A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry if anyone is waiting for an update from my other Glee fanfic. That one has been put on the back burner for now. While I was on my trip I was hit with an onslaught of fic ideas and had to try a whole bunch of different things. This is one result.

So this is basically what I was expecting to happen during the whole scene in Rumours when the glee club is in the Lima Bean. All I wanted was for Blaine to walk in, just to see what their reactions would have been. Please leave me feedback because I really want to improve as much as I can. If you catch the (really subtle) AVPS reference then let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, I'm just borrowing their dialogue (at the beginning) and characters for my own dastardly purposes!

EDIT: So I re-read this and decided that it came off better if I cut off the ending earlier. Before I wasn't happy with how it just kind of petered out at the end. I think this way it is more focused on the purpose of this fic. It was really bothering me, and I'm much happier with it this way. I hope you can like it too. If you've read both, let me know what you think!

Trusting a Rumour

"What do we know about Sam anyway? I mean, what town is he from, what state? What's his old school like?" A shocked look overtook Tina's features, "maybe he's a serial killer."

She and Lauren shared a terrified look.

"You guys, I'm telling you, Kurt wouldn't cheat on Blaine," Quinn said.

"It's just like the Rumours album," Rachel said, disregarding Quinn's comment. "I mean, being apart on the road is hard for two artists. Performers have this 'love the one you're with' mentality, I mean look at all of us. Look at all of the different combinations that we've had: Finchel, Puckleberry..."

"Tina Cohen Chang Chang," Tina sighed.

"Artittany," Artie added regretfully.

"Pizes?" Puck asked. Lauren winked at him from across the table.

"Guys, we're sitting here, squabbling over, what? A rumour," Finn said, trying to bring the conversation back to the point.

"Finn's right, we need more information," Rachel agreed.

The select members of New Directions had chosen to stake out in the Lima Bean to convene on what to do about this unprecedented situation. Mercedes had flatly refused to be a part of the discussion. She'd wasted no time in verbally cutting them all down for even suggesting that Kurt would cheat on Blaine. Santana and Brittany weren't there because The Muckraker had ground up some problems of their own that they were too busy dealing with.

The Lima Bean had been suggested by Rachel, who was the only one of the group who knew a place far enough away from Lima where they wouldn't be discovered by either of the 'topics' being discussed. No one else had any other ideas, so the decision was final. They drove the hour and a half drive to Westerville. Most agreed that such a commute seemed like major overkill, but once the idea had struck Rachel there was no talking her out of it. She'd become convinced that their operation should be treated like a top-secret spy mission, and had even insisted on each car having a walkie-talkie to ensure the utmost coordination between cars.

"Now, let's brainstorm," Rachel was saying, "what are the artistic charms that Sam could-"

"OhmyGod. Guys, stop talking."

The gossiping teens looked at Tina in surprise.

"Um, what's going on?" asked Finn, voicing everyone's confusion.

Tina was hunched slightly over the table, eyes glued to the window of the coffee shop.

"Blaine's outside," she whispered urgently. She didn't know why she was whispering, there was no way Blaine would be able to hear her.

Heads twisted quickly to stare out the front window. Sure enough, there was Blaine standing outside in his Dalton uniform, talking with two other boys also in uniform. Classes must just have been let out.

"What the heck is he doing here?" demanded Puck. He rounded on Rachel – it had been her idea to come here! – and Rachel gasped with guilty realization.

"Oh no," she moaned, "I forgot. I only know about this place because Kurt took me here when he was going to Dalton. He said Blaine comes by here at 4:00 every day 'like clockwork'" she said, quoting his exact words.

"How could you forget something so important?" hissed Lauren, following Tina's lead and keeping her voice quiet while glancing surreptitiously to the window every few moments.

Everyone was used to turning on Rachel and blaming her when something went wrong – because let's face it, her penchant for having complete control over all situations more often than not lead to disaster.

This time though, the blame could easily fall to all of them. They'd picked a spot outside of Lima in order to escape even the peripheral zone of two people, but in doing so had entered the dead centre of the zone of the third person inadvertently involved in the whole mess.

"We need to come up with a plan," Finn said. His eyes were wide with panic. He already felt bad enough for talking about Kurt behind his back. The shock of seeing Kurt come out of that motel room with Sam had hit Finn hard (dulled only momentarily by relief when it wasn't Quinn who stepped out of the room). He couldn't stop thinking about what had gone down during his last time at a motel room, with Santana. Picturing Kurt involved in the exact same thing with Sam was too much for him to digest.

"Maybe he won't come in," Artie said, his voice strained with false hope. "Look, they're leaving."

Craning their necks to see, the group let out a unified sigh of relief when it looked like the three Dalton students would be walking away. They watched as Blaine patted his Asian friend on the shoulder, and the three started walking past the window. But just as Rachel was about to turn back to their gossip, Blaine gave a wave to his friends and turned into the front of the shop.

The bell jingled as he opened the door and stepped in.

The McKinley glee club turned away from the front of the shop and tried to look as natural as possible. Rachel and Mike were thinking about how conspicuous they must look, such a large group of teenagers around a table, and none of them talking. They hoped Blaine would just get his coffee and leave again, maybe to meet up with his friends from before.

But what if he wasn't meeting them? What if maybe Kurt was meeting him here? Artie and Tina shared a look as they both came to this realization at the same time. All around the table, silent theories were being shot back and forth via shared looks and quiet gasps.

Finn watched as Blaine ordered his coffee and paid, all the while keeping up a friendly dialogue with the barista. Finn's eyes tracked Blaine as he walked over to the pick-up counter to wait for his drink. It didn't take long; not nearly as long as the frothy drinks Kurt always ordered. He added cinnamon to it from a complimentary shaker, popped a plastic lid on top and turned around to find a seat. Finn dropped his gaze to avoid possible eye-contact.

The place was pretty full and Blaine was looking carefully. Rachel saw him scanning her way and she twisted her head quickly away from him. She'd have done better to keep her face down, because as soon as Blaine caught sight of her unique profile he recognised the entire group easily. He grinned and waved at them, making his way over.

Puck groaned in defeat.

"Hey guys," Blaine said, coming up to the table, not noticing the uncomfortable looks they were eyeing him with. "What's everyone doing here? It's kinda far from McKinley, isn't it?"

There was a short pause as everyone considered what to tell him; but no one knew what to say.

"Hi Blaine," Quinn greeted belatedly, trying to be accommodating. She glared discreetly at her fellow glee clubbers, disappointed in them for their rudeness. "We're just... coming back from a field trip," she lied. She couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth of what they were doing there.

"Yeah," Puck filled in, "from a wax museum. Art project, you know." He said it with such force that Blaine dared not question him, though he did raise his eyebrows in surprise. Puck was the last person he'd expect to take art class.

"O-kay then. Kurt didn't tell me anything about a field trip. Is he here?"

At the mention of Kurt, Blaine's eyes lit up. The group almost cringed with sympathy for the poor boy. Was Kurt such a good actor that he could hide something so big from Blaine?

"Um, no, he's not here," Rachel said as delicately as possible. Quinn wanted to kick her. Did she realise how obvious she was being using such a sympathetic tone? Blaine didn't seem to notice though. He was standing kind of awkwardly at the fringe of the group, and Finn started to feel bad for him.

"Here man," he said, pulling up a chair from a nearby table a couple had recently vacated. "Why don't you sit for a bit; unless, you have somewhere else to be right now?" Finn hedged hopefully. The quicker Blaine left, the better for them all.

But Blaine looked relieved at Finn's offer.

"I don't mean to intrude," Blaine said, always polite. "I'm actually meeting someone, but I am a little early..." He walked around the table and hung his satchel over the back of the chair as Puck made room next to him.

There was a short, uncomfortable pause where no one spoke or knew what to say.

"I hope I'm not interrupting any top-secret New Directions nationals meeting," Blaine joked, trying to break the ice.

Too bad he was half right.

"Actually," Blaine said, sitting up straighter, "I'm glad I ran into you guys; and it's good Kurt isn't here too. There's something I wanted to talk to you all about."

Rachel bit her lip and sat forward on the edge of her seat. Was this it? Was Blaine about to confide in them all his misgivings about Kurt? Tell them that Kurt had been acting suspiciously around him? Avoiding him in favour of fornicating with Sam (she supplied in her head)? Would the next words that left his mouth be the confirmation of all their fears?

Blaine took a deep breath, steadying himself. He glanced around the table at all the faces of Kurt's closest friends, for once not looking as confident as his usual self.

"I want to apologise to you all."

A beat.

"Um, what exactly are you apologising for, Blaine?"asked Quinn. She, like everyone else, was thrown off by Blaine's unexpected statement.

"I've met you all," Blaine elaborated, "but that first meeting wasn't really very favourable of me," he cringed at the memory of the Rachel-Berry-House-Party-Train-Wreck-Extravaganza, "and I feel terrible about it. At the time I hadn't realized my feelings for Kurt, but now I have, and we're boyfriends. I know how important Kurt is to you all, and also know how important you all are to Kurt. He didn't go a day at Dalton without mentioning how much he missed at least one of you," Blaine smiled at the memory, loving how Kurt had such good friends to miss – something he's never had concerning his own transfer to Dalton.

The New Directions weren't sure where Blaine was going with this, but the fond way Blaine spoke of Kurt brought loving smiles to all of their faces. Blaine continued.

"And that's why it's important to me that you guys don't hate me. I'm crazy about Kurt. He's smart and beautiful and talented and one of the most compelling and compassionate people I know," Blaine paused and looked down into his coffee, a light blush colouring his cheeks. "I'm just hoping that you all can accept me as Kurt's boyfriend. You're everyone who is important to him, so I was scared that you wouldn't approve of us dating, considering my less-than-admirable first impression on most of you."

They were stunned.

Blaine was not here to divulge misgivings over his relationship with Kurt, or, not in a way that would provide fuel to the fire of their gossip. Blaine was scared that his boyfriend's friends wouldn't approve of Kurt dating him.

Rachel flashed back to the first date she and Blaine had gone on. He'd picked her up at her house and they'd had a wonderful evening. It had seemed to Rachel, however, that Blaine had had his argument with Kurt in the back of his head the whole night, and that he was treating their date as a distraction from his hurt feelings. Rachel smiled across the table at Blaine. He may have made a few mistakes with Kurt, but it was nothing that the two hadn't been able to deal with on their own.

Mike tapped his fingers at the base of his almost-empty cup. He'd never talked to Blaine before. The first time he's seen him was in the stands during McKinley's big football game where they'd performed at the halftime show. Before then he'd heard whispers about Kurt's new friend from various people who'd met him already, but Mike was a quiet guy and he didn't like gossip (he was only at the Lima Bean now because Tina had made him come). Later, Tina had told him that it was Blaine who'd given the girls the idea of playing on the football team. Mike supposed he could be mad at Blaine for that, since that had lead to Tina getting hurt, but he knew how headstrong Tina could be. Besides, all the girls had formulated the plan together out of Blaine's advice about football rules and not because of any specific suggestion, so he couldn't begrudge Blaine that. And now Blaine was here, trying to make up for a perceived wrong that Mike hadn't even been thinking about. How many guys had the guts to do what he was doing?

The whole group was thinking the same thing. Blaine was something special, and only someone who was that special would ever be good enough for Kurt in their eyes.

"Blaine," Rachel started. He looked at her, clearly apprehensive to what she might say.

"I think it's safe to say that none of us think little of you. You don't have to worry about us keeping you and Kurt apart; because honestly I don't think we'd be able to if we wanted."

"Seriously dude," Finn added, "he talks about you all the time – he did even before you were dating! It was mostly annoying, but he'd be smiling the whole time so we put up with it." Something seemed to dawn on Finn as he said these words, and he lapsed into a contemplative silence at the end.

"But I don't think you understand," stressed Blaine, "I know Kurt cares about me," the group shared guarded looks, "it's you guys who I want to be impressing right now. And I feel like my actions in the past have ruined any shot of me ever redeeming myself."

"All we know," Artie said, "is that your actions have made Kurt happier than we've ever seen him. And I've been friends with him since junior year!"

Blaine leaned forward on his arms on the table.

"So, you don't hate me? You're ok with me and Kurt dating?"

"Dude, we couldn't imagine anyone more noble to threaten with bodily harm if you do anything to hurt our boy," Puck sassed at him. Blaine laughed. He'd never been so relieved to be threatened in his entire life.

"Thanks Puck – everyone," he added, looking around the table and seeing the nods of agreement, "this really means so much to – oh, hold on that's me."

Teenage Dream was bursting from his satchel. Blaine twisted quickly in his seat to snag his phone from an outside pocket. His eyes were alight as he unlocked the screen to read his incoming text, projecting to the whole table just exactly who was contacting him. New Directions pretended to avert their attention for the sake of Blaine's privacy.

"Oh," Blaine's excited look slipped.

"What's up, Blaine?" Rachel asked, ever unable to keep her nose out of other people's business.

Blaine looked up quickly from his screen, not having realised that he was still the centre of attention. "Don't worry about me. It's just Kurt. He said he won't be able to make our date on Friday; he's got a friend he needs to help out." Blaine returned his attention back to his keypad and typed out a quick reply.

New Directions shot uncomfortable looks at each other. Despite everything they'd heard from Blaine, were their threats necessary? They suddenly remembered why they'd all gathered here. Maybe Kurt wasn't the one who was in danger of having his heart broken from this relationship.

The door of the coffee house chimed as another patron entered the establishment.

"Blaine, there's something we need to tell you," Rachel said, leaning forward. She considered taking Blaine's hand as she told him the unfortunate news, but thought that that might be a bit overdramatic, even for her. "We know that you care a lot for Kurt. What you've just said to us only confirms that. But to be honest, Kurt isn't the one we're worried about right now."

Confusion clouded Blaine's features. He slipped his phone into the front pocket of his blazer.

"What are you talking about Rachel?" What else was there to worry about?

"Blaine, we think that-"

"Blaine!"

A large hand landed on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine started, but recognized the voice and turned to greet a tall boy in a Dalton uniform.

"Nick, hey," Blaine said, getting up from the table to hug his teammate and friend. Then he turned around to make the proper introductions.

"New Directions, meet Nick, the one-and-only beat boxer of the Warblers. Nick, these are the New Directions, from Kurt's school."

Nick smiled and waved at the group, saying how nice it was to meet everyone properly.

"Kurt's not here?" He asked, having scanned the faces crowded around the tables and not finding the fashionable countertenor among them.

"No," Blaine replied for the group, "these guys are here because of a field trip, but Kurt didn't go on it."

"Unless Kurt's planning to surprise you," Nick amended, "I wouldn't put it past him." He cast a suspicious glace around the entire establishment.

"Oh please," Blaine sighed. "Kurt couldn't pull something like that off. I'd know. He's so obvious about stuff when he's trying to be sneaky," Blaine said with affection.

Nick nodded, smirking at the dopey look on his friend's face; but the teens sitting at the table shifted uncomfortably.

"Anyway, you ready to go? This paper isn't going to write itself," Nick told Blaine.

"Sure," Blaine said. He began gathering his things from the table. "Thanks for understanding, guys. And it was really nice seeing everyone again, I hope we can hang out sometime." Blaine waved, then threw his satchel over his shoulder and turned to go. But he pulled up as he remembered something.

"Oh, and say 'Hi' to that Sam guy for me. He's got it bad, but I hope everything works out for him." And with that the two were out the door before New Directions could fully process Blaine's words.

The bell chimed as the door closed behind Nick and Blaine and, as if it were a director's call of 'action,' the table exploded into noise.

And that's all for now! Please let me know how I did. I have more glee Blaine one-shots I'm planning on uploading, so I'd like to improve as much as I can. Let me know what worked & what didn't. 3