There’s a soft knock on the door and Kurt peaks in. Blaine sits up and squints at the faint light filtering in around Kurt and smiles. Kurt bounds over to the bed in two long strides and jumps in next to Blaine and scrabbles under the covers. Blaine lays down face to face with Kurt and Kurt pulls all the covers over their heads.

“Hi,” Kurt says quietly, breath scented with toothpaste.

Blaine pulls back. “Uh-uh,” he grumbles, as he puts his hand in front of his mouth. “Nnnot fair that you bb-bb-bruh-brushed your teeth. Wait rr-right here.”

Blaine’s back in a minute and now feels more prepared for this pre-dawn cuddle session. He gets back under the covers and pulls all the blankets over them again. He snuggles over to Kurt and gives him a light kiss.

“Mmm. Minty fresh,” Kurt hums into his mouth. “Why didn’t you sleep in my room last night?”

“I-I-I dunno. I felt wah-weird telling Carole that that I could ssss-stay with you. I mmmean, she dah-did put these lovely, comfy sheets on in here.”

“These sheets are lovely,” Kurt yawns as he rubs the pillowcase. “Yeah, I guess I felt weird about announcing that you would be sleeping with me after Carole mentioned making up the guest room. Such an awkward thing to say when parental assumptions are made.”

“How about we have a ss-sleepover at your apartment on Sssunday nah-night when we get bbb-bbb-back?”

“Yes! Brilliant. I’ve been waiting for you to suggest something like that.”

Blaine does his favorite face scrunching expression and Kurt kisses his nose.

“So, wwww-why are you awake?” Blaine asks.

“I don’t know. I woke up and remembered you were here and wanted to see you immediately. Why are you awake?”

Blaine shrugs as best he can, when lying on his side, huddled under blankets. “Just thinking.”

Kurt finds Blaine’s hand and brings it up to his mouth, kissing his knuckles. “Anything you’d like to share?”

Blaine’s pretty sure he’s never felt more like sharing in his entire life. This moment feels so safe, so warm, and Kurt’s eyes beg for Blaine to talk. Normally, this kind of intimacy would feel unnatural, close to scary even, for Blaine. But here in the guest room of Kurt’s parents house, it feels right. It feels like the moment he’s been searching for his entire life. And now that Kurt’s seen Blaine’s family and maybe has a better understanding of their dynamics, Blaine feels ready to talk about this.

“Um. Thinking about mm-my dah-dad.”

Kurt nods understandingly. “I didn’t want to push it last night, but you really can talk to me about this. About anything. Or you don’t have to talk at all, ever, for the rest of our lives, and you can smile and kiss me a lot.”

Blaine can’t help but chuckle at this idea. It really doesn’t sound like such a bad life to him, as long as he gets to hang out with Kurt. But the topic at hand won’t let him linger on happy times with Kurt.

Kurt watches Blaine’s face change from relaxed to serious to worried.

He squeezes Blaine’s hand again.

“So, what’s up?” Kurt prods gently.

Blaine squeezes back.

“It’s just, why nah-now? After all these years of bb-bb-be-being such a … dah-dick, now my dad decides to be a de-de-de-decent person. I mean, now I have other people in mm-mm-my life helping me and sss-sss-supporting me. Where was he when I was all alone?”

“How alone?” Kurt winces even asking the question. He’s not sure he even wants to know the answer, but it popped out of his mouth before he could think better of it.

“Well,” Blaine starts, cocking a rueful eyebrow. “I-I-I-I didn’t have any close friends, not rr-rr-really any friends, not that I could... talk to. And I dd-dd-definitely dah-didn’t have you. My mm-mm-mah-mom used to be mmmm-more distant or maybe I used to keep her at a di-di-di-distance? I dunno. I can’t really figure it out. And Cooper left for college ww-when I was 9, so he wah-wasn’t rrrr-really around when I could have used him. I … pretty mm-much just talked to Paula. My bb-bb-buh-best friend was mmmy therapist.”

Blaine’s candor squeezes Kurt’s heart. Kurt doesn’t want to think about the lonely years of Blaine’s life. Kurt knew they existed, from other things Blaine has mentioned in the past and from the letter that he wrote Kurt all those months ago. But to hear him talk about it makes Kurt feel like crying. Blaine seems so well adjusted recently that it’s easy to ignore that he wasn’t always like this.

And as he imagines younger Blaine, Kurt can hardly suppress his emotions. He pictures Blaine alone on a playground, in a hallway, at a lunch table. Blaine alone in all of theses scenes, smaller, quieter, wanting to fit in and have friends, but unsure of how to accomplish a task that most people take for granted. Even on the worst days of his life, Kurt had at least a couple of true friends.

Thinking about that little Blaine could make Kurt cry. Knowing that on the inside, he was still Kurt’s happy, smiley Blaine who’s so intelligent and has such an amazing sense of humor and had no one to share it with for so long. Blaine, never believing that anyone even wanted him to share or that he was worth it. Blaine, searching for moments and situations where it was ok to be himself and all too often coming up short.

Kurt nods, wanting Blaine to go on, hoping he won’t stop there. Blaine moves his body in closer to Kurt, needing to feel him right next to him. Kurt rolls onto his back and pulls the covers down a little. Blaine finds a comfortable spot to rest his cheek on Kurt’s chest and Kurt’s arm goes around him, his fingers lightly caressing Blaine’s bicep. Embraced like this by Kurt, Blaine feels like he won’t be able to stop the words that have been building up inside of him for years. Before he lets himself go, he feels like he needs to warn Kurt.

“Are you sure you ww-ww-want to hear all this? It mm-might take a wwwww-while.”

“We have all the time in the world.” And they do, Carole left for a 12 hour shift soon after everyone headed to bed last night, and Burt will sleep like a log for another hour or two. He finally hired someone to open the shop, so his early mornings are over for the most part. And Finn certainly isn’t going to bother them anytime soon.

They stay like this for a few minutes, Kurt sure that Blaine will go on when he gets his thoughts in order. He feels Blaine’s warm breath through his thin t-shirt. He moves his hand up and runs his fingers softly through Blaine’s hair. Another minute or two passes.

“Can I whisper?” Blaine asks hesitantly.

“Of course,” Kurt responds gently.

“Ok,” Blaine sighs. He nuzzles his face into Kurt’s chest briefly and then flips onto his stomach so he can look into Kurt’s eyes.

“I … hate my father,” he starts softly. He searches Kurt’s eyes for a hint of judgment, particularly because he assumes Kurt could never understand such negative emotions aimed at anyone’s dad. Not with a dad like Burt Hummel in your corner. But, all Blaine sees there is sadness, mixed with something like gentle curiosity. Kurt moves to lay on his side, moving in a bit closer, to make sure he doesn’t miss any of Blaine’s whispered thoughts. Kurt runs his fingertips down Blaine’s back. Blaine leans his chin on his arms folded in front of him, not wanting to look at Kurt during this next part.

“I hate how he treats me. I hate how he treats my mom. I hate how he’s never acted like a dad. When I was younger, I was almost... relieved when I didn’t grow out of my stutter, because that meant I wasn’t like him. It meant I would never be like him.”

“I...” Blaine squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head, as if trying to rattle his thoughts loose. “I was so afraid of him. I haven’t wanted to tell you a lot of this stuff. I almost don’t know where to start.”

“If you had to describe your father in three words, what would they be?”

Blaine moves his head so his cheek is resting on his arms now and he looks at Kurt. “Withholding. Negative... Does fucked-up count as one word or two?”

Kurt continues his gentle massage of Blaine’s back, wanting Blaine to be aware that he’s there, but not wanting to impede his thought process with other words.

“We’ll hyphenate it for the purpose of this exercise.”

Blaine nods and rolls over on his back. He shuts his eyes and steals himself for what he’s about to say. Blaine finds himself unable to whisper the next part. “He used to... hit me. Not all the time, just dd-dah-during my www-worst bbb-bbb-blocks. He wah-would always apologize. He never actually hurt me. Bbbb-but. It’s … dd-dd-definitely part of why I hate to talk so much. Conditioning, I guess. I nnn-nn-nah-never told anyone be-be-be-before.”

He pushes the heels of hands into his eyes. He doesn’t want to cry. He doesn’t even really feel like crying, but he can feel tears prickling in his eyes. He’s never told anyone about his dad hitting him before. Not Paula, not Matt, not Chad. And he never had bruises, there were never any marks, no one could see it. It’s not like he was beaten, or at least that’s how he always tried to comfort himself when he was younger. He doesn’t even know what else to say about it to Kurt. It’s sort of embarrassing to him now, that his father would do that. It’s so dysfunctional. He wants to distance himself from it, but he really wanted Kurt to know.

“No one, not Paula? And what about your mom?” Kurt asks quietly. He’s having trouble imagining Blaine’s mom letting his dad hit him. He’s having trouble imagining a situation where someone would watch Blaine get hit and not try to stop it.

Blaine makes his quiet throaty noise in response to Kurt, letting him know he heard the question, but wanting to convey that it might take him a minute to answer. He’s trying to collect his thoughts, knowing he doesn’t have to feel embarrassed about any of this, not in front of Kurt.

He opens his eyes, but still can’t look at Kurt. “I-I-I never told Paula. And I-I-I-I assume mmm-my mom knew it wah-was happening. She wah-wah-was never there. He, he, he, he would nah-never hit mmm-me in front of her. I mean, I always assumed she knew and I-I-I could never understand why she didn’t stop him. But may-may-maybe she didn’t know?” Blaine’s mostly talking to himself at this point. It never dawned on him, he never even thought. What if his mom didn’t know? What if she could have helped him?

Kurt has this indescribable urge to somehow physically cover Blaine, to keep anyone from ever hurting him ever again. He wants to literally lay on top of Blaine and stay there until he forgets all of the negative things that have happened to him, until they both forget. But that won’t keep out a cruel world and it can’t change what happened in the past. Instead, Kurt takes Blaine’s hands and draws him into a sitting position on the bed. Kurt kneels in front of him and hugs him with all his might. After a second of shock, Blaine returns the hug with equal force.

“I love you,” Kurt says, into Blaine’s ear and then kisses the shell of it.

Blaine buries his face in Kurt’s shoulder and hums happily. But then he startles and pulls away.

“Wait. What? You dah-do?” His face is full of disbelief and is just bordering on a smile.

“Yeah. I do.” Kurt leans his forehead against Blaine’s and says, “I’m in love with you.”

Blaine quickly stands up on the bed, gives a little bounce and a whoop of joy. And then covers his mouth quickly remembering that it’s only 7 o’clock in the morning and other people are still sleeping. He drops back down on the bed in front of Kurt and plants kisses all over Kurt’s face.

“I guess you find this news to your liking?”

“Oh God. Kurt. You have na-no idea. I love you so much. I think I’ve bb-bb-bb-been in love with you since the first time I ssss-saw you. I wwwww-wanted to tell you for sss-so long. I just,” Blaine blushes and stops here, for brief a moment, finding the words. “I dd-didn’t ww-want to overwhelm you, if you weren’t there yet.”

“I’m there, I’ve been there for a while. I think I was saving it, for when you needed it. Or for when I needed you to hear it.”

“I needed it,” Blaine breathes into Kurt’s ear. “I really, really needed it.”

“I’m sorry I interrupted your deep confessions. I had a feeling you needed to know, right away. Do you want to finish talking about your dad?”

“No. Seriously. I don’t think I could get bb-bah-bah-back into that frame of mmmm-mind rr-right now anyway. Doesn’t mmm-matter. You love me. I love you. That’s what matters.”

Blaine tackles Kurt onto the bed, wanting to show him how much loves him, knowing that his actions are often more effective than his words. Blaine starts kissing him, brushing Kurt’s lips with his own. His hand finds Kurt’s waist and he lets his thumb sneak under the edge of Kurt’s t-shirt and rub the soft, smooth skin there. Kurt brings a hand to Blaine’s neck and lazily plays with the wisps of hair at back of it.

Unfortunately, they both know they can’t get too involved right now, the sun has risen fully, and they can hear Kurt’s dad in the shower. Kurt pulls away and then decides to blow a raspberry on Blaine’s neck. Blaine giggles.

“I love how you giggle,” Kurt says. “You literally say ‘hee hee.’”

“I’m glad you love it,” Blaine responds. “I love lots of sss-sss-stuff about you.”

They stay tangled up in each other for a little while longer, until they hear Kurt’s dad in the hallway yell, “Attention boys! If anyone wants breakfast, I’m willing to make it within the next 30 minutes.”

“I’m starving,” Blaine says wide-eyed.

“Yes! Let’s eat breakfast!” Kurt exclaims, like it’s the best idea anyone has ever had.

The boys hop off the bed and fight each other to get out the door first, because of course it’s a competition.

~~~~~

Before Blaine leaves to drive home that afternoon, they go for coffee at Kurt’s favorite coffee place. Blaine’s happy to learn that The Lima Bean doesn’t ask for names when you order.

They sit down at a table, both in very good spirits, even with the knowledge they won’t see each other again until Sunday. They’re talking about Blaine’s schedule for next semester. He’s taking an extra class, wanting to keep himself busy while Kurt’s away.

“I sss-signed up for that ASL course I had mmm-men-mentioned, bb-bb-but it’s at 8:15 three days a week which mm-might eventually kill me. Or at least bb-bre-bre-bre-break my will to live...” Blaine is saying to Kurt, when he notices a concerned expression ghost across Kurt’s face. Blaine looks at him questioningly.

“Oh. Shit.” Kurt says under his breath.

“Well, well, well,” says a voice behind Blaine. “If it isn’t Kurt Hummel. I was wondering if I’d run into you this weekend,” Blaine glances behind him and a tall guy, a very tall guy by Blaine’s estimation, is standing there looking at Kurt. Blaine can tell that Kurt is not thrilled to see him, to say the least.

“Hello Sebastian,” Kurt says tersely. Blaine’s never seen Kurt like this before, he’s bristling and clearly on edge.

Oh, Sebastian, Blaine thinks. This should be interesting.

Sebastian moves so he’s standing by the table, rather than behind Blaine.

“And who’s this?”

Blaine blinks his eyes a couple of times and sticks his hand out to shake and Kurt says, “This is my boyfriend, Blaine.”

Blaine’s relieved. There’s something about this guy that makes him feel like he might not have been incredibly patient with Blaine’s speech.

“Oh, your... boyfriend,” Sebastian says with mock surprise, raising an eyebrow and giving Blaine a once over. “Well, isn’t that sweet.” He turns his attention fully to Kurt.

“So, what are you doing in Ohio? I seem to recall you swearing you’d never set foot back here once you moved to Amsterdam.”

“I may have run low on funds, but I’m working on it.”

"Sounds illuminating," Kurt says dryly. "And possibly illegal." He adds under his breath.

"My favorite ways to live," Sebastian grins. "Yours too, if my memory serves me correctly."

Kurt rolls his eyes and takes a peek at Blaine, who looks like he’s trying really hard not to laugh. He seems to be watching Sebastian and Kurt’s conversation the same way you would watch a tennis match, swinging his head to look at each boy in turn.

"Rather...if OUR memories serve me correctly. Which...they do." Sebastian adds, when he see the look of distaste Kurt’s wearing.

“Oh Seb. That was a long time ago, must we go there,” Kurt says loftily.

“Oh Kurts. You know I hate when people call me Seb,” Sebastian volleys back. “Maybe I’ll see you around this weekend? Maybe bring your... boyfriend along.”

He tips his head to Blaine and makes his way to the exit.

“That’s the, the, the kind of guy you’re usually attracted to?” Blaine asks.

“If you’re about to say something mean about yourself, I will not hesitate to punch you. I’m not in the mood,” Kurt groans.

Blaines makes his shocked face. “Actually I www-was about to call him a ddd-dah-douchebag.”

“Oh,” Kurt says, as he nods his head, “Okay.”

“I wah-was also going to sss-say that I enjoy www-watching you sss-squirm dah-during awkward run-ins with your ex. That was … “ Here Blaine starts slow clapping.

Kurt raises an eyebrow at him. “This isn’t fair. You have no skeletons in your closet.”

“Oh, come on, Kurt,” Blaine begs. “Give mmm-me this one wah-win.”

“Fine, but if you keep playing that card, I’m going to start keeping a notebook. And it will include point tallies and even our smallest most innocent battles.”

The boys finish their coffee and as they head out to the car, Blaine can’t stop smiling.

“You know I could sss-start www-wearing my hair like that, Kurts,” Blaine says, making swiping gestures over his head.

Kurt rolls his eyes. At this point it’s easier to let Blaine get this out of his system.

“Maybe if I-I-I-I used one of those... flat irons? I think my mm-mom has one. Or I could just bbb-bbb-blow it out? And swoosh it. Just swoosh mm-my hair. Ya know, Kurts?”

~~~~~

Selected texts from Thanksgiving weekend...

November 27
@ 9:48 pm
Blaine: He’s still a pod person.

9:52 pm
Kurt: Shouldn’t you be relieved that he’s still pod person?
Kurt: Isn’t it better than the alternative?

9:55 pm
Blaine: I guess.
Blaine: This is disconcerting though.
Blaine: I had a conversation with him and did a SHIT TON of voluntary stuttering
Blaine: He didn’t bat an eye
Blaine: It’s weird Kurt. It’s really weird.

9:58 pm
Kurt: I have no idea what to tell you.
Kurt: Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?
Kurt: it’s still your turn, btw
Kurt: Leonardo DiCaprio to John Lithgow

10:02 pm
Blaine: I didn’t think you were serious with that one.
Blaine: it’s too easy.
Blaine: Leo was in Inception with Joseph Gordon-Levitt who was on 3rd rock with Lithgow.

10:05 pm
Kurt: Curses.

10:06 pm
Blaine: BJ Novak to Kate Hudson

10:13 pm
Kurt: BJ Novak is on The Office with John Krasinski
Kurt: who was in Something Borrowed with Kate Hudson
Kurt: you’re getting soft on me Anderson

10:16 pm
Blaine: No. I just wanted you to admit to seeing Something Borrowed.

10:18 pm
Kurt: Insert me giving you the finger font.
Kurt: Angelina Jolie to Matthew Perry

----------

November 28th
@ 10:44 am
Blaine: Apparently the Andersons are starting a new tradition.
Blaine: Today we’re going to chop down our own Christmas tree.

11:15 am
Kurt: Seriously?
Kurt: That’s like the last thing I can imagine your family doing.

11:17 am
Blaine: I know. It’s bizarre.
Blaine: I’m the most rugged person in my family.
Blaine: and by rugged I mean willing to walk on grass.

11:23 am
Kurt: I expect a full report on this later.

7:28 pm
Blaine: I have no idea how to tell you this
Blaine: so I’m just going to say it.
Blaine: Chopping down a Christmas tree
Blaine: with my family
Blaine: was almost
Blaine: fun.

7:32 pm
Kurt: Why only almost?

7:34 pm
Blaine: well the activity was fun.
Blaine: but somehow I got tree sap in my hair.

7:37 pm
Kurt: BAHAHAHAHAHAH
Kurt: I want you to know that I’m not laughing at you.

7:39 pm
Blaine: Liar.
Blaine: Steve Martin to Colin Firth

----------

November 29th
@ 12:02 pm
Blaine: I can’t take much more family bonding.

12:08 pm
Kurt: What’s on the agenda today?

12:10 pm
Blaine: Christmas shopping.

12:12 pm
Kurt: good luck my friend.
Kurt: and for when you return
Kurt: Kristen Bell to Jason Bateman

4:02 pm
Blaine: So. I found out why my father’s a pod person.
Blaine: He’s been seeing a therapist since August.
Blaine: My mom told me, because I made a (mildly) snarky comment about my dad.
Blaine: she didn’t defend him, per say, but she told me that he’s going to therapy
Blaine: this is very weird.
Blaine: I feel weird.
Blaine: now she told me that he’s been going since we had that fight in the car
Blaine: So, he had already started by the end of the summer
Blaine: which makes sense as to why he took me coming out better than expected.
Blaine: turns out he didn’t tell my mom he was even going until last month.
Blaine: WTF. for some reason that pisses me off that he didn’t tell her.
Blaine: I think I’m just looking for reasons to be pissed off.

5:17 pm
Kurt: AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Kurt: I was at the movies! my phone was on silent!
Kurt: Damn Finn and his fondness for children’s cartoon movies that only play as matinees!
Kurt: These are INSANE developments
Kurt: don’t be pissed off. This is a good thing.

5:32 pm
Blaine: I know. My rage has died down a bit.
Blaine: and things do make more sense now.

5:34 pm
Kurt: Good. We’ll have to discuss this further tomorrow.
Kurt: because I have family bonding to do now
Kurt: and my dad is giving me dirty looks.

5:37 pm
Blaine: PS Jason Bateman was actually IN Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Kristen Bell.

6:41 pm
Kurt: why am I so bad at this game?

-----------

November 30th
@ 12:07 am
Kurt: I feel downtrodden

12:08 am
Blaine: About what?

12:10 am
Kurt: About how much better you are than me at Six Degrees of Separation. :(

12:11 am
Blaine: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH
Blaine: I’m not laughing at you.

12:13 am
Kurt: Liar.

12:15 am
Blaine: You can give me a hard one. Would that make you feel better?
Blaine: Like the Zsa Zsa Gabor one from last week.

12:27 am
Kurt: HMMMMM.
Kurt: Ray Romano
Kurt: to
Kurt: Kristen Bell

12:30 am
Blaine: That can’t be *that* hard
Blaine: gimme a minute

12:35 am
Kurt: Tick tock Blainers

12:37 am
Blaine: This was a doozy Kurt
Blaine: You almost got me, almost
Blaine: Kristen Bell was in When in Rome with John Heder
Blaine: John Heder was in Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell
Blaine: Will Ferrell was in Night at the Roxbury with Chris Kattan
Blaine: Chris Kattan was on The Middle with Patricia Heaton
Blaine: AND Patricia Heaton was of course on Everybody Loves Raymond with you know who

12:43 am
Kurt: Bravo Blaine. Bravo.

12:44 am
Blaine: Chris Kattan was the key to it all.

12:45 am
Kurt: Bet that’s the first time anyone has ever said that sentence...

~~~~~

On Sunday afternoon, Kurt and his dad pick Blaine up and drive to the airport.

Burt gets out of the car to help grab suitcases, but they’re in a drop off zone, so he can’t stay long. He gives Kurt a quick hug. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks for Christmas, bud.”

Blaine puts his hand out to shake and say thank you, but Burt pulls him into a hug, too. “It was great meeting you, Blaine, really great.”

“It was nnn-nice to mmm-meet you, too,” Blaine says bashfully. “Thanks for the rrrr-rrrr-ride.”

“Anytime, kiddo. Anytime.” Burt turns to Kurt, “Be sure to call me and let me know you got in safe. I’ll talk to you later.”

Later that night, after the airport and cab rides, after Blaine made a stop at the dorm to drop his stuff off and let Matt know he’s staying at Kurt’s tonight, the boys are curled up on Kurt’s bed, watching a dvd. Blaine on his back, with Kurt curled on his side next to him, resting his head on Blaine’s chest.

The boys discussed Blaine’s family developments while sitting in the airport and then for the majority of the plane ride, so they’re both a little tired of the topic, particularly Blaine. Kurt’s willing to talk for as long as Blaine wants to talk. But he can tell Blaine needs a break, so they’ve moved on to lighter topics.

“Matt was nah-not thrilled that I www-wah-was sssssleeping here,” Blaine tells Kurt. “I-I-I-I think he’s jealous.”

“He wants to sleep here, too?” Kurt says,

“I think he dah-dah-does actually,” Blaine says. “He sssseemed to think we wwwww-were going to have a party without him or ss-ss-something.”

“This is better than a party,” Kurt sighs, as he absentmindedly plays with Blaine’s curls.

Blaine hums his agreement.

“So,” Kurt draws in a breath, as he pauses the dvd. “How about you let me … trim your hair?”

Blaine makes a noise of mock disgust. “You woo mm-me to your home and then dd-dah-dare to ask to cut mmmm-my hair?”

“First of all, you suggested this sleepover. Second of all, just a trim. Your split ends are giving me hives.”

Blaine rolls his eyes, but Kurt can tell that he’s going to assent. With some wordless grumbles and several noisy sighs, Blaine heaves himself off the bed.

“Fine, bb-bb-bbb-bb-but only if you bb-bb-blow it out ssss-straight and then swoosh it, Kurt,” Blaine can’t stop smirking. “Just swoosh the hell out of it.”

Kurt gets up off the bed and pushes Blaine through his bedroom door, out to the kitchen. “Oh, I’ll swoosh your hair. I’ll make it the swooshiest.”

Kurt pulls a chair over to the kitchen sink and tells Blaine to sit. Then he goes into the bathroom and grabs a variety of hair care products, including his favorite volumizing shampoo and conditioner.

When Kurt returns to the kitchen, Blaine leans his head back into the sink and Kurt uses the spray nozzle to douse his hair. The warm water and Kurt’s hands feel incredible. Blaine closes his eyes and smiles. Kurt gently massages in the shampoo, careful to keep it out of Blaine’s eyes and paying extra attention to Blaine’s temples and his hairline. Particularly when he notices Blaine’s small hums of pleasure. Kurt rinses out the shampoo and then starts in with the conditioner, this time paying paying more attention to Blaine’s hair than to Blaine’s enjoyment. He makes sure to work root to tip, giving Blaine’s fraying hair a good conditioning.

“God, that was nah-nice, Kurt,” Blaine mumbles, his eyes still closed, as Kurt starts gently towel drying Blaine’s hair. “I mmm-might be, be, be tempted to let you cut mm-my hair on a weekly bb-bbb-bay-basis if you promise to always ww-wah-wash it like that first.”

“Hmm. I’ll have to make note of that somewhere and use it as ammunition in the future,” Kurt muses.

“Yes, fine. You win this rrrr-round,” Blaine smiles.

“Alright, don’t move your head around,” Kurt says as he starts working a comb through Blaine’s hair, which even soaking wet is starting to curl at the ends.

“A comb, Kurt? Mmmm-my hair laughs at combs,” Blaine scoffs.

Blaine’s right about the comb of course, so Kurt goes back to the bathroom and searches for a better utensil. He returns with a round brush.

“We’re going to need this anyway for when I swoosh your face off,” Kurt explains.

Kurt then begins the task of trimming Blaine’s hair. It’s slow, but he really wants to get all the split ends. “I might have to make this shorter than you’d like, but your hair really is just unhealthy at this point Blaine. When was the last time you got a trim?”

“Um. June?” Blaine says remorsefully.

“Blaine!” Kurt reprimands. “Even when you’re growing your hair, you need to get it trimmed semi-regularly!”

“Ok, ok,” Blaine says exasperatedly.

“Ok, now for the swooshing. I am going to swoosh the hell out of you.”

“I-I-I-I’m glad to sssss-see that you’ve fully adopted the, the, the term swoosh.”

The hair dryer starts up then and Kurt begins his masterpiece. When he finally let’s Blaine look in the mirror, Blaine starts laughing and can’t stop.

“This is the www-wah-worst thing that has ever, ever happened to mmm-my hair. And I’m including the time mmmm-my parents took me to Louisiana in, in, in, in August.”

Kurt gives Blaine a questioning look. “The humidity?”

“Oh, the humidity Kurt. You have nnn-no idea,” Blaine declares.

The boys go back to their movie after that, cuddling in Kurt’s bed, happy to be together.

Right as they're falling asleep, with Blaine as the big spoon, because Kurt wasn’t lying when he said Blaine’s the best big spoon ever, Blaine finds Kurt’s ear and kisses it. “I love you, Kurt Hummel. Even if you did make my hair look like Lyle Lovett’s.”

“I love you, Blaine Anderson, because you trust me enough to let me.”

The boys fall asleep with smiles on their faces.