Chapter 40

Sebastian knocked again, trying to keep the anxiety out of his fist and voice, he wanted to appear calm and collected but also honest and vulnerable. He didn't want to seem sure of the answer but didn't want to see deranged either. He was feeling a bit like that on the inside though. When Kurt didn't answer the door, Sebastian knocked again, a little louder and a bit more insistently. "What did I do wrong?"

There was an over-loud snort on the other side of the door and Sebastian knew Kurt was close even if he attempted to stifle it. "I mean with the flowers. I know my behavior was unacceptable, Kurt but I had to, otherwise I couldn't be here today. I had to put distance between us so we could be together more in the end."

Kurt scoffed this time and Sebastian placed his hand against the door in front of him, leaning in, talking urgently and sincerely to Kurt. "I'm serious. I got what I wanted from my father. No more New York, no more any of it except for 4 weeks a year basically. We can go back to normal. I've missed you so much and it was so hard to stay away and not answer you but I had to, don't you see?"

"I'm so glad that you got what you wanted Sebastian." Kurt's voice was close and Sebastian rested his cheek against the door.

"It's what you want too." Sebastian said. "And you know it too. It's just the way we had to go about it."

"It's the way you had to go about it. I had no say in the matter. You just told me this was what had to be done and even though I protested, you went ahead and did it anyway." Kurt was sniffling now. The sarcasm had hurt. The crying was deadly.

"I would never do anything against your will, Babe. This was just something I had to do to myself and my life so we could be together. I was only trying to hurt myself enough to get things changed."

"I don't want you hurt in any way, not emotionally, not physically, not even with your school stuff." Kurt's voice was loud and it wasn't just the proximity. Sebastian winced as he understood that he'd really hurt Kurt in return.

"Babe, I hated being away from you so much. I didn't mean to hurt you, which is why I thought telling you of the plan ahead of time would be enough. I know I ignored your calls but that kind of played into the goal if they wanted to look hard enough at us. I would never willingly do so otherwise." Sebastian didn't know what to say to reach Kurt. They'd never had a real fight like this, never had a need and he wasn't sure how Kurt would react. He didn't know how deep in shit he was. "This hurt me too, but I would rather have the short-term pain of staying away than the long-term pain of losing you and I knew if I only saw you a few hours a week until we graduate that we would fall apart. That pain would be too much. I don't want to lose you. I'll grovel and apologize for eternity if I need to." He hadn't put them through the last few weeks and especially the last week to lose Kurt now and put them through even worse pain.

Kurt shuffled and it sounded like he was getting up and that meant he was at least near the door if not resting against it. Sebastian moved back with just enough indication of Kurt's plans between the movement sounds and the lock clicking open before the door opened inward. He was glad he didn't fall flat on his face at Kurt's feet, though he would gladly do so if that meant that Kurt would forgive him.

"I'm mad at you." Kurt warned, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring at Sebastian.

"Yeah, I gathered." Sebastian winced at the somewhat dry tone, he didn't mean to sound sarcastic. Kurt's eyebrow was the only indicator that he reacted to the tone. Sebastian spoke quickly. "It's completely understandable."

"Yeah, it is." Kurt didn't look at all apologetic for his own dryness. Sebastian's lip twitched at how compatible they were. He quickly schooled his features though, Kurt hadn't said anything that actually gave him reassurances that they would be ok, at least with time. Kurt sighed heavily and looked into Sebastian's arms. "I don't want to break up and you don't have to grovel." Sebastian started to smile broadly but Kurt continued to frown at him. "You can come to dinner but I'm not promising anything. I'm angry and it might take a bit of time to get back to where we were."

He breathed in deeply and let it out slowly and gave a nod. He would just have to be patient but he didn't really know how to do that all that well but knew that Kurt would eventually get over it, he hoped. He had to hold Kurt's eventual forgiveness toward Finn, who had done far worse things, as a beacon. Although it would probably be more similar to his anger toward Burt, considering that he had started in a far worse place with Finn than they'd ended up. That had been a painful thing to watch and had never wanted to be on this end.

Kurt moved out of the way and Sebastian was allowed entrance. He wasn't even that surprised to see Burt and Carole standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Carole's hand on Burt's forearm, probably restraining him. Sebastian hadn't thought this out, he'd just gotten to a really good place with Burt again and now he would have to make amends with the father as well.

Burt surveyed him and his expression and while he didn't sound very welcoming, he didn't berate Sebastian either. "You just make it right by my boy and we'll be fine." He headed back into the kitchen and Carole just gave him a warm smile before following suit.

"Finn?" Sebastian asked with a surprisingly small voice.

"He doesn't know anything." Kurt explained. "And he's not here yet. He's joined the basketball team."

"Makes sense." Sebastian made a motion above his head by at least a foot and Kurt smiled but it quickly disappeared as he remembered he was supposed to be mad. Sebastian let a knot loosen in his chest, they were going to be ok.

"Height isn't everything but it's a lot, especially with a third string team like ours. It'll really make a difference." Kurt hesitated on where he wanted to go, usually they'd either go down to his bedroom when Finn wasn't around or he'd head over to the couch; either way they'd cuddle. Sebastian took charge of the indecision and headed into the living room and sat on one corner of the couch. Kurt took the other side, but it gave them the opportunity to move toward each other. "Lots of sports talk while you've been away."

"There's always been lots of sports talk." Sebastian had partaken a little when it was a sport he was interested in, otherwise he and Kurt did a good job steering the conversation away from it. They were often out-numbered though when Carole wanted to talk about sports too.

"Yeah, I haven't really had the support other than Rachel these days." Kurt drew his legs up onto the couch, blocking Sebastian out slightly. Sebastian worried a little at the symbolism. He knew all about Rachel, Puck and Sam coming over for dinners. "But it is not always the reward you'd think it would be."

"From what you, Mercedes and even Sam have said about Rachel, I can't imagine it would." They shared a laugh, Sebastian being told about some of the things Rachel had done and said over the years.

Kurt bit his lip before dropping his knees to the side and scooting a little closer to Sebastian. "I hate to say it but she and I are starting to get along a little better. It's weird to see her out of school and out of that mode. She's in a really different role here and has to be careful of what she says and how she says it and it's allowed me to see a bit more of the real her. I'm really appreciative of how she's been an influence on Finn. I might even dare to go so far as to say we're a very shallow definition of friends."

"You haven't given her your new number though?" Sebastian checked.

"Definitely not." Kurt wouldn't give it to her, ever, as far as he could predict. It really had been such a weird experience having Rachel come into his home and her on her best behavior. She still said and did things that got on everyone's nerves, even Finn's on occasion, and both the parents had to say things to her when she didn't realize she'd stepped out of line. She actually listened to them for the most part. She had tried arguing with them over some points but they both just shut it down and threatened to send her home. They were otherwise very decent about compromises- well, somewhat, and did a good job listening to points as long as they weren't already angry; even if the end result didn't change.

Sebastian nodded. "Good because I have it memorized."

"That's not something most people do anymore." Kurt was a bit flabbergasted by the announcement.

"I know, but I want to be able to get a hold of you no matter what." Sebastian explained.

Kurt launched himself at Sebastian in return and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist. "I'm still mad at you but I've missed you so much!"

Sebastian held on tight, now that Kurt was in his arms, it would be hard to pry him back out of them again. "I know, I know, I was so bullheaded but I'm here now and I don't have to go anywhere any time soon and even then it's only temporary."

Kurt burrowed into Sebastian's chest and they just held each other. Sebastian closed his eyes and felt Kurt's warmth, his strength, smelled his unique scent. This was more than just comfortable, this was his forever home, no matter what or where, as long as he was in Kurt's arms, he was home.

"I am sorry that I put any sort of extra distance between us on top of what was mandated. I hated it and didn't want to do it but I really did think that way the only way we could be together in the end."

"I get it." Kurt soothed, running his hand along Sebastian's back. "It was hard only seeing you once a week for only a few hours with an occasional sleepover. But Sebastian, we were still communicating in other ways. Cutting that out completely, that hurt. That was what was so hard. Any number of things could have happened in that time and I wouldn't have a way to find out other than through the Niff. While I know it was planned, I didn't know for sure if that was just an excuse and we were really over. If you used that as a way to circumvent our relationship. Mostly I just missed you."

"Did you contact the Niff?" Sebastian asked, thinking it was likely and Kurt laughed.

"I forgot they were a resource until they text me and then I asked them how you were doing. Apparently they knew you were self-flagellating yourself without being told. You need to stop taking off like this, you need to rely on others to help you find the best recourse."

"Says the guy whose notorious for hiding what's wrong." Sebastian was teasing but Kurt's words did have him concerned and he pulled back enough to look over Kurt's face. "Has something happened to you since the last time I saw you?"

"Pretty sure you would have seen me a lot sooner if something had. Dad would have pulled me out and enrolled me in Dalton in a heartbeat if he even suspected. Which brings up a good point – I'm learning to rely on others, thanks in part to you but also because of the others in my life, including my dad." Kurt cupped Sebastian's cheek with one hand. "But Bas... you retreated into old habits."

"I didn't." Sebastian vowed. "I just pretended to get my dad to relent."

"There's still a lot of baggage there for you. Perhaps it wouldn't be remiss to go back to your therapist and talk about it." Kurt sighed and nodded to the accusation in Sebastian's eyes. "You don't need to remind me that I refuse to do the same thing but I don't think I need one." Kurt made a face and then relented. "But I probably need one more than I realize. We can do it at the same time if that'll make it easier."

"It'll definitely save us time." Sebastian said in a slightly teasing tone but his eyes were serious and warm and he reached out to run a thumb against Kurt's cheek. "I think it's a smart plan." He'd find some numbers of reputable ones and they'd start next week.

They were snuggled in together once more and were just sitting on the couch listening to the other breathing, listening to their heart beat, just soaking in the man they missed so much over the last few weeks. They were interrupted by Sam who had a wide grin on his face. "Good to see you back, Sebastian."

"Sam." Sebastian greeted. "It's good to be back and to see you too." His eyes slid over to Finn who was also smiling broadly at his return. "Finn." He said coolly. Kurt elbowed him but he didn't elaborate.

"Hey man, happy to see you too." Finn greeted, coming over to do a 'bro' handshake but Sebastian didn't participate. Finn let his hand drop and tried not to look too hurt. "Parents have kept you pretty busy this week, huh?" He didn't even blink an eye at them practically on top of each other, they had dropped pretty much all pretense since Sebastian got back from Paris this time. They even kissed in front of Finn who had gotten used to them doing so. He came to the conclusion that it was a French thing that Sebastian did with his cousins and that's why it was ok.

Kurt made a face as he thought about that, it was really going to come as a blow when they told him the truth. He didn't even know how to go about untangling that now. He wanted to tell the truth but he also didn't want to ruin what they had. They'd come to a better place and acceptance of each other. He didn't even know if Finn understood that he was gay. He definitely still thought Sebastian was straight.

There had been a comment this week as he was hanging out with Rory that Finn had thrown him for a loop.

Rory and Kurt were in the cafeteria working on their part of a mini-group number, marking out the notes they would be doing and when one would take over from the other. They wanted it to flow right, Kurt would be singing one song and they'd be merging into another with Rory's part. Schue had started doing a lot of these now and every time he announced one he thought it was original and brilliant. It did give them an opportunity in trying out different ways in merging them and this time they were going to use the words of one in the melody of the other and then switch where it worked the best.

Finn came over and put down his tray, chuckling at the two of them. "He's a good one to learn from."

Kurt started to beam and Rory nodded his agreement, Kurt did know his stuff. Kurt went too far though and wanted specifics. "Oh, in what way?" He should have left it vague and it would have been so much better, absolutely no confusion.

"He's constantly surrounded by girls, especially the hot ones. I don't know what he does or what he's got that they're so attracted to but damn, he's the girl whisperer."

"I listen to them." Kurt was starting to turn pink and he had his head down and looked over to Rory through lidded eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. Finn hadn't needed to come over here and stir all this up.

"Yeah, no, it's more than that." Finn shook his head and tried to share a grin with Rory who was only looking a bit confused in return. "So you definitely have a chance if you stick with Kurt, you two are similar builds."

They weren't, Rory may not be much taller of a stature, but he was taller and he was broader. Kurt was still incredibly slim and he was annoyed that he was still so stupidly short. As for the girls, it was true there was more than just listening to them involved, he put them in their place in a way most guys couldn't and he wasn't a threat or intimidating to them. There was no chance that there could be something more between them and so they were able to relax and include him into the side that most guys didn't get to participate in. He was still different than them, he still had male energy and body parts but he was an honorary girl with them.

Rory gave a shrug and glanced across the cafeteria toward the Cheerios. They'd given Kurt a pass from sitting with them since he had a project to work on, otherwise he'd be other there, surrounded by girls once more. There were male Cheerios in the past but they'd since graduated, so he would be the sole male over there. "There's only one girl that I'm interested in and she's off-limits."

"Kurt could probably help you with that." Finn glanced over at them and then back to Rory. "He's got an in."

"He's talking about Brittany." Kurt pointed out, perhaps a bit harshly.

"So, even easier then." Finn said obliviously and Kurt blinked at him and wondered when his soon to be brother had turned into such a neanderthal. The homophobia was one thing, they were a small town without a lot of representation, but females took up more than half the population. How could he be so sexist and shaming of someone as sweet as Brittany? Kurt scowled at Finn, Rory was frowning at him too and Finn's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"You just called her easy."

"Well-" Finn started and looked between them in concern, still not sure where he went wrong.

"Santana is going to cut your balls off and feed them to you if she hears you say anything like that again. I might help her." Kurt said darkly. "You're praising me for being a player while dissing her for the same thing. Then again, forgive me, I forgot that you only date virgins, except for the time you slept with Santana and then dumped her instantly afterward."

"That was different – I hated it afterward, it didn't mean anything and that made it worse."

"You're now doing the same thing to Santana because she didn't meet your standards even though you knew it well in advanced. It doesn't matter if she had a past, she didn't deserve that."

"She kicked me out and didn't want anything to do with me afterward." Finn protested. "She said that she did repeats sometimes and taught a lot of guys the way around but I wasn't worth her time or energy." He was starting to get defensive too; he'd never shared this part with Kurt before and now Rory was hearing it too in a busy cafeteria.

"Finn-" Kurt started, trying to deescalate and bring it back, to protect Finn and calm him down at the same time, but Finn was already too far out of his realm of influence.

Finn made a pained sound and slammed his hands onto the table, catching the attention of most of the room as it reverberated loudly. Then he moved quickly out of the cafeteria. "Lover's spat?" Azimio called across the room and several people chuckled even as Kurt scowled at them. He didn't like Karofsky's look, there was a bit of malice in his gaze and he looked like a predator ready to pounce on a weak and injured prey. Kurt swallowed, a little afraid of what he would do.

He wore Puck's jacket the rest of the afternoon. Puck seemed to pick up on his nerves and hung around him more, finding the jacket a bit of a sign too but didn't ask. Nobody else seemed to notice.

Santana and Brittany were also in his eyeline, looking concerned. He looked at them and shook his head, it was fine, it was just Finn. The last person who should be confronting Finn right now was Santana.

He didn't attempt to work it out with Finn, he would wait until they were home. They did talk and Kurt apologized for assuming things about how it went down with Santana. He was defensive of his girls and Finn had seemed to pick up a pattern, first Quinn but once she was no longer only his, he'd moved on to Rachel. He knew it wasn't true, there had been a spark there between Rachel and Finn long before any paternity questions arose. Finn also apologized for talking about Brittany that way, she was a sweet girl who was free to do whatever she wanted with her body. Finn didn't apologize for calling Kurt basically a player as well, and they didn't delve into why he thought that or clarify why it wasn't true. Kurt just let that go, if Finn thought that made him cooler, Kurt would accept it for now even though it was an insane mantel to base coolness upon.

Kurt had no intention of telling Sebastian about that interaction. There was too much of Finn's story to tell and he wasn't going to betray his trust like that. Besides, Sebastian would just hold it up as another thing to use against Finn, another reason to not like him. Kurt wasn't blind, he knew Sebastian was still planning on something. Sebastian may disagree but he had patience for revenge if nothing else.

He did clarify things with Rory the next day, trying to skate around actually admitting to his sexual orientation. He didn't know Rory's background and he didn't want to cause a riff in the club, it had been an issue before which became a non-issue when they cleared the air. He wanted to skip the original blow up and move right into understanding. Rory looked him dead in the eye. "I only care about your character, the rest doesn't matter when it comes to our friendship." Kurt nodded but Rory wasn't done. "You are going to have to spell it out for Finn before it blows up in your face."

"That's a little harder to do. He used to suspect but I don't know what happened because now he's thinking I'm a womanizer. I made it all too complicated with him and it was only supposed to be a joke. The joke went wildly out of control and now I don't know how to come back from it."

Maybe Sebastian was right, maybe he did need therapy because he was still keeping a lot from the people in his life, people he cared about and cared about him.

Kurt reached for Sebastian's hand which was ready to take his and Sebastian squeezed it in response. "Sebastian's going to be coming to Friday dinners again."

"Ok, cool." Finn didn't connect the dots.

"So no more Puck or Rachel." Kurt clarified and Finn looked a bit miffed.

"You don't have the say to do that- Rachel's my girlfriend and she's more family than – sorry man- but more than Sam is." Sam shrugged, he was just here because they invited him and he appreciated it but he had other things to do- including work and babysit his siblings on top of everything school related.

Kurt couldn't argue with that either, but Sebastian had no problem putting his nose in it, knowing that losing Sam's presence would just hurt all of them. "Sam's a friend to all. Do you want to have any friends at the table?" It was hypocrisy and all but Finn knew it. Sebastian wasn't actually family and when Finn learned the truth he'd be furious; but it was already established.

Kurt rested his hand on Sebastian's knee and Sebastian stopped. "Maybe we could switch off?" Kurt suggested. "One Friday with Rachel and the next with Sebastian and so on?"

"We can fit them both at the table every week." Finn argued but Kurt shook his head.

"Not if Sam is here too."

"This place is too small." Finn grumbled but left it at that as he turned toward the basement so he and Sam could play some video games. "I can't wait until we move; my request will be a large dining room with a bigger table."

Kurt wasn't opposed to that himself. He'd love to host bigger gatherings than just the six of them. "I'll be happy with separate bedrooms." Sebastian commented when Finn was out of earshot. Sam had smiled ruefully at them and then disappeared with Finn.

Kurt groaned and buried his head in Sebastian's shoulder. "I've really missed you."

"Even though I rile your soon to be stepbrother?"

"He does that to himself." Kurt shook his head, thinking back to the lunch time conversation again. "I kind of feel sorry for him."

"Have they settled on a date to move?"

"This summer, it'll be easier if we're not in school. The wedding is supposed to take place first. They're thinking spring break, honeymoon and all."

"They're spending a lot of money all at once."

"Says the moneybags." Kurt teased, Sebastian realized he hadn't given him all the conditions to releasing Sebastian from his purgatory. Then again, half his regular daily allowance was still more than Kurt made in a month. He didn't comment on that now either. "It's going to be fine though, Carole's house sold, we're going to sell this one. Dad's buying out the remainder of the shop from the bank. The honeymoon is just to Florida for the remainder of the week and the rest is going toward the new house."

They should have known the argument with Finn wasn't over. He complained loudly to the parents about Rachel now only being allowed over every other week. He obviously didn't want Sebastian or Sam to go but he found it unfair that his girlfriend had been short-changed.

Burt leaned back into his chair and eyed his son, Kurt had given his approval for Rachel to enter the house. That had been hard on him but they'd been mostly fine, except with she put her foot in it. As far as he knew, Rachel hadn't done anything to Kurt to remove that approval. It was just Sebastian's return that was sparking this decision. He didn't approve of them hiding their relationship anymore, Finn had come a long way, but he and Carole both understood they'd dug themselves a deep hole that they would have to get themselves out of. And it had to be them who got themselves out. It was too sticky of a situation for someone else to come in and lay out all of the facts for Finn. Somehow everyone kept to Kurt's request not to tell him.

Kurt needed to explain himself for everyone, and he didn't want to put him on the spot but he'd added a few more inches to his hole. Burt was attempting to at least toss him a rope, he just hoped it wasn't too short or too long. "Why can't Rachel come over the same time as Sebastian?" He knew Rachel would never believe the two were cousins, would see that they were in a relationship even if they never touched in her presence or looked at each other.

Kurt had thankfully thought up a plausible answer to this question since he had the argument with Finn. "Rachel is going to go ballistic when she finds out Sebastian attends Dalton. She's going to accuse him of spying even though he's been here before we joined Glee. In truth, he's been part of his Glee club far longer than ours has existed in it's current form."

Sebastian nodded along with that. "I've been in mine since the day I started at Dalton. I was in the one in junior high as well."

"No matter what we say or how we say it, she's not going to believe he isn't a spy, that he isn't here to cause damage to our morale or steal our setlists. It doesn't matter that we're totally different types of choirs. It'll just be easier to keep the peace if we are shared custody." That was true enough and Finn deflated.

"I don't want her to complain the whole time she's here. Ok, fine, every other weekend." Finn accepted but then took a moment and spoke again. "Until we've competed against you and then once we've beaten you, she'll have no reason to complain or accuse you of anything."

"Oh Finn..." Kurt shook his head in pity, thinking there was no way something like that would even begin to appease Rachel. Still, he had no other recourse but to agree to the terms as he didn't have any other excuse to give for not having Rachel and Sebastian meet. So squeezing Sebastian's hand tightly, he relented.

Sebastian for his part was kind of excited to meet this Rachel; she had a lot to answer for. He was giddy and gleeful when he purred. "Maybe you can bring Puck along too." It was worth the bones in his hand being crushed.

"We don't have the space for all of you, unfortunately. Maybe that can wait until the new house?" Carole said quickly and Sebastian wondered what she was hiding, why she didn't want them to meet? He tried to read it from Carole but she avoided his gaze and he looked over to Kurt who was frowning at him.

Now he really wanted to get to the bottom of this. He also had to navigate Kurt's renewal of annoyance at him. He worked through that one quickly. The Puck situation was a lot easier to diffuse than his own absence. He pulled on those strings and he was obvious with how he went about it, Kurt chose to let it go in favor of going to Izzy's for the remainder of the weekend. He canceled any plans he had but warned Sebastian that it wouldn't be the case for future weekends; they just had a lot to discuss.

Unfortunately, some of the things he really wanted to sort out with those not present would have to wait because when he got back to school on Monday, he found out that their head to head with McKinley was delayed.

There was a scandal with a nearby school and so the Warblers were moved into their bracket for Sectionals while New Directions would face off against Vocal Adrenaline. Each team was going to be allowed 2 more songs since there weren't going to be 3 teams in their particular battle.

Everyone had to scramble and rearrange and pick new songs for their sectionals now that they were facing off new teams. Katy Perry was scraped, they were now going against a girl's school that was well-known for doing pop female songs. The other school was deaf and were going to be easy to defeat, they only ever got to sectionals because it looked good and they were always paired with worse teams for regionals. They knew that they weren't going further but they enjoyed their time on the stage none-the-less. They'd hold onto their better arrangements for Nationals and would be determined when they found out the other finalists.

Well, he supposed VA wouldn't have to change their sets, they were known for singing to the judges' personal preferences and spot on performances that had no glitches, flaws or personality. That was stamped out of them to be absolutely perfect. New Directions probably didn't have to scramble either, they just pulled things out of nowhere last minute and hoped their charm, personality and skill would carry them forward. The judges would notice that they weren't polished and not even intentionally unpolished, just green. The two teams couldn't be more different. Sebastian would definitely be in the audience for that show.

This change was probably a blessing in disguise though, because when he walked into the glee hall to find all this chaos going on, he only got a few glares from people. He dropped his stuff off next to the Niff who didn't glare at him, only welcomed him back with smiles. They knew what was up. Wes and a few other did too, but that didn't mean that they accepted it anymore than Kurt had. "Warbler Smythe, daring to join us once more? You have a significant pair on you." Wes said in a dry and barely contained angry tone.

"Hi Wes." Sebastian smiled charmingly at the older boy who only frowned harder at him. Ok, well that hadn't gone over as well as he'd planned.

"You have abandoned us in our time of need for selfish goals." Sebastian tried to protest but Wes spoke over him and the noise of the others between them. They were still discussing options but also listening to the two of them. "No, no one was hurt, no one was in need of your assistance, no one was sick, you did not have other obligations that were placed upon you for the times were meeting. I could understand if you were needed elsewhere or you yourself were sick or injured. You have no excuse. Which is why it pains me to do this, but we are taking you off lead vocals."

"But-" Sebastian started, shocked that this was going to be the consequence.

"If we pass through Regionals, we may reconsider giving you lead for Nationals, but you have to prove yourself. You have to be the first one here and the last to leave every practice from now until then, and we'll make final decision in the week leading up to Nationals."

Sebastian found himself pouting and crossing his arms over his chest. Well, there went of going to see Kurt during the week. He got his freedom back from his dad to have it snatched away by his classmates. He opened his mouth to speak but Thad started in on him. "You're lucky you're a Wabler at all still. We should have had you re-audition; there might not have been a guarantee that you still had your spot, considering you had no problems giving up your seat."

David was the only one who took some pity on him and glanced at the others before speaking. "We are willing to overlook a few exceptions if they crop up. We're aware not all is always well in your aunt's homestead."

Blaine had given up all pretense and started watching and listening closely. His brows twitched at this new information but he didn't know about Lima. He just knew his aunt was living in New York. Sebastian was grateful that David was using code.

Consequences didn't end there though, they extended to Lacrosse too where he was revoked of his role as Captain and told he could petition for it next year and hopefully with a new class he'd be able to sway them; and maybe time would make those remaining look upon his absence kinder. He supposed it was only fair, he was in position of leadership and he had abandoned them. Even if he wasn't in a leadership role, they all depended on each other. He had let them all down. He took his punishment this time quietly, he knew he'd been in the wrong with them.

He wasn't even that far behind in classes and he could catch up quickly and still pass the tests he had that week. He still got detention though to make him make up for his time off.

He was still allowed to play, he was still allowed to sing, he was still going to pass his classes satisfactorily, these were not world ending consequences.