‘THE FUTURE’

January 2012

“Kurt over here,” a photographer yelled, and Kurt put on his game face as he approached the reporter, Santana by his side.

Blaine had kept his word and had helped Santana get a job with his publicist Shauna two months after his Hollywood Bowl premiere. Ari hadn’t been too happy, losing two of his assistants within eight months, but there had been nothing he could do about it. Kurt knew that Ari was somewhere in the crowd as well; after all, Blaine’s agent and Kurt’s former boss had been instrumental in getting Kurt’s screenplay produced. After the success of The Social Network, Ari had honored his agreement with Blaine and had sent Kurt’s script to Dana Gorden, the VP of programming at one of the largest studios. Dana had agreed to produce it as long as she was in charge of casting Blaine’s love interest in the story, because she thought the story needed another celebrity to appeal to the general audience. After many negotiations, Kurt had sold the rights to his screenplay to the studio. Santana had become his publicist, because in addition to the continued interest in his and Blaine’s relationship he had been faced with the press wanting to interview him about his work and his future projects. After Brittany had returned from her tour, she and Santana had moved in together, and like Wes and his girlfriend Ashley, the two girls had recently gotten engaged. At the moment, Wes was with Blaine and Blaine’s date in the crowd somewhere, but Kurt had to admit that he liked it that for once the press was interested in him because he was nominated for a Golden Globe and not because he was sleeping with Golden Globe nominee Blaine Anderson. With Santana in tow, he approached the reporter who’d called out for him.

“Blaine just told me you aren’t his date for tonight but his mother is. Who did you bring?” the reporter asked.

“I brought my dad,” Kurt revealed, “but I think he’s hiding somewhere. This is all just very alien to him.”

Getting his dad into a tux had been a tour de force, but Kurt had wanted to share this evening with him. After all, his dad had always supported his decision to become a writer even if he hadn’t been too happy about Kurt living in L.A. Blaine had decided to bring his mother as his date for the same reason - she’d always believe in him even when he was living on Cooper’s couch and worked as a singing waiter.

The reporter laughed. “I guess this what you felt like when you first accompanied Blaine to these kinds of events.” Kurt nodded.

“Yeah, it was kind of strange. I didn’t understand why people were even interested in me. After all, I was just this regular guy who just happened to date an actor. But once people realized how boring I was they lost interest quickly,” he joked.

Quickly was an exaggeration but after he’d been dating Blaine for a year, their relationship had just not been newsworthy anymore. A few gossip sites had reported on them when Kurt had moved in with Blaine after dating him for nine months but apart from that he’d largely been left alone. From time to time, he and Blaine posted pictures of the two of them together on Twitter which seemed to satisfy Blaine’s fans and the gossip bloggers. Sure, there were still paparazzi pictures of him and Blaine online, but Kurt had learned to live with this part of his life.

The reporter nodded. “So before I ask you about Sidelines for which you are nominated tonight, I got a few requests to ask you about what’s going to happen next on The Vampire Diaries. You’ve been promoted to staff writer this past fall.” Kurt nodded. “So can you tell us what the rest of the season will be about?”

“Julie would skin me alive if I did,” Kurt joked. “So yeah, I’m afraid the fans will just have to wait and see.”

“Guys I tried,” the reporter addressed the camera. “So tell me about Sidelines. I was told you wrote the script when you were still in high school.”

“I wrote the first draft when I was in high school,” Kurt amended. “It was before I really knew how to tell a story. Once I went to college for screen writing I kept rewriting it at least twice a year, so what you see now is probably my tenth draft.”

“Blaine told me that when he read the script in 2009 he just knew he needed to be part of it. How did you feel about that?”

“I was flattered of course, but I was also worried that he only wanted to do it because he was dating me. I insisted that his manager read it before Blaine told his agent about it.”

“You used to work for Blaine’s agent Ari Gold.” Kurt nodded.

“I did and I’m really grateful he decided to help us get my screenplay produced.”

After the success of The Social Network, he and Ari had made peace and had struck up a friendly rapport when it became clear that he wasn’t going anywhere and Ari better make nice with Blaine’s boyfriend.

“Sidelines is about two boys from the wrong side of the track who fall in love against all odds. Were you worried about the public’s reception?”

“I was but a lot has happened in this country since I wrote the story. Same sex marriage is becoming legal in more and more states and people are just more accepting of homosexuality than they were just a few years ago. My goal was to show that love is love, whether you are gay or straight, and I hope I have achieved that.”

“Are there wedding bells for you and Blaine in the near future? I think we were all surprised when Sebastian Smythe announced last months that he’d gotten married.”

Kurt tried not to give away that it hadn’t been a surprise for him and Blaine. Sebastian had fallen had over heels for a British actor during his Europe tour the previous year for whom he’d moved to London. The invitation to the wedding had been a surprise because of their history with Sebastian but not the wedding itself.

“No wedding bells for us,” Kurt told the reporter. “Blaine and I, we’ve decided we don’t want to get married until we can do it in our home state. And we’re not even thirty, so there’s no rush for us. But I can reveal,” he said conspiratorially, “that we’ve recently expanded our family.”

Everyone who was following him and Blaine on Twitter would know that he was talking about the two cats they’d adopted from a shelter. Blaine had wanted a dog, but Brittany an avid cat lover - she and Santana currently had five cats - had convinced Blaine that cats were the better choice.

The reporter seemed to be in the know. “Good luck with that,” he winked before Santana steered him over to the next guy in line where Kurt pretty much gave the same interview. He only managed to reunite with his dad, Blaine and Pam once they were inside the Beverly Hilton hotel and sat down at the Sidelines table. A waiter put a glass of champagne in front of him and Kurt downed it quickly. Even though he’d attended evens with Blaine for the past two and a half years, giving those on camera interviews had been nerve racking. His dad looked around with wide eyes as well, though when their eyes met, he smiled at Kurt.

“You did good kid,” he said. “And if those foreign journalists have any taste, you’re going to win this thing.”

He didn’t and neither did Blaine. Woody Allen won best screenplay for Midnight in Paris and George Clooney won best actor for The Descendants. But for Kurt just being nominated was a huge honor. After all, Sidelines was his first screenplay.

They only stopped by the official after show party briefly, having made plans with their friends to meet up at Rachel and Jesse’s L.A home after the show. When they arrived, all their friends were in the living room. Newly married couple Mercedes and Sam were sharing a couch with Santana and Brittany. Wes and Ashley were talking to David and his girlfriend April. David had passed the bar the previous year and had taken on a few more clients since then. Cooper was there as well, flanked by three girls who seemed to have lost half their clothes on the way to the party, but he seemed happy so Kurt and Blaine didn’t comment on their state of (un)dress. Jeff and Nick were taking to Little Wayne, a hip hop artist they had discovered and whose music they were producing. And Rachel, who was seven months pregnant, was sharing a couch with her boyfriend Jesse who was dutifully rubbing her feet. They all cheered when he and Blaine stepped into the living room.

When Kurt had to leave OSU, not even in his wildest dream could he have imagined that his life would be like this one day. He had a supportive family, great but unlikely new friends, a boyfriend who loved him and a fulfilling career. Together with Blaine, he’d made it through the woods and together they’d come out stronger than they were before. He’d survived his insecurities, he’d survived being dragged through the mud by the online media and he’d survived the hate he still got sometimes from Blaine’s fans who thought he wasn’t good enough for the actor. He couldn’t predict what the future would bring, but if they managed to stick together, he was sure they could whether any storm. Fuck everyone who said Kurt Hummel couldn’t get his happy ending.

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Meanwhile on a small deserted island in the pacific ocean

Rebecca Quinn closed her eyes and swallowed a forkful of worms. She couldn’t afford being voted off the island since her career had tanked after Blaine released their conversation to the media. These days, she was lucky if she could get a role on a daily soap, but mostly she was a contestant on various reality shows. Even the fans who’d shipped her with Blaine had deserted her and were team Klaine these days. Only those who hated Kurt as much as she did still supported her because they thought Kurt had turned Blaine gay, but those numbers were dwindling daily. Maybe it was time to admit that she’d fucked up and publicly apologize to Blaine and Kurt. If she wanted to save her career, she would just have to suck it up and admit that she’d been wrong. She still thought that homosexuality was a choice and that Blaine could have chosen her if it hadn’t been for Kurt. But she could admit that she’d handled the situation wrong and her involvement had, in the end, strengthened Blaine and Kurt’s relationship. Now she would never know if Blaine would even still be with Kurt if she had never gotten involved. So yes, she regretted her actions because they had ruined her career. And reviving it was all that mattered to her. She was a good actress, she could convince the public she was sorry and was trying to make amends.

“You do realize you’re talking to yourself and the cameras are still rolling, right?” another contestant interrupted her musings. Rebecca’s eyes widened.

“You can’t leave that in,” she yelled at the director, but Rebecca wasn’t stupid. She’d just dug her own grave just a little bit deeper and again, there was nothing she could do about it. So she gave the audience what they wanted from her and loudly cursed the day she met Blaine Anderson. At least her remaining fans would love it.