CHAPTER 2

December 2021

“James and I are getting divorced,” Kurt tells Blaine over drinks at their favorite bar ‘Rainbow Connection' on the Upper West Side after another successful rehearsal. Kurt likes it for the proximity to his and James apartment, while Blaine loves that the staff lets him use the piano whenever he wants. Lexy is with his friends Santana and Brittany like every other Thursday, so Kurt doesn't have to rush home to relieve the sitter like most days after rehearsal.

Blaine nearly spits out his Manhattan earning him a glare from a passing waiter who Kurt assumes is new because otherwise hed be fawning over Blaine like the rest of the stuff.

“You are what? You're not kidding?”

Kurt nods and tries to ignore how his heart beats faster whenever he is around Blaine Anderson, the twenty-four year old musical prodigy who wrote the lyrics and score to ‘Ace of Spades', the musical Kurt is currently in rehearsals for. They'd met at Kurt's audition, when Kurt had still thought Blaine was just a piano player hired for the auditions and didn't know that Blaine was called the new Sondheim by Broadway aficionados.

Blaines a few inches shorter than Kurt, with ridiculously curly hair and unbelievably long eyelashes. Dressed in his usual ensemble of tight dark slacks, a button down that brings out the color of his eyes and a colorful bow tie, Kurt has a difficult time keeping his hands to himself. 

“I think the honeymoon period was over before we even returned from our honeymoon,” Kurt admits, because somehow it's gotten to the point where he tells Blaine everything. Well everything but those pesky little feelings that just won't go away. “And once he got that job and started traveling so much, things have pretty much been going downhill ever since.”

“So did you just decide this or have you spoken to James about it?” Blaine asks after he returns from the bar with two shots of Tequila.

“We did when he was home last week. Didn't seem surprised when I brought it up. Apparently he'd been feeling the same way but didn't want to divorce me while Lexy was still so young and he felt indebted to me.”

“Because of your green card marriage,” Blaine teases him gently, and Kurt's heart skips a beat.

“It wasn't a green card marriage,” Kurt protests, because it hadn't been.

Sure, the expiration date on James' student visa had expedited the process of them getting married, but it had been Kurt who had wanted James to stay in New York with him. So when James had proposed after they had dated for seven months and the end of the semester was only weeks away, Kurt hadn't hesitated before saying yes.

“So what happened? I only met him once, but I didn't get the feeling that you were having problems. 

“We didn't see each other enough to fight. When I introduced you to James he came home for the first time in six weeks. Lexy had no idea who he was at first. And, I, I didn't want my daughter to be afraid of her father because she didn't see him enough to recognize him.”

Those are all good reasons and Kurt has thought long and hard whether he is making the right decision after his talk with his father.

“As long as you are happy,” Blaine tells him sincerely and Kurt's treacherous heart skips another beat. “And whatever you need you can count on me.”

I love you. Is what Kurt wants to tell Blaine. “Thank you, you're such a good friend,” is what he goes with instead.

April 2019

James is on the couch, in NYU sweat pants and an old Oxford T-shirt, when Kurt lets himself in with the key James had given him a few weeks ago. An empty carton of chocolate flavored ice cream sits on the coffee table in front of him and Kurt knows instantly that James didn't get good news. 

“What did they say?” he asks nonetheless, dropping his keys into the bowl James keeps next to the front door. Fortunately, his boyfriends roommate Francois, a business student from France, hadnt minded when James had given Kurt a key.

“I finally got to talk to an immigration officer today and she told me that the only way I'm going to get a work visa is if I can find a company willing to hire me.”

Kurt deposits the empty ice cream box in the trashcan before joining James on the couch. Hes itching to pull his boyfriend into his arms, but experience has taught him not to touch James when hes upset.

“Oh,” he says, because there goes his last hope that James will be able to stay in New York after graduation.

James had sent out nearly fifty résumés over the past three weeks and the replies had all been the same. The companies were interested in meeting with James once he obtained a work visa.

“Yeah,” James replies morosely, but Kurt breathes out a sigh of relief when James intertwines their fingers.

“So there's really nothing else you can try?”

“Unless I get married, there's no way I can stay here. You interested in marrying me?” James jokes – at least Kurt thinks he is joking.

“Yes,” he replies though, because he is pretty sure that James is his soulmate and once you've found your soulmate something as stupid as citizenship shouldn't stand in the way of love.

James sits up straighter on the couch, a strange look on his face.

“Are you serious, love? Please don't joke about something like that.”

They've been dating seven months, so yes it's soon. His dad would probably say too soon. But, he loves James and James loves him. There's no reason why they shouldn't get married.

“Yes, I'm sure. Let's get married.”

James finally pulls him into his arms and kisses him deeply and Kurt relaxes into his boyfriends strong arms. As long as they are in this together, nothing will tear them apart, Kurt is certain of it.

“Let me take you out. Give you a proper proposal and a ring,” James whispers into Kurt's ear after ending the kiss and Kurt's sure that he's never been this happy before.

***

 They agree to get married in England after James' graduation to avoid problems with immigration and potential questioning of the validity of their marriage. James' parents, who are quite wealthy as James admits, pay for Burt and Carole's flight to London and while Kurt is certain that his dad isn't happy about his shotgun wedding, luckily all he says is that Kurt is an adult and old enough to make his own decisions.

The wedding happens in early June, two weeks after James finishes his studies at NYU and a week after Kurt gets the long awaited call letting him know that he was cast in the chorus of the ‘The Book of Mormon' revival on Broadway, where he would also get to understudy for one of the supporting roles. They rent a little cottage outside of London, and it's the exact opposite of all the weddings he had planned since he was a child and married and divorced his Power Rangers almost daily. James's brother Billy stands up for Kurt's fiancé, highlighting Kurts stepbrother's absence, while his father does the same for him. But life is good. It may be different than what Kurt thought it would be like, but its good. Hes happy. Afterward they have dinner reservations at an expensive restaurant near Covent Garden, before he and James head up to Scotland for their honeymoon.

Once they return to New York a married couple, James gets hired by an investment firm with dealings in China, and they celebrate his husband's new job, by moving into a bigger two bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. Kurt uses the month before rehearsals start to decorate the apartment, scouring the flea markets for unique pieces, and making sure the movers are careful with the furniture he and James are bringing from their old places. At night, when James finally returns from work they cuddle up together on the couch, watching obscure foreign language films that Kurt will never enjoy as much as his husband, but will always watch him because thats whats love is about. And maybe one day, hell finally get his husband to watch Kurts favorite reality TV shows with him.

At the end of July, the apartment finally decorated to both their likings, James flies out to China for the first time. Kurt drops him off at the airport, sending his husband on his way with a movie worthy kiss, before meeting up with Santana and Brittany for drinks. Its his last free weekend before rehearsal is set to start, and Kurt intends to take advantage of it.

Sunday, he nurses his hangover while Skyping with James, before heading out for a run in Central Park to clear his head. Even though his head is still pounding after his run, the smile stays on his face, because come tomorrow, Kurt Hummel will finally be on Broadway.

Of course, it's when the universe decides that life is too good for him. Kurt's just coming out of his second rehearsal for ‘The Book of Mormon' when Carole calls him in tears.

“Kurt, I'm so sorry, but your dad, he's had another heart attack.”

Kurt stops in the middle of 5th Avenue, getting jostled by other passersby and street map carrying tourists, but all he can hear are the words ‘your dad had another heart attack' on loop.

“How bad is it?”

Kurt knows there's no way he can fly to Lima before the weekend, not during his first week of rehearsal, and what's worse, he won't even get a hug from James once he gets home, because his husband is in Beijing.

“He's conscious, but the blockage is worse than the last time. They are going to insert a stent which hopefully will prevent future episodes,” Carole explains, as Kurt tries to flag down a cab. There's no way he is going to brave the subway right now, risking the loss of his signal, not when Carole is the only one who knows what's going on.

“How are you doing?”

Their family has been through a lot. Kurt had lost his mother when he was only eight years old, but his stepmother Carole had it even worse. Carole lost her husband to a drug overdose leaving her with an infant and years later, Kurt's first year of college, his stepmother lost her son to a drunk driving accident after a college party. It's only the three of them theses days, and the thought of losing his father as well makes him sick to his stomach. Trying to remember the breathing exercises from his Yoga class, Kurt forces himself to take deep breaths as he listens to Carole pretend to be okay.

“I just hate hospitals, we all do,” Carole admits a few minutes later and Kurt wants nothing more than get on the next plane and give his stepmother a hug and his dad a lecture about sticking to his diet.

“I'll fly out Friday after rehearsal and I'll keep my phone on. I don't care if I get into trouble but I need to know if something happens.”

“I know I won't convince you that it's not necessary because the doctors have it under control, so please let me know when your plane gets in so I can pick you up from the airport.”

Kurt wants to tell her that it's not necessary to pick him up from the airport, but they are stubborn, all three of them, and so he promises to let Carole know once he's booked his flight.

Back at the apartment he opens Skype and calls James but his husband is either gone or too busy to answer. So Kurt sends him a message instead, telling him about Carole's phone call and asking if it wouldn't be possible for him to come home a few days earlier.

It's not like Kurt doesn't have any other friends, but two of his best friends, Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones, are still angry because they weren't invited to the wedding even after Kurt had explained that no one but their parents had been invited, and his former room mate Santana Lopez and her dancer girlfriend Brittany Pierce are on tour with ‘A chorus line'.

After their high school graduation, Rachel, Santana, Brittany and Kurt had moved to New York. He and Rachel started attending NYU for musical theater, while Brittany took dance classes all around the city. The only one without a plan, had been Santana, but after she promised to help pay the rent, he and Rachel had let her move in with them. After a string of commercials ranging from female hygiene products to a PSA about STI's Santana had struck gold, and had been cast in the country's longest running soap opera as ‘Sophia Alvarez', the illegitimate daughter of multi billionaire Raul Sanchez. They had made fun of it at first, but these days, Santana Lopez was a household name, and she could afford to take time off from work to follow her longtime girlfriend on tour.

Rachel is on tour as well, with a revival of ‘Spring Awakening', and Mercedes lives in Los Angeles. It's now that he needs someone to hold him the most that his friends are unavailable and his husband just wrote back that he has to entertain clients and can't fly back home earlier.

Life sucks.