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“Here you go,” James said, handing Sebastian a new beer and sliding down onto the couch beside him. “Charlie just broke open another case, and I grabbed you one of the cold ones.”
The party was in full swing, most of the Warblers still crowded into Charlie’s parents’ open kitchen and family room with the majority of the food and drinks. They were starting to expand into other parts of the house, though, and there was some shouting and a few crashes coming from the front hall that Sebastian was pretty sure meant Jeff had made good on his idea to bring in the floor hockey stuff from the garage.
“Thanks,” Sebastian replied, though he didn’t take a drink from the bottle. He was nicely buzzed, loose and easy, but not quite ready to descend into drunk yet. He wasn’t going to be one of the first to lose control; it was much more fun seeing everyone else fall apart, and this way he’d remember them doing so. That could come in useful later.
So he rested the beer on his thigh, let out a satisfied breath, and watched Blaine throw his head back and laugh with Nick and Trent across the room. At least Blaine wasn’t trying to smother him tonight; Sebastian had finally broken him of the habit of hovering nearby, like because they were dating they’d turned into Siamese twins.
“The boy scouts are talking about breaking out the video games,” James told him with a roll of his eyes and a nod toward Blaine’s group. Sebastian found James a bit too obsequious for his personal tastes, but that he was always ready to pass along everything he knew made him very useful. It was important to choose the right allies.
“Mario Kart,” Sebastian said dryly. “My favorite. Because I’m twelve and a virgin.”
“Charlie’s going to get the stuff for beer pong,” James agreed and took a long drink of his beer as Blaine patted companionably Nick on the arm. “And poker.”
“Great.” His interest piqued, Sebastian pulled his eyes away from Blaine and focused back on James. “My dad’s on some pointless kick about personal responsibility and saving my money for the sound system I want in my car. A few hands of poker against these idiots would make it happen a lot faster.”
“Idiots? They’re your Warbler brothers,” James said with feigned shock.
Sebastian smirked and gestured around them at the roughhousing, drinking boys who were best suited for singing back-up behind him now and working for him a few years down the line. “And that’s why I know they’re idiots. But rich ones.”
Blaine laughed again across the room, his skin starting to go flushed from the beer in his hand and his face so beautifully lit up with happiness. He looked really good in that t-shirt, too, so much better than he had in the sweater he’d been wearing when they got there, before it had gotten too warm in the house for it; the way the shirt clung to his biceps was a sin.
Sebastian lifted his beer to his suddenly dry mouth and swallowed a sip. He was very, very interested in sin.
Unfortunately, Blaine was more interested in the party and spending time with his friends at the moment. Sebastian would have to wait for him to loosen up and to stop taking his role as a leader and honorary host so seriously.
Sebastian bounced his heel against the floor and narrowed his eyes. He hated waiting.
Charlie flopped down onto the chair opposite them, capturing Sebastian’s attention. “Think I should move the beer cooler into the game room?” he asked. “Or just get the vodka from the freezer.”
“Definitely the vodka,” Sebastian said. It would get his opponents drunk faster, and Charlie’s beer selection was poor, anyway. An excellent idea struck him. “We should make the losers of each hand do a shot.”
“Awesome,” James said with a smile. He held up his beer in a toast to Sebastian. “We should do that at every party. After we get you your speakers, I want a new iPod.”
Charlie snorted and said, “Like you’re going to win anything, J. I’ve seen you play.”
“I will if everyone’s plastered,” James replied with a glare.
“That means you’d have to stop drinking so you aren’t,” Sebastian reminded him.
James paused, then slumped back against the cushions. “Fuck that,” he said and gulped some more beer. “The money’s all yours.”
Sebastian smiled; of course it was. Now he just needed some people who wanted to give him their cash. That shouldn’t be too difficult; they were all a bunch of followers.
He slung his arm along the back of the couch and called out to Jeff as he walked past toward the kitchen, “Warbler poker tournament starting in a few minutes. Get another drink.”
“I think I need a broom more than a drink,” Jeff replied with a grimace. “Did your mom like that vase by the stairs, Charlie?”
“Fuck,” Charlie replied and rocketed off of his chair toward the front hall.
“Whoa, careful,” Ned said, stumbling back a step so that Charlie didn’t slam into him as he pushed by.
“I told him he should put all the breakable stuff away,” James said, like Charlie’s parents had taste worth saving to begin with. It was probably a good thing that vase was gone, Sebastian thought. The house was a French country, nouveau-riche disaster. They would have been laughed out of the actual French countryside. There people had taste. There they had perspective on the world, access to alcohol before your hair started going grey, and homes that were beautiful instead of just garish.
Sebastian stopped that train of thought before he made himself gag over being any more gay than he already was by thinking about home decor. “Warbler poker tournament,” he told Ned. “Five minutes, game room, bring your wallet.”
“Yeah,” Ned said and kept going into the kitchen, anyway. Sebastian frowned after him; it was hardly the reception he had expected to the news.
“Want me to stand up and make an announcement?” James asked Sebastian, setting his empty beer bottle on the side table with a clunk.
Sebastian shrugged his acquiescence. “Don’t fall off the couch.”
“No, no!” Trent said across the room, gesturing broadly and doing some sort of sliding dance step that Sebastian couldn’t see because his legs were hidden by the table between them.
Blaine was smiling and shaking his head at him, and when Trent was done Blaine did some other dance combination and ended it with a tight, perfectly executed spin. The muscles in his arms and back flexed, and a hint of nicely toned stomach peeked out from under the hem of his t-shirt.
Sebastian’s pulse sped up. Blaine wasn’t as good of a dancer as Sebastian was, but he certainly knew how to move. Sebastian always enjoyed watching him. It was almost as good as touching him.
Trent shook his head as if to argue, but then Blaine started to sing as well as dance - Sebastian couldn’t quite make out the words at first, but he’d know Blaine’s voice anywhere as the sound of it ran right up his spine - and Trent stilled. A few of the other boys nearby did as well, even those who hadn’t been talking to Blaine... and then they all joined in.
“You spin me right round, baby, right round - “ Blaine sang with his impromptu Warbler back-up, his smile going delighted as four of the boys fell into step behind him, and after a few seconds - he must have been more drunk than he’d thought, because he didn’t know why he was still watching - Sebastian rolled his eyes and got to his feet. He wasn’t jealous; he was revolted. It was like Blaine was the pied piper and half the Warblers were the children... or the mindless rats.
Sebastian strolled over and caught Blaine mid-spin with a hand on his shoulder.
“Sebastian!” Blaine said with undeniable warmth, his face lighting up even more in a way that made Sebastian’s stomach twist in satisfaction. Blaine bounced up on his toes, all enthusiasm. It was almost cute. “We’re coming up with some awesome new choreography. Want to join us?”
There was a part of Sebastian that would have loved to dance by Blaine’s side and show the rest of them how it was done, how the two of them were the best of them all, but he didn’t like that he was as eager as the others to come at Blaine’s call. “I’m going to play poker,” he said instead. He handed Blaine his mostly untouched bottle of beer. “But this is for you.”
If Blaine’s face began to fall at Sebastian’s refusal, it brightened again at the meaningless gesture of a drink. “Thanks,” he said softly to Sebastian, clearly touched. “That’s nice of you. Thank you.” He raised the beer to his lips and took a long drink, watching Sebastian while he did.
Sebastian just smiled at him, because if Blaine was the center of the world to some of the Warblers he’d just proven yet again - to himself, to the others, to Blaine - that he was still the center of Blaine’s. “It’s a party. Don’t want you to get too serious over here and fall behind,” he told Blaine, and he felt another flare of satisfaction at the way Blaine’s eyes widened in concern.
Blaine quickly took another drink and smiled his widest show smile. It wasn’t the soft, real one he bestowed on Sebastian when they were alone, but that wasn’t what he wanted from him right now. Or ever, actually.
No, Sebastian never needed those quiet afternoons together at one of their houses where sex could be on a bed and where they could lean their shoulders together while doing homework afterward. Those were for Blaine, to keep Blaine happy. Sebastian only came away from them feeling settled because Blaine was content and wasn't asking for more.
“No chance of that,” Blaine said, raising his beer. “We’re here to have fun.”
“Good.” Sebastian smiled back, pleased. The Warblers might think Blaine walked on water, but Sebastian knew better. He knew who Blaine was and just how to pull him back to think about him even when they weren’t together. With more alcohol and the worry that he wasn’t fitting in, he’d start coming down off that Warblers Council pedestal of perfection soon, and he’d be thinking of Sebastian while he was doing it.
And with that, Sebastian said to the gathered boys, “Poker time,” and walked out of the room. He could feel Blaine’s eyes following him.
Blaine was considerably less steady on his feet when Sebastian next saw him. He and Nick strolled into the game room, and Blaine’s eyes were dark and edging toward glazed as he came to stand behind Sebastian, putting a warm hand on his shoulder. “Wow, you’re winning a lot,” he said, looking at Sebastian’s impressive pile of chips.
“Yes,” Sebastian replied shortly, not letting himself be distracted by the praise. He watched Theo’s fingers for his tell.
Theo drummed the tips of his fingers on the table. He was bluffing. Perfect.
“All in,” Sebastian said and smiled as in short order he won the hand and another fifty dollars. It was like taking candy from babies, only he much preferred taking the money.
Leaning in far enough that his firm chest brushed the back of Sebastian’s head, Blaine squeezed his shoulder and said with pride, “Nice!”
“Want us to deal you in?” James asked him.
Blaine shook his head, though he glanced down at Sebastian, seemingly tempted. “I’m supposed to be up next in the Mario Kart tournament,” he apologized, polite as ever. “I don’t want to let my team down. But thanks.”
“We could make it strip poker,” Sebastian suggested, looking up at him with an arch smile and flicking a hand to gesture at his shirt. “If that was more interesting to you.”
Blaine’s cheeks flushed darker, and his fingers tightened on Sebastian’s arm. He always got more obvious with his desires when he was drunk; it was one of the things Sebastian liked most about him. It made things very simple between them. “I - “ He hesitated. “I’m sorry. I can’t let them down.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed at the refusal, because Mario Kart with other people should never take priority over anything with Sebastian, but he knew that backing off was more likely to get him what he wanted. Not that he particularly wanted Blaine’s attention tonight apart from some very specific things Blaine would need to be a little more drunk to agree to do at a party, that was all. “We’ll be here if you decide you want to play a man’s game instead of a boy’s,” he said and pretended to put Blaine out of his mind.
Blaine jerked his hand back when Sebastian turned away but stood behind him for a minute before swiftly leaving the room.
“I like Mario Kart,” Charlie said.
“Shut up,” Sebastian told him and slammed back a shot. Seeing Blaine retreat like that made him feel a little itchy and unhappy in a way he didn’t like, especially since he had set out to make him do it. It was exactly the button he’d wanted to push. But there was something about Blaine’s stiff back, so unlike the easy charisma that came so naturally and made everyone love him, that made his stomach roil, and he very determinedly stopped thinking about it.
Sebastian was four hundred dollars richer and more than a bit drunk himself by the time he left the poker game. Some of the other Warblers grumbled when he cashed himself out, but he didn’t care. He didn’t owe them any of their money back. He was in it to win. If they played, they should expect to lose.
As he passed through the front hall, he heard Blaine’s name in the family room.
“ - we play DDR then I call Blaine as my partner,” Miller was saying.
Jeff laughed. “You know Blaine’s only going to team up with Sebastian.”
“Two of our best dancers together? That’s not fair,” Miller said. “They’ll obviously win.”
“They’re the Warblers power couple,” Jeff replied. “Get used to it.”
There were a few seconds of resigned silence. “What about Call of Duty instead?” Theo suggested.
Sebastian smiled smugly to himself and walked on. They were the Warblers power couple. That was the whole point. That was the biggest reason he’d gone after Blaine in the first place, obviously, not just because Blaine was sexy and kind of charmingly sweet when it didn’t make Sebastian want to squirm. He was with Blaine so they could rule the group. So Sebastian could, because there was no way in hell he was Blaine’s arm candy.
And the Warblers were getting it, putting him up on that pedestal like Blaine where he belonged.
On his way to see if Charlie’s parents’ liquor cabinet had anything interesting in it, Sebastian caught sight of a familiar slice of cheek and jaw through the narrow gap in the door to the mud room. He looked inside. Blaine was there sitting on a bench with Chase, one of the new freshman members of the group, and gently patting his back.
Chase’s head was bent, but Sebastian could see the streaks of tears streaming down his face and the shudders going through him. Blaine spoke to him softly, the gentle tone of his voice worming its way into Sebastian’s chest, and gave the kid an avuncular sideways hug.
It was... sweet, really, especially the way Chase’s mouth wavered in an adoring smile when Blaine squeezed him.
“It’s okay,” Blaine told him earnestly. “It will be okay.” There was something a little lost and determined in his voice, but Chase didn’t seem to notice even though Sebastian did.
Sebastian tapped his foot against the door jamb, not enough to startle them but enough to draw attention, and raised an eyebrow in silent question when Blaine looked up. Blaine relaxed, like he was pleased to see him, and nodded that he was okay and didn’t need help. Not a big moment of drama or alcohol poisoning, then. Good. None of them needed that. It was a party, not a group therapy session.
Still, there was something in the curve of Blaine’s arm around Chase’s shoulders and the concern in his expression that made Sebastian... not jealous, obviously, but uneasy. He didn’t like it, and he didn’t know why some kid who couldn’t hold his liquor deserved to get that kind of attention. Blaine was the lead soloist of the group; he shouldn’t be doling out comfort to anybody with a sob story.
He also shouldn’t look so damn good doing it. Sebastian liked him when he was singing, on stage, shining. He liked Blaine even better when he was gasping and begging, straining against him in the dark. He had no interest in him being kind, no matter how naturally it seemed to fall on his shoulders as a leader.
And yet the steady softness of his worry turned Blaine’s already handsome face even more stupidly appealing.
“Pathetic,” Sebastian said to himself and turned on his heel, though he didn’t know if he was talking about Chase for being drunk, Blaine for caring about him, or himself for giving a fuck at all about the situation other than it turning a fun night into something unpleasantly serious.
So he sent Ned to take another few beers to Chase to tip him from being a sad drunk monopolizing Blaine to a sloppy one singing in the corner by himself. Then he broke out the brandy and went to crush everyone at ping-pong. He saw Chase wander through a while later, but Blaine only poked his head in the door. Sebastian ignored them both. They weren’t his problem.
It was another hour later when he found Blaine in the kitchen holding court like the perfect prince everyone thought he was. He was sitting on the counter with his legs swinging and a beer at his side, while a half-dozen Warblers lounged around him, hanging on his every word.
“ - depends on the theme of the competition, of course, but if we planned on a series of mash-ups to start, then we could hit a wide range of styles and decades of music to be sure please whoever the judges are while - “ Blaine was saying so very seriously, always and forever thinking about the group.
“Can’t we talk about anything besides competitions?” Sebastian drawled from the doorway. The world was spinning nicely around him; that brandy had been excellent. “I’m bored already, and I just got here.”
Blaine looked up, dismay at his words and pleasure at seeing him warring in his face. He clearly tried to hide the dismay, but Sebastian knew him well enough that he could still see it in the tentative way Blaine met his eyes and the brittleness of his expression. “It’s not too early to start planning.”
“At a party?” Sebastian said, not looking away from him.
“Blaine has some good ideas,” Trent piped up. Of course it was Trent. It was always fucking Trent with hearts in his eyes, like he would have had a chance with Blaine even if he weren’t dating Sebastian. And Blaine was dating Sebastian. Blaine had hearts in his eyes for him.
“I have a better idea,” Sebastian said, strolling forward with his hands in his pockets and his gaze nowhere but on Blaine’s. He watched Blaine’s eyes widen and his breath come faster. He was always so eager for attention, especially as a night like this one went on and there was more beer for him than time with his boyfriend. It was something else Sebastian liked about him. “Have a minute for me? Or a few?”
Blaine’s face transformed into a huge, thrilled smile. “Sure.” He hopped off of the counter, and Sebastian put a hand on his arm to steady him. He didn’t let him go once Blaine was sure of his feet; his muscles felt wonderful under Sebastian’s hand. “Talk to you later, guys,” Blaine said to the others and let Sebastian lead him away.
The laundry room off of the back hallway didn’t offer a lot of privacy, but that was fine for Sebastian. Anyone going to the powder room would be able to hear them, but the sliding louvered door made it seem like they were shielded from the rest of the party.
“This is the laundry room,” Blaine said with a little confusion.
“It’s our room now,” Sebastian told him and got his hand on Blaine’s face to haul him in for a kiss as soon as the door was closed. An unexpected breath went out of him with the first touch of Blaine’s lips, and some buzzing tension in him evaporated.
Blaine tasted of beer and something salty like chips, and Sebastian made a little displeased noised and kissed him deeply, wanting him to taste of nothing but him. Blaine gasped, fisted his hands in Sebastian’s shirt at his shoulders, and let him, kissing him back with a fiery if sloppy fervor.
Pleasure unfurled through Sebastian from the top of his head down his spine and all the way into his toes. Blaine was a great kisser; he never held anything back, and his body was nothing but temptation against him as Sebastian pushed him back up against the washer, but the pleasure wasn’t just that. It wasn’t just the physical. It was that Blaine was his. Not in the soft focus romantic way Blaine went on about when Sebastian was too dopey from coming to feel like stopping him, but Blaine’s attention was on him, where it should be, and that was the best thing of all. The others might adore Blaine because he was so incredibly charming and talented, maybe just a little more than Sebastian was, just enough that they didn’t quite look at Sebastian that way yet, but Blaine wanted him. They all admired Blaine, and they should even with the faults of his insecure heart, but Blaine was focused on him.
“Sebastian,” Blaine murmured, sounding so heart-wrenchingly happy. Logic stated that least some of it had to be the beer, yet it still made Sebastian’s own heart lodge in his throat to hear it. He didn’t need it, but nobody else ever said his name that way.
Sebastian pulled back and smiled into Blaine’s dazed eyes. “There you are,” he said with a softness he didn’t want to think about. It was probably because he was drunk; it did weird things to his mind.
“I’ve been here all night,” Blaine said, running his hands up Sebastian’s sides in a way that made his eyes threaten to slide shut with how good it felt. But he kept them open to see the truth in Blaine’s face that he was thrilled to be here in his arms, that he was his.
“Not here,” Sebastian told him. He skimmed his own hands up Blaine’s bare arms and rocked his hips forward against him. It wasn’t subtle, but he wasn’t going for subtle.
“Oh,” Blaine breathed as his eyes flared and his hands flexed in Sebastian’s shirt.
“I’ve been thinking of you,” Sebastian said. He gently ground against him, preferring to seduce instead of demand, and sucked on that spot on Blaine’s throat that always drove him wild. It was better when Blaine was so hot for him he couldn’t think. “Couldn’t get you out of my head.” He was just saying that for Blaine’s benefit, he assured himself, even if he hadn’t planned the words.
Blaine held still for a second, pinned between Sebastian and the washing machine, and then leaned up to kiss Sebastian again, harder and more dirtily, all tongue and soft, eager moans. “I couldn’t either, and I’m right here, Sebastian,” he whispered, a promise not just of his heart but of his body.
Yes, Sebastian thought to himself. Finally.
When Blaine pulled back, though, his eyes flicked toward the door. “The rest of the guys - “
Sebastian nipped at Blaine’s lip and ran his hand down Blaine’s stomach to hover at his waistband. He didn’t cup the bulge he could feel against his thigh, but he knew how hard Blaine was, could feel in the tremors in Blaine’s fingers how much he wanted it. “I want you. Do you really care about them right now?” he asked. “Or about me?”
Blaine paused longer than Sebastian would have liked, but his hands were already reaching for Sebastian’s belt when he finally grinned and said, “Just you.”
“Show me,” Sebastian said into Blaine’s enthusiastic kiss, and his smile only grew when he heard footsteps going by just as Blaine groaned his name.
They might all adore Blaine. They might all think he made the sun rise each morning. They might all hang on his every word. Blaine was exceptional: competitive, attractive, charismatic, charming, and talented. That was why Sebastian was drawn to him. That was why Sebastian wanted him. That was why even Sebastian tried to learn from him.
But what made Blaine smile, what made Blaine moan, what made Blaine make whispered, stupid promises, what made Blaine lose his precious control, what made the great and handsome Blaine Anderson, King of the Warblers, get on his knees again and again, was Sebastian.
And the best part had to be everyone knowing it.