Two weeks later the set list for Sectionals had been juggled several times and the choreography had been altered dramatically, but they were finally sitting in an auditorium as they waited for the competition to begin. They were third in the order, which meant they had time to get comfortable in their seats. Kurt calmed his nerves and found he was getting more and more excited for the competition, for the rush that always came with performing for him. The auditorium wasnt huge, but any audience was a big enough one for Kurt.

"Run me through our competition again?" Kurt asked Rachel, leaning forward to talk to her in the row in front of him.

"The Hipsters are a group of elderly people working for their GEDs, so they hardly count. The Warblers are a bit trickier, theyre that preppy school in Westervilles a cappella choir," Rachel said.

"Dalton?"

"Yeah, why?" Kurt shrugged.

"I know some guys who go there." From the roleplay he knew four guys who attended Dalton- Blaine, Jeff, Nick and Ethan. He hadnt ever talked about glee clubs with any of them- at least not their glee clubs. He wondered if they would be around for him to say hi to later, if they had come to support the team or whatever. They could have had Warbler friends.

The Hipsters performed first, and Kurt thought that their whole concept was adorable. He wasnt worried about being beaten by them, but he enjoyed their performance.

The Dalton Academy Warblers performed next, and Kurt gripped the arms of his chair as their set started and none other than Blaine Anderson, the boy that he had the biggest crush on, was their lead soloist. If Blaine hadnt been perfect enough already, now he could sing too. He had a demanding stage presence, and Kurt was absolutely captivated by their performance of Hey Soul Sister. He should have known that with all the music lessons Blaine took he would be soloist material.

At the end of the pop song, the pace changed dramatically as they began their next. This song was much slower and seemed to be a lot deeper than the last, even before Blaine began to sing. His eyes locked on Kurts, and that was when Kurt knew that this was going to have some direct impact on him. Of course Blaine had done the research when Kurt mentioned his glee club, and yet Kurt hadnt ever even asked about whether or not he was in one himself. Blaine barely broke eye contact for a second throughout the song, always coming back to Kurt.

"Your heart is broken, to your surprise, youre sick of crying for blue eyes," Blaine began, and Rachel turned around to converse with Kurt. He leaned forward again to hear what she said.

"Its a MIKA song," she explained, "he seems like more of a Lollipop guy to me." Kurt nodded, because she was completely right. If not Lollipop then he would have expected Grace Kelly, not the lesser known hit that Blue Eyes was.

"So tired of living misunderstood, think youre a woman, I think you should;" Kurt caught a moment of eye contact between Jeff and Nick- they had never mentioned the show choir either- and it seemed like Nick was smirking about something. Kurt guessed it was the lyrics, since between the three of his Warbler friends none of them were currently interested in women. "Come sorrow is so peculiar, comes in a day then itll never leave you. You take a pill, wonder if it will fix you, then wonder why sorrow has never left you." Blaine looked at Kurt again as he began the chorus. "Im talking bout blue eyes, blue eyes, whats the matter, matter? Blue eyes, blue eyes, whats the matter, matter? So blind, so blind, whats the matter, matter? Blue eyes, blue eyes, whats the matter with you?"

Mercedes turned to Kurt and started tapping his arm repeatedly in excitement. She whispered, "You have blue eyes!" and he just nodded. Blaine had never made any comment about his eyes at all, but he wondered if maybe that was about to change. He was well aware that Blaine was probably singing it for him, and he was truly touched. The Warblers didnt seem like an easily persuaded group, even for someone with charisma like Blaine.

He clapped at the end of the number as the New Directions were moved from the auditorium to warm up back stage during the Warblers last song. He turned around to look back at the stage as he walked with the group out, asking Blaine with his eyes. Blaine gave the slightest nod, and that was enough for him to know that it was meant for him. They had been good with nonverbal communication since the moment they had met, almost.

The New Directions set went well, with Santana singing Valerie in such a way that Kurt didnt even feel bad about not being given a solo himself. It was nice for the numbers to go to people who werent Rachel and Finn. He only managed to catch Blaines eye once in the whole performance, but he could feel that his trio of Warblers were watching him and not the focal dancing or soloist.

After the competition ended and the results were announced- that both The Warblers and the New Directions would be going to Regionals- Mister Schuester gave them freedom for the half hour until the buses were due to take them home. Once everyone had been cleared out of the auditorium and into the large foyer spaces Kurt searched the crowd of blazers for his friends without abandoning his glee friends, who stood nearby.

"Looking for someone?" a caramel voice said from behind him. He turned around to see Blaine grinning at him.

"You, actually! Hey!" Kurt replied. Blaine held out his arms and Kurt stepped into his hug gladly. He wasnt sure when hugging as a greeting had become something that they did, but he wasnt complaining.

"You were great," Blaine said, "really stole the New Directions set. You guys deserved the win, and Rachel Berry didnt even sing."

"Yeah, that was a real thing that happened. I didnt think the day would ever come," Blaine laughed, "but really, I was great? You were the one with the lead soloist position, mister I never talk about my glee club to my friends even though they always bitch about theirs to me."

"I thought that you might appreciate my surprisingly well planned song choice more if you werent expecting me to sing, let alone for me to be here."

"Well it worked. I was surprised, to say the least."

"You worked out that you are Blue Eyes, right?" Blaine confirmed. Kurt nodded, "Your eyes are beautiful, by the way. You know they change from day to day? Sometimes theyre greener or greyer."

"Theyve been part of my body for my whole life," Kurt teased, "but yes, Ive been told. Thank you for noticing."

"Youre welcome. Theyre nice to look at." Youre nice to look at, Kurt thought and was immediately proud for managing to contain it. Blaines eyes were gorgeous too, just like the rest of him, but it didnt seem like the right time to say it.

"Theyre nice to look with," Kurt quipped, instead of his earlier thought. Blaine laughed a proper, bright eyed laugh, as Kurts glee friends noticed that he was talking to someone and seemed to make a beeline for them.

"Kurt, who is your friend?" Rachel said, turning on her flirty voice. Kurt had come to know it well in the years he had known her. Mercedes whispered something to Tina behind her, undoubtedly about Blaine.

"Rachel, this is Blaine. Blaine, this is Rachel, Mercedes and Tina. You nearly met Mercedes the other week," Kurt introduced.

"I do remember these things, Kurt," Blaine said, "its nice to meet you all."

"The Warblers were so good!" Rachel gushed, "Im so glad that we both got through to the next round, because you definitely deserved it. Are you the usual soloist?"

"Yeah, I mean, I dont want to have all the solos, but the council seem to think its a good idea. And I mean, well, I am only a sophomore. Blue Eyes was my suggestion, though. It isnt totally in Warbler fashion, but I really like the way it turned out." Blaine looked as Kurt as he mentioned the song, though he was talking to Rachel.

"Oh, it was fantastic!"

"Thanks."

"So, Blaine Warbler, do you have a girlfriend?" Kurt laughed as quietly as he could manage, and Blaine caught his eye to smile. No one was really sure exactly where Rachel was sitting in the on again/off again with Finn on that particular day after all the drama, but even if they were still a couple Rachel was fairly flirtatious.

"No, I dont," Blaine replied.

"Hes not looking for a girlfriend, Rachel," Kurt said.

"But if he happened to find one...?" she said, all but batting her eyelashes at Blaine.

"Yeah, Im gay, so..." Blaine said as Rachels jaw visibly dropped, "and Ive only recently managed to stop a thirteen year old from thinking she was my girlfriend, so Im not exactly in the market for one." The three girls looked puzzled but Kurt laughed, and when Blaine caught his eye again the caramel eyes sparkled. They had gone through the Hadley experience together, really. Kurt couldnt remember ever seeing Blaine so honestly content.

Soon after Rachel pulled Mercedes and Tina away from Blaine, clearly trying to cover her tracks and appear less embarrassed than she was. Blaine watched her as she left before turning to Kurt and asking, "Thats why Marleys too scared to join your glee club?"

"Yeah, pretty much. She can be very threatening when she wants to be. A couple of weeks ago she got all snarky at me for hanging out with Marley because she was a quiet freshman. She hasnt quite grasped that were at the bottom of the food chain already," Kurt explained.

"But Marley really sings well. You would be lucky to have her, and from the friends of yours that Ive met she would be lucky to have you."

"Glee used to be a safe space for me, but Im not so sure anymore. The roleplay just has... something more. But it means I have friends to sit with at lunch and people to carry me into the nurses office after an incident with some stairs."

"You and Marley should sing together. You know, as underappreciated talent and all that," Blaine suggested. Kurt didnt completely hate the idea. He loved Marley and she was easily one of his best friends in recent times. He hadnt even ever heard her sing and he thought that he could enjoy a duet or two with her.

"Since when have you ever heard me sing?" Kurt questioned.

"Well, I havent, but I just know that youre good. Judging by the talent of your fellow glee members, you must have a fairly high standard and therefore youre a good singer yourself. So, the real question is why you didnt get a solo in this competition?"

"I dont know, to be honest. Mister Schuester- hes the teacher in charge of glee- specifically decided not to give the leads to Finn and Rachel and use the underused talent in the club, but here I am, still without a solo."

"The others did well, though, and you came out with a win, right? That gives you another competition to have a solo at."

"Regionals," Kurt nodded, "Though the prize of that is Nationals, so the solos will be handed back to Finn and Rachel again because we have to get there before were going to win it." He rolled his eyes, and Blaine nodded sympathetically.

"Id like to point out here that I dont actually want all the solos. I just get given two out of three at every competition because thats what the council wants. I dont really think its a fair system, since Nick and Jeff had to fight to get their little solos in for the last number, and they did really well with their auditions and everything. But its usually best not to question the council with these things."

"So you dont actually want the solos?" Kurt clarified, and Blaine nodded, "thats interesting."

"Oh! Except for Blue Eyes, that took a lot of effort since its not exactly in the usual Warbler style. I had to be very persuasive for them to let me have the song in there. I just... if Nick and Jeff had been given that over me, I dont think it would have made quite the same point that I wanted it to."

"And what point was that, exactly?" Kurt asked hesitantly. He knew that the song had been aimed at him, even more so since Blaine had said it himself. But that Blaine had a point to be made... well, that just altered everything a little bit. He hoped that the point was about the huge crush that Blaine had on him too, but he knew that it would be too good to be true.

"That I know you arent having a great time at school, that I want you to know that you can talk to me whenever about anything, that we all will do our best to keep you from getting to the point that youll be taking pills for your sorrow," Blaine shrugged, "that all sounded much better in my head. But really, it would have been embarrassing if I got Jeff and Nick to sing to you for me." The pair chose that moment to come over to them, both opening their arms to hug Kurt by way of greeting like Blaine had.

"Hey Kurt!" Jeff said, "You did really well. I guess well be seeing you at Regionals, huh?"

"Its good to see you. Your friends seem nice," Nick added, even though he hadnt actually met any of them. "Anyway, weve gotta go, Blainers."

"Yeah, thats why we came over, woops. Though it is cool to see you, Kurtsies."

"I look forward to the day we compete against each other again, Kurt. Just, you know, by the way," Blaine said, "but it looks like Ive got to go now."

"It would be kind of nice to compete with each other sometime, though," Kurt said, sighing softly. Perhaps he and Blaine were going to be destined to a life of Romeo and Juliet forbidden inter-school love and rivalry. It had hardly worked out for Rachel and Jesse St. James, and he didnt want their relationship to end the same way.

That was, if they had a relationship in the first place. He was getting awfully ahead of himself.

"You know, I think I can arrange that," Blaine said. Kurt didnt have the time to wonder what he could possibly mean as they said their last round of goodbyes and see-you-on-Mondays, and Kurt finally rejoined his own group, ready to answer all their questions about how exactly it was that Kurt knew not one but three cute prep school boys from the Warblers.

The next Friday Kurt arrived at Luke and Ericas house to find that their living room had had all the furniture pushed away to leave a very open middle of the room, facing towards the TV. "Kurt!" Erica greeted, "welcome to the Dreamweaver semi-annual sing off." Kurt took a seat and looked at the Playstation and microphones set up in front of the muted TV as they waited for everyone to arrive. He wondered how much Blaine had to do with the sing-off, since they had talked about competing a week ago.

When Marley walked in and saw the rooms positioning she lit up. "Its sing off week!" she said, sitting down next to Kurt. "Okay Erica, whats the twist this time?"

"We arent just playing SingStar?" Kurt asked suspiciously. Knowing the group he wouldnt be surprised if they had managed to find a way to make a simple karaoke game dangerous.

"Youll see. We need to wait on a couple more people first," Erica explained. Soon everyone was there- literally every member of the roleplay had turned up, an event that didnt happen often- and Kurt realised that these twice yearly sing offs were a big deal in the group. Erica stood up by the TV to get the attention of the group, all of whom seemed eager to hear what the twist was.

Just as the group went quiet, Blaine called, "I call dibs on Kurt!" leaving Kurt blushing ever so slightly with flattery and excitement, Erica looking vaguely annoyed, and the rest of the group waiting in confusion for Erica to announce the twist. She sighed heavily.

"Were doing duets this time. Pick a partner and then well put you on the draw." She sat down by Luke, who had wheeled in a whiteboard drawn up in a tournament layout that didnt make a lot of sense, waiting for the pairs to approach them so they could be added to the chart. After all the teams had been established and portmanteaus given to each- Luke and Erica (Lurica), Marley and Unique (Marlique), Jeff and Nick (Niff), Kurt and Blaine (Klaine), Leo and Ethan (Lethan) and Hadley and Blake, her new boyfriend (Hadlake)- they all settled down in the semi circle again as Erica explained the competition. Kurt wasnt exactly sure why they were all listening so intently, other than that it was important to the group. He didnt quite grasp why either.

"Round one is qualifiers. Each team gets to choose one song and will have one song randomised. The two teams with the lowest combined score will be eliminated. Questions?"

"Whos going first?" Marley asked brightly. For the sake of fairness and time spent choosing, songs for the qualifier had been restricted to the original SingStar disk. Kurt wasnt sure how long these competitions had been running for or how long it had taken Erica and Luke to establish all of these little rules, but he admired the smoothness with which it seemed to run. Marley and Unique jumped up first, clearly with a good knowledge of what was on the game as they immediately settled into their duet of Blondies Heart of Glass.

Blaine grabbed the game case and brought it over to Kurt so that they could choose a song together. "We can sing pretty much whatever you like, but for the sake of the competition if theres a song that Im not confident enough with the tune of Im going to veto it. Im not so worried about whether or not I know the words, because the game doesnt count anything for that, but I need to have a tune in my mind to match," Blaine said. Kurt read the list over a few times, slowly narrowing down their choices.

"How would you feel about Madonna?"

"I can do Like a Virgin." They ended up singing next, and, if Kurt didnt say so himself, did well on the number. Neither of them had compromised vocal quality for the sake of hitting any of the notes, and they still came out with a score over 8000.

Hadley and Blake went next, singing YMCA, which Hadley was clearly not happy with and both of them looked equally awkward as they sang. The group danced around them, earning high quality bitch glares from Hadley, the kind of small detail to the girl that Kurt would never have expected. She was usually so sweet and quiet, but she definitely had a bitchy side to her.

Kurt couldnt help but notice how similar Blake was physically to Blaine. Aside from the scarily similar names, Blake was barely taller than Hadley was, and had dark curls like Blaines, though they werent cased in the gel that Blaine was so fond of using. Unlike Blaine though, Blake was obviously not comfortable standing up in front of a lot of people, let alone singing.

Nick and Jeff sang Crashed the Wedding, neither of them looking at the screen in favour of dancing around and facing the group members, and they still pulled through with a score to rival Blaine and Kurts. Kurt wondered if they had both gone through a boy band phase right when Busted was the height of Britpop.

Leo and Ethan chose to sing Dont Stop Movin, both very much having fun with song and not taking themselves or the competition too seriously. Any inhibitions that Ethan had clearly left as soon as he took the microphone, his other forms of charisma easily slipping into place instead.

Erica and Luke went last, singing One Love, a song that they clearly both knew well. They didnt even have any time to confer before they selected the song, both just automatically feeling comfortable with it. Kurt figured it was because they played the game so often.

For the round of randomisation each team was made to sing whichever song Erica rolled when she pressed the random select button. Marley and Unique ended up with Round Round by the Sugababes and were both clearly confident in the song and sold it. Kurt and Blaine sang Livin La Vida Loca, which actually earned them a round of applause from the group.

"Why the enthusiasm?" Kurt asked as he caught his breath at the end of the song, though he had truly gotten into the number and even gave the group a signature Hummel shimmy.

"Because you were two gay men selling the straight sex appeal just as well as Ricky Martin the gay god did," Leo said.

"Preach to that, honey," Unique said.

Hadley and Blake sang Complicated, a song that Hadley clearly knew very well (even if she didnt quite have the talent to sell it), and Blake looked just as uncomfortable as he had before, even on a song that he was clearly even less confident with. Kurt hadnt picked Hadley as the Avril Lavigne type but was still not even slightly surprised by her commitment to the song.

Nick and Jeff landed on I Believe in a Thing Called Love, which they both clearly enjoyed as they bounced around and struggled to hit the high notes and somehow still managed to pull through on spectacularly. When they were asked why they knew the song so well, Jeff answered with, "Its a perfect car song."

Leo and Ethan sang Groove is in the Heart by Deee-Lite, which clearly neither had heard before they were made to sing it, and Luke and Erica sang Atomic Kittens Eternal Flame, which resulted in a lot of exaggerated girly gestures from Luke as he played it up.

The times that Kurt had played the game with his glee friends it had always turned into more of a battle for the microphones than anything else, so he was surprised to find that he was enjoying seeing each of the other teams perform as much as he enjoyed performing himself.

Unsurprisingly, as if only based on the scores of the second round, Blake and Hadley and Leo and Ethan were knocked out. Both teams seemed to mysteriously vanish from the room after that had been announced, and no one even bothered to ask where they had gone for they all already knew.

For the next round, the teams got to select the song that they wanted to sing, but it had to be taken from a disk that they chose randomly from a bag. Kurt was instructed to roll a die that he had been passed and when he asked why he was doing it Luke explained that it was to establish the draw order. He rolled a two, and immediately looked to Blaine apologetically. Blaine didnt seem to mind too much. Luke rolled a four, Marley rolled a one and Jeff rolled a five, placing Kurt and Blaine in third place in the draw order.

Jeff drew first, taking SingStar Party, followed by Erica taking SingStar Pop, Blaine drawing SingStar 80s and Unique drawing SingStar Rocks. Everyone other than Marley and Unique (who were immediately unhappy) seemed content with their draws.

Jeff and Nick chose Dont Go Breaking My Heart after arguing over whether they should sing that or I Got You Babe.

"You could continue on your Busted streak and sing Year 3000," Blaine had suggested.

"But those are the two classic duets," Nick had said, with eager nods from Jeff. Kurt wondered if their passion for the songs would kill their shot at making it through to the next round, before reminding himself that he shouldnt care whether another team made it or not. Jeff sang Kiki Dee and Nick sang Elton John, and everyone was definitely pleasantly surprised with how well they did, not just on the score but also on their chemistry as they sang.

Erica and Luke sang Stacys Mom, with Erica on the lead and Luke managing to hit the lower notes of the backup. Aside from a discussion about how Rachel Hunter wasnt really that attractive, their song passed without too much fuss.

Blaine nearly had an existential crisis when he and Kurt mulled over their options on 80s songs. He had an excessively long list of songs from the game that he was more than happy singing, which was why they settled on Karma Chameleon in compromise. They came out with a score over 9000, giving them a SingStar, much to upset of their friends around them.

"You guys picked the easiest song on the easiest of any of the games!" Nick complained.

"They did sound great," Erica reasoned.

"And they got a lucky game choice. Thats not their fault," Luke said. The song had sounded great with both of their voices, and Kurt was glad he had managed to keep focussed while Blaine was singing. He kept shooting Kurt these adorable little half smiles.

Marley and Unique went last, and neither was happy with their song possibilities. They ended up on 4ever, the unexplained song by the Veronicas that barely suited the rest of the songs available. Though the scores had been incredibly close, Kurt and Blaine and Jeff and Nick were the two pairs with the highest scores from the round, which put them through to the final round.

"Weve lost half our audience," Erica said. The two teams left in the game sat on one side of the circle with Luke, Erica, Marley and Unique sitting on the other side. "I would go looking for the others but Im worried about what I might walk in on. Audience of six it is."

For the final round, the audience got to select the song that they wanted the pair to sing, though the team got to choose which of the games they wanted their selection to be taken from, in the sake of fairness. They gave Nick and Jeff Uptown Girl, which both were content with, and Kurt and Blaine ended up with Kids, which Kurt was willing to sing on the condition that he got to be Kylie Minogue.

The scores were insanely close, but somehow, Kurt and Blaine came out just on top. They were only a few points away from one another, since no one had made any ridiculous slips and they were playing on easy mode after all, but it was still a surprise. Nick and Jeff were singing from 80s, which they themselves had said was the easiest of the games on which to do well.

Blaine hugged Kurt when they saw that they had beaten the score, and though Nick and Jeff were initially disappointed- the group took the competition very seriously- they had to admit that it was a well deserved win.

Kurt just couldnt get over how good his voice had sounded next to Blaines, how they had managed to attain such high scores even as a pair. The hugs that followed in Blaines celebratory silliness were a bonus that Kurt didnt dream of complaining about.