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Chapter Fifteen

"We'll be home tomorrow morning."

Kurt let himself smile as he listened to his dad's voice. When he made the decision to go back to Lima, he had hoped to spend more time with his dad, but as his luck would have it, his dad was in Washington and he'd already booked a vacation for him and Carole.

"Good, good," Kurt said, "I would pick you up but…"

"No, Kurt," Burt said quickly, "I'm sorry about all the trouble with that but it just didn't make sense to keep those cars insured when they're not being used."

Of course, the problem was an easy one to fix, but then Kurt had realized that his car also needed a whole lot of work and that he didn't have the patience to work on it himself without his dad present. Then, it had just become easier to get Rachel to pick him up because they could talk lesson plans in her car and Kurt hadn't realized it but getting Sebastian to drive him home or to his house or to Breadstix had become one of the best parts of his day.

"Well it hasn't been an issue so far," Kurt said.

"I told you to just take the damn car to the shop, kid."

"Yeah, well, shows how much New York has changed me I suppose."

His dad laughed and Kurt laughed along with him. There was something easy about talking to his dad. It hadn't always been like that, but once they started to understand each other, it had all just fallen into place.

"You're not going back any time soon, though, right? I would hate to think I didn't get to spend any time with my son while he moved back home."

Kurt grinned. "Don't worry, dad, I'm going to sticking around a little while longer."

"Good."

After they said their goodbyes, Kurt couldn't help but keep smiling even though he knew that Sebastian would be appearing at any moment for the conversation that he'd requested.

When he woke up that morning, groggy and just on the side of too warm, but comfortable, it hadn't dawned on Kurt for a few minutes that it was Sebastian that he was cuddled up to. He also hadn't quite remembered everything that happened the night before and even though it had only been a kiss, Kurt had felt the unmistakable shift in his relationship with Sebastian.

So, he'd gotten up, and after a time made the decision to just leave Sebastian in his bed and if anyone asked he would never admit to his eyes straying towards Sebastian as he got ready or how it was only after he was in the car with Rachel that he even remembered everything Sue had done.

Rachel had given him the third degree. Question after question about him and Blaine and everything Sue had done and it was her aghast exclamation at the situation that reminded Kurt that he had yet to confront Sue about the whole thing.

It had all served as a distraction and he'd tried not to think about Sebastian or the kiss, or for that matter the kiss he and Blaine had shared but somehow wound up texting Blaine. After seeing Sue and Blaine asking about Sebastian and Kurt floundering for an answer he didn't have because of course they weren't dating but there was the possibility there and Kurt didn't know if he could ignore it anymore.

The doorbell rang and Kurt took a deep breath.

Sebastian looked nervous, shifting from foot to foot and his lips quirking up into his usual smirk and then falling. Kurt just watched him for a moment.

"You know, for all your claims of disliking the whole cuddling thing, you're kinda clingy," Kurt said and opened the door wide so he could follow him.

"I am not," Sebastian said quickly.

"Cuddle slut," Kurt said.

Sebastian closed the door behind him, but didn't say anything and Kurt knew that nothing could really push the nerves away. In a way, he wanted just as much as Sebastian to not have the conversation at all and to keep things just as they were before.

He took Sebastian to the living room.

"We, um, me and Blaine, we went to see Sue today. She's denying she had a hand in anything."

"Well, what did you expect?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Thinking of it now, it was more about making it clear that it didn't work."

"Right," Sebastian said.

"So are we ever going to talk about it?" Kurt asked.

"It's not me that wanted this conversation," Sebastian said.

Kurt nodded. "Right," he said, "I'm supposed to bring it up, then. We kissed last night."

"At your request," Sebastian said right away.

Kurt scoffed. "Alright," he said, "because you prompted the question and because you made me curious. But also because I wanted to know."

Sebastian nodded. "And?"

"And I don't know," Kurt said but he knew that he was lying.

Kissing Sebastian had been amazing. It had felt wonderful and Kurt couldn't deny that there was something there, that recognizable spark of want and of interest. It was different than kissing Blaine. He didn't love Sebastian, so that feeling hadn't been there, but there was undeniable attraction and something that Kurt knew had to be called chemistry. Sebastian was hot, and smart, and he and Kurt got along too well.

"You do," Sebastian said and he raised his eyebrows at him.

"There's a difference," Kurt said, "between love and lust."

Sebastian nodded. "Okay. So, it was different."

Kurt sighed. "Of course it was different," he said, "but in a good way. Blaine is familiar. Kissing him is what I know, what my body is attuned to."

"And me?" Sebastian asked.

Kurt took a deep breath, and he looked away from Sebastian. "What do you think? You were there. It was a pretty damn good kiss." His traitorous eyes settled on Sebastian's lips.

"Damn good," Sebastian repeated, "yeah, you were pretty good too."

Kurt let out a laugh. "Well, that's settled. Doctor who?" he asked.

Sebastian stared at him for a while. "Yeah," he said after a moment, "sure." And Kurt knew that they were both in agreement. Nothing was going to change.

Blaine was only a little surprised when Mercedes called him about halfway through the week. He was in his office at Dalton, looking over the list of song choices that the council had agreed on.

"Hey, Blaine," Mercedes said, "so I'm back in town and I was hoping you could do me a big favor."

"Um, sure," Blaine said, "what is it?"

Mercedes sighed. "I was just wondering if you were free this week to help try and get Rachel to accept that she needs to get back on that horse and go back to New York. She doesn't belong in Ohio and her confidence was just crushed by that tv-show but she's still just as talented."

Blaine listened to Mercedes rant, and he could tell that she felt strongly about it. Mercedes had always struck Blaine as a good friend and he admired that she wanted to help Rachel, but it irritated him.

"Artie, Santana, and Brtittany are back too and we're all going to just offer her some support and show her it's okay to go back there and try again."

"I don't know, Mercedes," Blaine said.

It was partly that he didn't want to have to be at McKinley again and to be reminded of the two years he had gone to school there and also partiality because he didn't think that Rachel deserved it.

"We need you, Blaine," Mercedes said, "and I know it would mean a lot to Rachel."

Rachel had had it all. She'd gotten into NYADA, she'd gotten a leading role on Broadway, and then when school interfered with her role, she'd dropped out. When a better offer came along in the form of a tv-show she dropped her Broadway role. Blaine knew that he didn't have much room to talk, having been cut from NYADA due to how devastated breaking up with Kurt had made him, but it hadn't been his choice to leave school and he had every intention of going back. No one was encouraging, or spending a week singing to him, about it.

"You know she doesn't belong here in Lima," Mercedes pressed, "she's a star."

He sighed. "Alright."

"Thank you," Mercedes said.

They talked about the particulars next and not once did Mercedes bring up Kurt before she hung up and Blaine couldn't help but think that she hadn't mentioned him deliberately.

He stayed in his office as late as he dared to stay so he wouldn't have to be at the apartment feeling the awkwardness that had settled between him and Dave. It wasn't too noticeable, how things had changed, and maybe it was that they had mostly just changed for Blaine but a part of him just couldn't help but suddenly start to see Dave differently. He wasn't quite comparing Dave to Kurt, but he was noticing more and more things about him that were downright turn offs like how Dave left his beer bottles everywhere, how he didn't care for his clothes at all, or how all he ever wanted to talk about was football.

The next day after he was done with Warbler rehearsal, Blaine drove to McKinley. All of the new kids from glee, Artie, Sam, Kurt, and Mercedes were in the choir room.

"Blaine, you make it," Mercedes said and hugged him.

Artie fist bumped him and Kurt just nodded at him, lifting his head from his phone. Sam threw an arm around his shoulders and brought him closer to the others who were gathered around the piano.

"We were just discussing an inspirational song," Mercedes said.

Somehow, he wound up sitting at the piano. He listened to Artie, ever the director, telling them what he thought would look best, and then Kurt fetched the sheet music handing out the few copies he had a putting one in front of Blaine.

He couldn't help but keep stealing glances at Kurt, who was working with Mercedes to split the song up among them. When all the lines had been assigned, Kurt was talking to the three boys whose names Blaine hadn't bothered to learn yet.

Blaine couldn't help but admire the way that they all looked at Kurt, like he was imparting very important knowledge on them.

"Do you really think this will help?" Sam asked.

Blaine turned to look at him. "Singing at Rachel? I don't know, maybe. You know how she is."

Sam nodded and smiled. Blaine knew that there was something going on between them, and a part of him thought it was a little strange considering his history with Mercedes, but Sam had been happier lately and Blaine would be glad to see his friend happy.

"Let's take it to the stage, boys," Mercedes said, "do a run through."

It was easy to be back at the McKinley stage and to sit at the piano there. He had performed so many songs on that stage, that sometimes they all just blended together in his memory. What surprised him was how great it felt to be among his friends singing not because they were competing, but because they wanted to make another of their friends realize her potential.

They played around with the stage direction and the harmonies until they all agreed that it was perfect.

Kurt and Mercedes were talking about costumes when Sam and Artie approached Blaine.

"It's good to sing with you again, man," Artie said.

"Definitely," Sam added, "do you guys want to hang out after we're done here?"

Blaine hadn't really had a chance to spend time with any of them mostly because they were all busy with their own thing, but because he'd felt like he didn't belong with them anymore.

"I'm starving," Artie added, "we will definitely need some food."

Sam nodded eagerly.

"Sure," Blaine said.

After Kurt and Mercedes had written down all their sizes and they sang the song one more time, they were all allowed to leave and as much as Blaine might have wanted to talk to Kurt – even if it was about nothing – he didn't get the chance. Sam and Artie dragged him out of the auditorium and they were off.

The last time that Blaine had hung out with either boy, really hung out, had been back in New York before their little group scattered and Sam returned to Ohio. He'd seen Artie plenty of times after that, but Artie had gotten very busy with school and without Sam things just hadn't been the same. Not to mention that Blaine had gotten busy too with wedding planning and school, and spending every spare minute with Kurt.

They went to Breadstix, and Blaine who had been a bit put off by the restaurant ever since the Sue thing, didn't bother to protest going there. So, he sat down across from Sam and Artie and it was just a little strange how easy their friendship came because Blaine had expected more awkwardness than he got.

"Spill," Artie said, "what's going on with you and Rachel?"

Sam got flustered. "I don't know," he said after a while, "we kissed, or well, Rachel told me we kissed because I can't remember it happening. And I just like her I guess. I just don't know."

Artie nodded. "She's alright," he said, "too high maintenance."

Blaine scanned the room, partly because he was a little bored with the topic of conversation, but also because Sue had made him paranoid. It was for that reason that he spotted Kurt and Sebastian.

Sebastian had his hand on Kurt's elbow leading him to a table and Kurt was laughing. They saw down just in his line of sight and neither Kurt or Sebastian seemed to be interested in even looking at their menus because they were so deep in conversation. Blaine felt something akin to disappointment drop into his stomach.

"Blaine?" Sam asked.

He turned away from his distraction. "Sorry, what?"

"You okay, Blaine?" Artie asked.

"What were you looking at?"

"Sorry," Blaine said and shook his head, "I'm just a little distracted is all."

He tried to keep his gaze away from the table where Sebastian and Kurt were sitting and when it came time to order, he settled on a salad.

Sebastian took gluten free, sugar free, brownies to his grandfather when he visited him next as an apology of sorts for not going to see him for a few days. His mom had made him help in the baking of the brownies and Sebastian had to admit that they weren't all that bad. He still preferred real sugar in his treats though.

After a few hours spent listening to his grandfather tell stories about the trouble his dad had gotten into when he went to Dalton Academy, Sebastian drove to McKinley.

Things had gone back to normal after the conversation he had with Kurt, and Sebastian was happy with the status quo when it came to his relationship with Kurt. Their friendship was just too important to ruin because they had kissed and both of them had liked kissing each other. Not to mention the other factors that included one Blaine Anderson.

After he parked his car, he called Kurt, who picked up at once.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Thought I was picking you up today, are you ready?"

Kurt laughed. "This is becoming too much of a pattern. But, actually we're singing to Rachel today. I thought I told you about it yesterday. I wouldn't mind hanging out though, so, if you want you can come inside and watch."

"Yeah, sure. I needed to text Elliott anyway. This gives me the perfect excuse."

He knew that Kurt was rolling his eyes and he found himself smiling.

"Alright, well, see you in a bit."

The whole thing was great even though Kurt seemed to only be up there to harmonize. Sebastian stayed up at the very top, and he found the whole reason for the performance ridiculous and unnecessary. Rachel Berry didn't need them to sing to her in order for her to realize she needed to head back to New York. Even Sebastian knew that she wasn't supposed to be some small town teacher. He just didn't understand why she herself didn't realize that.

When they were done, and everyone was hugging on stage and Berry had made her way on stage with the girl that he knew had organized the entire thing, Sebastian made his way down closer to the stage.

None of them noticed him for a while and Sebastian was glad because it gave him the time to just observe them as Rachel thanked each of them. None of the boys looked bad in their suits and top hats and Sebastian was more than positive that they had been Kurt's idea. Kurt in particular looked really good and when he finally noticed Sebastian, he grinned at him.

"There you are," he said and climbed off the stage.

Sebastian plucked the hat off his head.

"Hey!"

"It gives you too much height," Sebastian said and put it on his own head. Kurt just grinned at him and Sebastian was surprised when he let him keep it on.

"So, ready?" he asked.

"Actually, they all wanted to go get coffee and a bite," Kurt said, glancing back at his friends, "you're welcome to come along if you want?"

Sebastian glanced towards Kurt's friends. The students, were gathering their things and Rachel was thanking them which meant they probably weren't going along but Blaine and the other two former glee club members were standing by the piano looking at them and Sebastian was just a little amused by the frown on Blaine's face.

"Remember how I asked you if you wanted to fake date me," Sebastian said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kurt asked and made a face at him.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Blainers over there looks like he wants to set me on fire or something."

Kurt shook his head. "Seb, I don't think it's a good idea."

"Well, I do. And yeah, I'll come along."

"That's a bad idea too," Kurt said, "I take it back. I don't want you to come. Actually, I won't go either."

Sebastian fixed the hat on his head. "Do you want him back?"

"Yes."

"Then you have to fight to get him back."

Kurt rolled his eyes yet again. "You're impossible."

When Sebastian looked over at Blaine again, he found him looking pensive.