Music blared from speakers inside various tents and stalls selling everything from coffee to neon face paint, building the electric atmosphere of the festival. Crowds of people were scattered along the dusty path leading past the stalls to one of the entrances to the arena where all the stages were located. Every single person on the path seemed to have a smile on their face as they loudly talked about which bands or artists they wanted to see and planned which stages they needed to be at and when. Bursts of excited laughter filled the air at regular intervals and Blaine couldn't help but grin along with everyone else as he and his friends followed the crowds streaming towards the arena entrance. He found himself peering at the shirts of the people he passed to see which bands they liked and even exchanged a nod with a couple of his fellow festival goers sporting shirts of the same band advertised on his own shirt.

"I wouldn't mind seeing them if we can," his friend David said as he pointed at the pocket-sized programme Wes was holding. "I like a couple of songs off their new album."

"But Angels and Airwaves are playing at the same time on the main stage!" Nick protested from where he was walking close behind Wes, squinting over his shoulder at the programme and occasionally stepping on the Asian boy's heels causing him to stumble and shoot a glare over his shoulder. "We're not missing them for some band you only know a couple of songs by, songs they may not even play!"

Blaine shook his head fondly at his friends as they started arguing. He had anticipated this very thing happening; his friends often got into heated debates during Warbler meetings over song choices and he knew planning which bands to see would trigger similar disagreements. He unconsciously twisted his festival wristband around his wrist as he waited for the next inevitable thing to happen.

"Guys! Guys!" Wes interrupted them, speaking loudly over his arguing friends and effectively silencing them with his authoritative tone. Blaine smiled - as leader of the Warblers, Wes always took control of any arguments both in Warbler meetings and outside of them, quickly bringing the situation under control and resolving the issue.

"We don't have to stick together all day," Wes continued, "if some of you want to see a band others don't, then we split up - simple. Just text someone so you can find the rest of us when you're ready."

The brief argument was over; Thad decided to go with David to see the band he wanted to catch while the rest of them would be staying at the main stage for Angels and Airwaves. Their chatter turned excited again as they happily expressed how much they were looking forward to the day. Blaine didn't say much, content with drinking in the sight before him: people of varying ages all eagerly anticipating the start of the festival, brightly coloured bunting flapping lazily in the gentle breeze from where it loped through the air connecting stalls to each other, flags billowing from the tops of the large tents in the arena beyond the row of stalls lining the path, the large red structure with its two giant screens on either side which was the main stage in the distance. It was his first time at a music festival and he wanted to imprint the sights, sounds, and atmosphere into his mind so he would remember this day for years to come.

An arm was slung around his shoulders and he started slightly and turned his head to see Nick smiling at him.

"You haven't said much," he observed. "Which bands do you want to see?"

"I'm just going to stay at main stage all day," he replied. He had looked through the timetable of set times a couple of nights ago online and as all the bands he really wanted to see were playing main stage, he decided to just stay at that stage all day so he would have a good spot to watch his favourite bands from.

Nick's smile widened. "That's what Jeff and I are doing, we're not that fussed about the bands playing the other stages."

Blaine pretended to sigh in reluctance. "Does that mean I'm stuck with you two all day?"

"Yup!" Nick said happily. "How great is that?" He hugged Blaine briefly before jogging ahead to catch up with Jeff and tell him the news.

Blaine grinned and shook his head at his excited friend's antics as he rounded a curve in the path to find the arena entrance in front of them.

A long row of gates topped with an archway welcoming them to the festival was stretched across the length of an area free from stalls and food tents. Security stood in small groups beside each gateway watching the gathering crowd closely. Despite there still being almost half an hour until the arena opened, people were queuing in lines at the gates already, poring over their programmes and checking watches and phones as they waited for the opening time. Some people were sitting on the grass away from the steadily growing lines eating breakfast and trading stories from past festivals and concerts.

Following his friends to the shortest line, Blaine lifted his gaze to look beyond the entrance gates at the large field which served as the festival's arena. More food and merchandise stalls lined the outside of it and he could see the back of a tall VIP viewing platform which faced the main stage, the side of which peeked through a gap between the platform and a curved row of stalls.

Jeff was scanning the crowds around them. "If we run when we get let in we could probably get barrier at main stage."

Blaine copied his action and surveyed the surrounding crowds. "Yeah, we probably could," he agreed. Though there were a lot of people here before them, not all of them would be heading for main stage first and the barrier there spanned a long length.

Jeff turned to face him. "So, you're running with me?" he asked.

Blaine shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

They waited with mounting excitement and decreasing patience for eleven o'clock - arena opening time - to roll around and when it finally arrived and the festival was announced as being open, Blaine felt a surge of excitement; the day he had been looking forward to for months was finally beginning.

Keeping his word to Jeff, he sprinted with him and Nick to the main stage as soon as they passed through security and were in the arena, leaving the rest of their friends to follow at a more leisurely pace. They weren't the only ones running to get a spot at the barrier and when the large, red stage dominating the arena came into view, Blaine could see the grey metal barrier gradually disappearing from view as the front row filled with people. He pulled ahead of his friends as they ran across the field and reached the stage before them, grinning triumphantly as he skidded to a halt behind the barrier slightly to the left of the centre of the stage.

Jeff and Nick joined him a short moment later. "For someone so small you move awfully fast," Nick remarked as he leant against the barrier on Blaine's left.

"My legs may be short, but they move quickly," Blaine responded with a grin as he looked up at the stage where the backdrop for the first band was already hanging behind the drum kit.

Jeff was watching the remaining barrier space and then the area behind them rapidly filling with people. "Good thing they do otherwise we may not have gotten this spot and then you wouldn't have been able to see the stage."

Scowling over the head of a laughing Nick, Blaine narrowed his eyes at his friend. "I'm not that short."

"Whatever you say, Blainers," Wes said as he squeezed through a space between two chatting girls to join them with David and Thad on his tail. He looked up at the stage. "Good spot," he observed. "Are you guys going to try and keep it all day?"

Nick nodded. "If we can."

The first band to play main stage weren't due on stage for another twenty minutes, so they talked amongst themselves as they waited for them to start, discussing favourite songs and albums, debating about whether they were going to try and queue at the signing tent or not, and commenting on how much one of the security guys standing in the space between the barrier and the stage looked like George Clooney.

When the first band was announced they walked on stage to cheers and a thunderous applause. Blaine had heard of them before, but had never listened to any of their music, so he listened curiously as they played their opening song and by the end of their set he was cheering loudly and clapping his hands above his head while Jeff whistled loudly in appreciation.

"They were pretty good," he said as the band left the stage, music started playing out of the stage speakers, and the large TV screens on either side of the stage started showing random adverts for things at the festival instead of clips of the band playing and the watching crowd.

His friends nodded their agreement. "Yeah, I might buy their album, actually," Thad said.

They watched as the backdrop for the band who had just finished was lowered and the slightly larger one for the next band was raised into place.

"Oh God, Cancer Bats," Nick said as he watched the stage being set up. "Prepare for the crowd to get pretty rough."

Spinning around slightly, Blaine peered over his shoulder at the countless people standing behind them. He knew that being at barrier would mean getting pushed a lot, but he hadn't expected it to get too bad this early in the day. Then again, he should have expected it upon seeing Cancer Bats listed. He wasn't really familiar with the band, but he knew their music was pretty heavy.

Sure enough, when Cancer Bats started to play the crowd behind Blaine surged forwards and began pushing. It wasn't as bad as he had braced himself for though, and he was able to watch the band's set quite comfortably. When they finished he expected the crowd to move back a bit, but they never did and he knew things would only get rougher from this moment on.

He was watching one of the music technicians on stage setting up a microphone when someone elbowed him from behind.

"Sorry!" a male voice said immediately and Blaine looked behind him to see a dark-haired teenager around his own age towering over him. He looked sincerely apologetic as he gave Blaine a slightly sheepish smile.

"That's ok," Blaine assured him, feeling sorrier for whoever was standing behind this guy and trying to see the stage past him than he was for himself.

"You really need to learn to control your oversized limbs, Finn," another male voice said, this one higher and more melodic than the deep voice of the tall guy who had elbowed him.

Blaine glanced in the direction of the voice and stared. It belonged to another boy around the same age as himself and tall guy; he was a few inches taller than Blaine and slender with pale skin and perfectly coiffed chestnut hair. His eyes were a shade of blue Blaine couldn't even describe and he had a well-defined jaw and smooth, pink lips currently quirked up in a crooked smile as he met Blaine's gaze. The boy was stunningly beautiful.

"Sorry about my step-brother," he said to Blaine, "he doesn't have a good relationship with large crowds."

The tall boy - Finn - frowned at the blue-eyed boy as he edged past him until he was standing directly behind Blaine's right shoulder. "So, which bands are you excited to see?" he asked.

"The two headliners mainly, but also Angels and Airwaves and You Me At Six."

The boy's face lit up. "Same! I've never seen some of these bands live before and I've wanted to for ages."

Out the corner of his eye, Blaine noticed some of his friends looking over at him curiously to see who he was talking to. "What did you think of the first two bands?" he asked the other boy, waving a hand at the stage.

He shrugged, his gaze running over the stage in front of them which was still being set up for the next band. "They were alright. I would listen to the first band again if I got the opportunity, but the last band was a little too heavy for my taste."

Blaine nodded, still determinedly ignoring the stares from his friends. "Yeah, I agree." He paused as a group of people in the crowd further behind them shouted something and a large proportion of the people surrounding the main stage cheered and yelled in response. He held out his hand to the boy with the coiffed hair and smiled. "I'm Blaine."

The other boy shook his hand, his smile widening so his nose crinkled slightly. "Kurt," he replied.

Just as Blaine was thinking of something interesting to say, there was a roar from the crowd and everyone surged forwards again as the next band stepped onto the stage, the bass guitarist waving his hand in acknowledgement of the cheers as he crossed the stage.

It wasn't really possible to talk after that. Blaine was familiar with the band and had been quite looking forward to their set and judging from the number of people jumping along enthusiastically to the music and singing the lyrics, he wasn't the only one. By the end of the set Blaine was positive the crowd surrounding the main stage had swelled as he now had very little space around him and could no longer see any of the ground beneath his feet. His shoulders were pressed against the people on either side of him, the front of his body was against the cool metal barrier, and Kurt's chest was against his right arm and shoulder, the heat from his body and the other's surrounding him causing a light sheen of sweat to bead up on his back.

When the band left the stage, the security personnel on the other side of the barrier began filling paper cups with water from the large plastic barrels lining the base of the stage and handing them out to the crowd. Blaine accepted a cup gratefully from one of the men and drank half of the mercifully cool water in a couple of swallows. He held the cup towards Kurt. "Do you want some water?"

"Thanks," Kurt accepted the cup with a smile and finished it, lobbing the empty cup over the barrier and chuckling as Blaine tried to dodge the water dripping from the cups being held above his head by a tall security man.

Blaine pouted at him and Kurt opened his mouth to say something in response, but was interrupted by a loud, demanding voice.

"Kurt, can you pass me some water? These guys are failing to see the dehydrating person right in front of them."

Rolling his eyes, Kurt raised a hand and was handed a cup of water which he passed to a short, dark-haired girl standing on the other side of his tall step-brother.

"Thanks," she said briskly. "Do you mind moving further back? I don't think I can handle being this far forward in the crowd much longer. It's not easy being short in a situation like this," she pleaded.

Blaine felt disappointment wash over him; if Kurt's friend wanted to move somewhere else then that was it, the boy he really wanted to talk to more would leave and he'd never see him again.

Kurt met his eyes for the briefest of moments before he turned back to his friend. "You guys can go," he offered. "I'm staying here."

Blaine's heart leapt, but the girl looked worried. "Kurt, I don't think we should split up."

Kurt shrugged. "What does it matter? We all have our phones on us; we can just text each other to meet again. You and Finn can go if you want, but I'm fine here."

Finn also looked a little concerned. "Dude, are you sure? Because we can-"

"It's fine, Finn - really," Kurt insisted, sounding a little impatient. "I think I can handle being here by myself after everything else I've dealt with in the past."

Finn's expression suddenly shifted to one of guilt and acceptance. "Right, well text us if you need us."

Kurt nodded and waved a hand in acknowledgement as Finn took the girl's hand and they wriggled through the crowd with some difficulty until they were out of sight.

Shaking his head slightly, Kurt turned back to Blaine. "They get really overprotective at times. I don't know why Rachel bothered to come right to the front; I knew she wouldn't be able to stand the crowds for long."

Blaine rested his elbows on the top of the barrier. "A few of my friends are the same, though maybe not quite that protective." Suddenly realising he hadn't paid much attention to his friend in ages; he glanced over to his left.

Nick and Jeff were still leaning against the barrier and talking excitedly as they watched the stage being set up for Angels and Airwaves, but Wes, David, and Thad were nowhere to be seen. He bent towards Nick. "Where have the others gone?"

"They went to go watch that band David wanted to see on a different stage," he replied, talking loudly to be heard over the crowd and music.

Blaine turned back to Kurt. "Looks like some of my friends have ditched me as well."

Kurt laughed at that. "At least you haven't been totally abandoned."

"Yet," Blaine added. "And what do you mean by totally abandoned? You have me!" he teased.

"I don't even know you," Kurt quipped. "You could be trying to chat me up so you can lure me somewhere for sex later."

Blaine blinked at him - he hadn't expected that.

"Oh God, sorry!" Kurt had a hand over his mouth, looking horrified. "I didn't mean to imply anything or..."

And now Blaine was confused. "What?"

Kurt lowered his hand slowly away from his mouth. "I wasn't implying that I thought you were gay or anything," he explained in a low voice Blaine barely heard over the loud sounds surrounding them.

"Oh, I didn't think you were." Blaine lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. "Not that it matters anyway, because I am gay."

Now it was Kurt's turn to blink in surprise. "Really?" He smiled hesitantly. "Me- Me too, actually."

Blaine smiled brightly at him, ignoring the flutter in his stomach at the way Kurt was biting down nervously on his bottom lip. "And for the record I'm not trying to lure you off somewhere."

Kurt laughed and his worried expression disappeared. "Good to know."

The crowd went crazy during Angels and Airwaves' set and Blaine found himself no longer being simply pushed against the barrier, but crushed against it. He could feel Kurt's breath against his neck and hear his voice in his ear as he sang and cheered along with the rest of the crowd. Several times the crowd shoved roughly forwards and everyone around them staggered to keep their balance and each time this happened Blaine would feel Kurt's hand on his hip, his arm wrapping around his waist until the pushing stopped. He felt it each time Kurt's arm was removed and he had to fight against the urge to ask him to leave it there.

It was a bit more difficult to talk during the break between Angles and Airwaves and the next band, but they managed. They mostly discussed music and discovered they both had extremely similar tastes and were both in their respective high school show choir groups. Blaine desperately wanted to ask which school Kurt went to, but was worried about scaring the other boy off, so he changed the topic of conversation to Broadway and they happily discussed that until the next band.

For some reason the crowd turned absolutely insane during the next band's performance. Blaine had never heard of them before and found them not to his liking - not that he heard much of their set. He spent the entire time the band was on stage focusing on trying to stay upright as hundreds of people pushed and shoved from behind. Kurt's arm was now permanently around his waist, his hand lightly grasping the folds of Blaine's shirt as he tried to hold his position in the churning, heaving sea of bodies. Curls sprung free from the gel in Blaine's hair, some of them sticking to his sweaty forehead and when he looked back to check on Kurt his stomach squeezed at the sight of a lock of his hair hanging over his forehead.

Suddenly he was shoved violently forward, his breath squeezing out of his lungs as he was crushed against the barrier. There were loud groans and shouts of protest from the crowd around them.

"Ouch," Kurt muttered in his ear. His body was pressed tightly against Blaine's, his left foot fumbled for ground between Blaine's legs, and Blaine could feel his hipbone against the small of his back.

Shuffling around in the tiny amount of space he had to try and give Kurt more room, Blaine craned his head around to look at him. "You ok?" He kicked aside a couple of discarded paper cups that lay at his feet.

Kurt nodded, unable to speak as everyone was pushed forwards again and he fought to keep his footing. This time he braced his body and tightened his arm around Blaine, protecting him from the worst of the crush of bodies.

It continued like this for the rest of the band's set and afterwards Blaine had no idea what the band had played or even what they really sounded like. Often worse than the crush of the crowd were the people being lifted out of it by the security. They were crowd surfed to the barrier where they were then pulled out by security and a kick in the head or a jerked muscle from them being passed over one's head wasn't uncommon.

When a loud cheer sounded and the band left the stage Blaine breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that meant a break from the rough crowds. But it didn't; the shoving stopped, but no more space opened up around them. He and Kurt accepted cups of water from one of the security guys.

"Good thing Rachel left earlier," Kurt said and Blaine wriggled around as much as he could so he could face him, "there's no way she could have handled this."

Blaine pictured the petite dark-haired girl and thought of her trapped in a tiny space with people pressing in on her from all sides. "Your step-brother would be able to protect her a bit, but it would have been hard for her."

Kurt struggled to move his arm enough to drink his water. "She could have gone on his shoulders if she didn't need a ladder to get up there."

Blaine snorted into his water. When he stopped laughing, he noticed Kurt struggling to drink with being so tightly wedged in behind him, so he took his cup from him. "Here."

Kurt eyed the cup in his hand with some reluctance. "If you spill any of that water on me I will not hesitate to hit you," he warned.

Blaine didn't doubt he would follow through with his words. "I won't," he promised. He tipped the water into Kurt's mouth without splashing any over him and smiled at the taller boy when the cup was empty. "Told you I wouldn't," he said as he tossed the empty cup over the barrier.

"Hey, Blaine," Nick's voice called from his other side. Turning, he saw Nick and Jeff looking at him, their sweaty hair plastered to their heads in places, and their shirts clinging to their damp skin. "We're going to move from here," he told him. "We'll watch the rest of the bands from further back."

"Giving up barrier? Not many people do that," Blaine remarked.

Jeff pulled a face. "I know, we don't really want to, but I'm worried if I stay here much longer I'll be spending the evening in the ER with broken ribs."

Blaine knew this wasn't an exaggeration, he knew he was going to have several spectacular bruises on his torso tomorrow. "Ok, I'm going to stay here. I'll text you if I come out of the crowd."

As Jeff peered at the surrounding crowds to see if it was possible for them to make their own way out, Nick glanced over Blaine's shoulder at Kurt. "Do you want to take my spot?" he asked him.

"Sure."

Blaine felt Kurt's body slide across the back of his own and another, stranger's one take its place. He tried not to feel disappointed that Nick and Jeff were going and causing Kurt to move from being pressed against him with his arm around his waist. Kurt squeezed into the space at the barrier next to him and Nick and Jeff left, managing to slip through the crowds fairly easily as people eagerly moved forwards to fill the small space created by their departure.

"Hi," Kurt said with a grin as he rested his arms on the barrier.

"Welcome to the pain and dampness of the barrier," Blaine responded.

A small line appeared between Kurt's eyebrows as his face creased in puzzlement. "Dampness?"

"All the cups of water being passed out by security are held over your head here," Blaine explained, "so prepare to get wet."

Kurt wrinkled his nose in a way Blaine found completely adorable. "Normally I wouldn't stand for that, but as I'm at a festival and getting all gross and sweaty anyway, I think I can handle it. Beats a slushy to the face."

"What?" Blaine frowned at him; sure he had misheard because of the crowd singing along to a Green Day song currently playing through the stage speakers. "You've had a slushy thrown in your face?"

Nodding, Kurt watched a man on stage move an amp into position. "It's a favourite pastime for most of the members of the football and hockey teams at my school. Everyone in my Glee club has been slushied at least once."

Blaine stared at Kurt in horror - just what kind of school did he go to? He had been the victim of some pretty bad bullying at his first high school for being gay, but he'd never heard of people getting drinks thrown in their face just for being in show choir. "That's awful. Are they just getting away with doing it?"

Kurt gave a short, unamused laugh. "Nobody cares enough to stop it." He looked away from the stage to meet Blaine's disturbed gaze. "I'm guessing you don't go to a typical public high school?"

Still horrified at what Kurt had just revealed, he shook his head. "No, I go to an all-boys private school: Dalton Academy. "

Kurt smirked at this. "Ah, a prep school boy? I should have guessed." His smirk disappeared as he seemed struck by a sudden thought. "Wait, did you say Dalton Academy?" he asked urgently.

"Uh, yeah," Blaine replied, wondering what had caused Kurt's reaction.

"In Westerville?"

Blaine nodded, feeling confused and a little self-conscious as Kurt stared intently at him, his eyes wide.

"I'm from Lima," Kurt said eventually, still staring at Blaine. "I go to McKinley High."

Blaine blinked at him in shock. "Really? Wow, we live really close." He was silent for a moment as he realised this meant it would be possible for him to see Kurt again. Then another thought struck him. "We're competing against each other soon, at Sectionals."

"So we are." Kurt smiled at him. "That means we'll be seeing each other again."

A thrill shot through Blaine as the roaring of the crowd around him announced the arrival of the next band. He and Kurt turned to face the stage and he cheered loudly along with everyone else, a huge smile on his face. He would get to see Kurt again.

"'That's What You Get' was definitely one of the best songs of the set. It's such a fun song, the chorus never fails to get the crowd jumping and singing along," Blaine said.

Kurt nodded. "I really love hearing 'Careful' live as well."

Blaine grinned at him. "As much as that guy behind us?" he asked with a laugh.

Kurt laughed as he remembered the guy standing behind them who had been verging on crying with joy during 'Careful'. "Maybe not quite that much."

He sighed happily; today had been amazing: all the music had been fantastic, he had seen some of his favourite bands live, had been at the barrier of main stage all day, and had the most fun he could remember having in ages. And he had met Blaine.

He watched the short, dark-haired boy out the corner of his eye as they walked across the arena away from the main stage; Blaine was smiling and humming one of the songs from the headlining band's set. The corner of his mouth tugged up into a smile at the sight; he had never been more grateful for Finn's clumsiness in his life, he may never have met Blaine without it.

The festival was over, the headlining band had finished playing around ten minutes ago, and Kurt and Blaine had just managed to get out of the swarms of people still hanging around the main stage. Though no more bands were playing, the arena was still open for a good while yet and people were milling around discussing their day and buying food and merchandise. Music was playing through speakers at strategic points around the arena which was lit up by lights on the main stage and on all the stalls and tents, and by the strings of white and coloured lights hanging over their heads.

Kurt was keeping an eye out for Rachel and Finn, dreading the moment when they finally appeared and he and Blaine would have to part ways. He reluctantly checked his phone, dreading the arrival of a text from Finn or Rachel trying to find him. He was both surprised and pleased to find that he had no new messages; he had expected them to be worrying about him by now, they hadn't seen each other in hours.

They reached a relatively quiet spot of the arena where the music playing through the speakers was louder than the sounds of festival goers laughing and shouting and twinkling lights crisscrossed over their heads.

Blaine was fiddling with his phone. "I'm surprised no one is trying to find me yet," he said.

"Rachel and Finn haven't texted me either," Kurt told him.

"Maybe they're still trying to get out of the crowds," Blaine suggested, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

They were silent for a while as they took in the festival arena at night. A lot of people had left already, so it was possible to walk around without bumping into someone. The cool night air was refreshing after hours of being in the crowds and Kurt closed his eyes, tilting his head back and breathing in deeply.

"You're really beautiful."

His eyes snapped open and he lowered his face from the sky to see Blaine duck his head in embarrassment, a blush just visible on his cheek in the low light.

Kurt felt his own face grow warm. "Um, thanks," he said shyly. There was a few seconds of tension-filled silence as Kurt gathered together some courage. "You're really gorgeous as well," he said eventually, his heart pounding so loudly in his chest it was a wonder Blaine couldn't hear it.

Blaine's gaze snapped up to meet his, looking a little disbelieving.

"I'm not just saying that," Kurt assured him, knowing what the other boy was thinking. "You have the most beautiful eyes."

Blaine smiled slightly mischievously. "Just my eyes?"

Shaking his head, Kurt took a step closer to him. "No, it's more than your eyes." He was so close now that he could see the movement of Blaine's throat as he swallowed despite the dim light.

He heard Blaine inhale sharply through his nose. "I don't want this to be the last time we see each other," he admitted quietly.

"It won't be, we'll see each other at Sectionals."

"I know, but I meant-" Blaine broke off and tugged at the hem of his shirt. "I meant I want to spend more time with you properly, not just seeing you briefly at a competition." He was still picking at the hem of his shirt, only meeting Kurt's eyes nervously every now and then.

Kurt licked his dry lips. "You mean like a date?"

Now Blaine was completely avoiding his gaze. "It doesn't have to be a date."

"What if I wanted it to be one?" he asked. Kurt had no idea where his courage had come from, but he was grateful for its appearance because Blaine lifted his gaze to meet his and a smile that made Kurt's heart stutter spread across his face.

"Then it's a date," he confirmed.

Kurt wasn't entirely sure what happened next, between the adrenaline coursing through his body, the rapid thrumming of his pulse, and the sparks of pleasure singing through his nerves from the feel of Blaine's hand in his, everything turned into a sort of blur and the next thing he knew Blaine's lips were pressed against his. He lifted a hand to cup Blaine's cheek as he kissed him back, softly at first, then a little more fiercely as Blaine pressed his lips harder against Kurt's His body quivered with pleasure when Blaine's lips parted against his and he felt the other boy's warm breath ghost over his mouth. Blaine tugged him closer by his waist as Kurt sucked on his bottom lip for a moment, before letting it go, smiling when Blaine chased his lips to press another soft kiss on them.

"You better not have been lying about that date," Kurt murmured when he got his breath back. "I don't just kiss any guy at a festival."

Blaine tilted his head up to meet Kurt's gaze, his nose brushing Kurt's as he did so. "Good, because I'm kinda hoping to be more than just any guy."

Kurt smiled and, unable to help himself, kissed Blaine again. They had just parted when a loud voice interrupted them.

"There you are, Blaine, I've been looking for you for ages!"

Kurt and Blaine spun round in the direction of the voice, arms still around each other, just as several other people hissed, "Thad!"

Kurt dropped his hands from where they had been resting on Blaine's shoulders to frown at the unfamiliar teenage boy standing a few feet away from them looking over at the back of a nearby merchandise stall in confusion.

"What?" the boy said.

There was a groan and a small group of people stepped into view. When the light fell on them, Kurt recognised two of them and realised who these people were: Blaine's friends.

Blaine stepped forward until he was alongside Kurt. "How long have you guys been standing there?" he demanded.

Blaine's friends all looked at each other, then, "A while," the blond guy who had been at the main stage barrier answered.

Blaine groaned. "Fantastic."

"What's going on?" a female voice demanded just before Rachel and Finn joined them. "Who interrupted them?" Rachel asked, glaring at Blaine's friends.

Kurt's lips parted in disbelief. "Oh, don't tell me you two were watching us as well?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows at him, a smirk playing about her lips. "You're in the middle of a busy festival arena; you can't have expected that to have been private."

"No, but all of you?" Kurt asked in disbelief, his tone making it clear that he didn't think this was a coincidence.

Blaine's friends shuffled their feet awkwardly and avoided looking at Kurt and Blaine. Rachel glanced hopefully up at Finn, but when he determinedly avoided her pleading look, she said, "We sort of...followed you."

Kurt shook his head at her reproachfully.

"You guys as well?" Blaine directed at his friends. They all nodded, except for Thad who still looked a little confused.

"We saw how well you were getting along and we could tell you both really liked each other, so we wanted to make sure you, um...did something about that," Nick explained, still looking awkward.

Kurt held himself taller. "Well, we did, so do you all mind clearing off for a minute?" He watched them closely as they all scurried off to make sure they didn't loop back to try and spy on them again.

"They're unbelievable," Blaine muttered when their friends had all finally disappeared from sight.

Kurt shook his head in disbelief again, before pulling his phone out of his pocket. "What's your number?" he asked Blaine. When Blaine just blinked at him, he added, "If you want that date then I need your number."

Blaine snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "Right, sorry." He recited his number to Kurt as he took his own phone out and added Kurt's number when it was given to him. "Just one date?" he asked teasingly as he returned his phone to his pocket.

A smile tugged at the corners of Kurt's mouth. "If you have really poor fashion sense then it might just be one."

"Good thing I read Vogue then," Blaine responded with a bright smile. "Unless you don't like bowties," he added, "because I wear a lot of them."

Kurt leant forwards to give him a soft, lingering kiss. "I love bowties."

They wandered off to go find their friends again after that, crossing the emptying arena hand-in-hand. The music sounded louder now that there were fewer people talking over it and Kurt clearly heard a snatch of a song as he and Blaine passed a speaker in the viewing platform.

I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you
It's Friday, I'm in love