Feb. 1, 2014, 6 p.m.
All Of The Lights
Blaine wants to see the stars, in order to do so he breaks into the building accross the street, Kurt's building.
T - Words: 2,477 - Last Updated: Feb 01, 2014 653 0 0 0 Categories: AU,
Come and say hello: <a href="http://framby.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a>
There is something magical about New York at night. At night, the city quiets down, all the sounds are muffled, the smell is different: fresher, earthier. The lights are different too. During the day they are vibrant and challenging, at night they are soothing.
Kurt loves going out at night. He never told Rachel or Santana, but when the sun falls behind the buildings, when the sky becomes a mix of a twirling rose and orange, and when the buildings little by little lighten up, Kurt likes to go out. He climbs out of the window and uses the fire escape to go to the roof.
There is nothing really interesting about the roof, its messy and there are cables that some people must have forgotten about. There is also a little patch of grass on a corner that is climbing against a wall. Kurt really doesnt want to know how it even started to grow there.
He closes the door behind him, he knows by now that it doesnt lock so no fear of being locked out. He steps around the cabin and steps closer to the edge of the roof.
This is where everything becomes magical. The view is beyond everything he could have ever dreamt of. He can see the buildings near with their lights on, he can count the many offices in which people are still working. On the left there is the outdoor subway that races with the cars. Under him there is the road and sidewalk and the other flats of his street.
Kurt never really pays attention to his neighbors. He prefers watching the buildings and the offices. They stand erect from the ground and pierce the sky as though they want to make a statement. They are there, they are bold and majestic, they are not asking permission to be there. They just are. And this is why Kurt likes them so much. The first time he saw them he almost wanted to be an architect, but after some time he realized that hed rather contemplate them than create them.
So Kurt uses them as an inspiration. He comes up to the roof as often as he can. Sometimes its merely just to relax and admire the view, sometimes he brings his work with him and tries to sketch as many pieces as he can.
Tonight is one of those nights. He waited for Rachel and Santana to go to sleep and as silently as he could he climbed up with his notebook and pencils.
Its around eleven and Kurt already has two drafts for pieces he wants to try and make when there is suddenly a loud noise coming from the door.
"Oh crap! I thought this was going to be locked!" Kurt can hear the mans voice coming closer and he doesnt know what to do, he doesnt even dare to move, too afraid to do anything.
"Holly ffff-heck!" The man yells, probably in surprise when Kurt finally jumps out of the chair hed brought up months ago. "Holy… you scared me to death! What are you doing here?" The man cocks his head to the side and scrunches his nose in confusion.
"Excuse me, but what are you doing here? I dont remember you living in the building." Kurt knows he should probably be a little less blunt, especially with a stranger who just barged in on his roof. But the man is wearing a bowtie and boat shoes, so not that Kurt is one to stereotype or anything, but he probably isnt a thief or a threat for that matter.
"I.. uh well you see." The man starts, fidgeting nervously from foot to foot. "Im a neighbor?"
"Are you asking me?" Kurt cant help but smile a little at the question. The guy is cute and obviously a little insecure about the whole situation.
"No, no of course not. I know Im a neighbor. I mean I live right across the street, so of course Im a neighbor. I wouldnt say that if I werent. Im not a thief!" The man exclaims, his hands flying in the air to accentuate what he is saying. "I promise I dont want to steal anything or break into peoples house and Im not a pervert who likes to look through people windows and …"
"Huh." Kurt is staring. There is no other word for what he is doing. His eyes are growing bigger and bigger with every new word the man is saying because in all honesty who would say that to a stranger? "Im sorry to cut you off, but youre rambling."
"Yeah, um…" the man picks at the hem of his sweater and twists it nervously. "Its stupid really and Im about to make a fool of myself but, um… I wanted to see the stars." Kurt can see that the man is holding his breath, afraid of something.
"Oh, okay. Then maybe you might want to try the other end of the roof because the buildings lights arent going to help you see anything." Kurt motioned to the back of the roof with his hand, making the others man head turn to see what Kurt is showing him.
"I think Id rather sit with you and watch the buildings if its okay with you?"
"I… yeah, okay. Why not." Kurt sits on his chair and the man sits on the ground. The silence is awkward, at least for Kurt. He isnt really a big fan of silence when there is someone else in the room, or in this case, the roof.
"Im Blaine, by the way, and I really am a neighbor. I can see your roof from my window and since we cant access ours, I thought maybe I could borrow yours."
"Nice to meet you, Blaine. Im Kurt. So, you broke into our building to get to the roof?"
"Yes? I mean at first I thought about going through the fire escape but an old lady saw me and she scared me to death. So I thought I could use the stairs."
The conversation quickly ends and they stay there, watching the buildings together in the safety of the darkness, where dreams seem bigger and more reachable.
The next time Kurt is on the roof he doesnt look so much as the buildings, this time he wants to see Blaines flat. There is no other reason than pure curiosity, or at least thats what Kurt tells himself because there is no way he is going to acknowledge the crush he has on the neighbor who likes to break in to see the stars.
They are several building across the street and at the moment many flats have the lights on. Its going to be easy for Kurt to spy on them.
First there is the old lady that Kurt always sees at the pharmacy. She is always there no matter what and seems to know everything about every single thing they are selling, last time she even advised him on which condoms to buy. There is a couple with a child around a table and next to their flat there is two girls crying in front of the TV. Kurt scans every floor before going to the next building. It doesnt take long before Kurt finally sees him.
Blaine is sitting at a table doing something Kurt cant really see. He is once again wearing a sweater, this time its green with some yellow patterns on it. It looks like one of those horrendous things Rachel used to wear.
Kurt stays there a little longer, watching Blaine working or doing whatever he is doing. It might be a little creepy, Kurt is conscious of that. But this is the most beautiful man Kurt has ever seen, and its not really like anything could happen.
Kurt climbs to the roof every night for a week, the air is becoming colder and colder as October passes. Kurt brought a blanket with him this time, so he can stay longer without shivering too much.
"Oh god!" Kurt hears after a while. Its Blaine, Kurt is sure of that. "Why is it so cold, Im going to die here."
Kurt chuckles a little but waits in silence until Blaine finally spots him and walks to him, a chair in his hand.
"Hi, did you bring the chair all the way up here?" Kurt wonders, snuggling a little more into his blanket.
"Hello there. Uh, yes. I thought about you and your chair and I thought that I should do the same so I wouldnt have to sit on the floor. Now I wish Id thought about a blanket too."
Kurt thinks about offering him to share the blanket, to sit together on the chair and to snuggle under it, but its not really appropriate to offer that kind of thing when you only met a man once. Kurt doesnt say anything, and bites his lips in remorse every time he catches Blaine shivering.
They do that for two weeks together. They talk, a lot. Apparently the softness of the night is doing something to them because once they start talking they cant stop.
And this is how Kurt finds out that Blaine is a big fan of the fall. He loves the colors going from green to a palette of yellow and red and orange, he loves how the air gets colder and he finally get to wear warm clothes, he loves the "fume" that comes out of his mouth when he talks and the falls special drinks at the coffee shop. He also loves to snuggle with Batman.
Batman is Blaines dog. He is a little puppy and Blaine bought him not too long ago when he moved in and had no one. Apparently Batman is an even bigger dork than Blaine if Kurt can trusts the stories Blaine tells him.
"Are you carving a pumpkin for Halloween?" Blaine asks in the middle of a silence.
"Im not a big fan of pumpkin carving. We get seeds everywhere and you have to dig in that thing sometimes with your nails. So really, no carving for me." Kurt answered, twitching his mouth in disgust.
"Oh, okay." Blaine doesnt say anything and turns his head to the buildings lights. The glow of the building shines on Blaines face, glimmers catching between his eyelashes and illuminating his tan skin. Kurt sees the hurt and the rejection on Blaines face and wonders if Blaine really tried to ask him out on a date.
Kurt doesnt see Blaine after that for week. Well, he sees him but not on the roof. Blaine is in his flat, and from his creepy habits Kurt can say that Blaine had been looking at the roof for a few minutes several times that week. But he never climbs and Kurt stays in the dark, waiting for him.
Kurt cant help but think that its because of the pumpkin thing and he feels bad, really bad for not understanding sooner that maybe Blaine was trying to come out with something fun for them to do. Or maybe Kurt is overthinking this and Blaine just doesnt want to die frozen on a smelly rooftop.
Kurt scribbles furiously on his notebook, almost tearing the paper in two before he calms down and takes a look at what he just drew. Kurt sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. He is an imbecile and he has the biggest crush ever on his neighbor who breaks into buildings to look at the stars and has a dog named Batman.
There on the paper, Kurt has drawn a model that looks like Blaines twin, and Kurt knows that he is a goner.
Halloween is fast approaching and Kurt still hasnt seen Blaine since the night they talked pumpkins.
He saw him walking Batman several times at night, and looking up at the sky before shaking his head and watching where he was going. One time he didnt and walked right into a tree, and Kurt is a little ashamed to say that he laughed and laughed even harder when Blaine spun around to see if anyone had seen him.
Its two days before Halloween when Kurt decides he has had enough. He starts his machine and starts sewing. He has an idea but he needs to be fast.
He sews all night and all day and the morning after he wraps what he just made and breaks into the building across the street (actually he just waits for someone to come in). He climbs the stairs to Blaine floor and when he finally reaches it he is faced by three similar doors that could all belong to the man.
Of course Kurt didnt really think this through and now he is going to have to knock, talk about a surprise.
Luckily for him, Batman is quite loud behind the door and since there is apparently no other dog on the floor Kurt takes a wild guess and settles the package in front of the door and leaves quickly.
Kurt isnt a big fan of waiting but he does. He sees Blaine coming back from where he was, and then he sees the lights being turned on in his flat.
Nothing happens for a half an hour. He doesnt see Blaine through his window; he doesnt see Batman either. Kurt starts worrying. Maybe he shouldve written down his name on the package, maybe it was the wrong door, maybe Blaine doesnt want to go out with him and its just going to be really really awkward soon.
Kurt is in the middle of a relatively mild panic attack when he receives a text. Its from an unknown number but there is a picture attached to it. Kurt is curious - its a trait that hes made peace with by now - and clicks on the picture.
Its a picture of a cute puppy with big brown eyes on top of a pumpkin. The puppy is looking right at the camera and it makes Kurts heart melt, because the puppy is wearing the sweater Kurt made for Batman, one that matches one of Blaines.
Batman and I think that maybe, if youd like you should join us to carve pumpkins. Well do the carving and maybe you could make us hot cocoa? – B
How did you get my number? – K
A friend of yours whose name is Santana cornered me two weeks ago and told me to "ask you out already before they all die from blue balls." – B
Sounds like her, sorry she cornered you. She doesnt bite…much – K
She was relatively nice to me - B
So… is this you asking me out?- K
If I was what would you say? – B
Id say yes – K
Its good to know. Okay, bye. – B
Blaine! – K
You never answered my first question – B
Im waiting for a proper demand for a date – K
I need you to come over and make us hot cocoa to ask you out. I dont want to do it and not be able to see you – B
Im coming over then - K