It turned out, Laurel was happier than Blaine expected to be at the news that they'd officially become boyfriends. Despite the fact that she didn't approve of how fast the boys were going, it gave her some comfort knowing that if Kurt was the one to initiate the use of the label "boyfriend" when referring to he and Blaine, obviously the boy must be some form of committed to the relationship he was starting with her baby cousin. When it came down to it, she was just trying to protect Blaine, and he knew that, and just the fact that he'd actually spoken with Soulmate and cleared up their relationship was enough to appease her.

It was Saturday night, but another typical night in their household, with Blaine giggling like a schoolgirl into his phone while lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Kurt wasn't joking; he really did like to talk to his boyfriend every night before he went to sleep. It was something that, while adorable, seemed borderline clingy to Blaine. Usually, that wouldn't be a problem, Blaine almost preferred clingy because it meant that the other person actually cared enough that they needed to spend time with you to feel right. That was something Blaine could understand. But it was when he tried to worm his way out of a nightly phone call 2 nights ago in favor of studying for a test they both had the following day that it occurred to Blaine just how much these nightly phone calls meant to his boyfriend.

He'd been a little scared at the time to ask why, because the hysterical side Kurt was not one he wanted to see again, but now they'd both had a couple days to cool off and let it die down, so Blaine figured it was the first time to broach the subject.

"…And then another time, Rachel wore a royal-blue pantsuit to school, which was just—"

"Hey, Kurt?" Blaine asked, effectively cutting off his boyfriend mid-sentence.

Kurt's tone was annoyed when he replied—(Blaine made a mental note to never interrupt his boyfriend again). "Yes?"

"Why is it so important to you that we do this every night?"

"Do what?"

"Talk on the phone."

Kurt was silent for a moment, and then just like that, his voice was cutting into Blaine's eardrum. "I'm sorry, do you not want to talk to me?"

"No, it's not that! I was just—"

"Because it's not an obligation. You don't have to speak to me every night, if you feel like it's some kind of chore."

"I never said that—"

"I'm not a baby, Blaine. I don't need you to coddle me and sing to me every night before I go to sleep, if that's what you're thinking. I'm a perfectly independent person, I can function without you, you know."

And this is when Kurt really did sound more like a nagging, over-dramatic girlfriend that Blaine was happy he avoided by being gay. Or so he thought.

"Kurt, stop." The other end fell quiet again, so Blaine continued. "That's not what I meant at all and you know it. I love that we talk on the phone every night. I love sharing stories about the second halves of our days, the parts that we don't spend together. I love that we swap anecdotes about our past, or little things that annoy us, or stuff that interests us. Every night I feel like I know you just that little bit more and I—" Blaine had to stop himself from saying I fall a little bit more in love with you after every phone call. "It's just that the other night, you got upset when I suggested we skip it, and I was wondering why."

"Why…?" He trailed off, not seeming to understand.

"Why they're so important to you. That's not to say they're not important to me too, it's just that you seemed…"

"Desperate?" Kurt offered.

This was just getting worse and worse, and Blaine was regretting that he had ever brought it up. He should have just ignored it like any other good, non-confrontational boyfriend would have. "No! That's not what I was going to say."

"Because honestly, I kind of was; am." Blaine really had no idea what to say to that so he waited for Kurt to continue, knowing with enough silence that he would. When he heard a sigh on the other end of the line, Blaine knew that Kurt was about to tell him another big thing, and it wasn't going to be something easy for him to say. "Ever since my mom died, I've had this terrible insomnia. She died overnight, when I was asleep, and now I just have this irrational fear that something terrible is going to happen while I'm sleeping. Someone close to me, like my dad or step-mom or step-brother…or you…are going to die…

"It makes no sense, I know. It's just…when you're 8 years old, it makes all the sense in the world, and now my body is just used to not sleeping. I'm lucky if I can get more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep at night, and even then they're hours spent tossing and turning because I have terrible nightmares. At least, that was always the case…until you." Kurt suddenly stopped talking, and Blaine waited again. But then he didn't continue, and for a second Blaine almost asked for more, but as if reading his mind, Kurt reluctantly started again.

"I was bluffing, when I said I like to talk to my boyfriend every night on the phone. I've never had any other boyfriend."

Okay, now that took Blaine by surprise. Kurt was always so confident, so flirty, almost aggressive in his demeanor sometimes. He made it seem like he'd had tons of boyfriends. And with Blaine's history with Trevor, it wasn't like he was about to open the Ex Files, so they'd never discussed it before. It was the last thing Blaine expected that Kurt had had no prior experience.

"It was…an experiment, I guess. I thought, maybe if I try to go to sleep right after talking to Blaine, I'll sleep easier. I didn't expect me to suddenly start getting 10 hours of deep sleep every night, but it was at least worth it to see if I could get it up to 6 or something."

Even though he knew Kurt was about to tell him, Blaine couldn't stop himself from asking. "And did it?"

Kurt hesitated for a second. "I…"

"Come on, Kurt. You know you can tell me."

"I get a solid 8-9 hours now. I still have nightmares, but they're not as bad; I can make it through a good night's rest." Kurt paused for a moment, letting that sink in for the both of them, before finishing. "You…you make me feel safe, Blaine. Just hearing your voice has this effect on me, like all of my daily fears and worries are gone, and I know that as long as I have you, you'll take care of me."

Blaine was on the brink of tears, he was so touched by what Kurt was confiding in him. This was another thing, he thought, that Kurt didn't tell anyone about. Not only was he sharing it with Blaine, but the whole problem behind it had been fixed merely by his voice. That just blew him away, and gave his heart a fluttery feeling. He was beginning to feel that more and more lately when talking to Kurt.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you all of that. I should have just made up some excuse and been done with it—"

"No, no, Kurt, don't. I'm glad you told me the truth. I'm…I'm glad that I can do that for you, that I can help you like that."

Neither boy said anything, and suddenly, Blaine was struck with an idea. If just his voice put his boyfriend at ease, surely his presence would be enough to get him a full night of sleep and take the nightmares away.

"Do you want to sleep over at my house tomorrow night?"

The words were out before Blaine even realized he'd started formulating them. That was definitely not how he wanted to approach the matter. For one, they had yet to progress from pecks on the cheek or lips. It wasn't that Blaine was uncomfortable with that, albeit a little curious, it was just that a sleep over implied much more than that. Secondly, although he was now 18 and capable of making his own decisions, this was still Laurel's house, and he doubted she'd allow her little cousin's boyfriend to spend the night.

"Wh—What?"

"Uh…" Blaine slapped his forehead. That wasn't Kurt's I-genuinely-didn't-hear-what-you-said "what," that was his I-heard-what-you-said-but-I-need-you-to-repeat-it-because-you-just-caught-me-way-off-guard "what." It was too late now. If he changed what he said and backed out, Kurt might be offended or hurt. "I said, do you want to sleep over tomorrow night? I just figure…if the sound of my voice calms you enough to get you enough sleep, maybe being next to me will keep away the nightmares. I mean we wouldn't…we wouldn't do anything. It's a literal invitation to sleep at my house…in my bed…with me…Okay, nevermind, I see how that sounds now. It's fine, don't feel like you have to because I brought it up, just forget I ever said anything—"

"Yes."

Blaine was so busy stumbling over his words that at first he didn't even notice Kurt had said anything in the first place, much less that he'd said yes. "Yes?"

"Yes. I…Yes, Blaine. I want to sleep over at your house."

"O—Okay. Yeah, cool. Let me just…I'm gonna go ask Laurel if it's okay. Just…don't hang up. Stay on the phone. I'll head down the hall to her room right now."

"You have to ask Laurel's permission?" Kurt's voice was full of amusement, and Blaine could just imagine him with that funny little smirk quirking his lips.

"It is her house, after all. She may not be my mother, but it would be disrespectful of me to invite my boyfriend to sleep over without at least running it by her."

"Yes, I'm sorry," Kurt didn't sound the least bit sorry, "Go ahead and ask her. I'll wait."

Blaine padded down the already dark hallway, fleetingly wondering what time it was (his conversations with Kurt tended to make time fly very quickly), and knocked on his cousin's door. He heard a faint "come in," so he cautiously turned the knob and stood in the doorway. Laurel was already in bed, reading a book, her blonde hair tumbling down her shoulders and across her chest.

"What's up, Blaine? Hi, Kurt." She added the last part knowing the boys' nightly routine by now.

He hesitated for a second, hoping that the fact he was on the phone with Kurt meant that Laurel had to be polite and say yes to his request just because she didn't want to seem rude to his boyfriend. "I um…Well I was just wondering if maybe…If Kurt could uh…"

"Spit it out, Blainers, I'm at a really good part."

"Blainers?" came Kurt's laugh from the other line. He tried not to get distracted and all but blurted out, "Can Kurt spend the night tomorrow night?" And, God, if this didn't take him back to elementary school days, asking permission to invite friends over.

Laurel's expression instantly changed, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "You're asking me if your boyfriend can come sleep with you tomorrow night?"

"Yes." He heard Kurt's shocked squeak in his ear and realized how that sounded, then quickly continued so as not to give the blonde the wrong idea. "I mean, no not like that! I just—I mean it's complicated, I can't explain it all to you. I—It's just really important to me. I mean it would mean a lot if he could…if you'd let him…if he came to sleep over. But I promise, that's all we'd be doing. Just sleeping. It's not exactly like we'd have sex with you down the halls anyway," Kurt's squeak was much louder that time and he winced, pulling the phone away from his ear slightly. "Not that we'd have sex at all! Because we don't! Not that you needed to know that, that's probably TMI—"

"Blaine, stop. Breathe."

If Blaine didn't know any better, he'd say Laurel almost looked amused at his rambling—almost. She still seemed a little upset that he asked her that in the first place.

She ran her hand through her hair once and sighed, then gestured to her dresser. "Will you grab me a ponytail? They're inside that little drawer in that—"

"I know where you keep your ponytails, Laur."

Blaine obliged, crossing the room and snatching one, then handing it off to her where she half-lay on the bed. She sat up a little more and tipped her head over, gathering up all her hair on top of her head and lifted it back up, wrapping the rubber band in all kinds of complicated ways Blaine would never understand that somehow brought all her hair together in a messy bun.

Finally, she looked at him. "I have a few conditions."

That wasn't a no. This was going better than expected. "Cool, yes, yeah. Anything. What?"

"First condition: no sex."

"I already said—"

"Just say okay."

"Okay."

"Okay!" Kurt called out.

Blaine giggled a little at his boyfriend's excessive adorableness, but sobered up immediately under Laurel's gaze. "Condition two: he comes over during the day and we all have a nice lunch and spend the day together so that I can get to know him better."

"That sounds fair. Is that good for you, Kurt? You don't go to church with your family or anything, right?"

Kurt scoffed on the other end. He thought he heard him mumble something about "I'll tell him tomorrow" and then said louder, "No, that's good for me."

"Okay, then yeah. We can do that."

Laurel nodded. "I'd make the third condition a Door Stays Open Policy, but to be honest, I always thought that was kind of stupid. You two are going to do whatever you want regardless of whether the door is actually clicked shut or cracked open a few inches."

"I told you, we're not like that."

"Really? You two are dating and you're not like that?"

"No. Just because we're together doesn't mean we jump each other's bones every time we see the other. We have more self-control than that."

Laurel looked like she didn't at all believe him, but let it go. "Alright. Whatever you say. Then I have no more conditions."

"Just the two?"

"Are you trying to make me add more?"

"No!"

"Do you want me to make this difficult for you? Because I can."

"Blaine," Kurt said, "just say thank you to your cousin and leave the room."

"Thanks, Laurel! Goodnight!" Blaine practically shouted. He turned and left the room per his boyfriend's orders before he screwed up what he'd just worked hard at getting.

"Good job, Blainers. I'm proud of you."

Blaine groaned as he re-entered his own room, flopping down on the bed. "No, not you too."

"I think it's kinda cute! Blainers. It has a certain ring to it. I like it."

"I hate it. She's called me that ever since I was born. I haven't been able to escape it for my entire life. It wasn't so bad when it was only her, but now you too? Come on. Give your poor boyfriend a break."

"Oh, alright," Kurt sighed. "I suppose there are many other things I could think of to call you."

His lips quirked into a smile and he rolled a bit from side to side, liking where this conversation could be going. "Oh, yeah? Like what?"

Kurt seemed to catch on, and when he replied, Blaine could hear the smile in his voice. "Hmm, I don't know…'Sweetheart' has a nice sound to it. 'Honey' has its own merits, but it seems a bit old; same with 'dear'. 'Baby' has potential, but it seems so clich� and slightly trashy—"

"Wait, you think calling someone 'baby' is trashy?"

"Well maybe not trashy per se, but a little…I don't know. Impersonal, I guess? Slightly condescending, I think. Same with 'babe.' Those two are just…they seem borderline patronizing."

"Patronizing? Ooh. I'll have to remember that. You do realize that you've crossed off just about every pet name off the list. What am I supposed to call you now?"

"I like Kurt. It may not be as cutesy as the others but it is my name."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "I mean what am I supposed to use as a term of endearment, Oh Smart One."

"You know, I quite like that. You can call me Oh Smart One any time you want."

"Kurt," he whined, drawing out the name.

"Oh, hush. I'm sure you'll come up with something to fulfill this irrational need to call me by a pet name."

"I'll work on it and report back to you by tomorrow when you get here. Speaking of which, shouldn't you ask your dad for permission, too?"

"Eh, I'm an adult now; he respects that. I'll just let him know where I'm going. As long as I'm safe and he knows where I am, I'm allowed to go out and do stuff without asking."

"Really? I mean, it's not just going to a friend's house for a few hours. It's going to your boyfriend's house to spend the night."

"Yeah," Kurt said after a beat, "Maybe I'll just say I'm spending the night at Rachel's house."

"That's the short, loud one right?"

"Right."

"Okay, just checking. Are you going to be comfortable lying to your dad?"

"Probably not. But I'll most likely end up confessing after the fact so we won't have to worry about him stopping our plans."

He smiled at the fact that Kurt was willing to lie to his father just to prevent him from ruining their plans for a sleepover. Then, Blaine yawned, and he looked to the clock to finally find out the time. The harsh, green numbers read out 1:47am. Wow, how had it gotten to be that late? He realized just how tired he actually was and held the phone cradled against his ear and shoulder and started to try to take off his shirt.

"Sounds good," he said, working the phone through the shirt and trying to pull it off his head without coming between their conversation too much.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked. "What are you doing?"

Damn. Caught.

"Nothing. I'm just getting ready for bed. Taking my shirt off while holding a phone to my ear isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world." He held the phone pressed tight between his head and shoulder again and started to unbuckle his belt and undo his jeans.

The sound of the zipper going down reverberated in his room.

"Blaine Anderson, are you stripping?"

He dropped his pants to the ground and was left standing in deep maroon boxers. "Maybe."

Kurt didn't say anything and Blaine thought for the hundredth time how uncomfortable his boyfriend seemed with anything remotely pertaining to sex.

"Well, it's getting late, I should probably go to sleep. Goodnight," Kurt said. The edgy tone in his voice was unmistakable, but Blaine let it slide.

He'd bring it up tomorrow, when Kurt was sleeping in his bed.

"Yeah, sure. Me too. Goodnight, sugar pie."

"Really? That's what you came up with?"

"It's two in the morning. I'll do better tomorrow."

"I hope so. Night, Blainers."

"Kurt!"