Author's Note: I'm not really sure how this happened.

For a Rainy Day

Blaine unlocks the cell door with a flick of his wrist, fighting a grimace as the hinges groan loudly in protest when he shoves the door open.

The room beyond is so dark that it takes a moment for his eyes to adjust, and another for him to spot the figure curled on the concrete slab apparently serving as a crude bed. Blaine's breath catches in his throat.

He watches as the figure lifts their head before hesitantly pushing onto their elbows, head tilting as they regard him in wary confusion.

Blaine shakes himself back into action and moves into the cell, his steps quick and determined as he crosses the tiny room and holds out a hand to the figure on the bed.

He has to swallow past the tightening in his throat as Kurt's gaze lowers to his hand incomprehensibly.

Blaine clears his throat to ensure that his voice actually works before he speaks. "Come with me," he commands, proud when his words come out smooth and strong.

Kurt eyes Blaine's hand warily for another moment before hesitantly before taking it with his own. Blaine wastes no time in carefully pulling Kurt to his feet.

He clutches Kurt's shoulders and ducks his head to catch Kurt's eye.

"You have to go and find Mr. Smythe-tell him that Jesse locked you up. That part's very important, do you understand?" He speaks slowly and firmly, all but shaking Kurt to keep the other man's attention as Kurt's eyes try to wander away.

He feels Kurt begin to tremble beneath his hands.

"But… why are you doing this?" Kurt asks softly, his voice quiet and shaky with years of disuse. Blaine hardly recognizes it. "Who are you?"

Blaine smiles gently, hoping the expression is reassuring and doesn't come off as- well, a bit mad.

"My name's Blaine. We were friends, once."

Kurt takes a sudden step forward, surprising Blaine as he fists a hand in Blaine's jacket with a strength someone in Kurt's condition shouldn't have.

"You know me?" Kurt demands, bewildered. "How? How do you-"

Blaine can only shake his head and gently pry Kurt's fingers from his coat. " There will be time for that later. I promise. For now, you have to hurry." He squeezes Kurt's shoulders lightly when the other man's eyes begin to dart away again. "I need you to find Mr. Smythe, Kurt. All you have to do is tell him where you've been- that Jesse was the one who kept you here. He'll know what to do."

Kurt tries to shake his head then, but Blaine continues speaking. "Mr. Smythe will protect you, Kurt. But we have to go now."

Blaine doesn't wait for Kurt's response. Instead he steps behind the other man and quickly helps Kurt into the coat that Blaine had swiped from the coat rack by the head nurse's desk. Kurt isn't exactly sure what to do with his arms as Blaine tries to help him into the coat, so the process is a bit more awkward than it should be, but Blaine manages it anyway.

He then takes Kurt's hand and offers him a quick grin.

"Do you trust me?"

Kurt's eyes widen at the inquiry, snapping up to meet Blaine's own. He glances down at their hands uncertainly and begins to chew on his lip.

After a moment, he nods.

Blaine's smile is genuine then, and all but splitting his face in two as guides Kurt out of the padded room and into the basement corridor.

xxx

Sebastian's back is to the shop when the bell chimes.

He immediately stiffens, instinctively slipping the vial of magic into his coat pocket and turns to snatch the egg from the counter. His movements are uncharacteristically clumsy and hurried as he glances around for a sufficient hiding spot for the egg, his gaze finally catching on a chest sitting on a nearby shelf.

The lid on the chest has just snapped closed when he hears steps behind him.

As casually as he can manage, Sebastian begins to skim his fingers along a row of books housed on the shelf with the chest, pretending to peruse their spines as he keeps his back to the door. It gives him a chance to school his expression into its trademark mask of indifference.

His visitor finally finds him, then.

"Excuse me," a voice asks lightly from behind him, "are you Mr. Smythe?"

Sebastian turns with a falsely polite smile, but the expression quickly dies on his lips.

There, standing in the middle of his shop in tragically outdated hospital dressing clothes, looking so heartbreakingly lost and rumpled, is Kurt Hummel.

Sebastian's voice fails him.

Kurt quickly continues speaking, looking so nervous and lost and devastatingly beautiful, and Sebastian is already moving around the counter and towards the other man as if in some kind of trance.

"I-I was told to… to come and find you and to tell you that-" Kurt's expression darkens, gaze quickly dropping to the floor as if in an attempt to hide the expression completely, "-that Jesse locked me up." Bright, sea green eyes flick up to meet Sebastian's, and if Kurt is surprised to find Sebastian is now only standing a handful of feet away, he doesn't show it. "Does that mean anything to you?"

Sebastian is so caught in his trance that the words take a moment to push through the haze. He's watching, spellbound, as he reaches out to touch Kurt- just to squeeze his shoulder, to reassure himself that Kurt's real and there- and Sebastian doesn't even get a chance to be embarrassed that he apparently spoke his thoughts aloud before Kurt's words finally sink in.

He draws back, stricken. "Jesse did this to you?" he demands, and the anger in his tone so visibly frightens Kurt that Sebastian is already reaching for him again.

He can't scare Kurt off. Not now, not when he's here and real and still so beautiful.

Kurt manages a shaky nod. He doesn't shy away from Sebastian's touch, and that alone has Sebastian fighting back a giddy smile. The emotion is at war with the anger surging through him, but for once in his life, Sebastian pushes his anger to the back burner and focuses on the happiness that is threatening to blind him.

He watches as Kurt tilts his head- and god Sebastian thought he'd only ever see Kurt look at him this way again in his dreams- before he speaks again, just as carefully as before.

"I was told you'd protect me?"

Any battle Sebastian had been waging to keep from reaching for Kurt again is lost. He's nodding, blinking back tears and moving to pull Kurt into his arms before he's even aware of his intent to do so, but once his arms are around Kurt and Kurt instinctively turns his face into Sebastian's neck, Sebastian finally allows his mask to shatter.

"Of course," he assures quickly, feverishly, "Of course I will."

Kurt pulls away just enough to catch Sebastian's eyes, and the confusion shining behind them almost manages to bring every one of Sebastian's carefully crafted walls slamming back into place, but for once Sebastian fights the urge back.

He simply lets Kurt look at him and prays that the other man can find whatever answer he's seeking.

Kurt's own eyes are suspiciously moist when he finally speaks again. "I'm sorry," his voice is choked, as if he's pushing the words past the tears that are building in those sea green eyes of his, "-do I know you?"

The question isn't accusatory or bewildered. It's full of hope and intrigue, and it's so Kurt that Sebastian can't help but lift a hand to cradle the back of Kurt's head. Kurt doesn't pull away from the touch but continues to look up at Sebastian curiously.

It's a selfish thing, but when Sebastian finally fits the pieces of the puzzle together he feels the tiniest surge of relief beneath the weight of disappointment the revelation brings.

The curse has taken Kurt's memory of Sebastian. However, with those memories it has also erased Sebastian's betrayal, his heartlessness, his cowardliness.

This Kurt will never have to look at Sebastian and remember the day that he chose power over Kurt.

This Kurt is the second chance that Sebastian in no way deserves, but will not hesitate to take.

For the past thirty years, Sebastian has been forced to live in a world without Kurt, and yet somehow, impossibly, Kurt's here and in his arms and Sebastian will never let anyone between them again.

Not even himself.

If Kurt was looking at Sebastian in confusion before, his expression has now morphed into one of concern at Sebastian's lengthy pause. He even goes so far as to take a step closer to Sebastian and lift his chin to catch Sebastian's eyes.

Sebastian smiles gently.

"You don't know me now," he finally says, voice softer than he's ever heard it as he reaches up and frames Kurt's face with either of his hands, "but you will."