A/N- Oooooookay. So I was reading over the story, as I try to do sometimes to keep track of everything, annnnnd I realized that the chapter formally known as 17 was pretty much a shark jump. I got a bit ahead of myself in where I wanted this all to go. Sooooo, upon review, below you will find a new chapter 17! My apologies and thank you all for sticking with me. I am officially a warning against not having a restraining beta for late night postings. Enjoy.


Since his teacher was away coaching Dalton's incredibly mediocre basketball team at a regional tournament, Kurt had a work period in the library for his history class. He would be lying if he said he wasn't taking advantage of it to think about last night. This time even last semester he'd never thought he'd be the boy blowing off his assignment to remember how his boyfriend had gotten him off half naked in his dorm room. Let alone that he'd have done the same thing in return. It was the first time he'd ever let anyone touch him that intimately. The first time he'd touched another guy in a way that was so purely...well...sexual. Kurt glanced around, feeling conspicuous, even though no one was looking at him. And if they were its not like they could see inside his mind.

Which was good. Because he wanted to be the only one who knew what Flint looked like blissed out and a little sweaty, propped up in Kurt's bed with one hand still clutching his sheets.

Kurt leaned into his study carrel a little further, and gave up on actually reading the text propped up in front of him.

Instead, he focused on drawing delicate and extravagant Fs in his notebook margins, and thinking about his audition possibilities. And last night. A little bit about last night.


He had started to hum slightly when the soft thump of books on the other side of the table and the scrape of chairs over the floor signalled new arrivals.

Kurt didn't recognize the voices. They seemed to belong to two boys who were wrapped up in a whispered conversation. But it was still loud enough that Kurt could hear it. Not that he was trying to. He just could.

"What am I supposed to do, just dance up to him and tell him I like him?" This line caught Kurt's ear, sounding amusingly similar to his experiences with both Blaine and Flint.

It couldn't hurt to listen in on a little gossip, right? It just sounded like someone with a crush anyways.

"Well, why don't you ask your cousin. He's friends with him isn't he?"

"Jesse. You can't be serious! You know that Adam would tease the crap out of me til I died if I asked him to set me up with one of his friends. I'm just going to have to suck it up and die alone."

Kurt almost choked on laughter. He recognized the dramatic declaration, and the slight desperation behind it that he had felt so many times before.

"You're being an idiot Dev! Just go talk to him or something. It's not a bit deal."

"Not a big deal. Blaine Anderson, lead for the Warblers, not a big deal. Even you don't believe you when you say that."

Wait...Devon, like Adam's cousin Devon? Kurt sat back slightly and peeked through a crack in the carrel dividers. It was the same boy who had been at Warblers night last night. The one Blaine had kept looking at.

"Dev. You're a good guy..." His friend, Jesse, apparently, seemed at a loss as to what to say.

"I'm a soph, and he probably doesn't even know who I am." Devon grumbled. "Anyways, Adam said they went out on Valentine's to sing to his boyfriend or something. And even before that, I thought that he and the new guy, Kurt or something, had something going."

Kurt smiled to himself. Maybe he hadn't completely made it up in his own head then.

"Yeah but isn't he dating the tall one? Wilson?"

Yes. Yes he was. And it was fabulous, thank you.

"I don't have a chance Jesse. He's amazing and smoking hot and a junior, and I'm just the kid with a crush on him."

Kurt's heart went out to the other boy. He knew what unrequited crushes were like. And he sounded like a nice guy. He'd have to look into this. His matchmaking had just been kicked into high gear.


"Hi." Kurt smiled at Flint, who still had vestiges of the shy smile they'd shared this morning.

"Hey."

Jeff snorted into his glass of root beer next to them. Kurt just shot him a glare and sat down neatly in his seat.

"So, I want to ask you guys a question." Kurt started. "I've been thinking about doing a little matchmaking around here."

"Really Kurt? Matchmaking always goes badly in my experience." Gareth questioned skeptically.

"And your experience is?"

Gareth paused for a minute.

"Um, bad chick movies I've seen?"

"Your argument is invalid. I already have a marriage on my resume and I'm only a high school junior." Kurt affirmed. "Anyways, from my observations last night and a conversation I overheard in the library...I wanted to get opinions on Blaine and Devon Truong."

Flint tried not to roll his eyes. He really did. It just didn't work too well.

"I totally saw that. Why not! I happen to know that they both like each other, and I think that they'd be cute together."

"Kurt, I'm not going to lie. This might be something it would be better to talk to your McKinley friends about. Especially the girl ones." Simon was trying to be helpful. Kurt knew he was. But it was really just more frustrating.

"Oh come on. I'm not asking you all to dress up like cupid and dance around them. I just think they'd be good together. Like us." Kurt grabbed Flint's hand under the table and looked up at him with a little smile that clearly broke Flint's resistance.

"Fine. You're right. I guess it's not a bad idea." He shrugged, admittedly more for the smile that spread across Kurt's face than a genuine concern for Blaine's love life.

"See! I'm going to go talk to Blaine. I'll be right back." Kurt pushed out of his chair and walked briskly towards the salad bar, where Blaine was eyeing the rather sketchy choices in olives.

"You're such a sucker." Jeff teased. "But if he's trying to hook him up, at least you know he's over the dude."

Well...Jeff had a point.


"Blaine, hi!" Kurt's tone was upbeat and he threaded his arm through Blaine's firmly, guiding him towards the nearest empty table.

"Hey Kurt." Blaine laughed a little at the enthusiasm in his friend, but decided to just go along with it for now.

"So, I have news. A little birdie told me-" Kurt paused and rolled his eyes at Blaine's skeptical expression. "Okay, fine, I was eavesdroppping, but only a little, and I overheard someone talking to one of his friends about "this amazing hot junior he was crushing on." And yes, before you say it, he meant you. He did identify by name."

"Oh." Blaine seemed unsure about this whole proposal Kurt was presenting.

"I looked into it, and he seems like a great guy. He plays violin, and guitar, and is on the swim team. Just... I think you should give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And maybe you two will hit it off."

"I guess..." Blaine looked at his friend, looking pretty vulnerable. Kurt couldn't help but break their physical limitation boundaries and grasp him around the shoulders with one arm lightly.

"I have more good news."

"Yeah?"

"It was Devon." Blaine pulled back a little, disbelief in his eyes.

"If you're joking Kurt, it isn't all that funny of one." Kurt just shot him a reproving look.

"You know I'm always honest with you. I heard him today in the library. It sounds like he's really got a crush on you. And even if you denied it, I saw you looking at him all last night."

Blaine smiled.

"Maybe." Kurt clapped his hands together happily.

"This is great!" But the sudden frown that took over Blaine's face made him stop. "Isn't it?"

Kurt leaned in, his hands on his knees.

"Blaine? What's wrong?"

Blaine looked at him from the corner of his eye.

"What am I supposed to do? You know that...Well, I guess pretty much everyone knows now that I'm no good at this. I don't know what to do."

Kurt smiled a little. What he was about to say was going to hurt him a little, but he needed to do this for the sake of their friendship.

"You know what to do Blaine. Do what we used to. Take him out. Talk with him, make him feel special, be affectionate. But please, when the boy looks at you with big eyes and talks in a soft voice, kiss him! That's the sign you seem to miss."

Blaine was blushing red.

"Kurt, I-" Kurt waved him off and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"It's...don't worry about Blaine. We're all just trying to figure things out for the first time." Blaine squeezed back before sighing and pushing both his hands through his hair.

"Still...any pointers?" He looked at Kurt with a tiny grin and Kurt put on a bit of a bitch face attitude.

"Yes. The only difference this time? No songs, no serenades, no music whatsoever. Just talk to him. Try to be normal...Or...normalish." Blaine knocked Kurt's shoulder, frowning at him.

"Shut up."

Kurt smiled.

"Come on. Come sit with everyone. We'll come up with a plan for you to fool him into thinking your actually that suave." He grabbed Blaine's tray and headed back to the other table.


"Hello?" Kurt slid his phone open as he walked quickly towards Warbler Hall after his last class.

"Hey, Kurt!"

"Dad. How is everything at home?" He'd been trying to school the question to be more casual lately, but he still always had a hint of worry in his voice when he got a call from home.

"Fine kid. Everything is good here. I was actually calling to see if you wanted to go out to dinner as a family on Saturday. Carole switched to Friday shift with one of the gals at work, so she's got the night off."

"Oh. Well...sure. But why are we all going out to dinner?" Kurt frowned slightly and leaned against the heavy panelled walls of the Dalton hallway.

"Well, Kurt...son...I thought that it would be a good time to...meet your friend. Boy. Boyfriend." Kurt winced a little as his dad stumbled over it.

"Can I ask if this is a request or a demand?" Burt sighed, and Kurt could pretty much see him rubbing his forehead across the line.

"Neither Kurt. It just a...preference. We miss a lot of your life with you living away from home, and if this guy's going to be a big part of it...I want to meet him."

Kurt closed his eyes and was quiet for a minute.

"I'll ask."

"That's all I want." Burt said evenly. To be honest, it was better than he had feared this conversation might go.

"I'll call you back once I know."

"Okay. Hey. I love you kid." Kurt smiled.

"Love you too dad."


Flint and Kurt were lying on Kurt's bed again after Warblers practice. He had to finish up the reading he had neglected in the library. Flint was working on his English, one hand managing to hold and turn the pages of the book in order to free up the other hand to trace up and down Kurt's arm.

"They might actually make an okay couple." He said slowly, and Kurt's face lit up as soon as he realized when Flint was suddenly referring to. "But. You might want to...warn Adam. He can be a bit protective about family. He was under dorm arrest last year because his little sister went out on a date, and he decided to go out without permission to "set things straight" with the boy."

Kurt looked surprised that Flint's face was more amused than concerned. Flint glanced over at him with a grin.

"His sister's in grade 8. The guy was 13. And Adam Saran Wrapped him to a basketball net at the junior school."

Kurt couldn't help laughing a bit.

"I'll have to tell Blaine to keep some scissors on him at all times."

Flint gave a little grunt of amusement and rested his hand on Kurt's chest. Kurt took a moment to soak in the warm pressure before he spoke up again.

"So, my dad wants to have you out for dinner on Saturday." Kurt mentioned as casually as possible. Flint looked up from his page.

"Oh. Um. It's kinda short notice, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's just, Carole switched a shift, and she usually works Saturday nights, but now she's working Friday instead, and my dad though it would be nice to have a family dinner out instead of the usual one at home on Friday or Sunday, and he said I should invite you too."

Flint chewed a little on his lip, scraping it over his teeth. Meeting his boyfriend's dad. Okay. He could do this.

"Well, I mean...I don't have any other plans or anything. I'd...That's cool."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Flint and Kurt were both staring up at the ceiling for the duration of the awkward silence before Flint coughed and tried to start them talking again.

"So, um... what songs were you thinking of for your audition tomorrow?"

Kurt scrunched up his nose a little.

"I don't know. All the solo pieces I come up with don't really have the right vibe for Warblers."

"Well, what style have you been thinking?"

"Broadway, ballads, you know what I do. You saw my first audition." Kurt groused, remembering the disappointment he'd felt, and what Blaine had told him afterwards.

"Hm." Flint seemed to consider something, and Kurt noticed that he could feel the low vibrations from his place on Flint's stomach. It was wonderfully intimate. "You know...that's when I first started liking you?"

Kurt's head turned to face Flint and he looked a bit haughty.

"You did not seriously start crushing on me during one of my most embarrassing moments ever?"

"Yeah, I totally did. It's actually because it was embarrassing. That's what kind of...drew me to you."

"That is weird and mortifying." Kurt pressed his hands to his face. Flint pulled them away and laced his hand into one of Kurt's.

"Well, that and your voice. It wasn't the right song, but you sang it beautifully. It was just... when you started raising your hands-"

"Ugh...I'd been trying to forget that ever happened, but thanks for bringing it back up."

"When you did that, and Blaine sort of signalled you to stop... I could relate to you. I have an unending history of being the guy who shouts out something embarrassing just as the room goes quiet, or the one who laughs a bit too long at things other people don't find quite as funny, or gets tongue tied in front of cute guys and looks like a moron. I thought that maybe you weren't so terrifyingly perfect like you'd first seemed. And maybe you could even like someone like me, who screwed up like that all the time."

"That is weirdly sweet." Kurt said quietly, squeezing Flint's fingers. "I've never been so pleased to have made an utter ass of myself."

"Oh, that and your ass." Flint added, his grin mischievous and his words shifting the atmosphere back to something more playful again. "I also noticed you had a great ass."

"Way to ruin the romance." Kurt mumbled, but there was a bit of a smile in the corner of his mouth. "Anyways, as I was saying, I can't seem to come up with a solo that would work for this."

Flint nodded for a moment.

"Maybe that's the problem." Flint sat up a little more, and Kurt found himself repositioning to rest his head on Flint's raised knees. "You can't think of it as a solo, not traditionally. Warblers' solos are all about being the lynchpin for the collective. So maybe, think of it this way. If you had to sing back up for the Warblers, what would be the song you'd want to do the most? Even if you knew someone else would get the solo, what is the song you'd most like to be part of?"

"Okay, it's not really in my wheelhouse, but..." Kurt looked up at Flint. "I kinda want to sing Crossfire."

Flint raised his eyebrows.

"What, like the Killers?"

"Well, Brandon Flowers, but...yes."

"That would actually be pretty cool. And I think it would work for the group element..." Flint leaned back, thinking. "Yeah. You could shift the arrangement a bit, and it would still work for your range. That would be...you should do that one!" Flint nodded vigorously.

Kurt still looked skeptical.

"Seriously?"

"Why not?"

"I don't know...it's not really my thing." Kurt gave a laugh. "It's...I'm so used to having to fight to sing "girl" songs that I think I get a bit defensive when I want to sing something by a guy."

Flint just shrugged.

"You should sing whatever you want. Screw the rest of 'em." Flint declared defiantly, pulling Kurt in for a kiss. Their lips touched a few times, never drawing far back or pressing too forcefully, until Flint pushed Kurt back by his shoulders and settled himself comfortably.

"So let's hear it!"

Kurt scrunched up his face

"What, right now?"

"Yes. Don't even try to tell me you don't have it all planned out."

Kurt smiled.

"Fine. But if you laugh, I'm not kissing you for a week." Kurt pointed at him fiercely, and moved over to the computer, pulling up his iTunes for a little backing.


At lunch the next day, Kurt managed to talk Blaine into at least speaking to Devon himself. He'd even concocted a story that was entirely plausible, and partially true, to start up a conversation.

Blaine glanced back at Kurt as he neared the other side of the dining hall, looking nervous.

His returning glare was surprisingly encouraging.

"Okay..." Blaine look a deep breath, steeling himself, and stepped towards the table Devon was sitting at quickly.

"Hi." He stretched out a smile that he hoped didn't look like he felt. Devon looked up at the sound, his eyebrows drawing together.

"Um. Hi?" Blaine stepped up closer and held out his hand.

"Blaine. Anderson."

"Yeah, I know. I'm-"

"Devon Truong. I know." Blaine returned, his smile becoming easier. "You're Adam's cousin. I'm in-"

"Warblers with him."

"Yeah." Blaine found himself stalling for a minute. He liked the splash of freckles across Devon's nose and cheeks.

"Is there...something I can do for you?" Devon attempted, looking faintly uncomfortable as he shifted his weight.

"Oh! Right. Dyou mind-" Blaine gestured at the seat next to him and at Devon's nod, he sat down, perched on the edge of the chair. "I was telling Adam last night that a couple of strings broke on my guitar, and I don't really have time to go to Westerville in the next couple days, and I'm all out in my stash."

"You play guitar?" Devon said with interest. Blaine smiled at him.

"Not until I get some strings." Devon smiled back and Blaine knew that this was a good sign. So he ploughed on. "And Adam was saying that you play too, the same kind of strings even, and I should ask you if I could borrow a set until I got a chance to go to the shop."

"Oh, yeah! I've got like, six sets back in my room. I got a bunch for Christmas this year." Devon paused for a moment. "Dyou want me to give them to Adam or..."

Blaine shook his head, and shrugged a bit.

"If it's okay I can just come by your room after school tonight. You board, right?"

"Yeah, I'm up in East Wing. 212. Just knock, or come on in if the door's open."

Blaine grabbed a pen off the table by Devon's books and scribbled the number in a messy scrawl on the back of his hand.

"East 212. Cool. And maybe sometime we can go into town, and I'll buy you a replacement set."

"Yeah. Okay." Devon nodded.

"Well, thanks Devon. I'll drop by...um...I've got Warbler's until five thirty...is quarter to six okay?"

"Yeah, I usually go to dinner at six. To the dining hall. Here. Yeah. That's fine." Blaine smiled at Devon's eye roll over his own stumbling speech. "By all that I meant see you then."

"I'll look forward to it." Blaine stood, tucking his chair back in and gave a last grinning glance before he turned around and tried to walk back to Kurt as coolly as possible.


Blaine had shown up at quarter to six, way more nervous for this than he had been for the audition piece he had just sung, especially as for him it was pretty much a formality. Not to be boastful, or anything.

He and Devon had fallen a little uneasily at first into stilted conversation, but as soon as Blaine saw his guitar, asking if he could try it out and having Devon play it in turn, they had gotten along surprisingly smoothly.

"Wow. You're really good." Blaine complimented softly. Devon gave him a wide grin.

"Thanks. I practice a whole lot, so it's good to see its paying off."

Blaine chuckled a bit before leaning back.

"Using what little free time Dalton offers?"

Devon nodded, and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Aided by my lack of social life outside of my friends."

Blaine sympathized. He knew what it was like to love your friends, but still want something else to have, a single person who was closer and more immediate.

"I know the feeling. So...no girlfriend?" He knew that Devon was apparently gay, but he wanted to make sure, and check that he was okay with being open about it.

"Never a girlfriend. Boyfriend. And no, sadly my dating life is DOA right now." Devon picked at a few notes absently. "You?"

Blaine shrugged a little.

"Not seeing anyone. Just living vicariously through my friends' love lives."

"Oh yeah?" Devon leaned back against the bed a little, strumming over the strings.

"Yeah. You know Kurt Hummel?" Devon nodded a bit hesitantly, but Blaine didn't notice it. "Well, he's going out with Flint Wilson, one of the other Warblers, and the two of them are so disgustingly sweet together I'm about to vomit rainbows."

Devon let out a snort of laughter that he was positive was very unattractive, but completely involuntary. Yet Blaine seemed to be grinning along with him.

"You've uh, you've got a really cute laugh, did you know?" Devon swallowed, shaking his head a little and unsure what to say or do. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to jump over to the other side of the bed and mack on the super cute boy in front of him. But that wasn't happening. Instead he mumbled out a embarrassed thank you, sneaking a glance up at Blaine as his fingers slipped on the guitar and let out a sharp squeal.

"Sorry!" Devon winced and put the guitar to the side, quickly regretting no longer having something in his hands though.

"No worries. Um, so, I guess I should get going. Let you head to dinner. I'll probably see you there or something. I usually head down at around six thirty with Dave and Wes."

He wasn't entirely sure why he was telling Devon this, but it just seemed to spill from his mouth.

"Okay. I'll...see you then." Blaine gave a tight nod and slid himself off the bed. With a quick wave he slipped out the door, leaving Devon alone in his room.

Jesse came in a moment later.

"I thought I'd wait until he left, give you two a little alone time."

"Thanks." Devon replied, only slightly sarcastically.

"You ready for dinner?"

"Yeah...yeah, let's go."


"What the hell did you do to my cousin?" Adam demanded, clattering his tray onto the table. The other boys turned to Blaine, who looked shell shocked. David and Wes slid sideways away from him to stay clear of the possible splatter zone should Adam decide to maim the soloist.

"I- Nothing!"

"Nothing?" Adam said skeptically. "Really?"

Blaine swallowed thickly. He really hadn't done much. He'd just sat down with Devon at lunch and talked to him, then hung out a bit playing guitar...and complimenting his laugh.

"Really. Adam..." Blaine looked defensive as Adam's serious expression dissolved into a teasing smile.

"Doesn't seem like he thought it was nothing. He's borderline giddy, man. You's better ask him out now, or he's gonna be super-disappointed. And then I actually will be angry." Adam clapped Blaine on the shoulder and slid further down the table to an open seat next to Simon and Nick.

Kurt grabbed Flint's hand at the bashful look that made its way onto Blaine's face.

"I told you!" Kurt said smugly into the other boy's ear.

Flint just rolled his eyes.