Two drinks in and Blaine’s brain was already full of fuzz when someone at the bar thought it’d be hilarious to start a round of 7 Minutes In Heaven for the sparse crowd that was there on a Thursday. They all had nothing else better to do in town but belly up at Scandals and hope to drown out the boredom, get lucky, or be in a crowd where company, even if it was the drunken kind, was better than being alone. Blaine fell somewhere close to the being in a crowd was better than being alone category. Since, well, breaking up with Dave and subsequently seeing Kurt walking away with a man who made fun of the bowtie he’d proposed to Kurt wearing and, essentially, leaving him once again–alone.
He was just un-sober enough to figure why not as the tip bucket was passed around with pieces of napkin and paper with random mostly stranger’s names sloppily handwritten on them folded up inside. Hey, who knew? Maybe it’d, finally, someone else’s mouth might get the taste of Kurt’s lips out of his where it’s sat for nearly a week coming back to haunt him. Two seconds later, the masochistic part of his brain that never seemed to shut up lately had him regretting the idea. But it was too late and he had another whiskey sour in his hand, oblivious, to the fact that the person he’d come here to forget about was even in the building. Or how long he’d been watching.
“Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel,” the bartender yelled with an echo of cheers and howling.
Blaine’s mouth was hanging open when he jerked his head in the direction of the bartender who was already pouring someone else another drink. Hazel eyes were practically screamingyou’ve got to be kidding me! But the pale hand gripping the side of his arm and tugging his attention to the face close enough to his that now once he was tuned in, he could feel the warm caress of Kurt’s breath on his cheek said otherwise. “Kurt? How? I didn’t see you..”
“This is such a bad idea,” he mumbled as the door closed and the music faded to a muffled thud, thud, thud. All he could see was the outline of Kurt’s beautiful features and those bright, bright blue green eyes. Thud, thud, thud. No, that wasn’t the music. That was his heart hammering against his chest. Time stopped. He had no idea what happened in the next few seconds. What Kurt said or did or, hell, could’ve been fate doing him a favor by shifting Kurt’s magnetic poles back into alignment with his like they’d always been before.. Whatever it was? Blaine didn’t care.
Because the moment his shaking fingers were made steady by pressing themselves against the curve of Kurt’s collarbone would’ve been worth the potential disaster coming when he ignored every alarm, every flashback of nights spent in tears. How he didn’t know if he could do it again. That every time he told himself he’d be more guarded, one look from Kurt and the walls came tumbling down. Just like now. When their mouths met with the softness of an Hello, I’ve missed you they’d ached for but were only given a taste of outside Rachel’s. Hello, I’ve missed you, too. Come closer.. His heels lifted off the floor and he pulled Kurt downwards, tilted his head, breathed him in and parted their lips with a sigh. So much for shielding against the inevitable.
COFFEE had evolved from a disgustingly bitter distaste to an acquired necessity after Finn had began teaching on his own. The EARLY mornings and long nights required him to find some sort of fuel, and apparently, drinking FOUR RED BULLS a day wasn’t great for your health. Coffee was a little bit better…and it was somewhat CHEAPER too. You know, when you decided to make it at home or school and not buy the overpriced drinks at Lima Bean. However, Finn was running late and still had a million things to do before the first bell, so a coffee pit stop was in order for this morning.
He was half awake from his lack of caffeine, so he barely paid attention to who was next to him in the shop. He was pretty sure his eyelids were DROOPING when he heard a familiar voice say his name, blinking quickly and glancing down at the boy he hadn’t seen in years. Not since his break up with Kurt, really.
“ BLAINE ? ” he greeted as he instantly perked up, a warm grin spreading across his lips as he took his coffee in one hand and pulled the boy into an embrace in the other. “What’re you doing here, man?! It’s been FOREVER !”
“Everyone’s still kind of here, there, and everywhere, you know. I’m working at MCKINLEY though,” he informed with a soft smile as he grabbed a couple of sugar packets, flicking them a couple of times to get the sugar to settle before he ripped the top off and poured it into his coffee. “What about YOU though? What’re you doing around here?”
Blaine was nervous to get back into the swing of things on the Lima end of Ohio. Sticking to Westerville seemed to be the better plan. Safer. More comfortable. Since his horrible attempt at becoming someone new, different and maybe a bit less old Blaine which was once a new Blaine and just Blaine ended up with his best friend not recognizing him. After that? His visits trickled down to pretty much nothing. Unless Burt Hummel or Sam were involved.
UNTIL.The same person that helped Dave through his darkness helped him. She encouraged him to stand on the foundation of the life he built for himself two hours from Lima as the means of walking proudly back to a place that once meant so much to him. More importantly. To the people who were still there. Which was why he was here. To try. Like he promised.
“Finn! Hey! Yeah! It has been. It’s so good to see you again!” That’s why being face-to-face with Finn, of all people, made Blaine’s heart race. His eyes filled with adoration, apprehension and so much joy aching to burst free that his arms both slipped around Finn’s back and he hugged him so tight he might not ever let him go. Thankfully, Finn took care of that.
“I heard the rumor you were. How is it going? I’m sure you’re a great teacher. I thought I’d drop by. See how things are going with you and Sam?” His gaze darted up. “Me? I’m.. Things are a lot different.” Here came his pride, straightening his back and making his voice lift in a light quip of joy. “I work for Dalton. Crazy, huh,” he pursed his lips in a ‘Can you believe it’ smirk. “I’m the Director of the Warblers. Started this summer.” A playful grin twisted into place and he feigned a hint of regret. “Um. Should I have kept that a secret until after I visited McKinley..?”
I used to be fearless. I used to be invincible.
But now my fingers
are fumbling for
the empty space
of your outline on my bed sheets.
Finn, of course, was aware of Blaine and Kurt’s break up. Heck, after Rachel, Kurt was immediately on the phone with Finn, which he had to admit surprised him a little. Finn wasn’t going to side with or blame either party though. He hadn’t wanted that when things had officially ended with Rachel months ago.
He could tell that Blaine was a little worse for wear, immediately having flashbacks of the same feeling. It was the worst. He grabbed his coffee from the table and followed Blaine to the counter, fully intending on treating Blaine to whatever he wanted. It was the least he could do to hopefully make Blaine’s day a little brighter.
“I’m pretty good. On my first official summer vacation as a teacher. Best job ever,” he chuckled, flashing him a soft grin. “How’ve you been? You doing okay?”
Stepping backwards as he watched Finn grab his coffee, Blaine stuffed his hands in his pockets and greeted him with a smile when he caught back up. He hadn’t reached out to Finn since his return to Ohio for obvious reasons. Mainly, him figuring that since Kurt and Finn were stepbrothers? He was, automatically, put on the outside of any sort of relationship with him now, too. Just like the rest of Kurt’s family.
Yes, it was cutting them short from the immense credit they all deserved. But it was easier to just assume than to think about trying to contact them and suffer through the hurt of being turned away. A coward’s way out? Definitely. However, it was safer for him, too. And it saved them the potential uncomfortable feeling of talking to the ex-fiance’. Regardless of how much it hurt.
Being treated the opposite the first time he’s run into Finn? Blaine couldn’t help the crooked smile he first gave him from blossoming into something more real. Especially with Finn’s news. “That’s great, Finn! I’m so glad you love it. I’m sure you’re amazing.” Having turned around when they approached the counter, Blaine shrugged and stepped forward. “I’m..? I’ve been better. I’ve been a lot worse though. I guess I’m getting there,” their eyes met with a lift of Blaine’s chin, “Slowly but surely. Sometimes that’s the perfect pace. Right?”
Then there is the boy you can never stop thinking about. Whenever you see his name, it trips you up. Even if it’s one that belongs to many others, even if he belongs to someone else. You know he is a symbol of your weakness, your Kryptonite. How he rushes in like wildfire and burns through everything you worked so hard to build since he last left you in ashes.
Santana was fairly shocked that Blaine didn’t push his point any further. He could be pretty stubborn, but maybe the fear of Santana’s reaction silenced his attempts. Whatever effect she had on him, at least it got his silence. Fighting about Kurt was what got them into this mess — she wasn’t about to go down that same road again. Maybe that showed just how desperate she was to get their friendship back as well. That could be leverage — real proof that Santana cared more than she let off. There were too many times where that got brought to the light. Was she really about to let this be another one?
( mssg » blaine anderson | sent ) Don’t get sappy on me, captain bowtwit. I’m not in the mood. ( mssg » blaine anderson | sent ) We’ll see. ( mssg » blaine anderson | sent ) Don’t get too excited. A conversation can easily man nothing. I mean, do any of us remember anything the leprechaun said while he was in Glee club? Or the jesus freak with pet dreads named after bible characters? Irrelevant. Meet half way, around that park with the coffee stand. You’re buying.
( mssg » santana | sent ) Okay. Sorry. Consider this an official Sap Free Zone. ( mssg » santana | sent ) I’m not letting you give up on me.. No “we’ll see”. ( mssg » santana | sent ) Yeah. No hopes up. Got it. I’ll meet you there around six.
Blaine sat on the bench beside the coffee stand, reading over their last sets of texts while volleying replies back and forth to Rachel. He was pretty sure that his eyebrows were permanently frozen in a shoved together position and his teeth had to let up on his bottom lip soon or they were going to do some damage. No amount of mindless chatter with Miss Berry was going to erase the nervous jitters he had while waiting for Santana to show. Knowing he had one chance to fix what happened between the two of them was wracking his last nerve. Blaine couldn’t bring himself not to try to mend fences. Santana was too important not to give their friendship an effort to save. Regardless of time spent or distance apart, she mattered to him. And they’d all been through too much together to forget that.
Santana was becoming more && more uneasy as the conversation went on. Mostly because she could feel her heart yearning for her to change her mind. To accept his efforts && try to smooth things out. Only, it was unclear whether or not he deserved it. Maybe a conversation like that had to be done in person — but Santana was afraid that seeing him in person would cloud her judgement. He was such a soft spot for the female. How could she stay angry when he was so damn good at cheering people up?
text — blaine anderson; you always victimize Kurt. That’s not the point, but you do. text — blaine anderson; I don’t know what you’re trying to do, because I think it was pretty obvious how you felt before. I don’t think you can change that to resolve a fight. Families split up too. They leave each other. Sometimes just for who you are. text — blaine anderson; Fine, but I want to get it over with. When?
Getting the smallest crumb of hope that he might have the chance to make things right between him and Santana paused his fingers and prevented him from defending Kurt any further. Blaine knew better than to push that topic right now. Any footing he fought to get with her in the attempt to save their friendship would cave in if he kept it up. Fixing this wasn’t an option. He had to. She was just too important to let go. Spending his entire life regretting pushing her away wasn’t something he could live with. He had to TRY.
( mssg » santana | sent ) I know they do but you’re more important than that kind of family. You’re family because we found each other through series of circumstances and whatever else you want to call it that lead up to us meeting one another. ( mssg » santana | sent ) Either way. That’s family you don’t give up on. I can’t. ( mssg » santana | sent ) Really? Great! Whenever you want. Name the time and the place and I’ll be there no matter what.
❝ You know that you’re my friend. And I’ll help you with anything that I can. Whatever you think that might be falling apart, maybe it’s just life making you open your eyes to other ways. It might be not the best, but something’s there. You know? ❞
“I know. Rachel, you’re amazing and I’m so happy you’re here. Do you think that’s what the universe is trying to tell me? What sort of other ways do you think it’s trying to turn me towards? A month ago everything was going smooth. Mostly. And now.. Now, it all seems so..not. Can I be honest and not make this go straight towards awkward? Even if I say it’s about..Kurt?”
pianokeysandbowties 