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It happened on the hottest day of summer.
New York was sweating under a clear blue sky and a burning August sun, had been for near up to two weeks already and there was no cooling off in sight. Everyone with a working air conditioning preferred the inside of their apartments and houses to the sweltering big city heat in the streets. Baristas in the street cafes brought at least one change of clothes with them and those in the cafes in the city parks felt incredibly lucky.
Just like the group of thirty-something housewives who were enjoying iced tea and ice cream cake on the patio of the small cafe at the northern side of the lake in Central Park. Their eyes drawn to the young college students playing Frisbee and sunning themselves on the shore of the lake and to the young man stretching by the bench in the shadow of the acorn tree.
Muscles shifting as he bend over, the sleeveless, loose and nearly see through shirt concealing basically nothing, red shorts coming down to mid thighs, pulling tight as he swung his foot up onto the back of the bench, bending lower to grab the top of his running shoes. Finally content with the post-jogging routine the man straightened up again and wiped a hand over his face, grimacing at the sweat coming away, blowing out a breath he reached behind the tree and came away with a towel.
Wiping his face and swinging it around his neck, he laughed as he once more looked behind the tree and then proceeded to pull out a toddler, picking the girl up and settling her on his hip. Laughing louder as the girl clumsily swiped her own hand over her forehead, face clearly pulling a mimic of his earlier grimace until he wiped her face with an edge of the towel, mindful of the red bow hairband that kept brunet curls from falling into her face.
With her white sleeveless shirt and her red shorts and tiny blue sneakers she looked like a carbon copy of him and the brunet man grinned, leaning down to brush a kiss into brown curls. With his free hand he grabbed the stroller that had been standing behind the tree and walked back onto the path, over to where the group of the older women were still staring, none of them any less drooling.
Sebastian tried to ignore it as good as possible as he steered the stroller along the path, Lydia turning her head left and right, trying to take in as much as possible, somehow humming the same kind of melody that Blaine had been stuck on for the last two weeks. No surprise really, Sebastian had found himself singing it under his breath under the shower two days ago and even Rob had looked horribly confused when he had hummed the song seemingly out of nowhere while making breakfast this morning.
“What do you say we stop for some ice cream and tell Dad and Uncle Blaine absolutely nothing about it?” He proposed and Lydia nodded, all serious for a moment before she grinned at him, and Sebastian was as always thrown off and amused at the same time at how much she could already look and act like Rob.
“Choco.” Lydia decided and giggled when Sebastian rolled his eyes at her.
“Duh, what do you think?” He told her and smiled when he sent her into loud squealing laughter, turning right and passing by the group of women and their creepy looks. Seriously, come on, he knew he was hot and sweaty, but tone it down a bit, there is a baby around.
Turning his back on them he walked over to a table in the shadow of the parasol by the small playground of the cafe. Parking the stroller safely out of the way, he set Lydia to the ground and sank into a chair with a relieved sigh, the thought of something cold to drink already making the heat more bearable. Lydia spent a good amount of time straightening her shirt, shorts and headband before toddling off into the play arena, drawing eyes of at least three other children.
You go, princess, prettiest toddler in town, show them what you got.
Not even bothering with grabbing the menu card, Sebastian leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, he didn't hate summer but this heat just made you sweat no matter what you did. Ruined every look within thirty seconds flat, there was absolutely no hope left for his hair, always sweaty and just pushed out of his face by all means necessary. But sitting inside in the amazing if artificial cold of their apartment had only made him more restless, he had needed to move and the way Lydia had kept herself plastered to the window, staring up at the sun, had told stories over where she wanted to be, too, so he had changed them into even looser clothes and gone out into the park.
Hearing steps approach, Sebastian opened his eyes again and only threw a short look over to check over Lydia, finding her climbing up the small slide, before he turned to face the waitress with a smile. A smile that froze on his face as his eyes could see the man standing just as frozen in front of him.
Well, this was unpleasant.
And goddammit he should have taken sunglasses, but on the other hand, Lyd would have long taken them by now anyway.
A few seconds of awkwardly staring at each other the man in the green apron over the black skinny jeans shorts raised his little notepad, flipping open a new page.
“What can I bring you?” Came the question, voice bereft of any kind of emotion, just plain fake enthusiasm of a waiter having to work the early afternoon shift in august summer heat in Central Park's busiest cafe. There was nothing in those blue eyes, and seriously, not even an ounce of disgust.
Sebastian had to fight with himself to keep his eyebrows where they were supposed to be and cleared his throat instead. “And iced tea, bottle of water and two bowls of chocolate ice cream with sprinkles.” He ordered, almost holding his breath for a sneer, a look or something, but nothing followed, just a tight smile and then the waiter turned around and walked off, still scribbling on his pad. Sebastian waited only long enough to see the man turn into the cafe building before he lunged for the stroller bag and dug around for his phone.
A quick few swipes and clicks of his fingers, and a totally manly wave to Lydia later, Sebastian was speaking barely a second after his call had been picked up, “Don't you love me anymore?”
“And they say Blaine is the one more dramatic one in this soon-to-be marriage. Good afternoon to you, Seb, how may I help you?” Santana wanted to know, half annoyed, half amused and Sebastian huffed out a breath, keeping a good eye on the cafe entrance.
“I thought we had an agreement on being open about certain people's whereabouts.” Sebastian playfully whined and Santana made a surprised sound, in the background he could hear a car honk.
“Hummel is back in New York?” She asked and then cursed in Spanish at what Sebastian supposed was either a taxi or someone whistling at her.
“Well, either that or I just freaked out the new waiter in my favorite cafe.” Sebastian deadpanned and hooked one leg over the other, at least for a second before the feel of sweaty skin against sweaty skin got so icky that he changed it again. “Tell me you have no plans right now.”
“As luck will have it, I was in the area, already turned your way.” Santana assured him and Sebastian felt that smirk blooming on his face, “See you in five minutes.” Sebastian chuckled and set the phone on the table, in the next moment he oomph-ed when Lydia threw herself at his left leg.
“Guess who is joining us, Lillipat?” He grinned and picked her up, settling her on his lap and trying not to laugh when Lydia wiped her hand on the towel still thrown around his neck. “Auntie Tana is coming.” Round eyes got even bigger and Lydia clapped her hands together.
The cafe door opening snapped his attention away from Lydia's green eyes and over to where the waiter stepped out with a tray full of his orders, the waiter who was either the creepiest doppelganger in the universe or truthfully Kurt Hummel back in New York City. But once again the man didn't show any kind of reaction, except for a short widening of his eyes as he spotted the toddler making herself comfortable on Sebastian's lap while he set the water, iced tea and bowls of ice cream down.
“Thank you!” Lydia called out and grabbed for a bowl and spoon, charming smile on her angelic face that was soon going to be smeared with chocolate. Hummel – it had to be or Sebastian had truly started hallucinating, maybe he should have listened to Blaine and added another bottle of water to his daily input – gave absolutely no visible reaction and walked off again. Sebastian chose to ignore it for now in order to rush in wrapping the towel around Lydia before she ruin her shirt and why oh why had he dressed her in white anyway.
Grabbing his own ice cream, he leaned back and let the amazing taste of chocolate chase the confusion away for at least a little while.
--
A few minutes later he was in the process of cleaning up Lydia's face and hands while she showed more interest in the iced tea he had gotten for himself, thank you very much greedy princess, when Santana's unmistakable figure made her way through the rows of tables.
He did blink at the unusual choice of floaty tank top and baggy shorts though, going so far as to raise an eyebrow when Santana sank down into the chair next to him, not really her usual attire.
“It's like a thousand degrees, Seb, don't say a word.” She snarked and then made grabby hands that Lydia happily returned with a squealed “Tana” falling from her lips. Sebastian rolled her eyes, handed the toddler over and threw the towel over the handle of the stroller before saving what was left of his iced tea.
“How is my favorite girl?” Santana wanted to know and welcomed the hug coming her way with tiny arms wrapped tight around her neck despite the sweltering heat.
“Good.” Lydia grinned when she pulled back again and plopped down on Santana's legs, eyes going towards the glass Sebastian tightened his hold on.
“And you?” Santana turned to him as well, “Already fed up with wedding planning?”
“Apparently my default smile is more 'I will kill you in your sleep' than 'that sounds amazing, what are our options', and my charming fiance has decided to finish location spotting with our wedding planer alone.” Sebastian recalled and offered just one of those smiles he had sent location managers for days until Blaine had politely begged him to let him do it alone. Santana rolled her eyes and then smirked when the waiter who might or might not be Kurt Hummel came their way again.
And finally, FINALLY, Sebastian got his fucking reaction.
Where seeing Sebastian again after years, with a toddler then on top of it all, hadn't been enough, seeing Santana with said toddler comfortably playing with a cord of her shirt sent Hummel into mental overdrive. And Santana lunged for it with glee.
“Kurt, oh my god, isn't it wonderful to see you again. How have you been? Seb just told me the waiter looked familiar, I can't believe it. So you finally made it to New York?”
She was good, she was real good.
Sebastian might have almost bought the real surprise and happiness if he didn't know her better by now.
Even Lydia looked confused.
Sebastian wondered if Kurt had known Rob long and close enough to spot his eyes, nose and smile in his daughter's face while Hummel stared from one of them to the next as if he was caught in some really hardcore episode of the Twilight Zone.
But then he straightened his spine, visibly pulled himself together and answered Santana in a voice that was almost emotionless and not dripping with disdain as Sebastian would have expected. “I've been good, Santana, busy truly. Working for Vogue now, in New York. Can I get you anything?”
“Lemonade.” Santana replied and they both watched a little gobsmacked how Kurt turned around, whatever stuff he was on, it was good, but Sebastian knew Santana was going for the even better stuff when she glanced over to him, “So, has Blaine finally given in to trying the position I sent to him on your wedding night?”
Kurt ran into a table at the same as Sebastian hissed “baby” at Santana, Lydia looking from one of them to the other while Santana threw her head back and laughed.