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“So, you got yourself a brand deal, huh?” Sebastian says, opening the door to his rink and stepping aside to let Blaine in.
Blaine looks confused as he walks by. “How did you… ?”
“Kurt.” Sebastian heads for the bench closest and puts down his skate bag. “He told me last night.”
“Oh. Phew!” Blaine swipes a hand dramatically across his forehead. “I thought you were spying on me or something.”
“Well, yeah. There are cameras everywhere. I know all. I’m really just starting conversation.”
Blaine sputters a laugh. These casual jokes are a recent phenomenon between the two of them. Still, it's hard sometimes to tell when Sebastian is joking. “That actually answers a lot of questions.”
“But that’s exciting, right?” Sebastian continues, unpacking his skates and lining them up on the bench.
“Having my privacy violated?”
“No, dingbat! The brand deal.”
“It is." Blaine unpacks his skates, a bit more haphazard with their placement on the bench. “I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time. I think we’ve all gone through the year of the Lima Ford sponsorship.”
Sebastian chuckles. “Yeah. It’s a good thing to have on the old resume, though. Money goes to money. But when a company finds out you’re sponsorable by someone other than the crazy old guy who wears top hats and wool cardigans 365 days a year, you’ll start raking them in.”
“You do know you owe that crazy guy one, right?”
Sebastian's head snaps up. “Why’s that?”
“He’s the one who sold me the Mustang. The one that Kurt is so in love with?”
Sebastian scowls. "Ugh. Rude."
"Why? Isn't that car worth the money you spent to take it off my hands?" Blaine grins. He knows exactly how much Kurt loves that car.
Sebastian's scowl slides into a suggestive smirk. "Oh, more than worth it. I just don't like associating makeout sessions with my boyfriend with Crazy Al's Ford Emporium off Greely Chapel Road."
"At least he doesn't have the pet pig anymore."
"I think it's a llama now."
How can you see into my eyes
like open doors?
Leading you down into my core
Where I’ve become so numb...
Blaine perks up, the music playing over the speakers bringing a sly twist to his lips. “What’s that?”
“That would be Kurt,” Sebastian says, slipping on his skates and rushing to tie them.
“I didn’t know he was already here.”
“He’s working on a new exhibition piece.”
Blaine pauses, listens a little more intently. “Is that… Evanescence?”
“Yeah. It’s his mom’s favorite song. He’s choreographing it in her honor.”
“That’s like a meme song now, right?”
Sebastian shrugs. “I don’t know. I mean, don’t judge me or anything, but I think that song’s kinda hot.”
Blaine's nose wrinkles. “Really?”
Sebastian throws Blaine a wink as he tugs the hem of his pants over his skates. “You’ve never seen Kurt skate to it.”
Sebastian and Blaine walk quietly up to the boards while Kurt, completely engrossed in his routine, stops the music, preparing to start back at the beginning. He's hashing something out, both Sebastian and Blaine can tell.
Something isn't working for him.
Sebastian watches his boyfriend, his skater, return to center ice, staring down at his hands and gesturing to himself. It's almost like sign language, but in this case, each movement represents a skating element in his routine. Sebastian watches closely and catches it - the point where Kurt's flow stutters, somewhere between a twizzle and a three-turn combination, before his triple loop. Sebastian knows he can help Kurt fix it, but right now, he has something else in mind.
A distraction to get Kurt out of his own head for a bit.
Kurt sets up in his opening pose, leaning on his right hip with feet crossed at the ankles, arms raised and chin tilted up as if reaching for the sun. Whenever Kurt choreographs a skate in his mother's honor, he opens it this way.
It reminds Sebastian of a little boy reaching out for his mom.
It never fails to bring a lump to his throat.
How can you see into my eyes
like open doors?
Before Blaine can say anything, Sebastian removes his blockers and hands them off to him. Then he steps onto the ice. Mesmerized, Blaine watches as Sebastian approaches Kurt, stopping a respectful distance away. Sebastian's eyes remain glued to his skater, watching with intensity the opening Kurt has been struggling with.
Leading you down into my core
Where I've become so numb...
Without a soul
Kurt starts his twizzle pattern.
My spirit sleeping somewhere cold
He transitions into his footwork. He adds a split jump, then a three-turn, which should lead into his triple...
But that's where he stops, flummoxed.
Until you find it there
And lead
it
back
home
Throughout that last verse, Kurt has been circling, contemplating stopping the music and starting again, or keep pressing on. He doesn’t seem at all fazed when he lifts his eyes from the ice and finds Sebastian standing there. Sebastian doesn't speak. He extends a hand. With the shadow of a smile dancing on his lips, Kurt takes it.
And that's it.
They're off.
Wake me up inside
Wake me up inside
Call my name and save me from the dark
Bid my blood to run
Before I come undone
Save me from the nothing I've become
Blaine doesn’t know if they’ve skated to this song before. He knows they’ve put together numerous pairs' numbers that they’ve never performed in public – a consequence of long days spent on the ice in Sebastian’s private rink. This could be something they have up their sleeves, or something they’re throwing together on the fly. Either could be the case, because they’re just that good together. They read each other effortlessly, mirroring one another without needing to speak.
Blaine can tell that, for the most part, Sebastian is following Kurt’s choreography, which is an exceptional skill if he doesn't already know it, seeing as he is skating in the traditionally masculine role. He should be leading. He’s doing all of the lifting. But this way, he needs to take his cues from Kurt’s body, which is a lot harder than it looks.
Sebastian would basically need to read Kurt’s mind to get it right. After spending time with them on and off the ice, Blaine wouldn't be surprised if Sebastian is doing just that.
Blaine’s coach had considered getting him a partner, but it never worked out for him. Blaine didn’t trust himself enough to toss anyone in the air, and after a while, all the potential partners available for miles were too tall for him anyway. Kurt and Sebastian are close to the same height. The only difference being that more time spent playing hockey has given Sebastian more bulk, while Kurt’s time in ballet and cheer has made him leaner.
Sebastian puts his hands on Kurt's waist and lifts him into the air as if he weighs no more than a feather. The position Kurt hits when he feels secure above Sebastian's head would put most prima ballerinas to shame. Sebastian lifting Kurt is sensual, erotic, and not because lifts are about touch.
It’s because they’re about trust.
Kurt reaches a hand behind him, and he knows Sebastian will take it. He extends a leg, and he knows Sebastian will grab it. All of the more challenging pairs’ moves – even a headbanger (which makes Blaine flinch) – they pull them off with ease.
Frozen inside
Without your touch
Without your love
Darling, only you
Are the life among the dead
But Blaine's favorite move of this routine, one he has never seen them perform, requires Sebastian to get low to the ice with Kurt's body draped almost entirely over Sebastian's outstretched leg. Blaine watches them hold that position, Sebastian's eyes locked on Kurt's face. Kurt actually closes his eyes, and Blaine gasps. This is one of those moves that are so intimate, it could alienate the audience if not performed correctly. Even done well, it can be uncomfortable to watch while sitting next to your folks.
But they execute it flawlessly.
Lift, toss, spin, side-by-side triple axels, not a step is wasted on uncertainty or fear, and in between, they look at each other. Once or twice, Blaine catches Sebastian talking to Kurt, and Kurt nods. Is it instruction? Is it support? Is he telling Kurt he's beautiful? Is he saying he loves him? Blaine doesn't know. But what he's allowed to see speaks mainly of the latter and more.
I've been living a lie
There's nothing inside
Bring
me
to
life...
Blaine doesn't realize the song is ending till right before it does, and not because he knows the song well. But because Kurt and Sebastian end their routine with their signature double entwined sit spin. Kurt and Sebastian are the only people Blaine knows who can successfully perform this sit spin, then start making out while holding that spin until its natural end. And when the spin starts to die, Sebastian and Kurt end on their knees, still wrapped in each other's arms.
They can do that because they're talented.
Because they trust each other.
Because they love each other.
It's only then that Blaine realizes he never put Sebastian's blockers down. Instead, he's been hugging them to his chest.
The cold in the rink starts seeping into Blaine's skin, and he turns away, eyes dropping to his skate bag since he feels he may have overstayed his welcome, if Sebastian even remembers he's there at all. Blaine occupies himself away from the couple on the ice, slipping on his own skates, lacing them slowly to give his friends time, while deep in his heart, he prays that someday he'll find something even close to that.
Though more and more, he's beginning to think that that kind of love exists for Kurt and Sebastian only.