Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?", Mercedes just asked Kurt who was staring at her absentmindedly.
"That's great", he muttered. "Good idea."
He, Mercedes and Tina were sitting at Mercedes' office, looking at the documents of those who wanted to apply for the job of Primavera's PR Manager. But obviously, Kurt was somewhere else with his thoughts.
Mercedes exchanged worried glances with her assistant.
"Are you okay, Kurt?", Tina asked worriedly. "You didn't listen to what we were saying in the past fifteen minutes."
Kurt sighed. "No, actually, I am not okay, if you want to know", he explained.
Curious, the two women leaned over in their seats and looked at him expectantly. "Just tell us what's wrong, white boy", Mercedes encouraged him. "You can tell us everything."
Could he?
What would they say if he told them that he fell in love with his own halfbrother? Probably declare him legally insane. That would be all he needed.
No, he needed to deal with that problem alone, it was nobody else's business anyway.
When Kurt was about to tell them exactly that, someone knocked on the door.
"Enter!", Mercedes shouted, and this someone opened the door.
Much to Kurt's disdain, it was Cooper.
"How can we help you, Mr. Anderson?", Tina asked politely.
"Please, call me Cooper", Cooper insisted, smiling charmingly at her. "After all, we are all equals, and you address each other informally as well." Tina looked like she would faint any moment. And Kurt wondered how that guy could be into guys. Because seriously, everything about him screamed straight, and as a gay guy, Kurt could tell who was gay and who wasn't.
Or so he thought.
"So Cooper", Mercedes said, smiling at him. "What brings you here?"
"Well, actually, I wondered whether I could start working at this hotel, as soon as possible", Cooper asked.
"You are planning to stay here for a longer time period?", Kurt blurted out. Tina and Mercedes who both already succumbed to his charms glared at him.
But Cooper just nodded. "Dylan wants to get to know his family, and I agree with him that this is a wonderful idea."
Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line, not thrilled about the prospect of spending more time with him and his boyfriend.
"And what are your qualifications if I may ask?", Mercedes asked him, folding her hands.
"Yes, you may", Cooper smiled, and Kurt rolled his eyes when he saw how the eyes of his friends were sparkling delightedly "I have a bachelor's degree in event management and marketing, I attended Columbia University before I decided I want to be an actor", he explained. "Of course, I can send you the documents and the diploma, I even have a PDF file you can look at right now." He retrieved his iPhone, unlocked it, Mercedes and Tina were all excited when they saw the proof.
"Looks good", Mercedes nodded while Tina typed his data into her MacBook. "You are one of the best qualified candidates for the job as the PR Manager so far, plus you are the boyfriend of our bosses' son. We will do some more background checks, but the prospect of getting this job are good for you."
Cooper beamed. "Thank you, Ms. Jones."
"Please, call me Mercedes", she almost purred.
Kurt rolled his eyes.
When he was gone, Kurt turned to his best friend, crossing his arms. "What was that?"
"Nepotism", Tina answered for her, still busy with typing in Cooper's CV. "He is your half-brother's boyfriend, Kurt, why are you so opposed to work with him in the future?"
"We can't just give him a job just because he is in a relationship with my half-brother", Kurt hissed.
"No, we want to give him the job because he has the skills we are looking for", Mercedes corrected him. "I mean, he went to Columbia, that's great, right? As the manager of this hotel, it's my job to make sure that we only employ the best of the best, right?"
Kurt just groaned, defeated. "When you're right, you are right."
"I know, white boy", Mercedes winked and consolingly patted his shoulder.
…
That evening, Blaine was seating in one of the pavilions of the Primavera, looking at the star-covered skyline with a glass of wine he was holding in his right hand.
Dylan had been left-handed, and thanks to the photos he had posted on Instagram, everyone knew about it. How shall he learn to write with his left hand as a right hander? Besides, Dylan could ride a horse, western style (Blaine had never sat on a horse in his entire life), play the violin (nope) and was fluent in Italian (which he wasn't) because of his mom being half Italian, and Burt knew that exactly.
Besides, Kurt was already skeptical as well.
Who would have thought that posing as his best friend would be so hard?
"May I join you?", another voice said coyly. Blaine looked up and saw none other than Kurt stand in front of him.
"Y…Yes, of course", Blaine stammered and motioned him to sit down next to him.
Kurt took a seat and crossed his legs.
"The view on the skyline is beautiful from here, right?", Blaine commented dreamily. "Sometimes, I look up and wonder whether my mom is sending me zodiac signs from up there, trying to communicate with me." That was the truth. He, Dylan and Cooper did it a lot of times when they lied on the terrace of their hotelrooms in Singapore.
"I did it as well", Kurt said quietly. "My mom died when I was seven. The first years after her death were terrible, and I asked myself whether I could ever move on without her in my life." He smiled faintly. "I imagined that she became one of the stars in the sky and that she was smiling down to me every night."
"That sounds nice", Blaine answered softly.
For a while, nobody said anything, instead, they were just looking up the sky.
"Sorry I have been so mean to you and your…boyfriend", Kurt broke the silence eventually.
Blaine waved it off. "It's okay. I should have told you about Cooper."
"Can I be bold?", Kurt said tentatively. When Blaine nodded, confused, he said: "It's just…what if he isn't the right one for you? When we…kissed back then at the lake, I didn't have the feeling that you regretted it. Maybe your relationship is…"
"Do you want to tell me I have been unfaithful because our relationship is falling to pieces?", Blaine said, suddenly angry for some reason. He crossed his arms. "I am in love with Cooper!"
Yuck.
"He saved my life! And You are wrong: I regret having cheated on him with my halfbrother of all people."
Kurt flinched as if he had been slapped. "Yes, just shout it from the rooftops so that the entire world finds out about it", he hissed. "That kiss…it will stay a secret between the two of us, okay? It can never happen again."
"Yes, I know", Blaine muttered. "If someone asks, we will just say it was some stranger we never have seen again." But that's not what I want!, his heart screamed. Come on, just tell Kurt the truth, and you can live your happily ever after.
And Blaine would have loved to do what his heart wants. But Cooper's health was more important. He needed to recover fully before he and Blaine would tell everyone the truth or/and leave the Primavera for good.
Frankly speaking, Blaine had no idea whether he could keep on lying to all those people who had welcomed him and his brother with open arms since the moment they met.
No, they deserved the truth, even if he would go to jail after having told them about it.
Finn was seating on the armchair at one of Primavera's bars, sipping on his Caipirinha and reading something on his iPad.
It was Friday night, and a lot of hotelguests were at the bar too, enjoying their cocktails and chatting with each other.
"May I?", someone asked Finn and he looked up. His face fell because it was Veronica.
Without waiting for his answer, she sat down on the armchair on his opposite. "It's been a long time since we talked, only the two of us."
"What can I bring you, Ms. Mitchell?", the waitress who just walked over, asked her politely.
"A Cosmopolitan, please. And one of those appetizers from the kitchen", Veronica ordered.
The waitress nodded obediently and left.
Once she was gone, Veronica turned to Finn again, smiling. "Where were we? Right, our relationship. We are cousins, we should spend more time together."
"Step cousins", Finn corrected her coldly. "We are not even blood related."
Veronica laughed. "Neither are you, Kurt and Uncle Burt."
"That's not the same!"
"Point is, we are something like family", Veronica said slowly. Interested, she leaned forward and looked at Finn. "What have you been doing lately?"
Even though he still looked skeptical, Finn said hesitantly: "I…I have been planning the wedding."
"Oh, I totally forgot that you and Rachel are going to marry soon!" Veronica looked impressed. "And what did you plan? Did you invite celebrities? Who? Bill Gates? Mark Zuckerberg? Jeff Bezos? How many guests did you plan to invite? Five hundred of your closest friends?"
Finn cocked his eyebrows. "We just want a small wedding with maximum forty to fifty people."
Veronica gasped. "Are you serious? You are the son of the most powerful CEO of America, and you just want to invite forty to fifty people? I have even seen bigger coffee parties than that!"
"Rachel and I, we don't want all the furor. We just want to marry, easy as that. The entire world doesn't have to watch us do it.", Finn explained tiredly, looking down to his iPad again which meant that she should leave him the hell alone.
But Veronica ignored the hint. "Are you sure that this is what Rachel wants as well? I mean, that woman is the biggest stage hog in the world. She needs attention like she needs breathing."
Finn looked up. "You think so? But she told me she was fine with a small ceremony within the family."
"If she told you that, she is lying, Finnegan", Veronica laughed. "As if she would admit it out loud. You need to know the body language of women, my friend."
Frowning, Finn got up. "I will go talk to her. Thanks for telling me, Veronica." With that, he left the bar and Veronica smiled to herself when she took a sip of her Cosmopolitan. Her phone vibrated and she took it out of her purse.
Cooper Anderson: I am waiting for you upstairs, mylady
Veronica's smile widened when something came to her mind. As much as she enjoyed sleeping with Cooper, he was still a ticking bomb.
A ticking bomb she needs to defuse. And after that, she would take care of his little brother.
…
Ten minutes later, she entered the hotel suite with two glasses of champagne in her hands.
Cooper's eyes lit up.
"How about we drink some European champagne before we get at it?", Veronica whispered seductively.
"Sounds great", Cooper answered, and Veronica put both glasses on the nightstand to undress herself.
When she was standing in front of him with only a bra and her slip, she took her glass, Cooper took the other one.
"To new acquaintances", she said solemnly.
"To new acquaintances", he repeated.
They clinked glasses, and before Veronica could take a sip, Cooper leaned over to her ear, whispering: "Are you sure you want to drink that?"
"Why not?", Veronica answered harmlessly.
"Because I just switched the glasses when you were busy putting off that sexy dress of yours." Her eyes widened and she quickly put down the glass again.
Cooper smiled at her amusedly, shaking his head. "So you really wanted to empoison me? And I thought we were allies. What a low blow, Veronica, I'm disappointed in you."
Veronica didn't know what to say.
Because Cooper was right, she had indeed put some poison into his champagne. Of course nothing deadly, it was just supposed to knock him out for a while so that she could think of another plan.
"I…I…"
"I was just kidding", Cooper cut off her stuttering and nodded to his glass. "I didn't switch the glasses, I just wanted to wait for your reaction."
Quickly composing herself, Veronica took his arm and dragged him to the bed. "How about we forget the drinks and get down to business instead?", she suggested, fluttering her fake eyelashes. "We don't need to be drunk to have fun, right?"
For a while, Cooper just eyed her. "Are you serious?"
"I sure am", Veronica answered. "Listen, we all make mistakes. And it was a mistake to underestimate you. You passed my test, seems like you have more brains than I thought."
"Hey", Cooper protested. "I just got employed as the New PR Manager of the Primavera, so you better don't mess with me."
Veronica's eyes widened. "Good looking AND powerful? I am impressed."
"I couldn't say the same about you", Cooper pouted. "You are…" He was cut off by her kissing him relentlessly.
"No talking", she commanded when she pulled away to breathe. "Just kissing. And not PG rated stuff, kay?"
Cooper just nodded obediently when she took him by the collar and pulled him down to the bed.
A black limousine just stopped in front of the Primavera driveway and the chauffeur got out of it to open the door for his client.
A young man in a black blazer and slightly gelled back hair got out of it, looking up the imposing façade of the building and whistling impressedly.
When Veronica's phone vibrated on the nightstand, she was about to suck Cooper's neck.
"You got to be kidding me!", Cooper complained roughly.
"Sorry, babe", Veronica muttered and reached out for her phone. "But I have to answer that call."
Covering herself with her blanket, she took her iPhone – and paled when she saw who had been calling.
"Hello?"
"Ronnie, where the hell are you?", the same male voice from the day before barked.
"Why?"
"Because", he said, stressing the word. "I just arrived in front of that luxury hotel. Looks nice, by the way."
"What?" Irritated, Veronica stumbled out of the bed and tried putting her dress on with one hand. Cooper threw her a confused glance, but she ignored him. "I will be in the lobby in a flash, okay?"
"You better", the voice answered before he hung up.
"Who was that?", Cooper asked, touching the spot Veronica had just sucked.
She hurriedly put on her high heels and her blazer. "I…I need to go", Veronica stammered, trying to make her hair look less messy. "I am sorry. But we will catch this up some other time, okay?"
"But…" Before Cooper could end his sentence, she had already left.
"…you forgot your slip", he said, more to himself and looked at the pink slip in his hands.
Shaking his head, Cooper lied down again.
Women. He would never be able to figure them out.
…
Veronica rushed down to the lobby where a certain man was already waiting for her.
"What took you so long?", he snapped annoyedly.
"Yes, it's nice to see you as well, Sebastian", Veronica answered, grimacing.
Sebastian threw her a killing glance. "Did you already try to get rid of the second brother?"
"He is smarter than I thought", Veronica admitted, looking down. "He didn't fall for it."
Sebastian groaned annoyedly. "How can it be that the two of us are cousins? I refuse to believe that I am blood related to someone as stupid as you."
"I am sorry, Sebastian", Veronica muttered, bowing her head in shame.
He looked around in the lobby, a malicious smirk on his face. "Don't worry. Now, that I am here, I will get things right again. And soon, this place will be ours."