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“That was such a great gig guys, you were all amazing.” Blaine always encouraged his band mates after shows, always making sure they felt as important as he knew they were. As the lead singer and main songwriter of The Warblers, Blaine gained most of the attention from the band’s fans.

“Only because we were playing your amazing songs,” Sebastian smirked.

“Maybe a bit of both?” Blaine offered. Sebastian laughed and nodded in agreement. “Time for the meet and greet, you guys ready to get mobbed by over-excited teenage girls?”

“I think I might skip tonight’s,” Jeff said. “I’m feeling kind of tired and not really in the mood.”

“Aww, okay man. You just going to head home now then?” Blaine surveyed his friend concernedly.

“Yeah, have fun and tell them sorry from me.”

“Will do,” Blaine clapped him on the shoulder before disappearing out to the crowd of fans, Sebastian, their manager Wes, and drummer Thad following behind him.

Jeff sighed and leaned back against the wall; he was exhausted, not just from playing shows every other night for the past fortnight, but also from the growing fear that he would never meet the man with the name on his wrist. He knew he was out there, occasionally he would feel bursts of joy or sadness that didn’t belong to him and he was reminded that he was out there waiting for him. Jeff glanced down at the small black writing that had been on his right wrist since his thirteenth birthday. Some people – like Blaine and Sebastian – kept their names covered with bracelets or cuffs, but Jeff didn’t. He wasn’t ashamed that the name on his wrist was that of a boy, and he was going to do whatever he could to meet that person.

He understood why some people kept theirs covered – it was no one else’s business who their soulmate was and they didn’t know about who it was until they met – but Jeff had never covered his, just in case Nick Duval somehow came across him.

But he had turned 23 three months ago to the day, marking 10 years since the name first appeared on his wrist. Of course he had done some internet research over the years to find out who it might have been, but he hadn’t found anything useful. He would be lying if he said he thought he would meet his soulmate any time soon, and when he dwelled on that thought it drained him. He would wait a million years to meet Nick Duval, he just hoped he wouldn’t have to. If he thought too long about the man he was destined to be with, he would become tired and cranky – something that had happened during the show that night.

He took a taxi back to the three-bedroom flat he shared with Blaine and Sebastian, quickly changed and flopped down onto the bed, falling asleep surprisingly quickly.

OoOoOoO

Nick was excited when Trent had been able to get them both tickets to see The Warblers (with the exceptionally hot Blaine Anderson as their lead singer) perform live, they were both big fans of their music. All through the concert Nick couldn’t keep his eyes off the blonde bass player. He thought it a bit odd – sure, he had crushed on some guys before but this seemed stronger than that. The bass player was tall with blonde hair that fell slightly into his eyes. He seemed focused and withdrawn, and tired in more ways than one. Nick wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to comfort the attractive musician and make him feel better, and he seemed to feel some of the exhaustion the bassist was feeling.

After the performance Nick and Trent stuck around for the meet and greet with the band, both of them hoping to get their programs signed. Blaine was seated at a table and the other members of the band were beside him – except for the bass player. Nick wondered where he was – did it have something to do with the way he looked on stage?

When they reached the table, they got their photos and autographs with huge grins on their faces. When Nick reached out to collect his program back from Blaine, the performer gasped, his eyes growing wide and his mouth falling open into an almost disbelieving grin.

Nick looked down to see what Blaine was staring at and only saw his wrist with the same writing that had been there since his thirteenth birthday. He had never bothered with covering it up, preferring to have it displayed in case Jeff Sterling somehow saw it.

Blaine grabbed him around the wrist, just below the writing and tapped the boy beside him (who Nick recognised as The Warblers’ guitarist) to get his attention. The guitarist’s expression mirrored Blaine’s when he looked at Nick’s wrist.

“Am I missing something here?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Is your name Nick Duval?” Blaine asked.

“Yeah, how did you–”

“Do you want to meet your Jeff Sterling?” the guitarist asked.

“You know him?” Nick’s eyes grew wide with hope.

“He’s our bass player, he went home early – said he was feeling tired or something – but you have to meet him,” the guitarist explained.

“What’s going on, why are you holding up the queue?” Another man around their age – this one looked of Asian descent – came over to the table.

Blaine simply showed the new man Nick’s wrist and his face transformed from serious to joyful. “So who’s taking him to meet Jeff? Sebastian, you should take him.”

The guitarist next to Blaine – Sebastian, it seemed his name was – nodded. “We haven’t got long left here, he can come home with us. Jeff’s probably already asleep, he looked wrecked.”

“Do you mind waiting around a bit longer?” Blaine asked. “Otherwise we can try to get him to meet you tomorrow–”

“No, I don’t mind waiting,” Nick said, grinning. He was finally going to meet his soulmate, the mysterious Jeff Sterling who he had dreamt about meeting for the past 10 and half years. He knew what he looked like now, and he felt incredibly lucky to have gotten such an attractive soulmate.

“What was all of that about?” Trent asked him.

“You remember their blonde bass player?” Trent nodded. “His name’s Jeff Sterling. And he has Nick Duval written on his wrist.”

Trent’s face split into an enormous grin. “That’s fantastic! When are you going to see him?”

“They said if I wait around here until they’re done I can see him tonight.”

“I’m so happy for you, Nick,” Trent smiled. Trent had met his soulmate when they were in high school and Nick had envied him slightly for the ease of their relationship.

OoOoOoO

It felt like he had only just drifted off when Jeff was being woken by footsteps running to his room and banging on his bedroom door. He had expected Blaine and Sebastian to be almost as tired as he was and thus they would just go quietly to bed without disturbing him. It seemed this was not the case.

Jeff ran a hand through his hair and got up to see what all the commotion was about. Sebastian finally stopped banging on his door when he opened it. His taller housemate was leaning on the doorjamb with his customary meerkat smirk, and Jeff could see Blaine was in the living room.

“We have a surprise for you in the living room,” Sebastian grinned.

“If another fan gave Blaine a stripper I’m going back to bed,” Jeff yawned.

“Do I look like a stripper?” Jeff had never heard that voice before and yet it seemed like the most familiar sound. He took fast steps getting to the living room to see who that voice belonged to – but of course he knew who it was. It was Nick Duval, the man he’d been waiting for the past 10 years.

He didn’t know who initiated it but the next thing he knew Jeff was in Nick’s arms, their lips pressed together. Everything felt perfect and there was an overwhelming sense of finally.

When Jeff was capable of noticing anything other than Nick, he heard Sebastian give a low whistle and Blaine laugh appreciatively. He stepped back slightly, drinking in the sight of his soulmate.

“Well my work here is done,” Sebastian smirked.

“Don’t forget we’ve got another show tomorrow night,” Blaine reminded Jeff. “We sold out Irving Plaza.”

“How could I forget?”

“Well, you might be a little distracted…”

Sebastian and Blaine bid the newly connected soulmates goodnight and they found themselves alone in the living room. They sat down onto the couch and continued staring at each other.

“Can I– can I see your wrist?” Jeff asked. Nick held out his right wrist and Jeff’s smile grew wider as he saw his own name on the other boy’s wrist. “Wow, I was starting to think this would never happen.”

“I guess it nearly didn’t. If Blaine hadn’t seen my wrist, I would have just gone home.” Jeff looked slightly dejected at the thought so Nick continued. “But it did happen and that’s all that matters.”

“Yeah,” Jeff nodded, smiling again.

“I couldn’t keep my eyes off you all during the concert tonight, I didn’t know why,” Nick admitted.

“I’d love to say the same but the stage lights are insanely bright and I couldn’t see anything,” Jeff laughed.

“This is all so surreal,” Nick said. “I feel like I’ve known you forever but we just met.”

“It’s insane,” Jeff nodded.

“Now I know who all those phantom feelings I used to get came from,” Nick mused.

“That was always the weirdest part, feeling excited or miserable for no reason, I’m sorry if I felt too miserable too often or anything.”

“It’s okay,” Nick smiled reassuringly.

Their knees were touching as they sat beside each other, and both were surprised at how comforting it felt to have that small amount of contact.

Jeff glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and frowned at it. “Are you going to stay the night here? I should get to sleep soon for the show tomorrow night.”

“No, I should probably go home and tell Trent all about this, he’ll be channelling his inner teenage girl over all of this,” he laughed.

“Can I have your number?” Jeff stood up to fetch his phone from his room. “We should meet up again tomorrow.”

“Absolutely,” Nick nodded, entering his number into Jeff’s phone and passing the other boy his own.

After a parting kiss and hug goodbye, Nick left and Jeff returned to his bed. Jeff could barely believe what had happened that night and made a mental note to thank Blaine and Sebastian for bringing his soulmate home with them. They hadn’t spent long together but from what he could tell, Nick was perfect. He was more attractive than he could have hoped for and he felt right. Jeff was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with this man.

OoOoOoO

When Jeff woke up the next morning he wasn’t alone in his bed. He could feel bodies either side of him and when he slowly blinked his eyes open he saw both of his housemates lying beside him.

“Why are you in my bed?” he mumbled groggily.

“How did it go last night, was he the man of your dreams?” Blaine asked, his puppy dog eyes large with excitement.

“Mhmm, ’twas great,” Jeff rolled over, now facing Sebastian.

“We snooped through your phone and saw that you have his number, are you inviting him to the show tonight?” Sebastian asked.

“Aren’t we sold out?”

“There’s always ways around that,” Blaine waved his worry away.

“Why are you in my bed?” Jeff repeated, running a hand through his hair.

“We couldn’t wait for you to wake up to interrogate you,” Sebastian grinned.

“Of course,” Jeff rolled his eyes. With an almighty push he knocked Sebastian off the side of his bed and stood up, eyes searching the room for some clean clothes.

“So, when are you seeing him next?” Blaine asked.

“We said we’d meet up again today,” Jeff said, pulling on some clean jeans.

Sebastian stood up, brushing himself off, and threw a shirt to the tall blonde boy. “Wear this, it’ll make your eyes stand out.”

“Thanks,” Jeff smiled, pulling it on. “Is this one of the ones from Kurt Hummel’s new collection?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Neither boy noticed Blaine’s strange expression when the name of the designer came up.

Jeff’s phone buzzed and he quickly snatched it up before his housemates could get to it. It was a text from Nick inviting him to coffee. He sent back an affirmative reply before turning back to the boys on his bed.

“We’re meeting for coffee in the city and I am not telling you where, so don’t even ask.”

“Just as long as you’re back by sound check,” Blaine shrugged, getting up and disappearing into his own room, most likely to practise for the show that night – Blaine was nothing if not dedicated.

“Just tell us if you want to place to yourself tonight, we can crash at Wes’ or something,” Sebastian said with a smirk.

“Unlikely but alright,” Jeff laughed. “Now get out, go make me breakfast.”

“I’m not making you breakfast, get your soul mate to do it.”

“Ugh, you suck,” Jeff groaned.

“Well…”

“Get out,” Jeff threw a pillow at Sebastian’s retreating figure and sat down on the edge of his bed, spinning his phone excitedly in his hands.

OoOoOoO

Nick arrived at the coffee shop early, getting a good table and ordering his own coffee first. A few minutes later Jeff appeared at the door, his face splitting into a grin when he spotted Nick.

It had only been one night since they parted, yet Nick found himself missing Jeff – their coffee date couldn’t come soon enough. When he told Trent that morning that he was missing Jeff, he said that it was completely normal, that he had felt the same when he first met his soulmate.

Jeff waved at him enthusiastically and queued up to get his coffee. Nick watched him as he stood in the line, his hands shoved into his well-fitting jeans. If you had told him this time yesterday that his soulmate would turn out to be the bass player for the biggest up-and-coming band, he wouldn’t have believed it, yet here he was.

“Hey,” Jeff grinned, sitting down opposite Nick.

“Hi,” Nick smiled up at him. There was definitely a height difference between the two – Jeff was taller, but not by too much.

“I have to be at sound check at 3, but I’m all yours until then,” Jeff said, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Awesome,” Nick grinned. “Now, there’s one thing I have to ask, and if you say no then I don’t know how this relationship will work.”

“Ask away.”

“Are you a fan of Harry Potter?”

“Of course I am,” Jeff smiled. “I’m glad you asked. Favourite book?”

“Number three, definitely,” Nick answered. “Yours?”

“Six. Which also happens to be how many times I saw the last movie in the cinemas.”

“I saw it three times, I wish I’d gone more though.”

“We’ll have to have a marathon together soon then,” Jeff proposed.

“Or just watch three, six and the last one,” Nick shrugged and Jeff nodded in agreement.

OoOoOoO

“Pick up, Jeff, damnit!” Blaine shouted into his voicemail, glancing at his watch. “I get that you’re excited you found your soulmate but you’re half an hour late and we need you here. So please just get here already.”

“Blaine, calm down, dude,” Thad tried to calm the musician.

“I am calm!” Thad gave him a pointed look and they both burst into laughter. “Fine. I’m not mad at him, Nick seems really awesome and I’m happy for them but we still have this show tonight and we sold out so we need to be perfect.”

“And we will be, how can we be anything less than that with you as our leading man?”

Blaine rolled his eyes at the drummer. “Where did Sebastian go?”

“Bathroom I think,” Thad answered. “But he took one of the AV guys so I don’t think we’ll be seeing him for a little while.”

“Some people save all of that for when they meet their soulmate,” Blaine sighed. “And then there’s Sebastian...”

“He’ll be fine as long as we get him checked out every few weeks.”

“Or days,” Blaine laughed.

Thad wandered off to find some more water and Blaine sat down at the edge of the stage, his legs dangling over. Performing was Blaine’s favourite thing to do – the bigger the crowd, the better. He had always wondered if he might meet his soulmate, the man whose name had been on his wrist since he was 13, at a show. He often wondered whether one of the voices screaming out his name belonged to Kurt Hummel. Recently, he was starting to think that the famous fashion designer was his Kurt Hummel, which made the possibility of meeting him at a show a lot slimmer. He would never rule it out, though, especially after last night.

Blaine fiddled with the thick wristband he wore to cover up the name he hadn’t shown anyone, not even his parents. He had kept his wrist hidden since his thirteenth birthday and planned on keeping it that way. He knew some people were fine with having it always exposed –Jeff and Nick were the perfect examples – but Blaine felt like the name of his soulmate was his own business.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Jeff interrupted Blaine’s musing with his apologies. “We had coffee and then we ended up staying for lunch, and then we went back to his place and I met his friend Trent and my phone was on silent so I didn’t get any of your messages and I just lost track of time.”

“It’s okay, I get it,” Blaine stood up and smiled at his bass player. “But now that you’re here I need to find everyone else.”

“Where are they?”

“I think Thad went to find water and Sebastian disappeared 20 minutes ago with an AV guy,” Blaine said, slightly tiredly. “Just start getting set up while I find them?”

Jeff nodded and Blaine went backstage to find the rest of his band.

Chapter Text

“You guys got a cake?” Blaine asked, incredulous, after coming offstage that night.

“We sold out Irving Plaza, so we thought how better to celebrate than cake?” Sebastian shrugged.

“And after how awesome you were out there tonight, you definitely earned it,” Thad agreed.

“You guys are amazing,” Blaine grinned, pulling them all into a group hug. “We need to do group hugs more often.”

“And now the moment’s passed,” Thad laughed from underneath Jeff’s armpit.

The hug dispersed and Blaine turned, grinning, to his cake. “Someone tweet a photo of me and this awesome cake.”

Jeff took the phone Blaine was holding out and snapped a photo of Blaine posing with his cake.

“Can we trust you with the knife to cut it up?” Jeff asked Blaine, laughing.

Blaine grumbled and started slicing the cake, passing it around the room.

“D’you guys object if Nick stays the night at ours tonight?” Jeff asked his housemates.

“As long as he doesn’t eat all the leftover cake, go nuts,” Blaine said between mouthfuls of the aforementioned cake.

“Do I need to have the talk with you?” Sebastian said in a mock-motherly tone.

“Shut up,” Jeff blushed.

“Blaine, you might want to take another look at that photo you tweeted,” Wes said, looking concernedly at his phone.

“What? Why?” Blaine grabbed his phone and opened twitter. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Jeff asked. Blaine showed him the photo. If someone were to squint really hard at Blaine’s right wrist they would be able to read the name on his skin: Kurt Hummel.

OoOoOoO

Kurt woke the next morning to the sound of his phone ringing. Seeing that it was Tina, his publicist, he sat up and answered. Before he could even get out a hello, she was speaking far too loudly for the early hours of the morning.

“Have you been on twitter this morning? How could you not tell me your soulmate was Blaine Anderson? So many people are asking for interviews, I’m swamped. I’m coming over, put some coffee on.”

“Wait, slow down,” Kurt said, slowly comprehending everything she was saying. “How do you know who my soulmate is? And why do you want to know if I’ve been on twitter this morning?”

“I’m hanging up now to get a taxi but I’ll text you a link to explain,” she said, and then she was gone.

Kurt pulled his phone away from his face and clicked on the link when the text came through. He hadn’t put a cuff on yet so he could clearly see the name on his wrist – the same name in the headline on his phone.

Looks like singer-songwriter Blaine Anderson (23) wasn’t too careful when he tweeted a picture from his latest gig at Irving Plaza. The picture has been deleted since then, but it looks like everyone knows by now that the young musician’s soulmate is none other than the famous fashion designer, Kurt Hummel (25).

Well, shit.

OoOoOoO

“Wes, fix it!” Blaine demanded when Wes arrived at his house the morning after he posted the photo.

“How am I supposed to fix it? Why am I supposed to fix it? You’re the one that posted the damn photo.”

“But you’re Wes, you always fix everything,” Blaine pouted.

“I’m not sure there’s much I can do here, Blaine,” Wes shrugged. “I can try getting in contact with Kurt’s management to see what their view on the situation is.”

“I’m an idiot for not checking the photo before I tweeted it,” Blaine grumbled.

“You’re not an idiot, the cake was just very distracting.”

Blaine sighed and sat down onto the couch, his face in his hands.

“Where are the others?” Wes asked. The apartment seemed quieter than usual.

“Sebastian didn’t come home last night – something about a gay bar one of the AV guys wanted to take him to – and Jeff’s still asleep with Nick,” Blaine explained. “I checked on them before and they’re adorable. Jeff’s the little spoon.”

“Maybe you should tweet a picture of them to distract your fans for a little while,” Wes suggested, half joking. Blaine had his phone in his hands and had cracked the door open before Wes could speak again. “I was kind of kidding, Blaine… wow they are adorable together.”

“Told you,” Blaine smirked, pressing the upload button.

@JeffSterling6 will probably hate me for posting this but how can I not? The amount of adorable in that room is overwhelming

“And now Jeff will be twitter-spammed about his soulmate, you’re great at deflecting, Blaine,” Wes laughed.

“At least they’ve actually met! Can you see if you can arrange for me to meet Kurt? Everyone knows we’re soulmates so I suppose it’s time we finally met in person,” Blaine asked his manager.

“I’ll make some calls and see what I can do,” he nodded, disappearing into the office of the apartment.

OoOoOoO

Jeff woke up feeling warm and content, with a pair of strong arms wrapped around his body. He could see his phone on his bedside table and the message light was blinking. He moved slowly and gently, trying not to wake Nick, and picked it up to check the messages.

There were three new messages, all from his sister, and each sent 10 minutes apart.

Why didn’t you tell me you met your soulmate?!

He’s cute, when do I get to meet him?

Jeff, if you don’t reply I’m coming to find you and I’ll tell him about the time when you were three and pooped at the beach.

He sent back a quick reply, wondering how she found out but more worried that she would follow through and embarrass him.

Sorry I didn’t tell you, I only met him on Thursday and it’s been a hectic couple of days. How did you find out?

She replied within a few minutes sending him nothing more than a link to a tweet. He clicked it and saw Blaine’s latest tweet. The timestamp said it had been posted about an hour and a half ago, while he was still asleep.

Still moving not to wake Nick up, Jeff got out of bed to find Blaine. He smiled as Nick made a small whimper of protest when he stood up, and he tucked the blankets closer around the other boy.

Blaine was standing in the living room so Jeff gently shut his bedroom door behind himself before shouting at Blaine. “Blaine Devon Anderson what were you thinking posting that photo of me and Nick? I haven’t told anyone about him yet and my sister found out over twitter rather than me telling her! How is that fair?”

Blaine looked like a deer caught in headlights. He and Jeff stared at each other for a moment before Sebastian stumbled through the front door, looking as hung over as they had ever seen him.

“I heard shouting from the other side of the door and if either of you speak that loudly for the next 24 hours I will rip off your testicles,” he deadpanned. Blaine opened his mouth to speak but Sebastian held up a silencing finger and cut him off. “And no, you don’t get to hear the story.”

Blaine and Jeff resumed staring at each other once the door to Sebastian’s room closed behind him.

“I’m sorry for posting the photo without telling you. I forgot you hadn’t told anyone yet, but I needed a distraction to get people to stop thinking about me and Kurt,” Blaine apologised.

“I get it, but ask next time,” Jeff said.

Blaine nodded. “So how are we going to find out what happened with Sebastian? I need to hear this.”

“Agreed,” Jeff nodded.

“I’d love to know which guy it was at least,” Blaine said. “We’re going to have to formulate a plan to get him to talk.”

“Does this plan involve drinking shots until he’ll tell us anything? I don’t think I’ve recovered from the last time we did that,” Jeff shuddered at the memory.

Blaine’s phone beeped and he scooped it up. “I think we both need to go take care of our twitter situations,” he said. “Go wake him up and introduce him to the fans, they’re dying to know who he is.”

“Will do, good luck with all of your stuff,” Jeff said, walking back to his room. He smiled at Blaine’s thanks and quietly closed the door behind himself.

“Wake up, Nick,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He planted a kiss on the other boy’s forehead and heard a faint grumble. “Come on, it’s morning, I’ll make you breakfast.”

“Mmm, food,” Nick mumbled sleepily, his eyes still closed.

“Come on, wake up,” Jeff laughed, gently pressing his lips to Nick’s.

“Kay, I’m awake,” Nick said with a yawn, blinking his eyes open.

“Do you want to shower? I’ll start some breakfast,” Jeff offered.

“Sure,” he nodded.

OoOoOoO

Jeff had cooked up bacon and eggs and toast when Nick emerged from the bathroom 10 minutes later. They sat at the table in the dining room and Jeff began the conversation.

“I keep thinking of all these questions I need to ask you, really basic things that I keep forgetting to talk about.”

“Same,” Nick nodded. “Something tells me you’ve got one now?”

“What do you do for a living? You know what I do, but are you still studying or looking for work or–”

“I’m a teacher,” Nick answered. “I graduated earlier this year and I start my first day on Monday, teaching English and directing the show choir at a middle school.”

“Show choir?” Jeff raised his eyebrows. “You sing?”

“I was in show choir in high school,” Nick shrugged.

“I’d ask for a demonstration but we only sound-proofed one room and Blaine’s in there. Sebastian came home very hung over this morning and I’d like to keep my testicles.”

Nick looked thoroughly confused and slightly disturbed by that but tried to ignore the oddness of what his soulmate just said.

“Do you have twitter?” Jeff asked and got an affirmative nod in reply. “Blaine tweeted a photo of us asleep this morning so I suppose I should formally introduce you to the fans. They can be pretty intense but they seem to like you so far, from what I can see based around that photo.”

Jeff pulled up the photo and Nick smiled when he saw it. “You’re adorable when you’re asleep,” he said.

“So are you,” Jeff grinned. “Mind if I tag you in a tweet?”

“Go ahead.”

If you didn’t guess from the photo Blaine posted, I have indeed met my soulmate. His name’s Nick, be nice and give him a few more followers? @NickDuval3

OoOoOoO

Kurt was lucky Rachel slept in on Saturday mornings otherwise he would have had to deal with her as well as Tina haranguing him about his soulmate all morning. He finally got some peace when Blaine’s manager got Tina’s number and they were talking, discussing how to deal with the press and the paparazzi.

His peace was short lived when Rachel knocked on his door late that morning.

“I would have called ahead but I couldn’t yell at you over the phone,” she explained. “How could you not tell me that Blaine Anderson was your soulmate? How could you keep that to yourself?”

“I didn’t tell anyone, my soulmate’s my own business,” he shrugged. “I didn’t even know it was that Blaine Anderson until this morning.”

“You honestly didn’t know it was him?”

“I thought it might have been–”

“Kurt! Have you met him yet? Is Tina arranging something now?” Rachel had her usual high levels of enthusiasm about this new situation.

“She’s talking to his manager now, I’m assuming they’re trying to organise something,” he shrugged.

“Why are you not excited about of all this?” she asked, almost bouncing with her excitement. “Blaine is hot, he’s insanely talented and he seems like a really nice guy.”

“I know,” Kurt nodded. “And I am excited, but all the publicity is just kind of crazy.”

“Stop thinking about all of that and just keep your mind on the fact that you know who your soulmate is, and that he is really hot.”

“Once Tina tells me she’s got everything under control, then I will,” Kurt reasoned.

“Fine, but remember stressing will give you frown lines.”

“Don’t you have rehearsals or something else you could be doing besides bugging me about this?” Kurt asked exasperatedly.

“It’s a Saturday, I’m free for a few more hours,” she said, ignoring the impatience in his voice.

Kurt was about to make a snarky remark – as he was prone to doing when stressed – when Tina entered the room, pocketing her phone. Kurt looked up at his publicist expectantly and she smiled at him.

“I spoke to Blaine’s manager, Wes, and he gave me Blaine’s address,” she began. “We haven’t worked out exactly what we’re doing with the press, but I’m meeting with him later this afternoon.”

“He gave you Blaine’s address? Like so I can go there and meet him?” Kurt clarified.

“We can head over now if you want, Wes said Blaine would be home all afternoon,” Tina answered.

“Give me half an hour to get ready, I’m not meeting my soulmate for the first time looking like this,” he gestured to his un-styled hair and the hoodie he was wearing.

“I’ll call a car to get us in half an hour,” Tina said, disappearing into another room.

“Rachel, get out, I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow,” Kurt evicted his friend from his house.

“Good luck,” she called to him as he all but pushed her out.

OoOoOoO

Kurt and Tina arrived at the apartment – 45 minutes later – at the address Wes had given them and rang the doorbell.

A tall blonde man who Kurt recognised from some live footage as the bassist in The Warblers answered the door. “Kurt Hummel?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“We spoke to Wes and he said Blaine was here,” Tina explained.

“Yeah, come in,” the bassist showed them inside the flat. “Sorry it’s a bit of a mess, but it always is. Blaine’s in the office, the door on the right over there.”

Kurt thanked him and went to the door he had pointed out. He entered the office and saw Blaine sitting at the desk, a guitar in his hands. Blaine was more handsome than the photos showed, and there was a sense of charm that videos couldn’t quite capture. When their eyes met, everything else disappeared for a moment and all they could see was each other. Any doubts about which Blaine Anderson the name on Kurt’s wrist referred to were gone – this was his Blaine.

“Kurt.” Hearing Blaine say his name in that breathless tone almost made his knees wobble with how perfect it sounded.

“Blaine,” the name rolled off his tongue perfectly.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Tina said, smirking slightly and leaving them alone.

Kurt sat down beside Blaine, who replaced his guitar to its stand.

“I had my doubts as to if it was really you but–”

“Me too,” Blaine cut him off. “Not anymore.”

“Wow,” Kurt breathed. “It feels like I’ve been waiting a million years to meet you.”

“I hope I don’t disappoint,” Blaine said with a half-smile.

“I would have waited a million more, you’re perfect.” Kurt locked eyes with Blaine again and they both leaned forward, their lips meeting softly in their first kiss.

OoOoOoO

It was mid-afternoon when Sebastian resurfaced from his room, looking slightly better but still thoroughly hung over. Jeff was cuddled up on the couch with Nick, and the sounds of voices coming from the office meant that Blaine was in there with Kurt.

He thought back to what he could remember of the night before and grinned to himself. The club Hunter had taken him to had been awesome and they had had a great time together. Sebastian had been hooking up with Hunter for the past few months but he was yet to tell anyone about him – not even his band-mates knew that the name on his wrist read Hunter Clarington. It was easier to pretend that he was hooking up with strangers than explain to his everyone the details of his relationship with his soulmate.

He couldn’t imagine curling with up with Hunter to watch a movie like Jeff and Nick were, their relationship was more of a friends-with-benefits situation for the moment. They were great friends and the benefits were great, so why should they mess that up?

Jeff looked up when Sebastian’s bedroom door open and he smirked slightly at his dishevelled appearance. “He’s alive!”

“Barely,” Sebastian grumbled. “How long’s Kurt been in there with Blaine?”

“All afternoon,” Jeff answered. “They’re either telling each other every detail about themselves or making out or both.”

“I kind of don’t care, but call me if they start fucking so I can watch,” Sebastian said, taking a bottle of water and disappearing back into his room.

“Is he always so…” Nick trailed off, unsure of how best to describe his behaviour.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Jeff nodded. “You get used to him after a while.”

OoOoOoO

“You’re lucky Tina is so nice, otherwise today would have been hell for me and I would have hated you all for putting me through this.” Wes had called a band meeting and invited Kurt, Tina and Nick to join as well. They were gathered in Blaine, Sebastian and Jeff’s living room with Wes pacing in front of them.

“We’ve released a statement and booked a few interviews for Kurt and Blaine to do,” Tina summarised their day’s work. “It wouldn’t hurt to tweet about all of this and give the fans something to appease them.”

“I believe I have some revenge-tweeting to do if either of you fall asleep,” Jeff grinned mischievously.

Tina looked at him curiously before turning to Kurt. “We should get going soon, the deadline for the next set of sketches is Monday.”

Kurt bade his farewells and Nick followed Jeff back to the blonde’s bedroom.

“Staying another night?” he asked.

“If I can,” Nick replied, almost as a question.

“My bed would seem too empty without you in it,” Jeff said in affirmation.

“I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep without you there with me,” Nick confessed, “even if it has only been two nights.”

“Same,” Jeff smiled, reaching for Nick’s hand to bring him closer before pressing a kiss to his lips.

Chapter Text

Kurt came over the next day to spend more time with Blaine. They would have gone out somewhere if they weren’t afraid of the paparazzi hounding them wherever they went.

They had the house to themselves for most of the afternoon, with Jeff and Nick spending the afternoon in Central Park and Sebastian being mysteriously absent.

“Blaine,” Kurt started hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“So, you know how we can feel each other’s strong emotions sometimes?” Kurt continued and Blaine nodded, looking slightly confused. “Can I ask about what caused you that much pain when you were 15?”

Blaine exhaled heavily before explaining it as bluntly and as straightforward as he could. “I got gay-bashed at a high school dance.”

The explanation made a lot of sense, knowing that Blaine had grown up in the same unaccepting state that he did. Kurt remembered that evening, it was impossible to forget. He had been in his senior year of high school, doing some homework one night when he felt an overwhelming sense of pain that he knew didn’t belong to him. He had immediately removed his cuff and stared at the name on his wrist, knowing that Blaine Anderson had to have been in excruciating pain.

“I barely remember it because of the concussion, but I think I felt you trying to calm me down,” Blaine added. Kurt knew the link between them travelled both ways and he knew he had to do something to make his soulmate feel better.

“You were miserable for weeks,” Kurt recalled. “But then you got really happy every now and then.”

“I transferred schools after it,” Blaine said with a reminiscent smile tugging at his mouth. “I met Wes, Jeff and Thad and we started The Warblers. Sebastian joined when he transferred in the next year.”

“I’m glad it got better for you.”

“I’m glad I finally found you,” Blaine smiled, then added with a smirk, “my missing puzzle piece.”

Kurt laughed at the lyric from Blaine and The Warblers’ first big hit.

OoOoOoO

Kurt stayed all afternoon and left after dinner, but Nick planned on staying another night. Blaine seemed elated to find his soulmate and almost sad to see him go, even with the promise of seeing each other soon. Nick had gone home to pick up some things for his first day of work and Jeff wouldn’t have been surprised if he ended up moving in within a few weeks.

Blaine had left the door of the office open and Jeff could hear strains of piano music coming through. Judging from the frequent stops and the subtle changes when he repeated what he was playing, Blaine was composing.

Jeff opened the door wider and leaned on the doorjamb, watching his friend as he paused to scribble on some sheet music again.

“Composing?” Jeff asked, taking a seat beside Blaine.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I got inspired after everything this weekend.”

“Mind if I join you? I’ve had some lyrics running through my brain and they might fit with that,” Jeff picked up the music sheet and read over it.

“Go ahead, I can’t get a chorus but I’ve sort of got a verse,” Blaine repeated the riff on the piano.

“One waits, one waits for me, one waits, one waits for me,” Jeff began singing, Blaine nodding encouragingly along. “One waits, one will wait for me, and time’s the only lonely curtain in between.”

“That’s amazing,” Blaine grinned. “Got anything more?”

“Not really,” Jeff shrugged. “Maybe we should add some guitar over it?”

Blaine nodded and Jeff picked up the acoustic guitar, trying out a couple of chords before finding the ones that fit best over the piano.

Jeff stilled his hand strumming the guitar and looked to Blaine. “It seems so weird that this time last week, I had never said his name aloud. I had heard it when people read off my wrist, but I had never actually said it out loud. We were both just walking around Manhattan with stranger’s names on our wrists, and now I can’t bear the thought of him being away at work all day. Eight hours away means at least 8 minutes of uninterrupted cuddling, right?”

“That’s some surprisingly good logic,” Blaine looked at his friend a little strangely. “Turn that into a lyric – but without the cuddling part. Play an A minor, then a G.”

Jeff complied, strumming the chords as Blaine played the piano riff and nodding, trying to work out the perfect lyric.

“You too wandered the island with a strange name in your throat,” he sang, before trying out a different chord progression and continuing, “and when you come home, I won’t let you go–”

Blaine carried on the song, belting out long clear notes, “Somehow I know, I can’t be on this planet alone – and then go into the other bit you had before – one waits…”

“One waits for me, one waits, one waits for me,” they sang together, “one will wait for me, and time’s the only lonely curtain in between.”

They stared at each other with identical grins before scrambling to find a blank piece of sheet music to write it down before they could forget.

“We should get Sebastian in here to add another layer of guitar, maybe some finger picking,” Blaine suggested.

“Kurt sings doesn’t he?” Jeff asked and Blaine nodded in affirmative reply. “Some of this might sound pretty good for his voice – like the high bits would be great.”

“And if Nick’s a show choir teacher, we could get something in here for him too,” Blaine offered. “If it’s about them, why not have them in it too?”

“All we need now is a couple more verses and something to end it and we’ve got a hit,” Jeff laughed.

OoOoOoO

Nick’s alarm buzzed loudly at 7am and Jeff groaned, rolling over to face Nick and pout at him.

“Go back to sleep,” Nick pressed his lips to Jeff’s before sitting up and stretching. “I’ll come here after work and we can resume cuddling then.”

“Love you,” Jeff mumbled before sleep retook him.

“Love you too.” It was the first time they’d said it, and Nick wasn’t sure if Jeff had only said it because it was more than half asleep, but he truly meant it.

OoOoOoO

When Jeff woke up for the second time that morning it was to Blaine lying beside him, batting his eyelashes at him and grinning.

“We’re going to Thad’s to rehearse so get up,” Blaine told him. Thad lived in a bigger apartment – almost a loft – on the outskirts of the city, making it perfect to rehearse in.

“Get off my bed, you’re in Nick’s spot,” Jeff mumbled groggily.

“Get up,” Blaine said, slapping his shoulder to wake him.

“Maybe…” Jeff mumbled, yawning.

“You have to help me get Sebastian up, I can’t do it alone.”

“Fine, just give me a minute, alright?”

“I made pancakes for breakfast,” Blaine informed him cheerily, disappearing back into the kitchen.

Jeff rolled over and groaned into his pillow. He hated mornings and he hated the fact that he wouldn’t be able to see Nick until he finished work. He got out of bed and pulled on some clothes before going out into the kitchen and stealing a pancake from the stack on the table.

“Come on, let’s go wake the sleeping dragon,” he said dully, heading towards Sebastian’s room. Blaine followed him, still excessively cheery for that time of morning.

Jeff flopped down on Sebastian’s bed, as seemed to be the custom when The Warblers wanted to wake each other. He rose back up quickly when he landed on a body that was definitely not Sebastian’s.

The mysterious other body in Sebastian’s bed grunted when Jeff landed on him, making the blonde backpedal a few more steps.

Blaine’s eyes were wide with his grin. Sebastian didn’t usually bring guys home with him and when he did, he always made sure they were gone before anyone woke up.

Sebastian blinked his eyes open sleepily, then sat up wide awake when he saw his band mates in his room.

“What are you doing in here?” he hissed at them.

“Waking you up, we’re rehearsing at Thad’s today,” Blaine answered, his smirk just barely audible in his tone.

“Get out, I’ll be up soon,” he huffed, looking down at the man beside him who had started stirring.

Jeff and Blaine did as they were told, sitting down at the kitchen table exchanging surprised glances.

“Who do think it was?” Blaine asked.

“Maybe the AV guy he was with the other night when he didn’t come home?” Jeff offered.

“Maybe…”

The stack of pancakes got smaller and smaller as they waited for Sebastian to come out of his room. Finally he surfaced, scowling at the pancake-eating pair.

“I’m not telling you who he is, so don’t bother asking,” he told them, pulling up a seat and beginning to eat.

“Do we get a hint?” Blaine asked.

“Is he the same guy from Friday night?” Jeff questioned.

“Fine, yes it’s the same guy,” Sebastian sighed. Blaine and Jeff’s faces split into matching grins. Sebastian rolled his eyes at them. “So, we’re rehearsing at Thad’s today?”

“Yeah,” Blaine nodded. “Hopefully we can finish the new song Jeff and I started.”

“Something soppy about your soulmates?” Sebastian questioned.

“Not overly soppy, but yes about our soulmates,” Blaine answered. “What else do you expect us to write about at the moment?”

“Fair enough,” the guitarist shrugged.

The man from Sebastian’s bed opened the bedroom door made his way to the front door with surprisingly little awkwardness.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said in farewell and Sebastian nodded to him.

Jeff and Blaine looked pointedly and longingly at the closed door. “Can we at least get a first name? A middle name? An initial?”

“H,” Sebastian answered. “His name starts with H.”

OoOoOoO

Nick had survived his first day teaching, the students in his English classes seemed alright and he was looking forward to glee club tryouts the next day. He sent a text to Jeff, letting him know he was on his way.

I finished my first day and didn’t get attacked by prepubescent students! I’m on my way now.

He received a reply a few minutes later.

I’m still rehearsing at Thad’s and Blaine’s making us stay at least another half hour. Glad to hear you’re still alive though!

He decided to go home rather than to Jeff’s as he had planned, he thought Trent might appreciate spending more than five consecutive minutes with him like they had been the past few days.

Trent was home with Lauren when he got there. Nick might have thought it would be awkward living with his friend and his friend’s soulmate but it never felt weird. He made sure to allow them plenty of alone time, while Trent and Lauren made sure to spend time hanging out with him as well.

The pair were baking, dancing around the kitchen to some music coming from the stereo.

“Are you listening to The Warblers?” Nick asked.

“Can you blame us?” Trent asked. “They’re beautiful people who make beautiful music.”

Nick laughed before his breath hitched as Jeff sang a small solo in the song. It was the first time Nick had heard any of The Warbler’s songs since meeting them and it took a moment for it to sink in that he had spent the weekend with these people. It was strange to realise that the voice on the CD belonged to his soulmate. Blaine sang most of the vocals, but Jeff, Sebastian and Thad all sang small portions of the songs too.

“Can you give us any inside gossip about the band?” Lauren asked with a smile. She was almost always smiling, and whenever she smiled Trent smiled, so they were a sickeningly cute couple.

“They’re all absolutely insane,” Nick grinned.

“Yeah?” she raised a curious eyebrow

“Blaine’s like a puppy and Sebastian’s really threatening when he’s hung over,” Nick gushed. He had kept calm and collected over the weekend, but he had been a fan of The Warblers for a while and he needed to get his fanboying out of his system. “Thad seems relatively normal, same with Wes. Wes is sort of like their parent.”

“And Jeff?” Lauren prompted.

“Jeff is pretty much perfect,” Nick’s grin grew wider. “He’s funny and sweet and so attractive and such a good kisser.”

“We saw the picture Blaine tweeted, you two are adorable together,” Trent smiled.

“Thanks,” Nick nodded. “Jeff’s planning his twitter revenge to Blaine for posting the photo though.”

“I can’t really blame him for posting it, it distracted most people from his own soulmate drama,” Trent said.

“Yeah, Wes, and Kurt’s publicist, Tina, spent all weekend sorting stuff out with them,” Nick told them.

“So you met Kurt Hummel too?” Lauren asked.

“Briefly, but yeah,” Nick nodded.

“You’ve had a very exciting weekend it seems,” she smiled.

“And my first day of work was good too, thanks for asking,” he laughed.

“I’ve barely seen you all weekend and you don’t look like you’re staying long, I wanted to hear about your soulmate and his friends rather than your students,” Trent shrugged.

“Fair enough. And I’m going back to Jeff’s tonight,” he added. “They’re rehearsing at Thad’s but when they’re done I’ll go over.”

“Leaving us all alone?” Trent mock-pouted.

“His bed and his cuddles win over your… whatever it is you offer,” Nick smirked.

“But we’re baking cookies,” Lauren gestured to the oven behind them.

“I could invite him over for dinner and cookies?” Nick offered.

“Or we could send you off with two cookies and hope you don’t eat both,” Trent countered.

“Sounds like a plan,” Nick laughed.

Chapter Text

Blaine is a tiny dictator but I’m finally free, I could use some cuddles though.

Jeff sent the text off to his soulmate from the backseat of Blaine’s car (Sebastian had called shotgun) on their way home from rehearsing. They had had a productive day of both writing and rehearsing. They had worked on the song Blaine and Jeff began the night before – Sebastian was surprisingly helpful in writing the new song – as well as a few others, and rehearsed their usual set for gigs. Nick replied a few minutes later:

Trent bribed me with cookies to come home, I’ll go to your place soon and bring you some.

Jeff smiled at the thought of cookies and his soulmate; he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have Nick in his life.

“Judging by that smile, Nick’s coming over again?” Sebastian asked.

“He’s bringing cookies,” Jeff grinned. “Are you seeing Kurt tonight, Blaine?”

“We’re going to brave the paparazzi and try to find somewhere quiet for a dinner out,” he answered.

“What about you, Sebastian? Seeing the mystery guy again?”

“Quiet night in, gate-crashing the lovebirds,” Sebastian rolled his eyes.

“Maybe you can work on some of the new songs if you’re not doing anything else,” Blaine suggested. “I don’t think we’ve got any time in the studio booked for a while but it couldn’t hurt to have them done.”

“Sure, I might need to spend the night in the soundproof office anyway so I might as well be doing something useful,” Sebastian smirked, making Jeff blush.

OoOoOoO

“You’re alive!” Jeff grinned, pulling his soulmate inside by the hand and leading him to the couch. “You didn’t get mauled by pre-pubescent students!”

“Yeah, I survived my first day teaching,” Nick laughed, eyebrows furrowed slightly with his confusion over the other boy’s excitement.

“I missed you so much today,” Jeff said as they settled down together on the couch. “And we’re going to make up lost time by cuddling for 8 minutes straight.”

“Sounds great,” Nick smiled, placing a kiss onto his soulmate’s forehead. “Is anyone else home?”

“Sebastian’s in the office and Blaine’s leaving soon to go to dinner with Kurt,” Jeff answered.

“Great,” Nick smiled, sinking into his soulmate’s arms.

OoOoOoO

“Blaine, this restaurant is amazing,” Kurt said in awe as they took their seats in a small, quaint Italian restaurant.

“I wanted somewhere low-key but still romantic,” he shrugged. “I’ve been here a few times and I thought it would be nice.”

“It’s beautiful, you’re beautiful,” Kurt smiled.

“Well I am wearing some of your designs, it helps things,” Blaine grinned back.

“Have you ever thought about a career in modelling? My clothes look fantastic on you.”

“Maybe I should as an excuse to spend more time with you.”

“Consider it at least,” Kurt shrugged, looking down at the menu in front of him.

“Maybe you should be the official designer for the band, we all wear your clothes half the time anyway.”

“Maybe I should, I don’t know if I could live with knowing you’re going onstage without a properly styled outfit.”

Blaine laughed, smiling at how easy it was to talk to his soulmate. The banter came naturally to them and the conversation flowed easily.

OoOoOoO

“Sebastian, please tell me you didn’t tell them anything this morning,” Hunter said through the phone. “It’s bad enough someone sat on me and they saw me asleep and naked.”

“They know your name starts with H, that’s all,” Sebastian told him, sighing and sitting down on the couch in the office.

“And they don’t know that the name on your wrist starts with H?”

“I keep it covered all the time,” Sebastian quelled his worries. “I promise, no one’s going to find out.”

“Good.” Sebastian could almost hear Hunter nodding over the phone. “When are you coming over next?”

“Probably not until tomorrow, I could use a night in and I’ve got a couple of songs the guys want me to work on.”

Hunter sighed, sending static over the line. “Alright, text me when you know what you’re doing and I’ll see you then.”

“See you,” Sebastian said in farewell, before ending the call. He stared at the sheet music around him for a moment before sending a text to Thad.

I’m bored. Come over and work on these songs with me?

OoOoOoO

Jeff’s proposed 8 minutes of cuddling turned into watching two movies on the couch and Nick’s arm falling asleep under the weight of his soulmate.

“Dinner?” Jeff offered, yawning and stretching.

“Sounds perfect,” Nick said, doing the same.

“Are you opposed to ordering in?” Jeff asked. “There’s a great pizza place that delivers.”

“I love pizza,” Nick smiled.

“I’ll go ask Sebastian if he wants some,” Jeff said, disappearing into the office.

Nick stood up and stretched out his limbs, trying to regain the feeling in his arm. His day was going better than he could have expected – he woke up next to his amazing soulmate, his students were all great at his first day at work, he had spent some great time with Trent and Lauren, and then spent the past few hours in the arms of his aforementioned amazing soulmate.

“Did you notice Thad come in?” Jeff asked, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion as he returned from the office.

“No,” Nick shook his head.

“Neither, but he was in there with Sebastian.”

Nick’s stomach grumbled and they both laughed.

“I’ll go order food,” Jeff smiled.

OoOoOoO

“Blaine, tonight has been so perfect,” Kurt gushed as they walked up the stairs to Blaine’s apartment.

“Why does it have to end here?” Blaine asked. “Stay the night?”

“Sure,” Kurt nodded, smiling. “If your housemates won’t mind?”

“Nick’s been staying over since Friday and we always find strays in Sebastian’s bed, it’ll be fine.”

“Strays?” Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Strange men that he sleeps with,” Blaine shrugged. “Jeff accidentally sat on one this morning.”

“You guys really are insane,” Kurt laughed.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Blaine warned him. “We get weirder.”

Blaine held the door open for Kurt like the dapper gentleman he was and they entered the apartment. Jeff and Nick were on the couch with an empty pizza box on the table and Sebastian was nowhere to be seen.

“How’d the date go?” Jeff asked them, keeping his voice low.

“It was great,” Kurt smiled, also dropping the volume of his voice.

“Why are we whispering?” Blaine asked.

“Nick fell asleep and he’s too adorable to wake up,” Jeff explained. “Though I can’t feel my arm… maybe this is payback for earlier.”

Blaine laughed softly before asking, “Where’s Sebastian?”

“In the office with Thad,” Jeff answered.

“He’s going to hurt his neck sleeping like that,” Blaine pointed out. “Take him to bed so we can have the living room to ourselves.”

“Fine,” Jeff sighed before nudging his soulmate awake and coaxing him into the bedroom.

Blaine took Kurt’s hand and dragged him down onto the couch in the spot Jeff had just vacated.

OoOoOoO

“The song’s coming along great,” Thad nodded as Sebastian played it for him.

“Thanks,” Sebastian smiled. “Do you want to take a break and trawl through what the media’s saying about Blaine and Jeff meeting their soulmates?”

“Sure, I haven’t really seen much yet.”

Sebastian opened the internet browser on his laptop and they scrolled through several articles similar to the first one released on Friday night before they saw one that made them stop and decide to tell the rest of the group.

OoOoOoO

Thad was sent to get Jeff and Nick while Sebastian talked to Blaine and Kurt. Thad found Jeff and Nick in the blonde’s bed attached at the mouth. They were sharing long, sleepy kisses and he could feel himself getting a toothache from how sweet it was.

“We found something you might want to see,” Thad informed them. “Sebastian wants both of you in the kitchen now.”

Jeff grumbled something incoherent before rolling over and nodding to the drummer. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

OoOoOoO

Rumours are spreading around that The Warblers be going on a temporary hiatus from the music scene. With both lead singer Blaine Anderson and bassist Jeff Sterling meeting their respective soulmates in the past few days, it seems they may have other things on their minds and the chances for new music from the band are getting slimmer. We’ll keep you updated with any news we find, but don’t hold your breath.

“This is ridiculous!” Blaine shouted at the screen. He was sitting at the kitchen table with Sebastian, Thad, Jeff, Nick and Kurt, all of them staring at the laptop. “Nothing has changed within the band, if anything it’s given us more to write about.”

“Do you want me to call Wes and yell at him to fix it? That always seems to work,” Jeff offered.

“He’s probably already doing something,” Blaine shook his head.

“If it helps, I’ve started work so I won’t be around as much,” Nick said. “If they don’t see me around it might help, right?”

“Maybe, but I won’t like it,” Jeff frowned, squeezing Nick’s hand.

“Does it even matter what they’re saying?” Sebastian asked, starting to regret showing them the article. “We’ll release a statement saying that article’s a load of crap, and when we keep playing shows and recording songs everything’ll be okay.”

“That sounds great in theory, but we hardly have anything booked in the next couple of weeks,” Blaine sighed.

“People would get suspicious,” Thad frowned.

“People suck,” Jeff said, resting his hand in his chin. Nick rubbed his back comfortingly and the group murmured in agreement.

“No,” Blaine shook his head. “We are not going to sit here sulking and letting all of this get to us. I’ll talk to Wes about releasing a statement, but we’re not going to let this change anything.”

“Aye-aye captain,” Sebastian smirked with a mock-salute, earning him a glare from Blaine and an eye roll from Kurt.

“I mean it, we can’t let things like this get to us,” Blaine said adamantly.

“He’s got a point,” Nick agreed. “One of the best things about you guys is that you don’t care what people think and you’re always yourselves. People like that you spend your time making more stuff for the fans rather than worrying about a couple of internet articles.”

“Maybe we should put something on youtube, not directly addressing the article but letting the fans know that we’ve still got heaps of new stuff we’re working on,” Thad suggested. “Wes was filming a bit today at rehearsals, wasn’t he?”

“He was,” Jeff nodded.

“Perfect,” Thad grinned.

“Dibs not editing this one,” Jeff announced. “It takes way too long.”

“I’ll do it,” Thad volunteered. “But I get to put whatever I want in it.”

“Go nuts, as long as I don’t have to do it it’s all fine by me,” Sebastian shrugged.

Blaine nodded his approval and Thad began formulating how to best present the footage they currently had.

“I have to get up early tomorrow, so I’ll go to bed and leave you guys to it,” Nick excused himself and Jeff accepted the quick kiss he was given.

“How long until he officially moves in do you think?” Thad asked once Nick was safely out of earshot.

“What?” Jeff asked, confused.

“It’s obvious that you two are inseparable,” Sebastian explained. “My money’s on less than two weeks until he moves in.”

“I reckon three,” Thad added.

“You won’t mind if he does?” Jeff questioned.

“I’d rather he comes here than you moving in with him,” Blaine said. “It’s obvious those are the only two possibilities and there’d be less fun shenanigans if you moved out.”

“Did you really just say shenanigans, Blaine?” Sebastian laughed.

Blaine pouted but Jeff rolled his eyes and stood up before he could say anything. “I’m going to go join him if we’re done here.”

“Go ahead,” Thad said. “I should probably get going too.”

“And we should get to sleep soon,” Blaine added, turning to Kurt. “You said you had a meeting in the morning, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

Blaine took Kurt’s hand and led him into his bedroom. This was the first night they’d spent together and Blaine made sure Kurt knew that he didn’t expect anything more than sleeping to happen that night.

Blaine fell asleep content in Kurt’s arms and woke up the same way the next morning, kissing Kurt goodbye before his soulmate left for his meeting.

Chapter Text

Sebastian was showing Jeff the progress he had made on the new song when he felt it. Blaine was in the kitchen making them a late lunch and they were playing acoustic guitars, reading from the sheet music Sebastian had written the night before.

They were mid-way through playing the new bridge for the song when Sebastian blanched and his left arm fell limp.

Jeff looked up at him in alarm. “Sebastian?” he asked, his forehead creasing in concern. “Are you okay?”

The guitarist’s face was still pale as he shook his head to clear it. “Y-yeah, I’m fine,” he said unconvincingly. “Just phantom soulmate pain I suppose. I’m going to go and… I don’t know, do something.”

“What do you think happened to your soulmate?” Jeff enquired.

“I have no idea but I’m guessing he broke his arm from the way it feels. It feels like my arm is getting crushed,” Sebastian answered impatiently, cradling his left arm slightly. He stood up and set his guitar against the couch.

“Do you want us to–” Jeff started.

“No,” Sebastian cut him off. “I’ll be fine alone.”

Sebastian left his slightly bewildered housemates and rushed into his bedroom closing the door behind himself. He dialled Hunter’s number and, as he expected, got no response. He had only briefly met some of Hunter’s friends and had no way of contacting any of them. He was stuck alone in his room with pain in his arm and no way of figuring out what was going on with his soulmate.

OoOoOoO

Nick’s second day of teaching was going well until his English class after lunch when an overwhelming sense of worry encompassed him. He knew it was nothing to do with him, and he could only imagine what was making Jeff this concerned. Nick hoped his students hadn’t noticed his change in attitude, but it was all he could do to finish the lesson and not call his soulmate.

The rest of the lesson passed slowly, made worse by both his and Jeff’s worrying. At last the bell rang and the last student left the classroom. Nick dialled Jeff’s number and almost melted in relief when his soulmate answered.

“Hello?”

“Jeff, what happened? I can feel you worrying and it’s making me worry and I’m just a big mess of worry right now,” Nick got straight to the point.

“I’m fine, I promise,” Jeff quelled some of his soulmate’s worries. “Something’s up with Sebastian though. We don’t know what, but he said it was phantom pain from his soulmate.”

“And you said he hasn’t met him yet?” Nick said, remembering what he could about Sebastian’s love life.

“Yeah, so this must be terrible for him,” Jeff said and Nick could hear the concern his soulmate had for his friend in his voice.

“It must be so much worse not knowing,” Nick frowned. “The emotions I used to feel from you were bad but actually feeling the pain must be horrible.”

“He went into his room half an hour ago and we haven’t heard anything from him since but neither of us are brave enough to go check on him.”

“If he wants to be alone I think you’ll just have to let him be,” Nick said, then sighed as he saw the time. “I have a class now, but I just needed to know you were okay.”

“I’m sorry for making you worry, but I’m fine,” Jeff reassured him. “Have fun with your class, I’ll see you soon – just remember, 8 hours away means 8 minutes of cuddling.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nick laughed. “Bye.”

OoOoOoO

Sebastian sent Hunter a text telling him to call him as soon as possible and sat in his room waiting all afternoon. He considered distracting himself by playing guitar but the phantom pain was still too strong to move his arm too much. He didn’t even attempt to work on the song, knowing that it would only end with him getting overly emotional about his soulmate.

Hunter finally called him late that afternoon and Sebastian didn’t know whether to be angry or relieved when he heard his voice.

“What the hell happened?” he asked.

“A spotlight fell on my arm when we were shifting it,” Hunter explained.

“Holy shit, are you okay?”

“I’m alright now, my arm’s broken though. I’m lucky it only landed on my arm, a few inches to the right and–”

“No, we don’t need to think like that,” Sebastian cut him off, unable to deal with those thoughts. “I’m coming over and bringing you food. I can’t leave you alone in your house with a broken arm, god knows what you’d end up doing to yourself.”

“I can look after myself, Sebastian,” Hunter argued.

“I’m still coming over, you’re going to put up with me for all the hell you put me through this afternoon.”

“Fine,” Hunter sighed. “See you soon.”

“Don’t overexert yourself,” Sebastian managed to say before he heard the dial tone.

Sebastian threw on his coat and was halfway to the door before he realised that he should explain where he was going to his housemates. Jeff was on the couch with Nick and the blonde looked up when Sebastian’s door had opened.

“I’m going out, don’t expect me home tonight,” Sebastian informed him, purposely leaving out where he was going.

“You’ve stopped feeling the pain?” Jeff asked.

“Yeah it stopped,” Sebastian nodded. The pain had mostly disappeared about half an hour before Hunter had called him.

‘I’ll tell Blaine where you’ve gone when he gets home, I don’t think he has anything planned for tomorrow though.”

“Thanks, Jeff,” Sebastian nodded. “See you.”

OoOoOoO

Hunter was on the couch when Sebastian got to his house. Hunter lived in an apartment complex about a 10 minute taxi ride from Sebastian’s place with one flatmate, who Sebastian only knew as Beats. Sebastian didn’t know much about Beats, only that he got his nickname from his beatboxing skills and that he was a pilot so Hunter often had the flat to himself.

“Hunter?” Sebastian asked to see if his soulmate was awake.

“Mmm?” he replied. Sebastian went over to the couch and sat down beside him, observing Hunter’s state. His left arm was in a sling and he looked and sounded very drowsy.

“How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy,” Hunter said. “They said the painkillers would make me sleepy and that I should sleep. Will you come and sleep with me, Sebastian?”

Sebastian chuckled slightly at the unintentional innuendo. “Of course I will, come on.” He offered a hand to pull Hunter off the couch and the other man took it, hoisting himself up heavily and stumbling towards the bedroom. “Where’s Beats?”

“How ’m I supposed to know?” Hunter replied, still sounding very sleepy.

“Is he working?” Sebastian asked, hoping to get an answer with the more precise question.

“Yeah, something like that.” Sebastian gathered that Beats was most likely working and that Hunter definitely needed to sleep.

Hunter sat down on the edge of his bed and began taking his shoes off with his good hand, fumbling a bit before Sebastian stepped in to help him. Hunter looked like he might have protested but ultimately thought better of it. Sebastian managed to gently take Hunter’s arm out of the sling and remove most of his clothes before he finally fell asleep, the medication kicking in to knock him out completely.

Sebastian smiled at how peaceful his soulmate looked in his sleep. Thinking back, it was the first time he’d actually seen him properly when he was asleep. Usually they both fell asleep at the same time after they both came and then it was a mad rush when they woke up, or one of them would be gone before the other woke up.

Once he was certain Hunter was in a deep enough sleep, Sebastian got out of the bed and made his way into the kitchen to make himself some dinner. He found a frozen meal and heated it up before sitting down at the couch and turning the television on low.

He tried not to think about how comfortable he felt in Hunter’s apartment while he was eating. He tried to ignore the part of his brain that was starting to imagine him moving in here. It would be much more convenient living here, not just for the sex, but because he was really starting to enjoy spending more time with his soulmate. He knew it went against the spirit of their friends-with-benefits deal they had, but he was starting to enjoy the ‘friends’ side of their deal just as much as the ‘benefits’.

When he got sick of those thoughts running around his head and he couldn’t distract himself with bad TV any longer, Sebastian went to bed. He lay down next to his soulmate and tried not to think about how he was starting to wish he could do this every night.

OoOoOoO

Sebastian woke the next morning to the sounds of someone in the kitchen. It took him a moment to take in his unusual surroundings and realise that he was in Hunter’s bed, not his own. It took another moment for him to realise that the sounds in the kitchen were most likely being made my Hunter’s housemate, Beats, who was apparently home from work.

Sebastian would have simply gone back to sleep until Hunter woke up, but his body had other ideas. He internally cursed Hunter not having an ensuite bathroom as he felt his full bladder, and his hungry stomach growled so loudly he made the man beside him stir slightly in his sleep.

He knew he had no choice but to get up so he did, dressing quickly and making his way out to where Beats was making breakfast for himself. Sebastian didn’t say anything, instead making a beeline for the bathroom to empty his very full bladder.

When he returned from the bathroom feeling much more relieved, Sebastian couldn’t ignore the man who was now sitting at the dining table eating. Sebastian found a bowl and made himself some cereal before sitting down opposite Beats.

“Sebastian Smythe,” he introduced himself, offering a hand to shake. “I think we may have met before but I–” Sebastian cut off when he saw Beats’ eyes dart to his wrist and he realised that he forgot to put his cuff back on after he took it off to sleep.

“You’re Hunter’s soulmate?” Beats asked. “I remember you from a few parties but I always thought of you more of a–”

“Friend with benefits?” Sebastian finished his sentence for him. “That’s the deal we have going. I’m only here because of his arm.”

“What happened yesterday? I got some confusing and slightly distressed voicemails from Hunter but I don’t really know what actually happened.”

“I wasn’t there, but from what I gathered a spotlight fell on his arm yesterday while he was at work.”

“Is he okay now?”

“I think so, he was pretty drowsy from the pain meds when I got here last night but I think he’ll be fine,” Sebastian shrugged.

“Good,” Beats nodded.

 

OoOoOoO

 

“Did Sebastian say when he was coming home?” Blaine asked Jeff later that morning.

“No, just that he wouldn’t be home last night,” Jeff answered. “Why, do you have something planned?”

“Not really, I was just hoping to get some more work done for the new song.”

“I think he pretty much finished it the other night with Thad,” Jeff said. “It probably needs better arranging but I think it’s pretty much done.”

“Want to show me then? I was talking to Wes earlier and he said he couldn’t get us into a studio for a while but this’ll probably be the first thing we record when we can get in.”

“Sure,” Jeff said as they made their way into the office. “Did Wes say anything else?”

“Not really, just that he was trying to find more things for us to do,” Blaine said, sitting down at the keyboard.

Jeff nodded and picked up an acoustic guitar before finding the sheet music he had left on the desk and passing it to Blaine.

“A million years he’d been awake, a million years he’d prayed…”

 

OoOoOoO

 

“Beats, can you make me something to eat?” Hunter stumbled blindly into the kitchen, not quite fully awake. He paused for a moment and blinked a few times when he saw Sebastian sitting next to his housemate. “Sebastian, you’re still here?”

“Yeah, I fell asleep here and I wasn’t sure if Beats was coming home so I stayed,” Sebastian answered.

“You’ve got yourself a loyal soulmate, Hunter,” Beats nodded.

“You told him?” Hunter asked, his jaw beginning to clench in anger.

“He saw my wrist when I got up this morning,” Sebastian said, quickly explaining as he sensed his soulmate getting mad. “I was barely awake and I didn’t think to put my cuff on when I got up to pee and he saw the name.”

Hunter turned to his roommate. “Don’t tell anyone. Please.”

“I won’t,” Beats said. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Good,” Hunter nodded curtly.

“Well, I have to work tonight so I’m going to get some sleep and leave you two to it,” Beats said before disappearing into his bedroom and closing the door.

“I swear I didn’t mean for him to see the name,” Sebastian turned to his soulmate. “I had only just woken up and I needed to piss so badly and–”

“It’s fine, I believe you.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“Well what do you want me to say?” Hunter snapped. “We both agreed we don’t want anyone to find out and now he knows.”

“You know he would have found out eventually,” Sebastian reasoned. “And you don’t think I’m annoyed as well? This is just as much my problem as it is yours.”

“Except you could have prevented it.”

Sebastian shook his head slightly and stood up from the table. “I came over to look after you after you nearly lost your arm – the pain from which I felt all afternoon – and this is the thanks I get?” He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. “I hope you realise that you’re not wearing your cuff either right now.”

Sebastian closed the door behind himself forcefully and left Hunter standing in the kitchen thinking over his last statement. Hunter’s wrist was indeed bare and Beats could have just as easily seen the name on his wrist instead of Sebastian’s. He really needed to work on not losing his temper.

OoOoOoO

Jeff and Blaine had moved back into the living room but were still working on arranging the song when Sebastian came home and went straight to his room without a word to either of them. They shared a quizzical glance before returning to the song, though much more distractedly than before.

Sebastian emerged from his room a few minutes later, looking thoroughly irritated.

“We made the office soundproof for a reason, and it wasn’t just for sex,” he snapped. “Please go work in there.”

“Are you okay?” Blaine asked, concerned at his crabbiness.

“I’m just fucking peachy, thanks for asking,” Sebastian responded sarcastically.

“I’m not even going to ask,” Jeff shook his head. “I swear they only called the crab in The Little Mermaid Sebastian because of your personality.”

Sebastian slammed the bedroom door behind himself, leaving Blaine and Jeff more than a little bit shocked at their band mate’s behaviour.

“I’ve been waiting so long to use that Little Mermaid crab pun,” Jeff said with a chuckled as he picked up his guitar and the sheet music.

“It might have been taking it a little bit far,” Blaine said, following him back into the office.

“Maybe,” Jeff shrugged.

Blaine sighed and ran a hand over his hair. “I’m having dinner at Kurt’s tonight, am I going to regret leaving you two home together alone tonight?”

“Nick’ll be here, we won’t be alone.” Blaine still didn’t look convinced. “I can tell he’s pissed, Blaine, I’m not stupid enough to bait him when he’s in a mood like this.”

“I hope not, we need you both in one piece for the band.”

“I promise I’ll be good, mother,” Jeff smirked.

“Shut up,” Blaine laughed.

“So you’re going on a super romantic date at Kurt’s tonight?” Jeff asked.

“He’s cooking dinner,” Blaine smiled dreamily.

“Sometimes I think about cooking for Nick, but then I remember the lasagne fiasco from last year and decide against it.”

“It took me 6 months to work up the courage to try lasagne again after that,” Blaine laughed. “But maybe I could show you how to make something a bit easier one day.”

“As long as the fire brigade’s on standby, sure,” Jeff grinned.

OoOoOoO

 

“Do you two even come up for air?” Blaine asked incredulously as he watched Jeff and Nick, attached at the mouth on the couch.

There was a slight pop as Jeff leant back from his soulmate. “Singer’s lungs, we’ve got great air capacity,” he grinned. “Keep that in mind for tonight with Kurt.”

“Speaking of which, I’m going now,” Blaine said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Have fun,” Jeff bid his band mate farewell before Nick’s mouth was back on his.

“Keen tonight, are we?” Jeff smirked into the kiss.

“I’m procrastinating marking essays, you’re much more fun.”

“Well, I’m not complaining.”

“Well now I’m extra glad I’m leaving,” Sebastian said with slight disgust.

Jeff leant back again and saw his other housemate standing by the door.

“I’m going out, don’t expect me home tonight,” Sebastian said.

“Bye,” Jeff called after him.

“We’ve got the house to ourselves?” Nick asked. Jeff nodded. “Then those essays can wait another day to get marked.”

OoOoOoO

Blaine knocked on Kurt’s apartment door, anxiously pulling at the bottom of his cardigan.

“Blaine!” Kurt greeted him, a huge smile appearing on his face the moment he saw his soulmate.

“Kurt,” Blaine’s smile matched his boyfriend’s.

“I hope you like pasta,” Kurt said, leading Blaine inside.

“I love pasta,” Blaine said, sitting down on a stool in the kitchen.

“Good,” Kurt pressed a kiss to his soulmate’s lips before returning to the stove. “It’s nearly done, why don’t you put some music on?”

Blaine walked over to the stereo Kurt was referring to and hit play, hoping whatever was already in the CD player would suffice.

“I think you’re pretty, without any make-up on…”

“You were listening to The Warblers?” Blaine smirked.

“How can you blame me? The lead singer’s cute and has an amazing voice.”

“Is that so? I’ve heard he also has an incredibly attractive and talented soulmate,” Blaine grinned, returning to the kitchen.

“Really? I’ll have to look him up,” Kurt smirked, playing along.

“Rumour has it he makes great pasta too.”

“Well, then Blaine Warbler must be one lucky man.”

“He sure is,” Blaine smiled.

OoOoOoO

They had moved to the couch after dinner when Blaine leaned over and pressed his lips to Kurt’s again. Kurt responded immediately, opening his mouth to deepen the kiss as Blaine’s hands wound into his hair. This kiss was different than others they had shared, it felt more intimate and deeper.

Their mouths moved together, lips sucking and tongues sliding over each other. Blaine’s hands stayed in Kurt’s hair, but Kurt’s hands slid down his soulmate’s back, feeling the hard muscles and tracing down his spine.

Kurt grabbed at Blaine’s legs and pulled, directing him until Blaine was straddling his lap, both of them already semi-hard. Kurt’s mouth left Blaine’s, instead trailing open-mouthed kisses along his jaw and down his neck. Blaine arched his neck in pleasure and started tugging at the bottom of his cardigan and shirt. Kurt leaned back for a moment and Blaine pulled them over his head, dropping them on the floor behind him.

They kissed slowly again before Kurt ran his mouth down Blaine’s neck and bare chest, pressing his lips to the exposed skin and grazing his teeth occasionally, making Blaine shiver.

When Blaine’s hands moved down Kurt’s back to his ass and he began grinding, they both moaned in unison.

“Bed,” Kurt whispered, taking Blaine’s hand and pushing him up off the couch before leading him into his bedroom.

 

OoOoOoO

 

When Sebastian woke up in a stranger’s bed the next morning he felt dirty. Not just from the sweat and come that had dried on his body the night before, but his conscience as well. He tried to remind himself that he wasn’t exclusive with Hunter and that what he had done the night before was completely okay. But then he remembered the way his soulmate had looked when he was asleep; the peace on his face that gave Sebastian a strange feeling in his stomach.

Getting wasted and sleeping with random men usually helped distract Sebastian from his problems, but this time he just felt worse. Maybe it was because he knew Hunter would be able to feel the arousal through their connection. The shared emotions always made their sex greater. This time, however, he felt somewhat guilty for putting Hunter through feeling second-hand arousal.

Sebastian wondered what Hunter thought of him sleeping with someone else before he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to care. They were friends. Just friends. Friends who were soulmates and had amazing sex – but still just friends.

The guy lying beside him stirred in his sleep and Sebastian got up, pulling his clothes on. Checking his phone, he saw he had a message from Wes. If he left now he could still make it home and have a shower before he needed to be at Thad’s. There were people in the kitchen as he walked past, but he didn’t take any notice of them.

Sitting on the subway gave Sebastian time to think and he wished he had something to preoccupy himself with. The longer he thought about it, the more he realised he was kidding himself thinking that there was nothing more than friendship between him and Hunter.

He should have never messed around with trying to be platonic with his soulmate when he knew deep down that he wanted more.

 

OoOoOoO

 

“Kurt!” Rachel called out to him the next morning. “Have you seen my red coat? I thought I left it here last – oh shoot sorry Blaine, I didn’t know you were here.” She retreated from the room somewhat as soon as she saw him in Kurt’s bed.

“It’s okay,” he mumbled sleepily. “I think I saw it by the door.”

“What?” she asked distractedly, her eyes focused on Blaine’s body as he sat up groggily.

“Your coat’s by the door… why are you staring at me?”

“Kurt has a big mirror in his bathroom, go see for yourself,” she smirked. Blaine did as she said, still not entirely sure why she was there.

In the waist-high mirror Blaine could tell exactly what Rachel was talking about. Covering his not only his neck, but also his chest and parts of his stomach, were lines of unmistakeable red and purple hickeys. When he turned around he could see finger-shaped bruises and scratch marks from Kurt’s hands – last night had been intense, passionate, mind-blowing and easily the best sex Blaine had ever.

Kurt was awake when he went back into the bedroom, sitting in bed talking to Rachel.

“I should go, I’ll leave you two… to it,” she winked before disappearing out the door.

“Morning beautiful,” Blaine smiled, pressing his lips to his soulmate’s.

“Morning,” Kurt said, his eyes trailing over his handiwork from the night before. “I hope you like scarves, or the paparazzi will have a field day.”

“Let them,” Blaine shrugged. “The guys are going to grill me for details though.” Kurt quirked an eyebrow, silently asking Blaine what he would do about them. “I’ll hold it over their heads and keep it our secret.”

“Speaking of them, don’t you have rehearsal today?”

“Yeah,” Blaine sighed. “I’ll text you when I’m done.”

“I think you getting dressed would have to be one of my least favourite parts of the day,” Kurt said with mock-glumness.

“But you know the opposite happens at the end of the day, so I think you’ll be fine,” Blaine smirked.

“It doesn’t come soon enough,” Kurt grumbled, earning him a sympathetic kiss from his soulmate.

OoOoOoO

Blaine was only slightly late, but the rest of the Warblers and Wes were already at Thad’s place with two unfamiliar girls – one blonde and one brunette – when he arrived.

“A scarf, Blaine?” Thad questioned him. “It’s not that cold, I can turn the heating up.”

Blaine shrugged and mumbled a non-committal answer, turning to Wes. “Who are the girls?”

“They’ve got a popular blog and youtube channel where they talk about music and we arranged to have them film a rehearsal and interview The Warblers,” the manager explained. “I sent you a text explaining it last night.”

“I was at Kurt’s last night and a little bit preoccupied,” Blaine said, quietly so the girls couldn’t hear him.

Wes smirked at him before addressing the group. “Alright, now that Blaine’s finally here, we can get started. And Blaine, take the scarf off.”

Blaine sighed and complied. As expected, all eyes in the room were drawn to the red marks along his neck.

“How far down do they go, Blaine?” Sebastian asked, the smirk clearly evident in his voice.

Blaine just blushed and turned to the girls. “Do I get an introduction?”

“I’m Quinn,” the blonde introduced herself. “And this is Santana.”

“Nice to meet you,” Blaine smiled, shaking their hands.

“Can I repeat what he said – how far down to they go?” Santana asked, reaching out to poke one of the hickeys on his neck.

“How about we start?” Blaine suggested, avoiding the question. “Teenage Dream for a warm up?”

“Sounds good,” Jeff nodded, picking up his bass.

“Just give us a minute to set up the camera,” Quinn requested.

OoOoOoO

Blaine didn’t get the chance to check his phone until their lunch break, and when he did he had 4 new messages from Kurt.

Quinn and Santana are there?

Have they said anything about me?

Oh god what has Santana said about your hickeys?

I’m so sorry if they’re terrorizing you

He knew the girls and the other Warblers had been tweeting a few photos but he didn’t quite understand what Kurt was on about. It seemed like Kurt knew the girls, so he decided to ask them.

“Kurt texted me after seeing the photos you tweeted, do you girls know him?”

Santana’s smirk broadened when she heard Blaine’s soulmate’s name. “We went to high school together and I lived with him for a bit during college. I was intrigued when I saw the articles about the two of you.”

“It gave us the extra incentive to contact you,” Quinn shrugged.

“We needed to decide if you were good enough to be Kurt’s soulmate,” Santana added. “I can tell he thinks so but it never hurts to have another opinion.”

“So do you approve?” Sebastian asked the girls, enjoying how nervous they were making Blaine.

“Because if you don’t, I’m sure he’ll write a dozen songs about it,” Jeff grinned, joining in the banter. “Who knows how many he’s already written about him.”

“You’ve written songs about Nick, too,” Blaine defended himself.

“I’ve written two, and one of them was with you.”

“Still…”

“So you write songs together sometimes?” Quinn asked, intervening before Blaine got too offended by switching on one of the cameras sitting on a tripod. “Most of the songs on your albums were written by Blaine or solely by another one of you.”

“We do occasionally, sometimes if one of us gets a writer’s block another of us can help out and end up finishing the song for him,” Blaine explained.

“And sometimes – like with the one we wrote recently – I’ll have some lyrics in my head and then I’ll hear Blaine playing something and we’ll try it together and it’ll just work,” Jeff added. “Then we played it at a rehearsal the other day and worked on it for a bit and I think Sebastian ended up finishing it.”

“Can we hear this new song?” Santana asked. “Get an exclusive for our viewers.”

“I don’t know if it’s entirely finished yet but I don’t see why not,” Blaine nodded.

“It’s a long way from being finished,” Jeff added. “We haven’t really arranged it properly, but we could do an acoustic version.”

Blaine went over to the keyboard and Jeff and Sebastian picked up acoustic guitars, sitting in a loose semi-circle. Thad grabbed a shaker and joined them and they began, Blaine beginning the song on the keyboard.

Jeff began the vocals, singing with quiet emotion in his voice.

“A million years he'd been awake, a million years he prayed, for one familiar soul to help him navigate his way. He stood agog at the spray of stars and thought aloud each day: I've been here so long, holding on, but–”

Blaine took over the vocals for the chorus, belting out the long notes as Sebastian began strumming softly on the guitar and Thad joined in with the shakers.

“Somehow I know, I can't be on this planet alone. And one waits, one waits for me. One waits, one waits for me. One waits, one will wait for me. And time's the only lonely curtain in between.”

Sebastian sang the next verse with the same softness as Jeff, in the same strangely emotional way.

“And you could be a lion, or a buzzard or a bee. However soft your symphony, I'll know you sing for me. You too wandered the island, with a strange name in your throat.”

Jeff began strumming as well and Blaine harmonised the vocals with Sebastian.

 “And when you come home, I won't let you go. Somehow I know, I can't be on this planet alone. And one waits, one waits for me. One waits, one waits for me. One waits, one will wait for me. And time's the only lonely curtain in between.”

Blaine sang the outro as a solo, revelling in the awed looks on Quinn and Santana’s faces.

“Come out, come on out

Wherever you are...”

 

OoOoOoO

“Alright, let’s talk soulmates,” Quinn said, directing the flow of the new conversation. “It’s been all over the media and the internet – as well as obviously being the theme of your new song – but we want to hear it from you. Blaine and Jeff, tell us everything.”

“I met Nick before Jeff did,” Blaine began. “He came to one of our shows and I saw Jeff’s name on his wrist at the meet and greet afterwards. Jeff had gone home already but we convinced Nick to stick around and come home to meet him and they’ve been inseparable ever since.”

“Well Blaine pretty much summed it up so I don’t know what else I can say,” Jeff shrugged.

“You could talk about your rule about cuddling after you’ve been away from each other,” Sebastian prompted.

“Well, Nick’s a middle school teacher so he’s away for roughly 8 hours every day, so I decided that we should spend one minute together for every hour we’re apart,” Jeff explained, blushing slightly. “It’s not uncommon to find us on the couch when he’s home from work.”

“It’s adorable,” Blaine smiled.

“Occasionally sickening, but very sweet,” Sebastian added.

“Is that a hint of bitterness?” Santana asked. “I’ve noticed the wristband you’re wearing.”

“Who my soulmate is is my own business, I hope you can understand that,” he answered with a hint of frustration.

“Okay, just checking,” Santana nodded. “Now let’s hear some embarrassing stories about Blaine and Kurt.”

“How they met is probably the most embarrassing story they have so far,” Sebastian smirked.

“Jeff took the photo, I think I’m going to start blaming him,” Blaine pouted.

“You’re the one that tweeted it without looking at it,” Jeff countered.

“It was the best mistake of my life, though,” Blaine shrugged. “I don’t think I would have found the courage to contact him otherwise.”

Quinn and Jeff “aww”ed at that and Blaine laughed, causing Santana and Sebastian to roll their eyes.

“We’ve been on a few romantic dates but we spend most of our time just hanging out together,” Blaine said. “We can’t really go out too much without the paparazzi getting annoying.”

“And so you’re forced to stay home,” Sebastian added with a smirk. “It’s a good thing we made the office soundproof.”

Blaine blushed and went quiet.

“Thad, you’ve been pretty quiet throughout this whole conversation,” Quinn pointed out. “Have you got anything to say about your soulmate?”

“Like Sebastian said – who my soulmate is is my own business,” Thad said.

“No hints?” Santana prompted. “Even a gender would be newsworthy.”

“I don’t actually know the gender,” Thad said, laughing slightly. “It’s a unisex name so I have no idea what gender they are.”

“Really?” Jeff asked.

“Yeah,” Thad nodded.

“You never told us that, now I’m really curious,” Jeff pouted.

“Sorry, man,” Thad laughed.

They played another song and recorded a few more conversations for the girls’ blog before they had to say goodbye to Quinn and Santana, though Blaine had a feeling he’d been seeing them again.

Chapter Text

From the moment Sebastian walked out of his door Hunter knew he had been out of line. When the surge of Sebastian’s arousal came through the connection later that day his guilt only intensified. He knew they had both been adamant about not being exclusive, but all the same Hunter was feeling immensely jealous that someone else was sleeping with his soulmate.

The only thing he wanted more than keeping his soulmate a secret was to apologise to Sebastian, and he knew that having both would mean walking a very thin line.

He sent yet another text which went unanswered. It was unsurprising, he could tell by now that Sebastian was ignoring him.

Due to his injured arm, Hunter had been given time off work, but he still had access to the information his company kept. Information that told him the time and place any act that used that company would be playing. A quick look at the most recent schedule showed him exactly when The Warblers’ next sound check would be.

Hunter knew he was out of options and so he resigned himself to waiting by the stage door for his soulmate on Friday afternoon. He messaged Sebastian again to let him know that he would be there, but, as expected, he got no reply.

One of the other Warblers approached the door first, it was the short, dark-haired drummer that Hunter didn’t know the name of. He looked at Hunter curiously before asking, “Can I help you?”

“I need to talk to Sebastian,” Hunter answered.

“Why?” the drummer asked sceptically.

Hunter sighed. He had hoped he wouldn’t have had to speak to the other Warblers. “I need to apologise to him for something. Can you at least tell me if he’s on his way?”

“He should only be a few minutes,” the drummer continued to look at him curiously as he replied. “You look really familiar.”

“I do lighting and AV here sometimes,” Hunter explained. “I’ve worked a couple of your shows.”

The drummer nodded, seemingly convinced, and disappeared inside.

It only took a few more minutes for Sebastian to arrive with Jeff, the tall blonde one that had sat on him when he nearly got caught in Sebastian’s bed.

Sebastian’s eyebrow’s furrowed when he saw Hunter, but something like hope appeared in his eyes.

“Sebastian–”

“Jeff, can you go in and help Thad set up?” Sebastian said, trying not to look at his soulmate. “I’ll bring the rest of the gear in.”

“Sebastian, I’m sorry for the other day,” Hunter apologised. “I was out of line and I let my temper get the better of me.”

“You came all the way out here to apologise?” Sebastian raised a questioning eyebrow. “You must have really hated that I was with someone else last night.”

“I’ve been trying to apologise since you left my place,” Hunter said through gritted teeth. “But you haven’t been picking up your phone–”

“I was ignoring you. I wanted space, I thought you could at least respect that I was pissed at you.”

“I get that, but I needed you to know how sorry I am,” Hunter was becoming frustrated. “If you won’t listen to me, then I hope you enjoyed the sex with that guy last night. Because it’s all you’re going to get from now on.”

Hunter walked away, leaving his soulmate standing, slightly shocked, alone at the side of the building.

“What was that about?” Blaine asked, having only caught the tail-end of the argument.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sebastian huffed, running a hand through his hair.

“It didn’t look like that,” Blaine persisted. “Who was he?”

“No one,” he exhaled deeply. “Just some guy I’ve been seeing.”

“He was the one Jeff sat on,” Blaine nodded, recognising him.

Sebastian didn’t confirm nor deny that, instead he turned away from Blaine to collect the rest of the gear and bring it inside.

Blaine didn’t push the topic further, but he could tell that something was off with Sebastian – and had been for a few days.

The band had assembled inside, with Jeff already tuning his bass when Blaine and Sebastian joined them.

“I know it’s only been a week, but I’ve missed playing on a stage so much,” Blaine sighed.

“Nothing can compare to it,” Jeff agreed.

“Wes is going to be late, he just messaged me saying he’s on his way,” Blaine announced. “He’s been trying to get us some studio time.”

“Sebastian, there was a guy waiting outside when I got here, did he talk to you?” Thad asked.

“I sorted it out,” he nodded, quickly changing the subject. “Are we playing the new song tonight?”

“I know it’s not completely finished but I’d really love to play it and see how they respond to it,” Blaine said, and Jeff nodded his agreement.

“I don’t see why not,” Thad shrugged. “Are Kurt and Nick coming tonight?”

“I’m going to see Kurt later to invite him,” Blaine answered.

“Nick should be coming too,” Jeff nodded.

“Have either of them heard the song yet?” Thad asked as they picked up their instruments and walked onto the stage.

“Tonight will be the first time,” Blaine said. “So make it good, okay?”

OoO

Blaine was impressed when he visited Kurt’s office for the first time that afternoon. He spoke to the receptionist and was then shown upstairs to where he would find his soulmate.

“Quite an impressive place you’ve got here,” Blaine gestured to the spacious room around him.

“Well some of us have to work in offices, so we might as well make it look good,” Kurt smirked. “What prompted this visit?”

“Do you have plans for tonight?” Kurt shook his head. “Perfect,” Blaine grinned, pulling an envelope out of his pocket. “I have a ticket for our show tonight if you’re interested.”

“I’d love to.” Kurt’s whole face lit up with excitement.

“Great,” Blaine beamed. “I tried to get two so you could bring Rachel or someone but there weren’t many left so I thought maybe you could get to know Jeff’s soulmate Nick or–” Blaine’s rambling was interrupted with a kiss.

“It’s fine, I’m excited to see you play,” Kurt smiled. “Now I have to find an outfit, though.”

“I look forward to seeing what you can come up with such short notice,” Blaine laughed. “There’s a backstage pass in there as well, so you can come back after the show if you can deal with our level of insanity.”

“It’ll be like being back in glee club in high school,” Kurt said wistfully.

“Rachel, Quinn and Santana were all in your glee club?” Kurt nodded. “Then I suppose it will be something like that.”

“Sorry, Kurt,” Tina interrupted them. “We need you for this meeting. Can you be downstairs in five?”

“Sure, Tina,” Kurt nodded.

“I better go, I’ve got a show to play,” Blaine grinned, giving his soulmate a parting kiss before leaving.

OoO

“You’re home!” Jeff exclaimed, leaping up to greet his soulmate as he walked through the door.

“So are you!” Nick laughed, burying himself in his boyfriend’s offered arms.

“It’s a late show tonight so I have something planned for you beforehand,” Jeff said, leading his soulmate further inside. “Put your stuff away and follow me up to the roof.”

“I’m intrigued,” Nick smiled, stowing his bag in Jeff’s room before grabbing his coat and following him back outside. With their hands linked, Jeff led the way upstairs and out onto the roof.

“Is that a picnic?” Nick asked, grinning, as he took in the picnic blanket sitting on the rooftop of Jeff’s apartment building.

“I wanted to do something romantic to celebrate the end of your first week of work,” Jeff shrugged with a shy smile.

“I love you,” Nick said, pulling his soulmate closer and kissing him softly.

“Love you too,” Jeff smiled, somewhat breathlessly. “Shall we?” He gestured to the rug and they sat down together.

“This is so romantic,” Nick laughed, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“I must be hanging around Blaine too much,” Jeff said, pulling out a box of pizza from the far side of the blanket. “Pizza is completely romantic too, isn’t it? I should have had Blaine cook us something; I would have set something on fire if I’d tried to cook myself.”

“I’ll have to teach you someday then,” Nick smiled, imagining all of the afternoons they could spend together cooking and baking and licking batter off each other’s fingers. “Pizza is wonderful, though.”

The sun was beginning to set by the time they had finished eating and Nick was lying back on Jeff’s stomach, both of them gazing out at the colours the sunset left on the sky.

“I have one last surprise for you tonight,” Jeff said, sitting up straighter as Nick did the same. “I heard this song the other day and I realised there was no way I couldn’t sing it for you, especially here.”

Nick watched curiously as Jeff stood up to fetch the guitar he had left by the entrance to the roof. He sat back down opposite Nick and began strumming, his mouth set in the shy smile that Nick adored.

“We ran past strawberry fields and smelt the summertime, when it gets dark I'll hold your body close to mine, and then we'll find some wood and hell we'll build a fire, and then we'll find some rope and make a swinging tyre.”

Nick tried to place whether he had heard the song before as Jeff sang.

“Captivated by the way you look tonight, the light is dancing in your eyes, your sweet eyes.”

In the shadows of the sunset the light really was dancing in Nick’s eyes, Jeff couldn’t have picked better song.

“It's times like these we'll never forget, staying out to watch the sunset, I'm glad I shared this with you, cause you set me free, show me how good my life could be, how could this happen to me?”

Nick recognised the song as one from McFly and he realised how fitting it was to them, it described the carefree love they had experienced over the past week perfectly.

“And then I'll swing you girl until you fall asleep, but when you wake up you'll be lying next to me, we'll go to Hollywood, make you a movie star, I want the world to know how beautiful you are.”

Nick blushed as Jeff sang the second verse, he had never been called beautiful before and he never expected anyone to think that highly of him.

“Captivated by the way you look tonight, the light is dancing in your eyes, your sweet eyes.”

Jeff grinned wider when he saw the effect he was having on his soulmate.

“It's times like these we'll never forget, staying out to watch the sunset, I'm glad I shared this with you, cause you set me free, show me how good my life could be, how did you happen to me?”

Both boys smiled as Jeff repeated the chorus before moving into the bridge.

“There are no secrets to be told, nothing we don't already know.”

Nick smiled wider and sung the ‘bum, bum, bum’s – the first time Jeff had ever heard him sing.

“We got no fears of growing old, we got no worries in the world.”

Jeff finished the song with a grin and placed the guitar back on the ground.

The combination of the song and the picnic left Nick speechless and wondering what he had done to deserve such a wonderful soulmate. He took Jeff’s hand and pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around his soulmate, hoping the action would say what words couldn’t.

“So I take it you liked the song?” Jeff laughed.

“It was perfect,” Nick said, releasing him from the hug but maintaining his hold on Jeff’s right wrist –the one with his name written on it.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Jeff nodded.

“Words fail to describe how much I enjoyed it,” Nick said, deciding to show Jeff how much the song meant to him in a kiss. The kiss started off slow, but became more heated when Nick opened his mouth and traced his tongue along his soulmate’s lips as his hands roamed down Jeff’s back.

“What time do you have to leave for your show tonight?” Nick whispered, breaking his lips apart from his soulmate’s. “I want to show you exactly how much I loved the song.”

“I’ve got time,” Jeff said, understanding what Nick was implying.

OoO

@BlaineWarbler: We’re so excited to see you all tonight! @JeffSterling6 and I are looking forward to playing our first show for our soulmates

@NickDuval3: @BlaineWarbler Technically not @JeffSterling6’s first show for me, I was there last week

@BlaineWarbler: How could I forget? RT “@NickDuval3: Technically not @JeffSterling6’s first show, I was there last week”

OoO

There is a moment, just before he steps onto the stage, before the lights blind him from seeing the audience, that lets Sebastian see every face in the crowd. On most nights, it’s his favourite part of the show – a reminder of why he does what he does night after night.

But that night, amongst the excited faces of the screaming fans, Sebastian saw one face that was burned into his eyes for the rest of the show.

Hunter was there. Hunter shouldn’t be there. Hunter could hurt his arm even worse in that crowd – wait, why was that his first thought? He was pissed at Hunter, and his soulmate was equally as angry at him. So why did he want to run back off the stage and see if he was alright?

The stage lights stopped him from being able to see Hunter’s face, but the image from when he stepped out was still fresh in his mind. He managed to lose himself in the music for most of their set, the rush of energy from being on stage with his friends was enough to make him forget for a while.

It wasn’t until the last song of their show, when they turned the lights down to play the new song, that Sebastian could see Hunter clearly again. He was still standing in the front row, his arm in a sling and his hair lightly gelled the way Sebastian liked it best.

Blaine played the opening of the song on the piano, the notes and Hunter’s face the only things in Sebastian’s mind. Two things happened at once and it all became too much for Sebastian. Jeff began singing the words that he had helped to write. The words he wrote about the soulmate he was so confused about – his soulmate who was standing a few feet away from him with no idea what he had done to Sebastian.

And the other thing happened so quickly and so suddenly that he would have missed it if he wasn’t staring at Hunter. Someone pushed past him, trying to get closer to the stage, and Sebastian felt the pain shoot up his arm the same moment he saw Hunter’s face screw up in a grimace.

The song rose into its chorus, signalling that Sebastian was supposed to start playing but his arm was throbbing and Hunter was in pain and he just couldn’t take it anymore.

He unplugged his guitar, lifted the strap over his head and placed it into the stand as he walked offstage.

Chapter Text

…He unplugged his guitar, lifted the strap over his head and placed it into the stand as he walked offstage.

When Sebastian left abruptly and without explanation, Blaine had no idea what to do. His hands kept playing as if on auto-pilot and he shared confused glances with Jeff and Thad as they negotiated through a series of shrugs and nods to keep playing a shorter version of their newest song. Blaine took over Sebastian’s vocal parts until the song came to a rushed conclusion, when they thanked the audience as usual before rushing off to find their missing band mate.

He wasn’t hard to find, sitting on the floor of the green room with his head between his legs. His phone was clutched in his hand with a vice-like grip.

“Sebastian?” Blaine knelt down next to him. “What happened?”

“And don’t say nothing, because there’s definitely something going on,” Jeff added.

“Soulmate pain,” Sebastian answered through gritted teeth. “His arm again, but it’s fading now.”

“You’re sure that’s all?” Thad asked.

“Guys, please just leave it,” he pleaded. His phone buzzed and his face hardened as he read the screen. “Tell everyone I’m feeling sick, I need to go home.”

His band mates stepped back instinctively as Sebastian stood up, leaning on the wall for support. “I’ll see you at home, okay?”

“Okay,” Blaine nodded. Sebastian exited out the back door and the three remaining band mates shared a helpless look.

OoO

“Mr Duval?” Nick was waiting at the side of the stage after the show when one of his students approached him.

“Marley? You’re a Warbler fan?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m a huge fan,” she answered with her usual smile. “I didn’t know you were too.”

“I’ve been a fan for a while, and my soulmate’s the bass player.” Nick felt an air of awkwardness whenever he told people who his soulmate was, and he wasn’t sure why.

“Jeff Sterling is your soulmate?” her eyes went wide with pleasant surprise.

“Yeah,” Nick nodded, pulling up his sleeve slightly to reveal the name on his skin.

“Well this day just got a whole lot more awesome,” she grinned, then added. “I won a backstage pass.”

“That’s great,” Nick nodded as David, the security, finally let them backstage after checking their passes.

“Guys, please try to behave in this meet and greet,” Nick could hear Wes saying before his attention was diverted to the crowd of fans entering the room. Nick used the distraction to greet his boyfriend.

“Is Sebastian alright?” he asked, concerned.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with him,” Jeff said, frowning slightly. “We need to get through the rest of the night first though.”

“You were fantastic tonight, by the way – as usual,” Nick grinned, kissing the worry lines on his soulmate’s forehead.

“Those jeans are fantastic, so is your ass, as usual,” Jeff smirked, taking the bait of Nick’s distraction. “Tomorrow’s a Saturday, right?”

“It is, why?”

“Because I don’t think you’ll be getting much sleep tonight and I’m glad I won’t have to feel guilty it’s on a school night.”

“Speaking of school,” Nick laughed shakily, slightly distracted by what Jeff was talking about. “One of my students is in the meet and greet group over there.” They both looked over to the group. “She’s the brown-haired one staring at us.”

“Shall we give her something to stare at?” Jeff pulled his soulmate closer and dipped him, kissing him heatedly and earning a wolf-whistle from Thad.

Nick blushed and whispered into the blonde boy’s ear, “I’m getting you back for that tonight.”

“I look forward to it,” he grinned.

“Keep it in your pants you two,” Wes scolded them. “Nick, stop distracting him.” Nick opened his mouth to defend himself but Wes glared at him and he raised his hands in defeat.

“I’ll go keep Kurt company, then,” Nick rolled his eyes, walking over to where Kurt was sitting out of the way in the corner of the room.

“You’ve been shunned too?” Nick asked.

“I just wanted to stay out of the way,” Kurt answered. “It’s interesting to watch them being all professional like this.”

OoO

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sebastian met his soulmate outside the stage door.

“I came to apologise again.” The dull light from the streetlamp left Hunter’s face in shadows but Sebastian could still see the anguished look on his face.

“You didn’t get it all out this afternoon?”

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier, and what I said the other day,” Hunter said, pleading. “Sebastian, please, you don’t understand what it’s doing to me knowing that you hate me.”

“I don’t understand? Don’t even get me started, Hunter.”

“Let it all out, Sebastian! Please just tell me what’s going on with you.”

“Fine!” Sebastian shouted. “Fine. I’m sick of you being so ashamed of me that you made your own housemate swear not to say a word about us. I’m sick of watching Blaine and Jeff be with their soulmates and wishing I could have something that feels even remotely like that. I’m sick of the constant secrecy and having to lie to my friends about where I am and who I’m with. ‘What’s going on with me’ is that I think I’m really falling for you and I know we can’t keep going like this if I have these feelings.”

Sebastian was out of breath and Hunter looked like he’d just been slapped.

“Is that really what you think?” Hunter asked softly. Sebastian gave him a pointed look. “I’m not ashamed of you, Sebastian. I thought this was what you wanted.”

“I did,” Sebastian said. “I just… I can’t help what I feel. And after seeing what’s happened with Blaine and Jeff, I don’t want to go through all of that publicity myself.”

Hunter stepped forward and took his soulmate’s hand in his own. “So we take baby steps. We talk about this, and decide what to do from there. Okay?”

“Okay,” he nodded. He tugged on Hunter’s good hand, bringing his soulmate closer as his other hand cupped his soulmate’s cheek. They rested their foreheads together briefly before Sebastian pressed his lips to Hunter’s in a soft kiss.

“So where do we go from here?” Sebastian asked after a moment.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Home.”

OoO

The meet and greet seemed to drag on for Blaine as he worried about his band mate. Blaine usually loved meeting fans after each show, but it got increasingly difficult to smile and chat with them the more he thought about what was going on with Sebastian. He had been acting strangely for a few weeks, more irritable than usual and spending even less time at home.

When the last fans had their photos taken and autographs signed, there was no discussion of any post-show drinks or food like there often was. Instead, Blaine and Jeff were eager to head home and speak to Sebastian, with Thad insisting that he be kept updated.

Blaine knocked on Sebastian’s door when he finally got home, and he could hear murmured voices through the wood.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he heard an unfamiliar voice say. “You don’t have to rush this, I’m going to be here whatever you choose.”

“I know,” Sebastian replied to the voice before calling, “just a minute!” to Blaine.

A moment later Sebastian’s door opened and he stepped out, quickly shutting the door behind him. “Where’s Jeff? I want to talk to you together.”

“He’s in the living room with Nick and Kurt,” Blaine answered. Sebastian nodded and followed Blaine, sitting his band mates down on the couch as he paced in front of them.

“Is everything okay?” Jeff asked.

“Yes,” Sebastian stopped his pacing, looking directly at his friends – and noticing that their respective soulmates were beside them. “I, um…” he took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I met my soulmate–”

“Wow!”

“–a few months ago.”

“Oh.”

“But we decided not to tell anyone up until now.”

“Well,” Jeff said. “You have to admit this explains a lot.”

“Is he here?” Blaine asked.

“You heard him through the door before?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, he’s in my room.”

“There’s no rush, but I’d like to meet him when you’re ready.”

“Maybe, uh,” Sebastian ran a hand through his hair again. “Maybe not tonight, we’re taking baby steps. But yeah, I’m excited for you to meet him – Hunter, his name’s Hunter by the way. And we’ve only just decided to tell you so we’re definitely not ready for anyone else to find out.”

“We’ll be careful,” Jeff said, “no twitter and no photos.”

“Wait a minute, you met him months ago?” Kurt asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “And you’ve been lying to everyone ever since?”

“I suppose you could put it that way,” Sebastian replied uncomfortably.

“You’ve been keeping something as important as your soulmate a secret from everyone for months? I know I haven’t known you that long but I thought you guys were like brothers. I thought you trusted each other.”

“Kurt–” Blaine’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at his soulmate.

“No, someone has to point out how messed up this is,” Kurt defended himself.

“I’m telling you now, isn’t that enough?” Sebastian snapped.

Kurt shook his head, standing up from the couch. “I should go, Blaine, I’m sorry.”

“Wait, Kurt–”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Kurt’s face softened as he waved farewell to Nick and Jeff before leaving.

“He was way out of line,” Nick offered words of comfort to Sebastian.

“Whatever,” he replied, storming off to his room.

OoO

Fans of popular band ‘The Warblers’ took to social media last night following guitarist Sebastian Smythe’s dramatic exit from the stage during a concert in New York. Smythe was described by those present as looking unwell throughout the show before he left the stage abruptly during the band’s final song.

The hashtag #WeLoveYouSebastian trended worldwide on twitter as fans showed their support for the guitarist’s mystery ailment. No comment has been made by any of the members of the band or their management at the time of posting.

OoO

Wes was at the boys’ apartment first thing the next morning, however Nick was the only one up and he was likely to be of little use to the manager.

“Morning,” Nick said in greeting, looking up from the stack of papers he was grading.

“Is anyone else awake yet? I really need to talk to the boys about last night.”

“Jeff’s still asleep and I haven’t seen Blaine or Sebastian yet, so I don’t think they’re up yet either,” Nick answered.

“So Sebastian’s here then?” At Nick’s nod Wes sighed with relief. “Thank goodness. Last night was a PR disaster, and the image of the band isn’t exactly in a great place to start with. If he had gotten into any more trouble I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Did you want some coffee while you wait? Or I can get Jeff up if you want?” Nick offered.

“Thanks, but if they’re not up I can make better use of my time at the office.” Wes paused, looking at the soulmate of one if his oldest friends. “Unless you know what happened last night? You’re practically one of my boys at this rate anyway.”

“I do know what happened,” Nick began slowly. “But I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you.”

“He’s not dying is he? Terminally ill?”

“No, nothing like that. But it seemed really personal to Sebastian and I think he’d probably rather tell you himself.”

“I get it,” Wes nodded. “Thanks Nick. Tell the boys to call me when they’re up.”

“Sure,” Nick promised. When the door closed behind Wes, Nick glanced back down at the pile of papers in front of him and decided that they could wait. He would make breakfast and then wake Jeff up, hopefully getting some time alone with his soulmate before their lives got in the way again.

OoO

Blaine woke to a dozen messages from Kurt and the scent of eggs and coffee coming from the kitchen. He glanced at the screen of his phone before deciding that his stomach could come before his relationship that morning.

After pulling on a pair of pants and an old hoodie, Blaine found Nick to be the culprit of the wonderful smell coming from the stovetop.

“They smell amazing, Nick,” Blaine said, peering into the pan.

“Oh, hey, Blaine. I only made enough for two – sorry, I didn’t know when you’d be up,” Nick apologised, eyes wide and sincere. “I can get you coffee though?”

“Don’t worry, you two enjoy your morning off,” Blaine smiled, grabbing a mug from a cupboard and pouring coffee. “I need to talk to Kurt anyway.”

“That reminds me – Wes was here earlier, he wanted you to call him when you were up. He called last night ‘a PR disaster’.” Nick’s fingers made air quotation marks around Wes’ words.

“I hadn’t even thought about that,” Blaine sighed, leaning against the countertop and running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t checked twitter this morning but I can only imagine what’s happening on there.”

“One thing at a time: call Kurt, then Wes and then you can worry about the internet.”

Blaine nodded, taking a sip from the mug in his hands. “Priorities.”

“Priorities,” Nick echoed.

“Thanks, Nick,” Blaine said, walking back to his room.

When he sat back down on his bed he glanced at his phone again and finally read through all of the messages Kurt had sent his throughout the night – a series of apologies time stamped from 10 minutes after he’d left the night before, all the way through to the early hours of the morning.

Blaine’s thumb hovered over the ‘call’ button but he knew it would be better to talk in person. He couldn’t risk having Kurt and Sebastian in the same room, so he sent his soulmate a text offering to meet at a café halfway between their apartments. Hopefully the coffee and food would ease any tension between them.

He called Wes next, putting his phone on speaker as he got ready to meet Kurt.

“Blaine! Finally someone in this band is awake,” Wes skipped the formal greetings.

“Sorry, it ended up being a late night after we got home.”

“Are you going to tell me what happened? I’m struggling to imagine what was so huge that Sebastian had to run off the stage in the middle of a set and so top secret that Nick wouldn’t tell me.”

“I wish I could tell you Wes, but it really is something Sebastian needs to explain to you himself.”

A sigh crackled through the line. “You’ve been no help at all, Blaine. Band meeting as soon as I hear back from Sebastian.”

“Can it wait until this afternoon? I’m about to leave to see Kurt – him and Sebastian got into a fight last night and I need to see him.”

“I did not need to hear that this morning, please tell me Jeff and Nick are still drama free. At least one person in that house needs to be happy.”

“They’re fine, Nick’s making him breakfast,” Blaine laughed.

“Good. I’ll be around later, make sure you’re all there, this is important.”

“Got it, see you later, Wes,” Blaine replied, checking himself over in the mirror and ending the call.

OoO

When Sebastian woke in his own bed with his soulmate pressed against his side, his immediate reaction was to panic. His instinct had been trained over the past few months, and now it was a strange feeling to know that he didn’t have to be afraid of his housemates finding out his secret. His body relaxed and Sebastian sat up slowly, resting his back against the headboard. Hunter smiled sleepily up at him when he noticed that his soulmate was awake.

“Morning,” he said, looking down at his soulmate. Hunter replied by pressing a kiss to Sebastian’s stomach, which was the closest part of him he could reach.

Sebastian stroked one hand through Hunter’s hair while he picked his phone up off the nightstand with the other.

“Shit,” he mumbled, scrolling through his missed calls and texts.

“What is it?” Hunter asked.

“Wes – our manager – has been calling me, he’s probably trying to deal with what happened onstage last night.”

Hunter traced his fingers along Sebastian’s stomach for a moment. “What are you going to tell him?” he asked, avoiding eye contact with his soulmate.

“I’m going to tell him about you – he’s Wes, he’d find out anyway. But I don’t know what to tell the media and the fans. I’m not ready for them to know the truth.”

“It’s completely up to you, babe,” Hunter said. “Say it was food poisoning if that’s what you have to do. As long as I get you like this,” he placed another kiss to his soulmate’s bare stomach, “then I don’t care about all that other stuff.”

They stayed in bed for a while longer, sharing lazy kisses until the sound of Hunter’s stomach grumbling made them both laugh.

“Come on, I’ll make you breakfast – or maybe it’s lunch by now,” Sebastian offered.

“But won’t you’re housemates be–”

“I think I want them to meet you,” Sebastian said.

“Okay. I want to meet them too.”

After pulling on some clothes, but purposefully leaving their cuffs off, the pair left Sebastian’s room together for the first time. Sebastian’s nerves were only betrayed by the death grip he had on Hunter’s good hand. His soulmate squeezed back gently in support.

Jeff and Nick were sitting at the kitchen table when they entered the room.

“Jeff, Nick, this is Hunter, my soulmate” Sebastian said, noticing the way their eyes flicked to the name on his exposed wrist before looking to the man beside him. “Hunter, I’d like to introduce you to Jeff and his soulmate, Nick.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Nick greeted.

“It’s nice to finally to put a name and a face to you,” Jeff said. “I’m sorry for that time I sat on you, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Hunter replied.

“Jeff, could you pour us some coffee?” Sebastian asked. “I need to call Wes.”

“Sure,” his band mate nodded. Sebastian gave Hunter’s hand one last squeeze before disappearing into the office to make the call.

“Here you go,” Jeff said, placing a mug down on the table and offering a seat to the man standing awkwardly in their kitchen.

“Thanks,” Hunter said, taking the offered seat. His body was tense but he was trying his best to make a good impression on his soulmate’s friends. “I know it must be weird for you, dealing with all of this.”

“It’s certainly not the most normal way to go about a soulmate relationship, but you make him happy and that’s all we can ask for,” Jeff said.

“So you don’t care that we kept it from you for so long? I couldn’t help overhearing last night.”

“It’s your relationship,” Jeff replied. “It’s not how I would have done it, but if it’s what you wanted you just have to do what feels right.”

“I totally get why you wanted to keep it from the press,” Nick added. “I mean, being with Jeff is worth it, but having that many people watching our relationship is definitely intimidating.”

Hunter took a sip from his mug, counting it as a victory that they seemed to be getting along. His body slowly relaxed and they sat in a comfortable silence until Sebastian returned a few moments later, taking the seat beside Hunter.

“Wes will be here in about an hour,” he said. “I need to apologise to him – but mostly to you, Blaine and Thad – about last night.”

“You didn’t get around to telling us exactly what it was that made you run off stage,” Jeff said.

Hunter’s good hand was resting on the table, and Sebastian placed his own hand over it before speaking. “Hunter was at the concert last night,” he began. “I saw him before we went onstage and then when we were playing the new song I–”

“–the crowd surged and someone got pushed into my arm,” Hunter explained, squeezing his soulmate’s hand comfortingly.

“I felt it through the connection, and I needed to be alone until it passed,” Sebastian explained.

“That makes sense,” Jeff nodded. “The others will understand too.”

“I hope so,” Sebastian said, looking at his soulmate, hopeful for the first time.

OoO

@Warblerfamily: Omg you’ll never guess who’s sitting two tables down from me at this café! @KHummel & @BlaineWarbler and they look like they’re on a date!

@Warble_On_6: @Warblerfamily you are so lucky omg are they holding hands? Are they kissing?? I don’t think I can handle this

@Kaitlyn_Hummel: @Warblerfamily What is Kurt wearing?? He always tweets an ootd photo if he’s going somewhere but he hasn’t tweeted yet today

@MrsASmythe: @Warblerfamily im dying I cant even they are so cute together

@MrsASmythe: @Warblerfamily pls tweet a pic!

 

When Blaine arrived at the café, Kurt was already waiting for him. He was sat at a table near the back with two cups of coffee in front of him.

“You remembered my coffee order?” Blaine asked, his face automatically splitting into a smile at the sight of his soulmate.

“Of course I did,” Kurt replied, leaning over to greet his boyfriend with a kiss. “I’m glad you messaged me, I really want to apologise for last night.”

“It’s okay–”

“It’s not. I was insensitive towards Sebastian,” Kurt said, cutting his soulmate off. “He’s obviously struggling with his relationship with his soulmate and I should have kept my opinions to myself.”

“It was a weird situation, no one really knew how to process it so no one blames you,” Blaine reassured him. He placed his hand on the table, palm up so that the name on his wrist was visible. Kurt slid his own hand into his soulmate’s and they sat in a comfortable silence while they drank their coffees.

 

@Warblerfamily: @Warble_On_6 they kissed when they first sat down but they’ve just been talking since then

@Warblerfamily: @Kaitlyn_Hummel I can’t tell what Kurt’s wearing from here, sorry! Maybe he’ll tweet later?

@Warblerfamily: @MrsASmythe I don’t want to invade their privacy so no photos sorry

@Warblerfamily: they’ve both got coffees and they’re just talking to each other

@Warblerfamily: aww they’re holding hands over the table now & I can see a soulmate mark!

 

As they chatted about Kurt’s work and the latest embarrassing thing Rachel had done, Blaine noticed there was still tension in the way his soulmate was holding himself.

“You’re not over this are you?” Blaine asked, sensing his soulmate’s agitation. “I can tell you have more to say.”

“I just think of meeting your soulmate as a big romantic thing, you know? And then you tell everyone you know and they can share in your happiness.”

“Can you at least see where he’s coming from?” Blaine asked, exasperated.

 

@Warblerfamily: woah I think I should stop tweeting now this seems like a really personal conversation

@MrsASmythe: @Warblerfamily what?? Don’t stop there

 

“If I squint really hard, maybe,” Kurt replied. “I’m sorry, Blaine, but I can’t understand why he would keep it from you for so long. I understand not telling everyone at first, but that’s months of deception. You boys are like brothers, and to me it looks like he betrayed that trust.”

“It’s a good thing he’s not your friend then. He’s been my friend for years and I can forgive him for keeping this secret until he was comfortable telling us. Surely you of all people should remember what that’s like, Kurt.” Blaine shook his head and left, leaving Kurt standing alone feeling like he’d just been slapped.

 

@Warblerfamily: Blaine just stormed off and Kurt left like a minute after that

@Kaitlyn_Hummel: @Warblerfamily what?? My poor boys I hope everything’s okay

@Warble_On_6: @Warblerfamily could you hear what they were fighting about??

@Blaines_girl: @Warblerfamily I thought they were soulmates, they’re not supposed to fight

@MrsASmythe: @Warblerfamily @Blaines_girl maybe they’re not soulmates after all. Could be the right name but the wrong person

@Warblerfamily: sorry guys I really shouldn’t have tweeted about this

@Warblerfamily: I won’t delete the tweets but im not going to say any more about what I saw, the boys will tell us what’s going on when they’re ready

 

@BlaineWarbler: .@Warblerfamily we’re sorry you had to witness that, it was a small issue that got out of hand (cont.)

@BlaineWarbler: (cont.) and we shouldn’t have brought it into a public place. Kurt and I are still very much in love but even the best relationship (cont.)

@BlaineWarbler: (cont.) will never be perfect, soulmates will disagree sometimes. It’s perfectly normal and can make the relationship even stronger

@BlaineWarbler: #WeLoveOurFans #Klaine4ever