ELLIOTT
"Trendy christmas sweaters for this season- ugh. No. They're not trendy at all. No one who buys these actually want to be trendy. Get your christmas spirit on with these fine-as-jingle-bells sweaters by– Nope. Too corny," Elliott muttered, erasing what he had just written. As it turned out, writing online ads- ones that described a product as well as enticed people to click on them- sounded easier than it was. Especially if you were writing them for clothing that was so hideous you wouldn't want to gift it to your worst enemy.
Elliott sat back in his cubicle and let his thoughts wander. Naturally, they wandered to Kurt. Kurt would know what to write. Or, failing that, he'd know what to say about those sweaters to cheer Elliott up. He grinned, took out his phone, and sent Kurt a link.
When there was no direct reply, he checked the clock and realized Kurt was probably still at his Pinocchio audition. Elliott sighed. He couldn't help but feel like a slacker when he looked at everything Kurt was doing. Sure, Elliott had had midterms too, and he worked hard on them, and now he had this one job- but he didn't have an internship and (possibly) a theatre show on top. He almost felt guilty for taking up so much of Kurt's spare time, with his storage problems and the band.
With that thought, he couldn't help but think about the last time they had talked about One Three Hill.
Kurt lay on his back on the couch. The girls had left hours ago, but Kurt had stayed and Elliott was loathe to send him out, despite having to get up early. They had stopped talking a while ago and were just listening to music instead, a comfortable silence between them. Suddenly, out the blue, Kurt remarked:
"You know, you could have just moved in with me."
Elliott turned from where he was seated on the floor, leaning against the couch, and looked at him. "And stay in Rachel's room?" he asked, not sure if he had understood correctly.
"Yeah," Kurt said, still looking up. "I have all this space, and I'm not really doing anything with it."
He sounded casual. Elliott didn't think there was any agenda behind it. He wasn't offering a place in his bed, just in his loft. "I like this place, though," Elliott said. "Maybe you should move in with me. You spend a lot of time here already, anyway." He held his breath a little.
Kurt rolled over to face him. "Do you want me to go home?" he asked.
"No! No, that's not what I meant!" Elliott said quickly. "I just- I like you being here. I… I wouldn't mind if you were here all the time. That's what I meant."
Kurt smiled and turned on his back again. "I live closer to NYADA though. And you only have one bedroom."
"Hmmm."
Elliott waited for a reaction from Kurt. Something to tell him where to go from here. Should he stop, should he wait some more for Kurt to decide what he wanted? Or was this the moment the girls had been pushing for? The silence was killing him.
"We could also use Rachel's old room as a band rehearsal room," Elliott offered to fill the silence. "That way we won't have to pack up all of our our stuff every time. I could leave my amp and my microphones at your place, and maybe the keyboard and the guitars, and Dani wouldn't need to drag her stuff all over town either- and you already have all of our sheet music and the microphone stands. An actual band room. Wouldn't it be cool if One Three Hill had a postal address to send fanmail to? Maybe we could even put in a temporary wall and isolate it so we can record-. "
Kurt had sat up and was looking at him.
Elliott faltered. "Or not- …Are you okay?"
"I should go," Kurt said, getting to his feet. "I, uh, have this video critique in the morning and I should really be awake for that. I'll call you, okay?"
"Okay…"
Elliott had no idea if he had come on too strongly, or not strong enough. But something he had said had sent Kurt running for the door. When he called the next day, Kurt sounded normal again, be it a bit tired. He didn't pick up on the band room idea, so Elliott left that for now. He could always ask again after Christmas. There was no interest in his big amp on ebay so far anyway.
He sat back in his chair and tried to focus on promoting hideous christmas sweaters in under 100 characters.
Then, his phone buzzed.
"OMG my eyes- THEY BLEED. Kill it with fire. How about "Perfect Gift For Mr Darcy - Nr 1 shop stop for Bridget Jones Fans" ? ;-P "
"That…might actually work," Elliott mumbled. "And it's just 65 characters."
"Perfect. How did your audition go?" he texted back, and pushed his phone back into his pocket. He had put it on vibrate, not sure if it was okay to use his private phone during work hours. Kurt had told him about the time he just started at Vogue and Blaine kept calling him at the office. He was lucky he had Isabelle as a boss; she only gave him a warning. But Elliott was still on his probation period and he really needed this job.
"I got the part! Rehearsals start tomorrow!"
Okay, screw being on his best behavior. This was awesome. Elliott picked up his phone and logged off his pc, hurrying off to the men's room to call Kurt back.
"That's amazing! Congratulations!" he said as soon as Kurt picked up. He was standing inside a booth, trying to keep his voice down but letting out his enthusiasm at the same time, making him sound rather high-pitched in the echo-ey room.
"Thanks! Not that amazing, though. I was the only one to audition. They literally didn't have anyone else," Kurt said humbly.
Elliott tsked him. "In our business, there's always someone else."
"Hmm. That's true."
"So are you excited?" Elliott asked.
"I am! I can't wait to meet the rest of the cast!" Kurt paused a little. "There's a downside, though."
Elliott frowned. "What? The salary? I thought your teacher said it was pretty good?"
"No, no, that's fine. It's just that getting this part means I am going to be super-swamped the coming weeks. I don't know how much time I'll have for the band, and…" Kurt trailed off.
For you, Elliott added in his mind. He pushed down a brief spark of disappointment and concentrated on Kurt again. This was his moment. "Hey, that's ok. I understand. Dani will too. And doing this will put your name out there- that will only benefit One Three Hill in the long run, right?"
"Right. Still, I had hoped we'd be able to book some christmas party gigs…." Kurt sighed. "I'll also miss just hanging out with you guys. But it's just until christmas, I promise."
"Kurt, it's really okay," Elliott assured him. "I'm just happy for you. I'm sure Dani is too. This is huge! Your first show in New York!"
"I know! It's just…"
Elliott could almost hear Kurt gathering courage for what he was about to say.
"…new not to have to apologize for my success. When I got my internship, my friends were more concerned with getting free make-overs or complaining about how little time I had left for them than with being happy for me. And I know for a fact Blaine was disappointed I got into NYADA halfway through the year because he was hoping to start with me in summer."
"Or without you," Elliott couldn't keep himself from adding. He heard Kurt sigh.
"Yeah. And when I won Midnight Madness Rachel made me feel awful for weeks. Whenever good things happen to me, I am blamed rather than celebrated for it."
Elliott leaned back against the door of the stall. "Enough hints. We'll throw you a surprise party already," he teased.
"That was not what I was-!" Kurt started, and Elliott laughed.
"I know, honey. I just wanted you to lighten up. This is a good thing and many more good things will be coming your way. You deserve it."
"Thanks."
Then, Elliott heard Kurt gasp.
"What is it?"
"I just realized we'll also need to pick a new time for our guitar lessons. I won't be able to make it tomorrow, rehearsal starts at 10 and it's at least a 45 minute drive!"
Elliott thought about it. Friday mornings were the only time neither of them had class and they had adjusted their working schedules to accomodate Kurt's ambition to learn to play. Elliott had Thursday evenings free due to cancelling yoga, but he knew Thursday was go-live day for changes to the Vogue site and Kurt often had to stop by the office to help. The rest of his days were filled up with diner shifts, and Elliott had just committed to 3 afternoons a week for his new job.
"Don't worry about it. We'll find the time," he promised. "Just go to rehearsal first and see how much energy you have left after that."
"I do want to keep practising," Kurt said. "Otherwise I'll just let it slide again and I'll never learn. Besides, I just started growing calluses on my fingertips. Oh god… I can't believe I just said that."
Elliott laughed out loud again. "My little rockstar."
"Don't tease me."
A toilet flushed loudly next to Elliott.
"Oh my god, are you in the restroom? Get back to work!" Kurt admonished him sternly, and Elliott chuckled.
"Bye, Kurt. And congratulations."
"Bye, Elliott. Don't forget to wash your hands."