Author's Note: This story will follow the courtship of Blaine and Kurt, who I think are just too adorable for words. It is also slightly Finchel. I have most of the next chapter written, but I needed to adjust a few things after the last episode. Fortunately, I will have six weeks to progress Kurt/Blaine's relationship as I see fit. Unfortunately, that means there's no Glee to enjoy for a loooong time! This is slightly set-up by the Kurt/Blaine drabbles in my other story, but you don't need to read them to enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor Cyrano de Bergerac.

Chapter 1

Blaine wasn't looking for Kurt, exactly. It was just that he hadn't been at dinner, and he wasn't in his dorm room, so what kind of friend would he be if he didn't check up on the new boy? After all, Kurt hadn't exactly transferred to Dalton for its superior academics—he was escaping a death threat. So it would make perfect sense if he felt a little lost or even scared. And the last thing Blaine wanted was for Kurt to be unhappy here, too.

He pushed open the door to the library and was relieved to see Kurt huddled over a desk in the corner.

"Hey," he said softly. "We missed you at dinner."

Kurt shrugged and looked up from his French book. "I'm way behind in a lot of my classes," he observed mildly. He wasn't being cold, exactly, but Blaine noticed that his face wasn't luminous the way it usually was when they spoke. "I didn't think anyone would notice, honestly." With a small nod, he turned back to his book.

Blaine admitted to himself that he missed feeling the warmth and wonder Kurt usually exerted around him. He wanted to scream 'are we ok?,' but figured it was better to play it a little cool. "I think you can probably take a break, now," he tried instead. "It's only Monday. Come on, I'll walk you back to your room—I snuck you a helping of pumpkin pie from the dessert table. You should eat it."

Kurt knew it was petty to ignore Blaine this way ('the way you did Mercedes the second Blaine hit your radar' his conscience reminded him slyly), but he was still angry with the tenor. After all, he had been invited to sing a solo. A real friend would have given him a heads-up that it was only a "pity" audition.

"Yeah, I guess," he commented as casually as he could. Without actually looking at Blaine, he gathered together his things and stood. "Thanks for the pie," he offered, and then immediately berated himself internally for being gauche.

They walked awkwardly down the hall together. Kurt tried hard not to notice how cute Blaine looked in his "after school" clothes, also known as a pair of khakis and a Gryffindor t-shirt with a blue hoodie. It wasn't high-fashion, but it all fit well and Blaine looked very comfortable.

"Hey, have you heard from your step-brother's girlfriend since Sectionals?" Blaine blurted, trying to bring them back into friendly territory. "She seemed really cool when we saw her."

"She's a self-important diva," Kurt snapped back out of habit, but softened immediately. "But, yeah, she can be pretty awesome at times. She tried to protect me back at McKinley when it got out how bad the bullying had gotten. And she actually was good with my step-brother. It's a shame they broke up."

"Oh, why?"

"According to Mercedes, because Rachel hit Finn right where it hurt. She kissed the guy who got his last girlfriend pregnant."

Blaine whistled under his breath. "This is complicated."

"You have NO idea," Kurt asserted as they reached his single and he opened the door, gesturing Blaine inside. It was tiny, only had a sliver of a window near the top of one wall, and Kurt suspected it might actually have been a utility closet before they moved in the bed and small desk, but the administration hadn't had any other place to put him in the middle of a term, and he actually appreciated the privacy. "The sad part is that Rachel drives me crazy, but she really did make Finn happy. She just didn't think before she acted. Thus the diva part." He rolled his eyes.

Blaine smiled. The Kurt he knew and…liked…was back with a vengeance. He was animatedly gesturing as he explained, and eating the pie that had been sitting on the desk in small, precise bites. "What are you going to do for the rest of the night," he asked, hoping that maybe they could hang out and get back onto friendly footing.

"Mercedes and I are supposed to Skype in a little bit, and then I have to read two chapters of Cyrano de Bergerac for French. IN FRENCH. Why did I want to come here, again?"

Wanting to keep the conversation lighthearted, Blaine offered, "Cute boys and no female distractions?"

"Oh, right." Kurt smiled. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Hanging out with you until you finish that pie, which at the rate you're eating, means I'm going to be here a while." Obediently, Kurt picked up his fork and began to eat again. "Tell me about Cyrano de Bergerac," Blaine asked. "I've heard of it, but I take German, so I'm not really familiar with the story."

"Oh, it's about this guy who's a brilliant poet but has an enormous nose. He's in love with his cousin, Roxanne, but is terrified to tell her. So he helps this handsome guy, Christian, win her instead with love letters…" Kurt trailed off. He had a brilliant idea. "Blaine, I'm going to be Cyrano for Rachel!"

"What?"

"She's been really nice to me lately, and I know Finn really loves her. Heck, it's why I hated her last year. But I know all the things Finn likes, I mean; I was completely obsessed with him. So I should be able to help her get back into his good graces! I am so totally brilliant. I need to call Mercedes."

"Kurt, hang on a second." Blaine shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean when you say you were obsessed with Finn?"

"Oh." Kurt pulled up short. It was a little strange to explain to your current enormous crush that you had a giant crush on your step-brother once upon a time. "Um, you know things were really bad at McKinley. Everybody was horrible to me, even before the death threats. Finn tried to get some of the guys to back off a little, and I was just…so unused to people being nice to me. I translated my gratitude into an enormous and inappropriate crush." He flushed at the memory. "I was pretty aggressive sometimes, but mostly I was just lonely. We've worked it out, but at one point I gave Rachel a truly horrendous makeover. So if you think about it, I owe her this. And I want Finn to be happy. He deserves it after the hell he went through last year."

Blaine nodded slowly and tried not to squirm at the jealousy flaring in his stomach. It wasn't like he didn't understand, after all. He had his own history with Keith that would probably come up at some point if he and Kurt stayed on their current trajectory. Still, Finn was always going to be around, and Blaine didn't want to think about it too deeply. "I could help you?" he offered (a little too eagerly, his internal critic insisted).

"Really," Kurt asked.

"Sure. I write some songs, so I'm good at poetic stuff. But maybe you should run this idea past Mercedes first." Blaine had already apologized to Kurt's bestie about usurping her position for a while, but he didn't want to get in-between the friends again.

"That's a good idea," Kurt nodded. "I hate to kick you out, but she'll be signing on soon—it's almost 8."

Blaine didn't really want to leave, but he knew that the friends needed alone time, so he immediately vacated the edge of the bed he'd perched on. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kurt. Guess I'll go see what's on in the TV lounge."

"Done with your homework already," Kurt murmured jealously.

"Yup." Blaine limited himself to a friendly pat on Kurt's shoulder and tried not to fantasize about kissing his cheek. With a small sigh, he left to find David and Wes.