"I'm an artist, Blaine," Blaine looked up as Rachel entered the kitchen, a disgruntled look on her face. "You can't expect me to sacrifice an evening of vocal runs and rehearsals just so you can have the house to yourself."
"We've been over this," Blaine said as calmly as he could, placing the dish in the oven before turning to face her. "I promised that I would give you the house to yourself next weekend if you set me up with Kurt. You did tell him about tonight, right?" he asked in a sudden panic. "Rachel, please tell me that you told him." She sighed as Blaine grabbed her by the shoulders, "Rachel?"
"I told him. And as per your request, he currently thinks he's coming over to hang out with me, so if he gets mad at me about it, I'm lying and pretending that my car broke down and my cell phone died and everything was your fault."
"Do you really think he'll be mad?" Blaine asked, feeling as though a knot had just been tied in his stomach. "Maybe I shouldn't have done this. He probably wants some older guy, not his best friends little brother. He deserves someone who can take him out to nice places and knows more about the world, and I can't help him with his homework or anythi-"
"Blaine, shut up. It'll be fine. Kurt likes you. I wouldn't have agreed to this plan if I wasn't 95% certain that he does in fact have a crush on you."
"You don't know for sure?!" Blaine exclaimed, full out panicking now. "What if he doesn't and I can't ever be in the same house as him ever again because of sheer embarrassment? Why did you let me do this? You're my older sister! You're supposed to protect me from my own dumb ideas!"
Blaine glared at Rachel when she started laughing. "I'm sorry Blainey, it's just you get super rambly when you're nervous and it's really adorable."
"You are so not helping right now. You know what, I'll just leave the house and you can just go on like the plan really was just for the two of you to hang out," Blaine suggested hopefully.
"Oh no, no, no, no. You are going through with this. I have people to see!" she declared, waltzing towards the door.
"But just ten minutes ago you were annoyed that I was doing this!" Blaine said, scrambling after her.
"I was just giving you a hard time. Bye now!" Blaine watched as she opened the door and walked straight into Kurt who looked as though he had just reached out to knock on the door.
"Oh hey Rachel," Kurt said, steadying himself by reaching out and grabbing her arms. "Where are you going?" he asked, brow furrowing in confusion.
"I'm going out, you're staying, bye," she said, waggling her fingers at Blaine before stepping around Kurt and jogging to her car before he could say anything else.
"Umm," Kurt looked at Blaine as Rachel pulled out of the driveway and Blaine tried to disappear into the floor. "What was that all about?"
"I-" The timer went off in the kitchen, signaling that the chicken he was making needed to be checked on. "I have to go check on that," Blaine said, gesturing vaguely behind him. "Want to come in?"
"Sure," Kurt replied, stepping inside uncertainly before pulling off his boots. "What are you making?" he asked, following Blaine to the kitchen.
"Chicken Parmesan." He opened the oven, peering inside before setting the oven for an additional five minutes.
"Oo, really? That's one of my favorites."
"I know," Blaine said under his breath before turning to face Kurt. "Want to stay for dinner?"
"I- Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing?" Kurt asked, looking nervous but still taking a step further into the kitchen. "You were probably planning on having the house to yourself, what with Rachel apparently having other plans. You don't have to feel obligated to entertain me."
"No, no, it's fine. I, um, well it's actually kind of my fault," Blaine said, not quite meeting Kurt's eyes as he blushed.
"…What's that supposed to mean?" Kurt tilted his head to the side curiously as he leaned against the counter next to Blaine.
"Well I, uh, I may have asked Rachel if I could… hang out with you tonight while she wasn't here." Blaine resolutely did not look at Kurt while waiting for a response, after a few moments however it was clear that he wasn't going to get one. "I kind of, um, I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I obviously wasn't, you probably just wanted to hangout with Rachel," he said, finally risking a glance at Kurt's face. "I can just call her back if you want," he said defeatedly, not sure how to interpret the look on Kurt's face.
"No…" Kurt responded slowly. "That's okay, we can hang out, I mean, you did make my favorite dinner," he teased, tilting his head so that Blaine was forced to meet his eyes.
"I, ah, may have also bought some cheesecake."
"Why Blaine Anderson-Berry, you sure do know how to convince a guy to stay."
Blaine grinned nervously, relaxing at Kurt's teasing tone. "Alright then, you go sit at the table and I'll just make sure the food's ready," he spun to check on the chicken once more, pulling it out of the oven before heading to the refrigerator to pull out lettuce, cheese, and some shredded carrots for their salad.
"Here," Kurt said, coming up next to him. "I'll rip up the lettuce if you want to put the food on the table and finish with the place settings."
"Oh, okay, sure," Blaine said, stomach fluttering when Kurt puts a hand on his arm for a moment as he shifts around him.
They finished their respective tasks quickly and sat down at the table simultaneously.
"So-" Kurt started, before cutting himself off as Blaine suddenly lunged halfway across the table, moving the salad dressing.
"Sorry," Blaine said, blushing lightly. "What were you saying? I had to-" he rubbed a hand over his face before sheepishly muttering, "The salad dressing doesn't belong next to the chicken, I was going to be worried about it heating up too much. Sorry. I'm weird."
To Blaine's surprise, Kurt started laughing. Looking up, he smiled back at him, seeing that there was no malicious intent. "I should have known you'd have a quirk or two, you are Rachel's brother after all."
"Oh god, don't get me wrong, I love my sister, but sometimes she makes me wonder…" he shook his head. "Anyways, food?"
"Yes, please, let's eat."