:)

"Hullo?"

"Morning Kurt!"

"…Wh-who…is this? What time is it?"

"It's 9 AM and it's Cousin Brody!" Kurt shot up in his bed.

"Brody?"

"Morning!" Kurt groaned and glanced at the calendar beside his bed. Shit. With everything that had been happening, he had completely forgotten about hosting his cousin Brody for the weekend.

Their mothers, Sarah and Megan, had met in college when they were paired as roommates. The two immediately become best friends, bonding over a mutual love of Redvines & records from the 60s. They lived together after college, stood in each other's weddings, the two even purposely moved right down the street from each other when they got married. And when they had kids a few years part, there was no doubt that they would grow up to be lifelong friends themselves.

After Kurt's mom died leaving behind a grieving husband and a young son, Megan Weston had done all she could do to step up in her place and both Kurt and his father had been eternally grateful to her for it. Her own son Brody, who had just started walking, immediately took to Kurt and started following him around like a baby duckling. When he started talking a while later, he let everyone within earshot know that he was "Brahdur Brody" and holding his hand was "Brahdur Kurt". When the older male had tried to explain to him that they weren't really brothers, Brody fell silent before scrunching up his little face and insisting that they were cousins then. Unable to resist, Kurt had let him have it and "Cousin Brody" had been born.

Now a junior in high school, "Cousin Brody" had started looking at colleges and had made Kurt promise to host him for a weekend so he could look at schools in LA. Kurt had agreed without question because family was family and if he was being honest, he had missed his "cousin" who he also regarded as his oldest friend. Kurt had just forgotten that that particular, very important weekend, was this weekend.

"Aww, Cousin Kurt, you didn't forget about me, did you?" Kurt winced at the knowing tone in his voice.

"…No…" Brody laughed and Kurt smiled and walked towards his closet. "I'm sorry Brody. I didn't mean to. Look, the airport's only about 30 minutes away from my apartment but I still have to get ready and I promised a friend that I'd drive him to the bank at 10. You don't mind having to wait a little while do you? I can-"

"Don't sweat it, Kurt. Mom figured since you hadn't called her in a while that you've been really busy, so she gave me money to take a cab from the airport to your place." Kurt cursed and immediately felt even guiltier. He knew he hadn't called home in a while and he'd marked it on his list of things to do. "Hey, stop it." Brody remarked when Kurt didn't answer. "I can practically feel your guilt through the phone. When you get back from the bank, we can call both her and your dad together, okay? Kill two birds with the same phone. " Kurt chuckled.

"Deal. Now hang up the phone so I can text you my address."

"Deal. See ya soon." The line went dead and Kurt quickly tapped out a message to him before hurriedly showering and throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. After making sure that Brody had responded, Kurt grabbed a few granola bars from his cabinet and rushed out to his car. Artie only lived about fifteen minutes away from him, but LA traffic was unpredictable and he didn't wanna take any chances. When he pulled up outside, Artie was already standing on the stoop of his apartment building, his head ducked down and his earbuds in. Kurt was about to honk his horn when the Pleasure luckily raised his head and walk towards him.

"Morning! Am I late?" Kurt asked when Artie got in and shut the door behind him. Artie laughed and shook his head.

"It's barely 9:45. I'm early. Thanks again for driving me, man. My car's in the shop and-"

"Don't worry about it." Kurt said as he backed out of the complex and veered back onto the main road. "Friends do friends favors and sometime that involves driving them places. Why'd you have to go down to the bank anyway?" Artie sighed and shrugged.

"I was trying to take out money at an ATM and I kept screwing up my pin. After three times, it locked me out and shut down my account. I have to go in person with proof of who I am for them to reopen it." Kurt nodded and the two sat in silence, Artie fidgeting every few seconds. Kurt eventually chuckled.

"Go ahead. I know you want to. Go ahead and ask how it went." Artie grinned guilty.

"Sorry. Wes called me in a blind panic-"

"He just can't keep anything to himself can he?"

"He does it all because he cares." Artie explained with a laugh. "He just tends to have what Trent calls a "sitcom life", where no matter how hard he tries, things don't tend to work out how he wants them too. He called me stressed out of his mind because Eric had called and asked him to play mediator and he wasn't sure if he could do it without putting his foot in his mouth. I suggested that he call Blaine and ask him to do it instead."

"So it's your fault that Eric and Jeremiah almost killed each other yesterday."

"Guilty as charged." Both men laughed as Kurt turned a corner, the bank only a few more blocks away. "Did it at least get some of the tension out?" Kurt sighed.

"I don't know." He answered honestly after a second. "If anything, I think it might have caused more tension. I don't think any of us were really prepared to have that talk since it ended up being Jeremiah yelling more than anything else. This whole thing is probably gonna end up being a situation that is just gonna have to run its course and there's nothing we can do to stop it, ya know?"

"Are you at least glad it happened though?" Artie asked as Kurt pulled into a space and started to unplug his belt. Kurt shrugged.

"Even if I wasn't, it's too late to change it now."

"Hey! How can I help you?" Blaine took a step back when a taller boy that he wasn't expecting, opened the door. Standing in front of him was not Kurt, but someone else altogether. He was about Kurt's height with blue eyes and a complexion and hair that was as dark as his own. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, both of which were splattered with paint. He also had paint on his hands and arms, as well as some on his face and neck. The blue eyes were staring at him expectantly and Blaine was suddenly nervous that he had in fact gotten the address wrong. He cleared his throat and took a small step back.

"Um, hi. I'm looking for my friend Kurt, but I think I'm at the wrong-"

"No you're right." The guy interrupted. "Kurt lives here. I'm cousin Brody." He said sticking out his paint-covered hand which Blaine took after slight hesitation, inwardly relived when he pulled his hand back dry. "I'm in town visiting."

"Okay, um, Brody?" Brody nodded. "Can I ask what you're doing and why you're covered in paint?" Brody smiled and it lit up his face before he grabbed Blaine's arm and yanked him in. Blaine walked further into the apartment to see all of the furniture in the middle of the room with plastic covering it as well as tarps all over the floor. Two walls had been painted a dark green, one had been left white, and one had been painted black. "You're painting the living room?" Brody nodded excitedly.

"Yeah! Plain walls aren't things he tends to enjoy and I thought he might like it. Green is his favorite color so that's why two of them are green and I wanted to leave him one wall for him to decide what to do with." He responded pointing at the walls in question. Blaine turned to the black wall.

"And this one?" Brody chuckled.

"When I was little, I used to beg my dad to help me paint my bedroom. I used to ask him every single day, every single week for him to help me paint it. He'd always say 'tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow'. I used to hate that word to the point of where I stopped even thinking it if I could avoid it." Brody walked up to the wall and carefully touched it. "The week before my birthday, my father got rear-ended and drove off the road and into a tree. He had been coming home from the hardware store."

"Paint?" Blaine muttered as he stepped closer to the wall. Brody nodded.

"For my birthday the year before, my uncle took me, Kurt and my dad out to paintball. Kurt and my dad hated it but I fell in love. I didn't want my room to be anything other than splatter painted after that. But when my dad died, I didn't even know where to start. Two weeks after, I came home from school to see that Kurt had started it for me. He had painted one wall completely black and had gone ahead and started throwing paint at it. I joined in as soon as I saw. Didn't even bother to take off my backpack. That was the first time I had been happy since it all went down.

"When Kurt's mom died, he spent the night after the funeral at my house and when I was sure he was asleep, I snuck back into his. He went home and opened his door to find-"

"One black wall with you splatter painting it?" Blaine interrupted earning a grin from the other male.

"One black wall with me splatter painting it. It's almost become a tradition of ours." Brody walked over to an open can of green paint and began stirring it. Blaine watched in silence before tugging off his shoes and pulling a can of blue paint towards him.

"Want some help with your tradition?" Brody grinned and dipped his hand into the paint can.

"Be my guest."

"What do you mean my account is empty?" Kurt looked back and forth between his co-worker beside him and the bank consultant in front of them. After a 30-minute wait, they had finally been able to see someone. After being seated, Artie had promptly explained how he had been locked out of his account at an ATM because he had forgotten his pin and needed it to be reopened for him. The tall consultant had nodded, stating that it happened all the time and that reopening it wouldn't be a problem. Except it was.

After looking up his account, the consultant Alex informed them that not only had his account been closed for almost a month, but all of the money had been transferred to a different bank.

"That's not possible." Artie argued. "I've literally used the same bank since I was 12. My entire family uses this bank. I don't have another one to just willingly transfer money to."

"How'd you not notice that your account's been closed for almost a month?" Kurt asked. "Haven't you had to pay bills?"

"My dad trained me and my siblings to always be ahead of our bills." The other brunet explained. "I'm always two months ahead on everything and always have enough cash on me to last because when I was younger, my sister was attacked at an ATM so I don't like using them."

"But your checks-"

"Puck does direct deposit for me so I don't have to deal with the hassle." Artie interrupted. "The last time I had to pull out cash was two weeks ago when my pin was denied."

"How much money was in your account?" Alex asked typing on his computer. Artie groaned.

"Five hundred in my checking and eight thousand in my savings."

"And all of it's just gone?" Kurt probed. "There's no way to see where it's been transferred?" Alex shook his head.

"For safety reasons, I don't have that kind of clearance. I can only see half of the account number that it was wired to. I can talk to the upper levels to see if they can access it, but you'll have to make it appeal and it will take a few days for their response." Artie nodded.

"Yeah, let's do that. Can I make the appeal today?" Alex nodded.

"We can do that right now, if you'd like. But before we start on it, you have to be completely positive that this transfer was a mistake."

"Almost 9 thousand dollars is gone and you think that's some kind of mistake?"

"That's not what I meant." Alex stated, trying to calm Artie down. "I simply meant that this is a case of stolen identity as well as fraud which are both serious federal crimes. Things like this have happened before where money has been moved somewhere else and it turns out to be innocent. For example, a couple once came in to set up a transfer deal for their kid. They had a joint account as well as separate ones, and they agreed that on their son's 21st birthday, a large amount of money from both of their accounts would be taken out and transferred into their kid's account at a different bank.

"They eventually got divorced and even though they canceled their joint account, neither of them asked to break the transfer deal. So when their son turned 21, the money was taken out of their accounts and put into his. The dad, completely forgetting the deal, panicked when he saw a huge chunk of his money was missing, and not only was he was ready to call fraud, but he was ready to claim that his ex-wife and estranged son had stolen it as revenge. He only remembered the agreement when we showed him the paper with his name signed on the bottom. Mr. Abrams, You have to be sure that what has happened was not previously agreed upon and that your information has in fact been stolen."

"It has been stolen." Artie confirmed. "I haven't had any prior agreement with anyone to clear out my account and definitely not to have it transferred anywhere else." Alex nodded.

"Then we make an appeal to see where the money has been sent." Artie nodded.

"Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for, and I'm very sorry that this is happened to you, Mr. Abrams, but I will do everything I can to help."

"Artie. If I'm calling you by your first name, I figure you should call me by mine." Alex smiled.

"Okay, Artie. So before I go get the appeal papers, do you have any other questions?" Artie shook his head.

"Not re-wait! My grandparents." Kurt and Alex shared a look before turning back to the room's other occupant.

"You think your grandparents stole your money?" Kurt slowly asked. Artie rolled his eyes.

"No, they set up trust funds for me and my siblings when we were born. It's with this bank and they put them in our names. Is that at risk too?"

"It depends." Alex started. "Do you have access to it now?" Artie shook his head.

"I'm not allowed to touch it till I'm 25."

"How old are you now?"

"I turn 23 next month." Alex furrowed his eyebrows as he stood, Artie and Kurt doing the same.

"It should be fine and still untouchable, but I'll check to make sure when I get back with the appeal papers." Artie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." Alex nodded.

"I'll be right back. Kurt and Artie watched his leave before sinking back into their seats.

"I'm really sorry this happened to you." Kurt said earning a chuckle from the boy beside him.

"Why? It's not like this is your fault. It's my own for being so on top of my finances I didn't feel the need to check them."

"Well, at leas there's one good thing from all of this." Kurt said with a grin.

"Oh really?" Artie mockingly asked. "And what's that?"

"When this is all over, you asking out Alex shouldn't be a problem."

"How is it that we got more paint on the tarps than on the wall?"

"Because we thought being blindfolded was a good idea."

"I still think it was."

Blaine sat up and looked at the male beside him before looking at the mess of the tarp that they were both lying down on. After picking their colors of choice, Brody had suggested it might be more fun blindfolded. Blaine had agreed and within minutes instead of throwing paint at the wall, they were throwing it at each other. That had been an hour ago. They had painted each other, the tarps littering the room, and only a few spots on the wall as well as the very bottom of it. They had eventually collapsed, exhausted and not caring about lying in puddles of paint as they talked.

Blaine found himself enraptured by Brody's stories of childhood Kurt who had been endlessly bullied and picked on but never let it affect him. How when his dad died, Kurt and his father had done everything to help. How they had done the same later when Kurt lost his mom. How as they grew up, Kurt tried to shelter Brody and how Brody tried to protect Kurt. How Brody had waited for Kurt to be completely out of sight before he started crying because he would miss him. How much he had been looking forward to seeing his cousin again on the trip.

Blaine talked about how while he wasn't close to his parents, he and his older brother were inseparable. How he knew he was gay at 12, but tried to convince himself that he could like girls until he'd had sex with one of his male classmates after his junior prom. How Cooper had found him crying in their tree house the next day unable to say anything besides "I'm gay" over and over again. Cooper had been silent for a while before pulling him into a hug and simply saying, 'more women for me.'

Brody smirked at the story before reciting about how when he was 13, he had caught Kurt kissing one of the boys from two streets down and in his naivety and ignorance, had innocently brought up the topic of 'cousin Kurt's boyfriend' at dinner that night. An embarrassed Kurt had tried to flee the scene only to have Burt haul him back into his seat and for Megan to start asking question after question. Kurt, who had clearly been terrified, had looked like a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It wasn't until a while later that Brody understood that he had practically forced Kurt out of the closet. He had apologized, only to have Kurt thank him, claiming that 'if you hadn't shoved me out, I would have died in there.'

Brody rose up and matched Blaine's position. "You know," He started. "You're pretty cool." Blaine grinned despite himself. The approval of family had always been important to him in a relationship so the fact that Kurt's cousin had willingly accepted him warmed him from the inside out.

"You're not so bad yourself, Brody." Brody laughed.

"You say that now, but you spend more than a day with me and I guarantee you will be ready to send me back home." The two laughed and flicked paint at each other before settling once more. "We were all pretty worried when Kurt said that he was moving out to California since he didn't know anyone out here and he was gonna be so far away from home, ya know?" Blaine nodded. "He doesn't talk about work much, but he talks about all of his friends all the time. I'm glad you guys make him happy. And I'm really glad," Brody said as he leaned in towards the other brunet. "That you make him happy. If this afternoon is any indication, you two are good for each other, and anyone good enough for my cousin is good enough for me." Blaine narrowed his eyebrows.

"Brody," The older male started slowly. "I think you've misunderstood."

"Nope. I always know when Kurt's hiding something and that something is you." Brody laughed before lying back down on the floor. "Wait till mom finds out that he's been hiding a secret boyfriend. He is not gonna hear the end of it."

"Um Brody-"

Both men jumped and stood up at the sound of a key turning in the lock just in time to see Kurt and Artie enter the apartment, both wearing looks of surprise.

"Cousin Kurt!" Brody ran up to the older male and enveloped him in a hug, which Kurt enthusiastically returned. Artie, who had been taking the scene in, carefully slithered out from behind them and walked over to Blaine. Kurt eventually pulled away from the hug, grinning.

"I told you that you could come into my apartment, not destroy it." Brody shrugged.

"We have a tradition." Kurt arched an eyebrow before looking around him to see the still mostly black wall. He laughed before walking up and touching it.

"Splatter paint wall?"

"Your apartment looked too plain. I wanted-"

"I love it." Kurt interrupted. "Thank you Brody. But you've been here for hours and it's not done."

"I painted the other walls too." Brody offered, walking over to where Artie and Blaine were standing. Brody stuck out his hand.

"Brody Weston, Kurt's cousin." Artie smirked and stuck out his hand as well.

"Artie Abrams, Kurt's friend." Brody nodded and walked around him to wrap an arm around Blaine's shoulders.

"Besides Kurt," he continued. "If you're looking to blame someone, blame this guy for distracting me." Blaine scoffed.

"By the time I got here, he was already a hot mess." The older male defended. "Then he started throwing paint, and the wall became a lost cause." Kurt crossed his arms and mockingly glared at the two of them.

"Typical Brody. Causing a mess and dragging someone into it with you."

"I caused a mess, yes I did." The younger male agreed. "But your boyfriend Eric here, didn't stop me, so this is also his fault." Everyone froze. Brody looked at them confused.

"Brody," Kurt started, slowly moving towards the three men standing on tarps in his living room. "Who do you think that is?"

"Eric Strong." The high schooler responded. "I know you never called him your boyfriend in your phone calls home, but come on, Kurt. We're family. I know you. It was obvious that something was going on between the two of you, and after hanging out with him, I don't know why you didn't tell us. He's great." Blaine cleared his throat and removed Brody's arm from around him.

"Brody, I'm not Eric." The male in question looked back and forth between the room's other occupants for signs of joking. He took a step back when he found none.

"You're not Eric?"

"No."

"So you're not dating Kurt."

"No."

"…Well. This is awkward."

"What do you mean you never asked him his name? You spent the better half of the day with him! How did his name never come up in conversation?"

"Because it just didn't! There were only two of us in the apartment! If I was speaking, it was obvious I was speaking to was him!" Kurt sighed before sinking onto his bed. After Brody's big "reveal", Kurt had whisked him away into his bedroom and locked the door behind them, not saying a word to either Artie or Blaine. This was not how this day was supposed to go.

"I told you Eric's eyes were blue."

"Hey! Colored contacts lie." Brody argued. "I have them in three colors and none of them match my eyes."

"Brody, you don't even wear glasses."

"Precisely! So you telling me that his eyes were blue means nothing!" Kurt glared at his family member before flopping backwards onto his comforter.

"Why did you assume Eric was my boyfriend?" Brody shrugged.

"It was the way you talked about him. I could hear you smiling through the phone. I could practically see your hands moving and your eyes lighting up. I mean the only other time that I heard you talk like that was when you were harboring that major hard-on for that Blaine guy." Kurt instantly sat up and glanced at the door.

"I did not have a major hard-on for Blaine." Brody scoffed before sitting down next to him.

"Yes you did. When we skyped that one time and you were talking about him, I could virtually see the cartoon hearts floating above your head." Kurt let out another groan before lying back on his bed. "I don't see what the big deal is. You had a crush on a guy you met. It happens! I've done it twice and I'm not even gay! I mean you stopped talking about Blaine in your phone calls, so you don't see him anymore right?"

"…"

"Kurt, you stopped seeing him right?"

"Uh…"

"Kurt…"

"Well…" Brody grabbed his cousin's shoulders and made him sit upright.

"Kurt…who is that sitting in your living room?" Kurt avoided eye contact and Brody gasped. "That's Blaine?" Kurt nodded. "Oh boy."

"Yeah. Oh boy."

"So…how was your day?" Artie chuckled.

"Well, while you were over here pretending to someone else, I found out that someone was pretending to be me." Blaine playfully shoved his employee.

"Be serious." Artie arched an eyebrow.

"I'm being serious. I went down to the bank to reset my pin, only to find out that someone had emptied my account and stolen all my money."

"What?" Blaine led Artie over to one of the still covered chairs and sat down beside him. "Tell me everything. How did this happen?"

"I don't know! I'm always so…careful, ya know? I was brought up so that this would never happen to me. I don't know how I'm gonna break this to my family." Blaine pulled him into a hug.

"It's gonna be fine." He promised. "And if you need anything remember, you can always come to me." Artie pulled back from the hug and smiled sheepishly.

"Actually, I was planning on calling you later for a favor."

"What is it?"

"Well," Artie said nervously. "My apartment is paid for through the next two months, but my lease doesn't end for another six. And since I've been completely wiped out, there's no way I can pay for the final four. So I was wondering, if there was anyway that I could get a pay advance so I could just go ahead and buy it out and start looking for apartments tomorrow."

"Nope. No apartment searching." Blaine firmly stated. "You're moving in with me. Tomorrow. And as for the pay advance, don't worry about it. I'll pay for it, personally."

"Blaine, as your employee, I can't let you do that."

"Artie, as your friend, I can do whatever the hell I want and you can't stop me." Artie was silent before launching himself at Blaine and gripping him tightly.

"Thank you." Blaine grinned into the other man's shoulder.

"Don't mention it." Artie pulled away and arched an eyebrow.

"So now that my problems are taken care of, you wanna explain why Kurt's cousin thinks you're his boyfriend?" Blaine glared at him causing the other male to break out in laughter. "How did you go the day without him learning your name?" Blaine sighed.

"I have no idea but this kind of thing, would literally only happen to me."

"Well, at least there's one good thing out of this mess." Blaine scoffed.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"The Blaine's backyard barbecue this weekend is gonna be a great."

After waiting another 20 minutes, Blaine and Artie decided to head out and over to his apartment to assess how long packing up would take. Kurt and Brody had poked their heads out of the door, said their goodbyes, promised to see them tomorrow, and immediately ducked back into the bedroom. They finally emerged after the living room had been vacated and Kurt broke down and told Brody everything. He told Brody about what he actually did for a living, how he really met Eric and all of his new friends, and how Blaine, the mysterious stranger who had helped him get his job in the first place, was really his boss.

He also explained the Jeremiah situation and how he hadn't spoken to Eric since the meeting that was supposed to be done in peace. Brody listened in silence until Kurt was done, offering nothing but small sounds of support and head nods. When Kurt was finally done, he simply stood up, picked up the half empty can of blue paint and threw it on the other male, starting a war that eventually ended in them actually splatter painting the wall. Brody laughed as they painted, stating that as long as he's happy, he didn't care about how "Hollywood" his life had gotten.

The next morning, they headed out early, Brody stopping them every few feet to take a picture. After checking out three schools, Kurt lost Brody for about an hour only to walk past a Hollister store and see him walking around in it shirtless. Kurt dragged him out by the ear.

With all of the schools checked off his list, Brody and Kurt headed back to the car, and out of the city in the direction of Blaine's mansion. As they pulled up to the house, they ran into Jeff pacing outside the front door.

"Jeff, you're gonna wear a hole through the concrete." Kurt called out when he was close enough. The blond in question looked up and smiled.

"Kurt! Hey! Who's this?"

"Cousin Brody." Jeff grinned and shook his the outstretched hand.

"So, you're Brody! Nice to meet ya. Artie said that he hoped Kurt would bring you over."

"Sweet! You're Jeff, right?" The pleasure nodded, surprised. "Kurt talks about you guys all the time, and after yesterday, I'm gonna make sure I have everyone's names from the beginning."

"What happened yes-"

"Anyway," Kurt interrupted. "Why are you out here pacing?"

"I'm invited someone and I'm waiting for them to show up." The blond explained looking out towards the driveway. "But you guys can go ahead on in. Everybody's already here, Including Artie's new thing which I heard you had something to do with." Kurt grinned and nodded.

"What can I say?" He responded. "I'm great. I didn't think he'd actually ask him out."

"Well he did, he's here and Trent is already planning the wedding."

"Good old Trent." Jeff laughed and waved as Kurt and Brody started to head in. "We'll see you in there, yeah?" Jeff nodded and turned back to staring intently out at the road. It took another ten minutes to get from the front of the house to the back (Brody kept stopping to take pictures) and like Jeff said, by the time they got there the bbq was in full swing. Jesse, his boyfriend and Wes were swimming in the pool, Mike, Sam and David were lying on chairs talking, Ryder was having a juggling contest with Trent and Nick, Artie and Alex were sitting the grass taking pictures, and Sebastian was hovering over Blaine at the grill. Thad and Jeremiah Kurt noticed, were nowhere to be seen.

"Cousin Brody!" Brody grinned and ran over to Artie on the ground landing on top of him. Kurt walked after him.

"You see, Brody? This is why we can't take you anywhere." He stated before dropping on the grass beside the consultant. Alex laughed.

"Good to see you again, Kurt." Kurt nodded.

"And it's good to see you too, though I don't know if I would have let Artie ask you out if I knew you were a hipster." He joked pointing at the other male's outfit consisting of navy shorts, a denim jacket, a green scarf, and a yellow shirt with a matching hat. "You can feel the sun, right?" Alex laughed and adjusted his hat.

"I plan on being the best dressed corpse in the morgue. Speaking of dying," He said, looking to Artie and Brody who were in the middle of a conversation, Brody still lying on top of the other male. "I think your friend is gonna crush my date's windpipe if he stays on him any longer."

"Hey! I'm not that heavy." Brody interjected rolling off Artie and onto his back on the grass. "I'm a delicate flower."

"Yeah, you're a Venus Flytrap." Brody started to complain, only to be interrupted by the sound of laughter coming from the grill. The four (as well as most of the people in the yard) turned to see Sebastian with his head thrown back as he laughed, Blaine grimacing beside him. Brody narrowed his eyes.

"That's…Sebastian? Right?"

"Yep." Artie confirmed. "Kissing ass, as usual. He hasn't been around much because he's been fucking this club promoter, so when he's not working, he's basically all over the city. But apparently that's over, so now he's decided to make up for lost time with Blaine."

"So…we don't like him?" Alex asked. Artie shrugged.

"We don't not like him. He's kinda private, except ya know, sexually. He's a decent person and he's not so bad when he's not being a dick or ya know, trying to fuck the boss. He's got his moments." The four watched as in an attempt to impress, Sebastian grabbed the spatula from Blaine and tried to flip a burger only to have it land on the gross. Artie let out a low whistle. "This…this is not one of them."

"Hey Kurt! Hey stranger!" The four turned to see Nick and Trent jogging over to them. "You must be Brody." Nick said, the two men seating themselves on the grass. "Artie said you might come by."

"I don't like to miss a good party. You're…Nick and you're Trent right?" Nick grinned and Trent arched an eyebrow.

"Wow. Kurt must talk about us a lot." Trent said pretending to stare Kurt down.

"He does." Brody's comment got him punched in the shoulder by his cousin but he just shrugged it off. "He also sent me locks of your hair so I could compare them."

"As long as it was clean, I don't care." Nick interjected, sending a wink Brody's way, which he returned. Kurt rolled his eyes and punched him again. "By the way, have you guys seen Jeff?"

"Yeah," Brody replied. "He was pacing outside when we got here. He said he was waiting for someone."

"That's what he told me too." Nick said with a sigh. "This isn't good. He's been worried and pacing for the past few days and if there's anything I've learned since we've been together, it's that a nervous Jeff is a scheming Jeff. He's planning something."

"You don't think it's something bad do you?" Alex asked. Nick shrugged.

"Not necessarily something bad. Just something big…I mean the last time he was like this was when he was about to ask me to move in with him." Beside him, Trent gasped.

"You don't think he's proposing do you?" Nick's eyes went wide and shook his head.

"Definitely not. It's way too soon. We've only been together for like a year and a half-"

"Nicholas," Trent said in his most father-like voice. "When it's the right person, time means absolutely nothing. My mother proposed to my dad on their sixth month anniversary and they got married on their eighth. They've been happily married for 25 years. The only people I know who are nearly as happy as them are you and Jeff." Nick blushed and ducked his head, but he couldn't stop his smile from spreading.

"You, you really think he's gonna propose?"

"You did say he only gets like this for something major." Brody cut in. "And last time I checked proposing was a pretty major thing."

"I don't know-"

"Nick?" The whole group turned to see Jeff walking towards them and the six men all hurried to stand.

"He accepts!" Trent said, pushing his co-worker towards his boyfriend. Jeff caught his arm as he stumbled and helped him stay on his feet.

"He accepts what?" Jeff asked curious. Nick shook his head.

"Ignore him. What's up, babe?" Jeff offered him a small smile before kissing him. Behind them, the rest of the pleasures, including Blaine had formed a small huddle.

"What's going on?" Blaine muttered from Kurt's side.

"Jeff's gonna propose!" Trent excitedly whispered earning hits from three different people.

"We don't actually know what's going on." Kurt explained. "Apparently Jeff's been acting weird for the past few days, Nick doesn't know what's going on, and Trent is convinced he's gonna pop the question."

"What?" Everyone froze and looked to Jeff and Nick who had stopped kissing and were staring at them.

"I might have said that a little louder than I meant to." Jeff laughed before turning back to his boyfriend.

"Nick, baby I'm sorry to break it to you, but this, this isn't a proposal."

"That's okay!" The brunet quickly assured. "I wasn't ready anyway. That's just Trent being…Trent. But if that's not what's been bothering you than why have you been so weird?" Jeff sighed before taking both of Nick's hands in his.

"You know I love you right? And I only do things that I think will make you happy?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I did something."

"Jeff," Nick started slowly. "Whatever you did, I'm sure it wasn't that bad. And even if it was, whatever it is, we can work through it-to-"

"Nick?" The boy in question went pale at the mention of his name and he as well as everyone else turned to see a girl walking out of Blaine's house. Jeff waved her over and moved to stand behind Nick who it seemed to have lost the ability to move. She was wearing a bright blue dress with Chestnuts curly hair that fell down her shoulders. She had a round face that was dotted in freckles with honey colored eyes and dimples. When she was about a foot away, she stopped and gave a hesitant wave. "Hi Nick." She said again. When there was no response, Jeff gently nudged his boyfriend a step forward.

"Ni-Ni-Nicole?" The girl chuckled.

"My full name?" She asked. "The last time you called me that, you were four."

"I haven't seen or heard from you in years. Excuse me for not being cordial." He bit back, earning a gasp from behind him.

"Nick! There's no reason to be rude." Wes started, only to have Nicole stop him.

"No, it's fine. He's right." She took a step closer only to have Nick take one back so that he was back-to-chest with Jeff who stopped him from moving any further. "I deserved that."

"Why did you bring her here?" Nick asked quietly, eyes never leaving the girl in front of him.

"Because she's your sister and no matter what you say, you miss her." He explained. "You want her in your life and she flew all the way out here from Virginia which means that she wants you in her life too."

"Do mom and dad know you're here?" Nicole grimaced at her brother's question and crossed her arms. Nick nodded and scoffed. "That's a no."

"They're not ready." Nicole said, taking another step forward. "At least not yet. But that doesn't mean that they never will be! People can change, Nick. I did." Nick glared at her, but said nothing. When he didn't look like he was gonna attempt to get further away again, she took another step forward. "Nick, I have spent the past couple of years regretting everything I said to you that night."

"You said you hated me."

"I know."

"You said you wished I was dead."

"I know."

"You said you were gonna dance on my grave and that I was gonna burn in hell. You said that I was planning on living a life of sin and that you wanted no part of it."

"I kn-"

"No you don't!" Nick yelled moving towards his sister until their faces were only inches apart. "You have no fucking idea! You don't get to stand here and tell me 'I know' because you will never understand what you did to me that night. Mom and dad not accepting me, that was something I expected, something I could handle. But you? You hurt the most of all. You were always the one talking about how the only one who can judge us is God and how you shouldn't fear what you don't understand. Guess that shit only applies when it's someone you're not related to, right?"

"I. Know. Nick." Both siblings were now openly crying as they stared each other down. "Those words I said to you haunt me every day of my life. I was scared. Even though I was older, you were always the stronger one out of the two of us. And when you needed me to be the stronger one, I let you down and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I would say it until I was blue in the face if thought that it would help you forgive me. I picked up the phone to call you so many times but I could never bring myself to dial the number. And then when I finally could, you had changed the number. I took it as a sign that it was my fault that I had waited too long, and now I would never get you back. I had accepted it and had mentally buried you. And then your…your…Jeff called me. Told me you were out here and that I should come visit, and I knew this was my last chance." Nick turned to look at the blond who had the sense to look slightly ashamed.

"She's your sister, Nick." Jeff supplied. "You talk about her all the time. Like I said, you want her in your life."

"And I want you in mine." Nicole added. "Nick, I wasn't the older sister you needed me to be. But I can be her now. I'm trying, I am. Please, Nick?" Nick swallowed before glancing at Jeff who smiled back encouragingly. Nick turned back to his sister and slowly held out his hand, which Nicole took with a watery smile.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet." Nick said, holding out his empty hand towards Jeff, who jogged over to take it. "Jeff, I'd like you to meet my sister, Nicole-I mean…my sister…Nikki." Nikki gasped in surprise and before squeezing Nick's hand. "Nikki, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend and the love of my life, Jeff Sterling." Nikki smiled and offered her free hand to Jeff, which he took.

"It's nice to meet you Nikki."

"You too, Jeff. It's nice to meet Nick's…Nick's-"

"Nikki you don't-"

"Boyfriend. It's nice to finally meet Nick's boyfriend." She said pulling him in close for a hug. "Thank you for taking care of my brother when I couldn't."

"Thank you for answering the phone when I called."

:)