This chapter is Kurt's POV.

This is the second longest chapter in the fic, 4,172 words total, beaten only by my first Kurt POV chapter (ch 2) – lol.

A lot of time has passed since the previous chapters. It should become clear as you read. ;) Actually it's set in 2016, if I did my math right. Although I wrote this in the early summer of 2015, so you'll have to bear with me as I'm writing these final four chapters set in a time that is literally 'the future' for me as an author. I made everything diverge from Glee's canon around the start of 2014 on the show, and in some places it diverged much earlier than that. Nothing is really based in anything canon from here on out.

Enjoy!

Chapter 11: It Was the Summer of '16

When Kurt had first heard that Blaine was planning to sleep with Sebastian Smythe on a regular basis, he was surprised – both by the news, and also by his own reaction to it. He'd been expecting Blaine to connect with a stranger, someone who in Kurt's mind would be faceless and maybe even nameless. He'd been expecting his boyfriend to find a person Kurt wouldn't be able to visualize being with Blaine.

Events didn't unfold that way.

As it turned out, Kurt realized that having met Sebastian before didn't bother him. Rather than picturing intimate situations between the Dalton alum and the man he loved, Kurt found it easy to just not let his imagination go there. Kurt felt sincerely happy that Blaine had stumbled across Sebastian, who – as Kurt already knew from his brief high school interactions with him – was so overtly into sex. Kurt had wanted this to happen; he'd wanted Blaine to find someone on the other end of the sexual spectrum to provide Blaine with what Kurt couldn't.

Now two-and-a-half years had passed since Blaine and Sebastian had started casually hooking up. Sebastian also had several other partners, but Blaine didn't mind at all, since Blaine himself had his own other partner in Kurt. When Kurt and Blaine were still long distance, they'd taken advantage of the few times per year that they did see each other – using those nights (or sometimes, afternoons) to re-explore each other's bodies. Kurt was a sex-favorable type of gray-ace, as long as the sex was infrequent enough. He appreciated Blaine's gorgeously toned upper body, and felt it was a true privilege to be able to experience the amazing rush of being with Blaine as he orgasmed. He found very few men sexy, mostly celebrities. In fact, sometimes Kurt felt like he didn't find anyone in real life sexy – Blaine being the only exception.

Blaine had assured Kurt from the start that Sebastian always practiced safe sex, not only with Blaine but reportedly with everyone the younger man ever chose to fuck. And that really was all Kurt needed to know to feel comfortable with the whole arrangement. In fact, there was something wonderfully empowering about feeling secure despite his boyfriend also sleeping with another person. Kurt actually felt proud to be poly, and he was positive Blaine now did too. It had been a process, getting to this point, but they had made it there.

In May, Kurt had graduated from NYADA with a Creative Writing degree. He'd left his internship at Vogue, pleased that even fresh out of school he already had an already impressive resume, and then moved in with Blaine in an apartment very close to the Ohio State campus. Kurt was now acclimating to living in Columbus. It was a big change from the pace of Manhattan and Brooklyn, yet Columbus was certainly still a city – it was definitely not the same Ohio as when he'd lived in Lima, either. Kurt had been in Columbus ever since the start of the summer, and in that time he'd gotten a job at Adidas. He spent a lot of his free time working on new script ideas for plays, musicals, and even television series. In addition, Kurt finally had a chance to get reacquainted with Sebastian over dinner one evening – with Blaine present, of course. Since that night, Kurt had only seen a few brief glimpses of Sebastian. Most of what he now knew about the man had been relayed to him by Blaine. But Kurt enjoyed the stories. Kurt often got vicariously excited when Blaine would bring him up in conversation.

Various other people in Kurt and Blaine's lives did not understand how Kurt could possibly be okay with what Blaine was doing, no matter how many times Kurt tried to explain that this was what they both wanted. Pam Anderson had seemed disappointed in her son for 'cheating'. Burt and Carole, who Kurt knew loved Blaine like one of their own sons, had thoughtfully advised Kurt that sometimes relationships don't work out and they'd respect his decision if he broke up with Blaine. One of Kurt's coworkers had asked if this was something specific to being gay. Kurt tried to brush off all of the ignorance.

Blaine, now that he was living with Kurt, told him on a daily basis how in love he was with him, and Kurt never doubted it for a moment. Not even when Blaine admitted that his feelings for Sebastian were growing, in a way that maybe felt like falling in love. Blaine enjoyed watching televised basketball games with Sebastian – Kurt didn't follow sports but Blaine and Sebastian had been rooting for the same team since childhood. Blaine would sometimes spend hours playing video games with Sebastian. Now that it was summer, they even sometimes saved Sebastian's sister some of the money she would've spent on daycare by taking the child during the middle of a work day, and Blaine would come home gushing about the adorable things Matilda did. They were planning on taking her to the public pool for her very first swimming lesson sometime in August, now that Linda – the girl's mother – had approved of it.

Kurt understood how some other people who tried out polyamory would feel worried they were being left behind. Blaine was, after all, starting to spend so much time – and have such a good time – with his new partner. If Kurt and Blaine were monogamous, and Blaine and Sebastian hadn't had sex yet but enjoyed all of these other things together, Kurt probably would legitimately feel worried that it might be leading to Blaine breaking up with him in favor of the new guy, or even that Blaine might be tempted to cheat. But they weren't monogamous. Kurt felt completely confident that Blaine had a big enough heart to have feelings for two people at once, and that it didn't mean Blaine loved Kurt any less. Blaine was guaranteed to come home to Kurt, every day, and this was Blaine's choice – he'd wanted to share his home, as well as his bed each night, with Kurt. Ever since they'd stopped being long distance, Blaine was so sexually satisfied by Sebastian that Kurt had to be the one to ask, if Kurt ever wanted to have an intimate night alone with his partner. But Blaine was always more than happy to oblige. He seemed to still see being with Kurt as something very special, and very different than what he had with Sebastian, and Kurt was beyond grateful for that.

They'd called off their engagement last year, because they both realized polyamory clashed in a lot of ways with traditional marriage, but Kurt and Blaine were still thrilled when same-sex marriage became legalized throughout the entire United States. Queer people deserved it, even if they both felt polyamorous people deserved some consideration too. Maybe one day, Kurt would want to take advantage of his ability to marry one person, and now he'd actually be allowed to. Maybe he and Blaine would eventually decide it was the right step for them. They could perhaps have an open marriage! But for now, they were happy just to be together. They didn't need vows or a ceremony, or even the legal benefits – at least not yet.

Kurt was, however, a little jealous of the fact that Blaine had a second partner, while Kurt still didn't. Kurt had been doing this polyamorous thing with Blaine for years now, but had never taken advantage of the fact that he too could date someone new, if he wanted. He'd thought, when they started out, that Blaine would be all he'd ever need. But now, Kurt was back in Ohio, and he was getting a front row seat to Blaine's and Sebastian's final summer break off of school, and he knew they were having a blast.

Kurt may have started working full time, but that didn't mean he didn't have some time left to devote toward finding a second partner. Part of the problem, though, was that Kurt hadn't known where to start. The pool of people Kurt would be interested in dating was particularly limited.

"Have you tried Acebook?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded. "That is such a lame dating site, though," he replied. "I don't think anyone's updated it in years. No one uses it, it has no cool features to help you find people who are good matches, and it's just…" Kurt trailed off. "I didn't try very hard. It's mainly women looking for heteroromantic guys anyway."

"Well, I think OkCupid added an asexual option on their site," Blaine said.

"Really?" Kurt replied. "That's amazing. I might have to create a profile."

"Yeah," Blaine said. "I think it was a few years ago, actually. It was the first mainstream dating site to acknowledge aces!"

"Facebook, on the other hand, still doesn't allow people to say they're asexual," Kurt commented.

"Yeah, well, hopefully soon."

"Hopefully," Kurt agreed.

"Does it have to be an ace?" Blaine asked. "The person you date, I mean."

"Well, or a celibate person," Kurt said. "Obviously I couldn't resist falling for a sexual guy," he said, gesturing toward Blaine, "but I'd rather not have to deal with a new person who wants to sleep with me."

Blaine smiled sympathetically. "You're not at all curious? I know you've only ever been with me, and you seem to enjoy it…"

"Of course I'm a little curious," Kurt said. "But-"

Blaine cut him off. "Well if you really are curious, Sebastian's always up for that threesome if you ever change your mind!" he added half-jokingly.

"As I said before, thanks, but no thanks," Kurt said, flattered to be reminded that Sebastian had been interested, but still not wanting to accept the offer to be a part of anything like that.

"You could also see if there are any ace meet-up groups here in Columbus, or anywhere nearby," Blaine said.

"You're right," Kurt replied. "I should at least try something. I love you, you know I do, but it'd be really exciting to meet someone new, I think. Especially if I could find a gay ace guy, like me."

Blaine smiled. "Good luck," he said.

Later that evening, Kurt spent time online pursuing options for meeting asexual men – or anyone nonbinary who was at least somewhat masculine would work too, Kurt realized. He'd never met, in real life, anyone who didn't conform to the gender binary. But a couple of years prior, Kurt had finally figured out that he wanted to identify as a genderqueer male who still preferred he/him pronouns.

One particular Google search led to a very unexpected discovery: a group called "Aces of Lima" right in his hometown. The main organizer was Coach Beiste, who he'd never known as well as all of the kids on the football team had, but apparently she was aro ace? He'd never have guessed it. Not only that but he also recognized Miss Pillsbury's picture – she went by Mrs. Schuester now – and as he clicked through to her profile, he learned she was a co-organizer of the group sometimes, and was demisexual.

He quickly scanned through the 25 total group members and found only one other name he recognized from his high school days.

"Blaine!" he called out. "You have to take a look at this."

Blaine came over and looked over Kurt's shoulder onto the screen. "What am I looking at? Ace meet-up, in Lima-"

"Look at the members," Kurt directed.

Blaine's eyes finally fell on the correct spot. "No way. Marley?"

"Yeah! You were in Glee Club with her for a whole year. You never knew?"

"I wonder if she knew, back then," Blaine commented.

"I think I might have to show up at the next meeting," Kurt said. "It's only an hour-and-a-half away from here, and – oh, look! They're meeting at Mr. Schue's new house this weekend!"

"You should visit your parents while you're in town," Blaine replied.

"Of course," Kurt replied. "I'll call them now and ask if I can spend the night ahead of time."

"Kiddo, I always thought you were just a late bloomer," Burt said. "But this all makes a lot more sense now. Asexual-ish, huh?"

Kurt smiled. He had just, finally, come out as gray-ace and explained what it meant. He thought now was finally time, since he didn't want to have to lie about his current plans. "Exactly, Dad. You can tell Carole, if you want."

"I will," he said.

Kurt had also given Blaine permission to tell whoever he wanted, including Sebastian. Blaine had been so careful not to out Kurt, but Kurt had decided anyone that Blaine was close to deserved to be privy to the whole story of why they'd decided to try out polyamory. He didn't want to put Blaine in situations where he'd have to lie.

Kurt waved goodbye to his dad and headed out the door. It was time. The casual get-together of asexual and aromantic-spectrum folks would commence in half an hour.

Kurt had not yet gotten a chance to meet Mr. Schue's second child, Joshua. He'd called his former teacher the night before and arranged to say a quick hello, see the baby and his older brother (whose middle name honored Kurt's own brother), and then stay in the house for the meet-up while Will would take his children out of the house and leave the space to the group of aces.

I'm coming out to a lot of people this week, aren't I? Kurt thought. First my dad, now Mr. Schue, and before long, everyone who'll show up at this meeting!

Miss Pillsbury – Kurt was having a hard time thinking of her by any other name – explained, as soon as her husband and children were outside, that usually Shannon Beiste ran these meetings, but she had some kind of prior engagement. So in her absence, Emma was filling in as host. Kurt nodded, understanding.

When Marley showed up, Kurt shook her hand. "I think I met you a couple of times; you probably remember my boyfriend, Blaine, better than me, though," he said. "I'm Kurt Hummel."

"I remember!" she replied. "You brought your dad to our class one time, didn't you? And I saw you when Blaine and the other seniors that year were graduating." Her tone got softer and she added, "I was at Finn's funeral, of course, too."

"Oh, right," Kurt replied somberly. After only a moment, however, he lit up thanks to a new memory. "And I saw when you were Sandy in Grease. You were wonderful."

She blushed. "Oh, wow. Thanks."

"So…" Kurt began to change the subject awkwardly. "I take it you're on the ace spectrum?"

She nodded. "100% asexual. Couldn't really be more ace, as I have no libido and am sex-averse, never even had to try it to know I didn't want to do it."

Kurt took that in. She was so different than him. "I'm gray-ace," he replied simply. "I'm still with Blaine, actually."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" she said.

Kurt noticed a couple more people arrive, including a person around his own age who appeared to be male. That was why he was here – to meet ace guys.

But Marley was still talking. "I'm starting college in the fall," she told him. "I'm going to be roommates with Unique, you might remember her too?"

Kurt remembered her clearly. He'd met her when she was a Vocal Adrenaline member. She'd been one of the very few trans people he'd ever met in his life. She had the kind of 'fabulous' that outshone even someone like him. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about," he said with a smile.

"We're actually queerplatonic partners," she said proudly. "She's heterosexual and still looking for a romantic partner, but well, I don't know if you know what a queerplatonic partner is, but-"

Kurt nodded vigorously. "I do know. That's really cool of her to be in that kind of a relationship with you."

"College is going to be great," she said. "I think I'd love to be an English teacher, probably in middle school," she said, "so I'm majoring in Education."

Kurt smiled sadly at the reminder of what Finn had been doing. "We could always use more great teachers in the world."

Marley, however, didn't seem to notice the sadness or the compliment to her choice of major, because her attention was finally on the other people who had entered the house. "Ooo, let me introduce you!" she eagerly said, and he followed her quickly toward them. "James, this is Kurt. Kurt? James."

Kurt and James shared a handshake.

"It's my first ace meet-up," Kurt said.

"It's actually mine too," James replied. "I'm an aromantic, agender, ace. I fit all three As!" James said with a chuckle.

"Oh wow," Kurt replied, trying not to be disappointed that he was – they? were – aromantic. That wasn't fair to him – or was it them? "I'm genderqueer myself, actually."

"Really? I've never met another nonbinary person before," James said, awestruck,

"I still like he/him pronouns myself," Kurt said.

"I am okay with they/them pronouns, because they're the simplest genderless choice, but actually… my preferred ones would be ze/zir/zem," James explained. "I only ask that of my closest friends and family though, because I know those can be tricky to learn."

Kurt smiled. "I will keep that in mind," he told zem earnestly. He was glad to be given permission to stick to they/them, for now.

James then asked, "So, are you a student at the University of Lima?"

Kurt hated how much coming back to his hometown tended to remind him of Finn, and tried not to let the grief get to him. It had been over three years, as was especially clear by how big little Danny had gotten. But sometimes it still felt like yesterday.

"No, I actually went to school in New York," Kurt answered. "I'm working in a footwear design department at the moment, actually."

"Oh wow," James replied. "So like… you create the running shoes and stuff?"

"Yeah," Kurt confirmed. "I wish I could be doing non-athletic footwear, but Adidas was where I got hired, and considering that I majored in Creative Writing, I'm honestly pretty lucky to have this job."

Ze nodded. "Well it certainly doesn't sound boring."

"It's actually pretty fun, most of the time," Kurt admitted. It was true that men's dress shoes would probably be his dream in terms of shoe design, and it's not like his career goal was ever to design footwear at all, but if he couldn't make money writing, then for now, this would do.

As the meeting progressed, they all talked quite a bit about their lives. Apparently Kurt had been the only person showing up today hoping to meet someone in a romantic way – most of the people were aromantic, and the few who weren't, like Marley and Emma, were already happy with a partner. Kurt was the only polyamorous person there, although Marley's willingness to let Unique date while they were still official 'qpp's made him think maybe Marley and Unique were trying out some form of polyamory too, even if they weren't calling it that. Unique, apparently, had a long term goal to be a music teacher, and at least at the moment she and Marley had a shared dream where they miraculously wound up teaching at the same school. Kurt knew from personal experience how much dreams can change once people actually started college, but it was a lovely thought, a way to truly share their lives, even if Unique wound up living with a male romantic partner down the road.

He also learned that Marley and Unique had now co-written numerous songs together, Unique having a natural talent for composition, and Marley for the lyrics. He decided to approach Marley as soon as the meet-up concluded and ask if she and Unique might be interested in helping him out with his musical. For now, his musicals were just a hobby. But he didn't know how to compose a song. With Marley's – and especially Unique's – help, he might be able to turn something like Zack's Lack into a real show.

Gail was another member at the meet-up. She had been attending for about six months at this point and was hilarious enough with her storytelling that Kurt thought she should consider going into stand-up comedy. She recounted five separate occasions when she had been perceived by everyone in the room to be flirting insanely hard with a guy, and completely leading him on, but she was oblivious to it and when he'd lean in for a kiss, she'd jump a mile high and confuse not only the guy in question, but also any onlookers.

James talked about how grateful ze was that no one misgendered zem here, whenever a group of aces congregated. It was zir one place in the world where ze felt like everyone truly accepted zem as ze was. Kurt asked if there was a queer group on the University of Lima's campus. James didn't think there was.

"If there's not, then Unique and I can help you start one up," Marley said with conviction. "We're starting there soon and really, all colleges should have them in this day and age."

James agreed. "Thanks, that'd be amazing," ze said. The corners of zir lips curled up into a thankful into a smile.

Emma served the group some delicious homemade brownies and didn't talk much. He knew from her profile that she was demisexual, but she mainly seemed interested in making sure everyone else felt comfortable. She was a very gracious host. He wondered what being demisexual was like for her, and if maybe he could relate to a lot of her experiences, given how he felt for Blaine but pretty much no one else. As the meeting drew to an end, he resolved to attend another "Aces of Lima" meet-up sometime and make a point to ask her then.

Kurt made sure to exchange phone numbers with James, then gave zem back zir phone. He found Gail too. They had been the two people to leave the strongest impression on him this afternoon, and he was hoping maybe they could become real friends. They both only lived about an hour or so away from him.

He was about to approach Marley and tell her about his musical that starred a gay ace character – a musical which so far had some pretty abysmal excuses for songs – when his phone, still in his hand, began to ring.

He scowled when he noticed that the number was not in his phone, then proceeded to answer it. "Hello?"

"Kurt? Is… is Blaine there? I can't reach him." The voice sounded panicked and distraught.

"Um, may I ask who's calling?"

"Sorry, Sebastian," he clarified.

"Oh," Kurt said, a bit surprised Sebastian had been given his phone number. "Um… Blaine said you were going to be busy today, so he decided to go to the movie theater. That's probably why you can't reach him. Underground theater, plus he always turns off his phone just in case."

Sebastian didn't reply.

Kurt wished he knew what was going on. "Did something happen? Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern. He'd never heard Sebastian sound like this before. Granted, he didn't know Sebastian very well. But still.

"It's my sister. She just got diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer," Sebastian managed to say, but his voice cracked with the pain of sharing the awful news.

"I'm so sorry," Kurt responded.

Sebastian continued. "I don't understand how this could be happening. She seemed fine but the doctors say it's already spread to other parts of her body and she's going to need really aggressive treatment. I can't… I don't have anyone to talk to about this except for Blaine."

"Blaine is always good in a crisis," Kurt replied somberly, thinking about his own family member who had been diagnosed with cancer, but how unlike in Sebastian's sister's case, Kurt's dad's doctors had caught it early. Blaine had been such a rock.

"So you said he's in the movie theater? Do you know when he'll be out?" Sebastian sounded so desperate.

"Um… I think the movie was two hours long, plus ten minutes or so of previews, and it started at two o'clock, so…" Kurt looked down at his watch. "He'll be turning his phone back on by 4:30," he promised Sebastian. "That's only 20 minutes from now."

"Okay, thanks," Sebastian said, and then he hung up, seemingly having forgotten to say 'goodbye'.

Kurt looked down at his phone, wishing he could do more to help. Then he realized there was one thing he could do. He pulled down his last conversation with Blaine and began to compose a new text.

You should stay with Sebastian tonight.

For as long as he needs.