“Could this weekend get any more perfect?” Kurt sighed happily as he collapsed down onto the bed beside Blaine. Shifting up the bed to snuggle into Blaine’s side, Kurt watched his boyfriend dog ear the page of his book and put it down.
“Half our two groups have the flu and we had to cancel a show...” Blaine chuckled curiously.
Inevitably, once one person got the flu on that bus, the rest were sure to follow. Now in Dallas, they were lucky that they were spending a few days in each major Texan city before another long bus drive. It ensured some rest time for the Warblers and New Directioners that had all come down with flu symptoms but they sadly had to cancel one of their shows.
No-one wanted to disappoint their amazing fans but their health came first.
“Ok no that’s not perfect, I meant that we get to bunk together because we’re thankfully not sick and our babysitter is out of town for the next 36 hours”
“Our babysitter? Lindsay might be in New York for the weekend but Mitch is still down the hall”
“But he’s looking after everyone who has the flu...” Kurt giggled and moved up the bed til his nose was just touching Blaine’s “All I want is a proper date”
“We can’t leave the hotel...” Blaine sung and pressed his lips to Kurt’s gently. He loved being close to Kurt like this even if they spent the last four weeks hiding their growing love. It had been killing Kurt not telling Mercedes about how happy he was but sneaking around was becoming too much fun.
“That’s why they invented room service...” the bronze haired boy chuckled and pecked his boyfriend’s lips one last time before rolling off the bed and finding the menu. Flicking through the pages, he screws his nose up at the desserts page “Would it hurt if we snuck out a little later for ice-cream at that little place down the street?”
“What Lindsay doesn’t know, won’t hurt her”
“So true”
Blaine and Kurt picked out what they want from the room service menu and ordered it before finding a movie to watch on TV. They didn’t get many channels in their room so they settled for some Lifetime movie with a plot they could almost predict. Snuggling together on one of the beds, they ate their burgers and salad in Kurt’s case contently. After weeks of hiding everything from all of their friends, the pair were enjoying their first normal night together since their first kiss in Portland.
They would both easily admit that keeping up with this relationship was hard. They had to sneak away just to be close to one another like they wanted to. Testing the waters, they sat beside each other on the bus a couple times but if it became too frequent there was usually a stern look or intervention by Lindsay.
Sneaking around was almost as hard as having to deal with being constantly watched by Lindsay. Blaine adored the young woman and everything she did for him but she was always there, always keeping an eye on them, always stepping in before anything happened. They both knew it was for their own good but Blaine in particular was starting to get sick of it. He just wanted some freedom.
Freedom came with a price and that sadly involved his disapproving parents. Still unsure about how to talk to them about all this, Blaine wasn’t ready to come out to them or the whole world for that matter. He was too comfortable in his little bubble of safety to pluck up the courage to realise what truly made him happy... being with Kurt.
The teenager hadn’t been happier in his life than when he was with Kurt. The bronze haired boy understood him and accepted him for who he was and that’s all Blaine ever wanted in life. If he was so happy, why was he so scared?
As the movie they had been watching came to an end, Kurt started to pack up their plates ready for room service to take them away. Dusting any crumbs off his jeans, he then held his hand out to Blaine “Come on, I need ice-cream”

XXXXX

“H’llo?” Mitch mumbled into the phone before a powerful sneeze escaped his exhausted frame. With a stuffy nose and a pounding headache, the young man would soon be joining the cast he was meant to be looking after, in quarantine right along with them.
“Wow, you sound awful” Lindsay chuckled “Should I bring some chicken soup back with me tonight?”
“Tonight?” he coughed “You’re not meant to be coming til tomorrow night”
“I was but you’re sick. I can’t stay here while you’re suffering right along with the kids. It’s the sick leading the sicker...”
“You’re sweet Linds, but I’ve got it covered”
“I’m coming back anyway”
“But what about...” Mitch began before Lindsay cut him off.
“I got to spend his birthday with him and it’s only a month or so before this is over and we’re all back home” she chuckled as she started to pack her bag. Her 24 hours back home was perfect but she was needed back on tour. There was no way Mitch could handle so many sick kids when he was struck with the flu as well.
“Lindsay...”
“I’ll get on the first flight out to Dallas and see you in the morning... rest up”
Lindsay packed her bag and said her goodbyes to her family even though half of them were already asleep. Most of them were partied out after the day they’d had so they wished her a safe flight and a speedy return. It broke the young woman’s heart to leave again but she just looked forward to when she’d be home again knowing it would be soon.
Making her way to JFK Airport, she managed to snag a seat on the last flight leaving that night. Sinking into the Business Class seat (because economy was full, her bank balance hurt a little), Lindsay laid her head back and closed her eyes. She’d need all her energy to play nurse when she got back to Dallas so she was going to attempt to get some sleep now.
Waking up just as they were landing, Lindsay was exhausted but it was nothing a strong cup of coffee couldn’t fix. She needed to nurse a bunch of teenagers back to health and get them back on that stage.
Lindsay followed a couple of teenage girls who were trailing their parents off the plane and through to baggage claim. She couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.
“Y’know Blaine Anderson? The guy from the Warblers?” one of the girls began excitedly bouncing to tell her friend a huge piece of gossip.
“I love him; he’s so hot and totally single. I’d have a chance if I like, knew him” the other laughed.
“No you wouldn’t even if you did know him because he totally has a girlfriend”
Lindsay was so thankful they were standing in line to get through security at this point so listening in to these girls’ conversation didn’t seem so creepy. She wondered where this girl was getting her information and what Blaine had done in the one day she’d left him alone.
“No way! You’re lying”
“I’m not!” the still bouncing girl insisted “I checked Perez when we landed and there’s like a blurry photo of him kissing some girl. It was a total paps behind a bush photo but you can tell it’s him”
“So not fair” the second girl sighed as she followed their parents to the security desk leaving Lindsay in a state of shock which quickly turned to anger. She was going to kill Blaine when she got to the hotel and try and figure out what the hell was going on. Moving through security and grabbing her bag, she made her way through the airport to find a taxi. As she passed a newsstand, she couldn’t help but notice that every tabloid magazine had this blurry photo of Blaine strewn across the cover with varying slanderous captions. She was really going to kill this kid now.
Lindsay bought a copy of each magazine that featured her soon to be in pain client before finding the first cab and begging the driver to break some speed records to get her back to the hotel. Screeching to a halt in front of the hotel, the driver didn’t complain at the extra twenty dollars Lindsay threw at him as she got out of the taxi.
“Welcome back Miss James” the concierge smiled as Lindsay walked up to the desk “Would you like the same room as you had before?”
“Yes please” she smiled trying to stay calm “Did Mitch happen to give you the room arrangements for our groups?”
“He did, he put those with the flu on the west wing and the healthy ones on the east. You mustn’t be too thrilled to come back to all these sick kids...”
“Not particularly” she chuckled “Can I have the key to Mitch’s room to get my bags and the room he put Blaine Anderson in please?”
The concierge complied and handed her the key to her room as well as the one to Blaine’s. Thanking him with a genuine smile, Lindsay headed toward the elevator and up to the fifth floor. Not even bothering to dump her stuff in her room, the young woman made her way straight to 503. Bashing on the door loudly, she didn’t wait for someone to answer before opening the door herself. She marched in and sighed softly at the sight of Blaine and Kurt cuddled up on one bed together, thankfully for her, fully clothed.
“What the hell, Linds?” Blaine snapped as he and Kurt broke apart “What are you doing back? I thought you were gone til tonight”
“I came back because Mitch is now sick and I got a lovely surprise when I got to the airport this morning. It’s good to know I can leave you two alone for one day knowing you’re not going to make a colossal mistake” she growled and threw the magazines she’d bought at the airport onto the bed “Explain to me why you two are lip locked on the front of every tabloid on the damn country!”
“What?”
“Oh my God”
“Last night...” Kurt gasped as he picked up one of the magazines and studied the picture “I don’t know if I should be offended that I couldn’t be identified or that every magazine thinks I’m a girl” he chuckled
“I don’t care who they think it is, I know it was you and this relationship as far as I’m concerned is over!” she snapped.
“Lindsay you can’t...” Blaine started to argue but was silence by Lindsay’s phone ringing. He knew exactly who that particular ringtone belonged to and his breath caught in his throat.
“Jay?”
“You and I need to talk” her boss growled into the phone “I’d rather do this face to face but it can’t wait til you return to Dallas...”
“I’m here in Dallas”
“Right, I want to see both you and Blaine down in Meeting Room A immediately”
“We are on our way” she spoke calmly before hanging up the phone. Her mood instantly changed back to one of fury “You come with me” she growled as she pointed to Blaine. Turning to a frightened looking Kurt, she wasn’t going to melt at his puppy dog tears “You stay here”
“He can come with us” Blaine tried to say confidently but his shaking voice let him down
“No, he stays. Let’s go” she snapped and all but pushed the curly haired teenager out the door.
“Lindsay...”
“I don’t want to hear it”
The pair silently made their way down to the lobby and through to Meeting Room A. Peering through the glass door, Lindsay saw Jay, Wes, Will and one of the publicists from the record company all discussing the magazines laying over the desk in front of them.
“You don’t speak unless spoken to, do you understand me?” she snarled at Blaine stopping him before they walked into the conference room.
“Linds...”
“Do. You. Understand. Me?”
“Yes, Lindsay”
“Good”
Walking into the conference room, they were met with arguing over who was in the picture with Blaine. Much like the tabloids, they couldn’t decipher who was attached to Blaine’s lips.
“Is that Rachel? Or maybe Quinn?” Wes asked as he tried to hold a magazine at a different angle hoping he could see who it was.
“No it’s definitely a brunette so that rules Quinn and Brittany out of the equation” Jay added as he too studied the image. Once they could figure out who it was, they could go into damage control.
“Hang on, that looks like Kurt’s jacket” Will observed as he pointed to the picture “... That can’t be Kurt, can it?”
“That’s a whole other issue if it is” the publicist piped up as she started to scribble something down in her notebook “This will be much bigger than just damage control. The media are going to ruin their reputations. You saw what they did to Emily Hammond when she came out a few weeks ago and not to mention that kid from that dance show in Chicago...”
“You owe me” Lindsay whispered to Blaine before coughing loudly to make their presence in the room know “It was me”