Kurt's second day was even better than his first for one particular reason. "So, did Paul tell you the best thing about working here?" Blaine asked.
Kurt arched an eyebrow in question.
"Free coffee."
"While we're working?" Kurt asked.
Blaine shook his head. "Always. I don't think they like to advertise it since people take advantage of me. People like me," he said with a smile.
"Well if I had known that I would've been working here years ago," Kurt said happily. "I have spent more money in this place than I'd like to admit."
"Our shifts are about to be up. Wanna grab a coffee after?" Blaine asked.
Kurt beamed and readily agreed.
And this was when Kurt began to notice that Blaine did not like to talk about himself at all. He was way too good at diverting the conversation back to Kurt. It was like when Kurt was visiting distant relatives and trying to dodge the "do you have a girlfriend" question without outright lying. But what did Blaine have to hide?
The conversations always went something like this.
"How was school?" Blaine asked.
"Hell, as always. I mean –" Kurt shook his head. "Did you go to McKinley?"
Blaine shook his head.
"Well it is pretty much hell on earth. Full of ignorant neanderthals. Where did you go to high school?"
Blaine shrugged. "I switched schools a lot. Do you have a good group of friends?"
"Yeah. I'm in my school's glee club, and that's where I made all my friends. We all get picked on, but the only openly gay kid in what feels like all of Ohio is the biggest target."
"I'm sorry, Kurt. That must be hard."
Kurt gave a sad smile. "I'm used to it. Why did you switch schools a lot?"
"Moved around a lot. Have you always lived in Lima?"
"Born and raised. You?"
"Westerville."
"Does your family live there now?"
"No. So, what made you decide to get a job here?" Blaine asked. The conversations went this way every time.
Kurt's original reason for getting this job was to experience real work before going to New York, but the job did not feel like work. All of his coworkers were great, he got free coffee, and, well, Blaine. He had been very cautious at first. He did not want to fall for another straight guy, but it was becoming increasingly less likely that Blaine was a straight. And the reason that Kurt knew this is because Blaine seemed to be interested in him. He flirted all the time. Kurt really tried to write it off as him just being nice, but that was getting harder and harder to accept.
"Can I just say that your style absolutely amazes me? How you make these uniforms look like fashion remains a mystery to me," Blaine said as Kurt was clocking in one day.
"I would share my secrets with you, but then I might not be the most fashionable employee here. I simply cannot allow that to happen."
"I understand," Blaine said then leaned over to whisper into his ear, "You are just going to have to accept that I am secretly hating you for being so damn fabulous."
Kurt knew that he was teasing, but it was hard to resist the urge to shiver when he could feel Blaine's breath on his skin. "Would you like to do something after work today?" Kurt asked as a distraction to himself.
"Always. I know this great little coffee joint you will love," Blaine joked. It had becoming a standing date that they drank coffee together after they got off when they worked similar shifts. It was free after all.
"I was actually thinking something…outside of this place?" Kurt said hesitantly.
Blaine's face suddenly became guarded. "Actually, I can't tonight. I am really busy today. I only really have time for a quick cup of coffee."
"Oh, yeah that's fine. Totally understand," Kurt said looking away. Blaine looked as though he wanted to say something else, but at that moment Paul came out of the kitchen. "Kurt, can I see your license real quick? I know I scanned it into the system on your first day, but the quality came out terrible."
Kurt pulled his wallet out his pants and, while very intentionally holding it out of Blaine's sight, he handed it to Paul.
As Paul walked into the back, Blaine arched an eyebrow at Kurt. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Kurt said feigning ignorance.
"You know exactly what. You totally don't want me to see your photo," Blaine said knowingly.
Before Kurt could respond, Paul popped his head back out. "Here you go, Kurt. Thanks!"
Before Kurt even had the chance to think about it, Kurt's license was snatched out of his hands. Kurt groaned and hid his face in his hands. "This is precious! You're adorable!"
"It's hideous. My face is pudgy and my hair is terrible. That was like two years ago."
"It's not so bad," Blaine assured feeling bad at Kurt's insecurity. "Mine is way worse I promise."
"Oh, really?" Kurt said with a smirk.
Blaine's eyes seemed to widen as he realized his mistake. "Too bad I forgot my wallet today, or I would show you."
Kurt rolled his eyes and, in a moment of boldness, reached into Blaine's pocket and pulled out his wallet.
Blaine looked incredibly alarmed. "Give it back, Kurt. I'm not joking anymore."
"Oh, so when it's my license it's a joke but for yours it's super serious?" Kurt scoffed.
Blaine angrily snatched the wallet from his hands, and Kurt stared at him open mouthed. "What the hell is your problem?"
"I just - I don't -" Blaine floundered for an explanation.
"Whatever, Blaine," Kurt said turning away from him.
"You know what? Fine!" Blaine said throwing his license on to the counter and to Kurt's surprise, stormed out of the shop.
Kurt glanced down at the license trying to figure out what the big deal was. The picture was really cute with Blaine's hair long and bushy. What caught Kurt off guard was the fact that it was a junior license. Kurt looked at the birthdate and saw that Blaine was even younger than him. But why did he lie? Kurt turned a pleased eye to his coworker Annie who had just watch these events transpire. She waved towards the door giving Kurt permission to go after him. Kurt's speed continued picking up until he was practically running out the door.
Blaine wasn't difficult to find. He was standing against the side wall of the building smoking a cigarette. "I didn't know you smoked," Kurt said in lieu of a greeting.
Blaine looked over at him and shook his head in exasperation. "I don't really. Just when I'm stressed. Helps me calm down."
"Why were you? Stressed?" Kurt asked cautiously.
"I was trying to impress you, okay?" Kurt wanted to focus on that particular piece of information, but Blaine kept talking. "Not that I would think you'd be impressed by an older guy. I just - I just didn't want you to start asking questions."
What kind of questions?" Kurt asked with a furrowed brow, more confused than ever.
"Why aren't you in school, Blaine? Why don't you live with your parents, Blaine? Why do you spend your whole goddamn life in this stupid coffee shop, Blaine? Why -" Blaine trailed off shaking his head. "It's stupid, but I just wanted to you look at me like a normal guy. Being around you makes me forget about all that complicated stuff, and I just couldn't bear to see pity in your eyes."
Kurt was dying to ask those questions now that Blaine had brought them up, but that was clearly the opposite of what Blaine wanted so he stayed quiet and waited. Luckily, he didn't have to. Blaine took a deep breath and started talking. "I've been in and out of the foster system for a long time. My mom is an addict, and my dad left when she got pregnant with my sister. I've been with a lot of families, but when I hit sixteen they stopped bothering and just started shuffling me around to different group homes."
Kurt was alarmed at how clinically Blaine talked about this. It was like he was talking about somebody else's life. "I didn't mind that so much," he went on. "It sure beats having new foster parents every few months. Eventually I got emancipated, and she gave up custody of my sister officially about six months ago. My sister – " Kurt saw the emotions breaking through for the first time at the mention of his sister. Blaine closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. "My sister," he began again, "she's living with a nice family right now. I hope she gets to stay with them, but if she doesn't...I'm going to adopt her when I turn eighteen." Blaine looked to Kurt for a reaction, but Kurt had his features schooled to simply show he was listening and not much else. "I know this seems like a lot to dump on you -"
"Blaine, no," Kurt said interrupting him for the first time.
Blaine held up his hand to silence him. "I just wanted you to know I had a good reason, so you didn't hate me. Now that I've humiliated myself I'm gonna go, okay? I need to think."
Kurt nodded. "Thank you for telling me."
Blaine gave a curt nod, kicked off the wall, and walked away.
