Kurt woke up the next morning on the couch, his phone vibrating next to his face. He groaned and opened his eyes, rubbing them as he sat up. It was Christmas Eve. The tree had been plugged in, the fire was blazing, Finn was watching Home Alone, and the house smelled like cookies.

"Hey, you're awake!" Finn said cheerily, dressed in festive, Christmas tree patterned pajamas. He gestured towards Macaulay Culkin on screen. "There's a marathon on today if you wanna watch with me."

"Maybe," Kurt said, looking at his phone. Blaine texted him! He eagerly opened up the message.

Was woken up at six this morning so we could leave for the airport at eight for our flight at ten, all so we could open presents before we left, and give time for b&r to repack which toys they're bringing on vacation.

Kurt grinned at the screen, not necessarily because of what it said, but because Blaine wasn't on a plane yet, he could talk to him. But only until ten, when his plane left.

Poor baby. What did you get for Christmas?

Oh, yay, you're awake! I was worried you'd be asleep until my flight. Also, do not patronize me, Hummel. I got a few sweaters, a coat, a couple books, and tickets to see Evita when it comes to Columbus in January.

What?! Oh my god, I'm so jealous.

Why? You're coming with me, dummy.

Kurt bit down on his lip really, really hard to keep from squealing, his grin obnoxiously wide and ridiculous. A small sound escaped and apparently Finn heard it, and he looked over at Kurt and almost laughed when he saw him. "What? You look like you're about to pee yourself." Kurt just shook his head at him; there was no way Finn would understand.

Oh my god, I love you so mu

Kurt stopped typing and didn't hit send. He erased the message slowly. That would be a completely acceptable way to talk to Mercedes, one of his best friends, but not Blaine, who probably was his best friend. Blaine was just a little too good a friend to say I love you to.

You are amazing. I cannot believe you. Thanks for making my gift feel insufficient.

I loved your gift!

Kurt laughed to himself and kept texting Blaine, talking about yesterday and today and tomorrow. Kurt wished he'd woken up sooner so they'd have more time to talk, because Blaine was already through security, about to board his flight.

I'll try and talk to you as soon as I can, but I have to go. Merry Christmas, Kurt, I'll see you soon, I promise! You'll barely even notice I was gone.

Bye, Blaine, merry Christmas. I'll miss you.

He sent the message before he could erase that last bit. He would miss Blaine. There shouldn't be any shame in admitting that. He still wished he could take it back though, at least until Blaine said it first. Blaine didn't respond for a minute and Kurt started freaking out in his head. What if he didn't get his last message and thought Kurt didn't respond. He could've lost service after he read it and couldn't respond to return the sentiment. But what if he's choosing not to respond after reading the message because he thought it weird for Kurt to say that?

Kurt's phone buzzed in his hand and he saw Blaine responded. He opened his message, cursing his phone for not loading it immediately, his hands practically shaking in anticipation because of how much he freaked himself out.

I'll miss you too. But at least now I have this gorgeous necklace to remind me of the gorgeous boy waiting for me back home.

Kurt blushed deeply, feeling it up to his roots. Before he could fully process that message, another came in.

Ben's sitting with me and says merry Christmas. I really have to go, the plane's about to take off, but I'll see you soon. Bye, sweetheart.

?!

Kurt decided right off the bat he wasn't going to let Blaine's absence bother him. The first day he spent with Finn, turning off his phone, and stuffing themselves with cookies and watching their favorite Christmas movies. His dad and stepmom joined them at some point, and after they had a nice family dinner all together, they each opened a single present, as was the Hudson family's tradition every Christmas Eve. Kurt opened one from his dad, a Marc Jacobs sweater he'd been fawning over for months.

The next day it was easy to distract himself; it was Christmas! He sent out a quick text to his closest friends, not including Blaine, to wish them a merry Christmas, and it was all too easy to get his mind off of Blaine with presents, and stockings, and having every single member of his new and old family over for dinner.

The next few days he forced himself to be productive; he cleaned and reorganized his bedroom, he did all the homework that was assigned to him for break, and he spent time with his friends. He had lunch with Quinn, and he went shopping with Mercedes and Tina, and he went to a small get together at Lauren's house for Christmas and got a knit beanie from their Yankee swap. He even played video games with Finn and the boys for hours.

He was mentally exhausted from exerting that much of his attention and energy on his friends and family, and he decided to spend all of New Year's Eve in bed, napping, sipping cocoa and eating leftover sweets. He needed to relax at least once over vacation, so he gave his house a strict, no bothering Kurt today policy that was actually followed. He also gave up on the whole, refusing to think about Blaine at all thing, too. It wasn't like he was sobbing because it'd been a whole week apart or anything absurd, but he should've been allowed to miss him at least a little. So he spent a lot of his day in one of Blaine's sweaters, twisting the ring on his finger, and looking through photos he had of the two of them on his phone, and just thinking about him. Nothing weird, or needy, or stalkerish, just what they should do when Blaine got back in town, and how much he wanted to kiss him, and how soft Blaine's lips were. Normal stuff.

He finally left his room at eight, for Puck's New Year's party. He didn't want to go, but that's where Blaine would be, assuming he got back to Lima at all tonight. Besides, he probably should get out of the house on New Year's, and he knew Mercedes was dying to have him there.

The party, as expected, was not much fun for him. There was a lot of booze and a lot of people getting high in the backyard, and while that might've been Puck's idea of a good time, it definitely wasn't his. So he spent most of his time there with Mercedes, waiting for the stupid party to be over so he could get some breakfast food. Until it neared midnight and he started looking around for Blaine to suddenly appear, checking his phone every five seconds to be sure he hadn't missed a message. It was so much easier last New Year's, when he didn't have a sort-of-boyfriend, and he wasn't attending parties.

And so, he waited.

?!

11:43. That was the time it was when Blaine finally (finally!) got home, and he immediately grabbed the keys to his aunt's car, and after telling Mary where he was going, he left without a second glance. He just wished for the day spring finally rolled around, and the roads wouldn't be so crappy that he can't ride his bike.

He hurried to Puck's place, where a party was raging inside plus a dozen people on the front yard, dancing and drinking. If the cops busted this party, they'd be in so much trouble. He hurried inside, pushing his way through people, searching blindly around the room. He tried calling Kurt on his phone, but he couldn't hear him, he just hoped Kurt took it as a signal for him being there.

He wanted to kiss Kurt at midnight. More than anything he wanted for Christmas, he wanted to kiss Kurt on New Year's, because it was high school, it was the time for new experiences, and he wanted to experience so much with Kurt.

He ran through room to room, asking people he knew, like Quinn and Sam, where Kurt was, if he was even there. Sam directed him into the family room where the TV was blasting Dick Clarks' New Year's Rockin' Eve. The room was tight packed and there was only one light on, how in god's name was he supposed to find Kurt in this cramped clutter of people? Crap, they were starting the sixty second countdown. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. He pushed past people who huffed at him for it, most of the room already clasped onto another person to kiss.

Blaine stood found Puck, holding Lauren's waist, a solo cup in hand. "Dude, have you seen Kurt?" he nearly shouted over the music. He tried to sound cavalier, like he wasn't about to make out with Kurt, but it didn't really work.

"He's over by the back doors!" Puck yelled back, gesturing across the room.

Blaine ran across as quickly as he could, stepping on several people's feet, pushing people blindly as the time hit twenty seconds.

Finally, he got over and grabbed Kurt's elbow, who turned to him and his expression of boredom and disappointment shifted to that of disbelief. "Blaine?" he said squinting in the darkness before throwing his arms around Blaine's shoulders. "I can't believe you're here, I thought for sure you wouldn't make it back in time!"

Blaine hugged him and gestured to the sliding door behind them that led to the deck. Kurt opened the door and led them out to the considerably less crowded deck, claimed mostly by chain smokers, as the ten second countdown started. "Wouldn't miss this for the world." He said, wrapping his arms around Kurt. "Five,"

"Four," Kurt continued, pulling Blaine so they were barely an inch apart.

"Three," Blaine breathed along with the half-drunken crowd inside who were nearly screaming.

"Two," Kurt said, his heart beating hard in anticipation.

"One." They said in unison, not hesitating before connecting their lips.

Screams and shouts and champagne bottles roared all together, and Blaine was starting to understand the appeal to romance. There was so much noise and so many flashing lights but it didn't take away, because he was kissing Kurt on New Year's Eve after he'd been gone for more than a week. He missed Kurt so much, and Kurt had been waiting for him, and Kurt was such a good kisser. That's when the fireworks started going off.

Kurt jumped back, startled, and they both looked over, just over the neighbor's houses where the fireworks coming from the stadium a few blocks over. People from inside the house shuffled outside to see the fireworks. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, holding him close to his chest, pressing a kiss onto his forehead as the fireworks got larger and more elaborate.

After a minute, Kurt pulled back and said, "Come with me."

Blaine followed him curiously into the nearly empty house and upstairs, where Kurt opened a bedroom door, and pulled Blaine out onto the balcony. But he didn't stop. He climbed onto the window and pulled himself onto the roof. Blaine made sure to spot him, appreciating the great view of Kurt's ass before climbing up after him.

"I like the way you think." He murmured, seeing the blanket and pillows set up on the flat surface of the roof.

He laid down beside Kurt, propped up on the pillow with a perfect view of the firework show. Kurt laid his head on Blaine's chest and Blaine brushed through Kurt's hair. It was so familiar, and just getting back to Ohio, Blaine could use something a little familiar. Everything with Kurt was so familiar, so easy. A few minutes in, Kurt twisted up to look at Blaine with a goofy grin, and started kissing him again.

They missed a good portion of the roughly twenty minute long firework show, but he didn't care. He loved kissing Kurt, and he missed it. It was a little different than usual though. Their kisses were much needier, and involved a lot more tongue too, but Blaine figured it was just because they missed each other. Also, there was something about kissing, that even though it was a completely arbitrary thing, it was almost addictive. You get in tune with frequent kissing, and there's no way you want to stop.

Blaine was grinding slowly against Kurt, kissing him sweetly, the two of them reacquainting themselves with each other's lips. It was smooth, and languid, and so sweet. Blaine missed Kurt. He missed him in every way; he missed kissing him, he missed holding him, he missed seeing his face, god he missed how his lips taste. The firework show finished, but they stayed on the roof for a while, kissing and holding each other and smiling and laughing.

Blaine pulled back once the cold started to become too much, and he kissed Kurt on the nose. "I am so crazy about you." he murmured, kissing him again. And again. And again.

They finally climbed off the roof when Kurt got a phonecall from Mercedes, telling him that everyone was leaving for Denny's.

"So, do you have any plans tonight?" Kurt asked as Blaine shut the balcony doors after climbing back into through the bedroom window.

"Uh, seeing as it's midnight, I'd say no." Blaine said with a chuckle.

Kurt shoved his shoulder playfully. "Well, some of our friends are going to Denny's if you'd like to join us."

"Well, as much as I love shitty breakfast food at all hours of the day, I'm not sure I can go anywhere with you right now without ripping your clothes off," Blaine murmured in Kurt's ear, sending a shiver down Kurt's spine.

Kurt's cheeks turned pink and Blaine brushed his thumb over it. "I missed your blush." he pecked Kurt's cheek and held his hand. "I'm kidding sweetie, I'd love to. I wasn't kidding about the clothes thing though. I haven't seen you in a week, I start to get attuned. Not to mention, you're wearing my clothes," he said, gazing at Kurt's chest, accentuated perfectly in Blaine's sweater. "Which I think is definitely on its way to becoming a kink for me."

"Well," Kurt said, running his fingers down Blaine's chest. "I'm free tomorrow – or later today, so maybe you could come over and we can catch up?"

Blaine grinned and said, "You know me so well."

Kurt giggled and said, "I missed you."

Blaine smiled sweetly, ducking his head and holding Kurt's hands tighter. "I missed you too." He mumbled before taking Kurt's lips in his own again, pulling Kurt's bottom lip between his. Kurt pulled back smiling. "Let's pause for a little, okay? Our friends are waiting for us."

Blaine grinned and pecked his lips before he followed him downstairs to where Mercedes was waiting. She grinned at them and pulled Blaine in for a hug. Blaine hugged her back but glanced at Kurt with wide eyes. Affection from someone other than Kurt was still pretty unfamiliar to him.

"Nice to see you, white boy," she said before pulling back and looking at him again. "Well, sort of white boy."

Blaine laughed and Kurt said to them, "C'mon, everyone else already left."

They walked out to the cars and Mercedes got in with Kurt, Blaine took Mary's van and they first went to Blaine's house to bring the car back before he joined them in Kurt's car and drove to Denny's.

Their friends were already there; everyone from the glee club. Blaine wondered if he hadn't found Kurt, who at McKinley he'd be friends with, because he hates almost everyone at that school. But the glee club guys were pretty cool people, generally speaking.

Kurt sat down at patted the chair beside him for Blaine to sit, and he smiled and sat down, Puck on his other side. "Oh, I get it," Puck said to him, turning away from his conversation with Finn. "You only come in time for macking it at midnight and Denny's."

"I just got back!" Blaine argued before Sam called his attention.

"Where did you go, man? You're wicked dark now." Blaine glanced at his arms. He'd gotten tan after spending a week outside on a boat chasing around a pair of little kids. Before he actually answered, a waitress came over with a few drinks, taking orders for more.

It took a good ten minutes for her to take down their orders, given that several people were trying to talk at once and others hadn't even opened their menus yet. When they all got their orders in, they started talking again. Apparently the talk was about Regionals.

"I don't care what Mr. Schue says, we should do what we did at sectionals." Santana was saying to anyone who was listening.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The only way we will win is I have a solo."

"Shut up, dwarf." Santana retorted nastily. Of course, that led into the two girls arguing over which of them deserved a solo more. Blaine tuned out for a while and paid attention to Kurt. Kurt's right hand was sitting on the table and Blaine brushed his thumb over it as he realized Kurt was wearing the ring he got him.

Kurt smiled at him when he realized what had captured Blaine's attention. "I haven't taken it off since you put it on."

Blaine's hand plunged into the collar of his shirt and he fumbled for a second before he pulled out his necklace. "I haven't either, I started getting a tan line from this."

Kurt laughed and played with his ring. "Well, I did think about you a lot."

Blaine smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "Me too. I really missed you." He muttered, taking a sip out of Kurt's water.

"Hey!" Kurt said, claiming his drink.

"Don't 'hey' me, mister, I didn't even get a drink." He said playfully, his grin eating up his face.

Other people had to notice when his smile got all big and toothy and dorky like this, and Blaine usually made more of an effort to hide it, but he finally seeing Kurt again after a week with two seven year olds and John, he was going to smile as much as he damn well liked.

"Blaine!" Someone called. He turned from Kurt and saw Tina, half sitting on Mike, looking at him. "How was your vacation?"

He shrugged. "Could've been worse; I mostly only babysat, I had to spend time with my uncle, which is always a blast," he rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I'd rather have been in Lima."

Tina's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with your uncle?" she asked, leaning on his elbows to talk to Blaine, Puck and Finn between them having their own conversation.

"A lot." Blaine said sardonically. Tina raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "He's homophobic, and he hated my dad, therefore he hates me," he patted her hand with a sarcastic chuckle. "Just men being men."

"Why did he hate your dad?" she asked curiously.

"Everyone hated my dad." He said shortly. Tina gave that look again for more explanation and Blaine sighed as he answered. "He was just a bad guy, Tina. He was a drunk, he was abusive, he was a flake, he was an asshole."

She nodded slowly. "You hated your dad too." She surmised. Blaine nodded and she asked, "Can I ask why? I mean, more specifically?"

"Same reasons as everyone else…" Tina nodded slowly and was going to stop pushing it, but Blaine wanted to tell her the truth. "He hated me first," he started, grabbing her attention again. "I'm an only child, he didn't want me, he blamed my mom getting pregnant with me the reason his rock and roll career could never take off." He rolled his eyes again. "So he resented me for most of my childhood. And growing up with him just sucked. He warped my view of the world for a few years, quite honestly. He and my mom were the only adults I encountered, I thought that marriage just sucked for everyone, and it followed their pattern; kid messes up, dad gets pissed, takes it out on kid. Or the alternative, kid messes up, dad gets pissed, and takes it out on mom."

He shrugged nonchalantly. He saw the look of poorly concealed horror on Tina's face and almost felt bad. But he wasn't really doing it for Tina, he thinks he was doing it for himself. "I thought that was normal, 'cause I wasn't allowed to have friends, so I was never told otherwise, mom's friends never came over, he didn't have any except his drinking buddies who were exactly the same as him. All he did was drink and smoke and boss my mom around – and that was on a good day."

Tina shook her head slowly, she didn't seem like she knew she was doing it either. "Blaine, that's horrible."

"Well, if you ever wondered why I'm horrible," Blaine teased with a shit eating grin.

Tina shook her head more firmly. "You're not horrible. Not at all." She said. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, it's awful that anyone should."

"Well, it's not all bad," he said. "To follow the cliché, it definitely made me stronger." Tina didn't look at all comforted. "I'm serious; I was that kid who, if you took his lunch, would start packing two just so he could give you one." She laughed and Blaine felt Kurt take his hand under the table.

Kurt was watching Mercedes talk, but Blaine didn't think he knew what she was talking about. He hadn't considered that Kurt might've been listening to his conversation, but he was glad he did it discreetly so he wouldn't call any more attention to it.

Puck and Finn though, seemed less concerned with acting like they weren't eavesdropping. To be fair, Blaine and Tina were talking over them, but still. "What happened?" Finn asked. Blaine raised his eyebrows at him and he explained, "I mean, that was when you were little, what happened after that?"

"Oh," Blaine hadn't thought about it in a while. He preferred to think about a lot of things never happening, it was just easier. "Well, my teachers at school started noticing bruises, so I was sent to my guidance counselor for him to ask, Blaine, have your parents ever hit you? and whatever else. Before anyone really did anything about it though, I was shipped off to boarding school."

He missed boarding school. He wouldn't want to leave McKinley for it now, but he did miss it. It was the first time he'd ever been away from home for longer than a sleepover, it was almost like Christmas came early, except that he saw his mom less and less.

"Then I had to go home when my mom was diagnosed, my dad divorced her and took off, and I think you're all caught up after that." He finished simply. He didn't like going into detail once he got to the part about his mom getting sick, it was still too new, and he hadn't told anyone, not even Kurt, all the details.

Kurt squeezed his hand. Blaine smiled and looked at Kurt from under his eyelashes and felt his face get hot. Kurt was so good for him. God, he was really falling for him. It was getting really hard to deny. And everyday it felt like it was getting closer and closer to love and John finding out and it was fucking terrifying.

Blaine remembered the day well, almost every detail perfectly. It was two days after his mom died. He spent a day after the funeral sitting in his empty house. All of his stuff was packed up, his mom's stuff was packed up, his dad had grabbed the majority of his things before he bailed. He was sitting on the leather couch in his living room, staring at the wall. His house didn't have half as much as it used to. Blaine sold everything he could to pay doctor's bills. Goodbye TV, goodbye baby grand, goodbye to half of his designer wardrobe. He would've sold all of it, and his keyboard, and his laptop, but his mom wouldn't let him. She couldn't bear him not playing her music anymore and not dressing like himself.

That had kind of gone to hell though. After she died, Blaine didn't dress how he used to. It was such a strong reminder of her, it hurt too much. Even when she was sick, he had to quit the Warblers when he left Dalton, and he hadn't really had much music in his life since then. And he missed music, he really did. His mom always wanted him to go to school for it, and for a while, he planned to. He looked into Juliard, UCLA, NYU, Boston Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon… And with his grades and his extracurriculars, he probably could've gotten in. He wasn't so sure anymore, though. He gave up on the idea of college when he was spending every dime he had on his mom. He wasn't upset to do it, but it sort of wiped his college fund, and he didn't really have time to think about school or college.

But now… he was a junior, and his life was starting to get back together. He had top honors again (though it helped that McKinley wasn't exactly a challenge), he was starting to join clubs again, he was thinking of running for president of latin club, even. Blaine really wanted to go to college. College has always been a dream of his; he loved school. He loved learning, he loved the idea of going to a conservatory, and when it started to seem like a possibility again, he was becoming obsessed with the idea.

"So Blaine," Santana called his attention, forcing him back to the present. "You and Kurt got here pretty late - what were you two doing?"

Blaine saw Kurt flush. He knew Santana suspected something, he wasn't sure how strong her convictions were, or if anyone else agreed with her. He had to play it cool, people usually didn't buy into Santana's theories.

"Watching fireworks, Santana." He replied easily, smiling at her sweetly.

She smiled right back. "How can you watch fireworks when your tongue is in someone's mouth?"

Blaine ducked his head, laughing along with everyone else. Play it cool.

Thankfully, Santana let it go. Until everyone started to go home at it reached 2 am, and she grabbed Blaine's arm as he started walking to Kurt's car and pulled him aside.

"What do you want, San?" He asked, able to see his breath because of the frigidness of the parking lot.

"Tell me about you and Hummel." She demanded. "I know something's going on, I wants to know what."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Santana, nothing is going on between me and Kurt."

She sighed and tossed her ponytail. "What the hell, Blaine, I thought we were friends."

"Since when do you want friends?"

She looked at Blaine for a long moment, and Blaine's expression softened. That was a little much. He and Santana weren't close, but Blaine couldn't honestly say they weren't friends.

"Look, Santana, I don't know what you want me to say." Blaine mumbled.

"Just tell me the truth." She said plainly. "I usually tell you the truth."

Blaine sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay, fine. I kissed Kurt at midnight."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, no shit. I've kissed half of the glee club, it doesn't matter. I know there's more going on between the you two."

"Listen," Blaine sighed, rubbing his hands together because it was freezing outside. Santana crossed her arms impatiently and Blaine grabbed her hands, forcing her to look at him and drop her offensive stance. "Santana, I really like Kurt. I don't want to mess this up."

Santana groaned. "God, you're so gay."

Blaine snorted. "Good observation," he met Santana's eye again. "Seriously, San, just leave it alone? For me?"

"Fine. But you owe me." She said before jogging to her car.

"How about Breadsticks, Friday night? I'll buy you dinner." he yelled to her as he walked backward to Kurt's car.

"Deal!" Santana called back.

Blaine hurried to the car, jumping in the passenger side. "Take long enough?" Kurt said

Blaine just laughed. "Can I convince you to come over for a little while tonight? Snuggle up to some Roxy Music?"

"I may as well, given that I'm staying over tonight." Kurt responded easily.

"You're what?" Blaine exclaimed, almost positive he misheard him.

Kurt grinned at him. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? As far as everyone's concerned I'm going to drop you off and sleep over with Santana and Brittany."

"Kurt Hummel, you slippery little minx." He said. "Why are they agreeing to that? Santana loves to start rumors."

"She owes me a favor." Kurt answered enigmatically.

They got back to Blaine's house, and after they brushed the Denny's out of their teeth and changed into pajamas, they headed into Blaine's room. They climbed into bed and Kurt mumbled, "It's good that it's late enough that Mary and John are already in bed."

Blaine hummed in agreement. "It's very good. Because I really want to make out with my gorgeous best friend."

Kurt giggled, his insides warm and squirming. Best friend. Best friend. Blaine hadn't called him that before. Kurt climbed on top of Blaine, kissing him hard on the lips. Blaine smiled into his eager lips, his hands traveling over Kurt's body, both of them clearly very excited to be together again.

"I missed you so much," Blaine breathed onto Kurt's lips. "I missed this so much."

"I missed you too," Kurt mumbled before sucking on Blaine's neck.

Blaine's breathing was starting to get heavy. He wasn't really planning on turning this into a full blown hookup, but Kurt was so hot and God he really wanted Kurt to give him a hickey. Blaine's hands fell to his shirt and started fiddling with the buttons of Kurt's pajama top. "Can I?" he asked, pulling away from Kurt's lips, still hovering above him.

"Yeah," Kurt breathed, he sat up and helped Blaine undo the buttons of his patterned button up. Kurt pushed it off his shoulders, and Blaine could see it quite easily written on his face how nervous he was, given that it was the first time Blaine had seen Kurt with his shirt off. He glanced down at Kurt's naked torso and felt his breath leave him. God, Kurt was perfect.

He leaned down and kissed him again, tugging on Kurt's lips before he pulled back and said clearly, "You're gorgeous."

Needless to say, Blaine's shirt came off soon after that and it was his turn to feel self conscious, even though he'd been shirtless in front of him before, but Kurt seemed to enjoy his not wearing a shirt if kissing down Blaine's stomach was any indication. Blaine had heard a lot of arguments over the years about why gay couples are wrong and whatever, one he never heard was the insecurities when you're intimate with someone the same gender as you.

He couldn't help comparing himself to Kurt. It was all small things that didn't matter though, like that Kurt had a flatter stomach than him, and he was taller, but Kurt didn't seem to share the same thoughts. Blaine was feeling really grateful for his chest waxing habits, because Kurt was sucking all over his chest in a way that was definitely going to leave at least a few hickeys.

They finally fell asleep together close to two thirty, after talking for a little while, and kissing for a really long while. They'd pulled their shirts back on, and Kurt volunteered to sleep on Blaine's floor, but Blaine assured him his bed was large enough for both of them. It took them a little while to get comfortable near each other to sleep, because Blaine didn't want to do anything that'd make Kurt uncomfortable, and Kurt was awkwardly moving like he wasn't sure what to do with himself. After about five minutes of hesitant shuffling, Blaine just said screw it and snuggled into Kurt's chest, turning Kurt into the big spoon. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine after and Blaine figured they just needed a catalyst, because afterwards they moved with each other easily, adjusting whenever one of them moved to get more comfortable.

It was one of the best nights sleep Blaine had had in a very, very long time.

?!

Blaine woke up groggily, feeling something warm on his throat. Oh, those were lips. He opened his eyes slowly as the light invaded his sight and he turned his head and saw Kurt, half on top of him, pressing light kisses all over his neck. The corners of his mouth turned up when he saw Blaine was awake and he murmured into his neck, "Morning, handsome."

Blaine smiled and turned more so Kurt was propping himself up directly on top of him. "Good morning."

Kurt leaned down and kissed Blaine's lips, lowering himself down gently so their bodies were on top of each others. Blaine hummed into a kiss and said, "I like it when you sleep over. You wake me up with kisses and compliments."

Kurt giggled. "What can I say; you're cute in the morning."

"And I not cute the rest of the day?"

"That sounds about right." Kurt answered cheekily.

Blaine laughed and grabbed Kurt's waist with both of his hands and rolled them over, laying on top of Kurt. They both grinned into the next kiss. "Well if you only like me in the morning, I may as well get the most out of it."

Kurt grinned and reached up to kiss him again when a soft, tentative knock disrupted their moment. Kurt's eyes widened. "Crap, do you think it's John or Mary?"

Blaine rolled off of him, "I hope not." He muttered, climbing off the bed and opening the door just enough so that no one outside would be able to see Kurt. It didn't matter though, it was only Ben.

He was rubbing his eyes drowsily and cradling his movie blanket in his other arm. He looked up at Blaine with tired eyes. "Mommy and daddy aren't home and I'm hungry."

"I'll be downstairs in a minute, alright, bud? We'll get you something to eat." Blaine assured.

Ben nodded and walked away, Blaine left his door open. He turned to Kurt and offered him his hands to help him up. Kurt stood up and walked with him downstairs where Rosie was sitting at the dining room table with a bowl of cereal and Ben was laying his head on the table.

Blaine started making Ben is usual breakfast and Rosie asked, "Blaine, why's Kurt here?" Blaine blanked, unable to think of a reason Kurt would be there when Rosie's eyes lit up. "Is he here to make cookies?"

Blaine darted his eyes to Kurt, and Kurt just smiled at Rosie and said, "I am!" Blaine couldn't help but smile at Rosie's elation, and he grabbed all the supplies they'd need.

Thirty minutes later, he had Kurt and Rosie scooping cookies onto a cookie sheet, and he was washing the dishes they'd used, pretty certain he had flour in his hair. Once the dishwasher was loaded and Kurt set the timer, he pulled him onto the couch in the family room as Ben started "Elf." Kurt sat down and pulled Blaine in front of him, wrapping his legs around him and nuzzling into his neck. With the smell of cookies in the oven, Kurt and Blaine snuggled up watching a movie with the kids, it was perfectly serene, and so… domestic. A little while into the movie, Blaine turned so he could sort of see Kurt's face and said, "So, I have a proposition for you."

"How formal. What is it?" Kurt asks, combing through Blaine's bed head.

Blaine sat up, wiggling out of Kurt's hold and turning towards him. Kurt looked more attentive, looking Blaine straight in the eye. Blaine missed having contact between them, so he took Kurt's hand and threaded their fingers together.

"I've been thinking," he started, hating how cliché he sounded. "About how much I love spending time with you, and how much more time we'd have if we were say, into the same kinds of things." Kurt looked puzzled. "I mean, it wouldn't be that big a stretch for me, because it used to be my thing too, so I was thinking about it and," he took a moment to pause and stop acting so ridiculously nervous. It wasn't like it'd be the end of the world if Kurt said no, so why did he have to make such a fuss?

"I was just wondering what you thought about me joining New Directions." He said lucidly, looking Kurt straight in the eye.

"Seriously? You'd want to join glee club?" Kurt asked importantly. Blaine nodded and Kurt grew an ear to ear grin and exclaimed, "Of course I want you to join, I said that months ago!"

"A lot can change in a month." Blaine pointed out.

Kurt threw his arms around Blaine's shoulders and hugged him, saying, "This didn't, of course I still want you to join. It'll make rehearsal a lot more fun for me."

"You're positive?" Blaine asked, holding Kurt's waist.

"Yes, of course, you'll love it there! You're already friends with most everyone in the glee club, and you're talented, they'll love having you there." Kurt encouraged, his eyes filled with excitement.

It was that excitement that made him join. The next day, when they were back in school and Blaine needed to talk to the creepy director, and he realized he'd have to listen to Berry twice as often, and he was supposed to sing about his feelings every week, he reminded himself of Kurt's joy from the day before as his motivation to go through with it.

"Hey, Mr. Schue?" Blaine said, tapping his door during his lunch and Mr. Schue's plan period.

He looked up from his computer with a smile. "Hi, Blaine! What's up?" the teacher asked, leaning back in his chair to show Blaine he had his full attention.

"I just wanted to talk to you about possibly joining glee club…?" he said slowly and tentatively. Kurt didn't tell him how exactly he was supposed to go about this.

But Schue's eyes lit up with excitement. "Great," he said, sitting up, "take a seat for a minute." He said, gesturing to the chairs in front of him. Yeah, Blaine was regretting joining a little bit. There was just something about Mr. Schue and all his sweater vests that just creeped him out.

"So what voice part are you?" he asked eagerly.

"Tenor." He answered, reminding himself he was doing this for Kurt. This was to spend more time with him, and to build their relationship, and get more involved in Kurt's life, and whatnot.

"Perfect, that's just what we need," the teacher said, grinning. "Now, have you had any problems with any of the kids in the club before? We really don't need anymore drama."

"Oh, yeah," Blaine chuckled. Mr. Schue's expression fell. "Finn and I had some pretty big problems a while back, but we're cool now. I mean, I'm sort of dating his brother, so…"

"Kurt?" the teacher clarified. Blaine nodded, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He answered a few more boring questions for Mr. Schue before hurrying to lunch where he had like, ten minutes to eat because Mr. Schue wouldn't shut up. He didn't tell anyone besides Kurt about it, and tried to forget about it completely until he walked into the choir room with the director.

"New Directions," Mr. Schuester said at the start of his very first glee rehearsal ever on the first day back from break. "Please welcome our newest member, Blaine Anderson."

He had Blaine stand at the front of the room with him, looking out on the glee club. Unsurprisingly, many of them looked shocked. Mike and Tina both looked pleased, Kurt had a huge grin on his face that made Blaine smile. Kurt was just really cute, so what.

Schuester turned to him and asked, "Do you have anything prepared for us?"

"Like an audition?" Blaine asked, scratching the back of his head. Mr. Schue nodded and Blaine ran through his mind of all his old audition pieces, all the songs he did in his old choir and just for fun. His eyes wandered around the room for inspiration and got caught on Kurt, sitting in the back row with a smile playing on his lips. "Um… yeah, I think I have something."

"Great," Mr. Schue said, sitting down next to Artie in the front row. Blaine tried to remember all the chords in his head and how to play it as he walked over to the piano.

"I've got this covered," he said to the guy sitting at the piano. He didn't give music or anything to the band, because this was one he usually did by himself anyways, he didn't need them.

He gave himself a minute to acquaint himself with the piano before he played the intro.

You think I'm pretty

Without any makeup on

You think I'm funny

When I tell the punchline wrong

He looked over at the glee club and saw their reactions reflected pretty much how little they expected Blaine to sing a cheesy top 40's love song. Blaine would be surprised too from the outside, because he really just didn't seem the type; what with the leather jacket he wore almost every week, his motorcycle, he'd given most everyone at this school an enigmatic image of him, they probably expected like, The Who or someone.

The band played along after the first chorus, picking up pretty easily. His version wasn't very different from the original at all, it was just a piano acoustic. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Kurt for too long at a time, because ugh he was adorable, and he loved seeing him blush, and he loved seeing all their friends poking fun at him in their seats. He was usually really low-key about their relationship, but he couldn't help it when he was singing. Especially singing that song. The first time Kurt had ever heard him song it had been this song, he wasn't sure why, something Kurt really made him love the song. A few people started singing along at the choruses, like Tina and Quinn, and he appreciated it. He hadn't expected it, but he probably should have.

He finished his song and stood up to some applause from the glee club, Rachel and Finn looking extremely enthused, but he was paying more attention to Kurt, because he was still blushing because of the significance behind that song, and yeah, he probably didn't expect Blaine to remember that was the first song he sung for him. He nodded to Mr. Schue as he started the lesson and walked over to sit beside Kurt in the back, resisting tooth and nail to not kiss him, because their friends weren't in clue with their… thing, so he didn't kiss him as much as he wanted to, and settled to covertly brush his hand over Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt turned to him, biting his lip. "I can't believe you did this." he mumbled. "Oh, my god, you're the most embarrassing person in the world. You're worse than my dad."

Blaine groaned. "Please do not compare me to your dad." He grumbled, shuffling his chair a little closer to Kurt's.

Then, he attended his very first glee club lesson (lesson? Class? Rehearsal?) and it was… fun. A lot more fun than he expected. He forgot how much he loved being in glee club, especially because Kurt was there, and the people there still seemed to like him, so yeah, it was kind of an awesome start to the new year.