Road To Love: Chapter 1

"Excuse me, sir."

Burt Hummel wiped his grease-covered hands on a dirty rag, grunting as he rolled himself out from under the car he was working on. He looked up into the stern, frowning face of the man who had spoken.

"There is something wrong with my car. The engine has been rattling since I left home, I don't think it's anything serious, in fact I could probably fix it myself if I had the right equipment. However, I need it sorted out immediately because I have a million things to do at the office today and I'm already late. So if you could please get onto it right away, I will pay you extra for the trouble."

Burt blinked up at the man, and got to his feet. "Sure thing buddy, just let me make a phone call first."

Burt took his cellphone out of his pocket and hit speed-dial.

"Dad?"

"Kurt, where are you? You were supposed to be at the garage 15 minutes ago."

Kurt sighed in annoyance. "Dad, I told you. I can't help out today; I promised Rachel I'd help her shop for a dress for her big anniversary date with Finn."

"Kurt, can't you -"

"Dad, look, I get that you don't really understand how important this is, but I assure you, it is a very serious matter! It's their one year anniversary, and she can't exactly wear a kitten sweater to a fancy-"

"-Okay, okay Kurt! I don't have time for this right now, but I could have really used some help here today. Look, I gotta go, I'll see you tonight. Make sure you're home by seven!"

"Yeah, dad. I'm sorry. I love you, bye!"

"Bye, kid. I love you too."

Burt sighed as he hit the 'end call' button, and turned back to the man, whose piercing dark eyes had not left him for the duration of the call. "Sorry about that. So what seems to be the problem, sir?"

The man had an interesting expression on his face, one of contemplation and mild excitement. Burt imagined a light bulb floating above his head of thick gel-slicked black hair.

"Are you Mr Hummel, then, the owner of this place?"

"That'd be me, but call me Burt."

"Excellent. Well, Burt, if you're in need of an extra pair of hands here, my son has been looking for some part-time work recently. I think a job like this could be…good for him. He needs to learn how to get his hands dirty. He knows a thing or two about cars too, don't worry…we fixed an old Chevvy up together earlier this year, and he's helped me with repairs on various occasions. Smart kid, hard worker. Very reliable."

Burt quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah…that could be really handy, actually. My son sometimes helps me out but he tends to only do so when he feels like it. I'll tell you what, Mr….Uh..."

"Anderson."

"- Mr Anderson, I'll take a look at your car and then you can give me your son's contact details, and I'll see if we can work something out."

Mr Anderson smiled, and held out his hand for Burt to shake. "Pleasure doing business with you, Burt."

Blaine lay sprawled on his stomach across his bed, sheets of paper sprawled everywhere, frowning at his calculus homework. His cellphone lay just to his left and his laptop to his right. He had never been the best at avoiding procrastination, so when he heard a sharp rap at his door, he was grateful for the distraction.

"Come in," he called, and raised his eyebrows in surprise when his dad entered. His dad almost never came up to his room – in fact, they rarely spoke at all beyond the expected pleasantries such as "good morning", "good night", "what do you mean you only got a B in Chemistry?" and "I wish you'd just meet her, Blaine, I promise you, she's a very nice girl."

"Do you have a minute, Blaine?" His dad asked, striding in and seating himself on Blaine's desk chair at the opposite end of the room. Blaine nodded.

"I spoke to a man today who owns an auto repair shop. Hummel's something-or-rather…anyway, he said he might be able to give you a job there. You should expect a call from him within the next few hours. I know it's not exactly in the line of work you've been looking into, but beggars can't be choosers and I think it would be good for you. You need to try new things, Blaine, instead of being so sure that you know what you want when you're only seventeen years old." Blaine tensed at his father's comment. He knew they were talking about more than just jobs.

"Fine, dad," he sighed, and his father nodded curtly before leaving the room. Blaine groaned and buried his face into the mattress.

It wasn't that his father was a bad man. He was very responsible, he loved Blaine's mother with all his heart, and when he had heard that Blaine was being bullied at his old school he immediately had him transferred to Dalton where he would be safe. He was, however, old-fashioned and very stubborn. He had made it very clear to Blaine that he didn't approve of his "choice of lifestyle", but he had also made it clear that he still considered Blaine to be his son. Blaine knew that his dad really wanted the best for Blaine; he just happened to think that being straight was what was best. As a result, their relationship was complex and tense. His dad had offered to pay for Blaine to attend college, but Blaine had decided to get a job and pay his own way so he wouldn't have to feel like he owed his father something for the rest of his life. He also wanted to prove to his dad that he could do it – that he was capable of taking care of himself. Blaine had hoped to get a job doing something he was really passionate about, like teaching piano or guitar to children, or singing in a café or restaurant. But those jobs were very hard to come by in Lima. Like his dad said, beggars can't be choosers, and he did know a few things about cars from all of his dad's attempts to "turn him straight". This was almost definitely another attempt to do so, but Blaine needed the money, and he was desperate. He decided that if Burt Hummel offered him a job, he would take it.

Just as he reluctantly turned back to his Calculus homework, his cellphone rang.

"I'm home!" Kurt called out in a happy sing-song voice as he walked into his house. He was in a fantastic mood. He had found the perfect dress for Rachel, and found a fabulous pair of knee-high white boots on sale for himself. On the way home, he had spotted David Karofsky from school, who had turned around to glare at him and ended up walking into a lamp-post, which was just icing on the cake.

"Just on time, sweetie," called Carole, swooping in to kiss him on the cheek. "Go and sit down honey, I just served dinner." Carole was Kurt's stepmother, and he loved her more than he ever thought it was possible to love a stepmother. Disney movies had taught him that they were supposed to be evil and ugly, but Carole was simply adorable, and super sweet. It was unfortunate that Kurt used to have a huge crush on her son, and his now-stepbrother, Finn. Thankfully, however, they had both moved well past that, to the point where Kurt really thought of Finn as nothing more than his goofy but loving brother. Thinking of his past crush caused him to shudder violently, and he quickly pushed the thought from his mind before he lost his appetite.

He sat down at the dinner table, opposite his dad. "How was your day, dad? I'm sorry for bailing on you again, I know you needed my help. It's just that Rachel needed it more."

Burt swallowed the food in his mouth and smiled at Kurt. "It's cool, kiddo. I actually hired someone else to help me out today. Some kid called Blaine. His dad came into the shop, seemed like he needed a stick pulled out of his ass. But I talked to the kid and he seemed nice enough, so I figured I might as well give it a shot." Kurt blinked at his dad, finding himself becoming irrationally frustrated at this news. I mean sure, he could be unreliable at times, but did his dad really need to hire someone else? That was someone else he'd have to pay. And it also meant that Kurt probably wouldn't be working at the garage at all anymore, which meant he would hardly get to spend any time with his dad. He and his dad were extremely close, but very different, so their time at the garage was the only time they really got a chance to do stuff together. It was a huge bonding thing for Kurt and he always felt closer to his father because of it.

Burt seemed to sense Kurt's anxiety, and hurried to reassure him. "Don't think this means that you can't work there any more, kid. It'll just take some of the strain off both of us – if we're busy and you have somewhere you need to be, I'll still have Blaine to take some of the pressure off me. And don't worry, we can definitely afford it. Business has been booming lately." Kurt relaxed a little, and gave his dad a small smile. It wasn't fair of him to expect his dad to take on all that work on his own. If this new kid would help to ease some of Burt's stress, then that was a good thing. He just hoped that he and this Blaine guy didn't butt heads. They would likely be working together occasionally, and Kurt knew that macho mechanic-type guys would probably not appreciate his fabulousness. He might feel like Kurt, who was kind of obviously extremely gay, threatened his 'manliness'. Kurt frowned slightly, picking at his dinner. At least he knew that his dad would always be on his side, no matter what.

Blaine climbed out of his car on the morning of his first day working at Hummel Tires and Lube. He twisted his hands nervously as he walked towards the door. He had forgone his usual bowtie-and-suspenders combo for the day, in favour of simple jeans and a white t-shirt. He had a feeling a guy who owned an auto repair shop wouldn't really understand his fashion sense.

The door was open, and Blaine could see a middle-aged man in a cap and blue coveralls already at work on a grey station wagon. A small red and white patch on his chest read 'Burt'. Blaine cleared his throat and smiled as he walked towards him. Burt turned to him and smiled back. "Hey," he said, wiping his right hand on a dirty rag and holding it out for Blaine to shake. "You must be Blaine."

"Yes, sir," Blaine said, nervously accepting the handshake. "I just wanted to thank you once again for this opportunity-" Burt cut him off.

"Don't mention it kid, you're doing me a favour. Why don't you head to the office out back, there's another pair of coveralls there, get changed and we'll get started right away." Blaine smiled nervously and headed to the office.

A few hours later, Blaine had decided that he liked Burt. A lot.

They had worked in silence at first, Burt speaking only to give Blaine instructions or ask him to pass something from his toolbox, but as soon as he had asked Blaine about school, they had found themselves having a lengthy conversation flowing through a range of topics. Blaine had found out that Burt's son was the same age as he was, and his name was Kurt. He found out that both he and Burt supported the same football team, and shared a love of Classic Rock. Blaine didn't mention that he also had a love of showtunes and Katy Perry.

Conversation with Burt was easy. He was patient with Blaine as he learned the ropes, as it had been a while since he'd fixed a car and he was a little rusty. Burt assured him that he was a fast learner, and would be able to work on the cars alone in no time. Burt made a joke about Blaine gelling his hair down to come and work in garage, and Blaine blushed slightly and laughed, stopping abruptly when the door to the garage slammed open loudly and the most beautiful boy Blaine had ever seen walked (or rather, stormed) in.

The boy didn't seem to notice Blaine as he headed straight to Burt, angrily complaining about the fact that some other boy named Finn had almost burnt down the kitchen in an attempt to make scrambled eggs and he was sick of having to babysit the giant toddler. Burt calmed him down pretty quickly, assuring him that he would speak to Finn.

Blaine was aware that he was staring at the boy, but he couldn't seem to look away. 'Beautiful' didn't even begin to describe him. His skin was pale, smooth, and absolutely flawless. His thick brown hair was coiffed up at the front and framed his face perfectly. His nose was adorable with its slightly upturned tip, and the combination of his pale yet radiant complexion and impeccably defined features made him look positively angelic. Blaine couldn't help but focus his gaze on the boy's lips, which were pink and perfect and looked so soft, and Blaine just wanted to taste them. And his body, sweet jesus – he was dressed impeccably, but Blaine barely noticed his outfit as he was too busy taking in his long and slender legs, trim waist, and broad shoulders. The way his skin-tight white jeans clung to his legs was positively sinful, and oh god, why was he even having these thoughts about a guy who he had only just laid eyes on?

Blaine had no idea how long he stood and stared at the boy in awe as he talked to Burt. It might have been 10 seconds, or 10 minutes, he wasn't quite sure. Eventually, their conversation ended, and this snapped Blaine out of his daze somewhat. He felt a blush beginning to rise in his cheeks, and at that moment, the boy seemed to finally realise that Blaine was there, and turned to look him. His breathtakingly beautiful glasz eyes met Blaine's, and it was if, for a moment, the world stopped turning.