Author's Note: At least it hasn't been more than 2 weeks, right? The next 3 weeks are going to be insanely busy for me, but I'll do the best I can as far as writing & updating go. Hope you like the chapter and thanks for reading!

-SQ

Disclaimer: The renouncing, repudiating, or denying of a claim, such as one to Glee

Chapter Thirteen: Idea in Action

"Hey, mom, can I have some friends over today?"

Carole looked up at her son, who was currently pouring himself a glass of orange juice from a pitcher in the fridge.

"I don't see why not. Who were you thinking of?"

Finn shrugged, keeping his gaze fixed intently on the cereal he was now pouring. "Whoever's free, I guess."

"Well that sounds fine," said Carole. "I'm going to be home all day doing housework and paying bills if you need anything. Burt's out buying supplies for the garage."

"Cool, thanks mom," said Finn through a mouthful of cornflakes.

"That's gross, Finn, don't talk with your mouth full," said Kurt, coming into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. "Finn, you've drunk all the orange juice! Now I'll have to go to the story and get…" he trailed off. "Right. Now I'll have to drink milk instead."

Carole gave a mental sigh. Kurt still wasn't on speaking terms with anyone in the house besides Finn. She knew he'd come around eventually, he just needed time to cool down, but it did hurt a little to have someone she was usually so close with acting as though she didn't exist.

"I'm gonna go, um, call the guys now, you know, the one's I'm gonna invite over," said Finn as Kurt sat down at the table with his milk and low-fat cranberry-walnut muffin. Internally Kurt groaned. Could Finn be any more awkward if he tried? He might as well have "I'm hiding something" written in wide-tip marker across his forehead.

Luckily Carole, who was unloading the dishwasher, just nodded and Finn left the room with to no further blundering. Kurt finished his breakfast quickly and followed after, settling himself on his bed with the latest issue of Vogue magazine. At least that hadn't been taken away from him.

Finn and Kurt had agreed that it would seem less suspicious if Finn invited several of his friends over rather than just Blaine. Not that Finn inviting Blaine over would normally be cause for suspicion, but with Kurt grounded and Blaine on uncertain ground with Burt and Carole the brothers didn't want to risk the curly-haired warbler being turned away at the door.

Finn opened his facebook page, saw that Puck was online, and sent him a chat message before selecting Sam's number from his phone book and pressing 'call'.

Finn Hudson: Hey, dude. You got any plans for today?

*Riiiiiiiiiing, riiiiiiiiiiing, riiiiiiiiiing*

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sam, you doing anything today?"

Noah Badass Puckerman: Nothing I can't blow off, why?

"I was supposed to watch Stacy and Stevie, but they've both got play dates now so I'm wide open."

Finn Hudson: I'm looking for some ppl to come hang at my place

"You wanna come over here, then?"

Noah Badass Puckerman: I'm down. When?

"Sure. What time were you thinking?"

Finn Hudson: Whenever

"Whenever."

Noah Badass Puckerman: Cool. Be there in a bit

"Alright. See you soon, Finn."

Finn Hudson: K

"Okay, bye Sam."

Finn then sent chat messages to Artie and Mike, asking if they wanted to come over. Artie responded that he had plans with his family and Mike didn't respond at all. Finn tried his phone and also got no answer, so he closed his laptop and selected Blaine's name from his phone book. The other boy answered on the second ring.

"Hey, Finn," he said, sounding surprised.

"Hey, Blaine," said Finn, trying to sound casual. "Are you doing anything today?"

"Um, no, nothing in particular," said Blaine. "I was going to see a movie with Wes and David, but David just called to tell me he's sick and Wes was never too keen on the movie in the first place."

"Well, Puck and Sam are coming over to my house if you want to join us."

Blaine didn't miss the tone of awkwardness in Finn's voice, but couldn't think of what might be causing it.

"Um, sure," he said. "Give me a minute to do a couple things and then I'll head over. It'll take me a while though, since I live in Westerville—"

"No problem, dude," said Finn, sounding slightly relieved, "we'll see you when we see you."

As soon as he had ended the call Kurt stuck his head into the room. "So?"

Finn grinned. "He's coming."

"Thanks, Finn."

"No problem, bro, it's no fun around here when you're sad."

Kurt came fully into the room.

"Oh, so you're only doing this for selfish reasons?"

"No, dude, I—"

"Teasing, Finn," said Kurt with a roll of his eyes, sitting down on the edge if Finn's bed. He sighed. "I acted like a spoiled brat again yesterday and Thursday, didn't I?"

"Uh, kinda, yeah," said Finn.

"You think Blaine'll forgive me?"

"Of course he will. He's crazy about you."

Kurt smiled.

"Give me a hug?"

Finn wrapped an arm around Kurt's shoulders and squeezed. Kurt squeezed back. The doorbell rang.

"That'll be Puck or Sam," said Finn, standing up. "You alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm just being needy," said Kurt. "Go answer the door, Finn, I'll be in my room, working on my homework."

"You mean reading your Vogue magazine."

"No," said Kurt haughtily. "Not everyone has your study habits, Finn."

"I don't read Vogue!"

"You know what I mean, Finn."

"Finn!" Carole called up the stairs. "Sam's here!"

"Tell him to come upstairs!" shouted Finn. "You can hang out with us if you want," he said to Kurt.

"No, it's okay," said Kurt. "Maybe later. I really do have homework to do. Just tell me when Blaine gets here.

"Will do, bro."

*****BB*****

Blaine was halfway to Finn's house when something occurred to him that he should have remembered a lot sooner: Finn's house was also Kurt's house, and he was now driving toward the boyfriend he was in the middle of a semi-fight with. Blaine remembered the awkward quality of Finn's voice on the phone and his mouth twisted, unsure whether he was amused or annoyed.

I've been duped.

*****BB*****

Kurt's nerves were distinctly frayed by the time the doorbell rang for the third time. He started so violently that he nearly toppled off of his bed and onto the floor. Picking himself up, he reached for his phone just as it chimed with a text from Finn.

He's here

Kurt opened his bedroom door and strained his ears to hear what was going on in the entry hall below.

"Hey, dude," said Finn, opening the door and then stepping aside to allow Blaine to enter. "Come in. Puck and Sam are upstairs. We just made a crap load of popcorn."

Blaine followed Finn up the stairs, wondering if he had been wrong about Finn's intentions in inviting him here. He was trying to decide which situation would be more awkward when they reached the second floor landing and the door across from them opened.

"Blaine."

"Kurt."

"I'll, um, just give you two a minute," said Finn, hurriedly making his escape to his own room.

Kurt looked pale and nervous; his fingers twined and untwined in front of him and his lips had been bitten to a brilliant shade of red.

There was an awkward silence in which Kurt's fingers twisted and untwisted a few more times.

"Are you still mad at me?" he mumbled finally, staring at Blaine's high end sneakers.

Blaine crossed to Kurt and took his hands, gently separating them and kissing his fingertips before pulling the other boy against him.

"How can I be mad at you when you look like that?"

Kurt hugged Blaine fiercely, tears stinging his eyes.

"When did you realize we'd tricked you into coming?"

"When I was about halfway here. Don't cry Kurt."

"Are you angry?"

"Not anymore. Please don't cry."

Kurt pulled back, sniffling, but kept his hands in Blaine's. "I can't help it. Can we talk?"

"Yes."

Kurt led Blaine into his room and shut the door.

"I'm going to be honest with you so you can't accuse me of lying. I'm grounded right now; I'm not allowed to go out or have anyone over or talk to anyone on the phone. Finn invited you over so we could talk, but if Carole finds you in here I'm in big trouble." Kurt chanced a glance at Blaine's face. It was unreadable. "Will you stay?"

Blaine sighed and let go of Kurt's hands, running one of his own through his gelled curls.

"Kurt, if Carole catches me in here she might never let me come back."

Kurt nodded, his teeth visible on his trembling lower lip. "Okay…you can go to Finn's room, or leave, or whatever."

Kurt felt a hand on his cheek and looked up into gorgeous hazel eyes. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that my dad and Carole said no," said Kurt. "I didn't think it was fair for them not to let me go, but it wasn't fair for me to put you in the position I put you it either. I wasn't…I wasn't thinking."

Blaine kissed Kurt's chestnut hair. "And I'm sorry I snapped at you at school yesterday. I know I was overreacting. I just really want your family to like me. I needed to cool down before I could talk to you rationally. The last think I wanted was to lose my temper at you again. I don't exactly handle things well when I'm angry.

Kurt smiled slightly. "So I've seen." He snuggled up to Blaine, the older boy let him. "You weren't the only one who was acting irrationally."

"Yeah…it really wasn't cool what you did, Kurt."

"I know. I feel really bad about it."

"Well," said Blaine, "I guess we're even now."

Kurt looked at him curiously.

"For me being a jerk about my friendship with Finn," Blaine clarified.

"But I didn't exactly display my most mature behavior in that whole fiasco either," said Kurt. "And you made it up to me."

"Well, you'll just have to make this up to me then."

Kurt tilted his face toward Blaine's. "So…are we okay?"

"Yes," said Blaine with a smile. "I think we're okay."

"Kiss me?"

Blaine pressed his lips to Kurt's for several seconds, licking Kurt's bottom lip as he pulled away.

Kurt touched his own tongue to the spot, tasting the flavor that was uniquely Blaine.

"I hate fighting with you."

"Believe me, I hate fighting with you too."

"I guess it's pointless to promise it will never happen again?" said Kurt.

Blaine smiled slightly. "Probably." He gave Kurt a last squeeze and then sat up, placing a kiss on his forehead. "I should go. I don't want to get either of us in any more trouble."

"Go and play video games with Finn and Puck and Sam," said Kurt. "That's what you're supposed to be here for."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have some damage to repair with Carole."

AN: I'm happy you read this, I'll be even happier if you review it ;)

-SQ