AN: this is part of a personal challenge/project filling all the prompts of past Kadam weeks, and posting one every day from March 28 to May 8th, 7 prompts per year 5 previous rounds (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 last two managed by vcg73) the first week of May 2-8 will present to you the offering for the Kadam Week 2021 you can search for more on tumblr.
Welcome to Kadam Week 2021, prompts gently provided by vcg73
day 6: You Don't Bring Me Flowers
As far as Kurt was concerned flowers were not a romantic gift, they could look pretty in gardens, and while his mom was still alive flowers were often present in his life and in his house.
Flowers were also the perfect elements in fashion accessories or wedding decorations.
They started to lose positive meaning when his mom died, the house was too full of flowers.
Their scent oppressive, too many people that never bothered coming before, suddenly were all over the place.
Demanding attention so they could share their opinions and lighten their consciences, for not being there while his mom was still alive, and could have appreciated the company more than she could now.
When he finally got his first boyfriend, the experience didn't actually help him feeling any different.
The fact was that every single time Blaine wanted Kurt to forgive a transgression, there would be flowers...
The bigger the transgression, the more expensive the bouquet and the more publicly it was delivered.
So that Kurt would be surrounded by so many of 'their' friends, all commenting on the romantic gesture that he would have done anything to make them gush had they be the lucky ones in Kurt's shoes…
All of their friends agreed on a point though, Blaine Anderson was the most romantic guy in the universe, always bringing Kurt's such beautiful flowers...
'If only they knew' was all the unimpressed little voice in his mind, kept playing in repeat for Kurt's benefit...
But he kept quiet. He didn't want to stir more trouble than necessary, and after all it was a small price to pay to have a boyfriend…
Even if it was a bitter pill to swallow, that teenage dreams turned out to be not so Mr dreamy after all...
His dad had always told him love was full of compromising, that they were supposed to work together. Like a beautiful car made of different parts, all of which needed to work properly and keep the harmony.
And when Blaine went out of his way to ruin what was already a terrible senior year.
Stealing one of the last opportunity Kurt had to shine, or at least to have a pertinent line in his cv to attend his dream school. Well in that moment he didn't feel at all bad for the pettiness of giving Blaine a bouquet expressing exactly how disappointed, betrayed and pissed off he was at him...
He delivered his concealed message with a smile. And when Blaine didn't react at all, as one should have expected from someone who boosted to love romantic gestures and knowing the language of flowers…
And had done so for ages…
At that moment Kurt started to wonder exactly just how many things he had been lied to...
After the rather touching, and feeling increasingly fake speech, from Blaine, Kurt fluttered his eyelashes and commented softly "You really like them? I got some help from the florist to express my feelings for you, did she get them right?"
Blaine had looked at him nodding and smiling brightly as he said "Of course she did, I can see all the pride love and support they express, you always surprise me, you always zig when I think you're about to zag."
And as soon as the words left Blaine's mouth the seed of doubt that was planted at Dalton.
And nurtured by the arrival of Sebastian Smythe and their night at Scandal.
What had started as a small seed had finally grown into a mature plant almost ready to bloom.
It wouldn't be until Valentine day, after being romanced, by the last person Kurt had ever expected, for a whole week.
A collection of cards and small thoughtful tokens that led to a surprising love declaration, by no other than Dave Karofsky.
The one reformed bully, who had been one of the main reasons why Kurt's path ever met Blaine's.
The single red rose and box of candies was exactly the kind of valentine surprise Kurt dreamed of… When he was still in first grade, his mom was still around, and flowers were still something to cherish.
On that day, after having to reject a guy who had tried harder than his own boyfriend, and managed the feat, to make Kurt feel loved and appreciated, despite their shared history…
Dave had said honestly "I've wanted to call you since that night at Scandals, and, look, it's taken me a while, but for the first time in my life, I'm trying to be honest about what I feel."
And that little bud of doubt growing inside Kurt's mind was starting to open its petal and bloom.
Because Kurt knew, he knew that Dave, who still wasn't out at his own school.
Dave, who was taking baby steps hanging out at a gay club and feeling comfortable there, in a way Kurt himself hadn't been able to do.
Dave was here, on valentine day, with the gorilla suit in which he personally delivered every bit of romance Kurt had been dreaming about.
Dave was sitting with him, in the middle of the renamed Sugar Shack, still the one central hot spot for date nights in Lima, confessing openly his feelings for Kurt.
Despite starting to believe that love was capable of making people do crazy things, Kurt knew it was unlikely that Dave had risked so much, put himself so openly out there without a good reason...
And the only good reason that Kurt's mind kept whispering like a gentle breeze caressing the still closed petals of that blooming flower called doubt, was that Dave must have thought he had an honest to God shot.
A short to either be accepted or rejected on his own merits.
Suspicion that added nourishment for that flowering sensation.
Suspicion that had a non verbal confirmation, when the only answer Kurt could offer to Dave was a flat and almost sounding unconvinced, even to his own ears "I'm with Blaine, the only thing I can offer you is friendship if that's enough, but I'd understand if it's not."
Dave was devastated, but once more he acted in a way that Kurt knew deep down Blaine never did and never would.
Dave stood there, crushed, doubt crossing his face for a moment before he nodded with a strained smile "I'll take what I can, I hope you'll like the candies, the butterscotch ones are my favourite."
And with that, as consequences of one of the most truly romantic gestures Kurt received, Dave's life crumbled around him...
And Kurt found himself once more in a hospital room looking like all the tristate area florists had barfed in it all the flowers they had.
Flowers that were supposedly symbols of love and care, that came as way too little and way too late for it to be but anything else paltry pleasantries and social niceties.
Dying flowers, that tried to mask with their sweet perfume, the bitter antiseptic scent typical of a hospital.
Despite Kurt's beliefs that flowers were never bringers of good news, his complete loathing for the practice truly solidified when he finally managed to move to New York, got a job in which he was starting to settle.
Only for Blaine to throw him the last curveball Kurt would ever accept for the sole sake of having a boyfriend.
A surprise visit, with the largest bouquet of red roses and baby breath.
It had taken Kurt a whole evening of prodding, to finally have Blaine confess he had cheated on him.
After that night, it took Kurt months to stop feeling sick as soon as the scent of roses reached him.
Feat rendered even more difficult by the fact that even after Kurt rightfully reached his breaking point and ended things with Blaine permanently, that cheating bastard started spending a fortune sending him flowers at the office...
If he had that much laying there, and he really missed Kurt so much that h felt the need to fell onto a stranger's dick, couldn't have Blaine spent all those bucks into, oh Kurt didn't know, something like a train or a plane ticket to New York and visit before cheating?
The amount and constant flow of flowery offers were making Kurt's desk looking like a florist's promotional window.
Other than giving him a seriously annoying stress headache, and yet another reason to hate receiving flowers...
Which on some days, when he was laying in bed thinking about Nyada and his future as an actor, made him very glad that it was mostly female actresses to whom flowers were sent.
And he was pretty sure that by the time he'd made enough of a name for himself, for it to even be something to think about, he probably would have already gained the reputation of someone preferring other kinds of well wishing tokens.
On the brighter side of things, Vogue had been Kurt's safe heaven.
Chase seeing the overboard floral composition had commented easily "Someone out there is either seriously crushing on you or seriously trying to make up for something. I wonder which is it, and I'm here if you want to talk about it..."
Kurt's smile had been tight as he answered honestly "The latter… And there's not much to talk about unless you know a way to stop this madness, all those flowers are giving me a terrible headache."
And like a knight in shimmery grey Prada suit Chase said "You can leave a message down to security with the list of people you won't accept things from, that way anything that arrives sent from them will be returned to the sender."
Finally with a blocked number, few blocked social media connections, and a couple of words left downstairs, Kurt's life in New York was free of suffocating flowers' corpses.
The way Kurt made his way into Nyada and through his first week of class was surprising, but not as astonishing as finding out how different things were, when he wasn't the only one doing the chasing.
Meeting Adam had been, surprising but also refreshing, There Brit was the first ray of sunshine after the darkness of the winter months, wrapped in the fresh ocean breeze of a summer day. A pleasantly warm and welcoming presence.
Adam had made it rather clear from the very beginning that he was interested.
But he also allowed Kurt to decide whether taking any step, at all or leading in choosing the pace, simply happy to be in Kurt's life even just as a friend...
Desperate Blaine had moved on recruiting those who used to be mutual friends, who turned out to be just Blainers, to pass on messages, apologies and reminders of all the romantic gestures Blaine did for Kurt, hoping for their reunion.
Which instigated the Second Great Purge in Kurt's life.
After sending a public message on all his socials, that he had a new boyfriend and anyone bothering him mentioning his ex, offering information when they were not requested, would find themselves promptly just as blocked as Blaine was.
Finn's reaction to that message had been a single sunflower emoji followed by a smiley face and a thumb up.
And for the first time in over a decade, the corner of Kurt's mouth twitched upwards at its sight…
Adam had always loved plants, especially in the springs, when the flowers changed the countryside into a buzzing blurry of colours.
It had always fascinated him seeing how tiny green buds would open up, to reveal so many bright brilliant colours and wonderfully different scents.
Maybe it was because he grew up on the outskirts of Essex's suburb, where the distance from the beautiful view allowed him to be exposed to the constant changing, happening in the natural world during the spring and summer months.
Maybe it was the fact that his grandparents had a delightful cottage in the countryside, that allowed Adam the chance to appreciate how flowers in the ground, or even on a pot, lasted way longer than cut flowers.
Maybe it was also because both his father and grandfather were beekeepers, and they had taught him how much bees were indispensable for everyone's life.
How even removing a single flower, could mean more fatigue for the small insects, and consequentially endangering their colony.
So Adam had never thought about cutting short the life of a flower, not for the mere sake of just admiring it for a couple of days.
Especially not when he could instead take home a small plant, care for it and enjoy the flowers for longer.
And when his first boyfriend called him weird, and cruelly mocked him for preferring such practice.
Adam's first reaction, after dumping the unfeeling jerk, had been crying.
Only to be consoled by his nana's wisdom
"Adam darling, I know you're hurt now, but think of the bright side.
Now you know that the man right for you is going to be someone who could appreciate the beauty of the world, without feeling the need to temporary own it only to end up destroying it.
He's going to be a young man able to walk with you through a botanical park, and see that amongst all that beauty surrounding you, the happiness shining in your eyes is the most precious.
And that he will know that he is the luckiest of men for already holding your hand in his."
That speech etched indelibly into a fourteen year's old Adam mind, who took it heart and for years afterwards, he searched for someone who could live up to the dreamy picture those words painted for him.
The American's way of life was different, neither especially good nor especially bad, just not what Adam grew up with.
New York was big, and on certain days it felt too stuffy, with so much concrete around, but there were beautiful green oasis, and precious gems that could be found and be treasured.
It took him quite a while, and few failed attempts, to find out someone who had the potential to be all the things his nana had said he could find all those years ago.
Kurt was fascinating from afar, and simply breathtaking upon closer look.
He had the resilience and beauty of a willow tree. Looking deceptively frail while being at his strongest, bending but not breaking.
And given enough care and time he would become even stronger, beautiful, and with the kind of plentiful beautiful flowers that could be appreciated in all their beauty, solely by admiring them on the living plant.
There hadn't been yet an occasion that would have traditionally warranted the exchange of flowers, so that was a subject they had yet to touch.
Which it was why Adam found himself pretty confused when he got set aside first by Rachel "Look I get you and Kurt are still new, and you are a good guy and I like you, Especially because I'm grateful you defended Brody when Santana was being so unreasonable. So I'm going to tell you this.
You might not know it but Klaine set up pretty high standard of romance, and I don't want to see you fail, Kurt used to get so many bouquets that some of us girls were pretty envious of it. So yeah think about that, maybe a flower or two wouldn't be amiss next time you come around..."
Funny thing that he discovered about Kurt's friends, was that basically all the ones he had met this far, didn't even have the need of him making more than a couple of sounds, sometimes not even a whole word, to have a whole conversation with him...
On certain days, Adam wondered if the fact that instead, while he was alone with Kurt, they had long alternating conversations, with intermissions of comfortable silences, was a good or a bad sign.
Everything he had been told about Kurt, by those who claimed to love him and be his friends, was in stark contrast to all he was when they were together and around their common friends...
During his darkest days, Adam wondered instead which one was the real Kurt, and which one was a distorted reflection created to please others.
The mere notion that both existed was a chilling nail stuck in his heart.
When Santana came to him to tell him "Look Doctor Who, I don't like people, but I can see he is different with you, a good different.
Do yourself and Lady Hummel a favour. Stop listening to the garbage getting out of the midget's mouth and do you.
If there is one thing I know is that you just need to watch him closely to tell whether he's guarded or not.
As friendly as he can appear to be, he keeps his cards close to the vest that one.
Blargh, this talk is making me disgustingly soft, so bottom line is you should totally tap that fine ass and make Auntie Snixx proud.
Now off you go. Go do what disgustingly sweet gay men do to each other… Pick up flowers, smooch, whatever… Just keep him in your bed instead of sending him back all sparkling and having rainbows and flower fall from his mouth every other word...
I want to have a night or tree in a real bed instead of the pullover, so he needs to be away for few days, capisce?"
Adam wasn't totally sure whether it was solely a self serving suggestion, or if it was an indication that Kurt did need a break from how things were in the loft.
But he guessed this was a time as good as any to take Kurt into one of his favourite places in New York.
And see whether or not he might be the one Adam had been looking for.
He wasn't fourteen anymore, of course it would be a disappointment, but it wouldn't be such a deal breaker if they could talk it out and respect each other's standing on the matter.
Then again Kurt this far had been strangely silent on the subject of exchanging flowers, so Adam held a little bit of hope that it was a good sign...
Another thing he picked up from the bizarre stories he heard about Kurt's high school glee club, was the cutesy detail of insisting on creating a single 'ship' name for the couples. Mixing together parts of their names, and creating a new one representing two.
Adam had found out recently something that Kurt could appreciate, or at least smile about it.
As they walked through the path amongst the flowers, he could see a slight tension in Kurt's body that wasn't passing as they kept on walking.
Knowing how Kurt had a lot more difficulties expressing what he wanted, at least at the beginning of their relationship, Adam asked a little worried
"If this is not of your liking or you have allergies will you please let me know? I want our time together to be enjoyable for the both of us…"
Kurt's soft smile and gentle kiss, was making him understand perfectly the sentiment behind his nana's words.
For he was feeling extremely lucky in having Kurt's hand in his right now.
And what Kurt said next, felt like the gentle breeze carrying cherries' blossoms' petals, a beautiful sign of changes to come.
"I like this very much. And even if I had not enjoyed the garden, which mind you is not the case.
Seeing you coming alive as you tell me more of all we see around us, seeing your enthusiasm and obvious love for the subject.
That would be more than enough to make this an enjoyable experience. Luckily, as far as I know I don't have any allergies, so if we find one, it'll be an unwelcome surprise for the both of us"
Adam chuckled softly at the last quip of humour Kurt offered, and in a spur of the moment decision Adam took Kurt to the tropical part of the gardens, until they were standing in front of a tree grinning mischievously
"This tree is called bur flower tree, but locally in the South and Southeastern Asia, its name is Kadam.
Right now it's too early to see its flowers, they won't bloom till late Summer, and they will continue to bloom till early Winter.
But when their times arrive, their scent is sweet and their globular heads are golden in colour and about two inches in diameter… I've seen them and I believe they are a sight to behold"
Kurt had stopped looking at the tree to look at Adam in the eyes as soon as the word Kadam had left his lips.
While Klaine Kurt, had been nothing more than an afterthought, the first in line to be thrown under the bus to allow space in the spotlight for Blaine.
The reverence with which Adam spoke of Kadam, made Kurt feel like he would be put first above all others, above Adam himself…
And for the first time, Kurt was wishing to see and smell this flower that promised to be as precious as the man holding his hand.
Longing was tinting Kurt's voice as he asked tentatively "When the time is right, will you take me back to see those flowers?"
Adam's smile softened as he nodded "I will take you to see our golden globes when the time is right."
As it happened life had a way of getting in the way. It had kept them busy, on a late fall afternoon, after a week that had them both in frustrated tears, due to their schedules continuously shifting always out of sync, allowing them little to no time to spend together.
Adam sent Kurt a text that said 'I think it's time for us to see our personal golden globes, what say you?'
Kurt's answer was almost instantaneous 'Let's go'
Even before they reached their tree, the sweet scent of its blooms could be perceived in the air.
Contrary to Kurt's fears it was neither oppressive nor overwhelming…
Once they stood in front of their tree Kurt looked appreciatively at their aesthetic.
The flowers were as beautiful as Adam had promised, squeezing Adam's hand in his he leaned on the side, letting their arms touch as he rested his head on Adam's shoulder.
With the first smile, a flower brought to his face in what felt like forever, stretching his lips he said "I think I love those flowers"
Adam placed a gentle kiss on Kurt's head and said softly "You know right that in here they are protected and cannot be picked?"
Kurt chuckled softly and continued serene "That's part of their charm, no one is allowed to go and break them apart, and force them to have no other thing to do but die"
Despite Kurt's morbid way of looking at it the message reaching Adam's ears was more hopeful than it might have seemed.
So he continued his questioning with a grin "So you simply don't like flowers or there's something more to it?"
Kurt hummed softly trying to count how many flowers he saw before getting lost in Adam's words again…
"I like flowers just fine, I simply don't like to surround myself with dying things that I will have to dispose of within a couple of days."
Adam smiled and kissed Kurt properly, enjoying how his boyfriend was finally relaxed in his arms.
And then he said reassuringly "It's ok darling, I prefer plants as whole myself. When we'll end up going back to the UK to visit my folks, I'm going to take you to my grandpa's cottage. I bet the flowers I can show you there, while not as exotic as this one, will still be just as breathtaking as you are."
Kurt nuzzled his cheek against Adam's and then turned back to look at their flower
"I'm sure they are going to be just as breathtaking as this moment, because you'll be there sharing them with me."