As soon as Kurt had texted Blaine with his result, Blaine had called him.
"Why don't you come to the club with me tonight? In celebration of your art project recieving a high grade?" He said on the phone, with a hopeful tone and Kurt smiled softly at that, but then sighed into the phone.
"I don't know, there will be lots of people there."
"No, I'll take you to a little one, a favourite of mine, hardly any people." Blaine explained and then paused briefly as Kurt thought about it, "Please?"
"I guess we can try." Kurt said into the phone quietyl and Blaine whooped loudly on the other end, making him laugh.
"Thank you, I promise, you'll like it."
They had made plans over text, because Blaine was a little busy with school work of his own, and then later that night Blaine turned up to take him out.
As soon as they got to the corner where Blaine had told him the small club was, they saw crowds of people around, standing in a long line outside. Blaine looked a little shocked at first and then turned to Kurt with a small apologetic grimace.
"Ok, so maybe they have an event on tonight, that brought in more people than I thought." He said and Kurt smiled back at him a little uncomfrotably, "Did you wanna go home?"
Kurt thought about it for a while. He had grown more comfortable around Blaine over the last few weeks, and was able to touch him and be touched, but other people were still a difficult thing for him to deal with. But then turning to the man next to him, seeing the crestfallen look on his face, Kurt shook off his little bit of fear and smiled at him.
"No." He said firmly and Blaine's eyes widened a little comically.
"You sure? You don't have to do this."
"No, I'm sure." Kurt said without a trace of trepidation in his voice and watched as Blaine visibly relaxed.
"Ok, just stay close."
"Not a problem."
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Kurt was fairing pretty well, in a club full of people. Blaine had offered to get hima drink while he sat at a table, but Kurt had preferred to stay close to him. Blaine didn't mind of course, he loved that Kurt trusted him so much.
As they approached the bar, they waited for a big enough space to fit in next to it, and Blaine made sure that he shielded Kurt's body from other people, in case any stumbling drunk people were to brush past him.
"My favourite cocktail is 2 for one, want one?" He asked over the nosie aroundd them and Kurrt gave hima smile before shaking his head.
"I don't drink." Kurt told him and Blaine made a surprised face before smiling slightly.
"Oh," he said as he grabbed his wallet from his pocket, "maybe virgin mojitos then?"
Kurt laughed at the ridiculous grin Blaine had on his face, and decided to look around while Blaine ordered the drinks. It was a spacious club, but with the amount of people inside, it looked smaller. Kurt was out of his comfort zone, but he felt ridiculously safe standing with Blaine.
He couldn't help but smile a little to himself and bob his head to the music that was playing. He wouldn't be confident enough to dance out there, but he appreciated the change of scenery.
"There you go, one virgin cocktail for you." Blaine said as he placed the glass in Kurt's hand, and Kurt had to laugh at the brightly coloured drink.
"Your favourite drink?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow and Blaine laughed good naturedly.
"What? I like pink." He said and took an exaggerated sip of his drink, making Kurt snort a little.
"If you say so."
They remained silent for a moment, while sipping on their drinks and making their way around the club, avoiding the big crowds of party goers. Kurt became a little more confident after a while, and began swaying along to the music. Blaine did too, but never left Kurt's side.
Their arms were brushing against each other on every sway, and Kurt felt a little dizzy with the contact. He knew Blaine liked him, and he liked Blaine. The pace their relationship was keeping was great for now, but Kurt often wondered what it would be like to kiss him sometimes.
He wasn't at that point yet, after all they had only been on 4 dates so far. And Kurt liked the slow build of freindship eventually turning into something more. They were at the between stage, falling slowly but surely. But the burn of the ache when he stared at Blaine's smile was getting stronger.
It was enough for him to believe that Blaine wouldn't initiate contact unless Kurt did. And he wanted to, but they still had some way to go beefore he felt comfortable enough to lean in.
Blaine had asked if he wanted another drink after they had finished theirs, but he shook his head, telling Blaine that if he wanted another one, he would wait for him by the wall. Blaine looked hesitant to leave him at first, glancing between Kurt and the crowds of people around them nervously.
But Kurt waved off his concern and Blaine promised to be right back.
Kurt wstched him go, a little fear striking at him, but he managed to shrug it off. Maybe it would be better for him if he could trust that nothing would happen within crowds of people. After all, he couldn't rely on just Blaine's touch forever.
He slightly stiffened as a drunk girl stumbled a little toto close, but she didn't touch him so he relaxed slightly as she steadied herself and wandered off.
Maybe he was kidding himself.
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Blaine was worried.
He was standing at the bar, waiting for his turn to order, glancing back every few seconds to check on Kurt, seeing that he was still ok before turning back.
It was literally killing his already frazzled nerves.
Kurt didn't do well in crowds, and now he was alone. Blaine was such a douchebag.
He sighed as the lady in front of him grabbed her drink and then left, and he apporached the bar to place his order. As he was waiting for his drink, he heard a bit of commotion behind him, someone dropping a glass and then a little laughter. He turned to look back at Kurt, and found him watching the scene with slight amusement.
He sighed again, maybe he was just worrying for nothing.
He grabbed his drink, once the bartender gave it to him, and turned back to walk over to where Kurt was. As he approached he could see that someone was talking to Kurt, obviously a little too closely, seeing as how Kurt was tense and trying very hard to keep himself in check.
Blaine hurried over and tried to get through the people in time to save him, but his eyes widened when he saw the guy's hand reach out to touch Kurt.
Everything seemed to slow down, and the roar of the crowd around him seemed to quiet a little, his blood rushed in his own ears as he watched Kurt flinch away. Obviously the guy was drunk, as the move Kurt made didn't register with him, and he kept reaching for him.
Blaine was almost through the last of the people, when the guy actually touched Kurt's arm.
He expected Kurt to shriek, or scream, or even yell at the guy to back off. What he didn't expect was for Kurt to lean back against the wall heavily and grimace like he was going to cry. Blaine saw him mumble something to the guy touching him, but obviously too quiet for the creep to catch as the hand on his arm trailed down it.
Blaine reached them and moved his own hand out to snatch the strangers wrist and jerk his hand from Kurt's arm, causing both Kurt and the inebriated guy to turn to him.
"Hey, what the hell-" The guy was about to object but Blaine glared intensely at the jerk and pushed him back away from Kurt slightly.
"Go hound someone else, and leave my boyfriend alone." he all but growled at the guy, and watched as the drunk man's eyes widened a little in fear before he backed away.
As Blaine turned back to Kurt to ask if he was okay, he almost stumbled as Kurt's enitre body slammed into his, arms wrapping around Blaine's neck, and a small sigh of relief was breathed into the collar of his shirt.
He wrapped his own arms loosely around Kurt's upper back, being extra careful about touching places on Kurt's body, and felt him tremble slightly.
"I want to go home now." Kurt whispered into Blaine's shirt and he felt himself nodding before abandoning his drink on a nearby table and walking with Kurt through the club to the exit.
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"Boyfriend?" Kurt asked from the couch, beneath a blanket, holding a mug of coffee between his still slightly shaky hands.
They had been back at the apartment for about an hour now, and Kurt had calmed down a lot from what happened. Blaine had given him a blanket and sat him down, made coffee for both of them and then sat beside him waiting for the calm to descend.
"Hm?" Blaine raised an eyebrow as he stared over at Kurt.
"You called me your boyfriend," Kurt said quietly, turning to give Blaine a small smile, "was that a spur of the moment choice of words?"
"Oh erm-" Blaine stammered as he became a little embarrassed, which Kurt found a little amusing.
"I mean you got the guy away from me, but I-"
"Well...I mean, i'd like to think of you that way." Blaine interrupted quietly and Kurt raised an eyebrow at him before snorted softly.
"Boyfriends do a lot more than just hold hands sometimes." He said with a shake of his head, and Blaine frowned.
"Not necessarily."
"Why would you want to be with somebody who may not be able to do more than...what we have already?" Kurt asked as he curled in on hismelf a little tighter and Blaine had enough of this self deprecating and swung himself out of his seat, glaring down at the blanket fort Kurt created around himself.
"Why?! Why on earth do you think?!" He almost yelled and Kurt looked up at him like he had been slapped, and Blaine felt a little bad about it, but he kept going, trying to drum it into his thick skull, "Your past doesn't matter to me Kurt. It shaped the person you are today, you lost something you can never get back, I get it. But I like you! Maybe even love you."
Kurt watched him from his blanket, with wide slightly terrified but awe struck eyes, and Blaine continued ranting.
"I don't care if I never get a kiss, I don't care about sex, I don't care about never being able to share more than smiles and soft touches. I care about you, ok?! I thought that much was pretty obvious, but obviously not to someone as thick as you."
"Yeah because it's so easy being me!" Kurt yelled back, removing the covers from over his head and glaring back at Blaine, "to not be able to hug people, or touch anyone without fear. You don't have to deal with all this shit, Blaine!"
"Why don't you trust me enough to be there for you, whatever that is? Because I want to Kurt, I want to be your boyfriend."
"Because I don't want to hurt you!" Kurt screamed at the top of his voice, and Blaine felt like he was the one who was slapped.
"Hurt me?" Blaine asked a little calmer now, voice gentle, as he sat on the coffee table facing Kurt, who ws pointedly avoiding his gaze now, "How do you figure that you'll hurt me?"
"By seeing that sad look in your eyes, whenever I pull away, watching those eyes cloud over with despair when I flinch and pull back...I've seen it and it kills me." Kurt's voice choked on the last word and Blaine felt like a real jerk.
"It's only sadness for you, not for me, because I know what you went through, and I know you're trying so hard," Blaine said softly and Kurt gave him a hard, disbelieving look, "but you don't have to push yourself to be the perfect boyfriend...I think you're already perfect."
Kurrt's eyebrows shot up to his hairline at Blaine's soft admission, and watched the red blush flow over Blaine's cheeks before he softened his own gaze.
"I'm far from perfect." He added and Blaine laughed.
"Perfectly imperfect then." Blaine said with a smile, which caused Kurt's lips to twitch up slightly too, "but it doesn't matter, I still want to be with you."
They exchanged a small smile, before Kurt sighed and sunk down into the blanket again.
Blaine heard a whispered "Ok" and felt his face split into the widest grin he had ever managed.