This chapter should be read after Chapter 96 of Model Behavior.

"Bentley, guess what! Guess what! You'll never guess, so I'll tell you. Kurt ...", Trevor shrieked.

"I already know, you silly old toad. Kurt meet Carole. But your slimy nose is all out of joint because you were stuck in here."

"Okay, first of all, my nose isn't slimy," Trevor replied haughtily. "And second of all, that isn't it."

"You met Carole? At breakfast, Kurt said you didn't and you were miffed about it. Oh, Mom was asking about you, by the way."

"Mom?" Trevor was confused.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten Mom! I knew toads didn't have much brain power, but you can't have forgotten Mom."

"No, I remember. I'm just wondering if she's still my mom. Now that I belong to Kurt, I mean."

The tip of Bentley's tail twitched as he considered. "I never thought of that. Aren't you still Blaine's, too?"

"I don't know. Can we belong to two people? Are you Kurt's?"

"Of course I don't belong to Kurt!" Bentley said scornfully. "You should know that."

"Why not? Don't you like him?"

"Of course I like him, but Kurt doesn't love me, so I don't belong to him. You can't belong to someone unless you snuggle with him and comfort him when he's sad and celebrate with him when he's happy. He has to tell you things he doesn't share with anyone else. That's why you belong to Kurt."

"I don't think I belong to Blaine any more, then. He said he was gonna take me to the shelter if Kurt didn't want me." Trevor wasn't entirely successful at keeping the hurt out of his voice.

"You know he didn't mean that," Bentley said gently, leaning over to lick Trevor's nose. "He was just upset because he thought Kurt was rejecting you."

"Hey!" the little toad spluttered. "Stop that! Yuck!"

"I'm just checking. I guess you're right. Your nose isn't slimy."

"Well, it is now," Trevor retorted. He leaned down and wiped his face on the comforter.

"Oooh, I'm telling. You're gonna be in trouble," Bentley sing-songed.

"You better not," Trevor threatened. "There are a few things that Blaine wouldn't be too happy about. Remember that time you almost got caught looking at kitty porn? That's way worse than wiping cat slobber on the covers."

Bentley had the grace to look embarrassed. "I thought I should do some research in case Blaine had questions."

"Yeah, right," Trevor said sarcastically. "I'm sure that was a big help. Just what ten-year-old Blaine needed to know. And what if Mom had found out? Blaine would have gotten the blame, for sure."

Bentley sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, changing the subject. What's your big news?"

"Oh, Bentley, you'll never, never guess. Never in a million years!"

"Yes, you said that," Bentley said impatiently. "If you really have something to share, which I'm beginning to doubt, ..."

"Kurt knows!" The words burst from Trevor's mouth as he hopped in happy circles around Bentley. "He knows! I'm so excited. Oooh, he figured it out before Blaine did. My boy's smarter than your boy."

"What do you mean he knows? What does he know?" Bentley demanded. "And he is not smarter than Blaine, no matter what he figured out."

"He knows that Blaine's in love with him," Trevor said triumphantly, "and unless there's something Blaine isn't telling you, he figured it out before Blaine did."

"Hmph. Blaine tells me everything, so I guess you're right," Bentley pouted. "But that doesn't mean Kurt's smarter. It just means that Blaine has a harder time hiding his feelings. So was Kurt excited? What tipped him off?"

"Kurt was beyond excited. It took hours for him to get to sleep after they got home from karaoke. He wasn't making a whole lot of sense, if you want to know the truth. He kept saying something about some guy being a girl, and 'I thought it was Matt, but it wasn't' over and over, and then he started worrying about how he was going to keep Blaine from realizing that he knows. And then he would squeeze me so hard I couldn't breathe and sort of squeal 'It's me, it's me, it's me!' and then it would start all over again." Trevor gazed at Bentley nervously. "Blaine does still love him, right? Kurt's not mistaken?"

Bentley chuckled softly. "Kurt's not mistaken. Blaine is so head-over-heels for Kurt that he's turning backflips."

"Really?" Trevor asked excitedly. "I want to see that!"

"No, not really. Honestly, Trevor. It's just an expression. But he's crazy about Kurt. He didn't even try to pretend they were just friends in front of Mom and Dad. Oh, did you hear that the parents met?"

"Yeah, Kurt was pretty miffed that he was left out, but at the same time, he's really nervous about Blaine's mom and dad. I guess he's worried that they might not like him."

"They talked about him last night while Blaine was in the shower. Blaine gave them some videos to watch so they wouldn't be bored while he cleaned up. They were in the other room, but I could still hear them."

"So they saw Kurt? What did they say?"

"Well ..." While Trevor was a blurter who wanted nothing more than to share his excitement, Bentley was an expert at doling out information a little at a time in order to remain the center of attention for as long as possible. "Let me see if I can remember what they said."

Trevor puffed himself up like ... well, a toad trying to intimidate a large dog. "Bentley! You tell me what they said right now!"

Bentley nonchalantly curled around and extended his right hind leg so he could wash it. "I don't know if I should," he purred silkily. "That might be betraying a confidence. After all, you don't belong to Blaine any more."

Trevor narrowed his eyes. "You better tell me, you mangy old feline. Or else!"

"Or else what?" Bentley replied scornfully. "What could you possibly do about it?"

"I won't tell you my other secret."

"Ha! You're lying through your teeth. You don't have another secret. You already told me everything, whether I wanted to hear it or not."

Trevor snorted. "A lot you know. Toads don't have teeth. So there."

"You still already told me," Bentley insisted.

"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't. Maybe I know a lot of things."

"And maybe you're just full of hot air. If you know something, prove it. And un-puff. I'm not going to eat you and you look ridiculous all swollen up like that."

Trevor emptied his air sacs with a huff and turned his back. "Uh uh. No. No way. Not one word until I find out what they said about my Kurt."

Bentley turned around several times and kneaded the covers, waiting for a response from Trevor. When it became clear that Trevor wasn't going to give in, Bentley sighed. "The videos were of Kurt and Blaine singing."

"Together or separately?" Trevor asked eagerly, all animosity forgotten. He snuggled into Bentley's side.

"Ugh! You're freezing." Bentley groused.

Trevor smiled secretly to himself when he saw Bentley squeeze his eyes shut with pleasure and shift his hindquarters to bring them closer together. "I can't help it; toads are coldblooded. We must have had this discussion a thousand times by now. Let's talk about our boys."

"The first song was together. Dad said he thought they liked each other, and Mom agreed. She said she was glad because she didn't want Blaine to be unhappy." Bentley tried to contain it, but the combination of snuggling with Trevor and the subject matter was just too much for him, and a low rumble began to emanate from his chest.

"Ooh, that's your really-happy purr," Trevor said with a grin. "They said some nice things about Kurt, didn't they?"

"It's called a chest purr, you knucklehead, and before you ask, the other one is called a head purr. Humans have the same thing with their singing voices."

"Whatever. I don't care what you call them. I just want to know what they said about Kurt."

"Dad said that it showed character for him to bring you to New York. And Mom said that their voices went well together." Bentley pretended to think for a moment. "Oh, and they both said they were hoping Kurt could move to New York. Mom said it was wonderful how happy Blaine seemed, and Dad said he was really glad Blaine had started performing again." He paused again until Trevor prodded him. "I can't think if you're bumping me with that thick skull of yours," Bentley complained, reaching over to give the little toad an affectionate lick on the forehead. "Dad said Kurt had an amazing voice, and Mom said she had never heard anything like it. And they both can't wait to meet him, so he doesn't have anything to worry about. They like him already."

Trevor heaved a happy sigh. "I knew they would. Anyone with any sense at all would love him, and Mom and Dad are very smart. Do you remember the first time Blaine went off to summer camp? He was so sure he was a big boy and he would be fine without us along."

"Yeah, but Mom knew better. She didn't argue with him, but when she packed his trunk, she wrote letters and hid them in his clothes. And then she tucked me inside his pillow case, so he would have me but no one would know."

"She put treats in the trunk, too. Did the surprises make him feel better?"

Bentley smiled at the memory. "They did. Each one was something to share, so it helped him make friends. That first night, I had to stay in the pillowcase until lights out, but after that he kept me on the bed. Some of the other boys had brought friends along, but I was the only cat."

"I wish I had gotten to go," Trevor said wistfully. "It sounds like fun."

"No, you don't. It was pretty awful. Blaine had a blast, but I couldn't wait to get home. They didn't have air conditioning and Blaine was too busy to spend any time with me during the day. That was bad enough, but the worst thing was that some of the older boys convinced his whole cabin that the showers had been known to electrocute people, so none of them got anywhere near a bar of soap for two weeks. Thank goodness they went swimming every day or it would have been unbearable."

Trevor chuckled. "Okay, maybe you're right. I'm glad Blaine got to go, though. He had his first guitar lesson at that camp. Remember? As soon as he came home, he asked for a guitar for Christmas."

Bentley placed a heavy paw across Trevor's neck and began to lick the side of his head. "Hold still!" he ordered, when Trevor began to squirm. "Thinking about those stinky boys makes me want to wash something."

"Well don't take it out on me," Trevor said, still trying to evade the sandpaper tongue. "I'm perfectly clean."

Bentley ran his nose along the little toad's side, snuffling gently. "You do smell good," he admitted.

"So, do you want to know my other secret?" Trevor asked, trying to distract Bentley from his apparent mission to remove a layer of skin.

"Oh, I suppose so," Bentley replied nonchalantly. "I'm sure it's nothing good, but you might as well tell me."

"I know what Kurt is getting Blaine for his birthday."

"That's your big secret? That's not much."

"Fine. I won't tell you."

Bentley was torn. The little toad was being quite insufferable and needed to be taken down a peg or two, and the best way to do that was to refuse listen, but like most cats, he couldn't stand not knowing something. Eventually curiosity got the better of him. "I suppose it will hurt your little warty feelings if I don't hear you out. What is Kurt getting Blaine for his birthday?"

"Time!" Trevor shouted triumphantly.

"Time? What does that mean?"

"Kurt is buying Blaine some time."

"You must have heard wrong. People can't buy time. He must be getting Blaine a watch, or maybe a new alarm clock."

"Yes, they can," Trevor insisted. "I remember once when Wes had a history paper due and he hadn't finished. He said Old Grouchface Simpkins would fail him and he had to buy some time. He must have more money than Kurt does, though, because he bought a whole day and Kurt says he can only afford an hour."

"How do you know he bought a whole day?"

"Because he spent all day in his room instead of going to class, and if anyone came around he started coughing and sneezing and talking funny. But after school, he went to Warbler practice and he was just fine, so maybe it wasn't a whole day, but it was more than an hour."

"Where is he planning to buy this time?"

"Dad must know where the time shop is. I mean Kurt's dad, not Blaine's dad. This is confusing."

"Just call them by their first names," Bentley said impatiently. "Tamera and Carole, too."

"I don't know," Trevor worried. "That seems disrespectful."

"First of all, they aren't gonna hear you, and second of all, Blaine calls Burt and Carole by their names, so I don't see why we can't."

"Okay," Trevor said doubtfully, "if you say so. Well, anyway, Kurt said Burt was gonna take care of it, and he was all excited. Only he can't decide if he should give it to Blaine on his birthday, or do it earlier."

"That's gonna be kind of difficult, since Blaine wouldn't tell him what day it was. They were talking about it that time he brought me to visit you, and Kurt wanted to know, but Blaine said he was a 'man of mystery' and wouldn't tell."

"Well, Kurt knows. I don't know how he found out, but he has it right. See, I told you my boy was smarter," Trevor gloated.

"Hmph. Maybe he is. You won't believe what Blaine said to me." Bentley's tail began to lash and he sat up. "I'm still angry."

"What? What did he say?"

"He said I didn't smell good because I didn't smell like Kurt."

"Don't be offended. He didn't say you smelled bad. Besides, you like the way Kurt smells."

"How can you say that? I don't even know what Kurt smells like."

Trevor giggled. "You said I smelled nice. That's Kurt you're smelling. And I bet he would think you smell wonderful, because you, my friend, smell exactly like Blaine."

"Hey, Bentley?" Trevor said after a while.

"What?"

"If our boys get married, what will we be?"

"What?"

"Their parents will be in-laws, but what will we be?"

Bentley shook his head."What we've always been, you silly old toad. Nothing they do can change that," he said easily.

Trevor frowned. "But what are we?" he asked plaintively.

"Best friends, of course," Bentley replied, closing his eyes for a little nap. "Now be quiet. I'm tired of all this talking."

Trevor smiled and snuggled back down next to him. "Oh," he said happily. "I like that."