THE SUE SYLVESTER SHUFFLE

“You know; I haven’t had a coffee as good as this in ages”

Blaine grins as he sits across from Jerimiah, trying hard not to blush every time the young man looks
at him for longer than a few seconds. It’s rather hard though, because his eyes are so mesmerising
that Blaine feels like he just wants to get lost in them. But he can’t, at least not today. He has to
meet Kurt in half an hour so they can drive down to Lima for dinner at Kurt’s house.

“Well, it’s nothing compared to the Lima Bean, but it is pretty good” Blaine hums and sips his coffee
and tries to compose himself. “Thank you for… having coffee with me today” He breathes and
Jerimiah shrugs his shoulders.

“It’s no big deal. I mean, we did have coffee a few weeks ago” He chuckles and set’s his cup down. “I
see you around the store quite often…So I have to ask you something. Do you come there for… me?”
Jerimiah asks and Blaine swallows his coffee a little too quickly and starts to choke just a little.

“Do I… no. No. I like to shop. A lot. And The Gap has really good deals so… I come around when I
can… for the deals” Blaine nods quickly and sets his own cup down. Jerimiah smiles a little and
reaches behind him to put his jacket back on.

“I just thought I’d ask. Anyway… I have to get back to work. Don’t be a stranger… I can point out
good deals to you whenever you’d like” he gets to his feet and gives Blaine a small pat on the
shoulder before he leaves, leaving the younger boy blushing furiously. Blaine turns around and
watches him leave before he sighs softly and gets to his feet, putting his bag over his shoulder. He
knows that his crush is pointless, but Jerimiah hadn’t exactly blown him off yet, so that had to be a
good thing, right?
Blaine smiles at the barista as he leaves, heading back to his car. He knows it’s silly, and that maybe
he should just come clean about his feelings to the older man, but he doesn’t really want to feel
rejection again. The last time he’d been rejected had hurt, physically.
He closes his eyes when the memories start to flood back in and he shakes his head, getting into the
car, turning the radio on quickly. He doesn’t need any reminders of that night. None at all. He makes
the drive back to Dalton with the radio on full blast, smiling when he spots Kurt as he pulls in to his
usual parking area.

“Blaine! I was worried I’d have to go and search for you! Are you ready to go?” Kurt asks as Blaine
climbs out of his car, locking it before he makes his way over to his friend, who is carefully stowing
Pavarotti and his cage into the back seat.

“Ready. You’re bringing Pav?” Blaine hums as he sets his bag down on the floor in the passenger side
of the car, smiling at Kurt as he leans against the car frame.

“Of course. I have to make sure he’s warm and fully fed” Kurt hums happily and closes the back
door, looking at Blaine with a soft blush on his cheeks.

“Dad and Carole are excited. They can’t wait
to meet you” He breathes and Blaine smiles at him, adjusting his tie a little. Tonight is the night he
gets to meet Kurt’s Dad. He has to admit, he’s just a little nervous. He’s seen pictures of the man, of
course he has. Kurt was only too happy to show him his family and friends, but there’s something
different about meeting your best friend’s father, and Blaine knows he has to make a good
impression.

“I’m excited to meet them. And to officially meet Finn. He and Rachel are still broken up?” Blaine
asks as Kurt moves around to the driver’s side, slipping in to start the engine. Kurt gives Blaine a nod
as he gets in and buckles up, settling down into the passenger seat.

“Yeah. I gather so, Rachel hasn’t told me any different. Finn doesn’t really like to talk much about
her… though I assume that’s because she cheated.” Kurt sighs and backs out of his spot, heading out
onto the main road a few moments later.

“Yeah… she is very head strong too…from what I’ve seen of her so far. She was definitely a shining
star at the Christmas concert we did together” Blaine hums and glances over at Kurt, the boy rolling
his eyes as he grips the wheel.

“I heard. She told me at least three times. I wouldn’t be surprised if she starts trying to call you up,
asking for you to be her permanent duet partner” Kurt sighs and Blaine chuckles softly, hooking his
phone up to Kurt’s sound system.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Besides, you’re my new duet partner” Blaine grins and looks
over at Kurt, who flashes him a coy smile before he focuses his gaze back to the road.

“Speaking of duets… our Christmas rehearsal was rather fabulous… do the warblers ever have more
than just one person sing? And… um… is it ever anyone else? No offense” Kurt adds quickly and gives
Blaine a quick look to make sure the boy isn’t angry at him. Blaine just smiles and runs a hand
through his slightly gelled curls and sighs.

“I… since I’ve been there… we haven’t really showcased a duet. Only solo voices. I… I guess I was
originally asked to lead the group because I have a strong voice. That’s what David told me anyway.
But as you saw, we do showcase others voices. Nick had a solo at sectionals and I don’t really know
what’s going to be happening for regionals. I for one am all for showcasing more talent, but as you
know… it’s not up to me” Blaine hums and looks over at Kurt, who sighs softly at the boy’s words.

“I know that you aren’t the final decision maker… but you do have a strong influence over the group
Blaine, you can’t deny that.” Kurt says and Blaine picks up on the small tone of annoyance that’s
wrapped up in his words. Blaine sighs softly and nods.
“You’re right” he hums and watches as Kurt nibbles on his lower lip for a few moments.

“So…Did you watch the latest episode of the bachelorette?”

The atmosphere throughout the rest of the car ride is that of a peaceful one, and Blaine is more than
thankful for how easy it is for him and Kurt to talk to each other. It feels like time goes by in a flash,
and soon Blaine is smiling nervously as Kurt pulls into his driveway and kills the engine with a sigh.

“Here we are, home sweet home” he hums and looks over to Blaine, giving him a small smile. The
pair climbs out of the car and Blaine allows himself a few brief moments to admire the home that
stands in front of him. It is nothing like his parents overly grand house, and he loves it. He loves the
slightly overgrown bushes that line the pathway; he loves the little knocker on the door and the cosy
feel that the whole place gives off.

“You have a really lovely home Kurt” Blaine comments and turns around to help Kurt with his things,
the other boy chuckling at him softly.

“You haven’t even stepped inside yet”

Blaine smiles and turns back to face the house, swallowing when he door opens. Burt Hummel walks
outside of his house and makes his way down the pathway towards the boys, and Blaine
automatically straightens up his posture a little more.

“It’s about time boys” Burt hums and he smiles at his son before he turns his full attention to Blaine.

“You must be Blaine. Heard a lot about you, more so about your voice but… I’m sure I’ll learn the
rest” Burt extends a hand and Blaine shakes it firmly, smiling softly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr Hummel” Blaine breathes and Burt lets go of his hand, smiling as he
folds his arms across his chest.

“Polite… I like it” he chuckles and smiles at Kurt as the boy passes him.

“Come on, I’m starving and I’m sure Blaine would like to meet Carole too Dad”

Burt nods his head and let’s Blaine pass, the boy giving him a humble smile.

“Kurt always talks about you guys… I hear you wedding was amazing. Very tasteful” He hums and
Burt lets out a hearty chuckle as he follows the two boys into the house, Kurt setting his things down
in the hall.

“Thank you. One of the best day’s I’ve ever had” Burt smiles and closes the door behind him. Blaine
can here pans clanging from the kitchen and the smell of dinner hits him quickly. He looks around
the home and immediately feels warm and at home in his surroundings. There is wall art hanging on
the wall that Blaine can only assume Kurt chose, a few photographs of the family hung up around
them. He follows Kurt through the lounge towards the kitchen where Carole makes her appearance,
a smile on her face as she sets down five plates onto the kitchen counter.

“Hello! You must be Blaine. I’m Carole, Kurt’s step-mom” She hummed and moved to give him a
quick hug, Blaine smiling softly, planting a soft kiss to her cheek.

“It’s lovely to meet you. Dinner smells amazing” he tells her and the woman bats a hand at him as
Kurt slips passed them, taking it upon himself to stir whatever delicious substance is currently
bubbling away in the pot.

“Don’t worry Carole, you’ll get used to how incredibly dapper Blaine can be” Kurt smiles at them
from over his shoulder and Blaine feels a slight heat rise in his cheeks. Carole chuckles as she starts
to set the table.

“Kurt tells me the two of you are in glee club together” she hums and Blaine nots, adjusting his tie a
little.

“We are yes. Kurt is really very talented; it’s quite an honour to be able to have someone with his
vocal range on the team. We can expand in our song selection for competitions now” Blaine smiles
and catches Kurt’s eye and the boy blushes, the colour of his cheeks causing Blaine to smile even
wider.

“Where’s Finn?” Kurt asks and Carole sighs, adjusting the flowers that sit in the centre of the table.

“Up in his room, going over things for glee club. And football. I think he’s stressing out just a little
this week” Carole tells the boy and Blaine hears the clumping of feet as they trudge down the stairs,
a rather tall boy making his way into the kitchen a few moments later.

“Understandable. The Warblers are really cracking down on practice now, competition this year is
really fierce” Blaine smiles and looks up at Finn, who stands in the doorway looking just a little lost.

“Hi Finn” Blaine greets the boy and holds back a chuckle when Finn blinks down at Blaine before his
lips turn up into a small smile.

“Hey, Blaine right? Sup dude?” Finn gives him a nod and Blaine is about to respond to what is up
when Kurt looks over at the pair and frowns.

“Finn. I’ve heard absolutely nothing from you for ages. What’s going on?” He huffs and Finn sighs,
looking at his mum for any form of help before he turns back to Kurt.

“Nothing dudes. Just going over some new stuff we learned in glee. And plays for football. Artie had
some cool ideas so…” Finn trails off and wanders further into the kitchen to inspect the food. Kurt
doesn’t look too impressed but Blaine smiles anyway.

“Seems fair” he hums and looks to Kurt.

“So… are you going to give me a tour?” he hums and he earns himself a smile from his friend.

“Sure”

****

“So Blaine, Kurt tells me that you live fairly close” Burt hums as he swallows a forkful of dinner,
Blaine smiling politely as he chews. He sets his knife and fork down and wipes his lips on the napkin
before answering, giving himself time to come up with an answer.

“I used to. My parents live close to Lima. I board permanently up at Dalton.” He smiles and little and
takes a sip from his apple juice that Kurt had insisted on freshly juicing for him before they had sat
down for dinner.

“Oh. Not too keen for the long trips hey?” Burt muses and Blaine shakes his head.

“Not overly sir.”

“It’s Burt”

“Yes sir” Blaine nods his head and Kurt gives off the smallest of giggles as they finish off their dinner.
Finn has already had seconds by this point, eyeing up Kurt’s remaining potatoes.

“You boys coming to the Championship game?” Burt asks and Blaine looks up quickly.

“I… I didn’t get tickets.” He admits and Burt chuckles.

“Well I got tickets for you. So, are you gonna make it?” He asks and Kurt grins.

“Of course!” he smiles and Blaine blushes just a little.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to”

“The more people there to cheer on our team, the better” Burt hums and sets his knife and fork
down.

“Now… who wants desert?"

*****

Blaine smiles widely as he drives himself and Kurt towards the Lima Bean. So far, things were going
well. Whilst he still hadn’t heard from Cooper since before Christmas, the Warblers had just
rehearsed their new rendition of Bills, Bills, Bills and it was sounding extremely good. Dinner at
Kurt’s had gone so well that Burt had told Blaine he was welcome in his home whenever he pleased,
and Carole had even given Blaine a little snack pack to take back to Dalton for the following school
day in case he got hungry. Kurt had been over the moon that his parents had seemed to really like
Blaine.

“And Carole just thinks you’re wonderful” Kurt breathes as he adjusts his scarf a little around his
neck. Blaine glances over at him and grins.

“Your family is great Kurt, honest. I’m really glad that they liked me. It means that I have even more
of an excuse to come over and see you on the weekends” Blaine grins and nudges Kurt’s shoulder a
little with his own as he pulls up into the Lima Bean carpark. Kurt remains silent as they get out, and
Blaine wonders if it’s because they’re meeting Rachel and Mercedes.

“You know, you can talk about regionals with them. It’s okay” Blaine chuckles softly and loosens the
scarf he has sitting around his neck. He knows Kurt doesn’t want to be labelled as a spy again by
giving his old show choir any hints as to what will be happening in their upcoming competition.

“I know.” Kurt smiles and the pair walk in to the Lima bean, Mercedes and Rachel already in line.

“Kurt! Blaine!” Rachel grins and moves to hug the two of them whilst Mercedes gives them both a
small wave.

“Hi Rachel, how have you been?” Blaine asks and immediately regrets asking when Rachel launches
into a five minute story of how she’s been plotting to het Finn back as her boyfriend, but she’s just
not sure if it will work. Blaine tries his best to listen as Kurt and Mercedes order their coffees, and
Blaine is thankful when Kurt calls out his order.

“That would be me, thank you very much” Blaine smiles and takes his coffee from Kurt, humming
softly. “Now I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but you guys better be pulling out all the stops
for regionals because the number we just rehearsed is so off the hook, it’s dangerous.” He grins as
he grabs the sugar and heads over to the table with the others, taking a seat beside Kurt.

“Seriously, people should wear protective head gear when they’re watching it.” Kurt adds and the
pair notices the almost saddened looks on the girl’s faces.

“Guys, we’re kidding” Kurt says softly.

“Yeah, well it’s just hard to laugh right now with everything that’s going on at McKinley.” Rachel
sighs and Mercedes gives her a small nod.

“I mean look at us, the stars of two rival show choirs, sitting down to coffee? Our school is so messed
up we can’t even keep our own football team together.” Mercedes tells them and Blaine gives me a
sympathetic smile before Rachel starts to talk.

“It’s so sad you guys. Coach Beiste and Mr Schue were so close at getting everyone at the school
together”

Blaine stirs his coffee as Kurt’s voice rises a little in annoyance.

“Why hasn’t Finn told me anything about this? I mean, we live together. I mean I bring him a glass of
warm milk every night just in hopes that we’ll have a little lady chat.”

Blaine frowns and looks to his friend, brows furrowed a little.

“Warm milk? Really?” He hums and Kurt stares back at him.

“It’s delicious”

“Finn’s too proud to complain. He feels like he has to be strong for everyone, but I know it’s just
killing him inside.” Rachel sighs and then leans over the table towards Blaine, who blinks a little at
the girls as she starts to stare at him with a hint of crazy shining in her eyes.

“I hope he realises that, you know, if he and I were still together, I could make him feel a lot better
you know.” She breaths and Blaine isn’t sure what to do, as his mouth is currently full of coffee and
biscotti.

“Let it go Rachel” Kurt says at the end of his obvious eye roll. The girl sits back and sighs.

“I… I just wish that there was a way that we could help, that’s all.”

“Yeah” Mercedes agrees as Blaine takes another sip of his coffee. “And the worst part is how
bummed the guys are. I mean they already suffer enough abuse just being in glee. I really think
winning the game could have eased some of the pressure, at least for a little while” She tells them
and Blaine blinks. The whole team quit?

“Wait… so the whole team quit?” he asks and Rachel nods.

“Well, everybody not in glee. I mean, you can’t play football with five guys… and one of them is in a
wheelchair”

“Yeah, Coach Beiste put up a sign up sheet for join, I think they’ll take anyone at this point” Rachel
says as she drinks her coffee and Blaine swallows his.

“Well the good news is that you actually only need four more guys. High school regulations actually
let you play a couple guys short if you want to.” He hums and looks down at his biscotti, wishing he
had ordered more. It really was quite delicious. He looks up at the girls and smiles.

“But if they figure out a way to make it work, you can bet that we’ll definitely be there to cheer them
on” He gestures gently between himself and Kurt, and the other boy smiles.

“Totally, Blaine and I love football. Well, Blaine loves football. I love scarves” Kurt smiles and Blaine
can’t help but chuckle.

“That you do” he hums and Kurt clinks their cups together before he takes a sip. Rachel and
Mercedes give each other a small glance that Blaine catches.

“Blaine… could girls play?” Rachel asks and Kurt lets out a small snort.

“You want to play football?” He breathes and Mercedes shoots him a frown.

“You played Kurt” She huffs and Blaine turns to face his friend, eyes wide.

“You played football?” he asks and watches as a small blush springs to Kurt’s cheeks.

“I did. But it was very brief. And I am a boy. Rachel here doesn’t like to strain too hard to get me a
pencil in class, how is she going to field a ball? And Mercedes, you actively protest against any form
of physical activity that forces you to be outside” Kurt shrugs his shoulders and for some reason
Blaine cannot get the idea of Kurt playing football out of his head. The boy would probably rock the
uniform. Scratch that, Kurt would look hot.

“This is for the boys. I want to play.” Rachel says firmly and turns her gaze back to Blaine.

“Well… as long as your coach signs off… I don’t see an issue” He breathes and Kurt sits back in his
chair as the two girls share a large smile.

“I think it’s ridiculous. You could get seriously hurt Rachel” Kurt sighs and sets his coffee cup down.
“And whilst I do admire your strength… I don’t think broken limbs are worth it” he looks at the girls
and Blaine shakes his head.

“Kurt you have a point, but they don’t actually have to play. They just need to be on the field. When
they start they can clear off to one side or… I don’t know… lay down on the grass? Then the guys can
field and the other team won’t hurt them” Blaine shrugs his shoulders and Mercedes smiles.

“That’s not a bad idea. See Kurt, Blaine is all for it” the girl grins and Kurt remains silent, playing with
his coffee cup. After a moment he rises to his feet.

“Excuse me” he says simply and leaves in the direction of the bathrooms. Rachel and Mercedes
share a glance and Mercedes toys with her coffee cup.

“I think he’s just feeling worries for us. Maybe I should go talk to him…” she sighs and goes to get up,
but Rachel places a hand on her arm.

“No. I think we should give him space. We should go… thanks for the coffee and advice Blaine”

Rachel smiles and Blaine waves as the girls grab their coffees and bags and head off. Blaine sighs and
looks towards the bathrooms, waiting a few moments before he gets up and makes his way towards
them. He heads through the door and see’s Kurt leaning against the sinks, staring at his hands.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Blaine hums and Kurt looks up, giving the boy a small smile before he
looks back at his hands.

“It’s nothing. I just…they’re joining the football team. And I just know that… they’re going to be more
accepted than I was” Kurt sighs and Blaine frowns.

“I don’t understand”

“I was on the team last year to impress my Dad. But it wasn’t really supported. I mean, yes I scored
the winning kick but people didn’t care after that. The girls… I don’t want them hurt and I’m worried
for them… but I just know that the guys in glee will accept them as team mates more than they
would accept me” Kurt sniffs and Blaine shakes his head, moving to stand beside the boy.

“I don’t think that’s true at all” he says simply and Kurt frowns at him.

“Excuse me?”

“Kurt… I have met Finn. And I’ve met some of the other guys at sectionals… they all love you. I
wouldn’t worry for a second about whether or not they would accept you. Because they already
have. And I don’t think they would let anything happen to the girls.” Blaine squeezes the boys arm
softly and smiles.

“You think?”

“I do. Now… would you like to go and catch a movie? Popcorn’s on me”

Kurt smiles and stands up straight.

“I’d love too”

***

The game goes well, and Blaine finds that he really enjoys his time with Kurt’s family. They invite him
out for dinner with them after the game, and he gets on well with Finn and Burt, and Carole even
invites him around on the weekend for Saturday lunch. Blaine can tell that Kurt is pleased, and
Blaine is glad. He’s getting along so well with his new friend; everything is just falling into place.
When he’s in his dorm room he looks at his calendar and sees that Valentine’s Day will be upon him
soon. Usually Blaine isn’t the world’s biggest fan of Valentine’s Day, but this year he has his eye on
someone. Blaine goes to sleep, comforted by the fact that this year he could have a new best friend
and a boyfriend, very, very soon.