Author's Note: I'm baaaacccckkkkkk! Did ya miss me? Hey everybody! I know its been forever but that was told to be expected. My friend is doing a bit better, so that's fantastic! Volleyball is done and so if golf so I have a billion times more time to write. I'm not sure I liked this chapter. It's not super long but I felt like I need to get something up here again. Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll. Be careful if you guys are traveling.
I leaned against the door way to Kurt's room and smiled. It was a little after 8 and church started at 10. Kurt being Kurt he would need that long to get ready. "Kurt!" I yelled flopping on the bed next to him. He wrapped his arm around my neck and pinned me to the bed. "Hey, let me up. We gotta get goin'!" I squirmed. "No. I want to stay in bed forever. You have to stay with me too." Kurt mumbled. "We can sleep after church I promise. But you gotta go ready." I said slipping out of his grasp and crawling off the bed. "Come baacck." Kurt whined. "Nope. I'm gonna go get dressed and let's hope you're up when I get back. You wouldn't want to look tired on your first day of church would you?" I teased. Kurt shot me a dirty look and tried to hide the grin on his face.
I lay on my bed for a while. Was I scared? Shit less. I'd never gone to a new church before. I didn't know anything about this place. I knew its location and tiny description it gave online, that was it. I looked over and check my clock. 9:08. I slowly rolled off the bed and walk across the room. I reached into the back of my closet and grabbed a black mass and tossed it onto the bed. My suit. It'd been ages since I'd worn it. I pulled out my dress shirt and buttoned it up and tucked it into my pants.
I was just knotting my tie when the door creaked open behind me. Kurt stood behind me grinning.
"What?"
He walked up behind me and rested him chin on my shoulder. "I missed your suit." He smiled.
"Well trust me, I definitely didn't." I said pulling at the collar of my dress shirt.
"Let me do your tie." Kurt said reaching for the loose tie hanging around my neck. I watched Kurt's hands loop my tie and pull it tight. He leaned forward and pressed his lips softly to mine. "I love you." He whispered. "I love you too Kurt." I smiled and pulled away. "Let's go get breakfast." Kurt said grabbing my hand and leading me out if the room.
Burt was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee when we walked in. "Good morning Dad." Kurt smiled grabbing mugs from the cabinet. I sank into a kitchen chair across from Burt and grabbed the sports section of the paper. Kurt set two cups of coffee on the table and sat next to Burt. His light blue much was full of tan cappuccino and my orange U of I mug was brimming with dark black coffee. Carole got me this mug a few days after I moved in, a welcoming present she said. "You guys headed out pretty so?" Burt asked looking over the top of the news paper. Kurt glanced at his watch. "Um yeah, here in a few minutes." "What time you think you'll be back?" Kurt looked at me and I shrugged, "Like noon maybe?" "Alright, just be careful okay?" Burt sighed. "We will Dad. You don't need to worry." Kurt smiled.
I grabbed Kurt's mug from him and set it in the sink. "Ready?" he asked. I nodded and let him grab my hand. "Bye Burt." I said. "Bye boys." I reached and grabbed my keys from the entry way walked out the door. Kurt shut the door behind him and slipped his hand into mine as we walked to the truck. I walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for Kurt. "Thank you babe." he said pecking me on the cheek. I shut the door firmly and climbed into the driver's seat.
As we turned out the neighborhood Kurt reached over and pushed a strand of hair away from my eyes. I smiled and reached my hand across the middle seat and Kurt grasped it. "I love you honey." Kurt said with his lips pressed against the back of my hand. "Love you too Kurt." I sighed.
"You're shaking." Kurt said closing his other hand over our joined ones. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." I nodded.
"I know you'll be fine. But are you okay now?"
"I'm nervous, but yeah I'm okay."
"You don't need to be scared, I'm here." Kurt smiled.
"I'm not scared!" I shouted. I felt Kurt's hands let go of mine and he leaned away. I turned into the church lot and parked alongside a fancy silver car. I pulled my keys out of the ignition and looked at Kurt. There was the look. God I hate that look. The look that is scared, and angry, and worried, and disappointed all at the same time. "I'm sorry." I whispered and ran my fingers through my hair. "It's not a bad thing to be scared Blaine." Kurt whispered. I just shook my head. "Hey, will you look at me?" Kurt said reaching and cupping his hand around my cheek. Goosebumps rose from the feel of Kurt's touch. I glanced up at Kurt. "You're allowed to be scared, you know that right?" he asked. "I don't like to show it if I'm scared. You know that Kurt." I sighed. "I know, but I wish you would. I like it went you let me in, ya know?" Kurt smiled slightly and ran his hand across hair. "I know." I whispered.
"Let's get inside, okay?" Kurt said pressing a kiss to my lips. I tossed the keys in the seat and climbed out of the truck. "Um, Blaine?" Kurt said. "What?" "You may want to lock the truck, not saying anybody would want to seat this thing. But I've seen a bum eating an orange peel out of a dumpster so….." Kurt trailed off. I reached back into the truck and grabbed my keys and pressed down the sliver knob. Kurt walked around and grabbed my hand and led me into the church.
It didn't look like a church, not really. The building itself looked like it was just another house. Except for the sign and the big cross over the door. The inside was painted beige and had dark hard wood floors. There weren't very many pews, the ones that sat on either side of the aisle were dark wood too and upholstered in maroon cloth. In the front there was a raised platform with a podium and a cross. A set of stairs were off to the right that lead to an upstairs and another that went to a basement. Best all; there was a microphone, guitar, bass, and drum set sitting center stage. There weren't many people there. Most were milling around talking to the other parishioners.
"Hey guys, good to see you two!" I turned around to see Nick stand next to Kurt. "Hello Nick. It's nice to see you again too." Kurt smiled. "You guys definitely dressed up." he laughed. "Hu?" I said. I looked around to see that not one other person had on a suit or even a tie. Nick had on jeans and a polo shirt. "You guys don't have to dress up to come to church." Nick smiled. "Sorry, we just figured I guess." I said not looking up from the floor. "Hey, it's alright man." he said patting my shoulder and walking to the front of the church.
Kurt took my hand again and led me to a pew in the middle of the church. He wrapped his arm around my waist and gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded and looked to front of the church. An older man who looked sort of like Nick was standing at the podium.
"Good morning everybody!" he greeted cheerfully. "Good morning." everybody else shouted back. I sat back and listened to the way the preached. I came back to listening once I heard everybody start to stand up. Kurt had dropped his arm off my waist and was leafing through a hymnal. When the first few chords rang out and smiled and turned to Kurt quickly. He just nodded and smiled. "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." I reach around and wrapped my arm around Kurt's waist. "I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see." I could feel tears welling in the corners of my eyes. I watched all the little kids race up stairs to the Sunday School classes. I could feel my heart twinge with homesickness. So may days I had taught and attended Sunday School in church basements. I missed the colorful walls with Noah's Ark wall paper and the tiny chairs and tables. I shook the memories out of my head and turned my attention back to the preacher.
"Thank you all for coming today. As usual, there's coffee and donuts down stairs.. Everybody is welcome to come and hang out. Have a wonderful week. Also if anybody is interested we would love to have somebody sing some Sunday." he said and stepped off the platform.
I looked over at Kurt who was already looking at me. "Well?" he asked. "I love it." I exhaled with a shaky laugh. Kurt wrapped his arm around my neck and buried his nose in my hair. "I love you." he laughed. "Love you too Kurt." I grinned.
"Excuse me." A male voice said from the pew in front of us. We pulled away quickly in fear of it being an angry parishioner. But we were wrong; two elderly men sat in front of us with smiles on their faces. "You don't have to be for fretful, we aren't angry. It's just been so long since we've see a couple that reminds us, well reminds us of us." The man in the bow tie said. Both men seemed to prefer to dress up for church much like myself. "I'm sorry? I don't understand." Kurt said. "You two remind us of Frankie and me when we were younger, much younger. So very in love, you can hardly stand to be apart for a moment." The man with the plaid tweed jacket smiled. "So you two are a couple?" Kurt smiled. "I'm Franklin and this is William." the bow tied man said. "Will please, William makes me sound like an old man." Will laughed.
"It's lovely to meet you two." Kurt grinned and stuck out his hand. Both men shook it and looked at me. I was frozen; I don't know what the heck was wrong with me. I couldn't see to make my hands move or my mouth form word. "I'm Kurt and this is…." Kurt said waiting for me to introduce myself. He rested his and on the small of my back and patted it. "Blaine Anderson sir." I said weakly. "Are you coming to coffee?" Frankie asked. I could feel Kurt looking down at me. "Yeah." I nodded sitting up straighter and actually looking Franklin and Will in the eyes. Kurt and I followed them down the stair case, both of us hand in hand.
Frankie and Will were greeted with smiles, hugs, and handshakes. We were given smiles and welcomes. We all grabbed coffees and were led by the older couple to a rounded table near the back of the basement.
None of us said anything for a minute. We sat sipping hot coffee and me picking at the edge of a glazed donuts. Will was the first to speak. "So what's your story?" he simply asked. I saw Frankie elbow him out of the corner of my eye. It made me smile a bit; they still acted like they were 16. I hoped Kurt and I were like that when we were old. "We'll its really more Blaine's story to tell." Kurt said resting his hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to explain anything son, it's up to you." Frankie said. "I'll tell you. Just give me a minute." I sighed. Kurt laid his hand out on the table and motioned for me to grab it. I grasped it tightly and focused on Kurt's smooth thumb brushing over my rough knuckle. "I was lucky, I never thought I'd say that again, but I was lucky to meet Kurt. He changed my life. I lost almost everything because he made me happy. But that's okay, because I gained my future my meeting him….."
We sat for almost two full hours in that church basement. Styrofoam cups sat stacked together at the edge of the table emptied of their coffee hours ago. "So we came here, to Chicago." I said finishing my story. Kurt reached over and wiped a stray tear for my cheek. I grabbed his hand and held it close to my face. Will was leaned against Franklin's shoulder and their hands were joined on the table top.
"Oh Blaine." Frankie whispered. "I know, it don't seem real." I sighed. "Doesn't, it doesn't seem real." Kurt corrected. I let out a shaky laugh and Will and Frankie laughed along with me. "Grammar Nazi." I teased. Kurt rolled his eyes. "So, what's your story?" I asked.
Will and Frankie looked at each other and nodded. "Next Sunday. That's a story for next Sunday." Frankie said. We threw away our cups and walked to the front doors together. I stuck my hand out for Frankie and Will, but instead I found myself and Kurt being pulled into a hug. We let go and went our separate ways.
"Wow." I sighed once we had climbed into the truck. "That was amazing." Kurt said. "It felt good, ya know, to talk about what's happening." I smiled looking at Kurt. "I know what you mean. Bottling it up just makes it worse, I learned that the hard way." Kurt sighed. "What time is it? I told my mom I would call her around two." I said turning onto Kurt's street. Kurt pushed his sleeve back and to look at his watch. "Shit." he muttered under his breath. "It's almost two thirty." he laughed. "Seriously, we sat for like 3 hours then." I smiled looking at Kurt. "Is it sad that our only church friends are an elderly gay couple that act like teen agers?" Kurt frowned. "So you noticed that too." I laughed.