⌜𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞⌟

chapter nine: pretending

"We should go inside."

"Yeah, yeah, definitely. Thanks for staying out here with me." 

"Anytime."

Kurt waited for Blaine to let go of his hand, but he didn't budge. It was like they both knew the moment had to end, but neither of them wanted to be the one to make that happen. Finally, Kurt swallowed and slipped his hand out of Blaine's, opening the door for him. The other boy grinned at him as they fell into pace next to each other down the hallway. "I think the boys are gonna perform Thriller soon."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. And I just might have to join them."

Kurt fake-gasped, stopping halfway down the stairs to dramatically slap a hand to his chest. "You wouldn't!"

Blaine stuck his tongue out at him before joining the crowd of blazer-clad boys that had gathered into position at the bottom of the steps, Kurt leaning against a nearby archway to watch. The curly-haired boy took center stage as the boys behind him began to sing the opening notes a cappella.

"It's close to midnight, and something evil's lurking in the dark," Blaine started to sing, flashing Kurt a smile as the rest nodded their heads to the beat. Everyone started dancing with them as Blaine spun around and pointed to him, barely ever breaking eye contact, and Kurt couldn't help laughing in admiration of this dork's singing skills. Nearing the end of the song, Blaine grabbed his arm and pulled him to the front with him, giving him a little twirl. They jumped around until the song ended and collapsed into laughter.

"That was good!" Kurt giggled, adrenaline still high.

"Yeah?" Blaine shouted back, idiotic smile still plastered to his face.

"Yeah!"

Suddenly, Blaine's expression dropped, replaced with one of panic as he spotted something behind him. "Crap, that's Sebastian." Kurt turned to see a guy whose smirk held a strong resemblance to a meerkat approaching. 

"Really? Meerkat Boy?"

Blaine shook his head trying to hold back laughter. "Meerkat Boy? Yeah, that would be him. Quick, pretend to be my boyfriend." Kurt barely had time to react before Blaine grabbed his hand, pulled him close, and pressed his lips against his cheek. After he pulled away, he kept Kurt close enough that he could smell that amazing coconut conditioner again, and was suddenly glad that Blaine had gone for the cheek and not the mouth, his cheeks flushing pink. However, Meerkat Boy didn't seem put off in the slightest as he stopped in front of them.

"Well, if it isn't the famous Blaine Anderson."

"Sebastian. What do you want?"

"Just to see if I could buy the hottest guy at this lame-o party a drink. That's you, by the way."

"It's an open bar, Sebastian."

"Tomorrow, Scandals, 9 o'clock?"

"Not interested. And if you were paying attention to anything other than yourself, you could see that I have a boyfriend."

"You mean Gayface? I would let her come too, but I'm not bisexual."

Kurt let an indignant puff of air out of his nose and Blaine went icily silent. "Say that again," he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "Really, I dare you."

"Aww, are you gonna try to fight me? I wouldn't want to scratch up your pretty little schoolboy face."

Blaine started forward but Kurt grabbed his wrist to stop him. "He's not worth it, Blaine." 

A crowd had started to form around them to see if anything would happen, but Sebastian held his hands up, taking a step back. "Yeah, contain your boyfriend, Gayface. Jeez." 

By this point, even though Sebastian had sauntered off, Kurt was still practically digging his heels into the floor with both arms wrapped around his fake boyfriend to keep him from going after Meerkat Boy. "Shh." He held him like that for a minute until Blaine finally relaxed into the embrace, still breathing heavily like a bull ready to charge. "It's okay," he said soothingly. "I get it all the time, I'm used to it."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said quietly.

"It's okay."

The curly-haired boy shook himself from Kurt's arms, a protective fire blazing in his eyes when he looked at him. "No, it's not."

Kurt folded his arms and sighed. "Well, it is what it is. And you were a good boyfriend," he added jokingly after a moment of silence to break the tension.

Blaine halted for a moment before laughing reluctantly, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. "Yeah, you too." He linked their arms to walk back into the party.

"I didn't know you were into meerkats," Kurt whispered as they disappeared into the crowd.

"Shut uppp."

***

"Sidney, come back! Sidney!"

Kurt jumped and dug his nails further into Blaine's arm through their blanket as screams erupted from the screen. It was half past midnight at the Halloween party, and everyone was crowded around the television of Nick's living room watching Scream. Blaine and Kurt had started the movie sitting next to each other with at least a foot of space between them, but throughout the night, they had moved so close that Kurt was practically on top of him, clinging to his arm with wide eyes glued to the screen, burying his head into his shoulder at the murder scenes. Although Kurt's nails were, yes, digging into his arm, Blaine didn't mind so much—he found it cute that Kurt was so immersed in the film, and admittedly was watching him more than he was watching the movie.

Sam and Mercedes were sitting on the floor, Sam lurching forward in anticipation, as close to the TV as he could get, while Mercedes watched in amusement with her back to the sofa. Rachel was nowhere to be found but was probably outside crying drunkenly on the phone with Finn. Jeff was snuggled into his boyfriend's side, smiling sleepily as Nick played with his blonde locks. Wes and David were sitting on opposite sides of the room but kept stealing cute little sideways glances at each other anyway.

Blaine sighed, wishing he could feel the tingle of his lips brushing against Kurt's cheek again, run his hands through Kurt's hair like Nick could with Jeff. But he couldn't complain with him so close, so he simply shared more of the blanket and rested his head against Kurt's shoulder as casually as he could, hoping he wouldn't reject the touch.

To his relief, Kurt pulled the blanket a little further over them, silently relaxing his grip on Blaine's arm.

And for now, that was enough.