Two Steps Beyond
Part 151
If it wasn't for the phone ringing, Blaine and Sebastian could've probably easily slept for much longer. With the way they were situated Blaine, leaned over to the coffee table and answered his phone. Not surprisingly it was Cooper letting them know they'd arrived home and he was curious as to whether they wanted him to drop their things off or if they were going to pick them up. After a brief discussion, Cooper said he'd swing by since all of their things were still in the back and it would be a bit pointless to take them out just to transfer them into Blaine's car. So that it didn't drag, Cooper let them know he'd be by in about twenty minutes and for them to just meet him down in the garage.
They were rather relieved that it was going to take a bit for Cooper to arrive as it was going to take them some time to wake up. The last thing either wanted was to risk breaking any of the items Cooper and Lexi brought home since there was a reason they were driven home versus being shipped. By the time they headed down to the garage they'd each put on their sneakers as well as thrown on sweatshirts knowing how cold it was going to be. While it had been cold in Ohio, they didn't have the biting wind the boys had come home to.
Their timing couldn't have been much better because they'd just come out of the elevator with one of the carts when Cooper came pulling in. "How was the drive home?" Blaine asked as Cooper opened the back hatch.
"Extremely smooth. The kids slept for about half of it and when they were awake they were pleasant."
"Nice to know you guys got the same sort of trip we did." Sebastian said as they began to unload. "Thanks again for bringing all this stuff home."
"You are welcome. Did your boxes arrive as well because I need to go and pick ours up once we're done?"
"They did. Walter was signing for them when we arrived." Blaine told him. "How was Mom when you left since Dad took us to the airport?"
"She was good but I think knowing she was going to see us all again soon helped. When they leave New York I'm sure she's going to be worse. Now, did I hear correctly that you guys are going to be going home in March?"
"We are, but it's only for the weekend." Sebastian replied. "We promised the guys we'd come home for Regionals. Why?"
"Jocelyn and Braeden's first birthday."
"No worries, we won't be missing their party. Regionals are a week earlier this year." Blaine told him. "Hard to believe they're going to be one soon."
"Tell me about it. From the way Nana and Grandma were acting you would think they were much old.
"That's very true. But till you two are ready you can practice all you want." Blaine said with a laugh that Sebastian echoed.
"Cute." Cooper replied as he handed the last of their things. "So, are we good?"
"We are." Sebastian replied. "Now off you go to get all the stuff you guys sent home."
"At least it all doesn't have to get put away right away. I'm pretty sure once I get back we're going to eat and then not do much beside put the kids to bed."
"We know the feeling. Once we got everything put away we took a nap." Blaine told him. "So, we will talk to you later." Cooper then gave them each a hug before heading off. "Ready to go put the rest of this stuff away?"
"Ready and then we can order dinner because I'm starving."
Sebastian was walking back into the living room with their food as Blaine came walking in with plates and drinks. "I didn't realize how hungry I was till I smelt that."
"Safe to say we might now have much left."
"Fine with me." Blaine said as they sat down. "By the way, Nick and Jeff are home as well, just got a text from them. And after checking the rest of my messages everyone is home safe and sound." Sebastian smiled and started to dish out their food. Considering how quiet they were while they ate it was obvious how hungry they both were. By the time they finished they both leaned back against the couches and sighed. "I think I ate too much."
"Me too, but I don't regret it. Only in New York can you get such good food delivered. What do you say after we clean-up we get comfortable again on the couch?"
"Sounds perfect."
They'd just gotten comfortable on the couch when Blaine's phone went off again. "Aren't you going to get that?" Sebastian asked before wrapping his arms around Blaine once more.
"Nope, they can leave a message. Right now there are only a few people I'd answer for; the rest can wait till tomorrow." When the phone stopped ringing they waited for that infamous beep to let them know a message had been left but it never happened. "See, it obviously wasn't important. Plus, it was the random tone on my phone. For all we know it was a telemarketer."
"Then it's a good thing you didn't answer." Sebastian said while tightening his hold on Blaine. "It's good to be home B."
"I know the feeling Bas, I'm happy to be home too. It's not that I didn't enjoy our time in Ohio; it's just good to be home. I hope my family didn't drive you crazy."
"Not at all, I enjoy being around them, all of them. Your Grandparents are hysterical."
"Yea, they're definitely not boring. And it was nice seeing my Grandma react the same way to Cooper and Lexi kissing that she did to us. I was beginning to think it was just us."
"From what I saw your Grandparents really don't see any difference between them and us."
"They don't, but it was still nice to see. Guess they were better about sneaking kisses then we were."
"Did you ever notice how long it took them to return after putting the kids down for a nap? It's pretty clear what they were doing."
"That's very true, while we grabbed them when we felt like it." Sebastian then leaned down and kissed the top of Blaine's head. "I'm pretty sure my Nana is going to show that picture she took with the two of us to everyone she knows."
"That's a safe assumption. And now I know who to turn to if I ever need pictures of the two of us for another project. Actually, either them or your Mom actually. There is no shortage of pictures of us from our time at home."
"Sorry about that, they get a bit picture crazy."
"Like I told you, I honestly didn't mind. And did you see that shot from Christmas morning before my parents arrived, it was cute."
"I did and Nana already sent it to us. She figured we'd want it. I honestly won't be surprised that in the next few days all the pictures are sent to us."
It was well over an hour later and as their conversation began to fade it was becoming obvious to both of them where their evening was heading. "What do you saw we take this somewhere with a bit more space?" Sebastian said once their kiss broke.
"Are you implying we're getting carried away?" Blaine asked as he looked at Sebastian.
"Considering you're now straddling my lap, yes. While I normally wouldn't mind having fun out here, since it's been awhile I'd rather do this in the bedroom."
"Are you saying what we did in Ohio didn't satisfy you?"
"No, it definitely did. But it'll be nice not to have to worry about anyone hearing us. We can be a bit more free with what we want to do and do to each other."
"And just what do you have in mind Bas?" Blaine asked in a soft whisper into his ear before beginning to nuzzle his neck.
"Let me show you. Hold on." Sebastian then wrapped his arms around, Blaine as he wrapped his arms around him before Sebastian got up off the couch. Once he was standing, Blaine immediately wrapped his legs around Sebastian's waist before he took them to their bedroom.
When Blaine awoke the next morning, he slowly rolled over once he realized Sebastian was no longer in bed. With each move he made it brought back memories of the night before. If he was moving this slowly he could only assume Sebastian wasn't in much better shape. He was about to get up when Sebastian came walking in with a tray of food. "Morning killer, how you feeling?" Sebastian said before setting the tray down on the bed.
"Morning yourself and I feel good, yet sore. We definitely made up for lost time."
"Then we're in similar shape." Sebastian replied before carefully getting back in bed with him. "That's why I made us breakfast, I figured we both needed it."
"You didn't have to go to all this fuss Bas, but thank you." Blaine then leaned over and kissed Sebastian on the cheek. "I love you."
"I love you too. Now, let's eat."
"What do you have in mind for afterwards?"
"That we just let things take us where they may."
Since their friends weren't going to be there till later that evening, Blaine and Sebastian ended up spending the bulk of their day in bed. While if they told anyone that, they probably would've been wrong at assuming what they did, as they spent most of it cuddling though they'd be lying if they said nothing else happened. By the time they went to take a shower, they were more than ready to see their friends. And if they knew their friends the way they thought they did, they were pretty certain they spent their day and previous evening similarly.
Blaine and Sebastian couldn't have timed matters better, as they'd only just finished turning on the lights when the doorbell rang. Slowly but surely all of their friends arrived and placed their gifts under the tree. "This tree is almost as full as the one at your house B." Sebastian said as he wrapped his arms around Blaine from behind.
"Almost, but the boxes are a tad bit smaller."
"True, but it's almost as full." They were in their own little world as everyone mingled that they didn't hear Jeff and Brittany walked up next to them till one of them spoke.
"So, who do we have to thank for all the mistletoe?" Jeff asked.
"That would be Bas." Blaine replied. "It is all over the apartment so pay attention."
"What do you mean all over?"
"He means all over." Sebastian told him. "If I remember correctly, I hung some in every room and some of the rooms have more than one cluster."
"That's actually quite ingenious. I'm sure it's made for some spontaneous moments."
"It definitely has." Blaine replied with a smile.
"Where was the most creative place he hung it if you don't mind me asking?" Jeff asked as Brittany wrapped her arms around him.
"Above our bed."
"Really?" Jeff asked, cocking his eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes, and I must say it was a brilliant idea."
"Mind if I use it next year?"
"Be my guest." Sebastian replied. "How was the drive home?"
"It went quick surprisingly. With as much fun as we all had back in Ohio, it was good to get back."
"We know that feeling well. Did you guys all just chill once you unpacked?"
"Yes." Brittany replied. "Like Jeff said, it was good to be home."
"Did you guys ever find out how the girls dates went?" Blaine asked.
"Megan said it was really nice. She likes him."
"What about Ally?" Sebastian asked.
"She had fun as well." Nick said as he and Santana walked up to them. "And let us know he was a complete gentleman."
"Does this mean you're okay with it?" Blaine asked.
"It does. It's just weird knowing their both old enough to be dating."
"At least you only have to go through this once." Jeff said with laugh.
"You'll be fine." Sebastian said. "You've got a few years to prepare for Carly dating."
"That's very true."
By the time they began exchanging gifts, it was clear everyone had quite a bit of fun shopping this year. And while they often tended to exchange fun gifts, most of the gifts this year were rather practical. There were frames, personalized glasses, and so much more. By the time everyone finished they were all smiling. "Britt, should we even ask how you got enough corks to make us all bulletin boards?" Rachel asked. "Because these are really cool."
"Thanks. Basically I made a lot of phone calls and Lexi called her friends as well. She said they all drink enough wine that it wouldn't be a problem to get me what I needed. It seems most of them collected them because they planned to do something like I did but hadn't gotten around to it."
"Jeff, did you help her?" Trent asked.
"Only once and that was going to exchange a frame for her that was cracked so she didn't have to stop working. I told her she should've asked Blaine and Seb for corks considering all the wine we drink."
"But then they would've asked why." Brittany said.
"She's right, we would've." Blaine said. "But know if you need any for any other projects we've got a bunch of them in a huge snifter in the dining room."
"I'll remember that, thanks."
"Safe to say we all did well in the originality department." Dave said. "Trent, since you've always called us out if we came close to blowing the price threshold, how'd we all do this year?"
"I think this is the best we've all ever done." He replied. "So congrats to everyone!"
"How long have you guys done this?" Hailey asked.
"This is the fourth year if I remember correctly." Thad said.
"You're correct." Beat replied. "It all started sophomore year for most of us."
"Blaine, did you take part the year you were at McKinley?" Santana asked.
"I did, though it wasn't easy since Kurt didn't want me around the guys."
"How did you explain everything you brought home?" Dave asked.
"Easy, he never noticed any of it when he came over so I never had too. I was all set to tell him where it all came from but he never noticed the new additions to my room. So I never mentioned it." As he spoke, Blaine noticed a slight change to everyone around him. "Guys, what's going on?"
"It's nothing." Nick replied, not really wanting to do this now.
"You're a horrible liar." Blaine said as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Just tell me what it is."
"Now's not the time." Wes said. "Let's just enjoy our evening."
"No, we can do this now because otherwise it's going to bug me." As Blaine spoke, Sebastian moved from his spot next to Blaine on the floor and scooted in behind him, instinctively wrapping his arms around him. Once they all began exchanging looks Brody got up from his spot on the floor.
"Hunter, why don't you come with me?" Hunter cocked his head to the side, but as soon as Brody's expression changed he realized that whatever was going on they weren't really a part of. "We'll be in the kitchen." After they walked out of the room, Blaine looked at everyone.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Absolutely not!" Jeff replied. "If anything, we did by not being completely honest with you." They all watched as Blaine glanced back at Sebastian who gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"What weren't you honest with me about? It's not about Bas and I, is it?"
"It's not about you and Seb." Thad told him. "It's actually about Kurt. It's about our true feelings about him and well, your relationship with him."
"You mean something besides the fact you didn't like him." Blaine said.
"That might be an understatement." Beat told him. "Most of us couldn't stand him and didn't think he was good for you." Blaine then looked over and Nick and Jeff who were nodding in agreement.
"You guys too?"
"Yes." Nick replied. "Though, there was a brief window when we liked him, but in my case that didn't last long."
"Sadly, I was fooled the longest. But I think I was blinded by the fact I just wanted you to be happy." Jeff said.
"Why didn't you guys tell me?"
"None of us thought it was our place to tell you who you should or shouldn't go out with." Wes told him. "All any of us wanted was for you to be happy. So if that meant keeping our feelings to ourselves, it's what we did. It wasn't till recently did we all find out how we all felt."
"So none of you wanted us together?"
"Yep." Dave said.
"But you all came with to sing when he left."
"We did that for you Blaine, not for him. We knew it meant a lot to you so we did it." David told him. "Personally, we were all thrilled when he went back to McKinley."
"This might sound rude, but he never fit in." Thad said. "He tried way too hard. And well, if he kissed your ass anymore publicly then he did before you two started dating I might've been sick."
"Then why did you guys agree to let him sing that duet in competition if you didn't like him?"
"That would be because most of us felt if we objected that our personal feelings towards him would come out. That's how strongly we disliked him."
"So we went into competition with him sing with my by default?"
"Sort of. While he has a nice voice, it just didn't seem right for him to be doing it." Trent replied. "Personally, if you were going to sing a duet with anyone it should've been Nick, Wes, Thad, or Jeff."
"If you guys didn't like him why didn't someone say something to me? Did you ever think just maybe, you would've been stopping me from making a mistake?"
"Relax B; I'm sure they've got a good reason." Sebastian said calmly as he now understood why the guys didn't want to do this now.
"Would you have honestly listened to us?" Thad asked. "I mean, when you two started dating you were so happy so who were we to tell you it was wrong. Just because we didn't like him, didn't mean you couldn't. But in hindsight would should've and we're sorry. If we knew things would've gotten so crazy I'm sure we would've. But slowly but surely Kurt was pushing us out of your life and we all felt if we said anything you could've pushed us out for good. And we wanted to be there for you should anything happen."
"You had that little faith in me, thanks."
"Blaine, it's not that we didn't have faith in you." Nick told him. "A lot of it was based on our own fears. We saw so little of you once you went to McKinley we didn't want things to change anymore. Personally, I think Kurt knew how we all felt and that's why he didn't want you around us. He was afraid we'd tell you what we thought and that you'd listen to us. We're so sorry."
"If you want us all to leave, we'd understand." Dave told him. "Nick's right, we're all really sorry for not being more honest with you." Blaine went silent for a bit and glanced back at Sebastian who continued to hold him tight. After looking around at his friends once more he took a deep breath.
"I don't want you all to go. I'm sorry for overreacting."
"Don't apologize, you had every reason too." David told him. "But if we're being completely honest you should know we called Wes when you decided to go to McKinley."
"Why?"
"They hoped I'd be able to talk you out of it." Wes told him. "I can honestly tell you I didn't take the news of you leaving Dalton well."
"Why didn't you call or something then?"
"I felt that if your parents approved of you going to McKinley who was I to tell you otherwise."
"You didn't like him either?"
"Nope. I didn't think you needed all his drama in your life after everything you'd been through. But we can't always help who we fall for. So if him and his drama made you happy I was going to support you."
"While I knew you guys weren't his biggest fan, I had no clue you essentially hated him."
"We felt you deserved better." Beat told him. "As Nick said, once you left Dalton we weren't going to risk our friendship over not liking your boyfriend. I'm sure we've all dated girls the others haven't approved of." The guys all nodded. "Yet, we kept those opinions to ourselves so we treated Kurt the same way. We just never realized he'd try and push us out of your life."
"For that I am sorry." Blaine told them. "I really shouldn't have let that happen. We all made mistakes."
"So you're not mad at us?" Jeff asked.
"No, I'm not mad. I'm just surprised to the extent of all of your feelings."
"Well, we're sorry for keeping it from you." Trent told him. "And about the slushie…"
"Don't worry, Nick and I talked about it a while ago as have Bas and I. That's when I started to realize that you guys really didn't like him. I just didn't think it was as strong as it obviously was. It's pretty clear I was blind to a lot of things going on back then."
"There was one thing you weren't blind to." Thad said.
"And what was that?"
"Seb the first time you laid eyes on him."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Blaine replied with a shy smile.
"So not being able to take your eyes off of him was our imagination." Nick said. "Or you watching his every move during my song didn't happen?"
"Face it Blaine, that was the moment in which you fell for Seb." Jeff said. "We all talked about it and you never once looked at Kurt the way you looked at Seb that day."
"What can I say; I'm easy on the eyes." Sebastian added.
"You were just as bad." Dave told him. "You were completely smitten with him."
"When exactly did you guys meet?" Rachel asked.
"When I went to Dalton to bring them tickets for West Side Story."
"Ah, the moment Kurt showed what a true bitch he was." Santana said catching the guys off guard.
"What are you talking about?" Nick asked, slightly confused.
"Rach would mind getting Brody and Hunter, I think they'll find this amusing." Rachel nodded and walked towards the doorway and told the guys it was safe for them to come back.
"Everything okay?" Brody asked as he and Hunter sat back down.
"It's fine." Blaine replied. "Santana thinks you guys should be here for her telling the guys about Kurt being a true bitch."
"I thought that was all the time from what I've been told and what I've seen." Hunter said causing them all to laugh. "So, what is this moment Santana?"
"Well, the guys were discussing the first time Blaine and Seb met and it brought back a memory of Kurt being a true bitch to the man he supposedly loved." Santana said.
"Are you going to tell us?" Jeff asked.
"Yes. When we all auditioned for West Side Story we all had roles in mind and well, Kurt wanted Tony." That little bit of information caused all of the guys to laugh. "Yes, I know, it's pretty funny. But he had the gale to ask Blaine here not to do so because he knew he didn't stand a chance against him. So he tried to use Blaine's love for him to get Blaine to not accept the roll. And even played the, I'm a senior card."
"Did he really?" Thad asked and all Blaine could do was nod.
"How did you know?" Blaine asked as he looked at Santana.
"Blaine, Kurt was never quiet when he whined so everyone heard. I thought it was bullshit and I was so happy when you took the roll."
"Did you really considering it?" Nick asked.
"I did, when I audition I said my preference was one of the smaller roles but Artie insisted on Tony after my audition and asked me to reconsider. Kurt got pissed, but once the cast list went up and I got so happy he slowly accepted it."
"I'm glad you did." Rachel said. "At that time, while he was my best friend I really couldn't have pictured him as my Tony."