"Do you want to go sit?" Blaine asked. Marie was not a tall woman, and even Blaine, who was hardly tall himself, managed to practically tower over her. Somehow, Marie seemed to loom over him in the doorway, the image of impending doom. She nodded and walked through to the living room, where she perched on the edge of a seat and folded her hands in her lap.

"Private conversation, I get it. But I just worried, a little bit. And... Kurt?" Marie said, looking up at Blaine, who had chosen to stand. He decided then that he didn't like that configuration and walked over to the sofa, taking a seat himself.

"I don't know where to start."

"I would suggest the beginning, but maybe you want to skip ahead to explaining that phone call? And the sitting together?" Marie advised.

"The phone call was kind of personal, mom. It isn't my story to tell. But the sitting together, that's just... okay. The beginning." Blaine proceeded to tell her as much of the story as he felt was truly appropriate. He started with the exchanging numbers at Carefree, at meeting up in Central (Marie just about yelled that she knew something else was up), at meeting for coffee when he was in Westerville on tour, omitting the details of that motorcycle ride. He told her that he had gone to Kurt's house the day he had come out and then fought with his dad, and that they had been talking for the months since they had met. He figured he would tell her about their friendship, but decided that maybe telling her about the date right that minute wasn't the wisest. Marie sat quietly through his entire explanation, and simply opened her arms to Blaine when he was done. He scooted over on the couch and leaned his head on her shoulder, letting her hug him.

"You know you could have told me all that sooner, right? I love you, Blaine, and I only want what's best for you, but I trust your judgement, too. I only overheard parts of your conversation, but I'm pleased that you can be there for him like that, Blaine. And I'm pleased he was there for you, too, when your dad... you know."

"He's going to be coming to Ohio. That's what he told me in his phone call."

"Is that all, really?"

"Well, no, but that was about half of it- the optimistic half that I can share."

"So you will meet up with him then, right?"

"Is that permission?"

"I think it might be," Marie grinned at him, "now were we about to go out or what?" If Marie had learned anything from Blaine's cancer, it was that you had to make exceptions for your kids. You had to be prepared to be surprised, to be able to adapt to all kinds of news. She knew that she needed to accept Blaine's judgement- and honestly, she preferred that it was someone in the public eye like Kurt that he was meeting up with than some weirdo he had met in a chat room.

Later that evening Kurt had finished packing for his trip to Lima and had sat down with Leah and sensibly discussed the details of his time away from work. She had managed to convince him that while he was in Ohio he could pay a visit to Glorious Media and seal another interview on their site, which he agreed to do. He could manage one interview while he was there. He had the next two weeks away, although there were two days, a Wednesday and a Thursday, in which he would be flying back to New York to film some scenes that they couldn't possibly reschedule. Leah had booked him a flight that would leave early the next morning, knowing that Kurt needed to be there as soon as he could possibly manage if he was ever going to calm down enough.

Leah had called Carole herself to hear the whole story- Burt only had the flu, but Kurt couldn't be away from sick relatives. Kurt had told her himself that sometimes it felt to him like Burt was all the family he had left, although he had Finn and Carole there. He instantly flipped to worst case scenarios, which is why Leah needed to be a grounding force. She had insisted on going with him, although she refused to be intrusive in the Hummel-Hudson home, and had found herself a hotel to stay at while they would be there.

Kurt was ready to crawl into bed and stay there until Leah woke him to get going the next morning when his phone rang. He decided he would ignore it, before looking at the caller and seeing that it was Blaine. He answered it, slipping down under the covers, creating himself a sort of sanctuary.

"Blaine Anderson," he breathed, "it's good to hear from you. You know, just to be sure that you're there and real and still will be when I get there tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Leah didn't muck around," he pondered aloud, "anyway, my mom may have overheard our conversation earlier in the day."

"Oh," Kurt replied, "how did that go?"

"I told her everything. Well, nearly everything. I skipped the romance and such."

"Fair enough. And?"

"She was perfectly fine with it all." Kurt could practically hear Blaine's adorable grin. "She even gave me permission for us to meet up while you're here."

"Does this mean I can officially ask you on another official date? Officially?"

"If that was the official proposal then I officially accept."

"Awesome," Kurt said, confident that his smile could be heard in his voice, "oh, don't bother coming to pick us up from the airport, it's so early in the morning that it wouldn't be worth it. You need to go to school anyway."

"I appreciate your interest in my education."

"You've had three days off in the last week at my expense. You really ought to go." Kurt insisted.

"They weren't at your expense, not really. Blame the gala all you like." Blaine replied.

"And you only went to the gala to present me with a certificate, so therefore at my expense."

"Okay, you win."

"As it should be. When will I see you?"

"Thursday after school," Blaine said, "unless you think you can wait longer." He added as an afterthought, teasing him slightly.

"That sounds great. I love my family and all, but I think I'll need to get out of the house by then."

"Okay. Wednesdays are kind of full on for me, otherwise I would have said tomorrow. I have Warbler practice and I have support group and my mom always thinks we should eat together on a Wednesday, although I have no clue why..."

"Irrelevant. It's my date this time, and I get to choose what we do, right?"

"Sure."

"Okay. I'll let you know the details once I've sorted them out."

"Good night, Kurt. I'll see you then."

"Yes," Kurt said, "I bet you thought it would be longer than two days before we saw each other again, right?"

"Yeah. Now go to sleep, silly. You have an early flight to be on."

"Good night." Blaine, as if he knew Kurt wouldn't be going to sleep at all without his prompt, was the one to hang up. The pair looked out for each other in the strangest ways.

Kurt arrived in Lima just before lunch. Carole collected them from the airport and drove them back to their place, figuring that Leah had to at least eat with them before she went to her hotel. Burt was asleep when they arrived, so she fixed them lunch and they all sat together, catching up with each other's lives. While Carole cleared the plates Kurt went upstairs and into Carole and Burt's room.

"Hey, kiddo," Burt said, as he saw Kurt enter, "How are you?"

Kurt walked over to the bed, where Burt was still tucked in, and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm good. Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine, Kurt. You didn't have to come all the way from New York to see me. It's just the flu."

"No, I did have to. I needed the break anyway, and now seemed as good a time as any to take one."

"You worry about me too much."

"Yeah."

"But I'm not the only reason you're here, am I?"

"Maybe it's a happy coincidence that the boy I really like lives in Westerville?"

"Since when do you have a boyfriend? You need to call me far more often, Kurt. I can hardly keep up."

"He isn't my boyfriend. At least, not yet. You remember Blaine, right?" Burt nodded, and Kurt decided to tell him the whole story, as Blaine had done with Marie. Kurt chose not to leave out the fact that they had had a date, however. Burt deserved to know everything.

That evening Blaine went to support group, although he hadn't gone for a few weeks. He wasn't feeling the need to be supported by that group as often as he had previously, and he wasn't really friends with enough of the others to feel like he had to go in order to catch up with them. He had enough time after the Warbler practice (they had been working on a few new numbers, for an upcoming showcase they had decided to participate in) to get home and change before leaving again for support group. He grabbed an apple as he passed through the kitchen, where Marie stopped him.

"Hey," she said, "where are you off to in such a hurry? Don't you want to have dinner first?"

"Support group. I'll eat properly when I get back, I promise. I need to talk to Sky tonight." He turned to leave, before turning back in the doorway. "Hey... mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I talked to Kurt again last night- we're going to hang out tomorrow. Would it be okay if maybe he came over here?" Blaine asked. He didn't know what Kurt had in mind but it was good to keep his options open, as far as he was concerned.

"I don't see why not. You'll probably have the house to yourselves, since your father has been so busy... I think I'm going to go over to your grandmother's house tomorrow evening. She's been really lonely recently, and I thought it would be nice."

"Oh, okay." Blaine checked the time on his phone and decided he really had to leave before he would be disastrously late. He kissed Marie on the forehead and hurried out towards his car.

Blaine arrived just as Jess was calling them to form their usual circle. He moved over to Sky and said hi as he sat next to her. She smiled at him and the typical sharing session began. Blaine introduced himself as he always did and told them about the gala briefly, before letting Sky begin.

The general course of events finished and Blaine pulled Sky aside. "We haven't really talked since I told you I was gay."

"Yeah, I guess we haven't," Sky replied, "you've been busy."

"I have. The gala was amazing, by the way. You aren't upset that I didn't take you, are you? After you gave me your exclusive access pass, and we had that partnership?"

"No, I'm not upset. That wouldn't be fair, if I was. You don't have to take me to events, Blaine."

"Good... I'm pleased we're on the same page."

"I did break up with you, so you know. It sorted itself out- they asked why they hadn't seen you around recently, and I just said that we had broken up. They thought I was too upset to ask for any details, so I didn't make any stories up." She explained, and Blaine was honestly pleased their supposed break up wasn't too dramatic.

"Oh, that's good, I guess. You don't... have any questions?"

"Um, is Wes your boyfriend?" Sky asked hesitantly. Blaine laughed.

"Wes? Wes? Wow. No, not at all. He is very much into Kaitlynn and is about as straight as you can get." Blaine said, trying really hard not to laugh too much. "He isn't really my type, anyway. I mean, of all people, you thought Wes?"

"I just thought... never mind. Do you have a boyfriend, though?"

"It's... undisclosed. There is a guy, and I really like him and I think he likes me, and we've been out on one official date, but I wouldn't call him my boyfriend quite yet. But I do hope that will change, to be honest." Because at that moment, there was nothing Blaine wanted more than to be Kurt Hummel's boyfriend, and he had hope that it would happen. It looked entirely possible, what with their date coming up.

"Oh. Do I know him?" she asked.

"Sort of... you have met a couple of times." He reasoned, because he knew it was true.

"Well now I want to know who it is!"

"I'm not going to tell you, Sky."

"I know! You're so annoying!"

"Look who's talking!"

"Shut up, Blaine!" she shoved him playfully.

"Do you really want to go there?" he replied, shoving back with about the same force.

"Bring it, Anderson!"

Blaine paused for a second before wrapping his arms firmly around her waist and lifting her easily, throwing her over his shoulder and choosing to leave her there while she shrieked at him to put her down, when she wasn't laughing. Eventually he let her down, when everyone had stopped looking at them so oddly. He offered to drive her home, and she accepted. They laughed the whole drive there, and Blaine continued smiling to himself as he drove the rest of the way to his own house, pleased that they had a real friendship now that they hadn't had before.

After a couple more text conversations they had regarding the plans for Thursday's officially official date, they had finally settled on a time and a place. Kurt was already beginning to feel cooped up at the Hummel-Hudson residence and decided to drive to Westerville. He figured it helped that they would have the house to themselves, if Blaine's parents didn't know there was anything romantic between them. If they were around then they might have been uncomfortably cautious, particularly if his father had been there to be homophobic.

So Kurt turned up on Blaine's doorstep, exactly ten minutes after he had said he would be home. A delightfully crumpled looking Blaine opened the door- he was still in his uniform, although he had ditched the blazer, leaving his shirt with a few buttons undone and his tie loosened. He didn't even let Kurt say hello before he wrapped his arms around his waist, taking the opportunity to kiss him completely, properly. Kurt, although taken by surprise, softened quickly, settling his arms around Blaine's neck. Eventually they broke their lips apart, leaving their arms in place to stay in such close proximity.

"Hey," Blaine said, "I missed you."

"Hi, Blaine Anderson," Kurt replied, "I missed you too."

"I should probably let you take your coat off, right?"

"Probably."

"But that involves letting go of you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Blaine." He released his grip on his waist, so Kurt could take his coat off. He hung it up and took his shoes off. Blaine took his hand and they headed through to the living room.

"Can I get you anything?" Blaine asked, as Kurt sat on the sofa. He stayed standing, in case he needed to head off again. Kurt shook his head.

"No thanks." Blaine then sat next to him on the couch. Kurt lifted Blaine's arm and draped it around himself, placing his head on his shoulder and snuggling into his side.

Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. My dad isn't really that sick, it turns out. I'm quite good at worrying about him for no reason."

"I don't think it's no reason, Kurt. Maybe unnecessary amounts, but not for no reason."

"Okay, we'll go with your one then." Kurt lifted his chin to kiss Blaine softly. "I could stay like this for a long time."

"Ditto," Blaine replied. They sat in comfortable silence for some time before Blaine decided he needed to have a coffee, prising Kurt off him for long enough to stand up and go to the kitchen. He made the coffee quickly and headed back to the sofa, where Kurt attached to him again.

"Do you want to do anything?" Blaine said, smiling down at Kurt.

"Only if you do." Blaine shuffled out from under Kurt and ran upstairs to get dressed quickly before going back to the living room in skinny jeans and a t-shirt. He sat down on the sofa again.

"Come on," Blaine said, "let's go for a walk."

Kurt looked out the window. "It's pouring, Blaine. Wouldn't you prefer to stay inside? Watch a movie?" He slid closer to Blaine, resting his hand lightly on Blaine's leg. "Cuddle?" Or make out, Kurt thought, we could do that too. Blaine shook his head.

"Tempting, but no. We're going out for ice cream."

"Are you serious?"

"Deadly serious. You need cheering up- you can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream, and that's kind of the same thing."

"Fine," Kurt said, accepting that it wasn't an argument he would win, much like when Blaine had asked him to dance at the gala. All it took was one infectious smile and he was sold. He stood up and took Blaine's hand. "Let's get this over with."

"I still can't believe you remembered my favourite ice cream flavour was mango sorbet... that was possibly even better than the one at the store near my apartment." Kurt said, as the pair re-entered Blaine's house, completely drenched. Blaine glanced down at himself, and then at Kurt.

"Are you cold?" Kurt nodded, "that was... kind of a stupid idea. I'm sorry."

"It was fun," Kurt insisted, "I would hardly have done that with Leah. When it rains we usually stay inside and watch Top Model reruns."

"You aren't mad at me?" Blaine said, looking over at Kurt with hopeful puppy dog eyes. Kurt laughed and shook his head.

"Of course not, Blaine Anderson. I was embracing your stupidity. You'll get hypothermia if you do that too often."

"So we should change, right?" Kurt nodded. "Do you want to take a shower? I'll chuck your clothes in the dryer- well, what can be, anyway?" Kurt nodded again.

"I appreciate that you didn't plan on machine drying everything," Kurt said, "but that doesn't leave me with many clothes."

"You can borrow some of mine, Kurt. Just so you don't get hypothermia, of course."

"Right," Kurt said, "upstairs, then?"

Blaine led Kurt upstairs, offering to let Kurt shower in his bathroom (which was actually across the hall, and not an ensuite like most of the others) while he would go and use his parents'. He found Kurt some sweatpants and a Dalton hoodie, told him to use any shampoo or whatever he liked left him to shower, taking his own change of clothes down the hall.

Blaine heard a distinct shriek from the bathroom. "Kurt, are you okay?"

"Come here for a second, Blaine? Please?" There was a sense of urgency in Kurt's voice, and Blaine knew that the only chivalrous thing to do would be to go to his rescue. "There's a spider in your shower," Kurt said as he entered the bathroom, "can you move it for me? Please?"

"A spider? That's all?"

"You haven't seen it!" Blaine slid open the shower door.

"So where is this- holy shit, it's massive!" Sure enough, a rather large spider had seemed to have moved into Blaine's shower and didn't seem to want to move anywhere, with or without Blaine's aid. "God, Kurt, we're going to die."

"We won't die, just... I don't think we can wash it down the drain, can we?"

"We could try to drown it, I guess?" Blaine suggested, although he didn't much want to have to touch the spider at all. What if they failed in the killing it, and then it got angry? What if it had already made a web and laid eggs somewhere else in his bathroom?

"Or we could just pretend it was never there, and I could shower elsewhere?"

"Yes. That sounds good. You can shower in the guest room's bathroom..." Blaine closed the shower door quickly and left the room much faster than he had planned to. Kurt giggled slightly at it, but was keen to separate himself from the spider as soon as possible, following Blaine to the guest room.

Blaine went to leave, before Kurt caught his hand. "You aren't going anywhere, not until we've checked for spiders again."

"Okay." Blaine didn't let go of his hand as they walked into the bathroom. He opened the shower door and checked for spiders. "I think we're clear."

Kurt breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Okay, thank you for saving the day. Now you need to go and take your wet clothes off and warm up, right? So go. I'll see you downstairs in I don't know, twenty minutes?"

Blaine nodded. "Twenty minutes."