Just Watch the Fireworks (Kurt/Blaine, Wes) [Part 6b]
(“Jas! Give it back!” Wes whines, chasing his girlfriend around the hotel room in a vain attempt to retrieve the postcard he was writing on.
“Nope,” she says as she jumps onto the bed, “I want to write to them too!”
Wes sighs, “Fine, you can write to them too, just let me finish first.”
Jas grins and hand the postcard back to him. “I don’t know why you don’t just e-mail them,” she says. “Your writing is too atrocious to read anyway. And why the hell are you writing sideways?”
“Because you broke my laptop and my writing isn’t that bad. Also, I’m writing sideways because I enjoy writing sideways, Jasmine,” Wes replies as he continues to scribble on the card.
She flounces - actually flounces, because Jas is a cartoon character - over to where he’s sitting and throws her arms around his neck from behind. She kisses his cheek and whispers into his ear, “You want to skip lunch and stay in?”
Wes grins. “I’d love to,” he says.
“Great!” Jas exclaims. “We can write letters to my parents and the girls from Crawford and then we can order room service and pig out!”
Wes fights back the urge to groan because that is not what he had in mind at all. “You are a horrible person, you know that?”
“Well, fine then, I guess you don’t want to have sex with a horrible person. I’ll just go down to the front desk and ask for another room!” Jas stalks over to the door and Wes knows that she’s trying to sound put-out, but the smile that she’s struggling to keep off her face tells Wes otherwise.
“Please, you wouldn’t do that even if you were actually mad at me,” Wes says.
“I hate that you know me so well, you know that?” she pouts.
“You love that I know you so well,” he corrects turning in his chair to fully face his girlfriend. “It’s because that’s how you can tell that I love you. Which I do. More than anything.”
Jas beams and walks over to him to sit on his lap. She loops her arms around his neck again and kisses him. “I love you too,” she mumbles against his lips.)
-*-
Wes spends the first month of his first summer out of high school with Jas in England. They walk around the streets of London and laugh and kiss under street lights. They buy Jas a car and drive to Oxford and find her flatmates and rent her a place to stay. They spend entire days inside the bedroom and sometimes they don’t even do anything - they just lay their and bask in each other’s presence.
They make friends with the people that will be living with Jas and they go out to town and make more friends. Wes starts keeping a list of e-mail addresses and names to add on Facebook. They go to clubs and get ridiculously drunk because they’re legal here.
Their last few days are spent tangled up in bed sheets and ordering take-out. Neither of them really wants to let go, but they force themselves to once Wes reaches his terminal at Heathrow. It feels like the end of the world and nothing at all at the same time. Wes knows that he’ll be seeing her during winter holidays and they’ll always have e-mail and Skype and phone calls to fill the void, but he also won’t be able to touch her or hold her or feel her. It’s scary when he thinks about it, but thrilling when he thinks about seeing her again.
Wes thinks that they’ll be able to work this out. He thinks that they’ll still be together five, six years from now, a doctor and a lawyer in the making, trying to convince their friends that the other one exists, having dinner together during the holidays. He feels excited and sated at the same time just thinking about it.
Wes’ phone buzzes: I love you ♥ just before the plane is scheduled to take off. He smiles and closes his eyes, waiting to touch down in Ohio and see his friends again.
When he walks out of the terminal, he expects David to be waiting for him. Instead, he finds his dad looking expectantly at him with a hesitant smile.
“Hi, dad,” Wes says.
“Hello, Wes,” his father greets him. Wes suspects that he would have been offered a handshake if it weren’t for the fact that he had suitcases in both his hands.
What surprises Wes even more is that his father has driven himself to the airport rather than using a taxi or a chauffeur service. They’re silent for the first few minutes of the ride because Wes is still in shock and his father has never really been talkative.
Wes’ curiosity wins out in the end and he asks, “What are you doing here, dad?” He tries not to sound too bitter about it. His father hasn’t really been there for him in any sense of the word. He doesn’t remember the last time his dad was at one of his performances or was at any school function. He doesn’t remember the last him his dad hugged him or asked him how his day was. For the longest time, it was just Wes fending for himself. To say that this was out of the blue would be an understatement.
“I cancelled my trip to Bangkok, I wanted to see you before you went off to college,” his father says.
Wes’ eyebrows shoot up and he looks to his father for an explanation.
His dad sighs, “Cindy and I are getting divorced.”
And really, after years of suppressing his feelings, Wes thinks he has the right to be a bit bitter and petulant here. “Is that what her name is? I’m sorry, I lost count after number four,” he bites out.
His father’s grip on the steering wheel tightens as they stop at a red light. “Wes,” he starts, “I know I haven’t been the best father to you and your sister. Heck, I haven’t really been a father to you at all. But I was sitting in a board room in New York last week and one of my clients asked me whether or not my son was going to work for the company after college and I realized - I realized that I didn’t even know where you were going for university, let alone if you even wanted to work for me.”
“Massachusetts,” Wes whispers.
“What?”
“I’m going to Massachusetts for university - Harvard, for poli-sci.”
“I didn’t even know were into politics,” his father laughs in a self deprecating manner. “I called David -” and really, Wes is surprised that he remembers David “- and asked him for your flight information so I could come pick you up.
“I know it’s too late to try to repair things between your sister and I - she’s got her own family now - but I thought, maybe I could still salvage our relationship.”
“Why now?”
“Because you’re my son, Wes. I know I haven’t been very good at showing it, but I do love you. If you’re willing, I’d still like to be a part of your life.”
Wes doesn’t know if he’s just setting himself up for disappointment, but he’s willing to give his dad a chance, because after all, this is his father and Wes is a kid who just wants his dad to be there.
So he says, “I’d like that too, dad. But I’m going to New York next week with the Warblers. And then I’m driving straight down to Cambridge with David so we can find an apartment to rent. His parents are driving up and helping us move in. I probably won’t be back in Ohio until Thanksgiving.”
“Oh. Well - could I -” his father hesitates “- could I maybe drive up to help you move in?”
Wes smiles because his dad is actually willing to work at this. “Yeah, I think that’d be alright,” he says.
David texts him when he gets home asking if Wes wants to have dinner with him. It feels surreal even while he’s typing it, but Wes texts back: this is going to sound really odd, but I don’t think I can…I’m having dinner with my dad.
They order Thai food and his dad asks him questions that a stranger might, but Wes answers with a smile. His dad pours him a glass of wine (“If you’re anything like I was, you’ve already had your first drink; a glass of wine won’t hurt you.”) and they talk through the night about sports, about girls, about Wes’ plans for after college. Wes has never felt so close to the man in his life and a small part of him keeps telling him that this isn’t going to last. But Wes feels optimistic so he ignores the voice and lets his dad tell him about work and stories about when he was a baby and his grandparents.
Wes goes to sleep that night jet lagged and wiped out, but also happy and complete.
-*-
New York is a Warblers only event. Blaine still has the keys to his parents’ townhouse in the Upper East Side and Wes now has access to his dad’s apartment in Manhattan.
The only other time they’ve had a trip like this was when they went camping during Wes’ junior year and that was with a whole different, entirely saner, set of Warblers. Wes is scared and excited and giddy all at once.
They spend a day loading up Wes and David’s cars with all of their worldly possessions and another day figuring out who would be riding with whom. There’re fourteen of them and they figure if they can fit three to a car, they’d only need to bring five cars. But then they realize that Wes, Blaine and David wouldn’t be driving back to Ohio with them and they have to rearrange everything again to fit into seven cars. They divide into pairs: Wes and Blaine, Thad and David, Nick and Jeff, Randy and Trent, Chris and Stacy, Lynn and Bailey, Alex and John.
They make frequent stops for food and argue loudly over speakerphone and end up having to spend the night in some shoddy hotel in some town in Pittsburgh. At some point from Pittsburgh to Blaine’s townhouse, they sing medleys of summer songs while on the phone and then a very enthusiastic rendition of Last Friday Night lead by Jeff.
They reach New York sometime late in the evening the next day and Wes is too tired to do anything but collapse on the nearest horizontal surface. He falls asleep on a couch somewhere in the house while thinking about what a nightmare it’s going to be, living in a house with thirteen other teenage boys.
In the morning, they’re all too tired to wreak any havoc and instead spend the day lounging around the house alternately blasting music through the stereo and playing very competitive games of Guitar Hero.
Their time is split between hanging out with old Warblers living in the Big Apple, throwing parties and goofing around.
One day they go out Central Park, sit in a big circle with their assorted instruments and hold a jam session. It’s mostly just everyone ad-libbing onto different songs, but occasionally they find a song they all know how to play or sing and they perform. Within twenty minutes they draw a crowd. Someone asks them what they’re doing and they just laugh and say making memories. Someone else hears them say show choir at one point and asks if they were at Nationals to which Wes replies, “No, this was our first time even competing as a show choir; mostly we do a capella ensemble competitions.”
They stay at the park until it gets dark and they’ve quite possibly sung every song there is about New York and summer and friends and road trips. They walk home with the instruments, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, laughing at stupid friends and stupid jokes and basking in the warm summer air.
Another day Wes takes Blaine and David to his dad’s apartment and they look at his vinyl collection. They have a similar taste in music, Wes realizes. Just wandering around the apartment makes Wes feel more connected to his dad, who up until a few days ago was a complete stranger to him. They don’t really talk much that day - they go out for lunch and Blaine says some things about Kurt and David says some things about Rita and Wes hums and nods along.
They leave Wes in the apartment by himself that night. He can’t bring himself to sleep in any of the beds because he still feels like he’s intruding, so he chooses to lay a blanket on the floor of the living room. He calls Jas even though there’s a six hour time difference between them now, and they talk until five in the morning about everything and nothing and Wes’ life feels kind of cosmic and unreal.
Some of the Warblers go home after the first week, but Nick, Jeff, Thad, David, Wes and Blaine stick around. As much as Wes loves the other Warblers, he feels that the six of them have always kind of been a unit so it’s not really a big deal.
They spend some days lazing around the house, eating food that can’t possibly be good for their arteries and playing tournaments of Halo and COD. Sometimes they even help Blaine practice for his New Directions audition, which, it seems, is definitely happening. Other days they go back to Central Park with guitars and busk near park benches and earn pocket money that none of them really need.
They sing songs by Death Cab for Cutie and Third Eye Blind and Radiohead - songs that don’t need four part harmonies or beat boxing or choreography. Sometimes Blaine makes them sing songs from The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady - the rest of them moan and groan, but really, they all know it’s just an act and that they really do enjoy playing those songs.
Every night they go to bed with phones attached to their ears and soft smiles on their faces; Thad calls his family, Jeff calls his mom, Nick calls his sisters, David calls Rita, Wes calls Jas and Blaine calls Kurt.
The end of August brings summer music festivals in the park. Organizers are looking for last minute unsigned musical acts and the boys are eager to sign up. They spend a day getting acquainted with the people in charge and are told they’ll be performing on the last day of the festival - no stage, just mics and guitars, sorry boys. But that’s fine because they’re getting paid to perform in New York City by professionals. And this is so much better than Nationals.
They get home and Blaine looks at Wes forlornly and says I wish Kurt could see us. And Wes thinks, why the hell not? It’s not like he can’t - or, really, not like his father can’t afford to fly some people up to New York or anything.
Wes makes his mind up that night. He texts Jas and tells her can’t talk and calls his father hoping he’ll still be up at nine at night. For the first time in a long time, Wes is going to run his plans by his dad. Because they’re trying to build a relationship and spending his father’s money frivolously might not help to do that.
His dad says yes, of course he can. And then he asks to fly up and see the performance too and if Wes would like to maybe have dinner the day after the show. Wes jumps at the offer smiling like crazy because this is his dad showing interest in what he’s doing. This is his dad, telling him that he’s sorry, that he hasn’t been there. This is Wes’ dad telling him he loves Wes.
He doesn’t tell anyone about his plans. He wants them to be a surprise. Wes spends his nights having whispered conversations on the phone with Mr. Hummel and Thad’s parents. He spends his days stealthily texting Kurt and Nick’s older sister. He spends every other free minute organizing flight plans with his dad and hotel bookings with his dad’s assistant and plans of attack with Rita and the Fosters.
The day everyone is due in the city, Wes makes some half-assed excuse about needing to be alone and books it out of the town house by seven-thirty in the morning. He books four cabs - one a wheelchair accessible for Thad’s mom Wendy - and pays them extra to wait outside the doors.
He waits, anxiously looking for everyone to walk out the terminal. Wes has no idea how he’s going to hide eleven people from his friends, but he thinks he’ll manage. The first person he sees is his father who spots him and turns around to presumably tell the others to follow him. Wes sees Kurt gesturing animatedly towards his father and Linda Foster. Nick’s mother, Joan, and Jeff’s mother, Kerry, are whispering to each other. Ben Foster is talking to Thad’s father, Jerry, who is pushing his wife’s wheelchair towards Wes. Rita and Nick’s older sister, Taylor, look half dead and are dragging behind everyone else.
Wes and his father shake hands because it’s still too awkward to hug, but it’s a very nice handshake nonetheless.
“So I hope no one minds,” Wes says, “But I was thinking that I’d take you all to the hotel and you could drop off your things and then we could go surprise the boys?”
“What? No!” Kurt exclaims. “You need to give me time to change and fix my hair. I am not letting any one outside of this airport see me like this,” he says, gesturing to his ensemble of sweatpants and t-shirt.
Wes laughs, “Yes, alright, Kurt. But I’m only giving you thirty minutes after we get to the hotel, OK?”
Kurt huffs, but nods anyway.
It ends up taking Kurt forty minutes, and a lot of coaxing from Rita and Taylor and a few threats to leave him at the hotel from Wes to get changed.
They split up, and Wes ends up in the cab with Kurt, Rita and Taylor. Kurt is jumping up and down in his seat, grinning like a mad man, humming something that sounds suspiciously like I’m going to see my boyfriend in the tune of I’m a Little Teapot. Rita is nervously wringing her hands looking out the window and mumbling to herself - she’s the jittery, shy type and the complete opposite of her sister. Taylor, who Wes has known for years, looks in the rear-view mirror to catch his attention, and then rolls her eyes.
His phone buzzes with a text: they’re such lovesick puppies, it reminds of when Nick first started dating Jeff and their cuteness made me want to dropkick baby penguins to balance out the adorable.
Wes chuckles, “You’re insane, Tay.” She only grins at him.
When they reach the house, it’s ten o’clock. Wes asks everyone to wait outside while he goes and gets his friends. Inside, the boys are eating oddly shaped pancakes and arguing over whether or not the Star Wars prequels were a complete waste of time.
“Hey, guys,” Wes says as he enters the kitchen.
“Hey, Wes!” Jeff greets.
“I thought you were spending the day by yourself,” Blaine says through a mouthful of pancake (and really, Blaine, where have your manners gone).
“Well,” Wes starts, “I was going to, but then these people started following me around and I thought you guys might be able to help me get rid of them, they won’t leave me alone. I think they’re waiting on the lawn right now, Blaine.”
David quirks an eyebrow at Wes, but he still pushes back his seat and follows Wes to the front door. The other boys flank behind him, curiosity getting the best of them.
When Wes opens the door he hears a gasp and an oh my god from Blaine before all of them are running out and hugging their families. Blaine seems to have developed super strength over night because he’s lifting Kurt up and spinning him around while Kurt swats at him, yelling “Blaine, you idiot, put me down!”
Wes smiles at them as his father walks up to stand beside him. “You really love them, don’t you?” his father asks.
Wes doesn’t look away from his friends when he replies, “They’re family. They’ve taken care of me for so long and I don’t even think they realize it.” His dad opens his mouth to speak, but Wes cuts him off, “Don’t apologize, dad. You’ve apologized enough. I just need you to promise me that you’re not leaving me alone again. I don’t think I could find it in me to forgive you a second time.”
His dad purses his lips and nods. “I promise - never again, Wes, not again,” he says.
They get to Central Park and Wes and the boy’s do sound check. They buy lunch from a street vendor, much to Kurt’s dismay (“They’re like heart attacks in a Styrofoam box, Blaine!” “But Kurt, how will we ever have an authentic New York experience if we don’t eat vendor food?”) and they walk around watching different acts perform before it’s time for their set.
They play in front of an audience of sixty or so people. Blaine and Nick have their guitars, Thad has his harmonica, Jeff has his uke and Wes and David have maracas and tambourines. Blaine sings Teenage Dream pointedly - and shamelessly - looking at Kurt, who blushes like mad, through out the whole song.
They play their own version of Four Chord Songs and cover Lady Gaga’s Alejandro which earn them a loud whoop from Kurt and Taylor. David sings I’m Yours and Wes knows immediately that it’s for Rita. She ducks her head and grins. Wes smiles because it’s nice to see someone David finally connects with and who likes him just as much as he likes her.
Wes is having the time of his life and if he weren’t so dead set on becoming a lawyer, he would consider becoming a musician.
Nick and Jeff sing Time After Time together and then Jeff sings Hero/Heroine for Nick. They spend the entire time smiling at each other and ignoring everyone around them. It’s sickeningly sweet and Wes thinks that Taylor probably wants to dropkick baby penguins again.
Wes and Thad sing Good Girls Go Bad and Thad sings Leighton Meester’s part with a killer falsetto that makes the crowd laugh and watch them in awe at the same time. Wes trades Blaine the tambourine for Blaine’s guitar and they end the set Little Lion Man with Wes on lead.
The audience cheers for them and his dad is right up front, smiling and cheering right along. Wes feels a rush of energy and warmth run through him. It’s like he’s on top of the world.
-*-
Cambridge is a dream. It’s everything Wes has ever imagined and more.
He’s loving classes and debating with some of the best minds in the country. His professors are strict, but amazing nonetheless.
Wes spends his days in classes and his nights in his and David’s apartment studying. Sometimes they’re so buried in their class work that they forget dinner and fall asleep in the living room where they study together. Those nights, they wake up at three in the morning to eat left over pizza from last week and complain about their course loads.
David is studying Biology at MIT and killing himself trying to keep up with the work. He’s making friends from the engineering department and joining robot fighting competitions. It’s kind of strange for Wes, who has always had the same group of friends, to watch his best friend hang out with people Wes doesn’t know.
But then, Wes is also making new friends. He gets invited to rush at fraternities, he joins study groups and student unions and, best of all, Wes joins the Harvard Din and Tonics.
At first he’s reluctant to audition because - well, been there, done that. But also because he doesn’t want to replace the Warblers.
(“Wes,” David says patiently, “if you actually think you could replace any of us, you’re certifiable. I’m pretty sure Jeff would permanently glue himself to your hip before he let that happen.”
He Skypes Thad, who’s going to UCLA, to ask his opinion, but all Thad does is glare at him and say, “Join their damn a capella group, Wes, prove to them that they are inferior to our awesome.”)
There aren’t as many Dins as there were Warblers when Wes joins, but they’re all just as goofy and just as passionate about what they do. He performs wearing tuxedos with coat tails and lime green pocket squares and socks.
In the beginning, it’s hard to get a hold on everything. Wes finds himself rushing out the door in the mornings for classes, trying to schedule time to eat and do everything else as well. He barely sees David at all - the both of them living around each other and trying to keep on track. He doesn’t talk to Jas for an entire month.
It takes a nervous breakdown in the middle of the their second month in university, a failing grade in his International Relations class and an argument with David over something stupid Wes can’t even remember to make him realize that he needs to get his life together.
Wes makes intricately detailed schedules and study plans and gets a senior mentor to help him in classes. He still doesn’t have enough time to sleep and thinks that maybe he should evolve himself not to need it.
David the biology major finds it necessary to explain to Wes that evolution doesn’t work like that.
Wes hates that David keeps shooting down his most brilliant ideas.
His Saturdays are always kept open and free of anything school related because Wes decides that he needs time to do things for himself too. Every other Saturday, Wes and David go out to town and find more and more ways to make Boston their own. On alternate weekends, his dad comes down from New York to visit him.
He spends the first two weeks of his Christmas vacation in Ohio. Jas comes to visit during the winter holidays and Wes only barely manages to resist the urge to never leave her side. The only time he really does is to spend time with his dad who seems to have followed Wes to the Midwest for the holiday season and to hang out with the Warblers and Blaine (and Kurt, because apparently they come as a unit now).
Blaine talks about New Directions with large, flailing gestures, as if his words aren’t big enough to truly capture them. He raves about how disorganized the whole club is, but how that doesn’t seem to bother anyone because they’re all having fun.
Wes learns that McKinley is just insane and they have teachers that push kids into lockers and more drama than Wes could care for. But Blaine talks of everything fondly and Wes thinks that he can forgive the crazy so long as his friend is happy and safe.
He goes to the Warblers’ winter concert with David and Blaine and gets invited on stage to sing Last Christmas with them.
By the time he leaves, Wes has never liked Ohio more. He figures it has something to do with the fact that he doesn’t live here anymore and that Ohio is somewhere to visit and not inhabit.
Wes, David and Jas drive back to Boston the day after Christmas. They spend the ride singing Cindy Lauper’s entire back catalogue, courtesy of Wes’ girlfriend.
Instead of partying like all the other college kids on New Year’s Eve, Wes, Jas and David go to the park. They bundle up in their warmest clothes and bring thermoses full of hot chocolate with them. They sit on lawn chairs with dozens of other people and wait for the fireworks to start.
Wes holds Jas’ hand and David throw an arm over his shoulders and sitting there, Wes thinks about how much he feels like a part of The Golden Trio right now. He thinks about how different, yet how similar his life is now; he’s talking to his dad, but he’s also still dating Jas; he’s in college now, but somehow it still feels like he’s back in his Dalton dorm arguing with Blaine over which movie to watch.
It feels like his life is - well, Wes can’t even describe it. He feels happy and complete and full.
He’s sitting there freezing with his best friend and his girlfriend to watch some crappy fireworks, but Wes can’t think of anywhere else to be.
“Hey Wes,” David says as the first of the fireworks start to go off.
“Yes, David?”
“Will you kiss me at midnight?” he grins and leans up against Wes.
He shoves David away, but he pushes too hard and David falls off his chair. He doesn’t seem to notice because he’s too busy rolling around in the snow, laughing.
David climbs back into his seat and keeps muttering about something or another about snow angels and cold body parts so Wes tells him to shut up and watch the fireworks David. David huffs, but stays quiet.
Wes takes Jas under his arm and smiles.
No, he doesn’t want to be anywhere but here.
“Nope,” she says as she jumps onto the bed, “I want to write to them too!”
Wes sighs, “Fine, you can write to them too, just let me finish first.”
Jas grins and hand the postcard back to him. “I don’t know why you don’t just e-mail them,” she says. “Your writing is too atrocious to read anyway. And why the hell are you writing sideways?”
“Because you broke my laptop and my writing isn’t that bad. Also, I’m writing sideways because I enjoy writing sideways, Jasmine,” Wes replies as he continues to scribble on the card.
She flounces - actually flounces, because Jas is a cartoon character - over to where he’s sitting and throws her arms around his neck from behind. She kisses his cheek and whispers into his ear, “You want to skip lunch and stay in?”
Wes grins. “I’d love to,” he says.
“Great!” Jas exclaims. “We can write letters to my parents and the girls from Crawford and then we can order room service and pig out!”
Wes fights back the urge to groan because that is not what he had in mind at all. “You are a horrible person, you know that?”
“Well, fine then, I guess you don’t want to have sex with a horrible person. I’ll just go down to the front desk and ask for another room!” Jas stalks over to the door and Wes knows that she’s trying to sound put-out, but the smile that she’s struggling to keep off her face tells Wes otherwise.
“Please, you wouldn’t do that even if you were actually mad at me,” Wes says.
“I hate that you know me so well, you know that?” she pouts.
“You love that I know you so well,” he corrects turning in his chair to fully face his girlfriend. “It’s because that’s how you can tell that I love you. Which I do. More than anything.”
Jas beams and walks over to him to sit on his lap. She loops her arms around his neck again and kisses him. “I love you too,” she mumbles against his lips.)
-*-
Wes spends the first month of his first summer out of high school with Jas in England. They walk around the streets of London and laugh and kiss under street lights. They buy Jas a car and drive to Oxford and find her flatmates and rent her a place to stay. They spend entire days inside the bedroom and sometimes they don’t even do anything - they just lay their and bask in each other’s presence.
They make friends with the people that will be living with Jas and they go out to town and make more friends. Wes starts keeping a list of e-mail addresses and names to add on Facebook. They go to clubs and get ridiculously drunk because they’re legal here.
Their last few days are spent tangled up in bed sheets and ordering take-out. Neither of them really wants to let go, but they force themselves to once Wes reaches his terminal at Heathrow. It feels like the end of the world and nothing at all at the same time. Wes knows that he’ll be seeing her during winter holidays and they’ll always have e-mail and Skype and phone calls to fill the void, but he also won’t be able to touch her or hold her or feel her. It’s scary when he thinks about it, but thrilling when he thinks about seeing her again.
Wes thinks that they’ll be able to work this out. He thinks that they’ll still be together five, six years from now, a doctor and a lawyer in the making, trying to convince their friends that the other one exists, having dinner together during the holidays. He feels excited and sated at the same time just thinking about it.
Wes’ phone buzzes: I love you ♥ just before the plane is scheduled to take off. He smiles and closes his eyes, waiting to touch down in Ohio and see his friends again.
When he walks out of the terminal, he expects David to be waiting for him. Instead, he finds his dad looking expectantly at him with a hesitant smile.
“Hi, dad,” Wes says.
“Hello, Wes,” his father greets him. Wes suspects that he would have been offered a handshake if it weren’t for the fact that he had suitcases in both his hands.
What surprises Wes even more is that his father has driven himself to the airport rather than using a taxi or a chauffeur service. They’re silent for the first few minutes of the ride because Wes is still in shock and his father has never really been talkative.
Wes’ curiosity wins out in the end and he asks, “What are you doing here, dad?” He tries not to sound too bitter about it. His father hasn’t really been there for him in any sense of the word. He doesn’t remember the last time his dad was at one of his performances or was at any school function. He doesn’t remember the last him his dad hugged him or asked him how his day was. For the longest time, it was just Wes fending for himself. To say that this was out of the blue would be an understatement.
“I cancelled my trip to Bangkok, I wanted to see you before you went off to college,” his father says.
Wes’ eyebrows shoot up and he looks to his father for an explanation.
His dad sighs, “Cindy and I are getting divorced.”
And really, after years of suppressing his feelings, Wes thinks he has the right to be a bit bitter and petulant here. “Is that what her name is? I’m sorry, I lost count after number four,” he bites out.
His father’s grip on the steering wheel tightens as they stop at a red light. “Wes,” he starts, “I know I haven’t been the best father to you and your sister. Heck, I haven’t really been a father to you at all. But I was sitting in a board room in New York last week and one of my clients asked me whether or not my son was going to work for the company after college and I realized - I realized that I didn’t even know where you were going for university, let alone if you even wanted to work for me.”
“Massachusetts,” Wes whispers.
“What?”
“I’m going to Massachusetts for university - Harvard, for poli-sci.”
“I didn’t even know were into politics,” his father laughs in a self deprecating manner. “I called David -” and really, Wes is surprised that he remembers David “- and asked him for your flight information so I could come pick you up.
“I know it’s too late to try to repair things between your sister and I - she’s got her own family now - but I thought, maybe I could still salvage our relationship.”
“Why now?”
“Because you’re my son, Wes. I know I haven’t been very good at showing it, but I do love you. If you’re willing, I’d still like to be a part of your life.”
Wes doesn’t know if he’s just setting himself up for disappointment, but he’s willing to give his dad a chance, because after all, this is his father and Wes is a kid who just wants his dad to be there.
So he says, “I’d like that too, dad. But I’m going to New York next week with the Warblers. And then I’m driving straight down to Cambridge with David so we can find an apartment to rent. His parents are driving up and helping us move in. I probably won’t be back in Ohio until Thanksgiving.”
“Oh. Well - could I -” his father hesitates “- could I maybe drive up to help you move in?”
Wes smiles because his dad is actually willing to work at this. “Yeah, I think that’d be alright,” he says.
David texts him when he gets home asking if Wes wants to have dinner with him. It feels surreal even while he’s typing it, but Wes texts back: this is going to sound really odd, but I don’t think I can…I’m having dinner with my dad.
They order Thai food and his dad asks him questions that a stranger might, but Wes answers with a smile. His dad pours him a glass of wine (“If you’re anything like I was, you’ve already had your first drink; a glass of wine won’t hurt you.”) and they talk through the night about sports, about girls, about Wes’ plans for after college. Wes has never felt so close to the man in his life and a small part of him keeps telling him that this isn’t going to last. But Wes feels optimistic so he ignores the voice and lets his dad tell him about work and stories about when he was a baby and his grandparents.
Wes goes to sleep that night jet lagged and wiped out, but also happy and complete.
-*-
New York is a Warblers only event. Blaine still has the keys to his parents’ townhouse in the Upper East Side and Wes now has access to his dad’s apartment in Manhattan.
The only other time they’ve had a trip like this was when they went camping during Wes’ junior year and that was with a whole different, entirely saner, set of Warblers. Wes is scared and excited and giddy all at once.
They spend a day loading up Wes and David’s cars with all of their worldly possessions and another day figuring out who would be riding with whom. There’re fourteen of them and they figure if they can fit three to a car, they’d only need to bring five cars. But then they realize that Wes, Blaine and David wouldn’t be driving back to Ohio with them and they have to rearrange everything again to fit into seven cars. They divide into pairs: Wes and Blaine, Thad and David, Nick and Jeff, Randy and Trent, Chris and Stacy, Lynn and Bailey, Alex and John.
They make frequent stops for food and argue loudly over speakerphone and end up having to spend the night in some shoddy hotel in some town in Pittsburgh. At some point from Pittsburgh to Blaine’s townhouse, they sing medleys of summer songs while on the phone and then a very enthusiastic rendition of Last Friday Night lead by Jeff.
They reach New York sometime late in the evening the next day and Wes is too tired to do anything but collapse on the nearest horizontal surface. He falls asleep on a couch somewhere in the house while thinking about what a nightmare it’s going to be, living in a house with thirteen other teenage boys.
In the morning, they’re all too tired to wreak any havoc and instead spend the day lounging around the house alternately blasting music through the stereo and playing very competitive games of Guitar Hero.
Their time is split between hanging out with old Warblers living in the Big Apple, throwing parties and goofing around.
One day they go out Central Park, sit in a big circle with their assorted instruments and hold a jam session. It’s mostly just everyone ad-libbing onto different songs, but occasionally they find a song they all know how to play or sing and they perform. Within twenty minutes they draw a crowd. Someone asks them what they’re doing and they just laugh and say making memories. Someone else hears them say show choir at one point and asks if they were at Nationals to which Wes replies, “No, this was our first time even competing as a show choir; mostly we do a capella ensemble competitions.”
They stay at the park until it gets dark and they’ve quite possibly sung every song there is about New York and summer and friends and road trips. They walk home with the instruments, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, laughing at stupid friends and stupid jokes and basking in the warm summer air.
Another day Wes takes Blaine and David to his dad’s apartment and they look at his vinyl collection. They have a similar taste in music, Wes realizes. Just wandering around the apartment makes Wes feel more connected to his dad, who up until a few days ago was a complete stranger to him. They don’t really talk much that day - they go out for lunch and Blaine says some things about Kurt and David says some things about Rita and Wes hums and nods along.
They leave Wes in the apartment by himself that night. He can’t bring himself to sleep in any of the beds because he still feels like he’s intruding, so he chooses to lay a blanket on the floor of the living room. He calls Jas even though there’s a six hour time difference between them now, and they talk until five in the morning about everything and nothing and Wes’ life feels kind of cosmic and unreal.
Some of the Warblers go home after the first week, but Nick, Jeff, Thad, David, Wes and Blaine stick around. As much as Wes loves the other Warblers, he feels that the six of them have always kind of been a unit so it’s not really a big deal.
They spend some days lazing around the house, eating food that can’t possibly be good for their arteries and playing tournaments of Halo and COD. Sometimes they even help Blaine practice for his New Directions audition, which, it seems, is definitely happening. Other days they go back to Central Park with guitars and busk near park benches and earn pocket money that none of them really need.
They sing songs by Death Cab for Cutie and Third Eye Blind and Radiohead - songs that don’t need four part harmonies or beat boxing or choreography. Sometimes Blaine makes them sing songs from The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady - the rest of them moan and groan, but really, they all know it’s just an act and that they really do enjoy playing those songs.
Every night they go to bed with phones attached to their ears and soft smiles on their faces; Thad calls his family, Jeff calls his mom, Nick calls his sisters, David calls Rita, Wes calls Jas and Blaine calls Kurt.
The end of August brings summer music festivals in the park. Organizers are looking for last minute unsigned musical acts and the boys are eager to sign up. They spend a day getting acquainted with the people in charge and are told they’ll be performing on the last day of the festival - no stage, just mics and guitars, sorry boys. But that’s fine because they’re getting paid to perform in New York City by professionals. And this is so much better than Nationals.
They get home and Blaine looks at Wes forlornly and says I wish Kurt could see us. And Wes thinks, why the hell not? It’s not like he can’t - or, really, not like his father can’t afford to fly some people up to New York or anything.
Wes makes his mind up that night. He texts Jas and tells her can’t talk and calls his father hoping he’ll still be up at nine at night. For the first time in a long time, Wes is going to run his plans by his dad. Because they’re trying to build a relationship and spending his father’s money frivolously might not help to do that.
His dad says yes, of course he can. And then he asks to fly up and see the performance too and if Wes would like to maybe have dinner the day after the show. Wes jumps at the offer smiling like crazy because this is his dad showing interest in what he’s doing. This is his dad, telling him that he’s sorry, that he hasn’t been there. This is Wes’ dad telling him he loves Wes.
He doesn’t tell anyone about his plans. He wants them to be a surprise. Wes spends his nights having whispered conversations on the phone with Mr. Hummel and Thad’s parents. He spends his days stealthily texting Kurt and Nick’s older sister. He spends every other free minute organizing flight plans with his dad and hotel bookings with his dad’s assistant and plans of attack with Rita and the Fosters.
The day everyone is due in the city, Wes makes some half-assed excuse about needing to be alone and books it out of the town house by seven-thirty in the morning. He books four cabs - one a wheelchair accessible for Thad’s mom Wendy - and pays them extra to wait outside the doors.
He waits, anxiously looking for everyone to walk out the terminal. Wes has no idea how he’s going to hide eleven people from his friends, but he thinks he’ll manage. The first person he sees is his father who spots him and turns around to presumably tell the others to follow him. Wes sees Kurt gesturing animatedly towards his father and Linda Foster. Nick’s mother, Joan, and Jeff’s mother, Kerry, are whispering to each other. Ben Foster is talking to Thad’s father, Jerry, who is pushing his wife’s wheelchair towards Wes. Rita and Nick’s older sister, Taylor, look half dead and are dragging behind everyone else.
Wes and his father shake hands because it’s still too awkward to hug, but it’s a very nice handshake nonetheless.
“So I hope no one minds,” Wes says, “But I was thinking that I’d take you all to the hotel and you could drop off your things and then we could go surprise the boys?”
“What? No!” Kurt exclaims. “You need to give me time to change and fix my hair. I am not letting any one outside of this airport see me like this,” he says, gesturing to his ensemble of sweatpants and t-shirt.
Wes laughs, “Yes, alright, Kurt. But I’m only giving you thirty minutes after we get to the hotel, OK?”
Kurt huffs, but nods anyway.
It ends up taking Kurt forty minutes, and a lot of coaxing from Rita and Taylor and a few threats to leave him at the hotel from Wes to get changed.
They split up, and Wes ends up in the cab with Kurt, Rita and Taylor. Kurt is jumping up and down in his seat, grinning like a mad man, humming something that sounds suspiciously like I’m going to see my boyfriend in the tune of I’m a Little Teapot. Rita is nervously wringing her hands looking out the window and mumbling to herself - she’s the jittery, shy type and the complete opposite of her sister. Taylor, who Wes has known for years, looks in the rear-view mirror to catch his attention, and then rolls her eyes.
His phone buzzes with a text: they’re such lovesick puppies, it reminds of when Nick first started dating Jeff and their cuteness made me want to dropkick baby penguins to balance out the adorable.
Wes chuckles, “You’re insane, Tay.” She only grins at him.
When they reach the house, it’s ten o’clock. Wes asks everyone to wait outside while he goes and gets his friends. Inside, the boys are eating oddly shaped pancakes and arguing over whether or not the Star Wars prequels were a complete waste of time.
“Hey, guys,” Wes says as he enters the kitchen.
“Hey, Wes!” Jeff greets.
“I thought you were spending the day by yourself,” Blaine says through a mouthful of pancake (and really, Blaine, where have your manners gone).
“Well,” Wes starts, “I was going to, but then these people started following me around and I thought you guys might be able to help me get rid of them, they won’t leave me alone. I think they’re waiting on the lawn right now, Blaine.”
David quirks an eyebrow at Wes, but he still pushes back his seat and follows Wes to the front door. The other boys flank behind him, curiosity getting the best of them.
When Wes opens the door he hears a gasp and an oh my god from Blaine before all of them are running out and hugging their families. Blaine seems to have developed super strength over night because he’s lifting Kurt up and spinning him around while Kurt swats at him, yelling “Blaine, you idiot, put me down!”
Wes smiles at them as his father walks up to stand beside him. “You really love them, don’t you?” his father asks.
Wes doesn’t look away from his friends when he replies, “They’re family. They’ve taken care of me for so long and I don’t even think they realize it.” His dad opens his mouth to speak, but Wes cuts him off, “Don’t apologize, dad. You’ve apologized enough. I just need you to promise me that you’re not leaving me alone again. I don’t think I could find it in me to forgive you a second time.”
His dad purses his lips and nods. “I promise - never again, Wes, not again,” he says.
They get to Central Park and Wes and the boy’s do sound check. They buy lunch from a street vendor, much to Kurt’s dismay (“They’re like heart attacks in a Styrofoam box, Blaine!” “But Kurt, how will we ever have an authentic New York experience if we don’t eat vendor food?”) and they walk around watching different acts perform before it’s time for their set.
They play in front of an audience of sixty or so people. Blaine and Nick have their guitars, Thad has his harmonica, Jeff has his uke and Wes and David have maracas and tambourines. Blaine sings Teenage Dream pointedly - and shamelessly - looking at Kurt, who blushes like mad, through out the whole song.
They play their own version of Four Chord Songs and cover Lady Gaga’s Alejandro which earn them a loud whoop from Kurt and Taylor. David sings I’m Yours and Wes knows immediately that it’s for Rita. She ducks her head and grins. Wes smiles because it’s nice to see someone David finally connects with and who likes him just as much as he likes her.
Wes is having the time of his life and if he weren’t so dead set on becoming a lawyer, he would consider becoming a musician.
Nick and Jeff sing Time After Time together and then Jeff sings Hero/Heroine for Nick. They spend the entire time smiling at each other and ignoring everyone around them. It’s sickeningly sweet and Wes thinks that Taylor probably wants to dropkick baby penguins again.
Wes and Thad sing Good Girls Go Bad and Thad sings Leighton Meester’s part with a killer falsetto that makes the crowd laugh and watch them in awe at the same time. Wes trades Blaine the tambourine for Blaine’s guitar and they end the set Little Lion Man with Wes on lead.
The audience cheers for them and his dad is right up front, smiling and cheering right along. Wes feels a rush of energy and warmth run through him. It’s like he’s on top of the world.
-*-
Cambridge is a dream. It’s everything Wes has ever imagined and more.
He’s loving classes and debating with some of the best minds in the country. His professors are strict, but amazing nonetheless.
Wes spends his days in classes and his nights in his and David’s apartment studying. Sometimes they’re so buried in their class work that they forget dinner and fall asleep in the living room where they study together. Those nights, they wake up at three in the morning to eat left over pizza from last week and complain about their course loads.
David is studying Biology at MIT and killing himself trying to keep up with the work. He’s making friends from the engineering department and joining robot fighting competitions. It’s kind of strange for Wes, who has always had the same group of friends, to watch his best friend hang out with people Wes doesn’t know.
But then, Wes is also making new friends. He gets invited to rush at fraternities, he joins study groups and student unions and, best of all, Wes joins the Harvard Din and Tonics.
At first he’s reluctant to audition because - well, been there, done that. But also because he doesn’t want to replace the Warblers.
(“Wes,” David says patiently, “if you actually think you could replace any of us, you’re certifiable. I’m pretty sure Jeff would permanently glue himself to your hip before he let that happen.”
He Skypes Thad, who’s going to UCLA, to ask his opinion, but all Thad does is glare at him and say, “Join their damn a capella group, Wes, prove to them that they are inferior to our awesome.”)
There aren’t as many Dins as there were Warblers when Wes joins, but they’re all just as goofy and just as passionate about what they do. He performs wearing tuxedos with coat tails and lime green pocket squares and socks.
In the beginning, it’s hard to get a hold on everything. Wes finds himself rushing out the door in the mornings for classes, trying to schedule time to eat and do everything else as well. He barely sees David at all - the both of them living around each other and trying to keep on track. He doesn’t talk to Jas for an entire month.
It takes a nervous breakdown in the middle of the their second month in university, a failing grade in his International Relations class and an argument with David over something stupid Wes can’t even remember to make him realize that he needs to get his life together.
Wes makes intricately detailed schedules and study plans and gets a senior mentor to help him in classes. He still doesn’t have enough time to sleep and thinks that maybe he should evolve himself not to need it.
David the biology major finds it necessary to explain to Wes that evolution doesn’t work like that.
Wes hates that David keeps shooting down his most brilliant ideas.
His Saturdays are always kept open and free of anything school related because Wes decides that he needs time to do things for himself too. Every other Saturday, Wes and David go out to town and find more and more ways to make Boston their own. On alternate weekends, his dad comes down from New York to visit him.
He spends the first two weeks of his Christmas vacation in Ohio. Jas comes to visit during the winter holidays and Wes only barely manages to resist the urge to never leave her side. The only time he really does is to spend time with his dad who seems to have followed Wes to the Midwest for the holiday season and to hang out with the Warblers and Blaine (and Kurt, because apparently they come as a unit now).
Blaine talks about New Directions with large, flailing gestures, as if his words aren’t big enough to truly capture them. He raves about how disorganized the whole club is, but how that doesn’t seem to bother anyone because they’re all having fun.
Wes learns that McKinley is just insane and they have teachers that push kids into lockers and more drama than Wes could care for. But Blaine talks of everything fondly and Wes thinks that he can forgive the crazy so long as his friend is happy and safe.
He goes to the Warblers’ winter concert with David and Blaine and gets invited on stage to sing Last Christmas with them.
By the time he leaves, Wes has never liked Ohio more. He figures it has something to do with the fact that he doesn’t live here anymore and that Ohio is somewhere to visit and not inhabit.
Wes, David and Jas drive back to Boston the day after Christmas. They spend the ride singing Cindy Lauper’s entire back catalogue, courtesy of Wes’ girlfriend.
Instead of partying like all the other college kids on New Year’s Eve, Wes, Jas and David go to the park. They bundle up in their warmest clothes and bring thermoses full of hot chocolate with them. They sit on lawn chairs with dozens of other people and wait for the fireworks to start.
Wes holds Jas’ hand and David throw an arm over his shoulders and sitting there, Wes thinks about how much he feels like a part of The Golden Trio right now. He thinks about how different, yet how similar his life is now; he’s talking to his dad, but he’s also still dating Jas; he’s in college now, but somehow it still feels like he’s back in his Dalton dorm arguing with Blaine over which movie to watch.
It feels like his life is - well, Wes can’t even describe it. He feels happy and complete and full.
He’s sitting there freezing with his best friend and his girlfriend to watch some crappy fireworks, but Wes can’t think of anywhere else to be.
“Hey Wes,” David says as the first of the fireworks start to go off.
“Yes, David?”
“Will you kiss me at midnight?” he grins and leans up against Wes.
He shoves David away, but he pushes too hard and David falls off his chair. He doesn’t seem to notice because he’s too busy rolling around in the snow, laughing.
David climbs back into his seat and keeps muttering about something or another about snow angels and cold body parts so Wes tells him to shut up and watch the fireworks David. David huffs, but stays quiet.
Wes takes Jas under his arm and smiles.
No, he doesn’t want to be anywhere but here.