I am terribly sorry for the delay in this update! While I was home for Christmas break, I didn't have internet, so I couldn't look up the lyrics for the duet. .
To make matters worse, not only did I get my wisdom teeth removed last week, but I had a cold when they did it! Apparently colds take twice as long to shake when your body is healing from something else too. *shakes head*
But I'm back now, and it's duet time!
Ok, so the duet is really going to be much better if you guys are listening to the song while reading that part. (At least, I think it will be) So, if you don't have access to it on your own, here's a link. www. youtube. com/watch? v=euEwLVXcWKs (You'll have to remove the spaces after the periods and the question mark in there) Also, for all anyone who reads a lot of Darren Criss interviews, you might recognize this as the song he said he'd want to sing a duet to in the show. ^.^
(And after listening to it a dozen times while writing that duet, I have to say, I am really loving this song.)
Now I know it ain't easy
But it ain't hard trying
Every time I see you smiling
And I feel you so close to me
Blaine walked down the hall, humming Kurt and his duet quietly under his breath. They'd practiced quite a bit on Monday and Tuesday, as they'd been asked to perform their piece on Wednesday after school. With the exception of Quinn and Mercedes, everyone else had chosen to do a solo piece, so they needed to start the performances early in the week if they wanted to get them all in.
And those few days of rehearsing had been amazing. Ever since they'd sung "Baby It's Cold Outside" before Christmas, Blaine had been dying to do another duet with Kurt. They'd had plenty of opportunity to sing together with the Warblers, of course, but there was just a different feel when it was just the two of them. It was so much more… intimate. Blaine knew that wasn't necessarily a good thing. He was supposed to be maintaining his friendship with Kurt, not causing awkward sexual tension between them. But somehow, when they were singing together, he really didn't care that he might be overstepping his boundaries.
Over the years, Blaine had mastered the art of ambiguity and mystery. He'd made a point of keeping his feelings and thoughts locked up to where only he could access them, carefully controlling what he allowed other people to see. There were only two things that had ever broken down that carefully constructed wall even a little bit: Kurt and singing. To have the two together, well, Blaine couldn't even describe how freeing that felt.
His humming was abruptly interrupted by a voice he was beginning to find ever increasingly grating.
"What's your angle?" Blaine turned to see Rachel standing next to her locker, hands on hips and glaring at him.
"I'm sorry?" Rachel grabbed his arm and dragged him to a mostly deserted part of the hallway. She spun around to face him, a bit more dramatically than was strictly necessary.
"Why are you really here? Is it to spy on us? Is it to try to break us, because I'll tell you right now, it's not going to work."
"I think you have the wrong idea—"
"Look, I know you've got Kurt sold, but I'm warning you, I've been down this road before and I know exactly where this kind of thing ends, and if you hurt Kurt in any way, you will be sorry. I know everyone thinks I only care about myself, but I care about this club too, and the people in it, and if you try for one second to bring us down, I will make sure you regret it for the rest of your life." During her speech, Rachel had inched closer and closer, so that by the end, she was only a few inches away from him, pointing an accusing finger at his chest.
"Rachel, relax," Blaine said, raising his hands in surrender, "I would never do anything to hurt Kurt or anyone else in New Directions. I promise." Rachel leaned back and crossed her arms across her chest, looking unconvinced.
"Then why are you here?"
"I'm here because I need to be, both for me and for Kurt. I didn't want Kurt to have to face the bullying here on his own—"
"He's not on his own. We're here for him, and we stand up for him." Rachel sounded hurt. "Besides, we all get bullied, and we're all in it together."
"I know that, but Rachel, you have to know that it's not the same. Lots of people get bullied in high school, but what Kurt is dealing with, it's more than just not fitting in."
"What do you mean?" Blaine bit his tongue, wondering if he'd already said too much. He knew that Kurt hadn't told any of his friends about Karofsky's death threat. They only found out when it came out to the principal. He was absolutely positive they still didn't know about the kiss.
"I really can't get into that, Rachel. I promised Kurt I wouldn't talk about it." That was more or less true. He hadn't given the promise directly to Kurt, but for Blaine, the promise was implicit in their friendship. Kurt had trusted him with a lot, and he wasn't going to betray that trust. If that meant that Rachel couldn't trust him, then so be it.
Rachel fixed him with a suspicious look, but didn't press the subject. "Fine. So what's your other reason?" Blaine blinked, taken aback.
"What other reason?"
"You said you needed to be here for Kurt and for you. If Kurt needs you, find, but why do you need him?" Blaine really was not in the mood to get into this now, especially not with Rachel. He was starting to get used to her, and most of the people in the Glee Club were great, but he wasn't ready to open up completely to them. Even telling Kurt about his bullying had been huge for Blaine, and he still wasn't sure what had made him do it. Sure, Kurt reminded him a lot of himself, and he had wanted to help him out, but it still surprised him that he'd told him as much as he had.
"It's personal," he said defensively.
"Are you in love with him?" That question threw him off. He liked Kurt, sure, but he'd been trying hard not to let exactly how much he liked him show. Right now, Kurt needed a friend, and Blaine wasn't going to jeopardize that friendship by trying anything. The fact that Rachel had brought it up, even if it was just a guess, made him uneasy.
"That's none of your business," he said, a bit more harshly than necessary. "But as a friend, he has really helped me to see what's important to me, and right now, that includes me coming back to a public school." Rachel looked like she was about to say something else, but Blaine cut her off. "Look, class is going to start soon, and I don't want to be late."
He brushed past her without giving her a second glance. This time as he walked down the halls, he didn't hum. He was much too distracted.
Kurt took a deep breath as he waited in the wings of the auditorium for the music to start. He glanced at the wings across the stage to where Blaine was waiting, and was rewarded with an encouraging smile. He looked handsome in his black slacks and navy button up shirt, accessorized with a pair of wide white suspenders. Kurt had never been a huge fan of suspenders, but seeing them on Blaine, he was beginning to change his mind. Kurt was dressed in the same color pallet, though he had opted for an asymmetrical zipped black vest in place of the suspenders, and he wore a white bowtie to complete the look.
Kurt had been ecstatic to have the chance to sing a duet with Blaine again, but now that their performance was here, he was back to feeling nervous about it. He wasn't sure how the rest of Glee club would take it, and he wasn't sure he was fully prepared for the inevitable fallout if the story somehow made it around to the rest of the school. And, knowing McKinley, it would. Still, with Blaine smiling at him like that, he found that his excitement outweighed his nervousness. This is what he'd wanted, after all, to sing with Blaine.
The music started, and Kurt took a deep breath, pushing all other thoughts out of his head and preparing to sing his heart out.
"The moment has come to face the truth." Blaine stepped onto the stage, his hands tucked casually into his pockets as he meandered to his position downstage right.
"I'm wide awake, and so are you." He pointed to someone in the audience and gave a wink on that last word.
"Do you have a clue what this is?"
"I don't know." Kurt stepped out of the wings, his hands behind his back and a coy look on his face, though he kept his eyes trained on the audience. He quickly spotted Mercedes and was relieved to see the grin on her face.
"Are you everything that I miss?"
"I don't hope so."
"We'll just have to wait and see."
"Wait, and see."
"If things go right, we're meant to be." Blaine and Kurt sand this line together, still looking at the audience until the words 'meant to be,' when they exchanged a brief smile.
"The surface is gone, we scratched it off.
We made some plans, and let them go." Kurt sang, looking once again at the audience, but slowly sauntering across the stage towards Blaine. He stopped when he reached him and leaned in.
"Do you have the slightest idea?"
"No, I don't." Blaine chimed in, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"Why the world is bright with you here?"
"Oh, is that so?" Blaine leaned back from Kurt and smiled mischievously.
"Stay a while and wait and see." Kurt turned away and took a few steps, coy as ever.
"Wait, and see."
"If things go right we're meant to be." They sang together, glancing at each other again on the final phrase.
"Oh, what a world this life would be
Forget all your technicolour dreams
Forget modern nature
This is how it´s meant to be."
As they sang the chorus, they wandered toward each other, circling, but keeping their distance.
"The time is here for being straight." Blaine threw Kurt a wink at the inside joke from their practices.
"It's not too early and never too late
People say I should watch my pace." Blaine had wandered to center stage, where a long prop box lay, and sat down.
"What do they know?" Kurt shook his head with a bemused smile and joined him on the box, crossing his legs.
"Think how you spend all your days" Blaine leaned in a bit, but Kurt looked away in a seemingly indifferent display.
"They all say so."
"They'll just have to wait and see."
"Wait, and see."
"If things go right they'll have to agree." Singing this line together, both boys jumped to their feet, once again wandering down stage. This time, however, as they sang the chorus, they kept their eyes on each other, winding intertwining paths down to their next mark.
"Oh, what a world this life would be
Forget all your technicolor dreams
Forget modern nature
This is how it's meant to be."
Kurt put his hands on his hips and looked expectantly to Blaine. This was the part of their performance he had been the most worried about. Though Blaine had an amazing voice, his time with the Warblers hadn't done much for his dance skills, and he'd had to learn a lot in two days.
Sticking his hands in his pockets and scrunching his shoulders up a bit, Blaine tapped out the beat with his shoes in a simple, yet entertaining tap dance. He crossed one foot behind the other with his last beat, shooting a smile at Kurt, who picked up the beat with his own tap number. His feet moved in a bit more complicated patterns than Blaine's, and he kept his hands free to add a few sweeps and subtle movements to his performance. He finished his number with the same tap of one shoe behind the other that Blaine had, holding out his hand. Blaine took it and spun him across the stage to his other side.
"Do you have the slightest idea?" Blaine held out his hands beseechingly.
"No, I don't."
"Why the world is bright with you here?" He wandered closer to Kurt, hands once again in his pockets, as if what he was saying was the most casual thing in the world.
"Oh, is that so?" Kurt raised an eyebrow in mock skepticism.
"Stay a while and wait and see."
"Wait, and see."
"If things go right we're meant to be."
As they sang the chorus for the last time, Blaine and Kurt slowly strolled to opposite sides of the stage, once again looking at the audience. Kurt was pleased to see that Mercedes still looked thrilled, and most of the other Glee club members looked like they were enjoying the song as well.
"Oh, what a world this life would be
Forget all your technicolour dreams
Forget modern nature
This is how it's meant to be."
Having reached the edge of the stage, Kurt leaned back against the wall and looked up to see Blaine doing the same. Kurt, with his hands tucked behind his back, and Blaine, with his hands tucked into his pockets, watched each other as they sang the final words to the song.
"Forget modern nature
This is how it's meant to be."
The music faded and the auditorium erupted in applause. Kurt grinned at his friends, grateful to see all of them on their feet in a standing ovation, Mercedes clapping and cheering harder than anyone. Santana even let out a wolf whistle. Kurt laughed and glanced at Blaine, who was grinning back at him. This was heaven, Kurt realized. Even though his love for Blaine would probably never be fully reciprocated, at least he had a friend who was willing to sing with him and let the assumptions be damned. And then there were his other friends, whose applause was still ringing around the auditorium. Having their support and seeing them all together there reminded Kurt why he had missed McKinley so much while he was away.
"You know, I've got to admit, slushie facials are a lot worse than they sound. It's like instant brain freeze. I always thought you were over exaggerating."
"When do I over exaggerate?" Blaine let out a small laugh, smiling at Kurt's reflection. The boy's expression was completely serious, with the exception of a small wink in Blaine's direction, as he meticulously wiped every trace of the orange slushie from his face. The two boys were in the bathroom, cleaning themselves off after the attack that afternoon. Just as predicted, not 24 hours after the duet had taken place, word had spread, snide comments from the football team had been thrown with renewed force, and Blaine had received his very first slushie facial.
Blaine turned his gaze back to his own reflection. He looked a mess. He had already washed the red sugary streaks from his face, but it was possible that his shirt was completely ruined. Not that he was too concerned with that. Kurt had warned him not to wear anything that wouldn't survive a slushie attack today, and though he hadn't had the courage to wear a fashionable slicker (the couture rain gear looked fabulous on Kurt, but Blaine was fairly certain he could never pull off the look), he had worn a shirt he didn't really care about and stashed a back up in his bag. The real problem was his hair. Little colored chunks of ice coated the right side, and the sticky mess was sure to wreak havoc when it dried. With a resigned sigh, Blaine turned on the faucet and stuck his entire head underneath it.
He quickly scrubbed his hands through his hair, washing out the slushie, as well as all the hair product that normally kept each and every curl perfectly in place. When he was satisfied that his hair was finally clean, he turned off the faucet, squeezed the excess water out of his hair, and stood up straight.
The look on Kurt's face was priceless. The handkerchief he had been using was hovering in front of his face, as if he had frozen halfway through wiping slushie off his cheek; his eyes were wide and disbelieving.
"What?" Blaine asked, trying not to laugh at his expression.
"Nothing," Kurt said, finally snapping himself out of his stupor. "I just— I never seen you with messy hair. It's much curlier than I would have thought." Blaine glanced in the mirror, running a hand through the wet curls a bit self-consciously. He'd never been particularly fond of his hair. The curls were a pain, and it took him years to finally find a hairstyle that could put them even slightly under control.
"Not to worry," Kurt said brusquely, reaching into his bag to pull out several bottles of hair product. "We can fix you up in no time." Just then, the bell rang. "Or not."
Blaine quickly pulled the extra shirt out of his bag and slipped off the ruined one. Kurt politely averted his eyes, loading his belongings back into his bag, but though Blaine couldn't be sure, he thought he saw Kurt sneak a few glances his way. He slipped clean, plain white t-shirt over his head and stuffed the button up one to the bottom of his bag. Then he and Kurt practically ran to their next classes, hoping to minimize the tardy damage as much as possible.
Kurt stood by his locker, taking his time loading the books into his bag that he would need for tonight. Before closing the door, he let his eyes linger on the one decoration his locker still had: the word courage, crafted from letters cut from magazines. The picture of Blaine that used to hang above it was now gone. There were two reasons for that. 1. He didn't want to creep Blaine out. 2. Now that they were at the same school, Kurt got to see Blaine in person every day, so there was really no need for the picture to remind him to be courageous.
"Hey," a voice said from behind him. Kurt turned to see Blaine looking… well, quite honestly, looking amazingly hot! That is, more so than usual. Kurt was so used to seeing Blaine in his Dalton uniform with every hair in place. Even after transferring to McKinley, he had dressed mostly the same. He no longer wore the Dalton jacket and matching tie, but the button down shirts and nice slacks stayed, albeit in more varied tones than the whites and grays of Dalton. Usually, Blaine looked sophisticated and rather dapper. Right now, he didn't.
His hair was in tousled curls and, though Kurt was normally of the opinion that messy hair made a person look far less attractive, he was willing to admit that he was wrong here. Then there was the T-shirt. Try as he may have to give Blaine a bit of privacy when he was changing earlier, Kurt's eyes couldn't help but dart his way a few times. While he wasn't all rippling muscles, he was not in the least bit hard on the eyes. The white T-shirt he was wearing now showed off a particularly nice part of that body: his arms. As they were usually hidden under jacket sleeves, Kurt had never realized how toned they were.
One of those arms reached up to adjust the strap on his bag and Kurt suddenly realized he was staring. Again. This was the second time today that Blaine had caught him off guard, and Kurt was a bit (make that very) flustered by it.
"Hey," he said, trying to shake the dumbfounded look on his face and replace it with a cool smile. "I'm not used to seeing you look so casual." Blaine smiled and shrugged.
"I used to do the jeans and T-shirt look all the time, but I guess I've just gotten used to being a bit more formal when I go out." Kurt nodded.
"Well, you make the look work." Kurt turned away, partially to close his locker, and partially to cover the small blush that was creeping onto his cheeks. That compliment had sounded so suave in his head, but once the words had left his lips, he found himself worrying that the comment may have overstepped the bounds of friendship. He was relieved to hear Blaine laugh, and he when he looked back at his friend, he was running a hand through those gorgeous curls with a good humored smile on his face.
"Maybe I should try it out more often then."
"Queers." Kurt's head swiveled around, glaring in the direction of the whispered comment. He didn't recognize the speaker though. Glancing back at Blaine, he saw him frowning in the boy's direction, though his eyes looked miles away. Blaine turned back to Kurt, and it may have been his imagination, but he was sure he saw a deep pain behind those eyes. However, a second later, and Blaine's expression was back to happy.
"We still on to study French at your place today?" The mask was back in place, and Kurt found himself wondering if he would ever get to see it fall away completely.
"Oui." Kurt placed his bag over his shoulder, and together they made their way to the parking lot, discussing what songs they thought Glee Club should sing next.
A/N: Oh I wish you guys could have seen that duet as it happened in my head. It was so much cuter in there than on paper (especially the tap number). That scene was so hard to write. .
Anyway, I predict you guys are going to love the next chapter (provided you've been enjoying the story up to this point, of course). ^.^ Why you ask?
1. Blaine meets Sue! (And it's going to be totally awesome.)
2. Karofsky returns! (Drama? What? I eat that for breakfast!)
3. Klaine kiss! That's right! It's almost here! (Actually, you guys are lucky it's here so soon. It wasn't supposed to be until chapter 7/8, but inspiration struck, and I needed those two love birds together a bit earlier than originally planned.)
Can you tell I'm excited for that chapter?
Also, if you haven't seen my other Klaine fics …. Well, this one really is the best, so you might not want to venture into my other stuff, but if you just can't get enough Klaine, check out Candy Klaine. The first chapter is just fluff and it's kind of really cheesey, but hopefully in a good way. I'm working on the second chapter (which is much longer than the first), which is more fluff and more cheesiness, but hopefully in an even better way than chapter one.
And that's it for this freakishly long author's note. See y'all next chapter!
(Oh, and as always, reviews are love! Even if you don't have anything new to say about the story, sending me a quick review lets me know that you're still with me and there are still some people crazy enough to read my stories. ^.^)