Five Ways that Blaine Could Have Met Kurt because Cooper Got Married, and What Really Happened (4/6)
Title: Five Ways that Blaine Could Have Met Kurt because Cooper Got Married, and What Really Happened
Rating: Ranging from G to R/NC-17 (depending on how carried away I get in later chapters)
Pairings: Klaine, Cooper/OFC
Word Count: 3,910 this chapter / 17,839 total (so far)
Spoilers: Anything through the end of S3 may be mentioned
Warnings: None that I can think of. It's a little cracky?
Summary: It's exactly what the title says. :)
Author's Notes: Many thanks to my wonderful beta shandyall! And thank you so much to colfer for being a second set of eyes and for additional help on this chapter. If you're so inclined, feel free to come say hi on Tumblr over here.
Part One: It could have been at a bakery.
Part Two: Or maybe at a salon.
Part Three: Perhaps at the church.
Blaine is pretty sure that he and the cute assistant photographer have been making eyes at each other all morning.
It’s hard to be certain, though. After all, it’s literally the other man’s job to observe what’s going on today. Maybe he’s spent the entire day waiting for Blaine to do something worthy of being preserved for posterity, and Blaine’s disappointing him. Maybe Blaine’s blowing it out of proportion. It’s not like he’s not the only one the photographer is looking at - Cooper has definitely been on the receiving end of many of his glances, but Blaine is willing to chalk that up to Cooper being the groom. He’d really prefer for that to be the reason, anyway.
But just before he steps forward to escort the maid of honor down the aisle, Blaine cuts one more glance over toward the photographer and finds the other man’s eyes flicking away quickly once again.
Blaine had caught his first glimpse of the man after he was done directing the florist about the exact manner for tying sprigs of flowers and ribbons onto the ends of the pews, per Emily and Cooper’s strict instructions. While passing back through the lobby, Blaine saw him hunched in patch of sunshine on the front lawn, trying to hold the bridal bouquet at an appropriate angle with one hand and maneuver an impressive camera with the other.
He had paused for a moment and watched as the photographer scrolled through the pictures he’d just taken, frowning down at the camera with a critical eye. When he began struggling to adjust the camera settings while still holding the flowers, Blaine had pushed open the door and approached him. He told himself that he was being polite and that Emily would eviscerate anyone who dropped her bouquet. The guy’s distinctive profile (accentuated by a truly magnificent sweeping hairstyle) had very little to do with it.
The photographer was so involved in his work that he didn’t even glance up until Blaine’s shadow fell over the flowers. “Excuse me - you’re blocking my…” he said, turning to squint up with clear blue-gray eyes that dropped open slightly when Blaine drew nearer. “Oh. Um, you’re blocking the light.” He turned back down to fiddle with the camera again.
“I’m sorry,” Blaine said, shuffling to the side. “I just wanted to see if you could use any help.”
“No, no. Thank you, but I’m actually pretty accustomed to doing this part on my own.”
Blaine crouched down beside him. “Really.” He reached out and gently prised the flowers from the man’s hand. They were heavier than he had expected, and he clutched them carefully. “I won’t even tell anyone that you absconded with the bouquet.”
One side of the photographer’s mouth curled up as he shot Blaine a look through narrowed eyes. “Absconded? Really?”
Blaine shrugged, then stilled himself again when the other man glared. He ignored the man’s fingers curling around the camera’s lens, poised over the shutter button and then pressing it down. “Have you met the bride? She wouldn’t be too happy to have someone else handling the bouquet before she does. Maybe I’m just trying to take some of the heat in case you get caught.”
“How chivalrous,” the man mumbled, sounding vaguely pleased but also seeming distracted as he flipped through a few pictures. He glanced up and reached over to adjust the angle of the flowers with a hint of skin sweeping along Blaine’s. “Mel did say that this wedding would be an interesting one. Full of character, I believe were her exact words.” He continued to shoot as he spoke, adjusting his position briefly between each click of the camera.
“That’s one way to describe it,” Blaine said diplomatically, looking at what he could see of the other man. The strong line of his shoulders. The soft wrinkle of concentration in his forehead. His hand twisting the zoom lens. It felt strangely voyeuristic - they were so close together, but the man wasn’t paying him any attention at all.
At least, he wasn’t until he suddenly dropped the camera a few inches, looking over at Blaine. “You must not be Cooper, then.”
“Nope. I’m Blaine. Cooper’s my brother.”
“Ah.” Quick as a flash, he raised the camera and took few quick shots of what Blaine could only assume was his surprised face as he stooped there in the sunlight holding the flowers. “Just in case anyone wants any evidence about who really stole the bouquet,” he said, grinning impishly.
Blaine chuckled as they both straightened to their feet and started back toward the church. The other man held out his hand for the flowers, rolling his eyes when Blaine hesitated in giving them back. “I think she really might kill someone if anything happens to them,” Blaine hedged.
“Trust me, this is far from my first time handling a bouquet,” the man said, wiggling his fingers. “Besides, if something happens, wouldn’t you rather have the blame fall on an innocent bystander? You’re going to see her at Thanksgiving and Christmas every year for the rest of your lives.”
“Fair enough,” Blaine said, handing over the flowers before holding the door open for him.
When the flowers were safely nestled back into the flat with the bridesmaids’ bouquets, the photographer straightened back up and nodded over his shoulder. “I should go track down Mel. See where she needs me to be.”
“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll… see you around.”
“Probably more than you want to. Thanks for your help, Blaine.”
He was walking away before Blaine realized that he hadn’t learned his name - a fact that Blaine lamented for the next two hours. He couldn’t even find a good way to discover it. He couldn’t ask Mel when she shot the groomsmen’s portraits on the sunny lawn beside the church. He was too afraid that Cooper would find out and tease Blaine mercilessly, so he didn’t ask the man directly when he was shooting candids of the wedding party goofing around while they waited to walk down the aisle, sneaking extra looks at Blaine the whole time. At least Blaine thought he was. Maybe he was peeking at everyone.
During the ceremony, Blaine watches him move around the back of the church and wonders.
Finally, when the wedding party is milling around at the front of the church, waiting for the group pictures to begin, Mel gathers them together for a brief series of announcements. She’s a no-nonsense, energetic woman with brassy hair, and she speaks loudly. “Just in case any of you missed it, I’m Mel, and this is my assistant photographer, Kurt.” The man gives a little wave, and Blaine repeats the name in his head. Kurt. “You’re going to be seeing a lot of us today…”
Blaine can’t help but be glad to hear that. He tunes the rest of the announcements out, and when Mel is posing Cooper and Emily for a few pictures alone, he sidles up beside Kurt and says, “It’s nice to officially meet you, Kurt.”
Kurt is holding the camera in front of his face, but Blaine sees the corner of his mouth tilt up. “Likewise.”
And that’s how it really starts. For the rest of the day, he and Kurt somehow gravitate together again and again, exchanging quips and tentative smiles and chatting for a few seconds at a time.
At the park, Kurt straightens up after taking a few pictures of the flower girl and mutters to Mel, “It’s too bad the miniature’s dress is cuter than the bride’s.”
Blaine, who’s standing close by, can’t help but ask, “You don’t like Emily’s dress?”
Kurt reddens when he sees Blaine standing so close. “I -”
“Because I think it looks like she got into a cage match with a few yards of lace and lost,” Blaine says with a wink, and Kurt gives him an appraising look and bites back a grin.
When they’re leaving the park and Blaine thinks that Mel might strangle Cooper because he won’t stop turning into his poses, he sneaks up beside Kurt and hisses, “He’s not going to stop doing that, so she’s going to have to calm down.”
Kurt snorts. “Well, at least it’s making for some very… dynamic images.”
At the garden reception, Blaine comments on the singer and finds out that Kurt’s on sabbatical from NYADA. Every time they bump into each other in the courtyard, they mention a favorite production or actor or movie adaptation.
It’s a conversation that weaves itself throughout the day, pausing and putting itself on hold for long stretches, reigniting furiously every time they’re in each other’s proximity for more than a second or two. By the time Blaine’s sitting down for dinner, ever aware of where Kurt is, he’s pretty sure he’s infatuated.
***
After the meal, Blaine has no choice but to spend some time catching up with his family. The room begins to heat up when the dancing starts, and Blaine ditches his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, but before long, he’s headed to the bar in search of some water or a soda. The bartender is an old friend of Cooper’s named Andy, and he greets Blaine enthusiastically. “What can I get you? Full bar.”
Blaine arches an eyebrow. “I’m not twenty-one.”
“You don’t have to be,” Andy says. “You’re Cooper’s brother right? Your parents are here. You’re supervised.”
“Don’t they have to - buy it for me or hand it to me or something?”
Andy shrugs. “You can go get them to hand it off if you want. Or we could just cut out the middleman.”
“Oh. Okay, well… surprise me.”
After a few seconds and a calculating look, Andy says, “Tom Collins?”
“Sure,” Blaine agrees casually. He knows that’s a drink and he knows that’s a character from Rent, but not a lot more than that. After attending a few parties in high school and college, he’s really not familiar with much beyond wine coolers and cheap beer and, well, swill, sometimes mixed with soda and sometimes not.
Andy turns away, but before he can get far, he’s accosted by a tall woman, who screeches “I haven’t seen you in years!” and leans across the bar to give him an awkward neck hug. She begins chattering, and Andy gives Blaine an apologetic just a minute gesture.
While he waits, Blaine notices that Kurt has appeared to lounge against the bar about halfway down, his camera sitting beside him. His eyes are scanning the crowd restlessly, but he doesn’t look like he’s eager to move. Blaine sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly - maybe this should wait until after the cocktail oh god - then edges down the bar. “Hey,” he says when Kurt looks over. “Do you - I mean, can I get you anything to drink, or…?”
Well, that didn’t come out as smoothly as he’d intended, but as it turns out, doing something that could be construed as actually hitting on makes his heart beat so much faster and harder than the maybe-we’re-flirting-and-maybe-we’re-not that they’d been doing all day.
Kurt smiles and goes back to watching the crowd. His hand flexes toward his camera for a moment and then drops, and Blaine realizes that he’s looking for photo opportunities. “No, thanks. Not unless your brother wants fuzzy pictures.”
Blaine breathes out a laugh. “Not even a soda? Water? You’ve been working hard all day.”
“We do have snacks in the car, you know,” Kurt says, and then gives him an amused look out of the side of his eye. “Sure, Blaine, you can get me a water.”
When Blaine flags Andy down, he looks only too happy to extricate himself from the woman, who’s still talking his ear off. “How can I help you?”
“Change mine to a club soda, please. And a water for my friend,” Blaine says grandly, motioning to Kurt.
Andy’s face is a bit unimpressed. “Water and fizzy water. Got it.”
Blaine shrugs as he turns back to Kurt. He’s looped the strap of the camera back around his neck and has his eye on a cluster of guests on the dance floor. When Emily joins them, Kurt exclaims “I’ll be right back!” and darts away almost before the words are out.
With interest, Blaine watches as Kurt snaps several shots of the group, his flash lighting up their faces. At first, they’re hammy, posing and smiling. Kurt hovers for a moment, waiting until the moment they forget he’s there, and then he takes a few more rapid-fire pictures and retreats, studying the viewing screen.
There’s a quiet thump behind him as Andy sets two glasses on the counter. He gives Blaine a wink, which Blaine does his best to ignore, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as Kurt settles in beside him again. Blaine thinks that he’s a little bit closer than before. It sure seems that way when he’s watching Kurt’s throat muscles work while take a long drink of his water, and Blaine busies himself quickly with his own glass. By the time he thinks it’s safe to look over again, Kurt’s flipping through the pictures on the camera.
“Can I see?” Blaine asks, turning to rest his elbow on the bar and craning his neck over. “Or is that a violation of code or something?”
Kurt snorts and leans toward him, so that his shoulder is almost tucked against Blaine’s chest. Blaine takes a careful breath, and Kurt scrolls through a few pictures, his thumb working a wheel to the right of the viewing screen. “Candids are hard,” he’s saying, “because there’s only a split second difference between a good shot and, well… this.” He pauses on an image of a woman laughing so hugely that she looks grotesque. With another flick of his thumb, the screen changes, and Blaine is looking at a picture of one of the bridesmaids and another guest smiling and gesturing toward each other with their drinks. “That’s better,” Kurt comments.
“You take good pictures,” Blaine says. It seems inadequate, and he wonders if he should be more specific, like wow great composition or - masterful use of lighting, but he decides against it because he’s pretty sure it’s a great way to call attention to the fact that he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Kurt doesn’t seem to mind. “Thanks.” He continues to scroll.
“Wait,” Blaine says suddenly, his hand darting out to touch Kurt’s arm lightly. “Was that me?”
The screen flashes back, and there he is - joking around with Pete, grinning so hard that his eyes have all but disappeared. “Oh god, that’s one of those bad ones, isn’t it?”
Kurt’s smile at the screen is almost fond. “No, I think it’s nice. It’s very genuine.”
“My eyes always do that.”
“Do what?”
Blaine reaches into the space between Kurt’s body and the camera to point at his squinted eyes. “That.”
“So?” Kurt’s eyebrows draw down in confusion and Blaine pulls his hand away.
“Doesn’t it look kind of - I don’t know - insane? Oh no. Did I do that in all of the group pictures?”
Kurt still looks bemused. “Some of them. Who cares? No one can deny that you’re happy.”
“You’re no help at all,” Blaine says, and he finds himself mock-pouting. He’s not even sure if he’s as upset as he’s making himself out to be, and he wonders if he should dial it down a notch or five.
Maybe not, though, because Kurt is still gamely playing along. “And how exactly am I supposed to help?”
“I don’t know. You’re a photographer. Don’t you have some advice? Some tips about how to make people look less maniacal in pictures?”
“Try not to squint your eyes shut if it bothers you so much?” Kurt teases.
Blaine scoffs. “Easy for you to say.”
“Easy to do.” Kurt smiles at him then, his lips stretching wide and his eyes open and bright even in the dim reception hall. Blaine stares and swallows hard, and then Kurt’s expression is faltering as he raises the camera. “You try.”
Blaine rolls his eyes but complies. The camera flash is bright, and he blinks through spots as they crowd around the screen. “Oh, that’s even worse,” Blaine moans, as they both start to laugh.
“Okay, it might not be the best picture of you that was ever taken,” Kurt says, still giggling, “but give it a rest. You’re very photogenic.”
“Am I?” Blaine asks, the words coming out more seriously than he intended, and the teasing is gone like someone flipped a switch. Kurt’s looking at him solemnly, his face close (wow, really close).
“Yes,” Kurt replies, pushing away from the bar. “Come on. Grab your jacket.”
Blaine scrambles to follow. “What? Where are we going?”
“I’m going to prove it to you. Meet me in the hallway.”
***
Kurt leads him outside, to a small tract of grassy land behind the building where there are a few small garden plots and a single bench and an orange bulb mounted on the wall.
“What should I do?” Blaine asks.
“Stand here,” Kurt instructs, tapping his foot on the ground beside the bench. “Unbutton your jacket and put your hands in your pockets. Your pants pockets, not your jacket.”
Blaine’s uncomfortable and, if he’s being honest, kind of vaguely turned on - he thinks it’s got something to do with the way Kurt is suddenly commanding the situation. “Is this okay?”
“Yes, that’s good.” Kurt stands back and regards Blaine critically. “Relax your posture a little bit. Shift your weight like this,” he commands, putting all his weight on one leg.
Blaine juts out his hip and Kurt smiles faintly. “Don’t be so melodramatic,” he admonishes as he looks down to fiddle with the knobs and buttons on the camera. He glances back up. “Ready?”
“Sure,” Blaine says. Kurt raises the camera and takes a single frame, then studies the viewing screen and makes a few more adjustments to the camera settings. He’s quiet, and Blaine asks, “Do you want me to smile?”
“No.” Kurt shoots from his current position in front of Blaine and then slides slowly off to the side. Blaine’s eyes track his movement uneasily, watching as Kurt makes minute changes in zoom and angle. With a sigh, Kurt drops the camera enough to peer over the top of it. “Blaine, what are you thinking about?”
He shuffles his feet a little. “Um… that I feel kind of awkward.” It’s mostly the truth.
“Don’t think about that. It shows on your face.”
“Okay.”
Kurt glances briefly over his shoulder. “Look at that tree. Hold as still as you can.”
“Okay,” Blaine repeats, and he takes a deep breath as the shutter begins to click again. At first, he tries to think about nothing at all. He focuses on the breeze moving the cooling night air against his skin, watches it gently rustle the leaves on the tree. He can only ruminate about the breeze for so long, unfortunately, and not a minute later, his mind rolls right around to the thoughts that he’s trying to avoid.
This is kind of… sensual.
Very sensual, he corrects himself; everything is heightened. It’s dark and Kurt is watching him and the air feels close. The flowers are closed because it’s nighttime, but he swears he can smell them anyway. It’s quiet back here, and all Blaine can hear is the wind and his own breath and the camera and Kurt moving around him. The wedding is so far removed that it might as well be happening in another state. They’re alone, and it feels like everything charging up with possibilities - possibilities that crackle and fizz when Kurt says softly, “Sit down.”
Blaine jumps a little, but moves quickly to the bench. He glances up at Kurt, who walks closer, takes three quick shots, and then lowers himself down beside Blaine. “These look good,” he comments, his voice and his eyes low as he switches the camera into viewing mode. Blaine is surprised what he sees when he glances over - the pictures are vastly different from what Kurt had shown him inside. These are all about the angles, the way the light cuts across his skin and sections his face off into areas of light and shadow. “See? Plenty photogenic,” Kurt adds quietly.
“Wow,” Blaine breathes.
“I like shooting at night,” Kurt says as Blaine slides a little closer on the bench to get a better look. His shoulder shuffles against Kurt’s and Kurt leans into him as he tilts the camera further. “Using different light sources. Long exposures.”
“They’re amazing.” Blaine glances up, and really, it’s ridiculous that this keeps happening. He knows that he’s looked at pictures on digital cameras with other people before, and he’s pretty sure that he didn’t end up three inches from another person’s face every time. That would be awkward, wouldn’t it? Because the only good reason to be three inches from someone’s face is if you’re about to kiss them, or at least that’s the only one that Blaine can think of right now, which means that it’s well past time for him to lean back -
Which he doesn’t get the chance to do, because Kurt leans forward and kisses him, sudden and imprecise. Blaine only has time to gather his wits and kiss back once, almost twice against Kurt’s retreating lips, and then it’s over.
Blaine opens his eyes to see Kurt with one hand raised to his mouth, staring at him with something akin to horror in his eyes. “I’m so sorry!” he exclaims. “I don’t know what I was thinking -”
“Kurt -”
“…so unprofessional, really, I’m so sorry. God, I’m just going to -”
Blaine clamps a hand around Kurt’s wrist. “Kurt. It’s okay. Really.”
Kurt’s eyes focus back on his face. “…it is?”
“It really is,” Blaine says. He squeezes Kurt’s arm briefly and slides his hand back and away, some of his fingers brushing over the sleeve of Kurt’s jacket and some over his skin.
“Oh.” Kurt glances down at the camera, clicking one of the knobs absently. “You’re not going to complain to Mel and have me fired?”
“Definitely not.”
“Thank you,” Kurt says, looking back up, earnest and relieved.
Blaine stares back for a moment, his heart picking up pace again in his chest. He lets the words tumble out before he can think better of it and stop them. “If anyone asks, we’ll tell them it happened after our first date.”
Kurt’s eyebrows shoot up. “Our first date?”
“Oh my god, you don’t want to - wow, now I’m sorry, just forget I said -”
“No,” Kurt says, the single word cutting into Blaine’s babbling. His expression is shifting now and his eyes look brighter. “It’s just that you haven’t actually asked me on a date.”
Blaine takes a deep breath. He can feel himself starting to smile too. “Kurt, would you like to go out with me sometime?”
“I would love to.”
They grin goofily at each other until Blaine reaches out to tap the corner of the camera. “Maybe you can leave your friend at home.”
Kurt scoffs. “A photographer never just leaves his camera at home, Blaine. Beside, it makes an excellent chaperone.”
“You want us to have a chaperone?”
“Well, maybe not,” Kurt says, and Blaine grins.
***
It wasn’t that either.
< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >
Rating: Ranging from G to R/NC-17 (depending on how carried away I get in later chapters)
Pairings: Klaine, Cooper/OFC
Word Count: 3,910 this chapter / 17,839 total (so far)
Spoilers: Anything through the end of S3 may be mentioned
Warnings: None that I can think of. It's a little cracky?
Summary: It's exactly what the title says. :)
Author's Notes: Many thanks to my wonderful beta shandyall! And thank you so much to colfer for being a second set of eyes and for additional help on this chapter. If you're so inclined, feel free to come say hi on Tumblr over here.
Part One: It could have been at a bakery.
Part Two: Or maybe at a salon.
Part Three: Perhaps at the church.
Blaine is pretty sure that he and the cute assistant photographer have been making eyes at each other all morning.
It’s hard to be certain, though. After all, it’s literally the other man’s job to observe what’s going on today. Maybe he’s spent the entire day waiting for Blaine to do something worthy of being preserved for posterity, and Blaine’s disappointing him. Maybe Blaine’s blowing it out of proportion. It’s not like he’s not the only one the photographer is looking at - Cooper has definitely been on the receiving end of many of his glances, but Blaine is willing to chalk that up to Cooper being the groom. He’d really prefer for that to be the reason, anyway.
But just before he steps forward to escort the maid of honor down the aisle, Blaine cuts one more glance over toward the photographer and finds the other man’s eyes flicking away quickly once again.
Blaine had caught his first glimpse of the man after he was done directing the florist about the exact manner for tying sprigs of flowers and ribbons onto the ends of the pews, per Emily and Cooper’s strict instructions. While passing back through the lobby, Blaine saw him hunched in patch of sunshine on the front lawn, trying to hold the bridal bouquet at an appropriate angle with one hand and maneuver an impressive camera with the other.
He had paused for a moment and watched as the photographer scrolled through the pictures he’d just taken, frowning down at the camera with a critical eye. When he began struggling to adjust the camera settings while still holding the flowers, Blaine had pushed open the door and approached him. He told himself that he was being polite and that Emily would eviscerate anyone who dropped her bouquet. The guy’s distinctive profile (accentuated by a truly magnificent sweeping hairstyle) had very little to do with it.
The photographer was so involved in his work that he didn’t even glance up until Blaine’s shadow fell over the flowers. “Excuse me - you’re blocking my…” he said, turning to squint up with clear blue-gray eyes that dropped open slightly when Blaine drew nearer. “Oh. Um, you’re blocking the light.” He turned back down to fiddle with the camera again.
“I’m sorry,” Blaine said, shuffling to the side. “I just wanted to see if you could use any help.”
“No, no. Thank you, but I’m actually pretty accustomed to doing this part on my own.”
Blaine crouched down beside him. “Really.” He reached out and gently prised the flowers from the man’s hand. They were heavier than he had expected, and he clutched them carefully. “I won’t even tell anyone that you absconded with the bouquet.”
One side of the photographer’s mouth curled up as he shot Blaine a look through narrowed eyes. “Absconded? Really?”
Blaine shrugged, then stilled himself again when the other man glared. He ignored the man’s fingers curling around the camera’s lens, poised over the shutter button and then pressing it down. “Have you met the bride? She wouldn’t be too happy to have someone else handling the bouquet before she does. Maybe I’m just trying to take some of the heat in case you get caught.”
“How chivalrous,” the man mumbled, sounding vaguely pleased but also seeming distracted as he flipped through a few pictures. He glanced up and reached over to adjust the angle of the flowers with a hint of skin sweeping along Blaine’s. “Mel did say that this wedding would be an interesting one. Full of character, I believe were her exact words.” He continued to shoot as he spoke, adjusting his position briefly between each click of the camera.
“That’s one way to describe it,” Blaine said diplomatically, looking at what he could see of the other man. The strong line of his shoulders. The soft wrinkle of concentration in his forehead. His hand twisting the zoom lens. It felt strangely voyeuristic - they were so close together, but the man wasn’t paying him any attention at all.
At least, he wasn’t until he suddenly dropped the camera a few inches, looking over at Blaine. “You must not be Cooper, then.”
“Nope. I’m Blaine. Cooper’s my brother.”
“Ah.” Quick as a flash, he raised the camera and took few quick shots of what Blaine could only assume was his surprised face as he stooped there in the sunlight holding the flowers. “Just in case anyone wants any evidence about who really stole the bouquet,” he said, grinning impishly.
Blaine chuckled as they both straightened to their feet and started back toward the church. The other man held out his hand for the flowers, rolling his eyes when Blaine hesitated in giving them back. “I think she really might kill someone if anything happens to them,” Blaine hedged.
“Trust me, this is far from my first time handling a bouquet,” the man said, wiggling his fingers. “Besides, if something happens, wouldn’t you rather have the blame fall on an innocent bystander? You’re going to see her at Thanksgiving and Christmas every year for the rest of your lives.”
“Fair enough,” Blaine said, handing over the flowers before holding the door open for him.
When the flowers were safely nestled back into the flat with the bridesmaids’ bouquets, the photographer straightened back up and nodded over his shoulder. “I should go track down Mel. See where she needs me to be.”
“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll… see you around.”
“Probably more than you want to. Thanks for your help, Blaine.”
He was walking away before Blaine realized that he hadn’t learned his name - a fact that Blaine lamented for the next two hours. He couldn’t even find a good way to discover it. He couldn’t ask Mel when she shot the groomsmen’s portraits on the sunny lawn beside the church. He was too afraid that Cooper would find out and tease Blaine mercilessly, so he didn’t ask the man directly when he was shooting candids of the wedding party goofing around while they waited to walk down the aisle, sneaking extra looks at Blaine the whole time. At least Blaine thought he was. Maybe he was peeking at everyone.
During the ceremony, Blaine watches him move around the back of the church and wonders.
Finally, when the wedding party is milling around at the front of the church, waiting for the group pictures to begin, Mel gathers them together for a brief series of announcements. She’s a no-nonsense, energetic woman with brassy hair, and she speaks loudly. “Just in case any of you missed it, I’m Mel, and this is my assistant photographer, Kurt.” The man gives a little wave, and Blaine repeats the name in his head. Kurt. “You’re going to be seeing a lot of us today…”
Blaine can’t help but be glad to hear that. He tunes the rest of the announcements out, and when Mel is posing Cooper and Emily for a few pictures alone, he sidles up beside Kurt and says, “It’s nice to officially meet you, Kurt.”
Kurt is holding the camera in front of his face, but Blaine sees the corner of his mouth tilt up. “Likewise.”
And that’s how it really starts. For the rest of the day, he and Kurt somehow gravitate together again and again, exchanging quips and tentative smiles and chatting for a few seconds at a time.
At the park, Kurt straightens up after taking a few pictures of the flower girl and mutters to Mel, “It’s too bad the miniature’s dress is cuter than the bride’s.”
Blaine, who’s standing close by, can’t help but ask, “You don’t like Emily’s dress?”
Kurt reddens when he sees Blaine standing so close. “I -”
“Because I think it looks like she got into a cage match with a few yards of lace and lost,” Blaine says with a wink, and Kurt gives him an appraising look and bites back a grin.
When they’re leaving the park and Blaine thinks that Mel might strangle Cooper because he won’t stop turning into his poses, he sneaks up beside Kurt and hisses, “He’s not going to stop doing that, so she’s going to have to calm down.”
Kurt snorts. “Well, at least it’s making for some very… dynamic images.”
At the garden reception, Blaine comments on the singer and finds out that Kurt’s on sabbatical from NYADA. Every time they bump into each other in the courtyard, they mention a favorite production or actor or movie adaptation.
It’s a conversation that weaves itself throughout the day, pausing and putting itself on hold for long stretches, reigniting furiously every time they’re in each other’s proximity for more than a second or two. By the time Blaine’s sitting down for dinner, ever aware of where Kurt is, he’s pretty sure he’s infatuated.
***
After the meal, Blaine has no choice but to spend some time catching up with his family. The room begins to heat up when the dancing starts, and Blaine ditches his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, but before long, he’s headed to the bar in search of some water or a soda. The bartender is an old friend of Cooper’s named Andy, and he greets Blaine enthusiastically. “What can I get you? Full bar.”
Blaine arches an eyebrow. “I’m not twenty-one.”
“You don’t have to be,” Andy says. “You’re Cooper’s brother right? Your parents are here. You’re supervised.”
“Don’t they have to - buy it for me or hand it to me or something?”
Andy shrugs. “You can go get them to hand it off if you want. Or we could just cut out the middleman.”
“Oh. Okay, well… surprise me.”
After a few seconds and a calculating look, Andy says, “Tom Collins?”
“Sure,” Blaine agrees casually. He knows that’s a drink and he knows that’s a character from Rent, but not a lot more than that. After attending a few parties in high school and college, he’s really not familiar with much beyond wine coolers and cheap beer and, well, swill, sometimes mixed with soda and sometimes not.
Andy turns away, but before he can get far, he’s accosted by a tall woman, who screeches “I haven’t seen you in years!” and leans across the bar to give him an awkward neck hug. She begins chattering, and Andy gives Blaine an apologetic just a minute gesture.
While he waits, Blaine notices that Kurt has appeared to lounge against the bar about halfway down, his camera sitting beside him. His eyes are scanning the crowd restlessly, but he doesn’t look like he’s eager to move. Blaine sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly - maybe this should wait until after the cocktail oh god - then edges down the bar. “Hey,” he says when Kurt looks over. “Do you - I mean, can I get you anything to drink, or…?”
Well, that didn’t come out as smoothly as he’d intended, but as it turns out, doing something that could be construed as actually hitting on makes his heart beat so much faster and harder than the maybe-we’re-flirting-and-maybe-we’re-not that they’d been doing all day.
Kurt smiles and goes back to watching the crowd. His hand flexes toward his camera for a moment and then drops, and Blaine realizes that he’s looking for photo opportunities. “No, thanks. Not unless your brother wants fuzzy pictures.”
Blaine breathes out a laugh. “Not even a soda? Water? You’ve been working hard all day.”
“We do have snacks in the car, you know,” Kurt says, and then gives him an amused look out of the side of his eye. “Sure, Blaine, you can get me a water.”
When Blaine flags Andy down, he looks only too happy to extricate himself from the woman, who’s still talking his ear off. “How can I help you?”
“Change mine to a club soda, please. And a water for my friend,” Blaine says grandly, motioning to Kurt.
Andy’s face is a bit unimpressed. “Water and fizzy water. Got it.”
Blaine shrugs as he turns back to Kurt. He’s looped the strap of the camera back around his neck and has his eye on a cluster of guests on the dance floor. When Emily joins them, Kurt exclaims “I’ll be right back!” and darts away almost before the words are out.
With interest, Blaine watches as Kurt snaps several shots of the group, his flash lighting up their faces. At first, they’re hammy, posing and smiling. Kurt hovers for a moment, waiting until the moment they forget he’s there, and then he takes a few more rapid-fire pictures and retreats, studying the viewing screen.
There’s a quiet thump behind him as Andy sets two glasses on the counter. He gives Blaine a wink, which Blaine does his best to ignore, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as Kurt settles in beside him again. Blaine thinks that he’s a little bit closer than before. It sure seems that way when he’s watching Kurt’s throat muscles work while take a long drink of his water, and Blaine busies himself quickly with his own glass. By the time he thinks it’s safe to look over again, Kurt’s flipping through the pictures on the camera.
“Can I see?” Blaine asks, turning to rest his elbow on the bar and craning his neck over. “Or is that a violation of code or something?”
Kurt snorts and leans toward him, so that his shoulder is almost tucked against Blaine’s chest. Blaine takes a careful breath, and Kurt scrolls through a few pictures, his thumb working a wheel to the right of the viewing screen. “Candids are hard,” he’s saying, “because there’s only a split second difference between a good shot and, well… this.” He pauses on an image of a woman laughing so hugely that she looks grotesque. With another flick of his thumb, the screen changes, and Blaine is looking at a picture of one of the bridesmaids and another guest smiling and gesturing toward each other with their drinks. “That’s better,” Kurt comments.
“You take good pictures,” Blaine says. It seems inadequate, and he wonders if he should be more specific, like wow great composition or - masterful use of lighting, but he decides against it because he’s pretty sure it’s a great way to call attention to the fact that he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Kurt doesn’t seem to mind. “Thanks.” He continues to scroll.
“Wait,” Blaine says suddenly, his hand darting out to touch Kurt’s arm lightly. “Was that me?”
The screen flashes back, and there he is - joking around with Pete, grinning so hard that his eyes have all but disappeared. “Oh god, that’s one of those bad ones, isn’t it?”
Kurt’s smile at the screen is almost fond. “No, I think it’s nice. It’s very genuine.”
“My eyes always do that.”
“Do what?”
Blaine reaches into the space between Kurt’s body and the camera to point at his squinted eyes. “That.”
“So?” Kurt’s eyebrows draw down in confusion and Blaine pulls his hand away.
“Doesn’t it look kind of - I don’t know - insane? Oh no. Did I do that in all of the group pictures?”
Kurt still looks bemused. “Some of them. Who cares? No one can deny that you’re happy.”
“You’re no help at all,” Blaine says, and he finds himself mock-pouting. He’s not even sure if he’s as upset as he’s making himself out to be, and he wonders if he should dial it down a notch or five.
Maybe not, though, because Kurt is still gamely playing along. “And how exactly am I supposed to help?”
“I don’t know. You’re a photographer. Don’t you have some advice? Some tips about how to make people look less maniacal in pictures?”
“Try not to squint your eyes shut if it bothers you so much?” Kurt teases.
Blaine scoffs. “Easy for you to say.”
“Easy to do.” Kurt smiles at him then, his lips stretching wide and his eyes open and bright even in the dim reception hall. Blaine stares and swallows hard, and then Kurt’s expression is faltering as he raises the camera. “You try.”
Blaine rolls his eyes but complies. The camera flash is bright, and he blinks through spots as they crowd around the screen. “Oh, that’s even worse,” Blaine moans, as they both start to laugh.
“Okay, it might not be the best picture of you that was ever taken,” Kurt says, still giggling, “but give it a rest. You’re very photogenic.”
“Am I?” Blaine asks, the words coming out more seriously than he intended, and the teasing is gone like someone flipped a switch. Kurt’s looking at him solemnly, his face close (wow, really close).
“Yes,” Kurt replies, pushing away from the bar. “Come on. Grab your jacket.”
Blaine scrambles to follow. “What? Where are we going?”
“I’m going to prove it to you. Meet me in the hallway.”
***
Kurt leads him outside, to a small tract of grassy land behind the building where there are a few small garden plots and a single bench and an orange bulb mounted on the wall.
“What should I do?” Blaine asks.
“Stand here,” Kurt instructs, tapping his foot on the ground beside the bench. “Unbutton your jacket and put your hands in your pockets. Your pants pockets, not your jacket.”
Blaine’s uncomfortable and, if he’s being honest, kind of vaguely turned on - he thinks it’s got something to do with the way Kurt is suddenly commanding the situation. “Is this okay?”
“Yes, that’s good.” Kurt stands back and regards Blaine critically. “Relax your posture a little bit. Shift your weight like this,” he commands, putting all his weight on one leg.
Blaine juts out his hip and Kurt smiles faintly. “Don’t be so melodramatic,” he admonishes as he looks down to fiddle with the knobs and buttons on the camera. He glances back up. “Ready?”
“Sure,” Blaine says. Kurt raises the camera and takes a single frame, then studies the viewing screen and makes a few more adjustments to the camera settings. He’s quiet, and Blaine asks, “Do you want me to smile?”
“No.” Kurt shoots from his current position in front of Blaine and then slides slowly off to the side. Blaine’s eyes track his movement uneasily, watching as Kurt makes minute changes in zoom and angle. With a sigh, Kurt drops the camera enough to peer over the top of it. “Blaine, what are you thinking about?”
He shuffles his feet a little. “Um… that I feel kind of awkward.” It’s mostly the truth.
“Don’t think about that. It shows on your face.”
“Okay.”
Kurt glances briefly over his shoulder. “Look at that tree. Hold as still as you can.”
“Okay,” Blaine repeats, and he takes a deep breath as the shutter begins to click again. At first, he tries to think about nothing at all. He focuses on the breeze moving the cooling night air against his skin, watches it gently rustle the leaves on the tree. He can only ruminate about the breeze for so long, unfortunately, and not a minute later, his mind rolls right around to the thoughts that he’s trying to avoid.
This is kind of… sensual.
Very sensual, he corrects himself; everything is heightened. It’s dark and Kurt is watching him and the air feels close. The flowers are closed because it’s nighttime, but he swears he can smell them anyway. It’s quiet back here, and all Blaine can hear is the wind and his own breath and the camera and Kurt moving around him. The wedding is so far removed that it might as well be happening in another state. They’re alone, and it feels like everything charging up with possibilities - possibilities that crackle and fizz when Kurt says softly, “Sit down.”
Blaine jumps a little, but moves quickly to the bench. He glances up at Kurt, who walks closer, takes three quick shots, and then lowers himself down beside Blaine. “These look good,” he comments, his voice and his eyes low as he switches the camera into viewing mode. Blaine is surprised what he sees when he glances over - the pictures are vastly different from what Kurt had shown him inside. These are all about the angles, the way the light cuts across his skin and sections his face off into areas of light and shadow. “See? Plenty photogenic,” Kurt adds quietly.
“Wow,” Blaine breathes.
“I like shooting at night,” Kurt says as Blaine slides a little closer on the bench to get a better look. His shoulder shuffles against Kurt’s and Kurt leans into him as he tilts the camera further. “Using different light sources. Long exposures.”
“They’re amazing.” Blaine glances up, and really, it’s ridiculous that this keeps happening. He knows that he’s looked at pictures on digital cameras with other people before, and he’s pretty sure that he didn’t end up three inches from another person’s face every time. That would be awkward, wouldn’t it? Because the only good reason to be three inches from someone’s face is if you’re about to kiss them, or at least that’s the only one that Blaine can think of right now, which means that it’s well past time for him to lean back -
Which he doesn’t get the chance to do, because Kurt leans forward and kisses him, sudden and imprecise. Blaine only has time to gather his wits and kiss back once, almost twice against Kurt’s retreating lips, and then it’s over.
Blaine opens his eyes to see Kurt with one hand raised to his mouth, staring at him with something akin to horror in his eyes. “I’m so sorry!” he exclaims. “I don’t know what I was thinking -”
“Kurt -”
“…so unprofessional, really, I’m so sorry. God, I’m just going to -”
Blaine clamps a hand around Kurt’s wrist. “Kurt. It’s okay. Really.”
Kurt’s eyes focus back on his face. “…it is?”
“It really is,” Blaine says. He squeezes Kurt’s arm briefly and slides his hand back and away, some of his fingers brushing over the sleeve of Kurt’s jacket and some over his skin.
“Oh.” Kurt glances down at the camera, clicking one of the knobs absently. “You’re not going to complain to Mel and have me fired?”
“Definitely not.”
“Thank you,” Kurt says, looking back up, earnest and relieved.
Blaine stares back for a moment, his heart picking up pace again in his chest. He lets the words tumble out before he can think better of it and stop them. “If anyone asks, we’ll tell them it happened after our first date.”
Kurt’s eyebrows shoot up. “Our first date?”
“Oh my god, you don’t want to - wow, now I’m sorry, just forget I said -”
“No,” Kurt says, the single word cutting into Blaine’s babbling. His expression is shifting now and his eyes look brighter. “It’s just that you haven’t actually asked me on a date.”
Blaine takes a deep breath. He can feel himself starting to smile too. “Kurt, would you like to go out with me sometime?”
“I would love to.”
They grin goofily at each other until Blaine reaches out to tap the corner of the camera. “Maybe you can leave your friend at home.”
Kurt scoffs. “A photographer never just leaves his camera at home, Blaine. Beside, it makes an excellent chaperone.”
“You want us to have a chaperone?”
“Well, maybe not,” Kurt says, and Blaine grins.
***
It wasn’t that either.
< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >