"Hi," Kurt said as he rushed up to Charlie. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Charlie replied kissing Kurt on the cheek. "Accidents happen, and, hey, we've only missed like two previews. No big deal."

Charlie handed their tickets to the usher and they hurried to the theater, taking the seats at the end of the row where Charlie's friends were sitting. They had to sit through three more previews and then the movie started. To be honest, Kurt wasn't entirely sure he was going to enjoy the movie. It was Hollywood's latest car chase, action movie, blow stuff up extravaganza and Kurt generally enjoyed a little more substance to his films. Still, it was hard to pass up the opportunity to be with Charlie when he had made the effort to invite Kurt along.

Just over two hours later, the end credits started rolling and Kurt was surprised to find he hadn't actually hated it. There had been a bit of a twist to the usual storyline that made it a little more interesting and Kurt was actually rooting for the protagonist to win. Kurt and Charlie lead the group out to the lobby where they were trying to figure out what to do next.

"This is your new boyfriend, Charlie?"

Kurt froze as that oh, so familiar voice rang in his ears. He slowly turned and saw Karofsky heading their way.

"Yeah, this is Kurt."

"I didn't think jocks were your type, Hummel."

"Wait. You two know each other?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Karofsky replied. "We went to McKinley together."

Kurt couldn't take it any longer. He turned and marched straight out of the theater towards his car.

"Kurt! Wait!" he heard Charlie call after him.

But Kurt didn't stop. He had to get away. How could Charlie be friends with… him of all people?

"Kurt! Stop!"

Charlie finally caught up with him as he unlocked the doors. He put his hand lightly on Kurt's shoulder and Kurt all but collapsed under the gentle weight.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked.

"What's going on? What's going on is I'm trying to understand how you can be friends with that… homophobic Neanderthal!"

"Who? David?"

"Yes, David. He is responsible for making the last two years of my life a living hell. He is a bully and a homophobic prick."

Kurt turned to open his door, but stopped when he felt Charlie's hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry," Charlie said. "I just… I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Do you really think I would be friends with someone like the person you just described?"

"Well, you are," Kurt said. "So, I guess that answers that question."

"Hang on a second," Charlie said. "I'm sorry, I'm just having some trouble reconciling the David I know to the person you just described. I'm not doubting what you say happened, but I don't think he's that guy anymore. He's one of my best friends. Hell, half the guys back there are gay. I mean, every now and then he'll make a comment or stupid joke, but we'll get on him about it and he'll apologize. Whatever happened in high school, I think he's trying to change."

"Well, that's great," Kurt said dryly. "But what he did to me is completely unforgivable. So, if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading home now."

"No, wait, hang on," Charlie begged. "I asked you out because I wanted to see you and we've barely had any time to talk all night with the movie. Let me just… I'll tell the guys we're heading out somewhere ourselves and I'll meet up with them later."

"But they're your friends…" Kurt said.

"Yeah, and you're my boyfriend. So, right now, you matter more."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Charlie said with a smile. "Just wait here and I'll be right back."

Kurt nodded and accepted a brief kiss before Charlie ran back to his friends. He turned and rested his forehead on the window of his Navigator. He hated that Karofsky still had this power over him. That Karofsky could still make him feel like a… child was so frustrating. He was supposed to be free of all this, but it seemed like no matter where he went, David would be there to just tear him back down.

And Charlie was friends with him? Kurt didn't even know how to begin processing that piece of information. He wanted to believe David was better, that he was more understanding and maybe even on the road to his own self-realization. It was just so hard to overcome two years of torment and torture in one evening.

Kurt eventually climbed into his car as he waited for Charlie to get back. This was just… too much. He had sworn to himself that once Karofsky was gone, Kurt would never think about him again. Why should he continue to torment himself over something someone else had done? The universe apparently had other plans as he was now dating one of Karofsky's BFFs. Kurt heard the passenger door open and looked over to see Charlie climbing in.

"Okay. The other guys are going to head over to this 24 hour diner on the other side of town," he asked and Kurt nodded that he knew what Charlie was talking about. "So, if you want to go get some coffee or ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" Kurt laughed.

"I don't know. Does Lima have a soda fountain?" Charlie teased.

"We do, actually," Kurt said.

"Awesome! I've always wanted to go to a soda fountain."

"Are you gonna pin me, too?"

Kurt blushed as he realized what he had said and how it sounded.

"Maybe not yet," Charlie said with a smile.

Kurt bit his lip and put the car into drive. The small soda shop was about a twenty minute drive and they were only open until 10:00, so they wouldn't be able to stay long. Which, honestly, Kurt was kind of okay with that. As nice as Charlie was being, the whole Karofsky encounter had just put a damper on everything.

Kurt pulled up outside the soda shop a short time later and couldn't help laughing as Charlie gawked at the bright blue neon sign announcing "The Jukebox" as the diner's name. They walked in and Charlie started laughing as he saw the authentic 1950s interior complete with black and white linoleum floor and red vinyl on the stools and benches. The jukebox in the corner belted out an Everly Brothers tune and servers with those little paper hats weaved in and out of the crowd.

"This is awesome!" he exclaimed. "I feel like I'm in Pleasantville or something."

"You are such a dork," Kurt said fondly.

They grabbed one of the booths by the window and looked through the menu. Kurt was glad they had some items made with frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. They had a fresh fruit parfait Kurt had had before that quite delicious.

"What do you think?" Kurt asked.

"I think I'm gonna go for an egg cr�me. I've always wanted to try one of those," Charlie said.

They gave their orders to the waiter and sat there in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

"So, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to," Charlie said eventually. "What exactly happened between you and David in high school? I mean, I guess I'd kind of like to know if I need to rethink my friendship with him."

Kurt just sighed. This was all such a mess.

"Just, you know. Shoving me into lockers, calling me names, things like that," Kurt said quietly.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Charlie replied.

"Well, when it happens every day, it gets to be a bit much."

"Ah."

"You said he's different?" Kurt asked.

"He seems to be, I guess. He didn't bat an eyelash or anything when I told him I was gay. His roommate is gay and, as far as I know, it hasn't been an issue."

"That's… that's good," Kurt replied.

"This doesn't have to happen again, Kurt," Charlie said, resting his hand on Kurt's. "If he makes you this uncomfortable, I'll make sure he knows he's not welcome when you're around."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course," Charlie said. "I want you to be happy, Kurt. I don't like seeing you like this."

"Thank you," Kurt said with a smile.

"I think maybe you could give him another chance," Charlie continued. "He really does seem like he's trying to be a better person."

Kurt just shook his head. Not yet, he thought. It's still too soon.

"Okay," Charlie said.

They sat there in silence until their food arrived. Kurt took a few bites of his parfait before attempting conversation again.

"Is that as good as you were hoping?" he asked Charlie.

"It is. It's a lot lighter than I thought it would be. Do you want to try some?"

"No, thanks. I'm not really a big fan of chocolate."

"So, no box of chocolates on Valentine's Day, then. I'll try to keep that in mind," Charlie said with a wink.

"Valentine's Day?" Kurt said.

"Yeah. I mean, I know we haven't been seeing each other very long, but I was hoping we could see each other that weekend, maybe."

"What did you have in mind?" Kurt asked. He hoped his voice was steady, but inside he was freaking out. Valentine's Day was a big deal.

"Well, the weekend after, on the 18th, we have a pretty big home game against Notre Dame. I was wondering if you might want to come down and watch the game and we could go out to dinner after?"

"Oh, um, yeah," Kurt said. "I'd like that. I mean, I'll have to ask my dad, but I'll see what I can do. And next week is Regionals, so maybe we'll have something else to celebrate, too."

"I'm sure we will," Charlie said confidently. "You could bring your stepbrother or something if you think that would help, and I'd like to meet your friends, if you want."

"You want me to bring Finn on our Valentine's Day date?"

"Is he dating anyone? We could make it a double or something."

"I'm not really sure, actually," Kurt laughed.

"Does he go through a lot of girls?"

"No," Kurt said. "Just keeps bouncing back and forth between two of them. Which gets really awkward because we're all in glee club together."

"Oh. That would be awkward," Charlie agreed.

"Well, I'll mention it. It might make my dad feel more comfortable with the idea if I'm not going down to OSU by myself."

"Okay. Well, let me know when you can."

"How did you get started with lacrosse, anyway?" Kurt asked.

"Um, I've played sports as long as I can remember, t-ball, baseball, pee-wee football. I was on the soccer team my freshman year in high school and a friend of mine was on the lacrosse team. I went to watch some of his games and thought it looked like fun. He showed me some stuff, taught me some of the basics and I ended up making the team sophomore year. Been playing ever since."

"That's cool. I know I said before that I wasn't really into sports, but I was actually on the football team for a couple weeks my sophomore year."

"Really?" Charlie asked.

"Yup. I was the kicker and actually won our team their first game in, like, five years," Kurt said. "I was going through this thing and trying to bond with my dad and he's into sports and stuff. So, yeah. That was interesting. And then there was the time I was on the Cheerios."

"Wait. I thought the football team and Cheerios hated the glee club?"

"Yeah, well. Quinn, Santana and Brittany are all on the cheer squad, so it's not as bad with them as it is with the football team. Even if the quarterback is in the glee club. Anyway, it was pretty much just Coach Sylvester wanting to use me to help her win Nationals."

"Did you win?"

"Of course. It's hard to resist a thirteen minute Celine Dion medley in the original French."

"Wow. That's actually kind of impressive."

"Only kind of?"

"Okay," Charlie laughed. "It's really impressive."

"Thank you," Kurt replied.

Unfortunately, that seemed to bring an end to their conversation and they once more sat in silence as they waited for the waiter to bring their check. These silences were really starting to get to Kurt. With any of his other friends, Mercedes, Blaine, even Finn or Rachel, it seemed like they never ran out of things to discuss. He supposed it was because he had more in common with those people. But it was still early in their relationship and Kurt didn't want to write Charlie off just yet. Charlie insisted on paying when the bill came to make up for the Karofsky thing, even if he had no idea it was an issue and Kurt silently vowed that he would pay the next time they went out.

Kurt drove them over to the diner so Charlie could meet up with his friends. It was getting close to curfew, so Kurt couldn't really stay. He accepted a brief kiss from Charlie before heading home. The whole drive back, Kurt couldn't help but thinking this whole thing with Charlie just wasn't going anywhere. It disappointed him more than he wanted to admit.

Two days later, Kurt was waiting by the piano when glee club started at the end of the day. Regionals were that weekend and they had a lot to do, but Kurt was just too anxious to wait.

"Kurt," Mr. Schue said as he entered the room. "Did you have something you wanted to share?"

"I did," Kurt said excitedly. "I know we have a lot of work to do before Saturday, but I've been working on a song with a friend that I was hoping we might be able to perform at Nationals. The song isn't finished yet, but I'm really excited about what is done and I wanted to get some feedback before we work anymore on it."

"Sure," Mr. Schuester said. "I think we have a few minutes before we need to get started."

Kurt clapped excitedly and sat down at the piano. He laid the sheet music out and got himself situated. He laid his hands on the keys and started plucking out a light and bouncy tune. It was rough, but he could feel how this was going to sound once it was complete. After a few bars of the introduction, he started singing.

From out of the blue
Someone comes along
They can change your world
In the beat of a song

Not even rain can dim the sun
The sky is new, the birds are free
Doubt has all vanished
A smile comes so easily

With the hand of a stranger
You're lead to a new day
With the hand of a friend
You finally find your way

Kurt played a few more bars before coming to a rest. He smiled as his classmates broke out in applause.

"It's called With the Hand of a Friend," he said standing in front of the group.

"That was amazing, Kurt," Mercedes said.

"I agree," Rachel added. "I think you've got something we can work with."

"Well done, Kurt," Mr. Schue said. "We can pick up with that next week after we win Regionals."

A cheer went up from the group with that and they got down to perfecting their songs and routines for the coming competition.

Later that night, Kurt finally broached the subject of Charlie's invitation down to OSU at dinner. He'd talked to Finn earlier and he'd been happy to agree to accompany Kurt if it helped. He told Kurt that Rachel would be busy with a family thing that day, so she wouldn't be able to join them. Kurt made a mental note to ask Mercedes if she wanted to come if his dad agreed.

"Dad?" he said as they were finishing their meal.

"Yeah?"

"In two weeks, Charlie has a home game against Notre Dame and he invited me to come watch and maybe get dinner afterwards. Can I go?"

"You want to go to OSU by yourself for the day?" his dad asked.

"Well, um, I don't have to. Charlie said he'd like to meet Finn or one of my friends if I or you wanted someone with me."

"I'm more than happy to go with him," Finn said.

"It's an added bonus for me so he can explain what's happening during the game," Kurt added.

Burt looked between Kurt and Finn for a minute. Kurt put on his best innocent, but hopeful look, silently begging his dad to say yes.

"I'll think about it," Burt finally said.

"Dad…"

"I didn't say no," he interrupted. "I will get back to you tomorrow night, okay?"

"Okay," Kurt sighed. That was never a good sign. I'll think about it almost invariably meant No.

However, Kurt was pleasantly surprised the next evening when his dad agreed to let him go on the condition that Finn went along, too, and that he was still home by midnight. Curfew was curfew, regardless of how far Kurt had to drive.

"I promise!" Kurt swore. "Thanks, dad!"

He ran upstairs to call Charlie who immediately started brainstorming dinner ideas. Even in light of their previous dates not going terribly well, Kurt was actually looking forward to this outing.

By Saturday evening, Kurt was in even higher spirits celebrating the New Directions win at Regionals on the bus home from Cleveland. They had completely blown the competition away. Rachel had killed her ballad, as expected and Mercedes, Artie and Tina had shined in their group number. They had ended up going with Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge for their movie number and shared the leads between all the seniors. Kurt had beamed as he stepped up to sing Ewan's verse with Silly Love Songs and Up Where We Belong. The group had received a standing ovation that had gone on for at least five minutes when they were done. There had been no doubt in anyone's mind that New Directions would be heading to Nationals in Atlanta in a few months.

By the time Kurt and Finn made it home, Blaine was there with Burt and Carole and a celebratory cake. There were hugs and cheers all around. Kurt even decided to indulge and actually had a piece of the gooey, sugary confection.

"You were fantastic," Blaine told Kurt when they had a moment alone.

"Thank you," Kurt replied. "I'm glad you were able to make it."

"Actually, I have some good news," Blaine said with a smile.

"Oh?"

"I will actually be in town for the next month while everyone back in L.A. finalizes what I'm doing next."

"Are you ever going to tell me what that is?"

"Nope."

"Seriously? Not even a hint."

"Nope. I want to make sure all the details are in place before I say anything."

"You swear it has nothing to do with Gaga?"

"No," Blaine laughed. "Sadly, there is no Gaga in my future."

"Hey, you two," Burt said coming into the kitchen. "Listen, Carole wants to make a nice dinner tomorrow to celebrate your win. Blaine, you're invited, of course."

"Oh, no," Blaine said. "I couldn't impose… ."

"Nonsense," Burt replied. "Dinner is at six. Kurt, why don’t you call Charlie? See if he's free to come?"

"Really?" Kurt said.

"Yeah. If you're going to keep seeing him, I'd like to get to know him a little better."

"Um, sure. Okay."

Kurt couldn't help but notice Blaine fidgeting nervously beside him. This had the potential to be very weird if Charlie was free to come to dinner. Having Blaine and Charlie in the same room might just be one of Kurt's nightmares come to life.

The next night, Kurt was living it. He was standing awkwardly in the living room as he introduced Charlie and Blaine to each other.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Blaine said.

"Yeah, you, too," Charlie replied, a strange smile on his face. "Sorry," he added. "I'm just a big fan and Kurt never mentioned you were Blaine Anderson when he talked about you so this is a little strange for me."

Blaine just laughed and Kurt felt himself finally relaxing.

"Well, thank you," Blaine said. "That's always nice to hear."

The three boys sat on the couch as they waited for dinner to be ready. Kurt said another silent thank you to Carole for keeping his dad busy in the kitchen. Finn was up in his room, finishing his homework for tomorrow. Kurt just sat back and watched as Charlie and Blaine got to know each other. Charlie asked after Blaine's career and how he had gotten started. Kurt could listen to Blaine talk about music all day. He was so passionate about what he did that it was just really exciting to hear him talk about it.

"Kurt?" he heard Charlie ask.

"Hmm?" Kurt replied shaking himself out of his stupor.

"Blaine mentioned that you were writing a song for your glee club?"

"Oh! Yes, I am," Kurt said. "We started doing original songs last year for competitions and it seemed to work well for us, so we're doing the same thing again this year."

"Did you perform it for them yet?" Blaine asked.

"The other day, actually. What I have of it, at least."

"And?"

"And they really liked it. Rachel seemed particularly excited by it, but there is no way I'm letting her take the lead on it. It is my song and if we end up doing it at Nationals I will be singing it."

Blaine and Charlie chuckled good naturedly at Kurt's insistence and Kurt was very happy to see them getting along. After his father, they were the two most important men in his life and if they hated each other, well, Kurt didn’t know what he would do.

"Dinner's ready," Carole said coming in to the room.

They followed her into the dining room, almost running into Finn as he came charging down the stairs.

"Hey," Finn said as he saw them.

"Finn, this is Charlie," Kurt said finally introducing his boyfriend to his stepbrother.

"Oh, hey. Nice to finally meet you," Finn said shaking Charlie's hand. "Thanks for the invite to the lacrosse game."

"No problem," Charlie said. "I'm glad you guys can make it down. Did you find out if Mercedes was going to come, too?" Charlie said turning to Kurt.

"Oh! Yes, she is. So, it'll be the three of us if that's okay."

"Of course," Charlie said squeezing Kurt's shoulder.

"Lacrosse game?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "Charlie invited us down to watch the home game they have on Saturday. It's the same day as your sister's birthday party, so…"

"Oh," Blaine said. "Well, good luck," he told Charlie.

"Thanks," Charlie replied.

The four boys finally made their way to the table and took in the delicious spread of food that was laid out for them. There was oven roasted chicken, fresh whipped potatoes, string beans and asparagus, some salad and fresh rolls Kurt had helped her make that morning.

"This all looks delicious, Mrs. Hummel," Blaine said.

"Blaine," Carole replied. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Carole?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Hummel."

Carole just laughed and gestured for everyone to take a seat. Kurt ended up on one side of the table with Charlie to his left. Blaine was across from Kurt, next to Finn. Burt and Carole were at the two ends, opposite each other. They began passing the food around, Kurt carefully watching to make sure his dad didn't take too many potatoes. Once their plates were all full, Burt raised his glass in a toast.

"To Kurt and Finn," he said. "Congratulations on your win at Regionals and best of luck at Nationals."

"Here, here," Charlie added as they all clinked glasses.

Charlie leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Kurt's cheek. Kurt couldn't help blushing at the open affection, especially in front of his family; he just wasn't used to it yet. He also couldn't ignore the fact that Blaine looked away, looking uncomfortable, too. Kurt would have to ask him about that later.

"So, Charlie," Carole said. "What are you studying at school?"

"Education with an emphasis in math," he said. "I think I'd like to teach high school or junior high and maybe coach, too."

"That sounds nice."

"Yeah. I worked at a lacrosse camp last summer and it was really great getting to see how all the kids improved even in the little time we had together."

"What do your parents do?" Burt asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes. He shouldn't have been surprised at the questioning. It had to happen at some point and he was just glad there were witnesses around for it.

"My father is an accountant and my mother is a pediatrician. I also have an older brother who is finishing his degree in finance and a younger sister who's just eleven."

"That's quite an age difference," Blaine remarked.

"Yeah," Charlie said with a laugh. "My parents were a little surprised when they found out my mom was pregnant again, but it's great. My mom loves having a little girl and she's not nearly as annoying as all my friends' little sisters."

"She's still young," Blaine said. "Just wait a few years."

"Kurt mentioned it's your sister's birthday soon?"

"Yeah, she'll be fourteen in a couple days. She started the rebelling a couple months ago and dyed her hair bright red. My mom freaked out, of course. It's been a little tense around the house and her party was almost cancelled, but they apparently reached a truce of some sort last week. So, it could be worse."

"Oh, awesome. Thanks," Charlie said sarcastically.

"No problem, man," Blaine said with a smile as the rest of Kurt's family laughed.

The conversation turned lighter after that. Charlie talked sports with his dad and Finn while Kurt and Blaine got in a discussion about the latest issue of Vogue with Kate Winslet on the cover and her upcoming movie.

Kurt looked over at Carole at one point and noticed she was looking between Kurt and Blaine with an odd look on her face. He would have to grab a moment with her later and ask what that was about.

The rest of the evening went much better than Kurt had been expecting. Charlie ended up leaving fairly early as he had a 7:00 am practice the next morning. Kurt walked him out to the car and they finalized their plans for the game. It started at 2:00, so they should be able to grab a fairly early dinner ensuring everyone would make it home in time for curfew. After a quick kiss good bye, Kurt waved him off and headed back into the house. Blaine was waiting for him in the living room as his dad and Finn had gone off to catch the end of the Sunday night football game and Carole was cleaning up in the kitchen.

"So," Kurt said.

"Charlie seems nice," Blaine replied.

"He is."

"I didn't realize he was so… athletic."

"Yeah. Apparently he's played sports since he's been able to walk so… ."

"He seemed to get along with your dad and Finn."

"Yeah."

They stood there just staring at each other and it was so… weird and uncomfortable. They were never like this.

"Is something wrong?" Kurt asked.

"No," Blaine said quickly. "No, not at all. I just… I should go. There's a lot to do before Moira's party."

"Okay," Kurt said. "Well, thanks for coming."

"Sure. I'll call you later this week."

Kurt stood there confused after Blaine had left. There was something more going on, Kurt was sure. Did he not like Charlie? It seemed like they had gotten along, unless Blaine had just been pretending. Blaine had never been anything but honest with him. Though, if Kurt really thought about it, Blaine had been acting differently ever since he had started dating Charlie. Was he jealous? He couldn't be. Blaine just wanted to be friends and that was fine. This was all just so confusing. Kurt wandered into the kitchen and started helping Carole with the last of the dishes.

"Charlie seems like a very nice young man," she said after a few minutes.

"That he is," Kurt replied.

"I couldn't help but notice you spent most of dinner talking to Blaine, though."

Kurt closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Please don't," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. I'm not trying to upset you, we just… we want you to be happy."

"Yes, well, Blaine had his chance but he decided he just wanted to be friends. Charlie is nice and we get along well enough and he actually likes me for whatever reason, so… ," Kurt trailed off.

"All right," Carole said gently.

"I have some homework I need to finish," he said drying the last dish.

"Okay. Good night."

Kurt went up to his room and just flopped down on his bed. He didn't have any homework to finish, but he just needed to get away from Carole and her disturbing insightfulness. Blaine was just making him more and more confused. Maybe Kurt had been thinking about possibly breaking it off with Charlie. He was a nice enough guy, but there just didn't seem to be any kind of spark there. Whenever they talked on the phone or Skype, they never talked very long and often ran out of things to say in fifteen minutes. Plus, there was the whole Charlie being friends with Karofsky thing. Kurt didn't want to tell anyone who they could or couldn't be friends with, but if he popped up on any more of their outings, Kurt didn't think he would be able to take it.

Why did relationships have to be so complicated?

"What position did you say Charlie played?" Finn asked as the trio took their seats in the stands at OSU. They were sitting just off the center field line and should have a good view of the whole game.

"Midfield," Kurt replied, scanning the field. "There he is. Number 26," he added, pointing out to the team warming up.

"That's good," Finn said. "He should see a lot of action then."

"Oh, really?" Mercedes said with a grin.

"Oh, stop it," Kurt said, swatting her on the arm. "Is lacrosse that difficult of a sport? He was kind of acting like I should be impressed that he was here on a sports scholarship."

"Well, it can be quite physically demanding," Finn explained. "It's kind of like soccer with a lot of running up and down the field and trying to keep the ball away from your opponent. Midfielder's especially. They play pretty much all over the field. So, if nothing else he's probably in really good shape."

"Mmm," Kurt just nodded as he sipped his Diet Coke. Charlie was definitely in very good shape, but Finn didn't need to know Kurt knew that.

"Are there a lot of positions, like in football?" Mercedes asked.

"Only a few: attack, midfield, defense, and the goalie. Attack players are the ones trying to score." Finn said.

"So, what's with all the lines on the field?" Kurt asked.

"Boundaries mostly, but the midline," Finn said pointing to the middle of the field, "can determine off-sides if you don't have enough players on one side and no one's allowed in the crease—that's the circle around the goal—except for the goalie."

"Hey!" Mercedes said. "It looks like they're getting ready to start."

The two teams jogged out onto the field, the players taking their positions. Kurt sat up a little straighter when he noticed Charlie was making his way to center field for the face-off. Charlie hadn't mentioned that to him. The Buckeyes were playing Notre Dame this week and, according to Charlie, it should be an exciting game with the long-standing rivalry between the two schools. The whistle blew moments later with Charlie quickly gaining control. He passed to one player who ran off towards Notre Dame's goal as players from the opposing team kept tapping on his stick. It looked like he was about to lose the ball, but he managed to pass it off to another player. Play continued like that for awhile, the Buckeyes coming close to scoring, but not quite managing to get past the Irish's defense when a whistle blew and play stopped.

"What happened?" Kurt asked.

"I think that was slashing. Number 8 hit Notre Dame's guy on the shoulder with his stick and you can't do that," Finn explained. "So, now that player has to sit out," he added, pointing to the OSU player jogging off the field, "while the game goes on."

"So, we're playing a man short?" Kurt asked.

"Yup."

"How is that fair?"

"Well, it's not. That's kind of the point of penalties. If there were no consequences then all hell would just break loose on the field."

"Hmph," Kurt said slumping in his seat. This is why he didn't like sports. The seemingly arbitrary rules for what was allowed and not just never made sense.

The game resumed with the Buckeyes down a man for a short time. One of the OSU attackers got possession of the ball and moved behind the goal so the other players could get into position. He seemed to be calling out a play of some sort as the rest of his team members started running quickly, trying to get away from the Notre Dame defenders. The ball was passed to Charlie, who ran to the opposite side of the field from where Kurt was sitting before he quickly flicked the ball back to another attacker. After a few more passes and some close calls, the Buckeyes finally managed to score the first goal of the game. The stands erupted with cheers, Kurt and his friends joining the crowd on their feet, cheering and hollering the Buckeyes.

"Well, that was exciting!" Mercedes said.

"It kind of was!" Kurt laughed.

The fans settled down as the players retook their positions for the next face-off. Notre Dame took control this time and the stands got rowdy trying to stir up the Buckeyes. There were a few moments of really quick action where the ball seemed to change hands every two seconds. Then one of the Notre Dame attackers missed what should have been a simple pass and the ball bounced onto the field, free for anyone to take. Kurt watched in awe as Charlie seemed to come out of nowhere to steal the ball and lead the team in a charge back down into Irish territory. After a few minutes of intense battle, Charlie managed to score another goal for the Buckeyes when none of the attackers were open in front of the goal.

Kurt jumped up and down, hugging Mercedes, so excited for his boyfriend. His boyfriend.. Kurt still marveled every time he thought that to himself. He had a boyfriend and he was an amazing guy and a phenomenal athlete. Kurt was so happy right now, he just couldn't stop smiling.

"Go, Charlie!"

Kurt froze as he heard a familiar voice call out from the stands behind them. He turned and was not surprised to see Karofsky there, cheering with the rest of the fans. Kurt was suddenly not so happy and sat down heavily in his seat.

"What is it?" Mercedes asked.

"Karofsky," Kurt said simply.

"What? Where?"

"The next section over, a few rows back."

"I didn't realize he went to school here," Mercedes said.

"He does," Kurt replied. "And he's apparently totally BFFs with Charlie."

"What?" Mercedes exclaimed. "Does Charlie know?"

"Does Charlie know what?" Finn asked sitting back down.

"That his bestie, Dave Karofsky, used to torment Kurt," Mercedes said.

"Mercedes, please," Kurt said.

"Wait, what? Charlie is friends with Karofsky?"

Kurt sighed and finally told them both the story of what had happened at the movies when he had run into Karofsky again.

"What are you gonna do?" Mercedes asked.

"I don't know," Kurt said honestly. "I mean, Charlie says that David seems to be a different guy, a whole bunch of their friends are gay and David's fine with it. And he said he'd make sure David wasn't around if I met up with them all again, but I don't know. If he's just going to keep popping up in random places like this… ."

"You gotta do what's right for you," Mercedes said.

"Yeah, totally," Finn agreed. "I mean, Charlie seems like a nice enough guy, but you shouldn't have to deal with Karofsky anymore if you don't have to."

Kurt just nodded. They were very valid points and he had a lot of thinking to do.

The first quarter ended not long after that, with the Buckeyes still up 2-0. The second quarter started much like the first with several close calls on both sides before Notre Dame finally managed to score their first goal of the game. There were boos of disappointment from the stands, scattered with some cheers from the few Notre Dame fans in attendance.

The crowd got pumped up again when the players took their positions for another face-off. It was a few tense moments before Charlie was able to get the ball out to his team and Ohio stormed down the field. The ball changed teams a few times, Ohio managing to keep Notre Dame off their side of the field, before Ohio seemed to catch a break and they got a shot off with it sailing just wide of the goal. At the same time, one of the Notre Dame players went crashing to the ground and the ref's whistle was blown to stop play. It looked like they were charging Charlie with a penalty of some kind. Kurt looked to Finn in confusion as he hadn't noticed Charlie doing anything obviously wrong. Finn just shrugged in return, having missed the alleged penalty while watching the failed goal attempt. Kurt tensed as he saw Charlie throw his stick to the ground and start arguing with the ref. Obviously, he wasn't pleased with the call that was made. The ref eventually just walked away and play was back under way.

However, whatever had happened between Charlie and the Notre Dame player was not over. Any time they were near each other for the rest of the game, they were constantly bumping shoulders and hitting each other with their sticks. Most of the hits were legal, if not a little harder than necessary. A few were not as legal, and both boys had 4 penalties by the end of the third quarter and the score was tied at five all.

The fourth quarter started much the same as the other with possession changing hands several times before OSU got the ball under their control. The Badgers took off running down the field, Charlie and the Notre Dame player once more getting entangled. Kurt didn't notice anything out of the ordinary happening, but the other player was suddenly on the ground and the ref was signaling another penalty for Charlie. Charlie ripped off his helmet, throwing it to the ground and started yelling at the ref. The ref blew his whistle one last time and gestured off the field. The stands erupted in boos and jeers as Charlie's teammates surrounded him, pleading with the ref.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked.

"Charlie's being ejected," Finn replied. "He's got five penalties and talking back to the ref like that is not going to help his case."

Finally, Charlie grabbed his helmet and stick from the ground and marched off the field toward the locker room. Kurt sat down, deflated at the turn of events. This sucks, he thought.

Play resumed soon enough, but Charlie's ejection seemed to have taken the wind out of Ohio's sails and they ended up losing 8-5. Kurt, Mercedes and Finn left the field, feeling as dejected as the rest of the Ohio fans. Kurt had arranged to meet Charlie outside the locker room before they went to dinner, but he was a little unsure if their plans still stood with what had just happened. Kurt asked Finn and Mercedes to give him a minute before following some of the other students towards the locker room. He waited outside for Charlie and started becoming concerned when it looked like all his teammates had left, but he hadn't seen any sign of Charlie. Debating whether or not it was worth the risk, Kurt finally decided to take a chance and slowly pushed open the locker room door.

"Charlie?" he called quietly once he was inside.

When there was no answer, he moved deeper into the open area and called out again. Faintly, he could hear the sound of running water and hoped it was just Charlie as he slowly made his way towards the noise. He rounded the far corner of the locker room and stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted Charlie standing under one of the showers, his head tipped back as he rinsed the suds from his shampoo, the water sluicing down his toned body in a tantalizing manner. There was a half-wall blocking Kurt's view of anything below Charlie's waist, which Kurt was honestly kind of grateful for. He wasn't sure he was ready to see Charlie in all his naked glory.

"Charlie?" he called again from where he stood.

Charlie started, turning towards Kurt's voice.

"Kurt!" he exclaimed. "Hi."

"Hi," Kurt replied quietly, concentrating very hard on keeping his eyes from wandering.

"I, um, just give me a second." Charlie finished rinsing off then grabbed the towel hanging on a nearby hook. "Sorry about that," he said stopping in front of Kurt.

"That's okay," Kurt replied resolutely keeping his eyes on Charlie's face. "I, um, I just wanted to see if we were still on for dinner?"

"Oh, yeah. Yes, of course. Just let me get dressed and I'll meet you out front in five minutes?"

"Sure. We'll be there," Kurt said.

"That's right," Charlie said. "Your stepbrother and friend are here?"

"Yeah."

Charlie blew out a breath and Kurt could see him tensing about something. He didn't want this to be a stressful situation.

"It's fine," Kurt said. "We can get together some other time. You've obviously had a rough day. We can go and… . Yeah, we'll go… ."

"No!" Charlie insisted. "No, I'm sorry. I just, I'm worried I won't be good company and I just hate that you guys had to see that. You have to know I'm not like that. This other guy, he just… ."

"It's okay," Kurt insisted. "Really."

"No. You drove all this way just to see me and it's supposed to be our Valentine's date. We can get dinner. I'll be fine. Let me just… pull myself together and I'll see you out front."

"If you're sure?" Kurt asked.

"I'm sure," Charlie said with a smile. "I promise."

"Okay," Kurt said with a smile of his own. "We'll meet you outside." He made to leave but turned back when Charlie called his name.

"It's good to see you. I'm glad you came," Charlie said.

"Me, too."

Kurt left the locker room, heading for where he had left Mercedes and Finn, glad that Charlie was happy to see him, but still worried about what had happened earlier.

"Everything okay?" Mercedes asked when he met back up with them.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "He said he's fine and dinner is still good, but I don't know. He just seems stressed out and I don't want this to be awkward.

"What if we went somewhere else?" Finn asked. "Me and Mercedes, I mean? You could go out with Charlie and then we could just meet up for coffee or something after dinner? Would that be better?"

"You guys would do that?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, totally. I saw a diner just down the road as we drove in, we can grab a bite there and you can call us later and we'll meet up somewhere," Finn continued. "I mean, I felt kind of weird crashing your Valentine's date, anyway."

"It's totally fine, Kurt," Mercedes added. "You go have a nice dinner with Charlie. We'll be fine."

"Okay. Thanks guys," Kurt said.

Kurt paced around the tunnel outside the locker room, fiddling with the strap on his messenger bag as he waited for Charlie to finish getting ready. He had been looking forward to this dinner, but now he wasn't so sure. Charlie's reaction to what happened during the game had him worried, and once again, Karofsky had popped up taking Kurt completely by surprise. If all relationships were this complicated, Kurt wondered how people managed to stay together long enough to get married.

"Hi," Charlie said as he exited the locker room and planted a quick kiss on Kurt's cheek. "Sorry about the wait. Where's Finn and Mercedes?"

"They, um, they decided to go get dinner on their own. They suggested we could all meet up for coffee after or something."

"Oh," Charlie said. "Is this because of what happened?"

"A little bit," Kurt said. "But not in the way you're thinking. They just didn't want to get in the way and Finn said he felt bad about crashing our Valentine's date anyway, so I guess it all worked out okay."

"Oh, okay, then," Charlie said. "Well, we should probably get going. Our reservation is in half an hour and it's about a twenty minute drive on a good day."

Kurt followed Charlie out to the parking lot and they hopped into his roommate's car once more; Charlie quickly called the restaurant to let them know of the change in their numbers for the reservation. The drive was pleasant enough, even if the conversation was stilted. Charlie still seemed tense from whatever had happened during the game and Kurt wanted to give him breathing room to pull himself back together. When they pulled up outside a nice looking steakhouse, Kurt was glad he had dressed up a bit, even with sitting through the game first.

"This looks nice," Kurt said as they walked into the lobby. The lighting was soft, but not too dim. The walls were a light cream color with some accents of dark brown around the bar and a damask patterned wallpaper in shades of green. There were curtains around groups of tables, helping to give the air of more privacy than one might get in an ordinary restaurant.

"Thank you," Charlie said. "It came highly recommended by several friends and the menu seemed to have a decent selection."

They were quickly shown to their table and the hostess took their coats to be checked in.

"You look very nice," Charlie said.

"Thank you," Kurt replied. He'd been a bit unsure of what to wear as the weather was still quite chilly and he wanted to make sure he was warm enough at the game, but didn't want to be too warm for dinner. He'd finally decided on the fully lined wool trousers he had that were dark gray with a faint pinstripe, a simple white button down with a red cardigan and his antique clock bowtie. With the addition of his Doc Marten's and his pea coat and scarf, he had been plenty warm at the game. "You look very nice, as well," Kurt said in return. "I see you took my suggestion of trying a skinny tie."

"I did. Do I pass inspection?" Charlie said with a smile.

"Yes, you do," Kurt replied. Charlie has also gone the simple, but classic route in black trousers, a light gray shirt and a skinny tie with a black and white paint splattered effect pattern. The shirt was fitted very nicely to his athletic physique without being overly large. Kurt suspected a tailor had been involved.

After having their water glasses filled by a busboy, Kurt finally opened the menu to try and decide what he wanted. He didn't often get to have steak of this quality and was thinking he might allow himself to indulge on this special occasion.

Or not, he thought as he got a look at the prices. $15 for a crab cake? $8 for a bowl of soup? These prices are ridiculous.

"What are you thinking?" Charlie asked.

"Um, I think I might just have a salad," Kurt replied. "I'm not really that hungry."

Charlie looked at him bewilderedly. "Price is no concern, okay? This is a special dinner, Kurt. Let me treat you to something nice."

Kurt nodded but still felt a bit guilty as his eye wandered to the New York Strip au Poivre. He loved a good pepper sauce with his steak, but $40 seemed a bit much.

"Have you ever had oysters?" Charlie asked.

"I have not."

"Would you like to try the appetizer? They're really delicious."

"Sure," Kurt said. Oysters were something he'd always wanted to try, but he really didn’t trust the seafood at a place like Breadstix.

Kurt was still debating whether or not to get a salad with his dinner when the waiter appeared to take their order. Kurt gestured for Charlie to order first so he could finish deciding what he wanted. When he heard Charlie order a bowl of soup in addition to the oyster appetizer, Kurt decided to just go for it and ordered the spinach salad, too.

After the waiter had taken their orders and left, Kurt shifted nervously. He wanted to ask Charlie what had happened as it was obvious something more than the usual rough play had been going on. But at the same time, if it was something really awful, Kurt didn't want that to put a damper on their date. In the end, though, the only way to know for sure would be to ask.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Not really," Charlie said bluntly. "You should know that what happened today was very out of the norm for me. I hardly ever get penalized let alone rank up enough to be ejected like that. That guy, though, he just… ."

"What did he do?"

"He called me a… fucking fag," Charlie replied in a hushed tone. "He just kept making these jabs at me, saying stupid things about how I was only in sports to ogle other guys in the locker room and that guys like me had no right to be playing in case I started bleeding and gave him AIDS."

Kurt just gasped. "That's awful," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Charlie said. "I've dealt with it before and I'll probably deal with it again. It's just been so long since this was an issue of any kind. All my teammates know I'm gay, I don't hide and none of them have any problem with it. Really, it's guys like him that shouldn't be playing. I'm just really sorry you had to be there to see it," he apologized again.

"It's fine, really," Kurt insisted. "You're only human; you can't be expected to ignore that kind of thing."

"Thanks," Charlie said, laying his hand on Kurt's. "Now, I know we haven't been seeing each other very long, but I got you a little something for Valentine's. It's just something I saw and it reminded me of you."

He pulled a small jeweler's box out of pocket and Kurt got a little nervous.

"I actually got you a little something, too," Kurt said. "Though I'm afraid it might not be as nice as what you got me."

Charlie chuckled at Kurt's admission. "I'm sure I'll love whatever it is. If it makes you feel better, I did find your gift at a second hand store."

Kurt just smiled before reaching down to pull the thin box from his bag. He handed it shyly to Charlie who accepted it with a grin.

"Could this be what I think it is?" he asked.

"Perhaps," Kurt replied. "I guess you'll have to open it to find out."

"You first," Charlie insisted.

Kurt picked up the box and slowly flipped the lid open. His breath caught in his throat as a pair of onyx and silver cufflinks were revealed. The stones themselves were square, with a slightly rounded shape to the top. They were set in sterling silver with thin threads running across the top in a loose mesh pattern.

"They're beautiful," Kurt said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Charlie replied before gently tearing open the wrapping on his gift. It was nothing really special. Just a simple emerald colored tie with a subtle tone-on-tone paisley pattern to it. Kurt had seen it and instantly thought it would look amazing with Charlie's beautiful, brown eyes.

"This is great, thank you!" Charlie said enthusiastically.

"I know it's not much…" Kurt started.

"Stop that. Believe it or not, I've actually been looking for something like this. I have this one shirt that I thought would look really good with a green tie and this… it's perfect, really."

"Well, good. I'm glad you like it."

"I love it. Happy Valentine's Day," Charlie said offering a toast.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Kurt replied as they clicked glasses.

Kurt took a sip of his water and set it back down. His eyes wandered around the restaurant, taking in the d�cor and other diners. There was quite a mix of people: older couples, younger couples, some families even. Kurt was quite impressed, actually.

"So, um, Blaine seems like a nice guy," Charlie commented.

"He is," Kurt confirmed.

"How did you meet exactly?"

"Mercedes won tickets to his concert last year from the radio and they included sound check and meet and greet passes," Kurt explained. "Though apparently we just missed each other at last year's Regional competition. He was there with his show choir and actually remembered me."

"Oh, that's pretty cool. It seems like you guys have a lot in common, then."

"I guess so," Kurt agreed.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be the high point of the meal. The rest of the night was really just a case study in How Not To Date Someone. Charlie asked Kurt what he'd thought of the game, but Kurt didn't really have much to say other than it was exciting. Not being a sports fan, it was difficult for Kurt to get into any particulars. Kurt tried to talk about fashion or pop culture, but with Charlie's limited knowledge of those subjects, the conversations were brief. It was so uncomfortable, Kurt was almost in pain.

The food, however, was quite delicious and Kurt ended up enjoying the oysters a great deal. He would definitely have to try them again. The steak was also amazing: juicy, tender and cooked a perfect medium. Charlie also commented that his steak was just as perfectly done.

And that was pretty much the end of their conversation for the evening. Several topics did pop into Kurt's mind, but he knew they weren’t anything that Charlie would be interested in, so he didn't even try. They sat there in awkward silence as they waited for the check, both of them forgoing dessert to try and put an end to this miserable evening.

"I'm sorry," Charlie said as they pulled back into the parking lot of the diner where Finn and Mercedes were waiting for them. "This was a… really bad date."

Kurt just looked over at him, unsure of what to say. He didn't think he was supposed to agree, even if it was awful. So, he settled for saying nothing.

"I, um, I should go," Kurt said.

"Okay," Charlie said. "Please give them my apologies."

"I will." Kurt paused before exiting Charlie's car. Gathering up all his courage, he leaned in and kissed Charlie for what could be the last time.

He hurried out of the car before Charlie could respond and quickly found Finn and Mercedes in a booth near the back. He collapsed next to Mercedes and dropped his head on to the table.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked.

"I think I have to break up Charlie," Kurt mumbled.

"It was that bad?" Mercedes asked.

"It was awful. Easily the worst date in the history of dating."

"It can't have been that bad," Finn said.

"It wasn't just tonight," Kurt said lifting his head. "Things have never really been that… great between us. I mean, he's a nice enough guy, but there's just nothing there. That spark or whatever it is everyone says is supposed to be there? We just don't have it."

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Mercedes said rubbing his back.

"It's okay," Kurt said. "I mean, it's not like we were head over heels in love or anything."

"I hate to say it, Kurt," Mercedes said. "But to be honest, you have more chemistry with Blaine than it seems you have with Charlie."

"Don't," Kurt said. "Just don't. It's not fair to compare them. They're two completely different people. Just because Charlie isn't Blaine doesn't mean he isn't a good guy."

Finn and Mercedes settled their bill not long after that and they started the drive back to Lima. Kurt thinking over how he should break up with Charlie. The nice thing to do would be to do it person, but he couldn't really ask Charlie to drive two hours just to dump him. But doing it over the phone or even Skype just seemed so… cold.

Maybe he could give Charlie another chance? That night's disastrous date wasn't entirely Charlie's fault. Kurt, maybe, hadn't always been entirely present whenever they went out. For some reason, he couldn’t stop comparing Charlie to Blaine and that wasn't fair to either of them. It was probably because things were so easy with Blaine and with Charlie it all seemed to take so much effort. Conversations were still a struggle with their vastly different interests, and it seemed like he had to work harder to get time with Charlie even when Blaine was in a completely different state. Weren't the best things in life supposed to be worth trying for?

Kurt's head was still going around in circles when Finn finally pulled back into their driveway. Finn headed upstairs to call Rachel and Kurt wandered into the kitchen for some tea and toast. He was actually really glad to see his dad sitting at the table.

"Hey, kiddo. How'd the date go?"

"Not so good," Kurt said.

"What happened?"

"Something happened with one of the Notre Dame players during the game that just got Charlie in a bad mood and it carried over into dinner."

Kurt paused as the kettle whistled and he went to go fix his tea and snack. When he sat back down at the table, he took a moment to figure what exactly he wanted to say.

"When you and mom first started dating," he said, "was it hard?"

"You bet it was," Burt replied. "I was the son of the town mechanic and her parents came from money. We weren't exactly a match made in heaven in their eyes. I remember that even after she told them about us, they kept setting her up on dates with boys that they deemed more appropriate for her to be seeing. What's going on?"

Kurt just shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, sometimes it just seems like we don't have all that much in common and I know that's not everything, but it shouldn't be so hard to find things to talk about, should it?"

"I can't tell you what to do, Kurt. Charlie seems like a decent enough guy and he seems to really like you. Unfortunately, only you can know if that's enough to keep the relationship going."

Kurt thought over what his dad said. It was pretty much the same thing he had been thinking, but it was nice to have someone confirm his feelings. He could give Charlie one more chance, make more of an effort himself and after that, well, he'd just have to wait and see.

Tuesday evening, Kurt called Charlie and they arranged a date for the following Saturday. Dinner and a movie should be safe enough. They finally decided to see the latest Hollywood swords and sandals epic that promised to launch Zac Efron onto the A list of Hollywood leading men. There should be plenty of blood and action to entertain Charlie and hot men in skimpy Grecian robes to keep Kurt's attention. Kurt had insisted on meeting at the theater, so if the date went that terribly, he wouldn't have to endure the awkward drive home.

The movie was entertaining enough, if a little thin on plot. Kurt called the ending about half an hour in and leaned over to whisper his theory to Charlie who just hushed him before he got two words out. There was only one other couple in the theater besides them, so it wasn't like Kurt would have been disturbing anyone. Kurt sat back in his seat and pouted. For one, he hated being shushed like that, and two, if Blaine had been there, they'd be laughing over Kurt's brilliant description of how the heroine would escape the clutches of her captor only to get lost in the maze of underground tunnels but miraculously stumble across the hero as he was chased through those very same tunnels by the guards.

No. Kurt wasn't going to do that anymore. Charlie was not Blaine and would never be Blaine and he needed to accept that. He decided to give dinner a chance so they could actually talk, instead of just scrapping the date and relationship right then and there.

"So, what did you think of the movie?" Kurt finally asked after they had given their orders to the waiter.

"It wasn't bad," Charlie replied. "Fairly typical Hollywood fare, but the effects were pretty cool. That last fight scene was pretty epic. What about you?"

"Yeah. I kinda felt like I'd seen most of it before. But Zefron certainly wasn't bad to look at for an hour and a half," he laughed.

"Zefron?"

"Zac Efron?" Kurt said. "The guy who played Heron?"

"Oh! Him! I thought he looked familiar. He did that high school movie, right?"

"High School Musical, yeah," Kurt replied.

"My little sister loves that movie now, apparently. I was talking to my mom the other day and she was over at a friend's house and her older sister showed it to them. She made my mom buy her all the movies and I think she mentioned wanting a poster?"

"Oh, god," Kurt said. "I'm so sorry. That's going to be awful when you get home."

Charlie chuckled. Kurt smiled as he sipped his Diet Coke.

After a small lull in the conversation, Charlie launched into a story about something stupid his friends did the other day that apparently involved the flag pole, someone's underwear and a bucket of water. They were interrupted briefly as their food arrived and then Charlie picked right up where he had left off.

"So, then James is jumping up and down yelling something in French and then Dave…"

Kurt visibly tensed and dropped his fork with a little more force than he meant to at the mention of that name. He was just never going to get away was he? Kurt would never be the kind of guy to tell someone who they could or could not be friends with, but honestly, the fact that Charlie was friends with Dave really bothered him.

"What is it?" Charlie asked.

Kurt just sighed. This was it. The moment he'd been dreading for the last couple weeks was finally here. He could do this.

"This isn't working," he said.

"Is your lasagna not good? Should I track down the waiter?"

"No, Charlie. It's not the food. It's us. We're not working," Kurt said looking Charlie straight in the eyes.

Charlie just looked confused at what Kurt was saying. Could he really not see what was happening? Or not happening between them?

"I don't understand," Charlie said.

"Oh, come on," Kurt said. "You can't tell me you don't notice how awkward things are between us whenever we go out. We barely have anything in common; our phone calls have been getting shorter and shorter."

"Does this have anything to do with Dave?" Charlie accused.

"I would be lying if I said no," Kurt admitted. "I tried not to let it bother me and trust your word that he's better than he was, but you don't understand what he put me through, Charlie. I just… I can't be around that. In any way."

"I see," Charlie said.

"I'm sorry, okay," Kurt said. "I think you're a great guy, really. Just… for someone else."

"I think you should go now," Charlie whispered, turning away from Kurt.

If Kurt didn't feel bad already, he certainly did now. Charlie was taking this a lot harder than Kurt imagined he would. Kurt reached into his wallet and pulled out $40. That should be enough cover the meal and leave a generous tip, too.

"Take care, Charlie," Kurt said as he left.

Kurt drove home in silence, leaving the radio off and letting his thoughts wander. He just did something he never thought he'd actually do – he broke up with a boy. This was huge, really. For so long Kurt had thought he'd never find anyone. Now, he'd actually had a boyfriend and then broken up with him. Strangely enough, Kurt wasn't even that heartbroken over it. Sure, he felt bad for hurting Charlie like that, but mostly he was just… relieved. Dating Charlie had started to be more stressful than it was probably worth and to have that weight lifted was like a breath of fresh air.

Now, he could move on with preparing for Nationals and waiting anxiously for the acceptance letters to start rolling in.

When Kurt got home, it was still early and he hadn't been able to finish his dinner, so he went to the kitchen to get a snack. There was some hummus leftover from the batch he made the other day, so he grabbed that, some carrot sticks and a Diet Coke and went to join his dad in the living room. There was some sporting event on the TV, but Kurt just wanted the company.

"You're home early," his dad said after a bit.

"Yeah," Kurt replied.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened?"

"I, um, I broke up with Charlie," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Burt replied. "Are you okay?"

"Surprisingly, yeah. I mean, Charlie seemed a lot more upset than I thought he would be so I feel bad about that. In a way, I'm just kind of glad it's all over. I mean, he's a nice enough guy, but going out with him was just a lot harder than it should be, I think."

"Well, then, good," Burt said.

"I think I'm gonna go call Mercedes and head to bed. Night, dad."

"Night, Kurt."

Kurt did call Mercedes, but ended up getting her voicemail and left a brief message that he and Charlie were over. He thought it over for a minute and decided to call Blaine, too. Maybe he could come over tomorrow to help Kurt with the song he'd been writing. That would be a good distraction.

"Hey, Kurt," Blaine answered.

"Hi," Kurt said flatly.

"What's wrong?"

"I broke up with Charlie."

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

"It's okay. It was never that great between us and we were just dragging out the inevitable," he admitted.

"Can I do anything?"

"Actually, I was wondering if maybe you were free tomorrow to help me with the song for Nationals?"

"Yeah, of course. I actually have a family thing in the morning, but I could come by after lunch. Would 2:00 work?"

"That sounds great. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

A heavy silence hung between them. It should have been weird just lying there, listening to Blaine breathing on the other end of the phone, but it was just… peaceful. If Kurt closed his eyes, he could imagine Blaine was there with him and not at his house two hours away. He could imagine Blaine running his hands through his hair before tangling their fingers together. If he imagined hard enough, he could take a breath, lean in and press his lips to Blaine's.

But this wasn't his imagination. This was reality and something was holding Blaine back. Whatever that was, Kurt wanted to know so he could stomp it out and just yell, "I'm here! I'm right here!" He had a feeling that even if he did that, it wouldn't make any difference. He'd tried to hang on to the small thread of hope that everyone who knew them, told Kurt that Blaine had feelings for him, but the longer Blaine went without doing anything the harder it was to believe them.

Just after two the next afternoon, the doorbell rang announcing Blaine's arrival. Kurt, who had been hovering near the door since at least 1:45, took a moment to smooth any nonexistent wrinkles from his t-shirt before opening the door and letting Blaine in. Kurt saw that Blaine had brought his guitar, which he was happy about. They'd been playing with a slightly amped up instrumentation and Kurt had had an idea he wanted to run by Blaine. He was about to lead them upstairs to the keyboard he had set-up in his room, when he quirked his head at Blaine. Blaine who had on the cutest pair of small silver rimmed glasses on.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"You wear glasses?"

"Oh, yeah," Blaine said. "Well, contacts usually, but they were bugging me this morning, so glasses it is. Why? Do they look weird?"

"No, not at all. I just didn't know that about you. I like them; they're cute." You're cute, Kurt thought.

"Thanks," Blaine said smiling awkwardly. "You ready to get to work?"

"Yeah."

Kurt showed Blaine the rest of the verses he had written, as well as a short bridge before the final chorus. Together they worked on getting the melody finalized and reworked some of the wording to make the verses flow better. Blaine worked out some additional guitar and bass lines before they got to work on the vocal harmonies. Kurt couldn't believe he was sitting in his room, singing and writing a song with Blaine Anderson. It was moments like these that he could look back on and marvel at the fact that someone like Blaine was probably his best friend.

"I think that's it," Blaine said a few hours later.

"Really?" Kurt said turning slightly to face Blaine who had joined him on the small bench in front of the keyboard.

"Yeah. You, Kurt Hummel, have just written your first hit song."

"I don't know about a hit song…" Kurt said.

"It's a great song, Kurt," Blaine said, laying his hand on Kurt's knee. "Really. You should be a shoe in to win Nationals with this."

Kurt turned away from Blaine. With the way Blaine was looking at him, Kurt was liable to do something really stupid, like kiss him. So, he took a deep breath and centered himself again.

"Thank you," he said quietly as he tipped his head to the side and rested it on Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine didn't say anything in return, and Kurt felt him turn his head and inhale deeply with his nose buried in Kurt's hair. Blaine's hand tightened briefly on his knee and Kurt swore he felt Blaine kiss the top of his head. Kurt squeezed his eyes shut as the flood of emotion overwhelmed him. Why did Blaine have to do this? Why did he have to be so easy with his affection and get Kurt's hopes up, but then just… nothing? Did he not know what he was doing Kurt?

"Did you want to stay for dinner?" Kurt asked finally breaking the silence.

"I better not," Blaine said, moving away from Kurt. "I should get home. Family stuff."

"Everything okay?" Kurt asked becoming concerned.

"Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. I promise."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Blaine said with a tight smile.

"Okay. Well, call me if you need to talk."

"I will."

Blaine packed up his gear and Kurt walked him out to his car.

"Thanks, again," Kurt said as they hugged goodbye.

"You're welcome. Good luck tomorrow. Let me know how the song goes over."

"Will do. Bye."

Blaine drove off with a wave and Kurt headed back inside to help Carole with dinner. He couldn't help thinking that maybe things had a chance of changing, that maybe Blaine would be able to get past whatever was keeping him from his feelings for Kurt. He just had to hold out a little longer.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind for Kurt. Midterms were coming up, New Directions was blazing head strong towards Nationals and, of course, there was Blaine. There were dinners and movies, sometimes with Mercedes, too. There were also quiet evenings in when Kurt was so wired from all the adrenaline, but too tired to do anything. Nights when just the company of Blaine next to him on the couch as they watched old Hollywood musicals was enough to calm him down.

Kurt barely had a foot in the door at school one Monday morning in mid-March when Rachel was on him, shoving a magazine in his face.

"Are you dating Blaine Anderson?" she asked abruptly.

"What?" he asked, shoving her and the magazine out of the way, trying to get to his locker.

"Are you and Blaine Anderson dating?" she asked again, holding up the magazine for him to see once they stopped at his locker.

It was the latest issue of US Weekly and featured a picture of him and Blaine leaving the movie theater after seeing the latest ridiculous rom-com. They were smiling at each other and Blaine was laughing, his hand on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt remembered he had just made a stupid joke about the actress in the movie they had seen being on Team Edward. It hadn't really been that funny, but apparently Blaine had thought it was hilarious.

"Where did you get that?" he asked, grabbing it from her.

"It was all over Jacob's blog this weekend. Now answer the question – are you and Blaine… ."

"No!" he interrupted. "We're not… dating. We're friends."

He read the small caption with the picture and felt sick to his stomach.

Pop star Blaine Anderson caught out with a mystery male last week in Lima, OH. Are they just friends or has one of America's most eligible bachelors been snapped up?

"This is ridiculous," Kurt said. "This is just… Why do people do this? We were just seeing a movie. How is that news worthy?"

"Why didn’t you tell us?" Rachel prodded.

"Tell you what?" Mercedes asked, joining the two in the hall.

"That he knows," she said pointing at Kurt, "and is friends with Blaine Anderson!"

"Oh, yeah," Mercedes replied casually. "We met him at his show a couple months ago. He's a great guy."

"You knew?" Rachel said accusingly.

"Why does it matter?" Kurt asked.

"Because he's Blaine Anderson! We could have used him… ."

"And that's why we didn't tell you," Mercedes interjected.

"Oh my god!" Rachel cried. "Is he the friend you wrote that song with? Do you think you could convince him to come in and… ."

"Rachel, just stop," Kurt interrupted. "He's not someone I want to use for some nefarious purpose. He's really nice and a really good friend," Kurt explained. "I don't have any gay friends, Rachel. He understands what I'm going through because he's been there. So, excuse me for wanting to have something for myself." He grabbed Mercedes' arm and they walked off leaving Rachel alone in the middle of the hall, her mouth gaping open in shock after them.

The rest of Kurt's day didn't get any better. No one else came out and said anything directly to him, but Kurt could see everyone whispering behind their hands and staring at him. He wanted to yell at them to stop it, that he knew what they were saying, but it wouldn't do any good. People would believe whatever they wanted to believe, regardless of how loudly you yelled the truth at them.

By the time glee club rolled around, all he wanted to do was go home and crawl under the covers. Could he please have a do over? Because today? Sucked. He was the last to arrive to practice and sighed in exasperation as everyone stopped talking and turned to just stare at him. He walked to the last row and threw his bag down before stomping back to the front of the room.

"Kurt," Mr. Schue started. "Are you-"

"I'm only going to say this once," Kurt interrupted. "Yes, I'm friends with Blaine, no we're not dating and no I didn't tell any of you about it. He's my friend and that's all that should matter. Now if we could please get on with rehearsing. Nationals is in less than two months and I for one would like to actually win this year."

"But, Kurt," Rachel said.

"Rachel," Mr. Schue interrupted. "Kurt is right. What happened is a horrible invasion of privacy and if Kurt doesn't want to talk about it, we need to respect his wishes. Now, Mike and I have been working on some choreography for Kurt's number and I'd like to start going over that with everyone."

They worked hard for the next two hours, getting the first half of the choreography down. Finn would need some extra work as usual, but he was at least moving to the right places at the right time, even if he didn't quite have all the steps exactly right yet. They were all packing up to go when Kurt saw someone hovering in the doorway to the choir room.

"Blaine!" he exclaimed as he saw who it was. He rushed over and pulled him into the room all the way. "What are you doing here?"

"I just found out about the magazine and I wanted to see if you were okay. Your dad said you were still here."

"Yeah, we're just finishing."

They turned to find everyone in the room staring back at them.

"Um, everyone, this is Blaine," Kurt said. "Blaine this is the New Directions."

"Hi, everyone," Blaine said. "Hey, Finn."

"Hey, Blaine."

"You knew?" Rachel hissed as she slapped Finn in the stomach. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"He blackmailed me!" Finn said pointing at Kurt. "I couldn't tell anyone."

"Guys!" Mr. Schuester said. "Sorry about that," he added coming over to greet Blaine. "It's nice to meet you, Blaine."

"You, too, Mr. Schuester. Kurt has said some wonderful things about your group."

"Well, thank you. We're all big fans of your work."

"Thank you. I didn't mean to interrupt or anything…" Blaine trailed off.

"Oh, not at all. We're done for the day, so Kurt's all yours."

Kurt looked away and blushed at the double meaning of Mr. Schue's words. If only, he thought.

"Thanks. It was nice to meet you all," Blaine said as Kurt directed them out of the room, quickly tossing the car keys to Finn. He could catch a ride with Blaine when they were done.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt," he said once they were in an empty classroom.

"For what? This isn't your fault," Kurt replied.

"I know, but I still feel bad. I'm usually better about spotting that kind of thing, but no one's ever bothered me here before and I must have just slacked off."

"Don't worry, it's okay."

"Is it? Did anything happen today?"

"Nothing worse than usual," Kurt said dismissively. "Just whispers and people staring. No one actually had the nerve to say anything to my face, so I'm pretty sure they're all just jealous."

Blaine laughed with Kurt. "Of course. Who wouldn't want to be mistaken for my boyfriend?"

"Oh, no. They're not jealous of me, they're jealous of you. After all, you did get photographed hanging off the arm of Lima's most eligible, if only, gay man."

"Kurt!" Blaine cried as he doubled over in laughter. "Seriously, though," he said after he calmed down. "Everything's fine?"

"I promise," Kurt swore. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Okay," Blaine nodded. "Come on. I'll give you a ride home."

That night over dinner, Blaine and the Hudsons and Hummels had a good laugh over the new celebrity in the family. Kurt just turned bright red and wanted to hide under the table.

The next morning, Kurt drove up to the school and almost turned around as soon as he saw the news vans and photographers camped out on the front lawn. He would have, if his Navigator hadn't immediately been swarmed by those very same people.

"Finn?" Kurt said in a panic.

"Okay," Finn said, obviously trying to think. "Okay. You stay here and lock the doors. "I'll go get Beiste and the football team and we'll run you into the school, okay?"

Kurt just nodded as he shrunk down in his seat, trying to hide behind his bag. What was going on? How was he news? This was absolutely insane! Luckily, Finn was back before Kurt completely broke down and the football team elbowed their way through the crowd and blocked the door as Kurt got out. They surrounded him and rushed him into the school, where Beiste was waiting with Principal Figgins, Sue, Miss Pillsbury and Mr. Schue. They ushered him to Figgins office where Kurt collapsed on the couch and tried to remember how to breathe. Distantly, he thought he heard his phone ringing. He pulled it out of his coat pocket and saw it was his dad's number at the shop.

"Dad?" he said, feeling like a scared child.

"Kurt!" his dad cried. "Are you okay? There's all these reporters here at the shop. I'm trying to get out to make it to you, but they're just everywhere."

"Yeah, they're here at the school, too," Kurt said. "I'm in Principal Figgins' office and I don't know what to do. What do I do?"

"You just hang tight, okay? I'll be there as soon as I can and we'll get this sorted out, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too, dad." Kurt was about to hang up when he saw Sue gesturing for his phone. "Hang on, dad. Coach Sylvester wants to talk to you."

"Mr. Hummel, Sue Sylvester here. I just want you to know that your son's safety is our number one concern at this time. I've already called in a favor with the local PD and expect them to be here any moment to secure the school premises from these so called journalists. Do you need me to send any of them your way? … Yes, okay. I'll make sure you get an escort from your shop. … Yes, we'll see you soon." Sue hung up and handed the phone back to Kurt. "Your dad's going to get here safely, okay, Porcelain? You just sit here and we'll make sure everything is taken care of."

"Thank you, Coach," Kurt said. He started as his phone rang again. "Hello?" he said not checking the caller ID.

"Kurt?" Blaine said.

"Blaine! Are you okay? Did they find you?"

"They found you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm at McKinley. There's a whole bunch of them parked outside."

"They're all camped outside our house, too," Blaine said. "I'm so sorry, Kurt. I never wanted any of this-"

"Blaine, stop," Kurt interrupted. "This is not your fault, okay? Yeah, it sucks but you are in no way to blame for what's happening."

Blaine sighed. "Still, this is happening because of me, because of who I am. I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore."

"What?" Kurt cried. "No, Blaine. No. You're… you're my best friend. This'll all blow over in a day or two when they realize there's nothing interesting to report. Really, Lima, OH isn't exactly a hot bed of gossip activity."

"Okay," Blaine said softly. "There's something else. My manager wants to issue a statement and we need you to agree to what it says since you're mentioned in it."

"What's it say?"

"I need to get your agreement in writing, so I'll email it to you. But, basically, it's just acknowledging that yes, we know each other and are friends, but are not romantically involved. Pretty simple and straight forward."

"Okay," Kurt agreed. "I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to my email."

"Sure, sure," Blaine said. "The sooner the better, obviously."

"Of course. I, um, I should go. My dad should be here soon so we can get this all straightened out."

"Okay. Call me later? When you get home so I know you're fine?"

"Yeah. I'll call you tonight."

"Okay. Take care."

"You, too. Bye, Blaine."

"Let me have your phone," Sue said as Kurt hung up.

"What? Why?"

"They know your name and where you go to school. It'll only be a matter of time before they find out your phone number. If anyone calls whose name is not in your caller ID, I will answer and give them hell for harassing a seventeen year old boy," she explained.

"Okay. Thanks."

"Kurt!"

The group in Figgins' office turned to see the members of the glee club rushing in.

"Are you okay?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Physically I'm fine. Mentally, I'm kind of freaking out."

"If there's anything we can do to help," Rachel offered.

"Thanks. My dad's on his way from the shop with a police escort so we can get this all straightened out."

"Excuse me?"

Everyone turned and made room for the police officer who had just arrived.

"Which of you is Kurt Hummel?" he asked.

"That's me," Kurt said, standing up.

"I'm Officer Murphy," he said shaking Kurt's hand. "I just heard from Officer James. He has your father and they should be here in about ten minutes. Can you tell us how this started?"

Kurt launched into an abbreviated version of what happened over the weekend with the magazine. The officer asking questions every now and then to get all the facts straight.

"How did they even find out who I am?" Kurt asked.

"These journalists are ruthless and have sources everywhere. With your picture, all they would need to do is ask the right questions to the right people and they would have all the information they needed. Has anyone tried calling you yet?"

"No, they haven't," Kurt said.

"This is his phone," Sue said handing it over.

"Thank you, Miss Sylvester," Murphy said. "Once your father is here and everything has been straightened out, you'll want to turn this off and leave it off. If this escalates in anyway, you might have to change your number."

Kurt just nodded, trying to take everything in. This was completely insane. Changing phone numbers? Why was this happening? Suddenly, Kurt's phone rang and everyone turned their attention to the officer as he answered the phone.

"This is Officer Murphy of the Lima Police. Who is calling? … No, there is no comment or statement and if you call this number again you will be jailed and charged with harassment of a minor. Do I make myself clear? … Good."

The next few minutes were filled with tense silence as they waited for Burt to arrive at the school and hopefully put an end to all this craziness. Finn stayed behind, but one by one the other members of the glee club trickled off to class. Figgins insisted on everyone at least attempting to get through the day on a normal schedule, even if no one was paying attention to anything anyone said. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long and Burt came storming into the office followed by three other police officers.

"Dad!" Kurt cried, running over and hugging him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, kiddo. How are you doing?"

"As well as I can, I guess. This is all so crazy."

Once everyone was settled in, the real discussions began. The police department had managed to move everyone off school grounds and into the park across the street. Even though school grounds were technically public property, as the journalists did not belong there the police were able to threaten everyone with charges of loitering or harassment if they hung around too long. An officer had been sent to the hospital where Carole was working to inform her of the situation and provide any protection she might need. Several cars had also been sent to their home to secure the premises.

"Have you heard from Blaine?" his dad asked.

"Yeah, he called not too long ago. It seems they're going through the same thing over there and he needs me to okay a press release they want to issue about this whole situation."

"I feel so bad for that kid. He's gotta be beating himself up over this," he added.

"He does," Kurt agreed. "He said he would understand if I didn't want to see him anymore."

"That might actually be a good idea, Kurt."

"Dad! No!"

"Not forever. But maybe just until all this blows over, you shouldn't be seen out with him. If there's nothing to report, they'll have to leave eventually, right?"

"I really do think that is your best course of action," Office Murphy agreed.

"What about school?" Kurt asked. "If they're outside our house and here, I don't know that I would really feel safe leaving, anyway."

"We can arrange to have Finn bring your schoolwork to you," Principal Figgins said. "You're a good student, Mr. Hummel and as long as you keep up with the assignments, I don't see any problem with you staying home for a few days while this blows over."

"I can do that," Finn said. "No problem."

Kurt nodded. He was going to be a prisoner in his own house. When had his life become like something out of a movie?

They wrapped up the final details and Kurt grabbed his bag to head back home.

"Wait a minute!" he said. "What about glee club? We have Nationals coming up and I can't miss all the practices."

"You could have rehearsal at the house?" his dad offered after a few minutes. "The backyard should be big enough and now that the snow is gone, you shouldn't have to worry about that. It might be a little chilly and soggy, but I think you guys can make it work."

"We can definitely make that work, Mr. Hummel," Mr. Schue said. "Thank you. I'll cancel practice for today to let you guys get everything settled at home and tomorrow we'll be over at about 3:30?"

"That sounds perfect," Burt agreed.

"Thank you," Kurt said.

"Take care, Kurt," Mr. Schue said. "If you need anything from us, please let me know."

"I will. See you tomorrow."

Kurt, his dad and Finn were escorted out of the school by the police officers and given an escort back to their house. The street was line with news vans and reporters, but everyone was being kept off their property and Kurt and his family were soon safely inside.

"They've tried calling Kurt's cell phone," officer Murphy said, "so, it's probably only a matter of time before they try your home line, too. I would recommend letting all calls go to your answering machine or voicemail. If the calls start becoming forceful or dangerous, let us know immediately and we'll do what we can."

"Thank you, officer," Burt said shaking his hand.

"There will be one officer parked outside to help keep people away so you folks can have your privacy. If anyone should get through, just call 911 and we'll be here right away."

With that, Office Murphy left and the three men were finally alone.

"I'm so sorry, dad," Kurt said quietly, sniffing back unshed tears.

"Hey! None of that," Burt said. "This is not your fault. And you make sure Blaine knows we don't blame him for this either, okay?"

Kurt just nodded, not trusting his voice.

"You look like you could use a nap, kiddo. Why don't you go get some rest and we'll have a family meeting when Carole gets home."

Kurt hugged his dad and Finn before slowly trudging up to his room, the events of the day finally hitting him hard. It was barely 10:00 in the morning but he felt like he'd been awake for days. He changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and climbed under the covers. He closed his eyes and willed sleep to whisk him away, but his mind wouldn't stop humming. Was this what Blaine had to deal with every day? How did he even manage to leave the house knowing he could be photographed anywhere he went? How did someone live like that?

After tossing and turning for almost an hour, he realized he wasn't going to get any sleep until he talked to Blaine. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and turned it back on. He had 15 missed calls and 8 new voicemails. He quickly scrolled through the missed calls to see if any of them were from people he knew, but they were all unknown numbers. He deleted the voicemails without listening to them knowing they were just going to be from those vultures. Once that was done, he pulled up Blaine's number and hit DIAL.

"Kurt?" Blaine said after one ring.

"Hey," Kurt replied.

"Is everything okay? Did you make it home okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. My dad and Finn are here. There're news vans everywhere, we have a police car sitting out front and I'm basically confined to the house for the rest of the week," he said.

"Kurt, I'm so sor-"

"Don't," Kurt said cutting him off. "I've already told you this once and I don't want to have to say it again. This is not your fault. I mean, yeah, everything kind of sucks right now, but it has nothing to do with you."

"How can you say that?" Blaine said. "This has everything to do with me. If Hollywood wasn't so obsessed with stupid celebrity gossip, I could just live my life and you wouldn't be trapped in your house."

"Blaine, stop," Kurt said, the tears finally falling that he'd been holding back all morning. But Blaine didn't hear him and just continued on.

"This is why… . It's hard enough when it happens to me and I can't even complain that much because I chose this. I chose this life, but to see the people I care about being harmed by just being friends with me? When you never wanted anything to do with this? I will do whatever I can to protect you and your family, Kurt."

Kurt's breath caught in his throat. He could hear the desperation in Blaine's voice and knew where this was headed. He couldn't let Blaine do this, though. He couldn't let Blaine just write him off because of one stupid picture.

"Blaine, please," Kurt begged. "Don't do this, okay? I know it probably doesn't seem like it now, but you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Being your friend is the greatest thing I could ever wish for and I don't want one stupid picture to suddenly make you decide that you're not good enough for me."

"But, Kurt-"

"No. This is my life, too, and you don't get to decide what I do or do not want. I want you in my life, Blaine. I can't imagine you not being around. Now, my dad happens to agree with you slightly. He thinks we need to stay out of the public eye until this is all over. As much as I hate to admit it, I think he's right."

"I'm confused, Kurt. Do you want to still be my friend or not?"

"Yes, of course, Blaine. I'm just saying that perhaps it would be prudent if we actually took the advice of my dad and maybe didn't see each other for a week or so until those so called journalists are gone. I'm really not going to be able to leave the house, anyway, and I'm sure you're pretty stuck, too. So, let's just take a deep breath and not do anything rash right now."

"Okay," Blaine said. "When did you get to be so smart?"

"Oh, I've always been brilliant," Kurt teased. "I just let you think you were smarter than me so I didn't damage your ego."

"Oh! Ouch!" Blaine laughed.

"So, how are things over there? Really?" Kurt asked.

"About the same as your house, it sounds like. News vans and police cars everywhere. Phone calls from unknown numbers."

"Yeah, we're getting those, too. If you need to reach me, call my cell since that has caller ID. We're really not answering the land line right now."

"You, too."

"Okay," Kurt said and yawned, his jaw cracking. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay. You sound tired."

"Yeah, it's been a long day."

"You get some sleep. I'll talk to you later."

"Later. Bye, Blaine."

"Bye, Kurt."

Kurt dropped his phone onto his nightstand and his head onto his pillow and was asleep in seconds. When he awoke, the room was darker than it had been, but not quite evening. He checked his clock and saw that it read 3:42 pm. He'd slept for over four hours. He still felt a little groggy, but that was probably just due to the long nap in the middle of the day. More importantly, though, he was hungry. He hadn't eaten much breakfast and having slept through lunch, his stomach was definitely complaining. He cleaned up quickly in his bathroom, trying to tame his bedhead as best he could before heading down to the kitchen. He was surprised to see Carole standing at the sink washing potatoes and smell what seemed to be a roasting chicken.

"Carole! You're home early," he said.

"Oh, Kurt. Honey, how are you?" she asked giving him a hug.

"Okay," he said. "Kinda hungry, actually."

Carole smiled and patted his shoulder. "Well, I'm making an early dinner tonight, I think your father skipped lunch with all the excitement, too. Why don't you make a little snack for the two of you and dinner will be ready in about an hour?"

"Okay. Thanks."

Kurt dug through the fridge and ended up pulling out some cheese and fruit, arranging that on a plate with some crackers. He poured two glasses of lemonade from the pitcher and went to join his dad in the living room. His dad was on the phone, the TV on mute when he walked in.

"Okay. … Right, yeah, I should be back in a day or two. … Okay. Thanks, Steve. Talk to ya later."

"How's things at the shop?" Kurt asked.

"Seems to have quieted down. Since I'm not there, there's no one to try and talk to, so all the reporters appear to have wandered off. Where they might have wandered off to, I'm not sure I want to know."

Kurt huffed a response in agreement. He settled the snack on the coffee table and handed his dad one of the glasses.

"Thanks, kid," Burt said.

"Carole said you skipped lunch and since I slept through it, I figured we could use a little snack to tide us over until dinner."

"You really are the best, you know? The way you take care of me and all of us. I'm really proud of you, Kurt."

"Thanks, dad."

"Have you talked to Blaine recently?"

"Yeah, I called him earlier when I went upstairs."

"How's he doing? How's his family handling all this?"

"Um, about the same as we are, it sounds like. I got the feeling he was trying to downplay it. I have to imagine he probably has it worse than we do being the actual celebrity. But, he said they were doing okay." Kurt laughed as he remembered the conversation. "I think he tried to break-up with me, so to speak," he added.

"Really?" his dad said.

"Yeah. He tried claiming it would be for the best because of who he is and this wouldn't just go away. I did manage to convince him otherwise, but he did agree with you that we should maybe hold off for this week or until this all blows over."

"I really think it's for the best, Kurt."

"Since both of us are pretty much imprisoned in our houses until the paparazzi are gone, we really don't have a choice in the matter," Kurt sighed.

"This'll be fine, Kurt," Burt said. "In a few days, once they see there's no story here they'll go back to L.A. or wherever and everything will go back to normal."

"Will they?" Kurt asked nervously. "I mean, even with all those guys gone, I'm still the guy that was photographed with Blaine. Yesterday at school people were already whispering and talking about me. They're not just going to forget that."

"Then you'll deal with it," Burt said. "You're stronger than they are. But, I want you to promise me that if it ever becomes something more than whispers you will tell me immediately."

"I will," Kurt said.

They munched on Kurt's snacks as a home repair show played on the TV, Kurt lost in his thoughts. Just because the paparazzi would eventually go away didn't mean his life was going to return to normal. He needed to try and come to terms with something that Blaine dealt with every day. Finn came down and then Carole called them all to dinner not long after that. The meal that night was a more somber affair, compared to the previous evening. They all agreed that no one was to go anywhere alone and no one was to go anywhere other than school or work. Luckily, Kurt and Carole had just gone grocery shopping so they were set for the week.

The next morning, Burt, Carole and Finn all left together in Kurt's Navigator. Kurt watched from his bedroom window as the car was swarmed by reporters. His dad honked the horn to try and get them to move, but no one got out of the way until the police officer started physically moving people away from the car.

This is ridiculous, Kurt thought.

He turned away, unable to watch anymore without seething in anger. He grabbed his book bag from the floor and started in on the History assignment Mercedes had emailed him about. He'd also gotten emails from Mike and Rachel on the classes they shared. Finn would bring home the rest of his assignments this afternoon when he got home with the glee club.

He was just putting the finishing touches on his math homework that afternoon when he heard the front door slam and someone come thundering up the stairs.

Finn's home, he thought.

"Oh my god," Finn said running into Kurt's room. "You will never believe what happened today."

"What happened?" Kurt asked calmly.

"Okay. Do you know who it was that took the picture of you and Blaine?"

"Some random paparazzi. Why?"

"It was Jacob."

"Jacob Ben Israel?" Kurt said incredulously.

"Yeah. Apparently he made another post on his blog about it last night and had some more pictures to share. They're not bad pictures or anything, but still."

"But why would he…? Really?"

"Yeah. Figgins found out and suspended him for two weeks for, like, endangering the whole student body with all the reporters that have been camping out."

Kurt sat down on his bed heavily. This was… unbelievable. It was one thing to think it was some random paparazzi that had taken the picture, but to find out it was a fellow student? Jacob had always been kind of smarmy with his ridiculous investigative TV show and that stupid blog, but even this was a new low. Why was Jacob even out in Westerville, anyway?

"Are you okay?" Finn asked, sitting next to Kurt.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "It's just… . If Jacob did that, who else do we have to worry about?"

"Well, no one's ever bothered you anywhere before, right?"

"Right," Kurt agreed. "I just don't think it ever occurred to either of us that we would really need to worry about this kind of stuff here, you know? It's not like there's paparazzi hanging out on the street corners like in L.A."

"So, it'll be fine. This will all blow over in a few days and everything will be back to normal," Finn reassured him.

"Thanks, Finn."

"And I think Puck was planning on threatening Jacob with some kind of bodily harm if he should do this again, so, there's that."

Kurt could only laugh in response. He really did have some great friends.

That's how Kurt's week went. Stuck in the house, working on assignments while his family went about their lives as best they could, afternoons with New Directions in the backyard. As the days passed, the number of reporters outside the house dwindled and by Saturday afternoon, only a handful of the most stubborn were left. The situation was the same at Blaine's house, Kurt found out. Once the reporters realized they weren't going to get any information from anyone and Kurt and Blaine weren't hanging out on a regular basis, they just lost interest in the non-story.

"There's only three left over here," Blaine said Sunday afternoon. "They kind of come and go now. They're not just camped out 24/7 like they were."

"Same here," Kurt said. "A couple of them left this morning so there's only two or three over here. I'm so glad this is over. Is it weird to say that I'm looking forward to going back to school?"

Blaine chuckled. "I know what you mean. I'm starting to go stir crazy from being cooped up all week."

"Do you think we could meet for coffee or something this week?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know…" Blaine said hesitantly.

"I don't want the possibility of all this happening again to run my life and make me afraid to live it. If I want to hang out with you, I should be able to do so. The off-chance of someone taking my or our picture again shouldn't change that."

"You're right," Blaine said. "It's something I had to get used to in L.A. and I guess I need to realize that it may happen here, too."

"Good. So, coffee?"

"Sure," Blaine laughed. "How's Wednesday? That'll give you a couple days to get back into the swing of things."

"That sounds great. I'll give you a call when I'm done with glee. If it gets late, you can always come over for dinner. I know my dad was worried about you and all this."

"He was?"

"Of course, he was. He likes you, Blaine. Hell, I think my whole family likes you more than they like me," Kurt teased.

"I'm not sure that's possible."

"I know it is."

Blaine just laughed and Kurt smiled at finally hearing that again. Blaine hadn't laughed much this past week, no matter how hard Kurt had tried. It was nice to hear Blaine returning to his old self.

A few days later, Kurt met up with Blaine at the Lima Bean for a post-glee club coffee. They grabbed a table in the back and caught up on what had been going on over the week. There were some stares from a couple patrons, but for the most part, people just left them alone, which Kurt was very glad to see.

"So, Finn came home and apparently at the assembly Figgins decided to hold last Tuesday, Sue basically threatened everyone with a two hour Cheerios intensive workout if anyone talked to the press," Kurt said.

"That's insane," Blaine said.

"I mean, crazy as she is and as much as she seems to hate everyone, when it comes down to it she's got your back."

"Well, good. I'm glad someone at that school is looking out for you."

A shadow fell over their table before Kurt could continue and he looked up, expecting to have to tell someone to please leave them alone. Instead, he found Karofsky looming over him and Blaine.

"Hi, Kurt," he said softly.

Kurt calmly set his coffee down on the table, grabbed his bag from the back of his chair and turned to walk out of the shop.

"Kurt, wait," Karofsky said, but Kurt ignored him and kept heading towards the door, hoping that Blaine was following him.

"I'm sorry!" Karofsky yelled as Kurt was half way out the door.

The entire shop, including Kurt, paused and turned to look in his direction. Kurt took a deep breath. It didn't matter. Kurt shouldn't have to deal with; he didn't have to deal with it. He turned on his heel and walked out to his car. He heard heavy footsteps running after him and knew it was him. There was a tiny, very tiny, part of Kurt that wanted to hear what Karofsky had to say. It was obviously something serious if the brief encounter in the coffee shop was anything to go by, but, no. Kurt didn't owe him anything. They weren't in high school anymore and Kurt didn't have to deal with all his… bullshit if he didn't want to.

"Kurt, wait," Blaine said as he caught up to Kurt as he unlocked his car doors. "Please. I think you should hear him out."

"Why, Blaine? Why do I owe him anything?"

"You don't," Blaine said simply. "But I think this might be important. And I'll be right here, okay?"

Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He slowly turned away, keys still in hand for a quick getaway if need be, and saw Karofsky walking slowly after him.

"Hi," Karofsky said again as he stopped in front of them. Kurt didn't respond and simply waited for Karofsky to continue. "I, um, I wanted to apologize," he said hesitantly looking between Kurt and Blaine.

"I got that," Kurt said. "And what exactly are you apologizing for?"

"For, um, for how I treated you in high school. Especially last year."

"Is that all?" Kurt asked shortly.

"I guess so?"

"Fine. Good bye," Kurt said turning back to his car.

"No, wait!" Karofsky cried out. "Look, Charlie told me that I was part of the reason that you broke up with him and he got all mad and started acting like it was all my fault or something. He started dragging me to these… meetings with a whole bunch of gay and straight kids and I realized that what I did to you? Was wrong. I'm so very sorry, Kurt. Please. You have to believe me."

Kurt turned back around and saw Karofsky standing there, tears running down his cheeks and looking completely devastated. Kurt didn't want to, but he kind of felt bad for him. Which wasn't fair because Karofsky didn't deserve an ounce of compassion from him.

"Look, David," Kurt said. "I'm happy to hear that you're getting help. As for what you did? I can never forgive you for that. I think if you tell Charlie the whole truth of what went on, the whole truth, you'll see what a good guy he is. He can help you, David. They all can."

Karofsky nodded and Kurt turned back to his car, unlocked the door and climbed inside. He sat there as he watched Karofsky walk away. He startled slightly as the passenger door opened and he turned to see Blaine settling into the seat, looking at him warily. Kurt wasn't too surprised given how the last encounter Kurt had with Karofsky had gone in Blaine's presence.

"So, um, you are officially invited over for dinner, if you want," Kurt said, completely ignoring everything that just happened.

"Sure, that'd be great," Blaine said.

They drove back to Kurt's house in silence. Kurt thinking over the conversation with Karofsky and what it all meant. He hoped Karofsky was being honest in getting help; it certainly seemed like he was. As far as Kurt was concerned, that was the last time he would ever see David Karofsky. The whole matter was done and closed in his eyes.

They pulled up to the house a short drive later and walked up the driveway with heavy footsteps. Kurt had just stepped in the door when he heard his dad calling to him from the kitchen.

"You got mail from that one school in New York," he said, gesturing to the kitchen table.

Right on top, was a large, thick envelope with NYU Steinhardt stamped in the upper left corner.

"Oh my god," he said grabbing it and turning to Blaine. "An envelope this big is a good sign, right? They wouldn't send this much paperwork just to tell me I didn't get in, would they?"

"I don't think so," Blaine said with a laugh. "But you won't know until you open it."

Kurt looked over at his dad who was leaning against the kitchen counter with an expectant smile on his face. He quickly tore open the envelope and started reading the cover letter.

Dear Mr. Hummel,
It is our pleasure to inform you that have been accepted into the Musical Theater program at NYU Steinhardt for the 2012-2013 school year.

"I got in!" he cried as he read.

"Is there anything more?" Burt asked.

"Yeah," Kurt said as he continued to read out loud.

Furthermore, due to your impressive audition, academic standing and financial need, you have been awarded the Billy Joel Endows Music Scholarship covering all tuition and board, provided certain academic standards are maintained.

"Oh my god," Kurt said, his eyes filling with tears. "That's a full ride. They're giving me a full ride."

"Congratulations, kiddo," Burt said. "I guess you're going to New York."