This chapters contains some homophobic slurs, but it's kind of brief. :)

Chapter 1- An Idea

The day that Sebastian returned to the Spotlight Diner was one that both he and Kurt would remember forever. It was a springboard forward into their own lives.

Sebastian had left Rex at their house to oversee things there as he ventured out on his own. He wanted to do everything his way and that couldn't happen with regular supervision from the world's most frightening man.

Sebastian's plan, with the help of Emilia, consisted of simply asking Kurt out for a cup of coffee sometime. Sebastian had suggested whisking him away to Europe to the finest cups of coffee in the world, but Emilia had insisted that Kurt would be completely overwhelmed by a sudden vacation with someone he barely knew. Sebastian figured that she was right but would keep it in mind for a future date. It wouldn't hurt to harmlessly throw his money around and impress Kurt completely by buying a plane ticket to Paris or Milan.

Kurt, however, was annoyed by the very fact that a customer had the audacity to pay him a large sum of money for his singing abilities. Sure, it was what he wanted to make a living from and this was the way to do it, but that wasn't the point. He didn't want to complain about the money, but it was the careless way that Sebastian flaunted his riches about the place and gave him money like a dog doing a good job of his latest trick. He felt a little cheap, even though he had collected $2500 by the end of his shift. Santana had been mightily jealous, but had told him to "Get it, Tinkerbell". Kurt thought about the chances of him getting anything with Sebastian Smythe and reduced them to pretty much zero. He would likely never see the man again.

Until he did.

Sebastian was sat in the diner, incognito in the corner after requesting a glass of water. As badass as he was, his complexion mattered. He watched as Kurt was busily serving everybody and frowned when nobody asked him to sing. If Sebastian was a regular here, he would ask Kurt to sing all the time just so that he could his voice. He was tempted that day, but figured that it was best for him to stay as inconspicuous as possible. He thought that maybe Kurt's friend Santana had caught him, but he was wrong. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Sebastian quite liked her.

Everything was good. Sebastian was preparing himself to go over to Kurt, when a disturbance interrupted his train of thought.

"Hey, faggot boy! Get the fuck back over here right now!"

Kurt, used to such treatment, rolled his eyes and trudged back to their table. "Is everything okay? Is the cutlery too advanced for your evolutionary inept brains?"

The man that had shouted grunted slightly and banged his fist on the table. Sebastian was silently seething in the corner, ready to step in if it got hairy.

"Did you make our food?" The man spat, his tone full of hatred.

Kurt tilted his head. "I'm a performing waiter. Do you think I have time to make the food too?" At their blank responses, he sighed. "No."

"You're a rude little faggot aren't you?"

"And you're an ignorant homophobe. Clearly we're not destined to be friends. You're in a Broadway themed diner, for fuck's sake! You're bound to run into somebody whose sexuality is not the same as yours. Grow up or get the fuck out," Kurt sassed, completely bored of the prejudice he continued to receive.

Sebastian wanted to applaud, but realised that the man was standing up now, squaring up against Kurt. Sebastian stood too, ready to go over there and defuse the situation. Kurt seemed to have handled it, but clearly the man was more homophobic than he seemed. To his credit, Kurt didn't seem to shrink down. The man shoved him slightly and Sebastian intervened, pulling his collar violently. The man crashed onto the table, grunting.

Kurt was surprised to see Sebastian there, but shrugged it off when the latter's fist flew into the man's face. Maybe he had some kind of hero complex or whatnot. Kurt didn't quite know. The aggressive man kicked out at Sebastian, but missed and that just made him more angry. Sebastian shook his head.

"Listen up, Flintstone, if you want to start something you can go and wait outside and I'll deal with you then. But you're in a public diner and you don't want to cross me here."

"Fuck all of you faggots!" He growled and stormed out of the shop.

Kurt turned to Sebastian immediately. "Thank you for that. I must say, I never expected to see you again. What are you doing here?"

Sebastian blushed. Actually blushed. That was so not him. "I wanted to see you again."

Kurt didn't expect him to be so blunt about things. Then again, their last encounter wasn't so sugar coated. "Well, that was sincerely chivalrous. Thank you."

"Do you get this often?"

"Everywhere I go," Kurt sighed, flapping a menu against his chest.

Sebastian didn't really think about his next plan. "You could come and stay with me."

"What?"

Sebastian sat them both down at a nearby table where nobody was staring at them like they were at the zoo.

"You could come and stay with me," Sebastian repeated slowly. "I can protect you. From all of these guys."

"What?"

"You don't seem to understand a simple declarative."

Kurt glared defensively. "I understand what you're trying to say. I don't understand why. Why you're offering or why you think that I would actually accept! This is the second conversation I've ever had with you. What makes you think that I'm going to suddenly drop everything and move in with you?"

"Because you feel it too," Sebastian shrugged, careful not to crease his jacket. "This spark between us. Why do you think I came back today? I could have gone anywhere and the food isn't that great here. Plus, you got homophobes like that running around the place like cockroaches."

"So…you came here today to…see me?"

"He understands," Sebastian clapped his hands together once.

"I still don't understand why."

"Do you feel it? This thing we share?"

Kurt nodded slowly. "I feel…something. I could boil it down to attraction because, well, look at you. But I don't think it is. Sure, I'm attracted to you, but I don't get why my heart is racing." Kurt was being very direct, which surprised Sebastian.

Sebastian stepped closer. "Let me help you. Bushwick isn't exactly the safest neighbourhood, especially when you don't actually have a lock on your door."

Kurt stepped backwards. "How do you know where I live? And what my door is like?"

Sebastian chuckled softly. "Oh, Kurt. I could find out everything you've ever done just by making a quick phone call. I have some connections that you wouldn't believe."

"Because that makes me trust you more," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes. Sebastian was instantly charmed by the action, despite the slight hostility towards him.

"It's not a creepy thing. I want to protect you."

"I'm quite capable of protecting myself thank you very much. It's not like I've never done it before," Kurt snapped harshly.

"Fine. Let me pose it this way. I want to cover your NYADA tuition. As a one-time payment to NYADA covering the cost of your tuition with some residual funds left for anything else you might want or need whilst you're studying there."

Kurt almost fainted. "You want to pay my tuition for me? That's absurd, I could never pay you back quickly enough!"

Sebastian shook his head. "You misunderstand the pragmatics of my statement. It's not a loan, I would not expect reimbursement of the funds. I don't want to alienate you with any unintended arrogance, but your tuition would not even make a sizable dent in my personal accounts. It's more like a drop in the ocean."

Kurt marvelled at the slickness of this guy. He was seriously smooth. He was arrogant, but not in an arrogant way, something that made no sense to Kurt. His circumstances made him inevitably arrogant, but it was clear that he wasn't trying to be. It was just the way things were. His wealth and intelligence made him so, but he didn't flaunt it in a way that demeaned others.

"So…let me get everything straight. I can either come and live with you to protect myself or you pay my tuition for me free of any catches?"

Sebastian nodded, but paused. "There is a slight condition. If I were to pay your tuition, I would want you to come and stay with me anyway."

"Why is that part so important?"

Sebastian sighed. "My family. It's very important that things go exactly how they want them. They know my sexuality and they actually prefer it that way. They think that girls would just be with me for my money and not for me. A man would think more about me, some pride thing that they think is inherent in all men."

"That's actually really logical."

Sebastian hummed. "If you lived with me, you would act as my boyfriend in front of my family and at social events. In your free time, you could do whatever you pleased."

Kurt was beginning to come around, but still didn't particularly like the arrangement. He would benefit a lot from his tuition being paid. He was in a huge debt. His father's still-hovering medical bills were a thorn in their side as that meant Burt's planned college fund for Kurt had to be spent on other things, like that and his former tuition at Dalton. Kurt's job didn't help too much and he had taken out various student loans which had left him in a worse position than before.

"So I get my tuition paid if I pretend to be your boyfriend?"

"You also get to spend a lot of time with me," Sebastian winked.

"That's the real prize," Kurt snorted.

"You would have a large financial pool at your disposal. Everything mine would, additionally, be yours. I would have a credit card made for you connected to my personal account. Feel free to spend anything you like."

"This is too much like Pretty Woman for me to comprehend."

"Oh Kurt, I don't want sex from you. I mean, I do. Very much, actually. Who wouldn't? But that's not part of the deal, should you choose to accept it."

Kurt had still paused on the fact that Sebastian wanted to have sex with him, making out like everybody did. That wasn't a fact. Guys tended to stay away from him. He tended to be not their type. He was too effeminate, he guessed. Gay guys wanted guys who were guys, like Sebastian.

"So? What will it be?" Sebastian asked and Kurt had a feeling that he would be incredibly persistent should Kurt turn him down.

Kurt bit his lip. "I'll do it."

"You will?" Sebastian's eyes lighted up.

"I accept the terms of your arrangement."