When his father brought up the fact that he was uncomfortable with Kurt spending time with Blaine unsupervised, Kurt told his father that Burt didn’t trust him.

When Burt reminded Kurt of the paparazzi and the possibility of them getting caught should they go out, and asked Kurt if he was really sure that being with Blaine was something that he wanted, Kurt kind of lost it a little.

“I’m grounded,” he told Blaine, staring at his boyfriend through the Skype chat window.

“What?” Blaine stared at him in surprise.

“My dad wouldn’t let me come to visit you next week,” Kurt muttered. “I kept pushing, thinking I could convince him, and he grounded me.”

“Are you even supposed to be talking to me right now?” Blaine asked, sounding concerned.

“I got the okay to call you tell you I can’t come,” Kurt sighed. “Then I’m on full lockdown for the next week.”

“So… we can’t even talk on Valentine’s Day?” Kurt nodded, his expression glum.

“I’m so sorry, Blaine,” Kurt mumbled, tearing up. “I wanted our first Valentine’s Day to be special and I screwed it up.”

“No, no, it’s okay, Kurt,” Blaine comforted him. “I’ll probably have to work late anyway, and you’d have been stuck here and bored.”

“But at least I’d be there for you to come home to,” Kurt replied. “But my dad…”

“It’ll be okay,” Blaine assured him. “We’ll see each other soon.”

“Yeah, I guess… this just sucks,” Kurt wiped at his eyes. “I’d better go.”

“I’m sure the guys will keep me company,” Blaine whispered, clearly hoping to make Kurt feel better. “We’ll spend the night hiding Jeff’s Golden Globe and timing how long it takes for him to find it.”

Kurt choked out a laugh. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Blaine murmured.

*

Kurt was only allowed his cell phone during school hours, in case of an emergency. It wasn’t allowed to be on, he wasn’t allowed to text or call or go online (which was putting a serious cramp in his eBay shopping).

The worst was he hadn’t realized how much he relied on his multiple daily conversations with Blaine. Something was funny – he’d text Blaine. Something upset him – he’d text Blaine. School was over – he’d call Blaine and talk to him while Blaine was on a break. Or they’d Skype before bed.

Kurt always missed Blaine when they were apart, but he’d never realized how much he would miss Blaine if they couldn’t talk.

It sucked, to put it bluntly.

He tried to keep himself busy. Cheerios practice, Glee practice, helping his dad at the shop (even if Kurt was mad at him). He was pretty much doing anything to avoid being home without anything to do and too much time on his hands.

He wondered how Blaine was coping.

*

Blaine threw himself into his work.

He hated that he couldn’t talk to Kurt, but he wasn’t about to go against Burt’s rules. If he ever wanted to see Kurt again, Blaine had to make sure he toed the line and that Kurt did too.

So he made sure that he kept busy. He spent time reading and re-reading his script. He took time every day to work on upcoming songs, and rehearse in the studios. Blaine made sure to take a picture of him and Nick and Jeff goofing off in the dance studio, enjoying it immensely when the fangirls freaked out.

Every day he missed Kurt terribly. The boys teased him about staring at Kurt’s picture on set. His first instincts when something happened was to text or call Kurt and tell him.

He’d gotten so used to telling Kurt everything that not being able to tell him anything went against his very nature.

He sighed.

Just a few more days.

*

“It’s like the universe is mocking me,” Kurt lamented, slumping into his chair on the upper stair of the choir room. Mercedes sat to his left, Santana and Brittany to his right. He picked at a piece of invisible lint on his Cheerios uniform.

“Dramatic much, Hummel?” Santana replied. “Your boy toy not giving it up?”

“Bite me,” Kurt snapped. “I got grounded, okay? I’m not allowed to talk to Blaine at all, and tomorrow’s our first Valentine’s Day and we can’t even…” he trailed off, his face flushing. He hadn’t meant to reveal to so much to them.

“What’d you do, ladyface?” Satana asked with a knowing smirk. “You and Blainers get caught with your collective pants down?”

Kurt arched an eyebrow at her.

“No,” Kurt said firmly. Well, they had, but that wasn’t why he was in trouble.

“Santana, leave the boy alone,” Mercedes interrupted. Luckily, Mr. Schue got their attention and started writing on the board.

Love songs.

“Great,” he muttered to Mercedes. “Just kill me now and put me out of my misery.”

*

“So boys, who’s up for a night out tonight?” Sebastian asked, draping at arm over Blaine’s shoulder as he came to stand next him.

“I don’t really think -" Blaine tried to shrug off Sebastian’s arm.

“Come on, Blaine,” he said. “You’ve been in a funk for days. You need to do something to shake off the doldrums.”

“He’s got a point, Blaine,” Nick replied. Blaine had to fight the urge to glare at his friend.

“I’m just not good company right now,” Blaine excused, shifting so that Sebastian’s arm finally dropped off. “I’m sorry.”

“Come on, what’s one night out gonna do?” Sebastian pressed. “I can show you how the other half lives.”

“I’m not interested, thank you,” Blaine muttered, walking away.

*

“So what song are you going to sing?” Rachel asked, leaning against the lockers while Kurt pulled things out of his and put them in his bag. “I’m thinking that I really need to do something-"

“Rachel, please, I’m not in the mood to deal with you today,” Kurt cut her off. “I’m sorry, I’m just…”

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” she asked. “Not being able to talk to him.”

“It’s killing me,” Kurt admitted. “I didn’t know…” He sighed. “Just a few more days and it’ll be over.”

“I’m really sorry, Kurt.”

“It’s okay.” He sighed again. “It’s my own stupidity that got me into this mess.” She gave him a sympathetic smile before flouncing off in search of Finn.

They’d recently broken up, Rachel and Finn. Kurt knew that Rachel was feeling what he was feeling, and she was trying hard to get Finn to take her back. He sighed as the bell rang.

*

“You sure you won’t come with us tonight?” Nick asked Blaine. Blaine shook his head.

“No,” he told Nick. “It’s not really my scene.”

“We’re worried about you, you know.” Nick met his gaze. “You’ve been so upset about Kurt, and it hasn’t even been a week. Do you think maybe you guys need to… cool it off a little?”

“You were the one who encouraged me to go for him!” Blaine exclaimed.
“Why would I give him up? I love him.”

“I just hate seeing you so down,” Nick replied. “Come on, Sebastian’s kind of ass, but the rest of us are going and it’ll be fun.”

“I don’t know, Nick,” Blaine could feel himself wavering.

“What else have you got to do?”

Well, Nick had him there.

*

“This week’s been rough on you, hasn’t it, kiddo?” Kurt looked up to see his father staring at him. He realized that he’d gotten lost in thought during dinner, and Carole and Finn had already finished and left the kitchen. His father remained, a half full cup of coffee in front of him. Kurt dropped his fork to his half eaten plate of food.

“I miss talking to him.”

“Maybe I was too harsh on you,” Burt admitted. “But you broke the rules, Kurt.”

“I know,” Kurt replied, staring at his hands.

“I was going to let it go – you’re teenagers, you’re boys. I remember what that was like,” Burt continued, and Kurt felt his face flushing. “But you can’t just drop everything and go running to see Blaine whenever you want. My word is final, Kurt. I’m the parent and you’re the kid, regardless of how things have been around here in the past.”

“I’m sorry,” Kurt whispered, daring to glance at his father. “It won’t happen again.” His father nodded after a long moment, and Kurt allowed his hopes to swell. Maybe he’d get an early release from his punishment. “I’ll just… clean my plate and go finish my homework.” He got up and did just that.

*

“Hey, where ya goin’?” Sebastian called after Blaine. Blaine turned around in the parking lot of the eighteen and under club they’d gone to.

“Home, Sebastian,” Blaine replied.

“The night is still young, Blaine, and I suspect there’s a party animal under that hot little bashful schoolboy front you put up.” Sebastian moved closer.

“It’s not a front and this… really isn’t my scene, okay?” Blaine gritted his teeth, trying not to lose his temper. Sebastian wasn’t a bad guy, but now Blaine was wondering if Kurt was right and Sebastian did have a thing for him.

“Blaine, you need to live a little,” Sebastian chided, moving so that he was standing directly in front of Blaine.

“I’m going home, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Blaine turned to walk away, and Sebastian grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you. I guess now’s a good a place as any.”

“What about?” Blaine asked, wishing he could just wrench his arm out of Sebastian’s grasp and leave without looking like an ass. Sebastian hadn’t actually done anything but be nice to him, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“You like me, right?” Sebastian wanted to know.

“Of course I do – we’re friends,” Blaine answered.

“No, I mean –“ Sebastian stopped mid-sentence and smirked.

And then his lips were on Blaine’s.