Chapter 25

There was nothing that helped Kurt when stressed or worried as arriving to Ohio and to his family. However, being already in his dad's car and on their way from Columbus to Lima, he hadn't disconnected a little bit from New York yet. He talked with his dad animatedly but he knew Burt noticed that he was holding to his phone for dear life and checking the screen every few minutes.

"Calm down, bud. He has to be still in the meeting." His dad tried to soothe him when he went silent and checked his phone again.

"I know, but he's been there for like three hours. Who talks that much? Something must have gone wrong." Kurt said, worried.

"I don't know how TV shows are run but maybe they just have a lot of stuff to figure out. Have a little faith. You were convinced they were going to be supportive when we talked on the phone just yesterday." Burt tried to reason with him.

Kurt sighed. "I was trying to keep a positive state of mind."

"And what happened to that?" Burt asked in a more teasing tone.

"It has been three hours, dad. I thought I'd know by the time I got out of the plane. I can't be both positive and patient."

"I'm pretty sure you're not being either, son," Burt teased again, his tone light.

When Kurt was about to defend himself with a smart, sarcastic retort, his phone came to life in his hand.

"B!" He answered immediately, a bit breathlessly.

"Hi, beautiful. I'm sorry I took so long." Blaine greeted him and just his voice and the sweet tone to it were enough to calm Kurt down. "How was your flight?"

"Fine," Kurt said quickly. "Were they okay with it? How did it go?" He asked and he realised he had sounded a bit desperate when he caught in his dad's amused look from the driver's seat and heard Blaine chuckle in his ear.

"Sorry." Blaine apologised for laughing before Kurt said anything else. "It went fine. They weren't thrilled but it was okay."

Kurt relaxed a bit into his seat. He hummed and Blaine got the memo to explain further.

"The producers from the show and most of the people from the network were fine with it. One of the executives, though, said something like that it was a very convenient time for me to do this, as in I'm taking advantage that the show is popular and all. That I know they have their hands tied because they would look awful if they got rid of me now. As if I'm plotting all of this in a way that they can't do anything about it. He also said that I should have informed them of the situation when I was hired."

Blaine stopped to take a deep breath and Kurt, whose mind was running with rage at what he was hearing, started to talk quickly. "How can someone be so narcissistic as to think you're scheming this to get them to be in a complicated position?"

"I don't know, babe." Blaine said, sounding a bit sad. "Anyway, Allyson stopped me from going to the guy's jugular and she... I had never heard her talking like that." Kurt could tell from his tone that he was still surprised. "She told the guy that asking me to list my sexuality before hiring me would have been as much discrimination and as much of a reason to sue them as firing me for it. And that he should consider himself lucky that I'd been nice enough to inform them before coming out because what I do with my private life shouldn't be of the network's interest in the first place."

"Wow" was Kurt's not very eloquent answer.

"Yeah, I know," Blaine said and Kurt knew he was smiling. "But overall, it went fine. They're sticking to my side, that's good."

"It is." Kurt thought for a moment before asking. "How was it?"

The question was ambiguous, but Blaine understood. "I thought I was gonna pass out before getting there, but actually saying it, it was freeing. It felt really good."

Kurt realised only after he did so that he had sighed in relief. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, babe. I am too."

They shared a small, comfortable silence, until Blaine spoke again. "Oh. I was thinking, I want to tell Zooey and Lucy before it's out there."

"Really?" Kurt asked surprised, he knew they got along pretty well but he didn't think Blaine was going to tell his co-stars.

"Yeah, coming on set the first day after it's out is going to be weird, I want to tell someone. I trust them and I don't particularly want them to hear it from the media instead of me, so... I'm going to tell them after I'm back, before the magazine is out."

"Sounds good to me." Kurt said. He realised then that their car had stopped, they were at the driveway of his parents house. "Love, I'm at my parents' place already. Can I call you back later?"

"Yes, of course. Have fun! I'll talk to you later and see you on Friday night."

Friday night, Kurt tried not to think about that. He had been freaking out enough already about it.

"It's going to be just fine." Blaine said reassuringly, as he knew how nervous Kurt was about Friday night. "I love you," he added.

"I love you, too." Kurt finished the call.

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Kurt spent that day catching up with his family and the next day they had a lovely Thanksgiving. He woke up really early for Black Friday and he spent it with Mercedes and Tina, who were the only two of his girls who were back home for the holidays. Rachel, on the contrary, had stayed in New York as she had gotten a small part on a TV movie. Since Kurt had moved to New York, Black Friday in Ohio wasn't that exciting but he loved his time shopping with the girls.

Blaine had gotten to Ohio just in time to spend Thanksgiving with his parents (Cooper hadn't been able to make it back home).

On Friday evening, Kurt swallowed the ball of nerves in his throat and drove his way to Westerville. Blaine's parents' house was beautiful; a little too pristine for Kurt's liking, but pretty nonetheless. He rang the bell.

The door was opened by a woman in her fifties (she either had been very young when Cooper was born or she was really good at taking care of her skin). Anne Anderson was a short, really beautiful woman. Her golden skin was the clearest hint of her Filipino heritage but truly, if Kurt hadn't known her parents were from the Philippines, he wouldn't have guessed. Her eyes were greener than Blaine's but the sweetness of them was the one in his boyfriend's eyes.

She greeted him politely and Kurt shook her hand and introduced himself. It wasn't until he was inside and went to take his coat off that he noticed Blaine. His boyfriend had been standing at the bottom of the staircase, apparently watching them interact. He moved closer to Kurt and helped him out of his coat, kissing his lips chastely and breathing a soft "hi" in the process. Kurt relaxed a little.

They moved to the living room, where Blaine sat next to Kurt on the coach. Blaine asked him about Thanksgiving and his day as his mom came and went from the kitchen, where she was checking on dinner. She tuned into their conversation from time to time, making sure to point out Blaine's craving for pumpkin pie and the mysterious disappearing of the leftovers of that particular dish over the night.

When Mrs. Anderson came back from the kitchen for the third time, she announced dinner was ready and went the other way to call her husband.

Kurt understood how Cooper had come to be as Milton Anderson entered the room and he found himself in front of a version of his boyfriend's brother at the age of sixty. Mr. Anderson was tall and strong and had a jaw line that some people would kill for. His eyes were piercing and as blue as Cooper's. His clearly curly but quite gelled hair, even though on the grayer side, was the only physical feature he shared with his youngest son.

As the man reached them, Kurt moved towards him and introduced himself, extending a hand for him to shake. For a brief instant he feared Mr. Anderson wasn't going to take it, as the man seemed to be inspecting him, but he did. "It's good to meet you, too," he eventually said and Kurt's heart started to beat again. His voice was strong and powerful, but amiable. A bit of a sharper, more profound version of Blaine's own voice.

As they moved to the dinning room, Blaine took his hand and squeezed it. He did it as if saying "See? We're doing fine." Kurt hoped they could say the same by the end of the evening. There was a certain aspect of it that he was particularly nervous about.

They sat down and Blaine purposely pulled him to sit to his side, taking his hand under the table. The Andersons kept the conversation flowing on everyday subjects, nothing too serious. At some point, the conversation shifted to Kurt: his back-story, his career and aspirations (Anne seemed interested then, but her husband, even though he didn't judge or said something demeaning, didn't sound interested at all) and, eventually, his family (both of them had been interested on Burt's time as a congressman).

Kurt had learned some things about Mr. And Mrs. Anderson during the last few months. They were nice people who loved their children. They just usually didn't get them. He pretty much confirmed that over the evening. They were happy Blaine was doing fine, but they still would have preferred him to go in a different, more classic direction job-wise. They weren't uncomfortable with his sexuality or with Kurt and they were polite and nice to him over the whole dinner, but he got the feeling they would have been happier had there been a girl sitting in his place.

By the time the dessert was out, Kurt realised Blaine was becoming nervous. He squeezed his knee and Blaine looked up at him, a silent question in his eyes as he took Kurt's hand and held it against his leg. Kurt nodded almost imperceptibly.

Blaine took a breath and looked at his parents. "There's something I want to tell you." He said and Kurt squeezed his hand in support one more time. He still wasn't sure why he had insisted on accompanying Blaine when he announced this, but he had offered to do so and therefore he had only himself to blame for what he had gotten into.

Blaine's parents looked at him curious. Mr. Anderson's gaze briefly moved to Kurt and the boy suddenly felt exposed. Blaine started to talk then and all the attention was back on him. "I'm going to come out publicly next month. I'm doing an interview with People when I'm back in New York this week."

The silence that reigned on that dinner table for a few seconds would be stored on Kurt's mind for a long time.

"You're sure you want to do this, Blaine?" His mother eventually asked.

"I am, I'm really tired of hiding, mom. And I truly believe I can make a difference," Blaine answered thoughtfully and Kurt could hear in his voice how emotional he was getting.

His mother seemed to weight his answer for a second, but then she stretched her hand over the table to take her son's. They looked at each other as if they didn't need more words than that.

"Are you doing this for him? Because I get it, you're in love, but you can't take something like this back later, Blaine," his father asked, interrupting their silent exchange. His tone wasn't demeaning or degrading towards Kurt, but it was strong and it gave Kurt the certainty that the elder Anderson wasn't going to give up until he got a truthful, straightforward answer.

"It really isn't like that, dad. It may be because of him but it's not for him. He never pressured me to do this, he has been more understandable about this than anyone has been before. And he actually had a lot to lose in this bargain. If he has something to do with it, it's that he gave me the strength, he made me realise I can be myself. But he has never asked me to do anything." Blaine turned and looked at Kurt, communicating so much with just a look. Then he looked back to his father. "I'm doing this because I want it."

"What about your career?" Mr. Anderson insisted.

"We don't know what would happen but I'd like to think I got a chance at this not being that much of a big deal. The people from the show are by my side, and yes, that does have a limit but I'm hoping we don't reach it. Even then, I don't need to be American's heartthrob, I never asked for that. As long as I can continue to act or do music at some capacity and support myself with that, I'd be a happy man. And one who is truthful to himself and to others, instead of being a farce," Blaine explained.

"You are sure you don't want to give this a couple more years of consideration? Wait until your career settles more, make sure you really want it."

"I'm not sure I can make it to the end of the year. I need to do this, dad. You don't know how it feels to lie every single day of your life, I can't do that anymore. I'm doing this. I hope you can support me, but I'm doing it even if you aren't." Blaine ran a hand through his hair. Kurt could tell he was getting frustrated.

Mr. Anderson seemed to think for a moment. He looked at his son. His expression didn't get softer but he said, "You're a grown up, I don't get a say in this. Just, be careful, ok? I know you have good intentions and you want to stand for what you believe, but... choose your battles wisely. Don't get caught up on this because you can't let go."

"I... I promise I'll keep that in mind," Blaine said and his posture relaxed. His mother stood up then and walked around the table to pull his son up and hug him.

Kurt thought about the advice Blaine's father had given his son. Knowing Blaine, it probably was something good for him to hear.

When Blaine sat back down, his father put a hand on his shoulder. Apparently, Milton Anderson wasn't exactly a man of much physical contact. However, Kurt got the feeling that, given the circumstances, things had gone considerably well.