#anyway i probably don't need to say that the soundtrack slaps lmao

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

found the part of the mario movie ost where the reunion hug happens (Fighting Tooth and Veil; 2:53 is when the cages start rising) so goodbye that's all I gonna be listening to for the next week I guess

[kuiinncedes]

dreaming like we'll live forever

@gleeadvent day 4: dough :D very very late lmaoo but it's all good 🤪

so this is likeee in my kurt and the phantoms au i guess?? i didn't give too much thought to the timeline tho so idk if i'll end up like keeping these details in that main work, but i did just make a series for it to add this to lol 😋 but yeah like it might not actually align with the main work as "canon" i guess if that makes sense hgjlkdf

you don't really need to read the main work to read this, all you probably need to know is that blaine, sam, and tina died and came back as ghosts and are in a band with kurt who is not a ghost :] if you've seen jatp i think this kinda takes place uhh like after flying solo ish in the show timeline 🤪

[ also, a scrapped line that came to me while i was struggling to think of something for this prompt but i didn't know how to write the context for lmao: “Tina’s about to storm Netflix headquarters with a spatula and a bowl of cookie dough,” Puck says. "And I'm right there with you," he assures hurriedly when Tina's nearly murderous gaze fixes on him.

i had One thing on my mind when i was trying to write for this prompt XD the vision was that nd is all like hanging out and tina's making cookies bc why not and they're chilling and someone's like OH SHIT JATP GOT CANCELLED and they're all pissed at netflix bc they all watched it together <3 fuck netflix for cancelling their best show and also taking glee off <3 ]

title from "now or never" from the jatp soundtrack and it starts with d yay :DDD

warning for a small mention of kurt's mom's death, i think that's the only thing ?

1413 words, read on ao3 or under the cut <3 !!

A thud breaks Kurt’s focus on his homework; he jumps and looks up to see Blaine across the table from him, having just poofed in, probably -- which would explain why Kurt didn’t notice him -- and slapped his hands down on the table. “Hey,” Blaine says, with a cheeky grin and bright eyes.

Kurt puts his pencil down, a smile pulling at his lips. “Hey. You scared me.”

“I’m a ghost, that’s my job.”

Kurt raises a teasing eyebrow. “Didn’t think you were that type of ghost.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Blaine says, both eyebrows raised. His arms are crossed in front of him on the table, and Kurt mirrors his position, leaning forward.

“You’re perky,” he remarks. “So then are you the type of ghost who just likes to distract students working on homework? Or did you actually need something?”

“I’m here to tell you to stop studying so hard,” Blaine teases, but then he bounces up from his seat. “It’s Sam’s birthday today. I was wondering if we could make something for him?”

“Like…?” Kurt raises an eyebrow. “You remember you guys can’t eat and, like, can barely touch things.”

Blaine exhales, pouting a little. Kurt restrains an almost-smile at his expression.

“I know,” Blaine says. “It’s the thought that counts?”

He sounds like he’s trying to convince himself, but Kurt just shrugs; he doesn’t have too much to do for tomorrow. (And maybe he wants to spend more time with Blaine.) He’s bored. “I’m down,” Kurt says. When Blaine’s eyes immediately light up, Kurt can’t help but smile with him.

--

Three ghosts face him from the other side of the kitchen counter, looking probably all too eager considering the fact that they can’t really… do much. Blaine called the others in through their weird telepathic link or something that Kurt definitely does not understand and has not bothered to understand, since the whole ghost thing is just weird anyway. There’s a whole ghost thing in the first place -- the ghosts having some kind of internal bond is the least of his concerns.

They poofed in and -- after Kurt’s hesitant clarification of “I’m just… making cookies for myself, then?” -- assured him that they would be fine with more or less just watching him bake, and especially Sam looked so genuine and wistful at the idea of just chocolate chip cookies, they were my favorite that Kurt had to cave.

“And this way these two can’t eat all the cookie dough before we do anything with it,” Blaine says pointedly, giving Sam and Tina a look to which they respond with playful laughs and a light shove to Blaine’s shoulder. He rolls his eyes, muttering, “Surprised you guys didn’t die from salmonella first.”

“It’s cookie dough, Blaine!” Sam exclaims, Tina wide-eyed and pointing at him in agreement. “What were we supposed to do?”

“Wait until it was baked , maybe?”

Kurt laughs and watches as they bicker and fall into their familiar dynamic that he definitely doesn’t fit into, but is starting to understand a little more. He still feels hesitant to do this, but… they’re the ones who can’t eat the cookies, and they’re the ones who initiated it, so the blame isn't really on him if they end up regretting it.

And yeah. He doesn’t think he could stand up to their collective pleading faces again. He grabs a bowl from the cabinet. At least he gets cookies out of this.

--

Apparently, being dead and mostly unable to touch anything does not deter ghosts from being annoyances, extreme at times. At least these three ghosts.

Kurt does enjoy himself, though, and it seems like they do as well, admirably avoiding why they can’t touch what they so want to touch, and instead giving that topic a wide, wide berth and just messing around. And they do have an impenetrable dynamic at times, but Kurt doesn’t feel excluded at all, even if only because he is the one who has to do everything.

Blaine tries to give him tips and Kurt laughs and emphasizes again that he’s made this cookie recipe many times, and Tina swings her legs from her perch on the counter, and Sam leans in close beside Blaine, who wraps an arm around his shoulders and kisses his temple, and Kurt looks down with a small smile and hears him whisper, “Happy birthday.”

Tina hops off the counter and hugs both of them from behind, also expressing her own birthday wishes as Kurt puts the cookies in the oven, finally.

“Happy birthday, Sam!” Kurt says too when he turns back to them. “I just wish I could do more for you, get you an actual cake or present.”

He wishes he could take that back, suddenly realizing it might be too close to the d-word topic, but Sam’s bright smile doesn’t falter. “It’s okay! Watching Blaine make cookies was always almost as good as having them.” Kurt laughs, a bit disbelieving but he is glad to hear it.

“You’re already the best part of our afterlives,” Blaine assures him. “I think every day we’re here is a good enough present for all of us.”

“No wonder you’re the songwriter and lead singer, with those cheesy words and the looks,” Kurt quips back before his brain can catch up to his mouth. Heat rushes to his face and he hopes against all odds that it doesn’t show, but he knows it’s pointless with his pale skin. It is a little better when he sees that Blaine’s face flushes dark as well.

Sam and Tina look at each of them and at each other with growing grins, clearly holding back laughs and Kurt ignores them.

“Pretty sure I’m bringing people in with my looks,” Sam says after an awkward moment of Kurt trying not to make eye contact with Blaine.

“Sure,” Tina drawls, grinning. “Isn’t it ‘Kurt and the Phantoms’? Isn’t Kurt the one bringing our audience in, since, you know, we’re literally invisible half the time?”

“Most of the time,” Kurt corrects teasingly.

Tina nods. “So it's all Kurt. Our looks don’t even matter.”

“Pretty sure it’s actually just all Tina,” Blaine argues. Unanimous agreement rings from the rest of them while restraining wide smiles and bursting laughs.

“And you put me behind the drums!” Tina exclaims with pretend outrage, crossing her arms. “Imagine the success if I was in front.”

They’re all laughing and keep joking about rearranging the band to maximize their “success,” which turns into deciding who would be worst on each instrument, because apparently Blaine is some sort of musical genius, beyond his incredible melodies and lyrics and into proficiency in almost every common instrument they manage to name. Except drums, which Tina seems to take some sort of pride in.

Kurt takes the cookies out of the oven when the timer goes off, setting them aside to cool, and is surprised when the ghosts include him back into the conversation seamlessly, like wordlessly pulling him into an intangible group hug. They do have their own incredibly close relationship, forged from probably many years of knowing each other, that Kurt both admires and envies fiercely -- but this makes Kurt feel like he could be a part of it.

And he wants to be a part of it; he doesn’t know what it is, but like it felt right to let them stay in the studio, like it felt warm and right to jump into the performance with them and agree to join a band with them, he feels that warmth now, spending this time with them, and at the prospect of keeping them around, spending more time with them, growing and continuing as a band.

When his mom died, he couldn’t think about the future -- not a future without her in it. He could only take it day by day, hour by hour, couldn’t let his thoughts go down that road. So it startles him a little now, to realize that he wants this band to last, wants it in his future, can envision this in his future…

But there is the problem of them being ghosts. And he’s suddenly unsure and unstable all over again, about if there is a future this way.

He pushes the thoughts out of his mind to join the others in laughing and cheering at Sam’s body rolls, back to proving his “true frontman potential!” as the uneaten, unable-to-be-eaten birthday cookies fill the air with sweetness and home.