"So, like, what happened after I left?" Finn asked as he wolfed down his third bowl of cereal the next morning at breakfast. Blaine had wanted to leave early, but he didn't think Burt would be pleased to see Blaine slinking off after spending prom night in bed with his son, even if the door had been open the whole time, even if nothing had even come close to happening.

"You mean, after you punched out Rachel's new-old boyfriend?" Kurt clarified, watching Finn eat in as much amazement as Blaine was. Apparently living with him didn't get anyone used to the vast amount of food he could intake.

"He's not her boyfriend," Blaine and Finn replied at the same time. Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine but didn't press, for which Blaine was thankful. He ate his breakfast quietly instead while Kurt turned his attention back to Finn.

"Other than the Prom Queen debacle, and Karofsky running away, it was mostly just actual dancing. So maybe it was a good thing you left when you did," Kurt joked. Blaine smiled for Kurt's benefit, but Finn looked deep in thought.

"Maybe I should go talk to Rachel," Finn mumbled, and Kurt sighed as he took away all of their empty dishes.

"No," he said firmly. "I refuse to let you go see her today. You're only going to make things worse for everyone."

"But-"

"No 'but's'. You don't need to see her. You'll upset her and get into a fight and you have a girlfriend. So go hang out with her. Go see Quinn."

"Quinn's mad at me again," Finn told him.

"Then maybe you should try and fix that," Kurt offered. Finn made a face, clearly handling Quinn wasn't going to be on the agenda. "Fine," Kurt snapped, turning once more to Blaine. Blaine stared back, watching as an idea formed in Kurt's head and a smile on his face. "I have a better idea anyways."

Blaine should have been more worried. Really, he should have known by now that Kurt's idea's rarely worked out for anyone more than Kurt. The moment he uttered the words "You have to spend the day with Rachel," towards him, he should have made up an excuse, ran home, hid in his room. But here he was, standing on her front stoop waiting for her to answer the door. He kicked himself internally, he wanted to avoid her until he sorted out his feelings-or at least pushed them away to the back of his mind, into a small little box he wouldn't ever have to open again.

"Blaine!" Rachel answered a few seconds later, opening the door to let him in. "I was surprised to get Kurt's phone call this morning."

He chuckled lightly as he followed her into the house, hesitant to follow her up the stairs that he knew led to her bedroom. "Yes, well, his goal for the day is to keep Finn far away from you. And the only way he can do that is to make sure that both you and Finn are being babysat. Apparently I'm not strong enough to restrain Finn." She glanced at him with a small smile.

"No, probably not." She pointed to her bed as she sat down at her vanity, clearly in the process of curling her hair. He sat down carefully, trying not to take up too much space. He felt oddly claustrophobic, the thought that he was in Rachel's room-on her bed nonetheless-reverberated around in his head. "So, why do Finn and I need to be kept apart?" she asked. He noted the hopefulness in her voice that she was trying to hide.

"Because Finn has a girlfriend," he pointed out, slightly annoyed.

"But you have a boyfriend," she retorted, spinning around to face him. Blaine was quiet for a moment.

"Yes," he finally said, still taken a bit off guard from her argument. He knew she didn't know how he felt-he was good about keeping it quiet. If Kurt hadn't figured it out yet, then Rachel certainly hadn't. "But I'm not one of your many suitors."

"Two is not many," she joked back.

"It's more than most people have," he shot back with a friendly smile. See, he told himself. You can do this. Wit, charm, being dapper. They're all apart of your genetic code.

"Well, Blaine Warbler," she declared, standing up and grabbing a sweater from her closet. "Are you ready to go?" Blaine laughed, remembering the first time she had called him that, the weird feeling he got when Kurt had asked him to prom using that name. She held out her hand and he took it instinctively, letting her take him wherever her heart desired. He would follow.

Rachel was determined to make a decision by the end of the day. And really, she knew there wasn't a decision. Finn may have feelings for her, but he had a girlfriend. Blaine was so off the table it shouldn't have ever been an option, since he was gay and Kurt's boyfriend.

Which left Jesse.

"So Jesse is the one to make you break your 'no dating and being tied down to Lima' rule?" Blaine countered after she announced this. She bit her lip.

"Yes?" she asked, and he laughed. It was loud in the empty park where they were walking. If anyone walked by, they would have supposed they were dating, the way they strolled slowly hand in hand. It was almost second nature for her to take his hand, he was so touchy that it was just natural. She wouldn't let him know how much more it meant in her head-that holding hands was all she could really get of him, so of course she would take every bit she could of it.

"Rachel, you're so dedicated to everything else. Why can't you be as dedicated to staying away from guys who are bad for you as you are to singing?"

"I'm not doing it on purpose!" she argued. "It's just, I don't really want to not have a boyfriend anymore. I don't even really have that many real friends," she admitted with an awkward shrug.

"But everyone in glee club-"

"Most of them tolerate me at best. When I was going through all that stuff with my birth mom, it wasn't like I could plop down next to Mike and tell him about it. Or go 'Santana, I really need someone to help sew this outfit together for our Gaga week.'"

"Gaga week?" Blaine asked in shock and Rachel nodded.

"They tolerate me and like me around because without my talent, they won't stand a chance at winning any competition. The others are good, when they actually try, but they're not good enough."

"What about Kurt? And Mercedes? The three of you hang out a lot." He didn't feel the need to add in Puck or Finn, who had each done their part in supporting her. But he supposed they didn't count for his argument anyways, both had dated her in the past.

"They have their own stuff going on. Kurt has you, he has his issues with Karofsky. I can't expect him to let me unload my own drama on him too. And Mercedes and I aren't that close either. Sure, we talk and we're friends. But a boyfriend-Jesse. Jesse was there for me a lot last year. And he's going to be around, at least for the summer. So why shouldn't I try again with him?" She asked, stopping them in front of a play scape. Her eyes looked up at him earnestly, waiting for his response. He didn't look at her at first, looking over her head for a moment. When he did though, when his eyes met hers, she swore she felt a spark travel between them.

"Because you deserve someone so much better," Blaine promised.

"Like who?" she asked, her voice a little quieter. There was still space between them, but she took a step forward without thinking, closing it immediately. Her eyes still locked into his, and she noticed in the back of her mind that he seemed to be moving more cautiously.

"Like anyone that isn't Finn or Jesse?" he supplied, his own voice a little quieter. She tore her gaze from his, opening her mouth to speak before he interrupted her. "Someone who's kind and smart and talented and a good listener. Someone who can and will support you while giving you room to make your own decisions. Someone who knows what it's like to be the star of a group. Someone who hasn't already hurt you."

She laughed, almost silently. "You know you just basically described yourself, right?" she ventured, looking up at him again. His gulp was more noticeable this time. She was making him nervous, though she was pretty sure it was in the way she wanted.

He ventured a smirk. "I guess I did."

"It's too bad you're gay," she told him, and this time he laughed-loudly, almost falling over as the laughter erupted through him. She watched him with wide eyes, startled at his reaction. "Blaine?" she questioned cautiously.

"It's not funny, I'm so sorry," he responded as he continued to laugh. "It's really not funny at all, except that it's just such my damn luck."

"What is?" She questioned, and he stopped laughing almost immediately. He stood still, his face serious once more as he locked his eyes to hers again.

"That after all those years of people trying to tell me how wrong it is to be gay, of trying to turn me 'straight', that I find a girl as wonderful as you-a girl that I could actually see myself with-at the same time I have to stick to what I've been all along. At the same time a boy comes into my life as wonderful as Kurt."