Author's Notes: Hello! Thanks so much for the reviews! Keep 'em comin' and let me know what you think of this chapter. Enjoy!
(Thanks yet again to Tanya - the wonderful beta for this story)
"I have nothing to wear," Kurt stated as he tossed another pair of pants over his shoulder carelessly.
"Ouch!" - came a yelp from behind him.
Kurt turned to see Rachel irritably chuck the trousers that had just been thrown at her onto the floor.
"If you do that one more time Kurt, I swear..."
It was 7 o'clock and Kurt was supposed to leave to meet Blaine and Sebastian in an hour, and he was still stood in his hoodie and pyjama pants, no further in his search to find the perfect outfit than he was half an hour ago.
He huffed loudly and sat down on the floor in front of his closet.
"What am I supposed to do? I do not own an outfit that's suitable for a "night out on the town"," he mimicked the phrase Sebastian had used and lay face down on the floor. "What are you supposed to wear when you go "out" anyway?"
Rachel sighed and put down the West Side Story script that she had been reading.
"What are you talking about? We go to Callbacks all the time and you always know what to wear."
"Yes, but this is "out" out," he said, as if the difference between the two was the most obvious thing in the world.
Rachel just raised her eyebrows at him before she got up off Kurt's bed and began rooting around in his closet.
"There's really not much difference at all. It's just that this time you're trying to impress someone whilst attempting to intimidate someone else at the same time."
"Ugh, we've been friends way too long," Kurt mumbled into the floor.
His best friend just laughed, "I don't know what you're so worried about. He obviously already likes you quite a bit since he invited you out in the first place."
"I already told you - he clearly just sees us as friends. I'm just a friend who he believes wouldn't mind hanging out with him and his boyfriend."
"I thought we decided that we weren't sure on their relationship status at the moment," Rachel reminded him.
"Whatever," Kurt said - again into the floor.
"This is cute," Rachel said, taking a shirt out of the closet, and turning to the boy on the floor. "What about this?"
"I wore that for coffee a week ago," Kurt said dismissively.
"He's not gonna remember every outfit you've ever worn, Kurt."
"Hmm, I guess," he replied. "But, still no."
Rachel sighed impatiently and turned back to the closet.
Just then, they heard keys rattling outside the front door, which was followed by the familiar sound of Santana's heels across the apartment floor.
The curtain to Kurt's room was swept open.
"Woah, what was stolen?" Santana inquired as she took in the state of the room.
"We're trying to find the perfect outfit for the night out," Rachel informed her.
Santana nodded in understanding before collapsing onto Kurt's bed.
"Oh please, come in. Make yourself comfortable," Kurt said sarcastically from where he lay on the floor. "Why not make my inevitable humiliation at having nothing to wear a public spectacle?"
Santana rolled her eyes at the ceiling, "And there I was thinking Rachel holds the crown for "biggest drama queen in New York City"."
Rachel didn't even appear offended by this statement, "Hey, I thought that title would be mine forever. But it turns out, when you bring Blaine - dreamboat - Anderson into the mix, my portrayal of drama queen is suddenly quite mundane."
Kurt groaned into the floor again, "I hate you both."
"No you don't," Santana said in a sing-song voice, "You're actually pretty lucky that I got home when I did. Because, I know exactly what you should wear."
"And what, may I ask, is that?"
Santana merely sighed at her roommate's naivety, "Think about it. You don't wanna look like you've been trying to find the perfect outfit for the past two hours; it's got to be laid back and casual. But, at the same time, you wanna look super hot so that Anderson doesn't even take a second to look at his prep-school boy."
"Wow. Thank you for that pearl of wisdom. Rachel, why didn't we think of that?" Kurt asked as he sat up, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Did I say I was done?" Santana snapped. "Wear the red pants and the black shirt."
"Why those?" Kurt asked curiously, as Rachel began digging through the closet for the said items.
"Well," Santana began, "I figured that since you always feel the need to accessorise with everything, you should change it up a bit and stick to something simple and sophisticated."
Kurt hesitantly took the clothes that Rachel was holding out to him. "Yes, but not accessorising is just so dull. Are you sure it's not a boring choice?"
"It's not what you wear," Santana stated knowingly, "it's how you wear it. If you walk into that bar thinking - confidence, you'll look hot and look like you know what you're doing, even though you're completely freaking out and are horrendously jealous."
Kurt just raised his eyebrows at her reasoning; not even denying the jealousy accusation.
Santana shrugged, "Told you you were lucky that I came home when I did. Now, get changed. Because it looks like you're gonna need as much time as possible to do something with your hair."
An hour later, Kurt was stood outside of Scandals - one of the less well known gay bars in New York City - waiting for Blaine and Sebastian.
Kurt had been to quite a few gay bars since he had moved to the city, but he had never been to this one. Sebastian had said that it was "the place to be" and had insisted that it be where they start their evening. Kurt, however, could not really see the appeal. From the outside, it looked rather grubby and run down, and one could only hope that the inside was more glamorous.
He was starting to regret not wearing a thicker coat, when a cab rolled up on the curb in front of him, and out climbed Sebastian. Kurt instantly regretted leaving the apartment as early as he did, as he had wished that this exact situation would not present itself.
"Hello, Kurt," the boy said in a pleasant tone as he made his way over to where Kurt stood, but his smile didn't quite meet his eyes.
"Sebastian," Kurt nodded in greeting.
"So what do you think of the place?"
"Its um… nice." Kurt said, glancing once again up at the pink neon sign above the entrance to the bar. The "c" was no longer lit up like the rest of the letters and so it read - "Sandals".
They were silent for what seemed like a long awkward moment; Kurt wished Blaine would hurry the hell up.
"So I'm just gonna come out and say it," Sebastian said suddenly, not taking his eyes off of the road in front of them. "I don't know what you think you've got going on with Blaine; you think that just because you sang a love song with him you two are somehow connected or whatever."
He didn't even have to look at Kurt to sense his confusion. "Yeah. I did my research. I know who you are, Kurt Hummel. And I just want to make one thing clear…"
He turned to face Kurt now, and looked him in the eyes.
"I have known Blaine a long time. And I don't need you coming in and messing up our dynamic. I don't care if Blaine thinks he might like you right now. It won't last long. You're just a boy who can just about sing, and I guess you're something pretty to look at while he has some time to kill. But you need to back off, because although you might think otherwise, Blaine isn't on the market."
Kurt was speechless. He had a feeling that Sebastian didn't like him all that much, but he wasn't expecting an outburst like this after only knowing the guy a day. Kurt just stared at him, dumbfounded. He guessed he was supposed to feel intimidated by this point. But after years of taunting and bullying - a boy saying spiteful things out of jealousy wasn't even close to scaring Kurt Hummel.
Kurt soon got over his shock and met Sebastian's gaze with a stern look, "OK, first of all, I think the only person who can decide whether Blaine is "on the market" or not, is Blaine. And second, although you may think so, he isn't some possession that you own and get to take control of simply because you turn up for a few days and you've "known him longer". Whatever issues you clearly have with Blaine, are something that you need to discuss with him. There's no use in threatening me. I've got nothing to do with you and your woes of unrequited love." Kurt waved a hand at the boy dismissively, in an attempt to appear unfazed by the whole situation.
Kurt's lack of fear seemed to irritate Sebastian further as he opened his mouth to begin what Kurt assumed was another anger filled threat. But before he could speak, however, a familiar voice was heard from behind him.
"Hey guys!" Blaine called as he jogged up to them, "Sorry I'm late. Everyone seemed to have the same idea about leaving the campus at eight, so there were hardly any cabs. You haven't been waiting too long, have you?"
Sebastian took his eyes off Kurt and turned to the new arrival, a wide smile on his face. "No, not at all. We were just getting to know each other, weren't we Kurt?"
It was slightly alarming to Kurt how quickly Sebastian's mood appeared to change.
"That's right." Kurt nodded, meeting Sebastian's gaze with a smile that was equally as bright.
"Good," Blaine grinned, "Shall we go in?"
Scandals, Kurt decided, was slightly better on the inside than it was on the outside. The three managed to order their first round of drinks without anyone questioning them about their IDs, so that was something.
It soon became clear that Blaine and Sebastian had done this many times before, as they reminisced about previous nights out that had been - according to Sebastian - "legendary". Blaine tried to keep Kurt included in the conversation, but whenever Kurt tried to get a word in, Sebastian would steer the conversation onto something that he couldn't join in with. Kurt gave up trying to be included after a while and just drank his drink in silence without really paying attention to what was being said.
The night passed slowly, but not too painfully. They hit a few more bars after Scandals. Blaine and Kurt spoke a little - when Sebastian appeared to run out of conversation topics. But he didn't allow the pair to talk for long before he was dragging Blaine onto the dance floor. Kurt didn't even attempt to join in with the dancing - as he was pretty sure that Sebastian wouldn't hesitate before stooping so low as to physically push him away from Blaine.
Kurt found the whole situation completely ridiculous. He didn't want to give Sebastian the satisfaction by leaving early, so he spent most of the night making small talk with various people in various bars. He soon switched to soft drinks as he felt himself getting tipsy. Because, well, the only thing worse than having to spend an evening with Sebastian, was having to spend an evening with Sebastian when he wasn't completely aware of everything going on around him.
Blaine clearly didn't have the same concern. By midnight, he was grooving across the dance floor like someone from Saturday Night Fever. Kurt couldn't help but find the sight heart-warming. The boy who was dancing in front of him had no worries or problems. Sure, he'd probably regret drinking so much in the morning; but right now he was just happy and enjoying the moment. His appearance was slightly dishevelled - bow tie hanging undone around his neck, shirt untucked and hair beginning to curl out of his hair gel. He really was a picture. Kurt thought he was about the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.
It was about an hour later when the three made their way out of Jo's - the final bar of the evening. Blaine, it seemed, was unable to walk in a straight line and so was clinging onto Sebastian's arm for balance.
Kurt walked a few paces behind them, counting up his dollar bills for a cab home - eager to get out of Sebastian's company.
They walked in near silence; the only sounds were Blaine's incoherent mumbling.
"Whereskurt?" Blaine muttered now, to no one in particular.
When no one answered he looked up to speak to Sebastian directly.
"K-k-kurt," he stammered, smiling foolishly, "I like Kurt."
Kurt could feel his face heating up as he paced a few steps behind them.
"Do you know where Kurt is?" Blaine slurred, jabbing a finger into Sebastian's chest.
Sebastian visibly tensed at the words, before turning to face the boy in question. Kurt immediately looked down at the dollar bills, counting and recounting them as he tried to ignore the flush in his face.
"I've got to get back," Sebastian stated, letting go of Blaine once he was sure he could stand up by himself. "Early flight," was all he said before walking briskly down the street, away from Kurt and Blaine.
"See ya!" Blaine called after him after a few seconds, staggering forward shakily.
Kurt moved to take his arm before his body could hit the concrete, "Okay. There we go." He adjusted Blaine's arm around his own neck before proceeding towards the end of the street where he hoped a couple of cabs would be waiting. "Let's get you home."
"Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed happily. "Where'veyoubeen? We didn't get to talk much tonight," he frowned at the words.
"I know right," Kurt muttered under his breath, "I wonder why that was."
"Prettyeyes," Blaine blurted out, staring up at him. "You've pretty eyes."
"Okay then," Kurt laughed nervously. He knew it was stupid that his stomach was doing flips. Blaine wouldn't remember any of what he was saying tomorrow, but still, it was hard not to feel anything when Blaine was gazing up at him with those eyes.
"Ah look, cabs - that way," Kurt nodded his head in the direction of a row of yellow cars ahead of them.
At some point during the cab journey Kurt realised that Blaine wasn't in a fit state to go staggering around the NYADA campus by himself. And he had no idea where Blaine's dorm room was, so he couldn't escort him there. Which left only one solution - he would have to bring him back to the loft.
Getting Blaine up the many flights of stairs that led to the apartment was easier than Kurt anticipated - even if Blaine did pause in his tracks every once in a while to check that Kurt was still walking behind him.
Once they were in Kurt's room, Blaine collapsed onto the bed in a similar fashion to which Santana had done a few hours earlier. His exhaustion appeared to catch up with him as he fell asleep almost instantly, but not before mumbling "g'night Kurt" into the pillow.
Inconveniently for Kurt, he had chosen to fall asleep smack-bang in the middle of the bed. But he looked so peaceful that Kurt didn't want to move him. So he grabbed a pillow and a blanket and went to crash on the couch in the living room.
Kurt was awoken the next morning by the voices of his roommates, who were clearly making no effort as to not disturb him.
"For the fiftieth time - you can't just go through my stuff!"
"Chill out Berry. I ran out of bobby pins; what was I supposed to do?"
"Hmm, I don't know - maybe ask me before you go snooping around my things."
"You weren't here!"
"Then buy your own!"
"Jeez, relax, woman. You're gonna wake Hummel."
Kurt sat up at the sound of his name, "Done."
"Kurt! Would you please tell Santana -" Rachel stopped abruptly and did a double take when she registered where he was, "Wait, why are you on the couch?"
He stood up and attempted to massage the crick in his neck. That's what happens when you sleep on the couch.
"Because Blaine's in my bed," was his only reply, as he made his way over to join Santana, who was sat at the kitchen table.
Both girls raised their eyebrows considerably at this new information.
"Before you comment," Kurt said quickly, pouring himself some coffee. "Nothing happened. He was too drunk to make it back to his dorm, so I let him crash here."
"Uh-huh. Yeah, that's what happened," Santana remarked.
"It was!" Kurt insisted, "I didn't even get to speak to him much last night, let alone let anything else happen."
Santana just nodded, still disbelieving.
Rachel, however, was more sympathetic. She finished pouring maple syrup on her pancakes and joined them at the table. "How come you didn't talk to him?"
"Oh, because Sebastian's a psychopath," he said absently as he took a piece of toast from Santana's plate.
His roommates just gave him a "care to explain" look.
He sighed and took a bite of toast, "He basically told me to "back off", and made sure to do his best at excluding me out of everything for the whole night. So my evening was just fabulous."
He drained the rest of his coffee and stood up.
"I'm gonna go shower."
It soon became evident that Blaine could sleep for England. Nothing appeared to wake him. There was shouting and slamming of doors - (the noises of an ordinary Saturday morning in the loft), but Blaine would not stir.
It was past twelve when he finally emerged to find Kurt stood in the kitchen, making omelettes.
"Morning sunshine," Kurt greeted him, trying hard to fight a smile as he took in the spectacle before him.
"Hi," Blaine laughed before clutching his head and scrunching his face up in pain.
Kurt reached across the counter for a packet of aspirin and threw it in Blaine's general direction.
"Ah, you are wonderful," Blaine responded as he opened the packet and took the glass of water that was being offered to him.
After gulping down some water and taking a couple of the pills he shuffled awkwardly on his feet, not knowing what to do, "Listen, thanks so much for letting me crash here last night. Sorry to be a hassle."
Kurt just waved the spatula in the air to dismiss the apology, "Omelette?"
Blaine's face lit up and he went to sit down at the table, "You're even more wonderful than you were thirty seconds ago."