FIC: In My Veins 3/?
Title: In My Veins 3/?
Rating: Eventual NC-17
Warnings: AU, stepcest, language
Summary: He’d only introduced Carole to his father so that he could get closer to Sebastian - it was just a simple crush at first. He didn’t expect to become his stepbrother. And he certainly didn’t expect to actually fall in love. Kurt/Sebastian and Kurt/Blaine.
The open house packs the Lambda Community Center with more people than Kurt’s ever seen prowling the halls on all of his Mondays here combined. It had been surprisingly easy to get his father to attend, though he suspects that the promise of free food of all kinds was more than enough bait.
His father slips away to the buffet table before Kurt can set down any strict guidelines - but he figures he’ll be back soon, there’ll be plenty of time to sort out the can and cannot-eats on Burt’s plate. Instead he takes the time to scope out the crowd and socialize a bit.
Most of the attendees are older gentlemen, but he recognizes Seth and Rigo across the room, and they wave enthusiastically at him before returning to what looks like a deeply engaging discussion with a blonde girl dressed in head-to-toe black. A friendly gentleman with white hair strikes up a conversation with Kurt. As it turns out, he happens to be in a polyamorous relationship with two other men, and he chuckles a bit at Kurt’s surprise.
“They call us ‘The Boyfriends’ around here. I know it’s not... normal, to most,” Ken says, taking a sip of cider from his cup, “But you can’t choose who you fall for. Sometimes you end up falling for two different people. At times it works out. Other times, it doesn’t.”
Kurt thinks about this. It’s true. He sure as hell didn’t choose to be interested in guys - because honestly, who would choose an option that would result in daily ridicule? But he can’t wrap his head around the idea of loving two people equally at the same time. It’s just so... foreign. He feels somewhat disappointed in himself. If he’s into progressive movements for gay rights, shouldn’t he be able to understand a concept like this?
He opens his mouth to ask exactly how that relationship came to be when Burt returns to Kurt’s side with a plate of food. Instead of following through with that question, Kurt bids goodbye to Ken, figuring he can always ask later, and steers his father away. He eyes Burt’s plate distrustfully, picking up a yellow cookie. “Please tell me you’re not going to eat these; they’re not organic.”
Burt frowns at him. “How do you know they’re not organic?”
“You can tell. The logo’s printed on the cookie,” Kurt explains impatiently, and a familiar head of red hair passes by. “Oh, Carole!”
Carole turns and smiles. “Hi, Kurt. Sebastian’s downstairs if you’re looking for him.”
Burt raises an eyebrow and turns to Kurt. “Sebastian?”
“Just one of the volunteers here,” Kurt says dismissively, grabbing his dad’s arm and bringing him closer to Carole. “I actually wanted to introduce you two. Carole, this is my father Burt Hummel. You’re both spouse-less at the moment, maybe you should talk.”
Kurt doesn’t bother to hide his smile at the way Burt’s eyes sweep over Carole appreciatively and the way Carole obviously relishes in the attention. While the two adults begin a conversation on Carole’s fashion choices, Kurt slowly backs away, taking the opportunity - for the first and only time in his life - to be thankful for the invention of acid washed jeans.
He meanders downstairs to find Sebastian and Deirdre, the peer leader of the Venus group, leaning over a laptop and talking in rushed tones, frantically scrolling and tapping at the device’s trackpad. “Hi. What are you two looking at?”
“Deirdre’s amazing powerpoint work,” Sebastian says dryly, turning the laptop around to display a slideshow of mismatched background colors and fonts. It’s enough to make Kurt turn away slightly and cringe. “Horrible, right? I didn’t think that the word ‘trashy’ could be applied to any kind of electronic media, yet here’s a prime example.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Seb,” Deirdre snaps back. “If it were you, it’d all be white backgrounds with black Times New Roman font.”
“At least it would be consistent.”
“If by consistent you mean boring as all hell.”
Kurt steps forward, finger hovering over the trackpad. “May I...?”
Sebastian eyes him for a second before shrugging. “Be our guest, but we’ve got to start the presentation in...” He glances up at the clock, “A little over half an hour. Think you can do it?”
But Kurt doesn’t answer him. He presses his mouth into a thin line of concentration, changing the slide backgrounds into a soft white-to-ochre gradient, centering the titles and switching to simpler, easier-to-read texts. About ten minutes before presentation time, he finishes with a flourish and sits back, letting Sebastian and Deirdre give the design a final look-over.
“I like it,” Deirdre says, her tense expression beginning to ease. “Simple but pretty.”
“It’s nice,” Sebastian admits. “Consider me impressed.”
He sets his eyes on Kurt and takes a good long look, as if this is the first time he’s really seeing him. The attention makes Kurt’s heart beat just a little faster.
“Thanks,” Kurt manages.
“I’m going to go upstairs and start setting up,” Deirdre says smiling, and she takes the laptop with her and is on her way without another word. Kurt’s not sure if he should be grateful or nervous now that he and Sebastian are alone.
“So...” Sebastian drawls. “You’re a cheerleader, you’re in glee club, you do art and design - is there anything Kurt Hummel can’t do?”
“Football,” Kurt answers, and only when it’s already out does he realize what a stupid response it is. “I played one game for my school’s team before I realized that sweaty brutishness wasn’t for me.” He wants to hit himself now. He’s trying to flirt with you (isn’t he?) and you’re not giving him anything to work with.
Sebastian only chuckles dryly. “Yeah, playing on team sports takes a different kind of breed.”
Suddenly Kurt remembers that Sebastian is on Dalton’s lacrosse team, and his eyes widen in horror. “Oh god, I didn’t mean - ”
“I get what you meant,” Sebastian interrupts. He doesn’t look angry, just amused, though Kurt’s not sure if that’s any better. “You’re right - hell, we both are. It’s not for everyone.”
Kurt shuts up then and nods tensely, looking up at the clock. “Your presentation starts soon, doesn’t it? You should probably go upstairs now.”
“You’re going to watch, right?” Sebastian asks, standing up and brushing off his jeans. “We’re supposed to be performing our duet right after.”
“I’ll be there,” Kurt responds, and he takes his phone from his pocket. “In a minute.” He opens last night’s text from Mercedes and begins typing - something, anything, to make himself look occupied, and when Sebastian shrugs and leaves, he erases the text in progress and sits back in the chair with a sigh.
It’s supposed to be easier than this. He’s not supposed to be this awkward, he’s Kurt Hummel for god’s sake.
Then again, this really is the first time he’s been interested in a guy (if he doesn’t count that embarrassing third grade crush on Ronnie Powers complete with the “I choo-choo-choose you” valentine).
It’ll get better, he figures. It has to.
He’s in the library, shuffling through files in the cabinet when he hears footfalls behind him.
“Hey,” Sebastian calls. “You almost ready?”
“Just looking for the sheet music,” Kurt answers, furrowing his brow. “I thought I put it in the green file, but it’s gone.”
“Don’t sweat it, I’ve got it right here.”
He turns to see Sebastian waving the papers in his hand and he sighs in relief.
“More importantly...” Sebastian steps forward. “I was talking to my mom just a minute ago, and she introduced me to your dad. She seemed pretty... I don’t know, enamored by him?”
A smile stretches across Kurt’s face. “That’s great - yeah, I introduced them when we first arrived.”
“Really.”
“Looks like they hit it off...” Kurt trails off, and suddenly he becomes very aware of the tension in Sebastian’s voice, increased by the rigidity of his frame. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine. Just fine,” Sebastian curls his lip up in a smile, though it looks more like a grimace. “Let’s just get this done already.”
He turns on his heel and stalks off, and Kurt swallows, silently following him to the club room before settling down on the piano bench. Sebastian makes a brief introduction to the audience, talking about the importance of knowing that there is always help out there, and Kurt can’t help but notice the distinct tightness in his tone.
“So performing with me today is Kurt Hummel,” Sebastian drawls, and Kurt bites his lip. The name coming from his mouth sounds like an insult more than anything else.
Still, he takes his cue and spreads his fingers over the ivories, playing the opening notes for “Hey Jude.” Sebastian moves to the front of the baby grand and begins the first verse. When Kurt joins in with a harmony, he feels Sebastian’s gaze on him, and he looks up briefly.
He wishes he hadn’t. There’s no masking, no forgetting the growing coldness of Sebastian’s eyes. He's seen amusement, he's seen irritation, but never has he seen such a harshness to those eyes, and the sight makes his stomach churn uneasily. Quickly he looks back down and focuses on the sheets and the keys in front of him.
If he forgets for a moment that he’s singing with Sebastian, if he pretends that he’s singing to a crowd of people just by himself, it almost erases the tension. It almost feels like he's not choking on his own breath. It works for a few minutes.
At least until the song ends. And when the audience applauds with whistles and hollers and Sebastian’s staring at him with hard eyes and a forced smile, he barely manages to stand and bow over that awful feeling like he’s done something horribly, horribly wrong.
Next
Rating: Eventual NC-17
Warnings: AU, stepcest, language
Summary: He’d only introduced Carole to his father so that he could get closer to Sebastian - it was just a simple crush at first. He didn’t expect to become his stepbrother. And he certainly didn’t expect to actually fall in love. Kurt/Sebastian and Kurt/Blaine.
The open house packs the Lambda Community Center with more people than Kurt’s ever seen prowling the halls on all of his Mondays here combined. It had been surprisingly easy to get his father to attend, though he suspects that the promise of free food of all kinds was more than enough bait.
His father slips away to the buffet table before Kurt can set down any strict guidelines - but he figures he’ll be back soon, there’ll be plenty of time to sort out the can and cannot-eats on Burt’s plate. Instead he takes the time to scope out the crowd and socialize a bit.
Most of the attendees are older gentlemen, but he recognizes Seth and Rigo across the room, and they wave enthusiastically at him before returning to what looks like a deeply engaging discussion with a blonde girl dressed in head-to-toe black. A friendly gentleman with white hair strikes up a conversation with Kurt. As it turns out, he happens to be in a polyamorous relationship with two other men, and he chuckles a bit at Kurt’s surprise.
“They call us ‘The Boyfriends’ around here. I know it’s not... normal, to most,” Ken says, taking a sip of cider from his cup, “But you can’t choose who you fall for. Sometimes you end up falling for two different people. At times it works out. Other times, it doesn’t.”
Kurt thinks about this. It’s true. He sure as hell didn’t choose to be interested in guys - because honestly, who would choose an option that would result in daily ridicule? But he can’t wrap his head around the idea of loving two people equally at the same time. It’s just so... foreign. He feels somewhat disappointed in himself. If he’s into progressive movements for gay rights, shouldn’t he be able to understand a concept like this?
He opens his mouth to ask exactly how that relationship came to be when Burt returns to Kurt’s side with a plate of food. Instead of following through with that question, Kurt bids goodbye to Ken, figuring he can always ask later, and steers his father away. He eyes Burt’s plate distrustfully, picking up a yellow cookie. “Please tell me you’re not going to eat these; they’re not organic.”
Burt frowns at him. “How do you know they’re not organic?”
“You can tell. The logo’s printed on the cookie,” Kurt explains impatiently, and a familiar head of red hair passes by. “Oh, Carole!”
Carole turns and smiles. “Hi, Kurt. Sebastian’s downstairs if you’re looking for him.”
Burt raises an eyebrow and turns to Kurt. “Sebastian?”
“Just one of the volunteers here,” Kurt says dismissively, grabbing his dad’s arm and bringing him closer to Carole. “I actually wanted to introduce you two. Carole, this is my father Burt Hummel. You’re both spouse-less at the moment, maybe you should talk.”
Kurt doesn’t bother to hide his smile at the way Burt’s eyes sweep over Carole appreciatively and the way Carole obviously relishes in the attention. While the two adults begin a conversation on Carole’s fashion choices, Kurt slowly backs away, taking the opportunity - for the first and only time in his life - to be thankful for the invention of acid washed jeans.
He meanders downstairs to find Sebastian and Deirdre, the peer leader of the Venus group, leaning over a laptop and talking in rushed tones, frantically scrolling and tapping at the device’s trackpad. “Hi. What are you two looking at?”
“Deirdre’s amazing powerpoint work,” Sebastian says dryly, turning the laptop around to display a slideshow of mismatched background colors and fonts. It’s enough to make Kurt turn away slightly and cringe. “Horrible, right? I didn’t think that the word ‘trashy’ could be applied to any kind of electronic media, yet here’s a prime example.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Seb,” Deirdre snaps back. “If it were you, it’d all be white backgrounds with black Times New Roman font.”
“At least it would be consistent.”
“If by consistent you mean boring as all hell.”
Kurt steps forward, finger hovering over the trackpad. “May I...?”
Sebastian eyes him for a second before shrugging. “Be our guest, but we’ve got to start the presentation in...” He glances up at the clock, “A little over half an hour. Think you can do it?”
But Kurt doesn’t answer him. He presses his mouth into a thin line of concentration, changing the slide backgrounds into a soft white-to-ochre gradient, centering the titles and switching to simpler, easier-to-read texts. About ten minutes before presentation time, he finishes with a flourish and sits back, letting Sebastian and Deirdre give the design a final look-over.
“I like it,” Deirdre says, her tense expression beginning to ease. “Simple but pretty.”
“It’s nice,” Sebastian admits. “Consider me impressed.”
He sets his eyes on Kurt and takes a good long look, as if this is the first time he’s really seeing him. The attention makes Kurt’s heart beat just a little faster.
“Thanks,” Kurt manages.
“I’m going to go upstairs and start setting up,” Deirdre says smiling, and she takes the laptop with her and is on her way without another word. Kurt’s not sure if he should be grateful or nervous now that he and Sebastian are alone.
“So...” Sebastian drawls. “You’re a cheerleader, you’re in glee club, you do art and design - is there anything Kurt Hummel can’t do?”
“Football,” Kurt answers, and only when it’s already out does he realize what a stupid response it is. “I played one game for my school’s team before I realized that sweaty brutishness wasn’t for me.” He wants to hit himself now. He’s trying to flirt with you (isn’t he?) and you’re not giving him anything to work with.
Sebastian only chuckles dryly. “Yeah, playing on team sports takes a different kind of breed.”
Suddenly Kurt remembers that Sebastian is on Dalton’s lacrosse team, and his eyes widen in horror. “Oh god, I didn’t mean - ”
“I get what you meant,” Sebastian interrupts. He doesn’t look angry, just amused, though Kurt’s not sure if that’s any better. “You’re right - hell, we both are. It’s not for everyone.”
Kurt shuts up then and nods tensely, looking up at the clock. “Your presentation starts soon, doesn’t it? You should probably go upstairs now.”
“You’re going to watch, right?” Sebastian asks, standing up and brushing off his jeans. “We’re supposed to be performing our duet right after.”
“I’ll be there,” Kurt responds, and he takes his phone from his pocket. “In a minute.” He opens last night’s text from Mercedes and begins typing - something, anything, to make himself look occupied, and when Sebastian shrugs and leaves, he erases the text in progress and sits back in the chair with a sigh.
It’s supposed to be easier than this. He’s not supposed to be this awkward, he’s Kurt Hummel for god’s sake.
Then again, this really is the first time he’s been interested in a guy (if he doesn’t count that embarrassing third grade crush on Ronnie Powers complete with the “I choo-choo-choose you” valentine).
It’ll get better, he figures. It has to.
He’s in the library, shuffling through files in the cabinet when he hears footfalls behind him.
“Hey,” Sebastian calls. “You almost ready?”
“Just looking for the sheet music,” Kurt answers, furrowing his brow. “I thought I put it in the green file, but it’s gone.”
“Don’t sweat it, I’ve got it right here.”
He turns to see Sebastian waving the papers in his hand and he sighs in relief.
“More importantly...” Sebastian steps forward. “I was talking to my mom just a minute ago, and she introduced me to your dad. She seemed pretty... I don’t know, enamored by him?”
A smile stretches across Kurt’s face. “That’s great - yeah, I introduced them when we first arrived.”
“Really.”
“Looks like they hit it off...” Kurt trails off, and suddenly he becomes very aware of the tension in Sebastian’s voice, increased by the rigidity of his frame. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine. Just fine,” Sebastian curls his lip up in a smile, though it looks more like a grimace. “Let’s just get this done already.”
He turns on his heel and stalks off, and Kurt swallows, silently following him to the club room before settling down on the piano bench. Sebastian makes a brief introduction to the audience, talking about the importance of knowing that there is always help out there, and Kurt can’t help but notice the distinct tightness in his tone.
“So performing with me today is Kurt Hummel,” Sebastian drawls, and Kurt bites his lip. The name coming from his mouth sounds like an insult more than anything else.
Still, he takes his cue and spreads his fingers over the ivories, playing the opening notes for “Hey Jude.” Sebastian moves to the front of the baby grand and begins the first verse. When Kurt joins in with a harmony, he feels Sebastian’s gaze on him, and he looks up briefly.
He wishes he hadn’t. There’s no masking, no forgetting the growing coldness of Sebastian’s eyes. He's seen amusement, he's seen irritation, but never has he seen such a harshness to those eyes, and the sight makes his stomach churn uneasily. Quickly he looks back down and focuses on the sheets and the keys in front of him.
If he forgets for a moment that he’s singing with Sebastian, if he pretends that he’s singing to a crowd of people just by himself, it almost erases the tension. It almost feels like he's not choking on his own breath. It works for a few minutes.
At least until the song ends. And when the audience applauds with whistles and hollers and Sebastian’s staring at him with hard eyes and a forced smile, he barely manages to stand and bow over that awful feeling like he’s done something horribly, horribly wrong.
Next