"If you're sure that this is normal for birds like Pavarotti," Kurt frowned, "I guess I'll trust your judgement. I'm just worried."

Blaine didn't reply, furious in thought as he walked with Kurt down the hallway. He had barely contributed to the conversation since Kurt had appeared at his breakfast table that morning, anxious about Pavarotti and wanting approval for his audition.

"Hey Blaine," Terry brushed past, giving him a coy smile.

"Hey Terry," Blaine looked up in time to give him a smile in return.

"I'll see you later."

"Yeah, okay."

"Who was that?"

"Just some guy from my maths class."

Blaine bit his lip, barely conscious of the several students rushing around him as he nudged Kurt over to the side.

"Move to the right."

"Huh?"

Blaine pushed Kurt gently towards the wall as a boy rushed past them, his bag swinging out and nearly hitting Blaine in the side.

"Nice save, I don't see why everyone has to push so much, if you want to get to class earlier then leave early. It's that simple."

Blaine didn't reply, not even pretending he had heard what Kurt said as he kept him pressed up against the wall. The crowd of boys appeared from around the corner and rushed past them, laughing and joking but Blaine ignored them completely, walking on auto pilot as he thought furiously about what his next move would be.

"Blaine, can I talk to you about my audition?"

Sebastian wasn't here today, he wasn't even making out with the blond haired boy like Blaine had suspected. He had just completely disappeared.

"Blaine, are you even listening to me?"

Right, so Sebastian wasn't here, that didn't mean there was any reason to panic. He was overlooking something, being oblivious and accidently self sabotaging himself, was it in this corridor? Had he been passing the problem every day? Not noticing that anything was wrong and sabotaging any chances he had for happiness?

"Blaine? Anyone in there?"

It was tugging at the corner of his mind, a soft smile, a flutter of eyelashes, and the brush of their hand against his.

Could it have been someone he was overlooking, and not something?

"Blaine?"

"Terry!" Blaine exclaimed.

"Sorry?"

"I have to go talk to Terry."

"Any reason why?" Kurt asked, reeling slightly in confusion.

"I'm going to ask him out," Blaine beamed at Kurt, "Isn't that great?"

Kurt froze in place, coming to a sudden halt as Blaine continued walking for a few steps only to stop and look back in confusion.

Kurt was staring off at something Blaine couldn't see, his face carefully blank as his hands clenched around his bag strap. His shoulders were tensed and his back perfectly straight, it seemed Kurt had disappeared behind his shields and Blaine had no idea what had set him off.

"You're going to ask him out?" Kurt asked slowly, turning to look at Blaine with that same indifferent expression.

"Absolutely, I mean it all makes sense now. I've sat next to him in class for months and I guess I knew he liked me but I was just subconsciously blocking it out. I always thought he was cute but sometimes I can be so oblivious, God, this is it. This is what Sebastian was talking about."

"What does Sebastian have to do with any of this? Did he tell you to ask Terry out?"

"Sort of, I mean I guess so, I don't have time, I have to go ask Terry out before he disappears."

The five minute warning bell rung above them and Blaine's head darted up in panic.

"I have to go catch him, I'll see you later Kurt."

Blaine jogged away from him and back down the corridor, pushing past people and apologising profusely as he hurried to catch up to the disappearing boy.

Terry liked him, he might have even liked him for months and Blaine had done nothing about it. Unrequited love made people miserable, Blaine knew this first hand from Jeremiah and by becoming Terry's boyfriend he could make them both happy.

Boyfriend!

Blaine had never been someone's boyfriend before, but he loved the idea of it. He'd wanted to have a boyfriend, have someone just to himself since before he'd even realized he was gay.

He was going to be Terry's boyfriend and they would go on dates and kiss and be in love and everyone would be happy and Kurt would stop worrying about him and the repeating Tuesdays would stop and-

Blaine cut himself off, smiling to himself as he shook his head.

He was getting too far ahead; he should probably ask Terry out on a date first.

"Terry!" Blaine called, watching as the other boy turned around curiously, pausing just outside his classroom door.

"Wait up."

"Blaine? What's wrong?"

Terry stared down quizzically at him as Blaine paused for a moment to find the right words.

Terry was cute, Blaine had always believed that but he'd never given it much thought beyond passing notice. Now that he stood there with the other boy, he finally paused to give him a second once over.

Dark brown hair that stuck up a little at the back, not quite Kurt's chestnut colour but still a nice colour nonetheless, his eyes were a smooth brown and while his forehead showed a little redness from acne, the rest of his face was mostly clear.

Kurt would probably have started suggesting skin care products if he ever met Terry, a snarky voice piped up from somewhere in Blaine's head, of course no one was able to have as perfect skin as Kurt did but Blaine didn't blame them, Kurt was kind of in a league of his own when it came to looks.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me."

"Like on a date?"

"Like on a date," Blaine confirmed with a smile.

Terry's face broke into a grin, straightening up as he realized what Blaine was saying.

"Sure, awesome, I know a great Mexican place like twenty minutes from here, are you busy Friday?"

"No!" Blaine exclaimed quickly, receiving a confused look from Terry, "I mean, I'm busy Friday, how about tonight?"

"Wow, eager," Terry said with a laugh, "Tonight it is then, I've got homework but I'd rather pick you over some geology assignment."

"Oh," Blaine flushed slightly at the compliment, trying to force down his beaming smile as he dug his hands into his pockets, "Thank you, I mean... me too about you. I mean, I'd rather hang out with you than do homework too."

"Cool," Terry laughed slightly at Blaine's stammering as Blaine grimaced in embarrassment, "I guess that's sorted then. I'm thinking about seven, yeah? We can meet in the entryway and I'll drive us in my car."

"Sounds great."

"Awesome," Terry grinned, "So I'll see you there, then?"

"Absolutely, see you later."

Terry turned into his classroom, giving Blaine a smile over his shoulder as the bell rung and a couple of students pushed past Blaine to enter the classroom too.

Blaine bounced up and down on the balls of his feet giddily, his face breaking into a huge smile as he tried to stop himself from cheering loudly. He had a date tonight, a date with a cute boy who liked him whom he had been overlooking for months now and after this date it would be Wednesday and Blaine would have a boyfriend.

Tomorrow Blaine would have an awesome boyfriend and an amazing best friend and be lead soloist of the Warblers and his life would be the best it had ever been.

Everything was finally working out for him, he could feel it.

***

"Kurt?" Blaine knocked on the door, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans. His ankles felt a little bare with the rolled up cuffs but it had been so long since Blaine had dressed himself that he couldn't help but indulge a little.

After pacing around his room for almost ten minutes he had given up, rushing over to Kurt's room before he had to leave. It was 6:40 and he was meant to meet Terry in twenty minutes but he couldn't stop worrying about the way he looked. He'd called Kurt almost ten times for a second opinion but the other boy hadn't picked up, twenty minutes till his date and Blaine was now set in panic mode.

He'd never been on a date before, what if he looked completely ridiculous?

"Kurt? Are you in there?"

Blaine was about to knock again when the door swung open and Blaine beamed upwards, his smile faltering as he caught sight of Kurt's face.

"Kurt, what happened? Are you okay?"

Kurt gave a small smile that didn't reach his eyes as he leaned against the door frame, letting the smile fade away slowly as he struggled to pretend he was fine. His eyes were red rimmed as if he had been crying recently and his hair was a complete mess, not only that but he was dressed in his pyjamas, an oversized t-shirt and comfy looking, plaid bottoms. For some reason Blaine had had the impression that Kurt only slept in silk, and to see him looking so casual but obviously upset struck something deep inside of Blaine.

"I'm fine."

"You're obviously not," Blaine said gently, reaching for Kurt's hand, "Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kurt sniffed and rubbed at his face, "I've just been having a really bad day."

"I'm sorry, is there anything I can do?"

"No," Kurt laughed quietly to himself, "No, it's kind of out of your control."

Blaine stood still for a few moments, still holding Kurt's hand as he tried desperately to think of a way to make things better. He hated seeing Kurt upset, out of all of his friends Kurt in pain always affected him the most deeply, almost as if he could feel Kurt's pain himself.

"Don't worry about that, here," Kurt tugged Blaine into his room, shutting the door behind him, "Let me take a look at you."

Being a midyear transfer student meant that Kurt had been given his own room for the foreseeable future, if there was another transfer he would be placed with Kurt but right now Blaine and Kurt both enjoyed the benefits of having a bedroom where they could hang out together and watch movies alone.

The room was usually in perfect condition but right now it looked, well, Blaine wouldn't say a mess, but it was looking more cluttered than usual. Kurt's bag had been dumped next to his bed with his books spilling out across the floor, his desk was covered with papers and his uniform seemed to be dumped over his chair.

Just looking around, Blaine would have been able to tell that Kurt had been having a bad day even without Kurt telling him.

"You wear bow ties?"

Kurt interrupted his thoughts by reaching up to touch the dark blue bow tie lightly, brushing his fingertips across the fabric with gentle care.

"I have a collection," Blaine admitted, slightly breathless at how close Kurt was standing.

"I knew we were best friends for a reason, I have good taste," Kurt grinned at him, "I like it. It has a sort of dapper, old Hollywood charm not seen since the 1950's. Not only that but the dress shirt you paired it up with works well, light blue and white stripes to set off the dark blue bow tie. Good choice Blaine Warbler, more people should dress like you."

"You think so?" Blaine lit up at the approval.

"Definitely, and the cardigan was a nice touch."

Blaine beamed again, bouncing on the balls of his feet as Kurt laughed, raking his eyes up and down.

"Yes, you look amazing. Terry's going to love it."

Kurt's voice dropped slightly at the end of his sentence and Blaine frowned, watching as Kurt's shoulders seemed to tense again.

"Kurt..."

"I hope you have a great time," Kurt seemed to be steeling himself, disappearing behind his shields as Blaine watched in dismay, "He seems like a great guy even though you've never mentioned him before today."

"I'm sorry, it was kind of a split decision to ask him out. I tell you everything, you know that."

"Yeah, of course."

There was a huge pause as Blaine felt his stomach sink, he could physically feel the space between them. He knew it was a trick of his mind but it was almost as if the room was stretching out, pulling Kurt away from him and leaving a tense, dangerous silence that Blaine had no idea how to fix.

"You should probably go soon, he'll be waiting for you downstairs."

"Yeah, right."

Blaine paused, he didn't want to leave, not when Kurt was upset for some reason and Blaine felt as if he had done something wrong.

"You know you're more important to me than him right?" Blaine tried, complete sincerity colouring his voice, "You're my best friend and no boyfriend would ever make me care more about him than you. You're always going to come first to me."

"Because I'm your best friend," Kurt said dully.

"Exactly!"

"And that's all I'm ever going to be."

"I... yes?"

Kurt sighed, wrapping his arms around his stomach as he gave Blaine a bitter smile.

"That's all I needed to hear, go to your date Blaine. I hope you and Terry are very happy together."

Blaine paused again, hovering half way between Kurt and the door. Kurt's voice had now lost any pretences of warmth and warning bells were going off in the back of Blaine's head. Something was wrong, he had screwed up somehow and Kurt was pissed off.

"I..."

"Just go Blaine, you don't want to be late."

"I'll text you afterwards," Blaine promised as he made his way over to the door, "I'll tell you all about it afterwards and we can talk about your day properly."

"Joy," Kurt said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he rolled his eyes, "I look forward to your call."

Blaine hesitated in the doorway, glancing back at Kurt as he smiled weakly.

"I'll see you later."

"See you."

Blaine closed the door gently behind him, pausing as he closed his eyes. He hated feeling like he had disappointed people, but Kurt being angry at him was the worst. Maybe if he brought back some cheesecake from that café Kurt liked so much, Kurt would be more willing to talk.

Blaine smoothed his cardigan down, taking in a deep breath of air as he tried to calm himself down. It was just one measly date, he looked good, Kurt had said so himself and Terry was a really nice guy. Blaine knew all this was true and yet he couldn't stop himself from wondering if maybe he was walking in the wrong direction, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should have cancelled on Terry and stayed until Kurt had admitted what was wrong.

It would be rude to cancel now though, Terry had agreed to go out on a Tuesday night when he probably had other important things to be doing. Blaine couldn't just back out at the last minute.

He would only be gone for a couple of hours, Kurt could wait until then. With that thought firmly in mind, Blaine squared his shoulders and started to make his way down to the entry hall.

What could possibly go wrong in a couple of hours?

***

"I guess I mostly like listening to rap you know? Like Eminem and Pitbull, stuff like that. I know you Warbler guys perform a lot of pop stuff-"

"I like rap songs too," Blaine hurried to correct him, smiling as he leaned forward over his tapas, "I mean we do perform a lot of top 40 but we're just trying to appeal to the general public, songs that everyone will enjoy."

"Well maybe you should think about doing some rap," Terry waved a napkin at him, dropping it in a ball on the table as he licked the sauce off of his fingers with a sucking, smacking noise.

Blaine refrained from flinching, he could feel his inner Kurt sneering and snapping something about table manners but he pushed it down with a smile. Terry was just a regular boy, a lack of table manners was to be expected.

"I don't know," Blaine said hesitantly, "I don't think rapping would work well with an acapella choir."

"Yeah, but it's always good to freshen things up a little, right?"

"I guess so."

There was a pause in conversation as Blaine took a bite of his taco. The food was good but Blaine still hadn't figured out a way to eat it without dripping all over himself. Right now he was tilting his head to unnatural angles to try and eat it over the plate.

"What kind of music are you into?" Terry asked.

Blaine glanced up at him, smiling around his mouthful of food.

Terry was dressed in a red soccer shirt and faded blue jeans, his sneakers were scruffed up and he'd looked entirely casual when Blaine had greeted him in the entryway. Looking around the restaurant, Blaine had quickly realised he was the best dressed person there. It was slightly jarring, he certainly didn't dress like Kurt did with his eccentric and quirky outfits but Blaine honestly hadn't expected to look out of place with just a bowtie.

But first dates were meant to be casual right?

Maybe he had been over thinking everything when he had gotten dressed.

"I'm guilty of liking a lot of top 40, but I have a lot of other music interests as well," Blaine grinned at him, "I mean who doesn't love the Beatles?"

"Oh yeah, the Beatles are cool."

"You should see my best friend's ipod, he has everything from Lady Gaga to Rufus Wainwright to... to French rock. It's insane."

"Oh yeah," Terry nodded his head, trying to appear interested, "You know, I like a lot of the classic rock as well."

"With the guitar solos?"

"Uh huh," Terry grinned, "If it's not rap or like crazy techno, then I like songs with insane guitar solos. It gets me pumped in the morning when I workout."

"Totally, although I can't even begin to tell you the amount of terrible songs I have on my ipod just because I like boxing to the beat."

"If you say Justin Bieber then I'm afraid you're going to have to make your own way home."

"No!" Blaine laughed, "I'm not that bad. Although there was a time when I found myself addicted to Friday by Rebecca Black and my best friend threatened to throw my laptop out the window."

"Friday? I refuse to be associated with you."

"It was a dark time in my life. Don't judge me."

Terry laughed, shaking his head as he caught Blaine's eye and they both grinned. Blaine relaxed back into his seat, smiling happily as he watched Terry eat, despite his first initial nerves everything was going well. They were going to be fine.

"Turning away from music before you reveal any other dark secrets-"

Blaine pretended to be insulted as Terry laughed.

"-are you interested in any sports?"

"Oh, a couple. I follow football and of course I box and fence regularly. The fencing I'm not really... it was more a sport I took to look good on my college resume. But I watch football fairly often."

"I'm into basketball, I go to a lot of games with my friends. Have you ever seen a game?"

"Not really, I think I saw like a couple minutes once but I didn't know the rules and didn't know the teams."

"Well maybe I'll take you to a game one day."

Blaine glanced up in surprise, hand clenching around his glass as he felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but only if you want to."

"No, it sounds great. I'd love to come with you."

Terry grinned at him as Blaine smiled down at his lap; this was going exactly as he had hoped. The restaurant wasn't that bad, there were a couple of families here and at times the noise was a bit loud but the waiters were nice and the food was good. Maybe after the date was over, he and Terry could go for a walk. There might be a quiet park around this area and it was a nice enough night.

Blaine shifted in his seat, trying to ignore the way his phone sat like a rock in his pocket, it's heavy weight was a constant reminder that Kurt was on the other side and upset about something.

Blaine wished he had had time to make Kurt feel better before leaving, watching Kurt's sad face as he closed the door was the one thing stopping him from having a completely relaxed, carefree date. Although again it was just a first date, maybe Blaine was over thinking it. Maybe every first date was a little awkward and uncomfortable. He was just getting to know Terry and Sebastian had wanted him to ask the other boy out for a reason.

"It's really cool how you're into sports and everything."

"Thanks I guess," Blaine laughed, jolting out of his thoughts.

"No I mean, when I came out as gay my friends all thought that meant I would turn into a completely different person, like as if I'd start dressing differently or talking differently. I just want people to see that being gay doesn't mean we all turn into stereotypical TV gay guys."

"Oh I know!" Blaine straightened up in his seat, enthused about the new topic of conversation, "The way TV presents gay guys as comic relief or one dimensional characters, it's like, we're so much more than that you know? And then people get the wrong idea, I mean how many gay TV characters do we see paying bills or waiting in line at the post office? We're so much more than side characters who offer wise words of advice to their female best friend, being gay isn't all I am."

"Exactly!" Terry exclaimed, "I'm so glad you agree with me, I want more characters that like football and go surfing on weekends. You know? Not those stereo typical, likes shopping and broad way and fashion but real men. It's like TV producers have no idea what gay people are actually like."

"Uh yeah," Blaine faltered at Terry's words, "Because even if they do like all those things then there's nothing wrong with that, a gay guy who likes Broadway and fashion shouldn't be the punch line of a joke."

"Ugh," Terry took a sip of his drink, putting it down to lean back into Blaine's space, "Those guys are jokes though, and to think they actually exist in real life! I thought they were just characters on sitcoms and then I came to Dalton and met a few face to face. Honestly, can't they see how pathetic they are? That's why I like you Blaine, you're gay but you don't feel the need to shove it in everybody's faces."

"Well I don't think those types of gay guys are trying to shove it in everybody's face either," Blaine shifted back uncomfortably, suddenly wary of the direction in which the conversation had gone, "I think they just enjoy different things and don't see anything wrong with it or see any reason to change themselves, I really admire that."

"Really?" Terry pulled a face, laughing slightly as he shook his head, "I don't get that. I mean, they're obviously putting on that whole girly, I'm-so-flaming-gay thing to get attention. It makes the rest of the gay community look bad because people start associating us with them. Wasn't there one of those gay guys on the Warblers? Where you just need to look at him to know he was into guys? What was his name..."

"Look Terry," Blaine bit his lip, tapping his fingers on the table, "Everyone's allowed to have their own opinions and I respect that, but I myself actually like Broadway and fashion and I don't see why-"

"Kurt Hummel!" Terry exclaimed, "That's right, you know him, yeah? Being lead soloist and all. Why can't he just tone it down? Have you seen the things he adds to his uniform and the way he talks? It doesn't make sense to me, why would you identify as gay and then act like a girl? No one's going to want to date him unless he starts acting like an actual guy and not so obviously flaming. I bet you like, ten dollars that he gets all hysterical when someone says he looks like a girl; well if you want to be a boy then you should act like one, that's all I'm saying."

Blaine sat frozen in place, fist clenched around the edge of the table as he stared across at Terry in complete shock.

"Excuse me?"

"Kurt Hummel, he's in the Warblers with you, right? He transferred here midyear and all the rumours are saying it was because of bullying back at his old school. I can see why though, I mean if you go around looking like he does then you're just asking to be attacked."

Terry chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he leaned back in his seat, giving Blaine a lopsided grin as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Seriously, what else did he expect to happen?"

"He wasn't asking for anything," Blaine snapped, "Nobody deserves to be bullied, especially not because of the way they like to dress themselves or because they like a certain type of music. How can you say that?"

"Look, if you make yourself a target then you can't expect people not to-"

"So we should all just pretend to be straight and try to blend in?"

Terry recoiled in confusion, suddenly starting to realize that he had said something wrong as he took in Blaine's tense facial features.

"Of course I don't think we should pretend to be straight Blaine, it's just-"

"Have you ever been bullied for being gay?"

"What?"

"Have you ever been bullied for being gay?"

"I- no."

"Then you have no idea, absolutely no idea how difficult it is to-to be honest to yourself and to stay strong and to not change who you are when faced with hundreds of people who hate you and think you're wrong. Kurt is my best friend and he's so much braver than you could ever be and frankly, he's a lot more interesting than you. I'd rather talk to him about Broadway and fashion than talk about basketball with you any day."

"Blaine-"

"Here," Blaine pulled out his wallet, reaching blindly for a couple of notes as he threw them on the table, "That should be enough for my half of the meal. I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to me or Kurt ever again."

Blaine got up quickly, his chair screeching across the floor as he ignored Terry's irritated cry of his name. Several customers glanced over in curiosity and Blaine ignored their eyes, feeling a flush of embarrassment as he realized that many of them might have heard the conversation.

"Good," a small part of him insisted. At least they would have been able to hear him calling Terry out and might have learnt a thing or two themselves.

How could anybody dislike Kurt? How could anybody be gay and think of themselves as being above someone else in the gay community because of the way they dressed or the hobbies they liked?

Damn, Blaine should have mentioned that Kurt was a mechanic.

Or that Blaine was into all those stereotypical gay things as well. In Terry's eyes, would that mean that Blaine wasn't a real man either?

He got enough of that crap from his father, he didn't need it from his boyfriend as well.

Blaine fumed to himself as he repeated their conversation over in his head, running through the way Terry had laughed and shrugged as if what he was saying was normal and nothing to get upset about. Had there been any signs before this? Any signs that Terry had been... what was it called?

Effem- Effete- Effemiphobic; that was it.

"Not a real man," Blaine scoffed to himself with an eye roll, hugging himself tighter around the middle as he stormed away from the restaurant and down the street.

No, there had been no signs that Terry felt that way and this whole thing had just come out of nowhere.

God, Blaine just wanted this stupid night to be over.

It was only as he was crossing over a road, pulling his grey coat tighter around him that he realized with a sudden jolt and groaned in frustration. Terry had been his ride home.

Stupid Terry with his stupid face who was probably right now in his stupid car, driving back to Dalton.

With a frustrated sigh he turned into the shelter of a nearby door and reached into his pocket for his phone, dialling the numbers he already knew by heart.