Rachel had been a pain in the ass about the whole concert thing. Constantly bringing up around Mercedes, calling Kurt every night with new outfit suggestions, and worst of all, going on and on and on about how the whole experience would be better because Finn would be there. She didn't do it to be mean but Kurt was entirely convinced Rachel lacked any sort of skills in being humble.

Mercedes on the other hand, hadn't pushed the issue at all, but Kurt knew she was just absolutely disappointed. Kurt wished he could say he was disappointed—in reality, he was elated. He was just upset his best friend wouldn't be there with him.

"Rachel, shut up or the tickets are going to Mercedes." Kurt warned at lunch the next day when Rachel brought up the idea of buying and wearing concert shirts. First, it was rude just to bring it up in front of Mercedes. Second of all, there was no way he was meeting his idle and prom date in a shirt with his name on it. Rachel widened her eyes but her lips zipped shut. Kurt wondered if he should just buy tickets all the time if it meant he could Rachel to shut up. Finn squeezed her should gently.

"Dude, she can't help it. She's just excited. I don't get it but I guess I will soon enough." Mercedes does actually glare at Finn. She doesn't get too upset with Rachel anymore because well, it was just Rachel. She was however pissed that Finn was going to the concert when he wasn't a Blaine Anderson fan. He actually had the nerve to ask Kurt what c.d. he was listening to this morning. Both of them replied at the same time 'The person you're going to see, doofus.' Finn blushed and mutter an 'oh right'.

"Excited about what? Finally going to get the little lady there, Fincess?" Both Rachel and Finn blushed at the same time when Puck squeezed himself into the table. Mercedes smiled just a little bit at the couple's embarrassment while Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Uh no…" Finn stuttered, trying to regain his focus. "Me, Rachel, Kurt and Santana are going to a concert. It's some guy. Raine Wilson?"

"Blaine Anderson." Kurt growled lowly. Finn nodded.

"Right, that guy."

"Yeah, I heard earlier." Puck threw in, taking a bite of the spaghetti lunch. "It's all the school's been talking about for the past hour."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Noah. What are you talking about?"

Puck tilted his head. "You haven't seen it yet?"

"Seen what?" Kurt asked impatiently. Just then Santana pushes Tina aside so she and Brittany can sit down.

"Your boy posted about you on twitter." She explained. Kurt turned and widened his eyes. He did what? "Well, he didn't mention you by name but he was excited for Prom and everyone at the school figured it out."

Kurt, as if noticing for the first time today, saw that a lot of people were looking at his table. Fuck, how had he not noticed? Well, if it was only an hour ago, then that would explain it. Word (especially if Jacob Ben Israel was involved) got around here fast. Kurt sunk in his seat and groaned. "Fantastic."

"That everyone was calling you an idiot a week ago for making that video and now they're eating their words because you're taking the incredibly sexy Blaine Anderson to prom? Yeah, it's a real tragedy isn't it?" Santana snorted.

Puck took a large mouthful of food and pointed his fork at Finn. "Dude, why are you going to see this guy?"

"Because Blaine Anderson is amazing and he wants to share the experience with me!" Rachel cooed, intertwining her arm with Finn's and smiling. Puck, Kurt, and Santana roll their eyes all at the same time.

"My dad's making me take Finn. Apparently his size makes him more of a threat in the mean streets of Detroit."

"As um…. pathetic as that is. As your bro, I can't let you do that." Puck leans forward and smirks. "Instead, we should try and get into Joe Louis Arena and see if we can see some Red Wings training camp."

Finn perked up when Puck brought that up. One of his favorite sports team (among many other things) were the Red Wings hockey team. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Noah, that's…"

"Genius!" Mercedes interrupted. Every eye turned to her as she had never used 'genius' or a compliment for that matter, to refer to Puck. "You can sneak with me into the car after they leave Kurt's house then you and Finn can go watch…whatever you were going to watch and I can go to the concert and meet Blaine!"

Rachel seemed just as uncertain as Kurt felt. Though, it was for different reasons. Kurt was worried he'd get caught or Finn and Puck would do something stupid in the large city. Rachel was uncertain because she REALLLY wanted Finn to come with her to meet Blaine. In this case, Kurt considered himself more thoughtful. At the same time, it was hard to ignore the excited look on Mercedes face when all Kurt had seen for days was crushing disappointment.

"I don't know…" Kurt said honestly. Santana rolled her eyes.

"What's the big deal, Porcelain? You let Puck and Giant go out on the town and we all get to see Anderson in all his sexy glory. Everyone wins and daddy doesn't have to find out." It was true. If this all went according to plan, then his dad wouldn't have to know that Finn didn't go to the actual concert with them. As far as he's concerned, he's held up his end of the bargain. He's taking Finn; Finn could walk him up to the doors for all he cared.

Then Mercedes widened her eyes and pouted. "Oh no, not the puppy dog eyes." A smile cracked across Mercedes face as she leaned across the table, pouting closer and closer to Kurt. Kurt held his hands up and chuckled. "Alright fine! Finn, you can go with Puck but if you breathe a word of it to our parents, I'll murder you! Understand? This stays between all of us." Santana smirked and Kurt narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"Nothing….It's just if I had a quarter for every time I heard that right Finn?" Santana said jabbing her foot against Finn's leg. He jumped and tried to move closer to Rachel but she glares him down. Puck fist pumps Santana (and that just ushers in an entire new line of terrible thoughts). The good news seems to be a compromise has been worked out.

The bad news is he's trusting Puck and Finn not to screw up.

()

"Kurt, can we stop please? I have to go to the bathroom." Finn complained from the backseat, behind him. Kurt tried to concentrate, as it was the first time he had driven into a big city. That was difficult when you remember that A. you were driving to meet your favorite superstar and B. this was the fourth time Finn had asked to stop and use the bathroom.

"San…"

Santana reached from the very back and wrapped her arm around Finn's neck. Her lips near his ear. "We lost a half-hour because you had to drink three mountain dews at every stop. You can hold it or I can go Lima Heights on you."

"Thank you." Mercedes and Kurt chimed in from the front. Puck groaned from besides Santana as she leaned back into her seat.

"Are we there yet?"

"Do I need to sick Santana on you too?" Kurt said. They must have been close. Kurt could see young women about their age walking with Blaine Anderson t-shirts on. Many of them carrying Red Vines and singing his lyrics so loud Kurt could hear them from the car. That was totally insane—he thought as he turned up The Warblers c.d. (the third one since they started) and got another handful of Red Vines. Mercedes started mouthing the lyrics to the song.

"Hey, so what do you think he'll be like in person? What was he like on the phone?" She asked after a line or so.

"Well, he was really nice. Kind of funny." Probably really funny once you got to know him too. Kurt may have been fantasizing about this moment as much as he had been worried about it.

Over the phone and on tape was one thing. Would Blaine still want to go to prom with him if they met in person? Would he think Kurt was some annoying fan? Well, in retrospect he was. It was the power of celebrity after all—it turned the celebrity into a King and Queens and everyone else into hopelessly devoted servants. It was amazing how one man can just rip the pride away from another. And Kurt was perfectly willing to let that pride go.

They finally found a parking garage not too far away from where the concert was. The group piled out of the car and Kurt turned to glare down Puck and Finn. "You are to head back to this car the moment we text you. Stay out of trouble or at least have the decency not to get caught. If my dad finds out…"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry Hummel! You're talking to the Puckasaurus here." Puck responded with a cocky smile. Kurt frowned.

"Noah, what you consider comforting is part of the problem." Kurt said locking his car and putting his keys in his pocket. "It's a very sad sight when Finn is the most responsible member of the group."

"Oh for the love of…Puck, if you get in trouble, I'm cutting your dick off. No threats, no warnings, just swish." Santana made a cutting motion along with her sound effect. Each of the boys widened their eyes even if Puck was the only one being addressed. "Understood?"

Both Finn and Puck nodded before quickly scurrying away. Santana gave the girls and Kurt a smug look and cocked her head. "Want something done? Talk about the boys and they jump right to it. Now I believe we have some sex-on-a-stick to enjoy."

They walk through the city and Kurt admits that his father's fear may not have been misplaced. Graffiti—some artistic, others just profanity—are sprayed on buildings and Kurt's sure he's seen ten more homeless people in the block alone than he has his whole life in Lima. At the same time, Detroit holds it's own beauty. It has history—this place has seen more in it's entire existence than Kurt could ever hope to see in his lifetime. Of course tonight, one of the biggest events of Kurt's life was going to take place here.

()

"15 minutes before show time, Mr. Anderson." A stagehand from the theater comes in to say. Blaine's strumming one of his less expensive guitars—the one where the strings are hard and brush against his calluses. Compared to the one's he actually plays on stage, it's a work out which will make the rest of the night seem like a breeze.

"Thanks." Blaine says with a smile. The stagehand is just about to close the door when he stops and opens it again.

"Oh, and your manager wanted me to tell you that your guests are here."

Blaine's fingers continued playing but the words stuck with him. As if for the first time he realized holy shit, he was actually doing this. He was taking a teenager to Prom and he was out in the audience right now. "Oh cool. Thank you."

()

Kurt had practically screamed when he first looked at the tickets and saw Blaine had given them front row seats. Considering those were the seats that usually went first in the sales, Kurt didn't want to know who had scorned to get these seats. He certainly had a hard time feeling when he was right under what was sure to be Blaine's microphone. So close, he could count the little guitar picks on the side and read the music on the songbook if he so wanted.

"Oh my god, this place is huge!" Mercedes gasped. And well yeah, it was true. Way bigger than the place they had gone to see him at last time. He couldn't count the rows behind him if he wanted to, especially since they were beginning to fill with eager fans. The main floor stayed flat maybe until Kurt could assume was the 'p' section and then a gradual up build began all the way up the ceiling. Waves of signs and cell phones taking pictures and thunderous talking filled the area as the excitement was pretty unanimous.

"This is the kind of place I want to perform on one day. For the separate solo career I'll be taking as well as my Broadway one." Rachel stated matter-of-fact like.

Santana nudged Kurt with her elbow. "I should whore you out more often."

Kurt felt like he should have a retort to that but really, he just shrugged. "Seems to be working out well so far."

"Hi, excuse me." They all turned around to find a taller, Asian man dressed in a white button-up shirt and tie standing before him with a clipboard. Guessing from his outfit, Kurt assumed he either worked for the theater or worked for Blaine. "Kurt Hummel, correct?"

"Um, yes that's me." The man smiled and made a mark on his clipboard.

"Excellent! I figured it had to be you but I wanted to make sure. I'm Wes, Blaine's manager. He wanted me to go over a few things with you." Oh the notorious Wes! Kurt had heard of him. Generally, it was complaints on the fan page about how Wes would yell at fans for crowding Blaine's hotel or following him down streets. Also, he had acquired the nickname buzz-kill when one night, Blaine and the Warblers played in their hotel lounge just because they had been bored and Wes put a stop to it when the clock struck 2 in the morning. Yet, it was also well known that Wes was one of Blaine's closest friends and if Wes ever did anything that seemed less than fun, it was in Blaine's best interest. "First, he wanted to tell you that he set up a tab at the bar for you and your friends—"

"Bar?" Santana perked up. Wes grimaced and but didn't look up from his clipboard.

"Where you and your friends can get non-alcoholic drinks. Here, give me your hands, I'll mark them so the bartenders know you're on the tab and underage." Wes took out a marker and made a mark on each hand. Some sort of scribble that Kurt was sure had some meaning to them but otherwise meant nothing to them. He knew it must have been an important mark because the shape on all four hands were nearly identical. Wes recapped the marker. "There you go. So help yourselves to that whenever. After the show, just stay in your seats until I come get you. I'll take you to Blaine's bus where you guys will be hanging out. But you have to keep quiet about it, last time we let someone go out to the bus, she blabbed it to everyone around her and they just followed her out—needless to say, it wasn't a pretty sight."

Kurt didn't know if he should be nervous or flattered that Blaine trust him enough to keep quiet. He spared a short glare to Mercedes and Rachel before nodded to Wes's request. Wes smiled again. "Great, well, enjoy the show guys!" Wes was turning to leave when he made a quick glance down to his clipboard and stopped. "Oh Kurt! One more thing…Blaine wanted to know what your favorite song was."

Kurt's eyes widened at the question. Was Blaine really going to play any song he requested? All three girls looked at him expectedly as Kurt swallowed and said the song title. Wes smirked and made a note on his clipboard before walking away. Kurt sat in his chair and fumbled with his fingers. Suddenly, he was way more nervous than excited about meeting Blaine.

()

"Mr. Anderson, it's time." Blaine adjusted his jacket before following the stagehand out the door. This was always deepest part of performing. The moments when you could hear the fans screaming, the intro riling them up, and most importantly, the energy of a building full of people who loved you wanting to see you do what you love most. These were the moments that sometimes turned Blaine back into the teenaged boy from Ohio and grab every moment he could. How he went from desperately lonely to adored by a nation in such a short amount of time was beyond his understanding. All he knew was he would soak every moment and hope to god it wasn't just a dream.

Wes stood just off stage, holding the 1970's Blue fender guitar that Blaine had fallen in love with instantly when they found it at a pawnshop. At the time, it had been chipped and dirty, not even stringed for use. Blaine however, saw the potential in it and rescued it and now almost every night, he played at least a few songs on it. Blaine approached and allowed Wes to sling the guitar over Blaine's head. Wes than adjusted the guitar to his reach and height and straightened out Blaine's clothing.

"Did your breathing exercises?"

"Of course."

"Warmed up your fingers?"

Blaine held up his calloused hand proudly. "Already bleeding." He gripped the neck of the fender and asked. "You saw Kurt?"

"Yeah. Cute kid. He's just nervous enough for me to feel safe bringing him out to the bus. His friends, not so sure but he'll keep them in line. Now don't go jumping off the drum stage or climb on shit tonight. The last thing we need for our last couple concerts is for you to break something." Wes pat his cheek in that overbearing way he always did before taking out a piece of paper and slipping in into Blaine's pocket. "Your date would also like for you to sing this song tonight."

Blaine's hand brushed over the pocket and he smiled. "Thanks."

Wes shrugged. "All in a days work. Good luck Killer."

Without another moment, Blaine stepped out onto the stage. The entire room exploded into screams and cheers. He stepped up in front of the microphone. He reached out and grabbed a pick just waiting for the lights. One, two, three.

The lights flickered on just as he pushed himself forward to the microphone and started singing. The guitar falling in line as the band behind him smoothed into his rhythm. In this setting, he was focused. Music kept him going. Made him better, stronger, and more worthy of love than anything else in his life.

He happened to glance down and saw him. Kurt was sitting (well, now standing) feet away from him. A large smile on his face and the beautiful glasz eyes beaming with such wonder and excitement. Holy mother of god—he knew the boy was beautiful but the low-resolution video just didn't do him any justice. His eyes danced with the lights as opposed to submit under their strength. His body moved with the music with such ease it was almost like he was the music. And his aura—his aura shot right up through Blaine even though he was the one in front of nearly a thousand people.

Blaine realized because he had been staring at Kurt, he twisted his lines around. Embarrassed, Blaine just laughed it off. "Maybe I should learn my own fucking lyrics sometime, huh?" Fortunately, he could have sung a song about dancing in his underwear and the crowd would still cheer for him. Kurt blushed and looked down when Blaine's eyes found him again.

This was going to be the most difficult concert of his life.

And there's chapter 4 (finally!). Sorry it took so long, hit major writers block. I had to kind of force myself to write this one through but I think it came out well. Next chapter, Kurt and Blaine will get to talk :)

A few reviewers in a couple of my different stories have commented on the way I answer reviews in stories. I usually answer them in this because A. it's easier for me to focus and just answer them all once, and B. because if someone has any questions, usually, it's a good place to find the answer. However, it seems like it's starting to bother the readers so for this chapter, I'm going to go through and reply to reviews with the reply thing and put reviews that can't be replied to (where people aren't signed or are anonymous) in here. I'll try it and see if it works—if it does, I might just start doing that for all my stories, and if it doesn't then I'll just switch back. Thank you all for being patient in that regards and I hope regardless of which path I choose, you continue to enjoy the story.

h8 finn- I'm sorry! I just felt like this story needed the bitchy, high and mighty ex and who better to play that than Sebastian? If it makes you feel any better, he's going to stay pretty evil through out the entire story. Lol, I might have guessed by your name you'd be unhappy about Finn going to the concert (well, as I revealed in this chapter, going along for the ride). I assure you though, there is a purpose to him going along! Thank you for being loving the story despite me putting the characters you hate in there :) Hope you continue to enjoy it.