The weekend after the resolution of the whole drunken sleepover debacle, problems arise again. Blaine, as usual, comes home with Kurt on the Friday. They both go up to his room together, but after only half an hour, Blaine comes down the stairs. Alone. He makes his way to the door with his overnight bag, almost as if wanting to sneak out without anyone noticing. Burt intercepts him, and asks him where he’s going.

     Blaine doesn’t meet his eyes when he replies, mumbling something about having a group project he has to go work on. Burt looks at him very carefully. He tells the kid to have a good weekend, but to come back at any time if his plans change. Before Burt can stop himself, he finds himself telling Blaine that he is welcome in their home at any time, no questions asked, even if Kurt didn’t invite him or the boys aren’t getting along.

     Burt thinks that for a moment he sees tears in Blaine’s eyes, but the next second the kid looks perfectly composed. He thanks Burt for his generosity and hurries out to his car.

     Burt starts to wonder what happened between the two boys, especially when he hears Kurt muttering about not being attractive and having no sex appeal. Burt can’t really think of anything to say to that, so he keeps quiet.

     On Monday, he gets the surprise of his life when Blaine comes to see him at the garage, talking about how Kurt needs to be educated about sex and protection. He talks about the fact that Kurt could, someday, be at a party and end up having a few drinks. He could meet someone and in that event, not knowing about protection and those sorts of things could really be damaging. Blaine tells Burt that he really wishes that he had been close enough with his dad to talk about this sort of thing with him. He tells Burt that he thinks it would be really good if Burt could talk about it with Kurt, so that he doesn’t have to look it all up on the internet.

     Burt sees a lot of merit to the argument, in spite of how much he just wants to avoid the topic entirely. He had been meaning to talk with Kurt about this stuff after last week, anyways. The conversation really has revealed a lot about Blaine, too. Blaine starts to leave, apologizing for over-stepping, but Burt’s not content to let the conversation stop there. He calls Blaine back, and asks him if he can get the kid some coffee. Blaine agrees (what is it with those boys and coffee?) and they sit down together in the office portion of the shop. Burt’s not sure where he wants to start, so he just jumps in.

      “Pretty specific example.” He begins.

      “I’m sorry?” Blaine asks, cocking his head to one side.

      “Your example about the party. Kinda specific.” Burt prompts.

     Blaine sighs and sets down his coffee. He looks uncomfortable but he starts to talk anyways.

      “My first year at Dalton, I went to this Warbler party. It was different from all the other parties I’d been to, because one of the guys had got their older brother to buy us booze. I was still new to the school, and I really wanted to impress the guys, so when they offered me drinks I took them.”

     Burt nods, realizing his lecture about drinking last week must really have hit home for Blaine. Blaine’s not really looking at Burt, telling the story in a near robotic way.

      “This guy came over to me. He was a senior, he was out and he seemed to like me. I was just so amazed that he’d be interested in me.”

     Blaine lets out a dark chuckle, and Burt is surprised by the bitterness in his voice.

      “Turns out he’d worked his way through all the gay kids at Dalton, and was just excited to have new blood. It wasn’t anything to do with me at all. So he kept giving me drinks and I kept drinking them. “

     Burt was starting to get genuinely worried about where this story was going. Blaine looks up and sees the concern on Burt’s face. At this, he seems to remember exactly who he is telling the story to, and looks quite embarrassed. He mumbles the rest of the story, all of the confidence and charisma from earlier long gone.

      “He took me up to his room and, well, I’m really lucky because some of the Warblers came and found me before we could do all that much.”

     Burt lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

      “But that’s not the worst part.” Blaine continues, starting to get a bit choked up.

     It is in that moment that Burt understands just how much he cares about Blaine. Hearing this story, he hasn’t thought once about Blaine in terms of his relationship to Kurt. This is all about Blaine. It’s about his struggles, and Burt realizes that nothing Blaine is saying is changing anything about how he feels about the kid. There’s nothing that Blaine can say, Burt suddenly realizes, that will make Burt walk away from him. Sure, the kid has made some mistakes, but he was just that – a kid. One with a lot more things to work through than most kids do.

     The way Blaine is telling the story makes it clear to Burt that no one else has ever heard the full story. The Warblers obviously know the facts of it, but Burt doesn’t think that Blaine has ever explained the emotional side of things to anyone. Everything Blaine is saying is the sort of the thing that one would tell themself as they work through it, trying to make sense of their experiences and emotions. Burt is amazed that Blaine trusts him enough to talk about this sort of thing.

     Remembering what Blaine had just said, Burt leans forward.

      “Look, kid, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you need to know that I’m not going to judge you for anything you say. I care about you, and I just want to know that you’re doin’ alright.”

A few tears slide down Blaine’s cheeks. Burt’s pretty sure his heart breaks.

      “The worst part,” Blaine tries again, his voice no louder than a whisper, “is that I wanted it. I really did. I was so angry at Wes and David for interrupting and taking me back to my room. I’d been so glad to finally feel appreciated, to feel desired and I was furious that they would take that from me.”

     Burt nods, showing that he’s still listening, and makes every effort to keep his expression sympathetic.

      “I’ve realized since then just how wrong I was. He didn’t want me, not at all. And I didn’t even like him, but I just wanted to feel wanted. I know now how much I would have regretted doing anything with him. It wouldn’t have meant anything.”

     Burt understands this one. He lost his virginity to the first girl he dated that would actually put out. It didn’t mean anything and he’d always regretted it, especially after he met Kurt’s mom.

      “And I didn’t know anything about protection,” Blaine continues, “and apparently he didn’t either, because a few months later I found out that he’d given someone herpes. And, sure, herpes isn’t that big of a deal, but he could have had anything else for all I knew.”

      “So,” Burt interrupts, “All of this is about wanting Kurt to not make the same mistakes you did?”

Blaine nods, looking considerably calmer now that he’d gotten through the worst part of the conversation.

      “Yes, sir,” he says, “I just, he’s too good to have to go through that sort of stuff. He’s too perfect. Too innocent. I just, I feel the need to protect him from anything that could hurt him like that.”

      “So you tried to talk about this stuff with him?” Burt asks.

      “Yes, I did, but, as I said, he was too embarrassed to talk about it.” Blaine answers, uncomfortable again.

      “Okay, so is that why you left so quickly on Friday? Wait, is that why he’s been muttering stuff about not being sexy over the past few days? “

     At this, Blaine blushes, and that’s all the confirmation Burt needs.

      “We, uh, we’ve been trying to come up with an edgier number for regionals and Kurt and I practiced a duet. It’s a, well, it’s a provocative song and I noticed that Kurt was making these weird faces during it. When I asked about it, he said that those were his sexy faces. I, uhm…”

     Blaine gets incredibly uncomfortable at this point and Burt arches his eyebrows.

      “I offered to show him how to, well, how to look more alluring.” Blaine is bright red by the end of this. Burt’s fairly sure that he is, too.

      “So it didn’t work then?” Burt asks.

      “No, and that’s what clued me in to how uncomfortable he is when it comes to stuff like sex.” Blaine answers. “He, uh, he asked me to leave. We haven’t really talked since.”

     Burt really doesn’t know what to say. Should he tell him about how much of an impact that remark has had on Kurt? Surely that would be betraying some confidence. He decides to hint his way around it.

      “Just remember,” he begins, “You’re the only gay guy he knows. He looks up to you for this sort of thing. What you say goes - in his opinion, at least. So if you say something about him not looking sexy…”

      “That’s not what I meant!” Blaine interrupts, clearing understanding what Burt was hinting at. “I meant that he was trying too hard. When he’s just being himself he is overwhelmingly

se-”

     Blaine cuts himself off. Burt is glad.

      “Okay then, I’m just gonna pretend I don’t know where you were going with that.”

     Blaine’s blush has returned. Burt is fairly sure his has, too. He decides it’s time to re-focus the conversation.

      “So I’m gonna talk to Kurt. I’ll go find some pamphlets or something that will hopefully cover all the stuff that I think he’ll prefer to not hear me talk about, but I will talk to him about the emotional stuff. How’s that sound?”

     Blaine nods.

      “That sounds good.” He says. “I think it’s really awesome that you’re doing this for him.”

      “Well it’s important.” Burt replies, and Blaine nods again, eyes wide, looking serious. “So your relationship with your dad isn’t so good?”

     He’d been wondering about that ever since Blaine said about thinking his dad wanted to make him straight. Blaine shrugs.

      “He tries. He’s not, like, hurtful or anything, but he just doesn’t understand me anymore. He’s working on it, trying to find common ground and stuff. Mutual interests that we can focus on, that sort of thing. I know he’s uncomfortable, though. I just always have felt like he wishes that I could be straight just to make things easier.”

     Burt can actually understand this more than he’d care to admit.

      “Well, in all honesty, I can kinda get that.” He says. Blaine looks surprised. “Whenever someone hurts Kurt, or even, like, if I hear something on the news about homophobia, I wish that things were different for him, easier. I mean, I don’t ever wish he was straight, because then he just wouldn’t be Kurt, but I wish it won’t always be so hard for him.”

     Blaine is emotional again, hearing this.

      “Maybe that’s how my dad feels, too. I’ve never really thought about it like that.”

     Burt nods.

      “Maybe you ought to give him more credit.”

      “Maybe.” The boy replies.

     They sit in comfortable silence for a few long moments.

      “Well,” Blaine finally says, getting up to leave. “I suppose I had better head back to Dalton. I’ve got some apologies to make.”

     He frowned at this last part. Burt could tell he was thinking about how much he must have hurt Kurt’s feelings.

      “Just between you and me,” Burt said, “I’m sure he’ll forgive you in a heartbeat.”

     Blaine smiles at this, looking relieved.

      “But don’t you go taking advantage of that! I’m not saying you can get away with anything you want!” Burt hastens to add.

     Blaine just chuckles a bit.

      “Don’t worry, Burt,” he says, “I’ll make sure to grovel an appropriate amount.”

     Burt laughs at this and clasps the kid’s shoulder.

      “You sure seem to have Kurt all figured out!” He says.

     Blaine laughs at this.

      “I don’t think that I will ever have your son figured out, Burt!” Blaine waves as he leaves the shop.

     Burt watches the kid leave. He hopes that the two boys will get together in the end. He’s not really sure what he’ll do if they don’t.