PART THREE

Chapter 1

‘Blaine?,’ Kurt whispered somewhere close in the darkness.

It was already well after two in the morning, and they’ve just switched off the lights after a marathon of movie musicals. Blaine could feel the warmth of his best friend’s body a mere foot from his own, and wrapped his arms around his chest; in the last three months, he’d been a little worried about falling asleep holding Kurt. The results could be embarrassing and destructive for their friendship. Not knowing whether or not Kurt would ever be capable of requiting his feelings was killing Blaine, but he figured being careful and patient was his best option. His only option.

‘Mhm?’

Kurt didn’t reply at once. He bit his lip in hesitation, worried that his question could upset Blaine.

‘You know that it’s the junior prom next Saturday, right?,’ he began.

‘Sure, I do, we’re supposed to sing at it.’

‘Right.’ Kurt inhaled deeply, a blush burning his cheeks. Blaine couldn’t see the colour of his friend’s face, but he knew him well enough to guess what it was and couldn’t hold back a smile. He was pretty sure Kurt didn’t know just how adorable he was.

‘So? What did you want to ask me?,’ Blaine prodded gently.

‘I know you’re far from comfortable about going, and I know you’ve had pretty bad experience when it comes to high school dances and all,’ Kurt went on, clearly nervous. ‘But since you’re going to be there anyway, and it would be really weird going alone, do you think you could maybe… be my plus one?’

Kurt squeezed his eyelids shut, as if he was preparing for a physical blow. But even if he hadn’t, the darkness would have prevented him from seeing the mixture of astonishment and bliss that flooded Blaine’s face, his heart skipping a beat. He could barely keep himself from screaming out in triumph. Sure, it wasn’t going to be a date, but it didn’t matter. As Kurt’s plus one, he could try and get a slow dance, and they could get matching flowers for their buttonholes… It wasn’t a date, but probably the next best thing.

He firmly believed his experience from that fateful Sadie Hawkins wouldn’t have a chance of repeating. Ever since January, incidents of bullying became infrequent. Neither of them got slushied more than could be counted with one hand. Both hoped it wasn’t just a temporary improvement brought on by tragedy, but wouldn’t voice that in fear of jinxing it.

‘Blaine, so would you go with me?,’ Kurt asked again.

Blaine didn’t even realize he hadn’t answered yet, he got so preoccupied with planning and dreaming of next Saturday.

‘I’d love to be your plus one,’ he managed to say in an almost casual way.

Kurt smiled wider than he remembered ever smiling, willing himself not to start jumping up and down on his bed.

‘Great.’ He stopped himself for a moment, and – very carefully checking his every movement – he leaned forward to kiss Blaine on the cheek.

He could hear Blaine gasping and assumed his friend didn’t expect this form of expressing gratitude. Blaine’s mind was consumed only by the thought that Kurt’s lips had just been a mere inch from his own, and he had to remind himself to breathe.

‘Thanks,’ Kurt said, falling back to his pillow that somehow smelled distinctly of Blaine.

***

The bang of the front door closing wasn’t what made Aileen lift her head from the list of errands to run she was composing. It was the cheerful humming that accompanied it that did. It had been possibly months since she last saw her nephew in such a good mood. First that boy’s suicide, and then the mood swings Blaine was recently prone to. Aileen had her suspicions about those, but didn’t want to pry. She could see he wasn’t depressed, not really, so as long as he was fine, she decided to let him have a little privacy.

‘Hi,’ Blaine said on entering the room, a dopey smile not leaving his lips even for a second.

‘Hi, honey.’ She scanned his expression; that emotion was so clear even the most insensitive of people would be able to name it without so much as a shadow of doubt. He was purely happy, happier than she’d ever seen him. ‘Why so chipper?’

Blaine made an effort to tone down his facial expression and shrugged.

‘No reason. It’s a nice day, isn’t it?’

Aileen glanced at the window. The day was indeed nice, but she still was quite convinced her nephew’s joyfulness had a lot more to do with the sleepover he had just come back from. She watched him as he poured himself a glass of juice, humming to himself again.

‘How’s Kurt?,’ Aileen asked.

Blaine was already on his way out of the room and he stopped abruptly. Sometimes it was annoying she could see through him so easily, but deep down he hoped he could keep that one piece of information secret from her. The way she asked the question, however, made him pretty convinced he failed by not being able to reign his excitement in.

‘Great.’ He paused for a second, wondering whether or not adding something more would raise her suspicion even higher, then added, ‘You know it’s his junior prom next week, right? I’m going with him as his plus one.’

Aileen nodded, fighting a smile.

‘So that’s a date?’ She raised a querying eyebrow at him.

‘No, no, we’re going as friends,’ he hurried to add.

‘Oh, well, it’s nice anyway,’ Aileen said.

Her eyes didn’t leave his face as his expression fell a little.

‘Yeah, it’s nice.’ He pulled the corners of his lips higher, trying to hide the pang of heartache that he felt inside his chest, and left the room.

Aileen waited till she heard Blaine’s room door close, then darted to the coffee table to get her cell phone. She listened in for a moment to check if Blaine hadn’t stirred outside, and found the number she needed in her contacts.

‘Hello?,’ a deep male voice answered after a few beeps.

‘Hi, Burt, it’s Aileen.’

‘Oh hi, how are you? In case you were wondering, Blaine was as good as ever last night, there’s nothing to worry about,’ Burt said, not giving her a second to reply.

‘No, it’s not about that. Actually…,’ her voice trailed off. ‘But there might be something to worry about.’

‘What is it?’

Aileen looked around, having the surreal feeling of being watched and eavesdropped on.

‘Are you going to be at the shop today?,’ she asked.

‘Yeah, not for long, because it’s Saturday, but I’ll be there.’

‘Okay. So expect me to show up. Around noon?’

***

Aileen turned up at the Hummel tire shop a few minutes before twelve. The only employer she met directed her to the tiny office in the corner of the garage. She tapped lightly on the door.

‘Come in!,’ Burt’s voice sounded from inside.

‘Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting?,’ she asked, noticing Burt was halfway through an early lunch.

‘No, no, it’s fine,’ he waved at her to sit in the chair on the other side of his cluttered desk, and closed the Tupperware container that held the remainder of his meal. ‘It’s not like I particularly like the Kurt-approved food anyway. He makes me eat like a rabbit.’

Aileen smiled understandingly at him.

‘He cares about you, nothing more,’ she said.

Burt frowned, recalling the details of their phone conversation from earlier.

‘You said there was something we should worry about? On the phone?,’ he prompted. He’d rather be over with it as soon as possible.

‘I only said there might be something to worry about,’ she corrected him gently. ‘That’s why I wanted to talk to you.’

Folding his arms over his chest, Burt leaned back in his chair, letting her continue. Aileen took a moment to pick the right way of formulating her question.

‘Did you know my nephew is in love with your son?’

The lines on Burt’s forehead deepened, as he took in the words.

‘No. All I knew was that my son is in love with your nephew.’

Aileen raised her eyebrows. Well, she was perfectly aware they were close, and Kurt was always so caring and affectionate towards Blaine… But he was also much less reserved than her nephew, so she wrongly assumed it was just an expression of their friendship. And maybe it was easier for her to see shifts in Blaine’s behavior, because they lived under one roof.

‘Oh. That changes things,’ she said. ‘You don’t look terribly shocked.’

Burt shrugged.

‘I’d be shocked if that didn’t happen at some point.’ He paused, studying Aileen’s expression. ‘You think we should put an end to the sleepovers?’

‘No. I’m quite sure they’re clueless, and I guess we’re both confident they’re not the type of kids to hook up the first chance they get.’

Burt’s eyes grew wide; he’d really prefer her not to go there. Kurt was his little boy and the idea that said little boy could be having sex wasn’t something he’d like to contemplate. On the other hand – he wanted his son to have somebody. And Blaine was the probably best candidate to be that somebody

‘Should we help them, then?,’ Burt asked hesitantly. He couldn’t picture himself as a matchmaker, not in a million years.

Aileen grinned at him.

‘We definitely shouldn’t stand in their way.’