Kurt tapped gently at Blaine's back. "Come on, you're going to be okay," he soothed, helping his fiancé hobble up and pulling up his sweats. Blaine was felt disoriented, adjusting his balance to standing as he felt the soft cotton slip back over his hot backside, which he promptly grabbed with both hands and a scowl, twisting and rubbing in a sort of strange and useless dance for a moment. Kurt observed without comment.

"Ughhhhh…" Blaine groaned with a miserable sniffle wiping his arm across his teary snotty face like a preschooler.

After a moment, Kurt spoke quietly, "You've eaten and done your homework you said?"

Blaine squinted, as though he had to work a little harder to see into his brain the answer to normal questions right now. "…Y-yes I have, sir."

"Good. You're going to be tired after all this, you always are," he commented. Then he stood, grabbing the spoon with one hand, and Blaine's hand with the other. "Come on, let's go get your teeth brushed," he said, no-nonsense.

Blaine let himself be led, trying to lean in towards whatever Kurt wanted of him at the moment but highly distracted by the hot sting across his bottom and the very top of his legs, which seemed to sear a little hotter with each little movement as he forced his feet forward. A salty tear slid down his sticky feeling face. Not done crying yet, I guess… owwww.

As they got to the top of the stairs Kurt gave Blaine a reproachful look. Blaine stiffened and looked, seeing the laundry basket still there.

"Oh. It's Sam's. I forgot when you…" Blaine stuttered and trailed off, trying to put his thoughts back into the right order for sentence formation.

"You're doing Sam's laundry?" Kurt asked.

"N-no—I mean—" Blaine stopped himself, trying to make sure he was being as honest as possible. "He just asked me to put it away, just this once," Blaine explained, quickly picking up the basket to leave it outside Sam and Mercedes' bedroom door.

Kurt nodded. "Sweetheart, it's okay. Even if I did have a problem with it, it's not really my business. I was just surprised. Come on," he added gesturing his head towards the bathroom.

Blaine took a moment to sneak his hands back to his bottom as he followed, vainly trying to rub away the gnawing ache. Sighing, he gave up and went into the bathroom, obediently taking out his toothbrush and brushing his teeth. It did seem to help a bit to have a task—anything for a distraction. When he finished, Kurt wet a washcloth with warm water and handed it to him. He washed the sticky-feeling off of his face.

When he finished, Kurt turned off the light and put a hand on Blaine's back, leading him to his room. They entered the bedroom and Kurt went to the drawer where he knew Blaine kept pajamas and pulled out some loose shorts and an undershirt. He handed them to Blaine. As Blaine obediently changed, something gnawed at Kurt until he spoke up.

"I'm sorry if I sounded critical there," Kurt said. "I only even probably noticed because Rachel—"

"Oh, I know," Blaine interrupted.

Kurt sighed. "She took advantage more than once, probably still will try sometimes on the weekends."

Blaine grinned. "Of course she will.

But with Sam- I probably should be more careful not to overstep on telling you how to deal with him. It's not healthy for everything you do to be under a microscope." Kurt said.

Blaine shook his head. "You just worry about me, I get it. I mean, unless he talks me into playing Coaster Tycoon late into the night during finals or something."

Kurt smiled. "It's a very strange balance sometimes of taking care of… your inner child or something in some way… and then also trying to give you the space to… be you and grow here in this new chapter of life."

Blaine nodded. "You're… doing alright," he said quietly.

"You're sure?"

"There was never a road map for anything with us—we'll figure it out. And I know I can always say hold on and we can talk about it. Or I can call Rachel and get her to yell at you," he grinned.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "True."

"Will you stay?" Blaine asked shyly.

Kurt hesitated. It made sense. He just hadn't thought of sleeping over originally.

"Do you want me to?"

"I always do," Blaine said plainly. "I've got your emergency clothes and toothbrush in the closet."

When Blaine and Sam had moved in the understanding was Blaine would live here during the week but Kurt had left a small package of clothes in a bag in case the occasional date night out went late. Sam was closer to his size than Blaine in some ways and had made a well-meaning comment that he would be happy to lend him something anytime and Kurt had realized with urgency that showing up in NYADA with Sam's limited fashion sense on display was simply out of the question.

"Okay, as long as I can use your sunscreen in the morning. I'm not risking—"

"Shit. I didn't moisturize—"

"Eh. I guess one night won't kill us. It's been a long day for both of us. We should just relax."

"Okay." Then Blaine hesitated, "I um, I also didn't do my abs workout yet," he confessed.

Kurt smiled a gentle smile. "I'm not a monster, I'm not going to make you do sit ups after I just tanned your hide."

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"Speaking of which, I almost forgot," Kurt said, holding up the wooden spoon. "This is yours now."

Blaine straightened up. "Do I have to… display it?" he asked timidly.

"Not out in the open on the wall or anything. I know that would be awkward to explain to Sam if he was in here or anything. In a drawer where you'll see it regularly is fine." Kurt put on a sterner tone. "It will be a good reminder."

"Yes sir," Blaine responded automatically, taking it gingerly in his hand. It seemed smaller somehow holding it. With his bottom still throbbing he didn't particularly think he was going to be forgetting it's existence anytime soon, but the notion of it being in his sight having even the slightest chance of helping him to avoid earning it in the future sounded sort of nice. "Rachel keeps her hairbrush in the bathroom mostly, you think it helps her?" he asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I shudder to think how much more naughtiness she'd try to get away with without the constant reminder."

Blaine smiled a little at that. "I keep pencils for my homework here," Blaine said, opening up the little drawer to the desk in the corner of his room and placing it, almost reverently there.

"Good," Kurt responded.

Blaine rubbed his eyes and Kurt smiled.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"I told you you'd be sleepy," Kurt teased. "Still sore?"

Blaine made a face.

"That bad huh?"

Blaine grunted, crawling gingerly up onto his bed and rolling over on to his stomach.

Kurt nodded, sympathetic. "It's probably going to for a while," he said gently.

"Not exactly making me feel better," Blaine whined.

"Hmm, well, sometimes that's just not my job," Kurt softly admonished, sitting on the bed next to his fiancé.

There was a pause, and then a quiet, "Yes, sir."

Kurt rubbed Blaine's back in response. "You know I wouldn't have spanked you with the spoon if I didn't hope you'd be reminded of your behavior a little longer than usual, you know," he added, letting his hand linger down to tap Blaine's bottom a moment.

"…I know, sir," Blaine whispered.

"But my point was," Kurt continued, bringing his hand back up to his fiancés back and massaging in a soft circular motion, "that given that reality, it's probably for the best you don't have anything else going on tonight."

"I'm really sorry I lied and everything Kurt…"

"I know," Kurt soothed. "You'll do better next time."

There was a pause. "…I guess… it was, um…" Blaine hesitated.

"What?" Kurt encouraged.

"It was pretty red this time?" Blaine mumbled out, embarrassed.

Kurt nodded. "Yes. Not the worst you've ever earned though. Red, but not super bruised or anything. If I was worried I'd say we should put some Arnica gel on it, but I think you'll be fine. It'll likely feel better, or at least mostly better, in the morning."

Blaine sighed, his lower half squirming a bit, trying to relax.

"I suppose that's good. I have enough self-esteem issues around my body without worrying about my backside looking beat up."

"Your body's fine. And your backside is as sexy as it ever was."

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"You need anything? You thirsty?" Kurt asked.

"No," Blaine said, "But… I'm glad you're here."

Kurt smiled. "Me too. I like having my space more in the loft, but it is a little weird at night when you're not in my bed sometimes."

"Usually if you were staying over we'd be—messing around by now."

"Yeah. I wasn't imagining you'd be exactly up for that tonight."

"I mean, if you really wanted—" Blaine started, pulling his hands up to his sides to push himself up.

"Shh," Kurt hushed. "Take it easy, okay? I'm fine. Let's take care of you now. You can have your way with me any day."

Blaine let himself let go at that. He eased back against the mattress. "Any day?" he asked, sly and lazy.

"Always."

It was quiet a long while as Kurt continued to rub Blaine's back. The sting across Blaine's backside was still there, dull—but not so bad like this when he wasn't walking or moving around.

"It's still early. We could watch something on TV," Blaine suggested absently after a minute.

"Hmm-hmm. We could." Kurt said, swallowing a smile as Blaine yawned. He watched lovingly as the eyelids fluttered a bit, his fiancés breathing slower and deeper as he drifted off.