Blaine felt better after boxing, he always did. Some of his anger and bitterness over having a new roommate ebbed away and he started feeling bad about his treatment of Kurt. The last thing a new kid needed was someone groaning over having classes together. Blaine would have to be nice to him. Well… nicer.

But being nice seemed to be the last thing on the other boy’s mind. Kurt walked around swearing almost every other sentence and even though Blaine didn’t have any classes with Kurt after lunch 4th hour, he still felt as though he had heard more profanity today than in the last month combined.

It was after gym that Blaine had come up with his philosophy to be nicer to Kurt. He had felt glum as he watched Kurt eat lunch by himself. Puck had kept on trying to urge him to come eat lunch at their table but Kurt had waved him off each time. 

Blaine wondered if it was because Kurt wanted to eat lunch alone or if it was that their table consisted of the 16 Glee kids. It was the biggest table in the lunchroom so it still had plenty of room for one more, but the people inhabiting it were loud, obnoxious, nosy, and everything in between.

Blaine still was amazed at how deeply singing brought people together. If someone had told Blaine his freshman year that he would soon be good friends with people like Noah Puckerman, Finn Hudson, or Sam Evans he wouldn’t have believed them.

But here he was.

And there Kurt was. Sitting alone. Blaine couldn’t help but feel worse every time he saw or thought about it. Blaine knew how that felt. After Blaine had come out in middle school, he had sat alone. The first two months of freshman year before he worked up the courage to join Glee, Blaine had sat alone. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t nice, and nobody deserved it.

There isn’t anything you can do about it now though is there? Blaine reminded himself for what felt like the 20th time in the last three hours. He had sat through Honors Biology, World History, and Musical Composition feeling depressed and now he was on a course to feel bad about it until it was resolved.

“Blaine.” Trey sing-songed waving, his hand in front of Blaine’s face. “Stop daydreaming and do your job.”

“Ya,” Aric added in, “What are we paying you for?”

Blaine grinned and said, “You aren’t paying me.”

“Oh really?” Trey asked, “I thought basking in our amazing awesomeness is a payment in itself.”

“It’s not.” Blaine said amusedly as he looked back down at the math review he was supposed to help them with for their Geometry test tomorrow. Even though Blaine had taken Geometry in 8th grade, he still knew the material pretty well.

When he had agreed to do tutoring an hour a day after school he hadn’t expected to be assigned to two people, much less the Greyston boys. Trey and Aric were tall, gangly, black-haired, pale-skinned twins that would be impossible to tell apart had it not been for a skate-boarding accident that left a large pink scar across Trey’s forehead. 

They also bickered like cats and dogs. All the time.

 Blaine knew them well enough since they had joined Glee club as freshman Blaine’s sophomore year, but he hadn’t looked forward to tutoring them.

After two days of constant squabbling and getting absolutely no work done Blaine had threatened not to tutor them anymore unless they agreed not to bicker for an hour. Surprisingly, they had bitterly agreed. 

Aric and Trey were known as the best hitters and pitchers the McKinley baseball team had ever seen, and their parents were proud of that. What they weren’t proud of was their sons’ C average at the end of last year, and had insisted they get tutored throughout their sophomore year. 

They needed Blaine and they knew it.

“We still don’t get this,” Trey said pointing to two similar triangles on the review sheet.

“You said you did last week!” Blaine said loudly, surprised.

“We lied.” Aric said sheepishly.

Blaine sighed, “You guys need to tell me when you don’t understand something or I can’t help! This is the fourth time this has happened.”

“Sorry.” They both said at the same time.

“Just don’t do it again.” Blaine said with a wave of his hand. “Alright, so, similar triangles…” Blaine pulled out a piece of loose leaf, drawing triangles as he explained the concepts to them, then worked them through an example problem. 

The rest of the tutoring session flew by as Blaine slowly worked their way down the review sheet. At the end of the hour they had successfully covered everything the twins didn’t understand.

“You just need to study these notes and your quizzes and you should be fine for the test tomorrow.” Blaine said sliding over a stack of papers.

“Thanks Blaine.” Aric said, taking the papers and stowing them away in his backpack.

“Hey!” Trey said, “Did you ever think I wanted to hold onto the review material?”

“You’ll lose it.” Aric snapped back.

“I will not!” 

“Well you did the last time!” 

“No I didn’t that. That was you!”

“Prove it!”

“I can’t!”

“Then shut your big ugly face!”

Blaine sighed but couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face. If there was anything amusing about the Greyston twins’ frequent arguments, it was that they always insulted the other’s appearance. And since they were identical…

“I have to go. See you guys in Glee.” Blaine said, getting up to leave. Practice was in 20 minutes and he still had to drop off his things at his dorm and meet up with Artie so he could help him up the stairs to the choir room.

“Now look what you did!” Trey yelled, “You scared Blaine off!”

“That was both of us you idiot!” Aric snapped back.

“Hey! Don’t call me names!”

“Why not? They are true…”

“Are not!”

“Are.”

“Aren’t.”

Blaine shook his head as he left the library, wondering how long it would take the librarian to shut them up this time. 

Blaine glanced at his clock again and felt another pang of worry shoot through him. It was 9:47pm, he hadn’t seen a sign of Kurt since lunch 4th hour, and curfew was in 13 minutes.

Blaine had long ago finished his homework and had buried himself into A Tale of Two Cities as a distraction, but it hadn’t helped much.

Blaine got up and started pacing. Did Kurt not know about the curfew? What if Kurt had run away? Or maybe had something happened to him? What if-

Ring! Ring! Ring!

 Blaine shrieked and jumped a foot in the air as the dorm telephone went off loudly. 

McKinley didn’t allow their students to have cell phone, though most of them used an IPod to text anyway. They were allowed to use their dorm phone at any time though, just with the chance of someone in the school office listening in.

Blaine looked at the phone in shock. He had barely ever used it. He and the Glee guys had used to order pizza like twice, and none of the other students called his dorm unless he wasn’t answering their text messages and he had his IPod on full volume in his pocket.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Blaine hesitantly picked it up. “Hello?”

“Oh thank God!” A gruff voice said across the line.

“Who is this?” Blaine asked.

“Is Kurt there?” The man asked, ignoring Blaine’s question. Then he added, “I’m his father.”

“Oh,” Blaine said. “No he isn’t here. I don’t know where he is. Sorry, Mr. Hummel.”

“I swear if he ran off…” Kurt’s dad mumbled under his breath. “Wait. Who is this?”

“I’m Blaine. Kurt’s roommate.” Blaine said hesitantly.

“Kurt’s roommate? They gave him a roommate? Even when… Is he being nice to you?” Kurt’s father asked.

“Ummm…” Blaine pondered, thinking back, “I guess.”

He heard Kurt’s father give a tired sigh, “That’s a no huh?”

Blaine shrugged, “He could be worse.”

“He could be better. He is better.” Mr. Hummel replied back sadly.

Blaine didn’t know what to say to that, so he remained silent.

The silence stretched on for what seemed like forever. Blaine thought for a moment that Kurt’s father had hung up, but he could still here him breathing.

Mr., Hummel finally broke the silence, “Did Kurt leave his phone?”

“No.” Blaine said, “We aren’t allowed to have cellphones.”

“Why not?” Kurt’s father asked angrily. “I must have called the thing damn twenty times!”

“I don’t know, Mr. Hummel.” Blaine replied, “But we are allowed to use IPods for texting and our dorm phone anytime we want though.”

“Well that’s something I guess.” Mr. Hummel said sourly. “I gave the darn kid his IPod. Does he have it with him or is it on his nightstand?”

Blaine glanced over to Kurt’s side of the room to see the black object sitting there charging. He wondered how Mr. Hummel knew it would be there... His own father wouldn’t have cared or even noticed.

“It's on the nightstand.” Blaine said.

“Good. Can you grab it and give me his number?” Mr. Hummel asked hopefully.

“I don’t want to touch Kurt’s things without-“ Blaine stopped midsentence. This was Kurt’s father. He had given him permission, but he would rather face this man’s anger over the phone than Kurt’s anger when or if he came back.

“Don’t worry Blaine,” Mr. Hummel said. “I’ll tell Kurt that I told you to do it. He wouldn’t do anything to you anyway. I just want to be able to talk to my own kid… please.” He added when Blaine didn’t say anything.

“Okay.” Blaine said. Setting down the phone to go grab Kurt’s IPod since the cord wasn’t long enough to go across the entire room. Blaine quickly walked back to the phone, looking at the time as he did so. 9:53 pm, Kurt only had 7 minutes…

“Alright.” Blaine said as he picked up the phone. “I got it.” Blaine tapped the screen and said, “Drat. It’s locked…”

“Try Lisa.” Burt said immediately and Blaine typed in 5-4-7-2. It worked.

“How did you know that?” Blaine asked in wonderment.

“I know my son.” Mr. Hummel said fondly. “Anyway, could you please send me a text message from his phone?”

Blaine quickly opened up Textfree on Kurt’s IPod and asked Mr. Hummel his number. Adding the contact “Dad” to Kurt’s phone after he was finished. Then sending a “Hi” to Mr. Hummel.

Blaine heard a cellphone chime on the other line and Kurt’s father said, “Thank you Blaine. Tell Kurt I called okay? And to call me back?”

“I will Mr. Hummel.” Blaine said shyly. “Umm.. Bye?”

Kurt’s father laughed and said, “Goodbye Blaine.”

Blaine hung up the phone stared it for a few seconds. Kurt’s father seemed nice. Like really, really nice. 

Kurt only had five minutes left and Blaine realized he was probably planning to miss curfew on purpose. Kurt had been late to all the classes he had with Blaine… Maybe he wanted the detention he would get.

Blaine searched his mind for a plan and went into action. He ran into the bathroom and turned on the shower, then moved his IPod dock onto the sink counter and turned on his “Angry” playlist. As My Chemical Romance blared through the bathroom Blaine shut the door and ran back to his bed.

He held A Tale of Two Cities shakily in two hands as he waited for Josh, their dorm monitor, to check in at 10 to make sure both he and Kurt where there.

After a few minutes, there was a sharp rap on the door and Josh stepped in, scanning the room.

“Kurt’s in the shower.” Blaine said, hoping he sounded annoyed, “I don’t know why he wants to play that crap though, I told him you were coming soon.”

Blaine got up and pounded on the bathroom door, “Kurt! Josh is here!”

Blaine waited for a response that he knew wouldn’t come before he turned around and said, “I’m sorry. He is so… He’s so…”

“Its alright Blaine.” Josh said, making a note on his clipboard as he turned around and left the room. As soon as the door shut Blaine let out a relieved sigh and slid down to the floor. 

He had just lied to his dorm monitor. He had lied to a teacher for the first time in his life. And it was all Kurt’s fault.

Blaine wasn’t even sure why he covered for him when he knew Kurt was doing it on purpose, but it was done.

 He sighed as he pulled out his pajama pants and went into the bathroom. He stripped and stepped into the already steaming shower, turning the heat down a little.

My Chemical Romance was still resounding off the tiles, filling the room with too much noise. Blaine shrugged off the slight pain in his ears, too lazy to go turn it down. 

Whoa yeah!

They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me…

Well, that’s a bit true Blaine mused. Kurt was definitely scaring him and now Blaine was scaring himself too.

He spent a long time in the shower, enveloping himself in the strong peppermint smell of his body wash and the pine needle smell of his shampoo as he tried to calm himself down.

He finally stepped out of the shower, pulled on his pajama pants, and quickly brushed his hair. Not that it did much. His hair was already curling and on its way to being unruly from the minute he had been out of the shower.

Blaine chuckled as he brushed his teeth, his hair used to be the only thing he couldn’t control and now he had an unpredictable roommate that seemed bent on making an ass of himself and getting in trouble. 

Now his hair was the least of his worries.

He threw his dirty clothes into the hamper in the corner, hung up his towel, turned off the music, and left the bathroom.

He froze the instant he saw Kurt lying on his bed next to his Clac book, his head buried in his math notebook and scribbling away as fast as he had that morning.

Kurt looked up at him and his eyes widened slightly, then a dark look entered them that made Blaine nervous. It disappeared and Kurt looked down again and said, “Put a shirt on would you?”

Blaine yelped and he felt his face reddening as he rummaged through his drawers and found a blue undershirt, quickly slipping it on. After he got over his embarrassment Blaine turned around and asked, “Where were you?”

Kurt shrugged and said, “The library.”

“Don’t lie to me.” Blaine snapped. He’d been in the library until 8.

“What’s it to you anyway?” Kurt asked sharply.

“You missed curfew!”

“So what?”

“Why are you so hell set on getting a detention?”

“Why do you care?”

“Why don’t you?” Blaine shouted, and then buried his head in his hands. They were starting to sound like Trey and Aric…

Kurt didn’t say anything. He just glared angrily at Blaine before he started working on his math homework again.

Blaine sighed angrily as he threw himself down onto his bed. “Oh ya, your dad called.”

“When?” Kurt asked immediately.

“When you were at the library.” Blaine said making air quotes when he said the word “library.”

“What did you tell him?” Kurt asked, sounding concerned.

“That you weren’t here.” Blaine said, and then gathered up his courage and continued, “He sounded worried about you.”

“Ya… well.” Kurt said awkwardly, “Dads do that.”

Mine doesn’t. Blaine said to himself.

“What else did he say?” Kurt asked, trying to sound casual, but Blaine caught the concern in his voice.

“He was mad that McKinley doesn’t allow cellphones and I gave him your IPod number.” Blaine said gesturing to where Kurt’s IPod was sitting next to the dorm phone.

“How do you know my number?” Kurt asked.

“I don’t,” Blaine said, “I just sent him a text from your IPod.”

“How did you get into my IPod?” Kurt asked, sounding suspicious.

“Who is Lisa?” Blaine asked, sitting up to look at Kurt.

Kurt’s face immediately softened and he said, “My mother.” Then he shook his head, seemingly angry with himself and asked, “How did you know my password?”

“Your dad told me.” Blaine said. “You should call him.”

“Why?” Kurt asked throwing his pencil down angrily. “Why do you care?”

Blaine took a deep breath and laid back down before he said truthfully, “I don’t know… I just do. It…” Kurt was quiet as Blaine searched for words, “It hurts me. You know? To be mean or rude or apathetic… “ 

There was a long silence in the room before Blaine continued, “But he asked me to tell you to call him, so… you should.” Blaine grabbed A Tale of Two Cities from his nightstand and began reading again, trying to ignore the feeling of Kurt’s gaze. 

Kurt didn’t do or say anything for a long time, then he suddenly got out of bed and walked over to the dorm phone. He quickly dialed a number and pocketed his IPod, ignoring Blaine completely.

“Yes dad, it’s me.” Kurt said.

“Yes, he is still here.”

“Just sitting on his bed…” Kurt said glancing over to Blaine uncomfortably.

“What kind of question is that? He can hear me you know! ” Kurt asked loudly, his voice cracking.

There was a long silence as Kurt listened to something his father said.

“I don’t know.”

“No really dad, I-“

“Okay fine! Yes! He is! Happy?” Kurt shouted angrily.

“Oh of course dad. I am just going to get in his bed right now and-“ Kurt stopped speaking and looked over at Blaine in nervously, but Blaine had already made the connection.

“Did your dad just ask if I-?” Blaine asked, shocked. How in the world could Mr. Hummel have known that after just one phone conversation? 

Kurt glared daggers at Blaine and he shrunk back into his pillow.

“Dad, can we talk about this later?”

“Okay. Love you too.”

“Bye.”

Kurt hung up the phone and quickly said, “Yes, my dad asked of you were gay. He is worried that I will steal into your bed or something and steal your virginity.”

Blaine gasped and his face automatically turned a deep shade of red. Kurt laughed at him and said, “You are such a prude Blaine. Calm down. I was joking.”

Blaine felt his face get even redder and he mumbled, “I am not a prude.”

“Oh really?” Kurt said sarcastically as he laid back down on his bed, “Let us test that theory shall we?”

 Blaine shifted uncomfortably and Kurt smirked at him, “Say… umm…” Kurt rubbed his chin in mock consideration. “Say cock.”

“What?” Blaine asked.

“Say cock, Blaine.” Kurt said, looking at him intently.

Blaine took a deep breath, searching for courage, then chickened out and said, “No thanks.”

“No thanks?” Kurt said mockingly, “You’re a prude and you’re polite. Your parents must love you.”

Blaine didn’t say anything; he just buried his head into his book. His parents loved him? He shook his head. Hardly.

The room was filled with the sound of Kurt’s pencil and Blaine’s turning pages for an hour or so before Blaine turned off the lamp on his side of the room and tried to sleep.

After about half an hour of trying to sleep Blaine turned to Kurt and asked, “Could you turn off the overhead light?”

“Oh, sorry,” Kurt said, crawling over to the end of his bed and flicking off the light switch. Now Kurt's lamp was the only light still on, casting shadows across the room.

Wow. He apologized. That’s new. Blaine grinned into his pillow, hoping it was some kind of progress.Then he looked towards the other boy and said, “Oh, and Kurt?”

“Ya?” Kurt asked, looking up.

“Co-ck.” Blaine said slow and suggestive, empathizing each syllable, both surprised and scandalized at his own nerve.

And Kurt’s quick intake of breath and completely shocked face was the last thing Blaine saw before rolling towards the wall and closing his eyes, sleep finally coming.