Guess who had a poorly timed fire drill of her own last night? Yeah. Still mad.
Finally, Kurt thought, stepping into the hot, wonderful spray of his private dorm shower. God, it's been a long day.
He started humming snippets of songs quietly as he lathered up, happy and relaxed now that he could officially call his busy day over. Two group project meetings, a rehearsal, and a quick shift at the diner had been making him frazzled and irritable, but the delicious smell of his body wash and the pleasure-pain feeling of his just barely too hot water was soothing him.
As he was rinsing out his conditioner, he perked up, remembering that he had a leftover slice of cheesecake waiting for him in the fridge once he finished his moisturizing routine and pulled on his comfiest pajamas. He was so close to having everything he needed for a lazy night in.
So of course, the fire alarm had to go off just then.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kurt asked, frozen in disbelief. "This has to happen now?"
He ran his towel over his body once before shrugging into his plush bathrobe and throwing on some flip flops. Dorm keys firmly in hand, he started joining his fellow residents in a mass exodus, feeling his hair drip down his forehead with every step.
None of his roommates were nearby, so Kurt moved off to the side once he was outdoors and out of the "danger zone," arms folded over his chest in displeasure. A few other residents gave him sympathetic looks, but he just glared back, his earlier grumpiness coming back in full force at his predicament, and they all turned away quickly.
One boy, however, was not so easily deterred.
"You too, huh?" he asked, coming to stand next to Kurt in the pool of light from the parking garage across the street from their dorm. The bright fluorescents made the beads of water clinging to his face and neck starkly apparent, and Kurt cracked a slightly grudging smile.
"Could they have picked a worse moment?" Kurt replied, trying not to stare at the droplets hanging on the other man's jaw.
"Something tells me this wasn't a planned drill," the man said, gesturing to the cluster of confused-looking RAs near the main entrance.
"Someone was just trying to hotbox?" Kurt asked, anger rekindling yet again. "Oh my God, I thought there was a minimum GPA requirement to even get into this school, how did someone who can't even figure out how to smoke competently get in?"
"It could've just been a cooking mishap," the man said, tone much pleasanter than Kurt's. "You never know."
"I'm sorry, have you met some of the people who live in this building? It was a stoner," Kurt said, shooting the other man a judgmental look.
"I actually haven't really gotten the chance to talk to anyone but my roommates yet," the man said, unfazed. "I've been so busy with classes and extracurriculars that I haven't been around the dorm much. My name's Blaine!"
"Kurt."
"Kurt," Blaine repeated, smiling up at him. "Care to tell me more about yourself, Kurt?"
"Musical theatre junior. You?"
"Vocal performance sophomore, but I'm considering a minor in acting," Blaine said. "We're kind of on the same path, I'm surprised we haven't seen each other before."
"I don't do extracurriculars here," Kurt explained. "I've got a job and an internship, so that eats up all my free time. What do you do?"
"I'm in the student-run theatre group!" Blaine said, an excited sparkle lighting up his pretty hazel eyes. "We're having a meeting tomorrow to decide what show we want to put on this semester. Hopefully it'll be just as fun as Sweeney Todd was last semester."
"Oh my God, you were in that? I went to go see it with my friend Rachel and we were both swooning over the staging," Kurt said. He clasped his hands together in front of his chest and begged, "Tell me everything about what it was like!"
Blaine eagerly launched into a recap of the drama behind the drama, answering any questions Kurt had and engrossing him so much that he didn't even notice when everyone started heading back inside after the all-clear. What he did notice, however, was Blaine's warm hand coming up to touch his arm.
"Hey, I think we can go back in," he said, nodding toward the door.
"Oh! Wow, that was a quick fire drill," Kurt said, surprised.
"I'm not complaining," Blaine said, making Kurt's heart plummet momentarily until he continued, "I think my feet are going numb."
"Fuck, it is cold," Kurt said, suddenly aware that the late September weather was not conducive to being soaking wet outside at night. "I might have to forego my dessert for some hot chocolate. Would you...care to join me?"
"Really?" Blaine asked, a shy smile spreading across his face.
"I was really enjoying our conversation," Kurt said, returning the smile. "And, you know, the whole point of living in the dorms is to meet new people."
"I suppose you've got a point. Give me a minute to throw on some real clothes and I'll meet you at your place? Where do you live?"
"I'm in 206," Kurt said. "You?"
"I'm down in 222, conveniently enough," Blaine replied. "I guess that means we can walk back up together."
"I could be okay with that," Kurt said, and they began the trek back inside, not noticing that they were somehow holding hands until they had to turn opposite directions to reach their respective rooms from the stairwell door. "Oh God, I didn't-"
"Me either," Blaine said, talking over Kurt a little. "But I'm not mad."
"Me either," Kurt said, smiling tentatively at Blaine.
"See you in five?"
"I'll be ready."