The room was quiet except for the occasional cough and the scratch-scratch of pens on paper. Kurt looked around the classroom from his desk in the front of the room. It was two hours into the final exam, and although students had three hours to finish, Kurt anticipated that some of the smarter and dumber student would be finishing soon. The smarter ones finished first because they could rail through the materials. The dumb ones also finished first because they had nothing to say. Kurt felt a little guilty thinking of some of his students as “dumb,” but after reading too many quiz answers he had disabused himself of the notion that there were no dumb students. His eyes traveled briefly to Brittany and Sugar, and he shrugged inwardly.

Blaine stood up, and Kurt immediately looked down to the paper he was pretending to read. Blaine walked up to the desk and placed his exam, face down, on the table. He reached out a single finger and placed it on the back of Kurt's hand, not moving it, just searing through Kurt's entire being like a laser.

Kurt looked up and was captured in Blaine's hot gaze. “I enjoyed your class,” he said quietly. Then he paused and added, “A lot.”

Kurt couldn't say anything. He just sat there and nodded like an idiot.

Blaine turned away, walked back to his desk, gathered up his things, and left the classroom without another look.

Kurt crossed his legs.

“Blaine?”

“Wha….?” came the voice through the phone.

“I'm sorry, did I wake you?”

“Nuhhhhh, wasn't asleep,” Blaine slurred, obviously lying. There was a pause and then the voice said more clearly, “Kurt?”

“Yeah.”

“What time is it?”

Kurt looked at his watch, “2:36.”

“In the morning?!”

“Um, yeah. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Yes. Of course.” Kurt heard some shuffling on the line, then Blaine said, “I'm glad you called.”

“Good.”

“Why did you call?”

“Oh." Kurt barked out a short laugh, "I just turned in my grades.”

Blaine was too sleep-addled to fully comprehend the implications of that at first. “That's…good,” he said uncertainly. Kurt waited Blaine out. Then awareness dawned. “Oh, Kurt. You turned in your grades. You're not my teacher any more. Oh, wow. Does that mean I can ask you out?”

“It does not. It means I can ask you out.”

“Isn't that the same thing?"

“No. I'm sick of you making the first move. I'm taller and older, and I'm asking you out.”

“That statement is shockingly full of all kinds of inappropriate gender stereotypes.”

“I haven't slept in two days, Blaine. I don't care. I'm asking you out.”

“When?”

“Soon. Tomorrow? No, it's already tomorrow. Tonight?”

“What are we going to do?”

“Well, I was thinking about that,” Kurt traced a finger along the stitching of his comforter from where he was sitting on his bed. He was nervous, but he was determined to do this. He cleared his throat. “See, the thing is, I don't have any money, so I was hoping when we went out, we could stay in.”

“You want to come over here?”

“Don't you live in a frat house?”

“Yes.”

Kurt shuddered, “I definitely don't want to go there. You should come here.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Well, I can't make you dinner, because I don't have any food unless you count cereal. So I was thinking…” his voice failed for a second, but then he screwed up his courage, “…maybe we could work on that dimensional discontinuity problem.”

“You're asking me over for sex?!” Blaine had the temerity to sound outraged.

“Is that a problem, Blaine?”

“No. I just thought…No, never mind. It's not a problem.”

“Good.”

“So this isn't a date?” Blaine actually sounded disappointed.  

“No, it's a date. It's just a really cheap one.”

“And naked.”

“And naked.”

“Kurt?”

“Hmmmm?”

“If this date goes really well, maybe we could take it to the next level?”

“Dinner and a movie?”

“Something like that.”

“Maybe on the third date.”

The knock came on Kurt's door at 7 p.m. sharp. Kurt took a deep breath and opened it. Blaine was standing on the doorstep, a bouquet of flowers in one hand, a bottle of wine in another.

“Hi,” said Kurt breathlessly.

“Hi,” said Blaine. They stood and drank each other in. Finally Blaine said, “Can I come in?”

“Oh, sure. Yes.” Kurt was suddenly flustered.

Blaine thrust the flowers at Kurt. "These are for you."  

Kurt took them and buried his nose in the blooms. “They're beautiful, thank you.”

Blaine walked to the part of the room that constituted a kitchen and placed the bottle of wine on the counter. It was a regular sized bottle, but it took up most of the available counter space. “Your place is really…cozy,” Blaine said.

“It's an important element of feng shui to be able to touch all four walls at the same time. As a gay man, you should know that,” Kurt teased.

“Noted,” Blaine nodded. “May I?” Blaine indicated Kurt's bed with his hand. It was the only piece of furniture in the room that functioned as a chair; there was no room for a chair in the tiny apartment.

Kurt nodded and Blaine perched on the edge of the bed. Kurt filled a glass with water and put the flowers in it.  He looked around for a place to put his makeshift vase, and he settled for the top of a book shelf.  Then he sat down on the bed next to Blaine, his hands folded in his lap. This was not going well at all. All of his bravado from earlier in the morning when he was punch-drunk from lack of sleep was gone, and now he just felt awkward.

“Kurt,” Blaine reached for Kurt's hand, and Kurt jumped.

“Sorry,” Kurt mumbled.

Blaine gave a short laugh. He reached for Kurt's hand again, and this time he succeeded in capturing it. “Kurt,” he said gently. “Relax. Let's just talk.” Blaine scooted back so that his back was against the wall and his legs were straight across the bed. “Come sit by me,” he offered.

Kurt moved back until he was shoulder to shoulder with Blaine.

“So, tell me about Kurt,” Blaine commanded, holding Kurt's hand. So Kurt did.

Several hours later they were stretched out lengthwise on the bed, still fully clothed, lying in each other's arms, simply talking. They hadn't even kissed, so intent were they on hearing each other's stories and sharing their own, but their hands occasionally moved over each other's arms, their backs, their sides. They were comfortable.

Kurt didn't notice when he fell asleep mid-sentence.

Blaine didn't notice, either. He was already asleep.