Catch Me if You Can
Summary: "That will be a dollar seventy five sir," Emily told the man briskly, after scanning it."Thank you," replied a steady, familiar voice. It made Kurt freeze. Of course he knew the person. But what was he doing in New York? "Blaine?"
A/N: This is part of my Musical one-shot series. I listened to all the songs two years ago when it was in Seattle, and now it will be on Broadway in a few short months! I chose Fordham for Kurt for 3 reasons. One, I think with the character Kurt is, he would be happier at Fordham than NYU or Julliard (if he didn't get into Julliard) B Fordham's acting program is very good and a bit more thorough than Tisch. C My best friend goes to Fordham, so I know more about it than NYU.
I have an announcement. I have gotten into the Up with People program. I don't particularly feel like explaining what it is, so if you don't know what it is go look it up. But if things pan out, I will basically be gone, traveling the world for a year. So I'm going to get some more writing done, since I will be too busy to in a few months.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, any of it. I'd like to own Darren, but he owns himself…god damn it. I also don't own Fordham University.
New. York. City. The city that never sleeps. That was such an appropriate description, according to Kurt Hummel, who tossed and turned in his bed, visibly scowling at his ceiling, where a thumping bass could be heard, as well as drunken shouts and giggles. Kurt rolled his eyes and gave up attempting to sleep under these conditions. He stretched and glanced over to his end table and reached over to grab his phone. The time read 2:37.
Kurt sighed and placed the phone back on the end table. It was Saturday night, so the senior dorms did not enforce any quiet hours. He scowled again at the ceiling and rolled out of his bed. He had been lucky to have his roommate transfer to Columbia for the rest of the year and now had the room to himself. He padded of the tiny bedroom into the living room/dining room/kitchen. A person sat on the school-issued couch, staring at a book. The dark curly hair was familiar, and the person who owned that set of hair would be a welcome distraction. Kurt grinned and flung himself into the armchair across from the figure on the couch.
"Whatcha readin at this hour?" he asked, teasing his English-major suitemate. He looked up into the flashing hazel eyes, hidden behind glasses and smirked at the scowl.
"Shut it Hummel, and use proper language, no matter what the hour," quipped Patrick. He turned back to his book, "And I am re-reading A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens never gets old."
"That was his only good book before he got paid by the word and none of his other novels made sense," Kurt corrected, rolling his eyes at his suitemate.
"How are Brian, Frankie, and Joe still asleep with that bass?" Kurt asked, looking around at the closed doors.
"Brian has earplugs in, Frankie slept over at his girlfriend's dorm and I think Joe got drunk and passed out," Patrick answered absently, leafing a page over to begin another chapter.
"That certainly does explain it," Kurt said wryly and leaned back to look out the window at the familiar buildings. At Fordham University, he was a senior, with a double major in theatre and communications, as well as a minor in music. Kurt closed his eyes and let his mind take him away to his past. He had transferred back to McKinley after his junior year was over, and Blaine had graduated. Their relationship had been a good one, but short lived. They were both so busy, and ultimately wanted different things. Unlike most break-ups in high school, theirs was not tragic, dramatic, or horrible in any way.
Kurt would never admit to this day that he still had feelings for Blaine; that they had never left. But despite the fact that they talked every once-in-awhile, he had not let that small factor hold him back. He dated several other guys after graduating from McKinley and moving to New York. He wasn't going to lie and say that he would have preferred to attend Julliard with Rachel, but he liked Fordham. Living on the Lincoln Center Campus was amazing. He lived literally down the street from Rachel and three blocks from Central Park.
"Hey, do you mind going to pick up some Red Bull from the convenience store down the block?" asked Patrick, interrupting Kurt's melodramatic musings, "If we can't sleep because of all this noise, I would like something else to help me stay awake."
"Sure," normally, Kurt would have snarked and told his suitemate to get his own damn Red Bull, but Kurt was eager to get out of the dorm and to get a little bit of quiet, and if Patrick was too lazy to do it for himself, then Kurt would gladly take the easiest way out.
Kurt threw on a coat and skinny jeans, grabbed his school ID and keys, and then hurried down the stairs from right outside his room, not bothering with the elevator. When he got to the main floor, he rounded the corner and waved at the guard as he exited the building. A cool wind hit his face, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Kurt gave a smile and began walking up the street.
Kurt reached the convenience store less than ten minutes after he left the dorms. He pushed open the door, and waved to the cashier, Emily. She smiled and waved back. She was also a theatre major at Fordham and had been in quite a few of his classes over the years. Kurt grabbed the red bull first, and then wandered over to the snacks. A man shorter than him and a hood over his head was a few feet away, looking at the candy. He finally picked up a pack of red vines and walked away humming.
It was so familiar to Kurt, and it made him frown, searching his memory. He just knew what it was…who it was. But he could not for the life of him put his finger on the person. Kurt peered around to look at the man, but could not see anything with his hood over his head. He gave a frustrated sigh and grabbed a pack of red vines. He smiled; he had adverse to the candy until dating Blaine. Blaine had loved the candy, and eventually had gotten Kurt to start eating it.
"That will be a dollar seventy five sir," Emily told the man briskly, after scanning it.
"Thank you," replied a steady, familiar voice. It made Kurt freeze. Of course he knew the person. Holy hell, what was he doing in New York?
"Blaine?" came Kurt's soft whisper. The man whirled around, and for the first time in five years, stood Blaine Anderson. He had definitely changed from when Kurt had last seen him. Though Kurt knew that from seeing his facebook pictures, it was different having the evidence right in front of him.
Blaine no longer had a helmet of gel subduing his hair. His curls were free and wild, but Kurt had always loved that. His face bore a shadow of bristle, but nothing more than a bristle. His hazel eyes still were lively and dancing, but at the moment, it bore a pleasant shock.
"Kurt?" Blaine asked a hint of disbelief in his voice. Kurt was the first to recover, without thinking; he threw his arms around Blaine, dropping his items. Kurt wondered belatedly if this was awkward, but Blaine's arms were circling his waist and squeezing back.
"I can't believe it," Blaine laughed, pulling back, "I was going to call you tomorrow…well later today," he amended, glancing at his watch.
"What are you doing in New York?" his voice was trembling, but Kurt was happy. Though they still talked on the phone, texted, and facebooked each other, it had been five years since the last face-to-face conversation.
"I got offered a job," Blaine responded, he then seemed to remember where they were, and hey reached in his pocket and took out a twenty before turning around to Emily, who appeared to be amused.
"For the red vines, whatever he has," Blaine gestured to me, "and you can keep the change," he flashed his charming smile at the stunned cashier. He then picked up his red vines and stepped aside so Kurt's things (which Kurt hastily picked up) could be scanned. Emily smiled at them, thanked them, and then, when Blaine turned around, mouthed to Kurt 'good luck' and winked.
Kurt felt himself blush and hastily followed Blaine, with the red bull and the red vines in a plastic bag. Blaine turned to Kurt after exiting the convenience store, "Where do you want to go?" Blaine asked hesitantly.
Kurt thought for a minute and replied, "If you don't mind the noise, we can go to my dorm, the guard is there, but we can come up with a sob story for you to be let up."
"Are you sure, because I don't want to get you in trouble," Blaine's face was filled with concern.
"It's fine," Kurt assured him, he gestured for Blaine to follow him and set off towards Fordham.
"So what job did you get?" Kurt asked, turning to look at Blaine as the progressed forwards.
"I landed an audition; I have been cast as the next Frank Junior in Catch Me if You Can," Blaine smiled and bashfully looked down, "As you know, I've done a few roles in Chicago, and I was going to call to let you know tomorrow, but this was so big and so sudden."
Kurt couldn't stop his face from growing into a wider smile. He reached his free arm out and encircled it through Blaine's and gave it a squeeze.
"Congratulations, I knew you'd make it big," Kurt said affectionately. He saw Blaine duck his head again, and Kurt gave a playful scowl and bumped his hip with Blaine's.
"Oh stop it, this is me, you are not allowed to act shy around me," Kurt scolded. Blaine tipped his head back and gave a short laugh at his tone.
"Still the same old Kurt," he said affectionately, grinning widely at him. Kurt felt his heart skip a beat and internally scolded himself. They chatted a bit about Kurt's studies, and a few other trivial subjects as the approached Fordham. Before they went in, Kurt turned to Blaine.
"Look forlorn and exhausted," he ordered, "You are now a professional actor, you have to be able to pull this off!" Blaine smirked in reply and set his face to look drawn and tired, with a hint of puppy dog eyes.
"Good," Kurt said approvingly and he put his Student ID in the card slot for the doors to unlock. When they entered the building, they approached the guard desk.
"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you at this hour," Kurt started politely, setting his face to look strained and tired, "I know the rule for guests, but my friend," Kurt gestured to Blaine, "Had a gas leak in his building. He has no one else to stay with. I know you don't normally let non-students up at this time of night, but could you make an exception? I'm willing to pay the fine for no notice."
"Nah," said the security guard shaking his head, looking at Blaine sympathetically, "I'll say it was an emergency to the boss, I need you to sign him in, but you won't get fined."
"Oh thank you so much," gushed Kurt, he turned to Blaine, "Do you have your driver's license?"
"Of course," Blaine handed it to the guard, who checked it over and put it down on the desk.
"You can retrieve it in the morning, now sign here," the guard pointed to a sign in sheet, and Blaine signed his name, and Kurt filled in all the other information.
"Thank you so much," Kurt stressed again, pulling Blaine to the elevators. Once the doors closed they grinned at each other.
"That was a bit too easy, should I be concerned?" asked Blaine, leaning against one of the walls.
"Nah, that guard just likes the students, and we followed normal procedure for signing you in, you just have to stay the night now, is that okay?" Kurt asked looking at him as the floors ticked off on the counter.
"It's fine, we have a lot to catch up on anyway," Blaine assured him, smiling, "Plus, I'd rather be here than that crappy motel I have to stay in until I get a few paychecks." Kurt winced sympathetically as they reached the tenth floor. The elevator dinged and Kurt beckoned for Blaine to follow him. They made a few left turns before Kurt reached into his pocket, retrieved his key, and unlocked the door. They stepped into the room, and Patrick's head popped up from the couch.
"Well, fuck man, that only took forev…oh," Patrick stopped his rant and stared at the man beside Kurt, his brow now furrowed, and his head tipped to the side.
"Patrick, this is my friend Blaine, Blaine, this is one of my suitemates, Patrick," Kurt introduced. Blaine gave a smile and shook the stumped man's hand. Patrick nodded, pushed his glasses up with his index finger and grabbed the bag from Kurt.
"I'll let you two catch up then," Patrick mumbled, hurrying to his room. Blaine raised an eyebrow at his rapid exit and turned to Kurt, who gestured to the couch. Blaine nodded and threw his bag down and slumped on the uncomfortable cheap piece of furniture, with Kurt dropping beside him. There was a pause of awkward silence, before Blaine opened the red vines and offered one to Kurt, who took it with a nostalgic smile.
The two would talk until about eight in the morning, before Kurt falling asleep while Blaine was explaining how things had worked out in California. Blaine's eyes would look softly over the sleeping face of his friend and ex boyfriend, before reclining on the uncomfortable couch, bringing Kurt with him for a more comfortable position.
Kurt would later wake up around one at the startled shout of his suitemate Brian. He would throw a pillow at him when he realized that he was cuddled with Blaine.
It would be another four months until the two resumed their romantic relationship, sharing a kiss after Blaine's first performance on Broadway.