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New York wasn’t quite the fantasy it had been two years earlier. Of course they’d been in a very nice hotel and their room had been several floors above the street. A siren roaring past the window didn’t have the same effect as it did in the cheap hotel that Kurt’s money could afford. There’d also been more than one bed and Rachel was not Blaine. Kurt was only used to sharing his bed with Blaine.
Luckily halfway through the night they’d found an agreement. It seemed that in many ways the Hummel-Hudson step brothers were similar with their sleeping styles. Kurt stretched out on his back as Rachel let her head rest against his chest.
Apparently she did that with Finn.
He definitely did that with Blaine.
He just loved the weight of Blaine’s head resting over his heart. And Blaine was just. So. Warm. Rachel was a lot smaller and she had all the wrong curves but at the very least he could tolerate her snuggled up against him. They were best friends after all. This was fine.
And comforting too. He’d actually been able to fall asleep after she’d rolled over and nestled herself up to his side.
Neither of them stirred again until the sun came up and peeked through the thin curtains. Then, despite the haze, the world started to come to life again. Semi-quiet New York City picked up the bustle of the morning rush. The two young adults could hear arguments on the street corner a few yards from their room. Kurt’s fingers curled around Rachel’s arm. She snuggled closer to his side.
Her alarm went off.
His alarm went off.
Without even opening her eyes, Rachel pulled herself up. Without opening his eyes, Kurt tilted his head towards her. Neither of them thought about it. Their lips pressed together in the fluid and familiar motion. To Kurt, he was kissing Blaine, though they were hours apart and had already given their goodbye kisses. For Rachel, this was Finn. Though he’d been missing for four months. Though there hadn’t been a call or even a letter.
For a short second, the world was perfect.
Until they opened their eyes.
Each let out a scream as they pushed away and tumbled from the opposite sides of the bed. Rachel grabbed for her phone to shut off the Barbra Streisand medley that always woke her up. Kurt rubbed lips as he tried to figure out what in the great universe had caused him to think he was with Blaine. Yes they both loved Streisand but clearly his boyfriend’s Katy Perry tracks would always be his alarm. He claimed they got him energized for the day. Kurt supposed he couldn’t complain. He’d subjected Blaine to several Gaga alarms over the last several months.
“Are you ok?” he asked as he regained himself.
“Me?”
“Yeah you.” Kurt pressed his hands into the mattress as he pulled his body up. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah.” He watched as his best friend shifted on the floor, never raising her head to look into his eyes.
“You need to get ready for class.” Clothes. That was a good excuse to get them moving and to avoid the talk they had coming after that. “I’ll look for apartments while you’re busy. How does that sound?”
“Like a plan. Uhm. Where did...where did I leave my suitcase…”
“Right here.” He lifted it to the bed for her. “Maybe I should go get the rest of your things instead.”
“No, we need a place to keep them. We need to get a place.” Kurt walked around the foot of the hotel bed. This wasn’t going to work. He knelt beside his friend. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“...no.”
“Rachel-”
“What about you?”
“I’m..ok. I mean. You aren’t the first girl I’ve kissed. Probably won’t be the last either, knowing Broadway.”
“I kissed you.”
“Did you? It sure seemed mutual.” Now she was looking at him. He rested back on his heels.
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Yes, that bothers me. But it’s not like we meant it. It was just an accident. A mutual accident.”
“You, the gayest man I know, had a mutual kissing accident with a girl.”
“I kissed Brittany several times I’ll have you know. Willingly.”
“Because you were trying to make yourself straight for your dad. That doesn’t work on me Kurt. I know basically all of your secrets. And...can we think about this for a second? I just used you, and you just used me, as a stand in because we can’t have the people we want right now. What’s to keep us from doing that again!”
“Rachel...no offense, but I’d never do that again.”
“Are you sure? No matter how lonely you get, if we were in the same bed half out of our minds with exhaustion, you’d never ever do that again? Or...or...”
“Woah there! No! It was a mistake. Yes we both agreed on it but we’re both exhausted and yeah NYC is kind of terrifying right now and it’d sure be nice if Blaine were here right now because that would most definitely make me feel a whole lot better and I know you feel the same about Finn but they’re not here but we’re tired enough to imagine they might be and sure it was comforting but it was just a silly mistake to make ourselves feel better.”
“Are you going to tell Blaine what happened?” His mouth shut tight as he thought over those words. “Exactly.”
“Hold on! I think I will tell him. But I’m not going to go into it saying ‘hey Blaine I kissed Rachel it was an accident.’ I...I don’t know. It’s not cheating, and its not like we want each other like that in any capacity. I just mistook you for Blaine for a moment. I wanted him so badly that I thought you were him.”
“And what if that wasn’t me but, say, some other new friend you’d made.”
“I’d never let just anyone sleep next to me in bed Rachel. I like my personal space. Very few people are allowed to broach my bubble.”
Rachel took in a sharp breath. She did feel a little bit honored, when he put it that way, to have been allowed to snuggle with the boy who could be the prickliest of cactuses at times. “I really need to get to class.”
“Rachel.”
“I’m going to be late.” She scooped up her clothes and dipped into the bathroom to get changed. Kurt jumped as his phone dinged.
Good morning! How’s New York?
Blaine. Kurt put his phone screen-down on the carpet. It wasn’t cheating. It was just an accident. He still felt scummy, kissing someone else like that. For comfort of all things. What if that was a sign that he would be weak? No. No - he’d be fine. He was going to get a job, they were going to get a place, he was going to get into NYADA’s spring semester. It was fine. He didn’t need someone to cuddle with because he was going to be too busy to accidentally have a mutal kissing accident with some stranger.
“Hey, are you ok?” Rachel called over to him. He hadn’t even noticed her coming out. But she knew what was on his mind. He wasn’t Brody but...since Finn had been missing, Brody had been a very comforting presence in her life. Kurt was now too. He couldn’t fill that space exactly but...it had been nice. To be held again. To not be alone in this giant city.
“Yeah.”
“Kurt…” She slipped over, sliding down beside him. “I do love you, as a friend.” Her hand reached out for his, and he let her take it.
“I love you too, as a friend. I just never realized how hard it was going to be and I’ve only been here for one day...I can’t even imagine how hard it’s been for you. Four months?”
“I miss everyone every single day.” Kurt pulled her closer, and Rachel let her head drop down to rest on his shoulder. “I’m sorry for kissing you. I know it won’t happen again I just...it’s so nice to have someone again.”
“It’s ok. I very much asked for it…”
“Kurt, you’re going to be fine. We’ll look out for each other and if either of us goes to do anything really stupid we can just tell each other ‘no think of your boyfriend’ it’s really that simple.”
“Soooo should I say how I feel about that NYADA guy you’ve been texting since I got here?”
“...No, no. Ok. I’ll remind you of your boyfriend and...You’ll make sure I don’t break my own heart?”
“Finn’s my brother Rachel.”
“Have you heard from him?”
“...Nothing. Not even Carole knows where he is. It’s killing her.”
“...Yeah. I’m sorry I can’t talk about him right now. I need to be in a good mood for class. The teacher is horrible-”
“You’ve told me.”
“Yeah. I need all my strength for this one. I’ll worry about Finn later. We can sit down and talk all night about him. But as far as Blaine goes, don’t worry. Kissing me does not mean you’ll cheat on him.” Her arms wrapped tight around the man. “See you in a few hours.”
“Hopefully I’ll have a home with room for two beds by then,” he joked lightly back as she hurried out the door. His phone went off again.
Ok so I know you’re probably still asleep, but I have so much to tell you. Call me? You know when my lunch is.
Kurt glanced at the clock. He knew the exact moment of every bell at McKinley, when the break between each class was and when Blaine would end up in detention for being on the phone. He could easily call before then. Or text. They always texted in class. Every single teenager Kurt knew was a pro at it. But he needed to actually talk to Blaine. Talk talk.
There were still three hours until lunch break. Kurt took a deep breath and hurried to get dressed.
---
“Hey Kurt are you ok?” the debonaire voice soothed its way through his phone.
“Hm? Yeah. I’m great.”
“Are you sure? You’ve been really quiet. And not in the ‘I’m paying attention’ kind of way either.”
“I...I’m sorry Blaine there’s just so much on my mind right now. Rachel’s counting on me to find a place for us to live and so far all I’ve found is either completely out of our price range or too small for one person let alone two. I mean, I guess technically dorm-size is typical for people our age but I can’t live in a place that small with her.”
“I know, there’s not enough room for both of your wardrobes in a space like that.”
“I mean, there’s that...but…” He took a deep breath.
“But?”
“Blaine, I uhm. I need to tell you...ugh, ok, so…”
“Kurt? What’s wrong?” He could hear the worry in his love’s voice.
“It’s not bad. I mean, it’s not...It’s weird. I need to tell you something and it’s very, very weird.”
“Okaaay?”
“Ok. So.” Kurt took another deep breath. “So you know how when we wake up at the same time we always kiss before we get out of bed?”
“Yes?”
“Rachel and I woke up at the same time this morning. And.”
“And you kissed her?”
“Kurt kissed a girl?” he heard a familiar voice echo behind Blaine.
“Shh!”
“Why is Artie there!” Kurt yelped.
“I’m hiding in the locker rooms. The teachers are really cracking down on the no cell phones rule this year. Apparently someone at another school was expelled because of excessive cheating. Sorry. Sam’s here too.”
“Gee thanks for telling me.”
“I didn’t exactly expect you to tell me that you’d kissed Rachel today!”
“It was an accident!” He could hear the other boys laughing in the back and it lit his cheeks lit up like a Christmas tree. “I wasn’t completely conscious, I forgot that I wasn’t in Lima and you know it’s been weeks since we’ve slept in separate beds-”
“Kurt, Kurt! I’m not mad. I love you. I miss you so much already. I actually borrowed Brittany’s cat last night just so my bed wouldn’t be empty.”
“Did you really?”
“Yes. I did. You can ask her.”
“You’re really not upset?”
“No. Should I be?”
“No! I...it’s just...really weird.”
“You did say that. I imagine it was probably as weird as when she kissed me at the Lima Bean.”
“But not when you kissed her at her party?”
“Alcohol can really mess with your mind. You know that as well as anyone.”
“I am well aware...Blaine?”
“Hm?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I’m going to find a nice apartment, and then I’m going to find a job so that I can come visit you.”
“And hey, just a few weeks until I can come see you.”
“What?”
“Oh I didn’t tell you? For my birthday my mom is going to let me go to NYC. It won’t be the same exact weekend but that doesn’t matter.”
“Ok then I really really really need to go.”
“Why?”
“So I can make sure there’s a place to put my bed so I can be all ready for you.”
“I can’t wait.” Kurt clicked off the phone. He loved his boyfriend. He really loved his boyfriend. No, this wasn’t going to be hard at all. At least, the whole ‘will I or won’t I cheat’ thing. He was going to be fine.