AN: Oh hello, short chapter! Didn't expect to see you! I was planning on longer and then it just stopped. I was gonna write another scene. But something told me it was meant to end where it does and I think that's the world telling me I need to get more sleep. So I'm going to heed this advice, and post this, and then go to sleep.
Oh, and I'm sorry to say that this probably won't be a very long story, all told. Maybe a few more chapters, but I want to have a fully wrapped-up story in time for Tuesday. I know myself, and I'm distractible enough that once I get new cannon, I'm not going to be able to go back to this. However, if I somehow don't get it done in time, I won't abandon it. And I'm gonna keep writing. So yeah.
Djkaghjkhda I'm a tired Lani tonight.
I dedicate this chapter to Tasha, because we spent over an hour tonight chatting on FB- as Kurt and Blaine. And she's awesome. And maybe if I send her enough love, she'll post her fanfic and I can read it.
And I don't think I'll ever be able to post a chapter without thanking you all. Knowing that people are waiting for me to update gives me more motivation than I can explain. You all rock. And reviews are made of awesome. :)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Monday that was a month, two weeks, and three days started off really, really badly. Blaine had never really understood the phrase 'Got Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed'. Really, what was the point of blaming the bed for your bad mood? Not to mention that his bed had always been pressed against a wall, so that there was only one side to get up on.
But this morning? He'd take any explanation.
From the moment he opened his eyes, from before that moment even, from the moment he became the slightest bit aware that he was awake, it was like there was a cloud hanging over his head. A big, grey, raining cloud. He got up, showered, got dressed, grabbed his messenger bag, ate, and drove to school with every movement a battle. He felt heavy. He felt displaced. He didn't know why.
Well. He knew a little. But he was avoiding it, because it was stupid. It was the stupidest thing, letting boy issues get to him like this. It wasn't like he was thinking "Things between me and Kurt are awkward and I probably crossed some line and now he'll never want to be my friend even though he said all those nice things to me on Thanksgiving, and everything sucks, so I'm going to be grumpy and depressed now." It just was. He just was.
The cloud followed him into school, quite happily settled above him, content to make him as miserable as he wanted.
"Come on, Blaine. Where's that winning smile?" Wes asked the second Blaine walked up to his locker. He just scowled.
"Yeah," David concurred, pinching Blaine's cheek in a way he clearly thought was cheery and helpful. "You never know what could happen. You want to be looking your best."
Blaine managed a half-assed look of confusion before turning back to his locker. Normally David and Wes were the perfect antidote to a bad mood. They'd mess around, say weird shit, and make him laugh. He'd forget what was bothering him. Problem solved. But this day seemed to be a bit more difficult than the other bad days he'd had.
"You may want to listen to David this time, Blaine." Wes said, and Blaine couldn't help but be suspicious, and, alright, a little distracted from the cloud. There was a mysterious tone in Wes's voice that was generally reserved for egging on people they were plotting against. He'd never heard this tone directed at him.
"What did you do?" He asked slowly.
"I can really, truly, honestly, absolutely, certainly, positively, gosh-darn-tootin'ly tell you that for once, we didn't do anything." Wes responded.
"I do not trust the massive collection of adverbs you have there. I think they're masking something much more dastardly."
"Why do people always think we're dastardly?" David asked innocently.
"Um, maybe because you are?"
Blaine turned around surprisingly fast. That sounded like- it couldn't be-
"Excuse me, um... hi. Can I ask you a question? I'm- I'm new here." Kurt said, repeating the first words he'd ever said to Blaine exactly. But this time, he wasn't dressed in an adorable- yet incorrect- blazer, shorts, and knee-high boots. Oh no. Standing there, in the flesh, right in front of him, was Kurt. A Kurt decked out in his very own Dalton Academy uniform.
Blaine's brain was not working. It flatly refused to put two and two together, and it made Blaine look like an idiot.
"Woah, Kurt. Back to spy again? You're doing better than last time, but I can't help think it would work better if the entire school hadn't already seen you." He said, reaching out and fixing Kurt's collar as he spoke. Even though there was nothing wrong with his collar. Just as there had been nothing wrong with his collar the first time he'd shown up out of the blue in the halls of Dalton.
Kurt just laughed awkwardly for a second, and Blaine couldn't figure out what was going on. All he knew was that everything was suddenly very surreal.
"What's going on?" He asked, because David and Wes were shaking their heads next to him as though they were disappointed in him, and Kurt was looking at him as if waiting for him to get the joke. "Don't get me wrong, it's great that you're here- but it doesn't make much sense."
And Kurt smiled sweetly, and nodded, and told him that he was transferring to Dalton.
He felt like he was floating, and all he could feel was his breath rushing in and out faster than usual, making his head all hazy and warm. And all he could see was Kurt's face, Kurt's lips, Kurt's hair, Kurt's eyes, and they were all there, right next to him, and then Kurt put a hand on his shoulder- a hand that had been chilled by the cold outside, a hand that was the perfect thing to bring him back.
"Blaine, are you alright?" Kurt asked with that voice, oh, that voice that sounded so much better in real life, because telephone wires couldn't begin to do it justice- Pull yourself together. Blaine told himself, physically shaking his head to get those distracting thoughts out of it. He's standing right in front of you, and he's worried, so stop waxing poetic about his voice. He's standing right fucking there.
"I- Sorry. Wasn't expecting that. I think I went into shock." He finally said.
Kurt's laugh that time wasn't awkward. It was happy, relieved, excited. And that was the thing that pushed away the cloud for good, his laugh. It was proverbial sunlight, and it illuminated the entire school with a glow of happiness. At least, that was what Blaine thought.
"Thank you guys," Kurt said to David and Wes. "That was totally the reaction I was hoping to get."
"No problem, Kurtsie." Wes replied.
"Yeah, anytime." David said, and they both clapped Kurt on the shoulder as they walked away, looking pleased with themselves.
"What did they do for you?" Blaine asked, confused.
"Oh, just managed to help me get everything set up here without you finding out. I told them I was transferring, and I wanted to surprise you, and they told me that it's practically impossible to keep a secret at this school-"
"Too true." Blaine murmured, remembering the fiasco that was his one and only boyfriend at Dalton.
"-and they kept it hushed up so you wouldn't find out. Originally, the plan involved a large musical number announcing my arrival," He confided. "But I saw the back of your head and I knew there was no way I could've waited any longer to see the look on your face."
"What look on my face?" Blaine asked, slightly offended and slightly self-conscious.
"The one you're wearing right now." Kurt told him, smiling. This was weird. It was great, but it was weird. Blaine had, of course, imagined this happening. He'd thought up a hundred scenarios in his head for this. Most of those fantasies started off with Karofsky going too far with Kurt, Blaine magically appearing out of mid-air, saving Kurt from a dreadful fate, and then whisking him off to live a happy life with him at Dalton, and, more importantly, holed up in his bedroom for weeks and weeks.
And that was all very well and good. Images of sliding that navy blue blazer off of Kurt's shoulders and grabbing that blue and red striped tie to pull him on top of Blaine had been all that had gotten him through his angst as of late. He didn't see himself giving up those images anytime soon. But the reality of Kurt standing in front of his locker, chatting with him before class- there was no comparison. It was heavenly.
He had to have the most dopey, lovelorn, un-sexy look on his face.
"Well, welcome to Dalton!" He said happily, trying to figure out what he normally did with his face to make it look normal. After a little bit of haphazard experimenting, he decided he couldn't go wrong with a smirk. "What brings a fellow like yourself to out hallowed halls? Sized up the competition, did you? Decided you couldn't beat us, so you'd just join us? Oh, and what's your first class? I'll walk you there."
"Um, English. Room 215," Kurt said, looking down at a piece of paper he was clutching to as though his life depended on it. Blaine nodded, and placed a hand on his back, showing him the best path to 215. "And no, though the Warblers really are intimidating. I- well- Karofsky came back." he admitted, and Blaine could tell he was nervous, unsure of what Blaine's reaction would be.
"He what?" Blaine asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway and just barely managing not to shout.
"He came back. The school board decided repeal the expulsion. Last Wednesday, he went back to school."
"I- That's so wrong!" Blaine exclaimed. "Oh god, Kurt..." a horrible thought popped into his mind. "Please don't tell me he tried anything more, don't tell me he hurt you worse this time-"
"I didn't give him the chance," Kurt told him, his voice fluttering slightly. "We decided I should go to Dalton the minute we found out. My locker was cleared out before he showed up for school on Wednesday."
"Thank god," Blaine said, and he was about to start walking again when another thought struck him. Not horrible this time, just confusing. "Um, Kurt?"
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" He asked. "If Karofsky went back last Wednesday, then you've been out of school since Tuesday-" His mind went back, trying to remember what had been happening then. Tuesday was the day when he felt all shitty- "You didn't even talk to me on Tuesday!" he shouted, indignant. "Not a single word! I texted you, and you never responded! What the hell, Kurt?"
"I just wanted it to be a surprise," Kurt said lamely, looking wistful. "The minute it was decided I had this wonderful image of walking up behind you here, and putting my hands over your eyes, and being like 'Guess who goes to your school now?' and I guess I got my heart set on it."
"And I wasn't sure it would happen, anyway. My dad and Carole paid for it with what was going to go towards their Honeymoon, so that was set- but I had no idea if Dalton was going to accept me or not. They don't normally let people in mid-term, so I had to apply for all this special transfer stuff and show that I'd catch up to the schoolwork and be socially active and be a model student." Blaine nodded. He'd had to go through the same process when he'd transferred, and it had been the first time they had made the mid-term exception.
"And of course I am a model student, and any school is lucky to have me, so they let me in. But there was Thanksgiving and everything and I didn't actually know for sure until Friday night," Kurt told him. "That was why I didn't invite you shopping on Saturday. I was getting my uniform."
"So that's why you've been so weird this week." Blaine said, suddenly understanding a lot. It was a huge relief, knowing it wasn't because he'd been making him feel uncomfortable.
"Well, yeah," Kurt said, and Blaine was disappointed as they reached the door to 215. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. I wasn't trying to be awkward, I just kept coming so close to telling you. I knew that if I relaxed, I'd spill the beans." And with that he opened the door and walked into his first class at Dalton, leaving Blaine standing in the hall.Somewhere, as though from miles away, a bell rang.
Spill the beans has to be the cutest expression ever used. Blaine thought, and walked leisurely down the hall. It didn't matter that he was already late to class- he could tell his teacher he'd been helping the new kid.