Cooper seems genuinely interested in the whole Splatoon 2 thing. Blaine shows him the videos of his plays.

Blaine does a double take when Cooper even asks him if there are tickets for the World Championship left.

“Uhm, I don’t know,” Blaine says, dumbfounded, “It’s a popular event.”

“It is?” his father asks.

“Yes, dad, it is.”

His father looks down to his coffee cup with a contemplative look on his face. He’s been silent during the entire explanation. Blaine quickly explained the basics of the game and the world of competitive Splatoon 2. Then he followed his friends’ advice and he put a lot of emphasis on the good qualities that come along with gaming and then he talked about the music aspect, like he did with Kurt.

It’s all very true and also all a load of bullshit.

Blaine stares at his father and maybe he’s being even more of an asshole, but he sees a possible strike.

“Despite that, this is different from music,” he says, still looking at his father.

Out of the corner of Blaine’s eyes, he can see Cooper’s shocked and yet amazed look.

“Blaine, you know this isn’t what I meant,” his father says with a sigh, “It’s not like you can put this on your resume, can you?”

“Do I have to?” Blaine asks.

“By playing video games. Blaine, I just…” his father pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Dad,” Cooper jumps in, “There is a World Championship and everything.”

Cooper shows their father his phone screen. He’s looked up the World Championship.

Blaine’s father moves closer to the phone to get a better look.

“But what do you win?” he asks and he squints towards the screen. He reaches for the phone, but Cooper pulls back, which makes their father squint even more. “Is there a monetary prize? Can you make a living out of this?”

“Uh…”

This is the one question Blaine didn’t plan for. You get Nintendo points, but you can hardly buy a car with that. And you get some Splatoon 2 merchandise. There’s also a cool cup and you get to meet the producer Hisashi Nogami.

Blaine’s father gives him a knowing look.

“As I said, music’s my job, so this can be my hobby. It’s nice to unwind after practise by playing,” Blaine quickly says, “The competition is just a nice extra.”

“Besides, we’re rich,” Cooper says while he’s scrolling. Of course Cooper says that with such ease. “There’s a reason I can live in Hollywood and Blaine in the nicer parts of New York.”

“Rich or not, it’s always good to be motivated to work hard, Cooper!”

“There’s a lot of protentional with games, dad,” Cooper says and Blaine sits back. This entire situation is playing out so differently than he expected. Cooper’s completely switched sides. “The video game industry is a playground for technological advancement that can be used in other ways.”

“Yeah!” Blaine says, as if he knows what Cooper’s talking about. Cooper’s the one with a tech background, so it must be alright.

Cooper goes back to scrolling.

Their father looks as if his sons just upended his entire world. The idea of video games as a career is outlandish, and then hearing that there’s no big monetary gain must be insane. Blaine knows he could make millions from video games, since streamers do it all the time, but that’s not the same as this.

“But yeah, I am going to the matches.”

“The three of us are barely together, Blaine,” his father then says. Blaine thinks his father knows he can’t talk Blaine out of it and Blaine has to hold back a satisfying grin.

“You can come along, like Cooper. Then you can also see what it’s all about.”

“Won’t do, squirt,” Cooper says from the couch, “It’s indeed sold out. Bummer. I really wanted to see what opportunities it could bring me.”

“What?” Blaine asks him. He jerks his head towards Cooper.

Cooper uses one shoulder to shrug.

“Like I said, the gaming industry is booming. My IT stuff doesn’t reach half of its brilliance, but it’s still an interesting thing to explore. And it would look cool on my Instagram if I show my interest in niche crap like this. That’s what my agent once said.”

Of course.

Of course Cooper was only interested because he saw an opportunity for himself.

Blaine gets up. He needs some time to let this all sink in. He stares his father down.

“I’m going. No discussion.”

Then he walks away to the hallway and he lets out a breath. He checks his phone and he smiles when he sees that Kurt’s sent a message.

someonetocrowdyouwithlove
Want to call?

Blaine sees the message and he feels a sense of relief. Yes, he desperately wants to call. He sees that Kurt’s online and he hits the VC button.

“Hey you,” Kurt says when he picks up. He sounds a bit sad. Blaine instinctively checks the date, even though he knows he’s good. Kurt’s dad’s death anniversary is at the end of June, not at the beginning.

“Hey, everything alright?” Blaine asks.

“Yeah. I’m fine. It’s just one of those days,” Kurt says, “It’s almost the anniversary, so I am a bit out of it. I even took some time off from work. I mean, it’s not like The Guy is at work. He took some days off as well.”

“If there’s anything I can do-”

“Hey, none of that now. I came to ask you about your dad. Did you tell him?”

Blaine takes some seconds to think about it. Kurt’s obviously saddened by the upcoming anniversary of his dad’s death, but he also wants to change the subject. And the last time Blaine tried to talk to him about it, it only seemed to make things worse.

Blaine nods to himself.

He cannot upset Kurt. And also, it’s nice to talk about Blaine’s own life instead of The Guy.

“It was… okay-ish,” Blaine eventually says. Maybe it’s not a good idea to do this over VC. Although Blaine knows that there’s no other way. If only Blaine knew Kurt offline. “I may or may not have used my dad’s guilt. I don’t think he believes in it, but you know, he also doesn’t believe in music.”

“Guilt?”

Blaine nods.

“Yeah. He started talking about how he’d support me if I wanted to obtain another non-music related degree and I got mad at him. Then he apologised!”

“Wow,” Kurt sounds equally impressed.

“Yeah, I know right. If only sixteen-year-old-me could see this. But anyway, I then dropped the Splatoon 2 bomb on him and my brother. My brother seemed interested and he even wanted to come along to the matches until I realised he had an ulterior motive. I think they’re a bit bummed that I am ditching them for this, but I also used my brother’s guilt.”

Kurt starts laughing.

“Aren’t you a little manipulator.”

“As my friends would say, I am indeed little.”

Another laugh.

“Well, I wouldn’t know.”

“Right. Uhh…”

Blaine still hasn’t asked Kurt for more than a name, and the wanting grows, especially during these more personal moments. He has to set this wanting aside.

“Anyway, do you have news?” Blaine asks.

Kurt makes a somewhat affirming sound, as if he’s still figuring out if it’s newsworthy or not.

“Yes?” Blaine prompts.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about The Guy a lot. And about what you said a few weeks ago.”

Blaine’s body sags. Of course, The Guy. Never mind! For a second Blaine thought he could avoid it, but no. They can no longer talk about anything without The Guy being mentioned. Kurt said that The Guy isn’t at work, and yet, Kurt still wants to talk. Blaine forces himself to sound interested. It’s easier to mask his displeasure in writing.

“Now that he’s not here, I think it’s time to finally do something,” Kurt says.

“Okay.”

“He’ll be back in a couple of days.”

“Sure.”

“And then I’ll ask him out.”

“Righ- wait, what?”

And Kurt sounds so happy and proud of himself when he talks about how he’s still nervous, but how he’s also proud of doing this. He’s spent some weeks being nice to The Guy and now he wants to make a move. The worst part is that according to Kurt, Blaine’s encouragement and kindness is the thing that made him realise that he cannot wait any longer.

“After all,” Kurt continues, “if I don’t try, then I will always wonder what could’ve happened.”

Yes, Blaine vaguely recalls saying that.

Well. Fuck.

“Let me know how it goes,” Blaine says through gritted teeth.

Blaine makes a photo of the theatre and he sends it to the LGBT Splatoon 2 Discord. A lot of excited reactions come in. It’s a relatively small server, so Blaine’s the only one from the server at the matches. Everyone else will have to live vicariously through him.

It’s amazing in the Belasco Theatre. The house is filled and there are cosplayers everywhere. Blaine is wearing a bowtie with pink and green. The colours don’t match completely, but it’s the thought that counts.

His father and Cooper are at the cinema, watching the new Ocean’s 8, but Blaine wouldn’t trade that for this.

He’s seated next to three people who are talking excitedly. When Blaine overhears that they’re talking about being from Ohio, he smiles. The guy who’s next to Blaine notices.

“Ohio?” he raises an eyebrow.

“Ohio,” Blaine confirms and he puts a hand on his chest, “Westerville.”

“We’re from Lima,” the guy says, “Although the three of us now live in New York.”

“No way!” Blaine says excitedly, “I live in New York too!”

The guy extends his hand.

“I’m Sam. Sam I am, I don’t like green eggs and ham!”

The guy next to Sam waves.

“And I’m Mike. I don’t have a nice rhyme to my name.”

“Dude, there’s so many possibilities,” Sam says quietly, and Mike just laughs.

The last guy, who’s sitting at the seat next to the aisle, also extends his hand. There’s a wheelchair parked next to his seat. Blaine has to reach over Mike and Sam to shake his hand.

“And I’m Artie.”

“I’m Blaine,” Blaine says to the three of them.

“Are you here by yourself?” Sam looks past Blaine to see if the person next to Blaine is interested in an introduction.

Blaine nods.

“Yeah, my brother lives in LA so I am visiting here and I decided to go to the championships while I’m here. I wouldn’t want to miss it.”

“Preach!” Artie makes a hand sign, “Competitive Splatoon 2 is so cool. I’d love to try it myself.”

“Same,” Sam echoes.

“Yeah, the three of us are actually thinking about starting a team. We only need a fourth person, but most of our friends who game aren’t interested,” Mike says.

“Puck finds it childish and Finn… well, we miss him every day,” Sam nods. The three friends share a private and sad smile.

“We’re not pros, but we’d love to try,” Artie says.

It’s as if the stars are aligning. Blaine’s just ran into three players from New York who want to try competitive Splatoon 2?

“Well, if I can apply, I have a highlight video of my best plays on my phone,” Blaine says sheepishly.

“Dude, really?” Sam sounds excited.

“What are the fucking odds, man?” Artie sounds equally excited.

What indeed?

The crowd suddenly goes wild as the three commentators take their seats and the four international teams arrive. Blaine, Sam, Mike, and Artie all share an excited grin. It’s time for the show.

The next day, the four of them meet up at the Belasco Theatre for the grand finale between the European Backsquids and the Japanese GGBoyz. Blaine knows that as an American, he could’ve rooted for the American SetToDestroyX, but he was rooting for the Australian Yeah Nah, purely for the name. Unfortunately they both got eliminated yesterday.

They plan on chilling out for now. Once the four of them are back in New York and they have time, they’ll start looking into becoming an actual team. Now, they’re just here for the game.

Blaine has told Kurt all about it, and Kurt’s really happy that Blaine’s seemed to hit it off with the three guys. It feels a bit weird to talk so much about Splatoon 2 with someone else. Sure, Blaine has some mutuals on the LGBT Splatoon 2 Discord, but Kurt’s his number one guy for Splatoon 2.

Well, if Kurt can potentially play Splatoon 2 with The Guy for fun, then Blaine can play it with Sam, Mike and Artie for competitions.

Blaine shakes his head. No one can claim the game. He’s just being weirdly idiotic about it.

The gaming will have to wait a little bit, so while the four wait for the finale to start, they get to know each other a bit more. Blaine learns that Artie is an independent film maker. He’s currently working on a short movie about mobility in the big city from a disabled point of view. Mike moved to New York after he studied dance in Chicago and he dances at the New York City Ballet. He’s never had a big role, but he loves what he’s doing. Sam is the only one without a creative career, although he did some modelling. After he achieved his dream of being naked on the side of a bus, he went back to school to become a teacher.

When Blaine tells them that he’s in the orchestra of The Street, the three of them are very excited.

“Yo, I’ve seen The Street five times!” Artie says.

“Really?” Blaine asks. The Street is a popular show, but it’s not like they can beat the big names like Hamilton or Wicked.

“Yeah, one of our friends works there as well,” Mike says.

“Well… ‘friend’,” Sam makes air quotes, “We haven’t really seen or spoken him in quite some time. But we forgive him for it. He’s going through a rough time.”

“Rachel did say that she got a message from him a few weeks ago,” Mike says and Sam and Artie’s heads jerk towards him.

The three of them talk about this friend and Blaine sits back in his seat. He obviously cannot jump in, because he doesn’t know that friend. Maybe he’s run into him backstage without knowing.

Mike notices that Blaine’s leaning away from the conversation and he apologises.

“Sorry, the three of us got caught up in the moment.”

“It’s fine,” Blaine says, although he appreciates the small apology, “And who knows, maybe I know your friend.”

“His name is Kurt,” Sam says, “Does that ring a bell?”

Blaine’s mind immediately goes to his Kurt, but that’s not who they’re referring to. He mentally lists all the names of the colleagues, but there’s no Kurt. There is of course a chance that Kurt is one of the couple of colleagues whose names Blaine doesn’t know, since The Street is a big production. Blaine tells them that.

“Does anyone have a photo of hi-”

Artie gets cut off by the applause. Just like yesterday, the commentators and the teams are getting on stage and after the opening, Hisashi Nogami comes on stage and the crowd goes wild. The camera flies over the audience and at one point, Sam shakes Blaine’s shoulder and he points towards the screen. The four of them are on camera so they all wave exuberantly.

Blaine is so happy he’s here. He can’t wait to tell Kurt all about it.