A/N: I know the conversation after Misery isn't exactly perfect. I tried to get it as canon as possible. If you know the correct wording for that conversation, review to let me know and I'll be happy to change it!

Thanks again for all the love!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a lot of free time, a car and two cats.

Kurt had added other things to his repertoire? Or he was thinking about it? Or trying to think about it? What did that mean? Did that mean that in between last night's Thoreau paper and this morning's Kurt Attack Kurt had found some guy to-no, that would be ridiculous. Besides, Kurt wanted to watch a new musical with him, himself, Blaine Anderson, tomorrow, which he wouldn't want to do if he'd all of a sudden found a boyfriend out of thin air. No, Kurt 'adding things to his repertoire' was just a ruse, or maybe Kurt had been thinking- Oh man. Blaine knew what Kurt had been thinking about. The Warbler's practice room seemed unaccountably warm all of a sudden. Kurt was thinking about sex. What kind of sex? Who with?

That's all Blaine had time for before Wes forced him to work on his solo, which he already kind of knew. He kept sneaking glances at Kurt, all through practice, and when Kurt didn't look back Blaine began fidgeting. When they finally put all the parts together, and started having fun with it, he felt kind of reckless, actually. More so then usual. He felt his whole body vibrating(no popping knees), every muscle and tendon. He wanted to race around, push himself to the limit. He wanted to climb and jump and in general do something really really stupid. He wanted to be out of breath. He sang louder and more emphatically each time they went from the top. And the other guys were getting into it too, feeding off Blaine's energy, encouraging him to throw more papers and to jump higher on the couches, and hell, why not expand their dancing out into the rest of the hall?

Man, he really liked this song. Yeah, that's right, Maroon 5 rocked! Holy Tunafish, Maroon 5 was the best band around! Why had Blaine rolled his eyes at Wes's obsession for so long? Why had he naysayed it? Clearly Wes knew what was up. Clearly this song was working it. Clearly they were the greatest choral group that had ever lived.

It wasn't until five, when Wes realized how late it was and announced they would run through the song just one more time, that Blaine noticed Kurt looking tired. Of course! Kurt hadn't gotten much sleep last night! He hadn't had much coffee! Poor Kurt-Oh man, now Blaine felt bad for being so amped up. So on that last run through Blaine led Kurt around, touching him, hugging him, making puppy eyes at him, trying to cajole Kurt into letting go just a little bit. Poor Kurt wasn't feeling it. But Blaine was still having a blast. He kind of hoped that his blast-having would rub off, the way it had for the rest of the group. And yes! They got to beat on tables! And this time, now that they were in the hall, the pounding really resonated, you know, really reverberated. Was Kurt feeling this? Blaine felt like he could pound the table so hard the legs would break. He felt like his muscles knew no bounds! Yes, they would take this number to Regionals, and Yes, They would win! Watch out world! Blaine Anderson is coming at you with some sweet Maroon 5 under his belt!

Afterwards, after David reminded them to look over their P!nk Medly for tomorrow, and the Warbler's scattered, Blaine noticed Pavarotti's cage in the hall. That's right, Kurt's family thing. He was going home tonight. Ugh. Dumb Families. But there was Kurt, who had been feeling under the weather all today, coming towards him.

Blaine opened with a compliment. "How did you manage to find a Burberry-esque Canary cage cover?"

Kurt said something about canaries being cold, Blaine wasn't sure because all of a sudden he felt very silly, and uncomfortable. Had Kurt gotten taller? And oh no, had Blaine really been excited when the guys started doing the two lined, dancing through the middle thing that happened at weddings? Kurt probably loved that. The whole thing probably bombed. That's why Kurt wasn't feeling it in the last run through. Kurt probably had scathing things to say about the arrangement.

"So, what'd you think of the song?" He asked in a rush.

"Blaine, can I be really honest with you? Because it comes from a place of caring?" Kurt said.

Blaine nodded, slightly relieved. If Kurt wanted to say something from a place of caring it couldn't be that bad.

"Been there done that. Look, you're amazing, Blaine. Your solos are breathtaking." Blaine nodded, the way he had practiced nodding so that various parents or students who inevitably complimented him didn't think he was too excited to hear it. Modest, with a small smile to show how much he appreciated the words. Kurt continued. "They're also numerous."

Hold the phone. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go. Blaine crossed his arms in front of him a little, and his brow lowered over his eyes. "Kurt, the council decides who gets the solos." He paused. "Hold on, do I detect a little jealousy?"

"Oh you detect a lot of jealousy. Look, Blaine, sometimes I don't feel like we're the Warblers. I feel like we're Blaine and the Pips." Kurt looked at Blaine for a moment. "I have to go-Dad's expecting me for dinner tonight."

In times of stress it's best to be polite. "Of course. Say hello to your family for me."

"Um, Yes, of course. I'll tell them you said hi." Kurt said, squinting his eyes a little in confusion. "We're still on for Starship, tomorrow, right? I'll be here tomorrow." Blaine nodded, Kurt gave a small, uncomfortable smile, and then he left.

Here? Tomorrow? Amazing Voice? Blaine and the Pips? Blaine and the Pips? Is that what was going on? Was he Blaine and the Pips? Was he some sort of douche bag who led everyone else around on a string? Some sleezy, smarmy lead singer who screwed everyone around just so they could have an unending run in the spotlight? Or, in turn, was he some old geezer, intent on claiming glory that belonged to a younger generation? That last one may be way off the mark but the first one-was he smarmy? Was he sleazy? What the hell was going on?

Blaine wandered back into the lounge, where papers covered every inch of surface. Blaine flopped (he didn't flop, he gracefully sank, but it felt like flopping to Blaine) in the first couch he came to, and let his limbs lay where they fell. There was only one Warbler left-Jeff, who was stuffing his own things back into his bags and studiously avoiding looking at the chaos around him. After a couple seconds, Blaine said, "Jeff, am I sleazy?"

Jeff looked up, shaking his hair out of his eyes. He frowned. "Um, no?" Blaine continued to stare at him, so Jeff continued. "Um, you're really awesome, Blaine. If I was gay I'd totally be into you. I don't know why Kurt hasn't thrown you into bed already."

Kurt, Bed? Jeff, Gay? What? "What?"

Jeff tightened a strap on his bag. "I said, Kurt should get into your pants like, pronto, before someone else does."

Oh. Blaine automatically answered, "It's not like that, Jeff, we're just friends. Kurt doesn't even like my singing." That's a lie, Kurt said he was amazing. That's right, Kurt did say he was amazing. And breathtaking. Well that's good. But still, Blaine and the Pips? "Or, he doesn't like something. Kurt said we were...Blaine and the Pips."

Jeff frowned again. "Well, Kurt's wrong."

Blaine rolled his eyes and pounced on Jeff's words. "Kurt's not wrong. He's right. You guys are The Pips and I," Blaine let his head fall onto the back of the couch, "Oh holy fudruckers, I am Blaine." He covered his whole face with his hands.

Jeff shifted from one foot to another. "Is that so bad? I mean, I like you as our lead singer. Everyone does. I think we kind of all have man crushes on you. We'd probably follow you anywhere."

Blaine let his hands drop to his sides. This was becoming ridiculous. He couldn't think straight. He wanted to go to sleep. Practice had been exhausting. First Kurt had insinuated sexiness, Blaine'd jumped on every piece of furniture he could find, then Kurt had said numerous and Blaine and the Pips, and now Jeff was talking about man crushes. What the hell. What the hell.

He took a deep breath. "Thanks Jeff, I think."

Jeff took several steps back towards the door. "No problem, Blaine. I think we're going to kill it at regional's."

"Yeah." Blaine waved as Jeff walked out, and then the lounge was left silent.

Numerous. Blaine and the Pips. Breathtaking. Place of Caring. Blaine and the Pips. Blaine and the Pips. Numerous. Amazing.

Blaine did not think they were going to kill it at regional's. Kurt knew what New Directions had going for them-he maybe didn't know what songs they were picking for the competition, but he knew how they worked, what they'd most likely be doing right now to get ready. Practice today had felt amazing, but Kurt was right, maybe the Warblers had gotten too private-boys-school-ish. Maybe they needed to mix things up. But the Warblers liked everything the same, all the time.

Blaine looked around the room. No sense in leaving this place a mess, especially since he was the one who messed it up in the first place. He slowly got off the couch and started picking up papers closest to him, stacking them in a pile.

But if everyone had man crushes on him, then maybe it wouldn't be so hard to change their minds? Maybe if Kurt saw that Blaine was listening to Kurt's ideas, and getting the other boys to listen to Kurt's ideas, then Kurt could think of them as the Warblers, again. And Blaine had an idea about that. Something small, something to test the waters, something that Kurt would appreciate.

There weren't as many papers as he had previously thought. He added a couple to the main stack on a side table. Yes. He would suggest some changes to the council, to the Warblers, and that would help Kurt feel like his voice was being heard (because the ideas Blaine would propose were actually Kurt's) and that the Warblers were more flexible than Kurt thought they were. Yes. That would work. Blaine squared the corners of the pile of papers he had collected, picked up his bag and swung out of the lounge towards dinner.

Kurt sashayed out of that school like he had just sung Defying Gravity for a crowd of millions. Blaine Anderson, shut that gaping trap of yours. Kurt Hummel has opinions, Kurt Hummel does not think you walk on water, Kurt Hummel is willing to tell you what's what. Kurt Hummel may still be in love with you, but he now knows that he definitely wants you naked, underneath him (or above, that would be really great too) and he also knows that you're ridiculous and sometimes you go with the flow too much. Snap out of it! Think about other people! Kurt Hummel has just reminded you that he demands to be recognized as an equal. Peace out, Bitches.

If Pavarotti hadn't been asleep, he'd have agreed with Kurt's overall frame of mind.

Hudmel dinner went well, Carol chatting about work and Burt asking about school, and Finn studiously ignoring Kurt during dinner until Kurt said, "Finn, is something wrong?" and Finn blurted out, "Dude, Rachel told me not to tell you what we're doing for Regionals and if I look at you, and if you ask me how things are at school, I'll end up telling you! You've got like, mind powers, you'll find out and then it'll be another Jesse St. James moment, with eggs, and Agh!" He made some sort of cave man noise, grabbed the loaf of bread on the table, and dashed up to his room.

"Better not ask him anything, I guess," Burt said, looking amused.

"I didn't know it was such a tightly held secret." Kurt helped himself to more salad.

"He's been pretty excited this week."

"Well don't tell me anything else, lest I use my mind powers on you."

"Mum's the word."

After dinner Kurt texted Blaine because he was so used to it, and he wasn't mad at Blaine, anyway. Why shouldn't they text?

Finn ran out of dinner tonight because he's worried he'll spill the beans on ND and regional's. I think Rachel put the fear of god into him. -K

Not two minutes later his phone buzzed a response.

This is big business! We don't want any hanky-panky secret trading! -B

Lol. Not many secrets to trade. This song versus that song. -K

Maybe. But I think you're right. I'm going to suggest to the council, tomorrow morning during free period, that we change some things up. -B

Wow, glad to hear it. See you then. -K.

Night, Kurt. Sweet dreams! ;-) -B

Kurt flushed and put his phone away. What was that? What was Blaine thinking? Was he-were they inadvertently talking about sexy dreams? Did Blaine know that Kurt had been having sexy thoughts about him? Probably not. Blaine wasn't a mind reader, and apparently pretty clueless to signals. Although Kurt wasn't an expert, he kind of figured he'd been sending 'I'm totally into you' signals since the first time they met, but Blaine hadn't seemed to notice. Even after Kurt had basically said, "I thought you were going to sing to me, I thought you were into me, I thought we were going to be in love forever," Blaine had just, what, let the whole thing, the whole idea drop? What the hell was that? And now he was sending winky emoticons and saying sweet dreams? So Confusing.

Which was why he did what Kurt Hummel did best-pushed those thoughts to the side and continued on with his night uninterrupted.

But Parvotti died the next morning. They'd been singing together when his little body had just fallen, clunked, onto the cage floor. No warning, no excessive molting, no listlessness, no refusal to eat or sing. Just dead. Kurt cried, a little, but he didn't want to cry about it alone. This was something all the Warblers had to share, and if they didn't want to share it-he couldn't imagine they would be against doing something for an event like this.

So Kurt put on his best black suit, the one with skulls hanging off the button holes. He had bought it because it made his butt look fantastic but the occasion had now arisen to use it seriously. He found an old cassette he had, with backup to the perfect song for this occasion. Pavarotti meant something to all of them, he'd listened to all of them at one time or another. He was the embodiment of their song and Kurt wasn't going to let his death go without speaking about it. P!nk could wait, Maroon 5 could wait. This was important and Kurt would wrestle them all to the ground before they let this go by.

A/N: Thanks so much to Melissams7924, for the correct canon transcript of Blaine and Kurt's "Blaine and the Pips" conversation from 'Original Song.' I really REALLY appreciate it! I'm glad you're enjoying reading!