Kurt felt awful. Amid the cheesecake, the wine and the fighting, there was just no room for being excited about the play.

Which was probably a good thing because there was also no room for last minute panic and self-doubt.

He made it through the day, concentrating on checking all the costumes, mind carefully blank. No one was talkative, really, as they were all stressed about what was to come.

He had seen Santana, Rachel and Adam just before they had gone backstage and it had been good to know that he had people around him who supported him no matter what.

Hailey had tried to talk to him a couple of times but luckily, there had always been someone to interrupt them.

He was standing just behind the curtain, watching the people take their seats when he felt a presence next to him.

“So, I think we should talk before we go on stage and play two people falling in love with each other.”

Kurt felt his insides squeeze painfully because maybe Blaine was only playing but for him this felt way too real for comfort. For a moment, he considered acting like he didn’t know what Blaine was talking about, or pretending to have a phone call, or-

He was being ridiculous. And he hated that he and Blaine were fighting.

He straightened his shoulders and turned to Blaine, nodding and taking him into a corner that was not occupied by nervous freshmen doing a last minute reading of the script.

“I’m sorry”, they both said as soon as they were standing eye to eye.

Blaine laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Why are you sorry?” Kurt couldn’t help but ask. Because if he remembered correctly, it had been him that had been meddling in Blaine’s personal affairs. Which were none of his business. As much as it pained him to acknowledge that.

“You were being a friend and I was being a jackass. I was just caught off-guard. I actually value your opinion so I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

Sometimes Kurt really hated Blaine for being the most considerate, nicest person. Or not. But he wished he could hate him for it because the alternative was-

“You really don’t need to apologize. You had every right. I would have been the same if someone had told me what to do with my life. I just- I want you to be happy. And have no regrets. But you were right, it’s none of my business. I can be kind of judgemental, if you didn’t know.”

Blaine grinned at him and shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe Kurt. Which was nothing new to Kurt. At all.

“I actually like that about you. You take no prisoners. I admire that. I just didn’t know how it would feel to have that directed at myself. So.. I guess what I’m trying to say is: Thank you for your input.”

Kurt laughed and nodded. “Anytime.”

And now they were just staring at each other and no matter how much Kurt told himself to just- look away, walk away, say something- he couldn’t get out of this strange hold this boy had over him. It was nerve-wrecking and he was sure he would say something inappropriate soon if-

“SQUIRT!”

Well, he wasn’t sure he had hoped for someone to tackle Blaine from behind, but it had sure diffused the tension between them.

When the guy had untangled himself from Blaine, Kurt was barely able to supress the gasp that wanted to leave his body.

“Don’t call me that, Coop”, Blaine was muttering and Kurt finally managed to tear his eyes from this man-candy in front of him.

“That’s your brother?”

And oh, Blaine looked a really weird mixture of embarrassed and annoyed.

“That’s Cooper. Cooper, this is Kurt, he’s playing the other lead.”

Cooper smiled broadly at him, displaying all of his very white teeth and winking when Kurt shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Kurt. I look forward to seeing what the two of you will do on stage. Who would have thought that my little brother would be on a real stage so soon, right?”

Kurt only nodded dumbly, momentarily speechless.

Blaine rolled his eyes and pulled on Kurt’s sleeve. “We have to get going. I don’t even want to know how you got backstage but you should find your seat. I’ll see you afterwards.”

Cooper seemed reluctant to leave and gave them some last minute advice (“don’t look at the audience, ever, they are only going to confuse you” “Sometimes acoustics are a bitch, so better scream out your lines”) before he told them to break a leg, winked one last time at Kurt and made his way to his seat.

Kurt watched him leave with a dazed expression. “Why didn’t you tell me your brother is Cooper Anderson? I had the free credit rating song as my ring tune for years.”

Blaine made a little gesture between cringing and shrugging before he made his way over to a mirror to check his make-up.

“Please don’t call it a song. It’s a silly commercial tune. And I didn’t know that you knew who he is.”
Kurt wrinkled his nose and stepped up next to Blaine, one hand hovering over his hair in indecision. (Was it enough of a coif? Should he tone it down a bit?)

“It looks good, don’t change a thing.”

Either he had said that out loud or Blaine was a mind-reader. Either way, Kurt put his hand back down and looked at the two of them.

“And all I’ve got for a brother is Finn. Figures. But seriously, your brother is like the most handsome man in all of- America.”

Blaine’s expression darkened and he rolled his eyes at Kurt through the mirror.

“Of course he would be your type.”

And before Kurt could question what Blaine meant by that, James came rustling through the costumes, wildly gesturing for them to come together.

It was show time.