Chapter 13

'Finally, Kurtie! I thought you wanted me to starve…'

Rachel paused with the door handle still in her hand, when she saw Kurt wasn't alone. And then her eyes narrowed into slits, as she appraised the boys. Something had changed; was it their faces, or the almost non-existent distance between their bodies, or the fact that they seemed to try very hard not to hold hands…?

She raised her hand to stop them from speaking.

'Wait. Are you two…?'

Kurt rolled his eyes, taking Blaine by the hand and leading him in, past Rachel.

'I KNEW IT!,' she squealed excitedly, jumping around the room.

'Shut it, Rache.'

'Well, at least I don't have to worry about your best friend not liking me,' teased Blaine.

'I guess I'd prefer that.'

Rachel stopped prancing, out of breath.

'Oh, guys, I'm SOOOO happy for you,' she panted out, catching Blaine in a hug.

'Yeah, we know, thanks for your blessing,' muttered Kurt, when she proceeded to embrace him.

'I'm such a good matchmaker!,' she exclaimed, heading for her room.

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and laughed out loud.

***

Kurt closed the door behind him and turned back to Blaine. It never occurred to him that once that door was shut, the situation would automatically change, becoming much moreserious. They had been together in his room, alone, just like this time, but then they would barely touch. Not to mention lips meeting, and hands wandering in not-so-appropriate directions.

Blaine stopped in the middle of the room, apparently as confused as Kurt.

'So… What are we doing?,' asked Kurt uncomfortably. 'I mean- I know there's a bed and all that-' He was quite sure his cheeks matched his scarlet walls in colour. 'Shit. I'm really bad at this.'

Taking a step towards him, Blaine smiled at Kurt, and put his arms around him.

'We're not gonna rush into anything. Unless we both want to,' he added mischievously.

'Great.' Kurt gave Blaine a peck on the lips. 'Cuddling?'

'Cuddling. Lots of cuddling.'

'How about kissing?' Kurt's eyes glinted.

'Oh yeah.'

Soon enough they were settled comfortably on the pillows, snuggling cosily together. When their lips weren't busy with kisses, they stayed frozen in content little smiles. Until Blaine broke the silence.

'Kurt?'

'Hm?'

'Can I ask you something?' There was a tone of hesitation in his voice.

'Of course you can,' he said into Blaine's cheek that suddenly became strangely hot.

'Um- are you- um- Are you a virgin?'

'Depends how you look at it. You?'

'Same.'

Kurt sat up in one snap movement.

'Okay. Can we establish, how we look at it, then?'

'Right. So what have you-?'

'No, you go first,' Kurt mumbled.

'Okay. Blowjobs.'

'Uh. Same.'

'But did you- or-?' The degree of Blaine's mortification was now as high as Kurt's.

'Both.' Kurt barely moved his lips.

'Okay. Same.'

'Great then. We're equally inexperienced.' Relief seemed to wash over him, and the atmosphere of embarrassment was dissolving. 'I bet you didn't have as bad experiences with- you know- as I did.'

Blaine laughed.

'I doubt that. Remember when I told you about that guy from Dalton, Sebastian?'

'Oh, right, insensitive jerk. Okay, maybe your experience was as bad, but it couldn't have been worse. That level of awkwardness is unattainable for most representatives of homo sapiens.'

He sent Blaine a smile and snuggled to him again.

'I'm glad we agree on not rushing things. I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself at the start.'

***

'Blaine?'

Kurt was watching his boyfriend's profile, propped on his elbows.

'Hm?'

'What are you doing on Thanksgiving, anyway? I mean, you're not going back to Ohio, because there's the show the next day, so… What are you doing? Are your parents coming or something?'

Blaine shifted to look straight into Kurt's face.

'No. I'm just staying, because- well, it's not much of a family holiday at the Andersons'.'

'What? Why?'

Blaine grimaced.

'I don't know. My parents work too much to really put together a family dinner, so there's never a homemade turkey, or cranberry sauce, or whatever.'

'That sucks.'

Silence fell for a few minutes. Blaine pulled Kurt closer to himself and began tracing his fingers over Kurt's jaw line.

'You're not spending Thanksgiving alone.'

'No?'

Kurt shook his head.

'No. You're invited to the Hudson-Hummel-Berry family dinner in Greenpoint, New York City.' He beamed at him.

'Seriously? You want me to come to your family holiday dinner?' Blaine raised his eyebrows.

'Oh yes. You have to meet the family at some point.'

'Yeah. Like, in a couple of years.'

Kurt chuckled.

'Right. As if I'd ever agree to that.'

He leaned in for a kiss, but Blaine stopped him an inch from his lips by speaking again.

'Wait a second. How many people are coming for dinner on Thanksgiving?'

'Um- It's going to be me, you, Dad, Carole, Finn, Rachel, her dads, Santana, Brittany, Puck…' He held up his right hand, counting on his fingers. 'That'd be… eleven?'

'And how exactly are you planning to fit them all at your kitchen table?'

Kurt's eyes bulged.

'Shit. That's a really good question.'

***

A bustle at the front door woke Blaine up in the morning. It took him a shorter while to realize where he was this time, especially when he felt the warmth of Kurt's body snuggled up to his right side.

And then the door to Kurt's room opened, and a bulky bald man entered, just to fall back a step at the sight of two boys instead of one in the large bed. So here we go, thought Burt, trying not to overreact. He knew it would happen sooner or later. He just would have preferred it was later. Much, much later.

'Hi.'

'Um- Hi?,' replied Blaine faintly. He patted Kurt slightly on the shoulder. 'Kurt? Wake up.'

Kurt twitched, and lifted his head a couple of inches.

'Wha-? Oh, hi.' A goofy drowsy grin appeared on his face and he started leaning towards Blaine's face.

'Kurt,' said Blaine, motioning with his head in the direction of the door.

Kurt turned his head hastily.

'Dad!' Terror crept onto his face, and he started covering himself up more firmly with the duvet, even though both him and Blaine were fully clothed – as they had been the entire night.

'Hi, kid. Won't you introduce us?'

Blaine felt blood draining from his face; his mortification was growing with each step Mr Hummel was taking in their direction.

'Um- Dad, this is Blaine- Blaine, this is my Dad, Burt.' Kurt kept his eyes down, too embarrassed to look in his father's face.

Burt extended his hand to shake Blaine's, with a serious expression.

'Nice to meet you, Blaine.' A pause. 'And I wish we met under different circumstances.'

'Believe me, sir, so do I,' Blaine choked out, while Kurt buried his red face in the sheets.

'Kurt? You coming to West Point with us?'

He was able to respond only with a nod.

'Um- Okay, so- We're waiting for you.' With that, Burt backed out of the room, trying hard not to think about what could have happened in that ridiculously huge bed.

***

The car drives to West Point had stopped being hours of awkward silence, since Finn was getting better with each day. But this morning Kurt felt as if everybody's attention was directed at him, and it made him highly uneasy. He could sense Rachel's eyes glued to him, and the smile that appeared to have not peeled off her face since the previous night. Carole kept on glancing around from the passenger seat, trying to keep her lips from twitching up, and Burt was much more focused on the road than was natural for him.

They were just passing through Highland Falls, when Carole finally turned around.

'Rachel, honey, is that boy Kurt's dating the one you once mentioned?,' she asked, faux-casually.

'The very same,' came Rachel's answer in a sing-song voice.

Kurt rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to tell one or the other off. It was pointless, anyway; Rachel had been right after all.

***

The following days slipped by, longs hours consumed by classes, rehearsals, coffee dates (spent with their hands clasped together on the table), and cuddling. Kurt and Blaine were together in every moment they could find, exchanging thousands of kisses (including some stolen in the NYADA hallways), and trying not to explode from the overwhelming happiness.

Rachel was very careful not to get in their way too much, and began making trips to West Point whenever she had a free afternoon, even though she had to spend more time driving than at the hospital with Finn.

But Kurt was glad she was doing that. It was good for Finn to have someone around, and it didn't always have to be his mother. And Kurt hoped that the time spent together will bring the two closer again; he'd never stopped believing Rachel and Finn weren't finished. As much drama as those two have had in the years they'd known each other couldn't simply go to waste.

And Kurt could see that with each visit, Rachel was returning home with a wider grin, sharing more and more good news about Finn's condition. Whenever he went to West Point, he could verify it on his own, and discovered that his brother was truly doing much better. Finn's eyes regained some of their former twinkle, and that typical Finn smile began to reappear, even if for a few seconds once in a while. Finn was coming back.

During the rare moments, when Kurt and Blaine were together, but weren't joined at the lips, they were trying to find a way to squeeze the whole Thanksgiving party in the Greenpoint apartment for dinner. Finally, they managed to borrow a couple of tables and some mismatched chairs from some neighbours who were spending the holiday at their families', and the only concern Kurt was left with, was the food preparation.

Kurt was in charge of most of the kitchen duties, leaving Carole to prepare the pumpkin pie – or rather pies, as Kurt emphasized that they had a whole soccer team to feed, and Finn would probably like a few extra pieces of the dessert, as he usually did during family gatherings.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Kurt and Blaine went to Greenpoint straight from NYADA, without stopping for coffee. They got groceries on the way, and got to preparing the food for the family dinner, while Rachel went to pick up Santana, Brittany and Puck from the airport. Thankfully, their flights were supposed to land within half an hour from each other, and only one trip to JFK was necessary. Mr Berrys were to arrive the next morning, and Rachel insisted they could find their way on their own, so she could accompany Kurt and his parents in their trip to West Point to get Finn out of the hospital for the day.

The clatter and buzz of voices announced the airport party before they even reached the second storey landing. Kurt took a break from drawing the turkey to say hello to his friends. Blaine was watching him all the while, with a dreamy smile on his face.

Rachel was the first to come in.

'We're here!,' she called from the door.

'Yeah, Rache, we know since you were on the second floor.'

She sent him a glare, and made way for the rest. Santana and Brittany were carrying a huge suitcase each, and Puck followed them with a duffle bag and a guitar case.

'Nice place, ladyface,' said Santana, taking a glance around, and approaching Kurt to hug him.

Brittany stayed a little behind, gazing hazily at the room.

'Too bad I didn't take Lord T. He loves purple,' she said. Blaine frowned, looking questioningly at Kurt.

'Her cat,' Kurt mouthed in response over Santana's shoulder. 'Nice to see you, guys.' He smiled widely at Puck and Brittany.

Santana let him go, and turned to Blaine.

'Hm, the boyfriend I presume.' Her eyes slid from the tip of his carefully gelled head to his toes. 'Well, not bad, but he's kinda short.'

Kurt had described his friends to Blaine, so her behaviour did not shock him very much.

'You're not very tall yourself,' Blaine replied. 'And the name's Blaine, as much as boyfriend sounds great.'

Kurt chuckled; those two were an even match, and he could already see them getting along.

Meanwhile Puck wandered into the kitchen, and began to nibble on the carrots Kurt had prepared for the stuffing.

'Are you like staying here all the time?, he asked Blaine with his mouth full. ''Cause, you know, we're supposed to sleep here for the next couple of nights, and it might get crowded. And as much as I may like Kurt, I'm not sleeping with the two of you.'

Both Blaine and Kurt blushed, and Santana rolled her eyes.

'Prudes,' she muttered.

'No, I live in the NYADA dorms, you don't have to worry about that.' Blaine smiled nervously.

Puck nodded, eyeing him.

'Anyway,' Kurt interjected, 'Brittany and Santana, you're getting the couch. It's a sofa bed, I hope that's okay?' At their synchronized nods, he continued. 'Puck, you're getting Rachel's bed.'

'Sweet.'

'Not like that!,' said Rachel indignantly. 'I'm sleeping with Kurt.'

Santana barked out a laugh, provoking Rachel to send her a murderous glare.

Brittany propped her elbows on the high counter, scrutinizing the bird Kurt was preparing for the holiday dinner.

'Why don't turkeys look like Turkey? Why would they be called that if they don't?'

Everyone ignored her, except for Blaine, who found her strangely fascinating. It was like she was an alien who'd just landed on planet Earth and marveled at every detail of everything she saw.

Kurt got engaged in a conversation with Santana and Rachel, while Brittany kept on staring at the featherless and half-gutless dead bird, and Blaine was watching her study the shape of the turkey.

'Hey, Kurt's boyfriend,' muttered Puck, startling him by sneaking up to his side.

'Blaine.'

'Right.' He looked down at Blaine, obviously with the intent to intimidate him. 'You do anything to Kurt, and I mean anything bad, and we're gonna have a problem. You got me?' Blaine nodded, not averting his gaze from Puck even for a second. 'Remember, one thing, and-' He took another bite of the carrot he had in his hand to be more dramatic, as if the vegetable represented Blaine, and the chewed off bit was his head.

'Gotcha.'

Blaine didn't know what to think; the situation was ridiculous, but slightly scary at the same time, especially considering that Puck was a good few inches taller and much more brawny than himself. Ultimately he assumed it only showed that Puck was a real friend to Kurt, who didn't want him to get hurt.

And having watched them all together – Kurt, Rachel, Puck, Santana and Brittany – he decided Kurt had been right they were a lot like family. They bickered, they teased, they laughed, but there was so much more. A sort of unconditional love bonding them more tightly than they truly realized. But it was tangible in this family gathering of sorts, and Blaine found himself smiling, before he stepped out of the kitchen to join them.