A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I always get so excited, write a good majority of the chapter and then peter out and just stop. I always open the document and keep intending to finish it, but never do. Finally did for this one, though. Hope the length makes up for the wait! Things are looking up for our dear Mr. Hummel.
Kurt Hummel was on a hunt.
Today was his thirtieth birthday. He was having a dinner party with his nearest and dearest. A relaxing night of wine, good food and conversation. Exactly what the doctor ordered. He had already gotten the ingredients for what he was going to make for the first two courses, but now he had to figure out dessert.
The only thing that had come to mind for what he wanted was that damn cheesecake Sebastian had brought him months ago. He tried texting Sebastian all morning asking if he remembered the place he got it from, but to no avail. He didn't get a single text from the other. He had gotten a midnight Happy Birthday text but after that he just got radio silence. It concerned him a little bit, but mostly just pissed him off.
He went on a deep dive through the internet, searching for the menus of several bakeries that were between he and Sebastian's place which were… a surprising amount. He had to narrow it down to closer to his place as he remembered it was still slightly warm and untouched by the time he brought it back. When looking at Facebook pages filled with pictures of products and Instagram tags, he had to resort to figuring out the login to his Yelp account, desperate that someone would leave a cheesecake-related review.
It was a long-shot and he knew it, but he needed it. It'd be different if it were something like a pie or a cake. Even if he liked it as much as the cheesecake, he wouldn't go out of his way like this for it. He'd settle.
Kurt Hummel and cheesecake though… they had a special bond.
Plus it was his birthday. The big 3-0. After how shitty year 29 was, he deserved to get something he wanted. Even if just for tonight.
He was about to give up at a certain point. Jesse and Rachel were coming over in a little bit. Rachel was going to take Kurt birthday shopping and Jesse was going to watch the girls and he sort of wanted to just chill out until then.
There was bound to be another really good cheesecake in the area. His favorite place in the neighborhood closed down a year ago and he was too busy to search for another. Now was as good a time as any to start, he supposed.
He had stumbled his way onto this one French bakery's Instagram page (it was the most aesthetically pleasing of them all, with professional HD photographs and colorful backgrounds, surrounded by some appropriate set dressing) when he saw it.
The cheesecake of his dreams.
Kurt quickly scrolled up to the top of the page, remembering the name and finding it in Google Maps. And honestly, he was too excited for this.
He leapt off the couch, getting himself and Talulah dressed before heading out into the warm May day.
The bakery wasn't too far from the apartment. Well, not distance wise. But when you had a toddler whose legs suddenly stopped working, it was a nice little trek.
Pâtisserie Dubois was a quaint little place. The outside looked like it was plucked straight from a movie about Paris and put between two concrete beasts. It was painted pink and had huge windows to look inside, and a nice little patio to sit in covered by a striped shade. He half-expected to see people sitting at the tables wearing berets and turtlenecks and smoking from those long, Audrey Hepburn like cigarette holders.
The inside was cute and colorful and frankly already giving him a cavity. Pictures and clippings from newspapers covered one wall. Kurt walked along the wall and took in the progression. They told a story. By the door was what seemed to be the beginning of the store's journey, a picture taken in what looked like the sixties or seventies, the edges peeking from the frame frayed and age-stained. As he walked through the empty line, he saw the progression of time between both the storefront and a woman who was consistent in the photos: the owner, he presumed.
Talulah had charged in front of him, immediately drawn to the display case of sweets. She pressed her little face to the glass, breathing and creating condensation. He glanced over at her and was quick to pull her away a bit because he couldn't imagine how many grubby hands had touched that thing since the last time they wiped it down.
Kurt held onto her, kneeling down and looking at everything they had to offer. It all honestly looked too good to eat. They were immensely pleasing to look at and if the cheesecake he had (which he spotted quickly) was any indication, they were probably delicious, too.
He promised Talulah that she could pick one treat. She took her sweet time to mull it over, as it was obviously a very important decision, but luckily the place was pretty deserted. He hadn't even seen a cashier. Surely they weren't closed? He hadn't seen a sign. And there were some people eating eclairs outside.
Finally she picked out a small truffle (luckily not something huge like the large pieces of cake they had) and they made their way up in the line to the register. Still, nobody was there. Kurt sighed, walking around the counter a bit and craning his head to try and see if there was anybody in the back.
"Daddy, can I touch?" Talulah asked, pointing to a bell on the counter he hadn't seen.
"Oh, yeah. Ring it. Just once, though," He said, assuming it would alert whoever was working that there were customers. Talulah did so with gusto, the ding reverberating through the bakery. They waited a moment, and the second he saw a door in the back open, Talulah was letting go of his hand and rushing back to the display, announcing how she had changed her mind and now wanted something else.
He looked over at her to make sure she didn't go too far and when he turned back around he was met by the most amusing sight.
Sebastian freakin' Smythe, wearing a hot pink apron, a lime green shirt and khakis, a bit of flour dusting his cheeks and hair and his glasses.
"I thought we were done with this."
It had been literally months since his last chance encounter with Sebastian. The last times he had seen him had been completely deliberate and really, how many other places in New York City were there for them to somehow magically run into each other?
"Evidently not." Sebastian said, the surprise on his face replaced with something akin to embarrassment (but really, did Sebastian even feel shame?) for only a few moments before…
"'Bastian!" Talulah squealed, running up to the counter.
"Tula! Hey, kid!" He held his hand out and she reached up to give him a high five.
"What're you doing here?" She asked.
"I work here." He said, glancing up at Kurt briefly
"I know those khakis from somewhere," Kurt said, tapping his chin and smirking. Sebastian looked bashful, then, his gaze dropping to his pants and… was he blushing?
Hath hell frozen over?
"What can I do you guys for?"
"We're getting daddy a birthday cake!"
"Birthday cheesecake," Kurt clarified, making sure to exaggeratedly rake his eyes over his ensemble, silently asking so many questions.
"Ohhh. I get it, I get it. You're only here for the cheesecake and not for your favorite piece of man cake. I get it," Sebastian pretended to sniff, putting a hand over his heart in mock offense, causing Talulah to giggle. "I have to say I'm hurt, but I understand. We make a mean cheesecake."
"Why didn't you tell me about this whole… thing sooner?" Kurt gestured to the bakery around him. "You know I've been desperate for that cheesecake for months."
"Eh, it was never the right time," Sebastian said with a shrug. Kurt gave him a look that said he wasn't buying it and he could see the other deflate. "Gimme a sec. Lemme see if I can go on break, then I'll explain, yeah?"
"Wait! I want this!" Talulah piped up, pointing to a pink macron in the display case. Sebastian chuckled softly and grabbed it for her, putting it in a cute little bag. Kurt went to pull out his wallet but Sebastian put his hand up.
"It's on me. Go sit down, enjoy. I'll join you in a few,"
Kurt nodded and allowed Talulah to find them a table. A booth by the window. He watched as she took tiny bites of the pastry, knowing that she was going to have to savor them as it was the only desert she was getting, smiling to himself and temporarily forgetting about this whole situation.
Sebastian. Working in a French bakery. That he didn't know about. Being embarrassed? There were a lot of missing pieces falling into place here.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sebastian sliding over the counter gracefully, holding a plate with something on it and a wrapped up napkin in the other hand. He slid in next to Talulah, setting the plate down in front of Kurt.
"What this?"
"Birthday dacquoise," He answered, pulling two forks from the napkin. He then opened the rest of it to reveal some daisies that looked like they were made of fondant, presenting it to Talulah who gasped.
"Can I eat these?" She asked, pointing a little finger at them.
"Yeah! They're made of white chocolate fondant, totally edible."
"Thank you!" She squealed, taking it from him and shoving it into her mouth, causing the two adults to chuckle.
"Alright, Smythe. Spill." Kurt said.
"Eat." Sebastian said, handing him a fork.
"You're deflecting."
"You're getting a free cheesecake for your dinner party tonight. Plus these two. I can do whatever I want." Sebastian smirked. Kurt just rolled his eyes before digging his fork in and taking a bite, watching Sebastian look at him expectantly but trying to play it as nonchalant.
He had this guy pegged. Well, for the most part. This whole thing was certainly a curveball.
"Mm, that's good. What is that?"
"Almond, hazelnut meringue and biscuits."
"You make this?" Kurt asked, gesturing to it with the fork before going back in, as Sebastian went in on his own side.
"Yeah. I make most of the things around here. We usually have someone manning the front but her kid got sick at school and we sent her home."
"We being who?" Kurt asked, slithering his way into the topic at hand. Sebastian smirked at that, shaking his head. Sebastian had him pretty well pegged, too. But he wasn't exactly subtle sometimes.
"An offsite manager and the very flexible and dependable employees who are here today."
"How long have you been working here?" Kurt asked.
"That's a loaded question," Sebastian said, leaning back in the booth.
"Really, that's a loaded question for you?" Sebastian snorted and crossed his arms over his chest.
"It's complicated."
"You're gonna have to give me a little more than that," Kurt prodded, raising an eyebrow.
"Alright, you want the whole story? I'll give you the full story," Kurt leaned in to take another bite quickly before he started, feeling as if it was rude to keep eating while he talked. "You know how I make jokes about Grandma Macy?" Kurt nodded. "Well, this is actually my grandma's place."
"And why should I believe you?" Kurt asked, chuckling.
"You don't have to. But it's the truth. If you saw the pictures on the wall over there, she's had this place for a long ass time. Originally started in Paris, where she's from. But she relocated to New York and opened up the bakery something like ten years ago."
"It's been here this whole time? I can't believe I've never, like, noticed it. It kind of pops," Kurt said, making Sebastian chuckle.
"It's a new location. We have one here and two in Midtown. This one only opened up a year ago."
"Have you been here this whole time?"
"I'm getting to it," Sebastian said, going in for another bite, taking his time to chew it and swallow it before continuing on. "So, this place opens up in Paris in the 70s. It's originally my grandmere's mother's place, she gets sick, then grandmere moves out there to run it. Good ol' mom and pop send me to live with her every summer from the age of thirteen to eighteen. I work at that store basically everyday every summer. I move to here for school and she decides she wants to retire in the states. She picks New York because my aunt and I are here and she'd rather die than go back to living in Ohio." Kurt snorts at this because boy, can he relate.
"But the old bag doesn't retire. Nah, she decides one day she wants to open up a store here and does it in like, under a year because she's some kind of crazy witch lady," Sebastian chuckles. "So, basically. I've worked here, at this location, since it opened last year, but I've worked at the bakery in general for a few years. I also run the social media accounts."
"Really? That's what drew me to the place. It's really nice."
"Hah, thanks. I started doing that when I fancied myself a photographer. Worked my way from pastries to… pastries before I got bored and stopped."
"Ssstudio." Kurt said in recognition. The username from when he bought the couch. Sebastian nodded.
"Exactly."
"I know so much more about you now." Kurt said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Uh. No you don't. I'm still the manly, tall, dark and handsome sexual deviant you know and love."
"Who bakes." Kurt pointed out, pointing at him with his fork.
"Who bakes." Sebastian confirmed with a chuckle.
"You know, there's nothing wrong with a man who bakes. It's 2023 for God's sake! High School Musical tackled this issue way back in 2006!"
"Pft. I know," Sebastian rolled his eyes.
"So, why didn't you tell me?" Sebastian sobered up then, biting his lip briefly.
"I… I dunno. The whole thing's kinda just complicated."
"Why?" Kurt asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Sebastian sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face.
"It's just been a point of stress for me lately and like, I didn't need to add anything onto your situation by droning on about mine." Kurt's face fell at that.
He hadn't realized how much his whole drama with the divorce might have defined he and Sebastian's relationship to the point he felt like he had to not talk about his own life. He really didn't know anything about what was going on in Sebastian's life other than that he had wacky roommates and worked at Macy's. Those were easy topics to latch onto and talk about. But it seemed like the bakery was not.
He remembered how tense Sebastian got when the brought out the cupcakes at his apartment in Bushwick. It made a lot more sense now.
"I'm sorry I made you feel like you couldn't talk to me." Sebastian shook his head quickly.
"No, no! You didn't! Not at all. It was just… You needed to worry about yourself first. You're way too sympathetic, you would have just gotten wound up in my… stuff," Sebastian caught himself from cursing, glancing over at Talulah who was contentedly picking the petals off of her fondant daisies.
"Well, I appreciate that, I guess. But we can talk about it now, right?" Kurt asked. Sebastian smiled softly and nodded once.
"Yeah, yeah. We can. Well… okay, not today. I'm not gonna bore you with the details of everything going down here on your thirtieth birthday," Sebastian grinned. "It's your day. We are legally obligated to only talk about you." Kurt chuckled.
"Is that so?"
"Mhm," Sebastian beamed, resting his chin on his hand. "So, you got any plans for today? Other than dinner with everyone tonight?"
"Not really. Rachel and I are going shopping later," Kurt replied with a shrug. At the thought he glanced down at the clock on his phone, his eyes widening. "Shhhh—oot. We're gonna be late. They're probably already on their way…"
"You want me to put this in a box for you?" Sebastian asked, sliding out and springing into action.
"That'd be great, yeah." Sebastian nodded, taking the plate and heading off. Kurt slid from the booth, grabbing the wrapper and napkin and crumbling them up to throw away, holding a hand out for Talulah. She slid over and took it, shoving one of her fondant flowers in her pocket. Sebastian met them at the door with a box.
"When do you want me to be over?"
"Whenever you want. Dinner's gonna be at like seven or eight. Depends on how long Rachel and I are out," Kurt replied, taking the container.
"Cool. I'll bring the cheesecake,"
"Thank you." Kurt said, nodding gratefully and smiling.
"Bye, 'Bastian!" Talulah said.
"See ya tonight, kid." Sebastian held out a hand and she slapped it and he shot her a finger gun which she returned, making shooting noises with her mouth. Kurt snorted, not even wanting to begin to think about when they picked that habit up.
Kurt raised a hand to say goodbye and was about to turn away but Sebastian reached out to take his arm and lean in to kiss his cheek. They both shared a surprised look because that was certainly new for them (they weren't those type of gays) but before it could be address Sebastian turned away and Talulah was tugging him out the door.
Must be a European thing, he settled on.
Luckily they made it back to the apartment before Jesse and Rachel had arrived, but just barely. As soon as he was setting the box in the fridge there was a knock on the door and he was being swept up in hellos and happy birthdays and make sure you feed the babys and see you laters.
Going clothes shopping with Rachel Berry had been a constant throughout Kurt Hummel's life. Back in high school each trip to the mall was like a mission for Kurt to find something for her that was remotely presentable. Something she'd wear more than once before retreating to the safe haven of ugly reindeer sweaters.
Once they got to New York, shopping with Rachel had actually been a relatively positive experience… once he trained her to stop saying the words "best gay" in any capacity, shopping or otherwise. She had actually come into her own, fashion wise. It was still Rachel Berry-esque, but it was more of a dull, tasteful roar rather than a blood curdling. in your face scream.
He thought he was in for a treat today because of that. Even though she was a mother, she still maintained a chic look. He was the same way. He needed to keep up appearances even when there was a screaming toddler on his hip. Plus, they were supposed to focus on him, and he was quite excited to have his personal cheerleader.
But he had never shopped with a pregnant Rachel Berry.
Not to say that their experience was bad. She tried her very best (bless her) to keep the trip about finding some cute things for him only… but she couldn't help herself from whining about the lack of cute clothes in the maternity section.
She was only three months pregnant, but she already had a sizable bump. It seemed as though Jesse St. James was very gifted in several fields as he had managed to knock up the very tiny Rachel with twins.
The day they told him he didn't have to do his ab workout because he had laughed so much. Some of it was sort of wry, because Kurt ended up with no baby and she got two, how typical. But mostly he was just amused. The poor woman could barely deal with the one, had to be put on bed rest early in both of her pregnancies because she produced huge babies (Talulah was ten pounds and the doctor had joked that she had just given birth to a toddler) but two in the same uterus was going to be a challenge that he was glad he was seeing from a distance. He pitied Jesse deeply.
So, he could have done without all of the ugly bra and stretchy pants talk, but overall he had fun. He found a few pieces, one that he actually decided he was going to wear tonight and he was excited about that. It was the little things, really.
Rachel was being kind of weird on the ride home. Normally she would be talking his ear off about something or another, but most of the time she was furiously typing on her phone. Maybe she and Jesse were having a digital fight. They did that sometimes. Just to spice things up.
He decided not to say something, grabbing his phone himself and texting Sebastian.
To Sebastian (5:45pm)
Heading home with Rachel now. Head over whenever you want
From Sebastian (5:49pm)
Will do x
As they got up to the apartment and got in the elevator… Kurt had a feeling something weird was going on. Rachel had a constipated look on her face and she wasn't singing. She kept throwing him glances.
"Okay, I'll bite. What's up?"
"Nothing. I'm just happy to be celebrating your thirtieth birthday with you! That's all!" Kurt gave her a suspicious look.
"Mhm." He hummed, dropping it. At this point in his life, he knew it was best not to question Rachel Berry for any reason.
They had a friendly little spat about how Kurt refused to hand Rachel his bags, though it was sort of hard for him to get his key out of his pocket and unlock the door. She insisted she was fine and Kurt argued that she should be singing his praises for not letting her lift a finger, not arguing.
He unlocked the door and opened it, turned to talk to her for a moment and when he turned around he was met by a big crowd of people in his apartment, all yelling:
"SURPRISE!"
Kurt stumbled backwards, clutching at his imaginary pearls like an old Southern woman and being met by an uproar of laughter.
"Jesus Christ." Kurt gasped out, laughing himself, still trying to come down from his own surprise, patting his chest and feeling his heart pounding rapidly in his chest.
Jesse and Sebastian walked towards them, taking their bags from them. Jesse took his wife's hand and led her away, leaving Kurt and Sebastian at the door.
"Surprise." Sebastian said, smirking down at him.
"Surprise indeed. Jesus, almost gave me a damn heart attack. Those run in my family, you know."
"Speaking of," Burt Hummel spoke up, approaching the two of them, Talulah and Carole in tow.
"Oh my god, hi!" Kurt exclaimed, moving to hug his dad. Sebastian gracefully bowed out. "I didn't even see you guys! When'd you get here?!" He half hugged Carole, transferring Talulah from her arms into his, where she immediately hugged his neck and didn't let go. "I thought you had to work." He said, pointing to Burt.
"I do. I'm only here for the night, then I head out to DC first thing in the morning," He explained. "But how could I miss my kid's thirtieth birthday? It's a big milestone."
"Oof, don't remind me." Kurt teased, flashing Carole a little wink.
They closed the door and made their way out into the rest of the party. Kurt was almost immediately hit by the sheer force of Mercedes Jones. Upon seeing each other, they screamed like school girls, half hugging. He set Talulah down, redoing the hug.
"Oh my god! I can't believe you're here! It's been so long!" Kurt exclaimed, taking her hands and stretching his arms out to look at her. It had been at least a year, maybe two since the last time they were able to meet up. She used to come to New York fairly often for various career reasons after she had initially moved away, but the last few years she had really settled in Los Angeles, keeping herself busy.
"I know! I'm sorry I haven't had an excuse to get away. Especially to see that sweet little thing," She said, gesturing to Talulah who had run off to play with baby Barbra. "She's grown up so much." Kurt sighed and smiled.
"Ugh, I know. Next thing we know, she'll be going off to college."
"God, don't even say that. You're making me emotional," Mercedes laughed. "Alright, well. We'll catch up later. Go see the rest of your adoring fans." She said with a wink, patting him on the arm and going off meet Rachel on the other side of the room.
Kurt made his way through the crowd, stopping and saying hello to some of his coworkers (the ones he actually liked, thank God), brushing away their berating how he didn't tell them when his birthday was, they would have brought him a cake at work, making some kind of joke about how if they really wanted to be good friends they would have brought booze since it was really only his twenty-first birthday and moving on to who he really wanted to talk to.
They caught each other's eyes across the room and started walking towards each other.
And they were so, so close… but a female figure came between them and…
"Kurt!"
"Oh my god, Isabelle?!"
It was none other than Isabelle Wright, his adoptive mother during his formative years as a New Yorker, standing in front of him looking absolutely fabulous, as always.
"You haven't aged a day!" Kurt spluttered. She laughed.
"You're lying, but I appreciate it," She said, holding her arms out for him. He hadn't expected really anybody to be in his apartment other than the St. Berrys and Sebastian, but Isabelle was certainly not someone he would ever think to be on his surprise birthday guest list. It had been… years. He hugged her quickly. "Honestly, you look better than the last time I saw you! You age like a fine wine, sir."
"What are you doing back in the states? Don't say you came here just for me."
"You didn't hear? Vogue's editor-and-chief passed," Isabelle had been working for Vogue's branch out in Milan for the past five or so years, he hadn't seen her since. Exchanged emails here and there and he saw everything she was posting on social media, but that was about it. Life got in the way for both of them. "And they offered me the gig and, of course, I took it."
"Wow, Isabelle. That's great. Well, not the passing thing, of course." He thought briefly back to his days when he worked at Vogue. Those had been the good times. Oh, how he wished he could go back. At least now that he was in the city, if he couldn't have the job, he could have the Isabelle and for that he was grateful.
"Milan was great, but… You know. New York's my home. Plus, my mom's here. She's getting older. She probably wants at least one grandkid from me before she goes," She chuckled and shrugged. Sebastian had joined her side now, smirking. "She only got one. And he was from the problem child, so that doesn't count."
"I'm right here." Sebastian said, crossing his arms over his chest. Kurt's eyes widened, looking between them.
"Wait —"
"Oh, Sebby. You know I love you. But I'm still mad that you didn't go for that journalism major. You'd have made a great addition at Vogue."
Kurt felt like his head was spinning. Too many worlds colliding.
"Oh, please. I hardly call horoscopes and that who wore it best shit to be hard hitting journalism. Why would I wanna be a part of your basically dead medium, anyway?" Isabelle scoffed and swatted his arm playfully.
"You're… his aunt." Kurt finally said.
"Unfortunately." Sebastian replied, smiling at her.
"You are a walking coincidence, I swear."
"Isn't it crazy?! I knew it was weird when I first saw on your resume that you went to Dalton, but when Seb invited me to this party, it was like throwback central."
"Welcome to my world." Kurt said, playfully glaring at Sebastian, who just shrugged.
"Just can't escape Ohio sometimes, huh, boys?" Isabelle asked, clapping them both on the shoulder.
"Seems like it." Kurt replied, moving his gaze that lingered a bit too long on Sebastian to Isabelle.
"Speaking of, I'm gonna go talk to Rachel. Or maybe to her man-candy. Who knows? He seems good at impregnating us Ohio women." Isabelle flashed him a wink before walking away. Kurt turned back to Sebastian.
"What else don't I know about you?" Kurt asked, amused.
"A lot. I'm an enigma wrapped in an enigma," Sebastian teased. "But I think that's quite enough excitement for tonight, don't you think? I don't think your old ticker could handle any more."
"You're older than me." Kurt deadpanned.
"Details, details." Sebastian waved him off, grinning.
"So… is this whole thing your doing?" Kurt asked, motioning towards a balloon above them that is shaped like a gravestone and reads "Over the Hill."
"Mostly, yeah. It was Rachel and Jesse who came up with the guest list, though, except for Aunt Isabelle. And Jesse got the food. I came up with the idea, though." Sebastian shrugged.
"Why?" Kurt asked suddenly… not really sure what answer he was searching for. Sebastian shrugged again, his eyes slightly wide.
"I dunno. I just couldn't stand the idea of your thirtieth not being a rager," He replied, half-smirking. Kurt didn't say anything, watching Sebastian's resolve crumble a bit. "And, like, it's been a rough year for you. You deserve to have something nice done for you for once. And I thought it'd be a good way to start the new year."
Kurt continued to remain silent, taking it all in for a moment. Sebastian Smythe, someone he didn't care to ever see again half a year ago, was now not only his best friend, but was his best friend who threw him surprise parties and just genuinely seemed to go out of his way to do nice things for him, though Kurt hadn't done much to deserve it.
"Well, thank you," Kurt said, his voice soft. Sebastian smiled back at him and he felt his chest tighten a bit. "And don't worry. I won't tell anyone that you're actually a thoughtful and caring person."
"Thank God." Sebastian chuckled. "I don't think my reputation out on the streets would ever recover."
"Add that fuchsia apron into the mix and I think you'd have to move out of the state." Kurt joked.
Sebastian ushered him then to the food table and he filled up his plate with various junk food goodness. And some vegetables. But mostly potato chips. He deserved it.
"Any other surprise guests?" Kurt asked.
"If you're asking if I got you a stripper, the answer is no. I really wanted to, though. But Jesse was too afraid that even if we put Tula and Barbra in the other room they would still be traumatized somehow," Sebastian shrugged, taking a bite of a baby carrot. "But there is a special musical guest."
"How SNL." Kurt mused, chuckling softly. And right on cue, the door opened to reveal none other than blast from the past number three, his past band mates, Elliott "Starchild" Gilbert and Dani Harper.
"Who's ready to rock?!" Elliot exclaimed, causing Talulah to run up to him, screaming and making a rock 'n roll sign with her hands.
"Are you taking requests?" Kurt asked as he stepped out from the kitchen and revealed himself, a hand on his hip.
"Only for you, birthday boy." Elliott replied, smirking and crossing his arms over his chest.
"'Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy,' please." Kurt teased, smiling.
"Yeah, no." Elliott snorted.
"But it's my birthday. You legally have to do whatever I want." Kurt pouted.
"C'mere." Elliott said, rolling his eyes fondly and enveloping Kurt in a hug. Kurt chuckled, hugging back then pulling back to hug Dani.
Elliott and Dani hadn't been the most consistent friends in Kurt Hummel's life. For so long he just kept trying to lean back on the familiar, the Lima of it all (he was married to his high school sweetheart for God's sake) that he had sort of unintentionally ended some of his earlier New York friendships.
They all got pretty busy, anyway. Elliott went on a long yoga retreat to find himself, or something, Dani was busy with her roller derby team, Kurt had to finish up at NYADA, get married. Somewhere in there the lead singer of an up-and-coming glam rock band had found Elliott and Dani through an old YouTube video Kurt had uploaded of one of the last and only times their old band One Three Hill performed together which landed them auditions to be the touring guitar and bass player/backup singers of the band during their first ever tour as openers for an even bigger band.
Needless to say they became a big deal. They eventually got bumped from just being touring members to regular members that got to help write songs, record on albums and travel the world.
They had reconnected a few years ago, a year or two into their life as full-time members of the band. They had attributed all of their success to Kurt uploading that video and it didn't take long to remember why they had started to become good friends back when it was just the three of them and they didn't have to deal with Rachel and Santana drama.
The last year they had been touring again and Kurt went to their first show that launched the whole thing, but hadn't really been keeping up with where they were and when they would be in New York again. He had been very busy, after all.
Kurt said as much when he pulled away from Dani's hug.
"We had to cancel the whole thing like a month early because Tyler got really bad vocal nodes." Elliott supplied.
"I love that woman to death and I would never blame her for something like this, obviously… but she's really thrown a wrench in my proposal plans."
"She was gonna do it during the encore of our last show back in the city, during the song she auditioned for the band with."
"It was gonna be awesome." Dani said with a sigh.
"Maybe it happened for good reason, though. Huge, elaborate proposals are not all they're cracked up to be." Kurt said, causing Dani to realize…
"Yeah, maybe you're right." She said, flashing him a sympathetic smile.
Rachel came over shortly after to usher them into the apartment and talk their ear off (she liked to think they were all buddy buddy too and that she was also a cause of her success since the reason they formed One Three Hill was because of her, but Kurt could always tell they were slightly uncomfortable in her presence… he didn't blame them) and Sebastian had come to his side with a glass of white wine.
"I'm okay, Sebastian. Really. I don't need that."
"This isn't for you. This is for me. Don't be selfish." Sebastian smirked.
"But you hate white wine." Kurt pointed out, giving him a look. Sebastian looked between the glass and Kurt.
"Gotta go."
Soon enough everyone that was invited had shown up and it was time for cake. Or… cheesecake.
Sebastian had teased him by showing that he had bought thirty individual candles just in case, but they stuck with the classic three-O.
The entire party gathered around as Jesse dimmed the lights. Kurt felt his heart swell with emotion as his closest friends and family sang to him, Lulu sitting on the table by the cake, waving her arms to conduct everyone. The smiles on everyone's faces were infectious, the eyes on him warm and he hadn't felt more content than he had in a long time with the people he cared around him, there to shower him with love and support.
As he leaned over to blow out the candles, he closed his eyes and wished that thirty would be his best year yet.