And Kurt can see it, every second of it: he accepts and they go out on a few coffee dates. The initial awkwardness is gone before they even realize it was there, because they can talk about everything and nothing, and Blaine makes him laugh without either one of them trying. They meet for coffee and stay kind of late one night, and Blaine asks him if he wants to go for a walk, and he says yes. They walk all over, talking as usual, but there's something different in the air. When Blaine finally walks him back to his car, he leans over and kisses him, really quick and soft and sweet on the cheek. Only when he starts to step back Kurt pulls him in to kiss him on the mouth, just as quick but not so soft, full of electricity and future promises of more. They're both a little breathless and wondering what just happened, blushing and not quite meeting each other's eyes when they say goodnight and part ways.

Then suddenly, it's like everything else Kurt is doing becomes a waiting game between times when he can see Blaine again. He makes himself go to school and study hard, he's a good student and a good friend…but that doesn't stop him from letting his thoughts drift sometimes to what Blaine might be doing or saying or thinking. Every time he gets a text, he jumps for it, thinking it might be Blaine. They don't hide it or sneak around, but they do become really good at finding places to be alone, because Kurt's family and friends are the nosiest people alive, with the biggest mouths.

They date all the way through Kurt's junior year and the summer, into Kurt's senior year, and it's all perfect. It's nothing like fairy tales, rom-coms or romantic tragedies: it's quiet, sweet, comforting. There are no dragons to be slain or obstacles to overcome. They're just happy.

Spring comes on early that year. Kurt takes Blaine for a picnic in the woods behind his house, hidden in the shadows under the trees where no one can see. They laugh and talk and kiss each other dizzy, and neither of them thinks about the end of Kurt's senior year, about the fact that he's going to graduate, but Blaine's a junior with another year of high school left. They squeeze every moment of fun out of the school year and then start on the summer. Maybe they even fall in love, without really meaning to. Then, one day in June or July, Blaine finally asks the inevitable question: what do we do when summer's over?

And Kurt goes silent and can't meet Blaine's eyes, because they both know the answer but neither wants to say it, because Kurt knows what Blaine means to him and what he means to Blaine. He knows how alone they both really were before they found each other, and the last thing he wants to do is be another person that's leaving Blaine all alone.

When summer is over, Kurt will leave…and break Blaine's heart. Maybe he will break his own, too.

So although Kurt is lonely, and Blaine is sweet, and although he feels the need to get away from McKinley for an hour weighing on him so heavily it's practically suffocating him, he declines the lunch invitation, and they go their separate ways.