Kurt was trying really hard not to be mad at his best friends, Mercedes and Rachel. Well, more Mercedes than Rachel. Rachel had her own issues to work out about going back to New York and Mercedes had brought it all to a head by practically forcing an audition on her. So Thursday found Mercedes in Rachel's spot, helping Kurt with the New Directions. Unfortunately, the New Directions were NOT interested in Burt Bacharach week and it was not going well. Kurt and Mercedes were sitting in the teacher's lounge trying to brainstorm ways to get the kids on board. After trying to come up with anything and everything they turned to other topics.
"Soooo," Mercedes asked. "How is the new guy, Walter, right?"
"He's good," Kurt replied. "It's fairly casual. We've been on a few dates and he's really sweet. But I think-"
"Did you hear about Santana and Brittany?" Mercedes asked, completely cutting Kurt off. Kurt felt really dismayed at being cut off mid-sentence. He was trying to open up to his best friend about his feelings and she was apparently not in a listening mood. At least not to Kurt. She seemed to be on a "solving problems" kick this week. She just didn't seem interested in helping Kurt, unfortunately. She began telling Kurt all about the problems Santana was having with her abuela. She decided that they needed to help remind Santana who her real family was. Kurt was beginning to wonder if he was a part of this "family" or if he wasn't as important as everyone else.
Kurt had really wanted to ask Mercedes' advice about Blaine. Kurt was wondering if he should really let Blaine take the lead about possibly getting back together or if he should just lay things on the line. Loving Blaine but not being able to be with him was really taking its toll on Kurt. So instead of listening to Kurt ask about Blaine, he got roped into yet another "sing-ervention. Mercedes had to decided they should remind Brittana that everyone in glee loved them and that they would all be there for them by singing What the World Needs Now to them. She even managed to work in Burt Bacharach. If Kurt wasn't so annoyed for being ignored he would have been really happy with the idea.
It turns out, as Kurt would find out later, that Mercedes was afraid that Kurt was going to say he wanted to get more serious with Walter. Mercedes had been prepared to listen to him gush about his new boyfriend, but found out that when actually faced with having to listen to it, she couldn't stand the thought of him talking about anyone but Blaine...especially someone whom she thought of as basically a gay cougar.
So Friday afternoon found all the area New Directions back on the McKinley auditorium stage, waiting for Santana and Brittany to show up. Rachel had arrived back from New York moments ago and she was telling Kurt all about the trip. He was listening with rapt attention until something caught his eye, moving out of the shadows. No one told him that Blaine was going to be here for this. He was getting aggravated at having no warning about when Blaine was coming to things. He would also find out later that this was Mercedes's plan the whole time with regard to Kurt and Blaine. She figured the best way to get them back together was to keep throwing them together until they cracked.
"Hey," Blaine said quietly, as he walked up to Rachel and Kurt.
"Hi, Blaine!" Rachel responded, happily. She was on cloud nine from her audition and seemed to be happy with the whole world at that point. Kurt was much more reserved in his greeting, but the smile he was trying to hide at seeing Blaine was giving him away. They all had their marching orders. When Brittany and Santana finally came in, they were each to give a line about what being family is all about. And then they would sing about it. Kurt was supposed to start the whole "family" conversation after Artie told them he had a problem because too many of Santana's family wanted to sit at her table.
It all started and was going off without a hitch. Kurt came up and said, "Family are the people who embrace you with open arms, no matter what."
Blaine continued with, "they can see the pain in your eyes, even when you're fooling everyone else." The problem for Kurt was that when Blaine said this he kept glancing at Kurt. Could Blaine see the pain in his eyes? Why wasn't he doing anything about it? Maybe he didn't want to. The others went on to talk about what family meant to them. Kurt was trying to follow along, he really was...but Blaine kept glancing at him. It was completely distracting. He had to put all that aside, because he was a main player in the song that was coming up. He managed to get through it without completely flubbing his lines, though his head was spinning.
After the song was finished, everyone circled around Santana and Brittany, and they ended up in one of their frequent New Directions group hugs. Kurt was on the opposite side of the hug from Blaine, a fact that greatly disappointed him. Everyone started milling around after that, talking in small groups. Most of the new kids had wandered away, presumably to get to whatever else they had going on.
Kurt was standing with Mercedes and Rachel, still listening to Rachel go on about going back to New York. He glanced around at the stage they were all still standing on, and he realized that Blaine was standing off by himself. He was looking around at the group with a content expression on his face. As if knowing he was being watched, his gaze came to land on Kurt's. Kurt slowly walked over to him, intending to say hello. However, when he got there, the words that came out of his mouth were, "I need a hug." Where the heck had that come from?! Kurt wondered. Blaine didn't even hesitate. He simply wrapped his arms around Kurt and pulled him close. Kurt was completely overwhelmed by how good it felt to be in Blaine's arms. His breath caught as the hug continued, probably far longer than was socially acceptable. Kurt had buried his face in Blaine's neck and was inhaling his scent deeply. Blaine was wearing the cologne that always made Kurt's knees turn to jelly. Finally, Kurt pulled away and looked into Blaine's eyes. He could see the hurt and confusion in them and also something that looked a lot more promising.
"I need to go," Blaine finally said. "It was good to see you Kurt." With that Blaine walked out of the auditorium as if nothing was happening.
Blaine was walking through McKinley to get to his car. He was very irritated with himself. He had been about two seconds away from kissing Kurt in front of everyone in the New Directions. He just couldn't do that. He had no idea what was going on with Dave, but what he did know is that Dave didn't deserve to be treated that way. He was no longer sure what he was feeling for either Dave or Kurt, but he knew he needed to get his emotions under control.
Hey, can we talk? Blaine texted to Dave. He wasn't even sure if he would get a response, but he was hoping for one.
We will soon. Dave replied almost immediately. Blaine was so relieved he almost burst into tears. He didn't even know what he was going to say to Dave at this point. He was pretty sure they were headed for a break up, but he was being given nothing to work with here. At the same time, he didn't want to push because he knew Dave was going through some pretty horrendous stuff. At least he thought he assumed he was, since Dave was really not telling him anything. Dave might care a lot about Blaine, but he apparently didn't know not to leave him alone with his feelings for too long. Blaine tended to go stir crazy without someone to cuddle and care about. If he was being honest with himself (which he still wasn't) that is how he'd ended up with Dave in the first place. Blaine was extremely lonely and in need of affection and Dave was more than willing to give that to him.
Blaine could no longer deny to himself that he had extremely confusing feelings for Kurt. But before he acted on any of those feelings, he needed to know where he stood with his actual boyfriend. It was getting harder and harder to be around Kurt without doing something highly inappropriate, given the circumstances.
He went home to work on some Warblers stuff that he didn't get to because once again he had been called to McKinley to sing. He really wasn't all that upset about it this time, though. He was happy to sing to Brittany and Santana, but he knew the real reason he was glad to be called out there was that he wanted to see Kurt. He had tried to keep his distance, but Kurt didn't seem to want to stay away from him, which, if Blaine was being honest with himself, he was delighted by.
A few minutes later Blaine got texts from three different people, telling him that Mr. Schue was having an engagement party the next evening for Brittany and Santana. Mercedes, Sam, and Rachel had all texted him separately and told him that he had left too soon to find out and that he definitely needed to be there. He was only sad that he hadn't gotten a text from Kurt.
The next evening found the party going strong. Kurt wondered where Blaine was. He had asked a few people to make sure he was aware of the party and they all said they had. He wondered if he wasn't going to come because of the hug they had shared. It had definitely seemed to make Blaine uncomfortable, though he had fully participated in it.
The music was blasting and everyone was having a wonderful time. Kurt was talking to Rachel, but he couldn't help but glance at the clock every few minutes. It seemed as if Blaine probably wasn't going to show up. He wasn't typically late for things. Even if he did show up, he would probably have Karofsky in tow and that would just mean that Kurt would make an excuse and leave. He didn't think he could stand watching the two of them flirt all night.
Kurt had gotten up to get himself a drink and he heard the doorbell ring. He gestured to Mr. Schue that he was going to answer it, as it didn't seem like anyone else had noticed. He went to pull the door open and there stood Blaine with a bottle of wine, looking as devastatingly handsome as ever. Blaine leaned in to give Kurt a quick hug and then walked into the apartment. Kurt had felt his breath catch at the brief contact and took a second to collect himself. In that time he glanced out in the hallway looking for Karofsky. He was elated when he didn't find him there.
When Kurt entered the living room, he found Blaine standing with Brittany and Santana. Blaine was admiring Brittany's engagement ring. Kurt forced himself to look elsewhere and noticed the seat he had occupied by Rachel was still vacant, so he sat back down.
"I thought you were going to get yourself another drink?" Rachel asked him, confused.
"Oh, I guess I forgot," Kurt replied sheepishly. Rachel looked over at Blaine and raised a brow at Kurt.
"Yeah, I'm sure you did," Rachel stated with a smirk.
"Rachel…" Kurt warned, clearly not amused.
"Kurt…" Rachel sing-songed back, looking at Blaine suggestively. She was telling him with her eyes to go over and talk to Blaine. She'd seen what had happened on the stage earlier. All their friends were buzzing behind their backs about why these two didn't just clue into what was completely obvious to the rest of the world. Rachel really didn't like talking behind her best friend's back, so she wished this would get solved already. Just then Sam pulled her up, saying Mr. Schue wanted to talk to them.
Blaine glanced over and realized that Kurt was now sitting alone on the couch. Fairly quickly that football kid whose name Blaine kept forgetting to ask about sat down on the other side of the couch. That left the middle seat unoccupied. Blaine suddenly decided he was really tired of standing and went and sat down by Kurt. Though there was plenty of room on the couch, he sat close enough to Kurt that their legs were touching, justifying it in his mind by knowing that he really didn't want to talk to the nameless boy on the other side of him.
"Hi," Kurt breathed, trying to sound normal and just missing. God, he is so close, Kurt thought.
"Hey," Blaine replied turning toward Kurt. He was forced to put his arm along the back of the couch behind Kurt's head so he could actually look at him. All it would take was for Kurt to shift ever so slightly, and he would be in Blaine's arms. He resisted.
"So where's Karofsky tonight," Kurt asked instead of leaning into Blaine.
"Oh...he's with his dad," Blaine answered vaguely. Kurt looked confused. For a guy whose parents had basically abandoned him, he was spending an awful lot of time with his dad lately. Kurt supposed that was a good thing for Karofsky. It was good for Kurt too, he supposed, being as Blaine kept showing up places without him. "So I heard Rachel went to New York for an audition?" Blaine asked, wanting to take the attention off the fact that Dave wasn't around. "I guess our little intervention worked?"
"Yeah, apparently it did," Kurt answered with a smile. He launched into the whole story about how Mercedes had gotten Rachel an audition and how she had finally decided to take it. Blaine was very interested and happy for his friend, but he was having trouble following the story. Kurt's proximity was getting to him. He may or may not have been glancing down at Kurt's lips every few seconds, as Kurt was telling his story. He was really trying to follow along. He very much cared about Rachel and her audition. But between Kurt's gorgeous eyes and his pouty lips, which kept moving to form words, though Blaine had no idea what words were actually coming out, he was getting completely lost. He wanted badly to shake his head to try and refocus, but he knew how obvious that would be. A moment later he became aware just how obvious he was being anyway.
Kurt leaned over and whispered, "What are you doing?" right into Blaine's ear. His breath tickled Blaine's ear and sent a shiver down his spine.
"What-what do you mean?" Blaine stuttered out.
"Blaine, you keep…" Kurt was finding it a little embarrassing to mention that Blaine kept looking at his lips. He was getting incredibly turned on in front of all these people and he really needed for Blaine to stop being so close and stop acting like he wanted to kiss him.
"Kurt..." Blaine fairly growled out. "Can we go somewhere and-"
"Here you go, Blaine!" Mr. Schuester said, interrupting whatever Blaine had been about to ask. He thrust a guitar in Blaine's hands. Blaine looked up at Mr. Schuester, confused. He got completely sidetracked and had no idea what was happening. He glanced back and forth between Mr. Schue and Kurt as if trying to puzzle together what had happened. One second he was about to ask Kurt if they could go somewhere and talk (though he knew he wanted to do other things as well) and the next second he was holding a guitar, for no apparent reason. Kurt was looking back at him, just as confused. He also looked like he was about ready to punch Mr. Schue in the face.
Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester, who was completely oblivious to the fact that Kurt and Blaine were just about to have a major breakthrough in their relationship, called for everyone's attention.
"Hey everyone!" he called. "Rachel and I thought up a little game that we'd like to try." He went on to explain that Blaine and Sam, who was also holding a guitar, were going to play musical numbers that the New Directions had sang at one time or another. Whoever figured out the song first should start singing. If it was the right song, that person got a point. If it was the wrong song, they had to sit out for the next round. Obviously the person with the most points at the end would be the winner. The trick to the game was that it was a lot harder to recognize a lot of songs on guitar than it was on piano. Sam had come over to grab Blaine so they could confer about songs. Blaine was still staring at Mr. Schuester as if he had grown an extra head.
When he finally let all of what was happening sink in, Blaine said, "But I don't really want to-" But then he noticed that Kurt was already on the other side of the room talking with Rachel and Mercedes. Blaine sighed and stood up to confer with Sam. He guessed since the moment with Kurt was obviously over, he would go ahead and play the game to make everyone happy.
Meanwhile, Kurt was on the other side of the room giving Rachel heck for choosing that exact moment to announce their little game. "Why are you and Mr. Schue trying to ruin my love life, Rachel?!" Kurt groused quietly. "Blaine was just about to ask me to go somewhere with him and this is the EXACT moment you guys decide to play a freaking game?!"
"Kurt, we didn't know," Rachel answered, defensively. "Besides, it was Mr. Schue's idea and he is the one who decided we should play right now. You should be yelling at him...not me." Kurt sighed and joined the circle that everyone had made around the room to play the game. Whatever Blaine was going to say was obviously lost to oblivion as he and Sam were conferring about songs.
The decided to have a practice round and played the most obvious New Directions song in the world: Don't Stop Believin. Rachel, Kurt, and Mercedes all caught on at the exact same time and started to sing the song. Everyone else joined in and they sang through the chorus and a couple of verses before moving on the the next song. Blaine and Sam had decided to play that obnoxious song about Friday that was on YouTube for awhile. A bunch of the guys had performed it at Prom one year. Kitty was the one who caught on to that and then everyone joined in again.
When they were done, Artie yelled out, "Quick play something else before that horrible song is stuck in my head for the rest of my life!" causing everyone to laugh. The game went on from there. Blaine had to admit, that even though he was really annoyed that he had gotten roped into this, it was a pretty good time. He kept glancing over at Kurt, who seemed to be having a lot of fun as well, and that made him smile. They had been playing for about half an hour and just as they were coming to the end of singing Sit Down, You're Rockin the Boat, Blaine felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out as Mr. Schue and Sam discussed what to play next.
It was a text from Dave. Hey, I'm home. I was sort of hoping you would be here so we could talk.
Blaine's breath caught, while he was still looking at his phone. Dave was finally home. Maybe now they could sort out this mess and Blaine could finally understand what was happening between him and Dave and him and Kurt. "Uh, I have to go," Blaine announced to the room to a chorus of "boos", and "no, stays!" Only Kurt noticed that Blaine seemed a little confused and upset by whatever was on his phone.
Blaine had quickly gathered his coat, walked out of the room and out the front door. It took a few moments for Kurt to realize he wanted to know what was going on so he quickly followed. However by the time Kurt managed to get downstairs and outside, he was looking at the tail lights of Blaine's Prius, as it pulled out of the parking lot. He sighed and went back inside.