Blaine arrived late at breakfast the next morning, to find Rachel, Kurt, and his mother already seated. He wasn't surprised at their silence, since dinner the night before had definitely been awkward with Helen looking at Kurt as if he might steal the silverware and Rachel giving him odd looks out of the corner of her eye. He had asked Kurt after dinner if Rachel had said or done anything after he had left them in the backyard, but Kurt just replied that everything was fine and that he shouldn't worry.

The chef brought in serving platters of French toast, bacon, and eggs that were quickly passed around the table. Blaine normally had orange juice with breakfast, but the chef told him that they had run out the day before, so he resigned himself to settling for milk. He had just taken a few bites of his food when the chef reappeared with a pitcher of orange juice.

"I found this sitting on the top shelf of the refrigerator. I don't know how I missed it the first time. I think I'll have to have my eyes checked out," she related with an embarrassed grin.

Blaine thanked her for the juice and looked over at Kurt, sure that he had had something to do with the magically appearing beverage, but Kurt was studiously avoiding his gaze, suddenly very interested in the plaster work on the walls.

Making a mental note to pursue the topic with him later, Blaine decided to try and get the conversation started. "Mother, what are your plans for the day?"

"I have a meeting of the Horticulture Society today to begin planning some improvements to the Botanical Gardens. I also have a dinner meeting which will run late, so I probably won't see you until tomorrow. I'm glad I have the Society to get me through the winter months when I can't be out in the garden. I know we have the conservatory, but I really miss my flower garden at this time of year."

Kurt perked up a little bit as Helen was talking and Blaine held his breath, sure that at any moment the flowers on the wallpaper were going to start blooming before their eyes, but the moment passed without disaster. Maybe Kurt would be able to control himself.

"I'm going over to the women's shelter today," Rachel volunteered. "We are planning a President's Day performance and I am teaching the kids their song and dance routine today. You should see them, Blaine. They are all so cute and eager to please. There is one girl who reminds me so much of myself at that age. She doesn't quite have my natural talent, but the drive is definitely there. I have been thinking about trying to get her signed up for some formal lessons. I just need to convince her mother to let me pay for them. Maybe we should set up a scholarship? I'll have to look into that. Anyway, you will have to come and see the performance. I'll put it on your calendar."

"Sounds great, Rachel. What do you think, Kurt? Want to join me for an evening of pint-sized kids singing about Washington and Lincoln?"

Rachel let a pained expression reach her face for just a split second before pasting on a smile. "Kurt, of course you are invited too. If you are still here, that is," she choked out from behind gritted teeth.

Kurt smiled sweetly at her reluctant invitation. "Thanks Rachel. I'd love to attend. And I think the idea of a scholarship sounds wonderful. Blaine told me all about Camp Wenatchee and I think it is amazing what your family is doing for kids and the arts. It would be great to see it extended even more."

"Yes! Some people just don't get how important the arts are. We spend so much time appreciating music, theater, and dance, but people don't stop and think about how the artists they are admiring had to be taught and nurtured. If we stop teaching children about the arts we are depriving ourselves of generations of future artists." Rachel set her fork down on her plate, caught up in her passion for the subject. "I lived for applause when I was a child."

The two of them went on to talk for several minutes about theater. Kurt didn't have much knowledge about current works, but impressed Rachel with his knowledge of the classics. They were in the middle of a debate about the best Shakespeare tragedy when Rachel faltered and seemed to remember that she didn't like Kurt very much. She looked uncertain for a moment, torn between continuing their kindred-spirit conversation and relegating him once more to the role of unwanted intruder. She abruptly changed the subject and asked Blaine when he would be returning to work.

"I think I'll take the rest of the week off and help Kurt get settled in. Matter of fact, Kurt, if you're done maybe I can take you on a tour of the house now?"

Kurt nodded and carefully placed his napkin on the table before rising and thanking Helen and Rachel for breakfast. The two men left the room and started exploring the rest of the rooms on the main floor. They made their way through the kitchen, formal dining room and the enormous ballroom before ending up in the conservatory. Blaine watched as Kurt explored the plant filled room with delight. It was almost everyone's favorite room in the house and it looked like Kurt was now under its spell as well. Next, he led the way downstairs, which contained, among other things, a lavish home theater, a game room, a bar and a bowling alley.

"These rooms made me a very popular guy in high school," Blaine noted. "We would almost always end up here on the weekends. My parents really should have thought twice before putting in a sound-proofed bar when they had a teenager in the house. It was good for me, though. I learned quite early on that I am an overly affectionate drunk and it was good that I was able to learn it in the comfort and security of my own home and not in a bar somewhere. I shudder to think what damage I could have done if I had been set out upon the world like that."

Kurt tilted his head, as if trying to picture Blaine back in high school. "I just can't see it. You seem so in control and formal. I think I'd love to see 'Inappropriate Blaine'. Speaking of in control and formal, what it going on with the matinee idol hair? You look just like the actors in the movies I used to go see back in the '40s and '50s. Why are you torturing your curls like this? What did they ever do to you?"

"My mother likes it this way, so I usually style it like this when I am here."

"Well, I liked it better before."

Blaine felt a charge in the air and then his scalp began to tingle slightly. He moved one hand up to his head only to discover that his hair gel had disappeared and instead of his neat combed down hairstyle he now sported a full head of curls.

"There, much better," Kurt exclaimed.

"Kurt, what are you doing? You can't just do things like that. What if someone saw?"

At just that moment Blaine heard the door at the top of the stairs open, followed by the click of high heeled shoes.

"Blaine, are the two of you down here?" At the sound of his mother's voice Blaine turned to Kurt in a panic. She had seen his hair at breakfast and there was no way she wouldn't notice that he now looked like a cocker-spaniel puppy. He motioned frantically to Kurt, silently pleading with him to put his hair back the way it had been. Kurt pouted and looked for a moment like he wasn't going to comply, but Blaine felt the tingling once again and suddenly the curls were gone. His mother appeared around the corner a second later, unaware that her son's heart was beating a mile a minute. He tried to concentrate as she told them that she was leaving for her meeting, but he could feel one curl at his forehead start to loosen from its hold. It worked its way out of the gel and began a slow return to its natural state. Kurt just smiled at him innocently, as if he was not fully aware of what was going on, but Blaine knew that he was controlling the curl just to torture him. Yet another thing he was going to have to talk with Kurt about later.

After the hair fiasco, Kurt thought it would be a good idea to give Blaine a little space, so he left him reading in the library and found a cozy spot in the conservatory to curl up in, armed with several back issues of Vogue. Sitting in a lounge chair next to a fountain and an orange tree, Kurt felt at ease for the first time since reaching Chicago. As he flipped through the magazines — absorbing the colors, lines, and textures — his mind began racing with designs of his own. Unable to get them out of his head, he concentrated on the table beside him and picked up the sketch book that appeared there. He began drawing pieces of clothing on featureless models, but as time progressed the drawings took inspiration from the people he had met so far. Items that would be perfect for Rachel, Quinn, and Helen filled the pages. He then turned his mind towards men's fashion drawing several outfits that would look wonderful on Blaine and several for himself. Engrossed in his work he lost track of time, but hours must have passed because when he next looked up the sun had set and the clock showed that the dinner hour was approaching.

A rustling of ferns nearby warned him that someone else had entered the conservatory, so he wasn't surprised when Blaine appeared.

"Hey, I've been looking for you. We have about an hour or so before dinner, in case you want to change. Rachel has invited her boyfriend and my best friend, Santana, is also coming. I think you will find her vastly amusing. And offensive. You two might have a lot in common, actually. I think the room might collapse under the weight of all the snark and sarcasm."

"Hey, I'm not that bad, am I?"

"No, but Santana is and I have a feeling you might rise to the occasion. Just ignore almost everything she says and you should be fine." Blaine leaned against the wall and crossed one foot over the other. "What have you got there?" he asked, noticing the sketch book on Kurt's lap.

"I've been sketching some clothing designs. I guess you and your family have inspired me. Would you like to see?" Blaine grinned and joined Kurt on the lounge chair. He flipped through the book, stopping on several sketches to point out elements that he particularly liked.

"These are great. I can't believe you were able to come up with these so quickly."

Kurt blushed, taking the book back from Blaine. "Thanks. Just something to pass the time. I should go up and change for dinner. I don't want to be late. See you in an hour?"

Kurt hurried back to his room, knowing that he had to pick out a great outfit for that evening now that more guests were coming. Blaine had told him that the family didn't dress formally for dinner, but that didn't mean that Kurt wasn't going to look his best. Looking through his sketch pad he wondered if anything he had drawn tonight would work. He finally decided on a sketch of a dark gray waistcoat, dark gray pants with a wide stripe of burgundy down the outside of each leg, and a blue-gray shirt. To this he added a silk scarf that he wound around his neck and tucked into the vest like an ascot and a pocket watch. He styled his hair even higher than before, inspired by the quiffs the 1950s, then took one last look in the full length mirror. Not perfect, but it would do.

He entered the living room minutes later to find Blaine and Rachel already present, along with young man he didn't recognize. Kurt's eyes went right to Blaine and scanned his slim fitting black pants and short-sleeved, red cable knit sweater over a white button-up shirt that had the sleeves rolled up a bit. His ever present bowtie was red and white striped. The others were caught up in conversation, so Kurt was able to covertly admire the way that Blaine's pants accentuated all the right parts of his body. Cheeks burning, Kurt quickly looked away, afraid to be caught looking where he shouldn't.

Blaine looked up and saw Kurt hovering in the doorway. "Kurt, you're here! Come meet Finn, Rachel's boyfriend."

Kurt crossed the room and held out his hand to Finn. "Pleased to meet you."

Finn was extremely tall and moved as if he didn't yet have confidence in where his arms and legs ended. He leapt up to shake Kurt's hand and nearly up-ended a side table, barely saving the lamp on top of it from smashing to the ground. He cast a self-conscious smile over his shoulder at Rachel, who just shook her head with an amused look.

"Um…nice to meet you dude. Rachel told me all about —" A well placed elbow from Rachel stopped him cold and he stuttered a little before continuing. "I...I mean, no, Rachel hasn't told me anything about you. Of course she hasn't. In fact I've never heard of you before. What was your —" Rachel hissed his name and prevented him from fumbling further by wrapping a hand around his arm and dragging him back to his chair.

Blaine was just about to offer Kurt a before dinner drink when the last member of their party joined them. The woman who entered the room was exotically beautiful, with long black hair pulled back into a high pony tail and bright red lips. Her dress was that of a predator — a tight fitting sleeveless black leather dress that flared just below the knee and ended mid-calf, topped off with a wide leather and metal belt in red, silver and copper. The effect was stunning and left the viewer in no doubt as to the attitude of the woman wearing it. Within seconds she had joined their small group and reached over to give Blaine a quick, hard hug. She glanced around at the others and zeroed in on Rachel.

"Rachel, lovely to see you. Is the bulb burned out in your closet light again? It looks like you got dressed in the dark. And Finn, glad to see you could join us. Are they going to miss you at the top of the beanstock? God, I can't even look at the two of you together. I keep waiting for Rachel to push you to the ground and stake you down, Lilliputian style."

"And we're off," Blaine murmured softly in Kurt's ear. "Santana," he said a little bit louder, "I'm happy you could make it."

Santana acknowledged Blaine with a nod and turned to look Kurt up and down closely.

"Well, well, well. Blaine here sure went out and got himself a yummy piece of man candy. Blaine, I have to say your taste is improving. That last guy you brought around looked like he belonged in a production of The Bland and the Mediocre. I much prefer Mr. Tall, Pale, and Gorgeous here."

"Santana, I told you Kurt is just a friend. Please don't make him feel uncomfortable this early in the evening. Can you just hold off on being yourself for a little while longer?"

"Sorry, did you just say something? I was mesmerized by your guy over here. Did I miss the announcement that they were filming the next Lord of the Rings movie around here because I think they have lost one of their elves. Is Orlando Bloom here too?"

Kurt didn't quite understand all of the references Santana was making, but he definitely got the gist of it. He wondered if anyone ever had a real conversation with her or if she kept everyone at arm's length with her quips and snarky attitude. "Wow, Blaine wasn't kidding about you, was he?" Kurt marveled in amazement.

"Blaine, have you been talking trash about me again? I've told you to stop that. You are no good at it. You just don't have the natural talent like I do."

"Who me? I don't know what the elf is referring too. He must be imagining things." Blaine smiled slightly and put a hand on Kurt's back to lightly direct him towards the dining room. "I believe dinner is just about ready, so why don't we go on in?"

Kurt could think of little other than the warmth and weight of Blaine's hand sitting in the middle of his back. He was torn between relief and disappointment when the contact was lost as Blaine pulled a chair out for him and then moved onto this own seat at the table.

As dinner was served and everyone began tucking into their meal, Rachel gathered up enough nerve to try and hit back at Santana for her earlier comment.

"Santana, I ran into one of your old law professors at a function lately. He seemed to be under the mistaken impression that you dropped out to become a stripper. I'm sorry, but I didn't have time to correct his misunderstanding."

Rachel's shot was a complete miss, garnering only amusement from the intended target. "See Kurt, I was going to law school, but it was making my father a little too happy, so I needed to make a change. I started modeling here and there just for fun and that really made him angry, which was, you know, kind of awesome, so I took some time off school and here I am, more than a year later, a full-time model. I'll go back and finish my degree up sooner or later, but don't tell my parents that. I want to torture them a little bit more." The devilish smile she wore grew even more are she spun her attention back to Rachel. "Don't worry Rachel, I'll make sure to correct any false impressions your college professors have about you. Oh, wait…you didn't go to college, did you? Oops, my bad."

The fury on Rachel's face was evident, but she wisely held her tongue, knowing that she was of no match to Santana in a verbal joust. Choosing to ignore the other woman completely she asked the others opinions on the upcoming Academy Awards. Kurt had nothing to offer on the subject, so he just observed as Santana and Blaine debated with Rachel on the merits of niche independent films versus larger crowd pleasing movies. The conversation soon devolved into Rachel picking apart the performances of the female nominees, explaining in great detail how she would have performed each role better.

"Rachel, your constant talk about yourself is interfering with my digestion," Santana drawled.

Blaine sensed a storm brewing and stepped in to try and divert everyone's attention. "Finn, how is coaching going? How are the kids doing this season?"

Finn had been volunteering as a football and basketball coach at the local YMCA and was currently in the middle of basketball season. "Dude, you should see them out there. They are having a lot of fun and I think this year we might actually make it to the post-season. Coaching has been great too! The kids have only hid my whistle three times this year."

Finn gestured widely with his hands as he spoke and accidently knocked over the vase of flowers in the middle of the table, sending water everywhere. It took all of Kurt's will power not to wish the water away. It was not in his nature to let little disasters like that go unfixed. Blaine looked up from the end of the table where he was sopping up water with a napkin, to give Kurt a thankful nod. Well, at least someone was happy with his inaction.

Once the water was cleaned up and the flowers righted again, Blaine brought the conversation back to Finn in an attempt to lessen his embarrassment. "So, have you decided yet what you are going to do now that you are out of high school?"

Finn shot Rachel a look, as if expecting her to answer for him. When she made no attempt to jump in he replied "My mom wants me to go work with my uncle in the family business, but I don't want to succeed just because I'm a Hudson," he sent a guilty look to Blaine, afraid that his comments would be seen as a criticism of his return to Anderson Worldwide. When he got an encouraging smile from the older man he continued on. "I…I was thinking of maybe starting my own business. I'd like to get ahead on my own merits. Stand on my own two feet."

"Please Finn, who do you think you are kidding?" Santana snorted. "If you weren't a trust fund baby you would be looking forward to a life of asking me if I want fries with my meal. Or maybe a career as the newest player for the Harlem Globetrotters. It depends on if they have room for someone of your size in the team bus. Seriously, where do they even have a Big and Freakishly Tall store around here? You look like you belong in a Tim Burton film...or on a floating barge with a bikini-clad Princess Leia chained to your enormous middle."

Blaine and Rachel protested loudly, while Finn just looked self-conscious. Kurt glanced around at everyone, thoroughly confused. Finn was really tall, but didn't seem overweight to him. And who was Princess Leia and why would royalty be chained to someone?

"Hey, I'm just keeping it real. I think we can all agree that no one is going to be asking Finn to join a think tank anytime soon." Santana took a moment to chuckle at her own joke.

"You're just jealous because Finn has everything you don't. He's compassionate and wants to help others succeeds. He thinks about other people before he thinks of himself. He doesn't spend all of his time tearing people down to make himself feel better," Rachel bristled with indignation.

Finn gave Rachel a big smile and leaned over to give her a kiss. Santana just made a face as if she had smelled something foul and looked away in disgust. A truce seemed to have been called and Santana behaved for the rest of the meal, even asking Kurt some polite questions about his past and the book he was writing about Peter. After dessert was finished Blaine suggested that they play a game in the bowling alley downstairs. When Kurt confessed that he didn't know how to play Finn volunteered to give him a quick tutorial.

Blaine, Santana, and Rachel hung back at the bar while Kurt and Finn walked over to the bowling lane and waited for the computer to set up the pins.

"So, Kurt, are you and Blaine…I mean…are you…do you…well, you just seem really gay, right?" Kurt was endlessly entertained by the look of horror that filled Finn's face as his stumbling sentence came to an end. "Not that there is anything wrong with that, dude. Cause there isn't. God, of course not. I didn't mean to imply… I mean, I'm down with the gays, you know. Not down low, though. That is something different. I'm definitely not that. I've got Rachel and…I think I should just stop talking now."

Finn looked as if he wished the ground would open up and swallow him and Kurt couldn't help but laugh. He promised Finn that he wasn't offended and confirmed that yes, he was gay, but no, he and Blaine weren't together. Kurt was surprised to find that he really liked Finn. He found him oddly charming and liked the earnestness with which he approached everything. He seemed to frequently put his foot in his mouth, but it seemed to come from naivety and an eagerness to be liked, not from a place of malice. Kurt had watched his interactions with Rachel and decided that they actually made a cute couple. He seemed to bring out the best in the girl, who dropped her bristly persona around him. However, Kurt sensed that Rachel was more ambitious that Finn and wondered if that would cause problems further down the road.

After their bowling tutorial was finished Kurt took a seat on one of the stools at the bar and watched Santana as she mixed herself a drink.

"You're new, so I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, but I just want to make sure that you realize that if you hurt him you won't even get a chance to regret it before I come down on you with all the wrath of one of those scorned women on Lifetime TV," she said, taking a sip of her drink. "Blaine is the only person in this world that means anything to me and I will end anyone who doesn't treat him right. Understood?"

"Understood. And the same goes for you. You had better watch you vicious tongue around him. I'm not sure why people let you get away with talking to them like that, but I don't like it and you had better not hurt Blaine by speaking before you think."

Santana considered him for a moment with a serious look on her face before breaking out in a smile. "I like you, Legolas, I really do. Let's get our drink on."

Kurt watched as she started pulling colorful bottles off of the shelves. "Oh, I really don't drink alcohol. It doesn't really agree with me."

"Come on, Angel Eyes! One little drink won't hurt you. Don't worry, I won't try and get you drunk and take advantage of you. You're safe with Aunty Tana."

After a few minutes of mixing and a rather impressive show with the cocktail shaker she pressed a tall glass full of a colorful liquid into his hands.

"Bottoms up!"

Kurt tentatively sipped the beverage, which was surprisingly tasty. It had been a very long time since he had tried alcohol. Recipes had changed so much over the years; Modern alcohol probably wouldn't have the negative effect on him that the old stuff did. He continued to sip his drink as he turned his attention to Blaine and Rachel, who were arguing over who would bowl first. Santana carried her drink over to the lane and joined in the argument, claiming that they should bowl in order of height, which meant that the two of them would be at the end of the line. The quarrel seemed good natured and one they had had before, so Kurt just sat back and watched their interpersonal dynamic. Despite Santana's earlier sniping at Rachel the two didn't seem to totally dislike each other. Finn and Rachel were now joking around with her, threatening to use the bowling ball that she favored.

Kurt was distracted from his thoughts when a napkin and a swizzle stick tumbled past him, floating in mid-air. Oh oh — this wasn't good. He carefully set his half-empty glass on the bar and called out quietly to Blaine to get his attention. Blaine looked up at the sound of his name and left Finn and the girls to come to Kurt's side.

"Hey, are you going to bowl with us?"

"Blaine, I'm afraid that you are probably about to get very angry with me."

"What? Why?"

"I told Santana I shouldn't drink, but she made me such a lovely cocktail and it would have been rude not to accept. It has been so long that I might have underestimated the adverse effect alcohol has on my…on my…" Kurt broke off with a loud hiccup and reached up to cover his mouth, his eyes open wide.

"Kurt, don't worry about it. Everyone gets a little drunk sometimes. Nothing to be —" Blaine's assurances died in his throat as a box of paper umbrellas on the shelf behind the bar opened by itself and dozens of the little umbrellas floated out. They swirled in a pattern over the bar, opening and closing in sequence before sailing off towards the staircase. Behind the bar, the contents of the bottles were bubbling and swirling like lava lamps and several were changing color every few seconds. Blaine turned in disbelief to Kurt, unsure of what he was seeing.

"Um…as I was saying, alcohol has an adver…adv…bad effect on my powers. I kind of lose control. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Blaine whipped his head around to the group still squabbling near the bowling lane, but they were oblivious to the show going on at the bar. He lightly grabbed Kurt's arm and pulled him up from his stool towards the game room, shutting the door behind them once they were inside.

"How far do your powers reach?" he asked, watching as a pin ball machine lit up as if being controlled by a phantom player. "If we stay in here will stuff stop happening out in the bar?"

"I think…I think so, but I don't know. It has been a really long time since I…Hey, have I ever told you that you kind of remind me of a puppy I used to know?"

"What? Kurt, can you focus here? How do we fix this? Is this going to wear off anytime soon?"

"You are just so happy and eager to please and you look at me with those big beautiful eyes and I just think 'puppy'. I think it is the hair too. When it's curly it looks just like the hair of this dog that one of my former connections owned. You wouldn't believe the resemblance. Here, I'll show you."

"No, Kurt, I believe you! Don't —" Blaine's protests were in vain and he watched in horror as a puppy appeared out of thin air. Kurt dropped down to his knees and held his arms wide open, which encouraged the animal to run over to them, barking happily. Kurt gathered the dog in his arms, laughing as it licked his face.

"See Blaine! Look at his curly black hair and his beautiful brown eyes. Doesn't he look just like you? Well, your eyes aren't brown. More of a golden caramel color. But it isn't the color that reminded me of you. It is the expression. See?" Kurt held his hand under the dog's chin and held his face up towards Blaine.

"Kurt, get rid of the dog, please," Blaine implored with one eye on the door. "We can't let the others see him. How would we explain how he got here?"

"No, I don't want to get rid of him! He is so cute. I want to keep him. And I think he needs a friend."

Two more small dogs popped into the room and began running in excited figure eights around Blaine's feet. He reached down and pulled the puppy out of Kurt's arms before raising the other man to his feet. He placed his hands on Kurt's shoulders to capture his attention away from the dogs. "Kurt, I need you to concentrate. Are you paying attention?" He waited for Kurt to give a slightly uncoordinated nod before continuing. "Santana, Rachel and Finn are just on the other side of that door and they are going to come looking for us any second. I won't be able to explain how three dogs got in here, so I need you to pull yourself together and make them disappear. Can you do that for me?"

Kurt was able to focus long enough to comprehend the worry in Blaine's voice. "Yes, I'll try. I'm not sure how much control I have though." Kurt turned his attention to the puppies, concentrating very hard on doing as Blaine asked. It took a minute or two, but he was finally able to make the animals disappear, with no sign of them having been there.

Blaine gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I'm going to tell the others that you aren't feeling well and that we need to cut the night short. Can you stay in here for me? I don't want you to go out there until we know that you have your powers under control."

He nodded and Blaine slipped out of the door. Kurt backed up against the wall, sliding down it until he was seated once again. He could hear Blaine making his excuses to the others and their resulting cries of sympathy. It was several minutes before he heard footfalls retreating up the stairs and a few more before Blaine returned to the game room. He came in with a comic look around the room, looking under a table and behind the door, overplaying the moment as if to try and cheer Kurt up.

He walked over and sank down to the floor next to Kurt. "Well, that was an adventure."

"Blaine, I don't know what to say. I knew better. I shouldn't have taken that drink. I swear, I'll never do it again —"

"Kurt, don't worry about it. It all turned out alright. I'm no picnic around alcohol either, remember? Maybe you and I will just be the official designated drivers from now on, OK?" He smiled over at Kurt who gave a sad smile in return. "And hey, that puppy was pretty cute. I'll take it as a compliment that it reminded me of you."

Kurt groaned, embarrassed now that he had sobered up enough to regain control of his facilities.

"I think maybe it is best if we turned in for the night, what do you say?" Blaine asked, reaching over to lightly run his hand up and down Kurt's arm.

"You go on ahead. I think I am going to stay down here until I have completely sobered up. I don't want to scare Kathleen by making the rugs dance or anything."

"Would you like me to stay with you?"

"Actually, I'd like to be alone for a while, if you don't mind." Blaine looked reluctant to leave him, so Kurt pressed on. "Please, this was really embarrassing and I just need to lick my wounds. Ugh, no pun intended."

Blaine gave a small laugh. "There is the Kurt I know. I'll head up, but please let me know if you need anything, OK?"

Kurt remained in the game room for about an hour after Blaine left, running through the events of the day and trying to keep his mind off of how it ended. Eventually he got up and returned to his bedroom. As he got ready for the night he swore to himself that he would try harder tomorrow. He was going to fit in here if it was the last thing he did.