HELLOOOOO! So to make up for my long absence this chapter is 4K wooooop woooop. THANKS LIZZ FOR BEING MY BETA AND AWESOME.
There were three things Kurt Hummel found the most enjoyable about being Blaine Anderson's boyfriend. Yes, boyfriend.
One: Kurt could kiss Blaine whenever he wanted, which was pretty self explanatory.
Two: Kurt could hold Blaine's hand while they walked to and from work, which Kurt didn't realize would be so gratifying until Kurt slipped his hand into Blaine's for the first time, showing off that yes, this was his boyfriend.
Three: Kurt could finally be himself, not that there was some magnificent fake persona Kurt had been sporting before they officially started dating, but now there was a sense of freedom in knowing he could tell Blaine exactly how he felt about him, which mostly consisted of that he thought he was amazing and that he really enjoyed kissing him whenever he wanted.
Today was another one of Kurt's reading lessons at Blaine's apartment. He enjoyed spending this time with Blaine, learning how he experienced the world and how he learned new ideas, but it became incredibly difficult not to become distracted. They'd been dating for almost two weeks, and everything had remained as tame as possible. And yes, making out for hours at a time was tame for Kurt's standards.
"Kurt, how are you supposed to learn if you aren't paying attention?" Blaine scolded as they sat on his sofa with a large book on their laps.
Kurt currently had his lips brushing against Blaine's jaw line, having left a trail of small kisses up his neck. Kurt didn't know what Blaine expected; he'd been waiting months to be with him, and with every Braille lesson that came before he'd always wanted to do exactly this.
"I knew having a teacher for a boyfriend would be problematic," Kurt breathed as he ghosted his bottom lip against Blaine's skin.
He could feel Blaine slowly tilting his head to the side, allowing Kurt more space. Blaine sighed when Kurt started sucking right under his ear and squeezed Kurt's hand, which was resting on top of the enormous book. "I'll make a deal with you…"
"Mhm?" Kurt hummed, nipping at Blaine's ear.
Blaine's cheeks turned a darker shade of red than Kurt had ever seen. "If you can read to the end of this page, we can take a short break."
Kurt chuckled softly to himself, and for a moment there he actually thought he would have to beg.
Kurt slowly moved his hand across the raised dots on the page and read aloud, almost seductively, into Blaine's ear: "There was nothing else she did have," he read, "nothing but this red land, this land she had been willing to throw away like a torn handkerchief only a few minutes before. Now, it was dear to her again and she wondered dully what madness had possessed her to hold it so…"
"Lightly…" Blaine finished breathlessly, having already known how the sentence would end. Blaine didn't even wait for Kurt to make a move, and captured Kurt's lips with his own.
Kurt shut the book hastily and almost threw it on the table while Blaine fell onto his back, taking Kurt down with him. "How long is a short break exactly, Mr. Anderson?" Kurt asked with a smirk on his lips, lowering himself onto Blaine.
Blaine didn't skip a beat before replying, "Just kiss me."
Kurt obliged Blaine's request, kissing him tenderly at first until any self-control he had left dissipated into rough, deep kisses. Minutes went by, and soon the heat almost became unbearable. Kurt wanted Blaine, then and there, more than he'd wanted anyone in so long.
"Kurt," Blaine said almost inaudibly as Kurt pressed his lips against his neck, working to make sure no inch of skin exposed had gone untouched. Kurt's hands roamed Blaine's chest, trailing lower and lower until-
"Stop." Blaine's hand had found Kurt's, which had already begun unbuttoning Blaine's pants. "Kurt, Stop." With Blaine's words, Kurt froze.
Kurt immediately sat up and back, straddling Blaine's thighs. "Blaine I wasn't-"
"I'm sorry." Blaine covered his face with his hands. "I've just never…"
Realizing what he was trying to say, Kurt moved himself off of Blaine and onto the sofa. "I should've asked you before I…" Kurt trailed off, becoming embarrassed at how little self-control he had. Blaine had told Kurt he'd never been in a relationship before, but for some reason, until that moment, it never seemed to click that he'd never been intimate with someone before. "Please don't be sorry. I got caught up in the moment and...I should be sorry."
Blaine sat back against the arm of the sofa and pulled his knees to his chest. He looked completely wrecked, his hair standing in different directions and neck covered in red marks Kurt had left. "I don't want you to think I don't want you like that- because I do." Blaine said as his face, which finally seemed to be going back to a neutral color, turned violently red, again. "I guess it's old-fashioned and silly, but I've always just...wanted my first time to be special."
Kurt wanted Blaine's first time to be special, too. "There's nothing wrong with any of that. We can go at whatever speed you're comfortable with." Their first time was going to be special.
Blaine seemed to relax. "Well, that thing you were doing with your tongue before made me really comfortable."
A smirk crept across Kurt's lips. "Do you want me to do it again, Mr. Anderson?"
Blaine grinned and nodded, and Kurt wondered how it was possible for someone to look adorable and sexy at the same time, but Blaine always seemed to be the impossible.
Soon it became difficult for Kurt to remember what it was like before Braille and piano lessons turned into make out sessions, before he held Blaine's hand on the way to work, before Blaine's muffled playlist of love songs and Madonna woke him up every morning through a thin wall. Somehow reality became so much more livable.
"Rachel invited us to her Halloween party on Monday," Kurt mentioned a few days later as they were walking back to their apartments that afternoon, their hands together and swinging freely beside them. Rachel thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to finally meet Blaine, because, of course, she didn't have time to simply meet them alone.
"I thought we were planning on handing out candy?" Monday was Halloween, which coincidentally fell on Broadway's day off.
"I really don't think the kids in our apartment complex will be devastated if they're missing two pieces of candy. Besides, I've already started sketches for our costumes," Kurt said excitedly. "I can't tell you yet because they're going to be a surprise."
Blaine seemed hesitant, slowing down his pace slightly. "How many people are going to be there?"
"The party Rachel threw last year was pretty big, but it's mostly just her friends from shows she's performed in. Do you not want to go?" The thought that Blaine wouldn't want to go to the party never even crossed Kurt's mind when he accepted Rachel's invitation.
"No, Kurt, of course I want to go," Blaine assured him, smiling and squeezing his hand. "I don't think anything could go wrong as long as I'm with you."
Kurt felt the same way about Blaine.
Monday arrived in what seemed like a blink of an eye. Luckily, Kurt had finished their costumes over the weekend-which looked amazing-and was restlessly looking forward to the evening.
Kurt was let off work early and decided to surprise Blaine at the school. Blaine had been especially nervous that morning because it was Halloween and he'd heard stories of kids getting riled up.
Kurt waited outside Blaine's classroom as students poured out into the hallway after the bell rang, eager to be on their way home. Kurt barely missed running into the piano, which was oddly placed near the door. "Looks like someone redecorated," Kurt observed.
"Wasn't me," Blaine grumbled from his desk in the corner of the room, clenching his jaw. Blaine was usually excited when Kurt got off work early, even before they were together.
Kurt walked toward Blaine with curiosity. "What do you mean-"
"A few students thought it would be funny to move everything in the room during lunch." Blaine balled his fists. Kurt had never seen Blaine this visibly angry, like every bone in his body was willing himself not to go into a complete rage. "Because it's hilarious to watch your blind teacher walk directly into a piano and then proceeds to be unable to find his way through his own classroom."
Kurt placed his hand over one of Blaine's tightened fists. "Blaine…"
Blaine instantly retracted, pushing Kurt's hand away. "It's fine. I'm fine. Kids in school would do this to me all the time. I'm used to it."
Kurt pulled up a chair next to Blaine's desk. "It's okay to be upset, you know." Kurt wanted nothing more than to hunt down the people responsible, which would probably be easy enough with the amount of security cameras in the building, but something told Kurt that revenge wasn't what Blaine needed. "I can't think of one person who would actually walk back into a high school after the high school experience you had. But here you are, changing lives with music, and I admire that so much."
"Sometimes I just wish it didn't have to be this way," Blaine said weakly, his voice cracking over the final words. "I've worked so hard to get myself to a place where I'm not angry about the accident anymore. But little things like this happen and it makes me so…"
"Frustrated?"
"Yeah."
Okay, maybe it was time Kurt beat the shit out of a few high schoolers. "Do you want me to go Liam Neeson on whoever did this because honestly you just say the word-"
"Kurt." Blaine smiled weakly and slid his hand to where Kurt's was resting on the table. "Honestly, I thought the kids would at least wait until April Fool's Day to do something like this."
"They shouldn't have done something like this at all. You're their teacher."
"Hopefully they've learned their lesson. I gave them a lecture on respect and assigned them all papers on the Gregorian chant." Blaine shrugged. "Payback's a bitch."
Kurt was the first to laugh, and Blaine soon followed as he lost the ability to keep a straight face. The tension in the room melted away, and it was just the two of them.
Everything Kurt could think of to say next started with the words 'I love'; 'I love your laugh,' 'I love your smile,' 'I love the way you make me feel.' But every time he tried to form the words, his mouth wouldn't move, like his brain had a vendetta against the word love.
Rather than making sense of the phrases running through his head, Kurt brought Blaine's hand to his lips, brushing his knuckles across them gently before holding Blaine's hand to his cheek. Blaine was everything.
Blaine seemed nervous the entire afternoon leading up to the party. Kurt asked numerous times if Blaine still wanted to go, but Blaine seemed adamant on meeting his friends.
The building Rachel and Santana moved into together was in a much safer, and expensive, part of the city than the loft they had shared in Bushwick. Every time he took the elevator Kurt felt like it was going to take him all the way to the moon.
"Are you sure I look okay?" Blaine asked anxiously as they rode up the elevator alone to Rachel and Santana's apartment. He was fidgeting and pulling at the collar of his white shirt. Kurt wondered at first if he had made his costume too tight, since he purposefully made the fabric around his arms more form-fitting for obvious, selfish reasons. But the more Kurt thought about how Blaine had been acting during the week, he knew it had to be nerves.
Kurt put his hands on Blaine's waist. "You are the most handsome Luke Skywalker that has ever graced the universe. Mark Hamill probably has a bounty on you because you pull this look off better than he ever did. The glasses give it that extra touch."
Blaine blushed as Kurt continued to compliment him. "I still can't believe I'm on a date with Han Solo," Blaine commented, seeming to become more relaxed. Kurt pretended he didn't actually know Blaine listened to Star Wars fanfiction almost every night.
The elevator doors opened with a ding and Blaine pulled Kurt closer, pressing their lips together almost too roughly. "Blaine!" Kurt tried not to laugh thinking about what they must have looked like from the outside.
When Kurt pulled away Blaine tripped over his words, "We don't have to go to the party. We can go make out in a custodial room or something."
"Blaine." Kurt kissed his cheek. "It's going…" Kurt kissed his other cheek. "...to be…" Kurt kissed the tip of his nose. "...okay…" Kurt finished with a kiss on the forehead. "Now, I think we should go because there are people waiting to use the elevator." Kurt made an apologetic face at the people who had entered the elevator, who were eyeing them suspiciously.
"Oh." Blaine held tightly to Kurt's arm as they walked into the apartment, which had a wide open area in the middle. There were more people than Kurt expected, probably all from the Broadway circle. The music sounded like it was cranked to the maximum volume and nearly everyone had a drink in their hands, which made Kurt question why Rachel didn't just have the party at a nightclub.
Then Kurt understood why Blaine was so reluctant.
From the moment they stepped into Rachel and Santana's apartment people were whispering and staring. Kurt wondered why people cared so much. Blaine was blind. Why was it so important to them?
"Kurt!" Rachel ran from the older man she was talking to straight to Kurt and threw her arms around him, nearly toppling him over. "You look great," she said as she pulled away.
"So do you," he laughed, taking in her Minnie Mouse costume, complete with mouse ears.
She turned to Blaine and smiled brightly. "And this must be Blaine," she said before putting her arms around him. "I can't believe I'm finally meeting the mysterious neighbor."
Blaine seemed tense at first but then reciprocated the hug. "I didn't know that I was mysterious."
"Drinks are in the kitchen. You guys can have whatever you want."
"I guess Kurt should lead me there first," Blaine joked, holding tighter to Kurt's arm.
Rachel looked puzzled for a moment and then covered her mouth. "Oh! I mean- yeah! Totally. Hey Kurt?" Rachel asked, transferring her focus to Kurt with a forced smile. "Do you think we could talk alone for a moment?"
Once Kurt led Blaine to a couch in a less densely populated area of the apartment Rachel pulled him into a corner. "Why didn't you tell me," she whispered harshly once they were out of Blaine's hearing distance.
"Tell you what?"
"That your boyfriend...you know." She made a strange motion to her eyes, and it actually took him a few seconds to make the connection.
"I did tell you. I'm sure I told you." He must have told her, right?
"No, I would've remembered if you had told me something like that."
Maybe you were too wrapped up in your own life to remember, Kurt thought of saying. "Well would it have changed anything?"
"No, it just...caught me off-guard." She looked into Blaine's direction and tilted her head. "He's cute...and very different than the guys you usually date."
"A really, really good different."
When Kurt walked back over to Blaine he was talking to a guy in a Superman costume, who seemed to be more than acquainted with the bar.
"So what brings you here?" The guy said, rather loudly, to Blaine.
"I'm here with my boyfriend." Kurt liked hearing Blaine refer to him as his boyfriend.
"Oh." The guy looked up at Kurt, who was now standing next to the couch. "Oh."
"Hey Blaine," Kurt said, sitting down next to Blaine on the couch.
"Oh, Kurt." Blaine reached out for Kurt's hand. "This is Alex."
"It was really nice to meet you, Blaine, but I think I'm going to go." Alex gave Kurt a dirty look as he left them alone on the couch.
"What's Clark Kent's problem?" Kurt asked once the guy was out of his line of vision.
"Thank you for whatever you did. I can't stand people who think that since I'm blind they need to yell at me. My ears are perfectly fine."
"People do that?"
"Yep." Blaine seemed to want to change the subject. "So where's Rachel?"
"She went to mingle. You know, being a Broadway star."
"Take a good look because it's going to be like this when you're a famous fashion designer." Blaine rubbed the top of Kurt's hand. "So, is there anyone else I should-"
"I thought I saw you come in," said a familiar voice. Kurt looked up to find Santana standing in front of them dressed as Catwoman, a drink in each hand. "Just when I thought this party couldn't get any gayer. All you two are missing is a gay Vader."
"It's Santana," Kurt whispered into Blaine's ear.
Blaine's face immediately became more alert. Kurt had told him plenty of stories about Santana so he wouldn't be too thrown-off by her abruptness. "I'm Blaine," he said as he stood up. "Kurt's neighbor. I mean- boyfriend. I guess I'm still getting used to saying that," Blaine blushed.
Santana smirked. "And here I thought Kurt only dated models."
"Santana," Kurt gritted through his teeth.
"Lighten up, Hummel. Have a drink," she said as she held out one of the cups in her hand. Kurt took the drink from Santana, giving her an annoyed look. "I'm Santana, which I think you already know," she told Blaine as she held out the other drink. "I got you a drink."
Kurt worried that Santana hadn't figured out-like Rachel-that Blaine couldn't see since she hadn't made any jokes or comments. Although she had come a long way from being the bullying cheerleader she was during her first years of high school, she was still Santana.
Blaine reached out to Santana's general direction and she slowly guided the red cup into his hand, making sure he had a firm grasp before she let go. "It must be really convenient," Santana began, "being neighbors."
"It's nice," Blaine replied, a smile creeping across his face. "I don't have to go too far to hear his voice." Why did Blaine always have to say things that made Kurt's heart melt?
"And knowing Kurt you two probably don't get very much sleep."
Kurt almost choked on his drink.
"You see, the only thing separating our rooms was a piece of fabric and let me tell you, that does not filter out any noise. No one could sleep whenever he brought home...god, what was his name..."
"Excuse me?" Blaine said, becoming noticeably uncomfortable. Kurt wondered why he hadn't just avoided Santana the entire night. He knew he'd have to do some sort of damage control after talking to her.
As if it were fate, Rachel interrupted the conversation, smiling giddly. "Guys! You'll never guess who's here."
"Barbra Streisand," Santana said sarcastically.
"I did send her an invitation, but no." She turned to Kurt and prepared herself, looking as if she were to wait another moment she'd start screaming. "Kurt, a friend of mine is looking for a costume designer for a show he's producing. I told him all about you and he wants to meet you, like, now." She took Kurt's hand and started pulling him toward the crowd of people.
"Whoa, Rachel, slow down," Kurt laughed. He turned back to Blaine, who seemed a bit bewildered by everything that was going on. "Do you want to come with us?" He asked Blaine, touching his arm gently.
There was a moment of hesitation before his answer. "I'll be fine here. Go, become a star." Blaine found Kurt's hand and squeezed it.
"I promise I won't be long." Kurt slipped his hand out of Blaine's and followed Rachel into the other room where he hoped his future would be waiting for him.
It seemed that what a normal idea of 'won't be long' and Kurt's idea of 'won't be long' were two totally different things. Kurt chatted with the producer for what seemed like ages. The producer told him the entire premise of the show, how he envisioned the costumes, and what kind of designer he was looking for exactly.
Every time Kurt thought about going to find Blaine and bring him over, something would draw his attention away. He was nervous and didn't want to do anything that might blow his first real job opportunity, especially if that opportunity was designing for Broadway.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Kurt," the producer said, shaking Kurt's hand. "Definitely expect a call from me." He turned to Rachel and looked at his phone, "Thank you for inviting me, Rachel, it was great seeing you, but I should probably be on my way."
As soon as he was out of sight, Rachel grabbed Kurt's arms. "Oh my god, he's totally going to hire you!"
Kurt couldn't stop smiling; he may finally be able to quit his job at the coffee shop. "I can't believe..."
"We've missed you guys at the party," Santana mentioned as she walked up to him and Rachel. "Well, maybe I haven't, but someone definitely has."
"Blaine." Kurt turned back to the direction of the couch, surprised to see Blaine was no longer there.
"Some ass in a Superman costume that Berry invited kept harassing him, so I asked if he wanted me to take him over to you," Santana began, "but he didn't want to bother you. He said he wasn't feeling well, so I let him lie down in Rachel's room."
Rachel seemed momentarily offended Santana didn't ask her first. "My room?"
Kurt ignored Rachel. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask him."
Kurt knocked lightly on Rachel's door, which was slightly cracked. When no one replied, Kurt peaked in to see if Blaine was still there. What he found was Blaine sleeping on Rachel's bed, his chest slowly rising and falling as Rachel's lamp illuminated his features.
Biting his lip, Kurt debated whether or not to wake him or just go back to the party.
"Kurt?" Blaine said weakly, rubbing his eyes and beginning to sit up.
"How'd you know it was me?" Kurt asked, shutting the door behind him and leaning against the door.
Blaine gave him a goofy smile, obviously only half-awake. "Well, I obviously have super-human hearing. Like I can read minds and hear people hundreds of miles away."
"Oh, you can?" Kurt laughed, sitting down next to Blaine on the edge of Rachel's bed.
Blaine was silent for a few moments, and Kurt could tell something was off. "I'm sorry I got distracted-"
"Why didn't you tell Rachel or Santana that I'm blind?" Blaine's words cut through Kurt like a knife, because for the first time, the hurt in his voice was because of Kurt. "I could tell by the way Rachel reacted, and then Santana told me…"
Kurt stumbled over his words, still trying to figure out why he didn't tell them. "I don't know."
"Are you ashamed of me?" Tears were beginning to well in Blaine's eyes.
Kurt's heart sank fifty feet under. "No, Blaine, of course I'm not," he said undeniably.
"I know I'm not like the guys you usually date."
"You're right, you're not like the guys I usually date. All the guys I usually date are dicks and only like me because I have one. The last guy I dated asked me to marry him and then left me for a guy in California who promised him a modeling career." Kurt scooted closer to Blaine and took his hand. "You're better than all of them."
"You're so beautiful. I know you are," Blaine said, smiling as if he was doing everything he possibly could to keep the tears from falling, but they still did. "I'm scared I won't be enough."
Kurt wondered how long Blaine had felt this way. "You'll always be good enough, Blaine. Always."
Kurt lay down so they were resting side-by-side on Rachel's bed, finally reasoning with himself on why he forgot to tell Rachel and Santana that Blaine couldn't see. "I didn't tell them because I don't see you as my blind boyfriend and I never will." Kurt pressed the palm of Blaine's hand to his cheek and held it there, like if he let go it'd float away. "You happen to be blind like you happen to have two arms and two legs. There were more important things I had to tell them about you."
"Like?" Blaine grinned, rubbing the pad of his thumb against Kurt's cheek.
"Like how the ice cream you buy is probably the best in the world and I still have no idea where you get it. And like how you help kids after school for hours at a time. Like how talented you are. Things like that."
"I like those things."
They talked alone in Rachel's room for the rest of the party. Kurt told Blaine about the producer and Blaine told Kurt about Superman and how he kept trying to get Blaine to leave with him, which made Kurt, who practices nonviolence in every aspect of his life, want to beat the shit out of someone for the second time that day.
Then Blaine fell asleep, and Kurt willed Rachel not to come back as he thought about how there was nothing he'd rather do than watch him dream, because that was the one place where he knew Blaine could see.
Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear what you think of the story!