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The ring of the doorbell startles Blaine out of bed where he’d been playing around on his phone, assuring himself he’d stop any minute now to get some piano practice in. His parents had both left for work hours ago and he can’t imagine who might be here to see him, so he forgoes the door and moves to peek out the window instead.
The sight of Sebastian Smythe standing on his doorstep is enough to make him jump back, heart racing. Dimly, he registers the doorbell ring again.
He’d run into Sebastian at Scandals over the weekend - at Country Bears night of all things. It was the first time he’d seen him since his proposal at Dalton, ages ago now it feels like. They’d been on the edge of being friends back then, like all it would have taken was a bit more time, just one more chance encounter, and they would have been able to keep in touch, keep track of each other while they were in New York. Walking into Scandals and seeing him sitting by the bar had felt just the same, like they were still on the edge of something and their chance had finally come.
And then he’d wasted it by getting drunk and spending the entire night ranting about Kurt and the break up. At least Sebastian made a good audience - unlike his therapist he actually knows Kurt and unlike the rest of his friends he doesn’t feel any need to defend him - but he can’t imagine it was how Sebastian wanted to spend his night out. The next morning Blaine was hungover and dead certain Sebastian would not be reaching out, if not actively avoiding him. Yet here he is.
Blaine hadn’t been expecting to see anyone outside of his immediate family today and so is not dressed to his usual standard. He quickly changes shirts and gets at least some gel into his hair, working on his bow tie as he rushes down the stairs.
He opens the door, breathless, to see Sebastian on his phone.
“You’re here,” he says as he looks up, grinning as he takes Blaine in. “I was just about to call you.”
“Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t expecting anyone.”
“I see,” he says, blatantly staring in that way that never makes Blaine as uncomfortable as he thinks it ought to.
“So, what’s up?” Blaine says once Sebastian fails to offer an explanation for his presence. “I thought you were working this summer.”
Clearly he was waiting to be asked because he’s deliberately, delightedly casual as he says, “I can’t spend another minute stuck in my dad’s office so I’m stealing his car and driving to Chicago.”
“What, like Ferris Bueller?” Now that he looks, the car parked behind him is an obnoxiously nice one.
Sebastian’s smile is equally insufferable. “Just like that.”
Blaine smiles too, shaking his head a little. It is that kind of day - sunshine and blue skies, too beautiful to spend sitting inside.
“I’m pretty sure he lived a lot closer to Chicago than you do.”
Sebastian shrugs. “It’s only like four hours. If we leave now we’ll still have most of the afternoon.”
“We?”
“Yeah. Why do you think I’m here?”
“I can’t go to Chicago,” Blaine says automatically.
“Sorry, did you have plans?”
“No, but-” Sebastian’s looking at him expectantly and his mind is drawing a blank.
“But?”
“I’m not prepared for a road trip,” he says weakly. Not prepared for hours on end trapped in a car with Sebastian, more like. They’ve never spent that much time alone together. What if they have nothing to say?
Sebastian just rolls his eyes. “Come on Anderson, live a little. We’re young, it’s summer. At no other point in our lives are we going to have this much freedom with this little responsibility. Now, are you gonna be a Cameron or are you gonna be a Sloane?”
“They both end up going to Chicago with him,” Blaine points out, crossing his arms.
Sebastian grins. “Exactly.”
“Have you done this before?”
They’re already outside the Lima city limits, open road out stretching out before them, and Sebastian has yet to look at a GPS. The inside of the car is immaculate. Blaine’s spent the last twenty minutes sitting straight backed with his hands in his lap, afraid to touch anything.
“A couple times in high school. There’s only so long I can stand being in Ohio.”
“You’ve only been here, what, a month?”
“Well, college has worn down my tolerance.”
“I take it you’re not enjoying working for your dad.”
Sebastian shrugs. “It’s fine. Not what I wanted to be doing with my vacation but it’s something I can put on a resume.”
“And what would you want to be doing on vacation?”
Sebastian glances at him, grinning. “This. Obviously.”
Blaine rolls his eyes, but he smiles back. “I’m pretty sure this, involves Ohio.”
“Well you were always the best thing about the state,” he says in the easy way he always pays his ridiculous compliments. “I wish I’d known you were here earlier, my summer would have been much more fun.”
“Trust me, I wasn’t much fun earlier this summer.” It’s way too close to Kurt territory, which he’d sworn to himself he would not approach this time, so he takes out his phone and busies himself with that instead of elaborating.
“What are you doing?” Sebastian asks after a moment.
“Texting my mom to let her know I won’t be home for dinner.”
“What? That is completely against the spirit of this entire venture,” Sebastian says, swatting at him as best he can without taking his eyes off the road. “You’re supposed to stuff pillows under your blankets and tell her you’re sick.”
Blaine laughs. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to set up a cover worthy of Ferris Bueller,” he says as he sends the text and puts away his phone. “So are you just really into 80s movies? Is that why you dress like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like that,” Blaine says, reaching over to flick the popped up collar of Sebastian’s polo. It’s way too familiar and he retracts his hand before it can do anything stupid.
“I don’t know. Why do you dress like you should be starring on the Corny Collins show?” He sounds more amused than offended.
“My look is timeless,” he says archly.
Sebastian glances over at him with a smile. “Well, you certainly pull it off.”
“Thanks,” Blaine says, refusing to get flustered. “So do you.” He’s wearing sunglasses and looks like he should be starring in a car commercial. “Do you mind if I turn on the radio?”
Sebastian shakes his head and Blaine fiddles with it until he lands on a pop station. “Do you think this song would work for the Warblers?” he asks after a few minutes of Ed Sheeran.
“Right, you said you’re going to be working with them. I can’t believe Dalton made up a position for you. Wait no, actually I can.”
“They didn’t make it up." Blaine insists. "All clubs have a faculty advisor.”
“The Warblers definitely didn’t while I was there. I remember a distinct lack of oversight.”
“Technically we did have one, but I’m pretty sure he just slept in his office all day. Anyway, he got ebola or something so,” he shrugs. “I’m definitely going to be more involved. Obviously I’ll leave most decisions up to the Warbler council, but I think I could really help them.” He’s tentatively excited about it, the feeling fragile enough that he worries it’ll break if he thinks about it too much. It’s been awhile since he’s been excited about anything.
Sebastian laughs, shaking his head.
“What?”
“They’re all gonna have such big crushes on you.”
“Shut up. Now, what do you think of the song?”
Incredibly, the awkward silence he was dreading never comes as they go from song to song, switching from talking to singing and back, debating how well each would work on a Warbler setlist. Sebastian even gives him some useful info on the club's younger members who’d joined after Blaine left for McKinley. By the time the Chicago skyline comes into view the windows are down, the music is blasting, and Blaine’s nerves have been blown away.
“Okay, what do you want to do?” Sebastian asks as they finally get off the highway and into the city.
“We should go to the Art Institute,” Blaine says after a moment's consideration.
“Museums weren’t really what I had in mind.”
“Hey, they do it in the movie.”
“They also go to the stock exchange in the movie, that doesn’t mean we have to.”
“Well, you asked.”
“Alright. The museum it is.”
It isn’t until they’re there that Blaine realizes this might be a bad idea. He and Kurt used to visit museums together all the time in New York, going from room to room, deciding on the art they’d have hanging on the walls of their future home. Kurt loved to talk about art, had an opinion on everything which Blaine had been more than happy to listen to him expound upon at length.
He stands in front of the famous Seurat painting and tries to feel something, tries not to wonder what Kurt would have to say about it. He just winds up empty.
“You know, it’s not actually required to have a moment with this thing,” Sebastian says, nudging him out of his reverie. “Come on, we’ve still got all the other highlights to hit.”
They go through the museum together, sticking to Blaine’s leisurely pace. Like Kurt, Sebastian is the sort to have an opinion on everything, though his tend to be boiled down to a single word. Blaine likes that, likes how Sebastian can just look at something and know whether or not it’s for him. That kind of clarity has always eluded him.
Once finished, they get sandwiches and go to Millennium Park to eat them, watching the tourists milling around the Bean from a distance.
“This is nice,” Blaine says, crossing his ankles and leaning back to soak up the sun.
“It certainly is,” Sebastian says, leaning back as well. He stretches out his legs, snorting in amusement as a passing businessman trips over his ankle and spills come coffee. Blaine kicks him in the shin.
“What? It was an accident,” Sebastian says innocently.
Blaine shakes his head, biting back a smile.
“You know, we should have done this in high school,” Sebastian says after another few minutes of sunshine and people watching.
“We weren’t exactly in friends in high school,” Blaine reminds him.
Sebastian frowns. “We were friends.” It’s so insistent that Blaine turns to look at him in surprise. “For awhile, at least,” he continues, faltering. It’s strange to hear him unsure.
He had wondered sometimes if any of it had been real, all the attention and texts and calls, or if it was just part of the plan, Blaine just another prize to be won. That’s what everyone told him and part of him had wanted to believe them. It was easier in a way, to think that Sebastian had never actually cared at all. If it wasn’t ever real, then Blaine hadn’t really lost anything in that parking garage.
But he had and it’s a relief to know that Sebastian feels the loss too. “Yeah. We were.”
Another moment passes. “I’ve said sorry, right?”
Blaine nods. “It’s nice to hear though.”
“I’m sorry, Blaine.” It’s just as earnest as it was the first time, but nicer somehow now that there’s no audience of fellow New Directioners glaring at him, monitoring Blaine’s reaction.
“Thanks.”
Eventually they start walking, doing some idle window shopping. Blaine keeps looking up at the clear blue sky, reflected in all the shiny glass of the skyscrapers. He hadn’t realized until now how much he’s missed being in a city. Chicago’s not New York, the streets too wide, too clean, but it’s close enough to make him wistful. When he left, heartbroken and disgraced, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to go back, but all of a sudden it seems inevitable in the best way. Like destiny.
“So what’s next?” he asks, returning his gaze to ground level to find Sebastian already watching him. “Are we on the lookout for a parade for you to hijack?”
“Please. If either of us was going to hijack a parade to sing a Beatles song, it’d be you.”
Blaine grins, unable to deny it. “I’ll keep an eye out.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Hmm.” Blaine turns his eyes skyward again. “How about the Sears Tower? Or is that too touristy?”
Sebastian shrugs. “We can be tourists.”
“You know they brought us here before Nationals,” Blaine tells him once they’re in the elevator. “It was a disaster. Everyone was a nervous wreck. Artie threw up before we even got to the top.”
Sebastian wrinkles his nose. “This was the year you won?”
Blaine gives him a superior little shrug. “Can’t beat talent.” Truthfully he hadn’t had a very big role to play at that competition, but just being there was enough. It really had felt like he was part of something special.
They get out at the Skydeck, where the afternoon sunlight is already softening into gold. Blaine presses up close to the glass, looking over the city and beyond to where Lake Michigan stretches out to the horizon and gives a happy sigh.
He looks around for Sebastian, finding him hanging back a few feet. “What’s wrong? You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”
“I have a healthy respect for heights,” he says loftily. “Trust me, the view’s just as good from back here.” He smirks and Blaine rolls his eyes, turning back to the window. To think, he’d had trouble getting out of bed this morning.
Sebastian talks him into dinner by the water, someplace they’re too young and underdressed for. With his usual air of someone who’s never heard the word no in his life, he gets them a table with a view anyway. It’s lovely.
Afterwards they get ice cream, lazily strolling through Lincoln Park as twilight sets in. Blaine doesn’t even notice they haven’t really been talking until he’s finished, the silence comfortable in a way he’s not used to.
“You about ready to go?” Sebastian says as Blaine hastily hides a yawn.
“Really? You’re done?”
“What? Is there more you want to do?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious.
“No, I just figured, I don’t know, nighttime, big city, you might want to go clubbing or something.”
Sebastian snorts. “It’s 9:00 on a Tuesday, Blaine.”
“I just feel like we’ve only done stuff I wanted to do today. I feel bad.”
“My only goals for the day were to get out of work and hang out with you. I’m good.”
Blaine smiles down at his feet. “Well, thanks for dragging me out of the house.”
“My pleasure. It seemed like you could use it.”
Blaine nods, disappointed for a reason he can’t quite name. “I guess every Ferris needs a depressed Cameron to cheer up.”
Sebastian huffs a little laugh. “Right.”
Blaine half expects to fall asleep on the drive back. They won’t be getting in til well past midnight and pathetic as it is, he’s not used to staying up that late. Sometimes it feels like all he’s done these past few months is sleep. But he’s wide awake the whole way, watching headlights flash over Sebastian’s profile. It feels like a waste to miss a second.
It’s almost 2:30 by the time they pull up to Blaine’s house, the windows dark all along the street. Sebastian turns off the car and Blaine lingers, not quite ready to get out.
“Is your dad going to be really mad?” Blaine asks, whispering in the dark.
“Nah. That’s the beauty of getting back so late; he gets to sleep it off and by the time he wakes up everything will be where it should be.” They’ve turned towards each other in their seats and Blaine thinks for a moment of Ferris and Sloane, how they could never stop staring at each other.
“You have it all planned out, huh?”
He sees the edge of Sebastian’s smile in the dark. “You had a good time today, right?”
“I had a great time today.”
“Good.”
They’ve gotten closer, though Blaine can’t remember moving, and for a heart stopping moment he thinks Sebastian is about to kiss him. In that moment, he doesn’t mind.
Then Sebastian glances away, shifting back and putting a hand on the steering wheel. “I’ll call you later?”
“Yeah,” Blaine says, willing away disappointment. It’s for the best really, he doesn’t know what he was thinking. Sebastian will be going back to school in a few weeks and Blaine is definitely not in a good enough place to be kissing anyone. But he will be, he realizes, and the thought makes him smile. “Goodnight, Sebastian.”
“Goodnight, Blaine.”