A/N: So sorry this has taken so long - bet some of you thought I'd ended this story and forgot to change it to "Complete". I can't believe my break has been as long as Glee's hiatus - maybe I need it for inspiration. Excited it's back - off to watch in in a minute :)
Thanks again to all those who are reading this
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any other recognisable brands
Over the next few weeks, Kurt and Blaine had many Skype conversations; the awkwardness gradually disappeared the more they chatted, and Blaine was both pleased and relieved that their friendship at least had not been irreparably damaged.
Blaine was especially proud of and excited for Kurt when he announced he had got into NYADA, and decided that his best friend realising his dreams was good reason to get on a plane and go and see him to celebrate. Of course it wasn't EXACTLY the excuse he had been waiting for to justify a visit. No hidden agenda. At all. Just a friend wanting to congratulate another friend. That was normal wasn't it?
He didn't tell Kurt what he was planning; he wanted it to be a surprise, even though his last unexpected visit hadn't turned out so well. He had plans to do lots of touristy stuff while he was there as Kurt had mentioned that he hadn't had a lot of time (or money) for all that. So he had decided to treat Kurt, not to try and buy him, but to have a chance to do lots of fun stuff together and make some new happy memories.
As Blaine collected his bag and made his way through the airport terminal to the taxi ranks outside, he felt the butterflies in his stomach. He couldn't wait to see Kurt again, but there was a niggling feeling that maybe Kurt wouldn't be pleased to see him; maybe it was too soon and... oh god, he hadn't booked anywhere to stay because he presumed now things were better between them, he would be able to stay at Kurt's place. But what if Kurt wasn't happy about that? And where would he sleep? There were only two beds in the apartment and one of them belonged to Rachel... He suddenly felt a bit sick at the thought that Kurt might think he had less than honourable intentions and was trying to push their relationship to a level he wasn't ready for.
"...Kid?" Blaine became aware of somebody speaking to him.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He looked up at the man, who had been trying to put himself in Blaine's eyeline to catch his attention.
"I said do you need a cab?"
"Oh, yes please." Blaine gave the man a tight smile and gave him his suitcase to put in the trunk. He got in the vehicle and composed himself while he waited for the driver. He'd come all the way to New York – he couldn't turn around and go home now without even giving it a try. Things might go really well. And besides, his flight home wasn't until Sunday night.
He gave the driver the address, and spent the journey trying to focus on the sights out of the window. It didn't really help – he had sweaty palms and shaky hands and he couldn't stop jiggling his legs up and down. When he did manage to focus for a second, it was on the slight concerned frown on the taxi driver's face as he met his eyes in the rearview mirror. Blaine looked away quickly, embarrassed.
"Get it together Anderson," he muttered to himself under his breath. He wiped his palms on his pants and stilled his legs, before shooting the driver a nervous smile.
They soon pulled up outside Kurt's apartment building, and the driver got Blaine's bag while he dug out his wallet to pay him. He gave the driver a decent tip, hoping to compensate for his strange behavior.
"Oh, hey, thanks," the driver's eyebrows raised in surprise, but then the slight frown came back. "Take it easy, kid, ok?" he said, patting Blaine on the arm, before getting back in his cab and driving off.
"Great," Blaine muttered, "even the taxi driver thinks I'm a basket case." He picked up his bag, looked up at Kurt's building and strode ahead before he could change his mind.
Kurt put down his fork and took his napkin off his lap before getting up to answer the door. Who on earth would be knocking at 9.30 at night? As he approached the door he thought maybe he would have been better off bringing the fork with him.
As he saw who was standing there, he felt an odd rush of emotion; joy at seeing Blaine standing there, coupled with a dark feeling of deja vu considering what had happened the last time this situation arose. As Blaine smiled at him nervously though, Kurt acted on his overwhelming urge to reassure him – he threw his arms around Blaine in a huge hug.
"Blaine! What are you doing here?!" He pulled back and held Blaine at arm's length to look at him properly. Blaine was having none of that – he pulled Kurt back into an embrace and held on to him tight.
"I came to congratulate my best friend on his exciting news!" he said, still keeping Kurt in a bear hug, relishing the feeling, unwilling to let go.
"Well that's lovely Blaine but I'm kinda struggling to breathe here," Kurt laughed softly.
"Oh god, sorry Kurt," Blaine said, releasing him quickly.
"It's fine, I'm just kidding." Kurt grinned as he unconsciously smoothed out his clothes, something which made Blaine's heart warm. Many things may have changed recently but he was still the same old Kurt.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?" Kurt asked suspiciously.
"No reason," Blaine laughed, "it's just really good to see you, that's all." He grinned at Kurt who couldn't help but reciprocate.
"Likewise," he said, before an awkward moment when they had been standing there looking at each other just a little too long. Kurt coughed.
"So!" He exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. "Are you here for the weekend, or..?"
"Yeah, just for the weekend," Blaine replied, "Unfortunately, as there is so much I would love to do and see here and not enough time. It seems a travesty to come to New York and not experience it all." His eyes widened in realization. "Not that that is my main reason for coming to New York – obviously I came to see you! I don't want you to think I'm using you for a trip to the Big Apple!"
"Relax Blaine, I didn't think that for a minute." Kurt shook his head and smiled. "But if you don't mind my asking, what are your plans for this weekend?"
Blaine's nerves came back a bit.
"Well, I know this is kinda presumptuous, but I didn't actually book anywhere to stay...I was hoping I could stay here?" Blaine looked up to try and gauge Kurt's reaction, but then hurriedly added " Floor, couch, anywhere will do, but I'll find somewhere else to stay if you'd rather."
"Don't be silly, Blaine, of course it's okay. In fact, Rachel has gone back to Lima for the weekend so you can have her bed, I'm sure she won't mind."
Blaine's first thought after the relief washed over him was that he and Kurt would be alone in his apartment all weekend...
"So Blaine, now you have somewhere to stay, what are your other plans? Have you eaten? I was just having dinner but there's plenty left if you want some – I forgot Rachel wasn't going to be here. I'm so used to cooking for two."
Blaine's stomach grumbled then, hunger having been suppressed by the butterflies. Kurt giggled and said, "I will take that as a no you haven't eaten and yes, you would like some dinner. Sit down over there and I will bring you some over. Veggie lasagne and garlic bread, is that okay? I didn't know I would be having company so I didn't consider the smell factor, but if we've both eaten garlic we won't smell it, right?"
As Kurt went over to the kitchen area to dish up a plate for his visitor, Blaine's thoughts wandered to him and Kurt being in situations where they were close enough for the garlic smell to be – or not to be – a problem. His daydreams were only broken by the boy in question placing a dish in front of him.
"Thanks Kurt. This looks – and smells – great." Blaine started tucking into his dinner. Oh, how he had missed Kurt's cooking. He finished his mouthful as Kurt resumed eating his own dinner and put his idea to Kurt.
"Actually, I was hoping to take you along with me for a sightseeing day. You said you haven't really had a chance to do all the touristy stuff yet so I thought we could go together. My treat." He looked at Kurt hopefully.
"Well if you give me that look, how can I say no?" Kurt teased. "I would love to, but I can't expect you to pay for me, especially when you have travelled all the way out here to see me. That can't have been cheap."
"Please Kurt. I've got my Christmas money from my parents a little early, and there is nothing I would rather spend it on than a day out in New York with you."
Kurt felt his stomach do a little somersault at Blaine's sweet gesture.
"Well, that is very kind of you Blaine. I would love to accompany you around New York tomorrow. Although don't expect me to know where anything is. And I hope you brought some warm clothing because believe it or not, New York can be even colder than Ohio. And with there being a good chance of me getting you lost, you may be out in the cold for some time."
Blaine laughed again, just glad to be around Kurt again. He desperately wanted to give him another hug, but leaning across the table suddenly would probably end up with shirts getting dipped in tomato sauce and garlic bread in laps – Kurt would never forgive him.
"Oh well, I was thinking maybe we could catch a film tomorrow night – I had a look online at what films are showing-"
"Sorry, Blaine, but I have plans for tomorrow night." Kurt winced slightly.
"Oh, no that's okay, it's to be expected when you spring a surprise visit on someone-"
"You're quite welcome to come with me, if you like." Kurt's expression was hopeful. "I'm going out with some people from work, to a gay bar in fact. Isabelle is getting me a fake ID." Kurt took in Blaine's surprised look. " I know, it's a bit weird that my boss is getting me a fake ID but Isabelle is really cool. Ah, but we'd need to get you one... it shouldn't be a problem as Isabelle asked if I wanted to bring a friend but we would need a picture and we will need to get it to her tomorrow morning. Erm.. I don't suppose you have any odd passport sized pictures in your wallet do you?"
"Actually, I had to get my passport renewed and I did have spares.. hang on" Blaine rooted around in his wallet. "Ah, here it is!" He pulled out a photo strip from a booth and placed it on the table. Then he realised it was the wrong one. This was one he had kept of him and Kurt. In some they were pulling silly faces, but Blaine's favourite was the one where Kurt was sitting on his lap with his arms around Blaine's neck, and they were completely ignoring the camera and just gazing at each other adoringly with small smiles on their faces.
Blaine just wanted the ground to swallow him up as Kurt picked up the strip. He looked at it for a second before laughing and remarking "Lovely as these photos are Blaine, I don't think they'll accept an ID with a picture of two people pulling silly faces on." Despite his teasing remark, Kurt's gaze was fixed on the bottom picture on the strip, Blaine's favourite. A fond smile appeared on Kurt's face.
Blaine quickly dug around in his wallet until he found the correct strip of photo and Kurt said he would e-mail Isabelle and ask if it was too late to get a second ID.
"Don't worry Kurt, if it's a problem, I can just amuse myself while you're out."
"Blaine! I would never be that rude! If we can't get you an ID, maybe we will just go to that movie after all." He smiled and went to get his laptop. "Speaking of movies, do you want to watch one now? I have popcorn." He poked his head around the corner to look and Blaine and smirk.
"Now come on Kurt, you know I can't resist popcorn. What are we watching?"
"Guest picks. The DVDs are over by the TV."
Blaine strolled over to make his selection, keeping a calm facade, but inside he was going crazy. He was getting his film night with Kurt! He had been dreaming about this for a while as it used to be one of his favourite pasttimes with Kurt.
As he looked through the titles, he was tempted to pick The Notebook, as it usually had Kurt curled up in a weeping ball next to him, and would give him a chance to comfort him, but he thought that might be taking it too far. In the end he settled on Evita; Kurt had often said Blaine would make a fine Che, especially with his colouring, and because he was almost as sexy as Antonio Banderas. The "almost" had caused a tickle fight that led to more than tickles, and Antonio Banderas was soon forgotten.
Blaine smirked to himself as he put the DVD in the player, just as Kurt came back into the room.
"Popcorn is in the microwave, and Isabelle was online so she replied straight away and she said it'll be no problem. I've scanned the photo and sent it to her – she said the quality won't matter as they won't look too closely. Ooh Evita! I haven't watched this one in a while. Hello Mr Banderas..." Kurt looked at Blaine and winked, before walking into the kitchen to get the popcorn from the microwave, which had just pinged. He returned, and sat down next to Blaine on the couch, placing the popcorn bowl on Blaine's lap. "I know you'll end up eating most of this. Come on, press play."
The two boys thoroughly enjoyed the film, singing along to the songs and if they inched ever so slightly closer together on the couch, it was entirely unintentional. All was well until Kurt went to put his hand in the popcorn bowl just as Blaine was offering it to him; the collision resulted in airborne popcorn which ended up stuck in Blaine's gelled hair.
Kurt took in the situation for a second before laughing hysterically for a good minute or two. Blaine was just glad to see him happy and pleased that they were at ease with each other. Just like old times.
As Kurt calmed down, he noticed Blaine looking at him in complete adoration.
"I think we were better at this popcorn sharing thing when we were watching movies together over Skype," Kurt laughed.
"Give me clumsy and in person any day." Blaine said softly, not taking his eyes off the gorgeous boy – man - in front of him. Kurt looked up and met his gaze, then blushed and looked away shyly. How Blaine longed to reach out and gently run his fingers through Kurt's hair; he was the only person Kurt allowed to do it... Was being the operative word. He wasn't allowed to do it any more. Although the way Kurt was looking at him again now..; maybe he could test the theory.
Kurt's eyes widened and he got up suddenly and Blaine missed his chance. Did he read his mind? Surely he didn't say that out loud? Did he scare him off?
"Erm, do you want more popcorn? To replace the batch you're wearing?" Kurt gave him a little smirk and the tension seemed to have disappeared as he went to the kitchen area.
Blaine didn't see Kurt cursing himself as he walked away. Kurt had so badly wanted to kiss Blaine in that moment, but they couldn't move too fast. They had to get their friendship back on track first and then maybe they could see where it could lead.
