“Kurt! Stop doing that! You're distracting me!” It was Monday morning, and Blaine was making breakfast for the two of them. Well, he was trying to, at least, but Kurt wouldn't let him concentrate on scrambling eggs. Not when he was nibbling on Blaine's ear like that. Blaine was standing at the stove, wearing his plaid pajamas and an apron, trying to scramble eggs to go with the muffins in the oven. Kurt was behind him, pinning Blaine to the edge of the stove.

“You weren't complaining when I was doing this last night,” Kurt replied. It was true. Lately, they had been going a little farther than just kissing. Surprisingly, Kurt especially seemed to like experimenting, finding what Blaine liked, and using it to manipulate and torture him.

“Kurt!” Blaine gasps. Kurt had moved his lips down, and was kissing and biting all along Blaine's neck.

“Hmm?” Kurt murmured, not stopping for a second.

“If you keep doing that, you're going to leave marks. What is everyone going to think when they see me covered in hickeys like some high schooler?”

“Well then, for once, Santana and Tina will actually have a reason to act scandalized.” He moved up to whisper in Blaine's ear. “Shall we give them something to talk about?”

Blaine felt goosebumps all over his body.

“I-I…” he trailed off. Kurt chuckled.

DING!

Blaine was saved by the oven timer going off. He slipped out of Kurt's grasp and grabbed the pan out of the oven door. He took a muffin and shoved it into Kurt's mouth before his husband could try to ravish him again. It wasn't that he didn't want that, Blaine just didn't think that he was completely ready for sex yet. Which was completely ironic, because Kurt was the one who had said no to having sex when they first got together. And now, Kurt was acting like he couldn't wait to get into Blaine's pants. This new Kurt Hummel was a complete one-eighty from the shy, blushing Kurt he used to know in high school. Blaine knew that they would have to talk about it sometime soon, but he was putting it off. Kurt interrupted his thoughts.

“So, what are your plans for today?” he asked, taking a bite of his cranberry muffin.

“Oh, well, I was going to go to the studio today and meet with the rest of the band and Mercedes, and we were going to discuss tour dates. And then, later tonight, I was going to go to that anti-Match meeting I was telling you about.”

Kurt's eyes widened.

“Tour dates? I didn't know you guys were going on tour.”

Crap. Blaine had forgotten to tell Kurt about that. Well, he supposed this wasn't a discussion he could avoid.

“Uh, yeah. Well, we're not sure yet. We want release the album first, see how well it's received, but maybe a couple cities. Definitely not longer than a month or two.”

“Oh, I see,” Kurt said. “Well, just tell me when you get a definite set of dates. It'd be nice to know that kind of thing.”

Blaine hung his head guiltily.

“I'm sorry, I meant to tell you…”

“Blaine, it's fine. Don't sweat it. I understand.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Luckily, Kurt was a very understanding husband.

“Oh!” he said. “I almost forgot! I got you tickets to opening night!”

“Right! Opening night for your show. That's two weeks from now, right?”

“Yep. I got one for you, my dad, and Carole. They're coming up for it. They're actually going to be staying here for a few days. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, of course,” Blaine said. “Oh, yeah. That meeting tonight. Did you still wanna come?”

“Definitely. That Marley girl you were talking about, I wish I could help people like her. People in that kind of situation.”

“Man, I know right? I felt so bad for her. I know that we turned out okay from this Match algorithm, but a lot of people didn't. I really want this law to be abolished.”
“I know, I do too,” Kurt said, pulling Blaine into a warm hug. Blaine snuggled his head into the crook of Kurt's neck.

“I'm really glad that we did end up working out, though.”

“I am too,” replied Kurt. “And honestly surprised.”

“Surprised that we ended up liking each other instead of hating each other?”

“Yes. Does that make me a bad person for thinking that? For actually being surprised that we worked out?”

“No,” said Blaine. “I'm right there with you. I think all of our friends are too.”

“Really?” Kurt asked. “I don't think Rachel was surprised. She was the one telling me to give you a chance the whole time.”

“Seriously?” Blaine asked, blinking in shock. “Rachel told you to give me a chance?”

“Yeah, she told me to be nice to you when we had our first meet at the coffee shop, and to try and do little favors for you when we got married.”

Well that's really surprising, Blaine thought to himself.

“Why is that surprising?” Kurt looked at Blaine with a puzzled face.

“Did I say that out loud?”

Kurt chuckled, but persisted with his question.

“Yes, you did, and why is that surprising? Rachel loves you, she loves us.”

“Uh, no, that's not true at all.”

“What do you mean?”

Crap, I probably shouldn't tell him, Rachel would hate me even more if she found out that I ratted her out.

“Blaine, did Rachel say anything to you? She didn't… tell you something, did she?”

“Uh…”

“B,” Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's hand, “I need you to be honest with me. I hope you know that's very important to me. I need to be able to trust the people closest to me. Please tell me, what did Rachel say to you?”

Blaine sighed.

“Well, when we were at the restaurant, she said that you told her about how I hurt you before, which I totally understand by the way. And then she said that if I ever hurt you again, she would get back at me herself.”

“Damn it!” Kurt yelled, smacking the counter with his hand. Blaine jumped back a bit, startled by the sudden outburst.

“I told her not to tell you. I told her to lay off.”

“Kurt, it's fine…”

“No! It's not fine! She does this to me all the time! I can't take her anymore! I try to tell her something in confidence, and she goes behind my back and betrays me! This isn't the first time.” Kurt closes his eyes and puts his hands on his forehead.

“Well, what are you gonna do?” Blaine asks gently.

“I'm gonna talk to her about it. She has to know that she can't get away with just doing whatever she wants. She thinks she knows what's best for everyone, and I'm sick of it!”

Kurt turns to Blaine and throws his arms around him again.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you thrown in the middle of this mess, and I really didn't want to rant to you this morning.”

“It's fine, Kurt.” Blaine raises his hand up to his husband's head and rakes his fingers through his hair.

“I understand completely,” he says, kissing the top of his head. “Now, why don't you get ready for work, finish your muffin, and I will see you later tonight, at the meeting?”

Kurt plants another kiss on Blaine's lips.

“Okay,” he says. Blaine watches Kurt prance off to their (their!) bedroom to get changed for rehearsal. Blaine sighed to himself. It was relieving that their relationship was going so well. He had been worried for so long that Kurt would hate him, that he would hate Kurt, that coming home would be extremely awkward and stiff, but it was the opposite of that. Coming home to Kurt was so nice. Blaine hadn't even known that he could be so happy. That's what he told Santana later when they met with the rest of the band and Mercedes to discuss marketing and promotion of their new album.

“Well congratulations, hobbit. I didn't think you had it in you. Somehow, you managed to woo Kurt Hummel. What'd you have to do? Put magic potion in his oatmeal?”

“Very funny Santana. No, I just had to romance him a little. Turns out, we're a perfect match for each other.”

“Really?” asked Tina.

“Well, yeah. I mean, we have a lot in common, and we make each other happy. But honestly, the best part is how comfortable I feel around him. Even though we've only been together for a little while, I feel completely at home around him.” Blaine smiled as he continued talking. “I feel as though I could tell him anything, and he wouldn't judge me for it, and I feel like I can just be myself when I'm with Kurt. I don't feel the need to impress him or anything. I just come to him, and I'm home.”

“Wow,” said Mercedes, “I'm really glad that your relationship is working out so well.” She said this with the slightest sliver of sadness in her voice. Santana picked up on it immediately.

“Uh oh, I know that voice. Trouble in paradise? What happened, is that marshmallow chocolate swirl not working out so well for you two?”

“Santana! That was offensive!” Tina yelled at her.

“Oh calm down Asian number one!”

“Hey,” Blaine said, turning his attention to Mercedes, “where is Sam anyways? This meeting was supposed to start like, half an hour ago. It's not like Sam to be this late.”

Mercedes sighed.
“I don't know, see, he hasn't been acting like himself lately at all. He's been showing up late to places all of the time and he's been making all these excuses lately. I just don't know what to make of it.”

“Hmm, sounds like trouty mouth is cheating on you,” said Santana.

Mercedes sombered at this remark.

“You really think that?” she asked. “I had suspected… but I had hoped…”

“No, that's not possible,” Blaine refuted. “Sam loves you. There's no way he's cheating on you. How about I talk to him, you know, man to man. I'll find out what's up with him for you.”

“Oh, thank you so much Blaine. I owe you big time.”

“Don't worry about it Mercedes. Now, let's forget about this whole ugly situation, and talk about marketing!”

Later that night, around 8 o'clock, Blaine was walking to the underground meeting. Their band meeting had run late. Not surprisingly, Mercedes had kept them in that tiny room pretty much all day long. Sam had shown up about two hours late, then dashed out an hour before they were finished, muttering off some excuse about having to go find an electrician.

I guess I'll talk to him tomorrow or something, thought Blaine.

Kurt had texted him; apparently his rehearsal had gone late as well.

Can you believe that we're only two weeks away from opening night and some of these chorus girls are still forgetting their lines? Mr. Porter practically went into a frenzy when we were doing the opening number and two of them literally ran into each other.

Wow, that's insane.

Yeah, it is. You're just gonna have to meet me there. I don't think I can make it back to the house on time.

Yeah, neither can I. Mercedes just let us go right now. I'm walking to the subway station as we speak. Meet you there.

Definitely, see you in a bit dear.

Blaine smiled to himself. He was just getting used to Kurt using terms of endearment. It was honestly the cutest thing that Blaine had ever seen. Kurt wasn't very affectionate with a lot of people, and when it came to Blaine, Kurt was almost hesitant with his affectopm, as if he thought he could scare Blaine away or something. But Blaine could tell that Kurt really enjoyed being affectionate with him. His favorite thing had to be whenever Kurt touched his hair. Especially when they kissed, and Kurt ran his fingers through Blaine's hair, it felt amazing. For the longest time, Blaine had thought that his curly hair was ugly, but Kurt seemed to love it so much. It had to be one of the best feelings in the world, when someone you loved pointed out something that you thought was a flaw, only to tell you that it's actually one of your best traits.

Blaine was only a few minutes away from the warehouse when his phone started buzzing. The caller was Kurt. He picked up immediately.

“Hey Kurt, what's up? Are you almost here? I'm just a few minutes away.”

“No, I'm not. I'm so sorry Blaine, but I don't think that I'll be able to make it,” Kurt said with a sad tone.

“What happened?”

“Basically, one of the supporting actors fell and twisted his ankle. Now we have to practice with his beyond forgetful understudy, who barely knows half of the lines or the dance moves and is in every other scene! Mr. Porter is making us stay until at least midnight tonight to help this guy learn his part. I'm so sorry, I really wanted to go, Blaine, I-”

“Kurt, don't worry about it, everything will be okay. Look, you just focus on rehearsal and being safe, okay? I don't want you to get hurt. Just, come back to me in one piece tonight, okay? And wake me up no matter what time you get back. I wanna see that you're alive.”

“Okay,” Kurt whispered.

“I'll see you at home, okay?”

“Alright, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Blaine hung up the phone and walked up to the old warehouse. This one was even more dilapidated than the one where the party was held last week. It reeked of chemicals that definitely weren't legal anymore, and the door was less of an actual door and more of a barely there piece of sheet metal that looked haphazardly stapled to the building, with part of it dented and pulled back so people could get through. It was all insanely creepy, but Blaine relaxed a little when he saw lights and heard voices from the inside of the building. He took a deep breath and walked inside.

There was a small group of people sitting in what looked like a waiting area or lobby. Ten or so old, overstuffed, mismatching ugly couches in differing shades of brown were arranged in a circle. There were also several vintage, uncared for armchairs thrown in here and there. There were probably about fifty or so people at the meeting, and most of them were sitting on the floor. Everyone stopped to look at Blaine when he walked in. The situation was awkward, to say the least, but Blaine didn't really know what to say to get himself out of it. After a few seconds of a heavy, pregnant silence, Blaine finally decides to speak.

“So… someone told me that this was an anti-match meeting.”

A blond girl, with piercing green eyes looks up at him sharply.

“Maybe it is. Who wants to know?”

“Uh, I do. That's kinda why I'm here. My name's Blaine. I want to help.”

Everyone in the room visibly lets out a sigh of relief. The tension in the air dissipated to a major degree. The girl runs up to him and takes his hand.

“I'm sorry for coming across like that. I don't mean to be rude. It's just that, well you know, meetings like this are illegal, and we don't want the wrong people finding out about this.”

“Right, of course,” says Blaine. He really wished Kurt were there with him at that moment.

This wouldn't feel half as awkward with Kurt, thought Blaine. Kurt always knows exactly what to say to people. Even if it's not right, at least it's something. Blaine wondered if there would ever be a point in his life where he wouldn't get pathetically tongue tied around every stranger he met.

“Come on! Sit down,” the girl says, gesturing to the floor. She takes a seat in one of the larger chairs and starts to talk. Obviously, she was the main person in charge.

“Alright everyone, welcome to the first of many anti-match meetings in our new location. I can see that some of our regular members haven't found out about our new location yet. Please make sure to inform them if you see them. For those of you who are new, I'm Kitty.”

“Hi Kitty,” everyone in the room murmured in unison, almost like a creepier version of an alcoholics anonymous meeting.

“Now, we are all here because regardless of our background, we have one common goal: to get the match law abolished. This law is an infringement of our freedoms, and we need to take back what our ancestors fought for for centuries. The only way this group is going to survive is by camaraderie. So, I want everyone in the room to turn to their neighbor and find out why they're here. I'll give you ten minutes. starting now.”

Blaine turned around, looking for someone to talk to. He wasn't expecting to socialize at this event. He smiled in realization when he saw Marley talking to another brunette in the corner. He walked over to them.

“Hi Marley,” Blaine said.

“Oh, hey Blaine. Nice to see you. This is my friend Sugar.”

The other brunette extends her hand. She has too much makeup on, and a sad, neglected look in her eye, but Blaine gets a good vibe from her.

“I didn't expect to see you here,” Marley says.

“Really?” For some reason, Blaine took a personal offense to this. “Why not?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Oh, well, I don't know. You just seem so happy in your matched relationship, I guess I didn't really think that you would care too much about this stuff.”

“No, I totally do. I mean, okay, I didn't until you. When I talked to you last week, I realized how wrong this whole thing is, and I started to care. And now, I want to be here, for you guys.”

“Oh wow, Blaine, that's really sweet.”

“Wait,” Sugar says. “You are in a matched relationship, and you're actually happy?!”

Blaine blushes fiercely.

“Yeah, I am actually. We care about each other a lot, and I haven't been happier than this in a really long time, actually.”

“Woah! That's so cool! So where's your husband?” Sugar asked, looking around.

“Oh, no, he's not here, actually. He got held up at work, and he couldn't make it. But he wanted to be here, really badly,” Blaine added in.

Sugar and Marley didn't seem to believe him, exchanging suspicious and knowing looks at each other. Now usually, people think that Blaine is fairly dense and oblivious, but with this, he caught on right away.

“No, guys. It's not like that. He really did want to be here.”

“Excuses is step number one,” Sugar said.

Blaine felt sick. He hated it when people accused Kurt of things that weren't true. He tried changing the subject.

“So, I know why Marley is here, but I don't really know anything about you Sugar. Why are you here?”

If the conversation was awkward before, now it was ten times worse. Sugar looked down at her bright pink, shiny shoes and Blaine could've swore he saw a few tears slip from her eyes. But then she looked up, and Blaine could see the bravery spark in her eyes.

“I didn't really want to talk about this tonight, but I will.” Blaine stayed silent.

“My husband, the guy I got matched with, well, he cheats on me.”

Blaine hurries to issue comfort.

“Oh, I'm so sorry…”

“No, that's not all. He'll bring women into our bedroom. Two, three, four, and he'll sleep with them, and he'll handcuff me to the wall and make me watch.”

Blaine's mouth drops open and his eyes widen in shock. His stomach revolts in disgust. Who would do such a thing? Can someone that awful even be considered human? Blaine decides to voice the stupidly obvious question that's waiting to be asked.

“W-why don't you leave him?”

Sugar honestly starts crying this time, body racked with harsh sobs.

“B-because I love him… and I'm pregnant!”

Blaine didn't know what to say about anymore. He tried to think of some comforting words, a way to say that he understood, but he couldn't, because it wouldn't be true. Everything he could think to say seemed so trivial. ‘It'll get better' or ‘I'm sorry' seemed insufficient in every way. ‘What an asshole' wouldn't really be helpful, either. In the end, he decided to step forward and give Sugar a hug. She melted into his arms and cried against this shoulder. She kept mumbling, offering explanations and reasonings for her actions.

“It's just that, if I leave… no one to support me… on the street…”

“Shh, that's enough. You don't have to explain yourself to me.” He patted her on the head with short, affirming little strokes. Marley was patting Sugar on the back, saying things like ‘It's gonna be okay,' and whatnot.

Their moment was paused when Kitty resumed her shouting.

“Alright everyone, just from observing, I think we've all had enough sharing for tonight. On Thursday afternoon, at three o' clock, we are going to city hall. Congressman Rykos will be there giving a pro-Match speech. He's the son of a bitch who proposed this law in the first place. It'll be a televised event, and we are going to riot. Signs, posters, shirts, the whole works. Spread the word. Let's plan to meet there at two-thirty. If you're not convinced after hearing what your neighbors told you about why they're here, then I don't know what kind of monster you are.”

And with that, the meeting was over. Blaine hurried back home to tell Kurt about the riot.

When he burst through the door of their apartment, he found that Kurt still wasn't home yet. He paced madly around on the floor, trying to think of what he would say to his husband when he walked through the door. It was almost midnight when Kurt finally stumbled in. His eyes were bloodshot, and it looked as if he was so tired that he could barely walk straight. Blaine ran up to him and gave him a long hug.

“You look exhausted.”

Kurt sighs.

“You have no idea,” he mumbled into Blaine's shoulder. “I feel like my feet are crying. My vocal chords feel like someone stuck a knife in them and just wreaked whatever havoc they wanted.” Kurt looked up at Blaine with his bleary eyes and his face that was covered in sticky dry sweat. “We were practicing for twelve hours straight. And tomorrow it's the same thing. I don't know how I'm going to make it.”

“Hey, of course you're going to make it! You're Kurt Hummel! Look, why don't you go take a shower, and I'll make some of my magic tea for you.”

“What makes it magical?” Kurt asks wearily.

“Cocaine,” Blaine says nonchalantly.

“Yeah right Blaine, come on.”

“No! I'm being serious! It's coca tea! Santana got it for me once when I was sick. She said that her cousin smuggled it in from his trip to Bolivia or something like that. It works wonders.”

Kurt chuckled weakly and rolled his eyes, not believing him fully.

“Alright, you need to get in the shower and put some more comfortable clothes on.”

Kurt looked down at his outfit, which was comprised of a moderately tight fitting t shirt and workout legging.

“But this is my most comfortable workout outfit.”

“Yes, but by more comfortable, I mean clothes that aren't soaked in sweat.”

“Oh,” Kurt said simply.

When Kurt came out of the shower ten minutes later, Blaine had two perfectly warm cups of coca tea sitting on the coffee table, along with a blanket to snuggle under. Kurt leaned his back into Blaine's chest, and Blaine put his arms around Kurt's waist. They both closed their eyes and breathed in the scent of each other.

“So, how was the meeting?” Kurt asks, as Blaine knew he would.

“Uh, it was good, actually. I saw Marley again, and I met this woman named Sugar, who was also really nice.”

“Well that's great dear.”

“Yeah, and later this week, we're going to riot in front of Congressman Rykos' speech at city hall.”

Kurt abruptly turned around and looked at Blaine with wide eyes.

“I'm sorry, you're going to what?”

“Riot? But it's a peaceful riot!” he hoped.

“Blaine! Oh my word…” Kurt puts his fingertips on his temples, massaging his forehead as if it might explode any minute.

“Do you know what could happen to you at a riot? Have you heard about the other riots that are going on through the country? People have been put in prison Blaine! You could go to jail!”

“Well, technically going to that meeting tonight wasn't exactly legal either.”

Kurt's eyes widened even more.

“You didn't tell me it was illegal to go to anti-Match meetings.”

“I didn't think I had to tell you. I thought you knew!”

“Of course I didn't know! Blaine!” Kurt groans, then sighs.

“Please stop this,” he says tiredly.

“Stop what?” Blaine asks.

“Supporting this! I understand that this is something you believe strongly in, but I don't want you to get hurt.”

“What about all of the other people who have been getting hurt, Kurt?!” For whatever reason, Kurt's failure to see his side is making Blaine angry. He starts shouting.

“This is really important to me! I can't just stand by and watch as all of this horrible stuff happens to the people around us! I need to help them, Kurt.”

“Can't you just help them from the sidelines?” Kurt's voice is tired and drags across the words. Blaine knows that his husband is too tired to fight, but he keeps going anyways.

“I can't believe you of all people are acting like this! You were so supportive of this just a few hours ago!”

“Yes, you're right, I was. Until I got on the subway and overhead some people talking about it. Now, I'll agree with you, I think that this Match program should go to hell, but I'm not going to get myself imprisoned or killed in the process.”

“Killed?! How would you get killed, Kurt? That's barbaric.”

“No, it's not. People have died at these riots, Blaine. They get so out of control, and there are a lot of people who support this law.”

“But Sebastian said that there are so few people who are actually happy when they're matched…”

“And that's true, but the main supporters of the law are people who aren't affected by it at all. People who are older, already married. They think that arranged marriages are for the best. And they outnumber us. Blaine, if you go this riot, heaven knows anything could happen. Please,” Kurt begged, grabbing his hand. “I need you Blaine. I need my husband. Please don't go. At least not this time.”

It would've been easy to say no, to continue arguing with Kurt. Blaine probably could've persuaded him with Sugar's story. But he didn't try. What Kurt said got to him. “I need you.” It felt so good to be needed by Kurt. He didn't want to give up everything he believed in, but he also cared about Kurt and didn't want to hurt him. So, in retrospect, his decision made sense. It wasn't right, but it made sense why he chose it, at least.

“Okay,” Blaine said. “I won't go.”

Kurt relaxes visibly, shoulders slumping forward, and he breathes out a sigh of relief. He puts his arms around Blaine's neck and collapses against him.

“Thank you,” Kurt says against his ear.

These were the kinds of moments that made Blaine realize exactly how much he cared about Kurt, and that helped justify his decision, at least in his mind. But it was moments like the meeting earlier, and people like Sugar and Marley, that also helped justify his decision. Which is mainly why Blaine felt fairly guilt-free when he was heading to the riot on Thursday afternoon, after he had lied to his husband.