Author's Note:

I did tell you I was planning on continuing this story, right? Thanks for waiting patiently, and here's the next chapter for you. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Scoring a Date

The next day, Blaine turned up ten minutes early, and was chatting with Dolores when Kurt came in.

Kurt seemed happily surprised to see him, and his eyes lingered on Blaine's green eyeliner and his leather pants. Blaine internally fist-pumped.

"Hey Blaine."

"Hey Kurt. Uhm, I kind of have a story to finish today."

Kurt quirked an eyebrow.

"Turns out Blaine isn't very good at time management," Dolores drawled, making Blaine squirm. "His session ran over yesterday. By more than an hour. So I told him to keep the rest of the story for today."

Now Kurt's other eyebrow went up too. "You stayed for more than two hours?"

Blaine fidgeted. "Yep."

"Must have been quite the story."

"It was good," Dolores said. "Scary, though."

Kurt hummed and gave Blaine a piercing look. "Well, we'd better head in, I suppose, if you have a story to finish."

When they entered the snoozle room together, Lou and Ruth came to hug the both of them.

Kurt unlaced his Doc Martens, sank down gracefully into a lotus position, and told the children that Blaine would get to continue his story first. The children cheered, and Blaine ran a hand over his neck bashfully.

"All right, then…"

Lou squeaked excitedly and grabbed Ruth's hand.

"Mr. Banner led them into the castle, where the pumpkin theme continued – there were dozens of them, from tiny to huge, intricately carved and flickering with candlelight. The biggest one said "WELCOME", and yes, they did feel welcome as Mr. Banner chatted on and on about the family who'd built the castle way back in the 1500s.

He showed them a big banquet hall, with long tables in gleaming wood and crystal chandeliers.

"Mrs Rose and I keep them nice and polished, just in case we get visitors, you know. Oh, I'll take you to see Mrs Rose first – you must be famished after your long walk here! Mrs Rose used to be the cook here. She's a ghost, like me. She'll whip you up something in no time. We made sure to stock up on food, since we knew the town would be sending someone over today. And now there's three of you! Oh, she'll be so pleased!"

Mr. Banner led them through a draughty corridor to the kitchen, where he introduced Mrs Rose to them. "Best not ask their names, Millie, or Sybil will find out, and the boy doesn't like to be touched."

Mrs. Rose laughed. "Well, honeys, I need to call you something. Make up a name that I can call you by. What would you have picked if you could have chosen your own names?"

Blaine looked up at Lou and cocked his head. "What would you pick?"

Lou clapped her hands in excitement. "Ariana! Like Ariana Grande."

"I want to be Beyoncé," said Ruth.

They looked at Keith, who looked upset and said he wanted to keep his name.

"No worries," said Lou. "We can introduce ourselves to Mrs Rose as Ariana, Beyoncé and Friend. As in: we don't want to say your name, but you're a friend of ours. Would that work?"

"Friend?" Keith pondered that, deeply, and then nodded. "Okay."

"Mrs. Rose beamed. "Well, Ariana, Beyoncé and Friend, would you care for a spot of dinner? I made pumpkin soup, and fresh bread to go with it. For the main dish, I have a venison stew, and for dessert, there's apple cake."

The girls exchanged a worried hand squeeze, and then Lou explained to Mrs. Rose, ever so tentatively, "That sounds good, ma'am, but the stew is going to be a problem for our friend. He likes to keep all the different kinds of food apart on his plate."

Mrs. Rose nodded. "I see. Hmm, well, I always have a lot of meat in stock for the dragon, so I can always fry something else for your friend. Let's see… Chicken fillet with potatoes and cauliflower? I could even make a nice cheese sauce for the cauliflower?"

Keith shook his head at that. "No sauce. Please."

Mrs. Rose smiled at him. "No sauce it is. I have to say, it's such a nice change to get visitors that don't run away screaming. Last year's visitor was so high-strung that you couldn't say a word to him without spooking him. And look at you, much younger than that lad, and not afraid at all. And such polite sweet children. Just lovely. Do you want to eat in the banquet hall or here?"

"Here, please," they all chorused.

It was nice and warm in the kitchen, full of amazing smells, and the children felt at home as they ate their dinner. Mr. Banner kept up a steady stream of chatter, with Mrs. Rose chiming in every now and then.

After dinner, they thanked Mrs. Rose and followed Mr Banner to see the rest of the castle. While climbing the stairs, they came across a woman with stringy hair and twitchy fingers.

"Hey Sybil," Mr. Banner greeted her cheerfully. "Please don't touch the children, they don't like that."

The banshee cackled, and the sound sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Don't like it, eh?" Sybil rasped, coming closer and wiggling her fingers. Lou and Ruth hastened to stand in front of Keith.

"So what are your names, loveys?" Sybil drawled.

"You can call us Ariana, Beyoncé, and Friend," Lou rattled off glibly.

Sybil pouted. "But those are not your REAL names!"

"They're all you're going to get," Ruth told her. "We don't want you touching us."

The banshee let out a loud shriek and then stormed off.

Mr. Banner chuckled. "Touchy, that gal. In more ways than one."

Lou bit her lip. "I'm sorry if we hurt her feelings."

"Now, now, none of that," said Mr. Banner. "Your comfort trumps her feelings. Sybil likes hugging, yes, but that's not something you should force on people."

"I still feel bad," Lou mumbled, and Ruth nodded.

"Well, you could draw her a picture, maybe, before you go? And wave at her when you leave tomorrow morning? I'm sure she'd like that."

The girls smiled at Mr. Banner, and Keith thought it over and then said, "Okay."

Upstairs, a swarm of excited pixies surrounded them.

"They want a gift from you. Best sing them a song if you want them to leave," Mr. Banner advised. "They like music."

Kurt laughed. "Well, isn't that just perfect! Let's sing a few songs for the pixies, shall we?"

Everyone concurred, and in no time, they were all singing their hearts out.

When the session was over, Lou came up to Blaine to ask if he'd be back. "You WILL tell us the rest of the story, won't you?"

"Sure, I will," Blaine promised.

He turned to Kurt and asked, "When's the next session? Tomorrow?"

Kurt shook his head. "Sunday afternoons are for family."

"So Monday, then?"

"I've got glee club on Mondays, so I won't be here. But you can come, absolutely."

They left the snoozle room together, and once again, Dolores asked how it had gone.

"The story's still not finished," Blaine confessed.

"A story in installments? That's neat. So you'll be back on Monday, then? I'll jot that down in the spreadsheet. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, boys!"

Dolores clicked and typed away behind her computer, and Blaine and Kurt were already at the sliding doors when she called, "Blaine? Do I put you in for Tuesday, too?"

Blaine turned his head. "Uhm… Yep. Okay."

"Oh, good. Sam called that he couldn't make it this week. If you come instead, the children won't be so disappointed. He reads to them, you see, and he does all the voices. They love that."

Blaine didn't really know what to say to that, but Kurt laughed softly. "They love Blaine's story even more. You should have seen them, Dolores. It was like Blaine had them under a spell."

Blaine shuffled his feet and dropped his gaze when they both turned to look at him.

"You've certainly taken to this fast, Blaine," said Dolores. "I hope you'll stick around after your forty hours are up. You're a good asset to the team."

Kurt giggled and mumbled something like, "Asset is right."

Blaine felt his cheeks heat up, and his stomach swooped happily at being noticed. "Thank you. I'll… I'll think about it."

He walked towards his motorbike with Kurt behind him, and as he started fiddling with the padlock to open it, he felt Kurt's hand on his shoulder.

"Hey… I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, just now."

Blaine looked up with a grin and was just about to tell Kurt he could admire Blaine's ass all he liked, when Kurt continued, "I was out of line. I swear I didn't mean to… hit on you, or anything."

Blaine's face fell. "You didn't?"

Kurt frowned. "No."

Blaine nodded, and sat down on his bike. "No harm done. Have a nice weekend!"

He revved the engine, but Kurt, far from taking the hint to go away, grabbed one of the handlebars of his bike. "Did you want me to hit on you?"

Blaine bit his lip. "I wanted you to notice me. You're hot."

Kurt flashed him a brilliant smile. "Thanks. Flattery will get you everywhere."

"Will it get me your phone number?" Blaine wheedled, and now Kurt laughed out loud, but he held his hand out for Blaine's phone and typed his digits in, sending himself a message. "There. Now you have my number and I have yours."

They grinned at each other, and then Blaine slid his phone back in his pocket and revved the engine again. A hand on top of his stopped him.

"I'm sorry I'm going to miss the next installment of the story," Kurt told Blaine. "On Monday."

Blaine cocked his head to the side. "Well… We could meet up at the Lima Bean after my session. And your glee club. And I could tell you the next part of the story. Say… Around five?"

"Hmm… I don't know… Will you remember to check the time on Monday? If you don't, you're sure to stand me up."

Blaine nodded quickly. "I'll put on a watch. I promise."

Kurt beamed at him. "Then you've got yourself a date."