Dinner was much its usual with the chatter and jokes and a particular attention was paid to Zach because he was a new face and the guest. It was no surprise to Kurt that Zach was an instant hit with his family. He was charming and his personality was attractive to people. He was complimentary to Finn, who probably didn't absorb more than twenty percent of what was being explained to him.

"Kurt, you're being quiet," Carol stated sounding concerned.

Kurt smiled a convincing fake smile. "I'm enjoying listening… and I'm thinking."

"What did you do with your Warbler friends today?"

Now Kurt's smile was genuine. "Lunch and they invited me to sit in on their rehearsal for the Benefit… then they sang to me." He looked giddy, but was trying not to be.

"They sang to you?" Burt asked awkwardly. "Do you two really live in a musical?" He gestured to both of his sons.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Although Kurt gets more musical play than I do because he has two groups to sing to him."

"Cough. Rachel Berry. Cough."

Finn laughed. "Yeah she kind of does sing every song about me, doesn't she?"

"Zach are you in New Directions too?" Carol asked.

"No. I'm in cheerios though."

"Kurt used to be a cheerio," Burt added.

"Really?" Zach looked at Kurt both shocked and interested.

"Yeah, I was their headliner for a little while with Mercedes."

"And he was a kicker last year for the football team."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so shocked," Kurt laughed. "I'm multidimensional."

"I gather that." Zach was happy to find that Kurt and himself were smiling at each other.

"Why didn't you do either one this year?"

"Oh. That's an easy answer. Three words: Sylvester and Karofsky."

"David Karofsky?" Kurt nodded. "Why him?"

Finn joined the conversation. "He isn't the nicest to Kurt."

"We don't need to get into it, Finn," Burt added.

Dinner was over shortly and Kurt took his desert into the garden. He sat on the love-swing and swung back and forth with his eyes closed, enjoying the breeze on his face. He hadn't heard the door shut to the house when Zach came out to join him.

"The garden is beautiful."

Kurt opened his eyes. The way the setting sun bounced off Zach's blonde hair made him look like he had a halo. Kurt wanted to laugh at the irony. "You enjoy gardening too?"

"Not gardening. Just gardens. There was one at my last school that was really pretty nifty. There were really tall hedges that were designed to make a maze and in the center was a really amazing flower and water garden. It was a really peaceful place to go sit and study if you knew how to find your way in and out."

"You really are the weirdest straight man I've met. You like gardens and flowers, cheerleading, classical music, and fashion."

"I'm multidimensional." The two laughed. Kurt moved over and let Zach sit beside him.

They sat in silence for a minute before Zach broke the ice. "So, Finn said that you set your dad and his mom up. Is that true?"

"Yeah. I stuck them together at a PTA meeting. It was love ever since," he laughed. "It wasn't the ending I originally had in mind, but this is so much better. I love Carol and Finn is an amazing brother."

"What did you have in mind originally?"

Kurt stopped talking freely and remembered that Zach is not his friend. "Nope."

"Not something I can ask?"

Kurt stood up and fumbled with his hands. "No."

"Sorry."

"It's fine." He blink a few times and averted eye contact. "Being around you is exhausting." He froze, realizing that he said that out loud.

Instead of being alarmed, Zach laughed. "Is it?" He looked oddly relaxed in the love-swing.

Kurt had opened the door, he might as well walk through it. "Yes. You're so easy to talk to and I want to have a friendly conversation with you, but I have to keep reminding myself that you and I are not friends. It's fine in the beginning of a conversation, but then you jump across the line I drew and ask a personal question like it was something okay for you to ask."

"Why can't we be friends, Kurt? You clearly want to be." He paused. "And I want to be friends with you. You're an interesting person and I like talking to you, but you seem hell bent on keeping me behind a sliding glass door. You shut me out whenever it's convenient for you."

"You know why."

"Because of Blaine?" He got up from the swing and stood eye to eye with the Kurt. "Does he control who your friends are and aren't?"

Kurt became very annoyed at Zach's combative tone and didn't like what he was saying about Blaine. "No, he is just a little uncomfortable with the idea of his boyfriend being friends with someone who appeared to be fantasizing about me while he watched me get a blowjob." His voice was raising. He went to walk away from Zach, but them turned back to him, speaking calmly. "I know you have all kinds of confidence. I see you with people around school and you don't seem to have a lack of friends. You're constantly surrounded by girls and the only person who doesn't think of you as highly as you do is me. Why do you care if I'm your friend or not?"

"Because I like you. You're not like everyone else at school. They're fun, but their boring. They're predictable. Frankly, I've never had anyone yell at me and feel so strongly against being my friend that it makes wanting to be around you and get your approval that much more prominent in my head."

"Why do you like me? I've been nothing, but mean."

"That's not true. You were the first person to befriend me and took me out for coffee when you didn't have to. You were still civil to me after you told me to stay away from you. You were really nice to me when you saw me singing in the choir room. You've been more nice than mean and you yelling at me was warranted. So, I wouldn't say it was mean. You're not mean, Kurt; just guarded."

Kurt didn't know how to argue after Zach's last statement. He evened out his tone and thought about what to say. Nothing came to him. "Befriending the only gay kid at McKinley isn't going to add cool points to your meter."

"You're not the only gay kid. You're just the only out one… and I don't care about popularity."

"Everyone cares about popularity."

"Not true. I don't."

Kurt's phone rang from his pocket, signaling a text. He pulled it out and was thankful to see Blaine's face so that he could get out of this conversation.

"Blaine?" Kurt nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kurt. I've got to get going anyway."

Kurt wore an expression that was vaguely apologetic. "See you tomorrow."

B- You have my dorm keys.

K- Do I?

B- I put them on my key chain with my car keys and since you have my car keys… Can I come get them? I'll get demerits for every time I call my RA or security to let me in. Wes said he'd drive me to get my car too.

Kurt ran inside the house to the bowl of keys in the living room and sure enough, Blaine was right.

"What's up, Kurt?" Burt asked when he saw Kurt run into the room.

"I took Blaine's dorm keys by accident. He's going to get in trouble for not having them. Can he come get them?"

"Yeah, sure."

Kurt thought for a quick second. "Can he spend the night?"

"It's a school night."

"I know, but he'll be gone early. It's just that he's driving all this way and it'd probably suck for him to have to drive over an hour to get here just to get keys and turn right around to drive over and hour back."

"Kurt, I just gave you condoms and you're asking for your boyfriend to sleep over."

"Dad!"

Burt laughed. "I know. I know! You and Blaine aren't having sex." He looked at his son and Kurt knew he had already won. He was going to, once again, get exactly what he wanted. "How is he getting here if you have his car?"

"Wes. He's letting him use his car and when the Warblers come down on Wednesday for rehearsal at McKinley, he's going to drive his car back with him." He knew this was techinicaly a lie, but Burt didn't need to know that.

Burt scratched his head. "Ahhh."

"You won't hear whatever it is you heard this morning again, I promise!" Kurt begged, bouncing up and down. "Plllleeeeaaassse?"

"You already know my answer."

"Thank you!" He launched himself at his father and wrapped his arms around him.

K- Pack a bag! You're sleeping over : )

Blaine's response was immediate. B- Seriously? You're dad's awesome!

K- I know! Now get over here!