Kurt was happy to say he had friends at Dalton Academy. By Monday he was ready, and a little excited to start classes. He wasn't overly excited about having to wear a uniform or exchange awkward glances with Blaine. But he figured it's a better situation than he was in before. He sprayed on a little more hair spray before leaving out the door with his bag,
He spots Jeff out in the hallway as planned and waves happily. "Hey, Jeff. Good morning."
Jeff smiles brightly, "Morning, Kurt! Ready for classes, I hope you're not too nervous."
"I'm not really, thanks to you guys. I'm pretty much ready." The two boys start walking. Jeff turns to Kurt a little nervously, pulling his bag up higher on his shoulder.
"So Kurt, have you had a chance to talk to Blaine this weekend?"
Kurt shakes his head, "No, I haven't really seen him. He doesn't seem like he's interested in talking to me. I'm not going to push it. Maybe he doesn't want someone new in his group of friends," he looks a Jeff sadly.
Jeff stops walking and turns to Kurt, looking very serious for once, "No Kurt. That's not it at all. I mean, I haven't discussed it with him. But I've known him a long time, he's really a great guy." He and the rest of the guys sat and discussed this weird Blaine issue and agreed to stay out of it. But, it was hard, Kurt looks so sad about it.
"Maybe it's because I'm gay and he's not used to that, it wouldn't be a first for me." Kurt shrugs, really trying not to be offended by Blaine. He did see him Sunday, and the other boy just turned around and went the other way. It's hard for Kurt to believe this wasn't personal towards him.
Jeff laughs lightly, definitely not butting in here, they NEEDED to talk to each other. This is ridiculous. "Oh, Kurt. I really don't think that's it."
Kurt didn't really like being laughed at so he decided stop talking about, "It's okay, if he wants to talk to me he can. But don't get in the middle, he's your friend."
"But, so are you now. I'm not trying to get in the middle. It's just hard to watch, cause I have an idea what's Really going on, but I can't tell you without butting in, which I'm not supposed to." Jeff's animated voice got progressively louder as he walked Kurt to breakfast.
Kurt tried to make sense of Jeff's wording, but instead just let it go for now. The morning of classes were uneventful, they looked difficult but better classes than McKinley. He had the class without his friends, and that was even fine, everyone else was pretty nice as well.
After a lunch with his friends and Blaine who talked to David on the other end of the table the whole time, he had class with Blaine.. Government nonetheless. The most boring class, and he couldn't have Wes or Jeff to keep him entertained.
He sits in one of the seats toward the back, he knows Government would not be his best class. He would not be in the front trying to pretend to be interested. Blaine comes in with a few other guys Kurt doesn't know. He stops talking when he sees Kurt and looks at him unsure. There were several open seats to choose from. Blaine walks very slowly towards where Kurt's sitting. Gives him that annoying fake smile and slowly sits in front of him like it pained him.
He shouldn't have, he knew it, but Kurt could only be Kurt. Very quietly, in a dry voice, he says, "Well don't strain yourself or anything." When Blaine doesn't turn around, the only sign that he heard it was the back of his neck turning red. Kurt decides to continue, maybe get a rise out of him. "I mean, I don't have a contagious disease, I'm not over here with a dangerous weapon, threatening the life out of the first person to sit in front of me in a boring Government class.
Kurt was so frustrated, and the worst part was, he was used to this. Kids have been treating him badly his whole life. But for some reason, this was different, it really felt personal. Probably because Kurt saw him being so nice and friendly to everyone else. If he was an asshole to other people too, Kurt wouldn't think much of it. Big deal, another asshole. It's not like he went out of his way to treat Kurt badly, he just didn't acknowledge him at all.
Kurt took a few notes from the board, but then continued staring at the back of Blaine's head. Why did he have to actually be so attractive? So unfair, he couldn't even hate him back. Kurt sighs in frustration, and the teacher looks up with a raised eyebrow, causing Blaine to look at him a little from the corner of his eye, before looking to the front. Kurt silently apologizes.
The teacher, thankfully, goes back to she's doing. Kurt sits back in his seat and lets his head fall back, and he kicks the back of Blaine's chair, however not as softly as he thought. Blaine jumps, not having expected it. But still doesn't look at him. However, the teacher does.
The strict looking woman glares at Kurt. "Mr. Hummel, is it?"
Kurt nods, "It is." His voice very dry and unconcerned. Kurt isn't usually one for starting trouble, but as far as infractions go, this wasn't much to look at.
"Mr. Hummel," the teacher says, looking very unimpressed. "I don't know what you got away with in your previous school, but here, we have rules. I take it you didn't read the rule book."
While catching up on his notes, Kurt responds, "No, I did. Pretty standard class rules." He noticed all the kids turning to look at him. He wasn't trying to be a class hero or anything, he's just not sure what the big deal was. A chair was kicked. Blaine himself wasn't kicked, the teacher wasn't kicked. But by the end of this class, who knows what's going to happen, with all this going on.
"Well, then I think you'll find your behavior is in violation," Her voice a rising a bit.
Kurt looks at the teacher, he's pretty sure for the first time. She was an older lady, with her hair tied back tightly in a bun. A very strict looking face, dressed like a librarian. This poor woman.
"Of what," Kurt asks with a laugh. "There's no rule about feet accidentally brushing a chair hard enough for the whole class to hear. Look, it won't happen again."
The teacher's face tints a little, but her face unmoving. "This is your first day of classes, and you're already being disruptive. I do not allow disruptive behavior in my classroom. Is that understood?"
Kurt smiled a little, knowing he was being an ass. But this day has called for it. "It is." Kurt knew he had an issue with his mouth, it gets him in trouble all the time.
What he didn't expect was the teacher to smile, but it wasn't a nice one. "Kurt, I would like you to apologize for kicking Blaine's seat."
Kurt smiles sweetly, "I'm sorry, l kicked your seat, Blaine. It was unprovoked and mostly unintentional.."
Blaine's entire head turns red at being addressed. He couldn't decide whether to laugh or run and hide. This bitch off was amazing, this never happens at his school. Blaine nods back, and smiles at the teacher to show he wasn't upset by it. Well, he was, but it was deserved. He's too shy to talk to Kurt, it's so stupid and embarrassing. Now Kurt hates him and it's too late. Unfortunately, he had a good idea of what was about to happen next.
The teacher walks down and stands next to Blaine and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Blaine here is a star student at this school. Very well respected
Kurt holds back the giant eye roll, but snickers a little, "I am sure he is." What the hell difference does that make?
Now officially ignoring Kurt's attitude, the teacher continues. "Maybe Blaine would be a nice change for you. He can catch you up on how this school works. You two will be paired up in this next project, focusing on the difference in class systems." She gives Kurt a knowing look, making everyone else in the room very uncomfortable. Kurt, still unconcerned. "And maybe some of his good behavior will rub off on you a little."
The bell rings before Kurt could respond, and everyone in the room hurries out the door, glad it ended when it did. Kurt really didn't care. He knew he probably was considered economically lower class than his peers, big deal. Most people didn't care about that anymore.
He heads to his next class where he'd be with all his friends. And Blaine. He makes it to the class, sees Wes and grins. If he was already in trouble once, he might as well sit with the real trouble maker. "Hey, Wesley."
Wes gestures to his seat with a grin, "Have a seat here, Kurtness. How's classes so far?"
Kurt tells him about his last class, causing Wes to lose it. He throws an arm around Kurt like a proud dad, shaking his head with a smile. "You're new and already learning already. I didn't think you had it in you. I thought you'd be another David or Blaine. All well-behaved, but I think you have potential." Secretly happy about this project. Not the class system part, that's fucked up, screw her for that. But Kurt and Blaine really needed to find a way to break the ice. His little squad was in turmoil when all of them aren't besties. Kurt fit in like a glove, but Blaine came over acted like a weirdo. Time to slap some sense into him.
He turns to his right, in the back of the class, and literally slaps Blaine over the back of the head. By that point all the rest of the students, his squadlets included were already seat. The other three sitting in the row just ahead of them. The slap wasn't hard enough to catch the teacher's attention, but Blaine looked disgruntled.
Wes looks over and see Kurt drinking out of a water bottle. He could use some water. He leans over to Kurt and opens his mouth. Kurt looks over and frowns, shaking his head. He doesn't share.
Wes frowns back and nods, yes, I really need water. What type of person denies their friend water?!
Kurt rolls his eyes and picks up his bottle lid and squirts water into the cap, very carefully places it on Wes's side. Wes's shoulder drops and he looks at Kurt in disbelief. "Really?"
Kurt nods seriously, looking to make sure he understood the math on the board, he did. He looks back over and sees Wes tipping the tiny lid to his mouth and sipping it like it's a cup, with his pinky in the air. Even Blaine who looked over and saw it, couldn't stop from laughing. Kurt was smart, got good grades, but there's a reason he was a purely back of the class student.
David catches the action from the corner of his eye and glares at him, motioning him to stop. This causes Nick and Jeff to look and earn him two more laughs, which little by little gets the whole class's attention. Somehow, Wes was still sipping. The teacher looks over and sees the tiny plastic, water-filled cap, and smiles while rolling her eyes as well. She says Wes's name really loud to get his attention. She wasn't of the stricter teachers. Wes was actually one of her best students, a little crazy or not. She didn't usually worry about what he was doing. But all the students were focused on him. Some of those kids needed to be listening.
This startles Wes and his hand jerks, spilling the contents of the lid on to his tie. "Ugh," Wes exclaims, "I'm drenched!" Causing the whole class to laugh. He frowns when he realizes he still didn't get any water out of all of this. "And parched," he adds with a graspy voice.
The teacher snickers, "I'm sure you're fine, Wes. Just make sure to keep the distractions down, okay?"
Kurt shrugs, See? How hard was that? No weird discussion about the rule manual.
The rest of the week went by painfully slow. He was tired and grouchy by the end of the week. And that crotchety Government teacher never forgave him. Blaine stills sits near him, strangely, and kind of said hi once. Kurt acted like he was going to fall out of his seat, making Blaine look down guiltily. Now Kurt feels bad.
Kurt makes it to his room after classes, he was going to sit in during Warbler practice to see if he was interested, but he wanted to call his dad instead.
He told him more about his friends, left out the part about his Government teacher, naturally. He really wanted his dad's perspective on Blaine, so he starts explaining the situation. "And I don't get it cause he doesn't seem like a jerk.."
"Well, Maybe he's not," Burt responds gruffly.
"Okay, that wasn't much help."
Burt laughs, "What did I tell you, Kurt?"
Kurt rolls his eyes as he lays back in his bed, "Give everyone a chance, something and so on."
"Have you tried talking to him?" Burt asks, kind of has an idea of what the issue is. Teenagers were actually so much more obvious than they realize.
"Yeah," Kurt says obviously. "I said, Hi Blaine, nice to meet you."
Burt barks out a loud laugh, "That's it? Really?"
"Well no, I kind of snarked at him a few times and kicked his chair once.. on accident."
Burt snorts, "Yeah, like I'm going to believe that with the amount of tantrums I've seen from you. Go talk to him, Kurt. Right this second actually, and then if he's still a jerk then forget him! But make him sit down and talk to you. And before you say you can't make someone talk to you, you're Kurt, you'll find away. Even through force. It's the only way. If it's bugging you this much, I want you to confront it, head on. That's how we Hummels do it."
Kurt sighs deeply, Burt never gives him easy advice. Most parents would be like, oh screw them if they don't want to be your friend, you're probably better off. Or, that's okay just focus on the people who do want you around. No, his dad tells him to confront the person and demand answers. It's seriously hard being Kurt sometimes.
He hangs up with his dad shortly after, knowing he was going to do as told. Kurt also knew that he was going to eventually do this anyway. He might as well speed up the process by a few weeks. Warbler practice though.. Interrupting is rude, but so is ignoring him, so Kurt made his way out of his room.
He struts down the hallway to the music room and knocks a few times before entering. When he comes in he sees Wes, David, some other boy at a table looking very serious. Kurt almost laughed looking at the boy who was just sipping out of a lid just an hour ago.
Wes looks at Kurt sternly with his hands folded over the table. "Kurt, if you wanted to look in, you should come in promptly after classes. We don't like interruptions like this."
Kurt snorts and sits down next to Blaine, who looks at him in shock. "Okay, sure Wesley. Hello, Blaine." He crosses his legs primly and motions for Wes to speak. "Well, carry on then."
"As I was saying before Mr. Hummel's appearance…"
Kurt wasn't really listening, he didn't understand why they didn't just sing. It's glee club, it's supposed to be fun. They're all sitting around like they're planning their funerals for sixty years from now. Kurt smiles at a few of the boys who were shooting him curious looks, causing Blaine to look over too. Kurt leans over and whispers in his ear, "We're talking after this, don't even think about going anywhere."
Blaine's face heats up, one because of the tingly feeling of his new crush whispering to him, also because he has no idea what's going to happen now. Would he be able to get it together, he'd try, he really likes Kurt. Especially now that Kurt's really come out of his shell. This is the most fascinating person he's ever seen, and he feels so intimidated, and slightly inadequate next to him. Blaine's just a normal guy, a good student who throws himself in the spotlight just to be noticed.
Eventually Wes finishes droning on and addresses Kurt, "Kurt, since you're new here, do you have anything you'd like ask about the Warblers?"
"Well, yes." Wes smiles and encourages him to ask. "When do you actually sing, that's what this club is for isn't it?"
"Of course, we still need to discuss what we will do. We're mostly planning for our sectionals. Which you would know, had you been listening," he reprimands Kurt.
Kurt shrugs, "I would be listening if someone were singing. Why not just pick something on the fly and see how it goes?"
All of the Warblers look at Kurt like he was the deranged one. Wes looks very annoyed at Kurt's reaction to which David steps in and responds for him. "Kurt, we don't have an adult leader, so we do things a little more seriously to keep things from getting out of hand."
That actually makes a lot of sense, Kurt thinks. "Okay, thanks for explaining, David," Kurt smiles as Wes.
Wes bangs a gavel, and starts calling for order like it's a courtroom. Kurt laughs, 'Wes, no one has said anything in like three minutes, we're not exactly having a riot over here." He sees Blaine's head drop and Kurt knew he was doing too much. He finally spots Nick and Jeff in the corner looking at him and shaking their heads, looking at him like he's crazy. Some of the other boy were laughing and whispering to each other. Wes looked like he was about to lose it.
Wes stands up quickly, bangs his gavel, calling for order again. "Okay Warblers, we're going to end rehearsal here. Thanks Kurt for attending today, I hope you enjoyed it." He looks at his friend stiffly and the Warblers start to file out.
Blaine moves to get up, figuring they'd still talk, but somewhere else or something. Kurt grabs him arm to keep him from getting up. "No, I said you're not going anywhere."
Nick and Jeff watch for a second, wandering if they could get away with watching if they didn't move, David saw what was going on, which took long enough. Nothing was getting in the way. He motions Jeff and Nick out of the room, Wes had left already, probably pissed at Kurt. He whispers to the two boys, "This has gone on for too long, those two need to get their shit together so we can all be friends. Leave them too it. " It sucked always being the adult.
The two boys sobered and followed David out, Jeff smiling reassuringly as Kurt, who returned it.
The silence was thick in the air and Kurt kept sneaking glances at Blaine who was picking at his nails. Kurt takes a deep breath and lets it out before speaking. "Blaine, I don't know why you're so different around me from everyone else.." He looks at Blaine, who's looking him like he Wants to say it. "I don't know if it's something I've done. I know you don't like me, I just don't get why. If it's because I'm gay, like I'm pretty sure it is, please just say it. Maybe we could discuss it." He looks over nervously at Blaine, who's staring at him like he's crazy.
Blaine didn't realize just how bad he was coming across. He thinks Blaine's a damn homophobe. Blaine scratches the back of his head and laughs humorlessly. Oh what the hell, "Kurt, I'm gay too." He laughs again at Kurt's shocked face. "I don't dislike you at all, I think you're great." He turns over to face Kurt better. "I have always had an easy time talking people. I've always been here, in this prep school. I am taught and trained what's proper with people." Blaine stops to figure out his next words.
Kurt frowns in confusion, "Okay cool, but I don't think I did anything that crazy here that would throw you all off-kilter."
Blaine shakes his head, "You did nothing. I saw you and could just tell you were this different person, and I just got so nervous. I had no idea what to say, or what to do. I don't know, I got shy I guess. I'm sorry if that's weird. But then I didn't know how to fix it, you started not liking me, which is my fault entirely. I'm sorry, Kurt." Blaine sneaks a peak at Kurt and sees the first soft, sweet expression Blaine had seen on that face. It was beautiful, Kurt was so perfect.
"Blaine, that's not weird. I mean, I guess it kind of is. But I get it, it's hard putting yourself out there, especially when you're used to one thing." Blaine looks at Kurt with so much gratitude. Kurt smiles backs and continues. "At my old school, I was the only kid out of the closet and it was very hard. Almost everyone hated me because of this one thing I both couldn't and wouldn't change about myself. People basically acted like I was invisible. I guess when I came here and you just didn't talk to me, I just assumed that was it." Kurt chuckles for a second when he realizes. "If you think about it, we both did that same thing to each other."
Blaine looks at Kurt sadly, "I'm sorry it was like that for you, and I'm sorry I made you feel like that again."
Kurt smiles back and bumps their shoulders, feeling a huge weight lift. He couldn't believe his luck, Blaine was gay too. One day, they would really be something, he knew it. He wanted to switch to a happier topic so they could continue talking, and have a nice talk. No more sad stuff. "And I'm sorry for kicking your chair." He looks at Blaine and winks.
Blaine bursts out laughing at the memory of earlier that week. "Oh Kurt, you don't know how badly I wanted to laugh during that whole thing."
Kurt starts laughing too, "That woman has it out for me now."
Blaine shakes his head in amusement, this boy would be the death of him. He was just everything and more. "Kurt, you managed to take the world's most boring class, and make it the best part of the day."
"My mouth tends to get me in trouble a lot, I had every plan on coming here and being sweet and good all the time. But I just had to go and kick your chair. This changed the whole course of my life I think." Kurt knew that sounded dramatic, but who cares? He sees Blaine looking at him again and sees this warm expression he couldn't quite name. His eyes were looking at him so meaningfully, he's never had anyone look at him that way.
Blaine's phone goes off, terrifying the hell out of both boys. Blaine picks up his phone and sees a text about dinner from Wes. "Well, Kurt, I now name this the start of a beautiful friendship." Friendship plus…something, Blaine thinks. They'd be more than that, Blaine vows, they already felt like more than that. For now, they needed to get comfortable with each other. He stands up and gives his best, most charming smile, earning him a blush. He offers Kurt a hand, "How about we walk to dinner together in the spirit of comradery?"
Kurt looks at the new, confident looking Blaine. His snarky facade was shaken a little from their talk, he could feel his cheeks blush as he looked the cutest boy in the world. He takes the hand and stands up, "Lead the way."
The boys couldn't look at each other as they walked hand in hand without smiling or blushing, so they just walked, looking in different directions. Blaine gave Kurt's hand a squeeze before letting go and opening the door to the cafeteria.
They walk in and see their friends watching curious, and hopefully. Kurt smiles, throws his arm over Blaine's shoulders and their friends all look at each other relieved.
Kurt sits next to Wes, who would barely look at him because of glee practice. "Oh stop, Wes. You're not mad at me. I was a boy on a mission." Eliciting a laugh from around the table. "It's not like I tied someone up and made you take a tour with me." He looks at Blaine and winks. Blaine does this cute nose scrunch thing as he laughs. Things were looking up indeed.