The morning after prom (very nearly afternoon), Blaine woke to the sun shining brightly through the single open balcony door. They needed to be out of the room by noon so Blaine glanced at the clock on the wall. Ah, yes, they still had a little over an hour. After they watched the sun rise for a good twenty minutes, the couple had collapsed onto the large bed in their hotel room. Blaine turned his head on the pillow to see Kurt sprawled out on his stomach, the sheet settled low on his naked hips. The sun almost reflected off his pale, perfect skin, but Blaine could still see the few freckles that dotted his back. He couldn't say how many times he'd mapped out those freckles with his tongue, couldn't say how many times he'd dug his fingers into the flesh surrounding them, but they would always fascinate him. The rest of Kurt was so pristine; there wasn't a single mark on his chest. But, as Blaine lay there counting them, there were six tiny, precious, remarkable freckles littering his skin and Blaine fell in love with them all over again.

Simply because he could, he rolled over and propped his head up on his hand and let the other trail, feather light, over the six little freckles. He heard Kurt sigh softly in his sleep and he saw the little prickle of goosebumps raise over his lover's skin at the touch. Blaine smiled at the reaction, his fingers skipping up to the hairline at the top of Kurt's neck. He'd never tire of watching Kurt's sleep. No, Blaine was not a morning person, but on the rare occasions when he was able to wake before Kurt, he would admit to watching the slow, even rise and fall of his chest, looking at the way his eyelashes seemed darker when they were fluttered closed against his cheeks.

Kurt was simply beautiful and Blaine swooned, his heart aching in his chest because sometimes looking at Kurt did that to him.

"Mmm…Blaine?" Kurt mumbled, his eyes flitting open to look up at Blaine with sleep-heavy lids.

"I'm here," Blaine replied, not really knowing why he needed to say it.

Kurt's smile was slow and languid. "How long have you been awake?"

"Few minutes."

"Mmm," Kurt sighed again, reaching an arm out to drape over Blaine's hip. "Time's it?"

"About eleven," Blaine said, letting his fingers brush a lock of hair away from Kurt's forehead. "We should get up."

Kurt nodded his head on the pillow, but his eyes fell closed again. "We should."

"I don't want to."

"Me neither," Kurt admitted, cuddling closer and pressing a soft kiss to Blaine's bicep. "Let's stay here forever."

"You want to stay a lot of places forever," Blaine said with a tiny laugh that was soaked up by the sunlight in the room.

"Anywhere with you is okay with me."

Oh, and then Blaine's heart did that swooning, aching thing again so Blaine cupped Kurt's face with a gentle hand.

"We'll make it," Blaine said in reference to their heartfelt conversation from the previous night. "We'll make it."

Kurt smiled again then. "Yeah. I think we will."

The car Blaine's parents had sent for dropped them off at Blaine's house that afternoon and Kurt followed his boyfriend up the stairs to his room because…well, just because. He could have gone home, he could just go home and tell his parents about the wonderfully perfect evening he just had, but the weekend had been simply amazing and he didn't feel like parting with Blaine just yet.

He began to rethink this choice when Blaine unrolled his balled up suit jacket that he'd been holding in his lap for most of the ride.

"…You did not."

"I couldn't help it," Blaine gushed. "He was so cute."

"…Blaine, it's a towel."

"Yeah, a teddy towel," Blaine told him as if that made the fact that he'd stolen the bear-shaped towel from the hotel room make perfect sense.

Kurt didn't know if he wanted to smack Blaine's head or kiss the tip of his nose as he watched Blaine settle the teddy towel right next to Kurt CoBlaine on his bed.

"Foster."

Kurt quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"His name is Foster," Blaine repeated, making it sound as if it were obvious.

"…You're naming the teddy towel Foster."

"It's a perfectly respectable name."

"Oh my god, you have no idea how often I question your sanity."

"People name things all the time!" Blaine said in his defense.

"People name their cars and their computers and even their phones," Kurt ceded the point. "But you just stole a towel from a hotel room. You named a stolen towel, which, I must say, is a huge step up from naming the squirrel you murdered."

"I didn't murder Parsnip!"

"I should use that towel," Kurt nodded to where it sat on the bed. "I should take a shower right now and I should use that towel to dry off with."

"No!" Blaine shouted immediately, snatching Foster up in his arms. "Kurt, please don't. Please."

"You are certifiably nuts. I have this feeling that when we move in together you are going to name every damn fork, spoon, and knife in silverware drawer."

"I will name the appliances but not the utensils."

"…You have a problem."

"You can't use Foster."

"You should see somebody about this problem."

"If you dry off with Foster, I'll set fire to your Vogue magazine collection."

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "Try it hobbit, and see what that gets you."

"You stay away from Foster and we won't have a problem."

Kurt eyed the hand that Blaine held out, considered the idea, and then shook it firmly.

"Deal."

"Good," Blaine nodded, setting Foster the Teddy Towel back on his bed next to Kurt CoBlaine.

"You are so fucking adorable," Kurt said, the corners of his lips twitching up. "I can't even handle how damn cute you are sometimes."

Blaine adjusted one of Foster's ears. "I can't help it that I like things like this."

"I know. And it makes it even more endearing."

Blaine turned back to look at Kurt with a surprised expression. "You…think it's endearing?"

"Disgustingly so."

Blaine grinned broadly and then turned back to his teddy towel. "That makes me happy."

Kurt emitted an amused sigh and walked over to press a kiss into Blaine's hair. "You make me happy."

Blaine fiddled a bit more with Foster as Kurt slid the camera out of Blaine's pocket.

"Can we look now?" he asked.

"Oh! I totally forgot about the pictures," Blaine realized, setting Foster aside and scooting over next to Kurt as he sat on the bed.

It seemed Jared had taken many, many pictures. There were multiple photos of Puck shoving various foods up his nostrils, loads of everyone dancing and gathering for group shots, and plenty of everyone posing with their dates. There was even one where someone else had the camera and Jared was in the shot, lifting up the already obscenely high split of Santana's dress with Santana making a falsely shocked face with her hand over her lips.

But Jared had, true to his word, captured many shots of Blaine and Kurt together.

The couple decided their favorite was of them during their first slow dance. The perfect angle of the shot showed Kurt with his arms around Blaine's waist, Blaine's hands hanging from Kurt's shoulders, and Blaine's head resting right up against Kurt's cheek, his curls nestled against Kurt's neck. They both had small, blissful smiles on their faces and their eyes were closed.

Yeah. That one was totally going up on Facebook.

At school on Monday, the Glee club was in a frenzy. They'd be leaving for New York that Thursday, the competition would be held Friday morning, and they'd be returning Saturday afternoon.

"Wait, so we'll have time on Friday to actually walk around the city?" Kurt wanted to clarify.

"Yes," Mr. Schue nodded. "But you aren't allowed to go anywhere alone. You have to have at least one person with you at all times. I'd prefer if you had two or three, but I really just don't want any of you wandering off and getting mugged or something."

Everyone broke into conversations about where they wanted to go and what they wanted to see, but Kurt would be spending the next few years of his life in New York. There was only one place he wanted to see.

"Hey, do you think…"

"Yeah?" Blaine asked, his eyes trained on Kurt's hesitant face.

"Do you think we could…maybe…go look at the condo? The one your parents gave to you – uh, us?"

"I've been there, it's nothing crazy."

"Well, yeah but…I mean, we haven't been there. And it's…it's kind of our place now, isn't it? I just…want to see," Kurt finished, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

Blaine seemed to understand because he gave Kurt this really sweet smile and brought his thumb up to pull Kurt's lip out from between his teeth. "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. We can definitely do that." He leaned in and gave Kurt a chaste kiss.

They were boarding the plane that would take them straight to New York and Kurt was damn near having a panic attack. He stowed his bag in the compartment above where his seat was located and let Blaine slide in to sit next to the window. Kurt took the middle seat and Mercedes took the aisle seat.

"We should drive. Why can't we drive? New York really isn't that far from Ohio. We're driving there when we go to school. We should drive. Driving is definitely better."

"Whoa, Kurt, calm down," Blaine said, placing a hand over Kurt's on the armrest between them. "It's okay."

"It's okay when you're not being hurled through the air at thirty thousand feet in a TIN CAN. Okay would be driving. It could have been a road trip. This is so far from okay."

"Boy, I will slap you if you don't quit," Mercedes warned. "We aren't gonna die."

"Dying? What, no, who said anything about dying? No, no, I'm just terrified of – of-"

"Of…?" Mercedes prompted.

"Of this entire metal tube falling out of the sky and crashing into some damn island and then we'll all be stuck there and it'll be like LOST and we'll have to scrounge for food and there will be too much sun and DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT WILL DO TO MY SKIN?"

"Baby," Blaine shushed him, taking Kurt's face in his hands and forcing him to look at him, wild fear evident in his eyes. "We're going to be fine. I've flown hundreds of times. We're perfectly safe."

"I'm taking your seat cushion," Kurt said seriously. "This will end like Titanic. I will hoard your seat cushion flotation device even though there's plenty room for both of us and I will sing 'My Heart Will Go On' at your funeral."

"Dude, did you bring any chloroform to SHUT HIM UP?" Puck asked from the seat behind them.

"SHUT IT, PUCKERMAN," Kurt snapped loudly, breaking away from Blaine's hands to turn back to the other boy.

"Kurt!" Blaine snapped back. "Look at me."

He didn't continue speaking until Kurt had turned back to face him.

"It's going to be just fine. I'll be right here the entire time. Once we're in the air we can even watch a movie on my laptop and you won't have to think about it anymore."

"I'm scared," Kurt admitted in a small voice.

"I know," Blaine said with a nod, wrapping his arm around Kurt's shoulders. "But I'll be right here."

"Promise?" Kurt asked, his voice wavering.

"I promise. Unless I have to pee," Blaine said. And then he smiled a very naughty smile that Kurt was slowly getting used to. "In which case, you can always join me."

"WHUHOH!" Mercedes said next to them. "Not something I wanted to hear."

"Like I don't tell you everything anyway," Kurt snorted.

"…It's way different hearing it second hand."

"Sure," Blaine teased.

Mercedes groaned and shoved her earphones into her ears, effectively blocking them out as the stewardesses began explaining all the safety precautions and emergency exits. Such a speech began to cause Kurt to panic again, and Blaine was sure to squeeze their fingers together, hoping to impart some sense of calm.

"One day I'll take you on my parents' plane," Blaine said to try and distract Kurt from his fear of flying. "It's much nicer than a commercial airline. You won't be nearly as scared. Plus, they give me champagne and wine and stuff. Way better food than we'll get on this flight."

"I don't think I'll be eating," Kurt grumbled.

"Wise choice," Blaine nodded. "But when they come around with the drinks, you should at least have some water.

The seatbelt sign came on and soon enough the aircraft was reversing and rolling around on the tarmac. Kurt had his eyes shut tight the entire time and his hands gripped the armrests so hard his knuckles were pure white. Blaine kept one hand on top of Kurt's nearest him and kept his head turned, whispering words of encouragement into Kurt's ear until the plane was finally taking off.

"Oh god," Kurt started. "Oh god, oh god, oh god."

"Hey, it's okay, I'm right here. Don't worry, you're going to be fine, I promise. Here, take some gum and chew it," Blaine urged, reaching his hand into his pocket and holding out a piece of chewing gum to take. But Kurt refused to move and he refused to release his hold on the arm rests. "Open your mouth," Blaine instructed, unwrapping the gum. But Kurt didn't so much as breathe until Blaine had the stick of gum at his lips and Kurt quickly brought it into his mouth, chewing furiously.

"Ugh," Kurt finally spoke, "what is that and why does it taste like orange? Blegh."

"Just keep chewing it until we level off."

"This is disgusting."

"Kurt, it's gum, just chew it."

"I hate you. I hate you and I hate planes and I hate that awful sound that this plane is making, is that even normal?"

"Yes, Kurt everything is normal. If something seems off to me, I'll let you know."

"…Yeah, maybe you shouldn't. Ignorance is bliss and all that."

"Do you want to look out the window?" Blaine offered. "It's really pretty."

"I do not think that would be the wisest of choices at this point."

Blaine pried Kurt's hand off the armrest and held it tight. "It's okay. We're almost leveled off."

Kurt didn't really have much to say about that. In fact, he didn't have much to say at all for most of the plane ride. When the seatbelt sign finally turned off, Blaine retrieved his laptop and put in the movie Moulin Rouge, which seemed to distract Kurt long enough while he sipped at his bottled water. Things seemed to calm down.

Until Blaine needed to use the bathroom.

"No, no, can't you wait? The flight's not long. We'll be there soon," Kurt pleaded. "Please. Please, don't leave me."

"Kurt, by the time we land, it'll take like twenty minutes for us to pull into-"

"Blaine, please."

Blaine looked to Mercedes who was busy trying to suppress her laughter.

"Baby, I have to pee."

"You can hold it."

"You can come with me and stand outside the door."

"This is ridiculous. Why is your bladder so small? Why did you drink so much coffee before we left?"

"Ohmygod, I'm about to piss myself," Blaine said, standing and then reaching down to unbuckle Kurt's seatbelt. "Come on."

"No, no, don't make me le – Blaine, no – ah!"

Kurt continued to protest as Blaine dragged him out of the seat and practically had to pull him over Mercedes. They were getting a bit of attention from other passengers and one of the stewardesses asked what the problem was.

"Nothing, ma'am, we're sorry to disturb. It's his first time flying and he's scared."

"Well…alright then…"

She let them pass until they reached the door of the onboard restroom.

"Just…stay right here," Blaine said, trying to pull his hand out of Kurt's.

"No, no, no, you can't leave me here alone," Kurt said, eyes frantic.

"Oh for the-" Blaine glanced around quickly. When he made sure no one was looking in their direction, he pulled open the door to the bathroom and tugged Kurt inside quickly. "Now just…be quiet," Blaine whispered. "They frown upon this sort of thing."

Kurt was NOT at all happy with the situation as Blaine turned to face the little toilet…thing and unzipped his jeans in order to relieve himself. For some reason, Kurt did not like that he couldn't see Blaine's face and he pressed even closer against his boyfriend in the tiny, tiny bathroom, his fingers fisting in the back of Blaine's shirt and resting his forehead on Blaine's shoulder.

"Kurt, I'm not really going anywhere," Blaine said, amusement thick in his voice as he finished his business and tucked himself back into his pants.

"I don't care," Kurt said quickly, shaking his head against Blaine's shoulder.

"You're gonna have to – here," Blaine said after flushing the small toilet. He put his hands behind him and on Kurt's hips while he maneuvered them so that Blaine was now facing the sink and he could wash his hands. "So, as cramped as it is in here, you're kind of cute like this."

"Like what, terrified out of my mind?"

"No," Blaine said. "Just…all clingy like this."

"Don't make fun."

"I'm not," Blaine said genuinely, drying his hands and tossing the paper towel in the trashcan. And then he whipped around, catching Kurt off guard, whose eyes flew open in surprise, and his hands came up to wind around Kurt's neck. "You're adorable."

"I don't like planes," Kurt whimpered, pressing his face into Blaine's hair.

"I know," Blaine said, kissing Kurt's cheek. "We'll be landing soon. C'mon."

Blaine poked his head out of the lavatory and made sure no one saw them climb out together before they returned to Mercedes and settled into their seats.

"Please don't tell me you two just-"

"No," Blaine said swiftly. "He wouldn't even detach himself while I pissed."

"Shut up," Kurt grumbled, refastening his seatbelt, just as the captains voice came over the intercom to say they'd be landing soon.

And then Kurt had a near nervous breakdown because the landing was a little rough and Blaine actually thought Kurt might vomit. As soon as they pulled into the airport, Kurt was vibrating in his seat and as soon as the pilot turned off the seatbelt sign and as soon as they were allowed to de-board, Kurt flew past Mercedes like a shot, straight down the aisle and straight off the plane. He even left his bag behind which Blaine was forced to carry off for him.

When the rest of New Directions was finally de-boarded as well, they found Kurt standing next to a giant pole, resting his forehead on the thing, mumbling 'thank you, thank you, thank you'.

"Hey," Blaine greeted him cautiously. "Here's your bag."

Kurt straightened himself up, adjusted his shirt, took his bag on his shoulder, and nodded calmly.

"You okay?" Blaine asked.

"I'm perfectly fine," Kurt replied, falling in line with the rest of their group as they went to retrieve their bags.

Blaine bit back a smile. "If you say so."

But Blaine didn't tease him anymore after that. As soon as everyone had their suitcases, Mr. Schue began handing out room assignments for their hotel.

"Now uh…I was kind of ah, unsure of this one because…well, uh…anyway. The last room will have Puck, Finn, Blaine, and Kurt."

"Whoa, we have to – no way, they're totally gonna be like, going at it right next to us!" Finn said in defiance. "No offense," he said quickly to his brother. "I just don't need to hear like, any of that stuff."

And because their teacher stood there, Blaine refused to point out that Finn had, indeed, been in the same room when they had drunkenly dry-humped on the sofa at the party earlier in the year.

So instead, he said, "Finn, we wouldn't do that. We won't. I promise."

Finn still looked sort of skeptical.

"Finn, you have my word that Blaine and I will not have sex with you and Puck in the room," Kurt told him.

Blaine noticed that Kurt did not say they wouldn't have sex at all. But he kept his mouth shut when Finn reluctantly agreed to the arrangements and they all made their way outside to catch the small bus that was scheduled to pick them up.

Kurt immediately inhaled sharply when he stepped on the sidewalk of the hustling, bustling motion of New York City. No, they couldn't see the city itself, but there were taxi cabs and professional cars and limousines and people, people everywhere.

Blaine watched as Kurt immediately fell in love.

"Okay," Mr. Schuester was telling them on the bus. "There are a lot of schools performing. The competition itself has already started but we've been bracketed down about three or four times, so we'll only be competing against five other schools. So if we win, we win the national title for our section. We perform tomorrow morning and the awards are scheduled to be given out at about one in the afternoon."

Kurt was only semi-listening because wow, yeah, he was way too focused on everything he was seeing outside his window during the stop and go traffic of the city. There were so many people, so many businesses, so many building, so many everything. It was fascinating and he couldn't wait to get out of Ohio and he couldn't wait to live in a place like this. He turned his eyes to Blaine who had his attention on their teacher, Blaine who had been here multiple times. He often wondered if Blaine was already jaded and immune to the city's charm having been here (and many other places Kurt wanted to visit) so often. He sincerely hoped he wasn't.

When they arrived at their hotel (which wasn't all that fancy, but hey this was New York, and they seemed to be at the center of it all), they all received their room keys and were told to drop off their bags and then meet back in the lobby in ten minutes so that everyone could go to dinner together.

All Kurt wanted to do was sleep.

The plane ride and the nervousness and all the tension had slowly drained out of his body and now he was tired as hell. So he flopped down on one of the beds, the one nearest the window, as Blaine, Puck, and Finn shoved their things in corners of the room.

"Wha – we have to share a bed?" Finn asked in shock.

"It's not like they gave us four singles, Hudson," Puck pointed out. "Don't worry, I'm a great cuddle bunny."

Kurt snorted at the terrified look on Finn's face and then Blaine was in his line of sight, pressing a kiss on Kurt's forehead.

"Tired?" Blaine asked, ignoring the boys behind them who were squawking like a married couple, arguing about who got what side of the bed. He brushed a limp lock of hair away from Kurt's face.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Kurt told him, letting his eyes fall shut.

"Are you two gonna be all mushy this whole trip?" Finn felt the need to ask. "Because I-"

"Finn, would you please get over yourself?" Kurt snapped. "I am so not in the mood to deal with you right now. Not everything is about Blaine and I. Not everything has to do with us being boyfriends. We don't fuck every second of every minute of every day!"

"Whoa, scary Kurt. Okay. Jeeze, calm down," Finn backed off.

"Just…whatever," Kurt sighed, sitting up next to Blaine. "We should get down to the lobby."

Finn put a lot of space between him and Kurt for the rest of the evening. He did not want to bring scary Kurt out again.

They ended up eating a quaint little restaurant, New Directions being split between two enormous booths. When the waiter came to take their drink orders, he spoke to Kurt first.

"And what can I get you?" the waiter asked.

Kurt perused the back of the menu for a couple of seconds. "Just mineral water, thank you."

"You sure? I can always get you a little something to take the edge off," the waiter said with a wink that Kurt didn't see.

Blaine sat next to Kurt, eyeing the man with calculating eyes.

"No, just the water is fine."

"We've got some great beers on tap," the waiter pressed, smiling like a cat. "And the bartender makes perfect vodka sodas."

Kurt's head snapped up then and Blaine lifted an eyebrow, scooting closer to Kurt.

"I'm not even-"

But Blaine did not let his boyfriend finish his sentence because he slid his arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close to his side.

"Only if your bartender can make two," Blaine spoke with an angelic voice.

The waiter's eyes darted back and forth between the two boys before gracing them with an understanding smile.

"My apologies," the waiter said. "And for you?"

"Same," Blaine replied and then the waiter moved on to get everyone else's drink orders.

When the waiter was finally out of ear shot, Kurt turned his head towards Blaine, whose brows were furrowed as he looked at his menu.

"What just happened?" Kurt wondered.

"He was hitting on you," Blaine told him, not lifting his eyes.

"He – what?"

"Making a pass, flirting, whatever you want to call it," Blaine said with a wave of the hand that was not presently wrapped securely around Kurt's shoulders.

"…You're joking," Kurt said flatly. "You must be joking."

Blaine finally turned his head to look Kurt in the eyes.

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

Kurt took in Blaine's face, noting how much darker his eyes had become and seeing the worry lines on his forehead. "Uh…no, actually you don't."

"That's because I'm not."

"Blaine are you…" Kurt smiled slowly. "Are you jealous?"

"No. Why would I be jealous?"

"I think you're jealous."

Blaine snapped his menu shut and tossed it back on the table. "Fine. So I'm jealous. Happy?"

But Kurt didn't stop smiling, even at Blaine's obviously agitated tone.

"You do realize that you have nothing to be jealous over, don't you?"

"Yes," Blaine mumbled.

"Mhmm."

"You didn't even notice he was hitting on you. He could have dragged you off into the bathroom and you wouldn't have known what he wanted until he had his hands down your pants."

"…Are you calling me naïve?"

"No, I'm saying that you don't exactly have a lot of experience with other people flirting with you, so you can't really tell when they do it."

"Blaine, it's not like I was flirting back."

"Yeah, I know but…"

Kurt slithered his arm between Blaine's back and the seat of the booth they were sitting in as the waiter brought their drinks out. He didn't speak again until he had gone. "You're the only person I want to flirt with," he assured Blaine, sneaking a kiss to his boyfriend's temple.

"I'd better be."

Laughing slightly, Kurt leaned his head on Blaine's shoulder. "Y'know, jealous possessive you is kind of cute."

"Yeah, well, clingy you is kind of cute too. So I guess we're even."

"I should have taken up his offer on the vodka soda."

"Mr. Shuester would have killed you," Blaine reminded him.

"It'd be out little secret."

"Yes well, next time a waiter makes a pass at you and offers you alcohol, I'll be sure to not interrupt your devious little plan to get free booze."

"Smart move," Kurt teased.

"Only if you share."

"Of course," Kurt nodded. "And I'll be sure to ask for extra cherries."

Blaine snorted into his mineral water.