"Okay, listen to me." Blaine looks around and looks his team mates in the eyes. "I get that this is only the end of a mock game. But that doesn't mean that we can cut 'em slack, alright?"

They nod and mumble around their mouthguards.

"Great. So Wilson and Turner, I want you to pay attention. They are going to try a QB sack. We all know it. Apart from that we're going for a Green Fifty-Four. Got it?"

His offense nods again.

"On three! Let's go!"

They get into position, Blaine gets down behind the Center.

"Green Fifty-Four! Green Fifty-Four!"

One last glance, he puts his mouthguard back in, and he's back in the game.

"Hut! Hut! Hut!"

The Center snaps, Blaine gets a few steps back and sees Ryans who is completely unguarded. He throws the ball towards him. The moment he loses contact with the ball he gets hit by what feels like a train and they go down. He feels the air leaving his lungs when he hits the grass hard. A few seconds later a whistle blows and the train rolls off of him. The train, now he sees it's Parker, offers him a hand and helps him getting up.

"Great play, Anderson!" Coach Sanders is walking towards him.

Blaine spits his mouthguard out and unfastens the straps of his helmet. The feeling of his hair sticking to his head is a bit unsettling and he knows he has to get a haircut. Soon.

"I don't know, Coach," he says, tucking the helmet under his arm. "After all, it was almost a sack."

"But it is our second day back, Anderson. Some of the guys still have problems memorizing the playbook."

Blaine nods. Sometimes he's harder on his team than the coaches are. He sighs and grabs a bottle of water, drinking some and pouring the rest over his head. Training in the heat of a Southern California never had been his favorite, but a good long shower is only a short time away. And they have to seize every day before classes start again. Blaine sees the cheerleaders lining up along the field and wonders shortly if they have tryouts today.

"Guys, huddle!" He yells. Blaine sees the coach clapping Ryans on a shoulder, saying something to him and then looking towards Blaine, nodding once. Blaine knows what it means.

They get into the huddle.

"Thanks for the great training, guys," Ryans says. Then he starts shouting.

"Who are we?"

"Mountain Lions!"

"Who are we?"

"Mountain Lions!"

"I can't hear you!"

"Mountain Lions!"

And then, when the whole team chants "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Blaine has goosebumps. He always does. And he loves it.

They start laughing, clapping each other on the shoulder pads and break the huddle.

Blaine pulls up his training jersey and unfastens the straps of his pad. By now he is in a desperate need for a shower.

The cheerleaders, mostly female, start giggling when the players start coming towards them. Blaine feels reminded of high school, where the cheerleaders fawned all over him. Star quarterback, acclaimed prodigy and apparently single. In fact he's gay and he doesn't really care. Neither do his team mates. He told them from the beginning, he told the coaches as well, and as long as his play is good, everything is alright.

"Hey Blainers!" He turns his head right, towards the voice. He sees Suzy standing there, in a tank top, shorts and trainers. Her blond hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. Blaine walks towards her.

"Hey Suzy." He smiles when she tries to hug him. "No, don't. I'm all sticky and sweaty and I need a shower."

She laughs and hugs him anyway.

"You know I don't care, Blainers."

They have history. Or kind of. Suzy has been captain of the Pantherettes, the CRU's cheerleaders, since her freshman year. When Blaine became starting quarterback after Robbins career-ending head injury in the third game, she tried to hit on him. They went out a couple of times, Blaine happily oblivious to Suzy's intentions. Until, that is, she tried to kiss him after their third date. He clarified quickly that he liked her, very much so, but they were simply playing for different teams. After the initial shock - "What is it with you guys? Why is every cute and nice guy either taken or freaking gay?" - they became best friends. And although a lot of people seem to think that they are dating – it is so clich� after all, the staring quarterback and the cheerleader captain – they never tried kissing again, after that fateful event two years ago.

"Tryouts," he asks, looking around and seeing all those girls and a couple of boys, too, warming up, stretching.

"Yeah, kinda." She shrugs, stretching her arms. "It's just the first step today. Seeing how much they can do, what they can do..." She shrugs again. "You know the deal."

He nods. It's the first they do each year, too. Even though some of them are coming on a football scholarship, it doesn't mean everyone is on the same level.

"See the guy over there?"

Blaine follows her gaze. "The one with the … are those basketball shorts?"

Suzy laughs. "Not that one. The one with the brown hair and the tight black shirt."

Oh, the one next to the guy with the basketball shorts.

"Yeah."

"I think he'll become our only male flyer. He's good. He's really good."

Blaine sees him stretching and … He has to tear his gaze away, coughing. Cheerleaders shouldn't be allowed to wear such tight and short shorts. They simply shouldn't.

"Uhm... I'll need to take a shower, really, Suzy."

Suzy raises an eyebrow.

"Not what you think!"

"Sure, Blainers." She grins.

A whistle blows and coach Woodlee's voice can be heard.

"Tryouts day one are about to begin! Please come onto the field and line up!"

Blaine pecks Suzy on the cheek and while he wants to see her running onto the field, his gaze sticks with the brown haired boy. He has to know his name. Preferably sooner than later. He is about to take off towards the shower, when the boy looks at him. Blaine smiles and gives him a thumbs-up. The boy smiles back, even though a bit tentatively.

-x-

The first days back on campus are always the toughest ones, Blaine thinks. After training he brings his gear back to his dorm room. Michael Ryans, called Mike or Ryans, is already there, sitting on the couch and zapping through the TV channels. They share a one-bedroom apartment. It's not what you would call fancy, but they have enough room for their football gear and that's an upside. Sometimes Blaine wonders if every university houses their football players together, or if it is just standard CRU procedure.

"I heard it was a good catch, Mike." Blaine puts his pads and helmet into the closet, next to Mike's.

"You didn't see it?"

"Nope," Blaine leans against the kitchen counter. "Parker tackled me pretty hard."

Mike sighs. "Yeah, we have to work harder with the tackles and guards. Although we shouldn't forget that they're coming fresh from high school."

Blaine nods. It might take another week or two until they are one team.

"Oh, listen." Mike looks up. "Clarice said the cheerleaders are having a potluck tomorrow night, when the team is complete."

"And they want us to be there again?"

"Course."

Blaine pinches the bridge of his nose. "Alright. I wanted to go to University Mall anyways. Any idea what we should bring?"

Mike snorts. "You know I'm hopeless when it comes to cooking. But seeing as the mounts of cute cheerleaders, I'd say something sweet."

"How 'bout an apple crumble? It's fast and everybody loves it."

Mike nods and is already watching some TV show with cars again.

-x-

Kurt can't believe it. Not only did he make the team on the first day of tryouts, no, coach Woodlee wants him as the only male flyer.

"Really Kurt, it's perfect for you!" The captain is so nice to him. He thinks her name is Suzanne.

"I'm not sure, Suzanne."

"Suzy," she corrects.

He would prefer to be a base, or actually just do stunts on the ground. He's good with that and …

"Kurt," Suzy puts her hand on his shoulder, "if you're uncomfortable with having a male base, although I know that Kyle doesn't mind having a male flyer, we can arrange for you having female bases."

Kurt sighs. No. He's happy that he got the cheerleading scholarship, so if he opts out on being a flyer, he won't be on the team and that means he'll lose his scholarship.

"No, no, it's alright, Suzy."

She smiles broadly. "Great, we're meeting tomorrow for a potluck. You know where our house is?"

Kurt tries to remember. Maybe. Vaguely. It must show on his face.

"Ah, doesn't matter. We'll go together after the final tryouts."

"Thanks." He smiles and goes towards the men's locker room.

-x-

Kurt puts his towel and his clothes for practice into the smaller side-pocket of his gym bag the big one is occupied with a huge bowl of salad. He knows the newest cheerleaders aren't expected to bring food to the potluck, after all it's a kind of welcome party for them, but he felt bad not bringing anything at all.

"Hey, Kurt."

Kurt turns around and sees Kyle leaning against one of the lockers.

"Hi Kyle."

"You're coming, too, right? To the potluck, I mean."

Kurt nods and turns back to zip his bag close. "Yeah. Suzy asked me yesterday."

"Great. You need a ride, or something?"

"No, thanks." Kurt shoulders his bag. "Suzy already offered to show me." He follows Kyle out of the room.

"Okay. See you there!"

Kyle hurries down the stairs, while Kurt waits in front of the girl's locker room.

He remembers talking to Kyle before practice-slash-tryout this afternoon. He was nervous at first, telling him that he's gay. After all, they were partners now and he didn't want to ruin that. It would come down to the team sooner or later. But Kyle was okay with it, which surprised Kurt in the beginning. "So you really don't mind? I mean, I don't want you to be afraid that I'd hit on you or something..." But Kyle had only laughed. "No, Kurt. My sister's got a girlfriend. And... After she first told us, I was so afraid to bring my girlfriend home. Until Catrice screamed at me, accusing me of being homophobic and asked me if I'd though every girl on this planet would be my next girlfriend." He had shook his head. "I guess I needed that. We get along as well as before and..." He had shrugged. "I don't care, really."

"Oh, Kurt."

Kurt looked up. Suzy was standing in front of him, her hair still wet from the shower, but she smiled.

"Hey." He smiled back at her. There was an awful lot of smiling involved. It felt a bit strange, but he was sure he'd get used to it.

"Are you ready?"

He simply nodded.

"Great. Some of the football players are coming too."

While he follows her down the stair towards her car, he wonders if the guy he saw yesterday will be there, too.

-x-

Kurt always knew that fraternities had houses to themselves. But now, as he stands in the kitchen of the cheerleader's house, he still is a bit taken aback. There are plush couches in the living room, the walls adorned with trophies and a huge flat screen TV, in another room is a table soccer, a billard table and on a wall hangs a dartboard. Upstairs, he was told, are two bathrooms and three bedrooms. "For emergencies." Also known as: We are too drunk to go back to our dorms.

The kitchen is equipped with a really huge fridge and everything needed for survival. Or to make drinks. He's not really sure about that.

Two tables are pushed together to host the food. Kurt can spot his own salad, Mac and Cheese, cookies, chicken wings and -

"You should try the apple crumble."

Kurt spins around. There he is, the football player from yesterday. But now, he even looks better. His hair is curly and not plastered to his head by being stuck underneath a helmet during practice. He wears a dark blue t-shirt, that leaves not much to imagination, his skin is tanned and – no, he's not giving him an all-over. Although the color of his Converses match his t-shirt.

"Why should I?" Kurt desperately tries to remember if he saw a number on his jersey.

"I made it."

"Then you better not eat it, Kurt." Suzy enters, a sixpack beer in her hand.

"That's unfair, Suzy! The one time you actually got a stomach bug after eating at my place was when Mike cooked chicken. Or tried to..."

Suzy laughs and puts the sixpack into the fridge.

"Okay, okay, Blainers. You win."

She tucks herself under his arm and hugs him around the middle.

"I haven't introduced you yet, have I?"

Blaine shakes his head.

"Kurt, this is our star quarterback, Blaine Anderson. Blaine, that's Kurt, our new flyer and Kyle's partner."

Blaine extends the hand that is not around Suzy's waist.

"Pleasure."

Kurt shakes it. "Same here."

Suzy kisses Blaine on the cheek.

"I'll go and check if my boyfriend's there yet."

"You do that, sunshine."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Blainers."

Blaine chuckles and watches her leave.

"So … you're not...?"

Blaine looks at Kurt. "What? An item?"

Kurt nods.

"God, no. She's too … uhm... how to put it... much girl, for my taste."

Kurt blinks a few times.

"You're gay." It's not a question, it's a statement.

"Yeah, any problems with that?"

"No. Just ..."

Blaine comes closer to Kurt, leans in and for a split second Kurt thinks they're going to kiss.

"You didn't expect the star quarterback of a pretty successful university football team to be gay."

Kurt can simply nod. Then Blaine brings some distance between them and Kurt can see that he just got one of those pizza-thingies someone made.

"It's not common. But," he shrugs, "they accept it." He takes a bite off of his pizza.

They start to talk. In the middle of the kitchen. With people coming and leaving, getting drinks and food and more and more beer.

They talk about high school and what made them choose their hobbies - "My father suggested I tried playing football. I guess he wanted to straighten me out or something. Well, I stuck with football. And with guys," Blaine had chuckled. "Our cheerleaders wanted to do a musical number and asked a friend and me to do it. And we stayed."

It gets late and their friends are getting more and more drunk. Kurt's not even sure if some of them are actually allowed to drink already. But he doesn't really care. It's not his responsibility, after all.

He takes a glance at his watch and realizes, a bit shocked, that it's already past midnight. And he has to get up early tomorrow, because he has a swimming date with a girl from down the hall.

"I … I should go, Blaine." Kurt smiles at Blaine. "It was so nice to meet you."

"You know, I wanted to leave anyways. Coach Sanders scheduled an early run tomorrow morning that I can't miss. And … I can give you a ride."

Kurt ponders for a moment. He doesn't really know where he is, and calling Campus Taxi would be an option, but he'd probably have to wait.

"Okay, sure, why not."

He follows Blaine outside, saying goodbye to the cheerleaders he already knows and watching Blaine interact with all of them so easily. Then Blaine grabs him by the hand and leads him towards his car, parked about half a block away.

The car ride is rather quiet.

"What's your dorm?"

"Northridge Hall."

"I'll drop you off at the main entrance, that okay?"

Kurt nods. "Thanks."

"No big deal."

Five minutes later Blaine stops in front of Northridge Hall.

"Thanks again, Blaine."

Kurt unbuckles his seat belt.

"Kurt?"

He turns around to Blaine.

"Yeah?"

And suddenly, Blaine leans over the center console, capturing Kurt's face with his right hand, the left still on the wheel. Their lips meet and Kurt's eyes flutter shut.

The kiss is better than he had imagined. Not that he had...

It's chaste. Just their lips pressing together. And soon, too soon it's over.

"Sleep tight," Blaine whispers against his lips and then pulls away.

"Y-you too." Kurt opens the door, gets out of the car, shuts the door and searches for his key card in his bag. When he finds it, he sweeps it through the reader next to the door and pushes the door open. He turns around and only when the door is closed again, he sees Blaine's Lexus drive away.

He feels a bit silly, but he simply has to touch his lips.

When he gets on the elevator, too befuddled to walk the two flights of stairs up, he imagines he still can feel Blaine's lips against his own.

And then he is in bed. His roommate Jeffrey is already asleep, snoring softly. He stares at the ceiling, hoping maybe beyond hope, that this wasn't the only kiss he got from Blaine. But he is a quarterback and probably every gay guy on campus wants him. So why, why should Blaine want him?

He chases those thoughts from his mind and falls asleep with an already fading memory of Blaine's lips on his.