It all began when Blaine was seven years old, and his Auntie Ruth, not knowing what to get him for his birthday, got him a Magic 8 ball.

And then she made the mistake of telling the young, naïve boy, "Any important decision you have to make, ask the ball first, and everything will go how it's supposed to."

And that little Blaine did.

When he was seven and he wanted to go sing songs with Cooper, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Yes." And that was it. End of discussion. Blaine would go and sing with his big brother.

When he was eight and wanted to go watch a scary movie with his friends, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Negative." And that was it. End of discussion. Though disappointed, Blaine did not go see the scary movie and slept well that night, while the other little boys lay restless in their beds, conjuring up disturbing images from the movie.

When he was nine and wanted to wear his hair spiky like the rest of the kids in his class, he asked his ball. The ball said, "No." And that was it. End of discussion. Blaine's hair remained in unruly curls every day.

When he was ten and wanted to have a big birthday party at his house, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Affirmative." And that was it. End of discussion. Blaine asked his parents, and it turned out to be one of the best backyard parties of the year.

When he was eleven and wanted an iPod, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Of course." And that was it. End of discussion. Blaine begged and begged his parents, and when they said he could earn it, he worked day and night, doing any chores he could to earn enough money to buy an iPod.

When he was twelve and wanted to know if should experiment to see if he liked girls or not, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Never." And that was it. End of discussion. He never liked any girl in his class and never asked one to be his girlfriend or sent notes to one or kissed one.

When he was thirteen and wanted to learn to play guitar, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Of course." And that was it. End of discussion. He asked his parents for lessons and found out he was a musical prodigy in more ways than one.

When he was fourteen and wanted the courage to come out to his parents, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Absolutely." And that was it. End of discussion. His parents weren't all that accepting at first—especially his dad, who still wasn't completely—but they had grown more used to it.

When he was fifteen and wanted to join the Warblers, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Affirmative." And that was it. End of discussion. And now he was lead soloist for the group.

When he was sixteen and wanted to date the gorgeous boy he'd met minutes earlier on a staircase, even though he knew the boy needed a friend more than anything now, he asked his ball. The ball said, "Not now." And that was it. End of discussion. Blaine was incredibly disappointed. But Kurt needed a friend now. So that's what he'll be.

Yes, Blaine had made most—if not all—of his decisions through the ball, but to be fair it had started as a game.

When he was little, he was just trying to see what would happen and if things would go his way if he did what the ball said. And since they always did, he didn't stop when he grew older.

Wes and David were the only ones who knew, because they'd seen him toying with it the day after Kurt transferred to Dalton and asked, and asked, and asked, and Blaine had no choice but to explain.

And they laughed in his face.

"Screw you," Blaine said. "It's silly, but it's just the way I do things, okay? Please don't tell anyone."

"Okay, Blainey," David said between laughs.

Of course, just because they couldn't tell didn't mean they couldn't mess with him.

Wes and David had been looking for a fixed Magic 8 ball for two months now. They'd trolled e-Bay, Amazon and some local black market sites, they'd gone to the three nearest joke shops, and they'd gone to the novelty shop in the mall.

The day came when a new joke shop opened and Blaine was busy—on a coffee date that wasn't really a date with Kurt—and Wes and David snuck out of Dalton and made it to the shop without being seen by anybody they knew.

"Excuse me, miss," Wes said to the girl behind the counter. "Do you by any chance happen to have fixed Magic 8 balls?"

"Yeah, we do, actually," she said, looking up at him. "They were impossible to get, but there's a good twenty or so on display in aisle four, and there's more in stock just in case." She eyed them up and down. "Do you want them to be positive or negative?"

"One of each, girl," David said, a devilish smile on his face.

"I don't know what you're planning, but I really want to now," she said, laughing as she went to get them. "Here." She came back with two that looked exactly like Blaine's. Perfect. "Twenty each."

"Deal."

Each boy took out a twenty dollar bill and handed them over as the girl put them in a bag. "What are you planning?"

"We have this friend who makes his decisions according to the answers his ball gives him, and we wanna mess with him to show him he doesn't need the thing," Wes said. "Plus, he'll be so fun to watch."

The girl laughed. "I like the way you think. I'm Meg."

"Nice to meet you, Meg," Wes smiled, holding out his hand as David took the bag. "I'm Wes. And I'd like your number, if that's okay. Any girl that works at a joke shop is awesome."

Meg laughed. "Here," she said, scribbling the digits down and handing him the piece of paper.

"Later," they said, leaving.

This is gonna be good.

And with Wes and David's fixed balls, Blaine ended up serenading the guy from the GAP, not dating Kurt, going to a party to impress Kurt and instead getting smashed and making out with Rachel Berry, going on a date with Rachel Berry, doing a sexy number that was not at all what would win them Regionals, giving Kurt sexy lessons—that after seeing a video of the boy performing 4 Minutes he could see were completely unnecessary—and flirting with Kurt throughout the musical number they had just completed in the hallway.

And yet whenever he asked the ball if he should ask Kurt out, it always said no.

Blackbird fly
into the light of the dark black night

Seeing Kurt like this, so vulnerable, so beautiful and so completely passionate and given to what he was singing…it woke something in Blaine. Like he was seeing Kurt for the first time. Really seeing Kurt. All he could see was the beautiful boy singing as the sun beams hit him just right to make him look like an angel.

I love you, Blaine thought.

"Can I tell Kurt how I feel about him?" Absolutely not.

"Can I kiss Kurt?" Never.

"Can I ask Kurt out?" Not now.

"Can I ask Kurt to be my boyfriend?" Negative.

"STUPID BALL!"

Blaine threw the ball on the ground, for a second not caring what happened to it.

He was so frustrated. He was in love with Kurt, and he wasn't able to do a damn thing about it. He threw himself on his bed, hands tangled in his hair, where they always went when he was frustrated and didn't know what to do.

A light knock came from his outside his door.

"Who?"

"Wes," the voice said. "I wanted to talk to you about the position during the bridge in Raise Your Glass, like maybe you could step out of the line, jump back in and then jump out with the rest of the guys."

"Come in, Wes," Blaine called.

The door opened, and Wes's face went from all business to concerned as he saw his friend in his current position.

"What's wrong?"

"The ball won't let me do something and it's killing me," Blaine moaned.

"Is it really important to you?" Wes asked.

"Very."

"Then do it anyway."

Blaine sat up, eyes wide. "What if by going against the ball I mess things up?"

Wes sighed. "Blaine, if you're going to make every single decision in your life according to a toy, you'll probably miss out on a lot of opportunities. It's a toy."

Silence.

"When you put it that way…"

After Blaine begged and begged, Wes, David and Thad agreed to give Kurt the solo.

And the boy was more than thrilled. Duh.

Blaine walked into the commons, more nervous than he'd ever been for anything in his entire life. Feigned confidence, of course. He still had to look like Blaine, even if he felt like a completely different person.

What if Kurt rejected him? What if he'd hurt Kurt too much? What if Kurt simply didn't feel the same way anymore?

"What's that?" he asked, his voice breaking the silence.

Kurt looked up, wondering eyes so beautiful and blue Blaine wanted to kick himself for not seeing it sooner.

"I'm decorating Pavarotti's casket," the brunette answered, completely unaware of Blaine's thoughts.

"Well, finish up," Blaine said, settling closer and placing his hands on the table. "I have the perfect song for our number and we should practice."

"Do tell," Kurt said, looking up with a smile.

"Candles," Blaine said. "By Hey Monday."

"I'm impressed," Kurt said. "You're usually so Top 40."

"Well, I just wanted something a little more. . .emotional," he said, sitting down and looking at Kurt.

Kurt looked at his lap before his brows furrowed. "Why did you pick me to sing that song with?" He turned to Blaine.

Blaine closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Kurt, there is a moment. . .when you say to yourself, Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you forever." His words rushed together and the amount of emotion in his voice was something that would have embarrassed him at any other time, but not now. Not with Kurt. Never with Kurt. "Watching you do Blackbird this week, that was a moment for me. . .about you. You move me, Kurt. And this duet would just be an excuse to spend more time with you."

And he couldn't stop the glance to Kurt's lips and suddenly all he could think about was how close they were and how easy it would be to simply lean over and bring them together. If the smile on Kurt's face was any indication, Kurt wouldn't really object to it.

He leaned in slowly, and when their lips connected, the sparks on the Fourth of July fell short compared to the fireworks the boys felt.

And then Kurt's hand moved to cup his cheek and he responded to the kiss and oh dear God why would anyone ever stop doing this?

As Blaine leaned back, a breathless laugh escaped and Kurt smiled.

"We should—we should practice," Blaine said, frowning, though the smile on his face couldn't be bigger.

"I thought we were," Kurt said breathlessly.

And both boys leaned in simultaneously to let their lips meet again in a way that in years to come would become something so familiar, something that brought sunlight on a rainy day, something that made both boys feel safe and loved in a world as cruel and harsh as the one they lived in.

Three Years Later

"Did you ever know about the Magic 8 ball I had?" Blaine asked as he went to get the popcorn before putting in the movie.

"You didn't," Kurt said from the couch, a light laugh in his voice. "Wes and David did. Funniest story I'd heard in a while."

"Why was it so funny?" Blaine asked, settling in next to him. "I thought it was really embarrassing."

"They played a prank on you, no big deal," Kurt said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Wait, what prank?"

"They got two that were fixed and changed them like once or twice a week to see what crazy stuff you'd do," Kurt said. "You didn't know?"

Silence.

"I'm going to kill them. With a napkin."

This was a one-shot I came up with that wouldn't leave me alone till I wrote it out. It's not great, I don't think, but I'd like your feedback. This is my first Klaine, and while I'm in process of writing a multi-chaptered story, I'd like to see if you liked this one. :)

Also, obviously I don't own Glee, any of the characters or the slightly crappy transcript of 2x16 (Original Song) containing Blaine's speech.