Kurt sat alone at the table, nursing his diet Coke and wishing he was anywhere but at Callbacks. This was the first time he had been back here since- since that night. And he wouldn't be here tonight if Rachel and Finn hadn't practically dragged him by his well-manicured fingernails. It was a good thing he loved them, otherwise their newly reaffirmed love with all that giggling, hugging and kissing would be more than he could stand. They were on the make shift dance floor now, so wrapped up in each other that they didn't even notice the song they were slow dancing to was actually a punk rock number. The sight of them, so close and so happy sent sharp shards of envy through every pore of his being. Yeah, it was a good thing he loved them he thought as he took another sip of his cola, otherwise he'd be forced to kill them.
Kurt checked his watch for probably the three thousandth time. At 10 p.m. the performances would start and Rachel and Finn had picked out a song to sing together. The song was so special they told him, so giddy they were finishing each other sentences, that it was perfect for them and their love and they wanted to surprise him with how beautifully awesome it was and blah and blah and blah. Like it was even possible that there was a freaking song out there that they hadn't already dueted on. Kurt checked his watch again, it was 9:43. He'd never make it. Every time he glanced at the stage, at that damn piano, all he could see was Blaine practically breaking down as he sung "Teenage Dream" to him and that sinking feeling he had - the feeling, the knowing, that something was wrong, terribly and completely wrong.
To hell with Rachel and his love soaked brother and their special magical duet. He was leaving. There were nothing but painful memories for him here, being here had taken Kurt right back to the place he swore he would never visit again. To the time he was lost and broken and in so much pain -
"No, no." Rachel was standing in front of him, between him and the door to the outside pain free world. "You can't leave, not yet. It's almost time for us to sing. Just stay a little longer, you won't be sorry and you promised you'd stay..."
"I've seen you sing like a thousand times," Kurt answered back, determined not to let her guilt trip him into staying. "The two of you, individually, together, in groups, in every way imaginable. Look, you're my best friend and I am glad that you are happy – "
"Thanks." Rachel kissed him on the cheek while pulling him away from the door with her surprisingly powerful teeny arms. She was being deliberately obtuse in the way that she thought was adorable but was actually irritating as hell. Kurt was opening his mouth to say so when the MC for the evening took the stage.
"That's us. Gotta go." Rachel gave him her most dazzling smile, usually saved for the opposite sex that truly appreciated it, before heading back to Finn. Kurt was left standing alone, on the outskirts of the dance floor, still more than half determined to turn around and head the hell out of the door.
"The room was so nosy he missed the introduction, but he recognized the guitar chords as soon as the first note played. It was a country song, old and plaintive. A memory surfaced – when Kurt was a child -
I'll always remember the song they were playin',
The first time we danced and I knew,
Of all the songs that they could have sung why on earth would they have picked this one? Rachel didn't even like country –
"Could I have this dance?"
The voice, that voice, as familiar to Kurt as his own. Kurt turned around slowly; Blaine was standing there, smartly dressed in a dark blue suit complete with a sky blue bow tie. He was smiling, beaming really, his hand outstretched towards Kurt.
"Why are you here – " Kurt began, but he already knew why. He was absolutely going to kill them, best friend or not. Brother or not. They were both freaking dead.
"I'll take that as a yes." Blaine said with the same smirky smile he had worn all through the non-wedding every time Kurt had defined their "just friends" relationship. Kurt was really trying to work up a good mad, because he had every right to be mad damn it, but it was hard when that smirk was just so damn sexy -
There was no way he could pass up a chance to dance that close to Blaine, even if his heart was sending out pulsating danger signals. Wordlessly he took the hand Blaine was offering him, lightly kissing it before he placed the hand behind his waist. Blaine's other hand immediately wrapped around him, pulling him close as instinctively as they had danced this way a thousand times. Which they had.
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
Kurt tried to form a coherent thought but all that he could think about was how damn good Blaine felt and how right it felt to be with him, to be so close that he could feel every part of Blaine's body press against every part of his. His heart may not be sure what he wanted, but his body was very, very sure.
"I know what you are trying to do," Kurt began, trying desperately to break the spell before he was pulled totally under. "And as I told you that night at the hotel – "
"Shh," Blaine silenced him with a kiss that was barely there, it was so soft and so fleeting." Dance."
When we're together, it feels so right.
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Okay this was obviously planned and he should feel angry about how they ganged up on him – Rachel, Finn and Blaine. It was obvious they expected him to fall right into Blaine's arms (which to be fair is pretty much what he did.) Well, he might be there now but he wasn't going to stay there, no matter how hard they were trying to manipulate him into it. He was his own man, damn it. And he was angry, rightfully angry, and he was going to tell them all just how angry he was, just as soon as Blaine stopped smelling so good. And feeling so good. And tasting –
Kurt didn't even realize he was initiating a kiss until they were well into it. Blaine tasted – hot and sweet and perfect and – damn he was in the middle of a public place. It was like Blaine was forever casting some magical spell on him, when he was around Kurt forgot he was in the backseat of a car in a church parking lot or in the middle of a dance floor where they were attracting quite an audience -
I'll always remember that magic moment,
When I held you close to me.
Break the spell. Break the spell. Kurt lifted up his head, a rather Herculean effort as it had felt so nice and warm and right snuggling on Blaine's shoulder. "How do you even know this song? It's not on the top 40 radio and I know how you love your top 40"
"You told me remember. About you watching your Mom and Dad dancing to this, and how magical it looked to you as a child watching. And that's what I feel when I dance with you - like it's surreal and perfect and as corny as it sounds - magical. And every word of the lyrics Kurt, "Blaine had stopped dancing, looking as serious as Kurt had ever seen him 'They were written for us. We are the couple in this song. We belong together. I let myself forget that once, but never again. And I am not going to let you forget it either Kurt. This is me." Blaine took Kurt's hand and held it to his heart, the way he had done so many years ago when both their hearts had been whole. "This is you." He took both their hands and placed them on Kurt's heart. Kurt could feel his heart beating much faster than the music, racing out of control. "This is us." He pulled Kurt back to the dance.
'Cause we moved together, I knew forever,
You're all I'll ever need
Kurt could feel his defenses caving in, not one by one but all at once, the wall he had carefully built up brick by brick after the break up leaving him defenseless and open and – yes – loved. "Why now?" Kurt couldn't help himself asking. Audience or not, he had to know. "Why here? Why here of all the places – "
The song was over, but they were still standing on the dance floor. Where there had been noise, there was now silence.
"This is where our worst memory is stored," Blaine told him softly, so softly Kurt had to bend nearer to him to hear. "I know why you keep telling me you just want to be friends; it's because of what happened, here. To tell you the truth, I thought I'd never come back here, that this place would forever be tainted by what I destroyed here. But here I am and here we are and it's because of you, because of your beautiful heart and your capacity to forgive. And whether you admit it or not, you have forgiven me Kurt. Friends with benefits? I mean really?" Blaine asked, shaking his head slightly. "That's not your style. You are incapable of giving your body unless you have given your heart. I know that, because I know you. And you know that I broke my heart when I broke yours, because you know me. I'd like to forget what happened here, to shut the door to this place forever and forget it ever existed. But there is no way forward without facing the fucked up past. I chose this place, of all places, because I believe we can change the memory of this place from the place where we ended to the place where we began again. But we can't do that as friends, not as just friends, so now I'm leaving it up to you. Do we go forward, together, as the lovers that we both know we were meant to be or is the place, is this the moment, that finally defeats us?"
The song was over, the music had stopped, but still Blaine sang to him, the chorus one more time, softly, singing just to him because really that was all there was – just him and Blaine and this song and this moment and this dance:
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together, it feels so right.
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
And Kurt answered back with a kiss, with a kiss so intense and full of need that he felt Blaine actually shudder against him and Kurt was smiling when he finally lifted his head. Somewhere – probably near but it sounded far far away - he heard Rachel give a triumph yell, but as he looked at Blaine's flushed face and gave him a sexy smirk of his own in return, Kurt knew it was he that had really won.
