October soon transitioned into November, and winter weather was soon upon them-Kurt awoke one morning to find a light dusting of snow on the ground, much to his surprise. He was thankful that the football season had just come to a close, but could not believe how quickly his freshman year was passing by. He was already three months into his high school career. The Glee club was prospering, the Cheerios were entering into basketball season (and had started with hard-core preparations for Nationals), and, as Blaine predicted, school was getting harder. His teachers were rather generous with homework and projects, and Kurt was struggling with the weight of the workload in addition to the demands of Glee and cheer. Sometimes it seemed like he was the titan Atlas, carrying the weight of the earth on his young shoulders.

Glee had nearly crushed him, as they'd recently competed in Sectionals. There was an extreme amount of pressure on the club to get first: the existence of New Directions existed on it, since Coach Sylvester had thrown a fit about the fact that the cost of transportation for the Glee club had taken a miniscule amount of money from her fund for Nationals. She'd barged into Glee's final rehearsal for Sectionals to complain for ten minutes about the fact that each of her Cheerios had to pay an extra forty-five cents to pay for the airfare to Nationals. Evidently, the lost time had no effect on their performance, as New Directions placed first and were moving on to Regionals. Even the Cheerios seemed pleased with their placement: the entire group celebrated at Breadstix afterwards.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Kurt and the rest of the girls in Glee Club (sans Santana, Brittany, and Quinn, as they did not want any association with the "untouchables" of McKinley) were at Rachel's house for a sleepover. Kurt could hardly move his body out of soreness, as Coach had kept the Cheerios an extra hour for an intense workout earlier that day, and took Blaine, Kurt, Brittany, Santana, and Quinn for an additional half-hour for helping the enemy succeed. She revoked the girls' tanning privileges for the rest of the semester (Blaine was already tan enough, and Kurt was already forbidden from tanning, as that would defeat the purpose of his nickname). She made Kurt and Blaine stay and organize files in her office, which led to them hastily stealing kisses whenever she'd leave the room to berate whoever happened to pass by. When she returned, they'd go back to ignoring each other, trying to get the tedious job completed as quickly as possible so they could run back into Blaine's car and be able to satisfy their needs without interruption.

Blaine. The name was the resilient foundation that kept him grounded, it was the soft zephyr that sent it tumbling down into nothingness, it was the cement that put it all back together again: it waseverything. Kurt worshipped the few seconds he'd see Blaine smiling at him while he walked to third period; he counted down the minutes until Cheerios practice so he'd be in the same room as Blaine for two hours. Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday were his favorite days of the week.

"Wake up, Kurt—you're getting that dreamy look again," Rachel slapped him, bringing his consciousness back into her bedroom where Mercedes and Tina were on Rachel's laptop, perusing Facebook and stalking the people they hated.

"Hmmm? What look?" Kurt shifted so he could get a better view of the screen, where the girls were currently giggling at some rather unattractive shots of a fellow Cheerio. He would've laughed as well, but his eyes immediately found Blaine in the background—it was a little disconcerting that he recognized his boyfriend so well from behind.

"That look you get after seeing Blaine on the way to science class. It's like that look you get when we're watching those bootlegged videos ofWickedand we pause the video just to take a much-needed moment to calm ourselves down before 'Defying Gravity'...except dopier."

"You guys are so in love. It's adorable." Tina commented, and Kurt nearly fell off of the bed.

"We're—no—um," Kurt sputtered. There it was. Thel-word.

"Oh, are we talking about Lover Boy's little friend?" Mercedes inquired, and immediately pulled up Blaine's profile. "Ah, look, he was interviewed for the Western Ohio newspaper about being one of the athletes of the year—his aunt posted it on his wall, how sweet!"

"Wait, he didn't tell me about that." Actually, it was all Blaine could talk about two weeks ago when the interviewer took him aside after their last game and asked him a few questions. He'd asked Kurt to help him with taking headshots while they cleaned up in the bathroom a few days later after practice, and Kurt did—he balled up some paper towels and threw them at Blaine's head. After that, Blaine stopped bugging him about it. Regardless of how irritating he was about it, Kurt was proud of Blaine, and was rather upset that he didn't notify him that the article was the headline of the sport's section.

It was short and sweet, where Blaine described what being a captain was like ("'Having to lead so many girls...'"Hey, I'm a boy—and his boyfriend!"'...and prepare them for Nationals while juggling school and my other extracurricular activities can be really tough at times, but it's worth it'"), what his plans were to get the Cheerios another huge trophy ("'Work, work, work. You can't just have a vision. It has to be a collaborative yearning for a necessity—we're all talented individually, but cheerleading isn't an individual sport. We've got to improve together as a team, work hard every day, and I expect to take home another Nationals title this spring'"), and what it's like working with a bunch of girls ("[Laughs] 'Well, considering that I'm not exactly on their team, it's fine...it's not like that one movie where those guys go to a cheerleading camp to get with girls, no...all of the girls are great to work with...'"Lies!"'...but I don't think I would be able to handle all of the estrogen without having another guy on the squad. Sometimes it feels like Kurt is the only one who helps keep me sane!'"). All of the girls and Kurt finished reading at different times, but they all sighed when they got to the part where Kurt was mentioned.

"Damn, why don't you two just go public already? It's been a month! I don't see why this must be socomplicated," Mercedes said as she continued scrolling through Blaine's profile, "See? Here's a picture of you two together at Rachel's party a few weeks ago—look me in the eyes and tell me it doesn't look like you're together." Kurt grimaced—he was practically in Blaine's lap, and a conspicuous pale hand was resting on his waist. They really couldn't get any more puke-worthy than that.

Kurt groaned. "It does have to be complicated, Mercedes. If Coach finds out, she'll kick us off and scalp us, and...and I'm kind of afraid to."

He'd never admitted it aloud before, but the thought had crossed his mind very often. The girls scooted closer to him with concerned looks on their faces. He sighed and then continued.

"Lately, before Cheerios practice, and sometimes in the halls...I don't know, some of the football players kind of...look at me weird. Like, now they kind of know who I am, since we're well into first semester, and they've been seeing me around more. When we don't have Cheerios practice, I wear clothes that are fabulous and they can't seem to accept it: that kid Karofsky shoved me against a locker last week and tore my sweater a little. I mean, that wasn't that big of a deal, since it was already ripped up, but what if he gets his hands on any of my Marc Jacobs shirts?" He tried to lighten the situation, but failed. "Anyway...I don't want to drag Blaine into it. He's already in trouble because he's out, but his title as Cheerios captain protects him. Football players know they can't screw with Coach Sylvester's prized possessions, and Blaine is precious to her. But if they find out he's withme...he's fair game." Kurt decided not to mention Blaine's problems with bullies before, even if it was the biggest reason why he felt this way.

Tina scoffed: "Oh, come on, Kurt. Blaine is strong—I saw him boxing the other day in the wrestling room. He can kick those guys' asses."

"But that isn't the right way to go about it. Kurt, you should tell someone about this." Rachel said. "I mean, slushies are one thing—and you're lucky you have that Cheerios uniform because everyone knows better than to mess that up—but if this escalates..."

"Hold up, hold up," Mercedes interrupted, "Kurt, you are so much stronger than those assholes. Don't let them bother you. Well, unless it gets really bad, like what Berry said. Just know that we're always here for you, okay?"

Kurt smiled, grateful that he had such supportive friends. "Thanks, girls. It's a shame that you guys don't have boyfriends. Although I feel like something really did happen between you and Finn, Rachel, because he actually came to me for help yesterday. What happened when you practiced your duet? You still never told me, and that's unacceptable."

"What did he ask you about?" Rachel shifted uncomfortably, "I won't tell you unless...unless you tell me why exactly you and Blaine left my party early."

Kurt crossed his arms. "So we fooled around a bit. Big deal—I'm not saying anything else, not unless you tell us what's going on."

"Fine, fine...we kissed. A little bit. It wasn't much but it was...amazing. Now what did he ask you about?" she said quickly while the other girls gasped.

"Oh, now it makes a lot more sense. He asked if it's possible to like two people at once. I said that I'm pretty sure you can, even though I've never been in that situation—unless having a huge crush on Taylor Lautner while having a boyfriend counts—and then, in true Finn Hudson-style, he asked if it's possible to like someone of a different religion. He's also been having problems with Quinn, which explains why she's been in such a pissy mood at practice lately." On Tuesday Quinn had randomly sprinted out of practice crying; Coach was less than thrilled with her hissy fit.

"Oh, God, she's going to ruin me if I get together with Finn. Although I'm so much better for him than her, considering that I can help him become more confident with his blatant talent, which rivals mine...our voices go perfectly together, and therefore weshouldbe together..."

"Rachel, be quiet. I didn't come here to listen to you go on and on about your talent; I came to get a facial from Kurt and so we can watch chick flicks. You ready, Kurt?"

"Sure—I just need to call my dad and make sure he's doing okay." Kurt was at Rachel's house because his father and Carole were focused on moving into their new house (they chose the smaller one closer to the high school—Kurt was shocked to find that he was happy with that choice. He couldn't walk to Blaine's house anymore, but that was okay, as he knew that he would be getting a car for his sixteenth birthday in May). He was only staying there for the weekend so he could stay out of—for lack of a better expression—his dad's hair, since he was the last person they needed while they were moving. Kurt left the room and took out his phone, dialing his dad's number.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, Dad, it's Kurt, just checking in."

"I didn't realize how many clothes you had until I had another guy help me move your box. Do you own all of the Alexander McQueen collections from the past few years?"

Kurt laughed. "No, Dad, cut it out. Do you think the house will be ready in time for Thanksgiving?"

"Yep. We officially move in on Tuesday." Some shouting in the background. "Ah—Blaine needs help with something, I've got to go."

"Wait, Blaine?!" Kurt shouted, "Blaine as inBlaine-Blaine?"

"Yes. I've got to go, Kurt, I'll call you tomorrow morning."

"I want answers!" He demanded, and the phone clicked. He groaned and punched in Blaine's number.

(5:28)Do you now have a job with a moving company, or...?

"Kuuuurtt!" Rachel sang from the closed door, "The pizza is coming in an hour and we need to have all of our facials done by then, so hurry up!"

"I bet he's talking to Blaine right now."

"It's only been a few hours since they were last together and they probably miss each other so much."

"I amnottalking to Blaine, and if you guys go there I'll make sure that this mix is so intense that your faces will be red for days!" He snapped as he opened the door to find all of the girls giggling on the bed. "All right, let me get my things from my bag and prep in the bathroom, and make sure that you don't piss me off in the process."

(6:46)Sorry, your dad's ordering take-out right now. I decided to stop by and help out, since I had nothing to do today.

(6:49)I'm pretty sure that you're just trying to suck up to him. Did you talk about football?

(6:52)Captain's Log, Star date 2013 AD, I'm pretty sure that I've infiltrated the Hummel-Hudson clan. They see me as one of their kind. Their leader Burt Hummel is taking me out to a football game later this month as I had to decline his invitation to celebrate Thanksgiving with him.

(6:53)You did not just

(6:54)I am dating a nerd oh my god

(6:55):)

(6:57)Anyway, my dad invited you over for Thanksgiving? More importantly, you can't go?!

(7:00)We always go to visit family in Columbus. Sorry. I'd much rather spend it with you; trust me. I'm sure that I can get out of watching the game as we always do and sneak a call in. Will that be okay?

(7:02)More than okay, considering that will be the best we can do :( Oh crap, the girls are telling me to stop avoiding them and help them set up the TV so we can watch a movie.

(7:03)Do you think you can text me throughout the movie? I want to hear your take on this one story your dad was telling me about the time you went to watchMarch of The Penguins...

(7:04)I don't think I'm ever speaking to him ever again. Or you, if you ever bring that up! Talk to you in a little...

(7:05)Bye; I have all night, but don't be too long.

(7:10)Hiiii Blainey I miss you soooo much and I love love love you and Rachel because Rachel is the best everrrr

(7:12)...Rachel, please give the phone back to Kurt.

(7:13)Now it's Tina. Kurt's busy with selecting a dvd; he doesn't know that we hijacked his phone. He wants to watchWhen Harry Met Sallybut we don't want to—any suggestions?

(7:16)Yes, 1. Give him back his phone and 2. Tell him I thinkMarch of The Penguinsis a better choice.

(7:18)Mercedes here. Is that code for something you two *do*? Because Kurt just kind of flipped out. I don't need to know the details.

(7:20)No, no! Just give him the phone!

(7:25)Okay, it's me; I had to wrestle it from them. They're not allowed within a five-foot radius of me or else I'm going to get up in the middle of the night and draw on their faces while they're sleeping.

(7:26)Draw what? ;)

(7:28)I'm dating a nerd *and* a twelve year old. Anyway, find a way to entertain me because they decided onThe Notebookand I'm mad about it

(7:32)For your information, I'm going to be seventeen soon, so I'm almost an adult. And I'm sitting with your dad and Mrs. Hudson, who're watching football on the new couch. I'm half-watching and half-waiting for your texts. Your dad is seriously obsessed with this sport—I think we should hold an intervention. What's wrong withThe Notebook? You love that movie.

(7:34)That he is, and that is a good idea. I don't want to watch because then I'm going to start crying and the last thing I need is for these girls to see me crying and they'll make fun of me even more.

(7:36)It is kind of adorable that you're reduced to tears within the first few minutes of the film.

(7:38)Please, you were crying too! Anyway...time for serious talk.

(7:43)...am I in trouble?

(7:45)No...it's just that...I think we should go public after Thanksgiving.

(7:48)It sounds like we're celebrities or something. But what brought this about?

(7:50)I dunno, I think all of the dramatics are kind of stupid now. Glee knows, my parents know (do your parents know?)...how bad can it be when, or if, Coach finds out?

(7:52)Kurt...we'd *die*. Well, we're too close to Nationals, and she can't exactly lose two of her strongest components (she won't admit it but you're one of the better ones, and I'm not just saying that because I'm your boyfriend), but afterwards...we'll be kicked off of the Cheerios and we'll be at her disposal every day for torture.

(7:55)What's the big deal about getting kicked off? She kicks people off every day. And we can go to Figgins or whoever and complain about harassment, or I can get my dad involved if it gets *really* bad

(7:57)Kurt, I'm the captain, and I don't want to lose that title. I'm pretty sure it's not going to be as simple as that, though.

(7:59)Please, you're being ridiculous. Is your captainship more important than me?

(8:02)Shit. I'm sorry that you took it that way. No, it's not. Nothing is more important than you...it's just that cheerleading is very, very, very important to me, and...we should be having this conversation in person. I can't do this over text.

(8:05)We don't have to; this is stupid. I get it.

(8:05)Get what? You're making me nervous.

(8:09)Kurt, please.

(8:15)Sorry, the girls saw that I was texting you and wanted to know what was going on. They said that we should have this conversation in person, but they also think it's stupid. They think it's dumb that Coach would make us leave the Cheerios if she found out we were together, but they don't know *her*. It's just...this movie is making me overly emotional and I need you here right now. It's not the same without you.

(8:17)Do you want me to come? Because I can, if Rachel says okay.

(8:19)She says "no boys allowed", sorry.

(8:21)Um...last time I checked, you're a boy. I guess she doesn't want to be a third wheel.

(8:22)It's more like we'd be a bicycle and Tina, Mercedes, and Rachel would be a tricycle. A friendly tricycle. They're all cuddled up under a blanket, crying. We're up to the part where they're on the boat—damn, Ryan Gosling is so hot.

(8:24)...you like beards? Should I grow one out? Because I can...

(8:25)No no no no no then kissing you would be weird. And high school boys with facial hair creep me out.

(8:27)I'm imagining it right now.

(8:27)What?

(8:29)Shh, I'm making plans.

(8:30)If you're planning a Notebook-themed date, save it for the spring.

(8:31)You know me too well.

(8:33)Shh, I'm trying to focus on a soaking-wet Ryan Gosling.

(8:35)That's because when we watched it together you were too focused on me ;)

(8:36)I didn't get to appreciate him shirtless; I'm making up for lost time right now.

(8:37)You've seen me shirtless plenty of times!

(8:40)STOP

(8:41)He's carrying her up the stairs now, isn't he? I can do that to you.

(8:43)Mercedes just said that you've probably done that to me.

(8:45)What, I've laid you down on the bed and ravished you all night? There's plenty of time for that.

(8:47)I threw a pillow at her. Ugh watching sex scenes with other people is so uncomfortable.

(8:49)Not when your heavily making out with the person who's watching it with you.

(8:52)If you were here I'd also throw a pillow at you.

(8:54)I'm sure you'd do that. Are we okay now? That argument just kind of fell apart.

(8:55)I guess this movie works wonders on our relationship. Yes, we're okay.

(8:57)Good, because I have to go.

(9:00):(

(9:02)We've been texting for over two hours straight; surely you can wait 10 minutes until I get home. I'm in my car right now, about to drive myself home.

(9:02)Okay, I think I can handle it.

"The thing I'd miss most about us being a secret is not being able to do this anymore," Blaine said as he placed his hands on Kurt's hips, adjusting them so they were in the right position. It was the day before Thanksgiving; Blaine was set to leave for Columbus early the next morning and would not be returning until Sunday afternoon. So far, their private practice had consisted of a third of saying their physical goodbyes, a third of taking advantage of their last late-night practice together, and a third of actual cheerleading.

"Yeah; if we're still on the team there's no way she'll leave us alone together," Kurt sighed as Blaine's lips landed on his neck, kissing him softly. His hips moved out of place again, but Blaine didn't seem to care anymore.

"At least we'll be able to do this in the hallway," Blaine worked his way up his jaw to gently press against his mouth, eliciting a breathy moan from the back of Kurt's throat. While his body appreciated the attention, his mind was stuck on Blaine's words, and he backed away.

"Um...PDA isn't really my thing," he mumbled, entangling his fingers in Blaine's gelled curls.

"Is hand-holding a good compromise?" Blaine stepped back so he could give Kurt his famous puppy-eyes, and Kurt couldn't resist.

"Ten seconds max; you can walk me to science. Although Rachel will probably ambush us." Blaine's eyes brightened and he pecked Kurt on the nose. "Do you think we can concentrate on practicing for maybe ten minutes straight right now? We have four days off and I'm sure that Coach is going to whip our asses on Monday so I want to make sure that I won't die."

"Fine, fine...but for the last fifteen minutes, you're all mine, since it's been a week since our last make-out session and I won't be able to see you fordays," Blaine lamented, letting Kurt go so he could turn on the music again. "We're on for 7:30 tomorrow night, yeah?"

"Yes, I'll text you before to confirm that my dad isn't forcing some more turkey down my throat, as he thinks that I need some more meat on my bones. Nah, I'm pretty sure Finn is going to eat it all. That kid eats so much; it's like he's a vacuum."

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, he seems like that kind of guy. Okay, let's take it from the top, and make it count!"

Thanksgiving was, for the most part, a disaster. Yes, the food was great, and the few members of Carole's extended family who managed to come were very nice, but there was one thing that ruined the entire holiday: Finn and his breakup with Quinn.

Carole found Finn locked in his room around 2:30, when all the expected guests had arrived, except for Quinn. Apparently they had broken up over phone that night, and it was not pretty. As it turned out, Finn had learned that Quinn was cheating on him with Puck. Kurt knew that he wasn't too upset about breaking up, as Finn had confided that she was ticking him off ("She's so obsessed with her image and her popularity. I got a hairful of yelling—wait, it's earful? Oops. Anyway, she got really mad when I took up Glee. And she won't even let me touch her boobs. Like, what's the point?"): it more the reasonwhythey split up. Kurt was afraid of what Finn was going to do with Puck.

Eventually Carole coaxed him out of his room, but he was basically a zombie for the rest of the day. He plopped himself in front of the TV to watch the parade and football game, and only grunted in reply when someone tried to hold a conversation with him. That left Kurt at the discretion of all of his prying relatives.

Kurt had texted Blaine a few times out of utter desperation to have someone his own age to talk to, as Finn would only open his mouth to shovel some more food in, but Blaine hardly replied. He, like Kurt, was completely preoccupied with family, who relentlessly dug into his personal life. He did confirm that 7:30 would be the perfect time for the phone all, although he'd only have thirty minutes to talk.

Kurt was flipping through a catalog ofVoguewhen the time rolled around: he jumped from the couch and nearly sprinted to his bedroom, pulling up Blaine's contact.

"Hi," he said breathlessly as he collapsed on his bed when Blaine answered after a few rings.

"Hi," Blaine's voice cracked due to a lack of good service.

"Happy Thanksgiving," he said after a few seconds of just listening to Blaine breathing.

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too. How's it going in the Hummel-Hudson household?"

"Okay, I guess. I'm eighty percent sure I'm not going to eat for the next few days or else I'll explode, although that seems like it's the only thing Finn can do right now."

"How is he holding up? I'd much rather talk about other stuff, and I'm sure that it'll be all over school on Monday, but I hope that he hasn't been hunting down Puck..."

"No, no; he's just been sulking this entire time. All of his relatives went to me to get information. I'm kind of sick of talking right now, as that's basically all I've been doing for the past few hours. How many times do I have to tell his aunt Mildred that I really am a boy?"

"Mildred is such a cliché name for an aunt."

"...I actually made it up; I can't remember her name. She looks like a Mildred, to be fair. Anyway, how's Thanksgiving going with your family?"

Blaine let out a long sigh, and Kurt knew something big had occurred. "So my family has this dumb tradition of saying what we're thankful for...and when my turn came around, I said you."

Kurt's heart leaped into his throat and tattooed against his Adam's apple. "In what context?" he insinuated after finding his voice a few seconds later.

"I said that I was thankful for my boyfriend and how he has helped me through so much this year. I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack, he was so shocked—and angry," he added, wincing slightly. "The rest of my family asked a thousand and one questions, as my aunts, uncles, and cousins didn't know I'm gay. They weren't the good sort of questions: 'are you sure?' 'It's probably just a phase.' 'I've heard that gay people go to hell; is that true, Mom?'" Kurt longed to touch Blaine in some way and wipe his sad tone away, but he knew he couldn't. Blaine was miles and miles away.

"Blaine, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay; I'm glad they know. Is that okay that my family knows about you?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Kurt said after thinking about it for a second, "I just wonder what they'd think of me."

"I told them you're the only other male Cheerio; my mom said that she didn't know there was another guy. I guess she didn't read the article closely enough, even though it was all she talked about for the past few hours." He laughed weakly. "Right now they're kind of ignoring me... I feel like we're going to have a huge fight when we get back to the hotel."

"I wish you were here." That was all Kurt could think; his heart ached for Blaine.

"Me too, me too. I'm thankful that I can at leasttalkto you."

"Same. Do you want to know what I'm thankful for? I'm thankful that I have you. That I've helped you through so much, that I've experienced so many things with you, that I'm fa...I'm so fabulous."No. I was not about to say "I'm falling for you." I almost said "I'm falling for you."

I'm falling in love with Blaine.

"I'm thankful that you're so fabulous, too," Blaine agreed with a laugh. Kurt joined in weakly. He was grateful that he was lying down; his knees would give out if he was standing. "So are you going to use that fabulousness for Black Friday shopping tomorrow?"

"Of course! I'm dragging Rachel to the mall at four tomorrow morning," Kurt replied eagerly, grateful that Blaine changed the subject. They chatted about sales and so on for a few more minutes, until Blaine remorsefully reported that he had to go.

"Just hold on 'til Monday, okay? I'll text you throughout the weekend."

"Good...erm, bye, then."

"Bye." Kurt pressed the "end call" button and lied down on his back, thinking about all of the words left unsaid at the end of their call.

He was changing into his gym clothes in the locker room on Monday when he heard the voice.

"You! Lady! Get your corrupted butt into my office, NOW!"

Kurt swiftly pulled up his shorts and sprinted out of the locker room, chasing after an infuriated Sue Sylvester.

What have I done now?