"Come on Blaine. Please? I blackmailed Finn for your invite." Kurt asked for the millionth time, giving his boyfriend his very best puppy dog eyes. Rachel was having a party, and he didnt want to go without Blaine there, not when it was on one of their usual date nights. It wasnt that Kurt even particularly liked Rachel, he just didnt want to miss out with the New Directions. He already felt on the fringes of the group at times, whether or not he was one of the founding members.

"I just dont really know any of them, Kurt. I dont want to intrude or have all of them call you a traitor for bringing a spy in or whatever," Blaine said, "So thank Rachel for the invite and tell her that were going to stay home instead of going to her party."

"You will love Rachels house, Blaine. She has two dads, so its gorgeous."

"Are you even listening to me? I dont want to be the odd one out. Most of them havent even seen me without my blazer."

"I think youre getting yourself stressed out with the build up to regionals, B. It will do you some good to relax and have fun," Kurt said, trying to put a new turn on things. Something struck a chord with Blaine in that sentence and he sighed.

"Im not stressed!"

"How many extra vocal lessons did your dad make you take this week in preparation for regionals?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow at Blaine stubbornly. He knew that Blaine was getting stressed.

"Three," Blaine mumbled.

"And thats on top of Warbler practices, and your instrumental lessons, and the LARP, and tutoring Hadley, and seeing me almost every day, when weve been constantly doing homework together. Its okay to be a little bit stressed. When do you have time to relax or sleep?"

"Fine, well go to your party. Just check again that Im invited too and not party crashing?" Blaine looked at Kurt worriedly, and Kurt kissed him quickly. He couldnt help himself, Blaine was so damn adorable.

"Sure." He kissed Blaine again before he called Rachel and confirmed that Blaine was invited too, not convinced that Blaine really wanted to go at all. Kurt couldnt help but worry that he was overworking himself, and Blaine could be a social butterfly at the best of times- he thrived on parties. Surely the party would do them both some good.

Kurt, Finn and Blaine arrived at Rachels house together and were quickly ushered down to the basement. Much to Kurts surprise, the party quickly decayed into a drunken mess. He hadnt really anticipated alcohol in the first place and had decided against drinking pretty quickly after he had arrived. Even after dating for a couple of months, he wanted to keep composed around his boyfriend.

Blaine didnt seem to have the same standards.

It was hard to tell whether Blaine usually drank a lot or not at all, for seeing him at that party. Kurt wanted to pin him as a lightweight almost immediately, but maybe he had been sneaking shots when Kurt wasnt looking. He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself though, and after all, wasnt that why he had insisted that Blaine came?

"Rachel has a stage," Blaine whispered (very loudly) to Kurt, "shes so cool. Your glee club friends are so cool." Kurt just humoured his boyfriend and accepted the first three kisses that Blaine gave him, though when he began to get a little on the slobbery side he had to gently push him away. Blaine didnt seem to mind and danced happily away, even accepting it when Brittany decided to grind against him.

"Its still weird to me that you two actually kiss and junk," Finn said, sitting down beside Kurt, "I dont think any of my girlfriends have ever kissed me with that much enthusiasm."

"Or drool," Kurt said, wiping his chin again, "youre not missing out, I promise. Arent you drinking?"

"Nah, Im the designated driver. Clearly you arent, either."

"Because Im worried that Id either be in Brittanys place right now or I would have punched her or something. Im still not exactly sure how I act with more than one drink," Kurt said. The first and only time he had been drunk he had thrown up on Miss Pillsbury, and he was not exactly thrilled with the idea of vomiting everywhere again. He needed to keep an eye on Blaine, too. He was worried about his boyfriend and the stress he was putting on himself, to say the least- and maybe he had given Blaine the perfect outlet to handle the stress negatively.

"Fair enough." Rachel chose that moment to come over and sit in Finns lap, much to his discomfort. Kurt decided to move away before he got roped into any awkwardness, dancing out into the middle of the room. Blaine seemed thrilled to see him and began to dance with him instead of Brittany, a move that Kurt was all too pleased about, especially now it seemed that Blaine was taking a page out of her book, dancing far too sexily and very close to his boyfriend.

"Lets play spin the bottle!" Rachel yelled, and general shouts of agreement sounded throughout the room. A shabby circle was formed and Kurt and Blaine sat next to one another.

"Why do you even want to play?" Kurt asked. Blaine covered his mouth to stifle a giggle.

"The last time I played this game I kissed my boyfriend," Blaine said, in what Kurt thought was his drunken attempt to be quiet but actually ended up quite the contrary.

"We dont have to be playing if you want to kiss your boyfriend," Kurt pointed out. Blaines eyes widened at him in surprise.

"Oh," he said, but didnt make any further move to pursue that course of action. The group got rowdier as the game progressed, working on the double spin system rather than the double kiss system, by which Santana had somehow taken charge of the bottle. She spun it twice, landing on Brittany and Sam- her boyfriend and her best friend. Kurt wasnt sure exactly how to feel about the pairing himself, but wasnt surprised when Santana wasnt happy.

In all honesty Kurt found the game to be boring, as most of the glee club had dated one another at some point anyway. Exes kissing wasnt anywhere near as much fun as the game had been at Jeffs party. The lack of same gender kisses probably threw him off too, but that was beside the point. The group was too close for any of it to be weird.

The bottle slowed down and almost stopped on Kurt, pointing just a tiny bit to his right. Blaine clapped excitedly about how he had been chosen while Kurt just glared as the bottle spun again, landing on Rachel. Kurt took a deep breath, choosing to see the humour in the situation, as they shuffled into the middle of the circle and ungracefully smashed their faces together.

Eventually the game died down (besides the awkward moment when Kurt and Finn had been spun and subsequently the bottle re-spun, Kurt was only landed on once and made to kiss Tina, which he did so chastely more so because she was giggling so much and less so for the awkwardness), and the party resumed to its previous hype. The group seemed drunk enough to stop seeing Rachels stage as being dumb and rather a necessary party item, and pair by pair the teenagers sang with surprising clarity.

Rachel dragged Blaine up to the stage and they sang together, and Kurt only really felt jealous when he was giving the intense looks her way instead of his. He had grown so used to being sung to by his boyfriend that he forgot that not all of Blaines performances were directed his way. As the song ended Blaine nearly stumbled off the stage, and Kurt rushed forward to steady him.

"You have to step down, Blaine," Kurt said. Blaine blinked at his feet for a moment before bursting out in a fit of laughter and almost falling again as he actually stepped off the stage. "Feeling okay?"

"I have so much energy Kurt, oh my goodness! Did you see that song?" Blaine said, bouncing up and down lightly on the balls of his feet.

"I did. Seems like you had fun kissing Rachel," Kurt knew that he shouldnt be getting jealous, especially not when Blaine was so visibly drunk.

"Hmm? Oh! I guess," Blaine scrunched up his nose, "not as much fun as kissing you." Rachel shuffled over and attempted to kiss Blaine again, who awkwardly leaned away.

"We have so much chemistry, Blaine Warbler," Rachel said in a way Kurt figured was her trying to be sexy, "I saw the way you looked at me while we sang." She danced her fingers along Blaines chest.

"I am an actor," Blaine announced, before pulling Kurt elsewhere, giving him the standard look that just screamed of Im going to put my tongue in your mouth now. That certainly would shut Rachel up, at least until she sobered up. Kurt was loving every moment now.

A groan came from somewhere among the pile of blankets on Kurts bed. Well, at least he knew his boyfriend had survived the night after all the drinking at Rachels party the night before. He hadnt meant to let Blaine sleep in his bed, but after struggling to get him all the way upstairs he had pretty much passed out curled around Kurt, and he didnt have the heart to wake him. At one point he had tried to struggle out of Blaines grip to sleep on the couch instead, but Blaine had just adjusted to the movement and cuddled him closer.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked from across the room, "Are you awake?" Another groan answered him, and Kurt giggled affectionately. He heard movement in the hallway and turned to face the door.

"Hey Kurt," Burt said, entering the bedroom and looking towards the pile on his bed. A sleep tousled Blaine sat up and squeezed his eyes shut again.

"Where am I?" Blaine said, before huffing and lying back down again. Burt glared at Kurt, realising that the boy in the bed was obviously not his son. He apologised and shuffled back out of the room, the epitome of awkwardness. Kurt looked between his bed and the door, deciding which issue to deal with first. He settled on the bed.

"Hey, cutie," Kurt said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "How are you feeling?" he let his hand wander to play with Blaines loose curls. He got a feeling that this wouldnt be something he would have the privilege of doing a whole lot.

"I feel awful," Blaine said, mostly muffled by the pillow.

"Im going to bring you up some water and Tylenol, okay? You stay put, but try to stay awake." Blaine mumbled some kind of agreement and Kurt slipped from the room, knowing he would find his dad waiting in the kitchen. Sure enough, Burt was there with his arms folded across his chest as Kurt walked around, fetching Blaine the water and drugs he was promised.

"Its not what it looked like, dad," Kurt said calmly.

"And what did it look like, Kurt? It looked like you had your boyfriend sleeping in your bed last night."

"Well if thats all, then yes, it is what it looked like. But our clothes stayed on the entire time. Blaine was too drunk to drive so I let him stay here, and he passed out before I had any chance of either of us sleeping on the couch," Kurt explained.

"I thought you went to Rachels house!" Burt exclaimed.

"And we did. We werent lying to you, dad."

"Should I be calling Rachels parents to confirm?" Kurt sighed. His dads raised eyebrows werent ever particularly intimidating, especially when Kurt knew that his dad was just a big teddy bear and that he was on the spoilt side.

"Her dads are on a cruise. I didnt know that there was going to be alcohol and I didnt drink any, anyway- and neither did Finn. So if you dont mind, Im going to go and tend to my hungover boyfriend, since I doubt hell get any sympathy anywhere else, and Im actually worried as to why he drank so much in the first place." Burt didnt seem too happy with Kurt, but he didnt argue as Kurt left to look after Blaine. Kurt hoped he appreciated that Kurt was being responsible and taking accountability for the situation.

To: Defenders of Dreamweaver (list)

From: Luke Gautier (LGautier)

Subject: Last minute cancellation

Hey all,

Sorry to cancel on the LARP so late in the day, but there will be no session this afternoon. This is because a) theres no one to host, and b) Erica has the flu and insists that we cant play without her. Im sorry about that, but knowing her she will be back on her feet for our regular Wednesday session.

See you all then,

Luke (and Erica)

Blaine A. Im already on my way to Lima and only just had Lukes email come through. Are you good to hang out this afternoon anyway? xox

Kurt H. Totally! xx

Blaine A. Great, Ill meet you at the Lima Bean in 20?

Kurt H. Sure :)

Kurt took his time getting to the Lima Bean and saved their favourite table when he arrived, deciding to wait on ordering until Blaine was there. He knew how much his boyfriend hated gone-cold coffee. Blaines grin on entering made the whole trip feel worthwhile.

"Hey," Blaine said, "You arent horribly cut about the rain check to the Nightarcy date, are you?" he sat down, loosening his scarf.

"Id prefer a Klaine date any day," Kurt said, "Ill get the coffee." He ordered their drinks and sat back down at the table, passing one of the cups over to Blaine. They each took a sip before switching the cups around with one another. "Sorry," Kurt said, "Thats the trouble when they write Kurt on both cups."

"Its fine," he said, "I dont hate your mochas, I just prefer to drink my medium drips. But mochas do taste like your kisses right after weve been hanging out here." Kurt laughed, and when he felt Blaines foot lightly grazing his leg he didnt stop it. He loved playing footsies under the table with him.

"Did you have fun on Saturday night?"

"For the parts I remember, anyway. Im a little disappointed that I dont remember cuddling with you all night, though."

"There will be more cuddles," Kurt assured, "do you remember kissing Rachel?"

"Yes, I do remember that far. She tasted like wine coolers and bourbon and it was kind of sticky because she put on at least three layers of strawberry lip gloss before the game," Blaine recalled, scrunching up his nose at the memory. It was clearly something he had no desire to revisit in the future.

"Do you drink a lot?" Kurt asked curiously, hoping it sounded nonchalant. He needed to settle the heavy-drinking-versus-lightweight debate he had been having with himself.

"Not really. I mean, Im used to having a glass of wine at dinner, but not more than that. How about you? You werent even drinking on Saturday, right?"

"Right. I havent had the best experiences with drunkenness, and I was keeping an eye on you, to be honest." Kurt figured now was as good a time as any to have the conversation with Blaine that he needed to have.

"Why? I was fine."

"You werent really though, were you? Arent now, even?" Kurt asked cautiously. Blaine sighed.

"Is this because you think Im overworking myself again?" he asked. Kurt didnt deny it, and Blaine immediately got defensive, sitting up a little straighter and moving his feet back. Kurt frowned at the subtle actions.

"Im worried that you drank so much in a short space of time because you were trying to drown some feelings about something. Its okay for you to drink, but I think you should be a little bit more responsible next time-"

"So this is about me not reaching your standards?" Blaine said, standing up angrily. Kurt furrowed his brow.

"I never said that, Blaine. Sit down, please?" Blaine didnt move. "I guess were taking this show on the road, then." Kurt picked up his coffee cup and extended a hand to Blaine, which was passive-aggressively ignored. When they got outside they remembered that they had taken two separate cars to get there. "Lets take a walk. The cars will be fine for another ten minutes." Blaine nodded, and fell into step with Kurt. "I think your reaction says a lot about why Im worried about you, Blaine."

"Youre meant to be different, Kurt. Youre not meant to have impossibly high and ever rising standards for me like everyone else does. Youre meant to accept me exactly as I am, flaws and all. Because Im not perfect, and Im not ever going to be."

"And I dont want you to be perfect when youre already perfect for me," Kurt said softly. He offered Blaine a hand again, but Blaine shook his head softly. Kurt retracted his hand with a nod, pretending to understand what was going on inside his boyfriends head.

"Just admit it, Kurt. You think that Im getting stressed because you think that I cant deal with all my commitments, when the only people who could ever juggle this many things and a boyfriend have superpowers," Blaine said. He wasnt making a lot of eye contact with Kurt, rather looking right ahead as they walked.

"Are you trying to break up with me?" Kurt asked quietly, "If… if Im not what you need and Im just one more thing to juggle?" Blaine stopped walking and turned to Kurt then, finally looking at him properly. He seemed shocked by the way his own sentence had sounded.

"Oh god, Kurt, no. I dont want to break up with you at all."

"You make it seem that way. Im worried because I care Blaine, not because I want to push you to reach some expectation. The only expectation I have for you is that youll look after yourself and be happy, and this is the whole deal- I dont think that youre meeting that," Kurt said. He finished his drink and threw his cup in a nearby bin. "Ready to walk back?" Blaine threw his cup away too and took Kurts hand, finally.

"Yeah. Your hands are cold."

"I left my gloves in the car." Blaine passed Kurt his right glove, and took Kurts left hand in his.

"Better?" Blaine asked.

"Much." Kurt thanked him with a quick kiss to his cheek. "You?"

"Kurt… I cant reach anyone elses expectations, so I cant promise to reach yours, either. I would promise to look after myself, but as soon as you put the word expect there I start to worry. Ill look after myself, but not to the level that you want to. Because Im not a hero."

"I dont want Nightbird, Blaine. Im dating you, and Darcy is dating Nightbird. The sooner you can get that through your head the better." When they reached the cars Kurt handed Blaine his glove back. "Thank you. Are you going to come back to my house now?" he asked hopefully. Blaine nodded.

"Of course. I think I need to talk some more." Kurt smiled.

"Okay."

"Have dinner with my parents," Blaine blurted out, having finally gotten to the bottom of his constant negations of Kurts statements. He seemed to have realised now that Kurt was only in it for what was best for them, and not to set standards that he couldnt reach. He wasnt the same as his parents. Kurt would push him to be his best, but he wouldnt ever demand more than that. Sometimes he just couldnt understand how such a wonderful person could end up feel so crappy.

"Are you sure, Blaine? I dont want to throw a spanner in the works."

"You wont understand until you meet them, Kurt," Blaine said, "Just come for dinner. One meal is long enough. And what if you get stuck with them for in-laws one day?" Kurt bit his lip to stop him from smiling too much.

"You think about marrying me?"

"Um, no?" Blaine said uncertainly with a certain amount of teasing in his voice, "Psh, that would be weird. Were so young."

"Its okay, B," Kurt replied, "If Im going to imagine being married to anyone youre the logical choice. Sometimes Zac Efron. But usually you." Blaine laughed.

"Everyone knows I love Zefron the most." Kurt laughed too then, glad that they could share these small moments of pure happiness, giggling together about Zac Efron. "Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I sing for you?" Kurt nodded enthusiastically. He had been thinking about Blaine singing ever since his eye contact had gone to Rachel those few days ago. He loved being the one that Blaine focussed on while he poured his heart and soul into the music- it made him feel touched to be the one his heart and soul was being poured to. Bit by bit, Kurt was noticing that Blaines music and he werent so unalike. Blaine had a habit of making them both the centre of his world.

Blaine scurried off and returned with an acoustic guitar. "How did you know where that was in my house?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms over his chest, "Have you been snooping? Waiting for an opportunity to use it?"

"I just happened to remember Finn had one." Blaine strummed the guitar softly and winced at the sound it made. "Someone takes a few liberties when they tune this," he explained, and began to fix the strings one by one. He strummed it again, and, content with the sound, looked at Kurt.

"What are you going to sing?"

"You probably havent heard it before, but I think it says everything I want to say better than I can say it," Blaine said. He began to play the intro, and soon started singing, glancing down every so often to change chords but mostly played fluidly, maintaining eye contact with Kurt as he sang.

"I will save you, every time you need a rescue. When theres no stars at night, Ill stay until the sun shines. But you want something that I will never be so I just need you to know…" Kurt smiled at the lyrics. Blaines eyes shone adoringly as he looked at Kurt, which made him melt internally.

"May not be able to fly, but Ill take you on adventures. May not move at the speed of light, but if you need me Ill be there. I will save the day when you start to lose hope, I will never be a superhero," Honestly, did Blaine just hoard songs that were relevant to them and about superheroes? It was getting a little bit weird how many superhero references Blaine could find in song form. Not that Kurt didnt appreciate his dedication to superheroes.

As Blaine played the last chord, Kurt opened his mouth to compliment his performance. He was cut off before he could start by Blaines phone ringing. "Its Rachel," Blaine said, looking at Kurt in a way that questioned whether he could answer.

"Take it. It could be funny." Blaine smirked and answered the call, shuffling so he was close enough to Kurt to put his arm around him.

"Hey, Rachel… Im good, thank you for asking… Yeah, Im just with Kurt at the moment… Kurt? Rachel says hi… Yeah, Id love to hang out with you someti-oh. No. You know that Kurt and I are a couple right? Like, an exclusive, boyfriends, gay couple? Im flattered Rachel, truly, but no…. Alright, Ill see you later. Bye." Blaine hung up the phone and looked at it for a moment before bursting out into giggles. "She asked me out," he explained to Kurt. Kurt couldnt help but laugh too.

"She really thought your kiss was that good?"

"Apparently so- hey! You kiss me all the time and you dont seem to complain!" Blaine said.

"And your regular kisses are wonderful, Blaine, but youre a teeny bit slobbery when youve been drinking."

"Trust me, slobbery is better than sticky. Neither of us are ever going to start wearing lip gloss because its awful." He scrunched up his nose a bit at the thought.

"And here I was thinking you were going to milk that Katy Perry song for all it was worth," Kurt teased. Blaine pulled Kurt to his feet, half-singing jokingly to him.

"I kissed a girl, and I liked it!" Blaine teased.

"Except for the part where you didnt," Kurt pointed out.

"Details," Blaine said, pulling Kurt close into a hug, forgetting the world around them.