Deipnophobia
"You know dude," Finn broke the silence with, "I don't get why Rachel is so into this new kid."
"It's because he's coming in the middle of the year and is a senior like us. We barely get new freshman let alone kids who moved here just for this school."
"Hmm." Finn pulled into the school, indicating for Kurt to get out.
"See you later," Kurt opened the door, lifting his foot out.
"My mom was right Kurt, you look terrible. Sure you don't want to stay home today?"
"I'm fine." Kurt closed the door, walking away before further questions could be asked.
Truth was, he did look terrible. The dark circles under his eyes popped out more due to his paler than natural skin today. It really was no surprise when Carole requested that he took a sick leave, Kurt however, refused, claiming he wasn't sick. After breaking into the school with Rachel last night, Kurt expected his body to be exhausted with the adrenaline crash, but sleep didn't come. His mind couldn't seem to wash over the feeling of guilt for reading about that boy, Blaine, without his permission. Blaine didn't even know who Kurt was, yet he felt like he knew everything he could about Blaine.
That's why Kurt decided he was going to confront him today, and apologize for stealing the information that wasn't rightfully his.
I can do this. Kurt thought before walking into the school.
Blaine popped a piece of gum in his mouth as the last five minutes of his fourth period ticked away. It wasn't prescribed, but his doctor recommended gum, saying it was something only Blaine could physically control. He could control where it went in his mouth, and because it was gooey enough, he could decided what dents and marks to scar it with. With this knowledge in hand, his mother than proceeded to buy Blaine gum about every week. Bubblegum, mint, fruit flavored, trident, orbit, you named it, Blaine had it. In his last week of school in California, he in fact became the official 'gum dealer'.
A timer on the teacher's desk finally vibrated, and they were free to go. Apparently they didn't have bells at this school.
Blaine quickly brushed his book into his bag and walked out without a backwards glance. He weaved in and out through the people in the hallway, making it to his locker. Once he got there, Blaine twisted the knob a few times, letting the cold blue open up to him. He switched out textbooks and notebooks, the noise in the hallway not dying down. No one was heading off to their next class, and Blaine guessed that was because since the school was so small, everyone had first hour lunch, rather than at his old school where there were two different lunches. Blaine looked around before pulling a plastic bag out of his pocket, this was still high school, and so no one would care if he hung things up in his locker, right?
Besides, they were just pictures he wanted to put up, nothing too graphic. He gently pulled the first picture from the bag, tore off some tape and hung it on the top of his locker. It was of him and his cousin when they were both eight, playing at the beach. Blaine cracked a small smile at the memory of her burying him in the sand until he literally could not move.
The next one was of him and his old glee club. They were all standing in a line, arms around each other's shoulders, and smiling. Blaine ran his eyes down the row, naming off each of them, Nick, Jeff, Sebastian, Thad, Wes…
The last picture was the most recent. It was of him and his best friend, Sebastian Smythe, standing in front of his old house. This was taken right before Blaine left, so the mocking sign claiming the house was for sale stood in the background, and his shoulders were a bit fuzzy due to him slightly shaking of fear and sadness before he had left.
Blaine sighed, carefully tapping that one up, smoothing out the corners of the photograph.
Heal up fast, buddy. Maybe then you could move back here before the end of the year.
He had promised Sebastian that he would. But he knew it was an empty promise, a disease that had been embedded under his skin for this many years wasn't going to go away that quickly.
With a sigh, Blaine grabbed his lunch and book, closing the locker and walking to the cafeteria with the weight of the lies he told to his best friend weighing him down.
Blaine wasn't surprised when he saw that the cafeteria was spotless white, with large windows that allowed light to flow in gracefully. Blaine flinched, seeing how the wind outside was causing the trees to shake, he made sure to pick a seat that was facing away from the windows.
Blaine sat alone, the simple consequence of being new and not knowing anyone. It didn't really bother him though, it just meant he wouldn't have to answer anyone's questions, which was another consequence of being the new kid. Blaine bent down, pulling out his paper bag lunch and his book. He opened his book, and barely paying attention to what he was putting in his mouth, began to read about a girl who too was sick.
Kurt stood in the doorway of the cafeteria, glancing around looking for Blaine. He knew the boy had this lunch, saying that there was no other lunch hour because the school didn't have enough students for two lunches. When he finally saw the hunched over boy with curly hair and a dark blue button down shirt, he took a deep breath, slowly walking over.
Kurt had decided that morning that if he couldn't do it during lunch, he probably never gathers up the courage to tell him. He didn't really know why he felt so guilty about it, normally he wouldn't be stressing over it, but for whatever reason, Blaine was different.
Kurt soon found himself standing on the opposite side of the table in front of Blaine. The curly haired boy didn't even notice, he was picking at a small container of strawberries while his other hand was holding a book that Kurt could tell he was completely sucked into. Half his mind told him to leave Blaine be, let him read his book, but the other part that controlled his mouth forced it open, letting words spill out.
"Can I sit here?" There, he had asked it.
Except the boy didn't look up, didn't acknowledge Kurt's existence. Of course this bothered him, how could he have not heard Kurt?
"Excuse me," he asked a bit louder, "can I sit here?" He watched as Blaine slowly lifted his head, blinking in surprise before nodding.
Kurt slid into the chair, biting his lip anxiously.
"So, erm-"
"Wait," Blaine held up his finger, silencing Kurt. "I'm almost done with this chapter." Kurt was slightly taken aback from being silenced and from how different Blaine sounded when he wasn't screaming. It sounded nice, nicer than Kurt would've personally liked in this situation. He watched as Blaine ended the chapter with a small smile, closing the book and folding his hands on the table, looking directly at Kurt.
"So what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I saw that you were new and," Kurt paused, realizing he was sounding really cliché at the moment. "I'm Kurt."
"I'm Blaine."
Yeah, I know. Is what he wanted to say, but didn't, instead he said, "so what are you reading?" Blaine glanced at the blue book before returning the gaze to Kurt.
"It's called The Fault in our Stars by John Green."
"Huh, never heard of it." Kurt pulled out a yogurt from his lunch, unable to take his blue eyes away from Blaine's brown ones.
"It's about this girl, Hazel, who has cancer. Then she meets Augustus Waters, survivor of cancer."
"Sounds like your everyday love story," Kurt commented. Blaine just shrugged.
"I'm a sucker for those type of things." He paused, "what can I do for you Kurt, surely you didn't sit over here in the curiosity of what I was reading."
"No, I didn't. I just-" wanted to tell you that I broke into the school last night, and read your file, so I now know everything about you. "Wanted to make sure you were okay. With your panic attack and all yesterday…" He watched as Blaine blushed, looking down at the table.
"I thought you looked familiar," he mumbled loud enough for Kurt to hear. Kurt was about to say something before Blaine spoke up again, "thanks, for you know, finding me."
"It's fine. If you haven't noticed, it happens a lot at this school." Kurt couldn't help but smile encouragingly at Blaine. Blaine chuckled softly, and for some reason, Kurt's heart skipped a beat at the sound.
"'Suppose it does." Another pause. "Strawberry?" Blaine grabbed the container on his side of the table, holding it out to Kurt. Kurt looked at them skeptically.
"They're not poisoned, are they?" At this Blaine laughed, causing Kurt to get goose bumps along his arms.
"Why would I bother to poison them? Take it more as a thank you for helping me yesterday." Kurt smiled, reaching out and taking a piece of the red fruit.
"Sorry, it's just at the other school they would actually be poisoned."
"Have you ever been to the other school?" Kurt shook his head.
"No, been going here my whole high school career. How bout you?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"No. Like you said before, I'm new, moved here from California."
"Just for this school?" Kurt pretended to act shocked, all those years in acting have finally paid off.
"Yeah." Blaine shrugged the topic off, clearly not wanting to talk about it. Kurt didn't blame him. "Hey, so I was told that to join sports and such you had to go to the other school. What all do they have there?" Kurt's heart slightly dropped, worried that maybe the transcripts had lied and Blaine was really a sports person.
"You know, the usual. Football, hockey, swimming. We also have a small theater group and a glee club." He said carefully, testing waters.
He could see Blaine's eyes light up when he mentioned the glee club, and Kurt could feel himself sigh in relieve.
"Really? Glee club?"
"Yeah. We're pretty small though, good, but small. We also aren't popular, Orville doesn't really-" Kurt stopped, realizing that he was probably scaring Blaine away rather than convincing him to join.
"That's fine. I may have to join, I was in my glee club at my old school."
"Really?" Again, acting surprised.
"Yeah, we were the Warblers. All boy and acapella." Kurt smirked.
"We're New Directions. Mixed gender and actual instruments." Blaine laughed again, and Kurt could feel his smile growing. "You should join. We have practice this afternoon. You could come by and see if you like it. My step brother comes by after school and picks me up, we could give you a ride." Kurt could practically feel Blaine's beaming warm up the whole room.
"You sure? I don't want to intrude or anything."
"Promise, you'll be fine. A lot of the club goes here, you might know a few." Kurt couldn't get enough of this boys smile. He had small dimples on his cheeks, and his eyes crinkled a bit at the corners. It made Kurt want to sit straighter, smile back, and make sure that Blaine joined the glee club.
"I'd like that." Blaine responded.
"Great. Meet me outside the school when seventh is over." Kurt stood, swinging his bag over his shoulder, "I have to go call my brother, tell him you're coming. I guess I'll leave you to your book now."
"Alright, thanks Kurt. It was nice talking to you, and again, thanks, for yesterday."
"Anytime." Kurt smiled at him one last time before turning and walking out.
He would tell Blaine about last night. But right now wasn't the right moment, and secretly, he didn't want Blaine to hate him just yet.
A/N: So our boys are now formally introduced! Please review and tell me how this chapter was, it really does mean a lot!
PS: I do NOT own The Fault in Our Stars. John Green does. If I did, I'd be writing real books, not fanfiction :P