Next chapter finally! School's time-consuming, so thank you for being patient with me.
For anyone reading "Dalton Agencies" know that I still need help if you are savvy in that kind of stuff. Otherwise I won't really know what to do once Kurt meets everyone…
I don't own Glee or anything. Here we go…
The ex- Warblers, plus Kurt, walked quickly, anxious to get to their destination, the Alice in Wonderland, statue in Central Park. They would be meeting with Kurt's friends, Mercedes and Rachel, probably for a lunch date and for some general hanging out. Kurt and Blaine walked towards the front of the group, hands clasped as they listened to the boys behind them.
"…and it says here that the statue was unveiled in 1959 and it is one of the few statues where children are-," Wes had been narrating straight off the guidebook for the past thirty minutes, and Thad, who was walking closest to him, slapped a hand over his mouth as Jeff stole the book from his hands.
"Hey!" Wes cried indignantly as Thad and Jeff high- fived.
"That's quite enough from you," Jeff replied simply, handing the book off to Nick, who was farthest from Wes. "It's our one free day. No guidebooks for you."
"David!" Wes whined pleadingly. The aforementioned man kept walking, only replying with a, "Come now, children. We're almost there." Wes huffed angrily, crossing his hands over his chest. Kurt and Blaine both glanced at each other, rolling their eyes and chuckling.
The bronze statue came into view, as well as Mercedes and Rachel. Kurt broke away from Blaine, half running and throwing his arms around the proud black diva in hello.
"Mercedes!"
She hugged him back in response, reprimanding him once she stepped back. "Well it's about damn time, white boy. Do you know how long I've had to wait out here with Miss Bossy Pants as she rattled off every fact she knew about Broadway and Central Park?" She was smiling, however, and hugged him again.
"Well I'm sorry if my general intellect about New York far surpasses yours, Mercedes," Rachel shot back before walking up to Kurt and hugging him. "Hi Kurt!" she said brightly.
"Hello, Rachel," he replied, mock-disdainfully and with a raised eyebrow. He grinned as he said it, squeezing her back.
The ex- Warblers finally caught up with Kurt, watching and smiling at the reunion in front of them. Eventually, Blaine walked up and wrapped an arm around Kurt, turning him a little as he said, "Hey, babe. I'm all for just hanging around here, but Jeff and the others are eager for some food. Do you mind introducing us?" Mercedes and Rachel shot each other a look and stifled giggles at the pet name, while Kurt rolled his eyes at them.
"But we just got them coffee," Kurt complained, breaking away from Blaine.
"I burned it all on the walk over here," Jeff called from where he was standing. Kurt arched an eyebrow, but nodded grudgingly.
"Guys," he said, waving a hand out towards the group, "these are my two best friends, Mercedes and Rachel." He swept his arm to the two divas. "Girls," he continued, moving his arm back towards the boys as he spoke, "these are my new friends: David, Wes, Thad, Jeff, and Nick." Each group waved at the others in greeting, smiling.
"And this," he finished, wrapping an arm around Blaine next to him, "is my boyfriend, Blaine." Kurt's heartbeat fluttered at the term, and he and Blaine looked at each other adoringly for a moment. Mercedes and Rachel beamed happily, moving to talk with the boys about lunch plans.
"So Rachel and I were thinking Chinese or something," Mercedes was saying.
Wes shook his head in disagreement, "No good. We all just had Chinese yesterday. Besides, the best places are all a bit far from here."
"What about Indian?" asked Thad, thinking out loud. The others nodded thoughtfully, but Rachel interjected quickly.
"Oh, no, no, no. You see, I have this big audition coming up, and I worry about what the spices could do-"
Kurt and Mercedes both rolled their eyes dramatically. "Oh shut up, Rachel," Kurt interrupted nudging her good naturedly. "Stop being so paranoid all that time." Rachel looked as though she were about to argue, but David quickly stepped in to resolve the issue.
"Look, why don't we just walk around for a while, and if we see some place good, we'll eat there, okay?" Everyone nodded, making to leave the part. Mercedes had just opened her mouth to start a conversation, when the group was suddenly interrupted by a loud cry approaching from the entrance on the other side.
"Come on 'Tanny! This is the statue I wanted you to see!"
Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel all froze at the voice, the others stopping in question. The three ex- New Direction members glanced at each other disbelievingly, all thinking the same thing.
"You don't think…" Kurt trailed off after a moment, ears straining to hear the voice that had quieted after the outburst.
Mercedes shook her head, "Uh uh. There's no way." She sounded doubtful of herself.
"Well," Rachel said, "there's only one way we can know for sure." The ex- Warblers looked at each other in confusion, wondering what was going on.
"Kurt, babe, is something wrong?" Blaine asked unsure. Kurt shushed him quickly, turning around in time with Mercedes and Rachel.
Sure enough, right before their eyes was a certain confused-looking blonde woman who was staring at the Alice statue with a childlike wonder. Holding her hand beside to her was a dangerous- looking brunette, who was looking at her companion with a look of amusement and adoration. (*)
"Brittany?" Kurt asked incredulously, eyebrows near his hairline. The other two simply looked on in amazement, while the other men stood awkwardly in puzzlement.
The blonde turned towards him, wide smile breaking out across her face. "Kurt!" she exclaimed, running over and all but throwing herself into his arms and covering his face with kisses. "What are you doing here?" she asked before pressing a small, closed- lip kiss to his lips. The ex- Dalton boys all quirked an eyebrow at the exchange, all surreptitiously glancing at Blaine, who stared on at the scene with an expression between amusement, confusion, and a hint of jealousy. Mercedes and Rachel had recovered, smiling at the Latina walking over to them.
"Brittany," Kurt said, letting her go and stepping back a little, "I live here. The question is: what are you doing here?" The blonde shrugged, looking towards the brunette.
"Hey, Porcelain," the Latina woman said, smirking.
Kurt rolled his eyes, "Hello Satan- I mean Santana. What are you two doing in New York?"
Santana shrugged, linking hands with Brittany again, who was talking animatedly to Mercedes and Rachel. "BrittBritt and I decided to come up to visit some relatives, relive some memories, that kind of thing. We should have called you; we totally could have crashed with you. Although," she said, leaning around to wave her fingers at the ex- Dalton boys behind them, "you look like you've been keeping some company, Hummel. Are they all yours? Wanky," she finished, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
Kurt reddened, having forgotten about the boys behind them. "For your information, Satan," he made no move to correct his statement, "only one of them is. The rest are his friends."
"Sure," she dragged out.
"Santana!"
She shrugged, quirking a grin. Brittany suddenly grabbed Kurt's hand, walking towards the men, dragging Santana and Kurt along. Mercedes and Rachel trailed behind, smiling.
"Are these your friends? Are they all dolphins too?"
Kurt rubbed his face with his free hand, anticipating what was to come. "No boo, they're not all dolphins." He glanced up, introducing the newcomers to the group, gesturing to each person in turn. "This is David, Jeff, Nick, Thad, Wes, and Blaine. Blaine's a dolphin though," he added, nodding. The men looked confused at the statement, Blaine mouthing to Kurt, "Why am I a dolphin?" Kurt waved the question away.
Brittany cocked her head, swinging her arms in between both Santana and Kurt. She directed herself towards Blaine. "Are you Kurtie's boyfriend?" Kurt made a half- strangled sound at the nickname, but no one paid any attention.
Blaine smiled, appreciating the girl's childlike ways. It's… refreshing, he decided in his mind. "Yes, yes I am. And you are?"
Brittany smiled happily, "I'm Brittany, his ex- girlfriend." The ex- Warblers' eyebrows all shot up, each of them staring at Kurt blatantly, while the other girl's hid their snickers. Kurt blushed further and dropped Brittany's hand, taking Blaine's instead. "This is Santana," she included, not noticing their reactions. The brunette gave a wicked grin and waved flirtatiously at the boys, who all looked a little stunned, with the exception of Kurt and Blaine. Rachel and Mercedes observed, entertained at the meeting between the two groups.
"So, Hummel," Santana said, "I heard something about lunch?"
Kurt looked grateful for the topic change, ignoring the other boys' questioning stares. "Yeah, let's just… go." With that he tugged on Blaine's hand, both of them starting to walk away as the other's trailed behind.
"Ex- girlfriend?" Blaine whispered in his ear, sounding a little put- out. "I thought you said that you've known who you were since you were five?"
Kurt shook his head, "I'll tell you all at lunch. It's one hell of a story." He grimaced, but was quickly changed into a smile when he heard Santana flirting shamelessly with an unsuspecting Jeff and Nick while Brittany explained to David and Thad her theory on the "magic" of Central Park and the elves that apparently lived there. Rachel and Wes kept up a lively conversation about the vital importance of Broadway and New York, with Mercedes offering her opinion every so often. He sighed contentedly, tightening his grip on Blaine's hand. Blaine in turn rested his head on Kurt's shoulder as they walked, mimicking the sigh.
The group eventually stopped outside of a small 50's style diner; mostly because it was the closest restaurant to them when Jeff threatened he wouldn't walk another step if he didn't get any food soon. As they were seated and had ordered, Kurt began the conversation, finally acknowledging the boys' still- curious stares.
"Okay, so I know you must have a lot of questions…"
Thad nodded, "Like hell we do. What's this we hear about a 'girlfriend'?" Kurt sighed.
"Well it's kind of a long story…"
Brittany frowned. "Long stories confuse me Kurtie. Can I tell it?" Kurt covered his face as the others sniggered at the nickname, Mercedes nudging him from where she was sitting next to him.
"Yeah, sure Britt. Go ahead."
Brittany leaned forward eagerly, all heads at the table swiveling towards her.
"So after Kurt won the Cheerios Nationals-" Kurt stared at her in disbelief before collapsing in his arms moaning. Brittany tilted her head in confusion while the other ex- McKinley girls snickered. "What's wrong, Kurt?"
"Why would you mention that, boo? Why?" Kurt's voice was muffled by his arms. Mercedes suppressed a giggle, rubbing his back soothingly.
"Wait, wait, wait. What are the Cheerios?" Thad asked.
Kurt's head shot up staring intensely that the girls. "Don't. Answer. That. Question," he punctuated each word by leaning slightly forward. The girls raised their hands in defense, but Santana wasn't staring at him. Her smirk was directed to something behind him.
"The Cheerios were McKinley High's cheerleading team," said a familiar voice from behind him.
Head swiveled around, following a mohawked male as he walked around the table and stole a chair from a nearby table and sat down next to Santana. The man who was originally going to sit in the stolen seat turned to ask for the seat back, took one look at the mohawk, and decided otherwise.
"Puck?" Rachel and Mercedes exclaimed in shock.
The man smirked lazily. "In the flesh."
Could this get any worse? Kurt wondered. "Noah," he muttered. "What are you doing here?"
Instead of answering, Puck only gestured towards Santana, who was holding up her cell phone. "He told me he was in the area," she offered, shrugging. "I invited him along."
"Okay, I'm officially lost again," Nick interjected. The other ex- Warblers nodded, with Wes grumbling a little bit. "Explanation please?"
"This is another one of our friend's from Glee club, Noah Puckerman," Rachel said.
Mercedes continued her statement, "And these are some of Kurt's friend, David, Wes, Nick, Jeff, and Thad."
"Who's the curly- haired one next to him? The boyfriend I heard about?" Puck asked, gesturing towards Blaine.
Kurt nodded, smiling a little, "This is Blaine." The aforementioned man and the others raised a hand in greeting.
"So, Noah," Kurt started as the brought their food out, "What are you doing in New York?"
Puck shrugged, waving the waitress off as she asked if he wanted anything. "I heard through the grapevine that someone had a boyfriend. I decided to scope it out."
Kurt stared incredulously at Mercedes and Rachel. "Did you tell all of them?" The girls nodded unabashedly, Mercedes only saying, "Well, you couldn't expect us to keep it just to ourselves."
"Is that why you two are here?" Kurt asked Santana accusingly, who shook her head. "No, BrittBritt and I planned this trip before we heard. It was just a bonus."
"I didn't think you'd come all the way up to the city just to check on Kurt," mused Rachel. "It's a bit of a stretch, isn't it, Puck?"
"Well I heard from Mercedes that the two met in Central Park. I had to make sure it wasn't some weirdo Kurt had picked up," Puck answered in response. "No offense, dude," he said, looking towards Kurt, "but you have a history of being a little desperate at times."
Kurt rolled his eyes in response. "That was high school, Puckerman." Puck only shrugged in response, deciding to change the subject. "So why were we talking about Hummel's stint on the cheerleading team?"
Brittany perked up at the mention, remembering that she was telling a story. "Oh yeah! So after Kurt won Cheerios Nationals, there was this time where he came to school in flannel and trucker hats and he sang this one song," she trailed off, forgetting something. "Who did you say it was by, 'Tanny?" The Latina leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest, "Mellencamp, honey." Brittany nodded, continuing, "Oh yeah, so he came to school dressed like that and he sang the Mellencamp song, which I thought was really, really hot." The ex- Warbler's eyes trailed towards the other girl's eyes, silently asking how the performance actually was, which we met with quick head shakes and Puck mouthing, "It was really awkward." Kurt blushed in remembrance, nodding in agreement. "So then we went out for a while, but then I found out he really was gay, so we broke up," Brittany finished.
Blaine turned towards his boyfriend, "Wait, so was that the 'straight phase' you mentioned the first time we had dinner."
Kurt nodded, "You see why I wasn't keen on telling you? I wore flannel. Flannel. And trucker hats. It was humiliating."
"So what's this we heard about a cheerleading stint?" Jeff asked, changing the subject.
Kurt leaned forward a little, "Okay, this one isn't actually that bad. It ended alright for me, in the end."
"Oh, white boy, can I tell this story?" Mercedes interrupted. Kurt waved a hand, telling her to go on.
"So the cheerleading coach, Coach Sylvester, was desperate for a bit of a pick-me-up one week-"
"She was terrorizing students, it wasn't pretty," Kurt muttered in a low voice to the boys, who rose their eyebrows for the umpteenth time that afternoon.
"-and Kurt and I decided it wouldn't hurt to try and help her out. We recreated the Vogue music video with her, but she never decided to change her look. Instead, she set out trying to change everyone else, and offered Kurt and me a place on her team, as vocalists."
"And skipping over a bunch of weeks, which included some cleansing rituals, lots of singing, and Mercedes eventually quitting the team," Santana said impatiently, "Porcelain here won the Cheerios their six-consecutive Nationals title."
"How?" asked Wes, eyebrows still raised.
Kurt smiled, surprisingly proud of the memory. "A fourteen-minute long Celine Dion medley."
The others looked impressed. "In French," Kurt tacked on.
"Fancy," commented Nick. Kurt nodded his assent.
"Is there anything else we should know about Blaine's apparently talented boyfriend?" Jeff asked, enjoying the .
The five ex-New Direction members stared off into space for a while, remembering. Kurt sat silent, fearing the worst.
"Football," declared Puck, at the same time the girls glanced at each other and cried, "Single Ladies!" at the same time.
Kurt and Puck simultaneously groaned at the memories, covering their faces.
"Wait, wait, wait. Football," Thad interrupted, looking pointedly at Puck. "Explain." David and Jeff both nodded enthusiastically in agreement, leaning forward eagerly.
Puck looked ready to begin when Wes interrupted him, nudging Thad in the side. "No, no, no. The 'Single Ladies" story sounds more embarrassing, given the reactions. Discuss that."
Kurt shook his head, voice muffled from behind his hand, which was covering his face. "They're equally embarrassing. And linked together anyways. So lucky you." He sighed tiredly. "Where do I begin?"
"The beginning?" suggested Jeff.
Kurt rolled his eyes, aiming a kick at him from under the table. "Hush, you," he reprimanded as Jeff hissed through his teeth while Nick and the others stifled their giggles and smirks.
"So…ugh," Kurt began, cheeks reddening as he started the story, "I was…um… kind of recreating the 'Single Ladies' music video in my room once? With Brittany and my other friend Tina" The others hid their smirks, gesturing for him to continue.
"Oh yeah! It would've been awesome; it was black-and-white and everything, but his dad walked in before we could finished," remembered Brittany.
"So then what did you do?" Nick asked curiously.
"Lied," Kurt said clearly. "Said I was on the football team. Which would have worked, mind you, if he hadn't wanted to come out and watch the game."
"Wait, why did you lie?" Thad asked confusedly. "You're gay; it couldn't have been that surprising."
Kurt looked down abashedly. "I..er… hadn't officially come out to him yet, actually. I wasn't really hiding it, but I had never really confirmed it. It never really came up in a conversation," he finished shrugging. "I was lucky. I called in a favor from Finn, and he set me up with a tryout."
"And by 'tryout' you mean you bribed them right?" Wes clarified.
Kurt looked offended by the assumption, and Mercedes and Rachel shot glares at the Asian. "No I tried out and got on the team fair and square. I was an excellent kicker, for your information."
Puck clapped him on the back before Kurt could protest the contact. "The only game we won that season was because of this dude."
"Number one: don't call me dude. How many times have I told you that?" Kurt said, jerking away from Puck's hand, who only shrugged lazily. "Number two: thank you for the credit, despite how much I know you hated that routine."
"Routine?" Thad asked.
Kurt smirked arrogantly. "I got the entire football team to perform 'Single Ladies' during the game."
"You know, I think I saw that video online or something," Jeff said through a full mouth, pointing at them with his fork.
"Football players? And 'Single Ladies?'" Nick sputtered.
Kurt shrugged and nodded. "You'd be surprised at how good of a strategy it turned out to be. It psyched the entire opposing team out. That what McKinley was good at, I suppose. We won a lot of games doing that." The other ex- McKinley students bobbed their heads in agreement, remembering past football performances.
Mercedes was the first to start interrogating the Dalton boys. "Well enough about us and Kurt, what about guys?" she asked.
To be continued…
(*) As with Nick and Jeff, it is up to you to decide if Brittany and Santana are together. I ship it, but I'm trying to only stick with the Klaine ship here, to avoid insulting or annoying anyone else out there who doesn't ship it.
Okay, this is short, but I honestly just wanted to finally upload something. I'll probably post the rest of it later at some point, and then just combine the chapters.
By the way, if any of you are interested, I'm also on tumblr! The URL is in my profile.
Review please? (Otherwise I have no idea how I'm doing and panic).