A/N Apparently I'm an evil, evil woman for making you wait 19 chapters for Blaine and Kurt to be in the same place at the same time. I hope it's worth the wait.
Next up, more Niff and Trent has a secret!
Thanks to theMuse19 for pointing out errors in the end of chapter 13. Apparently some of Nick / Jeff / Blaine's text messages were out of order. If it didn't make sense the first time, it should now.
Thank you for reading and making my little story here part of your day. I appreciate it. Special thanks to those who reviewed and sent me messages. It's the highlight of my day!
I don't think there's anything to warn you about in this chapter...it's pretty much sweetness. :)
Glee tonight!
CHAPTER 19
Apparently Blaine should have gotten more food. And more beer. And more everything. Cooper had invited, obviously, everyone he knew and the apartment was filled with people. Blaine was meeting all kinds of people he'd never seen and hoped that at least Cooper knew who they were.
Coop had made a beer/booze run, and Blaine ordered pizza and wings to be delivered. Tonight was costing him a pretty penny, but it was well worth it. His old friends were here, and his home was filled with new friends and that was all he needed tonight.
His phone buzzed with a text from Coop telling him he was downstairs with a cab and needed help with getting everything upstairs to the apartment. Blaine took off out the door to help and nearly knocked over a bottle of something sitting outside his door. Making a note to check it out when he got back, he continued downstairs to help Cooper unload, with Trent on his heels.
"Man, did you clean out the store, or what?" Blaine laughed.
"Almost! The clerk was actually giving me dirty looks! Does it really matter how much I buy as long as it's sold to somebody? Seriously?" he laughed. The boys carried everything upstairs and met the pizza delivery guy in the hallway on the way back down the stairs for trip #2. Blaine paid the guy, tipping him generously, and took the food back into the apartment where he was immediately pounced upon by Jeff who grabbed pizza boxes and started looking for the one with mushrooms. "Foooooodddd!" he yelled out, and suddenly everyone's attention was on him. Blaine laughed, but then remembered the bottle outside.
Opening the door, he stuck his head out and grabbed the bottle, which had a little note attached to it. It read:
Mr. Anderson,
Thank you for the invitation to your gathering this evening. I wish I could attend, however, I'm not good with crowds right now, and it seems you have plenty of people to keep you busy
. I look forward to meeting you in person soon. Enjoy yourselves, and don't give a second thought to the noise!
Yours,
Kurt Hummel
"Well, that was certainly thoughtful of him…." Blaine mused outloud. He made a mental note to stop by that weekend and thank him for the bottle of…holy shit….seriously? He held in his hand a bottle of Evan Williams 23 year old Bourbon.
"Coop! Check this out!" he yelled over the crowd, spotting his brother in the kitchen. "They guy next door sends his regrets….apparently he doesn't do well with crowds, but he sent a 'thank you for inviting me' present and left it outside the door! You're gonna die…."
"Oh my fucking god!" Cooper shrieked. "That stuff's $350 a bottle, man!"
"I know, right? Do you think he meant to send THIS bottle over or should I take it back to him?"
"Well, let's see if we should take it back or not…." Jeff said, whipping it out of Blaine's hands. He quickly took off with the bottle and managed to open the top while Blaine chased him through the apartment, vaulting over furniture and people, like a little kid trying to get his toy back. Jeff took a giant swig straight out of the bottle and handed it back to Blaine. His eyes nearly shot fire.
"Huuuggggghhhhhhhnnnnngggggg!" he breathed out, his eyes bugging out of his skull. "Holy….mother…..strong…..oh God….." Jeff coughed out, sounding like a 95 year old lifetime smoker. Tears were in his eyes and he looked like he wasn't breathing.
Blaine and Coop laughed uproariously and shared a smaller, more manageable swig themselves.
"Damn, that's some good stuff….." Coop said, walking away with the bottle.
"Uh uh uh, bring it back! Share, you miserable shit!" Blaine yelled, hunting down the bottle once again.
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"You're out of ice, dude, and everything close by is closed!" Trent said, sadly.
"How is that possible? I bought 3 bags of ice tonight! What happened to it?" Blaine said, confused.
"Um….well…..er…see….when Coop went on the beer run, we um…sort of…..dumped a pretty big bunch of it on him out the window….and…" Jeff said, feeling sheepish now.
"What?! You guys!" Blaine couldn't help but laugh.
"What time is it, anyway?"
"Almost 11….."
"I wonder if Mr. Hummel would let me borrow some ice? I'll see if I hear him moving around. I don't want to wake him if he was able to sleep with all this craziness going on."
Blaine made his way out into the hallway and down to Kurt Hummel's door. He listened for a minute, hearing the tv on, so he gave a tentative knock. The door was opened by a woman covered in green gunk all over her face, and she had huge rollers in her hair.
"Can I help you?" she asked prettily, recognizing the super hottie from the other day in the hallway when the furniture had arrived…and he looked like someone….someone she'd seen before, but….more recently?
"Uh…yeah…um….I live next door, and I was hoping maybe I could borrow some ice. It seems we ran out….well, we wouldn't have, but the idiots dumped it on Cooper, and….anyway….would you be able to spare any?" Blaine asked.
"I'm sure we can. Kurt took some stuff upstairs to storage, let me go look. Be right back!" she said, leaving him standing at the door. He was pretty sure she had totally forgotten about the green mask on her face, or else she was completely comfortable meeting strangers looking that way. Either way, he snickered before she returned to the door, thinking of the look on her face when she realized that her green mask was there all along. He heard her opening the freezer in the kitchen and shifted his feet in the hallway. Something was weird...he felt almost as if the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end.
"We have plenty!" the woman yelled from what he assumed was the kitchen. "Let me just find a big bag or something to put it in…be right there!"
"Ok, thanks!" Blaine yelled back. He began humming the notes to the song he was working on when suddenly it dawned on him. He was humming along to his own song, which sounded like it was being played by someone….upstairs…..on a piano?
"Here you go!" green faced girl said, cheerily.
"Oh! Ok, thank you…a lot, Mrs. Hummel. Really, I appreciate it. Where did you say Mr. Hummel was?"
"Kurt…he took some stuff upstairs to storage. Change in the weather and all that….switching clothes out of the closet. Wait...what? NO! Kurt's not my...I'm not...we're not married, just friends!" she sputtered out with a giggle. "He'd die if he ever heard you say that!" she laughed. I'm Rachel, by the way. It's nice to meet you...?" she left the sentence open, waiting for his name. He hesitated, still uneasy about something. He felt anxious. Why?
"Oh...Oh, I'm Blaine. I live next door...you know...the party and all that. Thank you for the ice, Rachel. And please tell Kurt I said thank you as well." Blaine set off down the hall toward the open door to the third floor. He heard the apartment door click closed behind him and then a raucous laughter from downstairs as the front door to the building opened and Finn, Joe and Allyse sprinted up the stairs.
"Dude! Glad you're still awake!" Finn said, slapping him on the back.
"Finn, it's like 11:15 man!" Blaine laughed. Finn looked confused.
"Oh…oh yea!" He snickered to himself. "I'm not used to getting off work until 2:30! My timing is off…"
"Everyone's inside, I had to borrow ice from the guy next door...or technically, his friend who is covered in green gunk all over her face. The idiots dumped my ice on my brother Cooper out the window!" They all laughed at this and headed toward Blaine's apartment. Blaine heard the music again when he passed the slightly open door. Yes, this was the source of his anxiety. What in the world?
"Allyse, will you take this inside? I need to check on something upstairs real quick….I'll be right back." Blaine asked, handing Allyse the ice.
"Sure thing…don't be long!" she sang out, opening the door to his apartment. The noise from his apartment grew louder when the door opened, but he supposed this was to be expected.
Quietly, Blaine opened the door and crept slowly up the stairs listening to the strains of music coming from the third floor. It was his song alright, but the piano music was just a little bit off. Whoever was playing knew what he was doing, but the piano sounded hopelessly out of tune. He continued up the stairs, slowly, making his way in the dimly lit stairwell. Didn't they have a light switch up here somewhere?
At the top of the stairs he saw a large, sprawling room full of, what could only be described as, "stuff". Old dress manequins, a huge grandfather clock, boxes and crates of every shape and size, an old table and chairs, sofas that looked like the 1970's had given them their best years. Clearly it was dusty and not 'lived in', obviously only used for storage, but the space itself was vast. There were good sized windows on either end of the enormous room, and the moonlight was filtering in one of them, shining down on the grand piano in the center of the room. It was half covered with a dusty looking tarp that had probably been white at some point, and it was flipped back to reveal the keys. He could see only the back of the man playing the piano as he was sitting on the piano bench. His fingers breezed across the keys lightly, delicately, with such grace that Blaine was momentarily awestruck. And he was playing HIS song; certainly not perfectly, as he had no sheet music, but it was damn close, and it was impressive. He took another step up the stairs to the landing and it made a horrible squeak. The man turned, obviously startled, and gave a little gasp.
"Oh, my goodness….I'm sorry, I hope I wasn't playing too loudly! It's just that the man downstairs is having guests over and I assumed nobody would hear me…." He rambled. As he continued to turn, the moonlight lit his features and Blaine had to grab onto the bannister to keep himself from falling face first onto the floor. His eyes were so wide they almost hurt and he couldn't seem to blink. He felt almost like the time Cooper had shoved him out of their treehouse and he'd had the air knocked out of him. Taking another step, he fell into the very outter glow of the moonlight that was illuminating the piano and the man playing it.
Kurt's jaw went slack and he just stared, unable to say a word. He felt as if he'd been punched in the gut and had the breath knocked out of him in a whoosh. A shiver racked his whole body. Time briefly stood still and neither man said a word, they just stared, wide eyed. Blaine's heart was racing and for a short minute he actually thought he might pass out. Kurt was barely able to keep himself upright on the piano bench.
"You….it's…it's you….." was all Blaine could mutter.
"You're …here? But…..." Kurt breathed out, slowly.
They stood there, staring at each other, for what seemed like an eternity. Kurt wasn't sure what to say or do, so he stood up, but quickly sat back down on the piano bench and just stared. He was well aware that his legs may not hold him up right this minute.
Blaine was afraid to move, thinking that surely this was a dream…or he'd imbibed too much expensive bourbon…and if he blinked his Muse would be gone. That was unacceptable.
Kurt took in a shaky breath and was the first to speak again.
"Hi…um…I'm…..um…."
"Kurt?" Blaine supplied.
"Uh huh….yes….." air whooshing out of his lungs again.
"And you are?" Kurt asked, breathlessly.
"Blaine…downstairs….the party." Was all he could manage to get out. Neither was able to move. They stayed there, staring, until the smallest hint of a smile came across Blaine's face, triggering the same effect on Kurt. Finally Blaine walked forward toward the piano.
"You play…..you were playing my song." Blaine breathed out.
"Your song? Oh, no, it's the guy that lives in the apartment….OH MY GOD….." Kurt's eyes went large again, the reality dawning on him. "How…all along….?" He said, shaking his head in disbelief. "YOU live here…..you're Anderson or Smythe?" Blaine just chucked at him and nodded. "I'm Anderson."
"May I?" Blaine said, motioning toward the piano.
"Oh! Yes, absolutely…." Kurt leapt up from the bench, knees still shaky.
"No, please…..um….would you play it... with me?" Blaine was able to ask.
Kurt settled back in, eyeing the distance between them, as if Blaine would disappear if he touched him. Blaine began to play, and Kurt waited a beat or so and then joined him. The sound couldn't have been more perfect. It was as if they'd been playing together all along, and Kurt found himself, once again, awestruck, as Blaine began to sing the words to the song. His vioce...God, his voice was like velvet...so smooth,
Kurt's eyes filled with unshed tears, but he kept on playing, content to be sitting next to this beautiful, talented man. When the song reached the point where Blaine generally stopped playing, Kurt shot him a nervous glance and, after a split second pause, continued to play the notes he'd been hearing in his head for weeks. Blaine closed his eyes, hearing the beautiful melody for the first time, and his heart soared. This was it! Kurt was playing his song…the WHOLE song. And it was as stunning as the man sitting next to him.
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Rachel went back to the sofa and sat down, waiting for Kurt. She didn't want to start the movie until he'd come back downstairs, so she began looking around and tidying up their facial supplies. He'd made a huge mess of his living room, leaving his art supplies everywhere. He'd obviously tried to quickly get them out of the way by shoving them all into the corner with his easel, but it was quite unlike him to leave stuff out. She walked over to the sketch pad on the easel and started flipping through the pages. This one was fairly new, as there were only a handful of drawings in it. He must be working on new fashion sketches for David…..
And then she saw it. The intricate drawing of the curly haired guy that seemed to pop up on all of Kurt's formerly faceless sketches. He was cute alright…even downright adorable. Those honey colored eyes would draw anyone in, especially with the almost triangular shaped eyebrows. Oddly, she though, he looked an awful lot like the guy next door…..eerily similar, even. She giggled, thinking that Kurt had obviously, finally, seen the hottie next door and decided to draw him. She'd have to harrass him about that when he came down. Then she saw the small letters at the bottom, where Kurt would generally sign his name. It said, simply, "Adonis". Rachel smiled a little grin before the reality of what she'd just found hit her.
"Oh my goodness…oh…..my….KURT! Oh my God, Kurt!" she yelled, tearing out of the apartment to go find Kurt upstairs. Entering the hallway, she nearly slammed into a blonde haired man that clearly had come out of the open door at the other apartment where the party was going on. He gave her an odd look and raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side slightly. It was only then that she realized that she still had the green gunk on her face.
"Oh my God….I know…..holy crap, I look a mess, don't EVEN say a word about my face, but I have to find Kurt and tell him I've found Adonis! Scoot!" she blurted, shoving past him.
Jeff just stood there for a minute, dumbstruck, before turning to follow her a few steps down the hall to the open doorway and head up the steps behind her. Blaine had to be somewhere around here. Maybe he'd tracked down the bourbon guy to thank him for the bottle?
"Shhhhhhhh! Listen…." Jeff whispered as they slowed down and then crept up the stairs softly and quietly.
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When the music ended and the lyrics were long finished, Blaine turned to look at Kurt, who sat stock still, staring at him with the unshed tears still in his eyes.
"It's the most amazingly beautiful song I've ever heard….." Kurt whispered.
"I wrote it….." Blaine began.
"I know, I figured that out when you wouldn't finish the last part…"
"No, I wrote it….for …..for you." Blaine said, with a hitch in his voice, sort of embarrassed to admit it.
"For me?!"
"For you….about you….about….us. Kurt, those were the most precious 60 seconds of my adult life, seeing you outside that window. I can only speak for myself, but I felt as if a bolt of lightning had shot through my body. I was half numb all day and felt like my skin was humming!" Blaine admitted. Suddenly it hit him how crazy this might sound to Kurt.
"I mean…..it's just…..um…." Blaine stammered.
"Blaine…thank you. I'm so touched, I'm …." Kurt took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Suddenly the tears that had been waiting so patiently ran forth and soaked his cheeks. His voice hiccupped and he let out a shaky laugh.
"God you must think I'm nuts…" Kurt laughed.
"You?! I just blurted out all that stuff and…..you…..you're still here. You haven't run away screaming." Blaine laughed. "Why?"
"I don't want to go….if it means leaving you again…..um…yeah…" Kurt stammered, embarrassed.
"You must think I'm unable to actually converse. I'm usually a bit more eloquent in the company of a handsome stranger, but Kurt, you …."
"You take my breath away." Kurt sighed, his eyes never leaving Blaine's face.
"Yeah…pretty much. I'd have to agree with that." Blaine laughed. "You're just….stunning." he said, raising his hand to Kurt's cheek, softly running his fingers down the side of Kurt's soft skin. Kurt stiffened just a bit, but to anyone else it would have gone unnoticed. "Is that too much? I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, but…..I'm terrified that if I even blink one too many times you'll disappear and I won't get to sit here with you. I know, that sounds creepy, probably, right? But Kurt, you….I haven't been able to get you out of my head all these weeks."
"I understand, believe me. Believe me, I do." Kurt said softly, shaking his head and closing his eyes.
Blaine glanced down to see Kurt's hand resting on the bench between them, and he looked at Kurt with a question in his eyes.
"May I?" he said, reaching over to cover Kurt's hand.
"Yeah….yeah, I'd be ok with that" Kurt smiled, but then realized what he'd just agreed to without even a hint of anxiety. It was amazing, really, the feel of Blaine's hand on his; warm, soft, with calloused fingertips from playing guitar probably. And there it was...the soft humming...the buzzing. Kurt felt it all the way into his bones. He took a deep breath and smiled at Blaine, not wanting to break the eye contact ever again.
"Is it just me? Do you feel it, too, Kurt?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah...yeah, I just thought it was my heart giving me a warning before it exploded out of my chest or something" Kurt giggled.
This is how Rachel and Jeff found them, while standing at the top of the attic stairs, having both entered the hall at the same time, each searching for their friends.
"He's not freaking out…" Rachel whispered to Jeff.
"Who's not? Why would he freak out anyway?" he asked in return.
"Kurt, he's not even flinching while Adonis holds his hand…..I think I can't breathe!" she quietly squealed to Jeff.
"Still lost….who's Adonis?... and this 'Kurt' would flinch…why?"
"Kurt….he's sitting there, at the piano, holding his hand. HOLDING HIS HAND! I never thought I'd see that happen so easily again. And Adonis…you know….that guy! Kurt's 'Adonis' from the coffee shop!" she whispered. The two men at the piano were still blissfully unaware of their friends at the top of the stairs due to the darkness and shadows.
"Wait….what? I'm still confused here. That's Blaine, my best friend. Who's Adonis?"
"Ugh! Follow along here!" Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "Kurt saw that guy in the coffee shop weeks ago and he's been unable to draw anything but him on all of his sketches. He's been hopelessly obsessed over this guy, because he's "the one that got away" and he thought he'd never see him again!"
"Wait, whoa! Coffee shop? Is HE the Muse? Blaine's MUSE?" Jeff whispered, ecstatic with this find. "You can't be serious! Where'd he come from?"
"Kurt lives downstairs, in the apartment at the end of the hallway…"
"Blaine's throwing the party! Oh my GOD, this is RICH! Wait til I tell Cooper…" he squealed quietly, hightailing it back down the stairs as softly as he was able to.
In a split second he returned with Cooper and Trent, tiptoeing their way up the steps to Rachel, who was still standing there, stock still, with tears running down her cheeks through the green gunk. They all stood there staring until Jeff finally broke the silence.
"I'm dyin' here. I have to know what they're saying and I can't hear a thing! This blows!" he complained.
"I know, I'm with you there" Rachel responded "But we have to let them have their privacy. They've waited too long to find each other!"
As they all turned to tiptoe back down the stairs, Blaine suddenly said "Oh NOW you're going? By all means, join us you eavesdroppers!" Grinning, they all hurried up the steps and swarmed the piano.
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"Kurt, can I convince you to come over to the party for a little while? I don't want to…to leave you…up here, or anywhere, actually…." Blaine said, blushing. They were alone again, still at the piano bench, and Blaine still had not let go of Kurt's beautifully soft hand.
Kurt dropped his eyes and grinned. "Not sure I'm comfortable with all of those people, Blaine….I'm really bad with ..um….people….these days. Maybe when some of them leave?"
"Deal" Blaine smiled, and it nearly lit up the whole room. "I'll walk you downstairs, though, if that's ok?"
"I'm fairly certain I can make it to my door, but ok" Kurt teased him.
"I'll, um….I'll call you when people start to leave, which will be soon, because I plan on telling them the party is over so you'll come hang out with me!" Blaine laughed. Kurt blushed crimson and shook his head, eyeing the floor. "I just….I just want to talk to you for a while….if that's ok with you?" Blaine grinned.
"Perfectly ok…" Kurt began outside his door, before remember Rachel was over. "Oh…wait…I have…um…company…."
From the other side of Kurt's door he heard "No you don't, Rachel is asleep, or she will be…or pretend to be so you can hang out with Adonis!" Rachel snickered at herself and scurried away from the door and Kurt rolled his eyes at her.
"Adonis, huh?" Blaine asked, grinning wildly.
"Oh holy shit….RACHEL!" Kurt yelled, storming in the door, 6 shades of red.
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By 12:30 am everyone was heading out to a club downtown. Blaine was secretly thrilled that they were all going, even though he'd had an awesome night meeting everyone and hanging out. Still, he wanted Kurt to come over, and for whatever reason, he wouldn't come over with other people around.
"You going?" Jeff asked, pointing to the door.
"Hmmmm?" Blaine said, lost in thought. "Um….I hadn't planned on…um…."
Jeff grinned at him, and winked, elbowing Trent, who was smiling at Blaine as well. "Let's go with Coop and leave this guy here to clean up the mess, huh?" Trent grinned and shook his head yes, unable to find too many words to say.
"You're oddly without snark tonight, Trent. What gives?" Blaine teased him. Trent just shrugged and grinned at him.
"Blaine, if you could see 'you' right now, you'd get it. We've been friends for a long time, man, and I can't recall ever seeing your face like this. It's just….glowing. Your smile is almost off your face it's so huge. I can't snark on that….I just can't." he grinned.
Cooper stuck his head back inside the door and asked them if they were coming. Jeff hugged Blaine and so did Trent. "We'll hang with Coop…go get him, Tiger!" Jeff said, punching him in the arm playfully.
"Thanks guys…..you guys are…..you're just awesome. I owe you a trip to the club next time, ok?"
"Only if this time with Cooper blows!" Trent remarked.
"We do not mention 'Cooper' and 'blows' in the same sentence, gentlemen!" Coop yelled from the stairs. "Let's go!" he laughed.
They weren't even out the front door before Blaine was softly knocking on Kurt's door.
"Hey" Kurt smiled.
"Hey yourself…" Blaine smiled back, grabbing Kurt's hand. "I um….was gonna call you, but I didn't get your number, so I thought I'd just knock. Got a few minutes you can spare me?"
"Yeah….I think I can manage that"
Blaine led him down the hall to his open door, shutting it behind them and landing on the sofa in a "humph!", Kurt sitting neatly on the other end of the sofa, without the "humph!". Neither said a word, they just stared at each other, grinning like fools.