leave my heart out of this | kurtbastian

iv. breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out

Warnings: Descriptiosn of panic attacks and mental struggles

~

"YOU BROUGHT ME TO A MOUNTAIN?!" Kurt exclaims as he slams the door to his car shut. He covers the short distance between his and Sebastian's cars quickly. Within seconds, he's inches away from his new friend's face.

Sebastian doesn't appear to be phased by Kurt's voice cutting through the wind whirling around them. "No, I brought you to the park below this gigantic hill," he corrects, placing a hand on Kurt's left shoulder to calm him down. "And before you go all ballistic on me, can you just let me show you the rest of the surprise for this meeting and explain a little, please?"

Kurt huffs, reinforcing the calm feeling he's been working hard to maintain these past few days. It's been helpful because he's had to deal with several minor annoyances this week that he usually struggles to let pass over him. After a few deep breaths and searching Sebastian's face to ensure this is primarily a genuine offer, he lets his shoulders sag and nods in agreement.

Sebastian's mouth curves up at the tips before he turns around to his car door and opens it. His body is blocking Kurt from seeing anything in the car, but he doesn't need to see anything because he can hear. 

He hears a soft whine and scratches against some sort of metal.

Finally, Sebastian shifts away from the car door and whistles, holding a bunched-up leash. "Come."

And what leaps out of the car doorway onto the parking lot ground is one of the most beautiful dogs Kurt has ever seen in his entire life.

"Kurt, meet Swift," Sebastian says, bending over to hook the leash onto the dog's collar. "Swift, meet Kurt."

Kurt tries to muster every bit of self-control he has not to start ogling over this gorgeous dog. He reaches out a hand and lets Swift come to him. She brushes against him, and oh, holy sweet Patti LuPone. This is the softest dog in the world.

"What type of dog is this?"

"I'm unsure," Sebastian answers, stroking Swift's ears. "She found me."

Kurt tilts his head. "What do you mean?"

"I found her while helping my family move into our house here in Ohio. She didn't have any tags or identification, so we took her to the vet," Sebastian explains. "We had already fallen in love with her, so we adopted her after everything went down."

"Who named her?" Kurt questions.

Sebastian brushes off his pants, clanking metal echoing around them. His face shifts into a neutral mask, and he shrugs. "My family and I did." It sounds weird coming out of his mouth, his voice hitching in the last syllable.

"Why Swift?"

"Several reasons. I will show you one if you dare to set foot in this park with me."

"Is that a challenge, Smythe?"

"I don't know," says Sebastian, sounding slightly coy. "What do you think?" He doesn't give Kurt a second to answer because he takes off sprinting into the park, Swift right by his side, tail wagging enthusiastically.

Kurt shakes his head, biting back a laugh at how insane his new friend is before taking off behind them. Now, Kurt doesn't do much running. He prefers to walk or dance, so he falls behind. But luckily, Sebastian doesn't go that far or out of sight so it's easy enough to locate him.

"I think..." Kurt wheezes, hands on his knees because he hasn't run like that since he was a little kid on the playground with his parents. He braces himself, taking in several breaths of air before the world stops threatening to explode. "That showed more of your talent than hers."