AN: I'm sorry this is late but my only excuse is that I was kind of depressed this week because I got rejected for 6 jobs and I couldn't force myself to write after that. But Glee is online at 4am and I wanted to at least finish one chapter before I watch it.

1x05: Baggage

At eight o' clock, Saturday night, Blaine was picking Santana up as promised in front of her dorm room and together they made their way to the front door where they quickly had to duck behind a huge plant when Kurt suddenly turned around.

He was afraid he'd already been busted, but Kurt shrugged and turned to leave with Chandler. Santana had found out the name of the restaurant from Kurt and so they followed with about a block's distance between them.

Once the reached the restaurant they spotted Kurt and Chandler seating in a secluded corner and Santana quickly charmed a waiter into getting them a table at the other side where they would have a good few without being seen themselves.

As soon as they were seated, Santana grabbed the menu and Blaine was glad she was occupied with food, because for one he had no idea what to talk to her about, and secondly his eyes were trained onto Kurt who was laughing at something Chandler must have said.

About an hour into the dinner, Blaine started to regret having brought Santana with him, when the girl ordered her third dessert because she didn't like the first two. This whole spying on Kurt's date thing was turning into a quite expensive platonic date for him.

"I'm out," Santana suddenly announced, her ice cream only half eaten. "What? But they are still here," Blaine told her getting a bit annoyed.

"And clearly nothing's happening. Porcelain seems to have a good time. So are you coming or staying."

Blaine thought for a moment. Kurt did look like he was having fun and even though it hurt him that it was Chandler he was having fun with; that had been what he wanted for Kurt. But then again, he still didn't trust the senior with Kurt alone. Who knew where he was dragging him off to after dinner.

"I'm staying," he told her quietly, not wanting to be caught this far in. "Whatever hobbit." Santana tossed her black hair over her shoulder and left Blaine sitting on his own behind another large plant in the restaurant.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait long until he saw Kurt and Chandler get up to leave, but he was delayed a bit when he tried to pay his own bill, so he only caught a glimpse of Kurt as he and Chandler went around a corner that led them away from their school.

He hurried to catch up with them, but a lot of people were still outside on the nice Satdurday night and at a few intersections Blaine was sure he had lost them, before he spotted Kurt's blue scarf disappear in the distance again.

He had a bad feeling about Chandler's intentions and it only intensified when he realized that Chandler was steering Kurt toward a section of Central Park that wasn't well traveled during the night.

Breaks screeched next to him as he ran across a street without looking and the moment it took him to calm down the driver he lost Kurt again. When he finally reached the intersection he had last seen them at he couldn't spot them in either direction. Acting only on instinct he turned right toward the park.

When he rounded the corner he froze though because a few houses down, on a dimly lit street, Kurt was being pinned to a wall by Chandler who had his mouth on Kurt's neck and judging by Kurt's expression and the way he was struggling in Chandler's hold, he wasn't enjoying it one bit.

As soon as he moved past his shock he started running toward Kurt to save him, when Kurt suddenly managed to push Chandler away and a resounding slap echoed through the street.

"Stay away from me," Blaine heard Kurt yell before he ran in Blaine's direction and straight into Blaine's arms. In that moment, Blaine finally understood what Wes had meant. Kurt didn't need Blaine as a mentor who would protect him from all the bad out there, because Kurt could take care of himself.

He pulled his arms tightly around Kurt's shaking body and shot a death glare in Chandler's direction who was rubbing his cheek and glaring at Kurt, who fortunately had his face hidden in Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine narrowed is eyes even further and Chandler finally got the message and took off in the other direction.

"Come on, let's get some coffee or tea at the Lima Bean," he told Kurt. "Unless you want to go back to your dorm right now?"

Kurt shook his head and slowly untangled himself from Blaine.

They walked together in silence at first, because Blaine wanted to wait for Kurt to say something about what had happened.

"Aren't you going to tell me I told you so," Kurt finally broke the silence when they were only a block away from the Lima Bean.

Blaine shook his head. "All that matters to me, is that you're safe now," he assured the younger boy, who seemed relieved that Blaine wasn't going to lecture him. But Blaine had no intention of doing that, because if he wanted him and Kurt to work some day, he had to stop treating him like a child.

Inside the coffee shop, Blaine told Kurt to grab a table for them while he got their usual coffees, considering what he wanted to say to Kurt while he waited.

"Why where you there?" Kurt asked when Blaine sat down and Blaine suddenly found his napkin very interesting.

"I, I followed you because of something Chandler said to me about you," he finally admited, but Kurt didn't seem mad.

"I guess whatever he said caused you to punch him, not what he told me," Kurt wondered out loud and Blaine gave him a guilty smile, because he knew Kurt hadn't been too happy that he had punched Chandler.

"Why didn't you tell me what he said?" Kurt continued his interrogation and Blaine decided, that after everything that had happened tonight so far, he could safely tell Kurt the truth.

"I thought you wouldn't believe me and would accuse me of lying because I didn't want you to go out with him," Blaine admitted.

Kurt studied his face for a few seconds and Blaine felt his cheeks heat up. Kurt must have noticed because he blushed as well, before looking serious again.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you warned me about Chandler. At first I thought you had ulterior motives and when that wasn't true, I thought you just didn't like him and wanted to screw things up for us."

Oh, Blaine had had ulterior motives, but he had been too much of a coward to act on them.

"Are you okay?" he asked instead of commenting on what Kurt had said.

Kurt dropped his eyes and stared at his coffee. "Can we not talk about this tonight, please? I promise we'll talk soon, but not tonight," Kurt pleaded and Blaine quickly agreed.

"One other question though," Blaine told him and took a deep breath while reminding himself to have courage.

"Would you consider singing a duet with me for the Sectionals auditions. We could spend more time together because of practice," he asked Kurt who was looking at him with his expressive eyes again and blushed.

To his surprise however, Kurt shook his head and Blaine tried not to let Kurt see how much his rejection hurt him.

"I think I need to focus on myself right now, because tonight taught me that I was so desperate for a date that I ignored all warnings just to be able to have a first date," Kurt confessed and Blaine felt a bit better because Kurt wasn't rejecting him, because he suddenly didn't like Blaine anymore.

"I still want to hang out with you though, because I do want to get to know you better, but right now, everything you'd offer would feel too much like a pity date for me," Kurt went on, keeping his eyes trained on the coffee in front of him.

Blaine wanted to pull Kurt back into his arms and kiss him senseless to prove that a date with him would never be out of pity, but he knew he had to respect Kurt's wishes, especially after what had happened with Chandler.

"So we'll just have our regular Sunday coffee tomorrow and talk. Is that what you want?" Blaine asked Kurt, wanting to make sure he and Kurt were on the same page.

Kurt gave him a small smile that seemed to brighten the room and Blaine took his hand to pull him off his chair.

"Come on, let's go back to the dorms before someone realizes you're missing." Blaine offered his arm to Kurt in an exaggerated gesture but Kurt just laughed and linked their arms together.

Kurt's carefree laugh, even after the day he had, was becoming Blaine's favorite thing, and this time he wouldn't let Kurt slip away from him. But he would do it right, because Kurt deserved romance.

Maybe getting to know each other better wasn't such a bad idea before Blaine asked Kurt out again. Because of that he was certain – he wanted to take Kurt out on a date when they were both ready.

Kurt was abruptly woken up by Lady Gaga blaring from his phone Sunday morning and he hurried to shut off his alarm when he realized that someone was calling him.

"Make it stop," Jeff, who hadn't been back when Kurt returned to the room, groaned and Kurt quickly grabbed his bathrobe and went out into the hallway.

"Finally," Mercedes greeted him, once he picked up his phone en route to the cafeteria for some much needed coffee.

"Cedes, why are you calling this early?" Kurt asked his best friend who sounded way too chipper this early in the morning.

"It's after nine. Long night?" Mercedes teased and Kurt grimaced. Long night indeed, but not the way Mercedes interpreted it.

"Fine, so it isn't that early, but still why couldn't you wait to call at a decent time?"

Kurt reached the mostly empty cafeteria and made a beeline for the coffee maker.

"Boo, you promised to text me after your date and you never did, so I had to call to find out how it was." Finally the machine stopped and Kurt picked up his cappuccino and carried it over to a table in the corner.

"Forget about my date, tell me about yours," Kurt tried to deflect. Mercedes had already told him the day before that Sam had agreed to call their dinner at Breadstix a date, but he was sure she would love to tell him all the details.

"Nice try, white boy. We went to Breadstix, he drove me home and kissed me on the cheek in front of my house. Done. Now tell me about your big New York date."

Kurt sighed. He really didn't want to tell her about Chandler's actions but he told her nearly everything, at least when he was sure she'd keep it a secret.

"Remember what I told you about Karofsky when I was in the hospital," he asked her, hoping he wouldn't have to tell her any details and she would figure out what happened herself.

"Yeah. What does that have to do with your date?" she asked, sounding a bit worried.

"It kind of happened again," Kurt admitted and when he heard Mercedes shocked gasp he quickly assured her he was all right. "I pushed him away and slapped him. It was quite satisfying."

"And you're sure you're okay? Because if I have to I will find a way to come up to New York and show that ass his place." Kurt smiled as he imagined Mercedes going after Chandler.

"I'll be fine. I have friends here who care about me," Kurt assured his best friend because he didn't want her to worry about him. Truth be told, he wasn't too sure yet how he felt about the incident, but he needed some time to figure it out by himself.

"I'm glad to hear that and I can't wait to meet them," Mercedes interrupted his musings and Kurt sat up straighter.

"Does that mean…?" he trailed off and was met with a squeal. "My parents decided to let me come to your premiere as long as I'm back home in time for Thanksgiving."

"That's amazing," Kurt told her and meant it. Mercedes had been his only friend for years and even though he was making friends fast at NYADA, no one knew him as well as she did and he was sure some things would be easier to handle if he had Mercedes with him.

They talked on the phone a while longer and after Kurt had assured her again that he was relatively fine he finally got her to gush about her date with Sam, and Kurt who had relocated to one of the common rooms after the conversation topic moved away from Chandler, settled back into an armchair and listened as his best friend recounted every minute of the date.

He felt a twinge of jealousy for a second, because her first date sounded perfect compared to his, but he quickly squashed it because Mercedes deserved to be happy as much as him.

A look at his watch reminded that he needed to get started on his morning routine if he wanted to get some lunch before his coffee non-date with Blaine and so he said goodbye to Mercedes after promising her to keep her updated on the Blaine front.

He was about to hang up when Mercedes stopped him. "You know, I admire you for your decision. If the guy I liked offered to sing a duet with me so we could spend more time in private together, I'm not sure I could have said no."

"It wasn't easy," Kurt conceded, "but I think I really should get to know him better before I make another rash decision and maybe if he gets to know me better as well, he'd want to take me out on a real date in the future."

Kurt definitely had his fingers crossed for that, because just because he'd given up on Blaine at the moment most certainly didn't know he wasn't interested in him anymore.

Sunday afternoon found Kurt waiting for Blaine at their usual table at the Lima Bean. They hadn't made plans to go there together and so Kurt had just walked around the neighborhood for a bit after lunch to pass time till three o'clock.

Blaine arrived punctually and sent Kurt a dazzling smile when he spotted the second coffee in front of the empty chair facing Kurt's.

"You know my coffee order?" Blaine asked after he sat down and took a sip of the coffee Kurt had gotten him.

Kurt blushed and quickly nodded before fiddling with the scarf around his neck.

"Are you ready to talk to me about Saturday?" Blaine asked when it became clear that Kurt wasn't going to start the conversation. Kurt really didn't want to, but he supposed it would be good if he told someone what had happened exactly.

He quickly recounted the nice dinner they had had and Chandler's invitation to go to a bar afterward which Kurt had declined. Kurt knew that Blaine had followed them, so he only filled him on the things Blaine couldn't have seen.

When he reached the point where Chandler had pinned him against a wall, he saw Blaine ball his hands into fists and he considered for a moment if he should even continue.

In the end he settled on hinting that he was really upset because he'd been in a similar situation before and left it at that. Blaine thankfully didn't push the issue because Kurt wasn't ready to tell him all the sordid details from his past.

"You really should tell your dad about this?" Blaine told him after he returned with two fresh coffees and Kurt immediately shook his head.

"I can't. I told him I went out on a date with Brittany and promised him I'd be safe. What if he's going to hate me when he finds out I'm gay. He has Finn and Carole now, but if he doesn't accept me I would have no one."

That was his biggest fear. That his dad would just replace him with Finn because he liked all the stuff his dad liked as well and didn't cause problems like Kurt did.

"What about your mom? Do you think she'd be supportive?" Blaine asked after giving Kurt's hand a quick squeeze.

Kurt didn't like talking about his mom, because he didn't want people to feel sorry for him, but he wanted to tell Blaine the truth.

"She died when I was eight, but I think she would have been," he explained, keeping his emotions out of his voice. His mom had been dead for nearly as many years as Kurt had spent with her, but it still hurt to think about it on some days.

Blaine gave him a sad smile but refrained from telling Kurt he was sorry which Kurt appreciated.

"My parents are divorced," Blaine told him instead. "My dad, he wasn't too happy when I came out, but my mom couldn't handle it and left us. My dad tells me it's not my fault and that they've been growing apart since before I was born, but I'm sure that's not true."

Apparently he wasn't the only one who had baggage in the form of his family.

"How does your dad feel about it now?" Kurt asked because he knew it was probably pointless to try and convince Blaine his parents' divorce wasn't his fault.

Blaine fiddled with the lid of his coffee before he looked up, a pained smile on his face.

"I know he loves me, but he's become distant since I came out. It's like he thinks I'm suddenly this completely different person and he doesn't know how to deal with me any more. But he let me transfer here when things at school got really bad, so I know he loves me and I'm sure your dad does too, because otherwise he wouldn't have left you move across the country for school."

Kurt nodded. He had never questioned his father's love for him, but he was afraid to lose that when he came out.

"Thanks for telling me that," Kurt told Blaine who shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "You told me something about your life, so it's only fair to tell you some things about mine."

Once they were done talking about the heavy topics, they went back to talk about the things the usually talked about when they got coffee and it didn't take long for Kurt to forget all about Chandler and the disastrous date.

At least he did until his dad called him and Kurt excused himself to take the call, telling Blaine he'd see him Monday afternoon for the Sectionals auditions.

"Hey kiddo, how's your Sunday?" his dad asked when Kurt picked up the phone outside the Lima Bean.

"It's good, but I'm sure that's not what you want to talk about?" Kurt told his dad, rolling his eyes. His dad didn't really know he to be subtle.

"You got me. Now tell me about your date." Kurt sighed. He should never have told his dad about it in the first place, because he had to lie to his dad again.

"It was fine. We went out for dinner and then I walked her back to her dorm. I don't think we'll be going out again though. I don't think we really clicked."

"That's okay, Kurt. There's someone out there for you and when the time is right, you'll find the right person."

"Thanks, dad," Kurt told him, wondering not for the first time why his dad never told him he'd meet the right girl instead of the right person.

"So, I spoke to Kate and she's going to visit you next Sunday. Said she wants to see for herself if you're doing okay."

Kurt unlocked his door and waved at Jeff who was bouncing on his bed wearing headphones.

"And how did you get her to come here and spy for you?" Kurt teased his dad who was quickly trying to deny the accusation but Kurt just laughed.

"It's okay, dad. I'd love to introduce her to some of my friends. Tell her to text me when she's in town. But I got to go now. I still have homework and I need to work on a song for an audition tomorrow afternoon," Kurt informed his father, and after promising to call again soon, they both hung up and Kurt tried to focus on his homework and on the song he hadn't had time to rehearse yet.

Tuesday afternoon found Kurt and Blaine at the Lima Bean again, and this time Blaine managed to get there early again, so he picked up coffee for Kurt and himself and added some cookies he hoped to split with Kurt.

Kurt looked gorgeous as always when he arrived at the coffee shop, wearing tight stripped trousers and a deep burgundy dress shirt under another fabulous vest.

"Please don't be mad at me," Blaine immediately told him as soon as he sat down, and Kurt raised one of his perfect eyebrows at Blaine. "I told Wes and David about what happened with Chandler, because they know him the longest and I don't want him to get away with his behavior."

"You what?" Kurt nearly yelled and Blaine flinched because angry Kurt was scary.

"I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do after you told me you didn't want to tell your dad. We all agree that you should at least tell the school because we fear you are not the first one Chandler might have coerced into hooking up with him."

Kurt looked at him incredulously, but at least he was still listening instead of getting up and leaving.

"I can't tell the school, tell would tell my dad." "Maybe, but they wouldn't tell him any details because that would mean outing you," Blaine tried to assure him but Kurt just shook his head.

"I was out after curfew and I'm sure that Chandler would tell them he met me at a college party if they confronted him. I'm pretty sure my dad would pull me out of school if he found out if I didn't get expelled."

Kurt had a point there. Chandler would definitely be in trouble as well if it came out that he was drinking, but the senior was eighteen and might have even managed to get back in time for his curfew.

"Alright, don't tell the school, but we're keeping an eye on him to make sure he leaves you alone from now on. And don't argue. I know you can take care of yourself, but I don't trust him."

Kurt looked like was gearing up to fight Blaine, but than he just sank back into his chair and nodded.

"It's not that I don't want you to look out for me, but it's just so strange because I never had anyone apart from my friend Mercedes before who was interested in my well-being," he admitted and Blaine have him a sympathetic smile.

He had lost most of his friends as well when he came out to one of his friends who had promptly outed him to the whole school and the only guy who still wanted to hang out with him was Jake, the only other out guy at school.

They had gone out on a few dates after Blaine came out and had even kissed a little, but they both had quickly decided that they would be better off as friends. His parents had moved him to another school as well after they got beaten up and nowadays their contact was limited to the occasional Facebook messages.

"Don't act so surprised. Just because we're different doesn't mean we don't deserve to have friends. It might have taken transferring to NYADA to remind me of that as well, but I don't even want you to doubt whether you have friends here or not."

Blaine saw Kurt discreetly wipe away a tear and Blaine excused himself to the restroom to give the younger boy a chance to compose himself.

He did understand Kurt's emotions and so he was hell-bent to show Kurt that he was loved at NYADA and that he wasn't alone anymore.

Kurt tried to ignore the way Blaine's friends and Jeff were looking at him through out the day because Blaine had assured him they weren't judging him and were only concerned about his safety.

He had caught Chandler giving him dirty looks during the past few days, but the older boy kept his distance because Kurt was always surrounded by other people who just happened to be in the same place as him.

He was excited for the musical rehearsal that afternoon because it would be the first time that he would fully perform his scene with Nick. The auditorium was empty apart from Blaine, who was running lines with Sunshine in the back, and Ms Corcoran and the piano player.

They went through the blocking again and got into position when Ms Corcoran told them so. Everything went fine until Nick leaned in to kiss him and Kurt suddenly flashed back into the locker room and the dimly lit street Saturday night. Before Nick's lips could touch his, he pushed the other boy away and ran out of the auditorium, ignoring Nick and Ms Corcoran who were calling after him.

Kurt ran into the closest bathroom and started dry heaving on his knees in front of the toilet but nothing did come up. He was so angry with himself because he had allowed Karofsky and Chandler to ruin the scene for him.

Before he could beat himself up some more, he felt a hand stroke his back and even though his first instinct was to flinch away, he leaned into the touch when Blaine spoke up.

"Nick explained to Ms Corcoran that you were a bit nervous and she told him you should rehearse the scene in private before your next official rehearsal."

Kurt didn't think that the setting was the problem, but he was glad to get a short reprieve so he could figure out how to deal with his problem.

He accepted Blaine's hand and let himself be pulled back onto his feet and let himself be guided out of the bathroom. Blaine never let go of his hand until they stopped in front of what Kurt assumed was Blaine's room.

Inside, Blaine finally released his hand and gestured to Kurt to sit down on one of the beds. Once Kurt was seated, Blaine rolled over his desk chair and sat down opposite Kurt.

"You want to talk about it?" Blaine asked and Kurt wanted to shake his head. Instead he took a deep breath before telling Blaine his story.

"It's just that I've never experienced a consensual kiss before," he started and at Blaine's questioning look, he elaborated.

"When I started middle school, the older kids started bullying me. One of my first bullies is now my stepbrother and the other is his best friend who his nice to me now as well, but there was a third. Dave Karofsky. At first he was just pushing me around a bit, calling me names, throwing stuff at me in class and he got a bunch of his friends to join in on it."

Kurt accepted a tissue from Blaine before he continued.

"He was two years older than me and when I finished 6th grade I was relieved because that meant he would be in high school the following year. But he came back because he had to repeat eight grade. As soon as 7th grade started he got worse. He kept staring at me, following me around and sometimes he would run his hand over my arm and leer at me. I just though it was his new tactic to freak me out and one day I couldn't take it any longer and followed him into the locker room."

Kurt took another deep breath and suddenly Blaine took his hands into his again. Kurt gave him a grateful smile.

"We traded insults for a bit, but then he suddenly pushed me against some locker and kissed me. I tried to get away from him but he was so much taller and heavier that I was so I couldn't do anything and he just wouldn't let me go and he was enjoying it." Kurt blushed when he said that, but then powered on.

"I got lucky that someone came into the locker room at that point because he ran away from me and for a few weeks he left me alone. But then he started threatening me, so I would keep quiet. I hadn't even planned to tell anyone because who would believe the school freak over one of the popular guys?"

"Is that why you came here?" Blaine asked as Kurt wiped his face with the tissue. He hadn't even realized that he started crying when he was telling Blaine about his past. He shook his head.

"I made it through 7th grade and then he was gone and I thought that was it. I could deal with the other students harassing me, because after that I honestly didn't care about the name calling anymore. But he would show up in front of school from time to time to make sure I still kept quiet. Close to the end of the school year he threatened to kill me again if told someone when I started at his high school as well and I had enough, so I told him I'd tell my dad if he didn't leave me alone in the future. It was an empty threat, but he didn't know that and he pushed me against a dumpster hard enough that I ended up in the hospital because I had to get stitches. At that point I had already applied to NYADA, but my dad was hesitant to let me go, but after that incident my dad agreed because he feared for my safety. Mercedes had witnessed the whole thing but his friends gave him an alibi and so nothing happened to him. My dad knew that I would have to go to school with him, if he didn't let me come here and so I moved here to get away from him."

Blaine was still holding his hand, his thumb brushing over Kurt's knuckles in a soothing manner, and Kurt felt relieved to finally have told someone the whole story. Mercedes knew most of it because he had told her in the hospital, but he had never told anyone the details of what had happened in the locker room.

"Can I give you a hug?" Blaine asked and Kurt immediately agreed. He felt safe in the other boy's arms because he knew Blaine meant him no harm.

"What am I going to do about Nick?" Kurt wondered once Blaine released him.

"I don't know, but I think you should tell him why you freaked out. And maybe just keep your eyes open for now, so you know it's him."

Kurt nodded, because that sounded like a good idea, even though he dreaded having to tell yet another person about Chandler. He had no intentions to tell anyone apart from Blaine about his middle school bully.

"You know what? Why don't I get us some popcorn and ice cream and we can watch a movie. Your pick," Blaine offered and Kurt started looking through Blaine's DVDs while the older boy went down to the kitchen for some comfort food.

When Blaine returned, Kurt had already put When Harry met Sally into Blaine's laptop and was standing in the middle of the room not knowing where he should sit.

"If it doesn't make you uncomfortable we can both sit on my bed," Blaine offered and Kurt quickly nodded before sitting up against the headboard. Blaine sat down next to him, trying to put as much distance between them as was possible on a twin bed, though Kurt wouldn't have minded to sit closer.

Half an hour into their second movie he felt his eyes close and he wanted to get up and go back to his room, but before he knew it he had fallen asleep with his head on Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine breathed out a sigh of relief when he heard Kurt's breathing become even as the younger boy fell asleep next to him. He knew he should wake him up and help him back to his own room, but Kurt looked peaceful for the first time this afternoon and Blaine didn't have the heart to wake him.

He removed Kurt's and his own shoes careful not to jostle the other boy and covered them both with a blanket.

His roommate Beatz looked surprised when he came in close to curfew but only smiled at Blaine instead of teasing him about having Kurt in his bed.

"Is it okay if he stays here? I don't really want to wake him up because he was exhausted but it's your call," he whispered.

"You really care about him, don't you?" Beatz asked, lowering his voice as well. Blaine nodded as he carefully pushed Kurt's hair out of his face.

"That's cool then. Just don't do anything with me in the room." Blaine glared at him, and Beatz raised his hands in surrender before turning in for the night as well.

Blaine woke up alone the next morning to a little note next to his face. Blaine, sorry for falling asleep on you. I'll see you at VE rehearsal. Kurt x

Blaine smiled as he smoothed his finger over the little x behind Kurt's name. He would have loved to wake up next to Kurt but he didn't want to cause Kurt any embarrassment so maybe it was a good thing that Kurt woke up before he did.

Kurt was a bit nervous about meeting Blaine Thursday afternoon after having spent the night with him. Luckily he managed to convince Jeff that he came in late and got up early, because he didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

He had managed to catch Nick after breakfast and after explaining his reaction, Nick had told him to take his time because they still had close to two months before opening night.

That afternoon, Alyson announced their soloists for Sectionals but Kurt wasn't surprised he wasn't one of them. He had sung 'I'm the greatest star' but because of the stress both Chandler and Blaine had caused him the previous week he had only run through the song once or twice, so he knew he could have done better.

He also knew he would have had a better chance had he sung with Blaine, because Blaine got a solo, but he wanted to be able to get a solo because he was good enough, not just because he'd sung with Blaine.

Alyson and surprisingly Nick would sing a duet and Wes, David, Sebastian and Chandler would lead the group number, Alyson still had to announce. Sectionals would take place the weekend after Halloween, so they still had some time to rehearse and try out different songs.

The rest of the week had gone better for Kurt. Mr. Ryan had finally been happy with his performance of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and Ms Corcoran had little criticism when he performed a scene from David Auburn's 'Proof'.

Kurt tried to finish most of his homework during the week because his aunt would come to visit on Sunday and Blaine had invite Kurt and his friends out to Central Park on Saturday for a picnic and Frisbee.

To his surprise Santana, Quinn, Brittany and Jeff all agreed and so the five of them plus Jeff's girlfriend made their way over to bow bridge where Blaine was waiting for him.

Nick, Wes, David and Blaine's roommate Beatz were throwing a football around when they arrived but they soon abandoned it when Kurt put down his own basket.

It was a relaxing afternoon and Kurt tried to keep his jealousy at bay when he observed Santana and Brittany making out for everyone to see without a care in the world. He knew New York wasn't Ohio, but he still expected someone to say something about the two girls.

Blaine must have caught his expression because he gave his hand a quick squeeze and smiled at him.

After their lunch the girls joined the boys in a game of Frisbee but Kurt begged out of it because he didn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of Blaine, but Blaine stayed with him, even after he told him he could just stay behind and watch the game by himself.

Instead, Blaine took him on a walk through Central Park, showing him his favorite spots and the romantic at him was definitely swooning when Blaine told him he had to take Kurt on a carriage ride some time during the winter.

Now that the pressure was off, he could really enjoy spending time with the older boy because he wasn't constantly analyzing Blaine's every move and if they held hands occasionally, neither of them commented on it.

On Sunday, aunt Kate picked him up around noon and took him out to lunch to a little restaurant in Soho that Kurt found fabulous, and once they got back to school, he introduced her to his roommate and the girls. He was glad Blaine wasn't around, because he wasn't sure how well he could hide his growing feelings for the other boy in front of his aunt.

Once he assured her that he was happy at NYADA and no one was bullying him – what Chandler did didn't count as bullying after all – he promised her to come by for dinner soon and they said their goodbyes before he met Blaine for a belated coffee.

The past week had been emotionally draining for both of them, but he felt much closer to Blaine than he had only a week ago and hoped Blaine was feeling the same way.

"How is he?" Burt asked as soon as his sister picked up the phone. "Hello to you too, dearest brother," Kate answered and Burt rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry, hello Kate, I hope you're well. Now tell me about my son." It was hard to tell if Kurt was really happy or if he was faking it when Burt only ever talked on the phone with him. He really needed to get a camera for their computer so he could use that video call thingy.

"He seemed fine when I talked to him and he introduced me to a few of his friends who all seem to like him as well. They are all definitely interesting, but what else what you expect from drama students."

Burt was relieved to hear his young sister say that. Being so far away from his son was hard and he wished he had the money to visit more often. Speaking of that.

"Kurt has some music competition the weekend after Halloween and I was wondering if you could go and video tape it for us. I'd love to come myself, but I can't afford to fly up twice in a month, not if I'm taking Finn and Carole with me for Thanksgiving."

Kate quickly agreed and they talked a bit more about Kurt and Burt's new family before Burt said goodbye, his worries eased considerably.

Blaine barged into Wes and David's room after a perfunctory knock and threw himself onto the closest bed.

"I need your help," he mumbled into the pillow.

"What was that? Did Blaine Anderson just admit he needed our help?" he heard Wes tease him from behind him and he wanted to turn around and throw a pillow at him, but he needed Wes.

"I want to do something special for Kurt and I need your help Wesley," he repeated.

"Drop the Wesley and we have a deal," Wes immediately agreed, probably because he had a soft spot for Kurt. "What do you need?"

"I need you dad's phone number."

When Blaine came up to him a few days later, looking nervous, Kurt was worried for a moment but as soon as Blaine handed him an envelop and Kurt saw the contents, he couldn't stop himself from flinging himself into Blaine's arms and hugging the other boy tightly.

"A backstage tour of the Gershwin Theater? 'Wicked' is my favorite musical," Kurt exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

"I had some help," Blaine explained, a slight blush on his face. Kurt didn't really care how Blaine had managed to get them backstage as long as he would get close to the stage where Wicked was performed every night.

Kurt hugged Blaine again before he left to work on an outfit he would wear Saturday morning for his Broadway excursion.

As promised, Blaine picked him up at ten the following Saturday and together they got onto the subway and rode it to 42nd street. A grim looking man was standing outside the stage door, but he let them pass when Blaine showed them the tickets.

Inside they were met by a young woman in her twenties who showed them around and explained how Elphaba managed to fly during Defying Gravity.

Much too soon they had seen every room backstage and Kurt was sad that it was over when Blaine took his hand and led him threw a door right onto the stage.

"Blaine, what are you doing? I'm sure we're not allowed to be here."

"It's okay. We have fifteen minutes so you should decide fast what you want to sing."

Kurt stared at Blaine before he blushed. He knew what he wanted to sing - one of his favorite duets from the show - but he wasn't sure if it was appropriate for him to ask Blaine to join him. He had always hoped to find someone to sing the song with him, but he couldn't miss out on the opportunity to sing it on a Broadway stage just because he might embarrass himself by asking.

"As long as you're mine" Kurt whispered hoping that his face wasn't too red.

But Blaine just motioned for Kurt to start. Kurt took a deep breath before he sung the first line.

Kiss me too fiercely

Hold me too tight

I need help believing

You're with me tonight

My wildest dreamings

Could not foresee

Lying beside you

With you wanting me

And just for this moment

As long as you're mine

I've lost all resistance

And crossed some borderline

And if it turns out

It's over too fast

I'll make ev'ry last moment last

As long as you're mine

Blaine looked at Kurt in awe before he smiled at him and sang Fiyero's words.

Maybe I'm brainless

Maybe I'm wise

But you've got me seeing

Through different eyes

Somehow I've fallen

Under your spell

And somehow I'm feeling

It's "up" that I fell

They both came together in the middle of the stage and Blaine took Kurt's hand as they sang together.

Every moment

As long as you're mine

I'll wake up my body

And make up for lost time

Just for this moment

As long as you're mine

Come be how you want to

And see how bright we shine

Borrow the moonlight

Until it is through

And know I'll be here holding you

As long as you're mine

They were both breathing hard when they finished, but both had a huge smile on their faces. Kurt took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Blaine again.

"Thank you so much, Blaine. That was the best gift anyone has ever given me," he whispered.

Blaine's face lit up and for a moment Kurt thought Blaine was going to kiss him, but then Blaine just squeezed his arm and let him go. And Kurt was relieved, because no matter how romantic that scene was, he wasn't ready for that. Nick was still only kissing him on the cheek during rehearsal as to not upset him and he didn't want to accidentally push Blaine away during their first kiss.

They left the theater hand in hand and for once Kurt wasn't nervous that other people could see him holding hands with another boy.

Blaine had been a bit worried that singing a love song with Kurt would be too much, and he had been tempted to just give in and kiss the other boy, but he was glad he had refrained because he knew he couldn't kiss Kurt before Kurt wasn't ready for that.

The next two weeks were more of the same. They got coffee together every second day. Saw each other for breakfast and dinner, musical rehearsal and VE prep for Sectionals. On some nights, they hung out with all their friends and on others it was just the two of them.

Halloween was fast approaching and Wes reminded him again to invite Kurt to his Halloween party in his parent's summer house in the Hamptons.

Blaine wanted Kurt to come, but he wasn't sure that Kurt's father would allow him to go. He felt a bit guilty when he stole Kurt's father's number out of Kurt's phone when the other boy went to the bathroom but he didn't want to force Kurt to lie to his dad in order to come to the party.

With shaking fingers he punched in the number and waited with a baited breath.

"Hummel Tires and Lube, how can I help you?" a gruff voice answered the phone.

"Hi this is Blaine Anderson. I'm a friend of Kurt's from NYADA," he said as confidently as possible. "Is this Burt Hummel?"

"Yeah, my kid okay?" "Yes sir, the reason I'm calling is to ask your permission to invite Kurt to a Halloween party out in the Hamptons."

The line went silent for a moment. "Is that a date?" Mr. Hummel asked, sounding nervous.

"No of course not. Kurt and I are really good friends and our other friend Wesley, who is having the party, wants Kurt to come and asked me to invite him."

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to assume." Blaine's had was reeling. Did that mean Kurt's father already knew he was gay. Should he ask? His mouth ran away from him before he could make a decision.

"Would it be bad if it were a date?" he heard himself ask.

"Depends on the person I guess," came the hesitant answer. "Does Kurt know you think that?" Blaine had to know.

"No he doesn't and I'd prefer it if you didn't tell him about this. As long as he doesn't say anything to me I don't want to assume and I don't want you to confirm or deny anything either. That's something between Kurt and myself."

Blaine hated to promise that because he knew how scared Kurt was to come out to his dad, but he did anyway because he didn't want Kurt to get mad if he found out Blaine talked to his dad about that.

"About the party, sir?" He really hoped Kurt would be allowed to go.

"Will there be adults at the party?" Kurt's dad asked. Blaine briefly explained that Wes' parents would be there and Mr. Hummel asked for their phone number to check Blaine wasn't lying.

Blaine wasn't lying per se. Wes' parents would be at the Hamptons, but in the past years they had always gone out and left the kids to their own devices. As long as the house wasn't trashed the next morning, they didn't care what the teenagers did.

Blaine said goodbye to Mr. Hummel and then prepared himself for the next conversation that was going to be a lot harder now that Mr. Hummel had put the idea in his head. He had planned to ask Kurt to come with him as friends, but maybe Kurt would agree to be his date.

He found Kurt at their usual table at the Lima Bean and brought over two fresh cups of coffee.

"Have you heard about Wes' party?" he asked when Kurt looked up. Kurt nodded. "Do you want to go?"

"I am invited?" Kurt asked surprised and Blaine hated that Kurt was surprised because he got invited to a party.

"Of course you are and I – don't be mad – I already talked to your dad about it and he says you can go if Wes' parents confirm they are going to be there."

Kurt stared at him. "You talked to my dad?" Blaine blushed and nodded, fighting the urge to just tell Kurt what his dad had told him.

"So do you want to go – uhm with me?" Blaine added to clarify that he wanted Kurt to be there.

Kurt turned a nice shade of pink, which Blaine found adorable and he opened and closed is mouth a few times before he finally stuttered out. "Li, like as your date?"

Blaine took a deep breath. This was it, he could just tell him they should go as friends or he could risk it. Courage he told himself.

"If you want it to be," he said to keep the ball in Kurt's corner.

Kurt just sat there and stared at him for a few moments that felt like forever.

Finally he spoke,

"Can I think about it?"

Up Next: Halloween and Sectionals

I'll try to have it up soon but I don't want to make any promises I can't keep.