I would like to say an absolutely HUGE thank you to the One-Eyed Lady for her wonderful, wonderful info and time. Seriously, you helped so much, thank you for your offer and thank you for replying to all of my hundred questions, you are amazing!

In case you didn't notice, I changed my fanfic name. It's the same as my Tumblr, so feel free to look me up if you want (insert shameless pimping of pictures from Starkid's meet and greet here) :D

But seriously, One-Eyed Lady, thank you so much! You're the best!

And thank you all for reading, reviewing, and alerting! You're all the best! (I'll make it better next time, I swear!)

Carole and Burt had remained silent, quietly going on with their usual business as Blaine finished his second slice of toast.

Blaine swiped his thumb across the edge of the plate where a trace amount of peanut butter had fallen. Drawing his hand in close to his body, Blaine dropped his chin and angled his head so that he could glance at Burt. The older man quickly averted his eyes back to his paper and flipped the page. Blaine's eye stayed on him several moments more before he looked down at his hand. As his hand slowly slid up towards his mouth, the boy's eye continued to dart between it and the man beside him. It was obvious to Burt that Blaine was trying to be sneaky in cleaning his plate, but as he had to move his entire head to alternate his view, he was horribly, horribly failing.

As his thumb finally reached his mouth, he tilted his head again to watch Burt with his one wide eye. Even in his peripheral vision Burt could see how nervous Blaine was, but with his thumb in his mouth and his childish expression it was all so…adorable. Between his conspicuous movement and doe-eyed expression, Burt couldn't help but to laugh. The sudden sound caused Blaine to jump, and the boy quickly removed his thumb from his mouth and instead wrapped his fingers tightly around the plate. Burt tried to mask the laugh with a cough.

"Allergies," he choked out as Carole looked at him curiously. He grinned sheepishly as she raised her eyebrow, choosing not to question his reaction.

"For the last time, Finn, even if it fits, and even if he likes it, there is no way on earth that I will ever let him be seen in that God-awful jersey of yours."

Kurt burst through the doorway with an annoyed, but triumphant look on his face as he dropped a pair of plain white running shoes on the table in front of Burt. Finn followed soon after with shoulders sagging and his ragged old basketball jersey clenched loosely in his hand. It had been from his last year in middle school when his team had won their district tournament. He had been told to return it several times, but Finn had kept 'forgetting' to bring it to school, so eventually his coach forgot. Carole had told Burt that he had worn it with pride that entire summer, and when school started again he had used it as a pajama shirt. After his last growth spurt had occurred, he had been devastated to find that it no longer fit him. It didn't stop him from trying, however, as the three remaining members of the household had each been called at one point or another by a desperate Finn, who was struggling hard to free himself from the tiny shirt. Looking at it now, Burt was surprised that it was still all in one piece.

"I found shoes," Kurt stated, placing his hands on his hips, "shoes with no lace, zippers, buttons, bells, rhinestones, ribbons, tassels, or anything involving glue, thank you very much." Burt had to admit, Kurt had actually found quite a decent pair of running shoes. They were a little tattered from wear, but if they fit they'd work alright for the time being.

Carole looked down at the shoes before stifling a laugh. Kurt looked at her, hands still on his hips though his facial expression had become more confused.

"What," he asked.

"Honey," Carole started softly, placing her hand lightly on his shoulder, "those are my gardening shoes." Both Carole and Burt tried to control their laughter as Kurt rolled his eyes. Mid-way through he stopped, eyes narrowing to stare down at the floor beside Burt.

"Finn Hudson what are you doing."

Burt turned to his right to see his step-son freeze in place crouched next to Blaine. His arm was extended as he held out the jersey to Blaine, who had both of his own arms up against his chest, obviously rejecting the shirt. He had turned his head so that his burns were hidden against his shoulder.

"I was just seeing if he liked it," Finn said, blushing slightly, "but he won't even take it."

"That's because he has taste," Kurt retorted with a snort. Finn looked back to Blaine with a frown on his face.

"If you don't like it, that's okay," he said quietly, withdrawing his arm. Blaine sat stiffly for a moment before lowering his arms gradually.

"My hands are dirty, Mr. Finn. I don't want to get food on your shirt," he said ducking his head, causing his hair to fall in front of his face.

"Oh, that's okay, dude! I get stuff on this all the time. Pretty sure that stain right there is barbecue sauce from last time we made burgers."

"Oh gross, Finn. That was over a year ago, at least!" Kurt covered his mouth with his hand and shuddered, closing his eyes as Finn began to sniff the stain.

"Blaine, kid, if you want to wear it you can, but if you don't – and no one here would blame you for that – then you go ahead and tell Finn you don't want to." Burt had leaned forward to talk to Blaine directly, and lay what he hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder, using his thumb to rub the boy's tense muscles. Blaine eyed Burt carefully before shaking his head, eye flickering to Kurt.

"Mr. Kurt said no, sir." Kurt instantly looked guilty, and he hurried to crouch beside Finn.

"No, no, no, no, Blaine. I didn't mean that you couldn't wear it, it's just that this jersey is incredibly stained and disgusting, and, let's face it, it don't really flatter anyone, so I kind of assumed that you wouldn't want to, and I thought that Finn might make you feel like you had to, and…" he trailed off suddenly, his eyes narrowing, "why are you on the floor?" Kurt shifted to face Burt, who sighed heavily.

"Kurt – "

"Why is he on the floor?"

"Look, Kurt – "

"Did you tell him to sit there?" He looked back to Blaine. "Did he tell you to sit here?"

"No,"

"Yes, Mr. Kurt." Burt and Blaine both answered simultaneously, earning Burt a sharp glare from Kurt.

"Unbelievable," Kurt muttered, "Blaine, come on, you're going to sit up here at the table." Kurt stood and pulled out a chair for Blaine, who twitched his head in confusion.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kurt, I don't understand. I am at the table, sir." Burt moved to pull the chair back towards the table as he shook his head at Kurt, who pulled it further from Burt's grasp.

"In a chair, Blaine. You're allowed to sit in a chair at the table."

Blaine stiffened.

"A chair, sir? No, no, not allowed, sir, no, no, no," he repeated the word over and over, shaking his head, "not allowed, sir, no, not allowed."

"Kurt, honey, we tried. He doesn't want to, just leave him be," Carole smiled sadly at Kurt. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before nodding quickly in agreement.

"I'm sorry, Blaine, I don't know what I did…" he trailed off, staring at the boy whose head shot up to reveal his full face.

"I'm not listening, sir. I'm sorry I'm not listening. I'll do better, sir, I'll listen better." He hesitantly began to crawl towards Kurt. Placing his hands on the chair he stopped as Burt stood.

"Hey Kurt, Finn, why don't you two grab Blaine a sweater or something so we can take him for a checkup. Carole, d'you mind starting the car?" Carole nodded, ushering a pale Kurt and a curious Finn out of the kitchen. After they left, Burt picked the shoes off of the table and sat on the floor with a groan. Smiling at Blaine, he patted the space in front of him.

"How about we try these shoes on you, huh?"

I know I said that this would be up earlier, but some stuff came up last weekend that really threw me. I'm still not sure what to make of it and I don't really want to go into detail, but things are settling down a bit so hopefully nothing else happens. Ugh now I'm sad. So I'm going to pimp my Starkid pics again because Apocalyptour was awesome, and happy thoughts trump sad thoughts! Plus I got a few awesome pictures with Joe, Joey, and Lauren, and I think it's super cool.

wholock - no, I haven't abandoned. I know I've been neglecting this, but I really do plan on continuing this.

twostepper - Thank you so much! I'm sorry this is a bit filler, but hopefully the next will be better for you!

anabonsh - Ahhh! Thank you! I love finding those stories that you just have to read in one sitting, and I'm so glad that you did that with this! I know, I'm a little mean to Blaine, but I'll make it worth it...I think.

LL- Thank you so much! I'm glad their relationship's coming off okay, and I will get to more Kurt. I have a reason for making him the way he is, and I know this chapter's a little rough, but I'm going to hopefully be able to get some one-on-one with the two of them soon.

Panda-hime - Haha thanks! I really tried with that one, I'm glad it was sweet! :D I'm so glad you're enjoying the slow pacing, but the next one will definitely be less filler.

One-Eyed Lady - Seriously, again, you're awesome, thank you. I'll definitely be using your info in the next one, so thank you so much!

Kate - Ughh finals suck, but I'm sure you did awesome! I'm so happy you liked that line, I really didn't want it to come off cheesy. Hospital will fo-shiz be the next one!

randomchild - yay!Kurt!

Klaine Fearella - Thank you for reading!