Title: Just Listen (2/?)
Author: foreternityblue
Pairing: Blaine/Kurt
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Word Count: 4, 000
Summary:
Blaine Anderson was McKinley High School's social enigma from the moment he stepped through into the hallways his freshman year. Everyone loved and adored him and he was energetic and loud-until an incident in the middle of sophomore year that absolutely no one could figure out. Kurt Hummel was the bullied gay kid who always had a secret interest in the mystery that was Blaine Anderson. When they get partnered for a long project, maybe, just maybe, Kurt will be able to solve the mystery of what happened to Blaine personally in their sophomore year. Klaine AU
Author's Note: And here we go, chapter two of this story. I'm actually not going exactly by my original outline... but who follows those completely anyways? ... Well, I don't. What I do (am) doing, though, is seriously appreciating all of the nice comments I've gotten on the first chapter of this story! Seriously, I love you all Don't be afraid to give me some criticism, whether it be about my writing style or the characters.

Well, Kurt discovered that some of the rumors about Blaine were true. Actually, really, only one of them (technically two, but the second was no surprise since it was just that Blaine listened to music all the time, which proved to be correct when the room once went eerily silent and Kurt actually listened really hard to hear the telltale sound of music filter through the air, just barely there) was proved correct in the small amount of time that he spent with the former-popular kid.

Blaine never talked. Not even a single word. He never said hello or good-bye. He just worked on his portion of the project, only looking at Kurt sometimes when Kurt was looking at Blaine himself. It was so extremely… awkward and weird. Kind of sad, too, actually, since every other pair in the room was almost constantly talking about everything and anything that went on in the school.

It was the same thing every day when he walked into English class. Blaine would already be sitting at his desk, working on or reading something, and Kurt would walk over and take the vacant seat next to him, putting down his books and taking out a pencil. Kurt situated himself perfectly at his desk, taking out whatever he had been working on the previous class, before turning to the teenager who was writing in his notebook (or on a sheet of paper or staring at a book) and listening to music.

"Hello," Kurt would greet him as cheerfully as possible, which was odd for him since Kurt wasn't exactly a cheerful person. Not as cheerful as he feigned to be when greeting Blaine.

Blaine didn't look at him. He didn't even seem to notice Kurt's actual existence. Sometimes he swallowed thickly, his Adam's apple bobbing and his neck flexing a little, but Kurt didn't know if that was him notifying Kurt that Blaine was aware of his presence, or if it was just random swallowing.

Probably random swallowing.

Kurt's smile fell from his face every time and he always sighed, irritated, before turning back to his own papers and picking up his pencil (or pen) and continuing to take notes on their topic—Shakespeare. They had to analyze five Shakespearean plays as much as humanly possible (which was a lot. It was Shakespeare for crying out loud), write a synopsis of each of those plays, analyze all of the plot-important characters (Kurt sometimes wondered why the guy even wrote so much), and then they had to write a three-page biography of Shakespeare himself.

Basically, it was hell in project form. No it didn't matter that Kurt absolutely adored Romeo and Juliet and several other Shakespearean plays simply because of his natural aptitude for romantic things. It was still hell.

Really, it was just made even worse because Kurt's partner wouldn't talk to him for some reason. Normally, Kurt wouldn't mind someone not talking to him, but this was Blaine Anderson. Kurt wanted basically nothing more than to at least get the dark haired teen to say a single word to him (maybe a new pair of boots, but that was totally against the point). That would be amazing in and of itself.

Seriously. It would be.

Kurt almost resorted to asking Santana for a little bit of help by Wednesday because she was Blaine's best friend. Blaine had to talk to her at some point, especially since Santana always made sure to make people stop gossiping about Blaine whenever a stray word would be said about him for no particular reason… Then he remembered that Santana would probably put him on her death list for that. That was somewhere where he really didn't want to be.

That was somewhere no one wanted to be unless they really, really wanted to die.

So, instead of going to the former Cheerio for help, on Friday, after skillfully dodging a few meatheads, when he walked into his classroom he marched straight over to the table he shared with Blaine, and slammed his books down hard enough to alert just about everyone in that room.

No, honestly, everyone turned and stared. A few yelled at him. There might have been a smart ass who shouted, "Lover's quarrel!" only to be hit over the head by a book… or at least it sounded that way.

Blaine himself looked up from the book that he was reading (probably "Romeo and Juliet", actually), a confused expression in his clear hazel eyes, which was weird because, hey, there was an expression in his usually carefully guarded eyes, as Kurt just stared at him for a few moments.

He honestly couldn't help but feel a little shocked that he got something about of Blaine, even if it was mainly due to being a borderline violent.

Maybe Kurt should find another way to get Blaine's attention…

Oh well. He got it. And—

Whoa, wait. Kurt could have sworn that he just saw Blaine's hand wander towards his jacket pocket where his headphone chord was connected to (probably) his iPod. Was Blaine turning down his music to listen to Kurt?

The surprises just wouldn't stop, would they?

Then again, he couldn't be too sure. Blaine might be turning it up for all Kurt knew.

"We're never going to get this project done if we just work on it in class," Kurt began, after getting over his initial shock, quietly when people stopped staring at the pair, not wanting everyone else in the room to hear this probably one-sided conversation. Blaine nodded slowly, still staring at him, as if agreeing with the (true) statement, "I propose that you come over to my house this weekend and for the following weekends until we get this monstrosity done."

Blaine stared at Kurt for a few more moments, blinking several times, his eyes slowly reverting back to their blanker state, before wordlessly turning around his notebook and pushing it towards Kurt, who was standing in front of the table, leaning against it with both hands braced widely in front of him.

Kurt glanced at the book of lined paper confusedly, before looking back at Blaine, "… What are you trying to tell me?" Honestly, Kurt had no idea. That was another problem. Then Blaine did attempt to communicate with him (which only happened once, maybe twice before that moment) it never worked and they both just kind of gave up before really trying.

The dark haired teen blinked again and bit his bottom lip gently, gesturing with his hand for Kurt to lean towards him, and Kurt did. Blaine leaned forwards as well, his lips right next to Kurt's ear, and his mouth opened and he inhaled deeply, as if getting ready to speak, and Kurt almost stopped breathing because Blaine was seriously about to talk to him for once—

Until Blaine was suddenly leaning away, shaking his head to himself for some reason, grabbing his notebook and turning it towards himself, picking up his pencil and staring to write, having a weird look in his eyes that reflected… Kurt couldn't really put a name on what Blaine was probably feeling at that moment. It was too vague of an emotion, masked by some measured amount of indifference.

It was like Blaine practiced looking like that. Like he practiced looking guarded, reserved, alone.

Maybe he did…

What a depressing thought.

There was one small flaw in his mask of indifference, though. A light tinge of red ran high on his cheekbones, which made Kurt squint slightly and lean forwards just a bit because he couldn't help but wonder why Blaine was blushing. Or, at least it looked like he was blushing.

Maybe it was the dodgy lighting the in classroom…

Kurt decided that was probably the best explanation he had… despite the fact that Mrs. Coleman had lamps situated everywhere in the room and they were all on and shinning ridiculously brightly.

Blaine suddenly turned the lined paper back to Kurt just as he leaned forwards, though, causing Kurt to snap back upright immediately and hope that Blaine didn't see him leaning over so awkwardly. The paper held a simple, neatly written note that Kurt had to lean back over to read:

Address? And Number? I'll need both if we're going to work this weekend.

Kurt stared at the message as Blaine turned the book back to him… and he nodded slowly, reaching out for his own pencil bag and retrieving a pencil, leaning over the desk and scribbling down his address below the short message that Blaine wrote for him, passing it back to his partner wordlessly, watching the tamed curly head of hair, his head tilting to the side slightly.

Blaine stared at it for a few moments, as if trying to commit it to memory even though it was written down, before looking back up at Kurt, nodding a little bit and—did he just kind of smile? At Kurt?

Kurt probably looked shocked for a few moments, before nodding back and smiling a little himself, not able to help himself because—holy hell Blaine looked really, really good when he smiled. Better than Kurt actually remembered, honestly…

The taller brunet had to bite his lip a little harder to keep from telling Blaine that he looked so much better when he let some amount of emotion work its way into his face. It was meant to be a compliment, but Kurt wasn't particularly sure how Blaine would take it, since it could be taken in a bad way…

That was another probably true rumor: Blaine basically never smiled in school anymore, which was honestly just bizarre because the guy used to grin all the time no matter what, unless he got genuinely bad new that was frown-worthy.

The small smile he just gave Kurt, though… that was different from the easy grins, as far as Kurt could tell. It was tiny, yes, but Blaine's eyes almost melted and seemed warm and so different from how blank they normally were.

Kurt's breathing might have even stuttered slightly because of this.

He took his seat before he could acknowledge the weird hiccup in his breathing completely, though, and was taking out his own book to read, annotate, and analyze, simply to make sure he didn't do anything else stupid.

Not like Blaine himself would have noticed either way. His nose was basically once against pressed into his book—which was "Romeo and Juliet".

It might have just been his imagination, but Kurt could have sworn that Blaine looked a little more relaxed than he usually did, his shoulders mainly appearing lower and less stiff, which was just another odd thing about the guy. Even when he was the center of attention, he had this weird posture that never seemed to be broken, as if he were afraid to slouch a little bit.

That probably went along with the fact that Blaine's family was kind of really rich, though.

Why he was going to a public high school, no one knew. Yet another Blaine Anderson mystery.

… Yeah, the relaxation was probably just his imagination. Just like that kind of faint sort of there smile.

Yup.

When Kurt got home that night, he said hello to Carole, his step mom, who greeted him cheerfully and handed him a bowl of fruit to take up to his room to eat as he studied. She already knew that he had no plans for that night, so she was prepared to basically cater to his every need if Kurt desired it. At times, Kurt was hugely relieved to have his step mom around so often.

Not that he didn't love Carol all the time. He did. A lot.

Right as he reached the bottom of the stairs, though, he turned around and caught his step mom stepping into the living room, and figured that would be a good time to ask about having Blaine over to work. "Carole," he called out, causing her to stop and look at him, "can I have someone over tomorrow to work on that huge English project that I have?"

The woman smiled warmly, her eyes wrinkling at the corners but still sparkled with a hint of youth, "Of course you can, Kurt. Who's your partner?"

"Blaine. Blaine Anderson."

The mention of his partner made his step mom blink, the smile dropping for a split second before she quickly corrected herself, nodding, "Alright, thank you for telling me, Kurt," she said before walking into the living room completely.

Kurt stood there for a little while longer, a little confused by her reaction, before shrugging to himself and heading up the stairs, plucking a strawberry out of the bowl when he reached the top and biting into it. Nice, ripe and sweet, without sugar, just like he liked it.

With a somewhat content sigh, he opened the door to his room, nudging it closed after him, and put his book bag down and the bowl on his desk, before falling back onto his bed uncharacteristically. He felt oddly tired, so he decided that he could put off his homework until later that night for a little rest. A little bit of procrastination wouldn't kill him.

A short hum filled the air, before he sat up and unzipped his jacket, toeing his boots off carefully, not wanting to scuff the heels or toes.

With a slight stretch, he reached into his bag and grabbed his iPod, turning it on and pushing his ear buds into ear. Falling onto his side, he closed his eyes and let his iPod start to play randomly.

His eyes opened again when he heard "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance start to play, and he stared at the window across from his bed, his eyebrows rising slowly. Honestly, he forgot that he even put that song on his iPod… he had put it on shuffle, though, and normally he just played his favorite songs on his iPod, avoiding the other ones without actually meaning to.

A memory, pushed far back into the corner of his mind, pushed itself forwards and made itself known once again out of nowhere. The song alone was so familiar for some reason in a way other than the radio… where had he heard it before? He couldn't remember anyone in the New Directions singing this song… but he vaguely remembered hearing it during a meeting for some reason. Frowning a little bit, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to remember.

Rachel wouldn't sing this kind of song… neither would Santana, Brittany, or Quinn, he doubted that Finn would… maybe Puck but not Artie or Tina or Mike… hell, Mike barely ever sang in general.

Kurt made a small noise of surprise when he realized what he was trying to remember so hard that was linked to that particular song.

At one point, around November the year prior, after school when the glee club was meeting in the choir room as per usual, Blaine himself had walked in all casual and grinning, saying a rather bright hello, pulling warm welcomes from the rest of the teenagers in the room in response.

Kurt reached for his iPod and set the song on repeat, still trying to work out the kinks of the memory, because somehow he knew that it was a really good memory… he just needed to remember it completely, and it couldn't be that hard. It would probably be completely worth it, anyways.

Licking his lips absentmindedly, Kurt's blue eyes closed again and he relaxed, tilting his head back completely into one of his soft, fluffy pillows, steadying his breathing and just trying to remember.

Kurt was sitting in the choir room, directly next to Mercedes and Rachel, seated in the back, watching the entire room, from Brittany trying to explain some crazy theory to Artie, who was just staring at her like she was crazy, to Mr. Schue who was talking to Brad (it was probably a one-sided conversation). Santana was staring at her phone intently.

"Hey, look, it's the New Directions!" announced a cheerful voice from the door, and absolutely everyone looked to the constantly open passage into the hall, seeing Blaine leaning into the room, holding onto the doorframe with the ever-constant grin on his face.

Everyone responded with a mixture of different greetings—except for Kurt. Kurt watched Blaine quietly, tilting his head a little bit at Blaine's eyes skimmed the room, their eyes meeting for a split second, hazel and blue, before Blaine walked completely into the room and straight over to Santana. Brittany moved over a seat immediately, since she was taking up the seat next to her best friend, despite the fact that there was an open seat right in front of Kurt which had been closer to Blaine to begin with.

Santana leaned very slightly towards Blaine when he sat down.

"Okay guys," began their teacher, who now stood in the middle of the room, clapping once and smiling at the group of misfits, "now that the infamous Blaine has joined us for today," Kurt heard Blaine chuckle a little bit, if not embarrassedly, "let's get started with the assignments for this week, shall we?"

Blaine raised his hand a little bit, and Mr. Schue nodded to him, "What is the assignment this week, anyways?"

Mr. Schue grinned and started walking backwards, before pointing to the board, "Anthems," he announced proudly, pointing to the singular word scrawled on the board proudly.

Blaine tilted his head to the side slightly, and Kurt could almost see the wheels turning in his head, "Well then," began the still smiling teen, who hopped up, "how about I take a shot at this? There's a song I have in mind that's perfect for this assignment!"

Mr. Schue looked surprised, but nodded regardless, stepping behind the piano and gesturing to the floor, "Be our guest!"

"As much as I love that movie, Mr. Schue," Blaine joked, hopping over to the center spot happily, "I don't think that's much of an anthem," he winked a little bit, and Kurt's eyebrow rose a little at this, a small smile inevitably playing on his face as everyone else laughed a little at the somewhat lame joke.

Blaine cleared his throat and looked over at Brad, "I think Brad here knows the song that I'm thinking about," Brad nodded knowingly, and Blaine grinned more if that was possible, "Alright! Hit it!"

He was so flamboyant. Kurt could swear that, at times, Blaine seemed gayer than him, and Kurt was gay.

Kurt wasn't particularly surprised when the beat to "Welcome to the Black Parade" started playing, since Blaine was just that Top 40 all the time, but both of his eyebrows still rose. The smile didn't really leave his face though, even as Blaine started jumping around, acting like a little kid, and jumping on a few chairs and just about everything he could jump on in the room—except for the piano. Usually, students weren't exactly allowed to do that, but no one really cared because Blaine was such a showman. No one was about to stop him.

The dark haired teen ended up jumping over to Santana, and held out a hand for the Hispanic girl to take, which she did, despite rolling her eyes and laughing oddly uncharacteristically as he spun her around before letting her go and gesturing for the rest of the club to stand up, crying out, "We'll carry on!" as he did, coincidentally.

Almost everyone did stand up.

Kurt hung back though, watching the interesting, rather hyper teenager who wasn't an official member of the club (Blaine was kind of an honorary member of the glee club, actually. Everyone had decided not too terribly long ago) jump around in the midst of all of Kurt's closest friends. He couldn't help but laugh a little bit, under his breath, when he spun Santana playfully again, dipping her backwards.

They were a cute pair of friends.

Mercedes ended up dragging Kurt up and out before the song ended, telling him to stop being such a wallflower for a little bit, and he danced along, simply because it seemed like too much fun not to. Maybe it wasn't really a song to dance to… but it just seemed right, at the time.

Blaine was like a magnet, or a connecting link, or even super glue. He could somehow magically bring everyone together, even people who were totally against each other. It wasn't even like the New Directions were against each other (at the time); it was more like it was kind of rare for that type of thing to happen.

That was, honestly, probably one of the best practices they had ever had.

Kurt opened his eyes again, staring at his ceiling for a few moments before sitting up and taking his ear buds out of his ear, shaking his head a little bit. That was a really weird memory to relive, mainly because that made a lot of other things connect in his mind that hadn't at the time, nor recently.

For one thing, that single day—not even a day, it was less that ten minutes—had so many hints in it that screamed that Blaine and Santana were a couple. The grabbing, the spinning, the laughing, the smiles… if that didn't scream "Actually happy Santana", Kurt wasn't exactly sure what would. Santana was rarely ever like that… Kurt kind of wondered how he didn't pick up on that at the time.

Another thing was that was the night that he downloaded that song, hilariously enough. It was probably the fact that Blaine sang it really well that convinced Kurt that it would be a nice song to add to his iPod…

Good grief, Blaine Anderson really was influential back then.

The last, probably most important thing is that… that was the moment that made Kurt really interested in Blaine. Of course, he didn't really start acknowledging his interest until after Blaine fell into isolation, but that was when Kurt started to subconsciously watch Blaine in the halls.

Kurt sighed softly, rubbing a hand over his face, cringing slightly because of the oil that he knew was going to cause problems if he didn't moisturize extremely thoroughly that night. Licking his lips again, he put his iPod on the bedside table and stood up to retrieve his bowl of fruit, since fruit wasn't exactly delicious when warm.

"Kurt," he heard his step mom call from downstairs, and he blinked, putting down the bowl and walking over to his door, pulling it open and leaning out into the hall way, shouting back to alert Carole that he heard her. "One of your friends is here to see you," she responded.

One of his friends?

He hadn't heard the doorbell ring or even a knock on the door… he supposed that he was so lost in thought that it shut everything else out, "Just send them up," he called out, ducking back into his room to plug his iPod into his iHome.

Who the hell would be visiting him? Rachel had a date with Finn, Mercedes was babysitting… it couldn't be Blaine, could it be? Well, maybe… Kurt kind of doubted it, though, for some reason. He had explicitly made a note near the end of class that told him Saturday they could work…

"Hummel."

Kurt spun around, turning towards his door hurriedly, his eyes widening and his eyebrows shooting upwards in shock.

What the fuck?

"Santana?"