I haven't had the time to write lately, so here's another chapter of Never Saying Goodbye to You. This one is from modern time Kurt's point of view.
Chapter 4: Back into Time Again2016
The next day, Kurt went back. It was stronger than himself. He just HAD to know if Blaine would appear again.
At first, Kurt just stood there, stupidly staring at the former hotel, and nothing happened.
Then he thought, Please! Please bring me back to Blaine.
A strong wind enveloped him, and a moment later, he saw the hotel lit up again, with Blaine sitting on the front steps, reading a letter and frowning.
Kurt went up to him. "Hey."
Blaine nearly jumped a foot in the air, snatching the letter away and hiding it behind his back. Then, he saw it was Kurt, and his eyes went impossibly wider. "It's you!"
"Yes," Kurt simply said. "Somehow I managed to get back here. I still don't understand how this works. Anyway. Last time I came here, I danced with Lieselotte Hartz, so if your Kurt contacts you, you might want to tell him she likes him. Oh, and her uncle likes him too, and wants him to become a Ford car salesman."
Blaine gaped at Kurt. After a moment, he tentatively asked, "So, you're…"
"The 2016 version, yes," Kurt confirmed. "I liked your singing, yesterday. You have a lovely voice."
"Thank you," Blaine said softly. "So, you want me to tell Kurt what, exactly?"
Kurt went over it again, and Blaine nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Usually, Kurt comes every Saturday, with his family, but he hasn't come for the past two weeks, and today, he left a letter in my dressing room saying he's not sure he'll ever be back. His father suspects something dodgy, seeing as he always stays long after the rest of his family have gone home, and yet he never brings home a girl."
"Oh," Kurt said. "You could write to my great-grandfather? If he doesn't come back? Answer his letter and tell him about Lieselotte. She really liked me, and I don't think she'd be able to tell the difference between him and me, if you can't. If his father insists on him bringing home a girl, it could be Lieselotte. She's very easy-going and nice."
Blaine snorted. "You want me to tell Kurt he has a doppelgänger, who is courting Lieselotte for him?"
"Hey, he's the one who told you about the family curse and stuff," Kurt said. "I'm sure he's open-minded. And tell him about the car salesman job, too. I think it will do him good to get out from under his father's thumb."
A booming voice came from the hotel. "Anderson! Your break ended five minutes ago!"
"Drat!" Blaine got up, folded up his letter and put it in his chest pocket and hurried up the steps with a wave at Kurt.
Kurt hesitated, but then went up the steps and looked for Lieselotte in the ballroom. She spotted him faster than he did, and waved in his direction until he saw her. He smiled and crossed the room until he reached her table, greeting everyone with a "Good evening."
Lieselotte's mother smiled at Kurt, her uncle smirked and winked, and her father glowered.
"Kurt!" Lieselotte exclaimed happily. "You're back!"
Kurt grinned at her. "I'm back. I can't stay long, but I'd love to dance with you again."
Lieselotte beamed and took his hand to tug him to the dancefloor. Kurt's eyes met Blaine's, and Blaine sent him a smile, which gave Kurt such a burst of happy energy that he couldn't help but grin and then twirl Lieselotte around enthusiastically.
True to his promise, Kurt didn't stay long. After two songs, he took Lieselotte back to her table, wished everyone a pleasant evening and left.
As a strong wind enveloped him once again and he found himself back in 2016 staring at cracked windows and paint peeling off, he found himself wondering what the other Kurt would do. Would he choose Blaine and run off with him? Or would he marry Lieselotte and live unhappily ever after?
Well, seeing as he was here, nearly a hundred years later, his great-grandfather must have married Lieselotte. Had he continued to see Blaine on the side?
And what in the world made him time-travel and meet Blaine? Why had that happened? What was his purpose there?
His phone buzzed twice in quick succession, and he saw that it was Mercedes, asking him why he hadn't turned up to see her perform. "What's your excuse this time?"
Kurt bit his lip. He had no excuse. He'd just plain forgotten, eager as he'd been to see Blaine again.
But hey, now he'd done his duty, right? Now his great-grandfather would know what to do, and he could wash his hands of the whole affair. No need for him to ever go back.
That thought sent a sharp pang through his chest, but he told himself not to be silly. Better think of what you're going to tell Mercedes.
K&B
After a night of tossing and turning, Kurt still had no idea how to explain things to Mercedes. Would she believe him if he told her the truth? Or would she just get even more angry?
He also couldn't stop thinking about Blaine. Blaine, who had the smoothest voice he'd ever heard. Blaine, who was gorgeous and sweet and drew him in without even trying.
A snide voice in his head mocked, Yeah, sure, 'cause crushing on a guy who's a century older than you is so much better than the crushes on straight guys you keep having. Blaine is in love with your great-grandfather, not with you.
Kurt sighed. Better not go back anymore, right?
But though he'd resolved to go see Mercedes perform that evening, his feet seemed to have a will of their own, and before he knew it, he was on the sidewalk in front of the former hotel again, pacing and picturing Blaine and wishing with all his might that he could go back to 1925 once more.
He didn't realise his wish had been granted until he felt a hand on his arm.
"Kurt? Are you all right?"
"Blaine!"
It came out breathier than Kurt would have liked, so he hastened to ask Blaine if he'd relayed his message to his great-grandfather.
Blaine's eyebrows went up.
Really, Blaine? You still can't tell us apart?
Apparently, he had told the other Kurt, though. He seemed sad about it.
"Has he arrived yet?"
Blaine shook his head.
"Oh good. I'm going to dance with Lieselotte for a bit, then."
Might as well make myself useful while I'm here.
As the night before, he danced with the girl for two songs, and then brought her back to her family, easily slipping into a conversation about cars with Mr Hartz.
He thanked his lucky stars that his father was nuts about classic cars, the older the better, and regularly fixed them up for rich collectors. He remembered a 1923 Ford T Runabout they had worked on together, while Burt waxed lyrical about the sweet curves of the car, and its carburettor – "look at it, Kurt! Such good quality" – and told Kurt that the hood was jamming and failing because it hadn't been opened and closed regularly. "You need to do that at least once a month to keep the mechanisms working properly, remember that."
After half an hour or so, he politely excused himself and took his leave.
"I'll be back," he promised Lieselotte, who beamed at him.
It won't be me, but I doubt you'll notice the difference.
He walked out of the hotel and shivered when the wind took him back to 2016. Walking briskly, he managed to reach the venue where Mercedes worked just in time to hear the last song and the encore.
Mercedes raised an eyebrow when she noticed him, and after bowing gracefully to the crowd, she gestured for Kurt to follow her to her dressing room.
A burly bodyguard stepped in front of Kurt when he reached the backstage area, though.
"Tank, it's okay," Mercedes said. "Kurt is a friend of mine."
"No gentlemen callers allowed in the dressing room, Miss Jones," Tank reminded her.
"Ugh, okay then. Kurt, let's meet for brunch tomorrow, at Sadelle's. Ten o'clock?"
Kurt nodded. "I'll be there."
"You better be. And you better have a good explanation. Don't think I didn't see you sneak in when my set was almost finished!"
Mercedes threw him a glare and then stomped to her dressing room.
Kurt sighed. Whatever will I tell her?
K&B
"So why have you blown me off for three nights in a row?"
Mercedes was piling Danish pastries onto her plate with more vim than that action called for. She sounded belligerent, and no wonder. He'd promised to go see her perform, and he kept bailing on her to go see Blaine, who didn't care about him anyway.
Kurt kept his eyes down and went on filling his plate with more eggs and bacon, planning to come back for some smoked salmon and avocado. Brunch was excellent here.
"Did you meet someone and are you too busy having steamy sex? 'Cause I'm telling you, you better have a good reason!"
"Uhm…"
Mercedes gasped. "You have! You totally have! Okay, you're telling me ALL about it!"
She steered him away from the buffet and back to their table.
"Spill."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm going to eat these eggs while they're warm. Talking can wait."
He took as long as he dared with the eggs, but when he got up to help himself to seconds, Mercedes tugged him back down.
"Oh, nuh-uh. You put your sweet ass back in your seat and tell me what's going on."
Kurt took one look at her face and knew it was no use arguing.
"Fine. But I'm telling you straight off the bat, you're not going to believe me."
Mercedes just glared at him. "Spill."
So Kurt told her the whole story, and by the end of it, Mercedes looked at him as though he'd just grown an extra head.
"Are you messing with me now? 'Cause I'm telling you, if you are, I'm going to rip you a new one!"
Kurt sighed. "No, 'Cedes. I swear I'm not. I really don't understand what's happening, and why I'm time-travelling. I guess it has to do with the family curse. I've never really believed in that. Not when my mom died. Not when I was bullied until I almost broke. Not when NYADA rejected me. And not when my dad died. Life just sucks. That's the way it is. Seems kind of childish to blame it on a curse. Better deal with it head on and make the best of the situation. But now… This… This is harder to explain away. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Why I keep going there."
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "You keep going 'cause you're totally into that Blaine guy, of course. You should see yourself when you're talking about him. And you've seen him, what? Three times, for five minutes tops? You've got it bad, boo."
Kurt sank further into his chair and put his hands over his eyes.
He felt a hand on his arm. "Aww, don't be embarrassed, boo. I've been there for all of your crushes, and this isn't the worst by a long shot. At least the guy is actually gay. I call that progress."
Kurt glared at his friend, who giggled.
"He's gay, yes, but he's in love with my great-grandfather, not me, and he died before I was born. I should never have met him, and I only did because I'm some… freak of nature, who can go a century back into time."
Mercedes' eyes lost the glimmer of laughter. "You're not a freak, boo. And everything happens for a reason."
"But I helped him get a girl and a job, so my work there is done now, isn't it?"
Mercedes cocked her head to the side. "I don't think it is. As long as you're still feeling that pull to go back, you're still needed there. I don't know what for. But I don't think it's over."