Sebastian was looking around curiously as he walked, his eyes dancing over the ornate murals painted on the walls and the dark polished side tables, and Kurt couldn't help but think of how his own school was no match for the grandeur of Dalton. He quickened his steps when he realized he and Sebastian were falling behind from Blaine, who only turned around to smile briefly in their direction before walking on.

They had visited Mrs Frederick earlier that afternoon and it was a reunion that Kurt was glad to have witnessed. Mrs Frederick had cried tears of delight and Blaine had hugged her very tightly while also expressing his amusement at how small she looked standing next to him. They had also visited the Headmaster, however Kurt had remained standing by the doorway shyly with Sebastian while Blaine and the older man shook hands and conversed.

Now they were walking through a very familiar hallway and there were less than a handful of students that they had passed, neither of them commenting on Kurt and the cat, and Kurt had realized that they hadn't recognized Blaine either. It was late afternoon so Kurt had guessed that they had been on their way to their dormitories to commence their homework.

Blaine stopped in front of two doors that housed murmurs and chatter of voices from the other side. He took a deep breath and pushed them open, Kurt following behind with Sebastian.

The roomful of boys in navy blazers in the room were silent for a split second before they exploded in cries and shouts, and even squeals, Kurt noted, before they all rushed towards Blaine. Blaine was surrounded by Warblers giving him squeezing hugs and messing up his hair.

'You're so big now!'

'How'd you grow so quickly overnight?'

'Ha, still smaller than us, though!'

Kurt stood back a little and took in the sight of Blaine in their midst, laughing and talking back to the Warblers excitedly. Kurt himself received a few polite greetings from the boys which he returned, and after Trent had let go of Blaine, he walked over to him.

'And who's this?' Trent asked, looking down at Sebastian.

'This is Sebastian,' Kurt said, as more Warblers gathered around them.

'Stunning,' Trent replied, stroking Sebastian's shiny white coat. Kurt felt Sebastian preening in his arms at the compliment.

'He's on his best behavior today,' Blaine said, sandwiched between Jeff and Nick.

'I believe this is the second instance of a domesticated cat paying a visit to Dalton, not since Smokey the tortoiseshell in 1948,' Wes said, patting Sebastian's head carefully.

'He would get a lot of attention, that is for certain,' Thad said, watching the cat as he stood near Blaine. 'Daily petting would come at the top of the list.'

Kurt felt Sebastian shift in his arms as his ears twitched.

'He would have plenty of room to roam the grounds and keep the mice at bay,' said David, somewhere behind Blaine. 'They have been discovered in the library yet again.'

'But he would not be allowed to stray far,' Wes replied. 'I have knowledge of a cattery a few streets from here.'

Sebastian shifted again, more forcefully this time, and Kurt had to hold him tighter so as to not lose his grip on him.

'That shouldn't be a problem,' David replied. 'I have been told that they only house male cats there.'

Now Sebastian was trying to squirm out of Kurt's arms and meowing piteously as he pawed at the air. Kurt struggled to keep him held.

'But we can't just take him away from Kurt,' Trent said, though he was glancing at Sebastian hopefully.

'Actually, he's the family's cat,' Kurt replied. 'And I don't think they would mind him being taken off their hands for a little while. Just as long as you don't feed him too much. He's getting a little heavy.'

Kurt didn't miss the glare that Sebastian shot him.

'I'll make sure of that,' Blaine said, placing a hand to his chest. 'You have my word.'

'So, does that mean he can stay with us?' Jeff asked, excitement in his voice.

'Really?' Nick added.

'Of course,' Kurt said. 'I think he's made up his mind already.' He held Sebastian up a little higher so that they were face to face.

'You're a pain in my side and the bane of my existence,' he muttered, loud enough for only the cat to hear. 'But I'm still going to miss you.' He had a strange feeling in his stomach but he pushed the thought of it aside as he ducked down to plant a kiss to the top of Sebastian's head. Sebastian stared up at him with unblinking eyes before nuzzling his nose against Kurt's jaw, meowing softly. Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt could see Blaine smiling at both of them. He gave the cat a swift cuddle before placing him on the floor.

'Sebastian, welcome to the Warblers,' Wes said. Sebastian merely glanced up at him before stalking over to one of the plush leather chairs and hopping up on to it. He sat down and eyed the other boys in the room, watching them like a king waiting to be entertained by his court. Kurt thought he looked at home already.

'We've got something for you,' Trent said to Blaine, and Kurt hadn't noticed that Trent had left his side. Trent held up a navy blazer and Blaine laughed, letting the Warbles assist him with putting it on and doing up the buttons.

Blaine smoothed it down before glancing at Kurt. 'What do you think?' he asked, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

Kurt nodded his approval. 'Looking good,' he said and Blaine grinned before the other Warblers began talking and fussing over him again. All of the boys in the room were surrounding Blaine now except for one. Kurt kept his distance, not wanting to take Blaine's moment of reuniting with his peers away from him. The feeling in his stomach returned and Kurt now understood what it was.

Kurt wasn't saying goodbye to Blaine, not really. It was more of a parting for now. There was the loss of not seeing each other every day, but there were weekends and phone calls and Facetime and the fact that Blaine (and now Sebastian) would be returning to spend the summer holidays with his family. It did still feel like a loss to Kurt. It was as if there was an invisible line separating them in the room; Kurt standing on one side and Blaine and the rest of the boys on the other.

Blaine must have noticed it too, because he was looking back at Kurt and frowning and it wasn't long before a hush fell over the room. A smile suddenly graced his lips and he motioned for the Warblers to gather around him again. They stood together in a huddle with Blaine disappearing from view somewhere in the middle, but Kurt could hear Blaine whispering something. When they broke apart, Blaine was grinning at him.

'Kurt, we think you should see a Warblers' performance the way we rehearsed it, with another voice thrown into the mix,' he said, as the Warblers got into position behind him. He was about to move back with them but Nick, Jeff and Thad pushed him forward. 'And singing lead, I guess,' he said, a little embarrassed as the boys tried to stifle their laughter behind him. 'So this is for you.'

A few Warblers at the back began to harmonize their voices before Blaine stepped forward to sing, and Kurt felt himself smiling because he recognized the song instantly.

'You think I'm pretty, without any makeup on…'

Watching the happiness play on Blaine's face as he performed with the other Warblers, Kurt didn't find it difficult at all to brush his own feelings of sadness aside when the boy who was the very embodiment of joy was serenading him with song.

It was a warm, sunny day in early June with the rarest of fluffy white clouds hanging about, but Blaine found himself inside in Kurt's bedroom. Sebastian was taking a nap on the windowsill, his tail curled around himself as he dozed. Blaine was feeling particularly relieved today as he was still riding his high from yesterday; it was over coffee at the Lima Bean that he finally told Kurt that he loved him.

Now he was lying on his side on Kurt's bed, his head on a pillow. Kurt was lying opposite him, his sock-clad feet nudging against Blaine's bare ones. They'd shared light touches and smiles and Eskimo kisses for the better part of the afternoon (the better part being after Sebastian had fallen asleep once he had tired of nagging them to pet him; Blaine knew that he'd become much too spoilt at Dalton), but now there was just quiet conversation between the two of them.

'I don't know,' Kurt was saying, shaking his head. 'I was too upset when you almost drowned so I honestly can't remember what I would have said to break the curse.' He slowly massaged Blaine's foot with his own. 'Have you given the other thing any more thought? I mean, I don't want to pressure you, and neither does the rest of the family.'

'I have,' Blaine said. 'But I'm still working out the finer details.'

'Well, you'll have until the end of August to decide,' Kurt said. 'It is a big decision.'

Blaine nodded. Burt and Carole had expressed their interest in becoming his legal guardians (something that both Kurt and Finn were very enthusiastic about) but they told him it was his decision. He could stay at Dalton, or enroll at a public school closer to the family, with the promise that his fellow Warblers and Mrs Frederick could visit as often as they wished. While he had his own family of orphans at Dalton, Burt and Carole's house felt more like home now. They had set Blaine up in the spare bedroom downstairs for the time being, but Blaine only used the room for sleep; the rest of the time he spent was with Kurt.

'Are you going to be that generous and give me all that time to think about it?' Blaine asked, teasing him. 'Because I have a feeling that you'll make me decide long before then.'

'Well…I can be very persuasive,' Kurt said, his blue eyes trained on Blaine's to watch his reaction as he slid his hand across the bed to stroke his fingers down Blaine's arm.

They had both matured, in some sense. The time spent apart, broken only by the rare weekend visit, had somehow contributed to that, notwithstanding Blaine growing overnight. Blaine himself had shed some of that childlike desire to please everyone around him, even strangers, but he was still polite as ever and never failed to make Kurt laugh when he needed it. Kurt himself was making him laugh more often these days and Blaine never thought that they would even get to exchange teasing banter as often as they had been. But there they were.

'Oh, I certainly believe it,' Blaine said, inching closer until their noses touched. He was about to lean even closer to touch their lips together too, but Burt's voice at the foot of the stairs promptly put a stop to that.

'Kurt, I could use your help in the garage!' Then, after a pause: 'You too, Blaine!'

Both boys groaned in frustration.

'Okay, Dad!' Kurt called back as he rolled away from Blaine with a sigh. At the same time, Kurt's loud voice had caused Sebastian to jump up and topple off the windowsill. He snuffed in indignation before trotting over to Kurt's bed and hopping up on to it.

'Hey!' Kurt protested as Sebastian scrambled on top of him. He tried to bat him away, but Sebastian sat resolutely on top of the boy's chest.

'That's for waking me up with your shrill screeching,' Sebastian said, his tail thumping against Kurt's arm. 'Now take me downstairs.'

'Nuh-uh, not a chance with that catty attitude,' Blaine replied, picking up Sebastian as he slipped off the bed and placing him on the carpet. He pulled a disgruntled Kurt off the mattress and herded him towards the door.

'So much for having the whole summer ahead of us,' Kurt huffed as he reluctantly trudged out of the room.

'We'll still have it,' Blaine reassured him. 'Except we will also get to share it with your dad, and your stepmom, and your stepbrother, and our needy cat.'

Sebastian watched them go as a warm, fuzzy feeling settled in his belly. He wasn't sure what it was, but it felt kind of…nice. Seeing that the bed was free, he hopped up to the mattress and snuggled into the warm patch where his owners had been lying a minute before. Like Blaine, he would be happy to spend all of summer here too. But unlike Blaine, he had already made up his mind. When the Warblers reconvened for their first meeting of the new school year at Dalton, Sebastian wanted to be among them.