OK, so this is the first Klaine fic I've ever written. Not that I haven't been tempted before or had ideas but following through is a bitch for me because I put so much into my writing that it's usually really hard to come up for air. So, it's even weirder that such a seemingly mundane situation as the supposed phone call after 4x09 was burning under my skin and wouldn't let go until I'd written it down.

It's probably not the only fic around dealing with the aftermath of Kurt's acceptance letter but it's my little contribution to that. So, I hope you enjoy.

"I got it all wrong," Blaine heard as he pressed his phone against his ear groggily and sat up on the bed so he would not fall asleep again.

"Kurt?" he swallowed in trepidation. "What?"

Back in New York, Kurt came to a halt; his jumbled mind had been drifting in an out of a realization for the past hour and brought him to a fairly lucid conclusion which immediately made him press the green button next to the most familiar face. Now, however, putting it into actual words was another matter he had not considered before. "Well, NYADA," Kurt said uncertainly. "No, my audition." Nope, that wasn't it either. "What Carmen Tibideaux wanted." That was closer. "What I was supposed to do, to show."

"OK," Blaine replied uncertainly but very much intrigued by the all too familiar and infectious exhilaration in Kurt's voice.

"No, but it's bigger than that," Kurt exclaimed. "I completely misunderstood what it was all about. – And that is huge. I wasn't about costumes, or candles, or props. It's about exposing myself, about showing something true, something raw, my heart," he took a satisfied breath. "I can do that. I totally can. And I have done that. But even with "The Boy Next Door" I focused too much on everything that was outside and not so much what was inside me. And that's what she wanted to see."

Blaine got it. Without seeing the other boy's face, he understood his chaotic explanation as he heard Kurt mutter under his breath, "They should tell you that beforehand. Or let you audition with two songs…"

But Kurt tore himself out if these musings. "This is huge," he exclaimed again because it was obvious, and Blaine could virtually see one of his favourite grins split the other boy's face. "Have you ever experienced a moment where you had a life-altering realization? Something that changed everything and also nothing because it's something you've known all along? Something that was inside you but you just weren't aware of it?"

Blaine's eyes misted over but he forced himself to reply a steady and plain, "Yes," remembering a realization like that only a few weeks before. But he suppressed the memory: Best friend. Life-changing realization. And he called me! "So, what brought this on?" he asked conversationally, hoping that the suspicion that slowly dawned on him was correct. Kurt had texted him about Carmen's ludicrous invitation and the following success of "Being Alive." But apart from that, they had not been in contact since after their loss at sectionals.

Blaine could faintly hear the creak of the bed as Kurt bounced giddily and tore himself out of his reflective mood. "I got in," he grinned. "Blaine! I got into NYADA. I'm starting in January. At NYADA!"

Relief flooded through Blaine. Without realizing just to what extent, he had wanted this for the love of his life as much as the other boy had. The fact that Kurt's happiness had been and still was beyond his control was excruciating. He fell back on the bed and pressed the phone to his ear, as he looked up at the ceiling. "Kurt, I'm so happy for you," he said with as much emotion as he would have uttered the three words that actually wanted to spill out. "I'm so proud of you."

Kurt knew immediately what Blaine wanted to say and although it still stung a little, the love he felt for the other boy overwrote the hurt; if he had been allowed to tell only one person in the world, it would still be Blaine – after everything. "Thanks," he smiled back. Before this could become awkward and cloud his mood, Kurt decided to change the path of the conversation cheerfully. "So, what's new in Ohio? Did you find a loophole to compete at regionals after all?"

"Nope, glee club is finished," Blaine said and Kurt gasped. "Wait, I'll tell you. It's just, a lot has happened," he assuaged. "Let's see."

"Sue Sylvester took over the choir room for the Cheerios because our competition season is over and Figgins 'needs the money.' So, basically we had no room to practice. Well, we still don't. We did it outside today, in the quad and it was snowing. Let me tell you, we won't be able to do that for long. The cold air is killer for your lungs."

"Finn's idea?" Kurt chuckled.

"Well, Marley's, but your brother could not exactly come up with something better." Deciding he might get another smile out of Kurt, Blaine add quickly, "And I joined the Cheerios."

"Erm, what?" Blaine and Cheerios together jumbled his mind again but in a completely different way than before.

"Well," Blaine said a little ashamed. "Glee was over, so Tina and I decided to join the Cheerios. The idea seems more and more absurd, now. Sue is not exactly easy to live with even if you don't have to interact with her officially."

Kurt grinned, remembering his own brief stunt with the cheerleading team. "You did not really think that the Cheerios are a good substitute for glee, right?"

"No, but at least I get to dance."

"Oh, believe me, I remember, and I would give quite a lot to see you in that uniform," Kurt said good-humoredly, only realizing afterward that they probably weren't at the point, yet, where either of them were ready for innuendo. He decided to gloss over this quickly although he dreaded this answer. "And you're not thinking about going back to Dalton and the Warblers?" "There are a lot of reasons to do it. You could compete at regionals and probably nationals. And graduating there would definitely look better on your college applications. And you've at least reached a truce with them, right?"

"I was tempted a couple of weeks ago," Blaine admitted slowly trying to navigate all the minefields of the conversation. He realized that Kurt probably wouldn't begrudge him if he had gone back to Dalton. He would have been disappointed but they had both grown enough to understand the reasons. "But I realized that McKinley has actually become my home. I might miss the Warblers sometimes, but I really wouldn't feel good with them anymore. They've changed, but I have, too, and I want to follow through with this. My college applications will be fine. The SATs and the essays are the same here as at Dalton." He finished slowly and decided to make sure that what he'd been looking forward to still stood, now that their conversation probably drifted to a close. "If you want, I can tell you about that when we meet over Christmas. Are we still on for ice-skating?" he asked hopefully.

"Yep," Kurt smiled back slowly. "I haven't bought the ticket, yet, but we'll figure that out, OK?"

"Thanks, Kurt," Blaine said feeling lighter again. "And thank you for telling me. I'm so glad you made it. That's so great. I'm really proud of you. More than I can say."

"Thank you," Kurt replied, fighting the temptation to continue the conversation beyond its natural lifespan. Stay strong! "I'm going to wake up Rachel now," he decided quickly. "She does that often enough. Now it's my turn. I'll see you soon, OK?"

"Yes. Bye, Kurt," Blaine whispered and cut the line before he let more slip than Kurt was comfortable with at the moment. But both boys couldn't resist whispering the words they had said to each other so often before into the empty rooms on either end of the invisible cord.

And now I'm even prouder of myself, first because I actually finished this, but also because I resisted the strong temptation to "fix" Klaine and did only what I originally intended: write the scene that I could kinda see play itself out without disturbing anything that might happen in 4x10.

I love these paradigm-shifting things and I think that especially Kurt's character is ideal for that especially because he has already grown so much.

Since I'm not a native speaker, please let me know if anything sounds odd or off. Thanks for reading. Drop me a line if you're in the mood ;)