While Kurt and Sebastian had become good friends, Sebastian had never really completely given up his love of annoying Kurt just a little. It was never enough to make Kurt really angry, but enough to make him roll his eyes and sigh frequently. Kurt figured that Sebastian's evening plans would serve as a way to tease Kurt and bother him, all while upping the ante from having taken him and Blaine to Scandals. Scandals was pre-school, while expected wherever they were going that night would be college.
They dressed up in clothes they'd be comfortable being up on their feet for hours, and after checking himself in the mirror several times, Kurt declared himself ready. Before Chandler managed to say anything, Kurt looked over his shoulder in the mirror to where Chandler was standing behind him. "I know. I'm sure there's something about wherever we're going that Sebastian thinks I'm too much of a baby gay to enjoy. Adrien was obviously trying to persuade him to take us somewhere else. I didn't quite catch the name of the place or I would have looked it up."
"Whatever it is, we don't have to stay. Adrien gave both of us keys already. We can leave and come back here. And if it's just risqué, we can dance together and ignore everyone else." Chandler walked around Kurt and turned to face him. "Not liking something doesn't make you a baby. You know he just enjoys teasing you."
"I know. I really am ready if you are. I don't want him teasing me for primping all evening."
Chandler kissed him softly. "I'm ready."
They entered Raidd together. Kurt and Chandler wrapped their arms around each other's waists so they wouldn't get separated. They moved in towards the center of the room while Sebastian and Adrien went to the bar to get themselves drinks.
Kurt looked around and wasn't all that surprised by what he saw, which was lots and lots of guys dancing and making out on the dance floor. There were a fair few women as well. They were dancing in groups mostly. Kurt stepped closer to Chandler and put his hands on his hips and let them slip around the back to just below his waist. He closed his eyes and felt the rhythm of the music pulse through him and they began to move together. They'd been dancing together for over a year. They knew how to move together sensually.
When Sebastian and Adrien came towards them after finishing their drinks, Kurt didn't notice them since he had closed his eyes to focus on the feeling of moving against and with Chandler.
Chandler caught sight of Sebastian looking the two of them up and down with a surprised look on his face. He quickly gave them an approving, yet slightly shocked look and pulled Adrien into his embrace and they began to dance as well.
Kurt wasn't sure how long they had been dancing, but he needed some water. He pointed towards the bar and Chandler just nodded and kept hold of Kurt's hand. When they made it to the bar, Kurt ordered them a bottle of water to split. Sebastian and Adrien had followed them.
"It's a good time for a break. The show's about to begin," Sebastian said.
"Show?" Kurt asked. "What do you mean 'show'? Is there a drag show?" He looked hopeful, but all he saw on the stage was the DJ and his equipment.
"Nope. Not a drag show," Adrien said. "But if you like those, I'm sure we can find a good one somewhere at some point." He moved to another area, motioning for the others to follow him.
Lights turned on in a glassed-in area elevated above floor, giving everyone in the vicinity the ability to see inside. A man entered in small swim trunks and began to shower, very sensually, to the rhythm of the music.
Kurt watched what he figured was going to be the equivalent of cage dancing, except in a shower. He became less and less convinced his assumption was correct as the seconds ticked by. It became clear that it was a striptease, and Kurt looked at Chandler, who kept looking back and forth between the shower dancer and Kurt.
He leaned into Kurt. "Do you want to leave?"
"Do you?"
"I don't want to give Sebastian the pleasure of winning his little jab at me and my lack of interest in porn. I'm sure that's why he chose this place – to prove that it's amazing and seductive and erotic. And that I'd like it, if I'd just get over myself and relax."
"You don't really seem tense."
"I'm not. I would have been a couple of years ago, and I might be if we were in Ohio where you have to be 21 to get into a club like this. But we're not breaking any laws. And I'm with you. I don't have any reason to be tense." He moved behind Chandler and wrapped his arms around him and propped his chin on his shoulder. "From the looks of everyone in here, everyone is really into this, except me and a few guys with girls with them."
Sebastian looked over at them with an expectant look on his face that morphed into confusion. He shrugged and went back to enjoying the shower show.
Kurt continued to stand behind Chandler with his arms wrapped around him and his chin propped on his shoulder. He closed his eyes, leaned into him, and turned his head just enough to be able to kiss Chandler's neck. Before the guy in the shower stripped, Chandler turned in Kurt's arms and kissed him.
"You aren't enjoying this are you?" He asked, speaking directly into Kurt's ear.
Kurt leaned in so that their cheeks pressed together so they could hear each other speaking over the din of the music and chanting. "No. But you are, aren't you?"
"Not really. If I had come to a place like this before we were dating, I would have gotten into it."
"I don't mean to be a wet blanket and take the fun out of it for you."
"It's not that. It's just that for me it just feels like cheating while you're with me. I'm not making judgment calls about Sebastian and Adrien. Obviously they enjoy coming to places like this together and they both get off on watching the guys strip. I just don't feel that way. I'd rather go home and watch you strip. You do a much better striptease than the guy up there. And when you get all sexy in the shower, I can touch you and join in." He pressed his lips to Kurt's and kissed him passionately. "You are so much more sexy than the guy in the shower."
"That cannot possibly be true."
"Am I sexier than the guy in the shower?"
"Most definitely."
"Then beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? I think you're sexier than he is." Chandler's hands slipped down past Kurt's waist and he pulled Kurt impossibly closer. "Feel that? That's all from dancing with you, not from Mr. Shower. I don't want to touch him or be with him. I want you. Just you."
"But without me here, you'd be enjoying yourself."
"That's not what I meant, Kurt. Even if you weren't physically here with me, I wouldn't want that guy. My hormones might tell parts of my body other things, but my mind would never listen. And I'm here with you, enjoying our sexy dancing together in a place where we fit in." He kissed Kurt again. He moved back so he was speaking into Kurt's ear. "I love you. I enjoy dancing with you. If they want to come here again, we can decline and find another place where we can just dance without guys stripping. I don't need strippers to have a good time. I can think he's sexy and attractive without being drawn away from you. He's no one to me, Kurt. You're my best friend, my lover, and my fiancé. We're going to get married."
Kurt nodded. "I love you too. I just don't want to be the one who ruins your boys' night out adventures and makes everything uncomfortable because being around hot, sexy guys that are stripping doesn't do anything for me." He moved a bit so he could kiss along Chandler's neck, up to his ear. "But you do. You absolutely get me worked up. You can feel that."
Chandler nodded. He was having a hard time saying anything with Kurt licking the edge of his earlobe, pressing himself against him, and talking into his ear. He finally came to his senses and pulled back a bit. "I really want to go home and replay the shower scene with you. Let's find Sebastian and Adrien and tell them that we're leaving."
When Sebastian and Adrien came in a couple of hours later, Kurt and Chandler were dressed in pajamas in the living room snuggled up on the sofa watching a movie. Chandler was lying on his side with his head on Kurt's lap. They both still had slightly damp hair from the second shower they had taken.
Sebastian sat down in the chair across from them and Adrien sat down on the floor in front of the chair, leaned back. Sebastian started to play with Adrien's hair in silence for a few minutes. Kurt sensed that he wanted to talk, so he paused the movie.
"You didn't like the club." Sebastian stated flatly.
Kurt took a deep breath. "The club was fine. It was the stripping I didn't get into."
"Why?"
"I actually did some research after we got back. I'm pretty sure that I'm demi-sexual."
"I don't know what that means," Adrien said.
"Me neither," Sebastian admitted.
"It means that I don't have a primary sexual attraction to people. This is probably TMI, but standing there in the club watching the guy in the shower did nothing more for me than watching a girl do the same thing. It's just not sexually arousing." His face turned red as he spoke. "It's why when I tried looking at porn when I was younger, all that came to mind was why would someone get that tattoo there?"
Sebastian chortled.
"Exactly. It was never an arousing endeavor. My 'ideal' guy never had a face or specific body. He didn't have bulging muscles or a big dick or body hair or lack thereof. The physical aspect wasn't what I was attracted to sexually. Not exactly anyway. I mean I always liked jocks and guys with some muscle tone. But looking at muscle magazines didn't give me a boner. But at the same time, I fall hard and fast for a nice guy. But even then it was falling for them romantically. As big of a crush as I had on Finn, I never actually considered what I would do with him beyond hold hands and kiss."
"I don't get this at all," Adrien said. "So you can look at naked guys or porn or the stripper at the club and it does nothing?"
"Exactly."
Sebastian said, "I'm sorry."
Kurt was completely confused. "For what?"
"For teasing you. I didn't know about this. It was like teasing you because you were gay or something. I thought you were just uptight and needed to relax. I thought you'd like the club once you were in a safe place to enjoy it and you weren't being overly self-conscious or afraid."
"It's fine, really. In your place, knowing my history, I would have probably assumed the same. But someone I know is asexual and I did some minor research after they told me. I should have looked into it more. I didn't think it fit me because I am definitely sexually attracted to Chandler." His blush grew deeper. "This is really awkward."
"I won't tease you anymore." The sincerity and remorse was evident in Sebastian's voice. "I don't understand at all, but my understanding isn't required to be decent about something that's part of who you are."
"I appreciate that. I'm probably not doing a good job of explaining it. It's sort of like when someone asks you how you can not think that some girl they find attractive is hot."
"Been there," Sebastian said.
Adrien still looked a bit confused. "So, you've never seen a guy, gotten a boner, and thought 'I'd do that.'?"
"Nope. I honestly could never figure out why straight guys said things like that."
Sebastian said, "Okay. I think we're going to go shower and head to bed, but before we go, are all clubs out?"
"Definitely not. I just won't get anything out of going to a strip club. If I'm dancing with Chandler, I'm definitely going to enjoy myself." He ran his hands through Chandler's hair and the blush that had faded came back a bit.
"Okay." He sighed. "Again, I'm sorry."
"You couldn't have known what even I didn't understand about my differences in this area. I think I'd rather just move on and put being demi-sexual in the category of things like my eye color or other things that just are. I could fake all of those things. I could fake being sexually attracted to people I've never met before and know nothing about, but it would be like wearing colored contacts. I'm me. I'm just different in one more way than I knew about yesterday."
"Okay. Adrien and I will stick to strip clubs on nights you have other plans or we can just not go while you're here. It's not a big deal. For us it's just fun, but we can have fun doing other things." Sebastian gently pushed Adrien's shoulders, letting him know that he wanted to get up. "We'll see you in the morning. We checked the weather and we're going to go to Montmartre tomorrow morning."
They stood up and headed upstairs.
"Ooh, we'll head to bed then and watch this some other time." Kurt pushed the power button on the remote.
Sebastian checked the lock on the door and followed Adrien up the stairs.
Chandler stretched before he sat up. He stood up and pulled Kurt into a hug. He kissed him. "I love you."
Kurt spoke really quietly. "I know I wasn't completely honest with them, but I can't bring myself to say the rest out loud. If they knew that I'm not having sex with you, they'd pity you, and I just don't think I can take that."
"That's fine." He gently guided Kurt's face so that he could look him in the eyes. "What we do together is our business. No one else's." He kissed Kurt on the forehead as his head drooped a bit. "Hey." He lifted Kurt's chin. "I'm not unfulfilled. I'm not settling."
"When I was reading, the article mentioned that some people on the asexual spectrum still have sex with the partners anyway, out of love – even though the actual act isn't appealing to them. I know I told you before, but if you ever feel like what we do isn't enough, please tell me. I love you so much. I would never want to lose you over it. I would have sex with you because I love you."
"I appreciate that. I do. But I'll give you the same answer I gave you the first time you brought this up. I'm happy with the way things are. I don't see that changing, but if it does, we'll talk. I won't go out 'looking for what you won't give me' or whatever is floating around in your mind right now."
Kurt nodded. "I just needed to tell you. That part of the article that talked about being sex-positive, sex-neutral, and sex-negative?"
"Mmm hmm?"
"I don't have genuinely strong feelings against it. I'm not absolutely revolted by the idea of it. I think I'm sex-neutral. It just doesn't appeal to me."
"Okay. What you are to me can be simplified down to 'the man I love'. I love our life together and I am absolutely in love with you. And one day we're going to get married."
Kurt's lips curled into a slight smile, but his eyes lit up. "I'm not really sleepy because my body says that it's 7:00pm, despite the clocks saying that it's 1:00am. Unfortunately, the clocks will be the ones to dictate that it's time to get up in seven hours. Let's go snuggle. Maybe we'll fall asleep."
"Mmm. Sounds perfect."
Kurt and Chandler enjoyed their seven weeks in Paris. They managed to visit all of the places that were on their bucket list, plus Sebastian and Adrien took them to places both in Paris and other places in France that they loved as well. Their enthusiasm didn't wane throughout their stay. So many times, they were transported through history, and each time was magical.
They both enjoyed the courses they took as well. Attending the fashion courses in Paris and working with Isabelle during Paris Fashion Week renewed Kurt's interest in the field. Chandler enjoyed attending his classes at NYU Paris.
It was a difficult farewell at the end of their stay. Chandler's French had improved enough that he had gotten to where he felt more at ease and they both wished they could stay for the rest of the summer.
They had become much closer friends with Sebastian and Adrien during their stay as well and knew they would really miss them. They said their goodbyes at the apartment before Kurt and Chandler headed back to the subway for the long ride to the airport.
Settling back in was harder than Kurt had anticipated. They had grown accustomed to free time and sightseeing and relaxing when they weren't in class.
For Kurt, being back in New York City meant going to work full time at the garage and taking the classes at FIT that he needed to be able to graduate when he wanted to. He missed working at Vogue, but knew that he'd be back there when the interns returned in September.
Chandler went back to his job at the variety shop part time. He found a second job working in the children's section of a bookstore like he had in high school. He made quick friends with Dani who worked in the music section. Kurt and Chandler rarely saw each other since the bookstore job was in the evenings, as were Kurt's classes.
By the time school started in the fall, they were glad the second half of the summer was over. They went back to working part time, which gave them a little more time to themselves again.
The weekend before classes started they got new neighbors across the landing. They had seen the sign on the building for the opening and they had let Adam know since he had graduated in May and he had been holding off on getting a place until he found a place he really liked because after living in the dorms for four years, he really didn't want to live in a place with a shared bathroom anymore. He had couch surfed the first part of the summer, including spending some time at their place with Lara and Kinzy.
About a week after they had left for Paris,, Adam got a part in a Broadway show and he met a cute barista named Elliott that worked at the coffee and tea shop he started frequenting after he got the part. Elliott was living in just the type of shoebox that Adam was hoping to avoid. The two of them hit it off and had been dating for a little over two months when Kurt told Adam about the apartment, which they loved. It was just a mirror image of Kurt and Chandler's place and they took it immediately.
They invited Nick and Jeff, who had just started at Columbia, over on Saturday after the first week of school. They both got a kick out of being led to the taquería by Queenie. After returning with lunch, which included a piece of fish for Queenie for bringing them more new customers, they both got a kick out of watching her eat her prize so daintily.
After they finished eating, they sat around talking for quite a while. Nick and Jeff shared that they had been together for three years, but they weren't planning to tell their parents until after they graduated. They made up for lost time and became fast friends, quickly becoming part of the regular group of people in Kurt and Chandler's lives. They were sad to lose Dahlia and Veronica to the Broadway tour they had both been cast in, but they were happy for their professional success.
The extra time from working fewer hours was brief since both of them got roles in their schools' fall productions. Elliott was also cast in the NYU production. It didn't take long for the both Dani and Elliott to become regulars at Kurt and Sebastian's biweekly get-togethers. Dani wasn't a performance major, but they found out that she was a fabulous musician and occasionally went to the diner she worked as her second job to put tips in the jar so she'd get to perform. She and Callie hit it off the first time they met at one of Kurt and Chandler's game nights.
After the musical and play were over, Kurt talked up the idea of a cover band to Elliott and Dani. He invited Rachel to join with the proviso that she didn't let it go to her head and start to diva out on him. Chandler put the drum lessons he'd been taking in exchange for teaching magic tricks to one of the guys he had worked with at the bookstore to good use with the band in addition to singing with them.
Rachel and Quinn were still dating casually and exclusively, not putting a lot of pressure on their relationship but making it clear that they wouldn't date other people. Rachel went to New Haven for winter break.
After their positive visit before they went to France, Kurt and Chandler opted to go to Lima for a week of winter break. Dani had fallen in love with Queenie and was a native New Yorker, so she wasn't leaving town and was able to care for Queenie while they were gone.
Kurt and Chandler returned to their apartment on the 24th, in time to be at home for Christmas. Before they left, they had had a party to decorate like they had the year before, so when they came in they walked into the apartment already decorated festively. After he put his luggage in the bedroom, Kurt went back out into the living room and turned the lights on. He picked Queenie up and stroked her fur just the way she liked while he sweet-talked her.
"We'll be right back out to have a nice, big snuggle with you. We need a shower first. Flying makes me feel all grimy." He put her down on the sofa and kissed the top of her head. "You wait right here." He turned and nearly tripped over Chandler.
"You're adorable, you know?"
"I'm glad you think so." Kurt slipped past him and started undressing and dropping articles of clothing on the way to the bathroom.
"I'm assuming this trail of clothes is my invitation."
"You're always invited. We haven't showered apart in ages when we're both home, except for my quick after-work showers when I was just too gross to even consider sitting down before showering."
Chandler chuckled and followed Kurt into the shower.
True to his word, Kurt and Chandler put on pajamas and transformed the sofa into its bed form. They got out a fluffy blanket and all of their pillows and cuddled up on the couch with Queenie to watch Home Alone.
Christmas morning, they made breakfast together and moved back to the sofa for a snuggle after they ate.
"You know what happened a year ago today?" Chandler asked.
"Mmm hmm." He looked down at his ring.
"You made me the happiest guy by accepting the ring you're looking at." He took Kurt's hand and intertwined their fingers. "I'd like us to plan our wedding. I know I said I wasn't in a hurry and I won't rush you if you're not ready, but we will have been together for two years in March."
"Mmm hmm." Kurt turned and straddled Chandler's lap.
Chandler spread his knees enough to let Kurt get comfortable. He wrapped his arms around Kurt, who put his forearms on Chandler's shoulders and started to play with the back of his hair.
Kurt asked, "So do you have a date in mind?"
"I did. I thought it would be cool to get married on our second anniversary, but that's on a Tuesday. We'd have to do it in the evening and we wouldn't be able to go anywhere for a honeymoon right away since we'd still have class that week."
"After I kiss you senseless, I'll get a calendar and we can talk about it."
"You always have the best ideas." He pulled Kurt closer and tipped his head up to kiss him.
Three months and one day later, Kurt and Chandler were waiting outside the newly renamed Dolloway Dance Hall, where Kurt had performed for the grand reopening just two weeks earlier. They had planned an intimate wedding with 30 people in attendance, including themselves. Not everyone they had invited was able to attend, but they knew that would be the case no matter what date they chose since many of their friends worked multiple jobs and some were in shows.
They were both dressed in black suits that Isabelle had gifted them from the vault that Kurt had tailored to fit them perfectly. He had also made them paisley jacquard vests, ties, and pocket squares – crimson for Chandler and deep cobalt blue for himself, which they wore with black silk long-sleeve button up shirts.
There were eight tables set up along the back and partially up the sides of the room. In the center of the room, the chairs were set up in three rows with eight chairs in the front row for family and ten chairs in each of the other two rows.
They had been unable to come to a consensus on who to include in the wedding party because they were equally close with so many of their friends that they didn't want to leave anyone feeling slighted, so they chose to walk in simultaneously along the sides with both of their parents.
When the music started the two of them stepped inside the room and took their places between their parents. When they got to the end of the first row, Sharon and James sat next to Marlene and Zack. Burt and Carole sat next to Finn and Janine. Once they were seated, Kurt and Chandler continued to the front and stood in front of the officiant.
Since they had decided to continue to wear the rings they already had, it was a short and simple ceremony with each of them saying the vows they had written.
Once the ceremony ended, everyone moved their chairs to the tables, which had been dressed in black tablecloths covered with multi-colored square mandala fabric featuring patterns in black, cobalt blue, and deep red, and black napkins. The centerpiece on each table was a single deep red rose with baby's breath in a unique vintage cobalt blue glass bottle that the two of them had fun searching flea markets to find.
They had the dinner catered by a small company that Dani had recommended. The food was served as soon as everyone was seated. Instrumental light jazz music played during the meal.
Once everyone had finished eating the tables were cleared and the other end of the room was set up for the band. The cake was brought in and set up on Kurt and Chandler's table. Both Burt and James made short speeches and toasts. Kurt and Chandler cut the cake together and fed each other their first bites. The servers from the catering company served slices to everyone else.
After they had all eaten their slices of cake and the plates were cleared, the lights in the room were dimmed and they turned on the blue twinkle lights that they had put up along the tops of the door frames and windows.
"Truly, Madly, Deeply" began to play and Kurt and Chandler had their first dance as husbands to the same song they had danced to under twinkle lights in Kurt's back yard the first time Kurt and Chandler shared their first declaration of love for each other.
When they finished their dance, they moved to the stage and started the open mic portion of the evening by Finn singing "Kiss Me" as Kurt and Chandler had requested. Everyone who wanted to perform did so while the others danced and enjoyed the music. This lasted for a couple of hours and was fantastic with all of the amazing performances given by all of their friends. Throughout the evening, Kurt and Chandler danced with everyone who was there. As the last song to be performed, the newlyweds took center stage and sang together, switching back and forth through the song between singing the lead and the harmony.
Tell me only this.
That I'll have your heart for always.
And you want me by your side,
Whispering the words "I'll always love you."
And forever,
I will be your lover.
I know you really care,
And I will always be there.
I need to tell you this.
There's no other love like your love.
And I, as long as I live,
I'll give you all the joy
My heart and soul can give.
Let me hold you.
I need to have you near me.
And with you in my arms,
This love will last forever.
Because I'm truly,
Truly in love with you.
I'm truly head over heels for you, Love.
I need you. And with your love I'm free.
And truly, you know you're alright,
With me.
When they finished, they stepped down off the stage and hugged everyone before they left to spend the evening at a nearby hotel in the honeymoon suite as a gift from their parents. For their actual honeymoon, they were waiting until the semester ended.
They went back to France for the first summer session like they did the year before. They spent the first week in the south of France for their honeymoon. They stayed with Sebastian and Adrien for the rest of the time and attended classes. Kurt worked with Isabelle again during Paris Fashion week.
In the spring of their senior year, both Peter Pan and Funny Girl were being revived for Broadway runs. Kurt and Chandler auditioned for Peter Pan, as did several of their friends. Rachel auditioned for the role of Fanny again.
Kurt went in at his assigned time to audition for Peter and sat down with about 40 young women.
The director came in after everyone was seated. He addressed Kurt. "This is the audition for Peter. Perhaps, you're here at the wrong time?"
"No, sir. I'm here to audition for Peter."
"The open call was for women - age 18-25."
"I'm aware, but I'd like to audition anyway."
"Suit yourself." He looked down at his sheet and called the first woman's name.
After his auditioned, he met up with Rachel at their long-standing vegetarian restaurant of choice. She sat down at the table he had secured while she was in line. He grabbed the cups and returned as she had moved the tray off the table.
"So how do you think it went?"
"I'll hope for the best, while assuming that I have a small chance of getting a role as one of the Lost Boys since they were actually auditioning guys my age for those roles. But that's a long shot since I didn't specifically audition for any of those parts. But as far as my performance went, I think I did my best. We'll just have to see. How much longer until you hear back about Fanny."
"Never, I think. It's been so long that I would have heard by now if I had gotten it."
"I think Chandler's a shoo in. God, his voice. He was great as Hook our freshman year, but as he's gotten older, his voice has gotten so rich. I love listening to him sing."
"You're such a sap. You're still so puppy hearts eyes with him. It's cute. I'm glad you're so happy."
"I am. Four years together."
"It's hard to believe that you've been married for two years already."
"Are you going to Finn and Janine's wedding in two weeks? I know he invited everyone from Glee Club. We'll get to see people we haven't seen in a long time."
"I am going. It will be weird, but I'm an adult and I'm not in love with him anymore. I'm glad he's found someone to share the life he wanted. And Janinie is super sweet."
"She is."
"It will be fun to see everyone too."
A week later, Rachel called Kurt. As soon as he swiped to answer her call, she started speaking so quickly that it took him a second to catch up.
"The director showed up at the diner today and told me that I was Fanny! I'm Fanny. I'm Fanny. I did it!"
"That's amazing, Rachel. I'm so happy for you."
"It's going to be nuts because rehearsals start next week and we still have ten weeks of school left."
"You can do it."
"I know. I'm going to quit the diner though. I want to finish NYADA on a good note, not with bad grades for my last semester."
"That makes sense. You'll get paid starting next week anyway. You'll just have a week or two with no income, depending on how the musical pays."
"I don't need the money. I know that sounds bad. My dads are paying my room and board until I get a full-time job after I graduate.. You know I took the job at the diner because I had no real life experience. I needed to move out of my cocoon."
"I remember telling you that."
Chandler unlocked the door and came in.
Kurt's phone rang. It was a number he didn't recognize. "Hey, Rachel, I have another call coming in. I'll call you right back." He disconnected and answered the incoming call. "Hello?"
"Is this Kurt Hummel?"
"It is."
"Great. I'm calling to let you know that we've decided to cast you as Peter."
Kurt was in shock and didn't respond.
"Are you there?"
"I am. Sorry. I was too shocked to speak."
The man chuckled. "I'll email you details on rehearsals, which will start in two weeks. We'll be holding them in the evenings. We know that a good portion of our cast is in college and we'd like to give them the opportunity to finish the semester."
"Thank you."
"We're looking forward to getting things rolling. I have other calls to make. We'll see you in two weeks." The man disconnected.
Kurt sat there stunned for a few seconds. Chandler sat down next to him. Kurt called Rachel back and put her on speaker.
"I'm Peter. I'm going to be the first man to play Peter on Broadway."
"Kurt, that's fantastic!" Rachel said. "It's amazing."
"It is," Chandler added. "I came home to tell you that I got a call as well. I'm Captain Hook."
"That's perfect." He turned and kissed Chandler. "It's perfect."
Chandler said, "Lara, Kinzy, Brian, and Carlen got parts too."
"That's great news, too," Rachel said. "I'm sure they'll text and tell me. Anyway, that will be a lot of fun for you two to already know people in the cast. I'll have to wait until the first rehearsal to see if I know anyone in Funny Girl, but it will be amazing to work with Paolo San Paolo as Nick Arnstein. This is such an amazing opportunity. I know that if this had happened right after we got here, I would have totally been a nightmare about it, even having been cast as the understudy. But not now. I'm ready for this now. I just hope they managed to get better investors this time around."
"Me too. I'm going to let you go so I can call my dad," Kurt said.
"My dads are thrilled. I'll talk to you two later."
Kurt turned to Chandler. "I feel like I'm dreaming, but this is real. We did it! "
"It's real. Call your dad and Carole. I'll go to the bedroom to call my parents and Janine."
Due to some scheduling issues, Peter Pan opened at the end of May, a month before Funny Girl. During the month before the opening, Kurt and Chandler appeared on several morning talk shows on TV and were interviewed numerous times. Word had spread even before previews about a man being chosen as Peter and how Peter and Captain Hook were married in real life. They drew quite a bit of attention from the press.
Sharon, James, Marlene, Zach, Burt, Carole, Finn, Janine, Sam, and Mercedes all came to town to attend their opening night in June. The show went as perfectly as it could have. Nick, Jeff, Elliott, Adam, Quinn, Rachel, Puck, Sarah, Beth, Callie, and Dani had come to see the show at different points during previews. Santana and Brittany, who were also engaged, had promised to come later in the summer.
Burt was the first to pull Kurt into a hug when he came out afterwards. "You did it! I'm so proud of you. You've been great in everything you've been in all through school, but this was a level above any of those." He hugged him again. While he had him close, he said, "Your mom would be so proud of you too." He let go of him so he could be hugged by everyone else.
After the opening night party, Kurt and Chandler were still too excited to go home and sleep. They invited the cast to go with them. Several of them did. Finn, Janine, Mercedes, Rolan, Sam, Delaney, Nick, Jeff, Rachel, and Quinn went out with them to a late-night karaoke place. Before anyone could get up to sign up to sing, Sam announced his engagement by having Delaney show everyone her ring finger. Everyone congratulated them. Mercedes introduced Rolan, who toured with her as personal security, to everyone who hadn't already met him earlier in the evening.
Once they had caught up for a few minutes, Kurt signed up to sing. He looked through the song choices until he settled on one that he knew by heart, but had never sung for anyone. He sat down with the other three until his name came up. His voice soared out clear and strong as he sang.
Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging around revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me, but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway
I'll spread my wings
And I'll learn how to fly
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway
He bowed slightly at the thunderous applause, much of which was generated by the group of people that came with him. He took his seat in the booth next to Chandler and slid in close and kissed Chandler. "I didn't break. I made it. I'm flying."
"Eight times a week," Chandler teased.