A/N: Sorry this took so long, writer's block is the worst disease know to man. Anyway, this chapter is about a thousand words longer than the average chapters, so there's that! Must thank unlikelythingshappenalltheti me for helping with the Cooper parts (check her out, she's amazing). Reviews make the chapters arrive quicker; just saying. Without further ado:
Chapter 10:
As the days passed, Blaine's struggle to resist the urge to use the 'L' word became harder and harder. He found himself repeating it in his head every time he saw Kurt. He counted the things that made his heart flutter, which was more than he could keep track of. Blaine would catch himself staring at him, or getting excited with hope when his phone rang. He wanted to spend every second of the day holding hands with him or sneaking kisses.
He couldn't fight it. There was so many things to love about Kurt. The way his nose crinkled when he laughed. How he always took a sip of his coffee too fast, and burnt his throat, but insisted on doing it again the next day, because the burn was worth it. How he looked like a kitten when he yawned, or did anything honesty, being completely adorable.
And then there was the sex. Whenever they were able to, they did it; jumping at the opportunity to further explore each other's bodies. They were like rabbits, not being able to stop. Blaine loved how Kurt moaned. The way he'd whisper things in Blaine's ear, driving him wild. He loved the way Kurt's toes curled, and how his hands travelled everywhere, and oh god, how talented he was with his tongue. Blaine loved how Kurt turned into an entirely different person when they were together, becoming a beast in bed, and then becoming adorably shy when they were done.
These things just made Blaine madly in love with Kurt. He couldn't say it though. He didn't want to scare Kurt off, but at the same time, he knew that if he didn't say it, he'd burst. It had to be perfect though. The times he was ready to say it, the setting wasn't right, and when it was, they'd get interrupted. They seemed to always get interrupted by something. An electronic beeping noise to be specific.
The pager that Kurt had on his waist seemed to start going off more frequently, and Kurt would stop whatever they were doing to leave. Sometimes, Blaine wouldn't see Kurt at all. Their phone calls were shorter, their time alone wouldn't last longer than ten minutes. Blaine didn't want to be, but he was frustrated. He hated coming off so needy and desperate, but he didn't even know what that damn thing was for. Why did he have to give up his precious time with Kurt for something that he didn't even like?
Blaine walked into his apartment, dropping groceries on the kitchen floor while holding his cell phone to his ear. He waited as it the ranging continued, unpacking the food in the bags.
"Hello?" Kurt picked up in a whisper as Blaine smiled faintly.
"Hey sweetheart. Why are you whispering?" Blaine asked, holding the phone with his hand. There was a sound of a door closing on the other side of the phone before Kurt spoke again.
"I'm not." Kurt responded, his voice going back to normal. "Is there something wrong?" he asked as Blaine scoffed lowly.
"No, there's nothing wrong, I just miss you. You left out this morning so quickly, I didn't even get to say goodbye." Blaine explained, leaning against the counter.
"I'm sorry. I'm really busy today. I think I'm just going to sleep at my apartment today since all my work is there. I still have a bunch of things I need to put in boxes anyway." Kurt explained as Blaine sighed.
"Oh." He said flatly, looking over all the food he had just bought in preparation to surprise Kurt with dinner. "Do you need help packing, or bringing things over here?" He asked, offering to help Kurt move out of his apartment and into Blaine's if it meant he could spend at least a little bit of time with him.
"No, I'm fine." Kurt assured. Blaine let out a sigh, his head hanging low a bit.
"Well, Cooper's flying in next Thursday night at 6, then we were planning on going to dinner at 7. Is that an okay time for you?" Blaine asked. Kurt let out a loud gasp and Blaine could hear him facepalm himself.
"I completely forgot!" Kurt admitted as Blaine slouched.
"Kurt, you said you were coming to meet him."
"I know I know," Kurt spoke, "I am going to be there. I'll come to your house at five and we can drive to the airport together." There was a pause as Blaine sighed.
"Kurt, he's the only family I really have and this is really important. I don't want you to rush out in the middle of dinner." he whined a bit.
"I won't. No interruptions." Kurt reassured.
"Promise?" Blaine asked. There was a pause before Kurt replied.
"Promise."
Blaine smiled gently, happy to hear that there wasn't going to be any problems with Kurt meeting his brother. "Thank you." he sighed. "One more thing," Blaine said, feeling himself become nervous. Come on Blaine, just tell him,
"I have to go, we can talk about it later, okay?" Kurt said, his voice becoming quiet again.
"It's actually really important. Kurt, I-" The sound of Kurt hanging up rang through Blaine's ears as he stared down at the phone. "I love you." Blaine sighed, putting the phone in his pocket and feeling a bitter disappointment rush through him. He let out a frustrated groan as he sat down at the counter and hid his face in his hands. Why was this so hard?
When Thursday arrived, Kurt showed up at Blaine's apartment, just as he promised. Both were at the airport waiting for Cooper in an hour, Kurt nervously bouncing a bit. Blaine's mind raced with dozens of quizzical facts about his older brother. He felt the need to tell Kurt just about everything about his sibling, just so that the encounter could go off without a hitch.
"Cooper starred in The Mentalist before- well, he was in it twice. He's so proud of himself for that one. He did Crazy, Stupid, Love too. He tried out for Ryan Gosling's role but was cast as an extra, so don't bring that up. He likes to work movies. Although he prefers the work he did on The Mentalist so it may be better to bring that one up and-"
"Blaine," Kurt's hands flew to the others shoulders in an attempt to silence him, "I've got this okay? Don't worry."
Blaine sighed, relaxing a bit. A gentle squeeze to his shoulders caused a soft smile to grace Blaine's lips. "How did I get lucky enough to get a guy like you?" He smirked.
"I have no idea. I can do so much better." Kurt joked as Blaine laughed, rolling his eyes.
"I hate you." Blaine chuckled, pecking Kurt on the lips.
"You love me." Kurt sighed, turning back to the crowd to look for what Blaine described to be Cooper.
Blaine stared at Kurt with a gentle smile on his face. You have no idea, he thought to himself.
"Blaine!" A deep voice called from the crowd of people. A tall man with black button down and jeans approached the couple with his luggage, automatically throwing his arms around Blaine. A grin appeared on both of their faces as they hugged, Kurt observing Cooper for the first time.
"Look at you, Squirt. All grown up!" Cooper cheesed, breaking away and patting his brother on the back.
"Please don't call me that." Blaine groaned, momentarily embarrassed.
"Why not?" Cooper asked, a bit offended.
"Because I'm twenty-two years old, and I don't want to be described as 'Squirt' anymore." Blaine explained as Cooper shook his head.
"We agreed that we could say or do anything mean or annoying to each other when it's our birthdays, remember? We had a whole contract and everything. And I believe that today, March 18th, is my birthday."
"A fake contract. Plus, I signed that contract when I was seven. That doesn't apply now."
"He's only saying that because you're here." Cooper told Kurt, as Blaine rolled his eyes at him.
"Cooper, this is my boyfriend Kurt. Kurt, this is my very annoying brother, Cooper." Blaine introduced as they shook hands.
"Happy Birthday. Blaine's told me all about you. I mean everything." Kurt joked.
"I'm surprised. When we talk, he barely ever stops talking about you. 'Kurt's so handsome, Kurt's so sweet.' Kurt this, Kurt that." Cooper teased, making his voice higher to pretend to be Blaine.
"I don't talk like that!" Blaine argued, pushing his brother who laughed along with Kurt. "Let's just get going." he added, ducking his head a bit as they started walking towards the exit.
"Don't be embarrassed. It's cute." Kurt assured, lacing his fingers with Blaine's.
"Well Squirt," Cooper sighed, Kurt snorting at the mention of "Squirt" again, as the three men continued to walk, "I'll admit, I never thought I'd see the day, the two of us walking through New York and you with a hot boy on your arm."
"Thanks," Blaine responded dryly.
"You're welcome," Cooper said earnestly, "I always imagined it'd be the other way around."
"You with the hot boy on your arm?" Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No, with a hot significant other on my arm," Cooper elaborated, "Not hotter than me of course."
"Of course," Blaine rolled his eyes, grinning good-naturedly, "Good luck with that."
"I don't need luck," Cooper said with a wink, "I've got my charisma and good looks."
"Don't forget your humility," Kurt quipped, earning a hastily muffled bark of laughter from Blaine.
"Exactly," Cooper pointed at Kurt, "I like this one Blaine."
"Me too," Blaine turned to give the taller man a quick peck on the cheek. They drove to the diner, Cooper chattering about how he was expecting the love of his life to show up any day now. Blaine shot Kurt several apologetic looks when Cooper wasn't looking, but Kurt seemed to be mostly amused than annoyed.
"So," Cooper said, turning to Kurt as they walked into the little diner Blaine had picked out, "Blainers here tells me you're a fashion blogger."
"Yeah," Kurt nodded as they found an empty table.
"That's pretty impressive," Cooper commented, "You know, being able to make it independently like you have."
"He's a natural," Blaine piped up, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist, "You should see some of the outfits he sketches. They're amazing."
"Blaine's over-exaggerating," Kurt shrugged, brushing off the compliment.
"Am not," Blaine insisted.
"Maybe he would believe you if you were more intense about it," Cooper suggested, "Perhaps yelling would h-"
"Dear God," Blaine interrupted, "Please don't start shouting in the middle of a restaurant."
"Fine Squirt," Cooper rolled his eyes, "But did you ever tell Kurt about that time I won the part because of my intense acting."
"No," Blaine admitted with a sigh.
"Well it all started one gloomy Tuesday afternoon..."
The evening went by smoothly, everyone enjoying their meals as Cooper spoke. Every now and then, Blaine would look over to Kurt, watching as he listened, actually interested in Cooper's autobiography. Even though Blaine was mostly embarrassed by his big brother and Kurt finding out his pet name, Blaine was happy that Cooper had finally met Kurt. The three men laughed together as Cooper continued to tell his story.
"I swear, that's exactly how it happened-"
The laughs slowly came to a stop as a muffled beeping noise started up in Kurt's direction. Kurt quickly pulled out the pager that seemed to be hiding under his sweater and silenced it, Blaine frowning a bit.
"Now I know most people like vintage, but that's a bit ancient, don't you think?" Cooper joked as Kurt smiled.
"Excuse me for a second?" Kurt said, getting out of his chair and walking towards the direction of the restrooms, ignoring Blaine's glare.
"Blaine," Cooper started, making Blaine turn his attention back to him. "Dude, you're head over heels." Cooper said softly, leaning in as Blaine smiled.
"That obvious?" Blaine asked, sighing a bit.
"Pretty much. I can see why, he's perfect for you. Have you told him?" Cooper asked, grinning a bit.
"No, I was planning to, but as you can see, he runs off every time that pager goes off." Blaine huffed. He looked back towards the restrooms to see Kurt talking on the phone, again. "I'll be right back." He said, getting up and walking towards the restrooms also.
By the time Blaine got to Kurt, he was finishing his conversation.
"I'll be there as soon as possible." Kurt sighed into the phone before hanging up.
"Be where as soon as possible?" Blaine questioned, as Kurt turned with widened eyes. He placed a hand over his heart and sighed a bit with a faint smile.
"You scared me." He breathed, putting his phone back in his pocket. Blaine's frown from earlier increased as Kurt ducked his head, guilty. "It's just for a second, Blaine." Kurt begged as Blaine shook his head.
"Kurt, you said no interruptions."
"I know what I said-"
"You promised."
"I'll be back in five minutes. I swear."
"Kurt, you promised."
There was a pause as both men stared at one another, hoping the other would give in. Kurt sighed as he broke eye contact, rubbing his hand over his forehead.
"I know," he mumbled, meeting Blaine's gaze again. "Let's go eat." He sighed as Blaine smiled softly.
"Thank you." Blaine said as Kurt smiled back, grabbing his hand and walking back to the table.
Though Kurt stayed, he wasn't really there. He half listened to Cooper's stories and barely talked, sipping on his drink and taking small bites of his food. Though Cooper couldn't tell, Blaine could. Kurt frequently checked his watch, cringing as it became later and later. It wasn't long before Blaine grew impatient.
When Cooper finally excused himself to the bathroom, Blaine let out a disappointed sigh.
"Go." He mumbled, dropping his head as Kurt looked over at him.
"What?"
Blaine raised his head with another sigh and looked at Kurt.
"Just go Kurt, it's obvious you have somewhere to go that's more important than this."
"I don't. I can wait." Kurt objected.
"Just go." Blaine frowned, looking down again and waving him off.
Kurt paused, reaching over to place his hand over Blaine's. He gave it a light squeeze, as if asking if Blaine was sure, feeling bad. Blaine smiled weakly to answer his question.
"Thank you." Kurt mumbled. He gave a quick peck before leaving, ensuring Blaine that he'll be home by eleven.
"Where'd Kurt go?" Cooper asked when he came back from the restroom.
"It's a long story. Something about his boss going crazy and his job being on the line. But he said he's sorry and he'd love to hear more stories next time." Blaine lied as Cooper nodded, accepting the answer.
"That's too bad. I wanted to spend a bit more time with him." Cooper pouted a bit as Blaine nodded.
"Me too."