As the last dreads of Teenage Dream flitted from the air, Blaine smiled at Kurt, purposefully and directly from across the room. Blaine worked to disentangle himself from the crowd of congratulating prep boys, one snagging him by the arm as he tried to escape and whispering something in his ear. Kurt swore this particular boy had just glanced at him through narrowed eyes. Blaine said something, and disengaged the other boy's hand from his arm. He came straight to Kurt.

"So, what'd you think?" Blaine asked, sliding an arm over Kurt's shoulders and directing them out the door into empty hallway.

"Amazing. All of it, and…" Kurt cut himself off.

"And me?" Blaine said.

Kurt ducked his head. "You were pretty good too."

"I'm glad you liked it," Blaine said, and Kurt didn't even release how fair Blaine was leading him from the senior commons, and how the din of the collected ramble was dying down to nothing. "Only the best for our very first spy."

Kurt stopped short. Blaine kept walking, stepping around to face him. Blaine didn't look angry, but Kurt wasn't sure of anything.

"You knew the whole time?" Kurt said.

Blaine reached out and tugged at Kurt's lapel like he'd done earlier, before the performance. "You're kind of obvious."

Kurt swallowed and said with a voice calmer than he felt, "Is this the part where I get beat up?"

"What? Christ. No," Blaine said, his voice and expression transformed into something of shock. "Why would you think that?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Kurt comes up with an answer anyway. "I guess I'm cynical."

Blaine's face smoothed back into something more charming, definitely placating. "Okay, because this was going to be the part where I flirted shamelessly with you."

Kurt just felt like he whammed into a brick wall, even more than this Blaine's casual confession of knowing of Kurt's spying. Expectations, this wasn't it.

"Oh," he managed to say.

"Is that okay?"

Did this guy really just ask if it was okay to flirt with him? Did flirting work like that? Kurt didn't think flirting worked like that. He thought it was supposed to be coy, half-loaded secrets. A tentative touching of the subject, to see if it was shared. Of course, he couldn't say much about flirting. He, apparently, came on too strong. He was flabbergasted now.

(He had a lot of thoughts about this. About how he really knew that Finn was unobtainable all along. That he was just a safe stand-in to crush on when he was alone in a desperate tangle of confused teenage feelings.)

"Huh, sure." Kurt was not particularly impressed with his own eloquence.

"Good," Blaine said, stepping close to Kurt again, this time taking his side and wrapping his arm safely around Kurt's waist. "Why don't you tell me exactly who you're spying for as I give you a little tour of our humble abode."

So, Kurt told him, told him about McKinley and New Directions. And the jokes and comments made by Santana and Puck that drove him here.

Blaine chuckled in a rather pleasing-to-Kurt's-ears tenor. "We're not all gay, but there's probably more of us here than your average high school because we have the safety to be open. And, well… some of those things they say about same-sex boarding schools are true. Some."

Kurt wasn't sure how much Blaine was teasing, but he wasn't sure about of lot of things in the moment. Like, he wasn't sure that the weight and warmth of Blaine's arm across his back and rounding his waist was real, or if it was an incredibly elaborate, and welcome, hallucination.

"So do you sing much in that glee club of yours?"

"Not as much as I should be."

"That's too bad. I'm sure you have a great singing voice. You're speaking voice is quite lovely."

Kurt scoffed, but it was a pleased noise. "It's kind of weird though. High." He knew he had what a lot of guys didn't have when it came to range, but he couldn't disengage that from all the crap he got for his voice. Losing out solo parts because it was too weird for McKinley High to have him sing girl's songs which best suited him. The bullies who had one more piece to throw at him as the insulted and hated him.

"Not weird. Special." Blaine released his light hold on Kurt – something Kurt missed the very millisecond it was gone. "One-of-a-kind Kurt."

He brushed then the back of his fingers down across Kurt's cheek and chin. Kurt's mouth dropped into a little 'o' and he knew his eyes were wide.

Who was this guy? This guy with intense hazel-eyes, and a light-up smile? Who had just sang a latest Top 40 love song to him and guided him with a steady arm around the school even though Kurt had been long found out? Who was leaning in closer now, and… Oh.

That was a kiss. He was being kissed.

It was nice, these softly insisting lips against his own. And Blaine's hand cupped around his neck. And Kurt reaching out him to hold onto either of Blaine's biceps. And how it took a moment for Kurt to establish himself enough in the moment to press back. And how, at that pressing back, the whole thing intensified. And who cared if they were in a hallway in a school. Kurt was getting his first kiss by a handsome boy who thinks Kurt is 'one-of-kind.' He never thought this would happen.

They're out of breath, panting in each other's space where Blaine had tugged him close. Kurt's not sure where his pulse ends and Blaine's begins.

"Do you want to take this somewhere more private?" Blaine asked. Kurt was not exactly sure what that entirely implies, but he knew he wanted this to continue.

That was how he ended up on his back on a bed in Blaine's dorm room. How Blaine was stripping off Kurt's shirt and then his own. The rest of their clothes soon followed their shirts onto the floor. It was all moving quite a bit fast for Kurt, but he wasn't opposed in the moment. He liked Blaine's hands touching him, his lips touching him, his skin touching him. What feelings they teased out of him that he didn't know he could feel. He liked how Blaine looked at him and how Blaine talked to him, like he was something to be admired. No one did that for him. They didn't.

And Blaine didn't expect too much from him. He took the lead, but didn't push it too far. He was a constant repeater of "Is this okay?" every time he touched somewhere new, or tried something new. It was all Kurt could do to breath yeses and god, yeses

…

Kurt was lying naked in bed with another naked person. Sure, he lived consciously through everything that led up to this moment, but he still didn't believe it.

Kurt shifted in the bed. Blaine hmmed next to him. His eyes were closed, but they blinked open.

"You good?"

Kurt stared a little at the ceiling before saying, "I've never done this before." It was something he didn't dare admit before it was in the midst of going down.

"Hook up?" Blaine asked.

"…anything."

"Crap. Oh, crap." Blaine sat up in bed and looked down at him. "You're a virgin."

"Was," Kurt deadpanned, sitting up as well, leaning far forward.

"I should've known. You were a little tentative."

Kurt shrugged a shoulder in response.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked, sounding very concerned. Kurt wasn't sure this was how hook ups usually go.

Kurt smiled faintly. "I'm okay."

Blaine must've not believed him, or else, wanted to reassure him more. "You were amazing, if that helps." He pressed a kiss to the back of Kurt's neck, along his spine. "Absolutely beautiful."

"I don't know about that," Kurt said, and it wasn't meant to sound so pathetic. It just slipped out. It was him, what he felt. And being called beautiful was nice, indescribably nice, but believing it was a different story.

He began to slip out of the bed, but Blaine caught him by the hand to stop him. "You really are," he said, his eyes leaking earnestness.

A second later, Kurt pulled away and went about dressing. He could feel Blaine's eyes on him, and it was a bit unnerving, but this guy had already seen everything, so he tried to choke down the self-consciousness about his naked form for the next few minutes at least. Tried to hide the shaking of his hands as he buttoned his pants.

"Can I see your phone?" Blaine asked.

Not really thinking, Kurt dug it out of his pocket and handed it over. Blaine was rolled over on the bed now, resting on his elbows, his ass just barely covered with the sheet. He fiddled around with Kurt's phone for a few moments as Kurt dealt with his socks and shoes then held it back out for Kurt to take.

"I put my name and number in there if you wanted to do this again sometime. I won't be offended or anything if you don't. But just in case."

He flashed Kurt a wink.

Kurt left not long later, after assuring the still naked Blaine that he could find his own way out to the parking lot.

On the drive home, his hands on the steering wheel were surprisingly firm, and his concentration on the road fairly clear. He expected more from himself after losing his virginity. He wasn't numb, per se, but the loads of his conflicting emotions were cancelling each other out.

He waited until he was safe at home to try and parse them out. Dissecting this piece of fulfillment from that piece of regret, the warmth of Blaine's easily given compliments from the shallowness of the actions. There had been no love or trust behind them. It had been an act of, well, Kurt supposed Blaine's libidio, and from Kurt, his desperation for approval and affection.

Kurt pulled out of his phone and clicked through a few screens to his phone book. There was Blaine's name, near the top, the fate of alphabetical order. He wondered if he should text him now, just so Blaine could have his number too. Or if he should text and start a conversation. Kurt ultimately didn't though, because Blaine hadn't given his number for things like that.

…

Bang. Into the locker. It strung, like always, where the most direct contact his body made with the metal. This time his palm, and second, his one cheek.

He turned around swiftly as he could while still uneasy on his feet to see the hulking form of Karofsky walking past. Of course it was Karofsky, who had taken a special interest in making his life miserable as of late.

There was a sudden surge, a want, to chase after him. To tell him off. Get every anger off his mind, but it was quelled by reality, and the stupidity of it. Karofsky was significantly bigger than him, and obviously had very little restraint when it came towards mildly violent actions.

Instead, Kurt went to his phone, and for perhaps the hundred millionth time in the last five days, looked at Blaine's name and number on his screen. Blaine-who-called-him-beautiful. Just thinking about that made him feel a little less, well, less. He could dare to feel that way again.

Kurt quickly typed out this on his phone: "Hey, this is Kurt from last week. I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, again." He pressed send before he had could over think the words or the decision he was making with them.

During his next class he got the response: "I get out of Warbler practice at five. What time can you get here?"

Not even Karofsky's harassment could bet the settling feeling in Kurt's gut – the feeling of having been bared to someone, and them still wanting you a second time around.

…

Kurt kissed Blaine slowly and more experimentally than before. He had been so caught up in the shock and surprise the first time that he hadn't truly appreciated the entirety of the sensations he gained from kissing boy lips. The lack of oddly flavored lip gloss was one improvement over his experiment of making out with Brittany about half a year before.

Of course there was also the firmness of Blaine's strong hands gripping at his waist. The feel of Blaine's forming hard-on, still behind uniform pants, but pressing into Kurt's thigh. And other things. The significantly heavier weight of Blaine lying on top of him as compared the lithe Brittany. The smell of him, some sort of pleasant and subtle cologne, the slight chemical of hair gel, and something distinctly boy. The sounds Blaine made, deep and scratchy, from his throat and chest.

"I'm so glad you texted," Blaine said when he lifted his mouth from where it had been making a probably impressive hickey on Kurt's collar bone.

"Me too," Kurt said, and because he couldn't just let a good thing lie and get back to the kissy-times, he added on, "I didn't think I would."

"I didn't think you would either. Like I said last time. Tentative… Can I know what changed your mind?"

Kurt took a long breath and decided on a vague form of the truth. "Bad day. And last time I had a really bad day I came to spy here and you made me feel better."

Blaine grinned and said, "Glad I could be of service" around that grin. He then slithered a hand between their bodies and cupped a hand around the lump of Kurt's erection. Flirty, eyes turning a shade lustful, "Can I make you feel even better?"

Kurt nodded. Who was he to say to no the sensations sparking through his body, and the vestiges of want flooding his mind. He felt okay here.

…

A week later, Blaine was the one to text Kurt, to ask him if he was free that night, the implications clear. Kurt was free, and Kurt went. It was then that it became a thing. Three times makes a habit, right?

…

He got to know Blaine, in the pieces of conversations they would have. Sometimes before they started, walking the stairs into the third floor of the dorm where Blaine's room was. Or in their post-coital sleepy hazes. It was casual fair, inspired by the posters on Blaine's walls – Katy Perry and West Side Story – or a book sitting out – a copy of Vogue, Patty LuPone's recent biography that Kurt had just finished – and things like that. They shared a lot of interests. They could've been friends in their own right.

Instead they were… fuck buddies? Kurt didn't like the crudeness of that term. What he had with Blaine was more than fucks. Yes, it was no expression of pure love, he got that. But it was an expression of more than just fooling around.

It really had to be. For Kurt's own sanity. It had to be.

…

"So, I'll be seeing you next Friday," Blaine said after one of their trysts as Kurt was getting dressed.

"We don't usually plan these things ahead," Kurt said.

Blaine chuckled. "No, I mean Sectionals."

"Oh, right, I forgot."

Kurt shouldn't be forgetting. He actually had a lead for a song. Mr. Shue had offered, probably feeling pity for him after seeing him being shoved in the hallway and offer half-caring advice. That, on top of him giving a soul-crushing performance, while his father was in the hospital.

"I'm I finally going to here you sing?" Blaine asked.

"We said we weren't going to talk about glee clubs."

"You to me. Not New Direction to Warblers. Come on, Kurt," he said, whined really. It was all terribly cute, and Kurt couldn't actually resist.

"You might," Kurt ended up answering, a tease of an answer through a smile.

"I know we said we wouldn't talk about glee club, but can I ask another question? What did you ever tell your glee club about your spying experience?"

Kurt scoffed, because that question was doubly loaded. He fiddled with a button on his blouse. "Nothing," he said.

"Nothing?"

"Well, the suggestion for me to spy on you guys wasn't exactly serious. It was more like, 'We don't want you here, why don't you go to the all boy's school. That's pretty gay.'"

Blaine's face soured. "That's right, you said something like that the day we met… I'm sorry. I know what it's like for people to being pretty horrible about your sexuality. From my old school."

"It really sucks," Kurt said, and he hoped the impact of his feeling come through in that understatement of a sentence.

"It does." That was the realest Blaine ever sounded. Vulnerable and hurt, and echoing with a lot more meaning what those words could convey. To that moment, Kurt hadn't known Blaine beyond what was his shiny veneer, charming and likable. This was the sore spot they were sharing, and god, did it make Kurt feel more of a connection that it did to him before.

It could've gone farther. It could've gone farther if either of them pursued it in that moment. But neither did. Still too hurt and too personal. And still not that trusting of each other. They trusted each other with their bodies and time, but not their souls and secrets.

Kurt cleared his throat even though it wasn't clogged. "I've got to hurry up and get home. My dad's expecting me."

He was about to leave, when Blaine called to him from the bed, "Come here."

Kurt went. Blaine took hold of Kurt's arm. If it had been almost anyone else, he would have had some visceral reaction. A stiffening or a shrugging off or a pulling away. But he wasn't scared or uncomforted of Blaine's touch. Blaine pulled him in and brushed a closed-lipped kiss against Kurt's mouth. It was really chaste for them, a kiss that wasn't going to be followed by immediate intimacy.

"For good luck," Blaine said.

Aki - I've seen AU stories that have either Klaine kiss or start dating from Never Been Kissed, so it came into my head, what would happen if they started having casual sex from Never Been Kissed while I kept them in character as much as I could despite this being quite a bit different than the Kurt and Blaine we met in season 2. My aim is to have Blaine as his charming, supportive self (his motivations will be explored more in later chapters) and to have Kurt acting on the really bad place he was in during season 2 in a different way.