The teachers lounge buzzed with conversations and low chuckling, Blaine poured the rest of the brewed coffee into his canteen before making his way with an apple to where Emma and Will were sitting shoulder to shoulder, hearing their occasional bicker.

"Emma you don't need to clean my mug with bleach wipes I brought it from home."

"William you have no idea what germs have traveled with you and your mug on your way here, I'm just take precaution."

"There's a difference between taking precaution and being over dramatic."

"If you want to catch the stomach bug that's going around, fine by me, but that means I'm wearing a gas mask around the apartment..."

"Woah, what's all the argument over here lovebirds?" Blaine chimed in, chuckling as he slid into the seat aside Mr. Schuester.

"Hey, well if it isn't the young and ever energized Blaine, or should I call you Mr. Anderson?"

"No, no, we're both teachers, please call me Blaine." Blaine beamed, flashing a wide toothy grin, and Will clapped him on the shoulder with a returned smile.

"Oh! Emma you should have seen boy man earlier, he just happened to pass by my spanish class when the kids started getting rowdy and uncontrollable, so he stepped inside and asked me if he could have a 'talk' with the kids about respect for their teacher. I swear, I left the room for two seconds and when I came back they all looked absolutely petrified. You have magical powers, Blaine, I've got to say."

"Lets just say I have a bit of a dominating streak. Kids just immediately wet their pants and run away when they spot me." He hid his knowing smile.

Will and Blaine both burst into laughter and made joking comments to each other, leaving Emma to take pick up an apple slice from her lunch bag and take a small bite, all the while staring intently at Blaine.

Blaine let out his last chuckle, giving a playful shove to Will before he noticed out of the corner of his eye Emma's own eyes glued to him. His smile slightly faltered as he stared back, and Will cleared his throat after a couple silent moments.

"Is everything okay, Emma?"

Emma snapped out of her daze and looked back at Will. "Yes! I'm sorry I was just...admiring your um...your friendship, usually Will hates coming here during lunchtime because of..."

"Well hello underpaid teachers." Sue greeted as she entered the teacher's lounge, red jumpsuit and all, strolling over with a skip in her step towards the round table where Will, Emma, and Blaine sat eating their lunches. She had a gigantic coffee mug in one hand and clipboard in the other, she dropped the clipboard in front of Blaine and sat down next to him.

"Sue." Will forced a smile. "How lovely to see you."

"Well Schuester I usually don't visit the teachers lounge at lunch time, mostly because of the shower deprived bodies of the gym coaches and newly divorced language teachers who seem to think I actually care about their poor unfortunate lives. But, me and Blaine Anderson have some business to discuss."

"We do?" Blaine eyed the clipboard in front of him, eyes skimming across the words 'Permission Slip.'

"I need you to sign this."

"And why?"

"I'm taking Hummel out of my saturday detention class."

Blaine's head snapped up. "What? Why?"

"Kurt is one the most serene students I've met at this school. And although I can't stand his flamingly flamboyant personality and snarky comments, I just don't think he's a kid in need of anger management."

Blaine gritted his teeth together, taking a deep breath. "No, no, Sue, you don't understand. I know Kurt, I see him in class and he's just holding in all this rage..."

Sue snorted. "What rage? I spent the last Saturday listening to that boy drone on and on about how he just wants a chance to shine in Glee Club, and if I have to hear one more word about that club, I will puke all over his designer outfits with no regret."

"But Sue..."

"Blaine, as much as I love getting paid extra for working on Saturdays, I have the Cheerios to coach and we have a commercial to shoot next Sunday. I've got to get back to my girls and I refuse to let them down because of a homosexual fashionista in Saturday detention who's being ignored by bees nest over here."

Blaine gulped while Will shot the woman a glare, trying to keep his mouth shut.

If only Glee Club was Kurt's only problem.

"He needs a therapist, not a punching bag."

Blaine opened his mouth to protest, but saw the stubbornness in Sue's eyes, and sighed heavily as he grabbed a pen and signed the bottom of the Permission Slip, sliding it back to Sue who granted him a smile.

"I thank you, and bid you farewell. I'm going to go polish the trophies in my office, if only Will knew how that felt...It's exhausting..." She strolled away, and once she exited the lounge all the teacher's shoulders seemed to slump, their bodies relaxing from the tensity of Sue Sylvester leaving the room. Will continued to glare after her, shaking his head before nudging Blaine.

"Hey at least that means Kurt's doing well, I was worried about him at first that he was turning into one of those jocks from Beists team."

Blaine nodded dumbly, rubbing his forehead. "I guess its good, but I still don't know what to do with him, I'm terribly worried about him and I just want him to be able to let out his emotions to someone." And if Blaine planned to keep his distance from the boy any longer, Kurt would definitely need emotional support.

"Well...what about Emma?"

Emma's head perked up from where it was ducked during Sue's speech, and she started to scrub at her grapes with a tiny napkin. "Hmm?"

"You would take Kurt under your wing in a second, right? He could go after school every Friday and have a private session with her."

Emma broke into a smile and nodded. "Of course I would! I'll call him in after ninth period. Don't you worry, Blaine, he's just another stressed, overworked student at this school, right?"

Blaine bit his lip but nodded. "Right, thank you Emma so much." He forced a smile.

"That's my girl." Will rubbed Emma's thigh and kissed her cheek, causing her to giggle and nuzzle her head against his shoulder. Blaine admired the couple for a moment before he heard a teacher start shouting.

"Oh no! This is a teachers only lounge, kid, you're going to have to wait until lunch period is over."

"But please, I just need to speak with Mr. Anderson!"

Will gave a glance to Blaine. "Well speak of the devil." Blaine frowned at him in confusion before he turned around in his seat to spot Kurt standing in the doorway.

"Shit." He mumbled under his breath, getting up from his chair. "Hey no it's okay." He assured the teacher before leaning against the doorway and giving Kurt a raised eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in lunch?"

"I need to talk to you." Kurt rushed out in hurried words. "Please."

Blaine looked over his shoulder towards where Emma and Will were staring at him, but he quickly nodded and closed the door behind him to the lounge, taking Kurt into one of the empty classrooms across the hallway. The minute they stepped inside Kurt couldn't contain himself, and blurted out. "My dad wants to meet you."

Blaine froze. "Wha-...what?"

Kurt sighed. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad, he saw your comment on my report card and was overwhelmed with happiness. He wants to meet you to thank you for helping me in class and supporting me."

Blaine slumped against the wall and let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness, well, I guess I have to."

"Wait what?"

"Kurt I can't turn your father down, he has a good impression of me and I want to match that impression. I mean...this is great! I can finally meet your father but instead of him having a shotgun in his backpocket he'll just want to thank me."

"Si-...." Kurt's eyes peeked out of the cracked open door. "..Mr Anderson...you don't understand he wants you to come over to our house for dinner. You don't think the minute he sees the way we look at each other he'll know what's going on? My dad has a keen sense, he's not an idiot."

"Then tell him I'm uncomfortable going to my own students household, and that we can meet at a restaurant. Maybe Breadstix!"

Kurt stared at Blaine completely dumbfounded, folding his arms. "I can't believe you actually want to do this, you're not terrified?"

"I'm not going to be terrified of my student's father, he likes me already, and I like him already." Blaine gave Kurt an assuring smile before he leaned in close and whispered under his breath. "Besides, the whole dinner we'll be talking about you, you should be excited that I'm going to meet my future father-in-law." He patted Kurt's shoulder before exiting the room just in time for the dismissal bell to ring, leaving Kurt to roll his eyes with a knowing smile and head off in the opposite direction of the hallway towards his own classroom.

***

Blaine might have told Kurt he wasn't nervous, playing off his confidence. But as he sat inside the rowdy restaurant of Breadstix, sitting in a booth with his hands folded in his lap and a bead of sweat dripping down his cheek...well, he was more than nervous. He was petrified. He kept his eyes strained on the entrance to the restaurant, his leg shaking anxiously under the table, and his hands opening and closing and opening and closing the menu in front of him. He started to loosen his tie after checking his watch and seeing it was close to eight o'clock, just as him and Kurt's father had planned to meet.

Kurt convinced Burt when he arrived home from school to meet out with Blaine for a late dinner, and thankfully Burt was surprisingly impressed when Kurt informed him Blaine felt uncomfortable visiting the household of a student.

Not it was a minute past eight, and Blaine's anxiety made him want to flee the restaurant, but then a low voice spoke behind him.

"You must be Kurt's teacher, Mr Anderson."

Blaine turned in the booth, smiling and standing up to shake the man's extended hand. "Yes, yes uh, I'm-I'm Blaine Anderson." He stuttered, taking a breath to try and calm his nerves.

Burt grinned at him, shaking his hand with a firm and strong grip that made Blaine cringe. "I'm Burt Hummel, Kurt's father. I have to say it's a pleasure to meet you."

Oh the irony...

Blaine had always dreamed about meeting Kurt's father, before he became a teacher at Mckinley of course, and every single dream had always ended up the complete opposite of the current night. Usually Blaine would have nightmares about Burt finding out Kurt and Blaine were dating, and he would show up at Blaine's doorstep with a shotgun and a fist to punch. By the end of each dream, Blaine had a black eye and broken heart as his father dragged Kurt out of the household, the younger boys sobs ringing through the house before the door would be slammed in Blaine's face.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Blaine swallowed as he sat back down in his booth seat, Burt joined him across with a sigh.

"So, Kurt's been telling me about you."

Blaine's eyes widened slightly as he picked up his menu and opened it slowly. "Oh...has he now..."

"He's crazy about you I have to say."

Blaine swallowed down the lump in his throat and forced his eyes to travel down the menu.

"I mean, oh god Kurt would kill me if I said that. I meant he's crazy about you as a teacher." Burt chuckled and shook his head as he picked up his own menu.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Is he now?"

Burt snorted. "He never stops talking about you, everytime I try and drag him downstairs for bonding time or to go out to the movies he complains that he just must do his english homework before he goes, even if its a silly worksheet. He's very passionate about your class, I can see it, more passionate than I've ever seen in his past years of high school."

Blaine kept slightly silent while Burt spoke about Kurt's 'adoration' for his teacher, and his throat started to grow dry. Thankfully a waitress interrupted their conversation, and they both ordered glasses of water, but Blaine decided for an additional beverage.

"And a bottle of Pino, please."

"Woah, big spender...."

"It's my treat." Blaine beamed, earning a returned grin from Burt.

Burt seemed enthused. "A great teacher and a gentlemen. Bou know the past years I would meet with teachers because they were worried about my son's bullying problem. But this...this is nice."

"Well you know Mr. Hummel..."

"Please, call my Burt."

Blaine felt a certain happiness fill through him. "Burt...right, well your son is so intelligent and wise. I can tell the hardships he's been through has really made him have a greater aspect of the world, he's got a good head on his shoulders and he's smart, he doesn't let anyone walk over him."

The waitress set the glasses in front of the two, and Blaine immediately snatched the wine to start pouring for the both of them.

"You know that's what I tell myself all the time." Burt sips his glass of wine and chuckles to himself. "Sometimes he's a pain in my butt because he's too smart for his age, but I just remember that his maturity will come in handy when he's older."

"He'll make smart choices, I know he will." Blaine downed a whole glass of his own wine, shuddering as the alcohol ran through his veins and he immediately poured another glassful. "If he's just like his father he will."

Burt gave a hearty laugh. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Anderson, good choice of words. That's why Kurt loves you so much."

Blaine's face fell. "What?"

Burt coughed and set his wine glass down. "Well shit, Kurt's definitely going to kill me now...Blaine I can't lie to you I think...I think my son has a crush on you." He starts to chuckle, and Blaine joined him as his cheeks flushed a deep bright red.

"Oh no..." Blaine groaned, mentally cursing again and again, his hand clenching his wine glass to the point of nearly breaking it. "It's not the first time I've had a student crush on me, and I feel so bad. I keep it completely professional in my classrooms, Burt, I promise..."

"I know, I know, relax. Kurt made me swore I wouldn't mention it. He said you get angry but come on, you're a young guy you know what it's like, heck I bet you probably have a girlfriend huh?"

Blaine licked his lips, eyes traveling down to his napkin which he continued to fiddle with nervously. "Well no. I believe the reason your son may be fond of me is because, well...I'm gay."

"Ah..." Burt nodded slowly, taking another sip of wine which Blaine masked, downing his second glass. "Well Kurt has good taste I guess, graduated college, gentlemen, and passionate about his students. Just try and be easy with him, he's had his heart broken before and, well, I think he really, really likes you. I'd hate for him to have to realize it will never happen."

Blaine gulped again, feeling his cheeks hot and his heart fluttering in a fast pattern in his chest. "Right, right." He mumbled and shook his head. "Don't worry about Kurt. As I said, he's a smart boy. He's so aware of his surroundings and...Burt I've never seen more of a hard worker than Kurt. He cares about what he signs his name on, and I have a good feeling he's going to make a difference in the world when he grows older. He's going to make you proud to be his father."

Burt stayed silent for a moment, but poured the wine into both their glasses and raised his own. "A toast." He grinned. "To my son."

Blaine smiled wide, bumping Burt's glass and causing a 'clink.' "To your son, Kurt Hummel."