Being the football fan he was, of course Blaine had secured himself a ticket for this year's Ohio high school championship game. He hadn't been able to find anyone willing to join him, but that certainly didn't spoil his fun. He knew he should be careful – after all, he was gay, and people attending football games weren't normally known for their acceptance of their homosexual fellow-citizens. On top of that, he was here all by himself.

When he entered the stadium, he quickly came to a halt. At least half the seats were already taken. Blaine had no idea where it was safest for him to sit.

"Are you lost, kid?" a gruff voice sounded from behind him, and Blaine spun around. It was a big, intimidating man, and Blaine felt himself cower.

"Just looking for a place to sit, sir," he replied as politely as he could in the state he was in. Only now did he notice a short woman standing next to the man. As she saw him staring, she smiled kindly at him, and Blaine felt slightly more at ease. Surely this man wouldn't do anything to him with his wife here – at least, he hoped so.

"Well, it looks like there's enough space left," the man told him, gesturing around. Blaine nodded feebly. Before he could reply and hastily get away, a boy who looked around his age walked up to them. He was wearing what looked like a thick coat, donned with, Blaine noted, a very nice striped scarf – and fingerless gloves, too. "What did he say?" the man asked when the boy reached them.

"According to Finn, they're still refusing to play," the boy replied, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. Blaine blinked. He'd never met a boy (his age, that was) with such a high, melodious voice. He decided he rather liked it. The man shook his head, but didn't say anything. "Who's this?" the boy asked suddenly, and Blaine realised with a start that the boy (who had, by the way, the bluest eyes he'd ever seen) was eyeing him curiously.

"Oh," he almost squeaked, "I'm Blaine, hi." He held his hand out, and the boy took it.

"Kurt," he introduced himself. "So what brings you here, Blaine? I don't think I've seen you here before, so unless you recently transferred…"

"Oh, no. I don't go here," Blaine said hastily. "I'm a big football fan, and this is the championship game, so I decided to come. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Kurt nodded. "You didn't bring anyone else with you?"

Blaine noticed that the man – Kurt's father, most likely – was watching their exchange slightly suspiciously. It didn't really do anything to calm his nerves around the man. "No one I knew was free tonight. The only people who were, don't like football so much."

"I don't either," Kurt confessed. "I'm just here to cheer for my friends and stepbrother."

"We should find seats soon," the man interrupted them. "You know, if we want to be able to see the game well."

Without much thinking – except, perhaps, that Kurt would make a great conversation partner; and they hadn't even talked that much yet – Blaine asked, "Would you mind if I say with you? I mean, I don't want to intrude, so… I could find somewhere else to sit, but – "

"Sure," Kurt interrupted him. "Someone is bound to sit next to us anyway."

"Kurt – " the man started.

"Dad," Kurt retorted, sending his father a pointed look. "You know it's true."

"I can just… leave, if it's too much of a problem," Blaine said quickly. Truth be told, this large man kind of really scared the living daylights out of him.

"Of course you can sit with us, dear," the woman told him with a friendly smile. With that, the argument seemed settled. When they'd found (pretty decent, to Blaine's surprise) seats, the woman continued, "So what school do you go to, Blaine?"

"I go to Dalton, Mrs…," Blaine trailed off. He hadn't even taken the time to learn these people's names.

Again, the woman smiled. "Just call me Carole."

"Wait, is that that private school?" the man asked, leaning towards the rest of the group.

"Yes, sir, it is," Blaine answered, surprised that these people knew about Dalton. "You've heard of it?"

The family of three all exchanged looks. As the man engaged Carole in a conversation, Blaine turned towards Kurt with a questioning gaze, only to find the other boy shifting slightly in his seat.

"Apart from the fact that my former Glee club competed against the Warblers at Sectionals…," Kurt started, but didn't continue immediately as he stared intently at the back of the head of the person in front of him. Blaine stored away that information for now. He hadn't realised that this was New Directions' school. If they'd known, he suspected that other Warblers might've come along here regardless of whether they liked football or not. Then, Kurt continued, "We looked into it when we were looking for another school. For me," he clarified. "Because it has that zero tolerance policy. But the tuition was far too expensive, so that option was out. Now I'm at Lima High School instead."

"There are scholarships you can apply for," Blaine pointed out.

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, I know. But not in the middle of the school year, apparently." He sighed. "Well, maybe next year."

Keeping half an eye on the field, Blaine asked curiously, "Why exactly did you switch schools?" It wasn't something you heard much – most certainly not in the middle of a year.

Kurt stared at the field too, clearly trying to buy himself some more time, or thinking of a way to not have to answer that question. His eventual answer was quiet in the ocean of sounds surrounding them, but Blaine heard it nonetheless; perhaps because he'd been expecting it, and he'd been in the same situation himself. Bullying; of course.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, hesitantly reaching out to lay his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "That must've been tough."

Kurt just shrugged in response, probably not feeling very comfortable with telling a stranger about his situation. "What about you?" he asked suddenly, turning sideways to face Blaine. "Have you always attended private schools?"

Blaine was well aware that he could easily lie and say that, yes, he'd always attended private schools. However, seeing as this boy he'd never seen before in his life had so readily (well, sort of) told him about his problem, Blaine couldn't even think of lying. "No, I haven't," he therefore replied. "I went to public school initially, but when it was time to look for a high school, my parents sent me to Dalton."

Kurt frowned slightly, and Blaine wasn't sure if he liked the fact that he thought the other boy looked cute like that. "May I ask why?" Kurt asked, scrutinising Blaine closely.

Blaine smiled wryly. "Bullying," he responded, and Kurt's eyes grew wide.

"Really?" He sounded completely shocked. "I mean – that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay," Blaine said with a shrug. "I'm at Dalton now, and I'm safe there. I try not to think about it too much."

Kurt nodded in understanding. "Yeah, me neither."

"Are things better at your new school?" Blaine asked, feeling slightly worried.

"A little," Kurt replied. "It's not like they don't – " He suddenly broke off his sentence and stared at Blaine for a moment. Then, he turned around to see if his parents were still there. Finally, he looked back at Blaine and continued in a softer voice, "They still hate… gay people there. But I'm not the only person out there, miraculously, and the faculty pays more attention. So it's a bit better."

"Good," Blaine replied a bit lamely. "That's… good."

Kurt eyed him silently. "If it disgusts you, you're free to leave," he told Blaine in a slightly colder voice, turning to stare stoically at the field.

Blaine's eyes widened. "What? No, of course not! I just… know how hard it can be when no one does anything, when nobody pays attention to the bullying. So it's good that the faculty at your new school's better at doing that."

Kurt looked at him suspiciously for a moment before relaxing. "Only just a bit, though," he said with another shrug. "But everywhere's better than McKinley for me."

At that (slightly awkward) moment, the game started, and both boys turned their eyes (and their attention) to the field. Not for long, though.

"That's your – I mean, their – football team?" Blaine asked, aghast.

Kurt sighed – hopefully, he wasn't annoyed by Blaine. "From what I've heard, the football and Glee club coaches wanted both clubs to get along better – impossible, if you ask me – so they forced all football players to join Glee. Then something happened, and the next thing you know, all of them quit Glee again – except for the ones who were already in the club before this whole situation, of course. Not that it's that much of a loss anyway, as far as I'm concerned. But the football coach apparently decided that Glee was mandatory, so if they quit that, they were off the football team as well. So there were really only a couple of players left, and they'd have to forfeit, but then someone came up with the brilliant idea that the Glee girls – well, the ones who were left, that is – would join the football team as well. A couple of girls quit the club too because the cheerleading coach had Regionals moved to tonight as well, so they had to choose." When Kurt was done, Blaine stared at the other boy in shock. What kind of school was this even? "Oh," Kurt added, shaking his head slightly, "I shouldn't have told you that, you're from their rival school."

"Maybe you shouldn't have," Blaine agreed, glancing at the field. It looked like the girls – most of them, at least – weren't really playing. "They're just on the field so the team has enough players, right?" he asked Kurt knowingly. But while there were enough players, and about half the team actually consisted of football players, the team wasn't doing well. At all. The other team consisted only of real football players, after all, and they made sure McKinley's team knew this. "Were you in New Directions before you transferred?" Blaine asked Kurt. He realised too late that that was actually kind of a dumb question – after all, Kurt had told him he was here to cheer his friends on, and those friends all seemed to be part of the Glee club.

"I was," Kurt responded nevertheless. "It was the best part of the day. Sadly, Lima High has no music related extracurriculars."

Blaine nodded, and they fell silent again. It looked like Kurt easily lost interest in the game – his eyes seemed to glaze over and he was just staring at the field, not really paying attention to what was happening there anymore. Blaine chuckled inwardly as he noticed this. He, too, found it hard to concentrate on the game, as it was almost painful to watch. McKinley's team (or lack thereof) wasn't very good – the exact opposite, actually. Blaine hoped that it would be better after halftime.

Then he realised something. "If the cheerleaders aren't here, what's going to happen during halftime?" he asked Kurt, snapping the other boy out of his daze.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt replied, "Don't worry, there'll be a halftime show. That's actually part of the reason why the football team was initially forced to join Glee club. Of course, you won't get so ogle a bunch of scantily clad girls, but I'm sure you'll survive for once."

Blaine stared at Kurt confusedly. "Didn't I make it clear? I thought you – I'm gay too."

"You are?" Kurt sounded shocked, confused, intrigued – all at once. "Sorry, no, I didn't realise. You don't exactly scream 'gay', after all."

"I get that a lot," Blaine replied with a smile as charming as he could muster. "But I can assure you that it's true."

Kurt nodded. "I guess the football thing threw me off too. Way to break the stereotype, by the way."

Blaine laughed happily. It was as if any tension that had previously existed between the two of them had evaporated now.

When one of the girls on the field suddenly stood up from where she was lying down and ran for the ball, Kurt gasped – and he wasn't the only one. When the girl had grabbed the ball, she mad a run for it again, but right before she could score, a huge football player brutally tackled her. Now Blaine gasped as well. Seconds crept by as everyone in the stadium waited for the girl to show a sign of life. Kurt had grabbed the woman's sleeve in the meantime, and Blaine didn't quite know what to do with his hands.

Finally, the girl proved to be alright, and everyone let out a breath of relief. However, McKinley's team seemed to be discussing something, and suddenly, the team's quarterback ran off the field.

"What's he doing?" Kurt cried out in disbelief. "This is not the way to win a game!" His protests were echoed by his parents. Noticing Blaine's questioning look, Kurt informed him, "That's my idiot of a stepbrother, Finn."

"Okay," Blaine replied slowly. "So you don't know either what's gotten into him?" Kurt shook his head, his frown never leaving his face.

Soon, the first half was over. Since Kurt opted to stay where he was, Blaine chose not to leave as well. He probably wouldn't find his way back here if he did.

While Kurt talked to his parents for a bit, Blaine tried his hardest not to eavesdrop on their conversation. Instead, he looked around the field, trying to figure out what was about to happen. Normally, all these stereotypical football fans would want to see some cheerleaders, but Kurt had already told him that that option was out.

As he watched, people were setting up what looked like fog machines. Also, a complete marching band made its way onto the field. Blaine blinked. What on earth was going to happen?

Kurt, apparently, having seen the look in his eyes, smirked at him. "I told you it would be good," he said in a slightly teasing tone.

"Do you know what they're going to do?" Blaine asked curiously.

Kurt shrugged. "I've heard some things. About… the band, and such. I know they're planning on performing a mash-up of sorts, dressed like – "

He broke off, and, looking at the field, Blaine instantly knew why. A large group of people (much larger than the football team had just been) made their way onto the field as well, looking like they'd escaped from some or other zombie movie. He wanted to ask Kurt what was happening, but his new friend was staring at the group in concentration.

"They're back," Kurt finally muttered. He said something to his parents before turning to Blaine once more. "The football team's back," he said, as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. "And – I think that's – the Glee club's cheerleaders are there as well! Wow, coach Sylvester will probably be very angry at them later!"

"That's good?" Blaine asked, unsure.

Kurt snorted, kind of. "Not necessarily for them, but for New Directions, that's great."

"And if all the football players are back, does that mean we'll get some actual football in the next half?" Blaine asked, feeling excited at the prospect.

Kurt rolled his eyes at him. "Yes, I think so."

Before Blaine could do anything to express his happiness about this, a voice rang through the stadium. Kurt quickly shushed him and both boys turned towards the field. One of the girls had started singing.

During the number – a very clever mash-up of Thriller and Heads will roll – the audience grew more and more enthusiastic, Blaine included. Only near the end of the song did he remember that these people were his competition. If they were this good now… he didn't want to know what they'd be like at Regionals. He'd have to inform the Warblers – or at least the council – about this the moment he got back to Dalton. Bills, bills, bills suddenly didn't seem that good anymore.

After the well-deserved applause the group got for their performance, Kurt leant towards Blaine again. "How'd you like that?" he asked, sounding a little smug.

Blaine couldn't help but grin. "Much better than a cheerleading performance would've been," he replied honestly. And while Kurt mainly looked smug, Blaine noticed that there was also a look of longing in his eyes. Of course, he'd been forced to switched schools, he'd had to leave his friends behind. Blaine figured that must've been tough. Sure, he'd had to leave his former classmates behind as well, but none of them had been his friends. He'd been nothing but relieved to finally escape. "You must really miss them," he commented, hoping that he wasn't overstepping.

Kurt nodded somewhat stiffly. "Of course I do."

Not really knowing what to say to that, Blaine just nodded mutely in response.

Luckily, the second half of the match soon started. As Blaine had already hoped, the football players were back on the team again, which was instantly noticeable. This was the kind of football Blaine had come to watch.

Every now and then. Kurt eyed him strangely out of the corner of his eye, but Blaine didn't let that faze him too much. Kurt's father was just as enthusiastic about the game as he was, so he wasn't the one acting oddly, right? And Kurt was probably used to it anyway.

"You know," Kurt spoke up suddenly, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you went to McKinley." Catching Blaine's slightly confused look, he added, "You're so excited. You'd think you actually go to school here, what with you cheering the team on like that."

Blaine grinned. "I told you, I'm a big football fan," he replied. "I don't really mind who wins, either way I've seen a nice game of football tonight. Still, since I'm sitting here with you, I figured it'd be nice to cheer for your friends and your old school, instead of the opponents."

Kurt smiled back. "Fair enough. That's very considerate of you, Blaine. Besides, I think most people around us wouldn't have appreciated you doing that either."

"Oh, right," Blaine said, suddenly realising that the biggest part of the audience must be McKinley supporters indeed. "Of course."

Before they knew it, there were only a few seconds left of the game. While the home team had managed to make an enormous comeback, the visitors were still about to win.

"Well, they tried," Kurt commented, and Blaine nodded in agreement. The first half had been awful, but during the second half, the McKinley Titans had completely redeemed themselves. It was a pity they didn't –

"What are they doing?" Blaine asked in alarm when a chant started echoing across the field. More and more people change along, and then he heard it – they were really out for blood now, it appeared.

When Kurt joined in, Blaine hesitantly started chanting as well. He wasn't sure what kind of master plan the team had come up with, but if this helped then –

Okay, so it really did help. Very well, too, Blaine observed. Due to the chants ringing out, the opposing team's quarterback had severely messed up, which allowed McKinley's team to have another shot at winning – and win they did.

The stadium exploded.

Next to Blaine, Kurt was jumping up and down happily, cheering at the top of his lungs, and before he knew it, Blaine was jumping and cheering along.

Once everything and everyone had sufficiently calmed down, everyone started to leave the stands, and Blaine and Kurt stood there somewhat awkwardly. "Thanks for letting me join you and your family tonight," Blaine said, still thankful for that. "I don't know where I would've sat if it wasn't for you."

Kurt smiled back at him. "It was nothing. Besides, I had fun, so it was definitely worth it."

Blaine nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too."

As silence enveloped the two of them, Kurt's father leant towards them. "We're gonna go down and find Finn. You coming, kiddo?"

Kurt glanced from his father to Blaine and back. "Just a moment, dad. I'll be right with you." The man nodded, and Kurt turned back to Blaine. "I was thinking… maybe we could do this again? But, you know, preferably without the whole football… thing."

So that meant that Kurt didn't want to see another football game with Blaine… but he did want to hang out, right? "That would be awesome," Blaine replied, beaming at his new friend, fumbling around to find his phone in the pocket of his coat. After Kurt did the same, the two swiftly exchanged phone numbers.

With a quick goodbye, Kurt joined his parents as they walked down as well, most likely searching for his stepbrother and congratulating him on winning the match. Blaine, too, walked down, and back to the parking lot.

So he'd survived, he mused, as he sat down in his car. Not only had he survived, he'd also met a (very) cute gay guy his age who seemed to appreciate his company as well, and… oh yeah. He had gotten some new information on their Regionals competition.

He wondered if Kurt knew that he was, in fact, the Warblers' lead singer. Would he have proposed to hang out again if he'd known? Blaine hoped he would've.

When he was finally able to leave the parking lot, Blaine suddenly realised that Westerville was still two hours away. Well – luckily, he had some thoughts – and music – to distract him during the drive.