Roses of the Alps - Chapter Twelve Part One
Title: Roses of the Alps
Summary: Burt has his heart attack towards the end of Kurt's sophomore year and dies from it, leaving Kurt orphaned. His family, unable to care for him, send him off to an international boarding school in Switzerland, where one of his ancestors is an alumni.
Meanwhile, Sebastian got into trouble once too often and gets kicked out of his school in Paris. Figuring that he won't be able to get into as much trouble in the middle of nowhere in the Alps, his parents send him off to the same school as Kurt.
While Kurt is trying to get over his father's death, he and Sebastian meet and start a friendship with benefits, that has potential to become more.
Rating: M
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Warnings: Character Death, Dub-Con
Other Pairings: None
Beta: shadowwanderer (my sister) and jassanja
Artist: Freakingpotter
Word-count: 54 076
A/N: Huge thanks to my sister and my friend Jassanja, who jumped in to beta-read for me, when none of the betas who signed up here, who I wrote, answered the messages I sent to them. Also, kudos, hugs and thanks to Freakingpotter for the wonderful art. ^^
Yes, I know that there wasn't a Purplemoon party in Zürich in 2011 at this time of the year. I'm claiming artistic license. :p As for the hotel, I've only seen it from the outside. I've never been inside, so I'm basing all my information on the pictures on their website.
Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three Part 1 | Chapter Three Part 2 | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven Part 1 | Chapter Seven Part 2 | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Eleven | Chapter Twelve Part 1 | Chapter Twelve Part 2 | Epilogue
Chapter Twelve Part One
It was several weeks later, in the midst of one of their study sessions, when Sebastian told Kurt out of the blue, “By the way, pack some clothes for the weekend. We’re heading out on Friday to Zurich.”
Kurt blinked. “What?”
“You heard me. I’ve already gotten permission from your grandparents and my mom.”
“How did you get their number?”
“Your cell phone, of course.”
“When did you…?” Kurt paused. “I don’t really want to know. What should I bring?”
“Something for going dancing in.”
Kurt looked at him warily. “What exactly are we going to do?”
“There’s a website called Purplemoon. It’s a sort of blog slash dating site for the LGBTI community here in Switzerland. I joined it way back when I’d just come here. Anyways, they have LGBTI parties that are sixteen and up.”
“But you’re fifteen.”
“That’s what fake IDs are good for.”
“We aren’t going to drink, though.”
“Yeah, yeah, I had to promise your grandparents that already, even if you’d technically be of legal age here. You know, for beer and wine.”
“If we’re going into Zurich, I should probably text Maya for some suggestions on where to go.”
“Who’s Maya?”
“She’s a girl I met when I went to the Herbstmesse in Basel. According to her friend, she’s a lesbian but she still thinks she’s bi - unless she’s changed her mind by now, that is.”
“Okay, fine, but she’s not joining us.”
Kurt shook his head. “No, definitely not joining us. She’s scary.”
“Scary?”
“Well, kind of. She’s really hyper, chatty and eccentric. She’s American, though: from Minnesota.” Kurt pondered for a moment. “Say, what does your mom think you’re doing?”
“She thinks I’m going sight-seeing. I promised them no alcohol, no sleeping around, no partying.”
Kurt raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“My mom is easy to manipulate. That’s why I always go to her when I need something. I usually get it. My dad, on the other hand, wouldn’t have believed a word I said and would never have given me permission to leave.”
“Ah, okay.” There was an awkward pause before Kurt continued, “I don’t think I have the right clothes for going dancing.”
“That’s fine. We can go shopping in Zürich on Saturday to find some for you.”
“Only if I get to pick out your outfit, too.”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
Kurt looked at him coyly. “Is that so?”
“Bedroom?” Sebastian asked.
“Weekday,” Kurt responded.
Sebastian let his head drop. “You’re going to be the death of me one of these days.”
Kurt rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure. Not getting any on a weekday has killed many a man - not.”
“At least I still have my right hand.”
“You’re crass.”
“I’ve rented a hotel room for us in Zürich. Just think: we can be as loud there as we want. I can finally make you fall apart without worrying about someone hearing us.”
Kurt swallowed as he felt stirrings in his groin. “Stop it.”
Sebastian lowered his voice to a whisper, so only Kurt could hear him. “There’s something I want to try on you. I want to see you fall apart with a good rimming.”
“Rimming?” Kurt asked.
“My tongue opening you up for me. It’s hot and wet. I bet you’ll love it. Of course, first, we’ll have to clean you - both inside and outside. I already bought the materials for it.”
Kurt’s breath hitched as he fought against the imagery that was filling his mind.
“Also, you know, I got myself tested and just got the results back. I’m clean. So, if you wanted, we could forsake the condom. I’ve heard that it’s much more intense that way, without the barrier. The clean-up is a little messier, though.”
Kurt closed his books, stuffed them into his bag and stood up. He looked at Sebastian and asked, “Well, are you coming?”
Sebastian smirked, quickly packing up and following Kurt to his room in the Grosshaus.
***
Kurt looked up from the instructions that Maya had sent him for finding one of the better Karaoke bars in Zurich, named Lauschuli. According to her, it opened at seven PM.
When Sebastian pulled him to a full stop, Kurt started and looked up. He asked, “We’re there already? But we just left the train station.”
Sebastian smirked. “That’s one of the reasons I chose this hotel. It’s located vis-à-vis the main train station. Can’t get more central than that. You can get in and out twenty-four-seven and, best of all, it has soundproofed rooms. I rented the room through Monday, so we wouldn’t have to check out before twelve on Sunday.”
Kurt just stared at the building. It was antique-looking, but still in good repair. Kurt figured it must be renovated regularly. The railings were black and had obviously been designed in a decorative style. Above the windows, the stone façade had triangles and half-ellipses jutting out. On one of the railings, which went around the corner of the building, were the words ‘Hotel Schweizerhof,’ three times. “It’s beautiful. It looks old.”
“That’s just the exterior. The interior is new.”
“That’s not the point!”
“We’re in the older part of the city, now. Some of the buildings are actually pretty old. Of course, if you want to see really old buildings, then you should go to Chur. I heard that that’s the oldest city in Switzerland and it’s closer to our school, too.”
Kurt swatted Sebastian. “You’re ruining the moment.”
“Anytime,” Sebastian quipped.
“Why do I put up with you again?”
“Because I’m good.” Sebastian smirked and wiggled his eyebrows suggestfully.
“You look like an idiot.”
“You look like one, too - standing there staring at our hotel instead of going into it. It’s late. We should check in.”
Kurt felt his cheeks warm. “Whatever. I can’t wait to see the room.”
“Don’t be too excited. It’s only four stars.”
Kurt admitted, “I’ve never actually stayed in a hotel before. I never even left Ohio before I went to German camp last summer.”
“The best ones are five stars. I decided to go with this one, though, because of its location.”
“How can you afford this?”
“My credit card has a fairly high limit and I haven’t had to use it for ages, so I’ve saved up a lot of allowance.”
“I don’t even want to know what your allowance is…”
“Much higher than yours, in any case.”
“Probably. I won’t have access to my inheritance until I turn eighteen, anyways, and it’s all I’ve got to get me through college, anyways.” Kurt cast his gaze to the sidewalk below him.
“Let’s go in.” Sebastian said, pulling Kurt inside, where they were greeted by the receptionist, who offered them a drink. They accepted it. Sebastian told her, “We have reservations under the name Smythe.”
She looked it up. “Ah, yes, for a Junior Suite ‘Relax’. Here are your cards for the room.” She gestured at a porter, who picked up their luggage and took the cards from the receptionist. “He’ll bring you to your room.”
***
Kurt entered the room, while Sebastian tipped the porter. To the left was the entrance area, a closet, a commode and a coat rack. On the commode, there was a capsule coffee machine with a spout for hot water. Next to it were a variety of teas and coffees to choose from, as well as several cups. Veering off to the right from the entrance area was a toilet with a sink. The sink was set into marble, which also covered the lower half of the walls, and the part of them above the marble was cream-colored.
The carpet was a deep, rich, royal purple, the walls were cream and there were brown curtains. As Sebastian closed the door and locked the deadbolt, Kurt took his boots off in the entrance area, putting them carefully on the water-repellant surface under the coat rack and hung his coat above them on one of the hangers provided. He took a moment to enjoy the soft carpet under his feet before he went to investigate the rest of the suite.
In the sitting room were a gray sofa and a purple armchair. Next to them was a glass table with fresh fruit and a bottle of sparkling water. Vis-à-vis the couch was a large, flat-screen TV with a coffee table underneath it. Turning around, he saw a large desk and could see into the next room with a large, king-sized bed that you could section off with sliding doors. In there, he found a safety deposit box. Opening it, he found an outlet for laptops, as well as a container to put jewelry and wallets into. He ran his hands over the bedspread, finding it to be as soft as the bedspreads he’d once indulged in when his father had been alive. There were night tables on either side of the bed.
Kurt noticed Sebastian watching him with a lopsided smile and he smiled back at him.
Sebastian commented, “You haven’t even gotten to the best part yet - sure, the king-sized bed instead of a double bed with two mattresses,” he scrunched his nose up in distaste, “was a main part of it, but there were other rooms with that.”
He guided Kurt into the second bathroom. The basic theme was the same as the other bathroom, but this one had two large sinks with a ledge over them with more than enough room for Kurt to place all his beauty products. Two bathrobes hung there with slippers underneath them. There was a large bathtub, which Kurt thought must be what Sebastian was excited about. Then he noticed that the shower had seats in it. He turned to Sebastian. “Why are there seats in the shower?”
Sebastian smirked. “I thought you’d recognize it. I’m so disappointed in you, Kurt.”
“Hey! I can’t know everything!”
“It’s a steam shower. Of course, it can be used as a normal shower too, but that’s not the point. It’s supposed to be really relaxing.”
“I’ve heard about them. I just… I’ve never seen one. The spa I used to go to didn’t have one. They had steam baths.”
“We still have some time before it’s time for supper. Wanna try it?”
Kurt’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What exactly are you planning?”
“Do I have to have something planned?”
“You usually do.”
Sebastian shrugged. “You’re too wired. You need to relax. So, if we combine the relaxing effect this steam shower is supposed to have with the relaxing qualities of the aftermath of a good blowjob, I figure it’ll get the job done.”
“And what’s in it for you?”
“Getting you off, getting myself off and relaxing in the shower. You know I like giving you blowjobs.”
“I may have noticed that over the frequent times you’ve given them to me. They’re nice.”
“Nice? You insult me. My blowjobs are nothing less than mind-blowing.”
“Hmm. I think I could be convinced to join you for that. We can unpack later.”
“I hoped you’d say that.” Sebastian smirked and kissed Kurt soundly, unbuttoning his shirt.
As they drew away for breath, Sebastian soon started nipping and biting along Kurt’s neck. Kurt gasped. “What can I say? You’re… ah! … You’re very convincing.”
Sebastian grinned. “I do my best.”
***
After a wonderful dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, Sebastian led Kurt to a gay bar he’d looked up online in the part of Zurich called Niederdorf. He showed them their fake IDs, having been able to somehow procure one for Kurt as well. How, Kurt didn’t know, seeing as they were in Switzerland and Kurt doubted Sebastian knew anyone in Switzerland. Still, he’d quickly decided that he didn’t really want to know, anyways.
Kurt asked, “Sebastian, are you sure it’s okay for us to be here?”
“Sure, why not? It’s not like we’re going to drink alcohol, anyways. I made a promise to your grandparents. I’m not going to break that. I’ll take care of you.”
An older man with medium-length, frizzy, gray hair and a beard came over to them. He said, “Hello. Please to meet you. I’m Johannes. Where are you from?”
Sebastian answered, “We’re not interested.”
The man blinked. “No, no, I’m not interested in that. I’m married to my partner of many years. We were so happy when the law for civil union was accepted here. It was a big milestone. We’re still fighting for adoption rights, though.”
Kurt asked, “You were campaigning?”
“I’ve been fighting for equalization for a long time now. Times have improved, but they’re still not perfect, you know. In the past two years, thirty-one LGBT activists have been killed in Honduras. Amnesty International has an urgent action going on at the moment for Alexander David Sánchez Álvarez to have the death-threats investigated and to protect him. He’s been assaulted and threatened several times already.”
Sebastian ignored the conversation and ordered a Diet Coke for Kurt and a lemon iced tea for himself and paid the barkeeper. He started playing with his cell phone.
Kurt replied, “That’s terrible, but there isn’t really much we can do, is there?”
“You can write a letter to the Minister for Justice and Human Rights. On our Queeramnesty website, we have a detailed article on it and an example letter.”
Kurt asked, “Queeramnesty? I’ve never heard of them.”
“It’s a sub-group of Amnesty International that specifically focuses on the human rights of LGBTI people. Unfortunately, many people in Amnesty International are blind towards that area, so we created our subgroup for them.”
“Does writing letters actually do anything? I mean, how can you force someone to change just by writing letters to them?”
“The things that make a difference are the number of letters sent or the number of signatures gathered. This creates international pressure. Countries have to get along with each other more now than they used to. War is frowned on. To avoid further difficulties, the countries will sometimes bend in order to get some of the pressure off of them. We make them bend and give a little to help the people in our urgent actions.”
“Why aren’t you better known? If my father had known about you, I’m sure he would have donated.”
“That is the problem. That is why we are regularly there at the different prides. When we’re invited, we also go to ones in other countries. The Zurich Pride Week this year will start on June tenth. The demonstration is on that Saturday, the eighteenth. You are welcome to walk with us.”
Kurt looked towards Sebastian, who just continued playing with his phone. “I don’t know. Our school lets out the middle of that week and I’ll probably be flying back to the States, then. I’d love to go, though. I’ve never been to a Pride before… I just don’t know if it’s feasible…”
Sebastian looked up from his cell phone. “We’re coming, then. I’ll convince our families. Besides, I was going to ask you to stay with me in France for some of the holidays, anyways. Maybe even all of them, if your grandparents don’t put up a fuss.”
Kurt rolled his eyes. “I doubt they will.”
Johannes asked, “Why are you staying with your grandparents, if your father would support Queeramnesty?”
Kurt studied his drink, playing with the straw before taking a long sip. He scrunched his nose up slightly as he noticed that it was rapidly approaching room temperature. He signaled for the barkeeper and asked, “Könnte ich bitte mehr Eis haben?” (Could I please have more ice?)
Johannes asked, “You weren’t thrown out, were you?”
Kurt whirled around to look at him. “Never! My dad… he would never… he couldn’t… he loved me. He…” Tears welled up in Kurt’s eyes. “When I came out to him, he told me that he’d known since I was three. But he never treated me differently.”
“Then what happened?”
“He died. A year ago. Worst day of my life. It’s run a close second by the day my mom died, though.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I am sure the world lost a wonderful person that day. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my work in Queeramnesty, it’s that we have to honor the cause the person died fighting for. If their death can mean an end to the killing, then they can rest in peace. Even if it doesn’t, you can’t stop fighting or else it becomes meaningless.”
Sebastian looked over at him in interest.
Kurt frowned. “I don’t understand what this has to do with my dad’s death.”
“What did your father fight for?”
“He didn’t fight for anything. He was a simple mechanic.”
“Did he never stand up for something?”
“Well, he stood up for me in Glee Club, that’s the term for our type of show-choir group, against our teacher and principle. I wanted to sing Defying Gravity, but our teacher didn’t want me to, because it was a girl song. He noticed that it meant a lot to me, so he stood up to them and told them off until our teacher agreed to let me audition for it. The hate mail and phone calls we got really bothered him, too, but we lived in a small town in Ohio. There wasn’t much we could do.”
“Your father fought for you. He fought for your happiness.”
“I guess you could say that…”
“Are you happy now?”
Kurt did a double-take. “What?”
Johannes gently repeated, “Are you happy now?”
“No… I miss him…”
“Then you aren’t continuing his fight. When you are happy, when you let go and let yourself be happy, then you are living out his cause for him. As long as you are not happy, he can’t rest in peace. He wants to see you happy, grow old, get married or have a civil union - he wants to see you live your life.”
Kurt’s eyes grew wider as Johannes kept speaking. “I… I never thought of it that way. Does that mean… have I disappointed my father, then?” His lip trembled.
“No. I’m sure he understands, but he still wants you to live. I’m sure - there’s nothing he wants more. And it hurts him to see you sad.”
Kurt took a deep breath. “How?”
“There are several stages of grief. Eventually, you will reach acceptance and letting go. You need to work towards it, though, instead of letting yourself wallow in your grief. I have lost many good friends in my life: some to AIDS, some to homophobes, some to other causes. It’s always difficult letting go. No one else can do it for you, but you still have to get through it. Just remember to live for him, despite everything that has been thrown at you - and, if you still have energy, you can pass on your message to others. Things can improve, but they won’t, if you refuse to fight for them.”
Kurt nodded. “Thank you.”
He patted Kurt gently on the shoulder. “No need for thanks. The world needs more people who care, unlike your friend here.”
Kurt gave a half smile. “He’s my boyfriend.”
Sebastian looked at Kurt, his eyes wide.
The man winked. “I thought he might be. Now, it’s getting late. I should be heading home to my husband. I’ll see you at the Zurich Pride then.”
Kurt smiled and stood up. “We’ll be there.” Kurt shook Johannes’ hand. “It was nice meeting you. I’m Kurt and my boyfriend’s Sebastian.”
“It was nice meeting both of you, as well.”
The moment Johannes had left, Sebastian twirled Kurt around and into his arms to passionately kiss him. After a few minutes, he pulled back. He panted, “Your boyfriend? Not just make-believe? Your real boyfriend?”
Kurt nodded. “What he said… no one else made that much sense before and it sounded like he was speaking from experience. It just… it clicked, for lack of a better word. I… I stopped living. I’ve just been existing for the past year. I… I’m not honoring him by doing this and I want this. I really do, but I was just so scared - but I can’t let that stop me.”
Sebastian smirked, “This calls for a celebration.”
Kurt nodded. He whispered into Sebastian’s ear, “Take me to our hotel room, Bas. Make love to me.”
“My pleasure.” Sebastian smirked and gladly complied.
Part II