A/N: So I'm kinda nervous posting this because it's been halfway planned out for about six months (and the plan lost three times, might I add) so there've been problems with it before it's even really started to be created. But, I've got about six chapters properly planned at the minute and that's gone okay, so it's time to reveal chapter numero uno.
I do hope you guys like it, or the concept of it at least at the moment. Please do tell me what you think.
"Okay, I'm off. See you all tomorrow," Kurt announced, just as he did every weekday, to his colleagues in the office he worked in. The usual chorus of "see you, Kurt" and "have a nice evening" followed him as he pushed open the door and stepped out into the cool air that particular April evening was offering.
He stopped by the little store on his way home, buying, as he did every day, any groceries he was running low on. He paid the familiar man on the till and walked the last few blocks to his apartment.
He climbed the set of stairs that led him to the front door. He unlocked it and went in, collected his mail then walked the few steps down the hallway to his door. He unlocked that too, stepping inside, half-throwing his keys into the wooden bowl on the table that'd been next to the door ever since he'd moved in. He shrugged off his jacket, not even looking at the hook on the wall as he hung it up. Kurt went through to his kitchen and put away the milk he'd bought before sitting at the table, throwing his mail down and opening the newspaper he'd left there that morning.
For ten minutes, as usual, he looked over the crossword with a different mind, filling in the answers he hadn't gotten earlier. Then, he picked up his post. There were the same bills he received weekly along with a few adverts for insurance, various shops, holidays…
But none of that was what Kurt wanted tonight. Tonight he wanted the local newspaper, because tonight was going to be different. The local newspaper was full of articles advertising things to do, and Kurt needed something to do.
He was fed up of the same old boring thing day after day. Wake up, go to work, work, come home, go to bed, wake up…repeat until death. Kurt wanted to find a hobby. Something to interest him, something that he could look forward to every week, something he'd enjoy, but most importantly, something different.
He skipped past the pages telling him about what this person had done for charity this week or how that person had had their flowerpots stolen and went straight to the local events pages.
He scanned over them quickly, not really taking them in. Stop it, he thought. He needed to do this properly. He looked over them again, this time reading them properly. He picked up his pen and began to circle the ones that seemed like they might be okay, putting crosses through 'definitely no's for extra measure.
The next morning, Kurt picked up the paper again and went through what he'd circled. He wrote them down on a separate piece of paper in order of when they were happening, figuring he'd work through them one at a time and find out which one he liked the most. The first was yoga. It was that night. Kurt definitely wasn't going to go alone.
As usual, he finished work for the day on Thursday at five o'clock. Pulling on his coat, he stopped at Mercedes' work desk. She looked up.
"You off? Have a nice night." She smiled.
"Yeah, I am, but I have something to ask you. Are you doing anything tonight?" She looked at him confused.
"No…no I'm not busy…are you asking me out?" She lowered her voice a little, "I thought you were gay!" Kurt felt his cheeks heat.
"I am, I am. It's just, I've been wanting to try something different - no, not like that! I'm fine about being gay," he stammered quickly when Mercedes' eyebrows shot skywards, "I just want to find a hobby. There're some things on some nights this week and I was hoping you'd come and try them with me?" Mercedes was giggling.
"Sure, sure, I'll come with you. What've you got down?"
"Well for tonight, it's yoga."
Kurt was extremely thankful he went through an 'I'm-going-to-start-yoga-soon-I-swear' phase not that long ago as it meant he had proper yoga pants gathering dust in the bottom of a drawer. After pulling them out triumphantly and trying them on to make sure they still fitted (a little around the thighs but they'll have to do for today) he debated for a full twenty minutes whether he should wear them there or get changed when he arrived. He decided on the former; he had boots that would match anyway.
He met Mercedes fifteen minutes later outside the community centre to find she was just as nervous and excited as he was.
They stepped inside to find a middle-aged couple and three women and a man in their thirties sat on the once-padded chairs in the reception area. Kurt and Mercedes took up the two remaining chairs and glanced around at the fading wallpaper and bored-looking receptionist waiting to be told where they had to go. Kurt hadn't been here much, vaguely recalling a wedding reception of Samantha from the office taking place here two or so years ago. It hadn't changed, not really.
Another couple stepped in, bright mats rolled under their arms, a draught following them through the door. Before they had the chance to address the seating problem, a woman appeared from the door of the small sports hall. Her white hair looked as if it had been attacked by a balloon, untamed by the bright blue scrunchie that gathered most of it together. She gave them all a quick once-over before speaking.
"Come, step right in. The quicker we move, the sooner we can get started, show the beginners how to do it." She winked at the two of them then turned sharply and strode back into the room.
Mercedes shot a wide-eyed look at Kurt, the edges of her lips pulling up but the middle stiffening, trying to contain her laughter. She motioned towards the door for Kurt to go first. He rolled his eyes and followed the middle-aged couple through the doorway. There were a series of coloured mats laid out in semi-circles of four centring on one Kurt assumed the woman who'd greeted them would be working on.
Mercedes pulled Kurt over to the far side of the hall to get two mats together on the second row. Each mat was just about long enough to fit Kurt on lying down and so wide that if Kurt lay at one edge, his arm wouldn't reach the other side.
They took of their jackets, shoes and socks as those around them were doing and toed the mats carefully. Kurt scanned the room, his eyes landing on the couple who'd brought their own mats. They both had smug looks plastered on their faces as they began unrolling them. He disliked them already.
The woman leading seemed to have latched onto them too as her voice floated over, low but clear; perfectly projected.
"Alright, we don't have all day, just put the bloody things down." Kurt fought back a snigger. The couple looked put-out to say the least.
"Okay, so for those of you who don't know, my name's Cathleen, but you can call me Cath or Cathy or whatever it is you want." She looked expectantly at Kurt and Mercedes, eyebrows raised slightly.
"Oh, uh, I'm Kurt," he offered after his brain kicked into action.
"Mercedes."
"Nice to meet you." She addressed the whole group then, "We're going to start with breathing and opening up our chests because yoga is, first and foremost, about relaxation, and you can't relax if your body isn't working right, now, can you? So we're going to put our feet shoulder-width apart and take some deep breaths in."
Everyone shifted onto their mats properly, set their feet and began breathing deeply. Cath began moving her hands up and down with each breath in.
"Come on, I want to see those chests moving. In and out…really push your chest out, fill it up," she encouraged, "Girls, I want those breasts to increase a size or two! Boys, I want your pecs to come and hit me in the face! That's it!"
Both Mercedes and Kurt's chests were vibrating with barely-contained laughter by that point, with the thirty-somethings grinning widely. Cath merely kept moving her hands with her breaths until more instruction was needed.
"So, we're going to start with some basic positions just to warm our bodies up and to make sure our newcomers are comfortable. First, I want everyone to get on their hands and knees on their mats." She did this herself and waited for the others to follow. "Okay, so keeping with the breathing, we're going to lengthen the spine on our out breaths, keeping our heads up like this." She demonstrated. "And then on the out breath, we're going to go the other way and curve our backs upwards, letting our heads dangle like a rabbit's little ears, okay?"
They went through various different starter poses, all with some kind of comment from Cath that had Kurt and Mercedes sniggering or giggling.
"Now we're all warmed up and caught up, we're going to move onto some more advanced stuff. Some of these may seem a little tricky, but for each of them I want you to take a deep breath," she paused, her voice soft but passionate, "and just fucking do it." She smiled, a hum of laughter travelling around the space, before moving into the position.
After the hour was up, Kurt offered that they should grab a coffee at the café around the corner that stays open late. They ended up sat at one of the window tables, cups of coffee and plates of pastries in front of them laughing about Cath.
"No, but when she started telling that couple that their poses were all wrong and their faces just fell! She may as well have just slapped them!"
"Oh, I know!" Mercedes laughed, "Serves them right for being so smug with all their fancy mats!"
Kurt indulged himself in a sip of just-the-right-temperature coffee before straightening his face a little.
"As much fun as I had, though, and however funny Cath was, I couldn't help but feel a bit…-"
"Exposed?" Mercedes finished.
"Yes! I couldn't help but feel that woman behind us kept checking out my ass every time I bent over!" Mercedes sniggered.
"That's probably because she was." Kurt rose an eyebrow at her. "Okay, okay, yeah, I get your point. Maybe yoga isn't your calling. Or mine, for that matter. I really don't know how you're that flexible!" Kurt felt his cheeks heat a little.
"We'll just have to keep looking," he sighed dramatically, "There are a few more things to get through yet!"
"What've we got next on the list?" Kurt pulled the piece of paper from his pocket.
"We've got Tango lessons tomorrow. I have no idea what to think."
"Now that could either be completely brilliant or absolutely terrible."
A/N: For the record, I've met someone who is exactly like Cath at a drama workshop I was lucky enough to go to at the Globe theatre and she was quite possibly the most amazing and inspirational person I've ever met.