Chapter Seven

The Exhibition of Caring

Blaine Anderson crept stealthily through the Lima Galleria. He had bought a few things at Banana Republic, a new cologne, and was just heading to a salon to stock up on his favorite hair products when he overheard a few teenage girls waiting in line at Auntie Amy's.

"Sebastian Smythe just revived a fallen fan!" gasped the first girl.

"What? Do tell," the other girl urged.

"Apparently, Nicole and Jonathan were at the Lima Freeze when Sebastian was and one of his fans slipped and fell on the ground." The first girl sounded skeptical now. "It sounds kind of . . . unbelievable."

"He probably slipped on ice or something," said the second girl defensively. "That cashier guy is totally disrespectful. He kicked me and Gibson out when we poured our milkshakes on that Glee club girl's head."

Yeah, Blaine thought, the cashier is disrespectful.

"Any other news?" asked the second girl.

The first girl shook her head. "Oh, wait. Apparently it's a guy from my school. Curtis Humbert or something."

"Never heard of him. Is he on the baseball team?"

The first girl completely ignored the waiting Auntie Amy's cashier in favor of her phone. "Hmm . . . oh! Melissa says that the guy's name is Kurt Hummel."

Blaine's ears perked up at the sound of the familiar name. Without thinking, he edged slightly in the direction of the girls, keeping his distance while still being able to overhear them. That wasn't a hard feat considering the fact that they were practically shrieking to each other while standing in line.

"The male Cheerio?" The second girl's nose wrinkled. "Isn't he gay?"

Blaine's heart soared. There was a possibility that Kurt was gay, which meant that there was a possibility that they could-

"I bet he was trying to hit on Sebastian," the first girl remarked. "Kurt's always been that type that goes for what he wants. I guess he wants Sebastian."

"Is Sebastian gay?" wondered the second girl aloud. "If he is, then I totally wish that they end up together. It would be so cute."

Blaine's heart sank. Was it possible? Was Kurt going after Sebastian? He felt the possibility of him and Kurt hanging out together, possibly being a couple, vanish. If Kurt wasn't interested in him, then darn it all, he wasn't going to even bother.

But then again, he'd only met the kid during a meet and greet. Wasn't Blaine over thinking everything? Besides, it might not even be Kurt that had fallen. Maybe they really did mean Curtis Humbert.

And even if it was Kurt trying to grab Sebastian's attention, then who was he to stand in their way? Even though Blaine barely knew the boy until the night before, he'd felt a connection that even Sebastian "Mambo Man" Smythe couldn't break. They could still be friends.

If Blaine ever saw him again, anyway.

Without thinking, Blaine removed his sunglasses and wiped them on the front of his red T-shirt. This simple, reflexive movement was so nonchalant that he hoped that nobody would bother to notice the face underneath the glasses.

Unfortunately for him, the second girl turned around to glance at the big line forming for the cinnamon pretzels. She spotted him quickly enough.

"It's Blaine Anderson!" he heard her say to the first girl in the loudest attempt at a whisper possible. Without bothering to buy his hair products, he bolted from the mall before a big crowd could trap him in, shopping bags swinging from his tiny wrists.

"Give him some space, guys."

Sebastian had parted the crowd effortlessly, something that he didn't fathom doing just minutes prior. He had just wanted to escape before. Now he was kneeling beside an unconscious teenage boy, feeling on his wrist for a pulse. A steady pulse instantly relieved Sebastian, but not for long.

"Should we call for an ambulance?" asked a worried cheerleader.

Sebastian pulled off his gray sweater, momentarily revealing his torso to his pleased audience. He slowly lifted the boy's head off of the floor and cushioned him with the sweater. When he pulled away his hand, he was pleased to see that there was no blood on his fingertips. That was a good sign.

"He's probably going to get a terrible bump on his head later," Sebastian diagnosed, "and he'll wake with a headache." He turned to the teenager manning the front counter, watching speechlessly. "Can we please have some ice?"

The worker dutifully nodded, and in no time Kurt's head was nursed by both an ice pack and Sebastian's sweater. Sebastian's fans watched intently as he tended to the boy with as much care as a nurse in a hospital. The Lima Freeze worker cleaned up the melting ice cream and gave Sebastian a complimentary bowl of freshly made cake batter ice cream, which he enjoyed as he looked over his inadvertent patient in silence.

Then he heard a familiar voice. "Sebastian?"

He whipped his head around, trying to find the source. He located Pierce at the door, looking at him as though he was looking at a stranger.

Pierce stepped cautiously toward Sebastian and the fallen victim. "Isn't this the boy-?"

"Yeah," a teenage girl piped up. She'd been standing with the boy when he'd fallen, and was so relieved that Sebastian dealt with it. "He met Sebastian yesterday."

"Ah, a fan!" Pierce smiled crookedly. "Maybe this will work out in our favor after all."

"How so?" Sebastian asked, eyes narrowing. "How is anything in this situation favorable?" He pointed at the boy's peaceful face, clearly exasperated by his manager's reaction.

Just then, the boy slowly began to awaken.

Ouch.

Kurt was slowly waking up. It was awfully strange for him to be waking up, since he didn't remember going to sleep. In fact, the last thing he remembered was walking into the Lima Freeze with Mercedes on a fruitless celebrity hunt.

They had walked into the packed Lima Freeze. Instantaneously, Kurt's ears began to ring from all of the shouting that ensued. He didn't see Smythe anywhere, and he was starting to get a major headache.

"Mercedes, it's really loud in here!" he had yelled, somewhat annoyed that he'd been sucker punched into the situation. It was still too soon for loud places.

"Come on, Kurt," Mercedes had pleaded then. "I can just see him-"

That's all Kurt could remember before the blackness.

The back of his head was pounding painfully. Yet despite the throbbing pain, he sensed a strange sense of coldness spreading upwards from the nape of his neck and slowly traveling up to the source of the pounding. Another sensation accompanied the coldness, of something soft and supportive that hugged his head and prevented it from touching the floor.

"Ohhhh..." A loud groan of pain escaped his lips before he could stop himself. Kurt attempted to sit up but his head felt as though it had somehow tripled in weight and kept him down.

"Are you all right there?"

The voice, at first unfamiliar, refracted and bounced around his head, the syllables becoming indecipherable. The words were dissolving into pure gibberish, but he was gaining recognition of the voice. Who was that?

A single name slipped into his mind, floating instead of bending.

Sebastian Smythe . . . ?

His eyes just . . . opened. He hadn't meant to open his eyes. They just opened by themselves. He was staring up at the paneled ceiling, right at the fluorescent lighting that always made him look like Kermit the Frog during his off days.

To his left, a massive group of people gawked at him. Most had their phones out and were snapping photos and fingers were flying over keyboards.

To his right, Sebastian Smythe.

His heart did triple back flips in his chest.

"Are you all right there, Kurt?" Sebastian asked, smiling warmly. "You took quite a nasty fall."

"I fell?" croaked Kurt, disgusted and embarrassed by the sound of his voice. He cleared his throat and added, "How?"

Sebastian looked sheepish when he replied. "It may have something to do with a scoop of fallen ice cream. Which may or may not have been there because of me, but that's not the point."

Kurt forced himself to sit up for a few seconds, which made his head throbbing increase in speed and pain. He yelped, and instantly the superstar was asking him questions again.

"Why are you so inquisitive?" Kurt asked weakly.

Sebastian cracked a half-smile. "A fan has never gotten injured in my presence before. This is quite new to me."

Mercedes chirped from behind Sebastian, "Are you all right? My God, you fell hard."

"You'd think I'd remember falling," grumbled Kurt, who was getting rather annoyed at the situation. He'd made a spectacle out of himself in Sebastian's presence. That usually wouldn't bother him, as he was sure that he didn't even like Smythe, but Sebastian had gone so far as to kneel beside him and watch over him. That was embarrassing enough.

Kurt glanced around the Lima Freeze. The group of people were still there, observing their interactions with awed expressions.

Just the cherry on top of the situation.

"I think I'm going to be fine," Kurt murmured, rubbing the back of his head cautiously. He added, to his friend, "Mercedes, go get your picture taken."

Sebastian turned to look at Mercedes. "Yeah, I'll be right with you." He turned back to Kurt. "Listen, I have to go soon, but are you sure you're going to be fine?"

Kurt was taken aback by the exhibition of caring. "I'm fine," he pressed. "Smythe, go back to your tour bus. Sing your music. Forget about the guy with the headache."

That was when Sebastian did something unexpected. In front of many observers, he leaned in close to Kurt's ear and whispered five words that astounded Kurt and, when he told her the story, Mercedes.

Then, without another word, Sebastian snapped a photo with Mercedes and left the Lima Freeze in a frenzy.

Blaine was in the tour bus. He'd left most of his luggage in there instead of his hotel room, so he was packing up his purchases when Sebastian arrived.

"I heard about you having a run in with a fan," Blaine said casually, as if he hadn't just spent an hour figuring out how to say it without seeming accusing. "Who was it?"

Sebastian shrugged. "His name's Kurt Hummel. He slipped and fell, actually." A small smile was playing on his lips, which made Blaine feel a little suspicious. "Don't worry, he's all good."

That's not what I'm worried about, Blaine thought.

Sebastian moved his hands over his chest as if to take off his sweater. He looked down and chuckled, remembering that he'd left his sweater with Kurt and his friend.

Blaine resumed folding his new pair of red jeans. Perhaps it wasn't as big of a deal as those girls at the mall had made it. Maybe-

"In fact, I may have a date with him tonight."

Blaine's grip on the jeans slackened, and they fell to the floor.