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Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge
Dec. 8
Prompt: “sketch”
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Kurt had no idea how he got roped into costume committee for the Spring musical. He was playing the lead, it was his junior year so he had seniority which should get him out of these things, and the costume mistress chosen for the show was perfectly capable of handling everything with only two costume assistants. Kathy and Matthew were going for costume design careers every bit as much as Sylvia was, so what was he even doing here?
“So Kurt, you’ll handle the sketches for all the costumes, and Kathy will be in charge of…”
Sylvia was cut off by Kurt throwing a hand up in a “stop” gesture. "Hold up. I don’t sketch.“ All three of them looked up at him like they couldn’t believe what he was saying, and he shook his head right back at them in disbelief as to why they would even think that.
"But Matthew told me that you’re known for your clothing design?” Sylvia looked over at Matthew, who was a sophomore who had become friends with Kurt and Blaine and was considering possibly transferring from NYADA to NYU and therefore spent a lot of time hanging out with Blaine over at Tisch.
“Yeah, um,” Matthew offered, “Well, Blaine kind of praises you up and down for your drawing prowess. And since you still contribute to Vogue.com and you had that great internship there before NYADA, I figured…”
Kurt was baffled as to where this was coming from. He schooled the group, “I worked at Vogue.com; I wasn’t a designer! You discuss and report on fashion at a fashion magazine and its online presence. You don’t make sketches of your own clothing designs!
"But Blaine specifically bragged about how good you were at drawing,” Matthew responded with a shrug. "I just assumed it was for that…?“
Oh. The image flashed into Kurt’s mind of the sketch of Blaine that hangs on their bedroom wall. He tried to thwart a blush that was threatening his face. "No, I’ve only attempted one sketch in my life, and there wasn’t even any clothing involved.” Oops.
A chorus of “Ooooh” came from the girls, and Matthew threw a guilty hand over his sudden grin.
“Never mind” Kurt asserted, and reached for one of the costume books they were supposed to be consulting.
“You did it for Blaine, then, right?” Kathy was putting the pieces together and wasn’t going to let Kurt get away with changing the subject.
“Yeah,” Kurt replied in a clipped manner. “Let’s get back to the subject of the costumes, ladies.”
Sylvia was also having none of it. "Kurt… if you sketched Blaine and there wasn’t any clothing involved….“
"So!” Kurt stacked two of the costume books in the middle of the table, “the costumes…!”
Kathy was undeterred. “Yeah, we’re hearing that story, Kurt! You can’t possibly think we’ll let up until we get this one out of you!”
Sighing, Kurt tried one last time, “Really it was nothing. I’m not any sketch artist, I can’t design clothes, so let’s move on.”
First Kathy and then Sylvia joined in until the two girls were chanting, “Story! Story! Story!” and Matthew was laughing and shrugging at him good-natured-ly to let him know that this was a train that wasn’t going to stop.
“ALRIGHT!” Kurt finally put his hands up to stop the girls and they both propped their heads up in their hands with their elbows on the table as if settling in for a good tale, huge smiles on their faces. "It was the first night in our new apartment when he moved to New York and we were finally together again, and I had gotten back from performing a gig that night so I was all jazzed up but he’d been building shelves and unpacking boxes and stuff, so he was all sleepy. I just kind of… tried sketching how his face looks when he sleeps.“
Kurt shook his head. "It was creepy! I was drawing him while he slept! So I put the sketch out on the kitchen counter for him to see in the morning like some kind of weird breakfast present. I was just young and… creepy!“
Kathy immediately said, "It’s not creepy, it’s sweet.” Both Sylvia and Matthew nodded their agreement vigorously.
“Well… he put it in a frame and we have it hanging in our bedroom, but I can’t believe he still talks about it.”
Now Matthew finally spoke up again, the originator of this whole misunderstanding. "Yeah, he pretty much told me that you’re a world-class sketch artist. I just assumed it was part of your fashion career, but this is even better!“ Both girls looked at him, curious. He wagged his eyebrows up and down and elaborated by asking Kurt, "Are you sure it was only his face you drew?”
“So these costumes! We have to get started or we’ll never figure out how to get them made, why don’t we focus now?” This time they let Kurt get away with closing the subject, but not before they all exchanged giggling looks.
Kurt thought to himself that maybe if Blaine was still talking about that sketch after two years, perhaps it was time he got out a pad and pencil again. It really was just Blaine’s face he drew that night. This little costume session had given him some valuable ideas after all.
