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Sebastian jerked awake at the sound of his phone buzzing persistently beneath the pillow, the noise cutting into his slumber. He tugged it out with a grunt, silencing it before his own alarm would follow up; the sound, no doubt, loud enough to wake up his parents down the hall. He squinted at the screen, bright in the darkness of the room. Five new messages from Blaine. As if he’d expect anything less.
Time to wake up.
Sebastian.
SEBASTIAN.
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES AND YOUR LAPTOP NEEDS THREE OF THOSE JUST TO TURN ON.
Why do I even bother?
Sebastian chuckled softly, rubbing at his sleep filled eyes roughly before tapping off a quick reply to let him know he was awake. He reached out blindly, patting around the carpeted floor around his bed until he located his laptop, tugging it onto his lap.
He wasn’t sure exactly when he’d become one of those people that woke up at three o’clock in the morning just to watch a new episode of Glee on livestream. But Sebastian had come to the conclusion that it was best to blame Blaine for it - and he did, continuously, much to his friend’s irritation.
It was alright for him, back in Ohio, where he could watch it at a regular time of night, on an actual television screen. It was Sebastian that got stuck with the crackling sound and jumpy picture of a stream that his internet connection could only just about cope with.
What got to Sebastian the most was that just two years before, he’d been living not only in the same country as Blaine, but the same state. But that had been several months before he’d even discovered Glee, let alone tumblr, or Blaine Anderson.
The Smythes’ return to Paris had hardly been the ‘wonderful opportunity’ that his parents had promised him. While a part of him loathed the stale quality of life in Ohio, at least he’d had friends there. Paris was cold: unappealing and lonely, trapping him away from the rest of the world. All of his childhood friends from Paris had long since up and left themselves; or, at least, they were no longer in contact with him.
And just when Sebastian was sure that he was going to die from frustration or boredom, he’d stumbled into a world where people not only seemed to want to talk to him, but to befriend him. And then, there was Blaine.
Blaine, who had come careering into his ask box the previous summer, babbling semi-coherently about one of the key relationships in the show and didn’t he think they’d done it well and oh wasn’t the season finale great and how excited was he for it to return and I’m sorry if I’m coming on too strong, I do that sometimes but maybe- At which point he’d been unceremoniously cut off by the character limit and had apparently been, either, too distracted or too embarrassed to provide a follow up.
It had been endearing, to say the least, and without fully meaning to, Sebastian had found himself typing out a long, detailed reply, complete with emoticons, of all things. The awkward first stages of what would become a strong friendship flew past quickly; but it took several months of hitting the ask limit on each other’s blogs and violently swearing at the character restrictions on Twitter, before Blaine tentatively asked if maybe he might like to exchange numbers or email addresses.
The first time they had Skype called one another, Sebastian had had to restrain himself from physically gawking at the screen, bearing in mind that Blaine could see him just as much as he could the other.
Up until that point, although it hadn’t really occurred to him, Sebastian had never seen what Blaine looked like. While he posted the occasional photo onto his blog, never having had any kind of confidence issues over the way he looked, Blaine was more private in that respect.
Sebastian couldn’t imagine, as he looked at him, that he could possibly have any self doubt over his looks - he was pretty much the most gorgeous boy he’d ever seen. Dark curls that sprung free and looped around his ears; bright eyes that sparkled when he spoke, and a laugh that made something twist warm and tight in Sebastian’s chest.
So, maybe Sebastian had a tiny little crush on Blaine. But, as far as he was concerned, it was never going to become anything more than that. He had no interest in getting involved in some complicated long distance relationship with a boy who lived an ocean away, and probably wouldn’t like him like that, anyway.
As their Skype conversations became more frequent, Sebastian began to pick up on a few regularities. Number one was that Blaine chewed on his lower lip a lot. It was highly distracting and that was all Sebastian would say on the matter.
Number two was that halfway through chattering about something or other, Blaine would often spring up in his seat, suddenly remembering something that he absolutely had to show Sebastian, right away. Not that Sebastian was complaining since as well as being adorably charming, it usually gave him a rather fine view of Blaine’s ass.
Finally, number three was that Blaine was talking more and more about some boy he’d met, who was apparently smart and funny and sweet and handsome, and blah, blah, blah. He supposed Blaine wanted advice from him, but mostly Sebastian just did his best to steer the conversation to another topic as quickly as possible.
Sebastian snapped back to the present as his laptop kicked into life; quickly clicking through to the link Blaine had found specially for him earlier.
Ready with one minute to spare ;)
*
Blaine shifted his food around the plate absentmindedly, glancing up at the clock on the wall behind his mother’s head once again.
“Somewhere you need to be, Blaine?” his mother asked curtly, one eyebrow raised in obvious disapproval.
Dinner time was something of a ceremony in the Anderson household, wherein it was expected that all members of the family were present and attentive for at least a good half an hour.
He flushed, shaking his head. “Just lots of homework that needs to be done,” he lied, hastily shoveling a forkful of mashed potato. “Great dinner, mom,” he praised hopefully, jamming the food into his mouth and making sure to chew and swallow before continuing: “Really awesome.” God forbid he should tempt the wrath that Cooper incurred whenever he spoke with his mouth full.
Cooper snorted, rolling his eyes. “He’s just itching to get back to his imaginary boyfriend.”
Blaine’s cheeks bloomed with a dark red blush, hand gripping his fork tightly. “First of all, he’s just my friend and he’s very much a real person, thank you very much.”
His elder brother just shrugged, pointing at him with his fork a little threateningly. “He still lives inside your computer.”
Blaine narrowed his eyes, expertly flicking a pea at him with the tip of his fork. “Do you even understand how the internet works?”
“Of course I understand how-” Cooper began, preparing to toss some potato right back when their father spoke up.
“Boys, cut it out,” he said sharply, receiving a nod of approval from his wife before he returned to his steady silence at the head of the table.
Mrs Anderson looked between the three men in her life with a quiet sigh, before plastering a wide smile on her face, filing away the mention of boyfriend for later.
“Cooper, Blaine,” she began, laying down her fork neatly. “Your father and I have been discussing it, and we think you two would be old enough to have your own vacation this New Year.”
It was tradition in the Anderson family for them to take a vacation right after Christmas was over, to celebrate New Year’s somewhere different. Often, they took the boys to small cabins tucked up in the Alps, with a warm fire and a supervised amount of champagne. But, the boys were getting older, and they’d decided it was time to let them have their own fun. All in all, they trusted them, knowing they were mature and responsible.
Minus the pea flinging, of course.
“Anywhere we want?” Cooper asked, his fork frozen midway to his mouth, as he glanced between his mom and his brother in shock.
“Anywhere you want,” she clarified.
“Paris!” Blaine yelled, at the same time as Cooper shouted “New York!”
There was a pause as the two of them glared at each other, almost matching petulant expressions slipping onto their faces.
"Blaine, New Year in New York is basically a bucket list moment, you can’t tell me you don’t want to do that,” Cooper sighed, staring at him patronisingly.
“And we will, one day,” Blaine argued. “But, I just really want to go to Paris.”
Cooper frowned at him for a moment, tilting his head in thought. “Oh my god, you just want to go to Paris because-”
Blaine clapped a hand over his mouth roughly, flinching but not relinquishing when Cooper licked his palm in protest.
“In Paris, you’ll legally be able to drink,” Blaine whispered from the corner of his mouth, Cooper’s eyes lighting up as he remembered that his eighteenth birthday fell at the end of November.
He shoved Blaine off, nodding in agreement. “I think Paris would be very educational for us, mother.”
*
“Is there a point to this, B?” Sebastian yawned teasingly, before chuckling at Blaine’s guilty expression fondly, from the laptop screen. He was wearing a sweatshirt from his school, his hair stuck up on end a little where he’d been messing with it, glasses perched on the end of his nose.
Blaine flushed, tucking his knees up to his chest as he broke off in his story about dinner time that night. He’d just been about to get to the bit with the pea and all.
“Right, so, long story short-”
Sebastian snorted, but promptly after gestured for him to continue.
Blaine glared at him, starting over. “Long story short, we’re coming to Paris for New Year’s. Me and Coop.”
Sebastian blinked at him a few times, before a wide grin spread across his face, slightly marred by the poor quality of his webcam.
Before he could reply, however, the door to Blaine’s bedroom swung open, his mother appearing through it.
“Oh,” she said, looking between Blaine and the unknown boy on the laptop screen in confusion.
“Mom,” Blaine squeaked, flushing as bright red as if he’d just been caught watching porn, or something similar.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs Anderson,” Sebastian called out brightly, waving at her. “I’m Sebastian.”
“Likewise,” she smiled stiffly, giving Blaine a pointed look.
He swung around in his seat, mumbling a quick “I’ll call you back later” before signing off.
Blaine’s mom settled herself on the end of his bed, folding her hands in her lap before smiling at him. “Tell me everything.”
*
In the end, Mrs Anderson had been surprisingly unconcerned by Blaine’s international friend, and the fact that he was inadvertently going to visit him in a few short months. Blaine simply had to promise her contact details of Sebastian’s parents, and that he’d take Cooper with him when they met up, and with that she’d been satisfied.
Although, afterwards, she had sent his father in to go through the sex talk again. That had been less fun.
“Dad,” Blaine had groaned, burying his face in his hands. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Even though I wish he was. “We’ll probably just sit and talk about Glee or something.”
Come the day of their arranged meeting, and Blaine was sure he would die from anticipation before he even made it there. If he ever made it there. Note to self: don’t ever trust Cooper with directions again.
*
Sebastian sat perched on the small space of cold, stone wall, shivering as he waited for Blaine to appear. The light had already faded some time ago: a curse of Paris in the wintertime. But that didn’t mean it was in any way dark, the Eiffel Tower itself casting a glow across where he sat a short distance away, among others.
He glanced down at his watch, sighing under his breath, the heat of it coming out white in the frosty air. Blaine had once told him he was always five minutes early for everything, and yet it was forty minutes after their agreed meeting time, and the boy was nowhere to be seen.
He’s not coming.
Sebastian felt a snowflake hit his nose, squinting as they started fluttering down around him, sending a cool ripple down his spine. He stood up to leave, brushing any dirt from the back of his jeans and trying to ignore the stab of rejection that he felt deep in his gut. He tugged his beanie down further over his ears, turning around sharply at the sound of voices approaching.
“This is it! I told you I’d get you there!”
“Yeah, nearly an hour late, he’s probably already left. I can’t believe you, Coop, you just had to screw this up for me, didn’t you?”
“Hey, now, little brother, I didn’t mean to- Blaine.”
Sebastian watched as a short figure came stomping in his direction, gaze cast down as he strode firmly away from the taller male who was calling after him. Blaine walked smack bang into Sebastian, starting as he looked up, his cold flushed cheeks hinting at a darker shade for a moment.
“Je suis désolé, je..” Blaine fumbled, his eyes slowly adjusting to the glow of the fairy lights as he stared up at him. “Sebastian? Sebastian!”
Before Sebastian could reply, Blaine jumped forward, hugging him tightly, both of them so wrapped up in layers that they could barely get their arms around each other.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” Sebastian murmured, when they broke apart.
Blaine sighed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, it was all Cooper’s fault, I swear,” he grunted, gesturing to his brother behind who was already busy chatting up some French girl in an pathetic attempt at a British accent.
He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but be thankful that at least he was preoccupied.
The snowflakes were beginning to fall harder by then, swirling through the air and catching on eyelashes, noses, lips. Blaine took a breath, staring up at them for a moment before turning back to Sebastian. “I need to ask you something because I was thinking about it for the whole plane journey - and that’s like eight hours, Seb - and I just really gotta ask.”
Sebastian scrunched up his nose in amusement - it turned out Blaine’s ramblings could get even cuter. “Ask away.”
“Can I kiss you?” Blaine blurted out, looking up at him with such hope in his eyes that there was no way Sebastian could ever have said no.
Just as he was leaning down, he paused, frowning slightly. “What about the boy you were telling me about? What happened to him?”
Blaine chuckled, ducking his gaze before looking up at him through his eyelashes. “He was you.”
“You asked me for advice on..myself,” Sebastian sniggered, dropping his forehead to rest against Blaine’s. “You really are the biggest dork I’ve ever met, Blaine Anderson.”