At first, Blaine thinks he is dreaming, and in his dream he is waking up the next morning to the smell of lemons and baked goods. For a minutes he's at his grandmother's house.

Nonna! My favorite! Pancakes with lemons and cream on top! How did you remember? I love you so much nonna!

Then, he hears the light, sweet voice that was lilting over the lyrics of “Anything Goes.”

No, I'm not dreaming. I'm awake, and this is actually a living nightmare. For a moment he almost forgot that he was married to Kurt. Even though he'd much rather stay in bed reading his copy of Audrey Hepburn's biography, and just wait for Kurt to run off to work or Rachel's or wherever, he knew that he should at least get up and say good morning. He threw back the covers and got up, wincing a little when the blankets were gone and the cold morning New York air hit him. He had slept with the windows open last night.

Blaine ran to shut them, and then began to rummage through his suitcases to find something to wear. Rachel had moved out last week, so Blaine had been able to start moving in his stuff before the wedding, but he hadn't gotten to unpacking. He threw on something comfortable, yet stylish. He was still trying to woo Kurt, after all. So after dusting off his gray jeans and straightening his yellow bow tie, he wandered out into the kitchen.

“So I wasn't dreaming when I smelled lemon pancakes.” Blaine is surprised to see Kurt cooking; he hadn't pegged him as the domestic type.

“Nope, you weren't!” Kurt turns around from where he's standing at the stove. Okay, he looked pretty adorable, with his socked feet and his checkered apron, face dotted by smears of pancake batter.

“I-I figured I'd make you pancakes, you know, to apologize for the way I treated you last night.”

“Oh, well you didn't have to do that,” begins Blaine.

“No, I did,” Kurt says. “We were having a really good day, and I ruined it. So I made some apology pancakes.” he exclaims as he takes the last one from the pan and flips it onto a nearby plate.

“So, sit down,” Kurt says, pushing Blaine towards one of the vintage chairs in their kitchen, “and enjoy.”

Blaine hadn't even noticed that the dining table had been all set up. There were two white little plates set next to each other; light grey linen napkins were folded in triangles and set on top. Next to the plate a fork, spoon, and knife set lay delicately awaiting use, There were two glasses on the table, and a pitcher of what looked like fresh orange juice.

“I thought maybe we could eat together. Is that okay?” Kurt asks Blaine as he brings over the plate of pancakes, along with a small bowl of blueberries and another filled with cream.

“Yeah, I guess. Don't you have to go to the theater today though?” Blaine had heard through Rachel that Kurt had actually gotten the lead for that ‘gay lawyer musical', as she had put it.

“I do, but not until ten,” he says, sitting down. Blaine looked at the large, ridiculously overly modern wall clock that was hanging near the kitchen. The clock was all white, and there were no numbers on the face. There were only two tick marks at nine o' clock. Reading took a bit of deciphering, but Blaine finally concluded that it was 8 in the morning.

8 am? Why did I get up so early again? Oh right, the nightmare.

Before Blaine dreamt about his grandmother's pancakes, he was dreaming about himself and Kurt. It wasn't in the future, it was actually in the past. The dream took place when Kurt and Blaine were still in high school. In his dream, Kurt and Blaine had met at Dalton, and Kurt had instantly fallen in love with him. Definitely a dream, thought Blaine. Eventually they started dating, and Blaine transferred to McKinley because of Kurt, instead of the actual reason of not wanting to make his family go broke.

They dated for awhile, and then they broke up because Blaine had cheated on Kurt. Then they got engaged after Kurt had forgiven him, but after awhile, Kurt got sick of him, and dumped him again. Then, in a most frighteningly strange turn of events, Blaine had started dating Dave Karofsky, of all people, and Kurt started going out with… his grandpa? No, not that weird. Just somebody's grandpa. And that's how Blaine lived the rest of his life, together with Dave. And for whatever reason, in his dream, he was invited to officiate the wedding between Kurt and that elderly man, and it was in a barn?

Thank goodness that was just a dream, thought Blaine in relief.

“So, I was thinking,” Kurt says, serving himself, “that maybe it would be fun, and by fun I mean not cringingly awful, if you and I went to Ikea or something and had you pick out some furniture. I mean, it would be better if we did something to this place to make it feel more like ours instead of just mine. And besides, Rachel took all of her stuff to Jesse's, and it kind of feels a little empty in here.”

“Uh, yeah, that'd be fun. Can we replace that clock?” he asks, pointing to the offending time piece.

Kurt gasps.

“You wanna replace Rocco?”

“Rocco?”

“The clock, Blaine. Rocco is his name.”

“Okay, well then yes. I would like to replace… Rocco.”

“You know what, fine. Marriage is about compromise. We can pick a new clock together. But only if I get to help you replace all of your hair products.”

“What's wrong with my hair products?” Blaine asks, clearly deeply offended.

“Blaine, honey, you put so much hair gel in your hair, I'm surprised that they even require you to wear a helmet when you go bicycling, your hair is so hard. Now, I know some great products that will let your hair look more natural.

“Okay, anything to get rid of that giant piece of white paper hanging in the kitchen.”

Kurt flings a blueberry at Blaine's face.

Blaine is a little surprised.

“Kurt, I don't know if you want to start this.”

“Start what?” he asks, stuffing his mouth with pancake. “I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just eating over here.”

Blaine daringly swipes some of the whip cream on his finger and draws a line on Kurt's cheek. Blaine gives the brunnette a smug smile. Kurt looks at him with a very serious glare on his face.

“You didn't.”

“Oh I did.”

“You're going to regret that Anderson.”

“Hey Kurt, serious question here. Do you name all of your furniture?”

“Stupid question Blaine. Of course I name all of my furniture. Just like I know how you name all of your bowties.”

Blaine laughs. “I'm not even going to deny it.”

“And why should you? We're millennials, and this is America. We can be as childish and immature as we want until we're at least 50.”

Blaine begins to sing God Bless America in an obnoxious southern accent, which sends Kurt into a fit of giggles. They continue eating their breakfast over small talk and banter for the rest of the hour. Then Kurt declares that he has to get ready, and so does Blaine. Kurt leaves for the theater, and Blaine heads off to the studio to see if he can't get some songwriting inspiration.

So, despite having a wonderful breakfast with Blaine, he had left home a little earlier than he needed to. It was his first day of rehearsals, and Rachel wanted to celebrate with him by having a good luck coffee together. They go to a small coffee shop that's close to both the theaters they work at. They pick a small table in the corner and talk.

“I'm on my way to my first day of rehearsals! Can you believe it?” Kurt exclaims.

“Of course I can Kurt. I knew your day was gonna come. Albeit, slightly later after mine, but it still came after all.” She says this in a superior tone.

“Oh, shut up. I know that underneath all that signature Rachel Berry cockiness is just love for me.”

“I do love you Kurt. You're my best friend, and I wish you nothing but good luck at your first day of rehearsals. But, speaking of love…”

“I knew you were going to take it there? Shouldnt you be too hungover to even have a functioning conversation about relationships this early in the morning?”

“Oh Kurt, being hungover is for immature college students. Besides, Alejandro, my personal Tahitian health physician, gave me this miracle-working hangover cure that'll make you feel even better than getting drunk.”

“So why don't you just drink that instead of alcohol?”

Rachel laughs. It's a high pitched, little mocking laugh that always drives Kurt absolutely insane.

“See Kurt, this is what I love about you. You're mature enough to be tolerable to hang around, but innocent enough still to ask all those silly questions. Also, you didn't answer my question.”

“No, you didn't ask a question.”

“Ugh! Fine, Kurt, how are things with Blaine?”

Kurt takes a deep breath before answering.

“Well, last night, we walked back to the apartment, and it was actually going really well until I screwed it up and started a fight.”

“Smooth.”

“But then, oh, you'll be proud of me for this one. I made him apology pancakes.”

Rachel cooed.

“Aww! Kurt! Okay, first of all, that's so sweet. And second of all, how are apology pancakes different than regular pancakes?”

“Well, you know, it's the feeling you put into it while you're making them. And yeah, I'm trying to take your advice and stuff. And it worked, surprisingly.”

“I don't know why you're surprised. I mean it is my advice after all.”

Kurt sighs again.

“Rachel…”

“But, I'm happy to hear that things are finally working out between the two of you. Are you falling in love with him yet?” She says the particular phrase in a sing-songy tone.

“No, definitely not that. But I think I can do this though, this whole marriage thing. I mean, besides that one slip up, for the past 24 hours, I've been perfectly civil to him.”

“Well that's quite a record for you Kurt. But can I ask you something?”

“If I said no, would it matter anyways?”

“Good point,” she said. “I just never really understood why you hated the guy so much anyways. I mean, yeah, I get the whole jealousy thing. I was jealous of Santana and Quinn for forever. And I get the whole Blaine taking every solo and all your friends away from you and stuff. Like, come on, story of my life. But how was what he did any worse than what Mercedes or I did to you? I mean, we stole solos from you too. And it's not like people hated you Kurt, they just loved Blaine a little more. Even I liked him more for awhile.”

“It honestly was just the jealousy thing, Rachel.”

“Nope! I can't accept that. There has to be more to this story that you're not telling me.”

Kurt sighs heavily again. He closes his eyes as he sips his hot coffee, doing so carefully to try and avoid burning his tongue.

“Okay, so as much as everyone likes to forget this, Blaine and I were actually friends for the first few months of Junior year, when he first transferred.”

“Right, I remember that. It's probably just overshadowed in most people's minds by how much you hated him afterwards.”

Kurt sighed.

“Right, anyways, I was actually his first friend. I was the one who saw him in the hall signing up for glee club and invited him to sit down next to me in the choir room that day. And we were friends for at least a few weeks. This was before everyone else fell in love with him.”

“Right.”

“Well, I guess some guys on the football team saw him and I hanging out, and putting two and two together, realized Blaine was also gay. So one day, I was walking past the locker rooms and I heard yelling. I busted through the door, only to find Karofsky and Blaine. No one else was around, and Dave was punching the crap out of him.”

“Oh my gosh, I didn't know Blaine got beat up!”

“He did, but just that once. And I felt so bad for him, I stepped in.”

“You stepped in?”

“Yes. I ran between them, attempted to pull Karofsky off of Blaine, and told him to leave Blaine the hell alone.”

“No way! Kurt! No wonder why he in love with you! You were his hero!”

“Huh, right. Anywho, Dave turns around and starts beating the crap out of me instead of Blaine. Blaine just runs away and leaves me there with him.”

“Wait, is this the time you didn't go to school for a week?”
“Yep, this is exactly that time.”

“Kurt! Oh my gosh! You said you fell down a flight of stairs after practicing walking in your Lady Gaga heels! I didn't know you got beat up that badly!”

“I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want people to feel sorry for me. And especially not after the way Blaine acted. For a while, he pretended like it didn't happen. I tried to talk to him about it the next day, and he flat out ignored me. He stopped sitting next to me. That's when he started getting all buddy-buddy with Tina and Sam. And then, he got on the football team, and he was best friends with all the guys who had so much fun beating me up everyday.”

“I remember that, I remember him sitting with Karofsky and all those guys at lunch.”

“Exactly.”

“Kurt, I'm so sorry. I had no idea.”  

“I know, I never told anyone. Mainly because I didn't really understand. He had been so nice for awhile, and then he was such a jerk. But only to me, and only those three times.”

“Three times?”

“Oh right, well a couple weeks later, in the locker rooms, I was caught by the bullies again. There was Karofsky, Azimio, and Rick. Azimio was holding me back. Karofsky was punching me, and Rick was videoing it. Then Blaine walks in. I was so happy because, despite what he had said, I thought that maybe he would come through for me the way I did for him.”

Kurt closes his eyes and struggles to finish the memory.

“But, apparently Blaine had to go through some initiation thing. So Karofsky told him that he had to punch me.”

“He didn't!” Rachel gasps.

“No, you're right. He didn't hit me. But he did push me. I hit my head on one of those stupid benches and had a lump on my head for days.”

Kurt laughs weakly.

“He found me a couple days later in one of the hallways. He apologized profusely, said that he was just trying to fit in, and not get tormented like he did when he was at public school before. He said he was sorry for acting like a douche.”

“And what did you say then?”

“What could I say Rachel? I told him that I hated him, that I thought he was a coward. But nevertheless, I forgave him.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. I told him that we should put all of it behind us and just forget about it. He kept apologizing for the rest of the semester, but I told him one day to stop apologizing. That no amount of apologizing was going to fix what went on. So after that day, we both pretended like it never happened. I honestly thought I had let it go, that I'd gotten past all of that. I even forgave Dave and Azimio after they stopped beating me up.”

“Kurt! I can't believe you never told anyone about this! How could you just go on like it never happened?

“Because I realized, afterwards, why it had hurt so much. The root of why I hated him. It was because I was jealous, but more than that. It was because I liked him. Before Blaine even liked me, I had a crush on him. And then when those things happened, it just felt like rejection. I just wanted to forget, I was so embarrassed, so I told him I forgave him and that we should never talk about it again.”

“But Kurt! You have to talk to him about it!”

“What is there to talk about? We went over it all those years ago, and it was over. And I think that for whatever reason, when it comes to Blaine, this admittedly attractive, old fashioned stylish, overly positive, sometimes annoying man who is now my husband, I can't seem to get over what happened in our past. I just want to forget about all of that stuff. That was high school, which was ages ago. And to be honest, I'm so sick of being that guy who can't get over the past.”

“Kurt, you know I'm only saying this because I'm your friend. I'm really worried about you. I mean, two weeks ago, you hated the idea of marrying this guy. Hell, yesterday you hated the idea of marrying this guy. Now you're all ‘let it go' and ‘let's forget it ever happened!' This isn't the Kurt I know.”

“Fine, you want to know the real reason, Rachel? This morning, when I dragged myself out of bed at six to make stupid lemon flavored apology pancakes and whipped cream-”

Rachel gasped.

“You had lemon pancakes without me? Kurt, that was our thing!”

“Rachel…”
“Oh, sorry.”

“Anyways, when I was doing that, at first I was still kind of pissed off. I was thinking about our argument, and I was mad. Then Blaine came out of his bedroom, and at first I was faking it. I pretended to be happy. But then, after awhile, I didn't have to pretend anymore. We were talking and laughing, and as soon as I let myself forget about all the stupid stuff that happened between us before, I was genuinely really happy. Happier than I've been in awhile. And I want to keep things that way.”

Rachel sighs. “Alright Kurt, if you are genuinely happy this way, I will let you be. But if Blaine hits you, I will file a domestic violence case.”

“I can always count on you to have my back. Anyways, I should get going now, don't wanna be late on the first day.

“Okay. Bye Kurt! Love you! Good luck!”

“Thank you. Love you too Rachel.”

Kurt walks the short distance to his theater. He had told Rachel the truth. Well, at least most of it. Was he falling in love with Blaine again? He couldn't, not after a week. Right? It was like, physically impossible, or something. Kurt rolls his eyes in spite of himself while he changes for rehearsal. He was starting to act almost as ridiculously as Blaine did all of the time.

As it turned out, walking through the busy streets of NYC with three overflowing brown paper grocery bags in his arms was not Blaine's best idea. He couldn't really see where he was going, and he was pretty sure that he had stepped on more than one cat's tail. But he was in a hurry. He wanted to get home before Kurt did. He figured that since Kurt had been so nice as to make them both breakfast that morning, he was going to make them dinner. So after leaving the studio that afternoon, he had stopped by the grocery store to pick up everything he needed to make pesto ravioli and chicken.

He barely managed to open the stubborn, creaky door to their apartment without dropping everything in his hands. Blaine breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Kurt hadn't gotten home yet. He began to cook, breathing in deeply. He wasn't sure how he and Kurt were going to manage having two cooks in one house, but they'd have to figure it out. He loved making pasta, rolling the dough, cutting out the shapes, mixing the sauce by hand. But he also couldn't live without Kurt's awesome lemon pancakes.

Blaine was just about done with everything when he heard the front door open. Kurt took a few steps inside. He was instantly mesmerized by the smell of good food. When he reaches the kitchen, Blaine turns around with a big smile on his face. He can tell by Kurt's expression that he's surprised.

“Hey!” Blaine says, opening his arms in a friendly, welcoming gesture. Kurt drops his bag and runs straight into them. He wraps his arms around Blaine's shoulders and buries his face in his husband's neck.

“Oh!” Blaine says, taken aback. He hadn't meant the gesture as a hug per se, but who was he to argue? He loved hugs just as much as the next person. Besides, he had heard somewhere that it was scientifically proven you needed at least eight hugs a day to stay happy. And if that was the case, he was way behind on his hug quota. Besides, Kurt looked like he needed this.

While Blaine was thinking all of this, Kurt was wrapped up in his own thoughts. His inner voice was arguing with him, and it was insanely conflicting.

Man, this feels so nice.

Kurt, what are you doing right now?! I thought you were going to take things slow!

I am! Is a hug not slow enough?

NO! Detach, Kurt. DETACH.

Ugh, but why? He's so warm, and he smells like pasta!

Kurt, what kind of messages are you giving this guy? Rachel was right, you are going crazy. 24 hours ago, you were yelling at this guy. Now you're snuggling up to him?

Judge away, inner voice. I feel no shame.

No, but you do feel the lack of oxygen in your body, right Kurt? Pull away man. YOU. NEED. TO. BREATHE.

Do you remember the last time I even got hugged, inner voice? It was by Artie's grandma at his film debut, and she was short and smelled like peppermint and licorice and she pinched my buns with her nana hands. Do you want me to have a pathetic hug life, inner voice? Because that's where my life is going.

Can't. Breathe. GASP! Dying! Neck asphyxiation!

Kurt finally pulled back when he indeed started feeling that he couldn't breathe anymore. Okay, so maybe the twelve hours of intense rehearsals had messed with his mind a little bit. Usually, he didn't throw himself at men, (even if they were his husband) or have arguments with his inner voice about hugging. Kurt finally dared himself to look Blaine in the eyes. He feared shock, or worse, rejection, but Blaine was actually smiling at him, and his eyes were warm and friendly.

“So,” Blaine says, breaking the silence. “That was… nice. Did you have a rough day or something?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” Kurt said in response.

“Well,” Blaine says stepping back. “I made dinner! One hundred percent homemade ravioli topped with pesto sauce, served with a side of grilled chicken breast and asparagus. Shall I get you a plate?”

“That sounds amazing,” Kurt said. Blaine fixed them both plates while Kurt set the table. When they sat down, Blaine tried to ask as many questions as he could to determine how Kurt's day went without being annoying.

“So, tell me about rehearsals.”

“Oh, well, they were pretty intense.”

“Really? On the first day?”

“Yeah, the director and the choreographer wanted to see how far they could push us before we broke. Most of the chorus line ended up crying by the time rehearsals were over. One girl sprained her ankle, and someone else ripped their pants while they were dancing.”

“Really? That's awful.”

“Yeah, it was. I just fell a little exhausted. But I think I'm fine, really,” Kurt says while spearing a piece of asparagus. “This food is really good, Blaine.”

“Well thank you. The pesto is my nonna's secret recipe.”

“That's so sweet. You know,” Kurt says, and then he pauses. “I don't really know too much about you. You said nonna, is your family Italian?”

“Just on my mother's side. My grandparents and mom immigrated to Ohio, of all places, when my mom was eight. But we still go and visit Florence all the time.”

“Oh wow, that's really cool Blaine.”
“Yeah? My grandma apologized for not being able to come to the wedding. She wanted to be there for it.”

Kurt felt a twinge of guilt. He felt he had been so rude to Blaine, but he had forgotten that Blaine also had a family who cared about him. A family who would probably be very sad when they heard his husband was a pathological jerk.

“You're not a pathological jerk, Kurt.”

“Wait, did I say that out loud?”

Blaine chuckled. “Yeah, you did.” He reaches across the table to grab Kurt's hand.

Here we go again with this move. How am I supposed to combat this? It's such a cute affectionate gesture! Inner voice! Where are you now?

“Kurt,” Blaine said, snapping him out of his daze.

“What?”

“Well it's just that…”

“Blaine, spit it out already.”

“Okay, fine. Rachel called me earlier today.”

“Oh did she?” Kurt asked, remembering his conversation with her from earlier in the day. He knew that he never had to worry, that Rachel would keep all of his secrets until she died, but then again, she did only seem to keep secrets that she deemed worthy of keeping.

“She asked if you and I wanted to go on a double date!”

Well, Kurt definitely hadn't been expecting that.

“I'm sorry, what?”

“A double date, with her and Jesse!”

“Oh,” Kurt said. “And you think this is a good idea?”

“Yeah! Why not?”

“Okay,” Kurt sighs. “I'm willing to give this a shot if you are. When did they want to go out?”

“Rachel said this Friday, for dinner.”

“Well, let's do it then!” Kurt exclaims, cutting the last few pieces of ravioli into bite size chunks.

“Great! I'll call her and confirm. But um, I was thinking, maybe after we finished eating, we could…”

Kurt's head snaps up. And the nerves are back.

“Uh… yeah?” he asks quite illiterately, and takes a hard swallow of his water.

“Well, I was thinking this might be something nice to do after dinner, to you know, wind down before we go to sleep. I mean, I know we didn't talk about it a lot, and I hope I'm not overstepping by asking or anything…”

Oh my… it's happening. He's asking. He's gonna ask for sex. What do I do?! Crap! Inner voice! Help me!

Sorry, you're on your own on this one kid.

“...and those are three good reasons why I think that it's a good idea.”

“Wait, what?”

Did he just give me a mini persuasive argument on why should have sex? And did I just miss the whole thing? How long was I in inner thought mode?

“...it's just something that my nonna taught me when I was little. If you're not sure if something you want to do is the right decision, just give yourself three good reasons why it's a smart idea. If you can't come up with three, then don't do it. But if you can, then it's a green light! Full speed ahead.”

Gosh, I have got to stop zoning out and pay attention more.

“Right, that sounds really interesting. Uh…” Kurt was about to make up some excuse, but then he figured that being honest was better than lying to his husband.

“I didn't really hear what you said, I kind of… zoned out for a second. What did you want to do?”

“Watch American Idol with you!”

“Wait, that show's still going on?”

“Of course! They can't cancel it, the nostalgia factor is too high now. Anyways, my three good reasons were that, one, we both like to sing.”

“Okay.”

“Two, it's fun watching other people sing, even if they're doing it badly.”

“I guess I can kind of agree there.”

“And three, you and I can wonder in amazement together at how Ryan Seacrest is the only person who has stayed for the entire length of the show.”

“Hmm… okay, you're right. How about this. Let's do the dishes, then I'll go take a quick shower, just to get rid of the smell of failure and tears. Then we can watch American Idol together. But we have to start at the auditions.”

Blaine throws his hands up in surrender. “Alright! Auditions it is!”

They do the dishes together, and everything is peaceful for a remainder of five minutes, until a watery, soapy bubble fight breaks out between the two of them. After cleaning the dishes, Kurt and Blaine both go and take separate showers. Then they watch cringe-worthy auditions of American Idol together, laughing and taking turns imitating Ryan Seacrest and the other judges. Eventually, they both fall asleep on the couch. Blaine wakes up a few hours later, only to see Kurt asleep on his shoulder. He turns off the television, pulls a thick blanket over the two of them, wraps his arms around his husband, and promptly goes back to sleep.