Next Ten Minutes

9/22/2021

Summary: How 10 minutes could change everything. Blaine, Kurt and Sebastian learn this the hard way, time and time again.

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AN: TMYLM is shaping up to be a pretty long story at this point. I want to write a relatively short one in comparison. Hence this one! Also, I'm going to be pretty heavy handed with the motif, sorry, but it's the whole point, lol. The chapters are all short bursts of moments in time but they do follow a path. Because they're short there might be a lot of them.

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Chapter 1

Met Me at the Perfect Time

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Kurt's hand reached out and grasped the shoulder of a boy making his way down the stairs. He looked friendly enough, not overly large, not a reminder of the jocks at McKinley. As the boy turned, Kurt was hit how unfairly handsome this boy was.

It took Kurt a long moment to stumble over his words as the boy looked at him expectantly and patiently, with a bit of amusement too. "Can you help me? I'm a bit lost."

"Sure. What are you looking for?" The white smile was so incredibly charming, not a hair was out of place.

"The... Warblers." Kurt admitted, embarrassed that he was spying on the other team. He didn't know why he was here at all. He had just thrown himself into a den of lions, rich boys. There was no reason they wouldn't tear him to pieces in every way in their arsenal. They'd done it before, but the others hadn't cared, had found it a challenge to try and scare him and who he went with. This time he was alone. He was the most vulnerable he'd ever been.

The lips quirked up on one side in full-fledge amusement. "Yeah, I can help you with that." He grasped Kurt's hand and Kurt looked down at the larger hand wrapped around his. It was warm and comfortable. He'd never felt anything of the sort outside of his father's hand in his when he was younger and more recently as he sat at his father's bedside, his hand grasped in both of Kurt's. He needed both hands to encompass it.

This hand didn't feel overly large, just big and comforting. "Th-thanks." Kurt looked up into a pair of warm hazel eyes.

A body bumped into the boy Kurt had just met. "Out of the way, jeez Anderson, don't you know better than to block the path while on the staircase?" He snarked as he continued shouldering his way toward where the rest of the students were heading.

"Wh-what's going on?" Kurt asked as they started moving, 'Anderson' hadn't fought back.

"The Warblers, everyone stops what they're doing when the Warblers throw one of their impromptu performances." That smile was back and he was tugging him at a faster speed.

"They're popular here?" Kurt asked, breathless.

"Practically Rock Stars." He answered. "I've got a short cut." It may have been foolish to let this boy drag him away from the crowd but Kurt let him. They ended up on the other side of the crowd. He turned toward Kurt and smoothed out his blazer with those large warm hands and his smile was contagious. "Watch and learn, new kid." He winked and headed to the center of the boys. There was a bit of a conversation between them, almost like they were berating him for being late and then groaning at whatever he said from a couple of the boys.

Then their backs were on the crowd. The music started as a buzz, intoxicating and surrounding and Kurt was nearly drowned in the sound. Then the melody picked up and he recognized the song. It was unfair that they could do a Katy Perry song. He suggested something not necessarily female and he got shot down.

They turned in unison as they started in on the words, but no, it was only one male voice for the lyrics, and the rest joined in for the chorus and echo. Or they continued with the base sound and melody.

Kurt perched onto a desk and watched the lead boy sashay and flirt with the crowd. Then on a very specific line, he turned his attention onto Kurt and sang directly to him. If Kurt wasn't already hooked, he'd have bit the bait then and there.

A flash of a white smile and Kurt was a goner. He melted and the hearts in his eyes had to be obvious. The boy who'd knocked into the lead singer, the same boy who'd led him here, looked between Kurt and the lead and a scowl crossed his lips and it didn't disappear the entire time they sang.

Kurt glanced at the unhappy boy. Would he have reached for his attention had he not seen the lead? Would he have given him any attention or time back? Or would he have ignored him and left him to follow the crowd? Kurt would never know, if he had followed the crowd, he could have snuck in to watch them and then disappeared before anyone was wiser. He'd be able to report back to the rest without any of the Warblers recognizing his face.

Maybe he could still sneak out. Yet at the same time, he wanted to get to know the nice boy more. If nothing else, maybe be his friend? No, that was crazy talk, the boys at McKinley had proved to him all over again that no matter how friendly they got, they were never going to be his friend.

Kurt's attention went back to the lead, though the unhappy boy would be so much more attractive if he didn't have such a severe frown.

'Anderson' found Kurt after the performance before he could leave and invited him to coffee. Kurt thought maybe it was a friendly outing, and he agreed and his thoughts took a 180 when two other boys joined them. All of a sudden, Kurt was surrounded by them again, all in uniform, and he was flashing back to being surrounded by a different uniform.

His breathing was more difficult and he eyed them wearily. He watched as Blaine raised his hand and made a gesture and then the four of them sat in silence. It was only interrupted when a waitress brought them coffee, all black, and cream and sugar were added to the center of the table.

Kurt resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to drink any of it. He didn't put purely sugar in his coffee and added to the cream, was just a disaster waiting to happen. He was extra paranoid now about the Hummel diet now that his dad had a heart attack.

It wasn't a heart attack. His dad kept reminding him, and his voice sounded in Kurt's head then, but he tried to ignore it. His dad had been in a coma for a week. He hadn't ate well or exercised and had barely survived. Heart attacks were a family trait. Kurt was determined that he wouldn't follow suit and if he did, he would have better odds than his father.

He wouldn't put his loved ones through the uncertainty. He had it on both sides with his mother's cancer. He wouldn't put anything like that into his body except for on rare occasions. Chocolate would be his only exception and even then only in rare occasions, otherwise it was coffee and milk and that was it.

Honestly, he should probably stay away from caffeine and dairy too, but he just liked it too much. Maybe... maybe some day he'd learn how to live without it. Except right now, giving something else up just seemed like too much. He might be giving up more anyway with this confrontation. "It's awfully nice of you to invite me to coffee before you beat me up." His hands curled around his hot cup of coffee, wondering if he could hit all of them and make a safe escape.

They all looked amused. "We're not going to beat you up, that's not our style."

"Are you sure?" He asked the Asian boy who spoke, his glance at 'Anderson's' hands and then at the boy in question spoke for him, but he still put words with his concern. "A few bloody knuckles and broken skin makes me think that physical violence is not beyond you."

Anderson sat back and smirked. "I'm the head of the Dalton Fight Club. Were you thinking about joining that too?"

Kurt wasn't sure if he was joking or not. The darkest amongst them sighed and shook his head. "I'm David, this is Wesley and Blaine." He pointed to each in turn. "Blaine boxes, but only with inanimate objects. He got the cuts that you've so astutely pointed out from missing the bag and hitting the wall. I assure you, none of us are aggressive and are intending to hurt you. We just wanted to talk."

"Kurt." Kurt couldn't figure that out. "Why?"

"Because you made such a cute spy." Wesley said, leaning forward a little. "And a very obvious one."

"Uh... are you flirting with me?" Kurt leaned back a little, not used to it.

"Nah, those two both have girlfriends." Blaine cut in. Wow, he knew his full name, Blaine Anderson.

They shot him a surprised look but didn't correct him. Kurt was pretty sure they were all just trying to pull the wool over his eyes or were joking but since he didn't know the punchline or the history, the jokes were falling flat. He just felt a little misled instead.

Blaine's next words only confused him further. "I'm gay though. Which is something I suspect you can relate to?" He put the words out there as if expecting Kurt to deny it.

Instead his shoulders sagged as if he could no longer hold up the world. "Yeah."

David and Wesley looked at each other and then at Blaine. He nodded toward the back, a clear indicator that he wanted them to leave but not go too far. Wesley reached a hand out and rested it on Kurt's shoulder. "Hey, you're welcome here any time you want to talk. We'll let you and Blaine talk privately since he invited you out himself, and he's the first you met here. But we're also here if you need us." Wesley gave a soft smile. "And it's Wes, not Wesley."

Kurt nodded, touched. "Thank you."

Blaine was giving them eyes, strongly requesting they go away. Wes winked at Blaine before he and David headed to another table to continue drinking their coffee. They watched from a distance though, just in case.

Kurt glanced at them then back to Blaine. "I'm not the violent sort either. Maybe if I were, I wouldn't be bullied so much."

"Eh, you're not much taller than me and definitely no where near my broad shoulders." Blaine nudged him with a shoulder just to make a point. "You fighting back physically would just end up with you getting hurt."

"What did you do with your bullies? Go after their wallet or strike them down with your educated wit?"

Blaine busted out laughing at the images. "Oh, no, I didn't do anything with my bullies. I just went to a better school. It's not an option for everyone though. Some people can't afford to leave a bad situation and need to do something else. You should stand up to your bullies, look them in the eye and tell them that it's not ok, and if that fails, then tell them what you really think of them."

"That is a sure-fire way of getting my teeth knocked out." Kurt smiled to show that he hadn't any really anyway, not big ones at least. Blaine didn't know what to say to that, but Kurt gave a small laugh to show him that it was ok. He still didn't laugh.

"Yeah..." Blaine looked down at his coffee cup and started pealing apart the heat protection ring. He fiddled with it for a moment, before he spoke again but still didn't look up at Kurt. "We don't want that. All I can suggest then is to find courage within yourself, find a way to keep getting up when you get knocked down, and don't let it phase you."

"That gets harder every day." Kurt looked down at his own cup for a second but he wasn't used to looking down or away and raised his head and eyes to Blaine. "But you're right, in the end it's about who's got a stronger character, who can last and win against the odds. Perseverance is the most important thing to learn and keep learning. I've never been scared to be who I am and show it off too. I won't start now. I'm not going to conform to anyone else's ideas of what or how to be."

Blaine held out his hand. "Let me put my number in your phone, I can be your cheerleader whenever you need someone in your corner encouraging you, being your sounding board."

"Thank you." Kurt handed over his phone. "Sometimes it gets hard to keep fighting against the wave of people who attack every part of what you believe in or like because it doesn't match up to their desires or expectations. It'll be nice to have someone in my corner who is impartial." He got his phone back and looked at the contact. "But are you sure? You don't even know me. We met by chance, when I was spying."

"I am." Blaine agreed. "You may not know me yet, but everyone knows that I'm always there for anyone in need. It's kind of my thing."

"Like a superhero." Kurt breathed and Blaine gave a small shrug to hide the slight blush and pleased smile. He did think of himself as a superhero, with a civilian identity. Kurt's wrist buzzed and he glanced down at it and grimaced. "Better get going, dad's going to have another heart attack if I worry him. Bet the giant already revealed that I skipped out on the rest of the school day. With any luck I won't be grounded for life."

"See you around, Kurt." Blaine's warm hands cupped his before they stood up and Kurt left without too many backward glances toward the handsome boy. His coffee sat on the table, still hot, they'd only been there probably 10 minutes before he had to go. He got into his Navigator and headed home. Hopefully his dad wouldn't take his car away in retaliation for skipping out on class.

About a minute later, Sebastian came straight up to Blaine, who handed him the still warm coffee on the table, the one Kurt hadn't touched. "You just missed him by about 10 minutes." Blaine said as they headed toward the table where David and Wes were going over something in a pocket-sized brown notebook.

Sebastian's lips twisted but didn't say anything as they both sat down with the other Warblers.