"Jeez, one would think you at least clean yourself up," was the first thing that made it through to his sleepy brain the next morning. It took quite a bit time but when Kurt had finally woken up enough to really register what had been said and who had spoken, he jolted up in a panic. To his utter embarrassment, it was indeed his roommate standing over his naked, come-covered form. To make matters worse there was a groaning noise coming from his laptop - they hadn't closed Skype and Blaine was just waking up on the other end of the line, just as naked and sticky as Kurt.

"Kurt?" It took Blaine a little longer to wake up enough to actually make sense of their current situation, but when he realized what was happening, his reaction was the same as Kurt's - unfortunately, since now his morning erection, still covered in dried come, was even more on display.

"What- Tash?"

"Hey there, honey. You know, you two should probably take a good long shower and dress yourself. And don't you have school, Blaine?" she laughed, winking at them before turning around and leaving for the kitchen to brew another round of coffee.

Still frozen in their shock, Blaine and Kurt only turned to look at each other minutes after she'd left the room.

"Well, that was embarrassing," Blaine stated dryly, eyes still fixated on Kurt's doorway.

"What you don't say," was Kurt's only response before he erupted into hysterical giggles. It didn't take long before Blaine joined him.

"I can't believe that just happened. How did we even fall asleep like that?" Blaine choked out in between fits of laughter.

"I have no idea. I was just so exhausted," Kurt breathed, trying to regain some coherency. "But Tash's right, shouldn't you get ready for school?"

"I guess so," Blaine sighed, the carefree atmosphere immediately gone. "We're lucky Tash woke us up when she did. My parents don't notice too much but they do keep track of the days I've been absent from school."

Kurt frowned at him. "Wait. They didn't do that back at Dalton."

Another sigh from Blaine. "No, they didn't. They've been worried for my education when I transferred to McKinley, so they paid closer attention to my attendance, my marks... "

"Let me guess, they wanted to make sure that you're not just spending all your time with your boyfriend," Kurt finished the sentence for him, unable to keep a trace of bitterness out of his voice as he said it. Blaine smiled weakly in response.

"Something like that. But they eased up a little since my marks were just fine last year. I think they got a little more used to the idea of us being together."

That got a smile out of Kurt, too. He knew Blaine's parents were still struggling to really accept their son's sexuality and his relationship but things had got a bit better over the course of the past year. Kurt even managed to have a decent conversation with Mrs. Anderson a few times, mostly about fashion-related questions. Mr. Anderson was a bit harder to convince but Kurt thought he was genuinely trying, even if the baby steps he made sometimes unnerved both him and Blaine.

"Well, I really need to get going now if I don't want to be late. Sorry about earlier." Kurt just wanted to kiss the blush on Blaine's cheeks. God, how he missed being able to just pull his boyfriend close whenever he felt like it.

"Don't worry, it's not just your fault. It also wouldn't have happened if Tash knew some basic rules of decency" - "You'd rather not finish that sentence if you want coffee, Hummel!" - "or privacy, at that. Feel free to text me if you get bored in class, okay, honey?"

Blaine chuckled at Tash's interruption from the kitchen, his expression melting when Kurt called him honey. They both knew what that did to Blaine.

"I'll keep that in mind. I love you, Kurt. Skype date tonight?"

"I love you too. And of course." Tash chose that exact moment to barge in with a mug of freshly brewed coffee.

"Still not dressed. Kurt, where are your manners? Also, that Skype date better stays PG-rated since I'm not going to go out tonight."

Kurt decided that embarrassment probably wouldn't get him very far with Tash and just ignored the blush on his cheeks, accepting the mug and trying to subtly pull his blanket over his lap. After that they quickly ended the call, Kurt walking around a hysterically laughing Tash with his head held high to finally take that much needed shower. His roommate was still laughing to herself when Kurt left the apartment to meet up with his future fellow students to explore the university some more.

It turned out that this wouldn't be the last embarrassing incident of the day. In fact, the embarrassment returned the minute he walked into the little café where they'd promised to meet the previous day.

"Hey Kurt! Looking good today! Got laid recently?" Percival greeted him with a voice booming enough to ensure him the attention of at least half the consumers.

"Perc, what's wrong with you?" Ella hit him over the head with the newspaper she'd just been reading. The grin she shot in Kurt's direction wasn't all that reassuring, though. Kurt was sure that they knew just by the furious blush on his face, no matter what he'd say. He decided the best course of action would be to say nothing and just take a seat.

"No need to be embarrassed," Percival tried to cheer him up, patting his shoulder with his broad hand. "So I figure Blaine is a very happy man now." The patent Hummel death glare seemed to have lost some of his power these past few days, since it did nothing but cause Perc's grin to widen.

The only person with some sense of privacy seemed to be Michelle. "Guys, I think that's Kurt's business. Can't we just drink our coffee and take off for Parsons without innuendos of some kind?"

While her comment got her nothing but a raised eyebrow from the other two, Kurt shot her a grateful smile when they weren't looking. After basically being walked in on that morning he didn't really feel like discussing his sex life with all of his friends. Especially since he'd only known the people at this table for a few days.

Hours later, he got a message from Rachel. Both Percival and Ella hadn't let slip an opportunity to make fun of Kurt for seeming 'less tense' and 'that satisfied glow' and Kurt kept wondering why he'd befriended an army of Pucks. If you'd asked him three years ago if he'd ever even talk to Noah himself he'd just have snorted and now those obviously were the kinds of people he'd spend the next few years of his life with on a daily basis. Hearing from Rachel definitely was a welcomed distraction.

Thu 6 Sep (15:16)

Hey Kurt! How are things going at Parsons? It's been so long since we've seen each other with all the stress from moving and starting college. How about a little catch-up tonight? Love you, Rachel

(15:18)

Of course! When and where do you want to meet? Love you too and I missed you, Kurt

(15:22)

How about that Starbucks near Times Square in an hour? I missed you too. Can't wait to tell you everything!

(15:24)

Sure! See you then! I can't wait either.

"Already texting with Blaine again? Do you two ever do anything else?" Percival inquired, trying to look over Kurt's shoulder to see who he was so busy texting with.

"Leave him alone, Perc. It's been less than two weeks. He's allowed to be a bit homesick after his cutie," Ella scolded him, turning towards Kurt with a smile he immediately returned.

"It wasn't Blaine, anyway. It's my best friend from home, Rachel. She wants to catch up and we're going to meet in an hour, so I fear I must leave you to yourselves. Try not to kill each other, will you?" Kurt winked at them, already turning to leave.

"No, you wait, Hummel! You don't think you can just leave without a hug, do you?" Ella laughed at him, pulling him back by the wrist and into a bone-crushing hug. Kurt smiled into her neck, easily letting himself be pulled into Percival's arms as well and into a slightly more hesitant hug from Michelle. Still smiling, he wished them all goodbye and promised to meet them again the next day before hurrying off to meet up with Rachel.

An hour later, they were falling into each other's arms.

"Kurt! God, it's been so long! You won't believe everything that's happened to me already!"

And with that, the floodgates were open. The conversation didn't stop for a second, one of them was always talking, sharing stories about their roommates and their new schools and the people they'd met. Rachel wasn't as lucky with her roommate, who obviously was some stuck-up bitch that was even more competitive than Rachel herself. The same applied to most of the people she'd met at NYADA up until now. The only one she really got along with was that cute guy that wouldn't stop hitting at her.

Being Finn's stepbrother he of course listened up at that part, searching his best friend's face for any traces of being interested. All he found was genuine confusion about what she was supposed to do. On the one hand she didn't want to potentially push away the one person that was being nice to her at her new school, on the other hand she still had feelings for Finn and wasn't about to move on just yet, no matter how cute the guy was.

Kurt tried his best to be a good friend but he didn't really know what to say to her. He advised her to let him down as gently as possible, hoping he would take the hint the first time around. Rachel seemed to agree with him, she'd think about everything else when the time would come. She seemed truly happy for him when he told her all about Tash and Percival and Michelle and Ella and that things were great with Blaine even though the distance already took a bit of a toll on them. It wasn't until three hours later that they finally parted, none of them wanting to let go when they hugged each other goodbye. They knew things would only get more stressful from then on and that they probably wouldn't be able to meet too often once it came to this.

At home, Kurt did his best to give Tash the cold shoulder, still mad at her for what had happened in the morning. He went straight to his room, skipping dinner since he'd already eaten something on his way home (might or might not part of his plan to avoid his roommate). Instead of watching some musical or tacky reality TV with her he decided that it was time to call his family.

Burt picked up the phone after the third ring. "Hummel here."

"Hi Dad."
"Kurt! How are you, kiddo? Carole, turn the volume down, it's Kurt!"

"Dad!" Kurt laughed at his antics. "You don't have to stop watching whatever game is currently on, it's not like you haven't heard of me in years!"

"Seems like it, though. You should call more often."

Kurt rolled his eyes, knowing that his Dad didn't need to see it to know that he was doing it. "So, what's up in Lima, Ohio?"

"The usual," Burt chuckled, the noise in the background fading until it was barely audible. "Hey Blaine, come over here, Kurt's on the phone!"

Now that was good news. It was probably a bit ridiculous that his heart still fluttered in his chest at the idea of his boyfriend of almost two years being in his home with his parents but Kurt couldn't help the feeling. While he didn't particularly like the fact that Blaine's parents left him alone all the time, he simply loved how at home Blaine was with Burt and Carole.

"Wait, I'll put you on speakersphone, that'll probably save us a lot of time." There was a bit of rustling on the other end of the line and finally Burt seemed to have succeeded.

"Hi honey!" Carole's voice came through, making him smile at how genuinely happy she was that he had called.

"Hi Carole! How are things at the Lima Memorial?"

"Oh, fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Same stress as usual," she chuckled, obviously amused by something on her end of the line. It didn't take Kurt long to figure out what it was.

"Hi Kurt!" Blaine sounded so eager to talk to him, one could have thought they hadn't spoken in days. Kurt could imagine how he'd hovered over the phone until it was his turn.

"Hey honey," he laughed, reveling in the rush hearing Blaine's voice sent through him ever since they'd met.

They had an amusing three-way conversation for more than an hour, Kurt telling them everything about the people he'd met at Parsons - even though Blaine already knew most of it. They joked about the fact that Blaine would be at his laptop and on Skype the minute Kurt ended the phone call, Kurt reprimanded his Dad for not keeping to his diet plan - Carole had sold him out - and they talked a bit about Finn and Rachel. All in all it was a perfectly normal conversation in the Hudmel household. Finn seemed fine so far, even though Carole worried endlessly about her son being in the army - worries Kurt could understand perfectly well, he himself wasn't all too fond of the idea of his stepbrother in a booty camp.

Other than that there wasn't much to say. They said their goodbyes for what felt like another hour and true to his word, Blaine was out of the living room and on Skype minutes after the call had been ended. The two of them kept talking about everything they could possibly think of until they were too tired to keep their eyes open, reluctantly logging out of Skype after many 'I love yous' and 'I miss yous'. For the first time since he'd moved to New York, Kurt fell asleep - not due to exhaustion and without having Blaine on the phone or on Skype - without a care on his mind.