After some texting back and forth later on that night, Blaine finally settled on their breakfast location; his house. It was actually the easiest meeting point, providing almost a perfect midway point between Kurt's hotel and Dalton. It would promise that Blaine would be out in time to make it to school, and he could start cooking long before Kurt got there. He reminded Kurt of his address, doubting that he would have been following the route when they walked there the day before, and then settled into bed for the night. There was a long sleep ahead before he would be seeing Kurt again.

Marie woke Blaine up the next morning as she was leaving the house, and Blaine's dad had left earlier. He seemed to be spending as much time as possible at the office, and he always had the excuse of some other big case coming up. His job was always the perfect alibi for anything going on at home.

It was six, and neither of his parents really needed to be out of the house that early. Sometimes it just felt like they were avoiding Blaine. Why have kids if you plan on ignoring them?

Nonetheless Blaine headed downstairs to start making breakfast, before realising he had very few recipes in his repertoire. He set two places at the table and got out various bowls and utensils before giving up on the cooking and choosing to take a shower instead. Maybe it wouldn't be the best thing for Kurt to see him in his Batman pyjamas.

He dressed in what of his uniform would be vaguely comfortable, settling on leaving off his tie and blazer for the meantime, rolling up his shirt sleeves and leaving the top couple of buttons undone. There was a knock at his door at a quarter to seven, exactly when they had agreed on meeting for optimum time together. Blaine answered the door to see Kurt as lively as ever, his blue eyes shining bright, his hair impeccably coiffed and his outfit selected delicately. Blaine wondered how long he had been awake for, but knew instantly that to some extent Kurt was a morning person.

They headed to the kitchen where Blaine was yet to start cooking, and Kurt teased him endlessly about him having not made a start to their food. He insisted on making Blaine wear an apron as to avoid getting his uniform messy, just imagining the mess Blaine would be capable of making. You wouldn't let an excitable puppy into your kitchen when you were trying to cook and Kurt questioned why he hadn't just kicked Blaine out then and taken over the breakfast preparation himself.

After a short dispute about the matter they settled on making pancakes. Blaine located all of the ingredients and Kurt got on and started measuring and mixing, until he had done most of the work in the preparation. Blaine insisted on being useful and pouted at Kurt's helpful suggestion that he ought to do the dishes while he finished cooking. Kurt laughed, fighting the urge just to throw their friendship out of the window then and there and kiss him. Blaine was just too damn cute, between the seriousness of his gelled hair and uniform and the adorable way he wanted to help, the way he had pushed his sleeves up so they didn't quite match, the way he was genuinely upset by the thought he wasn't being helpful.

Blaine gave up his plans to persuade Kurt to let him do the pancake flipping and resigned himself to finding a range of toppings instead. For the few times his family ate pancakes they had an awful lot of toppings, leaving them plenty of choice to syrups and fruit.

Kurt flipped the pancakes onto a plate until he had finished all the pancake batter, and carried the plate out of the kitchen and into the dining room. The huge table felt much smaller when he spotted a homey looking nook, a place set on each side of the table at one end. Blaine had gone to a great effort to make it seem less like the spot of rigid family dinners and more like a small table out of a children's picture book, complete with a pitcher of juice and a vase holding a single daffodil. Kurt put the plate down on the table and sat down, Blaine following shortly after with a few final syrup selections in hand.

Blaine went to take his apron off before Kurt stopped him, insisting that he not be responsible if he ended up with syrup all over his uniform dress shirt. He was pouting as he sat down, but didn't take the apron off. Kurt couldn't help but smile to himself about how he had only said the word and Blaine stopped in his tracks. It was a kind of influential Kurt had never been before.

"So," Blaine said, "breakfast." He helped himself to a few pancakes and poured chocolate syrup all over them, before taking his knife and fork and cutting himself a bite sized chunk. Kurt opted for lemon juice and sugar for his pancakes, and spent longer than necessary making sure his sugar distribution was as even as possible.

"I think these are the best pancakes I've ever eaten," Kurt said, after swallowing his first mouthful delicately, "compliments to the chef."

"You were the chef, Kurt." Blaine said.

"Oh, I know. The kitchen hand can have compliments too, if he so desires." Kurt teased lightly. "So how did you find the episodes? Will you watch them again when they air officially?"

"It was what you would expect from Highlands, to put it simply," Blaine said, "But I must say I'm looking forward more to the next episode."

"It's a big one for Elliot. Jasper's good for him- oh god, I can just hear the shippers now." Kurt said, thinking back to the last time he had looked at fanfiction, how intense some of them got. There were manipulated photos of Elliot kissing just about any other character on the show, and they weren't hard to find. So when a pairing was an actual solid one the internet fans went a little bit crazy.

Blaine shrugged and said, "Oh, it will be all over my blog. What are we going to call them? Jasiot? Jelliot? I'll work on it." Kurt snorted, his mouth full and avoiding proper laughter.

"I shouldn't have brought it up, should I? Dangerous territory- I'll start telling you how much I disliked Elliot and Amanda together, that one time they went out, and you'll defend them with all your power." Kurt said, and Blaine mocked offense.

"I shipped it!" He said, keeping up his charade, "They are meant to be!" Kurt laughed at him. "What? Ellanda was the best thing that ever happened! Actually, I don't even know if that's what shippers call them. But Elliot and Jasper I can work with."

"A lot of the scenes between them are really sweet. That's how it always has been with Highlands and same sex couples. They have adorable moments and they might hold hands occasionally, but the networks hate their channels flooded by guy on guy action," Kurt said, "I'm just pleased that Elliot might be happy. He's going to have a bit of drama there, realising that maybe he isn't bisexual and then coming out to his family because he's accepted that he's gay."

"He's... he's coming out sooner than I thought." Blaine said.

"Oh, me too, but I'm taking the chance, you know? I'm just a puppet for the writers and directors. I can't complain about my character's sexuality." Kurt replied.

"Will those scenes be weird for you, do you think?" Blaine asked. Everyone assumed Kurt was gay, but no one had ever asked him to address any rumours directly. They always danced around the subject. Kurt had decided to have no public coming out simply because he didn't think he needed to. It shouldn't change anything.

"Not really," Kurt said, deciding maybe he ought to be upfront with Blaine about it- they were friends, after all. "I've been through it all once before, going through twenty takes of the scripted stuff won't be the end of the world."

"Oh," was all Blaine could say. He had just confirmed for himself that Kurt was gay, same as everyone always assumed. He didn't know where that left him.

"Blaine, are you okay?" Kurt said, "You look sort of... pale."

"Fine, fine..." Blaine squeaked, "I'm going to go finish getting ready and then... dishes." He stood up quickly and carried his plate, glass and utensils through to the kitchen, stashing them by the sink and heading upstairs quickly.

Kurt stayed where he was for a second, before taking his own dishes back into the kitchen. He went back for the syrups, but didn't know where they went in the huge kitchen so he left them on the counter instead. He walked up the stairs slowly and knocked on Blaine's door lightly, before pushing it open a crack. "Blaine? I don't think you're okay..." There was no response from the boy, so Kurt walked over to the bed, where Blaine was sitting, focussing too hard on a spot on the floor in front of him, and sat down next to him. "I don't think you should go to school Blaine, you aren't really fine..." there was still no response from Blaine. "You bolted pretty quickly... I just don't think you are okay, that's all. Blaine, say something, I'm legitimately worried."

"It isn't your problem," Blaine said, "You don't need to worry about me, Kurt."

"You're my friend, Blaine. I can't just stand by while you have a breakdown." Kurt said.

"It's not a breakdown, it's just..." Kurt instinctively reached over and took Blaine's hand in his own. Blaine didn't look at Kurt, choosing instead to keep looking at the floor, sighing lightly. He didn't pull his hand away, either. "Elliot has been living his life two steps ahead of me- he was diagnosed, and then I was, too. He starts treatment, and then I do. If he comes out, then maybe I'm supposed to take that cue and come out myself. I mean, it would explain an awful lot, but I've never- I mean, I don't know- I'm so confused."

Kurt shuffled a little bit closer to Blaine and said, "Take the day off. I'm here. You can talk to me."

Blaine relaxed against Kurt slightly, still not dropping his hand. "Thanks, Kurt. I mean, I don't know what to say, but thanks."

They sat in silence for a little bit, before Kurt looked over at Blaine and realised that he was crying, tears silently tracking down his cheeks. He resisted the urge to reach over and wipe them away for him, pleased when Blaine did it for himself. They sat there for so long that when Blaine checked the time he realised he wasn't making it to school now. He would just stay there, with Kurt.

Wes texted him after he noted his absence in their first lesson, saying, Yo Blainers, y u nt hr? Evrythn k? Blaine checked his phone and ignored the text. Now wasn't the time for persuading Wes via text that he was okay.

Eventually Blaine spoke up, and Kurt was ready to listen. "There was this guy once," he said, "Back when I was first diagnosed and spent some time in hospital. I mean, I didn't really think anything of it. I thought he was so cool. He was a year or two older than I was, and he didn't have cancer. He was just super close to his sister, because he was always at the hospital. And he would sing. He would sing to her, give her personal performances knowing that she was missing all the competitions. One time he was there and his sister- she was called Olivia, and she was one of my best friends then- well, Olivia fell asleep, but he didn't want to leave yet. So he talked to me. He told me the stories he normally told her, and damn, I was hopelessly in love with him. But I just- I haven't felt that way since. I never worked out that I was, not until I thought about it now."

"Have you felt like that about any girls, ever?" Kurt asked, purely out of curiosity.

"No," Blaine answered simply. "I've dated, sure, but nothing has ever measured up to that feeling. All the girls I've ever dated have been blind dates or friends I took out to various dances. There hasn't been anyone, ever. Sometimes when the guys are checking a chick out I've played along, but I've never been attracted to any of them. I can tell fine whether a girl is pretty or not, but I've never really participated, and man, it just makes so much more sense..."

They sat in silence for a bit longer, before Kurt said, "Are you stable enough that I can leave you to do the dishes? It's bugging me just knowing they're there."

Blaine stood up and held out his hand to help Kurt up, which he accepted, and they headed downstairs together. Kurt washed and Blaine dried and put away, and then they were done. Blaine didn't seem so sad anymore, but he still had this ambience that he wasn't finished processing his thoughts.

Kurt looked at the time and saw he didn't have that long until he was supposed to leave for Lima. He found Blaine, who was sitting in the living room about as lost in thought as he had been before. Kurt sat next to him, and wrapped his arms around him, knowing Blaine was too vulnerable to shrug him off easily. "Blaine," he said softly, "I'm going to go now, but I'll call you later, I promise. If there's some recent delay in us getting to Lima I'll come back, okay?" Blaine nodded, and Kurt kissed him on the forehead before he knew he had to leave. He was so comfortable there with Blaine that he didn't want to have to move.

There was a knock on the front door that afternoon. Blaine was ever hopeful it might have been Kurt, although he was plenty happy when he opened the door to find Wes. Wes instantly noticed that Blaine was partially in uniform and opened his mouth to question his absence, ask if he was okay, when Blaine threw his arms around him. Wes lifted his arms to return the hug, which had a lot more force than the way they usually hugged, with a lot more meaning and depth, less awkward in a way that you wouldn't expect. Wes ushered Blaine through to the living room again, where they sat on the couch awkwardly for a bit.

"Blaine," Wes eventually said, breaking the silence, "You aren't okay."

"I'm fine Wes, I just... I need to be upfront about something with you." Blaine said.

"Oh god, Blaine, is someone dying? Are you dying? Shit, the bloody cancer-" Wes didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Blaine cut him off.

"It's not cancer," Blaine said, after spending the whole morning avoiding looking at Kurt directly he made an effort to look Wes straight in the eye. He continued, "Wes, this isn't going to change anything, but I'm gay."

"Okay," Wes said, "do you want to go play Born Rivals now?"

"Wait, you don't have any questions? You aren't going to get defensive about any times I've ever hugged you?" Blaine said, having prepared himself for the worst.

"You're kidding, right? What does it matter? You aren't any different than you were two minutes ago before you told me." Wes shrugged. He hadn't guessed particularly, but he didn't think it meant anything heavier than what it was.

"Wes, there's a reason you're my best friend." Blaine said, before he stood up and readied the game console for Born Rivals. He passed Wes his controller, and they began to play. The transition had been seamless, and it was something they were both thankful for.

Later that evening Marie came home, long before Blaine's father, something else that Blaine added to his list of things he was grateful for that day. He sat Marie down and made her a cup of tea, knowing how she might be after her day at work. Finally he joined her, and she asked him what was up. There was a tension in the room that was almost tangible.

"Mom, I love you so much and it's just so, so hard to tell you, but mom, I'm gay." Blaine said, trying to put it as absolutely simply as he can.

"Oh," was all she had to say about it, before she took a long sip of her tea. She wanted to tell him that she still loved him, that it didn't mean anything. She wanted to ask him whether he was sure it wasn't just a phase. She wanted to ask him so much, that the weight of her words would be too much. She just kept her mouth shut, ready to listen if Blaine wanted to keep talking.

"Mom? Are you alright?" Blaine said, reaching over to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Yes, Blaine," she said, "but could we maybe not bother your father with this? He's very busy with work at the moment..."

"I wasn't really planning on telling him anyway," Blaine said, "I don't think he'll take it lightly."

"Right," Marie said, "You know I love you, right?" she just wasn't sure what to say. The words spilled clumsily from her, and she simply hoped that Blaine would be okay.

"Yeah," Blaine said, practically a whisper, "I do." He excused himself and went to his bedroom, thinking about how much better that had gone than he had thought.

Marie stayed where she was, accepting but not understanding.

Kurt had never made it back to Blaine after he had left earlier that day. He felt terrible about it, leaving the boy alone at such an emotional time for him. As soon as he had gotten to his parents' house in Lima and had said all his hellos, he apologised to them that he wasn't catching up right away, ducking into his old room for a bit of privacy as he dialled Blaine's number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hi," Kurt said.

"Hi," Blaine replied, "you never did come back."

"I know; we just sort of... left. I was going to text but I thought it might get ignored." Kurt explained. He hoped Blaine wasn't mad at him about it.

"I would never ignore you, Kurt." Blaine said softly, practically whispering as though it was his best kept secret.

"Did you talk to your parents?" Kurt asked, needing some closure about Blaine's headspace.

"My mom. Neither of us particularly wants for me to come out to my dad. I talked to Wes, too, and he had about the best reaction possible." Blaine said, thinking back to how fortunate he had been.

"That's great." Kurt said. There was a comfortable silence for a couple of seconds.

"Hey Kurt, how much longer will you be in Lima?" Blaine said, struck with an idea.

"For the event tonight and until late tomorrow afternoon. Why?" Kurt knew that thoughtful tone well now.

"You know how yesterday I was saying that my family wasn't great at support, and you said that yours was?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you object to me coming to stay with you tonight? Support is something I could really do with right about now. I can skip again tomorrow, the teachers never care- cancer perk- and you're the only person I'm finding it easy to talk to at all." Blaine said, completely truthfully.

"Not at all. You might want to let me warn my dad first, but go ahead. It'll be nice to see you again a little later." Kurt said, knowing that Burt would be fine with it and Blaine needed him. He needed them.

"Thank you so much, Kurt. So much."

"It's okay. Now get driving over here or you'll never make it." He hung up the phone and found his dad, who hugged him quickly, always one to savour his time with Kurt.

"Dad, can my friend stay here tonight?" Kurt asked, jumping straight to the point.

"Of course, kiddo. You'll give me ten minutes to talk to you though, right?" Burt said, half teasing him.

"Would I not?" Kurt said, "Come down to the kitchen and make me a coffee."

Blaine threw some clothes into a bag, taking off his uniform but putting that in his bag too, to make it look like he at least planned on attending school the next morning. He went to find Marie, who sort of blinked at him but didn't have anything to say.

"Mom, would you mind if I went to a friend's place tonight?" Blaine asked, thinking asking her permission would end cleaner than if he ran out with no explanation.

"Which friend? Wes?" Marie said. It was a Wednesday night, and it was odd to think he would be staying with his friends then. Marie knew the most likely reason for him leaving.

"Um, no... I just need to go see someone, talk to them about..." Blaine didn't a chance to finish what he was saying the way he meant, because his father came home at that precise moment. Marie and Blaine locked eyes in silence, her knowing completely what he had meant to say. "Geography, our group assignment. We need to cram it in tonight if we're going to get it done."

"Oh, of course," Marie said, "School comes first, right? Have a good time."

Blaine thanked her as Philip Anderson walked into the room. It was the first time the three of them had been in one place for weeks.

"Going somewhere, Blaine?" He said with his satin smooth voice full of grit.

"Just to a friend's place. We have school work to finish." Blaine said, repeating his new alibi.

"So not a girl's place, then? If you have a girlfriend, just tell us. She can come to dinner." Philip said. He never passed up the opportunity to pester Blaine into getting a girlfriend.

"Not a girl's place and I don't have a girlfriend." Blaine said, rolling his eyes. He didn't want to be locked into this conversation.

"Oh, alright... perhaps you would like to come through to my study and I can show you my case? Since you'll be pursuing law, you might learn a thing or two. Come on," Philip said, in a way that left Blaine no choice. He followed him through reluctantly. He didn't even know what he wanted to pursue, although he was fairly certain law wasn't it.

Philip spread some papers out over his desk. "This is my client, Frederick Davies. He has been accused of assaulting a man on the basis that he was gay. He was asking for it, I reckon... those fags aren't getting the world anywhere..." Philip said, "All they do is ruin the sanctity of marriage."

Blaine resisted the urge to punch his father right then and there. "Oh," he said, "You agree with that?"

Philip turned to face Blaine and tensed his jaw. "Blaine, everyone should agree with that. They are no good to our society. All they are doing to further our nation is teaching dance classes, am I right?"

"No," Blaine said, "This is stupid. I'm going."

Philip grabbed Blaine arm and spun him around to face him again, looking critically into his eyes, he said, "Why does this matter to you anyway? You're just trying to be open-minded because that's what the world wants these days. You're only saying that because you think you ought to."

Blaine struggled free from Philip's grip. "No," he said, "I support their rights because they deserve them. They are people, dad, and not some worthless waste of space."

"Why are you defending them like that? You don't have to defend those fags, Blaine. There's no one here to hear you." Philip said, looking around the room dramatically.

"I'm not defending them," Blaine said, "I'm defending myself. I'm gay, dad. I'm gay. Do your worst, but I'm not changing for you." He stormed out of the office then, promising not to look back. He walked past Marie in the hallway as he headed for the front door, ready to leave for Lima, and she was a little bit teary eyed.

"I'm sorry, Blaine," she whispered, "Go to your friend's. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll just try and calm him down. I'm so, so sorry, Blaine." She kissed him on the cheek and headed into the office, where she instantly got an earful from Philip. There was an awful lot of cursing, but Blaine just focussed on getting out of there. He worried that he might get violent, but he would never hit Marie, of all people. He was better at focussing his anger than that. He was pissed at Blaine, and he wouldn't take that out on Marie, right?

Blaine took one of the cars, deciding that maybe Lima would be too far for his bike at that time of the evening.

He was nearly there when his phone buzzed. He pulled over to check it, and saw it was a text from Kurt- Got you a pass for the event tonight as well. Nearly there? Forgot to give you the address- Followed by directions to his house that Blaine thought he would be able to follow.

He finally made it to the address and pulled up. He got out of the car but didn't even make it to the door before it flung open and Kurt ran out, ensuring him that he had the right place. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm pleased I asked to stay here earlier... I sort of came out to my dad, after all." Blaine said, "He didn't take it too well." Kurt led Blaine inside and made him sit down, where he told him the whole story about Philip's homophobic nature.

"That bastard," Kurt grumbled, "Damn, that sucks."

"My mom took it well. I just hope she's okay with everything going on with dad at the moment." Blaine said, thinking about how Marie had reacted. She had been quiet, but she always was. When Blaine was having operations or anything else she would sit by his bed and hold his hand, but she would never try and force joy into the situation. This wasn't anything new.

"She'll be fine, Blaine. Just worry about yourself for now." Kurt said, reaching over to squeeze his hand in support.

"I feel like you're the only person I have to talk to about this stuff," Blaine said, "I think you are the best cancer perk ever."

"I'm not some cancer perk, Blaine Anderson."

"If I wasn't sick I wouldn't have met you." Blaine practically whispered, almost scared the world would rip Kurt away from him if he said it aloud.

"I don't know about that. We were both at that event last night. We might have met later, but I don't think we would never have met at all." Kurt mused.

Blaine smiled. "Thanks, Kurt," he said, "thanks. For everything."

"You're welcome, Blaine. Now come and meet my dad, since he's been loitering in the doorway." Kurt said, turning to face the door which Burt walked through moments later.

Blaine shook Burt's hand as they introduced themselves. Burt showed Blaine through to the guest room where he dumped his bag, before all three left for the dining room for dinner.

The dining room here was almost a perfect opposite of the rigid one at the Andersons' house. It was everything Blaine had hoped to embody in the isolation of the table end that morning. They ate dinner, laughing, chatting, and totally different to how Blaine's family ate theirs. That was the moment he knew what family really could mean.