A/N- Sorry for the one day delay, but I face planted into bed before I could write yesterday's installment. Upside? Slightly longer than usual.

Oh and by the by, you guys write great reviews! I love a little dialogue going, or just any note that gets dropped by with ideas or suggestions, or even a good squee. Who doesn't like a squee. As such- moving on.

Blaine didn't get a chance to talk to Kurt the next day, but avoiding that conversation was not exactly something he was broken up about. Right after afternoon classes he holed up in his room, working on outlining his paper, to very little effect. Frustrated, at five he left for the dining hall, knowing that most of the Warblers would be having dinner early in anticipation of the 5:30 departure for joint practice with the Eves. He wasn't hungry, but he needed to talk to Wes and one of the other two heads hopefully.

They had been arguing about it for a few minutes already when Blaine finally sat down at the dinner table rather than hovering between the two members of the triumvirate.

"Wes, Mark, it's not like I want to miss joint practice, but I've been working my ass off for English, even with Neil helping, and I'm just starting to write now."

Wes sighed.

"Blaine, you should have told us earlier. I could have given you some help with it."

"You can't read the book for me, and as much as I would love it, you can't write this paper either. It's just for tonight, no other practices. Promise."

Blaine glanced from Mark to Wes and pressed his hands together, trying to summon up his most winning smile.

"I know most of the group songs from last year. The new ones we'll be running through a million times next week, by which I will be all done my term work. I'll even run through them with Julia on Sunday. And if I actually get something done I'll have a chance to get some duet practice in with Kurt too."

"Fine! Fine." Mark conceded, handing him a thick sheaf of music and lyrics. "I know you wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. I just like to see you beg." He grinned teasingly and picked up his own bag from under the dining hall table.

"You're a strange man Mark Wallis."

"Warblers power has corrupted me. Now go do your work B." Mark knocked Wes's shoulder and nodded towards the direction of the front entry. "I'll get the van ready. Meet you in five."

Wes nodded, shovelling a final few mouthfuls of dinner in.

"Attractive Wes." Blaine snorted. Unable to reply with a full mouth, Wes just tried to smirk around his rounded cheeks. The result was less than effective. Once he had swallowed and washed it down with a gulp of juice, he began to gather his things.

"Oh, how did the practice with Kurt go last night? Sorry I had to get in the way of your one on one."

He sounded impartial, but there was a truly interested expression in his glance, and concern when Blaine slumped forwards slightly.

"Um. I'd classify it in the not great to the sucktastic?"

"What did you do?"

"Thanks Wes. Really. I didn't do anything! He came up when I was getting help from Neil, and we ended up not practising."

"Also known as you got embarrassed and confused the hell out of the boy?" Wes commented easily, winding his scarf around his neck.

"No..."

"Why didn't you just explain to him about tutoring. Now you've probably started up some sort of broken telephone miscommunication."

"I know. I know." Blaine held up his hands defensively.

"Then do something about it. Cause he looks kinda pissed at you." Wes gestured his head over Blaine's shoulder. With a glance, he saw Kurt sitting with some of his hall mates, laughing, and clearly paying no attention to the quadrant of the room where Blaine was sitting. "Just go get some work done and think about it."

"Yeah." Blaine frowned, stuffing an apple and two cookies wrapped in paper napkins into his jacket pocket for later. "Say hi to Julia for me."

As Wes left him with a smile and a wave, Blaine saw Kurt gathering his things out of the corner of his eye. The van going over to Everett Vauxhall for joint practice would be leaving in a few minutes, and to be honest, he really didn't want to run into Kurt now and explain why he wasn't going.

Blaine's door swung open and shut almost simultaneously at 9:43 that evening.

"Where were you?" Kurt was standing there, still in his coat and scarf. Blaine pulled off his glasses, blinking to adjust his eyes.

"Sorry- I- What?"

"First you cancel out on me. Three days in a row. But really? Skipping out on Warblers? What's going on with you Blaine? You were the one who was all 'take one for the team.'"

"I told you. I've been working on-"

"If you say English Lit, I will scream." Kurt exclaimed, exasperated at finding himself in the same situation. Again. For the fourth day this week. He turned and opened the door, storming back out in the hallway. Blaine pushed back his chair with a screech and followed him, clattering down the stairs and school passageways and randomly into a hallway full of empty classrooms. If he wasn't slightly distracted and afraid of the reaction if he suggested it, he might have thought Kurt was a bit lost.

"Kurt-"

"Look. To the best of my memory, you asked me to help you rehearse. I have gone out of my way, barring Warblers duties, to be available to you. To rehearse. And you have been the one who keeps cancelling out. You can't even be bothered to blow me off with any originality! It's a lit essay, not writing War and Peace! I'm not slow Blaine. I can take a hint. So, I wish you good luck on your duet and-"

"Kurt would you just...shut up for a minute!"

Kurt's eyes went wide and he spun on his heel, only to be spun back around by Blaine's cautious hand on his shoulder.

"Wait. No. I didn't mean that, well...look-" Kurt tugged his shoulder away, crossing his arms and raising a skeptical eyebrow at Blaine. The boy turned, took a step forwards and then back in what must have been the weakest attempt at pacing ever, and ran both hands through his hair. Several curls broke free from the careful styling and fell onto his forehead.

"I don't think you're slow. And I'm not being unoriginal. Just honest. And slow. And honest that I'm slow." Kurt found himself getting slightly confused.

"I don't get it."

"Exactly!"

"Okay, are we still in the same conversation?"

"I'm dumb Kurt okay! It takes me forever to do english work. I can't just spit it out like you or Dave or Reese. I don't GET it. And I've been killing myself for like, a week, to get far enough ahead to have time for rehearsals, but between reading, and Warblers and Neil-"

"Right. Neil."

"What about Neil?"

"You could have told me that you had a boyfriend."

"Whoa! Neil is NOT my boyfriend." Blaine let out a laugh at the idea that Neil, best friend, dating the same girl for three years Neil, would be his boyfriend. Maybe his brother Andrew...but no.

"Then why did you try and hide him when I came by yesterday?" Kurt shot back, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was around them.

"Because he tutors me! And, despite what you and anyone else who can hear may believe, considering I am yelling this in the middle of the Dalton hallways, I don't want to broadcast to the world that I am mad dyslexic okay! And I especially didn't want you to know how dumb I was at lit." Giving pacing a try again, Blaine found himself at the wall, and turned around, promptly sliding down the panelling to sit on the floor. Kurt watched him from the greater than usual height difference, frowning at the way Blaine's elbows rested on his knees and his hands clasped behind his neck. Well. This did not go how he was expecting it to. It didn't seem like many things did for him these days.

Kurt crouched down, brushing away a spot on the floor and sitting on one hip, alongside the slumped over shape of Blaine. One hand supported him on the floor, and the other reached out and flicked one of the loosened curls hanging down in Blaine's face.

"Stoppit." Blaine removed one hand from his neck to swat at Kurt ineffectively. He gave the curl another playful nudge before pulling his hand back and resting it on his own knee, where it could trace a short path of seaming along the outside edge.

"Blaine. I used to go to school with a girl who was convinced her cat was reading her diary. Believe me, I've got a high awareness of dumb, and you fall way short of any category for it."

Blaine snorted a bit, looking sideways through his arm at Kurt. With a roll of his eyes he let out some uneasy laughter. Kurt pushed a piece of his own bangs aside and cocked his head.

"Why didn't you want me to know? Did you really think that I would tease you because of it or something?" Blaine gave a slight shake of his head.

"No...Its not that... It sounds stupid saying it."

"Not stupid. I told you I don't think anything about you qualifies in my classification of stupid." Kurt scolded jokingly, nudging Blaine with his shoulder.

"I just, I dunno, I wanted to seem...I wanted to impress you. I guess." Blaine looked straight at Kurt when he said this, watching for what reaction he would get. The bashful smile he saw gave him relief and encouragement at the same time. He let himself lean against Kurt's slightly higher shoulder.

"I've gone and ruined your delusion that I might be perfect, haven't I?"

With a turn of his head his chin rested on the sleeve seam of Kurt's sweater. Kurt sighed, looking down at the floor where he was tracing the grain of the wood with one finger. Blaine watched as he swallowed and his adam's apple bobbed. His voice when he spoke was slightly amused and strangely to Blaine, a little bit sad.

"No, Blaine, I fear that that delusion is still staunchly intact."

"Kurt?"

"Hm?" Kurt murmured, noticing the changes in vibration that accompanied the habitual noise, influenced by the added weight against his side.

"Thanks. For being so...cool."

This would have been enough to warm up Kurt's chest from the inside out, but the reaction sped up dynamically with the warm press of lips against his cheek. His eyes popped open as Blaine stood from the floor.

"We should get to bed. Wes'll read the riot act if we go hoarse from staying up late, or yelling at each other. Or both." The usual charming smile that Blaine wore was beginning to reemerge.

"Right. Of course."

Kurt moved to push himself up, but Blaine offered his hand. He couldn't help but accept it with a appreciative tip of his head. Once they were both upright, their hands pulled away, almost simultaneously brushing off on the side of grey trousers, and clenching in reaction to the loss of warm skin.

The walk up to the dorm halls was awkward, especially because Kurt kept trying his best to repress his smile whenever Blaine glanced over at him.

"Good night Kurt. And seriously. Thanks. For understanding." Blaine stalled slightly at the top of the stairs where they always separated, and slowly walked backwards from Kurt, keeping eye contact until he got to the corner and he turned with a light step into the shadowed entry.

"Night." Kurt called, and walked back to his room, clutching his arms in tight happiness.

As he pulled on a pair of flannel pyjama pants and peeled off the dark trouser socks he'd been wearing all day, Kurt's phone buzzed across his night table.

"Tomorrow, Friday night. 7:30. Rehearsal for BICO. Double pinky swear. Cross my heart." As he read the text it buzzed again.

"For serious. Super serious. Sirius Black serious." Kurt snorted at the bad pun and typed back quickly before climbing into bed.

"You're such a dork. Be there or be warned. x"

Blaine read the reply with a smile, biting his lip to keep it from becoming a full out grin. He flopped back onto his pillow, stretching out his calves and toes happily.

"Night Reese."

"Ghhhhm. Ni' Blaine."