When Blaine arrived at the Lima Bean the next morning, Kurt was still fuming. Blaine just greeted him, gave him a smile, sat down and thanked him for the coffee, but didn't ask why he was so angry. He had never seen Kurt get as worked up about something as he had yesterday with Sebastian, so it was rather likely that Kurt was still mad about that meeting. Blaine refused to think about what it could (but probably didn't) imply, though.

Nick and Jeff had confessed rather easily that they had, indeed, sent Sebastian after Blaine, just like Blaine had suspected. It was their way of helping, they'd said. After all, whether Kurt finally manned up and acted on his feelings (the ones Blaine still wasn't sure were even there) or Blaine accepted a date with Sebastian and might grow to like the other boy, both things would work out for him.

However, Blaine had no idea if Kurt was this worked up about the meeting because he was in love with Blaine or because he saw Blaine as a friend or even a younger brother and he wanted to protect him from the likes of Sebastian.

"How did Rachel react to Mercedes' audition, by the way?" Kurt broke the silence all of a sudden, before lifting his cup to his mouth. Blaine had to remind himself not to stare, so instead, he glanced down at his own coffee.

"She didn't say anything during dinner," Blaine answered. "Afterwards, she locked herself up in her room." He shook his head.

Kurt nodded pensively. "I wonder how the directors are going to solve that problem," he said. "Mercedes and Rachel both great singers, they'd both be perfect for Maria in their own ways… I doubt the directors will have it as easy as when they had to decide who would be the better Tony."

"Well, look on the bright side," Blaine remarked. "If they cast both of them… they'll probably cast both of us as well."

Plus, he suddenly realised, if both he and Kurt got the same roles, they might have to work together sometimes to improve. Neither of them would probably play another role, too, so Blaine wouldn't have to do anything when Kurt performed. He could easily sit in the audience and just watch – and look away whenever Kurt and Rachel had to kiss, of course.

That caused Kurt to finally smile. "That's true," he agreed. "Though I wonder if Rachel and Mercedes won't first get angry about it. I don't mind not getting it or having to share, but… they'll probably want that role for themselves."

Blaine rolled his eyes theatrically. "Girls," he said. "Stuff like this makes me happy I'm gay."

Kurt hummed (Blaine hoped in agreement). "Are you saying that guys aren't competitive?"

"No," Blaine replied, surprised. "Not at all. I just – "

"It's fine," Kurt assured him. "And just for the record, I'm glad you – I'm glad I'm gay too."

Blaine grinned. Good. "Let's head to school."

o-o-o-o-o

When Blaine had asked, Nick and Jeff had also admitted that they hadn't seen Sebastian since before he'd gone to Lima, but assured him that that was nothing to be worried about. After all, Sebastian disappeared quite often after class (pretty much whenever there wasn't a Warblers rehearsal), and returned only the next day shortly before class, reeking, as Nick put it, an awful lot of sex. Blaine had pulled a face at that and asked if they hadn't been able to procure a slightly classier guy for their scheme, but that hadn't seemed to be an option.

At the moment, Blaine was sitting in math class with Tina, both of them rather bored as they already knew most of what was explained. When they were told to start their homework assignments and were allowed to discuss them amongst themselves, Tina asked Blaine, "When will you hear about whether or not you got the role of Tony?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't know," he whispered back. "Once the directors have figured out who'd make the best Maria, I guess. Are you auditioning for any role?"

Tina shook her head. "I don't think I could beat Mercedes and Rachel for Maria, and besides, I don't really want a lead. Next year, maybe, but not now. I think I'll end up as one of the Sharks' girls. Not Anita, obviously; Santana would kill me if I got that part."

"You'd make a great Anita, I bet," Blaine told her. "But you're right." Santana was pretty scary, after all. It didn't help that she seemed to dislike Blaine simply because he was Rachel's brother, and he got more solos than Santana herself. "And next year, you'll blow us all out of the water."

Tina ducked her head, grinning. "Isn't Kurt annoyed about not getting the role of Tony, though?" she enquired. "At least, not entirely?"

Blaine couldn't help but smile, though he flushed when Tina grinned knowingly. Damn it. "Everyone knows, right?" he asked instead of answering Tina's question.

For a moment, she looked confused. "What – oh. Yeah, pretty much. Everyone in Glee, at least."

Blaine groaned audibly, before flashing their teacher – who'd looked at him oddly – a quick smile. "Great. It's really a miracle that Kurt hasn't found out yet."

"I don't think Finn knows, though," Tina said. "Which is pretty strange, seeing as he's dating Rachel."

"Rachel didn't know either until a couple of days ago," Blaine replied, and Tina seemed surprised.

"Really? Oh." She frowned. "Well, it's a good thing she hasn't told him anyway. I can't imagine what would happen if Finn brought it up during dinner some time."

Blaine was mortified by the idea alone. "I don't really want to imagine."

o-o-o-o-o

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful – apart from the news that Mike's audition had gone swimmingly and the news that there would be a 'Maria-off' the next day to decide whether Rachel or Mercedes would get the part of Maria – until Blaine got a call from an unknown number when he was at the Lima Bean. When Blaine glanced up from his screen, Kurt cocked his head to the side confusedly.

"Shouldn't you pick up?" he asked.

"I don't – " Blaine started, but shrugged and picked up before he could finish. He just hoped it wasn't one of those calls. If so, they'd been incredibly stupid, because Blaine could still see their number and report them. Not that that would help, but still. "Hello?" he asked. "Who's –"

"Hey, Blaine," a voice he vaguely recognised said, and Blaine stiffened.

"Sebastian?" he asked incredulously, and Kurt instantly looked up from his own phone, his eyes narrowing. "What – how did you get my number?"

"Nick and Jeff," Sebastian replied carelessly. "Anyway, I was wondering if – "

"Just hold on a second," Blaine interrupted him, before getting up and gesturing towards the exit so Kurt would know where he was going. Once he was outside, he leant against the wall and said, "Look, Sebastian, I know what you're doing."

"Oh?" Sebastian sounded awfully amused. "And what is that?"

"I know that Nick and Jeff put you up to this," Blaine clarified. "So why are you calling me now? Would that really help?"

"They told me you'd figured it out," Sebastian remarked. "As for why… let me guess, you two were having coffee again in that… quaint coffee shop of yours?"

"Yes, we were," Blaine admitted begrudgingly. "And what – "

"So he knows we're on the phone now, correct?" Sebastian continued, smirk evident in his voice.

"…Yes," Blaine replied. "But – "

"He's probably getting more and more jealous every second," Sebastian said. "Besides, you are a hot piece of ass, Blaine Anderson, and – "

"Whoa," Blaine said, his eyes widening. "Not – not interested, Sebastian, remember?"

"I never said I wanted a relationship with you," Sebastian scoffed. "I don't do those, Blaine. No, I'm merely thinking about – "

"No." Blaine shook his head wildly, even though Sebastian couldn't see him. "Again, not interested. Bye, Sebastian."

With pounding heart, Blaine walked back in. Kurt was still at their table, though the good mood he'd been in this afternoon (at least compared to that morning) seemed to have disappeared. Instead, he was practically glaring at the table.

"Hey," Blaine said, sitting back down. "You okay?"

Kurt shrugged. "Fine. What did the meerkat want?"

"Just – " Blaine hesitated. Should he tell Kurt that Sebastian had pretty much propositioned him over the phone? It seemed like he hesitated a moment too long, as Kurt huffed.

"That's okay, you don't have to tell me." He picked up his phone from the table and added, "My dad just texted, he needs my help at the garage. I'll see you tomorrow, Blaine."

Before Blaine could react, Kurt was already halfway out the door, and Blaine spun in his seat, staring after his best friend non-understandingly. What just happened?

They never just left. Except for that one time when they were fighting about Blaine drunkenly kissing Quinn at his and Rachel's party last school year. Blaine, after drinking more alcohol than ever before, had entertained the thought of asking Quinn out, simply to figure out if he really didn't like girls. Kurt had not been happy, and in hindsight, Blaine was glad that he hadn't asked out Quinn. That would've made things incredibly awkward, and besides, he was still in love with Kurt. What did it matter if he liked girls as well as boys, then?

o-o-o-o-o

The next day, Kurt texted him that he couldn't meet Blaine for coffee before school, and that upset Blaine more than he thought it would. The only times they didn't go for coffee were when one (or both) of them were ill or on a holiday. He also didn't understand why Kurt was so angry about this. He had been fine with Blaine taking the lead role in West Side Story away from him, but he got angry when Blaine was on the phone with a guy Blaine didn't like all that much?

Once again, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Rachel's told him that this definitely meant that Kurt liked him; that he was jealous. Blaine pushed the thought aside once again, though he had more trouble doing that this time around. The other excuses he tried to come up with seemed to become less probably every time he thought about it.

When it was time for the Maria-off, Blaine arrived at the auditorium just when most people were already sitting down. Perfect. Kurt was sitting all alone, which was even more perfect.

Grinning to himself, Blaine sat down in the seat next to him, and Kurt looked up, startled. "Hey," Blaine greeted him before Kurt could say anything. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Kurt was already becoming defensive. "Why would anything be wrong?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "You've been avoiding me all day. Ever since yesterday afternoon, actually. You only texted me to tell me you couldn't make it to the Lima Bean this morning, that was all. Why?"

Kurt sighed. "I was just… thinking. And I figured that you might want some time to… do whatever you were doing with Sebastian."

"Sebastian asked me – " Blaine started, before sighing. "He's… not the person I wanted to be hanging out with. So I didn't. I haven't talked to him since he called me yesterday."

"Sorry," Kurt muttered after a few seconds. "I shouldn't have ignored you."

"No," Blaine agreed. "You really shouldn't have. But I know how you can make it up to me…"

Oh gosh. That came out completely wrong. To make matters even worse, Santana and Brittany were sitting one row behind them, and Santana wasn't even trying to cover up her snickering. It also didn't help that Kurt was looking at him confusedly.

"Okay…," Kurt said in the end. "Let's… discuss that later, okay?"

Blaine nodded, eager to leave that topic behind for now. Besides, it looked like the Maria-off was about to start.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt ultimately decided to buy Blaine coffee and whatever he wanted with that for a week (no matter how much Blaine protested) in order to make it up to him. As they sat at their usual table and talked about anything and everything, Kurt was the one to get a call this time.

Blaine observed him as he picked up and listened, which made it all the more easy to notice when exactly Kurt's posture stiffened and his eyes clouded over. "I see," he said in a clipped tone, his eyes finding Blaine's. "Thanks for calling, coach."

Blaine almost didn't dare to ask. "What was wrong?"

Kurt breathed out slowly. "Rachel's running for class president as well now."