If there was one thing Blaine Anderson regretted at this moment, it was speaking up at that particular moment during that particular Warblers meeting – his first meeting ever, actually. If he'd just nodded and went along with it, he wouldn't be here right now, almost too scared to get out of his car and enter the school in front of him – a large, bland building that screamed 'public school' and probably contained all the demons Blaine had thought he'd left behind when he'd left his old school months ago.

Not that the other Warblers knew about that, mind you. He was sure that, had they known about the circumstances that had led to his transfer to Dalton, they would never have sent him here. But he'd been too ashamed to tell them about what had caused him to flee to Dalton. He had let his bullies chase him away, he had never done anything to stand up to them. And now he'd switched schools, he'd let them win.

He'd arrived at Dalton, scared out of his wits. He hadn't known what to expect, and it most certainly wasn't being… assaulted, in a way (but in a good way) by a couple of his classmates, asking him if he wanted to join this club or that group or maybe the band or a sports team or the show choir?

Truth be told, he'd been completely overwhelmed by the sudden attention, but after he'd learnt that it was good attention for a change, he'd relaxed. In the end, he'd only joined the show choir, but he was determined to also check out some of the other school clubs a little later this year, once he'd gotten used to the workload at Dalton and the fact that everyone was nice and nobody bullied him.

After one (rather short, he might add – he was interrupted before he could start the chorus and told he was definitely in) audition, he was now a member of the Warblers, one of the most respected groups at Dalton. When he'd heard this, he'd been startled.

o-o-o-o-o

"Wait," he said, "that was all? You don't have any strange initiation rituals? I don't have to do anything life threatening?"

At first, the council members were confused, but Blaine realised that they must be used to going to private schools like this one their entire lives. They had never had to worry about bullies or people who wanted to purposefully hurt them – or at least, so it seemed to Blaine.

"No, of course not," Colin told him, sounding puzzled. "Unless you want to do something like that…"

Blaine was about to tell them that no, he was perfectly fine with not doing anything potentially dangerous, when Tom said, "I read in the Ohio Show Choir chat rooms yesterday that there's a new Glee club. It hasn't been around for a long time, but you'll never know – perhaps they have some very talented members. We could always use some information on what they're like – if they're good enough, they might qualify for the competition and we might face them at Sectionals."

"So you want Blaine here to go spy on them?" Colin asked. When Tom shrugged and nodded, Colin turned to Blaine. "Do you have a license?"

Not really, actually – he had a permit, but… oh, what the hell. "Yeah, I do," he replied meekly.

"Good!" Tom exclaimed. "I'll see if I can find anything about semi-public performances that you could attend, and I'll let you know when to go."

o-o-o-o-o

If he'd known he'd be sent to a public school two hours away from Dalton, he would never have brought it up in the first place.

Slowly, he got out of the car – Tom's car – and stared at the building in front of him. He shivered slightly. It was as if everything he'd gone through at his old school – everything he'd managed to escape, and hide, and forget about – came back to him all of a sudden.

But he needed to go inside. Tom had done his research, and if his sources were correct, this school's Glee club was going to perform at some sort of assembly in the gym after all the classes ended. That meant that Blaine had to start moving already – the bell rang loudly at that very moment, even clearly audible in the parking lot.

Since the school year had started only a few weeks ago, Blaine figured he could probably pass for a new, unknown student, instead of a spy. He had brought some casual clothes when he'd come to Dalton, but still – before coming here, he'd feared that he wouldn't fit in. However, seeing the student body now, he realised that that was, most likely, the least of his problems.

Big jocks stampeded through the hallways, shoving aside everyone who stood in their way; girls in cheerleading uniforms didn't even have to shove people away as the rest of the student body stepped back for them anyway; in every corner, there seemed to be a separate clique. But in the end, they were all headed towards the gym. Blaine was glad he'd gone in when he had; otherwise, he had to find the way there on his own.

Arriving in the gym, Blaine opted to sit somewhere at the back, where it would be least likely for him to get shoved around. Luckily, there was enough room, even though the gym was quite packed. Some people sent him odd looks, most likely because they didn't recognise him, but he ignored those stares. When the principal came in, most people quieted; still, the small Indian man saw it fit to tell them to be silent.

After making an announcement about the toilets (Blaine didn't want to know the story behind that), the principal introduced a teacher – probably the Glee club director. Only one person in the gym started clapping, which Blaine thought was slightly odd. Then again, if the club had only been in existence for a few weeks tops, it was only natural that nobody quite knew what to expect yet.

It quickly became clear that the club was, in fact, looking for new recruits – which became all the more obvious when only six students appeared on stage. Even Blaine, who'd only been a member of the Warblers for a very short time, knew that that was not enough at all.

But this song…

Oh, Blaine, being a teenage boy, could see why they'd chosen to do it. Sex sold at high schools. He just hadn't seen it coming, and, seeing the looks on the faces of the people around him, he suspected that they hadn't either. The dance moves they were performing along with the song weren't exactly appropriate for a high school either – or maybe that was just Blaine.

He couldn't deny, however, that the shorter boy standing on stage knew exactly how to move his hips – and he took every opportunity to show off that particular skill. And that – that ass.

Blaine cocked his head to the side to have a better look before catching himself. What was he doing? This may not be his old school, but it was still a public school in Ohio – checking out a boy in front of the whole school could have some nasty consequences, even though he didn't even go here.

Then again, Blaine figured that he was sitting far enough from the stage to keep eyeing the boy. No one would notice that his eyes didn't exactly linger on the three girls on stage. Still… He wiped his mouth. No reason for him to start drooling or anything like that.

And then the boy on stage slapped the taller guy's ass. That was way hotter than Blaine would've expected it to be. The tall guy obviously hadn't seen that coming, as he looked completely out of it for a moment. Well, Blaine certainly couldn't blame him. If it had been him up there, slapped on the ass by a boy as cute as that, he would have been speechless as well.

Somehow, this boy made even crawling across the stage look hot. Blaine wouldn't have minded being on stage with this group right now, if that meant having the other boy crawl over towards him. Then maybe he could –

Oh. This was getting way out of hand. Those were bad, bad thoughts. And not just because of the type of people sitting around him. He didn't know these students, least of all that boy on stage. He should not be thinking about him like that.

Of course, now that he'd thought that, there was no way of actually getting his mind off of it. He wondered for how long this pure torture would continue, but all of a sudden, the song, and the performance, were over. He could breathe again.

For only a moment, that was. Now that the students on stage were standing still, he had a much better view on the boy at the right. And he definitely liked what he saw.

In a completely non-creepy way, of course.

At first, there was silence. Then, the student body erupted in applause. Blaine, too, jumped out of his seat to clap along. He had enjoyed this performance a lot; perhaps more than he should. And he didn't even remember most of it due to the excellent distraction the boy on stage had formed.

Oh. Shit.

He'd come here to spy, but instead of watching and taking in the entire performance, he'd just watched one particular boy. He hoped the council would be lenient and let it slide. He just knew that, in case this Glee club got enough members to compete, he would not be sent here to spy again. Which was quite a pity.

That made him wonder – maybe this group had already expected that spies from other clubs would be present? Perhaps the boy he'd been watching was merely a distraction.

Soon, the other students started filing out of the gym, while the man who'd announced the Glee club walked over to the stage and started a heated discussion with the short brunette who stood centre-stage. Sneaking one final glance at the shorter boy (who was now talking to the other two girls in the group), Blaine followed the McKinley students out of the gym. Most of them were leaving, heading towards the parking lot. Although he wouldn't mind running into the boy personally, Blaine figured this would be a good time to just leave before anyone caught him.

Only when he was already on the road, Blaine realised that he really needed to use the restroom. Damn it. Luckily, he hadn't left Lima yet, and judging from the signs next to the road, there must be a coffee shop or something similar nearby.

And now that he was there anyway, he figured he might as well grab himself a cup of coffee. When he sat down, he finally relaxed. It was only a matter of time, however, before flashes of the boy he'd seen on stage popped into his head.

Not just in his head, though.

Blaine blinked furiously and almost spat out his coffee when he saw who'd just entered the coffee shop. It was him – which meant that all Blaine could do was stare.

The boy had changed out of the outfit he'd worn on stage, and Blaine was certain that he'd seen the clothes he was now wearing in one of the fashion magazines he'd been reading lately. They looked absolutely fantastic on him. Especially those skin-tight jeans – oh God, there he went again. Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts.

All of a sudden, the boy seemed to feel Blaine's eyes on him, and he frowned back at Blaine, as if not really knowing whether or not to be happy about the situation. Blaine just smiled back in what he hoped was a friendly way – not too off-putting, at the very least.

After a moment, the boy seemed to snap out of his daze and he turned back to the counter – just in time to tell the barista his order. Blaine stared back down at his cup, not daring to hope much. And indeed, the boy sat down at one of the empty table in the shop, careful not to spare Blaine a glance. Blaine sighed. The boy must think he was some weird, creepy stalker or anything.

He quickly downed the rest of his coffee, threw the cup in the trashcan, and made to head outside.

But not before he'd spoken to the boy, even if it were only two words. "Hey," he greeted him as he halted by the boy's table for a moment. "I just – it may sound weird, but you were great today. At the assembly, I mean. It was… hot."

The boy stared at him, wide-eyed. Then he seemed to recover. "Oh, thanks," he said in response, obviously trying to remain cool, but failing. A smile tugged at his lips, and Blaine didn't think he'd ever seen anything more adorable. "Yeah, I suppose the girls were pretty… nice to look at."

Blaine was confused. He'd been fairly sure that this boy was gay. Not straight. Maybe he thought Blaine was straight and had only looked at the girls? He grinned sheepishly. "I didn't mean the girls," he said quietly, trying to make sure nobody else in the coffee shop heard him. "I was talking about you." And whoa. Usually, Blaine was never this straightforward. At all.

If the boy had been surprised before, the shock was ten times worse now. "Me?" he asked, flabbergasted.

Blaine smiled apologetically before nodding and hastily making his way out of the shop, not wanting to make an even bigger fool out of himself than he already had. When he was almost at his car, he heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey, wait up!" It was the boy again. "Did you just – you can't just say something like that and walk away!"

"It was safer than sticking around with the chance to get beaten up," Blaine reasoned.

"I'm not going to beat you up," the boy promised him, then laughed. "Do I look so threatening to you?"

Blaine shook his head. "Some of the other customers did."

The boy looked thoughtful for a minute. "You're right. But – did you really… mean all that?" He was slowly reddening completely, which made him even more adorable to Blaine. When Blaine just nodded, the boy stared at the ground for a moment. "Okay. Uh – hey, you know, if you liked our performance, you should check out the Glee club some time. Maybe you'll like it."

"Yeah, about that…," Blaine started nervously. "I don't… go to your school. I just… happened to be there."

The boy scrutinised him closely. "You're not from Carmel, are you?"

Chuckling a little, Blaine shook his head. "No, I'm not. But there are other Glee clubs in Ohio than just you and Vocal Adrenaline."

The boy pulled a face. There was a short silence that was only broken when the boy asked, hesitance very obvious in his voice, "Do you… think that maybe, we could hang out some time? I mean – you don't have to if you don't want to, but… you're gay, right? I've never met anyone who's… called me that before so you must be. Right?"

"Yeah, I am," Blaine replied, trying to sound casual but close to freaking out inside.

The boy smiled wryly. "I've never met anybody who… admitted that. So? What do you say?"

Blaine grinned. "Sure, that sounds nice. Can I call you?"

The boy told him his phone number, and added, "My name's Kurt, by the way. Might be useful to put that in there as well."

Blaine grinned in embarrassment. "Of course. I'm Blaine. It's very nice to meet you."

Kurt just nodded pensively in response, then checked his own phone. "I really need to go now, though," he said. "I told my dad I'd – well, I need to go."

"Me too," Blaine told him. He had a council to report back to. Perhaps he could just make something up during the ride back to Westerville. "I'll call you some time, then. And I'll text you when I'm back… home. So you have my number as well."

"Great," Kurt responded, smiling a bit. "I'll see you around?"

Nodding happily, Blaine waved at him before getting into his car. Kurt – who Blaine now realised didn't have his bag with him – walked back inside for a moment. While Blaine drove back to Westerville, he couldn't even come up with a good story to tell the council later – his thoughts were somehow completely occupied by Kurt. And he didn't even know the guy very well. He couldn't wait to find out what would happen to him once he did get to know Kurt.