Heroes and Thieves Part III
PART TWO
Kurt knocked on the door with some apprehension. He didn’t know what had made him offer to take Blaine to meet Rachel and Finn - just that Blaine had looked like the idea of a loving family was beyond him, and he wanted Blaine to feel comfortable with him after the whole coming out debacle.
That said, Kurt was worried his decision may have been a bad one. Finn wouldn’t know the prince from Oprah, but Rachel…
The door swung open, revealing the diva herself. She smiled at him before noticing Blaine, her eyes widening. When Kurt subtly shook his head, though, she plastered on the most artificial grin he had ever seen.
“Hi, Kurt! Kurt’s totally strange friend! What’re you doing here?”
He gave her a smile that just as fake. “Rachel, this my, er - friend. Blaine. We were in the neighborhood, so we thought we’d stop by.”
“Oh, a new adoring fan!” Rachel was beaming, probably at the thought that she was getting to meet a prince.
A loud crash from the kitchen interrupted them. “Rachel! Do we have any Fruity Pebbles left?”
Rachel’s smile twitched before gesturing them inside. “Please! Come in!”
Blaine followed Kurt in hesitantly. Kurt rolled his eyes despite the situation. “Still glad you came?”
“Um.”
“We won’t stay long, I promise.”
They followed Rachel into the kitchen, where Finn was standing on the counter. He wasn’t tall enough to reach the top shelf on his own but was way too tall on the bar, so he was awkwardly hunched over. “I know I hid some up here somewhere,” Kurt heard him mutter.
“Finn,” Rachel said brightly, “we have company!”
Finn turned to look, and, in a rare moment of foresight, Kurt saw what was going to happen before it did. Finn’s foot slipped off the counter, and his giant brother followed it. He flailed in mid air for a moment before crashing to the ground.
Rachel immediately rushed over, Blaine forgotten, with Kurt not far behind. “Finn! Oh my god, Kurt, call an ambulance, he’s not breathing!”
“Rachel,” Finn looked up at her, apparently unfazed. “I’m okay; just a little bruised.” As if to comfort her, he moved to stand up, but immediately sunk back down with a hiss of pain. “Shit. Scratch that. Think I twisted my ankle.”
Rachel hovered over him, fingers skimming over the ankle in question. “Do you need to go to the doctor? Is it broken?”
“No, Rachel, it’s okay. I just need some ice and the couch.”
Blaine stepped forward for the first time since he and Kurt had entered the house. “I’ll help.”
Finn’s eyes narrowed, glancing between him and Kurt. “Who’re you?”
“Finn,” Kurt said, “this is my friend, Blaine. Blaine, this is my brother, Finn.”
Blaine nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“So, man, how do you know Kurt?” Kurt recognized the tone as Finn’s “responsible big brother” voice, and stepped forward before it could spiral into anything uncomfortable.
Rachel, apparently realizing that Finn was going to be okay, beat him to the punch. “Blaine,” she said sweetly, “would you mind helping Finn get to the couch? Kurt and I will go get an ice bag-we keep them on the top shelf of our bathroom, and I’m too short to reach.”
Blaine smiled his easy smile. “Sure! Just-” He paused, looking at Kurt with warm eyes. “Don’t you fall, too.”
Rachel let out a squeak, her eyes looking between him and Blaine. She shoved the prince toward Finn and practically dragged Kurt into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and turned towards him. “Kurt, do you know who that is? That’s-“
Kurt shoved a hand over her mouth, gesturing for her to be quiet. She rolled her eyes and nodded, and Kurt pulled his hand away, shushing her for good measure.
“Kurt,” she hissed, “that’s the prince of Dalton. The one that’s supposed to be sick? What in the world are you doing with him?”
Kurt paused to make sure Finn was keeping Blaine entertained before speaking quietly. “I know. It’s a long story-I found him drunk last night and ended up taking him home with me. I didn’t realize who he was until I heard the news at work today.”
“Well what the hell are you doing now? Are you-wait, you took a drunk stranger into your apartment last night? Did you hook up with him? Oh my god, you hooked up with a prince, Kurt-“
“What? No! We didn’t hook up; he just slept in my bed. On my bed! I slept on the floor,” he protested, embarrassed and flushing at Rachel’s ecstatic look. “And don’t you see, Rachel?”
“See what?”
“I’m spending the day alone with the prince of Dalton. One of the most attractive and famous men in the entire world. And I’ve cut his hair and taken him shopping.”
“So?”
“So when I write this up and show Jay the pictures I’ve been taking, I’ll have my pick of assignments for the rest of forever.”
“Kurt...”
“And no,” Kurt snapped, seeing the lookin her eye. “Don’t guilt trip me about this, Rachel; my conscience works just fine.”
“You’re going to sell him out!”
“I’m not going to write anything scandalous - although I might include his weird aversion to socks.
“Rachel,” he continued, voice pleading. “This is my chance - my big break. This will get me out of that shitty apartment. I might get my own line out of this.”
“Maybe, but Kurt, are you willing to do that to him? He seems to really like you.”
“Rachel...”
“I saw the way he looked at you; don’t deny it. And you were looking at him, too. This is your chance, Kurt; he could be your soul mate.”
“Rachel, he’s not even gay.” At Rachel’s yeah, right gesture, he sighed. Look, he’s. . . He’s - great, okay? But I have to do this; it’s too good of an opportunity to pass up. I don’t have a choice.”
Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
~
Meanwhile, Blaine was helping Finn to the couch. There was an awkward moment when they realized Finn wouldn't actually fit on the couch lying down, but eventually they got him settled with his leg propped up on an ottoman. Blaine stood awkwardly for a moment, not knowing what to do now that Finn was comfortable, until Finn patted the spot next to him. Blaine sat down.
“So,” Finn said pleasantly, “what’s your relationship with my brother?”
“He, uh, helped me out of a bind last night, gave me a place to crash.”
“Oh?” Finn said, still in the same pleasant tone of voice. “And was that place his dick?”
Blaine choked. “Um. No? Nothing-nothing happened. I’m not. . .gay. Not there’s anything wrong with that!” he hastened, seeing the rising anger on Finn’s face. “It’s just not like that between me and Kurt. I mean, don’t get me wrong; he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met, and funny, and-“ has incredible eyes, Blaine thought. Wait, where the hell did that come from? “It’s just not like that between me and Kurt,” he repeated, not sure who exactly he was trying to convince.
“Well,” Finn said, “just make sure you keep it that way. He’s already been jerked around enough by assholes in the past; he doesn’t you adding to that.”
Blaine nodded, oddly touched by Finn’s concern about Kurt. Kurt was a great guy; it was nice to know that he had people looking out for him.
They sat in silence for a moment before Rachel and Kurt emerged with the ice pack. He frowned; Kurt looked like he was sad about something. Before he could try to discern what was wrong, however, Rachel was clearing her throat. “So, who wants to hear me run lines for my next audition?”
~
They spent the afternoon listening to Rachel perfect her Elphaba before Finn fell asleep and they finally managed to leave. Afterwards, they strolled through Times Square, Kurt pointing out all the sites: the naked cowboy, the old TRL studio the New York Hard Rock. As they strolled by TKTS, Kurt sighed. “I remember the first time I came to New York; we spent a whole day hanging around TKTS, then Rachel and I got breakfast at Tiffany’s. Speaking of Rachel, what’d you think of her and Finn?”
“They were, um. Nice.”
“Blaine, you can say crazy and completely bizarre-I won’t get offended. Rachel is intense for anyone, especially for a complete stranger.”
Blaine let out a startled bark of laughter. “Well - she was still cool, even if her asking to sing a duet with me was a little… odd. Still. And Finn seems really great! It’s awesome that you have a supportive brother like that. You guys look a lot a like, you know.”
This time, it was Kurt who laughed. “Finn and I are stepbrothers, Blaine. Our parents married when we were in high school.”
“Oh. Well, it’s great that you guys are so close, then.”
“Yeah; he’s come a long way. We both have.”
“Yeah? Care to share?”
Kurt turned a particularly deep shade of red and Blaine felt horrible. “It’s okay, it’s none of my business, I-“
“No, no, it’s okay. It’s just-” Kurt bit his lip. “It’s just kind of really embarrassing. In retrospect, I mean. See, our parents-Finn’s father and my mother had died-first met because I set them up-“
“Aww, that’s adora-“
“Because I had a crush on Finn and I thought that it would be a good way for us to spend time together,” Kurt rushed out.
“…Oh.” Blaine tried hard not to laugh. Him having a crush on his now-stepbrother was a surprise, given how close they were now. Although, he was startled to find, the idea of Kurt having a crush on someone made him uncomfortable. Not because it was one guy having a crush on another, but because Kurt, even in the short time Blaine had known him, was such a worthwhile individual himself that anyone he liked probably had to meet some impressive standards. (He got a free pass with Finn, though. Blaine had had equally embarrassing crushes himself at fifteen.)
“Yeah,” Kurt rolled his eyes. “It’s every bit as awkward and uncomfortable as you can imagine. Fifteen-year-old me didn’t know of any gay guys, and Finn had always been nice to me. It didn’t matter that he was straight as an arrow.”
“So what happened?”
“I pushed too hard, and he said some really shitty stuff. But we worked it out eventually. Now it feels like we’ve always been brothers.”
Blaine blinked, stunned at the ease with which Kurt glossed over the incident. “You’re really-“
But then Blaine stopped and grabbed Kurt’s arm, forgetting everything he was about to say. “Kurt.”
“Blaine. Is everything okay?”
He pointed. “Can we go in?”
Kurt followed his finger, and his eyebrows furrowed as he saw where Blaine was pointing.
“FAO Schwartz? Out of all the places in Times Square-in New York - you want to go there?”
“Please,” he whined, pulling on Kurt’s arm for the full effect. Kurt rolled his eyes.
“God! Fine.”
Blaine was in heaven when they entered the store. Kurt trailed behind him obligingly, laughing as Blaine oohed and ahhed at everything. “I didn’t realize that I was going to be babysitting a giant toddler today.”
“Shut up. You know you want a Muppet puppet. Hee. Muppet puppet. It rhymes.”
Blaine gasped as they paused in their stroll. “Kurt, look, it’s the piano! I remember seeing this in movies as a kid. Holy crap, I’ve always wanted to see this thing.” Blaine tugged Kurt onto the piano, not giving him a chance to respond.
He rocked back and forth, Kurt laughing beside him. After a moment, Kurt stepped off and Blaine continued, tapping out a rough version of chopsticks like in Big. After a few more successful rounds, he collapsed on the floor next to the keyboard, dragging Kurt down with him.
“Kurt, thank you. I-“ Blaine paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, and continued. “This is the best day I’ve ever had.”
Kurt smiled at him, nose scrunching and his mouth stretching to the corners of his eyes. It was the first time Blaine had seen Kurt really smile, not just smirk or twitch his lips in amusement, and it was a beautiful sight. He was torn between his heart fluttering because he made Kurt smile like that and feeling sad because Kurt should have someone to make him smile like that all the time.
“Well, the night’s not over yet. Come on - You said you love nostalgia; I think I know a place you’ll love.”
PART FOUR