PART 8

"How do I look?" Blaine greeted me as he walked down the stairs at the 87th street stop.

My boyfriend was wearing a large Bears T-shirt, sagging jeans and well-worn sneakers. His hair had no product in it and his curls were bouncing with every step he took.

"You look ridiculous," I told him with a smile on my face, before I pulled Blaine into a short one-armed hug. We were on my turf now, so holding hands in broad daylight was out of the question, sadly.

"So, I know you said I could sleep over at your place, but I was wondering if you'd like to spend the night with me on my dad's boat. I'm finally allowed on it again and school is starting soon, so I thought it would be nice, you know … I'm rambling, aren't I?"

I laughed. I wanted nothing more than calm Blaine's nerves with a kiss, but I couldn't– not tonight. No one but Fiona and Lip knew that Ian and I were gay and it was best if it stayed that way.

"I'd love to," I told Blaine, whose face lit up immediately.

"Can I still see your house first?" my boyfriend asked as we walked down the street next to each other. We were close, but not too close – just two friends walking home.

"Sure, it's the one over there." I pointed at my freshly painted house. My dad and a few co-workers had spent the last week repainting the outside of our house and I was glad I had waited until it was done before I invited Blaine over.

I had planted a few shrubs in our tiny front yard – flowers would be too girly for two men – and my dad had put a small wooden bench next to the front door. (If you know Shameless – Kurt's house is modeled after Sheila's)

As always, I had to kick the door a few times before I could turn the key and push it open. Directly opposite the front door was a staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms. Next to the stairs was our living room, filled with furniture I had found at flea markets. Pictures of me with my parents adorn the walls and a large and heavy TV sat in the corner by the window.

"Your dad never remarried?" Blaine asked, studying the pictures on the wall.

I shook my head. "He's been seeing someone for a while now, but they both don't want to get married again," I explained.

Next, I showed Blaine our small, but cozy kitchen. Another door led from the kitchen into the backyard, and as we stepped outside, we could hear music playing next door. The smell of a BBQ wafted over the fence and my stomach rumbled. Though I was quite hungry, I took Blaine's hand and steered him upstairs to my bedroom.

"No one ever comes over apart from Ian, so I could decorate however I wanted," I explained before I pushes the door to my room open.

My walls were covered with Broadway posters and hidden on the inside of my closet hung a calendar with pictures of the Olympic swim team. My room was probably only a third the size of Blaine's, but I loved it. Apart from my bed there was only a desk and a dresser squeezed into the room, but it was enough for me.

"I like it. It's very you," Blaine observed. "I mean the you I know," he added.

"Yeah, well, get ready to meet the other me," I muttered. "So please kiss me before I have to play straight again."

Fortunately, I didn't have to ask twice. Blaine tackled me, ending with him on top of me on my bed. I groaned but when Blaine tried to pull away, I locked my ankles behind Blaine's legs and held him in place. We hadn't seen each other for a few days and it didn't take long before Blaine was pulling on the hem of my shirt. I quickly sat up to pull first my own and then Blaine's shirt off. Over the past two weeks, Blaine and I had progressed in our physical relationship going as far as grinding against one another in our underwear until we both came. We hadn't seen the other fully naked yet, but I had a plan for the night. Ever since Blaine and I had started fooling around, I couldn't get enough of it and to be quite honest, I wanted more. And I was certain that Blaine wanted it too. Our three months anniversary was only two days away and I intended to celebrate it by getting naked with my boyfriend for the first time. I was just trying to unzip Blaine's fly when a pillow suddenly smacked me square in the face.

"What the fuck!" I yelled and looked over to my open door. We hadn't bothered with closing it because I was home alone, but now I was regretting it because Ian was leaning against it, a sly smile on his face.

"I see you took my advice," he teased but before he could continue I threw the pillow back at him. Ian raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I get it. Fiona just wanted me to tell you that dinner's ready."

I quickly pulls my shirt back on and handed Blaine his.

"Where'd you get all that meat anyway?" I asked, dreading the answer. The Gallagher kids more often than not didn't have any qualms about stealing stuff.

"Would you believe it? Carl found an abandoned meat truck just as few houses down," Ian told him with a wink. My eyes widened, but Blaine just beamed at Ian.

"Cool," he said, while Ian was trying hard not to burst out laughing.

"Out," I ordered him and Ian saluted me before he left.

"Well, that was embarrassing," I muttered. When Blaine started to laugh, I glared at my boyfriend as well.

"That's nothing. Embarrassing was the one time my brother caught me watching porn."

As soon as he said it, he slapped his hand over his mouth. "Forget I said that. I don't watch porn," Blaine stammered, his cheeks turning red.

I nodded and got off the bed to fix my hair and to check myself over for hickeys. Just as we were walking back downstairs I spoke up again.

"So," I drawled, "what kind of porn?" Blaine groaned and banged his head against the wall.

Three small tables were pushed together in the Gallagher backyard when we arrived. Before I stepped outside to introduce Blaine, I pulled a still smirking Ian aside.

"Frank isn't here, right?" I really didn't want to traumatize Blaine.

Ian shook his head and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Who's Frank?" Blaine asked, but I shook my head. "You don't want to know."

With that I steered Blaine outside where Debbie and Carl were shooting each other with water pistols while Liam was crawling between the chairs. I led Blaine up to the table where I whistles once. All heads turned toward us.

"Everyone. This is my friend Blaine."

There were shouts of 'Hey Blaine', before my friends turned back to what they were doing. A beer can nearly hit me in the head and I scowled.

"Sorry man, but that light crap you like is out. Steve went to the store for more though and if you're lucky he's getting some of that piss for you," Kev yelled and Blaine's eyes widened.

"Welcome to my world," I muttered, hoping my boyfriend wasn't too shocked. It wasn't like Blaine and his friends didn't drink, but they usually had expensive wines or champagne around.

"Blaine, you drink regular, right?" Kev asked and before Blaine could answer another can flew through the air. Luckily, Blaine caught it expertly.

"This is Kev. He owns a bar around here, "I explained. "And the woman next to Lip is Veronica, Kev's girlfriend," I continued.

At that moment, Fiona stepped outside and picked up a whining Liam.

"That's Fiona and her youngest brother Liam," I whispered.

"She looks so young," Blaine replied quietly.

"She's twenty-one, but if she didn't take care of the kids they would all end up in the system. And trust me, they are better off here. I'd know," I informed my boyfriend.

Blaine's eyes widened. "You've been in foster care?" he gasped and I mentally slapped himself. I had never told Blaine about my dad because it wasn't my story to tell.

"Um, yeah, but only briefly when I was younger. My dad was in the hospital and there was no one else to take care of me," I lied. It was as close to the truth as I could get without revealing my dad's secret.

"That sucks. I'm sorry," Blaine said, but I shrugged it off. Something good had come off it in the end. I had met my best friend during my stint in foster care and had learnt how to defend myself.

Moments later, Carl introduced himself by shooting Blaine with his water pistol and Debbie, when she brought Blaine a towel. Dinner was a lively affair and Blaine and I both devoured our first two burgers. I was about to encourage Blaine to go for thirds, when Steve returned from the liquor store with plenty of beer and vodka. Next to me, Blaine suddenly stiffened. "

Jimmy," he called out, sounding shocked. I looked over to Steve, who had frozen like a deer caught in headlights as well. One of the bottles he was holding clattered to the floor, but fortunately didn't break.

"Um, Blaine. That's my boyfriend Steve," Fiona informed Blaine, probably wondering what was going on. I understood her confusion, because what? Blaine knew Steve?

"I'm sorry but no. That's my older brother Jimmy. Who's supposed to be in med school in Michigan," Blaine suddenly yelled. "And certainly not putting Kurt's future in danger by making him drive stolen cars," he added before he suddenly paled.

"Oh my god! The car you gave me for my birthday. You didn't pay for it." It wasn't a question, it was an accusation. One that Steve didn't deny.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Fiona's Steve was Blaine's highly praised brother Jimmy?

"Blaine, I can explain." Steve, no Jimmy, took a step toward Blaine but Blaine just glared at his brother before he started laughing hysterically.

"And all the time I had to listen to mom telling me I should be more like you. 'Why can't you get straight As like Jimmy. Why don't you want to make something of yourself like Jimmy. Music is not a business for the Andersons. Look at Jimmy, going to med school.' But look at you – you are a car thief."

Blaine looked like he was about to have a break down, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the house.

"Blaine wait," Jimmy called after them. "Don't tell Mom."

Blaine stopped abruptly, causing me to stumble. "You know I would never do that," he turned to glare at his brother.

Outside, everyone was still staring and Fiona looked like she wanted to kill Jimmy herself.

"But I'm still mad at you," Blaine added, a lot calmer.

Jimmy frowned, but then he raised an eyebrow and jerked his head in my direction. It wan't hard to guess what he was asking and I held my breath.

"Not now," Blaine told his brother and I released it. My boyfriend took another step forward and addressed the group of people outside.

"Um, thanks for having me. See ya." With that he turned around, dragging me with him.


"Are you okay?" I asked when we were seated on the train back into the city.

Blaine shrugged. "I don't care about what he does with his life. He wants to drop out of med school and steal cars – fine, whatever. I'm just mad that he involved you."

"I shouldn't have agreed to drive his car anyway. I didn't even have a license," I reminded my boyfriend. I had been stupid and I knew it.

"Yeah, but if you had gotten caught in your dad's car, you'd probably gotten away with a slap on the wrist. It's just so typically Jimmy. Never thinking about anyone but himself."

I briefly squeezed Blaine's arm.

"I'm sorry. Do still want to go to your boat?" I asked. "Or do you want to go home?"

"Oh no. I definitely want to go," Blaine immediately replied. "I, uh, have a surprise for you."

"A surprise, hu?" I repeated and leaned in closer. I was getting better and better at this flirting thing in my humble opinion.

"Not that kind of surprise. Get your mind out of the gutter," Blaine joked. "I would never say no to you though," he added with a wink.

"Can I get a hint?" I asked, but my boyfriend shook his head.

"Patience, my dear," he teased me, earning us a strange look from the overweight woman sitting opposite us. "Your surprise is waiting for you on the boat."

"What if I had insisted that we stay at my place," I asked.

"Well, it would have been a good thing then, that I know how to improvise."