Kurt smiled when Burt turned the car onto their street and the familiar houses and gardens flashed past the windows. He sighed happily when the car slowed and Burt steered into the driveway, his house filling the windscreen. As soon as the car stopped he scrabbled for the door handle and jumped out the car, eager to get back inside his home again. He stood next to the car gazing up at the house whilst he waited impatiently for Carole and Burt to get out of the car. Sure, he loved New York City, loved his apartment, and loved living there, but nothing beat being at home with his family. He knew he would feel different about it in the future when he was married and living in the house he and his husband had bought together, but right now this was still his home.

"You're going to have to come help me with these suitcases, kid. I can't carry them all inside by myself."

Kurt turned and hurried over to where his father was heaving one of his suitcases out the trunk of the car. Taking the case from him, he set it aside and lifted the next one out of the car.

"Why did you have to take so much stuff with you?" Burt grumbled.

Kurt gave him a look and Burt finished helping to take the cases inside without any further complaints.

"It's great to be back here," Kurt proclaimed as he set the last of his cases down by the stairs. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm out of Lima and living in New York, but I miss you guys and just being home whilst I'm there."

Carole pulled him into a hug. "We miss you too, sweetie."

They moved through to the living room and as soon as they had sat down Carole turned to Kurt. "How's Tim?"

"Yes, tell us about this Tim guy," Burt said, watching Kurt closely with slightly narrowed eyes.

The smile slipped from Kurt's face. "You already know about him, I was friends with him for months before we started dating." He cast around for another topic of conversation. "How's the garage going?"

Burt wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. "Yes, but he's your boyfriend now, so it's different."

"How?"

Carole seemed to notice how Kurt had tensed up at the mention of Tim's name and how reluctant he was to talk about him as she tried to change the subject. "How are your classes going? They must be getting more difficult now that you are further into your course."

Gratefully, Kurt went to reply, but Burt spoke again before he got the chance to open his mouth. "You're being safe aren't you?"

Kurt couldn't prevent his face from flushing. "It's not like that, Dad."

Burt eyed him for a moment. "Well, when it does…you know…"

"Right," Kurt said shortly, folding his arms across his chest.

There was a short awkward silence during which Kurt sat stiffly on the couch and frowned off into the distance, Carole watched him with concern, and Burt eyed Kurt a little suspiciously.

Carole finally broke the silence. "Finn told us that your last performance was really good. He said the audience really loved you and that you and Rachel were by far the best in the show."

Kurt smiled, Tim fading from his mind. "Yeah, it went really well! I think that night was one of the best performances I've ever done. I got really great feedback from all my teachers about it as well."

He cheered up as he enthusiastically discussed his classes with his Dad and Carole. His Dad had thankfully dropped the subject of Tim for which Kurt was extremely glad; he wanted to put him to the back of his mind to allow his annoyance at him to fade so that he and Tim could put this rough patch behind them when he was back in New York.

Burt glanced at his watch. "We had better go and get Finn from the airport," he said, getting to his feet.

Kurt stood up as well. "I'll go and unpack, see you guys when you get back." He waved his Dad and Carole out the door before shifting all his suitcases upstairs to his room and starting to unpack.

He had unpacked about a third of his first suitcase when his thoughts suddenly drifted to Blaine. He pulled his phone out the pocket of his jeans and sent Blaine a text saying he was back in Lima and it felt good to be home and seeing his family again. He didn't know if Blaine was home yet, so he wasn't expecting an instant reply and was surprised when he got one.

Ah good old Ohio, how I missed thee! Westerville is just as boring as I remembered – it is good to see the family again though. Are you missing the fast-paced life in NYC yet?

Smiling, Kurt sank down onto his bed to reply.

Not yet, it's kind of nice to get away from it all for a little while. I will quickly miss being able to walk down the street in a fashionable outfit without people staring at me though.

Maybe they are staring at you because you look like you have just dropped down from heaven.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine's latest text, heat creeping across his cheeks. Were they flirting now? He decided to play it safe and ignore the maybe-flirting tone of the message.

Or maybe they are just surprised that there are things other than t-shirts and flannel to wear.

It took Blaine a little longer to reply this time and Kurt jiggled his leg, glancing at the screen of his phone every few seconds despite knowing that his phone would beep when he received the reply, as he anxiously awaited the next text. Just when he was starting to think that he should get back to his unpacking, his phone beeped and the screen lit up.

Or it could be that as well. I know we haven't even been in Ohio a day yet, but when do you think you'll be available for me to show you the best coffee shop in the area?

Kurt thought for a moment before typing out a response.

How does Wednesday sound to you? That way our families won't think we are sick of them after only a couple of days and are trying to escape their presence.

Kurt nodded to himself before sending the text. Today was Saturday, so saying Wednesday meant that he had several days to spend with his family and it didn't show how eager he was to see Blaine again – and he was more eager than he cared to admit to himself.

Sounds good to me! I was thinking we could meet at around 11am if that's ok with you. Anyway family dinner/interrogation time is about to start so we can work out a time and I'll text you the address of the coffee place later. Talk to you later! :)

With a smile Kurt set his phone down on the bed and turned back to his suitcases to finish unpacking.

Kurt had forgotten how much he missed family dinners where he, Burt, Carole, and Finn discussed their days and any exciting news whilst they ate a delicious meal cooked by Carole and himself. Although he had been back home for Christmas, there had been weeks of him eating alone or with Rachel since then and that had become what he was used to, so it felt a little strange to be sitting at a table with his family again – a good strange though.

Finn had just finished telling a story about getting lost in the middle of taking Rachel to a restaurant one night and there was a lull in the conversation. In the middle of piling more mashed potatoes onto his plate, Finn turned to Kurt. "Rachel told me you and Tim are having some problems."

Burt whipped his head up from facing his plate to look at Kurt. "What? You didn't mention that earlier. What kind of problems?"

Kurt glared across the table at Finn who frowned and mouthed 'what?'

"It's nothing really," Kurt said through gritted teeth, his hand clenching his fork, "just a small rough patch."

Finn didn't seem to have picked up on how much Kurt did not want to discuss this. "Rachel said you are pretty pissed at him."

Kurt closed his eyes, exhaling deeply to try and stop himself from yelling at Finn.

"He's not treating you badly, is he? Is he cheating on you? Trying to force you to do something you don't want to do?" Burt asked, sounding angrier with each question.

Opening his eyes, Kurt shot daggers at Finn with his eyes causing him to recoil back away from the table so he was as far from Kurt as he could get without leaving his seat.

Knowing he wouldn't be allowed to leave the table until he told his Dad what was going on with Tim, he told them. "Tim has just been whining a lot lately and it is really getting on my nerves." He avoided the eyes of everyone at the table as he spoke.

"What about?" Burt asked and Kurt could feel the almost physical weight of his eyes on him.

He stabbed at the food on his plate with his fork. "That he's not getting to see me at all these holidays because I'm spending them here."

"Surely he understands why you want to spend the holidays with your family?" Carole asked gently.

"I thought he did, but obviously not," he replied bitterly.

"I don't like the sound of this Tim," Burt muttered, his voice carrying clearly through the silence around the table.

Kurt let his fork fall to his plate with a loud clatter. "It's just a little rough patch; Tim is not a bad guy. Now can we please talk about something else?"

His Dad and Finn continued to stare at him until Carole asked Finn how much sport he was getting to see in New York and Kurt's relationship was forgotten for the present. He sighed in relief, dropping his gaze to his plate and picking his fork back up again to resume pushing the last of his food around his plate.

The dark stormy grey clouds that had been hovering ominously over the outskirts of Westerville earlier in the morning had disappeared without dropping any of the rain they had been threatening and now the sky was a clear, bright blue. Blaine tossed the sweater he had been wearing over his short-sleeved shirt into his car, locked the doors and then headed down the street towards the coffee shop he had visited regularly during his time at Dalton. Just as the small café came into view he spotted Kurt a few shops down from the café, walking up the street towards him; he was glancing up at each shop as he passed them and didn't see Blaine. His hair was swept up in its usual style and he was wearing his customary tight jeans paired with a striped sweater and boots. Blaine felt his heart skip and his stomach give a small squeeze at the sight of him, these organ acrobats only intensifying when Kurt's gaze landed on him and he smiled causing an answering smile to spread across Blaine's face automatically.

"Hey, Blaine!" Kurt greeted him once Blaine had hurried forward to meet Kurt outside the coffee shop.

"Hi," Blaine said, suddenly feeling a little nervous – this felt a lot like they were going on their first date. He shook that thought from his mind. "How's Lima treating you?"

"Good, it has been nice to spend time with my family and catch-up on everything I missed whilst in New York. How's your family?"

Blaine held open the door of the coffee shop for Kurt before following him inside. "Everyone's fine, nothing has really changed much since I was last home at Christmas."

They reached the counter and Blaine glanced over at Kurt. "What do you want?" He pulled his wallet out of his pocket.

Kurt shook his head at him. "You're not paying for me."

"I invited you here, so I'll buy your coffee," he insisted, pushing Kurt gently away from the counter. "Now, what do you want?"

"Grande non-fat mocha," Kurt said, giving in. "Thanks."

Blaine smiled at him. "You're very welcome."

Once they got their coffees Blaine led the way over to a table by the window at the far corner of the café. "This is the table I always sat at with my friends from Dalton," he said as they sat down.

"Did you like Dalton? I know some people get sent to private schools by their parents but they don't really enjoy going to them." Kurt took a sip of his coffee and his eyes widened. "Wow, this coffee is really good."

Blaine grinned at him as he stirred his coffee. "I told you it was." He set the coffee stirrer aside. "And to answer your question, yes, I did like going to Dalton – I loved it there, actually. I made a lot of great friends who I know I'll be friends with for life and I loved being a member of the Warblers." He paused, wrapping his hands around his coffee. "My parents didn't make me go to Dalton per se, I transferred there after the bullying I was being subjected to at my previous high school became too much. My parents didn't think I was safe at that school anymore and I couldn't take the bullying anymore, so I moved to a school where we knew I wouldn't be bullied."

Kurt was watching him intently with his hand holding his coffee frozen half-way to his mouth. "Why were you being bullied so badly?"

Blaine raised his eyes to meet Kurt's curious blue ones and Kurt faltered.

"Sorry," he said, setting his coffee down. "You don't have to tell me."

Blaine shook his head, sitting up straighter in his chair. "No, it's ok. I was being bullied because of my sexuality, because I'm gay."

"Oh," Kurt said in a small voice. "Well, I don't blame you for transferring; I know exactly how badly some homophobic people can treat you in high school for being gay."

"Is that why your parents looked into transferring you to Dalton, because-"

"Because I was being shoved into lockers, got abuse shouted at me, slushies tossed in my face, and other forms of torment each day all because I like boys instead of girls? Yes," Kurt said bitterly.

Blaine bit his lip. "And you stayed at – McKinley, was it? – until you graduated?"

Kurt nodded. "The guy who was my main tormentor transferred to another school in my junior year and things got better after that."

Blaine stayed silent for a moment, staring at Kurt in a way that was probably making him uncomfortable, but he couldn't help it. His heart was thumping erratically in his chest, the blood singing in his veins, and his head was telling him something. "I wish I could have been as brave as you and just stuck it out at my school, showed the bullies that they couldn't get to me, that I was proud of whom I was and nothing they said or did could change that. But instead I ran away from them to another school."

Kurt reached across the table and placed his hand over Blaine's, giving it a light squeeze. "You did the right thing by transferring and I would have changed schools if my parents could have afforded to send me to somewhere like Dalton where I would never be bullied. And you are brave, Blaine you didn't run back into the closet after the bullying like some people do, you were brave enough to come out and be proud of who you are in the first place. Not many people do that, Blaine."

Kurt smiled softly at him and Blaine returned the smile, feeling almost dizzy from the rush of blood through his head. After giving his hand one last squeeze, Kurt drew his hand back and Blaine tried not to show his disappointment at the loss of contact.

"Tell me more about Blaine Anderson, with our months of observing each other from afar I feel like I've known you for ages but I don't know you," Kurt said, taking another drink of his coffee.

Blaine grinned at him. "Only if you tell me more about Kurt-?" He broke off and looked questioningly at Kurt.

"Hummel," Kurt told him.

"Kurt Hummel," Blaine repeated.

Kurt shifted his chair closer to the table. "Deal," he said with a smile. "Do you play any sports?"

Blaine took a quick sip of his coffee before answering Kurt's questions happily, ecstatic that he was finally going to get to know Kurt better, the person that, until a little over a week ago, he'd been watching on the subway and wishing he could meet.