Kurt Hummel

shoot them through the thick magnetic altitudes

2015-05-01T00:24:20Z

While Kurt couldn't say that he kept a close eye on Karofsky, being part of the same band had increased the amount of interaction that the two of them had over the course of a given week. Between the other three members, Karofsky was the most prompt in responding to Kurt's texts and emails — though Kurt was never quite sure if it was out of lingering loyalty from high school or out of true enthusiasm for the band. When Karofsky failed to respond not to one, but three of Kurt's texts over the course of the day, he began to worry.

And after waiting another few hours to try and stamp down the latent paranoia, he went directly to Karofsky's apartment.

It wasn't empty. Major was there, running up eagerly and circling rapidly around Kurt's feet as soon as he stepped into the place. Karofsky's bass was there as well, carefully maintained and in easy view. But there was a certain staleness to the air, and more than that, a sudden gut-wrenching flip of his stomach. A moment when Kurt just knew, even if nothing explicitly said as much, that Karofsky was gone.

It takes a couple hours before Kurt's truly able to turn himself around. He carries away what important possessions of Karofsky's that he can, less out of greed and more because he isn't sure who else he can entrust with them, and takes them back to his apartment. It drives Cat literally up a wall at once, staring balefully down at her new company, but Kurt doesn't have the time to soothe her before he quickly makes his way over to Kate's place, wanting to make sure that only one person disappeared this time.

It's usually only one. And if Kate's there, that doesn't guarantee that she won't herself disappear in time. But there's still a world of a difference between having his whole world change at once or just seeing a facet of it disappear, and Kurt feels his hands trembling as he raises a hand to rap sharply on Kate's door.

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when it's good for you, babe, and you're feeling alright

2015-04-30T23:51:07Z

While Kurt wouldn't have branded himself a starving artist by any stretch of the imagination, when it came time to celebrate Curt's birthday, he had to think carefully and deeply about everything to be done in preparation. That he would prepare dinner was without question; that he would pick a bottle wine that had been reviewed by a multitude of pretentious sommeliers was also a given. But thinking on a physical, tangible present was another matter entirely. Maybe he shouldn't have been obsessing over the present as much as he had been, but whenever he was met with the splash of green in front of a mirror, Kurt couldn't help wanting to offer something as meaningful in return.

Cat purred around his ankles as Kurt checked on the chocolate souffle in the oven. "Looks like it's rising nicely, huh?" he asked, grinning down at his cat and scratching Cat behind the ear. She curled up into the spread of Kurt's palm before he rose back to his feet, restlessly moving back and forth between his living room and the kitchen and adjusting the placement of the silverware each time.

"Should I have gone over to his place? Should I have invited him out to a restaurant? I mean, he's not exactly the highest maintenance guy," he babbled, Cat meowing on occasion to further the conversation. "I wanted this to be special without making him feel uncomfortable with all the pomp and circumstance, but I feel bad for making him come all the way out here. Cat."

He stared down at the cat, giving her a hard look.

"I still have no idea what I'm doing."

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dragonfly out in the sun

2015-01-12T07:11:50Z

Although the revelation comes with something of a bittersweet feeling, Kurt finally feels that his life is starting to come back together after Blaine's disappearance. He makes a trip over to the park about once a week to pay respects to Finn, but most of his days are filled with a mixture of class and work, with his evenings spent trying to put together a set list for the new band.

Now that it's the new year, he wants to start practicing so that they can promote around spring, when the weather will be warmer and people more willing to head out into town in the evenings.

The band is admittedly different than what he had originally pictured in mind. For one, he was pretty sure that he was going to have equal members of either gender, and he never exactly planned on glam rock being their genre of choice. But with the people he's recruited to the band, it feels appropriate. And Kurt can't count on there being any better inspiration than Curt for helping with the presence they have on the stage.

Not that they're going to go as wild as things were in the seventies. Hopefully.

With his arms full of sheet music and notebooks filled with scribbled ideas, and a bag of freshly baked cookies in case they need the sugar for inspiration, he heads on over to Dave's place and knocks sharply on the door.

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i've never seen such clear skies, i've never seen such high hopes

2014-03-20T19:36:46Z

One of the first decisions Kurt makes about his band is that he wants it to start as a cover band. Most of the people he's talked to about joining have strengths in vocals and instruments, which is awesome, but also probably makes the prospect of composing melodies and music kind of overwhelming.

So, he figures they'll start smaller. Try to bring their own spin to songs they each love from home. (And, even though the thought makes him cringe, Kurt hasn't completely ruled out the idea of covering Tiffany Charlotte either, if it comes to that.)

He's on his way to Kate's apartment to go over some ideas for initial covers, a pair of heavy headphones over his ears as he flips through some of the classics. Everything from the super pop stars like Britney, through the classic untouchables like Freddie Mercury. He's got this idea that won't leave his head either, of how Kate could easily put on a Gwen Stefani kind of feel, high on the fashion and the punk attitude. But that really requires coming together to figure out a look, a feel, a way of testing the waters and helping her settle into her stage presence.

Jamming out to a Daft Punk number, Kurt bobs his head left and right and knocks smartly on Kate's door, tugging his headphones halfway off to be somewhat polite.

When he sees who opens the door, he blinks and brightens.

"Oh, hey! I came here for Kate, but I need to talk to you too," he says, smiling broadly. "How are you? Is this an okay time?"

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don't wake me up, i am still dreaming; the story's undone, unravel at the seams

2014-01-18T19:54:00Z

The first thing that he hears is the steady beep in the distance, and he wonders how anyone is supposed to sleep through that. Kurt knows that it's possible, though. Knows that he's done so any number of times after spending far too many hours at the hospital, a hand closed tightly around his father's, clinging to its warm. His heart lurches at the memory, faint though it is, permeating his consciousness like a thick fog.

He's not seated in one of those hospital chairs though. Doesn't have the telltale soreness at the base of his spine. Instead, this moment feels more like an earlier incident, of being swathed in crisp, clean sheets after his own operation. There was always one of them in the room, at least. Times were tough enough that they could never spare the same hours, could never call off entire days to stay with him.

But before he opens his eyes, Kurt lets it wash over him, the feeling of wonder and the memory of a mother's palm smoothing over his forehead.

It feels like time has passed, though. Years. Years, until the warmth that resides best in his thoughts isn't that of a parent, but instead one of a partner, and Kurt struggles against restraints wrapped around his body, needing the comfort of one person in particular

When he opens his eyes, however, that's not who he finds.

[ Preplaying post-Koh, after Blaine's disappearance. Feel free either to catch him right after he wakes, or a day or so after. ]

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the gardens wearing haute couture

2014-01-05T05:40:19Z

Leaving the apartment has become an increasing struggle in recent weeks. The fact that new year's day turned out as disastrously for Darrow as it did only makes Kurt feel more justified in spending more time at home. He's been grabbing fewer hours of work, and going into spring semester, he'll have a slightly lighter class schedule than before. Slowly, he's trying to ease everything down, finding a balance of work and home that sways towards the latter, giving him more of an opportunity to spend time with Blaine.

This is always what happens, he thinks. Losing someone, whether metaphorically or literally, makes him want to camp out at home, with the people he loves, savoring every second that he has with them. It might be uninspired, cuddling up with Blaine on the couch and watching film after film, but it feels safe and it feels sustainable and it feels right.

The problem is, pulling the least of one's weight isn't good for retail. The amount he gets on commission is lessening, and the patience of his manager along with it. Unless Kurt wants to throw everything at that job again, he needs to find some way to make up the difference, and he wants to try. He wants to see if there's any way that he can keep the household comfortable, while still spending more time at home.

Which is why he's hanging up fliers for voice lessons on the corkboard at The Bean Counter, carefully stepping back to make sure that he's pinned it level with the frame.

"You think anyone will actually take me up on this?" he murmurs to himself with a soft sigh. He's not too hopeful that he'll find students, but honestly, even one would be nice. Singing is always a good release of tension and emotion, and spreading the joy of it to more people is something Kurt doesn't think he'd ever tire of, if they only gave him the opportunity.

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we can burn brighter than the sun

2013-10-10T02:18:53Z

"So she knows about you, and she... kind of knows about what we are to one another, although I'm willing to bet that she hasn't stopped to think about the anatomy of it," Kurt says, seated next to Blaine in a cozy booth near the back corner of Life of Pie, a cafe with a specialty in pastries and baked goods. "Actually, I doubt that she's been exposed to much male anatomy either, so intimacy might be off the cards for now. Unless she asks about it. Oh god, what do we do if a Disney princess asks us about bumping uglies? I'm not sure my brain could handle it."

For the past ten minutes, Kurt's words have been flying at a mile a minute, starting as soon as the server walked out of earshot. Underneath the table, he grabs at Blaine's hand, holding tightly to it to try and gain some confidence and calm.

Not that Blaine is likely to know how to tread these waters any better than Kurt does.

"Anyway, she is at least okay with us knowing all about her world and her story. I actually suspect that she came here before the end of her movie. Well, really, it's obvious that she did given her hair," Kurt speculates, rolling his eyes and bumping palm to forehead. "I'm not as calm as I should be right now."

Pouting, Kurt leans over slightly, briefly resting his chin against Blaine's shoulder. "I just really want her to like you," he confesses.

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lilac trees in the heart of town

2013-10-08T05:03:39Z

For all that Kurt knows the dangers of golden age syndrome, he still feels after all these years that there is no greater ideal of romance than what classic Hollywood put forth decades ago. Flowers and music, the twining of fingers, one raised to brush down the line of a lover's jaw. A Vespa ride through Rome, a boating ride into the sea, a misty embrace next to a departing train.

It might be an example of reaching too far and too high. After all, real life isn't always like the movies. At least, it doesn't end when the movies do.

But that doesn't mean Kurt won't keep trying to attain those small moments of perfection, fleeting but enough.

He's carefully made his plans for Blaine's birthday, a top hat jauntily placed on his head and a neat suit on his shoulders, nice enough that he carefully wipes down the fence right outside of Blaine's apartment window before leaning back against it. He's here, right when Blaine should be getting up and going about his morning routine, a large bouquet of red roses in hand.

Just red roses, this time.

Tipping his hat down over his brow, Kurt glances shyly over his shoulder, at the window with its blinds still shut. It's chilly, but that'll only help his voice more.

"I have often walked down this street before, but the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before. All at once am I several stories high, knowing I'm on the street where you live," he starts, voice clear and lower than usual as he pushes off the fence and steps across the sidewalk. "Are there lilac trees in the heart of town? Can you hear a lark in any other part of town? Does enchantment pour out of every door? No, it's just on the street where you live."

As he hoped, a few other residents of the building are also awake at this hour, curiously peeking their heads out down at the street. The sight of a little girl tilting her head curiously brings a smile to Kurt's face, and he waves.

"And oh, the towering feeling, just to know somehow you are near," he sings, an ache settling in his chest as he reaches out with a hand, wrapping it around a bar of the fence, shivering at the touch. "The overpowering feeling that any second, you may suddenly appear."

He spots movement by the window, pushing onto his toes curiously.

"People stop and stare, they don't bother me, for there's nowhere else that I would rather be," Kurt sings, building excitement as he presses his bouquet close to his chest. "Let the time go by, I won't care if I can be here on the street where you live."

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step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch

2013-07-27T00:51:06Z

Even though it's a little bit selfish, Kurt has yet to relinquish his right to the Compound suite he snagged when Blaine arrived on the island. The island's ten mile diameter may seem like precious little land in theory, but in the day to day, it already makes the trek from home to work a long one, and dragging outfits through all that heat is more than painful to a boy whose complexion burns when he's spent a minute too long under the sun. Most of his fabrics and patterns are kept in the Compound, and the space has become a place all his own, a place he can lose himself in if he needs some time to himself.

These days, he's been obsessed with dresses again, and there's always a single person from the island he has in mind when designing them.

He raps twice on her door, sharp but not too loud, just in case anyone's asleep inside.

"Grace?" he calls out softly, rustling peacock blue taffeta in his arms. "Are you home?"

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i'm a wandering soul; i got no place of my own

2013-05-12T20:44:59Z

It was about two weeks before Kurt's birthday and he couldn't decide on what he wanted to do to celebrate, if anything. The already fairly arbitrary date felt a lot more so once he'd been shunted back and forth in time, not only physically, but emotionally as well, and just thinking about having spent over a year in Darrow left Kurt feeling a bit lost and hopeless. As well as he managed to establish himself in the city, it still wasn't where he wanted to be for the rest of his life. It wasn't New York.

Normally, he'd just ignore the birthday. Try to treat it like any other day. But he'd been dating Gavin for well over a month by that point, and somehow, it delighted Gavin to know that they'd be sharing this milestone so soon into their relationship. Gavin had been going on and on about reserving time at the best restaurants, toiling over trying to figure out which might appeal most to Kurt's tastes.

And so Kurt tried to go along, vaguely working through the motions, because it was the easier thing to do. A lot about Gavin seemed to be about the easier thing — he was handsome, he was caring almost a fault, and there was no logical reason not to be in the relationship. Maybe that was part of the problem, though. Being with Gavin wasn't especially interesting.

Coming back from a date, Kurt rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension as he unlocked his front door. Immediately, Cat surged out to meet him, pawing at his trousers until Kurt bent down with a grin to pull her up and into his arms, nuzzling her soft fur. "Hey, Cat. Are you proud of me? I kept to my curfew tonight."

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whatever happened to saturday night?

2013-05-04T17:58:29Z

There's always something unnerving about a watch that comes to a full stop. In Darrow, Kurt's first instinct is always to look at the city around him, trying to pinpoint whether or not anything else is off, if anything else should serve as cause for alarm. Fortunately, today there's no dust descending from the sky, no indication that traffic's any different than usual. Just a pocketwatch that came to the end of its life.

Sighing, Kurt runs his fingers through his hair, and decides that the watch matters just enough to him that he's willing to shell out money for repairs.

After firing a quick text to Gavin to explain his absence and spending a good half hour on consoling Cat, Kurt slathers on sunscreen to deal with the quickly increasing amounts of summer sun, then sets out to find the nearest watch shop. His smartphone sends him to a little store a few blocks away, clocks hung on the walls from floor to ceiling, each more ornate than the last.

If they can't figure out how to fix his pocketwatch, Kurt suspects no one can.

He steps inside the shop, wandering through the antiques while he waits to be addressed.

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on insecurity

2012-04-28T05:20:46Z

Kurt Hummel is a boy who has never had to question who he is. From the tender age of three, he requested for his birthday a pair of sensible heels. From the start of the dot-com boom and the emergence of online shopping, Kurt opened himself fully to the world of fashion and show tunes, stocking up on both in the basement of his house and learning to express himself through a mix of dance and song. He is the boy who doesn't play football without his music, who isn't afraid to incorporate the masculine and feminine in all walks of his life, and he isn't afraid of defending his position with every last breath in him, because he should never be made to feel ashamed of who he is.

( But there is a large gap between being proud and being secure )

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or when the day is gone, or when the nights are long

2012-02-17T04:30:39Z

So here's what you missed on Glee:

Rachel told Kurt about a lot of the stuff that happens in his near future, including his relationship with Blaine, so Kurt's been holding off on getting close to cute guys while he pines, but he seems worried about what'll happen if Blaine ever arrives on the island — ("Rachel told me that the two of us start dating back home, though, and so I kind of want him here, but that necessarily means giving him a wider choice set. And who knows? Who knows what that might do.") — and it's been harshing his Rocky Horror groove. Then things got messy as Karofsky showed up and Kurt thinks that he's acting all weird and it's making Kurt act all weird too — ("Every single day, I wake up asking how I've gotten here, where I am, and I don't think any of us from Lima are prepared to deal with it just off the bat. So. I want to make sure that you don't have it as rough as I did, but that requires not getting into the rest of it right now. Okay?") — but he kinda feels sorry for the guy, so he's trying to be nice and to freak out a little less. Except then, less than a week later, Santana suddenly disappeared — ("Britt, Santana wouldn't... let you wait out here in the cold. She wouldn't make you wait so long. We should— we should get home.") — and none of the glee club knows what to do about that.

And that's what you missed on... Glee!

Valentine's Day. A holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap. No matter how many times Kurt watches Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he comes back to this line, over and over again, because it seems like every year, it holds true in his life. As the day starts to come to a close, and the sky overhead stretches across in ambers and golds, Kurt's starting to lose hope that the romance of the day will prevail. Were it up to Blaine, and if they indeed fall in love later down the line, Kurt's sure that Blaine would pick today of all days to show up, that he would buy flowers, sing a song. Maybe it's presumptuous to daydream about a guy he hasn't seen in months and who he hasn't shared that purported relationship with, but Valentine's Day makes it impossible for Kurt's imagination to hold still, if only because it seems to be the singular way to stop the aching of his heart.

Melodramatic, perhaps, but he's been practically trained to be just that.

With a daisy in his hand, petals pulled off one by one to questions murmured under his breath, Kurt pulls off the last one with a hiss between his teeth. "Not showing up," he confirms, something that he's honestly known since well before he started plucking petals, but having even chance weigh against him just pulls Kurt's shoulders into a slump as he leans back on the bench right past the garden, arms carefully folded under his neck as he stares at the sky.

"This is so pathetic," he mutters to himself, rolling his eyes as he turns onto his side, curled on the bench and tugging his riding cloak closer around his frame. He doesn't feel like moving just yet.

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knitting sweaters.

2012-01-24T07:11:48Z

So here's what you missed on Glee:

Kurt's been kind of whining this whole winter about the lack of his family and friends on the island, and it seems to have worked, because Rachel showed up right on Christmas Day — ("Please tell me that you see something strange about the auditorium.") — even though she's Jewish and was in the middle of a pretty important audition for the school musical. Did we mention that Kurt just happened to be in the middle of practicing for the very role that Rachel played last year? ("The thing is... I really want to be in it. I know the show already — I played Janet — not that I want Kurt's part or anything, of course.") Rachel did.

But now people all across the island seem to be getting mysterious presents that appear out of thin air — ("Sweet.") — and Kurt's a bit skeptical, but maybe seeing all this swag has him protesting a little less than he'd otherwise be.

And that's what you missed on... Glee!

I know what you're thinking. I've got exactly one week left in January, which is purportedly the month when everyone on the island receives a present from the Powers That Be. I've been generally keeping a fair amount of distance from any big gifts, sweeping or otherwise, that the island drops off, but I've had it reassured to me several times over that these annual gifts are usually the safer of the bunch, and that I shouldn't worry.

With a red canvas messenger bag looped over Kurt's shoulder, pieced together from an overlarge blazer courtesy of the clothes box, he made his way around the Compound after a long day's worth of dance, ready to enjoy a coveted fifteen minute break before shuffling off to a meal, and then his next class. The sun seemed to practically smile from overhead, and the snow hadn't worn off enough for Kurt to tire of it just yet, so he decided to take a detour to the trampoline around back, an admittedly guilty pleasure.

And, well, seeing Puck receive a guitar and Wichita jamming to the tunes on her brand new iPod have left me curious as to whether or not there's anything in store for me. I don't need big and flashy, I suppose, but had I ever believed in Santa, I guess this is the equivalent of waiting, wondering if you'll receive presents or coal in your stocking on Christmas Day. Seven days left, and I've honestly kind of lost hope.

A sigh passed through his lips as he let his books drop gently to the ground, before then falling back against the stretched elastic of the trampoline. Soon enough, he'd have to find shade— his skin burned more easily than it had any right to, honestly— but for a few blissful seconds, he could simply listen to the rustling of wind through the trees and enjoy the scent of pastries in the air.

But as he began to stretch his arms, a brush against cold metal had him blinking himself to awareness, freezing in place before suddenly scrambling to a seat. Glancing over his shoulder, his gaze fell upon a wide range of items laid out where the trampoline had been bare seconds before, what looked like a series of harnesses, sashes, and perhaps most noticeably, a pair of sai swords.

His smile widened.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

[ Come witness Kurt as he's about to be a sneaky little ninja. This post is dated January 24th, but will be linked to the main comm in February. ST/LT welcome, no limit on tags, open to all. ]

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