Pre-shoot
Blaine is rocking his chair back and forth, his feet propped against the edge of the table – if his mother could see him right now… He smiles at the thought, a little lost from whatever Abrams is saying.
"We're missing a focus puller and maybe two people on grip,…"
"When's the shoot?" Blaine asks from his place in the back of the classroom, narrowly escaping a yawn. This is an emergency meeting after cinematography class so that everyone can complete and lock up their film crews for the end of semester projects and this is the last project – Blaine's pretty much eager to get out of this room and regain muscular function in his legs.
"Next week. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."
Blaine considers this. His own shoot, as D.P., is Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and he knows he'll be exhausted afterwards. But he's also aware that Abrams will be fucked to find a decent focus puller until then. For some reason everyone hates that job – and if you hate it, you're definitely going to screw it up.
The sooner someone volunteers, the sooner he's allowed to leave and go home.
He sighs. It all depends on one question, "Who's your camera operator?"
Abrams frowns and turns to Rory, the project's D.P., she says "Alicia."
"Okay, I don't mind being the focus puller, if you guys want." He says, and some heads turn to give him half amused side eyes, while Alicia snickers a few desks away. He just shoots the rest of the class a placating smile and pretends it was mostly a joke.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you forever!" Rory grins, and Blaine raises two fingers to his forehead and flicks them in salute.
"So, for the grip… we'll probably only need you guys for Wednesday, so…"
Immediately two hands raise, and the issue is dealt with. Blaine wonders if he was stupid to volunteer for the focus pulling job, instead of grip – seen as it's going to be another three days of full schedule, as opposed to popping by the set for a couple of shots. He can already see himself spending his whole weekend in bed, sleeping and waking up only for food and peeing.
"So we're done?" Blaine asks, already grabbing his stuff.
"Oh, we're having a team meeting right after this, to go over the shooting plan, before everyone gets distracted with the other projects starting up." Abrams says, and Blaine deflates a little, but keeps a polite smile on his face and nods. "So, if no one needs anything else…?" he lets the sentence trail away and as everybody shrugs and shakes their heads "In which case… anyone who isn't on my crew can just… go away."
There are laughs and faux outrage as nearly half of the cinematography class leaves. And Rory pokes her head outside the classroom "Come in, guys…"
One of the biggest reason Blaine enjoys the end of term projects so much is because it gives him the chance to work and hang out with the sound and editing folk – or basically anyone that isn't a cinematography hopeful. He smiles to a few he recognizes from the corridors, mixed classes and last semester's shootings.
"So, if you're new to the team and don't have a script or a shooting plan, please write your e-mail down here and I'll get back to you today." Says Anna, who Blaine recognizes as one of the most irascible but fairly competent students in the production class. Production people scare him a little – they probably have classes specifically teaching them how to be ruthless and cutthroat.
"Quick overview of the team: Artie's director, I'm producer, John's the scriptwriter and A.D., and then we got Rory, our lovely D.P., Joss in charge of sound, and, not that you'll get to hang out with her much, but Jane'll be our Editor. Caroline has graciously accepted to be our script supervisor, and I'm sure the rest of you know your jobs. I think that's about it and we're ready to roll! And speaking of rolling, while Wednesday and Thursday we'll be shooting at the school studio, Friday is on location and fair warning, because it'll be outside, and the forecast is mega sunny, so bring sunscreen, and drink lots of water. Also, Friday we'll start shooting in the early afternoon and go well into the night, so you might as well forget any Friday night plans." She's speaking fast and Blaine's letting 80% of the information roll off his back. He knows the names already, and then all he needs to remember is: Friday outside and at night.
That should be fun…
Anna's going on about shooting schedules and meal times, and catering when her cell phone rings and she goes very quiet, very fast. Even from the back of the classroom Blaine can see her face turning a blotchy shade of red. She hangs up wordlessly and turns to Artie.
"So we just lost our lead actor."
Around the room all jaws drop. Blaine stops rocking his chair and immediately sighs in sympathy. It's just about the most common occurrence amongst student films – actors dropping out last minute because they got better gigs -, but it's also one of the worst things that can happen, especially this close to shooting.
Abrams' face loses all color for about a full minute before, suddenly, he's reaching for his bag and pulling out his phone. "I got the perfect person. Please cross your fingers for me."
Blaine does just that.
"Heeey!" Abrams says into his phone after a little while, "What's up, my man?" some kind of answer, "So, I have an offer for you… I know you're trying the fashion thing right now, and I admire that and all, but honestly your talent is going to waste and maybe you could try to juggle both things, no?" another answer, "What do you mean what do I want? Why can't I just offer you an opportunity out of the goodness of my heart without any kind of ulterior motive besides the chance of working with you again!" another answer, "We kind of lost our lead actor, we film in less than a week, and I think you'd be perfect for the part." Another answer, "It's a musical comedy about vampires."
A musical about vampires? Blaine thinks he must've misheard something.
"Seriously, it's going to be amazing, please say you'll do it. It's just Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We'll give you free food." Another reply, "The character's straight." Another reply, "Yeah, but that was when we were in high school and in my defense you sang a girl's song for a male part. Come on. Do this for me and I'll owe your forever." A long silence and then, "You're a life saver! I love you! I'll send you the script tonight!" Abrams hangs up and beams "We got our actor!"
Around the room everyone cheers.
Day 1
Practically a week later, it's seven thirty am and instead of sleeping three days of intense work off, Blaine is carrying bags, twenty pounds each, into the studio.
"Guh, I still can't believe we're going digital… Seriously, with the tuition we pay you'd think they'd give us film." Alicia says, as they carry the gigantic bags for the RED camera.
Blaine gives her a sympathetic smile, "They'll gives us film for our last project. I think it's pretty damn cool we're getting to use this camera, though. I checked out the rough footage from my shoot, yesterday, and it was pretty damn good."
"We'll see, we'll see, Anderson." She teases, "This vampire musical shows some potential to go up against yours for the cinematography top spot."
Blaine smiles, as he opens the tripod case and starts setting it up, "You're not even going to mention yours? You're talented."
She laughs, "Are you kidding, with that director? I say – hey, Jones, we should try to keep away from the fisheyes. And he says, sure thing. Next thing I know he's telling my camera man to use an eleven, and pull the camera closer to the actor."
Blaine shudders at the thought. He picks up the body of the camera and starts setting it up for the tripod.
"I'm just horrified I'm going to have to put my name on that project, you know?"
"Exactly why I have two names – Blaine Anderson when I'm proud of it, Devon Anderson when I'm not. If anyone asks I just tell them it's my artistic name. I'll take being thought of as a pretentious dick over incompetent any day of the week." He explains as he clicks the body onto the head of the tripod. He crouches low, next to the batteries, "They're all fully charged?"
"Beats me, ask your camera people, you guys were the last to use them. If you forgot to charge them I'll kill your whole camera crew and then leave you to feel guilty about it." She shrugs as she fiddles with the viewfinder, attaching it onto the camera. Blaine checks the levels on each battery and grins, finding them fully charged. He takes the first one and sets it up. He finishes plugging in all the cables and then sets up the video-assist while Alicia fiddles with the camera's definitions.
They're done in less than five minutes.
Blaine crosses his arms, "And now we play the waiting game."
"Wait a sec. Guard it with your life." She says before she disappears. Blaine puts his hand protectively on the camera – he knows he doesn't actually need to be touching it, but for some reason the idea was engraved into his head on his first day of cinematography classes and he never quite let it go: Rule #1 – never leave the camera alone; rule #2 – always make sure the camera is secure, preferably never let go of it.
Alicia comes back with two foldout chairs and Blaine gives her a knowing grin.
"I'll never get why they insist on having the camera crew come as early as everyone else…" he sighs, and they stay there, watching as the lighting crew fusses about everything, stressing with each detail. Just yesterday he was in Rory's shoes, running around with the photometer asking the gods how is it possible that one has three projectors on and it's still not enough light! He smiles and enjoys the calm of being in the camera crew – he'll never trade being Director of Photography for being Camera Operator or Focus Puller, but after three days of serious hardcore work, it feels good to just sit there, away from the bigger stress.
He's cringing at Rick practically dropping a projector – and Rory promptly yelling at him, face completely colorless – when the studio door opens and Anna and Abrams come in accompanying two people. The first one is a tall, slender and beautiful girl with short blonde hair and big brown eyes. The second one is a wide-eyed guy with gorgeous chestnut hair and immaculately pale skin. Even in the barely lit studio his porcelain skin glistens. Vampire, indeed.
Unlike the girl, who seems mostly indifferent to the bustling studio, the boy doesn't seem to be listening to a word Abrams is saying. Instead he's just looking all around him – at the high ceiling with dozens of projectors hanging off at various heights, at the sets with it's thin walls propped up and secured with sand bags and wooden planks, at the people running and shouting around, too stressed for their own good.
Alicia's noticed them, too, and she elbows Blaine, "Looks like the stars have arrived."
"Yap…"
"Know anything about them?"
"No… I mean, I think the guy's not really an actor. From what I understood at the crew meeting." Blaine shrugs.
"Yeah, I remember that. I heard she's a drama student at Yale."
"Yale?" Blaine raises his eyebrows and gives a low whistle, "However did they get her?"
"High school friends." She shrugs and he nods, falling back to silence. They watch as Abrams and Anna show the two actors around the studio for five minutes before the makeup artist interrupts and the actors are shuffled back outside.
It takes another full hour before Rory announces the light's almost ready and that they need to set up the camera in the right spot. Blaine and Alicia jump to their feet, barely awake after an hour of just watching, and start on it at once. Abrams is nowhere to be seen – probably outside with the actors rehearsing or whatever, so it's Rory who tells them where to put the camera.
"Close up? Establishing shot?" Blaine asks, bending over the lens case, hand hovering over his ever-favorite 50 mm lens.
-x-
Kurt's trying to calm his speeding heart as he's ushered back to the set. For the life of him he can't remember why he ever said yes to Artie. He's not an actor. A performer, maybe, once upon a time. But not an actor. Or at least, not an experienced one – and now he's about to make a complete fool of himself in front of a whole film crew who've seen plenty of talented actors and will know, in a split second, he's a completely inexperienced joke.
He's practically hyperventilating, and not watching where he's going when he stops just in time not to crash against… well, an ass.
Someone's bent over and all that Kurt can see in front of him is tight denim stretched over thick thighs and a round ass.
"Establishing shot. Don't even think about it, Blaine." A voice calls from the set. And whoever's bent over picks something up, and groans on his way back up.
"25 millimeters okay, though?"
Now Kurt's line of vision is completely obscured by the back of a gelled head, and a red polo shirt.
"Yeah, I guess." The voice says, and the boy turns on his heel only to be faced with Kurt. Big hazel eyes widen and a bright, nice smile takes over his startled expression surprisingly fast.
"Whoa!" the boy says with a chuckle, "That's some vampire creeping skills you got right there." He grins, as he gingerly bypasses Kurt and goes to the camera, where another girl seems to be unscrewing something on its front.
Kurt blushes to the root of his hair (is the makeup enough to keep it discreet?), and finds his vanished voice "Yeah, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."
"No harm done." The boy, who is super cute now that there's distance allowing Kurt's brain to reboot and register new information, says even though he's looking at what he's doing and not at Kurt. He seems to be mounting a lens onto the camera – and Kurt thinks a real actor would've probably known that cameras worked like that.
"Kurt," Artie calls, "Come here so we can go over the scene with you both."
He startles out of his silly moment and follows Artie and Quinn to the bed in the middle of the bedroom set.
They go over the lines once, and Artie gives them a new set of pointers. They go over it again, and apparently it's much closer, but still worth tweaking. They go over it again and it's good for a first technical rehearsal, whatever that means.
If there's one good thing you can say about Artie as a professional, is that he's not shy about criticizing or giving directions to his actors – even if they're his high school friends.
Kurt and Quinn exchange a smile as Artie tells his A.D. that he'd like a technical rehearsal. "Can we get ready for the rehearsal, guys?" The AD, John, if Kurt's memory serves him, calls to the studio. He gets a few scattered grunts and yesses in response.
"Just a sec," the guy with the great ass, from the camera, says, "What's the focus like? Always in the same place?"
"Yap." The girl with the funny looking device hanging from her neck says.
The boy keeps looking at her like he expects her to say something else. When she doesn't, and a sort of awkward silence has settled around them, he rolls his eyes with a chuckle "Where exactly is the focus, then?"
"Oh, right! On him!"
The boy nods with a laugh before he takes something out of his pocket, attaches it to the camera and starts stretching it out. It's a measuring tape. He just keeps walking, letting it trail after himself, until he's right in front of Kurt. With the same cheerful smile he'd given Kurt before, he says "Hi there!"
"Hi." Kurt can't help saying.
"My name is Blaine." He says happily.
"Kurt." He offers back with a confused smile and Blaine nods happily.
"Excusez-moi." The boy sing songs as he stretches the measuring tape towards Kurt's face, holding it right next to his eyes, "Memorize something for me, will you, Kurt?"
"Huh?"
"Three fifty six." He says.
"Okay."
With a grin he starts collecting his tape, quickly wrapping it back up, on his way back to the camera. Once he reaches it, he calls out to Kurt, "What was it?"
"Three fifty six…?"
"Cool beans, thanks!"
Kurt just nods in acknowledgment as he watches the girl also working on the camera lean up towards the boy's ear and whisper something. He seems to consider her words, glancing back at Kurt (at which point Kurt hurriedly pretends he wasn't watching) and then smirking and shrugging with one shoulder. Yap, Kurt thinks, everyone can smell "amateur" on him.
"Camera ready?" John calls out.
The boy holds his hand for a second or two, as he has his eye on the camera and is fiddling with the lens, before he gives them a thumbs up and pulls back from whatever he was doing.
"Sound ready?"
"Sure thing…"
"Alright… Artie, when you're ready."
Kurt takes a deep breath, trying to forget about the dozen people watching him right now.
"Action."
If Kurt's sucking ass, nobody's commenting on it. Other than Artie, that is. I mean, he's not rude or mean, but he's not holding back, either. The rest of the crew seems stressed enough about their own jobs that they don't find the time to make fun of anything else. Between shots, when the light crew has to readjust the lights, and the camera people have to change lenses and reposition the camera, Kurt chooses to sit somewhere isolated but still inside the studio, trying to take everything in.
It's… an interesting experience, to say the least. One that Kurt's not entirely sure if he'd like to go through again, but he might as well enjoy for the time being. The guys fussing with the lights are by far the most stressed. The sound people spend 99% of time sitting and messing around with the boom and whatever else, and Kurt's pretty sure they're constantly spying on everyone else's conversations.
And then there's the camera people. Person. The camera person. The boy with the ass. He's not the camera operator, Kurt has gathered that much, but he's still not entirely sure what he is, either. He just measures the distance between the camera and everything, and then fiddles with the lens. If he had to place a bet, Kurt would say he was keeping everything in focus. Not that it matters. Kurt could care less what his job is. The only thing that really matters is that he's the nicest person in that studio. And the handsomest. And he has a fantastic ass.
Pretty soon Kurt's living for the moment Blaine walks up to him, grinning, and asks him to memorize a number. Quinn doesn't seem that indifferent to the boy's charm either. But Kurt's gaydar isn't that far off these days, and she's definitely not in luck.
By the end of the day, the absolute sense of dread he'd been feeling at the start has worn off for the most part and he's much more at ease to recognize and give into the easy banter that seems to be going around everyone in the studio.
The last shot of the day is also the most difficult, there's a lot of actions, light changes and camera movements on a dolly (or at least that's how they call the little cart the camera's on), and for the first time Blaine doesn't ask Kurt to memorize anything. Instead they go step by step and the boy seems to be extra focused, measuring everything and then writing it down, and adjusting the lens and writing something on it. Even the sound guys are rehearsing their movements, trying to find a way to move the microphone without the boom appearing in the shot.
They rehearse twice, with, according to the D.P., some problems with the camera movements, and the boom appearing a couple of times, before Artie gets sick of rehearsals and tells them to shoot. Kurt doesn't miss how Blaine exchanges a glance with the camera operator, but they shrug and nod.
"No shot is impossible!" Artie announces before the A.D. is calling out for the sound to start rolling.
While he acts Kurt forgets about everything happening around him (something he's only managed to achieve after about four takes into the first shot, and even so….), but as soon as it cuts, he's startled by the sudden burst of sound. Everyone's giving pointers here and there and Kurt can barely hear Artie as he talks about the shot.
They do it again, and again, and again, and again. Kurt's lost track of the number of takes, when finally, as Artie calls for a cut, the sound is of relief and a burst of happiness.
"Booyah!" the camera operator calls out while Blaine punches the air and laughs heartily, and even the sound guys are whooping. As the whole crew seems to be celebrating a perfect shot Kurt exchanges a glance with Quinn who looks just as taken aback. He looks to Artie, who gives him and thumbs up and collapses on the floor, panting.
Kurt laughs and looks around the room. His breath hitches for a moment when he catches Blaine's eyes and the boy gives him a brilliant grin and a wink.
"Safety shot?" John, the A.D., calls out, cringing slightly as he knows how unpleasant his reminder is.
Everyone holds their breaths, before Artie's smile slips a little and he nods.
"Let's do it again, guys! We can do it right twice! Come on!"
They can't.
Day 2
When Kurt walks in the studio the next day he finds himself immediately faced with a ladder. As he looks up, he finds himself faced with a fantastic view of the most fantastic ass he's ever seen. Different jeans, and he still recognizes it.
When he doesn't sidestep it at once – instead freezing in place while blood rushes to his cheeks – Quinn crashes against him, sending him crashing against the ladder. Miraculously, he manages not to throw his complete weight at it, and it only shakes a little.
"Whoa!" Blaine gasps, holding on tight, and only then looking down, "Oh! Jesus! A simple good morning would have sufficed, Kurt."
"I'm so sorry!" Kurt gasps, "I wasn't watching where I was going… again."
"That's twice, already." Blaine points out with an easy, teasing smile, "Third time's the charm, they say."
"Oh, huh…"
"Just make sure I'm not holding anything too expensive, tomorrow." He winks, "Or, you know, that I'm on firm ground."
Kurt resists the urge to put cooling hands to his cheeks, and tries his best smile "Sure thing.", he says before the sidesteps the ladder and starts towards the set.
"Don't think I don't know you were watching where you were going." Quinn whispers in his ear, "Watching too hard, actually."
Kurt considers denying the truth, but then he just shrugs and says, "Can you blame me?"
"Touché." She smirks, as they sit on the set's bed.
Artie's still stuck discussing something with Rory, the D.P. girl, so the two of them wordlessly settle to witness the true spectacle that is Blaine on a ladder, unscrewing a projector, holding it (hello bulging biceps) and passing it down to one of the sound boys, and then picking up the projector handed to him, lifting it (sweet, sweet, life) and screwing it into place on the grid, before reaching high above his head (taut stomach, happy trail, thoughts melting) to plug it in.
"So there is a god…" Kurt breathes.
"Amen." Quinn mutters.
-x-
Blaine brushes the disgusting black dust off his hands, before he climbs down the ladder and puts it back against the wall. He signals to Rory that it's done and she blows him a kiss and calls "Eternally grateful!"
Blaine nods and smiles back with a shrug. Poor Rory, having both of her gaffers sleeping in accidentally – luckily she took his advice yesterday and left today's first shot mostly ready.
By the time he gets back to Alicia she pretty much has the camera set up, so he starts on the video assist.
"We thank you for the view, by the way." she calls over her shoulder as he opens the case and starts pulling out the needed cable.
"What?"
Finished with the camera she turns to him and smirks, "Us mere mortals always appreciate a good show."
"I'm sorry, what?" He tilts his head at her, still frowning.
"Between the tight jeans, the bulging biceps I somehow didn't know you had, and the little belly tease…"
His cheeks are suddenly burning, "Shut up."
"I think you should be made to be on that ladder switching projectors all the time." She smirks, "I think that'll be my project for next semester. Just you, up there, changing projectors, a different angle every two minutes. I think half an hour should do it."
Blaine laughs self-consciously and goes back to work, trying to block out her voice, "Shut up."
"Beneath all those preppy clothes I hadn't noticed you were a man." She laughs, "You know who else agrees with me?"
"No…" Blaine mutters, barely paying any attention as he plugs in the video assist.
"Our big stars." She says and Blaine's attention peaks considerably, "Let me tell you, those two were looking at you like they were six year old girls watching Frozen."
Blaine keeps his smile in check as he stands back up, "Happy to oblige." He deadpans, scampering off to find their chairs.
He prays that she's gotten over the subject by the time he returns but no such luck, "So, keeping up with the flirting today?"
"What flirting?" Blaine gives her a look, "There has been no flirting."
"You're telling me you weren't flirting the whole day yesterday?"
"Of course not." Blaine scoffs, "You think that's flirting? Who've you been flirting with, you poor soul?"
"So you're not into him?"
"Oh, I am!" Blaine says with a grin and laugh, chancing a glance towards Kurt, where he was still sitting with Quinn looking gorgeous and considerably less panicked than last morning, "I so am."
"So it was flirting."
"Ali, the guy was shaking with anxiety yesterday, he had bigger things to worry about than me messing with him. If I'd flirted with him he'd have melted into a puddle of blushing and embarrassment…"
She raises an eyebrow, and makes disbelieving face, "He was blushing every time you exchanged even a single word with him."
"Exactly, so imagine what would happen if I'd flirted." Blaine shrugs. From the other side of the set there's cackling laughter, and Joss calls out "You're such a cocky shit, Anderson!"
Blaine grins, flips him off and calls back, "And you're an eavesdropping shit, Williams. All gossip and no work makes Joss a dumb boy!"
Joss gasps in outrage, but brushes it off and directs Katie, the boom operator, to point the microphone elsewhere, shooting a smirk at Blaine who laughs back. As he settles back into his seat, he peruses the set, eyes landing easily back on Kurt, who tries a little too late to pretend he hadn't been watching the whole exchange, and smiles. Kurt's returning smile is shy, but bright, and Blaine chuckles to himself before he turns to Alicia and says, "You know the best thing about today's shooting plan?"
"No…?"
"Close-ups." He breathes and she laughs.
-x-
Apparently there were crew members who arrived late that day and it took a little longer than predicted to get started, which also meant that it took a too long for Kurt to have an excuse to talk to Blaine again.
"Hi again," Blaine says as he approaches with the measuring tape, "Under less life-threatening conditions."
Kurt chuckles, finally managing to keep his heart steady, his cheeks cool and his wits about him, "But it's so much more interesting the other way."
"Then you can go up there next time and I'll try to knock you off the ladder." Blaine shoots back with a winning smile, "Two, twenty-two." He says, before he goes over to Quinn, "Good morning, milady."
"Hi, Blaine."
"Two fifty-nine." He tells her before he goes back to the camera and points towards Kurt.
"Two twenty-two." He calls out, receiving a thumbs-up in response.
The second day is much easier for Kurt. The panic has subsided for the most part and he's established tentative friendly rapport with some of the crew members that'll keep him distracted between takes and shots. And especially with Blaine.
That is, until somewhere along the third or fourth shot of the day the camera starts moving closer and closer, and from the few glimpses he catches of the little screen the whole team uses to check the image, the close-ups have arrived. At first, it's mostly close ups of Quinn, or their hands, or of fake blood swirling around a wine glass – and those are fine. But ultimately they start moving towards him. Having a camera pointed straight at his face is quite possibly one of the most intimidating things Kurt has ever been through.
The only bright side is that the closer the camera gets, the closer Blaine gets as well.
"Does it have to be that close?" he whines jokingly as Blaine and Alicia, the camera operator, finish relocating the camera for the third time. It's not that it's in his face – not even close, it's some good four feet away, but Kurt had gotten so used to having it far away in the distance that even this is intimidating. Besides, he can see the video-assist and he knows it's a shoulder shot.
Blaine grins, "The camera loves you, Kurt. Just embrace it."
"Yeah, I'd like to see you here. See if you'd like it."
"I have been there. No one complained, but as it is, I'm happy pulling focus." Blaine says with a wink.
"You've been on this side of things?" Kurt raises an eyebrow, trying not to think where he might find whatever recordings there might be of Blaine's face this up close.
"What? You think we have actors on call for all our cinematography classes, Kurt?" Blaine chuckles, "Besides, I didn't always want to be on the dark side of things. I once had dreams of stardom."
"What happened? Jealous competition drove you out of the game for fear of you stealing all the good parts?"
Blaine grins bright and amused for a moment too long, eyes alight with something before he clears his throat, "I don't know, actually. Photography happened…? Then, cinematography happened. I found new things I loved doing that made me feel better about myself than constantly trying to prove something." He shrugs, "Besides, this way I get to look at beautiful close-ups for a living, not bad, huh?"
While Kurt's jaw all but drops, and his cheeks flush to never before seen temperature, there's raucous laughter somewhere in the back of the studio and Kurt glances back to see the sound people clutching their stomachs and practically dropping their equipment.
"Huh…"
"You know, like the shot with the fake blood swirling in the glass we shot earlier…?" Blaine adds with a smirk and Kurt clears his throat and swallows in dry.
"Right." He says, swallows trying to figure out if Blaine's just joking, or if he's actually making fun of Kurt right now. Serves him right, trying to flirt on set.
"Or this one right now, I don't know, we'll see." And it's all it takes to get Kurt blushing again.
Next to Blaine, Alicia's lips are pressed into a thin line and she's looking anywhere else but the two of them. Despite every nerve ending in his body telling him otherwise, Kurt smiles back and says, "I'll try not to ruin all future close-ups for you, when they don't even come close to my perfection."
With that Blaine's earlier indiscernible grin is back and he laughs before he says, "I appreciate the effort, even if possibly in vain."
To that Kurt doesn't really have an answer, but luckily he doesn't have to. Over the renewed bursts of laughter from the sound people and Alicia's shocked gasp, Artie's coming over with Quinn to start rehearsing the shot. He pretends not to overhear when Alicia says, "Do you even know the word subtlety?" to which Blaine shrugs and says something but Kurt can only catch the beginning of his sentence (something like "I told you yesterday wasn't-") before Artie's yanking his arm to get his attention.
The morning continues with much less flirting, but a lot of shared smiles. If Blaine wasn't so gorgeous his cockiness would be irritating.
For lunch Kurt doesn't have a choice but to sit next to Quinn, with Artie and Anna, the producer (or if he does have a choice, no one tells him so), and he spends the entire time just looking up to where Blaine, Alicia and the sound guys are sitting, laughing and goofing around. Whenever he catches Blaine's eye, the boy just grins brighter, shoots him a wink and goes back to whatever conversation he was having – looking up every five minutes to check if Kurt's still looking. Each time Kurt's stomach summersaults a little bit and he finds himself pushing his plate back after eating less than half.
Afterwards, when they're getting their makeup touched up Quinn elbows him and asks with a teasing smile, "So you and that Blaine guy are getting pretty friendly."
Kurt considers what to say for a few moments, before he just sighs, "I hope so!"
"You hope so?"
"I hope I'm not misreading anything, cuz that would be humiliating. But for all I know he's just making fun of me or something, I don't know."
"Kurt, please. Give yourself a little credit." Quinn rolls her eyes, "He's completely into you."
When they run a little bit behind schedule and Quinn is adamant about having to leave at five o'clock they keep Kurt's shots for last. Which in turn results in Kurt virtually acting alone a scene meant for two, for the last couple of shots. One of them isn't so bad, because it's part of the musical number, and he's not so dependent on her cues to deliver his lines. But the last shot of the day has him staring off into nothing pretending to be in a deep, meaningful and emotional conversation with the love of his life.
He struggles, of course. Rehearsals are disgusting, and Artie keeps telling him he's stilted and not letting enough breathing room for her reactions.
The worst part of this is that, for the first time since the beginning of the shoot, the shot's been ready for a long time, and all eyes are on Kurt while he's trying to get it right. It doesn't really help.
Mostly, he's just trying to keep his eyes from straying towards Blaine. He'd much rather not feel the humiliation that his attentive gaze would certainly bring.
"Hum…" It seems Blaine has different ideas, though, as he clears his throat politely interrupting Artie, "If he had someone reading Quinn's lines…? That might help."
"I…" Artie considers this, immediately looking around the studio for someone who's free to do it.
"It's a fixed focus. I'm okay to do it." Blaine shrugs, and steps a tiny bit to his right, where Quinn would be, reaching for Artie's script.
Kurt doesn't miss the look Alicia gives Blaine, somewhere between amused and annoyed, but Blaine's not even glancing her way, already clearing his throat and asking Artie for permission before he starts on Quinn's first line.
Kurt's shaking a little bit through the whole thing and it's probably the worst reading he's done of the scene, because he's all but hypnotized by Blaine's eyes and his lips saying whatever it is they're saying, but sounding so unfairly sincere. He probably screwed up every line.
"Alright, much closer, much better…" Artie says, as they reach the end of the dialogue, "Let's shoot, and we'll work on it take by take. Thanks, Blaine."
"No problem." Blaine says, sounding a little flushed himself.
-x-
Blaine's just closed shut the lens case when he sees that Kurt's got his own clothes on and is zipping up his bag, ready to go. He eyes the rest of the camera equipment still left to put back into their cases and places, and bites his tongue to keep from going after the boy to say something, anything, remotely witty and charming. If he bailed on cleaning up to go flirt with Kurt, Alicia would never let him hear the end of it.
He watches as Kurt crosses back into the studio and walks over to Artie to talk for a little while, and crosses his finger for the chance to at least get to say "See you tomorrow" when he crosses back out.
He heaves the tripod up and shoves it back inside its case with a humph, only to find Kurt on the other side of it, smiling, "I was going to ask if you needed help with that, but it seems not…"
"Yeah, no, I'm fine, thanks."
"Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for helping out with the dialogue, I…"
Blaine chuckles and shakes his head, "You'll have to excuse Artie. Rookie mistake to think just because the other actor isn't in the shot you don't need them there. I've seen it happen before, and it usually requires someone at least reading the lines."
"Yeah, well, thanks for doing that. It really helped." Kurt insists, cheeks a little pink and Blaine can't help himself.
"Not that you deserved it, right? Did you even try?"
"I – Excuse me?"
"You said you'd try not to ruin all future close ups for me…?" Blaine reminds him with a smile, "It's like you didn't even try…"
"I…!" Kurt stutters, his cheeks now a full blown red, "I-I'm so sorry. I'll try harder tomorrow."
"Don't…" Blaine shrugs, closing up the tripod case, "The harm's all done now, isn't it?"
"Ah, right… Well, if there's ever anything I can do to redeem myself." Kurt answers, already walking backwards towards the door and Blaine grins, recognizing the opportunity for what it is.
"I'm sure I'll think of something, and get back to you."
"You do that." Kurt nods, waving his goodbye, before turning and jogging his way out of the studio.
"He's been hit by, he's been struck by, a smooth criminal!" Alicia sings into his ear as she comes to pick up the tripod case.
Day 3
Shooting outside has the advantage of little to no work on light (Sun, the best projector of all), but the downsides of having to work extra quick, to keep up with the changing light, and having to deal with people trying to get into frame and ruin the shot, or sirens blasting and ruining the sound, or parked cars leaving and taking continuity between shots with them.
Basically, it's a dream for the gaffers, and a nightmare for everyone else.
Blaine and Alicia have to hurry between shots, running around with the camera and tripod and hoping and praying to every deity that neither of them trips and falls with something expensive in their hands.
It happens, though, hours into the afternoon, when Blaine has the chosen lens in his hand and is hurrying back (they're going to lose the light, they're going to lose the light, they're going to lose the light!), and some idiot in a bike speeds past him and almost sends him butt first to the sidewalk. A strong arm wraps around his chest and his back collides instead with a body made of bricks. They stumble back a little before Blaine manages to regain his balance and he turns back to find Kurt.
"Ha!" Kurt says, "Third time's the charm! Turns out I was just trying to save you all along!"
"Kurt! You're here!" Blaine gasps, "Hi!"
"Hi, back!" He grins, "You alright there?"
"Yeah, yes! I – thank you! I'm so gla- Wow! I gotta run, but, huh, thank you!" Blaine doesn't think before he's laid one on Kurt's cheeks and takes off sprinting towards Alicia and the camera, cringing with sudden embarrassment.
"Did you just kiss Kurt on the cheek?" Alicia gasps.
Still grimacing, Blaine mutters, "I have no idea what just happened there."
Alicia laughs, and helps Blaine switch out the lenses. Blaine doesn't dare look up to find Kurt until he's finished setting up the shot, and calmly making his way back to the lenses case, to put away the lens used before, his mind working at a normal speed again. Kurt's already sitting down with the girl that's been doing makeup, but he glances up and their eyes meet. Blaine tries not to panic, and instead smiles smoothly, presses his finger to his cheek and calls out, "A thank you for the life saving."
"Ah," Kurt calls back, much to the makeup artist's annoyance, "Anytime!"
"My hero." Blaine swoons playfully, before he goes back to his work.
Once he's hastily pulling the focus not bothering to waste time actually measuring it, Alicia side-eyes him and says, "Even when you humiliate yourself, you turn it around. How do you do it?"
"Natural born charm." He shrugs distractedly as he zooms into Quinn's face to make sure she's in focus, "We're ready!" he calls out.
-x-
Kurt watches from his chair as they finish up the shots with Quinn alone before they're shooting his first at the very end of twilight (which is still a long ways away, if you ask Kurt). It's like the roles have reversed and Blaine and Alicia are the ones stressing beyond reason while the guys that messed with the lights are sitting around joking, one of them remembering to hold a plaque of white Styrofoam towards Quinn's face every once in a while.
When they finish and call Kurt in it's clear to see that everyone's a little on edge and the words "We're loosing the light" are said at least once every three minutes – even though, from where Kurt's sitting there's still plenty of sunlight left. Blaine doesn't even come up to him with the measuring tape, today. Kurt misses the small conversations that used to come along with that, but he appreciates just how harried Blaine and Alicia look, so he sticks to doing his thing and not wasting any precious light.
When they finish that first part, and break for dinner everyone just heaves a collective sigh of relief. Kurt smiles awkwardly, as he tries to guess where he's supposed to go get some food or even sit down to eat it. It's not like at the studio where they went to the school's cafeteria.
He's considering finding Artie to ask him about it, when someone taps him on the shoulder and he turns to find Blain offering him a sandwich and bowing slightly, "A humble gift for the hero who saved my life."
"Ha," Kurt grins, taking it, "Thanks."
"I hope cheap tuna sandwiches are your favorite."
"Right up there with cafeteria food." Kurt nods and Blaine chuckles, "So, how much time do we have before we start shooting again?"
"A lot." Blaine shrugs, "We have to wait until it's dark, and then the guys have to set up the lights and pray the generator holds up."
"So why was everyone stressing about losing the light?"
"Because the camera sensor is good, but not that good…?" Blaine shrugs, gesturing towards a garden bench where some more people are already sitting, including Alicia and the sound guys, "The amount of light your eyes see and the amount of light the camera picks up is very different, and if we were to shoot now, it'd turn out really bad and dark."
"Oh…" Kurt bites his lip. This is the kind of thing a real actor would know, "I feel like I'm completely lost over here." He says, "I'd never been to a film set before."
"We noticed." Alicia teases, but she's not being mean.
"Yeah, I probably look like a big joke to you guys. I don't know." He shrugs self-consciously, "You're probably used to seeing talented actors at work, and-"
"You're kidding, right?" Blaine gasps, "We're film students, Kurt. You think you're the first model giving a shot at acting in our projects? Hardly – you might be the best one yet, but certainly not the only one."
"I…" Kurt flushes bright red and tries to clear his throat three times before anything comes out, "I'm not a model."
"What?" Blaine frowns, while everyone else tries and fails to disguise their laughter and snickering, "But Artie said you were doing the fashion thing."
"I'm studying fashion design…" Kurt chuckles, pressing his cool hands to his cheeks in hopes to get the situation back under control, "You thought I was a model?!"
"I – huh – well, can you blame me?!" Blaine laughs, and everyone around them groans.
"Oh, come on!" Alicia rolls her eyes, "You've proved your point, Blaine, you're the smoothest motherfucker to ever smooth. Just go do it somewhere I don't have to listen to it."
Blaine closes his mouth and his smile disappears before he frowns and says, "I… That- I wasn't- I honestly thought he was a model." He defends himself, and Kurt's torn between feeling flattered, and the sudden rush of returning fear that this was apparently all a big joke to Blaine, where he was trying to prove something to his friends.
"Alright, alright," One of the sound guys, Josh, if Kurt remembers correctly, says, "Concession: I thought he was a model, too. But, Blaine, come on, you never tell someone they're a model when you're assuming that unless you're shamelessly hitting on them, which you were."
"It's called flirting, you cave person." Blaine shoots back, "But I wasn't flirting right now. I mean, I… I mean, I – you know what? You're just a nosy bunch of little shits, and I don't have to explain myself to you." He says before he stands up and stalks away towards the trash can to dump his balled up napkin. Everyone there is left cackling and clutching their stomachs, and Kurt can't even begin to think straight.
"Excuse me…" he mutters, before leaving to find Quinn, or Artie, or anyone that's less likely to have witnessed that whole thing. He catches Alicia's eye and she looks a little startled and guilty, but she doesn't call him back and he doesn't turn back.
As he searches for options, he finds Blaine leaning against the catering table alone, nursing a steaming cup of something. With a sigh, he can't help himself as he walks over.
"So you weren't flirting with me?"
Blaine looks up, apparently a little startled to see him, before he frowns, "Of course I was."
"Oh…!"
"Just not right then."
"Right…" Kurt murmurs, feeling a little breathless, "And it wasn't just some… joke…?"
"What?!" Blaine's looking at him like he just asked if the world was square.
"To show off…? In front of your friends, or whatever…"
"What? No!" Blaine gasps, "I… I would never! Absolutely not."
"Oh, okay." Kurt sighs with relief and manages a bright smile, "Cuz for a moment there it really sounded like that."
"They're teasing me… just me." Blaine rolls his eyes, but he's smiling, "This has nothing to do with you, I promise."
"Alright then, I believe you."
"And I promise I'd never stoop so low as to use that model stuff as some kind of pick-up line or whatever. It was an honest mistake."
Kurt laughs and tries to not to let himself get carried away in the jitters just thinking about it gives him, "Right, your style consists more of surprise kissing and running…"
Blaine bites his lip and smiles before nodding, "Something like that, yeah."
"Well," Kurt holds his hands behind his back, to keep from swinging them like a little kid, and shrugs, "I can't say that I disapprove."
Blaine considers this for a moment, grinning, before he turns back towards the table and pours something into a cup, "Tea?" he offers and Kurt takes it with a thankful nod, "So, since we've got plenty of time before we start shooting again, tell me about yourself, Kurt who is not a model, but a fashion design student, much to the world's dismay."
"Hey, I'm a talented designer!" Kurt gasps, swatting Blaine playfully over the arm.
"I don't doubt it." Blaine concedes with a polite nod and a hint of a smirk, and leaves it at that.
"What do you want to know?"
"What's your favorite Disney movie?"
Kurt quirks an eyebrow at the unusual question, and he considers it before announcing, "The Little Mermaid."
Blaine seems pleased at that, "Care to elaborate?" he adds, as he gestures for Kurt to sit with him on the ground.
"I don't know…" Kurt shrugs, wiggling his butt until his sitting comfortably, "I just… I guess sometimes I felt a bit like Ariel… trapped and little bored with things,… even as a kid I knew I was different and I never belonged in my hometown. So…" Kurt shrugs, "Plus the songs are terrific and Eric's dreamy."
Blaine chuckles and nods, "Indeed."
"What's your favorite?" He asks back.
Blaine gives him a long, amused look before he says, "The Little Mermaid."
"Stop it!" Kurt laughs, shoving at his arm.
"No, I'm serious. It wasn't for a long time. As a kid I was more into The Lion King."
"Cliché!" Kurt groans teasingly and Blaine laughs.
"I know right?!" he shakes his head to himself before he shrugs and continues, "I don't know, when I grew up and I got to know the whole story behind The Little Mermaid… You know the original story? By Hans Christian Andersen?" he asks and Kurt nods with an easy smile, "I guess… just knowing what the author was going through and what it truly meant to him – the unbearable pain of unrequited, shameful, forbidden love. Some people hate it that Disney picked up such a heartbreaking story and turned it into a happy ending sort of silly thing… but I don't think it's silly at all. I like to think that's where we are right now –As far as forbidden love goes… Maybe if Hans had lived now the story would have a happy ending... I feel like it's his second chance to have what he wanted all along. I like to think there's always a chance to turn things into something better." He finishes with a shrug and a self-conscious chuckle and Kurt thinks he might actually be dying from all the cute.
"Wow…" Kurt mutters, "That's gotta be the best explanation for loving The Little Mermaid I've ever heard."
"Why, thank you."
"Okay, so my turn, right?" Kurt asks and Blaine consents, "Your house is on fire, you can only save three things, go."
"People?"
Kurt waves his hand dismissively, "They can save themselves, I said things."
Blaine gapes at him with a weird sort of smile, before he lets out a short chuckle, clears his throat and says, "Right, huh… My two best cameras, the analogic and the digital, and my laptop…?"
"Huh…" Kurt considers it, "That was pretty fast and logical. I keep forgetting most people aren't emotionally attached to their entire wardrobe…"
Blaine burst out laughing at that and Kurt pretends it bothers him.
They keep at it, going back and forth, making a little competition to see who thinks of the most unusual questions possible, until someone announces it's dark enough to start working again. Kurt tries not to preen at the way Blaine visibly groans and takes a deep breath. Kurt hops to his feet and offers a hand up to Blaine, who takes it. Once they're face to face, on their feet, Kurt doesn't allow himself space for second thoughts before he leans in and presses a sweet, even if chaste, kiss on Blaine's cheek and walks away grinning.
-x-
It's well past midnight by the time they call it a wrap, and Blaine still has to pack everything up and load it into the van. There's no way he can smoothly ask Kurt out for a couple of drinks tonight unless Kurt's willing to wait around for him, and if he doesn't manage a glimpse of Kurt before he goes away he might even be left without his number.
He keeps his eyes mostly on the crowd surrounding Artie, knowing that Kurt's probably still there, as he packs everything up, probably risking dropping something for not looking where he's going properly.
He hears the whoops of celebration resurfacing and the pops of champagne bottles opening and he rolls his eyes and exchanges a bitterly amused glance with Alicia.
"God forbid they ever wait for the cinematography team to start celebrating…" she mutters, as she grabs a case and starts hauling it to the van.
He closes the camera's case, and checks its lock before standing to take it away, only to find Kurt approaching with two red cups of champagne in his hands and a smile. Blaine can't help laughing as Kurt extends one toward him, "Thank you!"
"I realize you're still on the job and therefore shouldn't drink, but it'll be stale by the time you finish up." Kurt explains before tilting his plastic cup. Blaine touches their cups in a silent, plastic toast and sips the cheap champagne before grimacing.
"Oh, hell no, that's insulting!"
"Makes you happy to be stuck hauling things while they're partying?" Kurt offers.
"Something like that." Blaine nods and notices Alicia coming back, "Hey, you want something that's supposed to be champagne?" he asks, offering her his red cup.
She eyes it for a minute before shrugging and saying, "Yeah, why not?" and taking it.
"So," Kurt starts, looking around him before he inconspicuously pours his champagne on a nearby flowerpot, "Could you use some help?"
"Uh, I… yeah, sure." He beams, "Just get everything to that van, and Josh and Rory will make sure everything's properly stacked. Thank you!"
Kurt shrugs and smiles, "No problem." He says, "I'd feel a little bit douche if I just left you guys stranded with all this stuff and didn't help."
"You mean like everybody else is doing?" Blaine laughs, glancing towards the big group calmly sipping champagne. At least it's bad champagne.
"Well, I'm not like everybody else." Kurt says haughtily as he gets a good grip on the tripod case.
Blaine grins and refrains from letting out the easiest response to that, "And thank god you felt the need to come prove that."
They work in silence, ignoring the glances and snickers from Alicia, Josh and some of the others. When they're finished and Rory and Josh are driving off with the van and everybody else is either getting into cars or starting towards the closest form of public transportation, Kurt and Blaine hover close to each other awkwardly searching for whatever they want to say.
"So…" Kurt says finally, "Ulterior motive for helping you guys."
"Ah, of course." Blaine nods, keeping his smile in check as over Kurt's shoulder he sees Quinn and Artie glance back and apparently decide to just leave them alone, "What do you want in return for the hard labor?"
"I… huh, I was hoping I wouldn't leave without, hm… Actually, the thing is: my trip home isn't particularly pleasant, and… some might even go as far as to call it… dangerous, and I wasn't feeling very keen on going alone, so…" Kurt finishes with a shrug and a shy smile.
"You want me to take you home?" Blaine asks, stepping a little closer.
Kurt smiles wider and his cheeks blush for the hundredth time as tilts his head, bites his lip and says, "Something like that, yeah."
"Oh…" Blaine gasps, heart suddenly beating ten times faster.
He doesn't have time to get his words together and say a simple yes before Kurt's hand is cradling the back of his neck and pulling him closer, lips sealing over lips, and pressing deliciously. Kissing back is something Blaine, somehow, manages, and he laces his arms around Kurt's waist and pulls him close.
When they pull back they're both a little breathless, giddy and flushed. Kurt presses his lips into a thin line and swallows his chuckles, and Blaine can't help ducking up for a quick kiss to his cheek.
"Maybe we could watch The Little Mermaid…? See about that happy ending?" Kurt offers, still shy.
"I might fall asleep halfway through…" Blaine chuckles, "But I'd love that."
"That's alright," Kurt shrugs, "I could be lame and say I also enjoy Sleeping Beauty, but I'd like to keep some credibility to my name." he adds, and Blaine can't help bursting our laughing.
"Can I – can I see your hand?" Blaine asks with a playful smile.
Kurt frowns but pulls back and holds out his left hand in front of Blaine's chest, palm down. Blaine takes its writs with his right hand, gently turning it palm up, before covering it with his own, and lacing their fingers together, bringing their joint hands down between them with a grin, "Shall we go?"
Kurt sighs and laughs a little breathlessly, before he nods and starts towards the nearest subway station.