Blaine wanted to wave his hands as an overacting pageant-queen. Oh, holy moly - Kurt Hummel was standing in front of him.

Cooper and Kurt raised their eyebrows in unison. Of course Blaine had blurted out the name of the boy he looked up to the past couple of months. When sectionals was upcoming he and a few other members of the New Directions had gone through all previous performances. Blaine remembered them vaguely of last year's competition, but he did remember the boy with the air. As soon as they were watching a video of his solo, Blaine had fired thousands of questions on Artie and Tina about him. Only his name had already given him little melodies in his head. Then the stories about him had added more and more. Stories about him facing off bullies and enemies, him being strong and openly gay - Kurt had become a muse to him, but he couldn't write down the notes - because Kurt was a fantasy; his music required reality.

And reality was standing in front of him, arm in arm with his brother - cocking an eyebrow with the following question: "You know me?"

Blaine snapped out of his staring, shaking his head vividly. "N-no, no, I only know - uhm, your reputation."

Kurt let out a laugh that sounded like an instrument - a harpsichord maybe.

"Oh dear, my Ohio reputation isn't that good." he grunted. "I hope to change your mind about it."

"W-what? What, no! You're a legend." Blaine started to blurt, Blaine shouldn't blurt - blurting was bad. Blurting made Blaine blush (Blush in A-major, by Blaine Anderson). "You were a New Direction!"

"Oh!" Kurt's face lightened up and he started to jump up in excitement. "You go to McKinley?"

"Y-Yeah!" Blaine watched Kurt's face turn into a heart-melting smile.

"Oh my God! You're in glee club, then?" His excitement grew together with his smile when Blaine once again answered affirmative. Cooper was still eying the shadow play with a cocked eyebrow. "You need to update me, like right now - Coop." Kurt turned to Cooper with a loving grin. "I'm going to steal your little brother for a while, I need my McKinley gossip juice, is that okay?"

"U-uhm." Cooper hesitated, biased with what was happening. "Okay, I guess?"

Kurt squealed and pressed a soft kiss on Cooper's cheek. Blaine ignored the little stab that gave him: he was going to talk with Kurt. Kurt ‘I can sing girl-songs if I want to' Hummel, Kurt ‘Bring it on' Hummel, Kurt - who was now having trouble releasing himself from Cooper in order to get to Blaine. He giggled as Cooper tickled him, asking for a kiss before he was going to let him to play with wolf-boy for a little while. Eventually Kurt gave in and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. Blaine looked away; he didn't need to see his brother kiss his idol.

Finally Kurt walked to him, grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the living room so they could discuss McKinley, New Directions and Mr. Schuester's vests. And Blaine felt like he was floating on clouds (Nebula in F-major by Blaine Anderson).

Blaine had always been a bit self-conscious with the way he looked. According to many people he was quite the handsome young man, dapper even in his period at Dalton with the blazer. Even at McKinley he did everything to look his best. But within his house he could wear whatever he wanted, unless of course the important people came over, so he never questioned himself on visual presence during holidays.

Well, today was the day Blaine did.

Of all days - of all days - today was the day that Blaine didn't bother to touch his hair with a brush or comb - or even just remotely tried to put it together. Today was the day he decided that his sweatpants slash pajama pants were just fine to meet his brother's boyfriend - while a pair of nicely pressed, decent, pants was slung over his chair upstairs in his bedroom. Of course it didn't struck his mind that wearing his Roxy Music - Eagle shirt might send the wrong message about the real him, it was the holiday: why would he even consider putting on a freshly washed, decent, polo-shirt to accent his best features? Neverminding his wolfboy scruff, obvious lack in skincare and the invisible bother of actually taking a shower this morning - at least he did shower last night, but still: the shower would have probably made him shave and dress properly. But no, instead he needed to lie on his bed, philosophizing about his meaning of life and to try things usual teenage boys did.

Well, Kurt most certainly thought now he was just an ordinary teenage boy. Blaine never meant to leave such an impression about himself and most certainly not when it came to Kurt Hummel.

It was surreal.

They were sitting on the brown leather sofa in the living room. Blaine tried to look comfortable, it was his house - his home - but watching Kurt talking animatedly about his time at McKinley made Blaine stare in amazement and his body lock.

The only big movement he made was when he was ordered to get his laptop to show Kurt their sectionals performance. Trembling and slipping on his too big pants he grabbed his laptop, only to blush when the background picture of Katy Perry showed up.

"I, uh, I like her music." At least it was a tasteful photo, but Kurt didn't seem to pay attention to it. His eyes were trained on the room where the laughing noises of Cooper and his mother were coming from. There was a small smile on his face.

Blaine cleared his throat to make notion that he found the video and Kurt's attention returned fully to Blaine. He actually got even more nervous when he pressed play. Their sectionals performance was good, classic - a Queen medley - and Blaine even had a solo during ‘Bicycle'. He tried to interpret every facial expression. A warm feeling spread throughout his veins as Kurt's eyebrows shot up in surprise at Blaine's solo.

"Wow." Kurt whispered under his breath. He clapped at the end of the video, looking brightly up to Blaine and rewarded him with a big smile. "That was really good, wow - props to everyone."

"Thanks." Blaine couldn't feel more shy, or maybe he could - but this was definitely one of those moments he was feeling extremely shy. "I mean it's not like when you were around, your solo last year killed."

"You saw that?" Kurt's surprise grew even more. "You showed up to our sectionals to cheer us on?" He let out a huff. "By the way, why didn't you enter the New Directions last year then? We could have used your talent, definitely."

"I - I didn't go to McKinley last year." Blaine wasn't ready to have this conversation with anyone. Especially not with Kurt, but his blue eyes just screamed at Blaine that he needed to break the awkward silence. "I went to Dalton?"

"O-oh." Kurt's eyes flickered sideways as if he was trying to remember things. "I know about Dalton, we competed against them - OH!" The epiphany was so visual that Blaine could almost taste it. "You're that kid," kid, "that kid from Dalton - the, uhm, Warblers! Oh wow, I always hated Train, but your version made it witty and likable and that says a lot."

Breathe, Blaine, breathe.

"How're we doing here?" Cooper interrupted, his body slung over the backrest of the couch and his arms cradled around Kurt. Blaine swallowed loudly at seeing his brother nuzzle Kurt's neck, even pressing a small kiss on his jaw.

"You clearly undersold your brother," Kurt said, giggling at feeling Cooper breathing, "he's way more than just a talented little -."

"I'm not little!" Blaine straightened his back in defense. His brother was allowed to talk about him, but not degrading him.

"Easy there, wolf-boy." Cooper said and freed his arm to ruffle Blaine's hair.

"You're not allowed to call your brother wolf-boy, I can recall howling, Coop."

Blaine felt the blood drain from his face. Howling? How long have they been together?

"Bluh, all fun and games - anyway," Cooper started to push Kurt up from the couch, "I need to show you my bedroom."

"There better not be any posters of half naked men on the walls." Kurt walked around the couch.

"Of course not." Cooper answered, taking Kurt back in his arms. "I gave them all to Blainey."

All the drained blood returned to his face and Blaine couldn't help but blush and stutter under Kurt's questioning look. In panic he slammed his laptop shut, avoided any eye contact and disappeared into the kitchen. This had to be one of the most embarrassing days of his life.

Kurt watched Blaine stumble away to a different room. He didn't really know how to describe Cooper's little brother. There was definitely an Anderson-gene, but the two boys couldn't be more different. Where Cooper was tall, Blaine was quite short. The eyes were different too, and Cooper seemed more open than Blaine. But they definitely connected in talent.

Cooper guided Kurt up the stairs with his arm snaked around him. The moment he had entered the Anderson house, he had complimented the exquisite taste of the decorator. The decorator in question turned out to be Cooper's mother and she had dragged him away to another room to show her skills.

He was left alone after the phone rang and Mrs. Anderson ran off to pick it up. There were some muffled noises coming from the hallway, noises that clearly indicated on some brotherly fight and indeed Kurt found his boyfriend strangling a younger boy with dark black curls. It was early in the morning and the boy looked like he had just rolled out of bed - which was strangely cute. His whole behavior afterwards was puppy-like - he sort of shared the same enthusiasm Cooper had.

Cooper pulled Kurt even closer as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Right this way, Mr. Hummel." He opened the second door on the right. Behind them, a screech from the stairs made them turn for a second, only to find Blaine still hugging his laptop, blushing and quickly he disappeared through the first door.

"No idea what's gone into him." Cooper whispered, sounding quite concerned, and gently pushed Kurt into his room.

Kurt couldn't help but smile at the sight of the square bedroom. It was obvious Cooper had lived here for the most of his teenage life. During one of their take-out dates in Cooper's apartment, he had confessed to have a thing for James Dean. And the confession was to be proven true as a few old posters were still hanging on the walls. At least he wasn't half naked, Kurt thought. Plus he had been teasing Cooper by doing his hair Dean-style.

Two hands carefully pushed him to the bed. Kurt didn't realize how tired he was until he was surrounded by the peaceful silence, the closed blinds and the lingering smell coming from his boyfriend. The bed was cornered against the wall that separated them from the room where Blaine had ran into.

Cooper lay down first, looking tired as well, and grabby hands showed how much he wanted Kurt next to him. Or more likely - on him. He melted against the warm body and enjoyed the silent breathing for a little while. Except the silence was for only a short moment.

Kurt perked up a little at hearing the musical sounds coming through the wall. A violin, or so it would seem, was playing at the other end of the wall. And oddly enough - Kurt knew the song.

"Is that - is that Katy Perry?" Kurt asked as quiet as he could, because he wanted to keep on hearing the beautiful notes. Cooper however grunted loudly and swung his fist on the wall.

"Blainey! We drove ten hours!"

"No, no!" Kurt shushed him with his finger on Cooper's lips. "It sounds gorgeous."

"Yeah, well, try living with that for most of your life. Blaine always wants to impress people with his musical skills."

"You mean that he's playing that? Right now? Live?" on a violin? Kurt couldn't disguise his admire. The violin remix was sounding really good.

"Like I said, he's a talented little bastard." Cooper closed his eyes, pushing Kurt down to his chest again and they lay there for what seemed hours - listening to Cooper's little brother playing melodies on his violin.

Blaine let his fingers stretch to their limit on the cool tiles of his bathroom. He went a little overboard with playing his violin - heck, he didn't even know why he went so overboard, challenging his fingers and arms to one hell of a Katy Perry remix. And he hadn't even notice he was playing directly to the wall that separated his room from Cooper's old room.

He huffed out a noise of satisfaction as the warm water of the shower caressed every curve of his body. This is what he should've done this morning. He felt all the embarrassing moments wash off his body. He needed to be Blaine - the real Blaine. Proper, clean and dapper Blaine. Kurt needed to see him like that.

With a startle he dropped his sponge and his eyes snapped open. What the hell? Why was he thinking that? Kurt was with Cooper. Of course he wanted to impress Kurt - he was everything Blaine admired - but he scoffed himself for thinking it. He loved his brother, he couldn't even let the thought creep into his mind.

But not even Blaine could deny the passing fantasies of them meeting that were developed ever since he saw those videos. All of them included Kurt saying that what Blaine did with his music was amazing. The fantasy had gotten so close with Kurt's comment on his Train-cover that Blaine could feel himself turn hotter than the shower-stream.

"No." he firmly told himself. Kurt was off-limits - even in his mind.

Except that didn't cool his thoughts of dressing himself in his favorite pair of jeans and polo. Because he knew he looked good in those and secretly, although he denied everything, he hoped Kurt would think the same.

Moments later he found himself frozen in front of Cooper's room. He was ordered to get them for lunch and his father could arrive any moment now. Blaine was sure they needed a few minutes to get ready before they would throw Kurt into the lion-pit.

Then why was he still hesitant to just knock on the door? He was all clean, all shaven - he even did his hair like he did to school and most of the time gel didn't even come close to it during holidays.

"Ridiculous." he called himself under his breath and quickly knocked three times on the door. Inside there were muffled noises of people waking up. Blaine closed his eyes - there was only one bed in Cooper's room. Stop it.

There were a few stumbles.

"Cooper? K-Kurt?" He bit his tongue for stuttering. "I was told to tell you that lunch almost ready, so that you need to come downstairs in like - twenty minutes." It would have been thirty if he knocked earlier.

A voice that sounded like his brother's grumbled:"M'kay!" Followed by smacking lips noises. Blaine shuddered again and stumbled downstairs as fast as possible. Some things were better left in the unknown.

Kurt rolled himself off Cooper at hearing Blaine's muzzled voice and knocking. Last thing he remembered were the tones of Teenage Dream.

Cooper grunted to Blaine, smacking his lips in waking up and soft footsteps walked away from the door. His groaning became louder when Kurt was trying to get up.

"Mno - stay, we have a few more minutes." Cooper sounded adorable half asleep.

"I didn't plan on falling asleep, dear," Kurt wrestled himself free from the clingy arms. "So I need to check up on my hair. Do you have some hairspray?"

He already stumbled to Cooper's private bathroom.

"Pr'bly." Cooper replied with his face snuggled into his pillow. "You can ask Blaine otherwise, he has like an entire shopping centre of gel and other hair products."

With that mess of curls Kurt didn't doubt it. Cooper's mother had the same bushy hair as her youngest son. Luckily for Kurt there was a can of hairspray hidden in a cupboard and after reorganizing his clothing he looked as good as new. He couldn't say that about his boyfriend though.

Cooper hadn't moved as much as an inch - lying on his back now, scratching the appeared skin of his belly as his t-shirt rolled up a little. He looked absolutely divine. Kurt picked up a fallen pillow and used it to smack his boyfriend awake.

"Come on, get ready -"

"You're way too excited for lunch."

Carefully not to wrinkle his clothing any more, Kurt sunk down on his knees and rested his elbows on the bed while staring at Cooper. Bright blue eyes turned his way. Kurt couldn't help but smile a little at the handsomeness that was his boyfriend - completely his.

"Hi." Kurt whispered.

"Hi right back at ya." Cooper's entire face just cracked into a smile. "Few more minutes?" His tone filled with hope. Kurt shook his head, threw the pillow on the other side of the bed and got up.

"Nope, we need to get this lunch over with so we can go to Lima!" Kurt shut his mouth immediately after realizing what he said. "I didn't mean that, it's lovely meeting your family -"

"You want to see your dad." Cooper grinned. "I get it."

"I'm happy you do." Kurt leaned in for a kiss, but teasingly backed away and enjoyed the protesting noises from Cooper. "Get out of bed, lazy!"

"Mean!"

Kurt laughed out loud and left to go downstairs with: "See if they need any help."

He couldn't help but freeze on the spot when he entered the kitchen slash dining room. Instead of the scruffy, sleepy boy he met this morning - Kurt was now eyeing a way more cleaner version of Blaine.

His black fluffy hair was now slicked back with the amount of gel Cooper mentioned, but it was definitely done with a lot of care. Instead of the weird band-shirt and sweatpants, he was wearing tight jeans and a red polo-shirt - and Kurt had to give in: those were some nice arms.

Kurt watched the arms stretch as Blaine reached out to get some plates. His eyes lingered to the polo that crept up just a little before Kurt shook himself awake and coughed to make his presence notable.

Blaine clenched the plates to his chest not to drop them - face startled.

"Sorry!" Kurt immediately provided. "I didn't mean to creep up, I keep on hearing from people that I apparently make no sound at all - even when I'm wearing heeled boots. I think it's a gift."

Blaine still looked like he was trying to even his breathing. Eventually he placed the plates on the table.

"Can I help?" Kurt asked, feeling quite guilty.

"Uhm, yeah -" The voice belonged to the same Blaine he met this morning. "Glasses." He swung his arm to one of the cupboards and Kurt walked toward them to fulfill his order.

"So, uhm - you-" Kurt didn't know how to say it. Cleaned up? Shaved? Revealed the underlying layer? He gestured to Blaine's obvious transformation.

For a second confusion was read on Blaine's face, but soon enough he looked down to his change and the familiar blush crept back up his throat.

"Y- yeah, sorry you had to see me like that. It's just - vacation, you know - I kind of just woke up." Somehow Kurt had the feeling that blurting was one of Blaine's lovely character traits.

"It's fine, you should see my stepbrother when he had winter holiday during senior year - a cavemen was nothing compared to him."

Blaine shrugged and continued setting up the table. Kurt placed the last glass.

"So you're enjoying Glee club?"

"Very much." Finally Blaine smiled. "I mean, again - it's not like when you were around. I watched Born this Way over and over, it's amazing."

"Thank you." Kurt smiled as well.

"With the messages on the shirts. I still think it's amazingly brave you had Like Boys." Blaine stopped to stare at Kurt. "I'm not even sure if that thought would have struck my mind - I was more contemplating on either colorblind or frizz-hair and after today maybe wolf-boy, but I like to think I had your message."

Kurt watched Blaine return to his task. He was chewing on the inside of his mouth. He really wanted to ask Blaine some questions, but he didn't want to scare him - but he didn't want to reach out to others while Blaine looked like the honest person he needed.

"Blaine?" Kurt had to ask. He almost stopped himself with Blaine's green-ish eyes staring at him, awaiting the question. "Can I ask something? And will you be blunt with me? Please?"

The blush that had been decorating Blaine's face already grew deeper. He gave a quick nod.

"Is there still - a lot of... bullying? At McKinley?"

Blaine seemed to release a breath he had been holding and he looked down to the floor. He shrugged again.

"Depends on what you define as bullying?"

"Slushies?" A nod. "Locker slams?" Another nod. Kurt continued his list until Blaine cut him off by saying things of his own.

"All that with the occasional homophobic slur." Blaine didn't seem quite affected by it. "It could be worse."

"Worse? Blaine!" Kurt shrieked. "This is awful."

"Ha, trust me - I know awful." Blaine gave him big eyes as some kind of warning. A warning to make him stop asking questions and so did Kurt. He watched Blaine tilt his head back. The boy turned away from him.

"Hey, what's going on?" Cooper entered the room - cleaned up as well. His eyes flickered from Kurt to Blaine, trying to do the math.

Kurt was about to say something when his phone started to vibrate. With sloppy hand movements he said he was going to take that - outside. With Cooper walking to Blaine, Kurt left to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Why the hell did I come back to Minnesota?" Never in his life was Kurt happier to hear Nancy's voice.

"Because of your loving family?" He suggested.

"Well, true - can't argue that."

"Then what is the reason?"

"Dickhead." Nancy said, followed by a deep sigh. "This is why you should never date someone from your hometown - he'll be everywhere."

"Oh honey, I'm sorry - you want to talk about it?"

"What? No! I'm using you to get away from something - anyway, shit." Nancy grew silent. "I'm totally ruining your meeting the parents thing, shit - I am sorry. Okay, return to Cooper - again sorry."  Without another word she hung up.

Kurt clenched the phone in his fist. Honestly he didn't want to go back to the kitchen - what if he actually said something terribly wrong to Blaine? Well done, Kurt - you have ruined everything with your in-laws already. Good job!

Taking a deep breath, he returned to the kitchen and found Cooper rocking Blaine in a brotherly hug. With a little smile Kurt witnessed the affection; it was nice to know Cooper and Blaine were close.

"I'm sorry." Kurt interrupted with pain in his heart. Cooper and Blaine parted. "If I said anything -"

"It's fine." Blaine choked. "Fine."

The three of them jumped together at hearing the front door slam and a low voice grunted that he was home: Mr. Anderson had arrived.

Lunch went spectacularly well.

Mrs. Anderson had thousands of questions on flared subjects such as decorating, fashion and of course his study at Tisch. Her husband however kept quiet for most of the time, giving the occasional nod to agree with his wife. Blaine seemed to be living in his own little bubble - not commenting on anything. But Cooper laughed, teased and showed affection to Kurt.

"So why NYU?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"Well, uh - it wasn't my first choice, but I'm very grateful for it. I mean, I met Cooper -" They shared a smile. "And other great friends."

"Oh, that is amazing. Blaine is going through college applications." She smiled at her younger son to mix him into the conversation. "We're expecting acceptance letters soon."

Blaine simply replied with a rather fake smile.

"I apologize," Mr. Anderson grunted and Kurt jumped up a little at hearing his voice so close. "I need to return to the office. It was lovely meeting you Kurt."

It was? Okay then.

"Enjoy work." Mrs. Anderson said to her husband with a loving smile. She turned back to Kurt and Cooper's side of the table. "When are you going back to Lima?"

The front door closed.

"We'll leave in an hour or so." Cooper provided as answer. "We're going shopping on Black Friday and he already promised to come back here on Saturday before we leave for New York on Sunday."

"Oh that's great, dears."

Shortly after they started to clean the dishes, but Cooper's mother sent them away and said Blaine would help - which he did without complaining. Kurt still felt responsible for making him so quiet, but he couldn't say anything because of Cooper, who was once again dragging him upstairs.

Back on the bed Kurt felt the need to break the silence. "Your parents seem quite peaceful with me being your boyfriend."

Cooper laughed. "They couldn't be happier." Kurt was resting on Cooper's arm, staring at the ceiling. "But that's not what you meant to say."

"Hm? What?"

"You wanted to say that they seem peaceful with the fact they have gay sons." Busted. "It's fine, Kurt -"

"It's just, I don't know many families who would -"

"I said it's fine, Kurt."

Kurt silenced himself.

"It wasn't always like that, you know," Cooper started, hesitantly, "I didn't come out to my parents until I was in my second year of Tisch."

Kurt scooted up from Cooper's arm, crossing his legs on the bed and turned to face him.

"What? But you must have been -"

"Twenty-two."

"Why so late?" Kurt had told him his own coming-out story at least twice, but never did he ask about Cooper's.

"Because Blaine came out."

Kurt could just feel his heart sink. Cooper tore away his gaze from Kurt and focused on the ceiling.

"I'm not gonna lie, I was out and proud in New York, just not to my parents or Blaine. I wanted to make it safe out of Ohio, so I kept it quiet. At High School I was already the guy who was too hot to let anyone date him, so I was safe. Over Spring Break I came home and Blaine told me he wanted to talk to me, before I realized what he was saying, he came out to me. He came out before I even had come out to him. He told me he didn't want to hide and he was planning on telling our parents.

"I barely believed what I was hearing, so in the heat of the moment I came out as well. He didn't believe me either, so I showed him the hidden pictures on Facebook and well - they were pretty speaking for themselves.

"I tried to reason with him, telling him it was safer to keep it quiet, but he didn't want to hide. He was so much braver than I was. I told him that and he came out over dinner..."

Cooper closed his eyes at the memory.

"My parents were shocked at the beginning and my dad was turning all red, I knew he wanted to yell - so I said I was gay too. And some very rough months followed, very very rough, but we pulled through, and after the -"

He opened his eyes again, looking for Kurt and didn't finish his sentence.

"Well, they had peace with it, as you witnessed today."

Kurt nodded. "Thank you for sharing." He didn't even realize his voice was broken until he heard it. Cooper raised his arm, placed his hand to cup Kurt's face and stroke his cheek as he always did.

"We, we should get our stuff. Lima is still a two hour drive."

"Yes." Kurt nodded, but not moving one bit. For minutes they stayed in the similar position, Kurt still processing the story. He woke up out of his daydreaming when the car-door slammed shut and it was time to meet the other family.

The closer they came to Kurt's house, the more awake he became. Everything that happened that day was becoming a big blur as Cooper turned the car into the familiar street. Kurt's eyes and mind were wide awake and he swore he heard Cooper snicker at the notable energy coming from his boyfriend.

Kurt couldn't help it. The car was even still moving when he jumped out - all because his father was already waiting in the doorway, ignoring the November cold and seemed just as eager to see his son as vice versa.

"Dad!" Kurt yelped, ignoring the still roaring engine of Cooper's car. Burt met him halfway with a likewise exclamation at seeing his own flesh and blood. Nothing in the world could feel better or smell better than the sturdy body of his father. They threw arms around each other - keeping as close as could be and Kurt let his head rest in the hollow of his dad's neck. "Oh, dad." he murmured, hands grabbing the heavy fabric of Burt's shirt.

Burt was the first to pull back a little. They were still holding each other, but Kurt saw his father taking in every piece of his face.

"You gotten way too skinny,-" he grumbled.

"It's the dance recitals." Kurt answered, feeling guilty and had the need to give some kind of explanation - even though he knew he hadn't lost weight at all.

"Well, I guess we'll need two turkeys this year."

"Oh dad." Kurt repeated.

They hadn't even noticed that Cooper had parked the car and was silently observing the small reunion. The welcome had been the opposite of the reception they had gotten at the Andersons. Sure his mother was happy to see him, but this was way warmer -  it was loving.

Cooper opening the back of the car to get Kurt's bags did catch their attention. Kurt could feel his dad turn into the papà di famiglia with an overprotective arm around his son and a way too serious face.

"Gun in the cupboard." Kurt muttered, but Burt didn't hear him.

"So you're the famous Cooper." Burt's voice was brusque and Kurt couldn't resist a chuckle at all the ridiculous finery of this meeting.

"Not yet famous, sir." Cooper answered with his most charming grin, his body also set on awareness.

"Well, you're kind of the only thing my son talks about over those videochat-things, you might as well be famous." Burt grunted. Kurt gave a little poke with his elbow to make his dad stop.

"Kurt!" a new voice yelled from the doorway. He stretched his neck as far as possible, but his father was still holding him in an overprotective headlock. Yet the voice of Carole was unmistakable. "Burt, let the boys in - it's freezing cold, oh Kurt!" Only Carole could free Kurt from Burt and with her motherly glow she pushed him inside his old house. Cooper followed carefully with Kurt's bags and eventually also Burt went inside. There was only one person missing now.

Kurt managed five steps in the hallway when another voice squealed his name. The biggest arms Kurt had seen in a while wrapped around him, pulled him up until he was actually off the ground and all the air vaporized in his body. Never in their years of being sort of related had Finn showed this much affection.

There was a trade of looks between Burt and Carole, both of them just as surprised at Finn and his sudden urge to hug his stepbrother. Even their goodbye a few months ago wasn't this emotional.

"So good to see you." Finn said before letting him go.

"G-good to see you too." Kurt huffed in search of air.

The entire Hudmel residency plus Cooper stared at the scene in front of them.

"Who's this?" Finn asked all of a sudden, gesturing at Cooper. Kurt blinked a few times to compose himself again. He switched looking from Finn to Cooper, who never had looked this frightened - ever. Not that Kurt could blame him: over the past months Finn had somehow become more of a man and with his height and width - Finn was a scary man, but his heart was still whole boy.

"Finn, this is Cooper - my boyfriend," Introducing Cooper as his boyfriend always made Kurt smile, "Cooper, this is Finn - my stepbrother."

"Nice to meet you, dude." Finn shook hands with Cooper. Kurt blessed heavens he didn't react the same way as Burt: he couldn't handle two overprotective people.

Carole drifted Kurt to the kitchen under ‘help-me-with-dinner'-code, but she actually just wanted to interrogate her stepson about the hunk that was forced to stay in the living room with her husband.

"Play nice!" Kurt shouted at his father with a warning look and turned around to face the overexcitement that was Carole. Soon enough they were cooking and gossiping all at the same time. It was remarkable how easy Kurt fell into old routines of living back home. He had almost forgotten Cooper was sitting in the living room, commenting on the random game that was on television - overly agreeing with both Finn and Burt.

He shared a knowing look with Kurt when he passed: Cooper hadn't had the faintest idea about American Football. But his acting skills were admirable.

Shortly after, they all joined the table - there was some juggling with the plates because the only visitor they'd ever gotten was Rachel and Kurt didn't want to place Cooper next to Finn.

"So, Cooper -"

"Yes, sir?"

Kurt was still waiting for his dad to correct him and to ask him to call him Burt, but it never happened. This was slightly disappointing.

"You're also in the musical business?"

"Yes, sir - but my ambitions lay more in the small productions area. I like the intimacy of it." He shut his eyes at saying intimacy in front of his in-laws. "I mean, not that I would say no to a major production, but I just like the - yeah."

"Okay." Burt stated without further intentions.

"But don't you wanna be on TV or something?" Finn interfered, of all people. "Or movies? I mean, half of the waiters in L.A. have been at least a dead body on CSI."

"I, uh, have been thinking about it." Cooper said, closing his eyes again because Kurt knew he could feel the surprised look he was getting. "But I just want to try plays, off-Broadway things."

"Well, we wish you all the luck, dear." Carole rounded up the topic.

"Thank you." Cooper smiled again. Kurt had learned that Cooper could never fail in Carole's eyes: he was too charming and made Kurt smile in a way she had never seen before.

Slowly the dinner came to an end.

"This has been lovely," Cooper initiated, "But I'm afraid I need to head home."

Kurt hadn't even dared to ask him to his room, because his father had seen him glance to the stairs once and he shook his head in advance.

"I'll walk you out." he proposed and chairs scraped the floor. Cooper turned around at the door, shoulders slung in relief.

"Wow." he commented.

"Yeah, sorry - you're like my first boyfriend and I didn't even know he had a side like that. But I guess it could have always been worse." Kurt rolled his eyes during blabbering. The genuine guilt had been eating him.

"I think he saw through my football knowledge."

"Just," Kurt chuckled, "don't try to fake car knowledge. He'll try to test you by installing a carburetor." He leaned in for a short kiss.

Cooper kept his eyes closed after the touch. "So, Friday?"

"Yes, mall - nine o'clock. Wear combat boots and hockey gear."

"Is this going to be our first real relationship test?" Cooper muttered. Black Friday was going to be insane.

"I think we survived our first challenge today." Kurt smiled and opened the door for his boyfriend. "Call me."

"Of course." And Cooper pulled him in for another, longer, kiss. "See you."

"See you." Kurt whispered and waited until Cooper was completely gone. With a slam he shut the door. He turned around to find the entire family staring in the doorway to the living room.

"He's great, honey." Carole soothed first.

"Isn't he like - way older?" Finn said next and Burt simply grunted. Kurt knew it was impossible to talk to his dad tonight, so he had to postpone it to tomorrow. All he really wanted was his bed and the soundtrack of Ghost the musical.

"I, uhm, I'm really tired -" Not completely untrue. "We'll catch up completely tomorrow, m'kay?" He knew he couldn't stay mad at his father and walked up to him to give him another hug. "Missed you too." he whispered in his ear.

With a final ‘goodnight' he went up to his memory-filled bedroom.

Kurt was flipping through one of his old Vogues, smiling at the nostalgia, when someone knocked softly on his door. He half and half expected his father to explain his behavior, but strangely enough it was Finn peaking into his room.

"Hey." he said in a tone that was under the scale of his normal volume.

"Hi." Kurt was lying down on his stomach of his trusted king-size bed - how he missed the actual space.

Finn shuffled awkwardly further into his room. They hadn't really had the chance to talk, but Kurt had planned to share all the amazing stories tomorrow.

"Can we -" Finn took a deep breath. "Have a lady? Chat? Like we used to?"

Kurt's eyebrows shot up in surprise. They used to share small talk during their senior and junior year, but Kurt never really thought Finn liked it and that he was merely doing it for the cookies.

"Uhm, uh yeah. Sure. I -"

"Can you make warm milk too?" Finn's eyes were big in aspiration.

"Yes, of course - but I don't know about the coo-"

"No need for the cookies, so you come up to my room?" Finn was smiling now, it was ridiculously endearing. After a nod, he disappeared to his own room and Kurt stumbled downstairs to make the anticipated warm milk. He was still a bit biased with the request.

He walked up with a tray of warm milk and the cupboard-search had led him to some chocolate chip cookies -  not homemade, but close enough.

Finn was already waiting in the doorway of his room. A big smile decorated his face while he let Kurt in. Just like Kurt's room Finn's hadn't changed a bit, apart from the lack of things that were moved to their dorms. Finn had been studying sports management in California and had been doing a pretty good job at it.

Carefully not to tip the cups, Kurt sat down the tray on hugemongous bed - seating himself next to it. The bed dipped deeper as Finn launched himself opposite Kurt.

"This is nice." Finn's smile hadn't left his face yet. "I missed this."

"You have?" Kurt asked startled. His eyes followed Finn grabbing a cookie and one of the cups before he violently soaked the cookie.

"Yeah, I tried it with Puck - but he kind of freaked out, so we end up drinking a beer instead of cookies and warm milk."

Kurt smiled. "So how is Puck?"

"He's cool, working on his pool cleaning stuff and I took him to some evening classes and he seems to dig it. He misses you too. One night I had a date and we were extremely close on calling you to approve my outfit, but we kind of forgot about the timezones and stuff."

"How considerate of you."

"Yeah, date didn't work out though." Finn took a bite and growled in satisfaction. "Bwut you have a boywfrand!"

"I do." Kurt smiled once again and he was sure it would be plastered on if he continued.

"That is like, awesome man, you deserve that after all the shit with that other school and Rachel."

Or maybe not so plastered on.

"I, uh well -"

"Have you heard anything of her?" Finn wasn't smiling anymore, the cookie returned half eaten on the tray and the entire vibe of the conversation turned serious. Kurt hated it.

"No." He shook his head and ignored those three messages in September.

"Me neither." Finn looked down to the bed. "I'm not even sure if I want to, I still can't believe she did that, Kurt."

"I know." Kurt scooted up a little. "But maybe I should thank her, I mean - if she hadn't done it I would have never met Cooper or Nancy." Finn smiled again.

"Nancy, of what you said in the Skype thingys, sounds really awesome." He started on a new cookie instead of returning to the old one. "Is she single?"

Kurt choked a bit on his own warm milk. "Excuse me?"

Finn shrugged. "She looked pretty awesome at that Halloween party."

"You're only saying that because she was half naked." His stepbrother didn't deny and received a slap on his bicep. "No, I mean - yes, she's single - BUT, she's a handful."

"Rachel was a handful."

"And see how that worked out."

They turned silent in acknowledgement.

"You'll meet her in June - if you come to the final play." Kurt finally admitted. "But only if you come, even when I have a low role as a tree or something."

"Deal." Finn grinned.

"This is nice." Kurt repeated.

"It is."