Sebastian fidgeted in his seat on the end of the row. Nobody else was talking to him. He glared at the stage, determined to stick it out. He hadn't just sat through this whole show just to get pushed out by a bunch of preppy schoolboys. Every time something made him laugh, the cut on his lip split open again, reminding him of that catastrophic class. Jeff hadn't laid another finger on him, and everyone was being silently polite. They smiled at him, they didn't shove into him in corridors; they didn't even give him dirty looks when he wasn't looking. Even if there was no way of getting caught, they were better than that, but he knew that if he put one foot out of line, he'd be screwed. He'd been walking on eggshells all week. He tried to figure out what was happening in the play, but he had to blink hard to clear his vision. Thank God the whole thing was nearly over. Blaine had been stretchered offstage and he was just visible at the side. Even from his seat in the audience, Sebastian could see him tearing up watching that tiny loud brunette slowly get up and wander off, leaving an empty stage. The house lights came up, and the crowd went crazy.

Sebastian saw the way everyone on stage grinned at each other. Their knuckles were turning white as they gripped onto each other's hands, relishing the applause and bowing. They did the customary gesture towards the wheelchair kid and the band, and the curtain came down.

Blaine watched quietly, smiling as he saw Rachel keep her composure until she was hidden behind the curtain, when she jumped on Kurt, her squeals drowned out by the applause. Kurt's eyes shut tightly as he lifted her up, and Blaine was terrified that he'd still be angry with him. He gave a little sigh as he saw him smiling and jumping with her, wrinkling his costume. He snuck out to the side of the stage. As he looked into the audience he saw the Warblers. He was glad he'd invited them; any excuse to see them again. Most of them. Of course Sebastian had come. Blaine had hoped against hope that he wouldn't, but he was so concerned about being polite that he hadn't said anything. He'd always found it hard to say no. The way his parents brought him up… He hated a lot of it, but the manners were hard to get rid of.

He could tell from the way Kurt and Rachel were babbling at Santana, congratulating her while she rolled her eyes but still smiled and blushed, that he had time. He made eye contact with Sebastian, which wasn't hard as he was staring right at him, and nodded at the door. He smirked and jumped out of his seat, snaking through the audience and dashing for the exit. Blaine rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he would roll his eyes at Kurt, in a 'Oh, you don't fool me, I know you love the Muppets really' kind of way. It was just a 'Could you try and put your boner away for five minutes'. He made his way towards the exit, making sure Kurt didn't notice. He didn't want to freak him out.

It was freezing outside. Seb was standing there, hands in his pockets, pretending he wasn't cold despite his teeth chattering. Blaine folded his arms and hunched his shoulders to keep warm.

"So. I noticed you struggling to keep your eyes off me," it was so easy to slip into asshole mode; it was so comfortable, so familiar, and it almost pushed the other stuff out of his mind and that uncomfortable twisting feeling out of his stomach. "I knew you'd come around-"

Blaine cut him off. He'd had enough of this crap.

"Seriously? Are you a real person? You're like a cartoon, you're like Scar or something, if he was human and gay and horny. I thought I made myself clear. I. Love. Kurt."

"Oh, you made that clear." Blaine got his hopes up for half a second that he'd got through to him… Sadly, no. "You said you didn't want to mess things up with him, and that's cute. Fortunately I can be very discreet." Blaine's mouth dropped open a fraction, and he raised an eyebrow. "I get that you're doing the young love thing now. Sweet. But do you really think he's enough for you? When you could have this?"

"Have what? Some meaningless fuck? Do you think Kurt's the only reason I'm not falling at your feet? Even if I was single, I wouldn't touch you." And now Sebastian's mouth was hanging open. "No, Sebastian. I'm done being polite. You're rude about my boyfriend, so I'm allowed to be rude to you. I hate your male bravado and your cocky asshole attitude and I just feel pissed off when you're near me. Maybe objectively, physically, you're attractive. But your personality is vile. I've seen you try and come between two people who love each other, and even if it wasn't me who you were trying to break, I'd still hate you for it. Now go back to your creepy gay bar and screw some 40-year-old guy and end up dead inside. I really hope you can find what Kurt and I have. Because it means more than anything you've experienced. More than any encounter in any seedy bar in Ohio or Paris or anywhere. What you're trying to do to me, it's going to hurt you more than us, because he's all I want. I love him. Now grow up. Get over yourself. Leave. Us. Alone." Sebastian was silent. Blaine felt a twinge of guilt, but he knew it needed to be said. He turned to see Kurt standing behind him.

"I… Uh… Puck said you were out here. Everybody's asking after you."

Blaine moved closer to him and took his hand.

"How much did you he-"

"Enough." Kurt didn't even glance at Sebastian. He cupped Blaine's face with his free hand and kissed him gently on the cheek. "I love you too. Come on." And with that, holding hands, they walked inside and didn't look back.

Sebastian kept his hands in his pockets and turned away from the building. He pursed his lips and sniffed, rubbing the back of his neck and looking around to make sure nobody could see him. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the lump in his throat. He swallowed, hoping that would make it go away. It didn't. He walked to his car, fishing for his keys. He tried to unlock it but everything was blurred and the key wouldn't go in and he leaned against it as a tear trickled down his cheek. He fumbled for his phone and scrolled down to the only person he could stand to be around now, who wasn't there because he couldn't stand to be near Sebastian.

"What do you want? I thought you were done with me?" Ned was obviously still furious with him, but when Sebastian didn't answer and he heard laboured breathing, he sat up in bed and his tone changed. "Has something happened? Sebastian? What's wrong?"

"I… Ned… I need to see you."

There was a long pause. It was painful. He could hear Ned weighing the options in his mind, and he wasn't one for prayer but if it would make him say yes, he'd do anything.

"No. No, Sebastian, I can't. Not after what you said. I know you think I'm just some kid you can mess with, but I won't let you. Maybe I just got… caught up in someone liking me. I'd never really… it doesn't matter. You can't just expect me to come running because you've changed your mind. I'm not letting you drop me again. It was too far to fall."

He didn't let Sebastian respond. He knew if he heard his voice he'd cave. He heard a choked sob on the other end of the line.

"Sebastian?"

"What?" Only one syllable, and it made his voice catch in his throat. He sounded almost child-like. Ned knew he could take it all back. He could make him come back to Dalton and up to his room and he could explain everything and he could tell him it was OK, that he didn't need to keep bullshitting because it didn't work on him. He could hold him and kiss him and bring that shield down again, but what if it came back? What if he woke up in an empty bed again, having known the risks and having been stupid enough to fall for it twice? What if Sebastian just wasn't ready for all of this and he was perfect and gentle and vulnerable with him but with the others he was that rude, arrogant asshole again?

"Just… don't come to my room, OK? I don't want to see you."

He bit his lip and closed his eyes as soon as he'd said it. He clutched at his pillow and allowed himself a single sniff.

Sebastian was biting his lip too. He knew this was what he deserved. Why should he get a second chance? He gripped onto the door handle of his car and dropped his head against the window with a thud. He nodded silently before remembering he was on the phone.

"Fine. That's… it's fine. I'm tired anyway. I was just going to go to bed." He thumped his head against the car again, letting a tear drag down his cheek. "Ned?"

"Yeah?" Ned's eyes opened slightly and edged towards the phone. His brow furrowed. He tried not to hope for anything, he tried so hard, but maybe, just maybe Seb would say the right thing and then he wouldn't change around the others and maybe… no, Ned. Stop it. You know how this is going to end.

Sebastian made a fist and dug his nails into his palm.

Apologise. Tell him you fucked up, tell him you miss him, tell him anything so you can keep talking. Say you're sorry.

He opened his mouth, letting his jaw hang there for a second, about to force the words out, but he couldn't. What could he do? Promise he'd stop being like this? Promise to be good enough for him? Those were promises he couldn't keep, and he couldn't lie to him. It wasn't fair on Ned.

"I'm… I understand. You're right." There was another pause as he heaved in another breath and bit on his tongue to distract himself from the burning in his eyes. "Goodbye, Ned."

Ned didn't say anything; he didn't have to. 'Goodbye' was pretty clear, but neither of them hung up. They were both frozen, Sebastian next to his car in the cold and Ned on his bed squeezing his pillow until it was squashed out of recognition, holding their phones to their ears. All they could do was listen to each other breathing, and it was torture but they couldn't bring themselves to cut it off. Ned wanted to run to wherever he was and stop his breath from trembling like that, but after a minute he finally heard a click. He looked at his phone, and the screen went from the photo Seb didn't know Ned had, of him grinning like an idiot at Warbler practise, to black. He finally wiped his face with the heel of his hand, just smearing the tears across his cheek. He had to admit defeat. That was it. They'd both just given up.

Sebastian nodded at the others as they walked past him and they silently nodded back. He'd forgotten they weren't talking to him. He could have stayed on the phone, he could still be listening to him breathing, but he'd had to pretend everything was fine to people who hated him. He almost called him back, but he knew Ned would either ignore him or worse, pick up and talk to him and try to cheer him up when he didn't deserve it and give him another chance only for him to fuck it up again. He got in the car and shoved his phone in the glove compartment so he couldn't be tempted. He had to leave Ned alone. In the long run, it was for the best.

Ned lay back and closed his eyes again.

"Goodbye, Sebastian."