I intended for this chapter to be the last chapter, 10,000 words later, I decided it may be a good idea to split it up...
I didn't want to upload it as a whole since I wanted all of the chapters to be equally weighted because of reasons. So I've split it into two sections and an epilogue or sorts. This is the first section, I'll probably upload the second section and the epilogue tomorrow once I've proof-read it and stuff.

Apologies in advance for the cliffhanger, I couldn't find a better place to cut it! D:

"Okay seriously, if these people don't start getting along, I'm going to have to hurt someone," Kurt said viciously as he sat with Mercedes on Friday afternoon, glaring unkindly at the members of New Directions who still were unable to agree on anything.

"Well look who's returned to the world of the living!" Mercedes exclaimed, it was the first time she'd heard him say something that wasn't laced with depression all week. And she was right, Kurt had been in a much more optimistic mood since his chat with Catherine the day before. He'd spent the night revising a thousand different ways he could apologize to Blaine when he saw him at the weekend. "You feeling a little better now, Boo?" she asked, placing an arm around his shoulder.

"I've just decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and to actually try and make things better," he said with a proud smile, Mercedes beamed back at him.

"That's the Kurt I know and love! I just wish I could say the same for the club…"

"Yeah, there's no way you're going to win sectionals like this," he said flatly, gesturing to Santana as she tried to rehearse despite Rachel constantly nit-picking at everything she did.

"You say that as if you're not a part of this group…?" she said worriedly.

"Oh I am," Kurt replied, easing her fears. "But while we're all busy losing sectionals thanks to certain people who need not be named, I will be busy winning back Blaine," he explained positively.

"You really think you can get him back?" his best friend asked.

"Of course!" He sounded confident but on the inside he was wrecked with nerves. Blaine had sounded pretty definite when he had left on Sunday. "He's coming to sectionals to watch his sister, I just have to get him alone and hope he lets me explain so I can pin all the blame on Rachel and pray that he doesn't hate me."

"Sounds like a plan! And if he doesn't then he'll have me to answer to," she said fiercely. Kurt smiled softly, grateful for her support.

"Thanks, but I think it will be best if it's just me and him, if he still doesn't want to know me…well then I guess there's nothing I can do about it. What I did to him was pretty bad so…we'll just have to see." She hugged him tightly, her heart breaking at his dejected tone.

"He'll love you again in no time, no one can stay mad at you for long."

"This would be so much easier if had a solo for sectionals. Then he'd just fall in love with my voice and I wouldn't have to apologize with words." He looked over to Mercedes and they both simultaneously burst out laughing because that was probably the most 'Rachel' thing he had ever said. They eventually ceased when Kurt's chest was hurting from the outburst and some of the others were beginning to give them both strange looks, God he'd forgotten how nice it was just to let things go and laugh with his friends.

"I've missed you," Mercedes said affectionately, leaning into Kurt once more.

"I've missed you too," he replied, resting his head on hers and watching as the New Directions fell to pieces before their eyes.

It was Saturday morning and Kurt was panicking. He had spent twice as long on his moisturizing than was normal (ignoring how Blaine had said that he was 'high maintenance' the previous week) and only had 10 minutes to style his hair before he had to leave to make it to the bus in time. Finn was already waiting downstairs as Kurt bumbled around his room in his haste and thanked whoever was listening that he didn't have to plan a spectacular outfit for the occasion; all the boys were wearing the same plain burgundy dress shirt with black pants. It was incredibly ordinary compared to the majority of his wardrobe but he really didn't have time to complain.

"Kurt would you hurry up?" Finn called from downstairs as Kurt sent a dirty look in the direction of his voice, despite it going unseen. Finn didn't even know who Blaine was though so he supposed it was understandable that he couldn't recognize the importance of how he had to look absolutely perfect for sectionals that day. He got to work on his hair, after he noted that he then only had 7 minutes and cried out in anguish. He had managed to get it coiffed, though somewhat messily, when Finn was knocking on his door, begging to leave before Rachel murdered him. Reluctantly he picked up his bag and followed Finn to his car, praying he'd have time to finish his hair on the bus.

"You've been acting weird lately," Finn mentioned as he drove the two of them to McKinley. Kurt raised his eyebrows wondering what Finn's definition of 'weird' was exactly and how it applied to him.

"Is that so," he said nonchalantly.

"Yeah I mean…no offense but you've been really grumpy and short-tempered, ever since Rachel sent you to spy on those Crawford girls…" Finn explained hurriedly in the hopes that speaking faster will make Kurt less mad at him. It was unneeded however as Kurt looked to his step-brother affectionately, feeling guilty for having taken his anger out on him.

"I'm sorry Finn," he said in the least bitchy tone he could muster. "I know I've been giving you a hard time, everything is just…completely upside down for me at the moment, but I'm working on fixing it," he said with a smile, Finn briefly took his eyes of the road and glanced at him worriedly.

"I spoke to Rachel…she said something about you 'fraternizing with the enemy'" Kurt rolled his eyes because of course Rachel would tell everyone. "But don't worry," Finn continued, "I won't tell Burt that you're not a virgin anymore…or that you're straight now, but maybe you should at least tell him that part because I think keeping-"

"WHAT?" Kurt exploded because…what? "What are you talking about Finn?"

"Well Crawford's an all girl's school so I assumed it was with-"

"No…just…what?"

"Rachel said you were-"

"That's not what fraternizing means Finn! Oh my God, have you ever even looked at a dictionary?" Kurt could almost see the rusty cogs in Finns brain as they began to figure things out.

"Oh…" he said slowly "So fraternizing doesn't mean sex?" he asked pitifully.

"No," Kurt said sighing and resting his head in his hand as he leaned against his window, hoping to God that stupidity wasn't contagious.

"No wonder I failed that English text," Finn said thoughtfully, still a little confused. "So you're still gay then?" he asked, just to double check.

"Still gay, Finn." They sat in silence once more, the only sounds were of traffic and the gentle hum of the engine. Kurt closed his eyes as he leaned against the passenger window, going over the many things he had planned to say to Blaine.

"Hey Kurt?" Finn said, breaking the blissful silence that Kurt was relishing in. He tiredly opened his eyes once again to glare at his dopey, yet somehow loveable, stepbrother.

"What?"

"What does fraternizing mean?" Kurt would have happily strangled him right then and there if it didn't mean they'd both meet their fiery deaths as they crashed into a tree.

"Just…like…making friends with someone," he attempted to explain irritably, not caring that not 10 minutes before he had just apologized for being so snappy.

"Oh, so you just made friends with one of the girls?" Finn asked, seemingly glad the silence had been broken. Finn was one of those people who couldn't stand silences, not awkward silences, not pleasantly comfortable silences, not even when he was alone. He'd always attempt to fill the air whether it be by talking to himself, playing music or, particularly when in the shower, singing. Loudly.

Kurt on the other hand was clearly the polar opposite of this.

"Is she cute?" Finn persisted, earning himself yet another glare from Kurt. Despite him being in a relationship with Rachel, these things were important to know!

"Not that I care, but I think Rachel was probably referring to Blaine…One of the girls' brother." Kurt explained with a wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter though, he hates me now."

"Why?" Finn asked and Kurt sighed, will he ever learn when to just stop talking?

"Because he found out I was spying and…stuff," Kurt said. Finn kept glancing over at him from the road, he seemed to be genuinely interested in what Kurt was saying, rather than just using it to fill a silence. "I'm going to make it up to him though, he's coming to sectionals and I have prepared a killer apology." Kurt said, noting Finn's interest in the matter.

"So do you…like him? Like…like like him?" Kurt just smiled, ignoring Finn's over usage of the word 'like' because he honestly never thought he'd have this sort of conversation with Finn of all people. But there they were, step-brothers and talking about relationships, a lot had changed in a year. He nodded in reply.

"Yeah," he said with a bashful smile. "I do."

Finn turned into the school parking lot to find the bus they would be taking next to their group of somewhat depressed looking friends. They joined the others whilst Mr Schue was talking to Miss Pilsbury about something and they all took their seats on the bus. Finn and Kurt separated, Kurt taking the seat next to Mercedes whilst Finn went to sit with the guys. Mr Schue soon joined them on the bus with a downcast expression and with that they left.

That was when Kurt's heart began pounding against his chest, he'd never been this nervous prior to a competition before and this time wasn't even because of show choir at all. He took out his bottle of hairspray and a small mirror and began trying to finish styling his hair with shaky hands.

"You okay, Kurt?" Mercedes asked worriedly from beside him. Kurt gave a jittery nod in response, hoping to convince his friend and himself at the same time. Needless to say it didn't work. Mercedes sensed this and pulled him in for a tight hug, despite his obvious protests about the state of his hair. "Don't worry, you'll get him back, just pin all of the blame on Rachel because it's the truth!" she attempted to encourage him defiantly. Kurt shook his head as he tried to restyle his hair for the hundredth time. Despite what he had said the day before he knew blaming Rachel would not get him anywhere.

"I can't blame all of this on Rachel…though it would be nice. No, I have to be straight with him, if I want a chance at having a normal relationship with Blaine then I have to lay it all on the line, I'm tired of the lies and he is too. I just…really want to do this right for once."

"It sucks that you two got off on such a bad start. I mean, I've never even met the guy in person but I honestly don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you were when you met him," she gave his shoulders an encouraging squeeze. "He must be a pretty great guy, but if he thinks he's gonna steal you away from me then he's so got another thing coming!" she said warningly. Kurt gave a short laugh, one of the few that he'd had the pleasure of as of late. It felt nice. His friends really were good to him but with Blaine it was just…different.

"Oh God I'm so nervous," he said as he tossed the empty can back into his bag and pulled out a new one, setting to work on his not-quite-perfect-yet hair.

"Clearly," Mercedes said in amusement

"I mean what if he's still mad at me? He probably is; he has no reason to suddenly forgive me," he said in a panicked flourish.

"Hey, he'll get over it, Kurt. I mean there are a lot worse things that you could do to someone. I really don't think what you did was that bad. In a month, you'll both look back on this and laugh," she assured him.

"Thank you," he said. He wasn't sure if he totally believed what Mercedes had said but it was comforting all the same. The two shared a brief smile before Kurt returned to his hair.

"Hey Hummel, will you quit it with the hairspray, you're gonna give me lung cancer or something," Puck called from the seat behind. Kurt rolled his eyes despite it going unseen.

"Hairspray won't give you lung cancer Puckerman, maybe asthma…with any luck," he replied swiftly.

"Whatever, I can't breathe back here," he said adamantly, though Kurt promptly ignored him.

"Come on David! Blaine! we've got to go!" Thad said, pounding on the thick wood of the dorm room door. "What's taking you two so long? Hurry up!" he begged. Blaine opened the door, gaining relief from the incessant knocking.

"I'm ready," he said adamantly. "It's David."

"No you are not!" David said, pulling Blaine back into the room by the back of his collar, choking him slightly. Thad and Wes shared a weary glance before following them into the room. "This tie," David said, holding a black tie with a white trim up to Blaine's seemingly completed outfit. He was wearing a dark grey shirt and with black dress pants and already had a plain black tie on.

"I don't know why you're making me get so dressed up, it's just sectionals and we're not even competing," Blaine argued, tugging his tie off and snatching the one David had selected, tying it around his neck impatiently. David examined the look, his thumb and forefinger pressed against his chin thoughtfully.

"No, that's not right either…" he said dejectedly, rummaging through the pile of ties that were laid out on the bed as Blaine let out a long, heavy sigh.

"He's been doing this all morning," Blaine said to Thad and Wes who stood looking somewhat concerned for their friend. "Every single thing I am wearing right now was hand selected by David…Even my underwear. Seriously I don't-"

"Perfect!" David interrupted, pulling a burgundy tie from the pile. "This one!" He began pulling off the black and white tie to replace it with the newly found red. "It really brings out your eyes."

Thad merely rolled his eyes as David grabbed his phone and ushered everyone out.

"What was that?" Wes hissed when they were on their way to the parking lot, they slacked a little so Thad and Blaine were ahead of them. "I thought we were going to get there early so we could get Blaine to talk to Kurt before he performs."

"Yeah, well Blaine told me that Kurt is a bit of a 'fashionista'," he gestured the word using finger quotes and a ridiculous accent. "So I thought if I dressed him up a little it might make things go more smoothly," he shrugged.

"I have underestimated you David, good thinking," Wes said thoughtfully, clapping his friend on the back as they made their way to the carpool.

"No! Not the…I said they're called the New. Directions. Say it slowly," Mr Schue was saying to one of the competition officials as the group wandered the building, having nothing better to do until the show started.

"Is he here?" Mercedes asked excitedly "Can you see him anywhere?" Kurt shook his head in reply, searching the crowds for dark curly hair and a goofy grin. He was determined to find him as soon as possible before he had time to back out. "Well we gotta find him, I can't wait to meet him!"

"Excuse me, Mercedes, but you are not going to be talking to him," he huffed, he'd already told her this a hundred times. She winked at him in reply, linking their arms together, both in search of any signs of Blaine.

They wandered around the whole of the waiting lobby still without any sight of Blaine. With only 20 minutes left until the first group went on, Kurt was beginning to feel anxious.

"You know, this idea is stupid anyway, I mean, I barely know what I want to say to him and he's probably still mad at me and-" he said in a hurried waterfall of words before Mercedes interrupted him.

"Kurt calm down. Everything will be fine, ok?" Kurt stared onwards, his eyes glazing and his expression downcast. That was until he spotted some extremely familiar faces, turning his pessimistic expression into one of pure panic.

"Oh my God, hide me," he whispered as Mercedes followed his gaze to find the group of girl's their age, dressed in a very familiar uniform.

"Why? They're not going to recognize you!" Mercedes assured pushing Kurt towards them.

"But what if they do? Mercedes whatareyoudoing?" he exclaimed in shock as he tried in vain to redirect them in a different direction away from the Crawford girls.

"You're going to ask Catherine if Blaine is here yet. She's the one who told you he was coming in the first place," she told him patiently, still dragging him over to the girls however he was still reluctant. Kurt had eventually told Mercedes about Catherine's visit and how she was to be trusted despite her being a Crawford girl.

"No, no, no, they're going to recognize me!" he whined though it fell on deaf ears.

"Kurt!" a joyful voice called his name from afar and Kurt felt his blood freeze in his veins. There was no use fighting Mercedes as Catherine had already spotted him. The rest of the girls had looked over after Catherine had called him and she came half-skipping, half-jogging towards him, two of the other girls following behind shortly afterwards. Kurt noticed that Amy was nowhere to be seen.

"Cat, what are you doing?" one of the girls, Patricia, Kurt remembered, chided Catherine. "He's the opposition," she sneered, not even bothering to hide her obvious feelings of distaste. Rosemary was there as well and Kurt couldn't shake off the feeling that she was staring at him.

"Relax," Catherine answered Patricia's scold. "He's my friend." With that Kurt's heart sunk, even after everything that he had done, she still considered him her friend? She smiled brightly towards him and he could only feel terrible in return.

"What's your name?" Rosemary suddenly asked. Kurt's eyes widened, it was the first time she had spoken to him directly.

"Kurt Hummel..." he replied with a great amount of effort focused on making his voice not waver. Rosemary gave him a look that was a mix between extreme concentration and bewilderment.

"You look so familiar," she stated unsure whether this should be good news or not.

"Yeah now that you mention it…" Patricia agreed, squinting her eyes and tilting her head slightly as if this would somehow give her a better look at him. Kurt looked to Catherine with a pleading look which she seemed to understand as she shooed the girls away.

"I need to talk to Kurt alone about something!" she explained and with disapproving looks, Patricia and Rosemary left them. Mercedes nudged Kurt, as if reminding him that she was in fact still present.

"Uhh, Catherine, this is my best friend, Mercedes," he said, gesturing to the girl beside him. Catherine looked hesitant but they shook hands politely.

"Don't worry," Mercedes assured, "I was against the whole 'spying on your club' thing from the beginning," she said and the other girl seemed to relax a little.

"Is Blaine around?" Kurt asked tentatively, cutting straight to the chase.

"I haven't seen him yet, but he should be on his way with some of the guys from Dalton," she said, apologetic that she couldn't be of more help.

"Oh," Kurt replied in a small voice, because if Blaine was there with his friends, it would be much more difficult to speak to him privately.

"Don't worry, he's definitely coming! Oh! I have to go, good luck today!" she said as Amy returned from wherever she had previously gone and literally dragged Catherine away.

"You too!" Kurt called after her, he'd realized that he hadn't said it back to her when they had spoken on the stairs at McKinley and felt a little guilty about it. She smiled in response before focusing all of her attention to Amy who seemed to be angry, though this was nothing new.

"This is hopeless," Kurt said dejectedly as he scanned the room for Blaine. More and more people were crowding in and it was next to impossible to see anyone further than 5 feet away. "He's probably here and avoiding me."

"Don't say that," Mercedes begun but was cut off by an overhead announcer declaring that the show would begin shortly and if everyone would like to take their seats. "We should get back to the others, we'll find him in the interval," she said optimistically though Kurt failed to see it as so. He followed her regardless as they made their way back to the group.

"Wait!" Kurt suddenly halted, gripping Mercedes' arm tightly. He'd seen it. The dark curly hair, less tame than when he was dressed for school yet still held in place by a moderate amount of gel. It was Blaine. Definitely Blaine. "He's over the-"

"Hey Kurt," Mr Schue called "Mercedes, come on!" And suddenly he was being dragged away. He trained his eyes upon Blaine, trying not to lose him in the sea of people but it was inevitable that he would drown and Blaine would be nowhere to be found once again. He was ushered into the huge auditorium, still on the lookout for any sign of Blaine. His heart would leap to his throat every time he'd catch a glimpse of dark hair but every time he thought he'd located the boy again, he'd disappear just as swiftly.

He took his seat with a huff after double checking the audience for the boy he lost. Someone on stage was talking about something that was really not relevant whilst Kurt sulked. He glared at the carpeted floor, suddenly entirely disinterested in sectionals when Mercedes was urgently tapping at his shoulder.

"What?" he hissed, giving her an unnecessarily harsh glare. She said nothing and simply pointed to her left her eyes glinting with exasperation. He followed the direction she was pointing in, his eyes immediately falling on the very boy he was searching for. Blaine sat on the very same row, just a few seats down from him, directly next to Puck, though neither knew who the other was. Kurt also recognized the three other boys with him as some of the warblers.

Immediately he shot back to flatten himself against the upholstery of the auditorium seat, suddenly terrified. Was it normal to be completely terrified of a boy you're head over heels about?

Kurt decided that yes, yes it was and thus continued to make himself as scarce as possible.

Blaine didn't seem to notice him and Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. He made a point to speak to him later, yeah, later was good. The woman on stage finally finished and on came the first group; The Hipsters, however Kurt wouldn't have been able to pay attention to their performance even if he wanted to. All he could focus on was the fact that Blaine was so near and how everything he had planned on saying to him had made a swift exit from his mind.

Mercedes glanced at him contentedly as the elderly glee clubbers sang heartily.

"No disrespect to them or anything but we have totally got at least second place in the bag." Kurt probably wouldn't have heard her if not for the elbow in the ribs she had given him, he glared at her whilst rubbing his tender rib. "Just saying," she said and Kurt found that he had entirely lost interest in the competition. All he had to do was sway at the back, sing backup and smile, hardly a show stopping role in the club.

He wanted a solo, he wanted to be in the spotlight, he wanted to be a star, but that wasn't going to happen whilst in the New Directions though not for lack of trying. He also wanted Blaine. Blaine made had him feel like a superstar, he made him feel special. Most of all, he made him feel wanted and he wasn't quite ready to give that up.

Throughout The Hipsters' performance, Kurt continued to steal glances across at Blaine, which would have been much easier if Puck's head didn't insist on being in the way. He managed to catch a few glimpses of his smile, that eternally amused and pleased-at-everything smile. It wasn't as full as the last time he had seen it but it was certainly still there.

After their last song, The Hipsters were ushered off of the stage, some with considerably more help than others, and someone else had stepped up to the stage for a few words. Kurt wasn't sure if he should be grateful or impatient for the delay. His leg bounced nervously and more than once, Mercedes had to clamp her hand on his knee to still him though it never calmed him for more than a second.

Eventually (or all too soon, Kurt still hadn't decided) the man stepped down from the stage and the curtains went down for the first interval. The Crawford Cantata were up next and Kurt noticed the girls hurriedly making their exit to the green room. He returned his gaze to his left and saw Blaine and his friends getting to their feet. His heart beat furiously, as if it was trying to physically drag him to Blaine. This was his chance.

But he couldn't.

He watched helplessly as Blaine made his exit.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, "He's getting away again!"

"I can't," he said simply in a quavering voice. "I can't do it. I can't talk to him."

"Oh for the love of-" she exclaimed before storming off in the direction Blaine had just left in. Kurt's eyes widened in horror as he realized where she was going.

"No. WAIT. MERCEDES!" He called after her though she refused to stop. She was on a mission.

..