"You'll find out tomorrow, Blaine," Wes said and rolled his eyes at David.

They were walking to the main building for dinner, and Blaine, who really just wanted to tell Wes that he wasn't going to go on that date, tried talk himself into it by finding out as much as he could about this boy that Wes, David, and apparently even Thad, had deemed to be exactly what he needed.

"Wouldn't you like it better to be surprised?" David asked.

Blaine sighed. "Blind dates never go well, guys, not that I'd know, but there's just no logic to them. Aren't you supposed to meet someone, get to know them and then go on a date? Find common ground first?"

Wes coughed. "Yes, well, you never meet anyone you even consider possibly dating, even if there is common ground."

Blaine began to respond, but stopped, and frowned. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"What?"

"Just...be quiet for a bit."

He heard it again a few moment later, the ruffling of leaves and then someone gasping for air.

Wes pointed towards the bushes, where suddenly a boy got up and began brushing dirt off of his clothes, frowning at a piece of paper. It was too dark out to really make him out, but Blaine could see his silhouette. He fumbled with the paper and then folded it up and slipped it into a pocket, before he stepped out of the bushes.

David frowned. "Who is that?" he asked Wes in a whisper.

Wes shrugged.

The boy came further into light and Blaine gasped. It was him. It had to be. He wanted to run over and introduce himself, to make himself known to this strange, almost ethereal boy that had to be the boy he'd been dreaming of. Instead, Blaine found, he couldn't move. But, he didn't have to, because he'd spotted Blaine and was walking towards him .

"So maybe Blaine wants to date this guy, then?" David asked, "look at him, he's practically drooling."

Wes snorted. "Is it that guy he's been obsessing about?"

David shrugged.

The boy opened his mouth and tried to speak, but nothing came out. He frowned and something that looked like fear flashed across his eyes. He tried again and then shook his head, mouthing 'no'. Now he looked upset and surprised, and most of all he looked like he'd been cheated.

Blaine extended his hand once he'd regained his ability to move. "Hello," he said, "I'm Blaine."

Again, the boy tried to speak as he took Blaine's hand, but nothing came out. He stomped his foot on the ground and Blaine did his best to stifle the laugh that was threatening to come up. Why couldn't he speak?

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked.

He shook his head and touched his throat, opening his mouth as if expecting sound to come out, but nothing did.

"You can't speak? Is it like an experiment or something...or are you...are you mute?"

Blaine hoped it was an experiment or some crazy religious belief that bound him to not talking for a few hours, or a whole day. If he couldn't talk, if he couldn't sing, if his voice wasn't the voice Blaine had been dreaming of for months, then, he couldn't be him.

There was a dismayed expression on his face, tears filling his eyes as he tried to speak again but there was no sound. Blaine swallowed up the feelings that had been ready to burst out. He'd been so sure he was the one.

"Um, are you new here? I've never seen you before," Wes said, stepped forwards when Blaine pulled his hand back.

He had composed himself now, and he nodded.

"Who's your friend, Blaine?" David asked, coming up behind Wes.

Blaine looked from Wes and David to the boy in front of him. "Um, well, I don't know his name. But, let's find out." He took the notebook that David always carried with him, the notebook Blaine suspected of having his every move written in it. "Pen?"

Wes pulled one out of his inside blazer pocket and Blaine took it to hand to the very attractive boy in front of him.

He took both items and opened the notebook from the back and wrote out his name in neat hand writing.

Kurt Hummel

"Well, then, nice to meet you, Kurt," Wes said, "I'm Wes, and this is David."

David smiled at him and then spoke, "Where are you headed? We were just going to dinner, you could come with us?"

Kurt looked torn for a moment, and then he nodded and handed the notebook and pen to David. Wes took his pen back before David could pocket it and poked David hard on the arm.

Blaine rolled his eyes and turned to Kurt, "so you're new? Do you know what house you're in?"

Despite Kurt obviously not being the one, Blaine was nothing if not nice to everyone he met, and there was something about Kurt that made Blaine want to keep talking to the other boy.

Kurt nodded, shrugged, and then shook his head. Then, he reached into one of his pockets to check that something was still there and let out a breath, his shoulders slumping a little.

Kurt looked sad and like someone had just destroyed his every hope and dream and Blaine didn't know why it hurt him so much to know that Kurt was in pain. He didn't understand why he wanted to protect Kurt from anything that could possibly hurt him.

They continued on in silence, because really that was the only state that Kurt could be in, and Blaine continued to peek at the new Dalton student. Kurt wasn't wearing the Dalton uniform, but skinny jeans that must have been a size too small for Kurt and a sweater that must have been designer. He was just Blaine's type, he even had a resemblance to the boy in Blaine's dreams. Except, Kurt had no voice. He never could have sung to Blaine at the Lima Bean.

The universe is cruel. It isn't possible to have him right in front of me and for it to not be him.

Kurt can't be HIM. It wouldn't be fair to give me a boy without voice, when all I dream of is his beautiful, melodic voice.

Now, I wonder if my boy even exists.

From the journal of Blaine Anderson

His throat hurt, a deep aching pain, worse than anything he'd ever felt before. Bruises and cuts from Karofsky he could handle, but this was somehow worse and amplified by what it meant; he'd never be able to sing again. The pain wasn't really physical, although there was a certain soreness to his throat, it was much more metaphorical than anything.

Blaine was walking next to him, though, trying to make futile conversation that was going to be all one sided and Kurt yearned to be able to respond, to awe him with the thoughts running through his mind.

Kurt hadn't expected it to be his voice that would become his sacrifice. It wasn't fair for his voice of all things to be taken from him, but he'd been willing to give anything up for this. Kurt just didn't know if it had been worth it anymore.

"This is the main building," Blaine told him, "the cafeteria, most of the teacher's offices and headmaster's office are in here as well as the auditorium and a few lounges."

Kurt nodded to show that he was listening.

Blaine continued on, telling him a bit about teachers and classes, and sometimes stopping himself before asking a question that he wouldn't get an answer to.

Behind them, Wes and David were talking quietly to each other and Kurt could just make out some of what they were saying, but none of it was important to him. He had everything to worry about. The note had told him not to, but Kurt couldn't help but worry.

Somehow, when he'd gotten up on that stage, he hadn't considered what could happen to his father, how this would affect him and his friends. Now, he worried about his dad who had just had a heart attack a few months before and what he would be eating without Kurt there to make his meals. He worried about letting down New Directions, despite Rachel's assurances. All of this, was mixed in with worry that maybe he had been wrong. And if he was wrong, well, he couldn't even bear thinking about it.

They reached the cafeteria soon enough and Wes and David practically ran to get food. Blaine chuckled. Kurt looked taken aback.

"Don't mind them. They're always like that around food." Blaine smiled at him, "you wouldn't expect it of them, specially Wes, but..."

Kurt smiled back, not being able to help himself. Kurt didn't understand what it was about Blaine that affected him so deeply, but even after just having met him and knowing that the Warbler was just being nice because that was obviously who he was, Kurt couldn't help but feel his heart give a little flutter.

Kurt who didn't know he was so ravenous until he was taking a seat next to Blaine with his Caesar Salad, and he brought the fork up to his mouth, ate his entire meal trying to figure out what he was supposed to do after dinner was over. He no longer had the uniform, he hadn't enrolled at Dalton exactly. The note had done nothing to offer him instructions on how to proceed. It had assured him that those weren't the things he needed to worry about, but what was Kurt supposed to do, now?

It was halfway through the meal that a boy with a heavy looking backpack entered. He dropped the backpack on the floor gently and stole a few fries from Wes' plate, before running off to grab himself something to eat.

Only when he returned, did he realize that Kurt was there, and he extended his hand out with a smile.

"I'm Thad," he told Kurt, "you must be the new kid. I heard Madame Perrault talking about you. She apparently heard you're good at French."

Kurt nodded, a bit saddened by the idea that he wouldn't be able to actually speak or sing in French again. It hit him after that thought that a teacher knew him as the new kid, unless someone else had transferred and was fluent in French. Maybe things would work out.

Before Thad could question why Kurt wasn't responding verbally, Wes stepped in, "this is Kurt, Thad. He's...he can't talk."

"Oh!" Thad stared at Kurt for a moment, "do you know sign language, then? I've read up on it, a while back actually, but I could dig up some books on it."

Kurt hadn't expected that question. He shook his head. Faintly he remembered learning how to spell his name in sign language in elementary school and doing that Beatles song with their Sectionals competition last year with some sign language.

Thad nodded thoughtfully. "How do you communicate then? Do you just write everything out? That could get exhausting." He tapped his chin, "do you mind if I analyze you?"

Wes and David stared at Thad blankly, and Kurt frowned at him. Blaine coughed.

"Thad, tonight is his first night here...um, could you, if possible, refrain from scaring him away with your scientific ways?"

Thad had the decency to blush, then, and he ducked his head. "Sorry, Kurt. I've just never met someone who couldn't talk. I can get ahead of myself sometimes."

Kurt, although he was a little frightened by Thad and the crazy look he'd gotten in his eyes, smiled at him and mouthed, 'it's okay', and then returned to eating his salad.

After dinner, during which Kurt had spent his time watching Wes and David have a fight with their forks between eating and listening to Thad and Blaine telling him more about Dalton, Kurt followed Blaine to the housing office.

A nice woman sitting behind a desk smiled at them when they entered.

"What can I do for you boys?" She asked.

Blaine looked at Kurt and then back at her, before he spoke, "Kurt is a new student. We were wondering what his dorm assignment was."

"Last name?"

"Hummel."

She smiled, "Ah, yes, he's been put in Stevenson in room B24."

Blaine gaped and then grinned at Kurt, "well, then, this works out conveniently."

Kurt raised an eyebrow in question.

"You're my new roommate," Blaine told him. "They really should have told me earlier. I would have cleaned up a bit. Oh, well, come on. So, are your things in your car? We could get Wes and David to help us move you in. You know, it's odd we never get transfers so late in the year." He grabbed Kurt's hand as if it was a normal occurrence, and called back a, "thank you" as they walked back into a hallway.

Kurt patted his right pocket with a shake of his head as he let Blaine pull him along, his hand tingling at the feel of the other boy's hand in his.

Kurt was confused and surprised and he didn't know what he should be doing. The note hadn't given him specifics, and Blaine's hand holding his own was rendering him thoughtless regardless.

"How about I show you the room first? We can get your things afterwards, "Blaine said once they'd gotten outside again.

Kurt shrugged. He didn't really know if he even had stuff to move into the room, or where his car was. Magic was good and everything in movies and in books, but there were so many technicalities that were never really considered or ignored. He reached for the note in his pocket again even though he knew that there would be nothing new on it. He took a deep breath and let it out.

Blaine let of his hand only once they'd reached another building which was proclaimed, "Stevenson House" on a plaque by the main entrance. He opened the door for Kurt and let him step in before following.

Stevenson was decorated like the rest of Dalton, except that it was a bit homier. The door opened directly into a foyer, and through an arched doorway was a common room where a few boys sat with books.

"First floor's mostly just the common room, different from the TV room, and a game room. Then there's also the kitchen, which no one really uses it unless they're taking a cooking class, even then. There's three more floors, twelve doubles in each floor, although certain students do have singles, which are all on our floor."

Kurt nodded and followed Blaine, taking hold of the polished banister as they walked up the stairs.

"We're on the second floor," Blaine told him, "apparently some years back there was this whole prank with the room numbers, so numbers and letters ended up mixed up and they were randomly assigned. I'm pretty sure if Wes had his way, and he very well might next year, he would have gotten someone to put them to order."

Kurt shook his head with a grin, wishing he could ask about Wes and how the boy who'd been using a fork to fend off David from his fries, also seemed to have some sort of control issues.

They got to the dorm a few moments later, and Blaine stopped, and turned to look at Kurt, "prepare yourself for a mess. I might have been in my closet earlier and, it's not pretty in there."

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Blaine bit down on his lip. "Maybe I should go straighten things up a bit," he offered.

Kurt shook his head with a grin. Although normally he hated messes, or the implication that clothes weren't being taken care of without the utmost care, the idea that Blaine with slicked back hair, and a uniform that he kept impeccable on his form, could have a streak of messiness, made Blaine seem less like the perfect boy he'd put in his head. Kurt didn't know why he found it so adorable.

"Oh, alright, fine," Blaine said and turned the doorknob, pushing the door open.

The room wasn't too messy, but Kurt saw at once what Blaine had meant about the closet. There was a half fallen shelf, peeking out from the door and there were Dalton ties everywhere mixed in with some scarves and shoes. Also spilling out of the closet were a few Dalton blazers, still in their hangers.

The rest of the room wasn't a mess, per say, just unorganized. One bed was made and on it were a stack of books. One of the desks contained more books, and the other folders and notebooks. There was a laptop on the empty bed as well as a body pillow and what looked like a broken lamp.

"I've definitely gotten used to not having a roommate," Blaine said, rubbing his neck, "but I'll clean up tonight so you can have your side of the room...um, so what do you think?"

Kurt was still surveying the room. This was where Blaine lived during the school year, that bed covered in a holey green throw was where he slept, and both of the desks - one meant to be his now - was where he studied. Suddenly, he understood what the note meant in its post script.

He smiled at Blaine and gave him a thumbs up. Blaine laughed.

"I hope that means you like it. So, your things?"

- - -

From the note in Kurt's pocket

- - -

His things had indeed been in his car. His car which had been parked in the Stevenson parking lot. Kurt, after a moment's pause to appreciate that his 'baby' hadn't been left at The Lima Bean, ignored his questions about how whatever magic the stage had, could have achieved this.

Then, he, with the help of Blaine, Thad, Wes, and David took his nicely packed boxes up to his and Blaine's room.

"I can't believe he wound up being your roommate," David said with a grin as he set down the last box on Kurt's bed.

Kurt who had found a dry erase board in his car with a string to put around his neck wrote out a quick, 'thank you' and showed them.

Wes shrugged at him, "only our duty to help another Stevenson boy, especially if you're rooming with Blaine, here, and might actually get him to keep his room clean."

Blaine punched Wes lightly on the shoulder, "I do keep it clean in a disorganized manner. I don't share your love of labeling where everything goes, Wes."

"This," David said as an aside to Kurt, "is why I am very glad to not have to share a room with Wes anymore. Granted, Thad's not much better for a roommate."

Kurt wanted to retaliate with something about sharing a room with Finn, but instead just smiled at David. He hated not being able to talk.

David and Wes left pretty quickly after that, David claiming homework and Wes song arrangements. Just hearing Wes mention music made Kurt's heart pang painfully. If this didn't work out with Blaine and if Dalton wasn't what he hoped it was, he'd never sing again.

Blaine helped him unpack and put his things away. Only the essentials and things Kurt couldn't live without had been in the boxes, but despite only having a fraction of his wardrobe with him, Kurt was happy to have that much of it with him.

"Never let me anywhere near your closet, Kurt," Blaine said when they'd finished.

Kurt grinned and wrote, 'noted' on the board.

"So, um, I've never actually had a roommate before," Blaine told Kurt, "well, I did have Wes for two days before they offered him a single, which is for the best according to David, so I don't really know how to proceed. Um, we could get to know each other better...unless you're tired, must have been a long day..."

Kurt regarded him. With Wes and David around he hadn't been able to really focus on Blaine, and it dawned on him yet again how little he actually knew about the other boy. He didn't even know if Blaine was gay. Everything was looking more and more like a mistake as the day wore on.

He made the mistake of trying to speak again, but closed his mouth before Blaine could notice.

The dry erase board was all good and everything, but having to communicate everything through it made Kurt cringe. When he was younger and all the other boys' voices were changing and his didn't he remembered hating his voice, now, he yearned to have it back.

'Not tired' he wrote on the board in green marker.

Blaine grinned. "Good, how are we going to do this?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders and dropped himself down on his bed. The mattress was surprisingly comfortable, but it wouldn't match the bed he had at home. Suddenly another thought struck him, when would he go home? When would he see his father again?

"I can't have you writing everything, or miming, although that could be fun." Blaine grinned, "but I guess you'll have to write or just let me talk for the rest of the night...but then unless it's a yes or no question I'll learn nothing about you. Hmm...I never thought this would be so hard. I don't know what I would do without my voice."

Kurt watched him. Sometime while he was talking, Blaine had stood up and begun pacing the room. As moving his boxes in had proceeded, Blaine had taken off his blazer and rolled up his sleeves. His tie hung loosely around his neck and he's taken off his shoes and socks as soon as it was apparent he wasn't leaving the room again. He looked comfortable and relaxed and Kurt decided then that, yeah, giving up his voice, was definitely worth it.

Kurt snapped his fingers to get Blaine's attention after a while, and pointed to his laptop sitting next to him on the bed.

"Typing!" Blaine exclaimed, "yes, that works."

He practically skipped from his side of the room to Kurt's and dropped next to him on the bed, before scooting back to lean into the wall Kurt's bed was pressed against.

Kurt opened the lid and moved back to sit next to Blaine.

"Okay, so I guess we can talk morning routines or whatever, so we don't get in each other's ways. I personally like showering at night, and I have no idea if I snore, but I do sometimes stay up way too late, and I hate mornings. Thad says that if I ever let him examine my blood there would be traces of coffee there...I seriously doubt that, but I do like my coffee. I'm also a singer, so I could break out into song from time to time and I do have to practice in here sometimes, so you'll get to hear what my voice sounds like when not backed by twenty other boys. A cappella boys choir."

Blaine paused and took a deep breath, "so what about you?"

Kurt side glanced him and turned to the computer on his lap, and the open word document.

'I have a very important skin cleansing routine and like doing that at night. I do prefer morning showers, so that works out for us. Finn, my almost step-brother says I sometimes'

Kurt had to stop there. He's almost said that he spoke in his sleep sometimes, but now he had no voice to speak with.

"Sometimes what?" Blaine asked.

'never mind. I'm pretty sure Finn was lying. It doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm pretty big on coffee too. I don't mind music in the least, or singing. My clothes are important, obviously. I'm actually a bit of a morning person. I definitely need at least seven hours of sleep a night.'

Blaine was reading over his shoulder and Kurt almost had a moment of panic halfway through typing when he leaned in a bit closer and Kurt managed to catch his scent, a mixture of the coffee he said he loved, and an expensive cologne Kurt couldn't put a name to because Blaine being so close made it really hard to think.

"So, no all-nighters?" Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head. Lack of sleep never ended well.

"Alright. So, what else? Anything else I should know?"

Kurt didn't think there was anything that Blaine needed to really know, and he didn't want to bring up the issue of his sexuality, not when it was possible - although Kurt thought it had to be unlikely - that Blaine wasn't gay.

'I don't think so' he wrote.

Blaine nodded thoughtfully and then took a deep breath, "look, I hate stereotypes and I don't want to do that here, because if I'm wrong I don't want to offend you. Are you gay?"

Kurt wrote a quick, 'yes' and then looked back at Blaine.

Blaine sighed. "Okay. Well, then, you should know I am too. This makes things easier. It's another reason I didn't have a roommate. There was a bit of an issue with another boy. Dalton has a zero tolerance bullying policy but that doesn't mean that someone's prejudices just go away and it was quite apparent to me that even though he said nothing I made him uncomfortable." He paused, then, and pulled his legs up, "I can't imagine dealing with the homophobes of the world without a voice, it must have been hard."

Kurt stared at him in surprise. How had Blaine known. The question must have been apparent in his expression, because he didn't have to type it before Blaine was answering him.

"It's why you're here, isn't it," Blaine said, "I mean, the only time anyone ever transfers to Dalton it's issues with bullying or the like...I'm only speculating here."

Kurt didn't know how to answer. He wasn't there because of Karofsky technically, but hadn't that been what led him to wanting to leave McKinley. Still, Kurt knew he never would have gone to Dalton if he hadn't been spying and seen Blaine.

"You don't have to tell me," Blaine said, when Kurt didn't type anything, "I understand if you don't feel comfortable talking about it...or if it's something else. I'm nosy sometimes...we can talk about something else."

Kurt nodded. The thing was he didn't want to talk about Karofksy, even if he was part of the reason Kurt had wanted to go to Dalton so badly.

Blaine got up from the bed and crossed the room to his side, grabbing a light green ipod nano with tangled headphones connected to it.

"This," he told Kurt, "is the one thing in this room that will tell you everything you need to know about me. I would, well I don't know if I'd be able to even function to do anything, if I ever lost Timmy."

Kurt mouthed, 'Timmy'.

Blaine grinned at him, "that's his name." He extended Timmy to Kurt and reached for Kurt's classic ipod which Kurt had left on his desk. "Do you mind?"

Kurt shook his head still in amazement. He couldn't believe the boy in front of him. Blaine was everything that Kurt had ever wanted. He began to look through first a list of Blaine's most played songs, smiling at the lack of almost anything unfamiliar to him.

Blaine perched on his own bed, nodded, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated, as if looking through Kurt's ipod was a particularly hard task.

- - -

From the diary of Kurt Hummel

- - -

Kurt fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but Blaine couldn't follow his roommate into the land of slumber. Instead, he sat, legs crossed, half hidden under his covers, trying to decide once and for all what his next move should be.

The thing was Kurt was seemingly perfect for him, not only because he was physically the embodiment of everything that was aesthetically pleasing to Blaine, but because Kurt had a certain vulnerability in his eyes that made him want to shelter him from anything that could cause him pain, and because at least three quarters of his favorite music was in Kurt's ipod.

But Kurt couldn't speak, he couldn't sing. Blaine had no way of knowing if the boy he'd been imagining and dreaming of for so long was real, or if he could actually fall for Kurt in spite of his lack of voice. He was torn between wanting to know everything about Kurt, letting himself - he knew it would be an easy enough thing - just fall for the mute boy, or still looking for him.

Kurt turned in his sleep, hand falling to hang from the bed. Blaine admired the porcelain skin for a moment and let himself wonder just what it would be like to have that hand pressed against his cheek. He shook the thought away and sank back into his bed. He absolutely hated not knowing what to do.

Blaine stared at the ceiling for a while longer, willing himself to go to sleep, but even the lulling even breaths coming from Kurt didn't make the slightest difference to push him into sleep. He closed his eyes and turned on his side, not facing Kurt, but the wall which was usually the side he preferred, but now all he wanted to do was look at Kurt.

Blaine didn't have only decisions to make about what he wanted to do about Kurt, either, there was also, somehow managing to get Wes and David to not bother Kurt too much and Thad to be a little more sensitive and understanding rather than scientific.

He heard Kurt moving in his bed again, but this time it wasn't just him rolling over for a better position, he kept moving. Blaine sat up and turned to look at him.

Kurt was struggling against his sheets, arms flailing and legs kicking out. If he had been able to scream, Blaine was sure he would have.

For a moment, Blaine sat in shock, and then he moved across the room.

"Kurt? Kurt?" He reached for Kurt's shoulder and shook him until he was awake, looking disoriented.

He mouthed something that Blaine didn't catch and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Do you need anything?" Blaine asked, desperately. "Water, light, something?"

Kurt seemed surprised to see him there, for a moment, and then he shook his head, bringing up his knees to his body and hugging them. Blaine sat down next to him on the edge of the bed.

"Will you be okay?"

He nodded. Blaine could tell he was lying. Of course he wasn't going to be okay, he'd just had a nightmare that seemed to really shake him up.

"Are you sure I can't do anything?" Blaine opened his arms for Kurt, impulsively, "not even offer a hug?"

Kurt stared at him puzzled, ready to shake his head.

"Come on, you need a hug, and we're roommates, now, we're allowed to hug."

Kurt looked at him skeptically, but inched towards him hesitantly. Blaine pulled him into his arms and awed at how Kurt just melded into his arms like he was meant to be there. Blaine rubbed at his back soothingly and pulled back only because he shouldn't enjoy having Kurt in his arms so much.

Kurt settled himself back into his bed and Blaine got up, glancing at Kurt to make sure he was okay before going back to his own bed, more conflicted than ever. He'd never met anyone like Kurt, anyone that he wanted to take care of with every part of his being.

- - -