Blaine honestly hadnt expected to recognize his duet partner when he arrived at Kings Island for their first rehearsal -- and he really hadnt expected her to recognize him.

"Youre from the Warblers," the slight brunette pronounced without even saying hello first. She folded her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing at him slightly. "You sang lead on Hey Soul Sister at Sectionals -- Blaine something-or-other. Your voice is very good, but were going to have to work on your choreography."

Blaine just blinked at her, taking a long moment to place the stubborn set of her jaw. "Youre from McKinley," he said slowly. "The girl Kurt was talking to before we went on. Its... Rachel, isnt it?"

"Rachel Berry. Im New Directions star soloist," she corrected pointedly, her eyes narrowing even more. She stuck out her hand, still eyeing him. "Youre very talented. I would know -- Im very talented, too."

"Right," Blaine answered, his eyebrows shooting up as he shook her hand. "Modest, too, I see."

Rachel waved one hand dismissively, and Blaine spared a moment to wonder if she practiced that in the mirror. "Just realistic about my own prodigious talent," she said airily. "False modesty isnt a virtue, I assure you." She tilted her head at him, her expression speculative. "You wouldnt be here if you couldnt carry a tune, at least, but were going to have to do something about your hopping around the stage like the Energizer Bunny."

"Hopping?" Blaine echoed, affronted.

"Granted, the effect was quite entertaining at Sectionals, but you wont have an entire ensemble of swaying a cappella singers in identical uniforms backing you up, so we should probably go through the entire song and work out something a little more... organic," Rachel continued, oblivious to his expression. "We can break it down verse by verse -- you have studied the lyrics, I hope?"

"I know the lyrics," Blaine answered, and gave up feeling insulted in favor of amused. "I actually had Kurt help me rehearse before he left for break, so you dont have to worry about me forgetting my lines."

Rachel brightened at that. "Oh, if you had Kurt helping you, youll be all right, then," she sighed. She turned swiftly, linking her arm through his and pulling him toward the practice stage. "Kurt doesnt have my vocal tone or my overwhelming stage presence, but hes a more than competent performer."

Blaine let himself be dragged along, shaking his head slightly. "Ill tell him you said so," he murmured dryly.

***

It didnt take long for Blaine to realize that Rachel Berry was a lot of things -- self-centered, obnoxious, overbearing -- but most of all, she wasdriven. And despite his misgivings, she really was very talented.

Granted, he was still trying to figure out how to convince her that she shouldnt be chasing him around the stage -- it was a little disconcerting, especially when she got that single-minded glint in her eyes, and it didnt fit the song at all -- but she had an excellent voice, and knew how to use it.

Still, he stood by his earlier assessment -- Kurt was better. And granted, that was probably because Kurt wasnt a girl, and there was only so much chemistry Blaine could manufacture with Rachel, no matter how talented she was.

"If youd quit scrunching your eyes closed and making pained faces, this would be a lot less awkward," Blaine huffed, pushing his hair back off his forehead.

"Its called emoting," Rachel countered. She looked affronted. "And you make goofy faces, yourself, dont pretend otherwise."

"Its called having a little fun with it," Blaine fired back. Honestly, he was starting to think that Rachel would try the patience of a saint, considering how badly she was testing his own vaunted control. "And youve got to stop chasing me, its supposed to be the other way around -- the whole things going to look weird if youre doing the chasing."

"Oh, because a girl cant chase a boy?" Rachel sniffed.

"No, because of what youre singing," Blaine said, and threw up his hands. "Youre really terrible at being chased, arent you?"

"Did you ever consider that you're just bad at chasing?" she retorted. "Its obvious youve got the confidence to perform in public, but you dont seem to know the first thing about playing the role of pursuer."

"Because youre a girl," Blaine blurted out in sheer frustration.

"Of course Im a girl, what did you think--" Rachel broke off, blinking slightly. "Oh. Oh," she said. "Wait, youre--"

"Not into girls, no," Blaine sighed. "And Im starting to really appreciate that, for once in my life," he muttered.

Rachel didnt seem to be paying much attention, though, and her eyes narrowed slightly at him. "You said you had Kurt helping you with this?" she asked.

Blaine eyed her warily. "Yes. Hes got the range, and the stage presence. Why?"

Rachel just smiled sweetly at him. "No reason."

***

To: Kurt
Out of curiosity, do i hop around the stage like the energizer bunny?

From: Kurt
Only occasionally. Its generally considered charming, though. Why the sudden concern?

To: Kurt
Hmm. is it normal to want to smother her with a pillow when she makes a valid point?

From: Kurt
...Wait, what? Who?

To: Kurt
Rachel berry is my duet partner for bico. not even kidding.

From: Kurt
Ouch. Homicidal fantasies are totally normal. Happens to the best of us.

From: Kurt
Also, youre not nearly as obnoxiously gay as the Energizer Bunny. I mean, really, bright pink fur? Not remotely subtle.

Blaine couldnt help the bark of surprised laughter as he read Kurt's last text, and the death glare Rachel shot him only made it worse. He closed the text window hastily and dropped his phone back into his coat pocket, before crossing the stage to get back to their rehearsal. Break time over, apparently.

Rachel just watched him with slightly narrowed eyes for a long moment before saying anything, and when she did, it was a tossed off, too-casual, "If Kurt doesnt come to see us perform, Im going to take it very personally, make sure you tell him that."

***

"Seriously, Rachel, this is never going to work if you dont loosen up and stop trying to choreograph every single step of the song."

"I wouldnt have to if you could convincingly fake chemistry with your duet partner, despite the fact that I happen to have breasts."

"Youre really not the most tactful person in the world, are you?"

"Tact is for those with less talent. Im honest, especially when it comes to performing."

"Right, because faking chemistry is totally honest."

"Dont argue semantics with me. I may not be Kurt, but he and I have a lot more in common than hes willing to admit, so if you have to close your eyes and pretend Im a five-foot-ten countertenor with ridiculous hair, then so be it."

Blaine just blinked at her, dumbfounded. "What? What does Kurt even have to do with anything?"

***

It took two days of rehearsals to break Rachel of her habit of hijacking the song, and one more to get her to pretend she was coy. By the time they faced their first public performance, Blaine was way more nervous than hed ever been onstage with the Warblers, and he blamed most of that on the sheer unpredictability of Rachel Berry.

He did not have to pretend she was Kurt to get the right tone in the song. That would be completely unprofessional of him, not to mention potentially damaging to his friendship with Kurt. He might have gone back and adjusted some of the choreography to more closely mirror the impromptu rehearsal at Dalton, but that was just because it was more suited to the song than Rachels more dramatic onstage theatrics. It had nothing to do with Kurt himself.

And if Blaine chose to conveniently block out his memory of how that rehearsal had ended -- with an awkward laugh and his neck heating at his sheer proximity to Kurt -- that was pure self-preservation.

***

"He made it!" Rachel squealed softly, peering out at the audience from behind the curtain.

Blaine shot her a bemused look, only a little distracted from his own attention to the performances preceding theirs. "Who made it? Boyfriend?" he whispered.

A brief shadow crossed Rachels expression at that, but she pushed it away impatiently. "No, Kurt -- I was hoping hed be able to convince Finn to come, but I suppose hes still angry about-- well, angry at me." She refocused her attention on the audience and changed the subject hastily. "But Kurts here, and he brought Mercedes, too."

"Kurts here?" Blaine echoed. He abandoned all pretense of watching the other acts and shifted to look over Rachels shoulder. Sure enough, he spotted Kurt and Mercedes a few rows back in the audience, she sporting a festive, sequined Santa hat, and he with a brightly patterned scarf around his neck and a disapproving look for said Santa hat.

Blaine chuckled under his breath at that. "Yeah, thats Kurt," he murmured dryly. He shook his head at Rachels questioning look. "Im really starting to wonder how hes coping with the school uniforms without losing it and wallpapering the senior commons with Vogue covers."

"Accessories," Rachel supplied knowingly. "I bet you anything hes got a whole collection of fashionable-yet-quirky brooches he wears underneath the blazer where no one can see them."

That startled another laugh out of Blaine, and he grinned at her. "Thanks a lot, now Im going to wonder."

Rachel just gave him another one of those knowing, too-sweet smiles. "You do that. Now, run through the blocking for the last verse again -- weve got to nail the final notes, and I want to make sure you remember to take the lower harmonies."

***

The fact that Blaine knew Kurt was watching was not why they managed to pull off their most convincing performance to date. No, it was probably because Rachel was determined to show her fellow glee-clubbers -- or former fellow glee-clubbers, in Kurts case -- just how much of a star she really was, even if it meant giving Blaine the reins. Or maybe it was because they had shared that little moment of amusement before taking the stage, effectively wiping away the nerves and tension that had kept them bickering all week.

Or maybe it was just because they were both natural performers, talented and confident and fully committed to giving their best no matter whowas watching.

Yeah, totally not because Kurt was watching.

Rachel was flushed and practically vibrating as they left the stage, the applause still ringing in their ears, and Blaine couldnt help but grin back at her. She did remind him a little bit of Kurt, after all, barely contained enthusiasm and raw talent bleeding through the adrenaline rush, so he just laughed when she went up on her toes (thank god she was actually shorter than him) to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

"Its a shame youre gay," she told him brightly. "But remind me to introduce you to my dads sometime, anyway."

***

Kurt and Mercedes were waiting for them when they finished changing back into street clothes and emerged from the stage door. Blaine grinned at Kurt happily, but Rachel broke ranks and rushed ahead, belting out the last few lines of their performance as she sashayed over to Kurt. To Blaines surprise, Kurts smile just grew wider, and he picked up the other half of the duet -- Blaines part -- and caught her hand to turn her in a graceful spin, his voice blending beautifully with Rachels as they soared into the final harmonies and he finished by dipping her dramatically.

If Blaine had managed to block out that weird little flutter of nerves in his stomach the first time hed sung that song with Kurt, it was a lot harder to ignore when he had a chance to really watch the other boy perform it -- and to hear him take the traditionally male half of the song really shouldnt have given him goose bumps like that.

Something in his expression must have given him away, because Mercedes wasnt watching Kurt or Rachel -- she was smirking at Blaine, instead. "You survived being onstage with Rachel Berry, rich boy, Kurt Hummel ought to be a piece of cake, now," she chuckled. "You guys were awesome."

"Thanks," Blaine managed, his mouth still inexplicably dry.

Kurt pulled Rachel up into a loose hug, laughing, and lifted an eyebrow at Blaine as he released her. "If Id realized Rachel was your partner, Id have armed you with duct tape and the original cast recording of Funny Girl," he said wryly. "At least then youd have been able to shut her up for a few minutes."

"Streisand usually has that effect, Im learning," Blaine grinned. "Ill keep it in mind, though -- weve got two more shows tomorrow night before they cut us loose, and Im getting tired of telling her to dial back on the emoting."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Mercedes snorted. "Are you guys free for the night, at least? We were talking about getting a late dinner before we have to head home to make it by Kurts curfew."

"Were free until call time tomorrow," Blaine answered, and Rachel nodded happily as she fell into step with Mercedes and started chattering. She spared a moment to cast a significant look over her shoulder at Blaine.

He ignored it, and gestured for Kurt to precede him. "Im totally going to steal that spin-and-dip move for tomorrow night, you know," he announced as they followed the girls.

"You have my blessing," Kurt answered, and Blaine was almost certain that his cheeks had taken on a slight flush. "Youll probably pull it off better, anyway. I dont know what you were so worried about."

Blaine chuckled, and nudged Kurt playfully with his shoulder, leaning in and dropping his voice. "I was right, you know. Youre way better thanthat girl," he said softly.

Kurts flush was unmistakable this time. "If you have any sense at all, you wont let Rachel hear you say that."