Chapter Four

Wild Hearts

Kurt busied himself with his studies. He was determined to be stress free by the time the concert rolled around. His father watched from the doorway as he scribbled down notes for biology.

Burt had been there for Kurt every step of the way. After Kurt's mother's death, Burt had used distractions to push away the pain. But, after a long delay, he'd come to terms of his wife's death and had grown to embrace the time he had with his son. He'd always known that Kurt was gay, and was always ready to comfort and support his son. Now that he had remarried to Carole, he'd gained another son, and that had been another blessing.

Carole had been the blessing. Finn was...something else entirely.

Not like Burt didn't like the boy. It was more like Burt got frustrated by him most often than not. His frustration started with finding Cheetos in the laundry hamper, barely five days after Finn and his mother had moved in.

Nevertheless, Burt opted to spend more time with his biological son. Kurt had expressed many times how he and his father didn't spend enough time together when he was younger, but Burt didn't know how to go about it.

He was happy to hear that Kurt was going to see Blaine Anderson in concert. Ever since he'd appeared on Ellen, Kurt had a certain fascination of him that made Burt worry. After all, the chances of them meeting were one in a million.

But then that one in a million chance came along after all, in the form of a meet and greet Kurt had won for the concert he was attending. Blaine was merely opening, and the meet and greet was supposedly for Sebastian Smythe only, but Kurt had high hopes that he would also meet his debonair celebrity crush.

Burt hoped he'd meet him, too. Never has he seen Kurt so excited before.

The days flew by. Kurt received glowing praise from his teachers because of his stellar homework assignments. They all said that they've never seen such enthusiasm portrayed by a student through their work before. Kurt was humble, but he knew that the only reason he'd been so elated was because the concert date was getting closer and closer with each breath.

June third, the day of the concert, began warm and sunny. Kurt had been incredibly skittish and could barely eat a thing. Throughout the hours at school, he was often glancing at his watch to confirm the time.

"Sheesh, Porcelain," Sue Sylvester remarked to her anxious male Cheerio during practice that day. "I never thought you could get any paler than you usually are, but I'm pretty sure you're going translucent."

Kurt didn't bother to reply. He was attempting to clear his mind of all thoughts Anderson while he held Brittany up. Luckily he didn't drop the lithe blonde during practice.

As soon as he had showered and changed, he drove home like a mad man. After greeting his family, he quickly took a granola bar and apple and headed out to the venue.

Cat's Meow was the lamest, but most efficient, venue in all of Ohio. It booked most of the biggest stars whenever they'd stop by. The last big concert Ohio had seen was Beyoncé in the Cat's Meow.

Kurt parked happily a few blocks away from the venue. As he walked towards the venue, navy VIP lanyard hanging around his neck with pride, he spotted a few other concertgoers and greeted them warmly.

"You're here to see Sebastian?" asked one girl. Her name was Eliza Goober, and she had been fourth in buying tickets. Her lanyard was a different color than Kurt's. Seafoam green, rumored to be Sebastian Smythe's true eye color, although the people who Photoshop him make them look brown.

"Actually, I'm here to see Blaine," confessed Kurt. "I'm a huge fan."

"Wow," Eliza responded. "Don't you wish that Blaine had his own tour? I feel like too many people are going because Blaine's opening for Sebastian."

"That's the only reason why I'm here," Kurt explained, "and I was the first buyer. I feel terrible."

"Don't be!" Eliza exclaimed. "At least you can say that you were there when Blaine was merely a guest. When he gets his own tour, I expect to see you the first buyer of that date, too."

Kurt felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned and smiled warmly. "Chandler!"

"I'm positively exhilarated to be here right now," Chandler gushed, staring up at the Cat's Meow theater. "Aren't you? I mean, I know you're here for Blaine Anderson instead of Sebastian, but isn't this exciting?"

"I feel jittery," Kurt remarked, wiggling his shoulders slightly. Chandler laughed and placed his arm around Kurt's shoulders.

"We're going to have a blast tonight," Chandler announced. "We're going to have a kick-ass time singing along to Sebastian and Blaine, and then we're going to kiss ass at the meet and greet."

The front doors opened, and the line of people waiting walked inside in swarms. The first merchandise table, laden down with Sebastian Smythe swag, was being mercilessly attacked by crazed fans. T-shirts, buttons, posters, CDs, wristbands, and even beauty products were being sold with the insufferable boy's face plastered all over them.

Kurt found the Blaine Anderson merchandise table. There was a fair line for that one, so he waited patiently until he was at the front. When he was second in line, he gaped at the variety of CDs, shirts, posters, buttons, and wristbands that were being sold.

"I'll take one of each," Kurt said, brandishing a wad of cash.

Blaine sucked in a deep breath. This was it. A show in his actual hometown. A place where he used to be bullied. The people who used to sit back and watch him cry now clamored at his feet for his autograph and picture. They were paying fifteen bucks in the lobby for a poster of him smiling cheesily at the camera.

He loved it. The powerful feeling that the people who kicked his ass for being openly gay were now the ones pleading for cheap general admission tickets outside of the venue. That was the comeuppance he'd been waiting for for years.

After the initial shock of performing in Los Angeles, he had forced himself to grow accustomed to the packed houses. He found himself getting more and more comfortable with performing in front of strangers, but only if the show went smoothly.

He couldn't afford to mess up anything in front of this audience. He knew that his parents were in the audience somewhere, observing what their youngest has accomplished, but that wasn't why he felt the need for perfection.

Blaine felt as though something was going to happen tonight. Something different and good.

He stood on the platform just underneath the stage, microphone in his hands. He was enveloped in total darkness. The only thing he could hear was cheering.

"Break a leg," whispered Sebastian from somewhere in the darkness. Blaine barely heard him.

On the video screen placed strategically above the stage, a clip of Blaine and Sebastian racing to get to a door marked STAGE played.

Blaine watched the clip, his heart rate beginning to speed up.

Sebastian jumped onto Blaine's back, clinging desperately onto Blaine's hair.

"Get off me," hissed Blaine, prompting some laughter in the audience.

Sebastian pushed himself off and past Blaine. He was just about to reach the door when Blaine had jumped on and off of a side table and landed in front of him. The crowd applauded and whistled.

"Too bad, Smythe," Blaine said. "It's my turn now."

Sebastian sneered. "Be my guest, then."

And with that, Blaine opened the door and stepped right through it.

The video screen went black, and the crowd applauded again. From somewhere behind him, Blaine heard them counting down from five.

With each word, Blaine felt smaller and smaller. The confidence he'd built up over the past few hours was disappearing before his eyes. He knew that the people in the audience were only after Sebastian. Who was he even trying to fool? It was always going to be about Sebastian.

"One."

The platform moved up, slowly revealing Blaine Anderson to the crowd. The cheering that followed the revelation was deafening.

"How are you doing tonight, Ohio?" he yelled, looking into the crowd. He saw tons of teenage girls wearing Smythe is Sexy T-shirts and seafoam green jelly wristbands. He knew he should have expected that. His heart beat faster still.

But his heart nearly stopped when he opened his mouth to begin "Tumult", for he had seen a teenage boy wearing a neon shirt bearing Blaine's name and signature sunglasses logo. The boy practically glowed in the dark because of his attire; a lighthouse amongst the treacherous waves.

There was someone in the audience for him. His heart, which had been on the verge of exploding, warmed considerably.

All of a sudden, he felt the confidence he thought he'd lost seeping back into him. He straightened up and let the adrenaline take over him.

Holy. Crap.

Blaine Anderson was singing barely three feet away from Kurt. Kurt had heard him sing on Ellen, had listened to his albums, but had never expected the sound of him live to be quite like this.

He commandeered the stage as if it were his own personal property. Between songs, he'd shout out greetings to people in the pleased crowd. Kurt noticed that each person he called out to was wearing a Blaine Anderson T-shirt.

Kurt had slipped his newly bought neon yellow one over his other shirt. He figured that he should get the full experience while he was at the concert. He didn't think that it would really matter if he wore it or not, so he put it on.

It did matter a lot to the singer onstage, though. As soon as Blaine took a break to swig some water, he waved out to the audience and then spotted the neon shirt. With a smile, he did something that Kurt would never forget in his lifetime.

The Blaine Anderson pointed at him and yelled out, "This next song's for you!"

This made the audience - and Kurt's heart - go wild.

Blaine was on a roll.

He had successfully performed "Tumult" and "One Rose" flawlessly, judging by the amount of cheers and applause that followed each. He had felt so accomplished that he had searched the crowd for a fan of his and, after spying the boy in the neon T-shirt again, dedicated the next song to him. Even with piercing white lights in Blaine's face, he was sure that he could see the boy blushing from the front row.

The familiar intro to "Teenage Dream" made the crowd go insane. Blaine was still solely focused on the boy in the front row, whose eyes never left his. A strange feeling passed between the two of them. It was almost as if he could hear the boy whispering the lyrics along with him.

"You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream the way you turn me on!" Blaine sang as he bounded around the stage.

As he sang, he tried to explored every single inch of the stage that still granted him visibility to the crowd. But somehow he always found himself standing center stage, right across from where the boy stood. Whenever he said "you", he felt compelled to point directly at him.

For some reason, Blaine felt the need to impress.

Sebastian awaited for his moment in the spotlight. He did a few vocal exercises and then took a sip of water.

"Ready on stage for you, Smythe," Pierce said directing him to the platform. "Go in five."

Sebastian heard Blaine as he bade farewell to the appreciative crowd and smirked. The preshow was finally over. Time for the real show.