Blaine blushed, looking away hurriedly yet regretting it instantly at his lack of subtlety.

“I’m so sorry your name got pulled out.” Kurt whispered, causing Blaine to turn and look at him once more. Nobody had said anything like that to him.

“I’m not.”

Kurt’s brow furrowed in confusion, “Why not?”

Blaine sighed, running a hand through his hair. Kurt smacked it away, “Leave it, it looks good,” he murmured.
Blaine cleared his throat, “I... this is just an excuse for me to get out of District 12. Things were never really that great and I ... why am I telling you this? I’m sorry.”

Blaine turned away, letting out a quiet huff of frustration. Kurt had some kind of effect that caused Blaine to lose his head. To let down the walls he had so painstakingly crafted.

“Blaine don’t apologise, I-”

The door opened suddenly and Blaine turned to see Santana looking as exhausted as Blaine was sure he felt.

“Tina!” Kurt exclaimed, standing up and beaming at the girl who had walked in with Santana.

Kurt pulled Tina in for a quick hug before leading her over to where Blaine sat.

“Blaine, this is Tina, my dear friend and Santana’s stylist. Tina, this is Blaine, District 12’s finest!”
Santana nudged Blaine, who turned to her, an eyebrow raised.

“Mmmm?”

“So did you two get it on or something before Tina and I got here?”

Blaine gaped, “What are you trying to say here, Tana?”

“Oh please, he keeps smiling at you whenever he glances over and your hair looks like he’s been running his hands through it.”

Blaine blushed, slapping Santana gently on the arm.
“I was the one running a hand through my hair. I do it when I’m nervous. And he keeps looking at me because he’s trying to work out how to make me look good.”

“I’m pretty sure he thinks you look hot enough already...” Santana muttered, earning herself another slap.

“Besides, why were you nervous? Does he make you nervous?” Santana enquired, smirking.

Blaine glared at her, “I hate you so much.”

Santana snorted and rolled her eyes, leaning back in the chair.

“So do you think he’s attractive?”

Blaine spluttered, “Santana! You don’t just ask tha-” Santana was giving Blaine her ‘look’.

“Yes. Yes he’s very attractive. But I can’t have this happen. I’m only going to die.”

Santana sat up, pulling Blaine in for a quick hug. Kurt and Tina looked over at them and smiled.

“These two seem to be quite close,” Tina remarked softly.

“Yeah. Blaine’s a real charmer; it’d be hard to not get along with him.”

Tina knocked her shoulder against Kurt’s, a small smile quirking her lips.

Kurt met her twinkling gaze sadly.

“He’s a Tribute, Tina. Nothing can happen, as much as I might want it to. Even if he managed to beat out the careers it’s not like he’d ever spare someone like me a second look...”

Tina hugged Kurt tightly, “You’ve got it bad considering you’ve only known him a few hours. Not that I’m knocking that! I just... I want to say things but I don’t want it to be too soon for me to say them.”

Tina gave Kurt a deliberate look and he nodded in understanding, “I know...”

“Blaine, don’t rule yourself out of the Games, you never know, you could win,” Santana murmured, her eyes piercing Blaine’s.

Blaine sighed at Santana’s incessant encouragement, not permitting himself to speak. He was scared. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like this, but now he was conflicted. He hardly knew Kurt, but he did know that he wanted to find out more about the gorgeous man.

“Okay, Blaine, Santana, it’s time to get you two into your costumes for the Tribute parade.”

Kurt and Tina led Blaine and Santana to a separate room where two suit bags hung on the wall.

Kurt unzipped one slightly, peering inside.

“Okay, Blaine, this one’s yours. Let’s head to the other room and have a look at how this fits you. It should be perfect, but you can never be too sure.”

Blaine nodded, smiling briefly at Santana who shot him a quick wink. He rolled his eyes.

“Okay,” Kurt began, unzipping the bag, “So like I said, normally the Tribute parade costumes are really tacky and repetitive and boring and I had this idea that just wouldn’t leave and I... well, I’ll just show you and see what you think...”

Blaine smiled eagerly, excited to see what Kurt had come up with, but knowing he’d wear whatever Kurt wanted him to.

Kurt pulled the zip down and Blaine gasped.

“Kurt, I ... that’s incredible!”

Blaine walked up to the suit that hung in the bag, touching it reverently.

He turned to Kurt, a little confused.

“Don’t get me wrong, this looks fantastic, but how exactly does this relate to coal mining?”

Blaine gestured to the silvery white suit, which shimmered and almost reflected the entire room. It had hard angles, which normally could have made such a suit look awkward and mismatched, but the way the light seemed to bounce off it did the suit complete justice. The obsidian shirt set off the ensemble nicely, contrasting against the luminescence of the whole outfit.

Kurt blushed at the praise, zipping the suit bag back up before turning back to Blaine.

“Well, I don’t know how much you know about coal...”

Blaine laughed at Kurt’s nonchalance, grinning at his obvious excitement to explain the mental processes he must have gone through to come up with the costume idea.

“I don’t know all that much about coal, I tried to avoid the mines as much as I could...”

Kurt laughed, “I can understand that... it doesn’t sound like a very thrilling occupation.”

Blaine chuckled, “You could say that.”

The pair stood grinning at each other for a few moments, neither noticing what they were doing, or remarking on the pleasantly peculiar feeling buzzing between them.

Blaine glanced down at his feet and Kurt cleared his throat, apparently changing his mind about zipping the bag back up, instead completely pulling it from the bag.

“Right, so, the suit. Okay. It’s a pretty rare occurrence, but under the right conditions, usually at the core of the earth, coal can be turned to diamonds. It’s never been done before, and I think this would help you guys stand out. Hopefully for the right reasons,” Kurt added, smiling.

“I think the relationship you and Santana have is perfect for this as well. Two diamonds in the rough of District 12.”

Blaine stood completely still, unable to move. How was this only Kurt’s first time working for the Games? Blaine couldn’t stop staring at the suit in front of him; it held him captivated with the way it seemed to both reflect and refract the light around it.

“This has got to be the closest thing to magic,” Blaine breathed.

“Want to try it on?” Kurt asked, and grinned when Blaine’s eyes lit up.

“Yes please!”

Blaine tore his shirt off before Kurt had a chance to look away, causing Kurt to gape at the other boy’s well defined torso, his eyes raking over Blaine’s sculpted abdomen.

Blaine’s stomach tensed as he threw the shirt, and Kurt fought to bite back what he knew would otherwise be an ungodly squawk, causing Blaine to glance up at him.

Kurt averted his eyes quickly, but not before several aged scars glinted at him from Blaine’s abdomen.

He didn’t comment, deciding that their friendship, if that’s what it was, wasn’t quite at the point where they could talk about completely personal issues. That didn’t stop the sight from breaking Kurt’s heart; what on earth had Blaine been suffering through for so long?

“Oh, sorry Kurt... I was just kind of excited to get the suit on...”

Kurt smiled, “All good. I didn’t see anything. Besides, I’m going to have to help you get into the costume.”

Blaine didn’t comment on how he didn’t mind if Kurt had seen, he was used to his father telling him his shoulders weren’t broad enough, that he was the runt of the family; he could handle whatever criticism Kurt had about his physique as well.

Blaine had been brought up being told that he would never be suited for working in the mines. Maximillion Anderson was sure to remind his youngest son frequently that he was scrawny.

Weak.

Every reaping they would walk back to their house as a family, with Maximillion droning on and on incessantly about how Blaine lacked the general physique and skill level required by any Tribute.

“You’re weak, Blaine. You couldn’t throw a spear to save your life, and you aren’t smart enough to get through by pure wits.”

Blaine would zone out, nodding in agreance, never mentioning how he was relying on that lack of skill to get him out of the Games; to end his misery. Coming from anyone else, Blaine’s sentiments would have been deemed selfish, but Blaine had no one who cared about him.

Shaking off the memories of District 12, Blaine turned shyly to Kurt, cheeks flushing deep red.

“Pants too, right?”

Kurt blushed as well, “Yeah, pants too.”

Blaine faced the wall self-consciously as he slipped his belt off. His shaking fingers fumbled with the button on his pants for a moment, but then he was sliding those off too. Kurt’s breath hitched; Blaine was like no other male he’d ever seen. His legs were strong and muscular, and as lean as the rest of his body.

Blaine turned around slowly, fiddling with the hem of his boxer-briefs, “I can leave these on, right?”

Kurt’s eyes almost bugged out of his skull at the mental image, and he fought to maintain even breathing, “Yeah, keep them on.”

Kurt turned back to where the garment bag hung, muttering under his breath, ‘God Kurt, calm down. He’s a Tribute. You can’t get involved with him, as much as you might like to...’

Kurt slipped the dark black shirt off its hanger and walked over to Blaine, unable to contain his excitement any more.

“You’re looking forward to this, aren’t you Kurt?”
Kurt beamed, cheeks faintly pink, “Sorry, I just... I haven’t seen it on a real person yet, let alone you. I’m just hoping the whole thing manages to ‘work.’”

“I’m sure it will; it’s perfect,” Blaine murmured, slipping one arm into a sleeve, allowing Kurt to button up the cuff before slipping the other sleeve on. Kurt brushed a hand over Blaine’s shoulders, under the guise of getting rid of any dust, when in reality he was dying to know if Blaine was as strong as he looked.

“You’re really tense,” Kurt muttered before he could stop himself, cursing the fact that his filter seemed to have disappeared now that Blaine had arrived.

Blaine just chuckled in response, rolling his shoulders a little.

Kurt pulled his hand away gingerly, tugging gently on Blaine’s arm so that he was facing Kurt. Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt began buttoning up his shirt, willing himself to say what he’d been holding back on. He didn’t want to say it, but he thought Kurt deserved an explanation after how much effort he had gone to. He wasn’t going to have much longer to live with any consequences anyhow.

“Kurt, I just... I wanted to say... I’m sorry.”

Kurt’s hands stilled and he looked at Blaine, who had opened his eyes and was staring sadly into Kurt’s concerned gaze.

“What’s wrong, Blaine?”

“I’m going to die, and you’ve gone to all this effort, and I’m sorry because you seem like such a wonderful person.”

“You don’t know that. You could win.” Kurt said soothingly, but Blaine smiled wryly.

“It never used to bother me, this concept of dying, but now I’d feel bad because I have someone I want to be proud of me.”

“What do you mean?” Kurt asked, stomach fluttering in anticipation as he waited for Blaine to answer.

“There’s nothing for me in District 12. Nobody would care if I won or died. But now I... ugh, don’t worry, it’s stupid, I’m stupid.”

“Don’t say that Blaine, you’re a wonderful person. I haven’t known you very long but I really like you, I think you’re a great guy. Which sucks because you’re going to be put through hell soon, but I really want you to come out the other end.”

Blaine’s jaw dropped.

“You do?”