Blaine had played "meet the parents" before with both of his exes. In the first instance though, the parents were largely disinterested in the activities of their son and his boyfriend, preferring to spend time with their yacht club colleagues and completely investing themselves in the gossip circuit of their own friends. Blaine had guessed he was accepted by those parents, in theory, but he didnt have to do anything to earn that acceptance.

With his second boyfriend, he had met the mom as the dad was uninvolved and not in his boyfriends life. The mom outright denied that Blaine was her sons boyfriend, insisting that the boy was straight and just confused. In the end, that relationship had ended because Blaines boyfriend wanted to try out a straight relationship just to see if there was something to what his mother said. Blaine had been upset, but in his heart he could understand. All his life he had sought to earn his parents acceptance, and he could see why his ex-boyfriend would want to try something to earn his mothers love.

Now there was Burt, Kurts dad he recognized from the picture Kurt kept in his dorm room. Burt, whose first impression of Blaine had been him laying along the couch in the nude with a rose bitten between his teeth.

Blaine was pretty sure he had screwed up things forever with that, especially when Burt gave him a handshake and damn near squeezed the blood right out of his hand with his grip. Then, of course, Blaine had to go and ramble. He always got himself into trouble when he rambled.

He was positive he had screwed everything up. Not only did Burt look at him funny, but all through dinner Kurt did as well. Why did he say the M-word? What the hell was he thinking?

Oh right. He wasnt.

Dinner was... Awkward. Blaine knew he was the one who set the stage for that, but instead of making things better, he seemed to keep making things worse.

"Kurt and I met at SCU." He told Burt.

"Uh huh, doing what?"

"Cheerleading."

"So youre a cheerleader too?"

Blaine nodded, "For now. It pays my way to get a degree."

"So youre doing something you dont like?"

"Yeah."

"Well thats dumb. Ever hear of student loans kid?"

"Dad!" Kurt hissed, sitting between them both as they ate their pizza. Well, Kurt and Burt ate pizza, Blaine nervously nibbled on the crust of a piece as he tried to keep his stomach from jumping through his mouth.

Blaine flushed right up, and wondered why his face even bothered to stop being red with Burt in the room since it seemed to keep reverting to rose coloring. "No... Its okay. I wouldnt qualify for loans. They take your parents income into account, but do it based on historical tax data… anyhow.. my parents made a lot of money until my last year of high school when they lost it all…."

"Huh. Sorry to hear that kid…." Blaine didnt miss how Burt side-eyed Kurt when he spoke, drawing a look of pure irritation out of Kurt in return.

"Blaine had a trust fund but used it to get his parents out of the hole." Kurt noted, making Blaines blush stay on his face. He wasnt used to being spoken up, especially not outside of cheer. His parents always made sure both him and Cooper knew how disappointed they were in them both growing up, and instead of things turning around when they had been humbled by the loss of their empire, all that had happened instead was them not saying anything good or bad.

"Really?" Burt looked back over to Blaine with that. "Kids shouldnt have to take care of their parents. Supposed to work the other way around."

Blaine just nodded, staring intently at the piece of pepperoni on his slice of pizza, wondering what the actual good meat content of it was, and wondering if he really wanted to know for that matter. Anything to keep him from worrying about what Kurts dad was thinking about him.

"Hes a good guy dad…." Kurt huffed in Blaines defense, swiping another piece of pizza out of the box. "... you dont need to do the whole interrogation thing."

"And why not? This is the first time Ive gotten the chance to! Been lookin forward to this for years now!"

"Oh my god dad… thats hardly a reason to…. ugh…."

"Sorry." Blaine offered, though was hardly sure of what he was apologizing for.

"See! Hes guilty about something Kurt!"

"Yeah! Hes guilty of being embarrassed by my dad walking in on him naked when showing up unannounced!"

Blaine wasnt sure if Kurt was trying to defend him again because the all-too-recent memory flooded his brain again and sent him into blushing overdrive.

"Well he should be! Cant just strut around naked! What if there was a fire alarm! What if burglars showed up!"

"Or worse, my dad…."

"What about when youve got kids of your own! You think walking in on your sons boyfriend is bad? Imagine if you walked in on me doing the same damned thing."

At that, Kurt stabbed his fingers into his ears and started going "La la la la!" to drown out his dad who was still going on about hypothetical situations. Blaine, meanwhile, just sunk further and further into the couch, hoping maybe it could swallow him up and save him from this scene.

"Your boyfriend is very quiet when hed not declaring his lifelong love for you son."

Kurt grumbled incomprehensibly and removed the fingers from his ears, signifying he could still hear his dad despite the gesture of tuning him out. "Hes embarrassed and shy."

"I dont think hes shy. I think hes worried about saying too much, and showing too much for that matter, and now hes thinking hes screwed everything up royally."

That made Kurt quiet, not a thing to say about what was obviously the truth. Blaine just kept up staring at his wilting pizza slice, while Kurt shuffled in beside him and turned his head towards Blaines ear.

"Nothings screwed up." Was whispered by Kurt into Blaines ear, a hand slipping in around Blaines waist and squeezing him gently. "Now talk with my dad so he doesnt think youre a total wuss."

It got a chuckle out of Blaine he didnt even know he had in him, probably pushed out with the relief granted by Kurts words. Turning his head away from the pizza slice and towards Burt, Blaine forced the redness down his face and back into his chest, hiding it away so he could show his boyfriend that he could be brave.

"I meant what I said Mr. Hummel. Im a committer, and I think your son is worth all the embarrassment in the world."

Burts nose twitched, and his lips pursed as he looked down at Blaine before finally responding.

"Good."

Quintessential
Why havent we heard any gossip about New York and the boys yet?

AuntieSnix
Good question. Blaines not even responding to my texts.

FinnTastic
Burt says theyre "having a good time".

Quintessential
That is hardly gossip worthy.

KittysKorner
No kidding. Get us something good or get out.