AN- Yes, this is a day late. The reason? I've gone and done it: I've caught the Dalton bug and just spent the last two days reading the 24 chapters that are up. I've totally gotten off my writing schedule. -sighs- But! It's okay! Because I am back, with Mash-Up!

Real quick: I got a review, suggesting Mercedes would be more supportive of Kurt liking a guy, like she was in the show. Here's the thing: This isn't show! Blaine. This is a guy who, in her eyes, led her best friend on and then quickly denied being gay or wanting anything to do with him. And she's not going to like him. Also- she's jealous that they've started to become friendlier.

Thank you's to all who have been reading and keeping up with me. I LOVE the feedback you've all given. And now, without further ado: Mash-Up

So, Blaine has heard about the slushies before. Rachel talked about them non-stop and Kurt once compared to being bitch-slapped by an iceberg.

But he's never had to deal with it before.

Until today. When he walked into school with Finn and Quinn because he and Finn were talking about football and Quinn was ignoring them and suddenly it's like, hi iceberg.

It stings, Blaine realizes. Like, really, really badly. He barely hears Finn go after Karofsky (he should have known it was that oaf who did it) and then there is something about Karofsky wanting Finn's QB spot because Finn is 'too much of a loser' to deserve it and that because they loved glee (they also pertaining to Blaine, he guesses) that they can welcome a slushie every day.

Blaine is too busy stumbling into a room and hoping it's the boy's bathroom because he needs to remove this stuff from his face. Now.

He's scrubbing at his face with wet paper-towel when he hears the door open. He doesn't even care who it is and if they're seeing him like this.

"You missed a spot."

Hey. He recognizes that voice. "Kurt?"

"The one and only," the boy in questions remarks dryly. "I see you've been granted your first ever slushie facial."

"It stings," Blaine pouts childishly.

He hears Kurt walk over and fumble around for something in his bag. The water turns on and then Kurt is gently wiping at Blaine's face with what appears to be a very fluffy towel.

"So, I guess it's time I officially welcome you to glee club."

Blaine chuckles, and then blinks because he's actually able to see without the world being tinted by grape slushie.

"You're going to have to start carrying spare clothes. And towels, because the paper ones here don't do anything for the skin," Kurt steps back and appraises Blaine's face. "Okay, one last rinse for your hair and then you should be fine."

Blaine ducks under the sink and goes to reach for the tap but Kurt beats him to it, turning on the water and gently rubbing Blaine's scalp. Blaine knows this should feel awkward or weird but it's strangely comfortable and Blaine tells himself it's because he and Kurt have become friends.

The water shuts off and Kurt is throwing another towel at him.

"Dry yourself off. I'll see you in glee."

"Thanks, Kurt."

"No sweat," and Blaine hears the door close behind him with a dull thud.

So, Blaine notices that Kurt looks really annoyed during 'Bust a Move'. And not like, normal annoyed where he just flat out hates the song. But more annoyed. Like, he doesn't even play along when Brittany brandishes a tambourine at him and he kind of high-tails it out of there as soon as it's over.

Blaine follows after him. Finds Kurt at his locker, shoving his books inside.

"Hey. I know that song totally sucks but you seemed, like, personally offended by it or something."

"It's a terrible song," Kurt remarks.

"Hey."

Kurt looks at him.

"What's going on?"

"You were slushied."

Blaine nods because yes, yes he was. But he doesn't get the point?

"You were slushied and now you're going to realize glee club sucks and quit," Kurt supplies.

"Oh," Because he actually didn't think about that. Quitting at all, even after the pain and humiliation. "Kurt, I'm not going to quit."

"Really?" Kurt sounds disbelieving.

"Really. I like the club way too much. And the friends I've made."

And when Blaine smiles at Kurt, he smiles back.

So, Blaine and Kurt are hanging out at practice together. They do that now, ever since the shopping adventure and Kurt's first game really.

Karofsky makes comments. Not like anything really bad. But he still makes comments. He's way harder on Finn than he is on the actual gay kid but whatever.

Blaine and Kurt are sitting on the bench as the first half of the team gets into a huddle and prepares to go over some plays.

"So, what do you think of that mash-up assignment?" Kurt asks.

Blaine shrugs. "I, honestly, can't think of anything. It's a really bad song to mash…"

Kurt laughs. "Yeah. Like, honestly, nothing sounds good with it. At all."

At that moment, they notice a ruckus in the huddle. Blaine's at his feet, trying to peer over heads and see what's going on.

"What's happening?" Kurt asks.

"It's looks like Finn and Azmio are fighting."

"Oh…I hope Finn kicks his ass."

Blaine smirks at that but it falls off his face when he sees Coach Tanaka.

He looks pissed.

He calls all the boys over and demands to know what's going on. And after some words about team unity, he realizes Puckerman isn't there.

"Something for glee," Finn explains.

Oh. That does it.

Now they have to choose: football team or glee club.

Shit.

Kurt wastes no time. He does like football, surprisingly. Being a star felt really cool and he liked hanging out with Blaine as much as possible.

But. He loves glee.

So as everyone changes and showers, Kurt marches proudly to the center of the room and announces loudly, "I am going to skip the practice on Thursday. Anyone else who loves glee and realizes it is the much better option is free to join me."

Then he swivels on his foot and marches out.

(he goes back to clean out his locker later- it's far less dramatic if he does it now)

Blaine feels terrible when he gets home. He knows Kurt had expected him to stand up right with him and announce he was choosing glee.

But, well, he does love football. And, of course, there's his dad.

Oh. His dad's car is in the driveway. Awesome. As soon as he enters the house, Blaine is ambushed by his mother. Vanessa Anderson- tall, with jet black hair and Blaine's hazel eyes.

"Blaine! Welcome home, honey. How was school?"

Blaine blinks. "Are…are you and dad both home?"

"Yes. We both canceled meetings and decided to save any paperwork for tomorrow. Tonight will be family night! You, me, your father and Michael."

"Er, okay," Blaine says cautiously. "Why?"

"Well," And his mom is gently leading him into the living room where his father and brother are watching a football game, "It seems Michael is having trouble at school."

Blaine glances at his younger brother, the same curly black hair they got from their father, but only he inherited the green eyes. He's scowling at the TV, arms crossed and obviously annoyed.

"And the counselor recommended that we start spending more time together, as a family. So that Michael can keep up his grades and get into a good school."

Michael was only in junior high; obviously grades were very important at such a crucial stage. He catches Blaine's eye and Blaine subtly rolls his own and Michael cracks a grin.

Vanessa shoves Blaine down on the other side of his father and smiles at the three of them. "My boys!"

She walks out of the room and the awkward tension goes up by like a billion degrees. William clears his throat.

"So, how's football going, son?"

Blaine hesitates. "It's fine- very drama induced at the moment."

"How so?"

"A few of the guys on the team are also in glee club. And the coach is making them choose between the two."

William laughs. "Well, that choice should be obvious. Football."

"Some of the guys really like glee though, dad. Like, Kurt-"

"The gay kid?"

Blaine takes a deep breath. "Yes. He chose glee over football."

"And that surprises you? Honestly, Blaine, you should be happy to have those guys off the team. They're only holding you down. Glee club, what a joke."

Blaine stands abruptly. "I have to go. I have a paper due tomorrow."

His father doesn't say a word as he leaves the room, too engrossed in his game to care about anything other than football.

So here it comes; the moment of truth.

Mike has long since chosen glee. He hadn't even shown up in the locker room like the rest of the boys had. While they're changing, Puck suddenly stops and throws his pads back in his locker. He closes the door and walks out, leaving silence in his wake.

Blaine and Finn exchange glances. Blaine, honestly, doesn't want to be here. He doesn't want to keep imaging the look of disappointment on Kurt's face when he realizes that Blaine chose football over glee. But, what can he do? Get kicked off the team and explain to his father why? That would go over well.

He's managed to hide the glee club thing by pretending that celibacy club meetings (which he actually quit a long time ago) were suddenly daily instead of weekly. There was no way he could hide the fact that he was kicked off the team, especially if his father just showed up at another game.

He and Finn make it onto the field. Blaine's eyes flicker to the goal posts and he's suddenly back in time, sitting on the bench and watching Kurt make that field goal. He smiles.

What is he doing? This isn't where he belongs. He loves it but, damn it, he loves glee more. Finn shoots him a look as he begins backing up. When he turns around runs to the locker room, he hears Coach Tanaka shout after him.

Blaine ignores it.

Kurt should have known.

Really, he should have. Football, popularity, acceptance- those were far too important to Blaine. There was no way he was going to stay in the club. Kurt knew it from that first slushie.

He avoids Mercedes' eyes; he doesn't want to see her pity or worse her smug 'i-told-you-so' attitude. When Mike walked in, Kurt actually got his hopes up. And when Puck followed a few minutes later, Kurt was absolutely certain Blaine would walk in the door next.

Twenty minutes past- and there was still no sign of him. Or Finn. But that really didn't surprise Kurt.

Mr. Schue tries getting them jazzed over another song, something to mash with 'Bust a Move' but Kurt could care less. He kind of wants to go home, crawl under the covers and cry.

About thirty minutes into the lesson, the door bursts open and Kurt looks up, hardly daring to believe it. Blaine is standing awkward at the threshold, one hand rubbing the back of his neck and grinning bashfully.

"Sorry I'm late guys."

And everyone is smiling and Mr. Schue looks really happy and Kurt is walking over to Blaine, one eyebrow raised.

"So, glee club is suddenly good enough for you?"

But he's smiling as he says it and Blaine is smiling too.

"Yeah. I mean, I haven't even picked out a song for the mash-up assignment."

Everyone laughs at that and Kurt turns back to the group and Blaine throws an arm around his shoulders as he follows.

So they're chillin' at Kurt's locker the next day; him, Blaine and for some reason Rachel, who is telling them all her song ideas to mash-up with 'Bust a Move'

And, honestly? She's basically going through every song she knows until one sticks.

Suddenly Finn ambles up with a slushie in hand and a downcast expression on his face. And Blaine totally doesn't get it at first. But Kurt does.

"Do it."

"I really don't want to, honestly," Finn says. "I mean, I know how picky you are about what kind of products you put on your face."

"So, don't," Blaine offers.

"But you've been getting to much pressure from the gorillas on the football team," Kurt supplies. "I guess they didn't appreciate me resigning from the team and choosing glee."

And, honestly, Blaine wonders why they chose Kurt of all people to go after. Mike quit, Puck quit, he himself quit. Then he remembered: Kurt was slushie fodder pre-football and he will forever be one post-football.

"Probably would have went over better if you didn't announce it in the showers."

Blaine coughs to hide a laugh because, oh yeah, that was pretty funny.

By now everyone has showed up and they're pressuring Finn not to slushie Kurt and Finn's already been pressured to slushie Kurt and Kurt finally just grabs the fricken cup and slushies himself.

"See if any of your friends on the football team would have done that for you."

Finn bolts and the girls practically carry Kurt into the bathroom. Blaine goes to follow before he realizes they're going in the girl's room. He stops, glances around the hallway, then slips inside.

"What are you doing here?" Mercedes asks unkindly.

Kurt, who can't see anything because of the slushie burning his retinas, is genuinely surprised to hear Blaine's voice.

"I wanted to help."

"This is the g-g-girl's room," Tina points out.

"Kurt's in here."

"Kurt is practically a girl," Rachel says.

"Hey! Why don't we stop arguing and start cleaning me?" Kurt shouts. "Before I'm blinded by frozen corn syrup."

So the girls start fighting over who has the best slushie-washing skills and who should do that and Kurt is looking kind of miserable so Blaine walks over to Kurt's bag and digs around until he finds that towel from like forever ago.

And he wets it in the sink and then begins cleaning off Kurt's face. Kurt jumps at first because the girls are still bickering but he quickly realizes it's Blaine and not some creepy person.

"So, I feel like I should officially welcome you to glee club, or something," Blaine quips.

They both chuckle softly and Blaine cleans enough slushie off so that Kurt can open his eyes. Green/blue locks onto hazel and Kurt smiles.

"Thanks."

"No sweat."

So after Kurt is cleaned up and Blaine is safely out of the girl's room, they're walking down the hall together, on the way to glee.

"So, how did your dad take it? When you told him you chose football over glee?"

"He didn't actually," Blaine says. "He still doesn't even know I'm in glee. I'm going to tell him tonight."

Kurt nods. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Blaine shoots him a smile. "I'm probably going to need it."

When Blaine gets home that night he takes a deep breath and prepares himself. He walks inside and finds his father once again seated in front of the TV.

"Where's Mikey?"

"Out with your mother. I tell you, I can't wait for his grades to go back up. All this lounging around the house is no good for me, I need to be back at the office."

"Dad, I need to tell you something."

William, for once, actually looks up from the TV. "Is everything alright, son?"

"Remember how I told you about the guys from glee? Who were forced to choose between that and football?"

William nods.

"Well-"

He's suddenly cut off by his phone, going off loudly in his pocket. He quickly takes it out and sees it's a text from an unknown number. Curiosity wins over politeness and Blaine opens it.

Finn convinced Coach to give everyone a second shot. Congrats footballer –K

'K'? Who the hell is…oh. Well, Blaine resigns himself to ask Kurt later how he got his number. For now he looks up at his father.

"Well, it didn't matter. The coach changed his mind."

William nods. "That sounds very anti-climactic."

"Oh," Blaine says softly, "it sure was."

The next day, Finn presents everyone with a slushie.

To drink. Not for their faces.

It's a nice-ish gesture and Blaine thinks it tastes much better out of a cup than it does dripping down his nose.

And it sucks that Quinn got kicked off of Cheerios but Blaine thinks Mr. Schue definitely had a point; Kurt took a slushie for Finn and he would probably take one for Quinn too. Her Cheerio teammates wouldn't be caught dead dong it.

They really have the better deal in glee club.

Oh. Slushie Mr. Schue? Eh, why not.

AN- Again, thanks for reading!