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Blaine was having a fantastic day. He had the day off from work. He was finished with all of the work for his semester, so it was officially summer vacation. He took the money he got from his tax refund to get a puppy from the humane society. Blaine had spent the past three weeks looking at all the available animals online; keeping multiple tabs open while he was working on homework. Today was finally the day; he was going to pick up his puppy. Blaine had decided that, as much as he wanted a big dog, like a Bernese Mountain Dog or a Golden Retriever or a even a Great Dane, it wasn’t practical. He knew that his tiny New York apartment would not be the ideal place for them to live, especially without a yard and Blaine not being home very often. So he decided on a Beagle, because it would be small enough to be comfortable in his apartment, but was also still large enough to go on long walks in the park and they were excellent at fetch. Blaine also knew he wanted a little dog who loved to cuddle, kind of like a cat. Because as much as Blaine would tout his manliness with his friends in the locker room, he just wanted someone warm to cuddle with at night, and until he found his soulmate, a puppy would have to do!
Blaine decided to walk the 25 blocks to the nearest shelter, because the sun was out, it was warm, and it was the first day he didn’t have to be anywhere at any particular time. It was freeing. Blaine didn’t pay any mind to the clouds that were rolling in.
When he got to the shelter, Blaine checked in for his appointment, and finally got to meet his puppy. The beagle puppy was a girl who was just 10 weeks old. The humane society had her fixed. Blaine had spent his free time during finals looking at puppy names, he had finally decided on Brooke.
The volunteer led him back into the back room, and as soon as Blaine stepped into her kennel and crouched down, Brooke walked over to him and licked his hand. When Blaine picked her up, she licked his nose and ear then snuggled into his shoulder. Blaine was so excited and happy that he didn’t even notice the uncomfortable itch on his shoulder, right where his mark was.
Blaine filled out endless amounts of paperwork, agreeing that he would take Brooke to the vet within the next two weeks, advising him on puppy classes and what was the best food for her. Finally Blaine left the shelter with Brooke and headed home.
***
Kurt was having a shitty day. Well, shitty day was probably an understatement. Kurt was having a royally awful, unbelievably shitty, horrible no good very bad day. The morning had just started off bad; Kurt woke up an hour late, and didn’t have enough time to go through his morning routine or properly fix his hair. He had to just throw on a shirt and blazer and hope it looked good enough. Rachel was doing vocal warm-ups in the bathroom and used up all the hot water. Santana had some girl, clad in only the pink sheet from her air mattress, in the kitchen and they were making breakfast. Oh yeah, and someone drank the last of his coffee, without bothering to tell him. And to top it all off his mark was itching, and this was really not the day for that.
Kurt decided, after having the worst class ever at NYADA that he was going to feign sickness, go home, make himself a mug of tea and eat an entire bag of Oreos to make this day better, alone, while watching The Notebook. He stormed through Starbucks, getting a mocha with extra whipped cream and chocolate drizzle to go. Of course, it started to downpour while he was walking to the subway, and he dropped the coffee on his shoes when a very rude woman knocked into him while turning a corner.
Kurt’s mood went from awful to worse and he was looking forward to covering himself in a blanket and forgetting the world for the rest of the day. God he hoped his roommates were not going to be home anytime soon.
When he finally got on the train, he put his headphones on and put his favorite playlist, trying to improve his mood slightly. It didn’t work. As he sat there, the name on his shoulder blade started to itch more and more, slowly turning into a dull ache with an edge of pain. Kurt remembered what his father had explained to him, with the help of pamphlets, told him about his mark on the day it first appeared. “The skin will be itchy and painful now for a couple of days and then the next time it should itch and hurt is when you are about to meet your soulmate, whose name is written there.” Kurt was not in the mood to meet his soulmate, although every romantic movie he had ever seen told him that he, Kurt checked the name when it first appeared on his skin, would understand completely and be everything Kurt needed in every way.
Kurt just hoped that it wasn’t actually the day he was going to meet Mr. Blaine Anderson, but that it was just a mosquito bite or something near the mark and his brain was supplying the steadily increasing pain.
***
Just as Blaine was passing a subway stop, the skies opened up and a drenching rain started coming down. Blaine turned around with Brooke and hurried into the station. He picked up the puppy and carried her down to the tracks, where the train was just pulling away. Blaine cursed, sitting down to wait for the next train in eight minutes. While he was sitting there, he noticed that his shoulder was itching and sort of hurting. He didn’t think anything of it. Wondering idly if it might be his mark, if today might be the day he would meet Kurt Hummel.
Brooke was very unhappy. She didn’t like the loud noises in the station and was curious about all the people. But she seemed to trust Blaine already, which he figured was a good thing. He hauled her up onto his lap and scratched behind her ears. When the train arrived, Blaine carried her on to the train. A shooting pain through his right shoulder nearly knocked him over. He stumbled slightly, banging into the metal pole next to the chairs and also the man who was sitting there. Blaine muttered an apology before taking the only seat available, next to the man he just ran in to. The man didn’t appear to be too upset, his eyes were closed and he was listening to music.
Blaine settled in, holding Brooke on his lap. Blaine looked around, smiling to himself. Somewhere on this subway was his soulmate, and it was only a matter of a few minutes until he met him. Blaine couldn’t be happier. While he was looking around, he wasn’t paying attention to what Brooke was doing, and before he knew it there was a voice coming from his right side.
“Excuse me!” Blaine was startled out of his trance by the harshness of the voice. “Your dog just licked me. That is unsanitary. I would appreciate it if you moved.”
Kurt put as much force into the words as possible; he just didn’t want to deal with the world today.
Blaine looked up, surprised to see a gorgeous man looking at him, “I’m sorry. She doesn’t have any manners yet, I just picked her up from the shelter today.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have let her get that close to me. Its gross and unsanitary.” Kurt huffs, glaring at the man next to him.
Blaine was shocked; he stroked Brooke’s head, to comfort her as much as himself, “Well, you know dogs have cleaner mouths than humans. But I’m very sorry.”
“That’s what every dog owner says, but in reality dogs lick their own butts.”
Blaine choked out a strangled laugh. Kurt glared at him, which caused Blaine to stop laughing. Blaine turned his head and looked in his eyes, they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. For some reason, despite their conversation, Blaine felt he had to introduce himself, he stuck out his hand, “My name’s Blaine.”
Kurt’s gaze immediately changed, it softened. “Blaine? As in Blaine Anderson?”
Blaine was stunned, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, this gorgeous man knew his name. “Yeah, that’s me. Have we met before?”
Kurt laughed, Blaine wasn’t following the rapid change in direction this conversation was taking. Blaine could only stare at the man next to him, once he finally laughed it all out, he said, “Kurt Hummel.”
As soon as Blaine heard the name that was in raised script on his shoulder, he understood. He had met his Kurt Hummel, his soulmate. Because it was raining and his new puppy felt like licking the person next to him on the subway. It took a moment before Blaine noticed that Kurt had stuck his hand out to shake, when Blaine took it, sparks shot through his whole body, almost like an orgasm, surprising him. His eyes went wide and he gasped. Kurt had a very similar reaction, groaning as their hands met.
Blaine sat with his eyes shut and his mouth stuck open in a gasp. Blaine was broken out of his stupor by Brooke licking his ear; he laughed. Kurt blinked at Blaine, his eyes softening from the harsh glare he had gotten.
“Hi.” Blaine broke the silence.
Kurt smiled softly at him, “Hi.”
“I feel like I should say something more profound, especially after just…” Blaine looked around him and lowered his voice so only Kurt could hear him, “meeting my soulmate.”
“Why are you whispering?” Kurt responded in a whisper.
“Because I don’t really want to share this moment with anyone, and with the popularity of public outings of soulmates lately, I don’t want to be the next YouTube sensation.” Blaine couldn’t help but think of the videos Cooper sent him of soulmates being ‘outed’ in public, Blaine thought it was disgraceful, people arranging very public meetings of soulmates, something that by definition was private, and then putting them out for entertainment. The worst was when it was same-sex soulmates because of the stigma that was still attached to not having a name of the opposite sex on your shoulder.
Kurt nodded, he took his time unplugging his headphones and putting them in his backpack. The train screeched to a stop in the next station, Kurt asked, “When’s your stop?”
Blaine looked up, trying to figure out where they were, “Uh, Central Ave. I think its in five stops?”
Kurt stared at Blaine, disbelieving. “You live in Bushwick? So do I. “ Kurt could not comprehend the entire afternoon, not only had he met his soulmate, but his soulmate lived around the corner from him probably. “My stop is Myrtle Ave.”
“We live in the same neighborhood! We probably use the same laundramat and grocery store. How is it that we are just meeting now?”
“I’ve lived in Bushwick since I moved to New York four years ago, I live in a loft with my best friend and worst enemy, Rachel, her soulmate, and another friend from high school and her endless string of girls-who-are-not-her-soulmate.”
Blaine laughed warmly at Kurt’s comment. “I understand, I used to live in Soho with my actor brother, who is also my worst enemy. I just recently moved into my own studio in Bushwick. I can’t believe we hadn’t met before today, on the subway of all places.”
Kurt smiled, “It just wasn’t the right time yet. You know what they say…”
Blaine smiled back, finishing Kurt’s sentence: “You won’t meet your soulmate until the time is right.”
Kurt smiled, “So who is your furry friend?”
Blaine seemed to have forgotten he was holding a wiggly puppy in his arms, and looked at Brooke in confusion.
“Oh, uh.” Blaine adjusted the puppy in his arms, “This is Brooke. I adopted her this morning, she’s a beagle puppy.”
Kurt reached out, gently petting her soft head and scratching lightly behind her ear. She leaned up and licked his ear; Kurt grimaced as he laughed. Blaine pulled her down off his shoulder and cradled her in his lap. Kurt reached down, continuing to pet Brooke.
“She is pretty cute.” Kurt said. Kurt sat there trying to come up with the next thing to ask Blaine, but his mind had gone blank. Blaine just sat there watching Kurt’s hand stroking his puppy’s head.
Eventually Kurt lamely asked, “So, where are you from?”
Blaine told Kurt about growing up in Ohio, how he was in private school, and sang in the show choir. Kurt sat there with his mouth hanging open, shocked at how many times he came close to meeting Blaine sooner. They lived about an hour and a half apart as kids, both performed in show choirs, and most likely against each other. They talk about their backgrounds and kept talking until the train approached Kurt’s stop.
Kurt looked sadly at Blaine, before pushing himself out of the seat.
“Wait!” Blaine said, “How am I going to contact you again?”
Kurt reached out quickly, taking Blaine’s phone from his hand and quickly typing in his number. “It’s in there, just hit call!”
Blaine smiled at Kurt, watching him get off the train and walk down the platform to the stairs.
Blaine looked around at his neighborhood, smiling. He had his own apartment, he had a puppy, and he met his soulmate – who was gorgeous and so interesting. Blaine couldn’t believe the luck he had today, despite the rain.
***
Kurt stood unable to move after he got off the train, watching Blaine watch him through the dirty window on the door. His feet seem glued to the ground as the doors closed and the train pulled out of the station. Only once the train turns the corner to go up to the next station, can he move again. Kurt’s step had a spring in it as he walked down the stairs and around the block to his apartment. The day my have started out crappy, but it ended up pretty good, and the day wasn’t even over yet. He clutched his phone in his hand, hoping that Blaine wouldn’t wait too long to call him!
When he got to his apartment, both Rachel and Santana were home and they noticed his significantly improved mood from this morning.
“What are you so happy about, twinkle toes?” Santana barked.
Kurt just grunted in her direction and dramatically threw back the curtain around his bed-area, the universal apartment signal for ‘leave me the fuck alone’. Which of course, might work if his roommates had any concept of privacy and would respect his desire to have some. But because Rachel didn’t understand this concept, it was approximately forty-five seconds later when she threw open his curtains and was sitting next to him on his bed.
“What’s going on, Kurt?” she asked politely, “You were in a pissy mood this morning, you come back walking on air, and now you are face down on your bed. Talk to me.”
Kurt muttered into his duvet, “I don't really want to talk about it right now, Rachel.”
“I’m not sure I heard what you just said, but I am pretty sure it was something about leaving you alone, which you know isn’t going to happen, so you may as well just tell me.”
Kurt sighed, debating just lying there and ignoring Rachel, but he knew it was futile. He rolled over and curled up on his side, facing Rachel’s hip. She stroked a hand down his back, when her hand passed over his mark, he drew in a sharp breath, all but giving himself away.
Rachel looked down at him, back stiffening, “You…”
Kurt nodded, knowing exactly what she was going say.
“You met him, didn’t you?” Kurt continued to nod as she asked, “Where? How? Who is he? He is a he right? Oh my god, I want all the details!”
Kurt sighed, it was pointless to avoid it now; she would be awful if he didn’t just tell her. “Yes, my soulmate is a man. Yes, I met him. His name is Blaine Anderson. I met him on the subway when his puppy licked my face.”
Rachel was making cooing noises the whole time he was talking. “Oh my god, where is he now?”
“I don't know, in his apartment? Walking his puppy?” Kurt mentally added, freaking out over meeting his soulmate, “He’s doing whatever he was going to do before he met me. Its not like our lives have to change because we’ve met our soulmate, Rachel.”
Kurt still teased her about meeting her soulmate, Brody, three years ago and immediately changing her whole life around, including inviting him into their already too-small loft (although the additional help with the rent was nice).
The topic of her drastic change was still a sore subject, she huffed and patted his back gently to avoid his mark. “Well, I’m still happy for you.”
Kurt tried to keep the smile off his face, but he was powerless to stop the cheek-splitting grin that escaped, “Thanks, Rach.”
She stood up and left his room. Kurt reached into his pocket for his phone, frowning when there wasn’t a message from Blaine. Kurt wished he had gotten Blaine’s number too.
***
Blaine was freaking out. He had a little puppy to take care of, he had just met his soulmate, and it was only the second day of summer. Blaine was very glad he went to the pet shop to get all of the puppy supplies he’d need before he brought Brooke home.
As soon as she got into his apartment, Brooke sniffed the whole place, looking back at Blaine every few seconds to make sure he was still there and that it was okay to explore. After a few minutes she found a chair she could scoot under and curled up to take a nap.
Blaine sat on his small sofa so he could still see Brooke’s small body curled up, watching her sleep. He took his phone out of his pocket, looking at Kurt’s phone number, debating when it was appropriate to call him. Kurt had said to not wait too long, but how long should he wait? Was it too soon to call him? Blaine fell asleep clutching his phone, wishing he had given Kurt his number.
***
Kurt decided to go to the coffee shop around the corner from his apartment to work on his costume designs for the summer musical, West Side Story. As a senior in the Theater Costume Design program at NYADA, this would serve as his senior project and therefore needed to be perfect. He was sitting outside sketching, when a small white and brown blur came sprinting around the corner towards him, her curly-haired owner sprinting after him. Kurt jumped up without thinking, grabbing Brooke’s leash and holding her from getting away from Blaine.
“I think you lost something,” Kurt said, grinning at Blaine.
Blaine reached out to take the leash, when his hand brushed Kurt’s sparks shot up his arm and pooled pleasantly in his stomach.
“Thanks,” Blaine said, smiling.
“Hi.” Kurt said, dumbly.
“Hi!” Blaine responded, brightly, “I was going to text you… but then I kinda fell asleep. She is really exhausting.”
Kurt laughed and sat back down at his table, Blaine followed, standing awkwardly across from him. “You can sit.”
Blaine sat and hooked Brooke’s leash under his chair leg. He looked at Kurt, who was cleaning up his sketching supplies. Blaine reached out, placing his hand on Kurt’s sketchbook. “What are you drawing?”
Kurt looked surprised, “Oh, just working on the costumes for the summer play.”
“May I see?”
“Uh, sure.” Kurt handed the book over to Blaine, who flipped through the pages slowly, taking in each sketch.
“West Side Story?” Blaine asked.
“Yeah,” Kurt said, surprised, “How did you know?”
“Well your costumes look very 1950s, but still modern. They also look good for dancing, and have a slight Puerto Rican flare…” Blaine looked down shyly, “Also you drew a West Side Story logo on this page.”
Kurt took back his sketchbook, looking at his design, he didn’t even remember drawing it.
“They are excellent. I’m sure the musical is going to be amazing.” Blaine said.
“God, I hope so. My roommate Rachel and Santana are both going for Maria, so the apartment is going to be a disaster area if one of them gets it and the other doesn’t. And on top of all that, it’s my final senior project.”
“Well, you can always come camp out with Brooke and I…” Blaine trailed off, “I mean… you are welcome, if you wanted to… I’m sorry, I’m being too forward.”
Kurt reached out to take Blaine’s hand, ignoring the sparks that shot through his body at the contact, “Thank you, I appreciate it. I will have to take you up on that offer.”
“Anytime!” Blaine smiled.
The three of them sat there well into the evening, the waitress eventually bringing Brooke a bowl of water and Blaine and Kurt dinner. They talked about everything and nothing and it was perfect. They fought about who would pay the check, before finally settling it with a game of rock-paper-scissors. The boys walked down the block hands brushing the whole way. Before saying ‘goodnight’, Blaine leaned over to kiss Kurt on the cheek, at the same exact moment, Kurt turned to look at Blaine. Blaine’s cheek-kiss turned into an awkward almost kiss on the lips but not quite, and really it was just embarrassing.
Kurt smiled, took Blaine’s face in his hands and turned him for a proper kiss. It was like nothing either of them had ever experienced. To say that there were fireworks would be the understatement of the century. It was perfect; absolutely, completely, wholly, perfect. The way they fit together proved that they were indeed made for each other. That moment stretched on for an eternity and was simultaneously over too fast.
They lingered on the corner for a long moment before Brooke got impatient and pulled Blaine in the direction of home.
***
It had been a month since Blaine met his soulmate. He waited over a week before telling his parents. His brother, on the other hand, figured it out in less than three days.
Blaine’s phone rang as soon as he walked into his apartment after walking Brooke. He picked it up right before it went into voicemail.
“Blainey! How have you been?” His brother’s voice came through the line before Blaine could say a word.
“Hey, Coop. What’s up?”
“Not too much, lil’ bro. Its been to long!”
“I saw you four days ago.”
“Four and a half. Lots of things could have changed since then.”
Blaine thinks about how much his life has changed in the last 48 hours. He adopted a puppy, he met his soulmate, he made out with his soulmate – the most amazing sensation of his life. The movies weren’t lying or exaggerating; it was like kissing a live wire, sparks shooting through him unparalleled in power.
“… Blaine, I can hear you blushing.”
“No, you can’t!” Blaine scoffed, “That’s not possible.”
“Well, it is now, because I can hear you blushing right now.”
“Whatever,” Blaine grumbled.
“Just stop and tell me what the hell is going on.”
Blaine sighed, “Well, I adopted a puppy, she’s a beagle and is just the cutest and sweetest thing ever. I’ll text you a picture…and… Imetmysoulmateandheisprettymuchperfect.”
“Woah, there Blainey, not so fast. I’m not sure I heard you right, wanna try that again?”
“Um… which part?”
“Not the part about your puppy.”
“Oh, I…uh… I met him, Kurt. I met Kurt, my soulmate.”
Cooper interrupts him again, “Oh my god! I’m so happy for you. You met him. So, when do I get to meet him?”
“I don’t know, Coop. I just met him. Let me get to know him first.”
“Psh. That’s silly, you’ve got your whole life to get to know him. Besides you already know that he’s perfect for you; that’s what a soulmate is. What more do you need to know?”
“I don’t know. It seems like it might be a good idea to talk to him. It would be nice to learn about him, his interests, what he enjoys. You know creating a real relationship would maybe be a good plan. Not just assuming that being soulmates would be enough.”
“Whatever. So have you fucked him yet?”
“Cooper!” Blaine exclaimed indignantly, “No, I met him less than 24 hours ago. Why would you even ask that?”
“I’ve heard some people have very strong physical reactions to meeting their soulmates, like they can’t not have sex immediately. I just wanted to know if it was like that for you, because I’m a kind caring brother.”
“No! And even if we did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Which means you did. Or at least I will continue to think so,” Cooper stated proudly.
“The fact that you are thinking about my sex life is disturbing.”
“See, there you go. You just admitted to having a sex life. I gotta go, Blainey, director’s paging me. Love you!”
The line went dead before Blaine could respond. He sighed to himself; he loved his brother even if he was a little over-enthuastic about Blaine meeting his soulmate.
Blaine supposed his parents had taken the news well. They were convinced that “Kurt Hummel” was going to be a non-traditional girl’s name, despite Blaine’s insistence and evidence to the contrary. But he supposed having an overly-excited brother and parents who were indifferent balanced each other out.
Kurt had told his dad the next day, and from what Blaine had heard, his dad was very supportive, and flying out to New York to meet Blaine, in the flesh, at the end of the summer. Blaine wasn’t sure if he was excited or very nervous to meet his soulmate’s father.
Blaine was broken out of his reverie by a sharp turn in the subway tracks. Just a month into their relationship, Blaine was on the subway going east to JFK airport; taking his soulmate there for his week-long trip to Paris. Kurt had been asked to go to fashion week in the place of his boss, Isabella, who had come down with the rooster-flu, or whatever it was that was going around. Kurt was excited, it was a huge assignment, and he was going to be reporting and blogging on the latest trends from Paris Fashion Week on vogue.com.
Blaine helped Kurt drag his large suitcase to the check in podium, and waited with Kurt until he was ready to go through security.
“You didn’t have to come with me, you know.” Kurt said, twisting his fingers with Blaine’s.
“Sure I did. I’m not going to get to see you for a week. I wanted to see you for as long as possible. And unless something crazy happens, I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back. What time is that again?”
Kurt looked through the paperwork in his hand, “My flight lands at 4:25 in the afternoon. But with customs and getting my luggage, which will most likely have doubled after being in Paris and getting as many samples as I can get my hands on, I won’t be out until 5:30 at the earliest. You really don’t need to come all the way out here though, I can just come by after I drop my stuff off. You can make me a delicious home-made dinner.”
Blaine kissed him, “Yes, of course I’m meeting you here. If you are going to have as much stuff as you think you will, you are going to need help carrying it back to your apartment. We’ll drop off your stuff, and then we’ll go back to my place where I’ll have a nice home-made dinner waiting for us.”
“You are ridiculous. But I suppose that’s what I like about you.” Kurt kissed him right back. “Looks like it is about time to brave the line. Have a good week, Blaine.”
“Good luck, Kurt. I’ll be reading your articles every day. I know you are going to do awesome.” Blaine leaned in for one last lingering kiss, “Bring me back a postcard?”
Kurt laughed, “Of course.”
Then he was in the line, and although the line probably took a half hour, Blaine stood there and watched, waving at Kurt once he was finally through security.
***
Kurt was grateful for his Ambien when he landed at Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Eventually he made it to his hotel, unpacked, and found his way over to the press check-in. Despite some minor confusion because of the last minute switch, not all of the badges had been switched from Isabella’s name into his, but with some careful negotiating and a quick very early morning call to a sleeping Isabella in New York, it was all sorted and Kurt had the afternoon off.
Kurt decided to take the one chance he was guaranteed off to find a small café near Notre Dame for a much-needed coffee and some pastries. Kurt found a little spot right next to the river Seine. When he sat down, he felt more exhausted then he ever had before. Kurt ordered himself a sandwich and a double espresso, hoping that the food and coffee would help him wake up. He hated jet lag.
***
Blaine woke up Monday morning cursing the sun and his noisy upstairs neighbors and the traffic on the street below and the way the subway slightly shook his building when it took the corner a little too fast, which it always did during rush hour. Blaine groped around his bedside table for his phone to discover that it was only 6:45 in the morning. It was only then that he realized the reason he was awake was the throbbing that was consuming his entire head.
Great, he thought, a migraine; that’s just what I needed to wake up to this morning.
As if she sensed his movement, Brooke started yipping and pawing at Blaine’s feet to get him to take her outside. Blaine tripped out of bed, sliding on sandals and pausing briefly in the bathroom to down some prescription migraine medicine before taking Brooke outside. Once they returned, he closed all of the blinds in his apartment and made it as dark as possible before going back to sleep.
Blaine woke up a couple hours later to Brooke whining to go out again with his migraine coming back slightly as it became closer to the time he could take more of his meds. Blaine was miserable. He walked around like a zombie all day.
Eventually he dragged his laptop into his bed to check his email and see if Kurt had posted anything about Fashion Week. What Blaine didn’t realize was the only time his headache truly went away, was when he was reading Kurt’s blog entry about the first day of fashion week.
***
Kurt hadn’t eaten anything since Monday morning, and now it was Tuesday evening. He doubted his stomach would let him keep it down. At first Kurt thought it was just nerves. It was the first time he was writing for the vogue.com blog, and it was a huge event. It was not his first time attending a Fashion Week, Isabella had been grooming him for just this since he was hired four years ago. But it was the first time his words were going to be put up online for the whole world to read without going through fifteen rounds of editing first.
But by Tuesday afternoon, he had written three blog posts, which was not to say that he was an expert, but he knew what he was doing. He knew which designers he could spotlight easily that would get hits. He knew how harsh of a critique he could give and still be respected. He even knew which photographs to use to pique interest.
But still, he couldn’t manage to eat more than just a few bites of something bland. When he got back to his hotel, Kurt called down to the front desk asking if there was any way they could bring him a bowl of chicken soup, or chicken broth, or really anything simple. Kurt checked his email while he waited for his soup, and was excited to see an email from Blaine. It had pictures of Brooke in the park, and Blaine talked about how he had been sick all week, but was glad that Kurt wasn’t around so he wasn’t boring and in bed while Kurt was there.
Kurt ate his soup and contemplated Skyping with Blaine, but if he was sick, Kurt wanted him to rest and get better. Kurt noticed that he felt better after reading Blaine’s email and eating the soup and was looking forward to the McQueen show the next morning.
***
By Thursday morning, Blaine was debating going to the doctor. He had migraines all week, and he had never had one last more than a day or so before. He felt like his entire body was falling apart, everything hurt. Blaine had never been more grateful than when Cooper called him, and upon hearing that Blaine was sick immediately offering to come over and take care of him, tisking at the idea that Kurt wasn’t there to do it.
Cooper arrived in an uncustomary calm, normally he was like the Tasmanian devil, spinning into a room, tearing the whole thing apart, and then leaving as quickly as he arrived. Today Cooper practically tip-toed into Blaine’s apartment, bring him tea and chicken soup. Cooper took care of Brooke all day.
Later that afternoon, when Blaine was feeling well enough to leave his bedroom cave, he was sitting on the couch talking to his brother.
“How long have you been sick?” Cooper asked, genuinely concerned.
“Since Monday.”
“And when did you say Kurt was gone?”
“He left Saturday to go to Paris Fashion Week. He’s reporting and blogging for vogue.com.” Blaine answered proudly.
“Have you thought that it might be related?”
“What?”
“Well, I’ve heard that sometimes when there is a particularly strong connection between soulmates, when they are apart for too long, especially fairly soon after meeting each other, it can manifest in physical symptoms.”
Blaine looked at his brother, skeptical, “What are you talking about? I’ve never heard that before.”
“Its true, here let me show you.” Cooper pulled out his phone and got a Wikipedia entry describing what they were calling ‘soulmate sickness’, which was pretty much exactly how Cooper described it.
“I don’t think that’s it. Kurt seemed fine when I was talking to him yesterday.”
“That’s just it, isn’t it. You were talking to him. The symptoms would be better because you would be activating the bond. Do you feel better when you read his blog?”
Blaine thought about it for a minute, he did feel better when he was reading Kurt’s blogs. “Yeah, I guess so. But not completely.”
“Exactly, you are not talking to him, engaging with him, but there is still a piece of him in his work, so it eases the pain but doesn’t cure it. The only cure is to be together again.”
Blaine groaned and buried his head in pillow, another two days of head-splitting pain was not something he was looking forward to.
***
Friday morning Kurt felt like the walking dead. He wasn’t sure he could make it the four blocks to Fashion Week. He struggled to make it through the Versace show in the morning before he begged off the Women’s Ready-to-wear that afternoon. Isabella would be upset that he missed the show, but he physically couldn’t sit in the dark room with the bright lights and watch the show without passing out or vomiting, or possibly both. Kurt was sick.
When he got back to his hotel, he quickly threw everything into his suitcase, not caring that it would be a wrinkled mess by the time he got back to New York. He would pay to have it professionally cleaned. He set up a wake-up call and a car to take him to the airport in the morning before falling fast asleep.
Kurt woke up more sick then he could ever remember being. He dragged himself out of bed and into the cab, sure that he forgot at least one thing in the hotel room, but he couldn’t give a crap at the moment. Kurt was looking forward to getting on a plane, popping some pills and sleeping until he got back to New York, then going back to his apartment and sleeping for days, and possibly going to the doctor if he wasn’t better soon. But he hoped it was just the foreign food, and being back home would resolve all of his stomach pain.
The flight was, of course, delayed, due to weather in London.
“What does London’s weather have to do with a flight from Paris to New York?” Kurt muttered angrily.
But once they were finally airborne, Kurt felt a little bit better, chalking it up to nerves or something, he promptly took two Ambien and slept the whole way back to New York.
***
Blaine’s migraine wasn’t getting any better. He decided he would test out Cooper’s crazy theory about ‘soulmate sickness’ and if he didn’t feel any better by morning he would go to the urgent care clinic. Blaine almost couldn’t drag himself out of bed to go to the airport to meet Kurt, like he promised, and there would definitely not be a home-cooked meal. Blaine pulled on his most comfortable pair of jeans and a polo shirt, setting off for what was sure to be a miserable trip to the airport.
By whatever mercy was left, he was able to get a corner seat so he could rest his head against the wall and doze for the nearly hour-long trip. When he finally made it to the airport, Blaine had a hard time finding international arrivals, the sign told him to go one way but the airline personnel told him to go a different way, both of which were incorrect. Finally he found where arrivals through customs were and found a post to lean against to wait for Kurt.
Blaine didn’t have to wait long. Soon he saw Kurt, slumped over, exhausted looking, and very sick coming down the escalator behind glass doors. Blaine mustered up his energy and walked over to meet him.
Kurt looked up when he reached the bottom of the escalator, seeing Blaine brought a smile to his face. He rushed forward, nearly losing his suitcase behind him, to Blaine, flinging his arms around Blaine’s neck as soon as he was close enough.
The second Kurt’s arms were around Blaine’s neck and Blaine’s hands circled Kurt’s waist, they both felt better. It was as if they were never sick in the first place. Blaine squeezed Kurt tighter, holding him close and kissing his ear.
When they finally broke apart, Blaine asked, “How was your trip?”
“It was alright. Fashion Week was amazing, but I was really sick the whole time.” Kurt answered, pausing to think for a moment, “But, I weirdly feel better now.”
“You were sick the whole time you were gone?” Blaine asked.
“Yeah, it started out as just jet lag, but then turned into the full-blown stomach flu. I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital in Paris.”
Blaine pulled back from the tight embrace. “I was sick all week, I had a migraine but now it is gone. Like I was never sick.”
Kurt looked at Blaine confused. “What do you think it was?”
“Have you ever heard of soulmate sickness?”
“Yes, but I thought that was just something from ridiculous movies.”
“I don't think so. Think about it, Kurt. We met each other just a month ago, you were gone for a week, half way around the world. We both got progressively sicker and sicker as time passed. Then the second we hugged, we both miraculously felt better. What else could it be?”
Kurt stood there thinking for a moment, “I don’t know. There has to be some logical explanation…”
Blaine interrupted, “Or it could be that our bond is so strong that we can’t physically stand to be apart from one another for that long?”
Kurt smacked Blaine’s arm gently, “Stop being cheesy.”
Blaine smiled a huge grin at him, “I’m not, its romantic.”
Kurt took Blaine’s hand in his and started walking towards the exit, “Well whatever it was, I never want to do that again.”
Blaine nodded in agreement, “So I guess this means next time I’ll just have to go with you.”
“Yep, I guess I’ll just have to take you to Paris and Milan and London and Tokyo…”
Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand as they exited the terminal and went home.