That night, Blaine slept well.

In the morning, the two presented their report, and the teacher looked on fondly as they gave thorough analyses of The Great Gatsby, and Blaine made sure to keep his gaze thoroughly in check, only looking at Kurt when he was nodding and agreeing with something he said, or when he would cut in to make an additional point. Other than that, though, Blaine didn’t have any time to interact with Kurt. He’d kept things strictly professional when they were working on their report the night before, and in class wasn’t exactly the time to go around making eyes at someone.

By the time lunch rolled around, however, Blaine left for the cafeteria with an extra pep in his step. He grabbed his lunch and paid, then picked up his tray full of lasagna and surveyed the cafeteria. Then, Blaine saw Kurt. He smiled when he saw Kurt look his way, and waved with his fingers as he approached the other boy. His heart started to beat a little more quickly as he got closer and closer, the same feeling he had earlier last night returning in a form of giddy nervousness. “Hi,” he said with a small smile before leaning in. The tray kept them from getting too close, but Blaine kissed Kurt on the cheek and then pulled away. “I know you’re probably gonna go sit with your friends. I was just wondering if maybe I could sit with you guys. Eating alone with a history book every day isn’t much of a date.”

Kurt spent his morning in his usual routine. Since not thinking about Blaine was a mandate now he just pushed it to the back of his mind and faced his day. Actually it was working out pretty well for him. He didn’t falter when he got to the class he shared with Blaine and they presented their project to the class. He didn’t falter when he had to leave Blaine and go his own way for his next class, and he didn’t falter when Wes said he was looking particularly well rested and at ease; all of this with a smirk. No, Kurt Hummel was a man back in control and it felt great. Until lunch. Until he was sitting at the table waiting for his friends and Blaine decides that right then is the perfect time to come over. Not just come over, but come over and have a chat. Oh if that was all the boy wanted they might have survived it, but it wasn’t.

Blaine kissed his cheek there in the cafeteria like it was completely natural for him to do so and anyone could have seen it. Kurt took a cursory glance around, pushed down the warmth spreading through his limbs, and fixed Blaine with a very serious look. His voice was low at first so he couldn’t be overheard.

“What are you thinking? You can’t just come over here and kiss me and talk to me like that!” He took another glance around and still didn’t see anyone watching them. His eyes softened only a bit when he looked back up at Blaine. “Listen we’re…I’m not going to push you around anymore, but you can’t act like we’re boyfriends. We’re not. And what we do in private should stay between us.” Kurt could see Wes now coming out from the line. “You gotta go, Blaine, we’ll talk later. Find me later.” Kurt might have felt a little bit shitty saying these things, but he knew it was for the best. For both of them.

Kurt wasn’t responding to the small token of affection the way Blaine thought he would. Or rather, how Blaine thought that Kurt might act if he were still the same Kurt from last night, the one that had kissed him soft and quick, that had trailed his fingers down his arm and had been nice, honest. But no. Instead, Blaine was greeted with a stern look at was being fussed at. “But Kurt, I—”

Whatever Blaine thought he was going to say next to defend himself died in his throat. Not boyfriends. But not only were they not boyfriends, Kurt told Blaine that he couldn’t act like anything had changed. It was private. Things should stay private. Blaine could feel his chest tighten and tears well in his eyes. They stung and his lower lip trembled, and Blaine tried to think of anything positive in that statement. Kurt wouldn’t push Blaine around anymore. Great, thought Blaine. That’s awesome; couldn’t ask for more. He’d also asked Blaine to find him later. He wanted to say no. He wanted to say yes. Finally, Blaine’s mind started working again and he remembered that Kurt had also told him to leave in the same breath. He sucked in a deep breath.

“G-go to…go to hell, Kurt,” he whispered, voice breaking on the last word. Sure, he’d been permitted to use the word in the house, but Blaine liked to think that he usually had a bigger vocabulary, that he was above curse words. He could think of nothing else to say though, and it was a combination of so many things that he was thinking, so it worked. Except he didn’t want Kurt to go to hell. He wanted Kurt to tell him that he could sit with him, smile at him, use the word boyfriend like it didn’t taste like acid in his mouth. Thoughts conflicted, Blaine turned and left. He sat at his table, alone, and pulled out his history book, which fell onto the table with a resounding thud. He looked at the lasagna, then ignored it in favor of reviewing the reading material for class.

Blaine got two pages in when the first tear slipped down the bridge of his nose and wrinkled a small piece of the paper. Blaine wiped at his face and sniffled before closing his history book, getting up, throwing his food in the trash can, and leaving the cafeteria. He debated going to his room and skipping History because Kurt was in it, but his need to be a good student won out over that. Instead, Blaine went to his classroom and sat in the back, something he’d never done before. However, he needed the class period to himself, to think. He couldn’t believe that he’d been so silly as to think that Kurt of all people would be willing to call someone, especially someone like Blaine, his boyfriend. Kurt probably did this to everyone he wanted.

By the time class started, Blaine had convinced himself that he was simply a part of Kurt’s cycle: be rude, get him in bed, then make vague promises of talking later and moving on. That was, until Kurt walked into class and Blaine tried to remember to be mad rather than just upset. For a moment, he tried to catch Kurt’s eye, but he realized what he was doing and stopped, dropping his eyes to the closed text book and double checking to make sure that the seat he had taken would be far enough away from where Kurt sat that they wouldn’t have been able to see each other without actually looking.

It was somewhere in between trying to convince himself that he was being used and remembering what Kurt’s face had looked like when he was being sweet the night before when Blaine realized that he had no choice but to find Kurt at some point.

Kurt hadn’t even realized he was holding his breath until it rushed out of him all at once as he watched Blaine storm off. He also realized he was hard as hell. Of course that’s when his friends started descending on him. They’d seen Blaine’s retreat and he had to feed them some shit line about working together. Of course that was partially true but Kurt knew it for the lie it was. He had his lunch, or bites of it, he can’t quite remember, and then lunch is over and he’s relieved.

Blaine’s face and his voice, even if he’d stumbled over the words; Kurt can’t remember anyone treating him like that in a long time. It was thrilling, Kurt’s blood surged through him, speeding his heart, leaving him breathless and all of that was sort of difficult to handle during a school day. There was that other side though. The side where Kurt realized that he’d misjudged Blaine severely and had pushed when maybe he should have pulled. Now Blaine was pissed and there weren’t likely to be any hot make out sessions any time soon.

That’s what Kurt focused on. He didn’t follow that train of thoughts to the darker corners of his mind where other reasons lurked. Things like how much he wanted to smell Blaine, touch Blaine, kiss Blaine, and possess him in every way. No. He just wanted to get a chance to fuck him so he could get him out of his system, or maybe he could keep him around for a bit and have even more fun. Not that it mattered now anyway what his motivations were. Blaine was pissed.

So he had to find a way to turn it around. Kurt spent some time on the how. There was no way he was going to apologize. He had said what he had said for Blaine’s own good. Kurt didn’t do feelings or boyfriends or any of that shit. So that was out. He’d explained that to Blaine already so that was out too. No, he was going to have to convince Blaine to play along n some completely other way; a way that would ensure that Blaine was on board. No matter what. Kurt would have to wait until Blaine approached him first though. And if he didn’t then Kurt would revise the plan.

Finally History was up and Kurt was sliding into the room with very deliberate steps. He didn’t want to seem entirely carefree because he wanted Blaine to be thinking about his mood and guessing at the reason for it. He did note Blaine’s change of seat when he sat and the lesson began. If everything went according to plan he could be spending time with Blaine again that very night.

The minute that Kurt walked into the room, Blaine’s mind finally decided on what emotion he was feeling. He’d only felt it a couple of times before, but this was on a much larger scale: Blaine was mad. He missed the entire history lesson for the day as he tried to come up with one good reason that Kurt even deserved to talk to him later in the day, but even his anger was tempered with memories of soft kisses, the way that Blaine had whined and writhed underneath Kurt, and Blaine had to remember all over again that he was mad, damn it, and that was what had to stick.

At the end of class, Blaine had never been happier that it was Friday. He picked up his books and things, stood, gave one quick look to where Kurt was sitting, and pretty much stormed from the classroom, though he was more confused than he was willing to let on. Kurt looked…almost remorseful, but Blaine couldn’t read his facial expressions well enough to make a judgement call. So he’d stopped trying, realizing that looking at Kurt was only his undoing.

Two classes, a trip up to his dorm room, and a two hour wait later, Blaine was changed out of his blazer and pants and deciding on what cardigan he wanted to wear. He pulled on his favorite pair of jeans and rolled them up at the cuff, then settled on a blue and green striped cardigan with a lavender shirt underneath it. He checked his hair, which was still in place, and then took a deep breath in. Blaine had never purposefully gone to confront somebody before, especially not like this. The walk to room 312 took all of forty seconds, and Blaine let himself get good and mad in the time he was walking. When he knocked on the door, Blaine almost surprised himself with how forceful it sounded. “Kurt,” he hissed through the door.

When the door opened, Blaine stayed in the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. He was guarded. He was ready. “You’ve got ten seconds to come up with a fantastic explanation for why I should even be here finding you later before I either…” He’d never actually come up with a threat to carry out. Blaine’s eyes scanned Kurt’s face, and he spoke up. He thought that he wanted to hit the other boy. At least, that’s how he assumed the feeling for wanting to inflict physical pain on someone was. He’d already gone this far. “before I clock you one and leave.” He hesitated. “And don’t act like you don’t deserve it. Now talk.”