Disclaimer: the usual. Beta: the usual, unusual GLee68 :)
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Chapter 36
Later that evening, after much discussion, interrupted by Blaine "thanking" Kurt for the evening… several times… the boys decided that with it being their senior year and heading off to New York and all of that, it really wasn't in the cards for them to audition for roles in the next show at the dinner theater. Blaine was truly disappointed to have to come to that realization, but knowing that he would be spending all his upcoming life milestones with Kurt by his side made it hurt a little less that this would be an opportunity he'd have to pass by.
He really wouldn't have that much time. Cheerleading Nationals would be coming up very soon, so Coach Sylvester was again monopolizing, and exhausting, his boyfriend. He threw himself into his job at the garage while Kurt was at practice. Blaine had been with Burt at the tire shop long enough where he had earned himself a small raise. More money was nice, of course, but to him, the magic words were not "I'm giving you a raise," but "I'm proud of you, son." Blaine beamed brighter than the sun at the compliment from Burt; those five words meant ALMOST as much to him as the three little words spoken to him by Kurt last year.
He had worked late that evening and didn't make it home until well after the dinner hour. Thankfully, he hadn't had any homework that day, so his agenda consisted of a quick bite to eat, a scalding hot shower, a phone call to check in with Kurt, and an early bedtime. He opened the door and noticed his bedside lamp was on, which was curious because he only turned that on when he was reading or using his laptop in bed. Upon investigation, he came upon a sight that made his heart do a backflip. Kurt, still clad in his cheerleading uniform, was curled up on his bed fast asleep, clutching tightly to his pillow. When he tried to gently tug the pillow from Kurt's arms, Kurt mumbled, "No no, Blaine. You're the little spoon. You have to stay in my arms." Blaine found that it took all the energy he had left, which admittedly wasn't much at that point, to stifle a laugh so he wouldn't startle Kurt awake. He stood for just a moment, staring at Kurt. God, he's so beautiful, I almost can't stand it.
Very carefully, Blaine sat down on the edge of the bed, trying not to jostle Kurt. He lightly brushed Kurt's face with his fingertips, tracing down his jawline and cupping his chin. Kurt's eyes fluttered open, but only halfway, in that "I just woke up" squintiness.
"Good morning, Sunshine," Blaine said with a smile.
"Blaine, mmmm, it's you. What time is it?" he said thickly, the sleep still affecting his voice.
"It's only about 8:30. I would've thought you'd be neck deep in a bubble bath right now."
As Kurt rubbed his eyes with the knuckles of one hand, he scooted up into a sitting position with the assistance of the other. "It was tempting, I must admit, but I wanted to be here more. Nationals isn't far away, and Coach is in freakout mode. Moments together with you will be few and far between until the competition is over, so I want to grab them while I can."
"Just don't overdo it, Kurt. I've seen you beyond exhausted before, and it makes my heart hurt. If something has to give, I don't mind if it's me – I will always wait for you, and I'm always here."
Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and laced his fingers through Blaine's. "I know, honey, but you are more of a need than a desire, which puts you higher up on my priorities list. I WANT to see my family, but I NEED to see you. I WANT to get just a few more minutes of sleep, but I NEED to spend those few extra minutes getting a goodnight hug and kiss from you. You see?"
Kurt took a peek at the clock on Blaine's nightstand and groaned. "Speaking of goodnight hug and kiss, I have to get them from you now and be on my way home. Hey, hey, now, no puppy dog eyes," he scolded as Blaine began to pout. "I don't want to go any more than you want me to. But I need sleep, baby, and I don't always get a lot of that around here."
Blaine nodded a little sheepishly, knowing he was the main reason there was little sleep to be had around his place some days. He couldn't help the fact that his man was so sexy…
Kurt stood up and straightened his uniform. "I made you some dinner. It isn't much, but I left it in the microwave – just heat it up for a minute and a half and it'll be all ready to go."
Blaine stepped up behind Kurt and placed a few soft kisses along Kurt's neck as he wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "Thank you baby," he mumbled against Kurt's skin. "You always take such good care of me."
Kurt spun around in Blaine's arms. "I love doing it. And I love you." They shared a long kiss, heavy on the love, but light on the heat; Kurt couldn't afford to get sidetracked tonight.
"Okay, I've really got to go now. I will see you in the morning."
"Love you, Kurt," Blaine said meaningfully.
"Love you too, honey," Kurt replied, blowing a kiss to Blaine as he turned and hurried to the Navigator.
Blaine heaved a deep sigh, as he always did when Kurt left, and turned to see what was in the microwave. He did a fist pump as he peeked inside the door. It was homemade three cheese mac'n'cheese. The ultimate comfort food. Kurt knew him so well.
He set the timer for 1:30 as instructed by Kurt and quick tapped out a text. You rock, babe! – B
About fifteen minutes later, after Blaine knew Kurt would have arrived home safely, he received a return reply. Damn right. Sleep tight and sweet dreams!
After his meal and a shower, he crawled into bed, mimicking Kurt's position from earlier that evening, right down to snuggling up with the extra pillow. It smelled of Kurt, and that combined with his long afternoon at work was enough to send him straight into dreamland with a smile on his face.
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"Do you have everything?" Blaine asked Kurt as he was zipping up his suitcase.
"I think so," Kurt replied. "We'll only be gone four days, and it seems like I've stuffed half my room in that bag."
"I think you forgot to do one thing, though."
Kurt quickly ticked things off his mental checklist, but he couldn't think of anything he had left out. "I give. What did I not do?"
"You forgot to leave space in there for a short curly-haired brunette that's practically attached to you at the hip to stow away."
"Aww sweetie, I'm going to miss you too. But look at it this way, if you're attached to me at the hip, YOU are going to have to get hoisted on top of a pyramid as well."
Blaine's face scrunched up like he had just sucked on a lemon. "I'll take a pass on that. I get freaked out standing on a stepladder to change a lightbulb – there's no WAY I could trust people not to drop me! I'm so proud of you, though. I can't wait to watch you on TV and release my inner fanboy!"
Kurt grimaced. "Do you guys REALLY insist on watching this on Puck's big screen? I really don't need everyone in the Glee club to see me larger than life and sweating buckets."
"Come on, baby. Everyone just wants to support you and the other Glee girls. We are one big family. The WEIRDEST family anyone will ever meet, but we're family. Even some of the Warblers will be there."
"Kill me now…" Kurt grumbled.
"Can't do that. Love you too much," Blaine said as he pulled Kurt close. "Now, we should probably go. You'll need to get to McKinley soon if you're going to catch the bus to the airport."
"Yes, because missing it would be such a tragedy," Kurt snarked.
"Oh hush. You have been working far too hard on this to miss out on it now." Blaine grabbed Kurt's suitcase, let out a grunt when he felt exactly how heavy it was, and dragged it out to the car. With some effort, he hoisted it into the trunk. As he wiped a bit of sweat from his triangular brows, Kurt smirked at him.
"You know, you COULD have asked for help."
"No I couldn't. Can't let my man show me up, even if he does have bigger muscles than I do."
"And don't you forget it, either."
They drove as slowly as possible to the school without annoying the other traffic on the road to prolong their time together. As Kurt said, he would only be gone for four days, but that was a really long time in their world. Perhaps it was a little unhealthy, but they had come to rely on the other being within a short distance of each other. Kurt being a plane ride away, even temporarily, made it just a little bit harder for Blaine to breathe easily.
They pulled into the parking lot where the bus was loading, and they both exited the car to get Kurt's suitcase from the back.
"Keep your phone charged, Kurt, and make sure to call and text me whenever you are able."
"Yes, dear," Kurt said, rolling his eyes.
"And don't forget to take your ibuprofen ahead of time so your joints aren't too sore afterwards. "
"YES dear," he repeated.
"And don't forget that – "
"YES, MOM. I will eat all my vegetables and drink all my milk and get my sleep so I can grow up all big and strong. Okay?" he said, a little bit of annoyance sneaking into his tone.
Blaine grinned and gave Kurt a quick little peck on the nose. "I was just going to say, don't forget that I love you very much and I'm proud of you and I can't wait until people all over the country see how talented you are."
Kurt's hardened expression immediately softened. "I'm sorry, that was rude." He curled up to Blaine's side and wrapped his arms around him. "Thank you for your confidence in me. If we win this, I have a feeling a large part of it will be due to the mega amounts of support you've given me. To all the Cheerios, really."
"No, it'll be due to the fact that Sue Sylvester is a smart cookie and knew what she was doing when she brought you and Gaga into the act. You are going to smoke your nearest competition."
Suddenly, the bus' horn honked, which sent the few girls that were still wandering outside scrambling to board. They knew it wasn't the driver who had honked, but Coach Sylvester herself, and she didn't exactly exude patience. Kurt, however, didn't care. He used the knowledge that Coach needed him to his advantage, and he took the extra few moments he needed to properly say goodbye to his boyfriend.
"I'll miss you, and I love you. I'll call you tonight when we get settled into our hotel."
"I'll miss you more. And I love you to the moon and back. And you better call me, or I'll hunt you down," Blaine replied. Both boys laughed, but Kurt knew that the last like was said only half in jest. Blaine probably really WOULD try to track him down at the hotel if Kurt didn't contact him right away that evening.
Kurt pulled Blaine close for a sweet, loving goodbye kiss, ignoring the fact that every bus window on their side of the bus was filled with a Cheerio watching them. Bunch of bloody voyeurs, Kurt thought, but luckily, it didn't faze him at all. However, the sound of a peeved Sue Sylvester on a bullhorn did.
"Triangle Brows, you will unhand my star this instant if you know what's good for you. I own a razor and will not hesitate to turn you into Trapezoid Brows if you make us late for our flight. Hand him over, put your hands up in the air where I can see them, and back away from the bus slowly."
Blaine wasn't quite sure whether he should laugh or pee himself. Kurt had assured him many times that Sue was all talk when it came to him, but Blaine still wasn't certain that he wasn't on the crazy woman's shit list. So he gave Kurt one more quick peck on the cheek and backed away slowly as directed. Kurt made his way to the bus steps, blew Blaine a kiss with an exaggerated flourish, and disappeared onto the bus. The bus shot out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell, or like a Sue Sylvester out of patience, and quickly drove out of sight.
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"Remind me again why we're sitting here watching this crap?" Puck whined.
"Dude, hot chicks in short skirts," Finn replied.
"FINN!" Rachel yelled indignantly.
"Oooohhh yeah. There have been some mighty fine Puckzilla-worthy specimens bouncing across my screen today."
"You better watch it, Puckerman," threatened Lauren. "I brought my organ grinder with me today."
Puck looked at Lauren in horror while the rest were merely confused. "Organ grinder?" asked Blaine. "Dare I ask?"
Lauren held her hand like it was a big claw and twisted her wrist. All of a sudden, all of the boys in the room flinched and crossed their legs (with the exception of Artie, who merely protected the goods as best he could). "Got it!" Blaine squeaked. The rest of the girls laughed and high-fived Lauren.
"How much longer until McKinley is up?" Rachel wondered.
Blaine frowned at the cell phone in his hand. "I honestly don't know. The last time I heard from Kurt, he hadn't seen the schedule yet. I've been trying to get a hold of him all day, but he hasn't answered back. I can only assume that the tyrant… I mean Coach Sylvester… has put the kibosh on all phones until they're done."
Mercedes was quietly fiddling with her own phone. "I've got the National Cheerleading Association website pulled up on my phone, and they have the roster listed. Allowing for the time zone difference, McKinley should be up –"
"Next up, from Lima Ohio, the William McKinley High School Cheerios, coached by Sue Sylvester, led by Quinn Fabray, and featuring Kurt Hummel!"
"…now," whispered Blaine. While everyone else in the room cheered and stomped their feet in support of their school, Blaine zoned out. You can do it, baby. I believe in you. You are going to bring the house DOWN, he thought. Mercedes and Rachel sat down on either side of him and grabbed his hands. Blaine offered them both a small, nervous smile before returning his eyes to the TV.
"Relax, Blaine," Mercedes whispered in his ear. "Kurt's got this. He's gonna show every other school out there that they shouldn't have even bothered showing up."
On the screen, the Cheerios had all gotten into their opening formation and were frozen in place, waiting for their cue. They were performing the same Lady Gaga song as they had at Homecoming, but right away, Blaine was able to spot little differences. For example, at Homecoming, Kurt was right in front of the squad, waiting for his cue. Tonight, he was nowhere to be seen. Blaine was worried that something had happened to him, but he squashed that thought right away – he figured they wouldn't announce Kurt as the featured Cheerio if he wasn't going to be in the routine.
The music started to play and the cheerleaders began to perform perfectly choreographed dance moves to lead off the routine. Right at Kurt's entrance, the cheerleaders formed a tunnel and through it strode Kurt, singing confidently.
"Hooooolllly crap," breathed Blaine. Mercedes squeezed his hand and Rachel squealed. Again, at the line, "I've got a reason that you're who should take me home tonight," Kurt pointed outward, and Blaine knew that Kurt was pointing to him. His nerves dissipated some and a grin began to stretch across his face.
"You're right, Mercedes, he's SO got this."
Blaine sat, transfixed, for the entire routine. He was no expert on cheerleading, but he stared at the screen intently and couldn't spot a single bobble or misstep. He WAS an expert in singing, especially his boyfriend's singing, and he couldn't detect a hint of a waver, a single sharp or flat note, or any other possible flaw there, either. The entire group was absolutely 100% spot on as far as Blaine could tell.
"They're going to win," he said, he THOUGHT it was to himself, but he heard mumbles of agreement coming from everyone else in the room. The Cheerios had this competition in the bag. Sue Sylvester was back in business, and she owed it all to Kurt.
The Cheerios struck their final pose with Kurt being hoisted into the air. They were all exhausted and breathing hard, but everyone had a mile-wide smile on their faces; they knew they had done well. Everyone in Puck's living room was on their feet clapping and cheering and woo-hoo'ing. Blaine even went so far as to jump on the sofa.
Puck turned to see Blaine bouncing around like an idiot and rolled his eyes. "Dude."
Blaine stopped jumping and apologized with a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry guys. I'm just so excited!"
"Ya think?" snarked Lauren.
"When do they announce the winner?" Blaine asked anxiously.
Mercedes consulted the schedule again. "They've got a team from Minnesota and a team from Nevada left to perform. Then they'll take an hour to tabulate the scores, and they should have the awards ceremony by 9pm."
"That long?" Blaine whined. "It's only 7:15!"
Finn patted Blaine on the shoulder. "You'll live, bro. Kurt's probably feeling the same way."
Blaine heaved a giant sigh and flopped back on the couch. Mercedes took pity on him. "Hey, I brought the newest karaoke game with me tonight. We can play it on Puck's Wii while we're waiting. We can put the competition on the screen in the picture-in-picture just in case stuff happens sooner than the schedule says."
The Glee clubbers all nodded in agreement and began perusing the song list to choose their selections. Blaine hung back. He honestly didn't care if he sang or not, but listening to all of his friends try to beat each other's scores was a welcome distraction, even if it didn't work 100%.
Rachel, of course, insisted she be first and chose Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. "Of course, I will choose the expert setting," she said cockily. She was incredibly offended, however, when the game posted her score after her song; she had scored "just" 94% accurate.
"What kind of stupid game is this? And who do they think they are giving that performance only 94%? Were ANY vocal professionals consulted in the creating of this game, or was it just a bunch of tone-deaf computer nerds programming it to score so randomly? UGH," she complained and left the room in a huff.
Blaine stared after her curiously.
"Have you never witnessed one of her dramatic storm-outs?" asked Tina.
"Nope, I have to say, that's the first one. They are… oddly entertaining, for some reason."
"I'm kind of shocked that you've never witnessed one from her in the year you and Kurt have been together."
"JUST BECAUSE I'M NOT IN THE ROOM DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T HEAR YOU TALKING ABOUT ME!" Rachel yelled from the next room.
"WELL THEN GET THE HELL BACK IN HERE SO YOU CAN HEAR IT FROM THE SOURCE AND NOT STRAIN YOUR EARS FROM EAVESDROPPING," Puck shouted back.
Rachel stomped back in and threw herself down on the couch next to Blaine.
Mercedes grabbed the microphone. "Me next!" She scrolled down the list and picked Rihanna's Disturbia. Blaine nodded approvingly – it was a good choice for her.
"So how are you really?" Rachel asked Blaine.
Blaine's head whipped around in her direction. He didn't realize she was in any mood to care. He must have made some sort of face because she said, "Oh please, just because I'm cranky with a video game doesn't mean I don't notice when a friend is about to lose his lunch."
"Boy, you've got me pretty much pegged. I'm so queasy with nerves waiting for the final standings that I am afraid to lift a single finger for fear I'm going to throw up."
Rachel reached around and began rubbing Blaine's back. "C'mon. Mercedes is done. Sing! It always makes you feel better."
"All right," Blaine agreed. "But you go ahead and pick something for me, okay?"
"Okay!" Rachel said excitedly. Blaine figured her song choice could go either way – she could either pick something to totally throw him off, or she could be nice and pick something that would unbottle his feelings inside him.
Rachel clicked select on the remote and handed Blaine a mic. "You're lucky I'm feeling charitable tonight. I WAS going to make you sing Love Story by Taylor Swift, but I think you'll be happier with this one."
Blaine breathed a sigh of relief when the intro for Jason Mraz's I'm Yours came on. This song was challenging, but he was up for it. And the best part of it was, it was NOT Taylor Swift.
Luckily for him, the Warblers had attempted this song two years ago, but it was ditched because it was decided that it, quite frankly, was going to be a pain in the ass to make into an a cappella group number, but not before Blaine had learned all the various doot dah doos and wohs and all that, so he was able to follow the guides on the screen quite easily.
When the song was done, it gave him a 96% rating. Hmm, not bad, Blaine thought.
"How in the HELL! I gave you that song because I thought there was NO WAY you could… oops," Rachel said as she realized she had outed herself.
"Really, Berry? You're that pathetic as to try to sabotage your FRIEND on a VIDEO GAME? That's just low," scolded Mercedes.
"Well, I'm convinced this game is broken. I don't know why it scored all of you higher than it scored me. I'm better than all of you."
"Now see here, Miss Thang – " Mercedes started, but Tina clapped her hands and shushed the group.
"Guys, it's starting! Turn off the game and flip back to ESPN!"
Blaine's stomach, which had settled somewhat during the Glee Wii Diva-Off, threatened to revolt again. He put his head between his legs and tried to breathe deeply. Mercedes wrapped her arm around him as best she could while he was in that position. He half heard the commentators announce the third and second place teams. He didn't hear the names of the schools in those places, but he figured neither of them were McKinley since the room was still silent.
Suddenly, Mercedes was gone from the couch and Blaine heard a roar and a high pitched squeal. He felt a hand on his shoulder yanking him out of his crouched position. "BLAINE! THEY WON!" Mercedes screamed in his ear.
"Th-they did? They won?" Blaine asked disbelievingly.
"They did! Look on the screen!"
Sure enough, 2012 National High School Cheerleading Champions: William McKinley High School, Lima Ohio was written across the screen and there was a gaggle of cheerleaders in red and white bouncing and squealing on the screen.
Where's Kurt? he wondered. At that moment, they cut to a different camera where an interviewer was standing with Sue and Kurt. Well, he was really standing with just Sue, but Kurt was lurking in the distance. He could tell Sue was spewing some arrogant nonsense as usual, but what caught his eye was Kurt staring directly into the camera. His lips formed Blaine's name, and then he pointed to himself, formed a heart with his hands, and then pointed into the camera. Blaine recognized the gesture right away – it was part of their choreography for Silly Love Songs that they sang at last year's Valentine's Day singles dinner at Breadstix. If a heart could truly melt, Blaine was sure that his heart was doing so right then and there. "I love you too, Kurt," he said softly, knowing that Kurt couldn't hear it, but he was certain that he would feel the sentiment anyway.
Kurt quickly disappeared off camera as Sue was still bragging and ranting. The interviewer cut her off and made some sort of excuse, and then the show immediately went to commercial. That truly was the only way to get Sue Sylvester to shut up.
The rest of the New Directions were still jumping around celebrating the win for their school. Rachel was talking about some sort of sparkling grape juice that she had bought to toast with. Puck was ignoring here, boasting about some "real" bubbly that he had managed to procure for the occasion. Blaine managed to sneak out of the room undetected. The room he found himself in, which appeared to be some sort of study, had an overstuffed chair quite similar to "their" chair in Kurt's living room. He made a beeline toward it and curled up in it with his phone.
There was no message from Kurt, but he hadn't expected there to be. He had long ago figured out that Sue must've had an electronics ban while they were anywhere near the competition field, and Blaine could respect that. It didn't make it any easier to wait for Kurt to contact him, though.
He tapped out a quick message to his love. Sweetie – saw your ILY on TV, thanks, I needed that. Every time I think I can't possibly love you more, I find that I can, and I do. Can't wait til you come home to me. ILY more than I can say, Blaine.
Exhausted from the stress and the anticipation of the day, Blaine assumed the fetal position in the chair and drifted off to sleep. An hour later, his phone buzzed, but he was far too engrossed in his dreams to hear it.
The text from Kurt said, B – it meant everything to me to know everyone was cheering us on. Everyone felt the energy of your support, and we were on fire. Thank you for loving me, I couldn't do it without you. Pardon me for language mixing, but Je t'aime, para siempre.
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A/N: I've still got several weeks worth of chapters stockpiled, but I'm telling ya, the next chapters after chapter 40 are like pulling teeth! I'm trying my best, though. And I've got some non-Pavarotti's Legacy related one-shots to post in between if I've truly run out of stuff to post. I'm not leaving you guys with nothing!
So, tomorrow, no Glee :( And there will be no Glee for several weeks after that. No me fucking gusta :P Thank goodness for fanfiction.
My last chapter had the most reviews of any of my chapters EVER. Thank you for that! Can we try for a new record, maybe?