Some Enchanted Evening
Title: Some Enchanted Evening
Artist: lesorientales
Author: holdmetootight
Rating: PG
Word Count: 6,424
Warnings (if any): N/A
Fic Summary: AU. Costume designer Kurt has heard a lot about Blaine Anderson from his best friend Rachel. He finally gets to meet him when they all work together on a production of South Pacific. At first Blaine seems to be every bit as perfect Rachel as Rachel had described him, but when a meddling Sebastian gives Kurt the wrong impression, Blaine must figure out how to make Kurt his. Loosely follows the lyrics of Some Enchanted Evening from the musical South Pacific.
Link to Art: Art!
Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger
“Let me see it! Please?”
“No, Rachel,” Kurt hisses, hastily covering up his sketch pad.
“Come on, Kurt,” she persists. “I just want a peek!”
“None of the cast members get a say in the initial costume designs, and that includes you. Even if you are my best friend.”
“But I just want to look. I swear, I won’t say a word,” she says, as she mimes locking her lips and throwing away a key.
“We both know that’s not true,” Kurt says with a snort. “You can see your costume when everyone else gets to see their costumes - after I’ve made the mock-ups.”
“Fine,” Rachel says, pouting.
“Rachel, have I ever designed a costume you didn’t like?”
“No,” she grumbles.
“Then you have no reason to doubt your Nellie costume.”
“Can I be the first one to see my costume?” she asks brightly.
“I suppose,” Kurt agrees.
“Yes!” she exclaims, clapping her hands together. “So, what shall we make for dinner?”
“I think there’s some chicken in the fridge that we can have, but I won’t be able to help you make it. I have to go down to the theater and do measurements for our Lieutenant Cable,” he says, packing his sketchbook into his satchel.
A sour look passes over Rachel’s face. “I still think he would have made a better Emile than Cable. We’ve played opposite each other before and we already have chemistry! We could have been wonderful as Nellie and Emile but no, they just had to give that role to Sebastian because he can speak French. I bet Blaine could learn French if he tried hard enough!”
“Oh please, Rachel. You only want Blaine Anderson to play the Emile to your Nellie because you want to kiss him again.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says dismissively. “I admire Blaine Anderson for his esteemed acting talent and his ability to adapt to a wide variety of roles and if he just happened to prove he was an amazing kisser while playing the Albert Peterson to my Rose Alvarez, well, I cannot fault him for that!”
Kurt laughs as Rachel begins pulling pots and pans out from the cabinet next to the oven. “Whatever you say, Rachel,” he says with a smile as he shoves his cell phone into his back pocket. “Your antics never cease to amuse me. I can’t wait to meet Blaine and see if he stands up to your rave reviews.” He pecks Rachel on the cheek and heads for the door. “I’ll be back soon!”
He takes the elevator down seven floors to the lobby and steps out into the cool summer air. The theatre is only eight blocks away and it’s a beautiful night so Kurt decides he’ll walk. Being able to walk nearly everywhere is actually one of the things Kurt loves most about living in the city. Sure in the beginning he and Rachel got lost their fair share of times, but they’ve been here for six years now, so by now it’s second nature. Walking gives Kurt time to reflect and really take in the atmosphere over and over again. The sights, the scents, the sounds - he will never get tired of city life.
There is something almost enchanting about walking the city streets on a night like this. The sky is velvety blue, dotted with starlight, not a cloud in sight. A soft breeze ruffles his hair as he thinks about how lucky he and Rachel are to have such fantastic jobs in such a great city. There is no doubt in his mind that this is where they were meant to be. The two of them were born to take this city by storm, Rachel with her voice and Kurt with his designs, and they were even more lucky to be doing it together still, after all these years.
It’s a beautifully clear evening and as Kurt takes in all of the lights and all of the people he is filled with a sudden sense of optimism, as if anything is possible tonight. And maybe it is. After all, this is the city where dreams come true.
You may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
“Alright man, I’ll see you at home later,” Blaine calls to Wes as they part ways outside of their favorite local café. Blaine turns and heads toward the Rosemont Theatre, sipping his medium drip and enjoying the oncoming evening. Nighttime in the city is something Blaine will never grow tired of experiencing. It’s somehow peaceful even amid the normal hustle and bustle of people coming and going on the crowded streets. Blaine walks towards the setting sun and as the streetlights flicker to life he checks his cell phone for the time. Fifteen minutes, he thinks, plenty of time.
He walks in through the front of the theater. He should probably use the stage door, but entering through the front always makes it seem more real. It’s more magical, somehow, to go into the theater the same way that the patrons do instead of through the door the actors use. He loves climbing the regal staircase lined with a deep red velvet and gold trim, and he can’t stop himself from running his hand over the ornate gold banister.
He enters stage right, taking his time to walk down a long aisle so as not to disrupt the choreographer and ensemble dancers. When he gets to the front of the stage he can’t help but stop to watch them. One of his favorite things about working in the theater is that he gets to appreciate all the effort that goes into a production. While his acting and singing are great, or so he’s been told, his dancing is always what needs the most work, and to see it done almost effortlessly by the other cast members is something Blaine will always be in awe of. The way their limbs move so fluidly and they somehow manage to be in sync with each other despite being spread out all over the stage is so impressive to Blaine. He loses himself in watching the dancers and nearly forgets about his appointment with the costume designer until he sees a tall figure emerge behind the stage left curtains. The lights on stage are far too bright for Blaine to make out anything, but he assumes that this is the costume designer, one Kurt Hummel, so he signals with his hand that he’ll meet him back stage.
He slips out through the exit to his left and then through the unassuming door that leads backstage. His eyes take a moment to adjust to the dim lights beading the narrow walkways that lead to different backstage areas. A door outlined in glowing light at the end of the walkway is Blaine’s destination. As he approaches the door his eyes are drawn to the placard hung about three-quarters of the way up. Kurt Hummel, Costume Designer is printed on the same green plate with white text that hangs uniformly on every door backstage, but surrounding the nameplate are several glittery gold stars that seem vaguely familiar.
Blaine knocks lightly on the door and a soft voice from inside calls, “Come in!”
He twists the doorknob and steps into the room. He’s met with the sight of Kurt fumbling around in a drawer for something and has a moment to take in the other man’s appearance. He’s slightly taller than Blaine, lean and fit, simply dressed in skin-tight gray jeans and a soft lavender dress shirt under a charcoal gray vest. His hair is perfectly styled, not a lock out of place, and Blaine finds himself momentarily stunned at how beautiful Kurt is.
“Found it!” Kurt announces suddenly, pulling a tangled mass of measuring tape from the drawer. He begins to untangle the yellow tape, and when he finally glances up at Blaine, the first word out of his mouth is a simple, breathy, “Oh.”
And somehow you know
You know even then
“Oh,” Kurt breathes, momentarily stunned. Because this Blaine Anderson guy is even more good-looking than Rachel described. His curly hair is loose and hanging slightly in his amber eyes, which are sparkling with some hint of amusement. He’s slightly shorter than Kurt, with broad shoulders and muscles that are straining in the short-sleeves of his green plaid button-down. He’s wearing a bow-tie - an honest-to-God bowtie - and -
“Sweet Jesus, are you wearing suspenders?”
“Yes?” Blaine answers uncertainly. Has he already made a bad impression? Has his choice of clothing offended the clearly sophisticated tastes of the costume designer?
“You’re even more adorable than Rachel described you!” Kurt blurts out; clearly he’s working without a filter tonight.
“Rachel as in Rachel Berry? Well that explains the gold stars on your door,” Blaine says, internally hoping that Kurt won’t notice the blush creeping up on his cheeks.
“Sorry!” Kurt gushes. “She, uh…speaks very highly of you.”
“But apparently not highly enough, according to you,” Blaine teases. At least now Kurt is blushing, too. “Can you keep a secret?”
Kurt nods.
“You’re kind of adorable yourself,” Blaine says cheekily.
“Is that so?”
“Oh, yes,” Blaine says, nodding his head emphatically.
“Well, I think we can safely assume that the only way for my face to get any more pink is if I accidentally cop a feel while I take your measurements, so…shall we get started?”
“Measure away,” Blaine says with a charming smile.
Kurt gets to work with his yellow measuring tape, writing down Blaine’s numbers as he goes. He’s definitely not thinking about how positively kissable Blaine looks in his nerdy yet chic ensemble, and he most certainly is not admiring how Blaine’s pants hug his hips. He’s being absolutely professional. Really, he swears. But as he catches Blaine’s eyes in the mirror, he feels that familiar blush returning to his cheeks.
“Coffee!” Blaine bursts out suddenly.
“Coffee?” Kurt raises an eyebrow.
“I’d, uh, like to take you out. For coffee. If you’d want to? I know this great little place on forty-seventh street.”
“Coffee Corner?”
“Yeah, you know it?”
“I love it!”
“So…is that a yes, then?”
“It most certainly is,” Kurt says with a grin.
You know even then
That somewhere you’ll see her
Again and again
Their moment is, of course, interrupted when the door swings open with a crash against the sewing machine table. Kurt jerks his head up in surprise just as he is measuring Blaine’s inseam, making for awkward, mumbled apologies as the two men jump apart from each other. They sheepishly avoid eye contact and instead turn their attention to the intruder, who is doing a horrible job of pretending to mask his chuckling.
“So sorry,” he says, not sounding sorry in the least. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.” His voice exudes smugness and the smirk on his face just adds to Kurt’s gut feeling that he is not going to like this person, whoever he is.
“You didn’t interrupt anything, Sebastian,” Blaine says shortly. Oh, Kurt thinks. So this is Sebastian.
“Well, I would hope not,” Sebastian says, wrapping his arm around Blaine’s shoulders. And apparently he and Blaine are an item. But…but Blaine just asked me out!
Kurt turns around and shoves his measuring tape back into the drawer of his desk, missing the not so subtle glare that Blaine directs at Sebastian as he shoves his arm away.
“Sebastian Smythe,” Sebastian says, holding out a hand to Kurt once he turns around.
“Pleasure,” Kurt says dryly, shaking Sebastian’s hand. He doesn’t think it’s his imagination that makes it seem as though
Sebastian is attempting to crush his fingers with his overly firm handshake.
“I trust you received my e-mail detailing my costume measurements?”
“Yes,” Kurt replies tersely.
“Wonderful.” Does he ever stop smirking, Kurt wonders briefly. “Come on, Blainey. You promised to show me that coffee place you love so much.” Sebastian links their arms and directs Blaine toward the door. “See you at the cast party tomorrow night, Kirk,” Sebastian says idly as the walk out the door.
“It’s Kurt,” Kurt bites out, but they’re already gone.
~~~
“So, I was right, wasn’t I? Blaine is just gorgeous, isn’t he?”
“Rachel, he’s gay.”
“What? No! But…but I have such good gaydar!” Rachel shrieks. “I have two gay dads! There is no way that he could be that good a kisser and not be straight!”
“Trust me, Rach, he’s not interested in girls.”
“Hmmph,” she says, crossing her arms in front of her. “Well, if I don’t have a chance with him I suppose it’s good that you do.”
“Ha!” Kurt says as he drops his satchel onto the floor and slumps down onto the sofa. “Blaine Anderson is not all you’ve made him out to be.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. We hit it off spectacularly. I flirted, he flirted, he asked me out for coffee. And then his boyfriend Sebastian shows up.”
“What?! Ugh, I knew Sebastian was bad news as soon as they posted the cast list and he told me to pucker up!” Rachel exclaims.
“Oh but Rachel, he can speak French,” Kurt says, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
A determined look passes over Rachel’s face. “I suppose we’ll just have to deal with him. We are professionals, after all. We can put up with him.”
“I know. Blaine just looked so adorable in that bowtie, though. For a moment I thought I stood a chance.”
***
“Trust me, Wes, Kurt’s not interested, not after that stunt Sebastian pulled.”
“I still think you should just let me accidentally trip Sebastian and - ”
“No,” Blaine says firmly, cutting him off. “That would ruin the show and besides he’ll get the hint eventually if I keep rejecting him. Won’t he?”
“Doubtful,” Wes says, snorting into his coffee mug. “You’ve been spurning his advances for, what, three months?”
“Yeah, ever since auditions,” Blaine says.
“He’s never going to take no for an answer, Blaine. You’re too nice to him!”
“I can’t help it! He just has this way of manipulating you into doing something and you don’t even realize it until you’re going out for coffee together!”
“You went out for coffee together? Blaine! At this rate, the only way he’d lay off is if you started going out with someone. And even then, I’m not so sure.”
Blaine sighs. “I just…there’s just something about Kurt that makes me really want to get to know him better. And I’m pretty sure Sebastian just ruined any chance of that happening.”
“Tomorrow night’s the cast party right? Maybe you can talk to him then.”
“What about Sebastian?” Blaine asks, taking a sip from his mug.
“Leave him to me.”
“Wes,” Blaine says warningly.
“I just mean that I’ll run interference! I won’t hurt him. I promise. Good thing you decided to take me as your plus one, right?”
“I only agreed because you begged me,” Blaine reminds him. “Something about ‘not wanting to miss out on an opportunity for romance?’”
A sheepish look passes over Wes’s face.
“Just don’t get too distracted, okay?”
“Deal,” Wes says, and they clink coffee mugs in agreement.
Some enchanted evening
Someone may be laughin',
You may hear her laughin'
Across a crowded room
And night after night,
As strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter
Will sing in your dreams
His laughter reaches Blaine’s ears from across the bar, a sweet, tinkling sound like wind chimes or bells. The sound draws his head up from its hunched-over position as Blaine nurses his beer. Somehow he knows even before he turns around that the melodic laughter that reaches his ears belongs to Kurt.
Sure enough, when he turns around he sees Kurt on the edge of the dance floor with Rachel, hand clasped over his mouth, eyes sparkling with laughter. Blaine suddenly wishes that he was the one making Kurt laugh. He wants to be the one making Kurt’s eyes flicker with mirth. So why is he still sitting here?
He’s been at the party for about an hour at this point, simultaneously trying to avoid Sebastian and spot Kurt, and at the very moment he stands up from his stool, he fails at doing the first, but accomplishes the second, with disastrous results.
As soon as Blaine catches Kurt’s attention he raises his hand in greeting, but his smile doesn’t even have time to form on his face before he feels an arm wrap around his waist. He knows without even having to turn around that it’s Sebastian. Kurt’s eyes turn cold the next moment, and he pulls Rachel further onto the dance floor.
“When I get my hands on Wes…” Blaine mutters under his breath, not able to believe his bad luck.
“What was that, sweets?”
“Don’t call me that,” Blaine says gruffly, trying to push Sebastian off him.
“What’s wrong, Blainey?”
“Don’t call me that either!” Blaine grunts, finally extricating himself from Sebastian’s grip. He storms off towards the exit, grabbing Wes by the arm along the way and tugging him out the door.
“What gives?” Wes exclaims as he wrests his arm from Blaine’s grasp.
“You were supposed to be keeping Sebastian away from me!”
“I got distracted!” Wes says, trying to keep up with Blaine’s fast stride. “Blaine, slow down!”
“Stupid Sebastian is ruining everything! Kurt won’t even look at me because he thinks I’m some sleaze who flirts with other men when he’s dating someone else! He thinks I’m a sleazy, flirty, cheater, and I’m not even dating anyone! And - ”
“Blaine, calm down!” Wes says, finally catching up to him.
“…never going to speak to me again and costume fittings are going to be so awkward and - ”
“Blaine!” Wes grabs him by the shoulders and spins him around to face him. “Breathe! Just take a nice deep breath and we’ll figure this out, okay?”
Blaine stares at Wes blankly as if it just dawned on him that he’s been rambling for three blocks. His eyes dart around and take in the glowing Starbucks sign, and even though he hates commercial chains, he’s kind of desperate right now.
“Okay,” he says. “Okay. Caffeine. Caffeine, and then we figure things out.”
***
By the time they’re seated at a secluded corner in the back of the café, steaming cups of hot coffee in their hands, Blaine is thinking much more clearly.
“I need a plan,” he says.
“What kind of plan?” Wes asks.
“A wooing plan.”
“A wooing plan.” Wes repeats, sounding skeptic.
“Yes. A wooing plan that Sebastian won’t interrupt. All I need is time alone with Kurt. But that’s going to be kind of difficult seeing how just looking at me apparently puts him in a sour mood.”
“I’m sure he would give you a chance to explain that Sebastian is just an overbearing cast mate and not your boyfriend. When is your first uniform fitting?”
“It’s supposed to be next week. I think he’s already got the initial pieces done, he just needed measurements to make sure everything fits.”
“There you go, then. Just talk to him at your fitting.”
Blaine takes a bit of his chocolate biscotti and mulls it over. “But what if Sebastian interrupts again?”
“I say let him have it. Someone needs to put that weasel in his place. Why not you?”
“Yesterday you were saying that I’m too nice.”
“You are. I just think that if Kurt is really as worth getting to know as you say he is, then you won’t let anything get in the way.”
“I suppose that’s a valid point.”
“See, I always come up with a solution.” Wes says, clearly proud of himself. “When have I ever steered you wrong?”
“Well, the words, ‘Let me be your plus one’, ring a bell.”
“Ah,” Wes says raising his hand up to stop Blaine. “But you have a plan now, and that’s what matters.”
“You’re lucky you’re my best friend.”
“Oh, stop. You know you love me.”
***
A few nights later Wes finds Blaine sitting at their kitchen table in complete darkness at three o’clock in the morning nursing a cup of pomegranate tea.
“Blaine, this is the third night in a row that you haven’t been able to sleep,” he says, blearily rubbing his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“S’alright,” Wes says, yawning. “What’s keeping you up?”
“It’s Kurt. I…I keep dreaming about him. I can hear his laughter and it’s just absolutely beautiful.”
“And then you wake up?”
“No,” Blaine says sourly. “Then his face turns into Sebastian’s face and his laugh turns into a cackle and then I wake up. And then I can’t go back to sleep, so I make tea.”
“Your costume fitting can’t come soon enough, huh?”
The only response Wes gets is the definitive thud of Blaine’s head hitting the table repeatedly.
Part 2