This, by far, is not Kurt Hummel's finest moment.

He's never been one to condone cheating of any kind, and after the Jesse fiasco from last year, spying is the last thing Kurt wants to do. If Kurt wins in anything, he wants to win because he and his talent are deemed superior, not because he played dirty.

However, he knows better than to argue with the boys. They wouldn't listen to his (albeit somewhat out there, but still completely fantastic) ideas for the mash up anyway. Better to placate them than to fight against it.

Besides, who was he to argue with "spying" (checking out) a club full of private school boys? He's already dealt with a horrible week. He figures the least he can do for himself is get out of the one place that makes him miserable.

(If he also happens to find out information about this private school that particularly interests him about the fact he wouldn't be tormented by his bullies at McKinley anymore, so be it.)

It takes him the rest of the morning to get out of McKinley, change into something that will hopefully help him blend in with the school crowd, and drive over to Westerville. Afternoon classes have just begun by the time Kurt steps into the grand halls of Dalton's foyer.

Dalton Academy is a huge school, Kurt soon finds out. He somehow manages to get onto the upper floor trying to look for anything like looks like a choir room, and ends up getting swept away by the swarm of boys heading into class for the next period. Kurt's rethinking about how well his spy techniques are working (clearly not – he's considering about just asking someone where the glee club is and hoping they'll buy his story that he's a new kid) when he finds the perfect person to ask.

"Excuse me," he says, tapping the boy who's checking his pocket watch – an actual pocket watch – and sporting an unfortunate gel helmet. "Um, hi. Can I ask you a question? I'm new here."

The boy, now at the bottom of the staircase, looks up at him, stuffing his watch back into his pocket, and Kurt's view is suddenly filled with wide, golden eyes and such an innocent face. He looks on in pure fascination as the boy gapes at him momentarily (though, that could probably just be Kurt's overactive imagination, or the fact that he's being interrupted by a random person) before reaching a hand out.

"My name's Blaine," the boy – Blaine – says, as Kurt takes his hand and replies with his own name.

"So, what exactly is going on?" Kurt asks once they drop their hands. Now that he thinks about it, everyone seems to be rushing towards somewhere, not their classes.

"The Warblers!" Blaine replies enthusiastically with an equally enthusiastic smile. "Every now and then they throw an impromptu performance at the senior commons. Tends to shut the school down for a while."

Cute as Blaine may be as he makes a face when he says this, Kurt can only stare surprised at the rush of boys making their way down the hall towards what Kurt can guess are the senior commons. A school actually excited for their glee club's impromptu performance? It's something Kurt can only dream of.

"So, wait, the glee club here is," Kurt begins, still trying to wrap his mind around the idea, "kinda cool?"

Blaine looks at him with a smile but somewhat incredulous look on his face, as if glee clubs being cool were a normal thing.

"The Warblers are, like, rockstars," he says. Kurt raises a brow at that, both because either this guy is totally exaggerating or totally insane, and because what kind of glee club is treated like rockstars?

Kurt barely has any time to think when Blaine takes his hand, saying, "Come on, I know a shortcut."

Kurt can only be pulled along as Blaine leads him down a hallway, his hand warm, soft, and so inviting. There's no one around the hallway Blaine takes Kurt down, and Kurt's left behind to simply go with it, taking in the beautiful corridors of Dalton Academy and the way his hand fits into Blaine's.

Blaine only lets go of Kurt's hand when they reach a large doorway that Blaine opens for the both of them. Kurt takes in the amount of students around, and he realizes they've reached the senior commons. Boys everywhere are greeting each other or clearing the area for where Kurt's assuming the Warblers will perform.

Everyone but him is in their uniform.

"Oh," Kurt says, hoping that his despair doesn't show as he adjusts his bag to cover himself, "I stick out like a sore thumb."

"Next time don't forget your jacket, new kid," Blaine teases at him, fixing his lapel. "You'll fit right in," oh, and Kurt can so hear the wink in Blaine's voice. Kurt can barely register the fact that Blaine passes his bag off to someone – because oh god, was Blaine flirting with me? – when Blaine says, "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Kurt makes a face after Blaine, barely listening to a group scatting in the background until Blaine begins to sing.

"Before you met me, I was alright but things we're kind of heavy..."

Blaine is the lead vocalist of the Warblers.

The fact doesn't fully hit Kurt until later that, of all the boys he picks out in the crowd, he picks out the lead vocalist of the rivaling glee club. Instead, what he focuses on is how smooth and rich Blaine's voice rises over the rest of the club, the adorable faces he makes, and especially the way everyone seems so at ease.

Unless he's in a competition, Kurt's never actually seen a crowd like this enjoy an impromptu performance. He was expecting Blaine's claims that the Warblers being rockstars to be an over exaggeration, but all Kurt's met with is a room full of boys enjoying a performance.

When he looks back at Blaine, Kurt doesn't even try to stop himself from pretending that Blaine's singing to him. He lets himself genuinely smile for what he feels is like the first time that week.

Maybe it should be wrong, that he's loving a performance of a rival glee club, and pretending that a boy he just met is singing to him, but Kurt feels himself truly relaxing for the first time in a long time, enjoying himself and smiling bright.

Kurt claps excitedly when the performance ends, Blaine taking the congratulations and praise with ease, and Kurt is unable to stop himself from smiling and giving praise of his own.

Things die down considerably after a few minutes, people breaking off into their respective classrooms. Kurt follows Blaine – who has an off-period now – into another corridor, two of his friends who also have off-periods flanking him. The three Warblers grab drinks, and Kurt sits down gingerly, feeling even more out of place now.

"Latte?" Blaine asks, pushing a cup towards him once everyone's seated. Kurt takes it with a silent 'thank you' as Blaine introduces his friends, Wes and David, respectively.

"It's very civilized for you to invite me for coffee before you beat me up for spying," Kurt says tightly, trying to relieve the anxiety he's experiencing. Even though he's the one making the joke, he can hear just how forced the tease sounds to his own ears. Sometimes, you never know.

"We are not going to beat you up," Wes says immediately.

Kurt's hiding his surprise when David chuckles, saying, "You were such a terrible spy, we thought it was sort of endearing."

"Which made me think that spying on us wasn't really the reason you came," Blaine continues, putting his cup down after a sip.

Kurt takes a breath, steeling himself. Kurt's accepting that his gaydar is permanently faulty, but that doesn't really mean he can just ask...

"Can I ask you guys a question?" he says timidly. When the three uniform-clad boys look at him expectantly, he asks, "Are-are you guys all gay?"

When he's responded with laughter, Kurt half-expects the chuckles to be incredulous, as if they're asking, "Is this guy kidding me? He thinks I'm gay?" without having to say as much. But their laughter is light, filled with genuine humour, and Blaine quickly replies, "No –"

(For a split moment, Kurt's heart lifts at the correction. Is this it? Has he found someone he could potentially be with?)

"– I mean, some guys here are, but us three have girlfriends," Blaine finishes.

Kurt gauges the drop in his stomach, taking a brief moment to himself to breathe. Blaine isn't gay, of course he isn't.

It was only wishful thinking anyway.