Je ne t'attendais pas (6/?)
Kurt was woken up by a particularly bright sunbeam. He opened his eyes with difficulty. The sight he had from the window was beautiful even if it wasn’t really special. Kurt figured it was because he was in Paris and everything just felt better in Paris. At this thought he remembered the events of the night before and turn to face an empty bed. He couldn’t say he wasn’t relieved. In fact he was grateful to Sebastian for leaving early and avoiding the awkward morning talk. It was better that way, neither of them had to pretend they actually wanted to talk to each other.
He took a look at the clock radio on the bedside table to see how much he had slept. It was 11am and that was slightly unusual since he was a morning person; he considered sleeping a waste of time. He figured out how the radio thing was working and turned it on to listen to some music.
He was a bore; a true chore
And I still wonder why I ever wanted to see him more
He got up and looked at the mess that was his room. And he was only there since yesterday! On the desk was a little piece of paper: ”Call me when you want amazing sex again: 06 37 18 23 25”. Kurt shook his head with a chuckle. The sex had been great, there was no denying it but there was also no way he was going to call back Sebastian: there was a reason why one night stands were called one night stands.
Yes he was kind, polite and divine in public, tender as a sleepy child
But when we got slightly more intimate it wasn’t that bright
Yes he was kind, polite, sound and sublime, in theory
But in practice believe me, there was a nasty fire burning
He started tidying up the clothes on the ground. He wasn’t as picky as he had been as a teenager but it was still a shame to see all of his nice clothes all crumpled. Near the door was a brown leather jacket that was most definitely not his. Sebastian had probably forgotten it and Kurt couldn’t help wondering why he would wear a leather jacket when the weather was so pleasant. Anyway, he kind of had to call Sebastian after all.
He dialed Sebastian’s number thinking about how much this phone call was going to cost him since Sebastian had a French number.
“Allô?” Sebastian answered on a very professional tone.
“Hi Sebastian, it’s Kurt”
“Oh, hi Kurt! I wasn’t expecting you to be craving me so soon!” Sebastian replied playfully.
“Shut up! Clearly you’re more obsessed with me than you care to admit: you were so distracted by my admittedly gorgeous body this morning that you forgot your jacket in my room.” Kurt wasn’t one to be intimidated or shocked by Sebastian’s flirting anymore and he had a lot of fun answering to him.
“Thank god! I was wondering where it was and I knew if I had left it in the bar there was no way I would ever find it.” Sebastian said, relieved.
“So, uh, do you wanna meet up somewhere so that I can give it back to you?” Kurt asked, unsure of how to act in such an awkward situation.
“What are you doing today?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t know. It depends on where you want to meet me so I give your jacket back to you I guess?”
“No but what did you have planned? I can meet you there if you’d want so that you don’t change your program for me. So what, Le Louvre, la tour Eiffel?”
“Woah, Sebastian, are you actually being nice? Since when do you care about what other people have in mind?” Kurt asked, surprised.
“Shut up. I can still be a bitch and ask you to meet me at the other end of Paris but it wouldn’t be convenient for either of us. So I’m gonna ask you one last time, what did you want to do today?”
“I wanted to go window shopping but I don’t really know where. Maybe not too far away from my hotel since I’m still under time difference…” Kurt thought out loud.
“Well just come to Châtelet. I live there and it’s not far away from your hotel either. Then there’s the rue de Rivoli with a lot of shops which brings you to place de la Bastille again.” Sebastian declared.
“Sounds great. Let’s say 3pm in front of the théâtre du Châtelet, ok? I know the place by sight so I’ll know I’m not lost.”
“Deal. See you!” and he hung up with that.
Three hours later Kurt was waiting place du Châtelet. He was really excited to be here because there were two theaters, the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Théâtre de la Ville so it was one of the most important places in Paris for the spectacles. And theThéâtre de le Ville had been named after Sarah Bernhardt, which had become one of Kurt’s idols during his years at NYADA. She had been a strong, independent actress of the 19th century in Paris who was not afraid of her convictions. What was is not to like about her? Her mottohad been “quand même!” which was a way of showing her boldnessand her contempt of conventions. And one of Kurt’s favorite quotes was also from Sarah Bernhardt: “You have to hate very little because it’s tiring. You have to despise a lot, forgive often but never forget.”
Lost in his thoughts, Kurt didn’t hear Sebastian walking behind him and jumped when he talked:
“Hey you!”
“Sebastian, hi! Uh, here is your jacket.” Kurt handed it to him with an embarrassed smile. He didn’t really know what to do or what to say, it was the morning-after-embarrassment all over again.
“Thanks. So you already know the place?”
“What?” Kurt asked, startled that Sebastian wasn’t just walking away.
“You said you knew the theater on the phone.”
“Oh no, I just know it by sight like I’ve already seen it on picture. I’ve never been to Paris before.”
“Well, that’s a shame,” Sebastian said with a wink. “It’s a beautiful city. Let’s walk to the Rue de Rivoli, I’ll show you some nice shops.”
Sebastian didn’t seem embarrassed in the least and somehow that didn’t surprise Kurt.
They started wandering in this big street. The conversation flew quite easily for people who hadn’t seen each other in four years and hadn’t been on the best terms back then. They talked a lot about Paris and Kurt learned that this street was very long and had been built during the great reconstruction of Paris in the 19th century by the baron Haussmann. When they arrived place de l’Hôtel de Ville (which was the town hall) Kurt had to take a moment because of how stunning it was. The building was absolutely impressive and you could see the Seine and Notre-Dame de Paris at the same time. Sebastian agreed to take some silly tourist pictures of him on the square, not without teasing him about it though.
Sebastian was amused by Kurt’s amazement but he did understand it. When he first came to Paris, back in high school, it had been the same for him. There was something magical about this city and its atmosphere. He was also quite impressed by how much Kurt knew about Paris without having actually visited it before. He must have read a lot of books or seen a lot of movies.
“If you’re finished playing the Japanese tourist who takes a thousand pictures you might want to see one of the best stores for fashionable Parisians. It’s just on the other side of the street.”
Kurt turned around to face another beautiful building with a dome. “Is it this Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville thing?” he asked.
“Yes indeed. It’s a department store where you can buy absolutely everything and there’s a section for men’s clothes. There are others in Paris such as the Galeries Lafayette, Le Printemps or the Bon Marché. They’re kind of malls unless they’re in the town, the buildings are beautiful, it’s less huge and the brands are luxurious.” Sebastian explained.
“Sounds awesome! Do you mind if I take a look?” Kurt asked in a hopeful tone.
“As long as you don’t stay hours I can probably do that. Besides, I need new pair of socks,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly.
They entered the building and Kurt’s eyes were shining with excitement. It was even better than what he had imagined. Of course he knew a lot of brands that were displayed here and most of them were really expensive but it was glorious. Between two displaysof bags he learned that these kind of stores were also part of the reconstruction of Paris and that it had been so unusual that famous books had been written about it at the time, books which were still studied in middle schools.
Kurt didn’t want to abuse Sebastian’s patience, knowing he would have time to come back anyway so after half an hour of seeing beautiful items and buying leather fingerless gloves he found Sebastian who had bought pair of socks in every color possible. He figured it was a way for him to brighten up his wardrobe, which was otherwise pretty boring. He found that silly but cute at the same time.
They went on walking, talking and window-shopping until Kurt saw the familiar column of the place de la Bastille. “Oh my god, we’re already here? But that means we went past my hotel minutes ago!” Kurt exclaimed.
“Yeah, we did. Wanna grab some sushi?” Sebastian asked like it was the most normal thing to eat in the middle of the afternoon.
“Uh, sure yeah. I mean, I’m not actually hungry but why not,” Kurt answered.
“Oh come on, there is no such thing as not being hungry when we’re talking sushi!” Sebastian answered; sounding offended Kurt even considered saying no.
They went to a little sushi shop, which reminded Kurt of New York. It was very stylish and the furniture was obviously designer. They ordered a selection of sushi and maki for two to take away.
“I’ll show you a cool spot,” Sebastian said.
They crossed the square and saw a lot of goths, punks and kawaï people who looked like they were just walking out an anime. Then they walked along a place where kids were skateboarding. They were loud and looked kind of annoyingly rich.
“This area is so picturesque and bizarre. I mean, all these people have nothing in common and they seem to still get along well. I love this atmosphere,” Kurt said.
“Don’t let yourself be fooled, it’s only because you’re a tourist and the sun is shining. When you actually rub shoulders with them it’s not that nice. They despise each other but they’re not violent they’re mostly just indifferent.”
“I can totally picture you in high school being all condescending to goths because they’re soooooo lame,” Kurt said playfully.
Sebastian’s lack of response was more revealing than any answer could have been.
“Oh gosh you totally were one of the irritating kids out there, weren’t you?”
“No, it wasn’t like that,” Sebastian said lamely.
“You can totally skateboard like them! What can you do? Oh you have to show me, oh my god I’m picturing you in your very dapper Warbler blazer doing some ridiculous figures and feeling so badass!” Kurt said excitedly. He obviously found that thought terribly amusing.
“Hey I was actually pretty good! And it was the cool thing to do, every cool guy liked skateboard and so did I. And they all thought it was so American to skateboard I had to learn quickly to measure to their expectations!” Sebastian tried to defend himself without really believing what he was saying.
“I bet you looked utterly ridiculous! You’ll have to show me some pictures! And I’m never going to stop teasing you about it.”
Without even realizing it, Kurt was planning to see him again. And Sebastian didn’t even react to that because they were having such a good time it just seemed natural. They finally found the place where Sebastian wanted to go: it was a little port, without any real traffic. People were sitting or lying down on the lawn in front of the bank. It was one of Sebastian’s favorite places to hang out with friends or just by himself with a book and Kurt absolutely loved it. It felt really foreign, like they weren’t in the middle of the town. They stayed there a few hours, just talking and eating their sushi. In the middle of the conversation, Kurt thought he could get used to living like that.
