Kurt's eyes fluttered open at the sound of his alarm and he lazily reached over to shut it off. He could hear Blaine talking to Rachel but didn't make out what they were saying. He remembered how he and Rachel had argued after dinner last night, and how she'd disappeared behind her privacy curtain by the time he'd gotten back from walking out to the back dumpster with Blaine. It had been a relief; they were pretty good at making up after most such arguments, but not until after they'd both had a little time to cool off.
He heard the door to the loft sliding open; Rachel must be on her way out to the diner.
"Hey, Rachel—wait!" he heard Blaine call.
"What?"
"You're not mad at me, right?
"No. I get it. And I appreciate you're not telling on me."
"You're sure?"
"Don't worry about it."
And then he heard Rachel sliding the door closed. He stretched, wondering what that was about.
Blaine came in a minute later carrying a tray with juice and toast.
"I'm so sorry, I lost track of time, but if you give me a minute I can whip up something more."
Kurt grinned, wiping sleep from his eyes. "You don't have to apologize, I am actually capable of making my own breakfast, you know. I did it for a whole year before you moved in."
"I know but I like to!"
Kurt shook his head and drank his juice. Blaine sat on the edge of the bed.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Mm-hmm. Rachel went to the diner?"
"Yeah, she just left."
Kurt nodded. "I heard."
Blaine blinked. "Y-you did? You were listening?" he asked. For a second it looked like he was—nervous? Kurt wasn't sure what to make of that. He put down his glass.
"I wasn't—eavesdropping or anything," he replied lightly.
"Of—of course, I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you."
Kurt looked at Blaine funny. "You weren't. I just heard you talking out there a little bit, asking Rachel if she was mad at you. Everything okay?"
Blaine rubbed his neck. "Uh… yeah. It wasn't—any big deal."
Kurt studied Blaine. "I didn't actually think it was until you started looking all fidgety just now."
"Fidgety? I'm not… fidgeting." Blaine said uncomfortably.
"Is Rachel giving you a hassle for not defending her enough over clearing the table last night?" Kurt asked cooly. "Because if she is, I'll text her right now to say—"
"What? No. It's… nothing like that."
Kurt paused a moment. "Then what is it? She said something about getting told on? Is she up to something I need to know about?"
Blaine bit his lip.
"Kurt. N-no. It—it was nothing. She… just kinda crabbed about that diet she's on and… made like a snide comment about how you'd… probably have words with her for eating the pie in the fridge. I just said something about how you only want what's best and all that, and just got worried she might think I was being kinda bossy."
Kurt nodded, but noted that Blaine wasn't really looking him in the eye. "She's been doing pretty well on her diet and exercise lately," he said neutrally. "I probably wouldn't even make a big deal about it if she wanted a piece of pie every now and then."
Blaine nodded. "I think she's just being over-sensitive since you two were kind of arguing last night."
Kurt sighed. "Maybe I was pushing too hard with her last night. I mean, it's been a week with the new chore schedule, and far as I can tell she's gotten everything for that done."
Blaine swallowed, rubbing his neck some more.
Kurt's eyes narrowed in on him. "What is it?"
"What? I didn't say anything—"
"You have that guilty look on your face—"
Blaine squirmed. "W-well I guess…. It's just I—when you mentioned chores, I just still feel guilty that I should have taken the trash out before dark last night."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're doing fine. You need to relax about this stuff. It's irritating if you need an escort but the only time I'll really be mad is if you go out there some night after dark by yourself."
Blaine was chewing the inside of his cheek, listening. "Okay. Just guess I don't like getting in trouble is all."
Kurt shook his head. "As long as you're being upfront and honest with me about what's going on, and of course, not repeatedly dropping the ball on stuff, you really don't need to worry, okay?"
Blaine pursed his lips and then nodded. His eyes darted away to the clock. "Oh man, look at the time. Hang tight and I'll throw together breakfast in a jiffy. Don't want you to be late for Isabel this morning!" Blaine hurried out towards the kitchen.
Kurt watched him go, uncertain. Something wasn't adding up, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He didn't want to accuse Blaine of hiding something from him but he knew from experience how his body language usually changed when he was lying. Did Rachel and him have a fight? And if so, why wasn't he just saying so? With Rachel thanking him for not "telling on" her, it stood to reason he had to be covering for something she'd done. This must be what it feels like to have two children sometimes. He didn't like the idea that they were talking like that. Rachel could be manipulative— Kurt wouldn't put it past her to test Blaine to see what he'd lie about for her. If whatever she'd "done" had broken one of their rules, she absolutely shouldn't be asking him to cover for her—and he shouldn't be agreeing to it either. If that was so, he figured, it would be a bad precedent and he'd need to address it before it became a habit between the two of them. It was probably time for a little family meeting—but not before he'd done a little more digging to see what they were hiding.
