Title: For Your Entertainment
Fandom: Glee
Characters/Pairings: Blaine/Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn, Tina/Mike, Finn/Rachel, Brittany/Artie, Sam/Santana, a few OCs and a certain former GAP employee
Spoilers: Not really, but we'll go with everything aired so far, just in case
Summary: Future, AU. Kurt is a club-owner who prefers to remain out of sight when the doors open. A chance run-in with a dark-haired stranger reminds him why.
Rating: R
Author's Notes: I wrote this at work yesterday, for some reason. I honestly have no idea why it popped into my head, but it is inspired both by the Brad Walsh remix of Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment" and
this photo/scene from the Brittany Spears episode. Also, assume that most the characters did not meet each other through McKinley or Dalton.
It's un-beta'd so please excuse any an all mistakes!
The bass of the music blaring from the surround-sound speakers thrummed in Kurt's veins as he seductively descended the stairs. He watched with little interest as the tangle of bodies in the middle of the dance floor undulated with the beat as one. Once on the dance floor, he skirted around the edge, feeding off the energy of the crowd without succumbing to it. A few hands reached out, brushing his arm in hopes to catch his eye but merely ignored them as he continued through the room.
Most of the attention was on the pair in the middle of the mass, the two women standing out from the crowd, Santana in pure white and Brittany in pearl-blue and black. Their dancing set them apart, but their intensity drew the crowd in. In fact, since they started coming regularly, attendance had doubled. Kurt tried to offer them payment but the women shrugged it off. They were there to dance and to hang out with their friends. They loved Kurt but they could honestly care less about their affect on his business.
Speaking of friends, Kurt finger-waved to the permanently-reserved pair of booths as he passed by. Rachel and Finn sat cuddled in one, oblivious to most. Sharing it with was Sam and Artie, chatting as they watched their girlfriends on the dance floor. They usually joined the girls later, and had no problem with the lecherous gazes cast at the two dancers. They always went home together, that was all that mattered.
In the booth next to them sat Tina and Mike, Mercedes and Puck. It was rare that Puck joined them anymore, as he and Finn had had a falling out over a rather zealous born-again Christian (before she had found Christ). They never spoke, never acknowledged each other's presence. Kurt found the situation highly juvenile and kind of ironic now that the woman, Quinn Fabray, stood outside with around a dozen others protesting his club and its message of sexual freedom.
As Kurt drew up to the bar the song changed to another upbeat song. There were never any breaks from the onslaught of fast-paced music, never any ballads as there was never any chance for romance to bloom in his club. He wouldn't allow it. He recognized it as his favorite remix of his favorite Adam Lambert song. His gaze darted over to where the DJ stood and Matt gave him a thumbs up. They were sort of like a family, this ragtag team of people who helped him run his bar, and he knew they wanted to see him during club hours more.
The bartender, Rory, shot Kurt a sexy smirk as the shorter man sidled up to the bar. Without a word the man, who looked enough like Puck to cause a few raised eyebrows, threw together Kurt's favorite drink and slid it across the polished wood surface. Kurt brushed the other man's muscled arm in thanks before hopping up onto the bar, crossing his legs encased in his well-tailored red designer jeans and taking a sip of the drink. Kurt surveyed the room slowly, making sure nothing went wrong and checking out his clientele. He barely ever came down during club hours, preferring the mystery his constant absence provided. But as he had sat in his private room above the floor something told him tonight was a good night to join the throng.
As the club-owner's eyes swept over a darker corner of the club, he caught sight of a man he didn't recognize and as though sensing his gaze, looked over to catch him looking. Kurt felt a jolt as their eyes connected.With a small smirk, Kurt slowly wrapped his lips around the straw once more, taking a slow swallow while maintaining perfect eye-contact. The dark-haired man licked his lips and the smirk grew wider. This, this slight tease before a dance and a quickie in the bathroom, this Kurt knew how to do. Still keeping their gazes locked, Kurt slid off the bar and stalked across the room, swinging his hips just so. If he bothered care, he would have noticed half the club watching his trek, one particular gaze dark with envy. But his focus was on only the man he had now stopped in front of and nothing else.
Keeping his smirk just this side of smug, Kurt held out his hand. He ignored the spark as the other man took it and simply pulled him close, their bodies touching almost completely from chest to toes. They stared at each other for a long moment, Kurt willing himself not to get lost in the haze-eyed gaze. Instead he leaned in, lips almost close enough to touch the other man's ear as he spoke.
"I'm Kurt," he said just loud enough to be heard over the music. He licked his lips, letting his tongue just barely graze the shell of it. He felt the shudder run through both their bodies.
"Blaine," the stranger said in a husky whisper. They pulled away just enough so they could look at each other once more. Kurt opened his mouth to invite Blaine to dance when he jerked away suddenly, his warm hand ripped from the club owner's grip.
Confused, Kurt watched as a man with longish blonde hair pulled Blaine to him, his blue eyes blazing. "Stay away from my boyfriend," he shouted. Kurt raised an impeccably groomed eyebrow as he slid his gaze over to Blaine, who looked embarrassed, uncomfortable and apologetic. He also looked as though he was struggling a bit against the arm around his shoulders but Kurt wasn't sure if it was because he wanted to get away or because he felt guilty about being caught.
Something like disappointment flooded through his body but Kurt simply let it shine through as indifference as he shrugged. "Your loss," he said before turning around and walking away. Part of him felt like his heart was breaking, which was ridiculous because he knew nothing about Blaine, had barely spent five minutes with him. He was just another hookup, nothing more, nothing less. Yet, the small part of him he had learned to ignore the past five years whispered, there was something different about Blaine. Something that made him instinctively want to trust him, to love him.
No, this is how it begins. This is how it always begins and he promised himself he would never let anything like that happen again. He would never willingly let himself get hurt again. Not after Jesse.
Hopping back onto the bar, his drink cold and full once more, Kurt resumed his perusal of the dance floor. Sam and Artie had indeed joined Santana and Brittany, garnering several jealous glances. He caught eyes with Mercedes, who gave him a look that said she had seen the whole exchange and knew what he was thinking. He shook his head at her and turned back to the dancing mass of bodies, sipping his drink a bit more regularly than before.
If his gaze lingered at the spot where Blaine and his boyfriend stood arguing, he told himself it was because he wanted to make sure trouble didn't start. But when the blonde man leaned in to kiss Blaine, something shattered inside Kurt and he quickly looked away. Tears threatened to sting Kurt's eyes which, really, how stupid was he being right now? He didn't even know the guy's last name. Sliding off the bar once more, this time with a little less finesse, Kurt threw back the rest of his drink, slammed the glass on the table and marched off to hole himself up in his office above the club, ignoring the gazes boring into his back.
This was why he stopped coming down here and this was why he never would come down here again.
----
There is actually more to this, but I wasn't sure how I felt about it. If there's enough people who like this, I will post the second part! I'm also not opposed to writing more in this universe, again this depends on how many people actually like it.
So let me know what you think!