A/N: So this is a little shorter, but I wanted to get something out before tomorrow since I'll be too busy to write :) Happy Holidays!
Also, I kkinda think the meeting was a little awkward because I tried to introduce everyone to each other and stuff, and I hate writing intro things...so yeah, oh well :) It was also going to be totally different but I didn't like the way I had written their first encounter so I rewrote the whole thing.

Chapter 2: Mentors

After the crippling tie at Sectionals, Rachel had gone into even more of an insane trance in which she insisted that they should cancel all training sessions in order to perfect their show choir aspect. Mr. Shuester whole-heartedly disagreed. In fact, he announced the next meeting that he had a… surprise, of sorts. Something that they could benefit from whether or not they liked it. Kurt was certain that that meant there was no way he was going to enjoy whatever it was that Mr. Shue had in mind.

That was how the twelve members of New Directions found themselves packed into three cars, four carefully chosen people per vehicle, driving towards the farm land that made up the outside border of southern Lima. Kurt, Finn, and Puck were selected by Mr. Shue to drive one of the cars, and their "riding buddies" were chosen for them. Obviously Mr. Shue had something in mind, because he made sure to stress that they were not to lose any of their group mates, and that they were not allowed to split up unless it was a life/death situation. The teacher even went so far as to give them partners within their groups. It was honestly too detailed to not be foreshadowing a training exercise.

Kurt was partnered with Brittany, so she sat in his Navigator's passenger seat with Santana and Tina in the back. While he liked Brittany, he wasn't too sure about the positive consequences of trying to fight with her as his partner. Rachel and Puck were put with Quinn and Artie, which proved to be a group half-filled with pretty useless powers for an offensive attack. Of course, the partnership of Sam and Mercedes was also pretty useless, but their other half of Finn and Mike promised to have their backs if it was a fight they were driving towards. With every passing mile it seemed more and more likely as they drove further away from civilized areas and into open country where no one would notice if a bunch of teens used supernatural abilities.

"You better not trip me up," Santana grumbled.

"Yes, because that's possible," Tina rolled her eyes. "Just don't leave me when you decide to run away."

"Yay! My dolphin is going to protect me!"

"You know, it's kind of stupid that we didn't ask Rachel what Mr. Shue's plan is."

Kurt looked in his rearview mirror to exchange a sigh with Tina, who had enlightened them to their mistake. "Great. Now Puck, Quinn, and Artie will have a heads up while we flounder for a strategy."

"Are we fighting each other?"

"I doubt it, losers."

Kurt pulled into a barren field behind Finn and Puck, parking his Navigator a bit away from the other two cars just in case they were supposed to be fighting each other. He wouldn't want to get ambushed as soon as they got out. The four saw the rest of New Directions meandering around together and headed towards them with caution.

"Don't worry," Rachel smiled lightly. "We're not fighting each other."

"Then who are we-"

"They're here," was all the small Jewish girl said before making her way to the rest of her foursome and standing beside Puck.

Brittany intertwined her fingers with Kurt's and gave him a grin. He smiled back forcefully and motioned for Tina and Santana to stand with them.

A group of people, who looked to be high schoolers as well, approached from the distance. There were twelve of them too.

"Warblers," Rachel nodded when they reached the other team.

All of New Directions (sans Rachel) was shocked. The Warblers, the show choir, they had seen on Saturday were facing them with identical easy-going smiles. How was that even possible?

"Mr. Shue and their advisor, Dr. Sterling, are good friends," explained Rachel. "We weren't going to meet them, but then the youngest Warbler sensed us at Sectionals, so now here we are."

"You…sensed us?" Finn questioned.

"That's my power!" A younger looking boy spoke up. He seemed proud of himself. "I sense other supernaturals."

"Your teacher, Mr. Shuester," a dark-skinned boy said calmly, "Asked us to help you train. We like to think that we've become pretty good at controlling our own abilities and understanding the mechanics behind it. If you're okay with this, we would like to try to teach you some of what we've learned."

"You're in groups of four so that we can break off and help you in smaller, more focused groups. Unfortunately you teacher was adamant that we should find out about your gifts in person, and not in advance, so we haven't decided who would be the best to help you each individually," the Asian boy beside him continued. "I'm Wes, and I have telekinetic abilities."

"It means he can move things with his mind, Finn," Rachel interjected. Finn mumbled a 'thanks.'

"I'm David," the darker boy added. "I can will an organic metal armor over my skin. As far as we can tell, it's pretty indestructible."

"I bet I could put a dent in it," Puck grinned devilishly. "The name's Puck."

One by one, the Warblers introduced themselves and New Directions claimed each to help them with either their powers or, in some cases, their combat skills in case of emergency. There was only one Warbler left, in the back of the group, and Kurt almost smacked himself for not realizing sooner-

"Blaine!" he exclaimed happily. "It's nice to see you again."

The shorter boy seemed to have his own moment of realization before he returned Kurt's smile, only breaking eye contact to glare at Rachel when she began to giggle to herself.

"Hi Kurt; what do you do?"

"Oh, nothing much. I just freeze things here and there."

Blaine laughed and snapped his fingers (more for effect than necessity), lighting a small flame on his fingertip and holding it in front of his face as if studying it closely. "Then I guess this can't be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Not only are we competing at Regionals, but you're the Ice King while I'm a fire demon. It would never work out," he teased.

Kurt chuckled lightly and pulled Blaine's arm to guide him over to where Brittany and the rest of his small group were already getting to work on their powers. He thought, momentarily, about how easy it was to chat with Blaine despite only meeting each other once before. The differences between the two encounters were striking. The first was polite smiles while now Blaine was treating him like they were old friends. He preferred the most recent meeting, of course, and hoped that there would be many more like it. He could get used to being friendly with Blaine…

"Okay, so what are you working on?" The Warbler looked at him with as much seriousness as he could muster.

"I've been trying, the key word is trying here, to freeze the water in the air. You know, so that it can be useful. Otherwise I'm kind of useless."

"I've got an idea of how to ease you into it." Blaine turned and called his teammate (the one that was working with Brittany) over. "Kurt, this is Josh. In case you weren't listening, he turns invisible. Josh, Kurt's trying to learn how to freeze water in the atmosphere but it's kind of hard to do things if you can't see what you're working with, eh? So I'm thinking, hey, there's water in people and Josh can be something you can't see. So Kurt, you try to freeze him while he's invisible to start working on it. And Josh, if you feel it coming on then turn visible again so we know where you are."

The other Warbler, a lanky boy with bright red hair and an inviting smile, disappeared from sight. Kurt stared at the spot where he had been forcefully and tried desperately to freeze the water he knew was contained inside the other person. It wasn't working.

"You're trying too hard," Blaine placed his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "You have to feel your ability and make it a part of you. Try to feel the water around you naturally."

Kurt closed his eyes and breathed deeply, imagining himself spreading in all directions and enveloping the surrounding area. He imagined Josh and all of the miniscule droplets of water that must have been around him somewhere… He opened his eyes slowly to see Josh come back into view just in time to be frozen solid. Kurt gaped openly while Brittany wrapped her arms around him in excitement, cheering for her dolphin. He couldn't believe that he had actually done it. Blaine's smile grew exponentially while he worked on slowly warming Josh back up, placing his hands on the boy's arms and letting warmth flow between them. The attempt was successful and Josh grinned down at Kurt as if he hadn't been frozen by the other boy just moments before.

Blaine couldn't help the smile that seemed to be permanently stuck on his face. There was no denying that Kurt kept igniting flaming butterflies in his stomach to impossibly warm him and to send him into a panic. He had no idea how to act around the other boy, but it seemed as though he was rather good at winging it. There was no denying that knowing he was also a supernatural made the attraction ten times stronger with all of the possibilities for a relationship of understanding and trust, without having to keep the largest secret of his life from the person he was supposed to tell everything to. And the boy was good, too; there was no doubt that he would be perfect in a training match or if Blaine just needed to let off some steam before his emotions bottled up and he exploded. He could… cool him down. Oh, irony seemed to love Blaine Anderson. Fire and ice, what a match.

Then again, he didn't even know if Kurt was gay. He didn't like to make assumptions, even if the boy was a bit high-pitched and flamboyantly dressed, so he opted to wait to hear it from Kurt's own lips. But it was hard watching the blonde girl hug him all the time or wrap her arm around his or hold his hand or whatever else they did. She seemed sweet, but Blaine had a crush and she was in the way of it. He wasn't proud of all of the tactics he tried to use to get her (and subsequently Josh) to go away. None of them worked because she was a walking blonde joke multiplied by infinity and given super powers.

"Brit, why don't you go work with Josh some more?" Kurt said gently, soothingly…Blaine sighed in contentment, both at Brittany leaving and Kurt's soft voice. "Sorry, she's a little clingy."

"That's okay. Do you want to try again?"

Kurt closed his eyes and unintentionally gave Blaine the chance to study him. He promised to himself that one day he would have every smooth curve and every bit of ivory skin memorized and then he would start again continuously into forever. Maybe that was a little forward… Blaine broke his concentration to watch in awe as a delicate sphere of ice formed just in front of Kurt's face out of seemingly nothing.

"Kurt… look."

The porcelain boy opened his eyes and smiled the most breathtaking smile the Warbler had ever seen. His teeth didn't show, Blaine noted. He found it absolutely adorable, especially when combined with the little crinkle of his nose and the glint in his blue-green-gray eyes.

"I did it. Oh my Gaga, I did it! Blaine, you're a genius!"

And before he could get out a reply he found himself pressed tightly against cashmere with delicately styled hair ticking his cheek and the scent of vanilla enticing his nostrils. Thin but strong arms were wrapped around his neck; taking a chance, Blaine wrapped his own arms around Kurt's waist and rested his hands on his back. He honestly swore that he must have been in Heaven; there was no other way to describe it. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and if he just turned his head a bit to the left… He practically drank in Kurt's smell as he lightly touched his nose to the other boy's neck and tried not to lean in so far that Kurt could feel his smile on his skin. That was far too intimate for a first hug.

They both pulled back sheepishly with blushes rising on their cheeks, but Kurt's smile only got wider if anything.

"Keep it PG, boys!" Rachel shouted.