A buzz went off in general direction of the living room and Sebastian briefly glanced over his screen. It buzzed again. His own phone was right by his side, so it must be Blaine's. He shook his head and smiled to himself. He must have forgotten his phone at home because he was in such a rush this morning after a late start when his alarm forgot to go off. He went back to work, scrolling through a boring twitter feed.

Awhile later, Blaine's phone buzzed again.

And again...

And again.

Sebastian groaned in frustration and walked over to the phone, picking it up and sliding it open. He knew Blaine's pass code, of course, and Blaine knew his. But what he found made Sebastian incredibly suspicious.

Kurt Hummel:
(12:30): Coffee tomorrow?
(12:30): Same time, of course.
(12:59): Scratch that I have an exam at our usual time.
(12:59): But I'm free on Thursday.
(1:04): Text me if you're free. :)

Sebastian's eyes narrowed as he read over the texts again. He scrolled through earlier conversations. Blaine had been talking to a guy named Kurt for almost a month now, and Sebastian had never heard the name once around the apartment. Raising an eyebrow, he pocketed the phone and returned to his spot at the laptop. He had every intention on finding out exactly who Kurt Hummel was the second Blaine walked through the door.

That time came about 3 and a half hours later, and about 4:30. Blaine came crashing through the apartment door, looking absolutely terrified.

“Someone stole my phone at work and I don't who it was and how could I have been so careless to just leave it laying around?” Blaine smacked his face with the palm of his hand, shutting his eyes and sighing.

“Calm down, Blaine. You left your phone here this morning.” Sebastian rounded the corner, Blaine's phone between his index finger and thumb.

“Oh, thank God.” Blaine exhaled a breath he didn't even know he was holding and reached for his phone. But just as his hand got close enough, Sebastian snapped it back.

“I have a question for you, though...” He said, crossing his arms with the phone still securely in his hand. Blaine bit his lip and nodded. It couldn't be that bad. He had nothing to hide. Well, except for...

“Who exactly is Kurt Hummel?” That.

“Kurt? Oh he's a coworker of mine.” Blaine said, surprised that he was able to come up with an excuse so quickly. Even though it wasn't technically a lie. He was working really hard at getting Kurt a job at the music store, but it would take awhile to convince his manager.

“So why do you have a usual coffee time with a coworker?” Sebastian asked, his eyebrows raised as if expecting a logical answer. Which Blaine really had none.

“We study together. He goes to NYU.” Blaine smiled, reaching his hand out, palm up. “Now can I have my phone back?”

Sebastian sighed and placed the phone in Blaine's hand.

“We need to talk about something else.” Sebastian said, and Blaine caught sight of the (still blank) TiMER on Seb's wrist.

“I'm not getting one.” Blaine muttered and passed by Sebastian, heading for the bathroom. But Sebastian grabbed his upper arm, stopping him immediately.

“Think about it, though, Blaine. Really.” He said, before letting go of Blaine's arm. But Blaine didn't keep walking. He'd heard enough of this. He spun on his heels and sighed.

“I don't see the point in it, okay? You go through the pain of having a piece of plastic impaled into your arm all for the purpose of what? Watching as a number counts down to when you'll meet the person you're destined to spend the rest of your life with? But what if that person is just not right for you, you clash, or you hate each other? It's a pointless thing and I don't think it can tell us anything!” Blaine said, pointing at the narrows piece of plastic on Sebastian's wrist. “You shouldn't have to rely on this to tell you who you're supposed to be with. You're supposed to just know. So that's why I don't want one, okay? Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather find love the long way, instead of having a single path handed to me.” He concluded. Sebastian bit his lip.

“I just want to know, Blaine... It won't be long. You get one, then we see if we match up. If we do, then great.” Sebastian said, moving forward to wrap his arms around Blaine. But Blaine took a step back.

“And if we don't?” He asked solemnly.

“We'll deal with it if it happens.” Sebastian said. “But I still think-”

“No! Why can't you just accept the fact that I don't want one? You're supposed to respect my feelings, Sebastian! You're my boyfriend for god's sake!”

“And you getting a TiMER could change that from boyfriend to fiance.” Sebastian grinned.

“Are you kidding me? You're going to let a piece of plastic dictate whether you want to marry me or not? I can't believe I'm hearing this right now...” Blaine shook his head and started to pace around the living room. “Why can't you see that it's...”

Blaine was cut off by the sound of a cheery jingle. He glanced down at his empty wrist. He knew what that sound meant. And at that moment, nothing hurt more. He moved forward and looked down just as a set of numbers appeared on the screen of Sebastian's TiMER. 11 and a half months. A little under a year.

A silence found itself settling across the apartment like the first snow of winter. Both boys weren't looking at each other. Blaine stood staring at the TiMER and Sebastian was staring at the floor, trying to decide what to say. But the word came after a minute of standing in silence.

“Baine...” Sebastian started, looking up at Blaine, his eyes sympathetic.

“Forget it.” Blaine said, moving towards the door. He refused to make eye contact with Sebastian.

“Blaine, please!”

“Sebastian, listen. You got your answer. I'm not your one, apparently. You said we'd deal with that when the time came. Well, now it's the time and I'm dealing with it. Santana's coming over tomorrow to pick up my things.” Blaine said, turning his back to Sebastian and leaving the apartment, slamming the door. The bang was left to echo in the silence that followed as Sebastian broke down, slamming his fist into the wall.