There was a lot of talking. People popped up from their seats one after the other, with Aubrey offering only the quickest of interjections between speakers. Their tones were important and passionate sounding and really, Blaine should have been paying attention. But it couldn't be helped.

The boy to his right - Kurt- was mesmerizing. They sat closely on the small crate, much closer than any seating design in the real world would allow, and where Kurt's person brushed against his own he felt a strange and terrific zing in his nerves. It was as though nothing at all had ever made contact with Blaine's body before now and Kurt's whispering touches against him made him more aware of himself than ever before. This is my shoulder. This is my leg.

And yet his preoccupation with even the slightest of Kurt's touch was not the only thing that tore his attention away from the once-important meeting. He was desperate to know Kurt. He wanted to learn the boy's history and burn it into his brain. What makes him laugh? What makes him cry? Where had the scar on his neck come from? What does he do to fill his time? He wanted to rip the sleek black clothes from Kurt's body and seek out every bruise that the guard had left on him, and he wanted to make it better.

He hadn't been aware of someone watching them in the library that day. Had not known that his words fell on interested ears. Had never thought that some beautiful little stray would follow him here. He recognized this as something that should feel dangerous and off-putting but couldn't bring himself to care. The boy was here now and the only reason Blaine could think of that he shouldn't be is because he might've gotten caught, and how badly the guard mightn't hurt him worse than they had.

Blaine's head was spinning. The boy had clumsily burst into his life and been thrust down next to him. And he really knew nothing about him. Save for the fact that they were working toward the same cause. They were both rebels. Despite this lack of information on Kurt, Blaine had a nagging feeling that his life would never be the same if he never saw Kurt again. He felt strange. As though he simultaneously wanted to sing and vomit.

Perhaps he was imagining things. This couldn't be correct. This was something chemical, maybe. An allergic reaction to Kurt's cologne that was going to his head. People didn't feel this way toward one another. Did they?

He needed to talk to the boy. Needed to ground himself in reality before he passed out. But people were talking and it would be impolite to speak while they were speaking, and Blaine had not been raised to be impolite. Then again he'd not been raised to crave the touch of another human being, and yet here he was. He looked to Kurt. The boy was staring steadily ahead. The very picture of rapt attention. Above anything, Blaine didn't want to give Kurt a sour impression of him.

So quietly he sat, his hands folded neatly in his lap, waiting very, very patiently for the time when he would finally get to have a conversation with the beautiful boy.

..................................................................................................................

Kurt stared dutifully ahead, refusing himself the sight of Blaine. He sat on his hands and chewed on the inside of his cheek. He stared the various speakers down and didn't take in a single word. He was too busy not looking at Blaine. Blaine, who's eyes he could feel on him, Kurt was sure he was freaked out that Kurt had come here uninvited, following Blaine. Blaine, who wouldn't stop brushing up against Kurt. As much as Kurt longed for a human touch, the little brushes were not something he was at all used to, and they made him uncomfortable. They caused heat to surge to his groin and they caused his head to pound and his fists to clench and his pants to tighten. It was uncomfortable and it was thrilling.

.....................................................................................................................

Blaine barely even noticed that the meeting proper had come to a close, he and Kurt both continued to stare straight ahead at the spot in the middle of the circle that served as a sort of stage. They didn't notice that people had stopped talking, they didn't notice that their peers had risen from their seats and begun to mingle. It took Nash coming up behind the both of them and roughly slapping Blaine on the shoulder to break them out of their shared nervous trance.

If Blaine flinched, Kurt did it double. Kurt was suddenly closer, like his seat-mate would protect him from the sudden startling noise and movement. Blaine's heart was pounding out a rapid beat. Kurt was making very cute, surprised little gasps to his right.

"Woah there, didn't mean to scare you kids! You'll be surprised how quickly you learn to drop that 'no touching' pretense while your here." He leaned around Kurt and offered his hand, and for some unnameable reason Blaine felt a surge of victory when Kurt didn't shake his hand like he had Blaine's, and instead just glared at Nash's hand like it was some particularly offensive rodent that Kurt would like to be far away from him as soon as possible.

Nash withdrew his hand and chuckled, "I guess it's pretty inconsiderate of me to offer a handshake to a newbie directly after frightening you both with my overzealous shoulder-slapping." He grinned at Kurt but maintained a careful distance. Blaine was pleased, he found that for as much as he loved the idea of touching Kurt, he loathed the idea of any other guy touching him.

Nash tilted his chin, "My name is Nashville. This is my wife, Mikenna." She had appeared at his side, tugging at his sleeve and whispering something in his ear. Blaine saw Kurt's eyes bulge at the sight of her swollen abdomen and he felt relieved when Nash announced their departure. The man's sudden appearance had been overwhelming and Blaine didn't think he could stand the distraction that explaining the phenomenon of pregnancy would pose. And anyway the dank warehouse air was getting to him, he needed something fresh to breathe.

..........................................................................................................................

The night air felt fantastic on Blaine's face as they walked out of the stuffy old warehouse. It was cool and refreshing and it felt exhilarating against his heated blush. Just to be safe he motioned for Kurt to follow him out of the light and into a darkened side alley. They tucked themselves into a small space near the spot where somebody's shiny red one-wheeled motorcycle was propped against the wall.

It was late, somewhere around two in the morning, it had been an eventful day and Blaine was tired. He leaned back against the dirty brick wall. Kurt looked around at the dingy walls like he was afraid they were going to reach out and touch him. He chose to stand, stiffly, between where Blaine was leaning and the opposite wall. He was watching Blaine.

It was strange, as a general rule in their society, people avoided looking at each other too much, it was one of many by-products of the no-touching law, and so it really wasn't something Blaine was used to. It was strange but even stranger Blaine felt like he was glowing under Kurt's gaze, and to be honest, he didn't think he could tear his eyes away from Kurt either.

They stood there for a few minutes, the noise of the meeting filtering out just watching each other. Blaine sucked in his breathe as he watched Kurt chew on this bottom lip.

"I..."

"So.."

They spoke at the same time. Which broke any previous tension and made them smile.

"So you followed me..?" Blaine asked smiling again at the thought. Kurt swallowed, nodding as he bit his lip again embarrassed.

"How...?"

"We go to the same school...and I heard you talking in the library to that bottle blond about, you know... touching." Kurt explained as he looked away. "I've always wanted to.. I've been curious... So when you yelled out the time of this resistance thing I couldn't help myself. I feel really bad that I had to announce that to the whole group before I could even introduce myself to you." He finished looking into Blaine's eyes.

Blaine smirked, "Hey, no worries. Guess I'm not the best at this whole 'rebel' thing though."

Kurt smiled, "Somehow I doubt that. I mean you already recruited a new member. Although... You are dressed all wrong for it." His eyes darted down over Blaine's lightly colored outfit that had made him stand out amongst the other darkly clad resistance members so much. Blaine looked down at himself too. They laughed nervously together and then there were a few awkward moments of silence. Kurt broke it again. With rushed out words and an embarassed flush.

"I'm sorry if I freaked you out by eavesdropping and following you and everything." Kurt spoke jumbling all his words together.

"No.. I'm really glad you're here Kurt." Blaine said turning to look at him.

"Me too...I guess I kind of wanted to meet you.." Kurt waited watching Blaine for a reaction. "Now tell me that part doesn't freak you out?"

"No...I think I wanted to meet you too.."

Kurt laughed a little turning bright pink "That doesn't even make sense, you dork."
At some point, Kurt had put his hand on the wall next to Blaine and leaned against that, now, a rush of something warm in his belly and something dizzy in his head made him move his hand so that it fell onto Blaine's. Almost unconsciously Blaine lifted his pinkie finger and curled it over Kurt's index finger. They held hands, they held their breathe, while everything just kind of held around them.

Blaine felt like he was going to explode, he didn't know if this was all too overwhelming or not nearly enough. But enough of what..all he knew was he wanted more, more Kurt. Everything Kurt.

"You're the first person I've ever really touched, you know."

The sudden change of topic caught Blaine off-guard, and caused his fingers to twitch over Kurt's. "Really?" He asked. Kurt looked up at him and he caught his eye, and even in the relative darkness, Blaine could see how big his pupils were.

"Really. Well, I mean, early childhood doesn't count, and well, the guards touched me, but I didn't touch them. Your.. 'handshake', that was the first time I ever...." They both turned to look at their touching hands.

At Kurt's mention of the guards, Blaine's earlier worry came back to him. Softly he asked, "The guards didn't hurt you too badly, did they?"

"No" assured Kurt, though it was made less convincing by the fact that as he spoke, he shifted uncomfortably and made a pained face, "No, I'll be fine. Thank you though."

Blaine still felt uneasy despite Kurt's reassurance. . "We- we're doing the right thing here... right?" He forced himself to pull his hand off the wall, away from Kurt's.

Kurt smiled ruefully "Do you know why parents are allowed to touch their infants, even though we have the technology to make that unnecessary?" He asked, his blue eyes shining "It's because human infants can die of touch-starvation. When they developed the technology, for a while they were using it to raise the infants en masse. But they kept dying and no one could figure out why. I don't know, somehow, the nurses figured it out and the incubatories were shut down. The point is, obviously this-" He brought his hand down to brush his fingertips against his hand, indicating that the 'this' was their touches. "- is something that humans need. I know I've been craving it for a long time, even before I knew exactly what it was that I wanted. I think it's obvious that our human right to touch is being violated, we're being oppressed, horribly. I think the fight against oppression is a good fight. I think we're doing the right thing."

Blaine thought about it and nodded slowly, a small smile slipping onto his face, "Yeah, I think you're right."

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They stood together in the dark alley, next to Kurt's parked unibike, the skin of their hands brushing together just slightly and causing their nervous systems to burn with excitement. The hushed tones of the other resistors' personal conversations floated through the air, acting as a gentle reminder to the two of them that they were not alone.

They were interrupted when a bounding head of spiky ginger hair came around the corner and found them together. They jumped away from eachother, each of their brains calculating excuses for their close proximity before they had time to process that the intruder was friend not foe. Aubrey beamed and whisper-shouted. "There you two are! We usually have a whole thing that we do for newbies but you slipped away so..." The tall Blonde woman had slipped around the corner after her and wound her arms around her waist, to Kurt and Blaine's virgin eyes, this display of affection was incredibly vulgar. They blushed like little children.

"Sneaking off to explore the wonderful world of touch," She eyed their hands, which they had snapped to safety behind their backs as soon as they were aware of company, it was clear in her face that she suspected they had been up to much more "You two are bold. That's good, we need bold. There's no room for a timid soul in this resistance." The two boys blushed and stepped even further away from eachother. Cinna's aprasing stare stung just a little. Part of the reason that she was considered their leader. She spoke again " There is, however, a difference between boldness and stupidity. You shouldn't stay out much later, especially not as young as you are. And above all, be careful, little brothers." She stared for another wordless moment, then led Aubrey back around the corner from whence they came.

Kurt turned to Blaine as soon as the two women were out of view.
"That woman is terrifying." he said.

"Yeah, Aubrey says she's not like that all the time though..."

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe. My face only just stopped stinging."
They laughed quietly together. It was somewhat awkward still. Kurt hoped that it was something they would be able to work on. But tonight was not the time for that.

"I really should be going..." He stated, but made no move to leave.

"Yeah, me too I guess." Kurt was glad that Blaine didn't turn to go either. He didn't like to entertain the possibility that maybe Blaine was just placating him and was eager to leave. He wanted to spend more time with him, and he hoped that Blaine felt the same. He had an idea.

"Come over to my house!"

Blaine blinked at Kurt in confusion. " Now?"

Kurt's eyes rolled. "No not now, silly. Monday. After school?"

Blaine smiled that ridiculously bright smile, "Yeah. Yeah that sounds really great. Wonderful, Kurt!"

Kurt smiled and couldn't help but hop up and down excitedly a few times. "Great! Um... I'll meet you in the library after classes?"

Blaine nodded and his ridiculous smile somehow broadened. "Yeah, great! I'll meet you there then."

They stood there just grinning at each other like idiots for a few long seconds.
Blaine's watch beeped, and he had to physically pull his eyes away from Kurt to look at it. "That's- I have a train to catch..."

Kurt turned and gestured to his unibike. "I'd give you a lift but... well, there's not much room."

Blaine nodded understandingly and Kurt's insides fluttered at the hugeness and gloss of his eyes, as Blaine's face looked up at him with polite disappointment. "Yeah, no that's... of course. That's kind of the point, 'one wheel, one person.'" He stumbled over his words. He opened his mouth again but seemed to change his mind and shut it again.

"Well I'm-" Kurt couldn't figure out why it was so hard to just get on his bike and ride away, it was like something inside him was keeping him there, but not just inside himself, something in Blaine too. He had to force himself to swing his tightly clad leg over the seat. "I'm this way" He indicated with a jerk of his chin

.
"And my train-" Blaine gestured in the opposite direction.

They were still another moment, then Kurt reached out and Blaine's hand shot out to meet him. Their fingers interlocked before pulling apart, leaving the tips to brush against each other. "Goodnight, Blaine."

"Sweet dreams, Kurt."

Kurt kicked his bike off it's stand and drove away into the dark maze of warehouses. Blaine stood for a minute and watched him go before running off in the opposite direction.

In each of their respective beds, as the sun crawled over the horizon, they stared at their hands. Each of them thinking about the other near-stranger, the new friend. The tingling ghosts of unfamiliar and exhilerating touch, lingering on their skin and on their minds.

They both slept well that night.