ELLIOTT

"Hiii! Congratulations, Mister Copywriter!" Kurt let out in a high-pitched greeting as he stepped through Elliott's door, cradling a small bowl of flower shoots in his arm.

Elliott beamed a smile at him and stepped into Kurt's embrace. He knew the girls were exchanging knowing looks behind his back, but that no longer bothered him. Both Dani and Santana had quit their hints to his face, and it had made a big difference already.

"Thank you, Mister Winter-Showcase-Invité," he countered fondly.

Kurt struck a pose at the mention of his golden ticket, and then shook his head grinning. "Seriously though, your job title sounds so cool," he said. "Very Mad Men. What exactly will you be doing?"

Elliott smiled. One of his job interviews had finally come through, and he had invited his small group of friends to celebrate.

"I guess I'll find out. Not drinking bourbon at 11 in the morning, I hope. All I know is that I'll be writing online ads with limited characters like on twitter, and I figured, if I can write lyrics, I can write ads, right? I'm a performer, I know how to sell something-"

"And you're concise," Kurt added helpfully.

"Yeah. I can even sum this job up in two words: Rent. Money."

Kurt chuckled. "Well, I know you'll do great. Here." Kurt offered him the bowl.

"Isn't it a little early for daffodils?" Elliott asked.

Kurt shrugged. "Not if you keep them near your heating. I thought they were cute. They'll last longer than cut flowers too."

"I love them, thank you." Elliott hoped he could make them bloom. He was rather hopeless with plants, which was why he didn't keep any in his apartment. Maybe he could put in some extra effort for Kurt's gift. Elliott knew Kurt would be disappointed if he wouldn't see them next time he visited. He was always talking about how Blaine bought "over-bred", expensive, "flashy" plants and then failed to keep them alive because he'd forget about them. This felt like a challenge, in a roundabout way.

Elliott put them on one of the small tables by the window next to his mounted vintage microphone. Light was good, right? Kurt greeted Dani and Santana, and Elliott went back to his kitchen to fetch the chai he had been mixing.

"Hey, how are you?" Elliott heard Dani say, "Santana just told me Rachel moved out of the loft!"

Elliott looked over his shoulder just in time to see Kurt roll his eyes and drop himself between the two ladies on the couch.

"Oh boy," Kurt sighed. "You really missed something there…"

Elliott grinned. He knew what was coming, and the girls were in for a juicy story. He had already heard it first-hand just after it had happened, and once again because he was there when Kurt skyped with Mercedes. He put four small cups into one large hand and took the jar with chai into his other to carry it over to the coffee table. As he poured, Kurt had just settled back against his leather sofa and started his story.

"Okay, so it's the day after Rachel walked out on me in Belmondo's, and I hear a knock at my door. I open it, and there's these four really good-looking guys in coveralls and gloves standing there. At first I thought someone had played a prank on me and hired male strippers-"

Kurt gave Santana a stern look, and she shook her head, rubbing thumb and index finger together to signal that joke would have exceeded her budget.

"-but as it turns out, these guys are professional movers, and Mr and Mr Berry have hired them to take Rachel's stuff. And they have a list, but it's very vague, and Rachel put a lot of stuff on the list that's actually mine. So I stick around, making coffee and watching them, just to make sure they don't take any of my stuff,"

'Uh-huh', Dani teased, and Kurt admitted he also stuck around for the view,

"-when I notice one of them keeps asking me stuff, like 'how about this? is this Miss Berry's?' And it's invariably heavy stuff that he's lifting, like he's showing me what he's capable of-"

Elliott sipped his tea, enjoying all the voices and gestures Kurt made in the retelling.

"And I'm like, is this guy for real? Next, he starts bending over stuff, and I'm sort of torn between second-hand embarrassment and feeling-"

"Wanky," Santana supplied.

"Hmm-mm," Kurt confirmed, taking a sip of tea as well before delivering the punchline of his story. "Anyway, at some point, they're done, and the others are already half out the door, and then this guy comes up to me. I expect he has some sort of indecent proposal for me…"

"Did he?" Dani asked.

"No. He wanted a tip. He said Hiram Berry always gave him an extra twenty or so when he moved stuff like that at his office."

Santana let her jaw drop and gasped. "Oh my god! That's super gross! Did Mr Berry tell him to hit on you?"

Kurt shrugged. "I don't see why he would. Maybe the guy just decided to give it a shot when he saw me looking."

"Did you pay him?" Dani asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"Of course not!" Kurt let out.

"Did you get his number?" Santana asked.

Kurt sighed. "I don't even think he was gay. He just wanted to make some money."

"Don't we all," Elliott said, secretly pleased.

"So where did Rachel move on such short notice, anyway?" Dani asked. "Didn't she move in with you last time, Elliott?"

"Yeah," Elliott replied, rolling his eyes. "Remind me to grow a backbone next time."

Kurt shook his head. "Stronger-minded men than you have been pushed over by the Berry-steamroller, honey," he said, and Elliott wasn't sure if he was including himself in that group. "Women too," Kurt added. "I'm just glad Madame Tibideaux came to her senses." He picked up a cracker from a plate Elliott had put out, and popped it into his mouth, licking the tips of his fingers afterwards. It reminded Elliott of a cat. He liked cats a lot.

"Anyway," Kurt continued, "apparently the Funny Girl producer, Sidney Greene, agreed to put her up in a hotel room in Manhattan. Anything for his star." He waved his hands in the air sarcastically.

"Ugh, I should never have resigned as her understudy," Santana complained. "All it would have taken was one good kick down the stairs and all of those luxuries would have been mine." Santana looked at her friends. "Oh come on. Like she doesn't deserve that!"

Elliott noticed that no one, not even Kurt, argued with her on that.

"Why doesn't he just rent her an apartment somewhere?" Dani wondered out loud. "I'm sure that's cheaper…"

"A hotel room doesn't have a tenancy agreement," Elliott said.

"M-mm," Kurt agreed, "the moment she sets a foot wrong, she's homeless." He gave Santana a pointed look. "It all sounds very nice, but I wouldn't want to be in her position."

Santana shrugged. "Her daddies will always take her back anyway. I hear Mr Berry has the moving company on speed dial." She grinned.

Kurt pointed a finger at her. "Don't tell her about that!"

"Why not? It's too good. She's always bragging about her dads' marriage."

"It's just… none of her business," Kurt replied, and Elliott wondered if he was thinking about Blaine. He knew Rachel's dads had been something of an example for them as a couple. Finding out what Hiram was up to as a married man was probably a dire reminder of the fate Kurt had narrowly avoided.

"I am making no promises," Santana said.

Elliott quickly rose to pick up the nearly empty teapot and disperse the tension. "More tea, I think," he said, and hurried to the kitchen.

"And she really never even apologized?" Dani asked, leaning over to Kurt.

"Nope," Kurt said. "Not a single word." He shrugged. "I expect she will when she needs her next make-over, though."

Santana groaned. "Don't you dare!" she threatened.

Kurt shook his head. "I never said I'd take her back. I wouldn't mind seeing her grovel a little, though."

Elliott smiled. He liked the newfound confidence Kurt had found in standing up against his Ohio baggage, ex-boyfriend and old friends included. Being loyal was one thing- being a doormat another. Elliott took out a can of herbs and set to work on fresh chai, already feeling like his little celebration night was a success.