you can't know how I've missed you

[kurtsy]

Comments

[troutmouth]

"You know what I like about your costume?" Sam enthused as he helped adjust it a little for Blaine, trying his best to distract his best friend from his bout of nerves and all insecurities by hyping him up.

"You know how MCU Bucky basically has all of Arnie Roth's qualities from the comics? So, now, with you being uber gay and dressing up as comic Bucky, it's like you are combining the characters again the other way round." He nodded his approval, taking a step back. "Also, it looks great!"

They were about to head into the con, having gotten dressed by the car. Mostly undressed, in Sam's case, as he was doing a shirtless Thor-inspired thing. He felt he made it work. "It's a bit like when we next do DC, I wanna be Aquaman, kinda doing blond Arthur but with DCEU vibes."

He had a vision.

[warblainer]

"I mean, I mostly went vintage cause there's no way anyone would buy I was the Winter Soldier. Got to be realistic, you know? Besides, props like that can be itchy." He didn't like when his costumes were too uncomfortable or he just found it distracting. He looked Sam over and no, he had nothing to hype Sam up over. He was rock solid, slightly tanned and looked incredible so he didn't even bother. "You totally kill it as Thor."

He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and then turned behind him, looking into the car. Mercedes was there, texting, and he was just curious. "Is your lovely wife joining us or not?"

She didn't really get the nerd stuff but sometimes she liked to come just to be with Sam. He didn't mind being a third wheel - he mostly tagged along with them anyway.

Given he was always flying solo these days.

[troutmouth]

"Let's ask..." It was hard to predict with Mercedes, really depended on her mood and just how much patience she had on a given day. He knocked against the window now, smiling at her. "Do you want to come in? I can hold your hand the whole time."

He shrugged. "Or I just hold Blaine's." Well, conventions got busy, sometimes it felt less scary when holding hands. "You have to tell Blaine that he looks great, by the way, he is nervous. But he shouldn't be, he's rocking this!"

[warblainer]

"I'll come, I'm worried you two will get lost without me." Mercedes opened the car door and put his phone away, hoping that today goes how she was hoping it would. She looked Blaine up and down. Dork. "You look great, Blaine. Promise."

"Oh, thanks, I appreciate it." Blaine smiled back and adjusted his cap, waiting for the lovebirds to be holding hands before he started towards the convention center. There were so many people.

He was definitely not in Lima, Ohio any more.

There was just something about New York that put him on edge. The high odds of running into Kurt, the horrible memories, the endless temptation of cronuts. He was on a diet, damn it! "Damn, the line is big."

[troutmouth]

"We've already got our bracelets, so we can at least skip the super long line." Which was a good thing, Mercedes never enjoyed lines. Not that Sam did either, yet he at least had a good time appreciating other people's costumes and getting some attention for his own. He walked with one hand on Blaine's shoulder, even as he held Mercedes's hand.

"Relax, Nightbird. This is our territory, we are surrounded by our kind of people. Maybe you can even find someone special! I signed us up for all the LG...BLT panels." Something like that.

[warblainer]

"I love gay sandwiches." Blaine checked out the crowd in fascination and smiled at Sam, telling him whenever he saw a cool costume or something more obscure. There were so cool cosplays here, much better than the Ohio con. He supposed New York and San Diego attracted the best of the best.

Heading to the entrance, he rushed ahead to hold the door open and showed off the wrist band to avoid more lines.

"Okay, where do we start?" Blaine asked Sam excitedly. "Comics, manga or merch?"

[troutmouth]

"I guess we should check out the comics area, given the costumes." Clearly that was where they belonged. "Also, dude, I like manga, but I get so confused with the damn names." It was a hard exercise for his poor brain.

He looked up so they could follow the sign, starting to lead them towards the artist alley. "I wanna get some art for the walls!"

Looking at Mercedes, he hastened to explain. "Just for the basement. Mancave."

Whispering to Blaine, he corrected. "Batcave."

[warblainer]

HELP

THIS WAS AWFUL

I AM DYING

AND NOT JUST FROM THE SMELL HERE

WHAT DO I DO?!!?!?!?!?

[troutmouth]

what was awful?

subway ride home?

sry bud, thats ruff

[warblainer]

No but that was also bad.

A homeless guy sat next to me.

IT WAS KURT.

I can't see Kurt. I can't handle Kurt. I am having a MELTDOWN.

[troutmouth]

i dont think kurt is homeless...

or invisible

i could see him just fine

er

what?

[warblainer]

No, the thing, the problem, why I'm upset.

I saw Kurt.

He's not the homeless guy, that was just another stressful thing.

Dude.

I'm not ready to see Kurt. Kurt looking great and doing great while I suffer.

DID YOU SEE HIM FLIRT WITH ME?! I can't.

[troutmouth]

did he flirt? i dunno gay guy flirting... u didnt touch dicks or butts

he is lookin great tho, mercedes showed me some vid of him training without a shirt, i gotta ask him about the back muscle exercises

do u still like him? like that

[parkandbark]

So.

Blaine's hotel is in the Bronx.

And it's terrible.

Sam has been giving me updates. Your boy has no survival drive, huh?

[kurtsy]

not my boy currently

but no, afraid not

from what I've been hearing through my sources, even less so these days

maybe we can talk him out of returning there tomorrow?

[parkandbark]

Who's your source, Sherlock?

I hope so. Apparently a strange guy walked into his room and stared at him. Now he has a chair under the door handle.

Sam just got a text that there's a party in the hotel in the room above.

So he's going to be tired tomorrow.

[kurtsy]

gay network, I know someone who knows someone who sleeps with Blaine's brother

I don't know if that's particularly Sherlockian

oh no, baby boy, he gets cranky when he doesn't get enough sleep...

remind me that it's not my place to take care of him

[parkandbark]

If he texts Sam one more time while we're trying to sleep, I ain't gonna remind you of nothing.

We'll all be tired tomorrow at this rate.

I think you stand a good chance, he blushed so hard today when you flirted with him.

[kurtsy]

what am I supposed to do, just show up at his dodgy hotel in the middle of the night like a stylish but nonetheless inappropriate hooker?

...he did blush though, didn't he?

[kurtsy]

Obviously, Kurt hadn't wanted to waste any time following Mercedes's message, so he had gotten dressed in the first clothes he could grab. Which meant that he was wearing black leggings, a dark blue cardigan that came down to his thighs and, a total mismatch, a brown leather jacket over it all.

Not ideal, given how he had meant to be looking amazing next time Blaine saw him. Instead here he was, climbing out of the cab - he told the driver to wait right there, and his hair wasn't even styled.

He spotted Blaine in his pyjamas right away. Of course, he would recognise that man anywhere. "Blaine!"

He waved, then quickly closed the distance between them, reaching for his arm so he could pull him a step or two away from whatever dealer was talking to him. "Come with me. I've got a cab waiting."

[warblainer]

"I'm just not really feeling it." Blaine told the man trying to get him to join the party that had set off the fire alarm. Apparently, when they all got back inside, it was going to get wilder. And yeah, he felt bad rejecting the invitation but he had also rejected the drug deal so he was feeling like he was making himself a bit of an outsider. "Maybe tomorrow but I'm not sure I'm down with the whole--"

Before he could question the legality of the very dodgy party, he heard his name called and turned around, eyes wide with surprise.

Kurt was here. With a cab. Why was Kurt here? Ah. No wonder Sam had been so vague about someone coming with an uber. It was Kurt. He frowned and then held up his hand, acknowledging Kurt. "My stuff is inside. My clothes."

He didn't really want to get in a cab. "I'm sorry they disturbed you, it's really all fine."

[kurtsy]

"We will get your stuff tomorrow," Kurt told him decisively. It was best not to make any of this optional or opinion-based, he was simply presenting Blaine with the facts of what was happening.

"Look, if you don't come with me right now, Sam won't be able to sleep and then Mercedes is going to kill us both." He felt he was making a compelling argument here. Still, he tried one more argument. "There's a café on my block where I can pick you up a cronut in the morning..."

[warblainer]

Mercedes would kill him, that was true. She got angry fast when she didn't get sleep. The one time he and Sam had a gaming marathon, he saw that true anger and it was quite intimidating. He looked back at the hotel and then sighed, glad he had nothing of value with him. He had locked his door on the way out, maybe it'd stay that way.

"Okay." Fuck. He was going with Kurt. Just great. He walked away from the weird gang and over to Kurt, smiling awkwardly. "It's fine, I won't bother you for long. Sam just worries, he shouldn't have told you." He was just updating him, he didn't need a rescue.

[kurtsy]

"I worried too. This is an awful area, Blaine." Kurt assumed that Blaine knew that. He escorted him to the cab and opened the door for him, letting him get in before he slammed the door shut and walked around. Then he got in on the other side, put on his seatbelt and addressed the driver. "Thank you for waiting! I'd like to just get back now, thanks."

They started on their way and Kurt looked at Blaine. "I have a couch. You can stay there for a few days. Why not?"

Because he was still into him. Maybe he could get him to admit it.

[warblainer]

"Nah, I'm sure it's fine. I mean, thank you, but I think I can find another hotel if I have to. It's really not that bad. Like yeah, not the best but I won't be in it much." Given Sam wanted to do a lot of stuff and Mercedes wanted to drag him around with Kurt all day. He shrugged awkwardly, not wanting to say it but knowing he'd have to say it. "Plus it's kind of awkward. Sharing a space with you."

The guy who dumped him. Yeah, no, weird. He didn't want to do that. Especially since said guy was hitting on him and he was not hit on material.

"Which neighbourhood are you in now? Still Bushwick?"