Ficlet: Failure to Communicate (Kurt/Blaine)
Title: Failure to Communicate
Character/Pairing: Kurt/Blaine
Rating: G
SPOILERS: reference to recent season 3 speculation
Word Count: ~1400
Summary: As the end of the school year approaches, Blaine tries to figure out why Kurt has been growing increasingly distant.
Notes: Ryan Murphy is a troll.
Blaine will be the first (or possibly second after Kurt) to admit that he’s not always the most observant person in the world. But even Blaine can’t help noticing the tension that’s arisen between he and Kurt over the past few weeks. Or, more accurately, the tension that Kurt has been radiating in waves at him whenever they’ve been together.
At first he assumes it’s an aftereffect of Kurt’s transfer, something going on at McKinley that Kurt is hiding in order to prevent an imagined “I told you so” that Blaine would (probably) never say. But Kurt denies it every time he asks and Finn and Mercedes provide earnest corroboration when Blaine covertly questions them as well.
After that, Blaine runs through theories about Kurt’s father’s health, Nationals, and school work, but none of them hold up to gentle questioning. Even though Kurt has been growing increasingly distant, and even a little cold, Blaine’s still pretty certain that Kurt wouldn’t actually lie to him directly.
He reaches a breaking point one afternoon while they’re sitting opposite each other at the Lima Bean. Kurt is staring glumly at the table while picking absently at the cardboard sleeve on his coffee cup, responding to Blaine’s attempts to engage him with only the occasional “hmmm” of acknowledgement.
Blaine settles on a direct approach. “Kurt, whatever is upsetting you, will you please talk to me about it?”
Kurt’s shoulders tense immediately and Blaine’s completely taken aback by the anger in his eyes when he finally looks up.
“And what do you want me to talk about, Blaine?” he asks, his voice steeped in a saccharine sarcasm of which Blaine had previously had the fortune to never be on the receiving end.
“I just want to know what’s wrong,” Blaine replies, reaching his hands across the table and trying not to flinch backward as Kurt withdraws his arms to wrap defensively around himself.
“I’m beginning to think I’ve done something terribly wrong here,” Blaine continues, “but I have no idea what it could have been.”
Kurt actually scoffs and that finally has Blaine’s own hackles rising.
“You’re honestly trying to make this about me being uncommunicative?” Kurt asks, incredulous. “That’s obtuse even for you!”
“Wow, okay,” Blaine answers sharply. “If you would actually tell me what’s wrong instead of insulting me, this conversation might actually go somewhere.”
The only word he can make out of the resultant muttering is “unbelievable.” And then Kurt is reaching for his messenger bag as if to leave and Blaine really starts to panic.
“Kurt, please,” Blaine pleads. He must sound fairly desperate because it’s enough to make Kurt pause and settle tentatively back into his seat. It also earns them the undivided attention of the people at the tables nearest them.
“I have no idea what we’re fighting about or why you’ve been shutting me out recently,” Blaine continues, “I really, really don’t.”
Kurt glares at him for an agonizingly long time before he speaks.
“Why haven’t you told me where you’re going to college, Blaine?” he asks eventually.
Blaine blinks. And gapes a little helplessly before he’s able to stutter a baffled response. “Because… I don’t… I don’t really know, Kurt. I haven’t really given it much thought yet.”
Kurt’s look of horror is not at all comforting. Blaine’s cheeks flush and he feels incredibly young and foolish, embarrassed to be caught so obviously far behind his boyfriend in thinking about the important stuff.
“Is this about… our future?” Blaine asks tentatively. “Like, are you asking if I see us going to college together? Because I’d…” he hesitates, swallowing hard to gather his nerve. “I like to think we will. I think about it a lot, actually. But I sort of figured the details would come later, you know?”
Now Kurt’s the one blinking dumbly. “You’re telling me you haven’t picked a college yet?”
Blaine’s sure his blush is now completely visible, which is totally unfair. He gets enough of this sort of pressure from his father. He doesn’t need it from Kurt as well.
“I kind of figured I had time to figure that out later,” he mutters petulantly. Unfortunately, it only makes him feel even more childish as soon as the words leave his mouth.
“Blaine, graduation is in two and a half weeks!” Kurt exclaims, earning them the attention of the rest of the coffee shop’s patrons and staff. “The acceptance deadlines for most schools lapsed over a month ago!”
“Wait, what?”
“Oh god!” Kurt continues, leaning forward and finally taking Blaine’s outstretched hands in his own. “Please tell me this isn’t about me. That you aren’t putting your future on hold because I’m stuck here for another year!”
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, Kurt,” Blaine answers, but he tightens his grip on Kurt’s hands so he won’t pull away again.
Kurt frowns at him but doesn’t seem angry any more, so Blaine counts it as a win. “Aren’t you graduating this year?”
Blaine lets out a startled laugh before a glance up at Kurt’s eyes tells him it’s not a joke. “Um, no.”
Kurt’s body relaxes visibly. He’s still frowning at Blaine, though it appears decidedly more confused than upset.
“Why didn’t we have classes together at Dalton if you’re not a senior?” he asks.
That’s when everything finally clicks together for Blaine- what Kurt is saying and what he has apparently been thinking- and Blaine’s not sure whether to laugh or freak out.
And it’s definitely Blaine’s turn to mumble.
“What was that?” Kurt asks reassuringly, giving Blaine’s hand a supportive squeeze. “It’s okay. You can tell me anything. I won’t judge you, I promise. Is it an academic problem?”
Blaine sighs and repeats himself. “I said, ‘Because I’m a sophomore.’”
Kurt’s eyes widen in alarm and his mouth actually gapes. Blaine tries hard not to laugh again. He isn’t very successful and earns a pinch to the forearm for it.
“I can’t believe you!” Kurt replies, his pitch escalating with each word. He pinches Blaine a second time, a little harder than before. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re only a sophomore?”
“You didn’t ask?” Blaine offers.
Kurt’s scowl stops Blaine’s amusement cold.
“I’m sorry, Kurt,” he says sincerely. “I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”
“How could I have known?” Kurt returns. Loudly. “You walk around that school like you own the place. The Warbler Council grovels at your feet and you’re only a sophomore?”
“Say it one more time, Kurt,” Blaine retorts. “I don’t think the barista in the back heard you.”
“It’s not funny, Blaine,” Kurt replies, but much more sedately. “You have completely altered my worldview here.”
“I haven’t changed, you know,” Blaine reminds him. “I’m still me.”
Kurt smiles at him and threads their fingers together. “But seriously, you’re like fifteen?”
“Sixteen,” Blaine corrects. “Coo coo ca choo, Mr. Hummel.”
Kurt rolls his eyes, but the sides of his mouth definitely quirk upward. “I hope you realize that you’ll pay for that one.”
“I do,” Blaine acknowledges. “Now, let’s get out of here. We seem to have lost our audience.”
Kurt’s eyes dart around and take in the few lingering looks directed their way. “Well, that just upped my mortification level. Thanks for that.”
“Anytime.”
Blaine grabs Kurt’s hand and pulls him toward the exit. They walk in silence all the way out to Kurt’s car.
“Finn is going to laugh himself sick when he finds out,” Kurt says morosely, opening a door to throw his bag in the backseat. “And Santana’s going to call me a cradle-robber for weeks. And then Brittany will misunderstand and say something even more horrifying.”
Blaine snickers until Kurt turns back and catches him. He tries his best to cover it up with a supportive smile.
And, yeah, they’re really going to have to have a conversation about the pinching thing. He’s going to have bruises tomorrow.
“Are you okay?” Blaine asks, settling into a lean against the driver’s door. “Are we okay?”
Kurt smiles at him, completely warm and open. Blaine has really missed that smile.
“It’s weird,” Kurt admits, “but I’ll get used to it.”
“Good,” Blaine replies, yanking Kurt against him and nuzzling his neck until all of the residual tension has melted away.
“Wait,” Kurt says, leaning back with a frown. “If you’re only a sophomore, how do you make it back and forth from Westerville to Lima so often?”
Blaine shrugs nonchalantly and tugs Kurt back in to kiss him properly.
Character/Pairing: Kurt/Blaine
Rating: G
SPOILERS: reference to recent season 3 speculation
Word Count: ~1400
Summary: As the end of the school year approaches, Blaine tries to figure out why Kurt has been growing increasingly distant.
Notes: Ryan Murphy is a troll.
Blaine will be the first (or possibly second after Kurt) to admit that he’s not always the most observant person in the world. But even Blaine can’t help noticing the tension that’s arisen between he and Kurt over the past few weeks. Or, more accurately, the tension that Kurt has been radiating in waves at him whenever they’ve been together.
At first he assumes it’s an aftereffect of Kurt’s transfer, something going on at McKinley that Kurt is hiding in order to prevent an imagined “I told you so” that Blaine would (probably) never say. But Kurt denies it every time he asks and Finn and Mercedes provide earnest corroboration when Blaine covertly questions them as well.
After that, Blaine runs through theories about Kurt’s father’s health, Nationals, and school work, but none of them hold up to gentle questioning. Even though Kurt has been growing increasingly distant, and even a little cold, Blaine’s still pretty certain that Kurt wouldn’t actually lie to him directly.
He reaches a breaking point one afternoon while they’re sitting opposite each other at the Lima Bean. Kurt is staring glumly at the table while picking absently at the cardboard sleeve on his coffee cup, responding to Blaine’s attempts to engage him with only the occasional “hmmm” of acknowledgement.
Blaine settles on a direct approach. “Kurt, whatever is upsetting you, will you please talk to me about it?”
Kurt’s shoulders tense immediately and Blaine’s completely taken aback by the anger in his eyes when he finally looks up.
“And what do you want me to talk about, Blaine?” he asks, his voice steeped in a saccharine sarcasm of which Blaine had previously had the fortune to never be on the receiving end.
“I just want to know what’s wrong,” Blaine replies, reaching his hands across the table and trying not to flinch backward as Kurt withdraws his arms to wrap defensively around himself.
“I’m beginning to think I’ve done something terribly wrong here,” Blaine continues, “but I have no idea what it could have been.”
Kurt actually scoffs and that finally has Blaine’s own hackles rising.
“You’re honestly trying to make this about me being uncommunicative?” Kurt asks, incredulous. “That’s obtuse even for you!”
“Wow, okay,” Blaine answers sharply. “If you would actually tell me what’s wrong instead of insulting me, this conversation might actually go somewhere.”
The only word he can make out of the resultant muttering is “unbelievable.” And then Kurt is reaching for his messenger bag as if to leave and Blaine really starts to panic.
“Kurt, please,” Blaine pleads. He must sound fairly desperate because it’s enough to make Kurt pause and settle tentatively back into his seat. It also earns them the undivided attention of the people at the tables nearest them.
“I have no idea what we’re fighting about or why you’ve been shutting me out recently,” Blaine continues, “I really, really don’t.”
Kurt glares at him for an agonizingly long time before he speaks.
“Why haven’t you told me where you’re going to college, Blaine?” he asks eventually.
Blaine blinks. And gapes a little helplessly before he’s able to stutter a baffled response. “Because… I don’t… I don’t really know, Kurt. I haven’t really given it much thought yet.”
Kurt’s look of horror is not at all comforting. Blaine’s cheeks flush and he feels incredibly young and foolish, embarrassed to be caught so obviously far behind his boyfriend in thinking about the important stuff.
“Is this about… our future?” Blaine asks tentatively. “Like, are you asking if I see us going to college together? Because I’d…” he hesitates, swallowing hard to gather his nerve. “I like to think we will. I think about it a lot, actually. But I sort of figured the details would come later, you know?”
Now Kurt’s the one blinking dumbly. “You’re telling me you haven’t picked a college yet?”
Blaine’s sure his blush is now completely visible, which is totally unfair. He gets enough of this sort of pressure from his father. He doesn’t need it from Kurt as well.
“I kind of figured I had time to figure that out later,” he mutters petulantly. Unfortunately, it only makes him feel even more childish as soon as the words leave his mouth.
“Blaine, graduation is in two and a half weeks!” Kurt exclaims, earning them the attention of the rest of the coffee shop’s patrons and staff. “The acceptance deadlines for most schools lapsed over a month ago!”
“Wait, what?”
“Oh god!” Kurt continues, leaning forward and finally taking Blaine’s outstretched hands in his own. “Please tell me this isn’t about me. That you aren’t putting your future on hold because I’m stuck here for another year!”
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, Kurt,” Blaine answers, but he tightens his grip on Kurt’s hands so he won’t pull away again.
Kurt frowns at him but doesn’t seem angry any more, so Blaine counts it as a win. “Aren’t you graduating this year?”
Blaine lets out a startled laugh before a glance up at Kurt’s eyes tells him it’s not a joke. “Um, no.”
Kurt’s body relaxes visibly. He’s still frowning at Blaine, though it appears decidedly more confused than upset.
“Why didn’t we have classes together at Dalton if you’re not a senior?” he asks.
That’s when everything finally clicks together for Blaine- what Kurt is saying and what he has apparently been thinking- and Blaine’s not sure whether to laugh or freak out.
And it’s definitely Blaine’s turn to mumble.
“What was that?” Kurt asks reassuringly, giving Blaine’s hand a supportive squeeze. “It’s okay. You can tell me anything. I won’t judge you, I promise. Is it an academic problem?”
Blaine sighs and repeats himself. “I said, ‘Because I’m a sophomore.’”
Kurt’s eyes widen in alarm and his mouth actually gapes. Blaine tries hard not to laugh again. He isn’t very successful and earns a pinch to the forearm for it.
“I can’t believe you!” Kurt replies, his pitch escalating with each word. He pinches Blaine a second time, a little harder than before. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re only a sophomore?”
“You didn’t ask?” Blaine offers.
Kurt’s scowl stops Blaine’s amusement cold.
“I’m sorry, Kurt,” he says sincerely. “I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”
“How could I have known?” Kurt returns. Loudly. “You walk around that school like you own the place. The Warbler Council grovels at your feet and you’re only a sophomore?”
“Say it one more time, Kurt,” Blaine retorts. “I don’t think the barista in the back heard you.”
“It’s not funny, Blaine,” Kurt replies, but much more sedately. “You have completely altered my worldview here.”
“I haven’t changed, you know,” Blaine reminds him. “I’m still me.”
Kurt smiles at him and threads their fingers together. “But seriously, you’re like fifteen?”
“Sixteen,” Blaine corrects. “Coo coo ca choo, Mr. Hummel.”
Kurt rolls his eyes, but the sides of his mouth definitely quirk upward. “I hope you realize that you’ll pay for that one.”
“I do,” Blaine acknowledges. “Now, let’s get out of here. We seem to have lost our audience.”
Kurt’s eyes dart around and take in the few lingering looks directed their way. “Well, that just upped my mortification level. Thanks for that.”
“Anytime.”
Blaine grabs Kurt’s hand and pulls him toward the exit. They walk in silence all the way out to Kurt’s car.
“Finn is going to laugh himself sick when he finds out,” Kurt says morosely, opening a door to throw his bag in the backseat. “And Santana’s going to call me a cradle-robber for weeks. And then Brittany will misunderstand and say something even more horrifying.”
Blaine snickers until Kurt turns back and catches him. He tries his best to cover it up with a supportive smile.
And, yeah, they’re really going to have to have a conversation about the pinching thing. He’s going to have bruises tomorrow.
“Are you okay?” Blaine asks, settling into a lean against the driver’s door. “Are we okay?”
Kurt smiles at him, completely warm and open. Blaine has really missed that smile.
“It’s weird,” Kurt admits, “but I’ll get used to it.”
“Good,” Blaine replies, yanking Kurt against him and nuzzling his neck until all of the residual tension has melted away.
“Wait,” Kurt says, leaning back with a frown. “If you’re only a sophomore, how do you make it back and forth from Westerville to Lima so often?”
Blaine shrugs nonchalantly and tugs Kurt back in to kiss him properly.