Kurt has been eyeing Blaine across the room for the last five minutes.

His boyfriend is talking animatedly to Rachel, and they are bringing their heads together close, again and again. When that really is so not necessary, because the music rippling leisurely from the speakers isn't that loud.

Curious, Kurt thinks and narrows his eyes at them.

"Soft, so soft..." Brittany, who has sat down next to Kurt on the couch, has pulled his hand onto her lap and started drawing shapes into his palm, contentedly muttering to herself.

Kurt isn't really paying attention.

He and Blaine had agreed to give Rachel's second attempt at a party a chance, and Blaine was blabbering exhilaratedly during the whole drive here.

It is some days after school has ended for the summer, and Rachel's idea was to bring them together once more, before they'd all scatter to pursue their respective holiday projects or trips. The entire Glee club is here, except for Quinn, Puck and Lauren, who had plans already.

So now they are all sitting in Rachel's basement once more, and you can't really call it a party, but it's nice, there's music and no hard alcohol this time, but they are talking. It is nice.

Brittany shifts beside Kurt. "I really hope we'll be playing spin the bottle again later, I so gotta make out with Blaine this time..."

That has Kurt jerking towards her, getting his attention after all.

"Brittany, what are you talking about?"

She shrugs innocently: "What? I think he is really cute."

Kurt raises his eyebrows, but there is no heat in his tone.

"Yeah, he is, and may I remind you, he is actually taken." He tries to pull his hand out of hers to accentuate his point, but she holds on to it, painting patterns again.

"Oh, that didn't stop the guys last time."

Kurt silently shakes his head at her, and she looks up to grin at him, then resumes to draw a heart into his palm. And Kurt indulges her.

Yet, when he turns his head towards the far end of the room again, Blaine and Rachel are gone.

Kurt quickly scans the other corners for them but all he finds is Finn, getting out of the door as well, probably after them. This keeps getting stranger and stranger.

Kurt takes a deep breath and actually debates going after them, too, just to see what they're up to.

But before he can make up his mind, the door opens, and Finn comes in again, carrying a keyboard under his arm. Behind him, there's Blaine with the rack for the instrument. And then Rachel, with a small chair and a big grin on her face.

Kurt blows the breath out of his nose. So a performance is on. Are Rachel and Blaine going to sing? Another duet, maybe? Kurt's brow furrows. And, why they keyboard, why don't they use the piano on the wall at the side of the stage? Kurt watches the trio put up the instrument.

And then it dawns on him. This room isn't really arranged in a way to give the pianist more credit or spotlight than an ordinary piece of furniture. And it makes sense, Kurt muses, he's at Rachel's after all. He can just imagine what must usually be going down in here, the piano playing never rising up to be more than the mere accompaniment to her solos.

Now they are positioning a single microphone center stage adjusting it over the keyboard. So this must mean that the pianist will be the singer as well. And then it clicks. Oh. Oh!

Kurt sits up straighter in his seat and already Rachel comes over to turn off the music.

She claps once excitedly to get everybody's attention, then turns to Blaine to indicate that he should take over, and she moves to the side, sitting down on the piano stool at the wall and grinning to herself in anticipation. Finn joins her, and now all eyes are on Blaine, who remains the only one on stage.

And he actually shuffles a little nervously before he starts with a grin, sitting down behind the keyboard.

"So, hey everyone." He speaks into the mic, testing, and his voice fills the room. "Oh, wow. Okay." He throws a glance around the room, looking at expectant faces.

"Right. So, Kurt has sung me this song recently, and I kind of thought this might be my chance to return the favour." Kurt feels his cheeks heating up already. That was fast. And way to go at that prospect, he thinks to himself, palming his face a little with the hand Brittany is not holding.

Blaine adds in a softer tone: "And from what Finn has told me this might actually be the perfect setting for this, rectification and stuff." Some expressions he is faced with must have turned quizzical because he hurries to continue.

"So, anyway, this is the perfect place." He switches the keyboard on, then mutters as an afterthought, and Kurt thinks he actually sees him blushing a little: "Except that there are way too many people in this room for this..."

Kurt freezes. What is that supposed to mean?

Santana rises from her seat: "Oh, come on, Blaine, honey, no need to get shy now, not with us!" She doesn't add 'after all we've been through' but lifts her hand with a bottle offering in his direction: "Wine cooler for courage?"

Blaine looks for a moment as if he is actually considering it. Kurt slumps a little on the couch, suddenly dreading what kind of performance could make Blaine - Warbler-lead-soloist-I-was-born-on-a-stage-Blaine - nervous enough to debate giving himself liquid courage. This cannot be ending well.

"No, thanks, I think I'm fine." Blaine lowers his eyes in another smile and Kurt relaxes a little. Not much, though.

Blaine addresses his audience again:

"So. Okay. You all probably know how I love Katy Perry's songs, and since Kurt and I have a history with her music, I thought we could have a little full circle moment here..."

"You had me at 'skin tight jeans'!" Kurt has tilted his chin up and his voice carrying through the room, recovering shortly from the anticipating tension that fills him. He couldn't resist. Not then, and not now, not ever. Santana whoops and claps and Blaine's rewarding grin is precious. Then Blaine braces himself and goes on.

"Okay, be that as it may..." - A whistle from Brittany next to Kurt and Kurt almost jumps - "... now I've come to choose another one of her songs, and wrote some new lyrics to it. So without much further ado, you know the one, this is 'firework'."

Blaine gestures to Finn, and Kurt notices the small boom box at his step-brother's ankles. Blaine speaks into the mic again. "Oh, yes, Finn has actually helped me with that, so thanks, man, really, I appreciate it..."

Okay, now this doesn't do much to calm Kurt's nerves and he is sure his eyes display it. Blaine must have seen, because he clarifies laughing softly. "Because after all this song really needed a BEAT!" He grins at the room and at some cheers from Mike, and then blinks warmly at Kurt.

"Yeah, and since we couldn't fit my drums into this room..." Finn voice fills in helpfully from the side, and Kurt glances over to him, watches how he checks with Blaine, and at the latter's affirmative smile presses the button for start.

Kurt takes in a deep breath.

When the beat begins, Blaine nods once more to Kurt, never breaking their gaze.

"So, of course, Kurt, this is for you."

And then he starts to tickle the ivories with the first chords, warming up to the rhythm.

Kurt braces himself against that fuzzy laughing feeling welling up inside that just won't let him sit still. He pulls his hand away from Brittany to intertwine his fingers before his body rubbing at them tensely.

And then Blaine starts to sing:

"I know I said I would write a song about

how your lips they make

me wanna sing out loud."

He grins at Kurt who can only stare, jaw dropped.

"I know I said I would praise the way you kiss,

how you make me melt

with all that perfect bliss."

Kurt feels his hands coming up to his burning cheeks, avoiding to look at anyone but Blaine. And Blaine kicks it up a notch:

"I know I said I would do all the things above,

and they are still all true,

but something yet has changed, oh love.

You see, your brother's shown me this video

where you're a Cheerio..."

Kurt's face falls, and he throws an exasperated look to Finn, while the grin spreads around Blaine's voice leaping smoothly to the bridge:

"And now I gotta say the way

you had them sway...

I love your lips,

but this song's for your... hips!"

He plunges into the chorus:

Cause baby if those hips don't lie,

just come here baby don't be shy.

Let's see what they can do-o-o..."

And Blaine is actually laughing the next line, probably at Kurt's colour, or his impossibly wide eyes.

"Babe, I just wanna dance with you-ou-ou!"

Blaine repeats the chorus, now blushing himself, and only able to pull off the lyrics, Kurt assumes, because he overdoes them, with that self-ironic twinkle in his eyes and grinning at Santana's and Mercedes' shouts and whistles.

"'Cause baby if those hips don't lie,

wave my sanity goodbye.

Moving to the be-e-eat

babe you're turning up the he-e-eat..."

Blaine takes a deep breath and searches to meet Kurt's eyes before he continues, own eyes sparkling.

"And then your brother showed me another one:

You were dancing to

a Beyoncé song.

And at this video I had to swallow hard,

'cause babe, I never knew

that you own a unitard."

Kurt realizes only faintly, that he has his hands in his face. If to hide the flush in his cheeks, a hopeless endeavour by the way, or to stifle his laughter, he doesn't know. Or care right now, as Blaine puts even more verve into his voice:

"And I will not be told that I have missed my chance

to tell you just how much

I really liked that little dance.

And if to prove my words you want a ring from me..."

And for a moment Blaine abruptly stops his piano playing to bring up his hands and point at the ring finger of his left.

"You'll get the jewellery..."

And he actually does the little tilt of the head, that accompanied the ring-gesture when Kurt used it in his performance, and the room breaks into cheers, while Blaine's hands return to the keys and he finds his way back into the melody like nothing had interrupted, grinning.

"For each finger a ring, all bling...

Now hear me sing:

The way you dance,

babe, I don't stand a chance..."

And by now the rack of the keyboard shakes under the enthusiasm of Blaine's playing and the impact of the chords, and Kurt loves that, loves how Blaine gets into his performances like that and gives them his all.

"'Cause baby if those hips don't lie,

yes, wave my self-control goodbye!"

Brittany grabs Kurt's hand again, and jumps up, trying to tug him along, already dancing, and Mercedes is up as well and making her way to the stage, beckoning Kurt to get up and join them. Kurt leans his weight against them, certain his face is redder than ever.

"You move to the be-e-eat,

and you're turning up the he-e-eat".

And then Kurt just lets himself be dragged.

"And baby if those hips don't lie

Come over here now don't be shy..."

Kurt steps up on the stage, more pushed and pulled than walking, but he is laughing.

"Show what you can do-o-o-o..."

He makes a show of raising his hands delicately and rocking his head from side to side in a mock little kind of dance, hips only nudging once against Blaine on his chair.

"I just wanna dance with you-ou-ou..."

Blaine is beaming at Kurt and actually rises a little from his chair while playing. Tina, Santana, Rachel and Mike have joined in the commotion on the stage or in front of it, singing along to the oos of the last syllables.

Through it all, Blaine searches Kurt's eyes as if to make a point:

"Boom, boom, boom, even in a crowded room, room, room,

baby, all l see is you, you, you.

Oh, believe me cause it's true-ue-ue..."

Blaine changes the chorus for the finale, smile wider than ever:

"No reason ever to be shy,

now please don't leave me high and dry...

Work them to that be-e-eat.

Until we all can feel the he-e-eat..."

By now Tina and Brittany have Kurt pinned between them, a dancing girl to his every side and at last he falters, then joins in to their movements good-naturedly, toning them down a little, even if it still brings another blush to his face, from all the laughter.

"Babe, you got me soaring high...

Like a rocket through the sky I fly...

When I see what they can do-o-o,

It makes me wanna dance with you-ou-ou..."

They all are rather jumping than dancing, and singing along loudly and Kurt thinks it's chaotic and just perfect.

"Boom, boom, boom, you send me right over the moon, moon, moon...

Boom, boom, boom, come on, let's shake that room, room, room"

The song ends in a deafening mix of laughter, claps and cheers. Brittany and Tina push Kurt towards Blaine, and he stumbles and catches himself in a hug, embracing his boyfriend's neck from behind, and burying his grin in Blaine's shoulder.

"You're crazy, you know that?" Blaine tries to turn in the circle of Kurt's arms. "As long as that means that you liked it..." Kurt lifts his head to meet Blaine's eyes and smiles with all that he has.

Then he actually becomes aware that all eyes in the room are on them, even if some of the girls are still singing looped chants of boom, boom, boom mixed with chuckles. Kurt falters a little, blushes some more and loosens the embrace, reaching for Blaine's hand instead.

Thankfully Rachel picks that moment to grab the microphone and squeal into it:

"So, now that we got this party started, who's next, who's next?"

Santana's and Brittany's hands shoot up, and Mercedes shouts: "Yeah, bring out the karaoke machine!" and then the room is filled with chattering and random yelling of song choices.

Kurt uses that distraction to drag Blaine off the stage out of the spotlight to the couch, hands clasping tight on each other's and shoulders brushing, leaning in and nudging.

They are beaming at each other.

When they sit down, Sam actually gets up from the couch to give them some space and join the others.

"So, one thing before we go on..." Kurt turns to Blaine even further in an impulse. "What did you mean, when you said, you know, that thing about rectification?"

Blaine cocks his head at Kurt. "Oh, you know, something like atonement, redemption, retrieval..." Kurt cuts him short with an amused snort:

"Blaine, I know what it means, but what were you getting at?"

Blaine leans his head back a little and a slow smile lights up his features.

"Well, Finn told me you were trying to impress me with your dancing that night of Rachel's first party, and 'though I was a little out of it then, I needed to let you know that this plan worked out eventually."

Kurt blinks. "Oh." Then: "Yeah, that makes sense." They both acknowledge the statement with a grin and a blush on Kurt's part.

They take in a breath and let their eyes lock, and the moment stretches.

"So." Kurt snickers quietly, then has something in his expression shift again, making Blaine sit up a little straighter.

Kurt smiles. "That Single Ladies performance that you saw..." Blaine lifts his eyebrows, corners of his mouth going up as well, but Kurt doesn't waver:

"I looked like a baby back then. I was a baby actually."

Blaine's grin becomes a warm smile and he tilts his head to the side.

"Kurt, it was only last year..."

Kurt shrugs. "Still. But anyway, what I wanted to say: There is an updated version of that performance, not on tape, though, but if you're interested..."

He's made his tone nonchalant, and sees Blaine's eyes spark up. Kurt continues matter-of-factly:

"Well, the moves are mostly the same, but I skipped something..." He meets Blaine's gaze full on. "The baby penguin attitude, that is."

Blaine's eyes grow wider, prompting Kurt to go on.

"So... I could ask Tina and Brittany to back me up, and we could take that stage..."

He inclines his head towards the center of the room, where Rachel is about to move the keyboard away. Blaine lips jerk into another anticipatory smile.

"Or..." Kurt draws out the syllable, but makes his voice light as a shrug for the following:

"Or you could have a private performance." At that Blaine's thumb on Kurt's hand comes to a halt in its ongoing caress. And Blaine doesn't seem to be breathing for a moment.

Kurt squirms in glory on the inside.

Blaine swallows before his voice comes out a little hoarse: "I think I'll go with the private one."

Kurt chuckles, and he almost doesn't recognize his own voice. "Good choice." Then he renews his grip on Blaine's hand and is actually already standing, when Blaine falters:

"What, wait, Kurt... now? We can't just..." But Kurt just keeps dragging him up and across the room, laughing softly:

"Oh, yes, we can." Kurt doesn't know if Blaine wanted to protest some more, but he keeps on leading the way and shouts out loudly to the others:

"Goodnight, guys, we have to go." He doesn't even bother with an excuse. After that song, let them think what they want anyway.

There's laughter in the room, only Rachel is piping up: "But I was just about to give a brilliant rendition of...", when Mercedes shushes her and Santana's cheer finally drowns out both their voices.

Blaine's hand holds tighter onto Kurt's and when Kurt glances back, his boyfriend's face is beet red.

Kurt can't stifle a grin as he keeps on pulling him up the stairs.

He knows he will probably blush himself, and feel a little strange, dancing for Blaine alone, without the comforting setting of a stage and his well-loved background dancers.

But he will go through with it. Maybe he'll even wear the unitard, and make a complete show of it, make fun of it on the surface, but still give Blaine those looks that he knows will work in his favour.

Tongue in cheek, and yet full of purpose and confidence, despite all the self-consciousness.

It is still early, so that means they'll have a good hour of quality make out time afterwards, before Burt will knock at Kurt's door and tell Blaine it's time to drive home.

Maybe his dad would even agree to let Blaine sleep over in the guest room, and that would give them another hour or so.

Kurt is grinning to himself at the prospect. He glances back one more time, and Blaine's skin tone still hasn't changed as he is stumbling behind Kurt. Kurt laughs.

Oh, his boyfriend is so in for it.