Back To Our Roots, Book One

CXVIII. See? They Aren't The Bad Guys

"Guys, do you know where Thad is?" Matt asked, joining Sebastian on the couch. He almost unconsciously slid his arm around Sebastian's waist, fitting into his side like a puzzle piece.

Kurt frowned worriedly. "I haven't seen him since Ryan went to talk to him. Either they made up or they're tearing each other's heads off."

Jeff yawned, stretching. "I haven't heard any furious yelling in Spanish, so I'd say they're not tearing each other's heads off. I'd look for them but I'm absolutely exhausted."

"I don't think you're the only one," David said, nodding to Wes, who had fallen asleep with his head on David's shoulder.

Nick smiled at the pair. "You know, he really trusts you." David looked to him, confused. "You know what would happen if he fell asleep out in the open for the better part of his life? You can tell he still has those survival instincts. But he knows he's safe enough to be completely defenseless when you're right there."

David smiled softly, looking at Wes. "I... I never thought of it like that."

"I guess Sebastian trusts everything, because he'd fall asleep just about anywhere," Matt teased.

Sebastian laughed. "No, that means I'm fucking tired."

Blaine chuckled. "Great job, you two ruined the moment."

He... Did they? Matt looked down, burrowing into Sebastian's side. His eyes watered against his will. He was trying to make a joke, not ruin the moment.

Kurt immediately elbowed Blaine, seeing the look on Matt's face. "He's joking."

Blaine rubbed his arm, looking at Kurt like what-the-hell-was-that-for? Kurt just gave him a severe shut-up-before-I-end-you look.

Jeff yawned again. "Okay, that's one yawn too many. I'm going to turn in early."

"Yeah, I think we will too," David said, attempting to wake Wes.

Nick bit his lip. He didn't want Jeff to leave him, but he was not about to sleep.

"I'm pretty tired too," he said before he talked himself out of it, following Jeff up to their dorm. His need to stay close to Jeff won out against his fear of falling asleep. It was hard enough to keep his mind off everything when he was awake, if he fell asleep...

He didn't want to think about it.

Kurt and Blaine were deep in a conversation entirely composed of looks of varying severity. They didn't look like they were paying attention to much.

Matt nuzzled into the crook of Sebastian's neck, causing Sebastian to chuckle. "What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

He answered by kissing the back of his neck, trailing around to the side of it and then down his shoulder. Sebastian didn't say anything, eyes fluttering shut.

Then he moved back up to the starting point, repeating the trail but this time sucking and biting on the skin. Shivers ran down Sebastian's spine that both of them could feel.

Kurt and Blaine left without even glancing in their direction, oblivious. As soon as they got out of earshot, Blaine spoke up.

"Okay, what was that for? I was making a joke."

Kurt shook his head. "You can't really say stuff like that around Matt right now. He's... Sensitive."

"Isn't he usually?" Blaine asked, confused. "Wait, is this about how he was really sick a while ago and then got better but has more energy than a human should have?"

Kurt chuckled. "Um, kinda."

"Do you know what's going on?"

Kurt paused, thinking of how to word it. "If I knew what it was, then I wouldn't tell you, because it's Matt's thing to tell people, not mine."

Blaine nodded. "I get that. But you know, right?"

He laughed. "Yes, Blaine, I think I know. I don't know for sure, though."

While Blaine tried to find his key in his bag, Kurt simply tried the door handle and it opened.

"...Oh," Blaine said, clearly not expecting that.

"We have a roommate, you know," Kurt chuckled, walking in.

"Well, it's not that late, I didn't know if he'd be in here yet."

"What's his story?" Sawyer's voice interrupted them.

They looked over. He was in the bathroom, bandaging his wrist. He glanced over at them. "Clarington. He was you guys' old roommate. What's his story?"

"He's an asshole," Blaine answered bluntly.

"We don't know his story, just the part of it where he's at Dalton," Kurt said. "And he's not pure asshole. If he was pure asshole, I would be dead."

Sawyer actually looked mildly interested at that. "What'd he do?"

"He put two and two together. It's not that impressive," Blaine said.

"He also kicked in a door, and was the only person, out of six other people, who put those two together," Kurt argued.

Sawyer walked out to his bed, sitting on it. "I'm lost."

"Why do you want to know?" Kurt asked, sitting across from him on Blaine's bed.

"And what happened there?" Blaine asked, nodding to his wrist and sitting next to Kurt.

"Those have the same answer. I tried to apologize to him for Blake messing with him, but before I could get a word out he grabbed my wrist, told me to fuck off, pushed me away and left. He has rather sharp nails."

Kurt winced, and so did Blaine, but for different reasons. "I mean, you were trying to do the right thing. Being force-kissed is not pleasant, I can tell you that."

"You've been force-kissed?" Sawyer asked interestedly.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Anyway, Hunter's story. Well, he and Sebastian– you know Sebastian, right? Okay– used to date, until Sebastian just decided one day to break up with him. It was random for us, and all Sebastian said was that some of the things he said were damaging. Um, bit of a long story with what happened with him, but we found out Hunter was both verbally and physically abusive. Blaine– you don't have to look so shocked– and I were still roommates with him, we just ignored him. Um... God, this part is harder so say than I'd like it to be."

Blaine took it from there. "Around Christmas break Kurt started to dissociate. We broke up– sorta– and we were all worried about him. We couldn't find him one day, and someone knocks on the door, and we think it's him. I answer it, and it's Hunter. Before I can slam the door in his face he holds it open, saying that he figured out that Kurt had kept saying it felt like he was dreaming and that he wanted to wake up. He had figured out that people always wake up right before they die in dreams."

Sawyer was looking at them with a completely new expression– and it didn't seem like a bad one. A bit of admiration, maybe.

"So Hunter and Blaine ran back to our dorm, Hunter kicked the bathroom door in– it was locked, and–" Kurt cut himself short, immediately paling.

"Kurt? What's wrong?" Blaine asked.

He didn't answer. He just stood up and walked out the door.

Blaine watched him leave, all possible reasons Kurt would have left running through his head.

"Are you going to go after him?" Sawyer asked, confused.

"If he leaves, he never wants to be followed. He probably just needs some space." Blaine sounded a lot more confident than he was.

Sawyer nodded, and Blaine continued to explain about the health exercise, how he'd gotten his own dorm, how he blew up at Sebastian and Matt– everything else he knew about.