Hey guys! It's been a while. I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing, so bare with me while I try and get my groove back. As always, love to hear from you and all your feedback and suggestions. Don't be a stranger!
It was the most peculiar thing. It was almost as absurd as Sue Sylvester handing out tater tots at the cafeteria. It was Kurt! Kurt wearing last season's scarf in the middle of an Ohio summer. Santana wasn't dumb, her Mexican third eye was glowering at that stupid grey scarf knowing damn well Mr Catwalk was hiding something.
"What's this all about?" Santana tugged at Kurt's scarf. Kurt snatched at his neck as if Santana was about to cut it.
"Nothing!" Kurt squealed in an even more high-pitched voice than usual. Santana tried to tug the scarf again, but Kurt latched onto it tight like it was a python around his neck.
"Aww come on, what secrets is Kurtie got under there. Oh, there must be hickeys under there. Is there a new boyfriend you haven't told us about?"
"Who is Kurt seeing?" Sam asked.
"No doubt some Warbler kid. Sleeping with the enemy Kurt, I thought you were better than that." Rachel tutted with as much betrayal as if Kurt had lost their chance at willing regionals.
"I told you I'm not seeing Blaine, we're just friends." Kurt huffed, unable to hide the disappointment.
"Oh really!" Santana was about to reach out and try and snatch that scarf one more time but thankfully Kurt was saved by the bounding bounce of Brittany skipping into the Glee flaunting something obvious on her arm.
"Brittany is that a tattoo?" Tina gawked as Brittany sat beside her. everyone stared at the ink Brittany was sporting proudly on her forearm.
"Oh yeah, this showed up this morning, neat, isn't it?" Brittany showed off an inky word that looked like it was fading out already.
"Brittany did you draw my name on you? That's so sweet." Santana asked, reading the word.
"No of course not silly." Brittany smiled. "It just appeared. Isn't it wonderful?" Santana examined her name. it was like permanent ink, but when Santana licked her finger and scrubbed it over Brittany's skin it did not smudge. Brittany could not have written it, Santana's name was spelt correctly, and the writing was legible, barely legible, but legible. Everyone looked at her strangely. Kurt was focusing very much on his music sheets. Rachel too looked a little strange, was that Mr Shuster's name scrawled above her knee?
"What's that Rachel?" Kurt asked, pointing to the name.
"Oh nothing, just a note for me to ah, talk to Mr Shue about a new plan for rehearsals." Rachel said, gaining confidence as she spoke. Santana knew there was something wrong, she just never got the chance to get to the bottom of it because Mr Shue had begun class.
That was a close one, Kurt thought as he dabbed more concealer on his neck. Glee had finished and he was about to meet Blaine for coffee. He couldn't risk Blaine seeing this, this… whatever it was. As he sat down in the booth, he waited patiently for Blaine to arrive. Damn that Santana, noticing his scarf, he should have worn a cravat, far less suspicious but also doesn't give the coverage Kurt needed. He could not risk sheer fabrics with this. He tightened his scarf, worried that more would appear.
"Kurt!" Blaine caught him by surprise. Blaine dressed in his breathtaking blazer and smile. God that blazer did things to Kurt, Jesus Kurt, save it for later! He said to himself as Blaine waited for a response.
"How was school?"
"Brittany got a tattoo of Santana's name on her arm, or at least we think she did, Santana tried scrubbing it and it didn't come off."
"Well, let's hope that all works out for them." Blaine hooked Kurt under his arm, and they queued up for their orders. Kurt felt a little giddy at the touch, then had to remind himself that Blaine was just a friend. "Am I still coming to your Glee class to introduce myself next week?"
"Yeah sure, if Rachel doesn't slaughter you at the door."
"It's important to maintain good relationships with our fellow Gleeks. We are a community after all. besides you spied on the Warblers, now it's my turn." Blaine said, willing to defend himself even against the wrath of Rachel.
"What's that?" Kurt gasped seeing the palm of Blaine's hand. it was Kurt's name. Kurt's chest caught and he clutched at the scarf on his neck.
"What? Oh this? Just a reminder we were having coffee after school." Upon Blaine's palm was Kurt's name. Blaine licked his palm and rubbed the ink off. It came away. It was just an ordinary inky scrawl.
"I don't know what is more horrific; that you needed to write on your hand to remind yourself you were having a coffee date with me or the fact you just did that." Kurt wrinkled his nose.
Before Blaine could reply he felt a tug at the back of his head. Someone had pulled his hair. "Hey bitches, it's your turn or I'm cutting in front." Becky said, already attempting to barge forward.
"Becky!" Kurt scolded while Blaine quickly ordered coffee.
"That scarf is so last season Kurt, I'm disappointed in you." Becky sassed. As the boys walked back to their seats.
"I can't believe she pulled my hair." Blaine sulked.
"at what point do you stop calling it hair and just refer to it as a hair gel?" Kurt replied.
"Oh, admit it, you love it." Blaine teased. Kurt blushed a little, oh if only he knew how much Kurt wanted to take Blaine in the shower and wash all of that away and run his fingers through his hair. But that was not appropriate, Blaine was just friends and there was no indication that he wanted anything else but that. And so, Kurt sipped his soy caramel latte with his friend, trying to supress his inappropriate thought that if anyone (especially Santana) were to find out about, would never let Kurt forget.
"So why the scarf?" Blaine asked innocently, "it's not exactly this season."
"Style never goes out of fashion, Blaine."
"Coco Channel?"
"Saint Laurent but kudos for taking a guess."
"So, you're not trying to hide anything, right? they aren't bruises from those bullies, are they?"
"No! no, look of you are so worried, I can take it off." Kurt slowly unravelled his scarf praying to the makeup gods that his concealer had not melted out of place. He dared not move his neck in case the light caught it at a revealing angle. What he was not expecting was Blaine to reach out and touch him and run his fingers along the side of his neck. his thumb brushed against his pulse and his hands felt so large and warm and part of Kurt was hoping Blaine would just pull him into a kiss. But he couldn't enjoy any of that because he was trying to come up with some excuse as to why Blaine's name was on his neck.
"Concealer, Kurt." Blaine brushed away the paint, looking for whatever Kurt was trying to hide. He looked confused, Kurt was confused, shouldn't Blaine be horrified? Or at least asking questions. "Kurt your skin is perfect, you don't need concealer."
"I'm trying to protect my skin from the sun. it's a conceal sunscreen. Vouge says the best skin care starts with sunblock." Kurt thought quickly on his feet.
"Right." Blaine did not look convinced.
"Excuse me for a moment." Kurt dashed to the toilets and tilted his face up in the mirror looking for any sign of Blaine's name that had vandalised his skin this morning. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Kurt breathed in relief; he was not the sort of person to get tattoos let alone tattoos of his hopefully-soon-in-your-dreams-if-I-should-be-so-lucky boyfriend. No, Blaine would freak if he saw anything like that and think Kurt was an utter lunatic. Kurt fastened his scarf again just in case, gave himself a little pep talk
"It's gone now, you can relax."
And strode back to Blaine to finish their coffee date.
"Becky! Do you have it!" Sue Sylvester yowled like a cat wanting to be fed at 3 o'clock in the morning. Becky trudged along in a foul mood into her office. Sue's office was unrecognisable. The walls were filled with feather nets and steaming jugs of things that smelt like old river water. she was brewing over a collection of little puppet dolls surrounded by jars and ramakins. The dolls looked a little like those Glee kids.
"Here it is coach, can I go home now?" Becky tossed a strand of Blaine Warbler's hair in Sue's direction. It drifted in the air and Sue with her raptor reflexes and buzzard eyes caught it before it could be lost on the carpet.
"Becky, sit down." Sue demanded. Becky did so with a huff. Sue stuffed Blaine Warblers hair inside the latest voodoo doll and spoke.
"All my previous attempts of breaking up the glee club have been disastrous failures. I know! You would not believe it, would you. You think I bunch of overdramatic teens would be easy to crumble but they still allude my grasp. So, then I thought, what if I do something more? What if I turn to the dark arts, sure witchcraft was a dead end, and don't get me started on scientology, but then I found something that might just work!" Sue held up a doll that looked remarkably like Blaine, with his triangle eyebrows and even stupider blazer. "Voodoo! At first I thought it was all hocus pokus." Sue said, "But then I thought, well, if anyone can make the impossible come true it is Sue god-damn Sylvester. So, I ordered all this stuff online, tortured a shaman until he gave me all his voodoo secrets and here, I am!"
"But what are you doing coach?" Becky asked, a little jealous she did not get her own doll. He picked up the one with the tartan skirt which must have been Rachel.
"Spoilers Becky."
"Coach!" Becky cried, irritated that she had to do all of Sue's jobs and remain out of the loop.
"Becky, what suspense would I be building if I didn't withhold information for the benefit of the story?"
"No, coach, look!" Becky had tossed the Rachel doll on the floor it seemed to be buzzing like someone had pulled its string and let it go. Sue rolled her eyes.
"It's always the ones you least expect." Took a pin from her pin cushion and randomly stabbed it on the doll. "Now Becky, here is a list of more names that I want you to collect hairs from, oh and here are the sewing patterns to make the dolls, I've hired out the textiles room, I expect them to be made by the end of the week."
"But what will you be doing coach?"
"I will be waging war against parties."
"Parties?"
"Drunken, teenage Glee parties."
"Why?"
"Because then that is exactly what they are going to do."
"I am so sick of hearing about responsible parties." Sam groaned as he pushed weights in the gym. Finn was there as well as Artie and for some reason Kurt was too, working on some Pilates on a yoga matt. Apparently, Sue made gym work compulsory for all cheerleaders and if Kurt didn't do some form of strength building, she would lock him in the gym until he did.
"It's a phase, it'll pass." Artie assured, "Finn, what's that?" Artie looked at Finn's stomach as he lifted the end of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. Dotted all over Finn's stomach was a random assortment of names.
"Dude, why do you have Quinn's name on you, aren't you dating Rachel?" Sam asked. Kurt's eyebrow's arched, listening in to the conversation mid-pose.
"I didn't write it." Finn defended. "just sort of appeared, besides Rachel's name is right here." Finn lifted his shirt up further, lo and behind Rachel's name was over his ribs.
"That does not explain why you have a Brittana tramp stamped on your back." Kurt spied the name with Finn's back to him. He completed a downward dog and rose to his feet.
"What?" Finn tried to spin around to see the small of his own back to no avail, forgetting he was literally standing in front of a mirror.
"Do you not think it's strange to have random names appearing on your skin, Finn?" Artie asked.
"Nah, they seem to fade away at some point anyway." Finn shrugged his shirt back down.
"Yeah but shouldn't you see a nurse or something?" Sam asked.
"You only want to see the nurse because she's hot." Kurt snapped, but secretly wondered if seeing a medical professional wasn't a bad idea. This was happening to all the Glee kids; this was something to be worried about. Kurt no longer had any graffiti on his skin, but still, maybe he should go see the nurse. He rolled up his yoga mat and marched out of the gym, screw Sue's stupid exercise rules.
Kurt made his way down the corridor when something hit him in the back.
"Hey looser!" Karofski. "Looks like you're finally dressing like a lady too."
"These are yoga pants, they're unisex!" Kurt screamed, hoping that if he was loud enough someone would hear him and come to the rescue. But Karofski punched Kurt in the chest, winding him. that was when Kurt saw something on Karofski's knuckles.
"Why do you have my name on your hand." Kurt demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about, fag!" Karofski clenched his knuckles. Kurt watched as the letters began to fade. "See, nothing!"
"Kurt!" Blaine's voice sounded and Kurt jumped like a deer in the headlights. "Hey, asshole, get away from him!" Blaine raced down the corridors.
"I've got better things to do anyway, later fag." Karofski slunk away. Blaine peeled Kurt from the lockers and guided him forward. Kurt was catching his breath and rubbing his bruised chest.
"You should have told me the bullying was this bad." Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt.
"I can handle it."
"Kurt."
"I said I can handle it." Kurt did his best to compose himself.
"Which way is the Glee room?"
"That way." Kurt pointed. Blaine took his hand. "Still have to write your name on your hand to remind yourself to meet me?" Kurt scoffed, holding back tears.
"Oh… yeah." Blaine coughed, Kurt licked his thumb and rubbed the lettering on the back of Blaine's hand. it wasn't budging. "Strong ink." Blaine coughed an excuse.
"It's fading." Kurt insisted, but noted the ink just seemed to disappear, there was not a smudge on this thumb. It was as if it was fading on its own accord. Blaine let out a sigh. Kurt looked at him strangely.
"There's been a few strange markings showing up on people lately." He said as they walked into Gee practice, "I wonder what could be causing it." But before either of them had time to ponder Rachel was barring their movements.
"Oh no! the Warbler does not come in here."
"Rachel, why do you have Quinn's name on your cheek?" Blaine asked. In big bold ink it was right there. Rachel had clearly tried to hide it with concealer, but nothing was strong enough to hide that.
"Rachel remind me give you the name of a conceal brand that will work a heck of a lot better than what ever you used." Kurt ignored Rachel's outburst completely, tugged Blaine by the hand and took a seat.
"Why do you have Quinn's name on you?" Tina asked, sitting at the back of the class. Rachel, front and centre of room. She stammered and fumbled a little under the pressure. Rachel never fumbled under pressure.
"The cheerleader's cruel idea of a joke." She said.
"No, if we were going to do something like that, we would write something better." Santana interrupted.
"Whoa, we got a Warbler here!" Sam skipped into the room followed by Finn and Artie. "Kurt, this your boyfriend?"
"I told you before, we're just friends!" Kurt rolled his eyes. Sam bound up to the new kid and wrapped him up in some sort of handshake hug.
"I'm Blaine. And Kurt is right, where're just friends." Blaine smiled at Kurt and Kurt forced a disappointed smile back. Sam gave Blaine a knowing wink.
"Awesome. So, Rachel, when's the next Glee party?" Sam asked, taking a seat next to Blaine and manspreading so their knees touched.
"Party?"
"Yeah, Sue is banning parties so we have to have one before her stupid idea becomes law." Finn said, trying to focus on his words and not the fact that Rachel had somebody else's name written on her face. He couldn't stop staring at her, his little brain working twice as hard as usual.
"Doesn't anyone care that these names are appearing on our skin?" Kurt pointed out the elephant in the room. "Anyone? No? not at all? Not even a question as to why or how?" Kurt waited for an answer. The Glee kids were either a mix of complete cluelessness or adverting their gaze as if they had figured something out but not wanting to share the information. Tina opened her mouth, then closed it again. Santana looked like Sherlock on the brink of discovery. Brittany was poking the side of Rachel's face. Rachel was batting her away. Quinn sat there, crossing her legs and tapping her food, waiting for Rachel's explanation. Mercedes just looked annoyed that they were diverging from the lesson. Where the hell was Mr Shue anyway?
"No? no one cares?" Kurt asked, disappointed.
"Kurt sit your ass down." Santana sighed, she looked between Rachel and Finn then back again, then revelation happened. "Finn, lift up your shirt." She said.
"What? No!"
"Why not?"
"Why me?"
"I've got a theory, you're the man to prove it."
"Nah, ah."
"Why? Whacha got to hide boy?" Mercedes chimed in. Finn looked like he was about to be marched upon by an angry mob. The only one that was marching upon him was Santana. Santana flipped up enough of Finn's shirt to reveal Quinn's name.
"Finn!" Rachel gasped. "How could you!" Rachel marched up and slapped Finn across the face. "Another girl's name on you!"
"What!" Finn cried. "I didn't put it there." but Rachel wasn't listening. "I thought you loved me."
"I do babe. I don't know why it's there. I swear, I've got one of you, it's right here… Oh." Finn lifted his shirt, there was nothing on his ribs. "Rachel, I swear."
"Quinn, slap Rachel." Kurt demanded, his mind racing just as fast as Santana's.
"Don't have to tell me twice." Quinn leapt up and slapped Rachel across the face. Quinn's name began to fade.
"Works better than concealer." Kurt muttered to Blaine. As they watched Quinn and Rachel chase an attacked Finn out of the room.
"Does Glee club always go like this?" Blaine asked Kurt.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Hey, how did know the slap would work?"
"Oh um, I didn't." Kurt lied. "Just wanted to see it happen."
"Right." Blaine smirked, not at all convinced.
Let me know what pairings you want to see, open for suggestions. (I'm feelin' a few pairs in this Fanfic)