Chapter 64: Okay

"Kurt you should have been there. She gave it to me in Cassie's class, in front of everyone! It was unbelievable."

That got Kurt's attention. He looked up from his laptop, at the brunette flopped on his bed. "Well, it was only a matter of time, I guess. Girl-on-girl action in college is to be expected, but since when are you an exhibitionist?"

Rachel's eyebrows drew together, as she tried to follow Kurt's …. "What are you…?" Her eyes went wide, and Kurt laughed. "Oh, right, yeah, so not funny!" Rachel waved Kurt's ill-timed humour away, and jumped back into excessive mode. "Oh, My God! Kurt!" She lunged suddenly and Kurt barely had time to get his laptop closed before he was caught in an octopus hug. "Oh, my god!" Rachel bounced back to a sitting position. "I got an invitation to the Winter Showcase! Tibideaux delivered it personally."

Since the Winter Showcase was all that Rachel had talked about for the last two weeks, Kurt was more aware than he wanted to be, of the importance of the invitation. "Congratulations, Rachel!" He clasped Rachel's hand in his. "You and your voice deserve this."

Rachel actually looked modest for all of half a second. "Thank you, Kurt." Her eyes clouded with worry, and she jumped off Kurt's bed, running towards her own curtained enclosure. "Oh, my god! What am I going to sing?"

"I think that's it." Denis stretched and stood back from the computer screen. "It's done."

Kurt looked the digital design over critically. "I don't know. You sure the colour's right?"

"Kurt, it's as good as it's ever going to get." Denis dropped down onto a couch that was shoved into the corner beside a wall of printers. "It's only worth 5% of our mark. Don't make yourself crazy."

Kurt propped his feet on the computer desk, and leaned back in his chair. "You think this captures our 'personal voice'?" Kurt copied their professor's speech pattern exactly.

Denis snorted. "Personal voice!" He slid onto his back, head on the arm rest, legs stretched out along the couch. "If they wanted our 'personal voice', why did they make it a group project?" Denis turned to look over at Kurt. "And what happened to Sarah? Isn't she supposed to be here?"

"Yeah, she called. She's working on a paper that's due tomorrow. I told her we could finish this."

Denis nodded and went back to studying the ceiling, fingers tapping out a rhythm on the leather belt wrapped around his hips. Kurt stared at their design, his hand hovering over the mouse. "Maybe we should shorten the skirt?"

"No." Denis stared up at the ceiling. He didn't have to look at the computer screen; the design was printed on the inside of his eyelids. "That will just mess with the overall proportions, and we'll have to start over." He turned his head, and caught Kurt's eye. "Hit send."

Kurt hit send, and closed the program down. "If we don't get an A, you're buying the next round at Starbuck's." He stared at the dark screen, too tired to move.

"How is it possible, that in a school littered with gay guys, I haven't gotten laid since I got here?" Denis spoke to the ceiling, his voice detached and scientific.

Kurt laughed. "Yeah, you'd think the numbers alone would guarantee some action."

Denis shrugged. "So much for the Probability Theory." He turned to smile at Kurt.

Kurt looked at Denis and saw a tired, stressed, student. He saw a friend with a toned body, and long dark hair, longer than Kurt had ever seen on a boy in Lima, that's for sure. Now that he was looking, Kurt saw expressive topaz eyes, set in thick black lashes. He read the awareness in Denis's eyes and was surprised to feel his body tighten in response. He had never expected to feel a sexual response for anyone, anyone who wasn't Nigel. As he considered the man across from him, Nigel's words rang clear in his mind. "Kurt, I want you to be a freshman next year, with everything that the term implies; open to every new experience. I don't want you limiting yourself because of me."

Nigel's permission aside, did he want to do this? Did he want to do this with Denis? Kurt's mind debated the question, but his body took a major detour around the issue, and braked under the sign that read, YES!

Denis tilted his head, and held his hand out to Kurt. "Oui?"

Decision made, Kurt dropped his feet to the floor, and crossed the room to Denis. He stood beside the couch, and slid his hand into his friend's. "Oui."

Kurt pulled his gloves on as he walked to the subway from Denis's place. He snagged a seat beside the only late night denizen that didn't look like a potential serial killer. Swaying with the lurch of the train, he thought about Denis, and he thought about Nigel. Denis was a friend, who Kurt was comfortable getting naked with. Nigel was his life. It was really very simple.

"How was the birthday dinner?" Kurt sat cross-legged on his bed, and smiled at Nigel.

"Okay. We went to that Sushi place near the office. Sharon had too much Saki, so I drove her home. Just got in." The screen image shifted as Nigel got comfortable. "Did you finish that project?"

Kurt nodded. "Finally! I don't know how good it is, but it's done. Denis and I worked on it tonight. Sarah had to finish a paper for Fashion Marketing."

Kurt looked into the screen and wished that Nigel was more than a computer image. Of course, if Nigel were actually here, Denis and he wouldn't have had a thing, and he wouldn't have to tell his boyfriend anything. "Nigel, I hooked up with someone tonight."

Nigel didn't react. He didn't react because even though the words vibrated in the air around his head, they refused to translate into anything meaningful. He stared into the screen, and said nothing. It was almost impossible to talk, when you couldn't breathe.

"Nigel?"

It was the worry in Kurt's voice that snapped Nigel back into the land of the thinking. Kurt had been with someone, and since Kurt really wasn't the type to get up close and personal with a stranger…

Really? Isn't that exactly what he did with you? Nigel frowned, outraged that the voice in his head dared to criticize his Kurt. He turned on the hater in his mind. That was an anomaly. He was angry and hurt at the way Blaine was jerking him around. The hater backed down, but he wouldn't admit defeat. Sure, if that's what you want to tell yourself. Nigel faced his hidden insecurity and vanquished it. That's what I know!

… so it must be someone he knows, someone he likes enough to… "It was Denis, right, your lab partner, the French Canadian student?"

"Yes." Kurt shrugged. "He's just a friend."

Nigel looked into the eyes he loved, and wanted to drag Kurt right through the screen. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Kurt's eyes looked away, as he thought about that. He nodded slowly, and searched his boyfriend's eyes. "I think so, yes. But not like this, not over a computer. When we're together and I'm holding you, then yes."

Warmth seeped through the ice in Nigel's veins, and he started to breathe again. "So, we're going to be together?"

Kurt's hand reached out to touch the screen, his face tender. "Never doubt it."

Nigel tried to read Kurt's eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Nigel, we didn't do anything that needed condoms." Kurt locked eyes with his lover. "He's not you."