Hey, so in case you hadn't noticed, Blaine really doesn't like Finn. So, uh yeah. If you really like Finn, sorry about that, but this is how Blaine feels about the proceedings. Just a little advisory :)

Enjoy!

Partners chosen by fate?

Fuck that noise.

Finn picked Kurt's name out of the hat (and then totally tried to sneak out of it) and Blaine got stuck with Rachel.

She immediately made him sing with her to show off what type of ballads the pairs should be choosing, and after they finished singing 'Endless Love', she wouldn't stop staring at him.

"Was I that bad?" Blaine asked Kurt as he sat back down.

"No you were great," he said after a beat, gazing at Finn in contentment.

Blaine got a sinking feeling in his gut as Kurt let out dreamy sigh after dreamy sigh for the rest of the lesson. This ballad business was going to be nothing but trouble.


"Hey, where have you been?" Blaine asked as Kurt strolled up to their spot in the bleachers with five minutes left of lunch.

"I was working on the glee assignment with Finn," he replied, smiling widely.

"Great," he said tightly. "You didn't think to text me about your change of plans?"

"Sorry, I completely forgot," he said, unwrapping his sandwich and downing half of it in one go.

Blaine looked down at his knees. "Sure. Okay."

"Finn is going through such a difficult time in his life," he said with absolutely no prompting. "I'm so glad I have the opportunity to help him this week."

"You're supposed to be singing songs to each other," he pointed out.

"Music is a form of healing," he replied sagely. The bell for the end of lunch rang and Kurt packed away his sandwich quickly. "See you later!"

Just get through the week, he told himself. Once they'd performed their ballads on Friday, Finn would go back to ignoring Kurt whenever possible and Kurt would return to a more subtle form of hero-worshipping or crushing or whatever the hell was going on with him at the moment.

He finally started heading back inside and had just reached the school doors when he heard his name being called behind him.

"Blaine, I'm so glad I found you," Rachel said, grinning manically at him.

"Okay? Is this about the ballads?"

"Sort of. But here, I got this for you." She pulled a present out from behind her back.

"Oh uh, thanks," he said politely, taking the small box despite his wariness.

"Open it," she prodded.

"I- I have class-"

"Please? I need to know if you like it."

He sighed, quickly tearing the wrapping off. "A bowtie," he said, for lack of anything better to say. "With gold stars on it…"

Her grin was blinding. "Yes, because gold stars are a metaphor for me being a star. It's kind of my thing. And now you can wear it, and be inspired to be as much of a success as I am!"

"… Okay. Thanks, Rachel. I have to get to class."

He was distracted from his troubles by sheer confusion for a minute, until he caught sight of Finn in the hallway, and his face darkened.

Just finish this ridiculous week.


The next day, a few of them were talking about Blaine's favourite topic, Finn's problems, in the hallway while they watched Quinn ream him out for telling his mom about the pregnancy.

"I just feel so bad for them, having to go through this on their own," Mercedes said, looking over her shoulder in concern.

"He just told his mom. They're not alone anymore," Blaine pointed out, scrolling through his phone in a passive-aggressive manner. "They were going to have to tell somebody soon anyway. It's not like Quinn's parents weren't going to notice her sprouting to the size of a planet in a few months."

"Oh, that poor harassed soul," Kurt said, fawning over Finn as Quinn stomped away in a rage. "I'm gonna go see if he's okay."

"He's fine, I'm sure," Blaine said sourly, but Kurt was already walking over to him. He viciously shoved his phone into his pocket.

"Boy, what's eating you?" Mercedes asked. "You've looked like a raincloud's been following you the entire day."

"It's nothing," he grumbled. "I'm gonna head to class."

He had to walk by Kurt and Finn to do so, and in passing he heard Kurt say, "Almost makes you wanna give up girls altogether, doesn't it?" Then he did his awkward little chuckle and Blaine stopped dead in the hallway as Finn muttered a response before leaving.

"Okay, what are you doing?" Blaine demanded of Kurt.

"Hm?" he said, eyes wide. "What are you talking about?"

Blaine took a short breath to hold back his frustration and reminded himself that Kurt was his friend and furthermore, he was probably just overreacting about this entire situation.

"What's going on with you and Finn?" he asked, a lot calmer than before. He was probably just imagining things.

Kurt bit his lip and looked around shiftily. "You promise not to tell?" he asked.

Bad, bad territory, shark-infested waters, no, abort, what is he going to say?

"Of course," he said, not letting the thoughts racing around his head betray him.

He checked to make sure that no one was paying attention to them and then admitted in a rush, "I'm in love with Finn."

He opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was this weird squawking sound.

He listened to Kurt explain how Finn had been his 'knight in shining armour' since he'd met him, how they'd bonded over glee and skin care products, and that Quinn would only end up devastating him, leaving Kurt to console him, all with this weird sort of noise rushing through his ears.

And the noise sounded an awful lot like-

"But he's straight," he blurted.

And a bully, and an idiot, and an asshole, the list went on and on, but whenever Blaine mentioned those tidbits of Finn's personality, Kurt got extremely defensive. So Blaine decided to try a new tactic, which should have been instantly effective.

Kurt's face closed off, as it always did when someone abruptly ruined his good mood.

"If he's never considered the alternative, he can't really know-"

"No," Blaine cut him off. "Finn is straight. He is straight with a girlfriend. He is straight with a girlfriend who is pregnant with his child."

"They're giving it up," he shrugged. "The baby doesn't play a factor."

"And the straightness of your crush doesn't either?" he asked incredulously.

"I know you don't like him, but it's not like I can help who I have a crush on," Kurt replied with acid on his tongue.

"You can try not to turn him gay, because that's not a thing that happens!" he retorted, straining to keep his voice down.

"Excuse me, don't insult my intelligence like that," he spat. He flicked some stray hairs off his forehead and said, "I'm working under the assumption that he has latent homosexual tendencies. I mean, he plays football- if a bunch of guys in tights jumping on each other isn't gay I don't know what is."

"You. Are. Serious," he said, blinking slowly. "Oh my God. Kurt, this is going to have nothing but negative consequences for you, you realize that, right? The only even mildly fortunate scenario I can think of is that he won't notice you flirting with him while you work on your ballad assignment and then he'll go back to ignoring you next week."

Kurt gaped at him before his mouth twisted into a sneer. "What the hell happened to you having my back, Blaine? Where's all the encouragement from last week?"

"I'm not going to cheerlead you to certain doom!" he cried. He grabbed his arm and dragged him into the empty classroom next to them for some semblance of privacy. "Singing a song people don't want you to sing is different from crushing on Finn Hudson!"

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "This isn't even about him being straight, is it? This is just your stupid prejudice against him. What'd he ever do to you?"

Blaine barked a laugh. "You want the full list? He's thrown me into dumpsters, trapped me in lockers, slushied me, slushied you, stood by while his best friend picked on you again and again, let you slushie yourself, abandoned the glee club several times since joining, gave me a 'vitamin' that led to me getting a bruise the size of a rock on my head-"

"That wasn't entirely his fault-"

"And the rest of it? Can you excuse it all?"

"Half the reasons were about me," he ground out after a moment. "I asked what he did to you."

"Everything he did to hurt you hurt me too," Blaine said, throat hoarse from emotion. "We're friends, remember? And I have that mystical power of empathy? I don't want to see you hurt again by that buffoon."

Kurt straightened his shoulders, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well I suppose that's admirable. But I am quite capable of making my own decisions. And I will. Without your input."

He strode past him to the door, throwing it open before stomping out of the room.

"Shit," he muttered after realizing he'd just had another fight with Kurt, about Finn. He slapped the nearest desk in frustration. "Shit!"


After school, he headed to the exercise room, releasing his frustrations on a punching bag, which he probably should have done in the first place instead of yelling at Kurt.

But he'd needed to hear it.

Or had he been out of line?

But Finn was straight, and not exactly open-minded. If he found out about the crush, there could be severe repercussions.

Or was he overreacting?

No, Finn's an asshole. Him and his friends tormented all the members of glee club before he was in the club with them.

But Kurt lived through that, and he still had the ridiculous crush. Doesn't he deserve whatever he gets?

No.

Blaine's mind had been racing around in circles, and he returned home physically and mentally exhausted.

"Dad?" he called out tiredly. "Are you here? Can I order pizza?"

"No need for that, son," his father replied from the kitchen. "Dinner's almost ready."

Blaine lifted his head up, sniffing the air like a dog as he followed the scent. "Smells good. Since when do you make anything except microwave-?"

He froze in his tracks.

Rachel Berry was bent over his oven, wearing a fluffy pink apron, smiling widely as she set a steaming casserole on the stovetop.

He closed his eyes. Opened them. No, she was still there.

"How do you know where I live?" he croaked.

"There aren't that many Andersons in the phonebook," she replied with a wave of her oven-mitted hand.

"Imagine my surprise when I get a call from this girl, asking if she can come cook you dinner," his father said, sounding more pleased than he had been in months.

It took a few more seconds for his distracted mind to connect the dots, but when he did he was shocked to find that he actually could feel worse than he'd already felt.

His dad thought Rachel was his girlfriend, or potential suitor or… whatever. He thought Blaine had finally gotten over his 'phase' as he'd taken to calling it whenever Blaine would remind him that he was gay.

Blaine kind of wanted to throw up.

"I'm not hungry," he said, though he knew it wouldn't get him out of it.

"Of course you are," his dad argued. "A pretty girl makes you a meal, you sit down and eat it. Come on, the table's set."

Blaine was too exhausted to argue. So he sat through a dinner filled with Rachel bragging about how great she was, and afterwards he walked her home. Under the ruse of practicing her ballad, they shared head phones as she sang 'Crush' to him, which cleared up why she'd been acting so weird around him lately.

He dropped off her at her house and ignored her ridiculously hopeful eyes before returning home to the welcoming embrace of his bed.


Blaine had thought a lot over the night, and he decided that apologizing immediately to Kurt would be easier than anything else. He'd just opened his locker when he caught sight of him.

"Hey Kurt-"

He didn't even turn his head. Just kept on walking, head held high like a king ignoring the peasants.

He couldn't understand how other people could stand it; Kurt's superior attitude, making you feel two inches tall without so much as a blink in your direction.

It sucked.


Blaine ate his lunch in the bleachers solo again, moodily munching on his sandwich. He was right back to where he started his first day at McKinley; alone, lonely, and with hair sticky from a slushie.

"Blaine!"

He snapped his head up hopefully, but it was only Rachel leaping up the steps to greet him.

"Oh hi," he mumbled around the straw in his juice box.

"I've been looking for you everywhere," she sighed, smoothing her skirt down as she sat next to him.

"Yeah, sorry. I've been a bit distracted from the ballad assignment," he sighed, staring off into the distance. "You wanna talk about that now?"

"Well yes, that would be ideal, but I also have business of a more… personal nature to broach with you," she admitted.

He set his sandwich down on his lap to stare at her. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"Of course not," she said indignantly. "It's nothing like that. I was just wondering if you would be interested in perhaps going on a date with me this Friday."

He blinked once, twice.

Oh yeah, she has a crush on me, he eventually remembered.

"No, sorry," he said, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Oh," she said, taken aback at the bluntness of his answer. "May I ask why not? I feel like I am quite the catch."

"Well, other than the fact that both of us are hung up on different people," he began, watching her blush. "I'm not on your team."

Her face crinkled in confusion. "What? Yeah, we are, glee club…"

"I'm gay," he said, as if it should be obvious.

Her eyebrows popped up high on her forehead. "You are?"

He nodded. "Since birth."

"Yeah of course, oh wow, you should meet my dads! Am I the first person you've ever told? I completely accept you, Blaine, and-"

"Okay, thank you," he said quickly, cutting her off. "You're not the first person I've told, I just haven't bothered to come out at McKinley yet."

"Why didn't you mention that last night when I sang that love song to you?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's just one of those things that honestly didn't occur to me. Also, I have a lot on my mind right now. My life doesn't revolve around Rachel Berry."

She bowed her head. "I know that."

"Just as long as you're aware that there are other plots happening here than yours."

"So tell me about it," she suggested cheerfully. "I haven't had the chance to talk to you very much since you joined glee. What's happening in your life?" She patted his knee.

"I appreciate the offer, but I really don't want to talk about it."

"I assume that you've been fighting with Kurt?" she pressed on anyway.

He sighed. "And why do you assume that?"

"Because both of you look completely miserable."

"Kurt doesn't look miserable. He looks completely content with himself and his choices," he muttered.

"Blaine, he looks just like he used to, before he met you." Blaine looked confused and she continued, "You know the first time I saw him smile was when he was talking to you?"

"You probably just weren't paying attention to him before. You're pretty self-involved, no offense."

She shrugged, not denying it. "Regardless, he definitely lets you see a piece of himself that he hides from everybody else."

He snorted. "That sounds pretty gay."

Her eyes widened. "That's not what I meant- Unless, are you two…?"

"No! I mean, no," he corrected, more subdued.

She eyed him and he shifted uncomfortably under her critical gaze. "You said we were both pining for somebody else. For me it's Finn… You like Kurt, don't you?"

"If I say no is there any possibility of you believing me?" he asked, heaving a sigh.

She squealed, bouncing in place. "Oh this is so exciting, I can totally help set you guys up-"

"No, no, no," he rushed to settle her down. "I will have no part of the glee club's crazy desire to mess with each other's personal lives. You are staying out of it and you are not telling anybody- especially not Kurt. Understand?"

Rachel frowned and nodded. "If only because I already have a lot on my plate and don't really have the time to play match maker," she answered, smoothing down her cardigan.

"Thank you," he sighed, tilting his head back in relief.

"Anytime. Now, have you thought about using your ballad to woo Kurt at all?"


Blaine sat in his living room, trying to call Kurt on his cell since he wouldn't talk to him in school, but he was apparently ignoring his calls because on the fourth try his answering machine message changed from, "You have reached Kurt Hummel. I'm busy right now, leave a message if necessary." to "The phone of Kurt Hummel actually has a three call limit. If I don't answer after you call that many times, there's probably a reason."

He threw his phone onto the couch with a sigh. Maybe Kurt just needed some time. He liked having the upper hand, and forgiving Blaine just as easily as last time was not the way to get that.

But their friendship shouldn't be some power play. He just wanted to be friends again, was that so hard?

"Are you calling that Rachel girl?" his dad asked, picking his reading glasses up off the coffee table. "She was nice. Good cook, too."

Blaine stared glumly at his hands in his lap.

His father sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "In all honesty Blaine, I am glad you're over that silly phase of yours. If you're having girl troubles already, don't be discouraged. Relationships take effort, and compromise. But everything will work out the way it should, don't worry."

His father often acted like the reincarnation of Ward Cleaver, even after his June left him last year. He'd always wanted the perfect family, and instead he got an ex-wife, one idiot son in California, and another gay, singing son moping on the couch.

Blaine understood that he was trying to be a good dad with the pep talk, but he was failing miserably. All he wanted was to be able to talk to him about Kurt, but he couldn't handle the look of barely concealed contempt that would without a doubt cross his face when he explained that the gay guy he liked had a crush on a straight football player, and that was putting a strain on their friendship.

"Blaine?" his father prodded after he was unresponsive to their father-son chat.

His phone buzzed on the other side of the couch and he jumped to retrieve it but his father picked it up first. "You uh, have a text from a car?"

"Huh?" He read the screen and his shoulders slumped. "Oh, Mercedes. She's just from glee."

"Quite the ladies' man, aren't you?" he chuckled.

"I'm gay, dad," he reminded him tiredly. "I am a homosexual. I am in no way, shape, or form a ladies man."

The words hit his father like thorns pricking his face. He shifted on the couch, growing increasingly more uncomfortable. "I thought you were over this. What about that Rachel girl?"

"An overbearing friend," he told him. "It would really mean a lot to me if you at least tried to accept this about me, dad. Because my sexuality isn't going away, and it really hurts every time you pretend it will."

His father's shoulders went rigid. "Really Blaine, you need to get a tougher skin. If every-"

"I have a tough skin, dad!" he interrupted, voice cracking. "Trust me, it stands up well in school every day. But I'd like for home to be a safe space where I don't have to pretend to be somebody I'm not! I haven't officially come out at McKinley, just like you told me to, and I get picked on anyway, so my life still sucks."

"With all due respect Blaine, it's probably because you joined that stupid club," he said dismissively.

"No dad, that's not why," he sighed, getting up off the couch. His father's eyebrows drew together in consternation when Blaine said before leaving, "Can you just stop pretending to be a good dad, please? It just makes it worse when you end up being shit at it."


He'd tried calling Kurt again later that night and he still hadn't answered, which just made him more annoyed. He felt awful and all he wanted was for someone to tell him it was gonna be okay, and Kurt was ignoring him because of Finn. Blaine was always there when Kurt needed him, but what about when Blaine needed someone to lean on? Where was he now?

"Blaine, there you are," Mercedes said when she found him in the hallway. "I tried texting you last night but you didn't answer."

"I was busy," he mumbled.

"Okay well, we're singing 'Lean on Me' to Finn and Quinn," she told him. "They need all the support they can get now that Quinn's been kicked out. Did you want a few solo lines? We've already planned most of it out, but there's always room-"

"No," Blaine cut in, not believing what he was hearing.

"Really? But you're so good-"

"No, I mean I am not singing to Finn. There is no way."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Um, it's not just gonna be you. The whole club's singing to them."

"Then I quit," he decided abruptly.

"What?" she screeched. "I mean, you don't have to sing-"

"I don't care," he shrugged. "I'm done. So done."