Hi hi, I don't really have anything to say except that we've hit 1.6k views! WOO! That's awesome! Okay bye, also this chapter starts a few days after the last one, just an FYI.
Ryder :D
"Eli! Let's go I have to drop you off at the morning care before school." Kurt called to his son, getting ready to leave. He decided to be a little more stylish with his outfit. He stayed in dress code but added a little bit too it, his skinny jeans were a little tighter, and his shirt was buttoned up. Just on the off chance that he ran into Blaine. Even though he had been trying this for the last few days, it didn't hurt to try, right?
"Dadddyy" Eli whined, "I don't like going to the morning one, Mike is never there and he's my favorite, and Jenny is only sometimes theree."
Kurt's heart twisted at hearing his son upset, even if it wasn't over something that was a very big deal even if it was the third time he had heard the same whine since last night when he told him initially. But Kurt knelt down to him to fix his collar and speak,
"I know you don't like going to the morning buddy, I don't like having you go either, I prefer to get as many hugs in as I can before I go to work." Kurt ruffled his hair at that, causing him to giggle and squirm a little bit. "But I have to work on some stuff in the back so I'm going early, do you know what that means though?"
Eli shook his head, not knowing what his dead was going on.
"It means that I get to leave early, and that I might be able to take my favorite person in the world out for ice cream."
Eli jumped up and down at that, "Ice cream before dinner?", he practically screamed.
Kurt nodded his head and laughed as his son wrapped him in a big hug, He didn't like giving him ice cream period, but he had been so good during their time with Blaine and he was going somewhere he didn't want to go, Kurt figured he could baby him a little bit.
They got into the car promptly at 7:00 so that he could bring Eli to school. Kurt had been itching to ask Eli for a few days though, and he figured now was as good of a time as any,
"E" he called to Eli in the back seat, seemingly staring into space out the window.
The little boy turned his head at the sound of his name and looked at his dad in the rearview mirror. Kurt took that as enough of a sign that he was listening and continued,
"What did you think of Blaine? The guy we went for dinner with a couple of days ago."
"He was really cool!" His son said enthusiastically, making Kurt smile and tally a mental point for Blaine.
"Anything in particular about him that made him 'cool'?" Kurt asked.
"He playded video games with me, and he listened when I talked to him about stuff at school and stuff." Eli replied.
"Played" Kurt said, trying to make sure he corrected him whenever he could, even if he was quite good at grammar at such a young age.
"Right, sorry dad."
"It's okay, but I'm glad you liked him, we might be seeing more of him."
"Yay! Can we go back to Finnigan's with him? I wanna show him how good I am at Asteroids again!"
"Sure buddy, I'll let him know and maybe all three of us will go again soon."
"Yayyy!" He said, practically bouncing in his seat as Kurt pulled into the parking lot of WES.
They walked up to the After-School program that was also before school, and Kurt talked to Jenny for a few minutes, trying to catch up while Eli got used to being there so early again. There was only a few other kids, none of which he was really friends with.
"Keep an eye on him this morning will ya? He loves being here in the afternoon but it's something about being here in the morning that really bothers him."
Jenny nodded, promising she would. At that, Kurt bent down to give his son a final hug. Not without Eli reminding him that he promised to get ice cream after school, though. Kurt pulled himself out of Eli's arms and walked out of the portable, feeling a pang of guilt for making his son upset without entirely knowing why. Sure he knew that he didn't like being there in the morning, but he didn't know why.
He thought about it on the way to work and then let himself get distracted by everything his store had to offer him. It was tuesday, which meant that they had just gotten their large order of supplies in the night before, and that it had been waiting for the openers when they arrived. Kurt walked in at 7:30, doing his usual run through of greetings to everyone, but missing the curly haired man sitting in the corner of the store nursing a cup of coffee, bagged eyes and light stubble on his cheeks and chin. Kurt went up to the register to order his grande nonfat mocha to take into the back with him and disappeared.
Blaine had looked up when he heard Kurt enter and say hello to his fellow coworkers, he tried willing Kurt to look over, but obviously he couldn't. He probably forgot about you again, you idiot. Now you're just sitting in his store like a stalker. Dad's right you're just a disappointment.
Kurt didn't bother putting his apron on seeing as he was going to walk over to their storage room to take an inventory count right away. He grabbed his mocha from the end of the bar and thanked Shawn, his newest barista, for his mocha. Making sure to mention that it was perfect. He turned around to see a very familiar set of hair.
"Blaine?" He said, hoping that it was him, but confused as to why he was slightly hunched over, and why he was leaving.
Blaine turned at the mention of his name, and Kurt could see the tiredness in his eyes. He knew something was wrong, even though they had only gone out once, and that wasn't even a real date, he knew something was wrong. He could feel it.
Blaine gave a slight smile as he saw Kurt walking over, and realized how awful he probably looked. He knew he was in his suit and his hair was gelled, but he felt awful, and something told him Kurt would notice.
Kurt motioned for them to sit down, picking the table in the corner that Blaine had just vacated. Blaine laughed in his head at the irony in that, and then sat down opposite Kurt. When he sat down, Kurt put his hand on his,
"Are you okay?"
Blaine looked in Kurt's eyes, a sight he knew he would never be able to forget, and willed away his tears by blinking.
"Yeah, i'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"Well for starters, even though it's really hot," Kurt said, blushing. "You haven't shaved, probably since the last time we saw each other, and I know you weren't doing that for my sake, because you're a lawyer."
Blaine took a mental note that Kurt found his stubble hot, and then pushed it to the side. "What, so just since I forgot to shave means i'm not doing okay?" Blaine asked, turning his head to the side, he knew Kurt was right, but he didn't want to admit that his dad finally was bringing him down.
"Well, I also know that you usually don't work till about... 8:00 if I remember correctly, you also have a cup of coffee still." Kurt said, then touching his cup of coffee. "Your cup of coffee is also cold, and almost empty. Meaning you've been here for a while. Your bag isn't with you, so that means that you don't have anything work related on you, meaning you've either been sitting here staring into space for the last probably hour or so, or you've been twiddling with your phone." he said, motioning for Blaine to hand him his phone, he obliged. "Which still has 90% battery." He finished.
Blaine just sat back, mouth open. "Wow", he said, stunned at how perceptive Kurt was. "You know, if your career as a manager falls out, you would kill it as a detective."
Kurt laughed at that, "Hardly. I'm just perceptive to people I care about."
Blaine's stomach did a little flip at that, he knew he had feelings for Kurt, but this all just escalated them so much. He felt himself blushing, but he couldn't care, Kurt just made his morning much better.
"You know you look like you have some stuff to do yourself," Blaine said, motioning to Kurt's papers to count the order. "I should let you go", but just as he was getting out of his chair, Kurt spoke up.
"You could come to the storage with me, if you don't have anywhere else to be right now. It's quiet and I just have to count inventory, but we can talk." Kurt said it again with his head down, looking at his hands, obviously nervous.
Blaine couldn't figure out how Kurt was so many people at once. At one time he was the confident manager saying hello to everyone in the store, then he was the confident man, analyzing someone "he cared about", and then he was this tentative man who was afraid to ask for things. Blaine couldn't wrap his head around it but he knew he wanted to learn about every side of Kurt Hummel.
"Sure, I don't have to be at work till 8:30 today, so I have some time." Blaine said smiling, and holding out his hand for Kurt to take.
Kurt took it without question and let himself be helped up, they walked out of the store and down to storage, not hand in hand, but right next to each other. Kurt turned to the keys as Blaine watched from behind, not expecting the storage space to be so small.
"I know it's small, but it works for what we need at least. They won't let us make any renovations to it, so I organize everything in here to the best of my abilities." Kurt said, practically reading Blaine's mind.
As Kurt started moving boxes around, he asked Blaine for his help when something was slightly too heavy, which Blaine obliged. About a half hour in, Blaine was leaning on the wall, letting Kurt work, when he spoke up after a few minutes silence.
"You're staring again." Kurt said, laughing.
"Well like I said before, you're nice to stare at." He felt himself blushing at the light flirting, but he couldn't help it.
Kurt walked right up to him, and leaned in like he was going to kiss him, but asked him a question instead,
"So, you gonna tell me whats wrong? Don't think I can't tell. You're even quieter than the last few times we've seen each other." Kurt said, whispering right in front of Blaine, pulling away when he didn't respond.
"It's my dad…" Blaine whispered. Kurt turned around at that and saw Blaine wiping away a few tears.
Kurt walked back up to him, stopping a few steps away, and held his hands out for a hug. Blaine walked into him almost instantly, feeling better just by standing in Kurt's embrace. They didn't know how long they stood there for, but Blaine told him everything. He told him about how his parents barely talked to him, and when his dad did talk to him it was always ridicule, and Kurt couldn't feel worse for him.
Kurt kept on soothing him as much as he could, rubbing his hand up and down on his back trying to calm him down. Blaine didn't cry much during their talk, but when he calmed himself down, he pulled out of Kurt's embrace, feeling embarrassed at breaking down in front of someone he had barely gone on a date with.
"Sorry, I usually have my emotions in check, my dad just got to me yesterday."
"No need to apologize, I'm sorry he puts you through so much shit, it's not fair. I couldn't imagine my dad doing that."
"Your dad is okay with you being gay?" Blaine asked, unaware that such a situation could exist.
"Well I mean he was a bit weirded out the first time I brought a guy home, but when I came out to him initially he said that my mother and him knew when I was three, so it didn't come as a shock to him when I came out, and Carole has always been great, I never had to worry about her response."
"You call your mom by her first name?"
It took Kurt a second to realize what he was talking about,
"Oh no. Carole is my step mom, my mother died when I was young, Carole is my step mom as of my sophomore year in high school, and my step brother Finn, is her son." Kurt said, clarifying.
Blaine nodded his head in understanding. Knowing that saying 'sorry' for his mom wouldn't change anything. He had a feeling Kurt felt the same way, probably hearing it every time it was mentioned since he was a kid.
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes after that, leaving Kurt to finish organizing the order, and Blaine feeling a bit better than he had before. Before he knew it his alarm went off signaling that he had to be at work soon.
"Sorry, I have to get going, I don't want to be late. Can we see each other again soon though? I want to take you on a proper date."
Kurt turned and smiled at that,
"I would really love that, are you free tonight?"
"What about Eli?" Blaine asked, hoping he hadn't forgotten about his son.
"Well I am picking him up early from school since I get off early, then we are getting ice cream together, but I can call Ashley to see if she can take care of him, she loves him, she's sorta my emergency babysitter."
"That sounds great then." Blaine said, happy that Kurt wanted to go out with him."
"Consider it an almost date," Kurt said winking. "I'll call her when i'm done with this, and then I'll text you and let you know if we're on."
"I can't wait." Blaine said, walking out of the storage room. Feeling monumentally better than he did when he woke up that morning.
Hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter! Also just a quick side note, to the people that came here or were fans of my last story, "It's Just a Crush, Right?" I was reading through the last chapter of it and realized again how much I enjoyed writing that story, and realized how sad I was when I never got to finish it, so if I get the time i'm going to try to update that story too, I feel bad for abandoning it. And to any new viewers that would want to read it it's on my profile. I'm not going to be updating it as regularly as this one, since i kinda want this one to be my main story, but yeah.
Sorry for the long AN,
Ryder :D
