Author's Note: Before you read, I must confirm that yes, that is the actual story of Rapunzel written by the Grimm Brothers. I don't own that story at all or any other fairytales written by those two marvelous people, and the parts that Kurt read are word for word from the original story, though the might be a little off, since they were translated from a different language. Happy Reading!
Disclaimer: As awesome as that would be, I don't own Glee or any of it's characters in any way, shape, or form. The only characters I own are any OCs. I do not own any of the characters or stories written by the Grimm Brothers.
"Welcome to hell on earth," Sebastian said as he opened the door to his new penthouse, presenting the place like he was Vanna White.
Kurt walked inside, holding a squirming Olivia in his arms as he looked around. It was filled to the brim with boxes with scribbled writing on them, and random bits of furniture strewn here and there, that Sebastian was clearly too lazy to move. A few paintings and posters made their places on the dull white walls, just so there was something to look at to distract you from how messy the place was.
"How do you even get around in here?" Kurt asked, trying to navigate his way through the boxes, stepping over a few, and swerving around others, making his hips move in a way that Sebastian thought should be illegal.
"You don't," Sebastian retorted, smirking as he expertly maneuvered his way through the clutter. Kurt rolled his eyes at him, as the little girl in his arms pulled at his drawstrings again to get his attention.
"Kurtsie! I wanna show you my room!" she continued to pull at the strings, like it would steer him towards the direction of her room. Kurt pushed some of the boxes aside so he could make a path. Sebastian noticed him doing that, so he did the same thing, over to where his and Olivia's rooms were.
"C'mon, Kurtsie," he sneered, holding his hand out for him. Kurt stared at it for a second, as if he was absolutely not believing that Sebastian Smythe was holding out his hand for him, and acting like a bit of a gentleman, before tentatively taking it in his, and stepping up over the boxes.
They made their way around the vastly large room, which was really one big space for the kitchen, and the dining room all in one. There were large windows covering the whole wall where a dining table sat in the middle of the space, not taking up much room. Kurt wondered if you could see the whole city from there. If you could see all the lights and the motion as taxis sped past your window, and the city that never sleeps works its magic before your eyes. Both of them have been living there for years, and they both couldn't get over the beauty of the place, even if it was overpopulated and polluted. It was still a cool place to live.
Kurt turned his attention from looking around everywhere that wasn't where he was being led, to where he actually was being led. As they walked into what he assumed was Olivia's room – he only hoped this wasn't Sebastian's room anyway, seeing as it was filled with girly posters and dolls, but he wasn't one to judge if it was. Maybe Sebastian was just into those sorts of things. Who was he to know? – he was surprised to see that there were boxes in there too. It was like the boxes reproduced on the way over there, and multiplied. Kurt wouldn't be surprised if they were moving a whole other house into this place with all of the boxes everywhere.
Without thinking, Kurt set Olivia down on the floor, and she waddled around, showing him everything. Sebastian just stayed behind, leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, and an unfamiliar glint in his eye.
After a while the other man finally piped up, and pushed himself off the wall. "It's bedtime," he announced, making Olivia's face fall, as she pouted. It was crazy how one second she could be perfectly happy introducing Kurt to all of her dolls, then become so sad a second later. Kurt looked up at Sebastian, giving him his own little pout for interrupting their good time. "Aw, c'mon now. Don't pull out the pout and the big puppy eyes," he scolded. "You know it doesn't work with me. Especially at bedtime," he glanced over at the other man who was crouching on the floor next to Olivia, giving him the same pout, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Don't you pull that crap with me either, Kurt," he smirked, rolling his eyes at him.
After a little while longer with just staring at Sebastian with big eyes, just to get under his skin, he let go of his façade and chuckled. "C'mon, Olivia. You heard your daddy," It was still something they were both getting used to hearing or saying, and wrapping their heads around, so the word just lingered in the awkward silence for a bit, before Olivia broke it.
"Fine," she huffed. "But don' ffink I'm gonna be happy 'bout it," the two men laughed lightly. Sebastian lifted her up over his head, and then set her down on her little bed dramatically. She giggled as she bounced up and down on it. Sebastian moved to a dresser – that seemed to be the only piece of furniture in the place sitting in a normal spot – and pulled out the only clean pair of pajamas he had left for her. He still had to figure out how to use the new washer and drier set his parents had bought for him. They were a lot more complicated than the ones where you just stuck a coin into the slot, and pressed a button and it did the work for you, so he was stuck with dirty clothes until he actually attempted to learn how to work the appliances.
He closed the drawer with his hip, as he made his way over to Olivia, who was still bouncing up and down, and giggling like mad. He didn't think he could ever wrap his head around how one little person could have so much energy.
"Arms up," he ordered. She did as she was told, and he slipped her little black dress over her head. Kurt bent down to take her tiny Mary Janes off, along with her socks. He couldn't remember a time he saw an article of clothing so little. Sebastian put the dress aside, and slid her nightgown over her with ease, diving in to tickle her under her arms while they were still up in the air. She bit her tongue and snickered at that, quickly putting her arms down in fear of more tickles if she kept them up.
Sebastian put the dress into the dirty clothes hamper, knowing that Kurt would most likely scold him if he just threw it on the floor to be picked up later like he usually did. He pulled the covers up from under her, motioning for her to lay under them, and she did. But he knew the routine. She would probably untuck herself and come running out of her room to see Sebastian and insist that he didn't tuck her in right, or that she needed a glass of water. She was most definitely like her mother in that respect; in constant need of attention.
Sebastian sat down on the end of her bed, patting the spot next to him for Kurt to sit. He sat down beside him, having literally no space between them seeing as they were on a tiny toddler bed. "Bedtime story now?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow at the pair.
"What do you want to hear?" Kurt asked before Sebastian could. Olivia thought about it, tapping her chin as she stuck out her tongue, clearly deep in thought about this most serious question.
"'Punzel!" she exclaimed, giving Kurt the biggest smile she could muster. Sebastian snorted and shook his head in disbelief.
"Why am I not surprised?" he said, sarcasm oozing from his voice. He stood up and walked over to a box which many books inside – most of them Sebastian's most likely, and Kurt couldn't help but be interested in the kind of literature Sebastian was in to – and pulled out a large book with a tattered blue cover. It looked like it had been handled for many years. On the front in faded gold letters read the words Grimm's Fairy Tales. Kurt didn't know that they still even had copies of the famous Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales still in stores. Kids these days didn't want to hear them. They were only interested in the more modern portrayals of fairytales that companies like Disney tried desperately to remake to please audiences everywhere.
He handed the book off to Kurt, and to his surprise, it was a lot heavier than he expected. He opened the book to the middle, where a gold colored ribbon attached to the book was marking the page where the story of Rapunzel started. On the corner of the page there was an illustration of a tall tower, with a garden in front of it. The story didn't start with 'once upon a time' which surprised Kurt, but he cleared his throat and began to read anyway.
"'There once lived a man and a woman who always wished for a child, but could not have one. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen. The garden was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to a witch, who had great power and was feared by all the world.'" Olivia smiled, humming in contentment, when she heard the familiar beginning of her favorite story.
"'One day the woman was standing by the window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most tasty rapunzel. It looked so fresh and green that she longed for it and had the greatest desire to eat some. This desire increased every day. The woman knew that she could not get any of it and grew more pale and miserable each day," Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Rapunzel is a herb?" he inquired, glancing over at Sebastian who simply shrugged. The toddler tugged on the sleeve of his hoodie, and he turned to her. "Keep reading!"
Kurt let out an undignified snort, and looked back down at the page, scanning the words to see where he had last left off. He continued reading, making the wife - who claimed she would die if she didn't get some of that damn rapunzel – sound frail and weak as he read what she was saying to her husband, but not before commenting about how dramatic she was being, to which Sebastian replied "look who's talking," He rolled his eyes at him, and started reading again about the husband's valiant attempts of getting some of that herb that his wife whined about and demanded even more.
"'In the gloom of evening, therefore, he set out again; but when he had climbed over the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the witch standing before him. 'How dare you,' she said with angry look, 'sneak into my garden and steal my rapunzel like a thief? You shall suffer for this!''" he shook his finger at the other man, when both Sebastian and Olivia burst into laughter at his evil witch voice, which was raspy and even more high pitched than that of his own voice.
He quickly switched characters to sound like the terrified husband, making his voice shake. "''Ah,' the frightened husband answered, 'please have mercy, I had to have the rapunzel. My wife saw it from the window and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat.''" He switched back to the witch, scrunching his face up, and then letting it soften like the text said. "''If this is true, I will allow you to take as much as you like, only I make one condition. You must give me the baby daughter your wife will bring into the world; she shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother.' The man in his fear consented and when the baby was born the witch appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel and took the baby away with her.'"
"Well, that's depressing," Sebastian commented, which earned a nod and a frown from Olivia. Kurt turned the page, and looked at the next illustration, which was of the horridly ugly witch holding her hands out to grab onto the golden yellow hair that hung out the window of the tall tower from the first page. Kurt continued to read about how beautiful she had grown to be after living in the sun, until she turned twelve and was locked away in the tower – which Sebastian commented with "I'm pretty sure that's illegal," which made the little girl giggle, and he threatened to lock her away when she was twelve if she didn't stop giggling, which shut her up.
"'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!'" Kurt sqwaked, pretending to be the witch again. The fictional girl responded by letting her absurdly long hair out the window, and allowing the witch to climb up on it. "'After a year or two, it came to pass that the Prince rode through the forest and went by the tower. He heard a song, which was so lovely that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her loneliness passed her time singing. '" Kurt paused there, remembering how he would sing when he was lonely after his mother had passed. He shook the thoughts out of his head, when he noticed Sebastian looking at him oddly, and started up again about how the prince was an obsessive creep who always came to listen to her sing. One day he was eavesdropping to Rapunzel, when he saw that the witch called out to her and climbed up her magnificent golden locks.
"'At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man such as her eyes had never seen, came to her; but the Prince began to talk to her quite like a friend and told her that his heart had been so stirred by her singing that it had let him have no rest. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband - and she saw that he was kind and handsome, she said yes, and laid her hand in his.'" Sebastian gagged, and Kurt snickered at how ridiculous this was. He wasn't sure why Olivia was so fond of this particular fairytale, but he didn't ask. Little kids fed off of this kind of fictional fairytale romance that would eventually end it happily ever after. He remembered a time where he longed for this too, hoping that some day he would get his prince, but he was long past hoping now.
Rapunzel, being the dumb blonde of this story, told the prince to come by and bring her a little bit of silk everyday so she could make a ladder with it so she could get down, because she didn't know how to. "But he got down there! Why couldn't he had brought her down with him, or at least brought her an actual ladder?" Kurt ranted, feeling himself get irrationally angry over some fairytale story. Olivia shushed him and demanded he keep reading.
"'The witch knew nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said in her distraction, 'Oh my, you are so much heavier when you climb than the young Prince.'" Both he and Sebastian huffed in irritation over the stupidness of this kid. "'Ah! You wicked child,' cried the witch 'What do I hear thee say! I thought I had separated you from all the world but you have deceived me.'" Kurt rolled his eyes at that.
"'In her anger she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful hair, seized a pair of scissors –'" he pretended his hands were scissors, and grabbed one of Olivia's tiny curls and pretended to cut it off. "'- and snip, snap - cut it all off. Rapunzel's lovely braids lay on the ground but the witch was not through. She was so angry that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery,'"
"Jesus, this is really morbid for a fairytale," Kurt pointed out, to which Sebastian hummed in agreement. Once he thought about it, most fairytales were, but then again most of them were written by the Grimm Brothers, so they all had a pinch of dark humor in them. Also, when he really thought about it, most of the heroines were always in confinement in some point in the story. Olivia whined for him to finish the story, and he did with a roll of his eyes as he turned the page.
The prince came back some time later, and the witch made her hair into a weave, and let the prince climb up it once again. She caught him and he fell out of the window after telling him that Rapunzel was gone. He made it out within an inch of his life, but he fell into some thorns, which pierced his eyes and made him go blind. They sat there for a moment with that mental image sitting in their brains, which made them all cringe in unison.
"'Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries and did nothing but weep over the loss of his dearest Rapunzel.'" Kurt sighed in exasperation, hoping this story was coming to an end soon. It was just too weird. "'In this way, the Prince roamed in misery for some months and at length came to the desert where the witch had banished Rapunzel. He heard a voice singing and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it. When he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell into his arms and wept. Two of her tears fell on his eyes and the Prince could see again. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.'" Both of the men sighed in relief when the last line was said, glad to be done with that story. Olivia giggled and clapped her hands. Kurt closed the book and stood up, bowing to her and smirking.
"That was so good! You read voices good, Kurtsie," Sebastian took the book from him and set it back where it was earlier. "Why, thank you, Olivia. I'm glad you enjoyed it," he gave her a warm smile as Sebastian came up to her bed. He tucked the covers up over her where she had untucked them while she listened to the story. She settled under the covers with a tiny, adorable yawn, and rubbed her eyes. Sebastian smiled at her, and bent down to kiss her forehead. "Go to sleep, baby. Don't come running out to me again, okay?" he asked, warily. He was sure she would do it anyway, but it was worth a shot.
"Is Kurtsie going to be here in ffee morning?" she asked, looking over at him. Kurt shrugged. "I might stop by. We'll see," he gave her a slight smile, which she returned, and held her arms out to him for a hug. He chuckled and hugged her, and told her goodnight, before Sebastian tucked her back in. He put a hand on Kurt's lower back and led him out of the room, before turning off the light and cracking the door just slightly on his way out.
Once they were back into dimly lit living room, Sebastian turned towards him, and gave him a small, sheepish smile. "Thanks… for that," he said, shuffling his feet, and ducking his head. It was more than just for helping him with the bedtime routine. Kurt was the only one there for him at the moment, though he was sure that Kurt didn't even know it. It really meant a lot to him.
"That was the easiest she's ever gone to bed for me," he shrugged, keeping his eyes on the floor. Kurt had never seen Sebastian look so… shy before. He looked like a little boy as he kicked the floor, and refused to look at Kurt. "Anytime," he replied, sincerely. By the looks of it, Sebastian really needed help, and he figured he might as well help him. Kurt was always one to see the good in people, and there was plenty of good in Sebastian, even if he didn't like to show it.
Before he knew it, he was pulled into a hug. Kurt melted into his touch, and tentatively wrapped his arms back around him. He knew that today of all days Sebastian probably needed a hug. He felt him squeeze him tighter, as he buried his face into his shoulder.
Sebastian was trying his hardest not to break down. He had kept himself pent up all day, and he was just plain tired. He was ready to let himself fall apart in the privacy and comfort of his own home, but it was hard when Kurt was here to keep himself together. Something about him always made him put his walls down, and let his guard down. But he tried desperately to keep it up with insults and jokes, so he could only hope Kurt couldn't just see right through him. There wasn't anything good there, so why would he have stayed for all this time?
His thoughts were cut off when he heard little footsteps shuffle to where they were standing. He let go of Kurt, and chuckled as he saw Olivia staring up at them with big eyes, and an even bigger smile. Sebastian rolled his eyes and launched himself at her, tickling her until she wriggled out his grasp. He ran after her once she sped off, and chased her into her room until she jumped into bed, and pulled the covers over herself. He shook his head and placed another kiss to her forehead, warning her of the dire circumstances if she did that again.
Sebastian made his way back to the living room, where an amused Kurt stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "She looks like she's going to be quite a handful," he stated.
"Oh, trust me, she is," he confirmed, rolling his eyes playfully. He stepped closer to him, stuffing his hands into his pocket, for the first time, not knowing what else to say. Luckily, Kurt came to his rescue, without saying anything. He leaned in and pecked his cheek, which was something he had never done before. Sebastian bit his lip, feeling his face warm up. Kurt chuckled lightly, and placed a firm hand on his arm.
"You know, you can call me if you need anything, right?" he reminded him. Sebastian nodded, not allowing himself to talk and say something stupid. Kurt sighed, and squeezed his arm, before letting go and heading over to the door, where Sebastian followed. "Goodnight, Sebastian," he said, softly, giving him a warm smile.
"Night, Kurt," he replied, and with that, Kurt was off. Sebastian locked the door behind him, and trudged to his room, not bothering to change out of his clothes or do anything but lay in his bed. He was too tired – mentally, and physically.
He waited for a little while to see if Olivia would come in and join him, despite his warnings, before he buried his face into his pillow to mask his sobs, as he finally allowed himself to break down.
Additional Author's Notes: Feel free to review! Also, I want to kind of know my audience this time around, so in that little box down there with your reviews, tell me your favorite Grimm's Fairy Tale!
