I have such a vivid mental image of badboy!Kurt being besties with tiny, cute Rachel and dating sweet, adorable Blaine because he's a secret softie, so I wrote it, mostly because I can't draw.
Kurt slid into his usual spot in the lunchroom, stowing his beat-up messenger bag on the floor by his booted feet and thanking whatever might be out there that the knuckledraggers at McKinley were so fooled by his appearance that they gave his table a wide berth. Space was at a premium in the overcrowded building, but the prospect of having to sit by Hummel and either getting beaten up or "catching the gay" left him and Rachel with a whole table to themselves everyday.
Thinking about Rachel must have made her attention radar go off, because just then Kurt's best friend entered the cafeteria, dragging a boy behind her who looked so eerily like her twin brother that Kurt nearly choked on his flavorless school sandwich.
"Kurt! You know how I go to that theater camp every summer?" Rachel squealed as she and the surprisingly cute boy plopped down across from him.
"Yes?" Kurt said, raising a pierced eyebrow and wondering how this was relevant.
"This is my friend Blaine! You know, the Tony to my Maria from our revue? He's transferred here now!" Rachel said, all in one breath. Kurt would never understand how such a tiny human had that kind of lung capacity.
"Um...hi," Blaine said, looking scared. "You're Rachel's best friend Kurt?"
"I take it Rachel didn't tell you about my personal style?" Kurt asked, trying to stifle his laughter. Blaine looked like he was considering hiding under the table, and it was just adorable. "It's just a couple of piercings and some hair dye, it's not contagious, I promise."
"Kurt's really a total marshmallow under all his 'bad-ass' apparel," Rachel said, making air quotes. "The amount of times he's cried over The Sound of Music with me-"
"That's enough, Rach," Kurt said, shoving Rachel's bagel into her mouth to cut her off. "You can't just ruin my cred before I even know this guy – do you want to go back to getting slushied everyday?"
"Blaine's not gonna sell you out," Rachel said after yanking the bagel out of her mouth. "He's gay, too, he understands."
Kurt just took a drink of his milk, trying not to look too excited by that revelation. Cute boys who could actually reciprocate his affections didn't happen everyday at McKinley – or ever, really. "So, Blaine, what's your story?" he redirected, shooting Blaine his most flirtatious glance.
Blaine swallowed hard. "Uh, I'm a senior, too, transferring from Dalton over in Westerville after realizing I wasn't getting as much out of that place as I thought I would. Ran into Rachel before classes started today, lived through an ear-piercing shriek of joy and a bone-crushing hug, and here I am."
"Been there," Kurt said, laughing, as Rachel smacked Blaine on the arm. "Rachel overheard me listening to the Wicked soundtrack in my car one day as I was pulling in, and she nearly hopped on the hood to accost me and demand we become best friends forever, my 'less than tasteful aesthetics' be damned."
"If I had known you two were just going to start teasing me, I would've just let you be scared of Kurt all year, Blaine," Rachel huffed. She couldn't keep a tiny smile from peeking out, though, so Kurt knew she wasn't actually pissed.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, Rach," Blaine said, giving Rachel a quick side-hug. "You didn't tell me Kurt was a punk, though, how was I supposed to react?"
"The term around here is Skank, actually," Kurt said, figuring Blaine needed the run-down.
"Kurt's actually a pretty good guy to know," Rachel said, waving her salad fork around as she made her points. "All the jocks are terrified of him because he knows how to mess with cars, so they don't bother him or me, because I'm his best friend. If I didn't know him, they'd pick on me just as much as they do the rest of the glee club."
"So what you're saying is I need to get in Kurt's good graces?" Blaine teased.
"I might be persuaded to add a cute boy to my list," Kurt said, testing the waters. "Starting my own harem would just be one more way to scare the living piss out of those meathead jocks."
"Oooh, intriguing," Blaine said, giving Kurt a look he could only describe as smoldering. "This school might be more fun than I thought."
"Oh my God, can you not flirt right in front of me, please?" Rachel cut in. "I'm trying to eat lunch in peace, and hearing my best friends talk about harems might give me acid reflux and screw up my vocal cords."
"Keep your hair on, Rachel, I'll stop. I need to take my fake smoke break anyways so I can keep up appearances," Kurt said, getting up and grabbing his bag.
"Fake smoke break?" Blaine repeated, confused.
Oh no, he's even cuter when his eyebrows scrunch like that, Kurt thought. Shaking himself slightly, he responded out loud with "I don't want to ruin my own vocal cords, either – I'm applying to NYADA soon – but sitting under the bleachers and looking scary while playing with a lighter keeps the jockstraps in a nice state of fear."
"Clever," Blaine said. "But don't you get in trouble for skipping?"
"Next period's my study hall," Kurt said. "I don't make trouble with teachers and I keep my grades up high enough, so they don't bother trying to find me to take attendance and I don't actually miss out on learning anything."
"Mind if I join you some time?" Blaine asked, knocking Kurt for a loop. "Once I get the teachers to trust me like that, of course. My study hall's next period, too, and I don't want to spend it in some stuffy classroom with a bunch of strangers if I don't have to."
"S-Sure," Kurt stuttered. "Feel free. I hang out under the visitor bleachers, right in view of the weight room."
Before Blaine could respond, the bell signaled that lunch was over, making the lunchroom a flurry of activity.
"C'mon, Blaine, I'll show you where your next room is," Rachel said, grabbing her tray. "Meet us after Glee practice for Tuesday night movie time, Kurt?"
"What – yeah, yeah, of course," Kurt said, feeling dazed. "I'll be out by my car."
"Sounds good!" Rachel chirped as she left, pulling Blaine along with her.
Kurt walked slowly out to the bleachers, still a little in shock as his mind reeled: Oh my God, he was so cute! And he wants to hang out with me!
A text from Rachel snapped him out of his funk, making him snort in unsurprised amusement.
He ~so~ likes you. You guys had better name your first kid after me!
Meddling Brat it is! Kurt texted back, relaxing for a moment. He couldn't waste the whole period, though – he might need to clean up his den a bit if Blaine was serious about hanging out with him.
Blaine was serious about hanging out with him, much to Kurt's delight. Once Blaine got settled in and friendly with the McKinley teachers, he had no problem getting permission to spend his study hall outdoors, ostensibly so he could "get more fresh air."
"You're even more delinquent than me, you know that?" Kurt teased him one day, two months into the semester. "I've never lied to the teachers about why I'm skipping."
"It's because you're a bad influence on me," Blaine had said. "I never would have scammed my way out of class at Dalton, but one conversation with you and I'm roped into dying my best friend's hair lavender."
"It's not all lavender!" Kurt said. "Just an ombre. It's fashion-forward, something Rachel has never actually been before."
"I'm telling her you said that," Blaine teased, pulling out his phone.
"No!" Kurt said, leaning over Blaine's lap and reaching for it. "She'll force me to run her audition with her for the millionth time if you tell her, and then I'll die of exhaustion before I even make my Broadway debut."
"That would be a shame," Blaine said, pocketing his phone. "I suppose I won't tell her...if you promise me something in return."
"What's that?" Kurt asked warily, still leaning into Blaine's space a little as he flicked his pink hair back into place. He smells like cinnamon...and chocolate. It's so good-
"You have to come to Regionals," Blaine said, derailing Kurt's train of thought. "I know you're designing our costumes for it, but I want you to actually watch us perform, too."
"Is this some sneaky way of recruiting me? Because Mr. Schue doesn't like me, I already know that," Kurt said, suspicious.
"No, I just – I think you'll like it," Blaine said, eyes sparkling with some indefinable emotion. "Promise?"
"I promise," Kurt said, linking his pinky with Blaine's when it was offered.
He played off the tingles that simple touch sent down his spine as a shiver from the early November chill.
Kurt slid into his narrow auditorium seat at Regionals, huffing out a deep breath to release the last of his stress. Rachel had just ripped her hem after getting her heel stuck in her dress, and Kurt had almost had to use dental floss as thread before Blaine finally unearthed his sewing kit from the mass of makeup bags in their green room.
Just then, Kurt's phone chimed out his text alert, prompting a dirty glare from a nearby audience member.
"The show hasn't even started yet, lady, calm down," Kurt hissed at her, switching his phone to silent before reading his message.
Great job on the last minute fix/not strangling our soloist! Hope you enjoy the show. :)
Smiling, Kurt texted Blaine back.
Break a leg, Anderson! Just know that my critique will be ~far~ harsher than that of the actual judges.
Noted. Somehow I think I'll be okay, though. ;)
Kurt tucked his phone away at that – the house lights were flashing, and he didn't want that nosy lady glaring at him again. He mindlessly judged the first two competitors, thinking that even if he wasn't biased toward the New Directions he wouldn't want them to win – the first group was slightly flat the entire time, and the second danced like they all had broken legs.
Then it was finally the New Directions' turn. Kurt admired their costumes from his seat, noting how well the stage lights brightened the lavender of the girls' dresses and Rachel's hair. The boys also looked dashing in their matching dress shirts and darker bow ties, Blaine especially.
I did a damn good job, Kurt thought, smiling proudly. It was his last coherent thought before their performance started and his world shrunk.
New Directions' first song was Tegan and Sara's Closer, alternating leads as often as possible with Blaine on the chorus.
It's not just all physical
I'm the type who won't get oh so critical
So let's make things physical
I won't treat you like you're oh so typical
Blaine's eyes met Kurt's somehow as he sang those lines, and Kurt felt his heart speed up and his breath catch. Even when he wasn't leading the song, Blaine kept his attention on Kurt as often as possible, sending tingles down Kurt's spine as he listened to the rest of the lyrics.
Their first song ended, and Kurt clapped along numbly, still dazed.
Their second song didn't make it any better.
Blaine and Rachel moved over to the piano on the side of the stage, where they took a seat as the rest of the choir hustled offstage. Kurt knew they'd been chosen to do the ballad, but he didn't know what they'd chosen.
Apparently they had a theme in mind.
Falling slowly
Sing your melody
I'll sing along
Again Blaine's eyes captured Kurt's as the song finished, and if that wasn't obvious enough, Rachel shot a wink in his direction as they rejoined the choir at center stage for their final song.
The sheer unexpectedness of their last song allowed Kurt to recover himself enough to clap and hoot along with the audience, though the back of his mind was still a puddle of mush.
So get out, get out, get out of my mind
And come on, come into my life
I don't, I don't, don't know what it is
But I need that one thing
And you've got that one thing
Once the judges left to make their decisions, Kurt snuck backstage again, hoping to find-
"Blaine!" he gasped, coming across the other boy outside the green room.
"Holy shit, Kurt, way to give me a heart attack," Blaine said, thunking a hand onto his (broad, warm-looking) chest.
"You have it coming after that performance," Kurt said. "Was I supposed to take that as a hint?"
"Only if you want- I mean, I think you're really- mmph!"
Kurt cut off Blaine's rambling with a hard, passionate kiss, pressing him into the wall behind them. Blaine's lips were unmoving against his for a heart-stopping moment before Blaine kissed back feverishly, pushing Kurt out and around so his own back was against the wall.
Hands sunk into hair and traced jawlines and piercings before-
"Oh my God!" Rachel shrieked, startling the two boys apart. "Do you have to suck face right outside our green room?"
"Rachel, what's-" Finn's head poked outside the door, jaw dropping in shock mid-sentence. "Uh..."
"Can everyone who is not Blaine please go back in the green room so I can continue making out with my boyfriend in peace?" Kurt asked, frustrated.
"Boyfriend?" Blaine parroted.
"Boyfriend," Kurt confirmed, smiling serenely.
"I would, but it's time to get our results!" Rachel said, pulling Blaine away from Kurt and making him have to stifle a whine before it got loose and ruined his badboy image. "You can continue macking when we're champions!"
"I'm holding you to that, Rach," Kurt grumbled.
"And you're still-"
"We're not naming our firstborn after you, Rachel! Just go get your results already," Kurt said, exasperated. "You're gonna drive me to actually smoking, I swear to God."
"I don't make out with smokers," Blaine said teasingly.
"God, what have I gotten myself into?" Kurt said, following the group down the hallway. "Next I'll be taking out my piercings and joining you losers for impromptu singalongs."
"Like we don't have those alr-"
"Just go get your results, Blaine."
Kurt wasn't sure how he'd ended up with two pastel-sporting, show choir-loving nerds as his best friends (and boyfriend!), but right then, he couldn't imagine life without them, either.