Kurt's brother came in like a hurricane. It was quiet and calm in the Hummel household. Kurt and Blaine were sitting in the living room, talking about their journey when the entrance door opened and Finn marched into the house, dropping all his stuff on the floor and running to hug

his mother and Burt. Then he wrapped his arms around Kurt and Blaine realized that Finn was even taller than what he looked like on the photos in Kurt's and Rachel's apartment.

"You must be Blaine. Nice to meet you." He focused on Blaine as soon as he greeted every member of his family and Blaine smiled in return, holding his hand out to him. Finn shook it and patted Blaine's shoulder in a friendly gesture. Blaine still felt a little intimidated though.

"I am soooo hungry. I'll just put my things into my room and we can start with dinner. Gosh, I missed a home-made food."

"That's because you refuse to learn anything about cooking." Kurt reminded him but Finn just grinned at him and left the room.

"Okay. Let's move to the dining room then." Carol suggested and they moved, barely getting to their seat when Finn ran to the room and threw himself on a chair closest to him.

"What's for dinner?" He asked eagerly.

"Grilled chicken with salad."

"I can go with that if we have some snack for later." Kurt looked at him disapprovingly.

"No snacks later. You can watch whatever you want but only snack you are allowed to eat is fruit or vegetables."

"Don't be such a buzzkill, Kurt."

"No."

"Kuuuuuuurt." Finn whined and then he decided to play with big guns. "Blaine?"

"Yeah?" Blaine asked warily, not sure why he would be drawn into the conversation.

"Do you like football?

"I do."

"Are you going to watch with us? Burt always records games so we can watch it together."

"I suppose I am."

"Great. It'll be so much fun. We are Buckeyes fans but you know we are pretty liberal in this house so whoever you support, we're okay with that." Finn explained with his mouth full, not waiting for others to have their meal served.

"Okay."

"So, Kurt..." Kurt rolled his eyes. Whatever Finn had in his mind, it was probably going to make Kurt amused and angry at the same time. "I can't really invite Blaine for a game without snacks. What would it say about our hospitality?" Kurt snorted while Blaine chuckled. Finn was wearing a proud smirk, because hey, he'd been family with Kurt for years and he'd learned how to manipulate him.

"You're not helping." Kurt accused Blaine and Blaine muttered silent sorry.

"Since there are three of you, you can have two bags of popcorn."

"Only two? It's not even one bag per person!" Finn complained but Burt stopped him.

"Take it, buddy. It's the best sale we are going to get tonight."

"Can you boys stop being yourselves for a while?" Carol asked them. "I don't want Blaine to think we are crazy on his first night here."

"Don't worry, Mom. He was going to find out either way."

"Finn!" Kurt exclaimed, making Finn laugh. Then Burt started to praise his wife's cooking and the topic over the table changed. Blaine was charming the hell out of the Hummel- Hudson family and Kurt was observing his interaction with his family members. From the outside he seemed to be relaxed and at ease, being his sweet self although Kurt could see how he sometimes wiped his sweaty hands into his designer pants. Kurt didn't say much at dinner. He spent the time watching others and listening to them, thinking about how natural the situation was. Blaine bonded with Finn and Burt over football and sports in general and he managed to sweep Carol off her feet by his endless knowledge about arts.

After dinner, Kurt sent the guys off to watch their game with a bowl of popcorn and some beer while he and Carol stayed in the kitchen, putting the dishes into the dishwasher.

"How is work going? Did they finally tell you more about your promotion?" Kurt asked his stepmother as he finished filling the washer.

"Not really. Honestly, I don't think I'm going to get it…"

"Why not?"

"There are lot of much younger people there…"

"But you have experience they don't."

"Yeah but I still think they'd rather promote someone who will stay with them for a long time. I'm on my way to retirement, Kurt."

"Don't be silly. You have years until you retire."

"Less than those thirty year olds have...but enough of me. Tell me more about Blaine." Carol smiled at him encouragingly and Kurt sighed.

"What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you are willing to share."

"There is nothing more than what I already told you on the phone. We're friends, we hang out a lot and that's it."

"So your sudden break up with Adam - which you refused to talk about by the way - had nothing to do with a charming cutie in our living room?"

"I broke up with Adam because we grew apart. He proposed and I wasn't ready to marry him. I really don't have anything else to say on the matter."

"Okay. I'm going to be blunt. Do you have feelings for Blaine?" Kurt broke an eye contact with the woman sitting opposite him and looked at his hands. He was quiet for a while. Carol was patiently waiting for an answer. He would talk, she knew him. She even dared to think she knew him as much as she knew her own son. True to her premise, Kurt raised his eyes from his lap and fixed them on the wall behind Carol.

"I'm not sure...I might have…" He admitted and then silence fell over them again.

"He is a very nice guy, Kurt." Carol said. "You don't have to be afraid of him purposely hurting you. We all can see how much he cares about you."

"I'm not afraid of that…"

"But you are afraid of something." Kurt bit his lip and nodded. He was afraid. He was so afraid his feelings would get in the way and screw everything up.

"He is precious, you know. He is...He is the best friend I've ever had. He is selfless and genuinely sweet. He takes but gives twice as much back...I could sit here till the early hours and talk highly about him because there isn't anything bad in his personality. I have this urge to take care of him and protect him from evil and I don't know why. And he does the exact same thing for me. We are honest with each other. We respect each other...We can spend endless hours talking as well as we can just spend the time together in complete silence and enjoy it…"

"Why are you afraid to acknowledge that you are in love with him?"

"Because I would be in for heartbreak. I'm not good enough for him. He doesn't know a lot from my past and…"

"Your past has nothing to do with your present or future, Kurt."

"Yeah, it has...I'm purposely lying to him, Carol." Kurt frowned and took a while before continuing. "We are honest with each other but there are some things that I hide."

"Why?"

"Because they might hurt him...I can't tell him about all of the bullying. He knows I was bullied but that's it. No detail but there is so much in it and he is aware of that. Sometimes I say something and he asks questions and I always say that it's hard to talk about but it's not. It isn't hard to talk about but I can't stand the thought of him being hurt so I purposely lie to him."

"I don't understand, Kurt."

"He believes that there is something good in everybody. He built his whole persona around it. He doesn't like negativity and his first instinct is to run away from everything that isn't positive. If I told him what happened to me, his whole world would turn upside down. It would be hard for him to comprehend that someone could be so cruel...especially to me. He's like an innocent child. And I love that about him."

"Kurt, every innocent child has to learn eventually that the world can be cruel sometimes. Do you really think he doesn't know that? Blaine is a grown man. You don't have to keep him in the dark about anything."

"You don't know him. He doesn't watch the news. He says there is so much negativity that it literally makes him sick. If he wants to know what's new in the world, he reads something online but if the title of the article suggests that some bad news is written there, he doesn't open it. He can see something bad happened but he won't go for details. Why would I give him details about my shitty years before New York?"

"Because he wants to know and sometimes it helps when you talk about your troubles. There are things you haven't told anybody Kurt. We are pretty sure you weren't honest with us about your bullying. There was much more to the bullying than you were letting on. Maybe getting it out would finally help you."

"There is no need to go back. What happened, happened. Talking about it is not going to change the past."

"But it could change the future." Carol pinpointed, not helping Kurt's mood at all. He hated sometimes when parents were right. "So after everything you've just told me you still insist that what you feel for him is only pure friendship?"

"He needs to take the first step, Carol. After what he's been through he has to be sure about us." A glimpse of victory was shining in Carol's eyes. She'd been after specific information and she got it.

"And when that happens? What will you do?"

"I'll take that step with him."

Meanwhile in the living room, Blaine was having fun with Burt and Finn until Burt fell asleep. He couldn't remember the last time he'd watched a football game as a family event with his father and brother and he liked how it was a tradition in Kurt's family. He didn't even care it was an old game recorded poorly because Burt apparently had pushed some wrong buttons while recording it. Being honest, he had to admit that he'd been scared of coming to Ohio with Kurt. He hadn't known what to expect and the only reason he had said yes to Kurt was Kurt's enthusiasm when he had gotten the idea of them going on a road trip. Blaine found himself in situations he'd never expected to be in and it was all because of Kurt. All for Kurt. All for seeing him smile. All for making Kurt happy.

"Blaine?" Blaine was pulled out of his thoughts by Finn who was eyeing him closely. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I kinda zoned out. Sorry."

"You're a cool guy." Finn's words surprised him. He tensed a little again, not sure what that was about.

"Thanks?" Blaine responded warily.

"You know, Kurt is my little brother and you might be the coolest guy in the world, but I won't give a shit about it if you hurt him."

"I would never…" Finn didn't let him finish his sentence. He raised his hands, indicating there was more to tell so Blaine shut up.

"Yeah, of course you would never hurt him. That's what everybody says in the beginning. Kurt is the best. He went through hell but in the end he came out as a winner. He is out and proud and I don't think he should be with someone who wants him to keep their relationship in secret even in front of his family. You might be a superstar, Blaine, but Kurt deserves someone who will proudly acknowledge him as a boyfriend. I don't care what your reasons for hiding are but it's not cool. It makes an impression that he is not good enough for you and that is not true."

"Finn…"

"I haven't finished yet. You wanna date Kurt? Great, I have no reservation but do it openly. Kurt doesn't deserve hiding."

"Finn, please let me talk, okay?"

"I hope you have a good reason why you keep saying you aren't together. I might have been really oblivious in high school but I'm quite good at reading others now. You can say whatever you want; I saw how you were looking at each other."

"I have a good reason. The reason is that we aren't dating, Finn." Finn just snorted and shook his head. Wasn't Blaine listening to him at all? Finn wasn't stupid. He knew when his brother was in love with someone!

"I swear, Finn. Kurt is an amazing person and the last thing I would do if we were together would be keeping it secret...well, maybe I wouldn't go public to press because things would get messy, but I certainly wouldn't want him to act like there was nothing between us if it wasn't true. Any guy would be lucky to have him and that applies to me as well. I would be proud to call him mine and I wouldn't be afraid to show it."

"Why the hell aren't you together then?"

"He just broke up with Adam. I don't think it's time for him to date…" Blaine answered lamely.

"You're kidding, right? They broke up like three months ago! What are you waiting for?"

"We are friends. Kurt doesn't like me that way…"

"And that's where you are wrong, buddy. Kurt had a crush on me when he was sixteen and we weren't related then, after that he sort of had a crush on another guy from our glee club and then he was dating Adam. From previous experience, I can tell when my brother is crushing on somebody and trust me; his crush on you is so big that I don't hesitate to say that he is already in love with you." Blaine shrugged his shoulders and without saying anything he turned his head to face the TV again. However, he didn't pay any attention to the game. Nick and Jeff regularly nagged him about Kurt but he never listened to them. Why would Kurt want someone like Blaine? He was a coward afraid of his own shadow and a guy like Kurt needed more than that. Hearing from Finn that Kurt might actually be in love with Blaine was thrilling. Despite the warm feeling in his chest he wasn't sure what to do with the information. What if Finn was wrong after all?

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you please not tell Kurt what we talked about? He would kill me if he knew."

"Sure." Blaine had no intention of ever mentioning to Kurt or another living soul what Finn had told him. He was about to bring the conversation back on the game when Kurt and Carol came to the room. Carol woke Burt up and took him upstairs to bed while Kurt announced that he was still as interested in football as ever and went to his room to read a book. Blaine and Finn continued to watch the game in comfortable silence and when it was over Blaine followed Finn upstairs and they said their goodnights in front of their respective rooms. Blaine softly knocked on the door and waited for soft come in.

"You don't have to knock." Kurt told him when he entered the room. "It's your room as well as it is mine." Smiling, Blaine walked to his suitcase to look for his pyjamas.

"I'm going to change." He said and disappeared in Kurt's bathroom. Kurt put his book on a bedside table and turned off the lights. He let the lamp beside his bed on so Blaine wouldn't trip on his way to bed and made himself comfortable in his sheets. Blaine joined him mere minutes later, bashfully sliding under the covers. He felt a bit ridiculous. It wasn't the first time they slept side by side but he'd never thought of the possibility that Kurt might be in love with him before. Now, everything was different. How was he supposed to deal with the fact? Was he himself in love with Kurt? He'd never been in love. He had had boyfriends and acquaintances in the past but he couldn't honestly say that he'd loved at least one of them. The feelings that came with Kurt were confusing for him and he wasn't ready to put their friendship at stake. He knew that much.

"What is going through your pretty head?" Kurt whispered, shifting closer to him.

"Nothing. It was an eventful day." Blaine responded in an equally tender voice.

"It was. I'm so glad you're here, Blaine. I know that dealing with my family must be stressful at first but they like you. I want you to relax while we're here."

"I will. I promise." Kurt was looking him right in the eyes, with a smile that could light up the darkest night.

"What?" Blaine asked, quirking his eyebrows.

"I've never had a boy sleepover in here." Kurt admitted with a big grin. "All of the girls in our glee club slept here at one point but the only guy I ever had here was Adam and we were dating at the time so it doesn't count as a friend sleepover. I dreamt about having a friend, a boy to share my secrets with but there was no one good enough for the job amongst the boys I knew."

"Am I good enough for it?"

"You're perfect for it." Now it was Blaine's turn for a wide smile. God, how much he loved to see Kurt like this. Happy and content, without any worries from the outside world…

"So tell me, Kurt. What other dreams did you use to have? What were your secrets?"