Blaine got in a fight with Finn.

Kurt wasn't sure what he expected, after their night together. Anything from being antagonized by a spurned Blaine and his Skanks, to being completely ignored. Maybe he'd even caught himself, once or twice, imagining Blaine trying to seduce him, romantically or sexually (before he realized just what he was thinking, and about whom, firmly shook his head and told himself he was going insane).

All day Monday, Blaine completely ignored him. He refused to look at Kurt if they happened to pass in the hallways, and never looked at him during their shared classes. (Kurt knew; he was watching Blaine rather intently. But just to see how Blaine would react to him, no other reason.) All day Tuesday, Blaine completely ignored him. So, that was apparently how it was going to be.

Kurt was surprised to find Finn standing by his locker when he got there after his last class. He felt guilty, seeing Finn, and knowing what he'd done with Blaine...but it was more that he felt guilty for not really feeling that guilty at all. What he and Blaine had done... most people would definitely consider it cheating. Okay, even he considered it cheating. But he and Finn might as well be friends-with-benefits the way they were going, which was nice, but Kurt wanted a relationship, emotionally and physically. He'd made it clear to Blaine at the beginning that it would only be the one night; there would be no repeat performances. And he just... he didn't feel guilty about it. It had been amazing. (No, he actually felt incredibly guilty about it, but not for any of the reasons he knew he should, like the fact that he'd cheated on his boyfriend. He felt guilty that he seemed to have hurt Blaine, and again he wondered just how much of a crush the other boy had on him. Which in itself was just kind of mind-boggling. He felt guilty knowing that, if it weren't for him not wanting Finn to find out, he'd do it all over again, in a heartbeat. He felt guilty for feeling something for Blaine that went beyond physical lust.)

"Hey, handsome," Kurt greeted with a smile. Finn straightened up as Kurt started to spin his combination. "To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... well, I was wondering if you wanted to do something. With me. Y'know, after school."

Kurt gave Finn a coy side-glance. "Finn Hudson, are you asking me out on a date?"

Finn shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well—yeah. I mean, you are my— we are going out, after all." Finn still had trouble saying he had a boyfriend. It was a learning curve, Kurt knew. He also knew that Finn tended to be on the low end of most learning curves.

"That is so sweet," Kurt replied sweetly. Then pouted. "Unfortunately, I have cheerleading practice in five minutes. And if I ditch, Coach Sylvester will have my head on a platter. And the way she's been rampaging lately, I'm half-convinced it will be literally." Finished putting his books away, Kurt used one hand holding his locker door to steady himself, held Finn's bicep with the other, leaned up and kissed him lightly on the mouth. He was a little surprised when, after the very briefest of hesitations, Finn actually leaned into the kiss. That was something that almost never happened, not at school. Usually Finn had to be eased into the idea of kissing, even when they were alone. A shot of guilt—real guilt—went through Kurt. What had he done?

"You could come watch, though," Kurt purred, his voice dropping more seductively than he'd meant. "And we could—go do something afterwards. Whatever you want." Okay, that might be the guilt talking. Especially if Finn chose something like 'play videogames' or 'watch sports'. Kurt was in cheerleading for the cheerleading, not the sports-watching.

"Yeah," Finn said, a little breathily. "Yeah, that—sounds good."

Kurt let a smile curve over his lips, even as more guilt curled in his stomach. "Good. I'll see you when I'm done." They kissed briefly again before Kurt hurried to the locker room to get changed. He liked wearing his Cheerios uniform, but polyester wasn't exactly breathable, so he alternated days he wore it during class time. Besides, what was the point of having a fabulous wardrobe if nobody else ever got to see it?

Kurt was able to put thoughts of Blaine, sex, and Finn out of his mind for the next two hours. It was a good thing he had to stay so focused on Coach's grueling routine; if he'd had the chance to glance over toward the bleachers where Finn was watching, he would have spotted a few other people watching, as well.

He found out about it later though, while they were all changing in the locker rooms. Kurt changed (with Coach Sylvester's permission) in the girls' locker room, both because he was more comfortable there (the other guys were more comfortable with him there as well), and because it gave him a chance to listen (and participate) in the latest gossip. Apparently, the latest gossip was about him.

"So, what's up between you and Anderson?" Santana asked, after she and Brittany sidled up beside him. Santana was in a skirt and her bra, while Brittany only had her oversized top on, and was slipping into leggings. Kurt was shirtless, and suddenly felt far too under-dressed. He glanced at Santana while slipping his sleeves over his arms. "What?"

"You. Anderson. What-is-up-with?" Santana enunciated obnoxiously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kurt pulled his shirt on, then started putting on his vest.

But Santana just wouldn't leave it alone. "Now, see, normally, I'd believe you, except one, I've known you since we were eight, and you shutting down a conversation like that is classic Hummel Evasion." Kurt turned to look at her, affronted, but she continued. "And two, Quinn has been all weird and bitchy about you lately, but especially yesterday when we hung out. I would start wearing sunglasses, Ladyface, or Quinn might actually scratch out your eyes if she gets close enough." Brittany, standing just behind Santana's shoulder, nodded solemnly.

"If something is up with Anderson," Kurt said disdainfully (and almost tripping over the name; he had to stop referring to him as 'Blaine' in his head), "I have no idea what it is, or how it pertains to me." More guilt; lying to two of his closest friends. Santana was a bitch of the highest caliber, but she'd also fight to the death for any of her friends, of whom Kurt was one. Brittany was too sweet not to be friends with, even if she was a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

"Oh, really? So, you have no idea why he was staring at you during practice, then?" Santana asked.

Kurt jammed his hand against the side of his locker, reaching for his can of hairspray, head whipping around to stare at her. "What?"

Santana smirked knowingly. "Yep. He and Quinn were hiding by the bleachers, grabbing a smoke. Boy couldn't take his eyes off you. Can't say I blame him, either, the way Coach has got you spreading your legs every five seconds during some of those routines."

Kurt willed himself not to blush; it was true, Coach Sylvester liked flaunting all of his talents, including his flexibility. That included lots of high kicks, back-handed cartwheels, splits, and sideways splits.

Kurt decided to be truthful with her. ...well, kind of truthful. "I honestly have no idea what's going on with him, Santana," he said in a low, candid voice.

Santana stared at him for a moment, then pointed a finger at him, her eyes narrowed. "But you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Kurt only paused for a few seconds before nodding. "It's...complicated. Very complicated."

"But you'll tell me."

"Us," Brittany chimed in. She shrugged when both of them turned to look at her. "We're friends, that means we tell each other stuff."

Kurt couldn't help smiling at that. "Yeah, Britt." He sighed. "Yes, I'll tell you. Just...not now. Like I said, it's complicated. Besides, I've got a date with Finn right now."

Santana didn't smirk lecherously like she usually did when Finn was mentioned in any kind of relationship context. She just continued to stare piercingly at Kurt. "Noticed he didn't take his eyes off you today, either."

That news flustered Kurt, for several different reasons. "I have to go," he finally muttered. Oddly, Santana let him go with no more pestering.

Kurt and Finn actually had an amazing date that night. They stayed in and watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which had Wolverine and fighting for Finn, and Hugh Jackman in a lot of skintight clothes, doing lots of sweaty stunts, for Kurt. They managed to have a candid conversation about their relationship, how Finn felt about it and what it meant to him. Kurt even ended up giving Finn a handjob, and when Finn awkwardly tried to return the favor once he was coherent again, Kurt told him he didn't have to if he was uncomfortable with it. Which made Finn apologize, but Kurt assured him he wasn't upset about it.

And he wasn't. Considering not a little of his motivation in giving Finn one was guilt, he didn't have a problem with making himself go unsatisfied. Until later that night, alone in his own bed, when his hand pushed under the waistband of his pajama pants and he wrapped his it around his stiff cock, imagining someone else's hand touching him, someone's mouth slipping over the head and torturously slowly sliding down its length, hot and slick and perfect. And eventually he came, arching his back and biting his lip almost raw to keep silent, imagining that mouth, those hands, touching him, sucking him through it.

He wasn't imagining Finn.

Wednesday, Kurt didn't see Finn most of the day, but that wasn't so unusual, since they only shared one class together. What was more unusual, though, was that after lunch, he didn't see Blaine, either, despite sharing 3 of their 4 afternoon classes together.

It was after school that he learned why, when he saw Finn, sporting a swollen cheek and a split lip.

"Oh my God, Finn! What happened?"

Finn scowled, crossing his arms. "I got in a fight."

Kurt resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I kind of figured. With who? Don't tell me Karofsky—" Dave Karofsky was a douchebag, who seemed to think he'd make a better quarterback than Finn, but generally just wasted the air he breathed. He wouldn't put it past Karofsky finally getting physical to get what he wanted, though.

"No." Finn shook his head, looking a little abashed. "It was Anderson. I don't even—know how it happened, really, just—"

"Wait, what? Blaine? Blaine Anderson?" Finn nodded, keeping his eyes averted. Kurt was livid. He couldn't believe Blaine would get in a fight with Finn. And he could only think of one reason why Blaine would get in a fight with Finn. It was pretty arrogant to assume he'd done it out of jealousy, but what other explanation was there? Blaine and the other Skanks generally avoided the jocks (unless they were hurling abuse at them during football games, when the jocks couldn't really do anything about it), but Kurt had made it quite clear: he was dating Finn, and wouldn't—couldn't—sleep with Blaine again. And three days later, Blaine starts a fight with Finn? No, that was more than just mere coincidence.

A thought occurred to Kurt, and he felt vaguely nauseous. "Is— is that why he wasn't in class this afternoon? Did he get suspended?"

Finn narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Kurt with confusion, and maybe a little vague suspicion. "I dunno. I left the principal's office before he did, so I don't know what happened. I was put on academic probation, though—if I get into any more fights, I'll get suspended for a week, and have to leave the football team. How'd you know Blaine wasn't around after lunch?"

Kurt was a little taken aback by Finn's question, and his odd behavior. "I—we have some classes together. He doesn't usually skip, so it was weird when he wasn't around. Prime gossip material."

Finn's shoulders sagged a little. "Oh. Right. Well, I don't know. But he's been caught smoking on school grounds before, so maybe he was already on probation, and got suspended. Look, who cares? He's a loser, he got what's coming to him."

Kurt chewed on the inside of his lip nervously. Finn, while he was a fairly typical ‘popular jock', wasn't usually so...callous, about other people. Not so blatantly, anyway. And now, Finn was staring at him almost expectantly, like he was waiting for Kurt to agree with him.

"R-right," Kurt finally said, with less confidence than usual. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

They ended up going over to Finn's house that evening for a study date, but Finn's mom had to work the evening shift (she really liked Kurt, and Kurt had to admit, despite her taste in clothes, he really liked her as well), so little studying actually got done. In fact, it had barely been twenty minutes since she'd left that Finn initiated a make-out session. Which was surprising, because Kurt couldn't remember Finn ever starting their make-outs. He seemed determined to draw Kurt out of his preoccupied funk, though. And he succeeded marvelously—especially when his hand traveled down Kurt's stomach and into his pants.

Thursday, Blaine was back in class. Whereas Finn had a busted lip and a bruise on his cheek, Blaine sported a classic black eye, and the bridge of his nose was swollen. Kurt couldn't help the stab of sympathy at seeing his face, which looked incredibly painful. He squashed it down, though, reminding himself that Blaine deserved it, for picking a petty fight with his boyfriend.

After school, Kurt found Blaine heading toward the bleachers, cigarette and lighter already in hand, but not lit yet. He knew the Skanks usually congregated under there after school, none of them ever seemed keen on going home. Of course, they'd probably get in trouble if they smoked at home.

"Blaine."

Blaine turned at the sound of his name, and scowled at Kurt. Kurt had caught just a flash of something on his face first, but it had gone too fast for him to even guess what it had been. Fine. He was done caring about Blaine's feelings, anyway.

"What do you want, Hummel?"

Kurt refused to be hurt at the cold tone and use of his last name. This was what he wanted; no love lost between the two of them.

"I want to talk to you."

Blaine swung his hand in a grand gesture. "So talk." He put his cigarette to his mouth and started to light it.

"I heard about what happened yesterday. The fight with Finn."

Blaine shrugged, unconcerned. "Gee, what a surprise. Anything else?"

Kurt clenched his jaw. Blaine was definitely making it easier for him to not like him, right now. "Yes. Stay away from Finn."

"Not a problem."

Kurt took a deep breath. "And stay away from me."

Blaine paused in taking a drag from his cigarette, but his face didn't change expression. "We share an awful lot of classes for that to be possible. You want me to flunk out?"

Kurt glared at him. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. Just—stay away from me, and stay away from Finn. I don't want anything more to do with you."

Blaine stared at him for a long moment, his face stony and cold. "Fine," he finally replied. "I'll ignore you even exist. Now get lost." With that, he turned and continued toward the bleachers, leaving Kurt to stare after him for a long moment, before turning and heading toward the parking lot.

He'd done the right thing.

So why did it hurt so much?