Summary: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Rachel Berry, Nick Duvall, Jeff Sterling, and Elliott Gilbert make up Pamela Lansbury, a rock/pop band that hit it big after their first single was featured on popular tv-show Sing. A little over two years later the band is still dealing with the pressures of fame, their differing dreams, their fans, "shippers", and finding love.
Author's note: Merry Christmas to all that celebrate it. This is my gift to you. Hope you all have a good holiday and get through all the craziness and the spending time with family safely and with a bit of fun.
More notes concerning this chapter at the bottom.
thanks for sticking around and enjoy.
Chapter Twenty Four
Kurt paced the kitchen. "Do you think they really did it," he said which was something he'd said multiple times that morning already.
"I don't know," Blaine said, "I bet they're all flying back now so we probably won't know until they're here. I spoke to David earlier he's also on his way."
Kurt stopped at the island where Blaine was seated and he looked down at the ipad that was placed on the counter. There were no less than twenty articles that he'd found about the possible marriage. There were probably a lot more too and while a few of them seemed to be favoring the possibility that nothing had actually happened others were sure that it had.
"It's the fan reports that have me worried," Blaine said, "we know how Nick and Jeff are when they're high or drunk or whatever. They really throw caution to the wind."
"Yes," Kurt said, "but they're not a couple. If any of us were going to be married it would have been the two of us. Honestly."
Blaine laughed. "Not in Vegas we wouldn't have," he said, "and oh that's such a cliché."
Kurt shook his head and laughed as well. "And what happens if they did get married? They're still not together like that."
"They're not," Blaine agreed, "an annulment I guess. This is such a mess. Even if it didn't happen some people are not going to be convinced it didn't."
A knock on the door made Blaine get up. Kurt followed him and they let Wes in together.
"Ah," he said, "my more put together friends."
Kurt laughed and offered Wes a hug. "Do you know what happened?"
"No," Wes said, "I talked to Santana who was very confused about them having even gone into a chapel but now there's picture proof that they definitely went inside and came out of there. It's not good."
They walked Wes to the kitchen and Kurt began preparing him a cup of coffee because he was sure that Wes probably hadn't even bothered with getting that let alone breakfast.
"David's coming. Should land in three hours or so," Blaine said, "I'm sure he's already working on some sort of plan."
"He is," Wes said, "I also spoke to Paul. He's not happy about it but I'm sure David can figure out a spin on this that will work for all of our benefits."
Kurt passed the cup of coffee to him and then grabbed a muffin and handed him that as well. "Eat," he said.
Another knock on the door signified the arrival of Whitney. "Hey, guys," she said, "figured I'd come and see how I can help."
"You are still my favorite," Wes said and then to the others added, "we officially have Sebastian working for me in New York and he's not the worst assistant I've ever had but he has a lot of cheek."
It was another hour or so before a car pulled up in front of the house and out of it spilled Nick and Jeff with Elliott walking behind them. Santana kept shooting them glares and Dani looked like she'd gotten a telling off too.
"So," Elliott said, "you two christen the house, then?"
Blaine flushed red and Kurt punched Elliott on the arm but wiggled his eyebrows.
Wes cleared his throat. "What happened?"
Santana was the one that spoke. "These two idiots thought it'd be funny if they got married after they walked into a chapel because they saw a fake Elvis and then naturally they felt like they really should get married. They're a walking cliché."
Nick and Jeff were standing with a space of a couple of feet between them and they didn't seem keen on catching anyone's eyes.
"Shit," Wes said, "well that isn't what I wanted to hear. How did this even happen? People go to Vegas all the time and don't get married."
Everyone looked at Nick and Jeff but it was Dani that answered this time. "We were drunk and we smoked a bit of pot."
Whitney gasped.
"And you allowed it?" Wes asked, turning to Santana, "and what would have happened if you were caught? Were you thinking at all?"
"It's my fault," Dani said a bit bashfully, "I'm the one that brought it with me."
Wes let out a long breath. "Yes," he said, "and we will be discussing that at length, but Santana should not have allowed any of you to get high or to go out in public like that. We already had one drug scandal to deal with. Paul wasn't happy about that and he certainly won't about this. I was hoping those fans were exaggerating about the lot of you being high. This is a PR nightmare. I'm disappointed in you, Santana, you've let your girlfriend cloud your judgment."
That said, Wes walked out of the kitchen pausing only to tell Kurt to call him when David arrived before he went outside and slammed the door closed behind him.
Dani seemed to be on the verge of tears but Santana was not concerned with her girlfriend and instead seemed intent on her phone.
"It's all of us that are to blame," Elliott said.
"Yes," Kurt said, "none of you were thinking. What were Jeff and Nick doing alone anyway?"
"We forgot something in the McDonald's," Elliott said, "and we were all going back and they were gone. We were looking for them for a while and then they found us, texted me and we went to get a drink before we went back to the hotel. They were going on and on about meeting Elvis so we didn't think anything had happened until Wes called Santana this morning and then we saw all the articles and well Tumblr."
Before David finally arrived, Kurt busied himself by making all of them lunch and Elliott had decided to take a nap so he was up in his room. Nick and Jeff stayed in the living room, looking like confused scolded children as they sat on opposite sides of the room.
"So," Blaine said, "this conversation is not coming fast enough."
Kurt nodded. "And to think we were just a few hours nothing but relaxed and happy."
Blaine kissed his cheek. "We're still happy and a bit relaxed and even if we're not, this doesn't mean we won't be."
"Yeah," Kurt said, "I just worry what this is going to do to the band, you know. It's going to be like when Rachel left all over again.
"We have to ask," the reporter said, "had you any idea that Jeff and Nick were planning on getting married?"
Rachel looked over the reporter's shoulder to the publicist Santana had set her up with, but even she looked thrown.
"No," Rachel said, "I mean I haven't talked to them in a while so it was unexpected to read that in the headlines earlier today. I'm as confused as everyone else."
"Oh," the reporter said, "so you didn't know they were together."
Rachel bit down on her lip and tried to move into a better position in the chair. "Um, no," she said, "but again, I haven't been in much contact with them so I don't know what may have changed."
"Right," the reporter said.
"I've been very busy obviously," Rachel added, "with preparing for Jane Austen Sings so the band hasn't been a concern of mine."
The conversation shifted away from the band and Nick and Jeff. Rachel hated that none of the boys had bothered to answer any of her texts. If they had maybe she would have been a bit more prepared to answer questions about them and of course it was everything everyone was talking about. They couldn't have chosen a worse time.
After the interview was over Rachel let them take off the mic. She thanked the woman interviewing her and turned to Rose, the publicist.
"Call Santana," she said, "I need to know what's going on."
"It really shouldn't be your concern," Jesse said, appearing behind her, "you just tell the truth. Your band mates were never together to your knowledge and they clearly didn't bother to tell you they wanted to get married."
Rachel stared at him. "Jesse, that isn't fair."
"No," he said, "it's publicity. Right now they're a hot topic and if you mention it, more people will be interested in your interviews and perhaps even in the show. That's what matters. Wes and Santana aren't your managers anymore. The state of the band doesn't affect you."
He was right, of course, but Rachel also knew that she and Kurt were heading in the direction of becoming friends again even if he hadn't bothered to tell her about how he and Blaine were together. To undermine whatever David was going to do to help the mess Jeff and Nick had caused would just put them a few steps back once again.
Jesse kissed her cheek. "Come on," he said, "they want the next two to be with us both."
Blaine made sure everyone had a plate of the pasta Kurt had cooked before they started the conversation. Having food made it a little bit less awkward even though it was obvious that Santana and Dani had been fighting and even more obvious that Jeff and Nick were not really speaking to each other or for that matter anyone else. Wes seemed intent on staring at his phone and David seemed to be just as involved in his own phone and ipad as he was Wes'.
"So," Blaine said, "how do we deal with this, then?"
David sighed. "Well," he said, "I've had Sebastian and Whit following fan reactions and I have a few ideas but none of them are pleasant."
He seemed to not be looking at Nick and Jeff, but instead directly at Blaine and Blaine found that odd enough.
"I spoke to Paul," David continued, "and mostly he wanted to know if there was a way to make it go away. There isn't, not unless we make it out to be a joke. We tell the truth and say that Jeff and Nick were really drunk and decided to do it as a joke."
"Okay," Kurt said, "but that'll upset a few people, won't it?"
David nodded. "Yes," he said, "and there's another side to it. This band is really connected to the LGBTQ community."
"And to have Jeff and Nick get married and call it a joke would be disrespectful," Elliott said, "even though heterosexual couples do it all the time."
"They're not famous," Wes said.
David took a sip of the water he had in front of him before he spoke again. "We don't want to alienate a huge part of your fan base," he said, "but denying that a marriage did happen would be difficult. There are public records for one and for another too many witnesses. Even if we found them and paid them all off it might not keep it hidden for long and there are not many ways to prove that they didn't get married."
Blaine felt like David was just humoring them, giving them every scenario that he could think of leading up to what had already been decided as the way to deal with it all.
"What are we going to do, then?" Nick asked, speaking for the first time.
David sighed. "Well," he said, "it's like this, Klaine and Niff have always been connected. They're practically brands of this band alongside Pamela Lansbury and we've never denied them because of fan service."
"Why does this not sound good," Kurt said.
"The thing is," David continued, "they're not necessarily interchangeable. More people have always been more adamant about Klaine for good reason. The two of you have actually ended up together."
"Which you said was a perfect marketing strategy for the tour," Blaine pointed out, "you and Wes were practically pushing us into this relationship."
Wes smiled at them. "We were, yes," he said.
"But now things are different," David said, "we were pushing the idea of the two of you really being together out into the media slowly. So slowly that a lot of them were questioning if we were going to make the two of you pretend to date. A lot of my friends asked me if it was a PR strategy to make you two look like a couple when you weren't. A lot of them thought it was a huge stunt."
Blaine hadn't expected that. With the amount of reporters and media people that seemed to constantly ask about Klaine or just imply that they knew he and Kurt were together he had expected that more of them knew the truth rather than questioned if he and Kurt were really dating.
"Nick and Jeff getting married has nothing to do with us, though," Kurt said, "it doesn't change anything, does it?"
"It changes everything," Santana said and Blaine noted the way that she stared at the table, lips pursed.
"How?" Kurt asked.
"Well, it's in almost every article. No one wants to believe that in a band of five members there are two couples. Nick and Jeff got married which makes it seem like the two of you, Kurt, were a decoy for them."
"What?" Kurt asked, voice slightly raised, "that doesn't even make sense."
Blaine had read more articles than Kurt had and he realized that Wes and David were right. It was one of the things that kept being questioned from how he and Kurt had been missing from the trip to how no one had really been sure about Nick and Jeff because they were distracted by all the Klaine.
"So what do we do?" Blaine asked.
David stared at them. "Well," he said, "the first thing we do is stop the progress to revealing you and Kurt are together. Instead, Jeff and Nick will have to take on the promo you would have had to. And yes, that does mean you'll have to stay married and you will have to act like a couple."
"And what," Kurt said, "Blaine and I have to hide our relationship away? We have to keep the fact that we're in love from everyone?"
"Yes," Wes said, ducking his head, "I'm sorry but yes."
"This is bullshit," Kurt said and stood up and left the room in a rush.
Blaine stared after him for a while and then stood up as well. He didn't know what to think except that he agreed with Kurt because this was exactly what they hadn't wanted. They never wanted to lie to their fans or to hide anything about themselves away like they were ashamed.
As he neared the stairs, he heard Nick and Jeff start to talk and while Blaine could feel a little bit bad for everything they might end up having to do, he couldn't help but blame them for landing them in the position they were in.
"…there really is no other way?" Nick was asking, "we can't lie like that. Jeff and I, we aren't together like that."
Blaine walked up the stairs.
He found Kurt in their room where mere hours earlier they had been having the best sex ever. Blaine had felt so absolutely happy in those moments of being lost to Kurt and of receiving the gift of having Kurt trust him so completely.
"Hey," he said.
Kurt sniffed. He was sitting at the edge of the bed, arms wrapped around himself. "Can you believe that?"
"I can," Blaine said.
He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Kurt, who just fell into him. "They can't force us to lie, can they?"
"They don't want to, Kurt," Blaine whispered, "they're not happy about this at all. Wes is pissed and so is Santana. David, he works so hard, and he's tried to find another way, you know he has."
"How can you be so calm?"
"Because I love you," Blaine said and he kissed Kurt on the lips quickly, "because I know it doesn't matter at the end of the day when nothing can stop this from being real. It sucks. It sucks so much, but this is fame."
"It's lying," Kurt said, "it's keeping a huge part of our lives hidden and helping to lie about two of our friends. I don't want to do this."
"I know," Blaine said, "I know."
Nick felt like his entire world had shifted on its axis. He had woken up with a crick in his neck and not a whole lot of memory for the night before except for a text that asked him if he'd gotten married. Then, Santana had showed up to yell at him and Jeff and things had gone downhill from there.
Santana had gone through his and Jeff's phones and there had been pictures. He and Jeff really had gotten married. They'd even kissed in front of an Elvis impersonator to seal the wedding and it was all a blur but Nick could somehow remember being extremely happy.
Wes and David were staring at him and Jeff.
"You'll do it," David said, "there is no question about it. You have no idea the kind of damage what you've done has."
"So a few concerts aren't sold out," Elliott said, "surely there's a different way?"
"There's not," David said, "and it's not just about the tour or the album. It's about the contract. Paul made it clear that this would diminish the brand, it would diminish the worth of the band even if the new album is amazing. He and his lawyers will use this to push you into signing a contract you don't want. All the leverage you had before will be gone if the band isn't what it was when we left New York."
Nick let out a groan. "So I have to pretend to be married to Jeff," he said.
"Fuck pretending," Santana said, "you are married."
Nick winced.
"It's the truth. It's the problem in the first place."
Nick glanced at Jeff. Ever since Santana had torn into them that morning and David had made it clear once he got them on the phone, that they weren't to speak to anyone, he'd been acting a little strange. He was withdrawn somehow.
"Jeff?" he asked.
Jeff tried to smile but mostly just grimaced.
"Do Kurt and Blaine really have to keep their relationship secret?" Jeff asked.
"It sucks but yes. It would make your marriage seem less legitimate and I think it would come off as us trying a bit too hard to sell the tour and album."
"Right," Nick said. The guilt settled onto his shoulders. He couldn't believe that one drunken and high night could change everything.
Author's Note: So, THAT, happened.
Okay, so when I said I didn't plan this story out much I wasn't lying and the idea to have Jeff and Nick get married first was an idea about making them get married after they'd gotten together but the idea that they could do it before being romantically involved bit me and I liked what that would mean. So, the thing was Klaine was NOT supposed to be together at this point in the story. There was a whole subplot I was going to write in that didn't work out and that I just didn't like. So that changed things for the Niff story line to the point where I've actually been feeling a lot like it'd be hard to make them into a believable couple considering Klaine. But I moved past that and then I considered how I could bring more conflict into the story and tie things together.
So we come to this. Niff get married and screw basically everything to do with how Klaine was going to becoming a selling point for promotion for the band and basically put them in a bad spot. Bad publicity is the last thing that the band needs coming off of Rachel leaving and so it's a scandal that they can't handle and the thought here was to have Klaine have to hide and have NIff have to pretend and essentially in a way also pit them together. Really I'm looking forward to the writing adventure this will take me on.
Next chapter will be up soon.
I'm on tumblr at inawickedlittletown if you'd like to follow me there. I usually post writing progress updates there.
Hope you all enjoyed this and thank you for reading.