Sebastian walks into the small cafe, Metro, where he had agreed to meet Blaine. He had barely spent any time alone with Blaine since Kurt had come along, and it was... weird. Blaine just wasn't the same anymore. Sure, he was happy, but he just seemed so different around his boyfriend.

Blaine had always been one of his only friends, because he knew he had high walls and that he struggled to let people in. But Blaine had consistently made an effort to break him down, and now Sebastian felt like he actually had people who cared about him.

Sebastian reminds himself there is a reason he doesn't believe in boyfriends, and sits down at the table in the corner where they have sat for as long as they have visited Metro. He wonders if ever he will have the same reaction to meeting his soulmate as Blaine, this falling head over heels and putting everything else on hold for them. He didn't resent Blaine for the time he used to spend with him being spent with Kurt, no, but he didn't like the change. And now, he was the only soulmateless member of their group. He shakes his sleeve up his arm and looks at his wrist, where the countdown is still ticking away. Two years, one month, three days, he thinks. He had no purpose with the rest; it was still too far away for seconds and even minutes to have any significance to him.

The bell on the door chimes pleasantly and Sebastian looks up to see that Blaine is there. Blaine waves and Sebastian raises his hand to wave back, but is suddenly distracted by his wrist again. The numbers have changed dramatically. He pulls his sleeve back into place and folds his hands on the table.

There was no doubt in his mind what the numbers told him.

0:0:0:0:0:0.

Blaine sits at the table across from Sebastian. "Hi!" he greets enthusiastically.

"Hello," Sebastian says calmly in response, "I'll go order." While waiting for the coffees Blaine notices that Sebastian is shifting from foot to foot instead of flirting with the baristas like usual. He seems jumpier than ordinary, certainly. When he returns to the table and slides Blaine's coffee across to him, Blaine looks at him curiously. "Got a problem there, Killer?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. You seem sort of... on edge. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Blaine. Really."

"You can't seriously be jittery because of Rachel's party tonight, right?" Sebastian snorts.

"I'm in it for the free booze. Do you think there will be any cute, available, not heterosexual guys there?" he says, knowing that the only cute, not heterosexual guy the universe wanted him to be with was sitting across from him, definitely unavailable.

"Rachel is in the musical theatre business and Kurt in fashion. Not to stereotype, but I think it's safe to say it will be plenty queer." Blaine reasons.

"Can you reclaim the term, Blaine? You really haven't been gay that long." Sebastian says, though he couldn't deny that the party was shaping up to be incredibly gay.

"I wasn't aware there was a qualifying length of service to the gay community to reclaim terms."

"Fine, we're all queers, let's move on with our lives. How's the soulmate doing?" Sebastian asks, though he was suddenly very jealous of Kurt. Blaine was meant to be his- his countdown said so.

"Oh, he's good, thanks for caring. We went on a date last night, it was his turn to plan, and he said that he had a plan but we kind of ended up making out on his couch until Rachel came home, and she insisted that we could keep going but it got really weird really fast, so we went out for dinner instead." Blaine babbles.

"How very relaxed of you. So Rachel wanted to watch you two play tonsil hockey?"

"We were just kissing; you don't have to make it sound like that. But yes, essentially. She has two dads so she is almost too cool with it all, and yet she clearly fetishises the whole gay community. I sort of wonder if the reason she has never properly committed to Finn- that's Kurt's step-brother- is because she won't ever be over the fact that she doesn't have a penis and therefore doesn't appeal to Kurt."

"Yikes," Sebastian represses a shudder, "and you expect me to cordially meet her?"

"Please?" Blaine says, "For me?" and Sebastian can't think of any good reason to say no anymore.

Blaine, Santana, Brittany and Sebastian arrive at Kurt and Rachel's apartment early as per her request. She hands them all glasses with colourful, undeterminable liquids in them, driven only to drink with the promise that there was alcohol in them. Kurt passes, and Blaine decides that he should take notice of how much he is consuming himself, so he wouldn't end up trashed and ruin things for Kurt. He wouldn't mind being drunk around Kurt, but only if Kurt wasn't sober himself.

Brittany sits between Santana and Sebastian on one couch, while Blaine and Kurt share an armchair, Kurt sitting on Blaine. Rachel continues to run around and set up for the party, waiting anxiously for people to arrive. She seems to forget that the whole reason they were there so early is because she wanted to meet them all. They chat easily, no one having anything ground breaking to share. Brittany, out of nowhere, asks, "Your countdown ended?" and Sebastian pulls his sleeve down as far as he can. Everyone else in the room freezes and looks to Sebastian for an explanation.

"It's nothing," Sebastian insists, though everyone knows how huge it must be for him. After refusing to reveal any details, the others leave him alone, figuring he would tell them when he had something to tell. Other guests begin to arrive, and slowly they are forced from the couches to join the crowds.

Santana eventually finds Sebastian and manages to pull him away from the guy he was shamelessly grinding against, pulling him through to the bedroom which was clearly Rachel's. No one had claimed it yet for any reason, which means it is much quieter than the living room which is getting increasingly rowdy. "So," she says, folding her arms, "what's up? He wasn't ugly, was he? Or- god forbid- female?"

"No... Neither of those." Sebastian conforms, knowing that Santana would continue on the bitchwave until he told her properly.

"Didn't you have like, two years left? What happened?" Sebastian tells her everything, hoping that she can help make sense of it all. It ends with the two of them sitting on the floor by the door, preventing anyone from entering. "Are you sure that's how it works?" Santana says, "Shouldn't you have had the countdown end when you first met Blaine, if he's your soulmate?"

"I don't know. Real life events can influence the countdown though, right?"

"Yeah, but I think that's like, flying to Switzerland for a totally unrelated reason before your soulmate makes it to you or whatever. And some people get second soulmates, after they divorce or their soulmate dies. I really don't know, Bas, I only know as much as I've been told."

"Do you think it could be Blaine, though?" Sebastian asks, hopeful to have someone on his side.

"Honestly? No. The soulmate thing is a two way street, as far as I've ever heard... and Blaine has Kurt. Have you seen how happy they are together?" Santana says, "But you can think whatever you want to think. Just... don't screw it up for Blaine, please? He cares about you, Bas, he really does. But you aren't the only person in his world." She gets to her feet and Sebastian follows suit, because otherwise there was no way she was going to be able to leave. She turns to leave, but Sebastian pulls her back and wraps his arms around her. It takes Santana a moment to get over the initial shock- because if there was one thing she had known about Sebastian it was that he was not a hugger, but she hugs back nonetheless.

"Thank you," he mumbles, and it isn't something that he says often.

"You're welcome," Santana says, because no matter what their relationship was like, at its core they were friends. Maybe even best friends.

"Have you met enough of Rachel's people yet?" Kurt asks. Blaine lifts their entwined hands to his lips and kisses Kurt's knuckles softly.

"I think so," Blaine replies, allowing himself to be led by Kurt into his bedroom.

Kurt locks the door behind them. When Blaine gives him a quizzical look, he says, "Rachel has never been very good at knocking. It became a necessity pretty quickly after we moved in together." He pauses for a moment before he notices that Blaine has suddenly shifted in his mood. "Oh, I didn't mean... I thought we were just going to make out, and avoid intrusions, not..." Kurt blushes furiously and Blaine pulls him over to the bed. Once Blaine begins kissing him, Kurt forgets why he was even embarrassed in the first place.

"You know, we could do something... if you wanted to..." Blaine says, making no effort to even slide his hands under Kurt's shirt. It was something they would decide together, when they wanted to make the decision.

"I want to do everything with you, Blaine," Kurt says, "but while just about everyone I know is outside the door... that's not really my thing." Blaine smiles.

"Everything," he repeats, "I like the sound of that."

When they eventually decide to leave the bedroom, Santana is waiting by the door. "Hobbit," she says, "we need to talk. Hi, Kurt." Kurt squeezes Blaine's hand and waves at Santana as he leaves. Santana pulls Blaine back into the bedroom, and closes the door behind them. "You know how Sebastian has had some problems with his soulmate finding?" Blaine nods, "I think he's kind of misguided as to how it all works, and he isn't going to talk to you about it. Just know that he might get a little clingy. The thing is, Blaine, we have both been well aware for as long as we have known him that he doesn't make friends easily, that he has me, you, and not really anyone else. So no matter what happens, be his friend, okay? He needs us." Blaine nods again.

"Of course. He's one of my best friends, Tana, I'm not going to just abandon him because of something like this."

"Even if he thinks that you are his soulmate?" Santana asks. Blaine shakes his head.

"Why would he-?"

"Because something happened when you were getting coffee, and because it was you, the feelings have been projected or something, I don't even know and I'm not going to get all psychoanalytical on you. Now go find your boyfriend and enjoy the damn party, okay?" She looks at Blaine and raises an eyebrow, noticing the ruffled hair, swollen lips and the red marks beneath his chin. Blaine begins to walk away, ready to find Kurt, when Santana calls, "We'll talk about this later, okay?" Blaine lifts a hand to his hair, praying it wasn't that obvious, and Santana laughs as she sashays back out into the living room.

"You look like a lost puppy," Sebastian says, dancing up to Blaine, "the boy toy left. Was the sex really that bad?"

"We were just making out, Bas. Do you know where he went?" Blaine asks, thinking how ridiculous it all seemed when Kurt lived there. He hadn't seemed to want to leave just minutes earlier, when they were entwined his bedroom.

"Beats me. You could ask Rachel." Blaine agrees and finds Rachel, who guesses that Kurt went up to the roof. Blaine figured that she knew Kurt better than most other people in the room and trusts her judgement. She tells him to take the fire escape, so that's what he does- and is relieved when he finds Kurt sitting among the broken garden furniture. There is a row of pot plants and a string of fairy lights, but it is clear that hardly anyone touches the roof. He is hugging his knees, looking up at the sky.

Blaine sits down next to him. "Wine cooler?" he offers, and Kurt accepts the bottle.

"Thanks," he says, though he makes no effort to open it.

"Why did you run off up here?"

"I don't know. There was just... a lot going on down there. I should have told you I was leaving."

"I don't mind. I just panicked for a moment when Sebastian said you were gone." Blaine opens his own wine cooler and takes a sip. They had never been his beverage of choice, but they were bottled and available when he was leaving.

"Oh," Kurt replies, "Sebastian noticed me leaving? That's surprising; he hardly cares about me at all..."

"Hey, don't say that. He seems to think that you two have to fight for my affection, but you know that isn't, and never will be, the case. I have different affection for each of you." Kurt leans against him and Blaine wraps an arm around him.

"I never want you to have to choose between us, Blaine. We snap at each other sometimes, but I don't really mind when he's around, you know?"

"He's one of my best friends, but so are you, and Kurt, I know we haven't even known each other very long, let alone been anything more than friends, but you're so much more than that, too. I love Sebastian, and he needs me, he always has; but it isn't comparable to my relationship with you."

"I know." Kurt says. Blaine brushes his lips against Kurt's cheek and he turns into it, kissing him forcefully. They stay on the roof for a lot longer, until they decide that the party should have calmed down sufficiently. Climbing back into the apartment they find that for the most part it had quietened down significantly, but Kurt just looks at the room and says, "there is no way in hell I'm sleeping." Blaine slides his arm around Kurt's waist and leads him to his bedroom, where he promptly takes a bag and tells Kurt to fill it. He obliges, and within ten minutes they are walking to Blaine's apartment, ready to fall asleep together.

Blaine walks into the office on Monday morning looking much more human than he had when he had woken up next to his boyfriend on Sunday morning after Rachel's party. It hadn't even been particularly rowdy, he hadn't had that much to drink, and yet it really had taken it out of him. He greets Kurt with a kiss and then sits at his desk, opens the relevant programs, and sighs.

"Big work load?" Kurt asks.

"I wish," Blaine says, "I'm nearly done with touching up all the pictures. All of them. So now I'm going to have to get assignment from Quinn, you know? I'll have to work with yet another designer."

"Hey, they aren't so bad." Kurt says.

"Yeah, but they aren't you. I'd much prefer to spend every day I work here photoshopping with you around than taking photos with people who I hardly know." Kurt blushes and smiles down at his drawing board.

"That's the cheesiest line I've ever heard."

"But you love it."

"Maybe so," Kurt says, "we could go out for lunch, and then you could be as cheesy as you like."

"I'd like that," Blaine replies, and it gives him all the motivation he needs to finish up his editing.