to let me take you home. Stressing and exhausting yourself more than you already have isn’t going to help
you. Or Kurt.”
Sebastian nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “I just wish I could see him one more time before we left.” He
looked at the doors leading down to Kurt’s room with longing, missing the way Blaine smiled.
“You left your jacket in Kurt’s room earlier,” he said.
“I wasn’t wearing a jacket.” Sebastian said.
“You were.” Blaine insisted. Sebastian frowned at him, irritation bubbling inside of him again at Blaine’s
smile. Why the hell was he smiling – oh.
“Oh,” Sebastian said, eyes wide and a grin spreading across his face. “Blaine Anderson, I could kiss you
right now.”
__
Kurt was alone when Sebastian entered his room. He looked up expectantly when he entered but frowned
when he saw it was Sebastian. “What are you still doing here?” he asked.
“I forgot my jacket,” Sebastian said, looking around the room and spotting the jacket draped over the foot
of Kurt’s bed.
Kurt didn’t seem to recall that Sebastian hadn’t been wearing a jacket because he just said “Oh.”
Sebastian moved towards the bed slowly, wanting to draw this out as long as he could. “Feeling any
better?” he asked.
Kurt shrugged. “I feel fine. Tired but fine. They’re not telling me anything.” His mouth twisted the way it
did when he was annoyed. Sebastian wanted to bundle him up in a hug that he reserved only for Kurt.
“What do you know so far?” he asked instead.
“I’m twenty eight, living in New York City and recovering from a car accident that left me in a coma for
seven weeks and wiped out ten years from my memory.”
“Wow. So much information. Are you sure you can handle all of it?” Sebastian asked, grinning when he saw
Kurt roll his eyes in agreement.
“Every time I asked them something more specific they’d just say that I was pushing myself too hard. It’s
not like I’m any less pressured not knowing anything about my life.”
“Well what do you want to know?” Sebastian asked. “Maybe I can help.”
Kurt looked at him with a frown. “Don’t you have to leave? Visiting hours have ended.”
“I can spare a few minutes.” Sebastian said.
“Well I definitely want to know how the hell we became friends. I’m still having a hard time believing that
it’s actually a possibility.” Kurt said, shaking his head.
Sebastian smiled. “I’ll tell you. But you can’t push me for details. Deal?”
Kurt rolled his eyes but he was obviously desperate for any scrap of information because he said “Deal.”
Sebastian sat down in the vacant chair and Kurt angled his body towards him, face expectant. “There was a
coffee shop near my campus where I used to hang out,” he started. “It was close to where you were
interning at the time and we kept bumping into each other a lot.”
“Seriously? A coffee shop?” Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow. “As if stalking me at the Lima Bean wasn’t
enough -”
“Hey, I was at this shop first.” Sebastian said with a grin. “Anyway, you were new to the city and going
through some trouble at the time.”
“What trouble?”
“No pushing for details, remember?”
Kurt huffed. “Fine. But I have another question.”
“Okay.”
“When exactly did you stop being a jerk and why did we forgive you after what you did to Blaine?”
“I never stopped being a jerk; you just learned to love me despite it.” Sebastian said without thinking. He
caught himself when Kurt frowned, looking uncomfortable. “Um. I mean. I apologized, obviously. There
were certain events that took place that made me re-evaluate a lot of things and yeah – we put the slushie
incident behind us.”
“It’s not something you can just forget about.” Kurt said, his face suddenly dark.
Sebastian felt his stomach churn at the turn of events. “I told you, I apologized.”
“And we forgave you just like that?” Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow.
“It was a slow process but yes, you did. We weren’t in touch during college and when you came to New
York it was something like a fresh start for us. You never let me forget about the slushie though and we still
insulted each other a lot but... yeah.”
Kurt looked confused. “Wait, you said I met you when I first came to New York but that we weren’t in
touch during college. Did I not go to college in New York?”
Sebastian hesitated. “Details,” he said.
“No, you have to tell me!” Kurt said when Sebastian stood up. “Nobody is telling me anything!”
Sebastian looked down at him, his heart aching. “They’ll tell you soon enough,” he said.
Kurt crossed his arms and pressed his lips together, deep in thought.
Sebastian picked up the jacket from the foot of Kurt’s bed and lingered for a moment longer, waiting for
Kurt to say something. When he didn’t, Sebastian sighed and started towards the door. He stopped and
turned back to see Kurt staring at the ceiling.
“Goodnight Kurt,” he said in a quiet voice.
Kurt didn’t respond, just like he hadn’t for every night the past seven days. Nothing new.
Chapter 3
Burt had left Kurt's room only to grab some food for himself. He ran into Sebastian on the way back and
though the boy tried to wipe his face the second he saw Burt, Burt still caught the red in his eyes and the
tear tracks on his cheeks.
“Hey,” Sebastian said in a relatively steady voice when they stopped in front of each other. “I just went
back to get my jacket and...” he trailed off when he saw that Burt was grinning.
“You don’t have to lie to me, kid.”
Sebastian sighed and returned Burt’s grin with a small one of his own. “I just wanted to see him before I
left.” he admitted.
“You’re going home?”
“Blaine’s insisting.” Sebastian said with a look that told Burt he wasn’t fond of the idea. “I really don’t mind
spending the night in the waiting room. I could sneak in after he’s asleep and sit with him until
morning...I’d be gone before he woke up.”
Burt’s heart ached for him. He stepped forward and clapped Sebastian on the shoulder. “Go home for
tonight, buddy.” he said. “You’ll be back in the morning and then we’ll see if Kurt’s ready to hear more
about you two.”
“Speaking of which,” Sebastian said, “I may have let a few important details slip.” Burt pulled his hand
away from Sebastian’s shoulder and raised his eyebrows, waiting. “He asked about how we became
friends. I tried to keep it brief but he put the pieces together and figured out he wasn’t in New York for
college.”
“That it?” Burt asked.
“Yeah, that’s about it.”
Burt nodded. “I was going to talk to him right now and I expect he would have found out anyway so it's not
a big deal."
"I just thought I'd tell you," Sebastian said. His phone started ringing then and Sebastian hurried to reject
the call before the noise of the ringtone caused any complaints. "It's Blaine," he said after glancing at the
caller id. "He's probably waiting for me downstairs."
"Go on, don't keep him waiting." Burt said, stepping aside. "And try to get some rest, kid. You look like you
need it.”
_
Kurt was staring up at the ceiling when Burt entered his room. “Hey kiddo,” he said, drawing up the chair
and taking a seat. “This room smells like a fricking flower shop,” he said, wrinkling his nose at the
overpowering sweet smell.
“Dad,” Kurt said, turning his face to look at his father. “When are you going to start telling me things?”
“Right about now, actually.” Burt said.
“Really?” Kurt asked, sitting up. The way his face lit up with a smile made Burt’s heart feel light and he
nodded, giving Kurt a wide smile of his own.
“But we have a few rules.”
“Don’t tell me I can’t ask for details.” Kurt said, rolling his eyes.
“You can,” Burt said. “But I get to decide which ones to give. If I think a question has an answer that’s too
complicated for you to comprehend right now, I’m gonna say ‘next question’ and that’s going to be that for
the moment, we clear?”
Kurt nodded. “Okay.”
“Now,” Burt said, settling back in his chair and lacing his fingers over his stomach. “Ask away.”
Kurt was silent for a second and Burt could see the questions swimming in his brain. It must have been
hard to choose one question when you had ten years of catching up to do. Burt waited with patience until
Kurt asked what Burt knew he was going to ask the moment Sebastian told him he’d let it slip that Kurt
hadn’t gone to college in the city.
“Did I get rejected from NYADA?” he asked in a quiet voice.
Burt sighed, “Yes.” He tried not to let the way Kurt’s face crumpled get to him and swallowed before he
continued. “You didn’t make the final cut.”
“Did Rachel?”
“Let’s focus on you here, buddy.”
Kurt ignored him and continued to press. “Did she? She mentioned something about rehearsals when she
was here.” Kurt said, looking over at the flowers she had brought with her. “She was too hysterical for me
to really understand anything.”
Burt sighed. “Fine. Yes, Rachel got in.”
“And I didn’t,” Kurt said, looking down at where his hands were twined in his lap.
“You dealt with the rejection with so much maturity,” Burt said. “I was so proud of you.”
“What did I do instead?” Kurt asked. “Am I still performing?”
“Not professionally.” Burt said, “There some external fashion design program being offered at OSU that
year and they were still looking for applicants around the time you got rejected from NYADA. You got your
degree from there and moved to New York after graduation. It wasn’t exactly what you’d planned but you
were happy and you ended up coming to New York in the end anyway.”
Kurt nodded. “So what do I do? Am I a designer?”
“You’ve been working at some fancy French label for the past couple of years.”
The fancy French label was actually Nicole Smythe’s, Sebastian’s mother. She had opened her boutique in
New York four years ago and asked Kurt to help her out with it. The designs were hers but Kurt got the
chance to give a lot of his own input and the two of them were already in talks about creating Kurt’s own
line or making a joint venture.
Burt didn’t give Kurt these details, but he did say “You’re in the process of starting your own clothing line.”
Kurt’s eyes grew huge. “Really?”
“Mmmhm. I’m telling ya, NYADA’s crying over not accepting you.”
Kurt grinned and settled further back against his pillows. “I...I like the sound of that.”
Burt felt a mix of confusing emotions twist in his stomach. He loved the smile on Kurt’s lips but his son
wasn’t thinking about the repercussions of the accident at the moment, he was too caught up in his desire
to figure out the events of the past. He didn’t know just how different his life was from what he had
planned. How everything was far from the dream that he was imagining it to be. No less perfect, but not
something that he would be able to come to terms with and appreciate immediately once he understood
everything.
Maybe it was the drugs that were keeping him from freaking out properly but Burt knew that point would
come soon enough. Until it did though, he was going to try his best to warm Kurt up to how his life was at
the moment.
“This is going to sound stupid but – do we win Nationals this year? Or...did we win?” Kurt corrected, closing
his eyes and shaking his head as if to get rid of a bug.
“You did,” Burt said with a grin. “I was there. You were fantastic.”
Kurt’s face brightened and he clapped his hands. “What did we place?”
“Second,” Burt said.
“Who placed first?”
“Some nutheads, I dunno.” Burt said. “I just cared about my son.”
Kurt grinned. “Where do I live?”
“You’ll see when we get there. In the city, needless to say.”
“Do I live alone?”
“No.”
“Do I live with Blaine?” Kurt asked, a blush creeping up on his face.
“No,” Burt said, not missing the way Kurt’s face fell.
“Oh. Okay.” He said a little sadly. “So I have a flatmate?”
“Yes. Sort of.”
“Anyone I know? Well I mean – obviously I know them but do I know them now?”
“Next question,” was all Burt said in reply.
Kurt frowned but didn’t linger on it too much and moved on to ask other things that were on his mind. Burt
patiently answered every question as best as he could from the silly ones, to the more serious ones. Kurt’s
eyes began to droop half an hour into their little talk and Burt helped him settle into a more comfortable
position for sleep.
Even though Kurt insisted that he was awake enough to talk, he drifted off mid sentence while asking
about the color scheme he'd used in his apartment. Burt watched him snuffle in his sleep with a fond smile
before he leaned over the bed to kiss his forehead and whisper "I'm so glad you're okay, son."
"Mmpfh," was all Burt got in response but it was enough.
Chapter 4
Kurt’s morning consisted of nurses taking his blood pressure and Doctor Hendricks checking up on him and
telling him that he would have to see a therapist later that and if things continued to look as good as they
did, he’d be able to go home by tonight. Breakfast was bland and tasteless and the morning only started to
look up when Blaine arrived.
“Hi,” he greeted with a bright smile.
Kurt pushed the rest of his breakfast tray away and grinned at Blaine. “Hi.”
Burt was stood up and looked at Blaine with a silent question that Kurt did not understand. Whatever it
was, Blaine nodded and jerked his head towards the door. Burt glanced back at Kurt, “You okay? I’m going
to go get some coffee for myself.”
“Sure,” Kurt said, feeling uncomfortable about the silent exchange but he was glad to get some time alone
with Blaine.
“Hi,” Blaine said again when he sat down next to Kurt’s bed. “How’re you feeling?”
“Like I’ve forgotten everything all over again,” Kurt said with a small laugh. “All of yesterday is a blur at
best. But I guess I’m not as clueless as I was before.”
“Mm, Burt must have filled you in.” Blaine said with a smile but he looked hesitant for some reason.
Kurt dismissed the look for the moment and nodded. “He didn’t tell me everything but I’ve got the basics;
college, job, where I live. Although – I don’t think he mentioned who I lived with.” Kurt racked his brains in
case the piece of information had slipped his mind sometime during his sleep.
“Well you’ll meet him soon enough.” Blaine said. “He’ll be coming by later.”
“I was wondering about that,” Kurt admitted. “Your roommate wakes up from a coma, the least you could
do is go and visit him, right?”
Blaine was silent and Kurt took the opportunity to study his face. Now that he felt more awake and aware
than he had yesterday, he could look at Blaine closely and see how exactly the years had changed him.
He’d grown into his body in the best ways possible. His chest and arms were broader than Kurt
remembered, the muscles accentuated by the simple gray t-shirt he wore over dark jeans, a plainer
ensemble than what Kurt remembered but it looked no less perfect on him.
Kurt’s favorite part about this Blaine though, was his hair – it was loose and curly but somehow managed
to not turn into the untamed mess it had back in high school whenever Blaine didn’t gel it down. The look
suited him.
He hadn’t realized how hard he’d been staring until Blaine broke the silence with a slightly embarrassed,
“What?”
His cheeks flushed, Kurt shook his head quickly and said, “Nothing, sorry. I was appreciating how well the
years have treated you.”
Blaine bit his lip and returned Kurt’s tentative smile but he still looked uncomfortable. Whether it was
because of embarrassment or something else, Kurt couldn’t tell but it was really starting to bother him.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Kurt, I think there’s something you should know,” Blaine said in a low voice.
Something akin to worry started to churn inside Kurt’s stomach but he nodded and said, “Okay.”
There was a pause where Blaine just stared at him, Kurt’s nerves growing with every second until Blaine
finally took a deep breath and said, “We’re not together anymore.”
For a moment neither of them said anything. Kurt blinked and Blaine held his breath as his words settled
around them, sinking into Kurt’s reality - this reality.
“W-what?” he managed to ask finally.
“We broke up in college,” Blaine said in a gentle voice. “It was mutual.”
Kurt took a few shaky breaths and looked away from Blaine’s eyes. He felt stupid now for not once thinking
about how ten years might have changed things between them. Breaking up just hadn’t seemed like a
possibility. Blaine had been acting just as Kurt would have expected him to act in the situation except now
that he thought about it, he wondered how he hadn’t found it weird how Blaine hadn’t said a single cheesy
romantic thing to him since he’d woken up.
Tears prickled behind his eyes. Kurt blinked them away, not wanting Blaine to see. “Are you seeing
someone else?” he asked.
“Not right now, no.” Blaine said. Another pause followed and then, “We’re still best friends, Kurt. Nothing’s
changed that. Nothing ever will.” He reached out to touch Kurt’s hand but unlike all the other times Kurt
had let Blaine take it, he pulled it away.
“I – I think you should leave, Blaine.” Kurt said quietly.
Blaine stood up and Kurt could feel his gaze on him for a moment before he said, “I’m sorry.”
“I am too,” Kurt said, not looking at him.
“I’ll come by later?” it was phrased as a question, as if Blaine was unsure whether or not Kurt would want
him there.
Kurt finally looked up at the familiar, warm face of this boy who he was still achingly in love with. His first
boyfriend, his first love, still his best friend. Always his best friend.
He smiled. “Yeah. Okay.”
__
“Why are you here again?” was the first thing Kurt asked when Sebastian entered his room.
“I wanted to check up on you,” Sebastian said. “I brought flowers,” he grinned and held up the selection
he’d chosen himself.
Kurt didn’t look flattered, just irritated. “Look, I appreciate the gesture and I know you said we were
friends but this really isn’t a good time and I don’t want to see you right now.”
Sebastian didn’t flinch at the harsh words; he had spent a sleepless night in anticipation of seeing Kurt
again in the morning and he couldn’t leave in two seconds, his patience had been tested enough this past
week.
“How are you feeling?” he asked much to Kurt’s annoyance.
“Not a good time.” Kurt repeated.
“It’s a simple question,” Sebastian said. “A one word answer will do.” Anything will do.
“Sebastian, please leave.” Kurt said.
“What’s wrong?” Sebastian tried again. He knew what was wrong, he and Blaine had spent the night
talking about how to break things to Kurt and Sebastian knew exactly why Kurt was upset but he couldn’t
give Kurt leisure time to come to terms with his and Blaine’s break up. Doctor Hendricks had met him
outside and said that Kurt would be cleared to go home by tonight; there was no way Sebastian could keep
the fact that they lived together hidden for much longer. So he stepped closer to the bed and prompted
again. “You can tell me.”
“You’re the last person I want to talk to about this,” Kurt said.
“Why’s that?” Sebastian asked, taking a seat despite the frustrated way Kurt grit his teeth. “You had no
problem talking to me yesterday.”
“I know it’s hard for you,” Kurt said looking at him with narrow eyes. “But I just woke up with ten years of
my memories wiped. The least you could do is not act like a jerk.”
“I’m not acting like a jerk. I’m just asking you a question. I want to help.”
“Well you can’t.” Kurt said with a stubborn jut of his chin. “And I want you to leave so please leave.”
Sebastian didn’t budge from his position. “Sebastian. Leave.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I just got here.”
Kurt stared at him long and hard for a moment before he sighed and gave up. “I liked you better when I
was drugged,” he said, looking away.
“Well you should learn to like me sober,” Sebastian said, sitting up in his chair. “Because we’re going to be
spending a lot of time together.”
Kurt, despite clearly not wanting to, turned his head to fix him with a curious stare. “Why?”
Sebastian gave him a smile, ready with his explanation for the moment. “Because we’re flatmates.”
Chapter 5
Kurt remained in a state of disbelief for the rest of the morning. He refused to talk to Sebastian; still hell
bent on believing it was all one big joke. Only when Burt shook his head and said that it wasn’t a lie, did
Kurt finally seemed to accept that he was in fact, living with Sebastian Smythe.
“It’s not that bad. I promise,” Sebastian said. “We get along fine. Better than fine.”
“Excuse me if I find that hard to believe,” Kurt snapped.
“It’s a beautiful apartment.” Sebastian continued, ignoring him. “Close to Central Park, tons of natural
lighting -” Kurt wasn’t even looking at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring at the
opposite wall but Sebastian knew he was listening. “You had most of the control over decorating,” he said.
“I was just there to carry the paint brushes and hold up samples for you to -”
“Stop.” Kurt said suddenly.
“Stop what?”
“Stop making it sound like -” Kurt looked at him, frustrated. “Like it’s something we did together.”
“It is,” Sebastian said with a frown. “What, you think we just happened to move into the same apartment
that magically furnished itself?”
“Yes,” Kurt said with another stubborn jut of his chin. “That is exactly what I’d like to think. And you’re not
helping.”
Sebastian couldn’t help but smile a little. “Oh, Kurt.”
“No. Don’t oh Kurt me, I am going to think whatever I want in order to come to terms with this disturbing
piece of news and you are going to stay out my way and let me, understood?”
Sebastian stared at him. “You expect that to work?”
“Yes.”
“Kurt, it’s not going to work.”
“I will make it work.”
Not when you find out we’re married.
__
Sebastian took care of most of the paperwork when Kurt was finally discharged. Blaine had promised to
come by later but he’d been called in by his boss for an emergency meeting with the distributors of one of
their records and so it was just Sebastian and Burt. Kurt frowned when he saw Sebastian signing papers on
his way to the elevator but didn’t say a word to him all the way down to the car.
He’d changed into a pair of black jeans and a red long sleeved shirt that Sebastian had brought for him –
he’d been too busy resolutely ignoring Sebastian’s presence and still trying to build whatever fantasy he
wanted to in his head about their living arrangements to comment on the plainness of Sebastian’s choice
of clothes. Even after all these years, Sebastian had no clue how to navigate Kurt’s wardrobe. Blaine did a
better job than him. Sebastian could appreciate fashion, sure. But normal fashion and Kurt-fashion were
two different things in his mind.
“Why do you have a car in New York City?” Kurt asked with a huff as he got into the passenger seat.
“Because the public transport system is filthy.” Sebastian said. “And because I need it for special
occasions.”
The ride home was silent. Kurt stared out of his window at the city in all her late afternoon glory. Even
though there were probably a million thoughts running through his head at the moment, Kurt still had a
small, uncontrollable grin on his face. Sebastian wanted to lean over the gearshift and kiss the corner of it
but he kept his eyes on the road.
Their apartment was on the seventeenth floor. Kurt grew tenser with every number that lit up over the
elevator, taking them closer to his new home. Sebastian wasn’t in much of a better position beside him.
This was it. There was no way he could hide their marriage once they walked through the front door, one
of the first things Kurt was bound to see was the framed photograph of them at their wedding with both
their families.
Kurt’s wedding band felt heavy in Sebastian’s pocket; he hadn’t returned it with the rest of Kurt’s
possessions that had been found on him after the accident. He wanted to keep it with him until Kurt was
ready to have it back which Sebastian was certain wouldn’t be for a while.
When the bell dinged over them and the elevator doors slid open, Burt clapped both of them on the back
with a hand. “Ready to see if your house is all you dreamed of?” he asked Kurt.
Kurt looked at Sebastian with narrowed eyes and Sebastian could almost hear him saying it can’t be a
dream if I’m stuck living with you but al he said was, “I guess.”
Sebastian’s hand shook a little as he turned the key in the lock. “Welcome home,” he said to Kurt with a
tentative grin when the door finally clicked open. He stepped aside and watched Kurt’s face as he entered
the apartment, his face completely blank of any emotion.
Kurt’s gaze swept over the apartment in silence; from the entranceway to the lounge and what little you
could make of the kitchen from here to the cut of the hallway where it lead to the bedrooms before
coming to rest back on Sebastian who was waiting with bated breath.
“Well?” he asked.
“It’s...not as bad as I expected.” Kurt admitted, stepping further inside.
“Not as bad as y– even after everything I told you about how amazing it was?” Sebastian asked as Burt
chuckled.
“Obviously, I never believed you.” Kurt said coolly, looking around with more care. His face was less
emotionless now; he obviously liked the place if the shine in his eyes and his parted lips were anything to
go by. It took a moment for Sebastian to realize why Kurt wasn’t freaking out like he’d expected – it was
because he hadn’t bothered to look at the pictures on the walls yet.
It was as if Kurt had read his mind because he stopped in front of a wall of framed photographs. He was
looking at was a vertical frame, divided into three parts. The pictures were in quick succession like
something out of a photo booth at the mall. The first was a black and white close up of Kurt and Sebastian
with their arms around each other’s shoulders, grinning at the camera. The second was in color, the same
close up but with Sebastian bent down to kiss Kurt’s cheek and the last one was black and white again with
both of them laughing with their eyes shut and mouths open in frozen shouts of glee.
They were in their wedding suits.
“Who – who’s wedding was this?” Kurt asked, turning around to look at his father and Sebastian with
confusion and a hint of panic.
Sebastian didn’t know whether to be glad or upset that Kurt had chosen to look at the more subtle of their
wedding photos. He guessed they could be taken as pictures of them at a wedding instead of pictures of
their wedding.
“Oh my god,” Kurt breathed suddenly. “We’re not just friends, are we?”
Sebastian shook his head. “Kurt we’re -”
“Don’t tell me we’re -”
“- married.”
Kurt’s eyes widened and Burt sucked in a deep breath. “I... I was going to say dating,” he said in a shocked
whisper.
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