Sebastian returned to the same bar again that night, dressed in a darker shirt and jeans.
'Jewel tones,' Kurt had said, 'to bring out your eyes.'
His aubergine shirt and indigo pants were the most recent and relevant clothes he owned. No boat shoes this time. He chose instead an unassuming pair of Doc Martens.
He hurried the whole walk to the club and sat at the bar for hours, waiting for Kurt to make an appearance. Close to five hours and two rum and cokes later, Sebastian called it quits.
He didn't see that flawless skin or that perfect chestnut hair. He left a tip for the bartender and headed sullenly home.
The following day Sebastian got to drive the route by himself. That annoyed him because it meant he actually had to do work, not just look out the window and think about Kurt. On the plus side, he finally got a uniform that actually fit, much to Debbie's chagrin.
"I found it under the desk in Debbie's office," Louis told Sebastian conspiratorially as he walked Sebastian out to his truck. Sebastian fumed quietly as he recalled the unnecessary chaffing of the last couple of days.
Sebastian thought he had the route pretty much down, regardless of his lack of attention to anything Louis had told him. It seemed that learning the Fed-Ex route wasn't something he could do by osmosis. Several times he got pathetically lost. Once or twice he ended up at the wrong house. He even dropped something that sounded fragile. Luckily, that particular person wasn't home. He left the package on the door step and hurried quickly away.
It was almost two o'clock, and he was no where near as done as he should have been. He had about eight more packages to deliver before he hit Kurt's house, but he couldn't be late. Not for Kurt. He didn't care that the other fuck ups on his route might get pissed for not getting whatever it was in these square brown boxes on time, but Kurt's letters would be on his doorstep by two o'clock.
Come rain or come shine.
Sebastian bit his own tongue at his corny reference to the old jazz love song.
Sebastian pulled up to Kurt's townhouse with a few minutes to spare. He checked, double checked, and then triple checked the envelopes all addressed to Kurt Hummel to make sure he got every one. Though, Sebastian realized, purposefully forgetting to bring one might give him a reason to return later, but with Kurt's obvious drive for perfection, he might get pissed at Sebastian.
On the other hand, Kurt's getting angry meant he would flash that fiery glare Sebastian's way; the one that journeyed straight to his cock and made his whole body ignite on the inside like fire, or really good tequila.
It might just be worth it.
Maybe tomorrow, he decided.
He carried the envelopes - seven today - and the digital sign pad up to Kurt's door. He took just a second to straighten his shirt and tug on his shorts to release any wrinkles from the fabric before ringing the doorbell.
Kurt opened the door immediately. Part of Sebastian wondered if Kurt had been standing behind the door waiting for him.
Sebastian smiled, a little too eager, a little too wide, showing too many white teeth. He handed over the digital device to Kurt.
Kurt, in an emerald green satin dressing gown with a paler green Burberry collared shirt underneath, accepted it and signed his name. Kurt raised an eyebrow as he handed it back, looking over Sebastian's new uniform.
"Nice," Kurt said, taking his packages and setting them aside. Kurt smirked condescendingly, but at the corners of his eyes lay the hint of a genuine smile. "It's nice to see you found something that fit."
"Thanks," Sebastian said. Kurt nodded, preparing to close the door.
Sebastian didn't want that to be the end of it. Not today. Not when he was here alone.
"Uh..." Sebastian stuttered. Kurt stopped and looked back at him. "I went back last night...to that bar...you weren't there?"
Why it sounded like a question, Sebastian didn't know.
"Obviously," Kurt said, trying to sound detached, but it was hard.
'He went back looking for me?'
"Yeah." Sebastian tried desperately to find something to say to keep the conversation going. "And I was just wondering if you, um, just weren't there, or were you somewhere else? Do you have a schedule of bars that you hit on certain days?"
'Were you trying to avoid me?'
Sebastian wasn't about to ask a question he was certain he knew the answer to.
Kurt opened his mouth to answer, but then shut it again. He looked at Sebastian with narrow eyes.
"Why are you so eager to know?" Kurt asked, his tone less sarcastic and more wary.
Like he was hiding something.
Or, from the sudden flash of fear in his eyes that lasted barely a second, hiding from something.
"I..." Sebastian found he really didn't have an acceptable answer to that question. His first instinct in the matter of Kurt Hummel had been to fuck the man senseless, to make him speak another language using only the persuasion of his tongue on the pale man's perfect body. Now, Sebastian realized, this man was an enigma to him; a riddle he was eager to unearth.
Truth be told, Sebastian, with all of his cocky confidence and devil-may-care attitude, was pretty lonely.
"I just...I find you interesting."
There. That was as near to the truth as Sebastian was willing to get.
He figured he would save 'I think I have some sort of feelings for you and I daydream about making you breakfast in bed' for a later conversation.
Kurt's eyes narrowed further, until Sebastian could only see a faint sparkle on his blue eyes. Sebastian tried his best to keep his expression bright, open, and honest. Kurt tilted his head suspiciously, but decided to answer.
"My trip to that night club is pretty much just a Monday night ritual. I don't go anywhere else."
Sebastian nodded. Kurt didn't explain any further.
"Any particular reason?" Sebastian ventured.
The frightened look was back and then gone again.
"No," Kurt answered quickly. "Why?"
The last part sounded a bit like a demand.
"Uh..." Sebastian was taken back by the change in tone. "Somebody told me that you're a shut-in."
Kurt grimaced.
"Who told you that?"
"My supervisor, Debbie," Sebastian answered, a thrill traveling swiftly up his spine at the realization that he was having as close to a pleasant conversation with Kurt as he had been able to get.
"That fat buffoon," Kurt scoffed.
"Yeah." Sebastian smirked. "My coworker says you made her cry."
Kurt chuckled unrepentantly at the memory, closing his eyes and shaking his head, cheeks blushing just faintly. Sebastian smiled at the sight.
When Kurt opened his eyes to look at Sebastian again, his sapphire eyes weren't angry, or wary. They were warm and glowing.
"What's your name?" Kurt asked with a thoughtful tilt of his head.
"Me?" Sebastian asked in surprise. Kurt rolled his eyes.
"No, the guy behind you. Yes, you."
"Uh...it's Sebastian. Sebastian Smythe."
Sebastian stood dumbstruck for a moment before extending his hand for Kurt to shake. Kurt looked at it for a moment before reaching out and taking Sebastian's hand in his.
There it was. It was probably there the other night when Sebastian had grabbed Kurt's hands in the bar, but he was too anxious to help Kurt to notice.
A spark. A single, solitary burst of electrical energy. It sizzled along Sebastian's arm, and then traveled swiftly throughout his body before settling in his chest, causing his heart to race.
Sebastian saw a change, ever so slight, in Kurt's eyes as they dilated.
Maybe he felt it, too.
"Sebastian," Kurt repeated, letting the name roll around in his mouth in a strange way, as if he was trying to understand it.
"Revered," he quietly whispered.
Sebastian's eyes went wide.
"Wh-what?"
"Sebastian. It's Greek. It means 'revered'," Kurt explained. "Sebastian was also Viola's twin brother in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'."
Sebastian nodded, stunned.
"As well," Kurt continued, "St. Sebastian is the patron saint of soldiers."
Kurt swallowed thickly.
Sebastian would never think of his own name the same way again.
"Sebastian," Kurt said once more. "It's nice to meet you, Sebastian."
Just then, Sebastian realized he was still holding Kurt's hand, and Kurt was rubbing the back of his hand with his thumb in small, soothing circles that shot bolts of electricity up Sebastian's arm with each delicate pass.
Sebastian's breathing stuttered.
"It's nice to meet you, too," Sebastian said. "Officially, that is."
At that moment, Kurt noticed their hands, linked far longer than socially acceptable. He pulled his hand swiftly away. Sebastian couldn't bring his hand to move, to leave the open air where it hung, hoping for Kurt's hand to return.
"Uh...I wish I knew what Kurt meant."
Kurt noticed Sebastian's still outstretched hand and giggled.
"It means 'rhymes with Burt'. That's my dad's name."
Kurt's face went blank then, his mouth forming a small 'o' as if he realized he had just made a mistake.
"I have to go," Kurt said quickly. "Good-bye, Sebastian."
Kurt was about to disappear again.
Sebastian panicked.
"That's a nice color on you," Sebastian called quickly.
Kurt froze, his hand on the edge of the door.
"That green." Sebastian peeked around the door for one final glimpse of Kurt's face. "It's beautiful on you."
He heard Kurt's voice catch in his throat.
"It's beautiful on you, too," he heard Kurt say quietly before the door creaked slowly shut.
Sebastian breathed in deeply, sucking in a sufficient amount of air for the first time since he had first smiled at Kurt. He turned, his knees wobbling a bit as he made his way down the walk. He thought over their conversation, everything Kurt said, especially about his name.
Revered.
It sounded so different when Kurt said it than when his dad had last used it.
Like it was a curse word.
Like he was useless.
Like he was nothing.
Then he remembered what Kurt said before he shut the door.
'It's beautiful on you, too.'
Sebastian suddenly realized - the dressing gown, in emerald green...the exact same shade as Sebastian's eyes.