"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel," says a deep voice behind him. Kurt whips around, wincing as his elbow hits his locker, and sees Blaine. "I would like to extend to you a formal invitation to Thanksgiving dinner at the Anderson's." Blaine tries to keep a straight face but it soon breaks out in a goofy grin.

Kurt blanches at Blaine's offer. He's never had Thanksgiving dinner with anyone but his immediate family, which for the last ten years has been just him and his dad. All of his grandparents died before he could remember and his mom's sister, Alice, has never been the most reliable person. She's an aspiring writer but hasn't had much luck yet. When Kurt was little she would blow through town and upturn their normal life a couple times a year. Without warning she would appear on the doorstep with nothing but her lone bag and a small gift for Kurt. The gifts were usually little touristy trinkets from whichever country Alice had just come from. She traveled the world stopping in one place only long enough to make enough money to move on to the next one.

But once her sister died Alice stopped coming around. She still sends Kurt a gift on his birthday each year and he talks to her on the phone every once in a while but it's not the same. Kurt misses her; it was just another thing he lost due to that disease.

"Well thanks I'd love to go," Kurt says once he collects himself. "I'll just have to make sure that's okay with my dad. Wait, I mean he's invited too right? Because I couldn't leave hi-"

"Of course he's invited Kurt," Blaine says quickly. "Actually, my mom was planning on inviting you guys regardless. I just wanted to ask you myself instead of you hearing it from Burt."

"Okay then, sounds fun. Should we bring anything?"

"Pie!" Blaine blurts out immediately. "That pie you made last week was so good. Please make it again, I'll do anything," he pleads.

"Anything?" Kurt breathes, it coming out a bit more seductive than intended.

Blaine's eyes widen and he nods. "Anything."

Kurt shudders as he remembers the make-out session they had the night before. They had gone out for ice cream and afterwards Blaine had parked in front of Kurt's house. Kurt had intended for it to be a short goodnight kiss but it quickly became heated. At one point Blaine tried to climb over into Kurt's lap but that's when he stopped him. Not because he didn't want that, because god he wanted that, but he was afraid his dad would be suspicious. They had already been parked for ten minutes and he figured any longer was pushing their luck. Kurt felt like if he didn't get some extended alone time with Blaine soon he was going to explode.

"So," Blaine says, coughing slightly, "you should know my grandma is going to be having dinner with us. She's um… interesting to say the least."

Kurt's brow furrows. "Good interesting or bad interesting?"

"Oh, good interesting definitely! At least most of the time. I love her a lot but she's just very blunt so be prepared for that."

"She accepts you then?" Kurt asks in surprise. In his experience older people are usually more set in their ways and judgmental.

"Yup. When I came out to her we were eating dinner and she said 'that's great now could you pass the salt?' The only thing that changed was now she teases me about having a boyfriend rather than a girlfriend," Blaine says with a genuine smile. "I wish I could tell her about us," he adds wistfully.

Well then why don't we? Kurt can't help but let the question cross his mind once again. He understands not being open about it here; Blaine's only been back to public school for a few months and the last time he got put in the hospital for simply being friendly with another gay guy. Plus the jocks are still making their lives hell whenever possible. But not telling they're family or friends is something Kurt just doesn't get. The kids in Glee would keep it a secret if they asked them and of course their parents would too. Kurt's been out and proud for years now and it feels like he's toeing back into the closet. But Kurt doesn't say any of this because he wants to give Blaine a bit more time. The school election is coming up soon anyways and Blaine said they could reconsider after that.

"I can't wait to meet her," Kurt says smiling back.

"So did you ever talk to Mercedes about rejoining the club?"

"No," Kurt sighs, "well actually yes I did, but she refuses to."

Mercedes had recently quit the glee club in favor of creating a new one under Shelby, Vocal Adrenaline's old coach, and has convinced Santana, Brittney, and Sugar to join her. They don't feel like they get enough solos, and they're probably right, but it's causing a riff in his friend group and Kurt hates it.

"But she did say she they would come back and practice with the Glee club again," Kurt adds.

"Well that's a step in the right direction," says Blaine, ever the optimist. "I'm sure they'll come around."

"I hope," Kurt responds with much less surety.

&&&&&

Kurt fiddles with the wrapping covering the pie trying to stall for a few extra seconds before ringing the Anderson's doorbell. Blaine's grandmother obviously means a lot to him and even if he's not being introduced as the boyfriend, he's still desperate to make a good impression. Even though he doubts his grandmother knows anything about fashion, he spent extra time figuring out what to wear. He decided against one of his more radical outfits, not wanting to freak her out, and goes pretty casual with grey jeans, a long sleeved light blue V-neck, and short black boots. As they wait for the door to open Kurt taps his foot impatiently and Burt side eyes him curiously.

"Everything okay bud?"

"Yeah, fine," Kurt answers in a clipped tone. When Burt chuckles Kurt turns to him, slightly annoyed, and says, "Shouldn't you be nervous? I mean you are meeting your girlfriend's mother."

Burt laughs again and says, "I'm too old to be getting nervous about this kind of stuff."

A second later Sally opens the door and smiles brightly at them. "Hey guys, come on in," she says as she ushers them inside. When Kurt moves into the house his eyes immediately seek out Blaine. He finds him standing off to the side with who can only be his grandma. She's older than Kurt imagined, with curly white hair and slightly hunched shoulders, but there's a glint in her eye that makes her look very alive.

"Mom, this is Burt. Burt, this is my mother Irene," Sally says pointing to him and Burt walks over to shake her hand saying how nice it is to meet her. "And this is Kurt, his son."

Kurt walks over to where the two of them are standing and extends his hand out but before he can says anything she says, "Oh so you're the boy Blaine has the picture of on his bedside table. It's right next to a box of tissues mind you, but I'm sure he just has a cold," she says and begins to cackle.

Blaine's face heats up and he quickly looks to Burt who luckily is paying attention only to Sally. Kurt giggles a little and Blaine glares at him but the effect is somewhat lost by how mortified he still looks.

"Well um… it's very nice to meet you Mrs. Anderson," Kurt says after being unable to come up with a response to her comment.

It's then that Blaine notices the pie in Kurt's hand his eyes light up. "You actually brought apple pie! You're the best!" he says before dashing off to the kitchen with the pie in hand. Kurt turns away from Blaine to look at Irene and is surprised to see she's staring at him. He feels completely self conscious and racks his brain for something to say but he can't come up with anything. When Blaine comes back a moment later Kurt breathes a sigh of relief.

"Why don't we all go into the family room," Sally announces. "Dinner won't be for a while yet but I have wine for the adults and juice for the kids."

Blaine rolls his eyes and says, "Mom, I'm going to be eighteen in three months, I'm hardly a kid."

Sally swoops over and ruffles his hair (although due to the obscene amount of gel in it, it hardly moves) saying that he'll always be her baby. Kurt's heart aches at the loving gesture and he misses his own mom for a moment. Sally's a wonderful lady, and if his dad wanted it he'd love to have her as a stepmom, but it will never be the same. Once they settle themselves in the family room the interrogation begins.

"So Burt, what do you do for a living?" Irene asks.

"I own a car shop, Hummel Tires and Lube," he says his chest puffing out with pride.

"Where do you live?"

"Right down the street."

"Where did you grow up?"

"Madison, Wisconsin. I moved to Ohio right after high school."

Irene perks up at this and says, "I lived in Madison for years!"

As the conversation turns to their experiences in Wisconsin Kurt swivels so he's facing Blaine who is next to him on the couch. "You're grandma seems really sweet," he says.

Blaine laughs and responds, "Well I don't know if sweet is the right word but yeah, she's great."

"Where's Maria?" Kurt asks suddenly. He somehow didn't notice she was missing until now.

"Oh she's just throwing here annual Thanksgiving Day tantrum. She hates all Thanksgiving food and every year she has a fit and demands we forgo the traditional food and make something she likes. She'll come around though, she always does."

"A bit of a drama queen I see," Kurt jokes. "I have to admit I was pretty stubborn when I was a kid."

"No!" Blaine exclaims mockingly and brings his hands up to his face. "I don't believe it for a minute."

Kurt shoves Blaine but it only makes him laughs harder. "Very funny," Kurt grumbles but his lips turn up into a smile.

"So Kurt," Irene says out of the blue, "tell me a little about yourself. Blainers has been talking my ear off about you since I got here and I want to know what all the hype is about."

Kurt blushes slightly and catches his dad's eyes which are narrowed and moving back and forth between him and Blaine. He quickly looks away and attempts composure as he addresses Irene. "Well I guess the first thing you should know is that singing is my passion. I'm in the school Glee club with Blaine and it's a lot of fun. I also love shopping and just fashion in general."

"He actually makes some of his own clothes," Blaine interrupts. "He made a kilt which he wore to prom last year and it is gorgeous."

Both Irene and Sally look very impressed at this and Kurt preens a little. "I'd love to see it," Sally says, "I've always wanted someone to talk fashion with and as I'm sure you can tell from the amount of cardigans Blaine wears, he's not an option."

"Seriously," Irene continues, "I'm the one whose 85 here."

That causes them all to laugh and Blaine is left sitting on the couch with crossed arms and an indignant look on his face. An alarm from the kitchen halts to conversation and Sally goes in to turn it off. She comes out a few minutes later and announces the turkey won't be ready for another hour.

"Mom, is it okay if Kurt and I go upstairs to hangout before dinner?" Blaine asks as Sally sits back down.

"Hangout? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Irene asks with a smirk. Burt huffs out a laugh at this and Kurt whips around to stare him down. Burt immediately stops and holds his hands up as if in surrender.

"Sure honey. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

As soon as she says this Blaine practically runs out of the room and up the stairs beckoning Kurt to follow him. When he gets to his room he flops face down on the bed and groans loudly. "I'm pretty sure my grandma's goal in life is to embarrass me as much as possible."

"Well I like that goal Blainers," Kurt says smirking.

"Shut up," Blaine grumbles.

"Make me," Kurt quips back.

And Blaine does just that. He sits up and pulls Kurt down so he's on top of him and then crashes their lips together. Kurt gasps in surprise and Blaine takes the opportunity to shove his tongue in Kurt's mouth. He moans loudly as Blaine's tongue meets his but then he's pulling away. His mouth moves from Kurt's onto his jaw and the down to his neck. Blaine is sucking hard causing Kurt to whimper but he has to stop him for fear of leaving a mark on his pale skin. Kurt grabs his head and forces their lips back together pushing him hard into the mattress. He thrusts his tongue in and swirls it around for only a few seconds at a time sufficiently driving Blaine crazy. Suddenly Blaine's hips buck up and Kurt can feel that he's hard. Kurt stops moving his mouth and opens his eyes so he can look at Blaine.

"I-uh too much?" Blaine asks, the lust evident in his voice.

Kurt bites his lip and nods. "A little," he admits.

"Oh wow I am so sorry," Blaine says starting to panic. "You probably don't even- are you even enjoying this?"

"Oh god of course I am," Kurt says and to prove his point he takes Blaine's hand and touches it lightly to his own erection.

"Kurt," Blaine whimpers and even through the layers the small touch makes Kurt's eyes roll back into his head.

"Just not right now. Out parents are downstairs and dinner will be ready any minute."

"But soon?" Blaine asks so hopefully that Kurt would have laughed if he wasn't so turned on.

"Definitely," Kurt says causing Blaine's face to break out into a huge grin.

"Well I'm going to go to the bathroom and uh, cool down."

When Blaine leaves Kurt sits up and starts rearranging his clothes which had become slightly askew. He walks over to the mirror that sits on Blaine's dresser and starts redoing his hair also because his dad already seems suspicious enough without him coming out of Blaine's room with sex hair. As he puts the finishing touches on his hair he remembers what Irene said about Blaine having a picture of him on his bedside table and looks to see if she's right. To Kurt's surprise she wasn't lying and there actually is a picture of him. He's standing in front of Tiffney's; it must have been taken by Rachel when they were in New York for Nationals. Kurt hears a couch behind him and turns to see Blaine looking and his feet and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry about that, I meant to put it away before you got here," Blaine says still not looking at Kurt.

"Where did you get this?"

"Rachel gave it to me a few weeks ago. If you think it's creepy I can put it away…"

"No of course it's not creepy! I mean we are dating, I think it's pretty normal to have a picture right?" Kurt asks stepping towards Blaine and taking his hands in his. Blaine nods vigorously and meets Kurt's eyes with a smile. "I just wish I had a picture of you," Kurt adds.

Blaine's face lights up and he drops Kurt's hands and moves over to dig through one of his desk drawers. "Here. I know it's from last year but I'm pretty sure it's the only one I have." Blaine hands him a picture that was obviously taken at Dalton as it's a professional looking headshot of him in his uniform.

"My, my," Kurt says with a smile, "My boyfriend is quite the gentleman."

Blaine hums and leans up to rub his nose against Kurt's. "I love it when you call me your boyfriend."

"Uhh Blaine?" says a confused voice from the doorway.

Kurt and Blaine both quickly step away from each other and look over to see Maria standing a few feet away.

"Maria! Hey! What's up?" Blaine says in an overly cheery voice.

"Were you two just kissing?!" she asks her eyes widening.

"What? No! We were uh…" Blaine glances over at Kurt but he just gives him a helpless look and shrugs. "There was something on Kurt's face and I was just getting it off of him."

"Okay…" she says very skeptically, "Anyways mom says it's almost time for dinner and she needs help setting the table."

The boys nod and share a relieved look behind her back as they follow her to the kitchen. Sally is busy tossing the salad and checking the temperature of the turkey when they walk in. Blaine shows Kurt where everything and they start bringing it out to the dining room. The inside of the Anderson's home is set up exactly like Kurt's but the decorations are vastly different. Blaine's house is very modern looking with a number of patterned rugs and cool vases and lamps. When Kurt tried to redecorate his own home Burt stopped him straightaway. Burt allows him to do whatever he wants with his room but the rest of the house will stay, as he calls, "normal".

Once all the food has been brought out moves to stand around the table. Kurt sits next to Blaine and across from his dad and Maria with Irene and Sally sitting at the ends. Blaine hooks his ankle around Kurt's and Kurt can't fight the smile at the small touch.

"If I could just say something real quick before we begin," Sally says after they've all sat down, "I want to thank the Hummels for being with us tonight, it's been a joy, and I also want to thank God for this food and for keeping us all safe for another year. Amen."

"Amen," the rest of the Andersons, including Blaine, echoes. Kurt glances over at him curiously but Blaine is already serving up. Kurt knows Blaine doesn't believe in God, or at least the God Sally was referring to. He thinks there is some sort of greater power out there, he's just not sure if they're still, or ever were, concerned with the human race. The Andersons use to go to church every Sunday but they stopped a couple years ago. Even before Blaine realized he was gay he knew he wasn't a believer in the Christian God. His main problem with the teaching are he thinks it's ridiculous that one set of rules, created thousands of years ago, apply to everybody. Then, once he figured out his sexuality, some of those sermons became a bit more personal. After he came out, his parents stopped making him go to church and eventually (Kurt's not exactly sure when) they stopped going too. But Sally still believes and although she's made it clear how she feels about some of the teaching, she goes to church on most of the major religious holidays.

Figuring that Blaine did it out of politeness or habit Kurt shrugs it off and begins to serve himself some food. The dinner is classic Thanksgiving in every way; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet rolls, and cranberry sauce. And best of all, it's all homemade. Since they're only been the two of them in the past, Kurt never bothered cooking an actual turkey. Turkey cold cuts from the store worked just fine and gave them a much more reasonable amount of food. And once you're eating turkey cold cuts there's really no point in making homemade everything else. Kurt likes to bake but he's no miracle worker in the kitchen.

"Sally, I can honestly say this is the best Thanksgiving food I've ever had," Burt says after a few minutes of nothing but the sound of chewing and scraping forks.

"Thanks," Sally says practically beaming.

Kurt nudges Blaine to make a comment about how sickly sweet their parents are but Blaine is already watching them and the look on his face is of over joy. Shaking his head Kurt muses on how he ended up with someone who's a bigger sap than he is. The rest of dinner passes with bouts of conversation in between tons of eating. It was all going great until one extremely tense and awkward moment. Kurt didn't hear it properly but Irene had made a joke, probably at someone else's expense, and Burt had laughed loudly.

"See, that's what I like about you. Jonathon never got my sense of humor," Irene said.

Jonathon. The name had wrung a bell but Kurt couldn't place it at the time. At the mention of the name Blaine had dropped his fork on the floor and the loud clattering sound made everybody look at him. His eyes hardened and Kurt had never seen him look so closed off. Blaine usually wore his heart on his sleeve but in that moment Kurt had absolutely no idea what he was thinking.

"Mom…" Sally warned.

"What? The man up and leaves his family and we pretend-"

"Mom! That's enough." Sally had interrupted angrily and it was the first time Kurt had ever heard her raise her voice.

Kurt really wanted to ask who Jonathon was because he felt like he was way out of the loop but then Irene's last words hit him. Leaves his family… then he remembered, Jonathon was Blaine's father. He had looked over at Blaine to see that he was a shade paler than usual and was gripping his thigh under the table.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Blaine mumbled and walked away from the table averting everyone's eyes. Kurt wanted to follow him, to comfort him, because the pained look on his face hurt Kurt more than he could have imagined. He didn't though because he can tell when people need a little time alone.

Sally had given Irene a pointed glare after Blaine left and although she had shrugged in response, Kurt could see a little guilt in her eyes. Blaine came back a few minutes after that but the rest of the meal seemed very forced.

The sounds of eating eventually slow and once it seems like everyone is done Sally gets up.

Burt stands up too and says, "Sally, after we help you get this all cleaned up I think we're going to get out of your hair. The Buckeyes game is on soon and I don't want to miss is."

"Nonsense, you can watch it here. Blaine's a huge football fan and I'm sure he'd watch it with you," Sally responds.

Burt turns to Blaine in surprise and Blaine looks up with an actual smile on his face which causes Kurt's shoulders sag with relief.

"Why don't you go ahead into the family room and watch it now?" she adds.

Burt starts to protest saying he wants to help clean but Sally shoots the back of Blaine's head a worried look and Burt seems to get it.

"Come on bud," he says patting Blaine on the back, "pregame has been on for hours."

Sally tells Kurt he can go in and watch too, Maria refused to help after being told Blaine didn't have to, but he insists. If there was one thing his mother instilled in him even at that young age it was how to be a polite guest.

The three of them work, cleaning and clearing dishes, in relative silence until Irene comments, "So you and Blaine seem pretty close."

Kurt nods. "Yes, we haven't known each other for very long but we just seem to have a… connection."

"You play for his team?" Irene asks and Sally makes a noise of disapproval at her bluntness.

Kurt merely chuckles though and responds, "Yes."

"Well I'm glad. I think its good Blaine has someone like you to talk about stuff with. I know being gay in Ohio isn't the easiest thing."

"Thank you," Kurt says quietly although he's not really sure what he's thanking her for. Maybe simply for understanding.

They finish the rest of the dishes not too much later and go into the next room to join the others. It's only been on for a couple minutes but Blaine is already passed out on the couch. His head is resting on one arm of the couch while his feet are curled up under him. Kurt has the overwhelming urge to snuggle up with him but he knows he can't. For a long time, before Kurt really thought about the sex part of a relationship, his fantasies were always of that. Cuddling, having someone hold him and keep him warm and cozy, that's what he wanted more than anything. And he still wants it now. He fights the desire however and goes to sit on the other end of the couch making sure to leave a respectable amount of distance between the two of them.