Kurt listens to the repetitive tooting of the dialing tone. His heart beat seems to climb higher in his throat with every sound that renews itself. Shaking his head at the sensation, he takes a deep breath and wills it down.

It's not that he hasn't done this before, of course he has. But notwithstanding, this still feels so very fresh and unaccustomed to him. Now that the parameters have been changed.

There's some static, or a short rustling, he can't really tell. And then his boyfriend's voice: "Kurt?"

Kurt can't help a smile spreading on his features. Boyfriend. The word alone makes his insides tingle.

"Hey, Blaine..." More noises of movement, a click and some soft clattering.

"Oh, Kurt... hey...Wait... I'll just put you on speaker... okay. You're good..." Blaine's cadence colours up: "Hey, Kurt, I'm already in my car and on my way to you..." He sounds serene and Kurt connects immediately to the anticipation showing through below.

He laughs: "I can hear that, Blaine..."

"So, what's the matter?"

Kurt blinks. The matter. Right. He sighs. It's too easy to just lose oneself to that voice, but of course he's had a reason for calling. He shifts a little on the edge of his bed, where he's sat down, tilting his head to the side and smoothing the covers out with an absent-minded swipe of his hand.

"Oh, nothing much, really... I just wanted to let you know..."

"What?" It sounds more playful than worried. Kurt sits up straighter, his heart skipping a beat when he doesn't even know why.

"Well, I... I've told my dad today. You know, that we are together now." The silence in the line lasts only a moment.

"Oh. Okay." A little hesitant, but unbothered. Kurt shrugs for no one to see and plucks a little lint off his pillow.

"So... I just wanted to let you know, before you arrive, so that you know... that he knows...and, well, you know, where we all stand..."

Kurt can hear Blaine breathe at the other end of the line.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure... Well, what did he say? How did you tell him?"

Kurt smiles at the warm curiosity in Blaine's voice. He clears his throat:

"Oh. That was actually a little strange..."

"Yeah? How?" Blaine's tone is still light. Kurt takes in a deep breath:

"Well, let me first say, it is not like I've been actively keeping it from him since, you know, two days ago. I actually thought he would be able to tell by my grin alone when I came home, well after... that rehearsal." Kurt can't keep down the flutter in his stomach at the mere mentioning of it, and a small stumble reaches into his speech when he goes on:

"But, well, as it turned out then, he wasn't in the house when I arrived, and the next day he left town early to get some spare parts from this retailer friend of his and..."

"Kurt..." Blaine sounds amused, but Kurt just skates over it, even if a self-deprecatory smile spreads on his features at his own babbling as well:

"Yeah, anyway. I was almost about to tell Carole first, just because I felt I had to tell someone, but I thought I wanted to tell them together, or my dad first... and then I called Mercedes, so I had at least one outlet..." Kurt takes a short moment to breathe and swallow. Blaine doesn't interrupt, but Kurt can just imagine him grinning at the rushed torrent of words pouring from his phone's speakers. Kurt checks himself and continues a little more calmly:

"So. I really wanted to tell my Dad before we'd go to Regionals, so when he came into my room earlier, when he'd heard me rehearsing... well, I told him about that last minute duet. And then I told him I had finally found that someone, who was not afraid to sing with me... even a more or less romantic duet on a big stage... "

"Oh, come on, Kurt, it is romantic... We'll make it so..." Blaine's cut him short, and Kurt chuckles lightly at the dreamy enthusiasm about Blaine's words. He sighs. Oh, yeah. That. Regionals are in two days, after all, and that presents Kurt with not too much, but then again quite more than enough time to get really, really nervous...

"Yeah, well anyway." He heaves another sigh and then his fingers resume to pick at the sheets. "He said he was glad to hear that, my dad. But that we shouldn't take it too far, even at an event like that." He kicks aimlessly at a hamper with washed socks in front of his bed and snickers softly. "I don't know, I suppose he thinks that somehow a show choir competition must be a rather gay-friendly environment, or something... " Kurt lets it hang in the air for a moment, and thinks that he hears Blaine blow out his breath in a way of laughter. He quickly adds for good measure:

"He didn't mean no harm, though, I could tell, he was just concerned. So I told him, that I wouldn't, that we wouldn't, that that was not what this was about. And then it just blurted out of me, and I said that we are together now." They fall quiet for a moment and either one seems to just listen, as if they could hear the other one's thoughts, if they only tried hard enough.

"And?" It is Blaine who breaks the silence, and his voice comes out a little breathless. It affects Kurt's own words in just the same way:

"And then he just looked at me kind of strangely for a while."

Another silent second stretches.

"Strange how?" Blaine tries and has his voice flow almost calmly, but Kurt can trace the agitation underneath. He swallows and aims for composed again as well:

"Well, nothing too unusual, I guess. I mean I had expected some kind of...of..." Kurt's eyes search the ceiling for the right word, but he can't seem to find it, so he just lets it go. "I don't know. Anyway, then he asked for how long. And I told him that only since two days ago. Then he said 'huh'."

"Huh?" Blaine repeats in question, a bit startled.

"Huh." Kurt nods. He listens as Blaine lets out a long breath.

"Kurt. You've known your dad longer than I, what does that mean?"

Kurt raises his eyebrows for no one to see:

"Well, I don't know in that context, I've never had to tell him something similar..."

He shrugs and listens to the short pause at the other end of the line.

"Huh." A little helpless now.

"Mm." Kurt confirms again.

"No, I meant... Never mind." Blaine's voice trails off, and Kurt begins to stare hard at the socks in the hamper at his ankles. He tilts his head at them, pondering his next words:

"Well, then it actually got even stranger..."

"How?" By now Blaine obviously struggles to keep the worry out of one short syllable.

"He asked me how I knew we were together. I told him that we had said so. After you kissed me."

The warm flutter rises in his guts again, but Kurt pushes it away for now, and puts his focus into what he has to say next, even if his voice comes out a little small:

"And then he wanted to know if you did try anything else."

"What..!.?" Kurt can as much as hear Blaine's jaw drop. He hurries to display his own indignation, gaining spirit:

"Yeah, I know? That's what I told him, I mean, I said, Dad, you know Blaine, I mean, you've seen him... he just wouldn't..."

"I... I wouldn't..."

"Yeah, I know, and then he said 'Yeah, I think I know Blaine alright'... " Kurt swallows but adds without taking another breath: "And I really have no idea what he meant by that."

The stammer of Blaine's protest has ebbed away with his own voice, and Kurt blinks at the sudden absence of sound. When the silence stretches, he shifts uneasily on his bed.

"Blaine, you still there?"

The answer is not more than an incoherent mumble.

"I... no...oh. " The dread in it indicates that some idea must have come to Blaine. Kurt feels his own eyebrows shoot up as well.

"Blaine, what?"

"Oh god, I..."

Kurt can't sit still anymore. "What Blaine?" He bounces unconsciously on the mattress over the force of his tone.

"I think I might know... he was referring to... I might know, why he... Kurt, I have to tell you something... that is, if he hasn't already told you...?" Blaine's voice rises in question at the end, and Kurt finds himself answering in the same manner:

"No...? Blaine, what...?" Could his boyfriend just spit it out already?

"I.. Oh jeez, I realize this is gonna sound a little... Kurt, promise you won't be mad..."

Now, that does not much to calm Kurt's nerves.

"Blaine...!"

"Okay, okay. So I might have gone to see your Dad last week and... encouraged him to take advantage of your guys' great relationship, to talk to you about... sex."

A blink. A swallow.

"You did what?"

"...and now I can't deny that in this context, this looks a little..."

"Wait a second..." Kurt's mind just won't seem to catch up, still working at the last big bit of information. He pins the bridge of his nose between thumb and index finger.

"So you did... you said... oh. Oh my."

Blaine's voice is rather small. "Yeah... Yeah. And now I realize that this might shed an entire new and... quite dubious light on you telling him now, that we're..."

"Wait." Kurt rubs at his forehead. "Let me just get this straight: You mean, you asked my dad to give me the talk and a week after he did... you're my boyfriend?" Kurt waits for his own words to sink in.

"Oh, so he did?" Blaine's question startles him.

"What?"

"Give you the... you know." Blaine's voice is tentative. Kurt gasps:

"Yeah, Blaine he did. Thanks for that by the way." He mutters that last part rather under his breath, but there's no real heat to it. He doesn't want to do it again, but their talk had not been that bad, after all.

Blaine cautiously clears his troat: "Well, what did he say?"

Kurt snorts and finds himself pointing his finger at no one in particular.

"Blaine, don't distract from the topic at discussion, I..."

"Yeah, yeah, sure... Jeez, I realize how this must look..." There's a tinge of desperate in Blaine's tone. And then a soft plea:" Kurt, I hope that at least you know that... that that was not my motivation..."

"To talk to my dad back then?" Kurt settles back on the bed, the tension slowly leaving him a little.

"Yeah, that, too, but also to become... boyfriends. There's... so much more to it all..." Blaine's voice drifts, and it gives Kurt a vivid mental picture of his boyfriend, biting his lip, brow furrowed, frame taut with apprehension and worry.

And just at that, something inside Kurt shifts.

He lets out a long breath.

When he speaks again, all about it is a display of affection and warmth, and it comes so easy to him, that it makes him smile.

"Blaine, I know." And he does. Kurt rubs the bridge of his nose once more absently, then lets go. "I believe you. I think I finally have gotten to know a bit better how your mind works. Or doesn't work, rather, when you yourself are concerned."

Blaine's reply is hesitant, but gentle:

"What do you mean?" There's real interest in the question.

Kurt leans back into the pillows and closes his eyes. He tries to sound light, yet most of all honest:

"Well, you kind of had me learning the hard way... with Yeremiah, and Rachel, that you weren't as sure of everything as you let on. Especially when it comes to your feelings."

Blaine lets the words linger for a moment, acknowledging their truth. "Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. I think I fool myself that way most of the time."

Kurt's eyes open again, and he speaks through another smile:

"Don't be sorry. It made me see you clearer for who you are."

There is a short moment of silence. Then Kurt can hear the smile around Blaine's words as well:

"And you still became my boyfriend."

Kurt's gut tingles again at the statement and he makes his answer a caress in itself:

"Exactly."

Kurt thinks he can hear Blaine grin for a moment, even if he knows that should be physically impossible through the phone.

Then Blaine's mood seems to suddenly change again, voice strained once more:

"Kurt, I went to your dad that day, because I was concerned about you. Because... I cared. I thought it was the right thing to do."

Kurt nods rather to himself.

"I know. Blaine. I know you act out of the best intentions. Always."

A breathy noise escapes Blaine's lips at the other end of the line:

"Now, that makes me sound like a total failure..." It could have been a snort, but it ends in laughter, albeit an a bit wry one. Kurt presses his phone closer to his ear.

"No, Blaine, come on, you know you're not, and that wasn't what I meant..." The laughing becomes softer, but it is still full of sarcasm:

"'He means well, but he just can't seem to get it right'..." Mock words, spoken dryly.

"Blaine, stop it." Kurt's voice is brimming with endearment, despite the clipped imperative. Blaine checks himself at once, calmer again:

"I'm sorry, I know that's not what you were saying. I just... oh, god."

Kurt sighs his agreement on the last part. He twirls a strand of hair between his fingers, then pushes it out of his forehead.

"I have to admit, it is a very... unconventional thing to do, to go to your friend's parent and tell him... what you told him..." Kurt props himself up on one elbow as his curiosity gets the better of him. "Blaine, just what exactly did you say?"

There is some static again, and Blaine doesn't answer right away. Kurt can hear some clicking sounds as well, probably from the indicator. When Blaine speaks, it is with a rushed stumble:

"I...oh, I... Kurt, can I tell you the story later...?" Kurt blinks, taken aback. Blaine hurries to explain:

"I think I took a wrong turn just then, I'll have to... can we talk when I'm with you?"

Kurt can't help a smile at Blaine's flustered tone.

"Oh, you still plan on coming?" It is a joke, but Kurt almost regrets making it, when the line goes silent for a second, and he thinks he can hear Blaine swallow.

"Sh... should I not?"

"Of course, Blaine, I'm kidding." Kurt laughs warmly. "Can't promise though, that my dad won't want to have a word with you... " He's resumed a mock serious manner of speaking once more, and when Blaine doesn't react, Kurt is quick to add with another chuckle:

"But I promise, I won't let him strangle you..." Again, it was meant to reassure, but ends up as one more joke that has Blaine on the edge, and Kurt winces.

"Kurt..." Blaine draws out the syllable and it is more question than reprimand. Now Kurt puts all his effort into a soothing and unagitated intonation:

"Relax, Blaine. Just come. It'll be alright."

Kurt speaks through a smile and slowly, Blaine seems to relent a little.

"Okay... okay. Good. I'll see you in about 20 minutes, then... I guess."

It still sounds tense, but for now, Kurt has to content himself with that. He pours all his affection into his voice once more.

"Yeah. See you then."

"Yeah, Kurt. Bye."

Kurt ends the call, and lets out a long breath. His hand with his cell sinks down beside him onto the covers.

Huh.

And for quite a long moment, that seems to be the most apt way to express his meaning, that his mind can come up with.