~Hell-O~

Blaine was trying his best to focus on finishing his history homework, but instead he kept thinking about what he should text Kurt next. He had managed not to actually text him all day, but it was still a struggle to keep his eyes on his textbook and not bring out his phone. So much that he didn’t noticed when his friends appeared and sat down next to him at his table.

Not until Trent suddenly snatched the textbook away from him. “So, we met Kurt.” Nick said with a grin.

If the disappearing textbook hadn’t gotten Blaine’s full attention, that piece of news did. Blaine looked up to see Nick, Trent and Jeff sitting there with smug smiles on their faces. Blaine let out a long sigh, he was getting fed up with their teasing. But he was far too polite to call them out on it just yet, though he wasn’t sure if he could keep quiet now that they had approached Kurt. “Oh my god what did you say to him!” he demanded.

“Relax Blaine, we didn’t really say anything except introduce ourselves.” Trent assured him.

“We just wanted to meet him.” Jeff said.

Blaine wasn’t really buying their answer because there had to be more than that. But because Kurt had never mentioned the meeting he figured it was fine to drop the subject. He certainly wanted the teasing to come to an end now, though. “Okay can you guys lay off now? It’s getting old... Kurt and I are just friends.” Blaine told them. He wasn’t sure if he had gotten through them so he sighed again. “And I am trying to study here.” he added.

The trio exchanged amused glances and Blaine felt like walking away. “Alright, I guess we’ve been kind of jerks to you about it. Have fun ‘studying.’” Nick replied as they walked off and Blaine could hear them laughing lightly as they went.

Blaine shook his head and resumed making notes, they weren’t that bad really, but Blaine hoped the teasing was over nontheless, because it wasn’t like he and Kurt were doing anything devious. If anything it was void of any scandal and Blaine intended to keep it that way. They were friends and Blaine could only let himself think of them like that right now. If he let his mind wander and considered it was anything else, he would be treading over dangerous waters. The fact that Blaine knew he was bad at romance just helped him keep his mind on the matter. After Blaine had studied enough to his liking he selected Kurt’s name from his contact list. It was the right way to go, because just being Kurt Hummel’s friend was rewarding in so many ways.
_________________________________________________________

“Whoever invented the slushie should be locked away for life.” Kurt said in a very venomous tone over the phone.

Blaine forced himself not to laugh, since Kurt was obviously not in the mood. “And the reason being...?” he asked.

“Oh just how they feel when they hit your face. How hard it is to clean up after, how they practically ruined my outfit today!” Kurt hissed.

“Wait, let me get this straight: someone actually threw a slushie at you? Intentionally?” Blaine blurted in surprise.

Kurt was silent for a moment and then sighed. “You innocent, naive fool Blaine. Yes, at my school you can get a slushie facial at any turn.” he explained.

“I am surprised bullies actually thought of something besides using their fists.” Blaine said softly.

“I know, right?” Kurt replied, then he heard the bell chime and he quickly closed his locker. “I gotta go, I’ll talk to you later alright?”

“Bye Kurt, keep breathing, okay?” Blaine answered.

Kurt grinned as he put his phone away and headed off to the choir room. This time their assignment for the week was to sing a song with the word ‘Hello’ in the title- which Kurt was having trouble finding- and Rachel seemed to intentionally go off the plan when her song had the word Hell and not actually Hello. Kurt was surprised to find out that Finn and Rachel were no longer dating. But he was more surprised on how the news affected him: he didn’t care at all. This was further confirmed when Finn sang his song for the assignment, looking confident and still as attractive as ever. Kurt’s inner voice began to speak in his mind and for once it had his full attention.

It’s funny, watching Finn sing like this has made me realize that I no longer have a thing for him. I’m sure I would have been looking at him right now with desire before. But now, nothing... I don’t even know how I ever found him worthy of my feelings. Well I guess that’s a lie I do know, it’s Blaine. Meeting Blaine has showed me the light. I no longer need to crush and pine hopelessly over guys who are straight. It’s not right for me and not fair to them. Blaine has shown me the light. In SOOOO many ways.

As the song came to an end Kurt thought about the big epiphany his mind had made. It was very hard to keep things from whirling out of control. He was dumbstruck over realizing that he no longer had feelings for Finn, well actually he could barely even call them real feelings; Kurt now could see it had been nothing but a silly juvenile crush and that he had been taking advantage of Finn’s good nature. That was certainly clear from when he had set up his father with Finn’s mom, Carole, all in hopes of it bringing him and her son closer together. It felt so selfish now and Kurt wasn’t sure how he could fix things. Before any of that could happen Kurt had a whole new set of worries. Did this mean his feelings for Finn had started to transfer to Blaine, Only if that was true this time they were real feelings, real feelings that might actually be returned? Blaine had become an enjoyable part of his life and the thought that things could go beyond friendship were terrifying and exciting at the same time. As Kurt began to think about it he couldn’t help but consider how amazing they could be together, as an actual couple. But it also could lead to them destroying an equally wonderful friendship. Was it really worth the risk? Because Kurt also had no idea how Blaine felt about him and if it was even a possibility. For now he decided to push these dangerous thoughts aside. He wasn’t ready to face them yet, things were too new and frightening to deal with. Kurt still refused to let things between him and Blaine get nervous after all. If he found out that he couldn’t just forget these questions from forming in his head, then he would deal with that when it happened. For now, Kurt would just focus on the positive and continue the journey he and Blaine had started. If it only ended up being a strong friendship over a romantic one, he would be fine. Or at least he hoped he would be.
_______________________________________________________________

What had started out as another day at school where Kurt was at his locker, applying another layer of hairspray to his head, ended up becoming very different when he heard his name being called in the distance. “Kurt!”

Kurt turned to Tina and Mercedes storming towards him and by the looks on their faces they weren’t happy campers. Kurt began to panic as he thought they had somehow found out about him and Blaine. ‘Just what I need.’ Kurt thought to himself, but it might have been something different so he went with playing ignorant. “"Where’s the fire?” Kurt asked them innocently.

“Oh there’s going to be a fire indeed. It’s Rachel, she’s fraternizing with the enemy!” Mercedes explained.

“Excuse me, what?” Kurt said in shock.

“Turns out she’s been dating a guy from Vocal Adrenaline by the name of Jesse St. James behind our backs! We’re meeting with Artie in the choir room now to go confront her.” Tina explained.

“She’s crazy! I don’t believe for one moment that this guy isn’t playing her. You know everyone in Vocal Adrenaline is pure evil, this whole thing stinks.” Mercedes commented angrily.

Kurt was still so surprised by the complete irony of the whole situation that he couldn’t say anything in reply. Instead, his mind was beginning to panic once again, so Kurt fought to calm himself. ‘It’s totally different Kurt, Blaine and I aren’t dating. He’s not playing me an I’m not playing him… It’s different... Totally different.’ Kurt assured himself. He finally noticed that Tina and Mercedes were both now staring at him. They were obviously wondering why he wasn’t joining them in their rage. Kurt knew, if he wanted to keep his friendship with Blaine a secret, he’d have to earn it. But it wasn’t hard to get mad at Rachel because once again she had ruined things for him. Now there was no safe way to reveal him knowing Blaine at all. Combined with the fact that she probably was being played, it got him to where he needed to be.

“You’re coming right?” Tina asked finally.

Kurt gave them both a determined look and linked his arms with Mercedes’ and Tina’s and headed off to the choir room. “Ladies, I am so there!” Kurt yelled in anger. ____________________________________________________________

Blaine watched as Kurt paced back and forth in front of his view point from Kurt’s couch and wondered if this would become a common occurrence from now on. Kurt had called him right after class and filled him in on the whole Rachel ordeal. Blaine had agreed that the irony of the whole situation was far from amusing. Which now led to Kurt venting his anger by pacing around his bedroom, though Blaine could tell his anger was turning to guilt. So Blaine decided he’d try to put his mind at ease. “Look Kurt, even if I wasn’t in the picture, you wouldn’t be less mad with Rachel, right?” he asked him.

Kurt stopped pacing and turned to look at Blaine, “Well... Yes...” he admitted quickly. That comment diffused his anger enough to come to his senses a bit. He saw Blaine pat the spot on the couch next to him. Allowing himself to smile a little as he came to sit down beside Blaine, “I’m angry at Rachel of course... But I’m a little angry at myself too! I mean, the whole time I was accusing her. I kept thinking, the tables could have easily been turned my way. What if everyone had found out about us? I could see Rachel doing just the same thing we all did to her.” Kurt explained.

“Maybe, but you keep forgetting the two big differences here. You’re not being played by me and we’re not dating. We’ve been friends for almost three weeks now, Kurt. We didn’t just met and start dating.” Blaine pointed out.

“I know that, you know that, but would anyone else? After all this situation with Rachel I’m not so sure anymore. Just when I thought I might be able to at least tell someone about you. Now I don’t see that happening anytime soon.” Kurt said, sulking.

“Does this really have to change anything, though?” Blaine had to ask.

Kurt thought about that for a moment before he looked over at Blaine. “I guess it doesn’.... At least not for us. Just to be safe,though, we might want to figure out what we should and shouldn’t tell each other about Glee Club.”

Blaine nodded in agreement, “Sounds like a plan to me. Which of us should start?”

“Well it was my idea, though I am sure you were thinking the same thing. I like being able to talk about Glee Club with you. Just because it’s so much a part of my life and I like having you give suggestions of good songs for my assignments. I like hearing about how your Warbler practice went each day. I don’t want that to stop at all.” Kurt admitted to Blaine.

“Me too, I think when it’s just simple things like that we’re fine to continue. But when it comes to anything about competing, like our Regional set lists, or anything to do with what we’re singing, what we’re performing, how much we’re practising, anything we even remotely might be considering as sharing secrets, We won’t share it straight away, or at least we’ll ask each other if we think we should.” Blaine suggested.

“I think that sounds like a good idea.” Kurt replied with a small smile.

“Good it’s decided. So, since we can still talk about weekly assignments: have you got any ideas for what Hello song you’ll be singing?” Blaine asked him.

Kurt nodded and got up to take his laptop off his desk. “I think so, god bless iTunes. I just did a search for Hello and I think I found my song. Here, have a listen.” Kurt said, pressing play.

Blaine for once didn’t know the song, but it had a nice slow melody. One that Kurt could sing very well. Blaine could already picture him sitting in front of his classmates in Glee Club, bringing tears to their eyes or warm smiles to their faces. But that only made him wish he could be there too, which was impossible, of course.

“Very nice, it suits you, Kurt. What song is it?” he asked.

“Hello, I’m Delaware by City & Colour. I hadn’t heard of it before either, but I like it. Now that you are in agreement, my assignment it shall be. Of course finding sheet music for it won’t be very easy...” Kurt said.

“Well if you can’t I bet we could make one up, I have a good ear when it comes to music after all.” Blaine offered.

“You are so helpful it’s almost annoying!” Kurt chuckled.

“I swear it’s not on purpose Kurt! It’s just who I am.... And I’m not always innocent. Like right now I’m tempted to go put a hidden camera into McKinley’s choir room now so I can see all of your solos.” Blaine said jokingly.

“Hmm, that might make everyone think you really are spying on us! So I’d vote against that. I mean, I’ve resisted the urge to sneak back into Dalton.” Kurt replied.

“We could always put a concert on for each other. After the competition season is over. Sing all the songs we sang in Glee Club” Blaine suggested only half seriously.

Kurt laughed at that, “Maybe... It’s definitely an idea.” was all he replied.

“A good idea?” Blaine asked.

“I’m not sure yet.” Kurt answered with a grin.
_________________________________________________________________

It soon became a habit for Kurt and Blaine to meet everyday after school at the Lima Bean and it was something they both enjoyed a lot. Especially the days when Blaine didn’t have Warbler practice to make their visit together cut short. It was one of those lucky times at the moment and it was a rare Friday night for once to boot. At the moment Kurt was listening to Blaine talk about his song choices for his next solo and Kurt just sat there listening to him.

“So yeah I’m really torn on what I should pick…. I am seriously considering doing Just Dance.” Blaine muttered as he finished.

“Which one? Lady Gaga or David Bowie?” Kurt asked.

Blaine rolled his eyes playfully, “Bowie of course! Don’t get me wrong, Lady Gaga is amazing and everything. But I don’t think she’s really the Warblers’ style..."

“You’re probably right, at least that song anyway. Go with David Bowie then, it’s right up your alley, Blaine.” Kurt suggested.

“I think I will then!” Blaine replied with a smile.

Kurt returned his smile until he noticed Blaine begin to look around the room, like he was looking for someone and Kurt gave him a confused look. “What are you looking at?”

Blaine hadn’t realized he’d been doing anything, so he looked back at Kurt and shrugged. “Oh sorry... I was just thinking... Do any of your friends from McKinley ever come here?”

“Not that I know of, why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking how lucky we’ve been that no one’s spotted us together so far.” Blaine explained.

“I guess that’s true, though I am curious: why you thought of this now?”

“Just how Rachel got found out about dating that Jesse St. James guy I guess... it just got me thinking about how it could happen to us too.”

“Except it would be completely different, remember the whole fact that we’re just friends and aren’t spies? I’m not saying that the New Directions wouldn’t freak out at the news at first. But I’d like to think they’d listen to me in the end. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to tell anyone yet either. I had been but then Rachel ruined everything again and I think it’s better to wait. Because I have to face enough drama as it is.” Kurt began to rant.

“Just forget what I said Kurt! It’s not like I was suggesting we lay it low or anything because that’s just stupid.” Blaine told him.

Kurt let out a sigh, it didn’t escape him that his life seemed to be full of smiles and sighs. “Okay good, because it’s one thing to not tell our friends in glee about each other but it’s another thing to hide like we’re doing something wrong.”

“Agreed, let’s just forget I brought the whole thing up, okay?”

“Sure Blaine, so do you think it’s safe if we go see a movie now? I mean you don’t have Warbler practice for once.”

“I’m game if you are.” Blaine told him.

So after they finished their drinks Kurt first drove his car home since he lived closer and Blaine drove them both to the the theatre afterwards. During the drive they had chatted about what movie they wanted to see but even after discussing for the whole ride they still weren’t sure by the time they arrived at their destination. So now Blaine was standing beside him as they both looked at the list of movies and show times.

“How hard can this be...” Blaine muttered as he narrowed his eyes in thought.

Kurt was about to say something witty in reply when he heard a very familiar voice off in the distance. He froze in horror, “No... It couldn’t be.” he whispered is disbelief. But Kurt whirled around and sure it enough it was true, Rachel Berry was also at the movies and she wasn’t alone.

Blaine had been too busy trying to decide on a movie to notice this and was totally caught off guard as Kurt grabbed a hold of him and hauled him to hide behind a large pillar.

“What! What’s going on?” Blaine blurted out.

“Shh! Get down or she’ll hear you!” Kurt hissed as he pushed at Blaine so they where hunched over.

“Who? What?... See who?” Blaine whispered.

“Rachel! She’s here and... Oh my god I can’t believe it! So is Jesse St. James! I cannot believe she lied to us and is still dating him... Behind our backs! This is low even for her.” Kurt whispered to Blaine, though it was clear to see he was angry.

“Uh Kurt... She’s not the one hiding behind a pillar next to me. So can you really talk?” Blaine pointed out.

Kurt stood up and glanced back at Blaine, who was looking at him playfully. “Okay good point.” Kurt admitted. “Which is why I won’t tell anyone about seeing her. I just really hope we’re all wrong about Jesse, for Rachel’s sake and glee’s.” Kurt muttered as he watched the pair pass them by. He let out a sigh of relief when they didn’t even notice Blaine and Kurt from their hiding spot.

“Maybe they’re just friends now.” Blaine commented. Then he watched them begin to kiss and hold hands and his theory was quickly shot down. “Okay maybe not.”

The two of them watched the couple going completely out of sight and then they stepped out from behind the pillar once the coast was clear. Blaine looked back up at the movie listings once more before looking back at Kurt with a grin.

“Think it’s safe to still see a movie?” he asked.

Kurt could only nod at first, once again Rachel had made things difficult without her even trying. But he knew when to keep quiet and let things go. So Kurt hoped that Rachel knew what she was doing and he’d leave it at that. Because he knew that when Rachel would eventually find out about Blaine, she would call him out right away on how he treated her when everyone found out about Jesse St. James. Kurt also knew she wouldn’t bother to listen to him even if Kurt tried to explain he had felt bad about it. So, instead of worrying about it, Kurt decided to just forget about and deal with it when it happened. There was no way he was letting one drama queen ruin his friendship with Blaine. Even though Kurt had to admit that that wasn’t ever going to happen.

He suddenly realized Blaine was staring at him because he hadn’t answered him yet. “Oh yes, I think it is.” he answered.