IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE
Hey guys :) so I've been talking about capping for a little while and did the poll and all that. I've made a decision that the story itself isn't capped just yet, but I am capping what types of prompts I take. I now no longer take prompts prior to Original Song - I think I've covered pretty much every possible scene and it's starting to get repetitive. I am also not taking outrageously AU prompts. I don't want things like them not knowing each other beforehand and meeting because then I have to do a huge story and I'd rather make them oneshots instead of a part of this. If you've got what you think is a great AU idea that you'd like to see me write, PM me up and I'll let you know what I think, okay?
So I'm taking prompts from Original Song to Funeral and will be taking to New York once I've seen it - NOT YET. No spoilers yet, thanks guys :) you've done a wonderful job at keeping the lips zipped and I appreciate it a lot. I also may be capping at some point, but for now it's still going :)
Edited by Angela! :) well... no, she said she couldn't find anything to edit except my spelling of lasagne which is how I spell it here so I'm leaving it.
From the lovely ActingLikeGarfieldOnaMonday: I was thinking that it could be later on in life where Blaine and Kurt share an apartment but are just friend[sic] until Blaine realizes he is in love with Kurt.
This is a series of oneshots inside oneshots. It'll be a series of days and moments in the life of Kurt and Blaine, leading up until that fateful day when Blaine gets his act together ;) it sort of spans a few years but there's no real time frame. I mention seven years at the end, so that's about how long they've known each other, not how long the story goes for. I'd say three or four years, if it matters.
Flatmates
"Honey, I'm hoooome!" Kurt shut the door behind him, pulling off his coat and hanging it on the rack. He wandered through to the small kitchen where Blaine was sitting, working on an assignment.
"Hey, how was your day?" Blaine looked up with a smile and Kurt noticed how tired his friend looked.
"Great, they gave me my own article today." Kurt was still buzzing with excitement but had toned it down when he saw Blaine's exhausted state.
"Kurt, that's awesome! Well done." Blaine smiled then quickly covered his mouth as he yawned. "Sorry."
"Have you been working on that all day?" Kurt sat down next to Blaine, looking at the notebook with his messy scrawl in it.
"Yeah, I've got another four thousand words to do, then I can type it up."
"You look exhausted." Kurt gently reached over and took the notebook away. "You need a break, otherwise you're going to burn out. Come on, I'll make you some coffee and we'll watch Family Guy re-runs so you don't have to think. You can have this back tomorrow morning."
Blaine looked as if he was about to argue, then sighed. "Okay." He stood up, stretching and Kurt tried not to notice the way his shirt stretched across his chest as he did this. He turned to walk into the living room, then stopped. Turning back, he reached out and pulled Kurt into a quick hug. "Thanks for taking care of me. I really appreciate it." He released Kurt and wandered into the living room, collapsing on the couch with a sigh.
Kurt shook his head and walked over to the counter, switching on the coffee maker. That boy will be the death of me, he decided as he grabbed a couple of cups from the drawer. "What do you want for dinner?" he called, realizing it was his turn to cook. After hearing no reply, he poked his head around the kitchen door and stopped as he realized Blaine had already fallen asleep on the couch. One hand was sprawled on the floor and his mouth was slightly open. Kurt stared for a minute longer before slipping back into the kitchen to start a lasagne, moving quietly as to not disturb his gorgeous sleeping flat mate.
"Kurt?"
Blaine poked his head into Kurt's room, frowning when he realized it was still dark. He had woke up at his usual time of 6:30, pulling himself out of bed and expecting to have to fight for the shower as he did every other morning. Finding it deserted, he made the most of it, showing before slipping into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. After drinking his first cup and waking up some more, he realized it was 7 and Kurt still wasn't out of bed. He knew it was a work/study day for both of them and Kurt needed to be up so he headed over to the younger boy's room to check on him.
"Mhhh." A groan came out of the room and Blaine stepped in, seeing a huddle of blankets that was hiding Kurt.
"Hey, you've got to get up. Time for work."
The blanket came back to reveal an extremely pale Kurt and Blaine involuntarily took a step back. "Woah, you okay?"
"No. I was up all night throwing up. I'd be surprised you didn't hear me if I didn't already know you sleep like a log." Kurt groaned again, curling tighter into himself.
"I'm sorry, Kurt. If I'd known, I wouldn't have woken you. Can I get you anything?" Blaine felt a twinge of guilt as he looked down at the boy who looked incredibly unwell.
Kurt went to answer but clapped a hand over his mouth, any remaining colour draining out of his face. Springing out of bed, he pushed past Blaine and bolted into the bathroom. The sound of retching could be heard and Blaine immediately went to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and heading into the bathroom.
Kurt was leaning against the wall, still white and breathing heavily. Blaine knelt down next to him and handed him the glass before grabbing a facecloth and dampening it to put on his face. Kurt sighed at the cool feeling and raised his eyes to look at Blaine.
"Thank you," he murmured quietly and Blaine couldn't help but smile at how vulnerable he looked.
"You're welcome. I'm sorry you feel so crap. Is there anything else I can do?"
Kurt shook his head, then hesitated. "Well, I could use some help getting back to bed. Only if you're okay with that -"
"Of course." Blaine took the facecloth back and put it on the sink before wrapping an arm around Kurt and gently helping him up. As soon as he was standing, however, his legs gave way and he would have fallen if Blaine hadn't been there.
"Woah, okay. I don't think you're going to be able to walk." Blaine weighed up the options as Kurt leaned against him tiredly. "I'm going to carry you in, alright?"
It was testament to how tired his normally overly-independent friend was that he simply nodded, allowing Blaine to scoop him up in his arms and take him to his room. He's so light, Blaine marveled as he effortlessly carried Kurt to his bed, putting him down gently and pulling the cover over him.
"Alright, I'm going to get you some water because you're seriously dehydrated. Do you fee like you could eat anything?" Kurt grimaced and shook his head. "Okay, I want you to try and get some sleep, I'll grab a bowl in case you need it and another cloth to cool you off. Do you need anything else?"
"Don't you have class?"
Blaine remembered that he did, then shrugged it off. "You're more important. I'll be right here when you wake up."
As he stood up, he heard Kurt murmur something as he drifted off to sleep, but he was unable to catch it. Something about wonderful and perfection. Blaine forgot about it almost immediately, just glad his friend was getting some sleep.
"I WANT YOUR LOVING, I WANT YOUR REVENGE, YOU AND ME COULD WRITE A BAD ROMAAAAANNNNNNCCCCEEEEE!"
Kurt sashayed around the living room, belting out the song at the top of his lungs as he cleaned, his iPhone playing in the dock behind him. He twirled around to pick up a couple of magazines, shaking his hips as he did so.
"WOAH, OH, OH, OHHHHHHHHHH! CAUGHT IN A BAD - AAH!"
Kurt finished his spin facing the doorway where Blaine was standing with his arms crossed, smirking. He immediately dropped his arms and stepped over to pause the music. In the silence, Kurt could see Blaine trying not to laugh and leveled him with his best glare.
To no avail. Blaine snorted, then cracked up laughing. Kurt huffed and stormed past him into the kitchen, chucking a few paper into the garbage and staring out the window. He heard Blaine enter and come to stand beside him. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I wasn't laughing at you, really."
"Right, you were just laughing at the immaculate condition of the living room because it's laughable that it could be that clean." Kurt rolled his eyes and opened the fridge, looking for something to make for dinner, coming up empty.
"It's - no, it's just good to come home to you, you know?" Kurt tried desperately not to think too much into that as Blaine continued. "I sit there in lectures all day with stuffy boring people and I think to myself 'Why did I decide to do law?' And then I come home and you're here with your contagious excitement and I just wanted to break into song with you."
"Why didn't you?" Kurt felt the warm fuzzy feeling inside him growing. Even if Blaine never saw him as anything more than just a friend, at least he was the kind that made his day better.
"I - don't know." Blaine shrugged.
"Well, let's make up for that." Kurt grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the living room, flicking through his iPhone quickly before finding the perfect song. He hit play and watched Blaine's eyes light up.
"Rising up, back on the street,
Did my time, took my chances."
Kurt pulled Blaine into the middle of the room, spinning him around in a circle as he laughed and picked up the song a few lines later.
"Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past,
You must fight just to keep them alive,"
The two boys eyed each other up for a second before smirking and bursting into song.
"IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER, IT'S THE TRILL OF THE FIGHT,
RISING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF OUR RIVALS
AND THE LAST KNOWN SURVIVOR STALKS HIS PREY IN THE NIGHT
AND HE'S WATCHING US ALL THROUGH THE EYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
OF THE TIGER!"
Kurt collapsed to the floor in the middle of the room, laughing too hard to continue. Blaine sank down next to him in a similar state. After awhile, they quietened down, the only sound in the room being the song playing in the background. Kurt looked up at Blaine who was staring across the room, a smile playing on his face. Tell him, tell him now!
"I want pizza for dinner," Blaine announced as if he had come to a very important decision. "And then we're going to watch 16 And Pregnant all night."
Kurt raised an eyebrow, sitting up. "Feeling spontaneous are you?"
Blaine nodded, still looking thoughtful. "Yeah, I think I am."
Kurt smiled and went to grab the phone book.
"Kurt, you're being unreasonable!"
Blaine huffed out a breath, glaring at his flatmate who was sitting at the table.
"I'M being unreasonable? Blaine, you're the one standing there yelling at me!"
"I'M NOT - I'm not yelling." Blaine made an effort to quieten down but he felt the anger simmering beneath the surface. Why is he doing this?
"Yes you are, Blaine. You're angry at me because I don't want to take money from your parents to buy my portfolio things, which is ridiculous because it's my choice."
"Kurt, you can't afford it otherwise, why can't you just let them help you?" Blaine sighed angrily. He couldn't understand why Kurt wasn't willing to accept help, after all it was an incredibly generous offer of his parents to make to someone who was just their son's flatmate. He didn't have time for this anyway, he had his own loans to work out and then final assessments for the year - perfectly enough to deal with without his friend's dramatics.
"Because I don't want them to!"
Blaine's patience finally ran out. "Damn it, Kurt!" He slammed a hand on the table, then immediately realized it was the wrong thing to do. Oh crap...
Kurt jumped as if he had been hit and Blaine knew the noise was replaying in his head over and over again. Before Blaine could say or do anything, Kurt was out of his chair and bolting towards his room.
"Kurt -!"
The door slammed shut and Blaine heard the lock click. He sat down, all the anger evaporated and put his head in his hands.
What the hell just happened?
Now that the frustration had cleared, Blaine could see he was definitely in the wrong for getting so angry at Kurt and he needed to make it up to him. But he knew there was no way he was getting into Kurt's room now while he was upset.
Blaine's eye fell onto his notebook and he grabbed it, quickly scrawling a note down.
Kurt,
I can't put into words how sorry I am. You were right, I overreacted. It's your decision whether you take money or not, I just hate to think that you might not be able to move into a proper internship because you can't afford to. You're incredibly talented and I want to see you go places because I know you love it so much.
I'm so sorry I lost my temper. I know that was the worst thing to do and I wish I could take it back but I can't so all I can do is ask that you please, please forgive me. I don't know what I can do to make it up to you but I will literally do anything. Just please come out of the room so I can at least give you a hug and tell you it's going to be alright, because it will. Nobody can hurt you here and I know I brought that back too and I won't even try to say I'm sorry because I'm literally in tears right now so I hope that's proof enough.
Please come out?
Your stupid flatmate and hopefully still friend,
Blaine
Blaine sniffed, wiping his eyes as he finished writing the letter. Upsetting Kurt was one of the things that hurt him the most, and yet he seemed to be able to do it far too often. Granted, their last fight was the previous year, but it was still far too recent in Blaine's book.
Standing up, Blaine walked over to Kurt's door and stopped outside. He could hear the sound of muffled sobs from inside and slipped the piece of paper under the door, waiting until he heard Kurt walking over to pick it up. He sunk down, back against the wall and waited, just hoping that Kurt would open the door.
A few minutes later, he heard the lock click. Blaine jumped to his feet as the door opened to reveal a red-eyed Kurt who still had tears running down his cheeks. Blaine fought to hold his own tears back as he held out his arms, letting Kurt step into them. He wrapped his arms around the boy, allowing Kurt to cry out all of his frustration and hurt.
Finally, Kurt sniffed and stepped back, looking up at Blaine.
"I'm sorry I yelled," Blaine said quietly.
"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I get where you're coming from, I just -" Kurt sighed. "Blaine, you know I'm independent. I want to feel like I got to where I am myself."
Blaine nodded. "I know that, Kurt, and if that's really what you want then I can respect that. I just want to see you succeed. Can we talk about that later?"
"Yeah. I guess we need to talk about -" Kurt left the sentence hanging.
"I'm not going to push it. I know it still hurts. Just know that I will never hurt you like that." Blaine was hit with the memory from last year, of finding Kurt slumped against a wall in the alleyway outside their flat, his arm hanging at a sickening angle... he pushed it away, focusing on the Kurt in front of him.
"I know. I guess I just need more time."
"Take as long as you need." Blaine hugged him again, rubbing his back soothingly. Forget assignments, forget loan applications. This boy needs to be cheered up and that's my top priority right now.
Kurt sighed, staring out at the night sky. He shivered and pulled his jacket closer around him, still feeling the cool air whip at his skin. He knew his hair was messed up but didn't care much. It's not like anybody's paying attention to you in there.
Blaine's classmates had thrown a huge 'We're only one year away from being lawyers!' party in one of the students apartments. Everybody was allowed to bring a plus one so Blaine had invited him to come along. But after spending ten minutes socializing and trying to see where Blaine had disappeared to, Kurt had found himself sitting on a couch with a drink in hand, wondering how long it would be until they could leave. He had deliberated just leaving, but was still edgy about walking the streets alone at night after the incident, even though it was a couple of years back now.
After awhile, Kurt had made his way out to the relatively ignored balcony. Occasionally someone would come out to smoke a quick cigarette - Kurt wrinkling his nose up at the smell - but for the most part, he was alone. He knew he could easily go back in there and make himself have a good time - after all, there was alcohol. But Kurt had barely touched the stuff since his high school experiences and didn't exactly want to make a fool of himself in front of Blaine's high class friends.
At least Blaine's enjoying himself, he thought. Blaine had certainly seemed in his element, mingling with all of his lawyer friends and immediately becoming the centre of attention. As such, Kurt didn't mind giving his friend a few hours to have fun. He mentally pulled up a few of the design ideas he had been working on and started working on how to make them better for his submission on Wednesday.
The door slid open, Kurt not bothering to turn around to see who else needed to work on destroying their lungs. The belt would look good in grey, possibly black? ...
"Hey, Kurt."
Kurt turned to see Blaine standing next to him, staring out into the night. "Hey. What are you doing out here?"
Blaine turned to him. "You're out here," he said as if that made things clear.
"But the party's in there, your friends, fun stuff, you know?"
"Yeah. But you're out here." And with that, Blaine turned to look over the balcony again, missing the strange look Kurt was giving him.
Don't read into it, Kurt.
But try as he might, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was changing between himself and Blaine.
"Hello?"
Blaine sighed in relief as Kurt picked up the phone. "Kurt! Hey, it's me. I wanted to ask a favour."
"What's up?"
"Well," Blaine looked around at the pouring rain. "It's silly but my umbrella broke and I forgot to pack lunch today, so I was hoping if you were at the apartment -"
"Are you on campus now?" Kurt interrupted.
"Yeah. In my sociology room."
"See you in ten." The line went dead and Blaine pocketed his phone, staring out the window of his abandoned sociology classroom. He smiled as he realized not a single other person he knew would come out of their way on their day off in the pouring rain to bring their flatmate lunch. I'm lucky to have Kurt, he thought to himself. Sitting down at a desk, he pulled out his notebook and began to work on the outline for his final assignment.
After fifteen minutes, there was a noise at the door and Blaine looked up to see Kurt standing there carrying two umbrellas and a bag. "Sorry it took so long, I couldn't find the spare umbrella and then I thought maybe I should toast the bread so it's warmer, not that it'll be warm now -"
Blaine strode across the room, taking the items out of Kurt's hands and putting them on the desk before pulling him into a hug. "You're wonderful, you know that?" he whispered, feeling Kurt shiver slightly.
"I've always known that," Kurt replied and Blaine chuckled, releasing him to check inside the bag. Sure enough, Kurt had packed all of his favourites, as well as a few extra things. Blaine looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Well I haven't eaten yet, so I thought maybe I could stick around?"
"Of course." Blaine gestured to the empty room. "You can join me and all of my friends."
Kurt chuckled, pulling up a seat and grabbing his lunch out of the bag, handing half of a sandwich to Blaine. As Blaine sat down with him, he took a moment to think over the past few years and the times that things like this had happened, where Kurt had dropped everything to come and help him.
I'm so lucky to have Kurt.
"You're kidding, right?"
Kurt laughed at the incredulous expression on Blaine's face. "Nope, totally self-taught. The internet is a wonderful thing."
Blaine whistled. "I sat through years of French lessons at Dalton to get anywhere near passable, and you taught yourself?"
"Yup. Your turn." Kurt leant back against the couch, absent mindedly tracing patterns on Blaine's arm which was casually draped around his neck. They had been getting themselves into positions like this for awhile now and neither of them made any attempts to change it. Kurt was loving the contact, even if Blaine only saw him as a friend.
"Hm. Okay, got it! The first time I ever watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was with the Warblers and I had to leave at the end because I started crying during Dumbledore's funeral."
"Already knew that." Kurt smirked as Blaine spluttered in outrage.
"I KNOW I didn't tell you, who did?"
"David." Kurt traced dots up Blaine's arm.
"How did he - oh, nevermind. Of course David and Wes knew everything that happened at Dalton. Except..." he hesitated for a second. "Here's one that nobody else knows."
Kurt turned his full attention to Blaine, letting his hand rest lightly on his arm.
"I spent my first six months at Dalton crushing on Wes."
Kurt tried. He really did. But his mind had other ideas.
"You - you crushed o-on Wes!" Kurt burst into laughter, collapsing into Blaine's side. To his credit, Blaine laughed as well and Kurt could feel it right next to him -
"Yeah, and I knew he was straight too. I never told him or David, I probably should sometime to see their reaction." Kurt straightened up slightly as his laughter eased, still leaning against Blaine. As he thought of his next statement, he casually allowed his hand to tangle in Blaine's, smiling softly when Blaine didn't pull away. Tell him now! It's something he doesn't know about you for sure. The voice in his head piped up and Kurt considered it for a second. He opened his mouth -
"I slushied myself once."
Damn.
"Really?" Blaine turned to look at him, puzzled. "Why?"
"Well it was all because of Finn..."
"Hey Kurt?"
"Yeah?"
"How long have you been in love with me?"
Kurt froze and Blaine saw the panic in his eyes. He took his hand and squeezed it gently, watching Kurt draw up as much courage as he could.
"Since Dalton."
Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" Kurt nodded, looking down at the couch. "I don't get it, because I think I've only known that I'm in love with you for the past few months and it kills me every time I can't tell you. You're a lot stronger than I could ever be if you could go years without saying anything."
Kurt raised his head, catching Blaine's eye. "I'd say I'm surprised, but I'm not at the same time. It always felt like it was just a matter of time, you know?"
"Yeah, I do." Blaine smiled before leaning in to gently kiss Kurt.
Finally, the small voice in his head piped up. You've waited seven years for this.
Blaine smiled against his flatmate/friend/boyfriend's lips as he deepened the kiss, feeling Kurt respond eagerly.
Finally.
I knocked this over at the end of a very long writing day. I had written nine stories in a row and somehow I ended up producing this which I love to pieces. I don't know how I did it, considering this one is over 4000 words and the others weren't exactly short either...
Those last two scenes are within a few minutes of each other by the way, just in case that wasn't clear. Not that it's important, I just like it that way :)