"Oh my God, Satan! You fucking rigged this shit!" Kurt wasnt even drunk and he was swearing like a sailor at the evil cheerleader who looked quite pleased with herself. "I am not singing a mash-off with the Meerkat of fucking S&M and Slave 4 U!"

Sebastian, for his credit, was doubled over laughing. The New Years sing-off was at Rachels house and only some of the Warblers had made it. Nick, Jeff, Sebastian, and one of the guys who was close with Jeff but Blaine hadnt really known before he transferred. Of course theyd all voted for Kurt and Bas to face off, and of course Santana rigged it. It wouldnt be Santana if she didnt pull a stunt.

Her lips curled in delight as she shrugged at Kurt. "Sorry, Lady Face, but thats how it be. You do the ditty you pull or you forfeit. And theres no forfeiting allowed." Her eyes narrowed for a moment before she motioned to start up the music, and Kurt groaned but squared off with his sometimes friend, sometimes enemy.

"Fine. Just dont get any funny ideas, Bas. I know how your dirty little mind works…" And just like that, they were off.

"Na na na

Come on,

I know I may be young, but"

They started, Sebastian taking Rihanna while Kurt sang Britney like he was meant to do so. They danced with sharply thrusting hips and harsh glances at each other, heating up the whole room.

"Ive got feelings too,

Na na na

Come on

And I need to do what I feel like doing,

Na na na

Come on

So let me go

Come on

And just listen

Come on"

The electricity of their performance crackled in the room and theyd barely started. Sebastian kept up with Rihannas lines while Kurt belted out Britney, both getting much more into the mash-up than theyd like to admit, that much was clear. Blaine found himself intoxicated by the intensity of their eyes.

"All you people look at me like Im a little girl,

Feels so good being bad…

Always saying little girl dont step into the club,

Now the pain is the pleasure and dancins what I love…

I may be bad,

but I feel like dancing when I see this guy.

Sex in the air,

what the hell, who cares?

Im a slave for you,

and chains and whips excite me.

Get it get it, get it get it,

S, S, S, and… M, M, M,

Get it get it, get it get,

S, S, S, and… M, M, M

Here we go now!

Im a slave for you,

Im perfectly good at it,

I cannot control it,

I love the smell of it,

Im not trying to hide it,

Chains and whips excite me!"

Another round of get it get its and S and Ms along with a lot of heavy panting had the boys finishing and looking… quite worked up. The crowd of New Directions and Warblers alike were clapping and joking jovially as the two boys awkwardly left Rachels ridiculous stage, both a bit pinker in the cheeks than was strictly natural for them.

It was then that Santana turned on Blaine with a wicked gleam in her eye. "Alright then, Baby Gay, its your turn. Those two did their duties. Now you get me for a partner. Pick our poison!" She offered him the jar of papers with song combos on them and he grimaced. Somehow he just knew this was rigged…

"Okay, you really are a fucking demon, Santana. I am not singing a mash-up of Ur So Gay and I Kissed a Girl. You are completely fucking ridiculous! And you rigged this!" She just cackled at his protests, then laughed even more when Kurt demanded that Blaine perform because hed just done a whole bit about slaves and kinky sex with Sebastian.

Santana sauntered up to the stage while Blaine groaned about it not being nice to make fun of his stint back in the closet last year, but he was mostly ignored as the music started. "Cmon, Blainers!" Sebastian called with a smirk. "You love Katy Perry!"

"This was never the way I planned, not my intention,

I got so brave, drink in hand, lost my discretion,"

Blaine started the song about kissing girls, already rolling his eyes at the Latina who looked like a hungry she-wolf on the prowl. Of course, she would pipe in with the other song, effectively mocking the very gay and very boy-liking Blaine.

"Youre so gay…

Its not what Im used to, just wanna try you on.

Youre so gay…

Im curious for you, caught my attention!"

It was like he was trying to drown out her youre so gays but the words he was singing were just as bad so… he shook his head and flipped the chuckling pair of Kurt and Sebastian off.

"I kissed a girl-

and you dont even like boys!

No you dont even like, no you dont even like, no you dont even-

I liked it, the taste of her cherry chopstick,

I kissed a girl-

and you dont even like boys!

No you dont even like, no you dont even like, no you dont even-

hope my boyfriend dont mind it…"

That line had him pointedly looking at Kurt, who doubled over in giggles. Oh, God. Santana was totally going to use one of the many options in her song to make fun of Blaines dick, wasnt she? She totally was. He just knew it. This was going to be horrible… He groaned into the mic, which earned him a tsk tsk from Rachel. Always judging performances, that one.

"You walk around like youre oh so debonair,

it doesnt matter,

You pull em down and theres really nothing there,

just human nature,

I wish you would just be real with me."

And as Santana sang about Blaine being real, he simultaneously belted out his own line.

"Aint no big deal, its innocent!"

Then they had their melded chorus again, but after the boyfriend bit, Santana added her own ending line, which made Blaine even redder than the nothing there bit she pulled. Because the Latina stood loud and proud in the middle of the stage and sang "No you dont even like… PENIS!" and everyone laughed.

"I hate you so much," he growled, barely resisting the urge to throw the microphone at her smugly smiling face. "And you people all know theres not nothing there since the fucking Halloween party involved my dick on display, so dont even pretend." So, he might be pouting, but that bit stung. He had a nice cock, dammit. It was nothing to mock him about…

Kurt sneaked up behind him and wrapped his arms about Blaines waist, nuzzling the back of his neck and calming him down almost effortlessly. "Baby, come on. Satans just having her wicked fun. Now we get to enjoy everyone elses pain. And everyone knows you have a very impressive package," he added with a tap to his boyfriends bum as he pulled away and tugged Blaine after him by a belt loop.

The dapper boy couldnt help but preen at Kurts compliments and went to sit with him and Sebastian without further complaint. That was, until the lead Warbler draped himself over Blaine and Kurts laps and whined dramatically about abusive women and not signing up for this. Of course, once hed shoved the annoyance off of them and to the floor in an undignified heap, Blaine felt much better.

Santana called Finn and Puck up next, and Rachel pouted about not getting to sing with either of them even though she and Finn were still in a strange place of not quite dating and shed struck out with Puck after the first time she tried to sleep with him for revenge against Finn and Santana. The New Directions really did need to date outside the club…

The two boys pulled out a slip with the Spice Girls Wannabe and Blondies Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and they sang and danced like teen girls, which was hilarious and fun and made everybody happy. Finn and Puck were pretty much the best guys at a party, followed closely by Nick and Jeff who did a weird mash-up of N*Sync and Backstreet Boys which they seemed to know all the actual choreography for, which really surprised no one.

It wasnt until Santana tried to get Quinn and Rachel to perform a mash of Material Girl and Bitch that the game stopped and Rachel threw a crying fit while Quinn just shrugged, agreeing that they were both materialistic bitches. After that, people started to sing whatever they wanted while Finn took off to console Rachel and Kurt, Puck, and surprisingly Wes all bitched out Santana for getting Finchel started again.

By the time the party ended, nobody was drunk (a New Directions record for sure) and Finchel was definitely back on. Sebastian had weaseled his way in between Kurt and Blaine somehow and was hanging on both of them, and Puck was offering to get rid of Kurts obvious pest problem. It was a good night, all things considered, and it got even better when Kurt shoved Bas into Wess car and told the Asian boy to take care of him while the countertenor took his own boyfriend back to his house.

________________________________________________________

The post-break pressure was… intense. It was already January, which meant Regionals were coming soon along with college deadlines, try-outs for the performance-based schools, and a lot of talk about the future. There was so much pressure that Blaine could hardly stand it, and he could see that Kurt wasnt fairing much better.

The fact was, Blaine had a little less pressure because his parents were hardly home, and when they were, they were significantly distracted. Burt and Carole were always around, though, and they were very involved in Kurt and Finns decisions about their futures. The couple of parents were just as anxious as their boys, and all of the Hummel-Hudsons were wound rather tightly.

Blaine was relying a lot on late night talks with Cooper to keep him sane and calm. He got nervous about something, and hed call his brother. He wasnt sure? Hed call Coop. The older male always knew what to say and when to say it, even if he said a lot of stuff that wasnt helpful as well. It was just how Cooper worked, and Blaine found the whole experience of a chat with him to be comforting.

Maybe Kurt needed to talk to Coop too… When Blaine offered this, Kurt snapped at him. "No, Blaine, I do not need to talk to your brother about my future. I have my own family to talk to and thats more than enough, thanks!" Hed then huffed off and left a gaping Blaine at their lockers, only to be hit with a slushie and no one around to help him clean up.

Soggy and sad, Blaine trudged to the bathroom to clean up as best he could, tension weighing heavy on his mind.

________________________________________________________

"So were going to do original songs at Regionals!" Mr. Schue announced, and Kurt and Rachel both lost it. Blaine tried to calm his boyfriend down while Finn did much the same with Rachel, but neither diva was backing down and Kurt hissed and batted at Blaines hands so much that he gave up his attempts at calming the boy for fear hed be mauled. This was no fun at all.

Kurt was just… way too stressed. Blaine thought they were on the same page with everything, but now it didnt seem like they were and he was about to cry and… what was he doing wrong?

The sounds of both Kurt and Rachel telling the director that they simply didnt have time to write songs when they were all working on college applications and getting results back about those applications and trying to make plans and take tests and perform in auditions drowned out all thought and Blaine groaned. He just wanted the choir room to be a place without so much worry. Like it used to be. Why couldnt they all sing and dance and have fun? He needed some fun. This was all just… too much.

While Mr. Schuester kept pushing for original songs and Kurt, Rachel, Mercedes, and Tina all argued with him over it, Blaine finally gave up and left the choir room. He wasnt sure why, but he was starting to feel hopeless, and it had nothing to do with his college applications and everything to do with his boyfriend and his future.

He drove home without waiting for Kurt to get out of glee that day. Blaine didnt know what to even say to the countertenor, and he didnt want to make things worse somehow. It already felt like thing were barely held together. One more crack and it would all fall apart.

Instead, he sent a text to Sebastian as he slipped into his empty house and dropped his satchel by the door.

To Sebastian: I know Im not perfect but… am I really so hard to love?