Slip of the tongue

Kurt Hummel had never really thought much about using endearments for people he knew, no one had ever made a big deal about it.

Britney seemed to like it when he called her boo or honey. None of the other girls minded either when he called them honey or sweetie or whatever else rolled off his tongue, they all secretly found it one of his more endearing traits.

Fin would laugh it off whenever Kurt would do that thing that confused Fin where he would be calm and threatening at the same time, it was like his voice had been dipped in honey and poison "Finn, sweetie, what is it that I said about touching my stuff?"

Kurt would call him sweetie or honey when he was being condescending as well. He'd talk to Finn like a five year old which Finn found kind of annoying but knew that his step-brother meant no harm in it and Kurt never called him by any nicknames in public anyway so the Frankenteen decided it was nothing to worry about. He had more important things to think about anyway, like home work and Glee club and Rachel… so yeah the terms of endearment didn't bother him.

Kurt probably shouldn't have expected the same responses at Dalton, but as aforementioned it wasn't really something he thought about so when it slipped out at Warbler practise it came as more of a surprise than it should have when the prep boys reactions were different to what he was used to. It all happened on a Monday.

"C'mon guys, red ties with blue piping would be much better than blue ties with red piping" Blaine exclaimed holding two apparently not identical ties in his hands.

'The world has gone insane' Kurt thought as he rubbed his temple with two fingers. Several warblers were in the same position.

Wes, however . . .

"Warbler Blaine, you don't seem to realise that the warblers are a team and we don't just go with every eccentric change you think necessary to further us in the competitions, what's wrong with the ties we have now?!" he yelled at the soloist

"Nothing, but I think we need to shake things up a little" Blaine shouted back with a frown

That was the last straw, as calmly as he could, Kurt elegantly unfolded his legs and stood.

David, seeing this, smirked. He'd seen one of Kurt's "Bitch fits" only once before and it had started very much like this. A short brunette (Rebecca?) had stridden into warbler practise, making everything halt. She had explained very extensively that she was not a spy and stopped talking only when Kurt rolled his eyes and parted from the shoal of warblers "Dear Lord, Rachel Berry, shut up!" he had said, making many a Dalton boy gasp. The girl (Now that he thought about it he thought her name was Rachel) had shut up, she had also taken two more strides until she was right in front of the pale boy before standing on her tiptoes and kissing him passionately on the lips. This had evoked further gasps from the warblers and David had noted in amusement that a certain lead singer was gaping open mouthed at the still making out duo.

Finally, Rachel had pulled away and Kurt was standing stalk still "You girls do know" he had said icily "That just because I'm gay it doesn't mean that you're allowed to molest me"

"Sorry, Kurt but Britney said you were a really good kisser, Santana actually agreed, can I ask how she would know?" All the boys had been listening intently for the countertenors' reply

"She ambushed me in a hallway before, something about a bet" Kurt had dismissed easily "But seriously, I think Fin would be upset if he knew you were kissing someone else, even his gay step-brother"

"I don't think it counts" She had countered "I mean you're practically a girl anyway"

This had drawn many a snicker; even Blaine (who had picked his jaw up off the floor) let a snort. David had thought he'd seen a flash of hurt in the newbies' eyes before he bristled

"Did you really just come her to insult me?!"

"You've never minded being called a girl before, I mean Mr Schue practically had to force onto the boys team whenever did bows versus girls week, and you've come to school in a skirt, dress and heels (yes I count your gaga outfit as a dress) and girls shirts not to mention you've joined the cheerleading team, danced the single ladies dance and sung girls songs; these really aren't things that guys do"

The laughing had gotten louder and louder as Berry had listed off everything and David had vaguely wondered if it counted as bullying. Either way after a few more embarrassing secrets that slipped out of her mouth, Kurt had exploded; he started yelling at her, at some point switching to French. He had sworn at her in the beautiful language (David knew most of them because of his recent trip to Nice but some of the things coming from Kurt's mouth hadn't even been used by the angry French motorist)

David had found the whole thing hilarious and he had a feeling he was about to see a major bitch-fit thrown Blaines' way. He couldn't wait.

"Blaine, sweetie" Kurt said in a sweet- if slightly condescending way- placing a hand on the agitated soloists' shoulder. All motion stopped "I'm going to tell you this because I care; those two ties are exactly the same. Switching them would be a huge waste of time and money; also if this is your idea of shaking things up a bit then something is seriously wrong" the pale boy ignored the way everyone was staring at him, after all he was used to it and knew they weren't really used to someone standing up to Blaine and basically calling him an idiot (as much as he loved him this was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard) "And Wesley, if switching ties is an eccentric change then you really need to get out more. Okay so now that that's sorted let's move on to something important"

Kurt sat down and waited for someone to say something, anything. He was starting to wonder if he had over stepped some sort of line when Blaine spoke

"Did you just call me sweetie?"

"What?!" Kurt asked, completely caught off guard by the question

"You just called him sweetie" Thad grinned

"Kurt and Blaine sitting in a tree…" Sang Ethan

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G" finished Evan, both of them laughing as the countertenor flushed

"Oh Gaga, I'm sorry Blaine, I so did not mean it like that" he apologised though a voice in the back of his head said otherwise "It just slipped out"

"That's okay, I kinda liked it" Blaine admitted before he could stop himself and Kurt's head snapped up so fast that he had to rub the back of his neck.

"What?!"

"I- uh –I" the lead singer floundered as he flushed even brighter than Kurt whose blush was actually dying down.

"He likes it when you call him sweetie" Crooned Nick

"Oh, aren't they adorable?" added Jeff

"Too adorable" Wes muttered "Well it seems that Kurt was right about something, we've wasted all our time on that stupid tie debate, everyone can leave now" e banged his gavel on his desk lazily and left with the others, everyone giving out a teasing remark to Blaine or Kurt as they left.

It wasn't long before the pair was all alone.

"Listen, Kurt about earlier-"

"Don't worry about it, slip of the tongue, right? Kurt smiled as he stood and started walking towards the exit leaving a slightly disappointed warbler in his wake "Later, sweetie" he bade goodbye and Blaine couldn't help the huge smile that came onto his face

"Later, darling" he called back after the countertenors' retreating form, the laugh he got in reply was well worth the teasing he'd get for the rest of the week.

Stuffing the two ties in his pocket, Blaine headed to his dorm with a smile on his face.