"I still can't believe that you managed to get us out of that without the both of us getting detention," Kurt raves as he pops another chip in his mouth. "It was impressive."

Scott shrugs, hopefully nonchalantly. He still feels embarrassed by the public shake down, but he doesn't want Kurt to feel bad. It's only kind of his fault, after all. "The perks of being a straight-A student with a clean record," he replies. "Plus that our after school plans were studying anyway helped."

"I'm pretty sure that if I had said that, she wouldn't have believed me," Kurt mumbles.

"Well, maybe once you're a straight-A student, she will," Scott replies.

The thought of that ever happening made Kurt laugh. "I don't think that's something we'll get to test out," he says.

"Why not? You're smart. Look at everything we've worked through already," Scott gestures towards the stack of used notebooks. "And this is your dreaded, least favorite subject. Imagine if it was something you were excited about."

Kurt looks towards the notebooks with a dramatic sigh. "I guess we should get back to it..." Study breaks couldn't last forever. As much as Kurt might like them too.

"Excellent idea, Kurt!" Scott is pleased by Kurt taking the initiative. Last break, he had practically had to drag him back to geometry. He grabs the notebook that they had been working out of before the break and scoots around next to Kurt.

As he explains the next portion of the lesson to Kurt, he realizes that despite having been home for hours, his image inducer is still on. Thinking back on the last day or so, Scott realizes that he hasn't actually seen Kurt since they started fake dating, only his image induced self. It bothers him greatly.

So Scott reaches down to press the button on the image inducer, trying to be casual about it. "You forgot to turn this off..."

Kurt abruptly snatches his hand away and scoots away a few inches. "That's okay, man," he says. "You don't have to turn it off if you don't want to."

"What do you mean?" Scott says. "Don't you usually keep it off around here?"

"Well, yeah," Kurt replies. He doesn't want to wear the image inducer out, after all.

"Then why not turn it off now?" Scott asks, and then his eyes narrow (not that Kurt can see it behind his glasses), "Has someone been hassling you about your appearance?" Anyone around the mansion who has a problem with how Kurt looks could either keep it to themselves or else deal with Scott. Then again, considering how Scott had been completely in the dark about Kurt's problem at school, Kurt might not tell him if there was a problem.

"What? No, no," Kurt says as he flicks the image inducer off by himself. He looks dejected. "Everyone around here is great."

"Then what's the problem?" Scott asks, scooting a little closer so he can see Kurt better. He's pleased to see his friend's real face again.

Kurt lets Scott get a little closer to him, even if a large part of him wants to retreat to the roof where Scott can't follow him. "I know that you don't, you know, actually want to date me. You're just doing it to help me out. It's not something I can really pay you back for, but I can at least make it a little better for you. Be normal," Kurt explains. "That's the least I can do." He's curled in on himself, easily balanced on the balls of his feet, clearly ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"Kurt..." Scott is shocked that Kurt would think that was necessary at all. Sure, he had been startled the first time they had met, but Scott thought he had shown Kurt that he knew that he had been wrong. "I care about you, a lot, no matter what you look like."

Flicking the image inducer back on, Kurt unfurls himself a little. He still feels like bolting, but now only to the ceiling, not to the roof. It's progress. "But would you rather that I look like this?" he asks. "It's okay if you do. I won't mind." That much. It's understandable.

"No, Kurt, it's not okay at all," Scott says. As careful as he can, considering the unsteady mix of emotions rushing through him, Scott takes Kurt's hand in his. He watches Kurt's face to make sure what he is doing is alright. The first thing he does is turn the image inducer off. Then, he gently removes the glove and sets it aside, so he can run his thumb over one of Kurt's knuckles. "This is you, Kurt. This is how I like you best because this is how you're the most… you. I understand why you need to use the image inducer when we're at school, but you don't have to hide in your own home, especially not from me."

Kurt swallows hard around a lump that had formed in his throat. That had been unexpected. He smiles widely and scoots a little closer to Scott. "Then I guess I don't need it here."

"You definitely don't," Scott says, smiling right back at him. He's so pleased that Kurt both believes him and seems like he's going leave the image inducer off. Kurt is cuter this way. As Kurt takes off the other glove, Scott eyes it suspiciously. "Wait a second..."

Kurt hesitates. "You, uh, don't like my hands? I can leave these on." It would be a weird line to draw, but who is Kurt to complain?

"I do, but I just realized. This is why you were upset earlier, wasn't it? Because I touched your fur," Scott says.

"I thought you were gonna be grossed out," Kurt says as he takes off the other glove to the side. Then he shakes his hands out a little bit. "Not going to lie, it's been too hot to wear gloves comfortably." Plus his modified gloves are not the most comfortable thing he's ever worn. He made them himself and he is not a very good seamstress.

"You're not gross. Actually, your fur is really nice and soft," Scott says, holding Kurt's hand again.

"Really?" Kurt asks, squeezing his hand tight. Not being disgusted by his fur was one thing, but Kurt hadn't expected Scott to like it. "You like it?"

"Yeah!" Scott says. "I like all the things that make you you! Your sense of humor, the color of your eyes, the slight responsible streak you've been developing, your fangs, your bravery, and, of course, your tail. Like, seriously, your tail is super cool."

One of the benefits of being blue and furry is that, while his face is heating up, Kurt is pretty sure that Scott can't tell. "It is cool," he agrees. It's the one part of his appearance that he wishes he could keep in public. He circles Scott's forearm with his tail, full of happiness when Scott smiles encouragingly at him. So he scoots a little closer and uses his tail to poke at Scott's side playfully.

Scott shivers and laughs a little. "That tickles and it feels nice." He's surprised at how light and gentle Kurt's touch is. There are a lot of words that Scott associates with Kurt- light and gentle had never made that list until now.

"I'm glad you like it," Kurt says. He places the flat of his tail against Scott's cheek.

"It's so soft," Scott marvels. "Even softer than your hands." He runs his fingers over it, making sure to go with the fur, not against it.

"Skin feels different on different parts of the body. Fur's the same. At least mine is," Kurt explains. "I can't speak for anyone else who may have fur."

Scott reaches out and strokes Kurt's cheek. It's a little rougher, but still plenty soft. Suddenly, he wonders how Kurt's lips would feel against his own. Probably incredible. They're close enough that it would only take a second to find out. So he leans in a little bit to close the little bit of empty space between them.

Obviously, Kurt's lips aren't furry, but there's fuzz around them. From all the sitcom complaints he's heard about beard burn, he had expected that to be painful. Maybe Kurt's fuzz is softer than most other people's- Scott doesn't know and honestly? He doesn't care. Because Kurt has slid his tail down to Scott's waist to pull them closer together, and now Scott can feel the press of Kurt's body against his.

Kurt is trying hard to take all of it in. It's not every day that you get kissed for the first time. He likes the way that Scott puts his other hand on his face so that Kurt is just surrounded by him. It helps keep him focused on actually kissing Scott back.

When they break apart, Kurt beams at Scott, breathing heavily. Scott realizes that he's still holding Kurt's face, so he reluctantly lets go, unsure what to do with his hands. He decides to cross his arms, hoping they'll provide him with some kind of refuge from Kurt's bright face and his own wild emotions. While kissing Kurt may have answered his initial question, it's also raised a few more questions that Scott doesn't know how to answer. Or even how to begin to figure out an answer.

Kurt doesn't notice Scott's uptight posture- he's on cloud nine. After all, since Scott had kissed him away from everyone else, it had to mean something. It had at least brought Kurt closer to untangling his own formerly confused emotions. Now he knows that whatever he has been feeling has been real and genuine, not brought on by the act he and Scott had been putting on for everyone else. Kurt still isn't sure what he's feeling, exactly, but it's good. It's good, it's genuine, and Kurt is more than willing to leave it at that for now.

Scott wishes he could leave, but he still has to instruct Kurt in geometry. Kiss or not, weird feelings or not, he still has his responsibilities. Trying to sound as in charge as possible, he leans over to the notebook they had been using and says, "Finding the area of a trapezoid might seem daunting, but if you break it up, it really is simple-"

He's cut off by Kurt's laugh. "You're always right to the point, aren't you, Liebling?" he asks, his voice flowing languidly, as if he's half asleep and waking up from a very nice dream.

Scott tries to sound just as relaxed as he forces laughter in reply.

He's not prepared for Kurt's response.

"It's one of the many things I appreciate about you."

He's even less ready for the way that Kurt brushes his lips against Scott's cheek as he settles next to Scott for the next part of his lesson.