Hi! I'm back! Last week was not fun. I hated it. I actually cried the whole night because it was the first time in pretty much a year that I wasn't uploading T&C on a Tuesday night. I had to upload something though, so I hope Night Air was a good enough substitute.

Well, this is finally it. Chapter25. The Warbler weekend. The chapter you have been waiting for for over a month. This took so long to write, and in so many different places too: at my desk, in bed, at school, walking home from school, on ipad, paper and phone. And it isn't even my longest chapter!

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, apart from when it wasn't coming out. I have become so connected to all the boys. I feel like I should have characterised them more at the start because although I am really close to them I feel like you might still b&r trying to get your heads around some of them. If you want to find out more about any character, please message me.

One of the flashbacks here is based on one of my own holidays. You shall see what I mean when you get there, but for now, know that nobody went playing around in the waves. Worse luck.

I hope you enjoyed this long-awaited chapter. Talk to you again at the tail.

Story so far...

Klaine return from the Warbler weekend and throw themselves into their work. Blaine has a busy week preparing the Warblers for Nationals and Kurt struggles to keep Gina under control as she is excited about her new boyfriend. Blaine is also worrying about finding the perfect ring, as he has decided he is going to propose to Kurt and, as far as he is concerned, the sooner the better.

Thursday was a busy day for Tears, Cookies and Boci. But now is Friday, and the Warbler rehearsal weekend.

-*T&C*-

"Kurt!"

As soon as the door to the Aviary was pushed open, Kurt found an excited Henry bounding over to him. Kurt laughed and, after unwinding his fingers from Blaine's hair, gave him a quick hug.

"How are you, Hen?"

"Yeah, I'm doing well. How about you?"

"All the better for seeing you," he teased. Kurt giggled and pulled the boy back in for another hug. "You going to introduce me to your boyfriend?"

"I thought you have already met Dan?" Henry frowned.

"I have. But not as your boyfriend. Go on, I need to hear every little detail." Kurt prodded the boy teasingly as he went to grab his boyfriend, who appeared with a flushed face.

"Hello sir."

Kurt giggled and took the offered hand, and instead of shaking it pulling the boy into an embrace. "We don't need formalities like that, Daniel. My name is Kurt. I hope that we're friends. But if you hurt Henry then I shall hunt you down, okay?"

Daniel pulled out of the hug, smiling. "If I ever hurt Hen, I'd hunt myself down. I love him."

Kurt gasped slightly, hiding it with a subtle cough. "How long have you been going out?"

Dan grinned. "Two and a half months. And I'm not going to say 'why?' because I know why you asked. To tell you the truth, Kurt, I could have said that on the first day of knowing him and it wouldn't've been a lie."

Now it was Henry's time to gasp and he smiled at his boyfriend, a look that could only be described as love in his eyes. "Why did we wait this long to get together?"

"Because you were both too shy," Blaine said, finally joining in the conversation. "Besides, true love is blind and often it takes something... extraordinary to get you to admit your feelings even to yourself."

Kurt smiled. "Like Blackbird?"

"Like Blackbird. Or a game of Truth or Dare." He saw Kurt's puzzled look. "I'll make them explain later. But for now, we need to get started."

"I will hold you to that, you know, you two?"

The two boys looked sheepishly at each other and then went to sit down with the rest of the Warblers who had arrived while they had been chatting to Kurt. Blaine went to stand in front of his desk and Kurt slunk back, out of the limelight, to sit behind it.

Blaine clapped his hands. "Right. The weekend has started. You are now under my charge, so please, pleasebehave. The purpose of this weekend is to rehearse for Nationals, and we need to be perfect before this weekend is over. Anyone messing about could well be asked to leave, so don't push me. This was previously mentioned, but I shall reiterate it: any behaviour of a sexual nature will be reported and treated accordingly. This includes anything personal, so no running off to masturbate in the loos in the middle of the night." A surprising number of disappointed groans rang about the room. "We will sort out sleeping arrangements a little later on but, needless to say, Henry and Daniel, you two will be separated.

"I have accommodated for those of you with up and coming exams and Mr Jones agreed to let the library be kept open, so please go to there when I give anyone a study break. The kitchen staff have also been kind enough to agree to come in to cook for us twice a day, and cereals shall be in there for breakfast. Uh, Wayne? Where are you? Ah, there. I will have a quick chat with you later about Chloe and Sarah, okay?

"I think the last thing for me to say before we make a start is for me to introduce the wonderful Kurt Hummel. He has agreed to help us out with everything this weekend. Most of you should already know him, if not from before then certainly from Raise Your Glass, and I shouldn't have to tell you to treat him with the same amount of respect as you do me. He didn't have to be here but he has given up his time to help us out."

"And you love me all the more for it," Kurt teased.

Blaine blushed but luckily all the Warblers did was say "aww" in a lot less patronising way than New Directions had at the reunion.

"Shall we begin then? Everyone's A Little Bit Racist. Shoot."

The room became a hubbub of activity. Chairs were scraped back against the wall and bodies moved across the room. Blaine grabbed one of the now free chairs and he sat it back against the wall so that he could see the performance area, Kurt on his right-hand side still on the office chair which he seemed to be very much enjoying swinging on. The Warblers took up position (they had changed from formation B to the easier formation D: two rows of boys, soloists on the front row to step out as their part came up).

Then the show began.

Jesse tapped Luke on the shoulder to get his attention and then took a huge, well-measured jump forwards. "Say, Kate, can I ask you a question?"

Luke strolled forwards to stand next to 'Princeton'. "Sure."

Jesse began to pace around. "Well, you know Trekkie Monster upstairs?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, he's Trekkie Monster, and you're Kate Monster."

"Right."

"You're both monsters."

"Yeah."

Jesse stopped pacing and turned to look at 'Kate'. "Are you two related?"

Luke gasped and hopped backwards. "What?! Princeton, I'm surprised at you! I find that racist!"

Jesse hung his shoulders dramatically and turned away from Luke. "Oh, well, I'm sorry! I was just asking!"

Luke stalked after the retreating figure, taking one step forwards for each sentence. "Well, it's a touchy subject. No, not all Monsters are related. What are you trying say, huh? That we all look the same to you? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Princeton turned around and jumped back when he saw how close Kate was. They were now far stage-right. "No, no, no, not at all. I'm sorry, I guess that was a little racist." Kate, seemingly satisfied, turned on her heel and returned to centre-stage. Princeton thought for a few seconds and then crept up behind her. "What about that special Monster School you told me about?"

Kate jumped. "What about it?"

"Could someone like me go there?"

"No, we don't want people like you-"

"You see?!" Jesse jumped excitedly into the air and pointed his finger enthusiastically at Luke in a way which Blaine had choreographed in to have a little bit of Cooper in the performance. The humming that had been building for the last few lines now exploded and the a cappella backing was off. "You're a little bit racist."

"Well, you're a little bit too."

"I guess we're both a little bit racist."

"Admitting it is not an easy thing to do..."

The duo continued effortlessly picking up the lines, bouncing off each other, as the backing continued to grow. When it was Wayne's line he casually stepped out of the formation to join 'Princeton' and 'Kate'. Jack and Anthony also joined in, making the perfect Brian and Christmas Eve.

By the time Anthony sang "Evlyone's a ritter bit lacist!" Kurt was in fits of giggles and making his hands raw with clapping. Blaine watched him, glad that he had enjoyed it so much.

"Right, we'll take a short break, I thi-" Before Blaine could even finish his sentence, the scraping of chairs drowned him out. Warblers ran out the room shouting very un-dapper things to one another. Blaine sighed lovingly at them and then turned his head over his shoulder to gaze at his best friend. "Hi."

"Hi."

"What do you think so far?"

"Digging for compliments, are we?" Blaine blushed. "You have a right to. They're fantastic. When they did Raise Your Glass for me I thought I'd never see anything better. You proved me wrong."

Blaine smiled and turned back to the room. "Yeah, I am pretty proud of them."

"What song are you going to do next?"

"Do you know Simple Plan's Welcome to my Life?"

"Do you ever feel like breaking down? Do you ever feel out of place? Like somehow you just don't belong and no one understands you."

"Do you know that I still get tingles whenever I hear you sing?"

Kurt blushed. "Is that the right one though?"

"Yeah, that's it." Blaine looked down at the desk. "Oh, I didn't pick the sheet music up." He looked up to the group of boys playing around the room, all acting years below their ages. "Bill, can you come here please?" One of the twins ran over. "Uh, nice try, Ben."

The boy gave a puzzled look. "But I am Bill."

Blaine looked at the boy for a few seconds. "No, nice try, Ben. Bill; come here?"

The older-by-two-minutes boy trudged away and immediately engaged in an invisible snowball fight with a surprising amount of the other Warblers. His twin went over to Blaine.

"S'up, teach'?"

"Bill, can you go over to Mr Jones' office and get the papers which should have been photocopied earlier and the box of pencils please?"

"Sure thing!"

"Bill, since when did you talk like that?"

"Since... just now!"

Blaine shook his head, smiling. "Just go."

"Right you are," the boy exclaimed as he pelted from the room.

Kurt watched the boy thoughtfully. "Is he okay?"

Blaine turned around and walked so that he could sit on the other side of the desk, pulling Kurt's chair in playfully to trap them together. "How do you mean?"

"Well, he doesn't seem as chirpy as usual, that's all."

Blaine frowned. "Doesn't he? He seemed to be his usual amount of insane to me."

"Probably just me seeing things then. Besides, I hardly see him, do I?"

"Mm," Blaine hummed in agreement before leaning forwards to capture Kurt's lips softly in a sweet kiss.

As Blaine tried to nibble on his lower lip, Kurt pulled away. "Your kids are in the room, Blaine."

"And?"

"And I seem to remember you emphasising the 'nothing sexual' point."

Blaine pouted. "It's just kissing."

Kurt mimicked his boyfriend with a similar pout. "It's enough." He stopped pouting and brought a palm up to cup Blaine cheek. "Besides, we are meant to be the professional ones here. Setting the example and all."

"I guess so."

"I'm ba- Why are you two so bloody adorable?"

Blaine turned his head to see Bill in such a way that he managed to trap Kurt's hand. He ignored the boy's question. "Thank you, Bill. You can leave them on the desk and get back to... whatever game it was that you guys were playing."

No sooner had he said it that Bill went off to join his twin and friends in their game. Blaine's phone rang and he answered it after glancing at the screen to see who the caller was and begrudgingly letting Kurt's hand fall from his face.

"Hey, Marie. ... Yep. ... Yeah, okay. ... I'll send him down. Thank you. ... Bye!"

Blaine hung up. "Wayne?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you go to reception please? Chloe and Sarah have arrived. Could you take them to the business room? We have set up a bed and cot. They can get settled in while we practise and then they can join us for dinner."

"Sure. Thank you."

Wayne left the Aviary with a spring in his step, excited about having his girlfriend and daughter at the school all weekend. Blaine glanced at the clock and realised that they should probably get started again. He stood and clapped his hands loudly.

"Right, playtime over. Back to work, please." He waited while everyone quietened down. "Formation F? Or shall we just sing? Kurt, what do you think?"

"Erm, do you usually go straight into performance mode?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Who's singing lead on this one?"

"Amos."

The boy looked up. "Me?"

"Yeah, why not? You have a nice voice."

Amos looked to the floor. "Well, thank you."

"Well maybe you could try just singing first? So that you get used to song?"

Blaine nodded. "Okay." He grabbed the sheets from the desk and handed them to Peter. "Can you hand them out please?"

While Peter would have usually made some fuss about helping others, he just took the pile and handed them around. When they saw the song they all cheered.

"Great, I love this song!" "Oh my God, why didn't we think of this before?" "I'm so jealous of you, Amos."

Amos got a sheet and grinned. "Thanks for this, Blaine."

The huddled group were all stood in their costumes looking at the sheet. Blaine smiled at the sight of his boys all together and, for once, all silent.

"Right, can we start then? Everyone come in after Amos, who will start it for us. Harmonise and see where you go with it."

Amos took a breath.

"Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Do you ever feel out of place?
Like somehow you just don't belong
And no one understands you?"

"Yes, formation C looks a lot better. Brilliant." Blaine glanced up at the clock. "Well, we have done a lot. I reckon you could all do with a meal and a good night's sleep. Go and do whatever you want now, within the rules. In beds and lights out by eleven. If you don't know which room you're in, there is a list on the wall of the dining hall. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, the room all filed out through the door, leaving only Blaine and Kurt.

"What did you think?"

"Fantastic." Kurt stood and went to his boyfriend. "You have done amazing things with those boys. You should be so proud."

"I am."

There was a silence and, not for the first time that day, Blaine felt the heaviness of his empty pocket weighing him down. He so desperately wanted to drop on one knee and to 'pop the question'. But that was out ofthe question. He couldn't do it without first having the ring. He only hoped he could find something in New York.

Blaine held out his hand and Kurt took it and they wandered out of the Aviary in silence, dropping hands at the door for Blaine to lock it and becoming reconnected afterwards for the rest of their stroll to the dining hall.

It was after dinner, and Kurt and Blaine had said goodbye for the night. They were taking a classroom each and had split the boys up. They had been coming back to the rooms in dribs and drabs and both classrooms were steadily filling up. Kurt had one of the geography rooms with Jesse, Amos, Henry, Peter, Robert, Paul, Mark and Chris, and Blaine was in the music room with Wayne, Daniel, Tyler, Luke, Bill, Ben ("why didn't we split them up, Kurt, why?!"), Simon, Anthony and Jack. Sarah and Chloe were just down the hall from the music room so that Wayne could get up at any signs of trouble.

Blaine changed into his pyjamas and took his copy of Goblet of Fire, which he had been rereading for the fifty-somethingth time, to bed. He was glad that Dalton had the money to spare to buy mattresses for this night every year, and the few other clubs which occasionally did sleepovers in the school grounds. Any other school would see purchasing mattresses as completely unnecessary, but the Warblers were still treated like rockstars in the Westerville school. Blaine closed his mind off from the surroundings and lost himself in the world of magic and dragons.

Kurt, on the other hand, was daydreaming. He too had changed into his pyjamas but he was too full of energy to read. He was thinking over what had happened so far that day. He had been at work first thing and had had lunch with Blaine in town before they both returned to Dalton. Seeing the boys again had been great, and they had improved so much. It felt like he had returned home. Mind you, everywhere felt like that with Blaine around. Still, he couldn't imagine life without the Warblers. They were how he and Blaine had met and they were how they continued to live. They were a huge part of his life.

Kurt looked up as Henry returned to his mattress, now wearing his pyjamas which he had taken to the toilets to get changed in to. The boy smiled at Kurt as he sat down on his bed cross-legged. Kurt had his legs crossed underneath him, sitting on his feet.

"So? Come on then." Kurt jabbed Henry in the ribs. "What is this Truth or Dare that I have heard of?"

For once, Henry was happy that he wasn't in the same room as his boyfriend. As much as he wanted to hear the event from Dan's point of view, he didn't want Dan to hear his. Well, not yet, anyway.

He sighed. "A group of us were bored at lunch and so we decided to go into the Aviary as Blaine had said we could go in there if we wanted. We went in and discovered that pretty much all of the Warblers were in there anyway. We decided to play Truth or Dare.

"They started simple enough and I made the mistake of thinking that everything would be as easy as 'what was the name of you first pet?' as was the first few questions. Obviously though, it wasn't. After deciding on Truth for my first three goes, I decided to brave a Dare, doubting that it was hard."

Here he stopped and looked Kurt straight in the eye. "I was dared to kiss the next person who walked through the Aviary door."

Kurt gasped, which turned into a nervous laugh. "And?"

"They stood me by the door so that I couldn't escape, but also so that I couldn't see who was coming. A couple of them stood with me but most of them crowded around the windows. A few of them had their phones out and I now know that they had been texting Dan, saying that Blaine wanted to see him quickly.

"When they started to chatter more loudly, that's when I knew someone must be near. I decided I didn't want to see who it was; I'd just do it. So as soon as the door started to open I pushed myself forwards, caught a glimpse of a face before I shut my eyes, and felt a pair of lips against my own."

Kurt waited patiently for Henry to continue, but he didn't. "Go on?"

Henry, who had closed his eyes with the bliss of the memory, now opened them again. "The lips were hesitant at first, but then they started kissing back. They were soft, but firm. And I knew it was Henry as soon as his hands went up to cup my face. I don't know how. They just felt like I thought his hands would feel.

"The voices around us changed to cheers, and this was as much encouragement as I needed to raise my hands to his face and hair. It was so silky smooth under my fingers."

"What; his hair or his skin?" Kurt teased.

"Both," Henry replied, skin glowing in pleasure, remembering. "And then we pulled away and opened our eyes. The cheering was still going on around us, along with shouts of 'finally', but I wasn't paying them any attention. The next thing I know, Dan's lips are against my ear and he whispers 'you have no idea how long I have been wanting to do that for.' And then I kissed him again."

"You didn't?!"

Henry grinned. "I did."

Kurt laughed. "Long gone are the days of shy Hen, then? And I hear you've been great in Unwanted."

Henry blushed. "Maybe not gone. But improving certainly."

Kurt smiled and leaned back a bit, legs still crossed underneath him. "So what happened afterwards? When did you two officialize it?"

"We didn't really. By the time we pulled apart the game had continued and we just sort of slotted in. And then as the bell rang he came up to me and asked if he could walk his boyfriend to his lesson."

Kurt pulled a face. "That is so cute."

Henry laughed. "Indeed it is."

Kurt paused, letting the beauty of the situation settle in. "How have your parents taken it?"

Henry grimaced. "Not as well as I would have hoped. I mean, they knew I was gay but... I don't know. Maybe they thought it would never happen. Or maybe it is just because he is a year older than me. They don't really talk about him much."

"Have they talked to you about...?"

"Sex? No."

Kurt nodded slowly. "You know to be safe, right?"

"Yes, I do." The young boy reddened. "But if I'm honest I don't really understand the... mechanics of it all."

"And you don't feel like you can ask your parents."

"No."

"How are Dan's parents?"

"Oh no. No!I would never ask them for that!" Henry's cheeks coloured quickly.

"Oh, no I wasn't suggesting that!" Kurt was now blushing too. "No, what I meant was how have theytaken it?"

"Oh. Ah. Yeah, not as well. I mean, my parents knew I was gay for years. Sometimes I think they knew even before I did. But Dan only came out a few months ago. I guess they thought it was just a phase.

"And they are also not pleased that he loves me so much. It still gives me shivers when I think that: he loves me. His parents knew even before I did I think. But even when we started dating, I think they hoped it was just a fling." He smiled. "They have been proved wrong."

Kurt grinned. "That's always the best way to do something. But, so Dan can't talk to his parents either?" Henry shook his head. "Would you..."

"Would I what?"

"Would you like me to tell you anything?"

Henry blanched. "I... uh..."

"You don't have to reply now. The offer will stand for whenever. And for Dan too."

The boy nodded. "Well, thanks."

"Don't mention it. Wait, is that 11 o'clock?"

"I think it might be."

"Right, bed, mister!" Kurt raised his voice. "And the same to everyone else! Lights are going off."

In the morning, the birds were singing outside the school. Blaine opened his eyes blearily and reached out for Kurt. He swore when he realised he wasn't there. Instead, the room was filled with snoring teenagers.

As a sharp, piercing tone filled the air around his ears, he winced. He turned on his side to grab his phone and then collapsed on his back again. He opened the text.

Emergency. Bathroom NOW. xx

Blaine jumped awake. Was everyone okay? Who was in trouble? He leapt up and ran down the hallway until he reached the door of the bathroom and pushed it open in a hurry.

"What's going on?"

All he could see was Kurt. What had happened to the emergency? Had something really bad happened?

Softly, Kurt moved passed Blaine, keys in his hand which he used to lock the bathroom door with before turning back to his boyfriend.

"What's wrong, Kurt?"

Finally, Kurt spoke. "I miss you too much. I woke up this morning to a cold bed. A cold and empty bed. When all I wanted to do was to lean over and kiss you."

Kurt demonstrated what he meant, caressing Blaine's face as he massaged his lips with his own. Blaine let out a whimper of protest before kissing back with just as much love as Kurt was giving him. Then he realised where he was and pulled back.

"Ku-urt... I've given the boys a lecture about this. And you said we need to set an exa-" He cut off as he felt a pair or lips at his neck, kissing gently. "We shou-" The kissing turned to sucking. "We ca-AAH!" And to biting.

Before his consciousness could catch up with his actions, Blaine pushed Kurt the two metres to the wall, capturing his lips with his own again and kissing with as much fervour as he could manage this early in the morning. He felt Kurt's breathing rate increase and he ripped his lips away to press them at other parts of his beautiful boyfriend's face, not leaving them in any place for longer than a few seconds so that he could bless as much skin as he could. As Kurt felt hands tugging as his trouser zip, he pulled back.

"I meant kissing," he panted. "You didn't want," gasp, "us to do anything," pant, "sexual because of the boys."

Blaine looked at Kurt, eyes still lust-blown. "Then stop being so damn sexy all the time."

Kurt blushed. "I am dreadfully sorry for that, sir," he teased.

Blaine walked away, trying to slow his breathing. "We should get the boys up. Start rehearsal." He looked around awkwardly. "You go ahead, I'll catch you up."

Kurt raised an eyebrow in question. "Why?"

Blaine sighed. He took a hand and pointed it to his groin area.

"No, that wasn't what I was asking." Blaine frowned. "I wasn't asking why you were catching me up. I was asking why I was going ahead."

Blaine gasped. "I... They... Fuck it." He began to tug down his pyjama bottoms, stopping when he felt Kurt's hands and letting his boyfriend then take over. Kurt made short work of it and it wasn't long before Blaine's trousers were pooled around his feet. Blaine closed his eyes in anticipation of feeling Kurt's soft hands around him.

But he didn't.

The next thing he felt was a slim pair of warm lips around his manhood. He bucked, gaining a shoot of pleasure from the hot mouth around him instead of the cool hands that he was expecting. Kurt wasn't wasting any time, and Blaine felt his boyfriend hollow his cheeks. He whimpered, pleasure building up in him. It usually took him longer to get this turned on. Maybe it was the thought of the possibility of being caught at any time by any of his students, even if the door waslocked.

He let out a deep, guttural groan as a hand joined Kurt's mouth and it started fondling his balls. His breath now was stilted, stuttering, ragged. A bead of sweat worked its way through a pore on his forehead and it slipped down his face, past his cheek. He was glad that he hadn't got changed yet, because it would have taken a lot more to explain away the sweat marks on his clean shirt than on pyjamas that no one would see for another twelve hours anyway.

Blaine's pleasure peaked. And then Kurt hummed.

"KURTHUMMELIFUCKINGLOVEYOU."

Blaine collapsed, spent. Kurt giggled above him. "Was that okay for you?"

Blaine nodded weakly, unable to do anything more strenuous. "You want me to take care of you?"

Kurt shook his head adorably. "No need."

"No need? You have just watched me fall apart. Why sort of gay are you?"

"One that can hide erections well under his trousers and enjoys being turned on for the whole day."

Blaine let out breath that he didn't think it was possible to exhale, his mind thinking about the possibility that Kurt had just shown him. If what he was saying was true, did that mean he could grab him at any point in the day and have him pound into him, flesh slapping against flesh?

He was drawn from his daydream by the sight of Kurt's hand being offered to him to help him stand up. He took it, only remembering now that his amazing idea was unfeasible because of the 17 teenage under his charge. And a 16-year-old girl. And a baby. Drat.

He took the hand and was pulled into a hug, Kurt's fingers running deliciously through his hair. "I meant what I said by the way. I love you."

"I know you do. And I love you too." Kurt pulled away. "But can you please tuck yourself back in so that your Warblers don't get an eyeful of what is only mine to look at?"

Blaine blushed and looked down, apologising under his breath as he tucked his limp length back into his pyjama bottoms. He ran the back of his hand over his forehead, brushing any sweat away. He picked up the keys from where they had been dropped next to the door. "Shall we go and wake them up then?"

"Up, guys. Breakfast is in the dining hall. We'll start rehearing again at half nine. Make your way to the Aviary before then, please. Wayne? Can I have a word before you go to eat?"

Kurt left with the boys to go to breakfast while Blaine stayed behind to talk to the 17-year-old.

"Wayne, how are Chloe and Sarah?"

"Yeah, they're good. Glad to be out of the house, I think."

"Do you want to invite them in to the rehearsal later? I think they could enjoy it."

"Yeah, sure. Great. Thanks sir." After a look from his teacher he corrected himself. "Blaine."

"Now go and enjoy breakfast. I think they are already in there."

"Right. Thanks."

Blaine followed Wayne out of the classroom and down the corridor to the canteen, chatting with him on the way about how he was finding rehearsals and life as a father. When they arrived at the room they split, Wayne going to pull faces at Sarah while Blaine went to get a bowl of cereal and then sit down with Kurt, who had picked a lone table.

"Hi there," Blaine blushed.

Kurt scoffed. "And you're trying to act inconspicuous?"

"Right, sorry." Blaine reddened further and looked to his bowl as he ate quickly.

"But we don't have to sit here in silence either?"

Blaine looked up again, into the eyes of the love of his life. He smiled. "Sorry."

"Hey, don't apologise." Kurt stretched his hand out over the table for Blaine to hold, which was taken eagerly. "So, what are you doing next?"

Blaine swallowed another mouthful of cereal. "I was thinking of checking costumes? Dress-rehearsal of Unwanted, perhaps. Are you okay to do that?"

"Of course."

Blaine finished his bowl and stood up. "I should probably go and set up."

"Want me to come with you?"

"No, you finish first." Kurt showed Blaine his empty coffee mug. "Oh, in which case yes please."

Kurt stood and together they took their crockery to the sink behind the food bar. They then left, Blaine casually catching Kurt's hand as they exited the room and then they were followed by a chorus of cheering, to which Kurt's pale skin reddened. It went even darker with a sweet kiss to his cheek.

They went in the door of the Aviary and Kurt helped Blaine to arrange the chairs in the loose rows that they were usually placed in. Blaine then went to his desk to grab the Unwanted notes. He looked up at Kurt.

"Can you get the clothes from the car?"

Kurt nodded and took the sets of car keys that were offered to him, blowing his boyfriend kiss before heading out to the car park.

As he walked, he remembered the holiday that had resulted in the strange arrangement of Blaine keeping Kurt's car keys with his own. They had decided, for once, to escape the cold of Ohio one year, and had gone to the Californian coastline. They had found a pretty secluded beach with only one or two people on and had parked the car to go down to it. Kurt had driven down, both of them wearing swimming trunks and a t-shirt for ease of relaxing as soon as they got out in the hot weather.

As soon as they had arrived, they had dumped their bags on an abandoned sun bed and chased each other down to the sea. The water was cool and soon they were playing about in it, splashing each other joyfully. They continued that for about half an hour, completely destroying the peace and serenity of the beach so that by the time they got back to it after a swim, it was deserted.

They spent a happy afternoon sunbathing (or, for Kurt, shade-bathing) and eventually decided to head back to the villa. They packed up their stuff and headed back up to the car... only to discover that they were missing the car keys. They had searched every bag and every pocket of every bag before realising that Kurt had put the keys in his short pockets when he got out. And that the shorts he had been wearing were swimming trunks.

An hour of Blaine searching with a snorkel, and Kurt heard a yell. Blaine had found the keys and, after another half an hour or so of struggling to reach it with the snorkel on (which had then been thrown back to the shore, splashing in the sea so that Kurt had had to retrieve it), they got the keys back. If it hadn't been for the large key-fob with the name of the car hire company saying 'Ocean', they may never have found them.

Kurt reached Blaine's car and unlocked it. He took out the bags before closing the boot, locking the car and unlocking his own. He took out the bags from that car, again locking it. He then looked at how many bags lay at his feet. A lot. He stuffed both sets of keys in his pocket, wondering how he was going to get all the bags to the Aviary.

He heard voices and looked up to see Henry and Daniel walking towards him.

"Want some help, Kurt?"

He smiled. "That'd be great, thanks guys."

Between them, they managed to get all of the bags back to the Aviary and place one on each chair. Blaine smiled at how well the three boys were getting on. He had known that Henry and Daniel had a thing for each other even before Dan came out. In fact, it was him who had told Daniel to come out. He had approached the boy after practise one day and asked him why he didn't just ask Henry out. Of course, the young singer had blushed and immediately tried to deny anything and everything. All Blaine had had to do as raise an oversized eyebrow to get the boy to break down in tears.

"You're right," he had said. "But I can never get him to look twice at me. He thinks I'm straight and I'm not and I love him and he doesn't even kno-"

Blaine had stopped him there, hushing him to get him to stop crying for long enough for him to understand what was about to be said to him. And Blaine just told him to take it slowly, not to make a song and dance of coming out, and then to ask him out. Blaine was pretty certain that Henry felt the same way, but he wasn't about to tell Dan that.

Less than a week later, Blaine caught a bit of conversation between Mark, Hen and Dan. Mark was discussing various attractive female celebrities, and Henry was joining in with male celebrities that he found hot. Mark had asked Daniel what he thought about one of the female celebs, and he had merely replied that he preferred one of the male ones. The nuances of which celebrities they had been talking about Blaine couldn't remember. But he could remember Henry's reaction.

He had raised his eyebrows and said, "I thought you were straight?"

"I know you did. So did everyone. But now is as good a time as any to come out, yeah?"

And then Blaine had started rehearsal. He remembered a couple of weeks after that he had set a task, like Mr Schue had. He had given the title as 'songs that make you think of someone', as per Dan's request. Daniel had taken the stage on his turn, singing a stunning rendition of Adele's Lovesong. With his eyes shut.

He remembered watching Henry struggle to stop the hurt showing through, thankful that he was allowed to leave as soon as the song was over, and Blaine also remembered the pain on Daniel's eyes as he opened them and saw the quickly retreating form of the person that song had been directed to.

And now? Blaine watched the two boys sharing a joke with his boyfriend and his heart melted. And, even more, he felt the emptiness in his pocket.

The rest of the Warblers filtered in, each standing by a chair with a carrier bag. Kurt came to join him at the front of the room and then went to sit, cross-legged, on Blaine's desk. Blaine had a sudden urge to put him in a box on their mantelpiece. But he had to restart the rehearsal.

"Right, I hope you all had a good night's sleep?" A murmur of agreement rose up. "And a good breakfast" A second murmur. "Good. Now, on each of your chairs is a bag containing red jeans, grey shirts and blue and red bowties, and they should all be named. Could those of you without exams please take yours and go and get changed in one of the bathrooms, and no, not all the same one. Those of you who have got exams, can you also take a bag but take it to the library. You can do revision until lunch and then I want to see you in the outfit after that. You can have a break at the same time as us. Please don't mess around. Everyone, now, go."

Five minutes later, everyone apart from Chris, Paul and Jack was back. Wayne was also back, with Sarah and Chloe. Blaine waited while his expert boyfriend checked that everything fitted. Of course, everything was perfect.

"Let's set up then, guys. We're doing Unwanted."

The room became a hubbub of activity. Chairs were, again, pushed to the sides, accompanied by humorous comments of "does my bum look big in this?" Blaine motioned to Chloe to bring Sarah over to the front of the room. He offered her the desk chair and she happily took it, daughter in her lap.

"How old is she now?" Kurt asked.

"Seven months."

He smiled, offering baby Sarah a finger. She took it, holding on tightly. The contrast between her dark skin and Kurt's very pale skin was beautiful.

Three people pushed Robert's platform forwards (Blaine had managed to get hold of a drum kit from the music department and it was on loan for the week). Jesse grabbed a guitar and Peter took to the floor, both missing their partners. Bill and Ben wheeled the piano a bit further into the room and sat down together at the bench. Mark and Simon, begrudgingly, stood together at the front of the group with Henry, who had given Daniel a quick kiss before parting from him. Everyone else stood at the back, waiting.

"Come on, guys. You know that's not right! Where's the energy? Excitement! Fun!"

As Blaine had spoken he had waved his arms in the air and it was like a switch had been flicked in every one of them. They walked around a bit, getting in place.

And then they began.

The rest of the day had gone smoothly, and Chloe had said how impressed she was at their performance. When Chris, Jack and Paul had returned after lunch, they slotted in easily and so that by the end of the day their performance of Unwanted was faultless.

They had also been exhausted by working all day on the same song. By ten o'clock, all the boys were in bed and asleep. Kurt checked that Sarah and Chloe were okay while Blaine went to bed, and ended up staying for half an hour just chatting.

It had been a peaceful night's sleep for everyone, and now they were back in the Aviary working on Welcome To My Life again.

"Welcome to my life.
Welcome to my life.
Welcome to my life."

"Brilliant guys. Once more, from the top, and then we'll go to lunch."

Just as they were about to start again, Kurt's phone rang. He apologised and slipped out of the room to take the call after seeing it was from Mercedes. As he stood outside and hit the call button, he could hear the song start up again and it made him smile.

"Hiya, 'Cedes."

"Hey there Whiteboy. What's that I can hear in the background?"

"It's the Warblers. They're rehearsing for Nationals this weekend. Aren't they amazing?"

"They certainly are. Aren't I glad that we're not competing against them!"

Kurt laughed. "Definitely. Tough competition for Lullaby League this year, I think. Anyway, what were you calling for?"

"Wait, shouldn't you be in there?"

"No, I think they can cope. Anyway, I want to talk to you. So go on."

"Oh, I was just wondering about arrangements for me coming to stay with you."

"Ah, great. I'm sorry for the other day, by the way. I had just woken up and... well, I had other things thinking for me."

"I bet you did," Mercedes teased. "But that's fine. I seem to remember it was me who called off."

"Whatever. Did you want to change the date?"

"No, I'm still okay for 24th. Why, do you want to change it?"

"No, that's good."

"Okay. No, I was just wondering if I could bring a friend?"

Kurt snickered. "A friend, eh? Go on, how long have you two been dating?"

"Oh, no it's nothing like that. Hell to the no. No, we're just friends. I met her on one of my tours and she says she has always wanted to spend some time in Ohio. I think she has toured there but she wants to know what real life is like there."

"Really? We're not very exciting. We've just got me at Tommy Bahama and Blaine at Dalton. We're not a very exotic household."

"I know that. As does she. But that's what she wants. Besides, she kind of wants to meet you."

"Meet me? Why?"

"Because I have told her about you and she says you sound like the kind of guy she wants as her best friend."

"Oh, that's so nice. Anyway, yeah, of course you can bring her. I'll set up the twin for you. I'm afraid we only have one spare room."

"Oh, that's fine. And thank you. She'll be delighted."

"Oh, no problem. Oh, hang on a second 'Cedes, I think they're finishing."

"No, I'll let you go. I should probably be warming my voice up anyway. I'll see you on 24th."

"See you then. Bye."

"Bye Boo."

Kurt put the phone in his pocket just as the Aviary doors opened and students started flooding out. Blaine followed them, carrying Kurt's jacket and handing it to him before turning back to lock up.

"How did it go?"

"Yeah, really good. I've got a good feeling about this year, Kurt. I think we could win."

"I'm sure you will. They are amazing."

Blaine blushed at the compliment to his boys. He offered his arm to Kurt. "May I take you to lunch?"

Kurt looped his arm through Blaine's. "You certainly may."

"Kurt, can we talk to you?"

Everyone was leaving and cars were pulling up to take everyone away. Blaine was busy with wishing Wayne and his family a safe journey home as Daniel and Henry approached Kurt.

"Sure."

Henry looked to Daniel, who sighed but spoke. "It's... it's about that offer. We'd like to... take you up on it."

By now, both boys were beetroot red. Kurt remained calm. "Yeah, okay. When do you want it? I mean, we could get together at the next Warbler rehearsal weekend-"

"Could you do it at Nationals?"

Kurt was taken aback by Henry's interruption. If possible, the boy went even redder.

"Uh, sure. Course." He frowned. "You know not to take things too fast, right?"

Daniel nodded. "We know."

"Okay. I'll talk to you then, then."

"What are you guys talking about?"

Henry had seen Blaine walk over and took a breath. "Kurt offered to give us the sex talk."

Blaine's eyebrows shot right up his forehead. "Oh. Right." Then he frowned. "You know to take things slowly, yeah?"

Kurt giggled and threw his arms around Blaine's waist. "They know."

"Anyway, thank you, Kurt." Henry dropped Daniel's hand to hug the two men. "Thank you, Blaine. Both of you, thank you."

Blaine ruffled the boy's hair. "Any time, Henry."

"I'll see you two next weekend," Kurt added. "Stay safe."

Henry nodded and released the men, going back to his boyfriend. They held hands and waved over their shoulders as they left the school.

Blaine turned to Kurt. "Well, that's it then."

"Yup."

"Over."

"Yes."

"For another year."

"Yeah."

A pause.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Another silence.

"Let's go home."

Well, thoughts? Worth the wait? Please leave a review. Remember, it is 10p. Also, nobody has reviewed every chapter so feel free to go back and review them now.

I shall be here again next week. Because I hate being without you.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

I never feel like I do enough for charities. Sure, all my old stuff goes to Cancer Research and I am always in the charity shops in my town. But I want to just go up to collection pots and put money in. So, for every signed review I get for this story, I will donate 10p to a charity. If you have a favourite, please let me know in your review and I'll see what I can do. Let's see how much we can donate, eh?

I'll talk to you all again next week. I love you all.

Prancing parakeets.