A/N: I know you guys all thought this story ended with the fantastic sex from the last chapter, but I needed something to kind of wrap it all up. I dedicate this chapter to Shell (KurtbastianAlways). I think he really would have liked it 3
"What though the sea with waves continuall
Doe eate the earth, it is no more at all;
Ne is the earth the lesse, or loseth ought:
For whatsoever from one place doth fall
Is with the tyde unto another brought:
For there is nothing lost, that may be found if sought."
Kurt closes the book – worn brown leather cover softened by time and multiple handlings, obviously one of the favorites of Lydia's collection - and passes it to Sebastian, who places it carefully on a pale pink end table, plum up beside a matching pale pink canopy bed. The bed originally had a veil of white sheer fabric hanging down from it, billowing between the posts like a soft, floaty cloud, but that had to be removed to ensure the sterility of Lydia's environment. Nothing could be kept near her that might gather dust or interfere with the medical equipment she needed while she recuperated at home.
Sebastian laughed the first time he was introduced to Lydia's princess pink bedroom – or pastel grunge, as Chelsea calls it. Everything in Lydia's room is some shade of pink – every piece of furniture, the drapes covering the windows, the paint on the walls, the tile on the floor, and pretty much all of the clothes hanging in her closet. Lydia said that if she has an article of clothing that isn't pink, it was probably a gift from someone who doesn't know better. Most of the trinkets she's collected, showcased behind glass in a brand new (pink) curios cabinet (again, to minimize the dust), are either fairies, sprites, or dragons, and yes, those too are pink. Sebastian joked that the whole room looked like it had been hosed down with cotton candy, and that just standing in it gave him a toothache. It took some time for him to get used to. Even now, when he and Kurt leave, he has to blink about ten dozen times in order to see primary colors normally again.
Kurt adored it from day one. He very much approved of Lydia's obsession with pink, and said that it fit her personality perfectly. He's already made plans to take Lydia into the city once she's up to it, to a salon that his friend Mercedes goes to, and have pink braided into her hair.
Compared to Chelsea's preferred wardrobe of black and dark purple clothes, ripped nylons, denim and leather, sharp studded jewelry, and heavy combat boots, Lydia's bubblegum pink world seems a bizarre and startling contrast.
And yet, the two girls fit together perfectly.
Kind of like Sebastian and Kurt – in many ways so opposite one another, and yet they're a matched set.
It's not just the soulmate phenomenon, either. They always have been.
Lydia closes her eyes with a smile on her lips and rests her head back against her lacy pink pillow.
"Mmm," she says with a satisfied hum. "That one's my favorite."
"Really?" Sebastian kids with light sarcasm. "I would have never guessed. You only make him read it to you every time we're here." Sebastian laughs, which becomes a hiss when Kurt kicks him in the shin.
"And we'll read it a thousand more times if that's what she wants," Kurt scolds. Kurt pats Lydia's hand and gives it a gentle squeeze.
"I was just saying…" Sebastian starts but is silenced by another sharp kick from the heel of Kurt's Steve Madden boot - ironically, the boots Sebastian gave to Kurt as reparation for scuffing up his favorite ECCO Oxfords while they were swapped.
"Well, Kurt has such a lovely speaking voice," Lydia says quietly. "I could listen to it a thousand times…if he read it…" She's stopped in the middle of talking by a heavy sigh that becomes a yawn, and Kurt smiles. It's the same every visit – a read through or two of The Faerie Queene, and then Lydia falls almost straight to sleep.
Chelsea, lying above the comforter in bed beside her soulmate, watches the two men through narrowed, wing-lined eyelids. Sebastian catches her staring and makes a face.
"What?" he asks when she laughs and shakes her head.
"Nothing," she says, wrapping an arm carefully around her soulmate's body and resting her head beside Lydia's on the pillow. "It's just…it's so different seeing you guys back in your own bodies."
"Different how?" Kurt asks, leaning against Sebastian's side, looping an arm into his.
"Well, you guys are nothing alike," she says, not bothering to choose her words too carefully. "I mean, Kurt – you're so…nice."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Kurt says.
"Nice is overrated," Sebastian responds with a wink.
"And now that you guys are back in your bodies…" Chelsea sighs. "I don't know…"
"What?" Sebastian asks, knowing his young friend is holding back, something Chelsea is not known for doing so her answer has to be good. "What don't you know?"
"Well, I think Kurt is much more handsome now. You know, with his soul inside his body."
Sebastian frowns but Kurt bursts out laughing, muffling it behind his hand to keep from waking Lydia.
"I just mean that you guys fit yourselves better," Chelsea explains, giggling at the insulted look on Sebastian's face.
"Yeah, but I don't hear you mentioning that I look more handsome," he grouses.
Chelsea bites her bottom lip to stop from breaking into a fit of full-out laughter. Lydia makes a small whining noise, and Kurt hushes the two. Chelsea quiets down. Sebastian keeps glaring at her, but with a smirk on his face. Chelsea leans over and kisses Lydia once on the lips, brushing the hair from her forehead.
The room becomes quiet as all three suddenly feel the gravity created by the sleeping girl in the room.
"I'll never get used to the way she just falls out like that," Sebastian says, looking at Lydia with the same concern he has every time she drifts off to sleep.
"It's a good thing," Chelsea says, her voice mirroring the his concern, trying to convince herself along with Sebastian. "It means she's comfortable. She's not in any pain, and she can breathe easy. Everything's still working…"
For now.
The words hang unspoken in the air.
A more cynical Chelsea used to add them to the end of that sentence, but not anymore. Not as time goes by and Lydia gets better one day at a time.
A muted chime from downstairs prompts Kurt to look at his watch.
"Oh my God. It's three o'clock already?" he says. "That's probably Lydia's new nurse at the door. We should get going." Kurt stands from the pink chair he's been inhabiting for the past four hours. He offers Sebastian a hand up from his chair, which is slightly smaller and a bit less comfortable, but it never seems to dawn on him to ask for another.
Bringing in a chair from another room wouldn't fit the decor, and in a sense, he doesn't want to disturb the peace of Lydia's carefully constructed sanctuary.
Chelsea makes to get up and show them to the door, but Kurt puts up a hand to stop her.
"No, you stay," Kurt says, keeping his voice low. "We'll show ourselves out." He stoops to peck a kiss to Chelsea's forehead. "And one for Lydia when she wakes up," he says, pressing another to her cheek.
Chelsea raises a fist when Sebastian walks by, and Sebastian bumps it with his own, but he bends down and kisses her on the cheek as well. "For Lydia," he murmurs awkwardly, and they leave the girls to nap in peace.
Kurt and Sebastian pass Camelia on her way upstairs with the new nurse – a young, fair-skinned woman with a face full of freckles, bright green eyes, and a head of copper hair tied into a neat bun at the back of her skull. Kurt looks her over, specifically her baby pink scrub shirt with dancing fairies on it, reminiscent of the Cottingley Fairies. Kurt smiles approvingly.
Dressed in pink and covered in fairies – she should fit right in.
Camelia seems to catch on to Kurt's thoughts. She nods and smiles in agreement as he walks by. Kurt and Sebastian overhear her conversing with the nurse, filling her in on Lydia's medications, her daily schedule, and her progress thus far, mentioning briefly, "That's Kurt and Sebastian. They're dear, dear friends of the girls. You'll see them around quite a bit."
Kurt and Sebastian make their way outside, and Sebastian starts his frantic blinking. Kurt giggles, buttoning up his soulmate's coat, fixing his collar and tucking in his scarf. When he's finished, he sees Sebastian looking up the side of the brownstone house, at the window with the pink curtains pulled closed and the two girls napping inside.
"She's a strong girl," Kurt says, resting a hand against Sebastian's cheek.
"I know," Sebastian says, his eyes not leaving the window.
Kurt thinks it's sweet the way Sebastian worries, but he's not reassuring Sebastian so much as stating a fact. Kurt has felt Lydia's strength. He's had the benefit of knowing Lydia in a way that Sebastian doesn't, melding the memories he has from his time with her in the void with what he knows about her now, seeing her in the flesh, talking to her face-to-face. Kurt and Lydia sometimes get moments alone to discuss this soulmate situation. Kurt, who's always seen the romance in it, still has his doubts, a few latent issues that Lydia seems to understand. Whether it's because they momentarily touched minds or because she's had those same doubts herself, he doesn't know, but it's nice to have someone see that side of him.
"She'll get better before you know it," Kurt continues, placing a hand on Sebastian's bicep. Sebastian automatically loops his arm around Kurt's waist. "And when Lydia has a clean bill of health, we'll kidnap them both and take a trip upstate like we promised."
Sebastian nods, but it still takes him a moment before he can walk away.
"Do you ever think about having kids?" Kurt asks, shifting the conversation, pulling Sebastian by the arm to get him going. "You know, of our own?"
Sebastian looks down at his soulmate and grins. "Are you trying to tell me you're pregnant, Hummel?"
"Bas!" Kurt smacks Sebastian on the arm.
"Well, I have to say, we fuck enough for that to be a possibility…"
"Bas!" Kurt shakes Sebastian to stop his teasing. "I'm serious. I've always wanted children, and seeing you with those girls, I think…I don't know. I think you'd make a really good father."
Sebastian's grin goes from teasing to shy, embarrassed at being flattered in that way. He leans over and kisses Kurt on the top of the head. "You do?"
"Yeah," Kurt says, holding Sebastian's arm tight. "I do."
Sebastian takes a moment to think the matter over in his head. He knows that Kurt has given the subject of children quite a lot of thought. For Christ sakes, the man has a scrapbook he keeps hidden underneath his bed devoted to exactly how he intends on spoiling his future children – the schools they'll go to, the clothes they'll wear, what their rooms are going to look like. Kurt has always wanted little girls. Daughters to dress in pretty dresses, to read to, to teach French, to share the benefits of his years of musical theater training. But Sebastian didn't even believe in soulmates until recently. He hasn't really gotten as far as children yet.
"I think, yeah. Maybe. Someday." Sebastian shrugs. "But for right now, I want to be selfish. We'll have crazy summer vacations with those two insane girls…" Kurt chuckles. "…but I want to spend the time in between traveling the world with my soulmate. I want at least ten more years where I don't have to share him with anyone."
Kurt looks up at Sebastian, a little surprised. "Really? I didn't think you'd make such a big deal over this."
Sebastian stops walking and turns Kurt to face him. "Kurt, I've known for a long time that you're the only person I wanted, soulmate or not, and I still acted like an ass."
Kurt shakes his head.
"Sebastian, you didn't know…"
Sebastian raises a hand to Kurt's face. He traces Kurt's lips with his fingertips, stopping Kurt's objection halfway.
"It doesn't matter," Sebastian says, guilt adding weight to his words. "I loved you, and I should have honored that love. I wasted so much time being dishonest with myself, but worse, not being honest with you. And then, when I got everything I wanted, I nearly lost you." Sebastian's voice breaks with the thought, with the way his shoulder throbs at the mention of it. Kurt rolls up on the balls of his feet to kiss his soulmate, and Sebastian breathes easier, better, the way he only does with his soulmate in his arms. "So whether you think so or not, I'm going to need at least the next ten years with you to myself, to make it up to us."
"That sounds like a plan," Kurt agrees, running the tip of his nose along Sebastian's, teasing his lips with the heat of his breath.
"I love you, Kurt," Sebastian says, melting at Kurt's playful touch.
"I love you, too, Sebastian."
Sebastian presses his forehead against Kurt's, happy to feel him there, happy to have him.
Happy to know where he belongs.