The following several weeks were stressful for Blaine. Things between him and Kurt were going well. They'd begun slowly building their friendship, learning more about each other and getting coffee at the diner nearly every day. While opening up to Kurt more and more left him stressed, his career was leaving him even more stressed.
Jared had yet to get him signed to a good label and the shows he was playing still didn't attract as much buzz as he'd hoped for. Not to mention that Blaine was still getting guilted into writing for other artists and watching them gain huge success off of his music made Blaine second guess everything he'd been hoping for. His mind began to go towards a place of doubt that maybe it wasn't the music but him that the labels didn't want. Jared had talked him down from that ledge, but it didn't lessen the sting.
Finally, Blaine got a break. He booked a small venue, bigger than his usual bars but still small. He was excited because not only did he sell the venue out, he'd written several new songs that he'd been looking forward to premiering.
The set went phenomenally; the crowd was really into it, though several people had been looking around, squealing when they found Cooper standing quietly near the back of the venue. His new songs had been well received and he'd seen many people taking videos, meaning they'd probably go up on YouTube, which Blaine could only thank them for the free publicity.
After his set, things took a turn for the worse. He was packing away his last guitar when Jared popped his head in with a strange man in a suit in tow.
"Blaine, that was an excellent set." Jared said, throwing his arm around Blaine's shoulders.
"Thanks, man. The crowd seemed to really enjoy it so that was good." Blaine agreed humbly.
"Totally. Anyway, this is Ryan Miller from Blaring Records," Jared waved a hand towards the man, removing his arm from Blaine's shoulders.
Blaine stepped forward and extended his hand, "Ah, nice to meet you, thanks for coming out tonight."
Ryan shook Blaine's hand and nodded, "Yes, your performance really kept the crowd engaged. Your songs were really catchy. Jared tells me you write your own material?"
Blaine nodded, "Ever since I was a kid, yeah."
Ryan nodded and opened the folder in his hand, "Well, we would certainly love to have you on board at Blaring. Don't give me an answer tonight, but here's the deal we'd like to offer you in return for signing with us."
Blaine accepted the paperwork and smiled brightly at the man, "Thank you so much. I'll definitely take a look at it and have Jared keep in touch with you."
Ryan smiled, "Excellent. Congratulations on the show, I hope to hear from you."
With that, Ryan and Jared exited the room. Blaine sat down and began scanning the paperwork, frowning the further he went. Jared reentered the room several minutes later with a shit eating grin on his face.
"Well? How fucking great is that, Blaine?! We knew you'd get signed!" Jared sat next to Blaine, nudging his shoulder.
Blaine turned to Jared, holding out the offer for him to take, "I'm not doing it."
The surprise on Jared's face was quickly replaced by anger, "What the hell do you mean?"
Blaine took a deep breath, "Look at their terms, it's ridiculous. They want huge cuts of all of my profits and they are reserving the right to 'mold me into the Blaring Records client everyone would love'. Seriously? What the fuck? Plus, they're demanding a bunch of other shit that you know I'm not okay with; especially writing for other artists as well as my own music. It's not happening."
Jared sighed, "Blaine, might I remind you that offers are not flooding in like we both had hoped? We can't keep turning people away."
"I understand they're coming in slowly, but people are going to be posting the shit from tonight on YouTube and if I keep booking actual venues then maybe labels will start approaching us more often. Especially if we keep sending them demos."
Jared rolled his eyes with a frustrated huff, "I just have to say, Blaine, I'm really disappointed. This is a great offer and letting these guys down will not only send a strong message, it will be upsetting to me that we've worked this hard only to flush a good offer down the drain."
Blaine could feel the sinking in his stomach and his heart began to race, "Jared, stop. I'm not accepting their offer and you know others are going to come along. We just have to keep pushing."
"Blaine," Jared turned to face him straight on, disappointment painting his features, "I guess I'll tell them no but...this is beyond disappointing. I've worked my ass off just to get Ryan here and this is how you repay me?" Blaine was feeling sicker with every passing word out of Jared's mouth, his headache had come and his breathing was starting to lose normalcy, "Fuck. First you want to give up doing what brings you profit and now you're turning away a label? Letting the label down is one thing, but letting me down is-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Both men startled as Kurt's voice was screamed from the doorway. The man entered the room, glaring at Jared as he went to Blaine's side.
"Who the fuck are you? How'd you get back here?" Jared sneered at Kurt.
"I'm here with Blaine," Kurt explained.
Blaine watched as Kurt knelt to the floor in front of him, he was a little blurry around the edges. Blaine knew he needed to get his breathing under control quickly but couldn't seem to figure out how.
"Kurt, I-" Blaine coughed as his throat tightened.
"Breathe, Blaine. You're just fine." Kurt said, sitting back on his feet, staring intently at Blaine.
"Ah, so you're his fuck of the night, awesome. Well, if you'd excuse us, I'll have him out to you shortly. We have business to take care of then you two can fuck until morning for all I care." Jared said, reaching for Kurt's arm.
Kurt tugged his arm out of Jared's grasp, "I'm not his fuck of the night, we're friends. Can't you see what you're doing to him?"
Blaine focused on his breathing as Kurt and Jared bickered back and forth. His stomach was swirling and his head felt like it was about to explode. He feebly reached a hand out to Kurt and the other man tentatively clutched onto it. Blaine knew he wasn't a tactile person but he needed an anchor in that moment.
Screaming began to puncture Blaine's foggy world.
"YOU CAUSED HIM TO HAVE A PANIC ATTACK!"
"I DID NOT! YOU BURSTING IN HERE INTERRUPTING A BUSINESS MEETING MADE HIM LOSE FOCUS AND NOW LOOK AT HIM!"
"YOU FUCKING CALLED HIM A DISAPPOINTMENT! HE'S THE REASON YOU'RE GETTING PAID IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"FUCK YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT THIS BUSINESS, NOW GET OUT BEFORE I CALL THE COPS AND FORCE YOU OUT OF HERE!"
Blaine snapped at this, no one was going to push Kurt around. He didn't deserve the mistreatment, especially at Blaine's expense.
"Jared shut the fuck up. Tell Blaring no and stop being an asshole, especially to Kurt." Blaine wheezed out, catching them both off guard.
Jared should have had steam coming out of his ears with how pissed he looked, "Fine, but believe me, you will live to regret this decision Blaine."
Jared stomped out, leaving the two men in silence.
"Blaine, you're not a disappointment. You're so amazing and talented. You blew everyone away tonight. Seriously. I'm...I'm proud of you, okay?" Kurt said, looking deep into Blaine's eyes.
Blaine felt tears beginning to form behind his eyes; it had been a long night. He swallowed and nodded, not trusting his voice. They sat there for several minutes, Blaine focusing on getting his breathing truly back to normal, which was made all the more difficult due to him trying to hold back his tears.
Finally, Kurt spoke up, "Are you okay now?"
Blaine nodded and felt Kurt taking his hand out of his grasp, "Thanks. Seriously, for... everything tonight."
Kurt smiled as he stood, "Of course, Blaine. I meant every word. I just...I don't understand how you can have someone representing you who pushes you down like that."
Blaine shrugged, "He's always been helpful until I began wanting to branch out on my own rather than writing for others. He always knew how to get me to do work I didn't want to do, but he's been extra pushy lately."
Kurt bit his lip but didn't respond, only held out his hand to help Blaine up. Once he was standing, Kurt took him by surprise and pulled him into a loose hug. Blaine felt more tears beginning to form at the gesture because he knew Kurt had pushed himself so much already and then to do this was just over the top.
They broke apart at the sound of someone clearing their throat in the doorway. Blaine smiled at Cooper as the older man looked between Kurt and Blaine with a grin.
"Heya Squirt, who's the boy?"
"Don't call me that." Blaine mumbled, "This is my friend Kurt, Kurt this is my brother, Cooper."
Kurt stepped forward and shook Cooper's hand, "Nice to meet you."
"You too! All right, Blainey, I just wanted to come check on you because I managed to get out of the crowd of my adoring fans and you had yet to come out. Now I see why, but now that I'm here, are you ready to head out?"
Blaine nodded, "Yeah, I just need to talk to the guy who's loading up the van with my instruments and we'll be good to go." Blaine turned to Kurt, "I'll walk you out, okay?"
Kurt nodded and said goodbye to Cooper before the duo walked to the stage door.
"Is Cooper taking you home?" Kurt asked quietly, "I just want to know that you'll be okay."
Blaine smiled and felt his heart warm at Kurt's concern, "Yeah, he's staying with me so I'll be fine. Thanks again, Kurt. It meant a lot to me that you came and I truly appreciate you helping me out with Jared."
Kurt smiled shyly, "You're welcome. Congratulations on the offer. I know you're not accepting, but it still must have felt good to have been asked?"
Blaine nodded, "Are you going to be okay getting home? Do you want Cooper and me to give you a lift? Coop insists on renting a car while he's in town, it's annoying as fuck but it works well for tonight."
"I'll be fine. Get some rest. I'll see you at the diner on Monday?"
Blaine nodded and had to resist pulling Kurt in for a hug, "See you then."
With a final wave, Kurt exited the door. Blaine took a deep breath and began his search for the bulky man waiting to collect his instruments.
Kurt smiled at the stack of cans in front of him. He'd managed to create a gorgeous pyramid of soup cans higher than he stood. He looked around and saw Seth staring at the stack with an impressed look on his face. A hint of pride swelled within Kurt at his work. He sneakily pulled out his phone and snapped a photo to show Blaine the next morning over coffee. They'd had to miss their coffee that morning due to Blaine needing to sleep more to make up for a rough night at the bar the night before with Cooper, who'd been disappointed when Blaine kept pushing his invitations for drinks away after his show. 'Twisted Tuesdays' as Blaine had quoted from Cooper were apparently as 'twisted' as they sounded considering Blaine's hangover. Kurt had giggled at Blaine's groggy voice and had offered no sympathy, only his promises not to make fun of Blaine when they met again.
"Excuse me?"
Kurt jumped and turned to face a gruff looking man with arms laden in various items, "Yes, sir? How can I help you?"
Kurt felt proud of himself for keeping eye contact rather than cowering to the floor.
"Yeah, I need two cans of that soup but my hands are full, could you just grab them and put them on top of the pile for me?"
Kurt took a deep breath and nodded, completing the task with a smile, not even flinching when the man's chin came in contact with his hand as he placed the can.
"Anything else I can help you with, sir?" Kurt asked, still holding eye contact, though he was starting to feel uneasy and heart was beginning to speed.
"Nah, thanks man."
The man walked away and Kurt closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths. He jumped when a hand came in contact with his shoulder. He turned to see Seth smiling at him.
"Nice work, Kurt. You've been making a lot of improvements in your work recently, nice job. Keep up the good work and we might be able to give you some more shifts." Seth said before walking away without waiting for an answer.
Kurt smiled to himself. While money wasn't desperately tight, he would appreciate the added income to live a little more comfortably, especially with how often he was getting coffee out with Blaine.
XXXX
"Kurt, this is amazing! I don't know how you reached those top ones, but fuck that's awesome!" Blaine cheered as he handed Kurt's phone back to him, "And that's awesome about Seth. I'm excited for you!"
Kurt couldn't stop staring at the huge hickey on Blaine's neck. It was like a car crash, as much as Kurt wanted to look away, he simply couldn't. A feeling began tingling in his stomach that he didn't want to place. He couldn't feel that way; he was already pushing enough boundaries by being friends with Blaine. There was no way he'd let...jealousy come into the equation. Especially because there was no way Kurt would ever do...that stuff with Blaine. Or anyone. No.
"Um, thanks, Blaine. I'm pretty excited for the extra income if he gives those shifts to me." Kurt replied lamely, finally tearing his eyes from the bruise to look down at his coffee, "So, speaking of work, have you heard from Jared at all since Saturday?"
Blaine's sigh made Kurt look up; his eyes had clouded over and he'd leaned back in the booth, closing himself off.
"Not yet. I suspect I'm in for a phone call either today or tomorrow considering he would have turned in my decline and the weight of that decline would have sunk in even worse by now. Fuck him, though. Those stipulations were ridiculous."
Kurt nodded in response, not knowing the full details but knew enough to warrant Blaine's frustration. "Um, so how much longer is Cooper in town for? Are you enjoying your time with him?"
Blaine seemed to relax once again and Kurt breathed a silent sigh of relief, "He's here through the weekend. Yeah, we've been having a good time. Granted, I wanted to punch him all day yesterday with his loud voice and pointing, but I guess I deserved it after drinking that much."
Kurt smiled, "Ah, that's one of the reasons why I rarely, and by rarely I mean never, drink. I don't feel like puking all morning long."
Blaine smirked, "I've seen you drink before."
"Okay, that's why I don't get drunk. I can have a drink and call it good."
Blaine laughed, "Me too, when I want to, but when a hot guy keeps buying them for you, you can't just turn him down, can you?"
There it was again, that unwelcome feeling in Kurt's stomach as his eyes subconsciously trailed to the hickey once again. Kurt swallowed and felt his cheeks heat up as he looked to his coffee again, "Well, I'll take your word on that one."
He felt Blaine's eyes on him for a moment, "Kurt, I-"
Kurt snapped his head up to meet Blaine's gaze again, "Hey, I was going to ask, are you busy Saturday night?" he cut Blaine off, not really wanting to hear whatever conclusion he'd come to at Kurt's blatant embarrassment.
Blaine stared at him for a moment and Kurt felt like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole as Blaine seemed to read him like an open book.
"Going outside of our usual coffee dates?" Blaine smirked at him playfully.
"I've been to your shows before. I do believe those are out of our usual coffee." Kurt retorted with a pointed look, "Now, Saturday night. Are you free?"
Blaine hummed and seemed to wrack his brain, "Mmm, shit. No. Cooper and I have something going on. Do you want to hang out another night instead?"
Kurt swallowed his disappointment, "Oh, its fine. I just have an extra ticket to something for Saturday so I thought you might want to go, but no worries."
Blaine reached across the table and squeezed Kurt's hand apologetically, "Sorry, if I didn't have something else going on I'd totally go."
Kurt nodded his acknowledgement and wracked his brain as to who he could bring as his plus-one to Rachel's opening show Saturday evening.
"Holy shit Blainey, I can't believe you wrote those numbers!" Cooper whisper shouted at Blaine as they sat at intermission.
"Shhh!" Blaine shushed his brother, looking around and sighed in relief when no one seemed to hear, "Remember, I didn't do shit. I shouldn't have even told you, Coop. We just happened to score these tickets and the entrance to the after party; Coop, you've got to keep your cool about it."
"I'm sorry, they were just amazing songs! I'm proud of you."
Blaine smiled and opened his mouth to thank him when several girls stepped into the row behind them, tapping Cooper on the shoulder to ask for his autograph and photos. Blaine smiled and stood to stretch his legs with the little time left in intermission.
As he meandered into the hall, Blaine couldn't help the smile of pride on his face as several people cheered the music in their conversations. He suddenly felt the air leave his lungs as someone ran into him at full speed.
"Oomph, excuse me," Blaine said, massaging his chest and taking a deep breath before looking up to meet the eyes of the person he'd run into.
"Watch it, Hobbit." The Latina responded, looking down to her dress to ensure it had stayed in place, barely covering her breasts.
"I'm sorry, are you all right?"
The woman looked up, mouth open to retort when she met his gaze. She studied him for a moment before realization dawned on her face. Blaine thought she looked familiar but couldn't quite place how.
"Fucking perfect, wait 'till Lady Lips hears about you being here."
Confusion coursed through Blaine as the hall lights blinked, signaling the end of intermission, "I'm sorry? What do you me-"
"See ya later, asshole."
XXXX
As Blaine and Cooper made it past the photographers, he still couldn't figure out what the Latina had meant nor how he remembered her. Something in the woman's fiery gaze and protectiveness over 'Lady Lips' made Blaine afraid to be on her bad side, even though he couldn't figure out how he'd gotten there in the first place.
Blaine stood next to Cooper, sipping his drink as Cooper chatted up every single person that would listen. All too soon, his cup was empty. He bumped Cooper's elbow to silently inform him that he was going for a refill before walking towards the bar.
As he walked, he spotted the Latina again, standing outside of the men's room looking a cross between pissed off and sad. She sighed before screaming at the door, causing Blaine to jump as he passed.
"OKAY PRETTY PONY, IT'S TIME TO COME OUT OF THE STABLE! BERRY IS GOING TO WALK THROUGH THOSE DOORS ANY SECOND AND YOU WILL NOT RUIN TONIGHT FOR HER BECAUSE I REFUSE TO LISTEN TO HER WHINE ON MY ONLY WEEKEND OFF OF WORK THAT I FLEW MY ASS OUT HERE TO SUPPORT BOTH OF YOU! YOU MADE IT THROUGH THE SHOW; YOU CAN MAKE IT THROUGH A FUCKING PARTY! STOP BEING A BITCH AND COME OUT OF THE DAMN BATHROOM BEFORE I COME IN THERE AND DRAGS YOUR ASS OUT!"
Blaine tried to ignore her as his drink was refilled, but couldn't help overhearing. He thought he was on her bad list, the poor guy on the other side of the door didn't stand a chance. Blaine quickly walked back to Cooper, ignoring the slowly opening door that allowed the woman to slip inside.
"All right, Hummel, you good to go?" Santana asked, wiping his face one last time with the damp paper towel.
Kurt took another deep breath and nodded. His panic wasn't totally gone, but it was controllable. He felt angry and embarrassed that he'd panicked from being in the crowd; especially with how well he'd been doing as of recently. He allowed Santana to give him a tight hug before they exited the bathroom. Kurt kept his head down but he could feel the eyes of several people staring at him as they walked. He knew Santana had created a scene and he was ashamed that it was on his account.
"There they are! Kurt! Santana!" Rachel's voice trilled out to them.
Kurt looked up with a smile and met her gaze, not looking at those around them. He could see how happy she was and it made his heart warm. She'd killed her opening night and he was very proud of her.
"Hey, Rach!" Kurt said as he hugged her, "You were amazing!"
"Oh thank you Kurt!" Rachel said before turning to hug Santana, "Thanks for being here, both of you."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Berry," Santana said and Kurt could tell she was trying really hard not to use all of her usual socially unacceptable names and he couldn't help but giggle.
"By the way, have you guys met Cooper Anderson?" Rachel segued, gesturing to the man standing directly next to Kurt without his realizing it.
Cooper chuckled and Kurt couldn't help the panic beginning to rise again, his two separate lives-his pre-Blaine life and his life as Blaine's friend- were colliding and apparently there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Of course we have, we met at Blainey's show last weekend." Cooper said, slinging an arm around Kurt.
Kurt felt his posture stiffen but he couldn't hold back his smile as Rachel stopped breathing, her eyes bugging out of her head as she stared at the arm draped around Kurt's shoulders.
"I totally forgot you were Blaine's brother, of course you've met." Rachel said through a strangled throat as she continued to stare.
"Hold up, hold up. Blainey as in Blaine the asshole musician?" Santana snarked on Kurt's other side.
"It was a bad night on my part and we've long since moved on and have become great friends," A new voice joined the small circle.
Kurt looked over to see Blaine, dressed to the nines in his theatre best, smiling shyly at him.
"Hi Blaine," Kurt breathed.
"Hey Kurt," Blaine replied before turning back to Santana, "I can see why you were annoyed by my presence earlier, but I promise things are good between me and Kurt again. No need to hate me any longer."
Kurt could feel himself beginning to shake as another person came up to congratulate Rachel before she was swept away to mingle with the rest of the party goers. Cooper must've felt it as the next thing Kurt knew he was sandwiched between both Anderson brothers and Blaine was humming the tune that he seemed to always hum to Kurt when he was beginning to panic ever since the day that Kurt had told him his life story. He could feel the soft melody sweeping over him and he concentrated on his breathing, slowing down everything around him to a manageable speed. He was choosing to ignore Santana bantering with Cooper; she didn't give a damn that Cooper was in high demand in the room, she only cared that he'd taken Kurt away from her side moments before.
"You okay?" Blaine whispered, turning Kurt to face him.
Kurt met Blaine's gaze and smiled softly, "Yeah, I guess it's just scary having you and my other friends meet. It's like I can't compartmentalize anymore and I just need to get past that."
Blaine nodded slowly, "I understand that. Remember, I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Just because I'm meeting your other friends doesn't really mean anything. It just means we know each other's people. You already know mine, I'm glad to be meeting yours."
Kurt swallowed, "Okay."
The few moments of silence between the duo felt like an eternity.
"So, you didn't tell me your friend Rachel was Rachel Berry of Broadway fame." Blaine remarked before taking a drink out of his glass.
Kurt shrugged, "Just like you didn't initially tell me your brother was of Sexiest Man Alive fame."
They both giggled, breaking through Santana and Cooper's conversation.
"Holy fuck, did you cause that damage there Lady Lips? I didn't think you had it in you." Santana remarked with an impressed look on her face.
Kurt's gaze immediately went to the hickey still brightly shining on Blaine's neck, "No, Satan, that wasn't my doing. Blaine and I are just friends, not kissing friends or fucking friends, just friends. Nothing more."
As Kurt finished he saw something flash in Blaine's eyes, but it was gone quicker than he could make sense of what it was.
"This is what I get for one too many drinks and a possessive one night stand." Blaine remarked with a smirk, earning a high five from Santana, an eye roll from Cooper and a forced laugh from Kurt.
XXXX
The rest of the evening went by in a blur. Kurt found himself standing by Blaine's side the entire evening, being mistaken for his boyfriend several times earning awkward glances and silences from the both of them each time. He was relieved when it finally reached a socially acceptable time to leave and go home to his warm bed. Santana was staying with him, so he practically had to drag her out of the venue when it was time to leave, earning several curious glances as they went, which did nothing to help Kurt's uneasiness about the whole evening.
As Kurt curled up next to Santana in bed a while later, all he could think about was how unnerving it had been to have his worlds collide and how nice it had been to spend the evening with Blaine. It all balanced out and that in and of itself scared Kurt; he was getting too close too fast with Blaine. Sure they'd shared their stories with each other and they'd been hanging out nearly every day, but the speed of which Blaine had wormed his way into Kurt's soul with the ability to calm him down made him nervous and admittedly happy all the same. Blaine had shown his trustworthiness and Kurt was glad to have him at his side so he chose to push away the nerves for the time being and hoped it wouldn't blow up in his face.
A/N: I don't own Glee nor its characters. I'm excited to have actually stayed on schedule for y'all! I hope you're enjoying the story, thanks again for the continued support! Let me know what y'all thought! :)