Blaine pretended to whine about going back to Dalton all week, and even brought out some luggage from his closet to fool Kurt when he visited. Together they lamented the end of summer, the beginning of weekend-only visits. Blaine somehow kept a straight face through the whole thing.

On the first day of school he ran into most of the glee club before he found Kurt, and had to bribe them all in various small ways not to say anything to Kurt before he did.

He finally found Kurt at his locker, engrossed in conversation with Mercedes. Mercedes saw him first, her eyes going wide at the sight of him. Blaine put a finger to his lips to indicate she say nothing, so she quickly affected normalcy, and Kurt somehow didn't notice. She ended the conversation as fast as she could, and ran away, while Blaine stood smiling behind Kurt, out of his line of vision.

Kurt gave Mercedes a confused look as she rushed away, and turned back to his locker to pick out the relevant books.

Blaine stepped forward and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm new here, can you help me find room 3C?" But he barely had all the words out before Kurt flung around, was shocked, and jumped on him with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt practically cried. "What… why… I thought your parents weren't going to let you transfer!"

Blaine smiled and hugged him back, tight. "Do you treat all the new kids so welcomingly? I might get jealous next time."

"Blaine!" Kurt yelled, and pulled back just a little, to look into his eyes. But then he remembered where they were, and who they were surrounded by, and he jumped back. "We can't… do anything… here."

"I know," Blaine nodded. "I just want to see you."

Kurt smiled. "I just want to see you, too."

"Walk me to class, at least."

While they walked Kurt looked down at his boots. "I'm starting to regret this, a little bit. It's just… what if someone says something, or does something, to hurt you?"

"I can take care of myself," Blaine answered, and nudged him with his elbow.

Kurt smiled at him. "I know you can."

"I'll be fine. And anything is worth it, to spend more time with you."

Kurt sighed, happy. They arrived at Blaine's classroom. Kurt lingered in the hallway. Blaine leaned against the doorframe and waited for him to talk.

"I hope it is worth it," Kurt said quietly, and then even quieter, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Blaine whispered back.

Kurt backed up. "Are you joining glee club?" he asked as people passed between them, oblivious to everything.

"Of course!"

Later, at glee, Kurt introduced him as the greatest singer of all time, and Blaine sang an inaugural song, which most people seemed to approve of. That was the only class they had together, the only one where they could sit together and hold hands and whisper things to each other and laugh, and it was then that Blaine was sure leaving Dalton was worth it.

Later that night, at home, Blaine received a text from Nick. "Missed you today," it said. "How's your new life?"

While Blaine was thinking of a good way to answer, and feeling a little guilty, his father knocked and entered his room.

"How was your first day of public high school?" he asked.

"It was good," Blaine nodded.

"Was the work easy?"

"I was a little confused, actually, just because everything is new to me. But I'll catch up."

"You'd better catch up quickly. And don't spend all your time with… your new friends. I'm expecting you to keep straight As while you're there. One slip up, and I'm putting you back in Dalton."

"I understand. I will."

His father lingered for a moment, like he was taking time to think of what to say next. "I hope you also understand," he began, "how hard I'm trying to be supportive of your… relationship with Kurt."

Blaine raised his eyebrows, not really expecting anything like this to ever come from his father's mouth. "I… I am," he said. "I know you let him visit me at the hospital every day."

He nodded. "Cooper thought he would help you recover sooner."

"I know he did," Blaine said.

"But I'm not so sure. In fact, I think it's more like, Kurt was the reason you ended up in the hospital."

"But—"

His father put up a hand, indicating Blaine shouldn't argue with him. "I know how you feel. I know you'll always defend him. You have to try to look at it from my point of view. Anyway, I know we've fought about… this subject in the past. I want you to know I'm not ignorant, or hateful, I just… want what's best for you."

"I know," Blaine said. "Thank you."

His father nodded. "And I'll be glad when it's over," he said finally, quietly, and with that, left the room.

Blaine's shoulders slumped. It didn't seem like anyone thought he had made the right decision. He wasn't even sure Kurt was completely happy about it.

Time passed. He began to get used to McKinley. The New Directions seemed to accept him eventually, aided by the fact that he tried to always keep a smile on his face. Then the time came for the school to put on a musical, and everything seemed to go crazy. He and Kurt had their first fight, however mild and passive aggressive it turned out to be. Kurt wanted the lead and everyone knew that, Blaine most of all. And Kurt auditioned, and everyone made fun of him, which really hurt him, and Blaine knew that better than anyone. But he couldn't help but think maybe getting the lead himself would make the rest of the club respect him more, a lot more, and he couldn't let it go. He auditioned for a small part but was offered the lead, and he didn't know what to say when it happened. He knew he should say no. He knew he should refuse to be in the musical in any capacity, after the way they had treated Kurt. But he paused, and said nothing for a moment, and then Kurt's voice came out of the rafters like magic and said Blaine would take it.

"You will?" Artie, Miss Pillsbury, and Coach Beiste looked at him with stars in their eyes.

He looked up to Kurt, who nodded vigorously. "… Sure," he said finally, but he knew he shouldn't have.

And then it was too late. Kurt pretended to be too busy to talk to him the rest of the day. He had flashbacks of his mother and Cooper laughing at him when he said maybe he and Kurt would never fight. And when Kurt wouldn't answer his phone or reply to his texts he remembered his father saying he'd be glad when the relationship was over.

So he pushed extra hard to get Kurt to like him again, the way he did before Blaine had sort of, maybe, stabbed him in the back. He wanted to take their relationship to the next level, to be sure Kurt was hooked and couldn't back out. Which was the wrong logic to have, but Blaine wasn't perfect. Besides, Artie kept telling him he needed to sleep with Kurt.

So they went to that awful bar, and Karofsky was there, which made Blaine upset, and Sebastian was there, which made Kurt upset, and things just kept getting worse, but Blaine didn't notice because he was drinking.

Kurt forced him by pain of death to only have one drink, so that what happened at Puck's party didn't make a recurrence, and Blaine obliged, loyally. But it didn't matter. One stupid drink kind of made him drunk. Then he really pushed himself on Kurt, in the backseat of his car, of all places, and things really went to hell. It all led up to his opening night as Tony, where he was so upset and felt so guilty that he didn't do a good job anyway, and didn't feel like he even deserved the part in the first place.

But Kurt, who was always so sweet and perfect and always knew the right things to do and say, came up to him afterward and told him he'd been amazing, and forgave him for everything, which was more than noble of him. And then he said he wanted them to forgo the afterparty, because he wanted to go to Blaine's house, which implied a lot because they both knew his parents were out of town again.

And then Blaine's brain really turned off, and he was thankful every day afterward that he managed not to do anything to ruin their first time together.

They didn't speak during the drive home from the auditorium. Kurt just sat sideways in the passenger seat and looked at him with a gaze that was so loving and trusting that it made Blaine's heart stop to look back, so he did the right thing and kept his eyes on the road.

He tried to kiss Kurt all the way from the driveway to his bedroom but sometimes they had to stop to open and unlock doors, and sometimes they had to actually speak.

"Kurt," Blaine said somewhere on the stairs, "we have to talk about what we want."

"Everything," Kurt answered.

"I know," Blaine smiled and kissed him again. "But, I mean, who—"

"You," Kurt breathed, interrupting him. "You on top. This time."

Blaine immediately agreed. It didn't really matter to him what Kurt would have said, he would have immediately agreed to anything.

"Blaine," Kurt said when they got to his bedroom door. "Do you have… like… stuff?"

"Yes, I have stuff," Blaine smiled. "I have condoms and lubrication, if that's what you mean."

Kurt pulled away from the kiss and took a small step back. "Why?"

"Um," Blaine said. "For a moment such as this."

"When did you get it?"

"The day after we met."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "That joke doesn't work, you were still in the hospital the day after we met."

"Fine, like, a month ago?"

"But, you didn't have it already, did you? Because… because…" Kurt turned red and obviously didn't want to finish the sentence. But Blaine knew what he meant.

"No! I bought it after what happened on prom night, so that in case anything happened suddenly again, and we wanted it to go further, we wouldn't have to stop and ruin the moment by running to the drugstore. Kurt," he sighed, and took his hand. "I promise I've never been with anyone else in nearly an intimate situation as we've already been in. I've told you everything I've ever done. Everything," he reiterated, making sure Kurt was looking at him and listening to him. "I kissed someone, like, twice, before I met you. I promise, that's it."

Kurt took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, shaking off doubts and nerves. Blaine did it, too. It kind of worked. They laughed at how silly they were being, and Kurt kissed him again, wrapping his arms around Blaine. He pulled Blaine into the bedroom and shut the door behind them. No one was going to be home for days, but it was comforting to have a semblance of privacy.

"Leave the light off," Kurt whispered onto Blaine's lips.

"Should I put on some music?"

"No," Kurt breathed, and Blaine was pleased. It seemed a little dirtier and sexier to be able to hear every last noise they might draw from each other that night.

Kurt slipped off his shoes and pulled Blaine's shirt up over his head at the same time.

"Are you sure about this?" Blaine asked, trying not to topple over while he seemed to have a more difficult time getting his shoes off. "We don't have to—"

"Shh," Kurt kissed him.

"We can still work up to it," Blaine mumbled against him. "We have all the time in the world."

"Promise that's the last time you'll ask?"

Blaine pulled back far enough to look properly into Kurt's eyes. "I promise it's the last time I'll ask."

Kurt smiled. He was already blushing, visible even in the pale streetlight coming through the blinds on his window. He looked shyly to the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed. He took Blaine's hand and looked up at him again. "Good," was his answer. He pulled Blaine closer and kissed him again. Before Blaine could demand a real answer to his question he was distracted by the fact that Kurt was lying back on the bed and pulling him on top, and he couldn't form any more coherent thoughts.

They awkwardly undressed each other, leaning on one knee or balancing on an elbow, until their bodies were flush against each other, with nothing in between.

"I guess we should have done all of that standing up," Kurt laughed.

Blaine kissed his blushing cheeks and willed him wordlessly not to ever be embarrassed around him. "We're figuring it out. Let's take comfort in the fact that we'll never be as bad at this again as we are now."

Kurt seemed to relax a little at the thought. "Some day you'll be able to waltz in and sweep me off my feet, and carry me to our bedroom, and we'll know exactly what to do. We won't have to say anything."

"We'll know each other perfectly. It just takes a little practice."

Kurt wiggled a little below him, hesitating for a moment before putting a hand on Blaine's cheek and whispering, "I love you."

They'd said it to each other dozens of times before, but this time felt somehow much more real. Realer even than the first time they'd said it. Blaine inhaled a shaky breath and tried to steady his voice before he answered. "I love you, too, Kurt Hummel."

He smiled. "Ready?"

"Ready," Blaine nodded. He reached into the back corner of the bottom drawer of his bedside table, feeling for what he wanted underneath all the junk he could think of to pile on top of it to hide it.

"We don't really need a condom," Kurt whispered.

"I know," Blaine said, still reaching, and felt himself blush. "I just… thought… if it'd make you feel better, or… more… content…"

Kurt shook his head. "No."

As soon as Blaine's hand emerged from the drawer with the small bottle of lubrication, Kurt reached out and grabbed it for himself.

"Poor baby," Kurt grinned and popped the lid open. He squeezed some onto Blaine's fingers and interlaced his own between them. "You had to go buy sex things all by yourself."

"Well, you—" Blaine replied, but his voice hitched when Kurt bent his knees up on either side of Blaine's waist and their erections brushed together. He was suddenly acutely aware that Kurt was all spread out and completely exposed beneath him, was waiting for Blaine to touch him intimately and bring him to orgasm, and he could hardly remember what he was going to say. It came out rushed and slurred when he tried again. "You wouldn't've gone with me anyway."

"I wouldn't've gone with you," Kurt agreed. "I will, though, some day."

Blaine mumbled an incoherent agreement while Kurt took his hand, which he was too afraid to move by himself from up by their shoulders, down between their waists. He let go when Blaine's fingers found the courage to wrap around his length, and Kurt's eyes closed with delight. But he only allowed for a few seconds of stroking before he wiggled down farther, bringing his hips up, so that Blaine's hand moved farther down.

"You must have done some research," Blaine managed to say. He'd expected to have to explain everything to Kurt and half expected Kurt to freak out and run away, their first time, but apparently Kurt knew what was supposed to be happening.

"I told you I did," Kurt kissed him. Blaine remembered the conversation, which was more like a quick, sort of random confession Kurt had whispered to him over the phone one night, and it had gone out of Blaine's mind again when, two seconds later, his father demanded he get off the phone. He forgot to mention it again. It was too hard to randomly bring up porn when they were constantly surrounded by ten friends, or parents and siblings, or whatever. They were almost never alone. They almost never got to have private conversations. That was why Blaine was so enjoying having the house to himself that weekend. He could almost pretend they were adults, living together, alone, who could say or do anything at any time without consequences. If Kurt wasn't spread open naked beneath him right at that moment, he might have had a voyeuristic moment and turned on all the lights and opened all the doors and windows in the whole house, just because he could.

"I'm sorry," was what he said instead. He meant he was sorry he'd forgotten to talk to Kurt about it again after Kurt tried the first time, but it was possible Kurt construed it as apologizing for what he was doing at that moment, because Blaine slid the first finger inside of him then. He did it slowly, and watched and felt for Kurt to respond negatively, to frown or tense up or anything, but he seemed to be fine. He just took Blaine's free hand and held onto it tightly.

"Don't apologize," he said. "And keep going."

Blaine consented, even slower this time, because there was obvious and tangible resistance to two fingers that he didn't really want to fight. He wanted to watch Kurt's face, because he knew Kurt would lie and say he was fine even if he wasn't, but Kurt wouldn't let him pull away far enough to let him see. He hooked an arm around Blaine's neck and kept their forehead and noses and lips together constantly. But Blaine could feel Kurt's stomach muscles clenching, and it took Kurt's kisses, the way he squeezed his hand, the way he held Blaine in place with his thighs, to not pull his fingers out and run to the other side of the room and insist they never try it again, because he never wanted to hurt him. Instead he froze, deciding a little time was the cure to mostly everything, and pleaded with Kurt to remember to relax. Even if he had to force himself to.

It seemed to work; after a little while Kurt loosened up, letting his arms fall to his sides and settling back deeper into the mattress. He kept his eyes closed. There was a little more room for Blaine's fingers to move then, but he didn't dare to, yet.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked nervously. Kurt had even stopped kissing him. He just kind of laid there, eyes closed, unmoving.

"I'm fine," Kurt answered, and sounded genuine. "I'm relaxed." He reached out and blindly grasped for Blaine's free hand, which he caught eventually, and squeezed it once, reassuringly. He intertwined their fingers together, and hooked his ankles over Blaine's. He was still trying to hold him in place.

"I'm not going anywhere," Blaine whispered to him, leaning forward to kiss him again. "I'm here."

He waited, and finally Kurt said again, "Keep going."

Hesitantly, Blaine moved his fingers millimeters at a time. Now he was the only tense one, ready to pull his hand back as quickly as if he'd touched fire as soon as Kurt told him to stop. But Kurt didn't tell him to stop.

He moved his fingers back and forth at first, and then, as slowly as he could manage, pushed them in as far as the would go, until his fingertips barely grazed something inside Kurt that made him gasp and squirm a little. Blaine was ready then to jump back and stop everything, but Kurt was too fast. He grabbed Blaine's wrist between them and held it still. "Don't," he whispered, knowing what Blaine was thinking. "Keep going."

Blaine exhaled a shaking breath he didn't know he'd been holding and felt light headed for a moment. He was the one who needed to relax now. It was actually possible, he told himself, that Kurt liked what he was doing and wasn't considering it torture.

He tried the same spot again, as lightly as last time. Kurt bit his bottom lip and let go of Blaine's hand. He reached down and wrapped his fingers around Blaine's erection, stroking him slowly. The attention made Blaine's heart race, and his fingers shook a little, so the next time he touched Kurt in just the right spot he hit it harder than he intended. In response Kurt let out a loud moan, and wiggled beneath him more than ever, so that Blaine almost lost his balance and fell on him.

"Okay," Kurt said, his eyes open now. "Okay, okay," he said. He pulled Blaine's wrist, so his fingers came out, and grabbed for the bottle of lube that had fallen to the floor. "Okay," he said again, apparently all he could say, and squeezed a generous amount of it into his hand, which promptly went back to Blaine, spreading it over his length.

"Okay," Blaine agreed, trying not to have a heart attack.

"Okay," Kurt said, lying down again. "Just… okay." He pulled Blaine forward, kissing him deeply. He had Blaine between his thighs again, his feet in the air.

"Okay," Blaine mumbled into Kurt's lips, and decided it was probably time to go for it, and that Kurt was probably giving him permission. He reached down to guide his body to the right place, but Kurt had positioned them both in such a way that the tip of his penis had slid into Kurt before he really knew he had done it. And by the time he realized it, Kurt was already saying, "Keep going."

Or maybe, Blaine thought, his body remembered his soulmate's' body, and finding his way inside of Kurt was as easy and familiar as finding his way home. He pushed deeper slowly and gently still, but with more confidence than he'd done with his fingers. Kurt had substituted "okay" for "yes," and that was a wonderfully encouraging word for Blaine to hear, over and over again.

"Are you still okay?" he asked Kurt, but instead of freezing in terror he made a few gentle rolls of his hips, pushing steadier into him, feeling that what he was doing was right and good for the first time all night.

"Yes," Kurt said for the twentieth time. He had his eyes closed again, and his mouth open. Blaine kissed his cheeks again, which were happily less red than they'd been before, and then his nose and eyelids, still rolling deeper and deeper into him.

"Say something else," Blaine smiled at the sight of him coming a little undone beneath him.

Before Kurt could answer Blaine had pressed in as far as he could go, and the head of his penis hit his prostate for the first time. All Kurt could do was moan again, and then mumbled something into a hand he placed over his mouth.

Blaine laughed and pulled Kurt's hand away. "What?"

"I'm trying not to say f—" Kurt said, and Blaine pushed into him again, harder. "Fuck."

"You can say fuck," Blaine grinned, and kissed down his neck to his collarbones. He reached down to Kurt's erection and stroked him in time, paying special attention to the head, which Kurt seemed to respond positively to, by more whispered "fucks." Kurt's thighs and fingers trembled. "Say something else," Blaine teased.

"You have to try this sometime," was Kurt's answer, and they both laughed.

Blaine's kisses made their way back up to his ear, where he whispered, "Kurt."

"Blaine?" Kurt asked.

"Kurt," he said again, in time to a stroke of his hands, in time to hitting his prostate.

"Blaine," Kurt said back, trembling harder.

They repeated their mantras for a short time before they orgasmed together, at almost exactly the same time. Blaine made a far away mental note to think about working on stamina, one day, but didn't really care just then.

Kurt clung tightly to Blaine as he came, and didn't want to let go even after the orgasm passed. He didn't even want Blaine to pull out of him. He just shook and held Blaine in place, his nails digging hard into Blaine's back.

Blaine had to pet him and promise everything would be okay a few times before Kurt let him pull out. Kurt frowned deeply when it happened.

"I'm sorry," Blaine whispered, sorry that they couldn't just be one person, constantly making love.

"I love you," Kurt answered.

Blaine snuggled close to him, so their noses touched. "I love you, too."

They stayed still and quiet for a while, watching each other, waiting for real life to kick back in, but not necessarily hoping it would ever happen. Blaine could feel a psychological blanket settle over all of his senses; he probably never wanted to sleep more in his life, but he fought tooth and nail against falling asleep. He refused to stop looking at Kurt, to stop holding him, to stop being cognizant of him. It felt like leaving him behind.

Eventually Kurt gave him a little, smug smirk. "I know you're tired."

"Hmm mm," Blaine replied, and tried to shake his head, but it was difficult to accomplish with his head on a pillow. "Should I take you home?"

"No. Why would you do that? I'm at a sleepover at Mercedes'."

"Oh, I forgot," Blaine smiled at him.

Kurt kissed close to his eyes until he closed them, and then kissed his lids. "Go to sleep," he whispered.

Blaine wound his arms and legs tight around Kurt, hoping he wouldn't let go when he lost consciousness. "If you insist."