“You don’t know about my past and…I don’t have a future figured out. And maybe this is going too fast…And maybe it’s not meant to last…” Kurt opens his eyes, gaze immediately falling on Blaine. He shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t be looking at Blaine, singing these words but… “What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge? Never knowing if there’s solid ground below…” He gently releases the microphone, bringing both hands to his sides, palms facing the floor, “or hand to hold…” He clenches his fist “or hell to pay…What do you say? What you say?” Behind him, the band starts up in time with his voice.

Suddenly, Kurt sees himself singing to Blaine. There’s no one else in the room. It’s just him and this gorgeous boy he met through a glass window. “I just wanna start again…Maybe you could show me how to try…Maybe you could take me in…Somewhere underneath your skin.” Kurt smiles at Blaine and Blaine returns the gesture. Blaine is walking towards him, taking both his hands as Kurt sings. “What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge? Never knowing if there’s solid ground below.” Blaine touches his face. “And I had my heart beaten down, but I always comes back for more, yeah, there’s nothing like love to pull you up, when you’re lying down on the floor, yeah.” Kurt pulls Blaine close, holding him against his body. “So, talk to me, talk to me, like lovers do. Yeah, walk with me, walk with me, like lovers do…Like lovers do…” Kurt’s arms are around Blaine and it all feels so real. So warm and so safe. “What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge? Never knowing if there’s solid ground below or hand to hold or hell to pay…” Behind him, the band suddenly goes quiet, back to just the guitar and with that, Kurt is pulled back to reality. A world where Blaine isn’t his. A world where Blaine has a girlfriend and Kurt is singing on a stage to a few people in a small caf�. “What do you say…? What you say? Don’t know much about your life….” The guitarist plays the final few chords and the song ends with Kurt gently gripping the microphone, one hand on the mic, the other on the stand.

Applause fills the room as Kurt releases the microphone, smiling softly and nodding his head, giving a gentle thank you. His eyes catch Blaine for a moment as he’s almost embarrassed to look at his friend. His friend who he fantasizes about while singing.

Thankfully, the next few songs aren’t about love or taking chances. Kurt has a difficult time keeping his eyes off of Blaine while he’s singing. And he can’t help but be excited over the fact that Blaine spend the next twenty minutes watching him on stage.

Once Kurt gives his final thank you he steps off the stage as the band begins packing their things. Kurt wastes no time in approaching Blaine’s table and the smile on his friend’s face is absolutely breathtaking.

“Wow Kurt you’re…” Blaine laughs, shaking his head, “incredible!” he finishes. “And you said you never got any solos at the competitions?”

Kurt can’t stop himself from grinning as he shakes his head.

“Well, your teacher was insane because you’re voice is amazing.”

Kurt laughs softly. “Oh, stop it. You’re making me blush,” Kurt says and--shit, he’s flirting isn’t he?

“I only speak the truth, my good man,” Blaine says in a cheesy British accent and, woah, is that Blaine flirting back?

Kurt giggles softly before looking at Blaine’s table. “I was sure you’d bring someone with you tonight.”

Blaine shrugs. “My friends were all busy tonight.”

Kurt arches a brow. “Oh,” he says, a little shocked he didn’t mention his girlfriend. “Anyway,” he continues, “I’m pretty much done here for the night. I know it’s a little redundant considering we are at an eating establishment, but I was actually planning on going across the street to this little noodle shop a couple of my classmates won’t shut up about.”

Blaine’s eyebrows go up and he smiles. “I haven’t had dinner yet,” he says. “Mind if I join you?”

“Only if you promise to sing karaoke with me,” Kurt says as he brushes past Blaine, peeking over his shoulder to watch Blaine quickly gather his scarf and coat to hurry after Kurt, calling out a quick, “Well, duh!”

The laughter the boys share that night is something Kurt hasn’t felt in a very long time. Blaine makes him laugh so hard he has tears streaming down his face. Blaine is silly and so incredibly adorable. He’s incredibly bouncy when he sings and it’s so very endearing. The moment Blaine gets up on the mini stage at the karaoke bar, this new life fills him. There’s a spark in his eyes that Kurt hasn’t seen before and he is suddenly reminded of the short, blazer clad teen from his high school years. The memories of The Warblers competing against New Directions are vague, but still there. The competition was a huge blur considering Kurt was nervous beyond belief, but he isn’t lying when he says that he does remember Blaine. Kurt also remembers briefly thinking to himself that the lead soloist of their competition is really cute and very energetic.

Kurt can hardly believe it when he hears Blaine’s karaoke selection. It is quite possibly the one of the most ridiculous songs Blaine can pick. Kurt practically screams when he laughs, clapping his hands together and tossing his head back with an, “Oh my god!”

Blaine is practically jumping up and down during the chorus. “They call me hell! They call me Sta-cey! They call me her! They call me Jane! That’s not my name…that’s not my name…that’s not my name…that’s not my…name!”

Kurt can’t contain his laughter as he watches Blaine through his teary eyes. Kurt was sure Blaine couldn’t beat his overly dramatic rendition of ‘You and I’ by Lady Gaga, but Blaine has definitely proven him wrong. Kurt is shaking his head and Blaine when he returns to their table to take a drink of water.

After a few more laughs and sips of their drinks, they’re leaving the karaoke bar, wide grins on their faces.

“Ok,” Kurt says, “I don’t think I can ever look at you the same way again after watching you sing That’s Not My Name like that, Blaine. Oh my god.”

Blaine continues grinning at him as he wraps his scarf around his neck. “It’s been years since I’ve performed in front of a crowd,” he says, “Why not make it memorable?”

“Oh, you made it memorable, alright,” Kurt responds, thinking back to the way Blaine kept running from one end of the stage to the other, pointing at different people who were half paying attention to him.

“You’re one to talk,” Blaine says, bumping Kurt’s shoulder gently, “you were lying on the floor at one point, kicking your leg up.”

Kurt shrugs, “I was just being in character.”

“Right,” Blaine chuckles.

Kurt stuffs his cold hands into his pockets, the bitter December air biting at the tip of his nose. “Ugh, I hate Ohio weather,” he grumbles mostly to himself. “When it gets this cold my skin gets so dry, it’s disgusting.”

Blaine snorts beside him and Kurt looks over to see him rolling his eyes with a small smile. “Your skin looks fine.”

Kurt feels his stomach swoop as he smiles at Blaine before a silence settles between them for a few moments. Kurt then decides to break it with a bold question that’s been nipping at his mind since he saw Blaine enter the caf� alone. “I thought I’d be meeting your girlfriend tonight,” he offers carefully.

Blaine seems to pause for a moment, slowing his walk just slightly to look over at Kurt briefly. He looks forward again. “I don’t think you’ll be meeting her at all,” he says with a small, dry laugh, “I broke up with her a few days ago.”

Kurt nearly stops in his tracks. He wants to pump his fist into the air and cry out triumphantly. This is quite possibly the best news Kurt has heart this month--no, the best news he has heard in his entire life. “What? Really?” Kurt says, trying to sound sympathetic.

“Yeah,” Blaine says with a shrug. “Wasn’t really working out.”

Kurt presses his lips together tightly. “Oh,” he says after a long silence. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Blaine. But…as they say, there’s other fish in the sea…or something like that,” he laughs softly.

Blaine looks over at him, big hazel eyes sparking against the Christmas lights decorating the trees around them. He smiles. “Yeah,” he says finally, voice quiet. “There are.”

And at that moment, Kurt is almost sure he sees a new look in Blaine’s eyes: hope.