Note from author: Will obviously have multiple chapters... Please give it a chance and enjoy!
"So what do you say? Will you do this one little favor for me?"
"Will you buy a house for me and Rory to live in for when he comes back from Ireland?"
"Whatever you want, my Super Nova."
"That means you're going to buy his plane ticket too, right?"
"Whatever you want."
—
Sebastian Smythe sat across the large, mahogany desk within his father's office, legs crossed as one finger tapped anxiously on the arm rest. His father was sitting in the polished leather seat in a complete mirrored position of his son. No matter how much Sebastian hated to admit it, the two showed more similarities in their actions than he ever accounted for.
Usually whenever his father was sitting at his office desk, there would be a pile of papers that would be sprawled on top and the telephone would be spoken into non-stop. But instead there his father sat, legs crossed as he had his hand lay on the arm rest. His father wasn't working and his father didn't seem like he was in a happy mood— these were all things that gave Sebastian signals that something unfortunate was going to be headed his way.
Sebastian was the type of person who liked to know what was going to happen next, and to adjust what was going to happen next precisely to his benefits. Variable change was something he often did not account for and he hated it when it did not help him at all.
Unable to hold a composed posture for so long, Sebastian took a glance at the clock on the bookshelf of law books to direct his attention away from his father.Two forty-five. He knew he was going to be late, but it was something that he would probably be able to reason out of going to for one day. Sebastian shifted in his seat, no longer crossing his legs, and had his legs stretched out before him with his feet laying flat on the floor. His father maintained his original position.
"Father," Sebastian changed his seating again, sitting with his back straight against the chair. He laced his fingers together and placed them neatly on his lap. "You haven't told me why you've called me to your office, and you haven't told me for the last fifteen minutes we've been sitting here, so if you do not plan on telling me or doing anything with my being at all any time soon, I request to leave to do more productive work."
"Not yet."
His voice was stern and uncomfortable. It was something that Sebastian never confessed aloud to making him nervous.
Like always, he preferred to not voice out what made him want to shiver in fear. Sebastian pressed his lips together, still at a war of trying to hide those nerves, and relaxed in his seat a bit more. For all he knew, he and his father could be continuing this awful staring game for the rest of the day.
There was a sudden knock on the door, making Sebastian's father stand up from his seat alert. Sebastian watched as he traveled around his desk and to the door to answer it as though it was a mission, his stern voice suddenly changing into a softer, more welcoming one as he began to keep repeating: "Welcome, welcome… Thank for coming. Please, make yourselves at home… Thank you so much again for coming."
Sebastian hadn't turned his head at all to see who the visitors were, completely uninterested and taking a breath of relief to have his father's cold eyes off of him, until he felt a hand push on his shoulder forward out of the seat. "Sebastian," his father's voice was commanding but still in that fake comforting voice Sebastian always associated with him using on his clients. "Stand near the side so Mr. and Ms. Motta both can sit down in the seats."
"Oh, no." the voice of Mr. Motta was deep and rich with the sound of money and comparatively just as business-friendly as Sebastian's father. "You really don't need to."
Nevertheless, the look from Sebastian's father made him stand up from his seat. Sebastian took a step to the side, leaning against the nearby wall framed with family photos and certificates, and gestured for the guests to take his seat with his hands and a civil smile.
"Why, thank you, son."
Hearing any adults calling him "son" always made Sebastian cringe inside, but the perfect child image he learned to act with made him smile in gratitude. Mr. Motta took the seat that Sebastian was formally waiting in, and taking the other seat was Ms. Motta.
Wait a minute… Sebastian's civil smile began to fade as he stared at the young lady. She had tanned skin and dark eyes that contrasted greatly against the pink and white pallette of her clothes and overly accessorized outfit, an image that seemed too similar to the strawberry crepes that Sebastian enjoyed every afternoon during his time in France. She looked too familiar, but his mind just couldn't recognize from where…
"Please, excuse that look of confusion on my son's face." Sebastian's father always retreated to pointing out his son's flaws for conversation starters. "He often has the look when he's thinking a little too hard for his own good."
Cue the exchange of hearty laughter between his father and his conversation party. Sebastian usually would have a soft red begin to highlight his cheeks or shoot a glare at his father's remark, but his attention was too focused on the girl to even pay close attention to what was being said. She also wasn't paying too much attention to what was being said between the two adults for she seemed too focused on the ends up her hair that she was twirling about in his manicured fingers. She must have felt Sebastian's stare because her fingers froze and she turned her head to stare at Sebastian with guilty eyes as though she was caught doing something unacceptable.
Mr. Motta continued laughing, Sebastian unsure whether or not it was sincere as he made it seemed. "Well, I don't mind hard-thinkers— we need more of those in the Motta family. I'm glad to be having one marry my darling daughter!"
The conversation continued to linger on between Mr. Smythe and Mr. Motta, sometimes with Mr. Motta's daughter chiming in with some compliment to her own self-proclaimed assets, and sometimes even Sebastian answered questions directed toward him to reassure that he was still a part of the conversation, but overall, the room he was in began to feel surreal. The walls began to close in and he wasn't sure if the floor he stood on would be able to support him any longer. He was, and yet was not part of the discussion going on with the three other people in the room.
Sebastian took a glance at the clock once more. Three seventeen.
Oh, yeah. He was late for sure for an escape he would have done anything to go to instead of the situation he was suddenly pulled into at that very moment.
—
"Well, it was great having this chance to make things official with you."
Mr. Motta shook hands with a babbling Mr. Smythe full of gratitude. Sugar was standing behind her father, playfully balancing herself on her heels. Sebastian stood in attention behind his father as well, noticing the details in everything that his front door had just so he had something to stare at instead of the rest of the group. Both of their fathers finalized last words and began to separate.
"Come on, Super Nova," Mr. Motta said as a chaffeur opened the door to their car for them. "Time to go."
"Not yet, daddy."
Her voice was high and squeaky, and although Sebastian often did find higher voices to be cute, her's just managed to be high and squeaky at all the wrong times. It was irritating to his ears and grew more and more annoying to hear as images of the rest of the New Directions began to flash into his mind.
Sugar wrapped her arms around her father's, clinging on tightly and staring at him with wide, persuasive eyes. "I wanna spend more time with Sebastian."
Sebastian died inside hearing those words being said out of a person like that. His father, on the other hand, seemed to approve of that request greatly. "You know what? The Landaulet just finished getting a polish this morning. Why don't I call Jefferson over to let you two go out for today?"
With a toothy smile and gleaming eyes, Sugar looked back at her father for approval and began to bounce in her heels in excitement. Her father would never deny a reaction like that. Sebastian also looked back at his father, a mixture of angry and unenthusiasm and a slight plea for help. But, as usual, his father never seemed to understand the look that Sebastian held in his eyes. His father returned another commanding look at his son, forcing him to obey. Sebastian rolled his eyes and hung his shoulders low in defeat. Sugar detached herself from her father's arm and suddenly clinged onto Sebastian's, making him grimace and want to immediately push her aside for wrinkling his jacket. But both of their fathers were watching, so the civility that Sebastian was trained to have restrained him from any brash action.
When the Smythe vehicle drove into the driveway, Sebastian had kindly allowed Sugar inside before following. Sugar waved through the window as the car began to drive away.
Without the presence of adults near, the solemn shyness Sebastian had shown gradually began to transform into his infamously known snarkiness. Sugar was still in her giddy mood, bouncy lightly with the seatbelt restraining her as she stared at the passing vehicles. Sebastian looked at his watch, and then back at the other teen.
"Why are you going along with this?"
Sugar somehow managed the bubbly personality and Sebastian was beginning to wonder if it was actually a part of her character. She turned toward his direction and blatantly explained: "Rory and I need a new abode for our romantic struggles. Daddy says that the longer I stay with you, the bigger the house he'll get us."
Rory, Rory… Sebastian was struggling to recall which New Direction member was that. It wasn't Blaine. It wasn't Kurt. It wasn't Rachel or her boyfriend. It wasn't Santana…
Sebastian noticed that the window separating the passengers from Jefferson was down, so he immediately closed it for privacy. Jefferson seemed to not be offended and continued driving. "Do you even realize what's going on?" Sebastian felt the sharpness in the delivery in his words. He hadn't spoke like that to anyone since before he found out about the attempted suicide… "Our parents set us up in some arranged marriage as though we're part of some horoscope-believing Indian cultured family and you're only going along with this idea because you want to have some happily-ever-after with some guy that probably can't even afford to buy a gallon of gas for the car we're riding in right now. How can you even act content about this?"
Sugar rose her shoulders and dropped them with an oblivious expression. She pouted her lips and with innoncence beaming from her dark eyes said in a slight sing-songy tone, "I'm not the one who needs a beard so their father's reputation doesn't get slaughtered for having a gay son~"
"I'm probably the most openly gay person in the world. I can't believe he barelyfound out." Sebastian wasn't sure if he was angry or surprised. "I'm surprised even you know; I didn't expect you to be know in that difference seeing as you can't seem to know the difference between having style and parading a plain fashion faux pas."
Her mouth opened at that comment, but then she crossed her arms across her chest. She turned in her seat to face the window, her back to Sebastian.
The sight of the unhappy girl beside him made the corners of Sebastian's mouth begin to point down. He began to feel the guilt brewing through his insides, a feeling he was sure to not have felt months ago before his change of character when he decided to formally stop his immaturity from causing anymore harm. Sebastian punched himself inside for letting that side come out again. He had thought that he was long gone from acting like that again, but appearently he wasn't.
She still had her back turned toward him, her personality no longer bouncing anymore. Sebastian played with his fingers as his mind tried to formed the words say. "Look, I just don't really know what to do… So I'm just really sorry that you're being dragged into—"
His apology was cut off as Sugar suddenly shifted in her seat, facing forward and leaning toward the glass separating them and Jefferson to knock on it. Hearing the sudden sound, Jefferson managed to lower the window while still driving. "Jeffy," Sebastian was beginning to realize that persuasive effect that Sugar's high voice, albeit the stoic expression forever on Jefferson's face showed no reaction. "Drive us out to Scandal's. I'm sure you know how to get there with this kid always making you drive him places."
Jefferson nodded at the commanding, and then turned on his signal to begin merging to the next lane. Sugar blew kisses toward him in gratitude and Sebastian then began to roll back up the window as fast as the car would allow it. His eyes quickly sharpened on the spontaneous girl. "I haven't been there in months— honest. Why and how do you even know that place?"
"You don't think everyone in the New Directions knows what's going on with each other? When Kurt and Blaine have drama, and oh, they get drama, and that's the juiciest stuff anyone wants to hear." Sugar began to explain. Her bubbly personality was slowly appearing again with each word. "I can't believe that you actually got those two lovebirds to even go there. I used to think that their love life was stiffer than Mr. Schue's hair, but I think you really helped them along the way with that problem."
Sebastian allowed himself time to be patient and actually listen to what the other girl was saying, eventhough most of it seemed to be digression to his ears. "That still doesn't explain why we're going there now."
Sugar looked up at the car ceiling as though her thoughts were written up there, and then back at the confused boy. "Becaaaaaause," she stretched the word to give herself more time to think. "If we're going to get my daddy to think that I am willing to marry you so I can get me and Rory that new house, I'm going to have to get you to go through with it. And if I get you to announce it to your people—"
"The people at Scandal's are not 'my people'."
"… The people you hang out with—"
"How do I 'hang out with' people I haven't seem in months?"
"… The people you're closest with—"
"The people I'm 'closest with' are only the people that are literally in a ten foot radius with."
"… Your friends and buddies—"
"I don't have any friends and buddies—"
"You're making this really difficult, okay?" Sugar's high voice suddenly snapped and rang through Sebastian's ears. He decided to not cut her off anymore and let her continue explaining. "If I get you to announce that you're going to marry me to some group of people, then they'll think you're serious (because you have to be) and then you can't back down on your word and you have to marry me. Because that's the type of guy you are: you don't want to let people down and you don't back down on your word."
Sebastian squinted his eyes as soon as he heard her say that last statement. Despite the little information Sebastian actually knew about Sugar, he knew that she probably didn't even know what things saying those words did to him. It felt odd to hear, not just because of her voice, but because of the twinge it made him feel in his emotions. Did somebody actually think that about him?
He sat in his seat feeling overwhelmed with what had happened during the little time spent with the Mottas. Sugar watched as his posture began to drop, with his elbows on his knees and his hands holding his head from falling. He began to laugh quietly to himself and it made Sugar tilt her head slightly in confusion.
"We're so stupid…" Sebastian managed to say between laughs. "We're just a pair of stupid rich kids who're being forced to do stuff we don't want to… We're never satisfied, and even though we can get whatever we wanted, we never seem to have it. Now look what we're doing just so we can get it…"
Sugar bit her lip. Something in the words that Sebastian said shot her in the heart pretty hard. He must have been right if it made her feel that way. She managed to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes.
Sebastian stopped laughing to himself as he sat back up in his car seat again. The car turned and Sebastian saw that they were nearing Scandal's. "How long are they giving us before the wedding?"
"The end of summer," Sugar replied confidently, proud that she somehow remembered part of the conversation that their father's had earlier. "Right before senior year, they'll do the signatures and whatever and we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Smythe."
"So a little less than three months, huh?" Sebastian smiled. Sugar caught that his green eyes seemed to have some bittersweet sincerity in his words now. "I guess we'll just have to go along with it and enjoy these few months being single."
She smiled back at him and nodded. There was something more comforting about him now that his words and the way he said them didn't sound so critical. She didn't mind being next to him when he was like this.
Sebastian turned toward the other girl, his fiance, his future wife, Sugar.
"Sorry that you're being dragged into this just to cover up my dad's embarrassment."
"No need to apologize, buck-o. Like I said earlier, at least I'm getting something out of this."
Sugar wanted to add I don't think you're an embarrassment, but she bit the bottom of her lip before she could. Sebastian relaxed back into his seat and stared out the window beside him. She was glad that he didn't see that she could have said more, or if he did, she was glad that he didn't pressure her to say it. The last thing she wanted to do was say something too sincerely and cause this planned marriage to be something more.