Kurt Hummel would never admit this to another living soul, but sometimes, when he's at home alone and no one's around to hear, he sings ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You' to Blaine Anderson's yearbook picture. Sure, he feels like a lovesick, thirteen year old girl experiencing her first junior high crush, but he can't help it. Blaine is perfect in every way possible - he's absolutely gorgeous, super smart, incredibly talented, unfailingly kind and sweet to pretty much everyone at school, and extremely popular. He looks so adorable in the occasional sweater vest and his collection of bowties and scarves. His smile makes Kurt's heart lurch in a way he didn't even know was physically possible. Blaine is just - he's wonderful. Wonderful.

And straight.

So very, very straight. And dating the most popular girl in school: pretty Rachel Berry with the voice of an angel and the soft curve of breasts and round, slim hips and legs for miles and she's everything Kurt can't ever be.

Kurt gazes, unable to keep himself from swooning, at Blaine's yearbook picture.

And then he groans and drops his head on his desk.

Because Blaine Anderson is straight and Kurt Hummel is cursed.

            "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

Mercedes' voice catches him completely off guard, and he almost smacks himself in the face with his locker door. He follows her line of sight, feeling his heart clench painfully in his chest when he sees Blaine plant a too-long kiss to Rachel's lips at the end of the hall. They're surrounded by the rest of their friends, all of them popular and all of them beautiful. When the lip lock ends and Blaine's eyes can potentially catch Kurt staring, Kurt ducks his head.

            "No," he says. "But I want to."

            "Yeah," Mercedes sighs. "Me, too."

            "Our day will come," Kurt says with confidence.

Even if he never gets the chance to kiss Blaine, he knows he'll eventually get to experience his first kiss at some point or another. And if that doesn't happen until college or something, well, then that's just the way of the world. Being the only gay kid out of the closet at McKinley High certainly has its drawbacks and this is one of them.

            "Maybe we should just kiss each other and get it over with," Mercedes suggests, though Kurt can hear the bitterness in her tone.

            "Honey, you know I love you," Kurt says with a roll of his eyes, "but no."

            "Yeah, I know," she says a bit sheepishly. "Besides, I know exactly who you're waiting to kiss."

            "Don't you dare," Kurt warns.

            "Maybe you should stop looking at him like he's a particularly delicious piece of meat. That you're in love with."

            "Easier said than done."

            "You know what I'll never understand?" Mercedes begins. "How Rachel can be as loud and abrasive as she is and still get that fine piece of man. I mean, she's been in Glee with us since freshman year and I know you remember how she was back then."

            "Even more of a headache than she is now," Kurt recalls. "I think it has to do with the fact that she stopped wearing tights under her skirts and switched from animal sweaters to fitted tank tops."

            "Maybe," Mercedes says. "But it wasn't even until Blaine transferred at the beginning of sophomore year two years ago that she even started trying."

            "He made singing sexy," Kurt says with a shrug as he closes his locker. "They became the lead soloists. Of course they got together, that's the way of high school. It's like when the quarterback dates the head cheerleader."

Kurt nods to Finn Hudson and Quinn Fabray to prove his point.

            "I just think that Blaine deserves an award for having to put up with her nattering in his ear all the time," Kurt continues.

            "It's not fair," Mercedes states. "They're in Glee with us, but we're still stuck on the ground floor with the losers. Same goes for Quinn and Finn - I mean, Finn's your brother now and you still don't get invited to any of their parties. How does that even make sense?"

            "I stopped trying to figure that out a long time ago," Kurt lies.

Truth be told, he asks himself that same question every single night before he goes to sleep.

            "Yeah," Mercedes mumbles. "I guess it doesn't matter now. We'll graduate at the end of the year and that'll be that. We'll probably never see them again."

That thought almost makes Kurt cry, because he doesn't know what he'll do without being able to see Blaine's perfect face every day. Sure, he'll probably be saner once he's done with this whole unrequited love mess, but it still hurts to think that he really has zero chance with Blaine at all.

            "Come on," he says, looping his arm with Mercedes. "You know we see plenty of them together during Glee. I don't think my stomach can handle seeing anything extra. Or my heart."

Later during the day, when Dave Karofsky gives him a particularly forceful shove against a row of lockers that sends him spiraling to the floor, Kurt internally curses every student that walks past him without a single word. He sits there, clutching his knees to his chest until the hall empties out and he can stand and retain a bit of his dignity in peace.

He really hates this school.

            "Hey, Kurt."

Kurt's breath catches in his throat. There's Blaine, striding down the hall, looking perfectly at ease even though he's clearly late to his next class, and he's still just as sexy as Kurt remembers him being the first day he had transferred.

            "H-Hi, Blaine," he stammers, mentally slapping himself as he does.

Blaine smiles on of those cocky, yet attractive half smiles and Kurt can't help but smile back. Blaine's grins are infectious.

            "Are you skipping too?" Blaine asks.

            "What? No! I've never - wait, are you skipping class?"

            "Thinking about it," Blaine says with a careless shrug. "We've got a substitute in government today and I really don't feel like reading a chapter or doing busy work that probably won't even be graded. What're you doing out here if you're not skipping?"

            "I was - uh-"

Blaine eyes him seriously, taking in Kurt's rumpled appearance and the way he's cradling his elbow that had collided a little too roughly with a locker.

            "Are you okay? You look...I don't know."

            "I'm fine," Kurt says, ducking his head and hardening his gaze.

            "You don't look fine."

            "It doesn't matter," Kurt says, tugging his bag a bit higher on his shoulder. "I'll see you in Glee."

Just as he makes to walk away, Blaine grabs his shoulder, effectively stopping his escape. Kurt can feel the way his pulse begins to race just because Blaine is touching him and oh, god, he really does have it bad.

            "Wait," Blaine says. "Come skip with me. I was going to hide out in the auditorium and rehearse for West Side Story auditions."

            "I - I don't know-"

            "Come on," Blaine urges, gracing Kurt with another grin. Damnit. Kurt can't refuse that grin. "Skipping with someone else is always better than skipping alone."

            "That was amazing," Kurt says, genuinely blown away by Blaine's rendition of ‘Something's Coming'. "You're a shoe in for Tony."

Blaine shrugs, joining Kurt on the floor of the stage.

            "If I get Tony, that'll be great," he says. "But really I think I'd be happy with anything."

            "You're too humble, you know that?"

            "What about you?" Blaine asks, brushing off Kurt's praise. "What part do you want?"

            "Oh, I'm not - I'm not auditioning," Kurt says.

            "What? Why not? You love acting," Blaine says.

            "Just because you love something doesn't mean you're good at it," Kurt states. "And I'm not exactly the right type for Tony or...anyone else in this play, really."

            "Bullshit," Blaine argues. "You can have anything you want if you want it bad enough."

            "Now that sounds like Rachel talking."

Blaine goes a shade paler than normal, rubbing at the back of his head with his hand.

            "I guess it did," he mumbles. "Sorry."

            "It's okay," Kurt says, taking a chance and giving Blaine's knee a friendly nudge with his own. "I mean, you guys have been dating for a while now. She was bound to rub off on you at some point."

            "Yeah, I guess you're right," Blaine acknowledges.

Kurt notes the distant look in Blaine's eyes and the slight, almost imperceptible furrow of his brow. He wants to inquire further and ask why Blaine looks so uncomfortable all of the sudden, but he doesn't want to overstep his bounds. They're not exactly friends, Kurt reminds himself. They're really just teammates that are exposed to each other on an almost-daily basis. Kurt has never had to opportunity to talk to Blaine outside of Glee club and he's not going to screw this up. If this is his one chance to gain even the slightest glimpse into the truth of Blaine Anderson, he's not going to do anything to push Blaine away.

            "I guess I could go out for Officer Krupke," Kurt voices. "There's no chance in hell I'll get a shot at Tony, not with you around. But I - I guess I can audition for something."

So I can be around you a little more, Kurt doesn't say.

Blaine brightens visibly, giving Kurt a broad smile in return.

            "That's the spirit!" he exclaims loudly, almost causing Kurt to jump at the noise. "So, are you coming to Rachel's party this Saturday?"

Kurt stares back blankly.

            "What?"

            "Rachel's having a party," Blaine explains. "Her dads are out of town on a cruise and she's having a few people over."

            "Few people meaning...?"

            "Not sure. I think Finn and Quinn are coming. Oh and Santana and Brittany and maybe a few other Cheerios. I think maybe some of the guys from the football team like Puck and Mike might show up, too. And probably Sam."

Kurt doesn't point out the fact Finn, Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Puck, Mike, and Sam are all part of Glee as well, and why couldn't he just say some other kids from Glee were coming, because that would be counter-productive. And Blaine just asked if Kurt was going.

            "I'm not, um, exactly into parties," Kurt admits, unable to hide his blush.

            "Well it's not going to be some full blown house party or anything," Blaine says. "Just a group of us in her basement, probably doing karaoke and playing something stupid like spin the bottle or god knows what else Rachel can think of. You should come. I've never seen you at any of her other parties."

            "I've never been invited to any of her other parties," Kurt reminds.

            "Well I'm inviting you to this one."

            "Would - I mean, do you think Karofsky or Azimio will be there?" Kurt asks hesitantly. "Because we don't exactly...get along."

            "No, because they're dicks," Blaine says plainly. "And they're dicks to everyone. So no, they're not invited."

Biting his tongue, Kurt refuses to elaborate on the fact that Karofsky happens to be a particularly huge to dick to Kurt for a myriad of reasons, most of them still a mystery to Kurt himself. Blaine doesn't need to know about his problems.

            "Do you think it'd be okay if I brought Mercedes?" Kurt asks, not exactly willing to attend his first party without his best friend.

            "Sure," Blaine says easily. "It'll be fun."

            "Yeah," Kurt says, a smile threatening to break through.

            "Good," Blaine says as he stands. "So I'll see you in Glee. And I'll see you on Saturday?"

            "I'll be there."

    "Awesome."

Blaine offers him a small wave in parting, darting out of the auditorium in order to head to his next class. The bell rings, but Kurt can only barely hear it over the sound of the blood rushing in his ears.

Blaine Anderson, the most popular boy in school, just skipped class with him and invited him to a party. A real party.

Kurt fishes his phone out of his pocket, sending off a quick text to Mercedes. They have to go shopping as soon as possible. He has to find the perfect outfit.

Because this might just be the best night of his life.