Chapter Text
It was their Wednesday morning ritual – an hour every morning before class to bitch about anything and everything over a cup of coffee for them each. Today, Nick was early. He'd woken up to the sounds of his roommate stomping around in their kitchen and hadn't been able to fall back asleep. Due to that misfortune he figured he owed himself a thick slice of coffee cake seeing as he had the time to enjoy it and all.
If anyone had asked Nick Duval in his senior year of high school whether he thought he would be looking forward to his regular coffee dates with Sebastian Smythe he would've laughed in their face. But, here he was in his sophomore year at NYU, and the guy was like an actual good friend now. He'd mellowed out since they graduated. He no longer had any supervillain level plots, even though he was still the best to bitch with. Nick could appreciate his blunt honesty on the days he actually got Sebastian to himself, and they actually had a lot in common when they weren't fighting over Warbler solos.
And with Bas at Columbia and Nick at NYU he had been a great lifeline in a new city. As it turned out, high school didn't matter as much as anyone thought it would. At least to some people it didn't.
Nick scrolled through Twitter while he waited, taking a bite of his coffee cake every now and then. He had a latte with him as well with coconut milk and coconut flavor today. He'd earned it. They were six weeks into the semester and he already felt like bashing his head into a wall at least once a day. Sometimes he missed high school. But Twitter reminded him about everything he didn't miss. While he wasn't in constant contact with all of his old friends it was nice that he could at least keep up with their scalding hot takes through social media. Today it was all about John Laffren's book release.
John had been in his and Bas's year. Actually, now that Nick was thinking about it again, he had been Sebastian's roommate all three years at Dalton. John had disappeared off to a state school in the Midwest to study journalism and Nick could see how this book was his attempt at breaking out into the writing world. It just sucked that it came at the expense of airing out the business of all of his old teammates.
The Warblers – A Look into a Dynasty. It made no sense. They were a show choir acapella group at an all-boys private school. How was that interesting?
Apparently John had found something to write about, because the early reviews raved about it. Moving, powerful, tear-jerking and laugh inducing all at once! The ex-Warblers on Twitter had picked up all of the buzzwords already and speculation was running rampant about what it could all mean. So far they were all piling on David for suggesting that their old impromptu performance of Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life' at a retirement home for being the "powerful" part of the book. Nick had other ideas. John had been with them through the loss of Blaine, slushy-gate, and ultimately Hunter Clarington's dictatorship. He didn't see how any of that would be emotional musings were so rudely interrupted by a second cup of coffee appearing next to his.
"Sorry I'm late." Nick looked up. Honestly, he hadn't even realized Sebastian was running late. But there he stood, face flushed like he'd been hurrying. His coat was undone and his hair ruffled and only lightly styled. Wow, he really must've been running late. Nick glanced at the time on his phone and snorted when he realized it was only five past eight.
"Right. I don't know how you're going to make this up to me." He smiled and leaned back in his seat while Sebastian got settled across from him. "I'm thinking… finishing my French paper for me?"
"Fuck off Duval." Sebastian fell into his own chair with a huff. He folded in on himself, hunched over his coffee.
Despite the smirk that pulled at Bas's lips, Nick was surprised. He hadn't seen his friend look this exhausted since Freshman year's Fall Semester finals. That had been a hellish introduction to college for the both of them. "Rough morning? Or late night? Dude, you look like shit."
"Thanks."
"I mean it. I've never seen you look so…"
"Horrible?"
"Tired," Nick finished, trying to spare his friend's feelings. But Bas really didn't look good. Really, when was the last time he'd seen him with that dark of circles under his eyes?
"Yeah, it was just a long night. The neighbors kept us up."
Nick wrinkled his nose at that. "Gross."
Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Not like that. They were yelling all night. I didn't fall asleep until like, 3:00. Woke up late and had to rush to get here." He sighed. His shoulders slumped forward even more and Nick worried that he'd end up falling asleep on the table or something.
He pushed the plate of half-eaten coffee cake towards Bas, offering up his fork. "Here, I can't finish this whole thing."
Sebastian looked up at the sound of the plate scraping over the table. His eyes glanced over the cake and his tongue darted out to lick his lips. He pushed the plate back. "I'm good."
"What? Dude, I swear I didn't even do anything to it." He put his hands up, as if to show Bas he had nothing incriminating in them. "Come on, it's good. Especially if you didn't eat breakfast."
"I ate breakfast," Bas mumbled.
"Didn't you just say you were running late?"
"Yeah. 'Cause I stopped to eat breakfast. Most important meal of the day, Nicky."
Nick frowned at that. "I'm not as important as breakfast?"
Sebastian finally hit him with a wry smile. "Do you really think you could compare to Preston's Belgian waffles?"
He shrugged. "I like to think I'm just as sweet."
At that, he got a laugh out of his friend. Sebastian shook his head and stifled whatever he was about to say next with a long pull of his coffee. He looked like he needed it.
Nick let him sip at his coffee while he launched into a lengthy explanation of how he had successfully talked two of his professors into letting him merge two term papers on the same topic. But now that meant it had to incorporate elements of his econ class and his sociology class, and he was pretty sure he was overthinking it because his original idea had been great but now it felt like the stupidest idea he'd ever had and-
"The stupidest idea you've ever had was thinking you could handle ten shots of tequila in two hours," Sebastian said, interrupting him after his long-winded plea for help. "This, for once, is smart."
Right. Of course. Nick let out a long sigh and nodded along. "You really think?"
"Yeah, Nicky. You'll kill it." Sebastian's fingers tapped absently against his now empty coffee cup. Geez. Had he actually talked that much? "I'm at the Columbia library every afternoon if you want help, though. You know you're not gonna get a better tutor." He smirked, but it really did lack his usual spark.
"But not today right? Dude, you need a fat nap."
Bas frowned at him. It pulled at his tired eyes as he shrugged. "I don't know. I like the library, and I've got a bunch of work to get done."
Yeah, if Nick was that tired no way would he ever be focusing on homework first. But Bas was obsessed with the stuff. He studied all the time, so much so that Nick wondered how he had time to go to class, study, spend quality time with his boyfriend, and actually enjoy life. Maybe it had something to do with all the coffee he drank. "Yeah, well, I'll pass today. I'd rather have some fresh eyes looking at my work." Sebastian rolled his less than fresh eyes at him. "Besides, I can't today. John's book is being released, remember? My copy's supposed to arrive this afternoon."
Sebastian's fingers stopped tapping. "What?"
"John's book. Remember? The one he wrote about the Warblers."
Sebastian's brows went up. He leaned in. "What?"
How did he not know about this? "You really need to get on some sort of social media. Everyone's been talking about it for the past month. Okay- wait, you definitely know about this. John had to get permission from everyone to put them in the book. Didn't you get, like, an email asking to use your name?"
"What? Yeah, yeah, I got some sort of email about a book," this time his brow furrowed, "John asking if he could write about me- about us. I told him to fuck off, of course. So he couldn't put anything about me in there, right?"
"Well, technically. But he's just using pseudonyms for everyone who didn't give him permission. Apparently, Wes is 'Wayne', now."
"What." The color quickly drained out of Sebastian's face. Nick leaned in, worried suddenly that his friend was actually about to faint onto the table.
"Bas. Bas, dude, relax. It's not like your name's going to be tied to anything from Dalton that it hasn't already." Their little steroid scandal had made national headlines after all. An all-boys show choir doping up to be better performers? Yeah, that shit sold. Which was probably part of the reason John even wrote this book. The drama of it all was unbelievable. "You weren't even named as one of the guys that took steroids. And it's not like your name's gonna bring up anything on a- um, slushy incident."
That snapped Sebastian out of his small stupor. His face was still ghostly pale, but he nodded slowly. "I know. I know, Nicky, but it's just… There's some things, you know. John was my roommate. And everyone who knows me or him is going to be able to figure out he's talking about me, pseudonym or not."
That's what bothered him? Nick shrugged. "So, what? He saw you jerking off or something?" Bas rolled his eyes and leveled him with a glare that would have been more intimidating if he didn't look like he'd been sleeping in a gutter for a week. "The book's about the Warblers. I'm sure John didn't want to bother putting in what your bedhead looked like."
Bas paused before he nodded. "I guess… you've kind of got a point," he mumbled. His gaze turned to the windows, watching the street outside. "There's just some things I want to stay private."
"And he'll respect that, Bas. John's not going to spill all your secrets just for a page or two of gossip in his book." Now that he said it though, Nick didn't really believe it. That was the exact type of juicy drama that would make a book sell. But he wasn't going to tell Sebastian that. No, he should remain strong for his friend. Otherwise he might have to call up Preston and let him know that his boyfriend fainted in the middle of a coffeeshop. And Preston was a worrier – Nick really didn't want to deal with that.
He did feel bad for sort of making Sebastian's bad day worse though. The poor guy still didn't have any color in his cheeks.
Nick sighed and glanced back down at his phone. Shit. He had to get to class soon. "It'll be fine," he repeated, leaning forward so Bas would really hear him. He reached out and grabbed the forgotten plate on the table while he did so. "C'mon, you sure you don't want this? I gotta go. Can't be late again or I think I'll be like, banished from the lecture."
Sebastian's lip quirked and he shook his head. "No. I'm good."
He studied his friend for a moment longer. He didn't look too good. But Nick wasn't sure what he could do to help. That stupid book had everyone on edge – but he was sure once they read it and saw that it was just rehashing some old drama, then everything would be fine. They could all go back to catching up during the holidays and reminiscing about the good times.
"Okay, well. Don't stress yourself out." Nick stood up and gathered his things. "And get some sleep today. Don't bother getting another coffee." He swore, no one drank as much of the stuff as Sebastian Smythe.
He gave him a quick goodbye and threw his trash out, glancing back once more to see Sebastian hunched over the table, typing furiously on his phone. He was texting Preston, no doubt. As Nick stepped back out onto the busy sidewalk he considered the fact that Bas probably needed more friends. He only ever seemed to go out with Preston these days, save for their weekly coffee dates. He couldn't remember when that had started to happen, but it probably contributed to the stress that had been plaguing his friend lately. Nick resolved to find Sebastian some more people to hang out with.
Conveniently enough, he himself had just been reacquainted with another old Dalton alum in the city. Well, somewhat of an alum. Either way, Nick was still looking forward to the dinner he had planned with him that night. It meant he wouldn't be able to start reading John's book right away, but that was okay. He'd rather catch up with a friend before he dove into that mess.
And he could discuss Sebastian's weird aversion to the book with someone else. Nick was a little nervous about that – Blaine Anderson definitely wouldn't have a good memory of Sebastian – but that had been a couple of years ago now. Bas had changed, Blaine had probably changed, and Nick had even changed. He didn't care so much what other people thought of him now. He could be friends with whoever he pleased.
As long as he survived class first. Nick hurried down the street, not wanting to be late. Sports Econ was fun, but fuck if that professor didn't like tardiness. His thoughts wandered back to last night's assignment, all thoughts of the impending book of doom leaving his mind.
--
"Blaine Anderson!" Nick hurried the last few steps to reach the door of the restaurant he was approaching where he spotted a familiarly gelled head walking in. Blaine stopped in the doorway and turned at the sound of his voice with a bright smile on his face.
"Nick!" Blaine's arms wrapped around him with no hesitation. Nick returned the hug with the same fervor, nearly bowling him over with his excitement. They hugged for an extended moment before another voice piped up.
"Okay boys, let's move it out of the doorway."
Nick stepped away from Blaine and immediately moved to hug the owner of that voice. "Kurt! You're here too!" They were at least away from the doorway now. Kurt returned the hug with less enthusiasm than Blaine, but still squeezed Nick the way that friends do after not seeing each other for two years.
"I'm here too!" Kurt agreed. He let Nick go after a moment and pulled away, herding both of the other men into the line. "I can't believe we haven't met up yet. I mean, Blaine, we've all been here for almost a full year now. What's taken us so long?"
Blaine's eyes went wide at being put on the spot. "What? I don't know. We've just been so busy with NYADA, I guess." He shrugged. His hand quickly landed on Nick's shoulder. "Kurt's right though, it's been almost a full year of New York. I want to hear everything you've been up to. NYU? That's so awesome! We have to compare NYC experiences."
Nick was about to respond, but the hostess finally seemed to catch sight of their little group. "How many tonight?" she asked, voice smooth as she already started to pull out some menus.
"Just three," Kurt answered for them. He turned back to Nick, "you're gonna love this place. They have the best blueberry spinach salad."
Nick's nose wrinkled unconsciously at that. Blaine saw and laughed softly. "Don't worry, I always get the quiche. That's pretty good too."
Blaine and Kurt fell into a quiet discussion about why breakfast for dinner was supposed to be a 'light' meal while Nick got settled in the seat across from them. Wow, it was just like being back at Dalton for a second. When they had both attended, of course. But Nick wasn't going to hold a grudge about that. If he didn't want them holding grudges, then he couldn't do the same.
"Ugh, this is amazing guys. I can't believe we're all in the same city!" Nick couldn't help but blurt out even as the couple across from him continued their quiet bickering. "I mean really, who could've expected so many kids from the same high school in Ohio all ending up in New York City? Kurt, aren't there like, a bunch of other McKinley kids here too?"
That at least started a full conversation. Kurt told him all about what all the other McKinley New Yorkers were up to, with Blaine chiming in when needed, and Nick had to admit that some of their drama was pretty interesting. They even managed to order before the topic of any other Dalton boys came up.
"So, Nick, did you get a copy of John's book?" Blaine looked at him expectantly. Nick was almost surprised – wouldn't Blaine want to forget all about Dalton as well?
"Yeah, actually. Mine got delivered today. It's sitting in my backpack." He nodded at the bag in the chair next to him and both Blaine and Kurt leaned in with interest. "Did you guys get one? Or one for each, I guess? I don't know if it would be worth the two copies though. I'm sure it's just a bunch of rehashed gossip-"
"Are you kidding?" Kurt interrupted him before he could insist that the book probably sucked anyway. "A tell-all about a hundred year old all-boys' show choir group at a rich private school? It has to be dripping with good stories."
Next to Kurt, Blaine cocked his head. "Ew, Kurt. Don't describe it like that."
"What? Nevermind. Aren't you excited to find out everything that happened behind the scenes after you left?" Kurt looked at him expectantly and Blaine opened his mouth to reply, but this time it was Nick's turn to cut them off.
"Um, you guys could've just asked us," he pointed out. It was blunt, sure, but true. Maybe he was picking up on Bas's straightforwardness. He blinked at the two of them as both boys turned back to him. "It's not like we had you guys on a blacklist or anything. I mean, we helped Blaine propose." They both had the decency to look sufficiently embarrassed, so Nick decided to throw them a bone. "But yeah, I guess it'll be more interesting to read it. And I am sort of looking forward to getting John's inner monologue on everything. Who wouldn't want to be a character in a book anyway? Did you guys give him permission to use your names?"
"Of course. If I'm going to have any sort of public career in the arts then I don't think it would be a good idea to try and hide my name," Kurt said immediately. He waved his hand at his boyfriend, "Blaine didn't quite think the same."
Blaine shrugged. "I just didn't think it was a good idea to have my name tied to something like that – good or bad. You know, just in case I pick a different career path eventually." That got Nick's attention. NYADA only had like, one career path to take that he knew of – Broadway. He wondered what else Blaine was thinking about. They'd have to start getting together more like this so he could ask about it. He'd missed having his friend around.
"Well, I told him yes too," he admitted. "I didn't see any point in trying to hide it. Fuck, it might even be good for me. The steroid thing still comes up when I google my name," Nick sighed.
"Oh my god. You have to tell us all about that," Kurt said. At least he looked interested in something that Nick had to say. "I'm sure I'll read about it tonight, but I need to know everything. Blaine said you guys had a new captain that year, some guy named Hunter?"
"Yeah," Blaine agreed. "I still can't believe the Warblers had a doping scandal of all things. That had to be hell to go through."
It kind of had been. Sometimes Nick still couldn't believe it when he looked back on it. At least with Blaine and Kurt he would be able to talk about it with outsiders who knew how tight-knit the Warblers had been. Sometimes people didn't really get why none of them had been willing to snitch on each other.
"It was crazy, yeah," Nick said. He was interrupted momentarily by the waiter arriving with their food and he went quiet until the man walked away once more. Being a part of a steroids scandal wasn't something he liked to announce publicly. "John's lucky – he was one of the guys that didn't have to dope up, so I'm sure he'll make that a point in the book." He was still a little bitter about that. Screw not holding grudges, Nick had been jealous of the few guys that had been able to get out of Hunter's iron grip. "Bas was so worried about earlier too, at least he won't be implicated in it."
Kurt blinked at him. "Bas?"
Oh, right. They probably hadn't kept in touch. Nick shifted in his seat before he plowed ahead and gave them a nod. "Yeah, Sebastian," he said.
Kurt's face twisted up as if he'd just sucked on a lemon and Blaine gave him a confused frown before he asked for clarification, "Sebastian Smythe? You talked to him?"
"Yeah," Nick said. He paused, but they both waited for him to go on. "He and I are pretty good friends now. He lives in the city, you know, goes to Columbia for law school. We've been spending a lot of time together since we both got here." He could tell that Kurt was about to spit out something probably less than tasteful, so he hurried to continue, "he's like totally cool now though. He's definitely mellowed out since high school. And he even has a boyfriend now, you guys probably know him even, he goes to NYADA. His name's Preston Avery."
His rambling was quickly interrupted.
"Boyfriend?" Blaine asked, at the same time Kurt repeated, "Preston Avery?"
"Yeah, uhh, you know him?"
Kurt's eyes were wide. "We can't be talking about the same person. I have an improv class with him, he's so sweet and so funny. Are you sure we're talking about the same people?"
They were looking at him expectantly. "Uh, yeah. They met last year. It was kind of funny actually, usually whenever Bas went out with us I'd lose him for the night. But I looked over and he was just talking with this one guy for hours. Turns out it was Preston and they've been dating ever since. They actually moved in together a couple months after they met, it got serious sort of fast."
There was a long moment of silence. Nick watched them both process the information before Blaine spoke up, somewhat tentatively, "that's… nice. I know last I talked to him he was trying to be a better person." His voice was hopeful. Nick knew that he and Bas had been friends before the slushy incident, at least.
Kurt didn't seem convinced. He scoffed. "Ha. I'd have to see it to believe it."
Nick pounced on that. "You can! I'm going out with a few theater kids from my class this weekend, you guys should totally come. We know this bar in Greenwich that doesn't card."
"I don't know, Nick…"
"Please? I don't know them that well. And they'd probably love to be able to talk to some NYADA kids. I actually managed to get Bas to agree to come out, he said he would as long as he could bring Preston. What better way to bury a hatchet than over illegal drinks? Plus, Kurt, you already like his boyfriend. You guys could talk about improv techniques or something."
They looked at each other. Surprisingly enough, it was Kurt who broke the silence. "I think we could use a night out, actually. It's not a karaoke bar, is it?"
"Um, no. We're not that desperate to relive high school."
Kurt smiled and Blaine followed suit. "I guess we'll be there. I'm sure it'll be nice to get out without sitting through a Rachel Berry solo for a night."
Nick laughed at that, more than grateful that he hadn't had to sit through that. He really was doing them a favor, then. "Perfect! And I'm sure we'll all have finished the book by then. I still have to figure out a way to let my professors know that I couldn't finish my homework because I was too busy reading a tell-all book about my high school show choir days."
That opened up a conversation about everything they'd missed out on with each other since Nick and Blaine's sophomore year. The food was good too. Even though he didn't share Kurt's taste, Nick had to admit that he always managed to find the perfect place for everyone's tastes. John's book sat heavy in his backpack, abandoned for the time being. He had the whole night to crack it open though. Kurt and Blaine told him they'd both gotten a copy too. Blaine had apparently suggested reading it together, but Kurt figured with differing class schedules they should each have their own.
It turned out to be a good dinner, all things considered. Nick felt good about it when they finally left a couple of hours later, parting ways to their respective apartments. Only then did he glance down at his phone. His eyes went wide. Six missed texts, four of them from Bas and two from his roommate. His roommate wanted to know when he'd be home, so he quickly answered that.
Bas's texts were different. Apparently he'd gotten his own copy of the book and had found the time to start reading.
From Bas: This book is shit. John Laffrens, your journalism career is going to tank.
From Bas: Seriously, it's so boring. Who cares about how many gay show choir kids kissed each other?
Nick rolled his eyes at that. Apparently that sort of stuff was popular. Drama, and all that. The next couple of texts weren't as light though.
From Bas: I'm going to kill him.
From Bas: Please don't read this book, Nicky.
Nick stopped at the steps to his building. What the hell had John written about? Everyone already knew about Sebastian's greatest hits in high school. Unless… Bas had mentioned there was some private stuff he didn't want out.
There was a growing pit in his stomach. He groped blindly for the rail as his legs went weak. Nick was pretty sure he already had an idea of the secret that could be in this book. Before he could fully start to freak out though, his phone rang. The caller ID was another Warbler, one he hadn't talked to since graduation. One who had shared his same suspicions at Dalton.
Nick stared at his phone for a long moment before he snapped back into action. He hurried up the steps and answered the call on his way to his apartment. "We were right, weren't we?"