The rest of the week went pretty smoothly. With the curriculum being so much easier than that of Dalton, Kurt went through his classes effortlessly. He slowly but surely found his niche with the New Directions. Though he was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that he didn’t have the lead on every song, he found it relaxing to not have to be in the spotlight all of the time. Being the star could be exhausting!

Kurt recognized a few of the New Directions in his other classes. The pretty blonde girl that Puck was after, Quinn, was in his World Literature class and seemed quite knowledgeable. He also found that Rachel was in two more of his classes, other than the one they shared with Blaine. He hated to admit it, but Rachel was starting to grow on him. They had very similar personalities after all.

Kurt and Blaine’s relationship seemed to be doing better as well, as long as Brittany stayed clear. With their shared class, they had an excuse to spend more time together. And if he was being honest, Blaine was not very good at Chemistry. Kurt had made Blaine promise to let him help him study when exams came.

It was finally the weekend and Kurt had slept in very late. At Dalton, boys were parading up and down the halls as early as six or seven o’ clock in the morning so he was never able to sleep in.

Kurt’s thoughts flicked to Sam and he hoped that the blonde boy didn’t mind waking up early. After a hot shower and his morning, or rather afternoon, skin care regimen, Kurt dressed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen. His father would be at the shop by now. Running his own repair shop tended to consume a lot of his time. He spotted a note on the kitchen counter from Carole explaining that she had been called to the hospital for an emergency. As a nurse, one never knew when Carole would have to run out.

Kurt rummaged around the kitchen in search of something to eat. He ended up finding the makings of a salad and threw together a small lunch for himself.

BANG!

Kurt dropped his bowl in shock.

“Shit!” he cursed, picking up the little pieces of lettuce and tomato that had scattered across the floor and tossing them into the trash. “Finn, I swear to god.”

Suddenly the front door burst open, followed by the sound of stomping feet. Kurt readied himself to yell at his stepbrother for whatever he had broken that had caused him to drop his lunch.

“Seriously, dude, that amp is about five hundred years old,” Puck said, walking in behind Finn. “It’s not going to break after one little drop.”

Finn breezed past Kurt and headed straight for the fridge, grabbing every kind of meat and cheese he could find and throwing it on the counter.

“Finn?” Kurt said.

“Yeah, but I still worry about it,” Finn argued, ignoring Kurt and tossing Puck a bottle of mustard. “Just be gentle with it?”

“Finn!” Kurt shouted.

Finn jumped. “Geez! What?!”

“What the fuck was that noise? You made me drop my lunch,” he huffed.

“Puck dropped my amp.”

“Sorry, dude,” Puck said, addressing Kurt. “You could have some of this ham though?”

“I don’t eat processed meats, Puck.”

“Fine. Starve.” Puck turned back to his sandwich making, stacking the pile of meat, cheese, and bread higher and higher.

“Are you feeding an army?” Kurt gawked.

“Well, we’re hungry,” Finn mumbled. “We eat a lot, we’re growing.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed.”

“Hey, Finn?” came a voice from the front room. Blaine popped his head around the corner, “Do you need help bringing out the sandw…” He trailed off when he saw Kurt standing in the middle of the kitchen.

“Blaine?”

“Kurt?”

“What are you doing here?” Kurt asked.

“I- I’m here for band practice,” he stammered.

“Band pra- you’re in Finn’s band?!”

“Hey!” Puck barked, pointing at Kurt with a mustard-covered knife. “It’s our band. Not Finn’s.”

“This is the band you were talking about?” Kurt said, ignoring Puck.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I had no idea Finn was your brother until this week and-”

“I thought you said you were in a band with someone named Noah?” he interrupted.

“Yo,” Puck said, trying to get Kurt’s attention. Kurt glared at him, “Noah Puckerman? That’d be me, dude.”

Kurt stared at them, stunned. This was too much to take in. Blaine was in a band with his brother. This whole time Kurt had no idea. How could this not have come up?

“I- I, okay. Wow, okay,” Kurt stuttered.

Blaine simply stared at him, unable to say anything. Kurt couldn’t help but notice how disheveled Blaine looked from practice. His curly hair stuck out in every which direction, his white tee shirt stuck to him with sweat, his dark blue jeans clung to his legs in ways that Kurt couldn’t help but stare at.

“Sorry for causing trouble, Kurt,” Kurt snapped out of his trance at Finn’s words. Finn tucked as many sandwiches has he could under his chin. “We have practice here from time to time. We’ll try to be more quiet, all right?”

“What, no!” Puck argued. “We’re a band, we make noise! I know, why don’t you come out and jam with us, Kurt?” he joked.

“Actually that would be a great idea!” Finn smiled. “Are you up for it, Kurt?”

Puck groaned, clearly Finn had not heard the sarcasm in his voice. Kurt looked back at Blaine who had not moved from his place in the entryway of the kitchen. Would Kurt like to see Blaine play? Yes, very much so. The only time he had seen Blaine on his own was that one night at the club. It would be nice to see Blaine in his element again…

“I’m in,” Kurt smirked at Puck who clearly was regretting his joke gone wrong. The four of them carried out, in Kurt’s opinion, an absurd amount of sandwiches to the garage where their set up was.

Once in the garage Kurt’s stomach sank. This clearly wasn’t a closed session to begin with. Sitting on the wall were Tina and Mike talking to each other softly, Quinn, the girl from his literature class, Rachel… and Brittany.

“Kurt!” Rachel squealed, running up to him. Kurt’s eyes widened as she hugged him around the neck. “I didn’t think you would show up.”

“Well, it is my house, Rachel…”

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to the girls,” she said ignoring him and taking his hand. Kurt watched as the band members continued to set up their equipment. Well, he watched as Blaine set up his equipment. He couldn’t help but notice the way that Blaine’s muscles flexed and relaxed underneath his tight fitting white tee shirt, the way that single bead of sweat was rolling down his neck, the way his hair curled and stuck to his forehead.

“Kurt?”

He whipped his head around to see Rachel staring at him with a quizzical expression.

“Uh, what? Yeah?”

“Are you alright?” she asked, eyeing him closely. Kurt blushed to his roots and nodded. “Anyway, this is Quinn, our head cheerleader.”

“We’ve met,” Quinn smiled. “Hey, Kurt.”

“Hello, Quinn. Good to see you.”

“And this is Tina Cohen-Chang, Mike’s girlfriend.”

The small Asian girl smiled at him. “Hi, Kurt. I feel like we should have talked more before now.”

“Yes, so do I. We’ll have to fix that,” Kurt winked.

“And of course, you know Brittany,” Rachel continued, gauging Kurt’s reaction.

“Yes, I know Brittany. Hello,” Kurt said through his teeth.

“Oh, you’re the bird! Did you fly here?”

Kurt gave her a look and turned away from her. He didn’t have the patience for her stupidity today.

Lucky for him, the band had finally set up and started to play the first chords of their song.

“Yo, what up?” Puck bellowed into the microphone. “We are Don’t Blinnk, and this is our practice jam session!” Kurt and the girls burst into applause and cheers.

“This first song is a personal favorite of mine,” Puck added, strumming his bass guitar. “Take it away, Finn!”

Finn leaned into the mic and sang the first verse.

I took her out it was a Friday night
I wore cologne to get the feeling right
We started making out and she took off my pants
But then I turned on the TV

And that's about the time she walked away from me

At the chorus Blaine and Puck joined in on the harmonies.

Nobody likes you when you're 23
And are still more amused by TV shows
What the hell is ADD?
My friends say I should act my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?

Blaine picked up the next line with a smirk.

Kurt’s heart tripled in pace. Sure, the song choice was not what Kurt would have picked, but that didn’t make his singing any less attractive.

Then later on, on the drive home
I called her mom from a pay phone
I said I was the cops and your husband's in jail
This state looks down on sodomy

Kurt watched as Blaine strummed his guitar, causing his oh-so perfect muscles to bulge and flex. He flipped his dark curls out of his eyes, his mouth slack in concentration. Kurt could feel the blush creeping onto his face. This was not fair. Blaine was not fair. Kurt shifted uncomfortably in his seat, trying to hide is growing problem.

That's about the time that she broke up with me (Please stay with me)
No one should take themselves so seriously (Please stay with me)
With many years ahead to fall in line (Please stay with me)
Why would you wish that on me?
I never want to act my age (Please stay with me)
What's my age again?

What's my age again?

The girls all burst into deafening cheers for their respective boyfriends and love interests. Kurt looked at Blaine, who gave a quick nod to Brittany and turned his attention to him. Blaine’s face split into a bright smile and made Kurt want to melt into his seat. His heart pounded loudly in his chest and he knew he had to get out of there. If Blaine continued to stare at him like that, he was going to do something he knew he would regret. Brittany rushed to Blaine, taking his face in her hands and kissing him solidly on the mouth.

Kurt stood quickly, dashed toward the door.

“Kurt?” Blaine called. “Britt, knock it off, get off me. Kurt!”

Kurt didn’t stop to answer him; he had to get out of there, fast.

“Kurt?” came Rachel’s voice. “Kurt, stop.”

She grabbed onto his forearm, forcing him to stop in his driveway.

“Let go of me,” Kurt snapped, wrenching his arm away.

“Kurt, what’s going on,” she pressed. “With you and Blaine?”

“Nothing. Nothing is going on,” he snapped because, well, it was true. Nothing was going on. Blaine was with Brittany and Kurt was only a friend and would always be, just a friend.

“Kurt, don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you look at him. It’s hard not to. Kurt, Blaine-”

“Blaine’s with Brittany,” he finished for her. “I know. I get it. I can’t have him. I’m aware. But- but you don’t understand. He’s my best friend, he always has been. And I- I know that I shouldn’t feel like this, but I can’t help it. He’s just so- so Blaine. We’ve been through so much together, more than you or Puck or that son of a bitch Brittany would ever understand! And then he just shows up in my life again and all these feelings stir up and I can’t do anything about it because he’s straight and he’s taken. And I can’t. I can’t handle this anymore, Rachel, I can’t.”

Kurt hugged himself tightly. There it was. He had admitted it. He was in love with Blaine. And now, Rachel knew. They could hear the band starting back up with another song inside the garage.

“Kurt,” she whispered. “I- I’m sorry.” She made to touch his arm but he moved away. “Kurt, I know this is hard for you. Believe me, I know what it’s like to chase after someone who is taken… and seemingly unreachable… But it can work out in the end.”

“It’s a bit easier for you, Rachel,” he snapped, “At least the people you chase after play for the same team.”

“How do you know?”

“What?” he sniffed.

“I mean, are you sure that Blaine is, uh, straight?”

“Rachel, he and Britt suck face every chance they get. I’d say that’s pretty heterosexual.”

“Yeah, but Kurt,” Rachel soothed. “Have you ever looked at him while it happens? Have you ever paid attention to how he reacts? Do you even see the way he looks at you sometimes?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m a very perceptive person, Kurt. I notice things that often go unnoticed. Like how Santana is always kinder to Britt than anyone else or how Blaine looks at you…”

Kurt hadn’t really considered that. Did Blaine look at him differently than he did Brittany? Blaine had told him that he was straight before, but did that make it true? Kurt gazed at Rachel who looked up at him with pleading eyes. No. He couldn’t let Rachel influence him like this. Blaine knew what he was and what he wasn’t was interested in a relationship with Kurt.

“Let’s, let’s just go back inside,” Kurt sighed.

Rachel beamed at him, taking his arm and following him into the garage. The band had just finished wrapping up another song as the girls on the wall clapped for them.

“There you two are!” Finn said from behind the drums. “I was getting worried.”

“Kurt and I just needed to talk in a place that wasn’t so loud. No big deal.” Rachel ushered Kurt back to his seat next to her.

“Hummel,” Puck called. “Why don’t you come up here and sing with us? The next song is a duet with Blaine and it has a lady’s part in it.”

“Like you would know anything about ‘lady parts’, Puckerman.” Kurt retorted, turning red. The other band members laughed. Blaine smiled, trying to hide his laughter. Kurt was always one with good comebacks. “But sure, I’ll gladly take your place.”

Kurt sauntered up to the stage, giving Puck a smug smile. Sure, he wanted to prove to the New Directions that he could hold his own, but most of all, he wanted a duet with Blaine.

“Shall we?” Blaine smirked.

Kurt nodded, his stomach already twisting in knots from the expression Blaine had given him.

Blaine played the first chords of the song, counting in the other members of the band. Kurt’s eyes widened. He knew this song. Why, why did it have to be this song? In his current situation, this song was too much!

Blaine started off the song, taking the male lead.

Write a hook write a verse write a chorus write a melody

Can't express how I feel without singing it the right way

I'm doing better now I'm doing good

I'm doing all the things I know I should

Blaine looked at Kurt through the corner of his eye. He had picked out this song especially for Kurt, to sing to him someday, but never had he ever dreamed he would get to sing it with him!

He still wasn’t sure what it was that he felt towards Kurt, but he knew it was more than he had ever felt towards anyone before. He had to find a way to let him know.

Will I find a way to tell her how I feel about her?

Will she come to me and will she read my mind?

Will she read my mind?

Come on, Kurt, Blaine begged. Read my mind.

Kurt looked at Blaine with confusion as he started the next verse.

He's the one in my dreams but I cannot tell him anything

Can't express how I feel even if it is the right way

Kurt couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The words he sang now fit his feelings too well.

Blaine joined him on the next few lines, looking at Kurt all the while.

I'm doing better now I'm doing good

I'm doing all the things I know I should

Will I find a way to tell him how I feel about him?

Will he come to me and will he read my mind?

Will he read my mind?

Forgetting the onlookers, Kurt and Blaine stared at each other, feeling the song around them. They moved closer, singing directly to each other.

Hey everything I need is right in front of me

Here I go here's my burst of emotion

Here I go now I'm telling you

Swallow all of my pride for the first time

Don't know what to say

Will I find a way (to tell him how I) how I feel about her?

Will she come to me (and will he read my mind)?

Will she read my mind?

The song ended with Kurt and Blaine staring into each other’s eyes, panting. Their friends erupted into applause with encouraging shouts and catcalls.

Kurt’s eyes flickered down to Blaine’s mouth briefly as he flushed deep pink.

“Kurt,” Blaine mumbled, seeming to lean forward just a little bit.

But Blaine didn’t have a chance to finish as Kurt bolted from the room. The New Directions looked after him, but none followed. Brittany hopped up from her spot, completely oblivious to the tension in the room and planted a kiss on Blaine’s cheek. He shirked away from her with a glare.

“Blainey be-”

“Just,” he said with a raise of his hand. “Just, stop, Britt, okay? Can we just play another song please?”

Finn, Puck, and Mike looked at each other and nodded, counting them in for the next number.