Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews, the story alerts and the story favoriting! I really love getting those emails, letting me know that people actually read what I write.

Boyscanlikeboystoo: Thanks so much for the heads up on 'Burberry-esque'! Those small things have a way of becoming giant-they trip you up and then the movie in your head is ruined, a little. I have officially changed it. If you can think of any other snags, let me know! Thanks for reviewing!

GleekHolly97: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm excited about Blackbird too; I'm having a lot of fun writing Blaine so cluelessly in love.

I don't own anything.

This is all in Blaine's POV.

The next morning Blaine got to the cafeteria early. At first he thought maybe they'd canceled school because no one was around. Maybe there was some kind of delay and everyone was still sleeping in. But no, the cafeteria ladies told him, business as usual.

So he ate his bagel and cream cheese, looking around at the other early raisers, tapping his toe on the floor and playing with his tie as he ate. Breakfast wasn't usually this boring. It wasn't usually this boring because usually Kurt ate with him. Kurt always had some dream, or wardrobe crisis, or something he'd seen online before he went to sleep to talk about. And that would remind Blaine of a dream, or an unfortunate sandal sock combo, or a funny YouTube video. In fact, generally breakfast wasn't long enough, but here was Blaine, watching other students mosey through the line, one by one, all looking tired, no one making much noise. The sun coming through the high glass windows fell in thick strips along the floor. Blaine tended to prefer afternoon sunlight.

When David and Wes strode in with their trays, David looking befuddled and Wes looking sharp, as always, Blaine waved them over.

"Blaine what are you doing up so early? Did you have a paper to write or something? Is there a world crisis?"

"I'm not up early. My alarm clock is set for six. I got up and came here."

"You get up at six every morning?" David looked at him like he had horns.

"Well yeah." Blaine shifted a little. "When Kurt first got here I wanted to walk him to his first class, make sure he got there ok. So I set my alarm clock earlier. And now-I like it. It's nice. Early morning sun and everything. Jump start on the day."

Wes and David rolled their eyes as they stuffed their faces full of ham egg and cheese sandwich.

"So where is he? Don't you guys have a love fest every morning?"

"I'm going to pretend you said 'ultra platonic, coincidental mealtime meeting between two peers .'" Blaine didn't even bother glaring, it was too early in the morning. "And no, he went home last night. Family thing. He'll be here today though."

"Yeah. Cause today is a Thursday." David said, mid-chew.

Blaine looked confused.

"Today is a school day, so yes, he'd be here." Wes helped.

"Oh." Blaine half rolled his eyes and turned to watch the entrance to the cafeteria. The table was silent for a minute.

David glanced at Wes with a small smile, and then said casually, "He's probably going to eat at home."

"Maybe he'll stop by for coffee," Blaine replied, almost without noticing he'd said anything. He blinked, then turned back to his friends. "What?"

"Nothing!" David said. "Wes was telling me about this new video game coming out-it's like Halo but instead of aliens you defeat-"

"Germs!" Wes flailed his arms about, "Whole armies of Germs! You're in the human body, right, and you've got your laser gun, and you have to work as a team-"

"With the white blood cells, and when you get to the highest level-"

"You have to defeat AIDS! I mean they say it's nearly impossible because the AIDS virus just keeps multiplying and multiplying-"

"But it has to be defeatable, right? I mean, it's a game, why shouldn't it-"

"Guys!" Blaine yelled. They stopped and looked at him. He wanted to say something about how video games and The Warblers weren't the only thing. He wanted to yell at them to take something seriously, for once. He wanted to tell them he wasn't interested in anything they had to say. But he couldn't do that; Wes and David were his closest friends, apart from Kurt. He didn't want to hurt their feelings.

They were still staring at him.

"What?" David said.

So he switched tactics. "Um. I was thinking. If I brought up some minor changes I want to propose to the Warblers today, during free period, would you guys back me up?"

"What kind of changes?" Wes was all business.

"Nothing big. Something to shake us up."

"The Warblers have always been great as they are, Blaine."

"I'm not saying we should paint ourselves green or anything. I'm just saying we might, you know, kick it up a notch."

"I don't know." Wes glanced at the clock and started to get out of his chair, David following.

"Just hear me out."

"Well not right now. I have to get going. But look, Blaine. You can have the floor during free period to suggest whatever it is. If it's a good idea I'll back it. If not-well, you'll have your answer soon enough."

Blaine nodded. "Thanks."

"See you."

"Yeah."

Wes tapped his gavel lightly on the desk to call the meeting to order. "I hereby call this Warbler meeting to order. Before we start warming up, I believe Warbler Blaine has something to propose to the group."

Jeff looked around. "Where's Kurt?"

Wes frowned. "We can't hold up the meeting for him."

"He must still be getting to school. I know because Blaine was eating breakfast all alone, which means Kurt went home last night," Thad said.

"I wasn't all alone. I was with Wes and David."

"For like the last five minutes. Before that you were just staring into space, looking lonely."

"I was not looking lonely."

"Yes, you were-"

"Gentlemen!" Wes tapped the gavel on the desk with a little more force. "We cannot wait for Kurt. Blaine, please. The floor is yours." Wes gestured out in front of him, and Blaine stood, breathing in once, deeply, and then straightening his Blazer.

"Fellow Warblers. I, as your lead singer, would like to ask for your consideration on a very important matter. I believe that part of a choral group's strength is its flexibility. We need to be able to change things up, go in another direction, find new pathways that will serve everyone in the group better. We need to be able to see where the wind will take us. That's why I am proposing we change our look for the upcoming Regional's; we need to be spruced up so that the competition doesn't take us for granted."

"Blaine, what are you saying?" Wes said, holding his gavel with white knuckles.

Blaine squared his shoulders. He was going to do this. Too late to back down now. "Fellow Warblers, Members of the Council, I'm suggesting we order new jackets with blue piping along the lapels, and maybe some new ties."

Pandemonium broke loose.

"I've had this jacket since primary school!"

"My father wore this jacket!"

"This uniform binds us together as a group, as a school! If we change we'll be thumbing our noses at all of that!"

"Blue doesn't look good with my skin tone! My girlfriend's coming to see us perform-"

"No one cares about your girlfriend, we need to stick to Tradition!"

"Trent, if you start singing Fiddler on the Roof-"

"They didn't change their clothes! They always wore their hats!"

Blaine stepped in, "Yeah, and the Nazi's relocated them, didn't they?"

Wes pounced. "The Nazi's didn't relocate Tevya, the Russians did, Blaine, obviously. What's wrong with you? I thought you knew every word of that musical."

"I do know every word, Kurt and I-"

"Ah ha!" Trent stabbed his finger at Blaine. "This is all his idea! You're letting the new guy abscond you!"

"Abscond me, what, no-"

David rolled his eyes, "Kurt's one of us, anyway, Trent, come on-"

Jeff banged a fist on the table. "The real issue is that Blaine wants us in some sort of costume."

Mac looked alarmed. "Guys, I don't think I've said this before, but I really don't do sequins."

"Sequins?" Jeff practically screeched.

"That's preposterous! Blaine, you can't think we'd go onstage in sequins-"

Blaine held up his hands. "Warblers, Warblers, I am merely suggesting that instead of wearing blue ties with red piping, we wear jackets with red ties and blue piping for the competition!"

Wes banged his gavel a couple times, and Trent shouted, "This is a Kangaroo Court!"

Then the doors opened, and there stood Kurt.

Kurt.

Blaine felt suddenly buoyed up, like he'd spent the last evening and morning slogging through homework, but now someone had come to take him to a tropical island, or an amusement park; somewhere where he could just float, or run around in the sun and feel warm all the time.

Kurt moved his head just a little, but the light from the windows hit his eyes just right, and Blaine realized simultaneously that his eyes were gray (Blaine had never seen them gray), and wet looking, as if he'd been crying. The rest of his face was pulled into a slight frown, pale cheeks with splotches of uneven pink.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Blaine asked, immediately, a sinking feeling in his chest. Was it Kurt's father? Had there been an accident? Kurt looked ok, himself, except- that was when he noticed that Kurt wasn't wearing his Dalton Uniform. He was wearing a black suit with skulls hanging from the button holes. He looked...good. Blaine hated himself for a moment, for noticing.

"It's Pavarotti. Pavarotti's dead. I suspect a stroke." Kurt announced. The boys in the room stilled.

Blaine said, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

Kurt continued. "I know it's really stupid to be upset about a bird, but he-he inspired me with his optimism and his love of song. He was my friend. Now, I know today we need to practice doo-wopping behind Blaine as he sings every solo in the medley of P!nk songs, but I'd like to sing a song for Pavarotti today."

Joey stepped over to him and Kurt whipped a cassette out of one of his many pockets and tilted his chin up just a smidge. Joey placed the tape in the stereo and pressed play.

The room filled with the sound of an acoustic guitar-strange because normally the room was quiet, or filled only with male voices. But this as ok too.

Kurt began to sing, in a calm, low voice, not pushing it too hard. A couple of the boys harmonized with him in the background and Blaine followed along, still watching Kurt. Kurt was standing still, gazing out at nothing, and Blaine wanted to hold him so badly. Kurt held himself so straight, so even, his voice didn't quaver once and yet as the song continued Blaine could see Kurt's cheeks glistening more and more.

It was amazing. It was beautiful. When Kurt sang 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina,' Blaine had been a little embarrassed by the performance because you could see how hard Kurt wanted to fit in, how desperate he was to prove himself. But Kurt didn't need to prove himself. Right now Kurt was singing for himself, for Pavarotti, and he had allowed the Warblers to be there for it because Pavarotti was one of them, and they mourned for one of their own. Kurt put all the BS aside with just his presence. Kurt was commanding this time, this song-who cared about blue piping versus red piping? It was a stupid argument. This was what mattered. This. Kurt was what mattered.

Kurt was what mattered.

Kurt moved to the side of the room, further from Blaine on the couch, and Blaine felt his whole body, all the weird feelings from the last couple of weeks, swelling within him, shifting to align with Kurt. He wanted to touch, hold, and follow Kurt. All the clutter, all the annoyances from his mind dissipated; Kurt replaced every single one. Kurt was the one he wanted to turn to. Kurt kept him busy, kept him laughing, kept him thinking. And now-Blaine felt a rope from his heart attach to this man in front of him. Kurt was not a little boy to be protected from bullies. He was an adult, strong and proud and completely capable of doing whatever he wanted. This was the man Blaine had been looking for. This was the man Blaine wanted. Someone strong enough. Kurt was strong enough.

The song ended, and Blaine had forgotten the rest of the Warblers. He wiped his eyes.

Kurt said, "Thank you," And Blaine wanted to say, No, Thank-You. You're the best of all of us. You're the best of me. I'm ridiculous, sometimes, but you rein me in. You let me be ridiculous, and then you catch me the other times. I'm safe with you. I trust you. I'd follow you anywhere. Let me follow you, please. Please.

Free period ended shortly thereafter, and Kurt said he had to get changed into his uniform. Without saying anything, Blaine put his arms around Kurt, and Kurt hugged him back, just for a moment. Blaine inhaled Kurt's sent, so familiar and yet new, too. How had he not noticed how beautiful Kurt was? How had he ignored the electricity practically radiating from him? He'd touched Kurt before without thinking, and now-Kurt disentangled himself and stepped out of the room.

Blaine wanted to say so much but now wasn't the time. He needed to-do something, prove something. He needed to be strong like Kurt was strong. He couldn't just come begging to Kurt. Not after the Gap attack thing. Kurt would be right to think he was fickle hearted. Although, truth be told, he didn't really like Jeremiah. But Jeremiah was older and Blaine thought that meant Jeremiah was more mature, would stop him from doing something stupid, from being too outlandish. But no. And wasn't that the funny part? Kurt had said-Kurt had said! Kurt had said he thought Blaine was going to sing to him. He hadn't put a stop to the singing in public idea when he thought he was going to be the recipient. Kurt liked that sort of thing! Blaine filed that away for future purposes. He wouldn't sing to him in public this time, because Kurt was real, a real human, and didn't deserve to be put on the spot, with thousands of people watching, like that. That sort of thing could come later. He needed Kurt to know this was real. He wanted Kurt to feel how strong, capable, and spotlight worthy he was. He wanted to watch Kurt, wanted other people to see how amazing Kurt was. That feeling of being loved from all sides-he wanted to give that to Kurt.

And actually...maybe he could.

I know that was short, but I wanted to post ASAP for you! also I think it will work better if Kurt's POV is at the top of next chapter, and then Blaine's, etc. I'll hopefully get the next bit up soon!

Thanks for reading! Leave reviews, Please!

P.S. Thanks again to Melissams7924, for her expert help with the canon dialogue in this chapter! I'm a sucker for canon as well. :-D