Chapter 8

The two men hugged before Kurt decided he had better go. He wanted to talk this over with Mercedes; Kurt strongly valued his best friend's opinion on pretty much everything. The only thing he would never ask her advice on was fashion, no, Kurt Hummel definitely would never need advice on what to wear or buy…. Unless there was an unexpected meeting with a certain curly haired Blaine involved. Kurt even remembered asking her what kind of smoothie he should get (though it was one of those days where he just couldn't make up his mind about anything!).

Kurt and Blaine broke away from their tight hug; Kurt smiling slightly at Blaine who returned his smile without hesitation.

"I have to go. It's been rather an unexpected turn of events and I need to think things through," Kurt tentatively explained. He didn't really want to leave Blaine but it was unavoidable.

Blaine nodded understandingly before taking Kurt's hand and leading him to the door. Kurt could have found it by himself but he was flattered by Blaine's concern.

At the door there a brief moment of awkwardness; neither was quite sure how to say goodbye. Kurt was pretty sure they were closer than merely uttering the word before leaving, however he was equally as sure that they weren't quite at the stage where they could share a passionate kiss as they had when they were in high school. Eventually Blaine broke the tension by placing a light kiss on the top of Kurt's head, taking advantage of the door step which had given him a few inches on the countertenor. Kurt took Blaine's hands and looked into Blaine's eyes. He held his gaze for a few moments before relinquishing both hands and the steady gaze. There was no need for anything more to be said and Kurt left without a backward glance.

Kurt felt a great improvement on his mood since that morning as he made his way through the streets of London. He was practically skipping by the time he reached his hotel. He gave Nina, the receptionist a quick wave as he walked by. She was shocked by his still slightly swollen face from the attack but pleased with his apparent happiness. She liked Kurt he was always nice to her unlike some of the more stuck up clients the hotel had.

Kurt checked his bedside clock as he went into his hotel room. It was late afternoon; perfect time for calling Mercedes. Kurt grabbed his mobile and after a quick scan through his contacts, his heart leaping slightly at the sight of Blaine's contact, he rang her up.

Kurt put the call on speaker phone so he could change out of his jacket which was slightly damp from his earlier tears.

"Hey Kurt! How you doing?" a cheerful, familiar voice came through the phone.

"Hey 'Cedes! I'm actually feeling pretty good, thanks!"

"That's great. I take it you sorted things out with Blaine?"

"Yeah I actually wanted to speak to you about that. See me and Blaine made a sort of deal and I want your opinion on it." Kurt's voice was slightly more careful now. He wanted his best friend's approval of what he had just done, or at least he wanted her to not be angry with him if what he had done was wrong.

"Well, I'm glad you seem happy, so it can't be too bad but my opinion may change. Tell me everything!" she commanded him in her you-answer-right-or-I-come-all-the-way-to-London-to-make-you-suffer-for-it voice.

Kurt gave a light sigh before telling Mercedes everything that had happened. He told her right from the time he had gone to Blaine's flat and heard him playing up until the present time. She didn't interrupt him, as usual; she just gave a murmur by way of approval at various times. She'd never criticize him mid-story; that always came up at the end.

When Kurt finished there was a pause for a few second before he could take it any more: "Did I do the right thing, 'Cedes? I just want to be happy but I don't want to cause anyone else unhappiness in the process."

"Listen Kurt, I'm not exactly Blaine's biggest fan. But even I have to admit he does make you happy and I think you do need this right now. But seriously he even makes you whimper, you tell me and I will come to London to personally shave his head."

Kurt laughed; Mercedes really was a great friend to have but he'd hate to get on the wrong side of her.

"Thanks 'Cedes! I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Sure thing Kurt! Hope you performance goes well tonight!"

Kurt hung up before grabbing his prepared stage bag and heading down stairs to the lobby. As he hit the second flight of stairs he felt his phone vibrate. Kurt ducked into a corner to check his phone without getting into the way of passers-by.

From: Blaine

Hi! It's me! Just to let you know I plan to take this whole boyfriend thing deadly seriously… prepare for the romance of your life! Oh and good luck tonight, tell Trixie she's a slag from me, ok?

Blaine x

Kurt giggled at the text it was so…. Blaine! It was refreshing to see that after all this time he was still forever putting "It's me" on all his texts. Kurt remembered how he had laughed about it once before telling him how most phones have caller ID now and if they didn't "It's me" hardly tells them much about the mysterious person texting them. Blaine had replied with a laugh and pointed out that since he was the only person who did it people would now recognise it as him.

Kurt sent a quick reply back.

To: Blaine

Hi! It's also me! I am fully prepared! I would tell her but she would hunt you down with a steak knife and then I would have nobody to laugh at about their curly hair!

Kurt xx

Kurt then switched his phone off. He didn't want any disruptions now. He had to focus on his part.

Kurt walked through reception, giving a wave to Nina on the way and receiving a "Good luck!" in return. Normally Kurt would walk to the theatre from his hotel but today he was running late so he hailed a black cab. In the car Kurt spent the whole journey resisting the urge to check his messages, he needed to focus!

Upon arrival Kurt went straight into make-up, he was always the first in make-up as not only did he have to have his entire face and most of his arms coloured green, but also he had to look like a girl. All in all it took a considerable amount of effort. Unfortunately it didn't stay as just him in the room as there was building work going on in the dressing rooms so most of them were sectioned off. As a consequence smaller quantities of larger rooms were used and more than one person used each.

About twenty minutes in and a green face and arm later, Trixie arrived. She was always second into make-up. Kurt could always judge how many people in the audience she wanted to impress by how green he was when she arrived. Today must be a big night because he still had a whole arm still to be done.

Nothing was said as she entered; they had given up the forced polite greeting ages ago. She just flounced into her seat without a second glance to Kurt or his make-up artist. Things continued as they had been going before but as usual the atmosphere took a more uncomfortable turn. Both Trixie and Kurt were mentally preparing for the forced friendship they would have to act out once on stage. The director refused to get involved in the feud between Kurt and Trixie, well Kurt and the rest of the cast; he said he didn't care what went on behind the scenes as long as they played their parts right and if they couldn't they'd both be cut.

"Things get on alright with lover-boy?" Trixie's voice cut across the room like a sharp knife through butter.

Kurt didn't really want to make her jealous, so he didn't tell her that things were going fine. Putting any more strain on their relationship was a bad idea by anyone's standards so instead he decided it would be a good idea to lie instead and let her think that things hadn't worked out, well not lie exactly just lead her to think things that were not necessarily correct.

"No offense, Trixie, but I'd really rather not talk about it."

This seemed to please Trixie so Kurt took it that his plan had worked. "Oh, what a shame! Poor Kurtsie can't hold down a man!"

Kurt ground his teeth, his make-up artist made a quick excuse to leave the room; unwilling to get caught up in the drama.

Trixie used this to her advantage and made her way over to Kurt. She put her face unbearably close to his. He could feel her breath on his face.

"Now you know how it feels." She whispered before stalking back off to her mirror.

Normally this would have pissed Kurt off quite a lot, but it was hard not to see the funny side when he spotted Trixie suddenly jump at her reflection and grab a bottle of make-up remover to get rid of the green patches which littered her face.

Blaine was in town, he could get any tickets for tonight's performance much to his dismay, but not surprise; her remembered from before how little there was in the way of tickets. So he decided he was going to do the next best thing. He was going to get Kurt some flowers; he would ask someone to put them in his dressing room after the show. He was determined to be the perfect boyfriend; he was determined to make Kurt look at him the way he used to when they were in high school.

The performance went well, there was the usual well-masked tension in all the scenes Kurt had with Trixie and the usual rapturous applause at the end of the show. Kurt smiled at the audience in front of him, for once he was faking the smile he gave them; he felt happy and wanted to smile.

After the final encore Trixie was keen to get back to the dressing room she shared with Kurt; she wanted to see how many bouquets of flowers she had received. Trixie would often get a bouquet; it was never a good idea to spend time with her after the show if she hadn't.

After a final bow Kurt followed after only to hear and anguished scream as he neared the dressing room. That night was really one of those nights where he wished she had gotten flowers, he really was not in the mood for her tantrums, however, it appeared fate was being a bit of a bitch that night as Trixie hadn't got so much as a petal.

As Kurt opened the door an enraged Trixie screamed at him.

"How dare you! You slag! You stole my flowers! You don't get flowers I do!"

Kurt took an involuntary step back, this was a surprise. Kurt surveyed the room. Apart from a couple of make-up bottles rolling on the floor it seemed to be in pretty good shape, which was practically a miracle given the death-glare he was on the receiving end of. Kurt looked at his dressing table there were no flowers there.

"Hear are your stupid flowers, fag!" Trixie was brandishing what probably had been a beautiful bouquet, it now looked fairly bashed and out of shape; though the flowers themselves were still pretty. "Why would anyone get you flowers? You're nothing special!"

"Just give me the flowers Trixie; I'll go do my make-up at my hotel." Kurt tried to appease Trixie by offering her opportunity to have him out of her hair.

"Fine!" she yelled. She ripped of the heads of most of the flowers, throwing fistfuls of petals at Kurt.

"They're from Blaine, he probably felt sorry for you! You have no fans!" and with that Trixie dropped the flowers and walked up to Kurt. "And I'm sick of you hogging the limelight!"

Kurt felt a sharp slap against his cheek. It hurt like hell! He shut his eyes and rubbed his cheek where Trixie's hand had come into contact with his skin. When he looked up she had stormed out.

Blaine smiled as he thought about Kurt getting his flowers; he hoped Kurt would like them. Blaine grabbed his phone, he wanted to meet up again with Kurt, but he wasn't sure when. He love to meet up tonight but Kurt was probably tired, maybe tomorrow morning for coffee. Yeah, coffee was a good idea, Kurt had always loved coffee.

To: Kurt

Hi! It's me! Did you get my flowers? I thought you deserved something nice after the past few days! Would you like to meet up for coffee tomorrow morning?

Blaine xxx

Blaine leaned back on the sofa with a satisfied smile. He could wait to see Kurt tomorrow.

Kurt got back to his hotel flustered. He had decided to remove the make-up in his and Trixie's dressing room but about half way through he knew he couldn't stay there any longer, there were petals everywhere and they were making him feel sad.

Kurt got a few strange looks on the way back to his hotel. He had gone out with green make-up before and people had recognised him so didn't bother to ask why. He had, of course gone out without any green, and nobody recognised him but he blended in (well, apart from the fact that he was a lot better dressed than your average person) now, however, he was half and half, nobody recognised him but he didn't blend in either. He stuck out like a sore thumb.

A feeling of safety washed over him when he got back to his hotel.

"Hey! Is it the latest trend to go out half painted green?" Nina called, with a wink at Kurt.

"Yeah, all the celebs are doing it! You should try it!" he called back. She couldn't beat him in their on-going war of wits that easily.

When he got to his room Kurt realised he was holding the battered bunch of flowers. He must have picked them up instinctively. He checked the tag:

To Kurt

I know you will have been great tonight! Don't let people get you down! They are just jealous of your awesomeness!

I love you

Blaine

Xxxx

Kurt couldn't help the goofy grin that his face decided to adopt of its own accord. It made his face hurt where Trixie had slapped him.

With a reluctant sigh Kurt called Mercedes for the second time that day; he just needed to hear a voice who could help him but who couldn't end up in a fight with Trixie. Mercedes couldn't fight Trixie from America, so she was the perfect candidate.

"Hey Kurt! This is unusual for you, two calls in one day! I must be doing something right!"

"Mercedes! Hey! Listen, Trixie slapped me!" Kurt really couldn't think of a way to say it well so why not just go ahead and say it badly. He was too tired to think of an alternative.

"Right!" Mercedes yelled, Oh God! Kurt thought to himself something seems to have snapped inside her! "That's it white boy! You clearly can't handle this on your own! I'm coming to London on the next flight! It's about time I came over to cut a bitch!"