Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kurt reached out blindly, face half-buried in his pillow, and tried in vain to grab at his phone. Giving up rather quickly, he instead reached for another pillow and put it over his head, successfully dulling the noise just enough that he could fall back asleep.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Kurt, turn that alarm off and get out of bed!” his father yelled from somewhere upstairs. “It’s already eleven, kiddo, and you’ve been sleeping all morning.”

He did not move.

“Now!”

Kurt groaned and promptly snuggled further under the warm comforter.

A second later he heard someone – his father, he assumed, as he had blatantly ignored the man twice already, and both Carole and Finn should have already left for work and school – pounding loudly at his bedroom door.

“Don’t make me have to come down there to shut that off, Kurt,” Burt warned, his voice slightly muffled through the door.

Kurt grumbled something unintelligible into his pillow before mentally conceding defeat; he knew his father well enough to know that it was not an idle threat.

Beep. Beep. Bee–

He rolled over on the bed and slammed his hand down on top of the bedside table, fingers searching until they finally wrapped around his still-beeping iPhone. Kurt fumbled with the phone for a few seconds, his numerous attempts at unlocking it unsuccessful in his half-asleep state, and finally managed to turn the alarm off after a good minute or so.

Sighing loudly, Kurt reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up even further than it probably already was. He really, really wanted to go back to sleep, but he knew that wasn’t an option; chances were high that if he did not make an appearance upstairs within the next five minutes or so, his father would likely find a way to break his door down to make him.

It took a few fumbled attempts but, eventually, Kurt managed to drag himself out of bed. Shrugging on his dark-blue robe, he yawned loudly as he made his way upstairs to the kitchen.

“Morning dad,” Kurt mumbled by way of greeting as he passed through the living room.

Burt grunted in response, his eyes glued to the television.

Kurt paused momentarily on his quest to the coffee pot, brow furrowing slightly as he heard a few of the lines being spoken on the screen. He turned to face the TV, curious to see if his father was watching what he thought it might be.

He was.

“Are you watching a Lifetime movie?” Kurt asked, amused.

“No!” Burt said defensively, turning an interesting shade of red. He immediately grabbed the remote and fumbled with it, trying desperately to change the channel. “I was just channel surfing.”

“Uh huh,” Kurt said, unconvinced.

“I was,” Burt swore. “I was looking for ESPN and I just happened to stop here, accidentally, as you came upstairs.”

Kurt bit back a grin. “Of course, dad.”

His father scowled at him. “Oh, just go and make some coffee! I’m going to put some football on.”

He probably would have said something else if it had been later in the day, because opportunities to tease his father about his terribly-hidden love for Lifetime movies were few and far between, but the mention of caffeine quickly caught his attention.

Kurt figured that he could tease his father more after he had made some coffee.

***

It was almost two in the afternoon by the time that Kurt finished his breakfast – lunch? – and spent some quality time with his dad.

After assuring his father that, yes, he would leave his room again for dinner that evening to spend a few hours with him and Carole (“I’m just saying that it doesn’t seem healthy to spend all of your free time downstairs on your laptop,” Burt had argued, somewhat awkwardly. “I know you have…friends…online, but you have people here, too, kiddo.”), Kurt poured himself another mug of hot coffee and ventured back downstairs to his room.

A few seconds later he was spread out haphazardly across his bed, feet kicking lazily in the air as he waited impatiently for his laptop to wake from sleep mode. Once his computer was up and running smoothly, he opened Chrome and clicked on the dashboard tab situated at the far-left of his screen.

As soon as his dashboard loaded, Kurt noticed that he had five new messages. He clicked on the inbox icon and took a long sip of his coffee while he waited for the new page to load.

The first message was from a Sherlock-only blog, asking Kurt to follow and share their blog with his followers. Kurt rolled his eyes, unimpressed by the obvious attempt to solicit followers; and, honestly, did no one read his FAQ? He had made it explicitly clear in there that he would ignore all messages that asked him to follow, because he thought it was clingy and annoying.

He immediately deleted the message and glanced at the next two, both of which were from Harmony.

gerbertheunitard asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 06:16
Oh, wait, ignore that last ask! Totally sent it before I checked my messages :"> Anyway, I got a letter from NYADA in the mail yesterday!!!!! I don't want to open it alone, though. Are you free at all this weekend?

gerbertheunitard asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 06:09
JFC. WHERE ARE YOU? WAS THE AVENGERS SO GOOD THAT YOU DIED AT THE THEATER LAST NIGHT FROM AN AWESOME OVERLOAD? YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR IGNORING ME, HUMMEL.

Kurt rolled his eyes at her dramatics, but smiled slightly nonetheless. He really, really hoped that Harmony got in; as annoying and borderline-insane as she could be at times, she was ridiculously talented and deserved it.

He quickly hit reply on her second message and typed out a short answer.

sherlarked asked gerbertheunitard:
2012-05-04 13:56
I don't have any plans this weekend. Want to meet at the Lima Bean tomorrow? I can't go today because I'm "sick" and my dad said that if I skipped classes today, I had to stay in the house to make it look realistic :/

He hit 'answer privately' and glanced down at the last two messages on his dash, both of which were from Blaine.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 04:24
i am going to assume that your lack of response is because you went to bed and not because i offended you or something. so i'll catch you tomorrow! hopefully...i mean, unless i was actually really annoying or something? ;lsdhgkshsa god i am so awkward i'm just gonna shut up now lol.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 04:14
it's a doctor who reference!!!! well, sort of, i guess. it's actually a reference to a catherine tate skit about doctor who, but it still counts!

Kurt chuckled slightly as he finished reading the two messages. Blaine was definitely awkward, but it was more in a cute and adorable way than an annoying one. He took another sip of his coffee, grimacing slightly because it had just hit that icky lukewarm temperature that he absolutely hated, and quickly typed out a reply.

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 13:58
You aren't annoying. I would have ignored your messages if you were, Blaine. And that's cool, I guess. I've never seen any Doctor Who, though, so I don't really get it...

It took all of five minutes for a new message to appear in his inbox.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 14:03
whaT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANY DOCTOR WHO?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! :O how do you even exist. i just can't even gldshskjlhg;S;DSKJH

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 14:03
Wow, that was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. I don't know, it just never looked interesting, I guess? I mean, it's a show about an old alien guy who periodically gets a new body and trolls around the universe with a different attractive woman every season. What the hell is so appealing about it?

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 14:04
…dude. no. just, no. YOU ARE MiSSING THE POINT ENTIRELY.

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 14:05
And you apparently have forgotten where your caps key is. :|

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 14:05
ALSO, IT'S NOT NECESSARILY A DIFFERENT WOMAN EVERY SEASON!!! HE TRAVELED WITH ROSE FOR, LIKE, TWO SEASONS. THEIR LOVE IS ETERNAL. AND AMY, TOO. ALSO, I DIDN'T FORGET WHERE MY CAPS KEY IS. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF DOCTOR WHO FEELINGS, OKAY.

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 14:08
I just don't get why it's so popular. That's all I'm saying.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 14:12
omg i don't know if we can be friends. you clearly have terrible taste in television. ;lgdshaldshg this is so heartbreaking to me. i thought we had so much potential!! :'(

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 14:16
Oh my god. Please tell me you're joking.

Kurt waited about five minutes, but Blaine did not reply to his message. Suddenly annoyed, he huffed angrily and switched tabs, deciding that it was time to scroll through his dash for awhile.

It was nearly an hour later when he finally noticed that he had a new message in his inbox.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 15:11
sorry i took so long to reply! i hit my ask limit for the hour. :( and, yeah I am, lol. I wouldn’t stop talking to you over this, even though your taste in television is apparently ATROCIOUS because omg who the hell doesn’t like doctor who?!!

Kurt let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding, glad to know that his new friendship wasn’t going to end over something as silly as a TV show.

It’s okay, he typed quickly, fingers dancing across the keyboard. And I never said that I didn't like it! I just said that it didn't look very interesting and that I had never *seen* it before! Stop putting words into my mouth!

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 15:18
fine, fine. i'm still judging you, though. i especially can't understand why you won't watch doctor who when you've seen sherlock. moffat works on doctor who, man!

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 15:21
Really? I really hadn't paid attention. Well, then, what do you think of Sherlock? It's my favorite show, you know.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 15:25
...um. i haven't actually seen sherlock yet.

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 15:29
WHAT. REALLY? AND YOU JUST MADE FUN OF ME FOR NOT SEEING DOCTOR WHO?

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 15:34
that's different! doctor who is a classic!

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 15:41
You are such a hypocrite, Blaine!

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 15:47
how rude :( and i'm not! sherlock has like six episodes and each season is like fifty years apart. why would i get emotionally invested in a show that probably won't get a new season until i'm seventy?

sherlarked asked didyouparkthetardisonameter:
2012-05-04 15:49
…that's low, man, that's low. You don't mess with Sherlockians about our hiatuses.

didyouparkthetardisonameter asked sherlarked:
2012-05-04 15:50
okay, okay. that was low, i'll admit. i won't mention your precious hiatuses again. i promise. hey, btw i think i'm about to hit my ask limit again. just a heads up in case i stop responding.

Kurt studied the message he had just received for a moment, fingers hesitating over the blank reply box. He wanted to keep chatting with Blaine, because he was enjoying himself, but he barely knew the other boy; for all Kurt knew, Blaine could really be a creepy fifty-year-old man, or a seventy-year-old woman, or an alien.

Well, okay. Probably not that last one, but the point remained that Kurt didn't actually know him. He had only been speaking with Blaine for less than a day, and while he seemed nice and all, Kurt didn’t trust that easily, or quickly, these days.

So while he wasn't really sure if he was ready to give him his Skype name, he supposed that he could give Blaine his AIM name. They could keep chatting without hour-long pauses, and it would be less invasive and personal than video chatting.

Do you have AIM? he typed. Because if you do, we could keep chatting. My username is votestarkforpresident. Message me if you're around?

He sent the message and then quickly checked to make sure he had AIM open. After all, it would be absolutely pointless for Blaine to try and message him if he wasn't even signed on.

About five minutes passed before AIM sent him a notification stating that hiddlestonismyforeverking wanted to message him. Kurt raised an eyebrow at the username and clicked accept.

hiddlestonismyforeverking: hi! i'm glad you gave me your AIM name because tumblr ask limits suck hardcore.
votestarkforpresident: no problem. i like your username.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: thank you! tom hiddleston is flawless, my friend. absolutely flawless. your username is sort of unfortunate, though. i'm sure you meant to make it "votecaptainamericaforpresident"
votestarkforpresident: hardly, blaine. are we really going to have this argument again?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: what argument?! there is nothing to argue because captain america is WAY better than iron man. besides, clearly captain AMERICA should be PRESIDENT of america.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: duh
votestarkforpresident: i have no words for your fail logic.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: that would be because my logic is PERFECT
hiddlestonismyforeverking: oh wow, i wish i could post an eagle picture in here. this would be the perfect opportunity for an awesome freedom joke.

Kurt paused for a moment at that before typing out a new message.

votestarkforpresident: you don't have to answer this if you don't want, but are you an american? i don't know much about you, and your blog info doesn't say where you're from, so i was just curious.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: i am! are you?
votestarkforpresident: i am, too. that's cool. most of my close tumblr friends are in europe somewhere. well, except for harmony, but she's a sometimes-unfortunate exception.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: sometimes-unfortunate?
votestarkforpresident: you have to meet her in person to understand. trust me. she's crazy.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: you know her in person? that's cool! i've never met any of my tumblr friends before.
votestarkforpresident: it was totally accidental, trust me. she saw my phone screen and recognized my url. i've never been so confused and afraid before, lol.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: nice
hiddlestonismyforeverking: hey, so, i just realized that i gave you my name but you never told me yours
hiddlestonismyforeverking: all your blog info has is ‘k’

Kurt stared stupidly at the screen for a moment before realizing that Blaine was right, and he hadn’t given the other boy his name. He was in the middle of typing out the sentence ‘My name is Kurt’ when he suddenly stopped, a devious smile slowly spreading across his face. He quickly erased the text and wrote something different before hitting send.

votestarkforpresident: maybe that’s because i didn’t want to give you my name. how do i know you aren’t a creepy stalker or something?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: HOW IS THAT EVEN FAIR. I GAVE YOU MY NAME!
votestarkforpresident: i never asked you to, though!
hiddlestonismyforeverking: >:(
hiddlestonismyforeverking: i assume that your name starts with a ‘k’, at least?
votestarkforpresident: yes.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: how about we make a deal, then. if i can guess your name, you have to tell me if i’m right.
votestarkforpresident: all right, deal.

A sudden buzzing noise caught Kurt by surprise, and he turned his attention away from his laptop to see his phone lighting up on the bedside table.

votestarkforpresident: brb. someone is calling me.

Once the away message to Blaine was sent, Kurt leaned across the bed and grabbed his phone, sighing as he caught sight of Harmony’s name flashing across the screen. He quickly hit answer and put the phone up to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Good to know that you aren’t dead,” Harmony replied, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm. “How was the movie?”

Kurt curled up next to the headboard and put his phone on his left shoulder, pinning it there with his head, so that he could free up both of his hands.

“It was amazing,” he replied, “we should go see it tomorrow after we go to the Lima Bean.”

“Sure,” agreed Harmony easily. “Well, assuming that I don’t get rejected and spend the rest of the day trying to drown myself in tears and coffee.”

Kurt rolled his eyes.

“They would be absolutely insane to reject you,” he said earnestly. “Besides, Harmony, you’re applying a full year early. So if you don’t get accepted right now, you still have your entire senior year to reapply. Don’t panic.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Kurt,” Harmony replied. “You already know where you’ll be going to college.”

That was true. Although Kurt had briefly considered applying to NYADA himself in the early fall, he had eventually decided against it. Numerous factors, including his father’s questionable health, had made him wary about moving so far away for school. After all, New York City was over ten hours away by car, and plane rides were expensive.

So he had ruled New York out, reminding himself that it would still be there when he finished college, and that he could always move there later. That decision made, Kurt had decided to look at schools in a five-hour or less radius from Lima. Although it had limited his options severly, there were still some very good schools that fell into that radius.

After about two months of searching, debating the pros and cons of each location, and scrutinizing the programs of study available at each school, Kurt had finally applied to seven different schools.

He had been accepted to four of them.

In the end, he had chosen to attend Northwestern University and join their Music Education program. Northwestern was only about a half-hour away from Chicago, and was just under five hours away from Lima.

Two years ago, music education would have been the absolute last thing Kurt would have considered for a career, because he had been so intent on being on Broadway, but things had changed a lot in the past two years, and now it was almost all he could think about.

Besides, he could still try his hand at Broadway, and if that failed he would have a sure-fire backup plan.

“That’s true,” he replied. “But I also graduate high school in a few weeks, so college is a bit closer for me than for you. Like I said, you still have another year before you graduate. That’s plenty of time to reapply or figure out a backup plan.”

Harmony sighed loudly. “I suppo – what the hell is that beeping noise, Kurt?”

“Sorry,” Kurt replied. “I was chatting with someone and left the sound on my computer. They’re probably messaging me.”

“Really?” Harmony replied, sounding as though her interest had been peaked. “Who is it?”

“Just someone from Tumblr,” he replied. “We mutually followed each other this morning and have been chatting.”

Harmony hummed. “What’s their URL?”

“Didyouparkthetardisonameter.”

“Oh, that’s clever!” Harmony replied cheerfully. “I like them already.”

Kurt scowled, still not completely over the Doctor Who/Sherlock discussion from earlier that day.

“Anyway,” Harmony said suddenly, “I have to go. Lima Bean at noon?”

“Make it one and I’m in,” Kurt countered.

“Done,” Harmony agreed, “and the movie afterwards, assuming that my life isn’t over. See you tomorrow!”

Kurt hung up and set his phone back on the bedside table. He turned his attention back to his laptop and gaped slightly at what greeted him.

hiddlestonismyforeverking: kevin?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kyle?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kristopher?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: ken?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: keyonce?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kal-el?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kermit?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: karlos?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kuigi?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kario?
hiddlestonismyforeverking: kraig?

Kurt rolled his eyes.

votestarkforpresident: half of those names aren’t even real! and the other half are real names that you stuck a ‘k’ onto!
hiddlestonismyforeverking: no need to get so angry, kred.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: ?
votestarkforpresident: no to all of those. they are TERRIBLE.
hiddlestonismyforeverking: whatever, karry. i’ll figure your name out soon!

Kurt sighed. It was going to be a long night.

***

The next afternoon found Kurt standing impatiently in line at the Lima Bean, waiting for his best friend to show up. Harmony had still not arrived by the time that Kurt made it to the front of the line, so he ordered both of their usual drinks, and found a seat towards the back of the room to wait for her.

His phone dinged, indicating that he had a new IM message. He pulled his phone out and opened the IM app, an amused smile spreading across his face as he saw who it was from.

hiddlestonismyforeverking: kentucky?
votestarkforpresident: omg ew, no. who the hell would name their kid that?!

He slid his phone back into his pocket just as Harmony rushed through the main doors, and envelope clutched tightly against her chest. She glanced frantically around the room before catching sight of Kurt. At the sight of her best friend, the brunette let out a strangled sobbing noise and practically flung herself at him.

“Woah,” Kurt said, grabbing at Harmony before she sent them both flying to the ground. “What’s wrong – have you been crying?”

“No,” Harmony denied vehemently. Then, noticing Kurt’s unconvinced look, she sighed loudly. “Maybe. I’m just scared, okay?”

“Oh, honey,” Kurt said softly, hugging her closely. “You’ll be fine, okay?”

Harmony stared at him for a moment before suddenly thrusting the envelope towards him.

“Can you open it for me?” she asked. “I honestly think that I might throw up all over the envelope if I do it.”

Kurt stared at her for a long moment before nodding. He opened the envelope and pulled out the paper inside, unfolding it quickly. He scanned through the letter once and then looked at Harmony, who looked nervous.

“Well?”

“I’m so sorry, Harmony,” he said softly, “but you’re going to be really bored this next year, because you were accepted, early admittance, into NYADA for Fall 2013! Looks like there’s no reapplying for you, huh?”

There was a long moment where Harmony just stared blankly at him before letting out a loud screeching noise.

“You absolute ass,” she said, although the happy tone in her voice told Kurt that she wasn’t actually that upset. “You made me think that I had been rejected!”

“Sorry,” Kurt said, although he wasn’t really sorry at all. “Congratulations!”

Harmony let out a sob before flinging herself at Kurt for a second time, this time sending both of them crashing to the floor.

“Oh my god,” Kurt croaked. “I think you broke my back.”

“Shut the fuck up, Kurt,” Harmony replied, smiling into his shoulder. “You’re ruining the moment.”

There was movement beside them and Kurt peered up to see a tall, blond-haired boy in a red sweatshirt, with the words Dalton Academy written across the front, staring down at them in concern.

“Are you two all right?” the boy asked, holding a hand out to them.

“Yeah,” Kurt said, breathing a bit easier once the boy had helped Harmony stand. “She just got a bit overly excited.”

The boy laughed. “I could see that, are you sure that –”

“Jeff! We’re going to be late!”

They turned to see two boys standing near the entrance. The one that had shouted at them was a fairly tall boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He looked very impatient, and kept checking his watch every few seconds, sighing loudly as though he thought it might make Jeff hurry.

It didn’t.

The boy standing next to Mr. Impatience appeared utterly oblivious to what was happening around him, head bowed slightly as he rapidly tapped out some sort of message on his phone. Kurt did not have a clear view of his face because of the angle, but he could see that the boy had dark, curly-hair that was tamed with far, far too much hair gel.

“I’ll be right there, Thad!” Jeff answered, rolling his eyes as the other boy, Thad, scowled. “You guys just head to the car, and I’ll be out in a second, okay?”

Thad pursed his lips for a moment before whirling around and heading out the door, dragging the still-oblivious boy with the phone with him.

“Sorry about Thad,” apologized Jeff. “He doesn’t seem to understand how to interact with actual humans. Anyway, I need to run…are you guys sure that you’re all right?”

Harmony nodded. “Thank you for helping us out, Jeff.”

“No problem!” Jeff said, rushing out the door after his friends. “It was nice to meet you!”

“He was nice,” Harmony commented.

Kurt nodded in agreement, saved from having to reply by his phone beeping again.

hiddlestonismyforeverking: okay, you’re right, kentucky isn’t my best work. your name is kiwi, right? or maybe kima! hahaha, kima. i’m clever, man, you don’t even know.

Kurt typed out a quick reply along the lines of “are you on crack?” before pocketing his phone again and turning to Harmony.

“Ready for the movie?”

Harmony nodded and grabbed her things. “I am so ready to see Chris Evans kick ass.”

“Whatever,” Kurt said. “I don’t understand you people and your Captain America obsession. Tony Stark is about five-thousand times more attractive.”

Harmony just rolled her eyes.