The Columbus audience went crazy as The Warblers finished their opening number. All the boys seemed to be pumped to play a home crowd... All except Blaine. Missing cues and forgetting choreography was not like him at all especially in a number he knew off my heart.
“What is wrong with you?” Sebastian snarled softly as the group transitioned into their next song “I know you hate that I lead the opener but you’d think you’d be over it by now. This is our last show”
“Sorry, just... preoccupied” Blaine apologised as he took his position for ‘Teenage Dream’. Only a few hours from home, everyone was going to sleep in their own beds for the first time in three months and that was only more motivation to make tonight’s show the best they’d ever performed. For Blaine it would be his last night at home before he told his parents the truth about their son. It might be his last night at home for good so it didn’t quite have the same effect on the curly haired teenager’s performance.
“Well snap out of it for the next couple hours. We need you to not suck, ok?”
“You’re an ass” the shorter boy sighed as the opening chords of ‘Teenage Dream’ started to play. Blaine pulled himself together for the rest of their set but it was a struggle. He couldn’t stop the worst case scenarios that played through his mind.
Joining the New Directions on stage for the final number of the tour, The Warblers belted out ‘We Are The Champions’ just as loud as their friends. Finn and Puck had of course picked that song to finish with after feeling like kings every time their fans screamed for them. No-one complained because after the experience of the last three months, they all felt like champions.

XXXXX

“Ugh! Don’t make me go home and see them” Blaine groaned as he collapsed down onto the Green Room couch beside Kurt. Even though they all had an insane amount of adrenaline coursing through their bodies, they were exhausted. Some danced around the room to get rid of some of the energy while others gave into their bodies’ aches and pains.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mercedes chuckled from the other side of Kurt “Is this about what we were talking about, Boo?”
Blaine shot up in his seat not realising Mercedes was even there. Looking to Kurt with wide eyes, Blaine hoped she wasn’t talking about what he thought she was talking about “You told her?”
“Calm yourself Curly top” she laughed and moved to sit beside Blaine “I’ve been Kurt’s best friend since the fourth grade, he doesn’t need to tell me these things... until I’m desperate for the juicy details”
“Superpower?” Blaine whispered to Kurt
“Most likely” he chuckled “You can trust her”
“It won’t matter for much longer; I’m going home tonight...”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Kurt asked. After insisting he helped Blaine through this, Kurt had to admit defeat when his boyfriend refused help for the thirtieth time. He couldn’t help but ask again.
“I have to do this on my own but I might turn up on your doorstep in the middle of the night if it doesn’t go well”
“You’ll always be welcome but you need to have a little faith in your parents...”
“You’ve never met Michael and Jennifer Anderson” Blaine chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to Kurt’s cheek before pulling himself up off the couch. If he didn’t leave soon, he would miss his opportunity before his parents left for a business trip in San Diego. “I should go...”
“Good luck” Mercedes smiled
“Thanks, I’ll need it...”
“Call me later ok?” Kurt insisted as he took Blaine’s hand and squeezed it gently “Doesn’t matter what time”
“I’ll see you later”
Blaine gathered his bags and bid farewell to all his Warbler friends as well as all the new friends he made in The New Directions. He would miss them all as they started their break but hopefully Lindsay’s plans to send them to Europe would still happen and he would see everyone together again.
The drive back to Westerville wasn’t quite as long as the one to Lima so Blaine didn’t have time to think let alone talk himself out of what he was about to do. A long time coming, Blaine needed to talk to his parents and start to make everything right again. First his parents and then Lindsay.
The intoxicating aroma of his Mom’s famous Vanilla Sponge Cake that engulfed the teenager as he walked through the door of the Anderson home, calmed him a little. It was silly for a smell like that to relax him but it had been his weakness since he was a kid. Life was always a little better with his Mom’s cake but even that couldn’t help him now.
“Mom?” Blaine called out softly as he made his way into the kitchen to see his Mom spreading jam between the two layers of cake. “Smells great in here”
“It’s your favourite” Jennifer smiled and abandoned the cake for a minute to greet her son with a kiss to his forehead “It’s good to have you home, how was your tour?”
“Amazing, kinda sad it’s all over though”
“I’m sure there will be plenty more in the future, Lindsay’s positive that you’ve got a bright future” she chuckled as she started to put cream over the jam. That was Blaine’s favourite part.
“You’ve been talking to Lindsay?”
“It was a while ago now but she said we should be very proud of our incredible son”
“Hold onto that” Blaine mumbled as he shuffled his feet nervously “Uh, is Dad around?”
“In the living room”
“Would you come with me please? I want to talk to you both about something” he smiled weakly hoping to get all this over and done with. Agreeing to join her son and husband in the living room, Jennifer was anxious about what Blaine needed to talk about. Sitting down beside Michael, she set his newspaper down while Blaine settled on the couch opposite.
“Is everything ok, Blaine?”
“I...” he began. He had rehearsed this speech over and over in his mind and now it was blank “I’ve been lying to myself and to both of you for a while now and I need to make things right” Blaine continued as he clasped his hand tight in his lap “I know this isn’t ‘the Anderson way’ and it’s not something you’ll approve of but I can’t change who I am...”
“Blaine...” Michael coughed as his son started to ramble on.
“I’m gay”
Michael and Jennifer were silent for a few minutes which made Blaine more and more anxious as time went on. Squeezing his hands tighter, the teenager prayed time would just move faster. He was prepared for the worst and was expecting them both to just kick him out right then and there.
“Don’t let me be the one to tell your Grandmother” Michael chuckled and looked up to see his son’s jaw slack. Taking a deep breath, he shuffled closer to Blaine “I’ll be honest with you; I’m not a fan of this. I don’t understand it but you’re as stubborn and strong minded as I am, change doesn’t come easy and when it does its permanent”
“This isn’t me being stubborn though, it’s just who I am...”
“And you’re sure about this?” Jennifer asked softly. She was very much like her husband and didn’t really approve of the situation so she asked how sure Blaine was almost hoping this was just a joke.
“Yes Mom, I’m sure” Blaine sighed softly “I knew both of you wouldn’t like or approve of this but I wanted to talk to you before... Will you two at least try to accept this? It’s a part of me that’s never going to change especially when I’m in love with an amazing man”
“I think I need a drink” Michael nodded as he stood up from the couch and made his way over to the liquor trolley on the other side of the room. He should have seen this coming but a stiff drink might help process it all.
“This just isn’t normal...”
“Normal?” The teenager chuckled harshly “This is the 21st Century, your definition of normal is a little outdated”
“Blaine, don’t talk to your mother like that” Anderson Senior growled as he poured himself a glass of scotch “We’re just trying to understand this”
“What’s there to understand? Love is love; the gender of whom I love shouldn’t matter”
Michael sat back down beside his wife and took a silent sip of his drink. Rubbing his knee gently, Jennifer knew what they both wanted to say but at the same time didn’t want to say anything that would push Blaine away. They loved their son but they could lose him over something like this.
“If either of you start quoting bible verses, I’ll walk out that door and never come back” Blaine sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. Having a Christian background only made this harder and the bible was the go to defence against homosexuality. If a man lying with another man is wrong then why does God love all people like his children?
“We’re not going to go to the bible because we know as well as you do that some of its views don’t exactly favour...” Michael began. Much like his wife, he didn’t want to say anything that would push Blaine away for good “Like I said before, change doesn’t come easy for someone like me. Can you give your mother and I some time?”
“Time?”
“To think, please?”
“Ok” Blaine nodded as he stood up “I’m going to go to bed; it’s been a big night...”
“We’re leaving early tomorrow morning” Jennifer smiled weakly as she too stood and pressed a soft kiss to her son’s cheek “Will you be ok on your own for the week?”
“Yeah” he smiled “I was thinking of maybe going to New York for a couple days. I need to talk to Lindsay about a few things”
Blaine picked up his bag on his way through the house to his bedroom and flopped down on the bed with a heavy sigh. Taking in the fact that he was back in his room, the familiar scent calmed him slightly. His stomach still churned about his conversation with his parents but at least it was out in the open. His next step was to make everything right with Lindsay.
Pulling out his cell phone, Blaine searched the contacts until he found the only person he wanted to talk to or be with right in that moment.

Incoming Text: Blaine to Kurt
‘Are you busy for the next few days?’

Sighing loudly, Blaine laid back on the bed waiting for Kurt’s reply. It wasn’t long before his phone started to ring.
“Hey” Blaine smiled after quickly checking the caller ID before answering “I didn’t wake you did I?”
“I’m too buzzed to sleep” Kurt chuckled “Plus I was kind of waiting up just in case you turned up on my doorstep. How did everything go?”
“They need time to think...”
“That’s good? I guess?”
“It’s a start” Blaine shrugged weakly. He couldn’t really ask much of his parents when he dropped something like this on them. Of course Blaine expected a much more negative response so he had to be happy with what he got. His parents were at least taking time to process it rather than dismiss him immediately.
“What did you have in mind by your text just before?” Kurt asked changing from a subject Blaine needed time to process as well.
“New York, I want to go see Lindsay and right the wrongs. Want to come?”
“Sure, on one condition...”
Blaine’s heart caught in his throat unsure where Kurt was going with this. He didn’t even know what to think about with a million possibilities running around in his already crammed mind.
“We talk to Lindsay about going public or whatever and after that, I get to hold your hand walking through Central Park. Does that sound like a fair condition?”
Blaine sighed with relief laughing softly. Kurt was the only person that could make him smile and lift his spirit like that. It was just another reason why he loved Kurt so much “It’s a promise”