Back at Mercedes' place that evening, Blaine was muttering curse words as he tried to get through the last few minutes of his workout with his app. The novelty of the app had definitely worn off and he'd not been pleased when he realized he'd never done his workout in the morning after having to rush to school. It was always a drag to have to do crunches at the end of a long day at NYADA when he just wanted to relax. The temptation to blow it off was hard to ignore, but the guilt he still felt about this weekend loomed large and he talked himself into getting started, figured he'd feel that much worse.

Laying on the living room floor recovering when he was done, Blaine wondered if Kurt had gotten back to the loft yet and if Rachel and Kurt were talking about him. He scolded himself a moment then, telling himself that Rachel and Kurt probably didn't obsess over whether he was talking about them when he wasn't around. I was just there last night. My life's got to be more than just them all the time—this is why I moved out.

Blaine sat up and opened the app on his phone, recording his workout. It felt good to keep track of his workouts, and know that Kurt would check. For a moment his brow furrowed as he looked at the record until he remembered how last night Kurt had told him he didn't have to do the app. He felt guilty thinking about it. Last night he'd been quickly distracted by desire, but now in retrospect he felt like he'd been a bit of a jerk. Obviously Kurt had said he didn't have to do the app because he was counting the non-existent time he'd spent in Amy's class over the weekend. He thought about all those minutes he'd just sat and let Kurt do his workout without him. He could have argued harder that it wasn't necessary, he supposed. Or confessed. Ugh. This is stupid. It's not even that big of a deal. Blaine wondered what it must be like to be Noah Puckerman- or some other person like that who never seemed to get bogged down feeling bad about minor sins like he did. Must be nice.

"What are you doing?"

Blaine's thought's were disrupted by Mercedes emerging from the kitchen with a plate of food.

"Oh Mercedes. I didn't even realize you were home. Just finishing a quick workout."

"You boys are exercise obsessed these days, jeez."

"Heh. I don't' know about obsessed, but I'm trying. It's an app. I record that I did the workout and then Kurt can keep track."

"What, so if you don't you get in trouble?"
"S-something like that. Or sometimes maybe a reward if—"

"Heh. Yeah it sounded like you were due for a reward last night. You two couldn't keep your hands off each other ten minutes after dinner? You would have thought it was Mr. Schue's wedding all over again." Mercedes teased, sitting down with her plate of food.

"I—uh—was it really rude?" Blaine scrambled. "I didn't mean to- We just didn't really get much time this weekend, you see, and-"

"Relax Blaine, I'm just teasing. Nobody cares."

"Oh."

"You had fun?"

Blaine flushed. "Yeah."

"Good. Glad Kurt's feeling better, sounds like what he had was a nightmare. Rachel wouldn't shut up about the graphic details of him throwing up at 3 in the morning. Surprised Rachel didn't end up crashing here with all her germaphobic tendencies."

"Yeah. We were pretty quick to figure out it was probably just food poisoning."

"I love that girl but I think I'd probably go crazy with her freaking out over every little thing in my own house. I'd have to be in a sanitized bubble or something the whole of allergy season."

Blaine smiled. "She's really not so bad. I guess everyone has stuff that makes them irritate someone else."

"True. Roommating isn't always for the faint of heart."

"Sam and I are doing okay though, right? Not driving you too crazy?"

Mercedes laughed. "Sam needs a lot of reminders to pick up after himself, but no. You two are fine."
"I'll stay on him about it. We really appreciate you giving us a good deal on rent here. And I know Kurt is relieved I'm staying with people we know."

Mercedes nodded. "I made extra if you want any of this," she said, indicating her chicken.

"Thanks. Already grabbed dinner on the way home, but maybe will take advantage of that for lunch tomorrow if you have leftovers. I'm not exactly on a diet but trying to track my food a bit."

Mercedes nodded. "I'm surprised Kurt hasn't been over more since you moved in."

"He will. It's just hard sometimes, with both our schedules."

"Well he's always welcome. Long as you two keep it down when I'm getting my beauty sleep," she teased.

Blaine smiled. "We'll do our best. Though he's as likely to be here scolding me about studying enough as much as anything terribly sexy these days."

"School going okay?"

Blaine shrugged noncommittally, sitting down next to Mercedes. "Yeah. I mean, it's going okay enough. My voice class is going well and I'm getting used to all the reading for theatre history. But it's a tough school—there's always whispering about who's at risk for getting cut, it's just a lot of pressure sometimes. Some of it I was prepared for, but… I guess I didn't really think the hard stuff would be as hard as it has been. And I've got to hold the record for most times injured in Combat Class at this point. It's sort of embarrassing."

Mercedes gave Blaine a hug. "That's a lot on top of being in a new city, trying to make a relationship work—I give you a lot of credit."

Blaine sighed. "I really admired you for going out to California and making your dreams happen—sometimes I feel really overwhelmed here but there's no way I could have made it alone like that."

Mercedes chuckled. "You make it all sound so glamorous. I was miserable in California."

"Really?"

"Well, a lot of the time. Sure, it was exciting sometimes, and I wouldn't change it because I met so many goals and it put me in a place to be able to strive for more now—but I was broke and really lonely for a lot of it. Why you think I went out of my way to help Artie and Finn with the music for Grease? Honestly I'd have come back every weekend if I could have afforded it, especially on the rough days."

"How'd you get through it?"

"Skype-ing my mom a lot. And church. I know it's not for everyone, but no matter how bad my week has been, no matter what city I'm in, it's a real comfort to me that I can find somewhere to be on Sunday and sing and pray it all out. I learned a lot about myself last year and a big thing was just how much I need some kind of community, and on the regular."

Blaine nodded. "I guess Monday night dinners are good for us that way. I'd like to make some more friends in New York, but no one's going to mean as much as you guys do. In high school it was easy to connect with people—I'd bump into someone in the hallway and we'd make plans to go the mall or something. In college it feels different. Everyone's busy and I don't know, my confidence took a bit of a hit. So… I'm just so happy you let me and Sam stay here and that Artie's close by—it means a lot that whatever stress I've got from school I've got people to have dinner with on Mondays and they'll make me feel better."

Mercedes nodded. "Everybody needs friends. And the older I get, the more convinced I am that no one actually has life all figured out and together like it always seemed when I was in high school. Everyone's struggling with one thing or another most of the time. It helps to remember you're not alone. Plus, I like to keep you around because you're a good influence on Sam," she added, with a wink.

"Yes, every now and then I'm able to pull him away from video games. He'd never get outside without me!"

"Well that's good too but I meant you're a heck of a lot more trustworthy than he is and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if that rubbed off on him."

"Trustworthy? You know I cheated on my boyfriend last year, right? It was sort of an insane and public gossip-fest for a while there. It's a wonder anyone ever trusted me for anything again."

"Blaine. Kurt forgave you for that. I'm sure it was complicated. You're engaged now. Of course I don't consider that when I think of you."

"Thanks."

"I just meant Sam isn't above bending the truth every now and then about whether he dropped the check for the electric bill into the mail or not. If you screw up you're pretty good about admitting it. Kurt's lucky. That's more important in a relationship than a lot of people think. And you two are so good at helping each other with your goals. I'd be loathe to honestly track my workouts for anyone myself."

Blaine shifted uncomfortably. He thought of how he'd been in trouble for not exactly being accurate with the app in the past. And of how disappointed Kurt would be if he ever found out about how he blew off abs class and lied about it this weekend. Yeah, I'm a super honest guy.