that what Blaine was doing? Just waiting, making Sebastian sit around while he procrastinated making a decision about what he really wanted? No, Blaine reminded himself, you know how you feel. He knew he wanted Sebastian. He wanted him more than he'd ever wanted anything. Why couldn't he say that?

But he knew why. It was the fear. Fear that he'd already screwed it all up. Fear that he'd made a mistake with Kurt. Fear that he'd make the wrong decision. Fear that he'd put himself out there only to be rejected. Fear that Sebastian would refuse to commit, and Blaine would end up hurt again. Fear that he'd lose one of his closest friends and the guy he maybe loved all at once. And worst of all, fear that Sebastian might not love him back.

It was an hour of restless, all-consuming fear before Blaine dragged himself out of bed. He needed to check on Sebastian, even if he was terrified of picking up where they'd left off the night before. No matter how crappy he felt, he needed to make sure Sebastian was okay. The guest room was down the hall and around a corner, but it still took Blaine longer than he would ever admit to make his way to that door. Maybe if he could procrastinate just a little bit longer…

When he finally arrived, he was shocked to find the door was open. All signs of Sebastian were gone except for the slight stench Blaine was all too familiar with from the night before. The bed was made, albeit slightly messier than the way Mrs. Anderson liked it. It was almost as if Sebastian was never there at all, and for a moment Blaine considered that maybe he'd imagined the whole thing. In fact, he wished that was the case, that he could take it all back and never let Sebastian yell at him like that, never let himself yell back. Never let himself cancel their plans in the first place.

After finding the guest room empty, Blaine decided to check downstairs. Maybe Sebastian woke up and decided to make himself some breakfast. How could he have possibly gotten home? Who would've given him a ride from Lima to Columbus? But Sebastian was still nowhere to be seen and a million possible explanations raced through Blaine's mind. Maybe Sebastian left in the middle of the night and started wandering around the neighborhood. Maybe he left immediately after Blaine went to sleep. Maybe he was hurt somewhere or keeled over on the side of the road like how Blaine had found him the night before.

Where'd you go? Are you okay? -Blaine

He knew he should check in, verify that Sebastian was at least alive and nursing his hangover. But he didn't want to push it. After a while, he started to freak out. He tried calling a few times but didn't get an answer, just Sebastian's voicemail. He decided to let it be for a moment, desperately hoping Sebastian was okay. But an hour passed and still nothing. For once, he hoped that Sebastian was just ignoring him. Any other explanation was almost too scary to even consider. So he sent another text, this time letting Sebastian know he was worried and needed some sort of reassurance that he was okay.

I know things are weird, but will you please text me so that I know you're okay? Or at least alive? -Blaine

It might have been a bit harsh, especially if any of the worst-case scenarios in Blaine's mind were actually true, but after the words Sebastian used the night before, it seemed appropriate. After all, he probably just got a ride and Blaine was freaking out over nothing. He started to let his mind wander again as he returned to his room, sitting on his bed to contemplate where he'd gone wrong. He started to imagine what Sebastian might say if he ever replied. Hopefully it was some sort of explanation, maybe even an apology. He knew he shouldn't expect that from Sebastian. Sure, he'd gotten better at expressing his feelings over time, but Blaine was certain he'd only heard Sebastian use the words "I'm sorry" a handful of times, a majority of which were related to the slushy incident. But despite it all, Blaine wasn't sure Sebastian should be the one apologizing. The way he'd spoken to Blaine was horrible, but maybe it was deserved. Blaine did abandon him without much of an explanation to spend the day with Kurt.

After however long Blaine spent contemplating what Sebastian's response might be, he was shocked to find a response to his text, not that it was the informative explanation he was hoping for.

I'm alive. -Sebastian

Blaine had no idea what he did that meant now Sebastian got to be mad at him, but that was the tone implied in the message. He wasn't the one who hooked up with some other guy, got wasted, and then screamed at him when all Blaine was trying to do was take care of him. His answer was short and something about it felt aggressive. But Blaine really wasn't in the mood to put up with that. He clicked on Sebastian's contact again and the phone started ringing as he waited for the other boy to answer the phone and say something, anything to make this all okay.

He should've known Sebastian wouldn't pick up. For someone as confident as Sebastian, he usually avoided confrontations like this, especially if it involved anything remotely related to his feelings.

Are you done being a dick to me? -Blaine

He knew it was a little bit much, but he also knew that he needed to start doing things differently if he was going to avoid getting pushed around and controlled by guys. A lot of it was still about Kurt. Now, he wanted to make sure he would do things differently.

Have you ever considered that maybe I just am a dick? -Sebastian

The text sent Blaine's eyes rolling into the back of his head. There was nothing he hated more about Sebastian than when he reverted back to old habits. He should've known by then that Blaine didn't think he was a dick. Sebastian couldn't pretend he didn't have a heart anymore.

You're not. Are you ready to talk to me now or are you going to continue being an asshole? -Blaine

This time, Sebastian didn't respond right away. Blaine resisted the temptation to try calling him again, deciding it was better to wait for whatever response Sebastian would give next. Maybe he would call again in a few hours or something, but for now he knew he needed to figure out a way to distract himself for the day. What he really needed was some time with his friends to get his mind off of all of the drama with Kurt and Sebastian. Besides, with how mad he was about the situation, he really wanted Tina to tell him how stupid he was for letting Sebastian back into his life. He decided to start a group call in the New Directions chat to see if anyone was free.

Sam was the first person to answer, and Blaine could see Brittany sitting next to him on the screen. "Hey, man, what's up?" Sam asked as he smiled through the phone.

"Hey, I'm just bored. We should do something fun today," Blaine suggested. He hoped Sam didn't have specific plans with Brittany already and that they'd be willing to accept a third wheel. Although, in all honestly, it usually felt like Brittany was the third wheel to the two of them, not that Brittany really cared.

Tina got on the call almost immediately after Blaine finished speaking and Marley soon followed. They both seemed eager to hang out as well. "Please tell me you're calling to make plans. I'm so bored and lonely," Tina said with a sigh.

"Same. Jake is still in L.A. and I'm desperate to get out of the house," Marley added.

As more of the New Directions joined the call, it started to seem like almost everyone wanted to get together. Jake, Unique, Sugar, Artie, and Joe were all busy with their families or out of town for the break, but everyone else was on board. Luckily, Sam was at Brittany's house and she offered for everyone to come there. Blaine was not about to spend another day at Kurt's house where Sam was still living. He didn't want to deal with anymore drama; he just wanted it all to be done.

After taking a quick shower and throwing on jeans and a sweater, Blaine got in his car and drove to Brittany's house. He parked in the driveway and started to open his car door until he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Another message from Sebastian.

I thought about it, and I decided that I'm going to continue to be an asshole. -Sebastian

It was annoying how much it felt like a big joke to Sebastian. As Blaine read the text, he realized that on any other day he would find Sebastian's smartass comments compelling. But not anymore. He was devastated that Sebastian would ever treat him the way he did when he was drunk. The worst part was that he still didn't really understand why.

Just as Blaine's mind started to run through everything that happened the night before, he stopped himself. He was not about to waste his time thinking about the meaning of each word that Sebastian said.

Fine. Text me when you're ready to stop treating me like shit. -Blaine

It was probably better to put the responsibility on Sebastian. Maybe then he'd come to his senses and actually realize it was okay to have feelings. Or maybe putting the ball in Sebastian's court was a terrible idea and Blaine would never hear from him again. But either way, Blaine knew he needed to focus on something else. As soon as he hit send, he tossed his phone into the backseat of his car. No matter what, he was going to have a good day with his friends.

Blaine knocked on the front door to Brittany's house and then walked in, knowing Britt wouldn't mind him letting himself in. He helped himself to the basement where most of the glee club was situated in predictable positions. Kitty and Marley sat together on the floor near the TV while Sam, Brittany, and Tina all sat close together on the couch. Ryder was in his own little world in a chair by himself, texting someone from his phone. "Blaine, I'm so glad you came!" Tina announced as everyone else greeted him.

Blaine searched the room for somewhere to sit and settled on squeezing onto the couch next to Tina, but before he could sit down, Sam grabbed Blaine's arm and pulled him toward the area where he was sitting with Brittany. "Dude, I haven't seen you in like days. Update us on everything," Sam insisted as Blaine took a seat next to Sam.

Blaine shrugged and looked down, wishing they could skip this part. The last thing he wanted was to explain what the hell was going on in his messed-up brain to this group of people who hated Sebastian. "You know, same old. How's everyone else?"

"No way, you can't avoid the question. Sam said you were fighting with Kurt yesterday," Tina interrupted, turning her attention toward Blaine as she crossed her arms.

"Tina," Sam scolded before turning back to Blaine. "Sorry bro."

Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine noticed Kitty in the front of the room rolling her eyes. "How predictable. Tina blabbed everyone's secrets again."

"Shut up, Kitty," Tina said, glaring at the blonde as she turned to Blaine, still waiting for an explanation. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Blaine sighed, wishing he could somehow avoid this subject forever. But even the newbies knew too much at this point for Blaine to just brush it off. Plus, Blaine would've rather had his friends hear his version of the story than whatever version Finn and Kurt would tell them. "Kurt didn't want to get back together with me unless I agreed to stop talking to all of the Warblers. It just came down to a lot of bigger arguments that we never really dealt with when he was still at McKinley and when he left for NYADA. Turns out he only came back home for Christmas because he was jealous that I was spending time with Sebastian."

The rest of the New Directions nodded along, some of them clearly confused about some parts of the story. "Oh, I had no idea things got so bad between you two," Sam commented.

"Yeah, well," Blaine started, but paused when he was unsure of what to say next. He was sick of talking about Kurt and letting the tension with him get in the way of his other relationships. He would've much rather asked Tina if she'd seen Mike over break or heard about Sam's Christmas with Brittany's family. "I think it's a good thing. I actually feel okay about it."

Tina's eyebrow raised. "So you think you might be ready to date other people?"

The question caused Blaine's mind to take a step back, shocked by Tina's immediate attention to something like that. It wasn't that he didn't think he was ready but rather that he had no idea why Tina felt the need to ask about it. "I don't know, maybe. Why do you ask?"

This time Sam chimed in, clearly on the same page as Tina. "I was gonna ask the same thing. I mean know I'm kinda dumb, but I'm not dumb about this." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Blaine, daring him to admit the truth.

Blaine stared at Sam like he was crazy. He honestly had no idea what he was talking about. "About what?"

"Sebastian is totally into you. And you're totally into him, too," Sam explained, as if it was supposed to be obvious. "Why aren't you spending your winter break with him?"

Blaine rolled his eyes when Sam finally revealed the truth. Sure, he'd basically admitted to himself that he was falling for Sebastian. Maybe if Sebastian could get over this whole Kurt thing. And maybe if there was any possibility that Sebastian could be the slightest bit monogamous… no, it wasn't even worth considering. Blaine knew it would never happen. He and Sebastian were always going to be something a little more than friends and a little less than something better. Plus, it definitely didn't matter. Sebastian was done with him; he made that pretty clear with his attitude the night before and his text that morning. "He's kind of being an asshole right now." He decided that would be enough of an explanation. Hopefully everyone would understand. After all, most of them hated Sebastian and the Warblers.

"Is that really a surprise?" Tina asked, prompting Brittany to shove her a little.

"Hang on, why?" Sam asked, his attention still focused on Blaine. Blaine gave him a confused frown as his head tilted to the side like a dog. Did Sebastian ever need a reason to be an asshole? "He's been really cool with you for months now. So why now?"

As Blaine thought about it, he realized how stupid he'd been. He was so focused on how angry Sebastian was and how mad Blaine was in return that he never even stopped for a second to think about it. Of course there was a reason for all of this. Of course Sebastian wasn't just being an asshole to be an asshole. Sebastian acted out because Blaine spent the day with Kurt. He cancelled their plans that both of them were looking forward to in order to spend the day with his ex-boyfriend, the person who Blaine promised Sebastian would never get in the way of their friendship. If he didn't feel bad before, he definitely did now.

Sebastian practically drilled it into Blaine's head that he refused to be a rebound that would be rejected the second Kurt threw Blaine a bone. From an outsider's perspective, that is definitely what this situation must have looked like. Sebastian had no idea how much Blaine was looking forward to spending time with him, even after Kurt told him he wanted to get back together. The only version of the story Sebastian knew was that Blaine cancelled their plans to rush to his ex-boyfriend's side after kissing him only a few days earlier and sharing an admittedly romantic ice-skating date.

"Oh my god, I'm an idiot," Blaine blurted out, cursing himself for not understanding why Sebastian reacted the way he did. Sam waited for more of an explanation, clearly confused as to why Blaine of all people thought he was an idiot. "I cancelled my plans with him yesterday to go to Kurt's house."

Sam hit Blaine's arm and then grabbed his shoulder, getting closer to emphasize his point. "Yep, you're an idiot."

"I didn't even tell him why. I just said it was an emergency." Blaine shook his head as he sunk to the floor, slamming his head against the wall. "How did I fuck this up already?"

Sam sat down next to him and shoved him again, this time much more gently. "You haven't fucked it up yet. Well, maybe you did a little bit. But you can still fix it. He clearly likes you if he would freak out this much from you hanging out with Kurt."

Blaine stared at the wall in front of him, trying to think of a solution to this problem. He felt so stupid for not seeing the truth when it was right in front of him. All he wanted was another chance to do the night before all over again. He would not have snapped so easily or forced Sebastian to talk when he clearly wasn't ready. He would have fought for him; he would have followed him into the guest room or sat outside until Sebastian let him in. At least then Sebastian would know that he cared.

"Even I can tell that guy likes you," Ryder chimed in, looking up from his phone for the first time since Blaine arrived at Brittany's house. "After Grease, he was looking everywhere for you. He stopped me in the hall and said something about how he needed to find you before he left. And you can just tell when someone's really into someone, you know?"

Blaine listened, a smile creeping up on his lips as he remembered that night. It was one of the longest nights of his life, part of it spent performing in the musical, the next drinking at Sebastian's house and getting in a huge fight over an almost kiss and ending the night with a heart-to-heart in Sebastian's room that finally showed Blaine the reason why they needed to take things a little bit more slowly than he originally thought.

"Yeah, and I haven't known you for very long and I've never met him," Marley added, "but you've been a lot happier recently than when we first met."

Tina chimed in next, reaching for Blaine's hand. "Even I'll admit that it's obvious you're in love with him. I don't think he's a great guy, but if he's the person who's going to make you happy, then you should go for it."

Blaine nodded, looking around the room with a weak smile as he realized they were all right. He was in love with Sebastian and he was sick of pretending that he wasn't. "I have to go," Blaine abruptly blurted out. He was still staring at the wall when he said it, so completely focused on his own thoughts that he couldn't bring himself to look at any of his friends.

Sam gave Blaine a gentle shove to snap him out of his daze. "What are you talking about?"

"I need to talk to him," Blaine replied. He stood up and made a beeline toward the door with Sam yelling after him.

"Good luck, bro," Sam yelled as the rest of the New Directions echoed the sentiment from beside him.

Before Sam or anyone else could say another word, Blaine was already in his car and driving down the street. Blaine didn't even have the time to process it himself; he just needed to go. He was going to fix all of this. He would straighten things out with Sebastian and make everything okay again. There was no other way.

The entire drive to Columbus for Blaine was spent contemplating what he would say when he got there. He didn't even know how to get Sebastian to listen to him much less believe him when he told him how he felt, not that he even knew himself. Blaine contemplated turning around so many times. But every time he considered it, he pictured Sebastian towering over him the night before while he yelled at him, those same words cycling through his brain. I'm not just going to sit around and wait until you wake up one day and realize you're in love with me. Every time he reminded himself of those words, he knew he needed to make things right. Because it wasn't that Blaine was waiting to realize he was in love with Sebastian; it was that he was too afraid to admit it.

It was like Blaine was watching himself from outside of his own body as he approached Sebastian's front door. He couldn't believe he actually made it there. He didn't even turn on the radio in the car because he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts, which is why it surprised him when his fist reached up and knocked on the door.

When someone appeared on the other side, he was shocked to see it wasn't Sebastian. He never considered that maybe Sebastian wouldn't be home, or someone else could be the first to the door. The girl on the other side was a little bit younger with long wavy hair not much darker than Sebastian's. She had green eyes almost as striking as Sebastian's, but younger with a hint of innocence that Sebastian's eyes rarely revealed. "Who are you?" The girl, who Blaine assumed was Sebastian's sister, asked.

The sass in her voice told Blaine exactly why Sebastian didn't like her. Ironically, it sounded oddly similar to Sebastian's. "I'm Blaine. Is Sebastian here?"

Sebastian's sister rolled her eyes and stepped to the side, gesturing for Blaine to come inside. "He's at lacrosse practice. You can wait here if you want."

Blaine thought about it for a while before making a decision. He could stay, or he could drive to Dalton and wait for Sebastian's practice to be over. He wanted to see him as soon as possible, so that seemed like a good idea, until he realized that there would be others around, and he didn't want Sebastian to freak out from the pressure. He figured things would go over best if Sebastian was at home. "Okay," Blaine agreed as he stepped inside.

"I'm Genevieve, by the way, but everyone calls me Evie. I'm Sebastian's sister," she said as she stuck her hand out for Blaine to shake. "So you're the guy Seb's been sulking over for all of winter break."

Seb certainly had a nice ring to it. Blaine couldn't help but let out a short laugh at the nickname. It all seemed so wholesome and domestic. More than that, it made him wonder if there was ever a time where Sebastian was close with his sister. "He's been sulking?" Blaine asked. The idea was somewhat shocking. He never pictured Sebastian sad over a guy, much less him. He knew they were friends now, but Sebastian was always one for random hookups, not caring for real.

"I mean I haven't seen him without a bottle of booze since before Christmas, and that includes when I picked him up from your house this morning," Evie explained. She motioned her hand so that Blaine would follow her into the living room. Ah, so that's how Sebastian got home.

Blaine took a seat first, looking at Evie with his eyebrows raised. He was surprised that Sebastian was taking this so hard. There had to be something else to it. Evie was way off. In fact, it was much more likely that Sebastian's parents were the reason for Sebastian's drinking. "And that's about me?"

Evie's eyes widened in response. "Wow, you're just as clueless as him."

Blaine turned his attention away from her and fought the eye roll threatening to break through. He knew this couldn't be about him. Sure, Sebastian might have been pissed at him, but it wasn't the thing that was pushing him over the edge. "You just met me," Blaine reminded her. He was somewhat insulted by the statement. Clueless? No. A little bit slow? Maybe. It took him almost a full day to realize Sebastian was upset that he spent time with Kurt. "That's kind of rude," he added defensively. Then he started to consider the comment for its other meaning. Did Sebastian talk to her about him?

"You're both idiots. You like him, he likes you. It's rare that someone gets to him like you do. Even his fights with my dad don't make him spiral like this anymore. And it's even more rare that you find someone who actually cares about you and wants to be with you for more than just temporary satisfaction. I honestly never thought Sebastian would want to settle down. But it's painfully obvious that that's what he wants with you," she explained, crossing her arms as if it was the simplest concept. It was becoming clear that Evie was either full of shit, talked to Sebastian way more than he let on, or she had that same ability to completely see through people that Sebastian always had.

"What are you doing here?" An annoyed voice interrupted. Blaine turned to see Sebastian standing in the doorway.

He had to admit he looked pretty hot in his lacrosse gear. Sebastian was still a little sweaty from practice and definitely needed a shower, but that made Blaine admire him even more. His hair was damp and hanging over his forehead while his cheeks were a little red from the exercise. Blaine had never paid so much attention to his arms which were completely exposed in his muscle tee. He actually was a lot more muscular than people gave him credit for. As he lifted a towel to his forehead to continue wiping himself off, Blaine felt himself melting to the floor. He never thought he had much of a thing for athletes until then.

"Will you stop gawking and answer me?" Sebastian asked, snapping Blaine out of his gaze. The tone of his voice was different this time. There was no sign of his smoky, flirtatious undertones and instead, he just sounded mad.

Blaine's eyes immediately shifted from Sebastian's biceps to his eyes. "I wasn't gawking," he tried to argue, but he knew better. He'd been staring at Sebastian's body for god knows how long. He couldn't believe he'd already embarrassed himself this much before he even started talking about their relationship. "I needed to talk to you."

At some point while Blaine was ogling at Sebastian, Evie must have left the room. It was just the two of them now, and nothing was stopping Blaine from saying everything he needed to say. The only problem was he had no idea what that was. "Well I need to shower so if you're not leaving, nothing's stopping you from following me upstairs," Sebastian said with an eye roll, barely making eye contact with Blaine.

Blaine let out a sigh and decided he would follow Sebastian, do everything in his power to convince him he was sorry and ready to be with him in whatever capacity he'd have him.