Chapter 2

Blaine looked around nervously, hand clutched to the strap of his bag that was still over his shoulder even though he'd sat down over ten minutes before- arriving early so he could see when Kurt did. He sipped anxiously from his coffee cup, glancing around once more, before finally taking his bag off. There was no use wallowing in his nerves.

Because he wasn't sure what it was about Kurt, he wouldn't be able to put his finger on it exactly, that made him act so on edge. He couldn't really explain why the boy drew him in, why Blaine was so readily trying to be friends with him.

He had an honest face. That was about as simple as Blaine could explain it. There was that cold glare he'd been on the receiving end of as soon as they'd met, and Blaine had been surprised he'd feel so exposed when he couldn't even see Kurt's eyes. There was that little smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth that sent something fluttering in Blaine's stomach. And that determined look, the one completely underlined with hidden pain that he saw flit across his features as he had played that song.

Yet for such an honest face, a face that expressed so much, Kurt was incredibly difficult to read.

And that's what Blaine couldn't put his finger on.

He hadn't meant to follow where Kurt had gone, or maybe he had, and only told himself he needed a walk. And then he'd heard that music, and remembered what Mike had said. It drifted down the corridor, slow and beautiful, and he followed it.

When he saw Kurt there, playing, completely lost, completely withdrawn, he'd thought he'd never heard something so deeply painful and yet so stunning. And fully entranced, absolutely losing himself to wherever Kurt was, he'd walked right into the trashcan.

You can never let a beautiful thing last, can you, Anderson?

Blaine looked at his watch and sighed, disappointed slightly. It was 4:35 already. Stop it, it's five minutes, Blaine, he's not that late.

As soon as the thought passed, he heard the main door open, and felt the chilly January cold breeze through the shop. He glanced up, and grinned.

Kurt was stood in the doorway, wrapped up incredibly warm, his cheeks bitten to a soft pink colour from the cold, and his soft brown hair sticking up at all angles. In one hand, he held his cane loosely at his side and on his other was a golden Labrador, a harness around as Kurt held on. Blaine couldn't help himself from laughing, the excited look in the dog's eyes, or the fact its tail was wagging back and forth, was too adorable to keep his face straight.

"Kurt!" Blaine called, catching his attention. Kurt smiled, but didn't turn his head at the sound of Blaine's voice, and he tentatively moved forward.

"Hey, Blaine," he said, voice raised. Blaine moved to get up and walk to Kurt but something tugged at him to stay. Something telling him Kurt would prefer to do this with only the help of the excitable dog by his side.

"Your dog is lovely," Blaine commented, speaking only to help Kurt recognise where he was. He itched to stand but he was afraid he'd hurt Kurt's pride, like he already seemed to have done twice in only a few hours of knowing him.

The small grin on his face grew a little wider, and he made his final few steps towards Blaine, beginning to move his cane around slightly. It knocked against the empty chair opposite Blaine.

"She is, isn't she? Kurt said, appreciatively, crouching down. "She's such a beautiful girl, aren't you, Patti?" At the sound of her name, she turned her head around and bumped it against Kurt's outstretched hand, and nuzzled into it. "Good girl!" Blaine looked down at them both with a sad smile, playing with the idea of getting down and helping Kurt but, before he had already finished thinking so, Kurt had already managed to pull the harness off. She remained sat, looking up at Kurt expectantly.

"She's expecting a treat, isn't she?" Kurt said in mock exasperation, and Blaine laughed at the looks on both their faces. "Well, you'll have to wait, I have to go get my coffee, you greedy pup." Blaine forced his coffee down, before he ended up spitting it up in laughter.

Seeing Kurt like this, as if there was nothing different, there with his dog and outside of school, tension having melted around him, was something Blaine had only hoped he'd get to see. Looking more relaxed, his grin came easier and Blaine found it contagious.

"I'll get you one," Blaine stood up, himself relaxing. "I'm getting myself one anyway," he added before Kurt could comment. "What do you want?" Kurt paused, looking slightly off to the side of Blaine.

"I can get my own, honestly," Kurt said, though with no hint of sourness.

"You get the next ones," Blaine laughed. "You aren't getting free coffee out of this." The laughter that escaped Kurt, jovial and carefree, sent warmth up Blaine's spine and he could imagine a sparkle in those eyes hidden beneath the dark glasses.

"Non-fat mocha. Grande. Please."

"Coming up," he replied, cheerily, moving towards the counter, throwing his empty cup in the bin as he passed. His stomach squirmed uncomfortably when he glanced over his shoulder and the sight of Kurt reaching out to find his chair greeted him. Maybe he'd appreciate some help. But he would have asked. And no sooner had Blaine considered moving out of line, Kurt had sat down, and began unbuttoning his coat.

When Blaine reached the table, pushing Kurt's coffee cup into his hands, Kurt's dog was looking up at him curiously.

"Hello there," Blaine offered, not sure of the correct way to address Kurt's dog.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" he laughed again, ruffling the dog's fur. He carried on running his hand through the soft fur as he sipped at his coffee.

"She is," Blaine agreed, "How old is she?"

"Three- nearly four," Kurt smiled. "She's been looking after me ever since I turned 16, haven't you, baby?" He ruffled her fur again. "I passed my Orientation and Mobility Training years ago," he said turning back to Blaine, "So I was told as soon as I turned 16 I could apply."

"What did you say her name was again?"

"Patti," he replied simply, his hand returning to the table top as the dog in question lay down by his hair.

"As in LuPone?" he certainly didn't miss the way Kurt's eyebrows shot up, his head tilted in slight confusion.

"Yes, actually," he said slowly, causing Blaine to think that Kurt found him bemusing.

"I thought so," he leaned in towards their table slightly, "Did you read her book? Her latest?" The confusion etched on Kurt's features was quickly replaced by a small smile, softening.

"Of course I have! What do you take me for?" He paused for a second, hand curling slightly where it lay on the table. "You know who Patti LuPone is?" The tone of his voice surprised Blaine, the first time it seemed he was asking a question that didn't sound accusatory or disbelieving, but actually... relieved, and hopeful.

"Of course!" Kurt leaned back in his chair again, the hopeful smile now forming into a wide grin. His face crinkled, and Blaine suddenly wished he could see behind his dark glasses do he could see his eyes.

"I haven't met many peopl- um... boys who know who she is," he said softly.

"I haven't got exactly the same interests as most boys our age, I guess," Blaine said thoughtfully. "I don't think most people would be able to tell that coat is Marc Jacobs, either." Kurt's eyebrows shot up.

"You... You recognise it? I'm impressed... It does look like I had you wrong," Kurt smiled. "I thought you wouldn't notice." His fingers of his free hand reached out slightly, to his other arm and stroked the material of the sleeve. Blaine tore his eyes away from the movement and attempted to clear his throat.

"Of course I would. I think I'd notice one when I saw it. I read Vogue, you know?" Kurt's fingers stilled at the hem of his sleeve. He gave a small smile but didn't say anything.

"That must have cost a lot, though," Blaine added when the silence was too much for him to take.

"Yes, it did," Kurt finally spoke up, "But we're good bargain shoppers. And this has probably passed a few hands down, but people wear it once and pass it on in fine enough condition," he added with a little shrug.

"We? Who do you go with?" Blaine asked, genuinely interested. He couldn't imagine Kurt alone shopping. No matter how independent he appeared. He'd need someone there to shop for clothes at the very least. "Rachel?"

Taking Blaine completely by surprise, Kurt threw his head back and laughed, and it echoed around the little alcove area where they were sat. His face scrunched, still laughing as he turned back to Blaine, he giggled into his coffee before answering.

"Oh my God, I hear horror stories about how Rachel dresses," Kurt giggled, "She's my friend but if I went shopping with her, I'd probably come back with multiple sweaters with Bambi on them." He gave a dramatic shudder, and then snorted again into his coffee.

Blaine could feel himself on the verge of laughter but bit it down. "She was wearing an animal sweater today actually-" Kurt sniggered- "I thought it was cute," Blaine defended.

"I bet it was some atrocious shade of maroon," Kurt quipped.

"It was actually," and now Blaine was laughing hard along with Kurt, Blaine trying to stifle them as people turned to look disapprovingly at their sniggers. Kurt, however, couldn't see this, and hadn't even attempted giving up trying to hide his laughter.

"So, who do you go with?" Blaine ventured, again, a little while later after Kurt had left and come back with two more coffees.

"Santana Lopez- have you met her?" Kurt said as he sat back down, running his fingers through Patti's fur again.

"Um... yes, actually," Blaine said, but the shock in his voice must have been evident because Kurt raised his eyebrows at him in amusement. Blaine remembered very clearly the judgemental glare of the cheerleader girl as she quickly raked her eyes up and down him in the cafeteria that afternoon.

"What?"

"Well... she's very forward," Blaine offered, not wanting to offend someone whom Kurt was friends with.

"Oh my God," Kurt said, leaning forward, "What did she say?"

"She insulted my bowtie," Blaine answered begrudgingly, absently fixing it from its slightly skewed position. "Then she said that if I wanted to make it at this school, the sure fire way was to... uh... get it on with her or Brittany."

Kurt sighed. "Sounds like Santana. What did you say back?"

"I told them they weren't my type, and then ran away shortly after that."

"That won't deter Santana," Kurt smiled. "She'll pursue you until you finally do."

"Then I guess I'll have to tell her I don't play for her team," he said, almost cautiously. Surely Kurt would have guessed, but Blaine was still careful in how he said it. He didn't miss Kurt's little pause, before quickly continuing to sip his coffee.

"Oh," was his reply.

"I thought I was pretty obvious," Blaine tried to laugh, but he was too worried over what Kurt was thinking, pausing at his coffee again.

"Well, you're not as obvious... as obvious as me," Kurt sighed, waving his hand with the coffee to gesture at himself.

"I don't like to make assumptions," Blaine said, and Kurt gave a small smile in return.

"I've never met another gay guy before," he said quietly. Blaine smiled at Kurt in what he hoped was a reassuring way, but before he remember Kurt couldn't see it, Kurt had already started talking again.

"You should come shopping with me and Santana sometime. Or maybe just you and me?" Kurt asked tentatively. "If you want."

"I'd love to," Blaine insisted. "Santana is kind of..."

"Intimidating?" Kurt laughed. "You get use to her. She's looked out for me in the past, believe it or not. And she's good at describing clothes to me," he added as if this was the most important detail, gesturing down at his coat.

Blaine looked him over, and agreed. "The colour is nice."

"Well, the shop assistant didn't seem to think I'd care what colour it'd be... you know being blind," Kurt added huffily. "I'm glad Santana was there. She described it all to me. If I'd gone on my own, the shop assistant probably would have given me the grey one," his voice turned sharp at the end, the smile he wore only moments ago replaced by something far more sour.

"The grey would still have looked nice," Blaine added. "You would have been able to pull it off."

"Yes, well, when you spend your whole life seeing nothing but that... if you can even call it a colour, it kind of takes the beauty out of it," he said, hurtfully, and Blaine felt the knots in his stomach tighten.

"I'm sorry," he said looking down at the table, "I didn't mean..." he heard Kurt sigh and looked up.

"I know you didn't, Blaine," he said, a lot softer. "I am sorry. I wasn't hurt by what you said. I just... it's hard- I'm not going to lie. Only seeing things in one shade."

Blaine took a moment to look at Kurt. Really look at him. He was well dressed, his dark navy coat standing out against his pale skin. But, he could see from how the coat was unbuttoned that his sweater was red and white, and he wondered briefly if Kurt set out to always wear any other colour but grey.

"Look, I'm sorry for bringing that up," Kurt said, slightly exasperated with himself. "I didn't mean it like that or... I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's fine!" Blaine rushed, "I understand. Perfectly." Kurt gave him a smile, and leaned in a little.

"I haven't always been blind," he told Blaine, and he heard himself inhale sharply. "I just... I wanted to tell you that."

"Oh," Blaine said, dumbly. Did Kurt not want him to ask how he lost his sight? Or was he telling him so he would? He fidgeted slightly, toying with the lid on the cardboard coffee cup, suddenly at a loss for what to say.

If Kurt used to be able to see, why couldn't he anymore? And how dull life must be when everything he used to be able to see was now just a shade of nothing, and all he had to guide himself with was noise. How sad it must be for someone who loves clothes, and piano, and Broadway musicals, that he couldn't see any of it. Blaine found himself looking sadly at Kurt's face, and was surprised to see the other smiling.

"I mean, I can imagine what I am wearing, because I can remember what things look like, as long as I..." he trailed off and Blaine caught a glimpse of what he was doing. It was so subtle. The running of his fingertips over his coat moments before and now running across the top of his cup, and Blaine remembered what he saw in Kurt's locker hours before.

"You like the feel of clothes, don't you?" Blaine asked, "You like the feeling of touching them. Of touching everything really?"

Kurt's fingers stilled on the coffee cup. And he looked towards Blaine.

"It's why you have those materials hanging up in your locker," he added, not asking, but stating it towards him. Kurt nodded slowly.

"You are a perceptive one, aren't you?" Kurt laughed. "Yes, well pictures would be useless wouldn't they?" he said, but there was no bitterness in his tone. "I like the feeling of them, do you... do you know what I mean? It isn't strange to me."

"I do understand. I think it's a brilliant idea," Blaine told him, the urge to reach out and touch his hand increasing an incredible amount. "You know, you see with your ears and hands."

Kurt's mouth was slightly open, his face lit up with a childish wonder. And Blaine realised a little too late, he was a loss for words.

"It's kind of frightening," Kurt said. "How easily you seem to get me." Blaine tilted his head, and bit his lip, not sure of how to respond.

They sat in silence for a few moments, draining the last of their coffees, until Kurt announced he'd have to set off so he could be home in time for dinner. Blaine watched as Kurt stirred the dozing dog by his side, and put the harness on her, and they walked out the shop. Blaine pulled his collar of this coat tighter around himself and gripped onto his school bag strap, bracing the sudden chill of the winter air.

They walked in silence for a while, Blaine surprised by how much he enjoyed it. The sun was bright in the sky, the air bitingly cold on his gloveless hands, and he could listen to the chirping birds in distant trees when no cars passed on the road. And he actually enjoyed the sound of Kurt walking beside him, and the sound of Patti's hurried footsteps alongside, the dog panting slightly as she walked.

The dog was now cutting across Kurt, as he tried to go right, the opposite direction to where Blaine would be going.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Kurt," Blaine said, and Kurt forced Patti to stop, turning back to look at Blaine.

"Yes, I guess so. It was nice talking to you today. Thanks for the coffee," he smiled towards Blaine.

"You too," he turned to leave, and call another goodbye across his shoulder before he felt something pulling on his elbow.

"Hummel," Kurt said, holding onto Blaine's sleeve. Blaine raised his eyebrows, about to retort. "My last name is Hummel. I thought you should know because I know your name from Chemistry."

Blaine stared a little in shock, slightly taken aback by the forward way of telling him. But Kurt was grinning up at him with that wide smile and he looked adorable, with his hair over his face, he ended up shaking his head and laughing.

"Well it was nice to meet you, Kurt Hummel," he laughed.

"You too, Blaine Anderson," Kurt replied, pulling away, giving a final wave before letting Patti lead him down the opposite sidewalk.

Meeting at their lockers and walking to class together ended up happening a lot more naturally than expected. The day after their coffee get together (Kurt refused to let himself call it a date) Blaine had hurried over to tell him, in a slightly scared voice, that Santana had cornered him as he'd arrived at school. He'd barely escaped before she ended up crushing him down with questions about his coffee with Kurt the previous day. Kurt hadn't been able to stop laughing until they finally reached their English classroom and even then kept sniggering throughout the lesson, sure he was earning some strange looks from Mrs Rose.

Kurt found he was in most classes with Blaine, with the exception of French and Math, where Blaine was in the more advanced class. Blind people should not be forced to take a subject which relies solely on diagrams, numbers and formulas, he thought angrily, after another awful class, chucking his math book in the locker, carelessly.

Blaine began sitting closer to him in some lessons, though careful not to distract him with an adult also sat at the table, but mindlessly chatting about insignificant things going on, and talking about what their assignments were. Their talks by their lockers caused them to run late to lessons a couple of days, once when Kurt was completely enthralled by Blaine describing each and every one of the pictures in his locker, and once when Blaine looked at the different materials hanging up in Kurt's.

Blaine had taken to bringing his own lunch to school, sitting at the piano and laughing along with Kurt while some of the Glee club who had decided to stop by at lunch would sing and jam along with their guitars. Kurt could hear Blaine's carefree laughter and him clapping along to some of the jamming sessions, but he never sang along.

"Aren't you going to get up and join in now you're in the club?" Kurt asked on the first Friday they were in there together.

"I think I'd prefer to sit here with you," Blaine replied, and Kurt could almost imagine the nonchalant shrug and grin from Blaine. Or he hoped that was what Blaine was doing. He smiled to himself, but there was no kidding himself he didn't want to hear Blaine sing. He loved how Blaine sounded when he was laughing, or humming, or even when he was just talking. Kurt completely absorbed himself in everything Blaine talked about. Because he talked about it so passionately, so enthusiastically, it was easy to lose himself in what Blaine was saying.

Closing his eyes sometimes when Blaine talked, he built a picture of the boy waving his hands, gesturing wildly, his eyes lighting up when his favourite things came up in conversation. People may have said Kurt was just making an image up in his head, but he liked to believe he could imagine what Blaine was like, despite knowing nothing about his appearance other than he had "so much gel in his hair, Kurt, please let me just force his head under the fountain and wash it out!" as Santana had put it, moaning down the phone one night.

They'd fallen into this routine easily, and over the next two weeks, Kurt was beginning to wonder how he'd gotten through his days at school without those chirpy morning greetings from Blaine, a coffee for Kurt in hand from The Lima Bean as he'd passed it on his way to school. Or without Blaine's commentary whispered into his ear on what his other classmates were doing during lesson, or the lunches sat over the piano. Kurt forced down the thoughts, though, telling himself Blaine was a fun person to be around, and his life hadn't changed much at all. Not because of Blaine.

He still found math painful, for instance.

Two weeks after their first coffee "date" Kurt had all but stormed to his locker after math class, and practically attacked the locker door to open it so he could get rid of the offending textbook.

"Happy Monday to you too," Blaine commented dryly, obviously catching the livid look on Kurt's face. Or what Kurt assumed was livid. He felt pretty angry at least.

When Kurt finally opened the locker and threw the book in, he turned his face to Blaine and offered his best stony glare.

"Math is too hard!" he said exasperated. "I don't understand how I'm meant to work it all out when all I can do are sums." He slumped against the lockers, and lifted his glasses up slightly to press his palms into his eyes, frustrated.

"It's not, really," Blaine assured him, "You just need practice. It's a bit more of a challenge for you but you're Kurt Hummel," he said, and Kurt could almost hear the smile in his voice, "A little bit of mathematics isn't going to bother you as long as you work at it."

"Blaine, I'm barely scraping a B as it is," Kurt sighed, taking his hands way from his face and folding his arms, glasses falling back over his eyes. "The best colleges will want the best grades and I'm fine in everything else. I'm a straight A student but for this subject! What if they don't accept me because I flunked math?"

"Don't take this personally, but I find it hilarious you think a B is a fail- Okay, okay I'm sorry," he added quickly, as Kurt turned an icy look at him, scowling. "What about I tutor you?" Blaine offered. "I think all you need is a little extra help." Kurt thought it over for a moment, but didn't answer. When he didn't respond, Blaine continued. "We could get your grade up to a B plus definitely, maybe even an A minus. I think you're capable of that." Kurt tilted his head slightly, lost in thought. He could do with the extra help.

"You wouldn't mind?" he asked, as they started walking towards their classes.

"Of course not! We could do some at lunch if you want," Blaine told him. "Hide out in the library away from Glee club and learn the quadratic formula!"

"You sound way too happy about that," Kurt said as they turned in different directions for classes. "But fine, that sounds good."

"Brilliant," Blaine called. "It's a date!"

"This makes no sense," Kurt moaned into the table he currently had his face lying on top of. "Why are there so many letters? Isn't math meant to be about numbers?"

"And the letters represent numbers," Blaine said, obviously trying to suppress a snort.

"But it's too difficult," Kurt groaned in retort. "I can't imagine how it's laid out- numbers get mixed up in my head. I hardly remember what the formula for a circle's area is, let alone a bunch of letters for this formula." He lifted himself up off the desk, and wafted the paper he was supposed to be writing on. "I mean, I don't even know what pi looks like!" he added, annoyed.

"You don't?" Blaine asked his voice turned slightly from amusement to confusion, and Kurt could almost see in his own mind eyebrows knitted together in confusion, looking down at him from where he was perched on the end of the table, Kurt's textbook lay out on his lap.

"Well, I've never seen it," Kurt said softly, trying to defend his own stupidity, and he gripped his pencil tighter and scribbled on the closest piece of paper to him, as he heard Blaine shuffle down off the desk, and move around so he was sat by Kurt on his other side. Suddenly, his right side was all too warm, enclosed by Blaine's own body heat, Blaine so close that Kurt could feel a light breath against his cheek.

"Would you like me to show you?" Blaine asked, and before Kurt could ask how or why, he found himself nodding, perhaps distracted by the proximity he and Blaine were in. And before Kurt could tell him to stop, Blaine had leant his arm across and taken Kurt's hand that was holding the pencil in his own, holding it up, and Kurt heard the shuffle of paper. "Follow my movement, okay?"

Kurt nodded again, his throat suddenly dry, the only thing he was registering was what Blaine's hand felt like. It was rougher than his own, but warm, covering his own and Kurt could feel the calloused fingertips against his own smooth skin. Kurt, so focused on the feeling of Blaine's hand, and arm slightly pressed against his own, hadn't even noticed Blaine had almost finished dragging his hand across the page to draw the symbol.

"Did you get that?"

"Um... not really," Kurt admitted. "Could you do it again?" He heard a breathy laugh by his ear and swallowed. Blaine drew again, dragging Kurt's hand against the page, and when he had finished, paused, and drew it again a few times. There was a final pause, and Blaine finally pulled his hand away.

"That is the stupidest thing I have actually ever seen," Kurt said, frowning, and he heard Blaine let out a short laugh from above him. Kurt turned his head up to look in that direction. "Thank you though. That was a really good idea."

The bell rang shrilly through the library before Blaine could reply, and Kurt felt himself feeling disappointed at the end of their lunch hour, even though it had been full of painful algebra.

As they gathered their things, and began to make their way out the library, Blaine tried to organise another time they could study.

"I'd say we could do some tonight but we're being made to stay behind every day to practise for our half time performance at the football game in Glee," Blaine sighed, Kurt catching the sound of him shuffling his books in his arms. Kurt stopped in the corridor to let Blaine gather his stuff up properly.

"That's fine. I know that's important for you guys," Kurt said, hoping he was keeping the slight pang of sadness, and jealousy, out his voice.

"You know, it would be great if you joined," Blaine ventured and Kurt snapped his head up. Blaine was the only one of his friends who hadn't brought it up and... well, now he was.

"I don't want to," Kurt snapped, immediately regretting it once he imagined what Blaine's face would look like in response.

"But why not?" Blaine carried on, Kurt hearing the zip of a bag open, Blaine's voice a bit lower down now as he tried to stuff something in his bag. "Kurt, Rachel's told me you have a great voice- and I'd love to hear it. She said you'd always liked performing in your elementary school plays and-"

"Well, I don't want to anymore," Kurt argued, finding it hard to keep his voice from betraying him. "Why do I have to have this argument with everyone? Why can't you understand that I don't want to join that club!" He realised his voice was too sharp, he was being a bit loud, and now the corridors were emptying, he was more audible to the other passing students.

"Kurt," he heard Blaine say sadly. "I'm sorry- I didn't mean it like that. You know I don't want to upset you but..."

"But that's enough of that," Kurt cut in harshly. "We leave it at that, okay?" There was no response from Blaine for a few seconds and then Kurt heard a muttered, "Fine, I guess." Kurt pulled himself up, fighting not only the disappointment building in his chest, but his own guilt at how snappy at Blaine he was being when all he had done in the two weeks at this school was treat Kurt like he was the single most normal kid there. But it would all be for the best as long as Blaine never brought up Glee club again.

Kurt hurried a goodbye to Blaine, trying to ignore the numerous images running through his head of the looks he could have on his face- the sadness, or disappointment, or guilt. Kurt felt something twist in his abdomen, and attempted to force his thoughts into something else.

He headed off to French, making sure to avoid his locker for the rest of the day.