"I see you've made your choice," Blaine said, startling Kurt out of his thoughts.

It took a few seconds for Kurt to remember what Blaine was talking about and look down at the shot glass in front of him.

It was empty.

Kurt's eyes widened; he knew very well that he hadn't so much as touched the drink. He had considered it, but decided against it.

"You look surprised," Blaine noted, with an eyebrow raised.

Of course Kurt was surprised. He knew he hadn't drunk the shot, and he would've noticed if someone else had come up to the table and done it for him. So how could it possibly be empty?

Kurt was just about to say all of this to Blaine, his lips parting as if to speak, but he hesitated. Did it really matter why or how it was empty? The fact was that it was, and Kurt should be happy about it. This meant Blaine could still possibly tell him the truth.

Kurt closed his mouth and tried again. "Oh no, it's nothing," he said, shaking his head. He must be going mad.

Blaine smiled at this. "Then I guess it's time for us to go somewhere more private."

Kurt nodded distractedly, shooting a glance at the glass that had just done him a favor before scooting out of the sofa. He almost turned back to grab for his coat before he remembered that he didn't bring one. He'd come here directly from Blaine's dorm, and all he was still in his uniform and his dad's smuggled-in pink cardigan.

This morning seemed so far away; it felt like an eternity since he'd smiled at his dad's note and pulled the cardigan on.

As Kurt followed Blaine out of the bar, he wondered vaguely if every day at Dalton would be this long.

"Psst," someone hissed from behind him.

Kurt turned to see the bartender looking at him and waving him over with a dish towel.

Blaine was already at the door, holding it open for him. Kurt bit his lip and held up a finger for him to wait. That seemed to upset Blaine, whose face hardened as his eyebrows clenched together.

Kurt went up to the bar. "Sorry, did you want something?"

Steve the bartender leaned over the counter between them and bent close to Kurt. Before saying anything, he threw a glance at Blaine, who watched them suspiciously.

"It's a school night," Steve said quietly.

"You should go home… alone."

Kurt's eyes shifted back and forth between Steve , who looked worried , and Blaine, who was now laughing to himself, shoulders shaking lightly under his blazer.

"I'm sorry, but do you have something against my friend?" Kurt asked, feeling put out.

Steve's eyes widened. He straightened up and went back to wiping the counter.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you felt that way about him. My mistake."

Feeling peculiar, Kurt shrugged it off and joined Blaine, who was now watching him curiously. Kurt passed him with a "thank you" for holding the door open and proceeded to climb the stairs. He was almost startled when he looked around the small town and saw how dark it was already. They hadn't been away that long, had they?

Blaine was right behind him as he walked up to the car, still feeling the eerie gloom looming over the empty city.

"It's just the time of year," Blaine said when they were seated in the car again. "Lots of bad weather, so people tend to lay low. Then again, people in Shallow Hollow are a funny sort any time of year, if you ask me."

Blaine had some trouble starting the car, muttering under his breath as he twisted the keys a couple of times.

"Finally," Blaine muttered as it coughed to life, "Piece of shit has been acting up all week. And I just got her last year."

"Maybe your battery's running low," Kurt suggested offhandedly.

"Yeah, whatever," Blaine said, steering out to the main road.

They were out of town in a minute, and Kurt got comfortable in his seat. He didn't want to upset Blaine, especially not since he wanted get him talking. Kurt decided to start off easy.

"So what was up with that Steve guy?" For a moment, Kurt wondered if that was also a question that would upset him, but it was too late to take it back now.

To Kurt's relief, Blaine chuckled.

"He was trying to warn you to stay away from me."

"Why would he do that?" Kurt frowned.

"Beats me," Blaine said, but the little smile he was holding in told Kurt otherwise.

Kurt was just about to comment on it when Blaine rolled his window down as far as it went.

"Are you crazy?" Kurt shivered, throwing his arms around himself, "Do you want me to get sick?"

It felt uncharacteristically cold for the middle of March. Then again, Kurt didn't even have a coat on.

Blaine didn't answer; he just stuck his hand out of the window for a few seconds. Kurt hadn't even noticed that it was raining until Blaine retrieved his hand. It was dripping as he brought it up to run his hand through his hair. Kurt watched, mesmerized, as a droplet escaped those roughly gelled curls and travelled down Blaine's temple.

Kurt swallowed dryly, suddenly feeling heat spread through his stomach. Despite that, it was still getting cold in the car.

"Could you please roll that up?" Kurt snapped.

"Oh, I don't know about you," Blaine said with a smirk, "but I'm getting hot."

He moved his hand to the buttons, but instead of rolling his window up, he rolled Kurt's down too.

"Come on, live a little. Feel the rain."

Kurt didn't feel like doing anything of the sort at the moment, and he watched Blaine defiantly from his seat.

"Is this supposed to be a part of your deal?" he asked grumpily.

Blaine slowed the car down to a crawl, so slow that they were almost stopped.

"What are you doing now?" Kurt groaned.

"I'm not doing anything!" Blaine snapped, and from his shocked expression, Kurt knew he was telling the truth.

Blaine only just managed to steer the car to the side of the country road before it completely died on them.

"Fuck!" Blaine swore.

Kurt straightened in his seat while Blaine twisted the keys in the ignition.

"That's not gonna help if the battery's dead," Kurt supplied.

"It's not dead," Blaine grumbled, still trying to start up the car, "Why would it be?"

"I don't know," Kurt shrugged. "Mistreated your car, maybe?"

"Shut up," Blaine said tiredly, finding the lever to unlatch the hood. He opened the car door and got out, giving Kurt the brief instruction, "Wait here."

Kurt leaned back against the leather seat, staring out through the open door into the blackness of the night and at the gray drops of water falling down. It took a moment for Kurt to register that the drops were actually falling more sideways than vertically. He shuddered.

Blaine slammed the hood down and hurried back into the car.

"Nothing?" Kurt asked.

Blaine huffed. "Who the fuck knows anything about cars anyway?"

"I do," Kurt shrugged.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so what do you say?"

"Still bet on the battery," Kurt said."Try closing the windows."

Blaine pressed every button he could reach, but nothing happened.

"So?"

"If the battery is dead, nothing that runs on electricity works."

"Thanks for the info," Blaine replied sourly, "But I don't get why would the car just stop working."

"Well," Kurt drawled, clicking his tongue,"It could happen if your alternator was broken."

"My what?" Blaine asked, eyebrows drawing together.

"Alternator." Kurt shrugged again. "If it's been exposed to extreme heat, water, or has been working too hard, it can break. It's hard to say what does it. But if it's broken and you keep using the car, all the electrical stuff will drain the battery, which will have no way of re-charging itself, and we get… this." Kurt threw his hands up and gestured at the car.

"Freaking fantastic," Blaine muttered, slumping in his seat.

A moment of silence passed between them, and the rain was the only audible sound. Unfortunately, the rain was also falling into the car through the open windows.

"Just like your idea to open the windows to the max, I suppose?" Kurt mumbled, shuddering.

"Whatever."

Blaine picked his cell phone from his pocket and held it up towards the ceiling. He swore under his breath.

"Stupid storm is blocking the stupid signal."

"Everything you say sounds�so�intelligent," Kurt muttered sarcastically, unable to hold himself back.

"So how do you expect us to get back? Walk?"

Blaine gave him a sour glance.

"I'm not stupid," he said, "I know you wouldn't be able to handle it."

Kurt scoffed. "Like you could do it without getting lost or drowning in a puddle or something. That must be a serious concern for people with severe vertical challenges."

Blaine crossed his arms defiantly over his chest.

"As a matter of fact-" he began, but he stopped himself. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and Kurt watched him curiously. When he opened his eyes again, he didn't allow his gaze to meet Kurt's.

"I'm not that short," he said grumpily.

Kurt couldn't hold back his chuckle, because Blaine reminded him so much of a grumpy five-year-old. When Blaine shot him a glare, Kurt covered his mouth with a hand.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "But you kind of are."

"Then maybe you and your tallness can come up with a way for us to get back?" Blaine said.

"We could wait the storm out and then walk back?" Kurt suggested. "We're only ten minutes away or something, right?"

The edges of Blaine's mouth turned upward in a superior manner.

"Or, you know, we could just wait for Mr. Sullith to pass us."

Kurt frowned. "Who's Mr. Sullith?"

"The guard on sixth floor," Blaine explained. "He drives to Shallow Hollow practically every afternoon and drives back in time for curfew."

"Curfew's at�ten," Kurt whined, "That's almost two hours away!"

"He'll probably pass by us in an hour or so," Blaine said calmly.

Kurt bit his lip to keep it from shivering. "F-fine," he stuttered, and oh my god, why was it so windy all of a sudden?! The rain was practically blowing into his face. His hair was going to be so messed up; thank god most people would be in their dorms already when they got back.

"But," Kurt interjected, "if the rain lightens up before that we'll go then."

Blaine nodded in agreement and finally looked at him. Kurt wasn't sure what Blaine saw in his face, but no one could have missed his shivering.

"Oh god. I'm sorry about all of this. I should look after my stupid car better."

"Don't worry about it," Kurt said, "You didn't know this would happen."

"Still…" Blaine twisted his neck to look at the back seat and then glanced back at Kurt.

"I think I've got a blanket in the back. I'm gonna go look."

Thinking that anything would be better than his teeth clicking together, Kurt nodded frantically.

"Yes, that would be nice."

"Okay." Blaine nodded too. "Just jump into the backseat and I'll be right there."

"The backseat?" Kurt asked, but Blaine didn't hear him because he'd already pushed out into the rain and shut the door behind him.

Kurt watched as Blaine went around the car to open the trunk. The lid of the trunk shielded him from Kurt's sight, but he could hear Blaine rummaging through the space for said blanket. He shifted his eyes and they landed on the backseat. Kurt didn't know why Blaine had mentioned it. He supposed it would move him away from the drafty, open windows, and thereby some of the cold.

Before long, Blaine was sliding into the backseat with a navy blue blanket in his hands. His hair was dripping wet, but Kurt saw that the rain had lightened to more of a heavy drizzle.

Blaine met Kurt's eyes with surprise. "Are you coming?" he asked, shaking the blanket in his hand.

Kurt felt his eyes widen. Blaine had meant that they were going to�share�it. Kurt lingered for a moment, feeling heat spread on his cheeks. He knew he was being silly, but suddenly it seemed like a very intimate thing to curl up next to Blaine and be cozy together, even if it was just to escape the cold.

Blaine raised an amused eyebrow at him.

"Um, yeah. Right." Kurt opened his car door and hurried out.

"I thought I'd to wait for the return of the dinosaurs before you got your ass back here!" Blaine joked as Kurt joined him in the back of the car.

Kurt slid across the backseat hesitantly and shut the door behind him. Blaine raised his arm as an invitation, the blanket already wrapped around him.

On one hand, Kurt felt like he'd do anything to get warm at this point, but on the other, it would mean cuddling with the person he was supposed to be staying away from.

Oh well,�Kurt thought,�Since I'm already here, what's the harm?

Blaine watched him the whole time as he slowly moved across the seats until his thigh was lined up next to Blaine's, touching all the way. Kurt looked at their legs for a second, then looked up into Blaine's eyes. He stared into those honey-colored depths as he felt an arm drape over his shoulder and pull him closer, gently at first, but then a little more insistently when he didn't budge.

Eventually, Kurt gave in, curling up with his head on Blaine's shoulder and Blaine's arm holding the blanket around him in a warm embrace. Kurt could have sworn he heard Blaine release a soft, happy sigh.

Kurt's shivering stopped almost instantly, and once he wasn't so cold, he suddenly he became very aware of himself. His arms were awkwardly squashed between his and Blaine's chests and he knew that if he didn't move them they'd soon fall asleep.

Wondering how Blaine would interpret his actions, Kurt tentatively straightened one of his arms and laid it feather- light around Blaine's waist.

Suddenly the shoulder under Kurt's head was tipping as Blaine leaned away from him. Kurt lifted his head to find Blaine staring at him with wide eyes and parted lips.

"What?" Kurt said, "Don't look so surprised. I'm just cold."

Blaine swallowed.

"Good thing that I'm here, then," he said and took his other hand and placed it around Kurt too in a full embrace.

"If you weren't here, I'd have a functioning car with closed windows, and I'd be pulling up at Dalton by now," Kurt teased as he set his head back at Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine didn't reply, and the silence continued for a few moments. Kurt listened to the rain and remembered the day he came to Dalton: only three days ago! He felt like had already been there for years. He didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

"How do you know so much about cars though?" Blaine asked out of the blue.

"My dad owns an auto shop and I go help him on the weekends," Kurt said softly, "Well, I used to. Before..."

"Before you came here," Blaine filled in.

"Yeah."

When Blaine didn't say anything for a moment, Kurt clicked his tongue.

"You're picturing me in coveralls, aren't you?"

"It just doesn't seem like something you'd ever wear, even if you were being paid!" Blaine interjected.

Kurt started laughing, and Blaine joined in.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me!"

"Well it's true. Is it because you're such a daddy's boy?"

"That's not fair!" Kurt laughed,"I would never wear anything like that normally; I only did it to cheer him up after mom died."

Kurt didn't even realize what he was saying before it was said. Everything suddenly got tense, and Blaine stopped laughing.

Kurt used the hand resting on Blaine's chest to push himself up. Blaine's arms around him didn't allow him to get very far though.

Blaine was looking at him with a sadness Kurt had never seen him show before.

"Your mom died?" he asked quietly.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Yeah, when I was eight."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you." Kurt didn't know if his hunch was right about Blaine, but he took the long shot anyway.

"Have you ever lost anyone?"

Kurt could practically see it. Blaine's eyes went from sad to cold and he turned his face away, jaw tensing.

All he said was, "I don't wanna talk about it."

Kurt didn't know what had happened to Blaine for him to have built such walls around him, but he knew how bad the loss of a parent was, so he figured maybe Blaine had gone through something similar.

"Hey," Kurt said gently, placing a hand on Blaine's cheek to make their eyes meet.

"I'm sorry."

When Blaine looked confused, he added, "For whomever it was that you lost."

Blaine only nodded. Then he raised his hand to put it over Kurt's. He took Kurt's hand in his and moved it closer so he could press a kiss to Kurt's palm. His face traveled downwards, his nose nuzzling Kurt's wrist and tickling it lightly with the tiny breaths he took. He pressed another kiss there and closed his eyes, pulling on the sleeve of Kurt's cardigan.

"Blaine," Kurt coaxed.

Suddenly Blaine's eyes opened and he almost looked surprised to see Kurt there. Kurt didn't blame him; he was didn't know what was happening either.

Blaine looked at Kurt with an intensity that almost scared him. He lowered their hands.

"Kiss me, Kurt."

Kurt felt his heart beat faster at Blaine's words, his face heating up. Kurt didn't know what to do. He felt like he was frozen to the spot, unable to form coherent thoughts.

"What?"

Blaine cupped Kurt's flushed cheek in his hand. It was warm to his touch.

"Kurt," he pleaded.

And then, it didn't matter that Blaine was an asshole and a player and someone Kurt should avoid with all his might, because suddenly, there was just him and Blaine hugging in a broken car and talking about people they'd lost, and Blaine's voice was so tender and vulnerable as he looked at Kurt like he cared that Kurt didn't know what to do with himself.

He realized in that moment that he didn't care that about all the experience Blaine had; all that mattered was that he wanted to kiss�Kurt.

Kurt leaned in slowly. Blaine didn't seem surprised; it was like he'd expected him to. Kurt would've stopped the kiss right then and there if that knowledge had made him look cocky, but it didn't; it just made him look sadder.

Kurt didn't want Blaine to be sad.

Kurt closed his eyes just as he felt his nose touch the hollow between Blaine's nose and cheek. He waited and took a shaky breath before trusting his instincts and moving his lips slightly so that they pressed right over Blaine's.

Blaine inhaled deeply through his nose and parted his lips under Kurt's.

Kurt felt the tip if Blaine's tongue trace the crack between his lips, as if he was asking permission for entrance. Kurt's head was spinning, and he thought it must have something to do with not breathing, but he didn't care because Blaine tasted strong like alcohol and sweet like strawberries all at once. He gripped at Blaine's shirt and parted his lips. Blaine didn't hesitate. He thrust his tongue into Kurt's mouth, both of them moaning as their tongues moved against each other.

Blaine tangled one of his hands into the hair on the back of Kurt's neck, massaging the scalp with his fingers. The motion set off fireworks under Kurt's skin. Blaine moved his other hand more slowly, sliding it up Kurt's thigh and squeezing.

There was a loud crack against the window which made both boys jump apart in surprise. Kurt looked out into the dark night, but he saw nothing.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I don't know," Blaine mumbled, throwing the blanket off of him, "I'll go check. Just stay here."

Blaine pulled the car door open and stepped out. Before he closed it again, he leaned in slightly.

"If I'm not back in ten minutes, lock the doors manually, okay?"

"Blaine?" Kurt asked, because Blaine was starting to freak him out. Blaine didn't hear him; his voice had been muffled by the sound of the car door being shut.

Kurt looked out through all the windows, but there was no sign of Blaine anywhere. He slumped in the backseat, pulling the blanket closer around him when the loss of body heat from Blaine got to him.

Kurt didn't have a watch, and when he tried to check the time on his phone, he realized it was dead. He didn't know how long Blaine had been gone. His rational mind tried telling him it couldn't have been more than a minute, but it felt like much longer than that.

When he let his eyes wander again, he saw something he hadn't seen a moment ago. There, across the wide field beside the road, was a�person. He narrowed his eyes to see if it was Blaine, but he couldn't quite make the figure out. It was really dark, but Kurt didn't think he recognized anything about the mystery person.

Blaine was back before he'd even finished that thought, crawling into the car and shaking the water out of his hair. Kurt felt his jaw drop, but when he looked out and tried to locate the person from before, there was no one there anymore.

"What was that all about?" Kurt asked, irritated.

"It was nothing," Blaine shrugged.

"Then why were you out there so long?" Kurt pushed, "I looked out but I didn't see you and-"

"It's dark, of course you didn't see me," Blaine said with a little laugh, "I thought I saw a deer or some kind of animal and I tried to make it out but it ran away."

Kurt bit his lip. He knew Blaine was lying about something – his body language gave him away and made it obvious –but Kurt didn't know what.

"Yeah, I saw something too. Out there."

"You did?" Blaine asked, surprised, "What did you see?"

"It looked like a person," Kurt confessed.

Blaine's jaw tensed.

"That's weird," he said evenly, "Maybe it was just me you saw."

Kurt nodded even though he knew it hadn't been Blaine. The person he'd seen was taller, and he'd been all the way across the field. There was no way Blaine could've moved from there to the car, not that fast. But he didn't push it, because there was obviously a reason why Blaine was lying to him, probably connected to all the other secrets at Dalton.

"So…" Kurt said to diffuse the tension."What time is it?"

"Almost nine," Blaine said after glancing at his watch.

Kurt hummed in response and folded his hands in his lap. Blaine crawled back under the blanket after a moment, trying to resume their old position. He slung an arm over Kurt's shoulders, but that was it. He must've stopped because of the way Kurt stiffened under his touch.

Blaine leaned in close to Kurt's ear and drew a couple of breaths through his nose, as if he was smelling him.

"Do you wanna kiss again?" he whispered.

Kurt shook his head. "Not right now."

The words had barely been spoken before Blaine's lips nibbled on Kurt's earlobe.

Kurt didn't realize he was moaning until Blaine pulled his lips away. Kurt cleared his throat and tried shuffling further away, but Blaine's arm was insistently keeping him close.

When Blaine's lips found Kurt's neck, it was like the touch shorted out all the wires in his mind and left him with a malfunctioning brain. Rational thoughts flew miles away.

It wasn't until Blaine started sucking that a vague thought –�hickey�–passed through his mind. He fumbled with his hands until they found Blaine's body and pushed him away.

It was only thanks to the element of surprise that Kurt managed to push Blaine's weight away from him.

"You still owe me a question," Kurt reminded him breathlessly, and the confusion on Blaine's face almost instantly shifted to humor.

"Right," Blaine said, "I�owe you�one for the drink."

Kurt didn't know why Blaine was fighting the urge to laugh, but now that his brain was working again, he wondered if Blaine somehow knew that he hadn't actually drunk the drink. After all, Kurt had no idea how the drink had disappeared. One second it had been there and the next… it just hadn't. Trying to rationalize it was driving Kurt mad.

"Yes, you do," Kurt said anyway, "So what is it? This mysterious question I haven't thought to ask."

"You're looking at it."

Kurt frowned. "What do you mean?"

A second later, Blaine had moved closer again, and their faces were almost touching. Blaine gazed deeply into Kurt's eyes.

"I'm�the question."

Kurt shook his head and tried to stand his ground, but Blaine was so close, and something about him was intoxicating.

"I still don't understand."

"Haven't you asked yourself why you chose to follow�me�today?" Blaine smiled crookedly. "Of all the guys with blue crests, you chose me. I know I'm a looker-" Kurt scoffed at that "-but I practically had to force you to even kiss me."

"I don't-"

"Why me, Kurt?" Blaine interrupted. He pressed a small kiss to Kurt's thoughtfully pursed lips.

"Why am I so special in all of this?"

Kurt pulled away until he was at a comfortable enough distance to actually look into Blaine's eyes. They were almost challenging him, with eyebrows slightly raised.

Blaine was right though. He hadn't thought of that question, at least not consciously. He'd realized from the first time they met that Blaine was some sort of authority figure in the group, telling the other guys what to do and silencing them with a look. The question was, why? It was just as Blaine had said, but to figure out how he was connected, Kurt had to know what made all of them special, different from everyone else.

"What is the blue crest?" Kurt asked directly for the first time that night, "Tell me."

"Do you want to know?" Blaine asked quietly.

"Yes."

"No, I mean; do you�really�want to know?" Blaine whispered.

"What's the difference?" Kurt wondered.

"Let me ask you this instead," Blaine countered, "What do you�think�it means?"

"Um," Kurt said, thinking. "At first, I thought you guys were just assholes."

Kurt had expected Blaine to laugh at that, but he didn't. It was actually unnerving to Kurt just how serious Blaine actually was.

"But whether that's part of it or not, it doesn't explain the hierarchy you have going on. Best guess I have is that it's some kind of secluded cult,�Fight Club�style, with the secrecy and all that."

Kurt drew a deep breath, and lowered his voice until it was no more than a tender murmur. "But none of those things explain why everyone is so afraid of you."

That seemed to get Blaine's attention more than anything else had. He tilted his head to the side.

"Are�you�afraid?"

Kurt shook his head no.

Blaine scooted closer, and Kurt didn't push him away this time. He let their lips meet softly. Kurt tangled his hands into Blaine's curls, grabbing at them and using his grip to pull Blaine closer. Blaine reciprocated by sliding his hands down Kurt's waist and hips, settling on his thighs.

A second later, Blaine's mouth froze against Kurt's, and he pulled away with a frown.

"What are you doing...?" Kurt asked as Blaine rubbed a hand over his thigh. Kurt's voice trailed off as Blaine snuck his hand into the pocket of Kurt's pants, reaching for something there. Kurt didn't know what it was; he didn't think he had anything in there, and in fact made a habit out of never putting things in his pants' pockets.

When Blaine pulled the small object out, Kurt felt his eyes widen.

"Where did you get this?" Blaine asked, eyes firm and jaw set.

"It's not mine," Kurt replied, eyes never leaving Sebastian's small wooden coin, "It's my friend's. He must've… dropped it or something."

"Into your pocket?" Blaine asked disbelievingly.

"I don't know!" Kurt sighed. "Why does it matter anyway? Do you know what it is?"

Blaine shook his head and quickly put the coin back into Kurt's pocket.

"No, forget about it. It just looked familiar, that's all."

Kurt was going to call him out on the lie, but Blaine's suddenly wide eyes stopped him.

"You kissed me!" he said incredulously.

Kurt's eyebrows shot up.

"You're just realizing that�now…?"

Blaine didn't answer.

"Why do you look so surprised?"

"Because you- and I thought… I've never…" Blaine panted, and shut his mouth. He swallowed deeply, a soft, sort of sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

"Never mind."

Kurt was so confused about how weird Blaine was acting. There was no time to talk about it though, because just then, the car lit up with a harsh, white light.

Kurt and Blaine looked out of the back window of the car at the same time.

"It's Mr. Sullith," Blaine said, confirming what Kurt had thought. "Come on, let's go back to Dalton."