It Got Better
Summary: While waiting for Kurt, Blaine runs into an old friend. One-shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee… Sad days…
)-(
Blaine sat at his and Kurt's usual table at The Lima Bean, sipping his coffee. He looked down at his cell phone, rereading the text that Kurt had sent him for the millionth time.
I'm going to be a little late. Family stuff. Will explain when I get there. Sorry sweetie! See you ASAP! –K
Blaine sighed. Kurt had sent the text nearly twenty minutes ago and he hadn't shown up yet. It was completely illogical, he knew, but when Kurt said "a little late," Blaine had taken that to mean "no more than five to ten minutes." True, Kurt hadn't specified a time, but it didn't stop Blaine from worrying.
Taking another sip of his coffee, Blaine leaned back slightly and tapped his fingers on the table. He was terribly bored. After Kurt's transfer back to McKinley, their time together had been cut down considerably. He always looked forward to the afternoons and weekends he got with Kurt. There were many times when Blaine scolded himself for acting like a clingy, love sick little puppy and this was one of them. If there was a family thing going on, he couldn't blame Kurt for not being there.
"Well, well, well…" An oddly familiar voice said, "What have we here? Blaine Anderson…"
Blaine furrowed his eyebrows and turned towards the voice. He was shocked by what he saw. A boy was leaning against the sugar cart, stirring his drink with a coffee stirrer. He was about six feet and very skinny. He wore faded skinny jeans, black Converse, a black t-shirt, a multicolored scarf, and fingerless gloves. His sandy brown hair was styled into a bouffant, he had slight scruff perfectly manicured on his face, and his chocolaty brown eyes were smiling as much as his mouth.
"Luke?" Blaine asked, shocked. He felt his body stand without his making it.
"Who else?" Luke replied, holding out his arms. In the back of his mind, Blaine noticed that Luke's nails were painted black. Blaine smiled and walked into Luke's arms, hugging him. Luke hugged back and when they broke apart, Blaine motioned for Luke to join him at his table. Luke nodded and sat down, "So… You are the last person I thought I'd ever see again."
"Me? What about you?" Blaine asked, excited, "The last I heard, you were moving to California to live with your aunt."
"Well, that happened forever ago." Luke replied, "But Cheryl and I had to come back and work a few more things out with my parental units…" Blaine noticed the slight bitterness in Luke's tone.
"They're still utterly against you being gay?"
"Yup." Luke said, "They did not want me moving to California with her. They thought it would make my 'condition' worse." Blaine scoffed. He and his dad had had their arguments, but he was getting better at accepting Blaine. Luke's parents, however, had always been far worse, at one point thinking of sending him to some crazy Jesus camp to "straighten him out." Now, Blaine had no problem with religion, it was the particular kind of religion that Luke would have been subjected to that he didn't like, "But after everything that happened, Cheryl gave them an ultimatum. Send me freely, or she'd take them to court for custody."
"Always knew I liked her." Blaine said. He'd met Luke's aunt a few times before. She was a little bit of a hippy, but pretty cool.
"Yeah…" Luke said, "But how are you? I mean, how is life?"
Blaine smiled, "Good. It's good. A lot better than I ever thought it would be, to be honest. My parents transferred me to Dalton."
"Mmm… All-boys school." Luke said with a smirk.
Blaine chuckled, "Yeah, well it's an all-boys school with an enforced zero-tolerance policy in regards to bullying. It's been really great. The guys are really cool and they all know that I'm gay and no one has a problem with it. What about you?"
"I'm at an arts magnet school in San Francisco." Luke said with a raised eyebrow.
Blaine chuckled again, "Enough said. What are you focusing on?"
"Piano." Luke said.
"Just piano?" Blaine asked. Band, yes, but just piano? Luke nodded. Blaine shrugged. Luke was a brilliant piano player. He always had been. So, if he somehow managed to find a place where he could focus on just piano, Blaine was happy for him.
"Blaine…" Luke said after a few moments of silence, "There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while."
Blaine raised his eyebrow, "What?"
Luke sighed, "Okay, we both know that I didn't have a chance in that hell hole. Let's face it, I've been out since I came out of my mom, there's no hiding what I am. But you… I know you came out, but it wasn't until you asked me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance that people really started believing you. You could have… backtracked or something and things would have been a lot easier for you. So why'd you ask me?"
Blaine sighed and took a drink of his coffee, "I didn't want to backtrack. I'm gay, there's no way around it. It was pure hell for the both of us, but… At least I had you there for support. It was only after… that event… that my parents realized that there was a problem. I'm far better off at Dalton, out and proud, then I ever would have been there, even if I had backtracked."
Luke smiled, "I guess I should be grateful. It would have been even more awful without you."
Blaine was about to reply, but he was cut off by his cell phone telling him he had a text message. Mumbling a quick apology, Blaine opened his phone and read the message.
I am SO sorry! They are taking forever! I will be there in five minutes. Ten at the most. -K
Blaine smiled, "Wait, I know that smile." Luke said, "Message from your boy?" Blaine nodded, not able to repress his joy. Luke clapped, "So, tell me about him."
"He's… amazing." Blaine said, not sure what other word could describe Kurt, "He's everything I never knew I needed. Our Glee clubs were going against each other during sectionals, so they sent him to spy on us. He did a terrible job and thought that we were going to beat him up. I could tell that he'd been through what we had, so I talked to him. We became really good friends and eventually he transferred to Dalton. He even helped me arrange this awful, ridiculous plan to tell this other guy how much I liked him. It took me far too long to recognize my feelings for him. Lucky for me, he was willing to give me a chance even after making him wait for so long."
"Aw!" Luke replied, "Is he cute?"
"Absolutely gorgeous." Blaine said, turning to his phone and flipping through the pictures, "This is him."
Luke took the phone and looked at the picture of Blaine and Kurt, arms around each other. Clearly it had been taken by someone else, "Well aren't you two capital-A 'Adorable'."
"I like to think so," Blaine said, "What about you? Anyone special?"
Luke smiled coyly and pretended to fix his hair as he said, "I may or may not have bagged myself a bear."
Blaine choked slightly on his coffee, "Really?" He asked, shocked, "I did not peg you for the bear type."
"Well, he's not what people think of as a "typical" bear. He's more of a muscle bear. Plenty hairy though and I didn't really think I'd be into that, but honestly, I've never really had a type. I just take things as they come." Luke said, "And I'm glad I did because he is the best thing to happen to me."
Blaine smiled, "Wow… If you would have told me three years ago that you and I would be sitting here, having this conversation, turning into massive plies of goo over our guys, I would have thought you were nuts."
"Same here," Luke replied, "I guess they were right when they said 'it gets better.' I wouldn't have believed it." He thought for a moment, "However, some things never change."
"True." Blaine agreed, "But what specifically?"
Luke shrugged, "Oh, a lot of things. The inevitability of death, the redundancy of the term 'idiot politician'," He looked right at Blaine, "your hair gel addiction."
Blaine made a sound of protest, causing Luke to laugh. Soon, Blaine was laughing along, "I'm really glad you're doing okay, Luke." He said, taking Luke's hand.
"Right back at 'cha, Blaine."
