Hello, today we're on our way back from Regionals, which was set in Chicago. By the way, I have never been on the Chicago Skyway, but from what I got from Wikipedia, it's this massive bridge that you would take going between Dalton and Chicago. So yupp.
Disclaimer: I only play with the characters that Ryan Murphy and Company created.
Summary: Blaine has a few insecurities hidden from the world. Kurt helps him slowly get over them, but not without a few bumps in the road.
"We're never getting off this bus," Jeff overdramatically exclaimed as they got stopped in traffic. They were only a half an hour away from the hotel, and the traffic would only elongate their six hour drive back to Dalton.
"Who wants to play Uno?" Wes asked, flashing a pack of Uno cards, "We'll just rearrange seats, so whoever wants to play can sit up here."
"Kurt, wanna play Uno?" Trent asked, as he walked up the aisle to the front of the bus, where the Uno game would be held.
"I think I'll stay back here," Kurt said, not even needing to add 'with Blaine' to the end. Trent gave an all knowing smile to the unspoken words.
Kurt observed Blaine's sleeping form, his face pressed against the cool glass, with Harold clutched to his chest. It was endearing. The bus lurched a bit in the traffic causing Blaine to jerk awake. He tiredly rubbed his eyes.
"Did we make it past the bridge?" Blaine asked, trying his best to hold an air of nonchalance in his voice.
"I don't think so," Kurt said, looking past Blaine out the broad window; his eyes caught a sign on the side of the road, "Nope. The toll for the bridge is in 400 feet."
"Oh," Blaine said, trying to keep the growing pit in his stomach from swallowing him whole, "I was kind of hoping that traffic let up a bit."
"Have a hot date for when we get back?" Kurt joked, as Blaine couldn't be bothered to even force a smile, "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Blaine blanched, as they passed the toll gates, officially on the bridge.
"You really don't need to suffocate Harold. I won't steal him from you again," Kurt said, trying to keep the conversation light about the way Blaine's hands tensed up around Harold's torso.
"I'm not so sure about that," Blaine pained, forcing a smile out, trying to loosen his grip on Harold.
"Look at the river," Kurt gushed, looking past Kurt at the magical blue water under them.
"I'd rather not," Blaine said, a ragged edge to his voice, which Kurt was quick to pick up on.
"It's a thing. I'm so sorry for not noticing earlier. I can't believe I didn't consider it a possibility," Kurt rushed, trying not to feel so horrible for joking about bridges and everything.
"Why do you think I got on the bus and passed out?" Blaine said, as Kurt connected it all in his head. He gently placed his palm on Blaine's forearm.
"We're going to distract you from the fact that you're on a bridge," Kurt said, unsure of how to plan a distraction, but the words seemed enough to get his mind churning. He snapped his fingers, remembering a game from his elementary days, "You're a shark."
"I'm a what?" Blaine asked, not sure how he was suddenly a carnivorous sea creature.
"No, Blaine, you're not doing this right," Kurt stifled a giggle, "You have to reply with something else. The person who takes too long to respond or repeats an answer loses."
"So, I'd go like... You're a dolphin," Blaine tentatively said, as Kurt's mind instantly rushed back to Brittany's gay shark is a dolphin theory. He would have to tell Brittany all about this when they got back to Dalton.
"Exactly," Kurt proudly exclaimed, as Wes shouted something about needing his gavel to control the Uno game, "You're a Wes."
"You're a David," Blaine taunted right back, as a small commotion was being caused in the front of the bus.
"You're a Harold," Kurt said, noticing that Blaine let up his death hold on the stuffed bear.
"You're a bear," Blaine said, as the world slowly slipped away. It was just Kurt, Harold, and this ridiculous game.
"You're a bird," Kurt said, spitting out the first thing he thought of.
"You're a Warbler," Blaine grabbled for an acceptable answer.
"You're a chicken," Kurt said, instantly regretting the words that instinctively slipped from his mouth. Blaine running from his past like some kind of chicken or coward was a sore topic.
"You're a slushie," Blaine playfully rebutted, making Kurt smile, knowing that his slip up went unharmed.
"You're a puppy," Kurt said, slightly remembering how Jeff and Nick referred to Blaine as an overactive puppy.
"You're a kitten," Blaine said, smiling at the fact that if Kurt was reincarnated into an animal, it would be a kitten, constantly primping.
"You're a cow," Kurt snorted, not entirely sure how his brain connected kittens and cows.
"Are you insinuating that I'm fat?" Blaine chuckled, putting on his best mock offended expression.
"I win," Kurt smugly said, knowing that Blaine broke one of the rules by straying from the game.
"I demand a redo," Blaine competitively said, before remembering a piece of his own childhood, "Do you remember Concentration?"
"Teach me?" Kurt asked, looking past Blaine's shoulder, where the scenery seemed to be passing a bit faster, signaling that the traffic might actually be letting up.
"Concentration," Blaine said, moving his hands to slap Kurt's, before clapping his own hands together three times, "Sixty-four."
"No repeats, or hesitations," Kurt instantly remembered the rhythm and words from summer camp, "I'll go first."
"I'll go second," Blaine said with a smile, as a small crowd formed due to the audacity of the clapping, "Category is names."
"Blaine," Kurt smiled at the boy across from him.
"Kurt," Blaine said, keeping the rhythm as a few Warblers watched.
"Jeff," Kurt fished around for names in his head, lining up a few of the Warblers names.
"Nick," Blaine countered, as their clapping got more feverent.
"Wes," Kurt said, knowing which name would come out of Blaine's mouth.
"David," Blaine predictably said, as Kurt grabbled for a name other that the one that continuously infiltrated his mind.
"Finn," Kurt sputtered, just in the nick of time.
"Trent," Blaine said, pushing away Kurt's name from his mind. This was not the time to be distracted by a single boy.
"Rachel," Kurt confidently said, drawing from his New Directions friends.
"Err, Kurt?" Blaine lapsed, cursing himself only thinking of one name. It wasn't hard; Jon was sitting right next to him. If only.
"You lose," Kurt said, with a broad smile, grateful that he wasn't the one who slipped up. Meanwhile, the Uno game had been discarded in order to pick up watching Kurt and Blaine play elementary hand-clapping games.
"I challenge you to a redo," Blaine said, his face flaming from uttering Kurt's name. He knew more names that just Kurt's.
"I think we're going to play one huge game," Kurt said, making a sorry face, as the Warblers haphazardly placed themselves making sure that they could all link hands to play Concentration together.
"Category's colors," Wes announced, as the game started up. Kurt smirked. He would win one more time. But, it didn't even matter that he would win, it mattered that Blaine left Harold in his seat, his mind no longer plagued with thoughts of the bridge collapsing from under them.
I loved writing this chapter. I really hope that you all liked it. Reviews are like my love.
