FRIDAY - PART III

Kurt and Blaine quickly finished the last of their coffees even though they were beyond lukewarm at that point. They got up and threw Cooper’s untouched drink as well as their coffee and muffin trash away before grabbing Kurt’s satchel and joining the rest of the students near the center of the stage. Blaine wasn’t exactly sure what he should do, so he stayed by Kurt’s side while everyone else sat down on the floor on the stage near them.

Somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled, signaling that it was ten after one o’clock in the afternoon. There were still a couple students walking into the room, so Cooper was over by the piano, sorting through some papers. Kurt and Blaine sat back and observed everyone else, their pinkies linked together in between them so as not to call complete attention to themselves, yet still allowing them physical contact.

A boy sitting near them who looked hung-over leaned over and muttered, “I can’t believe Mr. A didn’t just give us the day off. I mean, we went to his brother’s concert and the guy isn’t even here yet.”

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and Kurt stifled a giggle while Blaine told Kurt’s classmate, “Yeah. What an asshole.” The hung-over kid nodded in agreement before turning back around. The boyfriends shared a private moment as they chuckled, waiting for class to proceed.

After the last student found a spot on the floor, Blaine watched his brother walk over toward the group. Blaine admired how at ease and at home his brother looked in his teaching position.

“Okay guys. I want to thank you for showing up last night. I know I kind of made it mandatory, but I hope you enjoyed the concert.” He waited while the students murmured their mixed responses. Kurt gave Blaine a small smile as the pianist looked around at the other people on stage and tried to gauge how they really felt about his show. “Anybody have any questions before I introduce our guest speaker?” Cooper saw his students avoiding eye contact with him like it was their job. He shrugged. “Okay. So, without further ado, I give you Devon Anderson.”

Blaine scrambled to his feet to the tune of only his boyfriend clapping. He looked down at Kurt with his eyebrows raised and Kurt just grimaced and mouthed an apology. The younger boy didn’t feel so bad, though, when Blaine flashed him a genuine smile.

The pianist looked around at his brother’s students, trying to get a feel for the room. Everyone except for Kurt and Cooper was looking at him like they were confused. “Uh, hi,” Blaine addressed the group. “I’m,” he quickly looked over at Kurt before continuing, “I’m Devon.” He gave the group a little nod, but they just sat there silently, staring at him as if they were trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not because he certainly didn’t look like the person their teacher made them listen to the night before. Blaine shot a Help Me look at his brother, not knowing what he should be doing.

“So guys,” Cooper said as he made his way over to his brother. “Devon graduated from Oberlin last year and now he’s about to work on his second album. He’s been playing piano professionally for a few years and is only a little bit older than most of you. I thought maybe you would have some questions for him about what it’s like to be in a performance career right out of undergrad.” Cooper looked around at his students. “Come on, anybody?”

Kurt looked around and saw either looks of disinterest or confusion on everyone else’s faces. Slowly, he stuck his hand up in the air, causing Blaine to smile.

“Yeah, Kurt?” Cooper said as he called on his brother’s boyfriend.

“Um, I was wondering, Devon, if you always knew you were going to be a professional pianist?” Kurt blushed as he asked; as this was something he was planning on asking Blaine at some point anyway.

Blaine gave Kurt a grateful smile, glad to have something to talk about instead of just standing in front of everyone like an idiot. “Great question, Kurt.” He blushed a little as he said his boyfriend’s name. “Um, the simplest answer is No, actually. When I was little, I wanted to be a pirate. Then I’m pretty sure I wanted to be in the X-Men.” His sincerity got a laugh out of some of Cooper’s students. “In high school I sang with my school’s glee club and fell more in love with music, but I didn’t grow up thinking ‘Man, I want to play piano forever.’ I mean, I had been playing the piano in public since grade school and knew I was good at it, but didn’t really think about it as a career until high school. Even in college, my major was English and I only minored in Music because I wanted something to fall back on if I decided maybe music wasn’t the right path for me. Being a professional classical musician is definitely not for everyone, especially in this day and age. I mean, who wants to listen to someone tap out a bunch of ancient songs on the piano, right?” Blaine chuckled to himself, completely aware of how odd it actually was for him to play the piano for a living.

A mousy looking girl raised her hand and asked without being called on, “Do you even like playing the piano?”

Nodding, Blaine replied. “Honestly? Yeah, I really do.” His hands became animated as he talked. “I love music and I love being able to share that love of music with other people. You know, when my brother asked me to come speak with you guys today, I initially thought he was nuts. I asked him why he would want me to do that since I play piano and you guys are acting students. I’ll spare you the details, but he basically told me that what I do is acting too.” Blaine looked around the room and saw confused faces once again. He took a second and thought to himself how to best explain it. After locking eyes with Kurt, Blaine started walking over toward the piano and the eyes of Cooper’s students followed him.

“My boyfriend actually pointed this out to me a little bit ago,” he started as he sat down on the piano bench, not even noticing how easily the word boyfriend left his lips. “He told me that I’m a performer the same as you, but instead of using words to tell my story, I use notes.” Blaine quickly played several bars of a piece he played the night before at a lively, up-tempo pace with no crescendos of any kind. “So that’s part of something I played last night.” The students stared at him blankly. “It was kinda happy sounding, right?” He waited until a couple of them nodded at him. “Well, how about this?” Blaine played the exact same measures, but this time, he slowed down a few notes here and there and really hammered out sections of it, making the music sound angry and almost malicious. “Those were the same measures, but a much different mood because of the emphasis I put on different notes. It’s like how you can say the same line, but give it different kinds of meaning depending on how you say it. Does that make sense?”

A few more people nodded as a busty blonde near the back put her hand up in the air.

“Did you have a question?”

“Yeah,” she said as she smacked her gum. “Did you just say you have a boyfriend?”

Kurt’s eyebrows raised as Blaine’s cheeks flushed. “Oh, yeah, I guess I did.” He realized he said wasn’t exactly clear. “I mean, I do have a boyfriend and I did say that I had one – have one – uh, yes. Boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.” Blaine smiled awkwardly as his face got warmer. Kurt suppressed a giggled as he watched Blaine get flustered. He knew it was wrong to laugh at his boyfriend’s expense, but amid the ridiculousness of their week, it really was funny and completely endearing.

The blonde slumped backward, putting her hands on the stage behind her. “The cute ones are always gay.”

Blaine looked at his brother for help. Cooper looked around at his students, hoping people would have more relevant things to ask. “Okay, who else has got a question for Devon?”

“How come you don’t look like you did last night?” It was the hung-over kid who asked, though a lot of people nodded in agreement, as if they were wondering the same thing.

“Oh, um,” Blaine thought for a second about how to answer that in a way that was relevant to his brother’s students. “Well, you know how when you’re performing in a play or on stage or something and you have to wear a costume because you’re playing a part? What you saw last night was me playing the part of a professional pianist.”

“But you just said you were a professional pian… piano… pianoist.”

Blaine chuckled, “Yes. Yes, I did. And I am. But as you can see, I don’t wear a tux all the time,” he said as he gestured toward his outfit for that day. “I wear glasses when I’m not performing. And my hair looks like this -” Blaine grabbed handfuls of his curly hair and pulled up, causing it to stick out wildly. “- without all that hair gel. But, when I’m on stage, especially when people paid to see me play, I have to look the part.” Blaine did his best to smooth down his hair again, but it was going to do what it wanted. “You guys wouldn’t have taken me seriously if I walked out on stage last night looking like this, right?” He waited as everyone shook his or her head. “But, you also would have thought I was a pompous dick if I showed up today in my tux.” Everyone chuckled at that, but they nodded, understanding what the pianist was getting at. “Performing is about presenting yourself how you want to be seen, and then acting the part too. You can put on the costume, or wear the fancy tux, but then you have to be that person and make everyone else believe that you are that person, or that character.”

“So what you’re saying is Devon Anderson is a character?”

The auditorium fell silent.

Blaine didn’t see who asked the question, but he thought it was the girl who asked if he had a boyfriend. He looked around at the students and saw their attention was on him, waiting for an answer. The pianist’s eyes found Kurt’s among those looking at him, but those blue eyes were full of reassurance.

“Yes and no,” Blaine started slowly, beginning to answer the question at hand. “I say ‘yes’ because who you saw on stage is only a part of who I am. The Devon you saw last night was Devon Anderson, professional pianist.” He looked around the room. “But most of you don’t know me, the me in here,” he said putting a hand over his chest. “Playing the piano is a major part of my life and I loved playing for you guys last night.” He ghosted his hands over the keys before turning back to the students on the floor. “This allows me to share a part of myself with everyone, but it’s definitely not everything that I am.” He put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, placing his chin in his hands. “Like, I love playing video games and traveling with my family when I have free time. I love seeing my boyfriend blush,” he said through a grin as he watched Kurt’s face turn crimson. “And playing my guitar. But the audience doesn’t know that about Devon Anderson when I’m up on stage. The same goes for you guys, right? I mean, let’s say you’re playing Romeo or Juliet. You might be able to convince the audience that you know a thing or two about star-crossed lovers, but they probably couldn’t guess that you can bake really well or know every word to ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire.’” He looked around and saw some people were confused. “Come on! Billy Joel?” He waited to see if that sparked recognition from the puzzled people. “No? Yikes.”

Cooper laughed to himself as he watched Blaine’s reaction to the non-reaction of his own students. He looked down at his watch and saw there was only about 10 minutes of class left. “Okay, guys. Since I made you give up part of your Thursday nights, I’m gonna let you out early. Why don’t we all thank Devon for coming in today?” He watched Blaine blush as the students gave him a warmer round of applause than he was obviously expecting. “Monday we’re starting new scenes, so get ready for some cold readings before I pair you off. This is gonna be worth a third of your semester grade.” He was met with a bunch of groans. “I know, I know. Shame on me for making acting majors do acting assignments. See ya Monday!”

A bunch of students stood up and immediately filed out of the stage door. Several hung around, though, and approached Blaine. He sat at the piano bench and was happy to field questions from some of the people who were too embarrassed to ask him things in front of the whole class.

Kurt smiled from the floor as he watched Blaine interact with his classmates. Though he could tell a few of the girls and guys up there were only hovering because they obviously thought Blaine was attractive, he admired how Blaine was animatedly talking to those who had legitimate questions about being in the performing arts.

After standing up and brushing off his pants, Kurt shouldered his bag and then looked over to find his acting teacher now sitting on a chair across the stage. Giving another glance over to Blaine and seeing his attention was still on the students, Kurt walked over toward his boyfriend’s brother.

Cooper looked up when he heard someone approaching. He smiled when he saw who it was. “Oh, hey Kurt.”

Kurt gave him a small smile, “Hey.” The younger boy fiddled with the strap of his satchel. “I feel like I owe you an apology.”

“What for?” Cooper wracked his brain, but couldn’t think of anything that Kurt had to be sorry for.

“For last night, before the concert,” Kurt said softly. “I was really rude to you, and I’m sorry.” Kurt sighed, “And I’m also sorry for taking up so much of your brother’s time this week. He’s leaving tonight and you’re probably mad that you haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time with him because of me.”

“Kurt, hey, no,” Cooper set the stack of papers he was looking at on the floor. “First of all, I accept your apology even though you really didn’t have to apologize in the first place about last night. It was all just a big misunderstanding and I think we can both agree that it’s just easier to blame Blaine for all of that.” Kurt gave a small smile at Cooper’s comment. “And there is no need to apologize for you spending time with Blaine this week. To be honest, I’m sorry you guys don’t have more time with each other.” Kurt’s eyebrows slid up, not expecting to hear that. Cooper leaned forward and spoke softly even though no one else was within earshot. “Look, I know this week has been kinda weird and fast for everyone, but I have never seen Blaine be more like himself than when I see him with you. I might make fun of you two for being disgustingly adorable, but it’s only because I’m really happy for both of you. He’s been putting up a good front these past few years, but truth be told, I know he was lonely. His life has not been easy, Kurt. And I would wager yours hasn’t been either.” Kurt gave a small nod, acknowledging Cooper was right, causing Cooper’s heart to drop a little bit. “I shouldn’t be the one telling you this, but the other night he told me that you were putting his heart back together. So please don’t apologize for spending time with my brother if it’s helping to make him whole again, okay?” Kurt was taken aback, but gave a firmer nod than before.

The last of the acting students finally wandered off and Blaine looked up from the piano to see his brother and Kurt talking across the stage. They looked like they were having a serious conversation and that made Blaine curious. He got up and cross the stage, calling out before he neared them so as not to scare either man. “Hey! Everything okay over here?”

Kurt turned around and smiled at the sound and sight of his boyfriend. He reached a hand out, which Blaine promptly took. They gave each other a loving squeeze before both boys turned their attention to Cooper.

“Everything’s great, B. How are you doing?”

Blaine nodded, “Fine.” He pointed back toward the piano. “Some of your students had really great questions after class. And then others… They just kind of stood there.” He shrugged to himself. “I dunno… if I was them, I would have just left early with everyone else.”

Cooper laughed at his brother’s ignorance and Kurt tried to hold back a grin as he brought a hand up and ran it gentle through Blaine’s hair before cupping his cheek. “Oh, Blaine. You are so, so,” Kurt started as he leaned in and gave Blaine a chaste kiss (since they were still standing in front of his brother) “oblivious, aren’t you?”

Blaine looked at his brother, hoping Cooper would clue him in on what he was apparently not seeing, but Cooper just laughed even harder. “What?”

Kurt whispered in Blaine’s ear, “You’re a handsome musician with a recording contract.”

Eyebrows still furrowed, Blaine whispered back, “But I play the piano and already have a boyfriend.” He couldn’t comprehend why anyone would be interested in him when he already made his relationship status known.

“Yes you do,” Kurt said, thinking it was adorable how Blaine showed zero interest or awareness in other people desiring him that way.

Blaine shook his head and looked back toward his brother who was still smiling. “Coop, Kurt and I have an errand, but then we’ll head to your apartment so I can grab my stuff and say goodbye before I have to be at the airport. You want us to pick you up some dinner on the way back?”

Cooper shook his head. “Nah. Don’t pick up anything – I’ll have something ready for you when you two get back. Send you off right, Grandma Anderson-style.”

A wide smile broke out across Blaine’s face. “Really Coop?!”

The oldest Anderson nodded. Kurt looked between the brothers, having absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but looking forward to sharing in what appeared to be an Anderson family tradition.

…

Hand in hand, Kurt and Blaine walked to the homeless shelter. They hadn’t said anything until they were nearing the building when Kurt finally spoke up. “I’m going to miss you, you know.”

Blaine stopped walking and turned to face his boyfriend. “I’m going to miss you too. A lot.”

Kurt squeezed his hand and then started walking, tugging Blaine along. “Good. I just wanted to make sure we were still on the same page.” They came upon the shelter and Kurt grabbed the door’s handle and swung it open, holding it for Blaine to walk through.

“Hey Sally!” both boys called out as they approached the familiar woman at the desk. They expected her to break into a smile like she had the last time they were there, but instead, she squinted her eyes and stared down Blaine.

“That was a nice concert you played last night, son,” Sally said evenly. “My husband and I really enjoyed ourselves.”

Blaine blushed. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“We’re you going to tell me your name before you left town?”

The pianist shook his head. “No ma’am.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a check. Wordlessly, Sally pulled out an envelope and handed it to Blaine. He quickly put the check in the envelope and sealed it. She slid a pen across the counter, which he picked up and used to quickly scrawl a lengthy note on the back. Kurt watched as Blaine handed the woman her pen and the envelope back. She looked down at the back of the envelope and smiled, causing Blaine to give a small smile in return. “Is it okay if we go see the kids? We told them we would try to come in today.”

Sally nodded and the boys grinned back and thanked her. Taking each other by the hand, they walked down the hallway, this time not dropping hands before walking into the room where the kids were playing.

As soon as they stepped through the doorway, the little girl that favored Kurt the other day ran over and threw her arms around his legs.

“Hey sweetie,” Kurt exclaimed before Blaine let go of his hand so he could lean down and hug her.

“You come to read me stories?” she asked as she clung to him while he stood up.

Peeling her off his legs, Kurt picked her up and balanced him on his hip between he and Blaine. “Sure, we can read stories, if that’s what you want to do.”

She smiled and nodded, then turned and acknowledged Blaine’s presence. “You gonna sing songs?”

Blaine smiled as she reached over and buried a hand in his hair before pulling on a handful of his curls. “I think that can be arranged.” She crinkled her forehead at him before he chuckled and nodded, moving her hand along with his head. “Silly songs it is.” The little girl let go of Blaine’s hair and wriggled around, causing Kurt to set her down. She bolted across the room and grabbed a storybook from a stack on the floor.

“STORY TIME!” she yelled, garnering the attention of all the other kids in the room. There weren’t as many kids in there as there were the other day, but they quickly settled themselves on the floor and waited patiently while Kurt and Blaine worked their way across the room. Both boys sat on the floor and the little girl quickly scrambled into Kurt’s lap, handing Kurt the book.

Blaine watched as Kurt opened the book and started reading to the kids. Even though he was dressed up more than the usual college kid, Kurt somehow still managed to look comfortable and completely at home sitting on the floor with a kid in his lap and more children surrounding him.

Kurt could feel Blaine’s eyes on him. As he turned the pages, he would glance over at his boyfriend and smile, grateful to be near him as he read to the kids.

When the story was over, a boy sitting near the stack of books handed another one to the little girl in Kurt’s lap and she held it up in front of his face.

“Oh!” Kurt exclaimed, when the book almost hit him in the nose. He took the book out of her hand and lowered it to see what they wanted him to read. When he saw that they had chosen “Anatole and the Piano,” Kurt looked over at Blaine and then addressed the kids. “I think we should let Blaine read this one to you, okay?”

Blaine looked confused, especially when Kurt flashed him a wide smile. After being handed the book, Blaine let out a soft chuckle. He had been read this book about the music-loving mouse many times when he was little and gave Kurt a fond look before running his hand down the cover.

“Okay, who’s ready for some Anatole?” Blaine asked the kids before gently opening up the cover.

Kurt was just as invested in the story as the kids were as Blaine read. The pianist used different voices for all the characters and would contort his face as he read, really putting himself into it. Kurt was amazed by Blaine’s commitment to everything he did, for he gave just as much effort reading to these kids as he did playing for hundreds of paying patrons the night before. It was this kind of selfless disposition that allowed Kurt to fall further for the man sitting next to him. There was no denying it - though they had only known each other for a few days, Kurt knew he would love and be in love with Blaine someday. And with their track record, that someday would be sooner rather than later.

When the story was over, Blaine closed the book and smiled at the kids. He had as much fun reading the story as they had listening to it.

The little girl in Kurt’s lap reached up and tugged on one of Blaine’s curls. “You sing us some songs now, please?”

Blaine smiled, “Sure.”

The little girl looked around, but couldn’t find what her eyes were seeking. “Where’s your guitar?”

Eyebrows rose as Blaine sincerely apologized her. “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have it with me today.”

Kurt leaned over and whispered loudly so that all the kids could hear, “Blaine can play songs for you on the piano, though.”

“Like the mouse?” the little girl asked excitedly.

Blaine chuckled, “Like the mouse.”

The pianist got up from the floor and crossed over to the piano. He sat down on the bench and tapped his fingers across the tops of the keys, not pressing down hard enough for them to make a sound, but buying himself a little time while he thought up some quick lyrics he could sing along to a tune the kids might already know.

The little girl scrambled off of Kurt’s lap and ran over to the piano bench, using her arms and legs to climb up until she settled herself next to Blaine. Her little legs kicked in the air, for they were far too tiny to reach the ground. The rest of the kids wandered over near the piano and Kurt got up to follow them. He stood behind Blaine and put a hand on his back as the pianist launched into a ditty about penguins and ice cream cones set to the tune of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The kids were giggling so much that they didn’t seem to notice Blaine vamping to give himself time to make up additional verses.

When he wrapped up his song, the kids cheered and clapped, demanding more. He led them in a few rounds of Old MacDonald, complete with jungle animals in addition to the usual farm sounds and rousing renditions of several popular Disney songs.

Soon after, Sally ducked her head in the room and announced that it was almost time for the kids to clean up. Met with groans again, Kurt and Blaine helped the kids pick up the toys that were on the floor before telling them that they too had to get going.

The little girl tugged on Blaine’s hand as he and Kurt were headed toward the door. He stopped and knelt down in front of her. “Yes ma’am?” he asked.

“You gonna come back and sing more songs?” She looked so hopeful that Blaine’s heart dropped a bit. He looked up at Kurt, silently asking for help how to answer her question.

“Blaine might not be able to come back for awhile because he works in another city,” Kurt said softly. “But if you’re okay with it, I’d like to come back next week and read you some more stories.”

The little girl considered what Kurt told her. After a few moments of looking at Blaine and rationalizing out that he was leaving, she turned to Kurt and said, “Okay.”

He smiled and held out his arms. “May I have a hug please?”

She immediately threw herself against Kurt and squeezed her arms against his back. Wiggling with delight, she then turned to Blaine and said, “You can hug us too, you know.” Blaine chuckled and wrapped his arms around Kurt and the little girl.

Eventually, Blaine and Kurt stood up and waved their goodbyes to the kids with Kurt promising he would stop back the following week. They took each other by the hand and walked out the door and back down the hallway.

Sally said goodbye to the boys as they headed toward the door. She smiled as the pianist held the door open for Kurt and then followed him out. Once they were both out of sight, she opened her desk drawer and took out the stack of envelopes from the piano player that had amassed over the week. The envelopes that only had cash in them were labeled with how much money he put in, along with a smiley face and a quick message wishing her a good day. The envelope with a check in it from earlier in the week was labeled with the amount on the check and a note reading, “Please do not open until Saturday. (I promise this check won’t bounce!).”

She ran her fingers across what he wrote on the back of that day’s check. “Please don’t open until after I leave today. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was – I kind of liked being the nameless kid who made you smile. Thank you for everything you do. I hope this helps the shelter a little bit. Have a great day!”

Carefully opening the envelope so as not to rip across the young man’s words, Sally gently pulled out the check inside. The top left corner boasted a treble clef and some music notes next to Devon Anderson’s name. She chuckled at how adorable it was and how odd, yet fitting for this young man to have such personalized personal checks. Her chuckling stopped, though, when she saw how much the check was for. “Oh my lord,” she muttered to herself.

There were a lot of zeros.