"Come in," Blaine called without thinking.

The door to his dorm room swung open, and Sebastian entered. Blaine groaned internally, wishing he'd pretended not to be in his room. Sebastian sat down on the armchair in the corner of the room without being invited, lounging there as if he owned the place. "You're a hard man to catch. I've been trying to talk to you alone for days."

Blaine folded his arms across his chest. "Maybe I didn't want to talk to you. Did that cross your mind?"

"Perhaps. But you've got nothing to worry about. I came to apologize."

That caught Blaine's attention, because it was so unexpected. "For what?"

"For the way Jack acted, at the Christmas party. I didn't know he would be so rude to you. It was unnecessary."

Blaine paused, trying to find the ulterior motive. "Thank you," he said hesitantly, dropping his hands to his lap. "I actually met a lot of jerks at that party. He wasn't the worst."

"It almost makes me look good in comparison, doesn't it." Sebastian winked at him.

Ah, there was the ulterior motive. Blaine snorted. "Almost. Not quite."

"Well, it's like they say. All the good ones are taken. Oh, that reminds me. My cousin Edward, he's on the list Wes gave you. He's not available anymore. I found out over break that he's in a claim now."

Blaine sighed. Not that any relative of Sebastian's would have been his first choice, but it meant one fewer option on an already short list of options. And he felt a little twinge of jealousy, hearing about someone entering the kind of exclusive claim that he longed for but was not about to get anytime soon.

"Oh, well, good for him," Blaine said halfheartedly. "I'd better cross him off the list before I forget." He pulled the list out of a desk drawer and crossed off Edward Smythe, along with his classmate Travis, who had come back from Christmas break with a cuff on his wrist as well.

Sebastian stood up and walked to the desk, looking at the list over Blaine's shoulder. "Not many choices there," he said dryly.

"Still plenty left," Blaine shot back.

"Tell you what," Sebastian said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I hang out at Scandals some weekends. Always plenty of willing men there. I could get you a fake ID, if you want to come one night. Easy way to solve your problems."

Blaine barely avoided rolling his eyes. "Thanks, Sebastian, but sex with strangers is really not my style."

Sebastian rose his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Could have fooled me. Because it looks to me like you sent away the guy you've known for a year, and went for a stranger instead. And it looks to me like you've got a whole list full of eligible strangers there, and you're still not looking at your old friend at all."

"You're not my old friend, Sebastian."

Sebastian shrugged, his hands still in his pockets. "If you say so." He sauntered out of the room without another word.

Blaine looked back at the list and sighed again. Sebastian was right. These guys were all strangers, except for the small handful of Dalton students who were no more than acquaintances. A date or two wouldn't change things all that much. They'd still be strangers, at least at the beginning. There wasn't enough time. It had already been six weeks. Half of his time used up, and no closer to finding a dom.

And there was something about Sebastian. His personality was grating, but he'd been pretty nice to Blaine lately. It wasn't like they would have to hang out together all the time. He wasn't looking for a boyfriend, just someone to dom him from time to time. And there was no question that Sebastian was capable and, Blaine might as well admit, rather attractive.

He picked up a pencil and added a name to the list. Sebastian Smythe.

-------------------------------

"If we're going to be doing this, I want to have very clear ground rules," Kurt said.

Blaine nodded his agreement.

"Pretty similar to what we said last time. First, you can't come while we're ... doing stuff. Ever. Because if you did ..."

"I get it. If I did it at your command, that would be you domming me for real. And if I did it without you saying it was okay, that would be me stealing control away from you."

Kurt looked very relieved. "I'm so glad you understand."

"What about after I go home? Can I, um, masturbate?" It was an embarrassing question, but Blaine needed to have an answer.

"That's none of my business," Kurt said, blushing beet red. "I'm not your dom. I'm not in charge of your life or anything you do outside when we're ... playing together. You don't need my permission for anything like that."

"Okay," Blaine said quietly. That made sense, especially since he still needed to find someone to actually dom him before his next Sickness. Surely he wouldn't need Kurt's permission for that, so it was logical that things by himself would also be fine. He had to keep reminding himself that no matter what they ended up doing together, Kurt had made it very clear that he didn't want to be Blaine's dom. They were just having fun together, exploring things and helping Kurt figure stuff out.

"Okay, second, no taking off clothes, at all. Not even sweaters or anything. Aside from coats and shoes, whatever we're wearing when we walk into the room, that's what we're wearing the whole time. It ... does things to me, when I see you take clothes off. Even when you're wearing another shirt underneath, like when I washed your hair."

This was a bit disappointing. It was January, and they were wearing heavy sweaters most of the time. But he agreed, because he wanted Kurt to feel as comfortable as possible.

"Third, no touching below the waist."

Blaine smirked. "I know that my feet are very scary for you."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. No touching between the waist and mid-thigh."

"Including the waist and mid-thigh, or not?"

Kurt was fighting back a smile. "Waist and mid-thigh are fine, but nothing in between."

"When you say no touching, do you mean no touching with hands, or no contact at all?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow, smirking. "You're eager to get me off with your feet, is that what you're saying?"

Blaine looked up at him in mock innocence. "Well, it's kind of kinky, but if that's what you want ..."

They both collapsed into giggles.

"Kiss me," Kurt said. Blaine was happy to comply.

-------------------------------

It was practically a routine by now, two weeks later, but Kurt still bounced with happiness when Blaine rang the doorbell on Saturday morning. A blast of arctic air followed Blaine into the house. He took off his snow-covered boots and left them in the bin by the door so as not to dirty the floors.

Standing in the entryway, shivering despite his heavy winter coat and lined jeans, Kurt thought he looked rather nervous. "Can I take that for you?"

"No, I think I'll keep it on for a while. Until I warm up, maybe." Blaine seemed to be looking at him rather intently for some reason, but Kurt let it pass without comment.

"Okay. You still up for that Project Runway marathon we talked about? We could go up to my room and get started."

"Sure," Blaine said, following him up the stairs.

Kurt grabbed the remote and queued up the episodes. "Oh, I forgot, should we grab something to eat before we—" He cut off his words when he turned around. Blaine had taken off his coat, revealing that he was wearing a tank top underneath. An undershirt, essentially, with nothing over it.

Kurt's jaw dropped. Blaine looked amazing, those arms had always been a turn-on for him. But seeing him this way was exactly what Kurt had been trying to avoid when he'd set out the ground rules. He wanted Blaine so badly. Wanted him too much. Wanted too much of him. Blaine knew that, didn't he? Yet here he was, trying to get more than Kurt had offered. Trying to push. Taking the ground rules that Kurt had carefully laid out and using them to manipulate rather than to constrain his behavior.

"Kneel." It was a quick order, almost automatic. A way for Kurt to regain full control of the situation. Blaine sank to his knees immediately, a hopeful smile on his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kurt demanded. He watched Blaine's smile disappear.

"I thought you would like ..."

"You thought I would like this? You thought you could play on a technicality and get me to do something that is not in the rules?"

"If it were summer..."

"But it's not summer, Blaine. When I made the rule about not taking off clothes, we both understood that it would mean long sleeves, because it's winter. You knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes," Blaine whispered hoarsely.

"You disrespected my rules. You wanted more from me. You wanted me to touch you, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because ... I thought it would feel good. And because I thought you would like it. I thought if I offered ..."

"But you didn't offer, Blaine. You didn't ask to change the rules. You didn't ask whether you could do this. You just did it. You're pushing me, even though you know that I ..."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, looking at the ground. "Maybe I should go. Should I leave?"

"Oh no, you are not getting off that easy." Kurt blinked. Where had that come from? He suddenly knew exactly what he was going to do. It was something that should have seemed scary to him, but somehow it seemed completely natural and fitting and ... hot.

"Are you going to punish me?" Blaine asked. He sounded scared.

Kurt hummed thoughtfully, as if he were considering it, even though his mind was already made up. "Not exactly. You didn't technically break the rules. Perhaps I should have been more clear."

Blaine let out a slow breath.

"But I'm not going to give you what you want, either," Kurt continued. "If you want something, especially if you want to change the ground rules, you need to ask for it and not try to manipulate me into giving it to you."

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir."

Kurt walked to him and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "You want to be touched? You're going to get everything except that."

Blaine squeezed his eyes shut tight. Kurt's heart pounded in his chest, watching Blaine kneel there with his eyes closed, his arms bare, his head bowed. Waiting for whatever Kurt would do to him. Waiting for Kurt.

"Don't move," Kurt ordered. He shut off the TV, closed the door to his bedroom, and went into his walk-in closet. He left the door open. Blaine was facing away, so he had enough privacy to change his clothes, and this way he'd be able to see if Blaine turned or moved.

He scanned his clothes, trying to decide what would be the biggest possible tease. He slid hangers one by one across the rack frantically, trying to hurry because Blaine was waiting for him. Until he realized that making Blaine wait was part of the point. He deliberately slowed his pace, taking his time and pondering the options. Every minute that passed was another minute that Blaine was waiting on his knees in the bedroom, and that knowledge sent all the blood rushing out of Kurt's head and into ... places that he was not yet ready to think about.

Kurt wriggled into an extremely tight pair of gold sparkly jeans. He'd never had the courage to wear them out of the house, but they were perfect for what he was planning. They should be extremely distracting for Blaine. After much deliberation, he settled on a black corset-style vest. He always wore it over a shirt, but this time he put it on with nothing underneath. It wasn't a real corset, and it hung much more loosely around his chest and stomach than a real one would, but he tied it as tightly as he could. The press of the laces directly against his skin behind his neck and at the small of his back sent a pleasant shiver down his spine. Finally, he added the knee-high black boots that he'd worn the first time they'd met for coffee. He strutted out of the closet as confident as he'd ever felt, and walked to the bed.

He grabbed a pillow and tossed it on the floor at the side of the bed, about two feet back. "Here. You're going to be kneeling for a long time, and I don't want you to get hurt. Kneel on this."

Blaine scurried forward on his knees, using his hands on the floor a bit to move faster, until he was kneeling on the pillow. Kurt shivered. Blaine had basically just crawled across the floor to him, and it was the hottest thing ever.

Standing there looking down at Blaine, Kurt's confidence faltered. "Is this okay?" he asked nervously. "You don't have to ... I mean, you can always say no, or safeword, I don't know if ..."

Blaine started babbling. "Oh my god, it is so okay. More than okay. It's so hot. Kurt, you're so hot, I can't even tell you how amazing this is. Please don't stop. Please, I want you to..."

Kurt's certainty came right back, like flipping a switch. He arched an eyebrow. "You like to talk, hmm? Good. You're going to be talking a lot."

Kurt sat on the edge of the bed and then pivoted, stretching himself out. He set the heel of one boot on top of the footboard and kicked his other leg over, crossing them at the ankles. His head landed on a stack of pillows so that his upper body was slightly inclined. He reached his arms above his head, resting the back of his hands against the wall behind him.

"Kurt ..." Blaine breathed out.

"Look at me the entire time. You can look anywhere on my face or my body, but you may not close your eyes and you may not look away. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good." Kurt traced a finger up and down along his other forearm. "Recite the alphabet backwards."

Blaine looked startled for a minute, but he drew in a breath and began. "Z Y X. W V. U. T S R. Um ... Q. P O. N M ... L. Um ... J, no, K, J. I. H. G F E D C B A."

"Good. Now all the states and their capitals."

"Alabama—"

"From west to east."

"Washington, Olympia. Oregon, Salem. California, Sacramento."

Kurt had no idea whether he was getting them right or wrong, or whether he skipped any states. He just let Blaine keep talking while he fondled his own arms, slowly, reveling in the sensation of his fingertips against his bare skin. The sight of Blaine kneeling on the floor, gaping at Kurt's slowly-moving hand, struggling to call up the next state and its capital for no reason other than Kurt telling him to, the whole thing sent Kurt's mind reeling. Somewhere around Tennessee, he traced a finger down the line of his neck and heard Blaine draw in a sharp breath. Kurt's pants felt tighter, his cock twitching with excitement. Blaine finally ended with "Maine, Augusta," Kurt's fingers sliding back and forth along his collarbone.

Kurt stroked the crevice where his neck met his shoulder. "Mmm, excellent. Now the Presidents, in reverse order, as far back as you can go. If you don't know the next one, stop and say so."

He started quickly with Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and then slowed down, remembering them one by one. Finally he stalled. "... Eisenhower. Um ... there's another one between him and Roosevelt, but I don't remember who it is. I'm sorry, sir."

Kurt didn't mention that Blaine had done better than he could have. He'd completely forgotten that Lyndon B. Johnson came between Nixon and Kennedy until Blaine had listed him. "Hmm," he said disapprovingly, even though he was extremely impressed. He turned his whole body, lounging on his side and facing Blaine. He propped his head up on one arm and caressed his thigh with the other hand. Blaine's jaw dropped.

"Tell me how I look," Kurt ordered.

"So hot, oh my god, you look amazing."

"Be more specific."

"Your skin is so pale it's like it glows, and your eyes, they're so clear and beautiful, I can never decide what color they are, but when you give me orders, they look as cold as ice, it sends shivers ... good shivers, like I need to obey because I don't even know what you would do if I didn't, but I want to so bad, I'll never find out what you'd do. Your ... your fingers, so long and delicate, and your arms ... you're more muscular than I would have guessed. And your legs, they go on forever. Those pants, oh my god, are they even pants or did you just paint your legs with gold sequins, the way they hug your ass and your ... your ..." Blaine swallowed hard.

Kurt drew in a sharp breath. That had escalated more than he'd planned, and he was fully hard now, listening to Blaine describe him in words he never would have imagined. And the pants were too damn tight, his erection was completely obvious and Blaine was staring straight at it. Fuck.

He needed to cool this down a bit. Kurt rolled onto his back, hands clasped across his stomach.

"Name three shades of black."

"Um ... charcoal, midnight, true black."

"Now three shades of red."

"Crimson, maroon, brick."

"Now three shades of yellow."

"Saffron, cornflower—"

"Cornflower is blue."

"Sorry, um ... goldenrod. Oh shit. Sorry. Shit."

It would have been the cheesiest thing ever if it had been intentional. Goldenrod for Kurt's cock in sparkly gold pants. Except it hadn't been intentional. It had been out of nowhere. It had been an accidental escalation in the middle of what was supposed to be cooling down, and Kurt could not take it. He hadn't even been touched, but he was seconds away from coming in his pants.

"Fuck," he said out loud. "Wait here," he told Blaine, and then he got up and ran to the bathroom.

He shouldn't do this, he told himself, popping the button on his pants and sliding the zipper down. It wasn't right, with Blaine waiting on his knees just on the other side of that door. He shoved his pants and underwear down to mid-thigh. It wasn't fair, when he'd forbidden Blaine from doing the same thing. He wrapped his hand around his cock, fingers trembling.

It should be embarrassing, he thought. Blaine knew exactly what he was doing in here, exactly why he'd run off. He stroked his cock and groaned at the touch. He would never do this in front of someone else, and what was the difference, doing it in the bathroom when Blaine knew exactly what was going on. But somehow it was kind of hot. He stroked himself faster, let out a louder groan. Blaine must be overhearing this. He'd been loud enough for it to be heard through the door. It only took a few more strokes and he came hard, blacking out for a second and gasping with relief.

The embarrassment hit as a delayed reaction. He felt his cheeks heat up, and looked in the mirror to see his guilty blush. How could he possibly go back out there after this? But there was no choice. He'd told Blaine to wait, and Blaine would wait all goddamn day, he knew. He cleaned himself up quickly and pulled his pants back on, then cracked the door open and peeked out.

Blaine was kneeling with his head tipped back, biting his lip and clenching his hands in fists beside him. He turned his head to look at Kurt the moment the door creaked open. "Please, please, I need to come," he pleaded in a hoarse whisper.

There really was no point in being embarrassed here, not with a sub who begged so prettily. Kurt opened the door the rest of the way and did his best diva walk over to where Blaine was kneeling. He bend down from the waist and whispered right beside Blaine's ear. "No."

He straightened back up. "You owe me one more shade of yellow."

"Amber," Blaine gasped.

"Good, sweetheart, thank you. You're doing so well. You're being so good for me."

"Thank you, Sir," Blaine said. Kurt waited a beat, then another beat, and finally he saw Blaine's eyes widen as he realized the meaning of Kurt's verb tense. They weren't done.

Kurt opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a comfortable gray hoodie. He unzipped it and helped Blaine into it, then put his hands on Blaine's shoulder and elbow and helped him stand. "Are you okay? Are your legs cramped?"

"A little bit, but I'm fine, I just need to stretch."

"Okay, do what you need to make yourself comfortable. Um, except not that. I'm going to call Rachel and Mercedes and see whether they can join us for lunch."

Blaine groaned and threw himself face down across the bed. Kurt laughed. "I don't hear you using a safeword."

"yrmzg"

"I can't hear you with your face in the bed like that," Kurt quipped.

Blaine turned his head to one side. "You're amazing. The best. Really the best."

-------------------------------

Blaine let himself into his parents' house that evening, Kurt's words echoing in his head. You did so well, sweetheart. So patient. Such a good boy. He'd felt proud of himself, until Kurt had opened his mouth again. I'm sure your parents want to see you for dinner.

His family wasn't here. Kurt still thought he was coming to Lima every weekend to see his parents. Blaine wasn't sure why he hadn't told Kurt the truth yet. It wouldn't matter now, that he was coming just to see Kurt, now that they were good friends. But it had built up into such a big thing, all the lies that had come before, for two months now. He'd made it a bigger deal than it was.

Blaine's footsteps seemed loud as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom. You don't need my permission, Kurt had told him. It was practically the same as granting permission, wasn't it? If only Kurt would take it upon himself to give permission.

Blaine stripped his clothes off and lay down on the bed. He didn't deserve this. He was going to do it anyway. He had to. He was so horny, after Kurt had quietly teased him the entire afternoon, some of it in public. He had to relieve the tension. And anyway, Kurt wasn't his dom. He couldn't forbid it.

You were so good, Blaine. So good. I'll have a reward for you tomorrow.

He put his hand on his cock and nearly sobbed with the pleasure of it. Maybe he'd tell Kurt tomorrow, that he came to Lima just to see him. But maybe then Kurt would decide he didn't deserve his reward. Blaine shut his eyes. All he wanted was to please Kurt. It would be so terrible to be a disappointment.