Just Around The Corner

Epilogue

No one had ever died on stage as far as Kurt knew. Not from stage fright, at least. But just because he didn't know about it, that didn't mean it didn't happen.

"Relax," Rachel said. A few months ago, Kurt never would have expected Rachel Berry to be so perceptive of other people's emotions. He liked the new Rachel but right now, he kind of wanted to strangle her. She was far too calm. "You've faced down a much more difficult audience than this, and you completely wowed them. You're going to be brilliant."

Kurt closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. She was right, of course. She usually was these days. That didn't make her any good at comfort, mind you, and Kurt fiercely missed Blaine, who would probably know exactly what to say. Just picturing his smile was enough to ease the nervous fluttering in Kurt's stomach.

He could hardly believe it, but the day was finally here. Not only were they competing at Regionals, but he had a solo. His first competition solo.

"Let's go inside," Rachel said, "I think the Warblers are about to start."

"Goody," Kurt muttered. They'd narrowly tied with the Warblers at Sectionals. They'd had months to practice since but then, so had the Warblers. There was really no telling how this competition would go.

Rachel huffed. "Would you stop being so pessimistic. You're frowning so hard, you're giving me worry lines. The Warblers are going to be easy to beat, trust me. They've got a new leading soloist and he's only been with them for like two months."

"How do you even know that?"

"I've got my connections."

Kurt eyed Rachel, whose expression was giving nothing away. "That's a pretty risky move. Their new soloist might be just that good."

"Or maybe they're just that desperate." Rachel tugged at his arm. "Now come on, let's go inside. I want to see our competition fall flat on its under-prepared ass."

Kurt allowed himself to be pulled inside the auditorium. They sat down, several seats away from Finn and Quinn. Rachel spared them one mournful glance but it was subdued compared to her usual fare.

They'd made it inside just in time, as the curtains were already parting to reveal the familiar blue backs of the Warblers. Despite the blazers being rather unflattering, Kurt had to admit that on this group, the dapper schoolboy look kind of fit.

The Warblers turned around and Kurt's world suddenly narrowed to the boy standing at the front of the group, smiling widely at the audience as he sang the first notes to 'Misery'.

It was Blaine.

There was no mistaking it. That hair, those eyes, that beautiful smile. Even the way he moved was exactly the same. Kurt looked at Rachel to see her reaction, half-way certain that he was seeing things, but she looked as shocked as he felt.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard enough to hurt, but Kurt just squeezed right back. "Is that-"

"Yeah," Kurt answered. He looked back to the stage and he couldn't look away. It was Blaine, it had to be.

"How?"

Kurt swallowed. "I don't know."

It was a good question. How had Blaine made it back? And why hadn't he landed in the living room with them?

Why hadn't he tried to contact Kurt? Or had he tried, but hadn't known where to start? Kurt couldn't remember ever telling Blaine his last name, so he might not have been able to look for him. But just why was he with the Warblers?

Well, the answer to that last question was fairly obvious. Blaine looked amazing on stage. His voice was incredible and he moved around with an unconstrained, joyful energy that spread to the audience. He was very, very good. Good enough that Kurt would be worried, if the circumstances were any different.

The song ended. The audience cheered wildly but Kurt was too shocked to cheer with them. How was this even possible?

"Come on," Kurt whispered to Rachel. "We need to get backstage."

Rachel nodded and the two of them snuck off, unnoticed by the rest of the New Directions, who were busy watching the performance.

As soon as they walked into the hallway, Rachel turned to Kurt. "What are you going to say to him?"

"I don't know," Kurt said. Now that Blaine wasn't within his sights anymore, he couldn't say with absolute certainty that it had even been him. "It was him, right?"

"Definitely," Rachel said.

Kurt wrung his hands. They were trembling slightly. "But..." He trailed off. There were a thousand questions on his mind but none of them would be answered if he just stood there.

"Let's go, before they finish," Rachel urged.

They made their way backstage. It was empty, save for a couple of technicians, but they could hear the final notes of 'Raise Your Glass' echoing out in the auditorium. Half a minute later, the space was flooded by excited and chattering Warblers. Most of them didn't notice Kurt and Rachel.

Blaine came in last, looking as happy as Kurt had ever seen him. Kurt instinctively took one step forward and the movement caught Blaine's eye. For one moment, everything stopped. Blaine's eyes - hazel and bright, just like Kurt remembered - widened when they met Kurt's. Then he smiled and nodded, and followed the rest of the Warblers into the hallway.

Kurt felt his heart drop into his stomach. "It wasn't him."

"It might have been," Rachel said. "Maybe something happened to him on the way here that made him forget us."

She sounded uncertain and she offered no more theories. They'd been mistaken, Kurt was sure of it now. It wasn't Blaine, just some stranger who happened to look like him.

"Let's go to the green room," Kurt said and his own voice sounded distant.

"Are you sure?"

Kurt took a deep breath. "Please, can we just act like the last ten minutes never happened?"

"Yeah." Rachel smiled. It looked strained, but Kurt appreciated the effort. "Okay."

---

The performance had gone well. Kurt had shoved away the pain and shock, and sung his solo with all the pep he could muster. After the first few lines, it had almost been easy. It was so easy to forget about the world when he was singing.

But as the New Directions trickled off stage to the thundering applause of the audience, the manic happiness of the performance began to fade fast, and Kurt was left not knowing how to feel.

"You were amazing," Rachel said, squeezing his shoulder.

Kurt grinned tiredly but before he could return the compliment, someone else spoke.

"You really were."

It was so familiar - not just the voice itself but also the undisguised adoration that it carried - that when Kurt turned, he almost expected everything to turn black and white.

"Thanks." Kurt couldn't stop his eyes from moving up and down, taking in every detail they could. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself it wasn't Blaine in front of him, there was no denying it. This boy was identical to Blaine.

"I'm Blaine, by the way."

"Seriously?" Kurt blurted.

Blaine looked taken aback but he recovered quickly. "Um, yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "Look, I swear this isn't some cheesy pick-up line but I feel like I've met you before. Though I'm sure I couldn't forget someone like you."

"That kind of sounds like a cheesy pick-up line," Kurt said dazedly.

Blaine laughed. "I guess it does."

Kurt knew he should be saying something, or at least not staring so hard, but he couldn't. Couldn't even think of anything beyond the fact that, somehow, his wildest dream had come true.

"Anyway, I just wanted to see if you'd like to get a cup of coffee sometime?"

"What?" Kurt blinked. He still couldn't believe this was happening but he needed to respond with something, before he scared Blaine off. "I mean, yes! I'd love to." He laughed nervously. "I'm sorry, I'm kind of shaken up."

"Probably shouldn't have done this right after you'd performed." Blaine grinned wryly. "I just didn't want to risk not getting the chance to talk to you."

"It's fine." More than fine. Wonderful, amazing, perfect. "Should I give you my number?"

"Good idea." Blaine pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to Kurt.

Kurt looked at the screen and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the screensaver: a pink rose on a black and white background. He punched in his number and handed the phone back to Blaine, their fingers brushing.

"I'll call you soon..." Blaine glanced at his phone, "Kurt."

Kurt smiled, completely unable and unwilling to keep it off his face. "I look forward to it."

END