"You want to what?" Kurt was completely baffled. He couldn't believe his ears and he was pretty sure his mouth was hanging wide open.

"Come on, man, it'll be fun. Just me and you and a whole bunch of other gay dudes, just for you."

"Wait." Kurt shook his head once and massaged his temples before assuming his shocked stance again. "You want to go out. With me. To a gay bar." A deep breath. "First of all, you're straight. Second of all, two years ago, you tossed me in dumpsters for being gay. Third of all, we can't just walk into a gay bar! We're not old enough for that! And – tonight? It's a school night, and tomorrow's the opening night for West Side Story! We can't be on stage, drunk. I have the main male part, for god's sake!"

"Are you done?" Kurt just kept eyeing the boy in front of him disbelievingly. "Good," Puck said. "I was starting to think your voice would get higher and higher until only dogs could hear it." When Kurt didn't say anything, Puck continued. "As I was saying, there's a gay bar here in Lima and you and I are going there tonight. It's about time you let loose a little and what's a better time for that than now? Don't think I didn't hear about Artie telling you and Rachel to hook up with someone before opening night. Besides," he added in a quieter voice, "the bullying isn't as bad as it was last year, but you still don't look happy. And that's not right. So what's a better place for you to find someone to hook up with or whatever it is gay guys do than a gay bar?"

"Why do you even care about that?" Kurt asked, closing his locker and leaning against it instead, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You're my boy, Kurt." At this, Kurt just raised an eyebrow. "I'm totally cool with the gay thing now, you know that." Oh, yes, he knew. Kurt was well aware of that after Puck, Sam, Mike and, after some hesitance, Finn, had agreed to form some sort of protection unit around him the previous year when the bullying had escalated. Puck had called him 'his boy' on more than one occasion during that particular project. "And I'm totally comfortable with my sexuality as well so I'm cool with going to that bar with you. You should just… have a good time for once."

Kurt huffed. "I'm perfectly capable of having a good time, Puck, thank you very much. I appreciate the offer, but I really don't think – "

"It's just once," Puck said stubbornly. "It'd be good for you to know you're not the only gay person in Lima."

"I could just attend a PFFLAG meeting for that," Kurt pointed out.

Puck just stared at him for a moment, most likely not understanding was Kurt was talking about, before saying, "Yeah, whatever. Make sure you're ready by nine, I'll pick you up at your house."

Before Kurt could say anything else, Puck had already walked off, and Kurt leant his head against the lockers as well. He was sure that the other boy would ignore any phone call or message from Kurt, so he'd have to try to dissuade him when he arrived at Kurt's.

Yes, he knew that Puck was trying to be nicer now, but he'd never expected to be dragged to a gay bar (he hadn't even known those existed in Lima, or the entirety of Ohio, at that) by his very straight friend (or whatever Puck was) on a school night.

What had he gotten himself into now?

o-o-o-o-o

As promised, Puck showed up only a little after 9 o'clock. Kurt had reluctantly gotten ready, even though he was still very determined to get it through Puck's head that he didn't want to go, and that Puck shouldn't want to go either.

His earlier plan to just not open the door kind of flew out of the window when Finn turned out to be home after all and opened the door. Kurt sighed; if he'd known that his stepbrother was still home, he would've told Finn what was going on and forced him to keep the door closed and locked all night.

Kurt heard Finn asked Puck confusedly if they had some sort of videogame marathon that night, and he stopped dead at the top of the stairs, his face paling.

What was Puck going to tell Finn? Surely not the truth, right? Finn would get wildly uncomfortable (and so would Kurt, actually) and would, most likely, tell their parents, and Kurt would be grounded until the end of the school year at least.

"No," Puck responded, sounding perfectly at ease. Kurt just couldn't get his head around the fact that Puck, who was straighter than straight, seemed so much more comfortable with the idea of visiting a gay bar than Kurt himself was, even though he was actually gay. "I'm here to pick up Kurt."

"Kurt?" Finn sounded thoroughly confused. "What – "

"I'm taking him to Scandals," Puck said, and Kurt rolled his eyes at the cliché of a name.

"To what?" Finn appeared to be becoming kind of uncomfortable now.

"It's Lima's gay bar," Puck replied. "I figured he could use some… guy loving right before he's forced to act like he's getting it on with Rachel a few nights in a row. Hey, how did – "

"A gay bar? Oh, no. Definitely not. Mom and Burt will freak if they hear." Good. Kurt really didn't want to go and Finn was actually helping him out for once.

"They don't have to find out," Puck argued. "Or were you going to tell on him?" Finn must've answered, because the next thing Puck said really caught Kurt off guard. "Why don't you go with us then? You can help protect Kurt and you have less of a reason to rat him out."

Finn at a gay bar? Kurt almost snorted at the thought. And judging from the spluttering he heard, it was safe to say Finn felt the same way.

"Rachel probably wouldn't mind," Puck egged him on. Kurt realised that he might have a point there – Rachel, after all, had two gay dads and would probably love Finn even more if it seemed like he was so readily and comfortably embracing his stepbrother's sexuality.

Kurt sighed; it didn't sound like Puck was going to give up. He trudged down the stairs now and faced the two boys hanging around by the front door with a frown. "I really don't see why you're so adamant in dragging me to a gay bar, Puck," he commented. "Besides, it's not like they'll let us in, we're not old enough for that!"

"They'll believe I'm old enough," Puck replied. "I've done it a thousand times. And I've got some fake IDs in case either of you is carded."

"Either of us?" Finn asked, backing away from the door. "No way, dude. That's not cool. I'm not going!"

"Oh, come on, dude. It's just a bar, only with a lot of gays in it."

Kurt didn't know how Puck had done it, but ten minutes later, all three of them were climbing into Puck's car, Finn still not seeming very happy, but Puck looking a little too pleased with himself.

Kurt glanced out of the window, not really paying attention to where they were going. Yes, Puck was right about the fact that Kurt sort of deserved a carefree night out (if he could really be carefree with potential predators out there and two of his friends either breathing down his neck the entire time or getting completely and utterly wasted), but this wasn't quite what he had in mind for that.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt hastily got out of the car and jogged after his two friends to catch up with them. Puck handed both him and Finn their fake IDs, and Kurt squinted at his.

"Chazz Donaldsworth?" he asked, unimpressed. "This doesn't even look like me."

"Mine says I'm thirty-eight," Finn said, baffled. "Dude, where'd you even get these?"

"That's really none of your concern," Puck replied, and Kurt figured that, for once, Puck was right – they were better off not knowing where he got these things.

Instead, he glanced at the bar they were approaching. "This is the gay bar you were so excited to go to?" he asked, pulling a face. "It's…"

"Cosy," Puck supplied, grinning widely. "Believe me, for a bar in Lima, this is great quality."

Kurt and Finn exchanged dubious glances, but didn't speak up. Once again, Kurt didn't want to know how Puck had gathered that knowledge.

The inside of the club was definitely not cosy, as far as Kurt was concerned. Then again, he'd never been in a bar before, so he hadn't been sure what to expect beforehand. It was rather dark and, dare he say it, not very crowded – which, now that he thought about it, was probably a good thing.

He handed his fake ID to the bouncer and added a fake-cheerful 'aloha' when the guy looked up again. This was a stupid idea, of course it was, he should've known. It was Puck's idea after all and, no matter how many positive things could be said about the guy, good plans weren't his forte. Now they were going to be thrown out or taken to the police and his dad –

"Enjoy," the bouncer said, snapping Kurt out of his thoughts. Apparently, he'd already checked Finn's (and Puck's?) fake IDs, or he'd believed those guys were old enough (which had the potential of being kind of offensive, Kurt mused. He was the oldest of the three, after all). "It's drag queen Wednesday."

"Great!" Finn said from behind him, and if Kurt wasn't mistaken, his stepbrother's voice was higher than it usually was. He felt kind of bad for Finn, but he'd really thought, almost known for sure, that Finn was out of the house tonight and, thus, safe.

He hesitantly walked further inside, glancing around. "I was right," Puck started, "it's really just like any other bar in Lima! Apart from the fact that we're the only guys here who like boobs, Finny boy."

Finn scowled at his best friend, but didn't comment on what he said. "It's not very scandalous," he said instead, sounding very uneasy.

Certain that he himself didn't fare much better, Kurt made a comment about the drag queens present, which Finn didn't seem to completely understand. Oh well – Kurt reckoned he'd find out soon enough that the drag queens weren't actually female.

They made their way over to the bar, and Puck had ordered them all beers before Finn or Kurt could get a word in. "Shouldn't one of us be the designated driver?" Finn asked.

"I'll do it," Kurt said quickly. He didn't feel like drinking anyway, even if that was probably why Puck had dragged him here in the first place. Now, however, his friend didn't seem to mind very much.

Only when Puck ordered something (hopefully) non-alcoholic for Kurt did he realise that he might have to somehow manoeuvre both these guys – taller than him, probably pretty heavy, and later also under the influence of alcohol – back to Puck's car. Well; he'd deal with that later.

Puck seemed to be very happy with getting as drunk as he possibly could, and once Finn had loosened up a little, of course he couldn't stay far behind. As Kurt was delicately sipping his second drink, Puck seemed to remember why they'd come here – for Kurt to hook up or something similar to that (not that Kurt was planning to do so).

"Come on, Kurtie," Puck whined, and Kurt quickly took a step back lest Puck tried to lean on his shoulder. "You gotta at least talk to some dudes here! Maybe – maybe they'll like you too!"

Finn looked like he'd spaced out entirely, but he was nodding nonetheless. So much for protecting Kurt from the big, scary, most likely predatory guys here.

Deciding not to fight it (it wouldn't help anyway), Kurt got up from his seat reluctantly. Glancing around, his eyes landed on a burly figure not too far away.

No way.

He heard Puck whistling shamelessly from behind him and he threw his friend a foul look. "Go get some, Kurtsie!" Puck shouted, and Finn grinned toothily at him, giving him a thumbs-up.

Sighing to himself and shaking his head, Kurt weaved through the crowd. Looking over his shoulder to see if Puck and Finn were still watching him, he saw to his relief that they'd gone back to drinking some more beer.

"Hey," he said, still not entirely sure if this was a smart move, but there was no way back now. Besides, with all these guys around, he wouldn't start a fight, right? Especially considering they'd parted on friendly terms before summer.

Dave Karofsky whirled around in his seat and looked at Kurt in shock. "Hi," he said.

Still a little apprehensive about seeing his former bully again, Kurt sat down gingerly in the free seat next to Karofsky. They made some small talk, and Kurt was glad that the guy seemed to be doing so much better now.

"What brings you here anyway?" Karofsky asked at some point. "Doesn't seem like the type of place you'd come willingly."

Oh, right. Kurt's eyes widened slightly. "It wasn't my idea," he said, realising what was wrong here. "You should – you should go." At the other boy's surprised look, he shook his head. "It was… Puck's idea, okay? He's over there somewhere, getting drunk with Finn."

"You brought Puckerman and Hudson to a gay bar?" For some reason Kurt couldn't quite fathom, Karofsky actually sounded amused.

"No," he corrected him swiftly, but sternly, "Puck brought Finn and me here. Something about me needing a night out."

Karofsky seemed somewhat impressed. "Imagine if the team would find out. They've definitely come a long way if they're here with you, willingly."

Sending Karofsky a reprimanding glare until he relented, Kurt said, "So have you, you know."

Karofsky nodded briskly. "Yeah. I guess I should make sure they don't notice me here, right?"

And he was gone. Kurt was almost certain that he hadn't left the bar, but he figured that staying out of Puck and Finn's sight would be a good thing for Karofsky to do – who knew what those boys would do in their drunk hazes.

As he made his way back to where Puck and Finn had been sitting, he immediately noticed that his stepbrother was oddly absent from the bar. "Where's Finn?" he asked, sitting down again.

Puck, his attention more on his bottle of beer than anything else, just waved vaguely at the dance floor. Fearing the worst, Kurt turned around.

"Oh, god," he muttered, taking in the sight in front of him. "You're kidding me."

As expected, Finn was on the dance floor, dancing happily and drunkenly with one of the drag queens. Kurt just hoped, for his stepbrother's sake, that Rachel would never find out about this.

Puck soon handed him another drink, and Kurt sniffed it first to make sure there was no alcohol in it. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't trust Puck, but his friend was drunk. Who knew what he'd ordered for Kurt.

He kept his eyes on the dance floor to make sure nothing was happening to Finn. He had zero experience with drag queens, so he didn't know what to expect. He did know, however, that Finn would be horrified to find out that the person he'd danced with half the night was actually a guy.

Suddenly, a guy who actually seemed to be around their own age dropped down in the seat next to Puck. "Another beer, please," he called out to the bartender. Puck and Kurt both turned to look at him, and Kurt's first thought was that this guy was actually quite… hot. Plus, they were in a gay bar, so the guy was probably gay. Looking back at them, the boy grinned – quite cockily, Kurt noted. "What are you two doing here?"

As Puck smiled sloppily (given the fact that, according to the boy himself, he had quite some experience with bars and alcohol, he must've had a lot to drink, Kurt mused), the new guy openly leered at him, a smirk plastered to his face. Alright. Yes, the guy was hot, but he also gave off a vibe that Kurt wasn't very comfortable with. "Takin' out my boy Kurt here," Puck told the guy, clapping Kurt on the back. "Needs to… loosen up a bit."

The boy's eyes shifted from Puck to Kurt, who met his gaze steadily. "Your boy Kurt?" the guy asked amusedly.

Puck nodded. "Yeah, he's – he's my friend, and I'm not lettin' anyone pick on him 'nymore."

"Your friend, huh?" The guy looked very happy with that for some reason, and Kurt immediately liked him a lot less.

"Yes," he said. "Hi, I'm Kurt. This is my friend, Puck. And you are?"

The boy took his outstretched hand with a smirk. "Sebastian Smythe."

Kurt just tried to glare him down. "Pleasure." When the other boy didn't reply, Kurt chanced a glance at Puck (who was sipping his beer absent-mindedly) and Finn (who was still dancing outrageously with the drag queen). "And what brings you to this… bar?" he asked.

Sebastian took a large swig from his drink. "I was trying to… seduce this guy, you know? He's hot, I'm hot, so I brought him here. Turns out that he's got this shitload of emotional baggage and wants a – a relationship or something." He rolled his eyes. "I can't deal with that." Another swig of beer. "Tried to get him drunk, but that didn't make him anymore willing. So I ditched him, no idea where he is now." Seriously? Was this guy for real? Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, but instead of looking guilty, Sebastian just carried on talking. "I thought he was more fun, you know? More like me, but hiding it underneath his whole… bashful school boy exterior." He snorted. "But no, he's really that innocent. And I have nothing – nothing against innocence. Heck, it's very attractive, but this guy… he takes it too far, you know? He wants – a relationship!" He burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

So, this must be the kind of guy his father had warned him about. Even without the warning, though, Kurt didn't think he'd ever have gone for a guy like this.

"It's not even that funny," a person to Kurt's other side muttered, and Kurt turned his head just in time to notice a dark haired boy (also his age) sag down in the seat next to him.

"You know that guy?" Kurt asked curiously, and the boy nodded.

"He's my ride here," he groaned. "And I really don't – don't like him anymore."

Kurt, too, groaned, though he tried to keep it down. "Are you drunk?" he asked. Yes, he'd known before he came here that a lot of the people here would be drinking and getting wasted. He'd not expected that his former bully, of all people, would be the most sober person he'd be talking to tonight.

"Only a little," the boy replied. "I think Sebastian thought I'd want to meaninglessly hook up with him if he got me drunk enough."

Ah, right. This must be the boy that Sebastian fellow had been talking about, then. Kurt studied him for a moment. Bashful school boy exterior… check. Innocence… check. Emotional baggage… undetermined as of yet.

As the boy sulked in his seat while drinking his newly ordered non-alcoholic drink, Kurt glanced at Puck again. His friend was laughing outrageously with Sebastian, and if Kurt wasn't mistaken (he didn't have a lot of experience in the department), Sebastian was flirting with Puck.

Which was odd, Kurt thought, as Puck was about as far from the whole bashful school boy thing Sebastian seemed to dig as was humanly possible.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he finally replied to what he'd just remembered the boy next to him had said. "He doesn't seem very likeable."

The boy shook his head miserably. "He isn't. I should've known better than to come here. I didn't want to at first, but for some reason, he persuaded me anyway."

"You can always just leave him here," Kurt suggested.

The boy looked at him with wide eyes. "No, I can't do that! He's… a teammate, at the very least, and leaving him here would be…"

He seemed lost for words, but Kurt nodded. "Okay, I got it. You could call one of your friends to pick you up if you don't want to drive home with him?"

"We're from Westerville," the boy blurted out. "We go to Dalton. My parents live near here though."

"You're not that drunk anymore, are you?" Kurt asked, and the boy shrugged. Still, he seemed more capable of forming full sentences than Puck or Sebastian, or Finn before he'd disappeared.

"I told you – we're… we're just here for Kurt," Puck suddenly said, rather loudly. Both Kurt and the other boy looked his way, only to see Puck waving his arms around in exaggerated movements.

"Still, maybe we could…" Kurt didn't hear the rest of the sentence, as Sebastian was leaning closer and closer to Puck every second.

"Show-off," the boy next to Kurt muttered. When Kurt threw him a confused glance, he added, "Probably wants to show me that he's not… moping around, but that he's moving on and he can find other guys who want to get with him."

Before Kurt could reply to that, Puck exclaimed, "I'm straight, dude! I dig chicks!"

Sebastian seemed caught off guard, glancing from Puck to Kurt, as if looking for proof that Puck was lying. Kurt, however, merely smirked and nodded slightly. However, Sebastian recovered soon enough and said, "Doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you."

Kurt didn't know what was going through Puck's inebriated mind at that moment, but he shook his head. He didn't really want to know, if he was completely honest with himself.

"Don't hear that too often," the boy next to him commented. Seeing Kurt's slightly confused look, he continued speaking. "Straight guys in a gay bar. Especially here, in small town Ohio. Most of my friends are straight, but I doubt I could ever drag them over to a gay bar."

Kurt grimaced. "Puck's the one who did the dragging here, actually. Also managed to get my stepbrother to come along." Speaking of whom – where was Finn? Kurt scanned the dance floor again and his mouth fell open. By now, Finn had somehow caught the attention of two other drag queens as well. "He's also very straight," he continued his little story. "Apparently, though, he's very popular amongst the drag queens."

The boy nodded slowly. "You had to use fake IDs as well to get in?" he asked conversationally.

Kurt nodded, shooting the bartender a look. Luckily, the man was far away enough not to overhear them. "The security here is really awful," he said.

"You can say that again," the boy agreed. "I think mine claimed that I'm from Texas or something."

Unimpressed by that, Kurt smiled quasi-patronisingly at the boy. "Mine said I'm from Hawaii," he countered, and the boy seemed to admit defeat.

"I'm Blaine, by the way," he said, holding out his hand somewhat awkwardly as they were sitting less than half a foot away from each other.

Grasping his hand, Kurt shook it firmly. "And I'm Kurt."

Movements on his other side told him that Puck and Sebastian were getting up, most likely heading towards the dance floor.

"Are you sure your friends are straight?" Blaine asked, clearly trying to bite back a grin.

"Very sure," Kurt said. "I think it's a good bet that Puck has slept or at least made out with the majority of the girls in school, and Finn… he's constantly after girls or dating them too. In fact, he actually has a girlfriend at the moment."

Blaine snickered, turning back around. "Let's hope no one tells that girlfriend anything about this."

For the next hour (or maybe even longer, Kurt hadn't counted that precisely), he and Blaine talked about many things; mostly, though, they exchanged stories about the hardships of being out gay teenagers in Ohio. They'd both been bullied, they'd both struggled to come out, and while there were many differences between Blaine's story and Kurt's, it was quite liberating to be able to talk to someone who understood, who didn't brush off problems like it was nothing.

While Kurt wasn't drinking and the topics were, at times, rather serious and quite heavy, he was definitely having a good night.

Somewhere during their exchange of stories about both their Glee clubs – Kurt had learned, to his surprise, that Blaine was in the Dalton Academy Warblers, and it took him a while to remember that yes, Blaine had actually been their lead singer during both competitions the year before – Kurt got a text from Rachel. Blaine watched somewhat confusedly as he opened the message with great caution. To his relief, she wasn't texting about Finn, but about something to do with the musical. After quickly dealing with that, Kurt turned back to Blaine and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry about that. My friend – she's afraid that I'm going to forget all my lines tomorrow." He rolled his eyes for the added effect because, well, that was typically Rachel. So certain of her own perfection, and thinking so little of everyone around her.

"All your lines?" Blaine asked, actually seeming interested. For some reason, it made Kurt smile inwardly.

"Tomorrow's the opening night of our school musical," he explained. "We're doing West Side Story. She's Maria, I'm Tony, so… can't forget my lines."

Blaine actually beamed at him. "That's so cool! I absolutely love West Side Story! Are there still tickets available?"

And wow, that was almost too much – Kurt took a deep breath as he tried to make sense of what was going on. This boy he'd just met, this boy who'd been lured here by a guy who seemed like a strange but terrifying combination of Puck and a male Santana, this boy who, it appeared, may have even more emotional baggage than Kurt himself had and had kept him company and had done a great deal of sobering up for the past hour – this strangely wonderful boy wanted to come to McKinley and see him, Kurt, someone he'd just met, perform.

He nodded quickly, not minding the fact that a wide smile took over his face. "Some nights are sold out, but there are still tickets left. I think I might be able to secure you a ticket for tomorrow night, if you want?"

"Sounds great," Blaine replied, smiling as well. "Do you… mind taking my phone number to let me know?"

Kurt was sure that he was blushing now, but if anyone asked, he'd just blame it on the temperature here. After they exchanged phone numbers, they continued talking for a bit, though Kurt had some trouble concentrating because of… certain reasons, but mostly because of Blaine. Blaine's presence here.

He should really work on not sounding like a walking, talking, breathing cliché.

And then, it was over. Finn came running over like he was chased by an angry mob, probably having sobered up enough to realise that something wasn't quite right about the 'women' he was dancing with. When he started almost begging Kurt to get him out of there, Kurt told him to go and find Puck first.

"Sorry," he blurted out once he faced Blaine again, but the other boy just smiled.

"I think I'd better find Sebastian too. It's a school night, after all, and we've got to go all the way back to Westerville…"

Kurt frowned. "Are you really going to drive back there tonight? Maybe you could stay at your parents' and go back tomorrow morning?"

Blaine shrugged. "I didn't bring my keys to the house and my parents are out of town, so that's not going to happen. But honestly, I'll be fine. If not for anything else, then for the fact that I have to come and see your musical, right?"

"Right," Kurt muttered softly, not daring to look Blaine in the eye right now and therefore not seeing the other boy fidget nervously in his seat.

"Maybe we could hang out sometime this weekend," he proposed. "If you're not too busy with the musical, that is?"

Kurt nodded quickly. "I'd like that." Yes, he'd probably be busy with the musical, but he could definitely make some time to spend with Blaine.

Then it was Blaine's turn to get a text, and he groaned, reading it. "Sebastian," he said as he noticed Kurt's confused face. "Apparently, he's gone already. Didn't take the car, fortunately, not that he could've because I've got the keys, but… he found himself someone to spend the night with."

Kurt snorted. "Classy." A moment later, he became serious again. "He's letting you drive back all the way to Westerville on your own." And to think that Blaine had been absolutely against leaving Sebastian here on his own.

"I'll be fine, Kurt. I promise." Before Kurt could object anymore, Blaine's attention was diverted. "And there are your friends, so I'd best be off. I had a great time tonight, Kurt, but let's never go back to one of these places again, okay?"

And if that didn't sound like a promise of a long term commitment, Kurt didn't know what was. Whether it be friendship or more, he knew that Blaine would be staying in his life for a while. This wasn't the last he'd seen of the boy.

After saying goodbye to Blaine, Kurt helped Finn drag Puck towards the exit. Apparently, Finn had found his best friend on the other side of the dance floor, where there was another bar. While he wasn't very happy with the fact that Puck was one hundred percent wasted, he was glad that Puck hadn't been the unlucky guy to take Sebastian home.

Ultimately, Kurt and Finn decided to just take Puck home and have him sleep in Finn's room. Their parents weren't home (if they'd been home, this whole evening wouldn't have happened this way to begin with) and they'd come here in Puck's car anyway.

While Finn (semi-drunkenly) talked about what he'd been through that night, Kurt briefly allowed his thoughts to drift towards Blaine, and he smiled. He'd have to thank Puck later for being so adamant about going to this gay bar, because it must've been one of the best nights in his life.