Requested by LvSammy, story origin ownership belongs to LvSammy as well. Thank you for entrusting me to write this story. I hope I do it justice.
It was late, really late. Blaine had stayed up for hours waiting, but their apartment remained silent. He waited a little bit longer, but then he couldn't wait anymore. He stood from the couch and went to bed. He was nice and comfortable in the covers, the lights were off, the sounds of the busy city below slowly lulling him to sleep. He was just about to fall into a deep sleep when he heard the front door open. He stood still for a few minutes. He heard someone walking around in the living room and kitchen. He heard a glass being pulled from the cabinet and the coffee machine starting. It confused him, why would Kurt be making coffee at this hour?
Blaine slowly pulled himself out of bed. He put on his slippers and his house coat and walked into the kitchen. He had bed hair that stuck every which way. His eyes were droopy and his feet wouldn't bring themselves up off the floor all the way. He saw Kurt sitting at their bar in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in one hand and a sketch pencil in the other. On the table were mores sketched designs for his work. Being the top designer for a major clothing line in New York is a busy job, Blaine knew that. But he didn't really like that Kurt was this busy.
Blaine walked over and put a hand on Kurt's back soothingly. He tensed up for a second in surprise and jumped a little. He turned around in his chair halfway and looked up at his sleepy husband. He knew the look on his face was filled with worry but, he knew he could convince him he was okay.
"Hey. What are you doing up so late?" He asked. Blaine sat down to Kurt's left and looked between Kurt and his work.
"Me? Oh, well I was just waiting up for my husband. He works a lot, he's a designer you see, and he just can't seem put the pencil down." Blaine said, his voice gruff, devious smile on his face. Kurt couldn't help but give him a small smile.
"I know Blaine. I'm sorry, there was just some designs that were backed up, they need to get done before next week and it's Thursday, I'm doing work for two people...I, I'm sorry. I'll finish this one and I'll be in in a few, okay?" Blaine nodded, he stood up, took a step towards Kurt and placed a kiss on his forehead. He started to walk slowly back to the bedroom.
"I love you." He called from the hallway. Kurt smiled a big smile.
"I love you, too." He replied.
Blaine couldn't help but stay awake for a few more minutes. He was worried about Kurt. He wasn't getting much sleep lately, and he was drinking way too much coffee. But, most people nowadays didn't get much sleep. A lot of them, including Kurt, had a passion for their job and didn't mind the extra work. But that didn't stop Blaine from worrying for his husband. It had only been one year, five months, three weeks, and four days since they got married. Blaine had loved every single minute of it.
They both had been through hell the past few years and it was nice to finally start their lives together. They had both done things that they weren't proud of, but they were all forgiven because they loved each other. They never stopped loving each other. Now, he got to call Kurt his husband. He didn't tell Kurt that every time he says or hears the word husband he gets all bubbly inside. He just couldn't believe that they were where they are. He had thought a few times that he had missed his chance with the love of his life. But, here he was, married to him.
Hearing Kurt come into their bedroom and get ready for bed brought Blaine out of his thoughts. Kurt took a few minutes to do his nightly skin care routine, which only took him about ten to fifteen minutes now, then get into bed. A few minutes after nightlife noise of New York, Blaine rolled and wrapped his arm around Kurt and pulled him close. Blaine had a pleasant smile on his face as they both fell asleep.
The next morning, Blaine had slowly woken up to a warm sunlight on his face. He waited to open his eyes wanting just a few more minutes of sleep. He rolled over to wrap his arm around his husband, as he did last night, but found the space next to him empty. He opened his eyes then to see that Kurt was no there. He stood and put on his house coat and slippers to check the rest of the house.
He walked into the kitchen and saw no sign of Kurt there or in their living room. He looked around every corner. Then he looked at the coffee pot. Hanging off of the top was a sticky note. Blaine took it off and read it.
"Didn't want to wake you. Left you some hot coffee. Let's have a date night tonight. Love you. -Kurt". Blaine smiled. He should've known that Kurt had already left for work. He always went to work early and came home late. He had to if he wanted his designs to be flawless and to be represented in the line. Blaine couldn't help but smile at the thought of how passionate Kurt is. It's part of why he loves him. He looked at the clock and realized that if he didn't get going he would be late for work himself. He rushed back to the bedroom to get ready.
Kurt rushed into the fashionably decorated office, slightly out of breath, with a cup of coffee in one hand, a stack of portfolios in another, bag on his shoulder and jacket hanging off of his arm. He rushed to place the sketches for the new clothing line on the desk so he could set his jacket and bag down. As he was setting his bag and jacket on the floor someone bumped into him from behind and he almost spilled coffee all over his sketches.
Kurt stood there looking at the sketches to ensure they were not damaged and when he was satisfied they weren't, he looked up to see if he could spot who bumped into him. He spotted someone rushing to their desk, which happened to be right across from Kurt's. It was none other than Pete Halligan, the son of the man who built the building and owns the runway his brilliant creations debut.
"Here we go again." Someonenear Kurt whispered.
" Kurt you've been through this before. You won't win. He's the heir to the neanderthal who owns our building. Nothing you say or do is gonna make the big honcho take yourbside."
"Besides, Chloe loves you." The others nodded their heads and whispered different agreements. Kurt turned to look at Tom.
"Yeah, all Pete makes are logos for T-shirts." The small group of co-workers laughed. Unbeknownst to them, Pete was listening to their every word. He decided he would make the next few weeks pure, agonizing Hell for Kurt. He sat at his desk, and he couldn't help but smile.
It was just so much fun. He did one thing after another to ruin Kurt's plans. But, no matter what he did, made him late, left the clean up for him, he even sabotaged of Kurt's design that was in production, he would always find away to come back. But the struggle he goes through, Pete enjoys. He never fails to come up with some clever idea to make Kurt's day miserable. He was jealous; jealous that Kurt's clothes were put on the runway, that he got to spend time talking with their boss, who just so happened to Chloe Graham. She was only the top of the fashion world, a legendary designer that everyone in the building wished they were able to meet.
Yes some of them were jealous of Kurt, some hated him like Pete did, but because he was so talented, they hated that it came so easy to him. They had to work harder to get designs that are accepted by their supervisor, and they don't even make it up to Chloe's line. At least, they don't if they don't catch her eye. Most of the time, when she does get some sketches from another floor, she has Kurt look at them first. He's really nice about and wants to help them become better designers, but Chloe leaves it to him. She'll just say 'You can do it! Kurt worked hard too, he's been doing this since he was a child. I trust his judgement.' And that was that.
Kurt kind of felt guilty, he felt bad that those who wanted it as badly as Kurt were trying their best to get their designs on the runway, but couldn't seem to get it quite right. He always tried to help, he always be presenting new sketches to Chloe. There many different clothing lines that were run by Chloe. She made sure that Kurt had one in and every single runway show they held. Just one outfit. She called her 'Shooting Star Bonus', and it would always be the last one to appear. So Kurt tried to help anyone that he could. He knew that they could make great clothing lines. They got into the building after all. He just had keep playing strong.
Playing strong even though Pete was there every step of the way making it a living hell. But, Kurt had been through this kind of childish stuff in high school. It reminded him of it. He thought back to those days when they had to practice for the next show. He missed it, he missed the lessons every week. He missed Mr. Schue and everyone from Glee. They had a group thing planned in the next coming month. It was for the anniversary of Finn's death. Every time Kurt thought about his brother, he felt so many different things at the same time; grief, sadness, anger. He used to get the feeling of being all alone. But, with Blaine by his side, that feeling went away. But, the pain, never went away. It just grew to be more bearable.
"Kurt! Hey there! Glad to see ya back on planet earth. You've been locked in a daydream for hours. You okay?"
"What? Oh sorry. Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired I guess."
"I know, you always get before everyone else and leave to get coffee, and then you're the last to leave." Tom laughed.
"Wait, what time is it?" Kurt asked looked around. He never saw anyone leaving the building but it was dark outside. On his table lay 42 new sketches. None of them were colored and Chloe preferred that they have color, really she just wants them complete before she takes a look.
"It's uh, 11:45pm. You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just-I gotta go. I was supposed to meet Blaine for dinner tonight." Tom gave a face that said he didn't wanna be there when that conversation happened.
"You better get going, buddy." Kurt began to rush all of his papers into his port folio bag and started to gather his stuff.
"Here, let me help." Tom offered his empty hands to help carry his stuff, but someone snatched a few of Kurt's sketches out of his hands. Tom and Kurt jerked their heads up to see none other than Pete.
"Ugh, what do you want, Pete? I'm in a hurry." Kurt said. Pete was intently looking at Kurt's designs.
"I couldn't help but over hear. So sorry about you missing your dinner date with Blaine. I hope he isn't too mad. But, with eyes like his, I don't think there's a bad bone in his very muscularly toned body." Pete said smiling at Kurt. His face made Tom cringe.
"Back off Pete, Blaine is my husband. Our lives are none of your business." Kurt said snatching his work from Pete. Without another word Kurt and Tom quickly walked out of beautifully, multi-colored office. Pete looked on as they left. He happened to look down at Kurt's desk and saw a sketch of a beautiful what and black dress. It seemed to be finished. Next to it was a sticky note that said, 'Ready for Chloe'. Pete looked around real quick to make sure that no one was looking and casually picked it up off of Kurt's desk and left with a devious smile on his face.
On the way out to the subway, two blocks away from their office, Tom and Kurt talked about how creepy it was that Pete kept hitting on Blaine in front of Kurt, and Blaine is never there! He always did it. Whatever Pete had towards Kurt, Tom didn't know. He had never met someone who was that...crazy. Kurt just fights back. He never let's it get him down. He always manages to come back two steps ahead. Tome admired Kurt for that.
"You know, everyone likes how you can stand up to him. I mean, his dad owns the building. And he's a royal pain in the ass."
"He thinks he's royal, that's for sure." They both started laughing. They arrived to the subway and Tom helped Kurt to situate his stuff. He patted Kurt on the back.
"Have a good night."
"I'll try." Kurt said with an uneasy look on his face.
"Look, don't worry. I'm sure Blaine is just concerned. I've never seen a couple who were as much in love as you and Blaine. Everything will turn out fine." Kurt smiled. Tom gave him a quick hug and Kurt waived goodbye walking down into the subway. Tome turned and left for home. As for Kurt, well he plugged his ears with his headphones and listened to music the whole ride. He kept an eye out, as usual, anything could happen. He kept thinking about Blaine, he missed him. They were married and they lived together and he missed him. He guessed it was common. People most days worked so much they missed their family at home. He just hoped that Blaine wouldn't be too mad. Kurt closed his eyes and just let all of his thoughts disappear.
After an indistinguishable amount of time, Kurt jolted upright looking at everyone getting off. He heard the conductor say the name of street one last time, he realized is was his, he rushed to grab his stuff and almost didn't make it out of the doors. He took a moment to catch his breath while standing on the platform. He looked at his phone and saw that is was almost 12:30pm already. He inwardly cursed at himself for being so reckless. He hurried up the stairs and went straight the sidewalk to hail a cab. He usually takes the bus but it doesn't run at midnight so it wouldn't come this way again. Finally after ten minutes, he was able to spot one. Then began the twenty minutes car ride to home.
He took a few minutes to close his eyes again and his mind wondered off to his sketches. He was thinking about which ones he would present to Chloe the next day. He remembered that he would still have to put color in them. And he had to be in the next day at 9am. It made him think about dealing witte tomorrow morning, then he thought about the sketches that he shoved into his bag. He started to panic. He grabbed and searched frantically for a specific sketch. He searched his entire bag and even the back of the cab. He didn't see it. He thought back hard.
'It was the first one I finished. Oh no!' He thought. He had left the one he wanted to show Chloe for the next runway show, which was next week. It wasn't in his bag it was on his desk, at work, where Pete was last. His sketch of the black and white ball gown. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'Everything is gonna be okay' he repeated over and over in his head. He had to trust that it would be there in the morning when he came in. But, he couldn't help the sickening feeling that Pete would see it and try to sabotage him again.
"Everything ok back there pal?" The gruffly looking cabbie asked.
"Yeah, just fine." Kurt replied.
"Really? 'Cuz, you still have realized that were at the end of the road." Kurt looked outside and saw their apartment building.
"Oh, uh sorry. Here, keep the change." Kurt said shoving some money in the cabbie's hand. He grabbed his stuff and headed inside the building. He got to their apartment door and quietly went inside. If Blaine was asleep, Kurt didn't want to wake him up. He set his keys and bag near the door and locked it. He walked into the dining room and placed his folio bag on the table. He grabbed a cup of coffee, a few of his sketches and his color kit, and sat down on the couch. What he didn't expect to see when he turned on the light, was his husband sitting on the sofa next to him.
"Ah! Oh, Blaine. You scared the hell out of me." Blaine was sitting quietly, in his pajamas, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked like one of those parents who wait up to scare the hell out of their kids who stayed out too late.
"Look, I'm sorry about dinner. We had a clothing line lose stitching, we had to come up with new sketches for the show next week. I lost track of time, I didn't even take a break today."
"Kurt, just stop." Blaine said. Kurt looked up at Blaine, surprised by his tone. Blaine just looked to the floor.
"You were late again."
"I know, I missed our dinner. I'm sorry, It's just been so crazy at work and, I didn't realize what time it was-"
"No Kurt, it's not that. I didn't know where you were. You usually call me when you won't make it."
"Oh, Blaine. I'm sorry. I didn't realize."
"Ever since you got attacked a few years ago, I've been nervous when you're out at night alone. I know you can handle yourself but, you're my husband. I'm going to worry." Kurt looked down to the floor for a second. Then he stood and walked over to Blaine and took his hand.
"I know you worry Blaine. And I appreciate that you know I can handle myself, and I can. And you right, I should've called you." Remembering what happened a few years ago put a pain in Blaine's heart, and his eyes began to get blurry.
"I love you, Blaine Anderson. I always have and I always will. And I'll call from now on, I promise." Kurt then placed a kiss to Blaine's lips.
"I love you, too. Forever and ever."