A/N: Okay, so here is the awkward Blaine-meets-Mercedes-at-Breadstix-and-she-totally-does-not-hear-a-word-he-says scene. I actually like Mercedes sometimes, so I wrote her in a good light for some of the time they're hanging. I hope y'all don't mind too much. Anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any other things (songs/books/movies/musicals/anything) that I may mention throughout this fic. I do however own a ton of Glee songs on iTunes...yeah, I love listening to Darren Criss and Chris Colfer sing!

Chapter 8—Merci and Musicals

By Monday, the whole school seemed to know about Nick and Jeff, not that they were complaining. All of the Warblers were ecstatic that they had finally gotten themselves figured out and were happily cuddling on the couch during Warblers rehearsal instead of listening to Wes talk about Sectionals. Did I wish I had someone to do that with? Yes. Was I slightly jealous? Definitely. But did I think they were perfect for each other—ohmygod yes.

Kurt knew before Monday, as we hung out all of Sunday. Over coffee at the Lima Bean, Kurt asked me about what was going on at Dalton, and the opportunity was too good to pass up.

Nonchalantly, I sipped my coffee and pretended to think. "Well, Wes is talking nonstop about Sectionals which we can't talk about," I winked at Kurt as he rolled his eyes, "I have a math test soon, Nick and Jeff got together, and David and Wes have been having movie marathons almost every night, so I'm a little behind on my sleep."

Kurt, being the smart person he is, latched straight on to the news on Niff. "Oh my god, Nick and Jeff finally got together?! That's amazing! How did it happen?" he wanted to know.

I smiled at his enthusiasm. "Well, when I got back to Dalton on Friday night, they along with David and Wes were lying on David and Wes' beds pushed together watching a movie. David and Wes were spooning, and Jeff was lying on Nick's back playing with his hair. I took a picture, and teased them all for a change about their relationships, then left. The next morning, they were all acting awkwardly, so I told them I was just joking. Wes and David immediately were back to being attached by the hip. I mean, it was like they were two magnets who had their charges suddenly switched so they were attracted instead of pushed away. But Nick asked to talk to Jeff, Wes, David, and I followed, and they got together."

Kurt had been listening attentively, and as I finished, clapped his hands in excitement. Then he remembered my earlier comment. "What do you mean, 'teased them all for a change'? What do they tease you about?"

I blushed. "Uh, just this and that. Like...my height." I finally came up with. It wasn't technically a lie, as I was teased about my height sometime, but I didn't want Kurt to be embarrassed or get the wrong impression from my friends.

He didn't seem to believe me, but thankfully let it go. "So Nick and Jeff are together, but what about Wes and David?"

I thought for a second. "I think they're both in denial. David obviously loves Wes, he's the most important thing in the world to him. Wes also blatantly loves David, but David's too oblivious to know, as is Wes, so they're both in love with the other, but is too scared to loose their epic friendship to take the next step."

As I said this, Kurt seemed struck. "Are you okay?" I asked him worriedly.

Kurt shook his head slightly, probably trying to rid his head of whatever he had been thinking. "Oh yeah...yeah, I'm fine." he half-laughed.

From there, our topic of conversation turned to gay rights as we made our way to the mall. We mainly just walked around, stopping occasionally at stores if Kurt saw something he liked. Each time he did this, I made a mental note in case I ever was out of ideas for a present.

We spent the rest of the day laughing and talking in the mall until I had to head back to Dalton so I wouldn't miss dinner. I reluctantly said goodbye to Kurt, and started my long trek back to Dalton. To save myself from boredom, I turned on my radio to my favorite pop station so I could sing along loudly to the music I loved. After about an hour, Teenage Dream came on, and I stopped singing for some reason. I don't know why, but instead of singing this beautiful song, I was more content to listen closely. This feeling faded after the song ended, and I started singing again, and forgot about it.

On Monday night, after a long Warblers rehearsal and hours of homework, I indulged myself in searching the Net randomly. After about a half and hour, I found myself on Lima's Community Play House's website. Imagine my surprise when I saw that next Friday night a production of Rent was playing, and was starring Greg Evigan! Before I knew what I was doing, I had purchased two tickets for next Friday's performance, and was calling Kurt.

"Hello?" Kurt answered.

"Hey Kurt, it's me!" I told him.

"Hmm, I don't know anyone by the name of 'me'...wrong number?" Kurt teased me.

"Ha ha, very funny. Maybe I won't take you to a performance of Rent starring Greg Evigan." I retaliated.

The shriek of happiness and surprise Kurt gave could be heard all over Lima, most likely. "You didn't?!" he finally gasped.

"I did." I grinned into my phone.

"Oh my god, I love you!" Kurt squealed, then fell silent.

To save him from what could potentially become an awkward silence, I said, "Don't I know it! So, you're in?"

"I'm in!" he confirmed.

"Then I'll see you Friday?" I asked.

"Yes!" Kurt answered.

We talked for another half an hour before finally hanging up.

As it was, I saw Kurt before Friday. As he was bored on Wednesday afternoon, he SOSed me, and, never one to pass up time with Kurt, happily agreed. We got there at about the same time, meeting each other in line, and proceeded to order our usuals (for Kurt, a grande non-fat mocha, and for me my medium drip) and sit at our table. After a few minutes of small talk, I noticed Kurt seemed really nervous about something.

"What is it?" I asked him, abruptly breaking off his rant about Rachel's insane attempt at taking over the New Directions.

Kurt was taken aback for a second. "I'm...annoyed with Rachel?" he half-asked, unsure of what I had meant.

"Yeah, I figured that out. But what's on your mind? You seem distracted." I told him.

He shrugged, then finally admitted, "Mercedes is upset with me."

"Why?" I asked, wanting to help in any way I could.

Kurt shifted awkwardly in his chair. "Well, she's kind of jealous of you, and how much time I spend with you. She's also upset with Coach Sue's ban on tots, so it's kind of a bad time for her." he explained reluctantly.

"Then why don't the three of us hang out?" I suggested.

Kurt looked surprised. "Y-you want to meet my friends?" he asked, shocked.

I shrugged like it was no big deal. "Sure, why not? I mean, you've met mine."

"I burst into the room, acted like a bitch, and started to cry in front of your friends." Kurt reminded me.

"Yeah, but they really liked you for it." I grinned at Kurt's grimace, then he moved back to our original topic.

"Sure, that'd be great! I'm sure she'd love to meet you, and will love you. How about tomorrow night, 8 o'clock, at Breadstix?" Kurt proposed.

"Perfect, I'll be there." I told him, and we started another topic.

The next night, I arrived at Breadstix precisely on time to see Kurt and a large African-American girl at his side. She looked familiar, and not just from the countless video's of the New Directions forced on me by Wes and David. Suddenly, I realized she was the girl I'd seen come up to Kurt after he'd been slushied when I was at McKinley. Kurt saw me right away, and bounded up to me, giving me our standard hug hello. I hugged him back, surprised at his enthusiasm, then turned to the girl I knew now to be Mercedes.

"Hi, I'm Blaine. You must be Mercedes." I held out my hand to Mercedes, and she shook it slightly, looking me over.

"Damn, do they teach manners like that at your prep school?" she asked me jokingly.

Before I could answer, Kurt laughed and replied, "Sometimes I do wonder, Merci."

I laughed along, saying, "No, I was just raised to be a proper young gentleman." I imitated my fathers' tones.

Kurt screwed up his face sympathetically, and I was about to turn the topic when the hostess (not Sandy this time) called out, "Hummel, for three?"

Kurt raised his hand, and led us over to the desk. The girl looked at us, seemed to slightly sneer at Kurt and Mercedes, and led us to an empty table.

"Well, that was rude." I observed. Mercedes and Kurt traded looks.

"Honey, white boy and I get that all the time." Mercedes explained.

I looked at Kurt. "White boy?" I asked.

Kurt nodded, and Mercedes laughed slightly. "Boy, what do they teach at that school of yours?"

"Equality." Kurt supplied when he saw I was at a loss of words. I nodded, thankful he knew what to say.

A waitress (still not Sandy, unfortunately) came up to us. "Hi, I'm Lola, your server for tonight. Is there anything I can get for you to drink?" she asked, ignoring Kurt and Mercedes, and focusing on me. The way she emphasized her words made me slightly nervous, and I could feel Kurt silently laughing next to me.

"Uh, I'll just have water, thank you, but what will you guys want?" I turned to Kurt and Mercedes.

They gave their orders for drinks, and the waitress left. Kurt finally let out an audible laugh.

"What?" I asked.

"Wow, boy, you're blind. That girl was just totally flirting with you." Mercedes explained.

I looked to Kurt, who was still laughing. "But I'm gay." I pointed out.

"Since when does that matter?" Mercedes retaliated. "I used to have the biggest crush ever on Kurt here. He was oblivious, though." she informed me.

My jaw dropped. "Tell me!" I begged her.

Kurt shook his head frantically. "Don't!" he told Mercedes.

She grinned at him, then told him, "This is payback for breaking my heart."

"You already threw a rock through my baby's window, what more can you do?" Kurt shot back.

"Wait, you did what?" I cut in, confused.

"So here's the dealio: Kurt's pretty hot for a white boy, and we were good friends, so we hung out a lot. I thought this meant we were dating." Mercedes started.

I looked at her, then at Kurt. "I hadn't come out yet." Kurt supplied. "Mercedes was actually the first person I ever came out to, though she was also probably the only person I needed to come out to." he joked, though there was a slight unhappiness in his voice.

Mercedes didn't seem to hear it. "Anyway, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany also helped convince me Kurt liked me. So at a carwash when I asked him if we could make it official, he said he was in love with someone else, and looked at Rachel."

"I actually was looking at Finn, but Rachel was in the way." Kurt muttered to me so Mercedes couldn't hear. I nodded to show him I understood.

"So I got really mad, threw a rock through his window, and stormed out." Mercedes continued.

Kurt winced. "Later on, she came up to my locker, apologized, and wished me luck with Rachel. That's when I came out to her." he finished.

"Pretty cool story." I told them, smiling, as the waitress came back with our drinks.

"Here you go." she practically purred in my ear. I shifted away from her, closer to Kurt, uncomfortable by her nearness.

"Th-thanks." I said.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked me, once again completely ignoring the other two people at the table.

We ordered quickly, and she left (thank god!).

"She does not have a very good gaydar." Kurt observed.

Mercedes and I nodded in agreement. "Oh, speaking of gay, how're Nick and Jeff?" Kurt asked.

Before I could reply, Mercedes asked me, "Who're Nick and Jeff?"

Remembering she had never met, and didn't know of any of the guys at Dalton, I hastened to answer her question. "Nick and Jeff are two guys at Dalton. They, along with Wes and David, are my best friends at Dalton. They were really good friends up until this past weekend."

"So, they're fighting or something?" Mercedes asked, still unsure as to what Kurt had referred to.

"Uh, no. They had both been in love with each other for a while, and finally got together on, what was it, Saturday morning." I finished.

Mercedes looked taken aback. "So, Dalton's a gay school?" she asked, looking at Kurt.

"No, Puck wasn't right, but there are a bunch of gay guys there, probably because of their no-bullying policy." Kurt explained.

We moved on to other gay topics, and unfortunately bored Mercedes, I think. She zoned out once or twice, and when I tried to capture her attention, she started, then caught a waitress, asking for tots. I remembered Kurt saying something about tots being banned at their school.

The rest of the dinner went back in the same manner. Kurt and I mainly talked, and I got to tease Kurt a lot, especially when he asked if we had read Patti LuPone's new book, and I pretended I hadn't. By the time we had finished dinner, it was 9:45, and the restaurant was emptier than it had been before. As the waitress came with the bill, I took it up, sliding in a credit card.

"Uh-uh, you paid last time!" Kurt protested.

"My treat, I'm insisting." I, in a childish urge, stuck my tongue out at Kurt.

Mercedes laughed. "White boy, let him, he's too stubborn to budge. I'll allow you to pay next time."

Kurt pouted, but gave in. "Fine, but I will pay next time." he threatened me, pointing his finger at me.

I laughed. "I'll hold you to that." I told him, while nodding my thanks to Mercedes.

"No problem." she smiled at me.

The waitress came to collect my card, and returned a couple of minutes later. "Here you go." she handed me my card back.

"Thanks." I thanked her, and put it back away in my wallet. As we made to leave, she caught my hand.

"You know, I get off in fifteen minutes..." she offered, looking up to me through her eyelashes.

"Um..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say or do.

Seeing my predicament, Kurt giggled, and Mercedes told the waitress, "Sorry, he's gay."

The waitress scoffed at Mercedes. "Was that the excuse he gave you?" she insulted her.

Kurt had to hold Mercedes from gauging out the waitress' eyes. I stepped in before it could get serious.

"I actually am gay." I told the waitress. She looked at me, and swore slightly. "Damn." she said, then walked away.

Kurt patted Mercedes' arm. "Come on, Merci, you're so much better than her."

She nodded. "Damn straight." she said, and allowed herself to be pulled from the building.

We parted in the parking lot, me heading back to Dalton, and Kurt and Mercedes to Kurt's house for a sleepover.

"It was great to meet you." I told Mercedes.

"You too, prep boy." she replied.

I turned to Kurt and hugged him, then let go. "Thanks again for dinner." he said.

I winked. "Thanks for the great company."

"See you tomorrow for the musical?" Kurt checked.

"Can't wait!" I replied, and headed off the my car, giving Kurt one last short hug.

On the way back to Dalton, I called David and Wes just in case I didn't make it back before curfew. I hoped Mercedes liked me—I wanted Kurt's friends to like me so they wouldn't persuade him not to be my friend. Mercedes was nice, I just hope she got used to sharing Kurt with me. Ah well, I only had til tomorrow until I got to see Kurt again. I couldn't wait!

A/N: So, what do ya think? I personally loved writing the waitress flirting with Blaine. He's such a flirtaholic, and never notices what it does to people (cough*Kurt*cough). As always, I'd love to hear your feedback, so please review! I love reading reviews—they make my day! I love you all! Thanks so much!