Chapter Thirteen
Kurt was sitting up on the bunk on the bus, watching the landscape roll by, lost in thoughts about everything that had been happening the last week. It was a travel day for them, but since there had been only one show the night before, he hadn't been as cranky this morning. Unfortunately that meant he was awake enough to not be able to shut out the thoughts tumbling through his mind.
No matter how he looked at the situation, it appeared that someone was trying to ruin Blaine, and the chief suspect was the man who kept making sexual advances towards Kurt. He couldn't help thinking it was his fault somehow.
His phone chirped in his hands, momentarily forgotten, as even the current twitter chat couldn't distract him for more than a moment. He glanced down at the screen to check the notification.
Private Message: From FootballMechanic
To GlaszandPorcelain
Hey, Dude, have you seen this?
Kurt couldn't help the fond, if somewhat exasperated smile when he saw the message from his stepbrother, even as he muttered under his breath, "don't call me dude, Finn!" He clicked on the link below the message, which redirected him to a YouTube video titled; Did something go wrong at Blaine Blackwell's performance last night?
Kurt frowned a little and hit play. An automated voice began narrating the events shown on the video.
"Did something go wrong during one of Blaine Blackwell's illusions last night? Blackwell was performing the well known sword in the box trick with assistant Kurt Hummel when the magician seemed to freeze briefly at what was usually the reveal moment. This video, shot from an angle, shows the magician opening the box in which assistant Kurt Hummel was supposed to vanish from, but pauses with the box only slightly open. You can just make out the look of shock on Blackwell's face, and then he clearly speaks to someone inside the box briefly.
"The Magician then dances off, drawing the audience's eyes with him, but this clip, filmed from yet a different angle, catches something inside the box that shouldn't have been there. If you look closely, you can just see what appears to be Hummel's shoulder blade poking up into view.
"The Magician then drapes the open box with the curtain, and again distracts the audience for several moments before finally beginning to remove the swords from the box, and pulling the curtain away, revealing the assistant once again inside the box. However, unlike other performances of the same illusion in previous shows on the tour, Hummel reappears in the same outfit as he entered the box in, whereas in other performances he emerges wearing a different outfit.
"So, did something go wrong during the illusion? Most likely, but Blackwell's quick thinking and experienced training saved the illusion from going completely wrong, and the audience never realized things hadn't gone as planned. Bravo, Blaine Blackwell."
Kurt rewatched the video again after sending his stepbrother a message thanking him for bringing it to his attention, and then showed it to Blaine.
"I don't think whoever rigged the door meant for me to be injured," he said. "I think they were trying to make you look bad."
Blaine frowned as he studied the video. "I think you're right. I think whoever it is realized he'd made a mistake trying to injure me the first time. If their goal is to discredit me, though, it backfired again. This video just shows me making a bad situation work in my favor, and even most of these comments say how skillful I was in hiding the issue."
"Yeah, well, don't let that give you a big head," Kurt teased. "Besides, if I weren't so flexible, nothing you had done would have saved that illusion."
Blaine was quiet for a moment, watching the video over again. "I think it might be in my best interest to retire this version of the sword box. Whether I covered it up or not, people will still figure out how it's done."
Kurt just nodded.
"And I am not the Masked Magician," Blaine added. Kurt frowned.
"Don't even joke about that, Blaine," he said. "You know that's not very funny." Blaine shrugged.
"You still have something against him, don't you?"
Kurt scoffed. "Blaine, the man decided it was important for the public to know exactly how illusions were done! The whole magic community was scrambling to reinvent the classics to keep the magic!"
Blaine let out a sigh. He knew Kurt was right. The magic community had been outraged. "I know. The way everyone reacted, you would have thought the wizarding world had been revealed to the entire world!"
"Blaine, how many times must we go over this. The wizarding world isn't real. I know it's your dream to meet Harry Potter, but you know he's just a fictional character."
The magician rolled his eyes. "This isn't about that, Kurt." He started pacing a moment later in the small corridor. "We need to figure something out," he said, getting serious again.
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, setting his phone aside.
"Taking the sword box out of the show completely leaves a gap and the new illusion is not ready to fill that spot yet. Especially since we haven't tried to run through it now that Quinn is feeling better."
Kurt reached out and placed a hand on Blaine's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Don't worry yourself so much honey. The show is always changing. It's not like we use that illusion every night. I don't think it's going to hurt much if we just don't use it."
Blaine bit his lip. "I still need to replace it after the tour ends. I need a new sword box illusion."
Kurt sat up on his knees and wrapped his arms around the shorter man. "We still have three weeks to figure it out. And I may have an idea for it. You remember that Arabian Nights themed party we went to after winning The Illusionist?"
Blaine looked up at him, having been thinking about something of his own they might be able to use. "Yeah? What did you have in mind? Because I just thought of something too."
"Instead of a box, we use a basket, and I'll be the cobra to your snake charmer."
The magician worried his bottom lip for a moment. "I don't know. Didn't Charlotte Pendragon get seriously injured doing a version like that? And the Pendragons were well known professionals."
"Sweetie, your last show in New York grossed three times their highest grossing performance ever. You're a professional, too. And Charlotte got injured when she was older, and her arthritis kept her from being as flexible as I am."
Blaine smirked. "Do you want to hear what I thought of?" he asked. "It would damn well test your flexibility and no it has nothing to do with sex...this time."
Kurt, smirked and purred in his ear. "You could make it sexual," he kissed below the magician's ear. "But what was your idea?"
A moan escaped Blaine's mouth and his eyes fluttered. Kurt knew what it did to him when he kissed him there. He bit his lip, trying to refocus. "David Copperfield had that one illusion. The box on the table that folded up into a little square box before he stuck the swords through."
"Intriguing. But wouldn't you like to see me oiled up like a snake and dancing slow and sexy, just for you?"
Blaine moaned again. "Damnit, Kurt. Of course I would, but I'm not so sure I like the idea of the audience seeing what's 'just for me.'"
Kurt frowned a little. "I danced around in a skimpy speedo on stage the night before last. And I'd be wearing more in this illusion, because I'd probably have to wear a bodysuit to give me a snake like appearance. And you know the audience would eat up the sensuality of it."
The shorter man turned in his arms, and pressed a kiss at the junction where Kurt's jaw met his neck. "Mm, and you were so damn sexy in that speedo too. There actually is a problem with your idea though."
"Oh? And what's that?" Kurt asked, tipping his head back to allow Blaine's lips to find that certain spot that always made him shiver.
"The version of the illusion you're suggesting would fit much better in the adult show. But we're trying to come up with something to replace the one in the regular show."
Kurt smiled. "No one said we have to replace the one on the regular show with the same type of illusion. We could do the sexy snake in the basket for the adult shows, and something completely different for the regular shows."
Blaine continued to attack Kurt's neck with his lips, surprised either of them were thinking coherently still. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Kurt opened his mouth to reply when someone banged on the wall outside the sleeping area. "We're stopping for lunch in ten minutes!" Elliott called out. "You two might want to jump into a cold shower real quick. Separately, preferred."
Blaine's head fell down onto Kurt's shoulder. "Remind me to talk to Wes about us two having our own bus so that stops," he muttered.
Kurt just laughed and smacked him on the ass. "Next time, less talk, more action."
"I just want to fuck you. Is that so much to ask?"
Kurt leaned in to whisper, "You were the one who insisted we go to sleep last night. I was so close to going down on you, too."
Blaine groaned. "I hated doing that. But you know how I hate having sex the night before we have to leave. It cuts into our hazy post-sex morning cuddles and I hate that."
"Well, we're only in Tucson for two nights, and then we're on to Phoenix. That's only a two hour drive. We can sleep late, or not sleep at all and have our cuddles."
"I can't wait until our stop in Vegas. I miss making love to you in our own bed."
Another bang on the wall had them reluctantly separating. "Elliott," Kurt called out. "You may be my best friend, but if you don't stop being such a cockblock, I am going to have to slaughter you in your sleep!"
The other man just laughed. "Good luck with that. You know I never sleep."
Kurt got very serious and stuck his head out of the back, looking at Elliott with those eyes, the ones that read easy emotion. "And you know how little time Blaine and I really get with each other right now."
Elliott had the graciousness to look apologetic. "I know, and you know I hate the fact that you two can't be together in public. But you also know I'm just trying to look out for both of you. You need to eat, and I know you two don't want to walk off this bus looking like you've just been doing the nasty."
The blue eyed man smirked and reached up to tap Elliott once on the cheek. "I'll just tell people you got drunk and were trying to fool around with me," he said and walked off towards the bus' bathroom.
Elliott laughed. "I'm sure our two shippers would be very happy with that explanation. Especially that KelliottStalker person. I can't tell if it's a creepy guy, or some desperate housewife with a gay fetish."
Kurt stopped in his tracks, frowning. He knew his way around twitter, which was why certain people didn't know he was the one doing certain things. "I'm going to ask Wes to keep an eye on that one. I did a little digging and they're giving me some really uncomfortable vibes," he said.
Elliott and Blaine both frowned. "What kind of vibes?" Blaine asked. In the three years they'd known each other, Blaine had seriously come to trust Kurt's feelings about things. It was almost a form of ESP, the magician was certain.
"I went trolling the handler's twitter under an anonymous account and there was a link to their instagram. When I opened it, it was full of candid camera shots of me and Elliott."
"What kind of shots? Do you think he's following you?"
"I'm not sure. A lot of them are stills from the show, but the ones that really bother me are shots of us unlocking hotel room doors, the camera at an angle like someone is peeking around a corner or something."
Blaine frowned. "Do you think they may be the one who sent you that package the other day?"
Kurt shook his head. "No, they're creepy and stalkerish, but I don't think they're capable of sending rancid meat. The only person who might be that bold is Sebastian."
Blaine's frown deepened even more at the mention of the name. "I'm going to talk to Wes. I want more security on you until we figure this out."
Elliott looked thoughtful. "What about that other twitter handle, BlaineKurtElliott? Anything suspicious there? Not that they've really said anything to make me suspicious or anything, but…"
The other assistant shook his head. "No, they have that really good natured, joking tone and I actually looked at their profile. She's a pro wrestler who credits the three of us for always being exactly who we are and never looking a gift horse in the mouth. The major difference here, she has stuff about herself on her profile. KelliottStalker says nothing about themselves at all."
"I'll have Wes get someone to look into it deeper," Blaine said as they felt the bus pull into the parking lot of a restaurant. "So, I'm guessing you were the one who kept hacking Sebastian's account?" he asked as they slipped off the bus, Kurt grabbing Raja's leash.
"What that slimy little meerkat doesn't know won't hurt him, unfortunately," Kurt said.
Elliott laughed. "He still thinks it was me. He keeps sending me threatening emails saying he's going to cut off my balls if I hack him one more time."
"No offense, El," Kurt started, looking at his friend. "But you didn't help yourself by revealing you knew his passwords."
Elliott stopped walking. "Wait, what? I was just making those up! Those really were his passwords?"
Kurt rolled his eyes. "It's Sebastian. Do you really have to ask that question?"
All three men were laughing as they entered the restaurant. Blaine paused, looking behind them. "Where is Quinn?"
Elliott glanced back at him. "Did you forget what today is?"
Blaine looked confused for a moment. It was Kurt who supplied the information. "Beth's birthday. I'm guessing she's still on the phone?"
Elliott nodded. "Yeah. Blaine, how could you forget?" he asked.
The magician shook his head. "Sorry, I got a lot on my mind right now. I guess it just kind of went over my head."
Elliott nodded. "She'll be out shortly. She said to order her a BLT with cottage cheese and an extra pickle."
"BLT, cottage cheese, and a pickle?" Kurt questioned. "Are we sure she's not pregnant again?"
Elliott laughed. "I'm positive. She hasn't dated anyone since Beth was born. But she says she's trying to get back into shape if she's going to be performing more, and she needs the protein."
The waitress spotted them, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head when she saw Raja. "Um...we aren't really equipped to um...serve big cats?"
Kurt smiled reassuringly at her. "Raja's already had his lunch, but he'd appreciate a snack. Do you have fish on the menu? If not, he'll take twenty burgers, rare, hold the buns."
"Um, right, of course," she replied, still not entirely sure how to handle this situation. "Right this way."
…
mardie186: OMG! Some guys just came into the restaurant with a giant freakin TIGER! I was so startled that at first I didn't realize it was BBlackwell! It wasn't until I went to the kitchen to give their order that it hit me!
TheresaG: Oh my god of magic! Are they still there? I'm on my way!
RajasRagina: Are they in Arizona yet? I can't wait to see them tonight! Lord Tubbington surprised me with tickets to the show!
mardie186: They're still here, but you may want to hurry, they just ordered dessert! I didn't know tigers liked watermelon!
KingRaja: Mreow ngu meow (Translation; Who doesn't like watermelon?)
GlaszandPorcelain: Still about three and a half hours until we reach Tucson. Just stopped at this amazing little diner for lunch. The service was awesome.
TheresaG: SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I see their bus! OMG! OMG! There's LucyQFabray! And the other bus is just pulling in!
klainedreams34: Sorry, Raja, love, but I don't like watermelon. Or any melon for that matter
IheartBlaine: I can't wait till you get to Phoenix later this week, BBlackwell! I met my fiance at your show there three years ago, and now we are going to be there the night after our wedding!
Kokofluff: Tigers love all kinds of fruits and vegetables. It's a myth that they only eat meat.
KingRaja: Mnufft, klainedreams34 (Translation; To each their own, klainedreams34)
IShipBlina: So, Tina is still relegated to the second bus?
MjonesSings: Just a little over a week until I'll be BBlackwell's opening act in LA at the Staples Center!
BBlackwell: Can't wait, Mercedes!
klainetkm: Oh, give it up, IShipBlina! We may be friends, but you are even starting to get on MY nerves!
TheresaG: AsianMagic is looking pretty happy on the arm of that new assistant, MChangChoreography.