When all is said and done
Chapter 23
Trixie and Jayden had been waiting outside Marco’s for just over half an hour. It was unheard of for him to be late for anything. They both sat on the wall outside Marco’s place. If they had been friendly with each other or even civil they probably would have talked; but they both could hardly stand each other so they just sat there with Jayden listening to his iPod and Trixie texting various friends of hers; every now and then she would give off an exasperated sigh.
When they were coming up to the forty minute mark Trixie finally broke the silence, “Right, that’s it! I am going back to my flat. You can just stay here for all I care but as far as I’m concerned I have had enough!” and with a toss of her hair Trixie stalked off down the street without giving Jayden a second glance. Jayden didn’t argue with her, partly because he knew there was no point but mostly because he didn’t really like her that much and would much prefer to have the meeting without her presence.
Jayden continued to wait for another ten minutes before Marco finally showed up. “Hey Jayden, sorry I’m late! Shall we go in? I have much to tell you!” Marco very rarely apologised for anything so coming from him the apology was more than acceptable; Jayden followed Marco inside the building for them to get on with the meeting.
They headed inside and went to the lounge. Instead of sitting opposite each other as they normally would, they sat side by side; not overly close but it was comforting to each of them to know that they had gotten to know the other enough to do it(though Marco would never admit this).
“Where is Trixie?” Marco asked nonchalantly, unwilling to give away his pleasure at his absence.
“She left about ten minutes before you arrived. I think she was tired of waiting; you know what she is like,” Jayden rolled his eyes; impatience was yet another thing he hated about his unwilling ally.
“Oh well! I can’t pretend I’m all that put out by it; I never really like having her around. If it had been up to me I could have done this thing on my own! You are reasonably tolerable, so I don’t mind it when it’s just us,” Marco stated.
“I prefer it when it’s just us to. I feel like I can talk to you a lot easier and not just stuff to do with the plan… more personal things. You know, Marco I think I could almost call you a friend,” Jayden quietened towards the end, ducking his head slightly.
Marco slightly touched by Jayden’s words. He hadn’t had many friends and the fact that someone was keen to be his friend sort of made him feel a little better. He hoped that maybe Jayden would be there for him if the plan were to fail. Of course he said nothing of this, he was not as daring as Jayden when it came to feelings; he had been hurt too many times. So Marco gave a non-committal grunt and turned both of their attention back to the task in hand, “So, how did it go with Blaine? Did you find anything out?”
And just like that the moment was gone. It had gone from being a tender discussion of feelings back to the plotting’s of two bitter men. Marco couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of regret as he watched Jayden’s face change back to its hard exterior; he felt like he missed an opportunity. Of course he still continued to say nothing and soon his mind was flooded back with why they were both there.
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t really get anywhere with Blaine. In fact I think I pretty much gave myself away. I’m sorry Marco. Blaine can be really uptight about things like that I am surprised he was even civil to me after what happened between me and Kurt, but don’t worry I haven’t blown anyone else’s cover I don’t think so anyway,” Jayden sighed.
“What did actually happen? See I’m still a little confused,” Marco asked.
“I was angry. I know I shouldn’t have done it but I did. It was just after Blaine had broken up with me and I was pretty upset over it. I blamed Kurt. I just felt so angry and upset and I used all that against him. They had just come out of the restaurant that then went on for their date. It upset me that Blaine was seeing another guy so close after we broke up! So I followed Kurt and I warned him to stay away. I didn’t mean for it to happen, honestly I didn’t. I just felt so angry. I punched Kurt in the face. I thought it would just hurt and he would yell at me more something. H-he fell back and hit his head on the edge of a brick wall and was knocked out cold. Blaine found him and took him back to his flat to take care of him there. When I went to speak to Blaine he was furious,” Jayden finished. Every time he had explained what had happened to someone it had always been so awkward and embarrassing for Jayden. He didn’t like admitting his faults. However, with Marco it was different, this time he felt kind of good about it; like taking a weight off his shoulders. Marco also had a bad past so it was more like sharing stories than a confession.
Marco didn’t speak through-out what Jayden had to say. He stayed almost perfectly still and by the end his expression was unreadable. After quite a long awkward silence Jayden decided that he’d better prompt Marco if he wanted to get any kind of response from him, “Marco?” he said quietly, but just loud enough that Marco turned to look at Jayden.
Marco looked troubled by something and Jayden guessed it would probably have something to do with the reason he was singing that song yesterday. Suddenly Marco’s face changed. It was now nonchalant, as though he had locked the other part of him away. It was so good that if Jayden hadn’t been doing it himself for so long he wouldn’t have recognised is as a mask. “Do you want to continue this meeting over coffee?” the nonchalant Marco asked.
Jayden knew he could either start up a massive argument now about Marco holding back or leave it for a bit and just focus on the agenda of their meeting; he picker the latter. “Sure,” Jayden answered.
So the two of them left the flat and headed out to the coffee shop a couple of streets away. They didn’t talk on the way there, nor did they hold hands but somehow this was a very intimate moment between the two of them. They both had a mutual understanding that they were, in some twisted way, friends. For Marco Jayden was the first person who’d ever asked him “why?” and wanted to know the real reason, and for Jayden Marco was the first person who was happy to be with him even when he knew of all of his flaws.
Since finding out the news of the early departure had come about Kurt and Blaine were even more inseparable than ever. Kurt had spent the night at Blaine’s. They had both shared Blaine’s bed comfortably; it was just like it was when they were both young, though, Kurt had checked with Blaine that they wouldn’t be going any further than kissing. Kurt wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to go back to America if he’d made any more emotion connections with Blaine.
So they slept with each wrapped up in the other’s arm; whispering sweet nothings to each other way past midnight. It was perfect, right until they woke up.
Kurt wandered into the kitchen; yawning as he went. He was making coffee when Blaine came up behind him and gave him a sweet kiss on his cheek as he wrapped his arms around Kurt’s tiny waist. Of course it was then that Mercedes came in.
“Oh sorry guys; never had you two down as the type to get it on in a kitchen!” she exclaimed.
Kurt immediately went a very deep shade of scarlet, “We weren’t doing anything! We haven’t done anything!” Kurt squawked; not only deeply embarrassed but also a little upset that his intimate moment with Blaine had been ruined.
“All I know is what I see! I also noticed that you two shared a bed last night!” Mercedes was clearly fighting off giggles at this point, “Shouldn’t you be saving it for the honeymoon.” Mercedes lost the war against her laughter and doubled over, giggling uncontrollably.
“Oh my gosh, Mercedes, I can’t believe you just said that!” Kurt was practically purple by now. Then, noticing Blaine; “Blaine, this is not funny!” Kurt yelled him, freeing himself from Blaine’s arms and swatting him with a tea towel.
“Listen guys, I don’t have a problem with you getting it on, in fact, I fully support it! But Kurt is my best friend and it would be major awkward if I walked in on him and you in the middle of the act. That and I think it’d be pretty hard not the watch!” at this point Mercedes was met by an indignant squeal from Kurt but she moved on regardless. “So I was thinking it might be an idea if Kurt and I swapped living accommodations. I’m sure you both would like the space and privacy of being here; and I will definitely love the five-star hotel that’s free of charge! So what do you think?” she gave a confident smirk.
Kurt just stared shocked. He wasn’t quite sure what to say! Of course he would love to share with Blaine, but he was scared he would become too used to it. New York can be a lonely place especially if you’re used to living with someone always there. He felt if he slept cuddled up to Blaine every night it would only be more painful when they parted for both him and Blaine. Then Mercedes made his decision for him. “Just to let you know, you have no choice in the matter my bags are already packed and I asked Nina to have yours packed for you too. You just have to collect them,” she grinned at the two men’s very surprised expressions and with that left the apartment. She decided it was probably best to get breakfast out today!
“So what have you found out?” Jayden asked, leaning forward slightly in anticipation.
“Well, and I am going to keep it short and simple, as we need to make plans; they dated in high school. They had about as serious relationship as you can get in high school and I’m guessing it was assumed that they would have stayed together after high school. Anyway some dumb closeted jock had a crush on Kurt so he got his equally dumb friends to photo him lip-raping Kurt. They sent the picture to Blaine and Blaine got angry. Kurt was upset that he fell for it and they broke up,” Marco finished, staying true to his word by keeping it brief.
Jayden was shocked, whatever it was that he had expected to have happened it certainly wasn’t this! “So what are we going to do about it?” Jayden heard himself ask.
“Well I’m not sure see I don’t know whether we can do much that wouldn’t scar Kurt for life. I mean if it does work out and he and I do get together I don’t think I can deal with all the trust issues! I’m not much good with all the emotional stuff!” Marco mused.
“Well I think someone needs to just kiss Kurt and send the picture to Blaine. He will do the same thing he did five years ago and the two will split up. Even if they don’t with a bit of luck it will cause enough past tension to re-surface that they have to end it anyway. You can either have Kurt with trust issues or not at all Jayden. We need to do something before they end up married!” that was really how Jayden and Marco worked so well together. One would be strong when the other was weak and vice versa; only problem was they were never sure who was being the strong one and who was the weaker. Was it strong to keep striving for what you wanted or did strength lie in letting someone go for their own good?
“Do you really think we should? I mean I really want to be with Kurt don’t get me wrong but I don’t want to be the same as some bullying jock from high school; would we be the same as him if we did this?!” Marco was facing a dilemma of personal integrity. He’d faced people like that, to become like one was almost unthinkable, yet he really did love Kurt. So that made it right. Right? Right. Anyway he was sure what that jock felt was only lust. Marco wanted Kurt to be happy, he was better than that! But would Kurt ever be happy with him? Yes, he had to be Marco would give Kurt everything he could ever ask for! Of course they would be happy together!
“We are different,” Jayden stated, backing up Marco’s internal monologues, “we know that they don’t work together. They have broken up before and broke each other’s hearts. They are better off without each other,” Blaine’s better off with me Jayden added in his head.
They both chose to ignore the uncertainty in Jayden’s voice. They wanted to believe they were doing the right thing.
“So shall we get this over with quickly?” Marco asked, he was a man of action and didn’t like waiting around.
“When have you next got a morning or afternoon free?” Jayden inquired, knowing that the increase in performances due to the early trip to New York meant that free time was scarce.
“Next Tuesday. Do you want to do it then?”
“Yes, I think that will suit. Who is going to kiss him?” Jayden asked tentatively, he wasn’t sure whether he had it in him to force a kiss on someone and Blaine would never be with him if he did it.
“I want to do it… I don’t like the idea of anyone… of anyone else touching him. He’s mine even if he doesn’t see that. Anyway I believe that it will change his mind about me. Maybe if I do it right we won’t even have to bother sending the pictures to Blaine,” Marco gave a small smile at the thought of Kurt dumping Blaine in his favour.
They both knew it to be an almost impossibility but neither mentioned it. In fact they didn’t bring up the subject again that day; it made them uncomfortable.