Kurt had been forced to admit, the minute he'd read that first text featuring the asshole whose name Kurt would rather never be mentioned again popped up, that he wasn't as... indifferent to the arrangement he and Blaine had as he liked to pretend he was. It wasn't the first time he'd been forced to confront this. There'd been his birthday, with a drunken conversation in the Thompson's driveway, and Gavin's visit, when he'd realized at the end of the day he'd rather hang out with his ex and watch stupid movies than spend time with a guy he had, prior to that, fully intended to date. But this... it was the most forceful instance so far.
He'd spent the week trying to make plans with Blaine. Blaine had spent the week blowing him off in favor of spending time with Brenden. Just once, once Kurt wanted Blaine to choose him over this... this asshole. And wasn't Blaine the one who had said, just a few weeks before, that Brenden had just been 'a warm body'? That it hadn't meant anything?
Well, that clearly was not the case. If it was, Blaine would have chosen Kurt, right? He would have said 'Oh, sorry, Brenden, I can't. I already made plans with Kurt.' But he didn't. He just kept choosing Brenden, and when Kurt had met the asshole (because of course, Fate hated him enough that that had been unavoidable), Blaine's neck had been covered in marks that he hadn't put there and it made him want to... to scream, or cry, or generally throw a colossal tantrum the way he'd done when he was a little kid and someone else had gotten what he wanted.
And Brenden? He wasn't even a good boyfriend. He was smug and acted like he was too good for Lima and probably too good for Blaine and Blaine was different around him. Quiet and reserved and deferring to Brenden's opinion instead of making his own judgments and it just...
It made Kurt angry. Angry, and jealous, and... and hurt.
Not that Kurt was willing to let anyone see that. No, as far as the world in general was concerned? Kurt Hummel was fine. He didn't give a rat's ass what his ex boyfriend did with some douchey Yale guy. And to prove it Kurt had taken to wearing his most stunning outfits, strutting around like he owned the entire fucking world, and gone out with his gal pals every night, laughing and acting like he didn't have a care in the world.
And now he was at the Lima Bean to prove it to Blaine. Only when he got there, he was surprised to find him a.) sitting alone, and b.) drinking coffee. Blaine didn't drink coffee anymore. Kurt blinked, and lifted his eyebrows. "What, your boyfriend's not around? I thought you two were surgically attached at the hip now. Nice to see he lets you off the leash sometimes."