Chapter 28

Blaine looked at where Kurt sat on one of the couches in the big dressing room, grabbing two bottles of water and walking back to him. “Are you okay, babe? You look... overwhelmed.” He asked looking at Kurt with concern.

Kurt, as a response, stretched a hand towards Blaine, silently asking his boyfriend to sit with him. Blaine sat on his lap, his expression making it clear that he was still waiting for an answer.

“I’m fine,” Kurt sighed, squeezing Blaine’s thigh, unconsciously looking for comfort, “it’s just very real.” He emphasized.

“I can’t tell if you’re emotional or starstruck.” Blaine teased, wrapping his arm around Kurt’s shoulders.

“You can never be serious, can you?” Asked Kurt, playfully annoyed.

“I have to go out there and be serious in a few minutes, cut me some slack.”

Kurt hugged his small waist. “But this is the safest it gets, right? I mean, how could it not?”

“Oh, it is. But that’s what is scary, it’s like running to tell the teacher when the kids at school are teasing you. It’s too safe - they won't let me live it down.”

“Sweetie...” Kurt started. Then, “Wait, so you’re comparing Hollywood to an elementary school’s playground?” Kurt reasoned, giggling into Blaine’s arm.

Blaine nodded, adding in a more serious tone, “Some people certainly behave like it is.”

Kurt was looking Blaine in the eye, trying to come up with the right thing to say, when the door to the dressing room suddenly opened.

“Blaine, you have to be at make-up.” Allyson said in a strange tone. Blaine groaned, throwing his head at Kurt’s shoulder. He stood up reluctantly and offered Kurt a hand. As soon as Kurt was up, Allyson added, “Kurt will join you in a second”.

Both men turned to her in surprise. Then Kurt looked at Blaine as if he needed confirmation that he had heard well. Blaine looked between Kurt and Allyson as if he had missed a pivotal episode on a show and now didn’t have a clue what was going on. Kurt clearly had missed that episode too… maybe they had been making out when it was on.

Allyson looked uncomfortable and Kurt was growing curious, “It’s okay, I’ll see you there in no time.” He smiled at Blaine, who kissed him and left, still looking disgruntled.

Kurt looked at Allyson and waited. Allyson was the kind of woman who always seemed in control, always knew what to do and what others should do. Almost as tall as Kurt and model thin, tanned all year long and always dressed impeccably (even though Kurt had a few tips he wouldn’t mind sharing), Allyson was not a woman you'd expect to look as out of place as she did in that moment.

Her voice still sounded confident, though, when she finally spoke. “I’ve owed you an apology for a while.”

Kurt’s eyes widened and she went on. “I still think Blaine handled things badly when he met you, but your intentions were never bad and I should've changed my attitude towards you a while ago.” She explained. “I’ve been avoiding actually getting to know you, because I’d already made up my mind about you. That’s not fair to you and I hope we can try to start afresh. I mean, Wes adores you and you didn’t manage that one with just your pretty face...” She finished, smiling a little.

“Just to get it out of the way so we can move on… err, what gave you the impression that I wasn’t good for Blaine so early on?” Kurt asked. He spoke inquisitively; he wasn’t trying to attack her, but he needed to know what had been going on between them to be able to move forward.

“Come on, the boy came out to a complete stranger twelve hours after meeting him. He tweeted about meeting someone just to get your attention. It wasn’t personal, but someone needed to be sensible in this equation for Blaine’s sake and in this case it meant being wary. I’m under the impression that you’d have done the same in a similar situation. I just thought I was protecting him.” She explained.

Kurt was startled: she was right - he would have put Blaine’s safety over everything. He didn’t give her that much, though. You wouldn't tell that kind of person she was right, had you wanted to be treated as equals. So he walked to her and extended a hand with a warm smile, “Hi, I’m Kurt Hummel, I love everything Broadway and I make the best soufflé you’d ever taste. My voice goes scarily high when I’m nervous but I actually can also go deep into the lower register and I’m not really a bad rapper. I’m probably the one you should call if something is wrong with your car and you can’t get a hold of a mechanic and, also, I’m fabulous. I’ve been dating your main client for the past ten months; it’s nice to meet you.” He introduced himself.

She smiled back. “You’re goofier that I thought. It makes sense.” She rolled her eyes a little at his expecting gaze. “Allyson Mobley. I’m a couple of years older than you think and I have two tattoos you’ll never see. I paint and I’m so tone deaf that Blaine once heard me sing and laughed at me. I’m quite sure if you don’t make it to make-up soon, Blaine will be thinking I’ve killed you.”

Kurt kept smiling and let her hand go softly, “I should go then.” He had made it a couple of steps into the hallway when he turned to her and added, “And you should tell me where to go, because this place is huge.”

When Kurt made it to make-up, he had to stop short at the door. Blaine was standing up, supporting himself with his hands holding the back of a chair, and immersed in a talk with no other than Ellen Degeneres. Blaine looked to where Kurt was and his face lit up. Realizing so, Ellen turned to where he was looking, too.

Kurt smiled and Blaine motioned for him to move closer. When Kurt reached them, Blaine offered him a hand, which Kurt took, standing next to Blaine. “Ellen, this is my boyfriend, Kurt Hummel.” Blaine introduced him, placing his free hand on Kurt’s arm. Kurt couldn’t help but realize that was the first time Blaine had gotten to introduce him using all those words. If Blaine’s joyous expression was something to go by, he'd realized that too. “Kurt, Ellen.” He finished, knowing there was no need for further explanation.

Kurt went to race his hand but Ellen was going for a hug and he was not going to complain. He hugged her, without letting go of Blaine’s hand: he felt he needed the anchor. “It’s so nice to meet you.” He said.

“Likewise”, Ellen gave him a smile. “Are you joining us out there?” She asked.

“Oh, no, no. Just moral support. I’ll be out of here before you know it.” He answered quickly, slightly terrified at the idea.

“What a shame.” She dropped the subject instantaneously. “But I’ll get you to do it next time.” She kind of winked.

Someone entered the room then, telling Ellen it was time for her to go. “Okay, duty calls.” She said to the boys. “I’ll see you in a bit.” She added smiling at Blaine and putting a hand on his shoulder as a supportive notion. Blaine nodded.

She was already at the door when she turned “Nice meeting you, Kurt. Until next time.” She added with a mischievous look.

It took a minute for it to sink in for Kurt, how much she had understood with him saying so little. After seeing they weren’t ready, she was not going to push.

He turned to Blaine to find his boyfriend looking at him but lost in thoughts. He kissed his temple.

The action snapped Blaine out of his thoughts and he smiled at Kurt, tugging at his hand. “Come on, let’s find a spot backstage that we can see the monologue from.” He suggested enthusiastically, as he took Kurt to the hallway. After a last look at Kurt for confirmation, he let go of his hand. 

They found a TV and watched the first part of the show. Ellen went to a break after announcing Blaine for when she was back; a producer came closer to get Blaine. Kurt was left alone, aside from the people working on the show who were wandering around and would stop and watch every once in a while, and Allyson. Blaine’s manager was sitting on a large couch, while Kurt and Blaine had been standing in the same area. Kurt locked eyes with her and shrugged, moving to sit with her with a small smile.

Ellen was back in no time. “Our next guest stars on the hit TV show ‘On Our Own’ and made headlines last week when he came out as bisexual. Please welcome Blaine Anderson!” The public cheered and some top 40 song started playing. Blaine made his way to Ellen dancing goofily and spinned her around when he made it to their seats. Ellen laughed and pulled him to a warm hug. As he sat down, Blaine smoothed his bowtie in an adorable way.

“Well, Blaine, I have to say,” She started, turning to get an issue of the People magazine from the table, “I went and bought this the day it came out and that was a charming article. Very well put…”

“Oh, thank you.” He answered, blushing.

“I speak from an understanding of how you must have felt then, and how you must feel now, and I think that was a very brave thing to do. I’m proud of you.” She said, leaning forward and placing a comforting hand on his knee. There was some applause from the public.

“Wow, thank you, really. That means a lot coming from you.” He said, feeling touched. “It feels really good to get it off my chest.” He looked as composed as always but Kurt could see in his boyfriend’s eyes, even through a screen, how truly and open Blaine was being.

Ellen smiled at him. “You’re a kid; you’re really young, and I’m not just saying so because you’re tiny and cute and I kind of want to tell you to come sit on my lap, but you’re really just, what? Barely over twenty?”

“Twenty-two.” He provided, blushing slightly as the crowd’s laugh subsided.

“Well, I’ve been around for a while and people generally aren't out and proud at twenty-two. Even less as bi. And it’s great to see that. What made you decide it was time?” She asked encouragingly.

“I was lucky growing up, I didn’t feel like I had to hide who I was but that didn’t change the fact that I felt like there was no one like me. Most people still thought it was just a phase, I was going to come out as gay eventually. Gosh, I still get it now. They’re discussing it every time I turn a TV on.” Blaine explained.

Kurt couldn’t help but feel certain discomfort at that, a feeling that came from the knowledge that he hadn’t been the most supportive at the very beginning. He promised himself to talk about that with Blaine when he saw him again that night.

Blaine was still talking, Ellen listening carefully, nodding her agreement here and there. “And at first, when you get into this business and you find yourself faced with having to make a decision of how much you’re going to say, you're tempted to say ‘It’s nobody’s business, it’s my private life’. But the truth is, hiding a part of your life is not healthy for you and is not helping you find acceptance and promote acceptance. How can I convince someone there’s nothing wrong with the way I am when I’m hiding it? When I can’t say it aloud?”

“It’s a hard place to be in and I’m glad that getting your message out there ended up being the most important thing for you. I genuinely believe that you’re helping kids right now.” Ellen told him.

“I really hope so, I don’t know how much of that is me, though. All the stories I’m getting to hear these days, those kids are the brave ones. Me? I only got here because I have this safety net of amazing people who made me feel that I had a place to land no matter how this went. I just happen to be the guy whose face is at the front.” Blaine said humbly.

“I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit.” Ellen said, patting his hand.

Blaine smiled back, shyly.

“Now that you speak about the great people surrounding you, I have to ask. You made quite a mystery of your relationship situation, mister.”

Blaine giggled a little in that way that, Kurt knew from personal experience, made people fall in love with him. “My intention was to not draw attention to that actually, I clearly got it wrong. Boyfriend, I’ve got a boyfriend. I jumped on the chance of not being gender specific on the interview because I didn’t want that little information to interfere in me getting my point across. I’m not coming out now because I’m with a guy. I hated having to hide but I felt like I was hiding too, back when I had a girlfriend and it was public, and I was letting people think I was straight without correcting them. I felt as trapped in a lie back then as I did a couple of months ago when he was having to sneak into my apartment because there were paparazzi outside. But I’m more than okay saying it now, I’m proud to be with him.”

Backstage, Kurt’s heart skipped a beat.

“So, are we meeting him?” Ellen smiled again in a reassuring way with a lightness to her tone that made both Kurt and, from his body language, Blaine, relax that she wasn’t going to push.

“Of course. Eventually. When things have calmed down a bit, I do want to get to publicly introduce him.” Blaine answered, calm and a bit playful.

“You can bring him here whenever you want.” Said Ellen, turning to the camera. “Alright, we’re gonna take a break and when we come back you’re helping me play a little game with someone in the audience. We’ll right back.” She leaned forward to speak to Blaine as the image went away.

Kurt knew he had to leave separately from Blaine and he was supposed to be at work soon. However, waiting for Blaine and getting to give him a hug, was tempting.

Allyson turned in the couch to face him. “I think that’s your cue.” She said, snapping him from his thoughts.

“Ok, ok.” He said, mostly to himself, as he stood up. He was going to Blaine’s that night, anyway.