A/N: Can I just say "WOW!" ? I was so surprised that there was so much positive feedback on the first chapter! So thank you everyone that commented, favorited, and added this to their alerts! You guys are all so amazing, and I'm so happy that you're all enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!

xxx, Elizabeth

Increasing Concentration

As concentration increases, the number of particles increase, collisions increase, and the number of activated molecules increase, speeding up the reaction rate.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Blaine asked when the pair were sitting in the junior commons later in the day. "They seemed interested in each other in the caf earlier, but I'm not even sure if Nick's gay. How do we go about this?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Blaine! You're his roommate. How can you possibly not know if your roommate is gay?"

Blaine shrugged. "I guess I just never really thought about it."

"Well, you need to figure that out before we can move on! I don't wanna get Jeff's hopes up." Kurt stood and walked away, leaving Blaine to figure out what he should do. There had to be an easy way of doing this. Blaine finished folding the paper airplane he was making while talking to Kurt and threw it in the direction of the door in resignation.

And just as the airplane was about to fall to the ground, the door opened and Nick caught it in his hand. "Hey, Anderson. Watch where you throw these things. You could hurt someone."

Blaine rolled his eyes, "Whatever, Duval. So what'd you think about the Warbler thing? Think you might actually consider joining this year?"

Nick grinned as he thought back to Jeff and him standing on the stage together. Singing with him may be worth the stupid meetings. "Yeah, I think I might."

And now Blaine was wondering why Nick was grinning like that, so he decided to press. "What changed your mind?"

Nick shoved his hands in his pockets and bit his lip. "Oh, nothing. It just seems like more fun than it did before." He paused and looked around the room, waiting for Blaine to say something. When he didn't, Nick added, "Do I really get to sing with Jeff a lot?"

Blaine will never admit to it if you ask, but he flailed like a fangirl when he heard those words leave Nick's mouth. He literally fell off of the couch he was previously sprawled across. When Nick sent him an odd look, Blaine waved from where he was still lying on the ground. "Oh, don't mind me. I thought I saw a bug. Um, yes. There is definitely a possibility that you will have to sing with Jeff. You both are prospective leads, so we want to see you both in several different positions. Duets, solos, background. All essential parts will be sung by you both by the end of the next two weeks."

Nick smiled widely, "Sounds like a lot of work. I'll give it a shot, though. Why not?"

Blaine was about to let Nick walk away when a thought occurred to him. "Nick? Do you like anyone?"

Nick was caught off guard by the question, but he just smiled. "Why the sudden interest? You aren't crushing on me, are you? I thought you were still hung up on Hummel."

"I am not—" Blaine began, but stopped when Nick gave him the look. "Fine, maybe I am. But you didn't answer my question. Any girl—or guy—in particular?"

Nick smirked, "Guys. I like guys." The look on Blaine's face at that made him burst out laughing. "Seriously, what gives?"

Blaine shook his head, "Nothing! Nothing. I just—I need to do something." He scrambled to stand and ran out of the room.

As soon as he was out of the view of Nick, he pulled his phone out and texted Kurt.

"Honestly, Jeff, don't worry. If this goes as planned, everything will be fine. And he won't find out until you're ready," Kurt said with a sigh.

"But, Kurt! What if he figures out what's going on? You and Blaine aren't very discreet."

Kurt rolled his eyes and let out a long-winded sigh. When he was about to respond, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out to find a message from Blaine

Nick is definitely gay. What's the next step? –B

Kurt grinned down at the text. "Trust me, Jeff. Everything will be fine. And honestly, the less you know, the better."

Increase concentration, of course –K

What? But I'm pretty sure Jeff's as concentrated as he'll get –B

Kurt brought the palm of his hand up to his face and groaned. "My best friend is an absolute idiot."

Jeff smirked, "Yeah, sure. Best friend." Kurt cocked and eyebrow, so Jeff decided to continue. "I saw the way your face lit up when he texted you. Stop denying it, Kurtsie. You and Blainers are in love."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "I cannot believe you just said that. I love Sam. Not Blaine. Sam. As in Samuel Evans. The blonde boy from McKinley. The football player. Best friends with my brother. Ring a bell? Last time I checked, he and Blaine are two different people. And, though I love Blaine in the most platonic way possible, Sam will always be the one for me. Okay, Jeffrey?" Kurt got up to leave the room, but before he closed the door, he turned on his heel. "Oh, and if you ever call me Kurtsie again, I will kill you."

"Wait, Kurt! You never finished telling me about Nick!" Jeff called after him.

Kurt reappeared in the doorway with a smirk. "Give me two weeks, Sterling. Two weeks and he'll be falling straight into your arms." Kurt closed the door behind him after that and stepped backwards, only to walk into Blaine.

"Well, that sounded ominous. Oh, and I swear I heard my name somewhere in there. You guys weren't fawning over me again, were you?" Blaine said with a smile as he fell into step with Kurt.

"Since when does Kurt Hummel fawn?" the taller boy asked with a scoff. "I bet you wish I was fawning over you. I was actually telling Jeff about Sam. And about how—with the help of us—he will have Nick in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Blaine asked, sounding a bit unsure. "How is that going to work?"

Kurt grinned. "We have the laws of chemistry on our side. It'll be fine, B. Trust me."

"What does chemistry have to do with this? Now I'm confused."

"It has everything to do with our plan, Blaine! Weren't you paying attention earlier?"

Blaine sighed, "Yes. You were talking about how we can get Jeff and Nick to react to each other quickly. There were five steps. Blah blah. Something about particles. I don't remember. I zone out when you start rambling about chem."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Then you clearly missed the entire point of our conversation. I'm going to start talking about chem again now. Are you sure you won't zone out this time?"

Blaine bit his lip to hold back a laugh and smiled. "I promise."

"Good. Okay. So what I was saying is that Jeff and Nick are like two particles. And a chemical reaction can create a bond between two particles. Now, there are five ways to increase the reaction rate between particles. If you paying attention to your own babbling in chemistry earlier, you would know all of this already, though."

"Okay, but I'm still confused. What does this have to do with Nick and Jeff?"

Kurt grinned mischievously. "Well, I got the idea during chem when Bentley said that I couldn't help out, so I started filing my nails. You know, my best ideas come to me while I'm filing my nails. Maybe I should do that more."

Blaine glanced down at Kurt's flawless manicure, "Nope. I don't think you need to. Kurt, focus!"

"Right. Okay, so we already completed the first step—get the boys in with the Warblers. That way they'll be forced to spend a lot of time together. It would have been hard to get them together any other way because Nick's always busy with lacrosse. Anyways, the first way to increase reaction rate is to increase concentration. And, yes, that means something completely different in chemistry terms, but I'm taking the more literal approach. We want the boys to both focus on getting into the Warblers."

"Oh! I think I get it! So step two is to increase concentration on getting into the Warblers?"

Kurt smiled, "Yes! You're starting to get it now! But we also need to get Nick to stop checking out everyone he sees. He's a jock, so of course that's his natural instinct. We need him to concentrate on getting Jeff."

"I think I can help with that." Blaine smirked as he remembered Nick mentioning Jeff earlier. "Just leave that part to me. Now what was your plan?"

"Well, we have the introductory meeting tonight. And as per tradition, we will assign each inductee to a duet partner. They will each have a chance to perform a non-acapella duet throughout the week. Of course, they always have the option of performing more than once, and we will have Nick and Jeff on our watch. So they will definitely perform more than once. Through practicing together, they will get to know each other better. The rest will fall into place with the rest of the steps."

"But how are we going to guarantee that they'll want to perform more than once?"

"We'll tell them that we would like to see them reach their full potential and promise them that if they can show us what they can do, they will get spots in the Warblers, of course."

Blaine's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Doesn't that just go without saying?"

Kurt smirked, "Yes, but they don't know that."

"Are we telling Jeff?"

Kurt shook his head. "No. No. No. He'll just freak out and ask us to switch his partner and then he'll get all nervous. Best let him believe everything's a coincidence."

The boys were almost to the choir room where they would be meeting the rest of the inductees when Blaine quickly added, "Alright. But what song are they doing duets today? We always do solos the first day to begin narrowing down the group. Usually duets begin the second week."

Kurt sighed. "Fine. We'll have them sing solos then. The object will be theatricality. The Warblers need to be more theatrical anyways. There's no emotion in some of our performances."

"So they'll have to serenade?"

"Not exactly!" Kurt nodded. "They'll each be assigned a song and have to do something creative with it. It'll be great. Hopefully Jeff will catch Nick's attention with the song I have in mind." With that, he opened the door to the choir room and smirked. "Let the games begin."

As Jeff sat in the choir room, anxiously awaiting what their task would be, he couldn't help but notice when Nick entered. He had walked straight to the side of the room where Thad and a few of the other lacrosse boys were chatting and joined in their conversation.

Of course. Jeff thought as he sat alone. Of course he chose them. Why would he want to sit by me, anyhow? It's not like we're exactly friends.

Jeff's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Trent making his way over. Trent was his best friend, roommate, and all around favorite person. He had been the first to find out about the Nick thing, but Jeff hadn't yet told him about Kurt and Blaine's plotting.

"Hey, bud. Anyone sitting here?" Trent asked with a smile.

"Nah, I was just waiting for Blaine and Kurt to get here, really. I don't know what to expect. Should I be nervous?"

Trent laughed, "K and B are the best. Just never speak while they're presenting ideas, and always listen to their advice. They can be really fun even though Blaine can get really serious about all this Warbler stuff. You'll love 'em."

Jeff nodded as he listened, thankful to have a friend that has experience with the Warbles. "So… what are they making us do today?"

Trent grinned, "Don't be so nervous! They'll probably have you do solos. Half today, half tomorrow. Then they'll go through an elimination period. After that, there'll be duets and a camping trip—just for the evening. Dalton doesn't let us sleep there without supervision which really would take the fun out of it all. Then the second week they'll weave in practice with acapella. And at the end of the week, whoever's left gets to choose if they're in or out. It's really fun."

Jeff bit his lip, "But what if I'm not good enough? What if they decide to drop me right now? I have a bad feeling about this."

Trent pulled the small blonde into a hug. "Jeffy, it's gonna be fine. You were approached by the captains. That practically guarantees you a spot."

Thad ran up behind the pair with a grin. "What's Jeffy worrying about now?"

Trent smiled and pulled away from Jeff at the sound of the newcomer's voice. "Hey, Thad."

Thad pecked Trent on the cheek and grinned, "Hello, love. Now, what's wrong with my Jeffy?"

"Excuse me, he's my Jeffy," Trent whined, crossing his arms.

Jeff laughed, "You guys always know how to make me feel better."

Thad winked, "Don't you forget it. Oh, and if you're freaking out about inducting weeks, stop it. You're in. Trust me. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but we've already discussed possibilities for you and Nick at Sectionals."

Trent hit Thad lightly, "Thad! We aren't supposed to talk about that!"

Thad smirked, "Come on, babe. Live on the edge. It's more fun."

Trent turned a rather dark shade of red and was about to respond when Kurt threw the door to the choir room open. "Alright, boys! Time to begin. So everybody shut up and look alive!" He put his hands on his hips and strutted toward the center of the room. Jeff admired how he acted so confident, as if he owned the place—which, since he was co-captain, he kind of did.

Blaine skipped in behind him with a laugh. "Come on, Kurt. No need to diva in here. You're gonna scare people away before they even begin."

Kurt winked, "That was the plan, darling." Then he turned back to look at the group. "Alright. So I see everyone that has approached has made it to the first meeting. First I would like to congratulate you all on being here. Second, I would like to warn you that the next two weeks are going to be tough. If you don't have a very strong commitment to this, I would advise you to leave now."

Kurt paused and scanned the room for anyone who looked as if they wanted to leave. Two boys stood up and exited, but the rest remained. He was impressed. Last year, five boys—half of the boys approached—had left at that line.

Blaine smiled at the results and continued where Kurt left off. "Alright. Your first assignment is Theatricality. You will each be assigned a song, and will have to sing it with emotion. With feeling. We want to see you all with your rawest emotions on showcase. We want you to move around, get a feel for the space. Also, look alive. We have enough dead weight performers in the world. Keep us interested."

Kurt grinned at the group then pulled out a list. "Alright, now when you come forward, I will tell you what song I want you to sing. We will break off into groups to allow you all a bit of time to review your songs and practice, then meet back here in about an hour. Those of you that feel confident enough to perform today can. But those who choose to wait until tomorrow, be warned that we will judge you much more harshly. Is that understood?"

After a simultaneous nod from the group, Kurt began to call out names. When he reached Jeffrey Sterling, the blonde froze where he was sat between Thad and Trent. Thad pushed him up off of the couch and shoved him towards the middle of the room. Kurt grinned. "Jeff, your song will be You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. You are allowed to make revisions to the song if you seem fit. Good luck."

Jeff smiled at the song choice. He knew that song inside out and backwards—and he often thought about how it reminded him of Nick. Because in all actuality Jeff was a bit of a nerd—just not in chemistry. And Nick was the all-star lacrosse player that would probably never see him as more than a friend that he chats with every once in a while in English. And math. And history.

As Jeff was walking away, he saw Nick heading towards him. He looked up and smiled. "Hey, Nick. Good luck with your song."

Nick grinned, "Thanks, man. Hopefully I don't get something I hate." Nick attempted to sound confident as he spoke to the blonde, but inside he was a mess. He was secretly freaking out because he'd never done a solo before. He'd never really performed in front of people unless it was some speech to his lacrosse team. He was freaking terrified.

When he reached Kurt, Blaine gave him a thumbs up. "Your song is Must Have Done Something Right by Relient K. You are allowed to make revisions to the song if you seem fit. Good luck."

Relient K. Thank God. He knew every song by them. And this was one of his favorites. He just didn't know how to sing it with emotion. He would have to speak with Blaine.

Nick waited behind as the Warblers slowly sifted off into different rooms to practice their songs. When he noticed that Blaine seemed to be free, he quickly walked over to him. "Hey, Blaine," he said and bit his lip. "Any pointers?"

Blaine smiled, "Nicky, stop being so nervous. You'll be great. Just—sing the song as if you were singing it to someone. It's like your letting out all of your feelings for that person through the lyrics. Think about someone while you sing it."

Nick blushed at the last sentence, and Blaine picked up on it straight away. "Is there anyone in particular that popped into your head?"

Nick turned away and smiled, "It's stupid. Just—this guy in our English class."

Blaine smirked, "And math? And history?"

"Maybe…"

"Is he blonde? Pretty smart? Kind of on the taller side? Nice smile? Name start with a J and end with an –eff?" Blaine teased.

"How the he—?" Nick started, completely confused about how Blaine knew so much.

"Oh, please," Kurt chimed in from where he appeared beside Blaine. "It's obvious. You were watching him the entire time I was talking. Thanks for ignoring me by the way," he smirked identical to Blaine and placed a hand on his hip in pure diva fashion.

"I was no—"

"Don't even try to deny it, Nicky," Blaine said and set a hand on Nick's shoulder. "We aren't going to tell. And Jeff's so oblivious that even if you threw something at him, he would pretend it wasn't there."

Kurt smiled, "Maybe you should sing the song to Jeff. That'll probably give you the right emotional content we're looking for."

"Maybe. I'll think about it," Nick said in an unsteady voice. He walked out of the room after that and made his way to a deserted classroom. Maybe he didn't have the guts to tell Jeff how he felt, but he could still sing the song and pretend that only Jeff could hear it, right? That was a step in the right direction.

The next hour passed quickly for Jeff as he rehearsed the song over and over and over again. The entire time being overheard by Thad and Trent who would chime in with "Maybe you should lower your voice here or skip around the couch there or slow down the rhythm at that one part."

By the time he walked back into the room, he was feeling rather confident. He chose to sing the lyrics from a remade version of the song by Go Periscope while singing it the traditional way because it made more sense in his current situation. He figured Kurt and Blaine wouldn't mind since he was allowed to change the lyrics anyways.

When Kurt decided everyone was back, he resumed his place in the middle of the room. "Alright, hands up if you're ready to perform now. If not, you can make your way to the other side of the room."

Kurt was pleased to see six out of the twelve Warblers left over were ready to perform—that including Jeff and Nick. "Perfect," he said as he watched the three lost-looking Warblers make their way to the left of the room. "Now, do I have a volunteer to go first?"

Jeff's hand rose timidly, and he grinned when Blaine motioned for him to make his way to the middle of the room. As he walked, Blaine made his own way to the piano where he planned to play the song out while Jeff sang.

"Hi, my name is Jeffrey Sterling. I'll be singing You Belong With Me." The blonde couldn't help but allow his eyes to wander to Nick as he said the name of the song. He wished he had the courage to sing the entire song to Nick, but he was scared of the outcome. He swallowed deeply as Blaine began to play, and he kept time with the beat until his cue to start.

You're on the phone with your boyfriend

He's upset

He's going off about something that you said

'Cause he doesn't get your humor like I do

Jeff smiled as he sang the words, dancing around the room and pretending to be annoyed with an imaginary boyfriend that was completely clueless. The gestures he made caused a few laughs, which encourage him to take it even further.

I'm in my room

It's a typical Tuesday night

I'm listenin' to the kind of music he doesn't like

And he'll never know your story like I do

Nick laughed along with the group as Jeff hopped on a couch and danced in proper white boy form (i.e. very badly). The smile on the blonde's face made any tension in the room disappear, and he admired the confidence Jeff gave off in the way he performed.

'Cause he pops collars

I rock Converse

He plays football

And I wouldn't bother

Dreaming 'bout the day

When you wake up and find

That what you're looking for

Has been here the whole time

Jeff smirked in Nick's direction as he sang, trying to say "HELLO! I'm singing to you! Are you blind?" but the look of pure amusement on the smaller boy's face was enough encouragement to continue the song. He jumped off the couch and ran around as he sang, feigning frustration.

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you

Been here all along

So what can't you see?

You belong with me

You belong with me

Nick was tapping his foot along and beginning to wonder if Jeff would ever run out of steam. He was like a little bundle of energy shooting around the room as he sang. And—oh. Was that look directed at me?

Walkin' the streets with you and your skinny jeans

I can't help thinkin' this is how it ought to be

Laughin' on a park bench, thinkin' to myself

Hey, isn't this easy?

And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town

I haven't seen it in a while since he brought you down

You say you're fine, I know you better than that.

Hey, watcha doin' with a boy like that?

The look Nick was sent was definitely on purpose and multiple more glances were sent toward him as the song progressed. Jeff was starting to grow tired, but it didn't show. As he danced around, he let a mask of annoyance and frustration cover his features. He hoped it was convincing enough, but worried it was the exact opposite.

'Cause he's so popular

I'm just awkward

He plays football

And I wouldn't bother

Dreaming 'bout the day

When you wake up and find

That what you're looking for

Has been here the whole time

Nick chuckled at the awkward look Jeff pulled as he sang. This specific version was even funnier than the original. He loved the witty remarks and—oh. Jeff's singing about a boy. That means he's gay. Or at least bi. That means I have a chance with him. Oh. Okay.

Oh, I remember you

Driving to my house

In the middle of the night

I'm the one you makes you laugh

When you know you're 'bout to cry

And I know your favorite songs

And you tell me 'bout your dreams

Think I know where you belong

Think I know it's with me

As Jeff approached the bridge of the song, he slowed down his steps. The tempo dropped a few beats and he stood still in the center of the room, mustering the courage it took to look straight at Nick as he sang. If the other boy thought it was weird, he would just shrug it off later as trying to get more into his role. And—was that a blush starting to show on Nick's cheeks?

Have you ever thought, just maybe

You belong with me

You belong with me

When Jeff finished his song, applause rung out throughout the room, and he bowed in appreciation. He beamed when he realized that Nick may have been clapping just a tad bit louder than everyone else. The amused looks on Kurt and Blaine's faces told him he was successful with his task, which just made the situation even better.

Nick performed later on, and was pleased by the looks on the current Warbler's faces, but he hadn't been quite as brave as Jeff. He couldn't look the blonde in the eyes and sing directly to him. He was too scared. Of what? He wasn't sure yet.

All he knew was that when he got back to his dorm later in the evening, he couldn't stop thinking about Jeff. About his smile, his voice, or the way he flipped his hair when he was trying to look particularly annoyed. And he couldn't stop the stupid grin that spread across his features each time the boy popped into his brain.

And as he washed his face and got ready for bed, he still couldn't stop the thoughts that were running through his brain.

And when he went to fall asleep, the last thought to cross his mind before he drifted off into dreams of little yellow warblers singing Taylor Swift songs was: I will sing to him next time. And I will talk to him. I can't lose him now.

Next Chapter: Increasing Surface Area