Kurt only remembered snippets of the second act of West Side Story.
He was completely overcome with joy at seeing Blaine again, and was filled with a sense of pride; here he was, watching his childhood best friend singing, dancing and acting in a Broadway theatre. He felt an urgency to talk to him, congratulate him, hug him, but it was very unlikely that Kurt would be allowed backstage. Blaine probably wouldn't remember him anyway; their fleeting friendship had only lasted just over a year, and it had been 16 years since they had seen each other.
The room seemed to shrink around Kurt, making him feel cramped, and his heart rate rocketed. He felt hot and cold at the same time. He couldn't breathe. It was so hot in here. Hadn't the Palace Theatre ever heard of air conditioning?
Kurt had to get some fresh air, clear his head and think about this properly. He mumbled an excuse of needing the toilet to Rachel and Finn before picking his way along the rest of their row. He knocked into an usher as he walked up the aisle, who scowled at him before opening the door to the foyer and standing aside to let him through.
Pacing around the carpeted room, Kurt tried to piece together what was happening. Blaine was here, in New York, performing on a Broadway stage just ten minutes from Kurt's apartment. Kurt hadn't forgotten about him – how could he? – he just hadn't thought about him lately. He used to daydream about what Blaine could be doing with his life while Kurt was teaching drama students, but he normally imagined Blaine as a flash business man with a briefcase and a Rolex.
"Are you okay, sir?" A female voice asked behind him, making Kurt jump. He turned to see a dark-skinned girl stood behind him, wringing her hands nervously. Kurt immediately recognized her as one of the Intermission girls he had seen merely twenty minutes before. Her black hair was tied up in a bun tucked under her hat, and her name badge, that was slightly tilted, read 'Mercedes'.
"I'm, er... Yes, I'm fine, thanks," Kurt replied, mustering a smile. Mercedes smiled back, but she still seemed wary of him. "I just... got a bit hot in there," he explained. "It's quite busy tonight."
"Yes, people are very excited about our new Tony. It's Blaine's first night tonight." She relaxed slightly, feeling a little more confident at having something to talk about. Kurt stiffened slightly at the mention of Blaine; he was still adjusting to the fact that Blaine was on the other side of the doors, performing to a theatre full of people.
"He's very good." Kurt stated, and the Intermission girl smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
"He is, isn't he?" She became quite animated, and began to divulge to Kurt all that she knew of the Broadway star that was Blaine Anderson. "He was in Les Mis when he was eleven, one of the children, apparently. And then he was in Wicked, he played Boq in that. That was when he was seventeen, and he did that until he was twenty. For a few years then he did no acting, but I'm not really sure why… All I know is that he spent three months in Ohio, and then disappeared again." Kurt stared at her. Blaine had gone back to Ohio? What if he had gone to find Kurt, but he'd already moved to New York? No, Kurt quickly dismissed the idea, Dad would have told me if Blaine had come looking for me. "And now he's here, with us." Mercedes continued, happily oblivious to the significance of this information to Kurt. "Have you seen him perform before?" She asked innocently, pulling Kurt back to reality.
"Erm, no," He replied, frowning. How could he not have seen Blaine perform before? "I'm afraid I haven't. We're erm, old friends. I didn't even know he was an actor." Kurt felt ashamed of himself. He had promised Blaine that they would keep in touch, and they did over the summer after he left; they sent letters, e-mails and phoned each other almost every day. But when school started again, the two boys found they had less and less time to contact each other, and they drifted apart long before Blaine got his first role at eleven years old.
"Kurt, are you okay?" Rachel ran across the foyer to where Kurt was sat, still talking to Mercedes. Both Kurt and Mercedes looked up from their conversation to see Rachel panicked and Finn following her, equally concerned.
"Hi, Rachel," Kurt smiled casually. "I'm fine. Sorry I left, but it was so busy in there and I got so hot."
"But you missed most of the second act!" Rachel retorted instead of asking Kurt if he was feeling any better.
"Well, I've seen it plenty of times, Rachel. Unless they've changed the plot, I'm pretty sure I'll be okay." Kurt replied, keeping his tone calm but also a little sarcastically. "And anyway," He continued. "I wasn't alone. This is Mercedes," Kurt gestured to Mercedes, who smiled a little sheepishly at Rachel, slightly intimidated by their first meeting. "She made sure I was okay and we've been chatting. She even shed a little light on our new Tony for me." Kurt smiled at Mercedes, and she blushed gently.
"Oh," Rachel seemed a little disappointed that Kurt appeared to have more fun in the foyer talking to an Intermission girl rather than watching the production with her and Finn. "Well, as long as you're okay, now?"
"I'm fine, Rachel." Kurt smiled in reassurance. "But I am sorry that I didn't stay for the whole production; it was celebratory of your news." Kurt stood and placed his hands on Rachel's shoulders. "Will you forgive me?" He pouted, looking into her eyes.
"Of course I will!" Rachel laughed and pulled Kurt in for a hug.
"So, Finn," Kurt started, pulling away from his embrace with Rachel and turning to her fiancé. "Did you enjoy it?"
Finn smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I really liked it. I'm sorry for being so mean about musicals before, it's just I thought they were a lot of men and women dancing around in tights and singing really cheesy songs, which it kind of was, but it was good cheesy… And the men weren't wearing tights." He looked at Kurt blankly for a split second, judging his reaction, before smiling.
Kurt laughed. "Well, as long as you enjoyed it, big guy." He patted Finn's shoulder and they both chuckled. Kurt then turned to Mercedes. "Well, thank you, Mercedes, for looking after me. And for the excellent conversation." He winked at her, referring to their discussion about Blaine, and Mercedes giggled. "And I have your number, so maybe we can meet up sometime?"
Mercedes grinned and nodded before giving Kurt a brief hug. They pulled away new friends, and waved to each other as Kurt headed out of the theatre behind Rachel and Finn.
"So," Finn declared. "Drinks?"
"Drinks!" Rachel and Kurt proclaimed happily, and the trio headed out onto the streets of New York in search of a club in which they could continue their celebrations the best way they knew how; with lots of alcohol and dancing.
Blaine was ecstatic.
Walking down the corridors that led to his dressing room, he was constantly pulled aside by the other members of the cast for congratulatory hugs and pats on the back, so that by the time he finally reached the door with his name on it he was practically glowing and his cheeks hurt from grinning.
He pushed open his door to find a slender brunette leaning against his make-up table, lazily flicking through a magazine. Blaine felt his heart beat quicken and he began to feel nervous, more nervous than he had been before the show.
"What did you think?" He asked somewhat timidly, the response to his question being more important to him than any critic's review.
The brunette looked up at him and smiled widely, green eyes sparkling with pride, admiration and love. "Blaine," he breathed. "You were fantastic!" He threw himself towards Blaine and embraced him, letting the magazine fall to the floor. Blaine stumbled backwards a few steps, but ultimately returned the hug, gently pushing the man inside his dressing room far enough for him to close the door.
"Really?" He asked, his voice muffled from speaking into the man's shoulder.
Sebastian pulled away and held Blaine at arm's length and looked directly into his deep brown eyes. "Really." He stated. "I'm so proud of you." He leant in and pressed his mouth to Blaine's tenderly, his hands gently caressing his waist. "So very proud." He whispered against Blaine's lips before kissing him again, parting his lips slightly. Blaine reacted in every way that Sebastian expected him to; he opened his lips to match Sebastian's, his hands slid up slowly from Sebastian's thighs, up his back and looped around his neck, and after a moment or two Sebastian could feel a slight pressure against his thigh. He slid a hand from Blaine's waist further down, his touch teasing and playful.
A knock on the door made them both jump. Blaine looked from the door to his boyfriend and back to the door again. "Who is it?" He called out, pulling away from Sebastian and smartening himself up.
"It's Thad." Came a voice from the other side of the door. Blaine looked over to Sebastian, who nodded curtly that it was okay. Blaine cleared his throat, went over to the door, and opened it smiling.
"My Riff!" Blaine cheered, holding him arms out wide.
"And my Tony!" Thad responded, doing the same as Blaine. They laughed and hugged each other, and Thad noticed Sebastian adjusting his hair over Blaine's shoulder. "Oh, sorry, Blainers," He pulled away, grinning. "Didn't realise you had company." He winked at Blaine, whose cheeks flushed slightly, before laughing. "Come on, B, I'm just teasing you." Thad playfully hit his shoulder, and then waved to Sebastian. "Hey, Seb." Sebastian raised his hand and smiled. "Look, the rest of the cast were thinking that, seeing as you did so amazing on your first night, we'd take you out for drinks." Thad clasped his hands together in front of him, leaving the proposition hanging in the air. "And Sebastian, of course." Thad added quickly, seeing Blaine's boyfriend shift uneasily. "What d'you say?"
Blaine, who had been looking at the floor since Thad's teasing, looked behind him to Sebastian. Sebastian had promised to take him out tonight to celebrate his opening night, but he seemed willing, even eager, for them to join Blaine's friends instead. He smiled at Blaine widely and shrugged, as if to say 'It's your choice'. Blaine turned back to Thad and grinned.
"Where are we headed?"
Kurt, Rachel and Finn walked together under the dark night sky towards Puck's, a bar owned and run by their old school friend Noah Puckerman, known by most as merely 'Puck'. Puck had come to New York years before Kurt, Rachel and Finn after his post-graduation plan to start a pool cleaning business in LA hit the fan. He came to New York and worked in a couple of bars, and when his grandfather passed away he inherited enough money to open his own club, which was now nearing its one year anniversary. It had become customary that, whenever any of them were out, Kurt, Rachel or Finn would stop by for a drink or three.
The pounding bass was audible from the other end of the block as the red neon sign above the door came into view. Rachel, Finn and Kurt entered the club and made their way towards the bar where Puck was serving/hitting on a beautiful blonde woman. Kurt and Rachel rolled their eyes at each other as they followed Finn through the crowds to the bar. Puck noticed them and raised a hand in greeting before turning back to the woman. He mumbled something to her, wearing his signature smile, and a few seconds later she handed him a piece of paper and walked away, Puck pocketing the paper.
"Another innocent girl willingly handing over her number to you Puckerman?" Finn teased as they bumped fists.
"Very willingly, Hudson," Puck replied, smirking. "Not too sure about the innocent part, though." He winked as he draped his towel over his shoulder. "Hey guys." He smiled to Rachel and Kurt. "So, what can I get you guys?"
"Something to celebrate please, Noah." Rachel replied, using her left hand to flick her hair back over her shoulder.
"Oh? What are we celebrating?" Puck asked as he got out a bottle of champagne and four glasses.
"Guess." Finn grinned. Puck stared at him for a few seconds before turning to Kurt and Rachel for an explanation. Rachel smiled sweetly and began tapping her fingers on the bar. When Puck finally got the idea and looked down at her hand, the trio laughed as he gawked at the engagement ring on her finger.
"Dude!" Puck exclaimed as he jumped over the bar and pulled Rachel and Finn into a hug. Kurt sat to the side feeling a little excluded as Finn and Rachel told Puck about the proposal. That was, until Puck came over to him, picked him up and spun him around. "Hummel!" All throughout high school, Puck had been like a brother to Kurt. He had kept him company when Finn had whisked Rachel away on another date, had comforted him at the end of his first week of teaching when Kurt felt like his students were way too much for him, and had even attempted to be Kurt's wingman on a night out to Scandals, a new gay bar in Upper Manhattan, when it had opened 8 months before. "Been back to Scandals yet?" He asked as Kurt's feet finally regained contact with the floor. Puck sat on the stool next to Kurt and poured them both a glass each of champagne, Rachel and Finn having already opened it.
"No, not yet." Kurt looked at the floor and blushed. His first and only experience in a gay bar had been memorable for all the wrong reasons. First of all, the majority of the men who came over seemed to be interested in Puck, no matter how much he tried to encourage them to talk to Kurt instead. Secondly, the one guy who came over to talk to Kurt ended up spilling his drink all over Kurt's leather trousers, making them shrink and meaning that the only way Kurt could get them off when he got back to his apartment was to very carefully cut them off. And so Kurt had returned to the comfortable routine of attending normal bars with his normal group of friends, and if there just so happened to be a guy interested in him then it was a highlight to his evening.
"Kurt, you need to get out there!" Puck proclaimed, patting Kurt roughly on the back and nearly knocking him flying off his chair. Kurt sat himself up, spluttering slightly on the sip of champagne that he had been halfway through swallowing. "Any guy would be lucky to have you, Kurt, as long as you're okay with me beating the shit out of the ones who upset you."
"And you wonder why I'm so hesitant to get myself a boyfriend!" Kurt laughed, and Puck chuckled, shaking his head.
"I mean it, though, Kurt." He turned serious and Kurt smiled at him admiringly. Puck really was the big brother he'd never had, and he often forgot the more sentimental side to him. "Y'know this would be so much easier if you were into chicks." Puck claimed, standing up and walking back around to the other side of the bar. Kurt laughed. This conversation was extremely familiar to him, as every time his love life was mentioned around Puck he always got the same thing. "My pockets are literally brimming with numbers from hot chicks who come here." He puffed his chest out proudly and Kurt giggled. "I'll be back in a sec." Puck excused himself and walked down the bar to serve, and no doubt flirt with, a group of girls who were waiting to order.
