Chapter 6: Handling the Unexpected

They agreed to set their date for Friday night. It was just enough time for Kurt to make a reservation at his favourite little, ridiculously romantic Italian restaurant – because, seriously, who doesn’t like Italian? – and pick the perfect outfit.

It was not long enough, however, for Blaine to put a dam on all the feelings that threatened to overwhelm him. A mixture of incredulity, nervousness and petrifying fear of rejection held him close to the edge through the days of waiting.

Kurt didn’t fail to call and text Blaine in the meantime. Without even mentioning the alters or DID, he managed to find out that none of the personalities paid a visit and each day he felt less anxious about the probability that he and Blaine would last. Yet despite any fears and concerns that he had in regard to the potential relationship, there were very few things in his life that he would be as sure about. There was no doubt that he had never been this excited for a date, or this hopeful about the guy actually liking him back.

He could sense Rachel’s worried glances on him whenever he wasn’t looking, but he chose to ignore that at first. He knew perfectly well what his best friend would tell him, and he really did not want to listen.

Ignoring Rachel Berry, however, had the tendency of backfiring on the ignoring party, as Kurt should have been aware by now.

‘Kurtie, you’re really, absolutely sure about this?,’ she asked, watching him fix his tie in front of his tall mirror on Friday afternoon.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be in rehearsal or something?,’ he answered with a question. ‘I’m a grown-up, Rachel, I can make my own decisions. And, may I remind you, you kinda told me to asked him out, so don’t make me feel bad about this now.’

‘I was in rehearsal until three, thank you very much,’ she retorted. ‘And yes, you are a grown-up, but do you even know what it’s like to be with someone who’s cr- mentally ill?’

Kurt turned to glare at her.

‘Do you?’

‘No, Kurt, but that’s the point. I don’t, and neither do you!’

He sighed heavily, seeing she wasn’t going to simply give up.

‘Rache, of course I don’t know what it’s like and sure, it’s going to be tough as hell. And maybe it’s not even worth the effort, ‘cause I still barely even know him. But I won’t know until I try to be with him, and I really am sure about this.’

Rachel looked him in the eye for a moment, unable to ignore the fear she could see lurking behind her friend’s excitement and hope. Finally, she nodded.

‘If this is what you want.’

‘It is,’ he said. ‘Anyway, it’s only a date. Don’t expect wedding invitations just yet.’

***

Blaine took another glance at the outfit spread out on his bed. His complete lack of experience with dating and relationships made him doubt every choice of clothes he’d come up with in the last few hours. At some point he even started regretting never having been co-conscious with Liam, before remembering that his alter wasn’t exactly a dinner-and-a-movie kind of guy.

Kurt was supposed to pick him up at seven, and at five thirty Blaine’s hands began to shake so violently, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get dressed in time. He took a long, steaming shower to calm his nerves, but when he came back into his room in a towel wrapped around his hips, he felt only worse.

His heart was pounding, his head was dizzy and he could feel reality slipping from under his fingertips, as he reached out for his clothes, determined to stay lucid and get ready, and not screw this up.

Kathryn opened her eyes and gave a squeak before tugging the towel up to her chest.

‘Oh, Blaine, when will you learn that your bed isn’t the place to put your clothes, even for a second,’ she muttered, grabbing Blaine’s carefully assembled outfit and storing each piece of clothing neatly in its rightful place.

Then she moved gracefully to the part of the closet that was hers. It was full of plain, but elegant skirts, shirts, cashmere sweaters and shoes on medium-height heels. She picked a simple dark blue skirt and a red sweater, before deciding to go back to the bathroom to shave her legs. It’d been way too long since she last did that.

Wrapped in a fluffy pink bathrobe, Kathryn slipped out of Blaine’s room. She didn’t even make it halfway to the bathroom before running into a surprised Sebastian.

‘Kathryn, what are you doing here?,’ he asked her cautiously.

‘Oh, don’t you know? That Kurt boy that Blaine appears to like so much is coming tonight,’ she said. ‘You know I’m not particularly happy about your and Blaine’s lifestyle choices, but for his sake I may as well try and see if I get on well with Kurt. Blaine needs someone to take good care of him, especially when I’m not around.’

Seb gave her a short nod, frowning. If there was one thing that annoyed him about Kathryn, it was her calling their homosexuality a lifestyle choice, but he’d already gotten used to that.

Kathryn smiled a little and mouthed, ‘Bathroom,’ before skipping away.

As soon as the bathroom door was locked, Sebastian bolted for Wes’ room.

‘We’ve got a problem, wonder boy. Big one.’

***

It was exactly seven o’clock, when Kurt rang the bell to Blaine’s apartment on Friday evening. He was anxious, and kept on wondering if getting Blaine flowers was fine. He turned the bouquet of pink carnations in his hand a couple of times, considering whether he still had time to ditch them after all.

He could tell something was wrong the moment he saw Sebastian on the doorstep, instead of Blaine. And then the flowers were completely forgotten.

‘What happened?,’ he blurted out, not caring about greetings or manners.

‘Kathryn happened.’ Seb gave a short shrug. ‘I guess he was stressing over that little date of yours and, you know, she showed up.’

For a moment Kurt was dumbstruck and froze in the spot. He couldn’t tell if he was disappointed, angry or maybe just wanted to take Blaine in his arms and hold him. And if it really was anger, who or what was its object? Blaine? Kathryn? That fucking illness that wouldn’t let Blaine have the life he deserved? Whatever happened that caused it?

Once he could feel his body again, Kurt pushed past Sebastian, making his way towards the living room. He wasn’t sure Kathryn would be there, but he wouldn’t go barging into Blaine’s bedroom.

But she was there, perched on the couch with a cup of tea in her hands. The moment Kurt walked in, she put her tea down and stood up, fixing her skirt.

Kurt couldn’t focus on anything but the way she looked for a good minute. As with the others, it was clear that the body was Blaine’s, even with the feminine clothes and shaved legs (and they were very attractive legs, even though Kurt would probably like them better in their natural state), and the delicate make-up. But she was just as different as she was similar. Her hips swayed slightly when she walked up to him, and she had the aura of the kind of woman who wants to make you feel at home from the moment you cross her doorstep.

‘Kurt! Hello, dear, it’s such a pleasure to meet you,’ she said in a voice that was so soft and warm, it almost wrapped Kurt like a blanket.

‘It’s really nice to meet you, too, Kathryn,’ he managed to say, taking her hand and giving her knuckles a peck.

‘Oh, you’re such a little gentleman!,’ she exclaimed with a smile.

Kurt couldn’t help but answer with a similar, though somewhat awkward expression.

‘Still, Kathryn, with all due respect, I was supposed to be meeting Blaine tonight,’ he said.

Her expression fell.

‘Well, Kurt, I’m very sorry, but Blaine just wasn’t- up for that,’ she told him, lowering her voice.

Apparently asking an alter to leave didn’t do the trick. It didn’t exactly surprise Kurt, but for some reason he’d hoped it would, or that at least Kathryn would be easy to negotiate with.

Kurt’s thoughts raced in search of a solution of that fucked up situation. He was supposed to spend a nice evening and have dinner with someone he liked, and there had even been no need to force Blaine to say yes. And suddenly all he was left with was, by the looks of it, a middle-aged female alter in Blaine’s body, and a booked table at a restaurant.

There was only one way out Kurt could think of. Remembering he was still clutching that stupid bouquet in his left hand, he raised it, offering the flowers to Kathryn.

‘They were supposed to be for Blaine, but since he’s not here, and you are, I’d be glad if you accepted them,’ he said awkwardly.

Kathryn smiled politely.

‘That’s very sweet of you, Kurt, thank you.’ She took a look around and caught a glimpse of Sebastian, who was leaning on the doorframe and smirking. ‘Sebastian, be so kind as to find me a vase for these, please.’

‘Right away, Kathryn,’ Seb said, sweetening his voice up so much it would stick to your fingers if only you could touch it.

‘Forgive him, he’s not very well-behaved,’ she said quietly.

‘I heard that,’ Sebastian’s voice came from the room next door. ‘And it’s not my manners, it’s that you’re too fucking uptight.’

It was obvious the f-word offended and upset her.

‘Watch your tongue, young man,’ she said, attempting to contain her anger and she forced a smile. ‘So, Kurt, what were you planning for tonight before- before it turned out Blaine couldn’t be here?’

Conquering the last vestiges of hesitation, Kurt sighed.

‘I don’t think I have to change the plans much,’ he started. ‘That is if you agree to accompany me to dinner in Blaine’s place.’

Her eyes lit up, and it was hard for Kurt to ignore the fact that they were actually Blaine’s eyes. They were such pretty eyes. Only the mascara and eyeliner distorted the image.

‘I would love to,’ she replied. ‘It’s so nice getting to know Blaine’s friends.’

***

Kurt was positive it was the strangest of his encounters with Blaine’s alters so far. He’d treated Liam as if he was real, because he hadn’t known better, and Boo’s appearance had shocked him, since Kurt never considered the possibility of an alter being a never-aging toddler. Kathryn was different.

He’d known there was a female personality, he’d known her name, and had a suspicion that she showed up whenever Blaine needed some sort of an emotional shield. Apart from that, he’d had no knowledge of her whatsoever.

‘Thank goodness you chose an Italian restaurant,’ she said when they were studying the menus after a long walk filled mostly with uncomfortable silence. Once they arrived, the wait staff and guests gave them a few curious glances, but Kurt ignored them; Kathryn didn’t seem to have noticed. ‘I truly cannot understand how it is that people eat raw fish and say it’s delicious.’

Kurt smiled slightly at her words; she was opinionated. That was good to know. Opinions vary and he had a feeling she could have some he wouldn’t like.

He wasn’t wrong, and she didn’t fail to make it very clear to him.

‘So, Kurt, this was supposed to be a date, am I right? You asked Blaine out on a date?,’ she asked, emphasizing the word with a little cringe.

‘Yes, Kathryn, it was.’ Kurt wasn’t quite sure he knew what she was getting at.

She bit her lip uncomfortably, swirling the slice of lemon in her water with a straw.

‘I would hate to be rude, but – as I truly care only about Blaine’s well-being – I’m not exactly a fan of the lifestyle that he has chosen for himself. Like the one you apparently have made. Or Sebastian.’ Kathryn peered into his face with a steadiness that was completely unlike Blaine, which took him by surprise far more than the fact that she practically outed Sebastian to him.

It took Kurt a moment to put two and two together and realize what she meant by lifestyle.

‘Do you think he chose to be gay, Kathryn?,’ he asked her softly.

‘I only know what it says in Leviticus, “if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination”.’

Kurt pursed his lips in order to keep his emotions in check. He’d heard those words before so often, back in Ohio; then he had to control himself so that no one would hurt him for doing right by himself, now it was so that he wouldn’t hurt – directly or indirectly – someone he knew he had to do right by.

‘Leviticus also says you cannot eat shellfish or get tattoos,’ he replied. ‘It sanctions slavery and stoning adulterers.’

‘Well, those were different times, Kurt-,’ Kathryn began.

‘Exactly,’ he cut in. ‘And now, just like we know that slavery is wrong, we know you don’t choose to be gay. None of us did, believe me.’

Kathryn made an attempt to stare him down and maybe change his mind, but he wouldn’t budge. Finally, she gave the Bible commentary up.

‘Are you serious about Blaine, then?,’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ Kurt answered without a second’s hesitation.

She took a bite of her ravioli and swallowed it in silence.

‘Do you know why he’s so lonely? He’s got us, of course, but well, Liam and Boo are no use, and Cooper- he’s too immature to be of any help, either, so it leaves me and those two roommates of his. Wes is such a lovely young man, isn’t he? Um- What was I saying?’

Kurt’s lips twitched up. There were moments when he actually liked Kathryn.

‘You asked if I knew why Blaine was lonely,’ he reminded her.

‘Right. Do you?’

‘I don’t. Does it have anything to do with his- um- his condition?’ Kurt didn’t know how safe it was for him to address Blaine’s DID in front of one of his alters.

Kathryn scoffed, and Kurt made a note in his mind never to do that again.

‘Blaine’s perfectly healthy. He’s just a little- troubled. And if by illness you meant that, then yes. But it’s also because he’s shy and he lacks self-esteem.’

‘I figured as much.’ Kurt nodded. ‘I don’t really understand why, but I hope you’ll let him tell me everything. Whenever he’s ready.’