“…so, I thought since you were the lead vocalist for the Warblers last year, you may have some special insight as to their mindset for Regionals, possible set lists, which song in the King of Pop’s oeuvre do they think they would most shine on…not as much as me, of course…”

Rachel was prattling on in the backseat of Kurt’s Navigator, talking Blaine’s ear off while Kurt drove, Finn riding in the passenger side after he had called shotgun in the McKinley parking lot. They were on their way to Blaine’s house, in one of the posh subdivisions on the outskirts of Lima…well, the ONE posh subdivision, really.

“Rach, you have to remember, I may have been a Warbler last year, but they’ve changed a bit. I’ve only seen them perform once since, and even then, they had multiple leads instead of one. Since Wes graduated they’ve elected a new council.” He didn’t add that since their whole strategy last year had been “Blaine and the Pips,” he was at a loss as to what they were doing with just Pips. He also hadn’t counted on Seba…

“Huh…that’s strange. His lights are on.”

They had pulled up to the house…which to be honest was more of a mansion. It was white with columns and looked more like a sorority house or an Antebellum manor than someone’s home. The columns were decoratively lit and an elaborate fixture hung over the front door. But those lights were normally on…they were on a timer, coming on at dusk and cutting off at 11 pm. The light Blaine was referring to was emanating from his father’s office.

“Blaine?” Kurt asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Um…just, I thought Dad was out on another one of his business trips this week.” Blaine was visibly nervous. “Rachel, maybe we can do our strategizing at your house. You guys just wait out here and I’ll go in and get my old Warbler set lists…”

“What? That’s silly, it’s not late or anything, I’m sure your Dad won’t mind…”

“YES, he would,” Blaine spoke firmly, his eyes shifting to the side. “Just, I’ll be right out, it’ll only be a few minutes.”

Finn turned around to look at Blaine. “Dude, what’s going on?"

Blaine looked across the seat at Kurt. “He…doesn’t know about me, does he?”

**********

Blaine walked into the foyer and was on his way to his room when suddenly the sound of his father’s voice stopped him: “I’ve been waiting for you to get here.” A lamp was suddenly switched on in the front living room. There sat Mr. Anderson, sitting in his leather arm chair.

“Dad! I…thought you were in Denver this week.”

“Meetings ended early, decided to catch a flight back,” his father said in a tone Blaine had never heard before. Almost…resentful? Ominous? He got up from the chair and walked toward his son, who was still standing in the same place, keys in hand. “Why don’t you invite your friends in, Blaine?”

“Um…I didn’t think you’d…”

“No, no, let them in.”

Blaine went back to the front door and motioned to Kurt and the others to come into the house. Rachel poked Kurt and said “told you,” as they stepped out of the SUV and walked up the entryway. Kurt mouthed, “what’s going on?” and Blaine raised his brows and shrugged his shoulders, not having a clue.

They walked into the foyer and started to follow Blaine and his father into the living room, when Mr. Anderson stopped them.

“If you don’t mind waiting right here a little bit, I need to talk to Blaine about something first.” He grabbed Blaine’s elbow, perhaps a little too hard, and pulled him toward the back of the room.

“How long?” Mr. Anderson said in a low voice, almost a growl…

“Dad, I don’t know wha-“

“I asked you…how? LONG?” The last word he practically shouted, nearly making Kurt jump out of his Doc Martens. “How long have you been…doing anything that requires THESE,” as Mr. Anderson opened his palm to reveal a couple of wrapped condoms and a small bottle of lube, “IN… MY… HOUSE?”

Blaine was crestfallen. As soon as he saw what his father was holding, he knew it was over. But how? Had the maid found them while cleaning his room? Maybe she had been sent in to spy on him…or his father had done it himself. It didn’t matter how the items had been found, but that they had been anyway.

“I…Dad, I…”

“I thought I had made it perfectly clear. You could…be whatever it is you think you are, but don’t bring it into my house, and don’t…ACT on it! Now tell me the TRUTH! Which one of…” He motioned to Finn and Kurt, “THEM, is it?”

By this time Mr. Anderson’s voice was raised enough that there was no pretense of a private conversation…no, he WANTED Blaine’s friends to hear. “Uh, I’m dating Rachel…” Finn mumbled as he motioned to his girlfriend. Rachel elbowed him in the side and whispered through her teeth, “NOT helping.” Kurt was simply frozen in place with tears beginning to well up.

Blaine looked at Kurt, his McKinley friends, and suddenly…didn’t care. He didn’t care what his father thought. Not what the people at his firm would think, what the members at the Ottawa River Country Club would think, what the parishioners at First Baptist would think, what any of them would think. Next year he would be a senior…in just a year and a half he would be out of Ohio, OUT with the boy he loved, whether it was in New York or somewhere else. Kurt’s words from prom night echoed in his head…his father couldn’t touch them, or what they had. He straightened his spine and looked at his father with a steely resolve.

“I’ve been dating Kurt since March. I told him I love him in May. And we’ve been having sex since opening night of the musical.” He paused. “…which was the beginning of November, by the way. Since you didn’t bother to come to my performances I realize I probably needed to give you an actual date.”

“I see,” his father breathed out, as if he had been holding his breath the whole time Blaine told him about his relationship. “And the transfer to McKinley? When you said you decided to brave public school again…”

“I lied. Well, it wasn’t a TOTAL lie; as much as I loved Dalton, it was a safe cocoon from the real world,” Blaine said. “But the main reason I wanted to transfer was for Kurt, yes.”

“And, these are friends of yours?” He motioned to Finn and Rachel. “I assume they’re not your only friends.”

Was his dad making… conversation? It almost seemed like he cared. “Um, well yeah, they’re in New Directions also, so they’re my friends. Finn’s actually Kurt’s stepbrother, and I’ve made a lot of other friends at McKinley too. Mike, and Artie, Mercedes…”

“Good…” his father said calmly. Almost TOO calmly. “I’m glad you have friends, Blaine. A lot of friends. A man needs friends…you especially. And I’m glad that you have friends here right now. Tonight.”

“That’s…that’s great, Dad, that you think so. But…why?”

“Because they can help you pack your things faster.” Any hope that had started to blossom in Blaine suddenly and painfully deflated. “I want you out of my house in an hour. I’m sure one of your friends…” he looked for the first time that moment at Kurt, with not so much disgust as disdain, “will be more than happy to let you stay with them.”

***************

“Dude, you have Modern Warfare 3?”

“Finn, now’s not the time,” Rachel said. “we just have a few more minutes.” Rachel was taking pictures and cards down from Blaine’s bulletin board and putting them into an accordion folder while Finn was boxing up Blaine’s video games and DVDs. Kurt and Blaine were solemnly packing the rest of his clothes.

“Oh yeah, sorry,” Finn sheepishly muttered. “I just…dude, I still don’t understand. I mean, I didn’t even understand it when Quinn’s dad kicked her out, I just…”

“Well, not everyone has a dad like Burt Hummel,” Blaine said, smiling at Kurt. “Seriously Kurt, I feel awful burdening your family like this…”

“Nonsense, Blaine. Dad really likes you…it took all of mine and Carole’s powers of persuasion to talk him into staying at the house instead of coming here to…well, give your father a piece of his mind.”

“I think Burt’s exact words were, ‘kick his ass and knock some sense into that thick skull of his,’” Finn offered. It was actually Finn who had immediately started dialing Burt as soon as they went up to Blaine’s room to get his things, which were now much more than just the past Warblers set lists they had come for in the first place. All of them silently thanked Kurt for driving…the space in the Navigator would come in handy.

Blaine sighed, “I’m just glad I don’t have to do this alone.” He sat on the bed, brushing his hands over the comforter…the one his mom helped him pick out when he was 13 and “ready for a more adult room,” he recalled telling her when he was tired of his X-Men bedding. The one he wrapped around himself when he had the flu two years ago. The one he and Kurt had sat on while doing homework, laid on top of when they were making out, snuggled underneath when they had taken that huge physical step in their relationship. “You guys…thank you. Not just you Kurt, even though I love you to the moon and back,” he said as he held Kurt’s hand. “But Finn, Rachel, you’ve really helped me feel like a part of McKinley, New Directions this last few weeks since Sectionals, and I just…it means so much that you guys have my back, and…”

“BLAINE, FIVE MINUTES” Mr. Anderson shouted from the stairs.

“Well, guess we better take the rest of the stuff to the car,” Finn motioned with his head to Rachel as he grabbed a box. “Mom’s got the couch ready for tonight. She said we’ll have a family meeting tomorrow about setting up something more permanent for you.”

“Oh, well I’ll stay out of the way while you guys talk…”

“HEY, no, you’re at this family meeting too, Blaine. You’re Kurt’s boyfriend and you’re staying at our house, and you’re in the New Directions family, so…you ARE family in a way.”

Blaine started to feel the tears coming up behind his eyes. “Th…thank you, Finn.”

“See you at the car,” Rachel said, picking up the folders with all of Blaine’s pictures and Warblers materials and walking out of the room, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone.

“Kurt…” Blaine said as he grabbed Kurt in a hug and for the first time that night started to cry.

“Shhh…it’s going to be okay, you got that? We’ll get through this and do it together,” Kurt whispered. “Hey, we were going to live together once you came to New York, right? This way we get a little practice run…albeit under the auspicious eyes of my overprotective dad,” he said with a wink as he tried to humor Blaine.

Blaine pulled back from Kurt, arms still lazily hung across his shoulders, and looked around at the nearly barren room. “So many memories,” he said. “Memories of my childhood…memories with you.” He looked at the bed again.

“Let’s take the comforter.” He and Kurt pulled the comforter off, folded it lengthwise and then rolled it up. Kurt walked ahead of Blaine with the comforter hugged up to his chest. Blaine grabbed his messenger bag and took one last look around the room…

“Mommy, I had a nightmare…can you stay with me until the monster goes away?”

“…’Luke, I am your father…’ Blaine, put up the Star Wars figures and go to sleep!”

“…son, you just got out of the hospital, and your mother doesn’t want you going back to that school…”

“Let’s just get this last harmony down. I can’t believe Wes let you talk us into doing a Katy Perry song…”

“…and give Bryan Ferry a high-five…”

“…because of the layers.”

“I’m ready…God I love you so much Kurt…”

…turned out the light, and closed the door.