Both Kurt and Blaine froze as they heard the door open. Then they heard an “Oh. Oh!” in a voice tinged with embarrassment.

Kurt was paralyzed, but Blaine was galvanized to action. In one smooth motion he swung his leg over and off of Kurt and grabbed Unique by the wrist, pulling her into the room as he shut the door.

“Hows it going?” Blaine asked, seemingly nonplussed, and motioning for Unique to take a seat with a sweep of his hand.  

She sat with another “Oh.”

Ignoring Kurt, who was still incapacitated with shock and embarrassment, Blaine pulled around a chair so he was sitting face to face with Unique who was staring at the floor, cheeks reddened. Blaine had his back to Kurt when he took both of Unique's hands in his. “Unique, look at me,” he said softly.

Unique shyly brought her eyes up to Blaine. “That hair style really suits you. You look very beautiful.”

“Oh,” Unique gave a small smile, slightly preening under Blaine's approving gaze.

“I'm really sorry for what you walked in on. That must have been really embarrassing for you, but I want to explain.” Blaine let out a breath. “You need to know that I was kissing Kurt; he wasn't kissing me. This was something that I completely initiated.”

Kurt's mouth dropped open.

“He was kissing you back,” Unique's voice was so quiet it nearly came out as a whisper.

“No,” Blaine shook his head adamantly. “It was all me.”

“It was not!” Kurt practically shouted, and Blaine swiveled around, wide eyed.  Taking a deep breath, Kurt continued in a more normal tone,  “Yes, Blaine initiated the kiss, but I wasn't exactly pushing him away, and I should have been. It was completely inappropriate of me, and I'm really sorry. It shouldn't have happened. I regret it.”

Blaine's eyes clouded over at Kurts words, and his voice broke a little when he turned back to Unique and said, “No-no, it was me. It was all me. Kurt…Professor Hummel…didn't do anything.”

The tension in the room was suddenly too much for Unique. “Stop. Just stop.” She held up a hand. Both men looked at her. “Okay,” she began, “I was a little startled to catch you two in flagrante delicto, and I had a moment, but now I'm fine,” her hand went to her chest. “You've always been really honest with us, Professor Hummel...Kurt, right from the first day of class, and I don't think you would give Blaine any special favors just because you like him. Also, he's been flirting with you ridiculously all semester, so I'm sure he did make the first move." All of this was said with Uniques soft, almost shy voice, but then she continued in a more teasing tone, "And, well, Professor, I can't really blame you for kissing him back, because Blaine is kind of a biscuit.”

Blaine choked, “A what?”

“Oh, please, white boy. Don't tell me you don't know that everybody wants to take a bite out of you. That goes for the boys and the girls.” Unique looked Blaine up and down. “Well, maybe not me.  You're a little short and skinny for my taste; as I said in class, I like cowboys.”

Kurt burst out laughing. “Unique, I can't believe you said that,” he giggled.

“Well, Professor...Kurt, I learned a lot in this class about being myself. You taught me that there were other people who were like me, and the things that I felt were normal. Or, at least, I wasn't alone.” She looked at Blaine again, “And you taught me that it was okay to be outrageous—to put yourself out there once in a while. You were so brave, the way you make it known right from the first day that you were interested in this one,” she waived a hand to indicate Kurt. “I don't know how you could be so forward. I would have died of embarrassment.”

“I didn't have a choice, actually,” Blaine confessed.

“What?” Kurt sputtered. “You're saying I made you flirt with me? Or, what? This was some kind of fraternity dare?”

Blaine ignored Kurt and spoke to Unique, “The first time I saw Kurt, I was, like, fifteen. He was singing on stage with his high school Glee Club, and I thought he was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.

“Anyhow,” Blaine continued, “after he finished performing, I just had to see him close up. I wanted to see him and touch him and talk to him. So I ran back stage after the performance and found him, and—my heart was racing so fact—I told him how amazing I thought his performance was. I hoped he would take one look at me and fall in love. I hoped he would. And do you know what he did?”

“What?” asked Kurt and Unique in unison. Kurt had met Blaine before? He didn't remember that at all.

“He said, ‘Thank you,' and then he walked away. I was just this little pipsqueak in a blue and red blazer, and I made no impression on him whatsoever. When he walked into class the first day this semester, I thought I would die, because I never expected to see him again. Certainly I didn't expect him to be even more beautiful than the first time I saw him. But I knew that I couldn't stand to just be another face in the crowd like the first time; I had to make an impression this time around. So I put myself out there. It was so hard at first, but the more I did it, the easier it was. I think you know something about that, right Unique?”

“Maybe something,” Unique agreed. She patted Blaine's hand, and then she stood up. “Thank you both for talking to me. Professor Hummel? I'll talk to you on Monday?”

“That sounds good.”

“OK, I'll leave you two to it, then.”

Kurt thought he might faint from embarrassment, but he managed to mutter, “See you next week.”

Once Unique had left, Blaine double-checked that the door was locked this time. Then he walked back across the room and leaned down toward Kurt, intent on resuming where they had left off.

Kurt leaned away and held up a hand to Blaine's chest. “We need to talk.”

“Ouch,” Blaine sighed, reversing course and plopping down in a chair. “That's never a good thing.”

“What we did here today was…inappropriate.”

“What we did here today was hot.”

Kurt reddened. “Okay,” he cleared his throat. “Yes, it was, but it can never happen again.”

“Never? Kurt, that kiss was amazing. You're amazing. And you heard Unique; she's okay with it.”

“I'm not okay with it!”  Once again, Kurt's voice came out more forcefully than he intended, and Blaine flinched. Kurt's heart broke a little at seeing that, but he pressed on, “Blaine, I'm attracted to you; you know that. But I've worked really hard to get where I am. I'm not going to risk throwing my life chances away on a fling, just because you're sexy as sin. My thesis chair saw us kiss on stage; one of my students just caught us kissing during office hours. I could lose my assistantship; I could get kicked out of the program. It's not worth it.” Especially not if you're going to Harvard in the Fall, Kurt thought but did not say.

“But I already showed you my grades…”

“It doesn't matter. This is my career, Blaine. You have to understand that.”

“Yeah…okay… yes.” Blaine stood up quickly, visibly upset now, and Kurt didn't know if Blaine was angry with Kurt or himself. “This was clearly a mistake. I'm going now.”

“That's a good idea. I'll see you around, Blaine.”

“See you,” Blaine muttered, and he spun on his heels and left.