"So what did you guys do over the weekend?" Rachel asked Kurt and Blaine as the three walked down the hallway.
"Blaine took me on a date," Kurt replied. "It was...interesting." Blaine chuckled as Rachel gave Kurt a look that said details later.
They walked into the choir room and sat down. "What about you?" Kurt asked.
"Nothing. My dads are away for their anniversary so I spent the entire weekend watching every musical I own in alphabetical order. I'm already on Mamma Mia."
"Your dads are away?" Puck said from a few chairs away. "Does this mean another party at your place tonight?"
"Absolutely not, Noah. Do you even remember last time?"
"No. I passed out in your front yard. All I remember from that night is you making out with Blazer Boy over here-"
"Puck!" Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine all shot him a look that could kill, but Puck just smiled.
Kurt watched as Rachel took out her phone for what must be the twentieth time in the last five minutes. "Everything okay?"
"Finn isn't answering my texts. I don't know where he is."
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him today either." Kurt was thinking about where his stepbrother could be when Rachel's phone rang. "It's him." She took the call and stepped outside of the room.
Right as Rachel walked out the door, Mr. Schue entered through the other one. "Alright guys. Get in your positions; we have to start practicing our group number for Sectionals." He looked around the room, confused. "Where's Finn and Rachel?"
"Guys, we have a huge emergency." As if on cue, Rachel stormed back into the room. "Finn has strep throat. His doctor says he can't sing for at least another week, maybe two."
"What?" The entire glee club erupted into a symphony of worries and complaints.
"What are we going to do?" Tina asked. "Sectionals is on Friday. He's our lead!"
"Guys!" Mr. Schue's voice rose above everyone else's. "Panicking isn't going to help us. We'll have to find someone else for the male lead. I know this is really short notice, but does anyone think they can have an audition ready by the end of the day?"
Only two hands went up: Puck and Blaine's. But as soon as Puck saw Blaine's hand raise, he lowered his own. When Mr. Schue looked at him, he shook his head and said, "No, let the Warbler have it. He's better with competition solos."
"Are you sure, Puck?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah, really. We probably have a better chance of winning if you sing it."
Blaine looked surprised, but thanked Puck.
"Alright then. We really have to start working on this group number, so maybe you two can practice later?" Mr. Schue looked between Blaine and Rachel, who both nodded in agreement.
After the last class of the day, Kurt found Rachel at her locker. "Hey," he said. "So...about this duet-"
"Listen, Kurt. I know after what happened at my party last year you might be a little worried about Blaine and me singing a duet together. But you should know that it's all in the past. Me and Blaine...there's nothing. You two are happy together, and the last thing I would want to do is come between you."
Kurt exhaled. He had prepared a speech, but it seemed unnecessary now. Because he couldn't deny that when he heard about the duet, he got a bit nervous and – fine – maybe a little jealous. But he trusted Blaine. Not that he didn't trust Rachel, because he did. It was just that he trusted her a little less due to her determination to always be right and get what she wants.
So he nodded. "Thanks, Rachel."
Rachel smiled at him. "Now it's your turn to talk. You still haven't told me about your date with Blaine. It seemed pretty interesting..."
Later that day at the Lima Bean, Kurt and Blaine sat across from each other discussing school, homework, and eventually, glee club.
"When are you and Rachel gonna start practicing your duet?" Kurt asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
Blaine turned his cup in his hands. "I'm supposed to go to her house tonight. She invited me over for dinner with her dads." He looked up at his boyfriend. "...I know you might feel...uncomfortable after what happened with Rachel and me last year. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm 100% sure of who I am, and I love you, and I would never-"
"Blaine," the brunette in front of him interrupted. "I know. It's totally okay. I trust you." He gave his boyfriend a small smile. He pulled his hand from Blaine's coffee cup to Kurt's hand, smiling reassuringly at his boyfriend."And I love you too."
I set fire to the rain,
And I threw us into the flames
Well, it felt something died
'Cause I knew that was the last time, the last time
Rachel and Blaine sang out the last words of the song, their voices echoing in the quiet, empty house. They had been practicing for almost an hour ("There's no such thing as too much practice," Rachel said), and Rachel's dads Hiram and Leroy left to pick up dinner – apparently Friday night Chinese takeout while watching The Sound of Music was a tradition of theirs.
"You're getting better," Rachel told him. "I think you can go a little higher on the chorus if you push yourself, though..."
Blaine knew not to take her bossing personally – he had gotten used to it by now. Sure, she can be a little irritating at times, but when it came down to it, Rachel was nice, and she seemed to really care about the glee club. Rachel even kind of reminded Blaine of himself when he was the lead soloist for the Warblers.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. New text from Kurt, the screen read.
Having fun? It read.
Blaine typed a reply telling Kurt they're (finally) almost done rehearsing and put his phone back in his pocket. When he looked up, he saw Rachel smiling at him. "So I heard about you and Kurt's date the other night..."
"Of course." Leave it to Kurt to tell Rachel the details of their dinner at Breadstix. Not that Blaine minded.
"I think it was great, what you did. I think you two could really make a difference, you know, change some people's minds. Especially in this little town."
Blaine wasn't sure that to say. Face turning pink, he concentrated on a stain on the carpet. "Uh...thanks, Rachel." He lifted his head to smile at the girl when they heard the front door open.
"Hello?" A voice called from downstairs. "Rachel?"
"Coming!" Rachel called down. Blaine followed her downstairs, where they found Hiram and Leroy sitting on the living room floor, pulling boxes of Chinese food out of plastic bags. "Hey guys," Leroy greeted them. He gestured to the carpet with a warm smile. "Blaine, have a seat. Help yourself."
So Blaine, Rachel, and her dads spent late into the night singing along to The Sound of Music, laughing, and praising Julie Andrew's acting (turns out she's another one of Rachel's idols, right below Barbra). Him and Rachel were getting along a lot better than he had expected. Hiram and Leroy treated him like their own son, which Blaine appreciated more than they knew. For the first time since he transferred, Blaine felt like he really could fit in in Lima.