Every time Kurt looks at Blaine – whether he’s on his knees at Kurt’s feet, tied by his wrists and ankles to the bed, dressing for a night out on the town, or performing on stage – Kurt can’t help smiling. He is beyond proud of the sub that he has, and he has no qualms whatsoever about showing it. One of Kurt’s favorite things to do is dress Blaine up and put him on display. He takes Blaine out as often as he can, whenever they have an evening to spare, because it’s too tempting dangling him in front of other men and women, and make them squirm with jealousy.

That, along with dominating his gorgeous pet, makes Kurt feel incredibly powerful.

No matter where they are - going out to dinner with their Dom and sub friends, or to the club – almost everyone they encounter has something to say about Blaine. They comment on his beauty (his soft, pouty lips; his thick, curly hair; his effortlessly sensual eyes), or his athletic physique, but even more so on his unfailing obedience, and his complete and utter devotion to his Master.

Kurt graciously accepts compliments on behalf of his sub, but when he hears them, he has to consider the source. He knows that, in many ways, those compliments are aimed more toward Kurt’s skills as a Master than to Blaine as a submissive. How Blaine is groomed, how he behaves, how attuned he is to his Dom’s wants and needs, are considered a reflection of the excellent job Kurt has done training him; then secondly, and to a lesser extent, Blaine’s exceptional job of learning how to please his Master.

But as far as Kurt is concerned, the truly important things about Blaine, the things that Kurt loves the most, are the things he keeps to himself. Things he doesn’t show to their friends and admirers. They’re the little things that make Blaine Blaine, outside the bonds of Kurt’s lessons in discipline and obedience. They’re habits and traits that Blaine brought with him to their relationship that he didn’t need to learn.

The way Blaine smiles when he sees Kurt; how it lights up an entire room. All of Blaine’s smiles are luminescent, but the one he reserves for Kurt and Kurt alone puts the rest of them to shame.

Blaine stealthily found out all of his Dom’s favorite foods, not only the ones Kurt told him about, and how Blaine will make them as a surprise for his Master, just because. He even learned how to make Kurt’s favorite ice-cream from scratch, using the custard method, which Kurt has always preferred.

Blaine doesn’t need a holiday, or any special occasion, to show Kurt how important he is to him, how much he loves that he’s cared for, or how much he admires his Dom.

Blaine goes above and beyond when he does his chores because he knows that Kurt doesn’t just enjoy having a clean place to live, he obsesses over it. He needs it for his sanity. It keeps him calm at the end of a hectic day. So it’s become Blaine’s mission to keep it neat and tidy at all times.

When Kurt takes his shower, Blaine tosses his towel in the dryer for a minute to make sure it’s toasty and warm for his Dom when he’s ready for it.

When Blaine moved in to Kurt’s place, he made them a bedspread for the bed so that they would have something that wasn’t Kurt’s and wasn’t Blaine’s – it was theirs.

Blaine always gives Kurt the first bite of cheesecake, and the first glass of Riesling when they decant a bottle, not simply because Blaine thinks that Kurt deserves those things, but because Blaine claims they’re full of magic.

When Kurt had laser eye surgery, and had trouble concentrating on anything for the first few days, Blaine read to him, everything from magazine articles to a book he had downloaded right before the procedure in preparation for that possibility.

Blaine knows that when Kurt is on the phone with his father, and the conversation turns to the man’s health, that he should come over quietly and hold Kurt’s hand without Kurt having to say a word.

He convinces Kurt to try new things, things he’d never think of doing, like participating in the community garden, running a 5K, or playing Wii Sports together (which Kurt thought would be infantile, but turned into a passion when his competitive reared its head).

Then there’s the love notes, the photographs Blaine gifts Kurt with in the middle of the afternoon, the songs he writes for Kurt, the romantic dinners he prepares when Kurt has a hard day. The ridiculously addictive, childlike joy he brings to Kurt’s life, the fun Kurt hadn’t experienced in years until he met Blaine.

Kurt doesn’t love Blaine solely for his discipline and his obedience, for absorbing so thoroughly the things Kurt taught him about the ways he best likes to be served.

Kurt loves his sub because he’s Blaine, and Blaine is irreplaceable.