Rumors are swirling this week about tension on the set of the new musical pilot filming in Manhattan. Sources close to the show tell me that the new cast isn't meshing as well as the show's creators were hoping for and that a few of the no-name members of the ensemble have been making on-set demands that are way above their pay grade. Reports are that one newbie cast member in particular is clashing with star Kurt Hummel, resulting in filming delays and tension behind-the-scenes.

In a choice between their Oscar and Tony winning star and an actress playing her first on-camera role, who do you think the producers will go with? If things don't change soon, it's possible the difficult diva might be on her way out. - RumorsAbound, April 20th, 2021.

=^..^=

April

Kurt slammed the front door, irrational satisfaction thrumming through his veins at the sharp noise, even though the cause of his current foul temper wasn't anywhere in the vicinity. Maybe she couldn't hear the slam, but if there was any justice in the universe she'd just gotten a shiver that told her someone was cursing her name. For a second, he considered opening and slamming the door again, just in case her old teenage claims of being a little bit psychic were true, but decided it was a little too childish.

Instead, he dropped his keys into the bowl on the entryway table and muttered under his breath as he spun his lightweight scarf off his neck and draped it over a hook on the wall. The scent of something delicious tickled his nose and his stomach rumbled in response, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since he'd managed to grab a quick sandwich at the craft services table seven hours earlier.

He made his way to the kitchen and felt the tension start to drain out of him at the sight of Blaine standing over the stove, his back to Kurt with his hips swaying and his head bobbing back-and-forth to the loud music coming from his tablet on the counter. As if sensing that Kurt was there, he turned around holding a large wooden spoon and danced over to Kurt, holding the spoon up for him to taste.

"Hmm…needs just a pinch of salt," Kurt said as he licked a drop of sauce from his lips. "You're making your Bolognese sauce. My favorite. You're amazing, did you know that? Maybe you're the one that's psychic."

"Huh?" Blaine asked with a confused look, but Kurt just shook his head and waved his hand. "I thought we should celebrate the final filming day of your first episode." He walked back to the stove and added the salt that Kurt had recommended, tasting it once more and humming in satisfaction. "That show had better be good. I've hardly seen you these past two weeks," he teased as he dumped the pasta into a colander to drain.

Kurt slouched back against the counter and grimaced. "Remind me again why I decided to do this show?"

"Because it combines everything you love and you're going to be great in it." Blaine grabbed two plates from the cupboard and then reached for glasses from a high shelf, the edge of his shirt riding up just enough to expose a sliver of skin at his waist. "It'll get better. You said the pilot was going to take longer to shoot than a normal episode, right?"

"Yeah, and I won't be in the regular episodes as much," Kurt replied, still distracted by the glimpse of skin. "They wanted me in the first episode a lot, but the screen time will even out for everyone as we get into the storylines."

Blaine finished up dishing out the food and shooed Kurt towards the table. "Then this was the worst."

"You don't know the half of it." Kurt stuffed his mouth full of pasta, feeling well on the way to an evening of eating his feelings.

"Rachel again?"

"God, I haven't seen her act this much a diva since high school. It's a miracle she made it through the day without someone putting itching powder in her make-up or dropping a lighting rig on her."

"That bad?"

"She started off the day by complaining that her trailer was getting too much sun and was too hot, forcing them to move it, which put Stacey's trailer in the corner, which you know didn't go over well. Then she refused to eat what craft services had provided for breakfast and demanded that they go get her vegan options. She hasn't been vegan since our senior year of high school!"

Kurt could hear his voice rising with each word, so he took a calming breath. "She told the director she wasn't happy with her make-up or costume and delayed filming by half an hour while she had her hair re-done and once she was finally ready she stopped things again so that she could make 'suggestions' for more 'realistic' dialog for her character. Then—and this is when I started having fantasies about locking her inside the bathroom of her too warm trailer—during the final scene today, which was our duet on location near the Plaza Hotel, she had the nerve to tell me that I wasn't lip-syncing correctly and proceeded to give me tips on that and my dancing. It's a good thing there were lots of witnesses around, because I was incredibly close to pushing her into the fountain after one of the takes."

Blaine hummed sympathetically. "Have you tried talking to her to figure out why she's acting that way?"

"Oh, I know why she's doing it," Kurt snorted. "She doesn't think she got the part in the show on her own merits. She won't believe me when I tell her I had absolutely nothing to do with it, that the casting director discovered her all on his own. I didn't even know they were considering her until she was already hired, but she's convinced she only got the job because she's my friend and that everyone on set knows it. She's feeling insecure, so instead of being quiet and trying to prove herself through hard work like a normal person would she's overcompensating by making a spectacle of herself."

"She told you all that?"

"She didn't need to. I've seen this before. Her junior year at NYADA she tried out for Roxie in Chicago, but didn't get cast. A month into rehearsals, the original actress got a part in a movie and quit school. The director skipped over everyone already in the cast and called Rachel in to take over. Unfortunately, she happened to be dating the guy playing Billy Flynn at the time and he'd told the director he'd quit unless Rachel got the part. She was great and probably would have gotten it anyway, but his threat just tainted the whole thing. She acted the same way then that she is now. It's number six on my list of eight different Rachel diva modes."

"If you know what's going on, can't you talk to her about it?"

"I've tried 'till I'm blue in the face, she'd just not ready to let it go yet. If she isn't careful she's going to diva herself right out of a job. The only thing saving her is that she's amazing in the role and the camera loves her. She's going to be a star, if she doesn't blow it." Kurt looked down at his empty plate and debated if he wanted seconds or was ready to skip right to eating half his body weight in sugar. "Enough about demon Rachel. How was your day?"

Blaine's face lit up and he began to wiggle in his chair like an excited toddler. "I had a meeting with the headmistress today. She told me that they're really pleased with my work and they want to give me the option of making the move to kindergarten permanent. I guess the teacher I'm filling in for is going to retire. I just need to give them my decision by the middle of next month."

"I knew it!" Kurt exclaimed, all thoughts of the leftover chocolate cake on the counter forgotten. "You're so amazing with those kids that they'd be fools to not try and keep you there. Do you know what you want to do?"

"I don't know." Blaine tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. "As long as I've wanted to be a teacher I've always pictured myself teaching older kids, helping them take those last final steps to being adults. The teachers that had the biggest influence on who I am today, who really made a difference in my life, were all ones I had in high school. I love the idea that I could be that for some kid."

"But…"

The corners of Blaine's mouth tilted up in a smile he couldn't contain. "But, I love those little kids so much. They're just emotion and curiosity and enthusiasm and they've made me rediscover those things in myself. With them I can be silly and goofy in ways I never could before."

Kurt laughed, because silly Blaine was turning out to be one of his favorite kinds of Blaine. "Yeah, I don't imagine conga lines and monkey bar routines would go over well with the cynical teenage set."

"No, not at all. And I can still have an impact on their lives. I'll just be helping to set them off on the right path instead of taking them the final steps."

"So, kindergarten?"

"Yeah, kindergarten."

=^..^=

"Okay, have we got everyone?" Blaine glanced around at the chaperones who had volunteered for the day's outing and nodded in satisfaction when they indicated all the kids were present and accounted for. "Great. Now, everyone remembers the theater rules, right?" A sea of small heads bobbed up and down in agreement. "Alright, then let's go find our seats."

Blaine opened the door and led the way into the theater towards the aisle where he knew their seats were located. Though the students at Carlisle were almost exclusively from privileged families, there was still a good percentage of the kindergarteners who hadn't yet been to see a Broadway show and he could see them craning their heads as they looked around the giant gilded lobby of the theater.

The trip to see Toy Story had been planned for several months, ever since Kurt had proposed that the company put on a special Tuesday matinee and donate the tickets to local schools. The program was mainly for public schools, but Kurt had made sure some seats were set aside for Blaine's students.

Their seats were towards the front of the orchestra section and Blaine stood to the side when he reached them. The kids took their seats, jostling about as they argued in loud whispers about who got to sit next to who. The parents and one nanny who had volunteered as chaperones tried to help, but eventually gave up, leaving it up to the kids to straighten things out for themselves.

As the curtain time of the show approached, Blaine coordinated trips to the bathroom, preempted a tantrum over a torn program by quickly replacing it with a new copy, and made sure that kids who wanted them got booster cushions.

The auditorium was full of children mostly under the age of 12, who were all practically vibrating with excitement. Though there weren't a ton of shows on Broadway at the moment that would interest young kids, Blaine hoped that the donated Toy Story performance would inspire other theater companies to do the same. Seeing a show of that caliber was probably going to do a lot to inspire interest in participating in the performing arts.

Finally, the lights began to dim and the orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture. The show, which was a combination of plots from both the first and second Toy Story movies, was action packed from the very beginning, grabbing everyone's attention. Blaine had been expecting that some of the kids would get antsy or bored at some point, but every time he looked around they all seemed absorbed in the actors on the stage. He did have to quietly shush a few of the kids when they started to sing along loudly with the songs, but all-in-all it went great.

As always, Blaine got a little distracted whenever Kurt was on the stage, which was almost every scene. He'd seen the show so many times that he could probably step in and play any of the roles, but it never got old for him. From curtain up to final curtain call he was captivated (though he did have to fight the urge to stand up when the crowd was giving Kurt his standing ovation and yell out "And he's going home with me!).

The show passed quickly and as soon as it was over, Blaine led the kids to the backstage door where just his students got the special treat of meeting the cast backstage. With the actors who played Buzz Lightyear and Andy keeping the kids occupied, Blaine let Kurt pull him into his dressing room as he finished taking his make-up off.

"How did they like it? They didn't hate it, did they? Tell me they didn't hate it," Kurt asked anxiously as he wiped a warm washcloth over his face.

"Of course not! They loved it. You should have seen their faces when Bullseye appeared for the first time. I thought their eyes were going to pop out of their heads." Blaine grabbed Woody's hat up off the table and plopped it on his head, pushing it up in front with one finger. "And I already know that half my class is going to demand lassoing lessons starting tomorrow. You might have to teach me some tricks."

Kurt finished up at the mirror and started to put his costume away so that it would be ready for the evening performance. He plucked the hat off of Blaine's head and kissed his nose before placing the hat on the hook where it belonged. "I don't think I've been so nervous for a show since opening night. I mean, I know there are kids in the audience every night, but it's a lot of pressure to be performing for a packed house of just your target demo."

"Well, your target demo loved you." Blaine wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist and pulled him in for a long kiss. "And so do I."

Kurt's face was flushed from exertion from the show and the kiss. He leaned forward, his eyes on Blaine's lips, but Blaine pulled back, nodding his head towards the door. "They're waiting."

"Tease," Kurt pouted.

"I just wanted to give you a reminder of what will be awaiting you at home tonight, so that you don't dawdle at the stage door."

"As if I need a reminder. Here help me with these boxes." Kurt pushed aside a privacy partition to expose two large cardboard boxes filled with gift bags tied with ribbon.

Blaine picked a bag up and tried to peer inside. "What are these?"

Kurt plucked the bag from his hands and replaced it with a box. "Nothing much. Just some fun stuff for the kids."

The bags turned out to be filled with Toy Story swag, from character dolls to gift cards to download the show's music to t-shirts, all paid for personally by Kurt. As the kids oohed and awed over their haul, Blaine came up behind Kurt and stood on his tip toes so that he could set his chin on Kurt's shoulder. "You are amazing. Have I ever told you that?"

He felt Kurt smile against his cheek. "Hmm…maybe once or twice," Kurt said.

As soon as the initial excitement over the goodies had passed, the actors who operated the Bullseye puppet brought him out to demonstrate how they brought him to life. Cecily, one of the girls from Blaine's afternoon class, stepped away from the crowd and came over to stand next to them.

"You're Mr. A's boyfriend," she stated as she looked at Kurt cautiously.

Kurt snuck a quick glance in Blaine's direction. "I am."

Cecily tilted her head and looked him up and down. "But you're also Woody."

Kurt grinned and knelt down to drape a red bandana, like the one his character wore, around her neck. "I am."

"So, which one of you is mamilated?"

Kurt looked up and met Blaine's confused gaze. "What do you mean, Cecily?" Blaine asked.

"My mommy says Kurt Hummel is on her 'mamilated list,' just like Megan Fox is on daddy's."

Blaine went over the sentence several times in his head before her meaning dawned on him. "Do you mean 'laminated list'?" he croaked out. He caught Kurt's still blank expression out of the corner of his eye and whispered "You know, a list of celebrities that you have a free pass to...um…date." He trailed off as Kurt's eyes grew wide.

Cecily nodded impatiently. "That's what I said. Is it your boyfriend that's mamilated or Woody, Mr. A?"

Kurt, the traitor, had turned away from the conversation, his shoulders jerking in silent laughter, leaving Blaine alone to answer. "Well, it's probably not Woody."

"Okay," Cecily said, seemingly satisfied with his answer. Blaine thought he was off the hook until she continued. "Is Kurt on your mamilated list, Mr. A? What is a mamilated list?"

Kurt began to laugh out loud and he ducked behind a scenery flat to hide. Blaine glared after him and turned back to Cecily slowly. "Well, it's kind of a…a list of someone's absolute most favorite famous people that they'd really like to meet in person. And since I already know Kurt he can't be on my list."

Cecily tip toed over to where Kurt was hiding, peeking around the flat to smile at him. "I think the boy who plays Peter on Anchor's Away is on my mamilated list."

Blaine almost choked on his spit. "I think you should just tell people that he's your favorite actor," he said, trying to find a way out of the conversation. "Laminated lists are kind of an adult thing and most kids won't know what it is. Hey, it looks like they're showing off Mr. Potato Head's costume. You should go check that out."

Cecily ran off to see how Mr. Potato Head was able to stick his nose on to different part of his body and Blaine collapsed into a chair. Kurt came out and sat down beside him.

"Well, you were a big help," Blaine moaned.

Kurt sniggered into his hand. "Hey, you're the kid expert around here and I think you handled that brilliantly. I'd probably have made an inappropriate joke that would have gotten us both in trouble."

Just then, one of the stage managers appeared and told everyone that it was time to head towards the lobby for some refreshments. Instead of leading them through the side door she took them out to the stage and gathered everyone together in front of the brightly colored scenery for some photos. Blaine noticed that Kurt made a point of standing right behind Cecily in the photo, probably just to give her mom a thrill. When they were done, the group headed down the stairs and up the aisle to the lobby, where the classes from a few other selected schools were already waiting.

With a warning to the chaperones to carefully watch how much each of the students was taking from the refreshment table, Blaine went to call and make sure the bus was going to be ready to pick them up.

As he walked towards the front doors to get away from the noise of a hundred kids squealing in excitement he passed Kurt, who was signing autographs and posing for photos with several of the adults from the other schools. As always, Kurt was graciously taking their compliments and smiling in picture-after-picture despite the fact that his eyes were probably stinging from the repeated flashes.

It was times like this that Blaine wished he could magically transport in all the people who'd made Kurt's life miserable as a kid. Sure, they'd probably seen him win his Oscar and knew how much of a success he was, but Blaine wanted them to witness up close and in person the impact Kurt had on people and how much they just wanted to be in his presence.

Blaine had returned from making his call and was talking to Tomoko, the actress who played Jessie, (who he'd been a tiny bit irrationally jealous of when he heard she'd be kissing his boyfriend eight times a week, but who was now one of his favorite people in the show), when he saw Kurt and Siobhan talking in a corner. They were looking at each other intently and Siobhan was gesturing emphatically. Blaine felt a shiver run through him. There was no way such a pairing could lead to anything good. Governments had been brought down by less than the combined drama that those two could unleash.

He tried to head in their direction, but kept finding himself stopped along the way to take photos, talk about how great the show had been, and even to re-tie a small kid-sized bow tie. By the time he made his way to the far side of the lobby, Kurt and Siobhan had been joined by several other kids and were talking innocently about what their favorite scene in the show was.

The party was short, just about 30 minutes or so, and soon the kids were getting ready to leave to allow the cast time to rest up before their evening performance. Kurt stood by the door, saying goodbye to everyone as they left, so Blaine sent the kids ahead with the chaperones, waiting until everyone was gone to give him a kiss goodbye.

"See you tonight," he said, their lips still clinging to each other.

"Count on it. And if you're good I might even bring my lasso."