A/N: Me again! I just finished typing this up now (sorry for any mistakes), I apologise if it's been dull leading up to this, I hope this chapter kind of brings it out of that? Anyway enjoy!
Kurt was shaking on his way over to Blaine's house on the following day; he had just a few hours to mentally and physically prepare himself before he would be thrown into the lion's den so to speak. Burt hadn't helped at all either, whilst Kurt realised he was just trying to help him it just made the nervous flutter in his stomach perpetuate and flourish. His fingernails were becoming progressively bitten as he gnawed at them through the journey, there wasn't long left until Blaine's house so maybe he could get that stylist to sort them out.
Blaine had told Kurt that the door would be open when he got there and to just come in, and so he did, reluctantly bringing Burt trailing behind him too. They stepped in and were met with borderline chaos everywhere; Bryan was having a rather heated conversation with Rocky and there were a few other men that Kurt didn't recognise roaming the place too, David was talking with Blaine in the corner and the two of them looked like the only ones that weren't arguing so Kurt meandered his way through the tense horde of flustered people to get to him.
Blaine didn't see Kurt until the last minute, he turned around to survey the room just as Kurt appeared at his left shoulder, they both shared a hug as Burt and David smiled at each other. It was the kind of long suffering look that meant they both wanted out of this situation, Burt had quickly come to stand next to David so that he would be out of the way from any possible attack and had managed to strike up a conversation with him whilst Kurt and Blaine were just talking about what needed doing first.
"You feeling nervous?" Blaine asked as he took Kurt's jittery hand in his in an attempt to soothe him, Kurt's mind was going a hundred miles a minute so he focused on Blaine and what he was saying to him.
"Very. I'm not sure I'll make it through tonight alive." He confessed, giving Blaine a small grimace before Blaine pulled him in and did the same shoulder rub that he'd done both the other day and at regionals, it seemed to work as Kurt's breathing became somewhat steady and he stopped jumping at any loud noises.
"You'll be absolutely fine, from what dad's told me, Tyler and you already have quite the fan base, maybe it's because he actually put some depth into your character." Blaine smirked and rolled his eyes, Kurt elbowed him.
"You're not supposed to say things like that! It's your dad you should be supportive whatever he does." Kurt points out, shocked that Blaine a) has that opinion and b) speaks it so confidently when surrounded by his dad and presumably sing staff.
"He knows what I think of his show, I used to like it but then I went off it and now I've found a reason to start watching it again." He said his eyes twinkling as he looked at Kurt, Kurt was blushing now and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks for that," He said before grabbing Blaine's now free hand. "Come on, we should be getting ready." He said noticing how the time they had put aside for getting prepared was rapidly dwindling away.
"Relax we have time." He said, chuckling about how worked up Kurt was, if he accompanied Bryan so much to these events he would probably be nervous to but as of now he had his mind set on making sure Kurt didn't have a heart attack at any time during the night.
They left Burt talking with David whilst they weaved through the people once more and managed to slip upstairs, Kurt had taken a shower before coming over so his hair was just about fry and ready to style whilst Blaine quickly slipped into the shower to wash his. He hadn't been trying to fix his hair very hard, it was more contemplation over where to start, he didn't want his suit to get wrinkly from sitting in it too long but at the same time he wanted to do his hair once he was dressed so that he wouldn't mess it up again.
Kurt was still having hits discussion when there was a loud rapping on the door, he leapt up to see who it was, the nerves making him just a little more alert than usual. When he opened the door there was a timid looking blonde girl on the other side, she came with the strong aroma of hairspray and had a bag presumably laden with styling products.
"Hi, I'm Lara." She introduced herself and stuck her hand out for Kurt to shake, after he did so they both walked back into the room. "So I'm the stylist for you and Blaine tonight but Bryan told me that you don't actually want help?" She asked as though the situation was deadly confusing to her.
"Well, we thought we might be able to handle it but then he booked you anyway, but since you're here I guess it would help." He admitted, the sounds of Blaine stepping out of the shower could be heard through the door and they both looked at it, waiting for him to come out.
"I take it that's Blaine in there?" She asked, nodding in that direction.
"Sure is." He smiled as he walked back into the room; he had a bathrobe on and was massaging his hair with a towel in his hand, "You're our stylist right?" He asked, holding out his hand for her.
"Yes! I'm Lara." She said overenthusiastically, "I see you've got quite the head of hair there." She observed and Blaine shrugged, he tried hesitantly to push some of it down so that it wouldn't look quite so wild but she'd already seen it so he quickly gave up. "Well, if you two actually do want me to help with anything I'm on hand." She said and gave them a little wave as she ducked out of the room, she would no doubt spend the night either helping everyone else in the house or just reading one of the magazines in her bag.
"I don't even know where to begin." Kurt said, he felt like he was going to vomit and kept getting hot flushes every time he thought about how many people were going to be there that night. With Blaine on hand to reassure him that everything was going to be fine and no, he didn't look ridiculous, he eventually managed to get everything ready and sorted with ten minutes to spare.
Kurt stood in front of the full length mirror surveying himself, his hair had been done and redone so many times that he'd had to use far too much hairspray to hold it in place, but he was the only one who could know that since it still looked like it would any other day. He was fiddling with the lapel of his suit jacket when Blaine appeared behind him.
"Well don't you look dashing." He commented, running his hands along Kurt's shoulders to smooth them out from where they gathered.
"You don't look to bad yourself." Kurt replied, turning round to kiss Blaine, still rather bashful finding that Blaine in a properly fitted suit was far more enticing than Blaine in a school uniform.
"We should get going..." Blaine gestured to the door, a subtle blush spattering his cheeks, they both headed down the stairs and found that it was much calmer than previously, half of the people that had been swanning around were now being driven down to the premier. Bryan was still talking about something with Rocky in hushed tones, they didn't stop when they saw Kurt and Blaine enter so they knew it probably wasn't about them. Burt was still talking about something with David and Kurt was relieved to see them both laughing, they went straight over to them for fear of intruding on a private discussion with anyone else and were instantly involved in a discussion about football.
"I think the driver should be here to take us down soon." He said, smiling at them as they walked over.
"You kids be safe tonight okay?" Burt warned, Kurt was surprised to see his stern gaze seemed directed at Blaine too, "I don't want to be reading the paper tomorrow and find out that you got up to trouble." He continued, Kurt was about to reply that there really wasn't much trouble he could do, rather that the people around them would do but Blaine got there first.
"Don't worry we'll be on our best behaviour tonight, public image and everything." He explained with a confident smile, Kurt just stared at him for that answer coming so easily, now Burt was happily satisfied that he could leave him in Bryan's care.
They bid their farewells and walked out the driveway where there was a stretch hummer waiting for them, it was a sleek black and was the most elaborate car Kurt had ever actually been in. A driver was stood by the door ready to open it when they arrived and , they said one last goodbye to Burt on the driveway who was about to set off back home once they'd hit the road, Kurt once again promising that he'd look out for himself and come home if it was too much.
Now it was the real thing, it was finally happening and Kurt had never been so scared in his life. On the way over he kept thinking back to how there were actually people that liked his character, like him! The jitters in his stomach had now manifested into something similar to tidal waves crashing against his insides, every time he thought about what was to come his gut took a terrible lurch and he had to remind himself to breathe again, he'd been holding Blaine's hand throughout the car journey and it hadn't escaped the notice of Bryan and David, they would spot this together then look over at each other occasionally as they remembered their early days together.
Blaine was slowly running his thumb over Kurt's knuckles as he tried to soothe him, he knew Kurt should be fine once he was actually out there and going through everything for himself but until then he could tell that the nerves would just keep snowballing.
"We're nearly there now, are you two ready?" Bryan asked them as he kept a steady gaze out of the window.
"I think so." Kurt said and sat up a little straighter, now was the time to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come. Bryan had taken him to a few sessions with some people so that they could prepare him for the kind of things that might happen, he'd called it media training and had gone through it with him so that he wouldn't feel overwhelmed. The sessions had been mostly straightforward, they'd gone over how to act and body language which was all stuff Kurt had thought of and done before, then they'd moved onto posing for photos and finally the trickier part: the interviews.
Bryan and his team had been putting Kurt through his paces by trying to come up with the most difficult questions they could think of and Kurt had desperately clung to answers and put together little things in his head, he must have done alright too as Bryan had been impressed with his performance. These sessions however, did not prepare him to do all of this together at once whilst being under so much pressure and especially not when he was so nervous.
Kurt was pulled from his reverie when the car came to a smooth stop and the driver got out, Blaine rested his hand on Kurt's knee and looked him intensely in the eye,
"You ready for this?" He asked, waiting for Kurt to nod before responding "If they ask you anything you don't know or don't want to answer don't panic, we'll be right behind you." He reassured firmly and just got to slip in a quick 'I love you' before the door was opened and they were blinded by the flashes of the first round of photographers. On trembling legs, Kurt got out of the car as gracefully as he could, remembering how Bryan had guided him to and once out of the car, stood to the side to let Blaine out, closely followed by Bryan and David.
Kurt looked back and saw that Bryan and David were now holding hands and decided that if the world was to know Blaine was his boyfriend, tonight would be a good place to start. He reached back tentatively, seeking Blaine's soft, warm hand and was relieved when it found its way snugly into his. They all smiled graciously at the cameras as they walked past to get to their more permanent destination, at this point Kurt was trying to hold back the tears as the camera flashes threatened to make his eyes run and the tears fall down his face, it was then that he wondered how every other celebrity managed to look straight at the cameras whilst this was going on without tears streaming down their face.
They were nearly at the bigger entrance now, this one was more private and only fans that had been intentionally invited could get behind it. On their way to the entrance they all stopped and signed some pictures and merchandise and took pictures with those they could. Kurt stopped at one fan in particular who was calling out his name, she had a picture with her that she'd drawn herself and was holding a sharpie with it so that Kurt could sign it, he did so willingly and nearly choked up at the sight of the picture.
It was an incredibly detailed pencil drawing of him in his very first promo picture, it was all done in the same pencil and the time and effort that must have been put into it was just astounding for Kurt. He ended up having to actually stop and take a picture of it, not sure he'd ever see such a beautiful hand drawing of him again. By this time there were several more fans huddled around the spot all trying frantically to get his attention and he did the best to see as many of them as he could. By the time he had to leave he felt so bad for the fans he couldn't talk to that he turned around and took a huge selfie that contained all of them in the background, making sure not to forget to upload it to twitter later on.
They were now through the main entrance and Kurt was feeling a little more at ease, he was standing close to Blaine as they walked and was holding him firmly by his side.
"See you just had your first fan encounter." He said, grinning like an idiot by his side. "How did it feel?" He asked intrigued, he loved seeing the actors' first interaction with fans.
"Surreal, I just can't believe they actually want to see me, and have things signed by me, and have pictures taken with me." Kurt admitted, feeling on the verge of tears from being surrounded by such supportive after being in such a cruel environment barely a few months ago. "And did you see the drawing that girl did?" he said, utterly amazed at the pure talent, "I've never seen someone who could draw so well!" He said, his face the picture of shock, Blaine chuckled, this was one of the best reactions he'd ever witnessed.
"She was pretty talented." He nodded in agreement "Come on, close that mouth or you'll catch flies." He teased and Kurt nodded, shaking his head to get back in focus, as far as he was concerned, the most stressful part of his night was coming up.
"Okay, I'm good I think." He said, taking a deep breath to steady himself, there was a small pathway that wound round to the red carpet and then onto where all the longer interviews would take place. The quiet picturesque calmness to this scene seemed so palpable and yet Kurt lived with the knowledge that it was going to be completely ruptured within the next few minutes as the onslaught of attention came his way. It wasn't as though the attention would be minimised from him only having appeared on the show for a couple of weeks now, no, he was walking alongside the show's creator and his husband as he held his boyfriend's hand. He wasn't even publicly out yet, he hadn't had an interview to come out in, so those that hadn't already presumed by now would have a field day, he figured he was fine with that though, the thought of getting to show off his boyfriend gave him a slight flutter in his stomach that tugged the corners of his mouth up into a beaming smile.
"That's better," Blaine commented as he noticed this "Big smile, makes a great first impression." He said as he plastered on his award winning grin, Kurt laughed inwardly, little did Blaine know this smile was genuine and actually because of him.
This was it, they'd gone round the corner and were now facing the row of paparazzi and media professionals that were only contained by small barriers either side of the carpet. Kurt saw Bryan and David being called off in one direction and decided he was going to try and be brave, facing a young looking woman on the side who was calling his name. He made a beeline for her, remembering to keep his smile unfalteringly in place as he did so, Blaine standing just behind him but still holding his hand.
"Kurt, it's great to see you tonight!" She cheered as though this was a regular thing and they were best friends.
"It's good to be here." He responded as calmly as possible as he tried not to sound or look too overwhelmed. "So tell us what we're dying to hear; how did you manage to land this part?" She asked and suddenly there was a microphone thrust in his face.
"Well, it was quite a simple process actually," He nodded as he thought of how he'd put this in one of his training sessions. "I was obviously around Bryan a lot since I came to their house to be with Blaine," He smiled softly as he gently pulled Blaine forward a step so that she would be able to see him, "and he knew I could sing because Blaine had told him and because not long after that he'd come to our show choir competition and seen me sing a duet with Blaine then. After that it was just a case of reading in for the role and making sure it all worked with the other characters and actors before I was in." He said, trying to look confident whilst he was picturing what different things could be taken from what he'd just said.
"Tell us more about Blaine," She said nodding her head towards him, "Are you two a couple? How long have you been together and how did it start? She asked and Kurt was ready for this one, it was probably the one question he'd hoped to be ask most so to be asked this early on was a pleasant surprise, he let his pre-prepared answer slip off his tongue and was ready for the next question.
Kurt was getting tired now, he was a lot more interviews down the line and was now almost into the building when he stopped off for one final interview. The last couple of interviews had been pretty much the same format, word had spread like wildfire from the first interview that he was confirmed gay and that Blaine was his first boyfriend. It was from that point on that any talk of his role and his work had ceased and questions were now centred around his sexuality and love-life, Blaine become more and more a part of these interviews.
He strolled over to the man and said the usual hello, he'd just seen Brad leaving this man having shared an interview with him but he couldn't see what kind of reaction Brad had to this man so had to decide for himself.
"Kurt, hey man! It's good to see you, I've just been interviewing your on-screen boyfriend Brad!" He said as though this was the greatest news ever.
"Yeah I saw." Kurt replied, trying to return his enthusiasm as well as he could and act as though this news thrilled him.
"So before I get started I actually wanted to discuss something he just shared with me." The man said with a glint in his eye.
"Oh?" Kurt nodded, glad this interview seemed to be taking a different route.
"Yeah! We just asked him what his favourite part of being on sing is and he told us that it was getting to work with you!" He told Kurt, Kurt was blushing, he hadn't had anything prepared for this.
"Well it's a great pleasure getting to work with him too, he's such an experienced actor that he can just lead a scene like that." Kurt said with a snap of his fingers.
"But that's not all." The guy continued, getting excited now as if he hadn't been before. "He also let slide a little secret that if ever you were available he'd be the first to snatch up the phone." He told him and then proceeded to giggle like a twelve year old girl. Kurt was stunned by that answer of course but he knew what these people were like and was not going to be tricked into making a fool out of himself. The man obviously caught onto Kurt's doubts because he then explained;
"It's all true, straight from the horse's mouth, he said you were undoubtedly his favourite person to work with yet in his whole career and that he dreads the day he has to see the back of you." He said, with a concentrated look that convinced Kurt he wasn't lying and that was when he knew he was in trouble.
This situation could go either of two ways and Kurt knew exactly the way he didn't want it to go if he was going to get any kind of career out of this at all.
"So what do you say to that, Kurt?" he asks since Kurt's obviously taking too much time with his reply "Could there be a new romance in the air? Is there a little loving between you? What would you say to him if he were here right now?"
A/N: What did you think? It's not how I planned to end it but hopefully the next chapter will be up soon so you won't have to wait too long. Please review and tell me what you thought, it helps me a great deal!
