i feel tired. D: struggling with finding time to finish YKILY is hard. another update that should've happened weeks ago. sorry 'bout that. in better news this chapter marks where this story is over 100,000 words! that's pretty awesome.
The first day of classes started out well enough, Kurt donned his uniform, grabbed his lunch of leftovers (he had a sandwich from some of the cold cuts and some holiday cookies) and left the house early to get a good parking spot in the student lot. He hoped to see Blaine before class started but he didn't see his car yet.
"Kurt!" a familiar screech echoed over the still sleepy student body.
Rachel.
She hurried forward and threw her arms around him and squeezed hard. Then she released him, thankfully, and beamed brightly at him.
"Good morning Rachel." Kurt didn't sound exasperated at all. He allowed her to loop an arm through his and guide him to the school entrance.
"How was your holiday? Mine was great! Finn came over and gave me a present, see!" She lifted a chain around her neck and the small star shaped pendant glittered in the harsh fluorescent lights.
He made a passable impressed sound which Rachel scarcely took notice of before plowing on about her holiday break. "As you know, I don't celebrate Christmas having two Jewish dads and all, but we did have a delicious dinner, vegan of course. Then we had presents but they were wrapped in Hanukkah paper."
Rachel prattled on while Kurt was gathering his books and making sure his homework was in his folders. Kurt tried to spot a familiar gelled dark head of hair belonging to Blaine but he didn't seem him at all. That was unusual. Blaine was supposed to text him last night but Kurt himself was caught up with getting ready for school and apparently Blaine was probably too.
"Look, there's the bell!" Kurt exclaimed and ducked into his first class. "I need to get a good seat, I'll see you later!"
Rachel panicked for a moment and ran off to her own class, exclaiming over not getting her text books. Kurt slipped into a chair and unpacked his belongings.
The teacher, Mrs. Harvey strode in a couple of minutes later and almost immediately started on about homework assigned over break. Kurt rolled his shoulders and then turned to take the homework from the person behind him then handing it to the girl in front of him.
He glanced toward the door, still open for the late arriving stragglers and thought he spotted Blaine walking past the door. Hm, he thought tempted to get up and check on Blaine for no particular reason except to see him. I guess he forgot to set his alarm and got up late, Kurt mused and tapped his pencil on his notebook.
Kurt had history today and as Blaine and he shared the class, he would see him then if not at lunch.
Chewing on his lower lip, Blaine focused on the dull pain instead of what his teacher was blathering on about. His parents, well his mother came home yesterday evening and the welcome home was short and curt. His mother wasn't a hug-and-kiss type like you see in movies much less offer a pat on the shoulder for bringing home a good school report, so her off putting reception wasn't all that surprising.
He already missed the not-hesitant physical contact from Burt who seemed to be more open and friendly. Kind of like his old pet dog Lucky. Blaine had wanted a dog for so long when he was in grade school only to come home one day from his prep school to learn that Lucky wasn't that lucky and had been given away. Blaine allowed himself to cry himself to sleep as an eight year old alone in his room later that night.
It wasn't like his parents were terrible and neglectful, they were just not very good at being parents. Blaine hoped that if he and Kurt decided on kids, adopted or surrogate, that they wouldn't be like his parents.
"Mr. Anderson? Are you with us?"
Blaine flushed and mental shook his head of such thoughts.
"I'm sorry, what was the question?"
It was going to be a long class period, Blaine thought trying to write down the example on the board that was supposed to help the homework the teacher was going to assign. First day back and already there was math homework to do by Tuesday. At least he had lunch to look forward to.
He was mentally berating himself for not calling or at the very least, texting Kurt last night but his mother coming home from her trip to the islands looking tanned and yet incredibly cold sent him to his room to mechanically prepare for the coming school day. I'll have to make it up to him somehow, Blaine decided before focusing on the numbers on the Powerpoint slide on the board.
"I nearly overslept this morning." Mercedes hid a yawn as she tugged down the unflattering t-shirt over the sweat pants she always wore for gym. She along with Tina had the same period as Kurt and Rachel, the latter was hovering around Finn who was trying to ignore her for the sake of appearances around the other boys in the class but paying attention so he wouldn't get scolded and whined at later when the pair were alone; needless to say, Finn wasn't doing a very good job at either and Rachel stomped off to the locker room for a brief Rachel-free moment.
"I can't blame you there. My bed was so warm and comfy, I didn't want to put on my freezing uniform." Tina said braiding her long hair before Coach Sylvester arrived. She was very punctual when she wanted to be but no one had seen the tall intimidating woman yet.
A whistle blasted through the chatter and Kurt sighed reluctantly. "Sit with us at lunch, Kurt?" Tina asked as Kurt headed toward the boys' end of the large gym. Kurt hesitated and nodded. "I'm going to check if Blaine wants to sit with us then, is that alright?" He wasn't sure how Mercedes would react, Kurt thought they were still friends but you couldn't be sure in high school.
"Of course. We'll save you two seats at the usual table." Tina smiled and then winced as Coach Sue's whistle pierced the air again. "We gotta go, later Kurt!" Mercedes and Tina headed to the gaggle of girls and Rachel stomped out of the girl's locker room with a pout on her face.
"Dodgeball!" Coach Henry bellowed throwing a large rubber ball at one of the boys who barely caught it. "Split into two teams, the boundary is the red line here, cross it and you're out!"
Almost immediately, the jocks went on one side and formed a team with smirks sent toward the scragglers. Kurt inwardly winced at the possibility of bruises he was going to get. He checked that his wrist band was on firmly, a matching red sweat band covering the leather one he now wore and braced himself.
Blaine debated whether to go to gym or cut class and hide out in the library. He was fairly sure that this was the Freshmen study period but did he want to risk it? Ms. Christens was a grouch but nothing a little kindness couldn't throw off.
Instead, he wandered to Miss Pillsbury's office. It wasn't lunch yet but he could see her spraying a perfectly yellow banana with window cleaner and wiping it clean.
"Miss Pillsbury?" Blaine hesitated about entering the immaculate office much less leaving fingerprints on the glass door.
"Oh, Blaine was it? Come on in." The red head beamed brightly and set aside her fruit and cleaning utensils. "What brings you to me?"
Blaine entered and sat down on the chair in front of the counselor's desk. He shrugged and looked down at his hands.
"I don't know."
Miss Pillsbury pursed her lips slightly. "How was your holiday break? I don't want to assume you celebrate Christmas but a winter break was nice?"
Blaine looked up from twiddling his thumbs. "Everything is private here, right?" Blaine asked staring at the woman with a fierce gaze. She nodded. "Of course. This is a safe place to talk about anything. If you would like to speak to me about anything, I would be happy to listen."
"I spent the holidays with Kurt and his father." Blaine said slowly. "It was probably the most comfortable holiday of any kind I've had with anyone in years. Holidays, especially Christmas and even birthdays are always a stilted affair with my parents." He drummed his fingers on the English text book he was supposed to be using in class.
"I had no idea that my parents were going to on trips overseas, separately of course, and I was at home by myself and I had bumped into Kurt at the store." Blaine recalled that memory that didn't seem all that distant. It was bright moment.
"And that's how I spent the holidays. It wasn't traditional or anything. Kurt doesn't believe in celebrating Christmas at a church like my parents do or would have."
"I see." Miss Pillsbury said slowly. Blaine appeared most happy when speaking about Kurt and gloomier when speaking of his parents. Clearly the last time she spoke with Blaine, nothing had changed in his home life except the emergence of his friendship with Kurt. Her training kicked in, delicately of course, and she racked her brain on how to approach Blaine and the idea of his soul mate.
"Don't tell anyone but,' Blaine hesitated and fingered the thin band around his wrist. "I found out that Kurt was my soul mate and he found out that I knew and he wasn't happy about all the time wasted. I didn't know and then Burt knew about my being Kurt's soul mate before any connections were made. This happened all during the break and it was complicated but it was nice to be accepted."
That answered Emma Pillsbury's question. "That's amazing, I'm so happy that you found your true love."
Blaine gave a weak, restrained smile. "I suppose. We're taking it slow and no rushing into something we'll both regret."
Miss Pillsbury nodded vigorously. "That is a very good idea. Talking about it with an already mated pair would be a useful insight and perhaps allow you to see how they live. I don't think there's a same-sex soul mate pairing in Lima but I'd happy to check some of my contacts."
Blaine shrugged and sighed. "It does sound interesting but one way or another, my parents aren't going to be happy about my soul mate. I want to be far away from them when they find out about Kurt."
"Are they really that concerned about Kurt?" the woman asked curiously. Blaine's parents were not only being unreasonable, they were possibly blocking Blaine's soul mate bond from forming properly in addition to being emotionally abusive. Something had to be done, she thought feeling a surge of protectiveness come over her. It is wrong immorally and just cruel!
"I think it's more of the concept. They don't know about Kurt but they know that my, my sexuality will result in a male partner instead of a female. And since my father has a lot of money and contacts, I wouldn't want Kurt or Mr. Hummel to have to deal with something my father has a hand in. It's ridiculous to think about that but I don't want to cause problems for Burt."
"Well this is a predicament." Miss Pillsbury said slowly and couldn't think of a reasonable answer. "I suppose it would be best to keep it to yourself as long as possible while you live with your parents."
Blaine nodded resignedly. "That's all I can do. And pretend that everything is the same with Kurt. I am glad that a few people know."
Miss Pillsbury's mouth curved into a smile. "Thank you for trusting me. Nothing about this will leave this room."
Blaine left feeling a little bit better about his and Kurt's relationship and the fact that he had some support despite his parents being less than pleased that he was going to have a male as his soul mate.
"Don't be such a baby, we didn't hit you that hard!" Azimio chortled bumping Kurt in what he thought was a friendly manner to outsiders. Kurt caught himself before he fell into the wall of lockers.
"Lay off Ass-mio." He snapped back already fed up with everyone. It was an hour's worth of bruises from dodge ball. What high school still played dodge ball? Kurt had fifteen minutes to get the sweat off his body and…
"Whatever pansy." Azimio bumped him on his way to the showers. Grimacing, Kurt grabbed his own body wash and towel and darted to one of the handicap shower stall on the far end of the locker. Technically he wasn't supposed to use it but the only wheelchair bound person in school was Artie Abrams who had gym during a different hour.
Kurt was thankful for that and could spend exactly four and a half minutes washing and rinsing, another to apply moisturizer and then get dressed in the stall. He had a method to dressing and not getting his uniform wet which he had perfected since the first few months of freshmen year.
He adjusted the suede band around his wrist and patted it dry with his towel. The warning bell rang once and Kurt threw back the curtain and stuffed his locker stuff in the main room then headed to his locker to grab his lunch.
"See you later Fancy!" Karofsky called pretending to hide himself when Kurt walked by. Kurt sniffed and held his head up, he was better than either Karofsky and Ass-mio and nothing would change. He had the support of Blaine and his friends.
Speaking of whom, Blaine was supposed to be in gym with him. Kurt hoped he was alright and it wasn't anything to be too concerned about. He tugged down his shirt sleeves over his wrist band and with his lunch in hand and French text book and homework cradled in his arm, he headed to the cafeteria.
"Hey Kurt." Rachel and Tina fell into step with him. They were also carrying books and in Rachel's case, a bag lunch covered in gold stickers. It was her trademark and while it was a little childish, Kurt had to hand it to her for being consistent. Plus it wasn't as bad as those awful animal sweaters she wore on the weekends.
"Hey Rachel, Tina." The three walked and listened with half an ear to Rachel's chatter about the first Glee club meeting of the new year and how she was practicing all winter break. Kurt resisted the urge to roll his eyes but he did exchange glances with Tina over Rachel's head. Tina raised an eyebrow and gave a knowing smile; typical Rachel going on and on.
"I'll go grab us a table." Kurt said as Rachel headed toward the lunch line. She didn't eat the food served but did pick up a bottle of juice occasionally.
"I'll go help you." Tina chimed in and dragged Kurt to the usual table where the Glee club members sat. The lone table where Kurt sat with Blaine hidden behind the cement pillar was beckoning him but he planted himself firmly across from Tina.
"Sweet, dudes. You got us the table." Finn dropped into a chair with a thunk and Mike slid into a seat next to Tina.
"Finn!" Rachel scurried over and sat next to her boyfriend. "Open this for me?" She handed him the bottle of juice, dripping condensation on Finn's three slices of pepperoni pizza.
Mercedes and Sam showed up and the latter pushed another table against the nearly full table. "Hey guys, I wish the break was longer." Mercedes sighed cracking the seal on her water. She had a salad and a piece of grilled chicken scattered over the leaves. It would've been healthy but the amount ranch dressing she drizzled over the salad was a bit much. Kurt had unwrapped his sandwich and bit into it before he said anything stupid or revealing. Or revealingly stupid, those went hand in hand sometimes.
"Agreed." Finn muttered around a full month making Rachel wrinkle her nose as she primly ate her organic tofurky and tomato wrap. "I for one am happy to be back, we're going to be singing so many awesome songs and-"
"More like you'll be singing them." Tina muttered into her apple and cheese sandwich. Kurt nearly bit his tongue trying not to laugh. Rachel sniffed mightily. "Well, talent should be-"
"Kurt are you wearing a band?" Mercedes zeroed in on his wrist with her forkful of ranch dressing covered chicken and lettuce pointing at him from across the table.
Don't turn red! He failed and flushed bright. "I am."
"Oh my god!" Tina exclaimed and immediately apologized to Mike for yelling in his ear. Rachel choked on her wrap and Mercedes's fork left a white smear on her tray after she dropped it.
"No freaking way. You found your soul mate?" Mercedes asked not bothering to check if she got dressing on her clothes. This was big news after all; it wasn't everyday that one of your closest friends had found their own and only.
"Yeah, um, over the break." Kurt said before taking a bite of his sandwich. He wasn't bothered too much at their reaction. Finn and Sam were grinning and Tina, Rachel and Mercedes were sporting identical looks of disbelief and pride. Rachel had shock written all over her face before she recovered.
"Who is it?"
Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "Not telling, that's between me and him."
"It's a guy?"
Kurt raised an eyebrow at Finn who looked confused. "Yeah, I like guys that way, or I did. I just like my new mate that way. Eventually." He added.
"You're taking it slow?" Tina asked and smiled when Kurt nodded. "That's good. Learn about all their annoying habits and things they like before taking it to the next level."
Mike narrowed his eyes and nudged his head against his soul mate's. "Was that a hint about my marathoning Footloose?" Tina smiled charmingly. "I don't know what you mean. Still, Kurt, I'm happy for you. If anyone deserves some kind of break in life right now, it's you."
"Thank you Tina." Kurt was genuinely touched. Tina was a good friend and while they weren't rivals for the spotlight in Glee club like he was with Rachel and Mercedes, he did appreciate her support when he did challenge the other girls. That seemed so long ago…
"This seat taken?"
Kurt started and shook his head as Blaine edged in to sit and began unwrapping his sandwich. "Is something wrong?" He glanced around the table pausing his task.
"Kurt found his soul mate." Rachel broke the silence. She had a strange look on her face as eyed Blaine from across the table. Blaine blinked. "Congratulations, Kurt. I'm sure you'll be happy with him." He returned to unwrapping his sandwich and took a big bite.
"Well I for one am glad that you found someone." Rachel began after taking a sip of her drink. "Do they go this school?"
Kurt felt slightly uneasy and refused to look at Blaine, he was sure that his face would reveal that his soul mate was indeed Blaine. Only a few more months until graduation and then he and Blaine were free to be as they wished. Preferably in New York of course.
"I rather not say. You know how it is, being a gay teen in Ohio. It's not the most welcome place to be." Mercedes nodded understandingly. "I totally get you there."
Tina agreed. "We understand. Your bonding is still new and it's a really private time and it takes time for it to settle."
Oh thank Cheesus. Kurt thought and focused his attention on his lunch. He didn't say much after that and only made enough commentary to satisfy his friends.
The rest of the day Kurt tried to focus on his classes. His teachers had assigned a ton of homework, a horrible welcome back to school gift he didn't want to deal with. Judging from the homework he was given, his night was going to be nothing but studying and completing his homework that was due over the next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately that meant less time with Blaine unless it was in the library at their usual table. And that certainly didn't mean they'd be able to touch. He could barely resist touching his feet to Blaine's during lunch.
Chewing on his lower lip, he headed to his car and drove home. He arrived at home and climbed the stairs to his room. Kurt knew he needed to get started on his homework, it wasn't going to do itself but after slipping his uniform blazer off and hanging it up on the hanger on his door, he didn't want to do anything except take a nap.
Though it wouldn't be quite the same without Blaine, a firm voice said in his head. One measly nap and you're already hooked.
Kurt let out a nervous giggle in the empty room.
He sighed and unpacked his books. It was going to be a long evening.