There had always been peace and comradeship between the McKinley Titans and the Cheerios. Their dynamics had been typical for any average small-town football team and their cheerleaders. No resentment could be found between the two teams; all grudges limited to stealing boyfriends or girlfriends, but were usually settled soon within the respective group.

Until Quinn Fabray was kicked off the Cheerios for getting pregnant, and the spot of head cheerleader was taken over – to everyone’s astonishment – by one Kurt Hummel.

And it wouldn’t even be that bad, if that was the end of it. Kurt was known for his snarky comments and complete disregard for football, but everything got so much worse, when the newest addition to the football team became its biggest star.

Blaine Anderson didn’t look as your average footballer. He was rather small, with his hair always carefully gelled – even when it was doomed to be completely destroyed by his helmet – not to mention the fact that he was openly gay. At first everyone ignored him; he was just a freshman, the new kid, and the kicker. The little guy, Hobbit, as Santana always called him when around other Cheerios. Kurt would smirk at the name every time.

But then, the homecoming game came, and when everyone thought all was lost, the whole season over for the team, Blaine saved them with one kick. That was when the whole student body in McKinley began to worship him.

Except Kurt.

Kurt had a general dislike for athletes, football players especially. What exactly was supposed to be attractive in a bunch of sweaty morons shoving each other in a field, even if you overlooked the completely ludicrous outfits they wore? The pads made them look like miniature versions of Hulk, only without their skin being green. Yet.

And then – when he found out that the small freshman that clearly loved his bowties was gay (another gay teen in Lima! That was a miracle!) – Kurt was thrilled. Everyone around him was in relationships, changing boyfriends and girlfriends at the speed of light almost, and he was still alone. It was so pathetic, being one of the most popular people at school, his status shielding him from any homophobic actions that used to be taken against him last year, and he couldn’t even take advantage of the safety he had at school and date someone. So when there appeared an actual, real person that he could realistically date, he began planning how to get close to Blaine.

In the process, he found out Blaine had just joined the football team, and gave up all this schemes.

Jocks were gross, that was one. The other, he really did not like perpetuating the stereotype of star footballer-star cheerleader relationships. That was just too cliché. And why would the guy join the football team? Trying too hard to fight gay stereotypes? Well, those bowties didn’t help that at all.

Subconsciously, Kurt developed an acute loathing for the poor boy. Blaine couldn’t figure out what exactly made Kurt hate him so much, but it stung. He was well aware that the head cheerleader was the only other out gay guy at school; having Kurt – especially with the position he held – against him was definitely not a good thing.

As months seeped by, Blaine gradually became almost terrified of Kurt. Obviously, the cheerleader would never lay a hand on anyone, but mean words addressed to the football players and to Blaine specifically were quite enough to make him look like a pretty unpleasant person. Everyone who knew him better, understood that was nothing but a façade; that also made it quite clear to the New Directions, why Kurt and Santana got along so well.

One sunny April day, the whole school was determined to spend the lunch break in the quad. Everyone was rushing outside, Kurt was walking with Santana and Brittany at his side, trying to avoid people bumping into him. He hated that.

But Blaine chose the exact moment when Kurt was stepping out into the quad to pass him in the doorway, unintentionally banging his shoulder into Kurt’s. He turned his head to say sorry, but stopped dead in his tracks, words escaping him.

They were now out in the open, with the rest of the students passing them by with curious, slightly wary looks on their faces.

‘What the hell was that, Anderson?,’ Kurt barked out, putting his hands on his hips. Despite his horror, Blaine noticed how sexy that gesture was. How absolutely hot Kurt was in his Cheerios uniform.

‘I- I didn’t mean that- I’m really sorry,’ Blaine mumbled, his gaze running away from Kurt’s stern face.

‘Right, I’m sure you are,’ Kurt said. ‘I know you want to belong, so you have to act like those Neanderthals you call your teammates, and you walk like them, too. Like a freaking battering ram.’

Kurt was already turning away to get a decent table to eat his lunch at with Santana and Brittany who were still flanking him.

‘What did you say?,’ Blaine asked, far more sharply than he’d intended or thought himself capable of around Kurt.

‘God, have you already lost your hearing from that stupid sport? Do not bump into me. Got it?’

Blaine pursed his lips, trying to will himself to step away and failing.

‘I didn’t mean that, I meant the part about the football team.’ For once, he had to take a stand for himself and the other guys.

Kurt rolled his eyes very, very deliberately.

‘Sorry for offending your bros, but well, that was kinda true. They act like uncoordinated half-wit gorillas all the time, it’s tiring.’

‘Just like your hatred, Hummel.’ Blaine attempted to stare Kurt down, but it was futile.

‘Oh, little Anderson cares about his football buddies, and you’d think you joined only to try and prove to everyone else you’re not as big a fairy as me, Butch.’

Blaine hadn’t even realized he was clenching his fists, until one of them flew all the way to Kurt’s face, almost slamming his head into Brittany, who was hovering behind him.

‘Ladies!,’ a voice rang in the quad, before either of the boys fully comprehended what had just happened. Kurt turned back to look at Blaine in shock, holding a hand to his cut lip and checking if all his teeth were still in place with his tongue. Blaine was staring dumbly at his still balled up hand, his eyes utterly disbelieving.

It took Sue Sylvester another couple of seconds to stand between the boys with a disgusted face.

‘I would never suspect you, Lady, to get into a fight. I was betting on Santana here.’ She sounded almost disappointed. ‘Now, you, Gay Football Player, whose name I honestly don’t remember, why exactly are you trying to diminish my chances for my national championship by punching my lead Cheerio a week before the competition, and ruining his perfectly gay face?’

Blaine was still lost for words, so he just stared at her for a moment.

‘I assume that’s the brain damage they talk about. Wouldn’t think it’d kick in so soon. Let’s try this again. Why. Did. You. Punch. My. Head. Cheerio?’

It felt strange having Sue care about what happened to him, but Kurt figured there could be some way that him looking like he’d been in a brawl would jeopardize their win at nationals.

‘He- He insulted me. And the football team,’ Blaine choked out finally, still astonished that he’d hit Kurt.

‘Ah, your sensitive little teenage hearts, so fragile,’ Sue said mockingly. Her eyes were travelling between one and the other for a moment, as she considered what to do with the situation. ‘Alright, Lady, the Other Lady, I could take you to Figgins and get into the details of your extremely ridiculous problems, or I could set a punishment myself.’

Both Kurt and Blaine’s hearts sank at the words. Sue was unpredictable.

‘Since we’re here, and everybody seems to be enjoying this little impromptu performance, we shouldn’t take the fun away from them,’ Sue said. ‘Follow me.’

She picked her way through the staring crowd to the stairs in the opposite end of the quad. The boys obediently followed in her footsteps, keeping a carful distance between one another and eyeing each other furtively to assess the other’s state of mind. They both looked nervous; Kurt’s anxiety was lined with a tinge of irritation, and Blaine’s with a persisting dash of disbelief.

Once they reached the middle of the stairs, Sue stopped and turned to face them.

‘Sit down,’ she ordered, looking firmly at the two boys in front of her. They hesitated for a split second, just to assume that, no, that was not a joke, she really meant “sit down on the step, right here, in front of the whole school.” So they did, with good six feet of empty space between them.

Coach Sylvester looked at them disapprovingly.

‘And now I want you to sit here until school’s out for the day and hold hands.’

Kurt’s head snapped back up to her at the same moment as Blaine’s did.

‘You want us to what?!,’ Kurt asked incredulously.

‘Oh, you gays, such drama queens,’ Sue sighed. ‘You’re gay, he’s gay, so what’s a little hand holding? I could make you clean the boy’s locker room with a toothbrush, and who knows what’s on that floor.’

‘But he hates me!,’ Blaine protested, when Sue began to make her way down the stairs.

‘That should only make it more interesting.’ She turned back to them. ‘My patience is as thin as Lady’s facial hair.’

Reluctantly, eyeing each other with clear dislike, Kurt and Blaine moved towards each other, still leaving some distance between their bodies. Kurt held out his hand, knowing Sue wouldn’t leave, until she got what she wanted. With a sigh and a grimace, Blaine caught the offered hand. It was surprisingly soft to the touch and he felt an urge to add his other hand on top of Kurt’s. He resisted it.

‘Becky, I want you to stay here and keep an eye at these two,’ Sue ordered her sidekick, who’d been watching the situation from the very beginning.

‘Yes, Coach,’ Becky hastened to reply and took a strategic seat at a table at the bottom of the stairs.

Sue stormed back into the school with a smug smile on her face, leaving the two boys looking deliberately away from each other, their hands locked and hanging between them. Santana and Brittany sent Kurt encouraging smiles and went on to find a place to eat their lunches. He sighed heavily.

Blaine’s teammates had been watching the situation as well, but none of them stepped in. Typical. He winced at the thought.

Lunch break was dragging out more than either of them thought possible. The sun was glaring in their eyes, the hands they were holding became sweaty and gross in a matter of minutes. Both boys could feel the glances people directed their way every other moment. They didn’t cease to be an attraction until everybody except Becky left the quad – peeking one more time at the cheerleader and football player at the stairs – after the bell rang. Becky was the only one who seemed genuinely uninterested; she would only check from time to time, if their hands were still linked. Other than that, her attention was focused entirely on her phone and Angry Birds.

At first Kurt’s thoughts were occupied by the humiliation he was being subjected to. It’d been a really long time since anyone did anything to make him feel this embarrassed, this ridiculed. Sitting next to a hot guy and holding his hand had always been a dream of his, but now this dream was turned around in the most mocking of ways. And just to make it worse, he could feel a pulsating pain in his lower lip that swelled, and – without a doubt – was becoming a darker shade of purple each second.

Blaine was torn; simultaneously, he felt humiliated and really stupid for reacting the way he had, but then he couldn’t stop marveling at the softness and delicacy of the hand he was holding in his own. Even when Kurt’s palm grew wet and borderline disgusting in the spring warmth, Blaine couldn’t imagine a more pleasant sensation than holding that hand. Completely unexpectedly and absurdly, it made him feel safe. He barely could restrain himself from stroking the back of Kurt’s hand with his thumb.

They didn’t say a word until well after the quad emptied. Kurt’s mind had turned to the conversation from earlier, and he was beginning to see his fault in the situation. The things he said were rude and maybe even uncalled for. After all, he really didn’t know Blaine or most of the jocks.

‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered finally, forcing himself to glance at Blaine fleetingly, before turning his head back away.

‘What?,’ Blaine asked, startled out of his reverie by something he thought he’d never hear.

‘I’m sorry.’

This time, Kurt didn’t look at the footballer, but dropped his gaze to his feet.

‘For what you said today or for what you said, like, every time we crossed paths before?’ Blaine scrutinized Kurt’s face, even though he could only see his profile.

‘The latter, I guess.’ Kurt sighed, still avoiding eye contact.

They fell silent for another long while. Kurt could feel Blaine’s eyes on him and a blush coming up to his cheeks. God, that was awkward.

‘Why now?,’ Blaine asked at last.

Kurt shrugged; he didn’t really have a good answer, he didn’t know himself.

‘Getting punched in the face changes perspective?,’ he offered weakly.

Blaine chuckled, only to check himself a second later. ‘Sorry for that.’ He winced; he’d never hit anyone before. He used to be on the exact opposite end of punching fists.

‘Maybe I deserved that,’ Kurt said with another shrug of the shoulders. ‘But you still ruined my face, and I do not appreciate that.’

‘I apologized once, I’m not going to do it again.’ He paused for a few minutes, considering whether or not to ask the question that had been bothering him for months. Eventually he moved a little closer to Kurt, his eyes never leaving the boy, and decided to ask it. ‘Why do you hate us- me so much?’

Kurt rolled his eyes, before laying them on Blaine’s face.

‘I don’t hate you,’ he said. ‘I just don’t get you. What can be appealing about a bunch of morons running around a field after a stupid ball and basically killing each other to get it? Don’t you find it at least a little bit idiotic?’

Blaine couldn’t help but laugh at his words.

‘When you put it like that, yeah. But it’s really not about that. Sports are about the spirit, about being a team player, about the adrenaline sometimes…’ Blaine’s voice trailed off.

‘So you really like it? All the shoving and the stupid outfits, and the helmets that are bound to ruin your hair every single time?,’ Kurt asked, positively curious.

‘Yeah, I like it, why else would I join the team?,’ he said, before remembering Kurt’s words from earlier. ‘Oh. Well, it wasn’t to show people I’m not as big a fairy as you. You’re not as big an influence on my life, don’t flatter yourself.’

Kurt nodded, biting his lip as guilt washed over him, deepening the red on his cheeks.

‘Sorry, what said was just… Well, I was a jerk.’ He looked straight into Blaine’s eyes. They were so warm, so hazel, so beautiful.

He looked away, scared he’d seem creepy if he didn’t.

‘You were.’ Blaine smiled. It seemed Kurt wasn’t so bad once you got to know him better. ‘You’re in Glee club, right?’

Uh-huh, here it goes, Kurt thought. That was his weak point. That was the one thing that constantly threatened his position, but he loved it too dearly to let it go.

‘Yes, I am,’ he answered curtly, hoping the subject would be dropped.

‘I considered joining, you know,’ Blaine said, throwing him completely off guard.

‘Really? You considered joining Glee club? You have a death wish?’ Kurt was astounded; did he really misjudge the guy so badly?

‘Do you?,’ Blaine fired back. ‘Yes, I really considered joining. I just thought I wasn’t good enough.’

Kurt laughed, sneer creeping into the sound.

‘Not good enough for the New Directions? You gotta be kidding me. We’re the worst Glee club ever, we don’t even have enough members to compete, you’d fit right in that bunch of losers and outcasts.’ He paused, realizing what his word choice was. ‘I didn’t mean it like that.’

‘I know, because that would make you a loser,’ Blaine said, grinning widely. ‘And you are definitely not a loser.’

Kurt didn’t smile back.

‘Now I’m not. I used to be, until I joined the Cheerios, and replaced Quinn after she got knocked up by one of your buddies.’

Blaine’s eyebrows went all the way up to the centre of his forehead.

‘You were a loser? Bottom of the food chain kind of loser?’ Kurt nodded.’ Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed.’

‘Didn’t your teammates ever brag about tossing me into dumpsters? They sure loved doing that,’ Kurt said icily.

For a moment Blaine didn’t know how to respond.

‘No, they didn’t say anything. I had no idea.’ At least that explained the resentment Kurt had for the football team. ‘So that’s why…?’ He couldn’t get himself to finish the question, but he felt Kurt would know what he meant.

‘Yeah, partly, that’s the reason,’ Kurt said, turning his gaze away one more time.

‘Was it because of- because you’re gay?,’ Blaine asked timidly.

Kurt shook his head. ‘No, not really, I only came out this year, so they didn’t know know. They picked up the vibe though, I guess. I’m not particularly inconspicuous.’

Blaine nodded sympathetically, and ran his thumb over the back of Kurt’s hand.

The gesture drew Kurt’s attention immediately. He almost jumped up at the sensation; it was completely surprising, but more comforting than anything else in the world… except maybe his mother’s embrace, but that was long gone.

Kurt lifted his eyes back to Blaine’s, as he remembered something, and the words were forcing their way out of his mouth, before he had time to stop them.

‘You know, I kinda wanted to ask you out once,’ he said.

Blaine’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets, the boy shocked more than he’d been after hitting Kurt.

‘Excuse me?’

Biting his lip, Kurt looked down to their still joined hands, embarrassed. He’d never asked anybody out, and certainly not someone who’d punched him just over an hour earlier.

‘Before you joined the team, I kind of wanted to ask you out on a date,’ Kurt said slowly, feeling yet another wave of heat flooding his face with a scarlet blush.

Blaine frowned, trying to piece his suddenly muddled thoughts together.

‘Was it only because you knew I was gay, or…? Was there another reason?,’ he asked, gathering all the courage he had. He didn’t have much experience in the dating department either. To be completely honest, he had none whatsoever.

‘That was one, and I thought- I thought you were kinda cute,’ Kurt said, eyeing Blaine carefully to see his reaction. He was surprised.

‘Oh. Wow.’ He paused for a moment, going one more time over Kurt’s words. ‘You thought I was cute? So I’m not anymore?’ All this dating-related stuff was very confusing.

‘Um-,’ Kurt mumbled. ‘I guess you still are. Without the pads and helmets, and all that crap, anyway.’

A goofy grin lit up Blaine’s face. Suddenly, the mean head Cheerio turned out not only not to be mean after all, but to actually like him. Maybe punching Kurt wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

‘So- Would you consider going out with me now?,’ he asked sheepishly.

‘Would you consider accepting?’

They stayed quiet for a moment, before Blaine realized that he was staring into those ridiculously beautiful blue-green eyes and not answering the question he was asked.

‘Um- Yeah, I’d consider it.’

‘Than I’d consider asking you,’ Kurt said, his eyes going back to their hands. It really felt nice. ‘But then again, this feels like a date.’

Blaine raised his eyebrows doubtingly.

‘We’re being punished for insults and punching. This is so not a date.’

Kurt giggled, chastising himself internally for acting like a silly twelve-year-old girl.

‘Okay, so this is not a date,’ he said. ‘How about calling this a pre-date?’

‘Is there even something like that?,’ Blaine asked, amused.

‘There could be,’ Kurt said, shrugging. His eyes fell to the other boy’s lips, screwing up his focus. They looked delicious.

He didn’t even notice, when Blaine’s free hand went up to his swollen lower lip.

‘I really got you good,’ Blaine said, wincing.

‘Yeah, you did,’ Kurt breathed, not fully realizing what Blaine was talking about, still completely mesmerized by the closeness of the boy’s face. When did they even get this close? It wasn’t long ago that their hands were dangling in the air between them and now they were lying on top of their thighs. The thighs that were pressed against one another from hip to knee.

And as Blaine’s fingers lingered on his chin, Kurt lifted his own free hand, catching the back of the other boy’s neck and leant forward.

Their lips touched for no more than a few seconds, but when they broke apart, they were both out of breath, all the air knocked out of their lungs by the shock of what was happening.

‘That was- unexpected,’ Blaine choked out.

‘Tell me about it.’ Kurt was still unsure why he did it at all.

‘Um, so… I guess we could call this a pre-date now, huh?,’ Blaine muttered. He’d just had his first kiss. With someone he pretty much hated until not more than an hour ago. And it wasn’t bad. It was really, really good.

Kurt barked out a laugh, touching his forehead to Blaine’s.

‘Ew, that was gross,’ a voice sounded at the foot of the stairs.

Both boys’ heads snapped up to look at Becky, who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a disapproving look on her face.

‘Becky,’ Kurt groaned. ‘Don’t you have some Angry Birds to attend to?’

‘My phone died, Hummel,’ she snapped back. ‘Coach Sylvester won’t be happy with you.’

‘Too bad,’ Kurt said. He suddenly realized that he didn’t care what Sue would think about this, or anyone else for that matter. Because as strange as it seemed, he felt a little, a tiny little bit happy himself.

Becky only rolled her eyes in response, took a notebook out of her back and started doodling in it, leaving the boys again in relative peace.

The rest of their punishment sped by, as they went on to discuss their favourite Broadway musicals and the Glee club. Old fights were forgotten, old insults erased by smiles and the stroking of thumbs on backs of hands.

When Becky dismissed them on Sue’s orders at the end of the day, they were still holding hands.