A/N- Thanks for the encouragement from everyone! It's always a bit nervy writing a different ship, and I'm glad people are enjoying it. I do love Klaine, but I think a little bit of fun is what Kurt needs, and I think Flint is sweet. Look forward to more dorktastic!Flint and confident!Kurt to come.
To most people it probably looked like Flint was reading his assigned book for English, but those who looked closer would have noticed that his eyes were singularly unfocused on the words in front of him. Jeff had lived with him long enough to know this was the case. And that the series aborted sighs from his friend meant that he was trying, and so far failing, to ask Jeff's opinion on something. Eventually he managed to actually produce sound, and Jeff perked up.
"What do you think about Kurt?" Jeff looked sideways from behind his book cover.
"He's cool. Good voice, nice guy. Why? What do you think about him?" Flint avoided his friend's gaze and shrugged, flipping a page he hadn't read anyways.
"Dunno." Jeff folded his arms across his chest.
"Is this like a 'dunno' I think I hate him and want you to back me up, or a 'dunno' he sends you to your 'private happy place.'" Flint threw a pillow at Jeff, who just knocked it away and let it fall to the floor.
"You are such an ass." Jeff smiled, but it was kinda pitying and Flint immediately hated whatever he was about to say.
"Honestly? He seems like a good guy, Wills, but I think he's pretty wrapped up with Blaine. You like, never see them apart."
"I know." Flint said loudly, giving away any chance of denying that he liked Kurt now. He tempered his voice and spoke again. "I know, Jeff. Believe me, I'm fully aware of it."
Jeff dropped his book to his lap for a minute.
"Man, you know this isn't about you. It's just, I don't want you getting disappointed because he's obsessed with Anderson. It's totally his loss, but it'd still suck for you." Flint nodded.
"Yeah, well... I don't know what to do."
Jeff's smile was sympathetic now, which still irked Flint, but it was an improvement.
"Well, it's almost Valentine's Day. You could always send him an anonymous card."
"No offence Jeff, but you are of no help whatsoever." Flint gave him a grin to counteract his words and Jeff just shrugged, knowing it was now acceptable to go back to his reading and leave Flint to stew quietly on his own. Which he did.
Jeff had been right. It was almost Valentine's Day. And everyone around Dalton was making sure he didn't forget it. The hallways between classes were filled with cell phone calls to restaurants and florists. Jeff had a card bought for Allie, complete with tickets to see a BalletMet performance, which was sitting on his desk. And Flint had bought himself a book to read Monday night whilst sitting alone in his room.
He had considered buying a card and trying to slip it under Kurt's door, but then he might think it was from Blaine, and he'd end up helping someone else win over his crush. Its not like he could write "Happy Valentine's from your secret admirer who isn't Blaine Anderson. Seriously though." So he'd just scrapped the whole idea.
Thankfully he currently had a Warblers meeting to keep him busy and prevent him from thinking about Kurt. Much. Even though he was sitting right across from him. Smiling widely and eagerly. At Blaine.
But then Flint watched Blaine stood up in front of the Warblers and tried to convince them to help him sing to the boy he was in love with. He saw how Kurt's face was glowing at the idea of a boy singing to him, especially his crush. Jeff could stare. It didn't matter, cause Kurt never looked at him. He was always watching Blaine.
So he saw the exact moment when the realization that Blaine wasn't going to be singing to him hit Kurt. It looked like it hurt. And he saw the painful smile on his face when the meeting finished and Blaine grabbed his arm, chattering about coffee and blond curls. What a moron. How could he not notice the way Kurt looked at him. If he had Kurt's eyes on him like that for even a minute, he was sure he would know, and he was sure as hell he'd do something about it. Probably. It's not like he'd ever have to worry about that happening.
He spent most of the performance hanging out by an accessories rack near the cash. He sang out enthusiastically, cause to be honest, he loved singing, so why not. But he did wince a little when he saw Kurt leaning wistfully on a mannequin.
Once Blaine was chatting furtively with the blond Jeremiah, he wandered out of the Gap, Jeff with a new pair of sunglasses that he had worn in their performance and decided he actually really liked. As they joined the other boys moving towards the food court. Jeff grabbed Flint's arm and nodded towards the far side of the seating area.
"He doesn't look too pleased." Flint looked to see Kurt sitting by himself with a paper sleeve of fries. He frowned.
"Yeah, well he kinda got drop kicked in the ego by Anderson."
"Go talk to him." Flint stared at his friend.
"What?"
"Go talk to him!" Jeff pushed Flint towards the food court with a roll of his eyes. Flint swallowed thickly and headed towards the table, scuffing his feet with reluctance. As he got closer he realized he'd better balls up and stop acting like such a wuss. He was pretty sure Kurt didn't need someone fumbling all over him like an idiot right now.
"Hey, you alright?" Kurt looked up at him and Flint felt a wave of sympathy and annoyance. He sat down in the free seat, stealing one of the fries, and tried to be as comforting as he could manage. It just got a bit frustrating. Kurt was so tied up over Blaine. He was never going to give Flint a chance. And all of a sudden he was saying that out loud. Oh my god, Flint, shut up. Shut up shut up shut up. He was supposed to be telling Kurt that everything was okay, that Blaine would come around and realize he was madly in love with him. Instead he was calling his crush a drama queen and- oh damn- saying that other people liked him if he would just notice. Why not just wear a huge fecking neon sign saying "Flint Wilson has a creepy mad crush on you!"?
And yet Kurt still looked confused. Maybe he could salvage this. Ooooooor his mouth could run ahead of his brain and he could straight up tell Kurt that he liked him. And time to go. Flint turned on his heel and, to be completely honest with himself, fled. He didn't stop until he got to Jeff.
"What happened?" Flint just shook his head.
"I'm an idiot."
"So not good then. Hey, sorry man." Jeff clapped him on the back and pulled him away. "Let's head back to the bus, yeah?" Flint nodded, jamming his hands into his pockets.
Once they climbed onto the Dalton bus Jeff slid into a set of seats towards the front while Flint flopped down across the aisle. He pulled out his iPod, starting to unwind the earphones.
"You don't mind if I-"He gestured to Jeff, who shook his head.
"No, go ahead and immerse yourself." The other boy took out his phone and slid it open to the keyboard, tapping away.
The other boys started filtering on, but Flint just kept his eyes shut, letting the beat distract him from embarrassing himself to Kurt.
When he felt the rumble of the engine starting up, he knew it would probably be safe to look up. Along the window bank he could see Blaine sitting at the back, and looked to find Kurt nearby him. But he had to scan all the way forwards to where Nick was leaning over the back of his seat to see Kurt with his head pressed against the glass.
Good job Flint, you've actually made him feel worse. Flint sighed and looked back down at his iPod. He swung the dial around, trying to find something loud enough to drown out his own inner monologue.
Flint entered the lab hesitantly. He had managed to avoid Kurt after they had gotten back from the mall, and all day yesterday, but today he didn't have much choice. It was Monday. Valentine's Day. And he had biology class. Jeff had told him to go ahead after English, that he had to call Allie, so Flint didn't have anyone to distract him while he passed Kurt's desk at the front. As he passed, trying to pretend he was finding something in his bag, he felt a touch on his arm and his eyes shot up. They met with Kurt's, but he couldn't just stand there in class and hear him say that he thought Flint was nice, but he didn't feel that way. So rather than stopping he just gave him a small smile and continued on to the back of the class. He focused on pulling out his books, and for the rest of class, watched the blackboard with more focus than he ever had before.
Jeff broke away from talking to Kyle and jogged to catch up with Flint and Gareth, who were running laps on the gym track.
"You guys wanna play some pick up after you're done laps?" Flint raised an eyebrow.
"Won't Paul kill you if you roll your ankle again?"
"So don't kick me in the ankles, and what Paul doesn't know won't get me killed."
"I'll go grab a ball." Gareth replied, heading for the equipment room. Flint and Jeff kept jogging, falling into the rhythm of trainers hitting the worn wood of the running loop.
"So, what exactly happened in the food court?" Flint glanced over and shrugged.
"Nothing really. Why?"
"Kurt keeps looking at you in bio class."
"What do you mean?"
"All week, he keeps glancing back towards us, and I'm pretty sure he's not looking at me."
"He's probably just looking around or something."
"No, cause he has to full out turn in his seat, and its prolonged. What did you tell him?" Flint frowned heavily, slowing to a walk and stretching out his shoulders.
"I was just trying to be nice, but I might have got frustrated and..."
"And?"
Flint rolled her eyes and mumbled his response.
"Told him I liked him." Jeff stopped.
"Hunh. Well that was...direct of you." Flint just kind of grimaced."Well, maybe he's interested?"
"Just because you think he's looking at me-"
"Kyle said he was asking about you." Jeff watched his friend perk up.
"They're lab partners?" Jeff nodded. "Oh. Well. I still don't know. It was so awkward. I don't want to be the one to force a conversation."
"You're being a wuss." Flint shrugged, catching the pass Gareth threw him as he returned.
"Probably. Let's go ask Elliston if he wants to play two on two."
Flint was reading over his Spanish text for his quiz after lunch when the clack of dress shoes on the hardwood floor stopped next to him.
"Can I sit here?" Kurt was standing with his tray, waiting for the response. Flint responded, pushing away all his work and nervously grabbing his fork, trying to keep his hands busy. He had to say something or he was going to look like an idiot.
"How's it going?"
He glanced up at Kurt, who was tidying his tray.
"Good. Tomato basil soup day." Flint wrinkled his nose, telling Kurt about his dislike of tomatoes. It seemed to break the ice and soon they were both smiling. Flint felt relieved.
"Thanks Kurt." At the quizzical response Flint swallowed the rising embarrassment he was feeling. "For not being weirded out. By what I said at the mall." Like he really needed to clarify that. Slick Flint. And then Kurt was saying that he wanted to talk about that. Maybe he had been weirded out. Maybe he wanted to tell Flint that he would prefer if nothing like that would happen again.
"I wanted to know if you'd like to go out on Friday night. With me."
Or that. Flint pushed back from the table. Seriously? What exactly was going on? It wasn't like...
"Like...a date?" Kurt affirmed his question, but Flint couldn't help releasing one of his own. After all, it had only been a week since Blaine had unintentionally stomped all over his smitten heart.
"What about Blaine?" Kurt started to stumble, and looked flustered. Flint wasn't sure whether to be pleased or concerned by the reaction. Even when Kurt admitted he had been right. But the wry smile that appeared was encouraging, and Flint let himself tease the boy just a little.
"Oh really. About?" Kurt's face was reluctantly irritable.
"You know what. I might have been a bit...wrapped up in myself. I haven't given anyone else a chance." As he said it, Kurt's voice dropped to a confidential and intimate tone, his eyes flickering up at the other boy. Flint wanted to read so much into that, but Jeff's voice was ringing in the back of his mind.
"Kurt, I really...I mean, I want to." Boy, did he want to. "But I really like you," If he was going to be honest, why not throw it all out there. "And I don't want you to go out with me because you think you should just go out with someone." Okay. This could hurt. He watched the other boy warily.
"I'm not. You've always been really nice to me, and you're funny, and cute." Holy crap." I want to give us a try."
Flint tried to suppress the welling up of feeling in his chest. He felt like Rudolph. He thinks I'm cute! Jeff was right, he was a huge nerd.
He managed to keep his voice steady to reply.
"Okay. Friday then." He looked down at the table, knowing he had to be careful.
But right now, Kurt was smiling at him. Just him. And he couldn't really care less about being cautious.
Flint opened the door and walked into the room.
"What're you so freaking cheery about?" Jeff observed, spinning around in his desk chair at the sound of Flint's whistling. He only whistled when he was happy. Or drunk. But it was a Wednesday afternoon, so it was probably happy.
"I've got a date on Friday." Jeff's eyebrows shot up.
"With?" Flint turned in a a tight spin and threw his backpack on the floor.
"Kurt."
"What?"
"Yeah, I was studying in the caf duriing lunch, and he sat down at the table, and I dunno, we actually talked for a minute, and it wasn't awkward. I thought it would be, cause I made such an ass of myself at the mall, but he um...he asked me out."
"Wow, man, that's..."
"I told him though. Told him that I don't want to go out with him just because he wanted to go out with someone. But he told me that he thought I was funny, and that I was cute, which is kinda a lame word, but still..." Flint sat down on the edge of his bed and clutched his hands together for a moment before he looked at his roommate steadily.
"Am I being stupid?"
Jeff scrunched up his face.
"Well, you're being a massive girl about this, but no...as long as you're going into this with your eyes open man." Flint nodded, chewing on the inside of his lip for a minute.
"Okay. I think I can do this then."
"Hey," Jeff interrupted his thoughts, looking sincere as he could ever manage. "You know I'm just looking out for you Wills. It's awesome though. Congrats. Kurt's a cool guy."
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so." Flint gave his friend a lopsided grin.
