Blaine was walking towards the convention center when his phone began ringing loudly from his pocket. He stopped to pull it out and groaned when he saw Jeff's name lit up on the screen.
"What?" was his greeting.
"Yeah, just a quick question," Jeff said. "Why am I here?"
Blaine had to hold the phone away from his ear, Jeff was so loud. "Because you're my best friend, you're awesome, and you're doing me a solid."
"Those are shitty answers," Jeff grumbled.
"If you behave, I'll throw in an extra fifty bucks."
"Fifty bucks?" Jeff scoffed. "I couldn't take my grandmother out to dinner on fifty bucks.
"Take it or leave it," Blaine said, eyeing the doors to the building behind him.
"This is stupid. I'm leaving. This is me leaving," Jeff told him.
"No wait!" Blaine said into the phone. "You're an actor, right? So act!"
"I'm not an actor," Jeff groaned. "I did one commercial that no one will remember me for. I haven't had a casting call in months."
"So technically this is your second gig," Blaine told him brightly. "I'm giving you your second gig, man."
"I guess that is kind of true," Jeff mused. "I guess could see it that way."
"Just embrace your character," Blaine instructed him. "Really go for it and be charming. He is going to love you."
"Embrace my character," Jeff chanted. "Yeah, I can do that. I mean, how hard is it to be you? This is going to be easy."
"Knock 'em dead," Blaine said. He clicked the 'end' button on his phone and dropped it back in his pocket.
"Kurt is going to think I am such a moron," he groaned before disappearing through the doors.
Kurt straightened his scarf for the tenth time since he'd set foot in the convention center. He was a bundle of nerves. He didn't want to look out of place, but he had no one to talk to and, oh what was he thinking when he decided to become a reporter? On top of the stress from his job, he was internally having a panic attack related to Nick and the coveted meeting with Blaine that was supposed to take place any minute now.
He looked around the convention center, wondering where to start when someone bumped into him from behind.
"Whoa, watch where you're going," Kurt said reflexively, spinning around to see who had shoved into him.
Before him stood a man with dark, curly hair. Oh sure, he'd tried to gel it down a bit, but the ends still curled just behind his ears. The second thing Kurt noticed was that his eyes were the lightest possible shade of brown. He would've said hazel or the color of honey, but neither seemed to describe them. He was dressed in a suit and he looked as if he were in a hurry.
Kurt snapped back to reality and glared at the man.
"Oh, s-sorry," the man stuttered. "I wasn't looking where I was going and I'm late…" He looked over his shoulder towards the forming crowd on the opposite side of the room. "I have to go. Sorry again."
Kurt watched as he hurried off to talk to an important-looking business man. His boss, Kurt presumed.
Kurt looked around and decided to follow the mystery man. The closer he got, the more he recognized the man he was speaking to as the head of Tot's Toys. He hesitated for a moment, remembering Blaine, but relaxed again when he reminded himself that Blaine was out waiting to meet Nick. Meet him. Or whatever.
He watched as the business man walked away – straight towards a woman. A woman anyone who was anyone knew was the head of the rival toy company. Kurt smirked to himself as he watched them flirting unsubtly. She had her arm on his and was giving him a very suggestive look.
His thought process was interrupted when a phone rang shrilly from somewhere nearby. Kurt watched in amusement as it seemed to belong to his rude stranger. The man answered it, looking distressed.
"What else do you want?" he hissed into the phone. He looked taken aback. "Oh, Sanders. Oh, it's you. I'm so sorry I thought it was someone else."
Kurt moved closer until he was practically hovering right behind the man. He turned his ear closer, hoping to catch some good information.
"No, I'm sorry. I was just expecting another call. I should've checked the caller ID," the man admitted. "No, don't worry about a thing. I have the, uh, 'situation' under control," he continued conspiratorially. "They're grown adults, Sanders. I doubt they're going to start groping in public. Just let me take care of it. Yeah, bye."
The man spun around – right into Kurt.
"You again?" he asked Kurt. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, you can," Kurt replied smoothly. "Those two," he gestured to the man and woman chatting nearby. "Aren't they arch rivals? Two presidents of the two biggest rival toy companies in the nation?"
"I don't have time for this," the other man said briskly, brushing him off. Kurt didn't fail to notice how flushed he looked. "If you'll excuse me." He walked away.
Kurt was going made to follow him when he heard his own phone buzzing in his pocket. Internally groaning, he reached into his pocket to answer it. Nick's name flashed on the screen.
"What's the problem, Nick? Does he suspect anything?"
"Relax, I'm not even there yet," Nick replied. "I'm on my way to the spot you two agreed on." He held the photo of Blaine in his hand as he looked around, trying to find a matching face.
"Do you see him?" Kurt fretted. He wasn't even there and he was freaking out.
"I think so," Nick said after a long pause. "Oh yeah, that's him over there. The tall one with the blonde hair and dark jacket?"
"That sounds like him, yeah," Kurt agreed. He'd begun pacing in the open space around him. "Does he see you? Are you close enough to be heard? Oh my gosh, if he can hear you, hang up right now."
"Calm down," Nick told him. "I'm still far enough away that he can't hear me. He's a looker though, Kurt. You never told me he was that attractive. This picture does him no justice," he said as he pocketed the photo.
"I can only imagine," Kurt groaned. He was looking around the area, keeping his eyes on the man who'd bumped into him. He followed him with his eyes. "Just be cool. Be nice, be funny, be wonderful. Be me," he instructed.
"I'll do my best," Nick promised before hanging up the phone.
"Blaine," Nick called. The blonde boy didn't acknowledge him. "Blaine?" Nick asked, coming straight up to him.
"Oh, yeah," that's me, Blaine replied. He flicked his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Kurt?" he asked in return.
Nick nodded his head stiffly. "Yeah, Kurt. That's my name. My name is Kurt," he babbled.
"Hi," Blaine said. He opened his arms to give Nick a hug. "It's so nice to finally meet you."
Nick wasn't sure what to do, so he ended up giving Blaine an awkward one-armed hug. They broke apart and looked nervously away from one another. Blaine was shuffling his feet and Nick could feel himself starting to blush.
"So," he started. "Toys…"
"Toys," Blaine repeated. "Uh, I mean…Toys. That's what I work with. It's pretty exciting stuff."
"How are things with the company?" Nick asked cordially.
Blaine hesitated. "The company…Right. Yeah, we just implemented this new publicity stint. We think it's going to be huge. It's, um, all about how you should play with other people, because playing with yourself is kind of a bummer." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean…I can rephrase that…"
Nick laughed. "No I understood what you meant," he replied, still laughing.
"So…" Blaine prompted, nodding his head. "Reporting. How goes it?"
"Oh, it's probably more boring than your job. Someone kicks the bucket and I have to write about it." He realized how insensitive that sounded and wondered if Kurt would've phrased it that way. Probably not, he decided, but it was too late now.
"You know, you're nothing like your letters led me to believe," Blaine said.
Nick smiled. "I could say the same for you. You're…taller than you sounded on paper."
"And you're more handsome than you sounded on paper," Blaine retorted with a grin.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Nick said. "I mean, I sound pretty darn handsome on paper. Any more attractive and I'm down right deadly."
"I'll say," Blaine agreed.
Their flirting came to a long silence as they both tried to think of what to say.
"The conference!" Nick practically exclaimed. "K- I mean…Nick, my friend Nick, told me to meet him there. Should we get going?"
"I don't know, I'm not feeling very business-y today," Blaine replied coolly, running a hand through his blonde hair.
Nick bit his bottom lip unsure of what to do. If he didn't bring Blaine to the conference, Kurt would kill him for sure. But then again, an attractive stranger was asking him to play hooky. Was he supposed to just ignore that fact?
"We could go sightseeing," he suggested. "I could take you to see everything tourist-y about New York. The Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway, Times Square. You name it, we'll go."
"How about we grab some lunch first?" Blaine asked. "It's on me."
"How could I say no to that?" Nick reasoned, holding out his hand for Blaine to take. And so he did.
Kurt hit 'redial' for the tenth time in a row. It'd been nearly and hour since Nick had hung up on him and he was no where in sight. Kurt swore under his breath. Nick knew that Blaine had to attend this conference – how big of a deal it was. Kurt had been sure to tell him over and over again. But still he couldn't find Nick or Blaine and now he suspected the worst.
He got Nick's voicemail. Again.
"Nick," he said into the receiver. "You're lucky that I have an obligation to be here or else I'd go out there and find you. Once we meet back at your apartment tonight, I'm going to kill you. Literally, I will commit homicide and you will be victim," he raged. "I'll maul you so horribly that they won't be able to identify your body." He was so infuriated that he didn't even notice when the dapper-looking stranger from earlier passed right behind him. "You're lucky that I've found a story to write. That's right – a scoop. The shareholders are going to be pissed when I print this. And it's no thanks to you," he hissed. He hung up without another word.
He turned around, preparing to go looking for his stranger, but found that said stranger was right behind him.
The man looked both furious and genuinely upset at the same time. "You're a reporter?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer before stalking off.
Kurt hurried to follow him.
"Mr. Richardson," Blaine greeted his boss at the foot of a staircase leading up towards the conference rooms. "I'm glad I caught you, I just wanted to warn you - "
"This is going splendid, Anderson," his boss said, ignoring him completely. "Alexa is wonderful and we're getting along great. You're watching my back, right?"
"Yes, that's why I feel that I should warn you - "
"It's been a great year for us, wouldn't you say?" Mr. Richardson interrupted. "Listen, Anderson, I noticed a few reporters lurking around here – they think they're so clever." He chuckled to himself. "Any bad press – any at all – would jeopardize our company. So keep an eye, out won't you?"
Blaine felt his heart sinking. He'd screwed up before he'd even begun. "Yes, sir," he replied stiffly.
He turned around to try and find that snooping reporter from earlier. He spotted him near the foot of the stairs, attempting to eavesdrop without being noticed. Blaine suddenly felt a surge of hatred towards this stranger; towards his perfectly coiffed hair and his scarf winded around his neck. Hatred towards his dark pea coat and the confident way he held himself. He found himself hating his light eyes the most – almost grey with flecks of green and blue – that were staring straight at him.
He shook his head in disgust and hurried up the stairs. Whoever this guy was, he was bad news and Blaine planned on staying as far away as possible.
"And what kind of hour is this?" Kurt asked as Nick wandered into the apartment.
Nick was startled. "Shit, Kurt, you scared me. Sometimes I wonder why I gave you a key to my apartment in the first place."
"I often wonder the same thing," Kurt replied icily. "It's ten o' clock, Nick. At night."
"Do you want an award for pointing out the obvious?" Nick asked, taking off his jacket and hanging it on a coat tree near the door.
"No, I want you to apologize," Kurt demanded.
"For what?" Nick asked in disbelief. "I did what you begged me to do. I went out, I met your precious blonde-haired Blaine, I took him out on a date - "
"I did not say take him out on a date," Kurt hissed. "I said to take him to the conference. What must he think of me now? He knows I'm a reporter and he knows I knew that he was supposed to be at the conference. What if he thinks I'm irresponsible now?" he fretted.
"There are worse things for a guy to think about you," Nick said as he got a bottle of water out of the fridge.
Kurt glared at him in stony silence.
"Look, it it's any consolation, I asked him if we should head out to the conference. He was the one who wanted to ditch. And, well…you know it's not really my thing anyways, so I figured I'd go along with it…" He smiled to himself. "It didn't turn out half-bad."
"Why do you look like that?" Kurt asked, walking closer to Nick. "Why do you look like…like something happened?
"Nothing happened," Nick covered up. He looked like he was suppressing a grin and failing miserably.
"Tell me," Kurt ordered.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Well he might've been a little more…physical than you described him. In fact, he wasn't really at all what you described him as."
"Physical?" Kurt repeated. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, he was always holding my hand, we hugged a few times, he might've gone in for a little something-something at the end of the date."
"Oh my god," Kurt replied, horror-struck. "Tell me you didn't kiss him, Nick. Please."
"Well I was just trying to do what you would've done!" Nick explained. "You would have kissed him, wouldn't you?"
"I don't know," Kurt said, exasperation clear in his voice. "I've never met him."
"And whose fault is that?" Nick retorted.
Kurt's shoulders sagged in defeat. "You're right," he admitted. "It's my fault. You were just playing the part, I get it."
"It gets worse. Or better…depending on your perspective."
"Just spit it out."
"He asked me out on a second date tomorrow night."
Kurt groaned and slumped down into a nearby chair. "Please tell me you're lying."
"No," Nick said. "And I might have said yes."
"Nick!" Kurt shouted.
"What? If you don't want me to go, just say so and I won't bother. I'll let you go instead and you can explain this whole crazy scheme to him. Is that what you want to do? Because I'll back out of it if you really want me to, Kurt. Seriously, just say the word."
Kurt shook his head. "It's too late. If I go explain it to him now he'll think I'm insane."
"And rightfully so," Nick muttered. "I mean, no, no of course he won't think that."
"He seems to like you, so just…go out with him tomorrow. It's fine. What's one more date?" Kurt reasoned to himself.
"Great!" Nick said, a little bit too enthused. "I mean…Yeah, that works for me, I guess."
"Did he at least have a good time?" Kurt asked sadly.
"Yeah, he seemed to love spending time with me. With you," Nick corrected himself. "He had a great time with…you."
"That's what matters, I guess."
"Are you insane?" Blaine asked Jeff. "No, seriously. When was the last time someone tested your basic competency."
"Hey, I did what you asked," Jeff shot back. "I took out Kurt. It was a success. Why can't you just be happy about it?"
"I never told you to play hooky," Blaine accused. "I told you to meet him and accompany him to the event. Then maybe if things went well to ask him out for a drink. Did you do any of those things? No."
"We had a great time," Jeff said. "Kurt's awesome. He was much more fun than you let on, by the way. We even - "
"Please, if you know what's good for you, don't finish that sentence with 'kissed goodnight.'"
Jeff stayed silent.
"Well?" Blaine demanded.
"You told me not to finish the sentence with that! So I didn't."
Blaine lay face down on his mattress and buried his face in the unmade sheets.
"Jeff, I hate you. I can't believe you made a move on Kurt," he moaned. "My Kurt."
"I also might have…kind of asked him out on a second date tomorrow night," Jeff mumbled from his own bed.
"You what?" Blaine groaned. "This is a disaster."
"No it's not! He said yes. I said I'd take him bowling."
Blaine sat up. "Bowling?" he asked. "Bowling? He'd never go bowling in a million years – he'd never wear another person's shoes."
"Well he said yes. And we were going to go out to dinner after that and then who knows…"
"No," Blaine said sharply. "No 'who knows'. You are not to make any more moves on Kurt. This is my Kurt – you don't make any moves and you don't spice anything up."
"Way to be the mayor of Snooze-ville," Jeff countered. "Whatever, we'll work out another date, it'll be fine."
"I am never asking you to do anything for me ever again," Blaine stated. "And that's final."
Kurt was washing Nick's dishes while the latter brushed his teeth and filled him in on the details of his date with Blaine.
"We went to Times Square and it was so much fun," Nick said. "He wanted to take pictures of everything – want to see?"
Kurt's grip tightened on the plate he was drying. "No, that's okay. You can show me later."
"Hold on a sec," Nick said as he wandered back towards the bathroom.
The phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen rang. Kurt reached over and answered it without thinking.
"Nick's apartment, who's speaking?"
"Kurt?" a low voice inquired.
"Who's calling?" Kurt asked again.
"This is, uh, J - " There was a muffled scuffling. "I mean, this is Blaine."
Kurt dropped the phone onto the floor with a clatter, along with the plate he'd been holding which shattered as it hit the floor.
"Kurt?" Nick called, dashing out of the bathroom, his toothbrush still in his mouth. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Kurt pointed wordlessly at the phone on the floor. He had a hand covering his mouth as he backed away from the receiver.
Nick stooped down and picked up the phone. "Hello?" There was a pause. "Oh, Blaine, hi," he said. "No, that was just my friend, erm, Nick. Remember, I told you about Nick? Yeah, he's just over visiting and he just…dropped something." He laughed at a joke Kurt couldn't hear. "Yeah, something like that."
There was a long pause as Nick listened to whatever Blaine was saying. Whatever it was, it must've been good because Nick was wearing a goofy smile and walking away from Kurt to try and hide it.
"You're not so bad yourself," Nick said into the receiver. "Maybe I could get a repeat." Another pause. More laughter. Kurt could tell just from the way that Nick was holding himself that Blaine was saying something extremely charming, maybe even sexy. "I had a great time, too," Nick said. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow night. Yeah, you too. Goodnight."
Nick clicked off the phone and turned back towards Kurt. "Are you okay? Why did you freak out?"
"How does he have your number?" Kurt asked weakly.
"He asked for it, so I gave it to him. I mean, let's face it – you didn't think this whole 'no-calling' agreement was going to last while he was in the same city, did you?"
"No," Kurt mumbled. "I guess not."
"So don't be so bummed out," Nick said as he began to sweep up the shards of broken plate. "Things worked out for the best."
"What did he say?" Kurt asked, still a melancholy tone to his voice. "Anything about me?"
"He said he loved meeting you and that he had a really good time with you," Nick informed him. Spying Kurt's distraught expression, Nick stopped in his tracks. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Yeah, it's just that…" Kurt wiped a stray tear away from his eyes. "That was our first phone call, you know? And…I wasn't even on it." He headed towards the door. "Just forget it. I'll see you tomorrow before your big date. Bye."
With a click of the door, he was gone.
A/N: Seriously, so much fun to write!
Read carefully, my dear readers and keep in mind the character's perspective because it's about to get even more complicated (;
