Blaine waited outside the huge white tent set up, hands in his pockets, trying to not think about how cold he was at the moment. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Finn's tall shadow make his way towards him.
"Hey man" Finn said when he saw Blaine. Blaine noticed how exhausted Finn looked, and he assumed he was probably as emotionally drained as he was.
"So Rachel yelled at me for pressuring you on coming, she wants me to make sure it was ok with your boyfriend" Finn says awkwardly.
"Oh yeah, he's fine with it" Blaine said. Finn pulls out two yellow lanyards with a white card attached to it.
"Awesome" he says handing one of the lanyards over to Blaine. They walk up the carpeted path towards the entrance.
"So how does this work, I know nothing about fashion" Finn says, causing Blaine to chuckle.
"I have no clue, I really haven't followed fashion since-" Blaine can't finish that statement, but Finn nods his head, knowing exactly what he meant.
"Guess we'll have to play it by ear" Finn shrugs. The boys flash their badge to security at the door and are ushered inside.
It's a lot emptier than they expected. The runway and hundreds of chairs stand untouched. However there is loud music, lights, and some people scattered around the room sipping champagne. A blonde girl dressed in all black wearing a walkie talkie approached them, a sly smile on her face, she couldn't take her eyes off of Blaine, which made Finn chuckle, because Kurt always hated when girls used to hit on Blaine.
"You boys looking for something?" she says with a smirk.
"Actually yeah, do you happen to know a Kurt?" Finn asks her.
"There are probably a lot of Kurt's here, but if he's anyone important he's probably back there" she points to a hallway where loud music is coming from.
"Thanks" Blaine says pushing past her trying to go to the back room.
"Not so fast" she says. "VIP only". She steps in front of Blaine and plays with the lanyard hanging around his neck. "Just because you have this fancy pass doesn't mean I can let you in" she smirks up at Blaine, her hand lingering on his chest.
"Listen, we're models, and this guy Kurt said if we could find him tonight he would give us a gig for tomorrow, so we really need to get back there", Blaine raises his eyebrows at her, and Finn coughs back a laugh.
"Models? Aren't you a little short?" she asks.
"Height's not a problem when you're as good as I am" Blaine says, and Finn literally has to bite his lip to not laugh, the girl smirks, and watches him for a minute.
"Fine, but if you're caught, I didn't help you" she says stepping aside and letting them through.
"Thank you" Blaine says before Finn and him make it through the hallway.
The back room is much more crowded the front. It smelt of alcohol and smoke, and Blaine was pretty sure he saw people in the corner doing lines of coke.
"I hope he's not here" Finn whispers, and Blaine understands completely, he doesn't want Kurt to be a part of this crowd either. They walk around the room slowly, examining every face. Blaine was about to tell Finn to give up when he saw him. He was sitting in the corner surrounded by people. A taller man with black styled hair had his arm around him. Despite the laughter coming from the group, Kurt had a scowl on his face, he looked like he didn't want to be there. He was skinnier, if that was even possible, his face much more defined, but he wore his hair the same way, and seemed to have the same sense of style. Blaine grabbed Finn's arm to stop him from moving and Finn followed Blaine's gaze and saw Kurt too.
"Wow, he looks, not happy" Finn says after a couple of seconds.
"Let's do this" Finn says stepping forward but Blaine stays behind.
"Maybe you should just go, he might get upset if he see's me" Blaine says, Finn looks worried.
"If you look like you need help I'll be right there" Blaine assures him.
"Alright, well here goes nothing" Finn says before making a bee-line to his brother. He steps up awkwardly behind the group, no one noticing his presence.
"Kurt" Finn calls out. Kurt looks up and makes eye contact with him, he scowls when he sees Finn. Finn steps forwards and bends over to give Kurt a huge hug that Kurt doesn't respond to. Everyone including the man with his arm around his brother are staring at Finn, and he realizes maybe wearing plaid and a puffy vest to a fashion show was a bad idea, but he hadn't been considering things like that at the time.
"Can I help you?" the dark haired man beside Kurt said in a British accent, and Finn winced, he always found accents intimidating.
"Uh yeah I'm Kurt's-"
"Old friend" Kurt finally says before getting up and pulling Finn away from the group.
"What are you doing here?" Kurt says in a harsh whisper, which confuses Finn even more.
"Britney said she saw you-"
"I figured a much. But what are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?"
"Oh, well that was all Blaine-"
"Blaine"? Kurt feels his heart drop a little.
"Yeah, Britney mentioned you freaked out when she mentioned fashion week, and Blaine put two and two together. More importantly, where the hell have you been"? Finn asks, starting to get angry.
"I can't tell you that" Kurt says.
"Why the hell not"? Finn asks, his voice getting louder.
"Because you'll know where to find me" Kurt says matter of factly.
"Know where to-Kurt do you have any idea what you have put all of through these past five years"?
"Is there a problem?" The dark haired man asked putting his arm protectively around Kurt's waist.
"Yeah, there is actually Kurt has a lot of explaining to do" Finn spits out, causing the dark haired man to raise his eyebrows.
"Really? And why is that? Who are you anyway"?
"I'm Finn, Kurt's step brother-"
"I didn't know you had a step brother" the man says to Kurt obviously amused.
"Didn't know you- What the hell man? Why are you doing this to us, to your father, do you understand-" just then Blaine came up and put his hand on Finn's shoulder.
"Calm down" Blaine says through his teeth. He looks up at Kurt, and for the first time they make eye contact. Kurt takes a step away from him, and Blaine isn't sure if it's out of anger or shock.
"Kurt, we thought you were dead. We all dropped our lives to try and find you. Mercedes stopped having a social life hoping you would show up at her dorm, Santana became nice, Me and your dad moved here in hopes of finding you, Blaine-".
Blaine shakes his head, he doesn't want Kurt to anything he went through.
"You're dad almost had a heart attack, he was hospitalized more than once over all of this". Finn looks at Kurt, and notices the sadness in his eyes.
"Is he ok"? Kurt asks quietly.
"No, well physically yeah, but he's so messed up, he misses you more then you will ever know".
"Why did you leave us?" Blaine whispers, and Kurt shakes his head.
"I don't know what's going on here, but Kurt seems upset, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave" the British man says.
"Who the hell are you"? Blaine asks, the man just smiles.
"Cole, Kurt's boyfriend, and boss" the man says smugly. Blaine felt heat boiling through his blood stream. He had no right to be jealous, considering he had a boyfriend as well, but the fact that Kurt was working for, and sleeping with this man disgusted him.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave" Cole says sternly.
"Kurt please, dad's on his way to the city, please talk to him" but Kurt just turns around and goes back to the couch. Finn storms out of the back room and Blaine shoots Cole one more nasty glare before joining him.
"What the hell happened to him"? Finn screams, pacing back in forth in the front party.
"He was depressed when he left, but I had hoped he at least found happiness, I don't understand what his problem is" Blaine says slowly. He notices his blonde friend watching them, and he motions her over.
"Did you get your gig?" she asks flirtatiously.
"Uh yeah, listen do you happen to know a Cole?" Blaine asks, Finn looking at him questioningly.
"Dark haired and British?" she asks, and Blaine nods his head.
"He's the designer from tonight's show. He's one of the youngest British designers to make it in Fashion Week, he's making his line international" she says and Blaine rolls his eyes, Cole would be successful.
"When you asked about a Kurt, did you mean his assistant?" she asks intrigued.
"Tall and light brown hair?" Finn asks, and she nods his head.
"Yeah, Kurt. He's Cole's assistant, but they are totally shaking up. He mostly follows Cole around like a lost puppy; he doesn't talk much, unless it involves something for his job." Blaine frowned, that didn't sound like his Kurt.
"Well thanks for your help" Blaine says before dragging Finn out of there.
"Something's up" Blaine decides and Finn nods his head in agreement.
"I'm just going to wait for my dad, he'll think of something" Finn says, Blaine can tell that confrontation took a lot out of Finn.
"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me know if you need anymore help" Blaine says quietly. Finn nods his head again.
"Thanks for everything Blaine" he says before heading off to the nearest subway stop. Blaine turns around and looks at the huge tent again, his stomach felt off about all of this, he should have just stayed home and not gotten involved, because now this was all he could think of.
….
Kurt opens his eyes and watches the light try to make it's way through the curtains, in the all white bedroom he was currently in. He sighed, turning around to see Cole still passed out, he had a hard night of partying. Kurt leaned over the bed and felt around till he found his boxers, quickly slipping them on and leaving the room before Cole woke up. He made his way through the large apartment he was unfamiliar with until he found the kitchen, and instantly went to fix himself a pot of coffee. He watched as the pot slowly dripped the liquid out.
He hated being back in New York, he hadn't wanted to come, he begged Cole to allow him to stay home. But this time Cole wouldn't budge.
"It's fashion week, as my assistant you need to be there" Cole reminded him countless times. And the fact that Cole was planning on moving here, that made Kurt sick to his stomach.
Kurt had been drowning before he left here. He left his apartment every morning only to get chewed up, spit out and trampled by Prada shoes, everyday. No matter what he did, he never felt good enough. His teachers at FIT told him from the beginning he wouldn't make is as a designer, he was being told by theatre groups his voice was too high pitched for male roles, and he was told by classmates that he was to strange to be a part of their social group. Kurt would come home everyday miserable, to find Blaine happy. Blaine was making millions of friends, being told by teachers he had what it took to be a musician, and every music group and choir of NYU was begging him to join. Kurt didn't want to bring Blaine down, so he started to avoid him, spending more time with Rachel but she didn't make him feel any better.
Kurt had thought Rachel was depressed over leaving Finn behind, but she easily adapted at Julliard making friends, and starting plays.
"The director told me he thinks I could be the lead by next semester. Can you imagine, being the lead as a Freshman?" Rachel had told him one day. And that's when it got to point that Kurt couldn't stand to be around Rachel either. He moved on next to Santana.
Santana had moved to New York to pursue a career in modeling, but after being turned down twice she decided to move on and go to school. She enrolled at Hunter College, and started to delve into the other aspect of modeling, photography, and she loved it. She was partying, meeting girls, and having the time of her life, and that brought Kurt down to.
Kurt knew he was worrying Blaine, that Blaine felt like he had to walk around eggshells with him, and Kurt hated it. He didn't want to be a part of someone's life in such a negative way like he was in Blaine's. When Kurt received almost all failing midterm grades, he grew even more depressed. He knew Carole and especially his father were extremely disappointed in him, not understanding what was going on with him. And that's when Kurt decided, he was going to stop bringing everyone down. Disappointing everyone, he was simply going to disappear. He plotted it out well. He took all of his savings and bought a one-way ticket to London, the farthest place he could think of going, and pocketed the rest of it. The night before his departure, he watched Blaine intently, studying, him, hoping to memorize him, freeze him in his brain so he could always remember him. He knew Blaine was planning on breaking up with him, and the only reason he hadn't yet was because he loved Kurt to much to hurt him, leaving was going to save Blaine the trouble. The night before he left, he wanted to sleep with Blaine one more time, he felt guilty the entire time, but it was something, they both needed he thought. He woke up the next morning and went to classes as normal. Once class was over, he went home, threw some items into a bag, left his key on the nightstand and left, throwing his phone out in an outdoor dumpster before gliding into a taxi. He cried the entire flight.
Once he got to London, he had no clue what to do. He ended up checking into a hostel and living there for about a week. One day he was exploring and decided to venture into a fancy British store for fun, and that's when he met Cole. He had been shopping as well, and after spotting Kurt he followed him around. He finally, purposely bumped into Kurt, and used that as his way to strike up a conversation.
"Oh sorry about that" Cole said, shooting Kurt a smile that went straight to his heart.
"It's fine" Kurt said quietly, Cole smiled.
"American? Are you on Holiday?" Cole had asked.
"No, here for good, well as soon as I find a job" Kurt says. Cole smile widens even more.
"You're in luck, I'm looking for an assistant, are you interested?"
Kurt hadn't even known what Cole did, but he didn't care, Cole was gorgeous and offered him a job, he took it on the spot. It was the icing on the cake that Cole was a fashion designer, and when he found out Kurt was into fashion, he was even more excited. One day after work, Cole offered to walk Kurt home. Kurt explained that he was currently looking for a place and living in a hostel, and Cole wasn't having that.
"No assistant of mine will be living in a hostel. You'll move in with me." Cole demanded.
"I couldn't do that, I wouldn't be able to afford rent, I'm sure you live in an expensive place" Cole just smirks.
"We can think of other ways you can compensate me" he said.
When Kurt moved in he found out that Cole only had one bedroom. And that's when they became fuck buddies. After work Cole would usually go out, and Kurt would go straight to the apartment. If Cole didn't find anything else he would come home to Kurt, and have his way with him. Kurt didn't mind this arrangement, he made Kurt feel loved, he spoiled him with fancy clothes, and a fully stocked refrigerator. A year into their arrangement, Kurt was asked out on a date. Kurt had decided to say yes, figuring it would be a fun way to spend the evening, but this angered Cole. Kurt was surprised when he found Cole home in the apartment before him that night.
"Did you have fun?" Cole asked from his spot on the couch, placing his Vogue to the side.
"Yeah he was nice" Kurt said, not convincingly. Cole got up from the couch and grabbed Kurt close to him.
"You're my boyfriend now" he said before attacking Kurt's lips.
And they were boyfriends, Kurt didn't object. He knew Cole cheated on him, but Kurt didn't really mind, because he was cheating on him to, with his mind at least. And that brought Kurt to where he was now, working for Cole, sleeping with Cole, "dating Cole". And that's why he had no choice but to move back to New York, because what Cole said goes.
"Good morning" Cole said walking into the kitchen, kissing Kurt on a swollen part of his neck, and smirking at his handiwork before grabbing a mug. After pouring himself some coffee he sits across from Kurt at the table.
"You might want to wear a scarf today" Cole says mischievously.
"Last night was pretty interesting" Cole adds, and Kurt looks down at the table.
"Sorry about that, I don't know what got into Finn" Kurt said. Cole takes a sip of his coffee.
"I meant in the bedroom", Kurt flushes. And that was what he loved about Cole, he never once questioned Kurt on his past, he never asked about his family, and he didn't pester Kurt on what happened last night.
"So today we'll go into my new office, and see what has to be done. I have to fly back to London tonight, I'll be back in a week, maybe two" Cole said nonchalantly.
"Can't I go with you, I need to get my stuff" Kurt said eyes wide.
"You need to stay here and make sure everything is situated for when I get back. And I'll grab your stuff, and anything I forget I'll just buy you here". Kurt is panicking; he doesn't want to be in this city, especially alone.
"We need to go" Cole says noticing the time, walking back towards the bedroom, leaving Kurt sitting in the kitchen, still freaking out.
…..
"I can't believe he just walked away from you" Burt said, he had just arrived to New York with Carole in tow, and Burt was currently sitting on Finn and Rachel's sofa, his head buried in his hands.
"What did we do to make him hate us so much?" Burt said sadly.
"He doesn't hate you. He was just going through a rough time when he left, and obviously still is" Carole says rubbing Burt's back.
"What do we do now, look up this boyfriend of his?" Burt asks, and Carole shakes his head.
"First you need to rest, and then we will figure this all out tomorrow. But if I may, I think maybe it would be best if you let him come to you" Carole said.
"He's not going to come to us," Finn said, and Rachel shot him a look.
"I want to talk to Blaine" Burt said, everyone looked at him.
"Honey, you know Blaine said he was going to keep his distance when he sent us Kurt's stuff back. He needed to, to move on," Carole said calmly.
"I want to know exactly what was going on before Kurt left, not just some shit about him assuming Kurt was depressed and not liking school, I want exact details".
"That boy doesn't need to be upset anymore" Carole says.
"I'm not going to yell at him, Rachel you can call him right?"
"Sure" Rachel says hesitantly.
"Good girl" Burt says before walking to the bathroom.
…..
Blaine woke up next to a warm body, which in recent months wasn't common and startled him a little. But he smiled when he turned around and saw Oliver staring back at him.
"Morning" Oliver said yawning a little.
"Didn't expect to see you this morning" Blaine said moving in closer to Oliver.
"Day off" Oliver says with a smile on his face.
"Did you find your friend Kurt"?
"Yeah, he wanted nothing to do with me or Finn, he's dating some fashion hot shot or something" Blaine shrugged. "At least we tried" he added. "When did you get back?" Blaine asked.
"About an hour ago" Oliver said, yawning again.
"So what should we do today?" Oliver asks. Blaine smiles suggestively, rolling till he is on top of Oliver, and straddles him.
"I have an idea" Blaine says, wiggling a little before leaning down to capture Oliver's lips in his. The second their lips make contact Blaine whines and swipes his tongue against Oliver's lips until he opens his mouth, allowing it inside. Just then Blaine's phone rings. Both men groan and Oliver grabs Blaine's face and brings it back to his.
"Ignore it" Oliver says huskily. Blaine leans down to kiss him again, Oliver bringing his hands to the small of Blaine's back, but Blaine is distracted, the back of his mind is wondering if someone was calling about Kurt. Blaine pulls away and Oliver let's out a short breath.
"Sorry" Blaine says as he rolls off of Oliver grabbing his phone from his bed side table. He frowns when he see's Rachel's name on the caller ID.
"Hey" he says a little breathlessly.
"Hey Blaine, is this a good time?" he looks at Oliver who has his eyes closed, and hands behind his head.
"Yeah, what's up"?
"Burt was wondering if maybe you could come over and talk to him?" Rachel says slowly. Blaine swallows a little, he was afraid of this.
"I-yeah sure" he says. "When"?
"Now? Sorry but he hasn't slept much and Carole is worried".
"On my way" Blaine says hanging up the phone. Oliver opens his eyes and gives Blaine a dirty look.
"Where are you going"?
"Kurt's dad wants to talk to me" Blaine said getting off the bed, grabbing a pair of jeans from the ground and slipping them on. He rummages through a drawer and grabs the first shirt he can find.
"It's my only day off" Oliver reminds him.
"I know but you need to sleep anyway, and I'll be back in an hour tops" he walks to Oliver's side and kisses him quickly before quickly heading towards the door.
….
"Hi Blaine" Rachel says when she answered the door smiling brightly. She hugs him quickly before leading him into the living room. He notices Carole and Burt sitting on the couch, and he's surprised how much they've aged since he last seen them a couple years ago. He figured most of it was from stress. Carole got up from the couch and gave Blaine a tight squeeze.
"You look so good" she cooed into his ear.
"Hello Blaine" Burt said from the couch. Blaine went up and shook his hand firmly.
"Well let's leave them to it" Carole said leading Finn and Rachel into the kitchen.
"Thanks for going with Finn yesterday" Burt said as Blaine sat down.
"Of course" Blaine said folding his hands in his lap, a sign that he was nervous.
"So I know we've talked about this already. But I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened before Kurt left. I find his behavior yesterday to be so not like him. If there's anything you didn't mention to protect Kurt or even yourself, I need to know, I won't judge or yell at you" Burt said sincerely. Blaine watched Burt for a moment before taking a deep breath.
"I noticed in September, he wasn't happy. He wasn't making friends, he seemed to be struggling with his work, but for the most part he hid his sadness pretty well. In October he got really drunk, and told me his teachers told him he wouldn't make it as a designer." Burt growled. "And after that was when things got bad. He failed his midterms, well you know that, but he was avoiding me, we weren't really speaking, he was barely talking to Rachel or anyone". His voice quivered a little.
"It's ok son" Burt reassured him.
"I was planning on breaking up with him. I knew it was hard on him that I was so happy when he obviously wasn't. I avoided the apartment because I usually ended up in a bad mood when I went home. I'd gone as far as checking to see if Rachel would let Kurt move in. I was going to stay at a friend's apartment and give him time to collect his things. But he left before I had the chance". Burt looked ahead emotionless at Blaine, which only made him more nervous.
"I think Kurt knew I was going to break it off, he wasn't dumb" Blaine added, and Burt nodded his head in agreement.
"Can I ask you something"? Burt asks, and Blaine nods his head.
"If you were going to break up with him, why were you so helpful with trying to find him"?
"I loved him. And I blamed myself for him leaving, for not trying to do something about it, and I thought that was my way making things better". Burt smiles.
"You're a good kid you know that. And you shouldn't blame yourself, I don't think there was anything you could have done" Blaine smiles shyly at Burt, he had missed him.
"Carole thinks we should wait to see if Kurt comes to us, but I don't think he will" Blaine nods his head in agreement.
"I know you're in a relationship, but if I do find Kurt, would you want to see him? Get some closure? I think you deserve that much" Burt said. Blaine was surprised at Burt's question.
"I'm not sure, seeing him yesterday was hard" Blaine says honestly.
"I'm sure it was kiddo. Think about it, I'll have Rachel call you when or if he does come to us" he sighs.
"Thanks Burt" Blaine says with a smile. Blaine get's up to head towards the door when his phone beeps, he smiles when he see's it's a text from Oliver.
I got called in, I'll see you tomorrow xox
…
Kurt was angrily chopping up bits of chicken to throw into his salad. He was officially alone for the week, and very unhappy about it to say the least. Cole promised it would only be a week, tops two, and Kurt would be so busy with setting up the office that it would fly by, but it was only an hour and he was already miserable.
"Shit" he screamed when he accidently sliced his finger. He quickly runs to the sink to run water over it, and bites his lips when it doesn't stop bleeding. He grabs a paper towel and wraps his tightly around his finger. After holding it there for five minutes he notices how deep the cut is, and how it wouldn't stop bleeding.
Kurt had to take a taxi to the hospital, clutching a paper towel roll in his hands. After waiting for twenty minutes in the waiting room, they finally called him in. After waiting another ten minutes for a doctor, a very handsome man in scrubs enters his room. He's tall, tan, and has a full head of blonde hair. Kurt thought he could easily pass for a model. He smiled at Kurt as he picked his chart up from the table, and Kurt wishes he had been wearing something more flattering.
"What seems to be the problem Mr." he pauses to read the chart, "Kurt Hummel", Kurt notices his tone of voice drastically changed when he said Kurt's name.
"I sliced my finger with a knife" Kurt says trying to ignore it, what was wrong with his name?
"So you did" the handsome man said, examining Kurt's hand.
"I'll send a nurse in to get you stitched up" he said fleeing the room quickly.
Oliver left Kurt's room quickly and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He had two choices, he could be a great boyfriend and call Blaine and tell him Kurt was here, so Blaine could tell Kurt's father, and risk getting in trouble, or he could be a crappy boyfriend, save his job, and his relationship. He put's the phone up to his ear and takes a deep breath.