Author's Note: I need a lot of practice writing romance, and, well, I really love oblivious Blaine now, so here's a tiny fic. (If anyone is interested, I have a sort-of sequel to Queen in the works but it's a lot longer so it requires more care.) Written after Silly Love Songs.


Accidents

Kurt actually relished the moments when Blaine wasn't paying attention to him.

It's not that he didn't love the stupid fluttery feeling he got when Blaine had looked directly into his eyes and said I love you several times last week (although the dramacoaster that surrounded Valentine's Day had made those unintentional moments difficult to recall without a sharp pain in his chest). But when Blaine wasn't looking at Kurt, Kurt could freely look at him and not be obligated to explain himself.

And that was what he was doing right now as they sat together on a couch in the study hall. Blaine was studying the screen of his iPhone, watching a movie with his earbuds in, completely engrossed. And Kurt was studying Blaine: the length of his dark eyelashes, the shadow of his facial hair that was trying to grow back in the late afternoon, the way his hair was curling slightly in the front. Their history and French textbooks lay open and forgotten on the coffee table in front of them. Kurt felt slightly guilty about that. If only there was a class in male anatomy...

It took a couple minutes before Blaine's eyes slid over to him. Caught, Kurt's mind scrambled to find an excuse but his tongue was tied. Blaine took out one of his earbuds and a smile spread across his face.

"Sorry," Blaine said. He put the free earbud into Kurt's ear and wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulders, pulling him in and holding his iPhone up high. "Now you can watch too!"

A blush was already rising in Kurt's cheeks, but seeing Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal on that tiny screen compelled him to finally speak. "Blaine... why are you watching When Harry Met Sally?"

"I'm not sure I ever saw it the whole way through," he replied calmly, tapping the screen to pause the movie. "Since you mentioned it last week it's been bothering me, so I thought I better refresh my memory."

With a deep breath, Kurt steadied himself, then plucked the iPhone from Blaine's hands and put it down. "Okay. We need to talk." He took another moment to gather the right words while Blaine looked at him expectantly. "I'm totally okay with being friends with you, but what we're doing right now... this is giving me the wrong idea again. And I promise I'm really trying hard not to read into things, but you're making it more difficult."

Fear, or worry, settled in Blaine's eyes. His gaze shifted to the arm he had slung over Kurt's shoulders, then the inch wide gap between them on the couch. "Oh no. I'm still doing it." He slowly pulled away, tugging his earbud back from Kurt's ear delicately, and then ducked his head in misery. "Sorry, Kurt, that was an accident. It's like, every day I think that I'm going to be better at knowing what's love and what's friendship... I've been researching, you know. I watch a romantic comedy every night before I go to bed. But I'm still messing up..."

Kurt's heart ached for him. "The problem isn't that you aren't trying, it's just that you can't tell when you're doing it unintentionally?"

Blaine nodded, but still wouldn't make eye contact with Kurt.

"Okay, so how about this. When you do something with me that I think is romantic, I'll tell you it's an accident. And then you can know, and eventually you'll get better. That's easy, right?" And it will help me out too, Kurt thought. This platonic thing didn't exactly come naturally to him.

Blaine's mouth twisted in an adorable way. Then he leaned back against the couch and smiled at Kurt once more. "Yeah. That sounds great. Thanks."

Then he reached out and rubbed Kurt's thigh.

"Blaine? Accident."

"Already?" Blaine cringed. "This is going to take awhile..."


Kurt really didn't like horror movies, but Blaine liked them even less. So he couldn't help himself from recommending they have a movie night at his place in the hopes that he could hear Blaine shriek like a little girl.

This backfired.

"How scary can it be?" he told Blaine as he popped Paranormal Activity into the DVD player. "It's just about a couple who can't sleep at night."

Blaine's eyebrows were engaged in a most impressive worried furrow. "S-sure! That doesn't sound scary! I'm not scared at all!"

An hour and a half later, all the lights in the house were turned on, the doors were all open, and they were clutching each other tightly as the credits rolled.

"Why did you do this to me," Blaine whined as Kurt rocked him back and forth.

"Let's never watch an indie movie again," Kurt told him, shell shocked. "We need the Princess Bride and ice cream. And we need them right now."

By the time Buttercup and Westley were rolling down a cliff together, they had settled down emotionally, relaxing on the couch.

"This is so much better," Blaine murmured. Their shoulders were touching, which felt really nice for some reason. Friends touched shoulders, right?

Kurt nodded. He was having trouble focusing on the movie; dessert always made him sleepy. Before he could help himself, his eyes were slowly closing... he felt his body sliding into a more comfortable position...

Sometime later, the sound of swords clashing woke Kurt suddenly. At first he felt disoriented, but that quickly morphed into mortification as he realized the comfortable pillow against his left cheek was Blaine's right thigh. Not only that, but a hand was caressing his hair in slow, rhythmic strokes. His heart almost stopped as he realized it had to be Blaine's hand.

Kurt gently extracted himself from Blaine's lap and faced him. Blaine was still watching the movie, but he caught the hint once Kurt removed his hand from Kurt's hair.

"Blaine," Kurt said sternly, "Accident."

His face visible fell. "Sorry, Kurt. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kurt told him. It felt really nice, he wanted to say, but that wasn't going to help things. They watched the rest of the movie from opposite ends of the couch.


"Now, this isn't my first choice, but I'm trying to wean you upward gradually," Kurt explained as he led Blaine into the EXPRESS.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I can't even look at the Gap without dry heaving," Blaine said miserably.

"Hold your arms out," Kurt demanded, then weaved them through the aisles, tossing pants and shirts into Blaine's grasp. "That should be a decent first pass. Let's get you a dressing room."

He was practicing his runway walk in the three-way mirror when Blaine called out. Kurt pulled the curtain aside to see him dressed quite neatly in pinstripe pants and a crisp purple button-down. "Is it what you expected?" Blaine said, concerned, as he fiddled with his cuff buttons.

"It's really nice," Kurt said. Really really nice, actually. "You could maybe go a size smaller with the pants, but it's a good fit."

"You're the expert," Blaine said with a smile. Then he casually unzipped his pants and slid them down. Frozen in the entrance, at first all Kurt could do was grip the wall tightly as he watched Blaine kick his pants off and start unbuttoning his shirt. He could see a thin trail of chest hair that probably shouldn't have been attractive but was enough to keep him silent. Blaine ignored him, humming to himself and checking out his own half-naked chest.

"I really need to work out, don't I?" Blaine said with a note of pain. He slid the shirt off his shoulders and turned his body in front of the mirror. Kurt registered that Blaine's boxers were Dalton colors in argyle. This final detail convinced him to tear his eyes away from the curve of Blaine's behind.

"This is an accident, Blaine!" he hissed and then tossed the curtain closed and stormed into a corner to cool himself down.

"I'm sorry, Kurt!" Blaine wailed from behind him. "Forgive meeeeee!"


The crowd roared as the last note ended. Kurt wanted to scream or cry or jump for joy, but he just bowed politely, then followed the rest of the Warblers off-stage with perfect posture. His first solo in a glee competition, and he had aced it completely.

Once they were safely behind the curtains, all the boys let their image go and rejoiced.

"It was PERFECT-"

"Warblers rule! We RULE!"

"Kurt, you were amazing!"

"GO KURT! GO US-"

Kurt's hands were stinging from high-fiving too many times. He was listening to David sass him about his stage face when suddenly his feet left the ground. Rough hands had lifted him up and now he and his mystery attacker were spinning through the group.

Of course, he wasn't surprised when he turned himself in the boy's grasp to see Blaine's grinning smile and sparkling eyes.

"You're a star, Kurt!" Blaine gushed, and Kurt couldn't stop smiling himself. They would still have to wait until Vocal Adrenaline finished their performance, but win or lose, Kurt was proud of what they had done tonight.

Slowly, Kurt's feet slid back to the floor and Blaine's hands made their way up his back to ease the descent. But he didn't let go when Kurt finally touched the ground. The height difference between them seemed more apparent at this distance; Blaine's eyes were level with Kurt's mouth.

"You can let go of me now," Kurt said. It wasn't what he wanted to say.

Blaine pressed in on Kurt's upper back and their lips met. He kissed Kurt slowly, deliberately. Kurt used all his willpower to stifle a moan but he couldn't help himself from kissing back, angling his mouth more every time and relishing the tender numbness in his mouth at each contact.

Then Blaine groaned, just a little bit, and Kurt was able to regain control of himself and pull away.

"Accident," he breathed, annoyed at his own panting.

Blaine looked deep into his eyes, then reached into his hair and pulled him back down, kissing him even more forcefully, in an erratic rhythm. When Kurt yelped a little, Blaine's lips left his and began to cover his cheeks, his nose, even his eyelids.

"I said, accident, Blaine," Kurt repeated weakly. Betraying him, his own hands slid to Blaine's waist and began to pull the rest of his body closer.

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Blaine said between kisses, "I couldn't hear you over how good this feels."

Kurt pressed his forehead into Blaine's. The world seemed like it was spinning, even though they weren't. He was dimly aware that their gossip hungry Warbler friends were cheering on this new private performance. One of Blaine's hands cupped his cheek tenderly, his thumb rubbing the skin so lightly it could barely be felt.

"I guess this means you don't want to be friends anymore?" Kurt managed to get out.

"I guess it does," Blaine said. Even he looked surprised. "I warn you, I still suck at romance. But it appears I suck even worse at friendship."

"Duly noted," Kurt reassured him. He checked his watch. "We still have five minutes before we have to be back on stage. If you want to keep practicing your romance skills."

"Wes? We'll be in the green room."

"We're busting in on you EXACTLY thirty seconds before showtime," Wes warned. Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and they hurried into the back room to further their relationship. Intentionally, this time.