kurt.

          _{❛ You really are pushing it on the Project Runway. ❜   Kurt willed his shoulders to relax while he absentmindedly twirled his straw around in his drink, briefly for a moment feigning the weighing out of the pros and cons of either option before deciding to put the Warbler out of his misery.  ❛ God knows I could use the distraction. ❜  The corners of his mouth turning up into a sheepish grin, the teenage boy’s expression increasingly softened. He hadn’t been able to talk this… _openly _to someone in a long time. Maybe it was the way they had broken the ice by sharing their previous experiences of desperately trying to make it through their final years of high school. Maybe it was the fact, no matter how terrifying and _awful _a cautionary tale it had been, Blaine’s story and inevitable outcome led by example. It felt honest, vulnerable. Refreshing. For once, something positive. Something he didn’t have to go through alone. No matter the consequences.}

_{For once, he allowed himself to smile freely. Without thought. A weight lifted off of him as he could feel the** lightness **in his mood once again shifting.  ❛ Something tells me you can probably already guess some of my other hobbies, ❜  the male mused, the plain and simple mention of his all-time favorite designer and one of the country’s main fashion centered TV shows sure to be a direct indicator of his own personal interests; mouthing a breathless ‘thank you’ to the returning waitress before diving head first into their ordered appetizers.}

A final tap of the edge of his thumb against Kurt’s ivory skin and Blaine retracted his hand back to his side of the table.  Relieved to see that he got through, or at least Kurt’s smile hinted he had, hazel eyes finally dared to glance away and up at the waitress as she delivered their appetizers.  “Thank you, ma’am,” he murmured in an echo to Kurt’s silent thanks and braced the heels of his palms against the lip of the table as he looked at the food.  Seeing Kurt dig in, he pulled a few pieces of calamari onto his white, ceramic plate and squeezed a lemon over the pieces.  Speaking up again, the grin could be heard in his voice as he occupied himself with nabbing a bit of cocktail sauce.  “You know?  I think I’ve gathered a few of your interests within a few minutes of meeting you.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone in Ohio dress so creatively with designs that look like they belong on a New York City runway.  Now, I can see where you got the inspiration.  I’d still like to know more though.  Someday.”

It was his way to try and get Kurt to let him in piece by piece.  He knew he was already well on his way to having a friendship with the other boy who’d been through so much.  Someone who could understand what that felt like.  But Kurt seemed to have so many layers.  Blaine could only imagine he’d barely scratched the surface of things that make Kurt Hummel tick.  And provide that distraction he so, obviously, needed.  “What are some things you’d love to try but haven’t had the chance to yet?  And if dragging you out to have fun and making your DVR do some dirty work?  I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”  Popping a piece in his mouth, the Warbler’s nose scrunched with the playful jab that made his eyes light up and he shrugged his ‘sorry, not sorry’.