The New Attractive to Me is Divine

by undersomestairs

Summary:

Blaine transfers to William McKinley for his junior year. He joins the football team, where he befriends a closeted Dave Karofsky and falls for a cheerleader- Kurt Hummel.

Notes:

This fic is set at the beginning of season two but only makes brief references to the New Directions. Some notable AU changes are Kurt being a cheerleader and not in the glee club, and Burt and Carole having been married before the beginning of their junior school year. Within this fic are brief but somewhat obscure references to The Oatmeal comics and the Can't Hug Every Cat video, as well as various other references that will hopefully be more recognizable.

He gets hit by a slushie on the first day.

It’s cherry flavored, and less than pleasant as ice is splattered against his face and clothing. He can see after a moment of shock that the attack wasn’t meant for him, and the drops of red syrup staining his shirt are not even comparable to the intended target, a guy with a mohawk and a letterman jacket who’s wiping a layer of slush away from his eyes. Blaine knows that he’s just a casualty of whatever child’s game these guys are playing, but this shirt is new, as if he needed another reason to hate William McKinley high school.

He hears the mocking, “Welcome back, homo!” and it makes him freeze up even more than the ice had. He’s been on this campus for less than ninety minutes, and already witnessed what would happen if he were to come out here. He’s vaguely aware of Mohawk Guy shouting something back at them and stalking off to a nearby bathroom, but Blaine’s just hearing Wes and David’s words repeating in his head.

‘It’ll be great for you,’ Wes had said. ‘Dalton’s kept you so muted.’

‘Now you can be yourself,’ David had said. ‘Figure out who Blaine Anderson really is.’

So much for that. He finds a different bathroom – not wanting to humiliate Mohawk further by giving him an audience – and plays the ‘new kid couldn’t find the classroom’ card when he’s late for second period.

By the end of the day, he’s overheard enough gossip to know that Mohawk (more commonly referred to as Puck) isn’t actually gay. He’s just in the school’s glee club, which apparently means that even though he’s a jock, he’s first and foremost a target.

When his father had lost his job and could only find work in Lima for considerably less than his former salary, Blaine had spent weeks moping about having to move and transfer schools. At Dalton he’d found his niche in the Warblers, and now he was back in public school with a show choir that hadn’t even placed at Regionals the year before. There had been at least some hope, though, that he’d be able to provide the strong male voice they needed, and maybe they’d have a chance of making it to Nationals in New York this year.

He remembers his old school, the one before Dalton where he was teased and pushed and even hit, and he can’t put his name on that slushie list. He had known he would probably have to hide his sexuality to avoid torment, and it’s clear on his second day, when more slushies are thrown and a guy gets called a fag even while he’s holding hands with his girlfriend, that there would be no chance of that if he joined their show choir.

He doesn’t think he can handle the bullying, not now after being uprooted and losing all of his friends. He’s firm in his decision later in the week when he hears about what happened to that Sunshine girl. He might not be welcome in glee club anyway, and trying might be all it takes to get him noticed by the wrong people.

He keeps his head down, and when he sees anyone with a slushie cup, he makes sure he’s out of the way.

*

He decides to go out for football instead. It’s not an attempt to be popular. He genuinely likes the sport, and he needs an extracurricular activity or he’ll go crazy, stuck at home for half the day every day with no one but his parents to talk to.

The field is in a pitiful state, but the players are worse. He can only watch with poorly hidden disgust as the ball is fumbled yet again. He heard it mentioned that the tall, clumsy guy in jersey number five – who he immediately recognizes as the one who was called ‘fag’ even though he was holding hands with a girl just because they’re both in show choir – was really the quarterback last year, but he’s not sure he believes it. Number Five’s executed maybe half of the plays right so far.

Coach Beiste starts yelling (probably at Number Five), and then she calls Blaine’s group to head out on the field. There’s another new kid who’s trying for quarterback and who is definitely an improvement, despite his bleach blond Justin Bieber hair. Blaine channels all of his frustrations into playing, pushing himself to the limit, and he doesn’t want to get cocky but he’s pretty sure he’s better than any of the other guys trying out for halfback. He’s smaller, but definitely faster.

They run the plays while Beiste takes notes on her clipboard, yelling out for them to hit the showers when she’s satisfied. Blaine takes his time, finding his water bottle and sitting on the bleachers to get hydrated and catch his breath and basically stall so he can avoid the other guys in the showers.

“You okay, Anderson?” the coach asks, making him jump because he hadn’t noticed her approaching him. “You had a pretty intense look out there.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine, Coach. Just trying to give it my all.” It sounds lame even to him and she looks like she knows he’s lying. He figures it’s one of those womanly things, being all intuitive when it comes to feelings.

“Well you played great out there. I haven’t made my final decisions, but I’d be pretty optimistic if I were you.”

She winks, and it actually puts a smile on his face. “Thanks, Coach.” He’s completely sincere, and she pats his shoulder.

“Shower up, kid. You teenage boys sure can stink to high heaven after a good work out.”

She gives him a warm smile before walking off, her eyes on her clipboard. Blaine heads to the locker room, not worrying so much about the naked and wet football players somehow reading his thoughts. He’d known he was doing well, but something had still kept him from really feeling hopeful about making the team. Now he’s picturing himself wearing that letterman jacket. He’ll be in uniform again, belong somewhere again.

Either the rest of the guys are super speedy in the shower or he stalled longer than he’d thought, but there’s only one shower head running when he gets to the locker room. It’s one of the bigger guys, Blaine remembers him as Number Sixty-Seven, a more than decent right guard. He’s humming as he washes his hair, but he shuts up when he notices Blaine entering the showers. Blaine has already recognized the song and chuckles softly before deciding to risk it.

“And Penny will see the evil me; not a joke, not a dork, not a failure,” he sings, grinning when Sixty-Seven’s initial look of surprise and discomfort at someone singing at him in the shower fades into amusement.

“And she may cry, but her tears will dry when I hand her the keys to her shiny new Australia,” Sixty-Seven sings back, and damn, he’s got one hell of a voice. They finish the song together as Blaine quickly washes up, not speaking beyond that. Sixty-Seven nods at him on the way out, and Blaine smiles, feeling pretty good about this football thing.

*

He hears people calling Sixty-Seven Karofsky. They have English class together, which he hadn’t noticed before, but is definitely aware of when he comes in and takes the seat right next to Blaine. When the teacher calls roll, Blaine discovers that his first name is actually Dave, but he’s mostly still stuck on the fact that of all the desks that had still been available in the classroom, the guy had chosen to sit next to him.

It’s even more of a shock when he’s looking for an empty table in the lunch room and Dave makes eye contact before scooting over, creating a space for him. Blaine stands there, mystified, until Dave shoots him an expectant look and he hurries over, setting his tray down and taking his place at the jock table.

He learns that Five’s name is actually Finn Hudson, and he is possibly even more of a moron than he seemed out on the field. Six, the other new kid, is called Sam Evans, and once Blaine stops focusing on the obvious dye job and Bieberesque hair, he realizes that the guy has an abnormally large mouth that might have hypnotic powers because he can’t seem to stop staring at it. He really hopes Sam won’t notice and is pretty sure he’s getting away with it when Sam just seems distracted by impersonating Star Wars characters and speaking Avatar language.

He’s introduced to some other football players – including Puck, the guy he’d been secondhand slushied next to on his first day, and Azimio, the guy who’d slushied him – but mostly he eats quietly, more interested in observing. He sees all of the different groups, eating and chattering about classes and celebrities and anything else, and just feels ecstatic to be a part of one already.

At the end of the day, he finds out he made the team. Despite Beiste implying that he would, it still feels like a weight lifted off his chest, because now he’ll get to keep that spot at the table. The arms of his newly issued letterman jacket go down past his wrists, nearly reaching the bases of his fingers and making it look too big on him, but he can just push the sleeves up.

*

He goes to the first practice feeling nervous as hell. He knows it’s just pointless anxiety over stupid things like Coach changing her mind about him deserving to be on the team or the guys changing their mind about him being welcome there and deciding to pulverize him, but that doesn’t help him shake it. Once they get going, though, he’s able to hold his own – especially when they’re running – and it just feels good to be out on the field, even with all of the bulky padding that he has yet to get used to.

He’s halfway through the first of the running back drills when he sees it out of the corner of his eye- a sea of red uniforms marching onto the field. He waits until the other guys stop running to watch and he watches too, recognizing after a moment the cheerleading uniforms that he’s seen a lot of the girls (and a few boys) wearing around campus. They’re in perfect rows as they follow a tall woman in a tracksuit, starting to look like a swarm as more and more of them keep coming.

He’s heard a little bit about the cheerleaders, like that they’re called Cheerios and win competitions way more often than the football team wins their games. On his first day when he saw them all in their uniforms in the hallways and in his classes he assumed it must have been a special occasion, like maybe they had a competition already and that was how they showed spirit. He quickly learned that they wore the uniforms every single day.

The tracksuit lady ends up stopping not too far from where Blaine stands, and the hard look on her face as she surveys his team makes him want to back away from her as quickly and quietly as possible. Beiste walks by him and the cold eyes fix on her, and Blaine wonders if she’s glaring or if that’s what her face always looks like.

“Can I help you, Sue?” Beiste asks, and Blaine’s eyes go wide when Tracksuit Lady lifts her megaphone to respond, even though Beiste can’t be more than four feet away from her. They start quarreling over who gets to use the field, and Blaine only listens in enough to know that Tracksuit Lady sounds just as crazy as she looks. His main focus remains on the cheerleaders, who watch the scene with blank faces like they aren’t shocked and appalled by their coach’s lack of respect. They all have their hair pulled back in tight ponytails, their uniforms neat and perfect, and to Blaine they look like drones.

Only one boys stands in the front line, standing out because he’s wearing pants rather than the short skirt all of the girls wear, and also because he’s totally gorgeous. Blaine fully tunes out the argument – luckily the megaphone is no longer being used – and just stares, grateful for every second that he doesn’t attract the cheerleader’s attention and therefore doesn’t have to look away.

Eventually, it’s settled that the cheerleaders will get half of the field, which Tracksuit Lady looks disgruntled about even though she obviously didn’t have rights to get any of the field in the first place. The team goes back to their drills, having to be careful not to run into each other now that they’re restricted to half the amount of space they had before, and Blaine spends every water break trying to spot that particular male cheerleader.

“So, there are guy cheerleaders?” he asks Dave, who nods as he gets the last drops from his water bottle.

“Fags,” Azimio mutters, and Finn shoots him a glare.

“Shut the hell up, man,” he orders, and Azimio just rolls his eyes.

“Why don’t you quit trying to defend your fairy boyfriend, Hudson? Sick fucks.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Finn snaps back. “But he is my fucking brother, so quit calling him that shit.”

“You mean like you used to call him?” Dave asks, looking irritated.

“Yeah, before you started letting him butt-fuck you,” Azimio adds, and Blaine sees Finn’s face turn red.

“Which one’s your brother?” Blaine asks, hoping to diffuse the situation because he really thinks Finn would be dumb enough to start a fight with Dave and Azimio and he may be abnormally tall, but the two of them could crush him.

Finn eyes him suspiciously for a moment, probably wanting to make sure that Blaine isn’t trying to mock him or his brother more, and then his face relaxes and he looks out at the cheerleaders. “Step-brother,” he clarifies before pointing right at the guy Blaine had been ogling earlier. “There. Kurt.”

“Hudson and Hummel, sittin’ in a tree,” Azimio sings, making kissy faces at Finn as he heads back onto the field. Dave nods at Blaine and then follows, and Blaine notices Finn’s clenched fists.

“Don’t worry about Azimio,” Blaine says, giving his best reassuring smile. “Some guys are just ignorant.”

“Or just assholes,” Finn says, but he smiles at Blaine before they both head back to finish their drills. Blaine’s eyes find Kurt Hummel again, and when practice ends and Beiste comes in the locker room to tell them that the Cheerios will take up the other half of the field for their practice at least once a week, it takes some effort to look as frustrated as everyone else.

*

The people on the bleachers are screaming their heads off and waving their arms around, and Blaine is surrounded by a mass of red jerseys, all jumping at each other and crashing their helmets together. Strong hands clap down roughly on his shoulders, but Blaine feels untouchable after he just got to play in his first high school football game and he made one of the touchdowns and they won, which is apparently a really big fucking deal for a school who only won a couple of games the last season.

“Blaine!” He hears his mother’s voice from the stands as people start to trickle out to the parking lot, and then she’s on him, pulling him in to a tight hug. “You won! Baby, I’m so proud of you!”

It should be a little bit embarrassing, but it just makes him really happy as he returns the embrace, made a little awkward by all of the football padding. “Wasn’t just me, Mom,” he reminds her, but he’s still feeling pretty damn proud himself.

“I know, I know, but you played so well!” She lets him go and gives him a look he hasn’t seen in a while- probably not since he came out to her and his dad. It fills him with a bittersweet warmth, but he’s too high on adrenaline from winning to let the bitter side bother him.

Dave comes up and shakes Blaine’s shoulder, beaming in a way that Blaine’s never seen on him before. “That was awesome!” he exclaims, luckily having noticed Blaine’s mother next to him and refraining from swearing for her sake. “You wanna hang out tonight? You can stay over at mine.”

Blaine looks at his mom for permission, and she nods her approval. “Congratulations,” she tells him again, getting another hug and kiss on the cheek before she heads off towards the parking lot, turning to wave on the way.

Dave starts pulling Blaine towards the locker room, still wearing that silly grin. “Z’s having a party,” Dave tells him, and Blaine thinks about all of the times Azimio has made him cringe with homophobic slurs, at practice and at the lunch table. Dave usually goes along with it, which Blaine feels bad about ignoring in favor of keeping his friend.

“Sounds great,” he says anyway, hoping there will be enough people there that he won’t actually have to hang around Azimio. They shower and change with the rest of the guys, and then turn the radio up to blare a rock song that Blaine doesn’t recognize but Dave knows (and sings) all the words to on the way to the Adams’ residence.

He thinks they’ll be getting there relatively early, but the place is already packed and they end up having to park on a different street and walk to the house. Students – some he recognizes and plenty he doesn’t – line the hallways and are starting to fill every room he walks through. Dave leads him to the kitchen where he has a drink shoved in his hand, but one sip burns enough for him to know that he should put it down if he doesn’t want to be hitting on guys in front of everyone by the end of the night.

Dave’s pulled away by some other players, and Blaine abandons his cup on the kitchen table before wandering around, ending up in a room that seems to have been turned into a dance floor. He’s about to keep drifting and people watching when a redheaded girl, still in her Cheerio’s uniform but with her hair down now so her curls frame her face, grabs him, and he’s sucked in to the mass of grinding bodies.

The girls pass him around, shooting him what he thinks are flirty looks, especially after they start talking against his ear. When the music’s not drowning out anything they say, he hears things like “You’re kinda short, but I dig a guy with curls” and “I’m totally into the Eurasian thing” and he thinks (but must have misheard) that the girl he often sees walking with Kurt in the hallway asks him if he’ll lick her armpits. He’d had no idea he could be so popular with the girls and thinks it’s a pity he’s not straight when he sees the jealous glares some of the guys are giving him. Apparently he’d be good at it.

It’s uncomfortable for him when some of the girls seem to have it in their minds that their goal is to get him off by rubbing their asses against his crotch, but apart from that he has a really fantastic time dancing. It’s all so easy and fun and a great fix for his social needs, even as the people around him get drunker and clumsier. Eventually, his adrenaline rush from the game wears off, and he feels tired from all the physical activity. Some of the girls look a little disappointed when he leaves without trying to pick any of them up, and the ego boost puts a smile on his face as he heads to the kitchen to fill a cup with water from the sink.

He leans against the counter while he gulps it down, freezing when he sees Kurt a few feet away from him on a stool. He wonders how brave he would have to be to go up to him, how long it would take to work up that kind of courage, and if it would be weird to just admire him up close until he was able to do that, before he finally just shuts off his thoughts so he can act on impulse and take the stool next to Kurt.

He’s also still in his Cheerio’s uniform, but his hair and skin are perfect so Blaine thinks he must have also gotten a shower in between the game and the party. He tries not to stare at Kurt like some sort of creeper, but the guy really is just unfairly attractive.

Blaine thinks he’s allowed to look when Kurt’s eyes flick over to look at him first, and Kurt’s very nicely groomed eyebrows rise up towards his forehead, and for a moment Blaine goes into a panic about his own eyebrows and how they’re huge compared to Kurt’s impeccably shaped pair and that Kurt is probably wondering why this guy with the triangles on his face is sitting so close to him and poisoning his aura with offensive facial hair. Kurt opens his mouth and Blaine waits for him to ask why he feels it’s appropriate to allow caterpillars to nest above his eye sockets, but all he says is, “Hello there, Superstar.”

Blaine blinks at him, finally choking out, “Huh?” and learning that it’s actually really difficult to talk to people when he’s so full of anxiety and attraction for them.

“You’re on the football team, right? You’re a halfback. And you won,” Kurt spells out for him, and Blaine sincerely hopes he’s not blushing but it feels a lot like he is.

“Oh. Not just me, though. I mean, we all won. I just helped. Definitely wasn’t the star.”

Kurt hums, taking a sip from the cup in his hand. “I saw you dancing earlier. I think those girls would disagree with you.” His eyes scan from Blaine’s head to his feet. “Can’t blame them, though. You’re kind of adorable.” It’s his turn to blush now, offering an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I think I’m a little drunk.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. I’m-” He’s so excited for what sounds like confirmation that he and Kurt play for the same team that he starts to say that he’s gay too, but then he thinks about the school he went to before Dalton, and fear that someone could walk in or overhear quickly grips him and he can’t form the words. He knows it’s shitty of him not to be himself and proud of it in the presence of someone so obviously brave, but he still just repeats, “I don’t mind.”

The way Kurt looks at him like he’s something special for being straight and still so accepting makes him feel worse, knowing he’s really just cowardly. “Still,” Kurt says. “You’re good at football. You obviously have a way with the females. Why are you slumming it with the queerleader?” The way he rolls his eyes makes it obvious he didn’t make that one up on his own.

“Like I said, I don’t mind. It doesn’t bother me.” He holds out his hand. “I’m Blaine Anderson.”

“I know,” Kurt replies, smirking as he takes Blaine hand to shake it twice. “Kurt Hummel.”

“I know,” Blaine replies, mostly to be cheeky but also because oh yeah, he definitely knows Kurt’s name, having experienced too many instances of wanting to doodle Kurt Anderson or Blaine Hummel in the margins of his notes for him to be fully convinced that he doesn’t have an inner preteen girl. Kurt stares at him and Blaine just takes the opportunity to study his eyes, which are a gorgeous blue with flecks of green and gray and remind him of the sea, which may just be the gayest thing he’s ever thought. They still make Blaine like him even more, which doesn’t really help him when he can’t even tell Kurt that he’s gay.

Kurt takes a gulp from his cup and sets it down on the counter, shaking his head a little. “You’re something special, Blaine. Not like all those other douchebags. Like Azimio and Karofsky, and even Finn before he joined that glee club and started hooking up with that Rachel chick. She has two gay dads,” Kurt informs him, and Blaine nods to show he’s listening to what is starting to sound like slightly drunken rambling. “Puck joined it, too, but he’s still a douchebag. Just not to me as often.”

Blaine decides he needs to stop thinking he’s reached his height of regret for not being honest with Kurt, because it just keeps getting worse. He wants to tell him that he gets it, that he gets sick of the douchebags too, knows how they can make him feel, and that Kurt’s not alone in this like he’s probably used to being, but it’s harder now that he’ll have to explain why he didn’t mention it earlier and admit to being a scared little scumbag. He’s dug himself a hole and now has to find his way out.

He tries to work up the courage to do it, feeling like the Little Engine – I think I can, I think I can – but he doesn’t get it out before a brunette cheerleader steps into the kitchen, leans against the doorway and says, “Kurt, we’re leaving.”

Kurt glances at the time on the microwave clock, frowning when he looks back at her. “It’s still early.”

“Yeah, but Brittany puked and she wants to go home. If you’re not at the car in five, you’re walking,” she tells him, and Kurt obediently slides off the stool when she turns away to trek through the maze that is the throngs of people between them and the front door. Kurt turns back to Blaine, and that apologetic smile is back on his face.

“Santana’s my ride,” he explains. “And I’m sleeping over at her house and it would really suck to have to walk through Lima Heights Adjacent alone at night. But I’ll see you?” he asks, looking so hopeful that Blaine starts to feel fuzzy inside.

“Yeah, of course,” Blaine assures him, and Kurt flashes him a dazzling smile before taking off. Blaine picks up the cup he left, downing what’s left of whatever was in it and eventually setting out to find Dave, who he sticks with for the rest of the night.

They leave the house around two in the morning, walking quietly together to where they’d left the car. Dave’s still smiling as he drives, and Blaine thinks he must really love winning, and wonders if his face hurts because he has the impression that Dave isn’t a guy who smiles a lot.

He’s never been to Dave’s house before, but what he can see from the moonlight coming through the windows as they creep up to Dave’s room looks nice and neat. His room is cleaner than Blaine expected- just some clothes on the floor that he kicks under the bed when they walk in.

“I’m gonna change and brush my teeth,” Dave tells him, grabbing one of his smaller pairs of sweats to toss at Blaine. “Here, these might fit you. You cool with sleeping on the floor? I’ll get you some blankets and shit. Otherwise our couch downstairs has a pull-out bed, but my parents get up really early so they might wake you up.”

Blaine imagines for a second Dave’s parents coming downstairs and finding a sleeping teenager who smells vaguely of sweat and booze and quickly rules out that option. “Floor’s fine,” he assures, noticing Dave’s laptop is running a screensaver consisting of slowly zooming images of hockey players. “Can I use your computer for a minute?” He notices the way Dave hesitates, and quickly adds, “I just want to check Facebook. I’ll log out of yours straight away; I won’t fuck with it or anything.”

Dave relaxes and nods, taking his clothes into the en suite bathroom as Blaine sits in the desk chair. He rubs his fingers on the track pad to do away with the screensaver and pulls up Facebook, logging out of Dave’s immediately just like he’d promised. He signs into his own, clicking in the search bar and typing in Kurt Hummel. He sees a familiar picture of Kurt in his Cheerio uniform for the second result, selecting the link to his page and hitting the Add Friend button immediately. Everything on his page is private so he can’t tell how often he uses it, but he hopes Kurt will see it soon so that they can talk more without the added pressure of having their schoolmates nearby.

He changes into the sweatpants, having to pull the drawstring tight to get them to stay on, and Dave gets him blankets and a pillow to make the floor more comfortable. It’s still nowhere near as comfortable as an actual bed, but after exhausting himself at the game and the party and with his thoughts on Kurt, he’s able to drift off in no time.

*

Blaine’s groggy when he wakes up, having stirred a few times during the night as he almost always does when he sleeps in an unfamiliar place. He can see the sun filtering in through the blinds, but it’s not too bright, so he knows it’s still early. He sighs softly, because it’s always like this when he stays at someone else’s house; he wakes up early and has to find a way to amuse himself in a space where he can’t go anywhere or touch anything for however many hours until whoever lives there wakes up. A quick glance at Dave, who’s drooling onto his mattress, tells him it’ll be a while.

He stretches out and after resting for a while longer, his eyes start scanning the room for anything that might hold his interest for a few minutes. The fish tank is the first thing to catch his eye, and the colorful creatures keep him entranced for a few minutes, but he eventually gets bored and his gaze wanders, landing on a bookshelf to his right. The top shelves are mostly filled with trophies and trinkets, but the bottom half are stuffed with books. His eyes land immediately on the full Harry Potter collection in hardback, stacked in order and looking pristine, with some of the books in paperback next to them, looking a little more worn and well-loved. Blaine had known that he and Dave are friends for a reason, and he laughs quietly to himself.

He flips through a few things and gets lost in the bathroom scene from Half-Blood Prince, but Dave is still snoring softly when he slips the book back into its place on the shelf. He looks between his sleeping friend and the laptop on his desk, and remembers that Dave had allowed him to use it the night before, so he probably wouldn’t be too opposed to him using it now. Maybe. He’s careful not to let it creak as he sits in the chair, hoping Dave just won’t wake up while he’s on it and then they’ll have no problems.

He logs into Facebook first, feeling his heart flutter a little – and if that isn’t disgustingly sappy he doesn’t know what is – when he sees that Kurt accepted his friend request. He devotes the next twenty minutes to looking through his profile. There’s nothing about being in a relationship, but it does read Interested In Men, so now his sexuality is Facebook official, the most official it can be.

He learns other things about Kurt, like that most of his favorite movies are either musicals or romantic comedies, his musical tastes includes Lady Gaga and Brittany Spears, and he reads Vogue, one of Blaine’s biggest not-so-guilty pleasures. His pictures consist of a lot of him with Santana and a girl who’s tagged as Brittany (the same girl who may have said something to Blaine about armpits), usually in their Cheerio uniforms but not always. He likes the photos of them in normal clothes best, because as he looks through them, he learns that Kurt has a fabulous sense of style.

Then he finds the album of family pictures, including some older ones with a slightly chubbier but still adorable Kurt, and newer ones that have Finn in them. What stops him the longest is a picture of Kurt in coveralls, covered in grease, and working under the hood of a car. It’s something he never expected, and it makes him like Kurt about ten times more to know he’s got all these different sides to him.

When the amount of time and effort he’s put into learning everything he can about Kurt (and even reading his wall posts) starts to make him feel creepy, he goes to his News Feed, scrolling through the status updates of family and friends and acquaintances. He sees a cat video someone has posted and is reminded of a video he’d seen days before of a song made out of a woman’s eHarmony video where she starts crying about how much she wants to hug cats. He had wanted to show it to Dave, who he’s learned since the beginning of their friendship is an avid cat lover, and realizes now he had forgotten.

He clicks in the address bar, typing in ‘you’ and then freezing when his right ring finger accidentally hits the ‘p’ and drop down history changes from YouTube links to YouPornGay. His eyes are wide as he scrolls through the links, reading the names of the videos, and he makes sure the sound is off before clicking one to make sure it’s not some sort of weird understanding, even though he’s been to YouPornGay enough times himself to know that it’s exactly what it sounds like.

He exits out as soon as the video starts playing, and then opens the browser again to go to YouTube and Facebook and Google and Yahoo and enough sites that the immediate history won’t make it obvious that he’d found gay porn while on his laptop without permission.

Shit, he thinks, knowing he’ll have to bring this up, because he can’t just not talk to Dave about it. Dave’s really not as bad as Azimio with the homophobic comments but he still does make them, and Blaine knows that being so far in the closet that he has to put gays down, put himself down, is unhealthy, and probably why Dave seems angry most of the time. He needs someone to talk to, a friend who lets him know he’s not alone and doesn’t have to hate himself or what he is, like Blaine had had in one of his cousins before the move.

Dave starts to stir and Blaine quickly goes to Facebook again, logging out just as his friend sits up in bed and looks at him.

“The fuck are you doing?” Dave asks, sounding nervous and defensive, and Blaine understands now why he’d been hesitant to let Blaine use the laptop the night before. He wonders what else he might find, if he went looking for it- more sites, downloads, and maybe pictures.

“Just checking Facebook again,” Blaine lies quickly, and Dave visibly relaxes.

“You do that too much. Fuckin’ hipster,” he teases, and Blaine rolls his eyes.

“If I were a hipster, I’d think it was too mainstream. Facebook’s used by tons of people. Like one in thirteen people on earth,” he says. He’s not sure if that’s really true but he thinks he read it on The Oatmeal, so it could be.

Dave laughs, shaking his head as he pulls himself out of bed. “Whatever, man,” he says as he steps over Blaine’s makeshift blanket bed on the way to the bathroom. Blaine takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and thinking about how to bring it up. He knows Dave will be furious, because when he gave Blaine permission to use his computer he trusted that Blaine wouldn’t go digging through his shit, which he really didn’t mean to do, it just happened, and now he’s panicking because he was not prepared to deal with accidentally outing the best friend he’s made since he came to McKinley. It won’t be an easy talk.

Dave comes back out and Blaine thinks, Courage. He has to do this. It’s important that he does this, for Dave’s sake, even if it will create a lot of awkwardness because Dave wasn’t ready for him to know and also because Blaine’s pretty sure he saw something about gangbangs and fisting and he really didn’t need to know that much about what Dave’s looking at in his free time. (Maybe he was just curious.)

He opens his mouth to say something about it, and all that comes out is, “There’s a funny video I wanted to show you.” He swears internally for chickening out – twice in less than twelve hours, he’s officially a pathetic human being – and pulls up the video so Dave can watch it.

Maybe he’s just one of those straight guys who happens to like watching gay porn, Blaine hopes, but he’s not sure how often that happens, especially for that much porn. And when he thinks about it, he’s never heard Dave talk about girls, even when the other guys were, and Dave always stalls when it comes to going to the showers after practices, getting there when most or all of the other guys are gone.

Blaine promises himself he’ll bring it up really soon. Just as soon as he manages to grow some balls and start being honest with people.

*

Football practice is wrapping up when Azimio starts running his mouth again.

“Hey Hudson, you got a date with your little boyfriend this weekend?” he asks, and Blaine just thinks he’s an idiot, because Finn can constantly be seen in the hallways with his girlfriend hanging all over him. Blaine is missing the connection between having the guts to stand up and sing in front of hundreds of people and having an affinity for cock.

“Fuck off, Azimio,” Finn growls back. Blaine has learned from the times he’s been in Finn’s presence that he really isn’t sharp enough for quality comebacks.

“Fag,” Dave mutters, knocking his shoulder into Finn’s as he walks by him and nearly starting a fight, only held off by Sam grabbing Finn to keep him back. Blaine watches Dave as jogs up to sit on the bleachers, fiddling with his shoes in what Blaine can now recognize as putting off going to the showers with the rest of the guys just like he had done after try-outs. He waits for most of them to disappear into the locker room and then makes his way up to sit next to Dave, who looks at him curiously.

“Waiting for all the guys to finish showering?” he asks, and Dave immediately tenses.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” he asks, only able to glare at Blaine for a moment before his eyes are back on his shoes, which he’s probably tied and retied at least three times already. Blaine sighs, looking around to make sure there isn’t anyone around that he just hadn’t noticed before.

“I’ve got something to tell you,” he starts, feeling nervous and just really hoping that Dave won’t hit him. “Let me say straight away that I did not mean to do this, I wasn’t trying to dig up dirt on you or anything like that. I wouldn’t want to do that, because you’re my friend and I respect your privacy. But when I was trying to go to YouTube while you were still asleep, I accidentally found something on your laptop. Something I think you didn’t want anyone to find.”

He watches as Dave pales and licks his lips, his eyes darting around nervously. “It’s just- I was just curious. About- what those faggots do,” he says, but his voice is weak and gives him away. “The downloads aren’t mine,” he tries next, and when he finally meets Blaine’s eyes, his own are narrowed and fiery. “If you fucking tell anyone, I’ll-”

“I’m not going to tell,” Blaine promises quickly, raising his hands with his palms forward to show he means no harm. “No one should be outed against their will. Not even to people who won’t judge them for it, and I’m really, truly sorry about that, Dave.” He can tell Dave’s still wary, not sure if he can trust him, and Blaine doesn’t blame him for it. He does, however, finally grasp a little bit of courage. “I am too, Dave. I’m gay.”

“I’m not-” Dave quickly starts, but then pauses, like he’s letting what Blaine said sink in. “You are?”

“I am. And it’s a much likelier story, so you know you can trust me. If I did tell anyone, you could just tell them I said it because I am, and people would believe you over me in a heartbeat.” He chuckles, still watching Dave carefully to see the passing emotions on his face. “I think you just need someone to talk to. Someone who gets it, and who you can trust.”

Dave’s head hangs, and he rubs at his eyes after a moment, looking away. Blaine is happy to give him as long as he needs to pull himself together, knowing he’s just dropped a bomb on what Dave’s probably put so much time and effort into concealing. When his breathing has evened out a little more and he seems okay, Blaine clears his throat.

“Wanna go get cleaned up? Everybody’s probably dressed by now.”

Dave nods, still not saying anything as they go to the showers and scrub all the dirt and sweat away. The locker room’s empty when they get out, leaving them alone to change in silence.

“I don’t think I’m really ready to do anything,” Dave says when he’s sitting on a bench, pulling his sneakers on. “In case you, I don’t know- were gonna hit on me, or something. I need more time to think about shit.”

Blaine laughs, taken aback. “No, no, I wasn’t. I just want to help, man. Be here for you, you know? To talk, or support you, or whatever it is you need to get through all this, because I know how tough it can be on your own.” He laces up his own shoes, grabbing his backpack from his locker. “You’re not really my type, to be honest with you.”

Dave frowns at that. “What the hell’s wrong with me?” he demands, and Blaine laughs even harder.

“Nothing! Nothing’s wrong with you, dude. I just like them a little more… delicate,” he explains, not coming up with a better way to describe it.

“Oh. So you like the girly ones,” Dave says, wearing a teasing smirk that makes Blaine roll his eyes.

“Not girly. Watch your gender stereotyping.” They both walk out together, heading to Dave’s truck because Blaine’s house is on the way to Dave’s so it’s not inconvenient and he really didn’t want to have to ride to school with his dad anymore.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dave’s smile lasts for only a second, and Blaine knows he must still feel a little mixed up about everything but that the fact that he can smile at all is a really great sign. “So have you ever had a boyfriend?” he asks as he pulls the truck out of the parking lot. “Or do you have one right now?”

“None right now. And haven’t really had one before,” Blaine answers honestly. “There was a guy at my old public school that was gay, and we went to a dance together once, but we were just friends. And then this guy at Dalton, Jeff, who I went on a few dates with but it didn’t work out.”

Dave nods, seeming to consider this for a moment, and then, “Did you kiss either of them?”

“Jeff, a couple times. Nothing too heavy.” He looks at Dave, curious but having no problem supplying him with any information he could want. “Why?”

Dave answers his question with another question. “What was it like?”

Blaine’s not expecting that, and has to take a moment to think about it. “Nice. Like I said, it didn’t work out, we just weren’t that interested in each other. But it felt nice, when we kissed. It was fun. And even though we weren’t quite right for each other, it felt a hell of a lot more right than with any of the girls I’ve kissed.”

Dave’s lips quirk up in another smile, and it lasts a little longer this time.

*

A week later, Blaine has to make a conscious and very difficult effort not to spend the majority of their practice staring at Kurt. He has a perfect view of the cheerleader’s back from where he’s running drills, and Kurt keeps bending, and it’s just very distracting whenever Blaine’s eyes happen to land on him, which seems to occur way too often. He thinks his subconscious might not understand how uncomfortable it is when he starts to get hard while wearing a cup (though after having a guy fall on him while playing in middle school with his knee going directly down on Blaine’s crotch, he can never bring himself to regret wearing one, uncomfortable erection or not).

He sits on the bleachers with Dave again once practice ends, a new tradition they’re starting up that allows them to talk in private and also avoid being surrounded by wet, naked football players in the showers.

“So, Hummel?” Dave says, smirking at Blaine, who can feel his cheeks heating up.

“I was that obvious?” he asks, a little nervous but mostly embarrassed.

“Nah, not to the other guys, I don’t think. I just caught you looking over a few times and remembered what you said about liking the delicate type.” He makes air quotes with his fingers when he says ‘delicate,’ and Blaine shoves at his shoulder playfully. “I’m not saying he’s not hot, in that ‘want to give it to him good’ kind of way.”

“Pfft,” Blaine protests, shaking his head. “Kurt needs a gentleman. He probably dreams of being wooed by a romantic and dapper young man.”

“Dapper?” Dave raises his eyebrows, laughing. “How’s that wooing thing going for you, then?”

Blaine lets out a sigh, resting his chin on his hand. “Not great. I’ve only talked to him once, at Azimio’s party. He was a little drunk, but he told me I’m adorable.”

“What a charming little love story,” Dave teases, receiving another light push.

“It’s a start,” he says, before groaning and burying his face in his hands. “I couldn’t even tell him I was gay.”

Dave snorts, shaking his head. “I don’t know that I’d call that a start, then. Maybe a warm-up. A short one.”

“I know. I should talk to him. I just don’t know when I’ll get the chance, he’s always with Santana and Brittany when he’s at school. Maybe I’ll send him a message on Facebook,” he suggests, brightening a little at the thought.

“That’s so lame, dude,” Dave says, extinguishing his moment of excitement. “But you’ve got a point. You probably don’t want to put yourself on Santana’s radar; that bitch is crazy.”

Blaine laughs, pushing himself up off the metal seat. “Come on, man, the guys are probably done.” They head to the locker room and only have to avoid looking at the few stragglers who are still showering (which isn’t so difficult, as none of them are hot). Dave takes him home, teasing him more about his use of the words ‘wooing’ and ‘dapper’, and Blaine spends about three hours of that night with Kurt’s Facebook page open in one of his browser tabs, but never actually sending him anything.

He thinks he’s found his chance the next day when he sees Kurt alone at his locker after first period, but before he can reach him Dave and Azimio come around the corner.

“Hey there, Lady,” Azimio mocks, stopping a few feet from Kurt. Kurt just rolls his eyes, slamming his locker shut and turning to walk away from them. “Hey homo, I was talking to you,” Azimio says, reaching out for the back of Kurt’s uniform. Blaine instinctively starts to move closer, though there’s no way he can make it in time to prevent Kurt from getting grabbed, but he quickly sees he doesn’t need to. Dave grabs his friend’s arm, tugging him away from Kurt.

“Cut it out, dude. Just leave it, that shit’s old,” Dave tells him, and Azimio frowns in confusion but follows him down the hall anyway. Dave nods at Blaine as he passes him, and Blaine grins back, thinking that he’ll need to commend Dave later for sticking his neck out for Kurt like that.

He looks back to Kurt, now with Brittany and Santana at his sides again and walking in the opposite direction. Blaine shakes his head, internally cursing Azimio for being such a fucking cockblock.

*

Blaine has his laptop next to him with Facebook left up after replying to some messages from his Dalton friends, and he’s playing Assassin’s Creed II from the floor of his bedroom. He keeps trying to climb the inside of this tower and then falling, and it’s starting to get seriously frustrating. He tosses the controller to the side when the figure on his screen goes falling to his death and has to regenerate yet again, groaning as he rests his head back against the edge of his bed. He lets it loll to the side to look at his laptop screen, and then perks up when he sees Kurt’s picture under Friends on Chat.

He stares at it for a few minutes, telling himself that Kurt could sign off any second, and if he wants any chance of keeping him there he needs to click that picture now. With a deep breath he finally does, just typing out Hey before he can lose his nerve.

Hey!

Kurt’s response comes quickly, which fills Blaine with a little more confidence.

Hope I’m not bothering you or anything

No! No, of course not. I’m having a sleepover with Santana and Brittany and they’re painting each other’s nails.

Sounds like fun

Haha. They always try to paint mine while I’m sleeping. So what are you up to? Sorry about when you saw me at the party, I should really learn to stay away from the drinks table.

You didn’t say anything bad. I hope it’s okay that I added you on here

Totally! I’d seen you around school before and like, your face would pop up for suggested friends because you’re friends with some of the cheerleaders. I’d never talked to you, though, so I didn’t know what you’d think of me trying to friend you.

I wasn’t sure what you’d think either, we’d only talked the one time. I’m glad you friended back though

Yeah, now we can get to know each other better! I mean, if you want to. You probably have places to go, people to see, games to win, limos to ride in…

Is this another superstar joke?

Yeah. Haha, sorry. But really, are you busy? Santana and Brittany are talking about all the guys they’ve been with so I’m left out of that and I’m bored.

Blaine reads that and starts to worry, quickly clicking to Kurt’s Info page and scrolling down to see that it still says he’s interested in men.

Aren’t you gay, though? I mean it says you are on here

Oh, I am. I’ve just never had a boyfriend, so I don’t have anything to contribute.

Relief washes over him, along with a little sadness for Kurt because it doesn’t sound like he’s happy about being alone. There’s also some hope that maybe he could be that first boyfriend Kurt is waiting for.

So do you want to cure me of my boredom? We could play twenty questions! Like the personal kind, where you ask each other questions and they have to tell the truth.

Sure. Uhhh, you go first

Haha. We’ll start out easy, I think. What’s your favorite color?

Really?

Really.

red.

You do wear red a lot.

So do you

Haha, very funny. :P Your turn.

Now I want to know what your favorite color is

I just asked you that. You have to wait at least three questions to ask me a question I just asked you.

That’s the rule?

It is now.

I don’t know that I like you being able to manipulate the rules however you see fit, you might turn into an evil dictator of 20 questions

You don’t trust me to be fair?

It’s not your turn, I don’t have to answer that

That’s answer enough. You wound me, Blaine.

What’s your favorite subject at school?

Probably English. I like writing essays.

gross

Haha, that’s what a lot people say. What’s yours?

Ah ah ah, that’s against the rules.

Damn, you’re right. And if I change them you’ll call me an evil dictator again, and I might have to cry this time.

Or make up more rules

That would be less likely to ruin the mascara Santana put on me earlier, yeah. Okay, fine, original question. What’s your favorite food, then?

Hawaiian pizza

It would be pizza. It’s always pizza with you football players.

It was the same last year when I didn’t play football. What’s your favorite band or singer?

I know it’s cliché, but Lady Gaga. You didn’t play football at your old school?

Is that your question?

Yes.

No, I didn’t. Do you have any pets?

A beta fish. He’s blue and purple, and his name is Franklin. What school did you go to before McKinley?

Dalton Academy, in Westerville. That’s where I used to live

Is that private school?

You already asked your question :P but yeah

Right, sorry. Your turn.

What’s your favorite part about being a cheerleader?

Singing.

Singing

Yup. Coach Sylvester has given me singing parts in a number of our competitions. I thought about joining the glee club when Santana and Brittany and Quinn joined, but I don’t like the teacher who oversees them. Besides, Finn and Rachel are the only ones who ever get to sing, from what I hear.

Finn’s your brother, right?

You already asked your question. But yes, he’s my stepbrother. Our parents got married over the summer. What’s your favorite part about being a football player?

hey now

It’s a different question! You asked me what I liked about being a CHEERLEADER, not a football player.

sneaky.

But of course. Going to answer the question?

belonging, I think. It sounds lame but when I came here I really didn’t know if anyone would want to talk to me or what.

That’s silly. People adore you. Like, seriously, you’re in the top ten of the cheerleaders’ favorite topics.

seriously?

Seriously.

huh. It wasn’t like that at my old school. the one before Dalton, I went to a public school and it sucked. Just decided on a whim to go out for football here, and now I’m in this group and it feels good.

I get that. The Cheerios is like that for me. I get made fun of sometimes for the gay thing and my voice and everything even when Brittany and Santana are around, and Santana can get scary sometimes. I think the only reason I don’t get slushied like the glee kids is because no one wants to get on Coach Sylvester’s radar for staining the uniform.

I’ve had a nightmare about her

Santana or Sue?

coach sylvester

Oh. Yeah, I think we all have, haha. It’s your turn to ask a question.

do you like wearing the uniform?

It’s not too bad. I really love fashion, but I still get to put outfits together on weekends, and vacations. And since I’m a guy and most of the Cheerios are girls, I stand out a little even while I’m fitting in. Coach keeps trying to get me to wear one of the skirts, though. I think she forgets I’m a guy.

a skirt?

Don’t get too excited now. My turn. Why do you wear your hair the way you do?

What do you mean?

You put all that gel crap in it to slick it down. I’ve seen you in the parking lot after practice when you’ve washed it out and have all those adorable curls, why don’t you wear it that way?

oh, I started doing that at Dalton. My hair used to be this huge mess of curls, and then I went there and everyone was so neat and clean I felt out of place with it. so I cut it and started using gel in it.

You should try going without it someday. You look really, really good with it natural.

oh, thanks

Haha. Sorry. That sounded really flirty, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.

I’m not uncomfortable

Really? ‘Cause I know how it is when I get a little playful with guys. They know I’m gay so they freak out because they think a guy’s trying to flirt with them. Sometimes I just don’t think to stop myself. I’m sorry.

Maybe I wanted you to flirt with me. ever consider I might want to flirt back?

Blaine’s heart is racing, but he doesn’t regret saying it. He has to tell Kurt; he’s waited way too long already. This isn’t even a dignified way of saying it- online, where he doesn’t have to say it out loud, or directly to Kurt’s face. At least he’s finally going to tell him, and that’s what really matters as far as he’s concerned.

Huh?

And time for the big jump.

I’m gay too

Excuse me?

I’m gay, Kurt

It takes a few minutes of anxious waiting before Kurt’s reply pops up.

That’s not funny.

It’s not the reaction he was expecting.

That’s not fucking funny, Blaine. Was that the point of this the whole time? Are your football buddies all there right now, having a big laugh over making fun of the faggot? I really thought you were better than that, but you’re just like them, aren’t you? Just a scum sucking little jock asshole. Go fuck yourself.

He stares at that for a minute, eyes wide and lips parted in shock, before his fingers are racing over the keys, afraid Kurt will log out before he has a chance to explain and then spend hours just stewing in hatred for Blaine. The thought makes him nauseous.

wait!

What.

i’m not lying, i’m not making fun. No one’s here but me, I promise. I really am gay, Kurt.

And why should I believe that, exactly? Your little group you’re so fond of is comprised of some of the biggest homophobes I know.

because even though the uniform protects you you must know how hard it is to be out. that’s how it was at my public school. I had a friend who I liked and I thought he was gay so I took a chance and told him and he told everyone and they made my life miserable. the only other friend I had was the only other openly gay kid there and when he moved away I couldn’t handle it and went to Dalton. they have a strictly enforced zero tolerance policy for bullying, you can google it.

There’s a pause, and Blaine wonders if Kurt actually is looking up the Dalton website.

You’re honestly gay?

honestly.

If I find out you’re lying, I will sick Santana on you. She may actually murder you. At the very least, she will probably track you down and remove every last strand of hair from your body, violently and very painfully, while you are still conscious.

that sounds horrifying, and won’t be necessary. I’ve tried very hard to be straight, and I can tell you with confidence that I am fully gay.

Holy shit. Holy shit, I’m so sorry. You came out to me and I called you a scum-sucking asshole. Holy shit, I’m such a dick. I’m so so so so sorry.

no, seriously, don’t worry about it

He’s so relieved that Kurt believes him that he truly doesn’t care what he calls him. He can’t blame him, knowing how it must have seemed. Neither of them says anything for a few minutes, and then:

So what’s your favorite color?

Blue. Favorite subject?

history, or biology.

I like those. Hey, so, I don’t think that was twenty but it’s late and Santana and Brittany want to sleep so I have to shut the computer down. I’ll talk to you later?

yeah, definitely. I could give you my number if you want to text or something sometime

Oh. Yeah, sure.

They exchange phone numbers, and Blaine scrambles for his phone to put it in his contacts.

Talk to you later

Goodnight.

The green dot that indicates Kurt’s online disappears, and Blaine puts his laptop away, finally shutting down the X-box that he hadn’t even noticed he’d left on. He goes through his nightly routine, throwing out all of his hair gel after he brushes his teeth, and then climbs into bed and finds a familiar name in his text message inbox.

To Dave Karofsky: The wooing has begun

From Dave Karofsky: Do you know what fucking time it is? Go to sleep you dapper fuck

With a smirk Blaine plugs his phone in to charge, his thoughts keeping him up for a long while before he’s finally able to fall asleep.

*

From Kurt Hummel: Ha! My dad was right, you were wrong. I prefer Grande Nonfat Mochas.

Blaine had known that the Bengals hadn’t had a chance. He doesn’t even particularly like the team, he just likes the idea of throwing a bet in order to do something for Kurt (and not thinking about how weird or creeptacular that makes him). In this case, he gets to bring him coffee for a week, which will give him a completely legitimate excuse to approach him and talk to him every morning.

Even though he had explained to Dave what he was planning to do before agreeing to the bet, his friend just shakes his head the next morning when Blaine climbs back into the car with three coffees after a quick run into the Lima Bean.

“You could have just offered to bring him coffee. Or just shown up with it,” Dave points out, taking the smallest cup while Blaine sips from his own.

“What if he thought that was weird? And I couldn’t show up with it if I didn’t know what he liked. And what if he already had his own coffee? It would just be awkward.”

Dave just sighs, and they get to school early enough for Blaine to find Kurt and hold out his coffee. Kurt’s eyes light up a little as he takes it, letting it warm his hands as he sips it.

“I wasn’t sure you’d actually bring it. I had a feeling you would, though. Didn’t drink any coffee at home just in case,” Kurt tells him, and Blaine feels proud that Kurt trusts him, even if it’s just for something small like bringing him coffee in the morning. “I like your hair, by the way,” Kurt adds.

Blaine gets him his coffee every day that week, and then begs Dave to pick him up a little bit earlier so they can stop and get coffee every few days after that, because Kurt will talk to him up until they have to go to class when Blaine approaches him in the morning and he hasn’t quite figured out how to do that without a coffee offering.

The temperatures start to drop and Blaine quickly notices that Kurt wears scarves on the colder days. He manages to pull them off even with the cheerios outfit, which Blaine considers impressive.

He sees Kurt in the parking lot one morning when he’s brought him coffee again, calling out his name and waving when he catches his attention. “Blaine!” Kurt says happily when he approaches, gasping a little when he sees his name on the cup in Blaine’s hand. “Oh my god, you brought me coffee. You’re an angel.”

“We were making a stop, thought it would be nice,” Blaine says. It’s almost not a lie- they were making a stop, it just happened to be with the intention of bringing Kurt coffee above all.

“Sue had us here at six for emergency Cheerios practice,” Kurt tells him, greedily sipping the mocha once he’s got a hold of it and huddling in on himself like he’s trying to get as much of the warmth from the little cup as possible.

“What was the emergency?”

“Huh? Oh. That she’s crazy?” Kurt guesses and grins when Blaine laughs. “Seriously though, thank you. I needed the caffeine and the warmth. Forgot my scarf today, it was so disgustingly early.”

“Oh. Well, why don’t you borrow mine?” Blaine offers, unwrapping it from around his neck even as Kurt starts to protest.

“No, no, I couldn’t. I couldn’t! You’ll get cold.”

“I’ll be fine. I didn’t have to get up and cheer when it was freezing cold.” He hands over the scarf, smiling. “Please, take it? I’ll feel better knowing you’re warm.”

“You’re so sweet,” Kurt says, finally taking the scarf and covering his neck with it after a moment’s hesitation. “Thank you, Blaine. Um, I told Santana and Brittany I’d go and meet them; I was just putting a book in my car. I’ll talk to you soon?” he asks, and Blaine wonders if he’s just imagining Kurt’s look to be hopeful. “I’ll give you your scarf back later today, or tomorrow, or at least soon. Whenever I see you, okay?”

“Yeah, totally. Don’t worry about it, take your time.” Kurt gives him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, and Blaine feels a little dazed, seeing Dave now leaning against a nearby wall with his coffee and wandering over to him.

“You two are sickening,” Dave informs him when he’s close enough, and Blaine stands against the wall next to him, still grinning.

“You’re just jealous.”

“Thank you so much Blaine, you big manly man you, giving up your scarf for the day! I’ll give it back soon,” Dave mocks, his voice high to imitate Kurt and then less high when he continues with, “No Kurt, please keep it. Make a shrine with it to match the one I have of you!”

Blaine punches his arm and Dave lightly shoves him, laughing as they playfully smack at each other all the way to their first classes of the day.

*

Dave’s wearing a mischievous little smirk when Blaine takes a seat next to him on the bleachers after football practice. It’s the second week of October, so there’s a chill that’s actually rather refreshing after getting so warm from the combination of vigorous exercise and the layers of his uniform.

“Why do you look like you’re plotting something?” he asks, and Dave’s chuckle really doesn’t do anything to reassure him otherwise.

“I heard about this party that’s happening this Saturday at the Ohio State main campus.”

“That’s in Columbus,” Blaine interrupts, and Dave waves his hand like being hours away is just a trivial detail.

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll drive us and my cousin Eric lives there so we’ll have a place to stay for the night. My point is that it’s a frat party for this fraternity that has a lot of gay and bi guys. It’ll be like our chance to see what life will be like when we’re out of this place and can actually meet people, you know? And it’s not like we’ll run into anyone we know there.” He nudges his knee against Blaine’s, looking eager. “Come on, man, go with me.”

“How did you even hear about this?”

“Internet. Will you please come?”

Blaine considers it, and he really wants to go, but he also has another idea. “Can I invite Kurt?” he asks, and wonders if puppy dog eyes would have any effect on Dave and if he should just try it anyway. Dave looks wary, but slowly nods before Blaine can turn on his puppy look.

“Totally defeats the purpose of trying to meet guys, but since you’re so stupidly in love, yeah, you can. See if he’s busy first and if he’d want to go to a party that night anyway before you give him any details. You’ll have to tell him about me.” He sighs, and Blaine understands. It took him long enough to tell Kurt, too, even knowing that Kurt would be the last person to judge him. Thinking about it for a moment, he knows Kurt probably would judge Dave a little after all he’s said and done, covering up what he is with anger.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t tell anyone,” Blaine promises, and Dave looks pacified by that.

“But even if he can’t make it, you’ll come?” he asks, and Blaine nods. “Awesome, dude. I don’t want to go by myself. We’ll have a good time, I know it.”

“You’re sure they’ll let us in?”

“Yeah, totally. I mean, why wouldn’t they?” They both get up, and Dave’s quiet as they walk towards the locker room to shower. “Maybe we’ll just show up a little late, when people have already been drinking for a while. Then they won’t notice we’re high school age.”

Blaine snorts, not sure if that plan has a chance in hell of working but thinking it would probably be pretty fun to try. Even if they get kicked out, they could make a night of it cruising around the city and catching a movie or something.

They shower, and see that the locker room has cleared out by the time they’re getting dressed. “I’ll ask Kurt tomorrow,” Blaine informs him, already thinking of the most likely times he’ll be able to find Kurt alone.

“Alright. Be sure to mention that you want to marry him and have his little gay babies,” Dave teases. Blaine punches his arm on the way out, and Dave just laughs.

*

By the end of the day, Blaine is really getting frustrated. It’s almost like Kurt was surrounded by even more cheerleaders than usual all day, and Blaine hasn’t seen him alone for even a second. He finds him just after school gets out, Brittany and Santana at his sides as usual, and decides he’ll just have to go for it.

“Kurt,” he calls, and Kurt smiles when he looks over and sees Blaine which almost makes Blaine forget what he wanted to talk about. “Can I, um, talk to you alone?”

Brittany and Santana exchange curious looks, and Blaine wonders if Kurt has told them about his sexuality. It doesn’t really bother him to think that they know, but he has a feeling that the two of them finding out about Dave would be bad news. Besides, he doesn’t want to risk them trying to tag along to the party and spoiling all chances of him having some alone time with Kurt.

“Sure,” Kurt agrees. “I’ll see you both at practice,” he tells Santana and Brittany, looking expectantly at them. Santana’s wearing an amused smirk while Brittany still just looks a little confused, but they leave and Kurt smiles at Blaine, clasping his hands together in front of him. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Could we go somewhere private?” Blaine requests and Kurt looks around, leading him over to a nearby door.

“This is my math classroom; the teacher bolts out the door before the students do,” he explains, sitting on a desk and swinging his feet in front of him. “What’s up?”

“Are you busy this Saturday?” Blaine starts, and those perfectly shaped eyebrows of Kurt’s rise up.

“Not to my knowledge.”

Blaine smiles, one step closer to spending Saturday night with Kurt. “Interested in going to a party in Columbus?”

Now Kurt just looks surprised. “Why are you going all the way to Columbus for a party?”

“It’s a frat party. A lot of gay and bi guys will be there, we think. Like a taste of life beyond Lima,” Blaine offers, remembering that was what made him excited about the idea himself. Kurt nods slowly, looking like it appeals to him as well.

“Who’s we?” he wonders, and Blaine knows this will be the more difficult part.

“Me and Dave. Karofsky,” he clarifies, and Kurt laughs, looking at Blaine like he must be crazy.

“Why the hell would you bring Karofsky to a party with a lot of gay people? Is he going just to bash everyone? Because I really have no interest in witnessing that.” He slides off the desk, frowning as he moves towards the door and even more when Blaine steps in his way to stop him from leaving.

“He’s not going to bash them, Kurt. It was his idea to go.” He takes a deep breath, knowing it might take some convincing but starting with, “Dave’s gay.”

Kurt just stares at him before busting out laughing. “Karofsky, gay? Yeah right. You’re so hilarious, Blaine.” He stops laughing when Blaine just looks at him seriously. “Dave’s not gay. He can’t be gay, all the shit he and his football buddies have said to me.”

“It was all a cover-up; he was scared that someone might find out. Scared to even admit it to himself, I think. He’s been different lately, right? Not bullying you, and keeping the other guys from it too? He’s got me to talk to, he’s getting better.”

“That actually makes some sense,” Kurt says, but he’s frowning again. “You’re sure he wasn’t just lying to you?”

“Positive. He didn’t even tell me, I just sort of… found some gay you-know-what on his computer. He tried to lie about it, when I confronted him. We talk about it now, though. He’s really, truly, one hundred percent gay. He wants to go to this party so he can finally express that side of him without worrying about someone he knows finding out.”

Kurt looks thoughtful for a while, and Blaine anxiously awaits his verdict. “I’m in,” he finally says, and Blaine has to stop himself from doing some sort of celebratory fist pump move. “I spent all these years thinking I was the only gay kid, and now you’re all just coming out of the woodwork.”

“But not out of the closet,” Blaine jokes, wearing a sad sort of smile. “You’re still the only one brave enough for that.”

“I thought when I joined the cheerleaders at least one other guy would admit it to me, but they all just swap stories about trying to finger the girls after their girlfriends made them watch Bring It On. It’s kind of disgusting.” Kurt grimaces, and Blaine smiles for real now.

“Saturday you’ll be surrounded by people who aren’t hiding. Can we pick you up at six?” he asks, but Kurt shakes his head.

“I’ll be at your house at five. If we’re going to a college party, I’ll need to pre-approve your outfit.”

*

Blaine’s doorbell goes off exactly at five, which is a relief because he’s been waiting in the next room for Kurt to arrive for the past twenty minutes. Kurt takes one look at what he’s wearing and shakes his head before demanding to be taken to Blaine’s room at once.

“I wore a uniform all last year,” Blaine tells him, frowning as he’s made to sit on the bed so Kurt can view every piece in his closet. “I didn’t have to worry about what I wore. I guess I must have lost my touch.”

Kurt hums in what sounds like agreement, finding Blaine’s old brown leather jacket. “A uniform is no excuse. I wear the Cheerio uniform every day.” He digs through the dresser, coming out with a white t-shirt and tossing it and the jacket at Blaine. “Try these on.” He returns to the closet to sift through the shoes. Blaine changes out of the striped polo shirt he’s wearing, having attempted to look frat-like, and into the shirt and jacket just before Kurt turns around.

“Is it too much?” Blaine asks when Kurt doesn’t say anything, but Kurt quickly shakes his head.

“Not at all. It’s perfect.” Kurt’s voice is at a slightly higher pitch than normal, which Blaine hopes is a good sign. “I mean, you look very good. Here, put these on,” he says, handing over a pair of black shoes.

“These are old,” Blaine tells him, but obediently slips them on anyway.

“That’s the point. You never know what you’ll step in at a frat party. They still fit, don’t they?” Kurt asks, and at Blaine’s nod he smiles. “Good. I think you’re all set, then.”

Kurt drives them over to Dave’s, and Blaine can tell he feels uncomfortable when they’re waiting for Dave to answer the door. “It’s fine,” Blaine assures him. “He’s really a good guy, when you get to know him.”

The door opens and Dave looks at both of them before his gaze falls on Blaine again. “Woah. You actually look kind of hot.”

“Please don’t start hitting on me.” Blaine blinks. “That would make our friendship so, so awkward.”

Dave snorts, stepping back to let them inside. “I’m not going to hit on you. Come on in.”

Things are tense between Kurt and Dave for the first ten minutes, and then it fades and pretty soon Kurt’s rifling through Dave’s wardrobe and muttering, “What is it with the two of you and striped polo shirts?”

It takes Kurt a little bit longer to be satisfied with Dave’s outfit, and Blaine allows himself to fantasize for a minute that it’s because Kurt’s already spent time thinking about what kind of look would be good for Blaine. He knows it’s probably a ludicrous idea, but it makes him happy, so he lets his mind take off with it until Kurt gives the okay and they’re ready to head out.

They climb into Dave’s truck and Kurt sits in the middle of the backseat, luckily big enough for some decent leg room. The rock station Dave always has on starts playing when the car starts up, and Kurt groans.

“Do we have to listen to music that screams at me?”

“We’re not listening to show tunes,” Dave says, glancing at Kurt in the rear-view mirror. “Not a chance, Hummel.”

“Lady Gaga isn’t show tunes,” Kurt says, and Dave shakes his head as soon as the ‘Lady’ is out of his mouth.

“No. No Lady Gaga,” he objects.

“What about Adele?” Kurt asks, reaching for his overnight bag to dig through a pocket. “I have her on my iPod.”

“Who is Adele?”

Blaine can see Kurt gaping reflection in the mirror. “Where have you been?”

They develop a playful banter during the drive, alternating between Dave getting to listen to his music because he’s the driver, and Kurt getting to listen to his music to allegedly help Dave ‘broaden his horizons.’ He even manages to play “Some People” from Gypsy, and sings so loudly that he ‘can’t hear’ Dave’s protests of, “I said no show tunes!”

When they finally reach Columbus, they only get a little lost before finding Dave’s cousin’s second floor apartment. The key is under the mat since he’ll be at a party of his own for most of the night, and Dave attaches it to his key ring so he won’t lose it.

“It’s still only eight and I’m starving. We should get some food before we go,” Kurt suggests, thinking for a moment. “Italian sounds good.”

“Chinese,” Dave says instead, still sulking after Blaine had glared at him until Kurt was given the guest bedroom, leaving the two of them with the couch and living room floor.

“I don’t want Chinese. What’s wrong with Italian?”

Fifteen minutes later, Blaine seriously suspects that Dave and Kurt like arguing with each other just for the sake of doing it. “Guys,” he finally cuts in, because he’s really starting to get hungry with all of this talk about food and he’s not sure when (or if) they’ll end up settling this. “I don’t care if we get Italian or Chinese or Taco Bell, can we just go eat something?”

“Taco Bell?” Kurt asks, looking contemplative. He glances at Dave, who nods, and they both smile at Blaine. “Taco Bell it is!” Blaine stares at them in disbelief as they head towards the door, and has to wonder what got into him that made him so fond of these crazy people.

They do end up at Taco Bell, though Kurt had started to suggest Burger King instead after passing one on their quest for cheap tacos (it had been half-hearted and obviously just an attempt to further aggravate Dave). All three are smiling as they eat, really starting to get excited about crashing a college party.

“You guys have your cell phones, right?” Dave asks, receiving two affirming nods. “Alright, keep them close. If the cops show up, get the fuck out of there as soon as possible, and then we’ll call each other so we can meet up and get back to the car.”

“We’re going to a party, not robbing a bank,” Kurt reminds him with a laugh. “The worst we’re going to get is campus police, and what are they gonna do? Call our parents?”

“Campus police are cops! Some of them, anyway. And that’s exactly what I’m worried about. It’s not even the gay thing. Do you know how much effort it took to convince them that we’d only go to the concert and Eric would be supervising us and making sure we didn’t get into trouble? Everyone knows he’s not responsible! If they find out we were never even planning to go to that concert, they’ll lock me up until I’m thirty.”

Kurt snorts before taking another bite of his quesadilla. “See a cop, run like hell,” he promises as he raises his hand like he’s swearing an oath. “Scout’s honor.”

Dave eyes him suspiciously. “You were never a boy scout.”

“No, but I was about this close to going to girl scout camp once,” Kurt says, and indicates the ‘this’ with his thumb and index finger being less than an inch apart. Blaine chuckles while he wads up his wrappers and empty sauce packets after finishing off his last taco.

“Do you always eat like a bird? Taking tiny bites of your food like that?” Dave asks Kurt when he finishes his food, and Kurt shoots him a look that is definitely not amused.

“Excuse me, not everyone inhales their food, you brute. I have a uniform to look good in. If I eat slower I’ll feel full with less food and won’t eat as much.”

Dave eyes what’s left of Kurt’s quesadilla. “Does that mean I can eat whatever you don’t?”

“Blaine can,” Kurt smirks when Dave pouts.

He does end up giving his leftovers to Blaine, who shares some with Dave when Kurt isn’t looking as they head out, just so Dave will quit it with the puppy dog eyes. Kurt checks his phone, sighing.

“It’s still not even nine. That’s way too early to show up, it’ll look like we’re too new at this and people will figure out we’re in high school. Let’s walk around, some of these shops must still be open,” Kurt tells them, already starting to walk down the sidewalk, so Blaine and Dave don’t have a choice but to follow.

“Who put him in charge?” Dave mutters, and Blaine just shrugs.

“It’s not like it’s a bad idea. He’s probably right about showing up this early.”

“You’re so whipped already,” Dave tells him, luckily quiet enough that Kurt can’t hear, and Kurt turns just in time to see Blaine elbow Dave’s side. He smirks and Dave sticks his tongue out at them both while he rubs his side, and they all fall into step together.

They end up at a dollar theater and get tickets for Inception, since they’ve all already seen it and know they won’t be staying the whole time. They’re as quiet as possible when they’re slipping out about ninety minutes later – too excited to stay any longer – even though there are only a small handful of other groups in the auditorium. There’s that sense like they’re about to be rebellious and everyone who looks at them will know, and it gets their adrenaline going as they drive to the campus and park a few streets away.

It takes some walking but not too much confusion to arrive at the frat house since Kurt had looked up where it was ahead of time, which he seems to enjoy rubbing in their faces until Dave points out that they all have smart phones and could have just as easily googled it while they were trying to find the place.

“It was still really smart to think ahead like that. Thanks, Kurt.” Blaine can tell it’s taking a lot for Dave not to make a joke about how smitten Blaine is in front of Kurt, which he appreciates.

They don’t encounter any trouble upon entering the house, though they all sort of hold their breath like an alarm will go off at young people who weren’t invited. Very few partygoers so much as glance at them, and the only ones who really show any interest are the even fewer giving them hungry looks, seemingly more interested in getting into their pants than kicking them out.

Blaine looks around and notices a few things right away. The rooms they can see are more densely packed with men than women, and a number of people of both genders are shirtless. There are gay, straight, and lesbian couples (the kind who are actually lesbians and not just making out to please horny male viewers) engaged in various acts, from flirting to dancing to making out and groping on a couch or against a wall. He even sees one guy sandwiched between two others who are kissing each other, all shirtless, which for a second makes him feel as though he’s walked into a porno.

“It’s like Wonderland,” Dave says, and Blaine barely hears him over the music. “I’m gonna get a drink,” he announces, speaking up louder so Blaine and Kurt can hear him before starting to slip past people, a grin on his face like he’s a kid in a candy shop who’s just been told that he can have whatever he’d like.

Blaine’s happy that Kurt stays with him as they wander around, exploring and people-watching. He realizes that inviting Kurt could have backfired horribly if Kurt had wanted to try and dance or hook up with other guys at the party. The thought reminds him of how much he wanted to spend some time with Kurt, and now that Dave’s gone he has the opportunity.

“Want to go outside and talk for a while?” he asks, and Kurt nods, leading the way towards the front door. They cross the lawn to the sidewalk and lazily stroll away from the party. They’re so close that Blaine’s hand brushes against Kurt’s, and they both turn their heads to look at each other.

“Is this a date?” Kurt asks, and Blaine stops where he is and looks back at the house, still able to hear the music pumping from the speakers inside.

“No,” he finally answers, shaking his head. Kurt’s expression turns to disappointment and Blaine can’t help but smile, touching their hands together on purpose this time. “Not really. If I had the honor to take you out on a date, it wouldn’t be like this. It would be different. It would be romantic. We’d have dinner and see a movie and maybe walk in the park, eating ice cream and then holding hands. We could dance under the stars, even. I’ve always wanted to do that on a date.”

Kurt looks at him like Christmas may have just come early, but he’s still terrified that he’ll be told it’s all a joke and have it snatched away. “You would do all of that with me?”

“If I was lucky enough.”

Kurt laughs and starts to take slow steps again. “You are too charming for your own good, Blaine Anderson.”

Blaine just hums while shrugging. It feels so easy to be walking next to Kurt between the streetlamps with what light they get from the quarter of the moon in the sky and their voices soft despite the loud environment they just left.

“You could ask me out,” Kurt tells him when they reach a corner and stop to turn and face each other. “I have it on good authority that would go well for you.”

Blaine grins, and it starts to seem almost unreal, this perfect moment with Kurt. “Kurt Hummel?”

“Yes, Blaine?”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?” he asks, lifting Kurt’s hand to kiss the back of it and mostly suppressing his smirk when Kurt laughs.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Kurt teases. “And I’d be delighted to go on a date with you.”

They continue their walk back towards the house so they won’t be straying too far, and when Kurt’s hand touches his, this time Blaine takes it, lacing their fingers together loosely.

“We’ll have to hide it at school,” Kurt says, his tone suspiciously light, like he’s actually not very happy about it but trying not to show it. “Since you’re not out.”

“I could come out.” Blaine watches Kurt’s face for his reaction. Kurt frowns when he makes eye contact.

“But you can’t. You’re on the football team.”

“Exactly. They already know me, so there’s a better chance that at least some of them won’t have as much of a problem with it when they find out, if I’m still the same guy they knew. I’m really not as worried about it as I used to be.” Blaine briefly squeezes Kurt’s hand. “It would be worth it for you. I’ve kind of had a thing for you since before we ever even talked.”

“I was so sure you were straight,” Kurt recalls with a laugh. “I had started to think that every guy I would ever like would always be straight.”

Blaine takes that as a possible admission that Kurt liked him before also, and they’re still holding each other’s hands when they join the party again. “Dance with me?” Blaine asks and has to nearly shout directly in Kurt’s ear to be heard, and Kurt nods before dragging him towards the area that most people are dancing in.

Blaine notices Dave, his arms around a slightly thinner guy with some facial hair and no shirt. He looks like he’s having a blast getting to feel male bodies pressed against his, similar to how it was when Blaine first made out with a guy and experienced that sense of rightness.

He’s not so focused on Dave anymore when Kurt pulls Blaine’s arms around his own waist so that they can press very close together. He remembers how it was at Azimio’s party when everything was just simple and fun, but he’s not so carefree now. He’s nervous because he wants to impress Kurt, and on the edge of giddy because he’ll now get to go on a date with Kurt, and quickly starts to become aroused because Kurt turns around but keeps Blaine up against him and he’s doing things with his hips that make Blaine praise Sue Sylvester’s name, both because she’s probably the reason he’s so good with those hips and because thinking about her is what he needs to not become noticeably hard within the first two minutes of dancing with Kurt.

His mind goes through a spectrum of other disgusting, horrible things that he’s used before to keep his bits down, and he still almost comes in his pants at one point during the night because Kurt keeps removing layers and grinding up against Blaine and still being his unfairly sexy self all the while. It’s a little much for Blaine but he doesn’t want it to stop, wants to just keep dancing into the early hours of the morning, and so they do.

Dave is more tipsy than Blaine’s ever seen him when the party starts to look really empty, and he has to be dragged away from the guy Blaine had seen him dancing with earlier in the night and then found him making out with in a corner. He lets Dave drape an arm over his shoulder to keep his balance, as they’re all exhausted but he and Kurt didn’t end up drinking.

“He gave me his phone number,” Dave repeats for the third time, looking like he’s more blissed out on boy than on booze. “He gave me his number, and he was such a good kisser. Why isn’t everyone gay, it’s so awesome!”

“It is,” Kurt agrees, his smile looking almost fond, and Blaine’s glad he was able to get the two of them onto good terms. “Now comes the fun part, where you have to work up the nerve to call him.”

“Pfft. Of course I’ll call him,” he insists. “Did you see him? He was so hot! Like the hottest guy I’ve ever seen in… in ever.”

“Be sure to mention that when you call him,” Kurt says, and Dave nods like it’s actually a good idea. They finally get to the truck, which had seemed a lot closer when they were less tired, and let Dave lay down in the back while Blaine drives back to the apartment.

“If you fall asleep, we’re leaving you there for the night,” Blaine warns him, ignoring it when Dave kicks the back of his seat. Dave does stay awake, though, so they don’t even have to attempt to carry him up the stairs to the apartment, but they do have to give him light pushes so he’ll keep moving.

They all shove each other around for claim at the sink to get their teeth brushed, and Dave crashes down on the couch before Blaine has the chance to claim it. Blaine just sighs and walks Kurt to the guest room door and smiles at him.

“So, um. Goodnight.” He feels stupid but it makes Kurt smile so he doesn’t care too much.

“Goodnight,” Kurt slips into the room and closes the door behind him. Blaine goes to make himself comfortable on the floor, figuring Dave’s already passed out.

“That guy was so hot,” Dave mumbles, and it startles him.

“You mentioned that.” Blaine chuckles.

“Yeah, I know, but I kissed him. Blaine, dude, I didn’t think I’d get to kiss a guy for so long. And it was like the best thing I’ve ever done.” Dave lets out a soft sigh. “I wonder if we’ll get married in Massachusetts and adopt little foreign-born babies.”

Blaine puts his hand over his mouth and nose to muffle his snort and takes a moment before he can answer without laughing. “I’m sure you’ll be very happy together, Dave.”

“Yeah. So you and Kurt, huh? Saw you dancing.”

“Oh, yeah. I asked him to go on a date with me, and he said yes. I’m really ridiculously excited about it, actually.”

“So I get to be the best man at the wedding, right?” Dave asks, and Blaine reaches up to smack his arm.

“Fuck off,” he mutters, glad it’s dark because he can’t get the grin off his face.

*

Blaine and Dave move to sit on the lower benches of the bleachers as usual after a practice ends the next week and drain their water bottles while the last of the guys reach the sidelines. Azimio’s talking, and Blaine should recognize that as a bad omen by now.

“She was smokin’,” he says to the group of guys who actually seem interested in what he has to say. “Way hotter than any of the chicks who go here.”

“You’re lucky, bro,” another guy says, and Azimio nods with a smirk.

“I wanted my boy Dave to come with me,” he says, and Dave glances up at the mention of his name. “But he was at some concert. You could have gotten some serious pussy at the party on Saturday, man, those Jane Addams chicks are down to fuck.”

Blaine’s torn between wanting to cringe at the thought of Azimio going after juvenile delinquent girls and wanting to laugh because Dave was having an entirely different kind of hook-up on Saturday night. He keeps his face carefully blank.

“Next time,” Dave promises, though Blaine’s sure that when the next time rolls around he’ll find something else to be doing. Especially now that he’s had a taste of what it’s like to be with a guy, and he already seems so much happier.

“See any hot girls at the concert, at least?”

“Oh, yeah.” Dave shrugs. “A couple.”

“How about you, Anderson? See anyone worth banging out in Columbus?” Azimio asks, and Blaine’s really wishing he’d just go to the showers already.

“Can’t say I was looking,” he replies, and it would be true if they’d actually been at a concert.

“You got a girlfriend or something? That’s not a surprise, the girls are always hanging all over you, man. Who’s the lucky chick?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Blaine states, and Dave looks at him like he’s wondering why Blaine doesn’t just lie to shut Azimio up.

“No? Next party then, you can come too. I’ll hook you up.” Azimio smiles like he’s pleased with himself for being such a good friend.

“I’ll have to pass on that, thanks. I’m not into girls.”

The players that are still around freeze and turn to watch the conversation with great interest now. “You saying you’re a homo?” Strando asks, and Blaine nods, sick and tired of being in the closet. His date with Kurt is coming up in just a few days, and he doesn’t want to hide anymore.

“Seriously, dude?” Finn asks, looking confused but, unsurprisingly, not hostile. Blaine expects him to be more understanding than the others since he lives with Kurt.

“Seriously,” Blaine confirms, and the anxiety is starting to set in as everyone stares at him but he also feels lighter without the secret. Soon everyone will know, and it might not always be good but he thinks it will always be worth it.

“Man, that’s sick,” Strando says, and he gets a couple of agreeing nods, but most of the guys just look confused like they aren’t sure what they think, which gives Blaine some hope that they might keep seeing him for who he is and come around.

“Come on, Dave.” Azimio had nodded to agree with Strando but he looks uncertain now. “Let’s go.”

“Careful you don’t catch it, Karofsky, he might be contagious,” Strando says before he finally stalks away, and Blaine just rolls his eyes. He glances at Dave, who looks unsure but also guilty and apologetic, so Blaine knows he’s already made his choice. He nods ever so slightly, wishing there was more he could do to say that he understood and didn’t blame Dave in the slightest without outing him too. Dave gets up and follows Azimio to the showers, and Blaine sits by himself and rests his chin on his palm while he waits for time to pass so he can go in there and not get hassled about it.

He watches Beiste collect a few orange cones that were left on the field, her supply bags over one shoulder and her clipboard resting against the opposite hip. She stops when she sees Blaine sitting by himself.

“Something wrong, Anderson?” she asks, and it’s not the harsh bark he’s used to hearing at practice. Beiste is an incredible motivator and leader, but she also has a gentle side, despite her affinity for referring to herself as a big cat.

“I just came out to the guys,” he tells her, not worried about her reaction because he has the feeling she knows what it’s like to be different. She’s a football coach, a woman in a man’s world like he’s gay in a heteronormative world. “Waiting for the locker room to be empty.”

Just as he expects she nods, a look of somewhat sad understanding on her face because she surely also knows that it’s not going to be easy for him. “If any of those morons try to mess with you, you let me know, alright? I’ll have them doing suicides until they puke.”

Blaine nods, chuckling and starting to feel better already. “Thanks, Coach.”

She smiles at him and heads off towards her office, and he figures that if he walks slowly, he’ll reach the locker room by the time everybody’s gone. Luckily he’s right, so he gets to shower and change in peace. His phone dings and he checks it and sees it’s from Dave.

From Dave Karofsky: I’m so fucking sorry, dude. I’m waiting in the parking lot

To Dave Karofsky: Don’t sweat it

He steps out of the locker room, turning and running straight into a tall body. For a second his heart starts pounding and the ice cold fear consumes him, thinking it’s Azimio or Strando and some of their buddies waiting to kick his ass and he can try to run but if they catch him he’s fucked, and his mind flashes back to when he got his ass kicked after that stupid Sadie Hawkins dance, but then he sees it’s just Finn and he sucks in a gasp.

“Jesus Christ, Finn! You fucking scared me,” he says, trying to get his breathing back to normal. “I thought you were those douchebags.”

Finn is wide-eyed and wearing a guilty expression, and quickly shakes his head. “No, it’s just me. I wanted to make sure those guys didn’t wait for you.” He scuffs his shoes against the floor a little. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

“That’s… that’s really, really nice, Finn,” he says, and Finn nods somewhat awkwardly.

“Please don’t get a crush on me,” he blurts out and blushes immediately. “Sorry, just, I’m straight, and when I started helping Kurt out he got a crush on me and it got really weird.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Blaine says with a little laugh. “You’re not really my type. I appreciate what you did, though.”

“Yeah, it’s no problem.” Finn smiles now. “Are you heading to the parking lot? I should probably go, my brother’s waiting, but I can walk with you if you’re going that way.”

“Yeah, I am. Thanks.” They walk together, and Finn looks around once they reach the parking lot like he’s checking to make sure no one’s waiting for Blaine there either.

“Alright, man, see you at practice.”

“Yeah, you too. Say hi to Kurt for me,” Blaine requests, even though he plans on calling him as soon as he gets home anyway.

Finn stops, looking back curiously. “You know Kurt?”

“Yeah. He went to the concert with us over the weekend,” Blaine says slowly. “Where did you think he was?”

“Oh. Well, I knew he was gone, but I figured he was at Santana’s. That’s cool that you guys talk, he needs that. I’ll tell him,” he promises, grinning and waving. Blaine finds Dave’s car, climbing into the passenger’s seat.

“I’m so sorry,” Dave says again, and Blaine shakes his head and chuckles.

“You really don’t have to be, dude. I didn’t expect you to come out just because I did, okay? Do what you have to do. I can get rides with my dad if you need me to.”

“No, man, I’ll still give you rides. I’m gonna tell them tomorrow that you’re still my friend, and if they don’t like it they can go fuck themselves.” He looks determined, so Blaine just nods.

“You really don’t have to do that, but it’s cool of you if you do,” he says honestly, and Dave smiles at him and looks like he’s been relieved of some guilt. Blaine thinks this whole coming out thing could have gone a whole lot worse.

*

When he’s settled at home, Blaine calls Kurt.

“Hey, Blaine!” Kurt answers, sounding genuinely enthusiastic to be talking to him.

“Hey, Kurt.”

“To what do I owe the honor of hearing from you?”

Blaine snorts, flopping down on his bed while keeping the phone against his ear. “An honor, hmm?” He laughs before he takes a deep breath and says, “I came out to the guys today at practice.”

Kurt pauses before he answers. “You did? Really?”

“Yep. I was tired of being in the closet. If we’re going out together, I might as well be out, right?”

“I was actually thinking about that, and since everyone here will be out of the house on Friday night, I thought we could have the date here. You can bring a movie, I’ll make dinner, that sort of thing. Just so we won’t have to deal with any trouble on the first date. Would that work for you?”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome.” Blaine smiles as he thinks about how intimate that will be.

“Perfect. So how’d it go? The coming out thing? Mine was tough even when everyone already knew. I’m a lot less subtle than I liked to think I was.”

“I can’t even picture you not being out.” Blaine admits while he tries not to laugh. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, I don’t know who I thought I was fooling. Seriously, though, how was it?”

“Not so bad. Some of the guys were dicks about it but a lot of them looked like they might get used to it. Finn waited outside the locker room for me to make sure I didn’t get jumped.”

“Did he really?” Kurt sounds impressed. “I’ll have to congratulate him on being so thoughtful.”

“He said you’ve never mentioned me.”

“I’ve mentioned you a dozen times!” Kurt protests with a huff. “He never listens when I try to have a lady chat.”

“Neither of you are ladies,” Blaine points out, and Kurt scoffs.

“Not an excuse.”

“He also said you had a crush on him once.”

“Oh, that.” Kurt chuckles. “Yeah, last year, before our parents were married. I’m over it now. It was actually quite a disaster.” He pauses and then, “Are you jealous?”

“A little,” Blaine teases. “But not really, if you’re over it. As long as you’re still interested in me, that’s what matters.”

“Very interested,” Kurt says, a little bit breathless. “Was Dave around? When you came out, I mean. What did he do?”

“Oh, yeah, he was there. He went with Azimio when they all left. It’s not like I would expect any different, you know? It was probably hard enough that I didn’t warn him that I was going to do it; I didn’t want to spring it on him but it suddenly felt like the right time. It wasn’t the right time for him, and I would never want to force him out before he was ready.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Kurt agrees. “It’s a big decision to make.”

“Definitely. He said he’s gonna tell them tomorrow that he’s still my friend and they can fuck off if they’ve got a problem with it,” Blaine tells him, and he barely hears Kurt’s approving hum through the speaker.

“He’s a surprisingly good guy.” Kurt lets out a sigh. “I’m glad you called, Blaine, and I’d love to keep chatting, but I promised my dad I’d work really hard on my math homework. I’m struggling in that class.”

“I understand. Do you want me to give you Dave’s number? He’s like a math genius, it’s kind of scary.”

“Is he? That would be great for if I get confused, actually. You sure you won’t be too jealous?” Kurt asks playfully, and Blaine chuckles.

“I think I’ll survive. Besides, I keep catching him staring longingly at that guy’s number. The one from the party?”

“Yeah, I remember. He hasn’t called him?”

“Hasn’t even texted,” Blaine tells him. “I’m almost inclined to do it for him.”

“Now now, we have to let him handle things on his own terms. We’ll just have to give him some friendly nudges or pushes or very forceful shoves in the right direction.”

Blaine laughs, and he gives Kurt Dave’s number in case he needs it. “Good luck with your homework.”

“Thanks. Talk to you soon, Blaine.”

“Bye, Kurt.”

He hangs up, holding his phone against his chest for a few minutes before he pulls himself out of bed. He’s got an essay for English due Friday, and he needs to make a considerable dent in it before the date gets too close and he’s too excited to focus.

*

Blaine shows up at Kurt’s door in a dress shirt and tie and even has a belt holding up his slacks. He rings the doorbell, twirling the rose he’s holding and wondering if it’s too much and if Kurt will think it’s lame, but it’s too late to do anything about it because he can already hear footsteps nearing the door. There’s a moment of panic when he wonders if something changed or maybe he mixed up what day it is and Kurt’s dad will answer the door and everything will be so awkward, but then it opens and Kurt’s the only one there and Blaine breathes a short sigh of relief.

“My my, don’t you look dressed up,” Kurt says with a smile, his eyes landing on the rose. “Is that for me?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Blaine holds it out, smiling nervously. “I know it’s stupid, but-”

“It’s not stupid,” Kurt interrupts and gingerly takes it from Blaine’s grip. “I’ve never had a guy bring me flowers. Except my dad, but never… never a guy like you.”

“Oh.” He feels more of his anxiety leave him as he is reminded that this is sweet, lovely Kurt who thinks he’s adorable and kisses his cheek sometimes and wanted to have this date with him. “You look really great too. Is that,” he pauses to lean in and read the small print on Kurt’s skull-covered blue scarf. “That is Alexander McQueen.”

“You brought me a rose and recognized my designer clothes. That settles it, I’m keeping you.” Kurt grabs Blaine’s hand to lead him inside. “I’m so glad you’re on time; the food’s almost ready. I didn’t want you to have to wait too long if you were hungry, and I thought we could eat on the couch while we watch the movie. What did you bring?” he wonders, and Blaine holds up the case.

“Fired Up. I figured some romantic comedy would be okay? And it’s a movie about guy cheerleaders, like you.”

“I saw this once and remember liking it. I’m sure I’ve forgotten all of the funny parts, though, so it’s perfect.” Kurt smiles and then turns when a beeping sounds from the kitchen. “I’ll get that. The living room is right through that door; make yourself comfortable on the couch,” he suggests.

“You sure you don’t want some help?” Blaine asks, but Kurt is already out of sight.

“I got it!” he calls, and Blaine slips his shoes off before heading for the couch. Kurt joins him a few minutes later with two plates of something that smells delicious and puts his own on the coffee table while he puts the movie in before scurrying out of the room again to return with two glasses of iced tea. “I hope you like tea.” He grins when Blaine nods.

He picks up his plate and sets the remote on the arm of the chair and starts stabbing some of his scalloped potatoes and bringing them halfway to his mouth before he freezes and looks at Blaine with wide eyes.

“I didn’t even ask if you had any allergies, or what you like or don’t like. Or if you’re a vegetarian!” he exclaims while looking at the chicken on Blaine’s plate in horror. “Oh my god, I can’t believe that slipped my mind.”

“It’s fine!” Blaine assures him quickly. “I don’t have any allergies and I’m very happy as an omnivore. Everything’s fine, Kurt, it looks great,” he promises, and Kurt exhales a deep breath.

“Oh, good. I still should have asked, but… okay, that’s really good. Sorry, I just want everything to be perfect,” he explains and brings the fork to his lips before starting the movie. Blaine completely understands how he feels.

They’re mostly quiet while they eat, as Blaine really was hungry, but they’re sitting quite close together and the food tastes as good as it smells so he doesn’t think he could be any more pleased with the way things are starting out. Blaine finishes first and Kurt sets it on the coffee table for him before he sets his own half-finished plate down too.

“I’ll take care of them later,” he assures quietly, grinning when Blaine takes a bit of a risk and drapes his arm around Kurt’s shoulders.

“Does anyone know I’m here?” he wonders after a few minutes, and Kurt blushes a little.

“They know you’re here, they just don’t know why you’re here. I said you were just a friend, and luckily Finn didn’t say anything about you being gay, because he may not be smart enough to figure it out, but my dad would have been suspicious. It’s not that I don’t want them to know; it’s just… I’ve never had a date before, and my dad is totally the type of guy to want to stay behind to interrogate you, and I didn’t think we needed a damper on our first date. Next time,” he adds, making Blaine laugh.

“Looking forward to it, in a terrified sort of way. Kurt’s dad, wherever you are, I promise to be very respectful of your son.”

“I knew you would be,” Kurt says, and his smile looks a little bit dreamy which makes Blaine’s cheeks heat up. “He’s just been tainted by having to deal with Finn. He thought he got a girl pregnant last year, so now it’s this constant worry whenever he’s got Rachel over. Neither of us can even get pregnant.”

Blaine shudders at the thought. He remembers health class at Dalton the week before they had a mixer scheduled with an all girl’s private school and they showed the dreaded birthing video – the one with the camera aimed straight at the woman’s vagina as she squeezed a human being out of it. If he hadn’t known that he was gay already, he thinks that could have turned him.

“Finn got a girl pregnant?” he asks, surprised by that. He hasn’t heard about any baby before.

“He thought he did. Quinn Fabray, one of the Cheerios? She’s also in the glee club with San and Brittany. She used to be head cheerleader, but then she got kicked out when Sue found out she was pregnant, and then it turned out that Puck was the father and he’d been Finn’s best friend, so there was so much drama,” Kurt tells him, seeming rather excited as he talks about it. Blaine’s eyes are wider, not having known any of this about his teammates.

“I think I could go my whole life without being involved in that kind of scandal,” Blaine notes, and Kurt nods quickly.

“Seriously. I’d much rather leech off of other people’s drama, and then not have to deal with it when I’ve had enough. If you’re not involved, you can just turn it off when you’re tired of it.”

“You’re very wise,” Blaine praises and Kurt laughs before leaning his head on Blaine’s shoulder to watch more of the film.

About halfway through, Kurt reaches for the remote and pauses prior to standing. “Sorry, I’m really craving some popcorn. Do you like popcorn?”

“Of course,” Blaine says, and Kurt picks up their dinner plates and leaves the room. Blaine can hear the sound of the microwave and loosens his tie a little as he relaxes. He feels silly now for wearing it, for feeling the need to dress up so formally for Kurt when things are so comfortable with them.

Kurt returns a few minutes later with a bowl of freshly popped corn, and for a few minutes they just enjoy it while watching the movie. Blaine trying to toss pieces up and catch them in his mouth turns into each of them aiming for each other’s mouths which turns into just throwing pieces of popcorn at each other even though they’re mere inches away on the couch. Blaine has to wipe tears from his eyes, he’s laughing so hard, and Kurt is bright red from it.

“I surrender,” Kurt laughs while leaning into him, and Blaine kisses his temple with his buttery lips.

“I’ll call it a tie,” he says, and they finish the movie cuddled together and laugh until their faces hurt at the jokes.

They reach the end of the movie and Blaine wonders if Kurt’s going to ask him to leave, which he doesn’t want because he loves being alone with Kurt like this just as much as he thought he would.

“Do you have to get home soon?” Kurt wonders after using the remote to shut off the DVD player and grabbing another one to do the same with the TV.

“No, not really. I mean I can leave, if you need me to, but my parents know I’m on a date so they’re not expecting me back too soon. We didn’t talk about it much; my dad’s not too interested as soon as this sort of thing comes up.” He doesn’t want to say outright that his dad doesn’t approve of this part of him and his mom doesn’t want to hear about it either, or that it’s been hard when Blaine’s interested in someone and can’t talk or be excited about it at home. Kurt frowns, but that’s the kind of thing he knows to save for later down the line – if they get there, which he hopes they will – when the layers are peeling back to reveal more of the things they normally keep close.

“Would you like to have some ice cream with me, then? Assuming you’re not lactose intolerant, and that you like vanilla ice cream.”

“No allergies or intolerances you need to worry about, and I’ll eat just about anything,” Blaine tells him, and Kurt grabs a bowl, two spoons, and a scoop once they’re in the kitchen.

“Is it alright if we share?” he asks. “I’ll only want a few bites. I promise I won’t take it all.”

“If you do, I’ll just make you get me more.” Blaine leans against the opposite site of the island counter while Kurt scoops ice cream into the bowl. Kurt smiles, resting against his side of the counter while he takes a bite. “So we’ve had dinner and the movie, and now the ice cream.”

Kurt nods, his spoon slicing off another chunk of their dessert. “Yep. If I remember correctly, that leaves us with walking in a park, holding hands, and dancing under the stars still on our to-do list.” He grins as he licks his spoon clean. “There’s a park just around the corner, if you’re still interested in having the perfect first date.”

“It’s served us well so far,” Blaine notes, and they’re smiling at each other as they get bundled up to go outside. It’s been overcast and a little bit windy all day which creates a chill that their scarves protect them against once Kurt replaces his with one that’s less fashionable but more functional.

Blaine takes Kurt’s hand as they walk, and they shoot each other shy smiles like they weren’t recently laughing at jokes about anal beads together while they watched the movie. Blaine starts skipping when they reach the park, and Kurt laughs but quickly keeps up by doing the same. They stop when they reach the swings, and it puts some strain on their arms to keep their hands linked when the swings want to pull them apart but they still don’t let go.

“Holding hands and skipping in the park, check,” Kurt says. “It’s not looking good for the dancing part, though.” He looks up at the stormy clouds that block their view of the stars, sighing. He jumps in the seat and jolts Blaine’s arm when a drop of water lands on his nose, and Blaine laughs when Kurt looks at it cross-eyed.

They can see a few more raindrops hit the cement around them, and Blaine stands, pulling Kurt up with him. “We should probably get back before it starts pouring on us,” he says, and Kurt doesn’t hesitate to agree. They start walking back the way they came, but they’re still starting to get pretty wet by the time they’re back at Kurt’s.

“Hey, wait,” Kurt says, stopping Blaine on the driveway. Blaine turns to face him, curious, and Kurt steps closer. “We can’t dance under the stars, but would a kiss in the rain be an acceptable substitute?”

Blaine grins and nods before he pulls Kurt in, and their mouths meet moments before they hear the sound of thunder. It doesn’t even make Blaine jump like it normally would, because he’s busy memorizing the soft feel of Kurt’s lips and the faint but sweet taste he gets, like vanilla ice cream combined with a unique flavor that is just Kurt. They keep kissing until the thunder roars again and they notice they’re getting drenched.

“Let’s get inside,” Kurt suggests with a breathless laugh, and Blaine nods quickly. After this night, Blaine’s ready to follow him anywhere.

*

Blaine brings Kurt coffee on Monday morning, a little more than a week after their first date and two days after their second, and after watching Kurt rub his arms three times to warm up, he slips out of his letterman jacket and holds it out to Kurt. Kurt looks at it for a moment and a blush spreads over his cheeks before he reaches out for it and pulls it on over his uniform. He beams at Blaine before he moves in for a hug, careful not to spill the coffee down his back.

“You really want me to wear it?” he asks quietly, and Blaine nods while he reaches for his hand.

“Definitely.”

“How very touching,” Santana drones as she and Brittany approach them, rolling her eyes. “Bell’s about to ring, lovebirds.”

“Want to walk with me to class?” Kurt asks, and Blaine nods with a grin. Kurt looks like he’s expecting Blaine to drop his hand when they enter the building, and he bites his lip like he’s trying not to smile too wide when Blaine just laces their fingers together. They split up to go to their respective lockers and then meet up again with the books they need, their hands linking again. They get a little caught up in just standing there and smiling at each other when a voice makes them both jump.

“Well, looks like Porcelain has found a mate. You should know, Hobbit, that if you break him and affect his ability to sing and-or do backflips at my command, I will be coming after you immediately.” Eying the jacket, she adds, “I expect you not to be wearing that at practice. It’s distracting, and if you aren’t cold then you aren’t burning the extra calories throughout the day that you need to lose those pear hips.”

She walks off without a reply, and Kurt gapes after her, self-consciously feeling his hips. Blaine frowns, wrapping his arm around Kurt’s waist. “I think your hips are awesome,” he assures, and Kurt stares at him before starting to laugh.

“Thank you, Blaine, I appreciate that. I don’t think you’re a hobbit.” Blaine snorts and Kurt’s still laughing when they say their goodbyes in front of his first classroom. They don’t see each other again until lunch time, when Kurt waits for Blaine at the door and kisses his cheek lightly when they greet each other.

“Hey, fags.” The call comes from Blaine’s right, and he feels a spike of irritation as he turns to see a few guys in hockey jerseys. Kurt grips onto Blaine’s shirt when they see the slushies in their hands.

“Why don’t you go enjoy those somewhere else, boys?” Kurt suggests, smiling with a very false politeness and wisely trying to end this before it can start. “We’re really not in need of your company today.”

“Move out of the way, Ladyboy. I may not be able to ruin that gay ass uniform, but there’s nothing to keep me from giving your butt buddy a slushie facial.”

“I don’t plan on moving,” Kurt tells him, though he does shift a little to put himself in front of Blaine. Blaine instinctively thinks to object, but then remembers that with Kurt in front of him, it’s more likely that neither of them will get slushied.

“Get out of the fucking way, Hummel,” he snaps, starting to look less smug and more aggravated. “This may be all we can do at school, but when we catch you two after school-”

“The fuck is going on here?” Dave’s voice comes from behind them and Blaine turns to watch his friend walk to his side. “What the hell do you want, Cooper?”

The hockey guy – Cooper, apparently – sneers at him. “Just trying to put a couple of queers in their place.”

“‘Their place’ happens to be in the cafeteria at the moment, so why don’t you and your dumbass cronies get the hell out of here?” Dave suggests.

“You used to be cool, Karofsky. Before you joined that fucking football team. You know what? I think hanging out with Anderson too much has turned you into a homo, too.”

“Leave us all the fuck alone or I’ll happily take out some of the few brain cells you’ve got left,” Dave threatens, and Blaine sees his fists clench. Cooper just eyes him suspiciously.

“You’re not gonna deny it, then?” he asks, and Dave just glares at him. “Holy shit, you are gay!”

“I can still beat your ass, you piece of shit, and how cocky are you gonna be when everyone knows you got knocked out by a homo, huh?” Dave steps forward and the hockey players recoil.

“You won’t always get lucky,” Cooper says as he makes eye contact with Blaine and with Kurt and then leads his teammates the opposite way. Dave watches them go, then looks over at Blaine.

“He’s gonna tell everyone, isn’t he?”

Blaine wants to lie and say no, that Cooper will keep Dave’s secret, but he highly doubts it. “Probably,” he admits with a sigh. Dave just nods before looking around and then freezing when he catches Azimio staring at him from down the hallway.

“Apparently I’ve got more immediate problems to deal with,” Dave mutters, nodding at the two of them. “You guys stay out of trouble.” He rubs his hand over his face and heads off with hunched shoulders to have what Blaine guesses will be a very difficult conversation. He hopes he won’t see either of them with any bruises or concussions later.

Blaine turns to Kurt and reaches for his hand. “You okay?” he asks, and Kurt thinks for a moment before shaking his head.

“No. They usually leave me alone. What they said about after school…” He trails off and Blaine pulls him closer.

“We won’t let that happen. You’ll be safe,” he promises, and Kurt nods.

“I know. I know how to be careful. I’ll stick with Finn and Santana, never go anywhere alone. I’m used to that. I’m worried about you too, though. And Dave, even.” He looks back to where Dave and Azimio have already disappeared around a corner. “I’m just a little shaken up.”

“I understand. Do you want to eat lunch out in your car?” he asks, because he’s not feeling so great about the confrontation either and would rather not be surrounded by people in the cafeteria, staring at them and judging them.

“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds nice, actually. Let’s go quickly, though, in case we pass those hockey fuckers again.”

They end up making it to Kurt’s car without another incident, and both climb in the backseat so that they can sit together and eat comfortably. Kurt brought his lunch and Blaine has some peanut butter and cracker sandwiches that he was going to eat in his last class to help him fuel up for football practice. He still has a power bar, though, so he’s happy to share his crackers with Kurt, who shares some of his salad as well as half of his sandwich and carrot sticks.

They also share Kurt’s water bottle as they cuddle in the back seat, Kurt still taking small bites of a carrot. Blaine nuzzles into him and enjoys the warmth and comfort Kurt offers him, and Kurt tilts his head up after swallowing to connect their lips.

They start with light brushes of lip against lip and short pecks, and then their lips press firmly together, and then Kurt’s straddling Blaine’s lap and Blaine has no idea how long they’ve been going at this but he never wants it to stop.

He can hear the faint bell tinging from the building and pulls his head back to break the kiss, only to have Kurt chase his lips and have him lost in it for another ten minutes.

“Wait,” he says when he pulls away again, turning his head a little to avoid more kissing. “The bell rang. Class.”

Kurt shifts around to pull his cell phone out of his pocket. “What class do you have now?”

“Um. History! It’s history,” Blaine tells him, thinking the kissing may have melted his brain.

“Doing anything important today? Test? Quiz? Oral presentation?”

“No, none of those. Why?” Blaine asks, and Kurt grins.

“I have biology; we’re just watching some movie today. Let’s skip.”

“Skip?” Blaine repeats, but he can’t honestly say he doesn’t want to. “Okay.”

Their kisses alternate between various levels of lazy and hungry over the next forty-five minutes and Blaine ends up on his back with the feeling of Kurt on top of him being one of the hottest things he’s ever experienced. Kurt’s forceful in a way that says he knows exactly what he wants and how to get it, and Blaine has no problem with that as long as he keeps getting to taste Kurt and get more of that wonderful tingling sensation that comes with Kurt’s lips on his.

They have to break apart, though, because Kurt has a quiz in his math class and Blaine can’t skip English. They still share a few more light kisses while they straighten out their clothes and Blaine helps Kurt fix his hair, and then they walk back to the building hand in hand, their swollen lips stretching over big grins.

“Good luck on your quiz,” Blaine says as he kisses his cheek before they go inside so they won’t attract attention in the hallways again.

“Thanks. I think I’ll be okay; Dave’s been helping me. He really is good at math.”

“Freaky, right? He’s like a calculator.” They share a soft laugh, followed by one more kiss.

“This is where the PDA train stops, I think,” Kurt says with a frown, and Blaine nods sadly.

“That’s alright, though. Maybe I could get a kiss goodbye after practice, when Dave and Finn are around so no one will think to bother us?” he suggests, wishing that he could offer Kurt more protection, but he’s a fairly small guy and if it’s him and Kurt outnumbered by bigger guys who play an even rougher sport than he does, he knows their chances won’t be good.

“Yeah,” Kurt agrees, a little more optimistic as they walk inside. They don’t kiss when they part, but Blaine squeezes his hand, hoping that Kurt knows he wishes they could.

He spends his last few classes having some difficulty with paying attention because he keeps thinking about kissing Kurt and getting hard with Kurt because he couldn’t help it but it was alright because Kurt was hard too and he was so turned on but wasn’t even thinking about more than how much he wanted to never stop kissing him. It’s definitely something he’ll be daydreaming about for a while.

He knows he needs to keep his head in the game when he gets to football practice, and he does a pretty good job blocking the mental images of him with Kurt out while they’re doing their drills. He slips into it a little more when they have a water break and doesn’t notice a shadow over him.

“I need to talk to you about something, man.”

He looks up, surprised to see Finn standing next to where he’s sitting on the edge of the bench. “Oh, sure. Like private, or…?”

“Why is Kurt wearing your jacket?” Finn demands, and Blaine stares at him blankly for a moment.

“We’re sort of dating, Finn. You were there when I picked him up this weekend, I said hey to you.”

“I thought you were just hanging out. Like that concert you went to,” Finn says, and he’s frowning like he doesn’t know what to make of all of this.

“We were hanging out at the concert,” he confirms, not mentioning that it wasn’t really a concert in case Finn isn’t smart enough to keep it to himself and Kurt’s parents find out, in which case he might get grounded or something and would be both pissed off at Finn (and probably Blaine) and unable to go on more dates for a while, none of which is ideal. “Then I asked him to go on a date with me, so we’re doing that now.”

“But why does it have to be Kurt?” Finn asks. “Can’t you date Dave? He’s gay too and you guys hang out all the time.”

Blaine glances at Dave who obviously heard but is ignoring Finn. The story must have gotten all around by now. “I can’t just latch on to the nearest gay, Finn. You don’t just like any girl, right? You like them for who they are individually. That’s why I like Kurt, not just because he’s gay.”

Finn actually looks surprised by that logic, just when Blaine had thought he knew how dim the guy really was. “He’s my brother though, man. I’m supposed to look out for him.”

“And I’m glad that you do. I care about him a lot, though, so you don’t have to worry about me hurting him,” Blaine promises, finding it sweet that Finn wants to protect Kurt, even if he’s not at all convinced that Finn has any idea what he’s doing.

“Blaine’s liked Kurt for months now, Finn,” Dave speaks up, his voice monotone in an empty way that makes Blaine worry. “He’s a good guy; he won’t fuck with him.”

“Well, just… be careful that you don’t,” Finn says. “You’re kind of little, it would be really weird to have to kick your ass.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Blaine assures, ignoring the snickers from the few teammates who are listening in. He’s happy to get back on the field and away from the conversation, and happier still when Finn is one of the first to the locker room after practice so Blaine won’t have to deal with any further lecturing.

He takes a seat on the bleachers next to Dave, who stares down at his shoes until everybody’s gone. “Everyone knows now,” he says quietly, and Blaine looks over at him.

“Yeah. How are you feeling about that?”

“Not great, I guess,” Dave says with a sigh. “I mean, I’m finding out who my true friends are, and I know it’ll start feeling good that I’m out. But for now it’s just hard. A bunch of the football guys came up to me during the day, asking if it was true, and they gave me these looks when I said it was.”

“Yeah, I know the looks,” Blaine feels a lot of sympathy for him. He’s been on the receiving end of those looks, the ones that tell you that you’re a freak and you’re wrong and make you wonder if it’s true. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially not his best friend.

“I skipped fifth period to call my parents so that I could tell them before they heard from someone else. Another parent or something, you know? That wasn’t how I wanted to do it, over the phone because I had to. None of this is how I would have wanted to do it.” He shakes his head, running his fingers through hair that’s sweaty from practice. “But I know that I never would have had the guts to think about how I wanted to do it. Never in a million years would I have had the balls to go through with it even if I did. At least it’s out, right? I won’t have to think about that anymore.”

“I think you’re wrong,” Blaine says, and Dave looks at him curiously. “I think you would have had the guts. You’ve come a long way in accepting yourself. You would’ve gotten there eventually.”

Dave smiles and nudges his shoulder lightly into Blaine’s. “Thanks, man,” he says, and Blaine just shrugs because he’s sure that it’s true.

“How’d your parents take it?” he wonders.

“They were surprised. I got them on a three-way call and had to explain why I was telling them like that. I almost didn’t get the words out; I was scared out of my fucking mind. They said they wanted to talk about it later, but it didn’t sound bad. Said they still love me.” The smile’s gone, but Blaine notes that he still looks relieved.

“And Azimio? I didn’t see you guys talking during practice.”

“He said he needed time,” Dave recalls. “Said he would stop saying ‘fag’ and shit, but he can’t promise he’ll ever be okay hearing about it. Honestly, it’s more than I hoped for, ‘cause I think he’s going to really try, and I always just thought…” He rubs at his eyes with one hand and Blaine looks at the field to give him some privacy. “It’s rough today,” he continues after a moment. “Sucks now, but I think it’ll get better. It gets better, right?”

“Really does. There are a bunch of videos on YouTube that’ll tell you all about it,” Blaine reminds him, and Dave laughs.

“Yeah, I’ll have to watch those.”

They’re quiet for a while before Blaine says, “I skipped fifth period today too.”

“Were you sick or something?”

“Nah. Made out with Kurt in the back of his car the whole time,” he admits, grinning, and Dave’s look of concern disappears quickly as he snorts.

“Nice one.” He holds up his fist and Blaine bumps his own against it before grabbing his water bottle and hand towel so they can walk together to the locker room.

*

“It’ll just be the one weekend, but we can talk to your friend Dave’s parents if you’d feel more comfortable staying over there.”

“Mom, I can survive on my own for a few days,” Blaine assures, though he’s already planning to invite Dave over anyway. Just because he can be okay in an empty house doesn’t make it ideal.

“We’re sorry about missing your big game,” his father says between bites of oatmeal, but Blaine waves it off.

“We’ll be in the regional playoffs, we haven’t lost a single game. Who knows, maybe we’ll end up competing for the state championship? If you miss that one I’ll be mad,” he jokes. “But don’t worry about this one. You’ll still have more you can go to.”

His father nods, smiling at him after he finishes off his breakfast and patting his shoulder on his way out. “Have a good day at school,” he says, and kisses Blaine’s mother on the cheek when she reenters the kitchen as he wishes her a good day at work.

He turns to Dave as soon as he’s settled in his truck fifteen minutes later. “My parents are out of town this weekend,” he says excitedly. “They won tickets to something. Azimio’s having another party after the game, right? We could totally crash at my place after and just chill all weekend. We could make pizza at three in the morning and shit, it’ll be awesome.”

Dave looks at him and frowns before returning his eyes to the road. “You know why you shouldn’t be asking me that, right?”

“Huh?” Blaine asks, a little dispirited because he’d thought Dave would want to come over. Dave sighs, shaking his head.

“Dumbass, you have your house to yourself. Why aren’t you inviting Kurt to come over, where you can be totally alone with him?”

Blaine is quiet for a moment, blinking. “Oh. Hadn’t thought of that,” he admits, and Dave laughs. “You really think he’d want to?”

“Yeah, dude, he looks at you like you’re the puppy he’s always wanted. I think he’d go for it. If not, I’m totally there, but it would be a total cockblock for me to deny you that chance.”

Blaine nods, picturing it already. He and Kurt have been hanging out a lot and having some really awesome dates, but that day in the car with the extended make out session and occasional added grinding had been the farthest they’ve gone together. The thought of more has him strategically covering his lap with his backpack, which Dave is kind enough to not say anything about, though he does let out a soft snicker.

“You’re going to the party though, right?” Blaine asks, and Dave shrugs.

“I’m considering it. It’s still a little weird with some of the guys.”

“I mostly ignore it, but let me know who’s still being a dick and who’s cool. Maybe we’ll have a little get-together with just the cool ones on Sunday. It’ll be the last night I’ve got the house.”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome,” Dave agrees, smiling as he pulls into the parking lot.

It’s easy enough to find Kurt, especially now that he wears Blaine’s jacket every day, and one expectant look now has Santana rolling her eyes and dragging Brittany away, linked at the pinkies. “You’ve trained her well,” Kurt notes, laughing as he leans in to kiss Blaine’s cheek. “I’m actually very impressed.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes her commentary is less than helpful. Especially when I’ve got an invitation for you.”

“An invitation?” Kurt asks, looking curious and excited. “For a date, or…?”

“Not exactly. I found out today that my parents are going away for the weekend, so I wanted to know if a certain special someone would like to spend a few days with me in an empty house.” He blushes, looking away for a second. “Technically I asked Dave first, but he reminded me that it could be a lot more rewarding to have that kind of privacy with you.”

Kurt wraps his arms around Blaine’s neck. “Remind me to send Dave a muffin basket.”

“I think he’d genuinely appreciate that.” They both laugh and Blaine asks hopefully, “So you’ll come?”

“I’ll have to ask my dad, and I’ll probably have to lie and say Dave will be there too or something. But yeah, I’d love to.” He presses his lips to Blaine’s firmly, and Blaine squeezes him in a tight hug and lifts him barely an inch off the ground just to hear Kurt squeal. He’s already wondering what will really be in store for him over the weekend and he knows he’ll love it no matter what as long as he’s with Kurt.

*

They’re both a little worn out and excited to get home together after the game, so Kurt agrees to Blaine’s suggestion to skip Azimio’s party. Blaine knows that Dave doesn’t want to go anyway, so this gives him more of an excuse to avoid having all of the homophobes and douchebags bring him down after they just won their final game of the regular season. Everybody’s a little extra giddy between the win and the start of Thanksgiving break, but they all know that wouldn’t keep the morons from trying to start something.

Kurt finds his dad and stepmother, who are congratulating Finn, and hugs them goodbye before he and Blaine climb into Dave’s truck. “Thanks for the ride,” Kurt says, linking his arm with Blaine’s. “I just need my dad to think you’re coming too, so he doesn’t think… you know.”

“Think you’re doing exactly what it is you’re going to do?” Dave teases, and swears when Kurt leans forward to punch his arm. “Ow!”

Kurt smirks at him through the rear-view mirror and Blaine can’t help but chuckle. “You sure you’ll be okay, man?” he asks Dave. “It’s kind of sad to think about you being by yourself tonight.”

“I’ll be fine. I actually, ah, might have a little webcam date scheduled.”

“The guy from the party?” Kurt asks, looking interested when Dave nods. “You’ve been talking?”

“Texting. It wasn’t a lot at first, but lately it’s been more often. His family lives in Kenton, and he’s skipping some of his classes to get the whole week off so he can spend it with them, and I might get to see him again.”

“That’s so romantic,” Kurt sighs, his hand over his chest, and Dave rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not necessarily anything, it just could be something. For now it’s just a little webcam date. Thing. Not really a date, just a… thing. I mean he’s more than a year older than me, and is going to school in Columbus. He’s just easy to talk to, and thinks I’m funny.”

“You’re blushing,” Kurt coos, and Blaine buries his face in Kurt’s shoulder to muffle his laughter.

“Careful,” he says, still grinning. “If we piss him off, he might kick us out and make us walk. I don’t know about you, but my legs are tired.”

“I will do it,” Dave warns, but Kurt just shakes his head.

“No you won’t, you big liar. You’ve got too many happy chemicals in you ‘cause you’re in love. If he’s got any sense he’ll see that you’re worth waiting for and it’ll be a beautiful love story to tell your grandchildren.”

Dave grunts and Blaine laughs harder at Kurt’s smug look, and luckily they don’t end up getting kicked out of the car even as Kurt continues to tease their driver. Dave parks against the curb in front of Blaine’s house and opens his door so Blaine can get the back door open and he and Kurt can slide out.

“Make sure you guys keep your phones close in case any of your parents call, but if they do end up calling me I’ll cover for you,” he promises, and he looks surprised when Kurt puts one leg into the truck so he can get up enough to give Dave a slightly awkward hug.

“Thank you, David,” he says, climbing back down. “Good luck with your date, okay? He’ll be lucky to land a guy like you.”

“Thanks,” Dave says, looking away and blushing more than Blaine’s ever seen him.

“Go get him, tiger,” Blaine adds and Dave snorts, closing the doors and waving before he takes off. Kurt and Blaine turn to each other and grin before rushing towards the front door.

Blaine gives him a tour of the whole house and Kurt leaves his bag full of clothes and overnight materials in Blaine’s room where he has his double bed that they’ll both be staying in. The next step is to raid the pantry where they agree that chips and sandwiches sound like the most delicious thing they can make without exerting too much effort.

They end up on Blaine’s bed after dinner, and Kurt’s lips start roaming. Blaine grips at Kurt’s clothes and the sheets and anything he can hang onto as Kurt kisses and sucks at his neck, making him feel like someone is turning up a thermostat inside of him. Kurt keeps sucking like he’s dead set on leaving a mark, and Blaine honestly doesn’t care as long as everything keeps feeling this good.

Kurt’s hips make contact with his and suddenly it’s even better, and it’s like he can’t do anything but clutch at Kurt to make sure he won’t leave him. Kurt keeps rocking and circling his hips, grinding their groins together. Blaine’s in the jeans he put on after his post-game shower, and the thick material blocks some of the friction but also gives him jolts of rubbing him just right. He wonders briefly what it’s like for Kurt, still in his uniform pants, and then Kurt bites down on his neck and all Blaine knows is that he wants the pants to come off.

He reaches for the waistline of Kurt’s pants, which makes Kurt pause to look down and see what he’s doing. “Please,” Blaine begs, and Kurt licks his lips and nods before kneeling up on the bed so he can undo his button and fly. Blaine makes quick work of his own by pushing the jeans down and taking his socks with them and yanking off his shirt for good measure.

Kurt looks a little relieved when Blaine doesn’t pull his boxers off too, and Blaine knows that showing him everything would be too much since this is already the farthest they’ve gone. Up until now, it’s been steamy make out sessions with quite a bit of groping, but they both knew what having a house to themselves would mean, and neither of them could say that they weren’t dying for it.

Kurt wiggles out of his top and their hips slot back together, and Blaine can feel Kurt through the thin fabrics of their underwear, and even see Kurt’s cock straining against his briefs when he looks down. It makes him groan with pleasure, and Kurt seems to like the sound because he chooses that moment to eagerly attach himself to the unmarked side of Blaine’s neck. He gives it the same treatment which quickly reduces Blaine to a quivering puddle of horny teenage boy, bucking his hips and desperate for release.

When it comes – when they come – Blaine knows what people mean when they say it’s like fireworks. He feels like he’s bursting apart, and all he can focus on are the sounds Kurt makes; beautiful noises that he wants to keep with him forever to add to his general appreciation of the wonderful being who is Kurt Hummel and to keep in his wank bank for lonely days to come.

“Wow,” Blaine says softly as Kurt slumps next to him, panting. Kurt’s arm is draped across Blaine’s chest, and Blaine feels more content than he has in a long time.

“Yeah. Wow,” Kurt agrees, smiling at Blaine, and they’re both drowsy enough that they slip into sleep for a few hours, only waking long enough to clean themselves off and brush their teeth before they’re back in bed to sleep for the night.

The next day they divide their time between eating, watching a Project Runway marathon, walking around the house in just their underthings, and making out in various places throughout the house. Lazy kissing in the bathroom after they’ve brushed their teeth (as Kurt wisely refuses Blaine anything but a kiss on the cheek while their mouths smell and taste terrible) turns to a little more enthusiastic kissing up against the counter before breakfast, followed by kissing each other breathless on the couch during commercials, giggly kisses on their way up the stairs, and finally getting a little more steamy once back in Blaine’s room.

Blaine gets a repeat of the night before but with him on top this time, and it’s just as good. Their lips move together slowly but sweetly while they cool down, spending about twenty minutes just holding each other.

“I need to shower,” Kurt declares as he pulls out of Blaine’s arms and stretches out in a way that arches his back beautifully. Blaine sits up, unable to stop himself from speaking.

“Can I come with you?” he asks, though he’s not sure they’re ready for that. For some reason it feels like there’s a big difference between seeing each other in their underthings versus seeing everything there is to see, and he thinks Kurt is probably going to reject the idea.

“You can,” he decides, and Blaine has to play it over in his mind a few times before it sinks in that Kurt just said yes. “You have to play nice, though. I’ve got my eye on you, Blaine Anderson.”

“I’ll play nice,” he promises, not even sure what that means but for Kurt, he knows he’ll do it. He follows Kurt to the bathroom and turns the water on, adjusting the knob until it’s the right temperature.

“Tell me anything about my body being weird and this will be your last naked time for a long time, got it?” Kurt asks, partially teasing but also very clearly not. Blaine nods obediently, and then Kurt’s underpants are the first to come off.

“You’re perfect,” Blaine says quietly as Kurt steps under the spray, turning to shoot him a suspicious look. “No, really, your body is amazing. Like a masterpiece. You have nothing to worry about, Kurt.”

Kurt just blushes, and one hand kind of hides his cock while the other gestures at Blaine. “Your turn.”

Blaine pushes his boxers down his hips so he can step out of them when they pool at the floor, and he follows Kurt into the shower, letting him get his peek in because it’s only fair. “So what’s the verdict?” he wonders, holding his arms out a little and praying that his body is good enough for Kurt.

“Very impressive,” Kurt says in that higher voice that Blaine’s starting to recognize, because it often comes paired with a look that says Kurt just wants to devour him. “Masterpiece was the word you used? I’d say that’s fitting.”

Blaine grins, wrapping his arms around Kurt and staying close to him while they rub soap over each other and wash each other’s hair. It’s slow and intimate and Blaine keeps looking at Kurt, unable to believe he’s really naked and wet right in front of him. He’s admired him a little too much, he realizes, when he catches himself half-hard.

Kurt notices mere seconds after Blaine does, and Blaine worries about how his boyfriend will react but learns soon that he really shouldn’t have. Kurt’s hand slowly forms a fist around Blaine’s cock, still slick from the conditioner, and then Blaine’s being given his first handjob.

He wonders what the likelihood is that he might be dreaming right now and that he’ll find himself alone and sticky in the dark when he wakes up. It seems like too much of a gift that Kurt is trusting him to see him naked while also bringing him massive amounts of pleasure, if the quick rush of blood to his cock is any indication.

He gets his hand on Kurt to return the favor, and soon they’re both panting into each other’s shoulders, clinging and jerking and moaning together as the hot water beats down on them. For a second Blaine feels like they’re one single entity, but that could be because Kurt brings him to orgasm with swift, talented strokes and his come splatters onto his hand and against his stomach, and it scrambles Blaine’s mind for a bit. All he can do is keep his hand moving the way he’s able to do even when his mind is fuzzy like this after years of practice, and then Kurt’s making those gorgeous sounds again and they’re holding on to each other like they might break.

Kurt smiles at him with so much affection that it makes Blaine feel like he’s melting all over again, and they bring the soap back to clean up, getting distracted by kissing until the water starts to get too cool for comfort. They towel off, and now that they’ve seen each other naked anyway, walking around the house in their underwear becomes walking around the house completely bare.

Saturday night goes much like the rest of the day, only with movies instead of shows along with more food and less clothes. On Sunday morning, Kurt’s dad calls to see how he’s doing, and Blaine calls his own parents just to check in and assure them that everything’s alright and that Dave’s been sleeping in the guest room while Kurt’s been in his room and Blaine’s in their master bedroom (which he’s pretty sure his mom knows is a lie, at least about the him and Kurt being separated part). He promises to wash all of the sheets and make sure everything is picked up, and they confirm that their flight will have them back Monday afternoon.

He and Kurt make breakfast in the nude, which involves a lot of pinching and tickling and slightly burnt pancakes, and when Blaine’s phone chimes while he’s eating, Kurt reaches for it first.

“It’s from Dave,” he states before opening the message and looking at Blaine curiously. “He wants to know if you’re still having ‘that party.’”

“Oh!” Blaine says, having forgotten about that. “Yeah, I was thinking about having a get-together tonight for some of the guys to celebrate going to the regional championships. Just the guys who haven’t been assholes. I was thinking about a barbecue, something low-key.”

“That sounds like fun,” Kurt says, grinning as he starts typing on the touch screen. “I’m telling him ‘yes.’”

“Ask him for the guest list,” Blaine tells him and watches Kurt add it to the message along with ‘This is Kurt, by the way!’ and a winking face. “He’s been paying more attention than I have to who’s cool and who isn’t.”

“This is an awesome idea. Chill football party without the homophobes or skanky cheerleaders? It’ll be the best.”

Blaine snorts, looking at Kurt with raised eyebrows. “You’re a cheerleader.”

“Yes, but a classy one. They may be my teammates and I can play nice with them when I need to, but some of those girls are disgusting, Blaine,” he says seriously, and Blaine laughs as the phone chimes again. “Alright, he sent a list, and everybody’s number. ‘Azimio says he wants to come and he’ll be cool,’” he reads. “‘And I’m bringing a plus one.’ Oh my god, it’s that guy! It has to be! The webcam date must have been successful.” He starts typing furiously, looking smug.

“Is that what you’re saying?”

“Uh-huh.” He hits ‘send’ and looks over the list Dave sent, nodding his approval. He starts up a mass text to all of them, summarizing the message to Blaine as he writes. “We need them to know to get back to us with whether or not they’re coming and if they’re bringing someone as soon as possible if we’re going to get enough food. They’re probably wild-partied-out after Azimio’s bash, but just in case I’m adding that it’s a small thing so they can bring their significant other if they want – it would be unfair to ask them not to, if me and Dave’s new boo are here – but not invite anyone else. And…” He pauses, thinking. “Oh! No booze or other intoxicants, I don’t want your house getting trashed. But they can bring chips or cookies or soda if they want a specific kind. Should I add that homophobic slurs will get them kicked out?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious, if it’s here. They all know I’m gay,” Blaine reminds him, and Kurt nods.

“You’re right,” he agrees before sending the message out and setting the phone down, grinning excitedly. “Now we wait!”

*

Finn, Puck and Sam show up early to help them set up at Kurt’s request, and together they get everything clean and anything breakable relocated to open cabinet space, just in case. They set out paper plates, Solo cups with sharpies, giant stacks of napkins anywhere they can put them in the kitchen and living room to make sure they get used before the couch or any curtains do, bowls of chips and a fresh fruit salad, all the burger fix-ins laid out in an easily accessible manner on the island counter, and then some store-bought cookies next to the cooling pan of brownies that Kurt made. It’s the most organized party set-up Blaine has ever seen, and he thinks that Kurt is just loving this, which makes him happy, too.

They start putting patties on the grill when more guys show up, a couple of them bringing girlfriends with them but most on their own. It’s exactly what Blaine had pictured- very relaxed, but everybody’s still smiling and talking and eating (so much eating, but they’re football players so it was easy enough to see that coming).

Kurt and Blaine are in the kitchen with Finn, Sam, and their respective girlfriends, Rachel and Quinn, when the doorbell rings and then they hear Dave’s voice. Kurt perks up, grins at Blaine, and grabs his hand. “If you’ll excuse us,” he tells their teammates, pulling Blaine towards Dave and his mystery guest. It is indeed the guy from the party, who’s smiling and shaking hands as he’s introduced to everyone.

“Dave!” Kurt exclaims, beaming. “Who’s your friend?”

Dave chuckles, and he and his friend’s hands link. “Hey Kurt. This is Joey.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Joey,” Kurt says, being the next to shake his hand. “I’m Kurt, and this is my boyfriend, Blaine.”

“The ones I was telling you about,” Dave adds, and Joey nods, smiling.

“It’s great to meet you,” Kurt says, and he looks like he wants to say more, which Blaine guesses might be asking how his day was or if he and Dave plan to find a surrogate or adopt, when someone knocks at the door and Puck pulls it open to reveal Azimio. They all pause and Azimio walks in awkwardly, nodding at Dave.

“Hey man.”

“Hey Z,” Dave replies, accepting Azimio’s low-five half-hug when he holds out his hand.

“This your boy?” he asks, looking at Joey, and Dave nods.

“Joey, this is Azimio. Z, this is Joey,” he introduces, and Joey offers a polite smile, obviously having picked up on the tension.

“Good to meet you, Joey. Hope you’re taking care of Dave here. We can chat more later, yeah? I’m starving and something smells delicious.”

“There are burgers in the kitchen,” Blaine tells him. “The smell is probably the brownies Kurt made earlier, though.”

“Brownies?”

“Gooey ones,” Kurt confirms. “With chocolate chunks in them.”

“You picked a winner with this one,” Azimio tells Blaine, and Kurt looks pleasantly surprised as he watches one of former tormentors make his way to the kitchen. Blaine glances at Dave, who’s grinning widely at Joey, and Kurt’s looking like he’s about to start throwing rice at them, so Blaine takes his hand.

“Help me put some more patties on the grill?” he asks, and Kurt follows him out to the back porch, closing the screen door behind them so they won’t let the cold air into the kitchen. They huddle close together in front of the grill to stay warm, watching the burgers cook in silence.

“You throw a pretty successful party, Blaine Anderson,” Kurt says playfully, and Blaine turns to look through the glass at the group in the kitchen. Dave’s ended up there, Blaine’s best friend out and proud and as happy as Blaine’s ever seen him with Joey at his side. Azimio’s there too, chatting with them next to Puck, and Blaine remembers his first day when Azimio had slushied his teammate and called him a homo, and now he’s smiling at Dave while he holds another guy’s hand.

Kurt distracts him by wrapping his arms around Blaine’s waist, pressing closer for extra warmth. Blaine can see his features up close – the soft skin and delicious lips and perfectly blue eyes. Between that and the scene going on in the kitchen, he feels a different kind of warmth.

“I think I just got lucky,” he says, and when Kurt rests his head on his shoulder, Blaine can’t help but grin.

Notes:

On LJ here.

Thank you to my cheerleader, graveyardgames, for holding my hand through this entire thing. Thank you to my beta, aphistas, for putting so much time and effort into this. Last but not least, thank you to my artist, muuskanuikkunen, for creating such incredible pieces that everyone should go see. Immense amounts of appreciation and gratitude for you all.

And finally, a huge thank you to aelora and whenidance for running the Blaine Big Bang at beyond_dapper, because I had ridiculous amounts of fun writing this.

(All usernames are at Livejournal.)