Chapter Three

There was something entirely surreal about his growing friendship with Blaine. It was so wonderfully new and exciting and perfect that Kurt still half expected to wake up from his dream. Blaine was... Blaine was sunshine. He was smiles and laughs and small little touches and tight warm hugs reserved just for Kurt. Once Kurt had managed to break past Blaine's shyness, he had discovered an incredible boy who was rapidly becoming his best friend.

Of course, that still didn't remove the mystery. Blaine might be all smiles and hugs for Kurt, but he was painfully shy and reserved around all the other students. Even Kurt's Glee friends. Yes, Kurt would admit they could be overwhelming at the best of times, but he had tried properly introducing them to Blaine in small doses. It had helped a little, and Blaine was starting to join in with their conversations and jokes during lunch, and in classes that he shared with the others. Still, when Kurt had mentioned it to Mercedes, she had just shrugged it off. Blaine was the new kid after all, of course he was going to be shy, and his empathic read seemed to be pretty content whenever she was near him so stop fussing already and start flirting.

Kurt hated it when people did that to him. When they brushed off his concerns about the people he cared about because he was imagining it. Because of course you don't really understand sweetheart, you're not Sensitive.

So what? He was just supposed to switch off, turn into a brick wall? Not give a damn about anyone? Not even try to wade through the muddy waters of human emotions because his genetics didn't make him a freaking radio transmitter and receiver?

An arm slotted into the crook of Kurt's elbow, and he jumped slightly as Blaine materialised next to him on the piano bench, "Hey. Whatcha guys rehearsing?"

Blaine had finally started coming to lunchtime glee practice in the choir room. He still refused to join, but Rachel had decided she didn't mind seeing as a new member so close to Regionals would mess up the dynamics. She would work on him to join once they got through to Nationals.

"We're not." Kurt smirked wryly. "We're waiting for Santana and Rachel to stop pretending to rehearse and just kill each other."

"Oh." Blaine tilted his head slightly to the side, amber eyes flicking over the rapidly deteriorating scene before them. "Keeping a safe distance then?"

"What do you take me for?" Kurt grinned, while at the same time trying to quell his dancing insides as he tried to ignore Blaine's casually hooked arm. He was becoming keenly aware that having a friendship with Blaine was a very tactile affair. The boy seemed to crave touch; bumping shoulders, casual grazes of fingers, and of course, hugs. For someone so used to having a very strict bubble of personal space, Kurt was finding the whole experience equal parts disturbing and incredibly wonderful.

But there was still one, massive problem. Kurt had no idea if Blaine was gay. He was almost certain that he was... Kurt didn't think his gaydar was too bad, but then how else did you explain his previous crushes on Sam or (horror) Finn? He just... he was absolutely terrified of ruining his friendship with Blaine. Because to ask 'hey, so, are you gay?' at this point would be equal to putting up a neon sign above his head saying I LIKE YOU.

He couldn't even ask his friends for clues. Most of them were only able to properly read emotions – as opposed to simply sensing passing feelings being opening projected – through active touch. Those who could read without touch, like Tina and Sam, still needed the emotions to be strong and active at the time. From what Kurt learned in HEE (Health and Empathic Education, a class Kurt still had to attend, much to his disgust), sensing emotions wasn't a simple case of 'happy', 'sad', 'angry'. There were levels, degrees and nuances and strengths and to be honest, Kurt just usually switched off when it got to that part of the class because he was already too confused. Nevertheless, it meant that in essence, the best person to tell if Blaine liked him was Kurt himself, and that wasn't happening any time soon.

"So what're you doing after school?" Blaine asked, his voice just a tad too casual.

Kurt shrugged, "It's Thursday, so like every other day of this damned week, I'm going to try and do my homework without throttling Finn and Rachel." He really loved the concept of having two new people join his family, and Carole made his dad so happy, but god he needed space sometimes. Finn's newly rekindling romance with Rachel meant that she was round their house all the time! To be honest, it was driving Kurt up the wall, a fact he had been rather vocal about all week to Blaine.

"That's what I thought." Blaine nodded, before falling silent again, hand twitching slightly where it rested against Kurt's arm.

Kurt waited for Blaine to continue, but when that looked like a lost cause, he prompted, "Any reason you ask?"

"I... Do you... I mean, you don't have to, if you don't want to..." Blaine was stumbling over his words again, as he often did when he seemed to think that his friendship with Kurt was an imposition on the older boy rather than a joy, "You could come round mine after school, if you like? My parents are working, so it'd just be us and Cooper, and he won't bug us too much if I ask him not to. I mean, it'd be quiet if you wanted to do homework..."

Kurt's grin spread wide across his face, "Or we could watch trash tv, listen to music, hang out and have completely non-school-related fun?"

Blaine's grin matched his own, "Precisely!"

00000

Kurt allowed himself to be led across the parking lot to where Blaine's ride was waiting, a tall man leaning casually against the side of the car. His stomach was in knots. Not only was he going round Blaine's house for the first time, he was also going to have to spend an entire car journey with his – drop dead gorgeous – older brother. Something was going to go horribly wrong.

It was probably going to start from the moment Cooper realised he couldn't sense anything from Kurt.

Blaine seemed oblivious to Kurt's inner turmoil. He bounded up to his brother, who grinned widely and raised one arm to give Blaine a brief but tight hug; clearly Blaine's love of touch was a family trait. "Hey Coop!"

"How's it going, squirt?" Blaine made a face at Cooper's nickname for him. From the older man's smirk, Kurt was almost certain that he had said it to embarrass Blaine in front of a new friend. "And you must be Kurt, right? Blaine doesn't shut up about you."

"Cooper!" Blaine yelped.

Kurt couldn't help but grin. He wondered if he and Finn would ever reach that level of easy teasing. "The one and only Kurt Hummel. That's me."

Kurt's false confidence fell flat on its face when Cooper offered him his hand to shake, "Cooper Anderson, actor, New Yorker, best looking guy to come out of Ohio bar none, and big brother to this pain in the ass."

Kurt faltered, not sure what to do. The result was him half offering his hand in return, leaving it hovering awkwardly in midair between them. Cooper's blue eyes seemed to fix on him for a second, all lightness gone, as if he was assessing Kurt. But his grin never faltered, and he moved his hand the last few inches to grasp Kurt's firmly. If the touch of Kurt's skin unsettled or disturbed him, he made no indication. What was it with these Andersons?

"Alright kids, let's get this show on the road!"

Blaine rolled his eyes, "He thinks he's hilarious."

Cooper, it turned out, was hilarious – although often in an unintentional way. He was considerably older than Blaine, already with his own life, fulfilling his own dreams. Still, Kurt noticed how he skirted the reasons behind why he was back in Ohio when his career was just taking off.

Any further thoughts on that subject, however, were completely cut off when he saw the Anderson residence. It was... well Kurt could now state with absolutely certainty that Blaine and Cooper's parents had money, put it that way.

"Alright, so I'll be in Dad's study if you need anything. Blaine, feed your guest snacks like a good host, and bring me some too or I'll have to emerge to get them myself, and that is way too much effort." Copper reeled off as he let them in the house, dumping his keys on the side, "Hey, you did check Kurt wasn't allergic to dogfood, right?"

Kurt blinked. Was that a joke? Blaine wasn't laughing; an expression that was an odd mix of exasperation and concern warred on his face. The exasperation was probably directed at his brother. "Ah, no, I forgot... "

Kurt just stared at the pair of them, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "I'm sorry I think I'm missing something..."

Before either brother could speak, a massive ball of silver-grey fluff bounded gracefully down the stairs, only to be scooped up by Blaine on the bottom step. In his arms was a gorgeous cat, tail flicking slightly as it regarded the stranger with piercing blue eyes. "Kurt, this is Molly, my cat-"

"Also known as dogfood, demon spawn from hell." Cooper interjected.

Blaine sighed, "You know if you didn't call her that, maybe she'd be less grouchy. You're not allergic, are you? I'm sorry I didn't ask. She's kinda got a lot of fur so the house is usually covered..."

Kurt smiled, "No I'm not. She's beautiful."

"Wait until she sheds on your favourite pair of pants." Cooper muttered. Blaine scowled, and in a rather unnerving mirror of her owner, Molly's ears flattened as she hissed loudly at the older Anderson. There was something about the cat that Kurt found rather disconcerting in the way she settled herself in Blaine's arms. Cooper rolled his eyes. "Well I know when I'm not wanted. I'll just leave you two alone to watch tv or gossip about hot boys or whatever... what?"

Blaine's face was bright red, half buried in Molly's fur, "Oh my god Cooper please leave."

Cooper frowned, and then his eyes flicked between the two of them as realisation dawned. For a fleeting moment, Kurt thought he might actually be embarrassed, but the man just cracked a smile, turning heel and disappearing with a smug, "Have fun, baby bro!"

Kurt's face was equally red, but his insides were squirming happily, "So... umm..."

Blaine just shook his head in mortified wonderment, "I can't believe my brother just casually outted me like that. I mean, not that I was in the closet in the first place but it's not really something you just drop into conversation you know? And I didn't want to assume you..."

Kurt smiled then, shyly but oh so happily. "Uh, yeah. Gay. Did he think we..?"

"Probably." Awkward silence prevailed, until, "So did you want to go up to my room? Oh! Oh my god I did not mean that to come out like that!"

It broke the strange tension, and Kurt was laughing. His laugh startled Molly, who had clearly decided she had been in Blaine's arms for long enough, and wriggled to the floor. "Mr Anderson, I don't think that's appropriate."

Blaine groaned, and started leading his way up the stairs, "He does it on purpose, I swear."

Kurt followed Blaine, thinking. "It's good though, right? That he's so accepting of you being gay that he'll come out with stuff like that."

They reached the top of the stairs, and Blaine turned, his eyes searching, "Is your family...?"

"Oh, no! My dad's... well he's been amazing. I was terrified of telling him, but when I did, he made it so easy. Said he'd always known. And Finn's come such a long way since our parents started dating that he's like a different person. But I know how lucky I am... especially in Ohio. You hear stories..."

As they entered Blaine's bedroom, Kurt watched as the other boy's mouth twisted, his voice bitter. "Yeah. Acceptance for all. Open you heart and your senses to equality and love... As if putting enough PSAs out there will make the problems go away. People are good at living a lie." Blaine flopped down on the bed, dislodging Molly from her precarious position in the last patch of sun right at the edge of the bedspread. She meowed, and promptly hopped up to sit on Blaine's stomach.

Kurt sat down next to Blaine on the bed, pulling his legs up, "How was it for you?"

"With my family?" Blaine asked. Kurt wondered at the clarification, but just nodded. Blaine smiled softly, but there was a tinge of sadness, "I told Cooper first. He was amazing, he even promised to help me tell Mom and Dad when I was ready. You've met him now – he has no internal filter, and sometimes that can be a pain, but when I was just figuring things out, it was so great. He was great. When I finally worked up the courage to tell my parents, I was so much more certain in myself. Mom... I think she was worried more than anything, and Dad was just quiet for a while. But then they both hugged me, and that was kind of the end of it, and I know they support me. I guess... I guess me being gay wasn't the biggest deal it could've been..."

As Blaine stared at the ceiling, absently scratching Molly's ears, Kurt felt that there was something more to his story that Blaine wasn't sharing. Sometimes Kurt thought that his best friend was more of mystery now that he knew him than before when he was just the cute new kid with the locker next to his.

But then Blaine grinned, all smiles and sunshine, and the moment to ask was gone.

TBC