After dropping Kurt off at front reception, Blaine all but sprinted to his home room. He swung through the door just as his name was called.
"Here, sir," he called breathlessly to the bespeckled teacher sitting at the desk.
"Mr Anderson," came the reply, "late? That's not like you."
Blaine paused, looking up. "Well, sir," he explained, "my friend transferred and it's his first day, so I thought I'd show him round a little."
His tutor smiled, tutting. "I suppose I can let you off this once."
Blaine nodded: he understood. He took his seat in between Wes and David, leaning his bag against the leg of his chair. The two boys looked at him expectantly. "What?" he asked innocently.
David rolled his eyes, and Wes said, "we know how much you've been looking forward to this, Blaine. How'd it go? Is he alright?" They were almost as aware of Kurt's trouble at his old high school as Blaine was, and had both liked Kurt when they met him.
"He's doing fine," Blaine answered. "I walked him to reception, and I guess he'll be in class later."
"What's going on?" Their fellow Warbler, Trent, turned around to face Blaine, David and Wes. "Your friend's transferred?"
Blaine nodded enthusiastically, repositioning himself to be able to talk to Trent. "You remember that 'spy' who watched us perform the month before last?" He almost laughed, recalling himself the moment Kurt had stopped him on the stairs, introducing himself as a new student while very blatantly breaking every uniform rule Dalton had. It was completely laughable that today, that was happening for real.
Trent said, "ah," remembering the shy-looking boy Blaine had led into the room; he had assumed that this boy was the reason Blaine had been late for that performance too. He guessed he was right, in thinking that this boy was the only reason Blaine had been late for... anything, since Trent had known him. Blaine was very punctual. "So, are you guys going out?" he asked more quietly.
Blaine choked on air in surprise and turned to Wes and David but found them looking expectantly at him. "What?" he said weakly.
"We were wondering that, too," David said, and Wes nodded.
Trent looked suddenly apologetic. "Oh no, Blaine, I'm sorry, it's just, you know... you're gay and you're late for class because you're spending time with a guy..." He trailed off sheepishly.
"No, it's fine," Blaine replied slowly, looking blankly at his desk. Was that what they all thought? He supposed it made sense, but still... he hadn't really thought about it until then: he loved spending time with Kurt, but he did with his other friends too. Just because Kurt was gay, it didn't mean they had to be an item. Blaine chewed his lip awkwardly, looking back up at his friends. "But we're not, just so you know," he answered eventually. "We're friends. He's been going through some stuff, so okay, we've maybe been hanging out a lot, but..." He shrugged, figuring that he'd put his point across.
The other boys nodded at him, and Wes thought it was probably time to change the train of conversation. "Is Kurt thinking of joining the Warblers, then?"
Although they hadn't officially talked about it, Blaine thought he could work out the answer, but sufficed with, "I really hope so."
Wes raised his eyebrows at David as David did the same at him; Trent just smiled. Blaine looked up at them and paused. "What?"
"Nothing," they chorused in unison, right before the bell sounded.
"Okay, everyone, off you go," their teacher called without looking up from his book. "Have a good day."
The boys filed out of the room, all heading towards their lessons. Blaine and Trent bade Wes and David goodbye and the two parties headed in opposite directions.
"Blaine!" came a voice behind him and Trent, and they turned to see Kurt jumping through the crowd, against the flow of boys walking towards him. "Blaine!" When Kurt saw that his friend had stopped, he slowed and stopped shouting. He eventually caught up with the two of them and stopped, panting. Blaine noticed that his tie was askew and nearly laughed, settling for a big grin.
"Kurt," he smiled happily. There was a pause, and Kurt looked expectantly from Blaine to Trent. Trent saw that Blaine was completely distracted staring at Kurt and rolled his eyes good-naturedly, holding out a hand to Kurt, who shook it.
"I'm Trent," Trent said. "I'm in the Warblers with Blaine."
"Oh, wow!" Kurt replied, thinking that he did recognise the boy a little. "Kurt Hummel."
Blaine snapped back into action, sniffing in an attempt at nonchalance. "So, Kurt –" he leant on the wall " – where are you headed?" The inquiry about their relationship had caught him off-guard and his brain was tirelessly overanalysing it and Kurt's body language wasn't answering anything.
Kurt laughed a little in a nervous fashion. "That's the problem... I don't know." Blaine noticed for the first time that he was holding his timetable in one hand, a school map in the other. "I've always been terrible with maps," Kurt sighed, gesturing feebly at the two pieces of paper. "I'm trying to get to Spanish, thought you could maybe show me the way...?" He looked up and Blaine's eyes met his. "...if you had time," he finished, with a charming smile.
Trent raised his eyebrows at Blaine's overly enthusiastic reply: "Of course! Actually, there's where we're going right now." Blaine reached out and grabbed Kurt by the sleeve, pulling him along as he and Trent resumed walking. The three of them walked through the endless Dalton corridors until they reached the Spanish classrooms. Kurt checked his timetable again.
"I'm in here," he said, gesturing at the nearest door.
Blaine and Trent nodded towards the classroom next door, motioning that that was where they were going. Kurt smiled and pushed the door open. "Well, I'll see you later, then."
Trent stepped in again when Blaine failed to reply, distracted by Kurt's smile and wonky tie. "Yep. We'll see you at first break, Kurt."
"Yes!" Blaine added just in time. "We'll wait out here for you."
Kurt beamed again at Blaine, and disappeared into the room.