They didn't see each other for another week, caught up in the extra practice sessions and last minute costume emergencies that Sectionals always seemed to bring along with it. Kurt made sure Mercedes realized exactly how much he didn't appreciate her not keeping mouth shut and, suddenly self-conscious despite Blaine's reassurances, he started to rigorously analyze each text and e-mail he sent Blaine. Blaine, for his part, felt powerless at the distance Kurt put between them, wondering if this was how he had made Kurt feel these past months, and why it was that whenever he thought of Kurt only one image would pop up - that of Kurt pinned down to the bed below him, panting, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. He didn't give himself time to dwell on it, though - there were songs to be rehearsed and dance routines to be memorized.

-o0o-

It was already getting pretty crowded in the lobby, but Blaine knew they had at least half an hour to spare before they would have to return to the green room to do some last minute rehearsing. So when he suddenly caught sight of Kurt pushing through the crowd, he quickly excused himself with his fellow Warblers to make his way over to Kurt, wanting to say hi and wish him good luck before they went on stage.

"Kurt!"

"Kurt!"

Blaine felt confused for a moment by the echo of his own voice, when he felt someone push past him and straight to the person he was headed to himself.

"Kurt, how are you? It's been ages!"

Kurt's laughter rang through the hall.

"You're a drama queen, Tiago, we had coffee like - last week."

Blaine watched as the two boys hugged, holding on to each other's arms as they pulled away, grinning broadly.

Well, that was... interesting.

He cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Hi Kurt."

"Blaine, hey!"

Kurt raised his hand, but he didn't let go of Tiago to hug Blaine as Blaine had expected. Instead, he pointed at the tall guy standing awkwardly next to him.

"You both remember Finn, right?"

"Oh yeah, the other brother," Tiago nodded, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Technically, he's my step brother," Finn grinned, throwing his arm over Kurt's shoulder and ruffling his hand through the smaller boy's hair, "but I love him like he was a real one."

"Technically," Kurt said, struggling to escape Finn's grip, "you're my ex step brother. And realistically, you'll be my dead ex step brother if you don't get your hands OUT OF MY HAIR!"

He all but shrieked the last sentence, finally pushing Finn off and reaching for his hair.

"You're lucky I haven't fixed it for our performance yet," he said, glaring.

"Actually, I kinda like it like that," Tiago slapped away Kurt's hands to adjust one or two locks himself, "you look... wild."

He ignored the bitch glare Kurt sent him and stepped back, cocking his head to admire his handiwork.

"Beautiful," he smiled. "Now, how about we meet up some time next week? Let me console you about your inevitable loss tonight?"

Tiago winked, but Kurt wasn't impressed.

"If there's anyone who's going to need consolation it's gonna be you, Tiago Warbler," he said haughtily, although his eyes sparkled, "but I will gladly make time for that. Tuesday?"

The smaller boy shook his head, lifting one corner of his mouth in regret.

"Warblers."

"Right, forgot about that... Wednesday, then?"

"Perfect - dinner at Breadstix?"

"Deal."

"Settled! Now come on," Tiago grabbed Kurt's hand, "I want you to meet my parents."

Within seconds, they had disappeared in the crowd and Blaine watched them go, unable to shake the feeling of apprehension that had grown in him while he was watching their easy exchange. Never before in his life had he felt left out of a conversation as much as he had just now. He slowly turned around to find Finn still standing there, his hands on his stomach.

"I'm hungry."

Blaine squinted.

"Seriously, Finn? Th�t's what you're thinking about now?"

"What? I can't help it!" Finn shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "I'm a teenager, my mom says it's normal."

Shaking his head, Blaine stared at Finn, unable to understand how the jock had apparently completely missed out on what had just happened under his own nose.

"No, Finn, I mean: seriously - our little brother was just asked out on a date and all you can think of is food?"

"Kurt was asked on a date?"

Blaine could tell the look of surprise on Finn's face was genuine, and he could almost see the wheels turning in the other boy's head, replaying the memory of the conversation they had just witnessed in light of this new piece of information. Before long, though, Finn started grinning.

"Cool!"

"Cool?" Blaine repeated, incredulous. This was not quite the reaction he had been going for. "Cool?"

"Well yeah!" Finn kept grinning like an idiot. "I know Kurt gets lonely sometimes, he deserves a little happiness, don't you think? And I like that kid, we played Halo on New Year's. Totally kicked my ass, too. You fancy a sub?"

"Finn! Just... stop thinking with your stomach for a minute and concentrate, okay?"

Blaine placed himself in front of Finn, making himself as tall as he possibly could to get his attention. If the jock couldn't figure out the problem at hand himself, Blaine was going to spell it out for him.

"Kurt, who has never dated before, has been asked out for dinner with a guy you don't even know, and you're not in the least bit worried about that?"

"Why would I be worried?" Finn looked at Blaine, not understanding. "Kurt looked happy enough to go. And I do know the guy, I just told you, we played Halo together. You want ham or cheese?"

"Finn!" Blaine was baffled. "I'm serious - this is our little brother we're talking about!"

"Whoa, dude, chill!" Finn took a step back in reaction to Blaine's outburst, raising his hands as if he wanted to calm him down. "Relax! Don't you think you're overreacting a little bit here? I mean, it's just dinner. I bet you go for dinner with Kurt like, all the time."

"That's diff-"

"Look - I get get that you want to protect Kurt and stuff, but Kurt's a smart guy. And if that kid does anything to hurt him, I promise I'll gladly help you kick his ass, throw him in a dumpster and... kick the dumpster. But until that happens, I think we should trust Kurt to do what he thinks will make him happy. So unless you're telling me now that that guy is some kind of drug dealer or that he's straight, I'm gonna go grab something to eat, ok?"

Finn looked at Blaine questioningly, but when he didn't receive a reply, he just shrugged.

"Okay then... so yeah... bye, Blaine. And... break an arm. Or something."

Finn lifted his hand in goodbye and Blaine returned the gesture absentmindedly, turning to look at where Tiago and Kurt were standing with Tiago's parents. He just couldn't understand how could Finn let this go so easily - Kurt was his brother, too, after all. How did he not worry about Kurt dating, whether Kurt wouldn't get hurt, whether the guy he was seeing was even good enough for him?

Kurt deserves a little happiness, don't you think?

Well, yeah, of course Kurt deserved happiness, but what worried Blaine was whether Tiago was the right guy for Kurt to be happy with. Sure, he was a sweet kid, and Blaine even had to admit he was kinda cute with his dark skin and his toothpaste smile. Plus he got the whole cute foreign accent going for him. But he was small, even smaller than Blaine, and he could be very child-like, all bounce and enthusiasm and no brain. If you asked Blaine, Kurt needed something more: someone older, more mature. And although he didn't share any classes with the boy, Blaine was prepared to bet Tiago's GPA was at least 0.5 points lower than his own. He didn't share Kurt's love for fashion or theatre, hell, the kid didn't even like show tunes! Sure, he was a proud Warbler, but although Blaine was too professional to ever blab about something as sacred as the Warblers' auditioning process, everyone knew Tiago's acceptance had been a close call, the Council having been more impressed with his stage presence and moves than with his actual voice. And he had never even seen The Sound Of Music!

A familiar high pitched laugh brought Blaine back to reality, and through the mass of bodies surrounding him Blaine could see Kurt and Tiago laughing about something, casually laying an arm around each other's waist and pulling each other in, Kurt resting his head on the smaller boy's shoulder for just a second before they broke away.

Blaine felt the knot of worry in his stomach growing at the sight. Tiago was not the right guy for Kurt, he just wasn't. Blaine couldn't say why exactly, or how he knew with such certainty, he just... knew. And he cared too much about Kurt to let him get hurt like that.

Suddenly, he thought of Kyle, and what he had said to Blaine that day when he'd freaked out at the stables.

You can fool everyone, including yourself, saying that you care this much about Kurt simply because he's your brother, but you can't fool me. I see the way you act around him, Blaine. Maybe if you opened your eyes, you'd see it too.

And with a sudden pang the realization hit him.

He wasn't worried at all.

He was jealous.

-o0o-

He all but blew their performance at Sectionals that night - forgot a line here, skipped a step there, ... and although none of his fellow Warblers said anything about it afterwards, Blaine knew they all secretly blamed him for their loss. He felt guilty, he really did, because he knew they were at least partially right (although in all fairness they probably would have lost even if Blaine had put on the performance of a lifetime), but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care all that much.

It was strange, he thought, sitting in his room the next day, that a feeling he had apparently been able to ignore for God knows how long could suddenly dominate his every thought now that he had become aware of it. He was in love with Kurt. He was in love with Kurt - and when exactly did that happen?

Kyle had laughed softly when he had called Blaine earlier that day to ask how Sectionals had been and Blaine had had to admit why their performance had gone less than smoothly. Some people fall hard and fast, Kyle had said, others flutter down slowly and gently, like a feather, only noticing how far they've fallen when they hit the ground.

Even so, Blaine cursed himself for not realizing it sooner. The moment he found out about Kurt's feelings would have been nice, for example. Or really, anytime before Kurt had moved out. Just thinking of all the possibilities if Kurt and he had started dating while they were still living under the same roof was enough to make Blaine's insides flutter and send his mind to places he didn't known existed, places he wasn't even allowed to go. Because the fact of the matter remained: Kurt and he were not dating. In fact, Finn's doubts aside, Blaine was convinced Kurt might actually be dating someone else.

And how exactly was he supposed to deal with this now? What exactly was he supposed to do when he saw Kurt, when Kurt called him, when...

*ping*

... Kurt came online?

Blaine looked in horror at his laptop screen where the little message had just popped up. Before he had the clarity of mind to change his status to 'offline', though, Kurt had already sent him a message.

KEHummel - Hi Blaine

For a moment, Blaine felt tempted to say he didn't have time right now and to just log off, but he knew Kurt wouldn't easily buy that. It was Sunday, after all, and Kurt had spent one too many lazy Sundays at the Andersons to believe anything important would be happening on that day.

'Courage', he whispered to himself, wiping the sweat off his palms before he started typing.

BlaineWarbler - hi
BlaineWarbler - how r u?
KEHummel - I would be better if you would learn to spell, but I'm still basking in yesterday's victory, so I won't hold it against you this time.

Despite himself, Blaine felt himself let out a giggle.

BlaineWarbler - Sorry. And congratulations, by the way, didn't have the chance to see you anymore after the show.

Technically, he hadn't given himself a chance to go see Kurt after the show, but Kurt didn't need to know that.

KEHummel - I accept your apology �nd the congratulations.
KEHummel - Now, I have good news and bad news.
BlaineWarbler - You've been asked to work for Alexander McQueen but your dad won't let you move to the UK on your own? ;)
KEHummel - Not yet, no. Although I can assure you that in such a case my dad wouldn't be able to stop me even if he wanted to.
KEHummel - It's about Nicky.

Blaine froze in his seat. He hadn't given much thought to Nicky and their impulsive and completely unstructured plan to find him anymore, lately. For starters, he had been a bit preoccupied by a recent epiphany he'd had, and secondly... the possibility of actually seeing his little brother again scared him more than he liked to admit. He h�d abandoned him, after all, even if it hadn't been his choice to do so. What if Nicky was mad at him? What if he didn't want to see Blaine?

He was afraid to admit these thoughts even to Kurt though, especially since Kurt was putting so much effort into finding Nicky and so Blaine urged himself to stay calm. They hadn't found him just yet, after all.

BlaineWarbler - Yes?
KEHummel - Carole came to our house today.

For some reason, Blaine felt immediately alarmed.

BlaineWarbler - Does that mean the good news is really good or the bad news is really bad?
KEHummel - Neither.
KEHummel - I secretly suspect she just wanted an excuse to stop by and see my dad.
BlaineWarbler - :)
KEHummel - So, what do you want to start with?
BlaineWarbler - Eh... the bad news?
KEHummel - Carole got an address.
BlaineWarbler - ?
BlaineWarbler - And this is bad how?
KEHummel - 31st Third Oak Street, 43326 Kenton

Blaine felt his heart skip a beat as he read over the line a couple of times.

BlaineWarbler - That's... our address.
KEHummel - Exactly.
KEHummel - My guess is they either hadn't officially changed his domicile at the time, or they did it on purpose in case we'd try exactly this. Though my guess would be on the first.
BlaineWarbler - So... back to square one.
KEHummel - Yes...
KEHummel - But you haven't heard the good news yet.
BlaineWarbler - Is it as dubiously good as the bad is bad?
KEHummel - ...
KEHummel - I'm just going to ignore that.
KEHummel - Carole had a look at his medical file.
KEHummel - She wouldn't tell me any specifics, of course, BUT she said not to worry - he's still in one piece.
BlaineWarbler - She said THAT?
BlaineWarbler - Because that doesn't reassure me. At all.
KEHummel - Well, she said "I can't guarantee anything, but assuming he received proper care after leaving the hospital, I expect he would be fully recovered.".
KEHummel - I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

Blaine closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, feeling suddenly ten pounds lighter.

Someone, a nurse, who knew about this stuff, had looked at Nicky's file and said he would be alright. Nicky was alright. Whatever had happened to him... he was all right and Blaine wasn't sure if he felt like crying or laughing.

KEHummel - Blaine?
KEHummel - You there?
BlaineWarbler - Yeah... yeah...
BlaineWarbler - That's great news.
BlaineWarbler - That's just... more than I could've hoped for, now.
BlaineWarbler - Thank Carole for me, yes?
KEHummel - I will.
KEHummel - So, are we still up for tomorrow?

And that small sentence was all it took for Blaine to regain all the pounds he had just lost and then some: he was supposed to meet Kurt tomorrow to dig into some news paper articles Kurt had apparently found.

KEHummel - Blaine?
KEHummel - We could do it another time, if something came up.
BlaineWarbler - Nono. It's okay. Breadstix after school, I can do that.
KEHummel - Great :).
KEHummel - See you tomorrow!

*Kurt Hummel has logged off.*

Blaine stared at his screen for a good five minutes before he could no longer ignore the way the walls in his room seemed to be closing in on him. He quickly got up to change into his horse riding gear - there were a few things on his mind he could really do with forgetting, right now.