Two weeks later

“Okay, I gave you some leeway because you were dealing with finals but, I have it from a reliable source that your last one ended an hour ago. Talk.”
Blaine smiled. He had been pretty much ignoring his phone for the past two weeks unless it was his mom or Cooper, preferring to spend almost every minute of his free time with Kurt. “Nice to hear from you too, Mike.” He said with a laugh. “Remind me to give your wife more to do next semester.”
“Very funny.” Said Mike dismissively, “Get on with it, Anderson.”
Blaine sighed. He wasn’t even sure he could explain the events of the last few weeks to himself, let alone Mike. “Kurt and I are seeing each other.” He said. “A lot of each other.”
Mike laughed. “I gathered that.” He said, but then his tone turned serious. “Blaine, I’m worried.” He said. “I want you to be happy but…this feels a lot like the beginning of---“
“Don’t.” Blaine cut in. “This is different. Kurt is different.”
“How so?” Mike asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“He’s…just different.” Blaine struggled to explain himself. “He just lets things happen and he doesn’t put pressure on me or the relationship to be more than it is.”
“That’s great, man” Mike said. Awkward as his words had been, they seemed to have put his friend at ease. “So…what is the relationship?” he asked.
Blaine swallowed. “Right now we have fun together, and I care about him. He doesn’t expect anything I can’t give and vice versa.”
“Alright.” Mike said. “As long as you’re happy. You seem really happy.”
“I am.” Said Blaine, he couldn’t help but smile. “He’s coming with me to Anderfest.”
“Wow,” said Mike. “Brave man.”
Blaine laughed. “It seems so. Do you want to go to get a drink tonight? Nick and Jeff are in town so they will be there too.”
“Of, course!” He said enthusiastically.
“Okay, meet me here at 7?”
“See you there!”
Blaine hung up and began to start dinner for himself. He had been cooking more and eating out a lot less since he and Kurt started dating. He had just put some pasta on to cook when his phone went off. Blaine grinned when the read-out told him he had a text from Kurt.

Rachel is actually taking longer than me to get ready so I am afraid I have fallen down the rabbit hole. Texting to make sure I am in the right reality.

Did you take any red pills?

Haha, no. no de ja vu either.

I can’t believe you actually got that reference.

 What are you up to tonight?

A couple of old friends are in town. We’re going out for drinks.

Fun!

Yep. Are you sure you want to come tomorrow. It’s going to be awkward, it always is. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.

Lol, will you relax? It will be fine. And if it’s not we’ll leave and go to my place and have a private party ;-)

Haha, sounds perfect. Kurt?

Yes?

Thank you.

For what?

For everything.

 you’re welcome.

Nick and Jeff had, of course, found a karaoke bar for their night out. And, after a few drinks, the two men were on stage taking requests. They had long since stopped using the music and Blaine had never seen a bar crowd so enthralled. Mike leaned over and grinned at him.
“You should get up there.” He said, nodding to Nick and Jeff, who were now tap dancing across the stage.
“Absolutely not.” Blaine replied. “I’m not nearly drunk enough for that.”
“Blaine…” Mike said, a concerned look on his face. “You can’t let someone like Blake keep you from living your life. You have so much talent.”
“I know, I’m just…not ready. At least not yet.” Blaine said softly. “I have been playing again.”
“You have?” Mike asked with a smile. “That’s great!” His expression then turned thoughtful.
“You haven’t been alone for longer than a few hours since you met---oh.” He cut himself off as realization dawned. “Kurt. You’ve been playing for Kurt.”
Blaine blushed. Since that day, he and Kurt had spent hours singing and Blaine had even began to teach the other man trying to play the guitar.
“I am getting less worried about you being with this guy by the minute, B.” said Mike.
Blaine grinned. “You know what? I think I will steal the microphone for a minute.” Blaine stood and made his way to the stage with a bounce in his step. “Hey, Sterling!” he shouted.
Jeff, who was currently calling for requests again, shot Blain a questioning look.
“Don’t you think it’s time you and Nick gave up the spotlight for a while?”
Jeff grinned, tossed down the mic, and he and Nick gestured to center stage. Blaine jumped onto the stage without the aid of stairs, earning a smattering of applause from the crowd. He walked over to the band leader and whispered something in the man’s ear.
He nodded, picked up his guitar and turned to talk to the rest of the band while Blaine took his position behind the mic stand. The music started up and Nick and Jeff, who had moved back to the table with Mike, rolled their eyes.

Hey, little girl with the cash to burn
Well I’m selling something you won’t return
Hey little girl take me off the shelf
Cause it’s hard to have fun playing with yourself

Once you browse through the whole selection, shake those hips in my direction

All the women in the audience and a few of the men screamed when Blaine did a flawless imitation of Link Larkin’s hip-shaking move. Everyone was completely hooked now, and cheered louder still as the music continued, singing the background parts of the song.

A prettier package, you never did see,
Take me home then unwrap me
You can shop around, but little darling I’ve got to be
The ladies’ choice

Hey little girl looking for a sale
Come test drive this American male
Gonna take cash to fill my tank
So let’s crack open your piggy bank

Hey little girl going window shopping, I’ve got something traffic stopping

Hey little girl on a spending spree
I don’t come cheap but the kisses come free
On closer inspection I’m sure that you’ll agree
I’m the ladies’ choice

Blaine’s dancing became more elaborate during the instrumental break. Just before the repeat of the chorus, he tossed the microphone into the air, dropped to his knees and caught it, earning a thunderous amount of applause. When the song drew to a close, Blaine left the stage despite calls for an encore and dropped happily into his seat next to Mike.
“You haven’t lost your touch, bro.” said Nick, high fiving Blaine.
“For real.” Said Jeff. “Half the bar is in love with you. You’ve got to teach me how you do that.”
“It can’t be taught, my friend.” Said Blaine, propping his feet up on the table. “Hey, where’s my phone?”
“Uh, I have it.” Said Mike, avoiding eye contact. “Nick was slopping beer all over the table, so I saved it from drowning.”
“Hey!” said Nick.
Blaine turned the phone over in his hand and looked at Mike suspiciously but he had already gone back to teasing Nick.

Kurt smiled as he watched Rachel dancing with one of the stage hands. She had seemed like a different girl tonight, completely over Finn. Kurt was proud of her. His phone went off in his pocket. Curious, he dug it out. Blaine’s name flashed on the screen.

This is Blaine’s Friend Mike. I’m going to send you something in a few minutes that you might want to take a look at.

Kurt frowned. Rachel was still dancing so he was left to wait anxiously for whatever Mike was supposed to be sending him. Finally his phone buzzed again and he nearly dropped it trying to unlock it to read the message. He was surprised to find a video message. With a shaking hand he hit play.
The video was of Blaine, preforming Ladies’ Choice like he was born to play Link and the crowd was eating it up. Kurt knew from the private performances he had been given that Blaine was a mesmerizing performer but with a crowd to feed off of he was magic. Kurt couldn’t take his eyes off his tiny cell phone screen.
As the video ended, Rachel made her way back to the bar. “What’s up with you? You look like you did when we saw Lea Salonga preform I Dreamed a Dream.”
“Watch this.” Kurt said with a dazed expression, passing his phone to Rachel. She bent her head to watch, straining to hear the audio through the phone’s small speaker.
When the video was over she looked up at Kurt, mirroring his expression. “Kurt.” She said. “Your boyfriend is good...almost better than you.”
“I know.” He replied, staring at his phone.