education in harmony: part two

[blackmustache]

Blaine to Kurt: Sorry. Have to cancel this afternoon. Think I might be dying.

-

“Blaine?”

Blaine groans from where he's curled up under his covers. He's not sure he can move, but he's certain that even if he can, he doesn't want to.

“Wow, you look awful.”

Blaine moves the blanket away from his eyes just enough to realise the voice belongs to Kurt, who is standing in his bedroom doorway, talking to him.

“You're in my bedroom,” is all he can think of to say before he closes his eyes again. His brain's all fuzzy.

“Cooper let me in, he told me to follow the stench of death.” Blaine hears Kurt step a little closer. “You look disgusting, by the way.”

Blaine makes a feeble attempt at sticking his tongue out in Kurt's general direction. “I don't think we've been friends long enough for those kinds of insults.”

“I brought soup. I made it myself.”

Blaine's reply is instant. “You're forgiven.”

He feels the bed shift beneath him and he squints up at where Kurt is sitting. “You'll get sick.”

“I'll survive.” Kurt's fingers are cold against Blaine's forehead and Blaine subconsciously pushes his head up into Kurt's cool hand, which makes Kurt chuckle. “Okay, you have the freshman flu. I had it last year, and after that I nursed Rachel through it, which was a horrible nightmare for all parties involved. You're going to survive too. How long have you been in bed?”

Blaine shrugs, sinking back against the pillow when Kurt's hand disappears. “Coupla days?”

“Can you stand up?”

Blaine nods. He knows it will take pretty much all of his energy, but he's made it to the bathroom and back a few times so he's sure he can do it.

“I want you to take a shower and I'm going to change your sheets.”

Blaine nods again and follows Kurt's instructions exactly, too tired to protest. He moves slowly to the bathroom and manages to peel off his clothing and step into the shower without incident. The hot water feels so good as it thumps against his skin and he leans back against the cool tiles, letting it just wash over him. It's making him feel a little more human and after a few minutes of just standing there, he pushes himself upright, washes his hair and scrubs himself down.

He turns off the water and pulls back the curtain to discover a pile of clean clothes sitting on top of the toilet; his favourite sweatpants - god, it's like Kurt knows; clean underwear, and an old t-shirt. A thrill runs down his spine when he realises this means Kurt was in the room while he was showering, but he chalks it up to the fever and gets dressed as quickly as his aching bones will allow.

Kurt is just tucking in the last corner of his bed sheets when Blaine finally pads out of the bathroom, patting pathetically at his head with a towel in a way that he knows isn't actually drying his hair at all. Kurt smiles when he realises Blaine's there. “Better?”

“So much. Thank you.”

Kurt shrugs. “All I did was order you around a little.” He looks at his watch. “Listen, I have an hour before I have to meet Rachel for lunch - she was there when I picked up your message about not being able to make coffee so she decided today would be the perfect time to run through some ideas for her Halloween costume.”

“Go, seriously. I'm fine.” Blaine smiles, though he has to admit he's a little sad Kurt's leaving. He hasn't been looked after like this in forever.

Kurt shakes his head. “Get back into bed first. I'm not letting you sleep with wet hair while you're sick.”

Blaine's a little self conscious as he walks across the room towards Kurt and slides under the covers; even more so when Kurt sits back down beside him and takes the towel from his hands. He shifts around, lifting one of Blaine's pillows from the bed and arranging it in his lap, and then tugs gently at Blaine's arm until he gets the hint and settles his head down on the pillow.

“Now, relax.” Kurt's voice is soothing and Blaine closes his eyes, a tiny groan escaping his lips as Kurt massages his head with the towel. After a few minutes Kurt discards the towel and nips at Blaine's shoulders with his fingers, rubbing around his neck and up to his temples. Blaine can feel the woolly-headed feeling that the shower had done away with creeping back up on him and gives in to it, Kurt's hands running through his hair and helping him feel the most relaxed he's felt in days as he drifts back to sleep.

-

Kurt to Blaine: Hope you wake up feeling better. Sorry I had to go. The soup is in the refrigerator.

-

It's another twenty four hours before Blaine wakes up for anything more than a trip to the bathroom and ventures out into the kitchen for his soup. It's the first time he's tasted Kurt's cooking and he's honestly quite happy to let Kurt cook every meal he eats for the rest of his life, if it's all this good. He texts Kurt to thank him and tell him exactly that. He's curled up in the armchair practically licking the bowl when Cooper comes home and stops dead in his tracks.

“It's alive!” Blaine rolls his eyes at the mocking tone in Cooper's voice and just carries on concentrating on his bowl. Cooper takes off his jacket and comes over, perching on the arm of the couch. “If you're feeling better...”

Blaine looks up as Cooper trails off. This sounds suspiciously like Cooper's 'I need a favour' tone of voice. “Mmm?”

“I have a date tonight and I was wondering if you might be able to be, you know. Elsewhere.”

Blaine stands up to take his bowl to the kitchen and dumps it in the sink, though he thinks he's done such a good job cleaning it already that even a cat would be proud. “You're bringing her here?”

Following Blaine into the kitchen, Cooper sighs. “Not exactly... hopefully, you know...” Cooper wiggles his eyebrows and Blaine suddenly wrinkles his nose in realisation. “Later?”

“Oh God, you suddenly brought back my urge to vomit.”

Cooper thumps Blaine on the shoulder and Blaine laughs. “Please?”

He pretends to look put out, but Blaine doesn't really mind so much. This is the kind of relationship he'd always wanted to have with Cooper - one that's less your steps are all a beat out of time and you're a little flat in the chorus and more sharing and caring, or something. “I guess I could find someplace to go.”

“You're the best, Blainey,” Coop grins as Blaine heads back into his room, clicking the door shut and collapsing onto the bed.

“I know,” Blaine calls through the door, and he hears Cooper laugh as he wriggles back under his covers.

He's tired out now - a short walk, a meal and a brief conversation is the most he's actually done in days. He figures he'll just take a nap and then he'll shower and go out. He found a twenty four hour gym last week before the plague descended and joined up on a whim; maybe now's the time to check it out and try to sweat the last of the fever out of him.

When he wakes up, though, it's dark. He rubs at his eyes with the heel of his hand, reaching for his phone to check the time and finds a new text from Kurt. I'm not your slave, Blaine! But I'm glad you're feeling better. :) He has to scroll up to check what he'd said to make Kurt reply that way and vaguely remembers asking Kurt to cook all of his meals. He realises it's after midnight and just as he decides not to reply to Kurt's text until morning, he hears a noise.

It's a noise he recognises and one he'd tried for a long time to forget. He's suddenly having a vivid flashback to when he was seven and he'd walked into the bathroom to find Cooper jerking off. To this day Blaine maintains that was Cooper's fault for not locking the door - seriously, who doesn't lock the door - but it was a deeply unpleasant experience for both of them.

“Oh my god,” he whispers, reaching under his bed for a shoe to throw at the wall. He opens his mouth to yell out that Cooper doesn't live alone any more and could he maybe be a little bit more considerate, but before he can do that he hears a female voice echoing his oh, my god through the wall and suddenly this is an entirely different scenario than Blaine had anticipated.

Blaine's not sure which is worse; the thought of hearing Cooper jerking off or the thought of hearing him have sex. All of a sudden he realises that technically this is his own fault, because he was supposed to be out, and he's been asleep so Cooper probably assumed Blaine had kept up his end of the bargain and left the apartment empty.

Dropping the shoe onto the floor he instead reaches for his headphones, quickly plugging them into his phone and pressing play on the first song he finds. He ends up skipping the first ten songs because no matter what comes on, it's about sex, and he really really needs to update his playlists after this. It's Rihanna followed by Salt-N-Pepa followed by John Mayer and there's just no escaping what's going on next door. He finally settles on Katy Perry because it's easy and familiar and calming, and it's just unfortunate that in the gap between tracks he gets to hear some girl he's never met crying out his brother's name in the throes of passion.

Blaine's pretty sure he's going to need therapy after this.

But if he can thank Cooper for one thing, it's that he hasn't thought about how ill he feels in a while. He turns up the volume as Teenage Dream kicks in and scrunches his eyes closed, relaxing his shoulders and letting himself melt back into the pillows.

He remembers the most relaxed he's felt in a while - yesterday when Kurt was rubbing his neck and running his fingers through his hair. He concentrates on the memory of that, imagining Kurt's there right now doing the same thing again, and it's not long before he's almost completely fallen asleep. If he's lucky when he wakes up tomorrow, he might be able to pretend this was all a horrible, horrible nightmare.

-

Blaine meets Rachel for the first time a week later, when she and Kurt invite Blaine to be the first dinner guest in their apartment. Blaine offers to assist with the cooking and Kurt is only too willing to accept the help and immediately shoos Rachel from the kitchen. She takes charge of the music and lays the table, and at one point Blaine catches her mouthing 'I like him!' at Kurt when she thinks he's not looking. Or maybe she knows he is, and that's the point, he's not sure.

When they sit down to dinner she produces a bottle of champagne and uncorks it.

“My Dads gave me this when they were here helping us move in,” Rachel explains as she pours a small amount into Blaine's glass. “I've been saving it for an occasion like tonight.”

Kurt covers the top of his glass with his hand when she tries to pour some for him. “No, no. None for me. Not after last time.”

Rachel rolls her eyes and reaches out to try and prise Kurt's fingers from the rim, but he just grips it tighter. “Kurt, 'last time' was when you were fifteen years old and you were drinking wine for breakfast. You're not going to throw up on anybody's shoes here in the safety of our apartment if you have a glass with dinner this one time.”

Blaine's eyes light up as Rachel scolds Kurt. “Whose shoes did you throw up on?” Tonight suddenly seems like an even more awesome idea than he had initially thought, if he's going to get dirt like this from Rachel.

Kurt replies “nobody” at the same time as Rachel says “our guidance counsellor,” and Blaine can't help but burst out laughing.

“It's not funny, Blaine! It's a traumatising memory for me.”

Rachel gives up on trying to free Kurt's glass from his grasp and pours some champagne in her own instead. “I'm sure it's more traumatising for Ms Pillsbury, Kurt. She's the one who was vomited on.”

Blaine cackles again and Kurt turns to glare at him. While his attention is on Blaine, Rachel quickly switches her full glass with Kurt's empty one, and then fills that too.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Blaine starts, patting Kurt's hand sympathetically as he talks. “Last time I got drunk I made out with a girl.”

Kurt's face is such a picture of shock Blaine wishes he had his camera with him. “Maybe we should just put all of the alcohol away. Right now.”

Blaine laughs. “I was also fifteen, so that's something we have in common. I was dragged to a party hosted by some of the girls at our sister school by a friend who was a senior at the time. There was drinking, there was spin the bottle, and...” He trails off, shrugging. He's not even sure why he started telling this story, because it's not something he likes to relive if he can help it. Luckily Kurt doesn't press him any further, so Blaine shrugs again and changes the subject. “Anyway, I agree with Rachel. One glass with dinner won't hurt either of us. But if you really don't want to drink it, you should at least have some in your glass while we toast to your new home.”

Kurt sighs and nods in defeat, picking up his glass as Rachel stands to make the toast.

“To new friends, old friends, and our very own place to live.” Rachel clinks her glass against Kurt's and then Blaine's, and then moves to sit back down. “Also Blaine, in the interest of full disclosure I should let you know that Kurt also made out with a girl not that long ago, so you have nothing to worry about with regards him holding that against you.”

“Rachel!”

Blaine snorts into his champagne and blushes as he accidentally blows bubbles in it in the process. “Um... okay?”

Kurt buries his face in his hands for a second and then takes a deep breath and looks up at Blaine. “Her name was Brittany, she was a cheerleader, nobody was drunk, and there's a longer story behind it which maybe I'll tell you some day.” He glares at Rachel. “Some day when I decide to tell it.”

“I just-”

“Do you want me to tell Blaine about the time you stalked Mr Schuester? No? How about the thing with Sunshine and the crack house?”

“She forgave me for that, Kurt-”

“I didn't think so.” Kurt smiles sweetly and Blaine giggles quietly into his wine glass again. “So how about you let me handle telling Blaine stories about me, yes?”

Rachel nods meekly and Blaine finally dares to pick up his fork. He's enjoying watching the dynamic between the two of them enough that he'd managed to hold off diving right into the food as soon as the plate was set in front of him, but it smells too good to wait much longer.

“This looks amazing, Kurt,” he breathes.

Rachel beams and picks up her own knife and fork, the tension diffused. “Kurt's good to me. If we're eating together he'll try and make sure it's vegan.”

Kurt shrugs like it's nothing as he loads his fork and then leans close enough to Blaine that Blaine can feel Kurt's breath on his cheek. “If you need meat, I have a stash,” he whispers, and Blaine tries to hold back a laugh before turning his head so that his own lips brush close to Kurt's ear.

“I can cope, but thank you,” he smiles. “Also, you're going to tell me the rest of those Rachel stories later, right?”

Kurt smirks. “What do you think?”

“What does he think about what?” Rachel interrupts, and Kurt rolls his eyes with a grin before turning his attention back to his food. Blaine figures that's a yes.

“I asked about me chances of him sharing his recipe,” Blaine lies. “I'm sure my brother would appreciate some decent home cooking occasionally and stuffed artichokes are totally his kind of thing.”

“Oh,” Rachel nods, accepting that as an answer and taking another swig of the champagne in her glass. “He's usually very secretive about his recipes.”

“That's mostly because I don't want you attempting to cook them and burning down the kitchen, Rachel,” Kurt laughs. “I don't care if Blaine burns down his own kitchen. He's welcome to the recipe.”

“Um, thank you?” Blaine laughs, and he notices that Rachel looks put out by Kurt's comments.

“I'm an excellent cook when I'm given the chance, Kurt. You're just overprotective of the kitchen. I think you got too used to cleaning up after Finn.”

“He burnt my crock pot,” Kurt sighs sadly.

“I know, Kurt,” Rachel smiles, patting his hand gently. “But he bought you a new one, and I promise I won't ever touch your crock pot.”

“These are the best stuffed artichokes I've ever had,” Blaine declares, trying to bring the mood back up. He reaches for the champagne bottle, noticing that despite his complaints earlier Kurt has managed to finish his, and starts topping up all three of the glasses. “What's your secret?”

“There are sun dried tomatoes in the stuffing,” Kurt explains, immediately brightening at the question. “I tried a lot of recipes and this one was my favourite.”

“It's divine,” Blaine agrees. “My mom makes one with anchovies which is good, but not this good. And obviously not vegan-friendly,” he adds, almost feeling like he shouldn't even mention such a thing in front of Rachel.

Rachel giggles at the look on Blaine's face and Blaine starts to laugh too. By the time they've all finished eating the artichokes Blaine's face hurts from smiling; during the meal Rachel has volunteered the information from the stories Kurt brought up earlier, and in return Kurt has finished filling Blaine in on the rest of the Brittany saga.

The champagne just about stretches to a third glass for each of them, which Rachel pours while Kurt stands up to fetch dessert. Blaine stands too, picking up the dirty plates from his and Rachel's places, and Kurt immediately rolls his eyes and tries to take them off him.

“You're the guest. Rachel should be doing this.”

“It's fine, I don't mind,” Blaine insists, letting Kurt take the plates but still following him into the kitchen with some serving dishes. “I like to help.”

“And I'm very good at pouring,” Rachel calls out in a sing-song voice, draining the last of the champagne from her glass before filling it with what's left in the bottle.

Kurt snorts and looks over his shoulder at Blaine with a grin. “Yeah, that sounds accurate.” He looks at Blaine with a sigh as he opens the refrigerator. “You're going to insist on helping, aren't you?”

“I've been told I'm irritatingly helpful,” he laughs as he holds out a hand to take something from Kurt. “What are we having?”

“Spring cheesecake parfaits,” Kurt replies, pulling the first one from the shelf and handing it to Blaine. “Graham cracker streusel, rhubarb compote, and white chocolate cheesecake mousse.”

“Wow, this looks...” Blaine looks between the glass and Kurt with wide eyes. Kurt has served the desserts in pina colada glasses and topped the mousse with the freshest looking strawberries Blaine thinks he's ever seen. “My mouth is watering already.”

“I know. Don't tell Rachel, but vegan desserts are almost more fun to make than regular ones, and just as tasty. Can you grab the spoons?” Kurt points to a drawer near the sink as he takes the other two glasses from the fridge. “The long ones, please.”

Blaine does as he's told and follows Kurt back to the table to find Rachel standing by the stereo, fiddling with her iPod. She smiles as she evidently finds what she's looking for and sets it playing, grinning as she comes back to join them at the table. “I made a special dessert playlist,” she explains as she takes her seat.

“What's a-”

“Don't ask. Please don't ask,” Kurt interrupts.

“I'm glad you asked, Blaine!” Rachel beams, and Kurt drops his head into his hand with a groan. “I personally feel that the music during the entrées should be much more mellow, and preferably instrumental. By the time you reach dessert, the mood is up, people are having fun, and a good mix of showtunes and pop music is perfect.” She looks down at her dessert and picks up her spoon. “And singing along is encouraged.”

Blaine looks back and forth between Rachel and Kurt, thankful that he has a mouthful of white chocolate mousse and can't decide how to respond. Kurt looks like he firmly does not encourage singing along during the dessert course, and Blaine's inclined to agree. At least, not when the dessert in question is this good.

“Rachel,” Kurt sighs, licking his spoon clean before loading it up again while he talks. “If you want to sing, you should go to karaoke.”

“Oh! Karaoke!” Rachel exclaims, sitting up straighter at the suggestion. “I saw a place a couple of blocks from here that does karaoke. We should all go!”

Kurt looks across at Blaine and raises his eyebrows with a slight shrug that Blaine takes to mean it's up to you?

“I love karaoke.”

Which is how, less than an hour later, they find themselves walking into a karaoke bar in the middle of Brooklyn. Rachel is shrugging off her jacket before they're even in the door, handing it out for Blaine to take without even looking at him, winding through chairs and up to the stage.

“Doesn't she want to look at the song choices first?” Blaine wonders aloud, frowning slightly as they sit down at an empty table near the stage.

“She doesn't need to,” Kurt smiles. “Just watch.”

Blaine watches as Rachel takes the stage, microphone in hand, and smiles a little shyly before completely blowing everybody away with her rendition of Don't Rain On My Parade. She finishes the song and does a little curtsey, skipping back off to the side to pick her next song. This time she takes a few minutes to consider her options from the selection available, and Kurt leans over to Blaine.

“You've just witnessed the Rachel Berry Special,” he grins. “She's just used intimidation tactics to guarantee we've pretty much got the stage to ourselves for the rest of the night. I've seen her do that in places where they don't even have that song on their list, she'll just come out and sing it unaccompanied.”

“Wow,” Blaine breathes. “That's incredibly devious, but also incredibly awesome.”

“You should probably take advantage of it and go pick your song before she gets so far into the swing of things she won't even let you join her.”

So Blaine does exactly that, and after Rachel finishes her next song he takes the stage with a grin and bounces through an energetic rendition of Last Friday Night. He and Rachel take it in turns for the next few numbers until Rachel appears behind Blaine while he's trying to pick his next song.

“We need to get Kurt up here,” she announces and he turns around to look at her. She's staring at Kurt, her arms folded, and she looks very determined. Blaine chuckles softly and turns back to the book.

“I asked him. He said he's fine watching.”

“Hmm. Well, he's not fine.” She looks back and him and then elbows Blaine out of the way so that she can take a closer look at the choices. When she finds the one she wants, she taps on the page with her middle finger and Blaine cranes his neck to look. “This one is perfect for three of us.”

“Love Shack?”

She nods. “He won't be able to resist. You start, I'll come in for the verse. And we'll get him in for the chorus.”

When the song starts, Blaine sees Kurt smile to himself and start mouthing the words. Realising this actually was a good idea, he grins at Rachel and when she takes over for the first verse he jumps off the stage, tugging at Kurt's hands. “Come on.”

Kurt shakes his head but Blaine can see a smile playing at his lips and there's something in his eyes that looks excited. Blaine pouts a little and puts on his best puppy dog eyes and bingo, Kurt is rolling his eyes and standing up. When Blaine hands over the microphone Kurt leaps up onto the stage and Blaine laughs, his hands resting on Kurt's hips as he dances close behind him.

Rachel squeals as they reach the chorus, skipping to Blaine's side to share the microphone with him, and then when they get to the second verse they step aside in unison and throw their arms towards Kurt, gesturing for him to take over the solo.

They sing the rest of the song as if they'd rehearsed it, slipping seamlessly between singing together and taking lines for solos. When they reach the end they join hands, breathlessly taking a bow before Kurt and Blaine make a move to step off the stage.

However Rachel stops them, handing her microphone to Blaine and telling Kurt to keep his. “You two are doing the next one, I already set it up.”

Kurt raises an questioning eyebrow at Blaine and Blaine shrugs. “News to me.” When he turns to ask Rachel which song she chose he realises she's already gone to take her seat, so he stands and waits for it to begin. When the music starts he recognises it immediately as Accidentally In Love by the Counting Crows, and he's certainly glad that they're in a bar so the lighting is poor, because he can already feel his cheeks heating up.

He bites his lip and drops the microphone to his side so it can't pick him up, and leans towards Kurt. “Is she trying to tell us something?” he mumbles. Kurt laughs a little, though Blaine notices he does look slightly uncomfortable.

“Rachel isn't good at doing 'subtle'. If she was trying to tell us something, she would actually tell us something,” he whispers back, and that's all there's time for before the first words appear on screen and Blaine launches into the song. Kurt joins in on the second line, and he's got to admit that Rachel picked a great track for their voices. Instead of getting caught up in the lyrics Blaine tries to just enjoy the moment and by the time they're halfway through the song the two of them have even got some synchronised dance moves going.

Rachel gives them a standing ovation when they're done, clapping enthusiastically for a minute before leaping back onto the stage herself. She takes Blaine's microphone and shoos him from the stage, pushing Kurt to follow him with a hissed “You really ought to sing more often, you know.”

Kurt and Blaine take their seats, watching as Rachel performs a flawless version of Sk8er Boi that Blaine's pretty sure is better than he's ever heard Avril Lavigne sing it.

Midway through the song, Kurt shuffles his chair closer so he can talk to Blaine without yelling. “That was fun,” he murmurs. “Thanks for getting me up there.”

“It was all Rachel,” Blaine shakes his head with a small smile. “But you're right, it was fun. We sounded good.”

“We should pick some songs for next time, so that Rachel doesn't get any more chances to say 'I told you so',” Kurt laughs, and Blaine definitely agrees with that. He's also excited at the suggestion of a next time, and that's an even split excitement at spending more time with Kurt, and just general enthusiasm for karaoke.

Blaine opens his mouth to agree, but before he can speak he spots a guy around their age head up to the side of the stage and start to flip through the song book. When he's made his selection he leans against the wall, glaring at them as if daring them to try to take his spot in the line.

“Looks like the natives are getting restless,” Kurt smiles, reaching over for Rachel's jacket so that they can make a quick getaway once she's done with this song. “It's late. You should sleep on our couch.”

“Oh, I couldn't put you out. I'll just take a cab.”

“I insist. It would put me out more to be pacing the apartment waiting for you to text and let me know you're home safely,” Kurt points out, turning around as Rachel steps off the stage and he hands her jacket to her. “Tell Blaine he should stay at our place tonight.”

Rachel's eyes widen and she nods quickly. “It's late. You should absolutely stay.”

Blaine figures he can't possibly say no now, and if he's honest he is kind of tired. The champagne earlier had made him slightly giddy, but now the effects had worn off he was just starting to feel sleepy and the idea of not having to trek back across Manhattan sounded really good right now.

They walk the few blocks back to Kurt and Rachel's place, with Rachel skipping a few steps in front of Kurt and Blaine. “Is she always this excitable?” Blaine questions, and all Kurt can do is laugh wearily.

“Twenty four hours a day, yeah. You get used to it.”

“She's fun,” Blaine admits, looping his arm through Kurt's. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his brain is chastising him for being too tactile with Kurt, but he likes to touch and his lack of inhibitions when he's tired have always been a problem for him.

Kurt doesn't seem to mind, however, and presses closer to Blaine's side. “Tell me if you still feel that way in the morning. The couch is right in the middle of her morning vocal warm-up zone.”

“Bring it on.”

-

The following morning Rachel does indeed wake Blaine as she warms up her voice for the day. It's Sunday, and he really wants to just pull his pillow back over his head, but he feels like that's probably bad manners when you're sleeping on somebody else's couch. He's still debating whether or not he can pretend he's still asleep when Rachel spots him, and the decision is made.

“Oh, good morning, Blaine. Would you like to join me? Kurt usually declines in the mornings, but I feel like you might be more on my wavelength since you're starting a musical theatre program too.”

Blaine makes a noise that he thinks vaguely sounds like 'no, thank you' but in reality sounds more like 'nngfmgu' and then forces himself up onto his elbows, blinking at his watch. It's six in the morning and it was definitely after three by the time they made it to bed, so he can't even understand how Rachel is conscious, let alone singing in the middle of the lounge.

Rachel clearly takes his response as a no as she's right back into doing her scales, but breaks off again to point Blaine in the direction of the kitchen. “Coffee? You'll have to make your own I'm afraid, I don't drink it before noon.”

Nodding dumbly, Blaine pads in the direction of the kitchen and manages to make himself a cup of coffee without really fully opening his eyes. By the time he finishes drinking it he's a little more alert, and after a quick trip to the bathroom to splash water on his face he's awake enough to set off home.

“Thank you for letting me stay, Rachel. And tell Kurt the same,” he smiles, and Rachel smiles back as she waves him out of the door without once breaking off from her scales.

-

Blaine to Kurt: I'm home safe, you can stop worrying.
Kurt to Blaine: Before eight and you're already home? I knew Rachel would chase you away.

-

The next few weeks pass in a blur for Blaine. His schedule at Tisch is incredibly demanding, but he hadn't expected anything less and he loves it. Kurt is busy too, but they somehow always manage to free up their Saturdays to hang out with each other. Every time they meet, Kurt's a little further along with Blaine's outfits; sometimes he'll bring a piece of fabric to test the colour against Blaine's complexion, or instead of going out for coffee Kurt will come to Blaine's and make him try on half sewn shirts. By mid-October Blaine's wardrobe boats two new pairs of pants, a shirt and a waistcoat, and Kurt still isn't out of ideas.

There's one Saturday in November when Kurt calls during the week to let Blaine know that Finn is coming to visit and he'll be caught up playing host, so he won't be able to meet for coffee. Blaine is a little disappointed, not least because he's heard so many tales he'd quite like to meet this Finn guy, but he assures Kurt it's fine and they can meet during the week to catch up instead.

Blaine occupies himself during the day, and he's lounging on the sofa that evening when he gets a text from Kurt. Can I come over? He sits up straight while he composes a reply. All he had planned for the night was to eat ice cream and maybe get out his Firefly box set and watch it straight through. Of course. Something wrong?

He gets a response ten minutes later which completely ignores the question. Thanks. I'll be there in an hour. Blaine knows Kurt could get across town quicker than that if he really needed to, so he takes that as a confirmation that Kurt isn't in any physical or imminent danger and decides not to ask any more questions until Kurt arrives.

A little over an hour later there's a knock on the door. Blaine opens it to be greeted by Kurt smiling at him and holding up a tub of ice cream. “Got spoons?” he asks by way of greeting, and Blaine smiles back at him and nods, stepping out of the way to let Kurt inside.

Kurt immediately makes himself at home, hanging his jacket on the hook by the door and toeing off his shoes before bending down to pull off his socks too. He stuffs them into his shoes and crosses to the sofa, sitting down and curling his legs up underneath him. Blaine meets him there a minute later with two spoons, two glasses and two cans of Diet Coke.

“Did I interrupt something important?” Kurt asks, nodding at the television where Blaine had paused his DVD to answer the door.

Blaine shakes his head as he reaches for the remote to switch it off. “Nope, just some Firefly. My favourite way to relax.”

Kurt leans forward and picks up the box from where it's lying on the coffee table and scans the blurb. “I've never actually seen this. Sam had a copy and I've heard nothing but good things, but I've never got around to watching it.”

Blaine's first reaction is that he wants to ask who Sam is. He's intrigued by Kurt's use of past tense, so he would guess at an ex, but he doesn't feel like now is the time to ask. He's not sure if it's weird that they've become so close but they've never really discussed each others' past. He decides to focus on the second part of Kurt's answer and grins at him. “Oh, you've got to.” Instead of flicking the television off, he switches back to the DVD menu and presses play on the pilot episode, starting it from the beginning again. He figures Kurt will talk when he's ready, and in the meantime Blaine is firmly of the opinion that Firefly heals all wounds.

Blaine is right about Kurt talking. About an hour into the pilot episode, Kurt takes the (now three quarters empty and mostly melted) ice cream tub when Blaine offers it to him, and digs his spoon in. “Nothing's wrong, by the way.”

Blaine tears his eyes away from the screen to look at Kurt. “That's... good?”

Kurt sighs and tips his head back against the sofa. “I told you Finn was visiting this weekend, right?” Blaine nods but doesn't speak, and Kurt continues. “Okay, so, he and Rachel were engaged for a while towards the end of our senior year, but Finn decided not to move out here and things kind of... faded away between them. It wasn't that they didn't try, which my room-mate last year would be able to confirm to you due to all of the middle of the night phone calls I received from one or the other of them, frustrated or upset with the entire situation. But by Thanksgiving break last year, they agreed it was best for everybody if they broke up.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

Kurt nods enthusiastically. “Completely reasonable! But now Finn's here, and they spent the afternoon making disgusting doe-eyes at each other when Rachel and I took him to Central Park, and now they want to 'talk things through'. Which I'm pretty sure is just really bad code for 'have obnoxiously loud sex all night' but either way I just want to not be there.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” Kurt sighs and loads up his spoon with more ice cream. “I love them both, and I would love nothing more than for them to make things work, but Rachel is going to Italy in January for six whole months. If they couldn't make long distance work when it was just between Lima and New York, how are they going to make it work when there's the whole Atlantic Ocean in between them?”

Blaine leans over to get some more ice cream too, and considers his answer. “I guess that's for them to figure out, one way or the other.” He smiles at Kurt and sticks the spoon in his mouth, swallowing the ice cream and then sucking on the spoon for a minute while he thinks. “For the record, not knowing them like you do, I think you're right. But yeah, it's probably something you're going to have to let them figure out for themselves.”

Kurt whines a little. “That's what I thought you'd say.”

Blaine laughs and pats Kurt on the arm before taking the empty tub and spoons back into the kitchen. “You're always welcome here if you need to escape, or rant.” He pulls the fridge open and calls back to Kurt. “You want another Diet Coke?”

He's already got two cans in his hand before Kurt yells back “Yes, please!” and Blaine grins to himself at his excellent anticipation skills.

“So,” he starts as he sits back down, handing over one of the cans. “Who's Sam?”

He's not actually sure where that came from; he's pretty sure he'd told himself he wasn't going to ask Kurt about that, but on the other hand, Kurt's pretty much his best friend now so he figures it makes sense for him to want to know this stuff.

“Mmm?” Kurt drags his eyes away from the TV and looks over at Blaine.

Blaine's aiming for nonchalant as he flicks open his own can and starts to pour it into a glass. “You, - uh. You mentioned someone named Sam. Earlier. I just wondered... ex?” Blaine can feel his attempt at casual slipping away from him and takes a drink of his cola, hoping it might cover up his awkwardness.

Luckily, Kurt just laughs at him. “Oh my goodness, no.” He takes a second to pour his own drink, and then cocks his head to one side, thinking. “I mean, there was a while when I thought maybe... but no. Sam is - sadly - most definitely straight.”

Blaine waits for Kurt to continue, because that information doesn't really answer the question of who Sam is, but already Kurt's attention has been attracted by Nathan Fillion and Blaine sighs. “So...” he prompts.

“Oh, right.” Kurt turns slightly towards Blaine, tucking one leg up underneath himself. “He's a friend from New Directions. His family went through kind of a hard time when his Dad lost his job during our junior year. They ended up moving away, but Finn and Rachel convinced his parents to let him come back to Lima. He ended up living with us for most of the year.”

“That sounds like an unusual set of circumstances.”

“Mmm,” Kurt nods. “When they tracked him down he was working as a stripper. To this day I'm sad I didn't go with them to find him.” He smiles when Blaine laughs, and then his smile becomes tighter as he looks down into his drink. “There was this whole debaclé at our junior prom where I was voted Prom Queen for a joke-” He looks up as Blaine gasps and he shrugs it off but Blaine can tell it's still a sore point. “Anyway, the guy who they picked for Prom King was also head of the jocks and refused to dance with me, so despite being as straight as they come, Sam stepped in to spare my blushes.”

“Man,” Blaine tips his head back against the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. “That's awesome that he went there for you.” He pauses, figuring if Kurt can share things then so can he. “What is it with bullies and dances?”

Blaine goes silent after that and carries on just looking upwards until Kurt finally speaks, his voice soft. “What happened to you?”

Blaine takes a breath and turns his head to face Kurt, his cheek still resting against the back of the couch. Kurt's got this look in his eyes that makes Blaine warm inside, like he can tell Kurt anything. He doesn't remember the last time he had a friend like that. “There was a Sadie Hawkins dance at my school, my freshman year.” He doesn't usually tell this story full stop, but on the occasions that he has a reason to, he tries to gloss over some parts or leave things out if he can. For some reason, he doesn't want to do that with Kurt. Maybe because Kurt's the first person he's met in a while who he thinks might really understand. “I took a friend of mine - the only other out kid in my class. The dance itself was fine, until these three guys jumped us in the parking lot afterwards.”

“Oh, Blaine,” Kurt barely speaks the words at all, they just come out with his breath. He sets his glass down on the table and rests his hand on Blaine's shoulder.

“They, uh.” Blaine takes a deep breath and tries again. “I broke a couple of ribs, and I never went back to that school. My parents had arranged my transfer to Dalton before I was even released from hospital, and I never saw my date again either.”

Blaine shakes his head, trying to remove himself from the memories, and looks back over at the television. He's always been a people pleaser who wants everybody to like him, but the one thing he's not good at is accepting sympathy. He always tries to smile it away like it's nothing, and tonight is no exception. Kurt rubs his shoulder a little bit and then pulls away as if he gets it, picking up his glass and taking another drink. They watch the DVD in silence for a few minutes before Kurt clears his throat.

“Ask me something else.”

Blaine frowns and looks at Kurt. “What?”

Kurt shrugs and smiles. “Ask me something you want to know. About me. You shared a big thing and I feel like I owe you a better story.”

Blaine laughs quietly and nods. “Okay.” He has so many questions he's held back from asking, in case Kurt thought he was crossing lines or pushing too hard for the weird kid he met in the coffee shop. He nods again and smiles wider. “Yeah, okay. Tell me about... exes. Somebody as attractive as you must have at least a couple.” He blushes a little as he realises how that had slipped out, but Kurt looks pleased rather than embarrassed so he doesn't try to take it back.

After a minute, Kurt licks his lips. “Just the one, actually.” He runs his finger around the rim of his glass as he looks upwards, remembering. “I didn't even really consider dating in high school. I had crushes - completely inappropriate ones which are not part of this story-” Kurt stares pointedly with a smile and Blaine stores that information for later. “-but I didn't date. Then last year, moving here...everything changed. I let Rachel set me up on a couple of blind dates but they didn't really end well. And then around Thanksgiving a guy in my Flat Pattern Design class asked me out and I said yes. We went on a couple more dates and it just kind of continued from there.” He blushes. “As these things tend to do, I guess.”

Blaine laughs and twists in his seat so he's facing Kurt, leaning his elbow on the couch and his face on his hand. “So what happened to Flat Pattern Guy?”

Kurt rolls his eyes and laughs a little too. “His name was Jamie. We dated for a few months but the longer we were together the more it became apparent that aside from school, we didn't really have all that much in common. The downside of dating coming before friendship, I guess.”

Blaine's not sure if that's a pointed comment or if Kurt's just musing, but either way it sticks out because he feels the same way. Whether it's with Kurt or with somebody else, he definitely wants to be in a relationship based on a solid friendship first.

“I still see him around,” Kurt smiles, and Blaine realises Kurt has carried on talking. “We didn't end on bad terms, we just agreed it wasn't really working. Since the problem was our lack of shared interests we don't have any reason to hang out as friends or anything, but if I see him at school we'll stop and catch up.” He sets his empty glass on the table and smiles back across at Blaine. “My turn.”

“Uh oh.”

Kurt cackles a little and settles himself into the corner of the couch, pulling his legs up underneath him and wriggling his bare toes down behind the cushions. “Tell me about Sebastian.”

Blaine just blinks at Kurt and then frowns, unable to stop his voice from cracking slightly when he answers. “Why?”

Kurt holds Blaine's gaze and shrugs slightly. “You don't have to, I can ask you something else. I just feel like there must be a story there, and since I feel like I can tell you anything I want you to feel the same with me. But I didn't mean to push.”

Blaine suddenly feels cosy and warm and smiles shyly at Kurt, his cheek still propped up by his hand against the back of the sofa. In one sentence Kurt has made him feel pleasantly buzzed, like he's been drinking something much stronger than Diet Coke.

“He transferred to Dalton at the start of my junior year. He joined the Warblers and after his first meeting he came up to me and asked if I would help him figure out something to sing for his audition for a solo at Sectionals. He seemed nice enough so I agreed, and before long we were spending every spare minute together.” He sighs. “I didn't realise at first that he was hitting on me. One weekend we were at my house going through sheet music and he kissed me.” He feels tears springing to his eyes and he tries to blink them back. He knows they're tears of anger more than anything but he doesn't want Sebastian to be able to still get to him like this at all so he pushes on with the story. “I was flattered and he was very careful which side of him I got to see so I completely fell for it. I was totally infatuated and couldn't see the bad, which of course was exactly what he wanted. The rest of the Warblers tried to tell me but I wouldn't listen, I argued his case to let him have the solos at Sectionals and at Regionals, and it wasn't until they came to me separately with proof about the slushie and the blackmail that suddenly everything made sense. I found out he'd been cheating on me with random guys he picked up at a club and I was furious, and then when I confronted him about it he actually laughed.” Blaine's voice cracks a little on that last word and he clears his throat. “So I went to the headmaster with everything - the Warbler stuff, not the personal parts - and he was expelled.”

Kurt listens to the whole story and doesn't try to touch or comfort Blaine, which Blaine is thankful for because tonight has been nice and he really doesn't want to ruin it by starting to cry for being shown the slightest bit of sympathy. Instead Kurt just waits until Blaine is done, uncurls one leg and pokes at Blaine's shin with his toe. “Your turn to ask.”

“Oh. Um.” Blaine yawns and then bends backwards to stretch while he thinks. He straightens up and opens his mouth to ask a question, but before he can speak Kurt presses his lips together and sits up straight.

“It's getting late, I should probably go.”

Blaine's confused by the sudden change in Kurt's demeanour but he looks at his watch and it is almost one. “You don't have to go.” He blushes and shakes his head slightly, realising how that sounded, and continues before Kurt can misconstrue his words as a come-on. “I mean, Cooper's not coming home tonight. I'll sleep in his bed, and you can take mine.”

Kurt relaxes back into the sofa and smiles. “Are you sure?”

Blaine nods. “Consider it returning the favour for you letting me sleep on your couch. And it's my turn to ask, remember?” He grins cheekily and then mimics Kurt's move from earlier by poking Kurt's ankle with his big toe. “Plus, who knows what Rachel and Finn are up to back at your place. It wouldn't be wise for you to go back when they've probably assumed you're not going to.”

Kurt shudders and makes a disgusted noise. “Well then, yeah. That would be great. Thank you.”

“More snacks?”

Kurt nods so Blaine stands to head back into the kitchen, and this time Kurt picks up their empty glasses and follows him. Blaine's standing on his toes trying to pull down a bag of potato chips from the top shelf of a cupboard and Kurt smiles and clears his throat just as Blaine's about to pull out a chair to stand on.

Blaine jumps and smiles sheepishly when he realises Kurt is watching. “Cooper knows these are my favourite so he lets me buy the groceries and then hides everything I like on the shelves I can't reach just to piss me off.”

“That's adorable,” Kurt laughs and shoos Blaine out of the way as he reaches up to the shelf, pulling down a bag of sweet chili flavour Doritos. “These?”

“It's not, it's annoying. And yes. Those.” Blaine ducks down to a different cupboard and pulls out a bowl, which Kurt takes and starts emptying the chips into it. “More Diet Coke?”

Kurt nods as he scrunches up the bag and spins around, looking for the trash can. “Please.”

Blaine pulls two more cans out and passes one to Kurt in exchange for the empty bag. “I don't know how you sleep with all this caffeine in you.”

“Years of conditioning,” Kurt grins. “You might want to switch to something else though, if you're not used to it.”

“I think I can handle myself,” Blaine teases in return, tossing his empty can into the trash and picking up his glass and the bowl of chips. “Lead the way.”

They settle themselves back on the couch after Blaine puts in the next DVD. He's pretty sure Kurt hasn't been paying attention to any of it and makes a note to lend it to him sometime but he presses play all the same, for background noise if nothing else. “All right,” he starts as he sits back down, reaching for the bowl of chips and setting it between them on the sofa. “I want to hear about the inappropriate school crushes that you mentioned earlier.”

Kurt blushes immediately and groans. “I knew I shouldn't have mentioned those.”

Blaine grins. “Fair's fair. Tell me.”

“Fine.” Kurt reaches for a handful of chips and crunches his way through a couple before he starts speaking. “I already told you about Sam, he was one of the two. When he first joined glee club I was convinced he had to be gay and I was also convinced he dyed his hair. I'm still not sure I wasn't right about that second one, but he lived with us for six months and I never found any evidence of dye in the bathroom so I'll have to concede.”

“And the other?” Blaine can tell Kurt's avoiding the subject and he's looking forward to this story.

“The other,” Kurt sighs dramatically. “was Finn.”

Blaine's mouth drops open for a few seconds mid-chew until he catches himself doing so and closes it, swallowing quickly. “Finn. Your brother Finn?”

“Step-brother,” Kurt emphasises. “And his Mom only started dating my Dad because I set them up in order for me to be able to spend more time with Finn, so really I did everybody a favour.” He eats the last chip in his hand and looks up at Blaine while licking the chili dust from his fingers. “I had a huge crush on him and I wasn't the nicest person with the way I went about it. I made Finn a little scared of being alone with me and I almost jeopardized our parents' relationship along the way, but eventually I stopped being an ass about it and now looking back I can't believe I acted like that.”

“Plus as tonight has shown, these days you're clearly repulsed by the idea of Finn being naked, so...” Blaine grins, ducking as Kurt throws a chip at him.

“How can you know for sure it's not just because I'm jealous of Rachel?” He scrunches his nose up before he's even finished the sentence. “No, no. I can't even joke about that. Quick, say something that doesn't make me think of Finn with no clothes on.”

Blaine snorts and points at the TV. “How about Nathan Fillion with no clothes on?”

Kurt sighs happily as he redirects his attention to the television set. “Oh yes. Much better now.” He wriggles in his seat trying to get comfortable and stretches one leg out straight, resting his toes against Blaine's thigh. Blaine sucks in a breath at the sudden warmth against his leg but keeps his eyes trained on the screen. Tonight is turning out to be the biggest test so far for Blaine when it comes to balancing his crush with his desire to have Kurt as his best friend. Kurt probably doesn't mean anything by it, Blaine's sure. He's just trying to get comfortable.

When the silence is finally broken, it's by Kurt. “So after Sebastian, was there anyone... else?” His foot is still resting against Blaine's leg and when Blaine lets himself look over, Kurt looks so comfortable there.

“No.” Blaine's so quiet he's not sure if Kurt even heard him. “No, there wasn't,” he repeats. “I decided to concentrate on school for the rest of that year, and by senior year I was too busy loading my schedule with extra-curricular activities - at my Dad and Cooper's insistence - so I didn't really have time to meet anybody new. I figured I'd meet plenty of interesting people once I got to New York, so I concentrated on making sure I got accepted.”

Kurt smiles at him. “Good plan. How'd that work out?”

Blaine beams back at Kurt. “Pretty good, I think.” He reaches into the bowl for another chip and tries to play it cool. “I've made some friends, and a couple of really good friends. Plus I've survived living with Cooper for two months and I think I deserve a medal for that.”

The last comment makes Kurt cackle and he grins at Blaine. “Should you ever need an alibi if you crack and murder him, I'm here.”

“I'm going to hold you to that,” he laughs. Kurt suddenly brings his hand up to stifle a yawn, and Blaine watches as he stretches his arms above his head. He thinks a little skin is on show as Kurt's shirt rides up, but it's entirely possible that's just happening in his imagination as he's refusing to let himself look there. Instead he sets the almost empty bowl of chips on the coffee table and reaches for the DVD remote.

“Sorry,” Kurt smiles apologetically. “It's been a long day.”

Blaine shuts off the television and stands up, dropping the remote onto the couch and offering his hand to Kurt. Kurt accepts and Blaine pulls him to his feet, walking towards his bedroom and flicking on the light. He silently thanks any deity who might be listening for reminding him to make his bed that morning and holds the door for Kurt. “There's a bathroom in here, so I'll just grab a couple of things and leave you to it.”

Kurt nods, following Blaine into the room. “Thanks.”

“Oh - do you need something to wear? For sleeping?” Blaine hasn't really thought about that until now, and he's not sure which answer is least likely to drive him crazy.

He gets his answer when Kurt shakes his head a little shyly and looks down at his clothes. “I'll... make do.”

Blaine doesn't know if that means Kurt will sleep naked or in his underwear or fully clothed, but he knows he needs to get out of the room before he asks it out loud. He just nods and heads for his closet, pulling out a clean pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and turning to leave. “So, um. Goodnight.”

Kurt's already removing his accessories and setting them carefully on Blaine's nightstand by the time Blaine reaches the door. He looks up and smiles. “Yeah. Goodnight.”

Blaine pulls the door closed and heads into Cooper's room, closing the door there too and leaning back against it for a minute before quickly changing into the clothes he brought in with him. He slides between the sheets of Cooper's bed and closes his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. As hard as he tries he can't stop himself from thinking about Kurt in his bed, possibly completely naked, in the room next door and his hand slips under the sheets to touch himself. It's only when a quiet moan escapes his lips that he pulls his hand away like it's on fire, remembering only too clearly how thin the walls are thanks to Cooper's sexcapades a few weeks back. There's no way he can let Kurt hear him doing that and still be able to look him in the eye in the morning.

He turns on his side and tucks his hand under the pillow, squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself to think about anything but Kurt. He ends up making a mental list of all the groceries he needs to buy tomorrow and his train of thought only detours into Kurt-ville twice (while trying to remember what they ate that he needs to replace, and making a mental note to buy the Diet Coke in bulk in case Kurt comes over again). He finally falls asleep just after the obnoxious bright green numbers on Cooper's stupid radio alarm clock tick past four in the morning.

-

Blaine wakes the next morning to the smell of food being cooked. It takes him a minute to remember why he's in Cooper's bed, and he's immediately relieved because it means it's not Cooper doing the cooking.

He sits up on the side of the bed and stretches, taking a quick glance in the mirror and realising there's no point even trying to do anything with his hair. When he emerges, Kurt is clanking around in the kitchen, opening and closing doors while he looks for things. Blaine takes a minute to watch Kurt, excited by the idea of Kurt making himself feel at home in the mornings, and then clears his throat and makes his presence known.

“Hi,” he smiles, leaning against the doorframe.

Kurt looks up and grins back at him. “I'm making breakfast.”

“So I see.”

“I hope that's okay. I was hungry, and you had eggs, and I had this craving for an omelette.” He hands Blaine a plate. “Here's yours.”

“You can cook for me any time you like,” Blaine laughs as he opens a drawer to find forks. “Don't tell Rachel, but I couldn't live without eggs.”

“It's the hardest part about living with a vegan,” Kurt nods, taking the fork Blaine is offering and following him out to the breakfast bar. “She's fine with me eating non-vegan stuff, but I don't tend to keep eggs in the house. She says they call to her from the fridge.”

Blaine snorts and they sit in silence while they eat. The omelette is perfect; Blaine wouldn't have expected anything less.

“Speaking of Rachel,” Kurt starts, picking up his phone from the table while he talks. “She sent me a message earlier. She's inviting us both out for a 'double blind triple date' this week.”

Blaine blinks. “A what?”

“Yeah. I got her to be more specific.” He runs his fingers across the screen of his phone, pulling up the conversation he'd had with Rachel earlier. “She basically wants to set us up with some guys she knows.”

“Both of us?” Blaine is a little shocked. He's met Rachel two or three times since the karaoke night, but he's surprised she feels like she knows him well enough to set him up on a date.

“Yeah. You and me, a date for each of us, plus Rachel and Finn. Which is where the triple part comes into it.”

“You don't have to,” Kurt starts. “Oh, except for that you have to. You can't let me do this alone. And you did say how much you'd like to meet Finn...”

Blaine laughs and raises his hands in defeat. “Okay, sure. Tell her I'll be there.”

-

It turns out he was right to be dubious about the whole idea. The night starts badly when Blaine's date arrives while Kurt is reaching across the table to straighten Blaine's bow tie, and gets worse when Blaine mistakes Kurt's date for the waiter.

It probably doesn't help that Blaine knocks an entire glass of water over and the liquid lands squarely in his date's lap.

Rachel's taste in guys doesn't turn out to be as bad as he'd feared, though. The date she picked for him, Marc, is somebody she's known since her Music Theory class in her Freshman year, and he and Blaine seem to have plenty in common. He's only a little taller than Blaine and has sandy brown hair - he's exactly the kind of guy Blaine would usually find irresistible, if it wasn't that he only had eyes for Kurt at the moment.

Kurt doesn't seem to be faring much better with his date, and Blaine knows he shouldn't be glad about that but he is. Matt seems to be a sweet guy, and Kurt is too polite to blow him off right away, so it's not until he pulls out a pen and starts doodling on a napkin that Blaine realises Kurt really isn't interested in this guy.

When Kurt slides the napkin across the table Blaine realises it's a sketch of one of the shirts Kurt's been working on for him, with a couple of minor adjustments scribbled on it. When Matt heads for the bathroom, Blaine takes the opportunity to slide one seat over so he's directly across from Kurt. They're so deep in discussion that Blaine doesn't even notice when Matt comes back, let alone when he and Marc start chatting.

Kurt is fiddling with the cuff on Blaine's shirt and explaining something complicated about buttons when Finn moves up a seat to sit beside Blaine. “Rachel and I are gonna head home.”

Blaine looks up. “Already?”

Finn scrunches up his face and looks pointedly at the seat beside Kurt, which is now empty. “Your dates left, dude. Together.”

Kurt is suddenly biting his lip sheepishly, and when Blaine looks at his watch he realises he's been talking to Kurt for at least an hour. He has no idea when Matt and Marc left, and he feels awful that he hadn't even noticed they were gone. Finn obviously notices this and pats Blaine awkwardly on the shoulder.

“Don't worry about it. I think they were into each other anyway. This probably worked out for the best.” He smiles sympathetically and stands to help Rachel with her coat. Kurt decides to leave with them, eager to turn his napkin full of notes into actual designs, which leaves Blaine to head home alone with his thoughts.

Part Three