The next month flew by, and before he knew it, it was time for Kurt to break his sweaters and scarves out of storage. He loved autumn; the leaves crunching underneath his feet, the brisk wind that sent him to the Lima Bean a little more often, and the looming presence of the holidays and new year creeping up on everyone. Sadly, he didn’t have much of a chance to enjoy the season this year. He won the role of Tony in West Side Story, opposite Rachel as Maria. The two were overjoyed to be working with each other when Artie, Ms. Pillsbury, and Coach Beiste posted the cast listing. Kurt was also working on two stellar election campaigns; one for his father, hoping to make changes in the area, and one for himself, wanting to do the same at McKinley. However, he hadn’t anticipated running against Brittany.

Glee club was even going smoothly. There were a few problems here and there, but for the most part, everyone was staying civil. Kurt and Santana’s talk ended up blossoming into an unlikely friendship between the two cattiest students of McKinley and she named herself campaign manager for Kurt’s presidency bid. Blaine fit in with the group from the first day, adding suggestions in here and there. Still, nobody was aware of his sexuality, nor of what brought him and Rachel to Lima. Whenever Kurt tried to bring it up, the subject was always changed.

This particular Saturday was no exception. Kurt and Rachel were in the Berrys’ living room having a private rehearsal for the musical. Blaine had spent the evening before and into today with some of his Dalton friends, and their fathers left early in the morning for an art festival in Toledo. After running through Tonight for what seemed like the twelfth time, Kurt sat down. “I think it’s time for a break, Rach.”

“Nonsense,” Rachel said. “If you need a break then you aren’t ready for the big time.”

“We’ve been going for almost three hours. Why don’t we have lunch before we go through the next scene?”

“But Kurt, if you keep go-“

“Rachel!” he interrupted. “Do you really think Barbra and Patti never took a break during rehearsals? Let’s get something to eat and get our energy up so we can keep running through this.”

She finally obliged and they went into the kitchen to prepare lunch. Rachel started boiling water for some whole grain angel hair while Kurt rummaged around for ingredients to make a homemade pesto. While he chopped the basil, he asked, “Does Blaine have a lot of friends at his old school?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Rachel said. “The Warblers are even closer than New Directions. I happen to believe it’s because of the lack of estrogen to tempt their already overdriven hormones, but he says it’s just the nature of the group.”

“Are they good?”

She smiled. “All I will say is if they had competed against us at Regionals, it would have been a hard loss for them to take. Blaine was their lead soloist last year.”

Kurt was surprised.”Really? But the only solos he’s done for us have been his audition and the day he sang Katy Perry.”

“Unlike certain other members of my family, I’m not interested in holding the spotlight full-time.” They had missed the door opening, so Kurt almost cut too close to his finger when Blaine spoke up.

“Blaine, I thought you weren’t going to be home until this evening?” Rachel questioned her brother as he kissed her cheek.

“Jeff was having roommate troubles,” he answered, frowning. Kurt raised an eyebrow, but Rachel only acknowledged Blaine with a nod.

Lunch was uneventful. Blaine set the table after double checking that there was enough pasta for three people, and they ate and talked about school, New Directions, and the musical. Blaine was playing Officer Krupke, and while Artie had raved about the audition for a week, they knew there was no way to cast siblings as the romantic leads. Before they finished, Finn called Rachel and she excused herself to her bedroom.

“I mean, can you imagine it? Me kissing my sister? I would probably throw up after each run-through,” Blaine said.

Kurt laughed. “She’s not so bad, but I get it. If I was to kiss Finn, I’d be brushing my teeth for three days to remove that memory.”

“You two are stepbrothers though, not blood.”

“Basically the same,” Kurt said. “At least I was over him long before our parents wed.”

“Over him?” Blaine inquired.

“Romantically.”

“Did he know?” Blaine nearly whispered.

Kurt hesitated. He wasn’t supposed to know Blaine was gay, but had no idea if Blaine knew about him. “Oh, I had been out for months. But my crush was complicated; partially due to the drama with Quinn and Puck and the baby, and partially due to your sister. I think he had it figured out by the time he and Carole moved in with Dad and me. But as soon as that happened, he kind of, shall I say, freaked out about my eccentricities?”

“I know what that’s like.”

“Your old school?”

Blaine nodded. “The names started in fifth grade, even before I had figured it out. That’s what happens when your dads are gay in a small town. They assume it’s going to rub off on you, you know? When I finally did come out at the end of seventh grade, the few friends I had wanted nothing to do with me anymore. Then in eighth grade…” he trailed off without finishing. Shaking his head, he said, “Whatever. When I’m making a name for myself, they’ll all wish they had been better to me.”

“What do you want to do?” Kurt asked. As much as he wanted to pry into the past, see what happened to bring the Berrys to Lima, he decided to hold off.

“Anything,” Blaine shrugged. “Acting, singing, writing, it doesn’t matter. I don’t mind being behind the scenes or stealing the show. I just want to make art.” He stood up and took the dishes to the sink to wash. Kurt followed him, so he continued. “I bet this won’t surprise you, but Rachel has already demanded I take a stage name even though people will probably figure out we’re related immediately.”

Kurt laughed as he took the plate from Blaine’s hand to dry. “You’re right, not surprising. Do you have anything in mind?”

“I do, actually.”

“And?”

“Promise not to laugh at me, Kurt?”

“Why would I laugh?”

Blaine started blushing. “It sounds kind of stupid, but I’ve decided on Blaine Anderson.”

“That doesn’t sound stupid at all. I think it sounds beautiful,” Kurt said. “Why do you think that?”

“My middle name is Andrew, after Andrew Lloyd Webber. I thought about Andrews, but it didn’t sound right. But, um,” Blaine looked down at the dishes before mumbling something Kurt couldn’t hear.

“What was that?”

“Anderson Cooper. He was the first celebrity crush I had.” Blaine was nearly as red as the sweater he was wearing. “So I chose it from him.”

“Blaine, it sounds good,” Kurt said. “And Anderson is a very appropriate choice to have that crush on.” He could understand why Blaine would consider him attractive. He had a polished, old-fashioned sense that was rare to find these days, especially among teen males. Here he was in his kitchen on a Saturday, wearing a red cardigan, white oxford, black and red striped bow tie, and with still too much gel controlling his hair. Kurt admired it, admired that Blaine didn’t follow the norm. It was refreshing.

He didn’t realize he was staring until Blaine’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay, Kurt?”

He flinched slightly. “Oh. Um, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

Blaine turned off the faucet. “Look, Kurt,” he began, “I know you’re out and proud, and I like that about you. But I can’t do that. It’s too hard to think about what could happen.”

“What’s the problem? Look at your fathers. They’re happily out. Why can’t you do the same?”

“Because I don’t want to go through it again,” Blaine groaned.

“Blaine,” Kurt said, “do you realize what my campaign is built around? I’ve been bullied. I’m pretty sure I know what you went through back before Dalton, but I’m working to change that. We don’t need to be afraid. I want to make it so the bullying ends.”

“Damn it, Kurt, I don’t care!” he was interrupted. “You can make the student body not do it, but what about the rest of the world? I only came out at Dalton because some of the guys were going to set me up with a girl from our sister school. I couldn’t lie to her. And since I was protected by their zero tolerance policy, it didn’t make sense for me to hold back. That’s not going to happen. Not now, not ever.” Blaine threw down the plate he had been rinsing, surprisingly not breaking it, and walked away.

Kurt wasn’t about to let it end. “So why don’t you go back to Dalton if you can’t be who you are anywhere else?”

Blaine froze. When he turned around, there was a look of fear in his eyes that had replaced the anger from moments before. “I just can’t be there, Kurt. Trust me.” He then walked out of the kitchen. Once Kurt heard a door slam, he let out a scream. He finished washing the rest of the dishes, then lied to Rachel that his dad had called him to help with an emergency at the shop. Heading home, all he could do was wonder what had broken Blaine so much that he had to hide himself.