Kurt smiled at the air and many towering buildings before him. New York for him meant new beginnings, leaving old regrets behind and meeting new people. Doing things he'd never done before, taking everything he'd done back in Loser Lima and throw it in the garbage.
This is where he felt needed to be, since he was 10 and his mother passed he swore he'd take her dreams and ramblings of moving to beautiful New York and making them a reality.
"This one is for you mom." Kurt breathed in the crisp morning deeply. He began walking. He didn't where he was going, or where anything was but he wasn't frightened like he would be if he was in any other new place. Despite all the thoughts of enjoyment and slight fear all ran together making his mind a blank mess.
He continued to walk and walk with no regards of the new faces that passed him. Some stared at his unusual happiness and some passed him on like just another resident of the beautiful state. What Kurt enjoyed most was that every face that passed him was different.
Man, women, child, teen. It was all different. Tall, short, skinny, fat. Beautiful, ugly, average. It was a melting pot of people. Kurt could see that in Lima most people looked alike and knew everyone.
Here, nobody knew a majority of the people living here. They could walk outside and meet about 300 million new people. Kurt kept walking and walking, enjoying himself with his curious hand stuffed in his pockets to keep him from grabbing everything he saw and examining it until it was stuck in his brain.
Without looking forward at where he was going, a powerful force knocked him back, off his feet completely.
He fell to the ground with a stunning thud as the force fell back as well. Kurt shook his head that continued to spin until his vision cleared from the blurring it had turned to and he spied what had hit him.
It was a man. He had gelled back hair and a cute mouth. He was wearing a white button up shirt and slightly ripped jeans. He had been carrying a notebook.
It had landed near Kurt's hand.
"Uh, here." Kurt grabbed the notebook and outstretched his arm to the man. The man took a minute to get his head back to where it needed to be and saw the notebook in Kurt's hand. He took it graciously.
"Uh, thank you sir. Let me help you up." the man offered nicely, standing with a slight wobble and outstretching his arm for Kurt to take it. There was plenty of hesitation, but in the end Kurt took the stranger's hand and stood.
The man disted Kurt's jacket off and his own self. "I'm so sorry man. Uh, let me take you to coffee to express my apology." the man smiled at Kurt. Kurt felt the man took a huge jump from bumping into him, to taking him to get a drink.
"There's a Lima Bean here?" Kurt asked, smiling a bit in the corners of his mouth. The man started to walk as Kurt walked beside him. "I can see you're not from New York, are you?" the man smiled, his notebook swinging with his arms when he walked. Kurt shook his head. "Well, Hey new guy. I'm Blaine, Blaine Anderson." Blaine held out his hand as they continued to walk.
Kurt took it this time with little to no hesitation. "I'm Kurt, Kurt Hummel. And no, I'm originally from Lima, Ohio. I came here with hopes of fulfilling my mother's dream of living here." Kurt smiled as Blaine pushed open the coffee shop door and allowed him in first.
The door closed softly with no noise behind them as they ordered their coffee and sat down. "So, I don't mean to intrude upon your personal business Mr. Anderson but what is that notebook for?" Kurt asked, sipping the hot drink quietly.
Blaine sipped his own drink quietly, singing his tongue a little. Kurt covered his mouth to stop from laughing out loud at the adorable man's face reacting to his burnt tongue.
"Sorry," Blaine smiled, wiping his mouth around the corners. "I'm an aspiring artist. I lived here with my dad for 8 years before he moved away, leaving me with my mother. She passed away a while back, moving me into foster home after foster home until I turned 18. I'm 19 now, and I intend to turn this city upside down as New York's new artist." Blaine smiled sweetly at Kurt.
Kurt felt a surge of sympathy for the man. He knew he had a tragic backstory but suddenly he felt like Blaine's was worse, if not the same. Kurt's mother had died when he was young as well.
His dad was always there for him, but he always did feel alone in many ways. Being the only openly gay kid in Lima, definitely created some waves.
"I mean, struggling with my openly homosexual sexuality made it harder for me to live here but you know." Blaine smiled, hanging his arm off the back of the chair, shutting his eyes joyfully. Kurt stopped everything at that moment. Thinking, moving, breathing.
Did this man just say he was openly gay?
Did that mean- no.
Of course not.
You just met.
Kurt shook his head to clear his mind and smiled at Blaine. He seemed unashamed to be gay. Just like Kurt. "Another thing we got in common I see." Kurt laughed, tipping back the coffee cup.
He wasn't sure Blaine knew what he meant, but even if he didn't, it was a mental note for Kurt to keep an eye on this man. "Common? I take that as your homosexual or otherwise." Blaine smiled, shifting his notebook under his palms.
Kurt smiled. Blaine was quick. He was a quick learner, a charming smile-r and an all around fun guy to be with. He was glad he ran into him on the street now.
Usually, Kurt would be embarrased to the point where his face would be redder than blood. He would be embarrassed and shy and back away, muttering nothing but "sorry".
But for some reason when he felt so comfortable around Blaine.
"Yeah.. the only one in Lima actually," Kurt chuckled, looking down at the notebook under Blaine's hands again. It wasn't important but it seemed to gnaw at him about the notebook.
"Can I please see what's in that notebook? I mean.. some of your drawings?" Kurt asked, seeing Blaine's face light up. It looked like nobody had wanted to look at his drawings before.
Blaine took his notebook and slid it over to Kurt's side of the table. Kurt flipped the cover open, reading the words "BLAINE ANDERSON: DRAWINGS, SKETCHES AND DOODLES", written in black Sharpie.
He looked over to the first blank page. Drawn in dark black pen lining was a mythical looking dragon. It had millions upon millions of tiny scales. It looked like it took hours upon hours to draw them all as precisely they looked.
Kurt was absolutely amazed at the skill and time taken into this one drawing. Jaded teeth shone from the dragon's mouth and Kurt looked closely and saw a tiny black outline of a human on the scaled back of the beast.
The man had slicked back hair and his hands in the air in excitement. "Is this you?" Kurt asked, breathtaken by the skill of the art before him. Blaine chuckled, finishing the drink and nodding. Kurt closed the book. He didn't need further proof that Blaine was the best artist he'd ever seen.
He pushed the notebook back to Blaine and he took it under his palms again. Blaine looked outside at the setting sun. "Looks like it's getting dark, do you have a place to go?" Blaine asked, looking back at Kurt. Kurt thought about it, but off the top of his head, he didn't.
"Not that I can think of, no. But you should get going, I mean you probably have someone waiting for you at home." Kurt said, shrugging and getting up from the table. Blaine did as well as they both walked to the trash can and threw away their empty coffee cups.
"Thanks for the coffee and conversation." Kurt said, heading for the door. He felt a soft pressure on his wrist and looked back to see it was Blaine's hand grabbing him. He looked shocked and trailed his eyes up Blaine's smile.
"Why not come home with me tonight? Just until you can get a place to stay. You said this is your first week in New York. I know how hard getting a place and getting comfortable can be here. So, I'll offer my office/home to you until you have a house. What do you say?" he smiled widely, releasing his grip on Kurt's wrist.
Kurt thought, and knew that Blaine was absolutely right. He had no place to go. He had no family here.
No friends.
Except for Blaine. But could he even count Blaine as a friend?
They had just met.. but he guessed it counted.
He smiled widely. "Yeah, I guess I could stay at your place. But you promise to kick me out as soon as I get a place?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling. Blaine laughed and took Kurt's hand, taking Kurt by surprise. "I promise." he laughed.
