You Got My Heart In Headlock
Title: You Got My Heart In Headlock
Rating: PG
Part: 1 of 1 [part of the 'Dream on, Dreamer' 'verse]
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine
Word Count: 2150[ish]
Spoilers: None
Summary: One of the [many] amazing things about having Blaine with him in New York is the music.
A/N: This is pointless, really. It has little plot and little substance and goes nowhere inthe grand scheme of where I see this 'verse ending up. It's just cute and I was bored and sleepy and it just happened. 2100 words of nothingness. Sorry and all.
One of the [many] amazing things about having Blaine with him in New York is the music. It's who they are, a part of them really; it's how they met and was how they defined themselves for a long time; it's in song that they learned to express themselves and in Glee Club where they first really felt safe and able to be just exactly who they are. It's different now of course because they don't go to school together, don't sing together for any reason other than they can. That's not to say that singing together, to one another wasn't always something, it's just that it's different somehow, it's more, when it's not ever for an assignment and always just for the hell of it.
The music scene in NewYork is like another world compared to Lima. It's kareoke bars that Blaine adores and that Kurt pretends to sneer at but that he can always be talked into singing in; it's open mic nights that make Blaine look like a superstar as he holds the mic stand and gyrates his hips and it's little coffee bars that they find together and where they will sit in overstuffed sofas drinking coffee from paper cups even though they're sitting in because it just tastes better that way and they'll sit so close that they're touching from ankle to temple and listening to the singer/guitarist/pianist that plays in the corner. It's cheap Broadway tickets and last minute tickets to gigs where the music is loud and the people are drunk and dancing and Kurt snakes his arms round Blaine's waist as the bass pounds and the lights flash and presses up close, flicking out his tongue to lick the sweat from behind Blaine's ear as they dance.
Tonight it's open mic, a new place that Blaine had found on some blog or other. He's up next but he doesn't seem nervous; he's tapping his foot in time to the music, swaying his hips a little, knocking against Kurt on every other beat and Kurt smiles, looping his arm around his boyfriends waist and tugging him closer. The bar is packed and the lights are low making the room seem smaller than it really is and he sips from his beer as Blaine rests his head on his shoulder, he’s humming along with the melody and Kurt can feel it vibrating right down to his toes.
‘I haven’t sung this since my high school Glee club’ Blaine grins into the microphone, later, laughing at a couple of appreciative cheers from the audience, ‘but I’m feeling kind of nostalgic today and it’s the song I sang the day I met the person I love so it kind of holds a special place in my heart you know?’
Kurt smiles as Blaine’s eyes pick him out in the crowd and he begins to sing. It’s different now, to how it was that day at Dalton, they’re different, but listening to Blaine sing makes him feel like he’s gone right back in time. It’s a different version, there’s no backing music, no boys in blazers harmonising and dancing a two-step behind him. there’s just Blaine and a microphone, and his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He’s slowed the song right down, it’s soft and raw and beautiful and Kurt feels his heart speed up and his stomach flip over and he can’t stop the grin from spreading over his face because it’s Blaine and he’s so so good and he’s all Kurt’s and they’ve come such a long way since that day on the stairs, they’ve come so far and whilst he just said he hadn’t sung it since school, Kurt knows differently: Blaine sings this song all the time, in the shower, in the car, when he’s doing the dishes, hums it almost under his breath when they’re in the supermarket, sings it earnestly whilst cradling Kurt’s face in his hands when they’ve had a fight and it should be a cliché, Kurt thinks, that this old Katy Perry song still follows them around, is still Blaine’s go-to song, still says so much and he should be tired of hearing it now but he’s not because it means something, it means everything, and Kurt would listen to Blaine singing this song forever and never get tired of it. He never sings it publicly though, never at nights like this, never on karaoke, he vetoed it when his college acapella group wanted to put it on their list and his eyes lock on Kurt’s as he sings, right to him and it’s as though nobody else in the world even exists.
Blaine huffs out an embarrassed laugh at the cheers and catcalls when the song is over, shuffling a little, not sure what to do with the praise when he feels like he just laid his soul on the line, grins a little before upping the tempo, grabbing the mike from the stand moving seamlessly from The Feeling to Pink to Bruno Mars to the freaking Beach Boys and Kurt laughs and sings along, so so proud of Blaine, proud to be with Blaine, barely supressing the smug shudder as he watches pretty much every other person in the bar swoon over his boyfriend.
It's par for the course, how everybody wants Blaine, to touch him, listen to him, know him and it had bothered Kurt for a while because he'd spent so long fighting his way out of the shadows and then so long wanting Blaine to love him and it had stung a little to feel like he couldn't have both Blaine and the spotlight; to have the boy he wanted but to have to watch from the sidelines as he stole the show without even trying in return. And of course there been the fear because Blaine was so everything and sometimes Kurt literally had to pinch himself because how could Blaine want him really and how long would it be before he realised he could have anybody he wanted and that anybody wasn't Kurt. It had bothered him and there had been fights and stupid decisions and regrets and sometimes Kurt had been so jealous both of Blaine and of those people that could maybe have him in an alternate universe that he couldn't see straight but there had also been time and conversation and the vulnerable side to Blaine that only Kurt got to see and somehow now it doesn't matter anymore and now Kurt loves watching all these people wanting Blaine and knowing Blaine only wants him because God, isn't love it's own kind of spotlight, really?
‘He’s so good.’ Rachel murmurs into Kurt’s ear, looping her arm through his and squeezing. ‘He’s always been so good. I don’t understand why he isn’t making this his life. He could have made NYADA. He could see his name in lights if he wanted.’
‘He’s amazing.’ Kurt agrees, ‘but he never needed it like we did you know, I mean, he comes alive when he performs but he doesn’t need it to be more than a hobby. You and I always wanted to be famous, we always needed that outside acknowledgement but Blaine’s better than us; he just wants to make a difference.’
‘The next Mr Schue.’
‘Oh God, don’t even joke about it.’
It’s true, Blaine is an incredible performer: he shines at nights like these, he’s already had his fair share of solo’s in his college acapella group and he’s won the role of Seymour in the local community theatre’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.
[Kurt thinks this is the most hilarious piece of casting in the history of ever and has taken to singing ‘Suddenly Seymour’ at all available opportunities.
Blaine ignores him, says Kurt’s only jealous because he has too much work on to have been able to audition and teases him for not getting a New York theatre role before Blaine did, even though he had an entire year on him.
Kurt says it’s hardly Broadway.
Blaine shrugs and says ‘semantics’ and Kurt turns up at the end of every rehearsal just to watch, and runs lines and practises songs with him even though he has a paper due in two weeks that he really needs to be working on.]
Blaine sings every song, plays every role like he means it and Kurt knows that if anybody they grew up with was going to make it [Rachel aside of course] then it would be Blaine, but Blaine doesn’t want it. He’s more than happy with local theatre and singing like this in bars, he wants to teach, he wants to help kids see their potential, to help them find in themselves what Dalton and later McKinley helped find in him, and Kurt, and Rachel and Santana and all of them. He wants to get the future Quinn Fabray into Yale and protect the future Kurt from the dumpsters and get him into NYADA and to get his Glee Club, which he has promised Kurt will have a better name than The New Directions and a better wardrobe than The Warblers, a cabinet full of trophies. Blaine wants to teach English, and music; to be the teacher all the kids look up and aspire to be; to go home at night and mark papers on the sofa and work over vocal arrangements with Kurt; to direct the school musical and maybe get a spot singing in a local bar on a Friday night and always be on the front row when Kurt’s designs are in a fashion show or when he gets that semi-professional role that Blaine knows is out there just waiting for him and the fact that he could be winning Tony’s but won’t just makes Kurt love him even more.
You’re lucky that he’s gay.’ Rachel says matter of factly, loudly and right into his ear so that he winces a little and wishes he’d chosen somebody a little quieter as his best friend ‘or that I am a girl. Because he is so incredible and we would have been incredible together, we would have taken on the world, so you know, you’re welcome.’
And Kurt snorts with laughter because sure, Rachel is a little tipsy and a little nonsensical but he knows her well enough to know that she is being completely serious right now and once upon a time he would have hated that, would have screamed at her and probably stormed off and then maybe pointedly ignored Blaine for a while just because this was his fault too for being alive and so damn perfect that of course Rachel Berry thought he ought to co-star in her perfect little world and Rachel would have been offended and Blaine would have been confused and Kurt would have hated that he couldn’t just have something in his life that he didn’t have to try and justify to Rachel why he deserved it more than her, that he didn’t have to fight her for, except of course that he kind of had fought her for Blaine and he had won even if it hadn’t been a fight at all, not really and Blaine was so much more than any of that anyway. But that had been then and this is now and he loves Rachel, for all her insanity and he knows she’s right: vocally her and Blaine would have made the perfect couple. Him and Blaine however, they make the perfect couple in so many more ways than in song and so,
‘Finn.’ He says pointedly and she smiles up at him as though he’s speaking in tongues and not reminding her of the ring on her finger that was put there by his brother and pats at his arm.
‘You’re right,’ he acquiesces instead, ‘I haven’t adequately expressed my gratitude for the fact that my boyfriend is gay and my boyfriend and in love with me. Thank you so much for being born a girl; and yes, I firmly believe this was something you had control over, I’ve met you after all. I don’t feel I will ever be able to thank you enough, my gratitude knows no bounds, how can I ever repay you.’
He rolls his eyes but Rachel doesn’t see, she has already moved on, telling him how she would dearly love to be up on that stage but that she loves Blaine and he deserves his spotlight and she has grown enough, is secure enough in her talent to want to give him his chance to shine and Kurt just smiles and looks at Blaine and this is it, Kurt thinks as Rachel sings along softly by his side and Blaine's eyes shine on the stage, this is what it is all about: Kurt Hummel has it all.
Rating: PG
Part: 1 of 1 [part of the 'Dream on, Dreamer' 'verse]
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine
Word Count: 2150[ish]
Spoilers: None
Summary: One of the [many] amazing things about having Blaine with him in New York is the music.
A/N: This is pointless, really. It has little plot and little substance and goes nowhere inthe grand scheme of where I see this 'verse ending up. It's just cute and I was bored and sleepy and it just happened. 2100 words of nothingness. Sorry and all.
One of the [many] amazing things about having Blaine with him in New York is the music. It's who they are, a part of them really; it's how they met and was how they defined themselves for a long time; it's in song that they learned to express themselves and in Glee Club where they first really felt safe and able to be just exactly who they are. It's different now of course because they don't go to school together, don't sing together for any reason other than they can. That's not to say that singing together, to one another wasn't always something, it's just that it's different somehow, it's more, when it's not ever for an assignment and always just for the hell of it.
The music scene in NewYork is like another world compared to Lima. It's kareoke bars that Blaine adores and that Kurt pretends to sneer at but that he can always be talked into singing in; it's open mic nights that make Blaine look like a superstar as he holds the mic stand and gyrates his hips and it's little coffee bars that they find together and where they will sit in overstuffed sofas drinking coffee from paper cups even though they're sitting in because it just tastes better that way and they'll sit so close that they're touching from ankle to temple and listening to the singer/guitarist/pianist that plays in the corner. It's cheap Broadway tickets and last minute tickets to gigs where the music is loud and the people are drunk and dancing and Kurt snakes his arms round Blaine's waist as the bass pounds and the lights flash and presses up close, flicking out his tongue to lick the sweat from behind Blaine's ear as they dance.
Tonight it's open mic, a new place that Blaine had found on some blog or other. He's up next but he doesn't seem nervous; he's tapping his foot in time to the music, swaying his hips a little, knocking against Kurt on every other beat and Kurt smiles, looping his arm around his boyfriends waist and tugging him closer. The bar is packed and the lights are low making the room seem smaller than it really is and he sips from his beer as Blaine rests his head on his shoulder, he’s humming along with the melody and Kurt can feel it vibrating right down to his toes.
‘I haven’t sung this since my high school Glee club’ Blaine grins into the microphone, later, laughing at a couple of appreciative cheers from the audience, ‘but I’m feeling kind of nostalgic today and it’s the song I sang the day I met the person I love so it kind of holds a special place in my heart you know?’
Kurt smiles as Blaine’s eyes pick him out in the crowd and he begins to sing. It’s different now, to how it was that day at Dalton, they’re different, but listening to Blaine sing makes him feel like he’s gone right back in time. It’s a different version, there’s no backing music, no boys in blazers harmonising and dancing a two-step behind him. there’s just Blaine and a microphone, and his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He’s slowed the song right down, it’s soft and raw and beautiful and Kurt feels his heart speed up and his stomach flip over and he can’t stop the grin from spreading over his face because it’s Blaine and he’s so so good and he’s all Kurt’s and they’ve come such a long way since that day on the stairs, they’ve come so far and whilst he just said he hadn’t sung it since school, Kurt knows differently: Blaine sings this song all the time, in the shower, in the car, when he’s doing the dishes, hums it almost under his breath when they’re in the supermarket, sings it earnestly whilst cradling Kurt’s face in his hands when they’ve had a fight and it should be a cliché, Kurt thinks, that this old Katy Perry song still follows them around, is still Blaine’s go-to song, still says so much and he should be tired of hearing it now but he’s not because it means something, it means everything, and Kurt would listen to Blaine singing this song forever and never get tired of it. He never sings it publicly though, never at nights like this, never on karaoke, he vetoed it when his college acapella group wanted to put it on their list and his eyes lock on Kurt’s as he sings, right to him and it’s as though nobody else in the world even exists.
Blaine huffs out an embarrassed laugh at the cheers and catcalls when the song is over, shuffling a little, not sure what to do with the praise when he feels like he just laid his soul on the line, grins a little before upping the tempo, grabbing the mike from the stand moving seamlessly from The Feeling to Pink to Bruno Mars to the freaking Beach Boys and Kurt laughs and sings along, so so proud of Blaine, proud to be with Blaine, barely supressing the smug shudder as he watches pretty much every other person in the bar swoon over his boyfriend.
It's par for the course, how everybody wants Blaine, to touch him, listen to him, know him and it had bothered Kurt for a while because he'd spent so long fighting his way out of the shadows and then so long wanting Blaine to love him and it had stung a little to feel like he couldn't have both Blaine and the spotlight; to have the boy he wanted but to have to watch from the sidelines as he stole the show without even trying in return. And of course there been the fear because Blaine was so everything and sometimes Kurt literally had to pinch himself because how could Blaine want him really and how long would it be before he realised he could have anybody he wanted and that anybody wasn't Kurt. It had bothered him and there had been fights and stupid decisions and regrets and sometimes Kurt had been so jealous both of Blaine and of those people that could maybe have him in an alternate universe that he couldn't see straight but there had also been time and conversation and the vulnerable side to Blaine that only Kurt got to see and somehow now it doesn't matter anymore and now Kurt loves watching all these people wanting Blaine and knowing Blaine only wants him because God, isn't love it's own kind of spotlight, really?
‘He’s so good.’ Rachel murmurs into Kurt’s ear, looping her arm through his and squeezing. ‘He’s always been so good. I don’t understand why he isn’t making this his life. He could have made NYADA. He could see his name in lights if he wanted.’
‘He’s amazing.’ Kurt agrees, ‘but he never needed it like we did you know, I mean, he comes alive when he performs but he doesn’t need it to be more than a hobby. You and I always wanted to be famous, we always needed that outside acknowledgement but Blaine’s better than us; he just wants to make a difference.’
‘The next Mr Schue.’
‘Oh God, don’t even joke about it.’
It’s true, Blaine is an incredible performer: he shines at nights like these, he’s already had his fair share of solo’s in his college acapella group and he’s won the role of Seymour in the local community theatre’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.
[Kurt thinks this is the most hilarious piece of casting in the history of ever and has taken to singing ‘Suddenly Seymour’ at all available opportunities.
Blaine ignores him, says Kurt’s only jealous because he has too much work on to have been able to audition and teases him for not getting a New York theatre role before Blaine did, even though he had an entire year on him.
Kurt says it’s hardly Broadway.
Blaine shrugs and says ‘semantics’ and Kurt turns up at the end of every rehearsal just to watch, and runs lines and practises songs with him even though he has a paper due in two weeks that he really needs to be working on.]
Blaine sings every song, plays every role like he means it and Kurt knows that if anybody they grew up with was going to make it [Rachel aside of course] then it would be Blaine, but Blaine doesn’t want it. He’s more than happy with local theatre and singing like this in bars, he wants to teach, he wants to help kids see their potential, to help them find in themselves what Dalton and later McKinley helped find in him, and Kurt, and Rachel and Santana and all of them. He wants to get the future Quinn Fabray into Yale and protect the future Kurt from the dumpsters and get him into NYADA and to get his Glee Club, which he has promised Kurt will have a better name than The New Directions and a better wardrobe than The Warblers, a cabinet full of trophies. Blaine wants to teach English, and music; to be the teacher all the kids look up and aspire to be; to go home at night and mark papers on the sofa and work over vocal arrangements with Kurt; to direct the school musical and maybe get a spot singing in a local bar on a Friday night and always be on the front row when Kurt’s designs are in a fashion show or when he gets that semi-professional role that Blaine knows is out there just waiting for him and the fact that he could be winning Tony’s but won’t just makes Kurt love him even more.
You’re lucky that he’s gay.’ Rachel says matter of factly, loudly and right into his ear so that he winces a little and wishes he’d chosen somebody a little quieter as his best friend ‘or that I am a girl. Because he is so incredible and we would have been incredible together, we would have taken on the world, so you know, you’re welcome.’
And Kurt snorts with laughter because sure, Rachel is a little tipsy and a little nonsensical but he knows her well enough to know that she is being completely serious right now and once upon a time he would have hated that, would have screamed at her and probably stormed off and then maybe pointedly ignored Blaine for a while just because this was his fault too for being alive and so damn perfect that of course Rachel Berry thought he ought to co-star in her perfect little world and Rachel would have been offended and Blaine would have been confused and Kurt would have hated that he couldn’t just have something in his life that he didn’t have to try and justify to Rachel why he deserved it more than her, that he didn’t have to fight her for, except of course that he kind of had fought her for Blaine and he had won even if it hadn’t been a fight at all, not really and Blaine was so much more than any of that anyway. But that had been then and this is now and he loves Rachel, for all her insanity and he knows she’s right: vocally her and Blaine would have made the perfect couple. Him and Blaine however, they make the perfect couple in so many more ways than in song and so,
‘Finn.’ He says pointedly and she smiles up at him as though he’s speaking in tongues and not reminding her of the ring on her finger that was put there by his brother and pats at his arm.
‘You’re right,’ he acquiesces instead, ‘I haven’t adequately expressed my gratitude for the fact that my boyfriend is gay and my boyfriend and in love with me. Thank you so much for being born a girl; and yes, I firmly believe this was something you had control over, I’ve met you after all. I don’t feel I will ever be able to thank you enough, my gratitude knows no bounds, how can I ever repay you.’
He rolls his eyes but Rachel doesn’t see, she has already moved on, telling him how she would dearly love to be up on that stage but that she loves Blaine and he deserves his spotlight and she has grown enough, is secure enough in her talent to want to give him his chance to shine and Kurt just smiles and looks at Blaine and this is it, Kurt thinks as Rachel sings along softly by his side and Blaine's eyes shine on the stage, this is what it is all about: Kurt Hummel has it all.