Ohmygod I meant to upload this at seven! It's now ten to nine! I'm so sorry - I had to fill in a job application and it took me ages. Literally, fucking ages. So now I'm all stressed out and rushing putting this up. *sigh* Sorry. I'm just a bit worked up today because I've been staying up late over the past few days and not getting much sleep, and in my tired state my mother is particularly annoying!
Anyway, enjoy this chapter - there's a bit of fluff at the end :) xx
"Hey Kurt," Rory waved as Kurt headed out of his classroom. "Coming for coffee in the staffroom?" He gestured in the direction he was headed: the opposite way to which Kurt wanted to go.
"Uh, no, not today," Kurt's cheeks burnt up as he excused himself from the daily routine of the teachers congregating for coffee as they caught up on the gossip they just happened to overhear in class. Rory frowned, and so Kurt elaborated before Rory could question him. "I actually… I have a coffee date."
"A date?" If Rory had been confused before, he was completely bewildered now. "But break is only twenty minutes." Yes, and you're wasting them, Kurt bit back the temptation to say that out loud. "Where are you going to go in twenty minutes?"
"The parking lot," Kurt told him reluctantly before heading off down the hall. Just as he went to turn the corner a thought struck him. "Don't tell Rachel," He pleaded, turning back to see Rory walking away slowly. He stopped when Kurt spoke and turned to look at him. "Or anyone else," Kurt added. "I just… I don't even know if this is serious."
"Tell them what?" Rory smiled, winking at Kurt and raising a hand as he continued on his way to the staffroom.
Kurt smiled, relieved, and checked his watch; he had three minutes until the bell went for morning break but he figured that Thad would already be waiting outside for him and hurried towards the parking lot.
"How did you know my coffee order?" Kurt asked as he swallowed the first sip of his coffee that Thad had handed to him, the familiar taste of a Grande non-fat mocha as shockingly surprising as it was pleasantly recognizable.
"Actually, I had to ask Blaine about that." Thad blushed, looking down at his feet as he walked. He and Kurt were strolling together through the streets surrounding NYADA – due to Kurt's time restriction they couldn't go very far. Thad was looking positively dashing in a pair of black skinny jeans, a white button-down shirt and a navy blue cardigan with red piping around the seam and the pockets, and Kurt had to admit that he was having trouble keeping his eyes forward.
Kurt blushed. "Oh, right." His heart sank a little when he realised that Thad wasn't mysteriously talented at guessing people's coffee orders spot-on, but raced a little at the thought that Blaine did know his coffee order.
Kurt cursed himself internally for the small, awkward silence that followed; if he hadn't asked about his stupid coffee order then he and Thad would be talking like people normally did on their first dates right now.
"Can I just say that you're looking exceptional today?" Thad gushed, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink as he and Kurt began nearing the entrance to the Academy again.
"Yes, you can," Kurt blushed back; he'd never been called 'exceptional' before. He also wasn't very sure of himself when it came to the flirting thing. "You look pretty amazing yourself." Thad's eyes shone when he smiled, and he slowly took Kurt's hand in his to stop him before they reached the school's entrance again.
"I know this wasn't the most breath-taking date ever, but I never thought I could enjoy twenty minutes so much." Both boys blushed, but Kurt was caught unawares and, instead of replying, only managed to open his mouth just to close it again. "I hope I see you again," Thad whispered into Kurt's ear before pressing a light kiss to his cheek. "Bye, Kurt."
Kurt nodded silently before stuttering, "Me too." They smiled at each other, blushed and then laughed nervously, and before Kurt knew it Thad had pressed another kiss to his cheek and was walking away down the street to his car.
Kurt was still daydreaming about his date in class half an hour later, and so set his students a short essay on the importance of stage positioning to save himself the embarrassment of repeatedly trailing off when he remembered something else about Thad.
The door suddenly flew open and a very flustered Rachel appeared, causing everyone to look her way apart from the one student who had been trying to balance on one leg of his chair at the back of the class who fell to the ground with a 'thud'. After wincing slightly and making sure his student, a blonde-haired boy named Alex, was okay, Kurt turned his attention back to Rachel.
"Mr Hummel, may I speak to you in the hall for a moment?" Her voice was calm and professional, but Kurt nearly cut himself on the daggers in her eyes as she stared at him, and he knew that hers was a very rhetorical question. His class all 'ooh'-ed at his situation, one student even calling out 'Good luck, sir' before Kurt told them all to get back to their work.
"Yes?" He turned to Rachel when they were out in the hall, the door closed behind them. Kurt was stood so that he was still able to keep an eye on his class, but Rachel had other ideas. She grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall despite his protests that she was ruining his new Marc Jacobs shirt, and guided him into the staffroom, which was empty apart from one person sat alone.
Rory.
"Oh, Rory, don't tell me you told her?" Kurt whined, putting his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry, Kurt, I really am, but," Rory glanced at Rachel hesitantly before looking back to Kurt. "She's one scary woman!" He did look genuinely terrified, and Kurt's previous exasperation with him was washed away instantly and replaced with sorrow for him; having been Rachel's target for 'gossip extraction' before, he knew how petrifying Rachel Berry could be.
"Why didn't you tell me you had a date?" Rachel slapped Kurt on the arm, still glaring at him and apparently ignoring Rory's statement.
"First of all, ow." Kurt stated bluntly, rubbing his arm where Rachel had slapped him. "And second of all, because I didn't know how serious this date was going to be! It was only twenty minutes, Rachel, and I only met him yesterday."
"So?" Rachel jumped up and down, irritated that Kurt had kept it from her. "A date is a date, Kurt! And, as your best friend, I have the right to know about it." She stopped jumping and put her hands on her hips, glowering at him like a schoolgirl having a tantrum.
"Look, Rachel, the only people who knew about this were me, Blaine, Rory, and Thad-"
"His name is Thad? Ooh, he sounds nice." Rachel interrupted, dragging out the word 'nice' and fluttering her eyelashes. "Oh my God!" She stiffened slightly, and Kurt and Rory both looked at each other warily. "Don't tell me you went on a date with Thad Harwood? Blaine's cast mate? The one who plays Riff?"
Kurt stared at her open-mouthed. "How do you know that?"
"Kurt, we have three copies of the West Side Story programme," She said, as if it was the most obvious reason in the world. "How would I not know?"
"I didn't even know his last name!" Kurt cried, motioning to himself. "And I was the one who went on a date with the guy!"
"You must admit, Rachel," Rory chuckled, getting up from his chair and coming over to Kurt's side. "It is a little weird that you know that. Even if you do have three copies of the programme."
"It's not 'a little weird'-" Rachel retorted.
"No, it really is!" Kurt interrupted. "Rachel, you know I would have told you about it sooner or later, but for once I just wanted to see how it went without the pressure of you texting me every five minutes asking how it's going!"
"You do that?" Rory asked, gobsmacked, and Rachel's cheeks coloured as she averted her gaze. "Wow…" Rory trailed off, leaving the room silent.
"Can I go back to my class now?" Kurt crossed his arms, not willing to stay around any longer due to Rachel pushing on his last nerve and shattering his warm afterglow from his date with Thad. Rachel nodded quietly but didn't move, keeping her gaze towards the floor.
Kurt stalked out of the room and made his way back to his classroom, groaning in frustration. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Rory coming after him. "I really am sorry, Kurt," He said. "It's just; she kept bugging me if I knew where you were and, with neither of us teaching this lesson, the interrogation kind of went overboard and I just couldn't- She's scary, man!"
Kurt laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder. "I know she is, and I don't blame you at all." Rory let out a relieved sigh, and both of them chuckled slightly. "I guess I should be giving you a medal for standing up to her for so long!" Kurt laughed and checked his watch. "Oh jeez, I've really gotta get back to class! See you later." And with another quick pat on Rory's shoulder, Kurt hurried back into his classroom.
"Hey Kurt," Rachel said timidly as Kurt headed towards the parking lot at the end of the day. He stopped when he heard her voice, the two of them facing each other in the middle of the hall.
"Hey Rachel," Ever since their confrontation earlier in the day, Kurt had become increasingly guilty with every passing minute. He had been hoping to apologize to Rachel at lunch, but she hadn't turned up. Tina and Rory were just as clueless to her whereabouts as Kurt was, and even though Rachel would often disappear from lunch when she was having a 'diva day', today was different. Kurt imagined horrible images of her crying in the staff toilets or in her classroom, or, when he got especially concerned, her going out into the street into the path of an oncoming cab. Kurt dismissed the latter when he remembered that Rachel loved herself to do such a thing, but the first two were a very high possibility. "You weren't at lunch today." Kurt finally said, voicing his thoughts.
"I know," Rachel sighed. "I thought I'd let you… cool off a bit. I'm sorry I over-reacted," Kurt stared at her in disbelief; Rachel Berry, his diva best friend, was apologizing? This was so going in Kurt's diary later. "But you know how much I love you, and I guess I can get a little overprotective sometimes-"
"Wait, what?" Kurt had to make sure that he'd hear her correctly. "You're protective of me?"
"Yeah," Rachel nodded, a smile breaking out on her lips. "That's why I bug you so much on your dates."
"Why?" Kurt watched her, his face the image of concern and confusion.
"Because I still remember how… broken you were in high school when you were getting bullied, and I felt so terrible that I couldn't help you. And, this is going to sound incredibly morbid, but I kind of hoped that there would be a time where I could step in to make up for that-"
"So you prayed for me to be persecuted for being gay?" Kurt asked uncertainly.
"No! No, not at all! I would never wish that on anyone!" Rachel blushed. "No, I just… I don't want you to get hurt again, Kurt. And if texting you nonstop when you're on a date - or storming in on you during class - is the way to do so, then that's what I'll do." She gazed up at Kurt, both of them with tears brimming in their eyes. "You're my best friend, Kurt, and I love you."
"I love you, too, Rach," Kurt sighed, pulling Rachel in for a hug and squeezing his eyes shut to stop his tears from falling. They both held onto the other tightly, swaying slightly as they always did when they were emotional, pulling away after nearly a minute.
They both laughed when they saw the other; grimacing to stop their tears from falling, even though they were already running down their cheeks, knowing that they looked exactly the same. Wiping their eyes and cheeks with the backs of their hands, Rachel and Kurt sighed happily, still smiling.
Without saying a word, Kurt held his arm out to the side and Rachel linked her arm through it, the two of them heading out to the parking lot arm in arm.
"Give my love to Blaine," Rachel smiled, waving as she headed over to her car and Kurt headed over to his.
"I will," Kurt replied, waving return. "Give my love to Finn."
"I will!" Rachel beamed as she ducked down into her car. This had become a daily routine, now; both of them sending love for the other's roommate, or fiancé in Rachel's case. Kurt got into his car and smiled to himself; he'd fixed things with Rachel.
"Honey, I'm home!" Kurt called out light-heartedly as he shut the door to his apartment behind him, feeling a slight twinge in his heart knowing that it was just a joke, and he couldn't actually call that out and mean it. Blaine's mop of curls appeared in the doorway to the living room, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Good day?" Kurt asked as he hung his coat up.
"Yeah," Blaine padded into the kitchen. "I didn't get up 'til eleven this morning; it was awesome." Kurt chuckled at his roommate as he picked his satchel up off the floor and set it down on the table. "How was your date?" Blaine emphasized the word 'date', singling out the 't' sound as he leant over the table to get into Kurt's line of vision.
"God, two minutes in the door and you're already asking me how it went?" Kurt laughed, Blaine's heart flipping at the sound. "Anyone would think you were jealous, Blainers." This time Blaine's stomach knotted and he blushed, his cheeks burning as Kurt walked into the living room with his back to Blaine.
"N-no," Blaine stuttered, following Kurt. "I just want to know; you're two of my best friends." He sat next to Kurt on the sofa, bringing his knees up to his chest to try and hide his embarrassment slightly.
"It was fine, just coffee at break; nothing too explicit, sorry." Kurt winked and grinned, and Blaine half-heartedly returned it. Luckily, Kurt seemed to have remembered something and so didn't notice his lack of enthusiasm. "You know my coffee order." Kurt blurted, his head snapping round to look at Blaine with wide eyes.
"What?" Blaine snorted, laughing and shaking his head at his roommate's random outburst; as much as he loved Kurt, sometimes he really made no sense.
"Today… Thad- He told me you had to tell him my coffee order."
"Yeah, so?"
"You know my coffee order." Kurt repeated, staring at Blaine. "How?"
"C'mon Kurt, we've gotten coffee together before," Blaine smirked, getting up and heading out into the kitchen before he blurted out that he'd remembered Kurt's coffee order because he loved the way Kurt said it. "I'm sure you remember mine."
Kurt stared at the wall, racking his brain for Blaine's coffee order. C'mon think! Weren't you paying attention when he ordered it?
Of course I wasn't; I was too busy staring at him in all his gorgeousness.
"Uhh…"
"Kurt!" Blaine's head reappeared, still smirking. "Medium drip with cinnamon for flavour! Jeez!" He laughed, and Kurt couldn't help but join in. "I expect you to remember that next time we get coffee." Blaine pointed at him with an eyebrow raised before smiling again as he disappeared.
Kurt stared after him and released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.
Remember what?
Was that okay? I hope you liked it - I enjoyed writing it sooooo much :D
Please review - your thoughts make me happy:)
C xx
