“What if he can sense it?” Kurt fidgeted in his seat as they pulled into his driveway.� “You never know, he is sort of trained to recognize mannerisms and things.”

“Kurt,” Blaine sighed, turning in the driver’s seat and reaching over to grab both of Kurt’s hands in his.� “I know you’re nervous, and I’m nervous, too.� I’ve never introduced a boyfriend to my parents before.”

“That’s not why I’m –”

“Shh,” Blaine hushed him, reaching one of his hands up to stroke Kurt’s cheek gently.� “It’s going to be alright, I promise.”

Kurt took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment as he nodded.� “Okay,” he whispered, squeezing Blaine’s hand in his own before reaching into the backseat and grabbing his bag.� Blaine ginned at him and popped his door open before rushing to the passenger side and doing the same for Kurt’s.

“What’s in that bag, anyway?” Blaine asked as he reached down and took Kurt’s hand.

“Just some things I might need in case of an. . .emergency,” Kurt replied tentatively, biting his lower lip and avoiding Blaine’s knowing gaze.

“Do you bring it with you everywhere?” Blaine murmured, his voice low in Kurt’s ear as they neared his front door.

“I don’t want to be stuck in a bad situation without it,” Kurt said.� He knew it was true, that it would be the absolute worst for something to go wrong and, because of the whole secret identity thing, for him to be unable to do anything because he had left his suit hidden in his closet.

“Are you sure you would be fine to go out?” Blaine asked as he fished for his keys in his pocket.� “I mean, your ankle and wrist. . .”

“Only if it’s an emergency, Blaine,” Kurt murmured, pressing a soft kiss to Blaine’s cheek just before he propped the door open.� “Only if I didn’t have a choice.”

Blaine swallowed and nodded, tugging Kurt’s hand and pulling him into the house as he called for his mom.

The Anderson house was just as nice as the exterior looked.� From where he was standing, Kurt could just see the clearly elegant kitchen, while the entry way they were currently in was decorated with mahogany furniture and a big, wide, gorgeous window above the door.

“Wow,” Kurt said, his eyes wide.� “This is – it’s gorgeous.”

Blaine shrugged and reached out to help Kurt with his coat.� “Here,” he murmured as he slithered it down Kurt’s shoulders, “let me.”

Kurt had to visibly hold down his shiver, because now was definitely not the time to drag Blaine away and make out with him, especially since he was about thirty seconds away from meeting his parents.

“Thank you,” Kurt whispered, his cheeks tinting with color as Blaine grinned at him and hung his coat up on the rack next to the door.� He was just about to ask Blaine to show him around when a clear, crystal voice sounded from around the corner.

“We’re in the dining room, dear! Dinner’s just about ready!”

“That’s my mom,” Blaine told Kurt as he grabbed his hand again.

Kurt swallowed the sudden lump in his throat.� He had never been nervous around parents before, but this was something different.� He was meeting his boyfriend’s parents, meaning that he desperately needed their approval so that they wouldn’t mind having him over occasionally.� But then Kurt also had to factor in that Blaine’s dad was one of the people who wanted Spiderman – who wanted Kurt – off of the streets.

“They know you’re coming,” Blaine whispered, “but they don’t know about. . .” He trailed off and gestured towards their linked hands between them.

“Well,” Kurt sighed, forcing his fear down into the pit of his stomach and straightening his shoulders.� He put on a somewhat forced smile on his face and turned to Blaine.� “There’s no time like the present.”

Blaine grinned again and pulled him into the dining room, and Kurt could almost instantly feel his parents’ eyes drop down to their hands.

“Oh!” His mother said, his eyes glowing as she smiled at them.� “Blaine, you didn’t tell me that he was both a darling and you’re boyfriend!”

Kurt blushed and ducked his head as she quickly hugged Blaine, turning to Kurt when she released him and wrapping him in a hug of his own.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Anderson,” Kurt smiled, his cheeks still red hot under all the unexpected attention.� “You have a lovely home.”

She clucked her thumb at him and squeezed his cheek briefly.� “You are just adorable,” she grinned, looking from him to Blaine and then down at their clasped hands.� “Goodness, it’s no wonder that Blaine sounds so smitten over the phone.”

“Mom –” Blaine started, but she just ruffled his hair fondly.

The sound of footsteps walking into the room startled Kurt, his smile slowly fading as he saw Mr. Anderson’s gruff expression.

“Um, hello, sir,” Kurt said, taking a few steps forward and holding out his hand.

“You must be Kurt,” he said, his voice deep and rough, like Kurt remembered it from that night he heard him arguing with Blaine.� “Blaine’s told us a lot about you.� Although, I’m afraid he forgot to mention that you were his boyfriend.”

“Um, it hasn’t been very long,” Blaine supplied from behind him as he took a few steps forward so he was beside Kurt again.� “And I thought it would be best if I – if I introduced him in person.”

He sighed and nodded, giving Kurt one more scrutinizing look before gesturing towards the table.� “Well, I guess as long as he’s not running around on the streets by himself,” he said passively, dismissively, making it clear that the conversation was over.� “Now why don’t we eat before the chicken gets cold?”

Kurt and Blaine both nodded their heads as Blaine’s parents seated themselves at the long table, Kurt blushing again when Blaine pulled out his chair for him before sitting down in the seat to his right.

“So, Kurt,” Mrs. Anderson said with a smile once the food had served onto their plates.� “You transferred to Dalton a few months ago?”

Kurt nodded.� “Yes, due to some. . .unfortunate, circumstances.”

She smiled at Kurt, a genuine smile filled with sympathy.� “I’m sorry, dear,” she murmured, “but at least you have Blaine to help you.”

“He’s been great,” Kurt assured her.� “He’s made the transition much smoother than it could have been.”

Blaine’s father huffed from where his seated, an irritated, annoyed huff that Kurt knew could only mean he had something to say about Blaine again.� His eyes snapped over to Blaine’s face, where he was staring down at his plate, his face pale and his bottom lip worried between his teeth.

“Paul –” his mother started, but she was quickly cut off by the look on his face.

“All I’m saying is that if he could be as helpful on his own, then maybe he would have so many incidents to begin with,” he said, his voice lower than it was previously.

“Not now, Paul, please, we have a guest –”

“And he should know about this,” he said, “he should know how much work Blaine actually is before he gets in too deep.”

Blaine was biting his lips even harder now, his eyes glistening with what Kurt assumed were unshed tears.

“And now he’s going around defending that vigilante, when he clearly is disrupting society –”

Kurt’s vision flared with fury at his words, not only because he was being offended, but because it was so, so different to hear Mr. Anderson berating Blaine in front of him, where he can actually do something about it.� Blaine didn’t deserve this – Blaine, his Blaine, his innocent Blaine wouldn’t hurt anyone or purposefully make anyone’s life more difficult than it needed to be.� All he’d done was be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and somehow it had turned into his fault.

“This is what you use as an incentive to capture him, the fact that he saved your son’s life?” Kurt asked, surprising himself at his sudden outburst.� He couldn’t just sit around and watch Blaine be unfairly berated like that, not when he did absolutely nothing to deserve it.� “Did it ever occur to you that if Spiderman hadn’t been there, he would probably be dead?”

Blaine was staring at Kurt, his face shocked with just a hint of admiration.� Kurt realized, in that moment, that Blaine had probably never been stood up for like that before.� It was obvious that his mother would agree with his father, no matter how much she appeared to love Blaine, it was clear that her husband would take priority in an argument.

“Well, young man,” Mr. Anderson grunted, setting his fork down forcefully on the table, “if Blaine hadn’t been out on his own –”

“He was going to get coffee,” Kurt said, rolling his eyes, “it was hardly his decision to get mugged.� But I’m sure it’s on everyone’s bucket list, getting gay bashed before the age of 18.”

Kurt could tell that Mr. Anderson was fuming, but he could hardly care at the moment.

“This isn’t about Blaine,” he huffed, “this is about a – a menace running around Ohio, interfering with police work –”

“I’m going to take a shot here and say that he’s doing a better job than you are,” Kurt hissed, “and did it ever occur to you that he maybe just wants to help, that he’s not trying to cause you any trouble?”

“You seem to know an awfully lot about this.”

“In all due respect, sir, the internet is a very informative place –”

“Oh, yes, because everything you learn on the internet is true –”

Mr. Anderson was cut off by the sound of Blaine’s chair being pushed out against the hard wood floor.� Kurt’s eyes shot to his face, taking in Blaine’s creased eyebrows and his obviously uncomfortable and irritated look on his face.� He gave Kurt a look, one that clearly said shut your mouth, don’t make it worse than it already is, and follow me, and left the room without a word.

Kurt gulped and pushed his own chair back, setting his napkin down next to his plate and turning to Mrs. Anderson.� “Thank you for the lovely dinner,” he said, forcing a genuine smile at her.� “And, sir,” he said, looking towards him as he walked out of the room. “I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries.� It won’t happen again.”

Mr. Anderson nodded and waved him out of the room, as if he was excusing him to run after Blaine.� Like he wouldn’t have gone anyway, not after everything he’d said about Blaine . . .

No, Kurt wasn’t going to get angry about that again, not when Blaine was clearly upset.

Finding Blaine’s room was harder than Kurt would have liked, considering he’d never been to Blaine’s house before.� Once he caught the sound of muffled music coming from behind a closed door, however, he knew he was in the right place.

“Blaine?” He said as he knocked gently on the door, testing the handle to see if it was unlocked.� He opened it gently, smiling softly at the sight of Blaine lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, an arm thrown across his eyes as the music filled the room.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured as he sat down on the bed by Blaine’s feet.� “I didn’t mean to get that irritated, but –”

“No, no,” Blaine whispered, not removing his arm from across his eyes.� “I’m not mad at you, honestly, it’s just – I don’t understand why he can’t – why he won’t just . . .” He trailed off, his voice turning into a whimper at the last word.

Kurt pried Blaine’s arm off of his face and pulled him into a sitting position, cradling his body against him.� “I wish he could understand,” he whispered into Blaine’s hair, planting a kiss right at his hairline.� “I’m so sorry.”

Blaine lifted his head up from Kurt’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes, and his lips were just about to brush Blaine’s when he heard a muffled voice come from what Kurt assumed was Mr. Anderson’s police radio.

Two foreign creatures over by McKinley high, all hands requested, I repeat, all hands requested.

Kurt listened as Mr. Anderson stomped around the downstairs, presumably putting his uniform jacket back on, his muted grunts and grumbles as he rushed out of the door and into his car.� He turned back to Blaine, his eyes worried.

“Kurt, I don’t know if you should – your ankle and wrist . . .”

Kurt nodded understandingly, but he knew that Blaine was aware that there wasn’t anything that could stop him.� “I’ll be okay,” he murmured, stroking Blaine’s cheek and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his body.� “I promise.”
Blaine nodded and sniffed a little.� “Call me when you get home.”

“Even if it’s late?”

Blaine smiled softly at him.� “I’ll be awake,” he assured Kurt.� “Trust me, I won’t be able to sleep until I know you’re safe.”

Kurt smiled at him one last time before heading to the bathroom, hoping that there was a window he could easily jump out of once he was changed into his suit.