A/N: Just to explain the way teen driving in this fic is going to work. I am basing it off of my own experiences in New York. I know that's inaccurate, but that's what I'm most comfortable writing about and what I think works best for our boys. Basically, Blaine is 16 and 1/4 and has his learner's permit (meaning he can drive with another licensed driver in the car with him.) Kurt is 16 and 3/4 and has his junior license (meaning he can drive by himself with some restrictions- basically a 9 PM curfew and only one other person under 18 in the car with him at a time.) For driver's ed, they have sixteen classes that are an hour and a half each. They also have an hour and a half lecture class, which I will get to later.
Kurt shut his locker and sighed. It was a Friday afternoon. Usually, Friday afternoons meant Glee club and then a date back at his house with one of his favorite musicals. Yes, it was a little cliché, and more than a little antisocial, but Kurt always felt that he needed the peace and quiet, especially when Regionals were approaching and he was starting to wonder if Rachel Berry had finally cracked.
Unfortunately for him, though, New Directions' latest number and West Side Story would have to wait. Kurt was starting driver's ed and it was just his luck that he would get stuck with the Friday afternoon class and have to start his weekend in a cramped old car with people he would most likely hate for a full hour and a half. And if all that weren't enough, Kurt had already passed his road test, so he wouldn't be learning anything that he didn't already know. His dad was forcing him to take the class because it lowered the insurance on the Navigator. Or at least, that's what Burt had told him. Kurt had more than a sneaking suspicion that it was so he could get his senior license earlier and take from Burt the thankless job of shuttling Finn, who was unsurprisingly not the world's best driver, and his friends where they wanted to go.
By the time Kurt finished thinking about how much he did not want to go to driver's ed, he had reached the spot where the driving program manager had said the car would pick them up. Kurt was the first one there, which made him more than a little nervous. What if I'm the only one? Or worse, what if it's just me and another person? Oh god, I hope the other person is a friend. Imagine if they're a Cheerio? Or even worse, a football player? Shit shit shit, what if it's- Kurt shuddered before he even went there, that was an idea he would not even consider, he refused to let the fear and the pain pull him under when his mind was simply imagining the worst possible scenarios like it always did. Kurt's thoughts were thankfully interrupted by a voice he recognized in his ear.
"Wow, Hummel, the way you're lounging by the side of the road with those jeans, are you sure you don't hustle in your spare time?"
"Santana!" Kurt hissed reprimandingly. "Now is not the time or the place."
"Relax, Buttercup, it was just a joke. You're much too classy for hustling. No, you would have an escort service, a pimp, a wealthy married businessman, the whole nine yards."
Kurt opened and closed his mouth a few times but ending up just shaking his head. He was still getting used to this Santana and hadn't yet figured out how to respond to what came out of her mouth. If someone had told him a year ago that they would be friends, he would have laughed in their faces. But here they were, even though Kurt wasn't sure if "friend" was the best way to describe their relationship. Santana was unbelievably crude and horribly offensive to him and said some things that made his cheeks burn and had once caused him to spit out his coffee all over one of Rachel's god-awful animal sweaters (which honestly wasn't too terrible of a loss). But at the end of the day, she was still there for him and for all of the Glee kids and he knew that it was only when someone came after them or one of her other friends that the real claws came out. Kurt was about to ask her if she was in his driver's ed car- because really, why else would she be there- when he heard some footsteps approaching and a voice called out from behind him that he had never heard before in his life.
"This is where we meet for driver's ed, right? The 2:45 class? With Mrs…um, one second, I forgot the name, um-" Kurt heard the kid, whoever he was, rifle through some papers- "oh yeah, with Mrs. O'Brien?"
"Yes, it is," Kurt answered before he turned around to catch a glimpse of the person. Just my luck, he thought, a stranger. If it was just me and Santana, it wouldn't be too awkward. But no, this kid has to come along and force me to get used to 16 classes' worth of uncomfortable silenc- Oh. Well then.
Kurt blinked quickly and looked the boy over a little more closely. He had thick curly hair, which looked like he had tried to gel it back but hadn't really succeeded, leaving pieces sticking up in the back that Kurt had the strange overwhelming urge to smooth down. And he had some of the most incredible eyes Kurt had ever seen, green mixed with yellow mixed with flecks of brown. To top it all off, the fashionista in Kurt noted with satisfaction, he was wearing a black bowtie with red stripes that went extremely well with his red skinny jeans. Which, the gay boy in Kurt noted with satisfaction, fit him rather nicely. Suddenly, the boy's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Excuse me, um, is everything OK?" Kurt could see some confusion in his eyes- god, those eyes- and his nose was scrunched up with concern. Kurt realized he had just been caught flat-out staring and blushed profusely.
"Yeah, everything's… yeah, everything's fine," he stammered. "Um, I was just… uh, I was just wondering if you go to McKinley… because I'm pretty sure, yeah, I don't think... I've ever… seen you around before…?" Kurt trailed off lamely.
The boy grinned and Kurt wouldn't have been surprised if the squirrel climbing up the tree nearby had soared into the air and started singing Enchanted-style because of how bright this kid's smile was. He shook his head. "Oh, no. I go to Dalton Academy up in Westerville. I board there during the week but my mom misses me too much to let me stay there full-time. Or at least that's what she says. I think it has more to do with the fact that I help her with the chores," he added conspiratorially. "Anyway, I come down to Lima and stay with her for the weekends. And they don't offer driver's ed at Dalton so I decided to take it while I'm here." The boy shrugged with a smile- seriously, Kurt thought, I need to find out what this kid is so happy about all the time- before clapping his hand to his forehead. "Damn, I forgot to introduce myself, sorry. I'm Blaine Anderson." He extended his hand with yet another smile, really?
Kurt stood there dumbfounded before mentally kicking himself and reaching his hand out to shake the other boy's. "Kurt. Kurt Hummel." He tried to keep his voice calm, confident, collected, even though he at the moment was anything but because hello, it was not every day you met a gorgeous boy who seemed to be gay- please please PLEASE be gay, Kurt prayed- in Lima, Ohio.
Santana, whom Kurt had honestly forgotten was there thanks to wonder boy- Blaine, he corrected himself mentally- looked back and forth between Kurt and Blaine, and laughed. "Well, well, well... isn't this going to be a fun couple of months."