#then Hunt. I will say no more on that lest the mutuals throw me from the nearest window

[n7viper]

slowly taking poison damage thinking about beyond light

[just-a-caffeine-addict]

Quotes Accrued in a Decade

“…as you well know, the source of the Nile remained invisible to those who lived next to it for a thousand years. Identifying it required a stranger. (A fresh pair of eyes may see what others miss)” –Sherlock Holmes (From The Perils of Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories)

“A couple of years before he died, I kissed my father goodbye. He said, ‘Son, you haven’t kissed me since you were a little boy.’ It went straight to my heart, and I kissed him whenever I saw him after that, and my sons and I always kiss whenever we meet.” –Terry Wogan

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” –Chinese Proverb

“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” –George Bernard Shaw

“An army of donkeys led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a donkey.” –Genghis Khan

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it." –Mahatma Gandhi

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” –Cesar A. Cruz

“As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” –Marianna Williamson

“Ask not what your country can do for you –ask what you can do for your country.” –John Kennedy

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply give you courage.” –Lao Tzu

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.” –English Proverb

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” –George Bernard Shaw

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” –Confucius

“Can you really have a bad experiment? I don’t know. But can you have a bad result? Yes.” — EvanAndKatelyn (From Can Resin Preserve a Pumpkin Carving?)

“canon is but the sandbox in which i strike lightning to form glass. trouble me no more with your quibblings and quorums, lest i grind you to dust beneath my heel and build stories from the remnants of your bones. Avast, foul fiend” —taako waititi (From Tumblr)

“Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?” —Victor Hugo

“Cucullus non facit monachum (A cowl does not make a monk).” – Fool/Feste (From Twelfth Night)

“Demons run when a good man goes to war…” –River Song (From Doctor Who)

“Due to high cost of ammo, there will be NO WARNING SHOTS FIRED.” –Warning sign

“Every couple needs to argue now and then. Just to prove that the relationship is strong enough to survive. Long-term relationships, the ones that matter, are all about weathering the peaks and the valleys.” –Nicholas Sparks (From Safe Haven)

“Everyone gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.” –Michel de Montaigne (From Of Cannibals)

“Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.” –Brad Henry

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Fools take a knife and stab people in the back. The wise take a knife, cut the cord, and set themselves free from the fools.” –Unknown

“Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.” –Chinese Proverb

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” –Thomas Edison

“Herr, wirf Hern vom Himmel -oder Steine, Hauptsache er trifft (Lord, throw some brains from the heavens -or stones, as long as he hits the mark)!” –German Proverb

“History is for human self-knowledge...the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.” —R.G. Collingwood

“Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.” –James Thurber

“I can pretend I’m a fish, but I shouldn’t try to breathe underwater.” –Unknown

“I have the patience of a saint. Saint Cunty McFuckOff.” –Words on a cup

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” –Thomas Edison

“I made some good deals and I made some bad ones. I really went in the hole with this one.” –Quote on a grave

“I occasionally think, how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask is not an alien force ALREADY among us?” –Ronald Reagan

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” –Isaac Newton

“If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might nearly be free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.” –Victor Frankenstein (From Frankenstein)

“If the world tells me I’m mad, whereas I know I’m not, which of us is right? Thus, being mad is what? Inventing a life one hasn’t lived or loving a woman met in another lifetime? Is it clinging to unsatisfied desires?..” Doriel (From A Mad Desire to Dance)

“If you’re afraid - don’t do it, - if you’re doing it - don’t be afraid!” –Genghis Khan

“If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.” —Louis L’Amour

"If you're not asking the questions in a thoughtful way, you're not going to get any results that are useful or interesting." –Tony Wagner

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” –John Quincy Adams

“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” –Jimi Hendrix (From Axis: Bold as Love)

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge." –Jimmy Wales (Founder of Wikipedia)

"In caucus terrae, luscus rex est (In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king)." –Latin Adage

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” –Abraham Lincoln

“In time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” –George Orwell

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” –André Gide (From Autumn Leaves)

"It's not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer." –Albert Einstein

“It’s true. I forget important things sometimes… Sometimes I do think I should give up-- just let the crown win and the world freeze, with me in it. Some days I can’t remember a single reason to keep fighting. Some… Some days I-- I can’t remember her. But giving up’s EASY. You know what’s hard? To BELIEVE in your own worth, to KNOW you’ve got something special in you even if nobody else can see it. Even when YOU can’t.” –Ice King |Simon Petrikov from Adventure Time

“Learn yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” –Albert Einstein

“Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks.” –Isaac Watts

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” –Sholom Aleichem

“Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.” –Ann Landers

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” –James Baldwin

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” —“The Wonder Years”

“My family is my strength and my weakness.” –Aishwarya rai Bachchan

“Names are the sweetest and the most important sounds in any language.” –Dale Carnegie

“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.” –Mary Wollstonecraft

"No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips." –Sigmund Freud

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” –Lin Yutang

“NO TRESPASSING. Violators will be shot; Survivors will be shot again.” –Warning Sign

“Nobody knows you as well as our spouse. And that means no one will be quicker to recognize a change when you deliberately start sacrificing your wants and wishes to make sure his or her needs are met.” –Stephen Kendrick from The Love Dare

“Notice: Anyone found here at night will be found here in the morning.” –Warning Sign

“"One thing nature is very good at is creating incredibly complex microscopic structures. That's because nature's machines are the size of molecules, while our crude versions are the size of rooms." –Theodore Gray (from Molecules: The Elements and Architecture of Everything)

“Only the sufferers know how their bellies ache.“ –Burmese

“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.” –Otto von Bismarck

“People think intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is ‘You’re safe with me’ - that’s intimacy.” –Taylor Jenkins Reid (From The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)

“Play taps for my ass, cause it’s dead as hell.” –Unknown Quote

“Six of one, half a dozen of the other. (It doesn't matter which one we choose; Equally involved, equally responsible)”

“Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.” –Markus Zusak (From I Am the Messenger)

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” –Theodore Roosevelt

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can” –Arthur Ashe

“Take nothing but pictures; Leave nothing but footprints; Kill nothing but time.” –Caver’s Creed

“Take with a pinch of salt (Don’t completely believe what’s told).”

“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” –Richard Bach

“The end of one thing is only the beginning of another.” –Unknown

“The family is a haven in a heartless world.” –Attributed to Christopher Lasch

“The helper seeks to help others because he knows what it is to be helpless.” –’ Zen’ Wander (From Wander Over Yonder)

"The million-dollar question: Why aren't we kinder? The second million-dollar question: How might we become more loving, more open, less selfish, more present, less

delusional?" –George Sanders

“The need for a body of common knowledge and common reference ...grows more necessary so that people of different origins and occupation may quickly find common ground and, as we say, speak a common language...it also ensures a kind of mutual confidence and good will. One is not addressing an alien, blank as a stone wall, but a responsive creature whose mind is filled with the same images, memories, and vocabulary as oneself.” —Jacques Barzun

“The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them.” –Marilyn Monroe

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!” –Roosevelt

“The only time you should look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure you have enough.” –Louie CK

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” –Albert Camus

“The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.” –Mahatma Gandhi

“The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds.” —Tryon Edwards

“The secret to humor is surprise.” –Aristotle

“The surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of many, because administered for the common good.” –Andrew Carnegie

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” –G.K. Chesterson

"The word 'why' not only taught me to ask, but also to think. And thinking has never hurt anyone. On the contrary, it does us all a world of good." –Anne Frank

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” –Ernest Hemingway From A Farewell To Arms

“There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes him, and why retribution had come upon him.” –Jefferson Hope From Sherlock’s Adventures

“There will be something you hate in every job. The trick is finding a job where you love the good parts enough to make up for the crappy parts.” –post

“There’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society… outside of a kennel.” –Crystal (From The Women of 1939)

“Though we tremble before uncertain futures… may we dance in the face of our fears.” –Gloria Anzaldua

“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” –Elie Wiesel (From Night)

“Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l’admire (A fool always finds a fool to admire him).” – Sherlock Holmes (French translation)

“We’re taught Lord Acton’s axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely[...] I believed that when we started these books, but I don’t believe it’s always true anymore. [...] What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals. When you have enough power to do what you always wanted to do, then you see what the guy always wanted to do.” –Robert A. Caro

“We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.” –Joseph Roux

“What we have done to ourselves alone, dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” –Brother Albert Pike

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” –Henry Ford

“When you wish upon a star, you’re a few million light years late. That star is dead. Just like your dreams.” –Unknown

“When you’re a brat, running fast is enough to make you popular. When you’re a middle-schooler, the guys who can fight will be popular, and after that it’s the guys with brains who can get the girls.” –Master of Protagonist (From The Fruit of Grisaia)

“Where we love is home –home where our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” –Plato

“You are the company you keep.” –Unknown

“You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul" –Chef Gusteau (From Ratatouille)

“You walk around a drunk, you get a tired drunk. Splash ‘em with water, you get a wet drunk. Give ‘em a coffee, you’ve got a wide-awake drunk…” –Unknown

[vcg73]

Witch!Kurt #31: Getting Ready

This one is simply Kurt and Adam getting ready to go out. Next time I will do the bachelor party. I make no promise that will be no more incidentals after this one. They tend to creep up on me unexpectedly! 

~*~*~*~*~

“I know it’s rather late to be asking, given that the event starts in an hour, but are you sure you don’t mind the idea of a shared bachelor party?” Adam asked, joining Kurt in front of the long dressing mirror where he was fixing his hair. 

He met Adam’s reflected eyes. “Not at all. Since we have mostly the same friends, and they would have either had to throw two parties or split us up between them if we did it the regular way, this seems more sensible to me. Besides, I’ve always hated the idea that a man is supposed to be so reluctant to get married that he requires a night of wild debauchery to face up to it. Anyone who feels that way shouldn’t be getting married at all, and you can take that from someone who felt like he was having increasingly heavier weights piled on his shoulders every day closer to Labor Day.”

“Labor Day?” 

“The day Blaine picked for us to get married.”  

Adam made a sour face. “Chosen with no input from you, I suppose. Appropriate, though, considering he was anticipating being able to mooch off your heard-earned physical and emotional labor for the rest of his sodding life.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way before,” Kurt said, shaking his head ruefully. He still felt disgusted and rather ashamed when something reminded him of just how much of his autonomy he had given up to be with Blaine. Even without the dirty magic affecting his will, he had spent too long allowing Blaine to make all the relationship decisions while he stayed in the shadows just to keep the fighting to a minimum. “Actually, I think he just picked it because it was the last day of summer break before school would begin again. This was before he bombed out of NYADA.”

Adam’s only response was a grunt that somehow expressed his opinion of Blaine and his “talent” better than any words could have.

“I’d much rather just bid a fond and mutual farewell to our screwed up pasts and drink a toast to a happy future together tonight,” Kurt continued. Then his smile faltered a little. “Oh, unless . . . Were you trying to tell me that you did want a separate party? Because I’m sure we could still call the Apples and . . .”

“No,” Adam cut in quickly, stopping him from reaching for his phone as he realized that Kurt was about to jump into one of his characteristically self-sacrificing gestures. “No wild oats or fear of a metaphorical ball and chain here, love. I feel the same way about making this a shared positive memory, and you must know that I’d marry you this instant. Though I couldn’t swear to my own safety once the coven got hold of me if we were to skip their gathering and elope.”

Kurt had relaxed again at the reassurance. “Me too. I don’t entirely know what to expect from next week’s ceremony, but I’m pretty sure Brittany would cry if she missed out on attending, and then Santana would be out for my blood, and Dani and Elliott would probably disown me, especially if I took that away from them and also made them miss out on throwing a double bachelor party.” 

“Ditto Clark and Tonya,” Adam agreed, remembering how excited his old chums had been when Dani and Elliott had asked if they wanted to help plan the event. He was delighted that the two groups were getting along so well. “The only reason I asked is that I had thought you might wish for a more private soiree to bid farewell to boyhood and single life. A night out with just the girls perhaps, since you’ve always been their particular pet, or hunting up some of your New Directions folk for an old-time chorus party.” 

“No. I’ll admit, there was a time when I couldn’t have imagined anything else, but I’m a lot more comfortable in mixed company now than I was in high school. And I’ve got Santana, Brittany, and Johnny from the old gang. Plus Artie Abrams is supposed to be there tonight and he’s bringing another McKinley friend who just moved to the city as his guest. I don’t think you’ve ever met Unique, but I’m sure you’ll love her.”  Kurt laughed. “Besides, it won’t take much to coax a song out of anyone. I’ll get my chorus party no matter what.”

Adam smiled, knowing that would indeed be the case. The two of them seemed to attract song-birds wherever they went. “So in short, a party with food and drink, songs and laughs, a mixture of old and new friends, with the one you love most by your side sounds as good to you as it does to me?”

“Practically paradise,” he sighed, tipping his head sideways for a moment to rest against Adam’s handy shoulder. 

Adam stared fondly at their reflection for a moment, then his attention was distracted by the sight of his necktie, rumpled and hanging at an odd left-leaning angle over the breast pocket of his new dress shirt. He made a disgusted noise and tugged at the knot, trying to get it even again. “How can this bloody thing have got cocked up in just ten minutes? I swear it’s having its own way every time I take my eyes off it. You haven’t gone and given Johnny permission to joke-spell my wardrobe have you?”

Giving his sky-high coif a satisfied pat, Kurt set his bottle of sculpting conditioner aside and turned to help. His eyes danced. “I would never do that. It does sound like Johnny’s sense of humor, but I think you’re safe. He and Monica have each sent about 20 texts today related to magical body and soul infusion, so I think they’re safely obsessed elsewhere.”  

As he spoke, Kurt pulled the abused tie free of Adam’s fretful fingers and gently stroked a few wrinkles out of the dark cherry-patterned silk before tucking it back around Adam’s collar, which he also deftly straightened before tying the cloth back into a swift, runway-perfect Windsor knot and smoothing it over Adam’s chest with a fond pat. “There you go. Stop taking out your nerves on this and it will be fine.”

“Thank you,” Adam said, shaking his head over the easy efficiency. A minute in Kurt’s capable hands and the tie looked better than it ever did after suffering his own haphazard fumbling. His dad had taught him how to do up a proper knot when he was ten and facing his first school uniform, but Adam never had or would share Kurt’s natural affinity for clothing. Vowing to keep his hands off the masterpiece lest he ruin it again, Adam put his hands into the pockets of his black straight-leg jeans and allowed himself a little pivot to and fro, admiring the overall effect. “Not half bad if I say it myself.”

Kurt’s eyes swept his form from the neatly gelled peaks of his golden-blond hair to the tips of his new chocolate brown suede Oxford shoes. “You look healthy and handsome, and I love this outfit on you, although you look so good in it that I’m tempted to skip the party and peel you out of it again.”

Preening under his beloved’s approving gaze, Adam said, “Why thank you, sir. I must say that I regret our timetable as well. The spot of necking when we arrived home was very nice indeed, but this navy silk with the black laces down the front makes me want to unwrap you like a present, and damn the consequences.”

“What, this old thing?” Kurt teased, smoothing the shirt and tucking it more securely into his hip-hugging leather pants. The skin tight black material had thin navy laces down the side of each leg to provide a coordinated contrast with the shirt. He had created the outfit himself, winning his very first photo op in Vogue dot com’s ‘one to watch’ section that Isabelle used to showcase up and coming designers. With a sly glance toward Adam, Kurt loosened the shirt laces slightly, adjusting them to reveal small diamonds of pale flesh from chest to navel.

Adam groaned. “Not fair. Those trousers are already doing evil things to me on their own.” Running a fingertip over one of the matching exposures at Kurt’s hip, he said, “The lack of underwear is a bold choice.”

“Well, I have to make one concession to wild singledom, right?” Kurt said playfully, raising both arms and bumping his hip against Adam’s. Then he laughed. “Actually, though, I’m not as risque as you think.”

Adam considered this, tilting his head to take a closer look at Kurt’s bum. “Thong?”

He nodded. “I don’t like them, but I have to bite the bullet with this outfit. A couple of high school experiences taught me that leather plus commando turns me into a gross sweaty mess.”

“Baby powder is helpful, I’m told.”

“It is. Trust me, there are some places you just do not want to risk being chafed, but I still hate it. I wish I was one of those people who could just glisten attractively, or stay completely cool under stress, but I sadly inherited my father’s hard-working pores.”

Adam playfully sniffed at his neck, then kissed it. "I rather like you wrapped up in a layer of manly musk.”

A burst of laughter responded. “Oh, well. Then I’m sure you’ll be absolutely swooning by the time I’ve been pulled onto the stage or dance floor half a dozen times. And so will I, because I overheard some of the gang laying out plans for us, so don’t think you’re getting out of providing some of this evening’s entertainment.”

Kurt’s hands went up, stopping Adam’s hand from rising to fidget with his abused tie again at the reminder of the crowd he would be facing tonight. “Sorry,” Adam said, cheeks flushing. “S’pose I’m a bit nervous about this still.”

Lacing Adam’s fingers between his own, Kurt lifted them to rest over his heart. “I was only teasing. You don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable and nobody will think badly of you if you don’t. And if anyone gets too drunk and persistent, send them to Tubbington. He’s promised to be a sort of chaperone tonight and keep everyone in line so all of us ‘kids’ can have fun.”

Startled, Adam laughed. “Somehow, L.T. is not the first one who springs to mind when I think of responsible chaperones.”

“Me either, but after Brittany squashed all of his wilder suggestions, I guess he decided he might as well just be the grown-up instead. He doesn’t show off what he can do very often, but I trust his ability to handle things if anybody gets out of line. Have you ever noticed that even Santana is respectful to him?”

“I have. When she gets sharp and snarly with everyone, Tubbington finds an excuse to take her off on an errand. We haven’t had a single explosion of outright cruelty since he formally adopted her as his second Familiar charge.”

Kurt nodded. “Exactly, so trust him and trust me. I’ll be there the whole time. I really want you to come out and receive your share of the love I know all of our friends are putting into this party.”

Adam relaxed, allowing Kurt’s happy anticipation to reignite his own and push the fear back down. “Thank you, darling. I’ll do my best. And maybe I will give the stage a go. Though it’s been a long while since I sang a song for any audience but you and the family, so hopefully the others won’t be expecting too much.”

“The plan is for both of us to get completely shit-faced, dance like we’re receiving electroshock, and dominate the karaoke stage like Rachel Berry searching for the perfect duet partner,” Kurt said with such a solemn face that Adam almost believed he was serious. Then he laughed and Adam relaxed again. “Kidding. Drink, sing, and dance if you feel like it, or stay in your seat and just nurse a soda if you prefer. Though I may insist on one duet together if you’re feeling confident.”

"That sounds very nice, love. Either way, I don’t want you to feel that you can’t get up and have fun without me. This is your celebration as much as mine, and I want you to enjoy it.  Though on that note, I do promise I’ll keep you from doing anything that you’ll be ashamed to report to Burt next time you speak.”

Kurt covered his mouth, but a snort escaped anyway at the reminder that his father would almost certainly ask him all about the party the next time they spoke. “Thanks, I may need the help. Keep the others from getting any audio/video evidence to use as blackmail and I promise I’ll keep anyone from hounding you to perform.”

“Deal,” he said. He kissed Kurt, stroking the back of his head with gentle fingertips. Kurt had been too busy to visit his stylist over the last couple of weeks and Adam loved playing with those little curls when he had the chance.

Kurt returned the kiss eagerly, willing his love to give Adam strength for the evening ahead. “Should we call someone to come Teleport us?” he asked after a moment, putting a hand on Adam’s chest and backing up a step, reminding them both that they needed to get moving if they did not want to be late for their own party.

Adam considered it. “Would you object to taking a walk up to the Garden Street circle? It’s nippy tonight, but if we bundle up it shouldn’t be bad. I’d like a chance to center myself before we face the mob.”

“That sounds good. I could use a little exercise before gorging myself on snacks and booze,” Kurt agreed, happy and a little surprised at the suggestion. Adam found walking out in the world to be more of a challenge at night, when the atmosphere was dark and close. He had been spending a few minutes out on ‘that bloody fire-escape’ every morning, until the wide-open platform began losing its dread, and Elliott had made a copy of his friend’s new work schedule so the coven could take turns acting as escort whenever Adam walked to and from Bui’s Tea. 

Adam had not bought the ‘I just happened to be going that way’ excuse for long, but he was grateful for the distraction of friendly company on his bad days, and even more for his new friends’ willingness to let him go it alone on the days when he felt that he could handle it. The good days were slowly coming to outnumber the bad, but Adam still rarely ventured out after dark. The route he was suggesting tonight was well lit, which would help, and there were always hopeful cabbies milling around that particular area, so it wouldn’t take long to catch a ride to Callbacks.

Both young men bundled themselves up in coats, gloves, and scarves. Adam tugged his favorite blue woolen beanie over his blond hair and cocked his head when he saw that Kurt was doing without. “No hat? Darling, it can’t be more than one degree C out there tonight.” He picked up another of his collection, a cheery red and cream creation that he had knit during some of his long hours of convalesce, and offered it to Kurt.   

“I’m fine,” he said, stepping back as though he feared the woolen hat would somehow force itself upon his head if he got too close. “It’s sweet of you to offer, but I didn’t spend an hour getting my hair perfect just to mash it down flat again with that. I just hope I used enough hair spray to counteract the wind.”

“I’m sure you have, but I don’t want you to catch cold and I think you’re forgetting a little skill I’ve got,” Adam said, pulling off his beanie and twitching his fingertips to make his own wavy locks curl, straighten, spike, and then go back to normal again. “I can fix it up in a wink if you get mussed. And if you don’t care for this hat, you could wear one of your more ‘fabulous’ examples.”

Kurt had perked up at the idea of a ready magical solution to any hair related catastrophes that might befall him, but at Adam’s second suggestion he gasped, “Oh!”, clasped his hands and hopped in sudden excitement, and dashed into the bedroom where Adam immediately heard the sounds of rummaging. When Kurt left Lima for New York, he had left behind much of his accessory collection out of fear that it would be either be out of style, or that he would not have enough room for them if he ended up living in a broom closet somewhere. He had asked Carole to pack and send them after Christmas.

When he reemerged, it was not so much walking as strutting. Kurt’s left fist rested on his exposed hip as he held his long black wool coat back on one side and vamped slowly into the room. On his head was perched a tall black top hat, around which he had wrapped a blue silk scarf to form a trailing hat band that created the perfect accent for his runway ready ensemble. Doing a spin on one booted foot to make the streamers dance, he then bowed and doffed his new addition at Adam. 

Adam made impressed noises as he walked a slow circle around Kurt. “Here I thought you were marrying me for my stunning good looks, but I see now that I needed a fallback position, for I have become entirely eclipsed by my stunning fiance.”

With a grin and a kiss to his cheek, Kurt said, “You’d better stop that or we really will be late to the party.” He began fastening up his coat and pulling his gloves back on. “Are you ready for this?”

"As I’ll ever be. Let’s go. We’ll take the long way ‘round, and you can help me come up with a perfect song for our couples duet.”

Recognizing both a show of faith in Kurt’s ability to keep him safe along the way, and a promise to try his best to overcome his fears and have just fun tonight, Kurt squeezed Adam’s hand. “Sounds great. But you know I’m staking a preemptive claim to the powerhouse divas, right?”

“Not a problem as long as you’re singing with me,” Adam laughed, letting go of Kurt’s hand just long enough to lock the door behind them. “But if you go up with Elliott, he may fight you for them.”

“Only Diana Ross,” Kurt quipped, putting up the additional ward against magical intruders with a quick toss of his head. 

Hand in hand, the young couple headed toward the building stairwell and started walking down, the bright sounds of laughter and playful arguments over song suggestions echoing cheerfully behind them. 

The End