Blaine slid into a chair across from Kurt and popped the lid off his coffee. "This is my favourite coffee shop in the area. Nick and I spent days and a lot of money trying to find somewhere to get a good coffee near Dalton." He smiled as he remembered that week. "We drank a lot of crappy coffee before we found this place."

Kurt swallowed a mouthful of his coffee. "Well your suffering was worth it, this coffee is fantastic."

There were a couple of minutes of comfortable silence as the boys enjoyed their coffee.

"Do you ever go home on the weekends?" Kurt wrapped his hands around his coffee, his eyes on Blaine.

Blaine nodded. "Sometimes, not very often though. My parents have to travel a lot for business and they try and do as much of that as possible during the school semester so they don't have to go away when it's the holidays. My older brother is away at college, so most weekends there's no one home."

"Which college is your brother at?" Kurt asked him.

"Harvard," Blaine replied. "He's studying law."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "Wow, impressive. Are you aiming for Ivy League as well?"

Blaine shrugged. "I know that's where my parents want me to go, they want me to study medicine or law but I've always wanted to go to New York and study musical theatre."

"That's what I want to do!" Kurt set his coffee down and smiled across the table at Blaine. "It's been my dream for years."

Blaine grinned at him. "Hopefully we'll both be heading to New York together!"

Kurt took a quick drink of coffee but not before Blaine saw his smile slip slightly. Before Blaine could ask him if everything was alright, Kurt spoke.

"Do your parents know that you want to go to New York?"

Blaine nodded. "I told them a few years ago. I think my Mom thought I was just going through some sort of phase and when I was a few years older I would realise I could 'do better'. My Dad wasn't impressed, h-he struggled when I told my parents I was gay a few months before, and he still wasn't completely comfortable with me being gay and I think this was just another reminder for him, like guys have to be gay to be interested in musical theatre." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"How are things with your Dad now?"

"He's accepted who I am now, he was never homophobic but he just struggled with having a gay son. I think he was just uneducated about it." Blaine shrugged.

Kurt nodded slowly.

Blaine watched Kurt hesitantly. "How are your parents with you being gay?"

"My Dad's fine with it, he's very supportive."

"And your Mom?" Blaine asked nervously.

Kurt took his time swallowing his coffee and setting his cup back down on the table, his hand trembling slightly. "My Mom died when I was thirteen, I only came out to my Dad last year." Kurt said in a small voice, his eyes downcast. "My Dad said he had known I was gay for a while, so I guess my Mom probably knew as well."

Blaine felt terrible for bringing up a subject that was painful for Kurt. "I'm so sorry, Kurt." Without thinking about it he reached across the small table and covered Kurt's hand with his. Kurt stiffened but didn't pull his hand back, blushing slightly as he raised his eyes to meet Blaine's.

"It's ok, you didn't know."

Blaine could feel the heat in his face as they stared at each other.

Kurt finally broke the silence, "We should probably um, get back to Dalton."

Blaine nodded, reluctantly removing his hand off Kurt's, standing up and following him out the door.

Kurt and Blaine went to their separate rooms when they got back to Dalton. Kurt's heart was still racing from the moment in the coffee shop. On the way back, Blaine had brought up their latest English assignment and they had discussed that until they had headed for their rooms when they reached the boarder's wing of the school. Kurt couldn't help but over think the simple gesture of Blaine placing his hand on his. Had it just been an act of friendship? Him wanting to offer some comfort after bringing up his Mom? Or was there something more behind it? Blaine's face had been a little flushed, could that mean he liked Kurt as more than a friend?

'Not that it matters if he does,' Kurt thought, as he lay back on his bed. 'You can't risk dating him.'

Kurt groaned and rubbed his hand over his face, wishing, as he had done countless times before, that he had a normal life.

Over the next couple of weeks Kurt managed to avoid going home on the weekends as his Dad was busy with work one week and the Warblers performed at a nursing home the Saturday after. Kurt and Blaine went out for coffee a few more times, which resulted in teasing from Wes and a few of the other Warblers, but Kurt never noticed any more signs from Blaine that he wanted to be more than friends; something that Kurt was both relieved of and disappointed about.

When they returned from one of their coffee outings one Sunday morning they found the boarder's common room completely empty.

"Where is everyone?"

Kurt sat down on a couch, Blaine dropping down next to him.

Blaine shrugged, looking around the deserted room. "I know Wes and a number of others are in the library, they have a big assignment due tomorrow and I think there is a football game on today so everyone else is probably at that."

Kurt turned to face Blaine. "A football game? Why aren't you there watching it? I thought you loved football."

Blaine just shrugged again and looked away towards the windows. Kurt watched him curiously until he turned back to face him and smiled. "Want to help me choose a song for sectionals? Wes said if I could find something good that wasn't Katy Perry he'd let us perform it."

Kurt grinned, knowing Blaine's love of Katy Perry. "I'll just go grab my iPod. Meet you back here in a few minutes?"

When Kurt arrived back in the common room Blaine was already there searching through his iPod playlist. Kurt sat next to him and peered over his shoulder, he snorted.

"I doubt Wes would agree to Pink."

Blaine grinned. "He has in the past, but I wasn't thinking of choosing Pink anyway."

Kurt shook his head disbelievingly as he scrolled through his playlist.

"I was actually thinking about something from Wicked, but I'm not sure Wes would go for that either. So, there." Blaine stuck his tongue out at him.

"How old are you? Eight?"

Blaine lifted his chin. "Ten, actually."

Kurt fought back a smile. "Easy mistake to make, you're the height of an eight year old."

Blaine pouted and Kurt had to laugh.

"So, what do you think we should sing?" Blaine asked, serious again.

Kurt considered and quickly discarded several songs as he searched through his iPod. "How about Relient K's 'The Best Thing'?" Kurt asked. "It's a song that has been on my mind lately."

Blaine didn't reply at first but just stared at the iPod in Kurt's hand. Eventually he raised his head. "Isn't that a song about love?"

"Uh yeah, I-I guess it is." Kurt replied, his eyes on Blaine.

Kurt's heart stuttered as Blaine's eyes flicked down to his lips then back up to hold his gaze again. His breathing came fast and irregular as he subconsciously licked his lips. He didn't know who started leaning in first or if they both moved at the same time, but the next thing Kurt knew Blaine's lips were brushing softly against his and Kurt was kissing him back. Blaine rested a hand on Kurt's hip and the other on his arm, and Kurt tilted his head to the side, parting his lips and deepening the kiss whilst raising a hand to gently cup Blaine's face. Kurt was floating in a state of pure bliss; the feel of Blaine's lips on his, the taste of him...

They broke apart, breathing heavily and with their foreheads almost touching. Kurt slowly opened his eyes and met Blaine's bright hazel eyes gazing at him, looking deep inside him, into the true Kurt that he had kept buried for years, the Kurt that somehow, Blaine could see.

"Kurt..." Blaine whispered, tracing Kurt's cheekbone with his thumb.

Kurt shivered, closing his eyes again, and just as Blaine began to lean in, he froze. "Blaine, I-I can't do this."

Blaine pulled back, his eyes full of hurt. It broke Kurt's heart to do this, but he had to, no matter how much he didn't want to, he had to. Kurt bit his lip, trying desperately to hold back the tears threatening to spill down his face.

"I-I just-" Shaking his head, Kurt staggered to his feet and ran out the room, only just making it to the hallway before the tears fell.