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Chapter seven
It took a long time to get Karofsky off his mind. There were times when Kurt would just stare at the text message, frozen in fear. Karofsky had threatened to kill him. His life was on the line for as long as he was in the presence of Karofsky.
But he wasn't anymore, as he kept telling himself. He was safe at Dalton, with Blaine, surrounded by friends who wouldn't let any harm come to him. He was OK. He knew that. But it didn't stop the moments of fear over taking him every so often when he thought of the implications of Karofsky's threat.
He could be dead right now.
That was something that was never going to sit easily with him. He knew that nothing would be the same now that he'd let Karofsky into his life. He'd come too close to the fire and he'd been burnt. There was no going back now.
It was a month into his time at Dalton – with all thoughts of Karofsky eradicated from his mind with the help of Blaine – that the fateful question came.
"K," Blaine whined, laying his head on Kurt's shoulder. "When are you going to join the Warblers?"
Wes instantly perked up, looking over at Kurt from across the lunch table. "Yeah, K, you should definitely join. Blaine told us that you were in New Directions, and that you rock."
Kurt turned to look at Blaine, blushing profusely. "You've never heard me," he reminded him.
"In the car, we always sing along to the radio," Blaine protested.
Kurt's mouth dropped open. "Blaine, that's not singing. That's…karaoke and I only sing in my lower range," he replied.
Blaine shrugged. "I have a singer's intuition. I know you rock."
Kurt grinned at this, ducking his head to look down at his salad as Nick, Jeff, Wes and David shared a knowing look.
"What tone are you?" Nick asked from the opposite end of the table where he was sat next to his soul mate, Jeff.
"Countertenor," Kurt replied.
David and Wes exchanged a look, both wide-eyed.
Kurt paused, suddenly unsure of himself. "Is that," he started, "is that bad?" He turned to look at Blaine, who was frozen in place, staring at him. "Guys?" He prompted.
"Welcome to the Warblers, K!" Jeff exclaimed, reaching over to high-five him.
"Er," Kurt looked around him in confusion, "OK?"
Wes and David suddenly jumped into action, grinning beseechingly at him. "K, you are auditioning," they informed him, "tomorrow."
Kurt almost spat his mouthful of salad out onto the table. "I'm sorry, what?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Consider yourself a Warbler," David replied, lowering his voice considerably, "we just have to audition you to make it official."
Kurt nodded, trying to take it all in. "But…why?"
"K, we haven't had a countertenor in our midst in years," Blaine explained, "This is incredible! With you, we'll be unstoppable."
Wes nodded happily. "This is so exciting," he said, "We can explore a whole new range of songs with improved back-up."
Kurt gave him a searching look. "OK. You have a weird perception of excitement."
Blaine chuckled.
Wes narrowed his eyes. "Hey, now you're practically a Warbler, you need to respect me," he teased Kurt.
"I haven't even auditioned yet," Kurt protested.
"Yet," David echoed. "But you will. And you will get in. And then we will be unstoppable."
"Right," Kurt agreed, raising a sceptical eyebrow.
"Trust them on this," Blaine muttered in his ear. Then he raised his voice. "So, got any audition songs in mind?"
"I might have," Kurt replied, smirking. He turned to David and Wes. "An audition can be a duet, right?"
They nodded simultaneously.
"Right, that was creepy," Kurt pointed out. "But anyway, Blaine, I might need your help…"
"Ready for this?" Blaine asked, smiling over at Kurt as they stood outside the Warblers' rehearsal room.
Kurt nodded, and then he shook his head, before nodding again. "Um…maybe?" He eventually decided.
Blaine nodded, placing his hands on Kurt's shoulders encouragingly. "You are going to be amazing," he reassured him, "you areamazing. I'm not just talking about sing-alongs in the car. Show them what you showed me in rehearsal."
Kurt nodded emphatically, adrenaline kicking in as the door was pulled open and Wes approached them.
"K, we're ready for you," he informed him, smiling.
Kurt swallowed, closing his eyes and collecting himself together before walking through the door, Blaine in tow, into the Warbler rehearsal hall. He stood in centre stage with Blaine by his side – who was pointedly trying to ignore the dark looks Thad was sending him.
Kurt nodded once at David, who started the music. Kurt opened his mouth and began to sing.
"Made a wrong turn, once or twice,
Dug my way out, blood and fire,
Bad decisions, that's alright,
Welcome to my silly life.
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood,
Miss, "no way it's all good,"
It didn't slow me down.
Mistaken, always second guessing,
Underestimated, look I'm still around."
Backed up by Blaine and unable to wipe the smile from his face, he launched into the chorus.
"Pretty, pretty please,
Don't you ever, ever feel,
Like you're less than,
Less than perfect.
Pretty, pretty please,
If you ever, ever feel,
Like you're nothing,
You are perfect to me."
He shot Blaine an amused smirk – they'd had so many rehearsals that had ended in tears of laughter because of this upcoming segment of song – as he launched into the rap, which he knew would showcase beautifully his lower range. True to his expectations, he didn't miss Wes' impressed raise of the eyebrow.
"The whole world's scared so I swallow the fear,
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer,
So cool in line and we try, try, try,
But we try too hard and it's a waste of my time.
Done looking for the critics 'cos they're everywhere,
They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair,
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time,
Why do we do that?
Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?"
Across from him, Blaine was gazing at Kurt as he sung with a look so profound that Kurt very nearly had to sit down. It was like a blind man seeing for the first time. But he didn't have time to consider what it meant before the next chorus came around.
"Oh pretty, pretty please,
Pretty, pretty please,
Don't you ever, ever feel,
Like you're less than,
Less than perfect.
Pretty, pretty please,
If you ever, ever feel,
Like you're nothing,
You are perfect to me.
You're perfect,
You're perfect to me.
Pretty, pretty please,
Don't you ever, ever feel,
Like you're nothing,
You are perfect to me."
By the end of it, he and Blaine had their arms around each other and the room erupted into applause. Kurt was fairly sure that he was in Heaven.
Kurt and Blaine sat in the Lima Bean, which had recently become their second home. Since the distance between Dalton and Lima was ridiculous, and Kurt was still commuting every day, they'd found a midpoint for weekends and evenings that suited them both fine.
What neither of them was willing to admit was that walking across hot coals just to meet up would have also suited them both fine. Just as long as they saw each other.
Blaine broke the reflective silence with a bombshell.
"So," he started, "I broke up with Thad a few days ago. I know we had a fight a while back but we were trying to work things out. But it's just not right anymore, you know?"
Kurt struggled to keep his face impassive and he fought the urge to break into a celebratory dance. "Oh?" Was all he replied.
Blaine nodded. "I decided that whoever my soul mate is, wherever he is, I want to wait for him. I don't want to screw up my teenage years by looking for something that I can't be impatient about. When the time is right, my soul mate will show up. Until then, I wait," he said, sounding far too mature to be in the body of a 17 year old.
"I'll wait with you for as long as you want," Kurt replied instantly.
Blaine chuckled. "I didn't mean right here in this coffee shop," he reminded Kurt, but he took his gloved hand from across the table.
"Neither did I," Kurt returned without missing a beat, ignoring the sparks that were erupting from his skin at the feel of Blaine's hand on his.
Blaine, oblivious to his internal struggle, raised an eyebrow. "You'll be here a while."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Kurt reprimanded.
"I annoy you," Blaine pointed out.
Kurt thought about this for a long while. "You're arrogant and obnoxious, but I actually quite enjoy your company," he eventually decided.
Blaine took a moment to think this through before saying, "Hey, K?"
Kurt looked up from the contents of his coffee mug. "Yeah?"
"If I could choose my soul mate, it would be you. You don't have to say it back or anything, but I just thought that you should know," Blaine told him, gazing at him from across the table with a smile on his face that wasn't dissimilar to the look he'd had during Perfect that day, shortly before Kurt had been announced a Warbler.
Kurt grinned at this. "Me too," he replied. Remembering himself, he quickly added, "I mean, I'd rather it be you than Wes."
"Gee, thanks," Blaine replied sarcastically, but he was smiling and his grip on Kurt's hand tightened.
TBC...
Aw, my babies 3
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