Even the Stars Sometimes Fall (Part Four)
Title: Even the Stars Sometimes Fall (Part Four)
Fandom: Glee
Pairings: Blaine/Jesse St. James
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,456 (Part Four)
Summary: Blaine is dreamy. There is no escaping the fact. Dreamy and charming and damn talented. And it makes Jesse's teeth grind.
A/N: A million thanks to my lovely and talented beta, cymbalism219. And a million thanks also goes to nokomis305, who convinced me of the epic rightness of this pairing. Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen is referenced in this section.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
The world is against Jesse. He’s not sure why, he hasn’t done anything to it, but facts are facts. And those facts mean that Jesse is still alone and will probably always be. Because he is unlovable. Which, really, is enough to make him want to hang his head and cry.
But Jesse is made of sterner stuff that than. So Jesse preservers, he struggles on in the face of undeserved adversity. He doesn't ever call Kurt and complain for hours, no matter what Kurt might say about it. And he never, repeat never, stalks Blaine.
All of which, Jesse thinks, ought to earn him a spot on the list for consideration by the Nobel Peace Prize council. Or at least the favorable opinion of one oh-so-charming young man.
But it won’t. Because the world hates him.
*
“I didn’t ask you on this picnic to be lectured,” Blaine says, a tight smile in place.
Kurt gives him a long, hard look. “I’m not lecturing you. I’m merely pointing out that you are turning your back on what could very possibly be your moment of happiness.” He fluffs his hair. “What sort of a friend would I be if I let you do that?”
“The sort of friend I want to keep?” Blaine says with an exasperated sigh. “I just don’t see why my not wanting to date Jesse so important to you.”
Kurt leans back against a tree and studies the underside of its leaves. Blaine watches him watch them for a bit, then turns his attention back to his book, content to let the silence go on for as long as needs be. He turns a page, not because he has finished it, but because he feels like enough time has passed that he should.
“It’s not easy being talented,” Kurt says softly. “Either you stifle it and try to fit in or you let it consume you and become a raging egotist. And Jesse, well he’s an egotist, but under all that fluff and bluster he’s actually a fairly decent guy. Sure, he’s a bit on the ostentatious side. Sure, he can be a bit of a blow hard. But he has a good heart and I don’t think you are giving him the chance he deserves.”
“A good heart?” Blaine laughs. “I could have sworn you called him a ‘cad’ not that long ago.”
“I thought he was angling for you. I would have called him far worse than that to put you on your guard.” Kurt gives him an unrepentant grin. “But, honestly, he’s just suffering from an over-sized personality.”
“He’s a piece of work and you know it. Nothing excuses smashing an egg on his ex-girlfriend’s head. Nothing.”
Kurt makes a face. “Okay, so that is pretty hard to work around, but you have to take the fact that it was Rachel Berry. I sort of want to egg her on a regular basis. And she isn’t exactly pure and innocent in this either. I mean, she did try to imply to the whole Glee club that she cheated on Jesse with Finn and Puck.”
“Tried to imply?” Blaine’s lips quirk up.
“Yeah,” Kurt sort of shrugs. “No one believed it. Not with the way that Puck was panting after Quin or with the sad, sad looks Finn was shooting in Rachel’s direction. But still. Implied cheating is clear grounds for a breakup.”
Blaine has to agree with that, but he’s not about to give up the game yet. “So he wasn’t as cold hearted as he originally may seem, but he’s still no Dudley Do-Right.”
“Would you even want a Dudley Do-Right?” Kurt purses his lips and looks all sorts of thoughtful. “Because I’m not sure I would. He’d be all perfect and wonderful and boring as hell.” Kurt scrunches his nose. “Personally, I need a bit more sass in my life-partner than that.”
“I’m not looking for a life-partner at the moment.”
Kurt beams at him. “All the more reason to try Jesse St. James on for size. You can always throw him back if he doesn’t fit.”
Blaine nearly chokes on his tongue. “Did you just imply what I think you did?”
“I’m not as sweet and innocent as you may think,” Kurt says with a coy lift of the shoulder.
“Who says I think you are sweet or innocent?” Blaine raises his eyebrows. “I still haven’t recovered from that thing you did in the backseat of my mother’s minivan.”
“Hush,” Kurt waves a hand at him, “you’ll tarnish my pristine reputation.”
“Or make it legendary.” Blaine leers at him. “Seriously. There are girls out there who would scratch your eyes out if they knew you could do what you did.” Kurt’s face turns bright red, but he’s still smiling, so Blaine decides to push his luck. “Why don’t you date him?”
“What?”
“Why don’t you date Jesse St. James?”
“Maybe because he is totally in love with you?” Kurt tosses a crumpled napkin at Blaine. “Or did you miss that part?”
Blaine swats it aside. "He is not in love with me."
"Well, be that as it may, he is certainly fixated on you. And I don't want to be anyone's second choice."
Blaine rolls his eyes. "I'm sure he'll come around if you bat those big green eyes of yours in his direction. Lord knows I sure did."
"I don't want to date an egotist. I want to date a big, hunk of a man. With rough hands and just a hint of a southern accent." Kurt's expression gets a bit swoony and Blaine grins in response.
"Any big, hunk of a man in particular?"
There go those cheeks, red as a fire engine again. "Enough about me. We are talking about you."
"I don't want to date an egotist either," Blaine says firmly. "So stop trying to push one on me."
"But you think Jesse is hot. I know you do."
Blaine holds up a finger. "I said I thought he was cute."
Kurt snorts. "Yeah, you did. And then I saw the way you looked at him at the Sing Off That Wasn't -- all smoldery and such." Blaine opens his mouth to protest but Kurt staves him off with an upheld hand. "You rubbed your bottom lip with your thumb. Don't even try to deny it. And I know what that means."
"Damn you and your intimate knowledge of my tells." Blaine's eyes narrow. "But that doesn't mean anything."
"The hell it doesn't." Kurt glares at him. "Why are you so against this? What reason do you have to resist the pretty pile of temptation that is Jesse St. James?"
“You know, maybe if he actually did something other than threaten, glower, or menace at me, I might be interested. I take your word that he is in love with me because I trust you to tell the truth, but come on. Whenever he’s around me he turns into a strutting peacock afraid I’m going to steal away his glory.” Blaine gives Kurt a hard look, daring him to deny it.
Kurt, for his part, look thoughtful. “You know you, I think you are right.”
“Of course I’m right,” Blaine says with a huff. “Now are we going to get around to the eating part of this picnic or not?”
*
“You need to woo him!”
Jesse startles and nearly trips over his own two feet. “Wha-- where did you come from?”
Kurt gives him a dazzling smile. “My daddy says they found me under a cabbage leaf.”
Jesse blinks at him. "Have you completely lost your mind?"
"No. Not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact." Kurt's smile goes a bit manic at the edges. "Because I have found the way for you to win the heart of your fair maiden."
"I'm not interested in any fair maidens at the moment," Jesse points out.
Kurt waves his words away. "’Fair maiden’ sounds better than ‘fair man.’ Anyway, so not important. What is important is that I have found a way for you to sink your claws into the heart of one Blaine Anderson."
"And how did you happen to come up with this magic way?" Jesse asks with an upraised eyebrow.
Kurt falls into step with him. "Okay, so yesterday Blaine asked me to go with him on this adorable little picnic and I tried to plead your case for, I don't know, the thousandth time and he shot me down like he always does--"
"How does this story end with me being happy with you?" Jesse cuts in.
"And then he started sulking at me about how all you ever do is huff and puff and try to blow his confidence down and I realized then what needed to happen," Kurt blithely continues on. "You need to woo him. With song."
"Woo him," Jesse repeats.
Kurt nods like a bobble-head doll. "With song."
*
Blaine isn’t sure why someone is throwing rocks at his bedroom window, but he’s fairly certain he isn’t going to like it when he find out. There is only one person he can think of who would do something that desperate, and, well, Blaine doesn’t want to see him. Because Jesse St. James is just trouble wrapped in a pretty package and Blaine is doing all he can to resist turning into a modern Pandora.
But not seeing him means that one of those rocks is going to break his window and then his mom is going to be pissed and his dad will get that disappointed look and, ah hell.
Blaine sighs and walks over to his window. Which, really, is a glass door leading out a small but tastefully decorated balcony. Jesse St. James is standing below, hand cocked back, clearly ready to throw another rock. He is in his customary black leather and jeans with a guitar strung to his back and, crap. He’s about to be serenaded. By a sexy bad boy. While standing on a balcony on a beautiful summer night.
Life just isn’t fair.
Jesse St. James slings the guitar around and does his best to make Eric Carmen green with envy and Blaine decides then and there that fate hates him.
He listens for a moment. Okay, a long moment. Then sighs and shakes his head. “You’re going to break my heart,” he calls down from his balcony.
Jesse St. James’ voice falters for a split second, then swells dramatically as he sings about how their love is meant to be. Blaine groans.
“I’m not giving into you,” he insists, even as he knows that he is. He so totally is. Because who can resist ‘Hungry Eyes’? Especially when being serenaded by a boy with perfectly tousled curls and blue, blue eyes while standing on a balcony with everything lit by soft, romantic moonlight? No one, that’s who.
The song comes to it’s predictably dramatic close and Jesse St. James shakes his hair out of his eyes then stares up at Blaine with this look that slays him.
Blaine knows he has a sappy grin on his face and doesn’t even care. “The Golden Finger Bowl,” he says, giving in to the inevitable. “Tomorrow at eight o’clock. Reserve a table for two.”
Jesse St. James’s jaw drops. His eyes go wide and he starts to babble. If Blaine wasn’t so damn twisted up about this whole giving in to temptation thing, he would think it was the most adorable thing he has ever witnessed.
“I’m going to go inside and close my door now,” he says coolly, as if he isn’t two seconds away from dashing through the house, down the stairs and straight into the other boy’s arms. “Don’t bother me again or I’ll rethink my already too generous offer.”
*
Jesse isn’t sure how it all added up, but somehow he was sitting at a table in a restaurant that wasn’t Breadsticks waiting for Blaine to join him. Maybe it’s some kind of Christmas miracle. Except it isn’t December and he’s pretty sure Blaine was right about him being on Santa’s “naughty” list. Then again, maybe Santa likes sexy-voiced men with dashing good looks and impeccable hair. Which would explain why Jesse always got what he wanted on Christmas morning. Jesse smiles to himself, pleased with his conclusions.
Whatever the reason, he is here. Waiting. For all his dreams to come true. Or at least for Blaine to show up. Jesse glances at the door, then down at his watch and back again. A frown mars his otherwise flawless brow. They said they would meet at eight. It's eight fifteen. This does not look good at all.
Jesse glares at the door, willing it to open and his perfect, pretty boy to walk through, with smiling, apologetic eyes and a mouthful of palatable excuses.
It doesn't. He slumps back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. Five more minutes, he decides. Then he's blowing up Blaine’s phone.
Five minutes pass. Then ten. Then twenty. The waitress fills up his cup with water and gives him a decidedly pitying look. Jesse tips his head in thanks, then goes back to scowling at the door. He knows he should give up, pull together what is left of his pride and march out with his head held high. But if does that he'll lose his one and only chance to... The door opens again and Jesse glances at it dispassionately. It's too late for it to be Blaine.
But somehow it is.
And he's got the most adorably panicked look on his face. Jesse sits up straight and slaps a coolly indifferent look into place. A second later Blaine spots him. Jesse can tell because of the relieved expression that flits across the other boy's face and the completely unsubtle hair check that happens a moment later. Jesse feels a surge of indulgence at the gesture -- indisputable proof that Blaine cares enough to worry about his appearance. It's endearing, though completely unnecessary. As if anything could dislodge one of Blaine's heavily gelled hairs from its rightful place. Jesse beams at him as he hurriedly crosses the room. He wishes that smug, pitying waitress would show up now and witness what was sure to be a joyous union of two souls.
Less than ten minutes later he is glad he never got around to ordering food -- if he had he wouldn’t be able to swan out the door on the arm of a charming, handsome young man and off into the -- not sunset, not at quarter to nine. Mysterious night, then. Yes, Jesse thinks with a smile, that will do just fine.
~Fin
Fandom: Glee
Pairings: Blaine/Jesse St. James
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,456 (Part Four)
Summary: Blaine is dreamy. There is no escaping the fact. Dreamy and charming and damn talented. And it makes Jesse's teeth grind.
A/N: A million thanks to my lovely and talented beta, cymbalism219. And a million thanks also goes to nokomis305, who convinced me of the epic rightness of this pairing. Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen is referenced in this section.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
The world is against Jesse. He’s not sure why, he hasn’t done anything to it, but facts are facts. And those facts mean that Jesse is still alone and will probably always be. Because he is unlovable. Which, really, is enough to make him want to hang his head and cry.
But Jesse is made of sterner stuff that than. So Jesse preservers, he struggles on in the face of undeserved adversity. He doesn't ever call Kurt and complain for hours, no matter what Kurt might say about it. And he never, repeat never, stalks Blaine.
All of which, Jesse thinks, ought to earn him a spot on the list for consideration by the Nobel Peace Prize council. Or at least the favorable opinion of one oh-so-charming young man.
But it won’t. Because the world hates him.
*
“I didn’t ask you on this picnic to be lectured,” Blaine says, a tight smile in place.
Kurt gives him a long, hard look. “I’m not lecturing you. I’m merely pointing out that you are turning your back on what could very possibly be your moment of happiness.” He fluffs his hair. “What sort of a friend would I be if I let you do that?”
“The sort of friend I want to keep?” Blaine says with an exasperated sigh. “I just don’t see why my not wanting to date Jesse so important to you.”
Kurt leans back against a tree and studies the underside of its leaves. Blaine watches him watch them for a bit, then turns his attention back to his book, content to let the silence go on for as long as needs be. He turns a page, not because he has finished it, but because he feels like enough time has passed that he should.
“It’s not easy being talented,” Kurt says softly. “Either you stifle it and try to fit in or you let it consume you and become a raging egotist. And Jesse, well he’s an egotist, but under all that fluff and bluster he’s actually a fairly decent guy. Sure, he’s a bit on the ostentatious side. Sure, he can be a bit of a blow hard. But he has a good heart and I don’t think you are giving him the chance he deserves.”
“A good heart?” Blaine laughs. “I could have sworn you called him a ‘cad’ not that long ago.”
“I thought he was angling for you. I would have called him far worse than that to put you on your guard.” Kurt gives him an unrepentant grin. “But, honestly, he’s just suffering from an over-sized personality.”
“He’s a piece of work and you know it. Nothing excuses smashing an egg on his ex-girlfriend’s head. Nothing.”
Kurt makes a face. “Okay, so that is pretty hard to work around, but you have to take the fact that it was Rachel Berry. I sort of want to egg her on a regular basis. And she isn’t exactly pure and innocent in this either. I mean, she did try to imply to the whole Glee club that she cheated on Jesse with Finn and Puck.”
“Tried to imply?” Blaine’s lips quirk up.
“Yeah,” Kurt sort of shrugs. “No one believed it. Not with the way that Puck was panting after Quin or with the sad, sad looks Finn was shooting in Rachel’s direction. But still. Implied cheating is clear grounds for a breakup.”
Blaine has to agree with that, but he’s not about to give up the game yet. “So he wasn’t as cold hearted as he originally may seem, but he’s still no Dudley Do-Right.”
“Would you even want a Dudley Do-Right?” Kurt purses his lips and looks all sorts of thoughtful. “Because I’m not sure I would. He’d be all perfect and wonderful and boring as hell.” Kurt scrunches his nose. “Personally, I need a bit more sass in my life-partner than that.”
“I’m not looking for a life-partner at the moment.”
Kurt beams at him. “All the more reason to try Jesse St. James on for size. You can always throw him back if he doesn’t fit.”
Blaine nearly chokes on his tongue. “Did you just imply what I think you did?”
“I’m not as sweet and innocent as you may think,” Kurt says with a coy lift of the shoulder.
“Who says I think you are sweet or innocent?” Blaine raises his eyebrows. “I still haven’t recovered from that thing you did in the backseat of my mother’s minivan.”
“Hush,” Kurt waves a hand at him, “you’ll tarnish my pristine reputation.”
“Or make it legendary.” Blaine leers at him. “Seriously. There are girls out there who would scratch your eyes out if they knew you could do what you did.” Kurt’s face turns bright red, but he’s still smiling, so Blaine decides to push his luck. “Why don’t you date him?”
“What?”
“Why don’t you date Jesse St. James?”
“Maybe because he is totally in love with you?” Kurt tosses a crumpled napkin at Blaine. “Or did you miss that part?”
Blaine swats it aside. "He is not in love with me."
"Well, be that as it may, he is certainly fixated on you. And I don't want to be anyone's second choice."
Blaine rolls his eyes. "I'm sure he'll come around if you bat those big green eyes of yours in his direction. Lord knows I sure did."
"I don't want to date an egotist. I want to date a big, hunk of a man. With rough hands and just a hint of a southern accent." Kurt's expression gets a bit swoony and Blaine grins in response.
"Any big, hunk of a man in particular?"
There go those cheeks, red as a fire engine again. "Enough about me. We are talking about you."
"I don't want to date an egotist either," Blaine says firmly. "So stop trying to push one on me."
"But you think Jesse is hot. I know you do."
Blaine holds up a finger. "I said I thought he was cute."
Kurt snorts. "Yeah, you did. And then I saw the way you looked at him at the Sing Off That Wasn't -- all smoldery and such." Blaine opens his mouth to protest but Kurt staves him off with an upheld hand. "You rubbed your bottom lip with your thumb. Don't even try to deny it. And I know what that means."
"Damn you and your intimate knowledge of my tells." Blaine's eyes narrow. "But that doesn't mean anything."
"The hell it doesn't." Kurt glares at him. "Why are you so against this? What reason do you have to resist the pretty pile of temptation that is Jesse St. James?"
“You know, maybe if he actually did something other than threaten, glower, or menace at me, I might be interested. I take your word that he is in love with me because I trust you to tell the truth, but come on. Whenever he’s around me he turns into a strutting peacock afraid I’m going to steal away his glory.” Blaine gives Kurt a hard look, daring him to deny it.
Kurt, for his part, look thoughtful. “You know you, I think you are right.”
“Of course I’m right,” Blaine says with a huff. “Now are we going to get around to the eating part of this picnic or not?”
*
“You need to woo him!”
Jesse startles and nearly trips over his own two feet. “Wha-- where did you come from?”
Kurt gives him a dazzling smile. “My daddy says they found me under a cabbage leaf.”
Jesse blinks at him. "Have you completely lost your mind?"
"No. Not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact." Kurt's smile goes a bit manic at the edges. "Because I have found the way for you to win the heart of your fair maiden."
"I'm not interested in any fair maidens at the moment," Jesse points out.
Kurt waves his words away. "’Fair maiden’ sounds better than ‘fair man.’ Anyway, so not important. What is important is that I have found a way for you to sink your claws into the heart of one Blaine Anderson."
"And how did you happen to come up with this magic way?" Jesse asks with an upraised eyebrow.
Kurt falls into step with him. "Okay, so yesterday Blaine asked me to go with him on this adorable little picnic and I tried to plead your case for, I don't know, the thousandth time and he shot me down like he always does--"
"How does this story end with me being happy with you?" Jesse cuts in.
"And then he started sulking at me about how all you ever do is huff and puff and try to blow his confidence down and I realized then what needed to happen," Kurt blithely continues on. "You need to woo him. With song."
"Woo him," Jesse repeats.
Kurt nods like a bobble-head doll. "With song."
*
Blaine isn’t sure why someone is throwing rocks at his bedroom window, but he’s fairly certain he isn’t going to like it when he find out. There is only one person he can think of who would do something that desperate, and, well, Blaine doesn’t want to see him. Because Jesse St. James is just trouble wrapped in a pretty package and Blaine is doing all he can to resist turning into a modern Pandora.
But not seeing him means that one of those rocks is going to break his window and then his mom is going to be pissed and his dad will get that disappointed look and, ah hell.
Blaine sighs and walks over to his window. Which, really, is a glass door leading out a small but tastefully decorated balcony. Jesse St. James is standing below, hand cocked back, clearly ready to throw another rock. He is in his customary black leather and jeans with a guitar strung to his back and, crap. He’s about to be serenaded. By a sexy bad boy. While standing on a balcony on a beautiful summer night.
Life just isn’t fair.
Jesse St. James slings the guitar around and does his best to make Eric Carmen green with envy and Blaine decides then and there that fate hates him.
He listens for a moment. Okay, a long moment. Then sighs and shakes his head. “You’re going to break my heart,” he calls down from his balcony.
Jesse St. James’ voice falters for a split second, then swells dramatically as he sings about how their love is meant to be. Blaine groans.
“I’m not giving into you,” he insists, even as he knows that he is. He so totally is. Because who can resist ‘Hungry Eyes’? Especially when being serenaded by a boy with perfectly tousled curls and blue, blue eyes while standing on a balcony with everything lit by soft, romantic moonlight? No one, that’s who.
The song comes to it’s predictably dramatic close and Jesse St. James shakes his hair out of his eyes then stares up at Blaine with this look that slays him.
Blaine knows he has a sappy grin on his face and doesn’t even care. “The Golden Finger Bowl,” he says, giving in to the inevitable. “Tomorrow at eight o’clock. Reserve a table for two.”
Jesse St. James’s jaw drops. His eyes go wide and he starts to babble. If Blaine wasn’t so damn twisted up about this whole giving in to temptation thing, he would think it was the most adorable thing he has ever witnessed.
“I’m going to go inside and close my door now,” he says coolly, as if he isn’t two seconds away from dashing through the house, down the stairs and straight into the other boy’s arms. “Don’t bother me again or I’ll rethink my already too generous offer.”
*
Jesse isn’t sure how it all added up, but somehow he was sitting at a table in a restaurant that wasn’t Breadsticks waiting for Blaine to join him. Maybe it’s some kind of Christmas miracle. Except it isn’t December and he’s pretty sure Blaine was right about him being on Santa’s “naughty” list. Then again, maybe Santa likes sexy-voiced men with dashing good looks and impeccable hair. Which would explain why Jesse always got what he wanted on Christmas morning. Jesse smiles to himself, pleased with his conclusions.
Whatever the reason, he is here. Waiting. For all his dreams to come true. Or at least for Blaine to show up. Jesse glances at the door, then down at his watch and back again. A frown mars his otherwise flawless brow. They said they would meet at eight. It's eight fifteen. This does not look good at all.
Jesse glares at the door, willing it to open and his perfect, pretty boy to walk through, with smiling, apologetic eyes and a mouthful of palatable excuses.
It doesn't. He slumps back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. Five more minutes, he decides. Then he's blowing up Blaine’s phone.
Five minutes pass. Then ten. Then twenty. The waitress fills up his cup with water and gives him a decidedly pitying look. Jesse tips his head in thanks, then goes back to scowling at the door. He knows he should give up, pull together what is left of his pride and march out with his head held high. But if does that he'll lose his one and only chance to... The door opens again and Jesse glances at it dispassionately. It's too late for it to be Blaine.
But somehow it is.
And he's got the most adorably panicked look on his face. Jesse sits up straight and slaps a coolly indifferent look into place. A second later Blaine spots him. Jesse can tell because of the relieved expression that flits across the other boy's face and the completely unsubtle hair check that happens a moment later. Jesse feels a surge of indulgence at the gesture -- indisputable proof that Blaine cares enough to worry about his appearance. It's endearing, though completely unnecessary. As if anything could dislodge one of Blaine's heavily gelled hairs from its rightful place. Jesse beams at him as he hurriedly crosses the room. He wishes that smug, pitying waitress would show up now and witness what was sure to be a joyous union of two souls.
Less than ten minutes later he is glad he never got around to ordering food -- if he had he wouldn’t be able to swan out the door on the arm of a charming, handsome young man and off into the -- not sunset, not at quarter to nine. Mysterious night, then. Yes, Jesse thinks with a smile, that will do just fine.
~Fin