Chapter 10

Richmond House is not a house, it’s a mansion, Kurt decides when he’s led by Sam through a maze of hallways to the back of the house where the living room is situated. The Prince’s sitting at a beautiful concert grand piano playing Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata, but he stops immediately when Kurt steps into the room.

“Hi,” he smiles softly and quickly crosses the room to kiss Kurt hello.

“I’ll be in the kitchen with Puck if you need us,” Sam says and then they are gloriously alone.

The house is decorated with modern furniture in a very minimalistic style that Blaine seems to like even though he didn’t do any decorating himself. Apart from the wall behind the piano which is painted purple, all other walls are dove grey and the furniture is either black or white. Kurt definitely approves.

“I hope the paparazzi didn’t give you too much trouble,” Blaine says when they sit down on a large white couch together and the Prince wraps his arm around Kurt’s shoulder. “They were already here when I came home from the Palace last night.”

“Lots of yelling my name and pictures,  but I just pretended that I was walking the red carpet at the Oscars,” Kurt shrugs. “I don’t mind, as long as they don’t find out where I live and follow me there.”

“Is it too soon to ask you to just move in with me so you don’t have to worry about that,” the Prince asks but he sounds like he knows Kurt’s answer will be ‘yes, it’s too soon.’

“Maybe in a year or so, if you still want me then,” Kurt yawns and snuggles into Blaine’s chest.

Even though he didn’t go out last night to celebrate the new year, he’s tired, because he stayed up till three googling himself to see what the press was saying about the statement. There wasn’t much yet though, just a rehashing of what had been printed six months ago, most sites printing the statement and doing a ‘here’s what we know so far about Kurt Hummel.’

“I’m pretty sure, I’ll always want you,” Blaine kisses the top of his head and Kurt’s glad they’re alone and no one’s witnessing this exchange because it’s sappy even for them.

“Tell me about last night. Was it exciting?” Kurt asks because it must be when you are in a room with royalty from all over the world.

“I thought it was pretty boring actually. All the other Kings and Queens are much older and all everyone asked was when Cooper’s going to get married and if he’d like to meet their daughters.”

“Did they say anything to you?”

The Palace’s statement was released shortly before midnight when Cooper’s coronation party was still in full swing.

“The Queen of France was quite nice about it. She said it was about time America left the stone age and joined Europe in the 21st century because according to her I could be gay and King in most kingdoms in Europe.”

“Well, most is a bit of an exaggeration,” Kurt rolls his eyes. He’s read up on the monarchy at home and elsewhere since dating the Prince, especially interested in how homosexuality is handled in other king- and queendoms. “There’s only France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg that accept children born through surrogates as legitimate heirs.”

“Look at you,” Blaine says teasingly. “Mr. I get all my news from Twitter and Facebook.”

Kurt slaps his shoulder playfully and pouts until Blaine kisses him.

“You know, Emma’s got me subscriptions to like five newspapers and I’m always afraid she’ll pop up and quiz me if I don’t read them. Seriously, at this point I wonder how much more training Cooper’s future wife could even get when I already have to jump through all those hoops to get to date you.”

“She’d have to learn French and Spanish if she doesn’t speak it already, never leave the house without having her hair and make up done professionally and her clothes approved by a stylist, she’d have her own guards following her around and she’d have to appear at at least one charity event every month. And trust me, if she doesn’t get pregnant soon after the wedding, there would be talk too. The public gave my grandmother hell because she couldn’t have more children after my father.”

“And then everyone seems surprised that your brother hasn’t found a wife yet,” Kurt quips. “That’s a hell of a lot of requirements for a job with not much real power.”

“Well, the power is the influence a Queen consort or a Queen has on whoever’s in charge. No one else gets this close to the King or the Queen, not even his or her top advisors and a lot of people are attracted to this kind of power,” Blaine explains as they’re snuggled together on the couch, the room warm from the open fireplace while outside snow’s starting to fall.

“Are you? I mean if you could marry whoever you want and got offered the throne would you want to be King?”

Blaine’s quiet for a long time before he answers. “I think I could do a lot of good for the Kingdom because I could veto all conservative bills and support the ones that want to give everyone in America equal rights, affordable health care and so on. But it’s a moot question since I can’t be in a same sex relationship and be King, at least not in this Kingdom.”

Kurt doesn’t want Blaine to ever ascend the throne either for obvious reasons because he knows Blaine would always choose the Crown over him. It hurts and so he hopes and prays that Cooper will live a long life with many children who will push Blaine further down in the line of succession so his boyfriend will never have to make that decision.

“But can we stop talking about my brother now? I finally have you all to myself and I’d much rather have you sing with me.”

Kurt agrees with a smile on his face to duet with Blaine on Let it Snow, and they sit close together on the piano bench while Blaine plays and the snow keeps falling outside.

*+*

“His Majesty wants to change another royal law?” Prime Minister Thomas Grey asks with a frown on his pudgy red face. “Has His Majesty spoken to the bishops about this, because this is highly unusual and we can’t in good conscience back it if His Majesty doesn’t have the support of the Church behind him.”

It’s the Prime Minister’s weekly audience at the Palace and Cooper decided that it’s time to put his plan into action because if he succeeds, he can marry Sarah and get rid of the throne.

“I will of course meet with the bishops first before we proceed,” Cooper assures the Prime Minister, “but legally, it’s the support of parliament that I need to be able to make this change.”

“Maybe if His Majesty explained why he wants to change a law that has worked for the royal family for centuries.”

Yeah, no, Cooper thinks. At least not his real reason.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that it had worked for centuries. Look at my grandparents or Queen Camilla just in the last hundred and fifty years. The house of Virginia has only survived this long because the royal family used to be a big family with lots of potential heirs on hand. But all those royal laws don’t work so well in the 21st century anymore.”

Prime Minister Grey looks unconvinced but Cooper expected opposition, at least at first.

“What do I have to do to gain your support?” he asks, trying to keep his cool and not sound like he would be indebted to the Prime Minister if parliament approves his plan.

“The government needs to know that His Majesty has the Church’s backing; that His Majesty as head of Church is not working against the Church.”

“Alright,” Cooper agrees, though he knows that’s easier said than done.

*+*

Kurt’s changed back into his own clothes after his first performance since he and Blaine went public a few days ago. The applause was longer than usual, the crowd cheering and whistling when Kurt took his bow, making his face flush because the whole cast is amazing and he feels weird about being singled out like that. A hand on his shoulder stops him however before he can walk out stage door to sign a few programs. They are off Broadway and relatively unknown compared to the big Broadway hits, but every night there are a few people who want their programs signed or just tell the cast how much they enjoyed the show. Kurt lives for those moments.

“I’m sorry Kurt, but you can’t do stage door tonight. Gary’s making the announcement right now,” Peter, the stage manager, tells him.

“Why not?” Kurt frowns.

“It’s crazy out there,” Peter explains. “There are at least two hundred people and that’s without the camera crews. We’re not Broadway, Kurt, we don’t have any barriers we can put up or security to help keep the crowd in check.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Kurt asks a little shellshocked because he honestly didn’t expect that.

Because this is New York and New Yorkers are used to celebrities and sightings of the royal family. With so many Oscar winners on Broadway stages these days, why would anyone try to meet Kurt Hummel at stage door?

“Gary’s telling them you left straight away so we’re hoping that people will give up quickly and leave. One of the interns is going to take you out the front door as soon as the theater’s empty and will put you in a cab we have waiting for you.”

It’s another hour before Peter deems it safe for Kurt to leave the theater and Kurt hopes he gets paid the hour he was babysitting Kurt. A few cameras go off when he walks briskly through the front doors and into the cab, the paparazzi not as easily fooled as the autograph seekers but there’s nothing he can do about that.

“Where to?” the cab driver asks and Kurt instructs him to just start driving because he doesn’t know yet.

“Can I come to yours?” he asks without preamble when Blaine answers his call. “There were a lot of paparazzi at the theater and I think one of them is following my car on a moped.”

“Shit, Kurt. I’m sorry, I’m not home, I’m at the Palace.”

“It’s okay. Maybe I’m just paranoid,” Kurt backtracks immediately because he doesn’t want Blaine to feel obligate to rush home so Kurt can go to Richmond House. “I’ll ask the driver to drop me off at a subway station and take the train home.”

“You know what, screw it. Mom’s in Paris and Cooper’s not gonna kick you out when he finds out. Tell the cab driver to take you to 5th Ave and E 82nd street. That’s the delivery entrance. I’ll make sure Palace Security lets you in.”

“Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t want to cause any trouble with your family.”

“Yeah, screw them. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Kurt tells the cab driver the address who fortunately keeps his mouth shut and just inputs it into his GPS.

The gate at the delivery entrance is much smaller than the one on 85th street and after paying the cab, Kurt waits until the car’s driven off before he approaches the guard house where a man wearing a uniform displaying the royal crest on his chest is watching the entrance.

“Um, hi. My name’s Kurt Hummel. I should be on the list. If there is a list. I’m sorry, I don’t know how this works,” he rambled and curses himself for being so nervous.

It’s nearly midnight, so hopefully Blaine will be able to sneak him to his room before anyone notices Kurt’s visit.

The guard presses a button inside the guard station and a steel door opens for Kurt.

“I have to screen your bag and pat you down,” the guard informs him and Kurt acquiesces.

When he’s satisfied that Kurt doesn’t pose a threat, he points to a chair.

“Please have a seat for a moment, I will let His Highness’ guards know you are here.”

Kurt only has to wait a few minutes, before Mike, one of Blaine’s night guards appears.

“Nice to see you again, Kurt,” Mike greets him. They’ve me before when Kurt stayed at the club with Blaine. “I’ll take you to His Highness.”

They enter the Palace through a side door and Kurt finds himself in an area that had been part of the tour he took with Rachel their first year in the city. The hallways are empty when Mike leads him through the building, up the stairs and past where a rope had signaled the end of the public area. Kurt thinks that Blaine was right when he described the Palace as a museum. Even on the upper floors, the wall are decorated with paintings of Blaine’s ancestors, hunting scenes and landscapes and the floors are made of marble. It doesn’t look like anyone actually lives here, though Kurt knows that the family has their living quarters on the third floor.

Matt is standing guard in front of a set of large wooden double doors that he knocks on when Kurt approaches with Mike.

“Kurt’s here,” he announces.

The doors open after a few seconds and then Blaine smiles at him, dressed in flannel pajamas pants and a soft looking grey henley. The Prince takes his hands and pulls him into the room letting his guards close the door behind them. Then they kiss briefly in the Prince’s small sitting room - nothing more than a peck - before Blaine leads him through another set of double doors into his bedroom. It is more modern than the rest of the Palace but it looks like the room of a boy who was barely ever home during his teenage years. Kurt’s bedroom in Ohio still has the posters on the wall that he hung when he was fifteen and the bookshelf is field with young adult fiction. Blaine’s bedroom however, is bare apart from the queen sized bed, a dresser and an armchair next to the window.

“I’m sorry about the paparazzi,” the Prince says when they are seated side by side on the bed holding hands.  “They were at my place again too though I don't know what for. All I do is walk out to the car and be driven off. I just hope it will quiet down a bit before I start classes next week, because I don’t think the school’s going to be happy if cameras keep following me around.”

“But there were always pictures of you at Harvard too. There were at least two new ones every week in Royal News,” Kurt says, blushing like he always does when admitting to having subscribed to the gossip magazine.

“But they weren’t so in your face about it. I usually didn’t even know they were there until my picture was in the papers. But now they keep yelling questions at me and shoving their cameras in my face even though the statement said clearly that we won’t give any interviews.”

There isn’t much they can do about the reporters though because everyone had warned them this would happen, but Kurt still keeps his fingers crossed that the press will soon lose interest in them again.

“Let’s forget about them for now and go to bed. Can I borrow a t-shirt to sleep in?”

“You don’t really think I’ll let you wear a shirt when I finally have you in my bed again,” the Prince replies huskily, his hands already working on the buttons of Kurt’s winter coat, but it’s nothing new that Blaine’s perpetually horny.

“It’s not that warm in here,” Kurt protests without much heat.

“I’ll just have to warm you then.”

The Prince throws Kurt’s coat onto the armchair before working on Kurt’s next layers, his mouth never far from Kurt’s lips, jaw and neck while he does so. Kurt lets the Prince do all the work for now though he has to stop him when Blaine sucks a little too enthusiastically on his neck.

“No hickeys,” he reminds the Prince. “At least not anywhere the audience could see,” he adds with what he hopes is a sultry voice.

Blaine moves his mouth from Kurt’s neck only to whisper into his ear ‘challenge accepted’ and biting his ear lobe.

“Your guards?” Kurt asks because he doesn’t know if he can keep quiet much longer if Blaine keeps up his ministrations.

“They’re outside but this room is pretty sound proof, I promise,” Blaine whispers and Kurt caves.

He’s being undressed by an incredibly hot prince in said prince’s palace bedroom and he’s only human after all. More and more of his clothes land on Blaine’s arm chair until Kurt’s down to his underwear and quickly strips the Prince out of his pajamas.

“What do you want?” he asks Blaine, and bites his bottom lip to stifle a moan when the Prince strokes Kurt’s hard dick over his underwear.

“I wanna blow you.” It’s a stupid question really because Blaine always wants to blow him. “I wanna blow you until you’re all desperate and then I wanna ride you in my childhood bedroom. I can’t think of a better fuck you to my family.”

“You don’t need to convince me,” Kurt pants when the Prince starts kissing down his chest, paying special attention to Kurt’s sensitive nipples before moving further down and starts operation drive Kurt crazy.

It doesn’t take long before Kurt grips the thin sheet and wills his body to hold on a bit longer, because the best is still to come. And then Blaine ruins it all when he pulls off and crawls up Kurt’s body to whisper into his ear.

“I got myself ready for you the moment you hung up the phone.”

Kurt’s toes curl and he comes with Blaine’s name on his lips before he muffles his moans by stuffing his fist into his mouth and biting down on his knuckles.

“You can’t say things like that and expect me to last,” he pants but Blaine looks like the cat that’s got the canary.

“You’re twenty - two and I know for a fact that your recovery time is amazing,” the Prince says smugly, before he pulls a half empty bottle of lube from underneath his pillow. “Maybe you should check I’m still good to go in the meantime.”

Kurt groans when his dick tries to harden again but it’s too soon and Blaine’s going to be the death of him. The Prince kisses him deep and dirty before scraping his teeth over Kurt’s pulse point and somehow manages to coat the fingers of Kurt’s right hand with lube at the same time.

“Please,” Blaine begs and who is Kurt to deny a prince.

By the time he’s got the Prince fucking himself on three of Kurt’s fingers, his dick’s with the program again and Kurt moans when Blaine covers it with lube, unceremoniously wiping his hand on the sheets before he pushes Kurt onto his back and the Prince climbs on top of him. Blaine doesn’t waste any time and before long he’s got Kurt chanting his name again and when Blaine comes and clenches around Kurt, he’s quick to follow the Prince.

“Oh my god,” Kurt exclaims mortified when they come down from their highs. “There’s no way they didn’t hear us.”

Blaine sighs. “There will always be guards in the vicinity as long as I’m Crown Prince.”

“If you’re going to start singing Take Me or Leave Me, I will punch you,” Kurt threatens, his cheeks still bright red, because really, they were loud. It was like Blaine wanted his father all the way across the park in his grave to hear them.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to make it less good next time so we’re quieter,” Blaine quips and Kurt rolls his eyes at his ridiculous boyfriend.

“You really have no shame.”

“I went to boarding school, Kurt. If you wanted to jerk off you had to learn to live with the knowledge that your roommate nearly always knew when you did it. And I like having sex with you, so I’m not going to pretend that I don’t. Weren’t you the one that told me that I shouldn’t feel ashamed about enjoying sex with men?”

Yeah, that dummy was him. But it’s not that he’s ashamed of enjoying sex with Blaine, he just finds it very embarrassing when other people know when they’re having it and how much Kurt enjoys it.

“If it’s any consolation, Mike and Matt won’t mention it. If it were Puck and Sam, we’d probably have to fist bump them, but Mike and Matt are much more discreet. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, it seems like I did give you a hickey but I’m like ninety-eight percent sure that your costume will cover it.”

Kurt smacks him with a pillow but doesn’t struggle when Blaine pushes the sheet to the floor and covers them with his comforter before pulling Kurt into his arms.

“But seriously, we are okay, right?” he asks with a yawn.

“Yeah, we are. I don’t think I’ll ever not be embarrassed but fortunately for you, you’re too hot for me to seriously consider abstinence.”

Blaine pulls him even closer and Kurt rolls his eyes. “But stop poking me. We’re not doing it again tonight.”

+*+

The next morning, they are woken by banging, but not the good kind.

“Prince Shortpants  get your butt out here. You too Porcelain.”

“Whasup?” Kurt mumbles and then quickly wipes the corner of his mouth because drooling unattractively in his sleeps seems unbecoming for the boyfriend of a prince.

Who doesn’t fare much better.

“Go away,” he calls in the direction of the door. “’S too early.”

“I’m gonna count till ten and then I’m going to override your lock, so you better get dressed before you scar me for life.”

To Kurt’s surprise, Blaine immediately scrambles out of bed and frantically puts on his underwear before rushing to his armchair and throwing Kurt’s at him.

“She isn’t seriously…” Kurt looks at the Prince in confusion who grimaces.

“She would.” That gets Kurt out of bed too, scrambling to put his underwear and his undershirt on.

On ‘9’ Blaine throws the outer doors open, having actually managed to put his pajama pants and his shirt on as well and Sue thrusts her iPad into his hands.

Open is a page of the Online Edition of Royal News and printed over a picture of Blaine’s mother photographed on the Champs-Elysées next to one of Kurt standing in front of the guard house is When The Cat’s Away, The Mice Come out To Play. Underneath is a short piece about Kurt going to the Palace last night before an official invitation had been issued to him and speculation on whether the Crown Prince had waited till his mother was out of the country before unofficially inviting his boyfriend over.

“Oh look, they called me your boyfriend,” he calls over his shoulder to Kurt who’s lacing up his DocMartins but the smile on his face disappears quickly when Sue glares at him.

“You know I hate surprises. That’s why you tell me these things so I don’t hear it from the press. Because my job’s to keep you out of the media. But how can I do that if I don’t know what I’m keeping out?” Sue lectures him, making him feel all of twelve years old when he got his first lecture from Sue Sylvester about behaving in public.

“Sorry, Sue. It was a spur of the moment thing because there were paparazzi at the theater and Kurt didn’t want to lead them to his apartment.”

“So, he led them here instead,” Sue glares. “The King’s already under pressure from the Church to distance himself from you and now you bring Porcelain to the Palace. I will get King Pretty to sign off on a statement from you in which you’ll say that you snuck him in behind the King’s back because for the time being, it can’t look like he’s invited Porcelain here.”

“Of course it can’t,” Blaine says bitterly but the problem is that if he were in Cooper’s shoes he’d act exactly the same to keep the peace between Crown and Church.

“Should I leave right now?” Kurt asks now fully dressed.

“I’ll send you home with a car - just this once,” Sue narrows her eyes at Kurt who nods in understanding. “And you,” she turns back to Blaine. “Better start apologizing to your mother and explain to your brother why you’re trying to complicate his life even more than it already is.”

“Yes Sue, sorry Sue.” Then he presses a quick kiss to Kurt’s cheek. “Call me when you’re home safe and I’ll figure out something for tonight.”

Kurt walks away with Puck and Blaine winces when Puck raises his fist for a fist bump, before he follows Sam and Sue toward Cooper’s office. 

*+*

It’s not enough that he had to chastise his brother this morning for sneaking Kurt into the Palace, no, now he has to meet with the archbishop and convince him that changing this law would be in the best interest of the royal family. But unsurprisingly, all the archbishop wants to talk about is Kurt’s presence at the Palace.

“Your Eminence, I’ve already had a talk with my brother this morning and he understands that this sort of behavior is unacceptable for the Crown Prince of America. There will be a statement in the press later, in which Blaine will set the record straight that he brought Mr. Hummel to the Palace without my permission.”

“I see. But Your Majesty, I fear that won't be enough. I think it is time that you openly adopt the church’ stance on homosexuality and tell your subjects that you don’t support the Crown Prince’s unnatural behavior.”

Cooper grits his teeth and takes a few calming breaths because no one gets to call Blaine unnatural, not even the archbishop of the Church of America, the highest religious authority in the country after the Pope. Of all the bishops, Cooper dislikes the archbishop the most, so of course it’s his support Cooper needs to change the royal parentage law that’s keeping Blaine from the throne for the time being.

“I will take it under advisement,” Cooper tells the archbishop. “But Your Eminence, this is not what I wanted to discuss with you today. I have asked the government to change the royal parentage law and Prime Minister Grey insisted I got you on board before he supports the bill in parliament.”

“Out of the question, Your Majesty. The Church will never support such a change, because for a child to be considered a legitimate heir, mother and father need to be of royal blood.”

“But technically, a commoner who marries into the royal family doesn’t have royal blood and still I have been the Crown Prince and am your King now.”

“Your mother was anointed with holy oil when your father became King. God has accepter her as Queen and therefore she’s seen as royal in the eyes of God and the law,” the archbishop says simply. “But this is not news to Your Majesty.”

“And you are aware that my family is running out of suitable options. What if my future wife and I cannot have children. Then I would have to abdicate for my brother who cannot have a family. Princess Sophia is not healthy enough for the Crown and she’s got no family either. My father’s cousin Duke Carl has a reputation as an adulterer and Earl Robert is married to a divorcee. And their sons and daughters, some of them have never even seen the Palace from the inside. They haven’t grown up under royal rule and I’m pretty sure none of them have any interest in giving up their lives for the Crown. Like it or not, at the moment it’s up to me to keep the line of Virginia alive, but if you aren’t ready to discuss reproductive medicine with me, maybe you should allow me to remarry if my wife can’t provide me with an heir.”

Predictably, the archbishop looks even more scandalized by this proposition.

“So what Your Majesty is saying is that the Church should accept reproductive medicine as a means of guaranteeing that your family’s line will go on. Forgive me, but I don’t know enough about the subject.”

Well, then Cooper will have to enlighten him.

“What I’m proposing is to change the law so that only one biological parent will have to be of royal blood. So, in case my wife can’t have children, we could work around it with an egg donor and a surrogate and if I were the problem, we could use a sperm donor because my wife would either be royal by birth or through marriage and you said yourself that a commoner bound through marriage to a royal is viewed as royal in the eyes of church and law.”

“But the couple would still have to be married and unable to conceive naturally? This would not allow a Queen or King unwilling to marry to start a family this way to keep their power.”

“They would have to follow the obey the same laws as every other couple in the country, yes.”

The archbishop sighs heavily. “I will discuss it with my fellow bishops.” After a beat. “My work was much easier in the past century. Now there’s some newfangled invention every day. I miss the 20th century.”

Cooper gives him a sympathetic smile and is nice enough not to point out that the things they are talking about already existed in the 20th century.

*+*

Tonight, after the show, Kurt does leave immediately, still dressed in his costume underneath his winter coat when he jumps into a waiting cab. Just to be safe he asks the driver to drop him off a block away from his home and only when he’s pretty sure that the paparazzi haven’t followed him does he enter his building and head up to his and Dani’s apartment.

By now, he’s got nearly twenty text messages from Rachel alone asking for details about his night at the Palace and Dani’s just as curious.

“I didn’t really see much of the Palace since I went straight up to Blaine’s bedroom and then they took me out through the service entrance again the next morning,” Kurt admits with flaming cheeks because he knows what that sounds like - like he only went to the Palace for sex with he Prince and left again first thing in the morning.

In his room he carefully takes off his costume and wipes away his stage makeup before pulling on his robe and heading for the shower. His peace and quiet lasts all of two or three minutes before someone bangs on his front door and Kurt hears Dani’s squeak of ‘who are you’ through the bathroom door.

“Get your butt out here now!” Sue demands for the second time today and Kurt quickly washes the shampoo out of his hair, wraps a towel around his head turban style and a second towel around his waist underneath his bathrobe.

“Sue,” he greets her with a sigh. “What did I do now?”

In response, Sue Sylvester shows him her iPad. On the opened page is a picture of Kurt taken in his dressing room. He’s shirtless, just stepping into his costume, and on display for everyone to see are the two hickeys the Prince left on his collarbone and above his left hip last night.

Prince Blaine’s A Sucker For His Boyfriend is the title of the picture posted on a private blog and already shared half a million times.

“Who could have taken this? Did you see anyone?” Sue asks her arms crossed over her chest as she stares him down.

Kurt shrugs as he tries to remember earlier tonight when he was getting dressed.

“I share a dressing room with six other guys who were all getting dressed or putting on make up, tweeting or playing games on their phones. I had my phone out too but my hand’s cut off in the picture so you can’t see. I was texting with Blaine so I wasn’t really paying attention to anything else around me,” he admits.

Sue doesn’t look impressed so her next words surprise him. “I’ve already put out a statement on your behalf in which you are appropriately outraged by the invasion of your privacy and that that’s all you have to say on the matter. Under no circumstances will you confirm or deny that those,“ she wrinkles her nose, “marks were made by Prince Shortpants, are we clear?”

“Crystal.” As if he’d want to discuss his sex life in public. He didn’t want to when first Santana invaded his and Blaine’s privacy and videotaped them without their knowledge or consent and he doesn’t want to now. Though he’d very much like to know which of his fellow cast mates took and published the picture. I hope it wasn’t Adam, he thinks because he owes his cast mate and friend this role.

“If you want your own dressing room from now on, let me know and I’ll make the call tomorrow,” Sue continues but Kurt shakes his head.

“Some of them already think I think I’m better than them. I don’t want to give them another reason to think that. I’ll just be more careful in the future or get dressed at home.”

Just then his phone rings and the display shows the name of the director.

“I’m very sorry about the incident at the theater tonight,” Sally tells him. “I can assure you though that it won’t happen again. Peter knew that the blog belongs to Jarred and he’s been fired effective immediately.”

“Oh,” Kurt says surprised though Rachel would probably say that of course it was the understudy. She always goes on and on about the understudy only being out to get the actor they’re understudying and she doesn’t see the irony in it when at the moment she’s the understudy’s understudy.

“I’ll try not to get sick then.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already reached out to the girl who understudied the role in London and luckily she’s now free to come to New York for a few months. Just try not to break anything in the next few days while we try to catch her up.”

“I’ll be careful,” Kurt promises before ending the call with Sally.

“It was my understudy who took the picture,” he tells Sue “and the theater’s already fired him. So you can go now. It’s not that I don’t appreciate you telling me and releasing that statement but next time, can’t you just call? Not that there will be a next time,” he adds quickly, when Sue raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

Thankfully, she just leaves then without another word and Kurt sinks down onto the couch next to Dani who’s been watching his and Sue’s interaction like a ping pong match.

Deciding to fuck it and just own it he turns to his roommate and says, “so to answer your question - I had a fantastic night at the Palace.”

In response, Dani starts giggling almost hysterically and Kurt soon joins her because how is this his life now? For years his bullies had told him that he’d never find a guy because he was ugly, had toothpick arms and a flabby stomach and now people took pictures of him shirtless to prove he was fooling around with a hot prince. If this is a dream, it’s the strangest dream he’s ever had, that’s for sure.

+*+

Cooper’s next stop is the leader of the liberal party who’s been trying to get a law signed that would allow married homosexual couples not only to adopt but also access to reproductive medicine.

“I’m obviously for it, but I can only vote yay if parliament agrees to keep my vote confidential until I’m ready to reveal it and if in turn, your party supports a law that would allow the royal family access to the same medicine without keeping the resulting children from royal titles.”

He does not tell her why the Crown is suddenly ready to support her bill. No one can know that he’s doing this all for Blaine, that he’s ensuring that his brother can be King and carry on the line through surrogacy later in life. Because if surrogacy for civilly married gay couples is legal, then it would be legal for a civilly married gay King too no matter what the Church says. Cooper’s not stupid, there’s no way the Church would ever bless Blaine’s marriage and give his husband a title, let alone King Consort. But at least Kurt, Cooper’s pretty sure, wouldn’t be bothered by this.

“If His Majesty supports my bill, He will have my party’s support for His own proposed law,” Marena King tells him, before she curtsies and leaves his office.

Time to meet with the Prime Minister again, Cooper thinks before he sends a text to Sarah.

Not long now  xoxo-C

*+*+

“Are you sure you still want to go?” Blaine asks while they are getting ready at Richmond House two months later.

Going to class for Blaine means running the gauntlet every time he’s on campus, trying to dodge paparazzi and still give them a friendly smile when they do catch him. His family will probably have to donate a large sum to the school to make up for the problems Blaine’s attendance has been causing. Since the start of the term, every singly one of the students he shares classes with has been approached by the media, and Blaine counts himself lucky that no one’s sold him out for a quick buck yet. Or maybe someone had, but the story was just too boring. After all, who wants to read - ‘Crown Prince goes to class, listens to lecture, does homework and writes midterm papers.’

Kurt’s not faring much better but he’s doing stage door again; from behind a barrier and flanked by bodyguards the theater has hired since Kurt’s presence has just bought the show a two months extension that has already sold out as well. However, he never comes out before his cast mates had a chance to meet fans of the show and sign programs. It’s bad enough when they take their bow and people make it abundantly clear who they came to the show for, but at least at stage door, he wants the others to shine first before he braves the crowd as well. If it were just theatergoers it would be fine and he could maybe handle it without security, but interest in him still hasn’t gone down and so he also has to deal with a group of paparazzi every night.

“You got me Hamilton tickets. There’s little in the world I would miss the show for,” Kurt reminds the Prince before batting his hands away and fixing the Blaine's bowtie.

They’re not dressed in suits since most people don’t really dress up for Broadway anymore, but they both look very stylish - Kurt in a silvery dinner jacket with black skinny tie over dark grey slacks and polished black oxfords and the Prince in a burgundy dinner jacket with black bowtie over black slacks and black boat shoes with white accents - because tonight will be there first public appearance together. There’s been plenty about the two of them in the news, but until now no pictures of the two of them together outside screen shots from the video exist. So it’s to be expected that once word gets out that they’re at the show together the paparazzi will come out in droves.

The Palace has called ahead and warned the theater that the Crown Prince and boyfriend will be attending the show so it could make provisions for them like extra security and a special screening of everyone sitting in Blaine’s vicinity. Mike got the front row seat on the balcony next to the Prince after he admitted that he trained to be a dancer until a knee injury destroyed that dream, while Sam and Puck have the seats right behind Blaine while Kurt gets Matt on his side.

When they’re ready to leave Sam reports that the paparazzi have left probably to check out reports that the Prince was see entering Kurt’s theater - a brilliant move on Puck’s part, Kurt has to admit - and they quickly climb into a waiting car driven by Blaine’s usual driver Liam.

Liam drops them off at stage door where they are greeted by one of the producers and given a quick tour backstage since the plan’s to get them to their seats at the last possible moment.

“If Your Highness isn’t in a hurry after the show, the cast would love to meet with the two of you.”

“We’d love to,” Kurt says quickly before a squeal makes him look behind the producer.

“Rachel,” Kurt exclaims and then she’s throwing herself at him already dressed in her 18th century costume. “I’m sorry I won’t get to see you as Eliza tonight,” he winks and Rachel squeezes him harder.

“You should have told me you’re coming,” she pouts. “We’ve barely see each other since you went public with Prince Blaine.”

“Sorry, Rach,” he apologizes feeling a bit guilty for neglecting her, but she’s still hanging out a lot with Santana and Kurt’s not ready to be friends with his former roommate again. “I wasn’t allowed to say since this is a big security issue for the Palace. Apparently, crowds and the Crown Prince make the Palace nervous. But we’ll catch up soon, I promise,” he adds before they are whisked away and led up the stairs to their seats since the final bell just rung.

And then the audience goes crazy. They are recognized as soon as they enter and a young woman yells loudly, “OMG, it’s the Prince and Kurt.”

With Puck, Sam, Matt and Mike forming a protective circle around them, they shuffle to their seats while more and more people stand up to gawk at them and take pictures. And then there’s the cheering and clapping and people yelling out their support. Blaine smiles at them all regally and Kurt allows himself a small wave since these people are cheering for him as well. It’s an other worldly experience that Kurt suddenly finds himself thrust into, making his own stage door experiences appear like child’s play.

The crowd doesn’t quiet down until the producer himself steps on stage and tells the audience that the show won’t start until everyone’s taken their seat and has put their phones away and to please do that now since Prince Blaine came to the theater to see Hamilton.

It takes another fifteen minutes until the audience is quiet but when the curtain goes up Kurt smiles when he catches sight of Rachel on stage because knowing that his friend’s in the show makes it even better.

The show is fantastic as is meeting the cast and nothing can dampen Kurt’s spirits that night, not even the police escort it takes to get them home to Richmond House safely, where Kurt’s been spending his nights when the paparazzi were especially ruthless at the theater and he was afraid they would follow him home.

+*+

“All in favor of signing bill 1096 SSC into law please say ‘yay’,” Marena King, the author of the bill, asks and once King Cooper’s voted yay, more and more members of parliament follow.

It’s a closed session and everyone in the room has already signed a confidentiality agreement because this can’t come out until the time’s right.

“The motion passes 119 to 86,” Marena King announces with a big smile on her face. She’s told Cooper in confidence that she has a partner who she would have loved to marry and have children with before they got too old, but knowing she’s giving the younger generation those opportunities fills her with so much pride.

“Moving on,” the speaker says. “His Majesty the King, has also prepared a motion. His Majesty has the floor.”

Cooper’s dressed in a smartly tailored suit that hugs his body in all the right places, his dark hair is styled expertly and his teeth shine when he gives the room his most dazzling smile.

“Members of parliament, the Crown wishes to amend Royal Law pertaining to parentage and the issuing of titles onto heirs to the throne. The Crown does so with support from the Church of America and is now asking for your support as well. The proposed amendment will give members of the royal family access to reproductive medicine and children born from such procedures will still be eligible for royal titles. This is to ensure that my family’s line, the line of Virginia which has been leading this kingdom since the 18th century, can flourish further even when a King and Queen cannot conceive naturally. The leading Kings and Queens would have to adhere to common law and unmarried members of the royal family would no be granted access to the procedures as is common law already. So, in short, all in favor of amending Royal Law 32 to include reproductive medicine regulated under common law please say ‘yay’.”

Cooper fixes his eyes on the Prime Minster who’s promised his support when Cooper came to him and told him he somehow got the Church on board. Prime Minister Grey looks like he’s just bitten into a particularly bitter lemon but once he votes yay, the members of his party follow and in the end, the vote is unanimous.

“Thank you,” Cooper says graciously trying not to jump up and down like crazy because, holy shit, he’s done it. “If there’s nothing else on the agenda for today, please excuse me. I have to open a children’s hospital in Nevada.”

And then he flees out into his waiting car and lets out a breath he seems to have been holding for years. There’s a letter for Blaine waiting in his brother’s old bedroom filled with apologies and the belief that Blaine will be much better suited for the job, pleads for Blaine not to hate him and the confession that he wants to move out west with his new family to try his hand on acting. The letter’s supposed to tide Blaine over while Cooper’s off on honeymoon in the Bahamas and hopefully by the time he’s back, Blaine will have accepted his new responsibilities and is willing to speak to him again.

Sarah and the kids are waiting for him at the private airbase, and when he sees them he can’t wait any longer and pulls them all into a tight hug. He and Sarah kiss while the kids fight over who gets to play co-pilot for ‘Coop’.

“Ready Ms. Anderson?” he asks her after buckling the kids into their seats.

Just his luck that he would be marrying an Anderson when his mom was one too. Still, not enough of a detergent to keep him from taking her name since his only other option would be going by Cooper Virginia and that sounds just stupid. Well, it will probably be Duke Cooper of Virginia since Kings and Queens who have abdicated in the past have usually been styled Duke or Duchess. But if he had a choice he’d rather be Duke Cooper Anderson of Virginia.

“As I’ll ever be.”

*+*

Kurt runs into Blaine's living room after a loud crash that hasn’t just him scrambling to get to the Prince but his guards as well. Blaine’s standing in the middle of the room in a sea of glass shards from the vase he dropped, staring white faced at the TV. And then the room starts spinning for Kurt as well, because there on CNN, his and Blaine’s worst nightmare is being announced.

Breaking News: King Cooper marries secret girlfriend in Las Vegas and petitions court for step-child adoption. King Cooper also announced his abdication from the throne effective immediately after signing into law a bill that will make the LGBT community very happy. In his last official action, King Cooper helped pass a law that will allow married same sex couples access to reproductive medicine and adoption beyond step-child adoption. We are now awaiting a statement from the Palace where King Blaine should be expected to arrive within the next few hours to take over from his brother.

And then the Prince doesn’t just break the vase, he shatters Kurt’s heart as well.

“I’m so sorry Kurt, but if I have to be King, we can’t be together anymore.”