Author's Notes: Waheyy chapter seven! Thanks Tanya for beta-ing!
I hope you like it! I love reading your reviews, keep 'em coming!
"Miss Berry, Mr Anderson, if we could run Tonight from the top please."
It was three o'clock on Friday afternoon, and Kurt had been sat in the dance studio watching the West Side Story rehearsal for two hours.
He had come to the conclusion that to get the best ideas for his costumes, he would need to be completely sure of the direction that this production of West Side Story was going in. He figured that by getting inspiration from the actual performers who would be wearing the costumes, he couldn't go wrong. Plus, it couldn't hurt for Tibideaux to catch a glimpse of him slaving away to design the best costumes he possibly could.
He looked up from his sketchpad to see Rachel and Blaine take to the floor in front of him.
Now, he didn't know if it was because he'd been sat in the same room and staring at the same wall for the past two hours, or because he hadn't seen Blaine since Monday, but Kurt could have sworn that his heart beat a little faster when his gaze met Blaine's.
As the pair sang through Tonight, Kurt tried to take notes for costume ideas, but honestly, his mind was not on the characters of Tony and Maria or what said characters should be wearing for this particular musical number. His mind was on Blaine. The boy sang the song beautifully, with a passion that matched Rachel Berry's, and that alone was impressive.
Rachel had always begged Mr Schue for them to do West Side Story at Mckinley, but there had never been anyone good enough who was interested in the part of the male lead. But now she had the perfect Tony.
All too soon the song was over; but sure enough, Tibideaux got them to sing it again and again, insisting that it wasn't yet up to scratch. Kurt didn't really know what she was hoping for; he thought their first attempt was pretty spectacular. By about the seventh try though, she seemed somewhat satisfied and allowed the pair to leave the stage.
Rachel came rushing over to Kurt.
"Got anything good for my costume yet?" she asked, sitting down in the chair next to him and opening a flask of what Kurt assumed was her God awful lemon drink that she never left the apartment without.
Kurt looked down at the blank page on his lap, realising that throughout all seven of the runs, he hadn't written down a single thing for the two leading characters. He swiftly shut the book, "Nope, nothing too exciting yet. But hey, that was brilliant."
"Thanks," Rachel smiled, "so you gonna go talk to Blaine?"
"I don't think so," Kurt mumbled, and looked down at his sketchpad.
Rachel nodded in understanding and the two were silent for a few moments until Kurt looked up and met her gaze.
"I just… I can't believe I made the whole thing up in my head."
"Hey, you don't know that for sure. I mean, his schedule has been hectic this week," Rachel reasoned, standing up and picking up her bag.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to the apartment," she sighed, "I've got to tidy the place up a bit and find something to wear. Finn said he'd get here at around six."
Kurt nodded in realisation. He would have forgotten about Finn's visit entirely if he hadn't been up late the previous night making lasagne.
"How long are you staying here for?" Rachel wondered, "Because you kind of need to be there when he arrives. Otherwise it'll be super awkward and I don't know if I-"
"Yeah yeah, I'll be there. I'm only staying for an hour or so more, I just need to get an idea of the guy playing Riff," he said, "just remember to take the lasagne out of the freezer."
"Got it. See you later then." She had almost reached the end of the row of seats when she turned round to face her friend again, "Oh and Kurt, at least think about talking to Blaine. Even if it's just to figure out where you are."
"Don't worry about me," Kurt told her and rolled his eyes, "Worry about what you're gonna wear to impress Hudson."
"And again from the top."
Not again. Kurt thought. Jeez.
Now he knew why Tibideaux was so good at what she did. She didn't let anyone have a break until things were up to her standards.
Kurt sighed and turned to another fresh page of his sketchpad, ready yet again to sit through America.
It's a good job the girl playing Anita has a good voice. Kurt thought to himself.
"It's a good job she's got a good voice, right?" came a familiar voice from behind him.
Kurt jumped and turned around to see Blaine sitting in the the seat directly behind him.
"Hmm, it was good the first three times I heard it," Kurt commented, as he turned back around to face the stage, "Now it's getting a little dull." He pretended to watch the performance intently and did his best to give off the vibe that he was in no way affected by the sudden presence of the boy he'd been thinking about all week.
"Good point," Blaine laughed now.
"You and Rachel were really good though," Kurt added, "I mean, your performance didn't get too dull."
"Thanks," Blaine smiled, "but I doubt that the-"
Kurt turned to face him, wondering what had made him stop speaking. He followed Blaine's gaze and was met with an annoyed looking Madam Tibideaux.
"If you boys are going to gossip your way through a performance, the least you can do is take your conversation elsewhere," she hissed at them.
The pair mumbled their apologies.
"Wanna get out of here?" Blaine said, careful to keep his voice low so only Kurt could hear him.
Kurt thought about it for the briefest of moments before closing his sketchpad, grabbing his bag from the seat next to him and standing up.
"So how are the costumes coming along?" Blaine asked, once they were out of the dance studio and began making their way down the corridor, "Rachel tells me you might be made Costume Designer."
"They're going OK, I think," Kurt replied, "I've got a good feeling about it."
"That's great."
"So how's the musical coming along on your end?"
"Good. Yeah it's good. Everything's erm…"
"Good?" Kurt supplied.
Blaine nodded.
The two fell into silence.
Kurt wondered if this is how it was going to be from now on. Both of them breezing past their previous conversation as if it never happened. An awkward friendship where neither one was talking about anything real. Kurt realised that this wasn't the kind of friendship he wanted - the waiting, the wondering, the not knowing. It would be easy to follow that route. Easy to just wait around for things to happen. But, he was done waiting, done waiting for people to approach him and make the first move.
Time to take the leap, Hummel.
Both boys spoke at once.
"Listen, Blaine-"
"Kurt, I need to-"
They laughed nervously, both looking down.
"Sorry," Blaine chuckled, reaching his hand to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly, "you go first."
"Okay," Kurt took a deep breath, "I can't be bothered about wording this correctly so that I don't sound like an idiot. So here goes. I like you Blaine, kind of a lot actually. And I don't know how much of that information you already got from our conversation on Monday. And I don't know if the reason we haven't spoken all week is because you know that that was what I was trying to say on Monday. I mean, the least you can do is be honest with me, instead of avoiding me out of fear of having to reject me to my face. I am perfectly capable-"
"Kurt-" Blaine tried to interrupt him, but Kurt continued, wanting to finally be honest about what he was feeling.
"-of dealing with whatever your answer is. You don't have to worry about hurting my feelings or anything. By this point, all I'm looking for is an answer. One way or another-"
"Kurt, I-"
"-and while we're talking about this, might I ask, what does "something's come up" even mean? Because let me tell you-"
"If I could just-"
"- I have analysed the hell out of those three words over the past four days and I just can not figure out-"
Kurt was forced to stop speaking this time because suddenly Blaine's lips were on his, and he couldn't even remember the point he was trying to make. But before Kurt's instincts could kick in and he could kiss the other boy back, Blaine had pulled away.
"You just… what was… what the…" Kurt's word's came out the way they were trying to organise themselves in his mind. Because Blaine just kissed him. Blaine just kissed him.
"Is it my turn to speak now?" Blaine wondered, smiling shyly. His eyes were kind of bright with what looked like excitement and confusion. His face in awe. Not quite believing what he had just done.
Kurt just nodded, unable to trust what might come out of his mouth.
"Thank you," Blaine smiled gratefully, "Okay…right. Yes, I did kind of figure that that was where you were going with the conversation on Monday. And if we hadn't been interrupted by Roger-"
Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow at the unfamiliar name.
"Tibideaux's PA, the boy who whisked you away to Tibideaux to talk about costumes," Blaine explained, and Kurt nodded.
Blaine continued, "Anyway, if we hadn't been interrupted by Roger, I would have gotten around to asking if you wanted to go to dinner with me sometime."
Kurt eye's widened, not quite believing that that would have been Blaine's response.
"Yeah," Blaine answered the other boy's shocked expression, "I wanted to ask you way before Monday actually. Remember when we were having coffee last week, just before Sebastian showed up?"
Kurt nodded again.
"Well I wanted to ask you then but I got a little distracted what with Sebastian turning up out of nowhere."
Kurt opened his mouth to speak, but Blaine spoke first.
"And no. Before you ask, nothing's going on between me and Sebastian. He was one of my best friends back at Dalton and that's all we've ever been. So anyway, I guess things kind of changed after we went out, and I got embarrassingly drunk and kicked you out of your bed. Again, really sorry about that by the way."
Kurt waved off the apology for the third time.
"And I really wanted to come and find you this week so that we could talk, but my week's been kind of crazy. I've had rehearsals left, right and centre and then I remembered that I had to do that stupid "public performance" assignment. That's what I ended up doing on Monday actually. I was trying to sort out my performance and I was in a rush, so didn't have the chance to explain in the text," Blaine took a deep breath after his explanation, his face anxious, "All of those reasons aside though, I should have made time to talk to you. And for that I apologise profusely. But anyway, now is as good a time as any, so; Kurt, would you like to go out to dinner with me sometime?… Like… on a date."
Kurt stared at him, open mouthed. He was speechless for a few moments, until he took in Blaine's anxious expression. The boy looked genuinely worried that Kurt was about to turn him down.
"Yes," Kurt stated, a sheepish grin on his face. "Yes, I would very much like to go on a date with you, Blaine Anderson."
"Good," Blaine nodded curtly, his face breaking into a wide smile, "How's next Friday at seven? I'll pick you up."
"Sounds great."
"Good, that's erm, good," Blaine turned to go but Kurt grabbed his arm.
"Blaine?"
"Yeah?"
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I don't know," Blaine laughed, "But that's what's supposed to happen right? After making a grand gesture. You know, make a memorable exit kind of thing."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Kurt commented, "And I wouldn't call it a "grand" gesture. I mean, I was getting there."
"Sure you were," Blaine smirked, one eyebrow raised, "so, what do you think is supposed to happen next?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure," Kurt narrowed his eyes, pretending to think, "I mean I guess…"
He gave Blaine's arm a soft pull, effectively getting rid of the distance between them and just like that, they were kissing again.
"Hey Kurt, I was just about to text you. It's almost six. Where have you …oh," Rachel suddenly noticed Blaine's presence in the doorway next to Kurt, a smile played on her lips, "Hello Blaine."
"I asked Blaine to come have dinner with us too. Is that okay?" Kurt wondered, making his way into the apartment.
"Of course," Rachel smiled brightly at Blaine, but then turned to Kurt and gave him a look that said "as long as you tell me everything later".
"You look nice, Rachel," Blaine commented with a smile.
"Did Kurt tell you to say that?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.
"Maybe," Blaine admitted, "but it's not a lie."
"It isn't. My brother's not gonna know what hit him," Kurt said and ducked out of Rachel's reach as she aimed a punch at his shoulder, "Want something to drink, Blaine? Beer? Soda?"
"Oh, I'll take a beer, thanks."
Kurt took two beers out of the fridge and offered one to Blaine.
"Is Finn still getting here at six?" Kurt wondered.
"Yeah, he should be," Rachel said, fiddling with the place mats on the table, "he texted me just before he got on the plane and everything was on time."
"And where's Santana?"
"On her way back from work. But she said she had to stop by Natalie's place," Rachel said giving Kurt a pointed look.
"Ah, yes," Kurt nodded, "Natalie."
Blaine, who noticed the look that was shared between the two, asked, "Who's Natalie?"
"She went on a date with Santana last night," Kurt informed him.
"And we think she might be Santana's stalker," Rachel put in.
Blaine did not look any less confused.
"Well, we don't know that," Kurt corrected, "I mean, giving someone a rose on a first date isn't that rare. It's not like she said 'here, have this rose, like the hundred other roses I used to send you when I was your stalker'."
"True," Rachel allowed, "but it's still pretty coincidental."
"Agreed," Kurt took a sip of his beer.
Blaine just looked lost.
Just then, there were three short knocks on the door, followed by a very familiar voice, "Anybody home?"
Rachel was at the door before Kurt could even put his drink down. She took a deep breath and straightened her dress before sliding the door open.
And there stood Finn. Just as tall as he'd always been, a grin on his face, a bag slung over one arm and a box of beer under the other.
"Finn. Hey," Rachel smiled.
"Hey," his grin widened, "wow, you look great."
"Thanks," she said to him, "so do you."
Finn placed the beer and his bag on the floor and gave the girl a hug.
"Finn Hudson," Kurt called, as he made his way over to them, a smile on his face.
"Hey there little brother," Finn said, pulling the shorter boy into a fierce hug, "how's it going?"
"Things are going good. How's Lima?"
"Pretty much the same," Finn laughed.
Kurt, remembering Blaine's presence, turned around and grabbed the boy's hand, pulling him forwards, "Finn, this is Blaine," he motioned to Blaine, "Blaine - Finn."
Finn looked between the two boys in front of him, realising that this was the Blaine. Rachel had mentioned him. "It's good to meet you, dude," he said, extending a hand.
"You too," Blaine smiled, shaking the hand that was held out to him.
"OK, either there's a freakishly tall delivery guy blocking my way into the apartment right now, or Frankenteen's arrived," came a voice from behind Finn.
"Santana!" Finn exclaimed, before hugging her also.
"Hey there Hudson," she said, in a tone that indicated her lack of enthusiasm for the hug she had received. But she smiled nonetheless.
Kurt picked up the box of beer, "Maybe we should get out of the doorway. I'll get the drinks." He made his way towards the kitchen; Blaine followed close behind. Leaving the other three to chatter in the living room.
"So Finn and Rachel used to date?" Blaine asked, as he began loading the beer Finn had brought into the fridge.
"Correct," Kurt answered, searching various drawers for the bottle opener.
"But not anymore?"
"Nope," Kurt shook his head, "well, not technically."
Blaine gave him a questioning look.
"Something you get to learn about Finn and Rachel is that even when they're not dating, they are. Even with all the drama that they go through on a regular basis, you always know that they're going to get together again... eventually. Even if they're stubborn about it and insist they've moved on," Kurt explained with an eye roll.
Blaine nodded in understanding.
"Thanks for inviting me by the way," he said, "I hope I'm not intruding on a reunion or anything. I mean, it's clear that you guys are all pretty close friends."
"You're not intruding. I promise," Kurt insisted, opening the bottles of three more beers, "Besides, you're my close friend. So I guess you're allowed in the gang."
Blaine couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face as they made their way over to join the others.
"And then there's Puck's brother," Finn was saying now.
"Wait, Puck has a brother?" Santana asked incredulously.
"And he's in glee club?" Rachel pressed.
"Yep, well half-brother," Finn nodded, taking a beer from Blaine, "Cheers. Anyway, yeah he's called Jake and he's actually got a killer voice, not to mention his dance moves."
Rachel looked impressed, "So you think they're ready for Sectionals next month?"
"I think so. I mean, it's definitely not the glee club of 2012," Finn smiled, "But together, me and Mr Schue should be able to whip 'em into shape."
"Well you can bet that we'll be in the audience, ready to cheer you guys on," Kurt said to his step-brother.
"You will?" Finn asked, looking surprised.
"Of course we will," Rachel insisted.
Finn looked more than pleased as he took a sip of his beer, "Awesome."
The evening passed pleasantly. Finn told them all about the new glee club and how he was able to get his teaching degree if he logged in enough hours at McKinley. Rachel babbled on about the musical - occasionally letting Blaine get a word in. While this conversation took place Kurt managed to get a few words out of Santana regarding her new girlfriend, though she still insisted that; no, Natalie wasn't the person who was stalking her a few weeks ago. Kurt remained unconvinced.
Everyone praised Kurt's lasagne and after dinner, Finn and Rachel went to the ice cream parlour downstairs with a list of everyone's orders.
Kurt was just glad to see Finn so happy, and he could tell Rachel was too. And though he would never admit it, Kurt did occasionally get a little homesick living in New York and being so far away from his family. So having Finn there was like being at home for a while.
By eleven o'clock, all five of them were sat on the floor in the living room, eating ice-cream. Santana was currently in the process of re-creating for Blaine the "Finchel Kiss" that lost them Nationals 2011. Rachel had her head in her hands and Finn just chuckled as he ate his mint chocolate chip ice cream cone.
Kurt laughed as Santana explained the ghostly silence that fell over the audience after the performance and how their show choir director was the only one who applauded.
All in all it had been a successful evening. Blaine appeared to have had a good time and he got along with Kurt's friends easily, not that Kurt was all that worried - Blaine was a hard person to dislike.