Hey guys! Okay, so I'm really really happy with this chapter. Like, insanely happy. As I said for 14 & 15, I wasn't really all that keen on them, but I finished this chapter and just thought "Yes! That was awesome!" Hopefully you guys will prove me right :D

So, on with Chapter 16... :D


Three weeks later

"Okay, so that's the last of it." Rachel sighed, turning back to Kurt with tears in her eyes as the last of her boxes was carried away by a huge, burly man. Kurt smiled back at her as he felt himself welling up, clasping his hands together as they stood opposite each other.

"I can't believe you're moving out." Kurt whispered, and as soon as he finished his last word both of them had tears falling down their cheeks. "Oh, I'm going to miss you so much!" He exclaimed as he pulled Rachel into a hug, both of them now crying freely.

"It's not like we'll never see each other again, Kurt," She soothed him, but her voice was shaking slightly as she spoke. "I'm just moving in with Finn." She began to rub his back gently. "It's about time anyway – we've been engaged for nearly a month now!" They laughed at how long it had taken Rachel and Finn to move in together, despite the rock on her finger and the fact that they had recently started discussing wedding details.

"I know, it's just we've lived together for four years and now you're leaving me." Even when he was crying, Kurt managed to keep his comments light-hearted and jovial so as to not let the mood of the situation become too low.

"I'm not leaving you!" Rachel pulled away enough to look Kurt in the eye, laughing slightly through her tears. "I'm moving in with my fiancé! And anyway, I'll see you every day at work, and I'll come over for dinner once a week, okay?"

"Do I get a choice in when you come over?" Kurt smirked, pretending to contemplate her conditions.

"Kurt, honey," She smiled, stroking his hair softly behind his ear. "Of course you don't."


Blaine stood by as he watched the last of Rachel's boxes get loaded into the back of the removal truck, the door sliding down shortly afterwards.

"So that's everything, huh?" He turned to Finn who was stood next to him scratching the back of his neck.

"Yep, that's everything." He clapped his hands together and grinned. "I can't believe she's moving in with me, dude."

"Well, you are engaged, Finn," Blaine replied as they headed back into the building. "I would hope that moving in together was somewhere on your 'To Do List' before you got married." He clapped Finn on the back as they started to ascend the stairs up to Kurt's apartment where Blaine was now pretty much living.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Finn smiled having heard the same line of teasing before. Over the last few weeks that Blaine had been staying with Kurt, he had formed a good friendship with Finn over watching football games and sharing a few beers with him and his other friends. He could now put names to faces for Mike, Puck and even Artie, a slightly nerdy looking guy who retained the hidden talent of being one of the coolest guys Blaine had ever met, single-handedly running a large business empire all over Manhattan. "So, what's going on between you and Kurt?" Finn asked suddenly, stopping halfway up the second flight of stairs.

"What do you mean?" Blaine turned to him, a bemused chuckle escaping his lips as he took in what Finn had asked him. "We're just good, old friends." He shrugged nonchalantly, shaking his head slightly as if to shake away all of Finn's assumptions of anything more going on between them.

"Come on, man, I've seen you two together," Finn persisted, and Blaine started to feel a little uncomfortable – what had Finn seen that he hadn't even realised himself? "You flirt so much!"

"Don't be silly, Finn," Blaine frowned. "We're friends; that's all."

"Blaine, I've seen the way Kurt looks at you," Finn reasoned, raising his eyebrows slightly so that he almost looked sympathetic. Maybe he was – maybe he felt sorry for Blaine because he couldn't even see the signs himself. "And I've seen the way you look at him," Shit. Blaine's neck flushed red and he averted his gaze. "And I know that, even if you won't admit it, there are deeper feelings there, aren't there?"

Blaine thought about it for a while; okay, so he and Kurt were basically living together now, but that didn't mean they were in love or anything. And, okay so Kurt had even gone and gotten all of Blaine's stuff for him so that Sebastian couldn't try and get him to stay again, but he was just being a good friend, right? And, yeah, so maybe he and Kurt occasionally would share a bottle of wine over dinner, but that was just fine dining and really didn't count for anything.

But then again, there was something different about the way Blaine felt when he looked at Kurt; his heart jumped in his chest and a smile spread itself across his face, but really Blaine thought that this was just admiration, gratitude for all that Kurt had done for him over the past few weeks.

Finn was still watching him, waiting for his reply, but he couldn't find the words to answer. And so instead he nodded his head lightly, still coming to terms with it himself.

"Listen, dude," Finn said as he went onto the next step and putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "You may only just be realising that you like Kurt, but I'm pretty sure he's known since he saw you again." Blaine's head snapped up and he stared at Finn, the words having all kinds of effects on his heart rate and thought processes. "And I like you, man, I really do; you're cool and you watch football and play video games and drink beers with the guys, unlike Kurt," Blaine let out a short laugh at that, remembering how Kurt always stayed in the kitchen with the girlfriends, drinking wine and gossiping, whilst Blaine and the guys watched a game over a few beers in the living room – oh God; they were already acting like a couple. "But Kurt is like my little brother, kay? If you hurt him in any way, shape or form, I will hunt you down." Blaine flinched as Finn's grip on his shoulder tightened slightly, and so nodded his understanding to make Finn let go as soon as possible.

They stood opposite each other on the stairs, and in their silence they could vaguely hear Rachel and Kurt's laughter floating down the stairwell from their apartment on the floor above. Blaine panicked that maybe Kurt could have overheard his conversation with Finn, but luckily Finn had kept his voice relatively low and Blaine wondered if Rachel had put him up to this conversation.

"C'mon, let's go up," Finn started to move past him but stopped just before he reached the top step. "And let's not tell either of them about our little talk – Rachel would kill me if I hadn't told her what I've seen between you and her best friend." Ah. Maybe not, then.


"I can't believe she's gone." Kurt whined an hour later as he and Blaine sat watching television. At least, Blaine was watching television; Kurt was just sat on the sofa gazing around the room at the little things that Blaine didn't even notice were missing. "I lived with her for four years," Kurt continued. "And now she's just… gone. Poof!" He expanded his hands and looked around the room again, sighing softly as he hugged his knees to his chest.

"Well at least you're not living on your own." Blaine remarked, feeling just a little forgotten about as Kurt complained about Rachel moving out. He did feel a little selfish, but he did feel hurt that Kurt seemed to be acting as if he had been left to live on his own. He hadn't been harsh in his tone, in fact he'd tried to sound rather jovial and teasing, but Kurt instantly over-reacted.

"Oh, Blaine, I'm sorry. I didn't forget about you, I didn't, it's just..." He paused to take a breath and swallowed hard. "It's just it feels like the end of an era and it's weird because I was so used to living with Rachel but now-"

"Kurt, it's okay, I was just teasing!" Blaine laughed, cupping his hand to Kurt's cheek and looking him in the eye. "I know you're gonna miss Rachel, but now we get to live together; it's like the ultimate sleepover." Kurt giggled softly under his hand, and Blaine felt another little piece of his heart melt at the musical sound of Kurt's laughter. His mind drifted back to his conversation with Finn and he pulled his hand away, not wanting to cross any boundaries if Kurt didn't reciprocate his feelings, whatever it was that he felt.

"I know," Kurt sighed, this time a light, airy sigh that somehow sounded more cheery than he had before. "But it's just weird. At least now it's the start of a new era." He jumped happily, leaning towards Blaine who regarded him with a raised eyebrow accompanied by a smirk. "The Kurt and Blaine era."

Blaine's stomach flipped at the words, but he knew that this 'era' would just be them as roommates; there was no way he was going to attempt anything between him and Kurt in case he ruined their friendship. "I like it," He smiled. "Has a certain ring to it, don't you think?"

"Exactly." Kurt beamed, sitting himself back so that he was facing the television once more. They sat together in a comfortable silence, watching the television together with a relatively decent amount of space between them.

"Why don't I show you round the theatre tomorrow?" Blaine proposed, not even realising that he had been considering taking Kurt to his work place. He had thought about it before, having learnt about Kurt's love for all things theatre, but he'd never offered because he couldn't think of a time when they were both free. But tomorrow was Sunday, which meant that Kurt wouldn't be teaching at NYADA and Blaine could easily show him around between shows. He looked to Kurt who was staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face. "Th-that is, unless you don't want to-"

"Of course I do!" Kurt flung himself at Blaine and wrapped his arms around his neck, grinning from ear to ear. "Are you sure Sue won't mind?" He pulled away, biting his lip as he frowned. Sue hadn't been all too keen on Kurt since he got Blaine the day off work a few weeks ago, despite Blaine telling her he felt much better for it.

"Of course she won't," Blaine smiled before adding smugly. "That woman loves me."


Sunday

"Come in," Blaine called out from his dressing room as he got changed back into his normal clothes. The door opened and Mercedes walked in with Kurt following behind her. "Hey," Blaine greeted both of them, and they both smiled and return the greeting as Kurt walked further into the room.

"It was really nice catching up with you," He smiled, turning to Mercedes who was still stood in the doorway. "We seriously have to go out sometime!"

"I know!" She beamed back. "And it was great seeing you again! I'll see you round, sometime. Bye, Kurt! Bye, Blaine!" She turned to leave before Kurt's voice stopped her.

"And don't forget you promised me the dirt on that date you have!" He called out, and Mercedes blushed and giggled before agreeing and shutting the door behind her. After she left Kurt turned back to Blaine who was just putting on a pair of Converses, ready to show his roommate around the theatre. "I still can't believe you're an actor," Kurt sighed, glancing around the dressing room in awe. This had been his third time in here, having come in a few weeks before to relay to Blaine his conversation with Sebastian when he'd gone to get Blaine's stuff.

"There's no need to sound so surprised!" Blaine laughed looking up at Kurt, whose cheeks blushed red and eyes widened.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" He stumbled over his words as he tried to apologise. "Sorry, no I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that I can't believe it because it's so cool and you have your own dressing room and I never thought about you being an actor – I told you about that didn't I? – but now you are and it's just so-"

"Kurt, calm down!" Blaine laughed.

"-cool." Kurt added quietly before being silent all together, still wide-eyed in a way that made him look so innocent that Blaine couldn't help but smile.

"Come on," Blaine chuckled as he opened the door out into the hallway. "Let's go show you around." Kurt's face lit up but followed him timidly and Blaine shut the door behind them, stopping himself from taking Kurt's hand in his as he led him down the hallway.

"That's Sunshine's dressing room," Blaine pointed out as he and Kurt slowly walked down the hall. "She's our Maria."

"Sunshine?" Kurt asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Yes," Blaine held back his own smile as he looked sideways to Kurt. "In name and nature, trust me."

A door further down the hall suddenly opened, making Kurt stop in his tracks. Blaine turned back to him and laughed; he looked absolutely petrified.

"Hey, Hobbit," A voice came from behind him. He turned back to see Santana Lopez leaning on the doorframe that led to her room, a wide grin on her face. "You didn't tell me you were bringing your boyfriend for a private tour today." Blaine's cheeks grew hot, but only because he was embarrassed for Kurt; he was fine with Santana thinking that Kurt was his boyfriend – in fact, he kind of liked the idea – but Kurt had only met Santana once before in a fleeting moment a few weeks before and was not yet acquainted with her sarcastic yet good-natured sense of humour.

"Blainers has a boyfriend?" Another voice came from within the room, and a blonde girl leant out of Santana's room, smiling widely with curiosity.

"No, Britts," Santana corrected her. "Not yet, anyway." She gave Blaine a meaningful stare that could not have possibly gone unnoticed by Kurt, and Blaine instantly knew there would be a conversation about it later. He hoped Kurt would drop it by the time he got home, though.

"Oh," Brittany sighed, "So who's that?" She pointed at Kurt, her eyes scrutinizing him as she moved next to Santana, who put her arm around her waist.

"This is Kurt, my roommate," Blaine gestured to Kurt, bringing him forward a few steps from where he had been stood frozen a few seconds ago. "Kurt, this is Santana, our Anita," Santana smiled and raised her hand in a small wave. "And this is Brittany, one of our choreographers and Santana's girlfriend." Brittany's reaction was much more enthusiastic; she skipped up to Kurt and practically jumped on him, hugging him tightly.

"Are you a unicorn, too?" She asked, looking between him and Blaine. Blaine and Santana tried to cover their laughter behind their hands before giving up and just laughing out loud at Brittany's question whilst Kurt just stood there confused and slowly becoming the same colour as a tomato.

"Erm, yes he is, Britts." Blaine spluttered, his face flushed from laughing. He looked to Santana, who nodded as she smirked and stepped forward to drag Brittany back into her dressing room.

"I'll let you get on with your tour," She winked as she shut the door behind her, but not before Blaine could quickly thank her.

"Sorry about that," Blaine turned back to Kurt, who was now rooted to his new spot just a few paces ahead of where he was before. "She's not really that bad once you get to know her," Blaine said gesturing to Santana's door, which was now shut, and kept his voice low just in case she was eavesdropping. "But she does love to tease the crap out of me for my height." He shrugged but chuckled, unable to forget how Santana had labelled him 'Hobbit' as soon as they had met, and it had stuck ever since.

"What did 'Britts' mean when she asked if I was 'a unicorn'?" Kurt asked, and Blaine realised that his expression had changed from nervous and – quite rightly, scared – about meeting Santana to confused and almost angry. Blaine knew that Kurt didn't like being kept out of the loop, but couldn't quite find the right words to explain without stumbling over his words.

"She means you're gay!" Santana's voice echoed out from the other side of her door. So she had been listening, Blaine thought. I'll get her back for that later… Despite his plotting for a prank to pull on his cast mate later, Blaine nearly jumped over to the door and banged on it, smiling triumphantly when he heard Santana and Brittany yell out on the other side. To his right, Kurt laughed at how immature they all seemed to be backstage, a stark contrast to their professionalism onstage.

"And, er, Blainers?" Kurt smirked at the nickname before laughing at Blaine's reaction of blushing bright red.

"Yeah," Blaine rubbed the back of his neck, begging for his skin tone to go back to normal. "Brittany decided upon the first rehearsal that she was going to christen me as it right from the off. Please don't start calling me it at home; I get enough of it here." Blaine liked that 'home' meant where he lived with Kurt, even if it was only as damn roommates. He also hated, however, how it reminded him how he felt about Kurt, and knew deep down that one day he'd have to talk to Kurt about it. One day; not now.

Behind Blaine another door opened, and, exasperated that he couldn't show Kurt around without someone butting in, Blaine spun around to see Thad, his best friend onstage and off.

"Ah, Blainers, I thought I heard voices." Thad smiled, obviously having overheard Blaine express his distaste for the name by the grin on his face as he said it. He patted Blaine on the back as he turned to Kurt, and Blaine was practically brimming with pride as he introduced them to each other.

"Thad, this is Kurt, my… roommate." Shit, that was close - I almost called him my boyfriend! Blaine thought to himself. Even worse, I nearly did it out loud! "Kurt, this is Thad. He plays-"

"Riff." Kurt and Thad both finished together, both of them blushing and laughing as they shook hands. Blaine felt a tugging in the bottom of his stomach; a painful feeling that he'd only ever experienced when he had been out with Sebastian and another guy had hit on his now ex-boyfriend.

Blaine was jealous.


Ooh, Blainers is jealous! But does he have anything to be jealous of? Well, we'll just see how things turn out ;)

Urgh, my sister is moaning at me for my constant typing. I told her it was 'story' but didn't elaborate; she'd think I was even wierder than she already does if she knew I wrote a Glee fanfiction - she doesn't understand my love for the beautiful, musical world that is Glee.

Thank goodness I didn't tell her that I'm listening to my Glee music on shuffle, too.

Well, until next time,

C xx