A sound of disgust came from Kurt's throat, and Blaine followed Kurt's line of sight, seeing what he was staring at. Puck and Lauren Zizies (Puck's recruit for New Directions – which came as a result of her saving him from being locked in a port-o-potty and them making out in a janitor's closet or something), were currently making serious attempts at eating each other's faces in the booth across from them. Blaine couldn't help but smile a little as he looked at them. He thought it was sweet, and if he was honest, Blaine was kind of jealous. Puck didn't have to worry about offending anyone if he wanted to make out with his girlfriend in public.

Kurt wouldn't even hold his hand in the hallway at school.

“It's not funny, Blaine,” Kurt muttered. “Ever since Puck convinced Lauren to be my bodyguard, I'm constantly staring at them while they go at each other.” He sighed. “If I wanted to watch that, I'd watch porn.” Blaine felt his eyebrows rise at Kurt's words, and he quite enjoyed the blush that crossed Kurt's cheeks once Kurt had realized what he'd said. “Oh, God, can we just pretend I didn't say that?”

“Forgotten.” Blaine smiled, reaching out his hand to cover Kurt's on the table. They were on their third “unofficial non-date” as Kurt called them. They had just come from seeing a movie (and Puck and Lauren had made out in the row behind them), and now they were having dinner at Breadstix. It was interesting, because dating Kurt felt a lot like being friends with Kurt. It was nice to know that wouldn't' change, but damn if Blaine didn't find himself spending a lot of time staring at Kurt's mouth.

He'd promised Kurt they'd take it slow, and he meant it. It didn't mean he couldn't think about kissing Kurt every other minute of the day, and he pretty much was. Kurt let Blaine hold his hand for a moment, and then pulled it away, resting it in his lap. Blaine tried not to frown.

“My dad wants to meet you,” Kurt said quietly. “He wants to know the guy I'm 'going out with.'” Blaine had to force back a laugh when Kurt used finger quotes and deepened his voice in his impression of Burt Hummel.

“Does that mean we're officially dating?” Blaine couldn't keep the hope out of his voice.

“Depends on how things go with my dad,” Kurt replied, giving him an almost flirty smile.

“And if it goes well?” Once again, Blaine tried not to get too excited – but inside, he was ready to climb onto the table and burst into song.

“We'll see.” Kurt looked like he was stifling a laugh, and Blaine wondered if Kurt could read his mind. They were silent for a moment, and then Kurt glanced back at Puck and Lauren with another sigh. “Do you think if we dumped ice water on them, they'd separate long enough for us to head home?”

~**~

“Okay, guys, listen up!” Mr. Schue called. The room quieted down, and Blaine saw why – Mr. Schue had written one word on the dry erase board: Sectionals. He swallowed the guilt that threatened to rise up – even though the Warblers had given him their blessing, Blaine still felt he was betraying them by joining New Directions – and God help him, liking it. They were nothing like the Warblers, but their energy was infectious, and when they really worked together, New Directions produced some amazing songs. “I've finalized the list of what we'll be doing for Sectionals this year,” Mr. Schue continued.

“Mr. Schue, I've already got the perfect ballad picked-” Rachel began, but Mr. Schue cut her off.

“I'm sorry, Rachel, but after giving it a lot of thought, I'm not giving you a lead at Sectionals.”

“I'm sorry, what?” Rachel snapped in reply. Blaine felt Kurt sit up straighter next to him, as if he was suddenly focused on the conversation.

“You heard me.” Mr. Schue glanced around at them. “We have a room full of talented singers and dancers, and it's time that some of them see the spotlight.” Rachel huffed, crossed her arms over her chest. Finn put his arm around her. “I've decided that we'll do a solo, a duet and a group number.” Blaine heard Kurt inhale loudly beside him as Mr. Schue kept talking.

"For the group number, we're going to "Seasons of Love" from Rent, with the leads going to Puck and Mercedes,” Mr. Schue talked over the cheers and groans, continuing, “and the duet will be 'Valerie' by the Zutons, sung by Santana and Blaine, with an amazing dance number to be done by Mike and Brittany.”

“Mr. Schue, you're giving the spy a solo?” Rachel exclaimed, rising from her chair. “You can't do that! He'll ruin everything!”

“Save it, Rachel,” Kurt snapped. “He's not out to get us.” Kurt reached over and took Blaine's hand, lacing their fingers together.

“Seriously, who died and made you Queen Bitch of the choir?” Santana added. “Curly Sue and I are gonna kill that song.” Blaine didn't know what made him happier – Kurt holding his hand in front of everyone or Kurt sticking up for him. And Santana wanted to sing with him.

A weird feeling fell over him, like everything suddenly fit into place.

He could belong here.

“The solo,” Mr. Schue began again, ignoring the drama in the room. Blaine realized that he did that a lot. He encouraged free speech in the choir room, but enough was enough sometimes. There had to be a line. “Will be 'Aftermath' by Adam Lambert. Think you're up for it, Kurt?”

“Of course I am,” Kurt's grip tightened on Blaine's fingers, and Blaine could feel him practically vibrating with repressed joy.

“Mr. Schue,” Rachel chimed in. “I really think-”

“No one cares what you think,” Santana interrupted. “It's time we did something different around here.”

“What do you know?” Rachel snapped back at her. Blaine's eyes widened and he wondered just how far Mr. Schue was going to let this go.

“I know that I sex with your boyfriend last spring, and you're so frigid he'll never get past first base.” Santana leaned forward. “It's only a matter of time before he leaves you.” Rachel's mouth fell open, as she looked from Santana to Finn, who looked guilty as hell.

For the first time since he'd met her, Blaine actually felt bad for Rachel Berry.

“All right, guys, enough,” Mr. Schue finally put a stop to it, looking severely uncomfortable hearing about the sex lives of his students. “We've got songs to rehearse. Let's get to work!”

~**~

The hallways were mostly empty as Blaine walked with Kurt toward Kurt's locker.

“So you'll come to dinner on Friday?” Kurt asked. “I know meeting my dad is lame and -”

“I'll be there,” Blaine promised. “I can't believe you and I both got a solo.”

“It's going to be amazing,” Kurt replied, his eyes lighting up as he stopped in front of his locker and began working the combination. He pulled it open, and glanced at Blaine. “No regrets about joining New Directions, I hope? You'll be competing against Dalton.”

“I'll deal with it,” Blaine murmured. “The guys are cool with it anyway.”

“That's good,” Kurt agreed. “I'd like to get to know your friends better.”

“Really?” Kurt nodded. “We could maybe...” Blaine trailed off as he caught sight of Karofsky approaching them.

“Hummel-” Karofsky barely got the word out before Kurt was speaking up.

“What do you want, Karfosky?” he snapped. There was an unidentifiable emotion in Karofsky's eyes, and Blaine didn't like it.

“You know, Karofsky, my offer still stands,” Blaine couldn't help but add. “Kurt and I both know what this is like, and we can help you.”

“You don't crap about me, Fairy,” Karofsky sneered, pushing Blaine hard. Blaine hit the lockers behind him, the metal clang reverberating in his ears. His breath momentarily stolen from him, he could only gape as Karofsky stalked off.

“What have I told you two about waiting for me?” Lauren's voice reached their ears, and they turned to look at her. She was standing with Finn and Puck.

“Dude, I know you guys are...guys, but you two really shouldn't be in the hallway alone.” Finn's voice was full of concern.

“Was that an insult?” Blaine murmured to Kurt. Kurt shook his head.

“Just Finn being Finn,” Kurt replied. “Fine, Finn. I'll make sure we're not alone. Happy now?” He sounded tired.

“Come on,” Blaine tugged at Kurt's hand. “Let's go get coffee and celebrate.”

“Yeah, okay.” Kurt agreed, shutting his locker and taking Blaine's hand.

~**~

"Blanderson, if you don't get your shit together within the next thirty seconds, I'm gonna have to set your eyebrows on fire."

Blaine grimaced and brought a hand to cover his eyebrows. "Sorry. I'm a little…preoccupied."

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously. We needs ta focus."

"Right, right. Sorry."

Santana started to sing again from the beginning, Blaine joining in at the right time and harmonizing perfectly. After they finished the second verse, she groaned. "Okay, fine, what is it."

Blaine stopped the music and stared at her for a second, wondering what she was referring to. "What's…what?"

"Why are you sucking right now?"

Frankly, he was more surprised at her asking than insulted. "Oh. Uh…I was invited to a family dinner at Kurt's house and I'm rather nervous, given that it's my first time meeting his family, and I have to go there straight after this, so it's –"

She slapped a hand to his mouth. He tried to say something, but his words were muffled. "First of all, don't do that. Burt Hummel is like, typical blue collar, man of few words kinda guy. I doubt he or anyone else wants to hear your babbling."

It took him a second to realize that she was actually giving him advice. He nodded eagerly, hoping she would continue to bestow wisdom upon him because he was so screwed.

"And you're definitely gonna wanna change," she added, dropping her hand to bring it to her hip.

Blaine looked down at his tucked in Polo, khaki pants, and dockers, pouting. "What's wrong with this?"

She gave him a bitch, please glare that could probably give Kurt's a run for his money. "Everything."

"Okay," Blaine sighed, thinking that he maybe had a spare outfit in his car. "Anything else?"

"Mr. Hummel is a mechanic."

Blaine didn't understand what that meant. "I don't…care that that's his profession. It's an admirable one, actually, so I don't know why you're –"

She rolled her eyes. "Just don't even bother trying to act macho and talk about cars. You'll get owned. Badly."

Oh. Well, that certainly made him feel stupid for getting angry. "Okay…is that all?"

Her expression softened a tad as she reached over to pat his cheek (even though it felt more like slaps). "Hummel likes you enough – it should be enough for his family."

Blaine beamed and for a second, he thought he saw her smile too.

"So, do you have any plans tonight?" he inquired.

She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not really. Probably going to a rager, end up leaving with Brittany. Y'know."

Blaine didn't know (and was that meant to sound the way he thought that sounded?). He just nodded and smiled like he always did.

~**~

Kurt took one look at Blaine standing on his front porch and shook his head. His eyes closed, mumbling, "Oh god. You're still wearing that."

"What?" Blaine asked, concerned, looking down at his unbuttoned coat and OSU scarf dangling around his neck.

"Maybe if I can rush you upstairs without their seeing, I can put you in a different shirt –"

"Kurt! Don't leave your guest freezing in the cold!" Carole called.

Kurt tensed before sighing in defeat. "Come on," he said with a wince.

Blaine followed Kurt inside, nervously picking at the sleeve of his peacoat.

"At least you wore an OSU scarf," Kurt muttered, holding out his arms to take Blaine's coat and scarf.

~**~

Blaine was the only one at the dinner table dressed up.

Well, Kurt was obviously dressed to the nines, as usual, but everyone else was wearing pajamas (Finn), oil-stained overalls (Burt), and sweats (Carole).

Maybe Blaine should've listened to Santana on the clothing issue.

~**~

Dinner started off silent. Finn was picking at his food sullenly (apparently Rachel was supposed to be coming over for dinner as well, but canceled at the last second), and Burt was focused on his dinner plate. Blaine glanced over at Kurt, who reassuringly patted his knee.

"So! Blaine. How are you liking McKinley?" Carole asked, placing down her fork and knife to take a sip of water.

Blaine smiled as charmingly as he could. "I'm enjoying it. I really like glee club," he answered, figuring that was the easiest response to give.

Carole nodded. "That's good," she said with a smile.

Silence again.

Finn tried to stab his grilled chicken with his fork and knife at the same time, but it ended up flying off the table and onto the floor.

Kurt dropped his utensils to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"So, Mrs. Hummel, Kurt tells me you're a nurse?"

~**~

"Did Rachel say why she canceled?" Carole asked Finn, who was now ravenously chewing on a new piece of chicken.

"There goes my lunch for tomorrow," Kurt muttered under his breath, making Blaine cover up his laughter by eating too much salad in one bite.

"No," Finn snapped before he grimaced like a petulant child.

Blaine couldn't help it – Finn just looked so silly and young that he snorted into his food, attracting the attention of everyone at the table.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, blushing and bringing his napkin to his mouth, hoping it would hide his red face.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Kurt taking a delicate sip of water, the edges of his mouth twitching as if he was fighting back a smile. Carole pursed her lips, but her eyes were shining with amusement.

~**~

"Nice car you have out there," Burt pointed out as he refilled his salad bowl, much to Kurt's happiness.

"Thank you – my parents and I share it," Blaine said, nervous beyond belief, given that this was the first time Burt was taking part in the conversation.

Burt nodded, spearing a cucumber. "Well, if you need it checked out, we'll take a look at it."

Blaine grinned. "Thank you, Mr. Hummel! It'll probably be better than my dad and I checking it out ourselves."

Burt stopped chewing for a moment. "You know cars?"

Blaine suddenly wishes he hadn't opened his big mouth. Damn Santana for being right about everything. "A little. My dad and I rebuilt a '59 Chevy two summers ago," Blaine answered somewhat shortly, not wanting to get into it. "We ended up selling it, though."

Burt nodded, not pushing the subject. Blaine could feel Kurt's gaze on him, but he ignored him.

Silence again.

~**~

"Can I be excused?" Finn grumbled as Kurt and Blaine rose to clear the table.

"Why don't you help Kurt and Blaine with the table first?" Carole told Finn. It was clearly not a suggestion.

"It's quite all right, Mrs. Hummel, we've got it covered," Blaine said, shooting Carole and Finn smiles.

"It's Carole, hun." She gave him a tender smile before narrowing her eyes at Finn. "You may be excused, but we're talking in a bit."

Finn nodded and got up fast, saying, "Thanks, dude," to Blaine as he left the kitchen.

"Well, he must be in a pissy mood if he's missing out on my chocolate mousse," Kurt said after a beat of silence.

"Chocolate mousse?" Blaine asked, getting excited.

"Yes, you goober."

Burt chuckled for a second, transforming it into a cough behind a fist.

~**~

"I think that went…well…?"

Kurt sighed with a shake of his head as he held out Blaine's coat for him. "Sure, if you ignore Finn's sulking, my dad's stoic tendencies, and Carole's strong desire to avoid awkwardness, yet making things more awkward in the process?"

"I think you're confusing Carole with me," Blaine admitted, slipping on his coat. "They'll never want me over again. They're going to ban you from seeing me."

As he buttoned it up, Kurt looped Blaine's scarf around his neck. "I refuse to be Juliet, I'm sorry – that play was all kinds of wrong."

Blaine pouted. "They died for their love."

"They died because they were irrational and didn't have cell phones," Kurt corrected him, letting go of his scarf once he finishes wrapping it around Blaine's neck. "There. This is a nicer way to wear it."

Blaine pulled Kurt in for a hug, which Kurt responded to briefly. Blaine couldn't blame him since he doubted having one of their typical, long hugs would be appropriate under the watchful gaze of Burt Hummel. At least for now.

When they pulled away, Blaine thought about kissing Kurt on the cheek, something, but Kurt was shifting on his feet. So Blaine gave Kurt a last parting smile before leaving the house.

At that moment, his phone buzzed in his back pocket.

From Unknown:
U totally did everything I said not 2, amirite.

Santana. How did she get his number?

From Kurt's Boy Toy:
Okay, fine, you win. You were right.

From Santana Lopez:
Breadstix on mon @ 6.

From Kurt's Boy Toy:
…I'm still gay, Santana.

From Santana Lopez:
I no. cu there.

Blaine knew better than to defy Santana Lopez. Besides, he thought that maybe they could get along. He hoped.

~**~

Blaine was freaking out about Sectionals. Drinking the coffee Kurt bought him that morning didn't help his nerves either; he was fidgeting on the bus so much that Kurt had to loop his arm through Blaine's to keep him in the seat.

But not even Kurt's soothing voice and touch could calm Blaine down once they reached the building where the competition was held. "You have got to calm down," Kurt told Blaine, squeezing his hand. "You're not helping with the fact that New Directions is falling apart at the moment." He gestured around at the chaos – Finn alternately glaring at Rachel and Puck, whose hookup had apparently kept Rachel from Friday night dinner; Lauren glaring at Puck, who'd found out first hand Puck had issues with monogamy; Blaine didn't even know what was going on with Tina, Mike, Artie and Brittany. Sometimes he felt like he and Kurt were the only sane ones.

Blaine tried to breathe in through his nose, out through his mouth, but everything kept getting stuck in his throat.

Kurt sighed. "Would it help if you saw the Warblers beforehand?" he whispered, making sure Santana couldn't hear them.

Blaine looked at Kurt with wide eyes, because once again Kurt seemed to know just what he needed. Once they got inside the busy lobby, Kurt told Mr. Schue that Blaine and he were going to the bathroom. Mr. Schue just waved them off, apparently lost in his own world.

They kept their eyes peeled for blue and red blazers as they walked around, peeking down corridors. Once they had caught sight of one, Kurt pushed Blaine in that direction. "Go. I'll cover for you." He gave one final squeeze to Blaine's hand before getting lost in the crowd.

Blaine (politely) pushed through people in order to catch up with the spotted Warbler (he was pretty sure it was Andrew), but he ended up stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder.

"Flint!" Blaine exclaimed before Flint wrapped his arms around Blaine's body, lifting him up for a tight hug. "Okay, okay, can't breathe," Blaine wheezed, but he was smiling as he was put down.

"Hey, want to stop by for a few minutes?"

"That'd be great. But just a few – I really don't want to New Directions to start calling me 'Snape-if-he-were-actually-evil' again."

Flint gasped. "Spoilers."

Blaine rolled his eyes in fondness as they walked down the corridor. When they reached the room filled with Warblers, Blaine was breathing properly for the first time since yesterday.

"SPY!" Jeff squealed, pointing a finger at Blaine.

"Thanks, Jeff."

Jeff beamed. "Hi."

Everyone else greeted Blaine, some of which had to give him a "tackle hug" (Nick's and Thad's reasoning). Once Blaine had greeted everyone, Thad wrapped an arm around Blaine's neck.

"So, we all have to know. Kurt. What's the dealio?," Thad said with a wicked smile, inching so close that his side was practically glued to Blaine's.

"Please don't ever say dealio again," David bemoaned, looking pained.

"Please don't even bring up your ghetto street cred. It doesn't exist," Wes shot at David.

"Like you'd know anything about it."

"Quiet, gentlemen! I want to know if Klaine is official!" Nick yelled over everyone.

All the Warblers hushed as they stared at Blaine, making him blush. "Uh, well. There's…yeah. We're…dating? Sort of?"

One of the Warblers let out an almost inhuman squeal of delight (Blaine figured it was Jeff) and then the rest started cheering, making Blaine flush all over again.

"Well done, well done," Wes said, patting him on the back.

"Get some!"

"Nice, Nick."

"You know I think it's the purest love ever."

Blaine laughed. "Okay, okay, I have to go, seriously." He stared at all of them, wishing so badly he could go out there with them, wearing that boxy blazer with pride. "Good luck."

Wes nodded, a smile on his face. "You too. You're going to do a great job."

The nerves came back when he left the room, but they weren't as desperate as before – this kind of nerves were normal pre-performance jitters.

~**~

New Directions snuck into the audience to watch their competition. The school for the elderly were amazing (Blaine actually caught Puck with tears in his eyes while watching them), but they still felt reasonably confident that they could beat them.

When the Warblers walked on stage, everyone leaned forward to look at Blaine, who tried to lower himself into the seat. Kurt placed his arm on the armrest between them, palm face up for Blaine to take, which he did gratefully.

"And now, the Dalton Academy Warblers!"

They started singing "Here Comes the Sun" as a Nick and Jeff duet, which worked very well. "Under Pressure" was David and Thad, which was incredible because those two attempted a duet last year and it didn't work at all. Just when New Directions was about to panic, Wes started "Hey Soul Sister."

Wes had an incredible voice, Blaine couldn't deny it, but –

"How can he sing about having a soul sister when he doesn't have one himself?" Finn whispered to Kurt and Puck.

– Wes just wasn't the most emotive singer.

Blaine leaned over to retort, but Kurt gave him a look. "Not the time, Blaine. You can smack him later."

"What happened to his soul?" Brittany whispered to Santana. "Did he lose it?"

Finn looked thoughtful at this, making Blaine groan low in his throat. Sometimes the members of New Directions were too crazy even for him and he was a former Warbler.

~**~

New Directions winning wasn't much of a surprise (especially with Kurt singing that last solo, giving everyone chills), but he still felt a little guilty as the trophy was passed around the piano so everyone could hold it. Kurt reached across Blaine so he could take it from Brittany, which made Blaine love Kurt even more for understanding.

"…And I, for one, am going to be happy to have Regionals and Nationals to focus on," Mr. Schue rambled, looking more subdued than he should.

"Ignore him – we're going to slack off until the week before," Kurt murmured near Blaine's ear.

Blaine pursed his lips to keep himself from laughing.

"…And I think we should celebrate the best way we know how." Mr. Schue turned to Rachel. "Rachel, how would you like that solo?"

Rachel, looking extremely upset, shook her head and deferred it to Mercedes and Tina, which surprised everyone in the room, including Blaine. Kurt and Blaine looked to each other and shrugged.

"Well, you don't have to ask me twice," Mercedes chirped with a smile.

Blaine had only listened to "Dog Days Are Over" a handful of times, so he only knew the chorus and a few lines of some verses, but it didn't seem to matter since it was the most lax rehearsal he's ever experienced. And despite feeling like part of him lost the competition, Kurt and everyone else managed to get him to smile and laugh along. At one point, even Santana pulled Blaine into a twirl (mostly so she could laugh at how she was taller than him in her ridiculously high heels, but still).

As everyone was piled together, laughing and singing, into a group hug, Blaine thought he could almost get used to this.