Cruel Summer Chapter 4 - Wasn't That a Party

Word Count: 5,912/189,000
 
Rating: PG-13

Summary: After Kurt was rejected from NYADA, we were dying to find out what happened next. We couldn't wait for the September premiere. Here is our take of what happened from the letter opening and beyond.

Author's Note: I just want to say that I absolutely love you guys! The feedback has been phenominal! I also just wanted to explain the delay in posting. This chapter was almost 10k words! We had to split it. In splitting it, we lost the song, so I had to find and add a song. I wanted one song, Stars wanted another…so guess what? I wrote a mashup!! I have to say I am pretty proud of it. Also, I actually met Chris Friekin’ Colfer on Sunday! So there is that…if you are reading anywhere else but Blogger or Livejournal, please go over and read all the details and see the pics!

Time for the disclaimers! Neither KurtsieKalanai  nor AlignedStars own Glee. If we did, we would be California girls! J Second, we don’t own the songs in the fic. We do use songs like the show but they fit into the story. Songs will be explained at the end of chapter. Third, this is AU so things do not work EXACTLY like canon. We try to stick to canon the best we can, however. Characters may be OOC, but there are reasons why, as you will soon see.

So there you have it. As usual, please feedback, ‘cause as we all know feedback is a dish best served hot!

Thanks: As usual, Wayne Kotke and Gleekast for your support. Also to all our incredible readers! The last person to thank is Chris Colfer, who actually inspired me (KurtsieKalanai) to start writing again. If by any miniscule chance you are reading this Chris, thank you sweetie!!!

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When Kurt woke up the next morning, he instantly wanted to die. He now understood the true meaning of “sicker than a dog”. Yep, he was. He did a quick body check to make sure everything was as it should be. The majority of his hair was gone (no Harry Potter growth overnight), no soreness from an ill-considered tattoo, and the rest was still there. Good. He understood Tony Manero’s actions. It all made sense now.

He dreaded getting up. First of all, he knew he was going to be in so much trouble, but he wasn’t really worried about that. He could handle his family, and really, if they gave him trouble, he knew he could hold his own. This new and improved Kurt could take on the world and come out on top! He knew there was a “second of all”, he just couldn’t remember what it was right now. Had he really drunk that much?

But right now, all he wanted to do was die. His head felt like it was being pounded with a jackhammer. Every miniscule sound was escalated to a brain-splitting volume. He felt like he was about a million pounds. His mouth felt like a small hamster had died inside of it. He was lying on his stomach and he tried to lie on his side.

That was definitely not a good idea.

Kurt let out a low groan. Wait…he was in bed. What was he doing in bed? Everything was extremely fuzzy, but he vaguely remembered crying himself to sleep in Blaine’s arms near the door.

The light! It was too bright.

Kurt covered his eyes with his duvet and groaned again. He peeked out from underneath the covers, looking at his almost empty room. Where was his stuff? He then remembered the epic breakdown he had the day before.

“Oh well, it all had to go eventually. Time for a fresh start,” he thought groggily.

He slowly turned his head to the other side of the bed, expecting Blaine to be sleeping beside him. Instead, he found it empty.

Kurt started to panic. Maybe Blaine finally realized what a loser he was and decided to leave. All of a sudden, he remembered what happened at Scandals. He wouldn’t be surprised if Blaine decided to leave him. His treatment of his boyfriend at the bar was unforgiveable. He had been such a cocktease! What he did to Blaine was deplorable. Kurt deserved a loser life for a loser man.

He tried to sit up, but had to lie back down instantly or he was going to puke all over the room. He put the duvet back over his head and prayed for death. No such luck.  He survived. Now he would have to worry about begging Blaine for forgiveness.

“Blaine,” Kurt croaked, trying to will the pain away in his head.

“Yes?” he heard from the door. Kurt uncovered his head again (oh, man, that light!) to see Blaine coming into the room from the bathroom.  Blaine was drying his hair. Those curls were so gorgeous.  He loved Blaine so much. Awww, he was wearing the royal blue terry cloth robe Kurt bought him to keep at the house. He really loved Blaine. Blaine, Blaine, Blaine. What a beautiful name.

Kurt let out a half relieved sigh, half pathetic groan and covered his head. “Oh, thank god. I thought you left me,” he said, almost ready to cry. “I love you so much it hurts.”

“That’s your hangover, dummy,” Blaine said kindly. He gently sat on the edge of the bed. He knew what it was like to wake up with a hangover, and he didn’t want his boyfriend to suffer any more than necessary. Actually, yes he did. It was a rite of passage. He gently pulled the duvet from over Kurt’s head. Kurt put his arm over his eyes to keep out the light.

As he pulled off the duvet, Blaine sang cheerily:

“Good mornin', good mornin'!
We've danced the whole night through,
good mornin', good mornin' to you.
Good mornin', good mornin'!
It's great to stay up late,
good mornin', good mornin' to you.”

Kurt groaned in annoyance. This was NOT the time for Blaine to start breaking out into cheerful song. All he wanted to do was die, and Blaine was just torturing him with this…this crap! He was making him suffer for getting drunk! That was it!

He pulled the duvet over his head. If Blaine wanted to sing, they would sing. But he would be damned if he would sing that stupid chipper song. Kurt croaked:

“Could've been the whiskey. Might've been the gin.
Could've been the three or four six-packs,
I don't know, but look at the mess I'm in.
My head is like a football! I think I'm going to die!
Tell me, me oh, me oh my, wasn't that a party?”

Blaine was having none of it. The best way to get over a hangover was to get up and at ‘em! He took the duvet and practically ripped it from Kurt and threw it on the floor. The look that Kurt gave Blaine might have gone down in legend as the most dirty look Kurt ever gave…to anyone…ever. Blaine pulled a silently protesting Kurt out of bed and started opening the drapes and the window, letting in the sound of the rain as he continued:

“Good mornin', good mornin'!
We've danced the whole night through,
good mornin', good mornin' to you.
Good mornin', good mornin'!
It's great to stay up late,
good mornin', good mornin' to you.”

If Blaine was having none of it, Kurt was certainly having none of THAT! He stomped to the floor at the end of the bed and violently grabbed the duvet off the floor, giving another dirty look. He stomped back to the bed and threw himself back in it. He covered himself up to his chin and glared at Blaine as he sang:

“Could've been the whiskey. Might've been the gin.
Could've been the three or four six-packs,
I don't know, but look at the mess I'm in.
My head is like a football! I think I'm going to die!
Tell me, me oh, me oh my, wasn't that a party?”

Blaine wasn’t going to let Kurt get away with his little tantrum. To rub salt in the wound, he finished the song with a flourish:

“When the band began to play
the sun was shinin' bright.
Now the milkman's on his way,
it's too late to say goodnight.

So, good mornin', good mornin'!
Sunbeams will soon smile through,
good mornin', my darlin', to you.”

After the song was done, Blaine looked at Kurt with a shit-eating grin. He knew he was going to be in heaps of trouble for that one, but it was worth it.

Kurt continued starting daggers at him. “Blaine, I say this with unlimited love in my heart, but screw you!!” he exclaimed and put the duvet over his head yet again. He collapsed back onto the bed.

“Sorry, Kurt, I just had to do that. When I had my first hangover, the Warblers sang that to me. I think I gave them the same look that you just gave me. For some reason, yours looked ten times worse though. I think it’s the hair. By the way, great song to mash it up with!”

Kurt threw off the duvet and tried to sit up. He felt a wave of nausea and had to lie down again. “I am so sorry, Blaine.”

“There is no need to apologize. I should be saying I’m sorry.” Blaine grinned, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Not that! I’m going to get you back on that one, mark my words. I was apologizing for last night. I was such an ass. Don’t leave me!” Kurt pleaded.

“Kurt, what are you talking about?” Blaine said confused by Kurt’s comments.

Kurt put his arm over his head again, and from underneath it, Kurt mumbled, “After the way I treated you last night, I’m surprised you aren’t running to the hills by now! It was inexcusable.”

Blaine stood up, pulled the duvet down on his side of the bed, and climbed in beside his ailing boyfriend. He made Kurt jump a little when he started stroking his now messy black hair. The spikes were gone from the sweating poor Kurt did through the night.

“Babe, don’t be silly. I know you are a connoisseur of drama, but you should know me better by now. Besides, remember what a jerk I was our first night at Scandals?  I’m surprised you haven’t dumped my sorry ass long ago.” He felt Kurt’s forehead to make sure he didn’t have a fever. “How are you feeling?”

“Like ass. I wanna die,” groaned Kurt.

“You’ll live,” chuckled Blaine. “Lesser men than you and I have survived much worse hangovers than this. The first big one is always the worst.”

“Your support is heartwarming,” said Kurt sarcastically and tried to sit up again. Blaine kept him steady as he attempted sitting upright. It didn’t quite work that way. Kurt’s face suddenly turned green and he jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

Blaine could hear painful retching and he let out a sigh. He made his way to the bathroom where he saw Kurt on the floor with his head bowed to his namesake: the porcelain god. He sat on the tub and rubbed his boyfriend’s back, completely empathizing with his pain. Blaine had spent many a weekend morning at Dalton in that exact same position as Kurt was now, one of the Warblers tending to Blaine the very same way.

“Let it out. You’ll feel better,” Blaine said encouragingly.

After Kurt finished emptying his stomach, Blaine grabbed a clean washcloth from the linen closet and dampened it with cold water. As Kurt sat on the floor against the tub, Blaine sat beside him. Blaine started gently wiping Kurt’s face, cleaning off the sweat and old makeup from the night before. Kurt sighed in relief, enjoying the cold cloth on his skin.

After Blaine finished cleaning Kurt’s face and forehead, he put the cloth on the sink and sat down again. He put his arm around his boyfriend and held him close, while stroking his cheek. Kurt groaned as if in pain and put his head on Blaine’s shoulder. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“I am never drinking again,” said Kurt resolutely as he grabbed the hand stroking his face.

“Oh you will,” Blaine said and kissed Kurt’s hand. “We always do.”

“What?” asked Kurt, confused.

“It’s a story for another time, babe,” said Blaine, trying to change the subject. He patted Kurt’s knee. “Why don’t you go back to bed for a bit? Would you like me to make you some dry toast and coffee?” Blaine stood up and offered his hand to Kurt. Kurt gratefully accepted. He preferred the option of going back to bed over getting up to face the day.

Throwing up did make Kurt feel better. He felt steadier on his feet. Looking into the mirror was a mistake. Yuck. He looked terrible. Thinking over Blaine’s offer to make toast, Kurt said, “That would be lovely, although I’m not sure I can keep anything down. But first, I really need to brush my teeth. I have the most disgusting taste in my mouth,” and made a face. He wrapped his arms around Blaine and put his head on his shoulder. “What time is it anyway?”

Blaine tried to recollect the last time he looked at the clock. “About 8 am,” he said, kissing Kurt’s forehead. His black hair was all over the place, and it really was quite adorable.

“Oh shit! Dad and Carole are supposed to be home later this afternoon or this evening,” Kurt said, not wanting to let Blaine go. “I am in soo much trouble. They are going to ground me for life, and we will have to have our love affair online because I’ll never see you again.”

Again, the drama! Blaine rubbed his boyfriend’s back. “Kurt, I love you, you drama queen, new look or not.” Kurt took his head off Blaine’s shoulder and gave a pout. He gave him a kiss on the cheek (kissing hangover mouth was NEVER a good idea), and broke off the hug.

“Besides, you are an adult now, so I don’t think you’ll be grounded. Kicked out maybe, but not grounded.” At Kurt’s horrified face, Blaine said, “I’m KIDDING! You brush your teeth and get your cute tush in bed. I’ll be right back,” Blaine left Kurt to his brushing, and he made his way down to the kitchen to make his sick man breakfast in bed. Finn and Rachel were having breakfast at the table and talking about the events of last night.

“Nice robe, dude. And the hair? Very manly,” said Finn, ready to laugh. Rachel just looked at him appraisingly. Blaine always wondered if Rachel still had a crush on him. It was the way she looked at him from time to time. They were definitely in the friend zone, but sometimes he wondered.

He looked at the coffee pot. “Is it fresh?” he asked as he gestured to the pot.

“Yup, made it about 10 minutes ago,” said Finn. “Help yourself.”

“Thanks,” Blaine said and took down two mugs from the cabinet and pulled out the toaster. He grabbed the bread and took out several pieces. “Toast?” he said, offering the bread to the other two.

“No thank you Blaine, we just ate.” said Rachel, sipping a glass of organic orange juice. Kurt always made sure there was a carton available for her. “How is Kurt? He seemed pretty drunk last night.” She still couldn’t believe Kurt’s behavior last night. And the things he said! It had to be the alcohol talking. She was sure they would be ok after a good long talk and maybe a rousing duet. Singing show tunes always made things better, after all! She would prepare a list. There were bound to be a few post-traumatic I-got-drunk songs floating around. 

“Not good. He’s suffering from his first real hangover,” said Blaine sympathetically, preparing the toast and jam for himself, and dry toast for Kurt. “I don’t think it has hit him yet what happened last night.”

“I am going to go up and talk to him,” said Rachel, standing up and heading towards the kitchen door to the stairs.

“Oh God, No!” Blaine thought frantically as he dropped the butter knife on the counter and ran over to Rachel.  He gently grabbed her arms. “Rach, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think we should give him a chance to eat and get cleaned up.” Blaine wrinkled up his nose, thinking about Kurt’s disheveled state. “I’m sure he would be more willing to talk to you later.”

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. “Fair enough.  It will give me a chance to pick out a nice song for us to sing. We always sound so great together.” She made her way back over to the kitchen table and sat down.

Finn rolled his eyes at Rachel. “You could write a song for Kurt,” he suggested.

“What a great idea! I’ll get started now!” Rachel lived for these moments. She ran out for paper and pen.

Finn politely snickered behind Rachel’s back and commented to Blaine, “One way to get some free time.”

Blaine nodded in agreement. “Glad Kurt and I don’t act like that,” he thought to himself.

Blaine finished making breakfast for himself and Kurt and put everything on a tray. There was a small bouquet of flowers in a vase on the table, so he grabbed it as well. He carefully made his way up the stairs so he wouldn’t spill the coffee all over the tray and entered the room to find Kurt cuddled in bed playing with an app on his phone. The green tinge to his skin was starting to go away.

“Breakfast is served, sir,” said Blaine in his best English Butler voice. Kurt looked up from his phone and laughed. He sat up and allowed Blaine to put the tray on his lap. As Blaine moved to go to the other side of the bed to join his boyfriend for breakfast, Kurt grabbed the lapel of his robe.

“You aren’t going anywhere without a thank you kiss, mister,” said Kurt. “My mouth is minty fresh so you don’t have an excuse.”

“As if I need an excuse, you silly goose. But I wouldn’t kiss ANYONE with hangover mouth, no matter who they were,” Blaine said good naturedly as he leaned in for a quick kiss. “Mmmm…you taste good.”

“That’s what she said!” Kurt said and then covered his mouth with his hand, wide eyed. “What the hell? I can’t believe I actually said that! Get back in bed and eat with me before I embarrass myself further.”

Now that Kurt was feeling a little bit better, Blaine felt safe to tease him a little bit. “I think you embarrassed yourself enough last night, my little minx,” he said, climbing back into bed and snuggling under the covers. He could do this all day!

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I gotta face all these people, and I’m not sure I’m going to get out alive.” Kurt said and hesitantly sipped his coffee. He waited a few seconds to make sure his stomach didn’t reject the coffee, let out a happy sigh, and took a larger drink.

“I think everyone will forgive you, so don’t you worry your little pointed black haired head over it,” said Blaine as he shoved half a piece of toast in his mouth all at once. It earned him another one of Kurt’s famous “bitch please” looks. With the black hair, it was kind of scary!

“My boyfriend, the giant pig,” said Kurt, letting out a mock sigh and nibbling on the corner of his toast.

They spent the rest of breakfast talking and teasing each other. Kurt really did look better. After they were finished, Blaine took the tray and pulled Kurt out of the bed.

“I thought we were going to stay in bed all day?” Kurt whined. He enjoyed being spoiled by his younger boyfriend. As bonus, staying in bed all day meant he didn’t have to face the day to come. “It’s a good day for it, sounds like lots of rain out there!”

“Nope. You, my dear, are going to get a shower and get cleaned up, I’m going to get dressed, and we are both going out.” That got another whine from Kurt. “Didn’t you promise Santana a mall date last night?”

“Yeah, but you can’t make me responsible for any promises I made while drunk,” said Kurt, still in his whiny voice. It was so cute. Everything about him this morning was so very cute. “Besides, my makeup will run!”

“No, you promised, so we are going. You aren’t sugar; you won’t melt. We can use an umbrella. I wanted to do some shopping for myself. Since you were changing your wardrobe, I thought I could get something different for me,” Blaine looked at his boyfriend cheekily. “Besides, if you are out of the house, you aren’t here and you won’t have to deal with the wrath of your Dad before Finn calms him down. It is a win-win situation for both of us! I get to shop, you get to live.” Kurt let out a little scared squeak. “Okay, so that joke went a little too far. I was kidding, babe. But Finn will talk to him. He always has your back.”

“Well, he is Rachel’s fiancé, but I’ll take your word for it,” Kurt said as he grabbed his towel and bath robe. Kurt’s robe was red and matched Blaine’s blue one. He had them monogrammed with their initials. The monogrammed font matched the towels Blaine gave him for graduation. Blaine was so thoughtful! “Blaine, can you send Santana a text and let her know what is going on?” Kurt asked. Ever since the Chandler incident, Kurt let Blaine have access to his phone and vice versa. There was to be nothing but complete trust between them from now on.

“Of course. Go. Get clean,” Blaine said as he grabbed some clothes from Kurt’s dresser. He had his own drawer. He kept some outfits there just in case he decided to sleep over.

Kurt stood in the shower for a long time. He let the hot water relax his muscles, washing away the stress and sweat of the night before. He was definitely starting to feel much better. “This is the first day of the rest of your new life, Kurt Hummel,” he said to himself seriously. He stepped out of the steaming shower and put on his robe. He towel dried his hair. “Wow, that was quick!” he thought happily. Bonus! It stood up on its own without help from any product.

Kurt wiped the steam off the mirror and looked at himself. The makeup was gone, but his hair was severe black. His face looked different as well. Harder and more mature somehow. He took a deep breath and said, “I can do this,” as he turned and left the bathroom.

Blaine was casually sprawled out on the now made bed surfing on Kurt’s laptop. Kurt started thinking of it as “their bed” as Blaine had been here more than he had been home since school let out. Blaine had a look of amusement on his face; he must have been reading one of those humor blogs he loved so much. Blaine was dressed in a nice pair of Capri jeans and a shirt with a bright blue vest. It was perfectly accented with one of his signature bowties, this time in speckled silver. The look was completed with his signature pink sunglasses on top of his head. Speaking of his absolutely adorable head…

“Your curls!” squealed Kurt with delight. He always hated Blaine’s “gelmet” and although he would never dictate to Blaine style choices, letting his curls go free was a definite improvement.

Blaine looked up from the screen. “Hey, if you can have a new look, so can I! I figured I’m not a Dalton boy anymore, so I can style it any way I want. I hope you don’t mind that I used some of your product,” he said as he pointed to a small jar on the bedside table.

“Do you even need to ask?”  Kurt grabbed the bottle and put some on his own hair to keep it nice and spiky. “Looking good! Two hot gay boys! Bite it, world! We are on top,” Kurt thought gleefully.

Kurt looked in his walk in closet to find it pretty much emptied out. “Guess the fashion faeries didn’t visit last night when we were asleep,” he lamented and looked at Blaine. “My clothes! I have nothing to wear, and I am NOT wearing those old clothes. They were a symbol of my wasteful ways,” he said with an air of self-righteousness. He sat down on the bed heavily, sulking.

“Your wasteful ways, Kurt?” Blaine said and tried to suppress a laugh. “What’s this all about?”

“The new Kurt is a more simple man, with simple wants and desires. No more baggage.  My clothes will reflect the new me. Basic, understated and casual. My new palette is black.” Kurt was a roll. “And I left everything in the car when I came in last night. MY CAR! Where’s my car?”

“Don’t worry. Finn drove it back,” Blaine reminded him. “I went down when you were showering and got your things.”

“Oh GREAT, now all the seat settings are changed!” Kurt fumed. “Frankenteen always sets the seat all the way to the back! He might as well drive from the rear seat. And he never changes them back.” Kurt spotted the bags by his dresser and shifted gears, “Thanks for getting my new clothes! I’ll give you a fashion show.”

Blaine smiled. Some things will never change with Kurt, new look or not.

“Not now, Kurt. We’ve got plans this morning,” Blaine said with determination. Kurt’s fashion shows could take hours. Blaine looked at the computer again and admonished, “There is no need to sulk.”

Kurt gave him a dirty look. “I saw that,” Blaine deadpanned without even looking up. 

Kurt sighed and went over to the large pile of bags in the corner of the room. Later today, he would block off most of his closet and use the small space left to store his now humble wardrobe. “Simplify your life, Kurt. That’s the way to go,” he thought to himself.

Today, after much deliberation, Kurt chose to go with a blue T-shirt with trendy skull and crossbones on the front of it and a pair of jeans much baggier than he was used to wearing. “At least I’ll be comfortable,” he thought as he continued going through his clothes. Yes, his old clothes looked great, but they were so damn uncomfortable. He finished off his outfit with a pair of high-top sneakers and added some black bracelets for good measure.

Kurt brought everything over to the walk-in closet and changed. He was enjoying the feeling of the loose clothing. Why had he not tried this sooner?  He sat down at his vanity to start his morning moisturizing routine. Wait…no, that stuff was gone now. He vaguely remembered throwing all the tubes and bottles in the trash yesterday. Kurt didn’t remember much of yesterday afternoon, but he knew it was bad because his room was almost empty. He had never been blinded by rage before, and he hoped it would never happen again.

“Your moisturizers are all underneath the sink in the bathroom if you want them,” said Blaine from the bed around the corner from the closet and vanity.

“No, that’s fine,” Kurt answered. He was feeling a little lost, as a part of his morning routine was missing.

“Kurt…” Blaine started.

“Blaine, please. Let me do this,” pleaded Kurt as he left the vanity. He appreciated those moisturizers, but he didn’t want to go back there. Not ever.

Blaine looked up and put the laptop aside. “Well, look at my skater boy! This is definitely an attractive look for you. I approve.” Blaine walked up to Kurt and put his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine’s waist and they came together for a slow, gentle kiss. It was a much different kiss than the one last night at Scandals, but it was just as hot.

“Make-up kisses are so much better, don’t you think?” asked Kurt as he reluctantly pulled away.

“When were we fighting? We need to fight to have make-up anything,” joked Blaine.

“You know what I mean,” said Kurt as he fiddled with Blaine’s bowtie. “I’m sorry I was such a jerk last night. I was just so angry. I kinda still am, just not with you.”

“There is nothing to forgive, babe, but we do need to talk about this,” Blaine saw the look of annoyance on his boyfriend’s face. “But we don’t have to do it now.”

“Thanks, Blaine. I promise, we will talk about it. I’m just not ready right now. I still need to figure out my feelings. I’ve gotten a lot of confusing shit going on in here,” Kurt said as he tapped his temple. “Can you amuse yourself for a few more minutes? I’m almost ready.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I really should check my Facebook. I’m sure Sebastian has told the Warblers the whole sordid story of last night,” Blaine said as he rolled his eyes and opened the laptop to sign in.

“I can’t believe I saw that manwhore at the bar last night. I wanted to kick him in the nuts.” At Blaine’s shocked look, Kurt said, “What? He IS a manwhore.”

“Language, Kurt. With this new look, you seemed to have developed the language of a sailor!” snarked Blaine. “That ‘manwhore’, as you called him, was the one that told me you were at the bar.” Blaine  went back to logging in.

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Remind me when I see him again to give him a good swift kick in the cherries.” That got a snort from Blaine.

Kurt grabbed the eyeliner and black lipstick out of the shopping bags and went to his vanity. As he lined his eyes, he appreciated the potential pain women had to go through to wear this stuff. Kurt had dabbled with eyeliner before, not this dark of course. This new look was fun.  Next up, black lipstick. This was a little trickier. How did Wade do this? Kurt felt a new level of appreciation for his cross-dressing friend. He was almost finished when he heard Blaine exclaim, “Oh My God!!! What the hell?? Kurt, get over here!”

“Just a sec!” Kurt called as he popped his lips together. “What?”

Blaine was staring at the computer in complete horror.  He kept pointing at the screen.

“Blaine, it seems ‘What the hell’ is becoming our new go-to phrase. What’s got you so freaked out?”

Blaine turned the laptop to face Kurt with YouTube on the screen. On it was a video of Kurt singing with Santana, gyrating on the stage and practically making out with the audience. Kurt facepalmed.

“I am going to kill that sorry excuse for a gay man!” Kurt swore. Next time he got his hands on Sebastian he was going to make him a woman!

“Please don’t tell me Meerkat put that on the internet. Please say that was a random bar patron?” Kurt begged. Actually Kurt thought he looked pretty good. Maybe someone from LA would see it. Sam’s video of Mercedes was pretty successful. She got a recording contract doing back up singing. Maybe he would…. Kurt’s mind began wandering when Blaine brought him back.

“Afraid not, Kurt,” Blaine said as he switched over to Facebook.

“What? Sorry, I got distracted,” Kurt apologized.

“It wasn’t a random person. It was Sebastian. Look. See?” Blaine had long ago defriended Sebastian. Sebastian was the sort of soul who believed the whole world loved him and was interested in everything he did so he had his account set to public. The Scandals karaoke video of Kurt and Santana was posted under Sebastian’s profile. Every single New Directions member and some random McKinley students including resident blogger and busybody Jacob Ben Israel were tagged.

Kurt groaned and sat at the end of the bed. “That’s it. My life is over. I might as well pack my shit and take the next bus somewhere far, far away. Florida maybe? No, Hollywood! Blaine, come with me to Hollywood?” he said sounding frantic.

Blaine laughed. He loved the man sitting at the end of his bed so much. Kurt might try to change but he couldn’t get rid of the drama queen raging inside him.

Blaine signed out of his profile and pushed the laptop towards Kurt. “You might as well log in and see what everyone is saying. It’ll only just get worse if you don’t.”

Kurt took the laptop and signed into his profile (password Klaineforever). He mentally prepared himself for the onslaught of mockery. Most of the comments on his wall were lighthearted ribbing, so Kurt sighed with relief.  He quickly debated unfriending his dad but figured it was probably too late. Puck posted a video of himself laughing his ass off. There were also 2 messages in his inbox. The 

first one was from Santana:

Hey There Sexy,

Hope we’re still on for the mall today. I saw the video. I took pictures, but I wanted them for my own amusement or maybe to share with the gang. I would never do that to you. That Sebastian is an asshole of the highest order. Anyway, can’t wait to see you soon. I have some ideas for your new, and much better, image. Kisses.

Kurt smiled. He couldn’t believe he had made friends with this woman. For most all his high school years, Santana made his life a living hell as if it were a personal job consigned by the devil himself. In the past year, however, they bonded when Santana was forced to come out of the closet. He helped her deal with the judgment and the persecution that inevitably happened when one announced they were gay. He was also there when Santana’s abuela kicked her out of her abuela’s house. He hoped they would hang out a lot in New York. Santana had dreams of being famous. Guess that wasn’t going to happen anymore.

The second message was from Tina, which was odd as she had never private messaged him before now. They were friends but they rarely talked. It wasn’t because he didn’t like her, because he did, very much. It was just that they never had the opportunity. He opened the message:

Hi Kurt,

I just wanted to make sure you were ok. We were at your house last night, but we figured you wanted some space. Hey, are you free today? Maybe we can go to the mall? It would be great to catch up. Hugs, 

Tina

Kurt was surprised by the invite to meet up at the mall. Maybe she liked his new goth-punk chic. Tina had worked that look several years ago, and worked it very well indeed. Kurt smiled to himself and sent a quick message that yes, due to a great coincidence, he and Blaine were going to the mall with Santana. Kurt would be honored if Tina wanted to join them for a shopping outing.

Kurt logged off, feeling better that there were no really mean messages on his wall. He was sure they would come in time from the bullies in the school, but he didn’t give a shit anymore. He was a graduate! They couldn’t touch him anymore. He had friends that cared about him, no matter what. Well at least one or two. He shut the laptop and went to his mirror to check his hastily applied lipstick.

“Looking good, Hummel!” Blaine said as he caught him looking in the mirror.

“Let’s go,” said Kurt, grabbing Blaine’s hand and they left the room.  Downstairs, Rachel in ambush mode showed up at the living room arch.

“Kurt? Can we talk?” said Rachel. “I found a song we can sing to make up.”

Kurt looked at her hard with his black-lined eyes. He lowered his voice to the same hardened tone as last night. He had to get used to using that voice. It would help him fit in nicely. “Rachel, I promise we can talk, but not now. I just need some more time. Please understand that. I’m still extremely pissed off, and I need to figure out what to say.”

Tears sprang in Rachel’s eyes, she hated being turned down for anything. “Of course, Kurt. I understand. I’ll be here all day.”

As Kurt turned away to leave, he heard Rachel say in a small voice. “I love you, Kurt. Please come back to me.” 

“Damn her,” he told himself, “She’s just manipulating you. Keep walking.” He stopped for a moment and considered turning around and taking Rachel in his arms to forgive her. He just couldn’t, so he shook his head and left the house pulling Blaine behind him.

************************

A/N Like I said at the pre-chapter A/N, this was supposed to be a MUCH longer chapter. We split it at a logical break. Next chapter starts extremely fluffy then goes angsty by the end. The songs of the mashup are of course “Good Morning” from Singing in the Rain and “Wasn’t That a Party” from the Irish Rovers. Thanks again guys!