... met hoeveel letters spel je dat?

August 2017

Blaine is a quick learner, he's always been. He had wonderful grades and there's a reason he's fluent in three languages and ASL –he took the last one for extra credit and he was surprised by how much he liked it- which pays off. Especially now.

It was late August. Dutch summer break was over so it was time to get working. Kurt made long days so Blaine was often alone. He eventually bought some Dutch children books and some “How to learn Dutch” books.

Els helps him a lot. They practice at least once a day, or they try to.

‘Hallo. Ik been Blaine. Ik been threeandtwintig jaar oud en-‘

‘Blaine, say drieëntwintig again. I heard three instead of drie,' Els would correct him and Blaine would say something like ‘Why does it matter? People will understand.'

He would teach it to Kurt, who is also a quick learner, but more good in math stuff than foreign languages, except for French. He's the best in that because he used to call out the jocks at McKinley in French.

He loves Els, he really does, but he needs more friends.

The time zone between him and his friend from the New Directions and college friends takes its toll.

He tried contacting other plus ones, but apart from Aliah Kisch from Egypt, no one even answered the door. Aliah is a sweet woman who loves her sister Arala Kisch, but he never actually went inside their apartment.

Many people asked him if he regretted going with Kurt, like Cooper, Isa, Sam, Rachel and college friends. Blaine firmly answered “no” and he still stands by that.

But still. He needs to do something. Maybe he needs a job? He'll meet co-workers, earn money and he has something to do.

It's mid-September when he gets a job at the Starbucks he, Kurt and Els chatted on their first full day in Amsterdam.

That he didn't speak Dutch (“yet,” Blaine wants to correct every time someone mentions it) was okay. He could speak English and that was even better for international customers.

He does learn phases like “Wat mag het zijn?” or “Kan ik iemand helpen?” and possible answers.

One day, Kurt walks in when Blaine's almost done with his shift.

‘You know my coffee order,' he says and a quite surprised Blaine says ‘Of course I do,' and dramatically rolls his eyes. ‘I thought you had that meeting with Daphne and more Vogue staff?'

‘Oh yeah, that.' Kurt leans on the counter, 'Good stuff happened. How much longer do you have to work today?'

‘Half an hour,' Blaine answers and looks at Kurt's lips, ‘Now please leave before I start kissing you and lose my job.' Kurt makes a scrunchy face and hops off to a table in the corner by the windows.

'Now,' Blaine takes a seat thirty minutes later, ‘How was the meeting?‘

‘Oh, it started really boring, but then, like I said, good stuff happened.‘

‘Curiosity peeked,' Blaine says. Kurt puts down his coffee and smiles brightly. ‘Well, starting from today, I'll get more free time.'

‘Really?' Blaine might sound a little bit too excited, but he can't help it. He hates Kurt's long days.

‘How come?'

‘Well, Daphne thought it was overkill. We have Sundays off now-‘ ‘Yes!' ‘-and all of us get one day off. Mine is Monday. Also no long hours on Tuesday and Thursday unless it's necessary.'

‘Kurt!' again, too excited, ‘That is wonderful.'

They decide to go out for a walk before heading home. The canals are beautiful and the Iepen are falling slowly. They're walking hand in hand and they're too focused on their conversation that they don't notice another couple kissing on one of the bridges until they bump into them.

‘Godverdomme!' a boy with spikey brown hair starts yelling, ‘Kijk eens uit je doppen, man!'

‘Koen!' a girl with long curly red hair snaps to her boyfriend, ‘Niet nu, oké? Ik weet het, je had een kut dag, maar verpest het ook niet voor de anderen!'

‘Maar zij-‘ ‘Koen, please, ik probeer niet bazig te doen, maar verontschuldig je.'

The guy, Koen, turns to Kurt and Blaine. ‘Hé jongens, sorry hè? Zoals mijn vriendin al zei, ik heb echt een vreselijke kut dag en zij maakt me gelukkig-‘

Blaine tries to stop him, but it's no use ‘- en toen iemand mijn geluk verstoorde-‘

‘Uh, we don't-‘

‘-werd ik best pissig en flipte ik uit. Dus-‘

‘I'm sorry, we-‘

‘Vrede?' the guy extents his hand.

‘To be honest, we have no idea what you just said,' Kurt says and Koen's face falls, ‘But apology accepted, if that's what it was so I take it.' Kurt shakes Koen's hand.

‘Oh, eh, thanks. I'm Koen, by the way.'

‘We gathered,' Blaine says.

‘And this is my wonderful girlfriend Emmeken.'

‘I'm sorry, but… how?' Kurt asks, ‘I mean, wij proberen praten Nederlands, but how?'

‘Em-me-ken,' Emmeken answers with a smile, ‘Blame my parents. They loved that story Mariken van Nieumeghen too much. Do you know Mariken van Nieumeghen?'

‘Uhm,' Blaine looks to Kurt and then back to Emmeken, ‘No, actually.'

‘Well, we can tell you,' Koen says and Emmeken nods, ‘I mean, we'd love to. If you two are okay with it.'

‘Definitely.' Kurt says, ‘Also, I don't think we've formally introduced ourselves yet. I'm Kurt and this is my boyfriend Blaine.' Blaine nods and tries to say ‘Aangenaam kennis te maken' but fails miserably.