“You didn’t.”

“I did.”

Kurt watched as Quinn quickly handed off her cigarette to Santana to criticize Kurt, whose smug look seemed to become less severe as she took a long drag from it. Last year, when the tobacco prices had been hiked up (a few months after all of them had started smoking, of course) they had all began rolling their own cigarettes. It just wasn’t the same, however, so once a week all the Skanks pulled some money together and bought a pack to split between them when they got together every morning before school. Kurt didn’t smoke, but it was being able to see the change in everybody’s demeanor every morning that inspired him to always throw some money into their pool. Besides, sharing something was just another reason to bring them all together, which Kurt knew they all needed. Every one of the members of the tiny group of rebels were brought together by one fact – None of them had anybody else.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Santana had Brittany – the cheerleader she was secretly dating behind Puck’s back. Tina was “sleeping” (which was code for also secretly dating) with Mike Chang from the football team. Hell, she was even trying to get Mike to come join Glee Club with them. Quinn sort of had Sam…And Puck…And Finn, but the only person she really had eyes on was Rachel. Zizes had a long line of men behind her at all times, but it was really just to cover up the fact that she was probably dating Puck, too. (God, they were an incestual mix. Being in the same school club did that to people, Kurt guessed.) Hell, maybe Kurt was the only one who didn’t have anyone else, actually. There was sort of Mercedes, but she had been his friend for far too long and they had drifted apart – Probably because Kurt had gotten to be such a handful as they grew older. Kurt couldn’t blame her. He was kind of a diva, and two divas don’t really mix. He shrugged away that train of thoughts, scoffing at Quinn in the process.

“You’re an idiot.” Santana scoffed back, passing the cigarette Zizes’ way.

“Yeah, you just broke up with Karofsky. Kind of a quick jump, there-“

“-Fuck Karofsky.” Kurt interjected, scuffing his boot on the ground. (Which he really shouldn’t do, he reminded himself. These were custom-made and cost him 200 bucks and certainly didn’t deserve his abuse.) Quinn was right, though. The breakup was a little too knew for Kurt to want to talk about. But fuck it – Kurt’d be damned if he dated anyone who was going to push themselves on him. Kurt Hummel did things when he damned well pleased, not when some jock asshole who Kurt had thought might’ve been some little fun-to-corrupt closeted sweetheart decided he wanted to get it in. Yeah, hell no. Fuck Karofsky.

“Are you gunna sleep with him?” Santana rasied a brow.
“What? I dunno. I don’t plan shit like that. That’s a stupid question. You guys are so unhelpful.”

Zizes laughed at him, which was followed up by a dramatic hiss as she received a very rough elbow to the ribs.

“You totally are.” She managed to choke out, which caused the whole group to snicker.

“Fuck you.”

As the conversation quickly spiraled out of his control, Kurt contemplated for a moment why he had even decided that these people, who were his so-called friends, should know about the stupid kiss. The stupid kiss that was just a stupid kiss and hadn’t meant anything but a long, drawn-out and unneeded screaming match with his stupid dad.

“Kurt, don’t.” Quinn said, with a suddenly serious and unappreciated motherly tone that didn’t really sound right coming from a girl in a tattered skirt with bright pink hair and too many piercings. The boy huffed and leaned up against the crumbled brick of the abandoned McKinley sports shed.

“Alright, alright. I don’t need a damned intervention here, jeez. Don’t you Skanks have a hobby that doesn’t involve criticizing my sex life?”

“I think you mean love life.” Tina cooed sarcastically, flicking her lighter nonchalantly and smirking knowingly at Kurt, which he replied with a nasty sneer.

“Hey, you’re the one who brought up the you kissed Blaine Anderson. Which I still don’t get. Not that cute, buddy.”
Kurt rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the wall, flicking the dying cigarette out of Tina’s hand.

“Whatever. I don’t need to take your abuse. At least I have a love life.” He eyed them all with a dramatically suggestive cock of his brow and smirked triumphantly as they all looked down knowingly at their ratty Converse.

“Anyway, I got a ride to catch. See you losers.” The group cat-called in unison and Kurt remembered why he was friends with these Skanks in the first place, because even he was unable to suppress a smile at their unplanned chorus of howls. Hearing the click of a lighter as they decided to pull another cigarette from the pack, Kurt stepped around the corner and took a deep breath, steeling himself, though he didn’t know why he had to fucking steel himself to see Blaine Anderson.

This was fucking stupid, he reminded himself as he flipped a mirror out of his back pocket and checked his teeth – Y’know. Just in case.

---

“Oh. My. God.”

Every mouth dropped in the circle of friends as Blaine admitted his side of the kiss, but Thad was the only one with the impulsiveness to finally speak. The game of DnD they had been playing seem to have been put on pause, because Wes had dropped his storyteller’s notebook and every face was leaning over the play board expectantly. Character sheets were rumpled. Strategically placed markers were toppled over. Blaine turned about eleven different shades of red. It was a mess.

“You sly fox, you.” Wes cooed, leaning back in his chair and clapping.

“You raunchy mo’fo’!” David chimed in, pumping his fist excitedly in the air.

“Hell, I could kiss you right now.” Jeff said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. Blaine dropped his head on the table and groaned, shaking his head in exasperation.

“I didn’t know I was hanging out with a bunch of bros. I mean come on, who are you guys, the Skanks?” Blaine whined against the surface of the table. He loved his little group of friends very dearly, but they were all so excitable; and all so interested in Blaine’s life. Well, it wasn’t just Blaine’s life. Being the group of misfits they were, the six of them definitely clung to each other and watched out for the other’s well being. They had all been bullied and outcasted, and it brought them together in a way Blaine couldn’t exactly explain. It was very sweet – They were all very caring – But it could be a bit overbearing sometimes.

“Was it romantic?” He heard Nick sing from his post across the table, and Blaine didn’t even hesitate to fumble for his pen and chuck it across the room at him. He heard Nick gasp dramatically and the rattle of chairs as he ducked out of the way, smiling satisfactorily.

“No. It was weird. I don’t know what I was thinking. He’s just so…Hot.” Blaine lifted his head up for a brief moment so he could bang it back down on the table.

“What do you mean, weird?” Jeff chimed in from Nick’s side, and the concern in his voice finally gave Blaine the courage to reemerge.

“I dunno. My car basically broke down in the parking lot and he’d said he’d fix it, so I drove to his and his dad’s shop and he climbed over his dad’s desk and was like, -No, I’m not joking- and was like, whispering at me and just – I just kissed him. I didn’t know what else to do.” Blaine ran his hands through his hair in exasperation, looking desperately around the group for an answer. That’s what they did for each other – They found each other’s answers. However, right now everybody seemed to be waiting for somebody else to speak up.

“Well…Did you like it?” Jeff offered tentatively, and the question made Blaine furrow his brow and bite his lip.

“Yeah…I did. It felt really…Good. But I don’t get it!” Blaine leaned back in his chair and flailed his arms into the air desperately. “How can something that feels so good, be so bad?” He buried his face back in his hands, defeated and groaning. Why did this have to be so hard?

“Maybe it’s fate and you’re supposed to swoop in and change him for the better. Kurt Hummel – Tormented soul turned gentle by the power of true love.” Thad batted his eyelashes and leaned over the table in a faux-swoon, receiving nothing but Blaine covering his face with his hand and shoving him deftly away.

“Come on. Shut up. This is as serious as it gets.” Blaine sighed, and Wes shook his head.

“No, Blaine. It’s not.” More sprawling over the table until the school bell chimed through the room, signaling the end of the after-school period the boys used as a time to run their DnD campaign.

“Ugh, we barely got anything done today. We have to start taking this to the weekends again.” There was a distracted murmur of agreement, but right now, it seemed as though Blaine was the only one worried about how his elven alchemist was doing in his quest to end the coming apocalypse. Everybody had more pressing things on their minds as they rolled up the play mat and tucked their character sheets away – Blaine’s love life.

“Well, my place doesn’t really work anymore. My parents aren’t really fans of…This.” He gestured to the little world they had contained within their character sheets, and had been retreating to for the past 6 months. They talked briefly for a moment, but as the second bell chimed Blaine was beginning to dance on his toes. He was eager to make sure he got to his car in time to show Kurt he was holding up his side of their strange bargain, though the fact that he was so ready to dart worried him. Why? Why did Kurt freaking gorgeous Hummel have to clomp his way into Blaine’s life and complicate everything? He shouldn’t feel like his world was turning upside down because he kissed a guy he barely knew and it felt good. That was normal. That was what kissing was supposed to feel like. Blaine had probably just suffered sub-par kisses in the past and was reading too far into this.

Right?

“Listen guys, can we talk about this online tonight? I’ve sort – Kind of –“Everybody looked at him with raised brows expectantly. They were going to make him say it, weren’t they? He rolled his eyes at them, adjusting the strap of his shoulder bag awkwardly.

“So, the deal was that he’d fix my car if I’d give him rides in for the week.” Jeff and Thad both immediately went wide-eyed, and Nick made another cooing sound, elbowing Blaine.

“Doesn’t he have a motorcycle, though? That’s what I heard.” Blaine looked down at his feet.

“Yeah…But it’s going to rain all week.”

“No it’s not.” Wes raised a brow and smirked at his friend, who was permanently interested in his shoes.
“Listen boy, he wants you.” Thad, who seemed to have kept his eyebrow raised in a perfect arch since Blaine had told them, said. Then suddenly, Thad was up next to him, tucking in his shirt and straightening his bowtie and patting him on the head.

“Go get ‘em, tiger. If not for yourself, then for all of our lonely souls.” There was a general nod of agreement and Blaine gulped, gripping the strap to his shoulder bag tightly. Why were they always right?

--
Kurt picked out his car immediately from the lot, also picking out the way Blaine’s small frame was huddled so stiffly in the driver’s seat as he picked at the steering wheel and looked nervously downwards. He couldn’t help but smile a little warmly at the sight, though he felt instantly stupid for doing so. Instead, he twisted it into something more comfortable, more familiar; a wild smirk that creased his entire face. Sauntering up to the car, he tried to focus on how much he enjoyed the click unique only to his designer boots and not on the pounding in his heart.

“Hey, Prince Charming. Here to sweep me away on your uh…” He leaned up against Blaine’s door and pretended to survey the car. “Noble steed? If you can call a Ford noble.” Blaine seemed to jump at his voice and Kurt just chuckled, though he had to physically fight the urge to blush, which was stupid. Plenty of guys startled when they heard Kurt’s voice. Because, duh, he was Kurt Fucking Hummel – Why did it feel so different when this particular guy did? Whatever.

Not saying anything else, he strode around to the passenger’s side and casually slid in. For a moment they sat in an awkward silence as Blaine sort of mumbled a flustered “Hey” and fumbled with putting the key in the ignition. Kurt threw his feet up on Blaine’s dashboard, and though the other boy didn’t say anything, he side-eyed Kurt for a moment. As the engine came to life the stereo lit up and resumed playing a song from the little blue ipod he had plugged in, and the melody caught Kurt’s attention. Or, maybe he just made himself pay attention to it because he needed something to distract from the mounds of awkward. Kurt was not good at awkward. Fuck awkward.

A boy like that
Who'd kill your brother
Forget that boy
And find another
One of your own kind
Stick to your own kind
A boy like that…

Kurt chuckled to himself again. How appropriate. He crossed his arms over his chest and slid down in his seat, singing with the lyrics under his breath. Blaine looked up from pulling his seat belt over his chest.

“You like West Side Story?” He supplied timidly, and Kurt rolled his eyes, pulling himself back up again.

“Yeah, Anderson. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m sort of a modern day Tony. I mean come on.” He gestured to his outfit. His awesome outfit. Blaine giggled softly and adjusted his glasses, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, yeah, you kind of are.”

Blaine looked up from the steering wheel and Kurt caught his eyes instantly. A second of doubt flashed in both of their eyes and – Aw, fuck it, Kurt thought.

Lips crashed together. Kurt tasted coffee on Blaine’s and Blaine breathed in the mingling scents of the now almost familiar cologne and cigarettes on Kurt’s jacket. There was a combined sharp intake of breath as they both came up for air, caught each other’s eyes for a split moment, and instantly glued themselves back together, wrestling with the minimal amount of space in the front of Blaine’s car.

Well, fuck, Blaine thought.