"Kurt!" Blaine waved from the doorway and Kurt sighed in relief. He'd been looking for him for ten minutes and been starting to get worried. "Oh, sunglasses," Blaine laughed. "Got a hangover?"

"I do actually." Kurt nodded. "So talk softer please."

"Okay." Blaine nodded. "Need help?" He didn't wait for an answer, just took Kurt's suitcase from him.

"It's a rolling one." Kurt raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't exactly take much effort to cart it around."

"Well I'm a gentleman." Blaine winked. "I can't let my hungover friend do unnecessary work."

"My friends rock today." Kurt murmured under his breath.

"So, you were drunk last night?"

"Well yes, that tends to be the reason for a hangover. I can't really remember much of it though." Kurt shook his head.

"That explains it then." Blaine said, but not to Kurt apparently.

"Explains what?" Kurt asked anyway.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Blaine shrugged. "So, since you're childless until Saturday, want to come out with me on Friday? Wes and David have been bugging me about meeting you and you've yet to come see me play."

"George." Kurt shook his head.

"Has taken a liking to Terra and Skylar, and this one boy named Hugh." Blaine interrupted.

"He can't just invite himself over places, it's not good form."

"I invited myself over to Wes' house all the time." Blaine frowned.

"It's bad form." Kurt repeated. You can only get away with it if you're family, and that's only sometimes, or if you're really good friends. No, when Mary's in California with her mom I'll come see you play."

"Kurt." Blaine whined with a pout. "So long, that's…what? Two, three weeks?"

"Three, three exactly actually now that I think about it." Kurt answered. "Blaine, this is too much talking. Let's just go home and we'll talk about it later."

"Fine, let's go." Blaine took his arm and towed him at a faster pace than they'd been walking before. "George wants to see you so bad."

"George wants me to feed him." Kurt smirked.

"And he likes you." Blaine added. "We both do."

(.)

Wednesdays without Mary were a small kind of torture and relief at the same time. It was nice not to have to be on all the time, to not be constantly being in 'Daddy Mode', but it also left him with so much free time he didn't know how to fill. There was only so much HGTV he could watch before he got bored and felt like a lazy couch potato.

But then he honestly didn't know what to do. He was used to spending his day with her during the summer, or cleaning until she got home from school during the school year and then helping her with her homework. Today she was over at Terra's. "Just ike her mom." Kurt sighed, "She gets a bestie young and will probably keep her forever. At least she's not like me, I never keep friends."

(.)

"MR. KURT!" George yelled when they got to Cheerio's. "You're back!" Kurt was almost tackled by the enthusiasm of George's hug.

"Told you." Blaine whispered in his ear stealthily. Kurt stuck his tongue out momentarily in response.

"Yup." Kurt agreed and hugged George back before pulling the ten year old's arms off him. "Now let's go, I have to make dinner."

"YES!" George hollered and got in the car. "Bilisan mo Tito Blaine."

"Uh…" Kurt had no idea what just came out of George's mouth.

"Mag ingles ka para kay Kurt pamangkin." Blaine answered. "English."

"Sorry." George said sheepishly "I got used to it with you."

"It's alright." Blaine assured him.

"Guys…?" Kurt reminded them of his presence. He was focused on the weird sounds coming out of their mouths, so he kind of didn't notice them pulling out of the parking lot.

"I told you we've been speaking Tagalog, well, it's been all Tagalog." Blaine shrugged. "It's a habit you get into with people, I swear I speak less English to my mom than my grandparents, and they still live in the Philippines."

"What'd you guys say?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, George just said…"

"I wanna!" George interrupted. "I said 'Go fast!' 'cause I want Tito to drive fast. I like when you cook, Mr. Kurt. Then he told me to speak in English."

"That's right." Blaine congratulated him. "'Tito' means uncle."

"Okay." Kurt nodded. "That's a lot different than 'oncle'."

"O…kay?"

"I know French." Kurt shrugged.

"Trilingual car, sweet." Blaine beamed. "Know how to cook frog legs?"

"Ew." Kurt shuttered. He loved French things, but there was no way in hell he was eating a frog leg, or snails.

"Yuck!" George agreed. "Don't make that! Can you make that green chicken again?"

"Jerk chicken? Sure." Kurt agreed.

"Awesome, with mangos, they're one of the few fruits I did buy. I love them." Blaine sighed. "Sounds like dinner is all set."

"Perfect." Kurt agreed. The rest of the trip only took ten minutes and it was spent in comfortable silence, of which Kurt was grateful. His head still hurt a little and George's pre-pubescent high pitched voice wasn't helping. Neither was the decibel level of his enthusiasm to have Kurt back.

"Want me to cut the mangos?" Blaine asked as Kurt opened the fridge. Luckily Blaine had some common sense and had left out some meat instead of freezing it. Chicken took forever to defrost.

"You know how?" Kurt was doubtful.

"I love them, of course I figured out how to eat them. Besides, my grandma taught me." Blaine smiled. "I think I can manage it."

"Okay, but just cut it, I don't trust you after all the mishaps I heard about this week."

"You'll just have to keep teaching me more than, giliw." Blaine winked and waved the knife he'd pulled from the drawer somewhat dangerously without any thought.

"Don't do that!" Kurt yelled horrified. "Never wave knives around like that. You could kill someone."

"I got this, Kurt." Blaine sighed. "But if it makes you feel better I won't anymore."

"Thank you." Kurt sighed in relief. Blaine stuck his tongue out.

A shiver went through Kurt. That tongue…he wanted it in his mouth. "Definitely not better yet." Kurt mumbled to himself. He just kept staring.

"Do I have something on my face?" Blaine asked and wiped quickly at his face. His lip was pulled down with the motion, showing off the soft fat part that hugged his bottom teeth. Kurt wondered what that tasted like… "Kurt?"

"Sorry," Kurt snapped out of it. "Yeah, you got it."

"Okay." Blaine smiled nervously. "Okay."

"Yeah…" Kurt took a discreet breath and focused on making his jerk spice for the chicken. Despite not cooking, Blaine had a decent amount of kitchen supplies. He'd asked about it during the first cooking lesson. Blaine's sister, it seemed, liked giving kitchen wares as gifts, even if the recipient didn't know what it was. Actually Kurt was a little jealous of Blaine's collection, he'd been looking for a good replacement food processor that wasn't overly expensive, and here Blaine was carting around a really good one. "Wasted on him." Kurt mumbled.

"What was that?" Blaine asked.

"Nothing." Kurt answered. "You done with the mangos?"

"Yeah, just a few more cuts." Blaine answered.

"Perfect." Kurt nodded. The pan was almost hot enough for the chicken and he was almost done with the jerk.

"Anything else, chef?" Blaine asked, putting his hand on Kurt's shoulder and peeking around it. "I can't believe I like green gunk."

"It's not green gunk." Kurt protested, pointedly ignoring Blaine's closeness. "It's a rub."

"No, this is a rub." Blaine used the hand perched on Kurt's shoulder to rub firmly. "That is green gunk."

"Uhm." Kurt couldn't help the delighted noise he made, or the way his head fell forward to make more room on his shoulder.

"Damn, Kurt." Blaine rubbed again. "You're tense. When was the last time you got a back rub?"

"Um… I don't know." Kurt melted. "I think Brit tried once and nearly broke me."

"What about your other friends?" Blaine added his other hand and pushed in with his thumbs, Kurt held in a gasp. He hadn't even noticed he was tense, he was always like this.

"I don't…uhm…no. Mercedes is it really and she…that feels really good." Kurt let the gasp out, Blaine's hands had just moved down to his shoulder blades. "We don't do that."

"I used to give Wes and David backrubs all the time; I'll do you after dinner okay?" Blaine pushed his thumbs into Kurt's back and swirled.

"Ah!" Kurt yelped. "Yeah… sounds good." He barely even registered the dirtiness in that sentence. How the hell had he gotten so tense without noticing?

"Why was Mr. Kurt yelping?" George appeared from in front of the TV to ask. "And is dinner ready yet, I'm hungry."

"I wasn't yelping, and half an hour." Kurt answered. "Go watch TV with your uncle."

"No, he only likes news shows or those stupid home makeover shows." George stuck his tongue out. "You keep Tito." George ran out of the room, almost like he was afraid Blaine would chase after him.

"I guess I'm yours then." Blaine laughed. "It's been decreed."

"Oh, so official then." Kurt said with a chuckle of his own. Oh the innuendos coming out of Blaine's mouth today.

"So tell me about this chicken stuff, as we know I'm hopeless with it."

"C'mere you, let Chef Kurt teach you." Kurt beckoned. His back felt weird that he was so aware of it so he cracked it quickly. "Now, about chicken…"

(.)

"Can you go out tomorrow?" Mercedes asked, stopping in front of his desk, her excusatory cup of water in hand as usual.

"Why?" Kurt asked. They hadn't actually talked yet today aside from the customary 'hellos', why was she wondering about his schedule.

"'Cause there's someone I want you to meet." She answered. "He's a friend of a friend and Carrie says he's really nice."

"You want to set me up on a blind date?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Yeah." She nodded. "You're not dating anybody, and neither is Nathan, why not?"

"I don't go on blind dates." Kurt turned away from her in his chair, focusing on his computer screen intently.

"You don't go on dates." Mercedes interjected. "Give this a chance."

"I don't date for a reason." Kurt said shortly. He was so done with this conversation.

"And what, pray tell, is that reason?" Mercedes asked, her best bitch face in place.

"I have Mary." Kurt answered.

"That's not a reason to not date, Kurt."

"I refuse to get her used to somebody who's just going to leave us. She has enough of people leaving her with our family."

"You're the one who moved, Kurt."

"I know…and sometimes I wish we hadn't, but it was better in the long run for her. Lima wasn't the right place for either of us. I do wish the right place had been a little closer though."

"You don't have to introduce Nathan to Mary right away, hell you don't even have to do it at all if you don't want to for a long time." Mercedes pointed out.

"Mercedes, I don't want to talk about this anymore, so just leave me alone. I'm not going to go on a blind date and I will decide if I'm going to attempt dating when I find somebody worthy enough to think about it for. Now go away, I'm busy."

She sighed. "Fine, but I wish you'd reconsider."

(.)

"Fuck." Kurt whimpered, he'd thought this whole backrub business was supposed to make him feel better. "That hurts."

"You've got knots like I've never seen before." Blaine said. "I can't do this like this, lie down and take your shirt off. This is serious backrub time, I'm getting some lotion. Oil works better, but at least I won't be doing it dry."

"Oh." Was all Kurt could say. "Where? Lie down where?" He managed to get out with minimal voice shaking.

"Um…well, I'm not really good at it from the side, so I'm gonna have to straddle you, is that alright?"

"Okay." Kurt was definitely in gutter overload.

"Floor then. Or, I haven't really vacuumed in a while. Follow me." Blaine answered and then was gone from the living room.

"Shit…that's…" Kurt mumbled as he mindlessly followed Blaine's trajectory. "No, he means it completely innocently. He's just helping me out. Backrub, that's all it is." Kurt coached himself. Blaine had gone upstairs, and Kurt walked them slowly. "He only needs you to take your shirt off 'cause he's giving you a backrub. Completely innocent."

Still, it wasn't until he heard Blaine make a triumphant noise that Kurt freaked out, sped up the stairs to Blaine's room and pulled his shirt off quickly, afraid of the questions Blaine would ask if he hadn't. "Got it." Blaine held out the lotion proudly as Kurt walked in and looked for a place to put his shirt. "Take two…well I guess it's take three at this point, but either way…lie down. And I'll take that."

Blaine took his shirt and laid it on his nightstand. "Okay." Kurt nodded and lay down on his stomach on Blaine's bed, ignoring the fact the stomach flips being there inspired. At least this position would hide his inevitable boner.

"Damn, I think I even see a knot." Blaine laughed and knelt next to him. "I know you're really picky about products, so I tried to find an oil free one, but… this was all I could get."

"It's alright, the face is really sensitive to oils, but my back should be fine." Kurt assured him. Now that he was lying there on the bed he really wanted Blaine's hands on him.

"Good then." Blaine said and swung his leg over Kurt abruptly. He hovered but didn't sit, which was Kurt was grateful for, the less pressure on his nether regions the easier this would be. Blaine's warm hands found his back and started rubbing.

"Hmm." Kurt sighed and let his eyes fall shut.

"So much tension."

"Sorry." Kurt mumbled.

"Don't be sorry." Blaine pushed his thumbs in and swirled like he had earlier in the kitchen. "Just come to me next time you get tense, I'll fix ya right up."

"Will do." Kurt agreed. Having Blaine touch his bare skin was so…comforting. Yeah it was turning him on, but the relaxation it caused beat out the arousal.

As Blaine worked away at him Kurt relaxed more and more, he didn't even notice himself fall asleep.