It is most definitely 1am for me right now, but Monday non-the less! I almost waited until Tuesday to post this chapter considering it is Halloween in the story, but that would have been mean to make you all wait. Tuesday is also my birthday (yes on Halloween), and so this chapter is my early gift to you guys!
A huge thank you to BeautifulUnseen for making my words look all pretty as usual… this fic might look like a mess if it weren't for her. You all should go check out her newest story Strangers in Love, it's absolutely amazing!
Without further ado, here's chapter 10
-B
…
"I – I… you, wow," Blaine stuttered as his eyes flicked up to the ocean blue ones staring back at him that were surrounded by a dark line of eyeliner. Eyeliner! Kurt was wearing eyeliner, and god was it hot.
"Thanks." Kurt's cheeks flushed a deep red, feeling a thrill of excitement as he averted his gaze from Blaine's in embarrassment.
"I'm serious. You look…incredible," Blaine breathed. He let his eyes travel Kurt's body, over the leather vest that hugged Kurt's torso perfectly, down to Kurt's gloriously tight black skinny jeans, and finally to his worn combat boots. The entire outfit fit him incredibly well, and the few leather bracelets that where strung on Kurt's wrists tied it together completely. The outfit itself was completely unlike Kurt with its punk rock aspects, but in a way, it suited him completely.
"It was Isabelle's idea," Kurt shrugged and suddenly it made sense to Blaine. Kurt most likely would have chosen something completely different himself, but Isabelle Wright seemed to have a knack for picking things out for Kurt that he wouldn't typically pick for himself, and they always looked flawless on him. "You look pretty great yourself, Mr. Zuko."
Blaine looked down at his own outfit. "Well thank you. You picked well."
"I did. I knew that you'd make the perfect Danny." Kurt nodded approvingly, meeting Blaine's eyes once more. "Shall we?" he asked, holding his hand out for the boy to take.
"You just destroyed that punk rocker image," Blaine stated in mock disappointment. He moved to take Kurt's hand, but frowned when Kurt quickly retracted it.
"Fine then," he scoffed, gently grabbing Blaine's forearm, pulling him forward. Kurt moved to his side, slinging his arm around Blaine's waist as he began to walk. "Let's go, babe," he drawled, smiling when Blaine chuckled in response.
"I mean, we're getting closer I guess," Blaine teased, stopping abruptly in front of a door. He turned to give Kurt – who was now frowning in confusion – a soft smile. "Ella wants to meet you. She's dying to see us in our costumes." He opened the door to his neighbor's apartment. "Hey, El, you best get over here if you want to meet Kurt!" he called. A happy shriek rang through the room, followed by the sound of Ella scurrying down the hallway.
"He's here?!" she asked excitedly when she spotted Blaine, which made Kurt giggle at her excitement.
"He is. Now please don't embarrass me," Blaine said, giving her a pointed look.
"I would never!" Ella placed a hand over her heart.
"Yeah, okay," Blaine scoffed, trying his best to suppress an eye roll, but failing when Ella chuckled. "Alright, Ella this is Kurt, Kurt, this mischievous one is Ella." Blaine introduced them, then stepped to the side so that they both could see each other properly.
Ella flung her arms around Kurt, who was quick to reciprocate the action, laughter bubbling out of him as he did. "Kurt!" Ella screeched, "It's so nice to put a face to the name."
"Well, I don't usually look like this," Kurt joked as the two pulled out of their embrace. "It's nice to meet you as well. Your chocolate cake was absolutely amazing, by the way. I was absolutely wooed."
"Well good! This one has been doing a terrible job trying to win you over so far, somebody had to kick it up a notch."
Kurt huffed out a laugh, turning to face Blain who had his lips pursed in a pout. "I wouldn't say a terrible job," Kurt shrugged, turning back to Ella. "But chocolate cake always helps."
"I'm glad you liked it." Ella nodded in satisfaction. "I'll make sure that I teach Blaine how to make it so that if you both ever get into a serious argument he can – "
"Alright, and we'll be leaving now," Blaine cut in, slipping in between the two and taking Kurt's hand, tugging him towards the staircase.
"Oh, you always ruin the fun," Ella huffed in annoyance. She sent a wave to Kurt, who reciprocated.
"Goodbye Ella, I love you too," Blaine responded, turning to smirk at the woman before leading Kurt down the stairs and out of the apartment building.
…
"Oh my god," Blaine breathed as they walked into the large, extravagantly decorated room. They had spent a short amount of time on the red carpet, Blaine standing idly next to the cameras as Kurt posed for various pictures alone before pulling Blaine over to take a few together. Blaine had protested, but Kurt had ignored him, telling him that he had to show off his hot arm candy somehow. Now they were finally past the paparazzi and entering the ballroom in which the party was being held. The room was packed both with people from the company as well as various celebrities that had worked with Vogue and a various assortment of other people.
"Kurt, this is amazing," Blaine shouted over the deep bass of the music. His eyes wandered from the decorations to the masses of bodies to the tables of food sitting on the opposite side of the room in wonder.
"Well thank you, but honestly, Isabelle and her crew deserve most of the credit. I wouldn't have been able to pull this off it had just been me."
"Well nonetheless, it's amazing." Blaine returned his gaze to the best sight of all - the boy who stood next to him. Kurt's eyes flittered around the room as well, smiling at the way everything had pulled itself together.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to some people," Kurt said, taking Blaine's hand to pulling him through the masses toward some familiar people. A smile graced his lips when he spotted Isabelle, Hannah, James, and a few other people that he knew standing in a circle with drinks in their hands, chatting.
"Kurt, finally!" Isabelle smiled upon spotting the boy, arms opening as he approached and gave her a hug.
"Everything looks absolutely incredible!" he praised, motioning to the decorations. "It looked great earlier, but it's even better now."
"I know," Isabelle said smugly, laughing when Kurt rolled his eyes in amusement.
"You both did a great job," James spoke up, holding a hand out for Kurt to shake. "I sent off the final copy of the November issue to publishing about an hour ago. Kurt, you did fantastic."
"Thank you, James. I'm glad everything seemed to pull together." A small squeeze on his hand pulled his attention to a patient Blaine standing next to him, a smile firm on his face as he watched Kurt interact with his co-workers. "Oh right, everybody this is Blaine Anderson, Blaine this is Isabelle, you know Hannah, and that is James." Kurt introduced, smiling as Blaine shook James' hand before being tugged into a hug by Isabelle.
"It's so good to meet you," Isabelle squealed. "Kurt doesn't shut up about you!"
"Oh god," Kurt groaned as Blaine chuckled while he pulled out of Isabelle's embrace. He gave Kurt's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"That's alright, apparently I don't shut up about him either, so we're even."
"It's fairly normal to constantly talk about a new boyfriend, is it not?" James asked joining the conversation.
"Oh, we're not – "
"I think so," Kurt nodded, cutting Blaine off. "This one's pretty great though, so fair warning, I don't plan on shutting up anytime soon." A laugh escaping his lips at the shocked look that both Isabelle and Hannah were giving him.
"Anyway, you two should go make the rounds, and dance," James said as he motioned for both boys to take off and enjoy the evening with each other.
"See you all on Thursday." Kurt waved, then pulled Blaine away from the group. "You want to dance?" he asked, frowning and turning to face the other boy when there was no answer. "Blaine?" Kurt tilted his head in concern when Blaine opened his mouth to say something but instead shook his head and closed it. "Blaine, are you okay?"
"Mhmm," Blaine mumbled, looking around the room for an exit. Spotting one, he tightened his grip on Kurt's hand and led him towards the exit. Had Kurt honestly just admitted to them being boyfriends? It's not that Blaine didn't want that, but he knew that a conversation needed to happen before that decision was fully in place, especially with his knowledge of Kurt's past. Shoving the door open they both stepped out into the cold night air.
"What's going on?" Kurt asked, voice rushed in panic. "Blaine?"
"You – we, uh, James said – "
"Oh god, it was too much too soon wasn't it?" Kurt asked when he caught on to what Blaine was getting at. "Look, I know that –"
Blaine held up a hand, effectively cutting off Kurt. The initial panic he felt had subsided, leaving only excitement at Kurt's words and curiosity at his reasoning in its wake. A small smile twitched at Blaine's lips, enjoying just how adorable Kurt was when he rambled on like that. "Are you gonna babble now?" he joked.
"Maybe a little, but I need to say this," Kurt said, taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes as he tried to gather up as much courage as he could. "When we met, you had such a magnetic quality to you, and I panicked and ran away out of fear of getting too close to you. You know my background, you know that anytime I've gotten even remotely close to someone it's been thrown back in my face, and so now I do my best to prevent that from happening." Kurt took another deep breath, opening his eyes to look into Blaine's hazel ones. "But with you it's different. You keep pulling me back. I agreed to be friends because, for some reason unknown to me, I couldn't let you go completely. I told you that I like you, and I really do, and for some reason I continued to let myself get reeled in, and now… now I can't pull back. I don't want to pull back," Kurt told him, sincerity bright in his eyes. "I don't want to let go, or move away from your magnetism. The opposite, really. I just want to continue to be pulled closer, and honestly? It's scary. But somehow you make it feel so safe at the same time. I feel safe with you, and it is for that reason that –" Kurt let a smile fall over his lips. "Would you, Blaine Anderson, do me the incredible honor of letting me call your gorgeous self my boyfriend?"
The question was out there, as ocean blue eyes stared into golden hazel ones. Both boys had mulled the idea of being together over in their minds, but had banned themselves from acting on such thoughts out of fear that the other felt differently. And now they stood, the forbidden words hanging in the space between.
Thinking back, Kurt realized he had come to the conclusion that he wanted Blaine in every way possible around the time that Blaine had sat silently by his side, hand clenching his own, as Kurt fought to bring himself up from the bottom of a panic attack. Blaine had been absolutely perfect in that moment, asking Kurt what he needed instead of deciding for him, and then doing exactly as asked, sitting with him so that he was simply there. Kurt had tried multiple times to let Blaine know of his feelings, but each time hesitated, his insecurities getting the best of him, causing him to stay silent. In this moment, however, he knew that he could no longer stop himself from acting on his feelings.
"You want me to be your boyfriend?" Blaine asked, voice laced with emotion, eyes twinkling with a mixture of excitement, confusion, and concern.
"I do. I really do." Kurt nodded, squeezing Blaine's hand as if to reassure him.
"But Kurt, what about everything you talked about?" Blaine asked. "About the fear, and everything that happened in the past. I don't want you to make this decision if you aren't one hundred percent sure."
"I am," Kurt told him, confidence clear in his tone. "Look, my past, all of the people who have hurt me, well – they aren't you. You're so different from all of them. Nobody else has ever made me feel safe, and yet you just have to look at me, and I can psychically feel a calm wash over me. You're so special, Blaine, and I would be the world's biggest idiot to let you slip past me."
"You really want to be boyfriends?" Blaine asked again, as if he couldn't believe the words that he was hearing. He had always known that there was something more developing between them, and he had welcomed it, but now that the words were out there, knowing what he did about Kurt's past, he was wary to accept the idea. He wanted nothing more than to jump into this relationship, but at the same time, he didn't want to rush something that Kurt was possible not quite ready for.
"I do. I want to be able to walk into a room and introduce the gorgeous man on my arm as Blaine Anderson, my boyfriend. Only if that is something that you'd want as well."
"Kurt," Blaine began, panicking slightly when a flash of hurt came across Kurt's features. "No, no, I'm not saying no, I just need to… understand, I guess?" Blaine explained, watching as at least some of the pain in Kurt's eyes dissipated. "I understand that you've decided that I'm different than the guys in your past, and I am. Or at least I hope that I am. There's nothing that I want less than to hurt you, and I hope that you know that, but what if you're not fully ready to take on a relationship, Kurt?" Blaine asked, letting his eyes fall to the ground in between them. It wasn't that he doubted that they could work, quite frankly he believed that they could be epic, but he knew that Kurt had some healing to do. "You've been through a lot, and I'm astounded at how you've managed to let me in, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some wounds that still need to be healed. I don't want to stand in the way of that." He inhaled sharply, hoping that Kurt would understand where he was coming from. "I want you to be able to focus on you, and building yourself back up. And I know it's not going to be easy - because it won't - and it's not that I don't want to be here while you do - because I want nothing more - but I don't want to distract you from it."
"I was worried about that at first, too," Kurt admitted, reaching out and taking Blaine's chin in his hand in order to tilt his head up so that his eyes met Kurt's. "But, believe it or not, one Miss Rachel Berry pointed out to me that it's okay to be wary of getting hurt, but that I shouldn't let the fear stop me from loving again. She's right. I've been simply existing with a cloud of fear around myself. But you...you make me want to cast all caution to the wind and just…well, be alive." A soft smile graced his lips, eyes shining in the sincerity that he was trying so hard to portray through his words. "I don't want to just exist anymore, I want to be alive again, Blaine. Really truly alive, and you, without either of us even realizing it, have helped me start towards that. You're right, it's not going to be easy, especially with my anxiety and all, but I want to try and get there, and I want to do that with you by my side. I want to breathe again," Kurt said, letting his hand fall from Blaine's chin to entangle with the other boy's. "Help me breathe again, Blaine."
"Are you sure though?" Blaine breathed, eyes searching Kurt's for any indication that he might not be one hundred percent sure about his decision.
"More sure than I have been about anything in a long time. Blaine, I want you to be in my life, as more than just a friend helping out another friend. You've been amazing so far, and I like you a lot more than I had thought I would, and I want that to continue. I want you to be by my side throughout everything that is to come, but more than anything I want us to have a chance for our feelings to grow as we do without being carful of pushing this 'friend boundary' that we've set for ourselves," Kurt said, a grin forming on his face as he spoke. "Plus I'd really like to have the ability to kiss you whenever and wherever I want to."
"I – Kurt," Blaine said, sounding almost out of breath. He wanted to dance around like a twelve-year-old, scream to the world that the Kurt Hummel wanted to be his boyfriend, and pull Kurt in and kiss him until he no longer could remember his own name, but his body seemed to have a different idea as he stood completely still, eyes open in shock. "I'd like that," he answered finally, unable to get control of his own body and move or say anything else. The idea that Kurt had spent time deliberating weather or not Blaine was worth it touched him. It was far too soon to believe that they were in love with each other, but as Kurt spoke, Blaine couldn't help but believe that he could definitely fall in love with the blue eyed boy standing in front of him, and that he may in fact already be headed down that pathway.
"Is that a yes, then?" Kurt teased, smile widening when Blaine threw his head back in laughter. "Does that mean that I can kiss my boyfriend now?"
Blaine nodded, placing his unoccupied hand on Kurt's hip to pull him forward, their lips meeting softly as Kurt dropped Blaine's hand and wrapped both arms around Blaine's neck.
Kurt had finally come to realize that he was absolutely, wonderfully, unable to resist Blaine Anderson.
He was absolutely, wonderfully okay with that.
…
"Rachel!" Kurt shouted across the room, causing the brunette to turn around. Her smile illuminated the room upon spotting her best friend who was clutching Blaine's hand.
"I found you!" she said as she made her way over to the pair, dragging Brody along behind her. Rachel had met Brody in one of her classes, and although she had shut down the idea of the two dating, they seemed to be friends, and therefore she had found a way to rope him into being her plus one for the evening.
"You look beautiful," Blaine spoke up, pulling the girl into a hug.
"Thank you," Rachel smiled a bit wider before pulling away to spin around for the pair.
"A perfect Dorothy," Kurt agreed, looking over his best friend's costume. And it was true, Rachel did make the perfect Dorothy in her lookalike dress (no doubt gathered from a Broadway set), red glittery shoes, and hair placed perfectly in two neat braids.
"Brody's the scarecrow!" Rachel trilled in excitement, motioning towards the boy standing next to her, who looked far less impressed with his costume.
"So he is," Kurt said through a laugh, snapping his mouth shut when Brody sent him a glare. "Sorry, but honestly, how did you let her rope you into this one?"
"She gave me that look," Brody grumbled, eliciting a laugh from Blaine, and a knowing hum from Kurt.
"'The look' is pretty powerful," Kurt agreed, giving Brody a sympathetic look. "How about we find you both a drink, maybe that would help?"
"Please!" Brody nodded enthusiastically, eyes flicking around the room in search of the bar.
"This way," Kurt said, nodding towards the bar that sat not too far from where they were standing. "Rach, you want your usual?" he asked, watching the brunette nod before looking towards Blaine. "What can I get for you, boy –" he began but stopped himself when he heard Rachel gasp. "-Blaine," he finished, trying to avoid looking towards Rachel.
"Surprise me," Blaine said, smirking at the way Kurt was beginning to back away, clearly avoiding talking to Rachel about his slip up. Kurt nodded quickly before heading toward the bar with Brody in tow, leaving Blaine to deal with an over exuberant Rachel.
"Did he just –"
"He did," Blaine cut Rachel off, grinning proudly at the girl who squealed and flung her arms around Blaine.
"When? How? What?!" Rachel sputtered, pulling back from Blaine, putting her hands on the boy's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "Tell me!"
"About twenty minutes ago," Blaine informed her. "And that is all of the information that I care to disclose at this moment."
"You're no fun," Rachel sighed dramatically, feigning disappointment, before letting a smile appear on her lips once again. "I'm happy that he finally worked up the courage."
"Me too," Blaine agreed, turning his attention to his boyfriend, who was chatting with Brody as they waited for their drinks to be made. When Kurt caught his eye, he winked before returning his attention back to Brody. "Me too."
…
"Hey, guess what," Kurt said from where his head rested against Blaine's shoulder. The two were swaying back and forth to the slow beat of the song that played throughout the room.
"Hmm?" Blaine hummed. He pressed a kiss into Kurt's hair before resting his cheek against Kurt's head.
"Blaine Anderson is my boyfriend," Kurt stated simply, causing Blaine to chuckle and shake his head.
"You are overly thrilled with that sentence," he said, amused.
"Because it's a beautiful sentence," Kurt told him as he leaned forward to press a kiss to Blaine's neck. "It took me much too long to pull my head out of my ass and accept that there was no getting rid of you. Not that I'd want to even if I could."
Blaine huffed out another laugh, moving his hands from Kurt's hips to link over the small of Kurt's back, pulling him impossibly closer. "I'm glad that you plan to keep me around for a while."
"Me too," Kurt teased. "I don't think I'll get bored too soon," he added, shrieking softly when Blaine moved a hand from Kurt's back to pinch his side lightly. "Kidding!"
"Sure, you were," Blaine said, trying his best to sound upset, but failing. He hummed in happiness as Kurt pressed another kiss to the side of his neck before lifting his head to look at him.
"Honestly, though, I'm sorry I've taken this long to get myself straightened out."
"Hey, don't apologize. You got there eventually, and that's what matters, right?" Blaine asked.
"Right," Kurt said softly, bringing a hand up to cup Blaine's cheek, smiling softly when Blaine leaned into the touch. "Guess what?" he asked again, excitement trilling through his voice.
"Kurt Hummel's my boyfriend," Blaine finished, grinning when Kurt's eyes lit up at the statement.
"Oh my god, that sounds so much better than my statement," Kurt beamed, voice light and breathy.
"Hm, I don't know, I quite like hearing you burst out in excitement, letting anybody within a few feet know that Blaine Anderson is your boyfriend."
Kurt smiled, moving to rest his head back on Blaine's shoulder, dropping his hand to rest on Blaine's chest. "I take it back, I like both statements, as long as it's you who is saying them."
"Well, then guess what?" Blaine began, smiling when Kurt mumbled a knowing "What?" into Blaine's neck. "Kurt Hummel's my boyfriend."