The next day was Friday and Blaine planned on using the weekend to really clear his mind. His Dad was on a business trip so his Mom had asked him if he wanted to go with her to visit his Grandparents house for the weekend. He politely declined knowing that his Grandparents were the opposite of his parents and were extremely interested in everything going on in his life. He knew a trip to their house for the weekend would be an endless interrogation about his schoolwork, from Grandma, and his love life from Grandpa. Not that they accepted his lifestyle, being gay, but they always seemed to inquire about it and then passively tell him that it was a sin.

Blaine instead decided to stay home alone for the weekend, get some work done, and then go to Open Mic Night on Saturday. Every other Saturday night was Open Mic Night at The Lima Bean. Musicians, poets, singers, artists- pretty much anyone who was willing to- could preform in front of the small crowd of people who either came to watch, or get free hot chocolate. Blaine and Sebastian had gone a few times and Blaine always expressed how he’d wanted to preform a duet there one day. Sebastian usually just made fun of the performers.

Blaine spent most of the day on Friday trying to pick a song. He really enjoyed taking pop songs and stripping them down to acoustic or piano versions and one of his favorite guilty pleasure songs at the time was Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. He practiced with the keyboard in his room until he was pretty satisfied with the sound of it. It wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that he realized he’d be going alone. He racked his brain thinking of people who might want to accompany him-

Sebastian- not an option
Wes- Away for the weekend
David- Probably with his girlfriend
Kurt- Not a good idea?

While he considered Kurt for a second he remembered someone else who might want to go with him.

Can you give me Rachel’s number?

A few minutes later he got the reply:

Not your type, she’s got a boyfriend.

Of course Kurt would say something sarcastic like that.

Haha very funny. But really, I have to ask her something.

Kurt text him the number without asking what he needed it for. Blaine figured it would be easier to call Rachel so she could recognize his voice rather than trying to explain who he was via text- he knew he hadn’t made the greatest first impression.

“Hey Rachel, It’s Blaine. I don’t know if you remem-”

“Blaine! Yes! How are you feeling honey? Are you all better? Do you need something?”

“Well actually that’s why I called. I was wondering if you... might want to... maybe...go to this thing with me tonight?” The fact that had only properly met Rachel one time didn’t help his nerves.

“Blaine... are you asking me out?”

“What? No! No no no no. Um...I just have this thing that I’m going to and I wanted to know if you wanted to go? Maybe?”

“This still sounds like you’re asking me out,” She giggled on the other line.

“Okay. You caught me, I am asking you out. Do you want to go to open mic night with me? I could really use someone new to hang out with and-”

“Oh my god! Blaine! That’s crazy because I totally was planning to go to that with someone else.. do you want to just join us?” Before Blaine could answer she was talking again, “YES! Okay I’ll pick you up at 7. I remember where you live. Oh this is gonna be fun. Okay. Bye, Blaine!”

“Okay... Bye.” Blaine said after she had already hung up. He was glad that he wasn’t going alone but now he had to deal with whoever else was going, presumably Rachel’s boyfriend, which made him feel awkward about being a third wheel. Nonetheless Blaine was excited to be getting out and possibly having a little fun.

At 7:15 Rachel finally pulled into Blaine’s driveway. He saw a guy in the passenger’s seat so he opened a back door to the car. When he sat down Rachel turned around, a huge smiled plastered on her face, and Blaine wondered why she looked so happy.

“Hello Blaine! I brought-”

“Surprise!” The person in the passenger’s seat spun around quickly and Blaine was met with a familiar face.

“K-Kurt,” Blaine stuttered, unprepared to see him.

“Kurt and I were already planning on going to this, so it’s perfect-”

“Rachel, you called me and said-”

But Rachel cut Kurt off, “Now! Let’s go we want to get good seats and I need to be first on the sign up list.”

The entire drive to The Lima Bean Rachel ranted about her song selections and how she would have chosen a Barbara song but she felt the ‘uncultured people’ probably wouldn’t appreciate it, so she settled on something everyone would know.

“We’re going to do ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin,”

“And she dragged me into it,” Kurt added, “No seriously. We haven’t even practiced.”

Blaine stared at Kurt through the rear view mirror, just admiring him. At first he was really uneasy about going to the Open Mic with Kurt in case they ran into someone he knew. But he figured Sebastian wouldn’t be there because he never really enjoyed it, and his Warbler friends had already sided with Sebastian so they wouldn’t bother him. He sat in the back seat enjoying the banter between Rachel and Kurt and wondered what Kurt’s singing voice sounded like.

When they arrived Rachel ran inside immediately after she parked, muttering something about saving them seat, and Blaine was left to walk with Kurt.

“So... this is why you wanted Rachel’s number? Sorry I’m totally intruding on your date.”

“Shut up!” Blaine said, pausing before asking, “Were you really already going to go to this?”

“Not exactly. Rachel told me you invited us... but I knew you didn’t invite me because I gave you her number. I didn’t tell her that though.”

“Oh. Well I was going to invite you... but I wasn’t sure... I mean I don’t know-”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m here, aren’t I?” Kurt opened the door for Blaine and walked in after him. Rachel was waving them over to two seats right in front of the make-shift stage. Kurt shrugged at Blaine and they walked over to Rachel.

“I signed you up Blaine, you’re after us. I didn’t know what you’re singing though so I just put your name.”

“Thanks.”

“What are you singing?” Kurt asked.

“You’ll see,” He teased. The lights went down and one of the employees entered the stage to announce the first performer.

“Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry,” Their names were announced and Kurt shot a defeated glare at Rachel.

“Did I mention we’re first?” She pulled him on stage and someone brought out another mic for Kurt. Rachel handed that person a CD and Blaine caught a slight glimpse of panic in Kurt’s eyes masked by a look of deep concentration as he tried to remember the lyrics. But he had no time to think as the music started suddenly and he was forced to start singing.

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid

Blaine gaped in awe at the boy standing in front of him. Kurt’s voice was unlike anything he had heard before. The sounds spilling out of Kurt’s lung hit Blaine’s ear and sent his mind reeling. He was almost hypnotized. He’d imagined Kurt would be a decent singer, he almost had to be if he was friends with Rachel, but Blaine never would have guessed that he would sound this incredible. Blaine couldn’t control his jaw as it dropped with every note Kurt sang. And then Rachel joined-

A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew

Of course she sounded amazing, but Blaine’s eyes and ears were fixed on Kurt. He couldn’t look away if he tried. It wasn’t worth the effort to deny that Kurt made him feel something special, something different than Sebastian ever made him feel. As the two finished up the song, with some minor adorable mistakes from Kurt, they headed back to their seats and Blaine adjusted his expression to one a little less incredulous.

“That was...” Blaine started.

“Not bad for no rehearsals,” Rachel finished.

“Actually I was going to say amazing. Kurt...your voice,” He couldn’t finished finish the statement without sounding either creepy or ridiculous.

Kurt put his hand on Blaine’s leg and leaned his face closer to Blaine’s, “You’re next, Bud,” he whispered and slapped Blaine on the back. Before he could think, Blaine was coaxed onto the stage with the help of Kurt’s gentle push. Once he got his thoughts together he looked around for a piano, but there wasn’t one in sight.

“Excuse me,” he whispered to the employee manning the mics, “Do you have a piano?”

“No. This is a coffee shop,” The 20-something year old, who clearly had better places to be, replied.

Shit. Blaine panicked silently. I’m going to have to sing this a-cappella aren’t I?

The crowd waited impatiently as Blaine looked around and finally stepped up to the mic. He looked down at Rachel who was beaming eagerly at him and Kurt who winked at him. Blaine had no choice: he started singing without any music.

You think I’m pretty without any make up on
You think I’m funny when I tell the punch like wrong
I know you get me, so I let my walls come down
down

“YEAH BLAINE!” Kurt shouted from the otherwise silent crowd. A few people laughed and Blaine got a little more comfortable on stage.

Before you met me I was alright
But thinks were kinda heavy, you brought me to life
Now every February you’ll be my Valentine.
Valentine.

All of a sudden Kurt jumped up and started clapping along with the beat of the song. Rachel immediately joined him.

Lets go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I
We’ll be young for ever

The entire crowd was clapping along now. Blaine had a wide smile on his face and pointed to Kurt-

YOU MAKE ME feel like I’m living a teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can’t sleep, lets run away
And don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back

The crowd stood up and clapped and sang along with Blaine for the rest of the song. Somewhere in the middle he started doing a little step-touch dance, that was a specialty of the Warblers, and the crowd loved it. Blaine hadn’t had that much fun preforming in months. He returned to his seat as people slapped him on the back and stopped him to tell him how great he did.

“Blaine, that was amazing!” Rachel pulled him into a hug. “I definitely need to duet with you one day.”

Blaine continued on to sit down but Kurt was blocking the way. They locked eyes and Kurt stood there, staring at Blaine, his mouth opened but nothing came out. After a few second of silence Blaine spoke.

“Thanks for making everyone clap. I thought I was gonna get booed off or something.”

Kurt continued to look at Blaine as if he had just seen a ghost. “Wh-what? Oh! No, you’re crazy. Th-that was... so good, Blaine. I mean... I would never be able to do that... and your voice,” Blaine cocked his head and smiled. He had never seen Kurt so frazzled, he was usually so composed.

“Thank you, Kurt,” Blaine said. Kurt finally snapped out of his trance and looked away quickly. The two sat and enjoyed the rest of Open Mic night silently. But somewhere between the girl playing the harmonica and and group of boys who rapped the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song, Kurt grabbed Blaine’s hand. They kept it that way for the rest of the night.

Even on the walk back to the car Kurt held his hand. Blaine didn’t question what it meant, or how it felt, because honestly it felt right. Blaine had no idea what it was about Kurt, but it had never felt so good to hold someones hand before. Kurt strong soft fingers laced through his and they fit perfectly together. Kurt even sat in the back seat with Blaine so they could hold hands on the ride home. Blaine knew that it was still too soon after his break up to see someone else, but he figured it was harmless to hold someones hand. Even if it was Kurt, of all people.

When they arrived at Blaine’s house Kurt was already asleep with his head resting on Blaine’s shoulder. He gently unlaced Kurt’s fingers from his own, being careful not to wake the peaceful boy.

“Good night,” He whispered to Rachel as she drove off.

Once they were out of his sight he ran inside and got on the computer. He was about to post a Facebook status about how amazing the night had been when he saw something on his news feed that stopped him. Sebastian had posted a new status 10 minutes ago.

Wow. Fuck you. I hope you’re happy. Clearly I wasn’t wrong with my assumptions, was I? You know who you are.