Chapter 6

Blaine sits in the back of a sleek black helicopter belonging to the Royal Air Force and tries to make sense of his emotions. He’s grateful for the noise, uses it as an excuse not to have to talk to his brother who is staring out of the window seemingly in his own world as well.

‘It’s time to go home.’ Cooper has said standing in front of the Hummel’s cabin. And, ‘he can’t come, you know that Blaine’.

He’s left Kurt with the keys to Wes’ car and promised to come find him when Kurt’s back in New York too. And then he’s wiped the treacherous tears from his face and climbed in the waiting helicopter, ignoring the four guards who look at him with something akin to pity in their eyes. Cooper nodded at two of them before he took his seat next to Blaine.

‘Sam Evans, Noah Puckerman. They will be your personal guards from now on. Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere without them, are we clear?’

His brother didn’t sound like his goofy, fun loving brother at all.

It’s not just their father who’s dead. Two of King Richard's senior advisors along with his father’s personal guards and a journalist from the New York Times writing a profile about his dad in his fifteenth year as King were on the plane with him.

‘They don’t know yet why it crashed, but they’ve already found the plane and there are no survivors,’ his brother, the King, has said standing in front of Blaine and the boy he likes.

His mother was supposed to be on the plane but then Blaine caused a major scandal and ran away and she stayed home to wait for his return, Or as the public will see it, the Queen stayed behind so she could be with her son during his difficult time. Whatever her reasons, at least she was not on the plane. Blaine honestly didn’t expect that he would cry when his father died, but even after everything his dad put him through, he was still his dad and suddenly he doesn’t have a dad anymore.

And then there’s Cooper who seems to be only holding it together because of the guards on the plane.

“We’re still keeping it under wraps,” his brother says suddenly. “At least until you’re back home. Now’s not the time to reveal that you ran away.”

Blaine nods because Cooper’s right. The people need to see a united royal family mourning the loss of their King together.

“When we get to the Palace you will fix your hair and put on a suit. Emma’s called a press conference for noon,” Cooper continues in a monotone voice, sounding like he’s reading from a script. Blaine nods again.

“Mom wants to talk to you before we address the media.”

“How is she?”

He never knew what to make of his parents’ relationship. It was an open secret that his mother had pursued his father for his title. The only child of King Edward was the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom when Pamela Anderson set her sights on him and pursued him until he caved and married her.

Cooper’s eyes fall on the guards who pretend that they aren’t listening. Blaine knows they won’t talk, but he’s never really gotten used to talking in front of ‘the help’ like ‘the help’ isn’t there at all and neither has Cooper.

“It seems like she didn’t just marry him for his position after all. She’s, uh, she didn’t take it well. Doctor Fabray had to give her a sedative.”

“And grandma and great grandma?”

“We thought it was best to wait until the morning to tell them. Mom said she’ll do it after she’s had a few hours of sleep.”

Neither of them talks for a good ten minutes while the helicopter flies over Pennsylvania. When his brother speaks again, he sounds so defeated, Blaine’s tempted to unbuckle his seatbelt and give his brother a hug, but he’s a pilot too and knows that turbulences can happen at any time.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to rule another twenty or thirty years and by then I might have had children who have an actual desire to be King or Queen and I could have passed the baton to them. Because I really don't want to be King. I hate the rules and the ceremonies and I have no interest in helping parliament govern this country. I don’t want to have to read countless bills every day and be forced to say yay or nay. I don’t want that responsibility. We went to war against Iraq because Dad approved the plan even though only half of the MPs did. I don’t want that kind of power.”

It’s not like they have a say in the matter. The throne is inherited and the only way to get out of it is to abdicate willingly or be forced to abdicate by the Church or government which happened the last time in 1897 when Queen Caroline refused to marry.

“I’m sorry Coop, but crowned or not, you are the King now and you’ll have to start making decisions soon. You’ll need to hire advisors and a chief of staff and meet with he prime minister, better today than tomorrow. You’ll have to meet the bishops to talk about the funeral arrangements and your coronation ceremony. And they’ll probably pressure you to marry before you’re officially crowned King.”

It’s probably not what his brother wants to hear but at least Cooper knew he’d be King eventually. Blaine on the other hand never even considered that he’d be Crown Prince, the heir presumptive one day, because he’s always assumed that by the time his father died Cooper would have had a kid or two. He doesn’t want to be number one in line as much as Cooper apparently doesn’t want to be King.

“So what am I supposed to do? Marry some eighteen year old just so the Church’s happy? There are no virgins my age and to be frank I don’t want to marry one. What if the sex’s really bad and then I’m stuck with her because I’m not allowed to remarry unless I’m a widower and she’s also a widow,” Cooper huffs. “I hate all those laws.”

“You might be able to change that law,” Blaine points out. “I’m sure you’d have the support from at least the female MPs, especially since there’s no good reason why your wife has to be a virgin and you don’t. But you should probably do it before you’re officially crowned and become head of the Church.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about that,” Cooper frowns. “I think you’d make a much better King,” he adds with a sigh.

Blaine immediately shakes his head. “No I wouldn’t and I can’t be King anyway. No when I’m dating a man.”

“So you’re dating him now?” Cooper’s eyebrows shoot up. “I thought he was just a hook up.”

“He was but we’ve been talking and I like Kurt. So we’re going to try dating,” Blaine explains.

“Jesus, Squirt, you have horrible timing,” Cooper sighs.

“Don’t call me that,” Blaine protests but his brother just ignores him.

“You need to tell me things like that from now on. And you are gonna have to tell Mom. You’ve seen me do it for years. You let Sue know when you start dating someone new and after an appropriate time has passed, the Palace may or may not make a statement on your behalf confirming the relationship. Until then, you need to keep it under wraps. No dating in public, do you understand?”

Blaine rolls his eyes. “I couldn’t date him publicly anyway. Not with how interested the press is in us right now. But I figured Kurt could meet me at Richmond House or I could show him the Palace at some point.”

Cooper sighs. “I hate to be the bad guy here, but you know you can’t bring him to the Palace before I’ve been crowned. It would look too much like, ‘hey now that the King’s out of the way I can finally bring my boyfriend over.’ You can’t take him anywhere that’s associated with the Crown and that includes Richmond House. Not before the Crown has come out to support you.”

“But you will, right?” Blaine looks at his brother pleadingly.

“I can’t promise anything, Squirt. The Crown’s stance till now has been that it does not support same sex marriage. I can’t just come out and say that I do before I’ve spoken to my advisors and the bishops.”

Blaine visibly deflates because he’s been sure that Cooper would make things better for him and the whole LGBT community.

The helicopter flies across the Hudson and Blaine watches with trepidation as the Palace comes into view. It’s an impressive building right in the middle of Central Park stretching from 80th to 84th street. The main gates are on the 85th Street Transverse right below Queen Victoria reservoir. The whole area below 85th street is part of the Palace grounds while the park area from 85th to 110th street is open to the public. A few minutes later, the helicopter lands with a soft thud behind the Palace and Cooper climbs out quickly.

“Get dressed and meet Mom. She said she’s going to be in the library,” Cooper instructs before he strides towards the terrace followed by his guards where a Palace guard is already holding open the door for the King, head bowed in deference to him.

With a sigh, Blaine climbs out of the helicopter as well and walks toward the Palace at a more leisurely pace not ready to meet his mother just yet. He’s flanked by his personal guards and that’s definitely going to take some getting used to.

“May I call you by your first names?” he asks a tall blond with a huge mouth and a man with what looks like a mohawk on his head. At least he didn’t get stuffy old guards but two guys who look like they are his age.

“Of course Your Highness,” the blond, Sam, says. “I go by Puck,” mohawk guard adds.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’ll try not to be too much trouble but I’ve never had 24/7 security before and I’m used to doing my own thing. So unless you have a valid security concern, you won’t tell me where I can or can’t go. And you'll tell me who has told you not to let me go certain place. Also, I would very much appreciate it if you could call me Blaine, at least when we’re in private.”

“No problem,” Puck says with an easy smile on his face and Sam nods as well.

Blaine’s old bedroom in the Palace is on the third floor looking south and when he gets there, there’s a suit laid out for him on the bed. While Puck and Sam take their positions in front of his room, Blaine takes a hot shower and washes his hair before gelling it into submission. When he’s done, all traces of Blaine-Blake Anderson are gone, and HRH Prince Blaine is looking back at him, hair neatly gelled to his head and his face clean shaven. He spends a few more seconds in front of the mirror practicing his sad face so he’ll wear an appropriate expression during the press conference.

It’s not that he isn’t sad, but he’s also not devastated and he can’t let the public see that his father’s death isn’t affecting him as badly as he thinks it should.

He walks out of his ensuite bathroom with a towel slung low around his hips and dresses himself in the suit. He already looks like he’s going to a funeral. Blaine straightens his spine and walks out of his room to go find his mom, his new shadows following behind. He doesn’t know why he needs security inside the Palace, but Cooper’s had it just like their dad when he was next in line to the throne. Before he steps into the library he turns to Sam and Puck.

“I lost my cellphone somewhere in Ohio, so could you please get me a new one. Oh and find out Kurt Hummel’s phone number. He lives somewhere on W156th street and his dad’s name is Burt.”

He leaves them with his instructions and knocks on the door after taking a deep breath.

His mother’s sitting on a chaise longue wearing a conservative, black dress. Her hair’s pulled up and she’s wearing barely any make up, her eyes red rimmed from crying. When Blaine enters, she plots her cheeks with a handkerchief and narrows his eyes at him.

“Were you with him?”

There’s only one him she can mean and Blaine nods.

“Your father thought you are a disgrace to this family and he would have disowned you had his advisors not advised him against it. Apparently the majority of the people now support civil gay marriage, so your father vowed to handle you in private.”

Blaine swallows around the sudden lump in his throat as he sits down in a chair opposite his mother after kissing her cheek.

“What was he going to do?”

“Your father felt that maybe it was a mistake to let you return to New York. He thought you might be better off working for one of our charities in South Sudan.”

His mother doesn't make mourning his dad easier that’s for sure.

“I’m not going anywhere, Mom.” His hands shakes when he says it, but he powers on. “And I’d like you to meet him. Kurt. I think I could like him a lot and I want my family to like him too.”

“You are not going to bring him here. I won’t allow it,” his mother says sharply. “Your father hasn’t even been buried yet and you already want to bring that man into our home when you know your father would never have permitted it. I can’t stop you from seeing him, I don’t have that kind of power and Cooper’s weak, he’ll always put you first, but you will not bring him here.”

Blaine doesn’t point out that it will be up to Cooper to decide who gets access to the Palace, that his mother doesn’t have any power now that King Richard is dead. That she’ll need Cooper’s permission if she wants to keep living at the Palace, though he doesn’t think his brother will kick her out. If she even wants to remain at the Palace. Blaine’s grandmother moved to one of the royal homes in Virginia - their ancestors’ home state - when her husband King Edward died when Blaine was eight years old and so did his great grandmother before her after the death of King William.

“I understand,” he says stiffly and bows his head, his upbringing ensuring that he doesn’t yell or argue with his mother even though he very much wants to. “I will not make you witness my depravity.”

He kisses her cheek again and walks away from her. Out the door and up to the second floor where there’s a little balcony from which you can overlook the park but no one can see you from down there. Puck and Sam guard the sliding door while Blaine removes a brick from the outer wall and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. It’s a new one so he figures Cooper’s been up here already too.

“You smoke?” Sam asks with a frown on his face and Blaine gives him a one shoulder shrug.

“Don’t tell my mother, but I think the occasional cigarette is the only thing my father, Cooper and I had in common. And if you knew my parents the way I do, you’d understand why I come here every time I have to spend time at the Palace.”

Sam mimes locking his lips and throwing away the key while Puck bums a cigarette from Blaine.

“I’m dating Dr. Fabray so if you don’t tell I won’t tell either,” he winks. “Oh, and, I put in a request for a new phone for you, but they said it’s gonna be a few days because they need to set it up with extra security first.”

Blaine nods. He’s expected that.

“Did you get Kurt’s phone number?”

“I think so but the phone’s turned off. You wanna listen to the voicemail to check if I got the right one?” Sam hands him his cellphone after dialing Kurt’s number.

‘This is Kurt Hummel. I can’t come to the phone right now but I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.’

Blaine waits for the beep before he leaves a message though it won’t surprise him if Kurt never turns his phone back on and just gets a new number as well. With Puck and Sam standing next to him on the small balcony, he keeps his message short and simple.

“Hi, it’s me. I wanted to let you know that I lost my phone and haven’t gotten a new one yet. If you get this, can you text this number to let me know and tell me if your number’s still the same. Talk to you soon.”

After finishing the message, he hands the phone back to Sam and stabs out his cigarette. The pack goes back into its hiding place and the butt into a trashcan.

On the way to the media room, named so because all televised statements are recorded there, Blaine bumps into the Palace press secretary Emma Pillsbury. She takes one whiff of him and tells him to hold out his hands. After spraying his hands with disinfectant, she also hands him a chewing gum all the while berating him for the bad habit. He expects a pamphlet about the dangers of smoking in his room by the end of the night.

When he gets to the media room, Emma quickly leads him to a corner in the front where his mom and Cooper are huddled together. The room is filled with Palace approved reporters from all major newspapers and camera crews from the big outlets. From their whispered conversations, Blaine gathers that the reporters assume the King’s grandmother has died since the royal family is all dressed in black and his great grandmother is already ninety-two. When Emma steps to the microphone the room quiets immediately though and Blaine takes a seat with his mother and brother behind her.

“Good morning,” Emma greats the assembled reporters. “Unfortunately, I have bad news today and I am asking you to save any questions until after a statement from His Majesty.”

Blaine hears a few mumbled ‘thought he was out of the countries’ but no one seems to have cottoned on to the fact that Emma’s talking about Cooper.

“Late last night, a plane carrying King Richard has crashed over the Andes. With the King were his advisors Terry Schuester and Cooter Menkins, and royal guards Ian Mayer, Brad Ashford, Peter Smith and Ryan Williams. The Palace is sorry to announce that there have been no survivors. Rescue workers have located the plane and the bodies of all the deceased will be flown back to the kingdom in the coming days. It is with a heavy heart that Crown Prince Cooper has followed his father onto the throne. There are no dates yet for the funeral or King Cooper’s coronation and the Palace will keep you updated. And now, His Majesty King Cooper would like to say a few words.”

Blaine looks at the reporters, many of them looking like Christmas has come early, though there are some genuinely sad faces, and thinks, ‘at least I don’t have to worry about my scandal for a while.’ He’s obviously hoped for another scandal, something else that would make people forget about his outing, but he’s never even considered that it would be his father’s death that would eclipse his coming out.

Cooper’s standing straight and looks regal as he addresses the media.

“My father was a great man. This year he was celebrating his fifteenth year as King of this great country. We didn’t always see eye to eye on every issue but my father believed in what he did, he had principles and that’s an admirable quality in any leader. I can only hope that I will be a worthy King, and I will do my utmost to work together well with prime minister Grey and our parliament. My coronation will happen six months after my father’s funeral. I’d like to ask all my subjects to give me these six months to figure out what kind of King I’m going to be. I have been an apprentice for many years but I believed I had many more before I would follow in my father’s footsteps. This will be an adjustment for all of us, but especially for my family who’s had no warning before tragedy struck. I would also like to announce that henceforth HRH Prince Blaine of Virginia will be titled HRH Crown Prince Blaine of Virginia, heir presumptive to the Crown of America.”

A whisper goes through the room at Cooper’s pronouncement but his brother is just following protocol. He isn’t endorsing Blaine’s sexuality or publicly supporting same sex couples. Legally, until Cooper has children, Blaine is the heir presumptive and if something happened to his brother before he produces offspring, Blaine would have to enter into a heterosexual marriage to keep the line of Virginia going. He’s not the praying type, but he does pray with all that he has that Cooper will lead a long and happy life and never burdens Blaine with the Crown.

He bows his head demurely in Cooper’s direction.

“In this difficult time, my family and I would ask for a little time to mourn my father in private,” Cooper continues. “Please direct all questions at my press secretary Emma Pillsbury.”

Blaine and Queen Pamela follow Cooper as he strides from the room and for someone who doesn’t want to be King, he does a good job of looking more like a King than his father ever had.

*+*

“I can’t believe the King’s dead,” Elliott says as they watch the Palace press conference. “Or that you landed that fine piece of ass,” he adds nodding in Blaine’s direction. “What was I thinking moving away from New York.”

“You fell in love,” Kurt teases his friend.

Elliott’s the only friend he made in New York when he tried to start a band, fed up with watching Rachel get cast on Broadway and Santana get offered commercial after commercial when she doesn’t even want to be an actress. The band idea turned out to be a bust, but he and Elliott became good friends. Elliott, at the time, was already madly in love with his boyfriend and when his boyfriend took a job in Pittsburgh a year ago, Elliott followed him there to Kurt’s chagrin.

“I can’t believe he’s dead, period. I don’t even know if Blaine saw him before King Richard left for Argentina,” Kurt sticks to the agreed upon story because as much as he trusts Elliott, the less people know that the Prince was in Ohio with Kurt when his dad’s plane crashed, the better.

Kurt’s official story is that he sent the Prince packing and then ran off to Ohio to avoid reporters. On his way back, he decided to pay at visit to his friend and that’s when they found out about the King’s death together.

His eyes are stuck on Blaine, who looks so different with his gel slick hair and the tailored suit. He looks like a prince, not like the goofy college student Kurt thought he was.

“Has anyone from the Palace contacted you?” Elliott asks and Kurt shrugs.

“I haven’t dared to turn on my phone since I left. I’m pretty sure someone’s figured out my number by now and I’m afraid of the hateful messages.”

“Alright, give it to me. I’ll delete anything that’s nasty,” Elliott holds out his hand and Kurt gives him the phone after putting in his passcode.

The press conference is on repeat on CNN and they’ve already seen King Cooper’s speech three times. Kurt watches Blaine while Elliott deletes texts and voicemails.

“Good news is your email hasn’t been hacked and neither has your Facebook or Twitter. But it seems like someone posted your phone number online and people having been leaving messages non stop. I’ve saved the sweet ones in case you ever want to listen to them. And there’s a voicemail from a guy who says he lost his phone and you should text him if you are okay. I’ve saved it for now in case it’s someone you know,” Elliott hands him his phone back and after a moment’s hesitation, Kurt listens to the voicemail.

“It’s him,” he smiles and Elliott points at the TV screen, his mouth open in surprise.

“Him him?” Kurt nods and quickly types out a message.

I’m okay. Will get new number. Will text new number to this number. Hope you’re okay too.”

“I didn’t know you exchanged numbers with him,” Elliott says, apparently in shock. “I thought it was just a one night stand.”
Kurt tries not to smile but he can’t help it.

“Actually, we’re going on a date when things quiet down. Or at least I hope we still are, because we made the plans before his dad died and he wasn’t the Crown Prince.”

“Holy shit, Kurt. Really? You’re going out with a prince? Like an actual prince not a metaphorical prince.”

“I know it’s crazy, right,” Kurt agrees.

He hasn’t had a chance to talk to the Prince since his brother whisked him away, doesn’t know if this changes things between them or if Blaine still wants to date him now that he’s the first in line to the throne.

“So when are you going back to New York? You’re welcome to stay here for a bit of course.”

“I called Rachel from the car and told her that I think it’s time to move. Santana wants to move in with Brittany and Rachel wants to move downtown. I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet though, because right now looking for new roommates seems pretty stupid.”

“You’re not gonna move with Rachel?” Elliott asks surprised and Kurt shakes his head.

“I can’t afford to live downtown and I know she wants Jesse to move in with her. Maybe I should just move back to Ohio and work for my dad.” He’s only half joking.

“Actually,” Elliott perks up. “You remember my roommate Dani?” Kurt nods.

“She was looking for a new roommate. I can ask her if she’s found anyone yet if you like. She lives in Brooklyn and I think her rent isn’t too bad.”

“That would be great.”

He watches as a reporter interviews people who’ve come to lay down flowers in front of the Palace gates while Elliott calls Dani. Kurt wasn’t aware the King was that popular but it’s only been two hours since the announcement and the sidewalk in front of the gates is already filled with flowers, candles and notes for the royal family.

“You can move in tonight if you want,” Elliott returns with a smile on his face.

Kurt winces when Elliott tells him how much the rent is. He’ll have to get some kind of job soon if he wants to remain in New York.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to stay here tonight and drive to New York tomorrow.”

Elliott nods and they spend the rest of the evening watching the news  until Elliott’s boyfriend comes home from work.

After saying goodbye to Elliott the next morning, Kurt drives straight to Brooklyn to the address Elliott gave him. Dani greets him warmly when he gets to her place and shows him to an empty bedroom in the converted loft she lives in.

“When I moved in, there weren’t any walls and at first I thought it was cool but after six months of never having any privacy, we found someone who put up walls for us,” Dani tells him and Kurt’s glad there are walls, especially in case Blaine comes over at some point. She also offers to go to his old apartment to pick up his belongings and Kurt accepts gratefully. He asks Rachel to pack up his things, mostly because he’s still incredibly angry with Santana and also because Santana would probably snoop through all of his stuff first and there are some things in his underwear drawer that he does not need Santana to see it.

Somehow by noon the next day, he’s all moved in to Dani’s loft and has a new sim card for his phone all without going outside. After texting his new number to his dad and Rachel, he composes a text to the Prince.

This is my new number. I guess things are probably pretty crazy at your end but call me if you want to talk - K.

*=*

Two days of being cooped up at the Palace and Blaine’s going stir crazy. His mother and Cooper have been meeting with the bishops to discuss funeral arrangements but Blaine is not welcome since he is officially gay now as he mother put it. When the rain finally lets up in the early afternoon, he tells Sam and Puck that he hopes they know how to ride a horse and heads to the stables. It’s been some time for him too, but if he stays in his room while the staff tiptoes around him, he’ll either go crazy or become a chain smoker.

Neither Sam nor Puck know how to ride, but that’s not Blaine’s problem. They are nice, but they are his guards not his friends. He gives them credit though for climbing awkwardly onto the horses the stable master provides them with and he goes slow on his own horse for their sakes.

And then Kurt texts Sam. Blaine quickly saves the number in his new phone and then he's off, galloping away from his guards because he wants to talk to Kurt without anyone listening to him. He slows his horse by the lake and gives it free reign while he dials Kurt’s number.

“Hey,” he says when Kurt answers on the second ring. “This is my new number.”

“You sound out of breath. What are you doing?” Kurt replies and Blaine can just imagine the smile on his face.

“I was going stir crazy being stuck in my room so I went riding. Gave my guards the slip so we could talk in private. Are you alone so we can Facetime?”

“Is that smart, giving your guards the slip? I’m guessing there’s a reason why you have guards now. And yes we can, give me second.”

Blaine holds his phone in front of him and accepts the Facetime call when Kurt’s smiling face comes up on his screen. It looks like Kurt’s sitting outside on a fire escape and is that the Brooklyn Bridge in the back?

“I’m in the Palace Gardens, so I don’t know why I need guards when I’m not even outside. But what about you, are you in Brooklyn?”

Kurt smiles brightly. “My friend Elliott knew someone who was looking for a new roommate and she let me move in right away. She even picked up my stuff because there’s still reporters in front of my old building.”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine says and briefly takes the reigns in his left hand because his horse keeps trying to walk into the lake. “They’ve tried to get an interview with me too, but Cooper’s forbidden me to talk to the press.”

“He can do that?” Kurt frowns and Blaine nods.

“He’s King now so I have to obey him. He, uh,” he hesitates briefly but he doesn’t want Kurt to think he doesn’t want to see him. “He also said I can’t see you in public or take you anywhere that’s associated with my family and that if we’re gonna date we have to be discreet about it. At least until his coronation.”

“Oh,” Kurt’s smile disappears. “So I can’t see you for six months?”

“In public,” Blaine corrects quickly. “We can’t be seen together in public until Cooper gives his okay. Unfortunately, I can't really leave the Palace until the funeral and I can’t bring you here, but when it’s over, can I come visit you? I’ll get my guards to wear plainclothes when we’re out so I can be discreet about it.”

“Yeah, of course,” Kurt agrees immediately and Blaine breathes out a sigh of relief. “What will you do until then? The news said that the funeral won’t be for another two weeks.”

Blaine sighs. “I’m gonna ask Charlotte to come over so I can apologize to her in person. Sue thinks it’s best not to release a statement concerning the end of our engagement but rather show that there are no hard feelings. Charlotte’s being seated with my family at the funeral so I need to make amends first. Other than that, I’ll probably be out here mostly, since Mom doesn’t want my help with anything and Cooper’s busy taking over from Dad. So basically my job’s to stay out of trouble, don’t talk to anyone and look appropriately sad.”

Sam and Puck are finally catching up to him, both holding onto the reigns for dear life and Blaine vows to get them some lessons because if he has to have guards with him 24/7 then they need to be able to keep up with him.

“My shadows are here,” he tells Kurt. “Can I call you later tonight when I’m in bed?”

Kurt’s face turns red and Blaine laughs. “That’s actually not what I meant but now that you made me think about it I’m looking forward to a nightly chat even more. So can I call you?”

Kurt rolls his eyes, but then he smiles this cute little smile that Blaine likes a lot and nods.

Blaine hangs up the phone and turns to his guards. “Where have you been? I’ve been here all by my lonesome forever. Who knows what could have happened in my own backyard,” he jokes before he takes the reigns and races off again. This time, he takes pity on them though - and he doesn’t want to get in trouble with Cooper or the head of security - and returns so they can ride back together at a more leisurely pace.