The date started off awkwardly to say the least. Blaine made a habit of fumbling over his words which Kurt didn’t mind and actually found quite endearing, but made Blaine want to crawl into a hole and die. Over dinner, Kurt spilled spaghetti sauce on the white T-shirt he’d worn under his navy blue cardigan. Kurt had cursed under his breath muttering something about the sauce ruining his whole outfit, which it did, but turned down Blaine’s offer to drive him home so he could change. Instead, he opted to simply button the cardigan and adjust the scarf he’d worn with it so it covered unsightly stain on his shirt. To be honest, Blaine found Kurt’s distress over his outfit to be the most adorable thing he’d ever seen and couldn’t help but to smile at Kurt’s wrinkled brow and distressed expression as he continuously readjusted his scarf in attempts to hide the bright red stain on his T-shirt.

After the spaghetti debacle, things seemed to go well. They fell into easy, but safe, conversation and talked about things like Blaine’s classes and Kurt’s constant quest to find a job while he was taking classes himself at the local community college.

When they reached the theater, however, their night hit another low point when Blaine left his wallet in the car and had to run back to pick it up so they could purchase the tickets. Kurt offered to pay since Blaine had, against Kurt’s objections, paid for dinner but Blaine refused his offer saying something about how he had asked Kurt out tonight and insisted on buying both their tickets. When Blaine returned, he found Kurt in a heated conversation with someone he heard Kurt refer to as ‘Karofsky’.

“Everything alright?” Blaine asked as he approached Kurt who was standing near the curb, arms crossed and wearing an expression that reeked of both annoyance and anger.

Karofsky scoffed, pointing toward Blaine. “This your boyfriend?”

Blaine eyed Karofsky curiously, unsure of how to respond, before turning to Kurt who was still seething with rage. “You know him?” He asked, quietly. He was hoping that this would all blow over quickly. Blaine hated confrontation (it had never been a strong point of his) and he disliked the ugly expression on Kurt’s face even more.

Kurt closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, holding it in, and then exhaling a few moments later. He uncrossed his arms and took hold of Blaine’s hand before opening his eyes and glaring at Karofsky who was smugly looking in his direction.

Blaine was completely and utterly confused. He’d been hoping that things would start looking up after the spaghetti incident and his earlier incapability of holding a steady conversation. He figured the movies would be a good place for both of them to unwind while giving them something to talk about once it was over. However, it seemed as if this night was destined to go badly. He looked up at this Karofsky guy. He was clearly bigger than both Kurt and Blaine and it was very obvious that Kurt wasn’t very fond of him. Blaine could only wonder how they knew each other and what Karofsky had done to make Kurt dislike him so much.

Looking back to Kurt, Blaine frowned. He really didn’t like the ugly expression he was wearing nor the way he had completely ignored his question. He decided to brush it off though. Kurt must have had a reason for the way he was handling the situation and Blaine was sure he would explain everything when the time came.

“Kurt?” Blaine spoke, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Let’s just get our tickets, okay?” Kurt suggested, his voice dripping with irritation. Blaine’s hand fell from his shoulder as Kurt pulled him toward the ticket counter at the front of the theater, his eyes staying fixed on Karofsky until they reached their destination.

Blaine watched as Karofsky eyed both him and Kurt for a moment before stepping off of the curb and entering the parking lot. He didn’t miss the wink he shot in Kurt’s direction though.

After purchasing two tickets for the eight o’clock showing of The Avengers Blaine turned to face Kurt. “Care to explain what just happened there?” He asked as they made their way into the theater.

The angered expression Kurt had previously been wearing had disappeared and was now replaced with one filled with both stress and worry. Kurt was fiddling with the sleeve of his cardigan, his eyes trained on the ground.

“Not really,” he answered, briefly glancing up at Blaine. “Let’s just… can we just go watch the movie? I don’t… I’d rather not talk about this right now.”

Blaine simply nodded. He thought about attempting to lace his fingers with Kurt just to let him know that everything was okay, but decided against it. Instead, he handed Kurt his ticket and led the way toward the concession stand.

“Do you… You want popcorn or something?” Blaine asked, nervously as Kurt caught up with him. He was slightly irritated and disappointed with the way the night was going, but didn’t necessarily want to show it. He just wanted things to turn around. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle yet another disaster.

“No,” Kurt mumbled, his hand sneaking under the sleeve of his cardigan as he pinched at the skin of his wrist. He looked toward Blaine, his eyes distant. “We’re in theater seven right?”

Blaine sighed, but nodded nonetheless. “Yeah,” he mumbled and started walking toward the theater, Kurt following close behind.

The pair found seats near the back of the theater. The movie wasn’t due to start for another fifteen minutes, but neither of them attempted to make conversation. Kurt had this far off look in his eyes and was constantly fiddling with his scarf, the hem of his cardigan or picking at his arms. Blaine could tell he was nervous, but wasn’t sure of what to do to repair the situation.  He’d tried talking to Kurt, but he didn’t seem to have anything to say. It was obvious that Kurt was bothered by what had happened outside of the theater, this was something Blaine was sure of, but it was also just as obvious that it was something Kurt would rather keep to himself.

That was what bothered Blaine the most; the fact that Kurt was completely shutting down on him. He figured that he deserved some sort of explanation about what had happened outside and Kurt just wasn’t giving it to him, instead choosing to fold in on himself thus leaving Blaine completely in the dark. He almost would have preferred if Kurt had just chosen to end the night early. If he was going to act like this for the remainder of the date, Blaine wouldn’t have minded the disappointment of ending the date on a sour note. It would have been better than enduring the uncomfortable silence of the movie theater while Kurt festered in his anger as he fiddled with his scarf and nervously picked at his skin.

Blaine was more than grateful when the lights dimmed and the previews started. It gave him something to focus on other than the complete and total disaster that his date with Kurt had turned into. However, while he was mildly entertained by the movie, he couldn’t help but to notice that Kurt wasn’t even paying attention which annoyed him even further.

When the movie ended they both remained in their seats as the rest of the audience filtered out of the auditorium. Kurt continued to pinch at his arms and Blaine simply stared ahead at the screen watching the credits. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was legitimately pissed off.

“Are we –“ Blaine stopped himself, afraid his tone would come across to harshly. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “Do you want to talk?”

Kurt’s eyes remained fixed in his lap as he shrugged his shoulders. He still looked just as stressed out and worried as he had before the movie started, but he also looked a little scared as well. “I… I don’t know.” His voice was small and Blaine could tell that Kurt wanted nothing more than to shrink into himself and avoid the world altogether.

“Well I hate to break it to you, Kurt, but we can’t exactly sit in this theater all night,” Blaine said unable to help the bitter annoyance that seeped into his words. 

Kurt sighed and pushed himself up and out of his seat. “We can go then,” he mumbled and stood in the aisle before leading the way out of the theater.

They walked to Blaine’s car in silence, Kurt never looking up from his shoes. Blaine couldn’t help but to notice how utterly defeated Kurt looked. It was like he’d been knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly; as if it was all he could do just to stand upright and walk back to the car.

Suddenly, Blaine wasn’t even angry anymore. All he wanted to do was sweep Kurt into his arms and fix whatever it was that was wrong with him. He just wanted to hug him and make all the negative thoughts that were swimming around and clouding his brain go away. Blaine just wanted the beautifully enthusiastic boy he’d met at Paul’s house to come back to him.

“I uh…” Blaine nervously carded his fingers through his hair. “Do you want to…? “

Kurt looked up at him and Blaine could see that he still wasn’t all the way there. He looked tired and worn. “Huh?”

“Do you want me to just take you home?” Blaine asked as he unlocked the car. He opened his door and waited for Kurt’s response.

Kurt sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging as he exhaled. “Yeah, I… I think that’s probably best.”

Blaine had to struggle to hear him, Kurt’s voice was so small. He nodded, and climbed into the car and put on his seatbelt, waiting for Kurt to do the same before he started the engine. The ride was silent, but Blaine knew that it was probably best. It wasn’t as if Kurt was going to say anything if Blaine had attempted conversation anyways.

When they reached Kurt’s house, Blaine pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. He kept both his hands on the wheel as he turned to face Kurt whose eyes were still trained on his lap. He had, however, stopped pinching at his arms.

“Well uh… here we are,” Blaine spoke uneasily.

Kurt turned and met Blaine’s eyes for the first time since he’d run into Karafsky. His gaze was filled with apologies Blaine knew he wasn’t quite ready to verbalize. It didn’t do much to fix things, but it did ease the tension some.

“Thanks,” Kurt said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Blaine only nodded and unlocked the door to the passenger’s side of the car.

As he moved to get out of the car, Kurt turned back to Blaine offering a sad, but hopeful smile, before climbing out and shutting the door behind him. There were no goodbyes, just the unspoken agreement that they would maybe, hopefully, speak again later.