Coffee, Kilts, and Candy Canes, Part 3
Title: Coffee, Kilts, and Candy Canes
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine
Length: 10,067 words
Warnings: professor/student sexy times
Summary: After Kurt finds out that the dreamy man he met in the coffee shop is actually his professor, he goes to some drastic measure to get Professor Anderson’s attention.
Rating: NC-17
Notes: Since this is AU, we’re going to pretend that NYU has both a Musical Theatre program and a Fashion Design program, and Rachel and Jesse are together. And thanks to my beta, prosaictragedy! This was a gift for katherine_lupin in the gleewinterfun exchange!
Part 1
Part 2
Feeling slighted, Kurt grabs a latte, an herbal tea, and three bagels to go - he figures Rachel and Jesse are probably ready for breakfast by now.
Still, when he gets back to the apartment he stops to listen closely at the door for a moment before unlocking the door. He’s relieved to find Jesse and Rachel dressed and in the kitchen. Rachel’s fiddling with the coffee pot, trying to get the settings just right, while Jesse stares blankly into the empty refrigerator.
“No need, Rach,” Kurt says, brandishing the cardboard carrying tray in front of him. “I come bearing libations.”
“Mmmm you’re a life saver, Kurt. I can’t function enough to set that thing up yet,” she gestures carelessly to the coffee maker, which although it’s plugged in isn’t doing anything except displaying a repeatedly blinking error message.
“What, Jesse didn’t do a good enough job of waking you up?” Kurt asks innocently.
Rachel has the decency to blush. “Sorry about that,” she says, though the little giggle that escapes her throat doesn’t make her sound that apologetic.
“It was a long and brutal summer, if you get my drift,” Jesse says, finally closing the refrigerator door. “You would think trying to sneak around her dads would add some excitement to life, but it doesn’t. What’s in the bag?”
“Bagels,” Kurt responds. “And at least you got something this summer. Unlike me, need I remind you? I am still single, and painfully so.”
“Oh, Kurt,” Rachel sighs as she begins slicing open one of the bagels. “You’ll find someone.”
“I thought I just did.” The words slip out before Kurt really makes a conscious decision about whether or not he’s going to tell them about Blaine. They both give him questioning looks.
“At the coffee shop,” Kurt continues. “I met this guy, Blaine. I really thought we hit it off. We were talking about musicals and crossword puzzles, and yes, he’s actually gay,” he says quickly as Rachel opens her mouth to interrupt. “He said so himself.”
“So…what happened?” Jesse asks carefully.
“I don’t know!” Kurt bursts out. “One minute we’re doing his crossword puzzle and the next he’s telling me we can’t exchange numbers because he’s ‘moving to Chicago tomorrow’!” Kurt exclaims, making quotation marks in the air for effect.
“You think he lied,” Rachel says.
“Well, yeah!” Kurt says. “Things were going fine up until then!”
“Did you say anything to scare him off?” Jesse asks.
Kurt shoots daggers at him. “No,” he hisses vehemently.
“Okay, okay,” Jesse says. “Maybe you just intimidated him with your knowledge of crossword puzzle answers.
Rachel shoots Jesse a dirty look from across the table.
“Forget about him, Kurt,” Rachel says, patting him on the shoulder. “It doesn’t matter why he lied. He lied, and that means he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Thanks, Rachel,”
“I know what’ll make you feel better,” she says. “Food shopping!”
He gives her a look of disdain.
“Come on,” she nudges him. “You know you love finding the best deals, and coupon hunting. Plus we can pick up some of that yogurt you love so much.”
“I suppose,” Kurt says grudgingly, but he gives her a small smile. “It’s no use going crazy over. I mean, he probably wasn’t that great anyway.”
&&&&&&&&&&
Except that Blaine had been that great, and Kurt couldn’t stop thinking about him. He was incredibly handsome, he had a great personality, and he was funny and charming and loved musicals and - he was perfect. So what had gone wrong?
Kurt knows he isn’t making this up in his head - he and Blaine were having a good time until something went wrong. Obviously, it must have been something Kurt had done. But what?
Kurt tried to put Blaine of out his mind, he really did. He threw his energy into helping Rachel and Jesse finish setting up the apartment. They went food shopping and finished unpacking all of their belongings and then spent an hour deciding which show they should try to get tickets for the following day. It was a nice distraction, for a while. But once he was settled into his own room for the night, his thoughts immediately drifted towards Blaine. He tossed and turned for hours, trying to get to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes all he saw was Blaine’s gorgeous smile. Stupid Blaine.
&&&&&&&&&&
The three of them make the most out of their last week of down-time before classes start, and though Kurt certainly enjoys himself and loves hanging out with Jesse and Rachel, Blaine is still constantly on his mind. He just can’t think of any conceivable reason why Blaine would just up and leave during what Kurt thought was quite a nice conversation. He can only hope that the impending pile of school work he’ll have once classes start up next week will keep his mind occupied and off of a certain curly-haired someone.
&&&&&&&&&&
Kurt’s first week of classes was winding down and he had only one class left before the weekend- English Literature and Composition, at nine a.m. on Friday. He’d tried to avoid taking early morning classes, but he really couldn’t put off this introductory course any longer, not if he wanted to graduate on time.
He’d gotten up with enough time to stop for coffee before heading to class. After quietly letting himself out of the apartment so as not to wake his roommates, Kurt heads over to Cream ‘n Sugar. He’s been going every morning since he’d met Blaine there two weeks ago, trying to catch sight of the other man, but to no avail. Blaine had made it seem like he frequented the small café, so Kurt’s only conclusion was that Blaine was avoiding the place for some reason. Perhaps because he knew Kurt had detected his lie.
This morning was no different. There was still no Blaine to be found, not even a left-behind crossword puzzle, which Kurt hates to admit he’s been hoping to find. Still, the excursions are never a total waste because Kurt does wind up with a delicious cup of coffee, after all.
After he takes that first delectable sip of his non-fat mocha while standing at the counter, as is his daily ritual, he sets out into streets of New York to enjoy a leisurely walk to class.
His walk takes him through the bustling city streets, past businessmen in their suits hurrying off to work. Inevitably Kurt’s mind turns to Blaine again, because none of these men are anywhere near as well-dressed as Blaine had been. He hastily scans the crowd of people he passes on the way to school, hoping he’ll catch a glimpse of dark curly hair or a dashing smile, but all he sees are tired looking men in stiff suits, clearly dreading another day at the office.
Come to think of it, Kurt doesn’t even know what Blaine does for a living. He’d mentioned ‘the office’, but that could mean anything. He could be a lawyer, a doctor, an executive of a corporation. It’s thoughts like this that make Kurt realize how silly it is to be fawning over a guy he knows so little about - because really, he knows next to nothing about Blaine except that he’s kind of perfect and that he definitely wants to see him again.
As he crosses the last street on his route and finally walks onto campus, he sets aside thoughts of Blaine and takes his course schedule out of his messenger bag. Eng. Lit. & Comp., Friday, nine a.m., Burke Hall 213. The ‘Professor’ column on his class schedule simply reads ‘TBA’, and Kurt silently scoffs at the English department’s inability to schedule classes in a timely manner.
Kurt is debating how to spend his forty-five minutes of free time before class when an unlucky twist of fate makes the decision for him. As he walks into the student center, a girl chatting animatedly on her cell phone makes a hand gesture that knocks Kurt’s cup of coffee out of his hand as she passes him. She somehow fails to notice that speaking with her hands to a person who can’t even see her has just resulted in Kurt being drenched in his (now thankfully only lukewarm) morning coffee.
“Hey!” he shouts. “Watch where you’re going!”
The girl finally turns around and, seeing Kurt’s angry face, takes off at a run.
Kurt lets out a string of choice curse words under his breath as he assesses the damage. There’s no way to save this outfit, he decides, and with a glance at the large clock that adorns the far wall of the student center, he figures that if he leaves now, he can go home to change clothes and still make it back in time for class.
With a sigh, he turns around and heads back outside. First no Blaine at the coffee shop (again), and now a ruined outfit. He figures his morning can’t possibly get any worse.
Part 4