I'd like to say that all characters go to their rightful owners. Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson go to Ryan Murphy's Glee and Reed Van Kamp and Shane Anderson go to CP Coulter's Dalton. Hope you like it, this is my first one!
To say that Reed had missed Shane would be an understatement. When he wasn't working on a project for his most recent art exhibit, he was thinking about him, most of the time the two thoughts combining. It really shocked Reed how much he liked Shane, especially since he was a boy. If he didn't catch himself while using his acrylics, Reed would start to draw Raven curls and hazel eyes. There was one particular evening this happened when Reed's best friend and room mate Kurt came into their room, a look of suspicion on his face.
"Hey Reed, I was wondering if we could go shopping this weekend, I need something to go with my new Burberry sweater," the boy said, a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Yeah sure, I guess, but I have to make sure I finish a few more pieces before I can go, this art exhibit my mom wants me to do is in a few weeks and I'm a little bit behind,' the artist said apprehensively.
"Great! Thank you so much Reed, I owe you one!" he said as he ran out of the room, pulling out his cell phone. He immediately flipped through the numbers and sent a quick text to a familiar dancer.
A few hundred miles away, Shane Anderson received a text from his brother's boyfriend.
Okay Bat, the Dormouse will be out of his cage by Saturday morning
Shane was practically leaping in the air with joy as he threw some more clothes into his suitcase. He had said all of his proper goodbyes to his friends at Walcott, and was now taking his room apart. Within 24 hours he would be a student at Dalton Academy, rooming with his older brother Blaine, an idea the older Anderson was not too fond of. With a tap in his step, he finished packing up his clothes and zipped up his suitcase, dragging it across his room and down the steps to his limo, courtesy of the twins.
Shane was bouncing in his seat the entire way to the airport, though security, and boarding the plane. People were giving him odd looks as he checked his phone every 30 seconds until it was absolutely essential that he put it away as the plane took off. He sat next to a young brunette girl who had her nose stuck in a book. Her glasses were slipping off her nose as she squinted at the words, a crease between her eyebrows. He held his hand out to her.
"Hi, I'm Shane," he smiled, with every intent of friendliness. The girl looked up, placing a bookmark in its designated area and smiled back
"I'm Nicole," she said simply, taking his hand to shake.
"So Nicole, where are you headed?" he asked.
"Back to Detroit, I came in from Idaho, my sister lives there with her husband. Where are you going?" Nicole asked, brown eyes curious.
"Cincinnati, then up to Westerville where my brother goes to school, I'm transferring," at this he starting jumping in his seat again, excited.
"Seems like your eager to get away from your old school," Nicole mused.
"It's not that, I'm excited to see my brother, it's been a while, and…there's a certain boy there I'm pretty excited to see, I'm surprising him with my transfer," Shane smiled fondly at the memory of the strawberry blonde klutz he knew had stolen his heart.
"Oh that sounds interesting, is he your boyfriend?" the girl asked curiously.
"Not yet, but I'm hoping that he might be after a little bit of time in the same school as him," Shane responded. He pulled out his i phone, now in airplane mode, and asked," Do you wanna see a picture of him?" He never really connected with the people he sat next to on airplanes, but Nicole was easy to talk to and willing to hear what he had to say.
"Alright," she leaned over to get a look at the artist. "Cute, nice catch Shane," she winked at him sarcastically.
"He is adorable," Shane agreed. "He's changed everything for me; I've never felt this way about anyone before, ever. I've only just met him not even a year ago, and here I am ready to lay down the line for him," he chuckled, "silly, isn't it?"
"Not silly, definitely not silly," Nicole reassured him," I think it's very sweet. You're obviously in love with him," she said insightfully. This made Shane's mind at first go blank, then went into overdrive. It had only been months since that fateful day he ran into him at winterfest. Could the dancer really love this beautiful artist?
" I think I might be, maybe….I don't know yet," he sighed, running his fingers through the curly black hair on his head.
"Well I hope things work out between you guys," Nicole said seriously. Through the rest of the flight they continued with some small talk, Nicole taking her book back out and reading some more. Then the flight attendant picked up the speaker and said," We will now be landing in Detroit, we hope you had an enjoying flight on Southwest airlines"
"Well that's me," the brunette said, reaching up to get her carry on bag." Have a nice flight down to Cincinnati," she was the one to hold out her hand this time. Shane reached out and took it.
"Thanks, I will," then she left the plane. Shane settled back into his seat and waited for the plane to take off again for the now 45 minute flight.
Reed sighed into his pillow, hidden behind the fluffy white comforter on his bed. He looked over the side of the bed to check the time. 12:30 and he was still up thinking about Shane when he should be getting sleep because he was going to the mall with Kurt first thing in the morning; for some reason he had been insistent on leaving at 8 AM because there was a huge sale. He almost seemed pushy with it, which Reed thought odd. He rolled back over and started to drift asleep. Reed could've sworn that he heard quiet footfalls in the hallway, heading towards Blaine's room, but before he could investigate a deep sleep overcame him.
7 AM and the alarm started to blare, and a soft hand was shaking his shoulder rather roughly, urging him to get out of bed. Reed grumbled and sat up, letting his feet hit the floor to stand up. Unfortunately, his feet didn't seem to want to want to cooperate, and the Van Kamp heir came tumbling to the floor. It had to be a record, 30 seconds he was awake and Reed had already injured himself, having carpet burn on his knee. Cursing his balance, or lack thereof, Reed walked to the bathroom, ready to take a shower.
The hot water pouring over him seemed to wake him up, and his thoughts immediately turned to the younger Anderson brother. Where was he? Probably sleeping right now, there was a 3 hour time difference between Ohio and Colorado. He could see Shane dancing in his minds' eye, grinning ear to ear. If only Shane were really here, would Reed tell him of his feelings for him? Maybe. Reed had been contemplating this for a while now, and he decided he was ready. Ready to let Shane in completely. (As if he already hadn't. The young Anderson was very persistent and highly infectious.) Reed didn't know what his orientation was yet, but he knew he liked Shane a lot. Romantically. It was good enough for Reed, so he prayed it was good enough for Shane. The tiny boy turned off the hot water and stepped out of the shower, careful not to slip in any puddles of water.
Reed grabbed his clothes from the counter where he left them before his shower, made sure he was dry, and slipped into them. He then turned to the vanity mirror he and Kurt shared to start his morning facial routine. It was then that Kurt came in, about to do the same thing. Reed moved over so that they could share the mirror.
"So," Kurt exclaimed with excitement, " I was thinking we hit Marc Jacob's first, then go to Lord and Taylor's and stop at your mother's, I just always love the designs she comes up with, it's truly a genius at work," he fanboyed over Hilde Van Kamp. It seemed to Reed that he was unusually chatty this morning, as if to fill all silence with talking. He shrugged it off though, thinking it was only his imagination at work again. As they both finished, Kurt dragged Reed up from where he was sitting in front of the large mirror and pulled him out of their room, leading him out of Windsor and into his car. As soon as they turned the corner out of Dalton, a curly head poked out of one of the windows of Windsor.
"That was too close, you've got to be more careful Shane," an annoyed Blaine said to his younger brother. "We've got to make sure your entirely moved in before they get back, Kurt wont be able to hold him all day."
"Yeah I really don't think so, did you even see his closet Blaine?" he shook his head at his brother, surprised he knew Reed so much more than Blaine did even though he knew him much longer. "Kurt will have to drag him out by his ankles to be back in time," Shane smiled at the image of the adorable painter, tripping over his feet to get a better look at this season's printed Armani scarves.
"I guess your right, but if your going to try to sneak in it night, be a little louder would you? I swear I thought Stuart could hear you coming in last night," the older Anderson said jokingly. "Enough of this, we've got to get all your stuff in now." He rummaged through the hastily packed bags. "Damn Shane, how many dance shoes do you have?" Blaine exclaimed, shocked as he saw a mixture of tap shoes, ballet shoes, and many more. He couldn't name all the different types, some looking completely foreign. Shane just shrugged, putting his jeans in a drawer for the weekends and stuffing his new Dalton uniforms into an empty closet.
Shane skipped around his new shared room, sometimes breaking out into a dance. He was just so excited to finally be here, with Blaine, Kurt, and the rest of the Windsors, most importantly Reed. After a memorable performance of the electric slide, he threw the last of his skinny jeans (which he proffered to regular boot cut) into a random spot in the closet. He then proceeded to put his more personal things up, like pictures of his family and friends, and posters of famous dancers. He smiled when he put up the picture of the fab 5, looking directly at Micah in the picture.
One last look at his new room, and Shane decided he was done unpacking, so it was time for step two of his plan: to get Reed to fall unconditionally, irrevocably in love with him. Bursting out of the door, Shane ran to go find his singer of a brother.
While shopping at his mothers, Reed appraised his mothers taste with approval. There was one floral printed dress he recognized helping her with the design while on vacation. He touched the fabric to feel the soft silk texture. A few isles away he could hear Kurt gasp in approval at, no doubt, a certain piece of clothing he found particularly appealing. Reed stumbled over to see what the primma donna what gawking at. As soon as he turned the corner though, he let out a fast breath, nearly toppling over a clothes rack in shock. In Kurt's tiny hands was a marvelous grey silk button up shirt that the painter himself had designed. His heart warmed, knowing that his mother at least liked some of his work, enough that she would have it made and put into the store.
Running to the cashier, Kurt hastily set down the large pile of clothing the two had picked out that day, gulping in deep breathes of air, the dormouse tripping at his heels. "Can we get these bagged please? Oh, and be sure to be careful with that Reed Van Kamp shirt, I'm sure he wouldn't want it damaged." Kurt smirked at the tiny boy, who blushed and suddenly had a deep interest in his shiny leather shoes. Reed pulled out his platinum credit card to pay for it, but the cashier turned him down.
"It's free, no Van Kamp has to pay in their own store," the boy chuckled, shaking his head like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Placing Reed's shirt in a separate plastic covering, he put the rest of the clothes in regular bags.
With a nod to the cashier the boys took their many bags and headed for the car back to Dalton. There was a smirk of knowing on Kurt's face, and he was trying desperately to hide it from his klutzy friend. For some reason Reed couldn't put a finger on, it seemed like Windsor's little Alice wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.
"So Reed, have you heard from Shane lately?" The fashionista could barely keep control of his composure, not wanting to give the tiny artist any more clues than he already had. Reed didn't seem to notice, his face 10 times redder than just mere seconds ago.
"No, not really. I'm actually getting a little bit worried. I mean why would he just ignore me after all the hints he has been dropping? What if," the boy paused." What if he's not interested anymore, he found someone else in Colorado?" his face fell, mood dropping easily." It makes sense, why would he spend all his time chasing after me when he can find someone better than me and closer to him? I just wish he were here, ya know? I just miss him so much." Reed sighed again, this time playing with the necklace he had Shane's ring on around his neck. Taking it off to get a better look at it, a small smile touched his lips at the memory of Shane.
"I'm sure that's definitely not the case, Reed," his best friend assured him a little bit too confidently. "He's freaking over the moon about you, so don't beat yourself about it. I'm sure Shane has a good explanation for not talking to you." Kurt took a slow breath to contemplate. "When you see him next, you should tell him how you feel Reed. Trust me, he won't reject you."
Reed didn't have time to answer, because they had gotten to the student parking lot at Dalton. Clicking the lock button on his silver Ferrari, Reed headed off for Windsor, bags in tow and Kurt not too far behind.
Reed walked down the crunchy rock path to Kurt's and his boarding house, and all of the sudden, something hit him, terrifying the tiny artist. It was dead silent in Windsor which could only mean one thing; something was very, very wrong.
"Kurt, we can't go in there! I think something's wrong, there's no noise!" he squeaked. "Someone might've kidnapped them or something." Reed whispered, scared stiff. Kurt burst out laughing, laughing harder than Reed had ever seen before. Tears were rolling down his eyes, and he was clutching the door to Windsor for support. Reed looked at him incredulously, shocked.
"Nothings…wrong…Reed," he managed to gasp out. "Come….in….you'll see," his friend hiccupped, pushing the door open. Kurt led Reed to the kitchen, grabbing a letter for him to open.
My dearest Dormouse,
I have a present for you, just come and find me and I
Will make sure that it is yours to keep forever in your
heart, but only if you want to. I mean, it's okay if you
don't, really. Oh jeez, I'm babbling even in a letter, how
lame is that? Anyways, just come up to your room and
find me.
Forever yours,
The Bat (Shane)
Reed stared at Shane's messy scrawl, beaming with excitement. He still wants to be with me, even though I'm a klutzy awkward mess! Reed thought. And oh, God, Shane freaking Anderson was here to visit! Reed ran upstairs in a jumble of strawberry blonde curls, tripping over a step or two. He had never felt more elated than he did as he banged the door open, nearly knocking over a lamp nearby. There propped up next to his bed was Blaine's guitar, and sitting on his bed was Shane, wearing a Dalton uniform. At that second, Reed promptly forgot all the words of the English language. Without thinking, Reed ran at the tall, curly headed boy.
To his surprise and disappointment, Shane stopped him. " Not now, I want to do something first." Shane whispered.
"But I," Shane cut him off by placing one finger on the painter's lips.
"Shh," Shane whispered. "Please let me do this." He stepped away and promptly picked up Blaine's acoustic guitar. He started to strum a melody that Reed knew very well; Landslide, by Fleetwood Mac
Took this love and I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Till the landslide brought me down
Reed's eyes started tearing up. He looked up at the boy he now knew he would love forever. Shane sung beautifully, he was so beautiful, that there was no way Reed could ever deserve something like this, like love.
Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
And can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Oh oh I don't know, oh I don't know
Reed was now nearly bawling, listening to his angel's melody continue. Shane looked at him, afraid he might have done the wrong thing. But Reed shook his head, urging him to go on.
Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older I'm getting older too
Yes I'm getting older too, so
I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I, I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too oh yes
I'm getting older too
So, take this love, take it down
Oh if you climb a mountain and you turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring you down, down
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well maybe the landslide will bring you down
Well well, the landslide will bring you down
That was it. Reed had completely lost it, bursting into a fresh wave of tears. He threw himself into Shane's arms, not even caring if he pushed him back. Shane just held him, rocking him slowly. Tears now filled his eyes, looking down at this crying boy.
"I'm so sorry Reed, I didn't mean to make you upset. I take it back, it was too forward, too much at one time." Shane looked down miserably.
"No, it's not that," Reed sputtered. "I just, I just love you so, so much Shane. Please don't go away, ever. It was beautiful, you beautiful, and if I ever lose you I have no idea what I would do with myself." Reed continued crying happy tears. Shane had the biggest goofy smile on his face, making him look ridiculous, but he didn't care. Reed just said he loved him, so nothing could ever be bad ever again.
"I love you too, with all my heart. I will never leave you." Shane leaned down and pressed a kiss into Reed's messy curls. Reed immediately pushed him away, and for a second, Shane's heart dropped to his stomach, rejected. But Reed leaned into him, their noses touching.
"Don't kiss me on my head Shane, kiss me right here." He pulled back to point at his small, pink, and plump lips. Shane didn't need telling twice. He leaned in the rest of the way, and pressed the softest kiss imaginable onto his Reed's lips. If anyone were to see, they would automatically get a cavity from its sweetness.
"So, I'm in Dalton with the boy that I love, and I just kissed him for the first time. Well Reed Van Kamp, will you be my boyfriend?" Shane whispered into his ear, still holding him on his lap.
Reed paused for a minute, as if considering his offer. "I think I can live with that, yes." He teased, and leaned in to kiss his boyfriend one more time.
