Kurt trudged up the stairs, his Dalton blazer already folded over one arm, his tie loosened. His hair had lost its styling mid-day and he hadn't even cared enough to fix it between classes. He probably looked terrible, which normally would have bothered him. But not at the moment.

Blaine cared about him.

Blaine was bad at romance.

Blaine liked stupid unkempt-looking boys who were afraid to come out of the closet and didn't appreciate an impromptu performance.

Stupid Blaine. With his curly hair. And his big hazel eyes. And his lips. Which were not at all kissable, by the way.

Kurt didn't care about how he looked, because he was planning to collapse face first on his bed and listen to depressing Broadway ballads until he passed out from either lack of oxygen or exhaustion, whichever saved him from the misery of consciousness first.

Finn's door was standing open and he could hear strains of a strumming guitar floating out into the hallway.

Puck.

Fantastic.

"Hey Kurt!" a voice called out. Kurt stopped, closed his eyes, took a deep calming breath, and headed for Finn's room.

"Yes?" he asked, peeking his head inside to survey the situation. Finn was at the computer looking at god knows what while Puck was sitting at the foot of the bed just playing random chords on his guitar.

"What's up?"�Puck asked.

"Nothing,"�Kurt said, "What are you doing here? Finn's supposed to be resting."

"I've had mono, like, eight times and he's helping me with something for Glee,"�Puck said.

"I'm feeling better and I'm so bored,"�Finn said, spinning in his chair. Kurt just shook his head at them. There were days when he really missed McKinley. And then there were times like this when he was incredibly grateful that he was far away from people like these two every day.

"You look like shit," Puck told Kurt, prompting Finn to stop his relentless rotations. He looked Kurt over and nodded in agreement. Kurt wanted to choke him with his tie.

"Thank you so much. Now if you'll excuse me,"�Kurt said, moving to leave.

"You only look, you know, not your best when something's wrong,"�Finn said, obviously trying for a little more tact than Puck had used.

Kurt leaned against the door frame and sighed. He could lie and say that it was nothing, or make something up, but the fact was that he actually did want to talk about it. And as an added bonus, he might even manage to make Finn uncomfortable. That was all the incentive he needed.

"It's Blaine," Kurt admitted.

"Did he hump and dump you?" Puck asked. Finn shot him a look and Kurt tried to keep his eyeballs from bugging all the way out of their sockets.

"No. That's not it. At all," Kurt sputtered, trying to recover as quickly as possible, "He likes someone else. Well, he did. I don't know if he does anymore. All of the Warblers went with him because he said that he wanted to serenade a guy at the Gap of all places. It didn't end particularly well, and afterward I wound up telling him that I'd been reading things into our friendship that obviously aren't really there since I had assumed that I�was the one he wanted to sing to for Valentine's Day. It's just been a long week, and I'm tired."

"I thought you two were hooking up,"�Puck shrugged, giving the strings beneath his fingers a few strums.

"We definitely aren't,"�Kurt practically groaned, not even bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice, "I�really like him and we spend so much time together. Honestly, though, I think I'm most upset about the fact that I didn't even know he'd gone out with this Jeremiah.�They went out for coffee twice and I�had no idea. I thought we were friends. Good friends."

"Well, if he isn't into you, then he's an idiot,"�Puck said, "I'm not gay and even I know that you're, like, the King of the Twinks."

"I'm not a twink!"�Kurt blurted, his eyes once again attempting to make an escape.

"Dude, you totally are," Puck laughed.

"I am not!"

"Well, you're not a bear, or whatever."

"What's a twink?"�Finn asked, his entire face screwed up in confusion.

"Google it,"�Puck said. Finn slid his chair back over to his desk and Kurt took a panicked step into the room.

"Don't Google it!" he shouted before turning his attention back over to Puck, "How do you even know what those things are?"

"Santana used to make me watch 'Queer as Folk' with her before we got busy. She said that it turned her on. I pretty much just tuned out until the lesbians came on, but I picked up a few things."

"I'm not a twink,"�Kurt said, backing out of the room, "I am leaving now, though, and we are never speaking of this again."

He rushed across the hallway, his heart pounding and his head spinning. He ran into his own room, not quite managing to get the door shut before he heard Finn shout out.

"Kurt!�You're totally a twink!"