This was written as a submission for Smythofsky Week (Day #5 Theme - Firsts) on tumblr. Thanks to SolariaLunar21 for looking over this for me. Please review!

Warnings: Might be some language in there somewhere

The First Time…

The first time they noticed each other was at the mall.

Dave couldn't help but glance at the tall, slender teen on the other side of the sporting goods store. The boy was wearing a blazer, like the one Dave had seen Kurt's boyfriend wear. He was holding a lacrosse stick, testing the weight and balance of it, as Dave watched and admired and wondered.

Sebastian spotted the guy in the Buckeyes cap as soon as he walked in. He was bulky, all broad shoulders and brute strength; something Sebastian had always secretly admired. He was subtle as he looked over Cap-Guy, not that Sebastian was often subtle, but openly checking out a guy like that – big, manly and apparently into football – wasn't the safest thing to do in Ohio. He'd only been back from Paris for four days; the last thing he needed was to end up in the hospital.

The first time they made eye contact was completely unintentional.

Dave had been grabbing something to eat at the McDonalds in the food court. He paid for his meal, picked up the tray of food, and decided to find a table. As he was turning to leave the front of the line, he found his eyes locked with green ones. Dave was jostled from behind and the moment was broken. It wasn't until he'd sat down at an empty table that he placed the face; the boy attached to those eyes was the same one his attention had been drawn to at the sports store. He looked around hoping to spot him again, but Dave was disappointed.

Sebastian didn't know how the food court could even be considered such a thing when the food choices were so limited. The only food there that held any appeal was the sushi, and he wasn't entirely sure he could trust it. He decided against it – just in case. Sebastian was glancing around, hoping to find something safe like a pretzel stand, when he made eye contact with someone. He was surprised to see it was the guy in the cap he'd checked out earlier. Their gaze broke and Sebastian took the opportunity to dart away. He didn't think he'd been obvious, but better safe than sorry.

The first time they each realized the other was gay was surprising.

Dave wasn't sure why he was so stunned. Something had drawn his attention to the other boy, after all, though he'd assumed it was just the fact that he'd been so good looking. Perhaps his shock stemmed mostly from them being in Ohio. The only gay guys around his age that he'd met were Kurt and his boyfriend. Regardless of the reasoning, when he'd passed the other boy in the doorway – Dave leaving Scandals just as the other teen was entering – it was unexpected. And uplifting.

Sebastian had never been to Scandals before, but he'd heard about it. It was the only gay bar within a reasonable distance, so he was willing to at least give it a shot. From the outside, it was a dive; he predicted the same from the inside. What Sebastian hadn't predicted was to almost walk straight into Hot-Muscled-Cap-Guy while he was there. He'd been mentally promoted from Cap-Guy once Sebastian caught sight of those biceps in a short sleeved shirt – he'd been completely floored. Then, Sebastian found out that the other teen was something of a regular, and his surprise turned into interest.

The first time they spoke was at Scandals.

Dave felt brave enough one night, after seeing Sebastian several times at Scandals and learning his name from the other regulars, to start a conversation. He'd never flirted before, and it didn't go well. Sebastian was rude. Dave was hurt. Dave wondered if the first time he spoke to Sebastian would also end up being the last time.

Sebastian wasn't ready to speak to Dave. He'd asked around, he'd even grinned across the room at the other boy occasionally. But his interest in Dave was more than what he was used to; he wasn't prepared. So when Dave spoke to him first (well before he had prepared himself for a conversation with Dave), Sebastian threw his mask on and stepped all over Dave's feelings. Sebastian wondered if he'd ruined what they had before they even had it.

The first time they laughed together changed everything.

Dave hadn't been listening in; he'd just been minding his own business at the bar. But when Sebastian replied to an offered drink from a stranger with the words, "If I took a drink from you, I'm pretty sure I'd catch ugly," Dave couldn't help but snicker into his beer. He felt bad about it, of course, until he caught Sebastian's amused eye and they shared something. Dave had no idea what that something was, but everything felt different. Lighter.

Sebastian would normally have let just about anyone buy him a drink, as long as it was handed to him by the bartender. But Dave had been right there, and for some reason that felt wrong. When he brushed the random guy off with a sarcastic joke and mocking laughter, he hadn't expected Dave to laugh with him. When they'd made eye contact, Dave gave him a small grin like something had changed. Sebastian started planning.

The first time they touched was by accident – sort of.

Dave was at the Lima Bean, minding his own business. He'd just finished his coffee and gotten up to leave his table when he'd collided with someone coming from behind one of the decorative pillars. Dave had, on instinct, reached out to stop the other boy from falling before he'd even noticed it was Sebastian. His hands gripped Sebastian's shoulders for longer than it took to steady him, as though his brain couldn't quite function as normal. Accidents happen, he reminded himself as he walked away, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach and the tingling in his palms.

Sebastian was at the Lima Bean, watching Dave. He wasn't being a stalker – being there at the same time was a coincidence – but he wasn't above taking advantage of a situation if the opportunity arose. It was the first time he'd seen Dave since before the larger boy had tried to kill himself, so Sebastian couldn't just leave. He waited until Dave got up and – timing it carefully – walked around the pillar by Dave's table, straight into the muscular teen. Sebastian couldn't have planned it any better. Those strong hands branded his skin, even through layers of fabric. Dave was holding on when logically he should have already let go, and Sebastian knew then that he had a good chance of getting exactly what he wanted.

The first time they danced together was awkward.

Dave wasn't much of a dancer, though he enjoyed it – when he was alone, or in a large group where the moves were planned; like that time he'd been in New Directions for a week. Trying to dance with another guy at Scandals was completely different, and if it hadn't been Sebastian who asked, he wouldn't have done it. But it was, so he did. He felt self-conscious and clumsy but Sebastian didn't seem to care so it was hard for Dave to care much, either.

Sebastian loved to dance, and he did it at every opportunity. Asking Dave to dance with him had seemed like a great idea until he'd actually said yes. Sebastian normally felt sexy on the dance floor, but instead with Dave he felt uncomfortable. He couldn't do any of the things he normally would – he liked Dave too much for that. Dave didn't seem bothered by his lack of grinding or seductive moves, though; he was just moving with the music and having fun. Sebastian really liked that.

The first time they kissed was sort of inappropriate.

Dave was so sick of hearing the same crap over and over again. Fag. Homo. Queer. He'd gotten desensitized to it, at least a bit, but it never stopped being frustrating. He couldn't even go to his favorite store for a new set of pads without the jocks from Thurston giving him hell. They'd been bothering Dave for several minutes, so when he saw Sebastian walk into the store he'd snapped. He headed straight over to Sebastian and kissed him for all he was worth. Yes, Dave was gay. He might as well enjoy it. Even if he was in front of homophobic jerks in a sporting goods store – one that would probably ban him for life once he came up for air – in the middle of Ohio. And better yet, Sebastian seemed to enjoy it too.

Sebastian had seen Dave being hassled and had every intention of doing something about it. He hadn't realized when he entered the store that doing something about it would involve having the senses kissed out of him by Dave. Not that he would complain. He'd expected it to take longer to get what he wanted (half-hearted plans of various ways to make Dave jealous had been forming in the back of his mind for a while) but Sebastian thought that perhaps this was exactly how it needed to be. Dave making the first move in pretty much the exact place where Sebastian had first noticed him seemed just right, especially with the added bonus of proving a point and pissing off some homophobes.

The first time they had sex was in public.

Dave hadn't really expected it to go quite so far. Well, he had, but not right there. He and Sebastian had been walking back to Sebastian's place after leaving Scandals in the early hours of the morning, when he'd gotten the urge to push the younger teen against a wall and start kissing him. There hadn't been a wall nearby, but there had been a park bench and no one around to see them. It had gotten so out of hand, and while they would definitely be doing it again, it would definitely not be happening out in the open like that. Dave had no idea what they'd been thinking and he spent a long time drilling that into the part of his mind that thought that public sex was actually really, really awesome.

Sebastian didn't expect his first time with Dave to involve anything he hadn't done before (beyond actually caring about the person he was having sex with), but it did. Sebastian had done the public sex thing in the past, a few times, but never in a way that was quite so public. Normally it was a bathroom of a club, or a darkened alley, like he was ashamed. Not a park bench right out in the open like they had absolutely nothing to hide. He was surprised they hadn't been seen…or arrested. Part of him really, really wanted it to happen again, but realistically Sebastian figured he was far too pretty for jail, so it probably wouldn't. The public part – not the sex part. The sex part would absolutely be happening again.

The first time they nearly broke up was over something stupid.

Dave wanted to watch football. It hadn't really occurred to him that maybe Sebastian didn't. The other boy had come over to hang out (which usually meant sex but sometimes really did mean hang out) so Dave had grabbed some drinks and a few bags of random junk food then put the game on. He didn't notice that Sebastian was getting more and more annoyed at him until he was yelling and Dave was somehow yelling back. Dave had been called oblivious before, but he'd never actually felt that way until Sebastian was declaring that maybe they should just break up. There was just no way Dave was okay with that and then they were yelling again – words like love and need and Dave didn't care what it took, he was going to fix it because he didn't think he could accept anything else.

Sebastian was frustrated. Every time he'd tried to touch Dave, for at least an hour, the other teen had moved – sometimes to reach for food, sometimes in reaction to something happening on the screen. Sebastian was pretty sure that Dave wasn't doing it intentionally, but what exactly did it mean when his boyfriend was more interested in football than him? He hadn't even grasped how close he was to snapping until he did, then he was yelling, and Dave was yelling and was Sebastian really suggesting that he and Dave break up? Then Dave was shouting about loving him and needing him, and Sebastian was shouting the same. He didn't even know how that had happened, but he knew it was true, he loved and needed Dave and they would make it okay because he wouldn't, couldn't, let there be another option.

The first time they made love was right after the first time they nearly broke up.

Dave had heard people say that make up sex was the best kind. He wondered how many people went from the kind of dating that was more like friends who had sex, to fighting, to confessing love, to making love. Was that normal? He'd enjoyed sex with Sebastian in the past. How could he not? Sebastian was his hot, funny, experienced boyfriend. Using the word boyfriend had only recently stopped feeling strange, and suddenly there was love involved, but Dave had never been happier. Or more satisfied, because really…? Making love was way more amazing than it sounded when people used the phrase out loud. Even after fighting. Maybe especially after fighting.

Sebastian was surprised at how different it was to make love instead of just have sex. He'd understood there was a distinction, but he hadn't really believed there was much to it. After they had yelled insults followed by angry declarations of love (and hadn't that been unexpected?) Sebastian stopped holding back whatever part of himself he'd been trying to protect, and he suspected Dave had done the same. It seemed as though the words, even spoken with fury, broke through their reservations. He'd known logically it would be different…he just hadn't realized it would be so much better.

The first time they signed their newly hyphenated last name was perfect.

Dave was in a suit; that in itself was something to behold. Sebastian had picked it and Dave loved it, though he pretended to feel uncomfortable and strange. Secretly, he thought if there was one suit in the world he could wear regularly, it was that one. He wouldn't, of course. He'd keep it immaculate and never wear it again unless they decided to renew their vows one day. The suit was perfect. Everything was perfect; including their wedding and especially his husband. As Dave signed his new name on the marriage certificate, he thought maybe even he felt a little bit perfect for once. David Karofsky-Smythe.

Sebastian was being friendly. He did it sometimes, but not really often, and never for a whole day. Except for his wedding day. The perfect wedding day, marrying the perfect man (perfect for him, if for nobody else) and he wasn't going to be the one to make it anything less. Dave had recited the perfect vows, and even though Sebastian knew that he, himself, was far from perfect, in Dave's eyes he was. He wasn't a terribly sentimental person, but Sebastian figured he was allowed on his wedding day, and so as he signed his new name on their marriage certificate, he smiled at Dave and basked in the thought that everything would be wonderful for them in the future, even when it wasn't. Sebastian Karofsky-Smythe.