He was perfect.
The way his chocolatey brown hair was styled so perfectly, yet so differently every time. The way he showed up to rehearsal every day dressed like he was about to fly to Milan, not practice for hours on end choreography that obviously didn't showcase his graceful posture as much as it should have. And his voice…his voice was that of an angel, and Blaine felt like was floating on air every time he heard it, especially when Kurt was singing. When Kurt sang, everyone in the theater stopped what they were doing to listen, even some of the other actors who feigned distaste for everything that was Kurt. Even they were captivated by the spell of Kurt's voice. Blaine was in love with him, and he probably didn't even know.
Blaine remembered the first time they'd met. It was after the weeks of choreography and vocal rehearsals, and they were on to the blocking portion, followed by rehearsal with costumes, props, and lighting. Blaine was in charge of his props, along with a sharp woman with a sneer forever plastered across her long face. Yes, he was merely a stagehand. Yet, he had a crush on one of the lead actors in the play, and it was probably never going to happen.
Quiet and uncoordinated, shy and subtle, Blaine was like a shadow, which was why being in the wings was where he belonged. However, Kurt was exactly the opposite: he was loud and proud (being the reason why Blaine almost immediately found out that Kurt was gay like him), and he moved like a dancer. His steps were even and practiced, and when he entered a room, he immediately had the floor. Blaine knew it was stupid to have a little crush on him, but he couldn't help himself.
"Hey," Blaine had said breathlessly as they stood face-to-face for the first time, "I'm Blaine, I'm your prop manager."
"Lovely," the actor he was in charge of, barely his age, said, wrinkling his nose at Blaine, whose clothes were dusty and dirty from having hauled a box of light gels minutes earlier, a bit, "I'm Kurt, Kurt Hummel. You may have heard of me."
"Oh, yes," Blaine lied, nodding vigorously, "I've seen some of your work. You're amazing."
"Oh, thanks," Kurt said, smiling genuinely, "Well, I guess I better get on stage. Those songs aren't going to sing themselves."
He pivoted and flounced off gracefully, leaving Blaine swooning. However, Kurt would never go for a petty stagehand, especially one as clumsy as Blaine. Once, when helping push a prop across the stage, he tripped over a wire, knocking over a light and causing a small, harmless fire. It only took a couple puffs of a fire extinguisher to put it out, but a fire was a fire. Blaine wasn't actually allowed onstage after that.
The next few weeks were hectic. Practices were every night, and Blaine felt himself growing more and more weary. He couldn't even imagine what it was like for Kurt, who appeared every evening, chipper as always, to the dismay of his fellow cast members, who were drinking multiple expresso shots just to be able to keep their eyes open, let alone dance. However, when they were onstage, it was like they'd slept for days, because they were just as energetic as Kurt when in character. Blaine admired that. He had always wanted to be able to do that: to go onstage and be transformed by a costume and a set. But whenever he'd tried acting, he failed miserably, so it was something he'd kind of given up on.
He and Kurt made polite conversation. He'd say hello and Kurt would say hello, he'd ask how Kurt was doing and Kurt would respond curtly (no pun intended) that he was just fine, a little on the tired side, but mostly fine. Blaine would comment on Kurt's dancing, his singing, his acting, his blocking, the first thing that popped into the front his mind that regarded Kurt, which happened to be among a lot of different things.
But the more Kurt wouldn't talk to him, the more Blaine craved his attention. He started talking to Kurt on the way out of the theater, before rehearsals started, and whenever Kurt was backstage. They started talking more about themselves, not just the stage and the play. Kurt was still hesitant to talk to Blaine most times, but his icy attitude was cracking. Slowly, but it was indeed cracking.
"You were really amazing tonight," he sighed as he helped Kurt out of his costume one night the week before the show's big opening night.
"I had one line." Kurt said, raising an eyebrow at Blaine as he buttoned up the vest he'd been wearing when coming to rehearsal.
"It was an amazing line though," Blaine sighed again, smiling goofily at Kurt.
"Look, Blaine," Kurt sighed deeply, turning to face Blaine as he slipped on his black pea coat and tossed a navy scarf around his neck and tied it quickly with nimble fingers, "I'm about to go get some coffee, do you want to come with me?"
Blaine's jaw dropped. Was Kurt asking him out? Kurt Hummel, the balanced, beautiful, talented actor he'd had his eyes on for quite some time now? He could barely form words.
"Let me get my stuff." He managed to squeak.
Kurt always took a cab to the theatre, and Blaine always had his car, so he drove Kurt to the coffee place he had in mind, a little place called the Broadway Bean. The name was cheesy, as was the place, but Kurt seemed to feel at home there.
It was a quaint little coffee shop located about five minutes from Broadway, which is where it got its namesake and theme. The first thing Blaine noticed when walking in was the enormous amount of playbills. There must have been one for every show ever staged on Broadway. They were tacked up on the walls, starting from the back, and the shop was maybe halfway covered from the back forward, though there were plenty of playbills. The tables had Plexiglas coverings on them, and underneath the Plexiglas sheets, the tables were decorated with collages of different musicals, a different one for each table. They were the famous ones, really: Les Mis, Phantom, Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar, Miss Saigon, Cats, the Little Mermaid, etc.
"I used to go here whenever I went to New York with my mom as a kid," Kurt sighed, smiling as he looked around, "And I come here every morning before rehearsal, because it helps me remember her."
"Did she?" Blaine started to ask, but stopped, blushing. He didn't want to ruin the moment.
"Yeah," Kurt sighed quietly, nodding as he turned his head in Blaine's direction, "When I was a kid, it was pretty sad. But I know that this is what she would've wanted me to do."
Kurt spotted the Les Mis table, which had just been cleared as a young couple got up and left, and made his way over there, Blaine following and talking.
"So, is that why you do theatre? Because of your mom?" he asked.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." He added hastily as they sat down, a slight frown on Kurt's face as he shot a curious glance at Blaine.
"No, it's fine," Kurt said, smiling halfheartedly, yet concentrating on Blaine's face still, "It's…your eyebrows. They're, like, perfectly triangular."
"Yeah, I kind of noticed," Blaine said, chuckling, "People tease me about it all the time…it's kind of embarrassing, actually."
"I think they're amazing," Kurt said quietly, smiling at Blaine.
However, before Blaine could say anything, Kurt was moving on.
"I'm gonna go get an iced coffee. What do you want?" He said, jerking his thumb in the general direction of the counter.
"Uh," Blaine murmured, squinting at the menu, which he couldn't read from his seat, "I dunno…surprise me."
Kurt rolled his eyes as he stood and walked over to the line in front of the counter. Blaine immediately blushed and looked down at his lap as soon as his back was turned. This wasn't really going as well as he'd hoped, and he was pretty sure his hair was frizzing again, because it was suddenly so damn hot in that café…
"I'm back," Kurt said, smiling and holding up two drinks, one in a plastic cup and the other in a normal coffee cup. He handed the normal coffee cup to Blaine, who murmured a 'thank you.' Hadn't Kurt been, like, four seconds? Or was that just his mind playing tricks on him?
"White hot chocolate," Kurt explained as Blaine casually wafted the drink, trying to figure out what it was on his own, "They have the best here. They actually make it from scratch, it's pretty awesome."
He smiled as he took a sip of his iced coffee, staring straight at Blaine.
"So," Blaine said awkwardly, "How'd you get into theatre?"
Kurt smiled at him, cocking his head to the side as he studied Blaine for a bit before he spoke.
"Well, at first, I wasn't really into acting," he said, shrugging, "I was in show choir, and then a friend of mine bugged me to audition for the musical in senior year. So, I tried it out, and I really liked it. However, I'm really a singer, to be honest. Acting's not really my cup of tea. Or, iced coffee, whatever I'm drinking."
He and Blaine chuckled at the joke, though neither of them thought it funny. It was just obligatory, almost.
"Well, to be honest, you're amazing," Blaine mumbled, looking down at his drink, cupped tightly in his hands, "When you sing…it moves me. Really."
He looked up at Kurt, who was looking at him like he was surprised, jaw slightly dropped.
"What?" Blaine said, subconsciously running his hands through his curls.
"Nothing," Kurt said, shaking his head, though he was grinning uncontrollably, "It's just that…I've never had a guy say that to me before, at least not one who hasn't been a director or agent or something…"
"Oh," Blaine said, blushing uncontrollably and looking down at his hands as he cleared his throat.
"Not to be, erm…nosy or anything, but are you…do you play for… or like… you know…" Kurt said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he, too, blushed and studied his hands, cupped tightly around his iced coffee. This was the first time Blaine had ever seen him tongue-tied, and it made him a lot more…human, if that made sense.
Blaine leaned in real close to Kurt so that nobody would hear what he was about to say. Not that he cared, but it wasn't something he was going to skip around proclaiming.
"If you're asking, yes, I am gay." He whispered before sitting back in his seat again.
"Oh, I see," Kurt said, nodding, though he still looked flustered, "Well, I am too."
I know, Blaine was about to say, but he caught himself. He didn't need Kurt to get mad at him, especially since things were actually going pretty well, given the circumstances. Instead, he decided to play the cocky card.
"So that means this is a first date?" Blaine said, raising an eyebrow. If there was one thing he was good at, it was facial expressions. It worked, and Kurt smirked a bit, though there was obviously excitement in his eyes.
"I don't know, are you taking me home?" Kurt said, shrugging.
"I dunno, do I get a kiss?" Blaine said, mimicking him with his shrug.
"Maybe," Kurt said, raising an eyebrow.
With that, the two got up and walked out of the coffee shop, hand-in-hand.