A/N: So I realised today that I'm writing about 700 things and re-writing hundreds more and I'm just swamped in this big stick puddle of fics that I'll never finish. Oops. Hur hur.
Once again, thank you to everybody who has subscribed to this story, or has author alerted me, or favourited any of my fics recently. You guys are the tater to my tots.
And don't be afraid to review ^_^
(3.00)
Hey, Blaine.
(3.10)
Blaine.
(3.15)
Blaine, hey.
(3.20)
BLAINE.
(3.21)
Yes?
(3.22)
Next time, answer on the first text, please.
(3.25)
What do you want?
(3.27)
It's three in the morning.
(3.27)
Or rather, it was.
(3.35)
Is that all?
(3.36)
No!
(3.36)
I had a great idea!
(3.46)
It really is great..
(3.49)
Don't you want to hear it, Blaine? ):
(3.51)
Fine.
(3.52)
Yay!
(3.52)
You act like a puppy on Friday mornings.
(3.53)
Is that a bad thing?
(3.53)
It's a welcome change from Cranky-Like-Hell Mondays.
(3.54)
What's this idea then?
(3.56)
A duet!
(3.57)
(3.57)
I'm going to bed.
(3.58)
You should too.
(3.58)
You're completely right.
(3.59)
We'll discuss this further on Coffee Tuesday.
(3.59)
Until then..
(4.01)
I bid you farewell.
(4.02)
Go to sleep, Jesse.
Joe already had Jesse and Blaine's coffee orders ready for them when they arrived, separately, but within mere minutes of each other. He laughed with them as they paid, directing Blaine to where Jesse had positioned himself just moments ago. His little cafe had a few extra Tuesday visitors today, two of which included a young girl and her father, the first full of energy and the second positively drained. He gave the girl a cup of hot chocolate with extra cream, sprinkles and marshmallows. Her father asked for the strongest coffee there was.
Jesse and Blaine grew more comfortable with each other every week. It was now the fourth time they had met at the cafe and they were already at ease together. Joe didn't hear what they talked about, but he imagined it was deep and personal, as boys of their age wouldn't spend the time and energy meeting up if it wasn't beneficial for both of them.
He often wondered why they chose his humble cafe to host their Tuesday coffee chats. Was it the atmosphere? The service? Was it purely because nobody came in on Tuesdays, for reasons unknown even to Joe himself, and they simply wanted the simplicity of a private meeting? He doubted that he'd ever know, but he enjoyed their presence and they were both interesting enough to give him something to look forward to.
Blaine had stopped wearing his trench coat and scarf by the fourth meeting, as the seasons drifted from spring to early summer, and he even lost a few layers of his uniform, losing his thick sweater from under his blazer and exposing the white Oxford shirt beneath.
Jesse had also changed his dress sense, something that Blaine had never really stopped to notice. However, thick scarves turned to thin, and heavy, dark jackets were swapped for short sleeved t-shirts layered over long sleeved.
"Happy Tuesday." Jesse smiled up at Blaine as he approached the table, holding up a set of sheet music for the other boy to take.
Blaine took the papers with a confused and wary expression. "What's this then?" He sat at the table and spread the papers out on the desk, placing his coffee cup next to Jesse's.
"Our duet." Jesse said in a matter-of-fact way.
"Ah, Blaine raised an eyebrow, "So you were serious about that, then?"
Jesse frowned. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You seemed overly excited, I thought you might have been drunk-texting."
"Trust me, you'd know if I was drunk-texting." Jesse smirked and swiped his coffee cup up, raising it to his lips. He had to wipe away the small line of froth that traced his upper lip from the cream in his coffee before replacing his cup in its spot next to Blaine's.
"So this is our duet?"
"Oh, well would you look at that," Jesse picked up a sheet and squinted at it, "It is!" He opened his mouth sarcastically and Blaine scowled, taking the sheet back.
"You're so funny." He mumbled.
Jesse laughed. "The funniest thing is, I actually am."
Blaine's expression softened. "And you want to perform this-"
"Now." Jesse said shortly. Blaine blinked a few times.
"Now?"
"Yes, now."
"I haven't got a guitar with me." Blaine shrugged.
"There's one in my car."
Ten minutes later found Jesse perched at the piano and Blaine sat a short distance away, cradling a guitar that wasn't his. He allowed his hands some time to find their way around the slightly different structure of this guitar, finding that it was relatively simple.
Jesse looked across at him and nodded. The cafe fell silent as Joe hushed everybody, and Blaine felt the lump in his throat that always came before a performance of any kind. He swallowed it, and looked down at the guitar as Jesse counted to three.
On three, he began to play, and Jesse opened his mouth and sang.
"It's always early, it's always dark when I leave.
I check myself in the mirror, and he looks a lot like me."
They played and sang to the silence of the coffee shop, and Joe watched them with a proud grin on his face.
"It could be London, but he followed me back home.
I'm not complaining, but I wish he'd just stay in Rome."
Jesse looked right at Blaine, who looked back and understood the meaning in the words he sang.
"He isn't always right, you know."
Blaine took over vocally while Jesse played his turn on the piano, nodding to himself.
"Your expectations, I'm never gonna measure up.
I'm not a hero, no, I never was tall enough."
He shook his head and laughed to himself as he realised just how true to life the lyrics were, and how accurate Jesse had been in choosing his song for them.
"You're screaming at me, and I just want to scream right back.
You wouldn't believe it, no, he'd never do a thing like that."
The young girl who was sat quietly with her father had been captivated by the performance, and she drifted away from her table, taking a small bear with her as she wandered, finding her way to where Jesse's fingers nimbly elevated up and down the piano. Her large brown eyes watched in fascination.
"It's taking all I've got not to crack."
As Blaine rejoined the music and strummed on his guitar once more, the little girl wobbled over to where he sat, watching the precision with which Blaine's talented hands switched chords. Her father called her over, but Blaine offered him a smile that said it was okay if she stayed for a while.
Jesse and Blaine sang together as the little girl watched them.
"I only have to play the part, but that part, was only part of me.
Once in a while, let down my guard, and that's hard. Afraid of what you'll see."
Jesse dropped out at the last second, leaving Blaine and his guitar to finish the song alone.
"I didn't mean to disappoint, but I'm not who you think I am.
No, I'm not who you think I am."
Joe clapped loudly and wolf-whistled, and the little girl beamed from Blaine to Jesse, who bowed for her, much to her delight. She giggled and waited for Blaine to do the same, and when he complied, she positively lit up. She ran back to her father, who complimented both Jesse and Blaine and carried his daughter to the counter to talk to Joe.
"Thank you." Blaine breathed.
Jesse closed the lid on the piano. "For what?"
"The song."
"My pleasure."