The next time Blaine’s gaze met Kurt’s was after they’d received their awards and knew they were heading on to Regionals to face each other again. A stroke of genius lead the Warblers to invite the New Directions to celebrate at Breadstix with them, Warblers’ treat. The New Directions accepted unanimously. Blaine looked over at Kurt while a member of his team called ahead and rented out almost the entire restaurant for the two teams. He smiled hopefully, but the response was Kurt blushed red and looking away immediately, falling back into conversation with one of the girls and turning his body so he was no longer facing Blaine.

Blaine bit his lip. He didn’t know whether he should pursue Kurt and find out if he even stood a chance, or at least whether Kurt were gay and single, or if he should drop it now. He was getting nothing back, and it wasn’t as though he had any experience in the pursuit field to go off of anyway. An elbow in the ribs from a teammate told him giving up wasn’t going to be an option. Even so, he failed to secure a ride in the same car as Kurt and instead rode along with the Warblers.

At Breadstix, Kurt tried to take refuge at a table with Mercedes, Tina, and Mike, but Wes and David sat Blaine down right across from Kurt, and slid in beside him, trapping Blaine in a corner, before Tina and Mike could make it over. This left Kurt and Mercedes alone at the mercy of the Warblers. Wes and David shook hands and introduced themselves first, and then Blaine shook Mercedes hand and complimented her amazing voice. Then he took Kurt’s hand. It was so soft. He held on longer than he meant to and he squeezed Kurt’s fingers.

You blew my mind, was what Blaine wanted to say, but Kurt cut him off with a breathy, “You were incredible. Your voice. It was amazing.”

Realizing too late how extremely cheesy it sounded, Blaine replied with, “You inspired me.”

Mercedes’ eyes met Wes and David’s in an awkward-trio-smile of third-wheel-ish-ness. As far as she could tell, The Warblers just kept getting better and better. Wes and David were both, in her opinion, much cuter than Blaine and proved to be more sociable than her normally chatty best friend.

A waitress came over and took their orders while Kurt and Blaine were stumbling for words. They ordered and then Mercedes got the after-order lull in conversation started again, “I know this sounds rude, but if you don’t mind me asking… are you guys all gay?”

David and Wes chuckled. Blaine choked a little on his drink and smiled. He glanced at his fellow Warblers, and shook his head, “No. No, I mean, I am, but these two, and most of the other guys are straight. They have girlfriends.”

The I am stuck out so strong to Kurt. He took a drink to avoid an incredulous statement of, “You are?”

“Oh! Do you have a boyfriend?” Mercedes pressed, glancing as obviously as possible to her right at Kurt. Blaine just smiled, tried his hardest not to follow her glance, though his eyes betrayed him, and said “No, I don’t.” There was some joyous shouting and attention turned to where Puck and several Warblers had produced guitars and Finn had started pounding on the table using utensils like drumsticks.

Over the commotion Kurt wanted to say, I am too. Or else Me either. Instead, he stayed quiet, raising his glass to his lips to hide his excitement and watching Blaine smile and sing along to first “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and then “We Will Rock You” broke out before food began to arrive. One of the Warblers was a human beat box and he quickly became a favorite of the New Directions. Schuester had his work cut out for him keeping the teenagers off the tables and the noise down to a dull roar.

Once the food arrived, Kurt spent the meal trying hard not to watch Blaine eat or to blush each time he caught Blaine’s eyes on him. The food felt like it was sticking in his throat and he was finding it exponentially harder to swallow in relation to the attention Blaine was giving him. He kept his feet tucked under the seat to avoid accidentally letting the toes of their shoes touch.

Mercedes was carrying on fantastically and Blaine was proving what a charming person he was by joining in on the banter, but Kurt was laconic. He smiled and answered questions and jokes with his usual wit, but he could hardly move his vocal chords to speak to Blaine and he was feeling overly conscious of his appearance. He mostly shifted in his seat a lot and let his eyes drift around the room like he was looking for someone.

Blaine wasn’t sure how to read him, but he’d seen the change in Kurt’s eyes after Mercedes’ question. After Kurt managed a particularly witty comeback to one of David’s comments on Regionals, Blaine tried to encourage Kurt to continue talking, by asking, “Will you be featured again at Regionals, Kurt?”

At the sound of his name, the boy choked on his drink and just shook his head, cheeks turning red and head turning away from the group while he composed himself. Mercedes once again took over with, “Only if he’s willing to arm-wrestle Rachel from now till then.”

Blaine nodded and didn’t directly address Kurt for the rest of the meal. He kept looking up, but he tried not to get his hopes up. He liked everything about Kurt so far, but he hated making him feel awkward. Kurt’s discomfort was just making him uncomfortable as well. Maybe it wasn’t worth it.

After dinner and a few impromptu performances there were hugs shared between the teams and mutual reminders that they were still rivals for Regionals as they got ready to part ways. For the most part it was heartening that they got along so amicably. Their schools weren’t right next door, and they shared no sports teams so there had never been, and would never again, be a reason for them to meet and get to know each other outside of Glee. This occurred to Blaine as he watched Kurt prepare to slink off. It made Blaine smile to see that Kurt was shy enough that he’d rather walk back to his car and wait than be the center of attention even though he clearly craved and deserved it. Blaine had easily accepted the spotlight since he’d joined the Warblers. He’d even taken over leading the songs between dinner and dessert. He’d always relished the positive reinforcement singing gave him. He and Rachel in particular had put on an enormous show at the front of the room, and now he felt a bit embarrassed about it. He’d never meant to alienate Kurt, and he felt bad that he was so indulgent and couldn’t have been as classy as the boy whose back he was staring at.

With a glance around to all the encouraging faces of his team, he decided to take a chance.

He hurried out from the group in order to cut Kurt off before he reached the car to go home. Finn was headed there also, with an arm around Rachel, clinking the keys in his hand.

“Kurt!” Blaine called, jogging to catch up.

Kurt turned around at the sound of his name halfway between the Stix and the car. It took several seconds, after being shocked and pleased to the deepest reaches of his core that it was the one-and-only teenage dream, to catch his breath and ask, “Yes?” He was desperately hoping he hadn’t just left his wallet on the bench. He could see that all of the Warblers were now facing him and grinning. Finn and Rachel had reached the car, but they walked back toward Kurt a few steps. Rachel had a big grin and was squeezing Finn’s arm affectionately. Finn was looking frowny and defensive. Puck was also at the car, since they were driving him home, and he moved around it so that he was prepared to act like a body guard in the (very unlikely) off-chance something might go down.

“It was…,” Blaine started off, noticing Kurt’s glance behind him, so he turned to see all his friends staring at him, and then noticed over Kurt’s shoulder that the two most intimidating guys in the club were just waiting for him to make a move. He lowered his voice, “It was really nice to meet you… Kurt. And to hear you sing. I was just…I was wondering if, completely off the clock, you’d like to get coffee next week?”

Puck elbowed Finn in the ribs, having figured it all out even though he couldn’t hear them. He catcalled and yelled at Kurt to hurry it up. There were smiles erupting among the Warblers. Blaine’s proposal appeared to be a public event, and Kurt was trying not to revel in it. Finn was still just frowning.

Kurt was looking at the ground, trying not to meet Blaine’s gaze and thankful for the darkness. He was trying to force down the smile that was taking over his face and the impulse to just bounce into Blaine’s arms and plan the wedding date. Where had someone this smooth and beautiful and confident come from? He’s gay, Kurt reminded himself happily, wishing it wouldn’t be obvious if he pinched himself on the arm. He’s asking you out. How did those guys from Dalton just accept him so easily? How come there wasn’t anyone calling them names of making disgusted noises? Was it really this easy to get asked out in the middle of a parking lot by a guy you’d only met a few hours before? Kurt couldn’t open his mouth without smiling broadly.

“Coffee?” he asked, and Blaine confirmed. “At the Lima Bean after school Wednesday?”

“That would be perfect,” Blaine sighed and smiled.

Kurt tried not to sway with joy, “I would love to.”

They exchanged numbers, to the sound of a few hoots and hollers.

“Wednesday. I’ll see you then,” Blaine agreed with a wink. He touched Kurt’s shoulder lightly, then turned back to rejoin and catch a ride home with one of his fellow Warblers.

Kurt breathed deeply and had to remind himself that, for all he knew someone else would be joining them. It might not be a date. But right at that moment—watching Blaine get patted on the back and seeing the smiles and winks directed back at him, and turning to get attacked with a high-five by Puck, a tight hug from Rachel, and encouraging thumbs ups from Mike Chang, Tina, and Mercedes—it felt like a date. Kurt had been asked out on his first date by a dreamy private academy guy with a dreamy voice and dreamy eyes.

Asked out. It felt so good. He squeaked a bit at Mercedes and she gave him a kiss on the cheek and promised to be around for clothing commiseration and reminded him that he could text her any time.

Kurt bit his lip and smiled the whole way home.