Feb. 22, 2015, 6 p.m.
Start of Something Good: Chapter 2
T - Words: 5,486 - Last Updated: Feb 22, 2015 Story: Closed - Chapters: 3/? - Created: Nov 24, 2013 - Updated: Nov 24, 2013 128 0 0 0 0
I'm kind of blown away by the response this has gotten so far. Thank you all so much! I hope chapter 2 doesn't disappoint. Before I shut up, I did want to warn in case it is still hard for some that Finn is referenced in this chapter and will appear in future chapters. As this is an AU world, I decided I wanted to include Finn in it.
Sam sighed as he sped up and swerved around a taxi. Horns blared behind him but he paid them no mind, simply swerving and twisting his bike around to get through the rush hour traffic. He had to hurry. He still needed to get to the coffee shop and then get back to the apartment. Back to a very sick Blaine who was still insisting he was capable of handling everything on his own.
“Finally,” he muttered to himself as the little coffee shop came into view. He nearly skidded against the concrete in his rush to slow down but managed to stay on the bike and come to a full stop. He groaned as he locked it up outside, noticing how crowded the place was. He really needed to get back to Blaine.
It had been four days since Blaine had passed out while performing at this same coffee shop and things were not improving as fast as he would have liked. He still could barely get out of bed without being plagued but a rattling cough. A trip down the hall to the bathroom left him gasping and wheezing. Yet he still wanted to try to take care of Luke and keep up with homework...
Needless to say, Sam just wanted to pick up Blaine's check from the manager and put in a to go order at the counter as quickly as possible.
“Sam?” a familiar voice called over to him as he slid into line. He looked around until his eyes settled on Rachel Berry. She rushed towards him, her purple coat swishing in her hurried steps. Once she was beside him she gave him a quick hug.
“Hey Rachel,” he greeted once she let go of him. “It's been awhile.”
“It has! I don't think I've seen you or Artie since you first moved here!”
“Yeah I—“
“Hey Sam,” the shop's manager called from behind the counter. “Want your regular order for the night?”
Sam held up a hand for Rachel to give him a minute and turned towards the bar. “Yeah, please. And add some soup and tea for Blaine if you don't mind. And his check?”
“Coming right up! I'll be with you in a minute miss,” she said to Rachel before starting to prepare the order.
“I take it you come here often?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, don't live that far from here. And my roomie plays music here on weekends. You?”
“First time actually. My costars—I don't know if Finn told you but I got Fanny Brice for the Funny Girl revival!”
“He did,” Sam laughed. “Congratulations though. I just haven't gotten to see it yet.”
“Well I hope you do before it closes! But anyway,” she waved her arms as if that would make her get back on topic, “they said this is the best place to get cheesecake and I thought I would get some for Kurt. He's working extra hours and I think it is partially my fault.”
“Aww that sucks. But yeah, they totally have the best cheesecake here. I get it all the time when Blaine plays here.”
“Blaine?”
“Yeah, my roomie.”
“I thought Artie was your roommate?”
“Oh he is but our apartment has four bedrooms. His parents help with the cost since he needed a nicer one that was more handicapable and all. But it was still hard on us to cover the rest. Blaine is our third roomie.” Sam dug out his phone from his pocket. “Here.” He showed her a picture of Blaine performing a few weeks ago. He was relaxed up on the stage, his legs stretched out across the piano bench and his back against the wall. His guitar was in hand and he was lost in the music.
“Oh wow,” Rachel gasped, causing Sam to laugh.
“I've been tryin' to get Kurt to go out with him.”
“And he's been turning that down?”
“Well, he's never actually seen him. I just told him I had a friend who was gay.”
“Oh Sam, you have to actually show him what he looks like and tell him more than just that if you want him to agree to a blind date!”
“Oh, I do?”
Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes. “Can you send me that picture?”
“Yeah! I think I still have your number. Want a video too? Think I have one of him performing that night.”
“Definitely!”
“Sam, order's up! The check is down in the bag for you.”
“Thanks! Blaine will appreciate it.”
“Of course,” the manager replied. “How is he anyway?”
“Still sick but feelin' better.”
“Good. Tell him to stay away until he's all healed up then. He'll still have his gig come then.”
Sam sent her a big smile. “Thanks Maggie.”
He started packing the food away in his backpack before speaking to Rachel again. “I'll send you those pictures and video so you can show Kurt. Blaine's a good guy, and he doesn't really go out much.”
“Kurt's become that way. He goes to work and school and then comes home and plops down to marathon whatever he's got on the DVR. He doesn't really put himself out much anymore.”
“Think he'll go for it?”
“You think Blaine will?”
“Probably,” Sam nodded with a shrug. “He's sick right now so he couldn't really go out right now but I think I could talk to him at least.”
“Well, you get him to ok it and I will work on Kurt. Bringing him some cheesecake might do the trick.”
Sam laughed again. “See ya around then.” He waved goodbye to Rachel and hurried out of the shop with a smile, happy that he did not need to do much to start his plan in motion. After his talk with Blaine a few nights ago, he was determined to find a way for Blaine to have more fun and things for himself. This looked like the perfect step towards that.
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Kurt sighed to himself as he trudged home. His feet shuffled against the sidewalk, kicking the fallen leaves along the way. The air was cold, but he refused to put on his good coat, not when he had drying paint and sticky remnants of food stuck to his sweater. It was awful. His whole day had been awful.
He could barely lift his feet enough to clear the steps up to his building, but once inside the building, he relished in the warm air of the furnace. It made the last bit of his trek up to his apartment that much more bearable. He was still miserable though.
“Woah, look what the cat dragged in,” Santana teased as he slid into the their home.
“Shut up,” he groaned.
“Damn, someone must be tired if he can't even get his claws out to fight back,” she continued.
Kurt didn't say anything in response. He tried to muster up a glare, but he was sure it fell flat.
“Woah,” Rachel gasped as she rounded the corner. “What happened to your sweater?”
“What didn't is the better question,” he grumbled in return. He sidestepped her and pulled the sweater off. He grabbed a clean shirt and a pair of yoga pants from his room and changed before coming back out to talk to the girls. “The little monsters Shelby asked me to watch ganged up on me.”
“Kurt, they are just kids,” Rachel replied, obviously trying not to laugh.
“They are the spawns of Satan, not Broadway performers. No way.” Kurt threw his hands up and made a beeline for the couch. He practically fell onto the cushions with a sigh and reached for the remote…only for Rachel to pull it from his hands. “Hey! I wanted to catch up on Project Runway!”
“Oh shut up,” Santana sighed, sitting herself on the top of the couch. “I know for a fact you did that over the weekend and the new episode hasn't aired yet.”
“But—”
“Kurt, you are in a rut,” Rachel said. She sat beside him and squeezed his hand.
“No I'm not. I'm just tired from chasing around a room full of snotty brats and going to school and doing work for Vogue.com and—”
“Oh, come on!” Santana snorted. “How bad can working at the daycare be? They're all stage babies anyway.”
“Imagine mini spotlight seeking Rachel's all vying for your attention while hyped up on sugar their parents gave them before dropping them off.”
“Oh god,” Santana gasped at the same time Rachel yelled “Hey!” rather indignantly.
“Girls, I just want to relax.”
Rachel huffed but continued on nonetheless. “Well you can sit back and relax while I talk.”
“While normally I would say that is anything but a way to relax, I'm going to side with Berry on this one.”
“No,” Kurt practically whined.
“Hear me out!” Rachel pushed. “I ran into Sam today.”
“Evans?”
“Yeah, remember? He's living with Artie and some guy in town now. Trying to become a model while Artie goes to film school.”
“Oh yea, I remember,” Kurt replied. “I just haven't seen him around in awhile. What about him, Rach?”
“Well, anyway, we got to talking while I was in line to buy some cheesecake—”
“There's cheesecake?” Kurt interrupted, perking up a little.
“Yes,” Santana huffed. “And if you are a good boy and listen to everything we have to say you can maybe have some.”
Kurt rolled his eyes but looked towards Rachel for her to continue.
“Anyway, we got to talking. He mentioned how Artie and he found this guy to room with them and how he doesn't get out much. So I started talking about you and he mentioned that he wanted to set you guys up but you kept turning him down.”
Kurt's eyes widened as Rachel spoke a ridiculously fast. “Um…yeah he mentioned he had a gay roommate the last time we talked. But just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm going to jump into bed with the any gay guy I meet and…” He trailed off as Rachel shoved her cell phone in front of his face.
Santana leaned down to get a better look. “Damn, boy.” She grabbed the phone from Rachel's hands and pulled it up towards her. Kurt pushed himself up so he could get another look. “Ok, if he looks like this then you should.”
“It doesn't work that way,” he huffed. “I'm not good at the whole one night stand thing. I want a connection. I don't know if we have anything in common!”
Rachel motioned for her phone. “Well, he sings. He apparently performs at that coffee shop we were at. I had Sam send me a video of it. Here.” She clicked play and slid the phone back towards Kurt.
Soon, the sounds of an acoustic version of “Teenage Dream” filled the apartment. The sound quality wasn't great on the phone, but there was no denying that the guy was good. Kurt couldn't take his eyes off the screen as the guy sang and played the piano. He nearly forgot the girls were even in the room until Santana elbowed him.
“Ooh someone is already in love.”
“I'm not in love.”
“But you are interested,” Rachel exclaimed, clapping her hands.
“Maybe…but when could I go out? I'm slammed between work and school and helping Shelby right now.”
“Sam said Blaine, that's his name, is sick right now. So he wouldn't be able to actually go out for awhile. But I bet you could get Sam to give you his number and you could text or talk first.”
Kurt took the phone back and let the video start playing again. “O-Ok.” He was too busy watching Blaine sing again to notice the matching smirks Santana and Rachel were giving him.
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Blaine blinked his eyes open and rolled over, groaning as his nagging cough made itself known almost immediately. It was getting old. He spent most of his day either curled up in bed or on the couch, doing everything he could not to anger his lungs. He wasn't succeeding much.
He lifted his head from the pillow as someone knocked on the door. It soon opened to what looked like his son floating in the air. He blinked his eyes again and noticed Sam coming in as well, holding his son up in front of him almost protectively. “Hey,” Blaine greeted hoarsely. He pushed himself into a sitting position against his headboard. “What are you doing with my son?”
Sam visibly swallowed and approached the bed, holding Luke in the same manner. “Um, well, he's protecting me.”
“From?” Blaine went to grab Luke but Sam held him tight. Luke made a disgruntled noise but let Sam continue to hold him nonetheless.
“You?”
“Huh?” Blaine ran a hand over his face. “Sam you know you can't get sick unless I cough on you a whole lot or you drink after me. And besides that, would you really rather deal with a sick baby over yourself?”
“No, not from that.”
“Well what—what did you do, Sam?” Blaine slumped a little down into his pillows, worry lines forming on his brow.
“Now, just remember I am holding your son and you can't kill me while I'm holding him.”
“Sam,” Blaine warned.
“I may have set you up on a date with my friend Kurt.”
“You what?” Blaine snapped, causing himself to cough and Luke to whimper at the loudness.
“Again, kid in the room and you are still sick. You can't get angry.”
“The hell I can't!” Blaine said in between coughs. Luke made a few more noises of discontent. “Give me my son Sam.”
“But—”
“Sam, now.”
Sam sighed and handed Luke over. “Please don't be mad, but dude, you said you would start doing things for yourself. And this is something you can do for yourself.”
Blaine bit his lip and cradled Luke close to his chest. “You should've asked me.”
“Well, I did. You just may have been half asleep and semi high from your meds. But I did yell in and ask if it was ok if I gave Kurt your number and you said yes. Well it was this half groan half yawn thing that I think was supposed to be a yes. Your face was pressed into the pillow and you were kind of drooling so it wasn't clear but—”
“Sam,” Blaine groaned, letting his head fall back against the pillows. “I can't go out with someone! I—”
“Kurt is a good guy, and he already texted you. See!” Sam held up Blaine's phone and showed the text messages.
Blaine took the phone, but tried not to read into them much. “I think you should go.”
“But—”
“I know, but I just need a few minutes.”
Sam nodded and stood from the bed. When he got to the door, he paused and turned back. “Do you hate me?”
“No, of course not. I'm just not sure what to think of all this.”
“Just, give it a chance,” Sam pleaded on last time. He slipped out of the room, leaving Blaine and Luke alone.
Blaine sighed once again and looked down at Luke. He had calmed and was busy playing with Blaine's t-shirt. Blaine rubbed his back gently and let him tug on the shirt. The room remained silent aside from Luke's babbling until there was a knock at the door.
“Sam, I asked you to give me some time to think. I—”
“Not Sam,” Artie said as he opened the door and wheeled himself inside.
“Hey, sorry.” Blaine rubbed a hand over his face.
“Nah, don't be. Sam told me what he did.” Artie moved closer to the bed and played with Luke's feet for a moment as he talked. “You shouldn't be mad at him though. He just wants to help you.”
Blaine nodded. “But I don't need help with that.”
“No, you don't want help. You never do.” Artie smiled sadly at him.
“I—”
“I know,” Artie sighed. “I didn't mean anything by it. Just, that you do need help every once in awhile.”
Blaine toyed with his son's curls. “Maybe I don't want to date.”
“Maybe, but I think you'd be lying if you said you didn't.” Blaine shot him a look. “Oh come on, Blaine, we're not blind. We've seen the way you look at the couples at the coffee shop. You want that.”
“I've already had it once before and it didn't work out. Maybe I'm not supposed—”
“Stop that,” Artie interrupted. “That had nothing to do with you. That was all on your ex. That doesn't mean every guy will do that to you.”
“No one wants a guy with a kid, not at our age.”
Artie shrugged. “Never know til you try. And I know Kurt. He doesn't follow what everyone else does. So I think you should at least try.”
“I don't know,” Blaine huffed.
Artie pulled out his phone and brought up an old video. “This is us in glee club.” He pressed play. “That's Kurt there.” Kurt came on the screen, dancing and singing with the rest of them. While he was in the background while some girl sang lead, he definitely stood out. “He's really a good guy.” He reached over to Blaine's phone and handed it to him. “Just think about it.” With that, he left, leaving Blaine with his phone and Luke.
Blaine groaned to himself and shoved the phone away from him. Luke saw it and crawled his way over to it, pressing buttons and shaking it, laughing all the while.
“No, bud. You can't have that.” Blaine pulled it out of his son's grasp and caught the boy as he tried to chase after it and fell into his dad. Blaine pulled Luke back onto his lap and looked down at the text message. The number was new, obviously Kurt's. Luke looked down at the phone then back up at his dad. “What do you think? Think I should try?”
Luke started nodding vigorously, falling forward again and giggling.
Blaine shook his head. “Your favorite thing to do is say no and the one time I would love for you to say it you don't, huh?” he scoffed, causing Luke to giggle all the more. “Of course.” He toyed with the phone for another minute before finally giving in and reading the message.
Hello, Blaine. So—I don't normally do this type of thing but looks like our friends are conspiring against us. I'm sorry for that. I'm sure if you are as much like me as they keep claiming that this is driving you crazy too. I will understand if you want to ignore this. But from what I was told you seem like someone I would like to meet. So if you don't mind putting up with Sam and Rachel gloating for a few days, text me back. ~Kurt
Blaine smiled a little at the text and sank into the pillows. His finger hovered over the delete button for a moment before swiping the other way to reply. It took him awhile but he eventually messaged back. It was simple, just introducing himself and apologizing for Sam as Kurt had done for Rachel. But it was a start.
It was the start of many days of texting. While Blaine had been reluctant to initiate anything, the talking came easy. They texted about shows they enjoyed and the classes they were taking. Blaine steered clear of mentioning that he was a freshman just yet and allowed Kurt to assume he was just a year behind Kurt instead. He also never mentioned Luke…
He was never ashamed of Luke. Far from it. He just couldn't deal with the idea of someone else rejecting Luke. He'd already gone through that once before with his ex-husband and he wasn't sure how he could handle going through it again. So he never brought it up. He fretted and panicked, but he never said anything.
The problem with that came on the night he had finally decided to meet up with Kurt. It made his anxiety all the worse and put him on edge. He kept sneaking glances at his son while he dug through his closet. The little boy sat on his bed, playing with the various bowties and socks that littered the comforter.
“Woah,” Sam gasped, taking in all the clothes and things as he came into the room. “You might want to pick this stuff up in case you want to bring Kurt back here after dinner.”
“I'm not bringing him back. I doubt we'll even last through til dinner.” Blaine's hands shook as he buttoned up his shirt. “I'll start talking and he will run as fast as possible once he knows about my…everything.”
Sam smiled sadly and took the bowtie from Luke. “Wear this one.” Blaine nodded and slipped it around his neck. “And stop panicking so much. You are allowed to have fun. You can make something like this work. I don't care what you think.”
“Thanks,” Blaine sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, sending a few of the curls in errant directions. “What am I doing? I don't know how to do this. I—”
“You are going out with a new friend who could become more. You are going to have fun at a restaurant you've wanted to try for ages and enjoy the night. That's all.” Sam squeezed Blaine's shoulder. “Stop thinking about Eric and what happened with him. Kurt's not Eric.”
Blaine bit his lip as he picked up a jacket. “That doesn't mean he will like me anymore.”
“Doesn't mean he'll like you any less either.” Blaine started to argue but Sam continued. “You know you have like ten minutes to get to the restaurant if you want to be on time.”
Blaine looked at the time and cursed under his breath. He ran to the bed and scooped Luke up. “Love you buddy.” He pressed a big kiss to his cheek. “Be good for Uncle Sam.
“He's always good for me,” Sam replied, taking Luke from Blaine and shooing him out of the room. “Go! Have fun.”
“Ok, but text me if anything is going on with Luke. And remember he likes his Chewbacca bear for bed and—”
“And the fuzzy duck blanket now that it is turning colder outside. I remember.”
Blaine smiled shyly. “Sorry.”
“Don't be. Just get out of here before you are even later than you already are.”
“Yeah, you're right. Bye buddy.” He gave Luke one last kiss and waved goodbye to Sam. He rushed down the stairs and practically ran to the restaurant.
Kurt was already there when he arrived, making him all the more nervous. His sweaty hands shook at his sides and his mouth suddenly ran dry just as he needed to speak. “Um, hello? K-Kurt?” he greeted upon reaching the table. Kurt turned away from the window and looked up at him, smiling a little but the tense lines around his face made it obvious he was annoyed by Blaine's tardiness. But he didn't say anything about it. Instead he stood and shook Blaine's hand.
“Hey, Blaine, right?”
“Yeah, look I'm so sorry I was late. I had to take—“ a second shower because my son decided I looked better with his baby food all in my hair—“a minute to find a better tie.” Nice job, Blaine.
For his part, Kurt at least laughed at him. “Well that is a nice bowtie so I guess you are forgiven.”
Blaine smiled shyly. “I really am sorry. I promise I'm not normally late like this.”
Kurt nodded and took a sip from his water. “Ok, enough of the apologies. We decided to meet up so we could get to know each other.” Kurt slipped his phone off the table and into his pocket. Blaine hated leaving his own out but he had to in case Sam called about Luke. Kurt eyed it for a moment but didn't say anything about it. Instead, he attempted to start a conversation going. “So you go to Tisch?”
Blaine waited until the waiter took their orders a moment later before responding. “Yeah, I'm majoring in musical theater and education with a minor in composition.”
“Wow, I thought it was hard enough just having one major.”
Blaine laughed. “Yeah, haven't decided if I'm ambitious or just stupid.”
“Can't be stupid if you are able to handle all of that at a school that nice.”
Blaine blushed. “NYADA is pretty great too. I'm impressed.”
The conversation carried on for some time, the two moving easily from school to hobbies to music. But Blaine skirted around the topic of family when Kurt would bring up his own, simply asking Kurt to tell him more. The only problem was that Blaine kept sneaking glances at his phone. Sam had begun texting him, telling him that Luke didn't seem to be feeling too well. It made Blaine antsy no matter how many times Sam said he had it under control. While Blaine thought he was able to hide it well, he apparently wasn't.
“If you don't want to be here, you just have to say so,” Kurt sighed.
“I'm sorry?” Blaine asked, his brow scrunching up.
“You've checked your phone more times than I can count and it's been buzzing for the last half hour. You didn't have to have Sam or whoever do the whole ‘call me so I can get out of my date thing' you know? I'd rather you come out and say it.”
Blaine gulped nervously. His phone buzzed again and he picked it up. Kurt huffed from across the table and Blaine screwed his eyes shut. He had been having such a nice time but he couldn't put this off any longer. He unlocked the phone and pulled up a picture of Luke. He handed the phone towards Kurt and motioned for him to look. “That's why I keep checking my phone.”
“Luke?”
“How do you know his name?”
Kurt handed the phone back. “I've been working at his daycare for a few weeks. Covering for his dad who's been sick.” He looked up at Blaine with wide eyes. “You're—”
“I'm his dad.” Blaine nodded. “I'm sorry. Sam should've warned you.” Blaine ran a hand over his face. “I hate to cut this short but Sam has been texting me all night because Luke's apparently not been feeling too well and I'd really like to go check on him.” Blaine stood from the table and took out his wallet. “Here, at least let me pay for the meal.”
“Blaine—”
“I really am sorry, Kurt. I had a nice time and it was great to finally meet you.”
Before Kurt could respond, Blaine left, not noticing the way Kurt looked at him as he rushed out of the restaurant.
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Blaine picked up his phone to snap some pictures of the decorations and cake before his son tore into everything. He hadn't touched his phone much during the week, scared to see what Kurt would have said since the botched date. But it was Luke's first Birthday and he wanted to have as many pictures of it all as possible.
“Where do you want these?”
Blaine looked up to see Cooper staggering in with piles of presents in his arms. “Hey! When did you get here?” Blaine set his phone down and helped Cooper set some of the presents down. “I thought you couldn't get away from filming for awhile?”
“I just got here. Sam let me in. There was no way I was going to miss my favorite nephew's first Birthday!”
“He's your only nephew,” Blaine sighed, shaking his head fondly at his brother.
“Whatever. Still my favorite.” Cooper set the rest of the presents down and stood up, looking around. “So where is the birthday boy anyway?”
“Taking a nap before the others come over.”
“Others? Who? The boyfriend coming?” Cooper jabbed him in the side.
“What boyfriend? There is no boyfriend. You know that,” Blaine scoffed in reply. He turned away and set about finishing everything up for the party.
“Sam said you went out with someone last weekend,” Cooper continued, following along behind him.
“And did he mention how I looked like I wanted to be somewhere else and then had to rush out because Luke had a fever and needed me?” Cooper's face fell. “Yeah, figured he neglected that tiny detail.” Blaine bit his lip and pulled the cake from the oven. “I haven't talked to him since then so don't think he can be called my boyfriend.”
“I'm sorry, B.” Cooper squeezed Blaine's shoulder.
Blaine smiled sadly towards him. “Luke should probably be waking up. Let me get him for us.”
“No need,” Sam said as he entered the kitchen. He held Luke high above his head, letting the little boy feel as if he was flying. Both Sam and Luke had their superhero costumes on; Sam had another cape draped over his shoulder. “The little guy was already awake when I went to check on him so figured I'd grab him for you. Also got your cape.”
“Cape?” Cooper asked with a grin.
Blaine rubbed at the back of his neck as he took the cape. “It's a superhero party.”
“So you have to have a cape, duh,” Sam added. “There's one for you in the living too, Coop.”
Blaine couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his brother's face. “Yeah, Uncle Coop has to have one too.” He slid the material around his shoulders and took Luke from Sam. “Better get a move on and put the thing on already.”
It was obvious Cooper wanted to glare, but the giggles coming from Luke lessened the effect. “Fine,” he sighed and went to put it on. Before Blaine could tease Cooper any more, the buzzer rang through the apartment and guests began showing up. He hadn't invited many, mostly a few of the babies from the daycare and their parents. Shelby and Beth were also set to come. Blaine's parents wouldn't dare set foot in his apartment, and neither would Eric. But that was fine; Blaine preferred it that way at this point.
In the past, he had dreamed of having his husband and parents by his side through all of this, but things change. He had a family, even if it was by no means conventional, and it worked for him. Sure, he was lonely sometimes, but it could be worse. It had been worse not that long ago. He knew he had made the right decisions, seeing Luke flail his arms out and giggle while Sam played with him and the other babies made that much obvious.
But he still had moments of doubt…
Blaine couldn't spend much time thinking about that though. A knock at the door started him from those thoughts. No one else seemed to notice it, too wrapped up in the party and the babies. He was closest anyway to the door anyway. With a sigh, he turned around towards it and pulled it open, expecting to see one of the neighbors complaining about the added noise or something.
He never expected to see Kurt standing on the other side of the door.