Title: Flawed Design
Pairings: Kurt/Mercedes
Rating: PG-13 (for now)
Spoilers: Season 1
Summary: Mercedes has a crush on Kurt. When this comes to light, Kurt has the opportunity to stay in the proverbial closet a bit longer, hopefully freeing himself from related bullying. But, will it all come slamming back in his face?

Chapter Four

Kurt walked Mercedes up to her front door that evening. He had opened her car door for her and took her by her hand as she stood. It was a good thing he had watched so many chic flicks and romantic movies. He may not have felt confident about his feelings toward the girl, but he was confident in how to act like a gentleman. Mercedes was beaming.

Mercedes turned around when they reached her front step.

"I had a really good time tonight, Kurt," she said, softly.

"I did, too," replied Kurt, managing a smile. "Thank you for accompanying me tonight; Sing-a-long Sound of Music has never been as fabulous as it was with you."

She smiled sweetly up at Kurt, her cheeks pinking just slightly under her smooth, chocolate complexion. Knowing what part came next, Kurt's stomach did an uneasy flip as he looked down into her expectant eyes. Taking a steadying breath, he leaned forward and placed his hands on each of her arms. She closed her eyes and leaned toward him, tilting her face up to connect their lips.

Kurt, eyes closed and leaning down, froze when he felt his lips lightly touch the full lips of his best friend. It was a strange feeling, knowing that he was kissing someone and they were kissing him right back. He wanted to be ecstatic. He wanted to be swooning. He wanted time to cease and the world to melt away. Instead, he couldn't stop thinking, and that caused him to wonder if one should be thinking during one's first kiss. And if one is thinking during one's first kiss, what does one normally think about?

But, his first kiss, if it even counted, really shouldn't be some sort of cute pucker on pucker like something two elementary children would share. So, even if this was a girl he was kissing, and even though it wasn't just any girl but his friend, Mercedes, he decided to press onward. Moving his lips against hers, he tilted his head and deepened the kiss.

His movement brought out a soft gasp from Mercedes which Kurt thought quite interesting. He would have to file that away for future use if they were to be dating. Their lips seemed to fit together rather well, actually. When he did end the kiss and straightened his posture, Mercedes slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him with a soft smile on her face. She looked like she enjoyed the kiss which made Kurt smile.

"Goodnight, Kurt," spoke Mercedes, her voice softer than he had heard it before. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Kurt grinned at her and said, "Until then, my dear," before turning to head back to his car.

Mercedes was still standing on her front deck when Kurt was settled in the front seat of his SUV. She smiled and waved at him when he caught her eye. He gave her a quick wave before backing out of her driveway.

As he drove home, Kurt wondered if maybe this really could work. The kiss hadn't been a magical fairy tale kiss, but, that would probably be true with anyone. Disney had probably just given him strangely high expectations of something that was merely a physical act of affection. Kissing someone couldn't possibly have some sort of magical effect. Perhaps with practise, the kissing would feel better, too. It was a first kiss after all, and neither of them knew what they were doing. Kissing Mercedes hadn't caused any sort of 'ew, girl cooties' panicked reaction, so, that had to be a good sign at least. He had felt no revulsion at kissing a girl and it had felt nice to share that moment with someone he cared about.

On his drive back to his house, he went over his internal library of romantic dates to try to come up with a good plan for his next date with Mercedes. This was his best friend and unofficial, soon-to-be-official girlfriend, he needed to come up with something really special because she definitely deserved to be properly wooed.

Mercedes struggled to school her expression into something of nonchalance as she stepped into the school the next morning. It was so hard, though! She had gone on a date with Kurt the night before. It wasn't an official date at the beginning but she was not going to complain about the semantics involved because it had turned into a real one before the night had been through and she had gotten her first kiss. It had started off a bit awkward but the kiss had turned into something rather splendid, it was a pretty accurate reflection of the evening as a whole, really. And now... now Mercedes was going to see Kurt again and he would ask her out on a second date like he had promised and that should be enough for them to be officially dating which would mean she had a boyfriend. A boyfriend.

A squeal of delight grew in the back of her throat and Mercedes worked to swallow it down, she needed to play it cool. Mercedes Jones did not squeal over boys.

She turned the corner of the hallway and her steps faltered for a moment when she saw Kurt standing at his locker. He must have just arrived because he was working at his combination lock, a heavy book bag slung over his shoulder and his jacket still on. Mercedes bit her lip and fought between running toward Kurt and turning and fleeing. Her heart was pounding in her chest and excitement was bubbling in her bloodstream.

Her feet carried her at a steady pace toward Kurt and his locker even while she continued to debate between running to him or away from him as the anticipation heightened. Kurt turned as she approached and flashed her a bright, but close-lip smile.

"Good morning, Mercedes," he sing-songed at her. "You look positively radiant this morning."

Mercedes felt herself flush at his words, a bashful but happy smile pulling at her lips.

"Hi, Kurt," she managed coyly.

Kurt continued to smile affectionately even as he turned from her to put his things in his locker and fish out what he needed for his first class of the day.

"So," he said airily. "I was hoping I could take you out for dinner and a movie this weekend."

"Why, Kurt Hummel, are you asking me on a date?" asked Mercedes flirtatiously.

"Yes, Mercedes Jones," replied Kurt, almost laughing. "I was hoping to be your boyfriend, you see."

"I do see," replied Mercedes after a short pause.

Kurt and Mercedes smiled at each other for a few moments, Mercedes somewhat more dopily than Kurt.

"Get a room!" exclaimed Santana in a disgusted tone. "Or at least be less sickening!"

Startled, Mercedes wrenched her eyes away from Kurt to see Quinn, Brittany and Santana walking past. Quinn was smiling devilishly, Brittany was bopping her head from side to side with a faraway look in her eye, and Santana was glaring at her and Kurt.

"Virgins," she spat out in exasperation, throwing her hands in the air.

Mercedes made a point of rolling her eyes dramatically which caused Kurt to chuckle softly. They linked their arms together, Kurt shutting his locker door, and walked off in the opposite direction of the sneering cheerleaders to go to their morning classes.

Mercedes was practically floating as she walked hand in hand down the hall with Kurt. They were holding hands. Holding hands. Not like little children did when crossing the street. No, their fingers were intertwined; Mercedes' dark fingers contrasting beautifully against Kurt's exceptionally pale ones.

After their morning classes, Kurt and Mercedes had sat together for lunch, which, by itself wasn't unusual at all, but it felt so much different now that they were practically officially going out. She couldn't help but smile smugly at Tina and Rachel who were sitting across from the table from them when Kurt had brought up their upcoming date again, asking Mercedes what restaurants in town she liked.

"Hey guys, looks like Homo's found himself a beard," sounded a gruff taunting voice that quickly pulled Mercedes from her cloud and back to the reality of McKinley High.

She and Kurt came to an abrupt stop in front of the small group of burly jocks in red letterman jackets.

"I am not Kurt's beard," snapped Mercedes lifting her chin and staring boldly at the boy who had spoken.

"Is that so," sneered the boy. He wasn't even looking at Mercedes, though; he was grinning maliciously at Kurt. "Why don't you prove it, Homo? Why don't you kiss her right here and now?"

Mercedes turned to look over at Kurt who was glaring daggers at the large jock. She squeezed his fingers in an attempt at being reassuring because even though he had a cold front, she could feel his hand shaking in hers.

"I don't think so," replied Kurt, his voice amazingly confident despite the rest of the boys in the group now standing in a looming semi-circle around them. "If I were to kiss her now, it would only prove that I am indeed using her. I don't need to prove anything to you Neanderthals and when I do kiss my girlfriend it is for our benefit and no one else's. So why don't you big buffoons stop perving on Miss Jones' and my love life and go bother someone else, you're blocking the hallway."

Mercedes found herself gaping at Kurt. A weaker or less gentlemanly boy definitely would have just leaned in and kissed her to escape this situation and she wouldn't have thought any different, but after hearing what Kurt had said, she couldn't help but be impressed if not a little turned on. It was as if by not kissing her in that moment, he was protecting her virtue (but not in a sexist way) and saying that kissing her was something too special to be cheapened by doing only to prove a point. And she couldn't help but put emphasis on the fact that Kurt had called her his girlfriend. Yes, Mercedes was swooning.

She didn't have long to, though, because the group of boys in lettermans were still standing around them. The one who had been doing all the talking didn't seem half as impressed by Kurt's speech as Mercedes had been.

"Wrong answer," he replied with a fiendish grin before taking a large step back.

There was a lot of movement and suddenly Kurt and Mercedes were standing in a puddle of slushies with the icy drink in a few different colours seeping down their faces, staining their skin and clothes. The group of boys quickly dissipated, laughing as they left. Mercedes and Kurt stood there for a few moments, frozen in place by shock and the ice-cold beverages. Finally, Mercedes removed her hand from Kurt's to brush slushy from her shoulders and the text books she had been carrying under her free arm.

"I'm so sorry, 'Cedes," spoke Kurt, softly, as he gently brushed a few clumps of slushy from her hair.

"Don't apologize, Kurt," replied Mercedes rather sharply, angry with the jocks for being assholes, for ruining her clothes, and most importantly, for putting that dejected look on Kurt's face. She grabbed Kurt's arm and started for the nearest girl's washroom. "Let's go get cleaned up."