Je ne t'attendais pas (10/?)
Chapter 10 : A pile ou face
A/N: First let me say that the chapters are going to be posted on my LJ from now one, because I think it’s more pleasant to read. Then I would like to thank all of you who still read this story and especially all the ones who reviewed. Your words mean the world to me, really. Oh, and also, I would really like to have your thoughts on the OCs? That would be interesting to me. Then, just a few things for this chapter: it’s longer than I intended it to be, I hope you won’t mind. The version of the song I chose comes from an awesome movie (because the original version is really really tacky), 8 women (8 femmes), which I recommend to everyone. Really, if you have time, watch it, I’m sure you’ll love it. It’s funny, dramatic, mysterious and there are 8 gorgeous women whom you can pretty much all ship together. And of course I would like to than my awesome beta Sarah, because I think it’s been a long time and that’s not right. She does an amazing job in an always very short period of time. Also, you will learn where my url comes from ;) (not that it has much interest but well.) And now I let you enjoy (at least I hope so) the chapter.
After hurrying out the bar, they bought some alcohol and decided to walk to the Pont des Arts where they could drink in a lovely and animated place. They could have gone anywhere else alongside the Seine but Sebastian had decided that at the end of the day, the Pont des Arts was probably one of the most famous and pleasant places to be for a tourist like Kurt and the others had agreed to go.
One they were finally settled, all seated in a circle with the alcohol in the middle, the conversations flew easily. Kurt found himself talking to Louise, which was easily the one he liked the most. They were all funny and very nice to him but she was softer and sweeter. She talked to him about the times she had gone to America herself and he was a little annoyed to find out that she had gone to more places in his own country than he had himself.
Meanwhile, Sebastian was talking to Guillaume. “So, how do you like Kurt?” he asked.
“Since when do you care about my opinion?” Guillaume asked with a smirk.
“Since when do you actually wait for me to ask before you give it to me anyway?” Sebastian shot back.
“Touché. But you love hearing my opinions, don’t deny it,” he answered with a wink.
Sebastian smiled to him. He would never admit it of course, but he did love bitching with Guillaume (because let’s be honest, that’s what they meant by ‘giving their opinion’). He had been lucky to find such a friend here. He had been lonely before he had gotten to Paris.
“But anyway, he’s nice. And he’s gorgeous, too, which doesn’t hurt.”
“But?” Sebastian asked, raising his right eyebrow.
“But what?” Guillaume repeated with a confused expression.
“There’s always a ‘but’ with you,” Sebastian explained. Guillaume could be very judgmental and set his (often negative) opinions on people very quickly. Luckily, he was also very quick to revise them and could consider a friend someone he despised a month before if he had a reason to. “So what’s wrong with him?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t know,” Guillaume answered honestly. Of course he hadn’t talked to Kurt a lot, which could explained his lack of opinion on the matter, but the truth was, he kind of sensed that what he thought about Kurt would be important to Sebastian and he didn’t want to mess it up by judging too quickly, which was easily one of his biggest flaws. Kurt seemed to matter to Sebastian more than he was letting on, and without a doubt more than he realized himself. The only fact that Sebastian was asking him what he thought of a guy he had fucked not even a week before was unusual enough that Guillaume had a feeling there was something different about Kurt.
Sebastian frowned but didn’t insist. “You’re weird tonight. Here, take some wine,” he said, handing a bottle to Guillaume. Wine was always a good solution, as far as Sebastian was concerned.
Speaking of which, Kurt probably needed something to drink. Or maybe not, because he was already laughing way too loudly at something Pierre-Louis, who was not known for being exceptionally funny, at least in Sebastian’s standards, was saying. But whatever.
He shamelessly intruded their conversation with a loud “You’re missing me, babe?” directed to a startled Kurt. He quickly regained his thoughts and answered playfully, “I certainly missed the wine.” Sebastian handed him the bottle and sat next to him.
Louise chose this moment to ask, “Pilou, would you accompany me to the next bar to ask if I can use their bathroom? I’ve really had too much wine” After he had agreed to go with her, they got up and Louise addressed a warm smile to the two boys still sitting. Which made Sebastian think that her need to pee at the exact moment when he sat down next to Kurt was a little too convenient to be coincidental.
Kurt seemed oblivious to Louise’s delicate attention and was slowly looking all around him with amazement.
“Paris is so gorgeous. I don’t know how you get anything done. I would just spend my days wandering around and looking at every building, taking pictures or just daydreaming…”
Sebastian could relate to the feeling. Four years and he still wasn’t tired of everything this beautiful city had to offer. Even in the areas where he went regularly he discovered a new detail almost every time.
He wasn’t used to making compliments or even express too positive feelings towards anything but when it came to Paris, Sebastian couldn’t help himself. Sometimes it felt like Paris was and always would be the only love of his life.
“My favorite thing to do,” Sebastian confessed, “is to take an afternoon off and wander without a map in streets I don’t know. Just, you know, to discover.”
“Sounds awesome. I should really do that someday,” Kurt said.
It was absolutely magical, Kurt thought. He was sitting on a bridge, with a lot of people, who all seemed happy to be there. The atmosphere was so pleasant and the sight so amazing…
“I love how the city is so lively, even in the middle of the night. It doesn’t even seem like it because of the numerous lights on the streets and on the buildings,” Kurt remarked.
“Do you know Paris’ nickname is the ‘light-city’, la ‘villelumière’?” Sebastian informed Kurt.
“Really? That’s so poetic,” Kurt said dreamily. And now he could distinctly hear an accordion play on the quay under them. “And the city itself is so romantic,” he added with a sigh.
“I bet you love all of those cliché and crappy movies where everything is greater and better in Paris. Moulin Rouge made you cry? And you loved The Devil Wears Prada because Paris makes the protagonist remember her true values, am I right?” Sebastian teased.
“You seem to know a lot about those ‘cliché and crappy movies’,” Kurt answered. After all, Moulin Rouge had made him cry and even if it wasn’t because of Paris, The Devil Wears Prada was one of his favorite non-musical movies. But he was certainly not going to admit it.
But Sebastian wasn’t finished. “I also bet you love the idea of putting a padlock on railings and throw the key in the Seine, don’t you?”
“I did found that cute,” Kurt admitted defensively. “And I don’t see how that’s a problem.”
“Oh, it’s none of my problems, that’s for sure. But don’t you see how silly and pointless this is? Of all the people who put their names on the padlock you can see today, I bet half of them are not together anymore.”
“But don’t you find it nice and sweet, that at a particular moment in their lives, these people believed they could be together for the rest of their lives, and the water could be a witness of their love?”
Sebastian laughed whole-heartedly at that. “Seriously, Kurt? I really hope you’re just drunk and repeating something you heard somewhere because if you’re the one who just invented this vomiting sappy line… I’d be disappointed in you,” he said playfully.
“That’s what Blaine used to say, actually,” Kurt confessed. “We were supposed to come here together you know. That was the whole plan.” He had no idea why he was saying that to Sebastian of all people but he was the one listening.
“Are you still in love with him?” Sebastian asked, his tone serious this time. Kurt had told him how there relationship had ended a few days ago.
“Oh no, I’m not. I wasn’t in love with him anymore at the end of our relationship. But I’m still in love with the idea of being in the city of love with my lover. It was part of the dream, too, I guess.”
Sebastian had no answer to that. They settled in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Kurt broke it.
“Why don’t you do relationships?” he asked melancholically, looking at the reflections of the lights on the water.
Sebastian was used to people asking him that.
“Do you know the French song named “Pile ou face”?” he asked Kurt.
“Uh, no I don’t. But what does it have to do with anything?”
Sebastian began singing quietly.
Et moi je vis ma vie
A pile ou face !
Tous mes sentiments
A pile ou face !
Indifféremment
A pile ou face !
Et de temps en temps
Un coup je passe
Un coup je casse
And I live my life
Head or tails!
All my emotions
Head or tails!
Either way
Head or tails!
It’s the same to me
Sometimes I make it
Sometimes I break!
Kurt immediately liked the song. Sebastian’s voice was absolutely gorgeous and his American accent was barely audible when he was singing which made the whole thing even better.
Mais moi je vis ma vie
A pile ou face
Toutes mes émotions
A pile ou face
Chaque sensation
A pile ou face
Sans hésitation
Un coup je passe
Un coup je casse
I live my life
Head or tails
All my emotions
Head or tails
Every sensation
Head or tails
Without hesitation
Sometimes I make it
Sometimes I break
When Sebastian stopped singing, Kurt had forgotten what that song was for.He kind of wanted to tell Sebastian to go on singing until either one of them pass out because that would be the perfect ending to a perfect night, but somehow it didn’t seem like the right thing to say so instead he sighed in contentment and rested his head on Sebastian’s shoulder with what certainly was a stupid smile plastered on his face. That’s the moment when he realized he was a little drunker than he had intended to be.
“So, I don’t know if you understood the lyrics well, but that’s kind of my point of view on life and making decisions in general and on relationships in particular,” Sebastian concluded after a few seconds. He was satisfied with his answer. He had heard that song in a movie and had immediately liked the lyrics. That is exactly how he wanted to live: head or tails. Not having to think about things twice, not regretting anything, not having to care. That sounded perfect.
That statement had Kurt thinking. He didn’t remember all the lyrics but “Head or tails” meant that decisions were only due to hazard and that didn’t sound like a good answer. He tried explaining his unclear thoughts with the wisdom of the drunken mind.
“But it’s like someone else is deciding for you. That’s not fair.”
Okay, so maybe wisdom was not the appropriate term.
“No, I’m the one deciding, I just don’t think about it twice. And when the choice is between acting on sexual tension when I feel it or, well, anything else, I decide instantly. I just live spontaneously. That’s the point,” Sebastian shrugged. He was glad that he was sober enough to be able to voice his thoughts clearly.
“Mmh. I’m not convinced,” Kurt answered.
“Well, you certainly don’t have a lot of arguments of your own to convince me either,” Sebastian stated matter-of-factly.
But Kurt was too tired to argue the advantages of a relationship so he let it go.
Instead, he got up and asked, “Why don’t we go for a walk? It will make me sober up.”
“You most certainly need to sober up,” Sebastian agreed.
He walked over to his friends to inform them that they were going away for a bit. Only Louise and Guillaume were there.
“Where are the other?” Sebastian asked.
“They’re gone. Didn’t want to interrupt by saying their goodbyes,” Louise answered with a smile.
“And we’re going, too,” Guillaume added. “We’re both tired. But you can stay. Or, you know. Go somewhere else, to end this evening like it should end,” he said with a wink.
“Mind you own business,” Sebastian answered, rolling his eyes. “We’re just going to walk for a while.”
“Is it a new kind of innuendo, or what?”
“No, it’ not!” Sebastian exclaimed. “Oh, fuck off,” he added with a fond smile when he saw Guillaume’s amused smirk which was used with the intent of annoying Sebastian which was probably and as usually, his only goal.
“See you later, Sebby! If you still have time for your old mate, that is!”
“Bye, Sebastian! Say goodbye to Kurt for me, too. It was a pleasure meeting him.”
“I will. Bye guys!”
When he went back to him, Kurt was still looking at the water like it was some kind of miracle.
“Hey, Kurt. Everyone is gone. Do you want me to walk you to your hotel? It’s not that long.”
“What time is it?” Kurt asked, like he had not heard Sebastian’s question.
“Almost 5am.”
“You know what I would want? See the sun rise above the Seine,” Kurt said dreamily.
“We could do that I guess. But if you want to walk we may have to go to the other direction first, because it won’t take us that long to go to your hotel,” Sebastian answered, already wondering where they could go.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Kurt answered.
They walked for a half hour alongside the Seine, talking about everything and then they decided to go back. Neither of them felt tired or drunk anymore.
The sun began to rise when they were at the fontaine Saint Michel. They stopped for a time to just feel the moment in silence.
“I’m hungry,” Kurt stated after a few minutes.
“So am I. Wanna have breakfast in a café somewhere?” Sebastian asked.
“Yeah, that would be nice,” Kurt answered.
“Or, if you want, we could buy some croissants in a bakery and eat them in my apartment. I’ve got everything to make some good coffee,” Sebastian offered.
“Yeah, that would be even nicer, actually.” It would be cheaper and probably more comfortable. Not to mention, Kurt was kind of curious to see Sebastian’s place.
Sebastian was pleasantly surprised with Kurt’s approval. It took them about twenty minutes to go back to Sebastian’s neighborhood because Kurt was stopping to take a picture every 30 seconds (at least in Sebastian’s mind). They found an open bakery and bought two croissants and two pains au chocolat. The smell of the still hot pastries was so good it was almost intoxicating.
When they arrived at Sebastian’s, he hurried into the kitchen.
“Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be back in a few minutes with a nice breakfast.”
Kurt took his time to properly inspect the living room. It was bigger and brighter than what he had in mind. The walls were white and there were windows everywhere. There was also a huge shelf, full of books, CDs and DVDs, which was covering an entire wall. Kurt wasn’t keen on playing games like “show me your music I’ll tell you who you are”, but he had to admit he wondered what Sebastian liked to listen to. He approached the shelf and let his eyes wander. There were a lot of names he didn’t recognize but one was quite noticeable: “Les chansons d’amour”.
Kurt was so happy to see that CD here he put it in the hi-fi system immediately (only Sebastian would have something as big and expensive in a student’s apartment but it was really nice). Sebastian appeared at this moment.
“The coffee is almost ready!”
The first song, which was one of Kurt’s favorites, began to play.
“Oh, you like “Les chansons d’amour”? I didn’t think it was your type of movie,” Sebastian remarked, coming closer to Kurt.
Kurt turned over to face him and smiled.
“I’m full of surprises, you know,” he said with a wink. And as if to prove his point, he moved forward to kiss Sebastian.
End Author’s note because I can’t seem to shut up right now: here’s the trailer for Love Songs, should you have not seen it.
Really, you will love it, I swear. Also, I did not put the lyrics of the first song here because it did not seem right for the story. Although I could totally see that as a Kurtbastian song in another context.