THE SUBSTITUTE

“So, tell me, do you actually wear anything but the blazer?”

Blaine smiles at Kurt’s question as he takes another bite of the cheesecake Kurt had insisted they order at Breadstix, even though they had just devoured an entire bowl of gnocchi each.

“Of course. I’m just yet to grace you with my presence on a weekend” Blaine hums and set’s down his fork and Kurt smiles at him, eating some more of his cheesecake.

Overall, their dinner had been a complete success. They had spoken about far too many things to count, and Blaine had learnt that Kurt had an even more impressive knowledge of Broadway than himself. As they ate, Blaine found himself rather happy that he had found someone like Kurt. They got along like a house on fire, and so instantly as well. Yes, he was great friends with Wes and David and quite a few of the warblers, and he had some friends in other classes, but he really did miss being able to ease into conversation so quickly, and not have to worry about what he said. Wes and David were wonderful, so accepting and they had taken Blaine under their wings the minute he started at Dalton, and Blaine would forever appreciate how they included him in everything they did, football games, movie nights, gym workouts even. But sometimes Blaine missed being able to talk about the latest episode of project runway which he secretly watched under the covers on his phone when his roommate was sleeping, or being able to discuss the latest Broadway musical in more detail than just how amazing the vocals and choreography were. Yes, there were other gay kids at Dalton, but Blaine just hadn’t managed to connect with they as quickly as he had with Kurt. He hadn’t been this happy to make a new friend since the day he’d met James.

“Well we might just have to change that. There is this little market place opening up on Saturday, just passed the mall. It’s supposed to be totally vintage, and I think I could manage to get my hands on some really good quality accessories for my upcoming wardrobe makeover” Kurt’s eyes gleam happily as he talks and Blaine can’t help but chuckle.

“Wardrobe makeover?” he muses and folds his arms across his chest. “Is that a thing?”

“Of course it is! It’s where you go through every article of clothing you own, and try it on. If it doesn’t fit, you cry and see if you can tailor it or make it into something new. You go through and decide on new outfits for the upcoming month. And if you have less than 12, you get to go shopping”

Blaine listens to Kurt and he laughs softly, shaking his head as he reaches for his glass, sipping on his soda as a frown comes over Kurt’s face.

“What?” he asks and Blaine smiles.

“Nothing. You’re just so…”

“Gay?”

“I was going to go with creative and adorable but sure” Blaine smiles, his eyes crinkling just a little at the sides. Kurt’s cheeks go a little pink and he sips his soda quickly as Blaine looks down at his empty plate.
“The market sounds good. I’ll definitely be there” he hums and takes a napkin off the table, wiping his lips with one swift movement before he stands and takes out his wallet.

“Ready?”

Kurt nods in response and stands too, reaching into his bag to pull out his own wallet.

“Oh no. You put that away Mr Hummel” Blaine chuckles and opens up the bill, setting a few notes inside. He likes to tip generously, and even though his father often lectures him about how over tipping isn’t something he should form a habit out of, he does it anyway. Kurt’s eyes widen as Blaine closes the bill and slips his wallet back into his pocket.

“You can’t pay for all of it Blaine”

Blaine pulls his bag over his shoulder and looks at Kurt.

“Why not?” he asks and Kurt stands there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Because I ate half of the food. I should pay half…”

“Kurt, it’s fine. Trust me” Blaine smiles and reaches out, giving Kurt’s arm a small squeeze.

“But…”

“You can buy the next lot of coffee we have. Okay?” the boy hums and receives a small nod from Kurt. Blaine smiles and the pair leave the restaurant, Kurt going back to talking about his wardrobe. They’ve spoken on the phone a few times since Blaine came to McKinley to talk to Karofsky, and they’ve texted each other constantly every day. Oddly enough, they do not talk about glee club. It seems to be some unspoken rule that, since they are competitors after all, they would simply stick to the getting to know you subjects instead.

“Thank you for tonight. It was nice to hang out” Kurt smiles as Blaine pulls up alongside his house, smiling at the boy.

“You are most welcome. So… I’ll come pick you up tomorrow for the markets?” He asks as Kurt fiddles through his bag for his house keys.

“Sure… unless you want to just meet me there? I know it’s a bit of a drive for you…”

“I’m staying at my parents tonight” Blaine responds simply.

“Oh. Well okay. I’ll see you at… 10?” Kurt asks and Blaine nods.

“10”

The boy smiles and waves him goodbye before he hurries to his front door. Blaine watches as the door opens and a taller boy stands there, seeming to immediately start to grill Kurt on where he’s been. Kurt shoves passed him and gives Blaine another wave before the door closes. Blaine starts his drive home, turning the radio up as he goes. He sings along to whatever is on the radio and smiles to himself. He hasn’t been home in a while, maybe his parents won’t even be there. His mother sell’s beauty products and is constantly out on little trips with her team, and his father is a highly respected surgeon, so when he isn’t in the theatre he’s off on conferences. Cooper had left permanently the minute Blaine transferred to Dalton.
Perhaps that was a part of the reason Blaine loved Dalton so much, he was never really alone there.

He pulls into his driveway and parks the car. The garage is closed. He gets out and heads to the front door, knocking twice. There’s a light on inside, so someone must be home.

“Just a second!”

Blaine smiles a little he hears his mother’s voice and her figure comes hurrying to the door. She opens it and her smile widens.

“Blaine!”

Blaine laughs softly as he is pulled into a tight embrace, being coated in the smell of whatever new scent his mother has been given to sample, her loose dress feeling lovely and soft against his arms.

“Hey mum. I’m home for the night.” He says when he is released. Pam Anderson smiles at her son and looks him up and down.

“Have you eaten? Your father and I just finished up but we can make something for you…”

“No it’s okay. I had dinner with a friend. Dad’s home?” Blaine asks as he’s led inside, his mother fussing over his uniform as they walk.

“He is. Shocking, I know. But his conference in Chicago was cancelled.” Pam tells him as she takes his bag and sets in down in the hall. “Daniel!” she calls and Blaine sighs softly as he gives his childhood home a quick look. It’s still so big, even though he’s grown up. The ceiling is too high and the halls are too long, and of course the art is so very bold that it almost hurts Blaine’s eyes to look at it. From the other end of the hall, two large oak double doors open and a man stands there. He is of a medium height, his salt and pepper hair a wild array of curls. He looks at Blaine and gives him a small smile.

“Didn’t think we deserved a call hey, son?”

At his words Blaine immediately wants to turn around and drive the two hours back up to Dalton.

“I didn’t think…”

“He doesn’t need to call Daniel. This is his home” Pam states as if it is the simplest thing in the world, her hand squeezing her sons shoulder. Daniel Anderson simply nods his head and walks down the hall. He stops in front of Blaine and gives him a brief hug.

“It’s good to see you again Blaine. Tell me, how’s school going?” He asks as leads Blaine into the living room. Blaine takes a seat on the couch, sitting at the very end as his father sits down in his single arm chair. He’s not too sure where his mother has gone.

“Good. I got my French assessment result back the other day and I got an A. And um… my history marks are still good…”

“Blaine. How is the school treating you?”

Oh.

/He wants to know if they’re being nice to you/

“They’re great. Honestly. Everyone is… wonderful. The warblers are the best… we’re competing soon, actually. At sectionals. I did send you an email…”

“I received it. I’m in Florida that day. Your mother might be able to attend. Though I am wondering why this show choir is the only event I’m receiving emails about.”

Blaine frowns slightly as his father looks at him with an unreadable expression.

“I don’t quite know what you mean…”

“What happened to fencing? You were fantastic Blaine and you have the trophies to prove it. And your mathletes…”

“Dad the mathletes were getting in the way of my study time and… fencing was too. I want to do something I like…”

“You didn’t like fencing?”

Blaine lets out a small sigh and catches his father give him a small glare. He straightens up in his chair and flattens out his uniform.

“I want to study music. Or the performing arts. Something along those lines and in order to get a head start I need to be in glee club. I’m really good Dad, well… I’m a sophomore and I’m the lead vocalist so…” He blushes just a little and his father nods.

“We know how talented you are Blaine, and I trust your decisions. As long as your grades don’t drop… you do what you feel you must”

His father gives him a rare smile before he picks up the paper and slips his glasses onto his nose. Blaine takes this as his cue to leave. He heads up to the room he has not slept in for a long while, falling into the bed with a small sigh. He misses his home. He misses his parents and he misses Cooper. He starts to plot an outfit for the morning in his head, deciding that he needs to make sure Kurt knows that he too has a sense of fashion.

*****

“I have to admit; you are the best shopping buddy I’ve had in a while” Kurt hums as he carried his arm load of bags to Blaine’s car, the other boy smiling happily as he carries the rest and just a few of his own. They’d only spent two hours at the markets and had come away with an entire new wardrobe for Kurt and a few little things for Blaine. Blaine had been so thrilled that Kurt seemed to approve of his fashion – he had put on some black skinny jeans with a white polo, grey cardigan with a nice red lining and a little red bowtie to match- and had genuinely enjoyed watching the other boy shop and piece together outfits like it was second nature.

“Well thank you. I would have thought Mercedes would have been your go-to companion for today” Blaine smiles as he unlocks his car, setting the bags in the back seat. Kurt does the same and shook his head.

“Usually yes, but not today. I figured that me and you could do something together.” He shrugs his shoulders and smiles as Blaine moves to open the passenger door for him. Blaine is glad that Kurt asked him to come out today. He’d needed a nice distraction from his school work, and his parents had decided they were going to drive to Columbus to visit some friends for the day and Blaine really didn’t feel like being left home alone in his large house all day.

“Well it was a nice plan. Did you want to do something on Wednesday? I finish up classes early, we could grab a coffee or something?” Blaine asks as Kurt thanks him for opening his door, sliding into the seat.

“Yeah, yeah that sounds really nice” Kurt smiles at him and Blaine grins as he moves to the driver’s side. It did sound nice.

And nice it was.

Their Wednesday afternoon was spent discussing the various new reality TV shows that had sprung to air over the past few months as well as discussing how the new substitute Kurt had convinced to take over glee club was doing. Blaine booked them tickets to see Rent at the community playhouse for Friday, and Kurt was absolutely over the moon. They went and ate popcorn and sung along quietly under their breaths. They laughed the entire way back to Kurt’s house where Blaine had been the perfect gentlemen and walked him up to his door. He’d squeezed the boys hand and told him he’d had a wonderful time and that they should have dinner on Monday night.

“Monday sounds… great. Except I’ve blown Mercedes off twice now and I think it a third time occurs I’ll be on the lookout for a new best friend.”

“So bring her along. I’d love to meet her.”

So that’s exactly what Kurt did.

Monday night found him and Blaine seated together in a booth at Breadstix with Mercedes opposite them, having just finished up their lovely pasta meals.

“So I don’t understand why it has to be a thing” Blaine sighs as he sips his drink through his straw, Kurt nodding his head in agreement.

“I know. It’s not like us getting married is really effecting heterosexual marriages…”

“Ah but you forget Kurt, it’s an ‘insult to marriage’” Blaine scoffs as he watches the boy beside him. They’d been deep in conversation for about half an hour now, Mercedes having tuned out a few minutes ago. Blaine figured she was simply contemplating what to order for desert. Blaine is feeling like he’s won the friendship lottery at the moment. He’s never really been able to have these discussions with anyone before, and it’s not because they don’t care about the same issues that he does, they just don’t fully understand his view point like Kurt does.

“Drunk people who get married to someone just saying that they met an hour ago by an Elvis impersonator…I mean, that’s the bigger insult to marriage than two gay guys getting hitched.” Kurt says and Blaine nods enthusiastically.

“Totally. It’s, like, if marriage is so sacred, they should just outlaw divorce. Right?” Blaine hums and glances across the table to Mercedes, who looks like she is actually worlds away.

“Right. Right.” Kurt hums and follows Blaine’s gaze over to his friends.

“What do you think, Mercedes?” Blaine asks politely and watches as he girls blinks and her eyes focus back in again on the two boys sitting across from her.

“Oh, about, uh, “don’t ask, don’t tell”?” The girls asks and Blaine smiles softly at her. So she really had been out of it. He doesn’t really blame her though, he and Kurt had been very engaged in a topic she wasn’t too familiar with.

“No, we’re on prop 8 now.” Kurt tells her and Mercedes nods.

“Totally for it.”

“Against it.”

“Right. I’m sorry, I kind of just blanked out.” Mercedes sighs and Blaine smiles at her, shaking his head.

“Oh, don’t apologize… we should talk about stuff that you’re interested in, too.” He smiles and Mercedes sits up a little in interest.

“I know… let’s play a game.” Kurt grins and shuffles a little in his seat as Blaine gives Mercedes another smile before turning back to look at the boy.

“Okay, on the count of three, name your favourite 2010 vogue cover. Okay, ready? One, two, three…”

“Marion Cotillard.”

The words escape Blaine’s lips the same time as they do Kurt’s and they both chuckle softly.

“Yes!”

“Oh, my God, stop it! Yes, I know. She’s amazing!” Blaine grins and Kurt laughs in agreement as Mercedes remains silent.

“Amazing!”

“Amazing!”

Blaine sighs happily and takes another sip of his drink. “I might get back to Dalton in time to catch the end of the Buckeyes game if I’m lucky” he hums and Kurt looks at him.

“The Buckeyes?” he muses and Blaine goes to answer and looks over at Mercedes, who has once again zoned out of the conversation. Blaine gives Kurt a small tap on the shoulder and the boy looks across to his friend and sighs.

“Mercedes? Mercedes?” He calls and the girl’s eyes refocus on them with a small apologetic expression appearing on her features.

“I was just talking about the buckeyes… I’m a college football fan. I like sports, too, you know.” Blaine tells her with a happy smile and Kurt chuckles.

“Oh, way to break the stereotype.” He raises his hand and the pair high five as the waitress who’s been serving them all night walks passed and Mercedes is quick to grab her attention.

“Excuse me. I know it’s not on your menu, but I was wondering if you guys had…”

“You want some tots? You kids must go to McKinley.” The waitress smiles and nods at the girl as Blaine gives Kurt a small glance.

“They banned tots at school… it’s a long story” he whispers and Blaine goes back to sipping his drink as Mercedes seems to lighten up a little.

“So, what were we talking about?” she asks with a happy edge to her voice and Blaine looks to Kurt happily as the boy starts to speak.

“Has anyone read Patti Lupone’s new book?”

Blaine looks to Mercedes with an awkward expression and Mercedes shrugs her shoulders in response.

“I’m kidding. Of course I have.” Blaine grins and looks to Kurt who is practically laughing by now.

“You scared me so much there.”

“I know, I was aiming to do just that” he hums and looks to Mercedes.

“Not a fan of Patti Lupone?” He asks and the girls sighs.

“I prefer Aretha…” She sighs and Blaine grins.

“I love her. And yet I am never allowed to sing her songs for glee club. Apparently my manly tones won’t do her justice” he chuckles and feels Kurt shuffle a little closer to him, their legs now pressed together under the table. Mercedes gives out a soft sound that Blaine thinks is a laugh, and he feels a little bit better about the night. Meeting Mercedes had been fine. She was nice and Blaine was of course the perfect gentlemen, but he could tell that the girl was jealous of just how well he and Kurt got on. And Blaine never wanted to be someone who broke up a friendship.

“Kurt said you were the lead vocalist in your glee club. Do people… like you there? In our glee club it’s a death match for solo’s” Mercedes tells him and Blaine glances to Kurt, who nibbles on his lower lip in response. They pair have made a point out of not discussing each other’s respective glee clubs, at least until competition season was over.

“I won’t go into much detail because we are competitors… but we have certain ways and we all accept each other. We’re fair and we acknowledge everyone’s talent. We’re acapella so everyone is equally important in all songs.” Blaine shrugs and Mercedes blinks.

“That sounds far too peaceful” she hums and Blaine chuckles.

“Perhaps it is”

A small silence falls over them and Blaine checks his phone as Mercedes tots arrive, the girls face lighting up.

“I might head off. Long drive ahead of me” Blaine smiles and Kurt stands, letting the boy out.

“Do you want me to walk you to your car?” He asks softly and Blaine shakes his head, although he wants to say yes.

“Thank you but I’ll be fine. You stay here and enjoy the tots” he smiles and squeezes the boys arm softly.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Mercedes, it was lovely to meet you” he hums and Mercedes looks up from her tots and nods.

“You too”

Blaine smiles and adjusts his uniform, giving Kurt one last smile before he leaves. It was nice to meet one of Kurt’s friends, and even though she was a little awkward around him, he was sure he’d made a good impression. He gets into his car and turns on the radio, taking off his tie and his blazer before he starts the long drive back to Dalton. He was starting to love driving down to Lima to see Kurt, and he never thought of it as a task. It was something new, and Blaine loved new things.

Once he’s back at Dalton he looks at his phone and finds a text from Kurt.

/Thank you for tonight. Despite her horrid social skills tonight Mercedes really likes you. And don’t worry, I’ve assured her at least 15 times that we are not dating -K/

Blaine chuckles to himself as he walks down the dimply lit hallways towards his dorm room. It was only natural for Mercedes to think they were dating, right? They did call each other every night and they hadn’t exactly been shy when it came to hugging and light touching in public, but Kurt was just his friend. His new and very gay friend. Blaine shakes the thought from his head as he replies.

/Let her think what she thinks. I’m just glad to have made a friend like you. Have a good night Kurt x -B

Blaine sends his message and freezes when a hand rests on his shoulder.

“You were gone a while. I thought we were going to watch the game together”

Blaine chuckles and turns to face Wes, who’s standing behind him in sweatpants and a Dalton hoodie, a bowl of chips in his hand.

“We can watch the end right?” Blaine smiles as the pair start to head down to Blaine’s dorm.

“We can. But I guarantee we’re going to be interrupted by Simon, who’ll want to know all about your little date with Kurt” Wes chuckles and watches as Blaine rolls his eyes fondly, folding his blazer over his arm.

“First of all, you know that it wasn’t a date. And Simon wouldn’t care either way…”

“Oh please, Simon thinks every meeting you have with a guy who isn’t him is a date. You shouldn’t have ended it Blaine. You know he still tells everyone that you guys are on a break right?” Wes muses as Blaine stops outside his door, the sound of the TV blaring the game coming through to them. Blaine runs a hand through his hair and sighs. Simon is a junior who Blaine had briefly dated for a month at the beginning of the year. Blaine wasn’t very good at being a boyfriend to someone, he’d never done it before he was a little unsure of how things happened. Simon told him he wasn’t romantic enough and that he needed to be more involved in the relationship. In order to amend the issue, Blaine had gone completely overboard in Simon’s opinion and had filled his bed with roses, which the boy happened to have a strong allergic reaction to. Needless to say Blaine decided to end things before he did anything else stupid. Why Simon was still interested in h aim he wasn’t sure.

“We aren’t. We’re broken up and he can deal with the fact that Kurt is a friend, a good friend who I like spending time with”

Wes chuckles and pats Blaine on the shoulder as they head inside. The rest of the night Blaine spends on his bed with his friend, trying his hardest not to think about the fact that the majority of his friends think he is dating Kurt. Dating Kurt is not an option. If anything Blaine is being a mentor to the boy, and he is perfectly fine with that.

Perfectly damn fine.