A/N: It's no secret that Elliott isn't very fond of Sebastian, but at Kurt's impromptu Christmas party, where Sebastian gets to do his penance as Kurt's Christmas tree, Sebastian finds out how much...and why.
Written for the Hummel Holidays prompt "holiday party", and follows the one-shot "A Dalton Boy Decorated for the Holidays".
Warning for mention of pain in the form of one quick cigarette burn, nipple twisting, cock torture, and scratching; humiliation, angst, and consensual domination of a sub by someone other than his Dom (in this situation, even though Sebastian doesn't like it, his permission was implied and given blanketly, just not in the dialogue seen here).
Kurt had said he was stepping outside to smoke a cigarette and make a few calls, invite some people over to see his new Christmas centerpiece.
After his first phone call, which Sebastian assumes was to Elliott considering how often he laughed and changed his tone, dipping his voice down seductively for a few responses (which Kurt only does with Elliott…or Sebastian), Kurt pops back in through the door to grab Sebastian's cashmere peacoat. He tosses Sebastian a wink as he slips the coat on, opting to pull it tight in the front and fold his arms over it instead of buttoning it up, then goes back outside. Sebastian is tempted to bite his lower lip, but he's not allowed to move in Kurt's house when Kurt's outside, so he doesn't, but the idea that Kurt has wrapped himself in his coat to keep himself warm, that the fabric will end up imbued with the scent of cloves the way most of his clothes now have, makes Sebastian hard.
And hard means having his sensitive skin shoved up against silicone spikes, which also reminds Sebastian of Kurt, of his touch, of his sensual cruelty, of his kiss, his taste, his fuck.
That makes Sebastian even harder.
Kurt ends up staying outside for close to an hour, stomping in place and smoking his clove to keep from freezing, gleefully throwing together a last minute soiree. Sebastian hears Kurt's high-pitched laugh through the door, hears him agree with someone's suggestion to call this person, then that person, and, oh yeah, that one couple before they head off on vacation - so many people that when Kurt comes back in, he's on the phone with DiCicco's Pizza, ordering about a dozen different pies, negotiating with their delivery boy about stopping by the 7-11 for a couple of cases of Budweiser and some wine coolers for the promise of a beer, a slice, and a hefty tip.
When Kurt's done making plans, he walks straight up to Sebastian and kisses him hard, holding his sub against him with one hand on his back and the other on his ass, his crushing embrace digging the small, sharp bulbs into Sebastian's skin.
"You'd better get ready, preppy," Kurt whispers, biting around his sub's mouth with cold teeth. Kurt crushes his cigarette out on Sebastian's collarbone, smiling like a mirthful demon when Sebastian hisses through his teeth, but otherwise barely flinches. "We're going to have a party."
Sebastian isn't sure where any of these people live, but they seem to show up in minutes. He expects a gathering of Doms and subs straight from Kurt's club, all dressed the way Kurt usually does, in ripped jeans and t-shirts, with multiple piercings, and a plethora of tattoos, basically the flashing neon signs indicative of someone living an alternative lifestyle, but the people that arrive look so normal, it's almost unnerving.
One woman Kurt hugs at the door and addresses as Marley shows up wearing a simple but elegant burgundy lace dress, paired with a purple cowl scarf and brown leather cowboy boots. With her shoulder length, wavy golden-brown hair and minimal makeup, she bears a frightening resemblance to Sebastian's kindergarten teacher, Ms. Halsley, who Sebastian once had a minor crush on. Marley has her sub Jake dressed in black designer jeans and a form fitting Henley in a shade of burgundy that matches her dress. Walking down the street, Sebastian probably wouldn't peg them for Domina (which Jake calls her) and sub. The only clues that Sebastian notices as the fledgling sub he is are the black leather collar Jake wears around his neck, and the fact that he keeps his head bowed, his eyes trained on the ground, looking no one in the eye. When they walk, they walk together, with Marley looping one slender finger through a metal O-ring hanging from Jake's collar, and when she sits, she tugs him down to the floor to kneel by her side.
Unique and Ryder are sort of an odd couple. They arrive together, and after saying hello to Kurt, fan out to join the group, separately, but conspicuously together. Unique is dressed in something designer - bright, flowing, and complimentary to her voluptuous figure. Ryder looks like he could have just come from baseball tryouts in faded jeans worn at the knees and a long sleeve tee. Every so often, they turn at the same time and look at one another from across the room, and for a second, they simply become lost in one another.
But there doesn't seem to be a power play going on between them, nothing that would leap out and grab Sebastian's attention. Sebastian remembers Kurt talking to them at the club. They're switches. Sebastian hasn't a clue about all the lingo yet, but he remembers Elliott saying something about switching for Kurt.
Sebastian has to remember to find out what exactly that means.
Not every Dom brings a sub with them. Mercedes, who Sebastian has seen at Kurt's club and is apparently an old high school friend, shows up without her sub, Sam, who she mentions being back in Wisconsin visiting his folks. And Adam, an ex of Kurt's (Sebastian wonders offhandedly where his tattoo is on Kurt's body, since Sebastian knows that a few of Kurt's tatts are dedicated to old flames) says he's currently between subs, preferring to dominate for pleasure down at Kurt's club. A handful of subs show up alone. They must have experience going to parties thrown by these Doms before. They seem to immediately know their place, relegating themselves to kitchen help, or in a few cases, as pieces of furniture – one crouching to become an extra end table for Marley to put her drink on, another acting as an ottoman for Adam without needing to be asked.
And Sebastian, acting as Kurt's Christmas tree, has joined the ranks as one of them.
Sebastian doesn't mind being a sub for Kurt, doesn't particularly care what these other Doms think of him, but he can't say he isn't glad that no one from Dalton can see him like this.
Kurt had given Sebastian strict orders with regard to his own behavior before the rest of the Doms and subs arrived.
He is not a human.
He's nothing but a decoration.
He's to stay still, in his one spot, and do nothing.
He is not allowed to move.
He is not allowed to talk.
He is to keep his head upright, with his eyes aimed down at the floor.
He is not allowed to blink when someone is staring directly at him.
If he needs something, he's to signal his Dom.
He is not allowed to need anything.
Sebastian is not entirely okay with this. This is the height of dehumanization. He's a toy, something for people to gawk at, manipulate, and touch. It seems like the Doms in the room have been given carte blanche to do with him as they please, though Sebastian knows that isn't right. He knows they have rules, too, he just hasn't been made privy to them. He's not on the level with them, not here in this room, so he doesn't deserve to know.
Sebastian doesn't like hands pawing at him, isn't thrilled with the idea of people who aren't Kurt touching him. But this is his punishment – he earned this treatment. And aside from that, this makes Kurt happy. Having an obedient sub makes Kurt happy. Showing off Sebastian's submission and his discipline makes Kurt happy…and proud. Proud of Sebastian.
So Sebastian does this…for Kurt.
Sebastian knows that one word from his lips will bring this all to an end, but then Kurt might be disappointed in him. Sebastian craves Kurt's approval, more than anyone's in his life. More than his teachers. More than his coach. More than his parents. Kurt is a fair Dom (from what Sebastian can tell) but his approval isn't always easily earned. Sebastian's not going to lose it, not a single speck of it.
Sebastian decides to zone out, try to search out his happy place and stay there, watching the proceedings from afar. He still isn't that good at it, but with Kurt's help, he's getting better – good enough to vacate this party for a while and deal.
Sebastian probably would have succeeded, too, if he hadn't shown up.
"Well, well, well, from prep school prick, to puppy, to prop." Elliott tuts, shaking his head. "Wouldn't your rich parents be proud?" he says, with a smile amused to the point of condescension. "Don't you look the part, too?" He trails the edge of a sharply filed fingernail down Sebastian's skin, starting from the crook of his neck, through the burn on his collarbone, down his chest, digging deep enough as he travels that Sebastian's certain he's drawing blood. Elliott pauses to flick at the clamps on Sebastian's nipples, then drags the nail over Sebastian's abs, leaving a raised white scratch on his tan skin. He stops right above the spiked cage on Sebastian's swollen cock, pulsing with heat and already uncomfortably tight. "When you want to weed yourself into a place you don't belong, you definitely commit to the process."
"Play nice, Elliott," both men hear Kurt's voice call from across the living room.
"Oh, I am, Kurt," Elliott answers back with an impressively easy chuckle, even as his eyes burn holes into Sebastian's skull. "I'm just admiring your new tree. So much better than last year's tree. I wonder what next year's tree is going to look like."
Sebastian swallows the insinuation. Sebastian knows that Kurt had an artificial tree last year. Kurt told him. In fact, Sebastian's mockery of said tree is what put him in this situation to begin with. No. What Elliott's saying is that Sebastian isn't special, that he's no different than the man currently kneeling on the floor, with a bowl of chips on his back along with Marley's can of Diet Coke. He's saying that Sebastian, regardless of the time he's spent with Kurt and how far they've come, is easily replaced – that he will be replaced. By next year, Kurt will have another man kneeling on his coffee table naked and strung up in lights, or tied up in his bed.
Elliott's trying to get to him, in the pettiest, most immature way possible.
And it's working.
"Elliott…" A second call from Kurt that sounds like a warning.
"In a minute, love," Elliott returns over his shoulder, his hard as ice blue eyes burrowing through the heat from the lights wrapped around Sebastian's body. "Now listen up, prep school," Elliott starts, leaning in to keep this one-sided conversation private. "In case you haven't guessed, the amazing man whose house you've invaded and whose life you've taken over happens to be my best friend," Elliott says, idly twisting the clips on Sebastian's nipples, as if the fact that it might be excruciatingly painful either never occurred to him, or he doesn't care.
Sebastian suspects the latter.
"He's been my friend longer than anyone," Elliott continues, taking the liberty to readjust the green wires wrapped around Sebastian's body to tighten the now hot string of lights, then pressing down on the hangers to the ornaments so they dig into his legs a pinch more, "and I've been in love with him since the day I met him." Elliott's eyes focus in on the cage surrounding Sebastian's cock. He wraps his hand around it and holds, the threat in his pale eyes crystal clear. Sebastian clenches his teeth, preparing for the worst. "So listen closely to what I'm about to tell you, because I don't like repeating myself." Elliott gives Sebastian's cock a squeeze, driving the silicone spikes in. It hurts like fucking hell, like getting a massive hard-on and having it trampled by cleats, but Sebastian refuses to give Elliott the satisfaction of knowing. "Kurt is a strong man, the biggest badass I know, but deep down inside all of that is a heart that's been broken too many times, and every time it gets broken, I'm the one who gets to pick up the pieces." Elliott squeezes harder. Sebastian's muscles tighten, trembling, from his traitorous upper lip to his ass clenched around his new plug, his legs starting to shake like he's been hit with a thousand volts of electricity. His body revolts, his instinct to fight trying to overpower his brain's edict to stay still, but Sebastian can't move. He can't pull away. He clamps his teeth together, causing his right eyebrow to twitch, but he does his best to ignore it, ignore everything, ignore the pain, ignore Elliott's anger…ignore the embarrassment of being dominated this way, and by Elliott of all people. "And I'm really good at it, too," Elliott brags, licking his lips in a suggestive way that forces Sebastian to picture exactly how Elliott puts Kurt's pieces back together. "I usually just sit in the corner and wait for shit to go down, because Kurt's a big boy, and he gets to make up his own mind about who he fucks, no matter how stupid and awful his choices are. But I refuse to let Kurt get his heart broken because of a privileged little punk like you. So if you have no intention of seeing this relationship through to the end, you'd better pack your shit up right now and disa-fucking-ppear."
Elliott gives Sebastian's aching cock one more squeeze, harder than the rest, harder than Kurt ever has, forcing Sebastian, for all his attempts to remain stoic, to groan through locked teeth before he finally lets go. Elliott grins at his victory when Sebastian almost collapses off the table.
But Sebastian can't. His stomach spins, wraps up in itself, and pulls tight, making him want to vomit, but he can't move.
He won't disobey Kurt; not because of motherfucking Elliott.
Elliott saunters off, heading for Kurt in a roundabout way, taking his sweet time saying what's up to a few other heads and grabbing a drink before he reaches him. Above his gaze, through his eyelashes, Sebastian sees Kurt's eyes drift his way, his sunny smile of pride drooping at the corners at the nausea on his sub's face. Sebastian knows if they lock eyes, Kurt will come over to find out what's wrong. Sebastian shifts his eyes just half an inch out of Kurt's reach. Sebastian can't look at him. Not after that.
It wasn't just physically painful.
It was humiliating.
And if Kurt forces him to admit that, he might as well drive a steel pike through his foot. It would probably hurt less.
Sebastian needs to think, figure out a way to deal with Elliott. He can't disrespect him, can't go after him, can't cut him down. He probably shouldn't tell Kurt about this incident if he can help it. As long as Kurt doesn't ask him about it directly, he should be in the clear.
The really fucked up part about all of this – the part that Sebastian hates to think about – is that Sebastian needs Elliott. If he's going to win Kurt over these last few steps, convince him that this relationship (which Kurt seems dead and determined has a time limit) is worth holding on to, even after Sebastian leaves, he needs to get Elliott on his side. Ultimately, he wishes he could find a way to make Elliott like him…or, at least, tolerate him.
Maybe just get Elliott to not want to mutilate his junk if all else fails.
Sebastian probably could have tried convincing Elliott by telling him how he really feels about Kurt, but he's not about to tell anyone, especially Elliott, before he has the chance to tell Kurt.
Or before he comes to terms with it himself.
But none of that would have mattered - not to Elliott, anyway.
Sebastian used to think that Elliott hated him on principle, because of his six degrees of separation association with Blaine, or simply because Elliott is Kurt's best friend, but it's much, much worse than that.
Elliott's in love with Kurt, and he's already staked a claim.