Blaine's head shot up at once, a silly expectant grin playing at his lips, "what do you want to do today, Kurt?" He asked.

Kurt shrugged. There was a pile of homework on his desk that he needed to get through; none of it due for another two weeks, but he wasn't supposed to fall behind on their current work load while he dealt with it.

"I don't really want to care about Shakespeare today," Blaine announced, "iambic pentameter is a ridiculous meter to write anything in and I will not abide for it on a Sunday morning."

Kurt laughed. It was faint, a barely there sound but the most he could make at any time.

"Not to mention that for once," Blaine continued, as he sat up, not caring that his book dropped to the ground, losing his page, "I have a weekend not packed with Warbler rehearsals despite Sectionals being next week. Sometimes I love Wes' family."

Earlier that morning, they'd been woken up by David complaining loudly in the hall about Wes dragging him along to some sort of family brunch, when it wasn't even his family that was going to be present.

Wes had retaliated with, "suck it up, David, you're as much as their son as I am. I think they even like you better, sometimes. You spend way too much of your time at my house as it is."

"Yeah," David had said with a snort, "because you keep dragging me there."

Kurt hadn't been able to go back to sleep after listening to the rest of their conversation, even after he heard them leave. Blaine who had made an attempt at going back to sleep but failed when Kurt threw open the curtains, explained to Kurt that Wes absolutely hated going home but still somehow he and David managed to spend almost every holiday together with Wes' family.

"So," Blaine said after putting King Lear aside and swinging his legs off of his bed, "I want to go walk around town. I haven't gotten to do that since last year after we lost at Sectionals and it wasn't particularly pretty out by that point." He pointed towards the window.

Kurt grabbed the dry erase board and one of the markers that were scattered throughout the room. This one was orange.

'Why'd you ask me what I wanted to do, if you already knew what you wanted to do?'

Blaine shrugged. "Seemed the polite thing to do." He waited a moment and then, "so are we going to wander?" Blaine pouted at him and Kurt rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Nice!" He ran towards his closet and grabbed the nearest jacket, but Kurt tugged it out of his hold, with a shake of his head and put it back before handing him a more appropriate one.

"Thanks," Blaine said and grabbed his car keys from his desk and opening the door excitedly, "come on, hurry up."

A few minutes later, they were in Blaine's car and he was pulling out of his spot. Kurt looked out the window at Dalton again, despite being there for three days the buildings had not ceased to amaze him. Blaine must have noticed him looking.

"I picked this school because of its architecture," Blaine said. "Well, that and my uncle actually went here and he suggested it to my parents when I was having problems at school-" he turned to look at Kurt "-bullies and a combination of uncaring teachers for a kid like me who liked school was not a good mix."

Kurt wanted to spill everything right then and there. He wanted to tell Blaine about Karofsky and the kiss and all the other times he'd been bullied. He wanted to tell him about Finn and how that had gone down. Kurt wanted to tell Blaine everything, even what had happened with his voice. Blaine seemed to sense this, that there was something Kurt wanted to say, but he didn't push.

The thing was that saying it out loud would have been hard enough. He didn't know if he could write it all out, see what had happened to him on paper or on the screen of his computer.

Blaine turned on the radio, then, to rid them of the silence. It was a top 40 station that Kurt usually abhorred, but he didn't make an attempt to let Blaine know that. A Katy Perry song was on, one whose name Kurt couldn't remember, but it offered a door into conversation for Blaine.

"We were going to do Katy Perry for Sectionals," Blaine said, "not this song, 'Teenage Dream', but apparently someone said that they saw someone taping the performance, so Wes being the paranoid council member that he is, took that off of our set list."

Kurt wanted to rid himself of the flush that had no doubt made its way to his face. Someone had seen him while he was spying, but obviously not described him to Wes otherwise he doubted he'd still be around.

"I don't think it was a spy, personally," Blaine continued, "After meeting Pierce, I don't doubt that it was some crazy fan again. I didn't know we had any of those. I mean, the Warblers are like rock stars around here, but I didn't think that meant there would be Warbler groupies." He shuddered.

Kurt grinned and looked out the window. Blaine was right. It was beautiful at this time of year, with the leaves all different colors and still mostly on their rightful trees.

"So, um, not to be rude or anything, but I was wondering, just because Thad sort of asked and then I couldn't help but question it, have you been mute all your life?"

It was a question that Kurt hadn't expected from Blaine. He'd expected it directly from Thad who Kurt was starting to learn was just thirsty for any and all knowledge that he could gather. He didn't know how to answer it.

Lying to Blaine, he knew, was going to leave him feeling guilty and would definitely not endear him to the other boy when he eventually found out, but telling him the truth, that his voice had been taken from him by a magical stage, also wasn't an option. Kurt also knew enough about Blaine to know that the other boy was not going to take Kurt telling him he'd lost it in some sort of accident without more questions, questions that Kurt wouldn't be able to answer.

So, he nodded, feeling terrible as he told Blaine that he'd been mute since birth.

"Oh," Blaine said and Kurt thought he saw a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "Is it...is it better that you've never talked do you think? Not missing something you've never had."

Kurt couldn't say, because he was missing something that he'd always had.

"I guess it sucks either way," Blaine said, answering for Kurt.

Kurt nodded.

- - -

From the diary of Kurt Hummel

- - -

Kurt was lying. Blaine didn't know how he knew it, but he did. There was something he wasn't saying about his lack of voice, and Blaine wanted to get right down to the bottom of it. He parked his car and opened the door.

"I love parks," he told Kurt with a grin, "but I don't want to spend all our time in here, we can bring food back and eat here later, or maybe just walk around."

Kurt merely smiled back, a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Blaine grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction he wanted them to go, towards the main part of town.

"There's this gelato place somewhere around here that I came to once with Thad. We should try and find it later, but for now I just want to walk around, browse the stores or something."

Kurt perked up at the sound of stores.

"I don't think there'll be something quite to your standards..." Blaine trailed off and looked at Kurt's outfit.

Kurt lifted his chin up a bit, which made Blaine laugh. Kurt was absolutely everything that Blaine had needed in his life, he realized then. It had been only three days, but those three days had lacked that which had previously made it boring. Kurt made things interesting. Whether that was because he was a welcome change into his life, or because Kurt himself made everything fresh and different, Blaine didn't know, but he'd take it regardless.

They walked for a while until they got to a small second hand shop that Kurt had to enter.

Via text he explained, 'there's always something vintage in these places...and other than clothes, certain old things are cool.'.

While Kurt browsed through clothes, Blaine walked around looking at anything that caught his eye. There were shelves of books he knew Thad would have gone through to find anything that he was missing in his collection, and a record player that Blaine thought would be cool to just have around. There were clocks and mirrors, and tons of other endless things that Blaine wanted to know more about.

Kurt was only about halfway through the rack of clothes when Blaine had finished walking around the store, glancing at anything that caught his eye twice. He settled for leaning against an old wooden bookshelf to watch him and admired the precision with which Kurt seemed to go through pieces that he particularly liked.

By the time, he was finished, Blaine had come to the conclusion that being able to express himself through clothes did for Kurt what singing did for Blaine.

"I see you've found a few things," Blaine said.

Kurt had a few articles of clothing over one arm. He nodded enthusiastically as he headed in the direction of the checkout table, where Blaine watched him interact with an older woman through a piece of printer paper. He must have gotten what he wanted, because he pulled out his wallet and handed the woman some cash, and she bagged up his purchases.

They continued walking around after that, Kurt holding the bag he'd gotten from the shop they'd entered even though Blaine offered to carry it.

Blaine thought it was strange how easy it was to just be with Kurt. Usually, he always wanted to chatter the silence away when he was in the company of one of his friends, but with Kurt, there was no need to. Blaine didn't know if it was because Kurt couldn't talk or if it was just some sort of understanding that they could say anything but didn't need to.

When they approached the music store that Blaine wanted to stop at for a moment, Blaine thought that Kurt tensed up next to him, but when he glanced at him it was as if nothing had happened and for a moment Blaine was convinced that he had imagined it.

The music store had a piano right at the front that Blaine had played the last time he was there. The piano had been his first exposure to music as a child. It was one of the few things he and his mother had bonded over, she'd taught him how to play at first, before pushing him off to an instructor. Afterwards, when Blaine knew everything he could about playing she'd proudly played with him and complimented him. As soon as they entered he headed towards it, and Kurt followed.

"Come on, sit, I'll play you something," he told Kurt, hoping to cheer him up.

Kurt eyed the piano and then sat down, dropping his bag to the side. He followed Blaine's fingers with his eyes as they began to press down on the ivory keys. A mixture of emotions swirled in Kurt's eyes and his hands which he had clasped on his lap, twitched, as if they wanted to join Blaine's. After a moment they did. Blaine turned to look at him in surprise, letting Kurt take over and begin playing another song.

Blaine watched him and listened entranced. Not once had Kurt give even the slightest hint that he had such talent or knew music to any extent. Kurt finished playing some moments later and smiled a little, fingers caressing one of the keys.

"There's a piano at Dalton, you know," Blaine said, "if you wanted to play. You're really good."

Blaine got up, then, leaving Kurt to start playing something else while he looked through a few CDs.

"Anything I can help you with?" a tall man with a fedora asked.

"No thank you, just looking."

Blaine walked around not really looking at anything, too focused on listening to Kurt's playing. When Kurt finished, Blaine walked towards him, dropping his hands on Kurt's shoulders.

"That was beautiful."

Kurt shrugged, but smiled beatifically up at Blaine.

"Lunch?" Blaine asked and grabbed Kurt's bag before Kurt could and walked to the door before Kurt could take it back and then took off running.

Kurt ran after Blaine and fell right into him when he came to an abrupt stop. He pulled back at once with a bit of a groan and a questioning look. Blaine didn't know how having Kurt against him for the split second he had been would make him feel, but he shook the feeling away.

"Just this place has great food," Blaine said.

It was a Mexican restaurant to which Kurt began to shake his head at once, mouthing the word, 'no'. Blaine chuckled at him. Mexican had been in his discomfort zone once too, but all food eventually became part of his life after meeting Wes and David and this was one of their regular take-out places.

"Come on, live a little, Kurt," Blaine said and grabbed his wrist with his free hand, pulling Kurt after him through the open door, "I'll get you something good, I promise."

Kurt looked skeptical and Blaine was surprised when he knew exactly what Kurt meant by his look, 'do you even speak Spanish?'

"I know enough Spanish to order. David though. His mom is actually part Puerto Rican or something and according to David that part of her family comes out when she's angry. The one time I met her, she was at Dalton to talk to one of David's teachers - might have been the Spanish one, actually - and she was yelling at him in half Spanish and English, it was the most amusing thing ever."

Kurt had pulled out his phone and he typed out, 'Spanglish. I shall refuse all food from here.'

"Like the movie, right, should have thought of that. Doesn't seem like your type of movie…anyway, you'll definitely like the food from here. There's these sandwiches they make with meat, avocado, cheese, and-" he thought for a moment "-tomato, I think. They're just amazing."

There was a small smile playing on Kurt's lips that he kept trying to hide from him in order to keep his stance on no Mexican food.

Blaine grinned and pulled him closer, doing his best pout. "Try it for me? And if you don't like it, then we can go where ever you want to go. It's a misconception that all Mexican food is spicy, just so you know. It's Indian you have to worry about and I don't think even I'm up for that."

Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes and then nodded his consent to the food.

Twenty minutes later, Kurt was trying his first bite of the sandwich that Blaine had ordered and Blaine watched him before digging into his own food, a hard tortilla with cut up pieces of beef, lettuce, and tomato. Kurt was eyeing his food warily, but then gasped and Blaine grinned.

"Told you they're awesome."

Kurt wiped his hands to bring out his cell phone again. 'What else is in this? That sauce, what is it?'

Blaine shrugged. Kurt gave him a look that clearly told him he'd been unhelpful, and then proceeded to continue with his meal.

- - -

From the journal of Blaine Anderson

- - -

"Aha!"

The shout was followed by a loud thud, and then the crashing of many objects having fallen to the ground. Then, a few minutes later, the door to David and Thad's room was pushed open and Thad slipped out, a worn book clutched to his chest. He closed the door behind him quickly, and after making sure that no books had fallen out of his room, he rushed down the hall to the stairs and climbed them two at a time.

He'd been looking for this particular book since Friday, but it wasn't until now, with just an hour until dinner, that Thad found it. He knocked on the first door on the third floor and a disgruntled boy opened the door, his blond hair in disarray.

"Jeff, let me in, I found it," Thad said and didn't wait for Jeff to properly invite him, and instead he walked right in.

"Found what?" Jeff asked and closed his door behind him.

Jeff Donovan was one of the few people that could listen to Thad rant about any subject and even begin to understand what Thad was getting at.

"The book I told you about that my uncle gave me. See, I haven't figured it all out yet, but Kurt just, there's something about him that isn't quite right. I mean, everything about how he showed up was strange. He refuses to really answer anything about his voice and he knows quite a bit about singing, but can't do it himself."

Jeff stared at him blankly. "Okay. Those are all observations, what do you need the book for?"

Here, Thad looked a bit apprehensive. He didn't know how to explain it without sounding crazy. It had been only a story when he'd first heard it and the only evidence that said it was even possible, all rested on people he'd met online through his blog.

"Thad, what is it?"

For all that Jeff understood Thad, he was also very impatient, and hated to sit still listening to Thad for too long when there were things like Call of Duty games to be played.

Thad remained silent for a moment longer, and then at last he spoke, "it's sort of a family legend. I was very skeptical of it as a child and, I mean, there is no proof that it actually happened, but my mom is really adamant that it did. She says it's what brought her and my dad together."

Jeff threw himself on his bed, flopping there for a moment. He raised an eyebrow, "and this has anything to do with the new kid, how?"

Thad took a deep breath. Here was the moment where Jeff could laugh at him and send him back to his room.

"My mom said," Thad spoke slowly, "she said that it had to do with a wish. She's kind of always told me to not wish for anything which is just as well, but anyway, she claims that everything would have gone differently if she didn't end up missing her flight home. So, she and her best friend decide it isn't too far to drive. Of course, there's a storm or something and they have to stop at a bar.

"She was a singer, my mom, and so they're having Karaoke night or something and she gets up to sing and according to her, she sounded better than she ever did anywhere else, up there. She said she made a wish while on the stage, something to do with my dad, she's never told me what, but this stage did something to her, like a spell."

Jeff sat up on his elbows, "and you think Kurt did something like this?"

Thad sighed. "Yes. No. I don't know, maybe. Listen, for weeks before Kurt appeared, Blaine kept dreaming about a boy that looked like him and had this apparently amazing voice. He seemed to change his mind about what he looked like after a while, but the voice stayed with him."

"And you think Kurt, who is mute, is this boy." Jeff dropped himself back, "and how do you explain his lack of voice."

"That," Thad said, "is what this book is for."

Jeff took the book from Thad's hand and opened it to the first page. "This is just a book about people like Kurt."

Thad nodded, "that's the point, Jeff."

Jeff eyed Thad and stood up from his bed, "so," he said, "you not only think some magical force is trying to get Kurt and Blaine together and has somehow made Kurt mute, but you also have a book on mutes and think it will give you all the answers."

Thad nodded again. It wasn't that he didn't believe in all that stuff about the stage, he just knew that everything about Kurt just wasn't going to fit the right profile, especially if he claimed to have been mute all his life.

Jeff paced his room, the book still in his hands, "so, you want to prove that Kurt isn't mute even though he can't talk?"

"Exactly. I don't know if it has anything to do with the stage, but sometimes I think it does. It's just too strange for it not to do with any sort of supernatural force and you know the stories that are out there. This is the only way I can prove that something like magic exists."

"Does it have to involve a magic stage? Really?"

Thad shrugged. He didn't know for sure that he was right, or that his parents had even been telling him the truth, but that didn't matter, Kurt was lying about something and Thad was pretty much sure about what it was.

- - -

From the secret blog of Thad Jameson

- - -

"Let's play a game," Blaine said. They were walking around the park.

Kurt lifted an eyebrow.

"A question game. We know so little about each other, still...I don't even know when your birthday is or your favorite color."

Kurt shrugged in agreement.

"So," Blaine continued, "I know you can't actually talk and that makes this harder and awkward, but we can do this with you texting, right?"

Kurt had already pulled out his phone and quickly typed something which he showed Blaine, 'how do you want to start?'

Blaine paused, looking around and then grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him towards a tree. He sat down at the base of it, but Kurt shook his head, didn't Blaine realize how dirty the ground was, he couldn't get that on his clothes.

"Come on, Kurt, sit," Blaine looked up at him with a look that Kurt didn't want to ignore but would have to.

He looked around and spotted a bench and pointed it out to Blaine, who sighed and reached his hands up for Kurt to take and help him up, Kurt did, stumbling backwards a bit and bring Blaine with him. They stood just a few inches apart, not quite touching but in each other's personal space.

"Sorry," Blaine said, letting go of one of Kurt's hands to push back a lock of Kurt's hair. He smiled a little, "your hair is as soft as it looks."

Kurt blushed. He wanted to retaliate with something about Blaine's hair, but reaching for his phone, he knew, would ruin the moment. Instead, he stood still as possible, trying to hold down the blush that wanted to appear on his cheeks at Blaine's proximity, his hand in his, and the hand that still just hung just a little beyond touching Kurt's face.

Blaine pulled back suddenly. "Sorry," he said again and then pulled Kurt towards the bench.

They sat down with the awkward tension still hanging around them, Kurt's phone in his hand.

"Okay," Blaine said and rubbed his hands together before turning his body so he was facing Kurt, "questions. We can do just a list of general things and we can both just answer, or we could each ask a specific question."

Kurt shrugged at him as he crossed his legs and properly fixed his hair, his eyes following Blaine's shifting movements next to him.

"Fine, I guess we could do specifics, it'll cover everything…" he trailed off and rubbed at the back of his neck, "do you want to start, or should I?"

Kurt motioned for him to go. There were lots of things he wanted to know about Blaine. In fact, he wanted to know everything about Blaine, but he wasn't sure if he felt comfortable asking certain questions.

"Alright, um, well I mentioned earlier not knowing those important little things, so let's start there, what's your favorite color?"

'I don't think I could answer that. I can't pick just one. I like them all.'

Blaine laughed. "Of course you do. I should have expected that actually. I've seen your wardrobe."

Kurt looked down at his clothes. He didn't think he went for colorful pieces. That he had certain things in a few colors was a different idea altogether.

'Okay, you, what's your favorite color?'

"It is a hard question to answer, you're right, but I have to go with green. I've been told that it brings out my eyes and it's a pretty color."

Kurt glanced at Blaine's eyes and nodded, the proper shade of green would bring out the specks of green in his eyes.

"So, alright, do you have any siblings?"

'I'm an only child, but my dad is dating this woman and I'm pretty sure they're headed for marriage, so I could be gaining a step-brother.'

Blaine answered the same question with a no, being an only child as well, and after a few more questions dealing with the general aspects of their lives: birthdays, favorite TV shows, and phobias, they moved onto more personal questions.

They talked, in their way, for hours, and it was only when the sun had begun to set, that Kurt remembered he had a pile of homework waiting for him back at their dorm.

Their questions had spread over numerous subjects, Blaine asking Kurt about his coming out to his parents, and Kurt questioning Blaine about when he started singing. Neither brought up Kurt's lack of voice and Blaine avoided answering anything about his family.

"Today was fun," Blaine said as they walked back to his car, and moved closer to Kurt.

Kurt grinned at him and nodded vigorously.

They drove to Dalton with the radio on, just enjoying each other's company and were walking back to Stevenson when David and Wes arrived back to Dalton in Wes' car.

"Oh, home!" David cried, "how I have missed you."

He and Wes shared glares and when they spotted Blaine, ran towards him, both beginning their separate tirades at once. Kurt looked between them and then motioned to Blaine that he was heading inside. Blaine nodded and grinned at him.

Kurt was smiling to himself as he headed to his and Blaine's dorm, suddenly not caring that there was a whole bunch of makeup work waiting for him or that he'd wasted precious time he could have been working on his homework to hang out with Blaine - not that it had been a waste of time. He'd just opened the door, when Thad appeared.

"Hey, Kurt, what are you up to? And where's Blaine?"

Kurt eyed Thad and pointed to the stairs and then moved his hand in the air as if he were writing. Thad blinked at him.

"Not sure what you mean, but I'll just hang out with you in your room, shall I?"

Kurt pushed the door open and let Thad inside. He got himself comfortable and then sat down at his desk.

"Ah, catch up work," Thad said, coming to stand behind him, "I could help you with some of this."

Kurt grinned up at him.

Thad picked up one of his assignments, as he read over it, he spoke, "I looked up a few things about mutes," he said, "all very interesting stuff, so I have to wonder just how bad your diagnostic is."

Kurt stared at him in surprise, not knowing how to react. Was his muteness any way alike to someone that had actually been born with it as he was claimed to be?

Thad handed Kurt back the history essay description. "I'll get you a few books that could help with this." He smiled at Kurt.

Kurt nodded and Thad left the room, leaving the door open.

Blaine, Wes, and David entered some minutes later. Wes and David seemed to have made up and Blaine rolled his eyes at Kurt.

"Was that Thad I just saw leaving?"

Kurt grabbed his board, 'He's bringing me books'. He turned back to his homework. Thad returned some minutes later and gave him three books already marked with post its for their important passages. Kurt practically hugged Thad, when he realized how much easier he'd made his work.

While Kurt worked on his homework, Blaine, Wes, David, and Thad hung out of the floor complaining about Shakespeare and their English assignment. Eventually he tuned them out to concentrate on his homework. He must have missed something in the conversation, because before he knew it, Blaine was laughing and Kurt only caught a few words.

"Sure, date it is, then."

He turned to look at them to find Blaine on Wes' phone, blushing.

"This one won't be terrible," Wes assured him once the phone call had been ended and he had his phone back.

Kurt felt his chest constrict. Hadn't Blaine had a good time with him? Didn't he realize that Kurt was right there and perfect for him. Hadn't this day taught him how similar and compatible they were?

- - -

I know it wasn't a date, as much as it felt like it. I spend time with Mercedes and even Rachel like I did with Blaine today and maybe he just going see me that way, but it bothers me how easy it is for him to just jump to another date.

I know he won't enjoy himself, he's probably just doing it for Wes. Still, those feelings of jealousy welling up in me won't let me be. I want him to refuse to go on another date, or ask me.

It isn't about just the spell. I like him too much outside of that. I knew I'd like him…

From the diary of Kurt Hummel