I'm in so much hot water with Kurt right now.

Rachel got the text in the middle of rehearsal. She eyed it while ostensibly listening to her music director lecturing the chorus about their harmonies, and then discreetly put it back into her purse. As soon as her director released the cast, she made a beeline back to her purse to text Blaine back.

What happened? Did you get a bad grade on that theatre history test you were studying for?

She waited impatiently for a response. She had a bit of time before she had to be at the diner tonight and this was certainly intriguing. She felt a little torn between hoping it was something minor for her Blaine's sake and enjoying the idea of not being the one in trouble at the moment.

I kind of didn't go to my abs class like I'd said I did last weekend.

Rachel's forehead wrinkled, confused by that.

What? Why not?

It took a moment for Blaine to reply.

I was upset with Kurt, but it's not really an excuse. I just… blew it off. And sort of fibbed a few times about it since then.

Rachel sighed and shook her head. Kurt was not known for taking lying lightly, and she remembered he'd just let him off the hook about exercising with that app of theirs a couple weeks ago. She grabbed her coat from the green room and texted him back, trying to cheer him up.

Sounds like something I would do. Let me guess. You felt so guilty you confessed? Amateur mistake. ;)

She was just leaving the rehearsal hall when she got the reply.

I wish. He'd probably go easier on me if I had. We went to lunch with this girl from NYADA who teaches the class. She was out of town this weekend and cancelled class. So my stories about how much of a workout it was don't exactly hold up anymore.

Rachel's eyes widened as she read the text while waiting for the elevator.

Yikes. Sounds like you were this close to getting away with it too. Getting caught in a lie sucks. What did he say?

Rachel rode the elevator down to the first floor and almost immediately got a text back.

Not much. He's working tonight and the rest of the week—I'm going to make myself crazy waiting. It's gonna be Saturday morning or so before he can even do anything about it.

Rachel smiled. If she was in trouble and knew she wasn't getting punished right away, she'd be relieved. She only got worked up about a punishment right when it was about to happen. If she was honest she'd admit that was because if there was any length of time first she tended to set her mind on the hope she'd come up with a way to talk her way out of it in the mean time. But she guessed Blaine preferred to get these things over with. He's going to beat up on himself about this more than anything Kurt'd deal out.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Nobody's perfect. It was just one class anyway. Fingers crossed he'll be lenient.

Rachel knew that was probably little comfort to Blaine right then, but she didn't know what else to say. She figured Kurt would give him a spanking for it—that's what he'd do to her for a similar offense. She made a mental note that she should maybe try to find an excuse to be out of the apartment Saturday morning. Kurt had no problem disciplining them in front of each other at this point, but both admitted they found it more embarrassing with someone else around.

He'd have been lenient if I'd admitted to all this three days ago. I deserve it anyway. I just hate knowing he's disappointed in me.

Rachel's heart broke a little to read that, knowing he was sincere. He's so sweet sometimes.

You know he loves you. You'll apologize and he'll deal with it, but then it'll be over. Try not to obsess over it, okay? I'll try to put in a good word for you at the diner tonight. Big sis is on the case.

Rachel ran into Kurt at the sandwich shop down the street from the diner, where they often grabbed an early dinner before a shift. She tried to size Kurt up and see what kind of mood he was in.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Hey. Alright. Just been a blur of a week. Wishing I could just go home right now."

Rachel nodded. "Same."

"We're crazy with all we take on sometimes, I'll say that."

"We all are. Artie and Sam's schedules are nuts too. But NYADA life seems to be a special kind of intense. It'd be understandable if you or Blaine dropped something here and there. You know, like all that exercising you've been doing."

Kurt looked at Rachel funny. "What are you getting at?"
"I'm just saying… you both must be tired a lot of the time. Maybe you shouldn't be so strict about keeping up with that exercise regimen so much. Cut Blaine a break."

Kurt grunted. "The exercise stuff was his idea in the first place."

"He uh, sort of mentioned to me that he missed a class last weekend."

"He did?" Kurt said, eyes narrowing.

Rachel bit her lip, treading lightly. "Yeah. And I was thinking that, well, maybe you should go easy on him about it."

Kurt lowered his voice. "Young lady I think you know better than trying to dictate how I handle his discipline."

Rachel squirmed a moment. "I'm not—dictating anything. I'm just saying he feels really bad about it. If you're going to spank him-"

"If?"

"I mean, I assumed, I was just thinking that—"

"This isn't really your business, Rachel."

"Come on, hear me out."

Kurt sighed but relented, gesturing for her to continue.

"He texted me. He's all worked up that you're disappointed in him. And not for nothing, but it's sort of cruel to make him wait days and days."

"That wasn't in my control. It's not my fault he got caught on a day I have work."

Rachel sighed. "I know. I just thought you should consider— he's really sensitive about the discipline you give. It's different than it is with me. At least sometimes. You always say you try to make the punishment fair. But if he's going to be thinking, day after day, about how bad it's going to be—that's like extra punishment almost. And you know Blaine, it's going to distract him from his work at NYADA. He'll probably shame spiral about it and overexert himself doing extra workouts until you deal with it. I'm not saying you can't punish him, but can't you just make him write an essay or something and be done with it?"

Kurt looked out the window, unsure. On general principle he felt like Rachel was out of line to be having an opinion on Blaine's punishment in the first place. But she had a point that Blaine would probably have an outsized reaction with this not being addressed right away. And maybe if it had been Rachel, an essay would be a reasonable compromise; she hated when he made her write things. Blaine would take an essay seriously, but would likely consider it an easier punishment than Rachel would. Kurt thought of the times he'd caught both of them in lies in the past, and didn't think it was right to go for anything "easier" when he thought of those precedents set. He wasn't sure what to do.