The next day absolutely drags. Stiles can't focus on anything in class and gets called out on it by teachers more than once over the course of the morning. No matter how hard he tries, Stiles can't keep his mind on grammar or integers, and invariably ends up staring into space only to be brought back out of it at the clanging bell marking the end of another class he somehow missed.

At lunch Allison smiles sweetly at Stiles when he tells her about his plans with Kurt, her hand squeezing Stiles's arm encouragingly. Even Scott manages to look genuinely happy for Stiles, though he garners a gentle smack and a pointed expression from Allison when he mutters, "you had better not let him beat all my high scores on Just Dance," not quite under his breath enough to not be heard.

Stiles scrunches up his nose and stares at his best friend, watching Scott be silently reprimanded by the message flashing in Allison's eyes. "Wait, is that why you've been such a grouch about the whole Kurt thing?" Stiles asks, suddenly understanding Scott's sullen reactions. "Dude, I'm not replacing you!" Scott grumbles, arms crossed over his chest petulantly and causing Allison to roll her eyes. "Seriously, Scott, you hang out with Allison all the time and you're not trying to replace me with her, right?"

"Of course not. But it's different …" Allison huffs, looking like she's trying not to laugh and Stiles takes a turn rolling his eyes at Scott. Scott sits there, Allison at his side and Stiles across the table both watching him and waiting him out while he takes his time deciding to not be weirdly jealous. Eventually Scott lets out a breath and slumps a bit before he says, "sorry I've been an ass."

Stiles grins across the table and holds out a fist for Scott to bump his own against. "S'ok, man," Stiles tells him. "Want to come over Saturday? I still haven't tried the last few songs on Just Dance 4, and I need to reclaim my title as champion on that Bollywood song."

"Ha, you wish!" Scott declares with a grin, and just like that any lingering tension between them is forgotten. Stiles is more than happy to let it go without another word if it means being able to talk to his best friend again without feeling like he's putting a strain on their friendship whenever he brings up Kurt (and honestly, Stiles really doesn't think that he's capable of not mentioning Kurt at this point).

Stiles catches up with Kurt in the hall before last period, a little nervous that Kurt will have changed his mind about hanging out after school. "Hey, Kurt!" he says, and Kurt turns his head and glances over his shoulder but doesn't move from in front of his open locker.

"Oh, hi."

"I just wanted to make sure you're still up for doing something after school …" Stiles trails off, trying not to let himself start rambling.

Kurt shoves a book haphazardly into his locker with just a little too much force to be casual, and when Stiles really looks he can see the tense lines of Kurt's body, even hidden under layers of his clothes. Stiles reaches out carefully with one hand and touches the back of Kurt's shoulder lightly. There's a moment where Kurt flinches under the touch, and then the tension dissipates and Kurt is left leaning into his locker with an almost defeated air about him. When he speaks his voice is quiet and a little rough. "Is it okay if we just go to one of our houses or something?" he asks, and Stiles immediate starts nodding in agreement. "I don't really feel up to going out."

"Yeah, that's totally fine!" Stiles declares, only too happy that Kurt isn't cancelling their plans outright. "Your place or mine?" he asks, and then backpedals when he realizes how that phrasing sounds. "I don't – ah, I don't mean it like that I just mean …" Stiles runs through phrasings in his head and groans in frustration at his inability to choose words that don't sound like he's propositioning Kurt. Which, yeah he'd be all for it, but that's not the point.

"Um, Finn will be home and I don't really want to deal with him right now, so," Kurt's already quiet voice trails off into silence.

"My house then," Stiles says just as the warning bell rings. "I'll meet you back here after class?" Stiles waits until Kurt has nodded once in agreement and then he takes off to his own locker, already half-way to being late for class.

At the end of class Stiles bolts out of the room and to his locker, grabbing everything he needs from it as fast as he possibly can. He ends up standing in front of Kurt's locker before the boy has even made it there from his own class. He probably looks like an overenthusiastic puppy standing there waiting with a grin on his face (he feels a little like an overenthusiastic puppy) but he honestly doesn't care, especially when Kurt rounds the corner and ducks his head to a hide a smile when he sees Stiles already standing there.

Stiles manages to stand still for all of about a minute before he starts bouncing on his toes while Kurt fishes notebooks and the occasional hair product out of his locker and tucks them into his satchel. Kurt quirks a teasing smile at him after the first few bounces, and Stiles thinks he hears a chuckle when Kurt has his head buried back in his locker. Stiles revels in the sound and the fact that Kurt looks happy.

They make it out to Stiles's Jeep without incident and tension seems to seep from Kurt's body the farther they get from the school. He tenses up again when they reach Stiles's house. Kurt has his bottom lip trapped between his teeth and he looks a little uncertain, glancing around skittishly as they enter the house. Stiles tries his best to be a good host and hopes that Kurt will relax once he gets used to his surroundings. (He tries not to compare Kurt to the stories Scott tells him about scared, injured animals who are brought into the vet clinic when he's volunteering, but the comparison is rather uncanny.)

"Do you want tea or um, I think we have orange juice? Or water." Stiles says as he fishes a bag of baby carrots and a tub of hummus from the fridge. He would rather have chips, but he doesn't keep much junk food in the house because his dad is bound to eat it if he does.

Stiles's plan seems to be working because Kurt seems to be relaxing in increments, though his eyes are still wide and unsure when he looks at Stiles. "Tea would be amazing if it isn't too much trouble," Kurt says. Stiles bobs his head and turns to fill the kettle, because of course it isn't too much trouble. But then he thinks there probably isn't a whole lot he wouldn't do for Kurt (and isn't that a dangerous thought path – he barely even knows this boy).

They both get steaming mugs of earl grey and then they move to the living room. Kurt perches on the edge of the couch, barely even sitting on the cushion and feet firmly planted on the floor while Stiles wanders over to retrieve the book full of DVDs from its place near the TV.

"Here, pick whatever you want. I mean, if you're okay with watching a movie," he says while holding the black case out towards Kurt. Kurt stares for a slightly too-long moment before he nods, setting his tea on the low table in front of him and taking the case from Stiles.

Stiles busies himself with getting the DVD player set to go but watches Kurt out of the corner of his eye the entire time. Kurt flips carefully through the pages of DVD sleeves – Stiles usually just flicks them across without much regard for potential damage, but Kurt carefully transfers the pages from one hand to the other and lays them down gently – and Stiles can't help but be sort of mesmerized by the care he puts into every action.

After he has flipped through every page filled with movies, Kurt flips back to one right near the beginning and pulls out a disc, taking it over to the open DVD player rather than handing it off to Stiles. When the title screen comes up Kurt looks over at Stiles questioningly. "Is this okay? You can put on something else if it's not." Stiles smiles and hits play, settling back into the cushions as the opening of Titanic plays across the screen.

They watch the first few minutes in silence, but Stiles has never been particularly good with silence so eventually he starts talking. "Did you know that they actually had to develop a deep-sea camera system to get these shots," he asks. Kurt glances over, eyes straying only briefly from the screen before he shakes his head. Stiles starts sharing more bits of trivia as the movie progresses, thrilled when he manages to draw a giggling laugh from Kurt. Stiles is even more thrilled when Kurt responds to one of his bits of trivia with one of his own about Leonardo DiCaprio, and from there a conversation suddenly takes shape.

By the time Jack is proclaiming himself king of the world, Kurt's posture has completely changed. He's folded up on the couch and tucked right into the corner of the cushions with his mug cupped in his hands looking cozy and completely at ease. Stiles wants to scoot across the couch and snuggle into his side, but he resists the urge, tucking his hands under his own thighs to keep from reaching out for Kurt.

They've been talking and laughing their way through the movie – through the growing romance between Rose and Jack, and into the beginning of the end – but as the ship continues to sink, a new kind of quiet draws over them. It isn't awkward, but there is a shared tension brought on by the melancholy of the film.

At some point, Stiles starts sniffling back tears and using the sleeve of his hoodie to surreptitiously wipe at the corner of his eye. After a few minutes of itm he stands abruptly from the couch and heads to the kitchen, returning with a tub of chocolate peanut butter ice cream and two spoons. Kurt gives him a strange look (slightly dampened by the tears obviously threatening in his eyes) and Stiles shrugs and holds a spoon out to him.

Stiles settles back onto the couch, far closer to Kurt than he had been before though it's only so that they can both reach the tub of ice cream. "My mom and I used to do this when my dad was working the night shift. He'd leave and we would watch rom coms and sad movies and eat our way through a tub of ice cream." He shrugs again, digging his spoon into the ice cream and not looking up at Kurt.

"I wish I'd had more opportunity to do stuff like that with my mom, she died when I was 7." Stiles glances up to meet Kurt's eyes and gives the boy a sad little half smile. Neither of them apologize or feel the need to explain, they just understand one another without needing to say anything else.

They eat the melting ice cream quietly until Kurt speaks up – a little tentative, as if he's worried about overstepping – "I know it's not the same, but if you ever want someone to watch sad movies and eat ice cream with you …"

"I would love that," Stiles tells him, uncharacteristically calm and quiet. For a suspended moment they just smile at each other, and then Kurt ducks his head shyly and they return to watching the movie.