Dare

A/N: I've got a case of the feels, so this will be a little schmoopy. Also, I'm suddenly inclined to write badboy!blaine, (more like "badboywithaheartofgold!blaine" but that's kind of a long trope title) which I've never done before, so we'll see how that goes. PS – I had some trouble with FF posting this properly, so I completely deleted the chapter and republished it. Sorry if you got a notice of a new chapter and saw this one already. Now, on with the story…

"No."

The single word brought the hoots and hollers of the party to a complete stop. Everyone stared around uncomfortably for a moment until Santana spoke up.

"Sorry, Rebel Without a Clue. You chose 'dare' and I told you to kiss Lady Hummel. You have to do it. That's the game."

Blaine glared at Santana, his leather jacket creaking slightly as he leaned toward her. "Then I guess I'm not playing," he growled through clenched teeth. Santana opened her mouth to argue but was cut off when Kurt suddenly rose from his seat on the floor next to Blaine and ran towards the front door.

"Dammit, Satan," Blaine muttered as he rose to follow.

xoxoxo

Kurt sat on the front porch, eyes closed as he took deep breaths in the cold air to calm himself. He would not cry. He didn't even know why it bothered him. Hadn't he always rebuffed Blaine's overt advances before? Hadn't he told him to stop?

Three months earlier, when Blaine Anderson had first entered McKinley High School as a transfer student, the rumor mill had run double-time with stories of the new "bad boy" in school. Blaine had done nothing to counter those stories, all attitude and black leather, not really caring one way or the other what anyone thought of him. Kurt would have just avoided him altogether, but they'd been paired as lab partners in Biology, and then Kurt had been tapped to tutor Blaine in History, too. Kurt figured he'd be dead by the end of the semester.

What he hadn't counted on was the fact that Blaine not only made no secret of being gay, he made no secret of his desire to get into Kurt's pants. Kurt had initially just told Blaine off, been sarcastic, and given him the patented Kurt Hummel ice glare. When none of that had deterred Blaine's advances, he tried something new. He sat him down one day in the library and told him flat out that Blaine was making him uncomfortable, that he was being disrespectful, and that Kurt thought they could actually be friends if Blaine would stop being such a jerk and just treat Kurt like a human being. No one was more shocked than Kurt when, by the end of Kurt's speech, Blaine was studying the toes of his shoes and offering a sincere apology.

Since then, things had been going well for the unlikely duo. Blaine's grades were up, he had joined the glee club, and he had stopped lacing every conversation with innuendo (not that it didn't still creep in every once in a while – he was only human, after all).

So Kurt had been happy to go to the New Directions party with Blaine, even when the party games turned kind of silly. But when Santana dared Blaine to kiss Kurt, Blaine had just outright refused before Kurt even had a chance to react. Kurt felt humiliated, as it seemed Blaine was apparently repulsed by the thought of kissing Kurt. He'd been glad that Blaine had stopped hitting on him all the time, but that didn't mean he wanted to feel rejected, either. It was all so contradictory and confusing, as feelings often are.

He was stirred from thought by the sound of the front door opening and closing, followed by the feeling of his coat being draped over his shoulders. "You'll freeze out here," said the one voice he really didn't want to hear right now.

"Like you'd care," Kurt snapped, hating himself for the self-pity.

"Kurt," Blaine sighed, taking a seat next to him. "Kurt, will you look at me?"

After a deep breath, Kurt turned and faced Blaine. "What?" he spat.

Blaine reached for Kurt's hand, but the boy pulled back in refusal. "Will you at least let me explain?" he asked, his voice smaller than Kurt had ever heard it before. After a moment of silence which Blaine interpreted as consent to continue, he went on. "Kurt, you misunderstood my reaction in there just now."

"I don't see how, Blaine. It seemed pretty clear. Santana dared you to kiss me, and you refused." Kurt said flatly.

"Yes, I did," Blaine replied, reaching for Kurt's hand once more and holding onto it this time. "But you left before I could tell you and everyone else why."

"I know why," Kurt nearly whispered, looking away, "because you didn't want to."

Blaine reached out his free hand and turned Kurt's face back towards him gently with his index finger under Kurt's chin. "You can't believe that," he said softly, the light from the nearby streetlamp making his hazel eyes shine. "Kurt, I've wanted to kiss you from the first minute I met you. But I was such a jerk at the beginning, coming on strong all the time. You finally put me in my place, and I realized that that was no way to treat someone I really cared about."

Kurt huffed in disbelief and started to argue, "Oh, come on, if you expect…" He was cut off by Blaine's fingers against his lips.

"Please, let me finish." Blaine lowered his hand and went on. "Kurt, if and when I am lucky enough to kiss you, it will be because you want me to – because we both want to. It will be because it is the right time, not because of a dare or a game. I want it to be special, and real, and just us." He reached up and brushed a lock of hair off of Kurt's forehead, running the backs of his fingers down Kurt's cheek afterward. "I want to be able to tell you how beautiful you are, and how smart, and funny, and kind…I want to tell you how much of a difference you have made in my life, and how I feel like I'm slowly becoming a better version of myself because of you. Then, and only then, will I lean in, and allow my lips to touch yours for the first time, because that's what you deserve, Kurt. Nothing less."

The silence between them had grown heavy as the two sat pressed against each other and gazing into one another's eyes. Kurt sniffled softly, trying to hold back a tear at this sudden change of emotion. Blaine leaned in and wrapped an arm around Kurt, smiling when he felt Kurt's arms around him in return. He lightly kissed Kurt's forehead, allowing his lips to linger for a moment and feeling Kurt take a deep, slightly shuddering breath before he pulled back.

"So, are we okay?" Blaine asked, still feeling some trepidation because Kurt hadn't said anything.

Kurt quickly wiped away a traitorous tear that had escaped and nodded his head. "Yeah," he said a little hoarsely. "Yeah, we're okay." Kurt stood and pulled Blaine up beside him. "Come on, I'll take you home," he said, taking Blaine by the hand and walking down the stairs towards the car since they had arrived together.

"You don't want to go back in?" Blaine asked. He didn't really want to rejoin the party, but wanted to be sure how Kurt felt.

"No, I think we've had enough fun for one night," Kurt said sarcastically. They walked down the pathway toward the sidewalk, then Kurt suddenly stopped. "Blaine?" he said, turning toward him.

"Yes, Kurt?"

"What you said earlier? About how you would want things to be? I'd be…I'd be okay with that," he said shyly.

Blaine wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist and pulled him to his side and started walking again. "Good to know," he responded in his cocky "bad boy" manner as the boys laughed their way into the night.

A/N: I warned you about the schmoop and the feels. One of these days I'll write something deep and angsty, but for now, the cuteness rules. And yes, my "drabbles" are getting longer and longer. (sigh)