“Mmm, good morning.” Blaine said, stepping into the kitchen in his pajamas and a t-shirt, smiling at his younger sister.

“Good morning,” Jessie said from the table, much more awake than Blaine. “How was your date?” She whispered excitedly, kicking her feet wildly. Blaine glanced to make sure no one was coming and grinned.

“It was great.” He said, pouring himself a bowl of Lucky Charms to match the one Jessie was eating.

“You did kiss Kurt for his birthday, right?” Jessie asked authoritatively. Blaine smiled to himself at the thought of just how much he had.

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to kiss him?” He teased, turning to her. Jessie clearly wasn’t taking the issue lightly, her mouth open in shock.

“Not around me! But for his birthday you are!” She said as Blaine poured his milk, and he laughed. He grabbed a spoon and walked over to the table, putting his bowl down and kissing her on the top of the head.

“I did, don’t worry.” Blaine admitted, sitting down.

“Good. Kurt deserves it. He’s special.” Jessie said, pointing her spoon at her brother and dripping milk on the table in the process. Blaine took a moment to reflect on how lucky he was before making a retort.

“You know, as my little sister, you’re supposed to not like everyone I date, think they’re taking me away from you and that they’re horrible people.” Blaine commented.

“But you don’t have an everyone, you have Kurt.” Jessie said, and Blaine blinked a few times. “Kurt’s not any of those things.”

“And what makes you think you know? You’ve met him once.” Blaine said.

“You.” Jessie replied seriously, looking up at him. “Lucy drags me around to where all the teenagers are at the country club, and all I hear is how so-and-so is so cute or so-and-so is so hot. You don’t talk about Kurt that way.”

“How do you know I don’t when you’re not around?” Blaine said, but he was touched that Jessie could tell how sweet he was with Kurt.

“Because over Christmas break you got all peppy telling me how cute Jeremiah was and then you’d kind of settle down and tell all these stories about things you and Kurt did together and funny things he said.”

“You’re the most perceptive nine-year-old known to man.” Blaine said accusatively, reaching over and ruffling her hair. They sat in silence for a while and then their mother entered, dressed in jogging clothes.

“Blaine, you got home late last night.” She said. He was surprised she knew; when he came through the door at almost half past one the night before the entire house was dark.

“Yeah, I got home after one.” He said, making the marshmallows he had saved in his bowl spin around in the milk until they cast one off for him to eat.

“Where were you?” She asked.

“Birthday party for my friend Kurt. We were in Lima and the party wrapped up around midnight.” He said, forcing himself to look up at her in attempt to throw some honesty on the situation.

“Who was there?” She asked, and Blaine scrambled. No Wes, she might have seen him around. No David, he’s my next excuse…

“Nick, Curt and Jeff from the Warblers, a few other Dalton boys and some guys from Lima.” Blaine said, emphasis on the guys. His mother often got after him for spending too much time around girls.

“You spend so much time in Lima with this Kurt, but we haven’t met him.” His mother mused, and Blaine forced himself to remain calm. “Invite him to dinner a week from tomorrow, it’s not fair that we haven’t been hospitable.” Okay, there wasn’t any calm to be had.

“I don’t know if he can…” Blaine started, but his mother raised her eyebrows.

“Ask him, Blaine. Now I’m going out for a run. Jessie, be good for your brother and wash up before Therese gets here.” She said before grabbing her sunglasses off the counter and heading out. Blaine turned to Jessie, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Can I cuss?” He asked, and she covered her ears.

“FUCK.”

I have to talk to Kurt. –Blaine

You’re not supposed to! We’re all supposed to ignore him today until Rachel’s. –Annie

It’s an emergency. –Blaine

What’s wrong??? -Annie

My mom wants me to invite him to family dinner next Sunday. –Blaine

So? –Annie

They don’t know about us. –Blaine

Oh, that’s right. Damn. Call him. Don’t you dare come to Lima. –Annie

Thanks for the permission. If Rachel gets mad I’ll tell her you didn’t know anything :-) –Blaine

Yeah you bet you’re on your own with this. –Annie

Blaine smiled at Annie’s last text and quickly hit his call button twice, dialing the last number in his call log. He was upstairs in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed with his forehead against the window. He referred to it as his stress spot, the place he always went to when something was wrong while he was home.

“Good morning.” Kurt’s voice answered from the other side of the line, and Blaine could just hear the sweetness in his tone left over from a night like the one before.

“Good morning.” Blaine said, laying down on the bed and staring up through the window. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be talking to Kurt, but now that he had an excuse he was going to use it. “Sleep well?”

“Mmmhmm. You?” Kurt asked. Blaine smiled.

“Definitely.” Blaine said, a wicked smile spreading across his lips.

“Last night was so wonderful, Blaine. And not just… you know. All of it.”

“It really was.” Blaine said softly.

“So what’s up?” Kurt asked, and Blaine sighed and sat back up.“Kurt, we… we have a problem.” Blaine said, trying to think of a way to explain this.

“What’s wrong?” Kurt asked, his voice a little sharper.

“I just had a talk with my mom… and, well, you’re cordially invited to dinner with my family Sunday night.” Blaine got out, resting his forehead back against his window. He heard Kurt take a sharp breath.

“Blaine, what happened?” He asked, and Blaine closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

“She said I’ve been spending too much time in Lima and we need to be hospitable and have you for dinner.” He said.

“Well, at least it’s not your dad saying it, or I would think it was literal.” Kurt attempted to joke.

“It’s not going to be that bad.” Blaine asserted. “I hope.” His finish was a little weaker than he intended.

“We can figure this out.” Kurt said, but Blaine could hear the worry in his voice. “We’ll just have to act like we’re just friends.”

“According to Wes and David, we didn’t act like we were just friends when we were just friends.” Blaine said, a reluctant little grin on his face. Kurt paused before speaking.

“Well, we’ll just have to pretend.” Kurt said. Blaine knew that tone, and could see Kurt’s pleased little sassy smile.

“I hate to tell you this, but that didn’t work so well with Jess.” Blaine said.

“I hate to tell you this, but Jessie kind of already knew.” Kurt quipped back. Blaine smirked, thinking of his conversation with Jessie at breakfast.

“Yeah, she’s scary that way.”

“It’s going to be okay, Blaine.” Kurt said softly, and Blaine laid back down on his bed, closing his eyes again to listen to Kurt’s voice. “We can manage one dinner.”

“I hope you’re right.” Blaine said.

“Of course I’m right. That’s why you love me. We’ll just have to get together and practice acting like we’re straight.”

“I’d rather get together and practice not being straight.” Blaine said with a grin.

“Blaine!” Kurt gasped, and Blaine’s grin split into a full smile.

“Couldn’t help it. You were so sexy last night.” Blaine said, feeling himself grow a little hard.

“I was? God, Blaine, really…”

“You were.” Blaine affirmed.

“So were you.” Kurt sighed. “WHAT?” He yelled, making Blaine frown. “FINE, COME DOWN HERE.” He heard Kurt roll over.

“Huh?” Blaine asked, but he soon heard for himself.

“Really? That’s what you need? I’m on the phone.”

“Hi, Blaine.” Annie’s voice said. Blaine rolled his eyes.

“Ugh… Blaine, I’m going to let you go. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Blaine said, and Kurt hung up the phone.

Blaine looked down at his pants and sighed, checking to make sure his door was locked and grabbing a bottle of lotion off his desk.

“I don’t see why you need my sketches. I’m probably going to have to redo them all after we cast on Wednesday.” Kurt bit out, but Annie was already pulling tacks off his bulletin board and collecting the papers hanging there.

“I’m making copies because we need to give Brittany and Mike an idea of what they’re working with for choreography.” Annie said. “Wait, why is my dress short?” She asked, frowning at his Beauty sketch.

“One, it’s not you yet.” Kurt said, but he kind of knew it would be. They were keeping the bookish Beauty persona from Disney, and the only person who looked as ridiculously bookish as Annie was Rachel, who was clearly going to be Cinderella. “And two, they’re all short, because I had the choreography part in mind.”

“I’m not dancing, I can have a long dress.” Annie said.

“What do you mean you’re not dancing?” Kurt asked, annoyed. “It’s a musical, dancing’s involved.”

“Kurt, I can’t dance.”

“If we’re casting you as Beauty, you’re going to have to dance a little bit.” Kurt said, stretching his arms out in front of him. He was lying on his stomach uncomfortably, but it was the only thing he could think of when Annie came downstairs.

“What are you doing?” Annie asked, looking at him.

“Stretching.”

“On your stomach?” She asked, going back to pulling down sketches. “Why is the evil stepmother’s costume pretty?”

“Because it’s like Snow White instead of Sleeping Beauty, the elegant evil queen.” He said, crooking his leg and trying to pull a pillow to himself awkwardly. Annie shot him an even stranger look.

“I always forget she was pretty, I just think of the hag.” She said. Kurt continued to kick at the pillow, trying to get it in reach of his hands. “Really, what are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Kurt said, grabbing the pillow and covering himself indiscreetly as he rolled over on his back.

“OH! KURT! GROSS!” Annie exclaimed, dropping the papers.

“Sorry? You’re the one who just had to come down in my room while I was on the phone.”

“I wasn’t aware that I was walking in on phone sex!” Annie said, shivering dramatically.

“You weren’t! We were just talking.” Kurt said, frowning and sitting up, the pillow still on his crotch.

“If that’s just talking, I’m not standing between you two all summer.” Annie said, throwing up her hands before beginning to pick up the papers. “Have you put any thought into what you’re wearing to the sleepover tonight?” She asked.

“It’s a sleepover. I was kind of expecting to go as-is. Rachel did tell you that the pajama dress-code is footie pajamas, right?”

“…Yes.” Annie said, rolling her eyes. “And fine, I suppose your friends aren’t good enough for the presence of your best outfits when you have a boyfriend.” She said, getting the last of the papers and leaving his room.

Kurt sighed and stood up, groaning. He might as well put together a good outfit if Annie was going to be a nag, and he wanted to make them all jealous of Blaine’s bracelet, anyway. He remembered the weathercast predicting rain all day, and that meant one thing: skinny jeans.

“You ready to go to Rachel’s?” Annie asked, coming into the living room at nine in the evening. Kurt was sitting with his sketchbook as Burt watched a baseball game.

“Yeah,” he said, shutting the sketchbook and grabbing his keys.

“Dad, we’re gonna go.” He said. Burt waved an arm at him.

“Have a good time, kids.” He said, and they walked out to the Escalade, throwing their bags down in the backseat.

“You look particularly nice.” He said, glancing over Annie. She was wearing a white skirt and a black lace shirt over a black camisole with pointed toe flats. She shrugged.

“I never get a chance to dress up, thought a sleepover would be enough of an occasion.” She said, climbing into the passenger seat. She pulled down the mirror and reached into her little black purse, pulling out a lipstick.

“Okay, really? No boys except me, you know.” He said, rolling his eyes and getting in the driver’s seat and starting to back them out of the driveway.

“I know. But a girl’s never fully dressed without her lipstick.” She said.

“I thought that was a smile?”

“That, too.” Annie said. “You look nice, too, you know.”

“I thought I’d give you ladies a display.” Kurt said with a smile. He was wearing a very fitted short-sleeve white button-up t-shirt with the long tie Blaine had given him and the bracelet.

He drove the three blocks to Rachel’s and parked in the driveway. He and Annie grabbed their bags, walking up to the door and ringing the bell.

“Hey!” Rachel said, appearing at the door. She was wearing a black dress with poofy sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, no leg warmers. Kurt looked from her to Annie, confused.

“Is it dress up day or something?” Kurt asked, almost more amused at their matching color scheme.

“Come on, Mercedes is down in the basement.” Rachel said, taking Kurt’s hand and leading him swiftly down the stairs. Kurt turned back to Annie in confusion, but she nodded for him to look forward. He turned around to see the basement filled with his friends.

“SURPRISE!” They yelled, and Kurt let out a scream that almost sounded like a chicken.

“What?” He asked, looking in shock around the group. Finn, Puck, Lauren and Sam were standing to one side; Santana, Brittany and a disgruntled looking Quinn on the other; and right in the middle were Mercedes, Tina, Mike and…

“As opposed to the other nine people you weren’t expecting?” Blaine asked, cocking his head to the side.

“And you… this is what you were doing, and I…” He said guilty, looking at Finn. Finn stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I’ll let you by on that one.” He said, and one by one everyone started coming up and giving him a thump on the back or a hug, though Blaine stood over by the side. Kurt glanced over at him and Blaine winked.

“So… what’s going on here?” He asked, to everyone’s amusement.

“That would be a surprise party, dummy.” Blaine called from across the room, and Kurt rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at him.

“I mean, where are your dads?” He asked Rachel.

“New York, doing some lobbying.”

“Where did you all park?”

“The church around the corner. We told the watchman that we were having a surprise party and he said he’d keep an eye on the cars.” Mercedes said.

“Right. And no one’s driving tonight, either. You drink, you stay in this basement. No exceptions. Kurt, put your keys in the bowl, and I’m going to lock them all up in my room.” Rachel said, and just as Kurt handed over his keys, Puck started pulling several bottles of liquor and soda as well as six packs of beer up from the floor and putting them on the counter.

“Party’s on!” Puck yelled, and Brittany ran over to the stereo as Rachel took the bowl of keys upstairs. Annie made her way over to Mercedes and Tina, and like a phantom Blaine popped up beside Kurt.

“You’re not going to want to wear this around this crew drunk.” Blaine said, taking hold of Kurt’s tie.

“True,” Kurt admitted.

“But first…” Blaine whispered, and tugged on the tie lightly, pulling Kurt’s lips down to his. Kurt moaned, and Blaine took his lips off of Kurt’s, smiling deviously as he worked his fingers in and undid the knot in his boyfriend’s tie, sliding it off.

“Here, put this in your bag. I’ll go make drinks.” Blaine said, stopping by to give Annie a hand squeeze hello on his way over to the counter.

Mercedes came over while Kurt waited on Blaine, a drink already in her hand.

“Hey, Boo. You ready for this?” She asked, smiling.

“Mercedes, I’ve been drunk once in my life, and I think I scared Miss Pillsbury to death.” He said, wincing.

“Everything scares Miss Pillsbury to death. And that wasn’t fun drunk, that was batshit crazy April Rhodes drunk.”

“Mercedes, I thought she was Bambi.” Kurt groaned.

“You thought who was Bambi?” Blaine asked, stepping up beside him with two drinks.

“Miss Pillsbury, the guidance counselor. Long story short, I was drunk.”

“Red headed lady, right? She’s nice, why don’t we have her judging Wedneseday?” Blaine asked.

“She is.” Rachel said, coming up behind them. “Coach Beiste said no at first, so I thought of Miss Pillsbury and called her. Then Coach Beiste called back and told me that she had moved football practice so she could, and I couldn’t tell either of them that we don’t need them anymore, so now we have four judges.” Rachel said.

“We can’t have four judges, that’s an even number.” Kurt said.

“We can put one of us on the panel whenever a part comes up that we don’t want.” Annie said, joining in the little group.

“That would work.” Rachel said, but before she could go on, the doorbell rang. “That’ll be Artie, he said he’d be late.”

Annie glanced up sharply at Rachel’s comment, and Puck gestured to Finn and they walked upstairs.

“What are you guys doing?” Kurt asked, confused.“We’ve gotta help ol’ Art down the stairs!” Puck said, and he and Finn lumbered up the stairs. They reappeared a few seconds later, Finn carrying the chair and Puck carrying Artie, setting him back up at the bottom of the stairs. Annie zoned out of the continued discussion of who would judge what parts, and when Puck gave Artie a big whack on the back and walked away, she scooted her way out of the group and forward to him.

“Arthur!” She said, stopping a little bit in front of him.

“What did she just call him?” Kurt heard Brittany ask. Artie froze at the sound of her voice, turning slowly to look at her.

“It’s his full name.” Santana said.

“Oh, I thought he was named after the beef place.”

“That’s Ardy’s.”

“Annie Shriver?” Artie asked, looking up at her. She nodded, smiling, before quickly walking up and giving him a hug. “Annie, look at you, I haven’t seen you in years!” He said.

“I know, I’m staying the summer with Kurt’s family.” Annie said, wheeling him over to the counter.

Kurt felt Blaine pressing the drink into his arm and took his attention off his cousin.

“What’s in this?” He asked, taking the glass hesitantly.

“Vanilla flavored vodka and rootbeer.” Blaine said, swishing his around a bit and taking a drink.

“Okay…” Kurt said, hesitantly holding the glass up to his lip and taking a sip. Not bad.

“You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to…” Blaine said, putting his hand on Kurt’s arm. Kurt shrugged and took another drink.

“Just keep me from calling people Disney characters, okay?” Kurt joked, and Blaine smiled, taking a long sip.

“Who is she?” Blaine heard Brittany ask Santana, and looked to see her pointing at Annie, who was pouring Artie another drink. They had been at the party for over an hour, and Kurt and Blaine were both on their second drink, this time apple flavored vodka and mountain dew.

“I don’t know, she came here with Kurt.” Santana answered. “Hey! Kurt! Who’s Dorothy Gale over there?”

“That’s my cousin Annie. She used to live next door to Artie.”

“Oh.” Brittany said, her fingers clenching around her drink. “I’m gonna go dance.”

“Britt…” Santana said, her voice worried, but Brittany was already climbing up onto the counter where she had danced before.

“Brittany, you want some better music for that, Baby?” Puck yelled out, and Brittany turned around and winked. The music changed, and Hold It Against Me started to play. Kurt turned to Artie and Annie, the former nearly dropping the drink Annie was handing him as he watched Brittany begin to dance. He finally took the drink and wheeled himself toward where Brittany was already taking her shirt off.

“Who’s the slut?” Annie asked, coming up behind Kurt and Blaine, and both of them turned to her.

“Arties ex-girlfriend, Brittany.” Kurt said. Annie blinked in shock.

“That’s Artie’s ex?” She whispered, and Kurt nodded.

“I don’t understand it any more than you do, but there it is.” Kurt said.

“Hey, Chelsea Clinton.” Santana said, stepping up to the three. “Do you have eyes on Steven Hawking over there?” She asked harshly.

“Artie? No, of course not. We were friends when I lived here.” She explained. Santana nodded.

“You might want to tell her that so she can go back to getting the hell over him.” Santana said.

“You seem to have a personal investment in this, Santana.” Kurt said.

“Yeah, Four-Eyes decided to call my best friend names when he was dating her. That’s kind of a personal investment.” Santana said harshly. Blaine blinked and allowed his eyes to drift to the taller girl.

“Somebody get me another drink!” Brittany called out from her place dancing, and Mike hurried to do so, to Tina’s obvious dismay.

Santana settled her eyes on Annie, taking in her appearance.

“If you’re Kurt’s cousin, I better be nice. I’m Santana Lopez. That’s my friend Brittany Pearce.” Santana said, holding out her hand.

“Annie Shriver.” Annie said, shaking Santana’s hand.

“Santana, come dance with me!” Brittany said loudly, and Santana looked up.

“She’s already downed half the glass.” Santana said with a gasp, and Blaine realized just how drunk the blonde girl was getting.

“How much has she had already?” Annie asked, looking up at her.

“Three.” Santana said. “Shit. Brittany, no, come down from there…”� She said, running over to where Brittany was dancing. “Britt, you’re drinking that too fast…”

As the Hispanic girl ran away from them, Blaine turned to Kurt.

“Is Santana…?”

“We think so.” Kurt said, taking another drink. Blaine cocked his head and looked at her.

“Your friends are the most colorful people.” He said, a smile on his face. “I love it.”

“You’re clearly in need of another drink.” Kurt said, glancing at the bottom of Blaine’s glass. The older boy smirked at him, and with quick smiles at Annie they walked over to the liquor.

Blaine started to pour his drink, and as he poured the alcohol in as well, Kurt nudged him.

“Shit, look.” He said, and Blaine accidentally let a little more pour in than he intended to. He capped the bottle and looked up to see that Puck had walked up to Annie and put his arm around her. He put the bottle down and picked up his drink, his ears tuning in to Puck’s booming voice.

“…I didn’t even recognize you until Santana said who you were.”

“Hi, Noah.” Annie said, giving Kurt and Blaine an S.O.S. look. “Nice hair.”

“The Mohawk does me good.” Puck said, smiling. “You have yourself a boyfriend yet, Annie?”

“No, but I hear you have a girlfriend.” Annie said sharply. Puck laughed.

“Still as much of a prude as ever.” He said, and Annie’s face looked lethal.

“Hey, Puck, what’s up, man?” Blaine said as he and Kurt returned, taking a drink and cringing at how strong his drink was.

“Hey what’s up?” Puck said, taking his arm off Annie. “Kurt,” he said, turning to the other boy, “are you getting drunk tonight, dude?” Kurt gave him an incredibly fake smile and raised his glass. Annie took the opportunity of being free from Puck’s grasp to circle around quickly and stand slightly behind Blaine.

“Ugh I see he still thinks he’s as bad of news as ever.” Annie muttered in Blaine’s ear. He smiled.

“He still has no idea who I am, other than Kurt’s boyfriend. Probably better that way.”

“He called me Claire once in third grade. And when he figured out that wasn’t my name, he set about trying to kiss me.” Annie said with a sigh. “He kept bothering me all the way up until I moved.”

“Sounds like someone had a crush.” Blaine said, his lips tilting upward. Annie shook her head.

“Sounds like someone can’t resist a challenge.” She said darkly, and right then Rachel popped up in the group.

“Annieeeeee come sing with me!” She exclaimed, taking Annie’s hand. Annie’s eyes shot open. “Finn won’t sing with me, and Kurt won’t let Blaine after what happened last time I just know it, and I want to siiiiiing!”

Blaine tried to keep from giggling and stepped back, pushing Annie out in front of him.

“Why don’t you sing alone, Rachel?” Annie asked, taking another drink to hide her grimace.

“You can’t sing alone at a paaartyyyy!” Rachel said, putting her arm around Annie’s shoulders. “Come on, sing please.”

“Yeah, Annie, go sing with her!” Blaine said.

“I’m so not drunk enough for this right now” Annie grumbled, and Blaine swiftly traded their drinks.

“Here.”

Annie took a sip and nearly gagged.

“Blaine, how much did you?”

“Take a few more drinks and have fun singing!” Blaine said, wiggling his fingers at her.

“Annie, will you?” Rachel asked, and Annie took two large gulps.

“Yeah, let’s.” She said with a little smile and walked with Rachel up to the stage.

“Why’d you trade drinks?” Kurt said, coming up behind him and putting his chin on Blaine’s shoulder.

“Mine was stronger.” Blaine said, taking a drink of Annie’s vanilla vodka and Dr. Pepper.

“You’re getting my cousin drunk?” Kurt asked with a grin, snuggling his face into Blaine’s shoulder.

“I think she needed it.” Blaine said, glancing around to see that Puck had gone to shut the music off. As soon as the music ended, Brittany started yelling.

“Where’s the music? I need the music back!” She yelled as Santana continued to try to get her off the counter.

“Heyyyyy everyone, Annie and I are going to sing!” Rachel said, her arm still around Annie’s shoulder. “Annie and I were reallllyyy good friends when she lived here, and we used to sing alllll the time!”

Finn stepped up beside Kurt and Blaine, a blank look on his face and a beer in his hand.

“How much did you let her drink?” Kurt asked, taking a drink that finished off his glass.

“She just finished her third, but I couldn’t get her to stop drinking them with a straw.” Finn said, grimacing.

“I just finished my second. Blaine, I need more to drink.” Kurt said into Blaine’s shoulder. Blaine turned and wrapped his arm around Kurt’s waist, and the two went up and started making Kurt’s third drink.

“This song is because we’re classsssy ladies!” Rachel said, and Blaine could see the drunken blush on Annie’s cheeks as she took a last drink and set the cup down, stumbling back with the silver sparkly microphone Rachel had handed her. Rachel, pink microphone in hand, signaled and Puck turned on the instrumental for “I Do Not Hook Up”.

“Kelly Clarkson? Interesting choice.” Blaine said, pouring some vodka into Kurt’s glass.

“Well with the way Rachel’s been acting lately, she doesn’t get to sing ‘Miss Independent’.” Kurt said, taking a drink of his freshly made drink. Blaine made himself one less strong than the one he had handed off to Annie while the two girls started to sing.

A few hours and a several drinks later, Kurt and Blaine were dancing on one side of the room, their bodies flushed against each other in a way they had never danced, positively lewd compared to how they had danced at prom.

Okay, maybe it was just lewd in general.

Santana had managed to pull a crying Brittany down from the counter while Rachel and Annie had been singing, and after a while of drying the blonde girl’s tears they were now sitting on the sofa, Brittany’s legs thrown over Santana’s as the brunette stroked Brittany’s hair, Quinn sitting at the end of the sofa. Puck and Lauren were making out in the corner. Finn was sitting against the wall, another beer in hand. Tina and Mike were making out in another corner. Sam was standing against the wall opposite Finn. Rachel, Mercedes and Annie were dancing a short way from Kurt and Blaine.

Blaine moaned as Kurt wriggled his backside into Blaine, the older boy’s fingers curling into Kurt’s hips.

“How are you even moving like that?” Blaine asked, and Kurt turned around in his arms and sloppily kissed Blaine, his hips still rocking in time with the music. Blaine moaned and pulled Kurt to him, kissing back just as sloppily and tugging at his lips.

“Dude, can we throw a party without that kid making out with someone?” Blaine heard Puck yell, and smiled against Kurt’s lips.

“A little hypocritical, don’t you think, Puckerman?” Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, I didn’t make out with anyone last time.” Puck said, and Quinn rolled her eyes. Blaine tried to stop kissing Kurt, but the younger boy held Blaine’s face forcefully, and how could Blaine say no to that?

“You and Dumbo have been all over each other for about as long as we’ve been here. Let them get at it if they want!” Santana said. “Just keep it PG-13.” She warned.

“Fuck you, Santana.” Lauren yelled, and Kurt and Blaine opened their eyes to show their slightly afraid looks, though they smiled when they realized that neither of them was going to stop kissing.

“I’m out of here.” Quinn said, standing up.

“You can’t leeeeave, you’ve been drinking.” Rachel said, no longer dancing. The boys stopped kissing, watching the two girls.

“I’ll be careful. Just give me the keys.” Quinn said, holding out her hand as though Rachel had them right there. The brunette shook her head.

“No way.”

“I’ve only had one drink. Just give them to me. I didn’t want to come to this stupid party in the first place.” She said, shooting an angry look at Santana and Brittany. Kurt pursed his lips.

“You’re not driiiving, Quinn!”

“Yeah,” Finn said, standing up. “Quinn you can’t drive.”

“Oh, what do either of you care?” Quinn shot out, crossing her arms angrily.

“Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean I don’t care if something happens to you.” Finn said, his voice growing softer. Blaine saw Rachel’s eyes fall.

“Shit.” Kurt said, and Blaine knew this was going in a similar direction.

“You two can’t stop me if I want to go. I want to get out of here!” Quinn yelled, but Rachel lifted her eyes back up, her face steely.

“Yes we caaaan, by not giving you your keysss. And we’re not going to.” Rachel said. “Mr. Shue had us pledge we wouldn’t drink before Naaaationals. It’s after Naationals now, but the reason behind it is the saame.” Rachel said.

“Screw you, Rachel. I want to leave, and your self-righteous spew about school isn’t going to stop me.”

“You have a lot of nerve to call her self-righteous!” Kurt yelled, and Blaine took hold of his arm in case he had any ideas of storming over there.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Quinn said, turning to him wildly.

“It means,” Kurt said, stepping forward and swinging his arm to try to release himself from Blaine’s hold, “that you’ve had a baby Miss Jesus.” The eyes of every single person in the room grew wider at Kurt calling Quinn out about this.

“Leave her alone about that.” Puck said, walking forward.

“JUST STOP!” Rachel yelled, her face panic-stricken. “Everyone just stop!” She said, biting her lip as Quinn began to cry. Puck walked up to her and tried to cup a hand around her elbow, but she threw him off.

“Thanks, Rachel. I’m so happy to be stuck here where obviously no one wants me.” Quinn said, looking at Rachel dead on.

“Britt, sit up.” Santana said, and when she did Santana stood up and hugged Quinn around the waist. “Come sit back down with us.” She said, and Quinn’s resistance flagged as Santana brought her back down.

Santana sat in the middle this time, with Brittany leaning on one side and Quinn on the other.

“You can all go back to your fucking business now.” Santana said harshly, and everyone quickly looked away. Both Rachel and Annie walked up to Kurt and Blaine, while Mercedes went over to sit with Sam.

“What was that all about?” Annie asked Kurt. He shook his head and put an arm around Rachel.

“She’s Finn’s ex-girlfriend.” Blaine tried to explain quietly, though he didn’t really understand it either. “From what I get, she had Puck’s baby.”

“Do you think he still loooves her?” Rachel asked Kurt quietly, curling her face into his chest. Kurt kissed her on the top of her head.

“No, but he cares. It’s Finn. He cares about everyone.” Kurt said softly. Rachel sighed.

“That’s why I love himmm, but sometimes I think he only loooves me as much as everyone else.” Rachel said. Annie reached over and hugged Rachel as well, and Blaine joined in, too. Rachel giggled, wiping her eye.

“We’ve gotcha.” Kurt said, ruffling her hair. “Now get back over there, because you know he’s not going to think he did anything wrong.” He said, giving Rachel another hug before she walked back over to Finn.

“Too much drama.” Annie said, shaking her head. “I think it’s almost about time for bed. Rachel?” She called, and the brunette turned back to her. “Do you have a pitcher I can put some water in?” She asked. Rachel went to help her find one, and Annie began distributing glasses of water to everyone around the room.

“What’s this for?” Kurt asked groggily, sitting on the floor and stroking Blaine’s curls.

“So you don’t get sick.” Annie said, pressing the water to him and pouring another one for Blaine.

“I wish we had known about this during the school year.” Kurt muttered, taking a drink.

“I wish I had known that drunk kissing you is like a billion times better than drunk kissing Rachel.” Blaine said, taking a drink as well. “But sober kissing is, too. But drunk kissing is like… really awesome, too. I just like kissing you. Because kissing you is like, the most completely awesome…”

“Shut him up.” Annie said, rolling her eyes and turning away. Kurt grinned and happily put his lips on Blaine’s.

Blaine woke up to the sound of people walking around. He rubbed his eyes and smiled to see that he and Kurt were curled up together on the ground where they had fallen asleep.

“Psst, Blaine, are you awake?” He heard someone whisper, and sat up to see Annie sitting just a little ways away. He nodded.

“Rachel just went to go get the angry blonde girl her keys, and the boys just took Artie upstairs. What time do you have to leave?”

“Umm, no later than ten, probably.” He said, putting his elbows on his knees. He glanced backward to see Kurt, still sleeping peacefully, his cheek squishy and flat against the short carpet of the basement. It was adorable.

“It’s nine now.” Annie said, and Blaine nodded. His headache wasn’t nearly as bad as the last time he had drank this much… which happened to be in this very basement. He looked at the glass of water sitting beside him. Probably why.

“Here.” Rachel said quietly, arriving at the bottom of the stairs with a pile of granola bars and some other snacks. She sat down next to Blaine and Annie, Mercedes, Puck, Finn and Brittany joined her around the food. Blaine kept stealing glances at Kurt, and smiled when he saw the younger boy’s blue eyes flutter open. He turned around, crouching down next to him.

“Good morning.” Blaine said quietly, and Kurt opened his eyes and smiled. Blaine leaned down and pressed his lips against Kurt’s, his chest flush against the floor.

“Does this mean my birthday’s all the way over now?” Kurt asked, and Blaine grinned.

“Yup.” Blaine said, stroking the back of two fingers down the side of Kurt’s face.

“Good, I was getting tired of it.”