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notarelationship · 8 years ago

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Clinging to This Hating Game 5/7

For the @prompt-a-klainefic blog’s 2017 Reverse Bang

Link to the art by @datshitrandom

the prompt:

Kurt and Blaine couldn’t stand each other in high school, maybe one was a jock/cheerleader and the other a nerd/glee clubber. Or they were bitter rivals for competition solos if they were both in glee club. Now they both live in NY and their friends set them up on a blind date, not knowing they went to the same high school.

High School AU, Cheerio!Kurt, Jock!Blaine Rating: Explicit Warnings: some bullying and homophobic language, teenage sex Word Count: ~3900 (this chapter)

Everything wonky is my fault.

AO3 link Chapter 5

On tumblr: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4

Well.

After a slap fight with my beta that turned into full on mud-wrestling, this one very long chapter has been turned into two. The good news is that the second half will post no later than Sunday, and possibly earlier.

Forever thanks to @mshoneysucklepink for the beta. And the slap-fight.

Chapter 5

Kurt had always expected that by the time he reached his final semester of high school the pressure that he’d felt for four years would have fizzled out. The pressure he’d put on himself to be better, to rise above everyone’s expectations, the pressure to get everything right all the time, to take away any ammunition that could be used against him.

After all, his college applications were in, he’d sent out his audition videos (except NYADA, of course, they would require an in-person audition) and he was still in the lead for valedictorian. That should mean he should be able to coast through one semester.

It didn’t.

The glee club had a real chance of winning nationals this year, but they had to get through regionals first, and spring cheer competitions were going to start up in March and Coach Sue wouldn’t accept anything less than a first place finish. On top of that, there was no way he was going to let Blaine the Usurper take his valedictorian crown. He might be smart, and a little hot, but he was also the enemy, And he was a transfer student for pete’s sake.

So when school started back up after the holidays Kurt was outside the guidance counselor’s office checking the rankings. Kurt was still at the top of the class with a 4.21 GPA.

Blaine, however, had overtaken Harriet Gomez, and was now in second place behind Kurt. With a 4.13 GPA Blaine was poised to take the lead any time Kurt stumbled. He couldn’t let it happen. Kurt examined the rest of the standings, to make sure there weren’t any likely dark horse threats (there weren’t).

“Kurt, I’m so happy I found you.” It was Rachel.

Kurt sighed and turned to look at her. “It’s a Monday Rachel, where else would I be?”

She kept going without acknowledging his obviously rhetorical question.

“Blaine and I both received our invitations to audition for NYADA on Saturday and I thought we should all discuss carpooling together since they are holding them for all invitees on the Ohio State campus in Columbus and it just makes sense for all of us to go together.” Kurt barely heard what she said after “invitations.”

He turned away. “I didn’t get one.”

It was distressing. It was unheard of that they would audition three students from the same program and his chances had materially diminished when Blaine arrived. He had to face the fact that an audition appointment might not come at all. “I guess you’re on your own.”

“What? That’s ridiculous Kurt, you have very unique talents, and I’m sure that when the dean of admissions hears you they’ll -”

“Stop Rachel. Please.” Kurt tried not to glare, but her whole demeanor was provoking him. “I’ll let you know if an invite comes. If not you two crooners are on your own.” Kurt spun and walked away from her and toward his next class.

“I am not a crooner, Kurt!” He didn’t have to turn around to know she was stomping her foot.

Kurt managed to slip into his chair in home room with plenty of time to spare. Quinn was already there, Cheerios uniform on.

“Did you have a nice trip to Chicago with your parents?” Kurt asked her.

Quinn huffed a frown. “Delightful. My father found out I’ve been seeing Puckerman again and took away the keys to my car.”

Kurt’s eyes went wide, and he was about to disparage Mr. Fabray with the full muscle of his well-honed snark, but Blaine came rushing into the classroom just as the bell rang. Kurt’s eyes stayed wide.

In the months since football season ended Kurt had noticed a subtle change in Blaine’s personal style. (He hadn’t been looking, it had just been so obvious.) His jeans had become more well fitted (okay, tighter), the McKinley football t-shirts had been replaced with crisp polo shirts (that may have pulled teasingly across his shoulders. No - wait). The trendy sneakers had been replaced by top siders and loafers. The tidy curls were being tamed by some actual hair product.

But today, the first day of the last semester of high school, Blaine Anderson was wearing snug raspberry colored chinos, a vertically striped polo with a bow tie and two-tone oxford shoes that matched colors of the stripes on his shirt. Kurt had to bite his tongue to keep his jaw from dropping as he watched Blaine take the open seat at the front of the class.

“See something you like?” Quinn whispered.

Kurt hoped his feigned recoil was convincing; he did not need this from Quinn. “Good lord no. I was just wondering what kind of monster would pair that shirt with those pants.” Kurt shook his head. Obviously one with a ridiculously tiny waist. How had he never noticed that before?

On top of that, the glee club still had regionals to prepare for, and unlike their sectionals competition there was nothing like the musical to distract half of the group from wanting a lead. When Kurt arrived to class at the end of the day Mr. Schuester was already trying to reign them in.

“Okay guys, we need to decide on a theme for our performance before we start song selection. Who has something they’d like to suggest?”

Blaine raised his hand. “It’s near Valentine’s Day, we could do love songs.”

A few of the girls responded with positive noises, but overall no one really liked that idea. Kurt didn’t think it was so bad.

“That’s lame,” Puck said, voicing the more popular reaction. “Unless you had some dude you wanted to serenade. Then we’d totally have your back, man.”

Blaine turned to look at Puck, eyes wide in horror. “No. No, that’s not something I think I would want your help with.”

Puck shrugged. “Your loss bro.”

It turned out that this year regionals was taking place at Dalton Academy, Blaine’s former high school. Kurt thought it was funny that they had never competed against Dalton before, but here they were going up against them for the first time, after Blaine had transferred to McKinley. It was probably a coincidence.

When they pulled up in their bus the first thing they saw was a giant banner stating “Welcome 2013 Midwest Regionals Finalists: McKinley High School New Directions and the Western Illinois Prep Spinal Chords!” They were led to a tidy room full of soft furniture and dark wood. It had a minimum of refreshments; bottled water and some snacks were laid out along a sideboard. It was pretty nice.

“You went to school here, Hobbit?” Santana asked, flopping down on one of the oversized couches.

Blaine grimaced, but Kurt couldn’t tell if it was because of Santana’s question, or because she put her feet up on the arm of the couch.

“I did,” Blaine answered. “Right up until the beginning of this year.”

Kurt thought about what Blaine had told him months before, about Dalton’s glee club - that they weren’t good enough to get Blaine a scholarship, and he wondered how much competition they would actually be. Blaine had been confident during rehearsals, practically assuring everyone that while the Warblers were good, they weren’t quite up to what Blaine had seen from the New Directions this year. But Kurt knew that competitions were never as simple as just talent.

Mr. Schuester came and gathered the boys, leading them to the lounge that was serving as their changing area, while the girls changed in their waiting room. Kurt and Blaine were the last two dressed, and on the way back they passed a group of boys in navy school uniforms, looking like entitled rich kids. Kurt assumed these boys were Warblers.

“Hey killer, why don’t you return my calls?” Kurt stopped to look at the speaker, and to see who he was talking to. Blaine’s face had turned red and he turned to face the boy, who was skinny and had too much hair. “At least public school hasn’t ruined that fine ass.”

“Oh my god, Sebastian.” Blaine’s eyes went wide, and Kurt stopped, arms crossing over his chest. He wasn’t sure if he should stay with Blaine or leave. They weren’t friends but he was willing to stand up for him. For McKinley pride if nothing else.

Sebastian was eyeing Kurt. “I don’t know why you left if this is the best public school has to offer, I mean he’s not even - ”

Kurt took a step forward, he might not look like much, but he had the upper body strength of someone who threw humans into the air on a regular basis. Blaine stepped in front of him, putting a hand on Kurt’s arm as if to stop him from whatever he was going to do.

“Hey, guys, come on.” Finn came walking toward them. “We need to get ready.”

Sebastian laughed, glancing at all of them. “Maybe I’ll see you later, Blaine.”

“I - no. You won’t.” Blaine turned, pulling Kurt by the elbow toward Finn. Kurt was shocked enough by Blaine grabbing him that it took him a minute to form a retort.

“Not on good terms with your ex?”

Blaine looked at him, mouth open. “He’s not, it wasn’t like that. He’s not an ex.”

Kurt turned to watch Sebastian walk the opposite way down the hall. “Well if you’re still dating him you might want to take a good look at your relationship, because that guy - ”

“I’m not dating him, Kurt. He wasn’t my boyfriend.”

“Then what was he - ” They got to the door before he could finish his questions, and Blaine shot him a look that clearly said stop talking. Kurt stopped. He wasn’t even sure why he was pushing it. It was none of his business if this boy was Blaine’s ex boyfriend. None at all. He followed Blaine into their waiting area and joined the rest of the group getting ready for the performance.

They easily beat the competition with an inspired selection of Michael Jackson songs. Blaine’s lead on “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” had the entire auditorium on their feet, cheering and dancing, and they even flawlessly managed a costume change for the big finale. When the judge announced them as the winner they all jumped and hugged and cheered, just as they always did. Kurt was high-fiving and hugging randomly; Santana, Quinn, Brittany, and even Rachel threw themselves into his arms.

Kurt turned around in the crowd as they celebrated, and found himself wrapped in Blaine’s arms. Kurt returned the gesture before he even realized it was happening and he could feel Blaine sag into his body, as if he forgot where he was and who he was with, before quickly giving Kurt a squeeze and releasing him to move on to the next person.

Kurt stared at the back of Blaine’s head for a moment, but was snapped back into the moment by FInn’s arm around his shoulder. Kurt shook it off, it didn’t mean anything.

Once they had all made it back to the bus for the ride back to Lima, Kurt let himself think about what had happened. He convinced himself it was nothing, they were teammates and they had won a competition, and even if they were favorites to win it was still nice to be recognized. So they hugged. He hugged all of his teammates after a win.

WHen Kurt climbed on the bus he found Quinn and Puck had managed to claim the last row, with Brit and Santana in the row in front of them. The other glee couples had also paired off and overhead lights were snapping off even as he walked down the aisle. Kurt wasn't entirely sure that he'd enjoy making out with someone while listening to other couples make out too.

“That's all vaguely repulsive,” Kurt said, taking the empty seat next to Mercedes.

“Do not tell me that if you had someone to make out with on this miserable ride that you'd be sitting here next to me.”

Kurt laughed. “Maybe, but that's never going to happen in this crowd.” Kurt hadn't noticed Blaine sitting across the aisle, one row in front of him and Mercedes. Blaine turned around as Kurt spoke, staring at him just a second too long.

Kurt wasn’t really in the mood for a confrontation, so he just looked away without trying to start anything. He could find plenty to talk to Mercedes about on the trip home.

To Kurt’s relief, his invitation to audition for NYADA had arrived not long after Rachel had accosted him in the hall on the first day of the semester, and just a week after regionals he wound up driving a very chatty Rachel and a much less chatty Blaine to Columbus so they could sing for their prospective futures.

Kurt insisted they stop for coffee before they got on the road, to which Blaine had eagerly agreed. Rachel ordered tea with honey, causing Kurt to pause a little when he looked at his morning mocha as he picked it up from the counter. Blaine caught him hesitating.

“Change your mind?” Blaine took a long sip from his own coffee, waiting for Kurt to respond. He really didn’t need Blaine judging him for his coffee order. Or for drinking coffee at all. But Blaine was also drinking coffee.

Kurt frowned. “No. I want my coffee.” He looked at Rachel arguing with the barista about wanting to look at what type of honey she was going to be putting into her tea. Blaine turned to see what Kurt was looking at.

“Ah. Has coffee ever affected your vocal performance in the past?” Kurt shook his head. “What are you drinking?”

“Non-fat mocha,” Kurt answered.

Blaine scrunched up his face. “Well the dairy’s not the best idea, but it’s probably not enough to really do any damage,” Blaine assured him.

Rachel finally finished directing her tea to her specifications and joined them, beaming. “Are we ready?”

Once they were on the road they were all relatively quiet. Rachel wanted to save her voice for the auditions, and Kurt didn’t have all that much to say to either of them, if he was being honest. Blaine dozed in the back seat most of the way.

“I cannot believe I choked!” Rachel wailed in the passenger seat.

“You didn’t really choke, Rachel. You got through it all eventually,” Blaine tried to reassure her, his voice calmly irritating.

Kurt had been stunned when Rachel had forgotten the words to “Don’t Rain On My Parade” just a few bars in, but it had taken him a few minutes to realize what was happening.

The NYADA representative had called them all into the auditorium together, and Blaine had gone first, doing “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story. At first Kurt thought it had been a safe choice, a musical theater staple that they must hear 50 times a year at auditions, and he was underwhelmed. He thought Blaine could do better.

But Blaine was just so charismatic, despite all of his other very irritating qualities (like how could he be so patient with Rachel? She was one of the most annoying people Kurt had to deal with on a regular basis. And that was saying a lot considering how annoying Kurt found most people), that he was swept up in his performance.

Kurt had had to convince himself that he really couldn’t be blamed for finding Blaine attractive, as a performer of course. And Blaine was gay, so he technically wouldn’t mind another guy finding him attractive, right? He had seen Blaine nearly naked, after all, and Blaine hadn’t minded at all at the time. He didn’t really have to like him to find him attractive.

So yeah, Blaine had really killed his NYADA audition, and been entirely dreamy doing it.

That’s why Kurt could be entirely forgiven for not noticing Rachel getting herself into trouble right away. But he did notice when she forgot her lyrics a second time, after she was allowed to restart. Rachel had been singing the song since she was two years old, if her own claims were to be believed. The NYADA rep let her take a 60 second break and a sip of water, and she finally did get all the way through it, but she was clearly shaken at the beginning.

“What if I don’t get in? Where will I go to school? How will I get to New York and conquer Broadway?” Blaine was spending a lot of time trying to console her from the back seat. “I had planned to win a Tony by the time I was twenty-four Blaine!” She was practically shrieking.

“Where else did you apply Rachel? You're very talented and I'm sure there is a program that will work out.”

Rachel twisted in her seat so she could talk to Blaine directly, thank god. Kurt didn’t need to be involved in this.

“Nowhere else, Blaine. NYADA is the best place for me and it's the only place I'll accept.”

“Oh, wow, well in that case I hope it all works out.” Blaine mumbled a few more reassurances, but Kurt tried not to listen.

In fact, Kurt tried to ignore all of Rachel’s dramatic fussing. He had his own performance and acceptance to worry about.

Wanting to go with something unexpected and leave an impression, Kurt had performed “Not the Boy Next Door,” complete with gold lame pants and ass wiggling for his audition. It had seemed to go over well, but it was a risky choice and there was really no telling how it would fare against the more traditional auditions as they went through all of the applicants once the audition portion was over.

“That was an impressive audition, Kurt,” Blaine said, when Rachel was taking a break from predicting the tragic loss of her future career. Kurt glanced in the rearview mirror - Blaine's eyes were wide and he was focused on Kurt's reflection.

Kurt shrugged. “I was pretty confident going in, but now I'm having second thoughts. It's not an obvious choice. You were good.”

“No, that's why it was so great. Inspired, even.” Blaine was nodding, not taking his eyes off Kurt. Kurt smiled a thanks. “And thank you. I felt good.” Kurt could see him smile in the rear view mirror. It wasn’t the big, light up his face smile he usually offered people, though. This one was smaller. More personal. Kurt had to look away. It’s a good thing he was driving.

Eventually Rachel dozed off, but he and Blaine never really managed to strike up much of a conversation after that. Even so, every time Kurt looked in the rear view mirror he saw Blaine watching him. He always averted his eyes when Kurt caught him.

After Kurt dropped Blaine and Rachel off at their houses, he turned the music off to think. He didn’t need to complicate anything about his life right now, and thoughts about Blaine Anderson were not helping. He was less than four months from getting out of Ohio in one more or less sane piece and he did not need some cute guy to charm his way into his life. Where had he been three years ago?

He was supposed to have been a one night stand, for god’s sake.

By the time Kurt got home, dinner was over, so he took an apple up to his room, promising to come back down after a shower and eat more if he was hungry. Right now it wasn’t his stomach that was talking to him.

Kurt stripped, eating his apple in four bites. Leaving the core on his bedside table to deal with later, he stepped into his bathroom (he had insisted when his dad married Carole that he had to have his own bathroom. It was the only demand he made), turning on the shower until it ran warm and steamy, but not scalding.

In the privacy of his own shower, he closed his eyes and could easily see the expression on Blaine's face that night as he undid the buttons on Kurt’s shirt, feel the phantom memory of Blaine's barely there stubble against his cheek and chest. He could see the look on Blaine’s face, hear the tiny, thrilling gasp as he came.

Kurt sucked in a breath, bracing one hand against the tile wall of his shower, and wrapping the other around his cock.

The next week was tense for Kurt. His feelings about Blaine were confusing him, and he didn’t really want to unpack any of them. Avoidance was so much easier. He had decided over the weekend that there wasn’t time to know someone, and that was what Kurt wanted. He wanted more than the physical contact (although he definitely wanted that too). Blaine Anderson had fogged up enough of his thoughts.

By Thursday he was ready to break. Some of his classmates had started receiving college acceptance letters, and he had seen on the NYADA boards that they expected letters would go out this week. He didn’t know how accurate it was, but every day waiting he felt more brittle.

Kurt was sitting in the choir room, counting down the minutes until class started (and then he planned to count down the minutes until class ended) when Rachel came bursting into the classroom.

“Blaine! Kurt! Blaine!” She was waving a piece of paper in front of her and his heart sank. “They’re here!! I got in! Did you get your letters yet?” Her eyes were going in four directions at once. She looked like a maniac. “My dad got the mail and drove it right over during last period. Has anyone called you? Did your mail come yet?”

“Chill out Rachel,” Finn stopped her, patting her on the shoulder as he moved past her to sit down. Kurt knew Finn wasn’t that happy about Rachel moving to New York, because he wasn’t going to go with her. “I’m sure they’ll find out when they get home.”

Kurt barely knew what they did in class that day, running out without talking to anyone and driving straight home. He’d have time to get back for Cheerio practice.

He knew there wouldn’t be anyone home to get the mail, so when he pulled into the driveway he jumped out of the car, leaving it running in the driveway as jumped over the four steps and landed on the porch.

“Bill, bill, LL Bean catalog - you don’t need any more flannel for god’s sake dad,” Kurt ran down the mail out loud, looking for the envelope that would change his life. “New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. This is a small envelope.” Shit. He ripped it open.

Dear Mr. Hummel,

Thank you for your interest in the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. Unfortunately, while your audition showed promise of the kind we might normally be interested in, we had quite a number of talented applicants this year, and you simply did not make the final cut.

While we do not anticipate having a wait list for the upcoming semester, if you would like to reapply and audition again for the spring semester we would welcome the interest. NYADA often accepts students in the spring semester, as it is a competitive program.

Best wishes and good luck in your academic and career pursuits.

Sincerely,

Carmen Tibideaux

NYADA Admissions

Kurt tried not to cry, he really did.

When he was done feeling awful he texted Quinn.

Tell Coach I’m sick. Vomit everywhere. I’ll make it up next week.

Are you sick?

Yeah. Of everything.

#clinging to this hating game #prompt-a-klaine-fic #prompt-a-klaine-fic reverse bang #artist: datshitrandom #klaine fic

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