Then those weeks turned into months, New Directions managed to win at Regionals but lost at Nationals, and suddenly it was summer again. Kurt's senior year of high school was fast approaching and luckily the prospect of finding and applying to the best colleges for him offered a decent enough distraction. He knew he wanted to go to New York, studying the performing arts and hopefully fashion. Rachel was intent on attending school in New York as well so she and Kurt spent plenty of time together discussing their options.

Kurt was sad Mercedes was not planning on moving to New York as well, but they had promised to keep in touch no matter what. Their friendship had been a bit strained for a while, Mercedes disagreeing with his resolve to just forget about Blaine again. She had been quite vocal about it until Kurt had snapped at her one too many times. It had felt like ages but soon they had reached an agreement just to not mention Blaine again, and that had been that. Neither of them had wanted to ruin their friendship over that whole mess.

It was at the start of his senior year that Kurt found the best distraction yet. And his name was Mitch Stewart.

Mitch was a few inches taller than Kurt, had short black hair, green eyes, and was slightly tanned. He was new to McKinley, having transferred there for his senior year after having moved with his parents to Lima, Ohio from Louisiana.

No, Mitch had definitely not given off the 'hey, I'm gay' vibe at first, but it had not taken long for the glee kids to start to wonder; especially after how his first day in glee club had gone and the way he had acted around Kurt during his audition performance.

Kurt had gotten to the first meeting of glee club for the year early. He took a seat in the first row of chairs - the ones on the floor instead of the risers - and immediately pulled out his phone, zipping through pages on and a few other clothing sites. It was his senior year after all and he planned on going all out with his wardrobe. He was almost completely unaware as his fellow glee clubbers flowed into the room, chatting about this and that.

"I still can't believe you manage to never get caught for having your phone out during school." Santana commented as she passed Kurt on her way to a chair up on the second row. Brittany followed right behind to sit next to her, pulling her own phone out to text Santana about how pretty she looked that day.

"Brittany, phone away please." Mr. Schuester came strolling into the room, setting his bag down on top of the piano and pulling out some papers.

"See what I mean?" Santana remarked quietly to Kurt.

"Well, being the gay social outcast of the school has had its advantages over the past few years." Kurt shrugged, going back to looking down at his phone. After all, it was not only the students at McKinley who had done a lot of ignoring when it came to Kurt. Even some of the teachers had shown their dislike towards him, or just plain ignored him; which meant he could get away with quite a bit more than most of his fellow classmates. Then again, Mr. Schuester did tell him to put his phone away on occasion, but usually the teacher seemed quite oblivious.

"Alright, guys. This is our big year, I can feel it!" The kids just about collectively groaned at that. Mr. Schuester said that every year and, honestly, after their devastating loss the past year, they just were not feeling it this time around. Their teacher noticed their lack of enthusiasm and sighed. "Come on! Cheer up. We may have lost last year pretty badly-"

"More like crushed." Mercedes tossed in.

"-but we'll get another chance this year and we're going to be better than ever." Mr. Schuester finished. "We're just going to spend more time preparing earlier than normal and I've been thinking we'll try some different combinations of music, maybe some more original songs..."

"And no more Journey." Kurt commented from his chair, still not looking up from his phone. The rest of New Directions laughed around him.

Mr. Schuester threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine! I promise, no Journey this year. Now, I have an idea for a duet competition to start the year off, so let's get started and then-"

There was a knock on the door and Mr. Schuester turned his head to see a tall boy standing in the doorway. The other kids looked over as well, curious as to whom the newcomer was.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm new to this school and I saw your sign about the glee club needing some more members and wondered if I could try out." The boy's voice was heavy with a southern accent and sounded full of confidence, yet there was a slight hesitation in the way he asked about whether he could try out or not. As if he was unsure he was allowed to just walk in like he had and asked.

Mr. Schuester looked like he was about to die of happy. "Wow, yes! Of course! Come on in and join us. It's only the first meeting of the year so you haven't missed much."

The boy smiled widely and moved right on in to the room, walking across the floor to sit down. And he chose the seat right next to Kurt.

Kurt looked up, startled out of his focus on a limited edition 'Born This Way' Lady Gaga poster he was pretty sure he would end up bidding on later, and felt his heart skip a beat. Woah. Okay, where had this good looking fellow come from? And why did he choose to sit right next to him when there were plenty of other open seats all around? Kurt normally sat a little bit away from everyone else, just by habit. So it was even odder then that this new guy would end up right next to him. Kurt tried to take in the new kid's attire before he got caught looking. The kid was wearing rather nice form fitting jeans and black button up collared short sleeved shirt. The top button was left undone. His converse sneakers looked brand new. The entire outfit made the boy look somewhat preppy, but Kurt had to admit it was a good look for him.

The new kid glanced over, catching Kurt watching him, and smiled, being quite careless about hiding the fact that his eyes took a second to look Kurt up and down for a bit longer than was necessary. "Nice outfit." He commented quietly before turning back to focus on Mr. Schuester.

Kurt felt his face go red. Had the new kid just checked him out? No, he had to have imagined it. There was no way that could have happened. He finally put his phone away and turned his attention to their teacher, unaware that some of the other glee club kids had caught the exchange and some were looking quite curious.

"Well this is great." Mr. Schuester was looking much happier than he had just a few seconds ago. "I'm sure everyone would be glad to introduce themselves to you at some point. Did you have an audition piece in mind already or would you like to wait till the next meeting?"

"Oh, I think I could perform something for you all now, if you'd like." The kid stood. "I'm Mitch, by the way." Mitch moved over to grab the one band kid's electric guitar as Mr. Schuester took a seat in the risers.

Without another word Mitch started in on his song, starting with a guitar intro before he sang. One of the drummers seemed to know the song and joined in.

Times when I just can't bring myself to say it loud

Afraid that what I'll say comes out somehow awry;

That is when it seems we move in circles day to day

Twist the drama of the play to get us by

And it feels like fear, like I'll disappear

Gets so hard to steer, yet I go on;

Do we need debate when it seems too late

Like I bleed but wait, like nothing's wrong?

Mitch hopped onto the risers, singing loudly as he danced and grinned as some of the other kids started dancing too. Kurt was watching from his seat, not entirely sure to make of the song. He liked Mitch's voice though. It was soft and warm, yet very powerful at the same time. When Mitch sang – and spoke, Kurt had noticed – his tone was full of confidence. And although Kurt had never really given as much thought to southern accents, he had to admit Mitch's sounded...really really nice.

You lift my spirit, take me higher, make me fly

Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine;

You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly

Where all new wonders will appear.

Take me high, make me fly, in the blue sky;

Take my fear, make it fly, in this blue

Kurt's widened a bit when the new kid moved back down to the floor, leaning close to him and winking before starting the next verse and then taking off back to the middle of the room. The wink was definitely not gone unnoticed by some of the others either.

Like the other day, I thought you won't be coming back

I came to realize my lackluster dreams.

And among the schemes and all the tricks we try to play

Only dreams will hold their sway and defy.

When it feels like fear like I'll disappear

Gets so hard to steer, yet I go on.

So do we need debate when it seems too late

Like I bleed but wait, like nothing's wrong?

You lift my spirit, take me higher make me fly

Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine;

You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly.

Where all new wonders will appear.

He started in on a rather wicked guitar solo. Artie and Puck both cheered loudly for him, but he seemed not to notice. Mitch seemed to be lost in the music and it was pretty intense. Kurt was still not entirely sure about the song, but he had to admit he was enjoying watching Mitch play.

You lift my spirit, take me higher make me fly.

Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine;

You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly.

Where all new wonders will appear.

Take me high, make me fly in the blue sky

Take my fear, make it fly in this blue

Mitch finished off the song then grinned, taking a bow as the group of kids clapped and cheered for him. He handed the guitar back to the band kid before heading over to flop back down on the chair he had sat in before.

"Wow." Mr. Schuester was grinning. "That was intense. I liked it! I think it's safe to say we'd like to keep you around."

"I'd say." Santana added, giving Mitch a look over. Mitch seemed unfazed by the fact that she was obviously checking him out.

Kurt was surprised it had taken Santana this long to make a comment.

The rest of the meeting flew by, like it usually did when they were all having fun. Kurt had spent most of the rest of the meeting bidding on that Lady Gaga poster, barely able to contain his smile and almost silent squeal when he eventually won. That poster was going to look great on his wall. He had been so caught up in what he was doing on his phone that he had not noticed the new kid watching him every so often.

"Kurt!"

Kurt paused on his way out of the choir room, looking up from his phone to see Mercedes walking towards him. "Yes, Mercedes?"

His best friend caught up with him and linked her arm with his, leading the way out of the room. Once they were out in the hallway and heading down to their lockers, Mercedes finally spoke again, looking back briefly as if she was looking for someone. "So...what did you think of that new kid?"

"Mitch?" Kurt shrugged. "Besides the fact that he looks like he belongs more in a prep school than this lame excuse for an education facility, I think he's okay. His voice was nice."

"Yeah, and he was totally checking you out like the whole meeting." Mercedes laughed.

Kurt could feel his face reddening again. "I'm sure you're mistaken, Mer." Well, that wink he had gotten from Mitch, and how obviously Mitch had looked him over before, may suggest differently, but Kurt was not going to let his imagination run away with him. "Anyway, we have more important things to worry about. This duet competition sounds like fun. And I for one would not mind winning this time around. Want to partner up? A free dinner at Breadsticks would be nice; we haven't done much of anything together for ages. I miss hanging out with you." He admitted.

Mercedes gave him a sad smile, opening up her locker once they had reached it. "I'd love to, but while you were zoning out on your phone Artie asked me to do a duet with him. I figured since he and I have never really worked together on something it might be fun."

"Ah, alright." Kurt smiled, feeling quite disappointed.

"Sorry, Kurt. I'm sure you could ask one of the other kids. I mean, Rachel and Finn are obviously going to work together and so are Mike and Tina...and Brittany and Santana, but maybe you could ask Puck or Quinn. Or maybe even the new guy."

"Hey, guys." A voice came from behind Kurt, making him jump.

Kurt turned and saw Mitch standing behind him, a bit closer than he would have expected. "Oh, God, you startled me."

"Sorry about that." Mitch apologized, grinning.

"Hey, Mitch." Mercedes smiled. "I'm Mercedes. I liked your performance earlier. You have a great voice, like, legit."

Mitch waved a hand at her, laughing. "Oh, you flatter me. I'm not all that good."

"I'd say Mr. Schuester would beg to differ on that one." Kurt smirked. "He looked like a little kid on Christmas. Who knows, we may actually have a chance at Nationals this year with your talent to help us out."

"Yeah, if we don't have another fiasco like last time." Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Why, what happened?" Mitch asked curiously.

"Looong story." Mercedes grinned. "Maybe you'll hear it some time. I'm sure Rachel would be glad to let you know."

Mitch wrinkled his nose. "Rachel practically cornered me after the meeting finished. She wouldn't stop going on and on about how she thought she and I should do that duet thing together. And then she kept going on about other stuff too. It was really kind of scary."

"Eh, you get used to it." Kurt shrugged, leaning back against the row of lockers behind him. "The trick is to either tell her off early or just walk away. Then again she's like a starved puppy looking for attention half the time so she'll probably just follow you."

Mitch laughed, nodding. "She did give off that vibe. Well, I just told her I was already planning on asking someone else to be my duet partner. She kind of backed off then."

Kurt tried not to sound and look too interested when Mercedes asked Mitch who he wanted to ask to sing with him.

"Actually, I was going to ask you, Kurt."

"Wait, what?" Kurt blinked in surprise. Had he heard that right? Since when had any of the other guys just wanted to flat out do a duet with him? Wow. Okay, he really was not going to let himself get his hopes up that this new kid was gay. It would only end in disaster, like another bad Finn or Sam incident.

"That's okay, right?" Mitch looked a tad bit concerned for a second, though his tone of voice spoke otherwise – he sounded pretty confident Kurt would agree to do the duet competition with him.

And honestly, well, Kurt would be lying if he said he was not interested in agreeing. It might be fun after all, even if it was not like them doing a duet together would lead to anything...more. Oh god, he really needed to stop. It was like with Sam all over again, he just knew it.

"Yeah..." he finally replied, sounding a little bit shy and surprised at the same time, "that's perfectly alright." He was doomed.

"Great." Mitch grinned. "Here," he reached out and put a piece of paper in Kurt's hand, "text me later and we'll talk."

Kurt found his face reddening a slight bit again when he looked down to see the piece of paper had a phone number on it. Oh Gaga. He had to turn his mind off for a second or something, his thoughts were wildly running away from him and going in directions he really should not let them go. "Okay. I will..."

Mitch was still smiling as he moved back a bit away from them. "Awesome. Well, I have to head on home. Talk to you later, Kurt. See you, Mercedes! By the way you should do your hair like that more often, cause dang girl you look good." He grinned at Mercedes and then waved turning and walking off down the hallway. His posture as he walked even shone with confidence. Kurt found himself watching Mitch until he had turned a corner and was out of sight.

That was when Mercedes let out a small squeal and grabbed Kurt's arm excitedly. "Oh my god, Kurt. He is just...amazing! If you don't go after that then I'm officially labeling you crazy."

Kurt's face was still red as he rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Come on! We don't even know if he's gay or not. Don't go getting my hopes up..."

Mercedes squealed again. "AH, I knew it! You are so totally interested!" She giggled as she slammed her locker shut and let Kurt lead the way over to his own locker. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, boo. He almost sounded pretty interested, to me. And he even wanted to do a duet with you. None of the other guys ever want to."

"Maybe he's just being nice." Kurt protested.

"Stop coming up with excuses, boy." Mercedes glared playfully at him as he grabbed some books from his locker before closing it. "I saw him wink at you while he was singing and I know you saw it too. Let's just wait and see, shall we?"

Kurt shrugged, but inside he felt all giddy and slightly nervous.

*~*~*~*~*~* ** ~~~* *~~

It was not until almost 9:35pm that Kurt finally managed to get a text sent to Mitch. It had seemed like every time he went to try and text the new kid he would get a message started...but then wimp out and delete it. Not knowing what to say he finally just sent a short message that said 'hey, it's Kurt'. Afterward he felt lame.

It did not take long for Mitch to reply. Only a few seconds later Kurt's phone started buzzing against the top of his nightstand.

Hey, Kurt! Hoped I hadn't scared you off there.

Kurt typed a quick reply, wondering why he was so glad that Mitch had been worried about scaring him off. Sorry it took so long. I was busy. It was not that much of a lie. After all, he had been doing some schoolwork and he had promised his dad he would help pick out a color they should use to paint the walls in the main rooms of the house. The Hudson-Hummel family had moved into a new house after the wedding but Kurt had immediately gone off about how cheerless the walls made the house feel. So he had been trying to find the most perfect color to use now that they were finally going to get around to painting.

He knew no matter what though that the walls of his room would be painted sky blue. It was the color he had picked out when he first came to live with Burt and Karen. His mother had really liked it and now whenever Kurt saw that color it tended to remind him of his mom.

It's alright. Oh, I had a song idea for our duet.

Kurt was curious. Mitch had been the one to ask him to be partners for the duet competition. So what song could he have in mind? It was not like Mitch even knew what Kurt sounded like when he sang.

Really? What is it?

Meet me tomorrow in the auditorium after school.

Why did such a simple, innocent line like that have his heart beating faster? He groaned and shook his head, silently calling himself an idiot. Sure the guy had winked at him, and totally checked him out, but maybe he was just overly flirty like that with lots of people? After all, Kurt had not really seen Mitch interact with the other glee kids yet besides Mercedes. And besides, they had just met. Kurt was not just going to rush into a relationship with the first gay guy who might show interest in him. All he had to do was remind himself it was just a duet; just a simple competition...in which he just so happened to be singing with a rather cute guy. Kurt typed back a short reply, sealing his fate.

Okay.

*-**--**-*-*-*-

Mitch had texted him saying he was talking to Mr. Brant – their history teacher - and would be a few minutes late, so Kurt just went into the auditorium to wait for him.

Kurt loved the auditorium at McKinley. He loved just walking onto the stage, standing in the center and letting the bright lights shine over him. There were so many memories made on this stage and, out of all of Kurt's memories from his high school experience, all of his best ones were either set in the choir room or on the stage.

He spotted the piano and smiled, going over to sit at it. He had not touched a piano in a while now and some times he found he really did miss it. Playing the piano brought back so many memories, some of which made him feel quite sad. Memories of his mother...both of his mothers, teaching him how to play or just playing for him. Kurt would go back to a piano every once in a while to make sure his skills never grew too rusty, but he never just played for the fun of it anymore.

Maybe, just maybe...he could play something just this once. No one was around to hear him if he messed up and if he happened to get teary eyed, well, he was sure he had plenty of time to play a song and then go to the bathroom to whip out some concealer to hide any red splotches. Curse his light skin and those red splotches. Puffy eyes were definitely another thing he hated to deal with.

He had heard a song just the other week which he had found he liked quite a bit. It did not sound too crowded with background instruments and the lyrics themselves were kind of interesting. Taking a deep breath, Kurt placed his fingers on the keys and started to play.

I don't know what you smoke

Or countries you been to;

If you speak any other languages other than your own,

I'd like to meet you

I don't know if you drive

If you love the ground beneath you;

I don't know if you write letters or you panic on the phone.

I'd like to call you all the same; If you want to

I am game.

I don't know if you can swim

If the sea is any draw for you;

If you're better in the morning or when the sun goes down,

I'd like to call you.

I don't know if you can dance

If the thought ever occurred to you;

If you eat what you've been given or you push it around your plate,

I'd like to cook for you all the same.

I would want to, I am game.

If you walk my way, I could keep my head

We could creep away.

In the dark, or maybe now,

We could shoot it down anyway.

I don't know if you read novels or the magazines

If you love the hand that feeds you;

I assume that your heart's been bruised

I'd like to know you.

You don't know if I can draw at all,

Or what records I am into.

If I sleep like-

The song and Kurt's concentration was interrupted by a loud sneeze, followed by a soft 'oops'. Kurt's head snapped up quickly, a slightly panicked look upon his face, as his hands flew away from the keys. Mitch was standing near by, looking somewhat guilty.

"Gaga..." Kurt muttered, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Stupid sneeze." Mitch pouted – something that caused Kurt to look away because wow the guy looked really cute when he did that – and walked over to flop down on the piano bench next to Kurt, dropping his backpack onto the floor. "I was enjoying listening to you sing. You have an amazing voice. It's unique, in a good way."

Kurt's eyes had widened a bit in surprise when Mitch actually came over and sat down next to him. His brain was malfunctioning a bit. "So I've heard...well, not necessarily always about the 'in a good way' part." He chuckled nervously. "I'm sure 'freak' has been one of the nicest mean comments I've gotten thanks to it."

Mitch gave him a surprised look. "Seriously? Wow...the people around here must not know real talent when they see, or hear, it."

Okay, Kurt's face was going to melt off at some point during this conversation. He just knew it.

"Er...thanks? It's really not that big of a deal, honestly. I've dealt with it for years." Kurt shrugged, looking down at the piano keys. Sure the rude and derogatory words have hurt him over the years, but they have helped him to become stronger and learn how to fight back, even though he still has trouble some times. "I'm sure you have no problem with that though...your voice is amazing. Have you had, like, vocal training or anything?"

"Wha- no. I haven't." Mitch shook his head. "To be honest, I was really nervous about performing in front of all of you yesterday, because it was the first time I ever really sang in front of anyone."

Kurt looked up at the other boy in surprise. "Wait, wait, wait, are you serious? You're telling me you have never, not once, sung for anyone, not even your parents?"

Mitch shook his head again and Kurt actually thought he looked somewhat sad for a few seconds. "I have, like, once, in front of my family. My parents...aren't big music fans. Which is kind of odd considering where we used to live everyone were big music fans." He shrugged. "My parents don't want me wasting my time with singing, because they think the only things you should pursue talent in are something worth honing for a future career. Yeah, like I'm going to spend every Thursday afternoon sitting at the math club because excelling in math will get me far in the future." He laughed bitterly. "What's the point if I'm not having fun? Sorry...I shouldn't be unloading all this on you. A simple answer would have been better, right?"

"No, no, it's alright." Kurt shook his head. He was kind of surprised. Though he knew not all parents were the same, it just seemed so weird to him for a parent to not want their child to do something that would make them happy instead of making the parent happy. "So...do they know you've joined the glee club here?"

"Nope. And I don't plan on telling them either." Mitch shrugged. "I bet it won't end well, but I'll enjoy it while I can. I've wanted to sing for years...well, besides just when I was home alone or driving in my car. Now I'm finally getting the chance and I plan on making the most of it." He turned a bit so he was facing Kurt more. "And now we have to practice a song for this duet competition."

"Well, you're with a group like ours...you're going to have fun." Kurt laughed. And probably deal with lots of drama, but that was high school for you. "And now I'm going to be honest with you...while I am glad that we're going to be duet partners, because you seem like a great guy, I'm also a bit confused."

Mitch gave him a questioning look. "Confused? About what?"

Kurt sighed, trying to figure out the best way to explain things. "Maybe it's just cause you're new and haven't had the time yet to learn how things are around this school, but you'll soon learn that the glee kids are the bottom of the social ladder here...like, legit beyond basement level. And I'm...probably at the very bottom of even that. Not to mention I have, like, 'gay' written all over my face and no one wants to be seen socializing with the gay, social outcast of McKinley."

"Oh, so you are gay?" Mitch asked. Then his face went slightly red. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ask it like that. I'm sorry. I mean, I wasn't going to assume anything, but..."

"No need to explain." Kurt assured him stonily. "I'm used to it, believe me."

Mitch looked slightly panicked now. "Oh God, I've offended you, haven't I? I'm so sorry, really, I am."

"Mitch, it's okay." For some reason Kurt actually smiled the slightest bit. The other boy looked kind of adorable when he was panicking. Was it wrong of Kurt to think that?

"Either way...I'm sorry." Mitch apologized again. "And, no, I've really heard nothing so far about the whole 'social ladder of McKinley High' but if you're worried about me worrying about what other people will think because they see me hanging with you then don't be, because I don't care what they think."

They're going to think you're gay too. Kurt thought, sighing silently to himself.

"Now," Mitch reached down to grab his bag and pull out a few sheets of music, "when I picked out a song I wasn't sure of your vocal range, so I found something that could probably be sung mid-range. You can alter it however you'd like, honestly. Just...don't laugh at me when you see it. I've been listening to a lot of country lately and I really like this group. If you don't like country though, we can always do something else."

He handed the sheet music to Kurt. Kurt took one look at the song title and then stared back up at Mitch wide eyed. "Are you trying to commit social suicide?"

"What do you mean?" Mitch asked, looking rather baffled.

Gaga...is this guy just clueless? Or is there something I'm being oblivious to right now? Kurt literally face palmed.

"Okay, first, you asked me to do a duet for glee club; which, I'll have you know, is really odd for me because none of the other guys in glee club ever want to do a duet with me. And then, two, you choose a love song, of all things."

"I didn't really think there was anything wrong with it..." Mitch shrugged.

Kurt gave out a loud sigh of exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. "You don't get what I'm trying to say, do you? You do this song with me and everyone is going to think you're gay too. And then you'll get to have fun being thrown into dumpsters too, slushied more often than anyone else, get called horrible names down the hallways-"

"Wait...slushied? You get slushied?" Mitch gaped in horror.

"Yeah," Kurt rolled his eyes, "better get used to it quick. You're a glee kid now, a loser like all the rest of us. I'd suggest keeping spare clothing in your locker. And just...maybe we should do a different song." He finished weakly.

Mitch looked slightly disappointed, which confused Kurt even more. "Well...I know another one we could do by the same group. It's not really a love song; I could get you the lyrics by tomorrow."

Kurt was silent for a second but then nodded. "Alright. And I'm sorry...honestly I'm just looking out for your wellbeing; the least amount of reasons you give the school collective to harass you the better."

"I'm not too worried about being harassed. Handling things like that isn't too hard for me by now. And I just want to make it clear that your being gay is not going to bother me at all, believe me."

Kurt gave him an odd look when he said he was used to handling being harassed. Was Mitch bullied back at his old school? Kurt wanted to ask, but did not want to come off as too nosy...yet. He knew he had a habit of just coming out and asking blunt questions some times.

"Well...thanks. I appreciate it." Kurt replied quietly, unable to make eye contact with the other boy. "So...I guess we can't really practice anything right now..." Shame. He had been kind of looking forward to spending more time with Mitch.

"Yeah." Mitch replied, sighing a bit. A second or two passed and then Mitch looked back up at him. "Let's go get coffee. My treat."

Kurt looked over in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Coffeeeee." Mitch laughed, drawing the word out. "I was looking forward to getting to talk to you more, but since we can't practice now we'd have to just go home and I'd still like to talk to you. So let's get coffee."

"Oh..." Kurt really wished his face would stop burning so much. He should not be getting so nervous about just coffee. His mind should not even be thinking about things that would never happen. He was being an idiot. Mitch was probably not gay. After all, wouldn't he have said something when Kurt said he himself was gay? Maybe, anyway. "Okay...I do love coffee."

"Yay!" Mitch jumped up and was looking quite cheerful. "I'm quite excited to go to that Lima Bean place. I keep hearing people mention it."

Kurt stood, going over to the edge of the stage to grab his own bag. "Oh, you're going to love it. Best coffee ever."

*-*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*

Mercedes about died of excitement when Kurt called her that night to tell her about his little trip to the Lima Bean with Mitch. And of course he insisted that 'no, it had not been a date' and 'all they did was talk about McKinley or things they were interested in'.

When he mentioned the little scene in the auditorium, Mercedes groaned in frustration. "And you didn't think to maybe ask if he was gay or not...or at least work around the question enough that he'd finally just end up telling you without realizing it?"

"Yeah, sure, Mer." Kurt laughed, flipping through the latest issue of Vogue on his bed while he talked. "Like that would not be obvious whatsoever."

"Well, I'm just saying...it would save you from taking the time to try and figure out otherwise."

"I'm sure it won't take too long for us to figure out. I mean, everyone in glee club will be interested to know at some point. We'll just wait for one of them to ask or for Santana to make a move on him. Unless you'd like to ask for me." Kurt grinned. "Do a bro a favor?"

Mercedes laughed on the other end of the line. "I don't think so. I'm so going to let you handle this, but I promise if it ends up being more than, like, two weeks then I'll just ask him."

"Why thank you." Kurt giggled, finishing the magazine and setting it aside to put it with the others later. "Have I told you lately what a great friend you are?"

"Oh, I'm sure, but I always like hearing it." Mercedes laughed. "I have to go take the dog for a walk, so I'll let you go."

"Alright. Night, Mer."

"Night, boo."

*~*~*~~**~*~*~**

Two days later, a few days before the duets competition, Kurt was walking down the hallway, intent on asking Mitch if he would like to practice their duet piece after glee club that afternoon. He turned down the hallway that led towards Mitch's locker and spotted the new boy stuck in conversation with none other than Santana. The ex cheerleader was leaning quite close to him, twirling a bit of her hair with her fingers and giving him a rather intense 'I'm highly interested in you' look. She said something that made him laugh and Kurt felt his heart sinking a bit. Well, of course it had not taken Santana too long to get around to Mitch.

Not wanting to continue watching them flirt, Kurt continued on walking by instead of stopping to talk to Mitch like he had planned to. He paused at the bulletin board though to see if Mr. Schuester had put up the list of which duet partners would be going when. Luckily he was out of ear shot.

Though if he had still been able to hear the two he might not have felt as bad for the rest of the day until glee club.

Mercedes had quickly been happy to fill Mitch in on all the glee kids and their past dramas. They had spoken during lunch. So when Santana had approached him at his locker, giving him that crazy look, that made him think of a lion stalking its prey, and leaning way too close for comfort, he had not been all too surprised. After all, Mercedes had warned him that Santana liked to go after everything that moved and breathed.

"So, Mitch..." Santana smiled, "I was thinking that since you're new around here and all I could be of some help. You know, showing you around the town and all."

Mitch did not want to assume Santana was just looking for some action, so he tried to just be nice. "Well, I might take you up on that. It's a small town but I haven't gotten to see much of it yet."

"I wouldn't suggest going to the park though. Nowadays it's just rundown and used mainly for drug deals. It's gross." Santana rolled her eyes, playing with her hair.

Mitch laughed, shaking his head. "Sounds like this place near my old school." He caught sight of Kurt and watched him go by. He could not help noticing Kurt looked a bit distracted. It made him wonder what the other boy was thinking about. He also could not help letting his eyes wander for a very brief second. It was not his fault Kurt looked so gorgeous. How did he manage to get into those skinny jeans? They were super tight looking.

"You get those places everywhere." Santana shrugged. "Anyway, I can show you all over town...and what it has to offer. If you know what I mean." She grinned, winking at him.

Okay...now would probably just be a good time to set things straight so he could ward off any future attempts of flirtation. Not that he wanted the entire school to know yet that he was gay, but he really did not want to have to deal with this girl giving him the eye all the time. "Er, sorry, hun, but I'm not interested in anything you have to offer beyond a tour of the town."

"Oh please." Santana laughed. "You don't have to be shy about it. I mean, there's no strings attached here, you know."

Wow she was pretty blunt wasn't she? "I'm not interested in anything you have going on down there either. If you know what I mean." Mitch responded, trying not to sound like he was mocking her too much. Involuntarily he found his eyes traveling over to where Kurt was standing with his back towards them, staring at a sheet of paper pinned to the bulletin board.

Santana followed his line of sight and snorted. "Good luck with that. Hummel's not going to put out anytime soon."

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Intimacy isn't the only part of a relationship you know. I'd prefer to get to know him first. That other stuff can happen whenever we're both ready for it." He shut his locker door. "I can tell when someone is worth waiting for." He shrugged, waving farewell and heading off in the direction for his next class. Unfortunately Kurt had already disappeared so he would just have to wait until glee club to talk to him.

*~**~*~**~**~*~*~

"So...what the hell did you do?" Mercedes laughed quietly, nudging Mitch in the side. She was sitting in-between Kurt and Mitch. Kurt had deliberately sat at the end of a row of chairs, making Mercedes sit next to him before Mitch came in. Currently Kurt was pretty much ignoring them both, using his phone to look through one of his favorite fashion blogs.

"I don't know...what do you mean?" Mitch was slightly confused. It was kind of odd for Kurt to not even say hello to him, especially because they had been texting quite a lot the past few days.

"Well...Santana has been giving you this annoyed look for the past few minutes now." Mercedes whispered to him in reply.

Mitch snuck a quick glance over and swallowed nervously when he saw Mercedes was right. "Oh...I hadn't even noticed that."

Kurt had heard the short exchange and listened in, trying not to seem too interested as he kept his gaze down at his phone screen.

"Yeah." Mercedes giggled. "So...what, did she, like, try to make a move on you or something and you shot her down? She hates that."

"Something like that..." Mitch replied quietly. "She's not really my type."

Mercedes caught his eyes briefly flickering in Kurt's direction and had to try hard not to squeal out loud. "Oh, really? Then what is your type?"

Kurt almost choked on a short gasp. Was Mercedes asking all this right next to him on purpose? He had asked her to help him figure out if Mitch was gay or not...but did this seem a bit too obvious? He sure hoped not. He covered up his gasp by making it seem like he was quite interested in whatever item was on his internet page.

Mitch did not get a chance to answer though because Mr. Schuester entered the room and started excitedly going on about some idea he had had.

At least Kurt felt better knowing Mitch had turned Santana's advances down. He was even quite cheerful by the time the club meeting finished. He asked Mitch if he wanted to practice their duet piece and they ended up having a fun afternoon singing and just talking.

*~**~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~

Competition was fierce this time around. Finn and Rachel had indeed teamed up together, as did Brittany and Santana. Mercedes and Artie had rocked the house with some loud pop, Mike and Tina had done a really pretty Asian song that none of them had understood but enjoyed nonetheless, and Puck and Quinn had actually teamed up to do a duet. Theirs had not been an exactly enthusiastic performance, but it had been nice either way.

Kurt and Mitch had had to go last because the day they were going to go Mitch was not at school for some reason. When curiously asked all he had said was 'sorry', opting to not explain. No one pushed, because he did not seem to want to be bothered about it.

The song they ended up singing was indeed by the same artist: 'One day you will' by Lady Antebellum. Kurt had been a little hesitant to sing it at first after reading the lyrics – not that he had told Mitch this – because this song felt a little too...close to how he felt some times. And whereas the song was trying to be optimistic, Kurt had trouble feeling the same way half the time. Maybe he would once he moved to New York and got away from the hell that was McKinley and Lima. Of course he would miss his family and the few friends he had made, but other than that he really was not going to miss this town at all. And he knew things would get better for him in New York. He would feel freer to be himself and he would get to experience so much more.

It had pretty much been decided by default that Kurt would sing the girl's part. He did not mind all that much. It was something he was just used to by this point.

Mitch's voice suited the song better, thanks to his southern accent, but he kept telling Kurt that his voice was alright for it as well. They sang well together and without even realizing it had shared quite a few smiles during their performance. There had not been much dancing involved, but neither of them could just stand completely still.

When they finished their fellow club members clapped quite enthusiastically for them. Mr. Schuester was pretty sure they had had one of the best performances for the competition.

Mr. Schuester was a little worried about the voting again, considering generally everyone just tended to vote for themselves, but he went with it anyway and let everyone drop their votes into a cup. While the students all talked he dumped the votes onto the top of the piano and looked through them. Afterward he was almost unable to hide his surprise.

"Well, guys, looks like you've gotten a bit better since last year." Mr. Schuester grinned, turning to address the room. "Considering how many votes the winners got, most of you didn't vote for yourselves. I like seeing that, means you're thinking of not just yourselves."

"Great, Schu, now who won?" Puck spoke up from the back. Some of the others laughed, all curious as well as to who had gotten so many votes.

Mr. Schuester held up eight pieces of paper. "The majority of votes went to Kurt and Mitch, so they've won."

Kurt and Mitch looked at each other in surprise, but both grinned as all the other kids and their teacher clapped for them.

After the meeting was over Kurt was about halfway through the door when he heard Mitch calling him to wait. He paused out in the hallway, fiddling with the strap of his leather bag nervously.

"Hey, Kurt." Mitch caught up with him, grinning as they stood off to the side. "So you were amazing, like I knew you'd be."

Kurt could feel his face reddening once more and he managed to smile a bit as he looked down at his shoes. "Thanks. You were really good too. Not all too surprising."

Mitch chuckled, shrugging. "I just sang. No big deal. We did a great job together though. So about that dinner..."

This was the part Kurt had started to dread. "Look, I'd totally understand if you wouldn't want to go to dinner...with me and all. It might look odd or something and I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble."

"Kurt, what the heck are you on about?" Mitch frowned, reaching out to lightly touch Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt was not really used to people touching him like that, especially after having to deal with being shoved into lockers and such all his life. He found himself jerking slightly back by reflex.

"We're going to dinner together, Kurt." Mitch informed him stubbornly. "You just need to let me know what night's good for you."

"But...what if you took, like, Mercedes or someone else instead?" Kurt protested, even though he was silently really hoping Mitch was serious about wanting to go to dinner with him.

Mitch gave him a stern look. "Kurt, we won this together and I will drag you out of your house to come with if I have to. Now," he linked arms with Kurt, whose face went even redder, and led the way back to their lockers, "does Friday night work for you?"

Well, it was plain to see that Mitch was not giving up any time soon. Kurt was secretly quite happy about it, but there was still that worry. What if someone saw them eating together and thought they were on a real date or something and not just dinner? Kurt was used to dealing with homophobic remarks, but he was sure Mitch was not and he did not want Mitch to go through all that as well.

If Mitch would even drag him out of his house though...then he may as well give in. Maybe he could even try to enjoy their dinner and forget about the fact that people would probably be around judging them as they sat together. Maybe.

"Kurt?"

"Sorry." Kurt apologized quickly, realizing he had been quiet for way too long and Mitch was still waiting for an answer. "I can't do Friday." After his father's heart attack Kurt was sure he was home every Friday night for their usual family dinners. "Would Saturday work?"

"Saturday would be great." They had reached their lockers and Kurt had quickly gotten all his stuff together.

"Okay. Well...then I'm looking forward to it." Kurt tried to smile sincerely. It was not too hard since he really was looking forward to having a private dinner with Mitch, but he still could not help but worry something may go wrong.

*~*~**~**~*~*~*

Saturday night came all to fast, especially for Kurt who was stuck between the fact that he was quite looking forward to the dinner and the fact that he could not stop worrying that something bad could happen.

He took a good two hours to get ready, having switched his outfit at least twice and fretting over how he would do his hair. It was not like this was an actual date, but Kurt still wanted to look nice.

Mitch was picking him up so at least he did not have to worry about driving. As he was sitting at his mirror, finishing up his moisturizing routine, his phone vibrated against the top of his dresser.

It was a text from Rachel. Curious, Kurt checked the text. Then he was confused.

Hey, Kurt...was just wondering why Mitch gave your guys' free dinner coupons to Finn and me.

Mitch gave them away? So did that mean he really did not want to go to dinner with Kurt?

No idea. He replied, sighing out loud to himself.

A bit later he heard the doorbell ring then and ran downstairs to get the door before his dad could. It was not that Kurt had not told his father about the dinner, he was just hoping they could escape before his father noticed how much his son's face tended to get red around the other boy.

Kurt wanted to be at least a little bit angry with Mitch – it almost seemed like the boy was messing with him by telling him he wanted to have dinner together but then giving those coupons away. And Kurt Hummel did not like to be messed with.

As soon as he opened the door though and saw Mitch standing there with flowers his anger immediately turned to surprise. "Um...hi, Mitch?" Kurt's eyes had widened a bit and he clung to the door handle nervously.

"Hi, Kurt." Mitch smiled, holding the flowers to him shyly. "I know this is, like, waaay forward of me, but I kind of wanted this to be...like a real date."

A what? Kurt blinked, not sure if his brain had stopped working yet or not. "Is that why you gave our dinner coupons to Finn and Rachel?"

"Oh, yeah. She told you about that already?" Mitch pouted. "Kind of ruined my surprise. Ah well, but yeah. I gave them those because I wanted to pay for our dinner."

Kurt wonders if he should just sit down for a moment. Clearly he was having trouble processing all of this. "Why? You're not messing with me are you? Because I will be extremely pissed off if you're messing with me."

"No!" Mitch responded quickly, looking somewhat panicked. "I'm not messing with you. And I guess I haven't been completely honest with you either." He looked a tiny bit guilty.

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, folding his arms across his chest defensively. This really was not going well.

Mitch looked a bit uncomfortable as he spoke again. "I'm gay too."

"Wait what?" Kurt blinked again. Oh the surprises. Though he could not deny the little flutter of hope that he felt at hearing those words.

"I don't like just telling people..." Mitch explained, "My parents, well, no one in my family actually knows that. I know they're all quite open minded, but I just...lack the courage to tell them I guess. So I don't make it a big thing where ever I go, just in case somehow the knowledge would get back to my family."

Kurt could understand how difficult it could be to work up the courage to tell a family member something like that.

Mitch continued on before Kurt could speak. "And I know this probably seems...a bit fast, goodness knows I don't want to rush anything, but you...you really interest me, Kurt. I like listening to you talk and sing and I like coming to school each day wondering what awesome stylish outfit you're going to wear next. And I really like your eyes. They're really pretty and I can never tell if they're supposed to be blue or green or gray." He took a deep breath before continuing. "And I really want to get to know you more...if that's okay."

"Wow..." Kurt's mind was still trying to process everything, but at the same time he was trying not to squeal out loud. Mitch was gay...and he was interested in him! "That is...that is perfectly okay. I mean," his face was reddening again, he could feel it, "because I've kind of wanted to get to know you more too. So, yeah, it's okay." Was this really happening right now? He probably sounded so stupid right now. No one could blame him for being shocked though, considering even he himself had pretty much figured he would never find someone during high school that would like him and think of him as anything more than friend material.

"Great!" Mitch was smiling brightly now. "Here, I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked so I just got this little arrangement."

"They're really pretty." Kurt smiled shyly, taking the flowers and looking at them. "Oh! There's little bits of jasmine in there." He smiled fondly at the little flowers. He still used the same shampoo his mother used to use that smelled like jasmine. It was his most favorite flower too.

"Hey, you guys are still here." Kurt's father sounded surprised as he came into view. "I heard the doorbell ringing ages ago."

Kurt really hoped his face was not too red right now. "Oh, sorry, dad. We were just heading out. Can you put these in some water for me?" He held the flowers out to his dad.

Burt's eyebrows raised in slight surprise when he saw the flowers. "Er...sure thing." He carefully took the flowers from Kurt. "Have fun then."

"Don't forget to put a pinch of sugar in the water too." Kurt told him sternly. "It'll help them last longer."

"Yeah, yeah." Burt laughed. "Nice seeing you, Mitch. Make sure you guys aren't back too late."

"I will, sir." Mitch grinned, reaching out to tug Kurt out the door. "Let's go!"

Kurt's face was going red again and he waved bye to his dad before following Mitch out to his car. "Oh dear..." Kurt groaned once they were in the car and Mitch was pulling the car away from the sidewalk, "My dad is definitely going to think something's up."

"Is that a bad thing?" Mitch asked. "Wait...does he not know you're gay?"

"No." Kurt shook his head. "He knows. It's just...he and I, we're really quite protective of each other, and technically this is my first date – if that's what we're calling this – so once he finds out he's going to be keeping a close eye on you whenever you're around."

"Oh." Mitch nodded in understanding. "Well then I guess I'll just have to reassure him that I don't intend on hurting you at all."

"What a gentleman." Kurt grinned. He decided that he would feel less awkward if he just tried acting like his normal self; even if he was freaking out inside a bit over the fact that this was his first date.

They managed to get a booth more apart from everyone else. Mitch had no idea what to order since this was his first time at the restaurant. He ended up just getting the same thing Kurt did, which was a salad.

"Woah...these are some yummy bread sticks." Mitch commented as they nibbled on some while waiting for their salads.

"Yeah they are," Kurt agreed, "Santana and Mercedes are obsessed with them."

Their conversation turned to school stuff for a short while, until one of them asked a question or two about hobbies. Then they started talking more about personal likes and dislikes and random other things.

Kurt was delighted to hear that Mitch was quite the musical fan and that his personal favorite was Wicked – one of Kurt's top favorites. Mitch was super jealous when Kurt told him about the New York trip he went on when he was younger. He told Kurt a little bit about his childhood growing up in Louisiana. And Kurt found out that Mitch was just as good at speaking French as he was.

At one point Mitch asked Kurt how bad the bullying had been for him so far. Kurt's face fell a tiny bit at the question and Mitch panicked a little. "I'm sorry...you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No...It's okay. I mean, I've hardly spoken about it to a lot of people besides Mercedes. Even my dad doesn't know all the details." Kurt replied quietly. He took a sip of his drink and bit his lip for a second before continuing. "I've been...well, teased ever since I was little for the way I sound. I mean, my voice isn't exactly manly or even very boyish, you know? I've been called 'girly' or other odd things. Ms. Sylvester used to call me Lady face all the time. Now she just calls me Porcelain, but I can handle that. The kids really started to tease me when I never showed an interest in sports or running around outside. I preferred to always just sit around with the girls and do arts and crafts or play with dolls." Kurt shrugged. "I just liked those things more. There was this kid, Karofsky, who I and Mercedes have gone to school with since elementary school. Luckily he moved away this past summer so he's not a threat anymore. He was the worst bully ever, constantly shoving me into lockers, calling me terrible names, tossing those freezing cold slushies at me..." Kurt hated talking about all this stuff, but he felt safe talking to Mitch about it all, even though he was slightly embarrassed when he felt himself tearing up a bit, "he wasn't one of the guys who generally tossed me into the dumpster though. Puck and his friends liked to do that more."

"Wait...Puck used to do that stuff to you?" Mitch was surprised. Puck definitely gave off the 'bad ass punk' vibe, but from what Mitch had seen so far Puck was pretty protective of Kurt these days. Along with Finn, who, from what Mitch had heard, was Kurt's half brother.

"Yeah." Kurt nodded, chuckling a bit. "Puck loved it. After all the stuff with Karofsky got worse though he and Finn turned around and sort of became like my own personal bodyguards. It was kind of nice, you know, having the school's scariest punk watching over you. Finn...well, he was always pretty nice to me. There was this awkward time though when he found out I had this uber huge crush on him. He said some rude things to me but we worked things out. I just...I really hated having to spend most of my high school years terrified of turning around every corner or just having to deal with all the stares and rude things people would say."

A tear did manage to escape, sliding down Kurt's cheek. He silently cursed himself for tearing up so easily. All this talk about sad stuff was probably ruining their date. He froze in surprise though when Mitch reached across the table to gently brush the tear away from his face.

"I'm sorry, Kurt." Mitch looked sad as he kept his hand lightly against Kurt's cheek. "You're a great guy and don't deserve to go through all that. No one does."

Kurt could feel a few more tears sliding down his face. He closed his eyes, trying to make himself calm down as he felt his head tilt into Mitch's hand, feeling rather comforted by the touch. "I'm sorry..." he apologized, sounding somewhat embarrassed, "I shouldn't be crying. It's ruining our night."

Mitch shook his head, gently wiping more of Kurt's tears away. "Don't apologize. You're not ruining anything. Talking about that stuff...I know it has to be painful. It still hurts for me to talk about my bullying experiences from back at my old school. I understand, Kurt. So don't worry. Do you want to talk about something else? I feel like it's my fault you're upset, because I asked you about it."

"Well, I did agree to talk about it. So I can't blame you." Kurt shook his head.

"Maybe you could tell me about your family and how Finn became your half brother?" Mitch was curious to hear about that.

Kurt wiped at his eyes with his napkin and nodded. He proceeded to tell Mitch about how his mother passed away when he was little and how just the past year his father and Finn's mother had started seeing one another then decided to get married. Leaving out the orphanage part made him feel rather guilty, but Kurt was not completely comfortable yet with telling Mitch about that part of his life. Heck he had not even told all his other glee club friends yet. Only Mercedes knew the whole story.

Mitch was sorry to hear about Kurt's mother, but he was glad that Kurt now had Carole as a mother figure in his life. He understood how Kurt did not see her as a replacement for his real mom though.

"I feel like I've done all the talking." Kurt laughed at one point. "And it's getting late. Do we have time for you to tell me your life story, like I just did, or shall we make plans to hang out again?"

The time had gotten rather late and they were both finished with their dinner. "Wow, I totally lost track of the time." Mitch laughed. "I don't want your dad to get mad at me for not getting you home on time. Let's make plans to hang out again and talk. I promise I'll tell you my life story then...well, maybe not my whole life story, but all the important stuff." He chuckled.

Once they got outside Mitch surprised Kurt by opening his car door for him. Kurt could not help smiling as he thanked the other boy. On the way back to Kurt's house they made plans to have another little date, something Kurt was already looking quite forward to.

Kurt was surprised as Mitch once again opened his door for him once they reached his house.

"So, I guess I'll see you on Monday then." Mitch smiled, shutting the car door after Kurt got out. He walked Kurt up to the front door as well, causing Kurt to smile even more. Kurt was quite unused to this sort of attention and it was making his face all red, but he would be lying if he said he was not enjoying it.

"Yeah..." Kurt grinned. "Thank you for dinner, Mitch. I really am sorry I cried though."

Mitch shook his head, smiling softly at Kurt. "Don't worry about it, honestly. I'm glad you trusted me enough to talk to me about those things. I won't betray your trust, Kurt. I'm not going to laugh at you either. You put yourself out there, made yourself vulnerable, and I won't hurt you by doing anything to make you feel like that was all a mistake."

Kurt's heart was beating quite fast in his chest. Mitch was being really serious right now. Kurt wanted to believe everything he was saying; he wanted to trust Mitch. "Thank you..." he whispered softly, giving the slightly taller boy a shy look.

Slowly, Mitch reached over and took Kurt's hand in his. "You looked really nice tonight, Kurt." He leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss to Kurt's cheek. "I'll see you Monday." He let go of Kurt's hand then and headed on back to his car.

Kurt was unable to verbally respond because he was currently in shock. Mitch had just kissed him. Sure it was only on the cheek, but Kurt had never really been kissed before in any romantic way – he totally did not count those few kisses he shared with Brittany that one point he was pretending to be straight – so this was kind of a big deal. His hand slowly rose to his face, touching his cheek gently where Mitch's lips had just been. As Mitch drove off he did not look back and Kurt was glad because he probably looked like an idiot just standing there.

Once Mitch's car was out of sight, Kurt turned and went into the house, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

Managing to avoid his father, Carole, and Finn, Kurt made his way up to his room and shut the door. Then he wasted no time in calling Mercedes to excitedly tell her about his date with Mitch.

*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~

Of course Rachel and Finn told everyone else in glee club about how Mitch gave them the dinner coupons and instead took Kurt out on an actual date. Both boys were asked plenty of questions and Kurt, whose face was turning as red as a fire truck, was glad to escape by the time glee club was over.

Kurt was meeting Mitch outside by the steps and they were going out for coffee. Once they made it to the Lima Bean he insisted upon paying for their drinks, despite Mitch's protests. They found a nice table out in the sunlight and sat down.

"So, it's your turn to talk a lot today." Kurt spoke first, grinning.

Mitch laughed, nodding. "You're right. What shall I talk about?"

Kurt asked him a few questions about his old home and his family. Mitch told him that he and his family had lived in New Orleans. "The people there are really friendly." He told Kurt. Mitch's family consisted of himself, his mother and father, and his little brother, Kevin.

When Kurt asked him why he and his family had moved here to Lima, which seemed rather boring compared to New Orleans, Mitch sighed and looked down at his coffee cup. "It's because I wasn't doing well in school, and because where we lived was in a low ground area that flooded a lot during the rainy seasons. My parents didn't like having to keep repairing all the parts of the house that got damaged during floods."

"But Ohio is kind of really far away from Louisiana." Kurt pointed out. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just find a different school and a better place to live while still in the same state?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose." Mitch shrugged. "But my mom's brother lives around here and their parents live in Pennsylvania so we're closer to family this way. It saves us a lot on traveling expenses when it comes to holidays and such." He explained.

"I see." Kurt nodded. "Can I ask why you weren't doing well in school? You've mentioned you were bullied...did that have something to do with it?"

Mitch nodded in response to Kurt's questions. "It was. It got so bad I couldn't focus on my school work. I'm normally a straight A's honor student so for my grades to slip so badly, well, it was obvious something was wrong. I couldn't hide it forever."

"Did they...did they bully you because you're gay?"

"No..." Mitch shook his head, "well, not at first anyway. I had never told anyone, not even my friends, because I was scared of what they would say, how they would react. The reason I was bullied so much was because I always stood up for the kids the bullies would have beat up if I hadn't gotten in their way."

Kurt's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? That's terrible! You were just trying to help protect other kids..."

"I know!" Mitch nodded sadly. "They'd get all mad and take their anger out on me, but I figured at least the other kids weren't getting hurt then. And then, right before we moved, I finally came out to my best friend. I was so scared, but he said it was okay. We were still going to be friends. It made me feel a bit safer...until I found out he told everyone else and was calling me terrible things behind my back. Some of the kids on the school baseball team beat me up pretty badly." He bit his lip, his voice shaking slightly. Kurt reached across the little table to gently take Mitch's hand in his, lacing their fingers together. A small smile appeared on Mitch's face before he took a deep breath to continue. "I managed to get home, but my parents ended up taking me to the hospital after I collapsed in the kitchen. Those kids and their baseball bats did a lot of damage. I had tons of bruises, a broken rib, tons of cuts, and a black eye for a good couple of weeks. I never told my parents the real reason those kids beat me up. I came up with some lie I can hardly remember anymore. My parents wouldn't let me go back to the school though and they decided we would move out here with family. Oh...Kurt, you're crying again..."

Kurt was indeed crying again. Mitch's story was so sad and Kurt felt terrible for him. "I'm sorry...god, I hate crying." He chuckled, wiping the tears from his face with his free hand. "I just felt so sad while you were telling me all that. I can only imagine how scared you must have been."

Mitch squeezed Kurt's hand, giving him a small smile. "I bet you would know exactly how it felt, how scared I was. I mean, you weren't beaten that badly, thank goodness, but you said yourself how terrified you were to walk through the hallways while that Karofsky kid was around still."

"That's true." Kurt nodded. "Do you...do you think you'll tell your parents sometime soon about being gay?"

"I want to." Mitch told him. "I'm just...kind of worried how they'll respond. I'm usually pretty confident about everything, but this is just something I'm still working on."

Kurt thought about it for a second. "Well, do you know how they feel about gay relationships?"

"They're pretty open about this sort of thing. One of my mom's closest friends - Brant - is gay. So I know they don't have a problem with gay relationships. I just don't know how they would feel about it when it comes to one of their own children." Mitch explained.

"What if I was with you when you told them?" Kurt asked quietly. "Would that help?"

Mitch looked at him in surprise. "Wait, you would really do that for me?"

Kurt smiled, nodding. "Yes. If I can offer you support and confidence by being there next to you then I'll gladly do so."

"Ah, thank you!" Mitch grinned, squeezing Kurt's hand. "I think it would really really help having you there with me. I guess...I guess I'll give myself till the end of the week. At some point this week I have to tell them." He nodded in agreement with himself.

"Great. Just let me know when and I'll be there, okay?" Kurt smiled at him. Then his smile faltered for a quick second. "Well, except for Wednesday. I won't be available that day."

"Why not?" Mitch asked curiously. At his question it was like he could see these invisible walls go up, like shields, behind Kurt's eyes. Kurt had a smile on his face still, but something seemed a bit off about it all of a sudden.

"It's nothing big." Kurt shrugged, doing a fairly decent job at sounding indifferent. There was just a tad hint of something – sadness, maybe? – behind his voice and it made Mitch wonder. "I just won't be available that day."

"Alright." Mitch gave him a small smile, not wanting to push. If Kurt wanted to talk about whatever he was doing Wednesday then he would. Otherwise Mitch would leave it alone.

They continued talking about everything they could think of until it started getting a bit late. Homework still needed to be done so they left the coffee shop around six. Before Kurt got into his car he thanked Mitch would opening up to him too. He felt like they had gotten a lot closer these past two dates and, secretly, he was kind of hoping this was all leading up to something more.

Mitch kissed him on the cheek again before they parted ways. And as Kurt headed home he wished he had been brave enough to kiss Mitch on the cheek back. He had really wanted to, but for some reason something had held him back.

*~*~*~**~**~*~*~

Wednesday came and Mitch was surprised when he found out that Kurt never came to school at all that day. He texted Kurt a few times and even called him once during lunch, but there were never any replies.

Worried, Mitch asked Mercedes during glee club where Kurt was and if she had heard from him. Mercedes seemed somewhat distracted, having her nose buried in her phone, and without even thinking told him that it was the anniversary of Kurt's mother's death and that he was visiting her grave.

Mitch was confused. "But...wait, Kurt told me his mother passed away a little bit later into the school year."

That got Mercedes' attention. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him, a slightly scared look on her face. "Oh god. Kurt didn't tell you did he..."

"Tell him what?" Rachel leaned over Mercedes' shoulder from the row of chairs behind them.

"He told me his mother passed away when he was eight and that it was later in the year." Mitch informed Mercedes. Kurt hadn't lied to him, had he?

"He is going to kill me if I tell you this..." Mercedes groaned, wishing she was better at keeping her mouth shut. Especially because Rachel was listening in, which meant soon all the other glee kids would be listening in too. And Rachel could never keep her mouth shut.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense." Rachel blinked at her.

"Don't you know anything about privacy?" Mercedes glared at her.

"Hey, you spoke loud enough for me to hear." Rachel replied, sniffing. "I have every right to be interested now. So...what's up with Kurt?"

Mercedes groaned again and spoke quietly, hoping that maybe for once Rachel could keep her big mouth shut. It wouldn't be too bad if she just told Rachel and Mitch, right? "Kurt's adopted."

"WHAT?" Rachel gasped. Some of the other glee kids looked over in surprise...well, not total surprise. They were pretty used to her outbursts by now.

Mitch was just as surprised. "Wait, he's adopted? So...what happened to his real mother then?"

"She passed away from cancer." Mercedes explained. There was no point in being quiet now. Everyone was listening in.

"Did you know about this?" Rachel turned to Finn.

The tall boy looked a tad guilty, yet also annoyed. "Yeah. I did. Burt told Carole and Kurt told me. He made me swear not to tell you all because it's really personal. Plus...he kind of mentioned something about being embarrassed about being adopted."

"Why would he be embarrassed about that?" Santana asked.

Mercedes figured she had spoken enough. Kurt was going to murder her for this, she knew it.

"Look, guys," Finn looked a bit uncomfortable, "we shouldn't make a big deal about it. Kurt won't like that. He's already upset about the anniversary of her death as it is. If he doesn't kill us all for finding out – because he can be legit scary when pissed off - the least we can do is offer our support and be there if he needs us."

"You're right." Rachel nodded. "You know...I think we should perform a song for him. It's one of the things we do best when we want to express something. I'm sure Kurt would love that...and maybe not kill us then."

Mitch had yet to see Kurt really pissed off. He wondered just how bad Kurt could be.

"If it involves you having a huge ass solo again I am going to kill you myself." Santana informed Rachel.

*~*~**~*~*~*~*~

Kurt was glad that this year he was able to drive the four hour trip to his real mother's grave site by himself. And he was glad that his father still let him take the day off from school every year to make the visit. They both took the day off when it was the anniversary of Karen's death, but Burt tended to still work in the shop on the anniversary of Elizabeth's death. Kurt did not go to her grave every year, but this year was one of the years he would be going.

When he got up in the morning, Finn was still there, having not left for school yet. On his way down the stairs to the kitchen, Finn stopped him and gave him a hug, telling him that if he needed anything to just call or text him. Kurt forcefully willed the tears to go away that were threatening to build in his eyes. He thanked Finn and told him he would let him know when he made it to the cemetery and then back home again safely.

In the kitchen he found Carole was already up, as was his father and they were sitting and eating breakfast.

"Kurt," Carole stood, smiling softly at him as she went over to the counter and picked up a small thing of flowers, "Burt and I got these for Elizabeth's grave. I'll leave them here for you to take with you, okay?"

Kurt swallowed, taking a second before he could speak pass the lump in his throat. "Thank you. Really, Carole, that means a lot to me." He gave her a big hug before moving over to his father and hugging him as well. "Daddy," he whispered in his father's ear, "I love you lots."

"I love you too, Kurt." Burt replied quietly, hugging his son tightly. He knew how hard this day was for his son. And having to go through it twice a year made it even worse. "Call and let us know when you get there, alright?"

"I will." Kurt promised. "I'll be home later this evening." He gave them both a sad smile before going back upstairs to get properly dressed. He wore a black suit every time he went to visit both his mothers' graves.

He made sure he had the plant Carole and his father had gotten when he left the house, stopping at a flower shop himself along the way to get his own little thing of flowers for his real mother's grave. He also got a small thing of Jasmine as well to place at Karen's grave.

The drive was long but Kurt did not mind. He played lots of loud music to help keep his mind off of where he was heading. After all, it would not be safe for him to break down crying while trying to drive.

Once at the cemetery Kurt slowly made his way over to the graves, careful not to drop all the flowers. Both of his mothers were buried near each other. There was a decently sized space of land in between the two graves and Kurt secretly hoped to be buried there himself, whenever he finally passed away.

He said hello to both of his mothers and placed the flowers at the graves. Most of his time at the cemetery that day was spent at his real mother's grave, because it was the anniversary of her death after all. He would come back a short while later in the year to visit his second mother's grave.

Whenever Kurt came to visit his mothers' graves he always took time to tell them what was going on in his life, and he would talk about fond memories he had of them. He would let himself cry without restraint, pretending his could feel his mothers hugs again and hear them speaking to him. It made him feel a bit better.

It was getting later into the afternoon when Kurt finally departed the cemetery. Before getting into his car he took one last look back towards their graves and whispered a soft 'I love you both'. Then he drove off, his eyes finally dry of tears.

By the time he got home it was a little bit after nine and he was just looking forward to eating something, showering, and then going to bed.

What he was not expecting was to walk into the living room to see Mitch sitting there with Carole and Burt.

"Mitch?"

*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*

After glee club had ended for the day, Mitch had decided that he would wait for a bit then go over to Kurt's house. If Kurt was too upset and did not want him around then he would leave, but if Kurt wanted the company then Mitch would stay. He did not like thinking of Kurt being sad and if he could offer him any sort of comfort then he would.

Mitch did not go over to Kurt's until around eight. When he got there though he was surprised to hear from Burt, Kurt's father, that Kurt had not gotten home yet. Burt let him stick around though, so for an hour he had found himself sitting in the living room with Kurt's father watching sports. Carole had gotten home a short while after Mitch had shown up and she was glad to finally get to meet him. Apparently Kurt spoke about him a lot to his parents so they were pretty familiar with whom he was already.

As surprised as he was to hear that, Mitch could not help feeling quite delighted that Kurt talked about him so much. Goodness knows he himself spoke about Kurt a lot to his own family. It was a wonder they had not already figured out he was gay thanks to that.

He had lost track of time until a little bit after nine when he finally heard Kurt's surprised voice behind them.

"Mitch?"

Mitch turned and smiled at Kurt. "Hey...I came over to see how you were doing, but you weren't here so your dad let me stick around." He stood from the couch and went over to Kurt, taking his hand gently. "Are you alright?"

Kurt did not respond at first. Mitch could see that Kurt's eyes were red and slightly puffy. "I'm okay..." His tone of voice suggested otherwise. "Dad," Kurt looked over at his father, "I'm going to talk to Mitch upstairs for a bit. Is that okay?"

Burt looked over at his son and nodded. "Sure, son. I don't want you two up too late though. Mitch still has to get home and you both have school tomorrow."

"I know." Kurt replied. "Thanks, dad." He tugged on the hand he was holding of Mitch's and led him upstairs to his room. He did not close the door all the way, leaving it open just enough.

"I'm sorry if I worried you at all." Kurt spoke quietly as he sat down on the edge of his bed. Mitch stood for a second, seemingly wondering if he should sit or not, and then just decided to just go for it and sit next to Kurt.

"It's okay." Mitch replied. "Well, I mean, I was worried. Normally you don't just ignore my texts or calls, so I wondered if something was wrong. Then Mercedes said it was the anniversary of your mother's death and I understood then why you wouldn't want to come to school."

"Wait...Mercedes told you what?" Kurt felt his heart drop a bit. Had she just told Mitch this or had some of the other glee kids found out? Oh dear.

Mitch bit his lip. "She felt really bad for letting it slip...don't be mad at her, okay? I was confused because the other day you said your mother passed away around a different time of the year, so Mercedes had to explain. The whole glee club overheard, but they don't think any differently of you for it." He reached out and took Kurt's hand again. "We were all just really sad for you. I can only imagine what it must have been like to have lost both of your mothers..."

Kurt's eyes were tearing up again and he felt miserable. He had not wanted to tell everyone, but now they all knew.

"Kurt..." Mitch spoke quietly after Kurt had been silent for quite some time.

"I don't need your guys' pity or anything." Kurt snapped, immediately regretting it afterward. "I'm sorry. I just..." He started crying again and Mitch put an arm around his shoulder, hugging him close. Kurt rested his head on Mitch's shoulder, trying to calm himself down again. Hadn't he already cried enough that day?

A short bit later Kurt managed to stop crying and he angrily wiped the tears from his face. Stupid tears. "Sorry. I get really weepy on the anniversaries of their deaths. I loved both of my mothers very much. They both meant so much to me, and to have lost them both was just really hard." Kurt went on to tell Mitch about his short stay at the orphanage – purposefully leaving any mention of Blaine out of it, because he was still trying to avoid even thinking about his old friend – and then how the Hummel's adopted him. He told him about how he was reunited with his real mother again and found out that his new mom and his real mom were actually sisters. And then he told Mitch about how his real mother passed away, only to be followed a year later by Karen. By the time he was finished talking it was about ten, but neither of them cared.

Mitch continued holding him close and when he finally finished speaking Mitch kissed his forehead softly. "I can only imagine how difficult and sad it must have been. And I'm glad your real dad isn't around anymore. He sounds like a real jerk."

"He was." Kurt sighed, leaning more into Mitch's embrace. He felt comfortable sitting there next to Mitch. "Thanks for coming over, by the way. Generally I like being apart from everyone except my father on these days, but it's cheered me up seeing you." He paused for a second then looked up at the taller boy's face. "You know...I told my moms about you when I visited the cemetery."

"You did?" Mitch gazed down at Kurt.

"Yeah." Kurt nodded, smiling softly. "I told them I've met this amazing boy who is perfectly nice to me and...is just really awesome." That was not all he wanted to say, but he felt like it was too soon to say any more. His face was red as he spoke quietly, looking back down towards the carpeted floor.

A smile was spreading across Mitch's face as he heard Kurt speak. "Well, I just know your moms are watching over you and I hope they approve of me so far." He wanted to ask Kurt something, but was not sure if now was the right time. "Kurt?"

Kurt looked up, a questioning look upon his face. "Yeah, Mitch?"

Mitch hesitated, seriously thinking he should just ask Kurt, but he changed his mind last second. "Will you come over to my house on Friday? I know you have your family dinners on Friday, but this will just be a right after school thing. You'll be home in time for dinner."

"Well, if I'm home in time for dinner I guess I could." Kurt thought about it, nodding slowly. "Why?"

"I," Mitch took a deep breath, "I'm finally going to come out to my family."

*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~

The next day at glee club everyone sang for Kurt. They told him afterwards that no matter what had happened in his past they would still be his friend. Someone, Rachel most likely, had begged for details and Kurt finally just told them everything he could. Well, almost everything. He left out Blaine of course.

Until Finn asked about him.

"Wait...so what about that Warbler dude then." Finn asked, looking confused. "What's his name...er, Blaine? You and he both pretty much said you two used to know each other when you guys were little."

Kurt's face reddened a little bit and he shook his head. "We just knew each other."

"Was he at-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Kurt snapped, folding his arms tightly across his chest. He glared at Finn then, just daring him to try and continue the conversation.

Finn seemed to figure out it really was not worth it and just dropped the topic. Everyone else backed off as well. Mitch just looked a tad bit confused, but even he could tell now was not a good time to mess with Kurt. That look on Kurt's face was enough to scare anyone into silence, in his opinion. At Finn's question Mitch had seen those shields go up again around Kurt, like he was trying to hide something or hide from something. It made him wonder.

The rest of the meeting Kurt sat in the back, looking quite annoyed, and was glad when no one bothered him. Of course, not being bothered meant he did not have much of a distraction to keep him from thinking about Blaine again.

Kurt practically ran from the room when the meeting was over. He felt bad for ignoring Mitch as well, but he did not feel like talking to anyone for the rest of the day.

*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~

"You're looking slightly ill." Kurt commented. "Besides that I think you're fine."

Mitch swallowed nervously and finally managed to pull himself away from the bathroom mirror. It was Friday after school and Kurt had come directly over as he had promised.

As soon as they had walked into the house Mitch's mother, Marlene, had appeared from the kitchen. Marlene was just a bit taller than her son, with long curly black hair and green eyes. It was obvious where Mitch got his good looks from. "Ah, welcome home, Mitch, sweetie! Who's this?" She did a slight double take when she first laid eyes on Kurt. Kurt was not sure whether to be nervous about that or not.

"Hey, mom. This is Kurt." Mitch smiled, introducing Kurt who waved and said hello.

Marlene looked back at Kurt again and gasped lightly. "Oh! So you're the Kurt Mitch talks about all the time."

"Mom!" Mitch flailed a little, his face reddening a bit.

His mother continued on, ignoring her son's protests. "I didn't realize how- well, you dress really nice, Kurt." She was a tad thrown off by how...effeminate her son's new friend looked. Then again, wasn't her own best friend Brant a bit girly looking? It really wasn't a big deal.

"Oh, uh, thanks, Mrs. Stewart." Kurt smiled politely. He wondered what else Mitch's mother was thinking. She seemed a bit surprised about something or other.

"Please just call me Marlene, Kurt." Marlene grinned. "Are you going to be here long? You're welcome to stay for dinner if you'd like."

Kurt could see Mitch's hand trembling a little bit and noticed that his friend's face was going a bit pale. Well, this would be interesting. "I'm sorry, Mrs. –er, Marlene. Mitch just wanted to show me some of his old records for a bit. I would love to stay longer, but Friday's are family dinner night at my house and I never miss them anymore."

"That's completely understandable." Marlene smiled. "Well, I'll leave you boys at it then. Kevin's up and about so watch out for him." She looked down at Mitch and frowned slightly. "Are you okay, Mitch? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, mom." Mitch replied, trying to sound reassuring but pretty much failed. "We'll just be upstairs." Without even thinking he grabbed Kurt's hand and tugged him along up the stairs.

As Marlene watched the two go up the stairs she smiled to herself then went back into the kitchen.

So now here they were, in Mitch's bathroom, trying to get Mitch from panicking. For the past ten minutes Mitch had stood in front of the mirror, sure that he looked absolutely dreadful and should probably just wait. Kurt was sure Mitch looked fine, damn fine not that he would say that out loud.

"Look, Mitch, if you don't think you're ready then...just wait." Kurt shrugged. "I don't want you having a panic attack on us. Just know that you are strong enough to do this and I swear I will be next to you the entire time."

"I just..." Mitch bit his lip, trying to figure out what he wanted to say, "I can be so confident towards everything else. I guess I just find this so much more nerve wracking since I've always just wanted my parents' approval and acceptance."

Kurt moved to stand next to Mitch, reaching down to take Mitch's hand. "Hey, look in that mirror again." He waited for Mitch to do so before continuing. "You know what I see? I see a strong, smart, talented, and...attractive guy." His face reddened a bit at having admitted he thought Mitch was attractive. "And from what it seems, your parents do love you and appreciate you. You've told me yourself that they have a friend or two that is also gay and they're fine with that. I think that if they truly do love you it won't matter who you fall in love with, as long as you're happy in the end."

Mitch silently listened to what Kurt was saying. Kurt had a point. He could not help smiling a bit when Kurt called him attractive. Well, he may be attractive, but Kurt was just plain gorgeous. "Thanks." He squeezed Kurt's hand gently. "For everything, really, Kurt. You help make me feel more confident, and you're right. I can do this."

A door was shut heavily downstairs and they heard a male voice calling out.

"Look's like dad's home." Mitch commented.

Kurt nodded, giving Mitch a reassuring smile. "Ready?" The other boy shook his head, chuckling nervously. "Well, hey," Kurt laughed, "look at it this way. It's not like you're heading down there to tell them you got a girl pregnant."

Mitch laughed, opening the bathroom door and tugging Kurt out with him. "There is that."

"You look like Uncle Brant."

Mitch and Kurt's progress was halted by a rather small four year old. He was looking straight up at Kurt.

Kurt blinked and looked down at the three year old. It had to be Kevin, Mitch's brother. "Um, sorry?"

"Brant! Mommy's friend. He's really nice." Kevin then gave Kurt a curious look. "Are you like Uncle Brant?"

"Well...I'm nice, if that's what you mean." Kurt was slightly confused.

"No!" The little boy shook his head, tugging at Kurt's other hand. "Is Mitch like Louis? Are you two together?"

"Kevin!" Mitch gasped as Kurt giggled slightly. Both of their faces went slightly red.

"What? I'm just asking."

"You can't just-"

Still giggling a tiny bit, Kurt crouched down and indicated for Kevin to move closer. When he did Kurt leaned over and whispered in his ear. "We're not, but maybe you could put in a good word for me, huh?" He grinned as the four year old nodded in reply.

And then, to Kurt's horror, the little boy looked right on up at Mitch. "Kurt says I should put a good word in for him. He's nice. I like him, so you should too."

Kurt's face went bright red and he face palmed. Mitch just about choked trying not to laugh at his little brother.

"I'm gonna go tell mommy and daddy!" Kevin giggled, skipping off down the stairs.

Can't trust a little kid to keep things quiet. Kurt thought. Why did Kevin have to say that out loud to Mitch? Oh Gaga.

Mitch laughed, looking down at Kurt who just looked absolutely mortified. "Well, that was- wait." His eyes grew big and Kurt looked up at his slightly terrified tone. "He just said he was going to tell my parents..." The two looked at each other then both took off for the stairs.

Unfortunately they did not make it in time.

"Mommy! Daddy! Mitch and Kurt are going to be like Louis and Brant some day!" Kevin was talking rather loudly. "I know-"

"Kevin!" Both Kurt and Mitch ran into the room shouting at the same time.

"-cause Kurt asked me to put a good word in for him and so I told Mitch and I said that Kurt was really nice. So that means they can be together." Kevin finished, smiling brightly.

Mitch looked horrified and Kurt just face palmed once more. This was not going how they planned.

Marlene looked up from her magazine at the counter, giving Mitch and Kurt an amused glance before looking back at Kevin. "Is that so, sweetie? Well, thank you for letting us know that. Now, why don't you run and play upstairs and I'll be up in a little bit?"

"Okay!" Kevin giggled, turning to head back upstairs. He stopped in front of Kurt and tugged at his hand again. "I told mommy and I think she likes you too. So now I was really helpful, right?"

"Oh...yes." Kurt replied slowly, trying not to look at anyone else in the room. His face was on fire. "Very much so, thank you."

"Yay!" Kevin hummed happily to himself and ran on up the stairs. That left Mitch, Kurt, Marlene, and Mitch's father left in the room.

"So-"

"It's not what it sounded like!" Mitch interrupted his father quickly. "I mean," his face reddened as he looked back at Kurt briefly before turning back to his parents, "not about Kurt...and I, but, you know, about...me, well, it's not what I wanted to happen with Kevin and all saying that to you guys before...I just-" he flailed, trying to stop rambling and just get to the point.

"-you're gay?" Mitch's father ended what he had been about to say before Mitch started rambling.

"Yes." Mitch squeaked.

Kurt could see his friend was trembling a tiny bit so he moved slightly closer, placing a comforting hand on his back. So far it did not seem like Mitch's parents were going to react poorly. Mitch just had to realize that too.

"Why do you look so worried, sweetheart?" Marlene smiled, going around the counter to approach her son. "You didn't think we wouldn't love you anymore, did you?"

Mitch looked uncomfortable, not wanting to admit that the thought may have crossed his mind at one point or another. "I was just...I know how you and dad aren't against gay relationships, considering Brant and Louis, I just wasn't sure about when it came to your own kids."

"Oh, Mitch," Marlene smiled, pulling her son close for a big hug; "your father and I just want you and Kevin to be happy. We'll support you and love you no matter who you fall in love with."

"Didn't you want grandkids though?" Mitch asked quietly, hugging his mother back tightly.

His father burst out laughing. "Mitch, of course we want grandkids. I'm sure Kevin will have some one day, and you could always adopt a few kids or something. That's nothing to worry about, son."

Mitch laughed too then, shaking his head. "Well, this didn't go exactly how I had thought it would, but I'm glad you guys are okay with me being gay. I've wanted to tell you for ages, but I've never had the courage." It was quite a relief now to have gotten everything out in the open. Well, almost everything. Later, once Kurt was gone, Mitch was going to finally tell his parents about the real reason he was beaten up before they moved from Louisiana.

"So..." Marlene grinned, stepping back from her son to look over at Kurt. "You two aren't dating then?"

"What?" Kurt and Mitch asked quickly at the same time, both looking slightly embarrassed.

Both adults laughed, amused by the two boys. "Just wondering." Marlene replied. "Oh, and Mitch has told us that you're in the show choir group at your high school." She informed Kurt. "He keeps saying he wants to go see a performance because apparently you sing exceptionally well, and even though Ron," she indicated towards her husband, "and I aren't the biggest music fans we might just have to come watch as well."

Kurt glanced at Mitch briefly, wondering when Mitch was finally going to tell his parents about actually being in glee club himself. "Well, I can assure you I do sing exceptionally well." He grinned, never one to not brag about his talent. "Seeing our entire group perform together though is an experience you won't forget easily. I would love it if you all came to watch some time."

"Hey!" Kevin's voice could be heard getting louder as he came flying back down the stairs. "Can Kurt come play with us then? I'm bored!" He reached over and tugged at Kurt's hand again. "You wanna play?"

Mitch was about to tell Kevin to behave himself when Kurt crouched back down next to Kevin, smiling up at him. "I would love to play with you, Kevin, but I have to head on home soon. How about next time?"

Kevin looked a little disappointed, but nodded at Kurt's question, looking a tad more cheerful then. "Okay! Promise?"

Wow. Kurt really hoped he was coming over to Mitch's house again at some point, because he would hate to break a promise to a little kid. "I promise."

"Yay!" Kevin turned to his mother and ran over to grab her hand. "Did you hear that, mommy? Kurt said he'd come back to play with me some day!"

"That's great sweetie!" Marlene smiled brightly at her son.

"Can you and I go play now?" Kevin begged her.

"Of course." She led him towards the stairs. "Well, off I go. It was nice meeting you, Kurt!" She waved farewell. Kurt said farewell and waved too. He liked Mitch's mother. She was nice and reminded him of his own mothers.

"Well," Ron stood from the table, going over and giving Mitch a hug, "I'm glad you finally told us, son. You know...this kind of saves me from giving you the sex talk." Mitch's father laughed. "I'll just see if Brant would be willing to do that instead, considering he has more experience with that sort of thing." He laughed more, Mitch's face going bright red as he protested against that idea. "It was nice to finally get to meet you, Kurt." Ron let go of his son, turning to Kurt.

"It was nice finally meeting you as well." Kurt smiled.

"I have to head back on out for a bit, so I'll see you later, Mitch." Ron headed for the door. "And come over whenever you'd like, Kurt! I'm sure neither of my boys would mind all that much."

As soon as Kurt and Mitch were alone, Kurt burst out laughing.

"If this is about the sex talk thing..." Mitch pouted.

"Hey, at least you're actually getting a real sex talk." Kurt laughed harder. "My dad just sort of gave me these pamphlet things and we had toast. It was odd and I was very uncomfortable. I think I would have died of awkward though if he had tried actually giving me a real sex talk."

"Hm, maybe I'll just have to see about having Brant give us both the sex talk then." Mitch laughed.

Kurt shook his head violently. "No no no, I'll pass thank you. You have fun with that and then...I don't know." He laughed. "At least this went really well, right?" Change of topic was probably a good idea now.

Mitch smiled, nodding happily. "It did! I'm so glad." He reached out and took Kurt's hand gently. "Thanks for being here with me. I shouldn't have worried so much. It helped having you here though."

"Hey," Kurt grinned, squeezing Mitch's hand lightly, "I'm your friend; I'll always be here to help you."

"Kurt..." Mitch spoke quietly, looking like there was something he really wanted to say.

"Yeah? What is it?" Kurt gave him a questioning look.

Mitch hesitated though and changed his mind last minute. "Real quick, I want to show you something before you go. Come on." He kept a hold of Kurt's hand, leading him out the back door into the backyard.

"Okay..." Kurt followed along, wondering what Mitch wanted to show him. Not only that...he wondered if there was something else Mitch was not saying, because for a second there it had looked like Mitch was going to ask him something. Oh he really should not be getting his hopes up.

When they stopped they were standing by a couple of tall trees. There was wooden ladder leading up into what seemed to be a rather big tree house. It had a roof and a few open holes in the walls that looked like windows, and there was even a deck for it.

"Wow." Kurt looked up at the tree house in awe. "That is a huge tree house."

"Isn't?" Mitch grinned. "It was here when we moved in. Apparently the dad of the last family that lived here built it with his kids. Do you want to go up?"

Kurt gave Mitch an 'are you kidding me' look. "Seriously? Not in this outfit I'm not." No way was he going to chance tearing his new shirt.

"Aw, come on." Mitch pleaded, trying to give Kurt a sad puppy dog look. "I've already checked it to make sure it's safe, considering Kevin always wants to play in it."

Well, with that look it would be hard for Kurt to say no. "Gah, alright, but you go up first because it still doesn't look safe to me..."

Mitch grinned, nodding. "Okay." He started up the ladder, Kurt reluctantly following behind. "Enjoying the view?" Mitch asked halfway up, laughing.

Kurt snorted, giggling as he replied. "Oh, very much so." Well, it was definitely not a lie. He had a great view of Mitch's backside while following him up the ladder.

After Mitch reached the inside of the tree house and got off the ladder he turned around and reached down to help Kurt make it up the last two steps. "See, that wasn't that bad, was it?"

"You're just lucky I like you so much." Kurt pouted; checking to make sure his outfit was still okay after the climb up.

"Do you?"

Kurt looked up, seeing Mitch watching him with a questioning expression. "Do I, what?"

"Do you like me a lot?"

"Oh." Kurt's face went red. "Er...I do. A lot." He looked down at the floor, feeling slightly embarrassed. Was it too soon for him to admit that? He had practically little experience when it came to romantic feelings and dealing with all that sort of thing in general, but Mitch was asking so it was okay to admit it, right?

"I do too." Mitch replied quietly. "Like you a lot, I mean."

Oh. Wow. Kurt looked back up in surprise, his eyes widening a bit. "You do?"

"Yeah. I've kind of...been interested since I first saw you." Mitch admitted. "I've never had a relationship before, but I know I didn't want to just rush into anything at first. You're amazing, Kurt. You're smart, talented, witty, undeniably gorgeous, and extremely nice. I always look forward to when we see each other, and coming to school in the morning waiting to see what new, unique and amazing outfit you're wearing. I like trying to guess whether your eyes are green or blue or even grayish, though I think they're mainly blue. They're definitely very blue when you cry. I don't like it when you cry. It makes me sad and I just want to hold you and tell you everything is going to be alright. I may not have experience, but I know I would be a great boyfriend to you, Kurt. I promise to treat you right always and be there for you whenever you need me to be."

Kurt's face had probably melted off by this point. Did Mitch really think all that about him? Did Mitch really like him? It was kind of emotionally overwhelming and he felt stupid for getting slightly teary eyed.

Mitch took both his hands, moving slightly closer to him so they were barely even an inch apart. "Please give me a chance, Kurt?"

Their close proximity to each other had Kurt's heart racing. This was really happening. Being asked out was something Kurt was sure would never have happened to him before graduating high school, yet here he was. And Mitch was so nice and just a perfect gentleman. Kurt knew he wanted to give Mitch a chance, give them a chance. He nodded slowly, his eyes locked on Mitch's green ones. "Yes. I would really really like that. Like, you have no idea." He giggled.

"I may have some sort of idea." Mitch grinned, looking absolutely delighted. He let go of one of Kurt's hands then, reaching up to place his hand gently on Kurt's cheek. His intent was clear in his eyes, but he was waiting for Kurt to assure him it was okay.

Kurt's heart was pounding in his chest by this point. He knew what Mitch wanted to do next, but oh was he nervous. This was his first kiss after all. What if he was a miserable kisser? What if Mitch laughed at him or something? Oh dear. No. He could not keep thinking 'what if's. Otherwise he would probably never be kissed and that was a sad thought. He did not back away, taking a slow deep breath to steel his nerves.

When Kurt made no move to prevent him from continuing, Mitch smiled and leaned closer, tilting Kurt's chin up a bit as he pressed his lips softly against Kurt's. It was not until he felt Kurt relax that he deepened the kiss just a tiny bit.

Kurt was in heaven. This was a perfect first kiss. And thankfully Mitch's lips did not taste like whatever Brittany had said they did. Not that Kurt could really think of that right now, considering it was much nicer focusing on the fact that he was getting kissed; his first kiss, with a boy, a very nice, attractive boy who just so happened to really like him.

When they finally broke apart, both their faces slightly flushed, Kurt could not help smiling. He was beyond happy at the moment. Wait until he got home and got a chance to call Mercedes. She was going to flip.

"I suppose...you'll have to be heading home now, huh?" Mitch commented sadly.

Kurt nodded; he was enjoying the fact that now Mitch had his arms around him, hugging him. "Yeah. Let's hang out this weekend?"

"Definitely." Mitch nodded. "Now you just have to get me to let go of you so you can drive home."

Kurt giggled. "I guess I do, don't I? Hm, how about one last kiss before I go?" He was pretty sure that kissing Mitch was going to be something he would become quite addicted to.

"I think I can do that."