It was just a chaste kiss, nothing Blaine hadn't done before back when he'd been drunk all those months ago. Somehow, though, it felt like so much more. It must be the fact that he actually liked Kurt romantically; he was in love with him – though the fact that he was completely sober now (although he might end up drunk on Kurt and the smell and taste of him if they continued like this) might also play some role.

Kurt's lips, while still pressing insistently against Blaine's, were soft, and Blaine thought it must truly be a sign that they fit together so well. He wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted, but eventually, Kurt pulled away, looking so flushed that Blaine couldn't believe that he had caused that. He felt deliriously happy, and he would've chased Kurt's lips if it wasn't for Artie catcalling. That kind of ruined the moment.

They both hastily took a few steps away from each other. Blaine felt like his face was on fire.

"Well," Ms Pillsbury said, obviously as caught off guard as Blaine had initially been. "That was… surprising."

"Definitely didn't think that would happen when we decided to run through the kissing scenes in a little more detail," coach Beiste added. "I'd expected that there would be more Tony and Maria interaction, not Tony and… Tony."

"Do we still have time to make changes in the script?" Artie asked. "Think about how… progressive we would be if we produced this musical with two men in the lead. Of course, one of you would become Mario, but – "

"Excuse me?" The look on Rachel's face would've been priceless if she hadn't been aiming it at all of them. "No. No, you can't do this to me. I deserve that role, I need that role."

"I agree with Rachel," Kurt said. "Progressive though it might be, it's very likely that such a production would cause another tidal wave of homophobia because, let's face it, Ohio is not New York or San Francisco. Besides, you wouldn't only be changing the lead characters, but also about half the songs, and one of us would have to learn a lot of new lines in only a week." He then proceeded to grab Blaine's hand tightly. "Come on," he said, tugging him backstage and out of the auditorium. The directors and Rachel appeared to be too flabbergasted to react.

"Where are we going?" Blaine asked as they stumbled through a deserted hallway. "Don't you have to practise?"

Kurt smiled impishly. "I thought we were."

Blaine almost tripped over his feet.

"An empty classroom? Really, Kurt?" he asked when Kurt guided him into a classroom Blaine didn't think he'd ever had class in.

"Well, of course," Kurt replied, letting go of Blaine's hand and sitting down on one of the chairs. "We – we need to talk, I think. And it's for the best if no one's around overhearing or interrupting."

"Alright," Blaine replied, slowly walking to the desk behind Kurt's chair. "So… where do we start?"

"I'd say at the beginning," Kurt responded. "It's not really clear where the beginning is, though, so maybe you could try to… explain why you came barging into the auditorium like a madman?"

"Oh, yeah." Blaine nodded, rubbing his hands until Kurt put one of his own hands on top. "Rachel texted me about what you were going to do today."

"And you wanted to… put a stop to that?" Kurt sounded vaguely amused.

"Not completely," Blaine replied. "I was mostly trying to beat Rachel to it. To kissing you. Because I – I'm in love with you and it would be horribly awkward, for me at least, if you kissed my sister. Before I got the chance to do so, at least, because I know that you're going to have to do that for the play anyway, but… I wanted to kiss you before she did. Rachel knew that, which must be why she sent me that text in the first place."

Kurt smiled. "I'm glad," he told Blaine. "To be honest, I wanted to kiss you before kissing Rachel as well. I just wasn't sure how to approach that topic. And you were right on time."

Blaine ducked his head, and when he looked back up, Kurt was still beaming at him. "If I'd have known the prospect of kissing Rachel would make you kiss me, I would've asked for her help to devise a scheme ages ago," he said, and Kurt chuckled.

"If only," he muttered, before frowning. "So you're… in love with me? How long have you felt that way?"

"Oh." Blaine blushed all over again. "I don't… really know. Okay – since freshman year."

"Two years?" Kurt stared at him in shock. "Oh, god. I really am an idiot. I'm so sorry, Blaine."

"Not your fault," Blaine replied. "Though I must admit, it does kind of suck to hear the guy you're in love with go on and on about the same guy your sister's infatuated with as well."

"I told myself I liked Finn," Kurt said quietly. "After a while, I started believing it, but in the beginning, it was just a means to stop myself from falling for you. You were way nicer to me on your worst days than he was on his best."

"Okay, that does it," Blaine said, mostly to have something to say, something to keep his mind off of what should've happened two years ago already. "You really are an idiot."

"I know." Kurt pulled a face. "And I stopped 'liking' Finn a year and a half ago." When Blaine didn't say anything, he continued, "Of course, I didn't just… go back to liking you immediately, but it definitely started again that summer."

Blaine pursed his lips. "We could've gotten together over a year ago?" He shook his head somewhat disbelievingly. "We really suck at this, don't we?"

Kurt just looked at him for a moment, smiling slightly. "We kind of do," he admitted. A few seconds later, he frowned and asked, "Does that mean we'd better not give this a try, or…?"

"I – " Blaine stared at him, unsure if he'd heard that correctly. "Is that what you want?"

"No," Kurt replied, "of course not. I would love to… be your boyfriend if you'd let me, but if you – "

Blaine surged forward then, pressing their lips together again. It felt just as nice, if not even better, as before. When a lack of oxygen – they hadn't had much practice yet, after all, though Blaine already looked forward to making up for all the lost time – became too much, they broke away, smiling.

"So… is that a yes?" Kurt asked, and Blaine couldn't quite control his grin.

"Yes," he simply replied, and now Kurt was the one leaning forward.

About ten minutes later, Blaine felt as if he was in a Kurt-induced haze – not that he minded. Kurt himself didn't seem much better off, though. That is, until he grinned, and said, "God, now I can't wait until we see Sebastian again at the Lima Bean. I'd love to see his face when he realises – " He broke off when he saw Blaine's face. Mistaking Blaine's sudden look of alarm for confusion, he added, "Maybe he'll lay off on us now, leave us alone for a change. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Of course that would be great," Blaine muttered. "Just – there's something you need to know about Sebastian."

Kurt's face fell. "You didn't actually sleep with him, did you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Blaine stared at Kurt, aghast. "No. He's not my type. At all." Before Kurt could ask him what his type was, he quickly continued talking. "He was – he won't bother us anymore, I think. Nick and Jeff – it's all their fault. They thought sending him after me would make you jealous and act on your feelings, or something."

"Well, obviously that didn't work. his constant comments that you're too good for me didn't help much either," Kurt muttered, looking slightly disturbed at this new revelation. "Still, though, I'm glad he's not actually a threat."

Blaine felt relieved to hear that. "Do you think we should go back to rehearsal?" he asked, now that they weren't kissing anyway.

"I think they all think we already left," Kurt responded, looking a little ashamed. He seemed to become more hopeful as he continued, "So maybe that's what we could do now?"

"Sounds like a plan. Should we go to the Lima Bean first to grab a coffee to go and then…" He drifted off.

"We'll see where we go from there," Kurt said, smiling brightly. Grabbing Blaine's hand, he tugged him up again. "Come on."

o-o-o-o-o

One of the advantages of being double cast in a role had to be the fact that Blaine knew everything that was going to happen on stage, at least in relation to Tony. It helped him know when Tony and Maria would share kisses, and thus, when he should definitely avert his eyes for a few seconds.

As he turned back to the stage from his spot in the audience, he smiled broadly, at both Kurt and Rachel. After Rachel had pulled out of the race, things had quickly returned to how they'd been before between her and Kurt, and that had been very noticeable in the progress they'd made with regards to the musical.

Blaine was sure that most people in school didn't realise that something had changed between him and Kurt, mostly because, as Artie had put it, everyone sort of thought they'd started ages ago. Blaine himself, however, couldn't be happier with those changes that had definitely taken place. Although public displays of affection were still all but a taboo, it was amazing to know that, technically, he could now kiss and hug and hold Kurt (and be kissed and hugged and held in return) whenever he wanted.

In a way, however, he supposed that maybe those other kids in school were right. He and Kurt had always been practically attached to the hip, and that remained the same. Apart from the kissing (and hugging and holding), not much changed between them. Their dynamic was still there, but now, they weren't just best friends, but also boyfriends (acknowledging that still made him giddy). They were still… them.

Rachel still got to kiss Kurt on stage, of course (she'd even tried to talk about that experience to Blaine, who'd promptly shut his bedroom door in her face), but Blaine found that he didn't mind that a whole lot anymore now that he got to kiss Kurt whenever they were off stage. He was even almost thankful that Rachel had to kiss Kurt for the musical. If it hadn't been for that, neither boy would've admitted his feelings to the other. Who knew how long it would've taken them then.

Kurt already saw Blaine approaching, and he smiled widely, in that cute close-lipped way Blaine loved so much. And if there was one thing he'd learnt from this whole ordeal, Blaine knew as Kurt reached out for him, it was that he absolutely adored kissing Kurt.