A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this one out! Finals and moving kicked my ass. I took a lot of time between some segments (not on purpose) so hopefully this chapter somewhat makes sense and I hope that you like it!
"So, my room's over there, second one on the right. You can, like, lay down in there until I come back. I would go in there with you now, but… I know you don't wanna have to hang out with the guy who smells like ass."
"It's fine, Sebastian. You do what you gotta do. I'm the one that's intruding here." Kurt said as he watched Sebastian simultaneously de-leash Cosmo (a Golden Retriever and Border Collie mix Sebastian was dog-sitting for the week, he learned) and kick off his shoes at the same time.
"Nah, none of that. You're a guest, Hummel. And at Casa de Smythe-Mulligan-Fitzpatrick-Rosenthal, we treat each guest like family."
"Must be weird for the one-night stands that make it back here." Kurt teased.
"And that's why we quickly usher them out the door as soon as possible afterward. To hide the shame." Sebastian flashed him a wink, balling the leash up in his hands and watching Cosmo run off. The two made their way out from the front hallway into the living room, where the old couch from his place came into view.
It was so strange seeing it in this new environment, surrounded by other furniture that wasn't his and being sat on by two men he barely knew.
"Oh, boys!" Sebastian piped up, causing the two to glance up at him only briefly. They were entirely too focused on whatever video game they were playing. "We have a guest. I expect you to be on your best behavior, yeah?" The other two simply grunted in reply and Kurt almost laughed.
It transported him back to the days he would find Finn, Puck and/or Sam in the living room playing video games. He was sure there was one summer where all three of the boys camped out for three days in front of that TV, playing through an entire game from start to finish as soon as they got it. The smell of the place afterwards was absolutely horrendous. He was glad that wasn't the case today.
Sebastian pointed out his room again and went off to the bathroom. Kurt had every intention to go and lie down in the dark for a while, but as he walked around the couch and caught a glance at the screen, he stopped in his tracks.
"Jesus. Is it cool to have one of these again?" Kurt spoke up. Emery, the bald one, looked back for a split second before turning back to the screen.
"The GameCube? Oh, yeah. Retro-retro is back."
"I can't believe the resurgence of the 90s we had back in the 10s is retro. I feel geriatric now. Thanks." Kurt chuckled, leaning on the back of the couch, watching as a highly pixelated and blurry Kirby swallowed Dr. Mario whole and turned into him momentarily, silly thing on his head and everything.
"Fuck! Is that the only attack you know?!" Mason cried out as Emery cackled maniacally, waiting for Kirby to spit out Dr. Mario at the edge of the stage before moving to punch the character and make him unable to jump his way back up on the platform. Kurt watched with the hint of a smile on his lips as Mason furiously button smashed until Dr. Mario finally plummeted to his final death in a flash of lights.
"You wanna play?" Emery turned around to ask him as the leaderboard came up on the TV. Dr. Mario hung his head in defeat while Kirby triumphantly jumped around.
"Oh, I dunno. I was just gonna go lie down…"
"Aw, alright. Another time, then." Emery gave him a polite smile and Kurt turned on his heel and started walking away.
"Shit, now I kinda wanna play with him." Mason grumbled.
"Why? You that confident that you can beat him?"
"Well, yeah. I mean… Look at him."
That flicked a switch somewhere inside of Kurt. The primal part of him that had a strong need to prove people wrong. He turned back around and strutted up to them, flashing a sweet smile their way.
"Actually, I changed my mind. I think I could go for a round or two." Mason raised an eyebrow at him in challenge, a cocky grin slowly growing on his face.
Emery handed him his controller and moved aside so Kurt could sit down. He pretended to hem and haw over the character selection page, but he knew exactly who he was going to pick.
"She's pretty." Kurt said in the most flamboyant way possible as he chose Zelda, seeing the two guys give each other a look in his peripheral vision.
"Whatever you say." Mason said, holding back a laugh. Kurt just continued his innocent act as Mason picked a stage, an easy one for a beginner like him.
Little did he know that Kurt had done this same song and dance for years with several of his male friends back in high school. At first it wasn't an act, he genuinely was a beginner. But when he decided to one day indulge Finn in playing this game with him, Kurt completely destroyed him. Finn went through his entire catalog of games with Kurt to try and beat him at something, but beginner's luck and basic hand eye coordination knowledge served him well.
Every time after that when someone would come over to the Hummel-Hudson home for video games, he and Finn would hatch a plan to lose enough games to get the other player or players cocky (Finn didn't have to try too hard) and then drop the Kurt bomb on them and shoot their self-confidence straight down.
Kurt went easy on the kid for a bit, asking simple questions about what buttons to press, (he genuinely did need a refresher, it had been almost a decade since he had played this game in particular) not letting Mason kill him, but not really fighting back either.
Then he "accidentally" changed Zelda into Sheik and raised some damn hell.
Sebastian came back out into the living room to witness Kurt's final moments of destruction which involved Mason standing on the couch and spewing curses, Emery running around screaming like a banshee and Kurt laughing maniacally.
Several moments later, Dr. Mario was again meeting his demise, being thrown into the ether until he was barely a blip on the screen. The three of them all yelled out in unison, Kurt and Emery in triumph and Mason in disbelief.
Mason plopped down onto the couch and Emery came over to kneel and dramatically bow down in front of Kurt.
"Where'd you learn to play like that?!" Mason asked, out of breath from all of the movement he had been doing. He was a person who played video games with his entire body, it seemed.
"I told you. I'm ancient." Kurt smirked.
"Didn't take you for a video game nerd." Sebastian piped up behind him, rubbing a towel over his damp hair. Kurt twisted to look back at him.
"Oh, god. I'm not. I don't even like them." Mason let out an offended scoff at that and Emery laughed loudly.
"You can't be good and not like them! That's not fair!" Mason exclaimed, his arms flailing around.
"Exactly why I'm not a lawyer. But if I was, it'd be over for you hoes."
"And that's why that's all I'm gonna do tonight. Don't wanna deflate your ego any further. Thanks for letting me play, boys." Kurt moved to stand but Sebastian had circled around the couch and was now standing in front of him.
"Not so fast, Hummel. I wanna see you in action."
"Trust me, you don't." Mason grumbled.
"What do you propose, Smythe?" Kurt asked, an eyebrow raised as he took a step towards him. Sebastian stared him down, his mouth twisting into a smirk.
"Mario Party," Emery and Mason gasped dramatically. "A game of pure dumb luck."
"You're on." Kurt put on a smirk of his own. The three roommates moved to get everything set up while Kurt sat on the couch, scrolling through his phone. He had eight missed calls from Rachel, two from Jesse and an unopened text from Blaine. Just seeing his name on the screen made his blood boil.
Only thirty minutes ago he was sad about the loss of Blaine but after ruminating on it during the walk back to the apartment and as he sat here on their old couch, he was just… angry. He tried not to show it, though, deleting the notifications and putting on a strained smile when Sebastian glanced back at him.
"Don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing." Andrew said as he came in from the front hall and saw the men try to untangle a mess of cords.
"You don't have to participate, you know." Sebastian replied as Andrew plopped down next to Kurt.
"Oh, I know. But now I have to," He said, loosening his tie and turning to look at Kurt. "It's like seeing the aftermath of a car crash on the side of the road," He explained. "Upsetting… but you just can't look away."
"I don't see how you have the right to judge when you've never even played it. It's hard!" Mason exclaimed, seeming to have given up on helping the other two connect everything, opting for sitting on the floor next to them, cross-legged, looking like a dejected child.
"Pressing a button at the right time? Yeah, sounds real challenging, darling," Andrew cooed, standing and leaning down to press a kiss to Mason's forehead and head towards the kitchen. If the guy's face wasn't red enough from that, the look he exchanged with Kurt as soon as Andrew trotted off to the kitchen made it that much worse and he quickly got up and sped his way off into the restroom, slamming the door behind him. Kurt caught Andrew's eye then and the other simply rolled his eyes fondly, causing Kurt to smile to himself. He'd have to ask Sebastian more about those two's relationship later.
Andrew came back into the kitchen with drinks as everyone else settled down onto the couch and on bean bag chairs on the floor. Sebastian saddled up next to Kurt, smiling as he handed him his controller.
"So, what exactly am I getting into here?" Kurt asked, surveying the controller. It was newer than the one for the GameCube.
"Oh, you'll see." Sebastian smirked, turning forward to navigate the main menu.
"How long is this gonna take anyway? Is it like a low-commitment type of thing, or…?" Sebastian turned his head back to look at him, his eyebrows drawn together.
"Oh, shit. Do you have to be somewhere? Do you have to get Talulah? Because we don't have to —"
"No, no. It's fine. I'm totally free for the rest of the day. I'm just trying to figure out how long it's gonna take to kick your asses. Is it instant satisfaction or a long con?" Kurt smirked and Sebastian returned it, rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he turned back to the screen.
"Hey, Seb. Are there still those cupcakes you made the other day?" Mason asked as he emerged from the restroom and made his way towards the kitchen. Kurt noticed Sebastian's shoulders tense up a tiny bit, not turning from where he was setting up the game. "Nevermind, found 'em."
"Oh shit, are they those coconut ones? With the drizzle?" Emery asked. Sebastian was clenching his jaw.
"Yeah, man."
"Hell yeah. Bring 'em over."
"Oh, there's some, like, pink ones too —"
"Strawberry," Sebastian muttered.
"Want those too?"
"For sure."
"Another hobby?" Kurt asked, an amused and slightly confused smile on his face.
"You could say that." Sebastian replied, glancing back at him, his face a bit more relaxed now. Kurt expected there to be more explanation or at least an admittance along the lines of "Yeah, I bake. What of it?" but there was nothing.
Soon Mason was bringing a tray of the cupcakes and setting them on the coffee table with some plates. Everyone but Kurt and Sebastian took some and happily gobbled them down while they puttered on the character selection page for a while before finally settling on who they wanted to play as.
It didn't take Kurt too long to get into the swing of the game. He had to make sure to have someone explain the rules of the mini-games to him but the overall concept was pretty easy to grasp and they were just having a chill, fun time. Kurt didn't see what Andrew was talking about earlier.
But at a certain point about thirty minutes in, shit went down.
It was every man for himself and Kurt had to make sure he was reading the menus of the mini-games quick before they were being launched into it. People were buying items to sabotage each other and it was a blood bath. Curses lingered in the air, popcorn that was made when the cupcakes were all gone was all over the floor from when it had been flung at the other players and the TV when someone was having particularly bad luck, breaks were taken to pee and generally just walk away and calm down.
And while all of that sounded awful out of context, it was the most fun Kurt had had in a long time.
Sebastian ended up winning but Kurt was, surprisingly in second. He really wasn't very good at this game in particular (as it wasn't a game of dexterity and required just sheer luck for the most part) but he had somehow managed to squeak his way from last place all the way up there with some well-timed rolls leading him to the coveted stars everyone was trying to steal from each other.
A few minutes after the game was over and everyone did their share of cleaning up the living room (something that frankly astounded Kurt, remembering what it was like to live with boys way back when) the three of the roommates went back to their respective bedrooms, leaving Kurt and Sebastian alone in the living room, lounging on the couch.
Kurt picked at the remnants of the crumbs left on the wrapper of his cupcake. Sebastian's roommates made sure to leave one of each for him so that he could experience to "magic" so to speak. They sat in silence while Kurt ate, just facing each other and leaning against the opposite arms of the couch, their knees to their chests and their feet almost touching each other.
"How are you feeling?" Sebastian asked, chin resting on top of his knees.
"Devastated," Kurt licked a bit of icing off his finger. "I thought for sure I was gonna win that game." He glanced up to see Sebastian's eyebrows knitted.
"You know what I mean."
"And I meant what I said." Kurt murmured, staring down at the wrapper. He felt Sebastian's eyes on him, begging them to meet his. After a few moments the other let out a sigh.
"I just can't believe he'd —"
"Don't." Kurt said, looking up. He saw Sebastian's expression change from angered to confused.
"Don't? Don't what? Call Blaine out on his bullshit? Listen. I don't know the guy. Cheating is a shitty thing but hey, he still could be a decent person and you guys could have just been slowly losing each other already. Doesn't excuse it, but whatever. I thought maybe he could be redeemable in some other aspect, even if that aspect doesn't involve you and Talulah. Like, maybe he isn't a completely garbage person," Sebastian took a brief pause, shaking his head in disbelief.
"But this… that shit… telling her that you two were getting back together. That's bullshit and you know it. That crosses a whole other line. He didn't just fuck up your plans and your emotions, but that of two other people who are practically still children! Can't you see that that's fucked up?"
"Of course I know that." Kurt furrowed his brows. Sebastian hadn't shown his thoughts about this whole thing before. Even when he had to deal with the whole fiasco of picking up Talulah from Blaine's apartment, he didn't really show his own emotions about everything except for the occasional backhand comment that Kurt usually let roll off his back. Maybe back then it was inappropriate to have said anything. Like he said, he didn't know Blaine and their situation and Kurt hadn't really shared much about it either.
But that event was really the straw that broke the camel's back in regards to their friendship. So now Sebastian had a right to voice his concerns and… surprisingly, Kurt sort of wanted to hear them.
Never in this breakup did he want to hear the whole "god, that sucks, what an asshole" spiel from his friends. He didn't want to be reminded of all of the mistakes Kurt had made in their relationship that lead them to this point. Kurt had shut them down every time and they had backed down and politely offered their comfort and weak threats to hurt Blaine said mostly out of obligation.
But Sebastian prevailed.
"Then why don't you acknowledge it? This whole time we've known each other you've just told me the straight facts about the situation and not how you feel about it. If I were you, I'd be fucking pissed and ranting about it all the damn time!" Kurt shook his head at that, looking down at the wrapper and busying himself with folding it into a small little square. He needed something to do with his hands, something to distract him from this conversation. "If I didn't know better I'd say that you're not angry and you've forgiven him… but that's not the case. Right?"
Kurt took a longer pause than probably necessary, stopping his folding.
"Kurt."
"I have to." Kurt murmured. He noticed Sebastian scooting closer to him.
"Have to what?"
"I can't afford to be upset. Life moves on and so should I," It came out more robotically than he intended. It was the mantra he had been repeating to himself for months. Well, for most of his life, really. "And I know that's stupid. I know that, logically, I need to let myself feel everything I need to feel. Let it out. But I just… can't. I have a life to keep living and I can't just stop everything because I'm in pain."
"Bottling it up is going to do more harm than good, though. I know that's cheesy but it's true, trust me. You can forgive and forget and be ready to face him at family gatherings for the rest of time, but first you gotta deal with all of the shitty, emotional stuff."
Kurt knew that. None of this was news to him. But he wanted to hold it off for just a little longer. Return the baby clothes, tell Talulah she wasn't getting a baby brother after all, finalize the divorce, take a damn solo vacation to the Bahamas and let some random stranger make him forget all about the decade of heartache.
"Kurt, look at me," Sebastian took Kurt's hands, the ones trapping the tiny square and god had it been a while since someone held his hands and, presumably, told him everything was going to be alright. "I know I probably seem like the last person on the planet who should be helping with any kind of emotional issue seeing as I am the least serious person I know —"
"I do know some comedians…" Kurt offered, giving him a watery smile.
"I am almost thirty years old with a license to practice law, three roommates, and a job which I've had since I was twenty-one that I refuse to leave and frankly adore despite how much shit I talk about it… at a department store. I should not exist," Sebastian chuckled. "But I do. And I've been through some shit, so I really shouldn't be here… But I am," Kurt's heart dropped a bit at that. "And I know I've said this before… but I'll keep saying it until you believe me. I'm here for you. If you need someone to take care of Talulah while you deal with stuff, I'm here. If you need to cry over the phone at three in the morning, I'm here. And if you need to break something… don't come over to my house." Kurt laughed at that.
"But seriously. I'll be here when you need someone to… throw your emotions at. And I'm not just saying that because I have to. I mean it. I literally have nothing else to do."
"Except for bake some delicious cupcakes." Kurt teased. Sebastian rolled his eyes fondly.
"Except for that, yes."
"Because, seriously. They're good." Sebastian snorted and Kurt's smiled widened.
"Fuck off."
"You should start a bakery or something!"
"I'll keep that in mind."
The two of them fell into a comfortable silence then, soft smiles on their faces. After a few moments, Sebastian let go of Kurt's hands but remained sitting in front of him.
"So, how are you feeling now?" He asked, tensing up for Kurt's answer.
"Better," Kurt replied, causing Sebastian to let out a sigh of relief. "But… ask me again in ten minutes."
Sebastian chuckled.
"Will do."