We'll Be Young Forever
It was already dark outside when the limo pulled up, streetlights providing the only illumination in an otherwise shadowy street. Blaine leaned forward slightly in his seat, eyes squinting out of the blackened windows for any hint of movement. Next to him, Puck shifted, flexing his muscles like he always did when he thought Blaine might be in danger. Blaine, noticing this, turned to his bodyguard and smiled briefly, eyes sparkling a little.
"Puck, relax. It's only a small gig tonight," Blaine said, taking one last look out of the window before he threw the door open and stepped out into the cold air. Around the corner he could hear the line of fans queuing to get into the venue, waiting to hear the famous Blaine Anderson sing. He knew that the queue would be several miles long already, even playing for such a small gig as this.
Puck moved closer to his side as the noise got louder, reaching out one arm protectively.
"I wish you'd let me bring Hudson and Evans," Puck muttered, referencing Blaine's other two bodyguards who often came along to all his gigs as added muscle and protection. Not for the first time, Blaine rolled his eyes.
"Puck, how many times? I don't need them," he protested, but he allowed Puck to put an arm around his shoulders and guide him to the back door, locking it shut behind them.
Blaine smiled as he walked briskly along the corridors of the music venue to the green room, excited at the prospect of another show. He might have been an award winning pop star for five years now, but that didn't mean he had ever lost that thrill of exhilaration every time he performed. He could hear murmuring coming from behind the door as he approached, and he braced himself as he flung it open. At once he was overwhelmed by a small girl with long dark hair, talking at a speed of thirty words a second.
"Rachel, slow down," Blaine laughed, pushing past her slightly and flopping down onto one of the many sofas in the room. Next to him, David grinned happily and hummed a few bars of their opening song under his breath.
"Blaine, are you listening to me?" Rachel demanded, coming to stand in front of him, arms folded and frown planted firmly on her face.
"Absolutely," Blaine lied, smiling charmingly at her in a manner that would have worked back at Dalton Music Academy, when he and Rachel had dated for a while before he came out. Now, though, she just scowled at him and stamped her foot, something Blaine had always thought only happened in the movies before he met Rachel Berry.
"I was saying that the stage is too low for us to perform on. The audience will be practically on top of us!" she seethed, looking around her for help. She found it in Wes, who came up beside her in an instant, looping an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder and glaring down at Blaine.
"Rachel is correct. And not only that, but the acoustics and stage layout will strongly disrupt the Warbler's seamless vocals and dance routines." Wes added, feeling a hot flush of irritation when Blaine just rolled his eyes.
"Number one, I like gigs where the fans are close. They're the reason we're even able to do this, it's nice to give something back. Two, the acoustics are perfectly alright, Wes. Sapphic Charm performed here only a few weeks ago, and they said it was fine. Three, since when have the Warblers had dance routines? You haven't done anything but sway since Dalton."
Wes was just about to respond when Lauren poked her head around the door, looking bored and slightly high on candy, like she always did.
"Berry, you're up," she said briskly, turning to leave. Before she could, Puck grabbed her arm and held her there; looking up at her like a puppy might look at its master.
"Have you thought anymore about going to dinner with me?" he asked desperately, ignoring the sighs from the Warblers in the background. Puck asked Lauren that at every gig, and she always said no. Tonight seemed to be no different, as Lauren shook her head and left, tugging Rachel behind her roughly.
For a few moments, the room was silent. And then, from the back of the room, came Thad's voice.
"You, sir, have no game." Blaine couldn't agree more.
oOoOo
Blaine sat in the now empty green room, listening to the distant noise of the Warbler's hit song "You're My Canary" playing and girls screaming the lyrics. His guitar rested in his hands, and he absently stroked its smooth curves and taut strings. Tonight would be another date on his tour, another night of singing love songs with lyrics he didn't believe in. Serenading crowds of people, most of whom would have bullied his high school self. Rationally, Blaine knew that many of the kids there would be nice and normal, would never have dreamed of pushing a young boy into lockers or hurling slurs at him. But he still couldn't shake the feeling that some might. That someone in that audience might have it in them to hurt someone as much as Blaine had been hurt.
When he first started, Blaine made eye contact with his fans all the time. Sometimes, he sung whole songs to individuals, enjoying their star struck expressions and happy smiles. But after a while, he started to see characteristics of his old bullies in their faces. Just little things; eye colour, a way of smiling, sometimes just a tilt of the head that reminded him of his old life. So Blaine stopped looking, stopped making eye contact, focused his attention on the set or the lights or the stage hands… anything but a face that might bring it all back.
Frowning slightly, Blaine turned the guitar over in his hands, caressing it more thoroughly. He was lost in thought when the door opened and Lauren came in again.
"They want you. Can't think why, since I'd be so much better than you and would actually release a fragrance but…" she shrugged, grabbing Blaine by the shoulders and steering him out of the room. Blaine just let her, fully used to Lauren's demanding nature and sarcastic comments.
When they reached the edge of the stage, Lauren gave him a rare smile, and then shoved him unceremoniously forward. The effect was instantaneous. Lights blinded him, fans cheered and girls screamed his name. He could see what Rachel and Wes had meant about the low stage; Blaine was practically level with the first row, although he avoided looking at them. He blinked for only a second before going into full on charm mode. Behind him, the band moved into the opening few bars of his first song, while the crowd in front of him cheered.
"I've been alone,
Surrounded by darkness,
I've seen how heartless,
The world can be."
Blaine's voice carried through the room, magnified by the microphone in front of him and the thousands of fans singing along. Blaine's eyes stayed firmly fixed on the back wall, moving every now and then. And then, as he slid his eyes to the lights at the base of the stage, he saw him. A young man, no older than Blaine himself and possibly slightly younger stared back at him with wide, hypnotic eyes. And for once, Blaine found himself unable to look away. The youth was tall, possibly taller than Blaine was, with an open, honest face.
Frantically, Blaine searched the boy's face that might make him look like an old bully, but there was nothing in his face or body of posture that marked him out like that. Slowly, Blaine raised his eyes to meet the boy's gaze, smiling as the boy blushed, the colour staining his cheeks like cranberry juice.
"Baby you're not alone,
Cause you're here with me,
And nothing's ever gonna bring us down,
Cause nothing can stop me from loving you,"
Blaine kept their gazes locked for the rest of the song, blushing a little himself. He knew that Lauren and Rachel and everyone else was sure to notice, knew that he would be teased later. But at that moment, Blaine ceased to care. All that existed was his voice and the youth, drawn together by some sort of fragile string. Blaine felt dread wash over his stomach and limbs as the song began to end, knowing he would look away and the boy would be gone. And then an idea hit him, making him grin in pleasure.
"Our love is all we need,
To make it through."
He finished, smiling modestly as the crowd cheered.
"You alright, guys?" he called into the audience, feeling a faint glimmer of happiness at the resounding cheer that echoed back to him.
"Awesome," he said, waiting for the noise to die down a little bit, "now, you might have heard my next song before. But I need a volunteer to sing it with me. Anyone willing to help me out?" The roar that answered him was so loud that Blaine almost had to put his hands over his ears. Instead, he looked down to where the boy was blushing still, silent but hopeful. Blaine crouched down slightly, and offered his hand.
"Come on up," he whispered, his voice magnified by his microphone so that it echoed all over the room.
The boy hesitated for a moment, and Blaine began to fear that he would be rejected. But then he could feel a warm hand grasping his and a body joining him on stage. Blaine could feel warmth spreading out from where his hand touched the stranger's and he broke apart quickly, signalling off stage for another microphone. Lauren, annoyingly, was the one to bring it on, and she gave him a knowing wink as she handed it over. Blaine nodded his thanks, and then passed it over to the boy, smiling when their hands brushed together.
"So, what's your name?" Blaine asked casually, taking the chance to admire the boy more closely. He had been right, Blaine was shorter. And up close, he could see the boy was stronger and more robust than he was thought, less of an angel.
"Kurt Hummel," the boy replied shyly, and Blaine grinned at him; his name was as beautiful as he was.
"Well then, Kurt, I think you'll know this song. Just join in, alright?"
From behind, Blaine heard the band begin to play his most famous song, the one that had rocketed him to fame and a number one spot in the charts.
"Let's just talk, all through the night
There's no need to rush,
We can dance, until we die
You and I, we'll be young forever."
And then Kurt joined in, and for a moment, Blaine forgot to sing. He wasn't sure what he was imagining when he pulled the man up on stage, but certainly not this. Kurt's voice was high and soaring, flying above Blaine's own like a bird set free from a gilded cage.
"You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream,
The way you turn me on,
I can't sleep, let's run away
And don't ever look back,"
Blaine took a step closer to Kurt, ignoring the crowds screaming and dancing and swaying. All he cared about was the boy in front of him, the sound and beauty in his voice.
"Let you rest your head on me,
If that's what you need,
In this teenage dream tonight."
And then, as quickly as it had started, the final bars of the song faded away, leaving the room silent for the first time that evening. And then, slowly at first, a single clap was heard in the audience. And then they got louder and louder, until it was almost a battle cry of screams and yells and adulation. Blaine walked over to where Kurt was stood, shell shocked at the fan's reactions. Turning off his microphone for a second, Blaine leant down and placed his lips next to Kurt's ear, ignoring the small shiver that went through the other boy.
"Meet me back stage after the show," he whispered, before patting Kurt on the back and helping him down from the stage. The last glimpse he caught of him was a flash of glasz eyes, before Blaine turned his attention to his next song. But at the back of his mind, hiding just slightly, was the promise of later.