Title: a storm whereon they ride

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Byron; the play is totally fictional and any similarities to an actual play somewhere is entirely accidental

Warnings: I know nothing about how a play actually works; implied murder; references to past non-con

Pairings: Kurt/Blaine; unrequited OMC/Kurt; OFC/OMC and OMC/OMC

Rating: PG13

Wordcount: 1030

Point of view: third

Prompt: Author's Choice, Any slash pairing, Getting up the urge to kiss him and then finally going through with it


Zeke's been watching Kurt since rehearsals started. Kurt's the understudy for Titan (the lead) and cast as Gregoir (the sidekick's little brother, half a page of dialogue and a marvelous death scene), and Zeke is part of the chorus and backup dancers.

Kurt's amazing. All Zeke wants in the entire world is enough courage to go up to him and say, "You're extraordinary." Kurt would smile at him, and thank him, and press up on his tiptoes to kiss Zeke on the mouth, and they'd go to dinner, and everything would be wonderful.

Zeke stumbles, daydream shattering, as the director, Colin, yells, "Harrison!"

"Sorry!" Zeke calls, giving his neighbor an embarrassed smile. Evan nods back sympathetically.

"From the top!" Colin roars. Zeke focuses and manages to make it all the way through this time.

.

Kurt always has a kind word for the chorus and backup dancers. He talks to everyone about their characters and motivations, and about their real lives, too. He lets Molly cry all over him when her boyfriend breaks up with her a week before Opening Night, and he holds Silas' hair back when food poisoning tries to kill him and he spends ten minutes vomiting into a trash can.

Kurt doesn't yell at people when they mess up, the way Isaac (the lead) and Colin (the director) do, or even Abigail (the love interest) does, all passively-aggressively.

Kurt actually defended Mariah to Abigail, even when the argument went all the way to the top, and he convinced Colin not to fire her.

Zeke's pretty sure that's when his crush started.

.

Two days before Opening Night, Isaac falls down crossing the street and gets tagged by a car. Kurt's understudy takes over Gregoir and Kurt becomes Titan. It's extraordinary to watch Kurt's transformation, and he's a thousand times better than Isaac could ever be.

The play runs for three months; Kurt can't make every show (he works at Vogue!), so his new understudy Harry performs sometimes, and for the final week, Isaac's healed up enough to come back. (Every review says that Isaac Taylor was no Kurt Hummel, and Zeke clips out each one.)

After the curtain's close for the final time, Zeke finally summons his courage and taps Kurt on the shoulder backstage, and says, "You're extraordinary, Kurt."

"Thank you, Zeke!" Kurt replies, still glowing from the exhilaration (even though he only played Gregoir in the last show), and Zeke leans in and kisses him.

Kurt pushes him back. "I've got a fiancé," he says sharply. "Zeke, you know I've got a fiancé – I talk about him all the time!" He wipes at his mouth, and his eyes are wide.

Zeke says, "I'm sorry! I just thought – " It's not going at all how Zeke had imagined. Kurt should be swooning, and declaring love, and –

"Don't," Kurt says, bringing a hand up to his mouth and backing away. "Zeke, I don't want you near me anymore, okay?"

Zeke nods frantically even though he doesn't understand: it was just a kiss, right? And Kurt has a boyfriend, Blaine, who's a doctor or something. Doesn't that mean he's working all the time? How could he possibly be giving Kurt all the attention he deserves?

Kurt vanishes back into the catacombs of the theater and Molly slaps Zeke on the shoulder, saying, "He's got a boyfriend!"

Zeke ducks out of her reach and goes the opposite way. He doesn't see Kurt again.

.

Zeke is walking his brother's corgi, Maximilian, when a man appears next to him. "Hey," the man says, "can we talk for a minute?"

"Uh, sure," Zeke responds, pausing his iPod and tugging at Maximilian when he tries to keep going. "Who are you?"

The man smiles. He's almost half a foot shorter than Zeke, with curly dark hair and gorgeous golden-brown eyes, and he crouches down to rub Maximilian's back. "I'm Blaine," he says, glancing back up at Zeke.

It's almost dusk. The sun hits Blaine's face and Zeke realizes, for a reason he isn't quite sure of, that the park is pretty damn deserted.

"Blaine?" Zeke repeats.

Blaine nods. "My fiancé Kurt told me what you did," he says, smiling a little. Zeke doesn't get the joke, and he's creeped out, and he tugs on the leash again, but Maximilian is wriggling under Blaine's hands, and of course Zach's dog also prefers Blaine.

"It was a mistake," Zeke says. "I didn't realize just how happily taken Kurt was, okay? You won."

Blaine laughs. "It was never a competition, Mr. Harrison," he says, standing again. "A competition implies there might be some question about the outcome." Maximilian whines, rubbing against his leg, but Blaine keeps all his attention on Zeke.

"Look," Zeke says sharply, yanking on the leash to get Maximilian back to his side, "just tell me what you want, okay?"

Maximilian hurries over, tail and head drooping, and Blaine's gaze flicks to the dog before meeting Zeke's eyes again. "Okay," he says.

.

Kory and Tate jog every morning, then get breakfast together before returning to the madness of their families (Kory's boyfriend and three-year-old daughter, Tate's boyfriend and the boyfriend's five-year-old son). Tate's in the middle of telling Kory about the promotion he's in line for but doesn't actually want (except for the pay increase) when he cuts himself off to say, "Is that a dog?"

Kory follows his gaze to a dog, bloody and dirty, whimpering in the bushes, and freezes mid-stride. "Yes," she says. She carefully walks over, ignoring Tate's commands to leave the dog alone; she's a vet tech and he's an IT guy. She deals with dogs all the time. "Hey, little fella," she croons, kneeling down just in reach. He's terrified and hurt, so he might bite, but by the way he's moving –

"Tate," she says calmly, "call 911. It's not his blood."

Her twin freaks out but obeys.

.

Kory follows up with the detective who interviewed her, but she never does learn who the dead man was, who killed him, or why. The dog, though, was returned to his owner and perfectly fine.

Tate demands they start jogging somewhere else, and Kory doesn't argue, especially when her boyfriend Maksim agrees.