Work Text:
“Come on, Kurt!” Sebastian calls. “You’re going to make us late!”
Kurt ignores him, obsessively double-checking the door, pulling on the knob to make sure it’s locked up tight. Kurt takes a step back towards the stairs, then changes his mind and reaches for the knob again. He's reminded of the first night they spent at the beach house. They had just closed escrow, and Kurt couldn’t believe it was really theirs. They didn’t have a lick of furniture in the place and the electricity needed to be switched on. They had no clean water, which forced them to buy gallon bottles from a market a mile down the road, but Kurt insisted they spend the night. And Sebastian caved.
It helped that there was a Hilton nearby in case they absolutely couldn’t hack it.
Kurt had always wanted a beach house. It was one of his lifelong dreams. He’d even put it on his bucket list. Theirs wasn’t one of the biggest or more stylish houses on this stretch of the Atlantic Coast, but that didn’t matter. It was the first thing they bought together – not something Sebastian simply bought for him.
If Kurt stands quietly, he can pretend he’s back there, with his hand on the doorknob, waiting for that first twist, ready for an adventure to begin.
Not waiting to see one end.
“I don’t know why you’re bothering with the locks, babe,” Sebastian says, changing the scenery with those few words. “We’re not coming back.”
Kurt drops his head, his hand holding firm to the doorknob, reluctant to let go.
“But … but what if they’re wrong?” Kurt reasons, his eyes shut, blocking out the light growing at his back.
Sebastian glances up at the comet streaking across the sky – a ball of blinding white lighting up the night. He smiles, amused at how hard Kurt is trying to ignore the inevitable.
But can Sebastian really blame him?
“Pretty sure they’re not wrong, babe.”
Kurt nods, eyes still squeezed shut. Sebastian climbs the steps to the porch. He puts a hand on Kurt’s shoulder and massages gently. Kurt lets go of the doorknob to take it.
“I wanted to hide under the covers,” Kurt says, wiping a tear from his cheek. “I wanted to make love until we fell asleep in each other's arms. I wanted to be blissfully unconscious when it all ended. No fear. No pain. Just us and our dreams, with hope for tomorrow. Isn’t that how you’d rather tonight be?”
“I thought I did. But this is the end of the world, babe. Literally, a once-in-a-lifetime event!” Sebastian tugs Kurt’s hand, leading him off the porch and away from their sanctuary. “Don’t you want a front-row seat for the show?”
“Not particularly, no.” Kurt clutches hard to his bitterness so he doesn’t break down.
“The weather guy on channel three says it’s going to be spectacular. The sky is clear. There’s not going to be a single cloud to obscure …”
“Jesus Christ! This isn’t a fucking meteor shower, Sebastian!” Kurt snaps, pulling his hand out of Sebastian’s grasp and wrapping his arms around himself. He needs this! Not an asshole fiance morbidly excited to watch the world end! He needs to be held! And if Sebastian isn’t going to do it, then Kurt is going to have to. But no matter how tight he holds himself, he can’t stop shaking.
“I know,” Sebastian says quietly, stopping in the path to take Kurt in his arms. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to … this is how I deal with the heavy stuff.”
“I know.” Kurt leans his forehead against Sebastian’s shoulder. “It just … makes me think about all the stuff we didn’t do yet. The stuff we'll never do.”
“Like what?” Sebastian gives Kurt a second, but they’re running out of time. There’s someplace they both decided to be when that comet hits – the spot of their first kiss. And if they don’t keep walking now, they’ll never make it. This isn’t on Kurt’s bucket list – watch the world end from their special spot on the beach. But it’s the last thing they’re ever going to get to cross off.
They had better make it.
“Like what?” Sebastian repeats when Kurt doesn’t answer, pulling at his hand to get him walking again.
Kurt starts moving, a sob lodging in his throat. “L-like make a Baked Alaska."
Sebastian squeezes Kurt’s hand. It’s such a simple thing, but it’s so like Kurt.
“I never took that zero-gravity flight I was planning,” Sebastian adds.
“You didn’t help me join the mile high club.” Kurt chuckles, gazing off at the water in the direction they’re headed.
“We should have made love on the Cliffs of Dover,” Sebastian says with a sigh.
Kurt turns from the water, reflecting the comet like a second sunrise, and looks at Sebastian.
“But … we did that,” Kurt reminds him, pulling closer as the wind picks up unexpectedly, the ball of light in the sky moving steadily lower.
“I know.” Sebastian wraps an arm around Kurt’s shoulders, rubbing his arm to chase the chill from his body. “I wanted to do that again. It was amazing.”
Kurt laughs, and Sebastian joins in. They casually recount the memory of that vacation to England, how they froze their asses off in an attempt at being wild and spontaneous, ending with Sebastian getting bitten on the ass by a sheep. But as soon as they reach the crest of the sand dunes and see the beach glowing with an unearthly light, they fall into a solemn silence.
They follow a well-worn path down the beach with the sound of fire in their ears - a distant snapping and popping like a fireplace burning in another room.
Like the fireplace back in the living room of their beach house, where they so often sat and slept and made love.
The comet has nearly reached the water when they come to a stop, far enough from the coastline that the encroaching tide retreats long before it ever reaches their feet.
Kurt turns to face Sebastian, half his face in shadow, the other half lit so brightly he looks ten years younger – the same age they were on the day they first met.
“If you had it all to do again,” Kurt asks, “would you …?”
Sebastian nods before Kurt has the chance to finish. “I’d do it the same way. Every bit of it. The good and the bad."
"Really," Kurt says dryly. "So ... the insults, the blackmail, the trying to steal my boyfriend every five seconds - you'd keep all that in if we got to live life over again?"
"Yes," Sebastian replies, nodding emphatically.
"Dare I ask why?"
"Because it led us here," Sebastian says, frowning after the words leave his mouth. "Not the-end-of-the-world here. I think we can both agree that we could do without. But it brought us together. Made us into a couple that loves one another, heart and soul. I wouldn't want to chance doing anything that might mess that up. Because now that I know what life is like with you ... I can't imagine living life without you."
"I guess that makes sense," Kurt says.
"And you?” Sebastian asks.
Kurt gazes at Sebastian thoughtfully, then bursts out in nervous laughter.
“Oh, God, no!” Kurt laughs harder when Sebastian’s sentimental smile falls. “I wouldn't change anything huge. I just mean I would have told you off way more. I would have sprayed you with cologne every time I saw you to cover up that foul stink you were addicted to. I would have gotten you drunk and done something about your awful hair ...”
“Nice, Kurt.” Sebastian huffs. "Real …”
Kurt’s lips kissing his shut Sebastian up. Kurt aims for fun, light, carefree with this kiss. He doesn’t want this kiss to be significant in any way. He wants it to feel like any other kiss. But it can’t be helped. There are forces beyond their control moving things along quicker with every passing second. Kurt might want this to feel like any other kiss, but what it really feels like is their last.
“I would have told you I loved you,” Kurt says, putting a hand to Sebastian’s cheek, “much, much sooner.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian agrees, leaning in to Kurt’s touch. “I would have done that, too.”
The comet streaking across the sky finally hits the water, further out than it appears from the beach. A ripple of energy spreads down the horizon, pushing Kurt and Sebastian back a few feet, almost knocking them to the sand, followed by a boom so loud it makes Kurt’s ears ring. A flash of white floods the sky. The ground beneath their feet quakes. The Atlantic sweeps out, sucked so far back that what was once miles of water is now miles of sand.
And somewhere on the other side of the world, a wall of water rises.
“Sebastian!” Kurt yells over the ringing in his ears, his voice shaking. “This isn’t right! Your family … you had a bunker. You had … you had a seat on the plane to the fallout shelter at Greenbrier! With the President, for fuck’s sake!”
Sebastian shakes his head. “They wouldn’t take you. We tried …”
“You ...” Kurt’s eyes dart to the water rising higher and higher as it rushes to the shore “... you shouldn’t be here!”
Sebastian wraps an arm around Kurt’s waist. He puts a finger beneath Kurt’s chin, bringing his attention back from the vision of death racing towards them and up to his eyes.
“Kurt …” Sebastian pauses a second. He wants to remember this image of Kurt – his fiery-tempered, excessively talented, singularly gorgeous fiancé - at this moment, bathed in pure white light, for as long as it lasts. “I’m right where I want to be.”
Kurt shakes his head weakly. “Sebastian, I’m …”
Sebastian’s arm tightens around Kurt’s waist. Before Kurt can finish his apology, their lips touch ...
... and the wave hits.