Chapter 4: The beginning of a friendship

AN: Hey guys! In this chapter, Kurt meets Blaine again in the grocery store. Our favourite boys share a bittersweet moment and a start of a promise for something more. Hope you guys like it.

Kurt was looking examining a cauliflower closely when a vaguely familiar voice spoke to him from behind.
“Oh, hi Kurt! How have you been?”

Kurt turned his head slowly and personally felt as though he was in a mystery movie.

“Oh, Doctor Anderson…”

…

Kurt looked like a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He didn’t know what to say. He had definitely not expected his doctor to live in his neighbourhood. Less, see him in the grocery store.

“Ehrm…hey”, Kurt awkwardly offered, still caught off guard. He quickly put the cauliflower in his basket.

Blaine smiled his trademark smile that made Kurt’s knees turn to jelly.

“What a lovely surprise”, Blaine exclaimed, and was genuinely pleased to see Kurt. The past few weeks he had thought about the curious patient who had left him that amazing picture that he had hung on the living room wall at his apartment. Since he hadn’t seen him in so long, he had managed to convince himself that his feelings towards his ex-patient were entirely platonic. The only reason he ever doubted that was due to sexual frustration and long working hours. Kurt seemed like a nice boy with major issues. Blaine knew that he shouldn’t bring his work home, but he had a soft spot for people who needed him. And Kurt looked like he could need a friend.

“Yeah, it definitely is a surprise, Doctor Anderson”, Kurt gushed, a blush spreading in his cheeks.
“I mean..”

Blaine cut him off.
“You can call me Blaine. And I know what you mean. I’d be surprised to meet my doctor at the grocery store as well”, he laughed.

Kurt learned one thing. Blaine’s laughter was infectious. Before long he was laughing as well.

“I know, right? I’m glad you’re not my urologist or something, though”, Kurt chuckled.

Blaine just smiled in response. His smile reminded Kurt of something pure, like an angel. He showed so much energy and happiness. Kurt found himself wishing that Blaine never stopped smiling.

“Thank you for the picture, Kurt”, Blaine suddenly said. Kurt had forgotten about the picture he had drawn for him. The picture that portrayed a bird in an open cage that was too weak to fly out towards freedom. Kurt got rigid. He didn’t know how to respond to this and it made him uncomfortable. That’s why he didn’t like to be there when people bought his art. He didn’t know what to say to compliments. Does he thank them even though there is nothing to thank for, does he say “ok” and sound arrogant or.. Kurt sighed and simply nodded stiffly to Blaine, hoping that he would get the hint.

However, Blaine wasn’t swayed.

“It was really beautiful. You are really talented”, he praised.

Kurt smiled weakly, his shoulders uncomfortably tense. This is why he liked to stay inside his apartment.

“I really hope you continue drawing”, Blaine added when he didn’t get any response.

Kurt finally smiled. This he could answer without discomfort.

“Actually, I make a living out of painting”, he confided with a small, lopsided smile.

Blaine’s eyes widened remarkably. It was magical for him to know someone that lived off the arts. When he was a teenager he dreamed of singing professionally on a stage. He dreamed of Broadway and concerts. But his dream came crashing down as his father convinced him that it was next to impossible to live off the arts.

Still, Kurt was a living breathing proof of someone that had followed his dream. Kurt had done the very thing Blaine was too scared to do.

“That is really impressive”, Blaine grinned.

“It’s not much of a living, but I get by”, Kurt shrugged.

Despite this, Blaine had stars in his eyes. Kurt smiled back. He actually smiled back.

Kurt had a feeling that Blaine treated him like a real human being unlike so many whom couldn’t see past his drug problems. Those people who think that he is not worth anything because he has an addiction that he had absolutely no control over. Maybe they were right. Maybe Kurt wasn’t worth befriending. He knew that he was hard to be around. But the fact that Blaine treated him like a normal person made him feel like he was worth something. And that made him smile.

“Again, I really liked the picture. Thank you for drawing it for me”, Blaine smiled friendly. Kurt’s breath hitched. The doctor thought that Kurt had drawn it for him? Had he? He wasn’t sure.

Again, Kurt just nodded.

“You know, back in Ohio where I am from, I used to take a drawing class, but I was so terrible that the teacher kicked me out”, Blaine snickered. Kurt thought that sound was the goofiest he had heard in a while. It was weird to see Blaine like this, outside the hospital where he was casual and talked about himself. But, it was weird in a good way.

“I’m also from Ohio!”, Kurt blurted out before he could stop himself. Did he really want to go into his past with a complete stranger?

Blaine seemed intrigued. It wasn’t often he met someone who was from the same place as him in New York. Especially not people as intriguing as Kurt Hummel.

“Wow, from where?”, he asked interested. Maybe they could be friends, Blaine found himself thinking.

Kurt hesitated and instinctively ran his hand over the back of his neck.

“Lima”, he simply stated emotionlessly, though he had to strain to keep all emotion away when he talked about that town that he had yearned to run away from. The town that brought nothing other than painful memories.

Blaine sent him a sympathetic look. He knew what it was like to come from a small town. He wondered if Kurt had come to New York for the same reasons as him. To run away from close-minded, judgemental people.

“I’m from Westerville, that’s just a two hour drive from Lima, right?”, he said softly, giving Kurt the information he didn’t even ask about. Kurt looked into Blaine’s eyes and found kindness and understanding, but also a bit of regret. Bitterness that could only have come from a troubled childhood. Kurt would know.

Blaine took a chance.

“Hey, I’m actually making dinner right now and I ran out of salt that’s why I had to run here to get some more. Would you like to have dinner with me?”, Blaine asked with a bright smile.

Kurt’s jaw dropped. Did his ex-doctor, sorry, his gay ex-doctor seriously ask if he wanted to have dinner with him? Why did the universe do things like this to him instead of just let him live his life alone in his apartment?

But at the mention of food, Kurt’s stomach started to rumble. He groaned at the thought of what he was about to do, but he was desperate for food.

“Yeah, sure..”, he mumbled with a downcast gaze.

Blaine smiled, if possible, even brighter than before. Kurt dropped the plastic shopping basket and followed Blaine to the cashier.

--

Kurt entered Blaine’s apartment tentatively. He already suspected that the doctor’s home would be very different from his own, and he couldn’t be more right. While Kurt’s apartment was tiny and had barely space for himself, Blaine’s was huge. There were two master bedrooms, a gigantic hall, and a kitchen from Kurt’s dreams. While Kurt’s apartment was filled with paintings and photographs, Blaine’s apartment looked like a hospital. The walls were plain white and there wasn’t a single personal photograph. Neither of family nor of friends. There were a few standard photo’s looked like they were from IKEA. The first photo was of a red rose, the next of a purple daisy and the last of a bullfrog. The ridiculously enlarged photo’s seemed off to Kurt and his mind thought of all the ways he could decorate the apartment to make it resemble a home.

Something black and white came to Kurt’s sight. It was his drawing! Blaine had taped Kurt’s drawing on his wall. Kurt was gobsmacked.

Blaine turned to see why Kurt was being so quiet and followed his gaze towards the drawing.
“Oh…”

Blaine cleared his throat and Kurt snapped out of it.

“Uh.. I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but it’s the first time a patient has ever drawn me something”, Blaine said sheepishly, blushing.

Kurt relaxed at this. He was actually a bit flattered that the doctor was willing to hang the simple drawing on the wall. Particularly since it wasn’t exactly one of his masterpieces.

“How come you haven’t got one from a cute kid yet?”, Kurt asked amused. He thought that most kids would do something like that for their doctor. Especially a cute doctor like Blaine.

Blaine blushed again, causing Kurt to raise an eyebrow.

“Because I’ve only been a doctor for a month. I just got out of med school”, Blaine revealed, slightly embarrassed.

Kurt smiled tauntingly. He didn’t know why, but it felt nice to know things like that about Blaine. But if he just got out if medical school, he had to be at least 26 years old. Given that he passed everything right away.

“Let me guess. You’re 26?”, Kurt asked out of interest.

Blaine shook his head.
“I graduated early from high school – I’m 25”

Kurt looked at him curiously.

“Why did you graduate early?”, he asked bluntly. Kurt was not known for sugar coating uncomfortable things.

Blaine looked a little uneasy.
“Let’s have that conversation over dinner, shall we?”, he asked and gestured towards the kitchen.

Kurt and Blaine small talked about favourite artists and music while they made dinner. They argued whether they liked the new music or the older music of Lady GaGa best and talked about the best places to get coffee in New York. They hit it off real well at once and Kurt’s shoulders felt slightly lighter when dinner was served. Even the awkwardness of being at his ex-doctor’s apartment was gone. Kurt found Blaine to be funny, smart and beyond belief caring. Blaine thought Kurt was witty, brutally honest and talented. More or less unknowingly, the boys started off their friendship.

Kurt sat across Blaine during the meal and they ate in comfortable silence. Once they were done eating, Blaine ushered him to the living room where they sat down beside each other on the couch. Kurt wasted no time in asking Blaine the question he had been longing to ask.

“So, why did you graduate early?”, Kurt asked again. He knew that it was probably rude to ask him so bluntly, but he wanted an answer.

Blaine sighed ever so slightly.

“Because I was too smart..”, he smiled weakly.

Kurt bore his eyes on Blaine’s, believing that there was more to the story.

“High school was hell for me”, Blaine winced.
“I went to a public school during freshman year, but I was bullied so bad that I was forced to leave school”, he started, glancing at Kurt to get an impression of the boys thoughts. Kurt, however, wore a well rehearsed poker face, not revealing a single emotion.

Blaine sighed and continued.
“So my parent’s sent me to Dalton Academy, a private, all boys-school with an anti-bullying policy that was actually enforced. I got friends there, and I guess it was ok, but I just wanted to get out of high school and Ohio. I was sick and tired of the close minded people and most of all.. my parents”.

Blaine looked insistently at Kurt, willing him to say something, anything. Had he gone too far? Divulged too much information? Kurt looked at him for a while before talking.

“Why were you bullied, Blaine?”, he asked. He knew that the doctor was gay, but he wanted him to tell him himself.

Blaine looked nervous.

“Because I’m gay”, he said softly. It was weird for Kurt to see Blaine so vulnerable. It was truly adorable.

Kurt nodded slowly.

“Yeah, Ohio’s a homophobic bitch”

Blaine studied Kurt’s features for a while. They were elegant, but sophisticated. His eyebrows were perfectly angled and his skin was so pale they indicated that Kurt was hardly ever outside. He looked fragile, like he could break. Tired and stretched. Blaine knew that was a common trait with drug addicts, but somehow when Kurt opened his mouth, Blaine forgot that the boy in front of him had a drug problem. He saw Kurt for what he really was; magnificent.

After a few minutes in silence, Blaine finally addressed the huge elephant in the room.
“I beg you apology for being so blunt and I can assure you that I would have addressed the matter at hand in a different manner if I could, but… Are you gay?”

Kurt surprised him by twitching the corner of his lips upwards.

“Yeah”

Blaine nodded carefully.
“Then you’d know all about small town life in Ohio”

Kurt simply nodded in return. The two men sat in thoughtful silence for a few more minutes before Blaine grew increasingly curious of Kurt’s life.

“How old are you?”, he asked tentatively with the same calming, friendly smile that Kurt had seen him wear before. The same smile that made him trust Blaine and made him want to get to know him.

“Twenty-six”, Kurt answered with a tiny shrug. Blaine noticed that Kurt wasn’t a huge fan of talking about himself. Maybe if he just got him to tell him a bit more about himself, he would warm up to him..

“Did you move to New York after high school, like I did?”, Blaine asked curiously. Kurt simply shook his head, leaving Blaine confused. When he didn’t get a reply from the elder boy, Blaine searched in his eyes for an answer. Kurt sighed and gave in.

“I didn’t finish high school. I moved here before graduation”, Kurt said emotionlessly, holding the sides of his chair tightly with his hands, unconsciously grasping for support.

Blaine saw how tense Kurt became when he talked about himself. He wanted to reach out at grab the boy’s hand to console him, but he knew it would be too weird.

“Why didn’t you graduate?”, Blaine asked, his voice barely higher than a whisper.

Kurt laughed, but the laughter didn’t meet his eyes. It was dry and scary. Blaine shivered involuntarily.

“I was the only out gay kid at my school, Blaine. It had consequences”, Kurt said in a detached voice and Blaine shuddered.

“And when my dad died during senior year, I had nothing left in Lima. I packed my bags, emptied my savings account and came here, to New York. And I’ve been here ever since”, he said, shrugging lightly.

Blaine nodded softly and looked at Kurt – really looked at him. He saw a boy who wore a mask for the rest of the world. A boy who had experienced too much in his life and who just needed someone to hold him. He reached forward to hug him.

Blaine pulled Kurt into a warm and comforting hug. Kurt, however froze at this unfamiliar action. He wasn’t used to being hugged. When was the last time anyone had hugged him like this? Hugged him without asking for anything in return. Without implying sex. Oh right. His dad’s funeral. 10 years ago. Lots of people whom he didn’t even know hugged him and expressed their condolences. Kurt thought that it didn’t mean anything.

He didn’t know how to respond to Blaine’s hug. Should he hug him back so that it wasn’t awkward or should he just wait for Blaine to be release him? He tried to wrap his arms tentatively around Blaine’s shoulders, feeling kind of awkward. He hardly touched the curly haired boy, but once he did, Blaine hugged him even tighter until Kurt cleared his throat and coughed inconspicuously.

Blaine immediately dropped his hands and smiled apologetically. Kurt looked at him with an unreadable expression. His eyes bore into Blaine’s and even though the latter cleared his throat, the tall boy didn’t look away.

“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable..”, Blaine mumbled and kicked himself mentally. Why did he have to go on and screw up? Kurt was finally opening up to him now.

Kurt just shrugged.
“It’s ok. I’m just not used to people hugging me”, he said as honest as usual.

Blaine’s eyes bulged out of their socket. Poor Kurt. How did this boy live without affection? Blaine would have gone crazy if it wasn’t for his small group of friends.

Kurt tore his gaze away and looked bitterly at the floor.
“Don’t…”

Blaine looked puzzled.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t look at me as though you pity me. I don’t need your pity!”, he spat and walked towards the door. He didn’t want to be here if it was pity Doctor Anderson could offer him.

Blaine hurried towards him and put his hand on Kurt’s shoulder.

“Kurt. I’m sorry”, he rushed.

Kurt stopped immediately, but shrugged away Blaine’s hand.

“I’m didn’t mean for it to come out like that”, he said and turned Kurt so that he faced him. Blaine took his hand and smiled gently.

“I want to be friends”

Kurt stared at Blaine’s fingers that were interlocked with his own. Did he want to be friends with this man? Blaine’s smile shone like a hundred light bulbs. Kurt felt something fall to place in his heart.
“Yeah. I’d like that”, he simply stated with the tiniest of smiles.

He didn’t need a friend – he wanted one.

That night Kurt went home with a pleasant feeling. The day had been nice for Kurt Hummel. He had started on a new painting that he was content with. Then he had rewarded himself with the heavenly white powder that he hid behind the books in his bookshelf. And he had gained a friend. A friend that actually meant something to Kurt. Only then did he realise how much he had missed having a good friend. They had talked about everything trivial in the world like favourite Disney songs and movies. Kurt learned that Blaine had been in Dalton’s Glee Club; The Warbler’s. Blaine found out that Kurt was in New Directions. They both realised that they had competed against each other before, though that memory was so far away from both of them.

Kurt wondered why Blaine didn’t continue singing. He was after all the lead singer in a relatively good Glee Club. However, he decided against asking him. He had filled his quota for serious conversation to last at least a year.

Still, he had a nagging feeling that Blaine would insist on having more of those conversations with him. Kurt smiled softly. Maybe it wasn’t too bad. As long as he got a friend like Blaine out of this.

AN: Sorry if I offended any of you guys from Ohio. I’ve never been there myself. I’m just trying to portray Ohio the way Kurt saw it, and I think it would be hard for him to be neutral when he had been through all the mess that he has. Reviews warm my heart :) I hope to finish chapter 5 by Saturday.