To say that Blaine was nervous would have been an understatement.

He was going on a date with Kurt. Kurt Hummel. Of course he was nervous. He had been thinking all day about ways to make sure he did not screw up or make a fool out of himself in front of Kurt.

Kurt was supposed to be picking him up any minute now, and Blaine was pacing around his room trying to let off some of his nervous energy. It didn’t seem to be working.

When he heard the doorbell ring he had to restrain himself from running down the stairs to get to the door. He took a deep breath before answering it, but it proved futile, because as soon as he saw Kurt all of the breath was stolen out of his lungs.

He looked positively fantastic wearing black pants with a grey shirt, a black ascot tucked neatly into the neckline, and a formfitting black waistcoat. Blaine had almost missed the fact that Kurt had said something, he was so busy taking in his appearance.

“I like your bow tie,” Kurt said as a greeting. Blaine blushed at the comment and reached up instinctively to adjust it.

“Thanks. You look amazing,” Blaine said as he stepped out onto the porch to lock the door behind himself. It was Kurt’s turn to blush at the complement.

“Thank you. You’re not too bad yourself,” He said smugly while patting Blaine’s cheek. He reached down to grab Blaine’s wrist to pull him off the porch.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said, pulling Blaine toward his car.

Kurt took him to a nice restaurant on the outskirts of Lima, just far enough away to where they would not have any undesirable encounters with anyone from school. The dinner had gone smoothly, with comfortable conversation flowing throughout the night. When the check had arrived, Blaine had reached for it, but Kurt quickly snatched it up insisting that since he had asked Blaine, that he would pay.

To Blaine, the evening was perfect so far. After they left the restaurant, Kurt told Blaine that there was a park nearby, and inquired if he would want to go for a walk. Blaine agreed, and they headed toward the park.

As they walked around the pathway that was circling a small lake, sometimes weaving in between trees, Blaine wondered what things would be like when they were in the company of their peers once again. Kurt had once told Blaine that the reason why he acted differently at school was for protection. Kurt had to act tough so no one would torment him, and Blaine understood that. But, when Monday came around, would Kurt completely ignore him and brush him off? Would he pretend like he never knew him? Would he even be rude to him to make sure no one got any bright ideas?

Kurt must have noticed the panic that Blaine was building up his head because he stopped walking and grabbed Blaine’s hand to stop him as well when Blaine was too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice.

“Sorry,” Blaine tried to laugh it off, but he was still somewhat caught up in his thoughts.

Kurt just looked at him for a moment before asking, “Blaine, what’s wrong?”

His tone was gentle, the most gentle Blaine had ever heard him be, and it made Blaine wonder again how long would that be around.

He shook his head, “I just… I keep thinking…” Blaine tried to come up with a way to approach the subject as Kurt pulled him over to a nearby park bench.

As they sat down Blaine took a deep breath and started talking.

“What is going to happen on Monday?” Kurt looked somewhat confused at the question, but Blaine kept going. “I know you said that you had to keep up a certain appearance at school so people would leave you alone, but I really like you like this, when it is just us hanging out. N-not that I don’t like you the other way too, but I just… You seem so happy and carefree outside of school, and I’m not asking you to stop keeping up appearances at school, but I was wondering what was going to happen between us when we got back around people we know. I guess I would understand if you wanted to ignore me when we are around other people, but I would just want you to tell me that now so that I could be prepared for that when it happened, and so—“

“Blaine.” Kurt cut him off, and Blaine realized that he had been rambling again.

“Sorry,” Blaine said meekly. “I guess I am just wondering what is going to happen.”

Kurt paused for a while, looking out over the lake while he pondered his answer.

After a few minutes he finally broke the silence with his answer.

“I’m not sure,” he said still looking out over the lake. Blaine visibly deflated a little at his answer, feeling a little discouraged.

Kurt, seeing the look on Blaine’s face, quickly took Blaine’s hands and back peddled.

“Oh, no no no, that’s not what I mean. Blaine, I really like you too,” at this, Blaine perked up a little more, “but you are right in that I don’t think that I can drop my appearance at school. Not only for my safety, but yours too. The jocks would treat you badly too if they found out that you and I were seeing each other. I don’t want something like that to happen to you, Blaine. I care about you too much to let that happen.”

Kurt reached up and began stroking his thumb along Blaine’s cheek bone. “I’m not going to ignore you at school either. It’s true that we won’t be able to act romantically in any way toward each other, but I’m not going to pretend like you don’t exist.”

Kurt had actively avoided Blaine during the day before to keep the jocks at bay, but now that he and Blaine were closer, he knew he couldn’t bring himself to do that anymore. He would deal with any repercussions that came about because of that, and he swore to himself, not for the first time, that he would still protect Blaine from the jocks.

“Okay,” Blaine replied, and then he grinned looking up at Kurt, “So, you like me huh?”

Kurt laughed a little, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

He leaned in to give Blaine a small kiss before he stood up and pulled Blaine with him. “I should probably take you home, it’s getting pretty late.”

As they walked back through the park to Kurt’s car, they never let go of their intertwined hands.

Kurt walked Blaine up to his porch when they got to Blaine’s house that night. Blaine paused before going inside, turning to face Kurt.

“I had fun tonight,” he said with a smile.

Kurt smiled too and replied, “Me too.”

“Do you think that I can get an opportunity to take you on a date?”

Kurt laughed, “I think that could be arranged.”

“Good.” Blaine said with a nod.

They looked at each other for a few more moments before Kurt moved forward and kissed Blaine again. It was longer than the one they had shared earlier in the evening, but still short enough to leave Blaine wanting more.

So, when Kurt pulled away, and was about to turn to leave, Blaine grabbed his hand to stop him. Kurt looked back at him questioningly, and Blaine reached behind his neck to pull him in for another kiss.

It was more drawn out this time, slow and sweet, and before either of them knew it, Blaine had backed Kurt up against the side of the porch. Their lips slid together smoothly, and Blaine was pretty sure that he would never get tired of kissing Kurt. Their kiss was deepened further when Blaine slowly slipped his tongue between Kurt’s parted lips. He heard Kurt inhale sharply, but the gesture was returned with just as much fervor as Kurt grabbed his shoulders to pull him closer.

They continued kissing deeply until they both needed air and they reluctantly pulled away.

Kurt smiled widely when he met Blaine’s eyes again, and he couldn’t help but move back in to give Blaine another kiss.

“Okay, I really should go,” Kurt said after the kiss.

“Do you have to?” Blaine whined, nuzzling against the side of Kurt’s neck, which caused Kurt to chuckle.

“Yes, I do.” He slowly pulled out of Blaine’s embrace until just their hands were cradled together.

“Goodnight, Blaine,” he gave Blaine a small kiss on the cheek and turned to leave.

 Blaine had gotten used to having Mercedes meet him in the parking lot in the mornings before school and they would walk in together, occasionally accompanied by Artie. But what Blaine wasn’t used to seeing was Kurt standing on the edge of the parking lot, chatting with Mercedes, waiting for him.

When he approached them Mercedes greeted him cheerfully, “Morning, Blaine!”

“Good Morning, Mercedes,” Blaine replied before looking over at Kurt.

The other boy gave him a timid smile before greeting him with a, “Hey.”

It was the most Kurt had ever said to him when their peers were around, and Blaine couldn’t help but smile and return it with a “Hey,” of his own.

When he looked back over to Mercedes, she was looking between the two of them with suspicious eyes. She pointed at the two of them and said, “We shall discuss this later.”

After that she promptly hooked her arm between Blaine’s and the three of them began walking toward the school.

The rest of the day passed smoothly enough, and Blaine saw Kurt more during the day. Kurt did skip one of the classes he shared with Blaine, which was no strange occurrence, but he actually walked with Blaine to one of the other ones they shared. He and Quinn even joined them for lunch in the cafeteria, whereas usually they were nowhere to be found.

By the time detention afterschool came around, Blaine figured he would be used to seeing Kurt around more. But, he was surprised when Kurt waltzed into the room and unexpectedly sat next to him at the same table.

Blaine could only stare at him for a few moments in shock before Kurt turned to him and arched an eyebrow at Blaine’s look. Blaine was reminded of their early encounters, before they knew each other, as he blushed and looked back down at his homework.

As soon as the door had clicked after Mr. Johnson had left, Mercedes and Artie were standing in front of them in a flash.

“So, you guys are finally dating, huh?” Mercedes said with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Wait, what? I—I, umm…” Blaine started to panic. He wasn’t sure if Kurt wanted to keep everything a secret or what, but Blaine hadn’t told anybody, so he didn’t want Kurt thinking that he had gone around telling everybody.

“It’s okay, Blaine. We couldn’t have kept a secret from her if we wanted to.” Kurt said as he stood up.

“Wait, where are you going?” Blaine asked. He didn’t want to be stuck alone with Mercedes and Artie. He was pretty sure they were going to interrogate him and, truth be told, he was kind of scared.

“Quinn wants to talk to me. Mercedes, be nice.” He said as he turned away to walk to where Quinn was sitting on the other side of the room.

“Oh we will,” Artie replied as he and Mercedes moved to sit in front of Blaine.

“So, are you lovebirds getting married yet?” Mercedes said casually.

“How many kids are you two going to have?” Artie said just as nonchalantly.

“Whoa whoa, what? Nothing like that is going to happen. We have only been on one date. I don’t even know if he likes me that much. I mean, yeah he told me he liked me, but I don’t know if it is enough for this to go anywhere. I mean, I really like him and care about him, and I don’t want to screw this up.”

Mercedes and Artie exchanged a look before he said, “Oh, little Blainey. How naïve thou art.”

“What are you talking about?” Blaine looked between them quizzically.

“Of course Kurt likes you that much!” Mercedes pseudo-whispered to him, so that the boy in question sitting across the room didn’t hear them.

“How do you know?” Blaine asked.

“We can just tell,” Artie answered. “We have known him long enough to see the change. He just looks more… more…”

While Artie was pondering the right word to use, Tina and Mike suddenly walked up, and Mike said, “Happy.” And then they walked off.

“Yes!” Artie said. “He just looks happier when he is around you.”

Blaine couldn’t tell that Kurt had changed around his friends at all. Sure he was different when they were alone, but he seemed to be acting the same around everybody else.

“I think you two are imagining things.” Blaine said shaking his head.

“Trust us,” Mercedes said with a smirk, “we can tell.”

Blaine looked over to Kurt who was sitting on a desk opposite Quinn as they were discussing whatever Quinn wanted to talk to him about.

Kurt and Quinn sat across from each other in silence for a while after Kurt sat down in front of her. Kurt really didn’t want to explain himself to anyone. Even Quinn.

Sure, she had been there for him when he was going through a hard time, and he would always be grateful for that, and they could be considered friends, in his mind anyway, but he still didn’t want to have to explain every detail of his reasoning behind every single one of his actions to her. She wasn’t he keeper or anything.

After a while, Quinn finally spoke. “So, you two are dating, huh?”

Kurt glared at her, “Yeah, so what of it?” he said crossing his arms.

“Whoa, there Kurtsie, a little less ice please. I’m just trying to confirm suspicions, because if you are, then Puckerman owes me ten bucks.”

“Wait, what?” Kurt relaxed a little when he slowly started to realize that he wasn’t about to have to defend his actions to Quinn.

“Puckerman owes me because he thought it would be Thanksgiving break before one of you finally cracked, but I knew you wouldn’t be able to last until the end of the month,” she explained as she looked around the room and motioning to Puck once she caught his eye.

Puck sauntered over and reluctantly slapped a ten into her open palm, mumbling about a rigged system or something or other.

When they looked over at Kurt, he was just sitting on the table giving them both blank stares.

“What?” Puck asked.

“But… but you,” Kurt stammered.

“Ah, I see,” Quinn cut him off. “You thought I was going to try to convince you that this was a bad idea and that you should cut it off immediately or try to get you to justify your actions and yadda yadda yadda, right?”

“Well, I… yeah. You almost slapped my arm off when you found out we started hanging out!” Kurt was still confused as to why she wasn’t upset with him.

“Kurt, I think it is safe to say we are friends, right?” Quinn said leaning forward in her seat, almost like it was a big secret.

Kurt nodded, “Yeah, I would say so…”

“I am just doing what friends do. I’m looking out for your best interests. I'm fairly confident that you are smart enough to know what you are doing and that you can take care of yourself. I can’t control your life. That’s up to you.” She paused momentarily to glance over to the group where Blaine was sitting.

“But I also see the way he looks at you, and I know that you feel the same way toward him. No matter if you admit it or not.” she said reaching over and poking him in the shoulder. Kurt laughed a little bit at the action.

“Yeah, dude. You should date whoever the hell you want,” Puck said, while trying to snatch back the ten from Quinn’s hand. “You like him, he likes you. Simple as that.”

Kurt sighed, “I wish it were that simple.”

Quinn pushed Puck’s head away, causing him to stumble back a few steps. “Are you worried about the jocks?” she asked as she put the money in her pocket.

Kurt nodded. He couldn’t help but worry for Blaine’s safety in this whole thing. He didn’t think he could live with himself if anything bad happened to him.

Puck clapped him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it man. Things will be alright,” he said before walking away back over to the other group.

Kurt found himself transfixed with the sight of Blaine chatting casually with everyone in the group, the way he seemed to fit in with their group, like a puzzle piece that was meant to be there the whole time.

“Quinn,” he whispered, almost at a loss for breath. She didn’t respond, but he knew she was listening, and he continued in the same soft whisper, “I think I’m falling in love with him…”

There was silence between them for a few minutes before Quinn replied, “I don’t see why you shouldn’t.”