Blaine sighed for what had to be the millionth time since he'd left Dalton that morning. He was currently sitting in his car on the McKinley High parking lot, wondering for (also) the millionth time why he was even here.

Oh, right. Because he was kind of a total attention whore at times (especially during competitions), and the council had threatened to give other people his solos if he didn't do this.

He hated the fact that they had so much power over him.

After getting the news about Regionals, the Warblers had gone into full work mode. They had sent Jeff (who had been granted a few solo lines in return) all the way to Fort Wayne to spy on Aural Intensity, but Blaine got to go to Lima, because that was 'closer to where he lived'. They had made it sound like he would actually visit his parents while in Lima, but that was not going to happen.

He was to spy on New Directions, one of the two Glee clubs the Warblers would be facing during the upcoming competition. Apart from some low quality competition videos, nothing about this group could be found on the internet.

Well, there had been, according to the council – some site, run by a McKinley High student, must have contained all kinds of information about the club. When they'd sat down to do their research, however, it turned out that a couple of days earlier, the site had been shut down.

Now that was unfortunate.

Either way, Blaine was still stuck with his stupid spy mission, and he figured that he might as well get out of the car and walk the short distance towards the entrance of the school. He didn't have many fond memories of his old public school, but for all he knew, this one wouldn't be as bad.

Hesitantly, he climbed out of his car and, after closing it, he kept putting one foot in front of the other to make sure he kept on walking straight ahead, hoping that his legs wouldn't suddenly fail him.

What was he doing? He was Blaine Anderson, he wasn't afraid of anything or anyone – at least on the outside. So he'd better walk a little more confidently, stand upright, and not show anyone he was nervous, lest they find out he was a spy and not actually a student here.

At least his clothes wouldn't give him away, as he had put on one of his few casual outfits he had at Dalton. It had taken him some time to find them, but they were there, and that was what counted.

He thanked his lucky stars that it was the middle of a school day, so nobody was standing outside to pick on him, at least. Upon arriving at the front doors, he noticed a poster indicating that this week was apparently Alcohol Awareness week. Blaine frowned; he knew enough about matters like this to realise that this had to mean that this school had some serious issues regarding alcohol. Oh well; he was here now, and he was going to find that Glee club and do some spying if it was the last thing he did.

The hallways, he immediately noticed, were empty. So were the first few classrooms he passed, which was strange. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, so there had to be a lot of students here – but where were they?

On his quest to find the choir room, he still didn't bump into anyone. The offices of various teachers were empty too – something must be going on, Blaine suspected.

Then, finally, he spotted a student – male, slightly taller than him, and looking quite displeased with his, admittedly rather odd, outfit. He was just exiting a bathroom and heading towards – well, somewhere.

"Hey!" Blaine called out. Normally, he wouldn't do such a thing, but desperate times called for desperate measures, right? "Sorry," he said, as the other boy stood still for a moment, giving Blaine a chance to catch up with him. The boy looked at him suspiciously, so Blaine extended a hand, as a sort of peace offering – to show the boy he didn't mean any harm.

Well, sort of. Not to individuals boys, at any rate.

"Hi, I'm Blaine," he greeted the other boy cheerfully. "I'm new here. What's going on?"

After staring at Blaine's hand with a somewhat indescribable look on his features, the boy shook it. "Kurt," he introduced himself… well, curtly. "And if you want to fit in at this school, which I suspect you do, one piece of advice… don't ever talk to me again, unless it's to insult me." Blaine stared at him oddly before remembering that, oh yeah, he had just introduced himself as a new student. Man, he really sucked at this spying thing. Kurt continued speaking. "Also, don't come near me ever again, unless it's to physically harm me. Oh, and there's an assembly going on at the moment. It's Alcohol Awareness week."

"An assembly?" Now, Blaine was definitely curious.

"To make the students more aware of the dangers of alcohol," Kurt told him, and he started to slowly walk away, Blaine following closely.

"And you're skipping, or what?" he asked with a slight grin on his face.

Kurt shook his head. "No, just needed to use the bathroom. I have to go perform in a minute. With my Glee club, that is."

Now, Blaine had trouble biting back a huge, victorious grin. It appeared that he had won the jackpot. He could just sit back and watch, not worrying about getting caught or anything, because the whole school would be watching. "Oh?" he asked with (not really) feigned interest.

"Apparently, the principal thought that would be a good idea, even though all our earlier assembly performances ended in sex riots," Kurt continued, rolling his eyes. "We barely practised, so all the others are now going for some liquid courage."

Blaine's head swam. When he had been sent here, he hadn't expected to have to potentially deal with sex riots or drunken performers. He suspected (or rather, hoped) that nothing like that would happen at Regionals.

"Really?" he eventually managed to squeak out.

"Hmhm," Kurt hummed, coming to a stop outside large doors. "You'll see for yourself in a minute, anyway." He held open one of the doors. "We're here. I think there are some free spots over there – you can just sit there, see?"

"You're not coming?" Blaine asked, suddenly not too sure about sitting among all the strangers. Sure, he didn't know Kurt that well either, but at least he didn't seem too threatening – self-confident and maybe even slightly arrogant, sure, but not threatening.

"I have to go perform, remember?" Kurt replied, sounding a little annoyed. "I have to get backstage. Just – enjoy the show." With that, he was gone, and Blaine barely managed to avoid getting hit by the closing door.

There were other students walking around, trying to find a spot, so Blaine didn't stand out too much. On a small platform on one side of the gym stood what looked like a cop of sorts, talking about the dangers of alcohol. When he was done, a small Indian man stepped forward, thanking the chief for his speech, and then announcing the next act.

Blaine had some trouble understanding what he said. Only when the song started, he realised that this man had one special way of referring to Ke$ha and that hit song of hers. Although Blaine usually quite like Top 40 songs, he didn't see the appeal of Tik Tok. But maybe that was just him – all the kids around him were going wild.

He immediately realised, when looking at the stage, that New Directions wasn't a large group – there were only twelve people, the minimum number to compete.

As for the performance, he wasn't sure what to think. The girl who sang had a nice enough voice – but was she the normal soloist? Did she usually sing during competitions? Was 'nice enough' going to win them Regionals? – and the dancing was more complicated than anything the Warblers had ever attempted, so there was definitely room for improvement there. Blaine made a mental note to bring that up during the next Warbler meeting.

He also understood now why Kurt (who, alright, Blaine had to admit, actually looked pretty adorable among the bigger and maybe even a little threatening looking jocks in the group) had been wearing those clothes if he didn't like them – all the New Directions members were wearing similar clothing. And although none of them looked the same, like the Warblers (and all Dalton students, actually) did, they were still obviously one group.

A shock went through the audience and everyone quieted down immediately as the singing girl suddenly threw up, covering another girl with an unidentifiable grey substance that was probably vomit, but didn't look like it. Another girl followed suit and started vomiting too. Soon after, the group scurried backstage.

After the rather shocking performance – Blaine had never seen anything like it – the principal talked to the students for two or three more minutes before letting them go. Blaine didn't quite understand why the man hadn't told them that the example New Directions had set wasn't a good one – as a matter of fact, the man seemed to approve of what had just happened on stage.

Along with the McKinley High students, Blaine left the gym. Soon, though, all the students were gone, and Blaine was, once more, standing in the middle of a corridor with no idea where he was, or which way the exit was. After walking around for half a minute, he almost bumped into two girls – two pretty familiar looking girls. Blaine instantly recognised them as the two girls who had just thrown up on stage. Fortunately, there was no vomit in sight this time.

"What?" one of them – a Latina – snapped, and Blaine realised that he must have been staring at them quite blatantly. Not a very polite thing to do.

"Nothing," he said hastily. "I'm just – "

"Wondering how we could be stupid enough to throw up on stage?" the same girl asked, using the same tone as earlier. The blonde next to her just stared at him curiously.

"Are you a hobbit, like Rachel?" she wondered out loud, and Blaine reddened instantly. He had no idea who this Rachel girl was, but judging from the two girls' faces, they didn't like her much. As for himself, people called him a hobbit sometimes, but it was either to playfully tease him or to cruelly make fun of him. This girl, on the other hand, seemed sincere. The Latina seemed to crack up at the question.

"No, I'm not," he therefore found himself saying, but the Latina nodded her head enthusiastically, which caused the blond girl to become even more confused. "I'm just new. I'm lost."

"New, huh?" The Latina suddenly eyed him with a lot more interest. Her tone was different too.

"Uh – yeah," Blaine replied, becoming very uneasy under her almost hungry gaze. "But I think I'm done for today, so could you just show me – "

"Of course we'll show you around," the girl purred. Blaine figured that, if he hadn't been gay, he would've been at the girl's feet by now, but since he was gay, he didn't exactly like this kind of attention.

"Just the exit would be fine," he squeaked.

"How did you find the gym if you're lost?" the blonde asked, appearing at the Latina's other side.

"Someone showed me – " Blaine started, but the girls didn't let him finish.

"So you already know someone here, hm?" the Latina asked. "Boy or girl?"

Blaine didn't see how that mattered, but he responded anyway. It was the least he could do after spying on their performance. "Boy. His name – "

"No, let me guess," the girl muttered in his ear, and Blaine tried to step away from her, only to have her grab his arm. "Was he performing with us? That would make this very easy…" The blonde looked like she didn't understand that, but Blaine did – after all, there were only six boys onstage, as opposed to over a hundred in the stands.

"Yeah, he was," he replied, and the Latina grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"Oh, this is fun. Okay… was he awkwardly tall?"

Blaine thought for a moment. "No."

"In a wheelchair?"

"No, not exactly…"

"Did he have a Mohawk?"

"… No."

"Was he Asian?"

"No – look, can't I just – "

"Blonde with big lips?"

If Blaine was correct, she'd guessed five times now, and none of those things applied to Kurt. "No, he wasn't."

"He was gay?"

Blaine stared at her for a moment. For as far as he knew, Kurt hadn't appeared to be gay – sure, his voice was higher than that of most teenage boys and he had alluded to being bullied, so that might be a hint. He hadn't looked happy with his outfit at all. "Possibly?" he replied. Personally, he wouldn't mind so much.

Looking in front of him again, he noticed that this looked a whole lot like a choir room. It sounded nothing like a choir room, though. Everyone was just talking and yelling and shouting at one another, but one look at the two girls next to him told Blaine that this wasn't an irregular occurrence.

As the girls walked in, Blaine followed closely. He had no idea what was going to happen, and his gut instinct told him to run while he could, but he ignored it. Why? He had no idea.

The girls stood still in front of Kurt, who had already changed out of the outfit he'd worn on stage. He was telling a short brunette girl (Rachel, maybe?) that she'd better keep her outfit on, since 'it wasn't in any way fashionable, but an improvement compared to what she normally wore'. Now, Blaine could definitely see Kurt as gay.

"Kurt, you know this guy?" the Latina asked him, interrupting their conversation, or whatever it was. She pushed him forward, and he smiled sheepishly. A strange look appeared on Kurt's face (again) and he nodded.

"Yeah, I know him. I'll just… help him find his way out now." With a quick look in the short girl's direction, he jumped up from his chair, grabbed his bag from the chair next to it, and almost pushed Blaine out of the door.

Being the shorter of the two, Blaine almost had to start running to keep up with Kurt. He didn't understand what was wrong, but before he could ask, someone called Kurt from somewhere behind them. It was a tall guy – Blaine thought he'd seen him on stage, but he couldn't be too sure.

"What, Finn?" Kurt asked almost venomously.

The boy, Finn, seemed to shrink a little. "You're my ride home, remember? You can't just run away like that."

"Fine," Kurt huffed. "I'll be right there. You know where I parked this morning, right?" Finn looked curiously from Kurt to Blaine and back, shrugged, and walked away again. Seeing Blaine's questioning glance, Kurt commented, "Stepbrothers…"

"Ah." That… didn't really explain a lot to Blaine, as he had never had to deal with a stepsibling. His parents were still happily married – well, they were married. He didn't know if they were happy. He liked to think that they were, as they were already so disappointed in him – there should be something that kept them together, right?

"So what did you think of the performance?" Kurt asked, and he seemed to brace himself for whatever opinion Blaine could have.

"It was interesting," Blaine replied, and he didn't lie. It had been interesting, just… in a weird way. "Were those girls supposed to throw up?"

"No, they weren't," Kurt told him, pulling a face. "Turns out Rachel gave them some heavy stuff to drink before going on stage."

"You didn't drink?" Blaine asked, and Kurt shook his head. "Well, at least there wasn't a sex riot this time…"

"That's true," Kurt admitted. "And I've already got one bad experience with alcohol. I don't need to repeat that ever again. Besides, Mr Schue just made all of them puke to just get the alcohol out of their system. I'm glad I didn't have to."

Blaine smiled wryly before remembering that he should try to get as much information as possible. "Was this your usual style, this performance?" he asked.

Again, Kurt sent him a look Blaine couldn't quite decipher. "We usually practise more, if that's what you're asking," he replied, suddenly looking Blaine right in the eye. "As I'm sure you do too."

"W-What?" Damn it, he wasn't supposed to stutter! Blaine never stuttered, so why start now? Though, it could have something to do with the fact that this admittedly sort-of-cute, potentially gay guy who-was-also-the-competition might know what he was up to.

"You're the lead vocalist of the Warblers," Kurt said evenly, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, as if daring Blaine to deny this. Blaine, however, couldn't exactly form words at that moment – he was just gaping at the other boy.

"H-How do you – " he started, before losing track of his thoughts again.

"Rachel forced me to watch some of your performances on the internet with her," Kurt explained. "Of course, you're out of your blazer now, and your hair's different, so it's not that obvious."

"When did you find out?" Blaine asked, curious. Why hadn't he been thrown out of the school, then?

"I thought you looked familiar the moment I first saw you," Kurt replied, "and then you started grinning like mad when I mentioned the Glee club. It wasn't that hard." He looked around for a moment before adding, "That's why I nearly dragged you out of the choir room earlier. I figured you'd be a dead man if Rachel recognised you."

"The short brunette?" Blaine guessed, and Kurt nodded. "Why did you let me watch anyway?"

"I didn't think it would have any bad consequences for us if you watched. Maybe you'll now start thinking we're some sort of joke. Besides, it's not like you filmed it or anything – that's what Rachel would do, and has already done a couple of times, I think. And if you're brave enough to come here and try to watch us perform, well, you're one of the first. Most students just watch us perform at assemblies because they have to be there."

"They seemed to like the song, though," Blaine said.

"Like that'll make any difference," Kurt scoffed. "They'll go back to ignoring or bullying us tomorrow, they always do. As I said, you have to be brave to come here to watch us – if anyone would overhear, you're no longer safe in this school."

"They threatened to take away my solos," Blaine muttered, and Kurt stared at him disbelievingly for a moment before laughing out loud.

"You really are just like Rachel, you know that?" Kurt asked him gleefully. "I mean, I suppose that everyone in New Directions would go on a spying mission if they'd get solos in return, but you just… you even sound like her right now."

From what he'd heard so far about this Rachel girl, being compared to her was not something Blaine should want. So he crossed his arms defiantly and glared at Kurt – which was made almost impossible by the fact that Kurt was no longer looking in his direction.

"I should go," Kurt suddenly announced. "Finn's probably wondering what's taking me so long. And I believe that Westerville isn't all that close to Lima either."

"Right," Blaine muttered. "Yeah, I'd better get out of here."

"I'm sure your fellow Warblers will be looking forward to hearing what you've learned today," Kurt commented as they started walking again.

Blaine just rolled his eyes. "I think I'll just try to convince them that you're all a bunch of crazy people, escaped from the loony bin."

Kurt shrugged. "At least that's more true than telling them that we normally go on stage drunk and try to vomit all over the audience."

Blaine certainly hoped that that was true.

"I suppose we'll meet again at Regionals, then," Kurt told him with a small grin. "We're going to wipe the floor with you, you can count on that."

Unsure if it was a bad thing that Blaine was both looking forward to Regionals even more now, and wondering if there a way to meet Kurt again before then, he just settled for rolling his eyes. "We'll see about that," he replied, "you'd better get your team sobered up again first."

With that, another eye-roll and a wave, the two of them parted ways – for now, at least. Blaine suddenly didn't remember why he'd been so opposed to spying in the first place; it hadn't been that bad in the end.