Chapter 12

'What did you tell Blaine?'

Rachel stuck her head into Kurt's room. He was sitting at his desk, looking up from his laptop.

'What about?'

'About you two.'

He groaned.

'Rachel, again with this?'

'Well, yes. What did you tell him?'

Kurt turned around in his chair, trying to postpone his answer and formulate it carefully.

'I- I told him that I care about him. And that I value his friendship.'

She pursed her lips, leaning her head on the doorframe.

'That's definitely what a hot guy wants to hear from another hot guy.'

'Crap, Rachel, what do you think I should have told him, then?'

He was getting more and more annoyed by his friend's attempts at matchmaking; it wasn't making him any keener on pursuing Blaine. And he didn't want to pursue him, anyway.

'You didn't have to tell him anything. But you could have used your mouth for something else.' She shrugged.

'Okay. I guess I'm done talking to you.' Kurt stood up, and pushed Rachel out the door. 'Now I want peace and quiet. Bye.'

The door shut close a few inches from Rachel's face.

***

The next couple of weeks Kurt spent trying to take care of the preparations for the show at Keller. He asked around NYADA in search for people to play as a backing band, e-mailed all the former Glee-clubbers a hundred times to make sure who would make it to West Point, and who wouldn't, designed the poster for the show, got a couple dozen copies printed, and hung all over the hospital, and all the while never missed a class, and cooked dinners almost every evening.

But the multiplicity of things occupying him made it impossible for him to hang out with Blaine as much as either of them would wish. The few times they went out for coffee after classes, which had become usual for them, Kurt could barely stay off his cell phone, sending e-mails and calling half the time.

Rachel tried to force Kurt to pass part of the long list of things to be done to her, but he wouldn't budge. After a few failed attempts, she started wondering, whether he didn't want to do everything by himself so he could have an excuse to stay away from Blaine.

And partly, she was right. Because as much as Kurt enjoyed being with Blaine, he was getting tired of Rachel bugging him about their relationship. How could he tell her they were just friends, when she kept on denying that piece of information?

But deep down, Kurt admitted to himself that he was beginning to miss Blaine. They still met in the hallways at NYADA sometimes during the day, and went for the quick coffee later, only it seemed to be not enough.

The dose of Blaine he was getting was not enough to kill the growing longing.

It still didn't make him change his mind; he and Blaine were Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally, only without getting together. He was absolutely positive that he needed Blaine's friendship. Obviously, he had Rachel, and loved her like the sister he never had, but he needed a friend that would be like him. And Blaine was, Rachel wasn't, not in the way he needed. Anything more would disturb their friendship.

And Kurt simply wouldn't dare disturb the universe.

So when they were starting rehearsing for the show, Kurt was excited to hang out with Blaine again as much as he used to.

He had pulled some strings, using his charm and the teachers' fondness of him to get a room at NYADA for their rehearsals. Santana and Puck, who had volunteered to prepare songs as well, couldn't come to New York for two weeks just to practice. Kurt, however, made sure they sent him their music choices and the band were to learn their parts.

The first rehearsal took place on a Monday towards the middle of November. Setting everything up, plugging in instruments and scheduling the next practice sessions took a good half hour of Kurt trying to get everyone to focus, and another quarter of actually organizing everything.

Then the band started practicing playing Blaine's song, and Kurt went out for a while to make some phone calls. He had to make sure he would have a few more posters ready before Carole set off for West Point the next afternoon, so she could take them with her (she and Burt had returned to NYC the previous week, and she resumed her frequent visits to the hospital).

When Kurt slipped back into the room, the band seemed to have got Blaine's song down, and they were starting to play it. He sat down in one of the chairs standing in the far end of the room, opposite Blaine, who took the spot at the microphone.

The music started. And then Blaine began to sing.

Kurt fixed his gaze on him, mesmerized.

Blaine's voice made the hairs on his arms stand on ends, sent shivers running down his spine, his fingers and toes tingling… His heart sped up like a racing horse running for the finish line. He couldn't move, not even his eyes, barely breathing, just enough not to suffocate.

So I run now to the things they said could restore me, restore life the way it should be…

The song ended, and Kurt sat there, unmoving, as if someone turned him to stone, until Rachel came up to him, asking what they were to do next.

He couldn't hear her. All there was in the world in that moment for him, was the beautiful boy walking away from the microphone stand with a shy smile and his eyes down.

'Kurt!' Rachel patted him on the shoulder, finally getting him out of his reverie.

'Yeah?'

'I was asking if maybe we could do my song now?'

Without a second's thought, he agreed, his brain still overwhelmed by the sensation he'd just experienced.

Because for the few minutes he felt like he was looking at Blaine for the first time. For the few short minutes Blaine wasn't Blaine the friend. He was just this beautiful boy with the deep hazel eyes, and a slim body, and a stunning voice, who was simply nice and kind-hearted. It seemed to Kurt that up until that moment, there was a film over his eyes that blurred his vision of Blaine. And now it was removed, and everything about Blaine was sharp and clear. How attractive he was, how beautiful, inside and out.

The practice session soon ended, Kurt having excused himself with a sore throat. His throat was fine, but his thoughts were so confused he wasn't sure he could remember all the lyrics to his song, and wasn't willing to make a fool out of himself.

And he desperately needed some alone time to put his mind in order.

Or rather his heart.

***

'You're awfully quiet tonight,' Rachel remarked over dinner.

They were alone, Burt and Carole were supposed to eat at Keller with Finn.

'Hm?' Kurt's head snapped up. His thoughts were far from Greenpoint.

'So you're not just quiet. You're pensive. What are you thinking about?'

This time he made an effort to listen to her.

'Nothing. Stuff.'

Rachel raised an eyebrow.

'Which one is it then? Can't be both.'

'Nothing.'

She cast an appraising look over him, squinting.

'Okay. If you say so.'

The rest of the evening passed in an almost complete silence between them. Kurt kept his pensiveness up, and Rachel kept on eyeing him with suspicion, trying to figure out what was the matter with him.

The apartment was unusually still that night, for which Kurt was thankful. If Rachel was her normal loud, chattering self, he wouldn't have been able to concentrate on the mess that was his mind. And he wouldn't have been able to make a decision.

And probably one particular image wouldn't have crept into his thoughts, out of nowhere, making his heart beat fast and unevenly, and his breath hitch.

But once the image entered his mind, all was decided; no more thinking was required, no more deliberating necessary. He had waited the whole twenty years of his life for something like that to happen.

***

He planned it out in details.

He knew NYADA tended to become almost completely deserted on Friday afternoons. He also knew Blaine had no other plans for that day after classes. So he asked him to stay at the school after hours to go over their vocal parts for the Keller show.

Blaine said yes without hesitation. He even seemed positively excited for it; he hadn't heard Kurt's song for the concert yet, and hadn't heard him sing at all since the duet they improvised before he unintentionally fell asleep at Kurt's place.

Kurt asked to meet him in their rehearsal room, and Blaine showed up first, entering the almost empty, dim-lit room.

The only reason Kurt was running late was the obligatory pre-date visit to the nearest bathroom with a mirror – a ladiesroom. For some inexplicable reason, the mensrooms at NYADA lacked mirrors, which was preposterous, considering the male part of the student body spent an equal amount of time in from of them, as their female classmates. It wasn't then uncommon for boys to be spotted in the girls' bathrooms.

Kurt quickly ran his fingers through his hair, making sure it didn't fall apart since morning, and applied some more hairspray on it. He flossed his teeth, and readjusted his scarf. One more critical glance in the mirror, and he was off, heading for the rehearsal room with his heart in his throat.

The sounds of a piano reached him from outside the door. He took one deep breath, and pulled the handle.

Blaine looked up from the keyboard, and smiled at him.

'You really couldn't wait until the next practice session?,' he asked jokingly. 'We all know you're going to be perfect anyway.'

A nervous smile twitched on Kurt's lips.

'I couldn't wait. I- I needed an extra session. Just you and me. I wanted an excuse to spend more time with you.'

Blaine's forehead furrowed in confusion. What exactly was it that Kurt was aiming at?

His surprise grew even stronger, when Kurt sat down beside him on the bench by the piano.

'When I heard you sing in the last rehearsal…,' Kurt started hesitantly, looking down at his hands. 'There is a moment when you realize there's something you've always waited for- looked for- And then I had that moment- with you.'

He raised his eyes to drown them in the hazel depths of Blaine's.

For a moment they both sat silently, motionlessly. Blaine froze with a small disbelieving smile on his lips. They almost forgot to breathe, lost in each other's eyes.

Until Kurt's eyes flickered down to Blaine's lips, before he leaned towards them, cradling Blaine's cheek in his hand.

And when their lips met, Kurt's heart speeding faster than ever, he knew this wasn't a mistake. It wouldn't disturb anything.

How could he even think being with Blaine would make anything worse? The universe had been disturbed, up until that second; and when Kurt's lips fell on Blaine's, it was finally falling into place. Everything that was missing was suddenly found.

They parted, Kurt turning awkwardly away from Blaine, who stayed where he was with a silly grin on his face.

'We should- We should practice,' Kurt mumbled.

'I thought we were,' choked out Blaine, reaching to turn Kurt's face back to his own.

And they kissed impatiently and hungrily, like they'd been waiting ages for this moment to arise.

'You didn't really want to rehearse, did you?,' muttered Blaine less than an inch from Kurt's mouth.

'Nope, not really.'

He opened his eyes just to see Blaine's sparkling hazel ones right in front of him. For a second he forgot about everything that wasn't those eyes. And then Blaine kissed him again, a little too eagerly.

And they tumbled to the ground, along with the heavy bench, Blaine landing over Kurt on the floor. For a few seconds they looked at each other, before bursting into laughter, Blaine burying his face in Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt encircled Blaine with his arms, inhaling the air that intensely smelled of Blaine.

'Wanna get out of here?,' he asked.

Blaine looked at him, questioningly.

'Where to?'

'Central Park?'

'I love Central Park.'

'I know.'

They scrambled up from the floor, Kurt stealing one more kiss, before he slipped his fingers through Blaine's, and they left, both happy beyond words.