Thursday was hell. Blaine had been tripping and biting nervously at everyone in school all day. After lesson he didn't waste any time, but rushed to his car so he could drive straight to Lima. With a little luck he could make it to the court building in time.

He didn't.

Instead he was anxiously pacing the floors of the hall outside the room where Kurt had told him he would be having his hearing. Blaine was chewing on his nails and had to loosen his Dalton tie because he felt trapped and strangled. The building was hot and he felt like time had stopped around him.

When he arrived it was ten minutes too late. If he had been simple ten minutes earlier he could have made it to see Kurt before he got in. Instead he had to stay outside and wait. He had no idea for how long.

Tina had called him four times throughout the day but he had ignored it. He couldn't stand to deal with her nerves for Kurt on top of his own, and he didn't know what to tell her anyway. He knew that she would be flying under the ceiling, asking all the questions Blaine needed answered himself, so he would rather stick to call her back when he actually knew something.

The court building reminded him of Dalton when he had his fallout with The Warblers and he hadn't felt home in school anymore. It was huge and grand with extravagant artwork and furniture. When the lawyers walked by him their heels clicked on the polished floors and Blaine was pretty sure the acoustics would be perfect for an upbeat group number.

The atmosphere, however, was cold and creepy. It was impersonal and uncomfortable. There was no sense of comfort or sympathy to be found. Every time he heard footsteps or a door was opened Blaine was on his toes, immediately looking for Kurt or his mom to show with news.

It was the ending of May and Blaine felt trapped in his school uniform. The heat had the collar clenching around his neck, and he mostly wanted to rip off his tie. His blue blazer was folded over the armrest of the chair and he had rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, making him look more like he had ditched school.

After consulting his wristwatch for the umpteenth time Blaine was starting to suspect it had stopped. He was thirsty, but even though he had passed a drinking faucet on his way down the hall he didn't go to find it. He needed to be there when the door was opened. He wanted to take Kurt to Lima Bean so he could buy him coffee and hold his hand – preferably with the assurance that he would be okay.

"Come on. Come on," Blaine mumbled under his breath the same way he had been since he arrived. Almost resembling a massing or a chanting. The same words over and over again.

Just then there was the sound of a door being opened and heels were clicking over the shiny floor of the hall. When Blaine turned around he was met by the sight of his mom in her favorite suit and her briefcase in hand. She was walking with Kurt's parents and a lady Blaine had never seen before. No Kurt. So Blaine swallowed the lump in his throat and waited, only to be rewarded a moment after, by Kurt leaving the room talking to Puck.

"Kurt!" Blaine whispered eagerly and ran towards him, but stopped at little from his destination, unsure of how much fun Kurt would find it to be attacked by his boyfriend in front of his best friend – not to mention in the middle of the courthouse.

However, he wasn't prepared for Kurt's entire face lighting up when he saw Blaine. He grabbed around his tie and pulled him into his arms.

"Blaine! You're here!" Kurt said excitedly as he put his arms around Blaine. Kurt pressed a kiss to his mouth with his hands pressing on his back to push their chests closer together.

"Of course I'm here. I promised," Blaine said. He returned Kurt's embrace and allowed himself a moment to simmer in the safety of Kurt's arms before he fell back to reality.

"So – how did it go? What's happening? Did they let you off?" Blaine asked, not wasting time on simple things such as breathing between words.

"Your mom was a freaking genius in there. She was right about to eat those bastards alive," Puck told eagerly with impression painted all over his face.

Other people were leaving the room as they spoke. Blaine's mom had stopped a bit from them, talking to Kurt's parents and the lady Blaine guessed to be Puck's mom as they snuck glances towards their sons.

"We aren't done. It's only a recess. We have to get back in there in ten minutes or something," Kurt said, cocking his chin, but Blaine saw right through him.

He was playing tough, nothing Blaine hadn't expected when Puck was there. In reality Kurt was scared; Blaine could see it in his eyes. Glassy and dark, instead of sparkly and azure. He was wearing a pair of worn-out jeans, his faithful studded boots and a black t-shirt with a faded Ozzy logo on. His sleeves were rolled up to show off his biceps and Blaine had to force his gaze away from Kurt's arms.

"How did it go for you? When you had to tell your version?" Blaine asked, unsure of how the procedure worked for hearings rather than actually trials.

"I haven't – said anything. I've just been sitting there. Listening to your mom and the other lawyer," Kurt shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. Blaine heard the light trembling in his voice when he said that he hadn't been up to say anything yet. Kurt might as well give up because he couldn't fool Blaine with his facade.

"Alright. Do you want me to come in with you after the recess is over?" Blaine proposed and for a moment Kurt lost his cover.

"Will you? Please," he rushed out, stars twirling in his eyes as he grabbed Blaine's hand firmly. It only lasted a nano-second before he was back to his tough self, though.

"I mean... if you want to. I'm not gonna force you in with me," he said and rolled his eyes. Blaine smirked and forced his fingers between Kurt's, knowing that he needed it much more than he would ever admit in front of Puck.

"Come on. Let's go get something to drink before we have to get in, then -" Blaine chuckled and pulled Kurt down the hall with him.

Puck followed them, walked with them until they reached a vending machine Blaine had passed on his way in. They got a bottle of water to share, knowing they weren't allowed to bring it into the courtroom. It wasn't long before Kurt's dad showed and said that it was time. With heavy heart Blaine hugged Kurt outside the courtroom.

"It's gonna be okay. When you walk out of here later we will walk out together, and you will be all cleared and this will be nothing but a dark memory," Blaine assured him.

"Geez, you sound like I'm on death row," Kurt mocked and rolled his eyes, but Blaine could see and hear that his nerves were very likely bubbling inside of him. He grabbed Blaine's hand firmly in his own and took a deep breath. Then he looked to Puck and to Blaine's mom before they walked into the courtroom.

Blaine couldn't sit with them and it killed him. He wanted to be able to hold Kurt's hand and show him that he wouldn't let go. He wanted to be able to show him that he was supporting him if it would be the last thing he would do.

However, that wasn't an option. He had to sit down on the row right behind Kurt, watch him as he took seat next to Blaine's mom and Puck. Before Blaine knew it Kurt's parents had sat down next to him, and he suddenly felt put on sport.

Kurt's dad smiled at him, nodding in a fashion that made Blaine feel like they were family. Did Kurt's parents see him as a permanent part of the family now?

He looked around the room, to the row of benches on the other side of the aisle. The guys sitting there, the guys who had to be the ones Kurt had been in a fight with, were big and menacing. Their attorney looked sharp and cold, her hair in a tight bun at the back of her head and her suit cut with sharp edges. Behind Blaine a group of young people were sitting with their parents, undoubtedly the kids Kurt had stood up for. They all looked nervous and edgy, and Blaine wondered if they saw Kurt as a hero the way Blaine did it.

Before he got to pay any deeper attention to his pondering the room fell silent around him and the atmosphere turned tensed. The judge had arrived, the time had come. Blaine could Kurt tense in his seat, going uneasy. It was difficult for Blaine to not reach out to run a hand down his arm, but he kept telling himself that one wrong move could be fatal for Kurt.

Everyone stood up as the judge entered the room. As soon as everyone were sitting back it all started. Blaine's stomach tied up.

Blaine had never seen his mom in action before so when she stood up and started talking he watched in awe. He listened to her talk about how Kurt was a good kid who had turned down a wrong road, about he and Puck were slowly starting to see the right way again. How they both did what they did to help the kids, and how the other guys were the attackers.

"I know for a fact that Kurt is a good boy. And I know that because he is dating my son. He has been coming in my house, in my home, for dates and hanging out with my son, for months," Susan told, gesturing towards Blaine who was sitting behind Kurt.

"A month ago my son had problems with the guys in his school. The other boys tried telling him that Kurt was a bad influence and that my son should break up with Kurt. My boy was miserable. Kurt let him cry out in his arms for a week. When one of the guys at the school took a swing at my son Kurt swept in and took the fist to his face. He would rather have a fat lip than let anyone hit his boyfriend. Who's the bad influence then?" She explained, raising her eyebrows in question.

"I am saying right here and now: Kurt Hummel and Noah Puckerman both did what they had to do to help those kids before they were either harassed into doing drugs or beat up in the street. That is not a reason for them to get into any kind of trouble. In fact, these two boys should be getting a medal!" She concluded and straightened her skirt before sitting down next to Kurt.

She sent Kurt and Puck's parents a smile and let a hand up to squeeze around Kurt's on the table between them before she rested back in her chair and took in the scenery as the opponent lawyer started telling her side of the story.

"Your mom's a real piece of work," Kurt's dad said as they all got up for recess before the judge would declare the outcome of the hearing.

"Yeah. She's... she's good," Blaine agreed in awe as he got to his feet.

Kurt and Puck walked straight past them with their cigarettes out, headed for the nearest door to have a smoke.

"It's alright. He's really nervous," Blaine's mom told when she joined Blaine and Kurt's parents at one side of the hall.

"Do you think he has a reason to be nervous?" Kurt's stepmom asked, clearly worried herself.

"She did really, the other attorney. But I think we did better. I think my story about how he defended Blaine really went where it was needed," Susan said and put her arm around Blaine. She pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his temple before she walked towards the door where Kurt and Puck had disappeared to.

"Let's get back in," she said when she returned with the boys at her heels.

xXx

To his surprise Blaine wasn't even worried when he was sitting in the car next to his mom. They were on their way to Kurt's house.

The judge had declared that Kurt and Puck was off the hook, but the other guys would be prosecuted for violence and drug dealing. The worst that happened to Kurt and Puck was that the incident would be put on their record, and they got an official warning.

As a celebration and a thanks to Blaine's mom Kurt's parents invited Blaine and Puck's families for dinner. Puck's mom declined because she had to go home to her daughters, who she apparently wouldn't bring. Blaine's dad said that he refused to be in their house, so Blaine and his mom went home to shower and change, and now they were on their way to have dinner with the Hummel family.

When they arrived Puck was already there. From the driveway they could see him and Kurt smoking out of Kurt's bedroom window. At first, when they entered the house, Blaine felt a little awkward about the situation, but when Kurt's family treated him and his mom as family it slowly eased up.

They sat in the kitchen, Susan chatting with Carole as she finished cooking dinner, and Blaine stayed quiet. He enjoyed listening to their smalltalk about whatever moms discuss and how happy they were about Blaine and Kurt being together.

"Come 'ere," Kurt hissed when he showed in the door, hiding in the shadows while calling for Blaine.

At first Blaine was confused, but he got to his feet and followed. When Kurt pulled him into the hall he pressed him against the wall and locked his arms around Blaine's neck, making their mouths meet.

"Wanna stay with me tonight? I wanna take you real good," he grinned as he kissed around Blaine's face. He brushed his fingers down the back of Blaine's cardigan and licked around his earlobe.

"I told you that it would be alright," Blaine smiled sheepishly. He chewed a little on his lower lip and let his hands travel up Kurt's back, feeling the soft cotton of his cut-off t-shirt.

Blaine wasn't exactly in the mood for fooling around. He wanted to be with Kurt and enjoy that their families were getting along.

"Getting something tonight, bro?" Puck laughed as he came down the stairs from Kurt's room. He stopped next with a broad grin on his face.

"Your mom's a real MILF, Anderson. I'd tap that," he smirked to Blaine, nodding his head in indication of exactly what he meant.

"What? Stop! Don't talk about my mom like that," Blaine snapped.

Kurt stared at him in surprise but almost immediately after turned his face to Puck.

"Don't talk about Susan that way. Got that, Noah? She just saved our asses," Kurt said sharply and squeezed Blaine a little tighter. He meant it, Blaine could feel that he wasn't just mocking him.

"Sorry, dude. You're cool, Anderson. I trust that you'll take care of my boy here," Puck smiled and held his fist in the air for Blaine. In great surprise Blaine returned the gesture by letting his knuckles against Puck's and allowed his hands down to rest softly on the top of Kurt's butt.

xXx

Dinner was interesting. Their parents discussed the hearing and how it felt to have teenagers in the house. It almost felt like Blaine's mom had been friends of Kurt's parents for ages, and Blaine couldn't help smiling to himself from how nice it was for him to witness.

Puck and Kurt talked about motorcycles while Blaine and Finn talked about videogames. When Finn and Puck started talking about football Blaine joined in, but it didn't take long for them to drift into talking about glee club. To Blaine's great joy Kurt did what he could to keep up with the conversation. He tried really hard to participate and Blaine was happy that Kurt kept a hand on his thigh under the table whenever he had his hand free.

As it slowly became late Blaine asked his mom if it was okay for him to stay for the night. To his and Kurt's ecstasy she said that it was cool for her as long as Kurt's parents would allow it.

"Thank you, mom. Thank you so much for saving him," Blaine said as he hugged her goodnight in the hall before she headed for the front door.

"I didn't save him, babe. By fundamentally being a good kid he saved himself," she smiled and hugged him back.

"And I think that now he is just waiting for you to save him from himself," she whispered and kiss his cheek before moving back.

"I could never thank you enough, Susan. I don't know what we would have done without you," Kurt said humbly as he showed up in the hall. Blaine's mom pulled Kurt in for a hug that caught him off his feet, but he slowly returned the embrace.

Kurt's parents showed up and said their goodbyes and paid their thanks as well. As soon as Blaine's mom had left Kurt hurried to tell Puck that either he had to leave or hang out with Finn instead.

Now Kurt was curled up in bed with his arms around Blaine. It was hot and they were both sweaty even though they were wearing nothing but their boxers. Still, they refused to let anything separate them.

"I'm so happy that everything went well," Blaine cooed and put a kiss to Kurt's hair.

"Blaine... I – I've really learned something. I don't wanna be that guy anymore," Kurt whispered insecurely. He let his fingers dig a little deeper into Blaine's ribs, telling that what he was about to say was serious and he was scared about it.

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked, not wanting to draw any conclusions before Kurt had said it himself, but he was pretty sure he knew where this was going.

"I miss being me. Being with you and all the things your mom said, and just this entire mess... It has all made me see how much I miss it. I'm so tired of hiding how much I wanna watch musicals with you, and go shopping with you, and how much I actually like being in glee. I am so sick of rolling my eyes at everyone all the time. I wanna be me again," Kurt told weakly.

The feeling of tears rolling down Blaine's naked chest made him sit up, taking Kurt with him so they could face each other.

"But if I change, if I go back, I won't be this me anymore. The guy that you are with. I am so scared that you can't love me like that," Kurt cried. What else could Blaine do than chuckle and pull him close?

"Kurt... you're so silly. The first time I came to your house I saw your Vogue collection. I've known the whole time that all of your studs and cigarettes are just facade. That all of that isn't you. But it's you that I love!" Blaine smiled and kissed Kurt's hair.

"I made a decision today. I'm gonna retake my senior year so I'm I will get at least some decent grades. So – I'm gonna stay here in school and graduate the same time as you. And then we can move on together when the time comes," Kurt explained and dried his eyes with a sniff.

"Are you sure? I mean, I would love that. But I don't want you to drag yourself through another year of school if you'll just hate it," Blaine said sincerely.

"I hate it. I really do. But I want better grades and I want a proper senior year. And it's gonna be magical because this time around I will have you with me," Kurt assured him and moved closer, kissing Blaine softly.

Blaine was just about to let himself slide into Kurt's embrace, disappear into his kiss and how amazing it was that Kurt had made that decision on his own, but Kurt moved abruptly away.

"I did something after court today. For you," he grinned, but his eyes showed that he was worried.

"Oh no. What did you do, Kurt?" Blaine asked, suddenly concerned himself.

Kurt turned around and flipped the button to turn on the lamp on his nightstand. Then he leaned back against the headboard of the bed and pulled down the waistband of his underwear.

On his skin a pad of plastic film had been taped on. Kurt pulled it off and wiped the area clean off white lotion with a Kleenex from his nightstand.

On Kurt's pale hipbone was a fresh black tattoo saying Blaine. It was sharp black in curvy calligraphy smoothing over Kurt's hip, a little red in the outlines from the abuse on the skin.

"Kurt! Oh my god! Is that real?" Blaine burst out in dumbfounded shock.

"Of course it's real. You deserve real, babe," Kurt grinned and ran his fingertip lightly over the area.

"You don't like it?" He asked and his face went sad and pale.

"Kurt... I don't even know what to say. It's... I don't even know," Blaine stammered out, his mouth going dry.

"I just... Blaine, I love you so much. I want you with me forever. Always," Kurt said and let his underwear carefully up so it didn't brush against the tattoo. He sat up so he and Blaine were equal.

"Kurt... that's probably the sweetest thing in the world, but – what if some day you find out that you don't love me anymore? Then you will have scarred yourself for some douche you broke up with," Blaine tried carefully, overwhelmed by emotions fighting for his attention.

"I will always love you. So that's not gonna be an issue. And even if something happened I would still always want to be reminded of what we have right now," Kurt tried to explain.

"I – I love it. It's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done to me. I love you," Blaine smiled.

Kurt's face left the nervous folds and cracked in a broad grin. He leaned in for a kiss but Blaine stopped him with his hands to on Kurt's shoulders.

"Wait... lemme see it again," he requested.

With a wide smile Kurt leaned back to the pillows and pulled his underwear down for Blaine to have a look. Blaine ran his fingertips over the flesh, feeling how the ink had made the skin swollen and warm so he could feel the contours of his own name permanently a part of Kurt's body. Without thinking about it he leaned his face down to kiss the spot.

"Careful. I need to keep it clean at all times," Kurt said under his breath, and Blaine could feel Kurt's soft dick twitch in his boxers from the close contact.

"Come up here and lie with me," Kurt asked and gestured for Blaine to come, so he rushed up to rest his head on Kurt's shoulder.

"I'm really proud of you. For making that decision today. Your next senior year will be amazing. You will be amazing," Blaine smiled, strolling his fingertips over the soft skin of Kurt's belly.

"I wanna do all those things. Be with you, do glee club, go somewhere amazing when we're done. I just want a real life with you," Kurt sighed and ran his fingers through Blaine's hair.

"I want that too. But you do realize we've only been together for a few months, right?" Blaine reminded him.

"I don't care. It feels like forever, but in a good way. It doesn't matter because we have eternity in front of us," Kurt grinned and made them slide further down the mattress.

"You're as much of a romantic as I am," Blaine laughed and tightened his grip around Kurt's waist, happy that for once he could say it without being nervous that Kurt would be pissed at him.

"If you tell anyone no more blowchs for a month," Kurt laughed back.

"Like you can stay away. You love it..."

"Yeah. I don't think I can. You just taste so damn good," Kurt agreed with a chuckle as he bit teasingly down on Blaine's nipple.

"I gotta admit... the whole bad boy image is really sexy. Can you please not give that up when we're in bed, sometimes?" Blaine requested, his cheeks going red.

"You're just a little slut, aren't you?" Kurt grinned and sucked in Blaine's lower lip, staring lusty into his eyes.

"I'm a – slut – for you," Blaine got out.

"Good. That's all I want," Kurt moaned and squeezed his hand around Blaine's ass to press their crotches together, making Blaine thrust out an involuntary groan.