Thank you so much for the reviews and follows! Sorry this part took longer, hopefully you'll like it? Carries straight on from the last chapter :)

Sebastian chances a look at Kurt. The other man is still frozen in shock, glaring up at Rachel and curling his hands into the white fluffy blanket that one of them had slung over the back of the couch at some point.

"Rachel, what the fu-"

"End of discussion, Kurt, now I'm going to bed- I have a long day tomorrow and I've already eaten dinner so goodnight to you all and I hope that you'll follow the new rule for the apartment in the most mature way possible." With this Rachel nods once, beams at them both and strolls back to her room, pink skirt swishing behind her as she flicks her hair once, waves, and disappears behind the door. Kurt and Sebastian stare after her, gaping at the girl as she crosses the room.

"Come on boys, I'm sure you can understand her reasons. Look at it this way; at least you won't be treated to a weepy rendition of the entire soundtrack of Wicked for twenty minutes every morning like I will." Santana sounds smug for some reason, trademark smirk across her face as usual. She waves at them before padding across the floor to Rachel's door, not bothering to tap out a knock before letting herself in.

"…She's not serious. She can't be." Kurt's voice is weak, quiet. His hands twist together in his lap, seemingly a display of nervousness but also possibly to hold back the urge to slap someone. His jaw is clenched in anger and annoyance; a look that Sebastian has often seen on Kurt's face when it comes to Rachel.

"Oh she was. Did you see her face? She was serious." Sebastian is still stunned, staring at the door he can hear muffled voices behind.

"I am not showering with you." He scoffs, turning to Kurt when he hears the high voice and unable to contain the bite in his voice when he replies.

"Do you seriously think I want to shower with you?!" Sebastian winces as he speaks, aware of the way Kurt flinches back slightly in reaction to the tone of his voice. The apartment is quiet for a second, the girls' voices now mysteriously silent, and it is Kurt who breaks it, voice stronger now.

"It's not happening. It just isn't."

"Agreed. They can get their 'lady kisses' on in the shower all they want, I am not getting traumatized just to save some money."

"You would not be traumatized, for God's sake, I'm not that- wait," Kurt's head flicks around as he registers what Sebastian said. "What? Santana and- what?"

"Never mind sweetheart, I wouldn't expect your virginal mind to understand."

"Yeah, because I'm a- you know what, I am not having this conversation right now. I'm going to bed-"

"Before I come up with another clever idea to get us killed?"

The glare Kurt sends him is magnificent; blue eyes blazing as they meet Sebastian's own. He finally turns, tilts his chin up, and storms back to his room, the door crashing shut behind him. Sebastian can't resist the urge to yell after him.

"Because I'd prefer expelled, personally!"

When Sebastian wakes up, blinking and cranky, the next morning, it isn't his doorway that is looming at the foot of his bed at him, but rather a petite brunette, her arms crossed and her hair a tangled soaking mess.

"I know what you're planning, Smythe."

"I'm- huh? Rachel, what the fuck; what time is it?"

"7.30. And I know what you're up to- you have to help us with the bills, and I am not letting you get away with sneaking off to shower on your own."

"Rach, I don't get up until 8.30- why the fuck are you in here?"

At this she smiles and unfolds her arms, placing them heavily on her hips as her smile grows wider and infinitesimally more terrifying. "Because Kurt's already up."

"…So?" His mind is foggy with sleep, thoughts taking longer to catch up as he wonders why it is quite so important to Rachel (or him) that Kurt has woken up. Kurt gets up most days at a ridiculous hour, normally taking more time than Rachel to ensure that he doesn't wake the whole apartment, whereas Rachel tends to clatter around loudly, spending thirty minutes on the large and noisy treadmill that she convinced her Dads to transport to her room in New York. Of course Kurt is awake; if the sun is up, so is he. But to Sebastian at this point it doesn't seem too important.

"He needs to shower. And if he does, you do." Sebastian suddenly remembers; the conversation, Santana's smiles, and the look of barely concealed horror on Kurt's face the night before. He blinks his eyes open fully, trying to clear the fuzziness from his head, and looks at Rachel, taking in the water dripping onto the carpet and the fluorescent pink robe tied tightly around her.

"And I suppose you're going along with your ridiculous plan then, judging by the look of you." He can't imagine Rachel and Santana in the shower together; doesn't want to, as the image of Berry naked would surely be burned into his mind as some kind of horrific trauma for the rest of his life, but it must have happened; when it comes to rules, Rachel follows them strictly.

"Obviously." She looks kind of pleased at this, a smirk lingering at the corner of his mouth, but it is too early for Sebastian to start analyzing facial expressions. "Santana and I are clearly much more mature and therefore superior in yet another way to you and Kurt. Now get up-"

"Rachel,"

"-because Kurt's selecting towels as we speak-"

"Rachel,"

"-and he's not going to wait for you to be fully awake before he get in so-"

"Rachel. Get. OUT." At this he gets a dirty look, and Rachel turns, flicking cold water over his face as she executes one of her famous 'diva-outs'. The door is left open behind her, the cool morning air tingling at the exposed skin of his chest, not quite covered by his sheets, and he lets out a loud sigh before swinging his feet over the side of the bed and pushing them into faded green slippers.

When he manages to make it to his door and open it he ends up inadvertently staring directly into blue eyes.

Very angry blue eyes.

"Please tell me you told Rachel where to shove her ridiculous idea." Kurt snaps, clutching a large fluffy towel under one arm and a bottle of shampoo in his hand. He's clad in a maroon robe, sky blue pyjamas peeking through from underneath, and is glaring through the doorway. Sebastian heaves a sigh and speaks, eyeing Kurt's scruffy bed hair as he tries to calm the other man down.

"Listen, this will be a whole lot easier if we just do it. Jump in, jump out, face away- it's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal! I don't want to shower with you, Sebastian!" Kurt says, face reddening as he reaches to smooth down several flicks of unruly hair, clearly having noticed Sebastian's stare.

"Do you want to deal with Rachel and Santana?" Sebastian's voice is resigned as he leans against the door, shoulder bumping into the solid doorframe as he stares back. Kurt chews on his lip for a moment and then rolls his eyes, muttering a quick "come on then" and storming in the direction of the bathroom. Sebastian follows swiftly, scooping his clean grey towel off the back of the door and slamming it shut behind him.

This should be interesting.

When he reaches the bathroom Kurt is standing in the centre of the room, looking around nervously. Sebastian notices his expression shift to anger, and then resignation as he sees Sebastian enter the room, clearly having hoped that he would chicken out and leave Kurt to his own shower. It would probably be the right thing to do, Sebastian thinks- to leave Kurt to his own devices and take the brunt of Santana's anger himself. However, he is more selfish than that; and a little voice in his head keeps reminding him that Kurt could just as easily do the same thing, if this bothers him so much.

Sebastian isn't the one with a problem here. If Kurt's uncomfortable with the situation, he can face up to the anger of the girls. Sebastian shouldn't have to deal with it.

With this thought he begins to strip, pulling his faded tee over his head and throwing it into the beginnings of a small pile on the tiled floor, his socks following as he toes them off. He pretends not to notice the squeak that escapes Kurt's mouth as his bare torso is exposed to the cool morning air. The turn, however, is something he can't ignore.

"What's up?"

Kurt is facing the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and hi clothes still very much on. Sebastian's sweatpants that double up as pyjamas are already a centimeter or so down, his thumbs tucked into the top and hooked under, ready to get this whole experience over with as quickly as possible. It could be that Kurt is just being polite, of course, but something about the way his shoulders are slumped makes Sebastian pause, pulling his pants back up until they are securely over his hips and takes a step towards Kurt.

"I just- could you turn around and just not look, or something? I can't deal with your snide comments right now and I just- I need to get to class." Kurt's voice is quiet but firm, not a waver in it as he addresses the wall in front of him and lets his voice echo around their tiny bathroom. Sebastian pushes down the wall of angry defensiveness he feels in his chest and chooses to nod instead, knowing that Kurt can't see him but turning anyway, the noise of his shuffling feet seeming suddenly loud in the silence between them. The tension, the awkwardness, is heavy in the air as they quietly strip, Kurt's clothes neatly folded over a towel bar that Rachel put there at the beginning of the year, and Sebastian's small pile of clothes growing as he sheds the remainder of his clothes. Eventually they are both naked, only a couple of inches separating their bare backs as they each face opposite walls. They look stupid, Sebastian knows; too afraid to even take one step toward the shower in case they accidentally catch a glimpse of each other or god forbid one of their hands brushes somewhere it shouldn't.

He secretly thinks to himself he doesn't really mind the idea of Kurt naked in the room with him; they're as close to friends as Sebastian has ever been with anyone, and it's not like Kurt's exactly painful to look at. In fact, there have been days where Sebastian's attention has been caught by his profile or his long legs or his strong arms, and he's had to drag his eyes away and onto something more appropriate. Even now, the mere knowledge that Kurt is there, so close and so very naked, feels like a buzzing in the air, electricity charging between them and crackling in the air around them, connecting them. Kurt is shivering as they stand, which is probably everything to do with the cold and nothing whatsoever to do with this new tentative and vulnerable state they are in, but Sebastian allows himself to dream for a moment before he takes the necessary step to the side and shuts on the water, hearing Kurt jump as the sound of rushing water fills the room.

"Shall we get in before we end up standing here all day?"

"Sure."

The step into the shower is a quick one, sideways and back, so that Sebastian can feel Kurt's shoulders brush against his when they are finally under the spray. His skin is tingling, stinging with the proximity, and he has to remind himself of the time he walked in on Santana waxing in order to clear his mind and calm his body, which is definitely not co-operating with him right now. His hands are mechanical as he snags a red bottle from the shelf on the wall, massaging foam into his hair and trying to bend his body away from Kurt as he scrubs. The water is raining down, too hot and too much pressure for him, but Kurt hasn't made a sound so he decides to bear it for the time being. He vaguely notices Kurt's elbows out of the corner of his eye, rising as he too tries to wash his hair as quickly as possible, and Sebastian fights back a shiver as he takes a peek back, over his shoulder. Kurt's hands are threaded into his hair, long fingers working through thick strands as he tries to rid it of the expensive purple gunk he uses.

Sebastian allows his eyes to trail over the line of Kurt's neck, the droplets of water running down pale skin and across broad shoulders. Kurt's back is toned, flawless in comparison to the map of freckles that stretches across Sebastian's, and is still so blindingly close. Sebastian feels like he can feel the heat of Kurt's body emanating across the small space, even though he knows that it is impossible; the heat of the water and the inches between them are warping his judgement of the connection between them. He forces himself to shake his head, shaking off the sudden desperate urge to reach out to the man behind him, run hands over his shoulders and his hips and the soft skin that dimples at his lower back-

All of this is not good.

Kurt begins to massage shower gel into his arms and chest, a faint smell of cherries and something else filling the small space and becoming almost overpowering with the lightheadedness brought on by the thick steam.

This is definitely not good.