Chapter 17

“Are you almost ready, Kurt?” Blaine called from Kurt’s living room. He was dressed up, ready to go, waiting for his boyfriend to come out. Boyfriend. They were boyfriends now. He could say that, and not worry about it. And it felt amazing. Kurt had been in his room getting ready for the last hour, and it was beginning to look like they would be late for the ceremony. “I don’t want to be late for my brother’s wedding.”

Kurt walked out, and Blaine had to restrain from gawking at the sight. He was clad in a sleek black suit. Nothing overly complicated, but extraordinary all the same. It was form-fitting to a perfect degree and utterly breath-taking. Kurt took his lack of speech the wrong way though. “Oh, no. Does it look bad? I’ll go change.” He turned around, but Blaine reached out to grab his arm.

“No! No, it’s wonderful.” He pulled him closer and kissed him softly on the lips. He’d been doing that a lot lately, kissing Kurt whenever he felt the need. It was wonderful. They could be intimate with each other without worries or barriers. They still hadn’t breeched any tremendous sexual boundaries, but Blaine was okay with that.

It had been one week since they had become official, and it had been a week of pure bliss. They became more and more comfortable with each other, touching, exploring and just being. It was the most thrilling thing either boy had ever experienced. They started to get to know one another, finding out the little things, or the bigger things. Although neither opened up those things that really mattered, really hurt, not yet.

“Okay, fine we can go.” He smiled into Blaine’s kiss, but despite his words he remained where he was. He deepened the kiss, his tongue darting into the cavern of Blaine’s mouth daringly. His arms wrapped around Blaine’s waist, pulling him flush against his own chest.

Blaine almost complied and lost himself in the caress of Kurt’s lips, but then he remembered their time table. “No, we have to go.” He put a hand against Kurt’s chest and pushed him away. He took in Kurt’s pout and chuckled, “I thought you were the punctual one.”

Kurt attempted to laugh, but it came out more like a squeak. Blaine saw something in his eyes, something that was bothering him. “What’s wrong, babe?” They had also started that, officially, the terms of endearment.

Kurt brushed it off, forcing his face into a smile. “It’s nothing, let’s go.”

On the drive to the wedding, a good hour away, Kurt hardly spoke at all. Blaine attempted to make conversation, but Kurt just wasn’t participating. His shoulders were hunched and his mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely.

When they finally arrived at the hotel where the wedding would take place, Blaine turned to him before he could get out of the car. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Kurt avoided his eyes and sighed. “It’s just…what if…what if they torment us, Blaine? I mean, this is the first time we’re actually going to be together in public. What if they don’t like that?”

“So what if they don’t? We can handle any shit they throw at us. And no matter what, I’m sure that we’ll pull through. Just remember to have courage.” He reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. Kurt smiled a little and nodded, squeezing Blaine’s hand back.

Blaine meant what he’d said, but he wasn’t sure he believed it anymore. The idea of people, as a general word, seeing the two of them together didn’t scare him at all. In fact, it made him happy. He wanted everyone to know that Kurt was his. But people when referring to his family were a different story.

They arrived ten minutes before the actual ceremony, and didn’t have time to socialize or make introductions. Blaine was whisked away to the preparation room without Kurt. Kurt looked around at the extravagant scene. Everyone was dressed very well, and the room was decorated impeccably. It was a real fairy tale wedding. The type of wedding Kurt dreamed about before his life went astray. Before he lost hope in happy endings.

After the ceremony was the reception and Blaine was shaking with nerves. He hadn’t yet seen a member of his family, save Cooper.  The wedding had run smoothly. He’d been introduced briefly to Cooper’s fiancée before the wedding. Her name was Piper and she seemed like a very nice girl. Blaine thought it sad that he had so little connection with his brother that he was just now meeting the girl he would marry. 

He found Kurt immediately after the crowd was dismissed and they made their way to the large ballroom where the reception was to be held. Kurt still had the worried look in his eyes, and Blaine had to admit it was affecting him too. He couldn’t very well give an inspirational speech if he was feeling unsure himself.  He didn’t grab Kurt’s hand as they walked, like he wanted to.

Once in the open space, Blaine scanned the room for family members. He didn’t see anyone at first, and he breathed a premature sigh of relief. He hoped he and Kurt could stay out of sight for as long as possible. He had planned a speech already, another thing he wasn’t looking forward to. His father would surely find a multitude of ways to insult him tonight.

Since they were so far from home, Blaine had booked two rooms in the hotel, just in case. He wouldn’t mention the second one to Kurt unless he made it evident he would want it. He was really hoping he wouldn’t though. Blaine wanted a night with Kurt, not necessarily like that. Just sleeping next to him in the same bed would be all he could ask for.

He and Kurt stood awkwardly at the doorway for a moment before a small voice said Blaine’s name. He turned at the sound and smiled, it was Piper.

Her blonde hair was now down, as opposed to the high bun she wore earlier, and she donned a slightly less extravagant pink gown. She grinned widely at him and spoke her voice soft, as Blaine was starting to believe was normal, “Blaine, I’m really very sorry that tonight was the first time we’ve met. Cooper hasn’t been the best with introductions. I didn’t even meet your parents until a week ago.” Blaine cringed faintly at the mention of his parents.

“Don’t worry about it, Piper. It’s wonderful to meet you.” He looked over at Kurt and decided it was now or never. Looking at his boyfriend, he said, “Kurt, this is Piper, Cooper’s wife.” He gestured to her and Kurt smiled in response, dread written all over his face. “Piper, this is Kurt, my boyfriend.”

The girl didn’t even flinch. In fact, her smile grew as she reached over to grab Kurt’s hand, shaking with fervor. “Nice to meet you, Kurt.”

Kurt’s mouth was open in shock, he stuttered, “U-uh. Nice to meet you, too?” He made it into a question, not really sure what was going on.

Suddenly, Blaine felt a hard grasp on his shoulder. He froze. A cold, low voice came from behind him, “What was that you said, Blaine?”

Blaine didn’t turn toward the person, but he didn’t have to. His father took a few steps and he was standing directly between Blaine and Piper, who, feeling the rising tension, decided it was time for her to leave.

“Well, I hope you all enjoy the reception. There will be cake in a little while!” she said, keeping the chipper tone to her voice. She ran off, supposedly to find Cooper in the crowd.

Blaine allowed himself to look up at his father then. He was standing ramrod straight, staring down at his son, menacingly. His whole demeanor was professional, not like he was dealing with family, but with a difficult business deal.

“Hmm?” he reiterated.

Blaine gulped, “Dad. This is Kurt, my, er, boyfriend.” He attempted to keep any amount of confidence in his voice, but it wasn’t working.

Charlie Anderson did not offer a hand to the boy, nor did he truly acknowledge his presence, he simply eyed him, ignoring the fact that he was a human being and treating him more like an object he needed to make a judgment on.

His eyes returned to Blaine, and he stated simply, “A word, Blaine?”

Blaine felt like he could hear his heartbeat in his ears, pumping like never before. He felt himself nod, but it wasn’t a conscious movement. As he followed his father a little ways away, he spared a glimpse back at Kurt. The other boy looked scared out of his mind, with good reason.

When they were out of earshot, Charlie spun around on one heel to face his terrified son. “Care to explain?”

Blaine put his hands in his pockets, grasping the soft fabric on the inside as if it was a lifeline. “Explain what, Dad?”

“Explain to me, Blaine, why all of a sudden you’re a faggot!” Charlie’s voice started out a shout, but obviously embarrassed, it dropped to a low hiss by the end of his sentence.

Blaine recoiled, wanting to just leave the hotel and take Kurt and just go somewhere very, very far away. He didn’t respond to his father.

“Tell me, Blaine, why all of a sudden you have to put even more shame on this family then you already do on a daily basis. You whine and cry about not being good enough, or that I don’t treat you well enough, then you run out and date a fag? What exactly was going through your mind? Did you honestly think you could just waltz on in here with that,” he nodded in Kurt’s direction, “and expect everyone to be okay with it? You’ve done awful things before, but this is just the last straw.” He took a breath, eyes still enflamed.  “What happened to that nice girl, Santana? She was the only good decision you ever made.”

Blaine let out a shaky breath, “She cheated on me, Dad. She was cheating on me the whole time.”

His father only nodded, “Well, I guess that’s to be expected. Even she saw she could do so much better.” His eye seemed to catch on something a little in the distance, “See that, Blaine? Your brother married a nice, beautiful girl.”

Blaine looked and saw his brother and Piper dancing together on the floor. His hands balled into fists.

“But I suppose that’s normal. Your brother has always made better decisions than you.” His eyes returned to Blaine. When he spoke again, he sounded like he thought he was giving Blaine a second chance. A chance to win back whatever respect his father had had for him. “I don’t want you dating that…that f-“

“Don’t.”

His father glared at him, “I don’t want you dating that boy, Blaine. I don’t want you dating any boy. You are going to go out and find yourself a girl. A nice girl, like your brother’s. Try things with that Santana again. But I do not want to see him again. Ever. Do you understand?”

Blaine nodded, weakly, regretting so as soon as he did.

“Good. There may be hope for you, Blaine. You just need to try harder.” Charlie walked away, not looking back to see his broken son.

Blaine stood still for a long time, hearing the music around him before Kurt walked up to his side.

“That looked exciting,” he said, sarcasm evident in his voice.

Blaine turned his head, staring into blue eyes. “Most definitely,” he tried a small grin. He looked around him, not seeing any reason to stay. “Can we just go? Do you mind? I mean, um, I bought a room. Rooms. Two rooms. I bought two rooms. You can, um, you can…they’re next to each-“

Kurt stopped him, “You bought two? Oh. Well that’s mildly disappointing.”

Blaine nearly jumped at his words, “We don’t have to use both. If you don’t want to. We can, of course-“

Kurt smiled, “Blaine, are you asking me to share a hotel room with you?”

Warmth crept into Blaine’s cheeks, “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Then I guess I accept.”