Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of Glee. And as far as Harry Potter goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.

A/N: Hey everyone. So sorry for the long wait. My family and I were recently received some bad news and emotionally, I just haven't been able write worth a damn. The first half of this was written before the bad news and the second part after. I'm not sure how I feel about the end result, but if I keep messing with it I'm going to wind up ruining it.

Anyway, sorry again for taking so long, and I hope you enjoy.

Kurt was sitting in the common room after dinner one night when Blaine dropped down onto the couch beside him so that he was laying on his back with his legs dangling over the armrest, the top of Blaine's head brushing against Kurt's outer thigh. Pausing in his work - a Transfiguration essay that was due early next week - Kurt looked down and rose an eyebrow at the other boy, but Blaine had his eyes closed.

"I hate Prefect duties," he announced.

"Maybe you should try being less perfect, then," Kurt suggested, smiling.

Blaine snorted. "Funny."

"And they say I'm the sarcastic one."

Blaine opened one eye and grinned up at Kurt. "I brought you a present."

"Hmm, is it a new pair of Dr. Martens?"

"Ah… no. Sorry."

"Disappointing."

"Well then," Blaine said in a haughty tone. "If you're not going to appreciate my gift, I just wont give it to you."

When Blaine made to get up, Kurt held him down. "Hey! I want my present."

Blaine turned up his nose at Kurt, which might have been more effective had Blaine not been laying on his back. "No. You were mean to me. I want an apology."

Kurt sighed. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Blaine pressed. "Be specific."

"For being mean," he said, rolling his eyes. Sometimes, Blaine was completely ridiculous. Cute, but ridiculous.

"Well, alright then." Blaine lifted his hips a bit and stuffed his hand into his right pocket. "Here you go!" he said excitedly as he pulled he his hand back out. He held a Golden Snitch between his thumb and forefinger.

Slowly, Kurt reached out and took the ball from Blaine's hand. "…Blaine. Where did you get this?"

"From the Quidditch supply shed."

"…So my present is a stolen item?"

Blaine winced at Kurt's tone. "Well, I wouldn't say stolen."

"Really," Kurt asked. "What would you say then, if not stolen."

"Er… borrowed without permission?"

Kurt snorted. "Which basically means that it was stolen and therefore, I can't keep it."

"Well… okay, yes, that's true. You can't keep it. But, I promise you'll still like it, because it's everything a present should be: fun and practical. Really!" Blaine insisted at Kurt's raised eyebrow. "Watch. Hold your hand out flat with the ball in your palm."

Kurt sighed, but did as Blaine instructed. The ball remained stationary for about five seconds before it spread its wings without warning and shot out of Kurt's hand. Kurt, however, was faster than the snitch and managed to grab it back just before it got far enough away to escape.

"See?" Blaine asked, looking very pleased with himself. "Good for amusement and reflex practice. Not that you really need it, though. Your reflexes are amazing."

Kurt glanced down at Blaine, but his eyes were closed again, his face relaxed. Not wanting to be that creeper that was always leering at his ridiculously attractive gay friend, Kurt looked back at the Snitch in his hand and repeated the release and catch move. It actually was kind of amusing, if he was being honest.

"Are you going to keep me company tonight?" Blaine asked suddenly and Kurt looked down at his friend.

"Don't I always?" Kurt challenged. It was Wednesday.

Blaine's smile was radiant. "You do," he said, looking up at Kurt. "And I always appreciate it."

Kurt shrugged, going for nonchalance as he broke eye contact with Blaine to resume playing with the snitch, but he was sure his blush gave him away. "I know you do."

Blaine sighed in a purely contented way and closed his eyes again. "Hey, Kurt?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you sing to me? Please?"

"Okay," Kurt agreed as he put the snitch down. "What do you want me to sing?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't care. Everything you sing sounds beautiful."

Kurt's entire face burned with heat at that and he considered himself fortunate that Blaine's eyes were still closed. Not wanting to attract attention to himself by keeping silent, Kurt picked the first song he could think of - "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. This time, Kurt wasn't able to help himself and he studied Blaine's face as he sang. He always thought that Blaine's features were unique. Separately, they weren't really the type that defined beauty - thick triangular brows, large eyes, and that curly mess of hair. But combined together, his features somehow made him beautiful - just like Blaine himself.

Kurt seriously doubted that he would ever be attracted to someone with regularly shaped eyebrows again. And he absolutely loved Blaine's hair.

"That feels nice," Blaine murmured once Kurt finished his song.

Horrified, Kurt realized that he had been running his fingers through Blaine's curls. "Oh, god, I'm sorry." He snatched his hand away from Blaine's head like it burned.

Blaine opened his eyes only long enough to reach out and catch Kurt's wrist. "Don't stop. Feels good," he said, guiding Kurt's hand back to his head.

Tentatively, Kurt pushed his pointer finger into the vortex of one of Blaine's curls. Slowly, Kurt pulled his finger outwards, gently stretching the curl to its limit before releasing it and watching with interest as it shot back into it's coiled shape. Blaine pushed his head closer to Kurt's thigh, a happy smile on his face. Emboldened, Kurt threaded all five of his fingers into Blaine's hair, indulging himself in the silkiness of Blaine's dark curls. Blaine released a deep breath and his whole body seemed to relax.

In the month that Kurt had been at Hogwarts, he and Blaine had gotten pretty comfortable in their friendship, and with Blaine being such a physically affectionate person, casual touching was something that came with being friends with him. But as affectionate as Blaine was with, well, everyone, Kurt couldn't help but feel that Blaine was that much more affectionate with Kurt, and that the affection in their friendship was different. It was less platonic and more intimate. They weren't doing anything wrong, of course, but with passing each week, Kurt couldn't help but feel like they grew more and more intimate with each other without actually being intimate with each other, and right now was just a new way that they were pushing the limit. He wasn't sure exactly how he felt about that… but for some reason, he wanted to push more.

Holding his breath, Kurt untangled his fingers from Blaine's hair and ran his forefinger along Blaine's right eyebrow and down his cheek. Kurt heard Blaine's breath hitch just seconds before his eyes flew open and he visibly tensed. His hand shot up to grip Kurt's wrist. His hold wasn't rough. In fact, the touch was so light it was barely even there, but it was as effective as a vice.

Kurt didn't dare speak as they stared at each other. Blaine seemed to be searching for something and Kurt got the very distinct feeling that the second he tried to justify or apologize for his actions, Blaine would pull away.

It seemed to take forever, but Blaine must have found something reassuring in Kurt's eyes because he finally released Kurt's hand and relaxed by allowing his eyes to fall closed once more. Taking this as the okay to keep going, Kurt resumed tracing Blaine's features lightly with his finger. His heart hammered wildly in his chest, and his whole body was tingling, but his hand never shook once as he ghosted over Blaine's cheeks, his forehead, his slightly fluttering, baby soft eyelids, and down the bridge of his nose. When Kurt's finger got to the tip of Blaine's nose, Blaine's lips parted, and Kurt felt warm breath against his hand.

Gathering up every single drop of courage he possessed, Kurt ran two fingers over Blaine's bottom lip. Blaine's eyes flashed open, but this time Kurt didn't still his hand. The texture of Blaine's impossibly smooth lips was absolutely addicting and Kurt knew right then and there that were he ever to kiss Blaine Anderson, it would be the most amazing experience of Kurt's entire life.

"Kurt," Blaine said softly, his lips moving against the pads of Kurt's fingers as he spoke.

And Kurt couldn't help it; he moaned.

It wasn't a loud sound, and it definitely wasn't obscene in any way. It was soft, and quiet, and pleasurable, and innocent, but Kurt's hand flew away from Blaine's lips in utter shame.

Oh my god, what did I just do?

"I'm so sorry," Kurt whispered in a rush. He absolutely refused to look at Blaine.

"Hey," Blaine said softly and Kurt felt the couch cushions dip under Blaine's weight as he shifted around to sit up. "Kurt, look at me, please."

Kurt… didn't.

Blaine sighed. "Kurt, you did absolutely nothing wrong. You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have let you do that."

Blaine was only trying to make Kurt feel better. Kurt knew this. But hearing it still hurt like hell.

But of course he couldn't let Blaine know that.

"I don't know why I did that," Kurt admitted.

"It's a normal reaction. You don't have to be ashamed of it. It was just a portrayal of how you were feeling at the time."

Finally, Kurt dared to look in Blaine's direction. "So… you don't think I'm gross… or perverted or something?"

"Of course not."

Kurt took a deep breath. "Okay."

Blaine smiled reassuringly and gently bumped Kurt's shoulder. "Hey, why don't I make us a fire?"

"That would be nice," Kurt said truthfully.

Blaine smiled again and patted Kurt's knee as he stood up to make good on his offer.

"Alright, Anderson, what is going on with you today? You didn't even gel your hair back this morning."

Blaine looked at Wes and sighed as he fell into his regular seat in the Arithmancy classroom. "I don't know," he mumbled as he self-consciously ran a hand through his untamed curls.

Nick grinned. "Well, we do," he said, indicating between himself and Jeff. "You need to indulge in a long wank."

"And while you're at it, invite Kurt to join you," Jeff suggested.

"You can both do it together."

"Or better yet, do it to each other."

Blaine scowled at his friends. "Because that would help me."

Their grins were so wide their lips turned a bit white. It was creepy looking. "See, we think it would."

David glared at the two of them before catching Blaine's eye. "Does this have anything to do with last night? Because Kurt looked quite comfortable sleeping against your shoulder when we came down this morning."

Blaine sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "I don't know what I'm doing," he admitted, hating that it was true. "With Kurt."

What Blaine did know was that he had seriously fucked up last night when he let Kurt touch his face like that. It had been the most intimate experience of Blaine's life, and it had absolutely been a huge mistake. Kurt had been so innocent about it all, getting all flustered and embarrassed over a tiny, barely even audible moan when Blaine had been laying there half aroused and about ready to suck Kurt's fingers into his mouth. It was shameful, really.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Jeff said, serious for once, "but isn't that the point of being sixteen? You're not required to know anything other then how you feel about him and how he feels about you. That's as complicated as it should be."

Blaine glanced sideways at Jeff. "You know why those rules don't apply to me."

Nick shook his head. "That was two years ago, Blaine. You can't be afraid of yourself forever. Just tell him how you feel."

"I can't," Blaine disagreed.

"Sure you can, Blainy baby. It's easy," Jeff insisted. "Watch," he ordered before turning to Thad, who was reading quietly at his desk. "Thad, I'm hopelessly in love with you. Will you be my boyfriend?"

"No," Thad said without looking up from his book.

"See?" Jeff grinned.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "I won't, then," he rephrased himself. "And I'm not hopelessly in love with Kurt."

"Pfft!" Wes laughed rather obnoxiously and everyone turned to glare at him. "What?" Wes asked as if he hadn't just showered them all in spit. "Wasn't that a joke?"

Blaine scowled at his friend. "No."

"Ah," Wes said. "Just a flat out lie, then. I get it."

"No, you don't," Blaine insisted, beginning to get annoyed. "None of you do."

David sighed. "We get that you're torturing yourself when you don't have to be. Kurt likes you. He would understand if you just explained it to him."

Blaine scowled at his desk. "I seriously doubt that."

"Well, how do you know if you don't try?" David pressed.

"Look, it doesn't matter if he understands or not. Kurt deserves better."

"You're wrong," Nick insisted, looking frustrated and a little bit angry.

But Blaine didn't think so. Everything about Kurt was absolutely stunning. Everything. And Blaine had no place tainting something so beautiful.

"What is Hogsmeade?" Kurt asked Mercedes and Rachel without preamble as he dropped into the chair between the two of them. Ancient Runes wasn't scheduled to start for another five minutes, which meant that they had about ten to fifteen minutes before Professor Schue showed up and started class. Plenty of time for Kurt to get answers.

"Hogsmeade is a village," Rachel explained and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"What she means to say is Hogsmeade is a good time. It's like a field trip to an outdoor mall, only we don't have assigned groups and the teachers don't follow us aground like creepy stalkers."

Rachel shot Mercedes a look. "But it is a village, and Kurt asked what it was, not what we do there, or how much fun we have."

"Whatever," Mercedes waved Rachel off as she turned back to Kurt. "Didn't you get a permission slip for the Hogsmeade trips with your Hogwarts letter?"

Kurt shook his head. "No… should I have?"

Rachel thought on that. "Usually only third years get the permission slips because once your guardians have given you permission to go, that permission is valid for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. But you're a transfer, so they might have forgotten you would need one."

"Were you planning on going?" Mercedes wanted to know. "Because if you are, you should go see the headmistress so you can send a permission slip home to your dad. The first visit is on Halloween."

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. The only reason why I asked about it in the first place is because Sean Paplosky brought it up in Transfiguration."

"Brought it up how?" Rachel asked.

"I guess he asked if I wanted to go."

"You guess?" Rachel asked at the same time Mercedes exclaimed, "Boy, you got asked out on a date and you're only telling us now?"

"Is that was he was asking for?" Kurt asked, frowning.

Mercedes and Rachel shared a look. "You're kidding, right?" the former asked.

"No," Kurt said slowly. "When he mentioned it I thought that he was offering me some badly named alcohol or something. It was hard to understand him. He was kind of stuttering, and all he really said was 'so, you, me, Hogsmeade?'"

"Aw," Mercedes cooed. "You must have made him all tongue tied. That's so cute."

"Sean Paplosky is always tongue tied," Rachel insisted.

Mercedes ignored her. "What did you say to him after he asked?"

"That I had no idea what he was talking about."

"And what did he say after that?" she pressed.

"I don't know. I walked away."

Mercedes busted out laughing. "Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Sean asks you out, you say you don't know what he's talking about, and then before he can explain, you just walk away?"

Well, when put like that, of course it sounded completely stupid.

"Boy, you have got to work on your people skills."

Kurt scowled at her. "My people skills are just fine, thank you. And how was I supposed to know he wanted to go out on a date? I've never been asked out before. And besides, I didn't even know he was gay."

"Well, now that you do know," Rachel interjected before Mercedes could respond, "what are you going to say?"

"No," Kurt said immediately. He barely even knew Sean. It was already October, which, granted, wasn't exactly far down the Hogwarts time line in the grand scheme of things, but in the thirty days since Kurt had been here, he and Sean had exchanged less than ten words with one another.

Mercedes looked at Kurt like he was crazy. "Why not? Sean is hot."

Rachel pursed her lips. "While he is certainly no Finn, he does have a certain aesthetic charm."

"I barely know him," Kurt voiced his earlier thoughts.

"So?" Mercedes asked as if Kurt was being difficult on purpose. "That's why you go out with him. To get to know him better."

Maybe. But Kurt had no interest in Sean. The boy's last name was Paplosky, for starters. Kurt Hummel-Paplosky? Just… no. It was best not to start something that could only lead to nothing. And there were other reasons, too. More concrete, deal breaking reasons.

"He's too… tall," Kurt said lamely.

Rachel frowned and titled her head to one side. "Too tall?"

Mercedes was looking at him like he had lost his mind. "Okay, now you're just talking crazy. Finn is 'too tall.' Sean isn't even six foot. What is he, like an inch taller than you?"

"Exactly," Kurt rushed to explain. "One inch too tall. And besides," he said before either of the girls could comment, "who asks someone out for the first time a month in advance? It's the beginning of October and you said the first trip isn't until Halloween."

Mercedes shot Kurt a dry look. "Someone who doesn't want to lose you to a certain short," Mercedes arched her brow at Kurt as she said the word, "curly-headed, Ravenclaw Quidditch captain. Though, apparently he already has."

Kurt scowled. "Sean can't lose me if he never had me to begin with. And Blaine has got nothing to do with this."

"Oh, really?" Mercedes asked. "If that's true then tell me why Mr. Has-Got-Nothing-to-Do-With-This always picks you up after class and the two of you disappear to who knows where until your Herbology class? Or why you stay up with him every Wednesday night just because he 'can't sleep.' Or why you go flying with him after dinner every single night. And did I or did I not see him singing to you at lunch last week? I don't see either of you doing those things with anybody else. Who are you trying to fool? Us or just yourself?"

And thank god Professor Schue chose that moment to grace the class with his enthusiasm and saved Kurt from having to respond. From the start of the lesson to its finish, Kurt sat on the edge of his seat, thoroughly focused on taking notes and determined to ignore Mercedes' frequent glances in his direction. He didn't think he had ever paid so much attention to a teacher before. Every word that came out of Professor Schue's mouth went down on Kurt's paper.

When the bell rang, Kurt had his things shoved back into his bag in record time. He could feel Mercedes' eyes on him as he walked to the door, so he picked up the pace. Blaine was waiting for him in the hallway, of course, and he visibly brightened when he saw Kurt. Normally Kurt might have taken the time to appreciate the light in Blaine's eyes, but right now he needed to get the hell out of there before Mercedes got a chance to catch up with them.

"Hey, Ku-!"

"Come on," Kurt interrupted Blaine's greeting. Without thinking about it, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and tugged him towards the first ascending staircase he saw.

"What's the rush?" Blaine asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Mercedes is on one of her rampages and I'd like to avoid having you become part of the wreckage."

"Why would I-"

"I got asked out today apparently," Kurt said, rolling his eyes and pulling Blaine towards yet another staircase. They would have to climb two more to get to the seventh floor.

"Wait, you got… like on a… on a date?" Blaine asked from behind him.

"Apparently," Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"Apparently?" Blaine repeated, sounding lost.

Kurt huffed. "Sean Paplosky asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, though. I thought he was offering me some weird alcohol or something."

"Oh," Blaine said softly. Something about his tone made Kurt glance behind him, but Blaine wasn't looking at Kurt. He was frowning at his shoes. "Sean is… Sean's tall…"

The butterflies that were moshing around in Kurt's stomach made speaking difficult so he said nothing.

Blaine studied their clasped hands for a moment before peeking up at Kurt. "Are… Are you going to say yes? Did you say yes?"

"No. I mean, I'm going to say no… I mean," he chuckled nervously, "he's too tall, right?"

Oh, god, Kurt moaned in his head. Why did I say that? That was stupid. Stupid, stupid.

They had finally reached the wall where the Room of Requirement was, but neither made a move to give the door a request.

"You don't like tall guys?" Blaine asked in a careful tone. He was getting that look on his face again. The partially cautious and mostly sad look that he got whenever they started skirting that fine line that between friendship and something more.

Kurt was starting to hate that look. But there really wasn't anything that he could do about it.

"People call me a girl enough as it is. It would be nice to have one of the more masculine traits in the relationship."

Blaine squinted at the ceiling. "So… masculinity can be measured according to one's height? Should I be offended?"

"If you want to be," Kurt said, a bit cheeky.

Within the safe realm of playful banter, that look on Blaine's face vanished, and so did Kurt's butterflies, though there was still some residual bitterness.

Blaine pouted. "I'll have you know that being short makes me precious."

"Precious, Blaine? Really?" Blaine was already precious enough. He didn't need his height contributing towards that fact. Maybe if Blaine was less precious, Kurt could actually say yes when nice guys asked him out on dates.

"Absolutely."

"Ugh. Why am I friends with you?"

Blaine grinned adorably. "Because I'm precious!"

Kurt fought a smile. The bitterness ebbed to practically nonexistent. "Just open the door before I change my mind about spending time with you."

Kurt may not have wanted to go out with Sean, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to turning him down. He was dreading it, actually, and the fact that he had the whole weekend to stew over it didn't help. He went from wishing it could just hurry up and be Monday already so he could find Sean after Transfiguration and get it over with, to damning the clock each time a new hour began.

He got himself so keyed up about the whole thing that come Monday, when Professor Smith accused Kurt of writing too loudly, of all the ridiculous things ("Hummel! You're quill is too scratchy! It's no wonder that Berk and Grenten are the only two Hufflepuffs not doing well in this class! Sitting so close to you they probably can't hear themselves think over that noise, let alone hear me teach!), Kurt merely rolled his eyes and took out a different quill without comment.

Blaine looked at Kurt like he had never seen him before. "…Are you okay?" he whispered when Smith was no longer looking at them.

Kurt sighed and glanced a few rows ahead at Sean, who was hunched over his paper, taking notes. "I've never turned anyone down before," he said.

Blaine followed Kurt's line of sight. "Oh," he said when his gaze landed on Sean. "…Are you having second thoughts about not wanting to go out with him?" he asked, and Kurt tried not to dwell on the fact that Blaine sounded a bit apprehensive.

"No. I'm just really not looking forward to the look on his face when I tell him."

Neither of them spoke again until class was over and everyone stood up to leave.

Blaine hesitated. "Do you want me to stay?" he offered.

"No, that's okay," Kurt shook his head. "I'll see you after Ancient Runes?"

Blaine nodded. "I'll be there." He managed a half smile. "Good luck."

Kurt wasn't sure luck was the appropriate offering for this type of situation, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he took a deep breath and slowly walked over to Sean, who was busy putting away all of his stuff. He jumped when Kurt tapped him on the arm.

"K-Kurt!" His cheeks turned pink. "Uh… hi," he said shyly.

Kurt winced. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

"Oh… That's okay. Did… did you need something?"

It was now or never…

"I just wanted to apologize. About Thursday? No one has ever asked me out before, so… I don't know, I was an idiot."

Sean's eyes got wide. "Oh, no… It wasn't you… I could have… but I didn't… not very well." Kurt hadn't thought it was possible, but Sean got even redder.

Oh, god this was going to be hard. Sean was really sweet - almost painfully so with his cute little stammer and red cheeks. But sweet had nothing on precious. Stupid Blaine.

"No." Kurt shook his head. "You did fine…" he had to consciously refrain from using the word sweetie. "It's just that I had never heard of Hogsmeade before, and I had no idea what you were talking about. But I should have given you more time to explain. I'm sorry about that."

Stop stalling! he berated himself. Just do it!

Kurt took a deep breath. Why did Sean have to look so hopeful? "But, I'm really not looking to date anyone right now."

There. He said it.

Sean's face fell. "O-oh…" He looked absolutely crushed.

"It's not you," Kurt rushed to explain. "It's just that I'm not…" He trailed off. There was probably nothing in the world he could say that would make this better. "I'm really sorry."

"It's o-okay," Sean said, which only made it worse. Why couldn't he be angry or something? Kurt could deal with anger. "Is… is it because of… Blaine?"

Well, fuck.

Why did everyone have to immediately assume that Kurt was hung up on Blaine? He was tired of it.

Instantly annoyed, Kurt opened his mouth to say no, but he made the mistake of looking into Sean's eyes first, and found himself whispering, "Yes," in probably the most broken voice he had ever heard himself use. It made him want to bash Blaine Anderson over the head with something heavy. Like the thirty gallon cauldron in Professor Slughorn's classroom maybe. At least to start with.

Sean nodded. "I… kind of figured that. You know, before I asked you out."

"I'm sorry," Kurt said pathetically. He didn't know if he was apologizing for liking Blaine or for not being able to like Sean.

Sean nodded again, looking down at his feet. "If… if it helps… I think he likes you, too."

"You think so?" Kurt asked before he realized that he probably shouldn't.

Sean winced at the hopeful tone in Kurt's voice, but said, "Yeah. Yeah, I really do."

Over the next couple weeks, Kurt thought about his conversation with Sean a lot, which wasn't exactly a good thing seeing as how the more he thought about it, the more annoyed he got. He was slowly starting to realize that practically everyone at Hogwarts thought that Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel were either dating or madly in love with one another. It made him want to punch something.

Because they weren't dating and Kurt was beginning to wonder why. They got along well, they liked a lot of the same things, they were both gay (for once Kurt wasn't crushing on a straight guy), they were always together. And it couldn't be that Blaine wasn't attracted to him because on a couple of occasions Kurt had caught the other boy staring at his ass.

And then Kurt would remind himself that he already knew why. It was because of those quiet moments, when it was just Kurt and Blaine, and for no reason at all, they would both suddenly look up at the same time and their gazes would lock. And Blaine would just look at Kurt as if he was the only somebody in the world that Blaine wanted to see. And Kurt's breath would hitch, and hope would rear its cruel head as Kurt dared to believe that maybe, just maybe, Blaine felt the same. That maybe Blaine liked Kurt just as much as Kurt liked Blaine.

But at the very last second, just before hope got the chance to turn into something more definite, that sad, stupid look would pass over Blaine's face as he would hastily retreat behind the obvious shadows in his eyes. And Kurt, trying to hold onto that special moment for just a little bit longer, would silently plead with Blaine not to reject his feelings by maintaining eye contact instead of looking away. But, of course, Blaine would drop his gaze and every time, every single time, Kurt would feel like he had just gotten slapped. And for hours he would sit quiet and withdrawn, wondering just what it was about having feelings for Kurt that Blaine found so horrible.

It was all so taxing and frustrating and Kurt felt like he was being constantly pulled in two different directions. On the one hand, he wanted to give Blaine his space. He didn't want to rush Blaine into something that he so obviously wasn't ready for, or worse, didn't want. On the other, however, Kurt was starting to feel extremely lonely. Even when he was with Blaine, he felt like he was alone. Because ever since he had told Blaine about Sean, those quiet moments, and the inevitable rejection they always lead up to, had been happening with more and more frequency. They couldn't be alone for five minutes without it happening.

So they had started to avoid spending time alone together, except for Wednesday nights when The Look would happen about eight million different times and Kurt's heart would be left bruised and raw for the entirety of Thursday.

And today, in Kurt's opinion, was an especially bad day. Besides that fact that it was Thursday, today was also the day of Kurt's second Quidditch practice, and Quidditch practice had turned out to be a lot different from what he had expected. Aside from the flying warm-ups and practice maneuvers they did at the beginning of practice, they didn't actually practice as a team. Or, more specifically, Kurt didn't practice with the team.

To be fair, there really wasn't a need for him to. Aside from dodging Bludgers, Seekers didn't contribute to the actual game play. In fact, Kurt's responsibility was to avoid getting directly involved with the game play as much as he possibly could as he searched for the Golden Snitch. The more a Seeker made himself invisible to the other players, the better his chances were of ending the game quickly for his team.

So, from a rational standpoint, it only made sense that while everyone else on the team flew around the pitch together, Kurt was off to the side practicing dives and maneuvers specifically designed for a Seeker's particular use.

But Kurt didn't want to be rational. What he wanted was to be pissed at Blaine for sticking Kurt by himself while he flew around with Jenna and Rick (the other two Chasers) and tried to score on Daniel as Jeff and Nick did their best to hit them with practice Bludgers, which were much softer than the ones used in the actual game. But Kurt couldn't exactly come out and say that without sounding like a spoiled brat, so Kurt kept his mouth shut and practiced his maneuvers with a determined scowl on his face.

He was so focused on his task that he didn't notice that everyone else on the team had retreated to the locker room until Blaine was calling up to him from the ground that practice was over.

Without so much as a glance in Blaine's direction, Kurt sped towards the ground. Feeling particularly reckless, instead of leveling out over the ground, he simply jumped off the broom once he got to a close enough distance away from the ground to be sure that he wouldn't get injured by doing so. It would have been rather embarrassing if he had misjudged the move and landed on his ass, but thankfully Kurt landed neatly on his feet with his broom held tightly in his hand.

"Wow," Blaine said. "That was impressive."

"Thanks," Kurt snapped in a tone perhaps a little too rough, but he was angry so he didn't apologize for it when Blaine's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"…Kurt? Are you okay?"

"Just fine," Kurt said through his teeth.

But Blaine wouldn't drop it. "Hey… if there's something wrong you know you can talk to me, right?"

Kurt snorted. "Can I?" he challenged.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me."

Blaine sighed. "Okay, obviously you're upset with me about something."

Kurt hated how calm and reasonable Blaine sounded. As if he was humoring an irate child throwing a temper tantrum. And maybe Kurt was acting like that, and he would probably be embarrassed later, but right now he was too angry to care.

"Oh, come on, Blaine. Do you think I like practicing all by myself while everyone else is having fun together? This is my second practice and I don't feel like I'm a part of this team at all."

On some level, Kurt knew that this wasn't about the Quidditch practice, not really. But he didn't really know how to bring up what was really bothering him (especially since despite how angry he was, Kurt still didn't want to pressure Blaine into anything) so getting angry over Quidditch would just have to do.

"I didn't realize you felt-"

"How did you not realize?" Kurt demanded, incredulous. "Who would want to watch their teammates practice and have fun together while they have to practice all alone on the sidelines?" He huffed in sheer annoyance. "But, you know, it isn't even about that. It's about the fact that I can't talk to you about it because for weeks we've been avoiding each other! Why is that, Blaine!"

So much for no pressure. Or was Quidditch still tied in there somewhere? Kurt didn't know anymore. And he didn't really care.

"Kurt, I'm-"

But Kurt didn't want to hear that Blaine was sorry. He didn't want Blaine to avoid the subject. He wanted an explanation, but he knew, just by the look on Blaine's face - that damn look - that he wasn't going to get one. "Whatever, Blaine. It doesn't matter."

And with that, Kurt stormed off towards the locker room.

"Damn it," Blaine cursed as he watched Kurt walk away, his hand fisted so tightly around his broom handle that it was stark white, and that was saying something because Kurt pale enough without help.

Nothing was going the way it should, and it was really all Blaine's fault. He was absolute crap at just being Kurt's friend. He couldn't so much as glance at Kurt without his heart leaping into his eyes for the world to see.

And Kurt wasn't stupid. He definitely noticed.

Blaine had thought that maybe spending less time alone would help, but it only made things worse.

If he wanted to be unfair, he would blame Sean Paplosky. Sean had stepped in and made Blaine's life a living hell. But then, Blaine never should have been stupid enough to assume that while he walked around with his head up his ass, no one else would take notice of how amazing Kurt was. Blaine drove himself mental wondering how long would it be before someone came around that Kurt would actually to say yes to.

"Well, that was interesting to watch."

Blaine instantly tensed at the familiar voice. "Sod off," he said, turning to glare at the boy who was leaned up against one of the many towers that marked the edge of the field.

Chase smirked. "I'd rather not." He gestured in the direction Kurt had just stormed off in with his chin. "He's cute, you know."

"Leave him alone, Chase," Blaine said, his tone way past furious when, in actuality, he was absolutely terrified. If Chase did to Kurt what he had done to Blaine…

But the Slytherin merely laughed, amusement shining in his eyes. "You say that like I might hurt him. But we both know that you are more likely to do that than I am, Blaine."

Blaine's stomach twisted. "I'm leaving," he said, but Chase's next words stopped him.

"Does he know about you yet?"

It was a funny feeling to be so full of rage that you're terrified of what you might do, but then, Blaine was pretty familiar with that feeling. "Don't," he warned, his own voice foreign to his ears. Blackness started creeping in from the corners of his vision.

But Chase didn't look scared. He looked excited. "Well, now, I had better be more careful. Wouldn't want to make you angry," he said, though it was quite clear from his tone that he wanted that very much. "We all know what happens when Blaine Anderson gets angry. But he doesn't, does he. That could be dangerous for him, don't you think?"

And just like that, Blaine's anger was completely gone, and the only thing left was exhaustion. "Why are you doing this?"

Chase's expression turned cold as he strode over to Blaine and got in his personal space. Blaine didn't try to stop him, not even when Chase dropped his head to press his cheek against Blaine's. "Because I hate you," he said, and his lips brushed against Blaine's neck when he spoke.

"Good," Blaine said. "Because I hate you just as much."

Chase's body shot away from Blaine's as if it burned. "Fuck you, Anderson," he spat, and Blaine laughed harshly.

This was a familiar game they played. It was also one that Blaine was tired of playing. He walked away from Chase with the feel of the other boy's eyes on his back.

So there it is. Like I said, I feel a little iffy about this one, so let me know what you thought. Questions, comments, concerns, constructive criticism, whichever :)

As always, thank you so, so much to those who have reviewed. Your reviews really give me a lot of incentive to keep going.

I'm thinking that for the next chapter, Kurt and Blaine need to have a little talk. Whether or not their talk resolves anything I have still yet to decide. And I'm still debating on whether or not I should include Halloween. We will see some of November too, so expect a Quidditch game sometime within the next two chapters.