Burt didn’t get any more phone calls from Blaine over the next few weeks. Phone calls from Kurt became even more Blaine-focused (not that Burt would have thought it would be possible.) Blaine’s visit on Kurt’s mother’s birthday had really left an impact on Kurt, and brought the two boys even closer together. Blaine started coming home with Kurt on the weekends, sometimes just staying for Friday Night Dinner, but more often than not he’d stay the whole weekend.

     Burt found this challenging, not because of the whole gay thing, but more in terms of the fact that the boys seemed to be on the cusp of a relationship. If they were just friends, Burt could deal with that. If they were boyfriends, well, Burt would make every effort to deal with that, too. But not knowing where they stood? That was more difficult.

     So Burt went with middle ground. He had Carole make up the guest room for Blaine, thinking that it was fairly logical. Blaine’s a guest – he gets the guest room. The boys didn’t protest. He let them be in Kurt’s room together with the door closed, but he did walk past every now and then. When Burt woke up in the middle of the night, he got up to check to see if both boys were in their rooms. He wasn’t entirely sure what he would do if they weren’t, but each was in his own bed, so he didn’t have to worry about that yet.

     Blaine was only ever the perfect gentleman while at the Hummel-Hudson house. He helped Kurt and Carole with dinner, well, as much as they would let him. He’d clear the dishes from the table and wash them, too. Finn seemed to like him well enough, especially when he and Burt discovered that Blaine shared their views on sports, and supported the same teams. Burt didn’t really have many opportunities to talk with Blaine, but they had a lot of non-verbal conversations, through eye contact and clasps on the shoulder. Burt liked Blaine. He did.

     Burt was amazed at the difference in Kurt over the past few months. He wasn’t sure how much of that was because that Kurt no longer lived in fear every day, and how much of it was because of Blaine. Kurt smiled more and he laughed frequently. He spent less time alone in his bedroom and more in the kitchen and the living room with his family. His sense of humour had also softened, with fewer snarky and sarcastic remarks being made.

     But then Kurt came home for Christmas break without Blaine. He’d come home completely dazed, telling Burt that he had just sung an amazing duet with Blaine.  Burt had been pleased, and asked what Blaine’s plans were for the break. Kurt broke out of his daze at this question and said something about Blaine visiting grandparents in North Carolina. All at once during the Christmas break, Burt realized that he genuinely missed having the kid in his house.

     January rolled around, and school started up again. Blaine came over more and things seemed back to normal. He also attended the football championship game and got to meet all of Kurt’s friends from McKinley. Everything was smooth sailing until February.

     Kurt comes home alone the weekend before Valentine’s Day. He locks himself in his room and doesn’t even come out for Friday Night Dinner. Burt seriously considers calling Blaine to ask him what is going on, but thinks the better of it. After several hours and countless times knocking on Kurt’s door, Burt finally manages to convince Kurt to talk about things. Eventually Kurt tells Burt that Blaine has plans to ask out another guy for Valentine’s Day. Burt is confused. No, confused isn’t even the word for it. He literally is unable to understand why after all this time, Blaine isn’t asking Kurt out. Burt doesn’t say any of this, however, but instead says a few trite, meaningless phrases about someone better coming along. When Kurt says, “But it’s Blaine! No one’s better than Blaine!” Burt can’t help but wonder if Kurt is right.

     A lot of ice cream is consumed that weekend. Sad movies are watched, and Kurt actually wears sweat pants for once. Burt considers calling Blaine, to see if he can’t knock some sense into the kid. He doesn’t, of course, but he does think about it.

     Burt is surprised, naturally, when both boys come home the next Friday night, and something has clearly changed. They are almost shy around each other, both Kurt and Blaine being extra aware of what the other person is doing. When Blaine is in the bathroom that evening, Kurt quickly tells Burt about how poorly the “Gap Attack” worked out, about the poor guy getting fired, and then about telling Blaine how he feels. Burt is, again, surprised that Blaine didn’t confess to having feelings for Kurt, but ultimately is impressed by Blaine saying he needed some time to figure things out, because of not wanting to hurt Kurt further.

     The next night is the big event at Breadsticks. The boys come home late, happy and exhausted, and Burt notices that they are looking at each other differently. They are both watching each other, waiting to see what the other person will do next. While Kurt had made the first move and the ball is, technically, in Blaine’s court, either boy could change things completely. Burt just hoped it would be a good change.