Chapter 20

Blaine was speeding down Route 33 towards Lima for the fourth time this week, but he didn’t mind. He barely had time to do his homework or do anything else at all, but that didn’t bother him either. All that mattered was that he had a friend now and he needed him. Kurt had been by his side through his struggles with his parents, and all Blaine could do in return is be there for Kurt now.

It made him a little nervous that he was going to meet Kurt’s dad for the first time. It was true that Mr Hummel was fully accepting of his son, but there was no guarantee of similar treatment towards a complete stranger.

When Blaine finally stepped onto the small porch, he was fidgeting, almost as if he was about to meet his future in-laws. He chuckled anxiously as the thought crossed his mind, and he knocked lightly on the door.

‘No, Dad, I’m coming,’ Kurt’s muffled voice said firmly inside, and seconds later the door opened, revealing his smiling flushed face. ‘Hi!’

Blaine responded with a fleeting grin, as Kurt stepped to the side to let him in. Once his shoes and coat were left neatly by the door, they directed their footsteps to Kurt’s basement room.

‘Hey! Won’t you introduce us?,’ a male voice called from the living room whose door stood wide open.

Blaine and Kurt turned slowly around in perfect sync. Mr Hummel was settled comfortably on the sofa with a blanket over his legs and a TV remote in his hand. Some sports channel was on, but Burt’s attention was now turned fully to the two boys in the hallway.

‘Um- Yeah,’ Kurt said awkwardly, stepping into the living room, and dragging Blaine by the elbow behind him. ‘Dad, this is Blaine, Blaine, this is my Dad, Burt.’

‘Nice to meet you, Mr Hummel,’ Blaine said, extending his hand to Burt with a tentative smile. ‘I hope you’re feeling better.’

Kurt’s father took Blaine hand and shook it, not taking his eyes of his son’s friend. He scanned him closely, his hand still grasping Blaine’s.

‘Nice to meet you, too, Blaine.’ Burt’s eyes flicked to Blaine’s uniform one more time and he let go of his hand. ‘You’re not from McKinley, right?’

‘No, I go to Dalton. In Westerville.’ Blaine was getting more and more nervous with every second Burt’s eyes failed to stop examining him.

‘So, how did you two meet?,’ Burt asked.

Kurt decided it was the best moment to cut in, seeing the growing awkwardness of the situation.

‘I stayed at Blaine’s when- when I was away.’ He regretted joining the conversation as soon as the words were out.

Burt’s eyes finally dropped down to the floor, guilt washing over him. He knew Kurt didn’t mean to be unfeeling by mentioning his escape, but it still stung.

He looked up again, this time his eyes landing on Kurt.

‘So, are you, like, boyfriends or something?’

A deep scarlet blush flooded Kurt’s cheeks, and Blaine could swear by the wave of heat that hit him that his face looked very much alike.

‘No, Dad, we’re just friends,’ Kurt mumbled.

‘Oh, okay.’ Burt leaned back onto the sofa cushions, directing his gaze back to the TV. ‘Have fun, kids.’

Still mortified, Kurt dragged Blaine back out to the hallway and into his basement.

The door was carefully shut, and Kurt turned around to face his friend.

‘I’m really sorry for that,’ he mumbled. But then an entirely different expression started creeping onto his face, stretching it in a wide smile and he giggled. ‘At least he’s not put off by the idea of me having a boyfriend.’

‘But the images that had to be on his mind, when you said you stayed at my place-‘ Now they were laughing in unison, feeling silly like twelve-year-olds in health ed.

They barely managed to feel their way down the stairs with their feet, their eyes squeezed and wet from tears, this time ones of amusement. They flopped onto Kurt’s couch, catching their breaths, their laughter slowly abating.

‘I don’t think he’d know what to picture, though,’ Kurt choked out, his breathing going back to normal. ‘Hell, even I wouldn’t really.’

Kurt chuckled, trying to hide his embarrassment, as his cheeks turned a flaming shade of red, and he glanced furtively at Blaine. This was a topic that made him severely uncomfortable, one he would never make a joke about, because his knowledge of it was so narrow, it was almost non-existent. He knew the basics everyone knew from school. Which were insufficient even for a straight kid, let alone a shy gay sixteen-year-old, who wouldn’t dare ask questions, when the topic cropped up.

Blaine didn’t seem much surprised to hear Kurt’s statement, though, and only nodded in response. He didn’t seem to be about to start jeering, so Kurt slowly exhaled in relief.

‘Yeah, I didn’t know much either, until I did some research in the matter.’

‘Research?’ Kurt raised a querying eyebrow.

‘Uncle Google, Kurt. You should try that, too.’

An unintelligible grunt came in response, Kurt’s cheeks burning again.

***

Blaine left shortly before ten, the rest of their evening free of embarrassing topics. They hugged swiftly on the porch, and Blaine waved at Kurt one more time as he pulled out into the street.

The house was almost completely quiet, the only low sounds coming from the TV. Burt had fallen asleep in front of the screen, his head titled back and rested on the back of the sofa. Kurt switched the TV off and wrapped a blanket more firmly around his father, gingerly so that he wouldn’t wake. Once the lights were off, Kurt headed to the bathroom to go through his evening routine, and finally to his bedroom.

The thought that maybe Blaine was right kept nagging him all night, even when he tried very hard to push it to the deepest parts of his brain. After all, he did want to have a boyfriend one day. Obviously, he didn’t really have any chance of getting one now; the selection of gays in Lima, Ohio wasn’t very vast, after all. But if one day were he to have a boyfriend, he figured he probably should be prepared.

He never truly gave much thought to the idea of having sex. It wasn’t that it never occurred to him that he would someday be in a position to do it, but simply because even the smallest thought about it made him feel uneasy. Maybe it had something to do with him being gay in a strongly heteronormative society, or maybe he was just shy and socially awkward, he couldn’t really tell. Or maybe he just preferred the more innocent, romantic side of love that Broadway musicals tended to picture.

But after a moment’s thought he decided it wasn’t because he didn’t feel any sexual urges at all. He did, even though he’d usually try to suppress them. His past interest in Finn had been purely romantic, not sexual, his wish to know the feeling of being kissed as chaste as could be.

Feeling mortification coming over him again, despite the fact that he was alone now, he switched his laptop on, placing it on his bed in front of him.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, his decision wavering. He squeezed his eyes shut and hit the keys without looking. The phrase gay sex was in and he pressed enter.

Kurt opened his eyes a fraction just to see if the search came through. To his growing horror, most of the first page of results were links to porn videos and he cringed. Watching porn was definitely not something he’d planned on doing. He considered checking the images that popped up, but thought he wasn’t ready for that quite yet either.

But since he’d already got himself to start looking, why not try and find things that could really be useful? With a heavy sigh, Kurt scrolled down.

***

Blaine was already drifting to sleep, when his phone buzzed on his night stand. He reached out for it with a groan. He’d be angry someone was disturbing him just as he was about to doze off completely, if not for the fact there was just one person, who would text him at this hour. And he just couldn’t be mad at Kurt.

Did research like you said. Never felt more embarrassed in my life, and I didn’t even get caught. Sleep well. K xo

A low chuckle escaped Blaine’s mouth, as he typed his answer.

Goodnight, you perv ;)