AN: Hi, all! I'm so sorry that I just abandoned this fic months back, I did intend to continue but things got in the way and other stories took over and here we are. I thought I'd write another chapter at least for the people eagerly awaiting this, apologies again that I took so long to deliver! If enough people want me to, I'm hoping to put enough time aside to continue this fic - but no promises on how often I'll get the chance to update.
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter :) X
The following two days passed in shared smiles and snippets of conversation interrupted by various other teachers. Kurt found himself quickly falling back into the routine of work, missing the sleep-ins and lazy afternoons the previous weeks of holidays had provided.
Blaine was settling into the new school nicely, feeling as welcome as if he'd been there for years. It was such a different atmosphere to his old workplace and he knew that if nothing else positive could come out of the disaster of the year before, he could at least count this as a win.
Towards the end of lunch on Friday, Blaine ran into Kurt, literally, as he sped out of the staffroom to collect a form he'd forgotten to give someone. If he didn't grab it now he'd miss his chance, but when he saw those stunning, glasz eyes he stopped in his tracks.
"Still on for tonight?" Kurt asked, unaware of the complimentary thoughts running through Blaine's mind as he stared at Kurt, wondering how it was possible he looked even better than he had this morning when they'd briefly met in the corridor.
"Absolutely!" Blaine replied with a grin, looking forward to the date more than he'd like to admit. "Meet outside at 7?"
"7 it is."
Pulling his scarf closer in the chilling breeze, Kurt peered down the street, left then right, for what had to be the dozenth time in the past 5 minutes. He checked the time once more, sighing at the numbers staring back at him that indicated Blaine was now almost half an hour late.
He's not coming.
It would be a lie if Kurt said he hadn't been eager for this evening, maybe too eager if he was being honest, and the thought that he'd been alone in this excitement made him feel like even more of a joke. The strange thing was, Blaine had seemed just as enthusiastic when they'd spoken last and he really didn't seem the kind to just leave someone in the lurch.
After a few more minutes, Kurt decided it was about time to try calling Blaine, hoping he didn't seem too desperate, before trudging home for a well-deserved night in pj's with ice cream, Rent and Rachel.
But just as he was reaching in his pocket for his phone, Blaine appeared in a complete fluster, attempting a mix between a skip and a run that Kurt couldn't help but find ridiculously adorable.
"Hi, I'm so sorry I'm late, I was already running behind and then my mum called just as I was leaving and I couldn't get her off the phone and then I almost got lost and all the while I was just imagining you standing out here, waiting, thinking you were stood up, and to make matters worse my phone died so I couldn't even text you letting you know any of this," Blaine managed in what appeared to be one breath, clutching his chest comically as he panted for air.
Kurt stared back, eyes amused as he took in Blaine's disheveled appearance, shirt half-tucked, bow-tie askew, hair a disarray. It was less formal than his normal work attire but not casual enough to suggest he hadn't taken the time to pick the perfect outfit.
His hazel eyes were just as bright and inviting as always and Kurt knew that even if he were mad about the circumstances, he could never stay that way for long, not when Blaine was looking at him in a way that made him almost shiver. It was like he had never seen someone so beautiful before in his life and Kurt almost cowered away from the attention.
It had been a long time since anyone had found him even remotely attractive.
"Hi," Kurt greeted in reply and Blaine returned his smile, so glad that his date didn't appear upset. It had definitely not been his intention to begin the evening in such a manner and the whole drive there he'd worried about Kurt's reaction.
"I really am sorry for being so late-" Blaine began, only to be cut off by Kurt.
"It's fine," he assured, that gorgeous smile still in place, "I was wondering if you'd decided to run for the hills when you saw my hair completely free of product today – not my fault by the way, my delightful friend who's visiting decided it would be fun to hide my hairspray because I didn't allow her to hang this ginormous poster of herself in my living room; thank God I found my emergency can before tonight – but I am incredibly glad that you weren't scared off by my appearance au naturale."
Blaine had felt the grin creep onto his face almost as soon as Kurt had started talking and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped when he finished.
"Oh God, so many ways I could respond to that," Blaine teased with that same grin and he was awarded with Kurt's melodious laughter, bubbling out beyond control.
"Well, choose wisely," Kurt said seriously, trying - and failing - to hide a grin of his own, "I am most definitely expecting an eloquent response to that excellent display of my rambling skills."
Blaine smiled again, something he just knew he'd be doing a lot of tonight, and spoke without thought.
"As if your hair could be anything but perfect," he blurted, smiling when Kurt coloured lightly at the compliment. "Um, yeah…that's the response I'm gonna go with, I think…"
"Thanks," Kurt said genuinely, berating himself for blushing and giggling like a preteen girl. "Yours isn't so bad either, especially free of that gel you insist on wearing to work."
Blaine grinned, self-consciously bringing a hand to his hair to check if it was still in place. "Well thank-you, but as you can see, it gets a bit out of hand without the gel to tame it."
They shared another smile and both at once realised they had been standing outside for much too long considering the temperature.
"Shall we?" Kurt asked, gesturing to the restaurant awaiting them.
"We shall."
The warm, welcoming aroma of freshly made food greeted them as soon as they walked in the door and they waited less than a minute before being ushered to a table at the back half of the room. Menus were already in place and they chose their meals after a fair amount of deliberation that was riddled with witty banter.
"So what made you want to be a teacher?" Kurt asked once their food had come, surprisingly quickly for a busy Friday night. The place was filled with couples and a few families, and Kurt enjoyed the fact that he was on a date instead of eating out with his parents like he often did.
"I've always loved kids," Blaine said honestly, thinking back to the days when he'd been contemplating what career path to go down.
Music had been his other love but his parents had been fast to tell him how unrealistic that was. So he'd chosen the easier of his two passions to pursue and here he was.
"My older brother has two littlies," Blaine went on, "And during my senior year the eldest was just old enough to start school. He came home one day not understanding whatever the teacher had attempted to teach him and asked Coop – my brother – if Uncle Blainey could come over and help him understand. Apparently all my babysitting and piano lessons made me the only one who Jack could learn from. And that made my mind up, I wanted to be an elementary school teacher."
Kurt couldn't keep the smile off his face during Blaine's story, finding it difficult not to aw several times. This guy seemed like such a sweetheart and that was just the kind of person Kurt wanted to be with. He wondered if it was too preemptive to be ticking off boxes in his head for The Perfect Boyfriend.
So far Blaine was doing extremely well.
"That's so sweet!" Kurt said, hoping he didn't sound too much like he was gushing.
Blaine shrugged, looking down at his food with a small smile, "It sounds cuter than it was. How about you? Why did you want to be a teacher?"
Worrying his lip and avoiding Blaine's intrigued gaze, Kurt considered how to word his answer. The reasoning behind Blaine becoming a teacher was so…sublime, and his had been a matter of convenience and lack of choice. When put like that, it seemed so flippant, and he hoped Blaine wouldn't think less of him for it.
Somehow, Kurt knew he wouldn't.
"If I'm being honest, it was never something I even considered until my Dad had another heart attack," Kurt said quietly, strangely finding it easy to open up. His father wasn't something that he usually liked to talk about but Blaine made him feel as if he could share anything. "He's still not very well and although my stepmum is a nurse, I knew I couldn't leave him."
Blaine nodded, listening intently and his small, empathetic smile of encouragement urged Kurt to continue.
"I always wanted to go to New York, you see. The Broadway pipe dream. If Dad was healthy I think I'd be there now."
"I'm glad you're not," Blaine murmured, eyes widening when he realised he'd said his thoughts out loud. "God, that sounded horrible, I didn't mean it how it sounded, I swear, I'm sorry your Dad's unwell and that you haven't achieved your dreams, I just meant if you were in New York we wouldn't be here and I wouldn't have met you and I wouldn't be severely enjoying your company."
An amused grin played at Kurt's lips and he almost laughed at the sudden, adorable worry on Blaine's face.
"I knew what you meant," Kurt said, "And in that sense, I'm really glad I'm not there, too."
Blaine smiled, a blush still on his cheeks that he hoped would go away soon. "Anyway, what were you saying before I interrupted with my big mouth?"
Kurt chuckled, "Well, to cut a long story short, I decided to stay in Ohio instead of moving to New York with my best friend, and teaching was one of the few careers I thought I could stand instead of being on stage."
Kurt cringed as soon as the words left his mouth and he hastened to explain, "That sounds awful. I don't in any way mean to say teaching isn't a great job, it's just at the time nothing could replace performing for me. You probably think it's dumb, I know most people do."
"I don't think it's dumb at all," Blaine said quickly, "Music's a big part of my life too. If I didn't go with teaching, it would've been performing for me too. Probably not musical theatre, although it is something I love, I would've tried something in the music industry, though."
Kurt smiled, mentally checking off the box that said love of music.
"So do you sing, or play?" Kurt asked, conjuring up images of Blaine in a band, something he'd never thought of as incredibly sexy until then. He imagined being the supportive boyfriend and going along to all the concerts, no matter what. Each song Blaine would dedicate to his love and he'd sing directly to him, the crowd melting away into the background.
Oh, and he'd write Kurt a song too, of course. Several, highlighting every little thing he loved about his boyfriend and the deep emotions he felt for him.
"Both," Blaine replied, bringing Kurt back to reality, "Singing is what I enjoy most but I also play piano and guitar."
They discussed their tastes in music as they finished dinner, not at all ready to leave yet, until the topic swayed back to teaching.
"I was thinking," Blaine began, unconsciously running his finger around the rim of his glass of wine in an incredibly distracting manner, "About how to get through to your students."
Kurt's eyebrows shot up in pleasant surprise and he regarded the man in front of him with contained curiosity. "You've actually spent time thinking about that?"
Realising he might've just come across slightly too forward on the first date, Blaine blushed and became suddenly interested in his hands. "It affected you, so, of course."
Kurt felt a huge grin tug at his lips that he tried quickly to hide so as not to look overly eager. The thought that Blaine had wasted valuable time thinking about something of little importance to himself, but that held significance for Kurt, was almost too sweet for the young teacher to take in.
"So what did you come up with?" Kurt asked, hand on chin and eyes unwavering, giving Blaine his full attention.
"Well, you were saying earlier that your Lit students were generally fine, right? And that it's your French classes, one in particular, that you're finding difficult to rein in?"
Kurt nodded, pleased that Blaine had obviously been listening.
"When it comes to French, do you give them a fair amount of textbook work?"
"Well, yeah, that's how I learnt it back in high school," Kurt admitted, realising he was almost mirroring exactly how his French teacher had taught him.
"Right, but you were a conscientious, enthusiastic student who was willing to learn," Blaine stated and Kurt was pleasantly surprised at how well his date knew him already. "Sounds like these kids aren't in the same mind frame. You've gotta help them there, get them interested in the prospect of discovering the beauty of the language.
"Maybe take them to go see a French film, or just turn one of the textbook activities each lesson into more than just reading and writing. Like make some sort of game out of it, that sounds childish but I assure you students will do anything at the chance of winning a prize."
"So basically I bribe them to learn?" Kurt asked, a million different ideas already coming to mind. It was strange, he'd thought he'd tried everything to get his class motivated but it was like Blaine had just opened up a whole new world of possibilities that Kurt hadn't even considered, despite their simplicity.
Blaine grinned, "Basically. Chocolate works well."
Taking a sip of his drink, Kurt cocked his head to the side and regarded Blaine with a thoughtful expression.
"You're too smart to teach elementary school," Kurt said, nudging Blaine's foot with his under the table.
Blaine smiled, one of his dazzling, heart-stuttering smiles and bravely latched his foot around Kurt's ankle in return. "You're too attractive to even be teaching in a school."
Their eyes met quickly and they both burst out laughing, receiving a few looks for being so loud.
"That sounded like such a line," Blaine managed through spluttered laughter that only made Kurt laugh harder. "I'm sorry."
It took Blaine another few seconds to realise his foot was still trapping Kurt's and he made to remove it, only for Kurt to hook his own foot further around Blaine's ankle, offering a coy smile as he did so.
"I'm sorry, I'm terrible when it comes to first dates," Blaine said honestly, wishing he wasn't making such a mess of everything. "It's been a while since I've been on one."
Kurt arched an eyebrow at this, having expected Blaine to be the kind that attracted many, "How come? I mean, I don't mean to pry, but-"
"It's fine," Blaine said quickly, "I'd like for you to know."
Kurt felt a small smile settle on his face at this and he nodded for Blaine to continue, a warm, fuzzy feeling filling him at the knowledge that Blaine wanted to share his past with him.
"I was in a fairly serious relationship until last year," Blaine explained, feeling the familiar cold reach his chest as he thought of his ex, "One day everything was perfect, we were talking about marriage and our future, then the next he just left. I came back from work one night and his stuff was all gone."
Kurt fought the urge to gasp, completely horrified that someone would just leave in that way. He'd seen it in movies but had never thought it was actually done in real life. And to someone as lovely as Blaine, it just wasn't fair.
"All he left was a note saying I'm sorry," Blaine continued, his voice taking on an almost bitter quality as he remembered walking into their near-empty apartment, tears flowing once he'd found the note. "Like an apology could fix everything.
"Anyway, this has been my first date since. It was too painful to consider dating until recently, and you're the first person since that I've actually genuinely wanted to get to know," Blaine admitted, his gaze meeting Kurt's only to find a saddened expression on his face.
"Oh, God, I've just turned this into the depressing tales of my life, I'm so sorry!" Blaine cried, "I repeat, I'm terrible at first dates."
With a small smile, Kurt shook his head and reached out to take Blaine's hand, "You're doing a pretty good job so far."
Conversation continued a while longer as they worked their way through a bottle of wine, Kurt listening as Blaine told him more about the jerk, Michael, and how although it's taken him a whole year to realise it, he's actually better off without him. Kurt agreed, assuring him that this Michael didn't deserve Blaine one bit and that it was definitely a good thing he was moving on to greener pastures.
After a dispute over who would pay for dinner, one that Kurt eventually won under the pretenses that he had asked out Blaine therefore he should get the bill, they left the restaurant and deliberated going for a walk before deciding against it because of the cold.
"Next time," Blaine promised as he walked Kurt to his navigator, looking forward to any excuse that meant holding hands.
"Definitely," Kurt agreed, excited at the prospect of another date. Tonight had been wonderful - magical, even - and he couldn't wait to spend more time with Blaine.
They stopped next to Kurt's car and both looked at each other for a second before Blaine couldn't hold back any longer and closed the distance between them, bringing his lips to Kurt's. Surprised, but pleasantly so, Kurt faltered for only a moment before he melted into the kiss.
When it appeared that neither had any intention of pulling away, Kurt brought a steady hand to Blaine's waist and fisted the other in the material of Blaine's shirt, kissing deeper. Blaine's fingers curled around the side of Kurt's face, bringing him closer and closer.
They eventually broke apart with giddy smiles and floundering hearts as if they were teenagers sharing a first kiss. Kurt instinctively went to pull his scarf closer but realised he didn't feel so cold anymore. In fact, a warmth had settled within him and he wondered if his heart might beat right out of his chest.
He smiled at Blaine, suddenly feeling shy. "Thanks for tonight."
Blaine returned the smile, fighting the urge to reply with a peppering of kisses instead of words. "I had a great time," he said honestly, wishing the evening wasn't coming to a close.
"Me too."
A short silence set in before Blaine murmured a goodbye and they both leant in, mouths meeting in the middle for a chaste kiss goodnight.
"I'll see you Monday," Kurt breathed, reminding himself it was generally a good thing to inhale and exhale respectively.
"Lunch date?" Blaine asked hopefully.
Kurt grinned, "Save me a seat in the staffroom."
With one last smile, Blaine repeated his goodbye and headed to his car further down the street, offering Kurt a quick wave before opening the door and clambering in.
He sat still for a moment, not moving to put his key in the ignition yet, just wanting to savour this feeling. Nobody had made him feel this way in a long, long time and he knew that meant something.
With the grin that had refused to leave his face since his lips had first touched Kurt's, Blaine took out his phone and wrote a quick message to send to Tanya, the godsend matchmaker.
Thank-you!
AN: Again, sorry about the wait! Feedback is always appreciated and I'd love for you to let me know if you want more of this :) Thanks for the kind reviews so far! Just some shameless self promotion, you might want to check out London, Baby or Forever, I Vow, two fics that I update more regularly because, as I said, if I do continue this I don't know how often I'll be able to update.
Hope you're all well and you survive the next Glee episode :) Review! X