Chapters 1-7 based on Kadam Week 2022 prompts. Chapter 8-14 based on Kadam Week 2023 prompts.
Prompts can be found at the end of each chapter.
"If you say one more nasty thing about the Adam's Apples, I'll challenge you to Midnight Madness, and we all know how that ends."
Adam looked at Kurt incredulously, wondering if Kurt knew what he had just done. No one with his standing in the school had ever deigned to speak to any of the Apples, much less join them and then defend them so staunchly. Before he had a chance to say anything, Kurt scurried off to try to boost Rachel's morale, like the kind soul that he was—not that she deserved it, but that was what graciousness was about, was it not?
"I don't know if you heard, but apparently the revival of Funny Girl is having open auditions. Do you want to go with me?"
He watched as Rachel tore Kurt down yet again.
"You should try out, Kurt. You'd be an amazing Fanny Brice."
He had heard enough effeminate nicknames lobbed at Kurt from Santana to know that he did not need that type of behavior from Rachel, whom he actually considered to be his friend, not a frenemy like Santana.
Adam waited for Kurt to return to where he was waiting, which he did with a disappointed look on his face, but when he made eye contact with Adam, he smiled and resumed the conversation they were having before Rachel's former sycophants had shown up and interrupted them. They headed out of the building to get coffee together like they had planned.
Later that week, Adam sat down on the top step of one of the rarely-used NYADA stairwells to meet up for lunch. Kurt had told him not to bring anything, so he did as asked. He had only waited for a minute or two before Kurt came up the stairs from the floor below and sat down against the wall out of the way of the door, should someone open it. Adam moved to face him and smiled brightly.
"Good afternoon, sunshine," Kurt said as he pulled out a large cloth napkin and placed it between them on the floor.
"Well, the same to you, beautiful. This looks fancy." He ran his fingers along the edge of the deep blue and green plaid fabric.
"It was left over from a jacket I worked on for someone. I get to keep the scraps, so I turned into a picnic blanket for one, now two. I love picnics, but I hate eating on tables in public parks."
"Well, it's perfect for our stairwell picnic."
Kurt began to pull items out of his bag and sit them between them. "I brought all finger foods, but no plates."
Adam picked up a bag of mini muffins. "Are we splitting the contents, or are there two of each?"
"Oh, splitting. I didn't want to waste bags."
"Makes sense."
"I do have a stack of napkins, though, if you'd prefer to use one as a makeshift plate." He pulled out a ziplock bag with napkins in it and put it down as well.
"You think of everything, don't you?" he asked sweetly as he took a bite. "These are heavenly."
"No sugar."
"Really? You'd never know it by tasting them. They're delicious."
Kurt couldn't quite maintain eye contact at the praise. He looked back into his bag and said, "I'm glad you like them."
"Will you share the recipe?"
"Only if we bake them together," he said coyly.
"Is that an invitation?"
"If you want it to be."
Adam chuckled. "Kurt Hummel, surely you know that I would gladly agree to bake with you."
He shrugged. "No other guy I've met would want to, so it was definitely not a given."
"Well, I'd love to." He pulled his phone out. "How about the weekend after next?"
"Is that the weekend of the 16th?"
"It is."
He popped one of the banana muffins into his mouth to stall giving his answer. "I'm supposed to be going to Lima on the 14th, and staying through the weekend."
"You don't sound very enthusiastic about it."
"I don't know what to feel about it. My Glee Club teacher is getting married on the 14th."
"And he invited you? On a Thursday?"
"Exactly. It's the Thursday of it that surprised me. They're both teachers. I would have thought that they would have chosen the Friday evening or Saturday afternoon at the beginning of spring break so that they could go on a honeymoon for a week without having to get subs at school."
"That would make more sense."
Kurt nodded. "But McKinley isn't exactly known for making sense. Finn's his best man."
"Your stepbrother? Isn't he the same as age you?"
"Younger actually. We were in the same grade, though."
"That's what I thought. Why would he have a teenager as his best man?"
"Like I said, McKinley isn't known for making sense. He asked us for song ideas, and we performed 'We Found Love' with the synchronized swimming team as his way to propose to his now fiancée."
"I see." He picked up a carrot stick and dipped it in the hummus. "This is unusual."
"Red lentil hummus."
"I like it. The more you tell me about Lima, the more it sounds like Wonderland, only not so wondrous."
Kurt nearly choked. "That's great. Really." He took a drink of water. "That's the perfect description."
"So you're going to the wedding?"
"I feel like I have to. If I don't go, I'll be the only one to not show up."
"You don't want to let anyone down."
He shook his head. "It will be nice to see my dad too. I haven't seen him since Christmas."
Adam sensed some issue other than time because most college students who live away from their parents would only see them on school breaks at most. He continued to eat rather than pry. He figured Kurt would tell him if he wanted to share.
Kurt took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but began to eat rather than explain anything. He eventually shared some information. "I've already got a plane ticket." He shrugged. "I bought the cheapest ticket I could get, and it's not refundable. Plus, I already traded my shifts at the diner and let Isabelle know that I couldn't come in on Thursday or Friday."
Adam nodded in understanding. He picked up a slice of red bell pepper and dipped it in the hummus. "I'm going to need the recipe for this as well. It's really delicious."
"Sure. How about we plan for the weekend of the 23rd? You can come over to the loft Saturday morning as early as you like, and we can bake and cook all day. I'll do everything in my power to get Santana and Rachel to leave, even if I have to resort to bribery, like letting them have some of what we make."
"I can live with that. Let me look." He checked his phone calendar. "I have an early morning shift that day, but I could get someone to come in early so I could get off at 10."
"That would work." He took his phone out and added it to his calendar. "I can go out that morning and get what we'll need. I should have asked this earlier. Any allergies or other dietary restrictions?"
"Nope. None whatsoever. And I'm not a picky eater. I'm a big fan of food. All sorts."
"Excellent. We can try out some of my more unusual recipes. I have this file of recipes that I've never tried because I didn't think anyone else I knew would be adventurous enough to eat them with me."
"Well, count me in."
"So, where are you from, Doctor Who?"
"Do you know Essex?"
"No. Never heard of it." Santana turned to Kurt. "Are you guys dating because at Mr. Shue's bomb of a wedding, you and Blaine, like—"
"Shut up, Santana." Kurt tried to shush her. "Rachel and I are letting you live here rent-free. The least you could do is—"
Santana cut him off. "Where is Rachel?" she asked. "Giving that living mannequin a bikini wax?"
"Brody is working," Rachel said as she opened the door to the bathroom.
When Rachel stepped out, the two of them kept arguing, until Kurt interrupted, announcing that NYADA had canceled classes for the day and tried to get everyone to agree on a movie. Eventually, Kurt chose Moulin Rouge when a consensus couldn't be reached.
With Rachel curled up into his left side and Adam snuggling close on his right, things were fine until "Come What May" began. In his mind, Kurt slipped into the plan that he and Blaine had made for singing the song. By the end, he had a few tears escaping and made up an excuse about his non-existent contacts to cover the truth, however poorly.
Santana didn't buy it and prodded. "I would've thought that you were crying because you and Blaine used to talk about how it was your dream to sing this song to each other at your wedding. I remember you telling me that singing this song to someone was a more intimate act than sex."
Kurt tried to change the subject quickly, but Santana was the one who succeeded by bringing up accusations about Brody. She confessed to having gone through all of their personal possessions, which took his mind off the song completely. His fun Saturday of baking and cooking with Adam had turned into over 48 hours snowed-in with Rachel and Santana, and things had not gone at all the way he had hoped.
Tuesday afternoon, Adam dropped by the dance studio where Kurt was practicing after class."What's shakin', bacon?" he asked from the doorway.
Kurt looked in the mirror at Adam's reflection and smiled. "Oh, hey. Just practicing my basic pirouettes. Every aspiring actor needs to know how to do them. Newsies is lousy with them." He remembered Miss July showing them a video that she had taken surreptitiously and how she had harped on their lousy form.
As he stepped into the room, he approached Kurt and said, "Thanks for giving me shelter from the storm. I was a little sad we weren't snowed in a little longer."
Kurt turned to face him. "Ah, I know, I always get a little sad when the sun comes out and the snow starts to melt and all the snowmen look like they have scoliosis. But it was nice to hang out with you and watch a few movies, even if we had to put up with Rachel and Santana eating most of what we made."
"That movie," Adam echoed. "Look, about that. I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest." He looked Kurt in the eyes. "You and Blaine used to sing that duet together, didn't you?"
Kurt answered honestly. "Yeah. But it feels like a lifetime ago. Maybe that's what's hard about it."
"You still love him, don't you?" Before Kurt had a chance to answer, he asked, "Was I your rebound?"
"No." Kurt insisted. "No."
"Because I can't compete with a fantasy, Kurt."
He knew that Adam was right. And he knew that he wanted to move on. "I desperately want to be over him. Really, I do."
"Good." Adam reached out and gently took Kurt's hand for the first time.
Kurt looked down at their joined hands as a feeling of warm honey flowed through him.
"Then let's go to the movies right now."
Kurt looked up at him, tipping his head a bit to the side, questioningly.
Adam's voice became insistently cheerful. "Oh, I'm serious. We are going to go and find the sappiest love story that we can, and then that will be our movie."
He didn't let go of Kurt's hand until he had led him to where his things were. He picked up Kurt's coat and held it out for him to slip his arms in. Once Kurt had it buttoned, Adam retook his hand and pulled him excitedly towards the door and out of the building.
An hour later, they were seated in an older theater that showed cult classics and older movies that were still popular enough to draw a paying audience. Adam flipped up the armrest between them and scooted closer to Kurt, reaching again for his hand and holding it as The Princess Bride began.
Kurt smiled warmly and squeezed Adam's hand. He had no memories associated with Blaine and the movie because Blaine had refused to watch it, claiming that the few minutes of it that he had seen once were ridiculous. Kurt had watched it numerous times with Sam, whose friendship he missed still, and those memories were fun ones. As the movie went on, Kurt had more fun watching Adam watch the movie than watching it himself because Adam had never seen it before.
When the movie ended, Adam squeezed Kurt's hand. "That was brilliant. I loved it. I can't believe I'd never seen it before. It was fantastic. I'm going to buy a copy of it as soon as I can find one."
"I know just the place, and it's not too far from here."
Adam stood, pulling Kurt to standing since he hadn't let go of Kurt's hand. "Lead the way, my good sir."
"As you wish," Kurt teased.
The exuberance he felt earlier faded away in Adam's apartment as they sat across from each other at the small table that doubled as his desk, both working on schoolwork.
Adam picked up on his change in mood quickly. "Why so downcast suddenly?"
"Just pensive. I had a great time this afternoon, but now, as I sit here, I can't think of any reason why you still want to go out with me."
"I'm not following."
"What happened at the wedding—"
"Ah, yes. You were a single adult, who engaged in adult behavior that you now regret."
"You're not angry with me?"
"I'm more angry with myself. I knew you were hesitant to go back and I knew that you were still a bit skittish about starting a relationship with me. I would have agreed to be exclusive with you the day of our first coffee date, but I didn't ask and neither did you. But in hindsight, you hadn't had much experience with dating, and none here in New York. I should have been the one to broach the subject and clarify my hopes for our relationship. I didn't. You left New York as a man who did not have a boyfriend. And you certainly are not the first person to fall back into bad patterns and sleep with an ex. Been there, done that. Not something I'll repeat. It never turns out well—unless you're ready to restart the relationship or both parties are steadfast in the agreement that it's just hooking up."
Kurt nodded. "That's what he offered, but he didn't mean it. And I was dumb enough to fall for it."
"You are not dumb, Kurt. Old flames are an easy way to get burned, which you learned the hard way."
"Yeah."
"Do I wish you hadn't slept with him? Sure. But not because I consider it cheating, but because it was ultimately a negative experience for you. And to me that's sad. Being intimate with someone should be a positive experience for both people. I'm not angry with you. I'm sad for you."
"It brought the closure I needed, but it came at a high price—ripping open old wounds that had nearly healed."
"And left you feeling simultaneously nostalgic and angry at yourself for falling for his misrepresented offer."
"Yes."
"I lived in a small rural area in England. And while I had been to London numerous times, I didn't have a fake ID and I didn't turn 18 until a few months before I left England, so I had never partaken in the gay club scene. But when I moved here, I gave it a go. Even though I wasn't old enough to drink, I could still go in and dance. And while I found that I loved the open and accepting atmosphere, I learned that I didn't enjoy making out with strangers."
Kurt nodded. "I'm certain that I wouldn't either. It seems like it would be hot and sexy and exciting, but it's not for me. I'm not spontaneous and fun like that."
Adam disagreed with him. "I don't think spontaneity has anything to do with it. And you're definitely a lot of fun to be around. I think that lifestyle fits a certain personality type that neither of us has. We aren't better or lesser than the people who enjoy it. We're just different. And different is fine."
"I used to say that being different was the best thing about me."
"Used to?"
He shrugged. "It's gotten harder to feel that way."
"That I understand. Kenneth and Martin and their ilk are always around to remind people like me that I'm no one. I'm sure you've already had your fair share given that you consider Santana to be a friend, and I've heard the kinds of things she says to you. While I loved watching you put the two of them in their place that day, that will come back to bite you in the butt. You just insured that, despite your most spectacular performance at the Winter Showcase and besting Rachel at Midnight Madness, you have made yourself persona non grata by extending your protection over the Apples, and me by association. That wasn't a good move on your part."
"I'm tired of attitudes like theirs."
"I'm graduating in a few months, so it's of little consequence to me to remain at the bottom. I've already gotten admission letters for graduate school next year. You have three more years of dealing with them since they're first years like you. Protecting me isn't worth it. I'm just a lowly playwriting major."
Kurt reached across the table and took Adam's hand. "Don't ever let anyone make you feel ashamed of who you are, Adam. You're the one who will be writing plays for people like me, Kenneth, and Martin—if they haven't fallen off their high horses and broken their necks before they graduate."
Adam broke out laughing. "That's great, Kurt. Perfect. You're right. I shouldn't, but like you said, it does wear on a person. Day after day being purposely made to feel invisible gets tough to deal with."
Kurt squeezed his hand before moving to interlace their fingers. "Tell me about the graduate program you were accepted into." He was thrilled to hear that Adam wasn't planning to go back to England at the end of the semester.
"Well, I applied to three schools here in the city that have playwriting and screenwriting Master's programs. I got offers from all of them, but I'm leaning towards going to Hunter College. I've read the works of the person that would oversee my work, and I think that she and I would be a good match. It's not as prestigious as NYU or The New School, but I'm pretty set on accepting their offer."
"If you feel like it's the best fit, then that's what matters." He looked down at his notebook. "How about we make something to eat and we just put the books away for a while? I'm going to have to go in a couple of hours. I can read on the subway."
"Works for me. I haven't been to the store since last week, but I'm sure that with our combined creativity and ingenuity, we can cobble together something edible." As he stood up, he smiled and winked at Kurt.
Kurt returned Adam's cheerful smile. "I'm sure we can."
Kadam Week 2022 Day 4 Prompt
"Don't ever let anyone make you feel ashamed of who you are, Adam."