Chapter 22

Kurt thanked the fact he was a light sleeper as he woke up with enough time to get himself clean and presentable (as much as airplane toilets allowed for anyway), and to be back in his seat as the city came into view through his window. If there was anything he loved about flying, it was to get to see a place from above, large cities especially. And LA was a city he hadn’t seen before, so he just lay back and enjoyed the view until the plane landed.

Once he was at the terminal, he looked around for a familiar face. Wes was waving at him.

“Hi, I’m Wes. Blaine’s West Coast based babysitter.” Wes greeted him, offering a hand and a big smile.

Kurt laughed and shook his hand. “Kurt. It's nice to finally meet you.”

“I know, that boy keeps you too much under the wraps.” Wes joked. Kurt found it harder to laugh this time.

“Yeah, but last time you were in New York wasn’t exactly my shiniest moment.” Kurt answered, deliberately changing the direction of the conversation.

“That wasn’t anyone’s shiniest moment.” Wes added with a small sympathetic smile.

Suddenly, Kurt really wanted to find some time to talk to Wes during the weekend.

“Ok,” Wes said opening the car’s door for Kurt to enter, Kurt only then realized they had reached a car. “I figured you’d like to go to Blaine’s place to freshen up, so I’ll leave you there and take care of a couple of things I’ve to get done. I’ll pick you up and take you to the set in a couple of hours. Sounds good?” Wes didn’t go to take the front seat as Allyson always did, instead, he slipped in the back next to Kurt.

Kurt nodded his agreement. The bitchy side of him was tempted to say he didn’t need a babysitter, but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to getting lost in LA. Furthermore, he had decided he wanted to get to know Wes a little more.

The two of them talked lightly for a bit but, as more of the city was unveiled for Kurt to see, Wes stopped talking and let him take in the sights.

They were already quite into the neighborhood when Kurt realized they were in Hollywood Hills. The view of the city was amazing and the houses were gorgeous. He had thought it will be a bit awkward to ask his famous boyfriend in which luxurious, rich Los Angeles neighborhood he lived, but as the car went further and further up the hills he was getting really excited about visiting Blaine’s home.

Finally, the car stopped. Blaine’s house wasn’t near as big as some of the mansions he had already seen in passing, but that didn’t mean it was small. It wasn’t, either, one of the most modern ones, which had glass sliding windows from the floor to the top. It had a vintage air to it, Kurt thought it could be from the seventies or eighties, but completely remodelled. Its earthy colors let it blend nicely with the landscape, as not to disturb the scene. The front garden gave it a romantic tone and it seemed to have a lot of personality. Kurt was enamored.

“Come on,” Wes nudged him to the door, speaking in a teasing tone. He let them inside with his own key.

It got even better on the inside. The open living room had large windows with a breathtaking view. The elegant furniture and colorful paintings on the walls gave Kurt a vintage vibe again.

Wes let him observe, but eventually spoke. “I really have to go now. I’ll try to be back on time for us to catch Blaine in his lunch break. Blaine’s room is the suite, upstairs, last door to the right, if you want to settle there. His is also the best bathroom. There’s a spare key in that table near the door and... I think that’s it.” He finished, looking around.

He said goodbye and left Kurt alone with at least two hours to spare and a gorgeous house to explore. He decided to shower first and wander around later.

His boyfriend’s bedroom was huge and it even had a walk in closet. Kurt’s mouth watered a little.

After his shower (in a quite luxurious bathroom, by the way), Kurt was in Blaine’s room, jeans already on and shirtless, trying to pick which shirt went better with his whole outfit. Then, he heard the sound of glass breaking and someone yelling. He threw the shirts still in his hands to the bed and ran in the direction of the sound.

Once he was in the hallway, trying to figure out which room the sound had came from, the door to one of them opened. In front of him, wearing only boxers and clutching a bleeding hand to his chest, stood a sleepy but still unfairly handsome Cooper Anderson.

“Who are you?” Cooper groaned in a raspy voice, sounding completely out of it.

The sound helped Kurt to focus and he looked into Cooper piercing blue eyes to avoid looking at his abs. He couldn’t even be judged for that, Kurt thought, the guy was an underwear model after all.

“Kurt. Kurt Hummel. I’m...” He started to answer, but Cooper cut him off.

“The boyfriend, yeah. I know” He said with a little smile, more awake. “I’d shake your hand or something, but...” He trailed off, moving his injured hand and wincing a little as he did.

“Oh right. Let me do something about it.” Kurt looked around. “Where do you guys have a first aid kit?”

“Mm...” Cooper actually struggled to remember, “I guess Blaine has something in his bathroom.”

It took all of Kurt’s strength not to roll his eyes. He guessed Blaine had something. What would have Cooper done if Kurt hadn’t been there? Call his agent? Wes’ babysitting comment from earlier was getting a new meaning.

“Come on” He called as he turned in the direction of Blaine’s bedroom.

Blaine did have a basic but decent first aid kit in his bathroom.

As he finished to carefully look for pieces of glass on Cooper’s hand and went to clean his injuries, Kurt asked “How did this happen anyway?”

“My phone rang and I knocked a glass from my bedside table trying to reach for it. I’m not exactly a morning person.” He explained with a shrug.

“I figured that much.” Said Kurt in a teasing tone.

Cooper smiled a full perfect smile. “You’re not overly trying to make me like you.” He stated thoughtful and a bit surprised.

Kurt snapped his head up, confused. Before he got to ask, though, Cooper spoke again. “I mean it in a good way. You’re not trying too hard, just being yourself. With what Blaine and I do, we don’t get enough of that. It’s... refreshing.”

“I’m not sure how to respond to that” Kurt said sincerely, touched by Cooper’s words.

“That’s okay” Was all the answer he got and they went both back to silence, as he healed Cooper’s hand.

Once he was done, Kurt looked at the time on his phone, more to have something to do than anything else. It had already been two hours since Wes had left him there. “I should go get dressed” He said, suddenly very aware of the lack of clothes on his torso.

“Yeah, I could use clothes, too.” Cooper joked and Kurt, once again, tried not to look at his barely covered body. Instead he stood straight and went to leave the bathroom.

“Kurt,” The other man called.

He turned with a questioning look.”Yes?”

“Don’t break his heart.”

“I won’t. That would mean breaking mine, too.”

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Wes came back for him half an hour later. By then, Kurt had looked enough around the house and was watching TV with Cooper in the living room.

They made it to the filming studios where Blaine was working, playing a supporting role in a movie he had signed for over the summer. He was filming all of his scenes in just two weeks before it could interfere with the show in New York’s schedule. Being on a lunch break, Blaine walked to them as soon as they entered the set.

“Hi!” Blaine greeted Kurt with the biggest smile and a tight hug. He fist bumped Wes. “How are you enjoying LA? Did this one treat you right?” He joked.

“It’s nice, I quite like it. And he’s been a darling.” Kurt answered with his very own enormous smile.

Wes looked at Blaine with an expression that read ‘I told you so’.

“Want a tour?” Blaine asked, not paying Wes much attention, something he probably had realized as he moved away from the couple.

Kurt locked eyes with him. “I could use a visit to your trailer...” He replied suggestively.

“Trailer it is.” The other boy agreed a bit breathlessly.

They got a few minutes to kiss and touch and murmur “I love you” and “I missed you” while lying on the couch in Blaine’s trailer before the boy had to go back filming.

 They were already walking back to set when Kurt put on a serious face and calmly said. “Guess who I had a half naked encounter with this morning.”

In a different context, the impossibly fast way Blaine’s head snapped up would have been hilarious.

Kurt smiled. “I meant your brother, silly!” He poked Blaine playfully.

Blaine relaxed, inhaling and exhaling deeply once before talking. “What did he say to you? Don’t believe anything he says, he doesn’t know how to talk to people normally.”

“Don’t be mean, he was nice. He said he liked the fact that I wasn’t trying to impress him. I think it went fine.”

“Good.” Blaine said thoughtful, giving Kurt his warmest smile.

Kurt stuck around to see Blaine work for a while, staying behind the scenes with Wes.

“Want a coffee?” Wes eventually asked, signalling the way to a little cafeteria they had passed earlier.

Kurt was about to agree when he had a better idea. “I’ll go with you.” He said with a smile.

When they had their coffees, Wes walked him to a table. Kurt followed a bit surprised.

Wes looked up and into Kurt’s eyes after they had been sitting in silence for a minute. “Well, what did you want to ask?”

“How did you...?” Kurt wondered aloud, impressed at having been caught.

He laughed. “Oh, come on. I’m not that interesting, aside from the fact that I know Blaine better than almost anyone else, and even though that was like the tenth time they did the same shot you didn’t look bored at all.”

Kurt smiled softly. “Ok, fine. But I’m not even sure what I want to ask.”

Across from him Wes only raised an eyebrow in question.

“It’s not like I want to ask something in particular he wouldn’t tell or something like that.”

“Good, because I’m afraid I probably wouldn’t answer either if that was the case.” Wes interrupted apologetically.

“Of course.” Kurt agreed quickly. “It’s just... Blaine’s not easy to read and you seem to get him quite well. I guess I’m intrigued.”

“Sounds fair. It’s funny, though. I would say you get him quite well in comparison.”

“In comparison to?” Kurt asked confused.

“Pretty much everyone who hasn’t known Blaine since he was a kid.”

Kurt eyes opened a little wider.

Wes started to speak again, “Since fame, and even more since Bailey, he was closing himself off more and more. You got in the picture and every time I see him now he’s closer to being the Blaine I know again.”

Kurt was speechless, trying to process what Wes had said.

The other man took it differently, “Oh, you don’t know about Bailey?” He asked, sounding a bit wary at the idea of having said something Blaine hadn’t shared.

Kurt went to reassure him quickly. “I don’t know the whole story but ‘I came out to her’ as the answer to why they broke up was pretty self explanatory.” Kurt answered, remembering the bitter tone in Blaine’s voice one of the few times he had shared about his past, particularly his past relationships.

Looking away, Kurt tried to focus back on what Wes had said earlier. Blaine had been becoming more comfortable with himself since they were together. He realized he had somehow noted that but he had considered it to be just them getting more comfortable with each other. It wasn’t just about their relationship for Blaine, as much as it wasn’t only about coming out. His journey the past six months had been longer than Kurt had thought. Blaine was so used to closing up and getting hurt, that trusting Kurt had been a huge step.

Wes was looking at him with a soft smile. “You have been really good for him, Kurt. In ways you don’t even know.” He put his coffee down and looked at Kurt in the eye. “That’s why it’s mandatory for me to establish that you hurt him and I hurt you.” He said keeping a serious look.

Kurt’s heart warmed at the thought that in the last hours he had met two of the most important people in Blaine’s life, it was like getting a complete different perspective. “I wouldn’t dare.” He said, keeping the eye contact.

“Well,” Wes said as he stood up, “Let’s go, you have all the way back to explain to me how it is that we did but didn’t compete against each other in Glee club.”

Laughing, Kurt got up and went to explain. “I’m not sure whether you were there but it was like this. On Blaine’s and mine junior year the New Directions did compete against you guys but I had transferred schools around that time. You were there?”

“Blaine’s junior year... I was a senior, yeah, I got my ass kicked by your friends that year.”

“Yeah, they did. Anyway, I was there my senior year but Blaine wasn’t because he drove all the way to you in Boston after Sebastian broke up with him.” Kurt stopped and Wes nodded. “That story amuses me, I love the fact that we beat them when Sebastian of all people was on lead.”

“I can’t tell you how mad I was that they had given him the solo when Blaine wasn’t there. I had never thought I’d be happy with the Warblers losing until then. So, our teams competed twice but Blaine and I never crossed paths with you?” Wes reasoned.

Kurt nodded. “That’s what happened, yes.”

They stayed with Blaine until he was done filming that day. Later, the two boys went back to Blaine’s place, both happy to finally be able to be themselves in the privacy of Blaine’s house.

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Surprisingly, Blaine woke up before Kurt on Sunday morning. Kurt blamed jet-lag and a very long previous day.

“Why are you so chirpy?” Kurt asked over his, quite needed, cup of coffee, after he had been dragged to the beautifully immaculate kitchen of Blaine’s house.

“Let me think, I have the day off, my gorgeous boyfriend here and the entirety of Los Angeles waiting to be explored on a sunny day. I can’t actually think of a reason...” Blaine said adorably putting his chin on his hand.

Kurt felt bad for what he was about to say. “B, you know we can’t do that.”

“Listen, I’ve been thinking.” Blaine said in a more serious tone, walking closer to Kurt and taking his hand. “What you said about the girls... We have to change some things. If for a while we meet at my place and I stop seeing the girls in public or tweeting and all that. The media will think I broke up with whichever I was dating.” He explained.

“And we can’t be seen together either in any way?” Kurt asked. “I’ll be out of your life if they are.” Kurt reasoned.

“If you’re okay with it, I’ll say no, we do our thing anyway and let people guess whatever they want. We see each other in public once in a while as friends if we want, as long as it’s not in a setting that they think it has something to do with Rach or Jenny.” Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hands and added, “They can’t actually figure it out now and soon they will know anyway. Let them think whatever they want.”

Kurt nodded slowly and Blaine leaned forward to kiss him.

Kurt’s mind wasn’t there anymore, though. Soon. That was the first time Blaine had said it. Not eventually, not at some point. Soon.

He knew it didn’t mean a promise of a deadline. It meant “I’m trying, I’m thinking about it, I want to”. That was all Kurt wanted. Soon.