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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/10/trump-organization-tax-fraud?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=vanity-fair&utm_social-type=earned

Which Trump Kid Will Take the Fall for Years of Tax Fraud? Your thoughts 💭

https://t.co/KUPKWGuv0J via @VanityFair

THE FALL FOR YEARS OF TAX FRAUD?

Junior and Eric, it’s time to prove your loyalty.

BY BESS LEVIN |Published October 16,

2019 | Vanity Fair | Posted October 16, 2019 7:40 PM ET |

Last February, not long before he reported to prison, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified that his boss had regularly inflated his personal assets when it served his purposes to do so, like to obtain loans, and deflated them when reporting lower numbers was to his benefit—like, for instance, in order to reduce his tax liability. Shortly thereafter, the House Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed Donald Trump’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, for eight years of his financial records, a move the president did not respond well to, suing committee chairman Elijah Cummings and fighting tooth and nail to keep such information under lock and key. Last week a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the subpoena, which Trump is likely to appeal again, possibly to the Supreme Court. And based on a new report by ProPublica, which highlights apparent tax fraud by the Trump Organization, you can understand why!

Documents obtained by reporter Heather Vogell show major discrepancies in how the president’s companies reported expenses, profits, and occupancy rates for two buildings, making the properties appear more profitable to lenders and less profitable to tax authorities, just as Cohen testified. At 40 Wall Street, for example, the Trump Organization told Ladder Capital that the building was leased at 58.9% on December 31, 2012, and then shot up to 95% a few years later, knowing that lenders wanted to see rising occupancy levels, or “leasing momentum,” which was critical to obtaining a new $160 million loan with a lower interest rate. (Based on the figures the Trump Organization gave to them, Ladder’s underwriters predicted 40 Wall Street’s profits would more than double after 2015.) Yet, per ProPublica, as of 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, the building had never met profit expectations, lagging by more than 8%, which experts say is extremely unusual given the amount of due diligence underwriters are meant to do.

According to Kevin Riordan, a financing expert and real estate professor at Montclair State University, the rise in occupancy that the Trump Organization claimed was unusual, and what do you know? Documents submitted to tax officials showed no such surge. Instead the company told tax officials that the building was already 81% leased in 2012, the same figure it reported as of January 5, 2013. “There was a story crafted here,” Riordan said. “It’s contradicted by what we see in the tax filings.”

Also at 40 Wall Street, insurance costs for 2017—when Don Jr. and Eric had taken over the day-to-day business—were listed at $457,414 in loan records and $744,521 in tax documents, while Trump claimed to tax authorities in 2015 that he paid the actual owners of the building $1.65 million for the right to lease it out, despite telling the loan servicer the figure was $1.24 million. “It really feels like there’s two sets of books—it feels like a set of books for the tax guy and a set for the lender,” said Riordan. “It’s hard to argue numbers. That’s black and white.”

These discrepancies are “versions of fraud,” according to Berkeley professor of finance and real estate Nancy Wallace. “This kind of stuff is not okay.” And by not okay, she means potentially criminal. Per Vogell, New York City’s property tax forms clearly state that whoever signs them “affirms the truth of the statements made” and that “false filings are subject to all applicable civil and criminal penalties.”

Meanwhile, documents for the Trump International Hotel & Tower contain similar inconsistencies that, coincidentally, all worked out in Trump’s favor. The Trump Organization told tax officials it made roughly $822,000 renting space to commercial tenants at the building in 2017, but claimed to loan officials that the amount was $1.67 million. Examining eight years of data for the property, ProPublica found that the Trump Organization “reported gross income to tax authorities that was typically only about 81% of what it reported to the lender.” The business also seemed to leave out income it received for leasing the roof for TV antennas on its tax documents, leaving the line for that type of income blank on nine years of filings. And if you guessed such figures did appear on loan documents, as “major sources of income,” congratulations, you’ve cracked Trump’s (alleged!) scam.

While experts who spoke to ProPublica said there can sometimes be legal reasons for numbers to differ on tax and loan documents, they also said some of the discrepancies appeared to have no reasonable justification. “My gut reaction is it seems like there’s something amiss there,” said David Wilkes, a New York City tax lawyer who is chair of the National Association of Property Tax Attorneys.

The Trump Organization refused to respond on the record to the questions provided by ProPublica. A lawyer whose firm handles Trump’s property tax appeal filings for New York City said he was not authorized to discuss the documents. Ladder Capital declined to comment. A spokesperson for Mazars USA said it does not comment on its clients.

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IVANKA’S $360 MILLION VANCOUVER DEAL IS REPORTEDLY BEING INVESTIGATED BY THE F.B.I.

The First Daughter has her own set of problems.

BY ABIGAIL TRACY | Published MARCH 2, 2018 | Vanity Fair | Posted October 16, 2019 7:40 PM ET |

Even Ivanka Trump, the “princess royal” of the West Wing, is being sucked into the vortex of scandal that has encompassed her father’s administration. In the past week, her husband, Jared Kushner, lost his security clearance, lost his P.R. guard dog, was revealed as a top intelligence target for foreign spies, and was reported to have met with banking executives in the White House shortly before his family’s company received nearly half a billion dollars in loans. Donald Trump is said to be is “frustrated with Mr. Kushner, whom he now views as a liability” and “another problem to deal with,” and has suggested that both he and Ivanka move back to New York.

Ivanka, too, has her own set of problems. While the First Couple braced for an Intercept story that Kushner’s father had failed to secure a loan from the Qatari government just weeks before Kushner backed a blockade of Qatar, CNN dropped another bombshell: United States counterintelligence officials are probing a Trump Organization real-estate deal in Canada in which Ivanka played a leading role.

The financing and negotiations surrounding the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver have come under F.B.I. scrutiny, according to current and former U.S. officials who spoke with CNN. It’s unclear why the F.B.I. is interested in the deal, which dates back to 2013, and in which Ivanka played a key role. But CNN reports that foreign buyers involved, as well as the timing of the $360 million project’s opening in February 2017, may have caught the agency’s attention. Like many Trump Organization deals, the New York-based company does not own the building but rather is paid licensing and marketing fees by the developer, the Holborn Group. Joo Kim Tiah, a member of one of Malaysia’s wealthiest families, runs the Canada-based development firm, and said in October 2015 that the First Daughter was closely involved: “Ivanka and myself approved everything, everything in this project,” he said during an interview.

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Ivanka’s ethics counsel, dismissed the idea that there was anything untoward about the deal. “CNN is wrong that any hurdle, obstacle, concern, red flag, or problem has been raised with respect to Ms. Trump or her clearance application,” he said in a statement. He also denied that the investigation would impact Ivanka’s security clearance in any way: “Nothing in the new White House policy has changed Ms. Trump's ability to do the same work she has been doing since she joined the Administration.” Alan Garten, executive vice president and chief legal officer for the Trump Organization, similarly played down the report, saying that “the company’s role was and is limited to licensing its brand and managing the hotel. Accordingly, the company would have had no involvement in the financing of the project or the sale of units.”

Though it’s unclear whether special counsel Robert Mueller is interested in Ivanka’s involvement in the Vancouver deal, her husband’s contacts with foreign entities has certainly garnered his attention. Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that at least four foreign governments have discussed how they can use the Kushner Cos.’s financial woes and entanglements as leverage over the president’s son-in-law, The New York Times reported that Kushner Cos. received roughly $500 million in financing from two U.S. firms after Jared met with executives from the companies at the White House. (Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kushner Cos., said in a statement that the Times story represented an “attempt to make insinuating connections that do not exist to disparage the financial institutions and companies involved.”)

The cascade of negative headlines has complicated matters for the duo in the White House. Amid an internal struggle with Kelly, who was responsible for altering the White House security-clearance policy—a move some saw as a targeted attack on Kushner—some aides have reportedly “expressed frustration that Mr. Kushner and his wife . . . have remained at the White House, despite Mr. Trump at times saying they never should have come to the White House and should leave.” The president, meanwhile, is reportedly mulling options to sideline them. Per the Times, while he has outwardly encouraged Jared and Ivanka to remain in their West Wing posts, he has also “privately asked Mr. Kelly for his help in moving them out.”

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REPORT: WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS “ALARMED” BY TRUMP’S UKRAINE DEALINGS EVEN BEFORE ZELENSKY CALL

At least four national security officials registered their concerns with a White House lawyer both before and immediately after the July 25 phone call.

BY ALISON DURKEE | Published October 11, 2019 | Vanity Fair | Posted October 16, 2019 7:40 PM ET |

For however “perfect” as he believed it to be, President Donald Trump's now-infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly raised concerns among administration officials as soon as Trump hung up the phone. As the Washington Post reported Thursday, however, that wasn't the first time aides had raised objections about how the president was dealing with Ukraine. According to the Post, at least four national security officials were so “alarmed” by Trump's apparent attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals that they “raised concerns” with National Security Council legal adviser John Eisenberg both before and immediately after Trump's July 25 phone call. The officials “were not a swamp, not a deep state,” a former senior official told the Post—but were simply White House officials “who got concerned about this because this is not the way they want to see the government run.”

Concerns over Trump's Ukrainian dealings both before and after the call were widespread even among Trump's top advisers, the Post reports, including former National Security Adviser John Bolton and then-acting deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman. The alarm bells reportedly started going off after the abrupt ouster of former Ambassador to Ukraine Masha Yovanovitch, and the Post notes NSC officials “were alternately baffled and alarmed” by the behavior of Rudy Giuliani, who pressed for Yovanovitch's removal and very publicly declared his plan to press Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden. (In addition to the Biden conspiracy, Trump also “became increasingly focused” on baseless right-wing conspiracy theories regarding Ukraine's supposed role in the 2016 election.) Worry among NSC officials escalated even further after U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland—who got his job after donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration—declared that Trump had put him in charge of relations with Kiev. During a meeting with Bolton, then-U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and Zelensky aides about corruption in Ukraine's energy sector, Sondland “blurted out that there were also ‘investigations that were dropped that need to be started up again,’” the Post reports. “Bolton went ballistic” after the meeting, one official told the Post, and senior NSC officials “huddled” about their Ukraine concerns in the ensuing days. The senior officials also looped in acting U.S. Ambassador Bill Taylor, whose ensuing explosive text messages with Sondland and Volker have since been publicly released.

For as concerned as officials already were about Trump's Ukraine behavior, their concerns “soared” once Trump spoke to Zelensky. In line with previous reports, including the whistle-blower report, the Post notes that Bolton and other senior officials were being contacted “within minutes” of the call's end by their subordinates expressing concern, and a rough transcript of the conversation was moved to a highly secure computer network meant for classified material “within hours.” “When people were listening to this in real time there were significant concerns about what was going on—alarm bells were kind of ringing,” one source told the Post. “People were trying to figure out what to do, how to get a grasp on the situation.” White House officials were reportedly seeking ways to officially report the conversation, the Post notes, which was made challenging by “the lack of a White House equivalent to the inspector general positions found at other agencies.” So they went to Eisenberg, who reportedly vowed to “follow-up.” It's not clear that Eisenberg actually took any action, though—and his lack of any clear response, the Post speculates, could have contributed to White House officials' decisions to share their concerns with the whistle-blower, a CIA employee who was first contacted by a White House official hours after Trump and Zelensky's phone call. (It is unclear whether any of the officials who spoke with Eisenberg are the same ones who spoke with the whistle-blower.)

The reports of how acute the alarm was over Trump's behavior within the White House ranks isn't great for the president as he continues to downplay the allegations and insist he was in the right—and come as damning reports concerning his and Giuliani's Ukraine scheming only continue to escalate. In addition to the fallout over Trump's phone call, new reports this week have raised concerns about how the administration handled the freezing and reinstatement of aid to Ukraine—which could suggest the existence of a “quid pro quo”—with the Washington Post reporting Thursday that political appointees intervened to freeze the aid over the objections of career staffers, who feared the move would be “improper.” The Associated Press, meanwhile, reported Thursday that Yovanovitch was fired after pushing back against Giuliani's rogue Ukraine operation, marking yet another bad story for the lawyer after his clients were arrested earlier Thursday.

While tensions are already running high in Trumpworld, the president and his allies also may soon face even more detrimental details coming to light, should Yovanovitch and Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top aide on Russia and Europe, testify as planned in the coming days. NBC News reports that Hill is expected to testify that Giuliani and Sondland circumvented the National Security Council to pursue their “shadow policy” on Ukraine, and her impending testimony has reportedly “stoked fear” in the White House given that she's not a Trump loyalist. If Hill, now a private citizen, is able to testify without the White House attempting to exert executive privilege over her testimony, it could also give Democrats the green light to seek testimony from other former White House officials, including Bolton—who's already been very clear that he's totally willing to trash talk his former employer.

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TRUMP CRONY MICK MULVANEY EARNS HIS TURN IN THE BARREL

The perpetually “acting” White House chief of staff finds himself embroiled in the white-hot center of the Ukraine scandal.

BY ERIC LUTZ | Published October 16, 2019 | Vanity Fair | Posted October 16, 2019 7:40 PM ET |

onald Trump’s increasingly brazen attempts to pressure Volodymyr Zelensky into opening an investigation into Joe Biden have put a number of his cronies under the microscope. Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, may have the most to lose, as prosecutors in New York scrutinize his work in Ukraine. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also appears in an unflattering light, as do diplomats Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, all of whom were apparently involved in the Trump-Giuliani scheme. More recently, the spotlight has turned to “Acting” Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who is described in a new report as a lynchpin of Trump’s campaign to squeeze Zelensky.

According to the Washington Post, it was Mulvaney who coordinated Perry, Volker, and Sondland’s efforts to abscond with the Ukraine portfolio, moving the administration’s dealings with Kiev out of traditional foreign policy channels and onto more corrupt footing. Giuliani told the Post that he could not recall “any substantive conversation with Mick,” nor could he remember Mulvaney “approving, disapproving, getting involved, [or] having an interest” in the Ukraine imbroglio. But current and former United States officials have placed the acting chief of staff at the center of the scandal in Capitol Hill testimonies in recent days.

Fiona Hill, who had been Trump’s top Russia adviser, dropped Mulvaney’s name in her bombshell testimony on Monday. Speaking to House lawmakers, who are conducting an impeachment inquiry into the president, Hill reportedly testified that then-national security adviser John Bolton had raised alarms about the pressure campaign on Ukraine, describing Giuliani as a “hand grenade” and instructing her to tell White House lawyers that he was “not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.” Hill also told congressional investigators that Sondland had described an “agreement” with Mulvaney to broker a White House meeting for Zelensky, who took office in May, if he authorized probes into the Bidens and the origins of the Russia inquiry.

George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Ukraine, went even further in his testimony Tuesday, telling lawmakers that Mulvaney had told him to “lay low” and focus on other countries in his portfolio—giving control of the administration’s Ukraine policy to the so-called “three amigos” in what the top State department official took as a troubling sign that the White House was pursuing its own political agenda. Mulvaney told Kent to defer to Perry, Volker, and Sondland on matters related to Ukraine, Kent said in his testimony, and felt he was being sidelined “because what he was saying was not welcome” in the administration.

Perry, Sondland, and Volker have all come under intense scrutiny in the Ukraine scandal; explosive text messages released earlier this month show Volker, then-ambassador to Kiev, and Sondland, envoy to the European Union, suggesting that a White House visit for Zelensky and security aid for Ukraine was contingent on the probes Trump and Giuliani were seeking. Bill Taylor, Charge d'Affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, raised concerns about the apparent quid pro quo in exchanges with the other officials: “I think it’s crazy to withhold security for help with a political campaign,” he wrote to Sondland at one point. Volker abruptly resigned his post earlier this month, and Perry’s involvement in the scandal has threatened his job security as Energy secretary.

Could Mulvaney’s position as acting chief of staff become similarly tenuous? Already, the former congressman is facing questions about his misadventures with the “amigos”—Sondland, Volker, and Perry. He is also expected to be called before Congress to testify about the hold he placed on some $400 million in military aid for Ukraine, on Trump’s orders, days before the president’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky.

The White House has already begun an internal review of the matter, reportedly encouraged by Mulvaney, that some insiders fear could be an effort to find a fall guy. But it’s also possible that Mulvaney, in his effort to please the president, could become a scapegoat himself.

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aro-aizawa · 6 years ago

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im thinking of how domestic inko/sasaki is and it’s quite possibly one of my favourite things to come out of bhaf for one reason or another. like hell yeah my son gets two moms. here are a few domestic things that’ll be canon in story if i ever get to cram it in at some point.

izuku absolutely calls sasaki “mom-sensei” after she starts dating his mom. it started as a way to tease her but after seeing how much it flustered her and how happy it made her to hear it, he kept up with it. it also helps to differentiate when he’s talking about either of his moms.

sasaki p much walks around the apartment blind and dead to the world for the first 30 minutes of waking up bc she doesn’t bother w her glasses. she shuffles around like a zombie following the scent of food where she’ll go over to the coffee machine and chug two cups of scalding hot coffee before she remembers that she hates coffee. if she bumps into either inko or izuku during her zombie time they’ll gently lead her around. they’ll stop her before she gets to the coffee machine and set her down on the sofa and passing her a cup of tea. she’s incredibly cuddly during this time frame too so

“mom-sensei stop hugging me i need to get your tea!” *zombie noises as she pulls izuku closer to her* “hey!!”

“hinata dear, do you want breakfast before you go to work?” *approving zombie noises* “okay then dear, i’ll make your favourite” *kisses her cheek*

izuku and his friends come over and they’re having a good time, then sasaki and inko come home from their date or w/e and izuku goes to introduce them

“oh yeah guys these are my moms. og mom and mom-sensei”

the three of them often have times where they’ll all just sit peacefully doing their work at the table. sasaki’ll be filling out some paperwork for her patients, izuku’ll be doing homework and inko’ll be sitting with her latest sewing project. they all drink tea and enjoy the company. they take turns to get each other new cups of tea when everyone runs out.

they don’t really talk during these moments but sometimes they’ll put on one of those relaxing radio stations really quietly. sometimes they’ll hum along to a song or two if they recognise it

one time sasaki and izuku try to spoil inko for her birthday and forbid her from doing any cooking and cleaning. they mean well but they’re not the best at either of those tasks. at first sasaki is the one on cooking duty because she’s the one that’s lived alone since she was eighteen whilst izuku is on cleaning duty. but they have to switch halfway through when sasaki realises that she spent 10 years living off store bought meals and izuku has never cleaned properly before because inko always did it for him (she likes it). they turn out decent after that because izuku had a few cooking lessons from inko whilst he was growing up and sasaki is a fully trained doctor who knows how to properly disinfect stuff. it takes till 11pm for both of them to finish their tasks but inko is thankful for the thought at the very least.

(they spend two hours all cuddled up watching inko’s favourite movie in a blanket nest afterwards where all three of them fall asleep)

inko is 160cm / 5′ 3″ and sasaki is 193cm / 6′ 4″. they have a heIGHt diFfeRenCE. sasaki has to bend down so that inko can kiss her and it’s the cutest thing. sometimes inko’ll just pull sasaki down by tugging the collar of her shirt to kiss her and that always ends up making sasaki weak at the knees. and also sasaki loves cuddling w inko on the couch bc she can wrap her arms around inko and rest her chin on inko’s head.

at some point inko gets fed up with her horrible boss at whatever job she works at [bc im too uncertain which one to choose from] and decides she wants to quit. sasaki decides to go to her boss and ask if there’s any administration positions open, and inko starts working at the hospital at the front desk. she’s v good at it. plus when they have their lunch breaks it’s basically mini dates every day.

when they eventually get married like years after izuku graduates ua, inko buys sasaki a really pretty necklace chain that she can put her rings on whilst she’s at work since being a doctor ain’t all that ring-friendly. even when they’re married inko can make sasaki incredibly flustered, and only after years of them dating does sasaki actually manage to fluster inko so completely. they’re incredibly in love.

#bleeding hearts are fatal #domestic family stuff......is my weakness #im love them #one day im gonna finish writing that side story where inko asks sasaki on a date #spoiler alert it's inko who makes the first move #and most of the moves after that lol #i love them smm #also unrelated but also related im adding in some sasaki inko friendship to chapter four that i used to be real hesitant about adding in #but i am now bc sasaki/inko is a ship that is happening people #im thinking abt izuku and his moms too much lately but idc bc i love them

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klaineanummel · 7 years ago

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don’t make me over

Kurt thinks today will just be an average day; he'll go to work, he'll pine for his friend-with-benefits Blaine (who he desperately wants to become more), and he'll remind his boss for the millionth time that he doesn't want to be set up with her son. It goes pretty much as he expects... well, sort of.

Written for @prompt-a-klainefic‘s Klaine Prompt Reversebang! This fic is based on this amazing piece of art by @quizasvivamos based on this prompt. A big thanks to the artist, who not only made this amazing art, but also made some follow up art based on the story, AND put up with my obnoxious emails about the fic. Also, thanks to teach for looking this fic over :) Hope you all enjoy <3

Read on AO3

Kurt’s alarm blares at 6:45AM, as it does every weekday morning. He sits up in bed, rubbing a hand over his face.

As he gets his bearings, sleep-fog clearing, he happens to catch sight of a head of dark curls pressed into a pillow, connected to some of the nicest shoulders he's ever seen. He stares for a moment, then looks around.

Oh, fuck.

He jumps out of bed, which makes Blaine groan, arms curling around his pillow.

Kurt would love to stand in Blaine’s room, freaking out about how stupid he’d been to come here last night, but he's going to be late for work. With a final glance at Blaine, he hurries to the man’s bathroom.

Thankfully this isn't the first time he's slept over at Blaine’s. He turns the hot water on for the shower, shimmies out of his boxers (or, are they Blaine’s? They feel a little loose around the ass), and steps into the tiny shower.

He washes himself as quickly as possible, wincing as he lathers his hair with Blaine’s special shampoo and conditioner. He feels bad, since he knows how much Blaine spends on this shit, but desperate times.

He exits the shower smelling like raspberry. He won’t have the time to properly style his hair the way he usually would, but he knows Blaine has bucketloads of hair gel hidden somewhere, and just a little will help him look less like a total mess.

The gel is stashed under the sink, and Kurt rolls his eyes when he sees that it is also raspberry scented. Now, he’s always been one for complimenting scents, but raspberry body wash, and raspberry shampoo and conditioner, and raspberry hair gel seems a bit like overkill.

Whatever, it’s just for today. He squirts a bit in his hair and styles it into small spikes. Not his usual style, but it’ll have to do.

Blaine is sitting up in bed when Kurt returns from the bathroom, a towel around his middle and the boxers in his hand.

“Hey,” Blaine greets sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. Blaine always looks so adorable in the morning. His hair is either a rats nest of curls, or coming free of his gel if he forgot to wash it out. His cheeks are rosy, too, making him look sweet and innocent despite the giant hickey just under his jaw.

“Hey,” Kurt replies. He tosses the boxers into Blaine’s laundry basket, then heads to Blaine’s dresser. “I need to borrow some boxers.”

“Go ahead,” Blaine says. “Or, you know. You could come back here. You smell good.”

“You have some kind of raspberry fetish, or something?” Kurt asks, shaking his head as he digs through Blaine’s underwear drawer. “I have to be at work in forty-five minutes. It takes fifty to get there from your house.”

Arms wrap around his waist and a solid weight presses against his back. He can feel Blaine’s morning wood digging into his back, and lets out a happy sigh.

“Call in sick,” Blaine whispers, pressing a kiss to Kurt’s shoulder.

Kurt allows himself to revel in this moment. It’s not often that he and Blaine do this. Act… well, like a couple. It’s nice.

They aren’t a couple, though, and Kurt is going to be late.

“I can’t,” he says, prying Blaine’s arms off of him and picking up a pair of briefs.

“Strict boss?” Blaine asks as Kurt drops the towel and shimmies into the underwear. “Damn,” Blaine whistles, which causes Kurt to turn around and glare at him.

“Stop staring at my ass and help me find my clothes.”

Blaine chuckles, but does as asked. He bends over, which allows Kurt a fantastic view of his ass. He bites down on his bottom lip.

“You’re doing that on purpose.”

“No, I’m not.”

“There’s not even anything on the ground there, Blaine.”

Blaine stands up slowly, shrugging. “Oops?”

Kurt rolls his eyes, then heads over to the edge of Blaine’s bed, finding his pants lying in a crumpled heap.

“And no, by the way,” he says as he picks his pants up. “My boss isn’t strict. Quite the opposite, actually. She’s really lenient about taking sick days; if I even so much as feel a tickle in my throat she wants me to call in.”

“So tell her you feel a tickle in your throat,” Blaine says as Kurt wriggles into his pants.

“No,” Kurt replies, rolling his eyes. “I don’t want to take advantage. She has a good reason for having that policy in place, and I’m not going to be the asshole that ruins it for everybody.”

He turns back to face Blaine and finds him leaning against his dresser, cock hard against his stomach. Blaine raises an eyebrow, which just makes Kurt rolls his eyes again.

“Knock it off,” Kurt says. “Do you see my shirt?”

“Were you even wearing one?”

Kurt gives him the bitchiest glare he can. “Obviously I was wearing a shirt, Blaine.”

Blaine shrugs. “I don’t remember you wearing one.”

“How is that possible? You were stone cold sober when I got here,” it’s one of their rules, actually. They never fuck drunk.

“What can I say. You distracted me with your shirtlessness.”

Kurt notices a piece of purple fabric hiding under Blaine’s bed and picks up to grab it. “Oh, thank god,” he says, shaking any dust out. He pulls it on, not bothering looking for an undershirt, or the jacket he knows he was wearing.

“Okay,” Kurt says, wiping his shirt down with his hands. “Good enough.” He grabs his phone from Blaine’s nightstand and puts it in his pocket. “I left my stuff by the door, right?”

“As always,” Blaine says, suddenly behind Kurt. He wraps his arms around him, and Kurt can feel his erection pressing against his back. He shivers, but pulls away.

“I don’t want pre-come on my shirt all day,” he chides, turning to see Blaine pout. “Stop that.” He taps Blaine’s chin, then walks past him and out the bedroom door.

When he gets to the living room, he chances a glance at the large clock Blaine has hanging on the wall and winces. 7:15. He’s supposed to be seeing his first client at 7:45.

His stuff is all gathered neatly on the small shelf Blaine keeps by the door, and he stuffs his keys and his wallet into his pockets.

“I wish you didn’t have to rush out,” Blaine says, and Kurt glances back to see him resting against the back of his couch. He’s still naked as the day he was born, and hard as a rock, which is making it really difficult for Kurt to leave.

“You should have thought of that before you called me on a Thursday night,” Kurt says. “You know, not all of us are hoity-toity professors who only have to work three hours on Friday’s.”

Blaine pouts again. “It had been two weeks. I missed you.”

Kurt’s heart skips a beat. “Missed my body,” he throws back.

Blaine shakes his head and takes a step forward. “No,” he says, voice quieter. “Missed you.”

Kurt’s breath catches in his throat, and goddammit, he really wants to see where this goes because he’s been dying to promote his friends-with-benefits arrangement with Blaine to an actual relationship for months, but he is so, so late.

He closes the gap between him and Blaine, kissing him gently. “I’ll come back after work for the rest of my clothes. You’ll be home by five, right?”

“Indeed,” Blaine says, smiling softly.

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

He dashes out the door, then, before he can talk himself into staying.

Getting to work is a mess. He decides to chance taking a cab, and as soon as he’s in he calls Pam, telling her he’s going to be late, but he doesn’t know exactly by how much. She, of course, informs him that it’s totally fine and that she’ll just take his 7:45 appointment, since she didn't schedule any appointments for herself, planning on doing administration all day.

After the call, Kurt manages to sit in the backseat of the cab for ten minutes before he realizes that they’ve barely advanced two feet from where the cab picked him up. Grumbling to himself, he picks a twenty out of his wallet and tosses it to the driver, climbing out in the middle of the road and making a bee-line to the subway station, which he knows is only a two minute walk away.

Of course, as soon as he’s out the traffic starts moving, and then the 5 train is late, so he ends up jumping on the 2 instead, which means he has to switch to the D at 59 St Columbus Circle, and of course the D is late, too, and…

It’s just past 8:30 by the time Kurt bursts into Pam’s Place, the door slamming against the wall a little too hard as he shoves it open. A teen girl with greasy hair and dark bags under her eyes jumps at the sound, and Kurt winces.

“Sorry, hun,” he says, taking the door carefully and closing it behind him gently. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Just surprised,” she murmurs, her thin lips managing to form into a small smile. Kurt smiles back, then waves at their receptionist/cashier, Harmony, who hasn’t even glanced away from her computer at the commotion. Kurt rolls his eyes and darts through the swinging doors between the two change rooms Pam placed to keep the boutique and the salon separate.

“You’re late, Hummel,” Santana jeers from where she’s adjusting a gorgeous auburn wig on a girl’s head. Kurt ignores her, continuing his mad dash to the back room.

He’s just finished placing his valuables in his locker when he hears Pam say, “There you are! I thought you’d died.”

Kurt jumps, grasping the front of his shirt tightly as his heart lurches. “Jesus Christ, Pam,” he says. “Way to scare the shit out of me.”

“That’s it, get it all out of your system,” she says, grinning widely. “Remember, no swearing in front of the customers.”

Kurt’s heart starts to beat at a normal pace again, and he rolls his eyes. “I know, Pam. I’ve been here how long?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Not long enough to know how long it takes you to get to work from your apartment, apparently.”

“I…” Kurt blushes, then turns back around to close his locker and turn the dial to 0. “I wasn’t exactly at my apartment this morning.”

“Kurt Hummel!” Pam shrieks, and Kurt winces. “You dirty dog. You’re wearing the same shirt as you were yesterday!”

He turns and shushes her. “Keep it down. I don’t want Santana hearing.”

Pam rolls her eyes. “Oh, Santana’s going to know the second she lays eyes on you. You’re wearing the same pants as yesterday, too!” She gasps and widens her eyes dramatically, pressing a hand to her chest. “Oh, no. Does this mean you didn’t save your virtue for my Bumble Bee?”

Kurt chuckles at Pam’s adorable nickname for her son. “As if he’s been saving his for me.”

“I’ll have you know that my boy has never even touched a man,” she says, nose going up in the air. “You think I’m the kind of woman who would raise a hussy like you?”

“Hey, now,” Kurt says, chuckling. “That hurts.”

“Now what am I going to tell him? Oh, hey honey, you know that boy I’ve been talking you up to? The really cute one that I’m sure is your soulmate? He lost his virginity on a one-night-stand!”

“Pam!” Kurt bursts out laughing. He shakes his head, and sees her chuckling too.

“Oh, well,” she sighs, gaining some composure. “I’ll forgive this indiscretion, but only if you promise to let me-”

“I’m not going on a date with your son, Pam,” Kurt says, for what feels like (and potentially is) the thousandth time. He smiles to himself as he thinks of how Blaine had acted that morning, how his arms felt wrapped around Kurt’s middle, his chin propped on Kurt’s shoulder. “Actually, if everything goes how I hope it will, I’m hoping to have a boyfriend pretty soon.”

“A boyfriend?!” Pam puts a hand up to her forehead. “Say it ain’t so! What will I tell my Bee? He’ll be so heartbroken!”

Kurt chuckles. “He doesn’t even know me, Pam.”

She opens her mouth to respond, but then the intercom crackles and Harmony’s bored voice comes through. “Kurt, are you ready to see Samantha Jennings? She’s been waiting for fifteen minutes.”

Kurt hurries over to the intercom and presses the speak button, saying, “Yes, of course. Tell her I’ll be right out,” before making his way toward the door.

“Wait, wait,” Pam says. Kurt pauses, hand on the doorknob, and turns toward her. She unwraps her scarf from around her neck and places it around Kurt’s instead. “The great cherry popper wanted people to know where you’d been last night, huh?”

Kurt fingers the fabric and smiles at her in thanks. He opens the door and, before he can forget, says, “I didn’t lose my virginity last night, Pam,” before heading out into the salon.

Santana clicks her tongue as he passes her and says, “Ouch, so you’re still a virgin? At your age? That’s rough.”

“Eyes on your work, Lopez,” Kurt says, nodding toward the girl she’s currently giving smokey eyes. The girl looks absolutely stunning, and Kurt smiles.

He moves back through the swinging doors and asks, “Samantha?”

The same girl he’d scared earlier nods and stands up, wobbling a little as she does. The man standing next to her, most likely her father, hurries to steady her. Kurt walks over to where she’s standing and offers her his arm. She blushes a little but smiles. She’s a little wobbly beside him, and Kurt remembers that she just got movement back in her legs after almost a whole year of being in a wheelchair.

He leads her to his styling chair, and turns it toward her so she can sit in it easily. Once she’s in it, he twirls it back toward the mirror and smiles at her through it.

“Alright, Samantha. Tell me. How would you like me to help you?”

The girl blushes and looks down at her lap. “Oh, um. I don’t know. I thought you’d just… know.”

He softens his smile, wanting to put the girl at ease. “I’m not talking about specifics. I mean, in general. Here, let me rephrase the question: why do you want a Pam’s Place makeover?”

Samantha keeps her eyes down and presses her lips together. It’s a few moments before she speaks.

“One of the girls I met in physical therapy,” she says quietly. “She… she had no confidence. She used to be a gymnast, but she busted her arm, and won’t be able to compete ever again.” Her cheeks start to darken even more than they already have. “I… I always thought she was gorgeous, but she didn’t. And then one day she came in, totally different. She wasn’t even wearing that much make-up, but her hair seemed fuller, and her face was radiant. She’d always been pretty but she was just… breathtaking.”

She takes a deep breath, then says, “I want that. The… confidence. I haven’t been taking care of myself, since my accident, but I want to start. I just… don’t know where. She… she said she started here, though, so I figured that was the best place to start, too.”

Kurt smiles, then nods. “Thank you, Samantha. Now I know exactly how to help you.”

“You do?” she asks, eyes looking up in the mirror. They’re shining with hope, and makes Kurt’s heart melt.

“You bet your butt,” he says. “Now, here’s my question for you: are you okay getting your hair a little wet?”

Samantha’s appointment ends up taking over an hour, but thankfully Mercedes comes in at 9:00, and she doesn’t like to take pre-day appointments, so the girl Kurt was supposed to meet at 9:15 is sent her way easy as pie.

Kurt spends most of Samantha’s appointment working on her hair. It’s limp, greasy, and quite thin. He washes it with a hair thickening shampoo he used to use himself, and recommends she buy a couple of bottles of it. “You can get it from our boutique, but between you and me, Amazon has them for half the price,” he whispers as he lathers her hair, earning a giggle from the girl.

One wash doesn’t revert the damage that a year of neglect has done, but at least it gets rid of most of the grease. Before he blow-dries it, he looks her over and asks, “Do you want a cut? It’ll make it far more manageable.”

She runs a hand over her hair and frowns. “You think I can pull it off? My face is kind of… round.”

“Honey, you can definitely pull it off. But, if you’re uncertain, I won’t do it. This is about giving you confidence, remember? Not doing whatever Kurt wants.”

She stares at her reflection in the mirror for a few minutes, then nods. “Okay. Cut it. But just… no shorter than shoulder length.”

He grins. “I promise.”

After the cut, he blow-dries her hair and styles it with a light mousse that just helps keep her natural curls a little under control. He can’t even believe her hair is as curly as it is – he never would have expected it, from how she’d looked when she arrived. He tells her the mousse brand, informs her that they sell it at the boutique, “But, again…”

“Right,” she nods when he winks a second time.

Finally, he shows her some quick make-up tricks. Simple things, just to brighten her complexion a bit. He also shows her the easiest way to do her eyeliner.

By the time he’s done, she looks completely transformed. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. She hasn’t stopped smiling since he snipped her hair, and it makes her entire face glow.

“There,” he says, ruffling her hair a bit. “Now you're bound to blow that physical therapy girl’s mind just as much as she blew yours.”

She blushes and stands slowly. She’s still wobbly on her feet, a makeover isn’t going to change that, but she stands taller. And when he holds his arm out to help her back to her dad, she pulls him in for a tight hug.

“Thank you so much, Kurt,” she says. “I’m… I’m so glad she told me about this place.”

He hugs her back briefly, then delivers her safe and sound to her dad, who she hugs as well. Her dad mouths a ‘thank you’ over her shoulder, and then leads her over to Harmony’s desk.

Kurt waves goodbye, then tells Harmony that he’ll be out in five minutes for his next appointment, which just makes her roll her eyes and grumble about how he never wears an earpiece.

Pam is already by his chair, wiping off the top, where a bit of mousse remains. “You gotta stop telling people about Amazon, Kurt,” she chides, though Kurt can tell she doesn’t mean it. “You’re going to put me out of business.”

“Sorry, Pam,” he says, smiling. She knows he only does it for the young girls, though. Especially the nice ones.

Of course, they rarely get rude clients, but every now and again a sour grape pops up. Kurt would never mention Amazon to those customers. In fact, those customers are often under the impression that much of what is sold at Pam’s Place is exclusively sold at Pam’s Place. He’d deny it if you asked, though.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waves a hand as she walks away. “Get your chair clean.”

He chuckles as she goes and gets to work cleaning his chair. It used to take him a good fifteen minutes to disinfect the whole thing, but he’s gotten pretty good at it in his year and a half at Pam’s Place. He sanitizes it quickly, then sprays some of his special made lavender concoction (it’s just water with essential lavender oil, but he isn’t about to tell his co-workers that) over the chair to rid it of the alcohol smell.

Most of their clients spend most of their time in hospitals. The last thing he wants is for them to be reminded of the hospital smell while they’re getting dolled up.

When he’s done, he heads back out to the front of the boutique and asks Harmony who his next client is. She nods her head toward a young, bald man sitting in the waiting area, and Kurt nods. “Trevor, right?” he asks, hoping that wasn’t the name of the appointment Mercedes took. The man nods, and Kurt grins. “Come with me, good sir.”

He has five more clients before lunch time rolls around; two want to learn how to dress to fit their new, much smaller frames, one wants to draw attention away from how much weight her medication has made her gain (Mercedes helps him with this one, and by the time the girl leaves, a bunch of new clothes wrapped up in gorgeous Pam’s Place bags on her arm, and a brand new haircut to boot, he knows she won’t be worrying about gaining weight again for a while), and two want to find ways to draw attention away from their oxygen tubes.

The time flies, and not for the first time Kurt is so grateful that he gets to do what he loves for a living.

“I’m heading off to lunch,” he tells Harmony as his last client checks out with her. “I shouldn’t have another client until at least 1:30.”

“Whatever,” Harmony says, swiping the client’s credit card through the machine. Kurt shakes his head and heads back into the salon.

“Yo, Hummel,” Santana says, leaning over her chair, alcohol rub in hand. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that you’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Sans fabulous jacket.”

Mercedes cat-calls from where she’s curling a young girl’s hair, and the young girl chuckles.

“Is that why you were so late this morning?” Santana continues, waggling her eyebrows.

Kurt rolls his eyes. “If you must know, I was with a friend last night, and decided to sleep at his house instead of going home because it was late. I just… forgot that he lives like, an hour away from here.”

Santana snorts. “Lame.”

“Well, I don’t buy it,” Mercedes says. “I know that scarf you’re wearing is Pam’s. What exactly are you hiding under it?”

This time Santana cat-calls, and honestly, Kurt just wants to fall into the ground and die. Thank god Elliott has the day off today; he’d never let Kurt live this down.

“You two are eating into my lunch,” he says, heading to the back, leaving Mercedes and Santana cackling behind him.

Pam is clicking away on the computer when he walks in, and she glances over at him. “Hey, baby,” she says. “Lunch time already?”

“I’m actually late, believe it or not. On account of --”

“Being late this morning?” she asks, and Kurt blushes.

“Yeah, that.”

“Go figure,” she teases. He chuckles and heads to his locker, twisting the dial to the numbers he’s had memorized for a year in a half. “Hey, by the way,” she says when he pulls the locker open, “Would you mind working a little bit late next Friday? Just until six. Elliott has a wedding, and Sebastian won’t be back from his vacation until Sunday.”

Kurt nods, grabbing his wallet and his phone, leaving his keys in the locker as he shuts it. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“You’re a doll. That’s why you’re my favourite.”

“No,” he says, leaning over her chair, “I’m your favourite because when I go to the deli across the street for lunch I always bring you one of those avocado smoothies you adore.”

“Oh, that, too,” she says, bopping him on the nose. “You sure you’re getting a boyfriend soon? I would really, really like having you as a son-in-law.”

“I know you would,” he says, kissing her cheek. “Tell you what. If it doesn’t work out with my guy, I’ll let you set me up with your Bee.”

She jumps out of her chair so fast she almost knocks him over. “Really?!”

He nods. “Cross my heart. But only,” he puts his finger up, “if it doesn’t work out with my guy. Okay? Don’t make any plans just yet.”

“I won’t, I swear. But oh my gosh, Kurt, this is so exciting! You have to text me when you know, okay? I won’t be able to wait till Monday.”

“You are way too excited about the possibility of me sleeping with your son,” he teases her.

“Oh, hush you,” she says, smacking his shoulder. “I told you, my Bee hasn’t even touched a man as far as I’m concerned. I’m setting him up with you because I know you won’t corrupt him.”

Kurt snorts, thinking of his recent evening with Blaine. “Yeah, right.”

“Just let me live my fantasy, darling,” she says, waving him off. “Go, go. You’re wasting your lunch.”

He hurries out, ignoring the way Santana and Mercedes catcall him as he goes. He gives Harmony a little wave, but she, of course, ignores him.

The line at the deli across the street isn’t too bad today, and it isn’t long before he’s waiting to pick up his food, browsing through his emails on his phone.

His phone vibrates in his hand, and a drop-down notification informs him that he has a new text and image from Blaine Anderson.

He bites down on his bottom lip, heart fluttering in his chest. He doesn’t know what it is about Blaine, but he makes him feel like a teenager all over again. Of course, he never had a relationship anywhere near as sexual as the one he has with Blaine when he was a teenager, but the point still stands.

He opens the message and his eyes widen at what greets him. It’s a picture of Blaine, his face barely in the shot, sitting on his bed wearing Kurt’s jacket and nothing else.

The message says Thinking of wearing this to school today. What do you think? Is it my color?

Kurt’s name is called out, and Kurt hurries to put his phone away, uncomfortably aware that his cock is now semi-hard in his pants. He picks up his order and hurries back to the boutique, speed walking through it to get to the back room.

He drops his food on the small staff table in the corner of room, then himself into one of the two chairs by it. He glances up at Pam, who is still glued to her computer, then allows himself to pull his phone out again.

He can’t believe that Blaine sent him a goddamn dick pic. Well, slightly more than that, but still. At 12:30 in the afternoon. A dick pic.

He bites down on his bottom lip, trying to think of a witty response. Finally, he settles on The jacket works, but don’t you think your hard cock will be distracting for some of your students?

Within seconds he has another message with another image. He can’t see Blaine’s face in this one, but he can definitely still see his jacket, and he can still see the bare chest and stomach beneath that jacket, both now streaked with come.

Not so hard anymore.

Kurt’s cock twitches, and he glances over to Pam again. He needs to put an end to this, much as he’s loathe to do so.

I know you did not jack off while wearing my Alexander McQueen. I know you didn’t Blaine.

Blaine’s response comes soon, and Kurt curses himself for not being chastising enough.

What if I did? What are you going to do? You going to… punish me?

Kurt shakes his head. The man is incorrigible.

Blaine! My boss is in the room with me! Stop turning me on!

It takes a little longer for the reply to come through, so Kurt takes the opportunity to unpack his sandwich and fries.

Sorry :( Hope I didn’t get you in trouble ;) I’m still wearing your jacket to school today, though.

Kurt smiles, heart back to fluttering in his chest like a high school student with a crush.

Speaking of school, shouldn’t you be getting ready for that? Don’t your office hours start at 1:30?

The response is immediate.

Don’t remind me :( I’d rather stay in bed all day thinking of you :( See you at five!

Kurt chuckles and replies in tandem, then finally puts his phone down and starts digging into his food.

He really, really hopes he isn’t overthinking this. He and Blaine have always been flirty, even though they made it very clear after their second night together that it was just supposed to be sex. Sex with the benefit of casual friendship. Still, it feels like lately it’s been turned up an extra notch, and now with Blaine acting all domestic in the morning, calling him on a work night, wearing Kurt’s clothes to work…

Kurt’s left clothes at Blaine’s apartment several times. He’s never worn them to work before.

God, he hopes. He’s been pining for Blaine for months. He doesn’t even know when it started. All he knows is one day he was riding Blaine’s cock, smiling down at him as he moved, and he just thought I could so easily fall in love with you. He’s been struggling not to actually do so since.

He hasn’t been very successful in his struggle.

“What’s got you so smiley over here?” Pam asks, picking her smoothie out from the carry-out tray. She falls into the chair opposite Kurt as he shrugs.

“Oh, nothing. Just… I have a good feeling about tonight.”

She hums. “Your guy?”

He nods. “I know you were really hoping I’d get with your son, but-”

“Honey, that’s always been a pipe dream and we both know it,” she winks as she takes a sip of her smoothie. “Tell me about him.”

Kurt grins. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start at the beginning,” she says, reaching over and stealing a fry. “When did you meet?”

Kurt’s smile softens as he remembers the first time he saw Blaine. “It was actually the night you hired me,” he says. “This is basically my dream job, so obviously getting it was cause for celebration. My friends and I went dancing.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You met at a club? Kurt Hummel, you minx!”

He blushes, and she chuckles. “He was just… I don’t know. I don’t normally do that. Go home with guys. I like relationships. But there was something about him…” He can still see him so clearly in his mind. Hands above his head, hips swinging wildly, hazel eyes dancing under the strobe lights in the club. They danced for hours, and it was only after they both admitted they were completely sober that Kurt gathered the courage to ask Blaine to take him home.

He clears his throat. “We had such a great connection, you know? I asked for his number, and he gave it to me, which basically blew my mind. And then we texted for a while, which led to my asking him to come over one day and… I don’t know.” He shrugs again. “I feel so reckless around him; you know? Like anything is possible.

“It’s just been sex for a long time, but I’m ready for it to be more, and I think he is, too. We’ve been flirting a lot more lately, and this morning he was so cuddly with me in a way he rarely is. We have boundaries, you know? For both our sakes. But those are coming down and I’m so, so excited,” he grins. “Sorry for rambling, I’m just so happy.”

“Why would you apologize for rambling when I asked you to ramble?” she says, swatting at his arm, with a smile. “It’s obvious you really like him.”

“Yeah,” Kurt says, breathless. “I’ve been driving Rachel crazy for months.”

Pam laughs, swiping another fry. Kurt finally manages to take a bite of his sandwich. “So, what’s his name?”

“Oh, it’s Bl –”

“Knock, knock!” A male voice sounds as someone actually knocks on the backroom door. “I come bearing lunch!”

A small Filipino man walks into the room, carrying a McDonald’s take-out bag and carry-out tray. Pam hurries to stand and goes to him, greeting him with a quick kiss on the lips.

“Hey, darling,” she says. Then turning to Kurt, “John Mark, you remember Kurt, right?”

“Your favourite employee,” John Mark says, which makes Kurt blush. The man rarely comes to visit, as he works at a very high-level, very high-stress law firm a few blocks down. Still, whenever he can join his wife for lunch, he does.

“And you’re her favorite husband, right?” Kurt replies, making both of them laugh.

“Only husband, I hope,” John Mark says. He turns to Pam, “Do you want to eat here, or do you want to go to the plaza down the way?”

“Let’s go to the plaza,” she says instantly. She turns back to Kurt and points a finger. “Don’t think our conversation is over.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he says, chuckling. She nods, then follows her husband – who gives Kurt an awkward wave goodbye with the hand holding the take-out bag – out the door.

Kurt smiles as they go.

He can only hope to one day have a marriage as strong as theirs.

His phone vibrates on the table, and he sees it’s another text from Blaine, with yet another attached image.

In this one Blaine is fully dressed, though still wearing the jacket. He’s paired it with a pale yellow bowtie and a white polo. His usual style, with a bit of flair thrown in. He looks delicious.

Thoughts?

Kurt quickly types out I’m thinking I’m real glad you aren’t my teacher, because I would not be able to keep my hands off of you even if you were.

It isn’t long before Blaine responds.

I can’t wait for you to get here tonight.

Kurt grins and texts back with an incredibly genuine Me neither, Blaine. Me neither.

The rest of Kurt’s shift flies by. He helps a woman who has just received word that her chemotherapy has worked find the perfect wig, as well as the perfect eyeliner to match it. A recovering anorexic allows him to dress her in clothes that aren’t four sizes too big, while still not being extremely tight, and he watches as her mom bursts into tears when the girl looks at herself in the mirror and says, “Mom, I look good today.”

His last client is someone with about seven $100 gift certificates to the boutique, more than any Kurt has ever seen. Apparently they were all she asked for for Christmas, in hopes that the giant brain tumour that was literally destroying her body would soon be gone. She’d saved them until now, two weeks after her surgery. It feels over, to her, and she’s ready to move on.

Kurt helps her find several wigs that suit her complexion. He also shows her how to do her make-up five different ways, and each one makes her smile even wider than the last. Then, after that’s done, he helps her choose three entirely new outfits from their boutique, all of which she claims make her feel like a movie star.

She is very careful not to go over her budget (as large as it may be), and when she’s done she gives Kurt a big hug, thanking him for making this the best experience she could have imagined.

“It’s like the tumor was never there at all,” she says, tears in her eyes.

It’s four o’clock by the time she leaves, so Kurt sanitizes his chair as quickly as possible. The final Friday sanitizing is less important than most others, seeing as they always give their chairs an extra good scrub on Monday mornings, to get rid of the weekend dust.

“Heading home?” Mercedes asks, from where she’s sanitizing her own chair.

“Unless Pam needs me to stay later. I was almost an hour late this morning, after all. It would only be fair.”

“Nonsense,” Pam says, leaning against the open door to the backroom. “You worked your butt off today. Get out of here. Go get your man.”

Kurt grins and hurries to comply.

He loves his job; oh, how he loves his job. But today, he’s definitely ready to not be there anymore.

It’s a little after five by the time he reaches Blaine’s apartment. He’d managed to catch the number 5 subway this time, which made the trip a lot easier than the one he endured this morning. His stomach flips as he rings Blaine’s buzzer, hoping against hope that tonight is going to go the way he wants it to.

And if not, hey, he always has Pam’s son to fall back on. Whoever he may be.

Blaine buzzes him in, and Kurt hurries up the two flights of stairs to the second floor, then speedwalks down the hallway.

He knocks on Blaine’s door, which opens immediately. Strong hands pull him in, and Blaine desperately says, “Finally,” before he pulls Kurt down into one of the most passionate kisses he’s ever experienced.

Kurt grins into the kiss, kissing back in an instant. “Missed me today?” he teases, nipping on Blaine’s bottom lip.

“Your jacket smelt like you,” Blaine groans. “I was half-hard all day.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow. “Even after you inappropriately touched yourself while wearing it?”

Blaine pulls back, grinning wickedly. “You really are going to punish me for that, aren’t you?”

Kurt presses his lips together. He wants to. God, he wants to. He wants to drag Blaine to his bedroom and fuck him six ways till Sunday. He’s been aching for it since he got those stupid pictures.

“Actually,” he says instead. “I have something I want to talk to you about.”

“Really? Well, color me intrigued,” Blaine says, taking Kurt’s hand. “Can it wait until after the sex I’ve been waiting all day for?”

Kurt shakes his head. “Um, no. I think it would be better if we talked first.”

They sit down on Blaine’s couch, facing each other. Blaine sucks on his bottom lip, in the way he knows drives Kurt absolutely crazy, but he does his best to ignore it.

Kurt clears his throat and says, “Okay, so, um. The thing is…” he glances at Blaine, who is staring at him with those stupid wide eyes. God, he’s so close to being in love with this man. “What I wanted to say…” He can’t find the right words. He groans and rubs a hand over his face.

“Okay,” he says. “So, my boss has been trying to set me up with her son for like, a year.”

Blaine’s face morphs into some kind of mix between amusement and confusion. “What?”

“She’s like, obsessed with the idea that we’re soulmates. I don’t know why; she’s never even shown me a picture of the guy. I don’t even know his name, just this adorable nickname that she calls him.”

“Okay?” Blaine asks. “Why was it so important for you to tell me this before sex?”

“Because I – I’ve said no. Every time. Not because I don’t like my boss, or anything, because she’s actually the best boss in the world.” He takes a deep breath, then reaches out and takes Blaine’s hand. “I said no because I like you. I didn’t realize it at first, but a few months ago something switched and…” he stares down at their hands, how they fit so perfectly together. “And I know I’m totally crossing like, every boundary we have, but lately I feel like…” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Like maybe something has switched for you, too?”

Blaine is silent for a few moments, then quietly says, “Kurt, what are you saying?”

Kurt squeezes their linked hands. “I’m saying that… that I like you. A lot. In a more than sexual, more than friendly way.” He opens his eyes and raises them to meet Blaine’s. “I want to be with you, Blaine. For real. I want to take you out on dates. I want to pick you up after school and go for long walks around Central Park. I want to meet your friends, and family. I want you to meet mine. I want –”

Blaine interrupts him by grabbing his face and pulling him in for a kiss that is far sweeter than Kurt could have expected.

“Yes,” Blaine whispers against his mouth.

“Yes?” Kurt double checks.

Blaine nods. “Yes, yes to all of it.”

“So you want to –”

“Yes.”

“Oh, my god,” Kurt pulls him in for another kiss, heart swelling with joy. “Be my boyfriend?”

“I thought I already said yes,” Blaine teases, then pulls Kurt into yet another kiss.

They make out lazily on the couch for a few minutes, and Kurt feels so happy he could burst. Blaine said yes. Blaine wants him. Blaine isn’t just Friends-With-Benefits-That-All-Kurt’s-Friend’s-Tease-Him-About-Blaine. He’s Kurt’s boyfriend.

Oh, god, he can’t wait to rub this in Rachel’s face.

“This was so much suave than what I had planned,” Blaine whispers in between kisses. “I was going to wait until you were too fucked out to deny me anything.”

Kurt bursts out laughing, and he hears Blaine laughing as well. He rubs his thumb over Blaine’s cheek. “Romantic.”

“I can be when I try,” Blaine says. “I just didn’t want to risk it, you know? I needed a guaranteed yes.”

“You’ve had it since the day we met,” Kurt admits, then kisses him again.

He’s about to suggest moving to the bedroom when the buzzer rings. Blaine groans, breaking the kiss but not pulling away.

“Maybe they’ll go away?” he whispers.

No such luck. Less than ten seconds later the buzzer rings again.

Blaine groans and gets off the couch. He’s hard in his pants, and Kurt bites down on his bottom lip as he watches him go. Watches Blaine go. His boyfriend.

God, he really is just like a teenager.

Blaine presses the speak button on the intercom and asks, “Who is this?”

“Blaine, it’s your father. Can I come up, please?”

Blaine releases the button and lets out a loud groan. “Crap,” he mumbles. “Do you mind?” he asks, turning to Kurt.

Kurt smiles, shaking his head. “Please. I’d love to meet him.”

“Not moving too fast?”

“We’ve been sleeping together for over a year, Blaine. I don’t think anything is too fast at this point.”

Blaine grins, and then the buzzer rings out again. Blaine rolls his eyes and presses the button to allow his father in. “He’s unbelievable,” he says, shaking his head.

“I know someone like that,” Kurt teases, which makes Blaine chuckle.

Blaine opens his door and leans out of it. He’s quiet for a few seconds and then, after Kurt hears the sound of the stairwell door opening, he calls out, “What’s up, dad?”

“Your mother and I are just on our way to dinner at Olive Garden,” comes an echo-y, somewhat familiar voice from the hallway. Kurt frowns. Has he heard that voice before? Has he met Blaine’s father? “Your place is on our way, and I figured I’d just drop by and return this book to you.”

“Why didn’t you text me? I sort of have company over.”

The man chuckles, voice much closer now. “Don’t tell your mother. She’s still convinced you’ve never even touched a man.”

Kurt’s eyes widen.

“Well, I’m almost thirty, so it’s really not my fault if that particular bubble gets burst,” Blaine says. “Where is mom, anyway?”

He opens the door wider and his father walks in, a man about Blaine’s height, wearing a crisp suit, carrying a hardcover book in his hands. “She’s waiting downstairs. She figured we’d be more likely to stay on our course for the evening if she didn’t come up.”

Kurt can’t believe it. He does know Blaine’s dad. Not well, not well at all, but he knows him. Not only that, but he saw him, today.

“Oh, my god,” Kurt says, making both Blaine and John Mark turn toward him.

“God, where are my manners,” Blaine says. “Dad, this is –”

“Kurt!” John Mark says. He looks surprised for a moment, but it instantly turns into a far too happy smirk. “Wait. You’re our Bumble Bee’s Kurt?”

“Kurt’s my boyfriend,” Blaine says, glancing between them. “Do you guys… know each other?”

“Your mom’s my boss,” Kurt breathes out. He stares up at Blaine, eyes wide with shock.

“What?!”

“Oh, Pamela is going to be so happy. She just knew you two would get along, she knew it!” John Mark grins, then places the book on Blaine’s dinner table and says, “I can’t keep this from her. I’m going to go get her.”

With that he’s gone, and Kurt is left still staring with wide-eyed shock, unable to believe this is happening.

“Your boss is my mom?” Blaine asks slowly. “You work at Pam’s Place? You’re the Kurt she always wants to set me up with?”

“I can’t believe this,” Kurt says, rubbing a hand over his face. “This is…” his face falls. “Blaine,” he hisses. “I just spent most of my lunch break telling your mom about how we’ve been having casual sex for over a year.”

“What?!” Blaine practically shouts. “Why would you tell my mom that?!”

“How was I supposed to know she was your mom! She only ever calls you ‘Bee’ or ‘Bumble Bee’!”

They stare at each other for several moments, until the utter ridiculousness of the situation seems to catch up with both of them and they burst out laughing at the exact same time.

“I can’t believe your mom has been trying to set us up for as long as we’ve known each other,” Kurt says between breaths.

“I can’t believe I kept telling my mom that I couldn’t go out with her Kurt because I was too busy trying to win over my Kurt,” Blaine replies, smile so wide it might just split his face in half. “Oh, my god, Kurt. This is… It’s crazy!”

Kurt’s laughter dies down, but his smile doesn’t go away. He stands up and goes to Blaine, wrapping his arms around him tight. “It’s fate, is what it is.”

Blaine leans up to kiss him gently, whispering, “So it would seem,” as he does.

Kurt kisses him, then pulls back and asks, “How did you even get the nickname Bumble Bee in the first place?”

Blaine groans and hides his face in Kurt’s shoulder, which just brings the laughter back. Kurt hugs his boyfriend tight, still absolutely giddy at being able to call him that.

The door to the stairwell slams open, and Blaine just huddles in closer. Within seconds the hurried footsteps have reached them and Pam’s voice calls out through the apartment, “I knew they would be perfect together!”

Kurt laughs some more, then pushes Blaine away a little, though just enough so he can put an arm around Blaine’s waist. His face becomes faux-serious as he turns toward his boss and says, “Pam,” as steadily as he can. “I’ve re-considered your offer, and have decided that maybe I wouldn’t mind being set up with your son after all.”

#klaineanummel fic #klaine #klaine prompt reverse bang #klaine au #quizasvivamos

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lazybarbarians · 8 years ago

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Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire’s End by Chuck Wendig

Ragnell: So over the past two weeks we finished up the Aftermath trilogy with Empire’s End and now we are totally up to date on the state of the Star Wars universe one-year post-RotJ as pertains to everyone but Luke Skywalker.

And Ezra Bridger, and Kanan Jarrus, and Ahsoka Tano or really any of the animated-verse Jedi or Sith and any of the EU Jedi or Sith like Mara Jade who still might exist in some way.

But for the soldiers and scoundrels and surviving Imperials we have a status quo for about 29 years. We also know what happens to the core characters from the first Aftermath book which is honestly (and impressively, considering how little patience I have for original SW characters) what we read this thing for anyway. (As usual, I pretty much spoil everything in this recap below.)

So we open with several threads going on. Gallius Rax is flashing back to his Tuesdays with Palpatine excerpts, and gathering the pathetic remnants of the Imperial Navy on Jakku. Because Palpatine had a big secret project there, of which Gallius was an integral part. So integral that Palpatine appoints Gallius Rax as The Contingency which we can immediately tell will be a great pain in the ass to the whole galaxy.

Norra and Company are hunting down Mercurial Swift, so they can track down Rae Sloane. Temmin is annoyed he’s always stuck on getaway driver duty. The bounties on Jas from her old bosses are mounting. Sinjir is still having his career regrets, which are worsened by the fact that without Luke Skywalker around to point out sensible things like “I don’t think that’s good for the soul”, Sinjir basically still has to do the same job only for Norra. And Norra has entered Terminator Revenge mode, which is basically what has her asking Sinjir to do the same job and limiting Temmin to getaway driver duty. This is generally what everyone has to work past the entire story. They find out Rae Sloane is on Jakku and follow.

Surprise surprise, the pathetic in comparison to its former glory but still a really really lot of ships remnants of the Imperial Navy are there. This leads the good guys to split up, with Norra and Jas taking an escape pod to the surface because Norra’s in revenge mode (followed by Mr. Bones because Temmin is worried about his mother) and Temmin and Sinjir to go back to Chandrila to get embroiled in the political plot.

Kalinara: I actually thought Norra in revenge mode was one of the weaker parts of the story, unfortunately. It’s understandable that she’d be conflicted and angry, but there were points where she just seemed cartoonishly irrational. Norra was my favorite in the previous books, but I wasn’t as big a fan of her here.

R: Mon Mothma is facing a election challenge from the appropriately named Senator Wartol, a hardline warhawk who accuses her of weakness that led to the Liberation Day attack last book. Long story short, her challenger is a corrupt asshole who has criminal ties and uses them to rig a vote to actually PREVENT attacking Jakku so that he can say he voted for it but she’s a shit Chancellor for not even being able to put this together. Sinjir teams up with the Organa-Solo family and his ex-boyfriend Conder to resolve this. He does so well that Mon Mothma offers him a job as her aide, which resolves his career path crisis, enables him to skip the Jakku attack and settle down happily with Conder.

K:: How’s that for one of the first, explicitly gay characters in Star Wars? He and his boyfriend both get to live, AND get a happy ending to boot!

R: Temmin spends his time pestering Wedge Antilles to put him on a ship and send him to Jakku. Wedge, after last book’s mini-rebellion, isn’t even allowed to go himself and is stuck being an expeditor in the hangers. After several guilt-trips, Wedge finally relents and puts together the same group of outcasts from last book to sneak, unauthorized, into the battle and lets the 16 year old join them because Wedge Antilles has spent way too much time with Luke, Leia, and Han over the last 5 years.

Temmin’s been wanting to go back to Jakku, of course, because that’s where his mother, his droid and his.. Jas have been. Both Jas and Norra got captured by Niima the Hutt, who is horrible even as Hutts go. Norra was on some work-detail where Mr Bones the droid broke her out. Jas got to pull ever-increasing acts of badassery to avoid being taken in for her bounty, steal Swift’s ship AND steal Swift’s crew.

Also in Niima’s area, Rae Sloane and Brentin Wexley, who convince her to lead them to the Imperial Secret Squirrel place where they are promptly captured and forced to witness a ridiculous speech by Gallius Rax. Sloane undergoes some of her own career angst while Brentin actually manages to get them both free. They proceed to try to fuck up Gallius Rax’s mysterious plan, and go into the Imperial Secret Squirrel place.

While in there, Norra catches up to them and they all find out that due to an overly emphatic chess metaphor Gallius Rax has activated a weapon in the core of Jakku that will destroy the whole planet and both fleets. He’s also sent the Huxes off with a bunch of children to outside the Galaxy to meet other ships with imperials and children, and the Eclipse, so that Palpatine can continue to vex the Galaxy from beyond the grave. On the bright side he kills Tashu, who was actually such a dick I was hoping they’d save him for the Jedi to kill in a later story.

Norra, Brentin, and Rae have a great deal of emotional interaction about trust and distrust, and a rather kickass three-against-one fight with Gallius in between trying to shut down the weapon. Brentin gets through all the defenses but stops to save Norra and gets killed. Rae actually turns down the weapon while Norra, feeling that her trust of Sloane was justified, drags her husband’s body out for burial. Rae then boards a ship with the Huxes and a bunch of feral brainwashed proto-Stormtroopers for the Eclipse, because she is not actually finished being evil yet.

K:: I was surprised by how much I liked Brentin, in particular, in this book. He was more plot point than character last time (even if he was a helpful juxtaposition against all those “no, Kylo is BRAINWASHED!” justifications), but here, we got to see more of who he is as a man. I was rather disappointed they killed him off. I might have liked the novelty of Norra and Brentin going through an amiable divorce.

Sloane was pretty great too. And for all of my complaints about Norra previously, she and Sloane had such a great dynamic once they finally met up. And I’m thrilled at the idea that we might see her again.

R: Wartol is arrested because he tries to kill Mon Mothma, but really only manages to destroy her office and kill the advisor who hadn’t been fleshed out until this book so we could feel bad about her. Mas Amedda manages to escape Coruscant and sign a surrender treaty. Leia attends the signing, during labor (because kid, you are gonna have to wait until galactic peace gawddammit) and thus manages to freak out her husband, attain galactic peace AND have a baby. Nothing in this book manages to excuse Kylo Ren’s horrible horrible crimes, and in fact knowing what’s coming you kind of cringe at one scene. Wedge Antilles and the Wexleys all go to the new pilot academy. Jas sets up shop with the crew she stole from Swift, and grieves Jom who went to Jakku to find her and was killed in the battle. Sinjir settles down with his new career and Conder.

K: Seriously. I didn’t see anything that remotely indicated any “mind control from birth” or whatever nonsense. It isn’t even clear that Snoke EXISTS at this point in time. Any passage that could even be remotely stretched to mean some kind of fetus communication actually has a clear explanation in the text itself.

R: Actually, every character that we might have speculated would BE Snoke was specifically killed off

For the rest of the Galaxy, Chewbacca finds his son. Lando Calrissian regains his rightful place as Baron Administrator of Cloud City (which I believe is a 4-point Freehold if you’re tracking SW characters with White Wolf rules). Jar Jar Binks makes a friend and lives out the rest of his days entertaining orphans and avoiding politics. Coruscant ends up run by Mas Amedda anyway, but technically part of the New Republic. The Sith-worshipping Acolyte group from the Interludes was revealed to be sponsored by Tashu and dedicates itself to causing shit across the Galaxy and will almost certainly factor into the Jedi storyline. A charismatic leader, Brin, forms the Church of the Force which we already know factors into the Jedi storyline. It’s revealed that there are facilities known as Observatories, set up by Palpatine, that have been receiving data from outside the known galaxy all over the galaxy and not just on Jakku and that’s probably going to come into play somewhere too. The crazy pirate who found a Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought last book has cobbled together a functioning society of pirates around the ship. The residents of Tattooine have decided to just raise their own damned Hutt, Borgo, from childhood so they can have one who’s more compassionate than Jabba was. Luke is stated to be looking for old Jedi stuff.

That was a long recap, but one of the most tantalizing aspects of this trilogy is finding out just what the status quo in the Galaxy was after they finally wiped the bloated corpse of the Empire’s bureaucracy off of the map and got their new government underway. In general, it’s pretty satisfying. You follow your six Republic heroes, with some of the named characters from the movies as supporting cast, and your two main Imperials and their support, and get kind of a view of the rest of the universe. In a couple of places, these interludes tie into the main climax but others are just epilogues for the locations in the movies or tantalizing threads for when we find out what Luke has been up to.

K: I admit, that’s what I’m waiting for most. This was a fun side trek, but where is my favorite character, damnit?

R: I’m hoping we get another trilogy explaining this after The Last Jedi premieres. Or it’s the focus of the next animated series. Ezra seems custom-made to work as a foil for Luke, and Ahsoka was written out in a way that places her in safe-keeping until after RotJ.

One thing I found myself thinking from this last book, though, is that I feel better about The Force Awakens. I know a few OT fans who were very upset about everything Luke and Leia lost in the prelude to that movie and during it. I know a couple I saw who commented that they didn’t think Luke’s actions in RotJ were even that big an effect, since the Death Star was destroyed anyway. The view of the galaxy as seen in this trilogy, PARTICULARLY Jakku as compared to what we saw in the movie, changes that. You get the impression that even though there are still darksiders active, that a remnant of the Empire has left to regroup, that there’s still corruption and pirates and bullies and innocent people languishing in extreme poverty and hardship… that there’s still been a lasting improvement directly attributable to the actions of the heroes in the movies and the heroes in these books. Jakku at Rey’s time is actually a less horrible place than seen in this book. Many of the locations from the movies show people taking action and spreading hope. The remains of the Empire are the Emperor’s last middle finger to the Galaxy, and even after thirty years of gaining strength are still not the relentless, overwhelming presence in everyone’s life they were in Rogue One. The Galaxy was not instantly fixed, and much of the progress was wiped away, but there’s still a lot to hold onto. They came a long way between RotJ and TFA.

There’s really only one disappointment about this book. Tashu’s death. I joked above, but in the first book of this trilogy his main role is torturing a captive Wedge Antilles. The fallout from this is more realistic than you usually see in action-adventure fiction, where Wedge is still recovering throughout the second book both physically and emotionally. They’re unclear on whether he’s still using a cane this book or not, but either way it’s a long-term lingering impairment. He gets to staredown and work a little on his rage at Sloane last book, but he is never shown confronting Tashu. He’s never in the same room as the villain who put him through all of that. Tashu also never has a greater impact on any other main characters either from just this trilogy or the movies, meaning this villain was specific to one major hero and had a huge impact on that hero’s life and role in a story that covers at least half a year. Tashu isn’t saved for a later book or confrontation, he gets offed by Gallius and that’s a bit of a bummer.

#The Secret Origin of Snap Wexley: Resistance Pilot 3 #State of the Galaxy #Missing: Luke Skywalker If Found Please Return to Grateful Fandom #A Happy Ending for the Gay Guy #All the het couples are kinda screwed #Even that one because you can see it coming #Hux was always a little douche #There is no justification for patricide #Lots of Dark Side Activity for Jedi to deal with #Politics is a bloodsport #The Evil is coming from OUTSIDE the Galaxy!#The Evil is also coming from INSIDE the Galaxy!#Palpatine was a sore loser #Star Wars #Aftermath: Empire's End #A Disney Prince(ss) in Space #Chuck Wendig #Ragnell's Pick

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