Soft. Kurt's lips were so soft. They had felt like velvet against Blaine's and just the thought of them sent a shiver down his spine. Before they kissed, they had been a beautiful, pale shade of pink, but when they finally pulled away and went back inside, Kurt's family rushing away from the window to pretend they had been doing something else the entire time, they had been a delicious cherry red.

And Blaine just couldn't stop thinking about them.

Dinner with Burt, Carole and Finn had been a bit awkward, especially since the woman kept throwing knowing smiles at them and Finn kept his eyes on his plate the entire time. Burt was the only one who managed to act nonchalant. After dinner, Blaine and Kurt had offered to take care of the dishes and they made sure to brush their hands together as they passed each other plates and glasses. When Kurt finished washing, he wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist from behind, resting his head on his shoulder, staying there until Blaine was done drying.

Afterward, they had joined the rest of the family in the living room, where Finn was already popping the first movie into the DVD player. They squeezed onto the couch together and spent the next few hours stealing glances instead of actually watching the movie, until they were too tired to stay up any longer. Blaine and Kurt parted in front of their bedroom doors, sharing one last kiss goodnight.

Blaine remembered how he had felt that night, sleeping in a room so close to Kurt's, almost imagining he could hear the other man's heartbeat through the walls, wondering if Kurt was lying awake and looking at the ceiling with a smile like he was…

A loud thump from the stack of papers dropping in front of him on his desk startled Blaine out of his blissful daydreaming. He raised his eyes up to see his father standing in front of him, with the usual cold, unfriendly expression on his face, this time tainted with the glower he wore when he was particularly displeased with Blaine.

"Good morning, Dad," he said politely, as he usually did.

"Where were you this weekend?" Walter asked bluntly.

Blaine repressed a tired sigh. "I told you. A friend invited me for…"

"Bullshit. I know for a fact you don't have any friends," his father cut off, disparagingly.

"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to," Blaine shrugged and reached for the files his father had just dropped on his desk, but Walter put a hand on them to keep them in place.

"Your mother was awfully disappointed in your behavior," he informed him sharply.

When isn't she disappointed in my behavior? "I'm sure she was busy enough with her guests that she didn't even notice I wasn't there."

"Don't be such an insolent brat, Blaine!" Walter spat, angry.

Blaine forced himself to remain as calm as he could. He had already known he would be facing this even before he made it back to Columbus with Kurt the day before. There was no point in losing his temper. "Dad, can I ask you something?" He continued before his father could answer because he wasn't sure he would grant him permission. "Why do you and mom care about me being there so much if it's so clear you don't enjoy my company?"

Walter seemed a bit taken aback. Never had Blaine talked to him like that before in his life. His son had never questioned the way things were, as if he was supposed to know the reasons, as if he should be aware of how undeserving of his parents' love and approval he was.

"You know exactly why," he replied, looking down at him as if he were staring at a dirty homeless person who was trying to touch his expensive suit instead of his own son.

Blaine hated himself for letting those words twist painfully inside of him. He hated himself for noticing Walter hadn't corrected him, hadn't said they did enjoy his company, hadn't even tried to reassure him in any way…

Why do I even bother?

He thought back to the day before. He remembered how Carole had held him so tightly when they said goodbye after lunch. How Burt had squeezed his shoulder with a warm smile and said "You're welcome here any time, son, I hope you come back and visit us again soon."

"Well, then," Blaine did his best to hide the bitterness in his voice. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to keep up appearances with the rest of the family and all of your friends, or to take the blame for whatever went wrong, but for once in my life I had a real Thanksgiving holiday and had a nice time."

Walter stared at him like he wanted to say something else and, knowing his father, Blaine was sure it would be something hurtful. He held his breath, ready for the blow.

But then there was a knock on the door and, before any of them could say anything, Lucy, Blaine's secretary, was peeking inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here, Mr. Anderson," Lucy said, clearly intimidated, looking at Blaine's father.

"I was just leaving," Walter pushed the stack of files towards Blaine disdainfully. "You'd better get those ready by tomorrow morning."

Without another word, Walter walked away, causing Lucy to almost jump three feet in the air to get out of his way. Blaine closed his eyes for a moment, trying to relax, trying to push away the sickening sensation that always seemed to take over his stomach after a conversation with his father.

"Uhm," Lucy mumbled, hesitantly. "I was going to remind you about your meeting with Mr. Smith. It's scheduled in twenty minutes, sir."

"Thank you, Lucy," he said softly.

"Would you like me to order lunch for you for when the meeting is over?" She asked in a gentle tone.

Blaine didn't even need to think about it. "No, thank you. I'm going out for lunch."

To look into Kurt's eyes for just a few minutes would help, he knew. Just five minutes lost in those pools of deep blue, green and gray were enough to wash away any distress. It was scary how much he needed the other man.

He started getting ready for his meeting. He just needed the time to go by faster.

It was wonderful seeing Kurt's face light up when Blaine got to the bakery later that day. Blaine had ended up being engaged in meeting after meeting and hadn't been able to go over for lunch as he had wanted to. It was now a little after six, the bakery had just closed its doors to the public, and it was just the two of them. Exactly what Blaine needed.

He was in a terrible mood. It had been a dark cloud hanging over his head all day. Walter had found several moments along the day to throw nasty comments at him, denigrate his work and look at him as he always did, with the disgust always a constant in his eyes. Blaine was so tired of it.

"Hey," Kurt walked from behind the counter as Blaine locked the glass door with the sign already turned to closed.

"Hi," Blaine said in a small voice and, before either of them could say anything else, he stopped in front of Kurt and practically collapsed against him, letting his head drop on his shoulder.

Kurt chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around him as Blaine's hung limply at his sides. "Bad day?"

"Can I go back to Lima and live with your parents?" Blaine asked, his voice muffled against the crook of Kurt's shoulder.

"I actually think Carole would really like that," Kurt teased. He stroked the back of Blaine's neck and sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Blaine…"

"My dad," Blaine admitted, pulling away to look into Kurt's eyes as he had been waiting to do all day.

"What did he do now?" Kurt tugged a curl that had fallen onto Blaine's forehead back into its prison of gel.

"The same as he always does," he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Can we please talk about something else? How was your day?"

"Busy," Kurt walked away and Blaine instantly missed his warmth. "One would think that after Thanksgiving people would try to eat less, but there was actually a moment when I thought I would have to sneak back into the kitchen and get some emergency baking done."

"Well, that's good, right?" Blaine said, taking his coat off and hanging it on the back of a chair.

"Of course," Kurt nodded with a little smile. "It's just that now I have even more to do for tomorrow than I thought I would."

"Oh," Blaine looked around, suddenly feeling awkward and insecure. "Do you, uhm, want me to go?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and closed the distance between them again as he put on an adorable apron on. "No, Blaine, I don't want you to go."

"Are you sure? Because if you need to…" Blaine's words were cut off when Kurt pressed his lips against his, effectively silencing him. It was quick and chaste, but it had the desired effect, because when Kurt pulled away and looked at him, Blaine blinked numbly for a few seconds.

"Blaine, would you stay with me and keep me company while I work? I promise we can have dinner together later and maybe watch a movie during which I most certainly will fall asleep on you," Kurt said solemnly, a playful twinkle in his eyes.

Blaine couldn't stop himself from smiling. He rarely could around Kurt. "Of course I'll stay."

"Good," he kissed his cheek before letting go and walking into the kitchen, followed closely by Blaine. He started gathering different ingredients from the cupboards and the fridge and Blaine sat on a stool by the end of the counter.

Soon, Blaine got lost in the incessant, melodic and soothing sound of Kurt's voice as he chatted animatedly while he mixed the ingredients for cupcakes. It was a very welcome change after listening to his father's cold, reprehensive tone all day.

And, God, why did he even care? He was so stupid. He had already known what to expect when he got to the office that morning, he had already prepared himself for it the previous night. What was he waiting for Walter to say? That his mother and he had wanted Blaine to spend Thanksgiving with them because they loved him? That was bullshit. His mother hadn't said the word love in front of him since he was in elementary school and his father hadn't done it then, before he really became the disappointment he was now, before he had even given him any reason to hate him…

"Blaine?" Suddenly, Kurt's fingers were right there, tracing the outline of his jaw delicately, trying to get his attention. Blaine wondered how he had missed Kurt moving closer to him.

"Yeah?" He asked rather dumbly.

"You completely zoned out," Kurt said. Blaine got lost in his eyes for a moment, just letting Kurt's fingertips tickle his skin as he looked at him. "Are you sure you don't want to talk?"

"I'd prefer to hear you talk," Blaine unconsciously nuzzled against Kurt's hand, sighing.

"But I don't think I'm interesting enough because you weren't even listening," Kurt smiled at him.

"I'm sorry," he frowned, feeling pretty guilty.

"Don't be," Kurt's fingers moved back to the curls at the base of his hairline. "I was rambling. And I'd really like to know if there's any way I could help you."

"You already are," Blaine tilted his head back, half to look Kurt in the eyes and half to get his fingers buried deeper in his hair. He let out a long breath, tired, and surrendered. "My dad asked me about Thanksgiving today and I just… I was stupid enough to ask him why he and my mom wanted me there if it's so obvious they don't like to have me around." Blaine swallowed, focused on the touch of Kurt's fingers instead of the pain settling in his chest. "And he only said that I know why. He didn't…" Blaine growled in frustration, covering his face with his hands. "I don't know what I was expecting. I don't know why I still expect anything different anymore."

"Because you were still hoping your dad wasn't such an asshole," Kurt answered a bit harshly. Blaine looked up at him. "And I'm sorry for saying it, Blaine, but he is. He shouldn't make you feel bad. He's not worth it."

Blaine was silent for a while, just feeling Kurt's fingers in his hair and trying to get rid of the fury and hurt building inside of him. It all seemed to disappear when Kurt leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose. The smile spread on his lips, lazily, before he even registered what he was doing.

"So… have you ever made cupcakes?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Blaine said simply.

"Well, you're about to," Kurt tugged at his hand to make him stand up and guided him towards the counter where the cupcakes were halfway done. "The sooner I finish here, the sooner we can go upstairs to my apartment and have dinner, so come on, let's get to work."

"Am I your employee now? Are you going to pay me for my services?" Blaine bit his lip as Kurt grabbed another apron from behind the door and put it on him.

"Only with more food," Kurt nudged him to turn around so he could tie the apron behind his back. "Ready, now, the first thing you need to know about cupcakes is that you only have to fill the cupcake liners halfway, or it will be a disaster once they start rising in the oven…"

Yeah, his father was an asshole and his entire life had been nothing but pathetic, lonely and miserable. But whatever power had put Kurt in his path was definitely forgiven for every little thing that had sucked before, because these moments, when there was nothing to worry about except making the cupcakes look perfect and not ruining the icing, were more than enough compensation for it.

Kurt relaxed against the back of the couch, Robert's head on his lap, as he distractedly changed the channels on Blaine's huge television. There wasn't anything he was particularly interested in watching. He just wanted to kill some time until Blaine returned from his first photography class.

He thought back to the call he had received from Blaine earlier, right after he left the office and how excited he had sounded and maybe a little nervous, too. He wasn't used to doing things for himself, so Kurt could understand where his anxiety came from. Blaine's actions were always for someone else's purposes, but right now he was taking a step to be a little happier, and it felt strange to him.

Kurt hoped he would never stop taking those steps.

He had promised Blaine he would be waiting for him at his apartment when he came back, so there Kurt was sprawled on the comfortable leather couch, an empty cup of tea on the coffee table, his shoes forgotten on the carpet as he wiggled his toes inside his socks as if it was the biggest pleasure life could offer him. And Kurt had to admit that, right then, right there, he felt life was pretty damn good to him.

Blaine and he hadn't yet discussed what kind of relationship they had. They had kissed several times, they were definitely way more affectionate with each other than they had been before and there was a sense of intimacy floating in the air that Kurt had never experienced with anyone else. One thing he was sure of, and he knew Blaine would agree with him: the word friends wasn't enough to describe what they had anymore.

Kurt couldn't tell if Blaine was ready to jump into a real, serious relationship. He was wounded, he was scared, he had dealt with a lot. He didn't even know how to be comfortable with himself, so Kurt doubted he had ever had a relationship with someone like the one Kurt really wanted to have with him. Hell, not even Kurt had been with anyone in the way he wanted to be with Blaine.

He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of the front door. Robert jumped up to go greet Blaine, who was coming in with his briefcase and a bag from the Chinese place around the corner.

"Hey!" Kurt looked at him with a lazy smile without moving. He'd had a really long day at the bakery, too, and getting up sounded a lot harder than he would've admitted.

"Hi, Kurt. I've brought dinner," Blaine dropped his briefcase, his coat and his scarf in the closet by the door before going towards the living room, putting the bag on the coffee table and leaning in to give Kurt a peck on the lips.

"How was your first day?" Kurt asked eagerly.

Blaine's eyes were shining. He grinned, enthusiasm flowing from him in waves that enveloped Kurt like a warm hug. "It was amazing. Let me go wash my hands and I'll tell you about it while we eat, okay?"

Kurt reached out and placed his hand on the back of Blaine's neck, his fingers slowly burying in the dark curls. He brought him down once again. "Okay," he whispered against his lips and then he kissed him as he had been longing to do all day.

Blaine felt a bit dizzy when they pulled away, realizing he had forgotten how to breathe. Kurt laughed at him and pushed him playfully in the general direction of the bathroom.

Kurt got up, went to the kitchen and grabbed two glasses from the cupboard before picking up a bottle of wine from the many Blaine had in the pantry. He placed them on the coffee table, deciding they could have a casual dinner on the couch instead of moving to the dining room, and started getting the little white boxes out of the bag.

Blaine came back five minutes later. He had changed his clothes and was now wearing loose sweatpants and a green hoodie, barefoot. His hair was damp and his curls free, so Kurt assumed he had taken a quick shower to wash out the exhaustion that the long day had left behind.

"I picked out one of your bottles of wine. Is that okay?" He asked before uncorking it.

"Of course, yeah," Blaine dropped down on the couch next to him with a contented sigh. "Have you been here for long?"

"A little over half an hour, maybe," Kurt answered as he poured the red liquid in the glasses. "I had to finish a few things at the bakery first."

"So you don't have to rush out of here before midnight like a baking Cinderella to finish any work?" Blaine said, scooting closer.

"No," Kurt laughed. "But you're ridiculous."

"I have my moments," Blaine shrugged. He looked at the boxes Kurt was currently opening. "I didn't know what you liked so I bought a bit of everything."

"For future reference, I love spring rolls and Lo Mien," Kurt said as he picked up a box with spring rolls in it and unwrapped a pair of chopsticks.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. Now, tell me about your class," sitting back on the couch, Kurt faced Blaine, who had just opened a box with Mu Shu Pork, showing him he had all of his attention.

Blaine smiled the entire time it took him to tell Kurt everything about his class. He told him about the professor, an old woman that had worked for the National Geographic magazine ("Just like Robert Kincaid, Kurt! Isn't that awesome?"). She had talked about lighting techniques and the difference between the lenses and the cameras they could use for a particular picture. She had recommended to Blaine a few textbooks he could read to catch up with the rest of the class and he had bought them as soon as the class was finished, running to the nearest bookstore. He showed them to Kurt, flipping the pages carefully, stopping to point out the things he was most excited about. Kurt loved every second as he watched Blaine talk and how his eyes lit up with every word he said. It was like taking a poor boy who had never had a Christmas present before into a toy store and telling him he could pick any toy he wanted.

"So you enjoyed it, then?" Kurt bit his lip, unable to contain the joy he felt at knowing he had made the right choice by signing Blaine up for the class.

"Are you kidding me? I loved it!" Blaine said, genuinely happy. "I couldn't thank you enough for doing that, Kurt…"

"And I don't want you to," Kurt put his food down and took Blaine's hand in his. "I just want you to be happy."

Blaine's response was to lean in closer and kiss him. They forgot about dinner for a few minutes as they let their lips explore and caress slowly. Their kisses were getting more and more interesting every day. It was as if they were moving past the awkwardness of the first kiss and getting ready to be a lot more free around each other, to let the other simply become acquainted with how their mouths could work together, to take and to give and to learn.

Kurt finished the kiss with a wet, popping noise and drooped back against the couch, a lazy smile spreading on his face. Blaine cleared his throat and took a sip of wine. His cheeks were flushed, if because of the alcohol or the kiss, Kurt couldn't say.

"Can I ask you something?" Kurt said suddenly, not even realizing he was talking until Blaine looked at him, curiously.

"Of course," he nodded.

"Uhm," Kurt shifted in his seat, playing a bit anxiously with the hem of his sweater. "I was wondering if you would tell me about… about your past relationships."

Blaine had been in the process of taking a bite of his pork, but stopped halfway, dropping the sticks and the food back into the white box. He set it down on the table, gently. "Relationships?"

"Oh, God, I'm sorry," Kurt closed his eyes, mentally kicking himself. "It isn't my place to ask that and you definitely don't have to…"

"Hey, don't, it's fine," Blaine smiled at him weakly, putting a hand on his knee. "I don't mind you asking. It's just… there's not much to tell."

Kurt decided to drink some wine instead of asking more questions, giving Blaine time to talk if he wanted to, or to change the subject if he preferred.

"I… there was a guy," Blaine's eyes were fixed on the carpet, as if he couldn't think of anything more interesting to stare at in the world. "My freshman year of college. I was drunk, I was upset because of… well, because of life, really," he shrugged as if it wasn't important. "My roommate dragged me to a party he was going to. He told me it would make me feel better and he gave me a beer. I had a few beers and then maybe I did some shots…" He swallowed. Kurt didn't know if he should reach for his hand or give him space. "I can't really remember much. All I know is I woke up in a room that wasn't mine, with a guy I didn't even know…" There was a pause and then Blaine sighed in frustration. "I'm sorry. That's not what you asked. You wanted to know if I've ever had a boyfriend and I basically ended up telling you I slept with a random stranger who didn't even tell me his name. Gosh, I'm so embarrassed right now…"

"Blaine…" Kurt moved closer, placing a hand on his leg and squeezing in what he hoped it was a comforting manner. "You don't have to be embarrassed. It happens. It's part of life. People make mistakes. Maybe it wasn't the ideal thing to do but… it's okay. It doesn't change the way I see you."

"Kurt," Blaine shook his head, "I'm twenty five years old and I've never had a boyfriend. I couldn't. I was too scared of what would happen if my parents found out and later I didn't have the time because Harvard was so demanding and I pretty much lived in the library. And then I was out of college and back in Ohio and this isn't exactly a town where you meet guys like us every day. And even if I did meet a few, casually, as a coincidence… I just…"

"What is it?" Kurt asked softly, smiling at him encouragingly.

"How am I supposed to find someone who wants to deal with all the crap in my life? How am I supposed to give a guy what he deserves if I'm still terrified of what my father will think as if I was still fifteen?" He stood up, Kurt's hand falling to the couch, his hazel eyes filled with so much self-hatred that Kurt could barely stand to look at him without his heart squirming in pain. "I'm full of flaws, Kurt. I'm nothing but flaws."

Kurt could feel the tears coming down his cheeks. He shook his head, stubbornly. "No, you're not," he stood up, too, putting his hands on Blaine's shoulders.

Blaine brushed them off. "Kurt, I…"

"No," Kurt sighed and covered Blaine's mouth with his hand. "I'm sorry I brought this up and ruined everything when you were so happy. I'm sorry your dad is a douchebag who convinced you that you're not the wonderful man you really are and I'm sorry you can't see that." When he realized Blaine had stopped trying to break free from his hand, he let it fall, knowing he wouldn't put up any more resistance. "And to answer your question, Blaine, I want to deal with all the crap in your life. Because I know there's more than that, because I see through it and because you're worth it."

He kissed him. He let his lips communicate what he couldn't put into words, soft, tender, slow caresses over Blaine's, until he felt the other man relaxing in his arms. He buried his hands in his curly hair, scratching lightly at his scalp with his nails, just enough to make Blaine melt against him.

"Please don't ever say anything like that about yourself ever again," Kurt whispered, his mouth ghosting over Blaine's. "It breaks my heart to hear you believe such lies."

Blaine nuzzled against his neck, tightening his grip around Kurt's waist.

"Blaine, please, promise me…" Kurt insisted, his voice breaking a bit and causing Blaine to look up at him.

"I promise," he said, nodding eagerly. "I don't want to break your heart in any way, Kurt, so I promise."

They sat, holding each other, saying nothing for a few minutes. The only sound breaking the silence that enveloped the apartment was from the random kisses they shared every now and then or the sighs escaping from their lips when it was all too good, too warm, too beautiful.

Blaine had just reached for his glass of wine again when Kurt spoke up.

"I dated a couple of guys," he said, quietly. "I didn't really love any of them. I met the first one during the summer before my sophomore year at college, when I visited my friend Rachel in New York. They shared a class, I thought he was cute. He was the first guy who showed any interest in me, so we had what you could call a summer fling… when it was time for school, I came back here, he stayed there and nobody's heart was broken, nobody felt bad for saying goodbye."

Blaine was silent, drinking his wine with an arm around him and Kurt hoped he wasn't saying anything that would make him feel uncomfortable. But he felt he needed to share this with Blaine, he needed Blaine to know more about him.

"And the second one…" Kurt bit his lip. "Please, don't judge me."

"I'd never judge you, Kurt," Blaine pressed his lips to the top of Kurt's head and let them linger there.

"The second one was one of my teachers. He was French. He actually taught the French cuisine class, and I was sort of infatuated with how exotic he looked among all the ordinary people from Ohio that I was so used to seeing…" Kurt sighed. "He was really attractive and when he noticed how I felt about him, he asked me to stay after class to discuss something about one of my grades but we, uhm… we ended up kissing and then we went to his house."

"So you had an affair? You weren't in love with him?" Blaine asked.

"No, I wasn't. I guess that's what it was, although it sounds so sordid when you put it that way," Kurt answered thoughtfully. "I think he actually felt the same way I did, just like you said: it's not easy to find people to date in Ohio. We were lonely. We sort of liked each other, so we went for it."

"You never got in trouble because of that?" Blaine's fingers were tracing circles on the sensitive skin of Kurt's forearm, causing him to shiver.

"No, nobody caught us. We got bored after a while and finished it," Kurt scooted closer to Blaine. "I've never had a boyfriend, either, Blaine, I just had meaningless relationships to pretend I wasn't alone…"

"I…" Blaine felt himself choking up with his own words. He wasn't sure he could really say what he wanted to say, but he needed to try. "I… I really, really want to be with you, Kurt…"

Kurt lifted up his head from where he had been resting it on Blaine's shoulder and gave him a radiant smile.

"I'm just… I'm not sure if I can make you as happy as I know you'd make me…" Blaine frowned, obviously battling internally with himself.

Kurt placed a hand on his cheek and tilted his head so they were staring at each other. "That's silly. You're doing a pretty good job already."

Blaine's smile was so wide, so happy, so bright, that Kurt almost felt bad when he kissed it away.