Kurt's eyes opened and instantly snapped themselves shut again, his eyelids too heavy to manage. Forcing himself up onto an elbow, he glanced at the clock on the bedside table to see it was ten. It felt a lot earlier than that. He looked around the room and registered the events from the night before, leading to him waking up in the Anderson's guest room, feeling horrible about how little he remembered after his midnight kiss with Blaine. He stepped out of the bed and noticed he was still almost fully clothed from the night before. He opened the curtains and winced at the harsh light that flooded the bedroom, before crossing the hall to Blaine's room to find his bag from the previous day. He had always planned on staying over, but after he had dumped his bag he had forgotten to retrieve it. He had had... other things on his mind. He headed quickly for the bathroom and showered and dressed before attempting to style his hair, although he couldn't get it quite to its signature perfection. He grimaced at himself in the mirror before exiting and stumbling downstairs to the soft buzz from the radio in the kitchen.

"Morning, sunshine," Blaine teased, "go, sit. I'll make you coffee." Kurt mustered up a half smile to try and show his gratitude before sinking into a chair at the table and resting his head on his arms. Olivia was already sitting similarly, hunched over a mug of tea that was now going cold. Blaine sat down with them and passed Kurt his coffee. "You two look like death." He said, grinning wildly at them.

"It's too early for your optimism, B," Olivia said. She seemed a lot less ready to face the day than Kurt did, and that was saying something. At least he had managed to drag himself through a shower and gotten dressed.

"I'm going to need a play by play of the last few hours of the early morning," Kurt said, "I swear I didn't drink that much. I knew there was a reason I hardly ever drank. Just say it quietly."

"Mm," Olivia agreed, "quiet."

"Let's see... we kissed at midnight, Liv made out with Wes, you both drank some more and danced, and then I took you home and put you both to bed." Blaine explained, shrugging, "nothing particularly exciting. Hey, how do you two feel about the statement that a drunken man's words are a sober man's thoughts?"

Olivia nodded. "Accurate, I think. Why? What did Wes say?" she sounded as hopeful as her near monotone could manage.

Blaine stifled a laugh at her reaction. "He told me that he loved me, but he's always been that affectionate. Nothing new. Wasn't Wes I was thinking about, anyway."

Kurt dropped his head into his hands. "Oh god, what happened?"

Blaine shrugged. "We can talk about it later. Liv doesn't need to hear the details." At the mention of her name she instantly perked up.

"If you don't call me to gossip later I will cut you."

"We'll see. How're you getting home, anyway?" Blaine asked.

"My car is parked at my aunt's house. Figured you could drop me round there later?" Blaine nodded.

"Let's backtrack two steps here," Kurt said, "What are you two going to gossip about?"

"Boys. What do you think?" Olivia responded, rolling her eyes, "We can gossip too, if you want, just not at the same time. You each like to talk about the other." Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other. That wasn't all they spoke about, surely.

Kurt announced his starvation and Blaine promptly left the table, cooking a batch of pancakes from the batter he had made earlier in preparation for the imminent moment, that were then practically inhaled by the three of them. They then went through to the living room and Olivia capitalised the sofa, stretching out with the intention of at the very least taking a power nap. That left Kurt and Blaine with nowhere of the usual size demand to cuddle while they watched TV down low as to not disturb her, so they chose the floor instead, Blaine's back to the sofa and Kurt settled between his legs, leaning against his chest.

"I only have a few days left in Ohio," Kurt stated, "but I already promised you a trip to LA for the next award show- I'm only nominated as part of the whole cast. But any excuse for a party and a pretty little statuette, don't you think?"

"I'm more interested in it cutting down the time before I get to see you next."

"That too. You can fly from here to LA and we'll meet you there. And after that, the next time I'll be around is for your birthday. I'm not missing your big eighteenth."

"That's not too far away."

"It really isn't. We're only going to be apart for a few weeks at a time, and that's nothing on the many months we've endured. And we'll still have our usual Skype dates."

"I just hate it when we have to leave each other."

"Hey, I'm not going now. And even when I do, it won't be for long. I'm never saying goodbye to you."

"I know, Kurt. I love you so much."

"I love you too." Kurt turned around in Blaine's arms and lifted a hand to cup his cheek, looking deeply into his eyes for a moment before kissing him softly. Blaine quickly reciprocated the kiss, deepening it significantly.

Olivia stirred from her nap. "Guys, seriously? I was only asleep for like, two seconds." Kurt and Blaine didn't stop. Olivia made retching noises as she sat up, and the boys continued. "Dudes, get a room!" She threw a cushion at them. They made no effort to leave. "Damn it, you two are official nap killers. If you won't go, I will." She stood up and promptly exited to the kitchen. She stayed there for a couple of minutes while she drank a glass of water, composed herself, and stepped back into the living room. They had hardly moved from their earlier position. She cleared her throat. "Yeah, guys, this is getting lonely. Really not working for me."

Blaine broke the kiss to look over at her. Kurt continued to kiss along his neck. "You could go continue your nap upstairs, or go talk to Coop- I'm sure he's around, or call Wes, or something."

"As long as I'm not here?"

"Bingo."

"Blaine, I love you to pieces, but can we not make a habit of this? Not cool, bro." She turned on her heels and retreated to the kitchen. True to Blaine's word, Cooper was around, making himself a sandwich.

"Hey, Olivia," Cooper greeted, "long time no see. How's life?"

"Good! I'm in remission," she stated, knowing that she hadn't properly seen Cooper since she had been hospital years ago, "the others are having a moment and I was in the way."

Cooper stuck his head around the doorframe to see the pair, having migrated to the sofa, still attached by the mouth, then crossed the kitchen to return to his sandwich. "They don't do much else, let's be real. It's the distance thing or something- they can't possibly do anything else unless they're physically separated. I feel bad for whoever will have to cope with that in New York."

"Yeah, well, I feel bad for me now. I'd leave, but I'm meant to be driving Kurt back to Lima with me."

"Ah. I see the dilemma," Cooper finished making the sandwich and smiled at it proudly before eating it quickly, "and lucky for you, I have a plan." Olivia followed him from the kitchen to the guest room that was formerly Cooper's bedroom, and while he was there served as such. He opened the closet and lifted down a box from the top shelf, setting it down gingerly on the bed. He lifted the lid off to reveal two old super soakers, still in pristine condition. "I think technically one of these is Blainey's, but I have both in my possession. They may only be handled by someone completely badass. Are you up to the task, Miss Harris?"

Olivia smiled. "I believe I am." Cooper lifted one of the water guns from the box and handed it to her, before taking the other for himself.

"So here's the plan," he started, running Liv through the scheme. It seemed as though he had been plotting this for a long time, and she felt honoured to be the one to get to execute it.

The plan was brutal for the time of year, but it was just too exciting and entertaining to turn it down. If Blaine got mad and made her walk to her aunt's to collect her car to get home, then so be it. It would be worth it.

They stayed in the downstairs hallway, yet to enter the living room, making their last preparations. "Rule number one: no water in the house. It's just a threat until we get them outside, and then it's fair game." Cooper advised. He put his shoes on, opened the front door, not caring about the wintry air rushing in, and turned to Olivia. "I'll attack from the kitchen. Give me fifteen seconds, and then we'll go." She nodded and held her gun at the ready, inching towards the living room door. She braced herself and placed one hand on the door knob, ready to go as soon as she needed to. "Start counting... now."

Olivia counted to fifteen and then flung the door open dramatically, hoping to cause some kind of noise or motion that would startle Kurt and Blaine enough to get them to break apart. She pointed the gun at them, just as Cooper appeared from the kitchen and stood in a similar position on the other side of the room.

Kurt bolted upright from where he was straddling Blaine and looked from Olivia to Cooper, while Blaine tried to pull him back down with no success. "What the hell?" Kurt demanded, getting up off the couch. Blaine sighed and followed him, tucking his shirt back into his pants.

Cooper swooped in from his point at the edge of the room, darted around the coffee table and, keeping the gun aimed firmly at his brother, yelled out a battle cry as he chased Blaine from the room. Olivia moved out of their way as they ran past and approached Kurt slowly. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," she said. Kurt backed away slowly.

"If you get this pullover wet I will kill you, Olivia." Kurt threatened, giving her the best bitch glare he could muster up, ignoring the squeals as Blaine and Cooper ran past the window.

"Then take it off, babe. We have time."

Kurt held up his hands to show he was unarmed and removed the pullover, folding it neatly and putting it down on a chair. "Now what?" Olivia inched closer to him again as he continued to inch away, and she slowly directed him towards the door leading onto the wraparound porch. As he became nearly pressed up against the glass she reached behind him and turned the handle, letting the door swing open out behind them. "Oh," Kurt said, "Oh. Oh."

She backed him outside some more and raised her gun again, to see that Cooper was standing behind him, his gun raised as well. "We're friends, right, Liv?" Kurt asked, suddenly unsure.

"Real friends wouldn't have asked her to clear off while they made out." Cooper said. Kurt spun around. "Time to face the music, princess." Coop winked at Liv, and they proceeded to blast him with the super soakers while he squealed and ran away.

"Where's Blaine?" Olivia asked, as Cooper went over to her to give her a high-five.

"I scared him into the climby tree. He's happy enough to play along." He pointed across the yard to a tree with a lot of low branches that was undeniably an easy climbing target. Blaine was sitting on one of the higher branches. Olivia ran across the yard and stood below the tree, looking up at her friend.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" Blaine called down to her. She lifted her gun in his direction. "Give me your best shot, Liv!" She pumped the gun a few times and squeezed the trigger. The water squirted up, and came crashing down again before the stream could hit Blaine. He laughed. "Nightbird remains undefeated! The Fortress is still impenetrable, after all this time!"

Olivia began to climb the tree, and as she did Blaine climbed down a few branches before leaping gracefully to the ground and landing perfectly safely. He laughed as he ran from the tree and left his attacker to climb down carefully. He had had a lot more experience than her climbing the tree.

Once they had been chased sufficiently, Olivia put her gun down on the front porch and stepped away from it. Cooper did the same not too long after, and Kurt and Blaine slowly came towards them. They shook hands, Blaine congratulating Cooper on the master plan, and then they all went back inside. Blaine and Kurt were handed fresh towels that had been left on the bottom stairs as part of the preparations and went through to the living room to sit and dry. Olivia and Cooper left them alone to make them hot drinks since it had been their fault they had gone out into the cold without sufficient clothing in the first place.

"You're quiet." Blaine observed, "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Kurt replied, "They just... had a point, I guess."

"What, to get us cold and wet while we ran defencelessly around the yard? Coop was just being, well, Coop. And Olivia, well, I had said for her to go talk to him."

"Cooper said something, before."

"Go on."

"That real friends wouldn't have ignored her like we did. I feel horrible." Kurt looked down at his hands.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "That was a low blow, I get it, but you didn't do anything."

"I did! We shouldn't have acted like that."

"I was the one who told her to go away. God, now I feel as horrible as you do. Probably worse. Shit, I have to apologise. I don't know where I'll get a muffin basket at such short notice..."

"I don't need a muffin basket, you moron," Olivia said, leaning in the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Liv. We made you a third wheel pretty quick then, huh?" Blaine said, giving her a shy half smile.

"That's one way to put it."

"You're our friend, Liv, and it was stupid for us to act like that. I'm sorry, too." Kurt said.

"Yes and yes. Apologies accepted." Blaine got up from the couch and walked towards her, arms extended. "Blaine Anderson, you are not going to hug me when you're all wet like that." Olivia began to back into to the kitchen.

"And whose fault would that be?" He managed to close the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "You're my best friend, Liv. I love you."

"I love you too, B, but now I can't breathe," Blaine dropped his arms, "thank you for apologising. I'm sorry we resorted to water gun madness."

"Never apologise for the water gun master plan!" Cooper said. Blaine rolled his eyes.

Olivia turned to face Cooper and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's over, Coop. Let it go. It served its purpose." She picked up the mugs and carried them through to the living room, placing them down on the coffee table, and then sitting down on the sofa. Kurt smiled shyly at Olivia. Blaine joined them on the sofa, although Kurt and Blaine were clearly trying to keep their distance from each other- sitting next to each other but never touching. The trio watched TV quietly for an hour or so, when Marie came home.

"Hey, kids," she greeted as she passed through the living room, "how was your party?"

"Great!" said Blaine, giving her a wild thumbs up. Kurt and Olivia groaned in various octaves.

"That's nice, sweetie," Marie sat down in one of the armchairs. "Kurt's parents stayed for a while after you left. We had a nice red wine and a cheese plate, it was all quite lovely."

"So it went well then?" Blaine asked.

"Oh, yes. Such nice people, Burt and Carole. I think we'll have to have them around another time. They're so close, and we hardly know them. Of course, your father was hesitant to talk to anyone, but he did make an effort. I wouldn't let him run off that soon. He could hardly work on New Year's!"

Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other. Their families got along. That was the best outcome they could have hoped for of any. And that Phillip had at least tried to get along with them showed significant progress. Blaine guessed that his hesitance had been in securing his relationship with Kurt, since they had never had dinner with any of Cooper's girlfriend's parents. He was beginning to accept everything, and it was showing. Blaine had hardly ever been more appreciative of his father. He was making an effort for him. Above all else, Blaine was his son, and he loved him. He wasn't going to lose him.

Blaine dropped Olivia and Kurt off at Olivia's aunt's house later that afternoon so they could collect Liv's car and drive back to Lima. Olivia ran into the house to check in with her Westerville based relatives and let them know she picked up the car, and Blaine and Kurt stayed in the car a while longer. "Are you busy tomorrow? Or the day after? Do you want to do anything?" Kurt asked.

"No, no, and of course," Blaine said, smiling at him, "did you have anything in mind?"

"I'd just like to finish what we started today- before we screwed everything up with Olivia."

"I'm sure we can arrange that." Olivia reappeared and gestured for Kurt to get out of Blaine's car and into hers. He nodded, and she tapped her wrist, but smiled as she left to get into her car. Kurt leaned forward and captured Blaine's lips in a kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Kurt said, "I'll text you?"

Blaine nodded. "See you later." And with that Kurt left.

Blaine went about the rest of his day as usual, hanging out with Cooper, playing piano, and catching up on TV shows he watched. He lay in bed later that night and his phone buzzed on the nightstand. He picked it up and opened the text, from Kurt.

Good night, Blaine. I love you xxx

He smiled as he tapped out his reply: See you in the morning babe. I love you too xoxx

The next few days with Kurt went by quickly, and before Blaine knew it they were sitting in the airport, waiting for Kurt and Leah's flight. "It's only a few more weeks until you'll be in LA," Kurt reminded Blaine, "there is absolutely no reason for us to get emotional today." He wasn't sure whether he was saying it for Blaine, or for his own benefit. Either way he felt the slightest bit better having vocalised it.

"I know," Blaine said, squeezing Kurt's hand lightly, "and we'll do the standard, right? You'll text me as soon as you land, so I know that you got there okay? And we can Skype tonight, so it's as if you never left? And we can-"

Kurt laughed. "Of course, Blaine. We can do all the usual stuff."

"Good. I don't want to miss a second of what you're getting up to without me in New York."

Kurt kissed Blaine. "I don't do anything scandalous, gosh. Stop worrying about me."

"I'll stop worrying about you when you stop worrying about me."

"Point taken. Come here." Kurt opened his arms and they folded together. Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder and Kurt kissed the top his head. They stayed that way for a moment before Kurt noticed a group of girls looking at them. Kurt dropped his arms from around Blaine, as his face fell from the absence of Kurt's embrace. "We have admirers." Kurt whispered, as Blaine sat up.

The girls whispered to each other, before they finally got brave enough to walk over. "Kurt Hummel," one of the girls stated, "Elliot Twyman? Could we get a picture?" Kurt complied, posing with the group. The group thanked him and retreated to where they were before, although one girl stayed. She cleared her throat, and Blaine and Kurt looked up.

"Blaine?" She asked. She clearly wasn't up to date with her Kurt Hummel gossip. Everything snapped into place.

"Trina, hey!" Blaine greeted, "how are you?"

"I'm good," she said, and pondered the situation for a moment. "Oh. My. Blaine! Kurt is your boyfriend who lives in New York? Who you couldn't spend your anniversary with? Why didn't you say something?!"

"It never really came up! It's nice to see you, anyway."

"Likewise! How're things with your dad?" Trina asked.

"Better. How's Bryce?"

"Good!" One of Trina's friends called her over. "Well, I'd better get going. I guess I'll see you at the next of our dads' work parties, right?" and with that she was gone.

Kurt turned to Blaine. "And that was?"

"Trina. She's the daughter of one of the guys my dad works with."

"She seemed to know a lot about us for not knowing about us."

"Yeah, you remember that party I left you to attend on our two month anniversary? I ended up talking to her for most of it. It was nice to make allies in that circuit."

"I know how that can be." The flight was called, and Leah kissed Cooper goodbye, on the mouth. The pair observed it happening and grinned at each other. "It seems our match making has actually become something."

"That's true," Blaine said, "but now you have to go."

"I'll see you in two and a half weeks, Blaine." The pair kissed as they usually did when saying goodbye, leaving the other with enough to get them through the gap before they would see each other again. Kurt waved as he walked through the gate, and then Cooper and Blaine left. Now he just had to get to LA.