Title: Best Coffee in Brooklyn
Author: lordofthepringles (aka gwennylou)
Rating: PG13 (brief mention of a sexual kink and implied sexual activity, but no actual sex)
Summary: Kurt is dragged to Brooklyn because of Rachel and finds more than a good cup of coffee.
Kurt hated Rachel. Especially on days like today, when she insisted he make a trek with her to Brooklyn so, she could audition for some way off Broadway production. Normally he didn't mind, because she always ended up auditioning for terrible shows and even then she had only managed to land three of the at least twenty auditions she had gone on. They were a month away from graduation. One month left and Kurt would have a bachelor's degree in performing arts. He had transferred to NYADA after a second audition and joined Rachel in their second semester. He worked his ass off to take extra classes so he could graduate on time, and he was so close to being done. However, he had a huge music theory paper to write. It was to be at least fifteen pages long, in APA format, and to have a cover page and an abstract written. He had heard horror stories of students having to stay for an extra semester because they failed that paper which was worth 75% of the final grade in his class. He only had six pages written, and even that wasn't very well written and it was due by Monday. He didn't have time to spare on a Saturday afternoon traipsing around the boroughs of New York City, so that Rachel could audition for yet another creepy off Broadway production. Of course, he went anyway, because Finn, who wasn't even with Rachel anymore, called him and told him Burt would be ashamed of him letting Rachel go all by herself into a bad neighborhood. Kurt hated that Finn used his father's memory against him, but he also knew that Rachel as annoying as she was, didn't deserve anything bad to happen to her. So here he was waiting in a very sketchy warehouse in Brooklyn for an audition.
Rachel was finally called an hour later into the audition. Kurt snuck in and immediately proceeded to laugh his ass off. This was no Broadway production at all. In fact, they were interviewing people for a porn website that was set to go live in a few days. Rachel was auditioning to be a furry. Rachel looked confused and took the kitten costume she was handed. Kurt knew he should step in to help her, but it really was funny. Then two of the other people who were also auditioning started engaging in some seriously questionable behavior, and Rachel threw the costume back at the man. She informed him loudly and quite vehemently that she would not be participating in his perverse sexual production and stomped out the door. Kurt was quick to follow still laughing hysterically.
"I don't see what is so funny about this situation, Kurt."
"Rachel, that was not an off Broadway production you were auditioning for."
"But on Craig's List it was under the stage performance thing."
"Seriously, Rachel? Craig's List?"
"What? I need to audition. We're graduating in a month and I need to get a production so that I can stay in New York City and support myself."
"Yes, but Rachel, Craig's List is not the way to go. What you just witnessed was auditions for a pornography website. They were auditioning furries."
"What is a furry?"
"I think you just witnessed firsthand what it was."
"That's disgusting."
"Some people like it, and apparently it's going to have a section on that site."
"Why would anyone think I wanted to audition for that?"
"You showed up to the audition, Rachel."
"Yeah, but on the listing it said it was for an obscure production."
Kurt couldn't help but start laughing again.
"Rachel, I think you've learned your lesson. Don't take anymore off Broadway auditions that you find on Craig's List."
Rachel pouted the rest of the way to the subway station. Kurt couldn't help but feel a tiny bit gleeful that it was over quickly and he could be in the school library in an hour working on his paper."
However, Rachel insisted on finding a Starbucks. She used one of her apps and claimed that if they got off at the next stop there was one two blocks from the station.
If only it had been that simple. Where the coffee shop was supposed to have been was in fact not there and the app showed the closest one after that was fourteen blocks in either direction. Kurt always one to have a terrible sense of direction didn't even know which way Manhattan was and didn't want to walk fourteen blocks the wrong way. Then Rachel lost signal on her phone and Kurt's phone was dead, so they started walking left, after a series of rock, papers, scissors that he won.
After ten blocks she got a signal again, got on her GPS, and realized they had walked the wrong way. Kurt was pissed and tired and he didn't want coffee or chitchat. He wanted to strangle Rachel and then go back to campus so he could finish his paper.
Rachel asked him why he was being so pissy and he told her that he needed to finish the paper and even if it wasn't important to her it was to him. She just laughed at him and told him she had finished the paper three works before with the help of Brody.
Kurt hated Brody even more than he hated Rachel if it was possible. The guy was such an arrogant asshole. He treated Rachel like shit and he was pretty sure he was at the very least bisexual. There was no way Brody wasn't cheating on her. And truth be told, as much as Rachel annoyed him, Finn was very much still in love with her and he hated seeing Finn still so broken up about Rachel choosing Brody over him.
Kurt and Rachel came to a stoplight and that's when he saw it. A cute little bookshop and coffee shop across the street. He tugged on Rachel's arm and told her that it would be better than any Starbucks. Once the light turned they crossed the street, it was now early afternoon and it seemed to be fairly busy, but they had their coffees in a matter of minutes and Kurt sat down on the couch by the window. Sitting on the coffee table was a book about Benedict Arnold, so he picked it up and started thumbing through it.
He heard a women come in and ask one of the workers if they had any good children's books and the man told her, quite passionately, about the newest series that had just come out. Kurt could hear their entire conversation because the bookcases were right behind where he was sitting. The man told the woman about the classics like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, and different supernatural series for children who liked fantasy, and his personal favorite book, "The Hobbit." Kurt could feel an attraction for the man already, based on his voice and his passion for the book. However, one thing bothered him. The voice sounded vaguely familiar and he tried to place it. He knew he had heard that voice at some point in his life, but he couldn't remember where.
He looked up as the woman and the mystery man walked to the register.
He still couldn't get a good look at him as he rang up her purchase.
Then finally, the woman thanked him for his help and walked out the door.
The man had turned around though, before Kurt could get a look at his face.
He even looked familiar and that drove him crazy. Who was this guy?
Rachel came over and shoved at least four music theory books at him.
"So, these are just some of the books I used when I did my paper. Brody had these and it helped me get my paper to seventeen pages."
Kurt rolled his eyes and picked the heaviest book up. He sometimes hated NYADA and wished for a nanosecond he was back at Vogue working in fashion. He missed it actually, even the grueling hours and the crazy boss. But he shook it off, he was at NYADA now and he needed to graduate.
Kurt got so engrossed in reading about music theory he forgot about the mystery man who worked there, until Rachel gasped. There stood Dave Karofsky at one of the shelves stocking books.
Kurt dropped the heavy book on his foot in shock and then let out a few choice swear words.
Dave turned and looked at Kurt, first in amusement, then in shock.
Their eyes met and time seemed to stand still.
Kurt's breathe caught in his throat and his heart pounded in his ears.
So that's what that moment feels like.
Dave stood frozen in shock with a book on medieval war tactics in his hand.
He finally looked away, shelved the book and continued down the row.
Kurt felt hurt by that. Dave was brushing him off? They hadn't spoken in at least five years.
Kurt felt awful then. Of course Dave would brush him off. He had told Dave he wanted to be friends, and then he never spoke to him again.
He went off to New York City with Rachel and never even stopped in to say goodbye. Truthfully, Kurt had wondered about Dave over the years, if he had gone to college, if he had found a boyfriend, or even if he was still alive.
But there he was in the flesh, working in a small bookstore with a coffee shop. He seemed to be doing okay, well at least from where he stood he actually looked really good. He had gotten taller somehow and even though he had always been big, he looked toned and built and didn't seem to have any of the chubbiness he carried in high school. It was really unfair how well he had aged actually.
Kurt realized he was openly staring at Dave and blushed and quickly picked up the book he had been reading. He knew Rachel was staring at him, but the last thing he wanted was for her to go into some lecture about how he should at least be polite and go talk to him and he needed more friends and that hanging out with Blaine didn't count, because Blaine had moved on with Sebastian Smythe, who had also ended up at NYADA and they were desperately in love with each other and Kurt needed to find his own boyfriend, and no, not Dave, but he still needed to go talk to him. So he got up in a huff.
"Fine, Rachel. I'll go say hi to him, okay? Back off."
Rachel just grinned, "I didn't say anything, Kurt."
"I know that look, Rachel. I know exactly what you were thinking."
Rachel just giggled again and turned back to her book on Broadway legends.
Kurt nervously walked over to the shelf where Dave was restocking books on knitting and other craft related books.
He nervously thumbed some of the books and waited for Dave to at least acknowledge he was there.
"Can I help you find something, sir?"
"Sir?"
"It's sir now, David?"
David put the books down on the cart and turned to look at Kurt.
"It's how I treat all the paying customers."
"But you know my name."
"Of course I do, and you know mine, but seeing as it's been six years since I've seen you, I wasn't sure you'd be comfortable with me pretending like I knew you."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you weren't in high school."
Kurt sighed and leaned against the wall.
"You're right, David. I wasn't. I'm sorry that I didn't keep up my end of the deal."
"I never expected you to, Kurt. I figured you were being polite and that you didn't actually care to be my friend or actually care about me at all."
Kurt's heart constricted with pain. He felt terrible. He knew what Dave had tried to do and he still couldn't be bothered to be there for him, even if only in friendship.
"I'm sorry. And I never meant for you to feel like I didn't care. I did care, David. I just didn't know how to show you that, without it being awkward."
"Well, clearly, I'm doing great."
Kurt didn't know if he was being sarcastic or honestly thought he was doing great.
"Are you really?"
Kurt could see a flash of annoyance go across Dave's face and he regretted asking him that.
"What do you mean, are you really? You don't know anything about me. Hell, I bet you didn't even know that I live here now and am in grad school."
Kurt was surprised to hear that.
"No, I mean, but you don't know anything about me, either."
"Yeah, I do. Finn and I started playing video games on X-Box almost immediately after I left Lima to go to Boston College, and he told me everytime exactly what you'd been up to. I know that you were an intern at Vogue, then you transferred to NYADA and got back together with your precious Blaine. Oh yeah, I heard about that asshole cheating on you, and you taking him back. Then I heard about how you broke up again when Blaine and Sebastian came to the city, and how you plan on taking over the world with your fabulous singing voice, or whatever."
Kurt stood there stunned,
"Wow, I guess Finn really did tell you everything."
"Yep, so there you have it. I figured in a city of eight million people, we'd never run into each other, but here you are in Brooklyn."
"Yeah, Rachel had an audition and we ended up getting lost, and this was the first coffee shop we could find."
"That seems about right."
"What?"
"Nothing, it just always seems that no matter where I go or what I do, you somehow always end up."
"What does that mean?"
"About three weeks ago, these ladies came in looking for Les Miserables, and they going on and on about the production of it they saw at NYADA and some boy named Kurt Hummel had played Enjrolas and was so fabulous and they were just like over the moon."
Kurt flushed at that,
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. I sold at least 40 copies that day."
"Wow."
"Yeah. So were there any books I could help you find?"
"No, but I am curious. Why are you working in Brooklyn if you got to school in Manhattan?"
"This is the only neighborhood I could afford rent in. So I commute to NYU."
"Oh, and you like it here?"
"Yeah, actually. You just left one of the seedier neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but as you go farther and farther east, you get into the hipster areas, which aren't bad at all. There are some awesome restaurants and clubs around here actually."
"I had no idea."
"Most people don't. Especially if they live in Manhattan. They have no desire to come to Brooklyn to taste awesome food or buy art from struggling artists, and besides they have Greenwich Village for that."
"Manhattan isn't that bad, David."
"I didn't say it was, I'm just defending Brooklyn. It's a great borough and besides my friends are here and I have a nice roommate actually. He's really nice."
"You have a guy roommate?"
Kurt couldn't help but feel a small twinge of something at that. But he brushed it aside.
"It's not like that, Kurt. I'm definitely single. I'm rooming with Artie Abrams."
"Artie? You and Artie live together?"
"Yeah, and Tina whenever she stays over. They're together now."
"You mean again."
"Fine. Again, whatever. I work nights and weekends, so I give them the apartment as much as I can and hope by the time I get home they are done having sex."
Kurt grimaced at the thought and Dave just laughed,
"Yeah, it's not pleasant to hear either."
"So you went Boston College?"
"Yeah, I graduated a year early and have my bachelor's in sports management. I'm at NYU getting my master's in sports management. I'll be going to law school then."
"You're going to law school?"
"Yeah, I remember someone telling me once I needed to get out of Lima and make a change for myself and I recall him telling me that I needed to do it in a big city. I also remember deciding I wanted to be a sports agent."
Kurt smiled at that memory. He had remember imagining a scenario with Dave after he had tried to commit suicide and in that scenario Dave was a successful sports agent and was married and had a little boy. What he didn't tell Dave was that he had imagined it was him as his husband and that thought sent tingles down his spine and arms. He remembered that vision vividly, as if it was painted fresh on his mind that very day.
"I recall that as well."
"I'm not sure it will happen by the time I'm 28, that's only about five years away."
"It doesn't matter when it happens, David. It matters that you did it and you are in a better place. That's what I wanted for you then, and I still do."
"Really? Even after ignoring me for six years?
"I realize that I was a terrible friend to you, David, back then, but I 'd like to make it up to you."
Dave looked at him warily,
"How exactly?"
"I want to get to know you again. I mean it. I was really intrigued when you were telling that woman all about the books you loved as a kid, and I realized I should've known that about you. I should've known how you take your coffee, and what kinds of movies you like and what foods you absolutely hate. And I feel regretful, like I missed out on being your friend. And I want to fix it."
Dave swallowed a few times, looked at his hands and then back at Kurt.
"I'd like that, Kurt, but I don't know that I trust you to not abandon me again. I mean if I become your friend and you get a new guy, are you going to stop talking to me and pretending like you don't know me?"
"I can't promise you that being my friend won't be hard, David. I know I can be a flaky bitch. I know that I sometimes lash out at the people I'm closest to when I'm upset or hurt, but I really want to become your friend. I'd like to at least try. If you decide somewhere down the road that you don't want to be my friend, then I'll walk away, and you'll never hear from me again, but I hope that we can become friends and I hope that you can introduce me to all Brooklyn has to offer.
Dave smiled then and Kurt's heart jumped a little at the sight. Dave pulled a notebook out of his pocket, wrote his number down and handed it to him.
"There's my number. You know how to reach me when you want to hang out."
Kurt was almost giddy with relief, he had a new chance with Dave, the chance he didn't know he had regretted never taking before.
As Rachel hounded him with questions about Dave on the train ride back to Manhattan, he fingered the piece of paper he clung to desperately. He had a feeling his life was just starting and he looked forward to starting it with a new friendship, maybe, hopefully someday, relationship.