Kurt stood up, smiling at Blaine. Blaine smiled back. Kurt walked around the desk and opened the door.

“Hey,” Kurt said.

“Hi,” Blaine replied.

“What are you doing here?”

Blaine grinned. “I heard there was a free psychiatric help booth here?”

Kurt laughed, remembering the previous night’s conversation. “You’re right….it must be around here somewhere.”

Blaine smiled. “Actually, I need my tires rotated. And I figured that getting them done at a mechanic where I knew the owner’s son would be more enjoyable.”

“Not that there are many mechanics in Lima.” Kurt pointed out.

“I’ve said it before: it’s a small town.”

They stood there for a minute, grinning at eachother.

Burt walked out of the garage, then. “Kurt!” he hollered. “Do you know whose Acura-“

Burt saw Blaine then, and stopped yelling. He approached the office. “Hello,” he said amicably to Blaine, offering his hand. Blaine shook it.

“Hi, Mr. Hummel,” Blaine replied. “I believe you were referring to my Acura.”

Burt smiled. “Right. What can I do for you?”

“I need the tires rotated.”

Burt nodded. “No problem. Should take about fifty minutes, if you’d like to come back then.”

Blaine glanced at Kurt, smiling. “I think I can wait here,” he said.

Burt glanced from Blaine to his son. “You two…know eachother?”

“This is Blaine, Dad.” Kurt said. “He drove me home last week. And I met with him the other day; remember?”

Kurt had finally mentioned to his parents that he was going to meet someone when he’d gone to the diner with Blaine the other day. They’d been pleased that he had some sort of friend in Lima-“We wouldn’t want to bore you,” Burt had said jokingly.

Now, Burt smiled at Blaine. “Yeah, I remember. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise, sir,” Blaine responded.

“I’ll get started on those tires,” Burt said, rubbing his hands together. “I’ll see you boys in a bit.”

They waved at him as he retreated into the garage. Kurt opened the door to the office and gestured to Blaine. “Come on inside.”

They walked into the office, closing the door behind them. Kurt sat down behind his father’s desk and Blaine pulled a chair from along the wall so that he sat across form Kurt.

“You look very professional,” Blaine noted. “You practically could be a psychiatrist.”

Kurt laughed. “No, I’d need a couch in the room you could lie down on.”

Blaine chuckled. “What a shame.”

“We’ll have to do without.”

Blaine raised an eyebrow. “You really want to play shrink?”

“If you want to talk about going crazy, I don’t mind.”

Blaine rubbed his face. “I’d like you to know that I was very tired when I was texting you last night.”

Kurt smiled. “Ah, exhaustion. Almost as good as intoxication for bringing the truth out of people.”

“I don’t think shrinks are allowed to get patients drunk.”

“I don’t see why not. It’d make the whole thing easier.”

They laughed together. Kurt loved that feeling, of shared laughter. How it filled the room and for a second, nothing unpleasant could touch them. No girlfriend, or parent, or school. It was just Kurt and just Blaine, laughing together.

Blaine sighed, his breath still laced with giggles. “Anyway, I’d just gotten home from my parents’ house. They were getting on my nerves a bit.”

Kurt arched an eyebrow. “Weren’t you just at your parents’ house last week? I mean, when you picked me up. You said that, right?”

Blaine nodded. “Yep. I have dinner with them almost every Sunday.”

“That’s nice,” Kurt said. “That you can see them so often.”

Blaine shrugged, looking down. “I guess. I mean, I spent eighteen full years with them. I don’t mind a little distance.”

Kurt looked at Blaine with slight wonder. Kurt couldn’t ever imagine not wanting to see his parents. He loved his dad so much-he’d never get tired of visiting him. And Carole, who had been there for him for years, practically a second mom. Perhaps it was the experience of already having lost a parent-he would never get to visit Mom, never spend too much time with, never even get close-that gave him the close ties he had with his parents. But even so…maybe Blaine’s parents just weren’t the kind of people he wanted to spend large amounts of time with. Blaine’s previous description of them had been brief and rather superficial. It had been impossible to tell what they were really like, but Blaine’s avoidance of the subject said quite a lot about it, at least in Kurt’s eyes.

“You do live pretty close to them, though,” Kurt pointed out, trying to figure out how to approach the subject delicately.

Blaine looked up then, but his eyes still seemed shifty. “Yeah, well. I can’t control where the campus is.”

Kurt tilted his head to the side, examining Blaine. After a moment of thought, he said, “But you did choose the Lima campus. Over the Columbus one.”

Blaine scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. I like Lima, though.”

“But you didn’t know it before you went to college here.”

Blaine stared at Kurt for a second, his expression almost challenging. Kurt worried for a moment that he’d gone too far. Then Blaine laughed nervously, diffusing some of the tension. “Sorry,” he said. “You’re really going for the psychiatrist thing here, aren’t you?”

Kurt shrugged, leaning back in the chair. He was still waiting for Blaine.

Blaine nodded, exhaling slightly. “Okay, well, yeah. I chose the Lima campus. Not really because I liked the town, but because…it put some distance between me and my parents. I thought I might feel sort of…stifled, if I had to go to school with them looking over my shoulder. They…tend to do that kind of thing.”

“Overprotective?” Kurt inquired.

“Not exactly,” Blaine answered, searching for words. “Just…they know what they want me to do. And they let me know what they want me to do, too.”

Kurt felt like he’d reached a breakthrough-but his excitement couldn’t outweigh the cold feeling in his stomach, thinking about what Blaine had said. “But…you can still do what you want, can’t you?”

Blaine shrugged. “I guess. Sort of.”

“That wasn’t a very conclusive answer.”

“I don’t have a better one.” Blaine’s tone took on a hint of helplessness.

Kurt wanted nothing more than to stand up, walk around the desk, and put his arms around Blaine. He wanted to hold the boy close and stroke his gelled hair and comfort him, telling him that he could do whatever the hell he wants, regardless of his parents. But he knew that that wouldn’t be entirely acceptable for a straight guy, and he didn’t want to make Blaine uncomfortable or confused. Because Blaine had once again shared a secret with him, and Kurt clutched these secrets to himself, more valuable than diamonds. He didn’t want to do anything that would endanger the friendship that they were quickly forming, so he restrained himself. Still, he had to say something.

“I’m sorry, Blaine.”

Blaine looked Kurt straight in the eye. He smiled then, still a little sadly, and said, “I know. Thanks.”

Kurt smiled back.

Blaine laughed a little bit. “So, how much do I owe you for this psychiatric evaluation?”

Kurt chuckled. “Well, you can’t pay me yet. I’m not done.”

“You’re not?”

“Oh, no,” Kurt said. “We’ve got a long way to go. I’ve got plans.”

Blaine grinned. “You can bill me when it’s done.”

“It might be a pretty big sum.”

Blaine shrugged. “We’ll figure something out.”

Kurt leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk. “I’m sure we will.”