Prompt: you suck at dancing but you're doing it in a middle of a bookstore and I think it's pretty darn cute (hot) au.
Kurt jogs through the crowd, squeezing and tripping over people. His class ran late (meaning his teacher, one again, completely ignored the way everyone started putting their things away and kept talking for another half an hour), and then the subway was so crowded he had to wait for another train, and now the streets are moving at a sluggish pace. At this rate he's not going to find an open bookstore anywhere on his way home.
He spots one, smallish, the indie business kind of store. It kind of looks closed – there's no one inside, but the sign is flipped open even if the schedule on the door says 7pm. He checks the time – 19h10. Maybe they have a fifteen minute tolerance – maybe they wouldn't mind one last costumer. When he tries the door it totally opens and he grins.
There's no one behind the register, or pretty much anywhere really. Whoever owns the store better thank god Kurt's a good enough person not to grab some books and just go.
"Hello?" He asks.
When there's no answer, he tries not to think of creepy horror movies and just starts perusing the tall shelves lined with what looks like an endless amount. He really wishes there was someone to help him, though, because he's pretty sure he wouldn't remember the title even if he read it – but he's also not very willing to venture deeper into the corridors of bookcases.
Finally he catches it. The sound of steps – shuffling. Someone's definitely there. Victory! Kurt grins, elated, as he starts towards the sound, but the smile only slips as he gets closer and closer and the shuffling comes accompanied with sound of heavy breathing.
He could really do without catching some idiot couple banging by the bookcases where they should've been working the register and re-shelving the books.
He's cringing apprehensively by the time he turns another corner and he actually gasps with surprise at the sight that greets him.
There's a boy in tight jeans and a bright red polo, with headphones on his immaculately gelled head and his back to Kurt. And he's dancing. Not just enjoying-this-music-while-I-work kind of dancing, but full on this-is-a-choreography-I'm-practicing kind of dancing. He's good. He's really good and Kurt gets inappropriately distracted watching as the boys hips cock to one side and then the other – as his thick, muscular legs move in quick, precise movements. Broad shoulders keep in time with a fast tempo and taper down into a tiny waist that swivels easily. The ass is glorious even when it's not doing anything special.
Kurt is a perv.
The boy misses a step, apparently. Groans – near pornographic sound – and pulls out an iPod from his pocket and hits replay, before he turns around and-
Kurt gets caught being a perv.
The boy startles – honest to god yelps, hand clutching his chest as he jumps back several feet and trips over a pile of books on the floor and falls flat on his back.
"Oh my god!" Kurt gasps, hurrying over.
The boy has his face hidden behind his hands, chest heaving with ragged breaths, and the little Kurt can see of his face is beet red.
"I'm so sorry!" Kurt breathes, "I didn't mean to startle you."
After quite a while where Kurt doesn't know what to do and the boy just stays really, really still, his breathing slowly getting back to normal, he finally yanks his headphones off with one hand – his eyes are closed as he's still cringing by the time he takes a deep breath and looks up at Kurt with a polite smile that's more attractive than any smile in this situation has a right to be, "Hi, may I help you?"
Kurt giggles before he realizes what he's doing.
The boy chuckles before he groans and pushes himself back to his feet.
"Are you hurt?" Kurt edges closer.
The boy shakes his head, even though he's rubbing at the small of his back, "Just the ego."
"So, you do work here? I didn't mean to scare you, I just… need some help to find a book…?"
"I guess I forgot to lock up," the boy says, adding under his breath, "again."
"Oh, sorry – should I… leave?" Kurt frowns.
"No, no," the boy waves it off, "it's fine. It's my fault, so. Anyway, my name's Blaine, how can I help you?"
"Oh… I'm looking for a birthday present for a young boy – thirteen-ish, I think? He likes sci-fi and stuff like that, and I was thinking about those books with the competitions where kids, like, kill each other and stuff…?"
"Hunger Games?" Blaine quirks an eyebrow in a tone that's bordering on judgmental – but Kurt will cut him some slack, the guy just about had a heart attack, he's allowed to be a dick about Kurt's absolute lack of popular sci-fi knowledge.
"I… I guess…? The one with movie?"
"The one with the plural movies with Jennifer Lawrence?" He offers, a smile quirking up his lips.
"Yeah! Yes! That's the one." Kurt grins excitedly.
Blaine chuckles, "It was either that or Battle Royale, but Battle Royale's movie definitely does not star Jennifer Lawrence."
"Oh? Can I see that?" Kurt asks, "The Royale one? Do you have it? Because my roommate says that he's probably already got the Hunger Games, and maybe it'd be better to go with something a little more obscure."
"Sure." Blaine shrugs and starts off towards another part of the store.
"It is obscure, though, right?" Kurt asks as he hurries to follow him.
"Well… it's obscure-er," he says. "It's not a deep dark secret, but I'm pretty sure a thirteen year old boy wouldn't have heard about it. Although, it's kind of heavy – now that I think about it, I'm not sure…"
Blaine stops in front of a bookcase and looks close for about half a minute before he picks something up and offers it to Kurt. He's cringing slightly, "I don't know. I wouldn't want my non-existing little brother reading that, so…"
"You make a terrific salesman, Blaine." Kurt teases before he can stop himself. He hurries to apologize but Blaine's laughing, so instead he just blushes and bites his lip.
"Okay, I tell you what," Blaine says happily, plucking the book back from Kurt's hands and shoving it carelessly back on the shelf. "You tell me a little more about the kid and I promise I'll find you something he doesn't have and is also age appropriate."
"It's after closing hours, I don't wanna bother you, I'll just… accept defeat and find something else tomorrow, or…"
"No, it's fine, really," Blaine shrugs it off with his a thousand watts smile back on, which leaves Kurt a little weak at the knees, "Just tell me something a little more specific. Sci-fi is a really big world. Surely you can… expound on that."
Kurt scrunches up his face in concentration. "He likes Star Wars…?" he offers.
Blaine laughs, hearty and loud. "Wow. Really? You know him that good?"
Kurt blushes and sighs. "Look, he's my landlady's kid – he's a pain in the ass, but my roommate and I really need the heating in the apartment fixed, so we need her to like us more than everyone else in the building and the only way we can achieve that is by being the kid's favorites."
Blaine smiles sympathetically before he takes a deep breath and scurries off to another corridor. Kurt's barely started after him when he's already hurrying back, a comic book in hand. "Here – if he doesn't love this, then he's brainless and a hopeless case."
Kurt takes it and inspects the cover. It's a comic book, and the illustrations do look pretty cool.
"In fact I have so much faith in this that I will offer to pay for your extra blankets in case the kid hates it."
Kurt bites his smile to keep it somewhat contained. Blaine's eyes are glinting with excitement and expectancy. "I have indeed never heard of this." Kurt muses and Blaine smiles even little brighter. "Not that that means much when it comes to sci-fi, as you've probably guessed."
Blaine chuckles and it's good-natured and not at all mocking, "You'll take it?"
"Yes. I'm trusting you here, Blaine. It's very important, I hope you appreciate how much this means to us."
"I mean it – I'll pay for the blankets." He offers, holding his hands behind his back, rocking slightly on the balls of his feet. "So, anything else I can help you with?"
Kurt should probably say no – it's the truth. He doesn't actually need anything else. But if he says that then Blaine will ring him up and that will be that.
"Oh, huh… actually… I was, huh, wondering, if you wouldn't happen to have, huh, any, huh,… sheet music?"
Blaine's eyebrows rise and he falters for a second before he says, "Not really, no."
"Oh."
"But I have most of my sheet music in the back room. Maybe I have what you need? I could lend you…"
"Oh!" Lending… lending is good. Lending implies having to return it. "You'd do that?!"
"Sure. If I have what you need…?"
"Hum, what I need is… I need – I totally need one that is the song from that musical called, huh," something that Blaine looks like he might know, something that Blaine looks like he might know, something that Blaine looks like he might know. "Hairspray…?"
Blaine's looking at him with a half-confused, half-amused expression, "Is that a question?"
"No. I need I Know Where I've Been from Hairspray."
"Okay." Blaine nods with an easy smile before he starts off towards the counter and then opens a door behind it. He turns already halfway in the room, "Oh! Don't, like, steal the book or anything while I'm gone, please. Thank you!" he disappears with one of his dashing smiles and Kurt finally lets himself melt against the counter.
-x-
From Kurt to Rachel:
19:16 - I have the perfect gift for the brat. I also have the perfect man for me.
19:16 - I mean I don't actually have him. But I met him. He sells books. And dances.
19:17 - I can already envision the musical version of our romance, Rachel. It's magnificent.
19:18 - I mean, I know I said I'd finish the Pippa Middleton musical this semester, but I think it'll have to take a backseat.
From Rachel to Kurt:
19:20 - That's great sweetie, but are you actually going to do anything besides fantasize about it and create perfect scenarios in your head and stop yourself from actually going after him because really there's no one who could possibly live up those kinds of expectations?
From Kurt to Rachel:
19:21 - It's a possibility. But can we still watch Notting Hill tonight?
-x-
Blaine returns and Kurt practically drops his phone in his haste to pocket it. Blaine looks a little flushed. "I did not realize I'd gotten to a pathological level of hoarding sheet music!" He offers a neat little stack to Kurt, "I'd photocopy it for you, but the machine's broken."
"Oh." Kurt says, suddenly feeling a need to be religious and thank god, "That's fine, I only need it for a coupe of days. I'll bring it back soon."
Blaine returns his smile, "You can find me here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from two to seven."
"That's awesome." Kurt says, and frowns because… awesome?
Blaine lets out a small little chuckle before he bites it back and shrugs as he stars to ring up the book, "Yeah, it's pretty neat. They let me stay later to practice and do my homework… my dorm rooms are pretty much hell, and I can't get anything done in there. That'll be seventeen, fifty five."
Kurt hands him his debit card, and a small, sort of awkward silence settles between them.
"You're studying dance?" Kurt tries for a nonchalant tone, as he punches in his pin code.
Blaine snorts and Kurt looks up. "You must not see a lot of actual, good dancers because that was me completely sucking at it. No, I go to NYU, I'm majoring in music, but I'm taking some performing classes, including stage dancing, so…"
"Oh, that's cool." Kurt says, for some reason blushing.
"Yeah." Blaine agrees – that curious little smile reappearing.
The noise of the receipt printing startles them both out of it, and Blaine chuckles as he rips it out and hands it over to Kurt with the bag and the card.
"Thanks." Kurt mumbles.
"No problem."
"See you soon, Blaine."
"See you soon, person whose name I don't know." Blaine grins.
Kurt stops on his way to the door. "Oh," he breathes, and then for some reason he just completely blanks.
"It's fine," Blaine says, between a laugh and a frown, "I enjoy some mystery."
"Kurt." He manages to rush out.
"Oh! Mystery solved. Anyway, see you soon, Kurt."
Kurt nods and shuffles out of there as fast as humanely possible.
He's never going back in there.
But on the other hand. How soon is too soon?
-x-
It's Friday and Kurt's finishing his lunch and looking at the sheet music on his desk – completely and utterly untouched since he put it there on Monday.
He did say he only needed it for a couple of days so, naturally, Blaine had to be expecting it returned today? Anything later than that would just be rude, right?
Kurt shoves the last forkfuls of pasta into his mouth and then goes about the business of looking both the hottest and the most casual he's ever looked.
He grabs the sheets and makes his way to the bookstore.
It's apparently a slow hour for bookstores, because when he enters, Blaine's at the counter, with his feet propped up next to the register and reading some sort of kid's scary stories book. It shouldn't make him any more attractive, but it definitely, really does.
He looks up at the sound of the opening door and when his eyes land on Kurt his face breaks out into a surprised smile, "Kurt!" He puts his feet down and closes the book without even bothering to mark the page.
He remembers my name.
"Hi." Kurt grins. His voice is way too breathy, but maybe it was just this one word and he can pretend he was running.
"How's the heating?"
He stops altogether. "What?"
"The heating in the apartment? That you and your roommate wanted fixed, hence the birthday present for the bratty kid?" he asks, standing up but not walking from behind the counter. Today he's wearing brown Capri pants, and a really nice plaid shirt in tones of pinks and browns. There's a bright blue bowtie and Kurt could swoon.
"Oh!" Kurt gasps – he remembers all of it. "It's fixed. Thank you!"
Blaine raises a victorious fist, before he winks and says, "Anytime."
"Anyway," Kurt clears his throat, "Here's the… sheet music."
He accepts it back with a wide grin, "I had a bet going with my best friend. He thought you'd never come back and just keep it. Thank you." He talked about me to his friend.
"I would never."
"Yeah, that's what I thought when you didn't just steal the book while I was getting this." He says, accepting the sheets from Kurt. Their hands don't touch, and Kurt kind of wants to go back in time and make it happen. Surely that would be a magical experience and Blaine would fly over the counter and just kiss him senseless.
"So, hum, I was thinking… because it's really expensive and this place is kind of on my way home, would you mind lending me some more…?"
Blaine looks at him for a second too long before he smiles and says, "Sure."
"Do you have Into The Woods…?"
"Which song?" Blaine shrugs…
Don't be obvious, don't be obvious, "Hum… I… huh, Last Midnight…?"
"You keep asking me these things." Blaine teases, but he doesn't give Kurt any time before he says, "I'll be right back. Don't steal anything, and please keep the street thugs from doing it." he slips inside the back room.
Kurt stands rooted to the spot. He may have just bought himself another week with an excuse to see Blaine again, but this is hardly ideal. He can't actually just keep coming in and asking for sheet music. Besides, he's bound to ask for one Blaine doesn't have at some point and then, poof!, no more excuses.
"Last Midnight," Blaine emerges, "Here you go!"
"Thanks! You're a life saver!"
"So do you study music?"
"Musical Theatre." Kurt nods, "NYADA."
Blaine gives him a low whistle with an impressed expression and Kurt can't help blushing. "So NYADA doesn't have a library with this kind of stuff…?"
That just about does it.
"No." Kurt manages. "I gotta go. Thanks again." He flies out of the store and doesn't even look back to check if Blaine's confused, laughing, mad, or sad.
-x-
The next Wednesday Kurt finds himself standing outside the bookstore staring at the door and willing it to just… well, really, he has no idea what he wants to happen to that door. He's here because Rachel dragged him over and then left with the promise that she wouldn't let him in the apartment until he had physical proof that he'd spoken to Blaine.
It's five minutes to seven, and unless he wants to risk the other boy coming over to lock up and seeing him pathetically standing there, he should probably just do something.
Maybe he could get a hotel room for the night?
Kurt Hummel, stop being a baby.
He closes his eyes and forces himself to open the door. Blaine's shelving books, with his headphones hanging around his neck – music trailing behind him as he moves, a bounce to his steps. He looks as Kurt steps inside and stops mid-movement.
"Hi!" Kurt breathes before he can chicken out and just drop Blaine's sheets on the floor and sprint his way out of there to never come back.
"Hi, Kurt!"
"I'm, huh, your…" he holds up the sheets as way of explanation.
"Oh, yeah, sure, thanks." Blaine finishes putting the last book on the shelf before he walks over to take it. Today he looks absolutely delicious, in tight dark jeans and a white crisp shirt and a red bowtie. Kurt has a dangerous urge to straighten it where it's already perfectly straight. "I hope it was useful…?"
"Oh, yeah. Totally. Like I said, life saver."
Blaine smiles at that, and maybe it's a trick of the light but it kind looks like he's blushing, "Glad to help. I mean, it's kind of insane that NYADA doesn't have a library with sheet music." He says it like it's a question – like he's daring Kurt to come clean.
"Yeah, insane," Kurt nods, damning his voice for how breathy and silly it comes out. "I mean, what's my tuition for, right?"
"Right," Blaine chuckles. "So, any tricky assignments this week."
"I, huh. Yeah. Sure." He says it like he's agreeing to coffee, or hanging out.
"Sure?"
Kurt tries not to cringe too visibly. "Yeah, absolutely. There's always some assignment. But I haven't actually decided on a song, yet. So…"
Blaine smiles – that cheeky, kind of knowing little smile that's starting to get on Kur'ts last frayed nerve. "Do you need some help? Suggestions?"
"Oh," Kurt tries not to grin too hard, or jump to fast, "I don't want to keep you or anything…"
"I'm just about to close up, actually." Blaine shrugs, before he takes a set of keys out of his back pocket (and Kurt really does not want to be having idiotically cliché thought about wanting to be those keys), and jogs over to the door, locking it and flipping the sign around, before he twirls around and grins, "There! Nothing you're keeping me from."
That smile does things… unforgivable things to Kurt.
Blaine doesn't really wait for Kurt to say anything before he grabs his hand and drags him over to the back room. There's indeed a huge box labeled Blaine's sheet music.
"I didn't have space for it in my dorm room, and I spend more time here than in my dorm and my boss is really cool, so… Besides, if I'd left it back home, I'm pretty sure my mom would've ended up using it for her paper maché works of art."
Kurt laughs at that and Blaine grins.
"Okay, so you like the powerful, diva kind of songs, right?" He asks, and Kurt blushes.
"I guess."
Blaine sits on the floor and pulls the box closer to himself, before he starts pulling out sheet after sheet. When Kurt just stands, kind of frozen, kind of awkward, he looks up and grins even harder, "You're not allowed to criticize my choices if you're not going to help, you know?"
Kurt sputters and apologizes under his breath as he sits – the box between them. Blaine just laughs harder.
They've been at it for a couple of hours. At some point, conversation has started to come easy – the easiest it's ever come for Kurt, when talking to a virtual stranger – and, while all the swoon worthy smiles and butterfly inducing laughs are still there, Kurt manages to take them in stride and keep his brain mostly functioning. They're not just looking for a song for Kurt any more – they're just trying to discover the most awesome, but obscure song to gush over.
Kurt's been going on tangent about Sondheim's most underappreciated songs when Blaine just blurts out.
"The photocopier isn't actually broken."
"What?"
Blaine blushes and smiles with a small shrug. "I lied that day," he tilts his head to the photocopier sitting at the corner of the room. "It's not broken. I just kind of wanted you to come back."
"Oh." Kurt gasps, his heart suddenly hammering against his chest, "I didn't… I didn't need any sheet music… I just wanted to… keep talking to you."
Blaine beams, wide and wonderful, eyes practically disappearing. He shifts to stand on his knees, "I know," is all he says before he leans over, stretching over the box and pressing their lips together. Kurt melts into it and Blaine scrambles over the box just so they can press closer and deeper.
"I kind of figured when you said that what you needed, that you needed, that you totally needed that song from that musical that is called five seconds pause Hairspray." He laughs, "And then there's the fact that I visited NYADA, when I was researching universities." Blaine says as he pulls back, "The library almost had me sold on it."
Kurt ducks his head with an embarrassed little whine, but Blaine just follows the movement and kisses him again.