An Instrumental Break
Summary: AU. Kurt and Blaine met in freshman year at Dalton. When you're young, it's a little harder to be honest.
Title inspired by Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars
It's funny, Kurt mused, how everything changed yet stayed the same for years.
It started in Freshman year.
He was beyond intimidated when he stepped into the halls of Dalton Academy. Everything was immaculate, and the good looking boys with their carefully-pressed blazers reinforced this delusion of grandeur.
Kurt stumbled his way to his first class. The over-enthusiastic teacher began to speak in gibberish at once, informing all her students that it was French. Kurt very, very nearly snorted. He was fluent. Having no friends meant time to acquire skills such as a second language. As he struggled to hold back a grin, the teacher caught his eye and winked.
Mme. De Marscher asked Kurt to hand out everyone's textbooks. Most of the boys wore identical, polite smiles; Kurt scanned the room and his eyes fell on one with unruly curly hair and warm hazel eyes.
Glasz met hazel, and if Kurt were to describe that moment, years later, he would be able to recount it perfectly, from the duration of the silent exchange to the way his heart fluttered and his breath caught in his throat and the way gravity seemed to shift for a millisecond and somehow everything changed.
The hazel-eyed boy looked away with an air of indifference.
It took Kurt two months to talk to the hazel-eyed boy. His indifference was bewildering.
It was a sheer stroke of luck that they ended up sitting next to each other at their first school-wide assembly for Halloween. Kurt pointed his knees in the opposite direction as the hazel-eyed boy in an effort to appear nonchalant. He held his arm tentatively on the armrest between them.
The boy didn't seem to notice.
After a long speech regarding traditions and alumni, the school acapella singing group – named The Warblers – was introduced.
"Mrs. Lovett, what a charming notion!" Kurt finally recognized the song from Sweeney Todd and smiled, humming along with the lines of Mrs. Lovett. The Warblers had a tenor singing in falsetto. They were very good, but Kurt was able to hit the notes with a lot more ease.
After a few verses, Kurt recognized a different voice breathing Mr. Todd's part. He turned to look at the hazel-eyed boy, and for the first time, he recognized something akin to admiration and amusement on his gorgeous face.
After the assembly, Kurt prepared to strike a conversation with the hazel-eyed boy as they're leaving. Before he was able to do that, however, he felt a hand on his arm. "Hey."
Kurt turned around and was surprised to see the hazel-eyed boy looking at him with something like a smile. "Hi."
The boy hesitated a little. "I'm Blaine. Blaine Anderson." He stood up as well.
Kurt knew that already. "Kurt Hummel."
Blaine nodded, then put his hand up as if to run it through his dark curls, but dropped his hand abruptly.
The amount of awkward was too much for Kurt to bear. "You like Sweeney Todd?"
Blaine nodded, seeming relieved at the conversation opener Kurt supplied. "Yeah. I saw it live once. I'm not a huge fan of musicals because I haven't seen that many."
Kurt didn't know where he got the confidence, but he grinned and held out a hand. "Well, we just have to fix that, won't we?"
Fast forward another two months, and Kurt had a best friend on his arm.
Kurt and Blaine slowly became one entity. They would crack up at cultural references that nobody else understood. They'd watch movie musicals in their dorm rooms, and secretly were also watching old-school Disney.
Kurt did not expect Blaine to be the one he would confide in.
It started one afternoon, as the two were finishing their third viewing of Moulin Rouge.
"Nicole Kidman is positively gorgeous." Kurt remarked.
Blaine made a non-committal sound and then, "but so is Ewan McGregor, right?"
Kurt was a bit taken aback. It wasn't as if he never thought that before, but he had never met a guy who shared the sentiment. He hesitated before saying: "He really is."
"Better than Nicole?" Blaine was testing the waters a little.
Kurt didn't know what to say. Of course he thought Ewan McGregor was cuter, but it wasn't really a sentiment that could be voiced. "What do you think?"
Blaine hesitated, and for a second his eyes were fearful before a look of determination set over his features. "Yes." His strong tone did not match the seemingly simple answer.
Kurt let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding.
"Me too."
A/N: Please review.
I haven't written fanfiction in a very long time. This story is completely AU but will incorporate canon elements later on. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!