"Oh myGod," Kurt groaned, trying to move his hands so he could rub his eyes to subdue the pain from the light, but found that he couldn't—Blaine had his arms draped around him, his breath tickling Kurt's neck.Shit, shit, shit,Kurt thought.This looks a lot worse than it is, oh,fuck.

"It's not what it looks like," Kurt said quickly, realizing that his voice was quite raspy. It pounded in his brain, which felt like mush. "I—I forgot to tell you that...that Blaine was sleeping over after the party," he explained; somehow he could function enough to lie. "We were so tired that I figured we could, um, we could share." He tried to unobtrusively move Blaine's arms; thankfully, he successfully got them off, but not without waking Blaine up.

"Hey, ba-" he said sleepily, trying to wrap his arms around Kurt again. Kurt immediately shifted away and interrupted Blaine before his father heard anything he shouldn't.

"What time is it, Dad?" He asked Burt, saying the first thing that popped into his mind and surreptitiously let Blaine know that someone else was in the room. Blaine seemed to take the hint, as he swiftly moved to the other side of the bed.

"About 9:30—there's a clock right next to you, kid. I figured I gave you enough time to sleep. When did you get back?"

"I think it was after ten. When did you get back?" Kurt countered.

"Eleven. Carole and I went...out." He ducked his head in—embarrassment?

"I don't need the details."

"Okay. I just did not appreciate coming home to see a different car in my driveway. I came down and saw that it was just, erm, you two, so I decided not to...interrupt."

"No no no, Mr. Hummel, there is nothing going on between us." Blaine finally piped up. He sat up in the bed, his hair a frizzy mess.

"Isn't that Kurt's shirt?" Burt asked suspiciously as the sheets fell from Blaine's body, revealing a faded Buckeyes logo stretched across his chest. Kurt wanted to crawl under his sheets and sink into his mattress so he could disappear from sight.

"No, sir, this is mine. I'm a football fan—I love the Buckeyes." Blaine said, and Kurt let out a sigh of relief at his boyfriend's quickness. However, bringing football into the equation meant that Burt would not leave until they discussed the last ten seasons and every single play and player and every little detail about the team.

"Okay, Dad, you can go now," Kurt ushered him out, waving his hands, "I'm not going to listen to you two freak out about that dumb sport in my presence."

"Fine, fine. Carole made pancakes in case you two are interested," he added before he closed the door of the basement.

"She stayed over again?!" Kurt groaned in exasperation. "Can't they just wait until they're married?"

"C'mon, Kurt; just because she stayed over doesn't mean that they had sex." Blaine laughed a little at the irony, and Kurt joined him. He flipped over on his side to face Blaine, amazed at how different he looked in the morning just after waking up. He had a sleepy look in his eyes, blinking languidly every so often so his eyelashes brushed his cheeks for a millisecond longer than normal. His hair was absolutely ridiculous, and if Blaine wasn't so tired, he would probably sprint into the bathroom to search for some hair gel. The sight was easy on Kurt's eyes, a nice change from the overbearing light that stabbed at his brain. Everything seemed to stab at his brain.

"Oh God, I'm hungover," he stated. "Is it obvious?"

"Not really—unless you start throwing up. Then we might have a problem. Do you feel okay?"

"Aside from my head, yeah. Areyouokay?" He asked Blaine, knowing that he drank a lot more the night before.

"Yeah; I have a higher tolerance than you. Party animal over here, remember?" He cracked a dumb smile, and Kurt gave a half-hearted laugh. "You wanna go upstairs and eat pancakes?"

"That sounds awesome." They got up from the bed; Blaine shuffled over towards Kurt and engulfed him in a hug. "What's this for?" He queried, although he didn't reject the embrace.

"Because I'm feeling cuddly this morning, and you look adorable right now," Blaine replied into the crook of Kurt's neck and placed a soft kiss there.

"Blaine," Kurt said warningly as Blaine nuzzled his way up to Kurt's cheek, his lips nearing his own. "I think right now is the perfect time to eat breakfast." He broke from Blaine's hold and started towards the stairs.

"Good morning, boys," Carole said as they emerged in the kitchen to the welcoming smell of pancakes, "take as many as you'd like; there's plenty here! Finn is coming soon, though, so make sure that you leave at least ten for him." She laughed as they sat at the table, where Burt was reading the newspaper, and started to dig in.

"Thanks, Mrs. Hudson." Blaine said, his mouth nearly watering as he dropped three large ones on his plate. He then grabbed the syrup and smothered them in the sugary substance.

"Oh my God, Blaine," Kurt laughed; Blaine did not stop pouring the syrup until all of his pancakes were completely covered in it.

"What, are you judging our love?" Blaine teased, holding the bottle near his cheek and a brushing its slim neck with his lips, rather similarly to what he had done to Kurt's neck just a few minutes ago.

"That's the worst excuse for a love affair that I've ever seen! It's just...sugar!" Kurt snatched it from his hands and drizzled a little on the side of his plate.

"It's much sweeter than you, jeez," Blaine mumbled with some pancake in his mouth, "much better partner for a love affair." Kurt choked on his food, and Blaine realized what he said. He mouthed "sorry" while Kurt recovered.

"Hey, Blaine," Burt did not seem to notice what had just happened as he peeked up at the houseguest over the paper, "do you want to stay for dinner? We're planning on checking out this art gallery in town today, and Carole's making dinner...Finn's coming with Quinn, so I figured that you and Kurt-"

"We're not together, Dad," Kurt said quickly.Damn it, if Blaine says yes, today's going to be a l-o-n-g day.

"Yes, Kurt, I know. I just figured you wouldn't want to, what do you call it, 'third wheel it?'"

Blaine sniggered. "For Kurt's sake, I'll say yes. I wouldn't want him to be a third wheel."

"No, Dad, that's going to make it more awkward, because then it'll look like a—a triple date, but it isn't one." Kurt glared at Blaine, who shrugged his shoulders.

The doorbell rang; Mrs. Hudson jumped and rushed to the door. "Finn's here!" she shouted. Kurt winced at the sudden increase in volume.Ow. Ow. Ow.Blaine was hunched over his food, looking rather nervous. Kurt soon understood why.

"Hi Kurt. Oh, Blaine, you stayed over? Everyone was wondering where you went off. Sorry that I walked in on you guys last night. Is that why you left? We were talking about how dumb we were to not notice that you two were going out...I mean, you've basically been unseparable these past few weeks. Isn't it obvious, Burt?"

Burt clenched and unclenched his jaw. "It's 'inseparable', Finn.Inseparable. I guess it is pretty obvious, isn't it, Kurt?" He raised his eyebrow at Kurt, who felt very small in his seat; he was sure that his face was a violent shade of scarlet.

"I think I'll go home now, Mr. Hummel. Thanks for-"

"Oh no, I think it's best that you spend the rest of the day with us. Why don't you go into the other room and call your parents; I'm sure that they're worried sick about you. Kurt and I are going to have a little chat."

Kurt could feel Blaine's eyes on him as he left, but he kept his eyes glued to his father. Finn sat down beside them and began to wolf down his filled plate. He was completely oblivious to the situation, and the fact that Kurt was internally cursing him off.

"So, Kurt, when were you going to tell me?"

"I wanted to tell you, I did, but...I couldn't. No one was supposed to find out until after football season ended. Or later—we haven't really discussed it. I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't want you to find out this way."

"What, to find you twoin bedtogether?"

"No, no, no, it wasn't what it looked like!" Kurt thought his skin would melt off, he was blushing so furiously. "We didn't...do...anything," he thanked in whatever higher power was probably looking over him at that particular moment, since Finn had left the table to get some more pancakes and didn't seem to hear a word of their conversation. "I did mean what I said that I was too tired to get something for him to sleep on, and I didn't want to leave him on the floor. He wasn't in the best state to go home, so I had to. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...you've got to believe me,please."

"You didn'thaveto do anything, Kurt." His father said in an accusatory tone, and paused; Kurt did feel like he was going to throw up during the silence. "But I believe you. Understand this: one, this is never happening again. There must be at least one other person in the house while you two are here, and I won't let you go to Blaine's house unless his parents are present. No sleepovers. Two, you're grounded for a week for not telling me, starting tomorrow. And three...I'm glad it's Blaine. I guess itwaspretty obvious."

"Can I come back in?" Blaine was waiting by the doorway, stashing his phone in his pocket. Burt nodded and Blaine took his seat.

"So, I think you boys owe me an explanation."

A few hours later, Kurt and Blaine were sitting together on a bench in a room full of paintings. They'd picked up Quinn on the way to the gallery. She was hanging on Finn's arm, laughing as he struggled to pronounce the artists' last names and so on.

"Did you notice how Quinn kept looking at Puck last night? I've always kind of thought that she wasn't the best for Finn, but if she's cheating on him..."

"That's because you used to have a crush on him," Blaine poked his side; Kurt slapped him indignantly, "but no, I didn't see that, because my eyes were on this other person in the room." He grinned, and Kurt grinned back.

"And who is this 'other person'?" Kurt queried, playing along.

"Well, he's kind of beautiful. Not kind of—really, just...stunning. He's got soft chestnut hair and this cute little nose and theseeyesthat I can easily get lost in—and his lips, I could just kiss them over and over again."

Kurt ducked his head so Blaine couldn't see his smile. "Do you think he likes you?" He asked when he finally found his voice.

Blaine paused. "I don't know, I think I'd need to kiss him to know." He looked at Kurt with pleading eyes, and he simply couldn't resist: he leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on his lips.

"C'mon, I think we've been sitting for too long. Let's look at more paintings!" Kurt jumped up and dragged Blaine along with him, stepping in front of a portrait of a woman.

"Damn, I guess that Advil worked wonders on you. Or my lips." Kurt slapped him again; Blaine shut his mouth, but continued to peruse the art with a smug smile. "Honestly, though," he said a little later as they stopped in front of a painting of a rather aggressive ocean, "I think we should slow down a bit. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret what we've done at all, but..."

"But what?" Kurt asked, not understanding where exactly this was all coming from.

"You're young, Kurt. I don't want to continue corrupting you like this. And high school is only going to get harder from here—hell, I'm a junior, Kurt. I need to think about college now. I have the PSATs soon, which I need to ace because I need a scholarship, and then the SATs in the spring, and not to mention all of my classes are quickly becoming impossible..."

"So you want to...take a break?" Kurt said, only able to use the euphemism. They'd only been together for a few weeks, and now he couldn't envision them apart.

"No, no, no; that would only make this year worse. I just think we're going too fast—at least we are physically. I want to be able to enjoy this, not let it all fly by. I was just thinking last night, and I don't want to say or do anything that I'll look back on later and be like, 'hey, I wish I waited.'"

"But you said yourself that college is coming up soon, and you'regraduatingnext year..." Kurt quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. He did not want to think about Blaine leaving.

"We have plenty of time, Kurt. We still have a bunch of firsts to experience, and while I'm excited to cross them off, I think it's important that we wait. And while he seems okay with our relationship, I don't want your dad to walk in on anything."

The image passed through Kurt's mind for a split second. "Okay, okay, yes, I agree," he said quickly, praying that nothing like that ever happened. Deep down, however, he knew that it was a whole-hearted pact. Blaine was right.

"Okay. I'm glad we're on the same page." He snaked his arm around Kurt's waist and placed his hand on his waist, bringing their hips together. "Although I do like the idea of having a weekly make-out session on Wednesday. Let's face it, those practices really are pointless."

"Sounds like a plan," Kurt replied, and together they walked into the next room, where Burt and Carole were standing in a similar position. There were only a few other people in the gallery, so it was as if the Hummels and Hudsons had it to themselves.

"Speaking of planning, how is the wedding coming along?" Blaine asked, and Kurt sighed happily.

"It's great. They're basically giving me free reins...of course, there's a budget, so I can't do a wedding like Kim and Kris Humphries...actually, I wouldn't want to do a wedding like that, since they were only married for a few months. And my dad and Carole wouldn't want something over-the-top. Anyway, it's going to be in December, and I've got a nice venue booked and all of the details are starting to come together. It's going to be perfect."

"My boyfriend, a fifteen-year-old wedding planner. How many guests?"

"Not many. Close family friends, the Glee club, since my dad wants us to sing there—you, of course, if you'd like to accompany me as my date..."

"I thought you'd never ask," Blaine said and pecked him on the cheek. Of course Burt had to come at that exact moment.

"Erm, do you kids want to start heading back?" His father said awkwardly. The two of them broke apart instantly. "It's just that Carole needs to start prepping dinner, so..."

"Yeah, yeah...I'll go get Finn and Quinn," Kurt responded and took Blaine's hand. They shuffled away, both of their cheeks flaring.

"At least it was just on the cheek, c'mon, don't be so embarrassed," Blaine muttered as they searched through the labyrinthine gallery for the other couple.

"Why don't you take a look at your red face and tell me you aren't embarrassed as well!" Kurt whispered angrily. Blaine ignored him and walked towards the end of the room they had just entered, where Finn and Quinn were admiring a painting of a battle scene.

"Hey, we're going to leave soon," Blaine said to the two, and they turned to see Kurt and Blaine holding hands in front of them.

"Cool, I'm starving!" Finn said excitedly; they began to head out towards the front of the building together.

"You'realwayshungry, Finn," Quinn pointed out, and they laughed. "Anyway, you go ahead; I want to chat with my fellow Cheerios here." Finn gave her a confused look, but respected her wishes and left.

She glanced at the two of them and put her hands on her hips. "You know that Coach would probably kill you if she found out that you two were dating. She'd revoke your captainship, Blaine, and Kurt would probably be kicked off."

"And you're telling us this because...?" Blaine asked, and Quinn grinned.

"Well, someone would have to take the captain's spot, wouldn't they? Coach Sylvester did tell me it was a very tough decision between the two of us...anyway, I think she's already upset with you, since you've become such a softie recently."

Blaine frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You used to be a dick to everyone; Coach's little tyrant. She loved that. Now you've become a lot easier and you've been letting Coach do all of the bitching. If you keep this act up then you're definitely going to lose your title—and everyone knows that I'm the queen bitch at this school."

Blaine glared at her, and Kurt saw a flash of Cheerios-Captain-Blaine: insolent, stubborn, jackass,leader. "I guess I have been slacking a bit, Quinn. She still hasn't kicked me out, has she, though? No. Thanks for the heads up; I guess I'm going to have to work twice as hard to make sure that I whip your asses every day. Iwillwin us a title at Nationals—the first place title. I'm sure that I can easily convince Coach that we can do it without you, so I think we can drop this discussion right now and go." He turned on his heel and left Kurt and Quinn staring after him. Eventually they recovered and followed him out of the building, where Finn, Burt, and Carole were waiting for them.

Quinn remained silent for the rest of the night.

"So, Blaine, you like football?" Burt took another bite of his chicken, and Kurt groaned. He knew right as dinner started that sports talk would soon follow. Of course, Blaine had changed into another one of Kurt's dejected football shirts. Kurt found that he couldn't really complain, since it was a little small on him—it stretched nicely against Blaine's muscles. He sat across from Blaine at the table; they'd started playing footsie without anyone noticing. At least he hoped that he'd kicked the leg of the table instead of his father's leg that one time he missed.

"Yeah, I do, actually. I don't like playing, but watching it is always fun. My family gets season tickets; if you and Kurt would like to come, I'm sure we could accommodate you two." Kurt kicked him hard in the shin: Blaine winced.

"I'd love to come, but Kurt hates football. He always hides away in his room and plays his music extra loud when I've got a game playing up here." Everyone laughed, except for Kurt.

"Well, I've got to drown out you shouting at the TV somehow!" he insisted. "Take him, Blaine, it'd be nice to finally have the house to myself for a night."

"Actually, Carole and I have been meaning to tell you that..." Burt paused and looked at Carole, who gave him an encouraging nod, "we're looking at a new house. For the four of us—you, me, Carole, and Finn. There's one a little closer to your school that we like, and we're hoping that you can come with us to the open house to check it out."

Kurt didn't know what to say. He'd grown up in this house—he couldn't imagine saying goodbye to it. He had a feeling something like this would result from his father getting remarried, since it would be difficult to fit two more people in the house. Still, there was something exciting about moving into a new house—perhaps his father and Carole would put him in charge of decorating it.

He looked up to see Blaine frowning at him.Oh yeah. I'll be farther away from him.It was wildly convenient being within walking distance of Blaine (even if it was a rather long walk).

"There aren't any houses in this neighborhood for sale?" He asked, and Blaine's face brightened.

"There's one, but it's a little pricey, since it was built two years ago, and it's a little larger than our ideal home."

Right, that's the one just a few doors down from Blaine's house!He didn't want to pressure his dad into buying something as big as ahousejust for his son—that was selfish, and stupid.

"All of this house talk is boring. Quinn, Blaine, Kurt, how's cheerleading going?" Carole asked, and Quinn glanced at Blaine, who smiled.

"It's going swimmingly, Mrs. Hudson. I think we've got Nationals in the bag, knock on wood," he proceeded with the superstition, "although I think some of the girls need some improvement, don't you, Quinn?" She nodded curtly, trying to glare at him from under her bangs without being too blatant. "Kurt's also workingvery hardat his extra practices. Sometimes it catches me off-guard howgoodhe is—ow!"Oops. Maybe that was a littletoomuch.

"Are you okay?" Burt asked; everyone was flummoxed by Blaine's outburst.

"Yeah...I just, um...bit my tongue."

"Oh yeah, that hurts so much." Finn agreed. "No, it's the worst when you burn your tongue. I did that yesterday; it still feels cottony today."

"Finn?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Please be quiet and eat your dinner."

"Okay."

The next week was relatively uneventful for Kurt and Blaine—Thursday, however, was a nightmare.

"Kurt, Blaine, you've been avoiding us all week. Where did you go after you left Rachel's party?" Mercedes queried the second the two of them entered the choir room.

"That's precisely why we've been avoiding you—although you've made that impossible because you've basically been stalking us for the past few days!" Kurt threw up his hands in defeat as he took his seat. "It's none of your business."

"Actually, Blaine stayed over at Kurt's house." Rachel practically sang as she sat down in next to them after finishing her pre-warm up-warm up. "Finn told me when we...when we rehearsed our duet yesterday."

"Rachel Berry, are you blushing? Anddamn," Mercedes raised an eyebrow at them.

"How many times am I going to have to say we didn't do anything?!" Kurt said exasperatedly.

"That's not what it looked like when you two were in the bathroom together," Tina murmured from behind them; Blaine spat out the water he was drinking.

"We are never, ever,evermentioning that again," Kurt said, heat rising to his cheeks, "at least not in my presence. And Rachel's blushing because she likes Finn and something happened yesterday that shewon't tell me about," Kurt knew that she was going to murder him, but it was worth it. As long as she told him the thing she was freaking out about over text yesterday before she slit his throat, it would be worth it.

Rachel hit him multiple times while the other girls broke into heated gossip. "You will pay for that, Hummel!"

"Come on, it's obvious that you like Finn from that dreamy-eyed look you get whenever you watch him play the drums. Seriously, though, what happened?"

"Wait, something happened?" Santana asked as she arrived with Brittany; Quinn trailed behind them with Finn. "Did you guys find Porcelina and Gay Boy Wonder sucking each other off in here or-"

"Shut up, Santana!" Blaine shouted; Kurt did want Rachel to kill him in that moment.Is that going to be our legacy? Ugh.

"What's going on?" Mr. Schue entered the room, completely unaware of everything that just occurred.

"A lot. A lot is going on—it's better that you didn't ask." Artie said, and Mr. Schue nodded—the room was abuzz with chatter. Eventually he quieted down the room and started the rehearsal.

"Anyway, I heard that you guys had a little get-together last Saturday. Team bonding is great. You guys had a good time?"

"I know Kurt and Blaine did," Rachel piped up quickly, and for a split second Kurt truly did contemplate murder.

It was going to be a long rehearsal.