Title: New York is a Teasing Mistress
Word Count: 1,460
Characters: Puck, Kurt, Chad, Ryan, brief mentions of Troy, and Burt
Pairing(s): Puck/Kurt, Chad/Ryan
Genre: Romance
Rating: Hmm, I'd say this is pretty tame, so K+ ? Still new to this
Warnings: Unbetaed, I also wrote half at one point and half at another, so if something doesn't make sense, I'll fix it in the morning, feel free to correct any grammatical or syntactical errors
Summary: A bar in New York is the setting of an odd encounter for Chad
Spoilers: HSM: none? Glee: up to and including 3x09, just to be safe?
Author's Note: I think I just needed some closure for my favorite Disney boys. However, Telepathic Hawk wrote a great story that provides excellent closure called This Christmastide; you guys should check it out. The author also writes Puck/Kurt.
Author's Note 2: I CANNOT believe my scene breaks weren't put in! They matter more in my other stories than this one, but still GRR! Oh well, I'm over it now...
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
Chad liked to think he was pretty content with his life. He'd left high school for U of A, and played for the Red Hawks for five years. He finally ended up majoring in Business and graduated with his Bachelor's. He knew he wouldn't play basketball professionally, he just didn't know what he would end up doing. So, after graduation, he packed up his things and headed straight for the Big Apple. All the movies said that was the place to go if you wanted your dreams to come true. Chad didn't really know what he was looking for in his life, but he knew what he didn't want. When he finally got sick of being a 'gofer' at some hoity-toity business firm, he quit his job, and took up bartending. He made great tips, and sometimes he'd even get lucky if the right guy came along. Although Chad never actually found anyone he could bring home to his mother, he wasn't going to give up. He was an optimist living in New York. He would manage to find the right guy one day, right?
Just as he thought that, a beautiful blue-eyed boy sat down in one of the empty stools at the bar. Now, Chad had been bar-tending for about a year and a half, so he knew how to read people. Blue eyes came in alone, sat at the bar, and hadn't ordered a drink yet, which obviously meant he was looking to meet someone, or by the expression on his face, he wanted to be left alone to drown his sorrows in alcohol. Chad was leaning towards the first one, so he put on his best grin and sauntered up to the guy with the pretty eyes.
"What can I get you?"
The guy with the pretty blue eyes gave Chad a sad sort of smile that pretty much broke Chad's heart. 'Guess it's the second one,' he thought.
"Whatever you get a guy whose dreams were crushed by the big city…"
"Bad day," Chad asked as he got out a glass and started mixing up a drink for Blue eyes.
"Try bad year," replied Blue Eyes.
"Oh yeah," Chad asked as he handed Blue eyes a perfectly made Green Dolphin.
Blue eyes took a sip of his drink before he raised an eyebrow at Chad, "Is this a Green Dolphin?"
"A man after my own heart," thought Chad as he grinned flirtatiously at the laughing brunette. He had no idea why Blue eyes thought his drink of choice was amusing, but it won Chad a real smile, which Chad thought was beautiful.
"It sure is! It's one of my favorite drinks actually. I take it you enjoy them?"
"Not really," Blue eyes responded, causing Chad's grin to fall off his face.
"The first time I ordered one was because I was feeling nostalgic and the name reminded me of an old friend."
He had that sad sort of smile on his face again, so Chad decided to change the topic. If he kept smiling like that there was no way Chad was going to be able to flirt his way into Blue eyes' pants.
"So, I don't see you around here very often?" He mentally slapped his forehead. "Real smooth, Chad!"
"I just wanted a change of scenery."
"So you said. You mentioned something about a bad year?"
Chad didn't really know what it was about being a bartender that made people open up to him, and the other people he worked with, but soon enough Blue eyes was telling him his life story. Chad got to hear about his dreams of singing and dancing on Broadway, which reminded Chad of someone else he knew. Chad hears about Blue eyes' first boyfriend and how the guy was a cheating jerk, and how Blue eyes hadn't managed to hold down a steady relationship since. He listened to Blue eyes pour his heart out about how he wasn't sure whether Broadway was his true calling or not. By the end of the story Blue eyes managed to finish two of the Green Dolphins that he claimed to dislike. As Chad listened to Blue eyes continue his story, he couldn't help but notice Blue eyes' outfit. The red fedora Blue eyes was wearing struck a chord with Chad, and for some reason, he was taken back to Spring of his Junior year in high school. Suddenly his mind was assaulted with images of Ryan Evans shaking his hips on the bleachers in the gym and stage diving off of them only to perfect his landing in the hands of the Wildcat basketball team.
As he took in Blue eyes' sad expression, the red fedora, and the big Broadway dreams, he couldn't help but wonder if the city did this to everyone. Is that what New York did-it lured you in with its false promises of love, fame, and fortune, and then crushed your spirits and dashed your dreams? That can't be true, Chad thought. After all, he came to New York, and he was perfectly content with his life, even if he didn't have a steady boyfriend or a dream career, he was doing just fine.
He was about to tell Blue eyes his story in hopes of renewing his faith in the city that managed to crush his dreams. However, just as he opened his mouth, he noticed a tanned, muscular man place a hand on Blue eyes' shoulder.
"Kurt?"
Blue ey—Kurt—turned around to look at the man.
"Puck?"
Musc—Puck—chuckled at Kurt, "Haven't heard that name in a while."
Chad took his eyes away from the stranger to glance at Kurt and noticed two bright, pink spots high on his cheeks and a soft, bright grin on his face that was obviously induced by Puck. Chad rolled his eyes and kept an eye on the two of them for the night, just in case Puck was one of the many scumbags that rolled through Joe's Bar. He continued serving customers throughout the night while subtly listening to Kurt and Puck's conversation. He heard a story that sounded so familiar to his ears and so similar to his own that his heart stuttered in nostalgia. Puck was a jock in high school and apparently he and Kurt didn't always get along. All of that changed when Glee Club, of all things, brought them together. They built a friendship that lasted throughout high school, but fell apart after graduation like most friendships do, despite the fact that Puck was currently an intern for Kurt's father, a politician. With the way Kurt was flirting with Puck, one would never guess that the friendship fell apart. With the way Puck was flirting back, Chad discovered that just like him, Puck discovered his sexuality wasn't as cut and dry as he originally thought. Well, the flirting confirmed what his eavesdropping picked up. Before Kurt got up to follow Puck out of the bar, he left Chad an especially generous tip. Chad watched the pair leave the bar with a wistful smile on his face. He got Steve to cover for him as he ran to the back to make a quick phone call.
"Hey Troy, I need a favor."
~CRPK~
Somehow, Chad wasn't surprised when Ryan Evans walked through the door of Joe's Bar. Chad took in his bright grin and his brown eyes, and nearly dropped his glass when his heart skipped a beat for the first time in a long time.
"You know if you're going to enquire about me without my knowledge you probably shouldn't do so through the high school grapevine," Ryan stated in that arrogant tone of his.
Chad shot him his best cocky smirk, "Who said I didn't want you finding out?"
Chad's smirk widens when Ryan's face morphs into one of shock.
"I get off at seven," Chad says, "Do you want to get dinner?"
Ryan continues to stare at Chad until he hesitantly agrees, "Alright, I'll pick you up here at seven."
"Sounds great," Chad replies with a grin.
~CRPK~
The next time he saw Puck and Kurt, they entered the bar together, and Kurt was dressed to the nines with a newsboy hat and a scarf that sparkled. They sat in the same seats as before and once again Chad listened in on their private conversation. He found out that Kurt was heading to DC to attend medical school. They made their exit early that night because they had a flight to catch in the morning. Chad watched with a smile of gratitude as they left the bar hand-in-hand. The door had almost closed when Ryan walked in with a jaunty stroll and a bright grin on his face. He sat down next to the seat Puck had just vacated, and leaned in to kiss Chad.
"Hey, where do you want to go for dinner," he asked with that beautiful smile on his face.
"Wherever you want, Ry," Chad replied with a smile of his own.
Thanks for Reading! :)
