Kurt Hummel most definitely did not notice the way Blaine Anderson was acting the following day at school.
He didn't notice the way the normally vibrant young football star practically reverted into himself, and he most definitely didn't notice the way Blaine carried himself in a way that made it seem as if he was scared shitless.
Kurt didn't notice how Blaine stared off into space during French class and practically jumped five feet into the air when another red jacket clad jock clapped him on his shoulder with an, "Hey man, you look a little sick."
Kurt didn't notice any of these things and instead focused on what he normally did around Blaine. Which was avoid and ignore at all costs.
What Kurt did notice was kind of impossible on his part to ignore.
He was gathering his things to leave French class and was in a rush since he needed to find Mercedes away from Sam and ask her about her upcoming plans during the weekend. He tucked his notebook safely under his arm, but had forgotten about his pencil, which was swept off the desk and careened to the floor where it proceeded to roll.
Right over to where Blaine was sitting and stopping right next to his foot.
Kurt stared blankly for a second contemplating on weather it would be a good idea or not to just sprint out of the classroom like a possessed man.
He realized too late that he had been standing still to long and could not easily escape without making his situation more obviously awkward to Blaine. While internal battle raged on inside of his head. Flight or Fight, Flight or Fight, Flight or Fight.
In the end the third option won out as Blaine Anderson leaned down and picked up the pencil.
Kurt's body was stock still as he waited for whatever might happen next. Blaine might do what Karofsky usually did which was to take the pencil and with a smirk say "Thanks, Homo!" If this was the case with Blaine then Kurt could not show fear. He would not let this newbie jock intimidate him in his own school no matter what he was supposed to mean to Kurt.
But, instead, Blaine simply held out the pencil, not meeting Kurt's eyes and said, "Here. You dropped this."
Kurt blinked for a moment and reached out to take the pencil trying to make the motion seem as ordinary as possible.
"Thank you." And with those words he turned on his heel to leave the classroom.
"Kurt…" That simple word coming from that mouth stopped Kurt and with a new wave of fear rushing over him he turned around to meet Blaine's startling amber gaze.
"Yes?" He found himself saying. Blaine's gaze was difficult to interpret. There were many emotions running rampant through the antique eyes. If Kurt had to describe it in one word, though, it would be open. Open like the ocean trying to pull him into its depths when all he wanted to do was get away. Kurt knew what lay underneath.
"Kurt Hummel?"
Kurt took another step away from Blaine, but their eyes were still locked.
"Yes." He answered before he broke the gaze and left the room with a thousand different emotions pounding through his bloodstream. Blaine had found out who Kurt was. This was a moment that was supposed to be cherished for the rest of his life. Kurt and his soul mate had found each other after seventeen years apart, and now they were supposed to go through the years as perfect compliments to the other.
Yes, indeed this moment would be cherished if it weren't for the fact that Blaine Anderson was closeted jock with homophobes for best friends.
In Kurt's mind making logical sense was the last process functioning. Instead, Finn's words from that chaotic day in Glee club came rushing back to the forefront.
"Hey, Boo." Mercedes said happily as Kurt marched up to her and Sam at the lockers. "Woah." She jerked back upon noticing Kurt's murderous expression. "What happened to you? It looks as if some one got dirt on your favorite Prada."
"Oh, believe me Mercedes, the situation is a little bit more dire than that." He calmed down enough for his best friend, but not enough to make her not gape at him and his fury. "Now, have you seen Finn anywhere?"
"What the hell, dude!" Finn exclaimed as Kurt slapped him over the head with his notebook repeatedly while he was sitting down waiting for the rest of Glee club to arrive.
"Finn Hudson, I swear to whatever higher power there is that I will burn your Xbox, make you watch, and then I will roast you!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Blaine knows!" Kurt screamed, anger tears boiling just under the surface that he refused to release.
Finn blinked a few times taking in what his brother had said, his mouth opened in an 'o' of astonishment. "Kurt, you have to believe me, I didn't tell him." Finn's face was so earnest that it was impossible for Kurt to think he was lying.
"Oh…" Kurt straightened up a little bit as guilt hit him for attacking his brother in a bought of rage. "Well, I'm very sorry. But, he still somehow knows and now…" Kurt trailed off as his thoughts rapidly took over his mind. He stared at the floor as he imagined Blaine's beautiful gaze turned hard and cold in his direction.
"And now what, Kurt? Why is it so bad that Blaine knows who you are now? Maybe now that he's found you he won't be suck a jerk anymore. He'll change to be with you!" Finn's dumb earnestness made him look as if he was a small child finding out about Santa Claus for the first time. His naivety was just making Kurt angrier.
"Finn, shut up. If there's anything that I've learned in the past couple of weeks it's that life is not a fairy tale. You really think he'll change for me? He won't. He can't accept me when he can't even accept himself. Now, he'll still be with Karofsky and Azimio, pushing me into lockers, and laughing. Only, he'll now be doing it with the knowledge of who I am." Kurt's voice was getting thicker and thicker as his diatribe slowly came to a closing. He took a deep breath before finishing. "And it's going to hurt even more now, because it doesn't matter who I am to him and it never will."
With that Kurt could no longer hold back those horrid tears and left the room before anyone could pity him more
Finn didn't know what to do. Kurt was upset. He was withdrawing into himself like he did on the days when the bullying was particularly bad. Finn had made a promise to protect his brother no matter what, and so far he had not broken that.
So, Finn did the first thing he could think of to help and resolved to talk to Blaine after football practice.
The short kicker didn't say much on the field and had stayed out later to talk to Coach Beiste while the others headed for the locker room.
Finn waited with patience and spent a little more time getting undressed and showering to ensure that he and Blaine would be able to talk.
The moment presented itself when Blaine was pulling his t-shirt on after Finn had shut his locker.
"Hey dude, can I talk to you for a second?" Finn walked over grabbing the strap of his backpack.
Blaine looked up at him confused, but shrugged nonetheless and turned back to putting away his things. "Sure, what's up?"
"I know who you are."
"Uhh… yeah. I know who you are too, Finn." Blaine chuckled awkwardly.
"No, I mean, you're Blaine Anderson, and you're meant to be Kurt's." Finn stated with pure simplicity.
Blaine's back went rigid at his words and his teeth ground together, however, he didn't know whether it would be worth his effort to try to deny Finn's words or to threaten another boy at least a foot taller than him.
Finn wasn't expecting this silence from Blaine. He was kind of hoping to carry out the rest of this conversation based on Blaine's reaction.
"So… If you wouldn't mind, maybe you should be a bit nicer to Kurt. He's my brother and all, and you guys are kind of meant to be together."
Just then Blaine's mind got a little carried away. Kurt Hummel as his. He briefly imagined the other boy's face scrunched up adorably with laughter as he was spun around in Blaine's arms. They were both dressed in tuxes and two matching silver rings were glinting on their fingers.
A sharp memory of a loud crack and unbearable overwhelming pain made its way to the forefront of Blaine's mind, and he quickly snapped out of his dream. He turned on Finn scowling and angrily brushed harshly past him snapping, "I will never belong to Kurt Hummel, and if you know what's best for you, you'll keep your damn mouth shut!"
Finn felt defeated. Somehow, it seemed as if his confrontation had worsened the situation. In one last attempt to get through to Blaine he shouted, "You're just ruining your life. If you changed both of you would be happy."
Blaine had heard him but didn't react as his left the locker room leaving an exasperated Finn behind.
"Shit."
Kurt wasn't saying much. It wasn't even that he was sad and crying, but it was more like he was just defeated and somehow that was even worse.
Instead of focusing on his goals and dreams like Kurt normally did to make being stuck in a tiny town in Ohio more bearable, Kurt started seeing things more pessimistically.
People were rude. This town sucked. His school was a hellhole. Why would he expect it to be different anywhere else?
He knew that he was probably being overly bitchy and dramatic about this whole situation, but he couldn't help but feel his anger grow every day towards Blaine who refused to acknowledge him.
Kurt really was fine with that. Better to be ignored than to deal with a slushie to the face, but it was the fact that Kurt couldn't ignore Blaine. He noticed him everywhere. In class staring off into space, at lunch eating with the other jocks, even when he pulled up in the parking lot in some fancy old-school Chevy.
Try as he might Blaine had some type of weird pull on him and Kurt found it nearly impossible to escape. But, then one day, the Fates decided to give Kurt a break when Blaine didn't show up to school one Friday afternoon. Kurt felt his mood improve greatly, and he even found himself enjoying Glee for the first time that felt like in forever.
He was grinning as he, Santana, Mike Chang, and Tina sang the closing notes for their group performance of Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Right Round for their 80's assignment. His mood didn't even deflate as he pulled up to his Dad's garage for the four-hour shift he picked up so he could have some extra money for shopping.
However, he felt as if someone had popped his balloon when he walked out of the locker room and into the garage to find a horribly familiar head of hair talking to his father.
"… There has to be something easier to do. Something that can be done more quickly!" Blaine was exclaiming. His curls were a mess and he had a very distraught air about him as he gesticulated wildly.
"I'm sorry. There's nothing else that we can do. We'll order the parts and they'll get here as soon as they can. Meanwhile, we'll keep the car here to figure out where that banging sound is coming from." With that Burt Hummel left heading into his office to make a few phone calls, and left Blaine and Kurt alone standing not ten feet from each other.
"Shit!" Blaine cursed not even realizing Kurt, who's eyebrows had risen in surprise form the outburst.
"Do you need a minute?" He found himself saying in order to avoid any more dramatics from Blaine who looked like he was about to start throwing things.
Blaine's head snapped up and his eyes found Kurt's. They sparkled with recognition and some other hidden emotion for a minute before closing off and narrowing.
"Whatever." He muttered embarrassed and running his hands through his hair.
"It's just a car." Kurt leaned over the hood of the car to see what the damage was. Blaine let out a defeated sigh and slumped against the driver's side door.
"You wouldn't understand." He stated.
"See that's where you're wrong." Kurt stated with as much bitchiness as he could muster. He had had it with the boy's attitude. Blaine didn't even know him, so who was he to judge him? "It's not that I won't understand, it's that I don't care enough to understand."
Blaine was silent before he spit out, "You know, maybe if you were a bit nicer people wouldn't think you're a bitch."
Kurt lost it then. He slammed the hood of the Chevy down and whirled on Blaine before he had a chance to realize what the hell was happening.
"Is that what they fucking told you on your first day? Give him hell because he's a fucking bitch? People don't like him because he's so bitchy? Laugh as he gets pushed into lockers because he's a bitch? Maybe, Blaine Anderson, maybe I wouldn't be such a bitch if people didn't fucking judge me from the moment they look at me. Don't you ever again tell me what the fuck to do, you prick, you don't have the right to." With that Kurt backed away from Blaine who was shocked from both Kurt's words and the close proximity of their bodies.
He had never felt more turned on in his life, but if you asked him, he would deny it.
"We'll call you when the parts for your car come in." Kurt called over his shoulder as he went to work on a black Nissan. When he looked around for a wrench five minutes later he saw that Blaine had left. Kurt smiled and hummed as he leaned back down.
All Kurt needed was a brief moment of peace away from Blaine, and he was quite content not think about him as he worked through his shift.