"Hey, Kurt, can I ask you something?" Elliott asks after practice, when the others are packing up to leave.

"Yeah, sure," Kurt says, abandoning his folding of the mic stand to give him his full attention. The five of them have become really tight during the past few weeks, and if Elliott is prefacing his question with permission to ask it, it has to be serious.

"You know the jacket you wore to practice last week? The red one?"

Kurt raises his eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Could you…show me how you made it? With the ribbons?"

"Sure?" Kurt says, not really understanding why Elliott needed to ask him in private.

"…Tomorrow, maybe?"

Kurt is about to protest, because they don't have band practice tomorrow, because it's Saturday, and—oh. Oh.

"Oh."

"I mean, if you don't want to, I completely understand," Elliott hurries to say when he catches Kurt's expression. "I'm just gonna—" he gestures at the door, but before he can turn around, Kurt grabs his arm.

"I'd love to," he says with a smile. "But only if you teach me how to put on eyeliner like that." He nods towards Elliott's dark eyes, and bites his lip to try and hide his amusement when Elliott's mouth fall open and then closes.

"Sure," he says, swallowing. Then he seems to realize that Kurt actually said yes, because he smiles, and says, "Yeah, sure," again. He picks up his bag. "What time?"

"Around six? I'll cook something."

"Sounds perfect."

x

By some miracle, Kurt manages to get both Rachel and Santana out of the loft by five thirty, and has just finished setting the table when there's a knock on the door.

"Hey!" he says, relieved to see that yes, Elliott thinks this is a date, too. He's dressed nicer than he usually is when they have practice, but not as extravagant as when he auditioned. "I made lasagna, I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, totally," Elliott says, giving him a nervous smile.

"Good. It's—" Kurt glances at his watch. "It's done in five minutes, so I thought we'd eat and then I'd—show you? The jacket? How I made it, I mean?" He bites down on his bottom lip to stop himself from rambling anymore, but Elliott just keeps smiling.

"Sounds good."

x

Dinner is a bit awkward, but they've gotten to know each other pretty well already, so it's not too bad. There's a lot of small smiles and nervous giggles, and one time Kurt accidentally brushes his toes against Elliott's leg and they both stutter into silence and blushes, but Elliott saves them by complimenting the food. When they've put away their plates, Kurt leads the way to the table where his sewing machine is set up. The jacket Elliott was talking about is on the dummy.

"It's actually not that hard," he says, sitting down on one of the stools. He motions for Elliott to sit down on the other stool and shows him the piece of fabric he'd prepared for this. "See, it's like this…"

Elliott asks follow-up questions and asks if he can try it out by himself, and it actually makes Kurt feel better about the whole thing. Elliott's genuine interest in his technique makes it apparent that it wasn't just an excuse, and his interest and knowledge is just another thing Kurt likes about him.

When they're done, when Elliott has mastered the way to sew on the ribbons, they fall into silence again. It's more comfortable this time, though, probably because their thighs have been pressing against each other for the last half-hour, and the proximity is making Kurt a little dizzy, but it's also comforting.

"Did you still want a lesson in eyeliner technique?" Elliott asks after a few moments, and Kurt nods.

"Yeah."

x

They settle on the couch this time, despite the lightning there not being the best. They sit down sideways, their knees knocking together, and Elliott grabs his liquid eyeliner from the coffee table.

"Lift up a bit," he says, nudging Kurt's chin. Kurt does, and it causes him to stare straight into Elliott's eyes. Kurt draws in a shaky breath and closes his eyes, because he's not really ready for that kind of intimacy yet.

"Okay, so," Elliott says, and he doesn't sound unaffected by their proximity, either. "You just—" he puts a warm palm on Kurt's face and then there's the coolness of the eyeliner against the corner of his eyes. "Like this," he says, his breath huffing out over Kurt's face. "Careful."

"I can't see a thing," Kurt points out, and Elliott huffs out a laugh.

"Yeah, you're just gonna have to feel it, I guess." He finishes applying the eyeliner with slow, careful movements, and then moves onto the other eye. He stays close and silent, and Kurt almost expects him to kiss him, has never been this close to another boy without kissing him, but Elliott doesn't. He just finishes painting Kurt's eyes, and then sits back. "There," he says, his voice rougher than usual, and Kurt blinks his eyes open.

"How do I look?" he asks, looking at Elliott with an exaggerated wink. Elliott swallows, and Kurt doesn't miss how he clenches his fists.

"Good," Elliott croaks, then clears his throat. "Really good."

"Yeah?" Kurt stands up and walks over to the mirror. Elliott is right, he does look good. The eyeliner accentuates his eyes very nicely, making him look both older and more mysterious. Also, hotter. He turns around and grins. "Thank you," he says, and makes his way back to the couch. When he sits down, it's a lot closer to Elliott than before, their legs pressing together, and the warmth feels good through his pants.

"So," Kurt says, his voice low. "What do we do now?"

Elliott swallows again, lets his gaze run down Kurt's body and then up again. "I don't know," he says, in an almost-whisper.

"I think I might have an idea."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Kurt leans in, slowly, giving Elliott enough time to back away if he's not on board with this, but he doesn't. He sits still and when Kurt presses their lips together, he lets out a tiny whimper and reaches up to grab Kurt's shoulder, holding him there, keeping him steady. Or keeping himself steady, maybe, Kurt doesn't know, and he doesn't care. The important thing is that they're kissing, and that it's awesome.

"That was a good idea," Elliott says, breathlessly, when they break apart.

Kurt smiles. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You mind if we keep doing it, then?"

"Not at all."

"Good," Kurt says, and straddles Elliott's lap, leaning in to kiss him again.

x

The black stains are a pain to get out from his pillow cases, but somehow, Kurt finds that he doesn't mind at all.