Our Love Song (Klaine)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Blaine

New York is magical.

And that would be putting it rather lightly, actually. New York is absolutely everything. It's not just a city, it's a dream. Kurt's dream, Ava's dream, and also my dream. Someday, we will build our lives here. And this was the best way to get a head start. Roaming the streets with little to no plans or intentions. I felt the power of the city etched into the streets and expressed in the lights. The sheer energy of the air is enough to ignite the spark in me. The spark that is longing to express my feelings in the best, most powerful way I know how. By singing.

Lights are flashing. Car horns are sounding. People are shouting, pushing, shoving, running. The footsteps on the pavement almost lay out a beat for me. It just feels like an open invitation for a tune. And who am I to decline the city's call?

"I don't know what it is, but there's something about New York that makes me want to break into song..." I commented to Ava and Kurt who are walking on either side of me, Kurt's fingers intertwined with mine as we walked the streets where two men holding hands is normal, acceptable.

Ava winked at me, and Kurt grinned ear to ear. Times Square blinking above us, people shouting and pushing and shoving... I had the perfect song in mind and it was just aching to be sung.

"Go for it, Blainers." Ava whispered in my ear. And right before my eyes, the hustle and bustle of New York City turned into my stage.

With a grin, I opened my mouth and sang out loud and clear, without a second of doubt or hesitation. Not caring about the weird looks directed my way or the sped up paces of those who passed me, this moment was just me getting caught up in the city I dream about.

"NYC, what is it about you? You're big, you're loud, you're tough. NYC, I go years without you, then I can't get enough." My smile never leaving my face, never wavering for a second, I ran towards the street, waving my hand around like the idiot I am, pretending to call a cab. "Enough of cab drivers answering back in the language far from pure. Enough of frankfurters answering back, ha, brother, you know you're in NYC. Too busy, too crazy. Too hot, too cold. Too late, I'm sold again on NYC."

Ava joined in, her voice loud and perfect, complementing the city in the best possible way.

"NYC, the shadows at sundown. The roofs that scrape the sky. The rich and the rundown, the parade goes by."

"That other town has the Empire State and a mayor five foot two. No other town in the whole forty-eight can half compare to you." Kurt added, looping around Ava and I, the three of us grinning like blithering idiots.

"Oh, NYC!" we sang in unison, arms raised up to the city towering over us.

"You make 'em all postcards." I added in one of those cheesy arm swings for additional effect. The gathering crowd didn't seem to mind the ridiculousness of the gesture, though. In fact, I think they were loving it. My cheesy, New York starlet grin never faltered. "You crowd. You cramp. You're still the champ. Amen for NYC."

Kurt, Ava, and I were shocked, yet thrilled when a fourth voice, a middle aged woman stepping through the crowd, joined in for the next verse. This city was bigger than life.

"NYC! The shimmer of Times Square. The pulse, the beat, the drive!"

The four of us sang the next part in perfect harmony.

"The city's bright as a penny arcade. It blinks, it tilts, it rings."

And again, to our shock, yet delight, a small, pre-teen looking girl joined in, taking on the part of Annie flawlessly. I mean, considering this was a NYC flash mob started by a group of Broadway freaks. She even had the curly red hair to fit the part.

"To think that I've lived here all of my life and never seen these things!"

"Oh, NYC! The whole world keeps coming. By bus, by train. You can't explain their yen for..."

"NYC!" Kurt belted at the top of his lungs, his voice ringing throughout the city. Beautiful. "Just got here this morning. Three bucks. Two bags. One me."

Kurt weaved through the crowd, letting his hands linger on each shoulder. He wore the biggest, dazzling smile that melted my heart. He was born for this. Performing. In New York. Broadway, not two hundred feet away, was where he belonged. I believed in him. Always, of course. But at this moment in particular it became really, really clear.

"NYC, I give you fair warning. Up there in lights I'll be." He pointed towards Broadway, where the signs for Wicked and Phantom towered high. "Go ask the Gershwins or Kaufman and Hart the place they love the best. Though California pays big for their art, their fan mail comes addressed to NYC. Tomorrow a penthouse. That's way up high! Tonight the "Y"! Why not? It's NYC."

Just at that solo by Kurt, the audience was already breath taken. No surprise there. He got a couple of whoops and claps, but the song progressed forward despite it all, moving on to that one final verse. Everybody sang loud and clear and in unison.

"NYC! You're standing room only. You crowd, you cramp. You're still the champ! Amen for NYC!"

Daddy Warbucks would be proud.

Times Square was filled with claps and cheers. Ava, Kurt, and I exchanged glances, breathing heavily and grinning. This is why I love performing. The post-song adrenaline rush is probably the best feeling ever. And here I was, in New York City, sharing this moment with my best friend and my boyfriend, and for a moment, my life was perfect.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Ava squeaked, pulling Kurt and I into a tight hug. Kurt laughed.

"That was the best thing I've ever done. Ever. It's now the highlight of my life."

"Wow, this is just like a dream come true." Ava said, looking around, her face plastered with a bewildered, awestruck expression. "We just started a freaking flash mob in New York City. With people joining in and everything. I'm surprised people knew the lyrics, it's not an incredibly common song. Then again, we are in New York, right next to Broadway. I'm sure all the Broadway lovers migrate here. I wonder if..."

"Blaine?"

Ava was interrupted by a woman with an extremely familiar voice as she pushed through the crowd and stood in front of me, a mere two feet away.

"Blaine, that's you, isn't it? What are you doing in New York?"

And a woman was standing in front of me. Built small, hazel eyes, a mass of brown curly hair.

I glanced over to Kurt. He looked at me, questions and confusion flooding his eyes. Questions that even I couldn't find the answers to. Looking over to Ava, her eyes were widened, no doubt in complete shock. But not nearly as shocked as I was at that moment.

Words failed to come to my lips at that moment. I couldn't answer her in a logical sentence. Instead, my eyes searched her, searching for answers and finding none. I sounded distressed as I let out her name in a single breath.

"Mom?"