Blaine had found a new love for 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'. He doubted whether even singing with that ghastly Nicole girl would sour it for him now. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to moan about that to Kurt after their duet because of the arrival of Mr Schuester, Kurt's old glee club coach. He'd heard the initial exchange between them before the door had closed: felt his heart leap at Mr Schue's "someone special?" and sink at Kurt's "just a friend", right before the snap of the door shutting. Of course they were just friends, he reminded himself. Why did he keep giving himself endless false hope? He'd supposed that if Kurt did really like him, he'd have told Mr Schuester – Kurt talked about him with such respect and admiration – and having it categorically stated felt like a blow to the chest, not quite real. His face felt hot and he took a breath, taking out his phone and sending Kurt yet another text.

Meet outside after school to go rehearse?

Blaine headed to the only place he could think of: the memorial garden. He sat on the bench and stared at the tree, fiddling with his fingernails, his hair, his tie. It was a few more minutes before a reply came.

Yes! Sorry about Mr Schue, it was an emergency.

Wondering what kind of emergency involved asking about ex-students' love lives, Blaine just had time to text back before the bell went.

Don't worry, it's fine :)

Home room and lessons went by in a blur; Blaine was too busy overthinking his life to pay much attention to them. By the time the end of school came he was itching to leave. He grabbed his bag and headed out the classroom without saying goodbye to Trent.

By the time he reached their meeting spot, though, Kurt was already there.

"You don't mind my dad driving us, right?" Kurt asked him cautiously. "He's had a thing about chaperoning me to Dalton and back ever since my transfer."

Blaine nodded understandingly, but he could definitely see Burt's point of view: if he had the job of looking after Kurt, he'd never let him out his sight.

Burt and Blaine had never officially met (excluding the two-minute exchange at Kurt's front when he was ill) so Blaine tried to be on his best behaviour and smiled charmingly as he climbed into the back of the car next to Kurt.

"Hey, Mr Hummel," he said smoothly.

"Burt, please," Kurt's father insisted. "You two alright, then?"

"Absolutely," Kurt replied, clicking his seatbelt in. Blaine did likewise. There was a moment of silence as the car started moving.

Once they were driving, Burt asked, "so, what will you two be getting up to, then?"

Blaine had met enough people to identify the pointedness of the question, and smiled airily to try to break the tension. "We've both got an audition for the Christmas fête and so we were going to rehearse together," he explained.

Burt nodded, satisfied, and Kurt looked relieved. Blaine proudly inwardly congratulated himself.

The rest of the journey passed in silence, Blaine not feeling comfortable enough to try to start a conversation with Kurt or confident enough to talk to Burt, since neither of them seemed concerned with it. He recognised Kurt's house when they turned the corner of the street and waiting until Kurt did so before undoing his seatbelt. The three of them filed into the house, Kurt heading straight to the stairs, and motioning for Blaine to follow.

Blaine liked Kurt's room – it was spacious and light and made him feel happy (and it helped that Kurt wasn't lying on the bed looking ill).

"So, what was all that with Mr Schuester about earlier?" Blaine asked.

Kurt looked at him. "Oh, I'm sorry about that – he'd pulled Coach Sylvester's name out the tub at Secret Santa and needed present ideas."

"Ouch." Blaine could see why Kurt had termed that an "emergency". He hadn't met Sue Sylvester, but, from Kurt's description and various anecdotes, that seemed to be a good thing. "Did he try looking for a soul?" he joked.

Kurt nodded grimly. "It was the second thing on his list."

Blaine sat next to Kurt on the bed. "So, what did you suggest?"

"Fur-lined jackets have been around a lot this season," he answered enthusiastically. Blaine nodded, unsurprised. After a moment, Kurt said, "so, what's this about you singing with some girl at the Christmas fête?"

Blaine selfishly hoped it was jealousy that tinged Kurt's voice. "She's apparently the lead singer at Crawford Country Day – "

" – they have a glee club?"

" – and I've been asked to do a duet," Blaine finished, shrugging. "That's pretty much all there is to it, but the girl... she's... a nightmare."

Kurt looked as though Blaine had piqued his interest. "Oh, really? How so?"

Blaine fished for the right words, gesticulating with his hands. "She's... arrogant, for a start. Very popular, but not very nice. Annoyingly flirty – " Kurt pulled a face " – and constantly using text talk. It's giving me a headache."

Kurt tutted sympathetically. "Is she a good singer?" he asked.

Blaine shrugged. "I don't know, I'm rehearsing with her on Friday," he sighed. "I just... really don't want to."

Blaine felt Kurt's arm reaching lightly round his shoulders and he smiled at him weakly. "Sorry," Blaine said. "We should – we should rehearse our duet."

Kurt smiled at him, quickly rubbing Blaine's shoulder and leaning his head on it for a split second before standing up to start the CD player. Blaine got up off the bed and motioned for Kurt to start as the music began to play.