Oct. 21, 2012, 7:18 a.m.
The Chances We Take: Chapter 13
E - Words: 2,768 - Last Updated: Oct 21, 2012 Story: Complete - Chapters: 37/37 - Created: Jun 02, 2012 - Updated: Oct 21, 2012 506 0 0 0 0
Kurt: Saturday
Kurt had stayed up far too late to remember to set his alarm clock the night before Vin arrived and had simply passed out, fully dressed, on top of his bed. It was a struggle, but he finally was able to give, what Kurt deemed appropriate, space in his closet for Vin to put his things. He also cleared out two drawers in his dresser and set space on top of it for him too. It was strange. Less than a year ago, Kurt's last boyfriend lived in this very room with him and it took no time for Kurt to fill in the space that his ex had once used. Now he had no idea how he made do with so little.
Around eight thirty in the morning, Kurt began to stir, not feeling even close to well rested, and groggily fluttered his eyes open when he felt hands on his body, undressing him. When his foggy brain put the pieces together of what was happening, he sat up like a gun shot went off and jerked his foot away from the person touching it, nearly kicking the person in the face.
The person jumped back, startled by Kurt's sudden movements. Kurt rubbed his eyes quickly and when the blur of the morning went away he saw it was Vin. He waited for his heart to slow down. Vin smiled and without saying a word, he went back to taking Kurt's socks off. Then he crawled onto the bed and unbuttoned Kurt's jeans. He peeled them off, with the help of Kurt lifting his hips for him. Vin took his own socks and pants off, as well as his shirt, and pulled the covers down from the bed. Kurt had to move a little for him to do this, but he silently complied.
Vin pulled the covers up over, what he knew to be, a still sleepy Kurt, and crawled in next to him, laying on his side so he faced Kurt. "You're early," Kurt finally said, breaking the silence. "Really early."
"I couldn't sleep."
"So you drove here in the middle of the night?"
"Yes." Vin smiled. "Why waste the day sleeping in Vermont, when I could be wasting the day, here, in bed with you?"
Kurt leaned in and kissed Vin tenderly. "Welcome home," he said.
The simple gesture of calling Kurt's space "home" was enough to make Vin smile happily and his entire body relaxed as Kurt snuggled closer and they fell asleep.
Monday
Kurt had both Monday and Tuesday off because the show would be opening on Friday and he had to work the entire weekend. On Monday, Kurt went on two interviews in the morning and went grocery shopping. He went to the Laundromat and mailed a check for the rent to his landlord. He counted it as a productive day. However, he was surprised that he hadn't heard from Blaine, especially on his lunch break. He actually hadn't heard from him since Friday at work. They usually texted each other daily or saw each other. It struck Kurt as odd, but figured Blaine was just busy.
Vin on the other hand, was at work all day. He got a temp job in a medical lab for the month. On Sunday, Kurt had insisted that Vin didn't have to work or contribute much of anything for the month that he would be there, but Vin argued that if this was a trial run, then they should act as if Vin had been actually moving in. He also reminded Kurt that while moving to NY was a dream come true, it wasn't a vacation. It was a lifestyle change and he had to acclimate himself to New York living.
Kurt saw the reasoning in Vin's argument, but told him that he already spoke to Puck and Vin would absolutely not be paying rent for this month. If they decided that moving in was a good idea at the end of their month long trial run, then they could crunch numbers on how much living with them would cost.
Vin complied and they made the agreement that Vin, since he insisted on paying his own way, could foot the bill for groceries while he was there. Vin wanted to contribute more since he'd be causing them to spend more in water and electricity for the month, but Kurt said that paying for the groceries for a month would make up for the cost.
Kurt and Vin smiled at the end of their argument and decided that even though they started bickering already on Vin's second day there, they survived their first ever fight. They celebrated by getting naked and taking a shower together.
Blaine: Monday
Blaine, like Kurt, did think about texting him. All weekend he thought about it, but remembered that Vin was probably there and he didn't want to bother them. On his lunch break on Monday, he went to lunch with some other people from the orchestra and kept glancing at his phone, wondering if Kurt was going to call him instead. After their argument on Friday, he didn't know what to say to him. Things were going to change between them and Blaine didn't know how to stop it or change it back. Whenever he would want to hang out with Kurt, Vin would be right there; and whenever he called Kurt, Vin would be there too. It's not like he didn't like Vin because that wasn't the case. He didn't really know Vin at all. What little contact he had with him, Blaine thought Vin was charming and sweet.
His uneasiness about being around Vin was that Blaine felt he couldn't be himself around Vin with Kurt. Blaine was a naturally flirtatious person and he couldn't make any promises that he wouldn't accidentally slip out something that Vin would feel threatened by.
Kurt wanted Vin; that he made clear. Blaine went back and forth in his mind about if Kurt knew that Blaine was an option for him. Blaine had been flirtatious and sweet, hadn't he? But, on the other hand, he also had mentally resigned to just being there as a friend for Kurt. Maybe Kurt picked up on the friend vibe instead? Then Blaine sighed and relaxed when the thought hit him that perhaps, just maybe, Kurt wasn't even interested. It would be arrogant, Blaine thought, to just assume that Kurt had feelings for him just because Blaine had feelings for Kurt.
He put his fingers onto his piano keys and started tooling around with a tune he had in his head all day.
"That sounds good," Nick said when he came in the music room.
"Thanks. I don't know what it is yet. It's just something I had in my head."
"Want me to get on the drums and help you with a beat?"
"Sure." Blaine played the tune again for Nick to hear and get inspired. It took seconds for Nick to come up with something, but changed it on the second time around because he said the first one seemed to change the feeling of the song.
"What is the feeling of the song?" Blaine asked.
"You tell me."
"I don't know. I hadn't come up with a concept yet."
"I very much doubt that. You're sitting there with a sour puss face and not at all into what your doing. What's going on?"
"Nothing. I'm just tired."
"I don't doubt that, but I don't believe for one second that something isn't bothering you. Come on. Out with it."
Blaine sighed, puffing out his cheeks as he looked down into his lap. He thought about where to start. "Okay," he began looking up and turning his body towards Nick. "What do you think of Kurt?"
"The one you've been bringing over lately and sleeping with?" Nick asked with a smirk.
"I haven't been sleeping with him. He was just sleeping over because he was too drunk to make it home."
"You know, taxis are a wonderful invention. You call for them or wave your hand and they show up and drive you anywhere you want. Even in a drunken stupor you can make your way home safely." Nick's sarcastic humor wasn't funny to Blaine at the moment. "Man, I get it. You could have stuffed him into a taxi and let him go with God, but you didn't. You care about him and have feelings for him, so you tucked him in, and made him feel safe and warm in the comfort of your control." Blaine didn't answer. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Blaine scrunched up his face. "Yeah." He was reminded of both times he tucked Kurt in. The first time, Kurt was barely awake by the time he got him upstairs and was asleep by the time he pulled the covers up over his shoulders. He looked so peaceful and angelic when he slept. "The thing is that I have feelings for him, but he has a boyfriend."
"You mentioned that before. It must not mean much to you if you keep doing things for him like that dinner last weekend or letting him sleep in YOUR bed instead of the futon."
"No. It does mean something to me, that's why I'm bothered right now. I knew all along that he had a boyfriend and I thought I could just be his friend, but I can't. I can't stop myself from staring or doing something I think is nice, but it turns out to be way more than what a friend would do. I can't stop myself from feeling more for him every time I see him."
"Does he know that?"
"No."
"Is his boyfriend a good guy?"
"Yes. A really good guy. He's actually good for Kurt, I think."
Nick pounded his drumsticks on the snare drum and made the sound of a rim shot. He laughed at his own joke.
"Not funny," Blaine retorted.
Nick put his sticks down and lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay. So this guy is good for Kurt. But, tell me something; would you be better?"
"It doesn't matter. Kurt wants him, he's made that clear. It doesn't matter what's good, better, or best because it all boils down to what Kurt wants."
"You don't seem like the type to try to steal Kurt away."
Blaine nodded his head in agreeance. "You're right. I'm not. I don't even want to try because I know that won't end well. It would only hurt Kurt and not show me in a good light. If something were to happen between us, it would have to be natural and uncalculated."
"But, thinking that now, wouldn't any attempt at hanging out with him be a calculated move towards getting closer to him?"
Blaine scratched the back of his neck and scrunched his face again. "I don't know. I guess the intention would mean all the difference."
"Do you have the intention of getting closer to him?"
"I don't know. I have the want to be, but I don't want to get between him and his boyfriend."
Nick looked like he was thinking. Like he was actually giving serious thought into help Blaine through his problem. "Tell me this, does Kurt flirt back to you?"
"I don't know."
"How could you not know?"
"Because sometimes he compliments me and it's not flirting. It's just a compliment, but then there are times, like last weekend when he asked me to stay with him until he fell asleep. It was the sweetest more endearing thing, but I don't know what it meant to him. Sometimes I wonder if he is flirting, but he's so subtle that I can't tell and I don't want to ask because it'd be awkward."
"So what are you gonna do?"
"Man, I don't know. I really don't. I can't be all Braveheart and stand tall, saying 'He's mine' and I can't stay away from him. We work in the same building. Not to mention I don't want to stay away from him. I just know that, if given the chance, we'd be so good for each other. I know it sounds corny and all, but I mean it, I'd be so good to him."
Nick was silent for a minute and Blaine watched as Nick's eyes drifted away from Blaine's face and then got a sparked look on his face. "What?" Blaine asked.
"Play that tune again."
"Okay." Blaine turned himself back to the piano and played it again.
After a bar or two, Nick joined in on the drums with a completely different beat than the last. Another bar later, Nick sang out:
And I do want you to know
I think
You'd be good to me
And I'd be so good to you.
Blaine stopped playing and looked back at Nick. "That was great!" The mood clearly changed in Blaine's voice. He was fully distracted from his melancholy and focused on Nick's birth of a song.
"You did it. I just filled in the lines. Come on, let's get some more done. I'm feeling inspired."
Blaine was compliant and started tooling around with some more notes to add onto his song and the more the notes went on, Blaine was able to tack on some lyrics to Nick's original riff.
It wasn't until Blaine saw Kurt at work on Wednesday that they started talking again. Kurt was sitting on the stage floor painting in some stencil work on one of the flats for the set and Blaine wandered over to him on his break. "Hi," Blaine said as he put his hands in his pockets.
Kurt turned around on the floor and smiled. "Hi!"
"How's it going?" Blaine was happy to be greeted with a smile, but his own facial features showed caution.
"Good. It was nice to have Monday and Tuesday off. Vin and I saw The Book of Mormon last night."
"Wow!" Blaine raised his eyebrows. "How was it?"
"Oh my God! It was fabulous. So funny!"
"Can I ask you a question?"
Kurt suddenly realized the significance of Blaine's expression and tone of voice. He was troubled. Kurt furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head to the side like a puppy. "What's wrong?"
Blaine looked down at his feet and toed the stage floor with his right foot. "Um… Are we… we're okay, right?"
Kurt's expression didn't change, but he stood up to face Blaine properly. "Yeah. Blaine, we're fine. Is this why you didn't call me this weekend? Because you thought I was mad at you?"
"W-well, kinda. I mean, I knew you were probably busy with helping Vin move in and all, but we didn't leave things so well on Friday and I just- Kurt, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. It was none of my business and I don't want us to stop being friends."
"Blaine, no. No; stop. I'm not mad at you. Yeah, what you said upset me because no one else supports Vin moving in so soon, but we're fine. I promise you. I'm not going to stop being friends with you because you don't agree with my boyfriend moving in with me for a month."
"It's not that-"
"It's okay, Blaine. You don't need to defend anything."
"But we're really okay?"
"Yes." Kurt smiled. He reminded himself not to hug Blaine, even though his first instinct was to do so.
"Okay. Good. I mean- great. I mean- I'm glad."
Kurt giggled. He liked seeing Blaine nervous. He wasn't sure why, but it was something he added to the list of things that Kurt thought made Blaine adorable. He saw some bustling around the orchestra pit and knew that Blaine had to get back to his piano. "So, I'll see you at lunch?"
"Yes. Wait. Actually, I had plans with a few people from the orchestra, but you're more than welcome to come. It's just lunch at the diner around the corner."
"Sure. Okay."
Blaine would settle for this. It wasn't perfect, but it was what it was and that was enough. Friendship was enough.
Lunch wasn't as awkward as he thought it would be, but it was still a little awkward because they hadn't really spent a whole lot of time together while with other people. Blaine thought he might as well get used to it because with Vin around, he probably wouldn't be getting to spend much alone time with Kurt.
It wasn't until the night of the final dress rehearsal of the show, on Thursday, that Blaine resigned to not be sad about it anymore. They could be friends and laugh and joke. So, as a test to himself, Blaine invited both Kurt and Vin to his next show on Monday night. He told himself that this would be a good thing because then he'd be able to see Kurt in a new light. He'd be able to see Kurt happy with Vin and it would make it easier to get over him. But really, in the back of his mind, he just wanted to see Kurt outside of work again.