Blaine took a deep, calming breath and looked Kurt straight in the eyes. "I'm going to make a huge announcement at practice today. And, holy crap, I'm nervous. I've been going crazy all day. Kurt, you have no idea. I'm freaking out!"

Kurt's eyes widened with shock and his heart started to race, just slightly. Blaine couldn't… could he? There's no way. "Oh? What's this announcement?" He tried really, really hard to act casual. Blaine's announcement could be anything, Kurt knew. There's no reason why Kurt should think it would have anything to do with him. No reason at all.

Grinning, Blaine grabbed Kurt's wrist and started dragging him towards the choir room. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Kurt had to try really, really hard to sit straight and not stare at Blaine while they waited for Wes to drone through the opening minutes. He was starting to get extremely nervous about Blaine's announcement. What on earth had Blaine so worked up? He didn't want to get his hopes up, but Blaine had been sorta kinda flirty lately, and he had paid for his coffee that one time, and had remembered his coffee order! Kurt closed his eyes briefly and worked to control himself. He was nowhere near an outburst, but he didn't want to have to go through another closet incident anytime soon.

"The council recognizes junior Warbler Blaine Anderson," Wes called, smacking his gavel once.

Blaine nodded and stood. "Thanks Wes, fellow Warblers," he said, looking around. "To put it bluntly, I'm in love."

With that, Kurt's heart, exploded. He whipped his head around to look at Blaine, who wasn't looking at him. This was not happening. There was no way—

A round of applause went out and Blaine raised his hand to quiet everyone. "Guys, guys. I'd like to express my feelings for this person in the only way I know how, through song."

Kurt could feel himself start to get lightheaded. Blaine was… in love? He had to blink a few times to regain his focus, Blaine still wasn't looking at him. That was weird. Wasn't Blaine talking about him?

"So," Blaine continued. "I know this is highly unusual for us, and I know it's really close to Sectionals, but I'd like to suggest that we make a trip to the mall and do a number there. Now before you freak out Wes, think about how good it'd be for us. It'd be performing in front of other people, instead of each other and other classmates; we'd be able to get a feel of how we sound right before competition."

"Blaine, why do you want to sing at a mall, of all places?" David asked, cutting in before Wes could open his mouth.

Blaine smiled and folded his arms over his chest. "The guy I want to sing to works at the Gap, so we'd be singing there specifically."

Kurt's lungs felt like they had been squeezed, depriving him of all the oxygen they contained. He coughed, and stood. He ignored the concerned look that Blaine gave him and started heading towards the door. "Excuse me, I'll be right back," he said, continuing coughing. It felt so hard to breathe. "I just need to use the restroom."

After he closed the choir door behind him, Kurt took off towards the bathroom, thankful that the hallway was empty. As soon as he entered the bathroom, he slammed the door shut and went over to the sink, leaning on it with both hands. He closed his eyes and locked the door in and afterthought, head sagging when he heard the lock click.

He needed to do something. His eyes flew open and he shot his head up, staring himself in the mirror. He watched his own chest rise and fall heavily, and tightening his grip on the sink, he untied his tie, sending it into the sink.

"Idiot," he whispered to his reflection. He knew, knew he had no chance with Blaine. There was no reason to get so worked up like this.

It just really sucked to hear Blaine talk about someone else like that.

Kurt pushed off from the sink and watched his blazer unbutton and quickly flung it off, sending it to hang over a bathroom stall. He really didn't care about it, at this point. He held out his arms to his sides and let his sleeves roll up, untucked his shirt and unbuttoned the first few buttons.

His dad would be so pissed if he knew he was doing this at school but if he didn't do this now, didn't have this release, he wasn't sure how much control he would have when he went back out there and faced Blaine.

He closed his eyes, fisted both hands in front of his body and flicked all his fingers against his palms. When he opened his eyes he let out a gasp.

"Ohmygod," he squeaked, staring wide-eyed at his hands, not able to move from the shock.

There, in each of his palms, were balls of fire, just hovering over his hands.

He hadn't been sure what to expect when he went for all his fingers at once, but it certainly wasn't this.

This was… this was.

"Holy shit," Kurt breathed, finally able to move his hands. He cocked his head to the side and slowly moved his arms up and down, the fire following him. He suddenly remembered exactly where he quickly shook his wrists, the fire going out as quickly as it appeared. "Wow," he said, biting his lip. This discovery almost had him forgetting why he had locked himself in the bathroom in the first place, until there was a knock on the door.

"Kurt? Are you okay in there? Why is the door locked?"

Blaine.

Kurt sighed and rubbed his eyes with the base of both palms. "I'm fine, Blaine. I just don't feel well. I'll be back in a minute, okay? Go back to practice."

"Are you sure? You've been gone for a while, everyone is starting to get worried."

Kurt huffed, definitely noticing how Blaine said everyone, not just himself. "Yeah, Blaine. Just must've eaten something that didn't agree with me. I'll be there in a minute, seriously. Go. I'm okay."

Kurt waited to hear Blaine start to walk away, which admittedly took half a beat, and sighed. He felt drained, not so much physically but emotionally, which was uncommon. This is why he didn't want to fall for Blaine. He knew that he had absolutely no chance with him.

For once, he didn't care what he looked like, so he just slung his tie around his neck and grabbed his blazer, folding it over his arm. After a fleeting glance in the mirror and shifting his hair a bit, he unlocked the door and made his way back into the choir room.

Kurt just lay there, watching the oil slowly drain out of the car. He sighed and tapped his feet together, thinking about what he was now calling Blaine's Epic Embarrassment.

Kurt really felt bad for Blaine, really, he did. Blaine had put himself out there, in front of a whole store full of shoppers and employees and one really, really embarrassed guy. Who, unfortunately had gotten fired from the display.

Oops.

Oh, well. He had really bad hair, anyway. Kurt would've figured that Blaine had better taste.

Of course, Kurt had been there for Blaine. Of course, Kurt had been there to tell Blaine that if he ever needed him, he'd be there. And, of course, Blaine was so blind, that Blaine didn't notice a thing. Kurt rolled his eyes and started pushing himself back and forth on the cart with his heels, waiting for the oil to finish draining.

"Hey, kid, you have a visitor."

"What, Dad?" Kurt called. Because, what? None of his friends ever stopped by when he was working at the shop.

"Hey, Kurt."

Kurt's eyes widened and he pushed himself out from under the car quickly, looking up at Blaine. "Blaine, what—what are you doing here? How did you even know that I was here?"

Blaine crouched down and folded his arms over his knees. "Nick and Jeff mentioned that you said you were going to work in your dad's shop a bit, I can't believe you've never mentioned you work on cars. That's," he swallowed hard, "that's pretty awesome, Kurt."

Kurt sat up and looked down at himself. His coveralls were tied at the waist and all he had on for a shirt was a white tank top. It got really warm in his dad's shop sometimes. Oy, that was rather embarrassing. He started untying the knot around his waist and pulled the sleeves of his coveralls back on. "Yeah, well when your dad owns a repair shop, you kinda grow up learning these things. Anyway, what brings you here?" Kurt watched Blaine glance towards his dad, who was busy talking to a customer. He tried not to eye Blaine too obviously, but this was the first time he had seen him without his Dalton uniform on.

And, holyshit.

Blaine could seriously work tight fitted jeans, cuffed at the ankle, and a very tight button down shirt t-shirt. Kurt was having a hard time not looking.

"Can we," Blaine started, "is there somewhere where we can talk, in private?"

"Uh, sure," Kurt said, confused. He pushed himself up off the cart and brushed his hands off on his sides. "Hey dad, I'm taking five. I'll be in the office. This one was just about done draining a minute ago if you want to cap it off and start filling it."

"Sure, Kurt," Burt said, nodding.

"Over here," Kurt said, heading to the office. He walked ahead of Blaine, mind going a million miles an hour because Blaine was acting very odd. He entered the office, letting Blaine follow him before he closed the door. He gestured towards a chair, "Have a seat, if you want."

"Did I do something wrong?" Blaine blurted out, as soon Kurt finished speaking.

Kurt spun on his heels quickly so he could face Blaine directly, a confused look falling over his face. "Did you… did you what? What are you talking about, Blaine?"

Blaine tugged at his hair which Kurt thought was incredibly sexy undone and loose, but that was beside the point, because Blaine was clearly upset about something. "Did I do something wrong? You've been acting really different the lately, distant."

"Blaine," Kurt laughed. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Although, he probably did. Ever since Blaine's big announcement in front of all the Warblers, Kurt had been trying to busy himself with other things, other people. It really didn't hurt to have other Warblers as friends, too. Especially with Sectionals right around the corner, literally.

"Are you mad at me for the whole Jeremiah thing? Because I already feel seriously stupid about that, you know that," Blaine said, sighing.

Kurt bit his lip and his arms ached to pull Blaine into a hug, but he knew that would definitely give him away. "I'm not mad at you, Blaine," he breathed. Far from it, actually. "And I'm sorry if I made it seem that way, I didn't do it intentionally. Everything has just been really crazy with Sectionals this weekend and you're always off on your own learning your part, while I'm trying to settle in with the other guys learning our parts."

He hoped that was enough. From the look on Blaine's face, it looked as if it was.

"Oh, okay, that makes sense, I guess," Blaine shrugged and smiled. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm a bit stressed out, too, and I overreacted. I just didn't want to go into Sectionals with you upset."

"Nah," Kurt grinned. "I'm not upset. I should get back to work though. I'll see you tomorrow?"

Blaine nodded and walked over to the office door. "Yeah, sorry for barging in on you like this, sometimes I do crazy things," he smiled. "See you tomorrow Kurt."

Kurt watched Blaine leave the shop and sat down hard on the desk. He had not expected anything like that to happen, at all.

"So is he why you blew up your closet?"

Kurt jumped at the sound of his dad's voice. "What?"

Burt entered the office and closed the door behind him. He jerked his head in the direction of the exit. "That kid, I take it he's the reason you had a breakdown and had to reorganize your closet with Finn?"

"Dad," Kurt sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Kurt," Burt said softly. "It's okay for you to have feelings for someone. You know that, right? Especially since it looks like he may return them."

Kurt's eyes bugged out and he shook his head wildly. "Dad, no way. A. There's no way Blaine likes me back," he stopped, blushing when he realized he just admitted his feelings for Blaine to his dad. "B. I can't date anyone! Not like this!"

"Who says? Your mother had boyfriends at your age," Burt said, glancing out at the shop.

"What, really? How? You never told me that!"

"Kurt," Burt laughed. "You can date just like any normal teenager can. Just because you have abilities doesn't mean you have to keep to yourself all the time. You are able to keep control of yourself just fine around all your close friends, what makes you think you can't have a relationship?"

Kurt let out a puff of air and worried his lip in between his teeth. "I just… I never thought—I never thought I'd be able to."

Burt walked over and placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Kurt, I don't know how we've never managed to have this conversation, but I guess it's because you've never been open with me about having…feelings for anyone. It's okay for you to date. Trust me, your mom dated before me."

"Did she," Kurt closed his eyes. "Did she tell any of those guys? You know, about her?"

Burt nodded. "I think she told one other one, one she thought she may marry. It's a personal decision, Kurt. When you feel it's right, you'll know. Ah, Mrs. Meyers is back to pick up her car. We can finish talking about this later, if you'd like." Burt turned to exit the office and turned back around when he got to the door. "Oh, and Kurt? Blaine definitely cares about you, he was a nervous wreck when he asked me where you were."

"That's just because he thought I was mad at him," Kurt said, shaking his head.

Burt cocked an eyebrow. "And he drove all the way out here because of that? Kurt, the kid may not realize it, but he likes you."

Kurt watched his dad leave the office and go deal with the customer that had walked in to pick up her car. His mind was swimming with everything that his dad had just told him. He almost couldn't process it all. He needed to…think.

His way.

He walked out of the office and tried to wait for his dad to finish talking to the lady, but they were taking forever. He sighed, "Dad? I gotta—"

Burt looked away from Mrs. Meyers, glancing at Kurt. He nodded. "It's okay, Kurt. Go. I'm fine here."

Kurt sighed with relief and mouthed thank you to his dad, before jogging to his Navigator. He didn't even care about still being in his coveralls, just grabbed a towel and threw it over the seat before hopping in the driver's seat. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the cemetery.

He needed his mom.