A/N: I've added a note to the last chapter for anyone confused about what Seb has done. Since its retroactive, it doesn't count against the world limit. I don't really know where this came from, except maybe that last night, one of the worst storm systems of the year blew through town and now, there are branches drying in the warm sun under blue skies.
Nick, Trent, Jeff and David arrive at Warbler's practice a bit out of breath. The four friends have been trailing Sebastian for the past week, and it's exhausting. Even with four of them taking rotating shifts, it's nearly impossible to keep with the tall boy's schedule of classes, singing, exercising, homework, being snarky, reading, and going to the Lima Bean for coffee.
They've only lost him twice before: last Sunday morning when he slipped for a run while Nick was at church, and the day Sebastian threatened Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel at the Lima Bean. Of course, after that incident, they got a flurry of texts from Kurt, Blaine, Rachel, the scary Latina, Satana, and two individuals called "Frankenteen" and "Puckasaurus".
Trent skates into the room last, literally sliding across the polished wooden floor with skill perfected over the last year at Dalton. When he sees his three partners in crime, but the absence of Sebastian, his eyes widen into a panicked stare.
Nick approaches Thad at the bench as John tries to lead the group in local warm ups. "I'm going to find Sebastian," he says, quietly. Thad is no Wes Montgomery; he doesn't know the particular of everyone's lives, but he knows there is something going on with Sebastian, lately. So, he lets Nick go running out of the room. Thad is nostalgic for last year when the biggest problem among the Warblers was Kurt and Blaine's budding romance and Wes' growing co-dependence on his gavel.
Nick slowly unlocks the door of the room he shares with Sebastian. Dalton is a safe place, and its rare that the door is locked, unless one of them is engaged in something … indelicate. Nick prays that he walks in on Sebastian pants-less.
Instead, when the door swings open, he sees his roommate sitting silently on his bed surrounded by the confetti made from dozens of multi-colored Mylar packages. Sebastian holds the syringe from his pump away from his body, so that the long of white tubing stands in stark relief to the wooden paneling along the wall. His thumb depresses the plunger, and Nick has no doubt that it is still connected to his body. His shoulders are heaving slowly, and Nick knows that if Sebastian were to turn, his cheeks would be covered in tears.
Nick feels sick. His guts fall into his shoes. He feels numbs. It would have been better if he had walked in on Sebastian masturbating.
He watches, silently and numbly, as Seb goes through the motions of putting his pump back together. The tall boy curls into the fetal position, then, as his fingers wrap around the pump and bring it to his cheek. His shoulders silently heave.
The motion somehow jettisons Nick from his paralysis. Silently, so as not to disturb his distraught roommate, he slips out into the hall, closing the door behind him. He texts an SOS to Trent, David, Jeff and Thad. Then, fingers shaking, he presses three numbers he's known since childhood but never used before: 911.