***

Maybe I didnt treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didnt love you
Quite as often as I could have

Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Maybe I didnt hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
And I guess I never told you
Im so happy that youre mine

If I made you feel second best
Girl, Im sorry I was blind
But you were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Tell me
Tell me that your sweet love hasnt died...

Kurt turned his face away and discretely wiped the tear from his cheek. At this black tie fundraiser, everyone was busy networking and drinking, and hardly anyone was listening to the lone musician singing at his piano on stage. But his stripped down vocals rang loud and clear for Kurt, the rest of the room fading away. 

"Seriously Kurt? Seriously?" Elliotts arm reached across the table to grab the bottle of red wine, replenishing his glass. "Are you tearing up at a Willie Nelson song?"

Kurt collected himself and turned to give Elliott his best bitch face. "Some people can appreciate a well written song." Grabbing the bottle back from Elliott, he filled his glass and spitefully placed the bottle far out of Elliott's reach. 

Elliott rolled his eyes at Kurts actions. "So, whats going on with you and Blaine these days?"

Kurt stilled his expression, not wanting for it to give anything away. He shrugged. "Nothings going on, E. Hes in LA, Im here."

Elliotts eyebrows rose. "Seriously, you are saying thats it??"

Kurt looked down at the tablecloth, fiddling with the edge of the material, trying to keep his voice steady. "Sometimes you are with someone for awhile and things just run their course. They fizzle out." 

Elliott took in Kurts expression, and shook his head slowly. "Sure, that sometimes happens, but it didnt happen with you two. You are a mess, Kurt. And I saw Blaine when I was just in LA and he looks like shit too."

Kurt glanced up at the mention of Blaine, desperately wanting to pump Elliott for any news about him. But what was the point? All their contact had been over for a couple weeks now. He was hardly sleeping, just dragging into work, hardly able to focus. 

"Its over, E." Kurt said softly, looking down. 

Elliott sighed loudly. "You are both being fools then. And I never thought of you as a coward, Kurt."

Kurts eyes snapped up, glaring at Elliott. "Fuck you, E. You dont know shit about it."

Elliott glared right back, not intimidated in the least by Kurt's expression. "I do know about it. I know you were disgustingly happy little otters all summer, Kurt. Ive known you for a decade and I'd never seen you so happy. Do you think something as special as what you two fuckers have comes along everyday?"

Kurt shrugged. "He left, taking everything with him. Dont you think thats a sign?"

"Kurt, are you waiting for some magic sign that you should be together or something, you fucking idiot? How about the fact that you are getting all teary-eyed over a bloody Willie Nelson song?! Thats your sign." Elliott rolled his eyes at Kurt. "So what, hes in LA now. Big fucking deal. Arent you going to fight for him? Get back with him?"

Kurt sighed. "But what if he doesnt want to be with me?"

Elliott shook his head. "I totally doubt it. Besides, wouldn't you rather go out there, give it your everything, leave it all on the table? Even if it's a spectacular failure, at least you'd know you couldn't have done anything else. You'd have no regrets. Isn't that better than not even trying, and letting something this good fade away, starved of attention?” 

Looking into Elliott's earnest eyes, Kurt was silent for a few minutes, thinking. 

Eventually, his lips twitched into a small smile. "Wow. That was some rant. Why do I get the feeling it's all going to end up in a song someday?” 

Elliott laughed, but in seconds his phone was in his hands and he was typing away.

"Really, E, you stopped in the middle of your pep talk to your woebegone best friend to make notes about song lyrics? Really??" Kurt took a sip of his red wine. 

Elliott kept typing but Kurt could see that he was grinning, amused. Eventually, he glanced up at Kurt. "How do you spell woebegone? The auto correct is giving me some really weird words here."

Kurt punched Elliott in the arm. Elliott feigned being gravely wounded, the big ham. Smiling, Kurt watched his antics. As much as he acted as a grounding force for Elliott, telling him the emperor was wearing no clothes whenever he needed it, there were times Elliott was there to call Kurt on his shit too. 

"So, youre flying back to LA this weekend?" Kurt asked casually. 

Elliotts blue gaze captured Kurts, and he smiled. "No, WE are flying back to LA this weekend. "

***

Flying with Elliott was ridiculous, so Kurt tended to avoid it whenever he could. He knew if he did it too often, it would spoil him for regular airline travel and he didnt have the income for that. 

Still, he could hardly take note of the plush plane interior or attentive service, as his mind kept running through all sorts of different scenarios for this weekend. It was futile, as he didnt have enough information to make many decisions with. So frustrating. 

"Why are you so woebegone, man?" Elliott leaned over, singing softly to Kurt. 

Kurt closed his eyes, thinking. "Did I do something wrong, man?" He sang back, with a small smile. He knew it was just Elliott trying to distract him, but it was working. 

Back when they had the band together, Elliott and Kurt had attempted some songwriting. The songs were horrible, every last one of them. But since then, they had this silly songwriting game, taking turns improvising lines until someone got stuck. 

Elliott nodded, and then looked a bit smug. "Did you want to play Donkey Kong, man? Instead of ping pong, man?"

Kurt laughed, running through rhyming words in his head. "Was it because I wore a red thong, man?"

Elliott grinned widely. "And you were jealous of my dong, man?"

Kurt shook his head at that. "Come and sing a song, man."

Sipping on his ginger rye, Elliott paused for a few minutes. "Shit, Im stuck. Only word I can think of is tong. Bonus points if you can think of a line for it."

Kurt laughed, thinking hard. "Toss my salad with your tong, man."

Booing, Elliott shook his head. "Nope, no points since in that context it should be tongs. Well, maybe a half point for salad-tossing reference."

Kurt smiled, and went back to his Vogue. 

A couple minutes later, Elliott leaned closer, singing, "Why are you looking so glum, chum?"

Kurt closed his Vogue, and turned towards Elliott, running through rhyming words in his head. Dumb, cum, bum, rum...

***

"So, are you up for an award at this thing tonight?" Kurt pulled on the cuffs of his ivory shirt, knowing it complimented his rich navy suit perfectly. He looked good, at least he could be confident in that. 

"Kurt, you are the worst date ever! I cant believe you dont even know what I'm doing here."

Kurt shook his head, laughing. 

Elliott sighed and put on his diva face. "I didnt release an album during the time period considered for this show, otherwise Id be up for ALL the awards."

"But, of course." Kurt played up his yes-man act. 

"Im performing an ABBA song tribute. Its a 35th anniversary of a big album of theirs." Elliotts expression turned serious. "You really didnt hear about this at work?"

Kurt shook his head. "Sorry, it was probably mentioned, but Ive been zoned out for awhile. Im sure the team picked good stuff for you." Although sometimes they had a weird idea or two. They were all for Elliott getting long dreadlocks for awhile, until Kurt had pointed out that he would end up looking like John Travolta in Battlefield Earth. 

They reached the red carpet, and Kurt was good at stepping back as Elliott was stopped by media for a quick interview or photo ops. He analyzed Elliotts outfit tonight against that of the other musicians, and thought Elliott looked great. Young, sexy, edgy. 

At the end of the red carpet, a guide was there to grab Elliott, taking him to his dressing room. His performance was in the first part of the awards show, and soon he was changed and warming up backstage. 

Kurt reviewed his costume, and approved of his co-workers choices. It was disco-inspired, but very Elliott too. Platform black shoes, black pants with a slight bell bottom, a shiny light blue shirt with the collar open wide, his hair high, and his eye makeup dramatic. No dreadlocks in sight.

"Break a leg, E". Kurt gave him a light hug, careful not to mess up his clothes or makeup. 

"Thanks." Elliott took a few deep breaths, rolling his shoulders and centering himself for the performance. Soon, he was striding to his mark on stage with the lights low, to be in position when the cameras flipped to him. 

The stage was pitch black, and then the lights came up on a small choral group, singing the iconic lines "Super trouper, beams are gonna find me, but I wont be blue, like I always do, because somewhere in the crowd theres you...” And as their sweet, haunting voices faded with the last note, the light faded on them, leaving blackness again. 

A heavy rock beat started, and the light flashed to the beat, softly at first and getting stronger as the music intensified. Then a lone electric guitar joined in with the famous melody, Elliott revealed playing it in silhouette. The crowd roared as the lights finally came up and he began to sing. It was no longer a light disco pop song, but a great rock version. 

By the time Elliott wailed, "And its gonna be so different, When Im on the stage tonight...”, the crowd was singing and dancing along. He was every inch a superstar in that moment. He totally owned it. 

Kurt gave him a big hug when he came off stage. "Wow Elliott! That was so fantastic!"

Elliott smiled broadly, still buzzing with the adrenaline from performing live on national TV. “Thanks, Kurt. I think it went OK.”

Nodding, Kurt replied drily, “Yes, I think you will be able to keep your job for another month or two.”

“Yeah…. But then I'll be at McDonalds in a hair net.” Elliott smirked back. 

Kurt nudged his shoulder playfully. “Oooooo sexy.” 

“I'm going for a shower and to change back into regular clothes. Do you want to hang back here or at the dressing room?” Elliott grabbed a bottle of water from an aide who was rushing by. 

Kurt looked around. “I'll stay here, Elliott. See you in a bit.” 

The backstage area was full of people rushing around, putting on the live awards show. It reminded him of big performances at NYADA, except on a huge scale. He felt a bit nostalgic for that part of his life, all the singing, dancing, and rehearsals….

“…Facing twenty thousand of your friends… how can anyone be so lonely….” Kurt sang to himself, peering towards the stage to see who was going to be presenting next. 

“Kurt.” A firm voice came from behind Kurt. 

Kurt turned, and standing nearby was Blaine. Kurt was surprised, as he wasn't expecting to see Blaine backstage at all.

“Hi Blaine. It's good to see you.” Kurt stepped forward, giving Blaine a quick hug. It felt awkward, but he couldn't just nod hello. That would have been worse.

Elliott had said that Blaine looked bad, but Kurt couldn't see it. He was wearing slim legged black jeans with a jade green dress shirt, that really brought out the hazel tones in his large eyes. He looked a little more tanned, his hair a little longer and the curls a bit looser, wilder. In other words, sexy as hell.

Blaine nodded at Kurt. “Elliott performed really well, didn't he?”

“Yeah, he really brought the energy to that song.” Kurt gave a little nervous smile. Making small talk.  Ack. “Um… Blaine. Would we be able to go somewhere quiet and talk privately? Sometime tonight?”

Blaine took a deep breath, and then sighed. “I think so. I'm here with Steve, and I think we're going to some big party later. I think Elliott's going there too, so we can find some time then, OK?” 

Kurt nodded, glad that Blaine had agreed to talk, even though he didn't seem too enthused about it. “Is it OK if I text you later to confirm things?” He thought it best to check, not wanting to overstep his welcome. 

“It's OK, Kurt.” His voice sounded flat. “I better get back. See you later.” And Blaine turned, walking quickly down a hallway, soon swallowed up by the other people rushing past. 

***

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

-Battlefield Earth: A clip showing John Travolta laughing a lot in the costume here.

-Elliotts AMA Performance of his rock version of ABBAs Super Trooper. It starts with choral voices lit like the beginning of Bohemian Rhapsody, goes to black, and then Elliott is silhouetted as he plays his guitar and light flashes to the beat. Builds to full rock version... Im imagining like Lenny Kravitz Are You Gonna Go My Way. Amazing video is here.