A/N: Thanks so much for the comments on the first part! You're all very encouraging. I'm still self-concious about this fic but I'm having a lot of fun with it. I just finished part 3 and sent it off to be beta read, so you'll probably have that in a few days too :) I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write because I have to work most of the summer, but I'll write when I can.

This chapter is more set-up than anything, I think, but I hope you enjoy it. Comments and feedback are like crack to me.

They don't have more than a few seconds to ponder the note before they both jump, startled by the phone going off in Blaine's pocket. Blaine is confused for a second – he's pretty sure he hasn't set anyone's ringtone to Pink Houses – before he realizes that oh, of course, it's Kurt's phone. He pulls it out of his (Kurt's) pocket and glances at the number. "It's your dad," he says, offering the phone to him.

"Are you insane? I can't answer it! He'll just think it's you."

"Maybe we should tell him."

"No. That is not happening." Kurt eyes the phone warily as it keeps ringing. "You answer it." Blaine stares at him. "Go on! Pretend you're me."

"This is absolutely insane." He takes a deep breath and answers the phone. "Hi, Dad!" He says. It takes every bit of his willpower not to call him 'Mr. Hummel'.

"What's up?"

Burt's voice crackles over the speakers. "Hey, kiddo. Where are you? You were supposed to be home half an hour ago."

Blaine glances at the phone. It's already almost five o'clock. Had they really been unconscious for that long? At least they hadn't spent days knocked out up here. "Oh, um, sorry. I had no idea. I was, um, working on a project with Ku- with Blaine," he corrects quickly, hoping Burt didn't catch the slip-up. "I guess we got sidetracked."

"Huh. Well, I wish you had called, but you're not in trouble. When do you think you'll get home?"

"…hold on a moment." He covers the speaker with his hand and stares at Kurt with wide eyes. "He wants me to come home! I can't go over there like this!" He hisses. "What do I tell him?"

Kurt groans, running his fingers through his now gelled hair (he grimaces when his hand comes away sticky with the product Blaine uses), trying to think quickly. "Tell him…god, I don't know. Can we go to your house? We need to…talk. About things. Will your dad care?"

Blaine's throat goes dry. He's pretty sure he knows exactly what 'things' Kurt is talking about, and to say he's freaking out a little is a huge understatement. "He won't care. Okay." He takes another deep breath and goes back to the phone. "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Blaine wants to know if I can hang out as his house tonight. He already asked his dad. We just really need to get this science project done. We're kind of behind because we've focusing on Glee Club so much." He shrugs helplessly, and Kurt gives him a thumbs up.

Burt falls silent, considering this. "I don't know…you're sure Blaine's dad doesn't mind?"

"I'm positive."

"Fine. Call me when you're on the way home."

"Will do. Thanks, Dad."

"Yeah, yeah. Love you, kid."

Blaine wonders if he should say 'I love you' back, but Kurt is watching him anxiously and he's so not a good actor and no, no, he just can't, so he hangs up the phone and tosses it to Kurt, letting out a deep breath.

Kurt catches the phone and stands up. "Thank you," he says softly. "I…I really don't know how I'm going to talk to your father."

Blaine shakes his head, following Kurt as they head toward the door. "Honestly, just let him know we're there and he'll leave us alone."

"He doesn't care if you have boys over?" Kurt knows that Blaine isn't as fortunate as he is, knows that Blaine's father isn't exactly accepting of him and makes that

very clear. Not that he's abusive, just that he's very…opinionated.

Blaine rolls his eyes. "He'll be very passive-aggressive about it, but that's it. Come on." He shoves the box, and the little message, into the pocket of Kurt's messenger bag, still slung over his shoulder. "This room is giving me the creeps."

"I tried to tell you," Kurt mutters, but luckily, Blaine doesn't seem to hear him.

The drive to Blaine's house is…well, awkward is one word for it. Uncomfortable is another word that comes to mind. He grudgingly lets Blaine drive the Navigator, because he's only driven to Blaine's house once or twice and doesn't feel like dealing with Blaine's backseat driving. Unfortunately, being a passenger combined with the fact that they hardly say a word the entire trip means that Kurt has a lot of time to stare at Blaine.

And stare he does. Because he can't believe it, really, every time he glances over half expecting to see the beautiful boy he's falling in love with, and startling when he sees his own face instead. He considers the idea that he's going insane, that he's sitting in a mental institution somewhere and this is just a bizarre fantasy playing out in his head.

He looks down at himself, at Blaine's body. It's weird, being short again – of course this would happen just when he finishes his growth spurt. Blaine's a little more muscular, his arms and chest thicker even though Kurt thinks his shoulders may actually be broader. His hands are a little rough, and Kurt wonders if he can use this as an opportunity to teach Blaine about proper skin care that doesn't simply involve washing his face with soap. And oh, shit, Blaine eats and eats and eats without gaining weight, he remembers, just like Finn. He'll probably think it's okay to eat things like bacon for breakfast and pizza every day and when Kurt gets back into his own body it will be flabby and covered in the pimples he's worked so hard to get rid of. And he won't know not to let Dad put so much salt on his steak – he'll let Dad eat steak –

Kurt takes two long, deep breaths, gripping the edge of the seat and closing his eyes so he doesn't have to see himself or Blaine. He needs to stop thinking so much, because thinking about it is overwhelming. Anyway, he's thinking about it like this is a long-term thing and it won't be. They'll figure it out. They'll find a loophole so he doesn't have to do what that stupid paper says.

Right?

He just doesn't understand, and he's trying to be calm but it's so hard when he doesn't know how or why this is happening. And if Blaine is freaking out too, he's doing a great job of hiding it-he looks perfectly composed.

"Hey. We're here." Blaine says softly, making Kurt jump. He hadn't noticed the car stopping. "Are you okay?"

"No," Kurt says with a laugh, staring down at his feet. "No, I'm not."

"Kurt, I'm so sorry for all of this."

"It's not your fault." Even though it absolutely is. "Let's get this over with." When he looks back up, Blaine gives him a sad smile before climbing out.

Blaine's house is a little bigger than Kurt's despite having less people living in it, and it's eerily silent. Kurt lingers in the doorway, looking at Blaine anxiously before calling out, "Dad? Sorry I'm late getting home. Kurt came over to help with our, uh, science project."

A few moments later, Mr. Anderson pokes his head out from what looks like a study, pushing his square glasses up on his nose. "Hi, boys. Will you be up in your room?"

"Um. Yes."

"Hm. Well, focus on your homework, okay? Don't get too distracted. Keep the door open."

Behind him, Blaine flushes. "Kurt and I aren't together," Kurt says quickly, because that's what Blaine would say – Blaine is always very insistent about that fact, he thinks, a little bitterly.

"Hmm. Well, I need to get back to work." He vanishes again, and Blaine immediately heads toward the stairs. Kurt is a little rattled by the short conversation, though he's not entirely sure why, but he trails behind Blaine, surprised when he shuts the door behind them after they enter his room. "But he said –"

"Don't care. He doesn't ever come up here." Blaine shrugs, sitting down on his un-made bed. "I figured you wouldn't want him to accidently hear us…talking."

"True." Kurt gingerly sets Blaine's backpack and jacket down on a chair, looking at the floor, at the posters on Blaine's wall, at the ceiling – anywhere but at Blaine. The room is a little messy, though not as bad as Finn's, with light blue walls and carpet to match, and Kurt immediately wants to redecorate everything. He can feel Blaine watching him, so he clears his throat. "So."

Blaine gestures for him to sit, and Kurt perches on the edge of a desk chair. "I really want to be able to say something to make this all okay," Blaine begins. "But I just…don't know." He looks at the scrap of paper again, clutched in his hand the entire time. "You really think that's what it means? That we have to…" He feels

his face heat up in a blush. Kurt's pale body seems to blush more easily than his does. "Well. You know."

"'Become one in heart and in body'," Kurt quotes softly.

"Sounds pretty lovey-dovey. But that seems weird. I mean, you can't force someone to be in love."

"Clearly." Blaine frowns at the bitterness in Kurt's voice. It's not even that he isn't in love with Kurt. Well, he isn't, but he feels like life would be easier if he was. He's not in love with anyone, but if he were, he would probably be in love with Kurt. "So all that's left is...sex."

- Hide quoted text -

"Jesus." Blaine groans, rubbing his eyes. This is so fucked up, so impossible, on so many levels. But they can't stay like this. Blaine feels wrong inside of his skin, like he doesn't quite fit. He takes a deep breath and shrugs helplessly. "Well?"

Kurt stares at him. "Well what?"

"Um. Should we?"

"Should we wh- oh." Kurt's eyes widen in horror. "I – I don't –"

"I mean, if that's what it's going to take, shouldn't we, you know, get it over with?" With the way Kurt is staring at him, he can practically feel himself shrinking, digging himself deeper with every word.

Kurt scoffs. "Just lovely, Blaine. I always wanted my first time to be in someone else's body, just to 'get it over with'. Truly living the dream."

"What – hey, it doesn't have to mean anything. It doesn't have to count. Just, might as well try, right?"

The silence is so thick it's almost hard for Kurt to move. He stands up slowly. "I don't even know what to say." His voice trembles, and he shoves his hands into the

pockets of Blaine's jeans so he can ignore how the rest of him is shaking, too. He feels a little sick. "So I'm just going to let you figure out how many wrong things

you just said."

"But –"

"No, Blaine," Kurt snaps. "I can't believe you; I never thought you would – ugh." He steps toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Blaine stands up.

"Home. I can't be here right now."

"You can't. You're not yourself right now, remember?"

Kurt freezes with his hand on the doorknob. "Fuck." He whispers, a word he rarely says.

Blaine stands, too, flinching when Kurt shrinks back against the closed door. He hadn't meant to upset Kurt like that, never; he just...didn't know what else to do. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that. It doesn't help."

Blaine runs his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit, but somehow it still startles him when it's Kurt's perfect hair he ruins and not his own. He drops his hand, knowing how much Kurt hates it when people touch his hair. "Okay. What do you want to do, then? Should we tell our parents, see if they can figure this out?"

"That'll go over well. 'Hey, dad, we switched bodies and now we have to get it on.'"

"Your sarcasm is really unhelpful."

"We can't tell anyone. They'll put us away!"

Blaine throws his hands up. "I don't know what to do, okay? I don't know what you want from me, and – I'm sorry if I'm being insensitive, but it's my body too, okay? This isn't just about you. I don't want to be stuck like this!"

Kurt inhales shakily. "I know. I know." He whispers. "But I can't. I can't do that with you." And it sucks, he thinks, because sometimes he wants to, like, really wants to, despite his fear, and he can't imagine that Blaine will ever be willing again and why can't he just take this chance?

But he can't, and he won't. "We'll figure this out, find a loophole, figure out some other way to fix this mess, just – please, Blaine. Don't make me do this."

Blaine immediately feels even more awful than he did before. He had never meant it that way. "Kurt – god, no," he says quickly, stepping forward. Kurt watches him warily. Does Kurt really think of him that way? Does he really believe that his best friend would force him into something like that? "No. I wouldn't – I would never force you, okay? I'll never do anything you're uncomfortable with. I didn't mean to make you feel like I would. I'm not like that."

Kurt bites his lip and nods. He hadn't meant to freak out, or make such a big deal out of it, but he couldn't help but be scared. It was worse because it was Blaine who scared him. He takes a deep breath and forces a smile before turning away from Blaine and sitting down again. The silence is awkward, still, but not scary.

"So…" Blaine says slowly. "We can't tell anyone and you can't… you know. I guess the only thing to do for now is…"

"Learn how to be each other."

"Right."

Kurt opens up Blaine's backpack, rummaging around until he finds a notebook and pen. He starts writing furiously. "What's that?" Blaine asks.

"A cheat sheet. Schedules, how to take care of my dad, whatever essential information you'll need to be me." He grabs another pen off the desk and tosses it at Blaine, who immediately starts searching for more paper. Kurt pauses in his writing to tear off a couple of blank pieces and hand them to him. "I'll write what I can think of but if there's anything you need to know, call me. And vice versa. We'll talk at school and meet at the Lima Bean as usual, too."

Blaine nods as he starts writing his list. "We'll have to live at each other's houses."

"We should try to visit each other at home often. Just so we can see our families." Kurt sighs. "It won't be the same, but we'll have to deal with it. Here." He hands Blaine his cheat sheet.

He glances over it. His own list mostly consists of the details of his extensive school schedule, so far, but Kurt's is a lot more detailed. There's a list of what his dad can and can't eat (Blaine will have to learn how to cook), what Blaine is no longer allowed to eat (he grimaces at the list, and wonders how long he can go without eating something deep-fried), the exact order in which he uses his moisturizing products, the days he has scheduled to hang out with Mercedes and Rachel, and how to deal with Finn. "You're really planning long term."

"Better to be prepared. We don't know how long we'll be stuck like this." He buries his face in his hands. "I wish I could, Blaine. I wish I could do what you want and fix this mess."

"I know."

"But you understand? Why it isn't that simple for me?"

Blaine sets down his pen. "Come here." Kurt eyes him warily, but stands up – Blaine does the same – and walks over to him. Before he knows what's happening, Blaine has wrapped him up in a tight embrace. "We'll be okay, Kurt," he promises, voice shaking. "We'll work it out."

He's a little embarrassed to say he clings to Blaine a little, because he doesn't want Blaine to leave, doesn't want Blaine to go to Kurt's house and live Kurt's life while he stays here, with a father that isn't his, trying to be Blaine when he knows he won't succeed. So he clings, for a little while, trying to get comfort from the boy causing him grief.