"Hello, earth to Blaine." Blaine snapped out of his daze, blinking furiously at the group of boys in front of him.

"What is it?" he asked confusedly.

"You were daydreaming again," David informed him, while Jeff and Nick just looked on excitedly. "About your New Directions friend again, I assume?"

Nick rolled his eyes while Jeff said, "Well, of course. Who else could it be about?"

Blaine reddened immediately; luckily, his skin wasn't as pale as… Kurt's, for instance, so the blush wasn't all too visible.

"You have to introduce him to us at Sectionals!" Nick suggested, bouncing in his seat. "It'll be so great! We'll finally get to see what he's like and who the guy is who singlehandedly turned Blaine into a lovesick teenager! We'll find out if Blaine has good taste – "

"Are you sure you're not secretly gay, too, Nick?" Wes asked from where he was sitting, two seats down from Blaine.

Blaine didn't hear Nick's (probably indignant) response to that, as he sat thinking about Kurt again. Which reminded him, they were supposed to hang out together later. He was glad that the day's Warblers meeting wouldn't take as long as usual, so he would be able to go home early, get changed into Kurt-approved clothes (or rather, clothes he hoped Kurt would approve of; he could never be completely sure) and mentally prepare himself for when Kurt would arrive. It was the first time they were going to hang out at Blaine's house, and he was a bit nervous. What if Kurt decided that Blaine was actually just a spoilt brat? What if he'd leave and never want anything to do with Blaine whatsoever?

Fortunately, Blaine was able to get rid of these thoughts eventually and concentrate a bit better during Warbler rehearsal, so at least Wes couldn't get angry at him for not focussing. They had finally figured out what song they were doing for Sectionals, and now they had to figure out harmonies and choreography – or something like it.

Blaine was just told to practise the song a couple of times a day before the next rehearsal, so they would have a basic idea of what it sounded like. Once that was all out of the way, they could start perfecting it for the big competition.

The drive home from Dalton wasn't all too long; still, Blaine was glad he didn't have to drive it every day. His house, while somewhat homely, was usually empty when his parents weren't around, and even if they were, Blaine wasn't all that keen on frequently visiting them. He liked staying at Dalton much better; at least his friends were around there, and things weren't as awkward.

Hanging out with Kurt, though, was a good enough reason for Blaine to go home for a day. He figured they could hang out at Dalton as well, but with all his friends wanting to meet Kurt, maybe that would have to wait for a little longer.

He didn't want to scare off Kurt, after all.

Arriving home, he dashed around the house, changing out of his uniform (but putting it in his car so he wouldn't forget about it later), preparing food and drinks and movies and mentally going over any subject they could talk about. Then he realised that Kurt would probably want to see his room, since Blaine had already seen his, and he promptly ran back to his room to make it look at least slightly lived in, even though he knew that Kurt was aware that he didn't come home too often. He also threw out some old clothes and generally almost cleaned his room (something he didn't bother to do very often, as much as it shamed him to admit), hoping that Kurt wouldn't mind if his clothes and hair were slightly ruffled now.

When he was about to go downstairs again, he heard a voice behind him. "Blaine! You didn't tell us you were coming home today!"

Blaine froze. No way. Out of all the random days his parents came home (which he usually wasn't too aware of, as he was usually in school then), this was definitely the worst day they could've picked. "Mom!" he exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here? I thought you and dad were… gone until at least the end of the month."

His mother smiled at him. "The plans changed. We're home now, until tomorrow evening, and then we'll be gone until a few days before Christmas."

Blaine took a deep breath. He'd never admit it, but sometimes he was a little jealous of Kurt, who, at least, had kind of a normal family life. But he didn't want his parents to just be around more – most kids at Dalton didn't know any better, sadly enough – no, he wanted them to accept him more than anything. "Oh," he eventually uttered. "Alright."

"But why are you here?" his mother asked, watching him curiously.

Oh, God. What now? Before he could even think of a response, the door bell rang, and his mother sent him a questioning glance.

"I'll – I'll get it," Blaine muttered, before rushing down the stairs. Maybe it wasn't too late to change their plans; maybe they could just go to the closest mall and hang out –

He opened the door hastily, and, as expected, there stood Kurt, dressed to the nines as always, and smiling brightly. "Hey, Blaine!" he greeted him. "You really have a beautiful house – "

"My parents are home," Blaine interrupted him, now starting to panic. "I mean – hi, Kurt. Uh – "

"Should I leave?" Kurt asked worriedly, but Blaine shook his head.

"You just got here, it's a two hour drive! It's – okay. I mean, maybe we should hang out somewhere else but – "

"Blaine?" his mother's voice came from behind him. "Who's this?"

Turning around nervously, he replied, "This is my friend, Kurt. We were supposed to hang out today…"

His mother glanced between the two of them, and Blaine knew that she realised that Kurt was gay as well, and that she probably didn't approve of the thought of the two of them being in the same house together without anyone else around. In the end, she smiled a little. "Just don't make too much noise, your father's in his study," she told Blaine, before gesturing to Kurt. "Aren't you going to invite him in? That's why he's here, right?"

Kurt glanced at Blaine for confirmation, so Blaine smiled at him. "Right, of course," he said. "Sorry, Kurt. Come on in." As he held open the door for Kurt, Kurt rolled his eyes slightly. However, if the light blush on his cheeks was any indication, he did appreciate the gesture.

"Hello, Kurt," Blaine's mother greeted him with a small smile, sticking out her arm for him to shake. "I'm Martha Anderson, Blaine's mother."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs Anderson," Kurt replied, shaking her hand. "I'm Kurt Hummel, a friend of Blaine's."

"You're at Dalton as well?" Blaine's mother asked, once more looking from Kurt to Blaine and back.

"Oh, no, I'm from Lima," Kurt responded hastily.

"You're the boy from that garage," Blaine's mother said, realisation dawning on her. "Blaine told us you're quite the mechanic."

"Right," Blaine interrupted her, before she could start full-out interrogating Kurt. "Why don't we – grab some food in the kitchen and head upstairs?"

"Keep your door open, Blaine," his mother instructed him.

"You just said dad's in his study!" Blaine protested half-heartedly. "If we have to keep the door open, we can hardly talk!"

Naturally, if Blaine had his way and there was no upcoming competition, he could thing of a few activities – no, he shouldn't think about that. Those were bad thoughts. Very undapper, too.

"Just don't disturb him too much," his mother conceded, though Blaine knew that his father would get mad at him no matter what his mother said.

"Sure," he muttered. After helping Kurt out of his coat (which was hardly necessary, but that was beside the point), he led his friend to the kitchen, where Blaine had to explain that no, they didn't have a cook. They had one when Blaine was younger and his parents were home more frequently, but now that they were all gone more often than not, they didn't really need a cook anymore.

Blaine still felt slightly nervous about Kurt seeing his room, but as it turned out, there was absolutely no need for that. Kurt seemed to feel at ease there immediately and walked over to have a better look at some of the pictures Blaine had put up.

At that moment, Blaine was glad that he hadn't put up a picture of Kurt here just yet. He'd been planning to, but since he lived at Dalton most of the time, he hadn't had much time to do that yet. Besides, it saved him from having to come up with an explanation of how he'd gotten a hold of those pictures. Kurt didn't need to know that Blaine had spent some time looking through all of Kurt's (and Kurt's friends') Facebook photos and then printed some of them.

Kurt would undoubtedly find that creepy.

"Are these the Warblers?" Kurt's voice shook him out of his reverie.

Blaine walked over to the wall to inspect the picture Kurt indicated. "Yeah, they are," he replied. "Or rather, they're my closest friends in the Warblers, though I have no idea why I put up with them."

Kurt smiled brightly. "I wonder the same thing about New Directions sometimes. We drive each other crazy and it's a normal occurrence for there to be some kind of fight, but in the end, we're a family." He paused for a moment, scrunching up his face. "A very dysfunctional family, that is."

"I guess you're right," Blaine agreed. "I don't know what I'd do without them. Um – you can sit down, if you want." As Kurt hesitantly sat down on the bed, Blaine handed him his glass of water before putting the snacks on his desk. "So, how've you been? Did your friends interrogate you any more?"

"Fortunately, no," Kurt responded, taking a sip of his water. "Then again, I don't have many classes with most of them and Rachel didn't get to take charge in Glee club today. What about you? Did anything exciting happen at Dalton lately?"

"If you would call heaps of homework exciting… otherwise, not really."

Soon, the conversation flowed from school to musicals and many other topics. It once again amazed Blaine how freely he could talk about everything when he was around Kurt. They were never at a loss for words, it seemed.

Blaine didn't really have anyone else to talk to about some things (like gay politics, for instance), and he was fairly certain that the same was true for Kurt. It was nice to just have someone to talk to… someone like him.

He wasn't sure how long they sat there, but apparently, they got too loud at some point. Neither boy realised this at first, but all of a sudden, someone cleared their throat in the doorway and both boys sharply turned towards the noise.

"Hey, dad," Blaine greeted him awkwardly.

His father didn't seem to be in the mood to exchange pleasantries. "Blaine," he acknowledged him. "Your mother said you were here. She didn't tell me you had a… friend over." From the look he was giving Kurt, Blaine gathered that he did not approve of him.

Blaine knew that Kurt was generally more perceptive than he was, so it wasn't like Kurt didn't realise that Blaine's father didn't like him very much. Still, he didn't let the dirty look deter him. "Hello, Mr Anderson," he said in an even voice, standing up and walking over to the door. "It's – "

"Who's this?" Blaine eyed his father in disbelief.

"This is Kurt," he replied, slightly shocked. Usually, his father wasn't this rude.

"One of your Dalton friends?"

Blaine shook his head slowly. "No, Kurt's the one who fixed my car when it broke down, remember?"

The look his father shot Kurt said enough; he did not believe at all that Kurt fixed cars or anything of the sort. Luckily, he didn't say it out loud. "Keep it down, would you? I can't concentrate." He frowned. "Or close the door, so I won't hear you two."

"Mom said to keep the door open," Blaine responded, nearly withholding a sigh.

His father looked from him to Kurt and back, slowly realising something that Blaine had expected him to realise the moment he'd come in. "Then go downstairs and watch a movie or something," he instructed Blaine before stalking back to his study.

Kurt, still standing, looked at Blaine in shock. "Sorry you had to witness that," Blaine muttered, rubbing his face. "Normally he at least tries to be civil, I don't know what went wrong."

"It's alright," Kurt replied, sitting back down, "it's not your fault." As he put his hand on Blaine's arm comfortingly, Blaine froze for a moment. After a moment, however, he managed to let himself relax again, and he shot Kurt a shaky smile.

"Still, he shouldn't have done that," he said quietly. "So do you want to go downstairs then?"

Kurt smiled back at him, taking his hand off of Blaine's arm (Blaine sighed somewhat regretfully at that). "Sure, that's fine with me. What movies do you have?"

Blaine smirked, his eyes shining mischievously. "Well, we've got Bambi, for one…"

o-o-o-o-o

Two days later, Blaine was positively giddy. He had a date tonight, after all, even if it wasn't officially a date, and neither he nor Kurt had said it was a date, but it felt more like a date than like two friends just hanging out, so Blaine thought it might be a date.

And he couldn't wait.

"And don't forget," Wes reminded the group at the end of Warblers rehearsal, "tonight's movie night for everyone who's staying at Dalton this weekend."

"You'll be there, right?" Jeff asked Blaine happily. "Nick's going home for the weekend – apparently, Amanda was throwing a fit yesterday on the phone because they've hardly seen each other for ages. But you're coming, right?"

"I can't," Blaine said apologetically. "Sorry."

"You're going home this weekend, too?" Trent, who'd been listening in on the conversation again, asked, sounding surprised.

"Oh, no, I'm staying at Dalton this weekend," Blaine hastily replied. "But I've already got plans for tonight, I managed to get tickets for Rent at the community theatre in Lima."

"Cool," Jeff replied, frowning slightly, "I guess."

"So you propose we're going to see a musical instead of having a movie night?" Wes asked, standing up from his chair behind the council table as the meeting had officially ended.

Blaine blinked. If he'd known it would be this easy to get his friends to come and watch a musical with him, he would've tried this years ago. "No, I think it's already sold out," he replied, feeling slightly uneasy under his friends' stares, "and I only managed to score two tickets anyway…"

"You're going on a date with Kurt?" Nick asked, squeezing in between Jeff and Blaine excitedly.

"Well, it's not really a date…," Blaine trailed off, knowing that he was probably blushing by now.

"Did you pay for both tickets?" David asked, taking a seat opposite Blaine now.

Blaine shrugged. "Yes, I did. Why?"

"Are you picking him up before and driving him home afterwards?" David continued, exchanging a smug smile with Wes.

"Yes." David always did this, asking people a bunch of questions without telling them what he was on about.

"Do you plan on holding his hand the entire time?"

Blaine flushed. "I'm not… planning to do that, but… I mean, if he's alright with it, I don't know, maybe?"

"Are you paying for any snacks or beverages?"

"He probably won't let me," Blaine responded, and it was true. Kurt was quite stubborn (then again, Blaine could be stubborn as well), and would not be alright with it if Blaine paid for the entire night.

"It's a date," David concluded, and Nick and Wes nodded in agreement.

"Only you don't know it," Nick added.

"Or you do know it, maybe you both know it, but neither of you dares to admit it," Jeff said, smiling again. "That's so – "

"Don't," Wes interrupted him. "Don't finish that sentence, Jeff, I swear – "

"Alright, alright," Jeff muttered quasi-angrily. "Hey, Blaine?"

"Hm?"

"When does the show start?"

"What – " Blaine started, not understanding what Jeff was talking about. Then he noticed the time and his eyes widened. Hastily mumbling an excuse, he sprinted out of the meeting room and to his dorm room. It was a good thing he'd already chosen his outfit for the night, or else he'd be in even bigger trouble.

After hastily changing out of his uniform and into his carefully laid out clothes, he checked (and double-checked) to see if he had his car keys, his wallet, the tickets… When he was certain that he hadn't forgotten anything, he made his way down to the parking lot.

On his way to Lima, Blaine tried not to think about what his friends had said about this being a date. That made him wonder, couldn't two friends (who were both male and both gay) just enjoy a musical together? Did it have to be a romantic outing? He knew he wanted it to be, but Kurt probably did not.

Still, Kurt had been wildly enthusiastic when Blaine had revealed to him that he had, in fact, managed to score two tickets for the musical. He'd been forced to tell Kurt about it over the phone, but judging from how Kurt had almost squealed down the line, he supposed he could safely say that the tickets were definitely worth the money.

When he arrived at Kurt's house, Blaine was suddenly filled with nerves. What if it didn't go well? Or worse, what if Kurt had stood him up? He quickly looked up when the door opened, only to be met by the intimidating form of Kurt's father, who scrutinised him for a moment.

"He'll be down in a minute," Mr Hummel told him, and Blaine nodded weakly. After a moment, Kurt's dad continued speaking. "You'll bring him back here after?"

"Of course," Blaine managed to say, attempting to smile.

Mr Hummel seemed to be contemplating something. "If you want to, you can sleep here tonight, kid," he told Blaine. "Westerville's a two hour drive, I know that much, and I'm not sure if this is the time of year you want to be out driving late."

"That's really unnecessary, Mr Hummel," Blaine replied. "I wouldn't want to be a burden."

Mr Hummel eyed him sternly for a moment before telling him, "I'll make the couch for you when I go to bed. I'm sure Kurt has some old pyjamas that'll fit you."

"What? Why?" While they'd been talking, Kurt had come upstairs, and he was now looking between his father and Blaine with a confused face.

"Because I'm not letting Blaine drive back to Westerville so late at night," his father repeated, and Kurt's face softened.

"Oh, right," he said. "Of course." He smiled at Blaine, who was admiring Kurt's outfit. "Hey, Blaine. Shall we go?"

Blaine nodded wordlessly, and after a short lecture about driving safely from Kurt's father, they were out of the door. "You look amazing," Blaine blurted out, before mentally scolding himself. That was much too date-like, right? You didn't tell a friend that, no matter how good they looked.

Right?

Blaine wasn't so sure about this whole dating (or lack thereof) thing.

"Thanks," Kurt replied, blushing a bit. "So do you."

Blaine couldn't keep the grin off of his face; he was glad Kurt approved of his outfit.

On the way to the theatre, Kurt kept talking excitedly about the musical, and Blaine let him. Kurt's enthusiasm was infectious, and besides, why would he interrupt Kurt's musings when Kurt's voice was pretty much the most beautiful sound in the world?

Soon after they'd arrived, the musical started, and at some point, Blaine had to place a hand on Kurt's shoulder (while trying to ignore what the physical contact did to him) to get the other boy to stop bouncing in his chair. As the show progressed, Kurt calmed down, even leaning slightly on Blaine's shoulder after a while.

Like Blaine had already expected, Kurt insisted on paying for their drinks during intermission. What he hadn't expected, however, was to see such a determined look in Kurt's eyes when he returned. Before he could ask what was wrong, Kurt already started speaking.

"Blaine, what exactly are we doing?"

Okay – Blaine hadn't seen that coming. "W-What?" he stammered. "What do you mean?" Kurt seemed to deflate instantly and groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Kurt?" Blaine asked, worried. "What's wrong? I just – what context are you talking about?"

"I made up the whole thing in my head, didn't I?" Kurt muttered.

Now Blaine was really lost for words. "Kurt," he said softly, trying to embrace the other boy even in their fairly awkward positions.

Kurt, however, shook his arms off. "It's okay," he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "It's not like it's the first time." Before Blaine could say anything, Kurt continued. "I just thought that for once – Blaine. Seriously. What is it that we're doing? Are we dating? Because I'm pretty sure we're not, but we do constantly go out for coffee and now this and – "

"Kurt," Blaine interrupted him. "Kurt. You're right, we're not, but – no, just listen, alright? You said that dating people from other teams you're competing against was not done in your club, right?"

"If that's the only thing stopping us, we can keep it a secret," Kurt suggested, still not looking very happy.

Blaine smiled unwillingly. "We could," he agreed. "Or we could – if you want to, that is – just keep hanging out for the time being, and go on 'non-dates' all the time."

"You mean, we don't call them that but they kind of are dates?" Kurt asked.

"In a way, yes."

"So I'm not making it all up?" Kurt asked. "You do like me?"

"Of course I do," Blaine replied. "I don't see how there are people who don't like you."

Kurt rolled his eyes, but there was an obvious smile on his face. "Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do, Blaine."

Blaine sent him a curious look, but Kurt refused to elaborate. Blaine sniffed. "Well, that feeling's mutual."

Kurt laughed at this. "Come on now, let's find our seats again."

As soon as the second act began, Kurt put his head back on Blaine's shoulder. In retaliation (well, sort of), Blaine wrapped his left arm around Kurt and pulled him a bit closer, which was slightly awkward for both of them, as Kurt was still a tad taller than Blaine was.

The drive home was spent similarly to the car ride to the theatre, only now, Blaine did flail along with Kurt – while keeping both his hands and most of his attention on the road, of course.

The weirdest part of the evening was definitely the fact that Blaine was staying at the Hummel house for the night, which had Kurt frowning as they stood in front of the front door together.

"So I'm not getting a kiss goodnight?" he asked with a slight pout, and if Blaine had been drinking something at that moment, he would've sprayed it all over Kurt. Not a nice thought.

Either way, he knew he'd flushed bright red. "I – I thought we were going to… you know."

"Take it slow and just go on non-dates that are, actually dates?" Kurt finished for him. "Only we don't call them that?" When Blaine nodded, he asked, "Just one, then? One small kiss?"

Blaine groaned. "I doubt I'll be able to stop or think straight once I've kissed you."

"True," Kurt admitted, obviously trying to keep from smiling. "But… I doubt I'll mind it a whole lot if you kiss me more than once."

When Blaine didn't react, Kurt rolled his eyes and leaned forward, still waiting for Blaine to close the gap – which, of course, he eventually did. It was a small, chaste kiss, but it was enough to turn Blaine's insides into goo.

Kurt smiled impishly as he broke the kiss. "Come on, let's go inside. I'll see if I can find you some old pyjamas to sleep in."

And well, if that wasn't the absolutely wrong thing to say at that moment. Blaine followed Kurt inside, his mind still reeling. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd be having some sweet dreams tonight.