In the end, Kurt had nothing to worry about. He knew Blaine would see his side of things and wouldn't go to the riot. Blaine respected his opinions. The person that Kurt was about to talk to, on the other hand, did not.

When he arrived at the posh apartment complex in Upper East Side, Kurt didn't pause and ask the lobby boy to announce his arrival, as was proper etiquette. He just marched up the stairs to the third floor and started pounding on the door of apartment 32B.

“Answer this door, damn it!” he yelled.

The door was swiftly swung wide open in response, leaving Kurt's fist in midair.

“Kurt? Why the hell are you yelling?” Rachel asked.

“You know damn well why I'm yelling Rachel Berry!” He walked into her apartment without waiting to be invited in. He took a few angry steps in and did a quick turn. She was met with an icy glare from her best friend, and a look that said she might as well be a criminal.

Rachel was pretty sure she did know what this was about, but on the off chance she was wrong, she played coy.

“Kurt, calm down. Can you just please tell me what's wrong.”

He scoffed in hurt and disgust.

“You are unbelievable Rachel. You know, at first, you try to convince me to give Blaine a shot. You tell me I should give him a chance, and that maybe he's changed since high school. Well you know who hasn't changed since then? You, Rachel. You are the same bitchy, backstabbing snob you were back then. The one who thinks you know what's best for everybody!”

“Kurt…”

“Don't. I told you what happened between Blaine and I in confidence. I didn't want him to know that you knew. I just really want this relationship to work out, and here you are trying to ruin it!” He can't help the tears that trickled down his face, or the way his voice breaks.

“I'm not trying to ruin it! I'm trying to protect you Kurt!”

“By threatening my husband, Rachel?! I'm married to this guy! And I actually care about Blaine. What were you thinking, Rach?”

Rachel was shocked that Kurt was taking Blaine's side.

“What was I thinking? I was trying to protect you Kurt. Yes, I did break your trust. But I did it out of love and concern for you. Can you blame me for being worried? Would you trust Jesse and just do nothing if I told you he had beat me up in the past?”

“He did! He threw eggs at you, remember?”

“That's different, Kurt! You know it is!”

“I know nothing anymore, apparently. I used to think that I knew who my best friend was, and how she wouldn't lie to me, but I was wrong about that. I have no idea what else I'm wrong about.” He crossed his arms.

“Kurt, come on. This isn't fair. I was just trying to keep you from getting hurt. All I told him was that if he ever hurt you, then he would have to deal with me personally. Is that so bad?”

“It's not what you said Rachel. It's that you lied to me. You told me that you wouldn't tell him, and then you did. And then when I asked whether you had said anything, you told me no. How can I ever believe you again?”

“This is insane! Why are you siding with him so easily? Just a few weeks ago, you would've agreed with what I did and-” Rachel gasps. “Oh my God. Kurt. You can't.”

“Can't what?” he snaps.

“No no no, this isn't happening,” Rachel says as she begins to walk around the spacious living room and run her hands through her hair.

“What the hell are you talking about Rachel? What can't be happening?”
“You two, Kurt! You're falling in love with him!”

Rachel stops moving and stares him in the eye. Kurt freezes and his face turns slightly red. He drops his gaze down to the ground and speaks a little softer.

“So what?”

Rachel groans.

“Kurt, don't let yourself fall for him. You can't trust him. He's only been back in your life for a few months. You just got married. Think of all the awful things he did to you in high school. Don't let him fool you, Kurt.”

“You don't know him, Rachel. He's different now. He changed.” Kurt looks up at Rachel fiercely, his eyes shining with an emotion that Rachel had never seen Kurt direct at her until now. “I wish you would.”

Rachel gasps.

“I have changed, Kurt. Maybe you're the one who hasn't, because you seem just as naive now as you were back then.”

Kurt opens his mouth to object, but he stops himself. He says something else.

“You know what Rachel, you're right. I'm completely naive to think that everyone is exactly who they say they are. So I'm going to stop being naive right now. Obviously you're not who you say you are at all. You're a liar, Rachel, and I'm done with you. Don't talk to me, please. Or Blaine. I need to not see you for awhile.”

Kurt turns around and stomps through the door.

“Is it safe to come out now?” Jesse calls from the bedroom.

“Yes,” Rachel replies. He walks out and gives her a comforting hug.

“How much of that did you hear?”

“Well it was pretty hard not to hear all of it,” Jesse responds.

Rachel sighs and buries her head into her husband's neck.

“Hey, it's gonna be okay. You guys have had worse fights, right?”

“Yeah, but it's never been this bad over a guy.”

“Well, what you did was pretty terrible, Rach.”

“I know,” Rachel whines. “I was honestly just trying to help. What do I do? How do I fix this?”

“Apologize to Blaine.”

“Never!” she yells.

“Hey, calm down. I'm just giving you the best option here. Look, the only way you're going to gain back Kurt's trust is if you gain Blaine's first. You're going to have to befriend him.”

Rachel sighs.

“You're right. I know you're right.”

“Okay, well now that you're finally agreeing with the obvious, let's make a plan.”

Honestly, Kurt had nothing to worry about. It's a good thing I didn't tell him, then he can't worry about nothing. Blaine was at city hall for the riot, which was well underway, and nothing spectacular or horrifying had happened. He was holding a sign, standing and shouting with a couple hundred other people, watching Congressman Rykos give his speech. It was fairly peaceful. The police had taken away one guy, but that was only because he had hit one guy over the head with his sign. Besides that, there hadn't been any fighting, and the riot was mainly going well. Blaine could see the news cameras and reporters around them, so he tried to stay out of the camera's eye and blend in with the crowd. Kurt generally didn't watch the news, but Blaine was just trying to be safe. He was actually enjoying himself a little. He felt so empowered standing amongst the sea of rioters, yelling and protesting. He feels as though this whole afternoon is going perfectly, until someone familiar bumps into him.

“Sam?!”

“Blaine?!”

“What are you doing here?” Blaine asked, confused.

“Me? What about you?”

“Well, I'm here to support the cause,” Blaine said.

“Oh, same dude,” Sam replied.

“Wait a minute, please don't tell me this is why you've been late to meetings and making excuses to Mercedes.”

“Well, I mean, it's not like I could just come out and say it…”

“Sam! You've been lying to your wife? How long have you been involved in this?”

“Honestly, since before we go married, but I've only recently taken a more active role. I just feel like this is so wrong, you know?”

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should lie to your wife about it!”

“Oh yeah, like you're one to talk! Where's Kurt, huh? Does he know you're here?”

Blaine doesn't know how to respond to this.

“I… uh…”

“Exactly. Now, how about we just make a deal. I won't tell anyone if you don't. Kurt and Mercedes never have to know.”

Blaine sighs.

“I don't know Sam, this feels wrong.”

“Alright, fine. Let's call them and tell them then.”

Blaine's eyes widen.

“R-right now?”

“Yeah, right here, right now. You go first. Call Kurt and tell him where you are.”

Blaine was stuck. Lying to Kurt and now Mercedes too? But what choice did he have?

“Okay, fine. I won't tell if you don't.”

“Awesome!” Sam says.

They spend the rest of the protest together, yelling and shouting at the scumbag who thought he could get away with this.

When Blaine got home later that night, he was surprised to find Kurt cooking dinner in the kitchen.

“Hey you!” he said, sneaking up behind Kurt and putting his arms around his waist. “What are you doing here? I thought your director was going to work you ragged until opening night.”

Kurt turns around and greets Blaine with a peck on the lips and a hug.

“No, not today. Apparently he had a family emergency or something, and he had to go. Normally he would've told us to keep practicing without him anyways, but I think he saw that we all had had enough. We had been there for ten hours already.”

“Wow, I'm surprised you're still standing.”

“I have to! If I show any ounce of weakness, Mr. Porter will have me replaced by my understudy in no time.”

“Oh, I'm sure that's not true. You're too amazing to be replaced,” Blaine says endearingly, while holding Kurt in his arms.

“Aww,” Kurt cooed. “Thanks honey.” He snuggles his nose into Blaine's neck. “So how was your day? What'd you do?” he mumbles in an unassuming question.

Blaine freezes. Crap, he should've practiced his lie.

“Uh, oh, you know… just writing songs… with Sam.”

Kurt looks up in surprise.

“Writing songs with Sam? Wow, I never saw Sam as the songwriter type. Can I hear some of them?”

“Well, I would let you, but they're not ready yet. You know how that is hon. And yeah, recently Sam told me about how he wanted to help with some of the songwriting, and I said sure. He's super self-conscious about it though, so don't mention it to anyone just yet. He's trying to surprise Mercedes with a song as a present.”

Blaine was almost surprised at how easily he fabricated the lie. It was scary, how it almost took no effort to lie to his husband. But thankfully Kurt bought it without any further questioning.

“Oh, okay. Well I promise I won't tell,” he whispered conspiratorially, leaning in for another kiss. The sad part was that Blaine knew he could trust Kurt, but Kurt didn't know that he couldn't trust Blaine.

Later in the week, during Saturday afternoon, Kurt and Mercedes are having lunch together. They're over at her house, and Sam and Blaine are both out “working.”

“At least that's what he told me, but I don't buy it,” Mercedes said.

They're sitting at tall breakfast table, eating salads and freshly baked bread. Kurt stabs a piece of lettuce with a fork.

“I don't know Mercedes, I think you should trust him,” he replies.

Mercedes give him a look that tells him he's not the first who's told her this.

“I'm just tired of never knowing where he's running off too all of the time. Why does he have to be so secretive? Blaine said he would talk to Sam for me and find out what's going on, but he hasn't told me anything yet.” She puts her fork down and looks into her bowl of vegetables. “Santana thinks he's cheating on me.”

Kurt gasps.

“No Mercedes, it's not true. I know Sam, and he would never do that.”

“Then what else could it be?! Why else would he be leaving meetings early, canceling our dates, and not telling me where he's going?” He can see the tears slipping out of her eyes. She starts crying hard, and he puts a comforting arm around her.

Kurt closes his eyes, debating what to do next. Then he opens them and focuses on Mercedes intensely.

“Okay, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise me you won't say a word.”

Mercedes looks at him.

“You know what's going on?”

“Kind of. Well, Blaine told me something. He said that he and Sam are working on a surprise for you.”

“A surprise for me? What kind of surprise?”

“Nope! Can't say. Just know that he is definitely not cheating on you. He's just trying to be romantic, in the best way Sam knows how to.”

Mercedes puts a hand over her heart.

“Thank you so much, Kurt, for telling me. You have no idea how worried I was getting. I couldn't even sleep at night, thinking that Sam was cheating on me.”

“You have nothing to worry about. He's crazy about you. I don't think Sam could even lie to you.”

Oh, was he wrong.

“You know, I'm really glad that you and Blaine got matched up. I always knew it was gonna happen between you two.”

Kurt looks at her, confused at the sudden change of subject.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, in high school, I saw the way that he liked you, and the way you looked at him.”

“Woah, wait a minute. I never looked at him in that-”

“My point it,” Mercedes said, interrupting, “that I knew you two were made for each other the second you introduced him to us. And I'm glad it all worked out. Even if you had to get through years of hating him first.”

Kurt chuckles. “Yeah, I was such an idiot, ‘Cedes. I can't believe we could've happened years ago. I feel so silly for holding us back with my dumb arrogance.”

Mercedes shakes her head. “Kurt, it wasn't dumb.” She puts a hand over his. “Rachel told me what happened between you two.”

Kurt throws down his fork. “Damn it! That bitch just can't mind her own business, can she?!”

“Kurt, calm down. I think you should've told us. I'm not saying that what Rachel did was right, but I wish you hadn't have kept it from all of us. We were your friends just as much as we were Blaine's. We would've stood up for you. What Blaine did was wrong, and the way you treated him after was also wrong. But I'm glad you two were both able to get over that.”

“Well, I'm glad too.”

“You're in love with him, aren't you?” she asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

Kurt smiled warmly and closes his eyes. “Yes, I am. And it feels so wonderful.”

“Have you told him yet?”

He opens his eyes back up in surprise at himself. “No, I haven't. Mercedes…” he says, turning to look at her.

“Well what are you waiting for?! Go tell him! Ain't no time to waste!”

Kurt laughs. “Okay! I'll tell him tonight, how about that? I planned this fancy date for us at this nice restaurant downtown.”

“Ooh, that sounds like fun,” she says. “You should buy him some flowers or something.”

“You know, that's a good idea Mercedes. Maybe I will.”

A few hours later, Kurt is at home, getting ready for their date. He wants to be ready before Blaine shows up at the loft, but he's having trouble deciding what to wear. He has several shirt and pants combinations laid out on their bed. The flowers are sitting on the dresser, in a vase full of water. They are red and yellow roses. The old man and the flower shop convinced him that those were the best choices. He said that together, they mean happiness, love and excitement. Then again, he also had an eyepatch on and talked like a pirate, so Kurt wasn't exactly sure he could trust him, but he decided to anyways.

After taking way too long to get dressed, he was just waiting for Blaine to get home so they could go. He was still debating between two colors of ties, when he saw his phone ringing.

Oh, it's Blaine! For some reason, his stomach was full of butterflies. He picked up his phone and clumsily aimed his thumb for the green answer call button, missing twice before he actually got it.

“Hey honey! What's up? Where are you? Are you almost home yet?” Kurt knows he probably sounds desperate and somewhat pathetic, but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.

“Hey Kurt!” Blaine replied. For whatever reason, it almost sounded to Kurt as if Blaine were nervous. But then again, he could barely hear him. Wherever he was, it was really loud there.

“So, I called because I wanted to tell you something. I'm really, really sorry honey, but I can't go out with you tonight.”

Kurt felt his stomach drop as he sat down on their bed.

“What?... Why not? We made this reservation last week, Blaine.”

Blaine sighs. This was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be.

“I know, look, I'm really sorry. It's just that Sam and I were out, and we were over in Brooklyn, trying to find inspiration for our song, and we got lost. Then, when we found our way back, we got stuck in the middle of an accident.”

“An accident? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, don't worry about it. It's just really loud and we're far away, and I know I won't be able to get back in time.”

“Oh. Okay, well how about when you get back we eat? I could order some take-out?” Kurt offers.

“No, that's alright. We probably won't be able to back until late. We'll just grab something around here to eat.”

“Alright, I guess that's fine,” Kurt says, a little hurt.

“Great. Oh, and Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“Don't wait up.”

Kurt had assumed that Blaine missing their date had been a one time thing, but as time went on, it was clear that he was mistaken. The worst part was, the more Blaine flaked out on him, the more desperate Kurt got. Today was a perfect example.

“So, we're still on for the movies tonight, right?”

They were sitting at the island in the kitchen, eating cereal out of colorful, hand-painted orange and blue that had been a wedding present from Blaine's mother.

Blaine looked up at Kurt with eyes wide open. Kurt knew what he was going to say before the words were even out of his mouth.

“That was tonight?”

Kurt sighed.

“Yeah, it was. But let me guess, you can't come.”

“It's just that I promised Sam…”

“You promised Sam! You guys have been hanging out so much lately! What's the deal?! When are you going to make time for us, Blaine? I've barely seen you this week.”

“We're just trying to get this album out, alright? Sam and I have been super swamped, and I'm sorry if that means I haven't been able to see you much lately. But I promise I'll make it up to you, okay? When this all settles down, we'll do something nice.”

Kurt looks at Blaine with sad eyes, tears threatening to spill over.

“Can't you just cancel with Sam for once? It's just that I-I really miss you, and opening night is less than a week away now, and I'm so stressed out...I just really need you, B. We don't even have to go out, or anything. We could just stay in, order take-out.”

Blaine doesnt know what to say. He wants to be there for his husband, but tonight is important for a myriad of reasons. It wasn't just a riot or something trivial that he could skip. He was actually hosting this meeting, because it had been his idea. He had told Kitty how it would be a good idea to go to one of the press conferences for Congressman Rykos and some of the other people who supported the Match law. They would go disguised as reporters, and embarrass them with a barrage of questions. They had been practicing all week, figuring out ways to trick them into saying something offensive. If he didn't go, the whole plan would fall apart. There was no way he couldn't show up.

But then he looked across the table at Kurt, his husband. He had his head ducked down and was eating his cereal very slowly, hands shaking. It almost looked as though he was trying very hard not to cry. Blaine breathed in slowly, closing his eyes.

“Kurt…”

“Blaine, please… this is the fourth time you've cancelled on me this week.” Kurt reaches over to take his husband's hand. “I just need someone to talk to. I've been drowning in all the pressure that I'm under and…”

He's interrupted by a buzzing sound. Blaine's phone is vibrating.

“Hold on a sec, it's Sam. It could be important.” Blaine answers the call. What's even worse than that, however, is that he actually stood up and went to their bedroom and closed the door, as if he didn't want Kurt to know what they were talking about. He continues eating his cereal, hands shaking just as badly as they were before, if not worse.

Blaine comes out a few minutes later, jacket in hand, putting his shoes on in a rush. Kurt looks over at him in mild curiosity, already knowing where he's headed.

“Hey, sweetie, so that was Sam, and he really needs me right now. I'm gonna go, but I'll see you tonight when I get home, okay?”

“Okay,” Kurt says. What else can I say? He stands up and goes to kiss Blaine goodbye, but Blaine walks right past him and out the door.

Just a few hours later, by a stroke of pure luck, Rachel runs into Blaine at a department store.

“Blaine?! What a surprise!”

Blaine looks up from where he is inspecting nerdy looking pairs of glasses he was thinking about getting for his reporter disguise when he spots her. He groans internally.

“Oh, hey Rachel. What's up?” He asks, trying to be civil.

“Nothing, nothing at all. I'm just surprised to see you here. What are you up to?”

“I'm just looking for a pair of reading glasses,” he says coolly.

“Alright, I get it. What I did was wrong. I hurt Kurt, but you have to believe me when I say I didn't mean to, Blaine!”

He snorts. “Alright.”

“Blaine, please. The only way he'll ever talk to me again is if I apologize to you. So, here I am. Blaine, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I threatened you, and betrayed your confidence. I just did what I thought I had to to protect Kurt. I didn't want him to get hurt again.”

“Well you failed. And in the end, you were the one that hurt him, Rachel.”

Her face crumples, and she looks like she's about to cry.

“I know,” she says with a watery voice. “Don't you think I know that?” She puts both hands over her face and starts to sob in the middle of the store.

“Oh hey, none of that now,” Blaine chided, pulling her in for a hug. He still didn't trust her, but he could never resist someone who was crying.

“Come on, you know that he'll forgive you eventually. You're best friends. It'll blow over,” he said as he patted her back.

“Just promise me that you'll take good care of him, okay?” she asks in a whisper.

“I will,” he replies. Except he hadn't been doing too good of a job lately. Blaine knew that he was being a crappy husband. It's just that some things were currently more important than his relationship! Wow… that sounded terrible, didn't it? Either way, he knew Kurt would forgive him, as soon as he got enough time to apologize to him.

“Okay,” Rachel said, backing away. “I have to go now, I have somewhere to be, but if you're not too busy later this week, maybe we meet? Try and mend our relationship some more?”

“Oh, gee, sorry Rach, I can't. This week is really bad, I'm super busy. But maybe some other time?”

“Okay, yeah sure. What are you so busy with? Hanging out with Kurt?”

“Uh… no, not really. It's just that… Sam and I have been working a lot for this new album…”

And that made three people that Blaine was lying to.