Over the next two weeks, Kurt and Blaine began spending a lot of time together. Kurt and Mercedes had been growing apart lately and with Rachel hanging out with Finn all the time, Blaine quickly stepped in as Kurt's best friend. Even after Blaine's car was fixed, Kurt gave him a ride to school every day. They often stopped by the Lima Bean before school, and Blaine almost always paid, insisting that he owed Kurt for driving him to school.

"I'll have a medium drip and a nonfat mocha for this guy," Blaine says to the barista while taking out his wallet.

"Blaine you really don't have to always pay…" Kurt says but his attempt is half-hearted at best.

Blaine sighs in exasperation but his little smile shows Kurt he's not actually annoyed. "Kurt, how many times are we going to have this argument? You pay for gas, I pay for coffee. End of story."

Kurt pretends to look put out but really he loves the fact that Blaine always pays for his coffee. It makes it feel a little like a date, and even though Kurt knows it's not, sometimes he likes to pretend that someone like Blaine would go out with him. The boys take a seat near the back of the shop because they're early enough today to relax for a while before school.

"So I was thinking," Blaine began, "for the duet contest this week we should sing together."

Kurt, who is sipping his coffee, chokes a little at Blaine's words.

Blaine's smile falters and he adds, "I mean, if that's something you want. I totally get it if you're already working with someone else…"

Kurt shook his head quickly. The duet contest was something the Glee club had every year but something Kurt had never participated in. Well, last year he sang Le Hot Jazz by himself, but it wasn't the same as having a partner. Since everyone else had already paired up he had planned to just sit out again but he had totally forgot about Blaine.

"No, I mean yes, I'd love to work with you," Kurt finally says. "It's just... we do this every year and I've never had a partner before, so I just figured this year would be the same."

Blaine tilts his head a little and reaches across the table to hold Kurt's hand. Kurt's breath hitches and the touch and he looks up to meet Blaine's gaze.

"Well they're all crazy. You're one of the best singers in the room Kurt, truly you are. Your rendition of I'm the Greatest Star last week completely blew me away. I'd be honored to work with you," he says and then, to Kurt's disappointment, takes his hand back.

Even without the presence of Blaine's hand though, Kurt is beaming. He's only known Blaine for a few weeks but somehow he always knows just what to say.

"The honor is all mine. You want to come over after school and practice?"

"Definitely!" Blaine replies with a smile as big as Kurt's.

"Dad, I'm home!" Kurt announces as he and Blaine walk into the house. His dad has Monday afternoons off from the shop so he's almost always home.

"Hey kiddo," Burt says as he enters the foyer. Upon noticing Blaine, he gives him a nod.

"Blaine and I are just working on an assignment for Glee, so we'll be upstairs, okay?" and then, before Burt can respond, Kurt starts quickly moving up the stairs.

"Alright but the door stays open," Burt says giving Kurt an appraising look.

Kurt flushes and splutters, "Dad-I we're just friends, there's not- don't worry but yeah, okay."

Blaine gives a little snort of laughter and Kurt turns to glare at him as they continue to Kurt's room. Kurt's room is pretty simple. There's a queen bed off to the left side, a vanity table behind that, a dresser on the opposite side, and an ironing board with sewing materials on it beside that.
Blaine immediately moves toward the ironing board and begins looking at Kurt's sewing kit.

"Do you make your own clothes?"

"Not usually, it's more for patching up tears and things like that. Although, I did make my own prom outfit last year. It was a kilt," he says with a chuckle.

Turning to look at him Blaine says, "Wow that's… impressive!" with no sarcasm whatsoever. "My mom works for Joann's Fabrics, so you should talk to her about this stuff sometime."

Kurt nods and then sits on the bed, pulling his computer onto his lap.

"So, for our duet, what kind of song are you thinking?"

"Definitely something top 40, because if we want to win the contest, we'll have to appeal to the rest of Glee club," Blaine explains as he settles himself next to Kurt.

"Yeah, good thinking. Okay so who is your favorite pop singer?"

"Katy Perry!" Blaine answers so quickly that Kurt turns to smirk at him.

"What?" he says defensively, "She's amazing."

Kurt merely laughs and clicks on a comprehensive list of Katy Perry songs.

"Perfect!" Blaine shouts after a moment.

"What's perfect?" Kurt asks.

"No, let's sing Perfect, by P!nk."

Kurt thinks about it for a moment and then starts to smile. He wants to change the arrangement to make it a little more interesting, but it definitely has potential. Kurt wants to win the contest badly, and not just because of his competitive nature. He wants it because the prize is dinner at Breakstix, and Kurt will take any excuse to spend more time with Blaine. Over the next few hours, they practice the song pretty much non-stop. Kurt actually has to ask Blaine to stop dancing around and jumping on furniture while they rehearse because he can't help but laugh when he does. In the end, Kurt decides to take the first verse, Blaine takes the rapping part, and they sing the chorus together.

"You know Blaine," Kurt begins teasingly, "I've never seen a rapper wear a bow-tie before."

Blaine, having no witty comeback, responds by grabbing Kurt and tickling him until he's begging for mercy. If anyone else had tried to tickle Kurt he would have thrown a fit, but somehow with Blaine it's okay. Kurt notices that Blaine seems to be the exception to many of his rules, including the most important one, don't get your hopes up. He's always felt that by expecting the worst it's impossible to be disappointed and by the way his life has gone so far, it seems a pretty useful rule. But that was before Blaine. With Blaine, he can't help but hope because nothing has ever felt so right before. He can just feel it, feel it deep down, that Blaine and him are suppose to be together. So right after Blaine leaves, Kurt makes a decision. He's not going to sit back on the sidelines and let someone else snag Blaine. No, sometime soon, he's going to tell Blaine how he feels.

The next day during Glee club, Kurt sits and impenitently waits for the end of class when the duets would be performed. Blaine and him were the only other ones who signed up today besides Rory and Sugar. Both of them are new members this year, Rory being a foreign exchange student living with Brittney, and Sugar being a completely tone deaf girl who only was allowed in because Mr. Schue didn't want to turn anyone away. Santana threw a fit but after Sugar offered to pay for a new piano and their bus to sectionals, she relented. Quinn is also back, sans the pink hair and punk clothing, which Kurt is glad of. He always felt bad for Quinn and everything she's had to go through, so he likes that she has the Glee club as a support system. With her back and the new recruits, for the first time ever the Glee club has enough kids to compete right at the beginning of the year.

Rory and Sugar are up first and they completely butcher I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher. Between Rory's accent and Sugar's complete inability to sing the song is almost unrecognizable.

"That was… yes well Kurt and Blaine, you guys are up next!" Mr. Schue says after being unable to find anything to say about Rory and Sugar's number.

They go over to tell Brad their song selection and Blaine whispers "Are you ready for this? We're gonna kill it!"

Kurt laughs and pulls Blaine to the center of the room as Brad starts playing. It had taken a while, but he had finally convinced Blaine to keep his dancing to a minimum for this song. As Kurt starts to sing he turns to look at Blaine and he sees a whole future ahead of him. A future where they are best friends, and duet partners, and lovers, and just KurtandBlaine as one thing, together and in love. Kurt knows he needs to stop this, that he barely knows the guy, that they aren't even dating, but he can't.

When they finish, everyone cheers loudly and Blaine surprises Kurt by pulling him into a hug. Kurt stiffens at first but he quickly lets his body relax into the warmth, breathing in the smell of hair gel, cologne, and a woodsy scent that is uniquely Blaine. As they pack up to leave, Kurt notices that Rachel, Mercedes, Puck, Santana, and Artie are all standing in a circle discussing what seems to be a very serious matter. When Kurt starts to walk over there though, they quickly disperse giving him overly bright smiles and saying they'd see him tomorrow. Kurt shakes his heading thinking about how strange his friends are and follows Blaine out to the car.

All the other kids in Glee did their duets sometime during the week and it was finally Friday, the day the winner is chosen. It's a simple system to choose the winner. Everyone in Glee club gets one vote and they can vote for whoever they want except themselves. Kurt plans to vote for Finn and Rachel because their version of You're the One That I Want was very good; or maybe it just seemed that way in comparison to when they sang it sophomore year. Kurt doesn't expect to win but he'd be lying if he said he hasn't been fantasizing about that dinner at Breadstix with Blaine. Depending on how the dinner went, maybe Kurt would get up the courage to tell Blaine how he feels. Kurt shakes his head, clearing the thoughts away, and turns to ask Blaine what he thought of last night's episode of America's Next Top Model when Santana speaks.

"So are you two fucking yet?" she asks in a bored voice.

Kurt startles and looks to see who she's talking to and realizes it was directed at him and Blaine. He immediately turns beat red and his throat seems to close up making it impossible to speak. Blaine, who was taking a sip of milk at the time, started choking and is still trying to catch his breath.

"I mean the heart-eyes you were giving each other during your duet the other day were legitimately nauseating," Santana continues.

"Look Santana, we're not- we're just good friends," Blaine says glancing at Kurt to make sure he's on the same page.

"Yeah," Kurt says when he finally recovers, "but we're not friends like you and Brittney are."

Santana snaps up at that, her eyes widening with something Kurt can't quite place. Anger? Fear? Kurt feels slightly guilty, he can be a real bitch when he gets angry, but it wasn't right of Santana to embarrass him like that. Luckily Blaine seems unaffected by it, though, because soon he picking right back up on their ANTM conversation and all traces of awkwardness are gone.

After lunch Kurt goes up to Santana to apologize.

"Hey, Santana, sorry about that comment earlier. I don't know what's going on between you and Brittney but it's none of my business and I shouldn't have said anything. I know this school can be pretty close-minded so if you ever need anyone to talk to I'm here."

Santana still looks pissed but she says, "Yeah whatever. But don't go all psychologist on me now. I already have Mr. Schue's ginger wood-nymph breathing down my neck so I don't need you too. Honestly I'm fine."

Kurt highly doubts that she's fine judging from her reaction earlier but he lets the subject drop. His last class, European History, seems to drag on forever but eventually the last bell rings and he makes a beeline for the choir room. Everyone gets to the room quickly and soon enough all the votes have been cast and Mr. Schue starts counting them up.

"Attention guys! The winner of the 2011 Glee club duet contest by an overwhelming majority is…" Kurt holds his breath as Mr. Schue drags out the pause, "Kurt and Blaine! Congratulation guys."

Kurt gives a little excited cheer and Blaine gives his shoulders a squeeze before giving him a nudge to go and get the gift certificate. As he sits back down Kurt notices that no one else seems to upset about their loss, which is quite different from people's cut-throat attitudes in previous years. He is about to ask Blaine his opinion on this when Blaine suddenly says, "So from your guys reactions I'm guessing Breadstix is a really great place but… what exactly is it?"

All other chatter in the choir room stops and everyone turns to face Blaine.

"Boy, are you telling me you've never been to Breadstix?" Mercedes asks.

When Blaine shakes his head everyone starts speaking at once.

"What are you crazy! How could you have not gone?"

"Their breadsticks are to die for!"

"There's this one waitress who works Friday nights and is smokin' and... actually, never mind, I forgot you don't play for that team."

"Alright everybody calm down," Mr. Schue says. "He'll be going to Breadstix soon enough. Now you're all free to go, we don't really have anything else to work on today."

Kurt swivels around to look at Blaine and can't help but laugh at the shell-shocked expression on his face.

"Welcome to Glee club!" Kurt says still laughing.

"I didn't realize how seriously everyone takes food around here," he mutters.

Kurt chuckles again and then asks, "So when do you want to go?"

"Are you free tonight?" Blaine asks.

When Kurt nods he says, "Great! So how about I drive for once. I'll pick you up around 7?"

"Sounds perfect." Kurt smiles and thanks his lucky stars because for once, everything is going just the way he wanted.

Kurt is just putting the finishing touches on his hair when the doorbell rings. He looks over at the clock and smiles because Blaine, ever the gentleman, is exactly on time. He breezes down the stairs and manages the get to the door just before Burt does. Blaine is wearing a black long-sleeved collared shirt with a dark green bow-tie and dark wash jeans. Kurt debated whether or not to wear his knee-high black leather boots, worrying they were too dressy, but after seeing Blaine, he's glad he did.

"His curfew is 11:30 and I want him home in one piece," Burt says and Kurt huffs in the background because honestly, he can take care of himself.

"Of course Burt." Blaine says with the kind of sincerity that would charm even the toughest parents.

Luckily because Burt already knows Blaine, and because as Kurt has told him many times, this is not a date, the conversation ends there and they are free to go. As they approach the car Blaine dashes in front of Kurt to open the door for him, causing him to roll his eyes.

"You know Blaine, chivalry died like 50 years ago."

"And that, my good sir, is what is wrong with the world," Blaine says in a mock serious tone.

The ride to the restaurant is quiet but once they get there the conversation flows nicely.

"So Kurt," Blaine starts after they've ordered, "how has your senior year been so far?"

When Kurt stops to think about it, he realizes that his senior year really has been great so far. Karofsky changed schools because he was afraid Kurt would out him (he never would), the bullying had been limited to a few locker shoves and name calling, and of course, the main thing, Blaine.

"Pretty great actually. I haven't been slushied all year!" he says with a smile.

"… slushied?" Blaine asks raising an eyebrow.

"You know that slushie machine in the cafeteria? Well some people, the jocks mostly, get a slushie and then throw it at people. It's quite painful but you get use to them."

Blaine has a completely incredulous look on his face but when he sees that Kurt isn't joking it turns to anger. "How can this be allowed? Have you told the administration? What do they have to say?"

"They don't do anything really. Since it doesn't cause any serious injuries, they just file it under normal high school behavior."

Blaine shakes his head in disgust. "Well at least you said it hadn't happened at all this year. Maybe people are maturing."

At this Kurt lets out a bark of laughter. "Sorry but no, I don't think that's it. They've probably just found someone else to harass or are bidding for some kind of super slushie," Kurt says, trying to make light of the situation. Blaine is having none of it.

"You tell me if any of this starts back up again, you hear me?"

"Fine." Kurt is surprised at Blaine's reaction because none of his other friends made a big deal of the bullying thing. Maybe it's just a shock coming from such a safe place like Dalton.

"What about you? Are you sad that you had to leave your friends at Dalton?" Kurt asks.

"I do miss them. I'm actually driving out to Westerville tomorrow to visit all of them. Two of my good friends, Wes and David, graduated last year though, so I wouldn't see them anyways. But overall I'm glad I came here. There are things I've found here that I've never had before."

Blaine looks at Kurt so intently during the last part that he is forced to look away blushing. Kurt knows he should say it now, tell Blaine how he feels, but he's too chicken.

After a few moments of silence Blaine asks, "So, what are your plans for after graduation?"

"New York," he answers immediately. "I'm hoping NYADA but even if that doesn't work out I'm going to get to New York somehow. I just feel like I belong there. Do you feel that?"

"Well I've never been anywhere but Ohio or Wisconsin before and if I feel anything about those two places it's that I don't belong," Blaine says with a chuckle. "The only thing I know is I want to study music. Maybe even become a music teacher, I like working with kids. And I know I want to go to a big city. New York would be cool, or maybe California."

Kurt's stomach clenched at the thought of Blaine all the way in California but he pushes it away to worry about at some other time.

"Are you thinking you'll study music of fashion?" Blaine asks.

"Music for sure. I love fashion, but it's more of a hobby for me. I mean, who doesn't strive to look fabulous at all times?"

Blaine laughs and a warm feeling spreads throughout Kurt's body knowing that he caused that. They chit chat about this and that for the rest of the evening, teasing each other whenever possible. Blaine found it especially funny that Kurt snaps at the waitstaff to get their attention. On the drive home they sing along with the radio, each trying to be louder than the other. When Blaine finally pulls up in front of Kurt's house they sit there for a minute trying to get their giggling under control.

Finally Blaine says "Tonight was really fun. And while I don't quite see what the hype about Breadstix was, we should do it again sometime."

He hesitates for a second then he starts to lean towards him slightly and Kurt starts to freak out a bit because oh good god Blaine is about to kiss him. But it's then that Blaine seems to realize what he's doing and he quickly straightens back up and forces a cough.

"Yes well I guess I'll see you on Monday. Bye Kurt."

Kurt is still kind of dazed but he manages to say goodbye and get out of the car. Once Blaine drives away, he begins analyzing the moment again and again trying to figure out what went wrong. Or if he was completely off and Blaine wasn't leaning in to kiss him at all. After talking with his dad for a bit and taking a shower he is still thoroughly confused so he decides there is one thing left to do. Call Rachel.