Work Text:
Kurt Hummel was sitting in his English classroom waiting for the bell to ring to signal the beginning of the class, when a boy he didn’t recognize walked into the room. The boy appeared to be a few inches shorter than Kurt was, and was dressed in a tight fitting white polo shirt with dark blue jeans. His hair was dark brown, almost black, and styled neatly to the side so that the curls looked more like waves.
The boy glanced around the room quickly before making his way over to the teacher’s desk, handing her a note, which she barely looked at. The bell rang and she called the class to attention. The boy was still standing beside her, looking nervous and confused.
“Before we begin today, we have a new student joining us. Would you please introduce yourself to the class? Name, grade, and hobbies,” the teacher, Ms. Fordman, announced. She motioned for the boy to stand in the front-center of the room.
“My name is Blaine Anderson. I’m a junior. And I guess my hobbies include music and boxing,” the boy, Blaine, said. He looked at the teacher as if questioning if that was enough. Ms. Fordman nodded, then looked down at her seating chart, figuring out where to put him.
“Why don’t you take a seat next to Rachel Berry? Rachel, could you raise your hand so Blaine knows where to go?”
Rachel raised her hand, waving it around a bit, until Blaine walked over and took the empty seat next to her. Sitting next to Rachel meant that the new kid, Blaine, was also sitting directly in front of Kurt.
“Alright class, we’re going to pick up where we left off yesterday with our analysis of The Grapes of Wrath. Please get into the same groups you were in yesterday and continue working on your worksheets. Oh, Blaine, why don’t you join Ms. Berry’s group and follow along with them; just write everything down in your notebook until I can get you your own book and worksheets,” Ms. Fordman said.
Blaine turned to Rachel, ready to follow her lead. “We’ll be working with Kurt and Tina today; so just turn your chair around,” Rachel told him.
As soon as they were facing the desk that Kurt and Tina sat at, Tina stuck out her hand in greeting toward Blaine. “Hi! I’m Tina Cohen-Chang. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, brightly.
Blaine smiled at her and accepted her handshake. “Blaine Anderson. The pleasure is all mine,” he replied, politely. Once she let go of his hand, he offered it out to Kurt.
Kurt blinked in confusion at Blaine’s outstretched hand before extending his own hand in greeting. “Kurt Hummel,” he said, cautiously.
“And of course you already know my name is Rachel Berry, but it’s only polite that I introduce myself to you personally,” Rachel said, practically yanking Blaine’s hand out of Kurt’s. “You had said that one of your hobbies is music. Do you sing?” she asked, still holding tightly to Blaine’s hand.
Blaine gave her a polite smile. “I do, actually. At my old school I was the lead soloist for our show choir,” he told her.
Rachel’s face lit up, and she beamed a smile at him, as she clapped enthusiastically. “I’m the captain and lead soloist of our glee club, The New Directions. We’re always looking for new members to accompany me and accentuate my vocals. I also happen to be searching for a new duet partner, so if your audition is good enough, and you can keep up with me vocally, you might just find yourself singing co-lead on a song or two,” she said, excitedly.
“First of all, Rachel, you are co-captain with Finn,” Kurt interjected. “Secondly, the only reason you are in that position is because no one else wanted it. And thirdly, we don’t have an official lead soloist. That is a self-appointed position you bully Mr. Schue into complying with by threatening to quit every other week, whenever you don’t get your way,” he clarified.
Tina was nodding along with everything that Kurt said. “He’s got a point,” she said. “You’re not the only talented singer in the group, you know.” Tina then turned her attention to Blaine, “That being said, we’re really not a bad group of people. Glee club is like a family; a slightly dysfunctional family at times, but a family none-the-less. We’d be more than happy to have you join us if you want,” she told him.
“Thanks, Tina,” Blaine started. “I was actually considering joining earlier this morning. In fact, Ms. Pillsbury already got me an audition after school today,” he informed them.
“Cool!” Tina exclaimed. “So, Blaine, are you new to Ohio? Or just to McKinley?” she asked, changing the subject quickly, when she saw that Rachel was about to interject.
“Just McKinley. Or, actually, more like new to Lima. I used to live in Westerville, but my parents recently got divorced and my mom just started a new job here,” he explained.
“Well, at least Westerville’s not that far away so you can still hang out with your friends there, right?” Tina asked.
Rachel jumped to speak before Blaine could answer. “As long as you aren’t still conspiring with your old show choir, that is. The New Directions don’t take kindly to spies and traitors! So, if you’re going to be joining us, you really should cut all ties with them, just to be safe. We can’t afford to have our strategies, setlists, and choreography leaked to our competition,” she told him.
“Give it break, Rachel!” Kurt exclaimed. “Not everyone is Jesse St. James, you know. Besides, no one even knows who our competition for Sectionals will be. You can’t just go around accusing people of being spies when even the people determining who we’ll be competing against haven’t made up their minds yet!”
“Everyone is competition! Whether they face us directly or not!” she corrected him.
“Ms. Berry! Please keep your conversation to the topics on your worksheets,” Ms. Fordman called out.
The group of students began discussing their English assignment, occasionally talking a little more about glee club, and asking Blaine some ice-breaker questions to try and get to know him better when they thought they could get away with it.
---
While waiting for Mr. Schue to arrive to start glee practice after school, Kurt was killing time watching YouTube videos on his phone, when Sam walked into the choir room and started talking to everyone. “Hey did you guys see that new kid today? Blaine…something? He’s in my World History class. He said he’s gonna audition for glee club today. Seems like a cool guy. He knows a ton about football. We spent most of the class talking about the Buckeyes.”
“Oh my god, he’s so cute!” Tina squealed, to the other girls in the room. “He’s in my English class. Kurt, Rachel, and I got grouped with him to work on an assignment. He’s a total sweetheart!” she gushed.
Hearing his name, Kurt shut off his phone and listened in more closely on what was being said.
“He is rather attractive,” Rachel agreed, giving Finn a pointed look. “And he used to be the lead soloist of his old show choir; which means he can probably keep up with me vocally. Hopefully I’ll get a new duet partner out of this. And if I play my cards right, maybe more,” she added, suggestively.
“Oh, please, Rachel! As if he would choose you over me!” Tina scoffed.
“Obviously! I’m so much more talented than you. Why wouldn’t he choose me?” she asked, arrogantly.
“Oh yeah? Well, I bet you that I can get him to kiss me before you can!” Tina wagered.
“You’re on! What do I get when I win?” Rachel questioned.
Tina laughed at Rachel’s presumptuousness. “You won’t. But if you do – and that’s a very big if – then I won’t complain about you hogging all the solos for an entire month! However! If I win – which I will – then you have to give me one of your competition solos.”
“Seeing as how I’m not going to lose, I accept your terms,” Rachel agreed, reaching out to seal the deal with a handshake.
“Oh my god!” Kurt interjected. “You guys can’t be serious! You’re actually betting about this? That’s so disrespectful! He’s a human being. With feelings. Not some play toy for your amusement!” he said, angrily.
“No, no. Let them have their little bet,” Santana said, jumping into the conversation. “I’d like to see how this plays out,” she said, smirking mischievously.
Kurt huffed, annoyed, and turned away from all of them, not saying anything further. Just then Mr. Schue walked into the room with Blaine trailing behind him.
---
As soon as glee ended Finn stormed out of the choir room. Sam began congratulating Blaine on his audition and welcomed him into the glee club, while Rachel and Tina were trying to get Blaine’s attention.
Kurt rolled his eyes at their antics, frustrated with them. “Sam! Come on! We gotta go. Finn’s already waiting by the car,” he called out, sounding irritated.
Sam looked at Blaine apologetically and said his goodbyes, following Kurt out of the room.
---
The next day at lunch, Kurt was sitting by himself, when Blaine appeared next to him. “Can I sit here?” Blaine asked, cautiously, pointing to the seat across from him.
Kurt nodded and continued eating. Blaine looked at Kurt nervously before speaking again. “Did I do something wrong?” he questioned, worriedly.
“What?” Kurt answered, confused by the question.
“Well, it’s just that yesterday, during glee, Finn kept glaring daggers at me throughout the entire rehearsal; and you seemed like you were upset with me too. Then afterwards you seemed really annoyed when I was talking to Sam,” Blaine explained. “Wait a minute! Are you and Sam dating? Is that why you were upset with me? Because I was talking to your boyfriend?” he asked, suddenly.
“What? No. I’m single, and Sam is tragically straight,” Kurt started.
Blaine cut Kurt off before he could say more, “He is?” he asked, surprised.
“I know! I thought the same thing when he first transferred here last year. But, yes, he is very straight,” Kurt replied. He sighed deeply before he continued. “I’m sorry if you thought I was upset with you. I was upset, but not at you. I promise. As for Finn… Well I think he’s just jealous of you, to be honest.”
“Jealous? Of me? Why? What did I do?” Blaine questioned.
“Before you joined glee club, Finn had always sort of been the male lead of the group. But after your incredibly impressive audition, and the way everyone reacted so positively, I think he thinks that his position is being threatened. Especially since Rachel seems determined to make you her ‘co-star and new duet partner’,” he explained, using air quotes.
“I don’t want to cause any problems within the group. I just want sing and have fun. I don’t care if that means I’m singing background harmonies. I’m not here to steal anyone’s spotlight,” Blaine told him.
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but…I think Finn’s probably more jealous of the fact that you’ll be singing with Rachel than he is about you stealing his spotlight,” Kurt added, quietly.
“Oh! So he has a thing for Rachel then?” he asked.
Kurt shrugged. “They were dating for a while. They actually broke-up a few weeks ago, but I think he still has feelings for her. He just won’t admit it to anyone.”
“Gotcha,” Blaine nodded.
“Oh, Blaine! There you are!” Tina suddenly called out from behind them. She placed her lunch tray on their table and sat down next to Blaine. “I was thinking, maybe you’d want to go to The Lima Bean with me after school today? I could help get you all caught up on our English assignment?” she asked, flirtatiously.
“You know, Tina, that’s a great idea!” Rachel exclaimed, seating herself on the other side of Blaine. “We should both go and help him out. It is a group project after all, right?”
Tina grumbled under her breath and gave Rachel a forced smile. “Of course,” she answered in a flat voice.
Blaine looked back and forth between the two of them. “That sounds great, actually. I could really use the help getting caught up. Thanks. You’re coming too? Right, Kurt?” he asked, hopefully.
“What? Why would Kurt need to come?” Rachel asked, sharply.
“For the assignment? He is a part of our group, isn’t he?” Blaine asked, confused.
Kurt smirked at the girls. “I am. Thank you for including me. Of course I’ll go. I don’t have to drive Finn and Sam home because they have football practice after school, so Carole is picking them up on her way home from work,” he replied.
“You normally drive them both home on days they don’t have football?” Blaine asked.
“Well, we all live in the same house, so yeah, it’s just easier to carpool,” Kurt answered.
“The three of you live together?” he questioned.
“Finn is my step-brother. And Sam lives with us during the school year. His family moved to Kentucky over the summer, but he didn’t want to switch schools again, and we needed him to stay so glee would have the minimum 12 members we need to compete. He goes and stays with them during school breaks and vacations,” Kurt explained.
“Oh, okay! That actually explains some things,” Blaine murmured.
---
At The Lima Bean, the four classmates were working on their analysis project, making sure Blaine was caught up on the parts that he missed. Rachel looked over at Tina, and noticed her leaning over Blaine to show him something in her book, while practically shoving her boobs in his face.
“I need to go use the little girls’ room,” Rachel announced. “Tina! Would you come with me please?” she said; her request sounding more like a demand.
Tina rolled her eyes and reluctantly agreed. As soon as the two girls were out of sight, Blaine turned to Kurt. “Are they always like that?” he asked, cautiously.
“Obnoxious?” Kurt clarified.
“Not obnoxious, per se but…I don’t know,” he replied.
Kurt sighed heavily, and looked around to make sure no one was listening. “They will probably kill me for saying this, but I think you deserve to know. So you didn’t hear this from me, okay?” he questioned. He waited for Blaine to agree before he continued. “They sort of have a bet going. I told them it was really stupid and they should just drop it, but they didn’t want to listen to me.”
“What kind of bet?” Blaine asked, nervously.
“A bet to see which one of them can get you to kiss and/or date them first,” Kurt replied, sheepishly.
Blaine just stared at Kurt for a moment, unable to process what he just heard. “What? Why would I kiss or date either of them?” he said, confused.
“I don’t know,” Kurt shrugged. “They both think you’re cute, and decided that you should be their next boyfriend, or something.”
“But I’m gay,” Blaine replied.
“You are?!” he blurted, loudly.
“You didn’t know that? I thought Santana said that she told you?” Blaine wondered.
“Santana knows? How long has she known?” Kurt asked.
Blaine paused. “Um, she found out yesterday morning, before classes started; when I was talking to Ms. Pillsbury about my schedule. I was wondering if McKinley had a GSA, or PFLAG, or something similar; and Santana overheard us. Not that it’s a secret or anything! I’m 100% out and proud,” Blaine informed him.
Kurt sighed, “That’s why she encouraged the bet. She wanted to see them both make fools of themselves,” he mumbled. “No, Santana never said anything. I didn’t know. And those two,” he motioned toward the bathrooms, “obviously don’t know either.”
Kurt hesitated with his next question. “So, the reason you asked me if Sam and I were dating…was that because you wanted to ask him out?” he asked, anxiously.
“Actually…,” Blaine blushed, embarrassed. “While I did think that Sam was ‘team gay’, I was asking because I wanted to know if you were single.”
“Me?” Kurt asked, shocked.
“I was sort of hoping that you might want to go on a date with me?” Blaine asked, nervously.
“You want to go on a date with me?” he repeated.
“Yes? But if you don’t want to, it’s ok…” Blaine started babbling, anxiously.
Kurt cut him off, “I want to! Um, I mean…” he ducked his head, embarrassed. “I mean, I would really like that.”
Blaine sighed in relief, and they made plans to go out the next afternoon, since it was Saturday. While they were making plans Blaine received a text from his mom asking him to come home, so he exchanged phone numbers with Kurt and left the coffee shop.
Rachel and Tina came back to the table as Blaine was walking out the door. “Where’s he going?” Rachel asked.
“Home. His mom just texted him. He sends his apologies for not sticking around to say goodbye himself, but he had to leave,” Kurt answered.
“I told you we were taking too long!” Tina complained.
“Don’t blame this on me!” Rachel shot back.
Kurt was trying to get their attention as they continued to argue. “Guys! All this fighting is pointless!” he began. He was preparing to tell them about Blaine’s sexuality but was cut off before he could continue.
“Pointless?” Rachel shrieked. “It’s not pointless. You’re just jealous that Blaine is going to be my boyfriend, and not yours! I saw the way you were looking at him as he was leaving. Haven’t you learned your lesson about crushing on straight boys yet? Just because he was nice to you doesn’t mean he wants to date you, so back off!” she warned.
“She’s right, Kurt,” Tina added, sympathetically. “I know you want a boyfriend, but you have to remember, this is Ohio. You’re never gonna find one here, especially in Lima of all places. And it’s really not fair for you to try and force your feelings on straight boys that will never reciprocate them.”
Kurt stood up, silently, and started gathering his things. Tina paused to ask Kurt what he was doing. He glared at both girls before responding. “Well I’m certainly not going to stick around here and listen to the two of you verbally abuse and belittle me!” he snapped. “I’m going home. It’s almost dinner time anyway,” he told them, before storming out of The Lima Bean.
-*-
Saturday afternoon, when Blaine arrived at Kurt’s house to pick him for their date, Kurt was still getting ready in his room, so Sam answered the door.
“Hey, man, what are you doing here?” Sam asked.
“I’m here to pick up Kurt,” Blaine said.
“Oh, well, come in, and I’ll go upstairs get him.” Sam led Blaine into the living room to wait while he ran upstairs. Finn was sitting on the couch watching TV when he entered the room. He briefly looked up at Blaine, scowled at him, and then went back to watching TV.
Blaine sighed. “Look, Finn,” he began, “I just want you to know that I only joined glee club because I enjoy singing and I thought it’d be fun. I don’t care if I’m singing lead or if I’m singing background harmonies. I don’t need the spotlight. If you think that someone who’s been in the club longer should be showcased over me, I won’t argue with you. I’m sorry if I unintentionally made you feel like your voice wasn’t appreciated anymore.”
“Oh yeah? You sorry for stealing my girlfriend too?” Finn snapped.
“Girlfriend? What are you talking about?” Blaine asked, confused.
“Rachel!” he yelled. “Just because her and I aren’t together right now, doesn’t mean you can date her!”
“I’m not dating Rachel!” Blaine told him. “I’m gay, Finn! I like boys! Why do you think I’m going on a date with Kurt?”
“What? But…but Rachel said that you were her boyfriend?” Finn said, bewildered.
“She lied to you. I never expressed any kind of interest in Rachel, except as a friend and a singing partner. I’m very, very gay. And right now, the only person I’m interested in dating is Kurt.”
Sam entered the room and looked at Blaine, confused. "Dude. You're gay? I didn't know that," he said. "Does Kurt know you want to go out with him? Is that why he's being even more picky about his clothes than normal?"
"Well excuse me for wanting to look good!" Kurt said, walking into the room.
Blaine smiled at him, and walked over to greet him. "Good is an understatement. You look absolutely stunning." Blaine reached out and took hold of Kurt's hand, bringing it to his lips for quick hand-kiss.
Kurt swallowed down the giggle that was threatening to erupt. "Thank you. Are you ready to go?" he asked.
"I am," Blaine answered.
---
The two boys traveled a few towns over to go to an indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf course that Blaine’s friends from Westerville had recommended to him. They had so much fun teasing each other, being competitive, and taking pictures of everything.
After their game they went out for a late lunch at a nearby deli. The boys had talked about everything; music, hobbies, family, friends. They had so much in common, and truly enjoyed being in each other’s company.
At the end of their date, while sitting in Blaine’s car outside of Kurt’s house, Blaine had shyly asked Kurt if he could kiss him. Kurt agreed and they shared a very sweet, chaste, open-mouthed kiss. When the kiss ended, Blaine asked Kurt to be his boyfriend.
Kurt smirked at Blaine. “On one condition,” he said, playfully.
“Name it,” Blaine replied, eagerly.
“We have to take a selfie of us kissing, so that I can text it to Rachel and Tina. I sort of neglected to tell them you were gay,” he answered, anxiously.
Blaine laughed and agreed to his request immediately. They took several pictures as they kissed over and over again, to get the best photo. When they finally settled on a picture they both liked, Kurt attached it to a text with the message ‘Looks like you BOTH lost’.