Chapter 3

 “I met him my first year out here, he was studying business and management at NYU and I Interior design with management as my minor at my Dad’s request. Worked out for the best in the long run. I met Elliott and I ended up with the skills to run my own interior design company. Plus it meant that I had a place to live because Elliott, Dani and her brother Ollie were looking for three other flatmates at the time, and the dorms were a nightmare to put it lightly,” Sebastian beamed, a happy glint in his eyes as he rolled his slice of pizza up, practically inhaling it, ignoring Dani’s grimace of disgust.

Blaine studied the picture on the phone handed to himself and felt his own smile tug at the corners of his lips. Sebastian had his arms wrapped around the petite waist of a smallish, sandy haired man, his head resting on his shoulder as the other man’s was thrown back in laughter, his hazel eyes sparkling in delight. “He’s gorgeous Sebastian,” He laughed, handing Sebastian’s phone back to him and picking up his own slice of pizza. “And genuinely I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy, you were always scheming something when I knew you,” Blaine teased lightly and Dani snorted, choking on her drink as Sebastian thumped her back to stop it, setting off another round of laughter at the table.

Looking seriously at Blaine, Sebastian folded his hands together on the table. “Look, I’m not proud of what I did in high school, not by any stretch of the imagination and I just want to let you know that I am sorry, so very sorry for what went down. But if you’d let me, I’d like to actually get to know you this time and be friends with you.”

Blaine didn’t even hesitate before reaching across and placing his hands on Sebastian’s, “No hard feelings and a fresh start?”

“Sounds good to me,” Sebastian squeezed Blaine’s hands back before both boys went back to the pizza, Dani glancing back and forth between them.

“Wait, wait, wait, what the hell happened between you two? Quite frankly I’m all of confused, interested and suspicious and damn it I want to know!”

“Oh you know just the usual,” Sebastian smirked, shrugging as Blaine’s shoulders shook with silent laughter, catching the mischievous look in the taller mans eyes.

Clearing his throat to keep the laughter out of his voice, Blaine nodded solemnly. “Yeah I mean there was the trying to get into my pants for like six months, that was fun, or that time you stole our glee club idea to use Michael for Regionals, or ooh ooh, remember the slushie with the rock salt that meant I needed an operation? That was really fun.” Both men glanced at Dani’s wide eyed, mouth open expression before glancing back to each other, laughter echoing around their booth once more.

“Seriously?” Dani gasped, unable to keep the slight hysteria out of her voice.

“Oh yeah, all of that stuff genuinely happened,” Sebastian winced slightly. “Still sorry about it though.”

“Can I hit him?” Dani muttered bluntly, glancing to Blaine for his support. “Let me hit him, the guy is a douche.”

“And this is a Mother ladies and gentlemen,” Sebastian declared to the booth, dodging Dani’s hand as she flung it at his head.

“I was young and incredibly stupid Dani.”

“I’ll say you almost blinded poor Blainers because you couldn’t get what you wanted.”

Smiling at the waitress as she grabbed their plate, Sebastian turned sombre once more. “Dani, I was an extremely, and Blaine will back me up here, an extremely spoilt rotten, I get what I want when I want it brat back in high school. I mean hell, even when I first met you guys Elliott was helping me become a normal person at last.”

“That’s true,” She sighed softly shaking her head.

“Still love me?” He muttered in a quiet voice, head hanging low.

“Of course I do douchbag,” She laughed, grabbing him into a hug, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, I need my boys and my Rachie with me, as if I could do this mothering thing without any of you.”

“You’d be fine,” Sebastian smiled, pecking the crown of her head as he pulled away, the bell over the door tinkling as a group of people entered.

“Blaine Anderson, there you are! We were about to send out a search party!”

Blaine glanced up and squeaked in fear at the latina woman suddenly bearing down on him, three others sliding into the booth with warm smiles at Dani and Sebastian, Santana eventually perching on Blaine’s lap, eyeing up Sebastian closely after having skimmed over Dani.

“You look familiar, why do I know you?” Sebastian blushed, feeling the scrutinising looks of the four new members of the table on him and shrugged as Blaine mouthed a sorry from behind her head.

Gulping, Blaine wrapped his arms tightly around Santana’s waist, Sebastian sending him silent thank yous for the restraint. “Erm Santana, Sam, Britt, Mike, this is my boss Dani, and you erm, you remember Sebastian.”

There was a momentary pause around the table before Santana suddenly exploded, a rush of Spanish flying from her mouth as she tried in vain to escape Blaine’s tight grip.

“Save yourself!” Sam yelped dodging Santana’s flailing fists as the others laughed lightly. Swiping his blonde locks from his eyes, he glared at Sebastian calculatingly, “You going to hurt our Blaine again?”

Shaking his head vehemently, Sebastian now looked truly sorry. “No, not at all, I’m a different person now, as we were just discussing. So believe me, I genuinely wouldn’t.”

Brittany and Santana’s both narrowed their eyes at him, as Mike simply raised an eyebrow in slight suspicion, Sam simply nodding his head before ordering. “How can we be sure?” Brittany asked softly when the waitress had left the table once more.

“How about I can keep a check on him?” Dani smiled as the entire table turned to her, causing the young woman to blush profusely. “I…I mean you don’t know me from Adam but I really like Blaine, not to mention he’s the most competent worker I’ve ever had, and I really like him, so I’d rather he stay safe.”

Santana nodded slowly, “Ok, we’ve all grown up, but you’ve got one chance Fievel, touch one hair on that freakishly curly head and you’re done for.”

“My curls are not that bad!”

“They are when you’ve just woken up and haven’t tamed them. They’re thinning a bit now though,” She frowned, a look of fear shooting across her face as she ran her hands along the lightly gelled curls with a shudder. She cuddled him closer before startling and turning a harsh scowl onto Sebastian, “Clear Smythe?”

Sebastian smirked easily falling back into his old persona, “Oh totally crystal Sha-Queer-A.” Santana sneered as Sam snorted into his drink stopping himself before he spat it everywhere.

Huffing, Blaine folded his arms across his chest and slumped in the seat as best as he could with Santana still in his lap. “You’re all treating me like a child.”

“It’s what happens when you're the youngest and the smallest dear hobbit,” Santana sniggered, grabbing a drink of his diet coke as a slight realisation dawned on Dani’s face.

A beeping alarm emanating from Blaine’s wristwatch startled the table though as the short man sighed, reaching into his coat pocket and automatically taking the bottle of pills from it, downing two and smiling in relief as Santana pulled him close, kissing the top of his head even as his eyes closed in slight pain. “It’ll be ok, B, it has to be, too much has happened for it not to be,” Santana murmured, before raising her head and glancing to Sebastian and Dani once more, one an expression of utter confusion, the other of sympathy and knowing. “Do they not know?”

Letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding Blaine shrugged helplessly. “Dani does, at least most of it, Seb knows nothing though,” When the other man opened his mouth, his face a picture of concern, Blaine shook his head carefully. “Getting to know each other this time Sebastian right? That means you’ll find out in due time, but not right now.”

In a bid to decrease the tension that had settled on the table, Dani raised a point that she had been mulling over for the last hour or so since she discovered the two men she thought she was introducing tonight actually knew each other from high school. “Hold up a second, if you lot all know each other from high school, does that mean that any of you went to school with Ra-.” Sebastian’s hand clamped firmly over Dani’s mouth and he smiled sickly sweet.

“Dani, we really need to get going if you want to say goodnight to Alice, she goes down in an hour.”

Sticking her cream hat over her head, one hand still clamped over her mouth, Sebastian pulled Dani from the booth, both waving goodbye to those they were leaving behind as Sebastian guided Dani out into the night air.

“Well that was weird,” Mike blinked, still watching the arguing two walk down the street.

Blaine shrugged, smiling, “They’re kind of kooky like that but I like it, it kind of reminds me of us. How did you find me anyway?”

Santana shrugged, sliding off of his lap and wrapping an arm around Brittany’s shoulders. “I bugged your phone.”

Blaine’s eyes widened as he stared at his nonchalant best friend. “Please tell me you're joking?”

“Nope.”

Bursting into the apartment brimming with glee, Sebastian danced into the living room where the rest of their roommates and their guests were sitting. “I know a secret, I know a secret,” Sebastian sang, darting around the baby toys and various pairs of legs stretched out on the floor so that he could peck Elliott on the lips before settling on the arm of his chair, a wicked smile forming across his face, “And it’s going to blow your minds.” He dragged the last note out, directing his smirk at Kurt across the room who was handing Alice up to Dani as she had appeared behind them, still watching Sebastian closely with a slightly bemused expression blue eyes twinkling.

“Dude, I can’t actually believe that I’m going to say this, but you just acted gayer than I’ve ever seen Hummel act,” Puck snickered, no malice apparent in his voice as he straightened and looked at Kurt from where he was sat on the floor at Quinn and Rachel’s feet while they lounged on the sofa, one of Rachel’s hands playing with Finn’s hair gently where he sat beside his childhood friend. “No offence,” He tacked on at Kurt’s glare, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Yeah, well I never thought I’d have a biological child but there you go.”

“Touché,” Puck smirked, taking a sip from his beer as Alice squealed from where she was being held, tiny arms stretching as she tried to get back to the floor.

“Ma, Ma,” She whined, practically doubling over backwards as she squirmed in Dani’s arms, desperate to be down.

“Alright, Alright,” Dani laughed, kissing her head and placing her on the floor, Alice immediately crawling to Finn like a rocket, gladly accepting her favourite Disney Stitch toy and stuffing one of his ears into her mouth as she babbled incoherently.

“She’s been restless all night,” Kurt chuckled softly as Dani collapsed into the second sofa beside him, drawing her feet up onto the brown faux leather as Kurt grabbed his glass of red wine, drinking deeply from it before offering it to her.

Declining with a smile, she glanced at everyone in the room and quirked an eyebrow at the various wine glasses and beer bottles tucked up at a safe height. “Rough day everyone?”

There were various groans and nods around the room which caused Sebastian’s eyebrows to shoot up as he slipped in behind Elliott, gently massaging his shoulders. “What happened babe?”

“It’s just been a horrible day,” Elliott sighed, leaning back into Sebastian’s embrace as his hazel eyes fluttered closed, “Sometimes I despise managing more people than just you Kurt. You made my life too easy and now I have to put up with the ridiculous demands of people who are so far up themselves it’s not even true.”

Kurt chuckled dryly, “Believe me I know. So help me God Elliott before you bring anymore clients to me to get a design done or whatever, please make sure that they will let me do my job and not act like a spoilt rotten brat the entire time.”

Dani giggled softly, taking Kurt’s hand, “Who did he bring to you like?”

“Suri Cruise,” Kurt glared as Elliott shrugged helplessly blushing, “She’s like this twelve year old pain in my ass if ever there was one. If Alice ever ends up as spoilt rotten and just simply rotten as her I will ship her back home to Lima to live with my Dad.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse.”

“At least you didn’t have to explain to a bunch of five year olds parents why two girls had painted each others hair, whilst three boys decided it was a good idea to scale the fence to the pond and try to capture the fish,” Quinn shook her head sighing softly and then smiled as Alice looked at her, “Thank you darling.” She laughed as Alice passed her Stitch toy to her, receiving a toothy grin and clapping hands in response along with a few babbles.

“Yeah well we lost two people in the rig today,” Puck sighed as Finn nodded solemnly beside him, “We were only a block from the hospital with one of them.”

“Excuse me, I need more wine,” Rachel muttered monotonously climbing over Finn and Puck and hobbling towards the kitchen.

“What happened to her?” Sebastian muttered, eyes watching the kitchen doorway worriedly as Finn winced.

“She fell in rehearsal today, sprained her ankle really badly,” He ran a hand through his messed up hair and glanced between the two new comers. “She’s out of the production for at least six weeks, which means that she’ll miss opening night.”

Dani hissed quietly through her teeth, “This meant everything to her.” Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement.

Kurt however tuned everyone out in favour of watching Alice. Clad now simply in her yellow baby grow with a duckling on and little yellow converse Quinn had just bought for her (for the simple fact that she screamed whenever anyone tried to take them off of her) she was watching the doorway where Rachel had disappeared, a forlorn expression filling her tiny face. Slowly, she crawled away from Puck and Finn and huffed in annoyance, unaware that Kurt’s eyes were following her every move. Sluggishly she reached up to grab the corner of the coffee table, pulling herself to her feet. Kurt grinned, about to turn back to the conversation as his daughter coasting was nothing new, she’d started doing it about three weeks ago and loved using anything she could get her hands on to pull her from A to B. This time though, she was still staring at the kitchen doorway in determination, her hand leaving the table as she shook slightly, one foot rising as she slowly propelled it forward, after a moment in this position, she gently lifted the other one and moved that. Kurt reached out and grabbed Dani’s arm, his eyes never once leaving Alice as the quiet murmuring in the room hushed, everyone watching Alice in astonishment.

Rachel slowly shuffled back through the door with a fresh glass of wine and nearly dropped it when she saw Alice standing at the door, staring up at her with a little grin one her face, her tiny hands slowly reaching up to her aunt. Beaming, Rachel placed the wine on the shelf and bent to pick the baby up. “Did you just walk by yourself you big girl?” She grinned tickling the infant as a set of giggles erupted, stunning the rest of the room back into action.

Cheers erupted from everyone as they sprinted to surround the duo, Alice being moved from person to person, clearly loving the hugs and kisses as she was eventually settled into Kurt and Dani’s embrace. “Well done my beautiful, big girl,” Kurt beamed, squeezing her gently as Dani sniffled beside him.

“Kurt,” she croaked softly, and he wrapped an arm around her as Alice lurched over to peck Dani on the lips before righting herself again. “We don’t have a baby anymore, we have a toddler.”

Laughs surrounded the room as the mood lifted for the first time in the apartment all evening, a new game springing up of who could get Alice to walk furthest. Kurt eventually won, sliding backwards along the wooden floor as Alice raced after him, giggling the whole time and Kurt not even being bothered about scuffing up his favourite skinny jeans.

“You know this isn’t awkward at all,” Kurt muttered later that evening, glaring at the two girls on sat in their pyjamas watching him expectantly from his bed as he shrugged his shirt off, reaching for the t-shirt he slept in.

“Well, we decided that we wanted to watch Wicked and you have the biggest TV in your room and the best bed so hello sleepover,” Rachel beamed giggling lightly from the wine she’d been drinking all night.

Chuckling Kurt turned to them, raising an eyebrow, “Popcorn and sweets?”

“Ooh I’ll get it we need more wine anyway,” Rachel giggled, diving off of the bed and out of the door, giggling to herself as she tripped over her own feet, still favouring her right one intensely.

“She really needs to lay off the alcohol.”

Eyeing Kurt, Dani smiled, standing up and wrapping her arms around his waist as he stood in front of the floor length mirror, the t-shirt still in his hand. “You’ve changed so much from the little boy I first met you know, now you actually have abs.” She laughed as she ducked away from the hand he swatted in her general direction, “But still seven years down the line, you have never once mentioned what this is from, or why you have it.” Pointing at the tattoo resting over his heart, Dani slowly started tracing the puzzle piece with one finger, feeling Kurt shudder as she did so.

Kurt could feel the tidal wave of emotions that rushed through his heart as Dani questioned the tattoo, all he could see was those amber eyes alight in excitement at what he himself had just suggested. The way the warm hands encased him, keeping him safe and sound during the appointment, amber eyes never once leaving his teary sapphire ones. Four weeks later everything had gone to hell, the tattoo hadn’t even finished healing.

Suddenly, he wrenched away from her, yanking the t-shirt over his head, the word ‘courage’ that was curved around the bottom of the puzzle piece the last part of the tattoo to disappear, ignoring the unshed tears biting at his eyelids. “It was nothing, just a stupid teenage mistake, now are you going to come cuddle with me while we listen to Rachel destroy the kitchen or not?”

Dani shot a sceptical look at him but sighed, crawling onto the bed and into Kurt’s waiting arms. “I know we have a child and all, but this is getting sad, we really need boyfriends.”

“Amen to that,” Kurt sighed as the cackling Rachel stumbled back into the room, two bottles of wine secured under one arm along with a bowl of popcorn and dozens of bags of sweets.