A/N Thank you so much for the kind feedback on the last chapter. I am realising that when I have finished this story I may be tempted to go back and rework parts of different chapters for clarity etc. I really appreciated those of you who took the time to let me know which bits were less effective for you. And to everyone who reviewed – thank you!
Here's a lighter chapter and a reappearance of some old friends. Enjoy!
Chapter 11
Jack bounded in to Blaine's office.
"Did you set this up?"
"Set what up Jack? I am really not in the mood today."
"Woah, OK… grouchy. You must know what I am talking about? It's all over TH."
"What is?"
Jack slowed down for the first time that day. He sat down on the sofa looking confused. "You mean you really don't know? Kurt Hummel is coming in to teach music for the rest of the semester. He has offered to coach us to put on a musical revue for the trustees to raise more money for Trevor's House. He didn't tell you? I thought for sure that you had set this up."
Blaine just stared at Jack dumbfounded. "Are you kidding right now?" but one look at Jack's face and it was clear that he was serious.
Blaine felt a peculiar mixture of mind numbing anger and total excitement, overlaid with a suggestion of nausea. His stomach was tied in knots.
"I need to go talk to the Director immediately."
Jack's face fell. "I thought you would be pleased. Please don't stop it Blaine. This is the best thing that has happened here in forever. All the kids are talking about it. I've never seen them so excited about something that is not computer game related."
"Jack, I need to find out for myself what is happening. I'm sorry I can't talk right now. I'll see you at our session as normal later, OK?"
Jack nodded warily and dragged his feet to the door. It was clear that he was regretting his decision to tell Blaine but it was way too late. The cat was out of the bag.
An hour later, after a short meeting with the Director, Blaine was on the phone calling the very number that he had almost deleted back out of his phone book a few days before.
After three rings, Kurt picked up.
"Blaine?" Kurt sounded surprised.
"Kurt, what are you playing at?" Blaine didn't even try to cover the anger in his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"Is it true that you are planning to come to volunteer at MY WORKPLACE?"
"Oh… that."
"What do you mean, 'Oh…that'? How were you not expecting this call?"
"No, I just… hadn't expected the news to get to you so quickly. I was planning on telling you myself. I just didn't quite know what to say."
"Yeah, NO SHIT! That's because this is the most stupid idea you have ever had. Please call the Director and tell him you have changed your mind."
"Um…no. I can't do that. I would be letting down the kids."
"Please. This is not about the kids and we both know it. This is about me."
"Not everything is about you, Blaine."
"Oh, yeah? What else could possibly have inspired you to volunteer with this particular demographic? In THIS VERY children's home?"
Kurt stuttered at the anger in Blaine's voice and started to tap dance quickly. "Actually I was inspired by meeting Jack. He seemed like he needed a Glee Club equivalent in his life desperately."
"So you are going to be the next Will Schuester, huh? Very touching," Blaine quipped sarcastically.
"Look, you don't have to like the idea but you did say that you wished that we had re-met in different circumstances. I am just providing the different circumstances."
"Oh God," Blaine sat down with a thump on the step outside the home and held his head in his hand. "You are serious about this. And what happens when everything in LA blows over and your agent calls with your next big break?"
"I've already told her that I am off the market until February at least."
Blaine swallowed his next rant. He had definitely not been expecting that.
"So you are planning to stay in Columbus for at least five months?" his tone had softened considerably from the higher pitched wail he had been emitting earlier.
"Yes. It looks that way."
"Huh."
"I'm not giving up on us, Blaine."
Blaine felt his face go red and a lump form in his throat. He thought he was going to start sobbing but he clamped down on his emotions hard.
"Kurt, I really think this is a bad idea. I am not sure that things are going to change in the way you want them too. What happens when you realise that we are really over?"
He heard a sharp breath on the other end of the phone. "I don't know," Kurt sounded much less chipper than he had a few moments ago. "I haven't really thought about that. But Blaine, I have committed to staying at the Home until February to put on the show. If things aren't working out then when that ends, I will leave."
Blaine sighed. "I'm still kind of mad that you didn't even ask me before you did this."
"You would have stopped me."
"True… Kurt, I hope you know what you are doing. These kids are not like McKinley or Dalton. They are here for a reason, usually because they can not manage to live anywhere else. Their behaviour can be really challenging. In short they could eat you alive."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. You know I don't have a clue what I have signed up to, but I knew I had to try something to give us a chance."
Blaine nodded resignedly, even though the gesture was useless over the phone.
"Just promise me one thing," he asked Kurt. "Promise me that you won't let the kids down. You should see how excited they are right now. Please."
Kurt seemed to breathe a bit more easily. "I promise not to let either the kids or you down."
Blaine smiled for the first time since hearing the news. "Thank you." There was a long pregnant pause. "I have to go back to work now."
"OK. I'll see you Monday, Blaine."
"Yeah."
Blaine hung up the phone feeling rung out. This was completely overwhelming and he hated the feeling that things were moving fast out of his control. He leaned his head back against the bricks on the Home and closed his eyes against the sun. He sure hoped that Kurt had thought this through better than it appeared.
He decided he needed some emergency advice and a different perspective. He pulled out his phone again and texted the two people he knew would tell him exactly how it was.
"So let me get this straight." Wes put down the beer bottle and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "You left the party together and went back to your place. You did things together that David and I really don't want to know about and then he left you high and dry and was generally a total ass. Two days later he has a change of heart and comes crawling back. Following a weird pseudo-date, chaperoned by a 17 year old, you meet for coffee and make each other cry like little girls. Then you decide that you can't take it any more and call quits to possibly the greatest love story never told. But he ignores you and behind your back decides to spend quality time with you in that off-the-wall place you work in, and you are deciding whether to kill him or kiss him for it?" he paused for dramatic effect. "How did I do?"
David looked totally befuddled on the other side of the table. "Well, I'll say one thing about gay relationships, they certainly are more exciting than my boring, settled, married life. Maybe we should have experimented more Wes, we are clearly missing out!"
Blaine groaned and slammed his head on to the bar table. "Not helping guys. You are meant to be coming up with sound advice and telling me to what to do."
"Not a chance," said Wes. "Telling you what to do in your love life leads to total disaster. Have you forgotten what happened with Eric or Ethan or whatever his name was? I had to throw out that shirt after you threw your Bloody Mary on it when you didn't appreciate my last bit of helpful advice."
"You told me to screw his brother."
"Yeah, well, he was definitely hotter… and way less crazy."
Blaine gave Wes an evil glare and Wes immediately grabbed his beer glass, nursing it to his chest defensively.
"So, I have a question," David bravely soldiered on, ignoring the shenanigans in front of him. "Does Kurt have a point about you pushing him away in college? I got to tell you, man, if we have been dealing with you moping and looking lovelorn for nine years because you messed up, I'm going to be pretty pissed."
Blaine let out an agonised groan. "I don't know… I don't think so. I mean things got so screwed up and I know I saw things in a weird way for a while, but I definitely did not want Kurt to leave. But who knows?… I guess I was really anxious about him staying too."
"So remind me, what did happen?"
Blaine thought for a minute. He and Kurt had never told anyone the real story and somehow, now that Kurt had made him question everything anyway, he didn't feel that it was his story to tell. He just settled for the agreed abbreviated version.
"You remember me telling you about the crazy student politics in Junior Year? Well it just continued on and got a bit more intense in Senior Year once we were actually elected. Then Kurt met Mark through the play they were doing and he just started spending more time with him."
Wes seemed to contemplate him seriously for a minute. "You didn't do your self-sacrificing thing did you?" Blaine felt the colour drain out of his face. "You know, that thing you do when you decide that you know what's best for someone else and then you do it no matter what the cost is to you and regardless of their opinion?"
"I don't do that."
Both Wes and David laughed out loud. "Yeah, you do." This was the problem with seeking advice from the two people who knew him best in the World.
Wes continued. "Remember the time in Sophomore Year when I smuggled in a bottle of vodka to the dorms? We all got trashed and decided to play softball in the common room. David hit that ball straight up and it totally brought down the chandelier. You told Mr Perkins that you had snuck in the alcohol and as a result got banned from Sectionals."
"You would have been suspended," Blaine argued, "You already had the strike against you from sneaking Jess in on campus that month before."
Wes put both hands up in acknowledgment. "Dude, I'm totally grateful. I am not saying that. But the point is, that was my deal for having been an idiot, my choice, my consequence and you took the heat because you did not want me to suffer. I swear that cost you the end of year Student Achievement Award and put a massive black mark against your otherwise perfect record. It was so totally not your issue but you covered for me anyway because you decided that it was the best option."
Blaine rubbed a hand through his hair in frustration. "And then there was the time…" David started up.
"It's OK," Blaine interrupted. "I've got the point."
"You know… about Kurt," Wesley turned his beer glass in his hand and then smiled up at Blaine mischievously, "this is a bit like those Disney movies you made us sit through in the dorm."
Both Blaine and David looked at him as if he had lost it.
"No, I mean it... just stay with me for a second. In those movies, the good guy always fuck's up big style within the first half hour so you think he's a total ass, but then he transforms in to Prince Charming and marries the Princess."
"Hold on," Blaine said, waving his hand animatedly. "First, did you really just compare my current nightmare situation to a Disney movie? And second, did you just cast me in the role as the princess?"
"Hey, if the shoe fits…David and I just spent the last hour listening to you angst about the hidden motives of your would-be suitor. I don't see anyone else asking to be cast for the diva role."
"Fuck you."
David immediately grabbed all three beer glasses off the table and out of Blaine's way. "And fuck you too," Blaine shot at him, only half joking.
"Look, seriously, Blaine," David responded, "here's how I see your situation. You told Kurt that you were not willing to consider a relationship, because you are a wuss." Blaine glared at him and David quickly moved the glasses to another table.
"Not without reason," David hastened to add. "However, Kurt won't take no for an answer and has made the choice to turn down fame and fortune for a few months to teach a pack of hyenas how to sing, in an attempt to get your attention. You have no risk here. He is putting his heart, job and dignity on the line for you and short of you going all pre-teen schoolgirl on him at work, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't let this play out."
"David, you are a genius," Wes piped up. "Think about it, Blaine, it's perfect. The kids can be like the test, the Disney dragon so to speak. If Kurt is able to slay the dragon, or tame the wild beasts if you prefer, (I know how sensitive you are about those cretins you work with) then maybe he can win your heart after all."
"You are an idiot Wesley," Blaine deadpanned, "I don't know how Jess puts up with you."
"She thinks I'm special," Wes said with not nearly enough irony.
Both Blaine and David laughed.
"OK, so you both think I should just go with the flow of this absolutely insane idea?"
"Without a doubt." They both nodded.
"Do you think we stand any chance at all of this working?"
David hesitated but Wesley just rolled his eyes and jumped in, "Blaine Anderson, where has your absolutely hopeless romantic side vanished to? Where is the boy who made me watch both Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin twice through after Jess dumped me for that horrifying week in senior year? Obviously the fact that we are celebrating our five year anniversary next week is testament to the power of insanity mashed with Disney. That used to be your speciality."
Blaine sighed deeply. "OK… going with the flow…"
"Oh, good, can we finally move on to something else?" Wes asked looking relieved. He physically turned away from Blaine and zeroed in on David. "So, a little bird told me, David, that you lost a bet and that Karen waxed you chest hair. I want to see both the video evidence and the waxed chest please."
David turned bright read and ducked his head in to his hands in mock despair.
Blaine raised his eyes heavenward and went to get the next round of beer. It was clearly going to be a long night but he was feeling a lot better.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed David and Wes. I know they are fanfic icons at this point. It was fun to play with them a little.
Please review. : )
