Kurt couldn't help it. Somewhere around three in the morning he woke up, embarrassingly hard and trembling. He didn't like having wet dreams, knowing that he was asleep in a room surrounded by Dave and four kids.

Kurt threw on his robe and stepped outside to the family van. He took out his iPhone and dialed Blaine's number. He expected to hear his usual ring back tone of Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night", but Blaine had changed it to "Being Alive". Kurt smiled. He figured Blaine was sound asleep, so he was about to hang up and just text him, when he heard the phone pick up, and a surprisingly awake sounding Blaine answered.

"You're up early," Kurt commented.

"Well, so are you, gorgeous," Blaine replied.

"I like your ring back tone." Kurt bit his lip when Blaine chuckled.

"You do, huh?" Blaine sat back in his bed, listening to his boyfriend's voice. His boyfriend's voice. He had to smile at that.

"I do." Kurt lay down in the back seat of the van and looked out the window at the sky, still a dusky black.

"Is everything alright?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah, I..." Kurt felt a little silly admitting this to Blaine. "I...had a...kind of...dream...about you." Kurt bit his lip, wanting to scream like a giddy teenager.

"Really?" Kurt could hear Blaine's smile as he spoke. "Was it a bad dream?"

Kurt knew Blaine was teasing him. He groaned.

"No, Blaine." Kurt squirmed uncomfortably. "Don't make me say it."

Blaine laughed out loud, and Kurt blushed a deep cherry red.

"Why are you laughing at me?" Kurt whined, trying to bite back a giggle in order to sound properly offended.

Blaine struggled to catch his breath.

"I just find it a little funny," Blaine said, fighting to calm down and speak, "that the man who finger fucked himself in front of me, who begged me to fuck him, who begged me to spank him, can't admit to having a wet dream."

"Well," Kurt explained, "it's different. First of all, I sleep in a room with five other people..."

"True, true," Blaine relented. "That is a little creepy."

"But mostly..." Kurt pulled his robe around his body, chasing the warmth. "I don't like it when things are out of my control."

Blaine sighed.

"That makes a lot of sense," Blaine said. "It probably explains a lot, too."

Kurt nodded, even though Blaine couldn't see.

"You know," Blaine started tentatively, "you never told me how you started this...being a dominatrix, I mean."

"Oh." Kurt fidgeted, trying to get comfortable on the cold vinyl seat. He considered going back inside where it was warmer, but he didn't want to move. He looked over the bench seat into the trunk and found an old camping blanket. He grabbed it and pulled it around him. "It's not that exciting a story."

"I'd like to hear it," Blaine urged, "if you're comfortable telling me."

"Yeah." Kurt curled in the fetal position while he tried to think of where the start. "Well, it was after we moved to San Diego. Dave and I pretty much sold everything we had that was worth anything. I sold my Navigator so we could get the van and the Suzuki. Everything else went toward the move and the down payment on the house."

"What about your parents?" Blaine asked, turning on his side and putting the phone on speaker so he could imagine Kurt lying in bed with him, telling him this story.

"My dad and my stepmom live in Ohio. They gave us as much as they could spare, but my dad's health isn't the greatest. I couldn't really ask them for much. Dave's dad gave us some money, and so did Rachel's dads. It went pretty quick." Kurt said quietly.

"Where's your mom?" Blaine looked at the phone, waiting for an answer.

"My mom died when I was eight."

Blaine reached out a finger and ran it down the side of the phone, as if he were touching Kurt's cheek.

"Oh, Kurt. I'm so sorry."

Kurt brushed a tear off his cheek, and sniffled.

"It's alright." Kurt closed his eyes. He put an arm around his waist, imagining it was Blaine's arm holding him tight. "It was a long time ago."

Kurt removed the arm from around his waist so he could card his fingers through his hair, pretending Blaine was comforting him. It was a nice daydream, but it wasn't the same. Kurt had put a few drops of Blaine's cologne on every item of clothing he owned, and he could smell it around him now. Breathing it in gave him a feeling of peace, a sense of belonging to someone.

"Anyway," Kurt continued, suddenly remembering he was in the middle of telling a story, "a friend of mine helped me get a job at a gay bar downtown. The uniform was head to toe leather..."

Kurt laughed at the memory of driving down to his first day of work, dressed in that get-up, and getting pulled over for expired plates. The officer not only let him off with a warning, but slipped Kurt his number.

"One of the bartenders wanted to try and be a dom, sort of as a side job for extra money. We got hired together, for a party. The night of, we got to the spot, and my friend...well...he chickened out. He split and left me."

Blaine held his breath, horrified by the amount of people in Kurt's life who had run out on him, left him in the lurch.

"What did you do?" Blaine's voice was barely a whisper.

"I went through with it. There were eight guys and they were kind of pissed that only I showed up, especially considering they were looking forward to a dominator and not...uh...me..." Kurt chuckled. "But it all worked out. In fact, they became steady customers for a while."

Blaine smiled. He was a little curious to know how his black swan handled a room full of eight men, but he figured now wasn't the time to ask.

"What did you do after?" Blaine asked awkwardly. "I mean, it was just a job, right? Was it pretty easy?"

Blaine heard Kurt hiccup.

"No, Blaine," Kurt admitted. "It wasn't easy. I sat in the shower the minute I got home and cried for over an hour." Blaine heard Kurt's voice become thick, wavering a bit. "But I promised myself that was the last time..."

"The last time what, angel?" Blaine could feel tears starting in his own eyes.

"The last time I would let that job make me cry."

Blaine sighed.

"Why did you stick with it?" Blaine heard Kurt sniffle and curse under his breath, probably for getting teary eyed.

"Because I'm good at it." Kurt regained control of his voice. "It pays better than working at a bar. I set my own hours. And I get treated better, really. I mean, subs respect you. Drunk guys pinch your ass and tip badly."

Kurt chuckled, but Blaine couldn't laugh.

Blaine felt so far away, so impotent. He had fallen in love with Kurt before he really knew him. He never realized how strong, but also how broken his beautiful black swan was. It just reaffirmed to Blaine how much he needed to think of way to keep Kurt by his side. He needed to do something.

Something big. Something worthwhile.

"Hey." Blaine broke the uncomfortable silence, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it, sweetheart?" Kurt shifted on the seat again so he could lay on his back and look out the window.

"Well..." Blaine rolled onto his stomach, ignoring the pain from the scratches marring his chest, "the studio is having a gala to celebrate the Sing tour, and I was hoping that you would come...as my date."

Kurt sat straight up. He jumped up and down in the back seat of the van. He tried his best to be as quiet as possible.

Blaine could hear the squeaking of the van as it rocked back and forth over the phone. He smiled, biting his lip so as not to let on that he knew.

"Blaine, that's...are you sure?"

"Yes, Kurt," Blaine said. "I want you there. I want you with me. Tell me you'll come."

"Of course, I'll be there," Kurt squealed. "Thank God Dave rescued my vintage McQueen."

"Actually, I was hoping you would let me pick out something for you to wear."

Silence.

Blaine started to get worried.

"Uh, Kurt?"

"Blaine..." Kurt sounded resolute, "I've seen the clothes you wear, and they're cute, don't get me wrong..."

"Kurt," Blaine interrupted, laughing, "would you just trust me?"

"Blaaaiiinnneee!" Kurt whined. It physically pained him to think of putting this decision in Blaine's hands.

"How about this..." Blaine didn't want to tell Kurt that he already had the perfect suit for Kurt to wear. "I'll send you a suit a few days ahead of time, and if you don't like it, I'll send Nick back down there and he'll buy you whatever you want."

More silence.

Blaine sighed.

"Let me get this straight," Kurt teased, "you send me some horrid suit, and when I don't like it, I get to hang out with Nick again?"

This time Blaine sat up. He suddenly went cold with jealousy.

"You do know Nick has a boyfriend, right?" Blaine clarified. "Jeff. He used to be a dancer, so he's got arms like tree trunks."

"Blaine!" Kurt tried to sound offended. "Do you mean to tell me that my boyfriend has been jocking someone else?"

Blaine smiled when Kurt called him his boyfriend.

"No, my love." Blaine returned to his stomach, and Kurt to his back, both men dreaming about being in bed beside the other. "So, what do you say?"

Kurt smiled.

"I say yes, Blaine Anderson. Yes. Send me your terrible suit, and I will proudly wear it to this gala, and be your date."

"Good." Blaine silently cheered. "Now, tell me about this dream you had."

Blaine did his best to avoid Sebastian at work. He didn't answer Sebastian's phone calls or texts. On one uncharacteristically rainy morning, however, Sebastian managed to corner Blaine at food services. Engrossed in a good morning text with Kurt, Blaine didn't notice when Sebastian slithered up behind him on line.

"Hey, Blaine," he said smoothly into Blaine's ear. Blaine jumped a little at the unexpected intrusion, but he didn't acknowledge the voice as he continued to text.

"Come on, Blaine," Sebastian said as they moved forward in line. "Don't be mad at me. Remember, you even said we were friends once..."

Blaine scoffed and rolled his eyes, still not diverting attention from his iPhone screen.

"Well, something like friends," Sebastian corrected. "Anyway, I miss hanging out with you, and talking to you, and fu-"

"Just tell me why you did it." Blaine looked Sebastian full in the face for the first time in over a week.

"Okay, okay, I admit that I was jealous." Sebastian raised his hands. "You and I, we've had kind of a thing going for a while, and even though I said no emotions, I kind of had some...for you..."

Blaine rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his iPhone, giggling at a picture Kurt had just sent of him being squirted with the hose by a devious looking Junior.

Sebastian looked over Blaine's shoulder at the photo and wanted to groan, but he held his tongue.

"But when I saw the two of you together," Sebastian pressed on, "I knew there was no hope for a relationship between you and me. You and Hummel...you belong together." Blaine looked up at Sebastian. Sebastian smiled. "Anyway, I heard what Hummel said about that lady needing the scholarship money and I knew you would never let me outbid you, so I thought I would liven things up a bit."

Blaine couldn't tell if Sebastian was being sincere or not. He didn't think that Sebastian was that good an actor.

"I'm sure you got a big thank you out of Kurt for that one. Admit it..."

Blaine smiled at the memory of Kurt, touching himself, fingering himself, letting Blaine spank him. He smiled even wider when he remembered this morning when he went to his trailer for body makeup and the make-up artist went ballistic.

Blaine turned back to Sebastian.

"What would you have done if you had won?"

"I don't know..." Sebastian shrugged. "Talked, compared notes. Look, I know how important he is to you, and I really just wanted to get to know the guy."

Blaine wanted to believe Sebastian. He really did. When Sebastian first got hired on the show, he was sweet, charming, and more than a bit naive. Blaine and Sebastian had started out as good friends. They shared similar interests in things like music and books. Sebastian also seemed a little star struck when he met Blaine, and that never failed to get Blaine's attention. Then they started this arrangement, and after that it seemed like they were having sex more than doing anything particularly meaningful.

Sebastian changed, but maybe the old Seb was hiding in there somewhere. It would be nice to have his old friend back.

"Come on, tiger," Sebastian prodded. "When's the next time you're going to get to see each other again? Is there some other charity event we're going to have to motor off to or something, because I'm all for another road trip."

Blaine sighed. What could it hurt? Everyone was going to know sooner of later.

"Okay," Blaine said. "I invited him to the gala for the launch of the Sing tour. And I have a feeling...the time has come," Blaine said, bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly.

Sebastian blanched, and gulped heavily.

"Time for what?" he said, trying to sound innocent.

"I'm going to introduce Kurt as my boyfriend," Blaine said with a sigh. "I'm going to come out."

Sebastian pulled out his iPhone as nonchalantly as possible, pretending to check his email.

"That's wonderful!" Sebastian said enthusiastically as he typed.

From: Sebastian
Mayday! Mayday! We have a problem...