Birds of a Feather
Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.
A/N: Hey everyone! Woo-hoo, the second chapter at last! I know, I should burn in hell for taking so long! I'm really sorry! But I wanted to get it just right (and also it's exam time for me :/). Hopefully I managed to do that! You let me know:)
And thanks so much for the reviews, faves and alerts, guys! Don't stop;)
Chapter 2 – Spy Games
Standing at Blaine's dorm door, Kurt took in a deep breath trying to channel his inner Finn so that he could go through with his plan. He could sure use some of his stepbrother's careless spirit and goofiness. His last conversation with Blaine didn't exactly place top ten among his favourite moments in life and he was afraid he had offended him so coolness and humour were greatly needed for what he intended.
He remembered the hurt look in Blaine's eyes when he had asked if his voice was real. He'd noticed it was his one true release – when he was on stage, performing, he was a totally different guy – relaxed, spontaneous and natural. Kurt doubted even Blaine himself realized this. But that was exactly why Kurt had pushed in the first place. He cared about Blaine too much to let him throw his voice – his soul – away because it was safer and easier that way. He was reminded of that lesson himself last year when he tried so hard to be more like his dad, singing Melancamp and dating Brittany. But Mr. Schue saw right through it and the words he had told him then were still fresh in his memory. Don't lose track of who you are just because it might be easier to be someone else. He repeated the words under his breath as he gave Blaine's door a light knock and peered inside.
Thankfully Blaine's roommate was out on a date so the Warbler soloist was alone, sitting at his desk poring over some text books.
"Can I come in?" Kurt asked sheepishly as Blaine looked up. "I promise I won't go all introspective on you again."
Blaine chuckled lightly. "I deserved a taste of my own medicine. Sometimes I forget myself in my role of the…what did you call it? Sage adviser," he said self-deprecatingly and put down his book with a crooked smile.
Kurt chuckled lightly feeling overwhelming relief that the other boy wasn't angry at him. He didn't even realize how wound up he'd been about that until Blaine let him off the hook.
Blaine noticed Kurt's nervousness and couldn't help but grin as the brunette let out a somewhat strained chuckle. Because apart from the pure cuteness of the sound, Kurt's laugh was real, and honest. It wasn't dry or sharp or forced – it was true. It made Blaine feel really warm inside though the sarcastic bone in his body whispered immediately he was being really lame. He honestly didn't care.
"Just don't call me 'sage' in front of Wes and David," he said. "It might give them some ideas I really could live without."
"Oh?" Kurt looked at him with interest.
"You don't wanna know," Blaine said evasively. "So, now that we've settled we won't psychoanalyze each other, what can I do for you?" he changed the subject hoping Kurt wouldn't press the issue.
The countertenor looked him straight in the eye, Wes and David forgotten as the reason why he was really here resurfaced. He couldn't exactly tell Blaine he thought the choices the other boy had made sucked and he had devised a devious plan to make him see that and perhaps set the real, untethered Blaine free. So he settled for the short version.
"Um…are you busy?"
"Not too busy to not let myself be distracted." Blaine flashed Kurt a smile. "As a matter of fact, please distract me."
"What's so horrible?" Kurt asked looking at the cover of Blaine's textbook.
"History of Renaissance. Or to be exact, Mr. Trimble who has the class. He is the most boring teacher in the world and that's against some stiff competition," Blaine deadpanned. "He won a belt and everything."
Kurt chuckled and then raised an eyebrow at the other boy. "So…how much exactly would you like to be distracted?"
"Depends. What do you have in mind?"
"How about a field trip?"
"A field trip." Blaine said with a hint of suspicion in his voice. "It's past three and it's a school day tomorrow, Kurt."
"Really? Your excuse is homework?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow. "And it's not even a valid one – don't think I don't know you've got your homework done for a week ahead already."
"Even if that was true, which would totally destroy my bad boy reputation I'm so keen on keeping up-" Blaine said in a mock indignant tone and Kurt rolled his eyes. "-it still doesn't change the fact that it's getting dark and cold outside and I have no intention of going out." He saw Kurt's face fall a little and smiled mischievously. "You're gonna have to persuade me," he added crossing his hands on his chest and was rewarded with a magnificent blush on the younger boy's face.
A blushing Kurt was one of the most adorable things he had ever seen and though he had vowed to himself not to cross the friendship line, he couldn't help himself from flirting with the younger boy. To know he had the power to make this beautiful, talented boy blush like this was kinda intoxicating.
Kurt tried really hard to think of something coherent to say but his mind refused to cooperate for a while. Damn Blaine and his charming, flirty smile. He pushed his bangs off his forehead, an instinctive gesture that always helped him gather his thoughts. There, better. He even managed a slight pout as he looked back at the other boy.
"Isn't the promise of quality time in my company enough?" he asked.
"Now that you put it like this…no," Blaine replied teasingly.
Kurt leaned against Blaine's desk with a playful glint in his eyes. "That's a disappointment," he said unfazed. "I see I'll have to go to plan B."
Blaine quirked an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling I won't like it?"
"Well, it might theoretically involve tying you up, rolling you down the stairs and throwing you in the trunk of my car."
"Wouldn't that be theoretically kind of…conspicuous?"
"Not if I put you in a carpet first."
"You seem to have everything figured out." Blaine crossed his hands on his chest. "If I wasn't scared, I'd be impressed."
"Living with a goofy football player of a brother has taught me to always have a convincing threat up my sleeve in case my charming persuasion skills fail." Kurt shrugged innocently and the other boy chuckled. "So? Which is it going to be?"
"Since you're giving me such a choice…" Blaine said wryly standing up. "You had me at 'trip', Kurt."
"That's good because I've just done my hair and really don't feel like going through with plan B."
"You were really going to tie me up?"
"It did cross my mind," Kurt replied teasingly.
Blaine shook his head. "So, where are we going?"
"If I told you it's in another county…"
"You want to drive to Lima?" Blaine guessed.
"Yes," Kurt confirmed looking at his watch. "And we should leave in about ten minutes if we want to get there in time."
"In time for what?"
"That is a surprise. Now get a move on."
"You, sir, are bossy."
"I've been told that before." Kurt smiled. "I view it as one of my finer qualities."
Blaine chuckled and made for the door.
XxXxXxX
"Did you bring me here to spy on the competition?" Blaine asked incredulously peering from the McKinley High auditorium balcony down at the rehearsing New Directions.
"They're my friends not competition," Kurt corrected. "And yes." He grinned. "I wanted you to see them rehearse."
Blaine furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?" he asked warily.
Damn. Dealing with Blaine was far trickier than with Finn. He always saw thorugh him way too fast.
"There are different ways of doing some things," Kurt said not looking the other boy in the eye.
"Kurt Hummel, you've dragged me all the way to another county so don't you get all avoidy on me and start talking now," Blaine said.
Suddenly there was Katy Perry's 'Firework' blaring from Kurt's pocket. He took his phone out frantically. "It's my dad, I've got to take this," he whispered backtracking from the balcony so as not to draw any attention from his friends on the stage. "I'll be right back."
Blaine looked after him with a sigh. He was starting to get an idea of Kurt's ulterior motive and he wasn't sure what he thought about it. His eyes wandered back to the New Directions. They were just standing on the stage now and he noticed some of them were missing – a bathroom break maybe.
"Hey! Who are you?" came an angry voice from behind and Blaine whirred to see the Mohawk-boy advance on him. "I know this uniform! You're from Dalton! What the hell are you doing here?"
XxXxXxX
Mercedes was standing next to the piano, trying to get as much gossiping done as possible with Tina before Rachel came back from the break and started bossing them around again. Her voice died down mid-sentence, though, as she saw Puck getting on stage with an angry look on his face. He wasn't alone and Mercedes gasped seeing who the other guy was.
"Look who I found spying on the balcony!" Puck exclaimed drawing the attention of the rest of the club. "A Warbler spy!"
"What's a Warbler?" Brittany asked confused. "He looks more like a cute hobbit to me."
"Puck, you moron!" Mercedes scoffed coming up to the two boys. "This is Blaine, he's Kurt's friend!"
Finn, who was standing with Sam and Mike, looked at the black-haired boy with curiosity. So this was the mythical Blaine? The Warbler soloist? Finn remembered watching him on stage at Regionals and thinking that apart from Kurt, he was the only one standing out from the automaton army. Also, he was really good and seemed cool…in a gay-Harry-Potter kind of way.
"I don't care if he's the pope's friend!" Puck's angry voice snapped Finn out of his small reverie. "He was spying on us!" He turned back to Blaine. "And that means you just got yourself a dumpster dive, prep-boy!"
"I wasn't spying," Blaine said calmly.
"You are such a…" Puck began and made a threatening step towards the Dalton boy, his fists clenched.
"Guys-" Finn stepped in front of Blaine, turning to Puck. "-they didn't beat Kurt up at Dalton when he came to spy on the Warblers so even if we weren't nice guys who don't beat people up just because we can and Blaine wasn't Kurt's friend, it would still be totally not cool to beat him up."
Puck frowned menacingly but the mention of Kurt seemed to soften him up. Finally he nodded. "Fine. The Blaine dude walks-" he turned to the Warbler. "-but if I see any more guys from the Dumbass Academy lurking around, they get a tour of the Dumpster."
"Fair enough," Blaine said with a nod. "I'll pass that on," he added and Finn could swear he heard a note of sarcasm he could now well recognize because of Kurt. This guy had…character, that was sure.
"Hey, everyone, look who I found!" came Rachel's chirpy voice from the entrance and everyone turned as she and Kurt walked in.
Kurt took in the scene before him in one second, with Finn standing before Blaine surrounded by the rest of the ND boys. He was on the stage in two strides, Rachel struggling to keep up.
"What's going on here?" he asked angrily, looking from Blaine and Finn to Puck, Sam and Mike.
"We were just getting to know each other," Puck said coyly.
Kurt turned to the Warbler. "Blaine?"
"It's true. They've been actually pretty understanding considering they found me lurking on the balcony."
"They'd have me to deal with if they'd been anything else," Kurt said menacingly looking at his Lima friends. "And Blaine wasn't lurking. He's here with me and we were going to meet you if you'd given us the chance! Geez, after what I've been through I thought you learned something. I expected more of you, guys."
Finn made a step towards Kurt. "It's cool, man," he said. "We're cool. Nothing happened." He turned to Blaine and the black-haired boy nodded.
"And I think some proper introductions are in order," Rachel jumped in, extending her hand eagerly to Blaine, who took it with a smile. "It's always nice to meet a fellow artist. I'm Rachel Berry, the…"
"…noisy and unbearable pocket diva," Santana finished with a smirk and Rachel glared at her.
Everyone except Rachel guffawed and that seemed to relieve the tension. Soon everyone wanted to meet Blaine. Mercedes was last with Tina next to her. The Asian girl smiled at the black-haired boy.
"You were really impressive at Regionals," she said appreciatively.
"Thanks. So were you. The choreography you did was stunning," Blaine said with a charming smile and Tina nudged Kurt in the side.
"You were right," she said. "He has the cutest smile."
Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt, who felt his cheeks burn. Trying to keep his cool, he clamped a hand over Tina's mouth and turned to Mercedes.
"Weren't you supposed to start rehearsing a new routine?"
"No," the girl replied teasingly.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Blaine, those aren't really my friends. They're homeless people I met on the street and promised them free chicken if they pretended to be my friends because I thought you'd like me better then."
"Free chicken?" came a voice from the side and Finn came up to them. Kurt sighed. "Really? You think I'm that cheap?" the taller boy asked crossing his arms on his chest. "Throw in some French fries, then we can talk," he deadpanned.
Mercedes and Tina snickered but seeing Kurt's death glare, they both moved away although they stayed at a hearing distance. No way were they missing the brother-meets-boyfriend scene.
"Blaine-" Kurt said with a martyred sigh. "-this unnaturally big human being with the tact of an anvil is my brother, Finn. Finn, this is Blaine."
"I heard a lot about you," Blaine smiled extending his hand. Finn shook it and reciprocated the smile. "And it was really cool what you did just now. I see why Kurt loves and respects you so much," he added referring to the way Finn stood up for him a while ago.
Finn gave Kurt a smug grin. The smaller boy just closed and opened his mouth, then turned to Blaine with an indignant look on his face. "I never said anything like that!"
"You didn't have to."
"Stop being so insightful. It's creepy."
"I've been told that."
"Wait, you respect me?" Finn jumped in, the meaning of Blaine's words sinking in fully.
Kurt rolled his eyes so hard Blaine felt sorry for the countertenor's eye sockets.
"Occasionally, maybe," he admitted. "When you're not acting like a complete dimwit, which is extremely rare so it doesn't really count."
"It counts! I'm not always a dimwit!"
"Yeah, when you sleep!"
Blaine watched the back and forth with an amused smile. "Maybe I'll leave you two alone…" he began and the two brothers looked at him, Kurt blushing slightly. "On the other hand, no. This is far too entertaining. Go on."
Kurt rolled his eyes and Finn grinned at Blaine.
"So, is this the right moment to tell you that if you hurt my brother – even though he's snarky and calls me a dimwit-" Finn said pointedly in Kurt's direction. "-you're shark food?"
"Well, it certainly is a great ice-breaker," Blaine replied wryly.
"This was such a mistake," Kurt groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead.
"No, it's great you came!" Finn said. "I really miss you." He scooped Kurt up in a hug.
"AIR. BLAINE, HELP. I. CAN'T. BREATHE."
Finn finally let go and Kurt gave him a swat on the shoulder and a glare though Blaine could swear he spotted a very happy smile creasing Kurt's lips for a while.
"We all miss you," Finn said leaning closer. "Lauren Zizis kinda scares me. She goes through chocolate like there's no tomorrow and she hand-wrestled Puck yesterday and she won."
Kurt looked in the direction of the girl. "Well, she is on the wrestling team."
"Fellow Glee clubbers!" Rachel's commanding voice cut through the din of the conversations. "It's great to have guests but we've got a rehearsal to finish."
"Hey, since you crashed our rehearsal already, how about you rehearse with us?" Finn suggested hopefully.
Mercedes, who was still standing nearby with Tina, jumped at the idea.
"How about our latest routine? The one we've been doing behind Mr. Schue's back?" she suggested and Tina grinned.
"We could actually use your help with this one, Kurt," Artie added rolling to them.
"You're hiding it from Mr. Schue? Well, at least I can breathe easy it's not Journey. Let me guess – it's something actually recorded in the 21st century?" Kurt asked snidely.
Everyone remained silent.
"It's not Journey, is it?" Kurt asked warily.
"No. I'm positive we've already done every single song they ever recorded," Rachel said.
"So what is it?"
"We'd best show you," Puck said. "But I swear, if this goes beyond those walls…"
"We know, we end up in a dumpster," Kurt scoffed.
"You'd better remember that, prep boys," Puck added menacingly.
"Puck, zip it already," Finn cut him off. He turned to the band. "Hit it!"
When Kurt heard the first notes, he chuckled. "You're doing this song? Really? Which one of you guys thinks he's singing those high notes?"
"Um…it's been a stretch so for now it's Rachel," Finn said.
"Our honorary boy," Santana added snidely.
Finn ignored her. "So, wanna give it a try? Show her how it's done?"
"Finn, I strongly resent that…" Rachel started to the snigger of the rest of the club.
"You had me at the first note," Kurt interrupted her.
He nodded at the band to start again and burst into the first lines of Mika's 'Relax, Take It Easy'. Soon he was dragged into the first row of dancers between Tina and Mercedes and had the steps in no time since it was a mash-up of some of their older routines. He grinned happily. He was on the stage, performing with New Directions again, and he felt in his element. The song went on and Kurt lost himself in the performance, feeling so good and at home on the stage with his friends that he didn't even notice a pair of eyes watching him with growing amazement and tenderness.
The black-haired boy stood a bit to the side, deciding Kurt needed this moment with his friends without Blaine reminding him he was no longer a part of their group, lived a county away and was competing against them. And it was going to be one hell of a competition going against these guys again, Blaine realized, even with Kurt on their team now.
Their rehearsal was a totally amazing exercise in controlled chaos. They spontaneously snatched the solo parts from each other (though not without reproachful looks from Rachel), changed the prepared choreography as the song went, moved from their places, bickered all the time, but most of all they were having a really great time. And it really worked, Blaine admitted with surprise. At Dalton the first thing that was drilled into your head was that there's no I in the team but here he was witnessing twelve very loud Is that somehow counterpointed in one another to create a vigorous, colourful and harmonious symphony of voices. They were a ragtag bunch of completely opposing personalities and temperaments but somehow, when they sang and danced, they completed one another, perfect in their imperfection. Blaine watched them with growing fascination, his legs twitching to step in and just make them stop this madness. Or join them. He wasn't sure anymore.
Then there was a gentle thumb running over the knuckles of his hand and he found himself staring into Kurt's eyes, bright blue with joy and laughter, as the countertenor took Blaine's hand and dragged him into the group. Blaine hadn't even noticed the Mika number ended and the music died down.
"I've just bet Finn we can kill I Kissed A Girl," he said with a mischievous smile. "What do you say?"
Blaine couldn't help but inwardly chuckle at the irony of two gay guys singing about kissing a girl and liking it. Especially since all he wanted to do was kiss the slightly flustered and beyond-words cute boy in front of him. Really bad.
"What's in the bet for us?" he asked trying to unglue his mind from thoughts of kissing Kurt.
"A personal slave for me and satisfaction for you," the countertenor said levelly.
"How about the other way round?" Blaine asked teasingly.
"Sure. But that would entail Finn living with you," he added with a smirk. "You up for it?"
Blaine chuckled. "Fine, you got me there. And if Finn wins?"
Kurt quirked an eyebrow. "Not an option."
"Hey!" Finn said. "I heard that! It totally is an option!"
Kurt sighed. "He gets my baby for a week."
"You must be really sure of yourself," Blaine remarked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Of course." Kurt pushed his bangs to the side airily. "Me, you, Katy – how can we not kill this?" he asked haughtily and the black-haired boy shook his head with a chuckle.
XxXxXxX
"Can I at least drive on the way home?" Finn whined walking next to Blaine and Kurt to the black SUV. "As a consolidation prize?"
"Consolation prize," Kurt corrected him automatically. "And no. I wouldn't trust you with my hairspray, let alone my baby, Finn."
"I drove your car before!"
Kurt whipped his head to the side. "Only once. And it was because I was in deep shock because of your red Curtain of Doom."
"The what of what?" Blaine asked confused.
The two brothers exchanged amused looks and sniggered at the memory.
"Finn made and wore to school a dress made of a glaring red shower curtain to protect me from bullies beating me up."
"That is a story I've got to hear." Blaine chuckled looking at the tall football player and trying to imagine him wearing anything like what Kurt described. He failed miserably.
Finn looked at Kurt guiltily knowing they were both thinking of the story behind the shower curtain. He let his head drop to his chest, the feeling of shame and regret at what he had said and how he'd behaved towards his stepbrother, whom he loved to bits, resurfacing as if it all happened only yesterday.
With his head down, Finn couldn't possibly see how Kurt's features softened and how his lips creased upwards into a bright smile. Blaine did and he couldn't help but pick up on the extraordinary bond those two had. One more amazing thing about Kurt – his unconditional love for his brother. God, he was making it really difficult for Blaine not to fall for him and kiss him senseless right there and then.
Then Kurt did something that Blaine thought was impossible – endear himself to him even more. He threw the car keys at Finn, who was still staring at the tips of his shoes as if the mysteries of the universe were written there, and they bounced off his head with a dull thud. Blaine was impressed with Finn's reflexes, who managed to catch the keys before they hit the ground.
"What the hell, dude?" he asked reproachfully looking from Kurt to the keys and back to his stepbrother.
"You can drive," Kurt said and a goofy, lopsided grin grew on Finn's face. Kurt gave him a measured look. "But call me dude again and you're walking home."
XxXxXxX
"So, you're staying for supper?" Finn asked as they pulled up at the Hudmel residence.
Kurt shook his head, taking the car keys from Finn. "No, we've got to get back to Westerville. And you know that if I as much as cross the threshold, Carole will squeeze me to death and won't release us till evening," Kurt said with a soft smile. "Also, I don't need you and my dad scaring Blaine off in one day."
Finn whirred to the black-haired boy. "We just spoke, man to man! And it's my brotherly duty to give your boyfriend The Talk!"
Kurt felt his face warm and he refused to look at Blaine, who was watching the whole exchange holding back a laugh. Until Finn mentioned the boyfriend thing. Then his eyes focused on Kurt, intently waiting for his reaction.
"Finn, Blaine is a boy and he is my friend but he's not my boyfriend," Kurt enunciated.
"Technically, he is. Your boy-friend."
Kurt scoffed. "Blaine, if you don't want to witness family violence, you'd better step out of the car now."
"Don't make threats you can't carry out." Finn grinned unfazed, and ruffled Kurt's hair.
Blaine thought Kurt was going to hyperventilate.
"I think you'd better run now, Finn," he said looking at the countertenor. "Fast."
Finn didn't need any encouragements, he was already out of the car. "See you soon and have a safe trip back!" he hollered before sprinting up to the house.
Kurt sat in the driver's seat and glared, looking in the rear-view mirror and trying to assess the damage done.
"I'm going to kill that dimwit!" he muttered. "I've got a broom on my head now and I won't be able to fix it till we get to Westerville! I can't drive looking like something the cat's brought in!"
"You look cute," Blaine said brushing a stray lock of hair from Kurt's forehead before he could stop himself.
Kurt froze and stared at the other boy, his stomach doing excited flip-flops all of a sudden.
"You…think I'm cute?"
"You don't?"Blaine said wryly. "Kurt, you're the poster boy for cute."
Kurt felt he was turning redder with every second and Blaine let hand trace the outline of Kurt's incredibly soft and smooth face in feather-light touches. He smiled a little as he felt the countertenor shiver slightly at his touch. "Thank you for the lesson, Kurt."
"I…it wasn't…" Kurt was finding it hard to find the right words…any words, for that matter, with Blaine's hand still on his cheek.
"I had a good time," the black-haired boy said trying to ease Kurt's nervousness. He realized this was all a brave new world for Kurt (not that he was this experienced - they were still in Ohio after all), and that this wasn't what Kurt needed. Blaine couldn't help that Kurt was becoming someone really special for him really fast but he could prevent him from plunging into another unknown recklessly. Blaine knew from his own experience that if there was something Kurt needed right now, it was a bit of peace and stabilization. It had taken Blaine a couple of months to get over his transfer and he had it much easier than Kurt. Reluctantly, he took his hand away. "But you have one crazy bunch of friends."
Kurt chuckled though he found it hard to hide his disappointment at Blaine moving away. He started the engine with a sigh.
"Tell me about it."
So, that's it! Once again sorry it took so long and thank you for your patience! I hope you liked this, more coming soon! Please leave a review before you go!