This was for the Black Friday one sentence meme on kurt_blaine. Prompt: The boys are roadtripping from Ohio back to their school(s) in NYC after Thanksgiving break. Kurt is exhausted from Black Friday shopping but refuses to let Blaine drive his baby. How Blaine keeps him awake and/or convinces him to let him drive the car. I actually drove this route from outside of Cincinnati to Manhattan several years ago in the middle of the night, while it was snowing...so this prompt was calling my name. Takes place November 2014 when Kurt is a junior and Blaine is a sophomore in college. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not Kurt, not Blaine, not Chris, not Darren.


Interstate 80 was the most boring road to exist, Blaine thought. Nothing but trees, snow, and mountains from the Ohio/Pennsylvania border to the "Welcome to New Jersey" sign. After the nightmare that was their flight home last Christmas, he and Kurt decided all trips between New York and Lima would be via automobile. They spent a lovely Thanksgiving first with Burt and Carole so she could get some rest before working a graveyard shift, then with the Andersons who were finally coming around on the fact that Blaine has had a boyfriend the last three and a half years. Once dinner was over, they headed back to the Hummels' because Kurt had to prepare for the best day of all: Black Friday. He, Mercedes, and Tina had a routine since glee club began of hitting the mall as early as possible to get the best deals. He didn't mind getting up super early as long as he could get the shirt he'd had his eye on.

Unfortunately, the shopping trip was shortened this year. Blaine's boss couldn't give him Saturday off, so they had to head back to New York that afternoon. After a quick lunch at a cafe downtown, they hit the road around 1:30.

By 7, Blaine could tell Kurt was having a problem staying awake. They still had another five hours to go, give or take another stop for gas and late traffic. Kurt began yawning and slightly swerved the Navigator, scaring Blaine. "Babe, you know you can just let me drive the rest of the way, right?" he asked.

"How many times do I have to tell you you're not allowed to touch my car under any circumstances?" Kurt replied with a slight attitude. "For all I know you'll hit a wall or a deer or get a speeding ticket or something."

"Kurt, come on. You've known me for four years now. How many times have I had an issue while driving?"

Kurt hesitated. "Other than the ticket when you surprised me for Spring Break?"

"How was I supposed to know you couldn't park in front of that building?"

"Remind me why I love you?"

"Because I'm great in bed," Blaine said with a smirk. "But really, I don't want you passing out and killing both of us."

"Then keep me awake," Kurt replied. Blaine obliged and started searching through his iPod for something to entertain his boyfriend. He settled on playing the Book of Mormon score and singing along with it. But no matter how loud Blaine got, it didn't seem like it was helping. Almost an hour later, Kurt was struggling to keep from yawning again.

"Want me to switch to Avenue Q?" Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head. "Nah, you can finish this out. Then I'll need to stop for gas and hopefully there's a Starbucks around that I can pick up a latte from."

Blaine nodded and went back to singing, but he also took Kurt's right hand from its lazy point on the steering wheel into his and started massaging it. Kurt sighed and gave Blaine a smile.

As promised, Kurt pulled off the highway at the next exit after the soundtrack finished. Since they were still in the middle of nowhere, he decided to go inside the station to get some coffee while Blaine filled the car up. Once Blaine finished and went inside, he saw Kurt standing and staring at the coffee selections. Upon closer look, it seemed his boyfriend wasn't staring, he had actually conked out before deciding what to get. Blaine gave him a quick kiss underneath his earlobe. "Kurt, babe, give me the keys."

Kurt's eyes fluttered open and realized what happened. "Damn. Guess waking up at 2:30 and going out this morning before the trip wasn't a good idea," he said.

Blaine nodded. "Now do you trust me to drive the rest of the way? I've only been up since 10. I'm good to go."

"I guess," Kurt sighed. "Just be very careful with her."

After picking up a coffee for each of them and a bag of gummi worms for Blaine (because damned if he wasn't getting away with a few unhealthy things for the rest of the weekend), they paid for the gas and items and ignored the pointed glare from the cashier. Once back outside, Kurt handed Blaine the keys and got in the passenger side. Blaine adjusted his seat and started the Navigator up. He decided on some more soothing music so Kurt could get some sleep and put on Josh Groban's Christmas album. Before he knew it, he saw the lights of their hometown and began smiling.

"Kurt," he said softly as he exited the Lincoln Tunnel. "We're almost there."

Kurt began stirring. "Mmmm. How long was I out?"

"Almost four hours. It's 12:30. You missed a whole lot of nothing, by the way."

"Thank you, honey. I knew you were right all along that I was too tired, but I wasn't sure how you would handle her."

"I'm 21, not 16. If I can't be trusted with your car, how can I be trusted to take care of you?"

"I don't know, because you do an amazing job at that already," Kurt said, making Blaine blush.

They pulled into the parking garage near their apartment and got their luggage out. Once inside their home, Kurt went straight to the bedroom and passed out without even changing. Blaine chuckled, wondering if sleep had ever been more important to Kurt than his skin routine. He undressed and put on a t-shirt and lounge pants, then crawled into bed next to his boyfriend. He knew when they made the same trip back to Lima in three weeks, they were going to make sure there was enough rest time between the end of finals and the start of the drive.