Stop Being Polite (A Glee/The Real World AU) 5A/?
Kurt
Santana
Rachel
Puck
Sugar
Mike
Blaine
Interview
Confessional
Kurt, Rachel and Blaine are sitting at the dining room table, Rachel sipping her smoothie while Kurt and Blaine take turns stealing quick looks at each other and blushing over their cups of coffee. Rachel clears her throat.
“What are you doing up this early, Kurt?” Kurt looks up at Rachel from where he was blushing into his coffee cup.
“Let’s see, your obnoxious alarm woke me, like it does every morning. The real questions, Rachel is why you aren’t working out. What was it you said? You don’t become a star by giving yourself unneeded days off?”
“Well, Kurt, I was on my way to work out when Blaine got here, and as the first roommate Blaine met, it is my job to play host and give him a tour of the house, which is what we were about to do.”
“Rachel, it’s not even 7 am, and since he’s David’s replacement, he’d be sleeping in his old room. I’m pretty sure Santana said that if you woke her up again she’d cut your hair off in your sleep.”
Blaine winces. “Should I be concerned?”
“No, Santana is fine, but I hope you brought ear plugs, because Rachel has the world’s most obnoxious alarm, that goes off at 6am, and while she works out, she practices her scales. Needless to say, Santana’s not too excited about having the room directly above the work out room.”
“Anyway, since it’s so early, and the rest of the roommates aren’t awake yet, why don’t we go get some breakfast? Blaine, have you eaten yet?” Rachel pets Blaine’s hand, and Kurt covers up his snort by taking a sip of his coffee.
“Actually, I haven’t eaten since dinner last night, I’m kind of starving. Kurt, do you know anywhere we could go?”
“Well, I’m sure Kurt -” Rachel starts.
“I know a place not too far from here that I’ve been wanting to try and Rachel before you ask, yes they have a Vegan menu.”
****************************************
Kurt, Blaine and Rachel follow the waitress to their booth in Swingers. It’s still pretty early in the morning, but the diner is pretty full, most people still wearing their club attire, some in their bathing suits. When the waitress shows them to their booth, Blaine gestures to Rachel to have a seat first. She smiles up at him, but her smile fades away when she notices that he goes to sit next to Kurt in the booth, who smiles smugly at her.
“I hope you had a nice flight. Not too much turbulence. My flight here from New York was awful, I was sitting behind a little kid who kicked my seat the entire time. It was so annoying.”
“My flight was fine, I slept most of the time to be honest. But no one wants to hear about that, tell me about the house. I got in so early, I can’t wait to get back and check it out, you said there’s a work out room?”
“Yes, the house is quite lovely. The work out room has an eliptical, which is all I use, because unlike Santana, I don’t want to gain too much muscle. I don’t know why she needs to lift weights, she’s a professional cheerleader.”
“Probably because she needs to lift people, Rachel.” Kurt rolls his eyes. “There’s an eliptical, some weights. On the roof we have a pool and jacuzzi, which is really my favorite part.”
“Except Kurt can’t spend too much time out there during the day because he’ll burn. You’ve got to protect your skin, Kurt.”
Kurt glares at Rachel. “Yes, Rachel, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have an intense skin care routine, and even when we go to the jacuzzi at night I wear sun block.”
Blaine looks between the two of them nervously.
“So, tell me about my new roommates.”
“Well, Mike is the oldest, he’s 23. He’s really quiet though, I don’t know much about him. Noah is 21, Then Kurt, Santana and I are all 19, and Sugar is 18. Personally, I’m closest to Kurt, I think he’s the only one who really understands me, as he’s just as driven as I am.”
“Where are you guys from?”
“Well, Kurt’s from Ohio, but I’m a born and bred New Yorker. And I got to the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts, where I’m learning under the great Carmen Thibodeaux. I haven’t had any starring roles yet, because I’m very picky about what roles I’ll accept. I just want to make sure I choose the best role, because NYADA is a very well known school, casting agents come to shows all the time and the wrong role could break you before you even get your name out there.”
“NYADA, really? I thought about applying to NYADA, but I went with NYU instead. I’ll be starting there in the fall. How about you Kurt?”
“Oh, I go to FIT, majoring in Design.”
“So you live in New York too? Well, it’s good to know I’ll have a friend there when I start.”
Kurt and Blaine smile at each other while Rachel mumbles under her breath.
“Two friends. I’ll have two friends there.” Blaine corrects and Rachel perks up just as the waitress comes to take their orders.
**********************************************
When they get back to the house, all of the roommates are sitting around the living room, Puck playing around on his guitar, Santana is painting Sugar’s nails and Mike is reading.
“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” Santana says not looking up from Sugar’s nails.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet our new roommate Blaine. Blaine, these are you new roommates.”
Introductions go around, all the while Rachel is preening next to Blaine like the wife of a politician. Kurt rolls his eyes and sits down next to Sugar, picking up the hot pink polish Santana was using to paint her nails and reading the label while Santana glares at Rachel, annoyance written clearly on her face.
“So, eyebrows, have a seat. Time for a little chat.”
“You can just call me Blaine, eyebrows is my Dad.”
Santana snorts at his response, but smiles anyway. Blaine sits on the couch next to Puck and Rachel practically pushes Mike out of the way to get the seat on the other side of Blaine. Mike just smirks at her, and moves to the other couch. Kurt watches with his best bitch face on, as Blaine gives Rachel a bemused smile.
“Okay, spill, where are you from, what do you do, and do you have a problem with gay people?”
Rachel lets out an indignant squawk. “Just ignore her Blaine, she tends to be offensive, I think it’s just a ploy to get attention.”
“Oh, you think I want his attention? Didn’t you just nearly stepped on Mike’s head to get a seat next to him?”
“I- I did no such thing, it’s just as the first person that Blaine’s met in the house, I think he’d probably feel more comfortable with me near by, you guys can be quite intimidating.”
Puck sits down his guitar and turns to Blaine, “Anyway new kid, I’m with Santana, if there’s a possibility that I’m going to have to crack your skull, you should probably just tell us now.”
“I hope I don’t give you any reasons to bash my head in. I try to avoid having my skull fractured any more than is necessary. Anyway, I’m from Washington, around the Seattle area mostly. I’m 19, I just got into Tisch, I like to sing, I play piano, I’ve been in a few musicals at school. And considering that I’m gay myself, it’s safe to assume that I have no problems with gay people.”
Blaine is smiling at Kurt as he says that last part, and Kurt blushes and smiles back. Rachel visibly deflates next to him.
“Well, it’s been lovely guys, but I skipped my work out and warm up this morning, I don’t want to get into a routine of skipping days. Kurt, you don’t mind showing Blaine to his room, do you?”
“Well you sure have changed your tune. Blaine, whenever you’re ready.”
“How about now? I’m actually kind of tired, so I’d like to get settled in and maybe catch a nap. What do you guys do during the day?”
“We’re running a skate shop on the Promenade, Sugar, Santana and I are on our way to get it opened. We’ll have to get you scheduled at some point. Do you know how to build a skateboard?” Mike stands up and grabs pulls Sugar and Santana up with him.
“Can’t say that I do.”
“It’s easy, we’ll show you how, come in whenever you want this week? We had a couple of weeks before we started working, it would only be fair if we gave you the same amount of time.”
“That’s really nice of you, but I probably won’t need that long, a couple of days should do it. But yeah, I’m pretty exhausted, so Kurt, if you’re ready?”
“I was really surprised when I got the call to be on the show. I knew filming had already started, so I’d planned to spend the summer with my brother in Vancouver where he’s working. It was that, or stay home alone since my parents left for Manila a couple of weeks ago. I’m just really happy to be here, short notice and all.”
Kurt’s walking Blaine through the house, pointing out the different rooms when they get to the third floor. Kurt points to the door on the left.
“This is the bathroom. I hope you don’t expect privacy because there is none.”
They walk into the huge bathroom with the multiple sinks and shower stalls against the wall, to the back with three toilet stalls. All of the shower doors are clear glass, though slightly opaque, but not enough to really hide anything.
“This is, wow.”
“Yeah, I’ve managed to avoid seeing anyone naked, or having anyone see me naked, but as far as I know, Rachel and I are the only ones who’ve avoided this fate so far. Though I think Sugar and Puck have just given up the pretense of not being complete attention whores, according to Mike, he’s caught them actually in the shower together.”
“Well, I went to an all boys boarding school, so I’m familiar with communal showers, though not co-ed ones. That is mildly terrifying.”
They walk out of the bathroom and back into the hallway where Blaine’s bags were left sitting. Kurt points to the door to the right.
“This is the room I share with Sugar and Rachel. So that means that’s your room with Mike, Santana and Puck. Good luck, by the way. Santana’s been promising that her girlfriend will be over any day now for a conjugal visit.”
“Well, if that happens, maybe I can just sneak into your room.” Kurt gives a small flustered laugh, blushing to the tips of his ears.
“Oh god, that’s not what- I just mean, maybe there’s space for me? Like on the floor or something. I would much rather sleep on your floor than be in a room with people having sex. It’s happened to me in high school before, and I’d much rather be sexiled than actually bear witness to the act.”
“It’s okay Blaine. I’m sure we’ll figure something out should it happen. I’m pretty sure Mike will be squeezing in with us too. Puck on the other hand, I just know he’ll get some kind of pleasure out of pretending to be asleep so he can watch.”
They stand in the door way of Blaine’s new room, awkwardly avoiding each other’s eyes when Rachel’s voice coming from the room above startles them.
“Don’t tell me not to live, just sit and putter, life’s candy and the suns a ball of butter, who told you you’re allowed to rain on my paraaaade”
Blaine looks down at his feet and smiles, “She’s a little, intense, isn’t she?”
“Rachel? She can actually be really sweet if you catch her during the five seconds of the day when she’s not thinking about herself. I don’t know what her deal was this morning. No that’s a lie, I do, but it’s too horrifying to think about.”
“Well, it looks like she’s working out whatever it is, just remind me to get those ear plugs at some point today.”
“I will do that. Well, I better let you get settled so you can take your nap.” Kurt turns to leave, walking towards his room.
“Wait, Kurt, wanna keep me company while I unpack?”
“Sure, okay. You need someone to spot you while you dive into what I’m sure is a mess of a closet. Best thing about sharing a room with Rachel, she is meticulously organized and has our closet in perfect order, not that I needed her help. But don’t be offended if I start checking out your wardrobe, future design star and all.”
Blaine laughs, “Okay, I promise not be offended if you promise to give me advice if you see something you find to be truly heinous, though I think I do a pretty good job dressing myself.”
“ I don’t think I’ll have many complaints.”
**********************************************
Mike, Sugar and Santana are all sitting on the counters of the empty store, no customers in sight, just one dude sitting on the couch in the back of the store. Sugar keep sneaking looks at him, nose turned up in disgust. Mike pulls open a drawer, pulls out his ipod and adjusts the music.
“Do you guys think Kurt and the new kid have gotten it on yet?” Santana asked as she walks around the store lazily grabbing unfolded shirts from the walls.
Mike, on the other side of the room, gliding across the floor, dancing as he gathers shirts to fold shrugs and keeps moving.
“If they were, I wouldn’t blame them. Kurt is really gorgeous and Blaine is a compact little hottie. If they don’t hook up, they’re just stupid.” Sugar says not looking up from her magazine.
“And did you see Rachel? She was all over the kid. I mean, I get it, hobbits need to stick together, but he was wearing manpris for crying out loud, how does someone with two gay dads have such shitty gaydar? I can only imagine how butthurt she’ll be if those two do hook up. Which means I’ll probably have to put her in her place and make her cry.”
Santana throws a pile of shirts on top of Sugars magazine and raises and eyebrow when Sugar gawks at her. Sugar promptly puts her magazine down and starts folding.
*********************************************************
“Oh my God Blaine, this is gorgeous!” Kurt exclaims excitedly, holding grabbing a bowtie from a case on Blaine’s bed. He gently fingers the fabric, “I think you may the first person I’ve met who appreciates a good bowtie as much as I do.”
“I wore them a lot as a kid, stopped a bit in middle school, because it’s hard enough being the small, racially mixed gay kid in the 8th grade, you don’t need to add ‘wears bowties’ into the mix. They’ve made a comeback, who would have thought the Steve Urkel look would actually be considered en vogue. My brother teased me about my bowties for years, now whenever he’s home, I catch him trying to sneak one out.”
“How old is your brother?” Kurt is still picking through Blaine’s bowtie collection. Blaine’s standing at the foot of the bed, suitcase open, moving his clothes into the closet while Kurt looks through some of his accessories.
“He’s 28. I’m what they call a ‘late in life baby’, or as I like to call it “Mom and Dad had too many margaritas on vacation and oops a baby happened’. Needless to say, I ruined a lot of their plans. Not that they let me. They’re in Manila right now on vacation, if I hadn’t gotten this call, I was probably going to spend my summer at home alone. I could go visit my brother in Canada where he’s working, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed that very much.”
“Wow Blaine, that just sounds like a crappy summer. Well, good thing we needed a replacement roommate, right?”
“Yeah. Right.” Blaine turns to look into the closet, contemplating something before turning back to Kurt, who’s picked up a newsboy cap off of the bed.
“Kurt, can I ask you something and will you give me an honest answer, because some of the things asked of me downstairs arent’ really sitting right, and I’d really like to know the truth of the situation I’m coming into.”
Kurt sits the hat down, taking a deep breath, bracing himself for Blaine’s question.
“The second I was asked if I had a problem with gay people, I knew something was up in the house. I just don’t like not knowing what I’m walking into and if the roommate I’m replacing didn’t leave on his own, but was sent home, I want to know why now. Something about the atmosphere in the house seemed different from what i was expecting.”
“What did you want to know, Blaine?” Kurt fidgets with one of the bowties in Blaine’s box. Blaine walks over and sits across from Kurt, resting his hand on Kurt’s in an attempt to relax him.
“Kurt. The roommate I’m replacing, why did he leave? Did he hurt someone?”
Kurt lets out a shaky breath, waiting a beat before he meets Blaine’s eyes.
“The roommate you’re replacing, David, was a problem. From the start I could tell he was uncomfortable with me. At first, he would just stare at me, make comments under his breath. Then he started flat out insulting me. I tried not to let it get to me, because I’ve been through this before. If I just avoid him, it wouldn’t be a problem. He was just not used to being around a gay person. I’m not the type to go out and meet guys and bring them home, so I wasn’t worried that he’d see me act on it. I just thought if I avoided him, he’d get used to it, realize I’m no different than the other guys here, and move on. Which was silly. It was stupid and I hate that I even thought that, because really, I should know better. My step brother is the only person I’ve met who’s actually grown out of his homophobia, and that took baby steps and my father kicking him out of the house briefly. Anyway-”
Kurt takes another shaky breath, wipes at the corner of his eyes. Blaine moves the box between them so he can sit closer to Kurt.
“Anyway, I did everything i could, I avoided the bathroom if I knew he was in there, I never spoke to him. One day we were all playing football on the beach and he just wouldn’t leave me alone. I know Santana layed into him, but she’s not a problem. As usual, a guy is homophobic but has no problem with lesbians, because they’re not a threat to him. Then one night about a week ago, we were closing the store together, and he just wouldn’t leave me alone, making comment after comment. So I snapped and I followed him into the back room and I asked him what his problem is and told him that he didn’t have to worry about me trying to convert him because he’s not my type.”
“Kurt, what did he do? Did he hit you?”
“He kissed me. He grabbed my face and he smashed his lips into mine and then he tried to do it again. I just ran out of the store. All I remember is that I puked in a trashcan on the street, before I came home, called my best friend and went to stay with her. I’m assuming someone told the other roommates, because I got a call saying he’d be leaving and here you are.”
Kurt smiles wetly at Blaine who smiles back, reaching up to wipe a tear from Kurt’s face.
“Here I am.” Blaine says quietly. He and Kurt share a look, but before either of them can speak, the phone is heard ringing, breaking the tension. Kurt laughs quietly as Blaine gets up and goes back to unpacking. As Blaine walks over to the closet door, Rachel knocks sticks her head in.
“Kurt, phone for you. It’s your friend Mercedes.” Kurt smiles over at Blaine before wiping at his eyes and turning to look in the mirror.
“I’ll be right back, I guess.”
“I’ll be here.” Blaine says, turning back to his suitcase. Kurt walks out of the room, smiling at Rachel who’s looking between him and Blaine with an odd expression on her face.
Kurt goes into the hallway, sits down on the bench and picks up the phone.
“Well don’t you have impeccable timing?” Kurt says into the phone, Mercedes laughs.
“Hello to you too, boo. So what exactly was I interrupting?”
Kurt leans over to look into the Blaine’s room, he can’t quite see him, but he can hear Rachel’s voice.
“We got our new roommate today.” Kurt whispers, still watching the hallway.
“Okay, you’ve got to give me more details than that.”
“Well, his name is Blaine, he’s from Seattle, Rachel has a crush on him, but it doesn’t matter because he’s gay.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“He’s gorgeous, Mercedes. Totally into fashion, his bowtie collection rivals mine. I know he’s into music, but get this, when this is over, he’s starting at NYU. Tell me this is too good to be true. A beautiful gay guy moves into this house, he’s got the same interests as me and when this is all said and done, he’ll be in the same city. This is too good to be true, these things don’t happen to me. I get groped on the dance floor and never called again. I get my face raped, I don’t get Blaines.”
“Have you considered the fact that those are the exact reasons you’re getting a Blaine now? Because of all the things you’ve been through?”
“Is this about to be a God thing? Because please don’t ruin my good day with a God thing.”
“No Kurt, this isn’t a ‘God’ thing, this is a life thing. You’ve had to put up with a lot of [bleep] in your life. Especially recently with that asshole who just left. Maybe it’s time for good stuff to start happening to you. So tell me, does Blaine seem into you at all?”
“Well, he’s been friendly, asking me a lot of questions, and when I told him about David, he practically held my hand. But that doesn’t mean anything. Other than he’s completely oblivious to Rachel’s super obvious crush. I mean Stevie Wonder could see she’s into him, depsite the fact that he told us he was gay. But I don’t think he likes me, we don’t really know each other, he’s been here for like four hours. He’s just a nice guy. I just think just crushing from afar and imaging the possibilities will be fun.”
“Seriously, Kurt? Just make a move. Get to know him, find out what he’s about. You’ve been crushing from afar your whole life. Isn’t that what this experience is about? Trying new things, getting out there, putting yourself on the line? And you know how these things go, have some fun. Get some drinks in him and yourself and see what happens.”
“Okay, I don’t know if you’ve been in your soririty house too long or something, because I can’t believe your suggesting-” Kurt turns and looks down the hallway again, “that I get drunk and hook up with this guy.”
“Kurt please, it’s not like you’ve never been a part of a drunken makeout on the dancefloor before, I’ve saw those pictures on your facebook. Before you untagged yourself.”
“Exactly, Mercedes. First of all, I regret that night, so much. That’s not my style. And I’m certainly not going to do it with cameras surrounding me, where my Dad will inevitably see it because if you think My Dad’s not going to watch and DVR this when it airs, you don’t know him. And I will never been able to show my face at home again knowing him and Carole gathered around the 56 incher to watch me hook up with a guy through a night vision camera. No way. Not happening. I will crush from a far, if he’s interested, we can discuss it again when we’re both in New York. In private.”
“Mmm hmmm” Mercedes replied, skeptically.
“Anyway, what was the reason for your call. I need to get back in there before Rachel starts singing to him.”
“You’re right, I did have a reason for my call. There’s a party tonight, and I want you to come. Bring your roommates. You have not been out once since you got here, and I know a college Kegger isn’t your idea of a good time, but it’s happening at a house in the hills, there will be multiple rooms of fun, and I’ll be in the room with the karaoke and I want to see if this Rachel is anywhere as good as me.”
“You’re both extremely talented, but I will tell my roommates.”
“Tell Rachel I’ll be wearing my sneakers.”
“Okay, you’re been in LA too long. Why on earth would you wear sneakers to a party?”
“Because I’m gonna be doing some runs.”
“Wow. How long did it take you to come up with that one. i actually hate you right now.”
“You love me and I love you too. Party starts at 10. I’ll see you there, boo. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
*****************************
When Kurt walked back into the room, he found Rachel lying on her stomach on the bed watching Blaine as he went through put the last of his clothes away. Kurt glared at her from the door way before he school his expression into something cooler.
“So guys-”
Blaine jumps from his spot in the closet and turns around to face Kurt.
“Wanna go to a party tonight?”
*********************************
PART 2
Santana
Rachel
Puck
Sugar
Mike
Blaine
Interview
Confessional
Kurt, Rachel and Blaine are sitting at the dining room table, Rachel sipping her smoothie while Kurt and Blaine take turns stealing quick looks at each other and blushing over their cups of coffee. Rachel clears her throat.
“What are you doing up this early, Kurt?” Kurt looks up at Rachel from where he was blushing into his coffee cup.
“Let’s see, your obnoxious alarm woke me, like it does every morning. The real questions, Rachel is why you aren’t working out. What was it you said? You don’t become a star by giving yourself unneeded days off?”
“Well, Kurt, I was on my way to work out when Blaine got here, and as the first roommate Blaine met, it is my job to play host and give him a tour of the house, which is what we were about to do.”
“Rachel, it’s not even 7 am, and since he’s David’s replacement, he’d be sleeping in his old room. I’m pretty sure Santana said that if you woke her up again she’d cut your hair off in your sleep.”
Blaine winces. “Should I be concerned?”
“No, Santana is fine, but I hope you brought ear plugs, because Rachel has the world’s most obnoxious alarm, that goes off at 6am, and while she works out, she practices her scales. Needless to say, Santana’s not too excited about having the room directly above the work out room.”
“Anyway, since it’s so early, and the rest of the roommates aren’t awake yet, why don’t we go get some breakfast? Blaine, have you eaten yet?” Rachel pets Blaine’s hand, and Kurt covers up his snort by taking a sip of his coffee.
“Actually, I haven’t eaten since dinner last night, I’m kind of starving. Kurt, do you know anywhere we could go?”
“Well, I’m sure Kurt -” Rachel starts.
“I know a place not too far from here that I’ve been wanting to try and Rachel before you ask, yes they have a Vegan menu.”
****************************************
Kurt, Blaine and Rachel follow the waitress to their booth in Swingers. It’s still pretty early in the morning, but the diner is pretty full, most people still wearing their club attire, some in their bathing suits. When the waitress shows them to their booth, Blaine gestures to Rachel to have a seat first. She smiles up at him, but her smile fades away when she notices that he goes to sit next to Kurt in the booth, who smiles smugly at her.
“I hope you had a nice flight. Not too much turbulence. My flight here from New York was awful, I was sitting behind a little kid who kicked my seat the entire time. It was so annoying.”
“My flight was fine, I slept most of the time to be honest. But no one wants to hear about that, tell me about the house. I got in so early, I can’t wait to get back and check it out, you said there’s a work out room?”
“Yes, the house is quite lovely. The work out room has an eliptical, which is all I use, because unlike Santana, I don’t want to gain too much muscle. I don’t know why she needs to lift weights, she’s a professional cheerleader.”
“Probably because she needs to lift people, Rachel.” Kurt rolls his eyes. “There’s an eliptical, some weights. On the roof we have a pool and jacuzzi, which is really my favorite part.”
“Except Kurt can’t spend too much time out there during the day because he’ll burn. You’ve got to protect your skin, Kurt.”
Kurt glares at Rachel. “Yes, Rachel, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have an intense skin care routine, and even when we go to the jacuzzi at night I wear sun block.”
Blaine looks between the two of them nervously.
“So, tell me about my new roommates.”
“Well, Mike is the oldest, he’s 23. He’s really quiet though, I don’t know much about him. Noah is 21, Then Kurt, Santana and I are all 19, and Sugar is 18. Personally, I’m closest to Kurt, I think he’s the only one who really understands me, as he’s just as driven as I am.”
“Where are you guys from?”
“Well, Kurt’s from Ohio, but I’m a born and bred New Yorker. And I got to the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts, where I’m learning under the great Carmen Thibodeaux. I haven’t had any starring roles yet, because I’m very picky about what roles I’ll accept. I just want to make sure I choose the best role, because NYADA is a very well known school, casting agents come to shows all the time and the wrong role could break you before you even get your name out there.”
“NYADA, really? I thought about applying to NYADA, but I went with NYU instead. I’ll be starting there in the fall. How about you Kurt?”
“Oh, I go to FIT, majoring in Design.”
“So you live in New York too? Well, it’s good to know I’ll have a friend there when I start.”
Kurt and Blaine smile at each other while Rachel mumbles under her breath.
“Two friends. I’ll have two friends there.” Blaine corrects and Rachel perks up just as the waitress comes to take their orders.
**********************************************
When they get back to the house, all of the roommates are sitting around the living room, Puck playing around on his guitar, Santana is painting Sugar’s nails and Mike is reading.
“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” Santana says not looking up from Sugar’s nails.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet our new roommate Blaine. Blaine, these are you new roommates.”
Introductions go around, all the while Rachel is preening next to Blaine like the wife of a politician. Kurt rolls his eyes and sits down next to Sugar, picking up the hot pink polish Santana was using to paint her nails and reading the label while Santana glares at Rachel, annoyance written clearly on her face.
“So, eyebrows, have a seat. Time for a little chat.”
“You can just call me Blaine, eyebrows is my Dad.”
Santana snorts at his response, but smiles anyway. Blaine sits on the couch next to Puck and Rachel practically pushes Mike out of the way to get the seat on the other side of Blaine. Mike just smirks at her, and moves to the other couch. Kurt watches with his best bitch face on, as Blaine gives Rachel a bemused smile.
“Okay, spill, where are you from, what do you do, and do you have a problem with gay people?”
Rachel lets out an indignant squawk. “Just ignore her Blaine, she tends to be offensive, I think it’s just a ploy to get attention.”
“Oh, you think I want his attention? Didn’t you just nearly stepped on Mike’s head to get a seat next to him?”
“I- I did no such thing, it’s just as the first person that Blaine’s met in the house, I think he’d probably feel more comfortable with me near by, you guys can be quite intimidating.”
Puck sits down his guitar and turns to Blaine, “Anyway new kid, I’m with Santana, if there’s a possibility that I’m going to have to crack your skull, you should probably just tell us now.”
“I hope I don’t give you any reasons to bash my head in. I try to avoid having my skull fractured any more than is necessary. Anyway, I’m from Washington, around the Seattle area mostly. I’m 19, I just got into Tisch, I like to sing, I play piano, I’ve been in a few musicals at school. And considering that I’m gay myself, it’s safe to assume that I have no problems with gay people.”
Blaine is smiling at Kurt as he says that last part, and Kurt blushes and smiles back. Rachel visibly deflates next to him.
“Well, it’s been lovely guys, but I skipped my work out and warm up this morning, I don’t want to get into a routine of skipping days. Kurt, you don’t mind showing Blaine to his room, do you?”
“Well you sure have changed your tune. Blaine, whenever you’re ready.”
“How about now? I’m actually kind of tired, so I’d like to get settled in and maybe catch a nap. What do you guys do during the day?”
“We’re running a skate shop on the Promenade, Sugar, Santana and I are on our way to get it opened. We’ll have to get you scheduled at some point. Do you know how to build a skateboard?” Mike stands up and grabs pulls Sugar and Santana up with him.
“Can’t say that I do.”
“It’s easy, we’ll show you how, come in whenever you want this week? We had a couple of weeks before we started working, it would only be fair if we gave you the same amount of time.”
“That’s really nice of you, but I probably won’t need that long, a couple of days should do it. But yeah, I’m pretty exhausted, so Kurt, if you’re ready?”
“I was really surprised when I got the call to be on the show. I knew filming had already started, so I’d planned to spend the summer with my brother in Vancouver where he’s working. It was that, or stay home alone since my parents left for Manila a couple of weeks ago. I’m just really happy to be here, short notice and all.”
Kurt’s walking Blaine through the house, pointing out the different rooms when they get to the third floor. Kurt points to the door on the left.
“This is the bathroom. I hope you don’t expect privacy because there is none.”
They walk into the huge bathroom with the multiple sinks and shower stalls against the wall, to the back with three toilet stalls. All of the shower doors are clear glass, though slightly opaque, but not enough to really hide anything.
“This is, wow.”
“Yeah, I’ve managed to avoid seeing anyone naked, or having anyone see me naked, but as far as I know, Rachel and I are the only ones who’ve avoided this fate so far. Though I think Sugar and Puck have just given up the pretense of not being complete attention whores, according to Mike, he’s caught them actually in the shower together.”
“Well, I went to an all boys boarding school, so I’m familiar with communal showers, though not co-ed ones. That is mildly terrifying.”
They walk out of the bathroom and back into the hallway where Blaine’s bags were left sitting. Kurt points to the door to the right.
“This is the room I share with Sugar and Rachel. So that means that’s your room with Mike, Santana and Puck. Good luck, by the way. Santana’s been promising that her girlfriend will be over any day now for a conjugal visit.”
“Well, if that happens, maybe I can just sneak into your room.” Kurt gives a small flustered laugh, blushing to the tips of his ears.
“Oh god, that’s not what- I just mean, maybe there’s space for me? Like on the floor or something. I would much rather sleep on your floor than be in a room with people having sex. It’s happened to me in high school before, and I’d much rather be sexiled than actually bear witness to the act.”
“It’s okay Blaine. I’m sure we’ll figure something out should it happen. I’m pretty sure Mike will be squeezing in with us too. Puck on the other hand, I just know he’ll get some kind of pleasure out of pretending to be asleep so he can watch.”
They stand in the door way of Blaine’s new room, awkwardly avoiding each other’s eyes when Rachel’s voice coming from the room above startles them.
“Don’t tell me not to live, just sit and putter, life’s candy and the suns a ball of butter, who told you you’re allowed to rain on my paraaaade”
Blaine looks down at his feet and smiles, “She’s a little, intense, isn’t she?”
“Rachel? She can actually be really sweet if you catch her during the five seconds of the day when she’s not thinking about herself. I don’t know what her deal was this morning. No that’s a lie, I do, but it’s too horrifying to think about.”
“Well, it looks like she’s working out whatever it is, just remind me to get those ear plugs at some point today.”
“I will do that. Well, I better let you get settled so you can take your nap.” Kurt turns to leave, walking towards his room.
“Wait, Kurt, wanna keep me company while I unpack?”
“Sure, okay. You need someone to spot you while you dive into what I’m sure is a mess of a closet. Best thing about sharing a room with Rachel, she is meticulously organized and has our closet in perfect order, not that I needed her help. But don’t be offended if I start checking out your wardrobe, future design star and all.”
Blaine laughs, “Okay, I promise not be offended if you promise to give me advice if you see something you find to be truly heinous, though I think I do a pretty good job dressing myself.”
“ I don’t think I’ll have many complaints.”
**********************************************
Mike, Sugar and Santana are all sitting on the counters of the empty store, no customers in sight, just one dude sitting on the couch in the back of the store. Sugar keep sneaking looks at him, nose turned up in disgust. Mike pulls open a drawer, pulls out his ipod and adjusts the music.
“Do you guys think Kurt and the new kid have gotten it on yet?” Santana asked as she walks around the store lazily grabbing unfolded shirts from the walls.
Mike, on the other side of the room, gliding across the floor, dancing as he gathers shirts to fold shrugs and keeps moving.
“If they were, I wouldn’t blame them. Kurt is really gorgeous and Blaine is a compact little hottie. If they don’t hook up, they’re just stupid.” Sugar says not looking up from her magazine.
“And did you see Rachel? She was all over the kid. I mean, I get it, hobbits need to stick together, but he was wearing manpris for crying out loud, how does someone with two gay dads have such shitty gaydar? I can only imagine how butthurt she’ll be if those two do hook up. Which means I’ll probably have to put her in her place and make her cry.”
Santana throws a pile of shirts on top of Sugars magazine and raises and eyebrow when Sugar gawks at her. Sugar promptly puts her magazine down and starts folding.
*********************************************************
“Oh my God Blaine, this is gorgeous!” Kurt exclaims excitedly, holding grabbing a bowtie from a case on Blaine’s bed. He gently fingers the fabric, “I think you may the first person I’ve met who appreciates a good bowtie as much as I do.”
“I wore them a lot as a kid, stopped a bit in middle school, because it’s hard enough being the small, racially mixed gay kid in the 8th grade, you don’t need to add ‘wears bowties’ into the mix. They’ve made a comeback, who would have thought the Steve Urkel look would actually be considered en vogue. My brother teased me about my bowties for years, now whenever he’s home, I catch him trying to sneak one out.”
“How old is your brother?” Kurt is still picking through Blaine’s bowtie collection. Blaine’s standing at the foot of the bed, suitcase open, moving his clothes into the closet while Kurt looks through some of his accessories.
“He’s 28. I’m what they call a ‘late in life baby’, or as I like to call it “Mom and Dad had too many margaritas on vacation and oops a baby happened’. Needless to say, I ruined a lot of their plans. Not that they let me. They’re in Manila right now on vacation, if I hadn’t gotten this call, I was probably going to spend my summer at home alone. I could go visit my brother in Canada where he’s working, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed that very much.”
“Wow Blaine, that just sounds like a crappy summer. Well, good thing we needed a replacement roommate, right?”
“Yeah. Right.” Blaine turns to look into the closet, contemplating something before turning back to Kurt, who’s picked up a newsboy cap off of the bed.
“Kurt, can I ask you something and will you give me an honest answer, because some of the things asked of me downstairs arent’ really sitting right, and I’d really like to know the truth of the situation I’m coming into.”
Kurt sits the hat down, taking a deep breath, bracing himself for Blaine’s question.
“The second I was asked if I had a problem with gay people, I knew something was up in the house. I just don’t like not knowing what I’m walking into and if the roommate I’m replacing didn’t leave on his own, but was sent home, I want to know why now. Something about the atmosphere in the house seemed different from what i was expecting.”
“What did you want to know, Blaine?” Kurt fidgets with one of the bowties in Blaine’s box. Blaine walks over and sits across from Kurt, resting his hand on Kurt’s in an attempt to relax him.
“Kurt. The roommate I’m replacing, why did he leave? Did he hurt someone?”
Kurt lets out a shaky breath, waiting a beat before he meets Blaine’s eyes.
“The roommate you’re replacing, David, was a problem. From the start I could tell he was uncomfortable with me. At first, he would just stare at me, make comments under his breath. Then he started flat out insulting me. I tried not to let it get to me, because I’ve been through this before. If I just avoid him, it wouldn’t be a problem. He was just not used to being around a gay person. I’m not the type to go out and meet guys and bring them home, so I wasn’t worried that he’d see me act on it. I just thought if I avoided him, he’d get used to it, realize I’m no different than the other guys here, and move on. Which was silly. It was stupid and I hate that I even thought that, because really, I should know better. My step brother is the only person I’ve met who’s actually grown out of his homophobia, and that took baby steps and my father kicking him out of the house briefly. Anyway-”
Kurt takes another shaky breath, wipes at the corner of his eyes. Blaine moves the box between them so he can sit closer to Kurt.
“Anyway, I did everything i could, I avoided the bathroom if I knew he was in there, I never spoke to him. One day we were all playing football on the beach and he just wouldn’t leave me alone. I know Santana layed into him, but she’s not a problem. As usual, a guy is homophobic but has no problem with lesbians, because they’re not a threat to him. Then one night about a week ago, we were closing the store together, and he just wouldn’t leave me alone, making comment after comment. So I snapped and I followed him into the back room and I asked him what his problem is and told him that he didn’t have to worry about me trying to convert him because he’s not my type.”
“Kurt, what did he do? Did he hit you?”
“He kissed me. He grabbed my face and he smashed his lips into mine and then he tried to do it again. I just ran out of the store. All I remember is that I puked in a trashcan on the street, before I came home, called my best friend and went to stay with her. I’m assuming someone told the other roommates, because I got a call saying he’d be leaving and here you are.”
Kurt smiles wetly at Blaine who smiles back, reaching up to wipe a tear from Kurt’s face.
“Here I am.” Blaine says quietly. He and Kurt share a look, but before either of them can speak, the phone is heard ringing, breaking the tension. Kurt laughs quietly as Blaine gets up and goes back to unpacking. As Blaine walks over to the closet door, Rachel knocks sticks her head in.
“Kurt, phone for you. It’s your friend Mercedes.” Kurt smiles over at Blaine before wiping at his eyes and turning to look in the mirror.
“I’ll be right back, I guess.”
“I’ll be here.” Blaine says, turning back to his suitcase. Kurt walks out of the room, smiling at Rachel who’s looking between him and Blaine with an odd expression on her face.
Kurt goes into the hallway, sits down on the bench and picks up the phone.
“Well don’t you have impeccable timing?” Kurt says into the phone, Mercedes laughs.
“Hello to you too, boo. So what exactly was I interrupting?”
Kurt leans over to look into the Blaine’s room, he can’t quite see him, but he can hear Rachel’s voice.
“We got our new roommate today.” Kurt whispers, still watching the hallway.
“Okay, you’ve got to give me more details than that.”
“Well, his name is Blaine, he’s from Seattle, Rachel has a crush on him, but it doesn’t matter because he’s gay.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“He’s gorgeous, Mercedes. Totally into fashion, his bowtie collection rivals mine. I know he’s into music, but get this, when this is over, he’s starting at NYU. Tell me this is too good to be true. A beautiful gay guy moves into this house, he’s got the same interests as me and when this is all said and done, he’ll be in the same city. This is too good to be true, these things don’t happen to me. I get groped on the dance floor and never called again. I get my face raped, I don’t get Blaines.”
“Have you considered the fact that those are the exact reasons you’re getting a Blaine now? Because of all the things you’ve been through?”
“Is this about to be a God thing? Because please don’t ruin my good day with a God thing.”
“No Kurt, this isn’t a ‘God’ thing, this is a life thing. You’ve had to put up with a lot of [bleep] in your life. Especially recently with that asshole who just left. Maybe it’s time for good stuff to start happening to you. So tell me, does Blaine seem into you at all?”
“Well, he’s been friendly, asking me a lot of questions, and when I told him about David, he practically held my hand. But that doesn’t mean anything. Other than he’s completely oblivious to Rachel’s super obvious crush. I mean Stevie Wonder could see she’s into him, depsite the fact that he told us he was gay. But I don’t think he likes me, we don’t really know each other, he’s been here for like four hours. He’s just a nice guy. I just think just crushing from afar and imaging the possibilities will be fun.”
“Seriously, Kurt? Just make a move. Get to know him, find out what he’s about. You’ve been crushing from afar your whole life. Isn’t that what this experience is about? Trying new things, getting out there, putting yourself on the line? And you know how these things go, have some fun. Get some drinks in him and yourself and see what happens.”
“Okay, I don’t know if you’ve been in your soririty house too long or something, because I can’t believe your suggesting-” Kurt turns and looks down the hallway again, “that I get drunk and hook up with this guy.”
“Kurt please, it’s not like you’ve never been a part of a drunken makeout on the dancefloor before, I’ve saw those pictures on your facebook. Before you untagged yourself.”
“Exactly, Mercedes. First of all, I regret that night, so much. That’s not my style. And I’m certainly not going to do it with cameras surrounding me, where my Dad will inevitably see it because if you think My Dad’s not going to watch and DVR this when it airs, you don’t know him. And I will never been able to show my face at home again knowing him and Carole gathered around the 56 incher to watch me hook up with a guy through a night vision camera. No way. Not happening. I will crush from a far, if he’s interested, we can discuss it again when we’re both in New York. In private.”
“Mmm hmmm” Mercedes replied, skeptically.
“Anyway, what was the reason for your call. I need to get back in there before Rachel starts singing to him.”
“You’re right, I did have a reason for my call. There’s a party tonight, and I want you to come. Bring your roommates. You have not been out once since you got here, and I know a college Kegger isn’t your idea of a good time, but it’s happening at a house in the hills, there will be multiple rooms of fun, and I’ll be in the room with the karaoke and I want to see if this Rachel is anywhere as good as me.”
“You’re both extremely talented, but I will tell my roommates.”
“Tell Rachel I’ll be wearing my sneakers.”
“Okay, you’re been in LA too long. Why on earth would you wear sneakers to a party?”
“Because I’m gonna be doing some runs.”
“Wow. How long did it take you to come up with that one. i actually hate you right now.”
“You love me and I love you too. Party starts at 10. I’ll see you there, boo. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
*****************************
When Kurt walked back into the room, he found Rachel lying on her stomach on the bed watching Blaine as he went through put the last of his clothes away. Kurt glared at her from the door way before he school his expression into something cooler.
“So guys-”
Blaine jumps from his spot in the closet and turns around to face Kurt.
“Wanna go to a party tonight?”
*********************************
PART 2