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darriness · 4 years

Text

Klaine Fic - 3 on 1

Author: darriness

Word Count: 19352

Summary: What happens when triplets each find the potential love of their lives...in the same person?

Author’s Note: This author's note is a little long but I ask that you read it all :) Welcome to my story for the Glee Potluck Big Bang! I've had this story finished for a couple of months so I'm over the moon I'm getting a chance to post it a little early! The original idea for this fic came from a conversation I had with @ipwarn when I discovered that Darren Criss, Alex Brightman, and Henry Golding share the same birthdate. But, saying that, Blaine is still Blaine in this story (he's not Darren) and for Alex and Henry I used parts of their real life inspirations' general appearance as reference but they are completely made up characters. Most notably, and the reason I wanted to say anything, I know Henry Golding is actually Malaysian but Henry in my story is half Filipino. Lastly but definitely not least I would like to thank @imrights for the AMAZING title art above that I am completely obsessed with. And as always I would like to thank my fantastic beta @darrenismydarcy - I could not do any of this without you!! I hope all of the above makes sense! Enjoy the story! I, selfishly, love it a whole lot!

AO3 Link

3 on 1

What do you get when you mix an Asian banker with an Irish elementary school teacher?

Henry, Alexander, and Blaine Anderson.

That? Is Alex Anderson’s favourite joke to tell. It’s caused his brothers to roll their eyes more times then they can count but Alex still gets a kick out of it.

Now, Henry, Alex, and Blaine aren’t JUST brothers. I mean sure, looking at them you probably wouldn’t even be able to tell they share ANY genetic makeup. They are as different as different can be.

Henry towers over his brothers at just over six feet, for one. Blaine and Alex try to pass themselves off as five nine but...they’re five eight on a good day. Alex got all his features from his Irish mother. He’s as white as can be. Literally. His brown hair and brown eyes are the only things keeping him from being part of the Arian race…

Henry, on the other hand, is the spitting image of his Filipino father. His angular features, slightly slanted chocolate brown eyes, and deep chestnut hair are a proud marker of his Asian heritage.

And then there’s Blaine. A complete mix of them both. Growing up, he had to fight (once physically) for people to understand that he is half Asian. Unlike Alex (who to this day gets the quirked eyebrow when he tells people he’s half Filipino and will sometimes, depending on the company, not even bother to mention this fact), Blaine does have Asian traits. It’s just that he has enough caucasian traits to ‘trick’ the more ignorant population.

In the end, not only are these three completely different men brothers...they actually share the exact same birthdate.

Growing up as a triplet was an interesting experience. One that can only truly be understood by those who, themselves, grew up as a multiple.

For example, there really isn’t a way to explain the special kind of connection that sees one triplet farting on the head of another triplet while the third triplet holds him down.

Which is how we find the Anderson triplets now.

“Oh my God, get the fuck off of me!” Henry shouts, trying to bring his hands up to block the assault.

Alex laughs from somewhere above him, letting out a sigh as he completes the job, before moving from his straddle position.

“You can let him go, Blainers.” Alex says to Blaine who had been holding Henry’s shoulders and arms down.

Blaine releases Henry who immediately shrugs him off (like he had been the one to break the hold) and sits up, “I expect this shit from him,” Henry says, pointing to Alex, “but not from you.” He concludes, pointing to Blaine.

Blaine shrugs, “He had a justifiable reason.”

Henry rolls his eyes before shifting on the couch and picking up some of the papers in front of him. He’s got work to do. He’s not even sure why he agreed to have his brothers over to his apartment on the eve of potentially the biggest meeting of his career.

“So, we need to talk about what we’re going to do for Tiny’s bachelorette.” Alex says, sitting down on the other couch and picking up his beer. HE doesn’t have a high stress meeting in the morning.

But, right. That’s why they’re here. To discuss their little sister’s upcoming nuptials.

“We’re not her bridesmaids OR her maid of honour.” Blaine reminds, “Isn’t our job to go with the guys when they take Sam out?”

Alex stares aghast when Henry shrugs and nods along with the suggestion, “Ummm no!” Alex shouts, indignantly, “This is our baby sister’s wedding. Our ONLY sister’s wedding. If it’s not her big brothers’ job to take her out and get her drunk and danced upon by random strippers then I don’t know whose job it is.”

Blaine and Henry stare at their brother in silence for a moment.

“Ummm, it’s literally anyone else’s job but ours.” Henry says.

Alex rises slightly from his seat and sits down with an emphatic exhale, “You can’t be serious!” He exclaims, “To quote a very neurotic man ‘I expect this shit from him,” He says pointing at Henry, “but not from you.’” He finishes, pointing at Blaine.

Blaine’s eyes go wide and Henry can tell that Blaine’s people pleasing nature is taking a serious hit tonight. If there’s one thing Blaine Anderson can’t stand, it’s people not liking him and being disappointed in him.

“We are her *brothers*.” Alex emphasises again, “I think she’d be really hurt if we didn’t do something for her.”

Henry sighs, “But does that ‘something’ have to include naked men?” He asks, even though he already knows he’s going to agree to whatever Alex has planned. That’s how their relationship works and always has. Alex comes up with the crazy schemes, Blaine goes along with pretty much anything to stop people from being upset with him, and Henry usually acquiesces because if not...the other two would probably end up in jail.

Alex smiles like he knows he’s close, “Come on. You don’t think Tiny would get a kick out of naked men dancing for her? And besides, Blaine and I will enjoy it just as much!” He waggles his eyebrows lewdly. Alex really is a charismatic, nice guy...once you see past the frat boy exterior.

Henry sighs again as he shuffles his papers. He could mention that while Blaine and Alex (being gay and pansexual respectively) would get a kick out of a male strip club, he (as a straight man) probably wouldn’t. But...in the end he loves his brothers and sister too much to refuse…

...especially with Blaine now fully on board and the two of them looking at Henry like he has the keys to all of their hopes and dreams.

“Oh, fine.” He grumbles, even though he smiles.

The other two cheer and Henry rolls his eyes as they begin to make plans and he goes back to his notes.

-- -- --

Blaine leans over and gives Alex a brief hug as their cab pulls up in front of Blaine’s apartment later that night, “Night Al.” He says.

Alex smiles, “Night Blainers.”

Blaine’s got one foot out of the cab when Alex calls his name. He turns and raises a questioning brow at his brother, “Don’t forget to check your Tinder.” He waggles his eyebrows much like earlier. Alex spends a lot of his time waggling his eyebrows.

Blaine chuckles and rolls his eyes, “It’s not Tinder. It’s just...a regular dating app.”

Blaine’s not ashamed of the fact that he’s trying online dating. He’s a 26-year-old single man in New York City and at least half the world is online dating. It’s worth a try. And it’s not like he’s Alex who trips and falls (sometimes literally) over a new sexual partner almost every day or Henry who is married to his job. He’s just covering his bases.

Alex smiles, “Well, just be sure to check it. And remember, only swipe right if it looks like they have a big penis.”

Blaine rolls his eyes again before giving his brother the middle finger and getting out of the car. He stands on the curb as the cab pulls into traffic on its way to Alex’s apartment ten minutes away, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket after getting hit with the wind of a late September evening chill.

When the cab turns a corner and is no longer in sight, Blaine turns and makes his way into his apartment building. It’s not the most posh of buildings but it’s comfortable. It’s home. And Blaine is proud of the fact that he is able to afford it without having to rely on his parents’ money. They’ve offered, sure, but Blaine has never wanted to rely on his parents that much.

His building is quiet this late at night and Blaine doesn’t pass a single person on his way to the fifth floor. He lets himself into his apartment, toes off his shoes, hangs up his jacket, and throws his keys into the bowl on the front table before making his way to the couch and collapsing onto it with a sigh.

Despite his eye roll at his brother, the first thing he does upon sitting down is check his dating app, ConnectSingle. It’s definitely not Tinder, no swiping of any kind required, but Blaine enjoys the fact that both parties need to indicate interest (by clicking a happy face on their basic profile) before they can contact each other or even view their whole profile. And while he feels like it’s slightly shallow, Blaine has definitely used that function to weed out some of the less...aesthetically pleasing requests.

He’s actually only communicated with three guys so far and only met up with one in person (...it didn’t go well), but he’s optimistic he’ll find someone he can really connect with. And if not? Well, he hasn’t really lost anything in trying.

He first checks to see who has given him a smiley face today. Three men seem to enjoy the picture Henry had taken of him on the beach, sunglasses reflecting the ocean and curls loose and billowing in the wind, and he considers each of their pictures before deleting them all. He feels slightly bad but figures if you sign up to online dating not expecting to be rejected sometimes, you’re doing it wrong.

He then flips to his ‘daily matches’ - men the app thinks he might like. He hems and haws over their basic profiles and decides to smiley face two; a redhead named Andy (who appeals to the side of Blaine that enjoys larger men) and a brown haired man named Kurt (who has great hair, great eyes, and a smirk Blaine may be interested in knowing more about).

It’s not as immediately satisfying as he would like it to be, clicking the smiley face. Nothing happens other than a yellow smiley face rises slightly above his thumb and then winks out, leaving a static yellow smiley face behind, but he feels accomplished.

He closes the app and stretches on the couch, glancing at the clock to notice it’s almost 1 am. He doesn’t have anywhere immediate to go in the morning, perks of being an on call studio musician, but figures just in case he gets a call he should go to bed.

Without thinking of ConnectSingles again, he goes about his evening routine, plugs his phone in and is asleep twenty minutes later.

-- -- --

Alex could go home. It’s where he told his brother and, more importantly, the cab driver he’d be going. But as the cab driver pulls away from the curb he gets a text from his friend, Elliott, telling him he should meet him at a bar.

Alex shrugs and tells the cab driver to change his final destination. It doesn’t take much to convince Alex to go out.

When he gets to the bar, he finds Elliott leaning against the brick front wall. He’s got a foot propped up behind him, a bare knee poking out of ripped black jeans, and a cigarette burning from his lips as he looks down at his phone.

“I must reiterate - as a performer you really shouldn’t smoke.” Alex says by way of a greeting.

Elliott looks up from his phone and smirks as he pulls the cigarette from between his lips, “Old habits die hard.” He says with a shrug before flicking the mostly unsmoked cigarette to the ground and pulling Alex into a hug, “Good to see you, man.”

“You too.” Alex says returning the hug, “Any particular reason you dragged me out of bed on this cold night to meet you at a bar at 1 am?”

Elliott rolls his eyes, “If you were in bed, I promise that was the last smoke of my life.”

Alex purses his lips to hide his smile before sighing, “Damnit, fine, I wasn’t in bed.” Elliott laughs and puts a hand on Alex’s shoulder, pulling him forward into the bar.

The noise from inside the bar gets unsurprisingly louder as they enter but luckily not so loud that it makes talking impossible. They may have to raise their voices slightly to be heard but Alex knows he won’t be leaving with burst ear drums.

“We were just having a really great night and I thought you should be a part of it.” Elliott explains.

Alex nods, enjoying that Elliott thought to include him, “We?” He asks as they make their way to the bar.

Elliott shrugs, “Just a bunch of people from the theatre.” He calls.

It’s not wall to wall packed in the bar but it’s busy enough that Alex accidentally runs into someone on their walk from the door to the bar. He ‘oofs’ at the impact and then is immediately apologetic as the person he hit turns around.

The words die on his lips when a set of cool blue eyes make eye contact with him. An eyebrow is quirked above those eyes and pink lips wrap around a straw as they regard Alex. Alex notices the slight pull in of the cheeks attached to the lips as they suck up liquid.

He’s broken from his stare when Elliott laughs, “Alex? Kurt. Kurt? Alex.”

Alex feels Elliott pat his shoulder a few times before the other man is gone, leaving Kurt and Alex still looking at each other. Alex watches as Kurt’s tongue flicks out to play with the straw still between his lips and Alex is transfixed.

“Hi.” He breathes, suddenly wishing he had worn a better outfit to Henry’s than his faded jeans and white button up shirt with tiny rubber ducks on it.

“Hi.” Kurt answers back with a smile.

-- -- --

Henry fidgets the next morning as he sits outside the office the nice receptionist directed him to. His knee bounces and he shuffles through the papers in his folder, wishing he could stop the sweat he can feel building under his suit jacket.

He’s prepared, he knows he is, but a job interview for a large production company is a lot different than working out of a one room studio with guys you went to college with.

Henry checks his watch and realizes he’s probably got another ten minutes to wait - he’s always extremely early to all things, something he wishes he could teach his brother.

As if summoned by Henry’s thought, his phone buzzes in his pocket and a text from Alex pops up.

Alex

You got this brother! Now I’m going back to sleep.

Henry chuckles softly and doesn’t bother to respond. Alex is probably already asleep again.

He’s still looking at his phone when a second text comes in, this time from Blaine.

Blaine

You are more than ready for this, Henry. Call me after to let me know how it goes.

Henry smiles at the texts on his screen and feel bolstered by their support. He texts Blaine back to thank him and tell him he will call him after, before pocketing his phone and going back to bouncing his knee.

“Can I...get you something to drink?” A hesitant voice asks to Henry’s left.

He jumps slightly and turns to find a well dressed man with high chestnut hair and a soft smile looking at him like you might a spooked animal.

Henry chuckles and can feel his cheeks blush slightly in embarrassment at how ridiculous he must look, “The receptionist already offered and I’m good. But thank you.”

The man nods but doesn’t immediately depart. Instead he continues to look at Henry with a calculating expression, “Job interview?” He asks, finally.

Henry bites his lip, “Is it that obvious?”

The man shrugs and gestures to the seat next to Henry. Henry also gestures to the seat with a nod and the man sits, crossing one long leg over the other, “I don’t think anyone else would notice. I just recall with ridiculous clarity my own nerves when I interviewed for a job here.”

Henry nods, “But obviously it went well for you.”

The man seems to preen, his swooped hair swaying slightly as he shakes his head and Henry finds himself smiling, “Obviously.” The man says and while it should come across as cocky, it doesn’t and Henry finds his nerves easing. The man smiles and holds out a hand, “Kurt.” He says.

Henry takes the hand and shakes it warmly, “Henry.”

Kurt smiles, “Well, Henry, what do you say I take you out for a coffee to celebrate after your interview?”

And suddenly Henry is nervous again but this time it has nothing to do with his interview.

-- -- --

Blaine stretches like a cat in a sun spot and hums as he squints at the bright sun shining through his bedroom window. He loves to wake up to the sun.

His phone buzzes on the nightstand and he rolls over to grab it. He’s got three notifications on his phone. One is a text from Alex sent at 3:43 am.

Alex

Duuuuuude you will not believe the night I’ve had!

Blaine chuckles and figures texting Alex back now would yield no fruit. It’s only 9 am, Alex would be asleep for hours yet.

The second notification is reminding him that Henry has a job interview this morning. He silently thanks himself for setting the reminder and quickly shoots a text to his brother for support.

The last notification is from ConnectSingle. Blaine has a match! It’s not quite as exciting as it was when he first got the app but he’ll admit to a tiny thrill going through him at the prospect of mutual interest. He wonders if it’s Andy or Kurt from last night or one of the other people he’s smiley faced in the past.

He thumbs open the app and notices first that Andy’s name is no longer on his ‘pending’ list which means the other man deleted Blaine’s profile. It stings a little but then he smiles when he sees a green smiley face next to Kurt’s name and picture (indicating a reciprocated interest) and an email attachment. He presses the email and settles back against the pillow to read what his new match has to say.

Blaine,

Hi! My name’s Kurt. Though I guess you already knew that... (Blaine chuckles softly) Anyway! Thank you for ‘smiling’ at me. You have a great actual smile :) I’d be interested to learn more about you - your profile says you’re a musician? Message me back if you’re interested in chatting!

Kurt

It’s simple but it still makes Blaine kicky feet just the tiniest bit under his blankets. He bites his lip and reads the message again before opening a reply box and typing his own message back.

Kurt

Hello! It’s great to ‘meet’ you. You also have a really great smile and might I add you have stunning eyes (is ‘stunning’ too much for a first email?) I am a musician! I’m a freelance studio musician, which, believe it or not, makes me a pretty decent living. Your profile says you like cars - Driving them? Working on them? Sitting in them? (I promise not to judge if it’s the last one). Hope to hear from you soon!

Blaine :)

As always, Blaine reads his message four times before hitting send and then rereads it again for any stupid things he may have said. He’s pretty happy with what he sent though and as he heads to the shower he’s already anticipating Kurt’s response.

-- -- --

“You are a God among men!” Alex exclaims as he walks out the front entrance to his apartment building later that afternoon to find Blaine standing outside with a coffee cup extended in one hand.

Blaine chuckles as his brother takes the cup, slings an arm around his shoulder and noisily kisses his cheek, “Well, I figured you would have just gotten up.” Blaine says as the pair start to walk down the street.

Alex hums around a sip of delicious coffee before nodding, “Within the last hour.”

“I still don’t understand how you can sustain this lifestyle.” Blaine says with a shake of his head. He knows that, out of the three of them, Alex relies most heavily on their parents to make ends meet and that his job as an evening bread baker at a small bakery means he doesn’t work typical hours (though who is Blaine to talk?) but sometimes he worries that Alex isn’t taking care of himself as well as he could.

Alex fidgets with the beanie he has on over his undoubtedly messy brown hair and shrugs with an easy smile, “Hey, man, when it works, it works.”

Blaine nods to concede the point, for now, as they round the corner on the street the bakery Alex works at is on, “So, what was so unbelievable about your night last night?”

Alex perks up at the mention and seems to skip along next to Blaine, “I met someone!”

Blaine rolls his eyes affectionately, “You are always ‘meeting someone’.”

Alex nods but smacks Blaine lightly, “I know but this guy is different. He’s...amazing!”

Blaine smiles, “Well, I’m happy for you.” He says, “Are you seeing him again?”

Sometimes, Blaine gets jealous over how easily Alex meets people. Granted as a pansexual, his pool of potential partners is larger than Blaine’s, but there’s just something so magnetic about Alex and he doesn’t seem to have any insecurities holding him back.

Alex presses his lips together and nods, “Tomorrow night!”

Blaine tries not to let his shock show. For as often as Alex hooks up with people, he usually doesn’t see the same person more than once. Blaine has asked that question of Alex a lot and usually gets a shrug and a ‘probably not’. Now, Alex seems genuinely excited.

“That’s amazing. Did you sleep with him last night?” Blaine asks as they come to a stop outside Alex’s work.

“Now, Blainers, you know a man does not kiss and tell!” Alex scoffs but then smirks, “But...there was kissing.” And there is the eyebrow waggle.

Blaine laughs, “Well, you’ll have to keep me updated.” He says.

“Speaking of updated,” Alex says, “Have you heard from our enigmatic big brother today about his interview?”

Blaine furrows his brow, “Not since before it happened. I told him to call me afterwards.”

Alex pouts his lips thoughtfully, “Maybe it went so well he had to go home and masturbate to his work success.”

Blaine half laughs and half groans, “That is not a visual I needed.” Alex shrugs with a chuckle, “But I’ll message him and find out how it went. Have a good shift. I’ll see Friday at Mom and Dad’s?”

Alex nods, “Okay, let me know what he says.” Because texting Henry himself would be too much work?, “And you sure will see me Friday, baby brother!”

Blaine rolls his eyes again, “I am not the baby!”

Alex clicks his tongue and shrugs, “Last one out is always the baby.”

“I am literally one minute ‘younger’ than you.” Blaine huffs complete with sarcastic finger quotes.

“And what a glorious minute it was.” Alex says with a wistful sigh and then dodges when Blaine tries to hit him in the head.

Alex waves without further ado and then heads into the bakery to start his shift, leaving Blaine on the sidewalk to pull out his phone. He’s about to open his text app to message Henry when a red bubbled one by the ConnectSingles app draws his attention.

He opens it with a giddy flutter of his stomach to find a new message from Kurt. He starts walking down the crowded street while he opens the email to read it (he’s lived in New York all his life, he’s an expert at phone reading and dodging people at the same time).

Blaine,

‘Freelance studio musician’ sounds fascinating. Do you know how to play a lot of instruments? As for my interest in cars, it’s all about working on them (who enjoys just sitting in cars? :P lol). My dad owns a garage in my hometown and I’ve been fixing cars since I could hold a wrench. I think he secretly wanted me to take over the business but fixing cars was always a hobby, not a vocation for me.

...Is that an overshare for a second message? I’m fairly new to this online thing. If it is, pretend I didn’t say anything.

Musicals! (I’m very good at subtly subject changes…) Are you a fan of musicals? I don’t like to assume just because a person is gay but I love musicals. They’re a big part of my life. So, I like to know right off the bat if I’m talking to a like minded person.

Talk soon?

Kurt

Blaine can feel the goofy smile on his face and isn’t sure why he feels the need to try and tamp it down. It’s New York City, there are way weirder things happening than a guy smiling down at his phone. He can’t get over how adorable Kurt seems just from two messages. He usually likes to play it slow, wait a while after receiving a message before messaging back but he opens the return message box immediately and crafts a response at the next stop light.

Kurt

I do know how to play a lot of instruments. I’m kind of a jack of all trades but master of none type? My parents put me in piano when I was kid and it’s actually the only instrument I’m classically trained in. Everything else I just picked up along the way. I think my parents secretly wanted me to be a concert pianist but classical music was always more a hobby than a true vocation for me (I don’t think you overshared but just in case you still think you did...I thought I’d ‘overshare’ back :)

I absolutely love musicals! Don’t ask me to pick a favourite, I simply couldn’t. Do you have a favourite? Let me guess...Wicked? You strike me as someone who would really appreciate the brilliance of Idina and Kristin. But maybe I’m wrong - I’m happy either way!

Blaine :)

P.S. You said your dad has a garage in your hometown? Where’s that? I grew up in Manhattan myself.

Blaine’s almost home by the time he finishes typing and he hits send before he can second guess himself. On his way up the stairs, he dials Henry’s number only to have the phone go to voicemail. Blaine’s brow furrows as he gets to his apartment. It’s not like his brother always picks up the phone when he calls, it’s just unusual when he doesn’t.

Shrugging, Blaine texts Henry to get him to call him back when he has a moment and then he starts about making dinner. He tries very hard not to check his phone compulsively for a message from Kurt.

-- -- --

Henry is in the middle of an existential crisis.

He hates to think of it as such. Out of his brothers he’s the level-headed one. Always has been. Blaine has an existential crisis every second week and Alex is too laid back to have anything resembling a crisis of any kind about anything ever. But Henry is always the one who thinks things through. Who sees pros and cons and the black and white of everything and comes to a logical conclusion about all things...

...this afternoon had felt anything but logical or black and white…

He’d walked out of the two hour interview with shaking hands but a smile on his face and a contract in his pocket. He was elated if not a little shaken by the whole experience. He’d almost bumped into Kurt standing just down the hall from the room the interview had taken place.

“So?” Kurt had said with a hopeful expression, “Are we coworkers? Am I taking you out for celebratory coffee?”

Henry had smiled at the man and nodded, “They offered me a job.”

Kurt’s face had lit up and while Henry’s first thought had been to wonder why this virtual stranger was so invested in whether he got a job or not, Kurt’s obvious joy made Henry’s joy that much more palpable.

“Well, then, shall we head to the coffee shop? Drinks on me, obviously.”

And then he winked.

It had hit Henry suddenly, and probably would have hit him sooner had he not been so worked up about his interview, that he was being hit on. It hadn’t been the first time he’d been hit on by a guy and he likes to think even if he didn’t have one gay brother and one pansexual brother that he would have been evolved enough to not be offended or hostile but usually when faced with this situation he would smile politely and say he wasn’t interested.

At that moment, however, he hadn’t wanted to say ‘no’...so he hadn’t.

“That sounds great.” He’d smiled.

Their coffee date had been amazing. Henry had spent the first hour after getting home trying to tell himself it hadn’t been a date but has come to the acceptance part of his crisis. It had been a date. A date with a man. A date with a man he’d actually enjoyed.

Kurt had bought the drinks and then the pair had sat across from each other at the small coffee shop talking about the job Henry had just gotten and what Kurt did for the company (he runs costume design for the theatrical branch of the production company). They talked about musicals (Henry had actually mentally thanked Blaine for forcing him to watch so many over the years), and they talked about football (only briefly after Henry realized it wasn’t up Kurt’s alley).

When Kurt had said he needed to get home, Henry had actually felt bereft. He knew even in that moment he needed to go home and freak out about what exactly was happening but he also didn’t want whatever was happening to end.

They had exchanged phone numbers and Kurt had told him he’d see him the next day at work. And then he winked again. Henry can still feel the blush from that wink almost two hours later.

When his phone buzzed with a phone call from Blaine an hour and a half into his crisis, he’d let it go to voicemail. He wasn’t in a place to talk to his brother. He wasn’t even sure what he would say. ‘Hey, Blaine! Yeah, I got a job and a boyfriend today!’

That thought had caused a spiral that Henry has been in for the last half hour. He does NOT have a boyfriend and one coffee date does not an anything make let alone a boyfriend but the fact that he had the thought means he’s thinking about Kurt in that way. He’s thinking about a man in a romantic way. This is not something he’s ever experienced before.

And suddenly, Blaine seems like the perfect person to talk to about this.

He gropes from his prone position on his couch for the phone he’d tossed onto the coffee table when it had rung with Blaine’s call. He dials his brother’s number and puts a hand over his eyes while he waits for the call to connect.

“Hey!” Blaine answers, happily, “How’d it go?”

Henry knows Blaine is asking about the interview but again his thoughts go to Kurt. He shakes his head to rid himself of the impulsive thought and answers Blaine’s question, “I got it.” He says.

Blaine whoops on the other end of the line, “I knew you would! That is amazing!”

Henry smiles, “Thanks.”

Suddenly, Blaine’s celebration dies off, “Why do you not sound over the moon about this? Is this because of Vance? He was the one who told you to go for this!” Vance is one of Henry’s best friends, one of the men he works with (or he figures it’s now ‘worked’ with). Vance had indeed pushed Henry to interview for the larger company.

“No, no. It’s not about Vance.” Henry answers.

“Then what is it?” Blaine asks and the earnestness in Blaine’s voice opens a flood gate.

“I met someone today.” Henry confesses.

“Oh!” He can tell Blaine is suprised. Henry doesn’t date. Hasn’t had a girlfriend since his junior year of high school. He’ll unpack what exactly that says about him later… “And that’s upsetting?” Blaine asks.

Henry grimaces, “Not in and of itself, I guess.” He starts, “It’s just...it’s a guy?” He says it like a question and then feels slightly queasy afterwards.

The line is silent for a long time, longer than Henry can stand without starting to feel even sicker, before Blaine lets out a breath, “That’s...awesome.”

Henry scrunches his eyes closed, “I don’t know what I’m feeling.”

He can almost picture Blaine nodding on the other end of the line, “And nor do you have to.” Blaine reassures, “Just answer me one thing: did you have fun with him?”

“Yes.” Henry answers.

“Then focus on that.” Blaine says and Henry can hear the smile in his voice, “Leave the other stuff to the side for now. I know you, and I know you want to figure everything out and this puts a little bit of a kink into the careful order of your life but if it makes you happy then that’s all that matters.”

Henry lets out of a breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding. Blaine’s words unravel a knot he’s felt in his chest all afternoon and while he knows he’s not done freaking out about this, he’s willing to allow the happiness to overpower it. Blaine had been the right one to call.

“And Henry, if you have any...questions or you just need to talk things out, you know I’m only a phone call away, right?” Henry nods into the phone, getting a little choked up at the offer.

“Yeah. Thanks.” He breathes out.

“Anytime.” Blaine says, “Now, do you want to tell me more about your job or your date?”

Henry bites his lip as he smiles, “Both?”

“I’m all ears.” Blaine says.

-- -- --

The next night, Alex leaves work to once again find a man on the sidewalk waiting for him but instead of his brother, this time it’s Kurt. He smiles at the man and waves as he approaches.

Kurt waves back before putting his hand back into the pocket of his jacket where it had emerged from, “Hey. It’s good to see you again.” He says.

Alex smiles, “Same to you.”

They stare at each other for a few beats before Kurt tilts his head over his shoulder, “I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat?”

Alex chuckles, “Uh, that sounds nice but I have to admit, working at a bakery means I rarely leave a shift hungry. Samples and all that.”

Kurt chuckles as well and then shrugs, “Then what did you have in mind?”

Alex has a few things in mind and when he smiles at Kurt, who smiles back, he figures Kurt is thinking the same thing.

“I have some snacks at my apartment?” Alex offers with a grin.

He can see Kurt’s cheeks pink slightly as the other man ducks his head in an adorably, flirtatious way, “Lead the way.”

-- -- --

Blaine scrolls through his messages from Kurt over the past four days on the train to his parents’ place. He’s got more messages in their thread than he does in all his other threads combined. He actually hasn’t messaged anyone else since he and Kurt started talking but even if he had, he is sure the frequency with which they chat would have surpassed any other conversation Blaine would be having.

The pair have covered so many topics in their messages that Blaine wonders if there is anything left to share. He hasn’t shared this much about himself so fast to another person ever, let alone a person he’s never met in person. Usually by the time he knows this much about a person they’ve been dating for a few months. He and Kurt have been messaging for four days…

He’s just finished drafting an email suggesting that he and Kurt meet up when he gets to his stop. He hits send and then pockets his phone before exiting the train and taking the stairs to the surface. The air is colder than he expected and he hunkers down in his coat for the five minute walk to his parents’ brownstone. His childhood home.

He’s turning onto their street when he sees Henry coming from the other direction. He throws a hand up in a wave that his brother returns and they make their way toward each other. They haven’t really talked since their phone call but Blaine knows Henry usually needs to work things out in his own head first. He’ll come to Blaine when and if he needs to.

“Hey.” Blaine says when they meet up outside the house, embracing his brother in a hug that has him standing on his tiptoes.

“Hey.” Henry answers before they pull away from each other.

“Everything...okay?” Blaine asks, not wanting to push.

Henry smiles, “Getting there, yeah.” He says.

Blaine smiles and nods, appeased for now, and the pair make their way up the stairs to the front door. It opens before they get there to reveal a tiny ball of energy on the other side.

“My boys!” Amelia Anderson shouts for the whole street to hear and then launches herself into first Blaine’s arms and then Henry’s.

Both men laugh as they absorb their sister’s hug. Amelia is four years younger than her brothers and at twenty-two years old is only five foot three inches tall, prompting her brothers to nickname her…

“Hey Tiny!” Blaine smiles.

Amelia smiles back before gesturing for the men to come inside, “Come, come. Dinner’s almost ready and Al’s already here talking to Dad about some new spice for bread?” She shrugs as Henry and Blaine take off their coats and shoes.

“Is that my other two boys?” The trio hear called from, undoubtedly, the kitchen before Fiona Anderson emerges.

“Mama!” Henry says, pulling their mother to him.

“Oh, it just fills my heart to the brim when all my babies are home.” Fiona gushes as she turns to pull Blaine into a hug and then Amelia even though Amelia lives in the house and has probably been there all day. Their mother is never short on hugs.

“It’s good to be home.” Blaine smiles.

Fiona reaches out and strokes his olive-toned cheek with her pale hand, “Go say hello to your father before dinner.” She says before shooing them in the direction of the living room.

When they enter, Blaine sees Alex showing their father, Daniel Anderson, something on his phone. Daniel looks up when they enter and smiles large, patting Alex’s arm in apparent apology before getting up to hug his other sons.

“My boys.” Daniel says reverently, cupping both Henry and Blaine’s cheeks in his hands and looking between them.

Blaine loves his parents, even if they act like they haven’t seen their children in months when it’s really been only a week. The Anderson’s grew up with family dinners every Sunday and the tradition continued even with the three boys moving out on their own.

“Tell me what’s new.” Daniel asks, sitting back down as Blaine and Henry sit next to Alex on the couch after saying hello and Amelia settles on the ground by the coffee table.

The five chat about work and other sundry topics until their mother calls them for dinner. They settle into their usual spots.

“No Sam tonight?” Blaine asks, noticing the spot next to Amelia, usually reserved for her fiance, is empty.

“He’s at work.” Amelia offers, “Though he has made me promise to bring him leftovers.” She says and Fiona laughs.

“I’ll wrap some up after dinner if your brothers don’t eat it all.” She says with an affectionate glance at the three men sitting along one side of the table.

Dinner conversation is more the same as their conversation in the den until Amelia gets a sneaky look on her face, “So...anybody dating anyone new?”

Blaine swallows and feels the weight of his phone in his jeans pocket more acutely. He’s not nervous to tell his family about Kurt, he just doesn’t know how to tell them and his family can be...a lot sometimes when it comes to relationships. Or anything really.

He glances at his brothers, who are looking back at him and then at each other. Blaine wonders if he’s the only one who knows they actually all have something to tell.

In the end, they all shrug.

“Nothing to report.” Alex answers, seemingly for all of them.

Mercifully, talk turns away from their dating lives and to Amelia’s upcoming wedding. Blaine’s actually surprised it has taken them this long into the evening to start talking about it (it sometimes feels like it’s all they talk about) and Blaine enjoys the excited squeal Amelia gives when Alex mentions their plan to take her out.

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he jolts slightly at the table. His fingers itch to pull his phone out but the rule has always been no phones at the table. He’ll have to wait until he’s on his way home. The waiting is torture even though he loves hanging out with his family.

When they finally wrap up the evening with several rounds of hugs, Blaine and Alex make their way to the subway together (after seeing Henry off in the other direction to a different train).

Blaine’s got his phone out as soon as he’s sitting in the, thankfully, sparsely populated car.

“Any plans for the night?” Alex asks as he lounges next to Blaine, munching on left over rolls from dinner.

Blaine doesn’t answer right away - instead reading the last message from Kurt.

Blaine

I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like I know so much about you before we’ve even met. I’d love to meet up in person. I know you said you’ll be at your parents house tonight but...any chance I can interest you in a nightcap? We could meet at Coffee Project whenever you're done at your parents? Text me if you’re interested :)

Kurt

212-967-1253

Blaine has no idea where Coffee Project is but he’s already looking up directions when Alex hits him.

“Uh, what?” He asks, looking up in a daze.

Alex quirks an eyebrow at him, “I asked if you had plans for tonight.”

Blaine smiles, “I do now.”

-- -- --

Blaine opens the door to Coffee Project a half hour later and even though it’s late, a few heads turn at the sound of the bell over the door. Blaine’s hoping one of the heads is Kurt’s and he has a fleeting moment to hope Kurt actually looks like his profile picture when his worries are assuaged by a swivelling head at a table near the back.

Kurt looks exactly like his profile picture except he’s even better looking in person. The way his eyes light up when he sees Blaine at the door is something you can’t really capture in a picture.

“Hey!” Kurt enthuses when Blaine gets close. He’s up out of his seat and pulling Blaine into his arms before Blaine can say anything.

It should feel strange to hug someone he’s never met but it doesn’t. He’s met Kurt in every way except the physical (not that he hasn’t thought about the physical...but he digresses), so it feels natural to hug him close.

“Hi.” Blaine whispers as they part and sit on either side of the table.

“I ordered you a medium drip with some cinnamon. I hope that’s okay? You mentioned it was your drink of choice.” Kurt seems a little nervous but he’s smiling excitedly and even if Kurt was just nervous, Blaine’s excited enough for the both of them.

“No, that’s perfect.” He says, lifting his cup in a cheers motion before taking a sip.

Kurt shifts in his seat, “So, I know this is technically our first date but every topic of conversation I could think of while I waited for you we’ve already covered in our emails. This doesn’t feel like a first date.”

Blaine shakes his head, “It really doesn’t.”

Kurt nods, “How was your parents’ house?”

“It was wonderful as usual.” Blaine smiles and Kurt smiles back.

They make small talk for a while, complete with goofy grins at each other, before Blaine scratches his chin and looks out the front window, “What is it?” Kurt asks.

Blaine coughs and loses his nerve at the last moment to ask Kurt back to his place. He may feel like he’s known this man for a lot longer than four days virtually and about an hour in person, but the reality is they don’t know each other at all. And Blaine’s romantic nature is screaming at him to take this slow because this could be the real deal. He doesn’t want his baser instincts to scare Kurt off.

He shakes his head with a smile, “Nothing. Do you want to go for a walk?”

It’s probably a little too cold for a walk outside but Manhattan seems to glow around them as they walk slowly through the still populated street. It’s one of Blaine’s favourite things about New York - it truly never sleeps.

“So you said your brother is taking over the garage from your dad when he retires?” Blaine says as they follow a path through a small park.

Kurt nods, “Yeah. I sometimes wonder if my dad is secretly disappointed I never wanted to take it over.”

Blaine shrugs, “Are you the oldest?”

Kurt pouts slightly before ‘ah’ing and then chuckling, “Did I not mention Finn is my step-brother? Not my biological brother?”

“You did not.” Blaine answers and the pair laugh.

Kurt stops at a rusty swing set in the park and sits down on one, curling one arm around the chain. Blaine sits next to him and mirrors his position. The metal is freezing under his palm but he leaves his hand where it is and rocks his feet in the sand to swing himself back and forth slightly.

“My dad remarried when I was fifteen.” Kurt shares, “To the mother of a boy at my school. Same grade as me. It was...interesting.”

“Were you two friends in school?” Blaine asks.

Kurt chuckles slightly, but Blaine’s not sure why the question was funny, “Not really.” Kurt answers, “At all. We didn’t run in the same circles. His circle was more interested in making my circle’s life hell. Me specifically.”

Blaine feels instantly angry at people he’s never met. He pictures a younger Kurt getting bullied and wants to punch someone. He tries to tell himself his anger comes only from his own similar school experience.

“He was never really someone who bullied me. He just...didn’t do anything about it either. But then things started to change. It took a while - even after our parents married - but now I sometimes forget to tell people he’s my stepbrother.” Kurt shrugs, “He’s just been my brother for a lot of years now.”

Blaine smiles at the soft smile on Kurt’s face before the other man’s face is scrunching up, “I’m once again oversharing too soon, aren’t I?” He asks, “I’m, honestly, not usually like this.”

Blaine shifts so he’s more fully facing Kurt on the swing, “Hey, no. It’s totally fine. I…” He hesitates, “I want to know everything about you.”

Kurt’s eyes light up and he gives a little inhale through a slightly open mouth. Blaine can’t be one hundred percent sure, because the lighting isn’t amazing, but he thinks he sees Kurt’s cheeks pinken.

Blaine shrugs, “And if it helps you any, I once walked in on my parents having sex when I was fifteen and they sat me down the next day and gave me a very indepth, and scarring, sex talk.”

His anecdote has the desired effect and Kurt laughs heartily. Blaine smiles at the lyrical sound.

Kurt puts a hand up to his mouth as his laugh turns into a chuckle, “Are you serious? Or did you just make that up to make me feel better about oversharing?”

Blaine winces slightly which just makes Kurt laugh more, “Unfortunately, I am completely serious. I couldn’t think of anything remotely sexual for months after.”

This admission only makes Kurt laugh again.

-- -- --

A half hour, and one slide down the red metal slide at the park for each of them later, Kurt and Blaine walk toward Kurt’s apartment. Blaine actually feels himself slowing his pace. Despite the late hour, he doesn’t want this night to end.

“I had a really good time tonight.” He says.

Kurt smiles, “So did I.”

They come to a stop outside Kurt’s building and they hesitate, facing each other with shy smiles and hands stuffed in their coat pockets for warmth.

“I’d really like to see you again.” Blaine says.

Kurt bites his lip slightly and, even though it’s a cliche, Blaine’s eyes dip down at the movement before flicking back up.

“I’d really like to see you again as well.” Kurt whispers and then Blaine can take it no longer. He’s been waiting all night.

Without preamble, he pulls one hand from his pocket and rests it on Kurt’s elbow before ducking in and up and pressing his lips to Kurt’s. Kurt breathes in quickly before he’s kissing back. It’s short but amazing and they pull back with equally breathless expressions.

“Good night, Kurt. I’ll text you.” Blaine whispers, still leaning into Kurt’s space.

Kurt blinks at him before smiling, “Night Blaine. And not if I text you first.”

And then with a wink, Kurt pulls away and walks toward his building. He turns at the door to wave at Blaine over his shoulder with another smile, and Blaine waves back before Kurt enters the building and out of his sight.

Blaine has to quell the impulse to jump and click his heels together in joy before making his way down the street to hail a cab home.

-- -- --

Two days later, Henry sits at a counter by himself. There are people around but none of them give much notice to the nervous man at the counter whose knee is bouncing so frantically that Henry is sure he’s going to injure himself.

He keeps glancing around, eyes darting around the room like at any moment someone is going to come and arrest him just for sitting. Well, if he’s being honest it’s not the sitting he thinks he’s going to be arrested for.

He shakes his head at the thought. He’s not going to get arrested for any of this. Ugh, he should have called Blaine again before this.

“Hey!” He hears from behind him and spins to see Kurt standing there. He’s unwinding a scarf from his neck and he looks...beautiful. It’s the only way Henry can describe him.

“Hi.” Henry says around a suddenly dry mouth.

Kurt smiles and looks around as he takes his jacket off, “So...bowling.” He says and his smile turns slightly confused.

Henry coughs, “Uh yeah. Is that okay? I...it felt like a good idea.”

Kurt smiles, “I haven’t been bowling in years, and I’ll admit I��m not at all good, but I’m willing to give it a shot...” He pauses and looks down the counter toward where a man is handing out bowling shoes, “as long as I can get shoes that go with my outfit.”

Henry laughs, nervously, before his eyes are once again darting around. He had almost convinced himself that his wandering eyes before had been in search of Kurt but now that Kurt is here…

His eyes land back on Kurt who is looking at him with a serious face. Henry shifts under the gaze and tries to laugh again but it comes out as more of a groan to his ears.

Kurt licks his lips (and Henry jolts when he realizes how easily his eyes followed the motion) before the other man is nodding, “Hey, I’m kind of hungry. Do you mind if we grab something to eat before bowling? I saw a little cafe down the street.”

Henry feels his chest expand and suddenly getting out of the crowded bowling alley seems like the best idea ever. He nods and grabs his coat while Kurt puts his own back on. They walk in companionable silence to the cafe at the end of the street and it is mercifully empty except for a kind looking waiter around their age and what sounds like a cook in the back room kitchen.

“Hi!” The waiter smiles, “Have a seat wherever and I’ll be right with you.”

Kurt gestures to the back of the cafe and the pair sit opposite each other in a booth. By the time they take off their jackets and lay them down beside them the waiter is at their table with menus.

“Can I start you with a drink?” He asks.

“I’ll just have a coffee.” Kurt smiles.

“Same.” Henry says when the waiter looks at him. The waiter nods and then leaves them alone.

The pair is quiet once they are alone and Henry can feel Kurt’s gaze on him. Henry is more comfortable in the cafe but he’s still not COMFORTABLE.

“Can I ask you something?” Kurt asks softly. Henry nods but Kurt waits while the waiter puts down their drinks, says he’ll be back later to take their orders, and leaves before continuing, “Are you married?”

Henry chokes on the sip of coffee he is drinking and he sputters and coughs. Kurt waits with a slightly quirked eyebrow and smirk while Henry calms and then laughs, “No. No, I’m not married.”

Kurt smiles fully, “Okay. That’s good. For my purposes anyway.” He says, “Can I ask you something else?” Henry indicates for him to go ahead, “Is this the first time you’ve gone out with a guy?”

Henry lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’s been holding and can feel himself start to shake a little. Kurt folds his hands in front him lightly and just gives him a soft, open smile and slowly Henry calms enough to nod.

Kurt nods, “Well, don’t I feel special?” He says, swiping a hand over the chestnut swoop of hair on top of his head. The question makes Henry laugh which he assumes was the point and Kurt breaks character to chuckle with him.

“I’m sorry. I’m kind of a mess.” Henry says after a moment.

Kurt smiles, somewhat sadly, and shakes his head, “You’re not a mess. At all. And besides, you should have seen me at fifteen.” Kurt’s eyes widen briefly as if he’s remembering something terrible.

“Something tells me you were never a mess.” Henry says.

Kurt shrugs, “Well, okay, maybe you aren’t wrong.”

The pair chuckles and then smile at each other for a moment before Henry clears his throat, “I don’t really know what I’m doing but I...like spending time with you.”

Kurt nods, “Then that is what we shall do. Spend time together.” He makes a show of picking up the menu and opening it with a flourish before smiling over at Henry, “I like spending time with you too.”

Henry smiles and breathes easier than he has all day.

-- -- --

Over the next few weeks, final preparations for Amelia’s wedding are in full swing and the Anderson triplets are put to work doing everything from helping to make party favours (to which Alex had said: ‘We’re rich - can’t someone else make these?’), to helping create a playlist for the reception (‘Blaine, you need to help. Sam only wants country!’), to going to final tux fittings, among other things. They also spend a good portion of time planning their night out with Amelia. Alex is in charge of most of the planning for that but Blaine and Henry check in to make sure everything is under control and nothing planned is illegal.

They also spend more time with Kurt. Alex finds for the first time in his twenty-six years, he’s excited about the prospect of seeing where things go with only one guy. Henry is beginning to understand, and freak out less about, his feelings surrounding Kurt and he’s been dipping his toes into the experience (including but not limited to his first kiss with a man - a fact he only freaked out internally, and to Blaine, about a little bit). Blaine gets a breathless feeling whenever he thinks about Kurt, which is often, and he literally has to turn his phone off sometimes to keep from texting the other man continuously.

Somehow, even weeks later, none of them are aware that they are actually dating the same person...but they are all getting closer to asking Kurt to be their date for Amelia’s wedding.

“Hey Tiny?” Blaine asks one night as he and his sister sit in their parents’ living room tying bows onto plastic bags holding green and peach mints.

“Hmmm?” Amelia hums as she focuses on her current bow.

“Is it cool if I invite someone to your wedding?” Blaine asks.

Amelia looks up and lowers her hands, complete with bag and untied bow, to the table with a soft thud. Blaine had realized when he had thought of asking Kurt to the wedding, that because he’d never gotten an actual invitation (‘Your invitation is implied and your acceptance is non-negotiable’ Amelia had told the three of them) he wasn’t sure if he had been granted a plus one. Now, with Amelia looking at him with a shocked expression, he suddenly feels like a plus one had not been something she had intended to extend to him.

But then Amelia had slumped and hit him in the arm lightly, “Of course you can have a plus one!” She says and Blaine smiles before Amelia shrugs, “I had assumed you and Alex would bring someone and then felt bad for not assuming Henry would, so I just planned for three extra people just in case.”

Blaine chuckles, “Well I haven’t asked him yet but...thanks.”

Amelia smiles, “No thanks necessary, Blaine. But there is a condition to having a plus one.” Blaine’s eyebrows lift at his sister’s serious expression as she points at him, “You have to tell me about this amazing man who makes you smile like that.”

-- -- --

Blaine opens the door to his apartment later that week to find Kurt smiling at him from the other side. He smiles back and gestures for Kurt to enter. He watches as Kurt takes in the low lighting and candles on the table set for two in Blaine’s small kitchen.

“Wow! Colour me impressed.” Kurt says as he takes his jacket off.

Blaine chuckles softly and shrugs as he takes the proffered jacket and hangs it in the front closet, “I just wanted something a little...special.”

Kurt gives him a tiny, shy smile and Blaine smiles back before gesturing to the table, “Dinner’s ready so please, have a seat.”

Kurt smiles, “Mind if I wash up first? Subway germs.” He says, spreading his fingers in front of himself in a slight jazz hands motion.

Blaine chuckles, “Dastard subway germs.” He winks before gesturing down the hall, “Bathroom’s the second door on your right.”

Once Kurt has returned and is seated at the table, Blaine grabs the bottle of wine from the counter. He pours some into Kurt’s glass and his own while Kurt takes his napkin and lays it over his lap.

“Are you...planning to purpose tonight?” Kurt jokes when Blaine sits down after serving them each a bowl of pasta.

Blaine chuckles and shakes his head as he looks down at his lap, “It hadn’t crossed my mind, no.” He says looking back up at Kurt to find the other man smirking at him.

“Darn.” Kurt winks before lifting his glass and offering Blaine a toast, “To fancy non-proposal dinners.”

Blaine laughs again and clinks his glass with Kurt’s. They both take a sip, looking at each other over the rims of their glasses, before picking up their forks and beginning to eat.

Kurt moans at his first bite, “This is amazing!” He enthuses.

Blaine coughs at his body’s reaction to the moan before nodding, “Thanks. Old family recipe.”

“Well, if it wouldn’t make this whole situation completely inappropriate, I’d say I’d want to be your new brother just to get this recipe.” Kurt laughs.

Dinner passes with easy, flirtatious conversation and before long the pair is on the couch with their wine. They both have a leg pulled up and are sitting sideways, knees touching, and their bodies get closer and closer as they talk, and before long, they’re kissing.

They’ve shared quite a few kisses by this point but they never fail to take Blaine’s breath away. He curls in closer to Kurt and rests a hand on his thigh as they continue to kiss.

He pulls away after a moment and leans his head against the back of the couch. Kurt does the same and they stare at each other with soft smiles, “I wanted to ask you to be my date to my sister’s wedding.” Blaine whispers into the space between them.

Kurt’s eyes light up, “I love weddings!” He says.

Blaine squeezes Kurt’s thigh, still under his hand, lightly, “So does that mean yes?” He asks.

Kurt nods, “I’d love to.”

Blaine smiles before chuckling, “I guess I should tell you when it is in case you have a prior engagement.”

Kurt scrunches his nose adorably, “Yeah, that might be a good idea.”

Blaine can’t resist leaning in to kiss Kurt’s lips at the expression and they kiss for another few moments before Blaine pulls away once more, “December 2nd.” He says.

“I’m there.” Kurt replies before lightly fisting his hand in Blaine’s shirt and pulling him forward.

-- -- --

Unlike Blaine, Alex had always assumed a plus one was just a given for him. He was sure he could find someone to go with to the wedding, and whether he went home with that someone, or someone from the wedding, well...he would just be keeping his options open. That, however, was before Kurt.

Kurt, who made Alex’s heart beat faster every time he thought of him. Kurt, who made Alex laugh and actually laughed at Alex’s jokes in return. Kurt, who was breathtakingly beautiful and enchanting in a way no other person had ever really been for Alex. Kurt, who made Alex understand what it meant to want monogamy for himself and not just as an idea that seemed to work for people like his parents and sister.

Kurt, who is biting his lip when Alex pulls open the door to his apartment and Alex wants to bite that lip himself. Until now there hasn’t been a lot of biting of any kind. Despite Alex’s usual MO, he and Kurt have done nothing more than share kisses, and Alex finds himself wanting more but being okay with waiting.

He must be growing up…

“Hey.” He smiles as he gestures for Kurt to come in.

“Hi.” Kurt whispers and Alex realizes that he’d been so focused on Kurt’s bit lip that he failed to notice how nervous Kurt is acting.

“Everything okay?” Alex asks as he sits on the couch and watches Kurt sit across from him and fidget with the end of his scarf that he hasn’t taken off.

Kurt takes a deep breath and looks up at Alex with a sad smile and Alex’s stomach drops in preparation for what he can sense coming.

“You’re ending this, aren’t you?” Alex asks before Kurt can say anything.

Kurt bites his lip again and turns to look at the coffee table in front of Alex’s couch. Silence stretches between them but Alex doesn’t know how to fill it. He’s never been in this situation before, and the longer Kurt remains silent, the more real the moment becomes. He’s being broken up with. And even though they were not serious (hadn’t even talked about exclusivity at ALL) it hurts in a way he’s never really had to deal with before.

“I’m so sorry.” Kurt finally says on an exhale.

Alex presses his lips together and nods, more to himself than to Kurt.

“It’s just...you weren’t the only guy I’ve been seeing,” Alex’s heart hurts a little at this admission even though he had just moments before contemplated their lack of exclusivity, “and things with the other guy have become more serious for me and I needed to make a decision.”

Alex nods again. He’s doing a lot of nodding.

Kurt looks back over at him with a sad smile, “I really like you, but...it just didn’t feel fair to keep going with this,” He gestures back and forth between them, “when I couldn’t give it 100%.”

Alex lets out a breath and chuckles, which causes Kurt’s eyes to widen slightly, “It’s fine.” Alex says flippantly, even though he feels anything but flippant. He waves a hand nonchalantly in front of himself, “We weren’t exclusive. We never talked about it. I do appreciate you letting me know, though.”

He kind of wants Kurt to leave. He’s not devastated? But he’s hurting more than he wants to in front of the man currently breaking things off with him. He almost laughs again when he remembers he had intended to invite Kurt to Amelia’s wedding tonight. How dumb would he have felt had he done that before Kurt broke things off?

“I really do like you.” Kurt says again.

Alex smiles, “I like you, too.” He says softly before coughing awkwardly, “But hey, good luck with the other guy. He’s...very lucky.”

Having never been in this position before, Alex isn’t sure how to act. He’s not sure that’s the right thing to say and Kurt’s awkward smile leads him to believe it probably wasn’t exactly the right thing, but Kurt does nod and then gets up.

“Thanks.” He says.

Alex walks him to the door and holds it open for him to leave - the shortest ‘date’ of Alex’s life.

Kurt smiles with a wave before starting to walk down the hallway, “Oh!” Alex exclaims and Kurt turns around in surprise. Alex leans out his door slightly and smiles, “And if things don’t work out with your other guy...give me a call?”

Kurt’s eyes widen slightly, again, and his awkward smile returns before he nods and waves again before making his way down the hall and to the elevators.

Alex sighs when he’s out of sight and leans his head against the door. Clearly not the right thing to say. Getting broken up with sucks. He doesn’t recommend it. He needs a drink.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and texts his brothers.

-- -- --

“Al…” Blaine says, coming up behind his brother who is sitting at the bar in Black Iron Burger the next day.

Alex turns with a sad smile and Blaine pats him on the back with a sad smile of his own before pulling him into a hug.

“I’m sorry, man.” Blaine sympathizes as he takes a seat next to Alex. He notices, briefly, that Henry hasn’t arrived yet before focusing back on Alex who shrugs and wraps a hand around the half drunk beer in front of him.

“Yeah, it sucks. I mean, it wasn’t like we were serious or exclusive, but I kinda thought it could get there.” Alex says before shrugging again and bringing his beer to his lips.

Blaine pouts his lips. He can tell that this guy was different for Alex. His brother has never called him to mourn the loss of a partner (aside from the one time he’d slept with a D-list celebrity and claimed he’d been ‘in love’ after one night but that they would never see each other again. ‘It’s like Romeo and Juilet!’ he’d, overdramatically, lamented). Blaine is the brother that gets attached. Alex isn’t. So to see him slumped slightly in defeat makes Blaine’s heart clench.

“He didn’t deserve you.” He says, laying a hand on Alex’s shoulder.

Alex smiles and chuckles lightly, “Yeah, maybe.” He says.

The conversation pauses so Blaine can order a drink and then the pair is quiet while they watch the football game playing over their heads. Blaine figures he’ll take his cue from Alex. He’s here for him after all.

Henry joins them a few minutes later looking more put together than he normally does for a get together with his brothers. Blaine notes, as he watches Alex and Henry hug, that while Henry is usually better dressed than Alex, he doesn’t put as much time into his look as Blaine does. Tonight, he looks polished and Blaine even notices cufflinks on the dress shirt he’s wearing. Even the fact that he’s wearing a dress shirt to meet with his brothers is slightly out of character for him.

Blaine shakes himself out of his thoughts as Henry turns to hug him and then orders a beer for himself.

“So what do you need from us tonight?” Henry says as he sits on Alex’s other side, “Do you want us to sit quietly and watch the game with you, demonize the horrible man who broke your heart, give you shoulders to cry on? Just let us know.”

Alex laughs softly and shakes his head, “I just wanted to see you guys and have a beer...or five. We can just chat.”

Henry nods as his beer is set in front of him. He lifts it slightly and tilts it toward the other two, “We can do that. Right, Blaine?”

Blaine nods and mirrors the gesture, “We can.”

The three clink their glasses together and each take a sip of their drinks before, simultaneously, replacing them on the bar top.

“Speaking of ‘chatting’,” Alex starts, “What’s got you dressed up so fancy? I know it can’t be me. My pain is not a formal occasion.”

Henry chuckles, nervously, as he adjusts his collar, “Uh, I actually have a date later.”

Blaine shoots Alex a nervous look at the admission, afraid of how his brother will react. But when Henry also shoots Alex a concerned look, the man in the middle chuckles, “Guys, I’m fine! I’m not going to break. We weren’t serious. I’m just slightly bummed and wanted to see you guys. I’m Alex. I don’t do ‘feelings’.”

Blaine knows he’s covering a little but trusts his brother to let them know how he’s feeling so he nods and turns back to Henry, “So, how are things going with your guy?”

He notices Henry blush slightly and smiles at the boyish way Henry shifts his eyes as he smiles, “Really well.” He admits and Alex whoops while Blaine smiles bigger, “I was actually thinking of inviting him to Tiny’s wedding. Do you think that would be...cool?”

“You should.” Blaine answers immediately, “No one will care he’s a guy, Henry.” He says, understanding why Henry is nervous, “They may be a bit surprised at first but they’ll just be happy for you.”

Henry nods and takes a deep breath, “You’re right.”

Alex lets out a breath, “So, Henry’s going to have a date to a family wedding. That hasn’t happened...ever.” He chuckles when Henry smacks him on the back of the head before continuing, “And we all know I’ll rally and invite some hot piece with me.” Henry and Blaine give the same ‘Of course’ hand gesture, “So, now we just have to find someone for baby brother.”

Blaine rolls his eyes at the moniker but then smiles, “I actually already have a date myself.”

Alex’s eyes widen and Henry lets out a low whistle, “The same guy you’ve been seeing?” Alex asks and Blaine nods with an even bigger smile, “Well, that’s great.” He says, offering his glass for another toast, “To each of us finding someone we want to hump.”

Henry and Blaine roll their eyes with their glasses held up but participate in the toast anyway.

“Oh! And to it being only two days until we take Tiny out!” Alex adds.

Blaine and Henry, more enthusiastically, cheers to that.

-- -- --

Henry feels his heart leap when he sees Kurt walking toward him. He had left Blaine and Alex at the bar a half hour ago after two hours of chatting and goofing around to meet Kurt for their date.

His teeth start to chatter and not because of the cold weather. He’s nervous. Alex was right. He’s never asked anyone to any of their family weddings. He hopes Kurt says yes!

Kurt’s face breaks into a smile when their eyes meet and Henry all but bounces on his toes when the other man gets closer.

“Hey!” He enthuses, swooping in to give Kurt a quick kiss on the cheek. The desire to do so is still so new for Henry. It both excites him and terrifies him a little. He hasn’t really gotten the hang of casual intimacy with Kurt. Any physical interaction is usually initiated by Kurt. But Henry’s trying. He wants to try.

“Hey you.” Kurt says with a sigh, a white cloud of air following his words due to the cold weather.

“You look great.” Henry smiles.

Kurt smiles back, “So do you. Shall we walk?” He asks, gesturing down the street.

Henry loves that their dates are simple. They’ve been to the coffee shop a few more times and spent an afternoon in Central Park by the pond. Today their plan is to wander around the city and see if anything strikes their fancy. It may be a bit cold to do so? But Henry loves how uncomplicated and safe it feels. A lot less stressful than bowling - Henry is still berating himself for suggesting that to begin with.

The pair start their way down the street, walking close enough that their hands bump every once in a while but never really hold. Henry would like to hold Kurt’s hand, his fingers are flexing like a teenager on his first date, but he thinks he’ll wait and see if Kurt grabs first.

“How was drinks with your brothers?” Kurt asks.

Henry smiles, “It was nice. Alex just got his heart broken a little so we were cheering him up.”

Henry notices Kurt pauses at this, to the point where Henry walks a few steps ahead of him before he notices the lack of Kurt beside him. Henry turns back with a questioning eyebrow raised to find Kurt staring at him with slightly wide eyes. A second later, however, before Henry can ask, Kurt shakes his head with a chuckle and moves to walk next to the other man again.

“Sorry, I just thought...nevermind. It’s not important.” Kurt says with another shake of his head.

Henry nods in acceptance as they round a corner, “So, are you excited about your presentation on Monday?” It’s not what he wants to ask. He wants to ask Kurt to the wedding, but he figures he’ll work himself up to that.

Kurt sighs next to him and it sounds a little regretful to Henry. Which is strange considering the nature of his question. He’d thought Kurt would be excited about the presentation.

“Look, Henry, can we sit for a bit? I wanted to...talk to you about something.” Kurt says around a grimace and Henry doesn’t like the words or the expression but he nods and allows Kurt to lead him into a small, quiet coffee shop on the corner.

They each order a coffee, even though Henry suddenly has a lump in his throat and doesn’t think he’ll be able to drink it, and he shifts continually as Kurt unwinds his scarfs from his neck.

“What’s up?” Henry asks when he can’t take the quiet any longer. Trying for nonchalance and probably failing epically.

Kurt swallows and rests his hands first on the wooden table top, then in his lap, and then finally decides to reach forward and grab Henry’s hands across the table. Henry looks down at their hands and while he realizes this is what he wanted to happen not even ten minutes ago, the current mood isn’t what he had expected or wanted.

“I don’t really know how to tell you this.” Kurt begins and Henry blinks at him, waiting for what he knows is coming but hoping that’s not the case, “I...need to end things.” And there it is. Henry feels his stomach sink to his feet and his instant reaction is to pull his hands from Kurt’s. Kurt won’t let him go though and Henry doesn’t try too hard, “It’s nothing you did. You are amazing.” Kurt continues and Henry goes back to blinking at him, his mind already whirling as he tries to focus on what Kurt is saying.

“What happened?” He asks around dry lips.

Kurt gives him a sad smile and Henry wants to say it’s pitying and hate Kurt for it but...he can’t, “I haven’t just been seeing you and things with the other guy have gotten more serious. I didn’t think it would be fair to either of you to pretend that wasn’t the case.”

Henry intellectually knows that at twenty-six, people date multiple people until things become exclusive but...Henry doesn’t really date. He was exclusive with Kurt from the beginning. It hurts, however irrationally, that Kurt didn’t feel the same way.

“I’m so sorry, Henry.” Kurt continues, squeezing his hand.

Henry shakes himself out of his own head and looks at Kurt, who is continuing to smile sadly at him.

“Would you like me to go?” Kurt asks.

Henry swallows. Does he? He thinks he does. He nods before he can think too hard and Kurt squeezes his hand one more time before pulling away and grabbing his scarf.

He stands to wind it around his neck and then reaches into his pocket to put money down on the table for his undrank (and actually still undelivered) coffee.

“You really are amazing, Henry.” Kurt whispers.

Henry nods, tries to smile, and then Kurt is gone.

Henry lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He tries to tell himself that people break things off all the time. Hell, he’d just come from an Alex cheer up session for the exact same reason. He tries to tell himself that he and Kurt weren’t serious, regardless of Henry’s personal feelings on exclusivity.

He’ll be fine. It’s not like the very first guy to ever catch Henry’s attention, to make him question everything he thought about himself, just ended things right when Henry was thinking of taking things to the next level.

Henry lets out another heavy breath. Fuck.

-- -- --

“Okay, while I love that you guys took me out? I have to say this is kind of depressing.” Amelia says, carefully, two days later.

She’s seated on the arm of a couch in the VIP section of a swanky club, dressed to the nines in a purple sequined dressed and hair and makeup on point, and while she’s valiantly trying to maintain a buzz...she feels its a bit of a travesty that she has to TRY so hard. She should be drunk out of her MIND right now or at least on her way to it.

She’s not sure if the club is all the night holds, but the way things are going she’s not sure she wants to find out what else there might be.

The only other person actually trying to have fun is Blaine. He’s also dressed to the nines, his bowtie the perfect accessory and has been tweaked by admiring girls AND guys all night. The constant blush on his cheeks at the action is both adorable and endearing. Blaine is currently off buying them more drinks, however, leaving Amelia with Alex and Henry.

It’s the other two members of their party that are being giant party poopers. Alex and Henry are at least dressed nicely for the event but considering this is pretty much all Alex has talked about for months...their mood is definitely off.

“Sorry Tiny.” Henry sighs from where he sits on the couch next to where she is perched.

Amelia sighs, “I don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to be happy!” She says, “Is whatever has the two of you down something you can maybe put aside for the night? Or is it something we can talk about, quickly, so we can move on? Because I’m pretty sure this night is costing you all a lot of money and...it’s my last night out with my boys before my wedding.” She doesn’t want to pout but...she’s the baby, and the only girl, and is used to using her pout to get what she wants.

Alex sighs, “I was ready to have a great night but then Henry had to go and get dumped, too, and...it reminded me how much that sucked.”

Henry lifts his hands, exasperatedly, as if to say it wasn’t his fault he got dumped a day after Alex did, “It’s not my fault I got dumped a day after you did!” He huffs and Amelia almost, almost giggles at her ability to read her big brothers.

Instead of giggling though, she sighs, “Look, guys, getting dumped sucks but get drunk and get on someone else! It’s not like you’d been dating these people for a year or more. You didn’t even tell your family you were dating them!”

Henry and Alex both stare at her after her exclamation and she would feel bad if she didn’t feel she was right. Henry’s mood makes the most sense. He doesn’t date and any seeming failure would be a blow to his dating confidence.

She’s most confused by Alex. Alex goes through men and women like they’re underwear sometimes. She’s confused why he would be so hung up on a guy he clearly didn’t feel serious enough about to introduce to his family.

“We’re sorry, Tiny.” Henry says.

Alex nods, “Yeah. We’ll try harder. This is your night.”

Amelia nods, glad to have them thinking the way she does, as Blaine comes back to the group.

“I’m pretty sure I counted four different people winking at me and/or touching my butt on the way to and from the bar.” Blaine says, setting their drinks down on the table in front of the couch.

Alex laughs as he reaches for his drink, cheersing slightly in thanks, “Well, you are looking very dapper this evening. But better watch it - your man might get jealous.”

Blaine chuckles, himself, as he takes a seat in a chair perpendicular to the couch the other three are sitting on, “Yeah, maybe I should have brought Kurt as protection.”

Amelia is looking at Blaine but becomes aware very quickly of how still the couch to her right has gotten. She turns to find Alex and Henry looking at Blaine but not in the casual way one might when another person is talking. They’re staring at him like he’s just said the most shocking thing they’ve ever heard.

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Alex asks.

Blaine seems to catch on to their sudden mood and furrows his eyebrows and shifts as he answers, “That I should have gotten Kurt to come for protection. It was just a joke.”

“Kurt.” Henry says, flatly.

“Yeah. My….boyfriend?” Blaine says the last part questioningly. Amelia isn’t sure if it’s because he’s still confused by their brothers’ reactions, or because he’s not sure if the title is accurate for his relationship.

Either way, the clarification doesn’t seem to help Alex and Henry who continue to look at Blaine like he’s just stolen the last cookie (a criminal offense punishable by beatings from each other when they were kids).

Blaine chuckles nervously under the scrutiny, “What’s going on?”

Henry and Alex look at each other and then back at Blaine, and then back at each other. Amelia’s head is starting to hurt from confusion, but it looks like she’s not the only one who’s confused.

“What’s Kurt’s last name?” Henry asks.

“Hummel.” Blaine provides and again the space is silent which is hard to do considering the music pumping not far away.

“Oh god.” Henry moans, putting his head into his hands. Alex sits, frozen, staring at Blaine. Blaine, for his part, is looking back and forth between his brothers, and Amelia, with a look of distress on his face, unaware of the issue.

And then suddenly, Amelia gets it.

“Were you all dating the same guy?!” She exclaims.

Blaine’s head whips in her direction as Henry moans again.

“No, no, no.” Blaine says with a nervous chuckle as he looks at his brothers to agree.

Instead of confirmation however, Henry is still face planting into his hands and Alex looks murderous.

“No?” Blaine, feebly, tries again.

“I lost my chance to be with Kurt because of YOU?!” Alex yells and Blaine jumps back in his chair slightly at the loud exclamation.

Amelia gets up and puts her hands up in a calming gesture, “Now, just wait a minute. Let’s just...talk about this.”

“Did you know?” Alex accuses as he stares at Blaine.

“Of course not!” Blaine exclaims.

Alex scoffs like he doesn’t really believe his brother and fidgets on the couch. Henry hasn’t moved.

“I cannot believe this.” Alex huffs. He looks around the room before shaking his head and huffing again, “You know what? I can’t be here right now. I’m sorry, Tiny, but...I gotta go.”

Before Amelia can say anything, Alex is up out of his seat and out of the room. Blaine and Amelia watch him go, both looking distressed and confused.

“Henry?” Blaine asks after a moment, small and sounding very much like the ‘little brother’ Alex and Henry like to say he is.

Henry shakes his head before looking up, “I gotta...I’m sorry but I gotta...think about this.” He says and then he’s gone the same way Alex left.

Blaine and Amelia once again watch him leave and then turn and look at each other. Blaine looks close to tears and Amelia feels a tightness in her chest. She’s not sure how to fix what just happened, or even fully understand why it happened. She just knows that a night meant to celebrate very quickly turned into the very opposite of that, and she now has three brothers hurting.

She does the only thing she can think to do at the moment and moves to squish herself next to Blaine, pulling him to her and cuddling him close as they listen to the distant thump of music from the club on the other side of the wall.

-- -- --

Blaine feels like shit. It’s been three days since the disaster that was Amelia’s party and neither of his brothers are answering his calls. He can’t remember the last time he didn’t talk to his brothers for longer than a day, their almost constant back and forth something he took for granted until it suddenly wasn’t there.

He’s tried to text both of them multiple times but has not received a response from either.

He misses his brothers, but he’s also a little mad because he’s not sure their silent treatment/absence is justified. It’s not Blaine’s fault he met a guy. It’s not Blaine’s fault he and said guy grew close. And it’s not his fault that guy just so happened to also be dating his other two triplet brothers and decided to break it off with them.

None of this is his fault...but then why does he feel so guilty for seeking comfort in Kurt?

“I don’t know what to do.” He sighs, resting his chin on his folded arms which are resting on top of his kitchen island where he is sitting.

Kurt sighs from his spot next to him and leans over to kiss his shoulder before leaning his cheek on the same shoulder and smoothing a hand up Blaine’s back.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers.

“I don’t know what to say or do to make any of this better with them.” Blaine continues.

Kurt hums and Blaine appreciates that while Kurt may not know what to say, he’ll listen.

When Blaine had first told Kurt that he had been inadvertently dating Blaine’s triplet brothers, Kurt had thought he was joking. No way did the universe work that way. But after Blaine showed Kurt a picture of himself with Alex and Henry, Kurt had been dumbfounded. He’d sputtered some words that didn’t make a lot of sense and looked like his mind was reeling with a million different emotions and thoughts all at once. In the end, he seemed to finally land on pity and sympathy for Blaine, and while Blaine doesn’t usually like to be pitied...in this situation, he’ll take all the pity and cuddles he can get.

The pair is quiet for a few moments, both in their own heads, before Kurt lets out a breath, “I still can’t believe I was dating three brothers.” Evidently Kurt’s not completely done being dumbfounded, “No, wait.” He says, straightening up, “Triplets. Triplet brothers. Close triplet brothers. Triplet brothers who are close.” He moves away from Blaine to circle to the other side of the island and Blaine immediately misses his closeness.

Kurt paces from one end of the island to the other and brings a hand to his forehead, “And I’ve now hurt all three of them.” He seems to be talking more to himself than to Blaine, “All three are hurting because of me. How did I get myself into this mess?”

Blaine watches him pace for another moment before sighing. His sigh seems to snap Kurt out of his own head and he leans across the island to rest his hands on Blaine’s folded arms, “Oh my God, I’m sorry. You don’t need me having a mental freak out. This is about you.”

Blaine sighs again, “You’re allowed to be confused too, Kurt. I don’t think there is a rule book on how to handle this situation.”

Kurt pouts his lips, “Yeah, but I’m not the one who isn’t talking to his brothers. I’m the one who caused it all.”

Blaine unwinds his arms and grabs Kurt’s hands properly, “It’s not like you planned this. It’s not like you went out in search of triplet brothers, who look nothing alike I might add, to mess with. You dated, you got close to someone, and did the right thing by breaking it off with the others you didn’t feel as close to.”

Kurt nods and squeezes Blaine’s hands, “I think some of that advice could be turned around and given to you.”

Blaine bites his lips together and nods. He can’t be blamed for getting close to someone. He can’t be blamed for not knowing his brothers just so happened to be dating that same someone.

“Should I feel guilty for being happy about how it turned out?” He asks.

Kurt sighs and shrugs slightly, “Only if I should, too.”

Blaine shakes his head. This whole situation was out of their control and he can’t deny how happy he is to be with Kurt. He’ll figure out a way to make things right with his brothers. Everything will turn out okay.

“I like you a lot.” Blaine says, apropos of nothing.

Kurt smiles at him from across the island before circling it again and coming to hug Blaine. Blaine settles his knees on either side of the taller man and leans his head against Kurt’s chest as he wraps his arms around his waist.

“I like you a lot, too.” Kurt whispers into Blaine’s hair.

Blaine enjoys the hug for a minute before pulling back and looking up at Kurt, “Should you still come to the wedding?”

Kurt bites his bottom lip and tilts his head, “Do you want me to still come to the wedding?”

Blaine squeezes the arms still around Kurt’s waist slightly, “Of course I do, but that’s not really the point right now. Would it just cause more issues?”

Kurt shifts his arms so his hands are resting on Blaine’s shoulders and he looks him in the eye, “I would love to come to the wedding with you. I would love to meet your family or, you know, the rest of your family?” He scrunches one eye shut and the question actually makes them both laugh softly before Kurt settles into a soft smile, “But I do not want to do anything else that will cause you, or your brothers, any more hurt.” Blaine starts to speak but Kurt shushes him lightly, “Yes, I know the first hurts were inadvertent, but they still happened.” Blaine sighs and nods, “I will go along with whatever you want. If you want me at the wedding, I’m there. If you’d rather me stay at home, I can do that too. But your decision will not change how I feel about you.”

Blaine stares up into Kurt’s eyes and his feelings for him deepen even further at Kurt’s words. Beyond the external drama, Blaine is a little shocked at how quickly his feelings for Kurt have developed over the course of their short relationship. He’s feeling things he thinks he probably shouldn’t yet, and while he’s not ready to announce them to Kurt...they’re enough to make his decision an easy one.

“I want you there.” He whispers into the space between them, looking back and forth between Kurt’s eyes because they are that close.

Kurt smiles and leans in to press a slow kiss to Blaine’s lips. Blaine sighs and leans into it, pressing his hands more firmly into Kurt’s back to draw the other man closer still.

The kiss is deep from the start and the only sound in the room is their breathing and the wet sound of their lips and tongues coming together. There is something deeply intimate about their position to Blaine and he can feel himself responding and his heart rate pick up.

Kurt’s hands settle on either side of Blaine’s neck and he tilts Blaine’s head ever so slightly and, oh, that angle is so much better.

They make out for another minute or two before Blaine pulls back sharply, a thought suddenly occurring to him.

“Did you…” He pauses, unsure he wants to ask the question. Kurt, who is slightly out of breath with his cheeks flushed standing between Blaine’s legs, looks at him in confusion. Blaine decides he needs to know, “Did you...sleep with either of my brothers?”

He knows he’s broken the mood they were just in, especially when Kurt’s confusion turns to laughter, but he knows he couldn’t continue until he knew.

Kurt leans his forehead against Blaine’s shoulder and laughs heartily into it. Blaine soon joins him and the pair laugh in each other’s arms.

Kurt lets out a breath and hums to calm himself before pulling back and shaking his head, “No. No, I did not.”

Blaine brings a hand up to his forehead and wipes it dramatically, “Phew. I just had this mental image of you comparing our dicks and just...no.” He says and it causes them both to chuckle. Blaine scrunches one eye shut and looks up at Kurt, “Sorry for...ruining the mood.”

Kurt hums again, looks up at the ceiling as if considering, and then shrugs, “It’s okay. Probably wouldn’t be the best idea to sleep together right now. Maybe we should...wait.”

Blaine intellectually knows Kurt is right, but it’s hard to tell his body and heart that.

“We’ll have time.” Kurt whispers, leaning to press a soft kiss to Blaine’s lips.

Blaine closes his eyes and groans softly as Kurt pulls away, “We will.” He agrees.

-- -- --

“Hey. Hey Blaine.” Alex slurs a day later into his phone. He’s wobbling outside of a bar in the West Village and he thought calling Blaine would be the BEST thing to do at this particular moment, “Hey Blaine. Oh wait, I already said that. But hi. I’m mad at you. I think. Shouldn’t I be?” He scrunches up his nose and makes eye contact with another man on the sidewalk who looks at him with a quirked eyebrow and keeps going, “Yeah, I think I’m mad. You stole Kurt. You stole Kurt and his..and his penis!” He exclaims. Two young girls, in the process of passing Alex on the street, jump at the volume and then giggle as they speed walk away, “I had plans for that penis. Big plans because well...I’m sure it would have been big if you know what I mean.

“But you took him and I’m mad.” Alex sighs and then sits on the sidewalk, “And a little sad. I’m...I’m...I’m smad.” He pouts his bottom lip out and adopts a glare before giggling at his attempt to look sad and mad at the same time, “I don’t want to be smad. But I really wanted that penis. And the man it was attached to. But now you have the penis. And I just...I’m smad.”

-- -- --

Kurt’s not entirely sure why he’s here. Technically, he understands the logistics of being here, Blaine’s little sister’s rehearsal dinner, but he isn’t entirely sure he made the right decision agreeing to come.

Blaine had asked him to come. Or rather, Blaine’s sister, Amelia, had asked Blaine to ask him to come. Her thinking was that her family could meet Kurt in a less formal setting first, as opposed to having their first meeting be at her wedding (Blaine had said her exact words were ‘If you cause unnecessary drama at my wedding, I will burn all your bow ties’).

So here Kurt stands, in an admittedly fabulous outfit, next to Blaine outside the restaurant the rehearsal dinner is being held at. They are both fidgeting and side-eyeing each other.

The next time they catch each other's eyes, they both chuckle at the same time.

“Thank you for coming.” Blaine says.

Kurt shrugs, “From the sounds of things I didn’t REALLY have a choice. I haven’t even met Amelia yet and she seems like a force to be reckoned with.”

Blaine nods, “She can be.” He says on a sigh before looking back at the restaurant, “Ready?”

Kurt’s not sure he is, but he nods anyway, and the pair make their way toward the front door.

The hostess leads them to the private room the rehearsal dinner is being held in and Kurt is instantly hit with the sheer amount of people inside the relatively small room. Kurt’s not an introvert, by any means, but faced with a room of people he doesn’t know...including the family of his new boyfriend...he finds himself swallowing, thickly.

And then he remembers that everyone in this room isn’t a stranger and his eyes widen when the first people he lays eyes on are Henry and Alex. They’re hard to miss, right inside the door and talking to a short woman who, based on her physical features, can’t be anyone but their sister, Amelia.

The opening of the door draws their attention and the five of them (Alex, Henry, Amelia, Blaine, and Kurt) freeze. Kurt had kind of hoped to avoid any awkward interactions, but clearly luck isn’t on his side tonight.

“Hey!” Amelia says after a moment, breaking the silence and moving towards the pair, “You must be Kurt!” She’s hugging him before Kurt can even take his eyes off of Alex and Henry, and he hugs her back while still looking at them. Henry looks nervous and Alex’s eyes have narrowed slightly. Kurt coughs and looks away and down at the spitfire of a woman still hugging him

“Yeah. Hi. You must be Amelia. Nice to meet you and congratulations.” He says with a nervous blush rising on his cheeks.

Amelia steps back and hugs Blaine to her, who looks faintly ill as he looks beyond at his brothers.

“Thanks!” She enthuses, “Though I’m kind of glad the wedding is tomorrow. Whoever said planning a wedding was fun obviously hasn’t planned one before.”

She rolls her eyes and laughs, and while Kurt has been planning his wedding since he was six and can’t wait to put the plan into action, he laughs with her because he doesn’t want to be rude.

And then suddenly it’s like Amelia either can’t ignore the tension between the four men in the room, or she just realizes it, and looks between all four of them with a look of apprehension. When no one else speaks or even looks at one another, she sighs and puts her hands on her hips.

“This is ridiculous. Hug. Each. Other!” She orders with a glare at each of her brothers.

Blaine, Alex, and Henry all seem to collectively pout, but none move to follow the order of their little sister. Kurt’s pretty sure the order didn’t extend to him but...it’s so awkward he’s actually considering just going for it and hugging someone.

Amelia rolls her eyes before grabbing Blaine’s elbow, “All right. We are going to talk this out like the adults we all pretend to be. That way you can go back to normal and not ruin my wedding.”

She gestures for Alex and Henry to follow her and it appears this order they will follow. Kurt is simultaneously glad to no longer have to deal with this awkwardness, but also a little terrified that Blaine is about to leave him in a room full of strangers.

The siblings are almost out of the room when Amelia stops and turns back to Kurt with a raised eyebrow, “Are you coming?”

Kurt’s eyes widen in surprise and terror. His presence is required?

Amelia gives him a pointed stare before leading her brothers from the room. Kurt hesitates, momentarily, before deciding staying with Blaine is probably the best course of action (and not angering Amelia any further) and following them out to a quiet section of the restaurant.

For the second time this evening, Kurt wonders how he ended up here.

“All right.” Amelia starts as she looks at her brothers in front of her. The four men are standing in a loose square, with Kurt awkwardly standing to Blaine’s right, “You all need to get over this. I should not be feeling anxious over YOUR love lives and especially not the day before the most important day of MY life.”

Alex crosses his arms over his chest and pouts, “This is all Blaine’s fault.”

Amelia throws her hands up in the air in exasperation but it’s Blaine who answers, “Are you seven?” He asks, incredulously, and the question just makes Alex’s arms cross tighter, “Because that’s how you’re acting. This is like the time mom and dad bought us scooters for our birthday and you got pissed that I got the red one because you wanted the red one.”

Kurt furrows his brow, “Are you likening me to a scooter?”

His question goes unanswered as Alex huffs indignantly, “I really liked him!” He defends.

Blaine rolls his eyes, “Yeah, I got that much from the message you sent me. You know, at first I felt sort of bad for what happened, that maybe it WAS my fault. But it’s not really. I just met a guy and fell in…” He hesitates and Kurt turns to him wide eyed. Blaine swallows thickly and doesn’t meet Kurt’s eye before continuing, “I really didn’t need you talking about how much you want my boyfriend’s dick. Now I’M mad.”

Kurt’s wide eyes widen further before moving to look at the ground. He feels his cheeks heat up in an embarrassed flush. He’s not really shy when it comes to sex related topics like he was in high school, but something about this situation just makes it all the more strange.

The space they’re in goes quiet and Kurt isn’t sure if anyone is going to break the silence. He doesn’t really want the last thing said in this trainwreck of a conversation to be about his penis.

He coughs and all heads swivel toward him. He blinks at each face before landing on Blaine’s and biting his lip, “I...think I’m going to go.” He says, and it’s not until it’s out of his mouth that he realizes he had wanted to say those words.

Blaine’s eyes widen and he steps closer, grabbing Kurt’s hand, “Please don’t.” He whispers.

Kurt looks quickly at the other faces in the space before focussing back on Blaine. He really doesn’t want to say this with Blaine’s brothers and sister in the room, but again his mouth acts before his brain can catch up, “I don’t want to come between you and your family.” He whispers, pleading with his eyes for Blaine to understand.

Blaine shakes his head, “You aren’t.”

Kurt smiles sadly, “I am. I just...can’t be the reason why three brothers are fighting.” He looks around the room again, the other three faces looking on curiously, before turning back to Blaine who looks pained, “I’m sorry.” He whispers and then pulls his hand out of Blaine’s, “I’m...sorry.” He says a little louder to Alex, Henry, and Amelia, before he turns and walks out of the restaurant.

The fact that his heart hurts when he hits the parking lot doesn’t go unnoticed.

-- -- --

Amelia’s wedding is a beautiful, elegant affair the next day. The flowers arrive on time, no one trips down the aisle, Amelia and Sam both tear up during their vows, and if anyone notices the slightly subdued nature of the three men of honour...they don’t comment.

Blaine thinks he and his brothers do a pretty good job at keeping it together during the ceremony and pictures. They act like nothing's wrong and even their parents don’t seem to pick up on the fact that there is a giant elephant in the room.

During the reception, the three of them deliver their joint speech flawlessly (complete with jokes, heartfelt memories, and perfectly timed segways) and Blaine gives a sigh of relief when Amelia beams at them from her seat beside her new husband.

It’s not until the dancing begins that Blaine really lets his mask drop. He finds a seat at an empty table and nurses a glass of wine. He rests his forearms on his legs and lets the glass dangle between his knees.

Kurt was supposed to be here. Blaine was supposed to be introducing his new boyfriend to his family, cuddling up on the dance floor during sappy wedding slow songs, and maybe getting a little drunk and handsy. Instead, he’s spent the day pretending he isn’t hurting.

He sighs as the song changes (it’s a pretty damn good playlist if he says so himself) before he sees black out of the corner of his eye. He closes his eyes, ready to put on a brave face for whatever family member has decided to descend upon him, only to look up to find Henry standing in front of him.

“May I?” His brother asks, gesturing to the seat next to Blaine. Blaine nods and straightens slightly, something in the back of his mind finding it wrong that Henry feels he needs to ask permission to sit next to his brother.

Henry sits next to him with a sigh and looks out over the dance floor. Blaine realizes in that moment that Henry has been pretty quiet since they found out about their shared dating experience. He hasn’t said much on the issue or expressed his feelings in any way. Blaine really hopes he’s not about to get into a shouting match at their sister’s wedding.

“I freaked out.” Henry says. Blaine turns to look at him but Henry is still looking out at the dance floor, “Kurt was the first guy to ever make me feel something like that, and then suddenly he was calling things off to be with you, and I had this giant crisis. Had everything I felt been a lie? An experiment? For nothing?” He shakes his head before sighing again and looking at Blaine, “But my feelings have nothing to do with you and Kurt. None of this is your fault, Blaine. And I’m sorry if I made you think it was.”

Blaine sucks in a deep breath through his nose and holds it for a second before letting it out. He had been expecting tension, not an apology. He also can’t believe he didn’t think to check in on his brother. Of course he’d be analyzing what it all meant.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think to ask how you were feeling about all of...that.” Blaine says.

Henry shrugs before smiling, “It’s okay. It’s not like me overthinking and freaking out is a NEW experience.”

Blaine chuckles softly, “Still. I should have asked. Are you...okay with everything?”

Henry nods looking out over the dance floor again, “I think I am. Or at least...I’m getting there. Maybe Kurt will be the only guy to do anything for me and maybe not. I’m willing to keep my options open.”

Blaine smiles and nods, “Good.” He says.

“I’m growing as a person.” Henry says, dryly, and they chuckle lightly. Henry turns back to Blaine and lays a hand on Blaine’s knee, “How about you? Have you heard from Kurt?”

The question makes Blaine’s chest hurt a little before he shakes his head, “Not since he left yesterday.”

Henry nods, “He’ll come around.” He says, encouragingly.

Blaine bites his lip to keep from either rambling or crying. He doesn’t want to do either. He’s not even sure how he truly feels or what he would even say...though he guesses when you ramble it’s less important what it is you actually say.

He ends up just shrugging and the pair go back to watching the happy people on the dance floor.

“Amelia is beautiful today.” Blaine muses.

“She really is.”

Blaine jumps slightly because it’s not Henry who responds. Both men turn in the seats to see Alex standing behind them. He’s got his hands in his pockets and his head tipped down, looking at them through his lashes.

“Hey, can I...talk to you?” He asks Blaine.

Blaine looks at Henry, who shrugs, before Blaine nods and gets up. He passes his glass to Henry and then follows Alex out of the ballroom into the main lobby. He’s not sure if he and Alex are about to fight again, and he’s not entirely sure if he WANTS to fight again, but all speculation flies from his brain when he sees Kurt standing by chairs in the lobby.

Blaine stops walking and stares open mouthed. He looks back and forth between Alex, who has also stopped halfway between Kurt and Blaine, and Kurt who is standing with his hands in his pockets and biting his lip.

“What…?” Blaine starts.

Alex sighs, “I called Kurt. Explained to him that I’m kind of an ass sometimes. But hey, it’s part of my charm.” He says with a wide, cheeky smile, before sobering again, “None of this was either of your faults. None of this was any of our faults. But what is MY fault was how I reacted to it.” He turns more fully to Blaine, “I’m sorry. I’m no longer mad, I’m no longer sad, and none of that should have been directed at you.”

Blaine nods with a slow smile. He doesn’t really know what else to do right now other than to hug his brother. He’s opened his arms and begun to move toward him when Alex puts his hand up to stop him.

“Just wait, I’m not done. We can hug it out in a minute.” He says.

Blaine’s brow furrows in confusion but he does stop and watches as Alex turns toward Kurt, “I wanted to say sorry to you too, Kurt. I should never have treated you that way...even over a voicemail to my brother.”

Kurt’s eyes are wide as if he wasn’t expecting an apology before he nods.

Alex nods too and then turns to Blaine, “All right. You can hug me now.” He says, opening his own arms.

Blaine chuckles before closing the distance and wrapping his arms around his brother, “I’m sorry for all of this.”

Alex pulls back, “You have nothing to apologize for. You met a boy and you fell in…” He pauses with a knowing smirk and Blaine blushes and diverts his eyes for a second, “I was the only one who had to apologize. And I did.” He smiles, “I must be growing as a person.”

Blaine smiles at the statement Henry said to him minutes before, though as opposed to sarcastic, Alex seems proud.

“You are.” Blaine agrees.

Alex tilts his head in Kurt’s direction, “Go get your man. I’m going to go see if Sam’s friend Mike is single and open to the attention of men.” He waggles his eyebrows and Blaine laughs. Still the same old Alex.

Alex pats Blaine on the arm and then he’s gone, back into the ballroom. When the door closes behind him, Kurt and Blaine are left in silence.

Blaine walks slowly toward him, “Hi.” He whispers when he’s close.

Kurt bites his lip again and smiles, “Hi.”

“So...” Blaine looks around as if he’s searching for something, “You...aren’t coming between me and my brothers anymore. Not that you actually were, but now you DEFINITELY aren’t.”

“It would appear that I’m not.” Kurt agrees with a nod.

“So…” Blaine says again, “does that mean anything for...us?”

Kurt shrugs and looks around the lobby for a moment. Blaine’s stomach drops at the shrug, but when Kurt turns to him with a smirk, Blaine’s stomach fills with hopeful butterflies.

“Come here.” Kurt says, grabbing Blaine by the tie and pulling him forward into a kiss.

Blaine melts into it and he’ll blame the stress and uncertainty on the needy moan he lets out.

They’re just getting into a groove, and Blaine may or may not be thinking about a place in this building they could go to truly be alone, when a ‘whoop’ sounds from behind them.

They both jump and pull apart, looking at each other with wide eyes before turning simultaneously toward the ballroom to find Henry, Alex, and Amelia leaning out of the door with wide smiles on their faces.

“Yay Blainers!” Amelia claps and Blaine and Kurt chuckle at her enthusiasm.

Henry puts a hand on his sister’s shoulder, perhaps in an effort to calm her, and Blaine feels his heart fill with happiness as his three siblings beam at him from the doorway.

Henry pulls slightly on Amelia’s shoulder and the pair turn to go back into the ballroom. Alex remains in the doorway, and while he looks to where his sister and brother just disappeared, he turns back to Blaine and he once again waggles his eyebrows with a wink. A moment later, Henry returns and pulls Alex back to the ballroom.

Blaine can hear Alex complaining about missing the good part before he turns back to a smiling Kurt with a smile of his own. He takes a deep breath and reaches out to grab Kurt’s hand, “Do you...want to come meet the rest of my family?”

Kurt squeezes his hand and jiggles it lightly, “I would love to.”

Blaine didn’t think his smile could get any bigger, and yet he feels his cheek muscles stretch even further, before he tugs on Kurt’s hand and leads him to the ballroom.

The End

#klaine #klaine fanfiction #klaine fanfic #glee potluck big bang #my loves #my stuff #3 on 1

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bravonovel · 3 years

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Begin Again: https://www.bravonovel.com/begin-again-7645

Begin Again novel is a second chance romance story, written by Val Sims.

A hot rebound is just what any doctor would recommend for Eden McBride's broken heart after a brutal breakup. Not really. But it's what she needs.

Liam Anderson is the perfect rebound guy. Dubbed the Three Months Prince because he's never with the same girl longer than three months, Liam's had his share of one night stands and doesn't expect Eden to be anything more than a hookup.

When he wakes up and finds her gone along with his favourite denim shirt, Liam is irritated, but oddly intrigued. No woman has ever left his bed willingly or stole from him. Eden has done both. He needs to find her and make her account.

But in a city with more than five million people, finding one person proves impossible, until fate brings them together again two years later.

Eden is no longer the naive girl she was when she jumped into Liam's bed; she now has a secret to protect at all costs. Liam is determined to get everything Eden stole from him, and it's not just his denim shirt.

Begin Again novel Trial Reading

"Can someone please tell me why I left our perfectly comfortable couch to freeze my ass off here?" Eden McBride glared at her three friends waiting patiently in the queue with her.

It's been over an hour, but the long line snaking its way around the block had barely moved.

Out of all the hangouts in Rock Castle, they had to choose Crush, one of the most challenging clubs to get into, especially on the one weekend when the hottest DJ in town makes an appearance.

"To help you get over the man whose name we won't mention!" Sienna, her best friend since primary school, said in a hushed tone. The clear plastic beads dangling on the ends of her long ombre braids chinked as she turned her head to match her death glare.

On her 'bad' days, Sienna was cute. But on a good day, like tonight, she was smoking hot. The guys milling about, desperate to get inside like they were, clearly thought so too. They could barely peel their eyes from her.

"Yeah, Eden, we've given you enough time to mope," Lydia chimed in as she snapped a quick selfie and posted it on her Instagram. Within seconds her phone pinged incessantly with notifications from millions of adoring fans. Lydia is a mega-successful YouTuber whose makeup videos have catapulted her to a goddess-like status on the internet.

"The sooner you get back on the bike, the better," Cassandra added, flicking her long blond hair over her shoulder as she pulled up the collar of her signature leather jacket. In the five or six years Eden's known her, she's never seen her in a dress. Not even once. For a self-proclaimed tomboy, Cassandra was effortlessly chic, and with her tall slim physique and delicate features, she could pull off any look.

In their crew, Eden was the plainest, and she was okay with that. Her skin was so pale she could never get a tan no matter how long she stayed in the sun. She tried colouring her long mousey brown hair a few times, but the constant retouching got old real quick. Her most striking feature was her slanted, brown eyes. Pity, she had to hide them behind thick-lensed glasses because she was almost as blind as a bat without them.

"He's moved on. You should do the same!" Lydia chimed in brutally. Subtlety was not her strong suit.

Eden sighed and rolled her eyes. Her friends meant well. But, she was okay with spending her days and nights in front of the TV binging on carbs and terrible reality shows. She was cool with not brushing her hair or changing her clothes for days on end. She was happy to cry herself to sleep and wake up with a puffy face and swollen eyes. But she didn't want to be rushed through her grief.

How could six weeks be enough to get over a lifetime of memories, of four years of happy moments and hopeful dreams, dashed in an instant?

"If this stupid line doesn't move in the next two minutes, I'm leaving," she hissed and pulled her trench tighter, glad she had the foresight to wear it even when her friends wanted her to ditch it because it was 'ruining her whole aesthetic'.

A Lamborghini screeched in front of the entrance, followed by a Ferrari and a Porsche. A group of men, as tall as the surrounding office towers and good looking enough to have walked straight out of a fashion magazine, jumped out of the three cars, threw their car keys at the valets, and made their way to the door.

Perhaps it was the long line that seemed to be going nowhere fast or the stress of the past few weeks, but when Eden saw the six towers trying to bypass the queue, she lost all her patience. Without thinking, she left her place and stormed to the entrance, her friends trailing behind her.

She tapped the very tall ginger, trying to smooth talk his way into the club, on the shoulder. He turned to look at her, his thick eyebrows fusing in a questioning frown.

Eden paused, her lungs struggling to keep up with her thoughts and take in simple breaths. With hair so bright like flames, she expected his eyes to be green. Not this denim blue. She could feel herself struggle against their pull.

"Eden, don't cause a scene," Sienna gritted her teeth and tugged at her arm.

But, Eden saw no reason to be polite. Not when she was almost frozen solid she could barely feel her ass.

She stretched to her full height as she tried to match the man's towering size. But even in her Jimmy Choo stilettos, she still had to look up at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked in a voice meant to melt the panties off of any woman within a kilometre radius.

As if he wasn't already deadly enough, he had a cleft too. The fact that it wasn't so prominent and only seemed to show itself when he spoke or smiled, which was all he did in the last fifty seconds, made it all the more devastating.

"I don't need your help," Eden said icily, hating him a little. He had no right to be so attractive.

"Okay, then!" He shrugged, showing off two rows of perfectly straight teeth as he smiled. They were so white she thought they might be veneers. They had to be. There was no way anyone would have such great teeth unless they had an excellent dentist.

"If you are done gawking at me–"

Eden held up her hand, irritated with herself for noticing all these things about him and hating him a little more for his presumptuous arrogance.

"Do you see all these people?" She glared at him and pointed at the endless line. "They've been waiting for over an hour. You can't just come here and skip the queue."

"Are you going to stop me, Princess?" His rust-coloured eyebrows shot up, his eyes sparkling with amusement and his Calvin Klein underwear model friends sniggered. Eden wanted so much to wipe the smirk off his face with her puny little fists. But she was an educated person. She didn't have to use her hands to prove her point. Words were just as powerful.

"If you have any decency, you'll do the right thing and wait in line like everyone else." She hissed, blinking furiously behind her black-framed glasses.

A hush fell over the small crowd gathered around them. Eden's friends kept tugging and pulling at her. But she was so over everything, including this night, and she refused to be intimidated by Red as he leaned down to stare at her at eye level condescendingly.

"I guess I'm not a decent person now, am I?" He blew a cold minty breath on her face and shrugged, returning his attention to the bouncer.

He flashed a few notes at the burly man, gathered up his crew, and waved at her group. "They are with us!"

Before Eden could even process his announcement, they were already inside the club, wading through a swarm of sweaty heaving bodies swaying to the music.

......

Continue to read Begin Again novel: https://www.bravonovel.com/begin-again-7645/chapter-1-crush-95332

Read the full story of Begin Again novel on Bravonovel App: https://www.bravonovel.com/download-bravonovel-app

#Begin Again #Bravonovel #novel #story #book #romance #Val Sims

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allthecoolboysaredead · 6 years

Text

Larry Ezekiel Goodman Bio + Tags + Headcanons

Name: Larry Ezekiel Goodman Nicknames: Darkheart, Larebear Age: 21; Can Change Birthday: February 27th Sign: Pisces Gender: Cis Male Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Homosexual Homoromantic Polygamous; Nonsexual unless introduced to sex by outside source (then highly sexual) Hair: Naturally Brown, dyes tips blue Eyes: Dodger Blue Skin: Pale White Height: 5′0″ Weight: 110 lbs Faceclaim: Gerhard Freidl Piercings: Horizontal Brow Piercings (Left Side), Angel Bites, Labret, Both Ears Gauged (Size 0g) Tattoos: None Scars: Nothing real noticeable

Alignment: Lawful Good Religion: Raised Roman Catholic, Aetheist Allegiance: South Park Vampire Society, Mike Makowski, Ryan Ellis

Family: Zachary Fetter (Father, Alive, Out Of The Picture); Mariah Goodman (Mother, Alive); Martin “Big M” Goodman (Uncle, Alive); Mary Goodman (Grandmother, Deceased); Ezekiel Goodman (Grandfather, Alive)

Pets: Lestat (White German Shepherd)

Personality: Adaptable, anxious, artistic, attention-seeking, caring, compassionate, compliant, desires an escape of reality, emotionally intelligent, empathetic, extroverted, forgiving, friendly, generous, gentle, gullible, impulsive, intuitive, loyal, overly trusting, passive, patient, protective, prudish, responsible, self deprecating, selfless, sensitive, shy, submissive, sullen, tolerant, worrisome

Likes: Sleeping, music, romance, visual media, swimming, the spiritual side of vampirism, comaraderie, his friends, clamato juice, deviled egg potato salad, sweets, animals, helping others, rainy/snowy weather

Dislikes: Confrontation, cruelty of any kind, thinking too much, being criticized, know-it-alls, being taken advantage of, being left out, touching fish, Swedish meatballs, bitter things, plain water, hot weather

Can Do: Drive, make telephone calls, organize events, drop everything when a friend needs him, offer advice, play instruments (Cello, piano, clarinet, a little bit of violin, kazoo), write fiction

Can’t Do: Actually kill things, relax easily, cook, math, abandon his friends, most magic, handle confrontation, get too warm, resist singing to songs he likes/knows

Mental Health Diagnosis:

PTSD: Larry was treated rather poorly up until he started school, often locked out of his mother’s room at night and left with nobody to help him through things but his uncle. His uncle was and still is a drunk piggybacking off of his mother’s paychecks, and Larry suffered a lot of physical and sexual abuse from him. To this day he dislikes being alone with the man.

Dependant Personality Disorder: Larry will pour himself into other things in order to escape his actual reality. Because of this, he takes on the brunt of handling most Vampire Society affairs, including but not limited to booking events and venues, securing timetables and even setting up the occasional bake sale. The busier he can stay, the happier he is.

Physical Health Diagnosis:

Flat Feet: Larry has to wear special inserts in his shoes because his feet have no arches in them. It occasionally makes running hard.

Fears: Being forgotten, aliens, being eaten alive, earthquakes

Positive Traits: Loyal, trustworthy, tolerant

Negative Traits: Self-deprecating, anxious, worrisome

Quirks: Listens to such a wide variety of music it’s hard to pinpoint his tastes; Likes peanut butter and cheese sandwiches; Has an interest in all occult/supernatural things but vampires are his number 1

Tends To: Busy himself to the point of forgetting himself; Become nonverbal during conflict; Cling to his dog when scared

History: The timing couldn’t have been worse for Larry to have been a shine in his parents’ eyes. Zach Fetter was content to be the guy Mariah Goodman’s parents couldn’t stand, and she was content to know she was breaking rules, until Larry came into the picture. The minute it turned from rebellion into the possibility of a family, all parties tried to run. Mariah, sadly, was a little stuck. She couldn’t get an abortion, and had to temporarily move back in with her parents until Larry was born. He spent the beginning of his life mostly with his grandparents, while his mother got back on her feet with a job.

When he was three, his uncle was released from prison and his mother moved out of her parents’ house to move in with her brother. The initial idea was for him to get a job and help out, but something always got in the way. He spent a lot of time babysitting Larry, who began to behave differently. Quiet, more sullen, he flinched a lot in the presence of his uncle and refused to talk about it. By kindergarten, he was reluctant to do much on his own, and immediately clung to an older kid by the name of Mike Makowski.

They became fast friends, and Larry was ever loyal to any of Mike’s causes, even if he was a year younger than him. When they became the South Park Vampire Society in fourth grade (fifth for Mike), Larry was a dutiful second in command that spent as much time as he could with his friends. They were all a very close-knit group, and even as they grew and everyone else changed, Larry didn’t see a whole lot of it.

He let himself be so enveloped in his work for his friends, in spending time with them and helping them with problems, that he never thought of much else. Most things that regular teenage boys did escaped him, barring his schoolwork, and he was always probably the least sexual of the vampire kids. Not to say that he didn’t like people that way, or that he didn’t have the thoughts on occasion, but he was always so tired when he got home, and it took a lot to get him to open up about things like that.

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Tags List - Personal

Not A Ghost Nor A Demon (Larry) This Is What I Do I Spit On You (Larry’s IC Posts) Stripes Are Always In (Larry’s Closet) A Vampire’s Lair (Larry’s Stuff) I’ve Got A Notion (Larry’s Desires) Fake Fangs And Clamato Juice (Larry’s Aesthetic) The Vampire Lestat (Lestat Tag) Like Fog Lights In The Rain (Larry’s Music) Things Are Different When You’re Dead (Larry Musings) Here It’s December Every Day (Larry Headcanons)

Tags List - With X - Canon

We Are But Shepherding Wolves (Larry And Allison Mertz)

The Different Need Us As Well (Larry And Amanda Harrison)

Please No Grieving (Larry And Annie Barlett)

Blondes Have More Fun (Larry And Bebe Stevens)

I Don’t Know Him (Larry And Billy Harris)

Sister In Darkness (Larry And Bloodrayne)

Where Oh Where Has He Gone? (Larry And Bradley Biggle)

It’s The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life (Larry And Butters Stotch)

I Don’t Like Dirt (Larry And Christophe “The Mole” DeLorne)

He’s Cool Enough To Hang Out With Us (Larry And Clyde Donovan)

If He Had Wheels He’d Be A Wagon (Larry And Craig Tucker)

Party Till It’s 666 In The Morning (Larry And Damien Thorn)

Nothing Is Ever Perfect (Larry And David Harrison)

He Rode Cthulhu Like A Pony! (Larry And Eric Cartman)

A Sweet Kid (Larry And Filmore Anderson)

Sharp And Scathing With Shipping Included (Larry And Firkle Smith)

The More The Merrier (Larry And Flora)

Brothers In Vampirism (Larry And Gangsta Vamp)

It’s Not Right To Tell Someone They’re Wrong (Larry And Gary Harrison)

What’s Up Drunkie? (Larry And Gregory)

She Wears A Dress Like A Body Bag Every Day (Larry And Heidi Turner)

Fire Bad! (Larry And Henriette Biggle)

Under Our Wings You Could Flourish (Larry And Ike Broflovski)

Don’t Let The Losers Win (Larry And Jennifer Harrison)Could She Be One Of Us? (Larry And Jenny)

Humor Is The Lifeblood Of Society (Larry And Jimmy Valmer)

One Of Us (Larry And Karen McCormick)

Why Does He Hate Us So Much? (Larry And Kenny McCormick)

Help Yourself To Guns And Ammo (Larry And Kevin McCormick)

Millennials Against Canada (Larry And Kyle Broflovski)

Everyone Is Welcome (Larry And Leslie Meyers)

I Believe (Larry And Mark Harrison)

Anywhere But Scottsdale (Larry And Michael)

They Worry You With All The Talk Of How You’re Not Their Kind (Larry And Mike Makowski

A Little Extra Help (Larry And Mimsy)

Always Scheming (Larry And Nathan)

The Sun It Withers In Comparison (Larry And Nichole Daniels)

Ugh You Spit On Me Larry (Larry And Pete)

He’s Not Like The Others (Larry And Quaid)

Leader Of The Pack (Larry And Red Tucker)

We’re Cool Huh? (Larry And Ryan Ellis)

Not Everyone Is On Our Level (Larry And Sally Bands)

You Poor Guy (Larry And Scott Tenorman)

Dogs Are Life (Larry And Stan Marsh)

Fanastic Wounds (Larry And Timmy Burch)

Is He On The List? (Larry And Token Black)

Tally Marks (Larry And Trent Boyett)

Too Young To Drink Caffeine (Larry And Tweek Tweak)

Class President (Larry And Wendy Testaburger)

Tags List - With X - OC

For What It’s Worth (With Hershy) - @brokenxdelinquentsx

It Was An Honest Mistake (With Nikolai Robins) - @sub-nikolai

Tags List - With X - Crossover

Daddy Daddy Get Me Out Of Here I’m Underground (With Jareth)

A Little Crazy Is OK As Long As Nobody Says Any Dirty Words (With Jerome Valeska)

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Verses - In-World

Second Best Friend Ever (Larry’s Elementary Verse)

It didn’t take long for Larry to be swept up in Mike Makowski. Someone that was so confident and cool actually paying him attention was the biggest, nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. He would have followed Mike to the ends of the Earth and back, and usually helped retrieve him from Scottsdale, at least by tattling to his parents.

Growing Into Oneself (Larry’s Middle School Verse)

In middle school, being the vice president and treasurer of the Vampire Society became his life. He would make sure that everyone had their tickets for dances and things, that everyone was going to parties or zoo excursions. Mike’s birthdays became a big-ticket item and he did a lot of work with Mike’s stepdad to get the parties to be just right for his best friend.

Workaholic (Larry’s High School Verse)

In high school, Larry got a job as a clerk at the Photo Dojo. If he wasn’t doing that or school work, he was almost always with his friends doing something. If they weren’t together, he was planning things, or taking dictation from Mike. He spent as little time at home as he could leading up to his 18th birthday, and after it he tried to spend even less time there.

We Are The Fortunate All The Time (Larry’s College Verse)

The second Larry graduated high school, he was already out the door. The soonest he could get to his college life and away from his family, the better. Sure, he missed his friends, but they all talked on group chats and Discord, so things were still close. Living outside of Colorado was odd for him, however, hard to really put into place. Outside of his friend group, which apparently sheltered him a lot, he didn’t know how to function.

———————————————————————————————————–

AU Verses

I Can’t Wait To Show You My Love (Larry’s ABO AU)

Born a male Omega, Larry was always looked down upon by his mother, and his uncle saw him as a target. His grandparents took him in when he started to smell too much like his uncle, and have full custody of him. He lives with them in Middle Park, but still goes to school and hangs out with his friends in South Park.

His Only Fault Was His Trust (Demon!Larry AU)

Larry had never been much of a bad person. In fact, his only real flaw was that he trusted others so thoroughly that whatever they said or told him to do made him dangerous. A loyal friend, he became a majordomo to the royal family of hell when he died.

Creatures Of The Deep (Mer!Larry AU)

Larry is a Demasoni Cichlid, one of the least aggressive of his species. He tries to be a kind of vegetarian, but his species cannot survive without meat for long. He eats fish more than anything, though he goes into a frenzy on occasion. When he’s on land, he loses his ability to speak.

Apprenticed (Larry’s Repo! The Genetic Opera AU)

It started off innocently enough; Larry had been hoping to get some good, interesting work for his stories. Vampires were still a hit, even if it was more organ-themed now-a-days. But working as an apprentice to a Graverobber wasn’t always the easier thing to deal with, especially when squeamish.

Warn Your Warmth To Turn Away (Vampire!Larry AU)

It made sense, at some point, for Larry to obsess over vampires to the point of following ‘real’ ones. When he’d left South Park for college, he never once thought he’d find anyone that fit his aesthetic. Here he was, though, in a club called The Den, a bartender that didn’t realize just what he was getting himself into. Three days into his employment, he found out the dirty underbelly of the city operated there, and that most of them were not human. To keep him from running, he was slowly being poisoned, turned into a vampire that could still provide blood to others until the night of his full shift. Which just so happened to be his twenty-second birthday.

I Don’t Want To Be Team Jacob (Werewolf!Larry AU)

Larry had always loved dogs. He had enjoyed seeing wolves in the forest, thinking of them as vampiric familiars. The one time he stepped over his boundaries and pet an unfamiliar dog, though, turned out to be the worst night of his life. Trying to hide his new side from his friends and relatives was proving to be too hard, to boot.

———————————————————————————————————–

Shipping

None At This Time

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Open Starters

None At This Time

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Headcanon Posts

* ( positive personality traits!

Physical Traits Of Your Muse

Detailed Profile Tag

Bold Your Muse’s Aesthetic (Spooky Edition)

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Faceclaim - Gerhard Freidl

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Art By Me

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Pets

Lestat is Larry’s loyal White German Shepherd. The pair are mostly inseparable, and he will take Lestat with him to occasional Vampire Society meetings. Lestat protects Larry from his uncle, who is the only person that Lestat doesn’t like.

#Not A Ghost Nor A Demon (Larry)

11 notes · View notes

kentonramsey · 4 years

Text

All The Essentials For Your Socially Distanced Picnic In The Park

With non-essential shops opening from 15th June, lockdown measures may be easing but in the interest of protecting those more vulnerable than ourselves, we’ll be keeping up our social distancing in public spaces. That includes parks, which, thanks to the beautiful weather we’re enjoying, have been an oasis of calm during the crisis. For those without private gardens, these pockets of green provide much-needed physical and mental space, keeping us connected to nature and helping us get that all-important vitamin D. Now that we can meet up with six people outside of our household (still two metres apart and wear those masks, folks!), we’re being reminded of all the fun and frolics summertime brings. We won’t be travelling abroad anytime soon but suddenly, when the world feels this small, an afternoon in the park is as restorative and thrilling as a long weekend away. Deciding which portable cocktail to make, which takeaway pizza to order and which friend to see is easy enough, but how to make your picnic look Insta-worthy? It’s time to step away from the holey picnic blanket your mum gave you and to do better than single-use plastic cups for your beverage of choice. Click on for a plethora of aesthetically pleasing picnic gear to take your park holiday from "nah" to "nice!"

H&M Picnic Blanket, $, available at H&M

Lazy Oaf Large Two Faced Throw Blanket, $, available at Lazy Oaf

John Lewis & Partners Lightweight Waffle Throw, $, available at John Lewis

Tekla Organic Cotton Towel, $, available at Tekla

H&M Lightweight Beach Towel, $, available at H&M

Arket Linnea Andersson Blanket, $, available at Arket

Tweedmill Waterproof Citrus Check Wool Picnic Blanket, $, available at Trouva

H&M Round Sunglasses, $, available at H&M

Urban Outfitters Avery Sunglasses, $, available at Urban Outfitters

Monki Cat Eye Sunglasses, $, available at Monki

Chloé Vera Round-Frame Acetate Sunglasses, $, available at The Outnet

Mango Acetate Frame Sunglasses, $, available at Mango

VIU Eyewear The Brash, $, available at VIU Eyewear

Weekday Away Squared Sunglasses, $, available at Weekday

Travelling Basket The Crannog Picnic Basket, $, available at Trouva

Zara Home Picnic Basket, $, available at Zara Home

Muun Mini Jeanne Straw Basket Bag, $, available at Matches Fashion

& Other Stories Braided Leather Straw Bag, $, available at & Other Stories

M&S Collection Straw Tote Bag, $, available at Marks & Spencer

JW Anderson Beige Logo Plaque Basket Bag, $, available at Browns

Brambly Cottage Lidded Picnic Basket with Check Lining, $, available at Wayfair

H&M Cool Bag, $, available at H&M

Neon Kactus Glass Water Bottle - Summer Lovin, $, available at Wearth

S'wheat Ice Blue Bottle, $, available at S'wheat

Chilly's Pastel, $, available at Chilly's Bottles

onegreenbottle Sherbet Lemon Steel Cap Life Collection Bottle, $, available at onegreenbottle

S'well Love You So Matcha, $, available at S'well

Mountain Warehouse 1L Matt Finish Bottle with Karabiner, $, available at Mountain Warehouse

Ocean Bottle Ocean Bottle, $, available at Ocean Bottle

Hay Sowden Mint Water Bottle, $, available at Trouva

Dodo Bar Or Daria Floral-Print Cotton-Blend Terry Bucket Hat, $, available at Matches Fashion

ASOS DESIGN Fisherman Hat With Under Tie In Ditsy Floral, $, available at ASOS

Topshop Floral Ditsy Bucket Hat, $, available at Topshop

lack of color Holiday Cotton Bucket Hat, $, available at Bloomingdale's

Zara Check Bucket Hat, $, available at Zara

Ganni Woven Cotton Wide-Brim Hat, $, available at mytheresa

Mango Printed Cotton Hat, $, available at Mango

Faithfull the Brand Floral-Print Cotton-Corduroy Sunhat, $, available at Net-A-Porter

EKOBO Set Of 2 Go Picnic, $, available at Trouva

Rice Melamine Cup Small 6-Pack, $, available at Nordic Nest

Marvo Melamine Tiffin Box, Multi, $, available at Made

Rice Melamine Bowl Set Let's Summer, $, available at Trouva

Liewood Zoe Silicone Straw Set 8 Pack Blue Multi Mix, $, available at Trouva

John Lewis & Partners Stacking Plastic Picnic Tumblers, 250ml, Set of 4, Mult, $, available at John Lewis

Working In The Redwoods Large Picnic Set, $, available at Trouva

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

These Shoppers Will Carry All Your Essentials

7 Socks & Sandals Pairings For Lockdown Comfort

It's Time To Embrace Summer Escapism Fashion

All The Essentials For Your Socially Distanced Picnic In The Park published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

0 notes

bighousela · 4 years

Link

Free VIP Day passes to our full days film screenings available to all whom register for this free event with Gerry Fialka, The list of films screening will be available as the films are selected to screen, updates to film blocks screening at the festival social media pages, and website:

https://www.facebook.com/filmfestla/

https://www.instagram.com/bighousela

https://www.filmfestlalive.com/

Nov 7th. Sat "Film Fest La & L.A. LIVE" presents FILM CAN'T KILL YOU BUT WHY TAKE A CHANCE from 3:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. at Regal Cinemas 1000 W Olympic Blvd, LA CA 90015, Info: 310-306-7330 Laughtears.com Free workshop and day passes sponsored by BigHouse-la.com Paramedia ecologist Gerry Fialka's fun interactive workshop explore cinema's hidden psychic effects via Marshall McLuhan's Menippean satirized percepts: "We shape our tools, then they shape us." and “The Balinese have no word for art, they do everything as well as they can.” and "How about technologies as the collective unconscious and art as the collective unconsciousness?" Delve deep into Live Cinema, Neurocinema and the metaleptic heart of movies. Read the OtherZine article: sticks-and-stones-may-break-your-bones-but-film-will-never-hurt-you.Gerry Fialka has been praised by the LA Times as "the multi-media Renaissance man." The La Weekly proclaimed him "a cultural revolutionary." His new book Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, with a foreword by David James will be published soon. His new feature The Brother Side of the Wake (BroSide) is the experimental documentary about the people of Venice, California. It probes the cliché: "Is the journey more important than the destination?" Watch the preview on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBj0UdpFEWo

Laughtears Press is proud to announce the new book,

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation

by Gerry Fialka, Edited by Rachael Kerr, Foreword by David James.Publication date: SoonContact: Gerry Fialka

310.307.7330

[email protected]

http://laughtears.com/

Compelling interviews with notables in avant-garde cinema offer insights into moving image art--its creative processes, formative influences, and hidden psychic effects. Through interviews with George Manupelli, Chick Strand, Tom Gunning, Lynne Sachs, Jay Rosenblatt, Martha Colburn, Evan Meaney, Mike Hoolboom, Robert Nelson, and Nina Menkes,

Strange Questions

links powerful personal stories with the contemporary media-scape.

Questions addressed in this collection include:

What role does the audience play in the creative process?

Can art-making be egoless?

Is perception reality?

What is the role of intention in the creative process?

What counts as storytelling? Are experimental filmmakers telling stories a different way or doing something completely different?

What was the motive of the cave artists?

What is more important: conviction or compromise?

Is ambition based more on fear or joy?

+++++++++++++++++

Accolades from award-winning experimental filmmakers:

"Fialka is a damn good interviewer. His questions are sometimes so precise that it tickles and sometimes so grand and thought provoking that one feels on the edge of a new spiritual awareness." --Lynne Sachs

"Fialka asks unexpected Questions about important Ideas, eliciting Answers that can surprise even those doing the answering. My Interview with him taught me something about myself; it was a Gift." --David Gatten"Fialka's was the funniest interview I have ever had. He has developed a very wise way of triggering thoughts in the interviewee." --Leighton Pierce"Fialka's interview had me buzzing inside with thoughts and memories that his engaging questions set in motion. Super stimulation." --Larry Gottheim"I thank Gerry Fialka so much. I really enjoyed his interview with me, especially his unjaded joie de vivre, hearty laugh, and endless pursuit of knowledge sparked by social curiosity." --Phil Solomon."Gerry Fialka is a master interviewer. Working out of his natural sympathies and his erudition, Gerry cannily and cheerfully guides his interviewees along a path of Socratic inquiry that goes far deeper than the average Q & A and possibly deeper than the interviewee thought himself/herself capable of going. With Gerry at the helm, the journey really is about the destination and not just the journeying." --Fred Worden"Fialka is a meteor shower in the contemporary media arts discourse. He's blowing my mind." -- Craig Baldwin

++++++++++++++

Gerry Fialka, artist, writer, and para-media ecologist, lectures on experimental film, avant-garde art, and subversive social media at NYU, USC, UCLA, Cal Arts and MIT. He has been called "the multi-media Renaissance man" by the

Los Angeles Times

and "a cultural revolutionary" by the

LA Weekly.

Fialka's interviews have been published in books by Mike Kelley and Sylvere Lotringer. They have been heard on Pacifica KPFK radio, and have appeared in magazines:

Canyon Cinema, OtherZine, CineSource,

Artillery,

AMASS magazine, LA Jazz Scene, Jazz News,

Bird, Flipside, Venice BeachHead.

"Gerry Fialka is Los Angeles' preeminent underground film curator." - Robin Menken, CinemaWithoutBorders

Rachael Kerr is a filmmaker, writer, and researcher. She is a 2017 graduate of the University of Michigan Department of Screen Arts and Cultures. As a student she collaborated on the feature documentary

The Big House

, now slated for theatrical release in Japan. In Winter 2017, Rachael was part of a UM course taught be Terri Sarris and supported by the University's Bicentennial Committee, which explored the AAFF's long relationship to the University.

David E. James has written or edited a dozen books on avant-garde cinema and other forms of non-commodity culture, especially in Los Angeles. His latest publication is

Rock ‘N’ Film: Cinema’s Dance With Popular Music

(2016). His films have screened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles Filmforum, and Canyon Cinema in San Francisco.

+++++++++++++

SoonSunday 7pm at Beyond Baroque

681 Venice Blvd Venice CA

FREE Admission

MOM - Movie Or Manuscript on Mother's Day -

Celebrate the publication of Gerry Fialka's new book

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation

http://laughtears.com/strange-questions.html

and

his new feature film

The Brother Side of the Wake (test screening). Facebook=

https://www.facebook.com/events/173605590088661/

VIEW Youtube Clips=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlhspvI86Z8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vso1cEAUYRs

LilyCat Radio Show - Gerry talks about both book and film -

https://archive.org/details/20180225LilycatGerry

+++++++++++++

Upcoming volumes in the

Strange Questions

book series:

Experimental Film as Conversation, Continued.

This volume includes interviews with filmmakersDavid Gatten, Frank Mouris, P. Adams Sitney, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Bill Brand, Pip Chodoov, Craig Baldwin, Bill Morrison, Braden King, Naomi Uman, John Smith, Patrick Turrant, Madison Brookshire, Tony Gault, Bill Daniel, Vera Brunner Sung, Alexandra Cuesta, Tooth, Fred Worden, Mark Street, Leslie Raymond, Jason Jay Stevens, Ben Russell, Bryan Konefsky, Owen Land, Peter Rose, Alfonzo Alvarez, Jesse Lerner, Terri Sarris, Chris McNamara, Oren Goldenberg, Jesse Drew, Roger Bebe, Jon Jost, Betsy Bromberg, Thom Anderson and more.

Michigan Aesthetics as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with Mike Kelley, George Clinton, Sam Green, Jack Epps Jr, Grace Lee Boggs, Marshall Crenshaw, Ari Weinzweig (Zingerman's), Steve 'Muruga' Booker, John Sinclair, and Mary Jane Shoultz.

Venice Aesthetics as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with

Venice artists

Rip Cronk, Earl Newman, and Carol Fondiller.

Art as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with artists William Pope.L, Alexis Smith, Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, George Herms, Doug Harvey, Winston Smith, and Robert Branaman.

Poetry as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with poets Amiri Baraka, SA Griffin, Suzanne Lummis, ruth weiss, Linda Albertano, Les Plesko, Harry Northrup, and David Meltzer.

Political Activism

as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with political activists Grace Lee Boggs, Tom Hayden, Haskell Wexler, Bill Ayers, Skip Blumberg, Jon Rappoport, Lila Garrett, and Marcy Winograd.

Jazz as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians Horace Silver, Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Oscar Brown Jr, Hadda Brooks, David Amram, Perry Robinson, Theo Sanders, and jazz writers Kirk Silsbee and Greg Burk.

Literature as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with writers Eric McLuhan, John Bishop, Chris Kraus, Kristine McKenna, Janet Fitch, Brad Schreiber, and Johanna Drucker.

Comedy as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with comedians Paul Krassner, Ric Overton, Paul Provenza, David Misch, Roy Zimmerman, Wes Skoop Nisker, Lady Lord Buckley, and Darryl Henriques.

Rock N' Roll as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians Mac Rebennack (aka Dr John), Pamela Des Barres, Steve Vai, Van Dyke Parks, Barry Smolin, Bruce Langhorn, Jeff Mosier, Roger Steffans, Paul Zollo, Billy Vera, Del Casher, Baby Gramps and John French.

Avant Garde Music as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians DJ Spooky, Carl Stone, Patrick Gleeson, David Ocker, Blue Gene Tyranny, Frank Pahl, and Veronika Krausas.

Documentary Film as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with documentary filmmakers Ondi Timoner, Marina Goldovskaya, Rodney Ascher, Jay Weidner, Tiffany Shlain, Mary Jordan, William Farley, Chris Felver, Chris Metzler, Stan Warnow, and Jon Alloway.

Performance Art as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with performance artists Ann Magnuson, Heather Woodbury, Gordon Winiemko, Joseph Keckler, Mark Pauline, and Ed Holmes (aka Bishop Joey).

Dance as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with dancers Simon Forti and Rudy Perez.

Hollywood as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with Hollywood people James Harris, Orson Bean, Timothy A. Carey, Mews Small, Abraham Polonsky, Jeremy Kagan, Jay Cassidy, Steve DeJarnatt, and Steve Fife.

Animation as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with animators Bruce Bickford, Karl Krogstad,and Gary Schwartz.

++++++This first book is the beginning of a 22-volume series.Upcoming

Strange Questions

will cover:More Experimental Film as ConversationMichigan Aesthetics as ConversationVenice, California Aesthetics as Conversation

Art as ConversationPoetry as ConversationPolitical Activism as ConversationJazz as ConversationLiterature as ConversationComedy as ConversationRock 'n' Roll as ConversationAvant-Garde Music as ConversationDocumentary Film as ConversationPerformance Art as ConversationDance as ConversationHollywood as ConversationAnimation as ConversationMedia Ecology as Conversation

Sculpture as ConversationPhotography as ConversationLive Cinema as Conversation

Gaming & Coding: Information Technology as Conversation

1 note · View note

putthison · 7 years

Photo

Adding Interesting Accessories

Accessories can be tricky things. Especially for guys who are just learning how to dress better, there’s often the urge to make an outfit “pop” with unusual items such as colorful socks and flashy tie clips. Over time, most people find that less is more -- better to focus on fit and create a message with your clothes than overdo the details. Much like good writing, your message is usually better when it’s not overwrought.

At the same time, once you learn the basics, a thoughtful accessory or two can really make an outfit. Jesse calls this “having a point of distinction”:

It’s easy to pile wild choice on top of wild choice, or conversely to make nothing but down-the-middle clothing decisions. To choose to demonstrate understated mastery and nonetheless show distinction is much more difficult.

The key to wearing accessories well is in knowing how to coordinate them with the rest of your outfit. Don’t just pile things on -- draw from and build on aesthetic traditions. An indigo dyed scarf can be a nice way to accentuate the workwear sensibility of a rugged leather jacket. A dressier, suede o-ring belt can lend a little something to a chunky shawl collar cardigan. Don’t be afraid here to go bold. When an accessory coordinates with the rest of your outfit, it can pull everything together. Some good starting points:

DISTINCT GLOVES

If you haven’t yet, get some good leather gloves. Plain brown leather ones -- usually made from finer Napa leathers or lambskins -- will go with almost anything. Unless you regularly wear black shoes. If so, get black gloves.

Your second pair ought to be something a little more interesting. Handsewn gloves look particularly nice in peccary and carpincho -- sometimes referred to as the king and queen of glove leathers. Peccary has a slightly grainy texture and an unmatched soft feel (get them unlined, if you can). Carpincho is a spotted leather that looks a bit more distinctive from a distance. Either looks great with dressier overcoats.

Peccary and carpincho are expensive, but you can get unique gloves for considerably less money. Consider things such as suede (dark brown is more versatile than tan), grainy deerskins (good for rugged workwear and outdoorsy clothing), or even basic leathers in uncommon colors (e.g. hunter green or navy). Knitted wool gloves, including fingerless models, are better suited with casualwear. A good pair of gloves made with a leather front and tweed back can also be nice.

Some options to check out: Merola, Maison Lavbre, Thomas Riemer, certain models from Dents, and Hestra’s Table Cut collection are great for high-end gloves (they’re usually made from better materials and feature handsewn seams). Aarch is particularly good for value (note, their site uses Australian dollars, so convert to USD to see the lower US price). For more affordable buys, see Hestra’s mainline, Dent’s mainline, Maison Fabre, Ralph Lauren, and Nordstrom’s house label. Archival Clothing also recently found these Austrian wool mitts, which I think look great.

BOLD SCARVES

Again, your most versatile scarf will always be your simplest. That means something made from a solid colored wool, typically in basic colors such as navy or grey. They’ll go with anything -- including navy or grey outerwear. If you want to get a little fancier, classic tartans can be nice.

A boring scarf will do little for a boring outfit, however. For the times you want to add a little something to an ensemble, pick up a couple of bolder options.

Bold here can mean any number of things -- a larger scale plaid can be striking and an unusual pattern will catch the eye. I also like oversized scarves, which help add volume. Thinner silk scarves look better against heavier, tailored overcoats, but oversized scarves can be great with leather jackets and parkas.

If you’re looking for something to go with a rugged outfit, consider an indigo-dyed scarf. We have some made from antique Japanese boro and vintage silks. I wear one (pictured above) with a vintage black Schott double rider. Kiriko and Indigo People also sell similar items, albeit made from newer materials. Kapital has chunkier, almost blanket-like wool pieces if you want to let out your inner Lenny Kravitz.

A little more refined are Begg, Stoffa, Drake’s, and Christian Kimber. I wear their scarves with everything from tailored sport coats to contemporary outerwear. Stephan Schneider, a Belgian designer known for his sophisticated use of textiles, is also great.

For an affordable buy, don’t be afraid to browse through discount sites such as Barney’s Warehouse. Bolder designs often make it into sale sections, and since a scarf’s construction is pretty simple, it’s easy to get good deals.

UNIQUE BELTS

A nice belt will never make an outfit, but it can pull everything together. Something like a ribbon belt can look great with a pair of khakis or fatigues shorts and an oxford shirt. Tasteful exotics, such as lizard skins and alligator leathers, can be great with a suit or sport coat. I also really like studded and Western-styled belts with workwear, such as the one above from Byrceland’s.

If you’re looking for something rugged, start with vintage options. A local thrift store can be a great resource, otherwise we have a directory for where you can shop online. Vintage belts are easy to size and they’ll come with a nice patina. I also think they look cooler than things you’d get from RRL.

Otherwise, you can get new belts from brands such as Ace Western, who specializes in handmade reproductions of vintage designs. Bryceland’s has some great looking models with John R. Craighead styled buckles (I love the New York one). Regular workwear haunts such as Unionmade are worth checking out, as are legendary ranchwear shops such as Rockmount. I myself wear a studded Sugar Cane belt, as well as some custom pieces from Don’t Mourn Organize. They have a double-layer horsehide belt they called their Clint Stitch, as it’s modeled after something Clint Eastwood once wore, and some basic harness straps you can outfit with vintage Navajo or Western-styled buckles (or, even better, something from our shop). When it comes to buckles here, don’t be afraid to go loud. A modestly etched silver Western buckle will just look like a solid silver piece from afar.

If you’re looking for something more versatile, check out companies such as Ledbury, Billykirk, and Narragansett. Their harness and bridle leather belts are outfitted with rugged closure systems that go just as easily with contemporary workwear as they do with jeans and a button-down. For something more refined, look for dressier belts with slide or o-ring buckles. Whether in calfskins or exotics, you wear them with casual suits and sport coats. Shops such as Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, and J. Press stock some great options. Anderson’s braided belts can also be a great way to spruce up a summertime outfit. And lastly, if you need something more contemporary to go with designer wear, Margiela is an easy bet.

#Accessories #Belts #Scarves #Gloves

55 notes · View notes

nightingveilxo · 7 years

Photo

BBC Sherlock is picking up where Casablanca left off. “The stage is set, the curtain rises, we are ready to begin…” Which is important, because before it was a film, Casablanca was an unproduced play.

First, I’d like to give credit to @deducingbbcsherlock for the original meta about John on the tarmac: ( x ) This post, is a follow-up of sorts, in that it deals with what happens afterward, and how we all land.

Take into account, that when Casablanca was made, the people we now think of as refugees, were still living the events. The film did create a rallying for those same people, and included refugees in its scenes. The LGBTQA+ viewers hoping for representation are the Sherlock refugees.

I included the images above, because of the blue/slightly rainbow lighting effect that occurs in the scenes, and due to pondering why they were having Mycroft watching an old movie (which we know was made for the show). Blue lights invariably spring up around anything involving Sherlock and John’s hearts (especially phones, bombs, and police lights). In the scene from T6T, the blue lights mimic a runway. In the first of the two images from TFP, after Sherlock breaks down the fourth wall, it even looks like he is coming down from a plane ramp.

From a previous piece I worked on:

Lights and Landing. I keep thinking it’s going to /come down/ to lights. On ASiB, Flight 007, the lights were out, and Nobody (TLD/Nemo TFP) was home (because they were all dead). During the stag night, Sherlock and John are drinking by a table, where Sherlock’s (heart) phone is left glowing blue next to four candles. If we’re still on the roof of TRF, John had his lights knocked out, but only after he and Sherlock escaped the police with their blue lights. In TEH, the lights are on the (heart) bomb. In HLV, Sherlock shoots Magnussen, and then a huge light lands on him from the helicopter. In TAB, Sherlock’s lights kept going out. In the flight of T6T, again everyone’s lights are out, except John’s. In TLD, Sherlock figures out the issue of the illuminated Miss Me from Eurus’s note, in the same way he noticed Help Me on the wall when Anderson missed it (which is also the text Sherlock sent Lestrade in TSoT that then results in blue lights through 221B’s curtains). In TFP, the little girl mentions seeing lights right before Sherlock figures out the code to locate John. We already know there is this recurring issue of projectors/projections/premonitions.

Which is why I don’t think it’s an accident that we go from the Casablanca-style scenes in HLV and TAB, to Sherlock and John beating Mary Rosemund to Morocco, in T6T. At the beginning of T6T, Sherlock says, ““I’m the target. Targets wait.” “How did you find me?” Mary asks. “I’m Sherlock Holmes,” he shrugs. He waited. For John. For her. There were premonitions...

Also, it works with the scenario of Victor Lazlo. Early in the movie, Victor Laszlo acquires a large scar over his left eye. The reason for the scar's existence is never addressed in the movie. Likewise, @inevitably-johnlocked surmised that John has lost his left eye ( x ) In TFP, as a child, Eurus always has brown eyes--except in the scene where she is lighting the match. In that scene, it’s blue. I never understood why, until this.

The water scenarios we keep getting in S4, and the idea of TD-12 or a coma causing this to all be misinformation or somehow incorrect.

Captain Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.

Rick: I was misinformed.

We’ve already had a parallel between Rick and Sherlock from TGG, albeit in reverse.

Rick: And remember, this gun is pointed right at your heart.

Captain Renault: That is my *least* vulnerable spot.

Then, there’s John as Ilsa. A blonde married to a blonde, pining over a dark-haired man that is represented as anti-social. Renault has the ability to mirror Sherlock or John.

Ilsa: It's about a girl who had just come to Paris from her home in Oslo. At the house of some friends, she met a man about whom she'd heard her whole life. A very great and courageous man. He opened up for her a whole beautiful world full of knowledge and thoughts and ideals. Everything she knew or ever became was because of him. And she looked up to him and worshiped him... with a feeling she supposed was love.

Now, we come to the parallels between the tarmac scene and TFP:

“Another well-known story is that the actors did not know until the last day of shooting how the film was to end. (Delayed Sherlock scripts, and actors saying they didn’t know in advance where their story arcs were going.) In the case of Casablanca, this was later refuted... The original play (set entirely in the cafe) ended with Rick sending Ilsa and Laszlo to the airport. During scriptwriting, the possibility was discussed of Laszlo being killed in Casablanca, allowing Rick and Ilsa to leave together, but as Casey Robinson wrote to Hal Wallis before filming began, the ending of the film "set up for a swell twist when Rick sends her away on the plane with Laszlo. For now, in doing so, he is not just solving a love triangle. He is forcing the girl to live up to the idealism of her nature, forcing her to carry on with the work that in these days is far more important than the love of two little people." (Remember, John is Ilsa) It was certainly impossible for Ilsa to leave Laszlo for Rick, as the production code forbade showing a woman leaving her husband for another man. (Much like the film code prevented TPLOSH from having Holmes and Watson as a gay couple). The concern was not whether Ilsa would leave with Laszlo, but how this result could be engineered. The problem was solved when the Epstein brothers, Julius and Philip, were driving down Sunset Boulevard and stopped for the light at Beverly Glen. At that instant the identical twins turned to each other and simultaneously cried out, "Round up the usual suspects!" (Which is literally what they did in S4, especially TFP. The key players are all rounded up, and we have our twins reference) By the time they had driven past Fairfax and the Cahuenga Pass and through the Warner Brothers studio's portals at Burbank, in the words of Julius Epstein, "the idea for the farewell scene between a tearful Bergman and a suddenly noble Bogart" had been formed and all the problems of the ending had been solved.” (No loose ends...)

That issue of the Prime Minister, that came up in T6T? In the original play (the curtain rises, the scene is set), the correct PM is written: Weygand. In the subtitles for the English DVDs, it says De Gaulle. At the time of the film, he was head of the Free French government in exile, so a letter signed by him would have provided no benefit.

In the scene where Lazlo begins the national anthem, La Marseillaise, these are the lyrics:

Arise, children of the Fatherland! The day of glory has arrived! Against us, tyranny raises its bloody banner. Do you hear, in the countryside, the roar of those ferocious soldiers? They’re coming to your land to cut the throats of your women and children!

To arms, citizens! Form your battalions! Let’s march, let’s march! Let their impure blood water our fields!

John in TFP: Today, we have to be soldiers, Mycroft, soldiers. And that means to hell with what happens to us!

Sherlock: Soldiers.

John: Soldiers.

Going back to the first image, look at the name of the bar. The Attic. Where does Sherlock locate Eurus? In the attic (last image)...

Tellingly, this is what Umberto Eco said of the film (which originally, had a solid opening, but nothing meteoric) "Thus Casablanca is not just one film. It is many films, an anthology. Made haphazardly, it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works, in spite of aesthetic theories and theories of film making. For in it there unfolds with almost telluric force the power of Narrative in its natural state, without Art intervening to discipline it....When all the archetypes burst in shamelessly, we reach Homeric depths. Two clichés make us laugh. A hundred clichés move us. For we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion. Eco also singled out sacrifice as one of the film's key themes: "the myth of sacrifice runs through the whole film." It was this theme which resonated with a wartime audience that was reassured by the idea that painful sacrifice and going off to war could be romantic gestures done for the greater good. (We’re back the Greek references that permeated S4, the status of Anteros at the beginning of the opening credits to the show, and the overall reception from viewers of TFP.)

Also, remember Mark saying: “I’m a gay man. This is not an issue. But we’ve explicitly said this is not going to happen—there is no game plan—no matter how much we lie about other things, that this show is going to culminate in Martin and Benedict going off into the sunset together.” Well, if John as Ilsa has vacated the premises, and left that part of himself with Mary, it makes sense. Because, at the end of Casablanca, Rick walks off into the fog with Captain(!) Renault.

Regarding the clues we’ve been getting about 6, 40, & 27. In the summer of 1940, the 27-year-old teacher Murray completed the play in six weeks with the collaboration of Joan Alison. It was never shown as such until London in 1991, for 6 weeks.

Tagging @graceebooks @impatient14 and @whimsicalethnographies @may-shepard @jenna221b because they replied to some of the minor bits I added onto existing posts, which then became this...thing. Anyway, thanks for reading.

#the lost special #moroccan mayhem #smoljohnlock #tfp

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shamelesscliche · 7 years

Text

To whom I have sent the link for this post (probs Milky, Neil or Viana),

Hello, I entrust you (guys) with this online some kind of a death note because I death is inevitable and scary and unexpected so I want what I want to be accomplished. Ha sa daw. Basta feel nako mauna gyud ko sa akong inahan kay healthy to siya unya ako kay dili.

Anyway, hopefully I died of some car freak accident, and quick. I wish I didn't get raped or something because my soul will never rest. But if I really die, make sure that in my wake, I wear a black sleek dress with sleeve (because duh akong ilok itom unya akong braso kay dako jesas) but we are on a budget since dying makes people spend more you can all make me wear that black dress I always wear bahala ukay2 basta kanang pretty. Make sure I have smokey eye make up and bad ass eyeliner. Contour my neck and nose and cheeks and of course a very dark red lipstick. Kanang ang final look kay mura kog bampira. Please make sure my legs are shaved. It will be the last and only time they will finally not grow. My nail polish should be a dark plum red color and curl my hair in those huge waves I always do.

Please only use this pictures, and place it on black picture frames (to be placed in one google drive link, but i forgot):

-Graduation pic, college kay payat ko didto.

-Me wearing the black dress

-https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205209506342601&set=a.1387337048830.2053404.1394184502&type=3&theater

-https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202933758290322&set=a.1387337048830.2053404.1394184502&type=3&theater

-The one Ate Elisha drew with whales and all, pangayua ang original bi hahahaha.

Ang flowers kay daisies ra gyud ingna sila daan pag announce ninyo sa fb sa haya, kanang white ra gyud ug baby’s breath para gwapa gyud tanawon tapos pagdecoration ug fairy lights para pretty akong aesthetic.

Tapos sa last day dapat nakablack tanan, ug pati sa lubong, ang maglahi ug color akong ungoon. wala koy labot sa representation sa black basta gwapo siya tanawon.

Tapos ang mga eulogy sa misa kay daghan gyud. Wala koy labot madugay basta manghilak tanan mustorya (bc I wanna be appreciated one last time), Make them wear black and place one item that they want me to carry in the after life make them tell why they chose that and even those who are not included in the list can give me stuff. I love stuff :

- Neil

- Milky

- Shaira

- Kia, Mj, Gerne, Gwen

- Jimmy

- Viana

- Mama and Papa

- Rexor

- Miah & Aj

- Kimkim

- Jason Benian (igagaw nako na)

I have a playlist on spotify titled 'Deathbed' play only those songs on loop ayaw nang lain na kanta na wala ko kabalo, millennial ko i want millennial songs. unya para dili sum-ol pwede iplay ang 'Mushy' ug 'Huzun' playlists.

And of course, please watch movies after the prayers. Harry Potter series, Flipped, Wes Anderson Movies, Moonlight, How To Train You Dragon, Book of Life and if you run out of movies play my fave episodes of Friends (S1E1, S1E23, S2E3, S2E14, S2E22, S3E2, S3E9, S4E7, S4E8, S4E11, S4E12, S4E20, s4e23-24, whole s5, S6E1, S6E4, S6E6, S6E7, S6E9, S6E15-16-17, S6E22-25, S7E5-6, S7E10, S7E12, S7E14, S7E17, S7E21, S7E23-24)

Tapos if St. Peter mi, ayaw na sila pabuhata sa slideshow akong mga masscom friends pabuhata kanang with videos gyud (daghan nag stock si neil, si milky) para mas makaemote (daghan sad sa youtube kay pabida man ko). ayaw nang picture lang na pa slowmo ang transition. pero butang gihapon ug pics kanang mga katawanan kanang wala koy labot kung pangit kaayo basta lingaw ang backstory.

The only candies allowed to be given is Mentos Ice, coffee is Kopiko Brown bc my fam loves that. Food can be any, you guys can donate bc were poor.

#personal #deathnote #milky maton #neil sumalinog #viana raneses

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networkingdefinition · 4 years

Text

Art Quotes

Official Website: Art Quotes

• A Good artist has less time than ideas. – Martin Kippenberger • A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires. – Hedy Lamarr • A good sketch is better than a long speech. – Napoleon Bonaparte • A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession. – Albert Camus • A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened. – Albert Camus • A picture is a work of art, not because it is ‘modern,’ nor because it is ‘ancient,’ but because it is a sincere expression of human feeling. – John F. Carlson • A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. – Oscar Wilde • A writer – and, I believe, generally all persons – must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. – Jorge Luis Borges • Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. – Al Capp • All art is autobiographical. – Federico Fellini • All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography. – Federico Fellini • All art is but imitation of nature. – Seneca the Younger • Almost every work of art is an analogy. When I make a representation of something, this too is an analogy to what exists; I make an effort to get a grip on the thing by depicting it. I prefer to steer clear of anything aesthetic, so as not to set obstacles in my own way and not to have the problem of people saying: ‘Ah, yes, that’s how he sees the world, that’s his interpretation.’ – Gerhard Richter • An art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t an art at all. – Paul Cezanne • An art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t an art at all… feeling is the principle, the beginning and the end; craft, objective, technique – all these are in the middle. – Paul Cezanne • An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision. – James Whistler • An artist should have more than two eyes. – Alphonse de Lamartine • And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves ‘It’s pretty, but is it Art?’ – Rudyard Kipling • Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes. – Khalil Gibran • Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self. – Alfred North Whitehead • Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. – Thomas Merton • Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist. – Rene Magritte • Art has to move you and design does not, unless it’s a good design for a bus. – David Hockney • Art hurts. Art urges voyages – and it is easier to stay at home. – Gwendolyn Brooks • Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. – Andre Gide • Art is a fruit that grows in man, like a fruit on a plant, or a child in its mother’s womb. – Hans Arp • Art is a jealous mistress. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Art is a jealous mistress; and if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Art is a jealous thing; it requires the whole and entire man. – Michelangelo • Art is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feeling. – Leo Tolstoy • Art is a passion or it is nothing. – Robert Fry • Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another. – Seth Godin • Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers… What we call art is a game. – Octavio Paz • Art is as heavy as sorrow, as light as a breeze, as bright as an idea, as pretty as a picture, as funny as money, and as fugitive as fraud! – Barbara Kruger • Art is essentially the affirmation, the blessing, and the deification of existence. – Friedrich Nietzsche • Art is indeed not the bread but the wine of life. – Jean Paul • Art is like singing. Some do it better than others, but everyone can and should be doing it for their soul. – Barbara Mason • Art is literacy of the heart – Elliot W. Eisner • Art is long, and Time is fleeting. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Art is made by the alone for the alone. – Luis Barragan • Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor. – Henry A. Kissinger • Art is never finished, only abandoned. – Leonardo da Vinci • Art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion (in the true sense of the word: ‘binding back’, ‘binding’ to the unknowable, transcending reason, transcendent being). But the church is no longer adequate as a means of affording experience of the transcendental, and of making religion real – and so art has been transformed from a means into the sole provider of religion: which means religion itself. – Gerhard Richter • Art is not a thing; it is a way. – Elbert Hubbard • Art is not an object, but a trigger for experience. – Brian Eno • Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist. – Seth Godin • Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. – Amy Lowell • Art is the elimination of the unnecessary. – Pablo Picasso • Art is the highest form of hope. – Gerhard Richter • Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth. – Pablo Picasso • Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. – Oscar Wilde • Art is the objectification of feeling, and the subjectification of nature. – Susanne Katherina Langer • Art is the objectification of feeling. – Herman Melville • Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. – Twyla Tharp • Art is the proper task of life. – Friedrich Nietzsche • Art is the pure realization of religious feeling, capacity for faith, longing for God. … The ability to believe is our outstanding quality, and only art adequately translates it into reality. But when we assuage our need for faith with an ideology we court disaster. – Gerhard Richter • Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world. – Leonardo da Vinci • Art is the signature of civilizations. – Beverly Sills • Art is the window to man’s soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within. – Lady Bird Johnson • Art is too serious to be taken seriously. – Ad Reinhardt • Art is whatever you can get away with. – John Cage • Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing. – Marc Chagall • Art must take reality by surprise. – Francoise Sagan • Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it. – Flannery O’Connor • Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time. – Jean Cocteau • Art remains the one way possible of speaking truth. – Robert Browning • Art should be something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue. – Henri Matisse • Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. – Banksy • Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. – Pablo Picasso • Art without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag. – Laurie Halse Anderson • Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. – Stephen Sondheim • Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • Artists must be sacrificed to their art. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • As all Nature’s thousands changes But one changeless God proclaim; So in Art’s wide kingdom ranges One sole meaning still the same: This is Truth, eternal Reason, Which from Beauty takes its dress, And serene through time and season Stands aye in loveliness. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Art', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_art').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_art img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Cookery is naturally the most ancient of the arts, as of all arts it is the most important. – George Ellwanger • Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. – Scott Adams • Creativity is not simply a property of exceptional people but an exceptional property of all people. – Ron Carter • Creativity is often blocked by trying to be perfect. Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. – Tony Robbins • Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. – Henry Ward Beecher • Every artist was first an amateur. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Every artist writes his own autobiography. – Havelock Ellis • Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. – Pablo Picasso • Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art. – Miguel Angel Ruiz • God and other artists are always a little obscure. – Oscar Wilde • Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness. – George Jean Nathan • Great art picks up where nature ends. – Marc Chagall • I am an artist… I am here to live out loud. – Emile Zola • I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart. – Vincent Van Gogh • I don’t believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there’s one thing that’s dangerous for an artist, it’s precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and all the rest of it. – Federico Fellini • I don’t think there’s any artist of any value who doesn’t doubt what they’re doing. – Francis Ford Coppola • I once asked a distinguished artist what place he gave to labor in art. “Labor,” he in effect said, “is the beginning, the middle, and the end of art.” Turning then to another–“And you,” I inquired, “what do you consider as the great force in art?” “Love,” he replied. In their two answers I found but one truth. – Christian Nestell Bovee • I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process. – Vincent Van Gogh • I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say “he feels deeply, he feels tenderly”. – Vincent Van Gogh • I would like to try to understand what is. We know very little, and I am trying to do it by creating analogies. Almost every work of art is an analogy. – Gerhard Richter • If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing. – Marc Chagall • Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that we live, if we do. – Elizabeth Bowen • In art as in love, instinct is enough. – Anatole France • In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • In its most limited sense, modern, art would seem to concern itself only with the technical innovations of the period. – Edward Hopper • In whatever one does there must be a relationship between the eye and the heart. – Henri Cartier-Bresson • It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize, And to be swift is less than to be wise. – Homer • It is only through Art and through Art only that we can realize our perfection; Through Art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence. – Oscar Wilde • It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. – Albert Einstein • It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection. – Oscar Wilde • It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child. – Pablo Picasso • Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal. – Igor Stravinsky • Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. – Stella Adler • Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. – Oscar Wilde • Life is the art of drawing without an eraser. – John W. Gardner • Love isn’t an emotion or an instinct – it’s an art. – Mae West • Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art. – Constantin Stanislavski • Man, there’s no boundary line to art! – Charlie Parker • Many are willing to suffer for their art. Few are willing to learn to draw. – Simon Munnery • Nature is the art of God. – Dante Alighieri • No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. – Oscar Wilde • Of all lies, art is the least untrue. – Gustave Flaubert • One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art. – Oscar Wilde • Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. – Don Marquis • Remember always, in painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter will be your manner, and the fewer your words; and in painting, as in all the arts and acts of life the secret of high success will be found, not in a fretful and various excellence, but in a quiet singleness of justly chosen aim. – John Ruskin • Rules and models destroy genius and art. – William Hazlitt • Science is out of the reach of morals, for her eyes are fixed upon eternal truths. Art is out of the reach of morals, for her eyes are fixed upon things beautiful and immortal and ever-changing. – Oscar Wilde • Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art. – Tom Stoppard • The act of painting is about one heart telling another heart where he found salvation. – Francisco Goya • The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle • The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions. – Paul Klee • The artist begins with a vision – a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage. – Henri Matisse • The artist belongs to his work, not the work to the artist. – Novalis • The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. – Emile Zola • The beauty one can find in art is one of the pitifully few real and lasting products of human endeavor. – Paul Getty • The big art is our life. – Mary Caroline Richards • The desire to be loved is really death when it comes to art. – David Cronenberg • The highest art is artlessness. – Francis Alexander Durivage • The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery. – Francis Bacon • The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you’re an artist. – David Hockney • The more horrifying this world becomes, the more art becomes abstract. – Ellen Key • The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others. – Vincent Van Gogh • The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. – Albert Einstein • The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. – Robert Henri • The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity. – Alberto Giacometti • The object of Art is to give life a shape. – William Shakespeare • The object of art is to give life shape. – Jean Anouilh • The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.- Elie Wiesel • The ordinary true, or purely real, cannot be the object of the arts. Illusion on a ground of truth,–that is the secret of the fine arts. – Joseph Joubert • The perfection of an art consists in the employment of a comprehensive system of laws, commensurate to every purpose within its scope, but concealed from the eye of the spectator; and in the production of effects that seem to flow forth spontaneously, as though uncontrolled by their influence, and which are equally excellent, whether regarded individually, or in reference to the proposed result. – John Mason Good • The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel. – Piet Mondrian • The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke. – Jerzy Kosinski • The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. – T. S. Eliot • The secret of life is in art. – Oscar Wilde • The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. – Michelangelo • The work of art may have a moral effect, but to demand moral purpose from the artist is to make him ruin his work. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe • There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books. – Charlie Chaplin • There is no must in art because art is free. – Wassily Kandinsky • There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe • There is one thing one has to have either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge. – Friedrich Nietzsche • There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain. – Georges Braque • To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there’s no such thing as perfect. – Alexander Calder • To be an artist is to believe in life. – Henry Moore • To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken it will enter the regions of childhood vision and dream. – Giorgio de Chirico • To me, art is the glorification of the human spirit. – Hans Hofmann • To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. – Kurt Vonnegut • Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first. – Arthur Schopenhauer • True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. – Albert Einstein • True art lies in a reality that is felt. – Odilon Redon • Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass. – Fran Lebowitz • Vision is the Art of seeing Things invisible. – Jonathan Swift • We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. – Pablo Picasso • We have art in order not to die of life. – Albert Camus • We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. – Henry James • What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit. – John Updike • What is drawing? It is working oneself through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. – Vincent van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to His Brother – Hokusai • When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art. – Paul Cezanne • Wherever art appears, life disappears. – Robert Motherwell • Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. – George Bernard Shaw • Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others. – Albert Camus • You don’t make art, you find it – Pablo Picasso • You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul. – George Bernard Shaw

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jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

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equitiesstocks · 4 years

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Art Quotes

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