Can I just hug you all? I pretty much flailed the house down when I logged on this morning and saw that people actually read the first chapter and that some of you actually took the time to review and add this to your watch list. Thank you so much!
Also, I forgot to mention at the start of the first chapter, but if you have a Tumblr and want to find me there, I'm the same username (functionaloptimist)! :)
Blaine and Kurt are only in this episode very briefly (when Mercedes is still having her ridiculous "tots" arc... I can't even believe that happened. COME ON, GLEE. REALLY?). So, most of this is new stuff... Blaine and Kurt hanging out (we know they were hanging out during the time-frame of this episode – Kurt says so more than once!) And things get serious at the end...
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters, dialogue, or songs from the show. It's all just for fun!)
KURT
"So," Kurt asked, pleased for an excuse to examine Blaine's attire in detail, "what do you wear when you're not in uniform?"
"I don't own any other clothes," Blaine said seriously, brushing off his Dalton blazer. "We represent Dalton even when we're not at school, so we're expected to wear our uniform at all times."
Kurt's narrowed his eyes, and Blaine laughed. "I'm kidding!" he assured, "I just didn't want to waste time going home to change before I came."
Kurt giggled and took a sip of his coffee. They had come to the local coffee shop – the Lima Bean – and Blaine, as the coffee expert between the two of them, had immediately chugged down nearly half of his drink because it tasted so good. After he took a moment to cool his burning mouth, Blaine had pronounced that they would definitely have to come back again. Kurt had tried to argue; they were significantly closer to his house than Blaine's, but Blaine had insisted.
Kurt didn't mind. This was their first meeting that had no purpose other than the progression of their friendship. And Blaine was already talking about future meetings.
They had texted back and forth for a few days after Blaine had come to McKinley to help Kurt confront Karofsky, but their schedules had kept them busy through the weekend. When Blaine had suggested coffee on Tuesday after school, Kurt had spent ten minutes composing and re-composing his acceptance text message.
"How's glee club?" Blaine's voice brought Kurt out of his memory.
"Oh my gosh," Kurt gushed, bouncing slightly in his chair, "we've got a substitute, and she is amazing."
Blaine leaned forward a little, interested. "Yeah?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure our normal director – Mr. Schuester – hasn't listened to the radio since the 80s. So, we're kinda stuck there most of the time. Musically, anyway. But this week we got to do Cee Lo's new song, and it was amazing."
Blaine almost choked on his coffee. "She let you–"
"No!" Kurt interrupted with a smirk, "Nothing but the cleanest of lyrics at William McKinley!"
They both laughed for a moment before Kurt continued. "It's just been fun to let loose a little."
BLAINE
"The Warblers never let loose," Blaine smiled. "But I kind of like it. It's... comfortable."
"I bet," Kurt teased. "Being a rock star sounds fabulous."
"Is it really that bad at your school?" Blaine asked, confused. "I mean, you seem to really like being in New Directions."
"Oh, I love glee club," Kurt confirmed, "although sometimes I could do with a little less drama and a few more solos. But getting a slushie facial at least once a week is bad for my complexion."
"Slushie facial?" Blaine raised an eyebrow.
"Imagine getting punched in the face by an artificially-colored iceberg," Kurt sighed.
"Why would you put a slushie on your face?" Blaine frowned.
"Oh god," Kurt's eyes twinkled, "We don't put them on our faces. They get thrown in our faces."
Blaine put his coffee down for a moment to consider a slushie facial. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like.
"Why would someone do that to you?" He finally asked, furrowing his brow.
"Because they're jerks, I guess," Kurt said with a shrug.
"That's horrible," Blaine said sincerely.
"What was the glee club like at your old school?" Kurt asked. "Before you became a rock star, I mean." He winked.
"I wasn't in the glee club at my old school," Blaine said reluctantly. "I did the school musical my sophomore year, though."
"Let me guess..." Kurt analyzed Blaine's face for a moment, "...Link in Hairspray?"
"Danny in Grease," Blaine corrected with a grin. "I have a sneaking suspicion that the only reason we did it in the first place was because the teacher in charge had quite the crush on John Travolta."
Kurt looked completely distracted for a moment, and Blaine took the opportunity to change the subject. "Speaking of musicals," he said, "do you like Rent?"
"Is that a legitimate question?" Kurt pretended to be offended.
Blaine rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Well, they're performing it at the community theater on Friday night. Do you want to go?"
"Let me just clarify something about myself," Kurt said primly. "If I ever decline an invitation to a musical, there's something seriously wrong with me and I should be hospitalized. Immediately."
Blaine smiled. "Okay, then. It's a date."
Kurt beamed at him from across the table, and Blaine nonchalantly changed the subject to things not relating to high school and his old life.
KURT
"I'm just saying that drunk people who get married to someone they met an hour ago by an Elvis impersonator... I mean, that's a bigger insult to marriage than two gay guys getting hitched." Kurt said, exasperated.
"Totally," Blaine agreed enthusiastically. "It's like, if marriage is so sacred, they should just outlaw divorce."
As Kurt voiced his approval, Blaine turned to the third person at their table. "What do you think, Mercedes?"
Mercedes clearly hadn't been paying attention. "Oh, about Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" she asked.
"No, we're on Prop 8 now," Kurt corrected.
Mercedes nodded. "Totally for it!"
"Against it," Kurt corrected again, and Mercedes looked embarrassed. "Right. I'm sorry, I kinda just blanked out."
"No, don't apologize," Blaine said quickly, motioning across the table at her, "We should talk about stuff that you're interested in too."
"I know! Let's play a game," Kurt said immediately, "On the count of three, name your favorite 2010 Vogue cover. Ready? One, two, three!"
Blaine and Kurt had the same answer. "Marion Cotillard!"
"Yes!" Kurt clapped his hands.
"Oh my god, stop it!" Blaine laughed, and both he and Kurt took a moment to agree on their love for the French actress.
"Anyway," Blaine turned his attention to Mercedes, "do you like the Buckeyes? Sometimes I'm convinced that my dad only bleeds red because he's such a huge fan... and I've inherited some of that, I guess!" He rolled his eyes playfully. When Mercedes didn't answer – she was staring at them, but was clearly not really seeing them or hearing what Blaine was saying – Kurt frowned.
"Mercedes?" Kurt tried to get her attention, "Mercedes?"
She seemed to hear him on the second try, and she looked momentarily confused as she refocused on the two boys.
"I was just talking about the Buckeyes," Blaine repeated the subject, "I'm a college football fan. I like sports too, you know."
"Oh, way to break the stereotype," Kurt applauded with a giggle.
Kurt held his hand up, palm forward, and Blaine gave him a high five.
Mercedes suddenly stopped their waiter. As she asked for tots, Kurt felt a mix of emotions. Mercedes was one of his closest friends, and he felt a twinge of guilt as he admitted to himself that she had been getting on his nerves a little bit all week. He knew that he was spending lots of time with Blaine, but he had never felt more comfortable with anyone in his life. He wished that Mercedes understood. On an impulse earlier in the day, Kurt had arranged this little meeting with his old friend and his new friend, hoping that interaction between the two would make Mercedes feel better about the whole situation.
Kurt knew what it felt like to be lonely. He felt like he could take on the entire universe when he was with Blaine, but he knew that he would not soon forget the feeling of loneliness that had started to consume him in the months before he met his new friend. Sometimes he still felt it late at night when he was lying in bed. He wanted to call Mercedes out for being obsessed with the food, but part of him understood why she was acting this way. He decided to ignore it.
BLAINE
"So, what were we talking about?" Mercedes said happily.
"Has anyone read Patti LuPone's new book?" Kurt asked, mimicking her suddenly upbeat attitude.
Mercedes said nothing, and Blaine teased Kurt for a moment by feigning uncertainty. He could feel Kurt starting at him, and he couldn't keep up the charade. "I'm kidding, of course I have!"
"Okay, good!" Kurt put his hand on Blaine's arm for a moment, "You scared me so much there!"
Both boys laughed, and Blaine caught sight of Mercedes' face. She was feeling left out again.
"So, Mercedes," he decided to turn the conversation to Kurt's friend, "Kurt tells me you have quite a voice."
Mercedes smiled one of her first truly happy smiles of the evening. "I don't know," she pretended to be modest.
"Oh, please," Kurt scolded. He turned to Blaine. "She's amazing."
Mercedes shifted happily in her seat, and Blaine watched as a smile passed between her and Kurt. It made him feel good to know that Kurt had a friend at McKinley.
"Do you two ever sing together?" he asked.
"No!" Kurt squealed immediately, and Blaine turned to frown at him in confusion as Mercedes giggled into her napkin. "I mean," Kurt recovered, "Mr. Schu usually sets up the duets, and we've never been paired together."
"Huh," Blaine acknowledged.
"So, Mr. Private School," Mercedes smirked, "speaking of singing... you and your boys ready to be crushed at Sectionals?"
Blaine matched her playful tone. "I wouldn't be so confident. Show choir judges have a thing for uniforms." He straightened his blazer.
"I'll tell you what," Mercedes countered, putting on her best diva demeanor, "I'm gonna win a solo for this competition, and then I'll show you what show choir judges have a thing for."
They all laughed, and the trio spent the remainder of the evening eating Mercedes' tots and chatting about dream duets and competition set lists. By the end of the night, when Blaine was driving back to Westerville, he realized that he hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.
KURT
The next day, Kurt was standing at his locker considering the direction of his friendship with Mercedes when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. He spun around to see Karofsky glaring at him.
"Question for you," Karofsky said roughly. He looked around for a moment to make sure nobody else was listening, "You tell anyone else what happened? How you... kissed me?"
Kurt still had anxiety about Karofsky, but with Blaine's encouragement he was starting to think that maybe he could handle it. "You kissed me, Karofsky," he corrected, "and I understand how hard this is for you to deal with. So, no. I haven't told anyone."
It was a decision he had made the night after Karofsky had kissed him. He would not drag the other boy out of the closet. Other than Blaine, who had sworn that he would also keep the secret, Kurt had not told anyone. And he did not plan to.
"Good, you keep it that way," Karofsky said seriously, and Kurt felt his first real sense of fear since the taller boy had started the conversation. Kurt stared at the football player as he leaned in to make sure that Kurt understood his next words.
"Because if you do, I'm gonna kill you."
Kurt felt his body go cold as Karofsky leaned forward even more and gave a small nod of confirmation before walking away without another word.
BLAINE
"That was amazing!" Kurt was practically skipping as they exited the theater, but he skidded to a stop by the door.
It was pouring rain.
"Oh," Blaine said as he came up behind Kurt. He turned to the well-dressed young man. "Want to run for it?"
Kurt hesitated and looked down at what he was wearing. Blaine laughed. "Okay," he said, "I'll get the car and come get you."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I am such a diva," he whined.
"But a lovable diva," Blaine teased, pulling his jacked up to cover his head. "I'll be right back!"
He ran across the parking lot and jumped into his car. He tossed his wet jacket into the back seat, checked the status of his hair in the visor mirror, and smiled to himself as he looked at Kurt – still stationed by the door, as far underneath the awning as he could possibly stand –across the rainy parking lot. He loved hanging out with Kurt. With a sigh of contentment, he started the car and drove to pick Kurt up.
"Thanks," Kurt huffed as he slammed the door behind him.
"No problem," Blaine smiled brightly. "So, you liked it?" he motioned at the theater building.
"Are you kidding?" Kurt clapped his hands together once. "It was perfect!"
"Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes," Blaine sang playfully. Kurt laughed, and Blaine thought this might be the most relaxed he'd seen the young man since they met.
"I want to hear you sing," Blaine continued brightly. "You've told me all about glee club and I know how much you love musicals, but I've never heard your voice. You've heard mine, so it only seems fair." He winked at the other boy.
Kurt straightened his shirt furiously. "I can't just sing right here!" He motioned to their surroundings with dismay.
"Yes, you can!" Blaine encouraged. "We could turn on the radio or something if you want some music..."
"I'm not even warmed up," Kurt moaned.
Blaine giggled at his companion's hesitation. "Oh, come on," he said lightheartedly, "It's not going to kill you!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine saw Kurt's hand freeze by his forehead where he was reaching up to fix his hair.
"Kurt?" Blaine asked, turning briefly to look at the slim young man beside him. Kurt quickly lowered his hand and sat up straight. His face was like a statue.
"Kurt," Blaine repeated, but this time it was not a question. He glanced at Kurt again, and he could see tears in his new friend's eyes.
"Kurt," he stressed a third time, trying to break Kurt out of his silence, "what's wrong?"
Kurt took a deep breath, but said nothing. Blaine could tell that he would cry if he spoke, so he decided to give Kurt a moment while he found a place to stop the car. He wanted to focus all of his attention on the other boy, not on keeping the car on the road.
They passed a small shopping center, and Blaine pulled into the nearly-empty parking lot. Once the car was safely parked under a streetlight, he turned to face Kurt. The rain pounded on the car, and the pattern of the water on the windows cast moving shadows on Kurt's face.
"Did Karofsky do something?" Blaine guessed, feeling anger swell inside him. Part of him understood why he was so protective of his new friend; Kurt's situation reminded him of the events that had led to his escape from public school and into the safe haven that was Dalton Academy. He wanted to help save Kurt from the kind of regret that he felt every day when he put on his uniform. But part of him wasn't sure why he felt so strongly. Any time he thought about what Kurt was going through at McKinley, he wanted to personally throttle Dave Karofsky.
Kurt sighed deeply and shook his head no. "He didn't," Kurt said quietly, "but he threatened."
Blaine felt the sudden urge to reach over and grab Kurt's hand, but he resisted. "What did he say?" he asked quietly.
"He said he'd kill me if I told anyone." Kurt said emotionlessly.
Blaine felt a surge of rage and fear, and he couldn't speak for a moment. When he finally got control of himself, he reached out to briefly touch Kurt's shoulder. "Kurt, you have to tell someone."
"No!" Kurt said quickly, turning to face Blaine. "No," he repeated firmly.
Blaine matched his seriousness. "You don't know what he's capable of."
"Neither do you," Kurt retorted.
"That's true," Blaine admitted, trying to remain calm – he could sense that Kurt was starting to get agitated, "but Kurt, he threatened to kill you."
Kurt was silent. Blaine could see the tears in his eyes again, so he decided to continue rather than wait for a response. "Please," Blaine said softly, "I'm not going to force you to do anything, but please think about it. Think about telling someone."
Kurt said nothing.
"Promise me, Kurt," Blaine pleaded, "please at least promise me that you'll think about it."
Kurt nodded, focusing anywhere but on Blaine. Blaine sighed deeply, and Kurt spoke suddenly in a voice so soft that Blaine could hardly hear him. "Please, don't say anything."
Blaine rubbed his face in frustration. "I won't tell anyone," he confirmed reluctantly. He wanted to press the issue further. He wanted to tell Kurt about the physical violence that he had endured at the hands of bullies at his first high school. But he didn't want to put the fear of physical violence into Kurt's mind. He knew that Kurt probably thought about it – what Karofsky had done was physically violent – but Blaine didn't want Kurt to have to carry the fear for both of them.
"I'm a broken record," Kurt said quietly, "but thank you so much."
"You're not a broken anything," Blaine said firmly, "but you're welcome."
So... how does everyone feel about this so far? If you've got ideas – things you don't think were explained well on the show, little things you wish had happened between Kurt & Blaine, or things you imagine they were thinking in a particular scene – let me know on Tumblr (I'm the same username there!)! I am not promising to use all of your ideas, but the whole point of this is to bring to life the things we wish had happened, so don't be shy!
Next chapter/episode will be up tomorrow! :)