"Hey Kurt!" Rachel greeted Kurt cheerfully, sitting down next to him in their directing class. "Are you and Blaine free Saturday night?"

Kurt opened the calendar on his phone, glancing at the weekend to see if Blaine had put anything in for Saturday. "As far as I'm aware, we are. Blaine might've forgotten to put something on his calendar though. Why?"

"Great!" She started pulling her notebook out of her bag. "Check in with Blaine, because I was thinking we could go on a double date. Finn's in town for the week and I've been hoping we could all go on a double date for ages."

"Okay, I'll shoot a text to Blaine, but that sounds fun," Kurt found himself agreeing. "Just text me a time and place later?" Wait, why was he agreeing to this? The two of them would have to fake-couple all evening. In front of his brother and best friend.

Rachel nodded, and Kurt shook himself from his thoughts. Their professor was calling the class to attention, and there was no way he would be caught slacking in this class.

"So," Blaine started to say, tying his bow-tie in the mirror while Kurt finished perfecting his own hair.

"So what?" Kurt teased when Blaine didn't continue talking.

Blaine rolled his eyes in response, smiling fondly. "Are we ready for our first double date?"

"Are we ready for our third pretend date?" Kurt retorted.

Blaine laughed, finishing with his bow-tie and wandering into the living room. "Personally, I'm ready to play the married couple to Rachel and Finn's 'we've been on and off dating since high school' routine."

Kurt laughed, following him out of the bathroom. "This is all just an acting gig to you, isn't it?"

"More of…" he tilted his head thoughtfully. "A long improv assignment."

"You're just lucky you're charming."

Blaine batted his eyelashes. "I don't roll out of bed this charming."

"Yeah," Kurt snorted, settling down in an armchair. "You tend to roll out of bed and onto the floor."

"That was one time!" Blaine retorted earnestly. "It's not my fault that you twist all the blankets around!"

Blaine sat down across from him. "Fair enough. You do seem to have a default charming setting though, regardless of whether you're playing at husband or not."

Shrugging, Blaine blushed lightly. "I like being nice and friendly to people. It doesn't cost me anything." They stared at each other for a minute until Blaine cleared his throat with a small cough, glancing down at his watch. "Well, dear husband," he stood up, holding out a hand to Kurt. "Are you ready for this date?"

Kurt stood up, weaving their fingers together, preparing to shift into husband mode. "I was born ready," he replied, holding a straight face for a moment before they both burst out laughing.

Kurt eagerly hugged Finn the moment they're all at the restaurant waiting to be seated. It had been too long since he last saw him, and he was long past trying to play it cool.

"How've you been? How's Lima? My dad's eating properly, right?" Kurt said, practically tripping over his words.

Before Finn could form an answer, the maitre'd was gesturing them towards their table. They followed her to the back of the restaurant, ending up at a dimly lit four person table in the back, Blaine pulling a chair out for Kurt when they arrived.

Kurt's heart thrilled at the casual way Blaine did this as he settled down at the table, Finn seating himself across from him, with Rachel on his left. Blaine sat down next to him, squeezing his thigh lightly before picking up a menu.

Finn glanced through his menu for a moment before picking up the conversation where they had left off. "Lima's good, you should come visit again soon. Burt misses you, and Mom keeps griping about the amount of sports she's being forced to watch. Plus, Nationals is in Columbus this year," he wheedled. "The New Directions might finally win this one."

"Yes! You guys should fly back with me the week after my graduation!" Rachel said excitedly. "It'll be so much fun."

Kurt looked over at Blaine, having a silent conversation with him. The invitation was tempting, and he at least was in need of a visit home.

Blaine gave a little nod. "I'm overdue a visit to Dalton and there's a Warbler reunion that week," he shrugged, looking over at Kurt. "We could go visit your parents and my parents. We haven't been back since before the wedding," Blaine's hand landed on top of Kurt's. "I'd love to give you a tour of Westerville."

"S- sure," Kurt stuttered as Blaine's thumb brushed the back of his hand. "Who's going to the Warbler reunion? I might have to join you."

"Come on," Blaine scoffed, pulling his hand away and turning to look at Kurt. "You are required to go to that reunion. Once a Warbler, always a Warbler."

"I was a Warbler for less than a year," Kurt pointed out.

Blaine laughed. "You are both a former Warbler and married to a Warbler. You're more than invited."

"I'm married to the King Warbler," Kurt teased.

Blaine rolled his eyes fondly, blushing. "Just because I got a f-" Blaine cut off mid word, spotting their waitress stepping up to the table.

"How are you all this evening?"

"That was probably the worst date ever," Rachel laughed halfway through dinner.

"I can't believe we went back again," Finn added.

Kurt grinned. "It's Breadstix, you can't exactly avoid it in Lima."

"I guess you're right," Finn shook his head. "Enough about our worst date stories, what've you guys got?"

Kurt's stomach clenched and he suddenly could not think of one fake story to share. Luckily Blaine came to his rescue

"Well, before we started dating, we'd go out a lot and the wait staff would always assume we were dating. One time, I took Kurt out for his birthday and we got all dressed up just for fun-" Finn snorted, looking amused that they found dressing up fun. "And the waiter somehow got the idea that we were getting married soon, and he kept bringing up how he was in a band that played all sorts of events, including weddings."

"He slipped me his card on the way out," Kurt laughed. He looked over at Blaine, smiling gratefully. "I'd completely forgotten about that."

"How did you forget about that?!" Blaine's eyebrows shot up incredulously as he turned to stare at Kurt.

"I have no clue," he laughed.

"Come on, tell us about a bad date since you got together!" Rachel interrupted. "You guys have barely told us anything about that."

"We haven't actually gone on too many formal dates," Kurt shrugged. Honesty was always a good route.

"You must have something," Finn insisted.

"Well there was the first time we tried to go on a date," Blaine relented as Kurt tried to keep the confusion off his face.

"Ooo, first date story," Rachel leaned forward. "Tell me everything."

Blaine laughed, "There's not too much to tell actually." He set down his fork. "A week or two after we'd started dating, we decided to have a lunch date - expand our relationship to a more formal setting - the relationship was still a secret though, so we went a few blocks away from campus. Of course, we're half way through lunch when Santana walks in and decides to join us."

Kurt blinked. Apparently Blaine was commandeering a lunch they had together and spinning it into a romantic lunch date. "She didn't even want to join us though," Kurt rolled his eyes. "She spotted us as she was walking by and just wanted to steal some food for lunch."

"We couldn't exactly tell her what was going on though, so we spent the majority of our first real date pretending we weren't on a date," Blaine concluded.

"Not exactly how I pictured our first date."

"Oh my god," Rachel burst out laughing. "I can not wait to tell Santana about this."

Later that night found Kurt and Blaine lying in Kurt's bed, having ended up talking for so long that they'd both just gotten under the covers, continuing their conversation.

Eventually, Kurt turned off his bedside lamp and they both fell silent. Kurt had finally begun to drift off to sleep, when Blaine spoke quietly into the darkness. "I'm scared."

Kurt opened his eyes, glancing over at Blaine's outline in the dark. "Scared of what?"

Blaine sighed, and Kurt felt the mattress move as Blaine shuffled to face him. "What happens when everyone finds out?"

"You think we have to tell them?" Kurt asked, surprised.

"They're going to be suspicious when we have the most amicable divorce in the history of divorces."

Kurt pulled the blankets around himself more tightly. "We could pretend to fight?" he suggested, brain too tired to fully process everything.

"No," Blaine replied sharply, hand shooting out to grip Kurt's arm. "We are not doing that to our friendship."

"Because you know you lose our fights?" Kurt teased, trying to cheer him up.

"It's a lot more lying," Blaine responded dully, not drawn in by Kurt's attempt at a joke.

Kurt rolled his eyes, but took a hold of Blaine's hand, finger running over his wedding ring.

"This whole thing is already a lot of lying."

"Which is why I don't want to complicate it more than necessary." Blaine sighed. "Fighting would also mean our friends picking sides, and I've heard the stories about break ups in the New Directions. I would really rather avoid that wrath."

"We've got time to come up with a plan," Kurt reassured, thrilling when Blaine's thumb brushed across the back of his hand in response. "Besides, I might be going to London for a few months after I graduate for that job Isabelle was talking about. That could give us the perfect excuse."

Blaine made a noncommittal noise, clearly not completely convinced.

"We have months to come up with something, Blaine. For now we just need to focus on the marriage bit."

"I know," Blaine yawned. "I just worry."

Kurt squeezed his hand once before letting go. "I know, I do too. It'll be okay." I hope.

Kurt rolled over, and had just closed his eyes, when Blaine shifted suddenly.

"Wait, London?" Kurt grimaced.

"Yeah…" He rolled over to face Blaine again. Blaine who looked rather hurt. "Didn't I tell you about that? Last week?"

Blaine frowned. "You mentioned Isabelle was going to be travelling to London, but not you."

"Oh." Kurt bit his lip. "Well, it's just an idea really right now. She mentioned that I might be able to come with her, but nothing official has happened yet."

"Oh," Blaine rolled over. "Okay."

Kurt blinked at Blaine's back. "...Are you- Are you okay with that?"

"Of course," came Blaine's terse response.

"Because you don't seem-" he was cut off by Blaine sighing.

"Sorry. You caught me off guard." Blaine turned back around, rolling over so their faces were close together. "I'll miss you a lot if you go."

"I'll miss you too," Kurt replied. He yawned, Blaine quickly following suit. "I haven't even decided if I'm going yet. I don't even know if I can go." He pulled the sheet higher over his shoulder. "I'm not positive I want to."

Blaine brushed a hair off Kurt's face. "You have time."

"Hey," Blaine said, poking his head into Kurt's room where he was running through his monologue for his acting final. "I'm taking a break and making dinner, you interested?"

Kurt snapped the book closed. "Can I help make it?" he asked. "I'm going to go crazy if I sit here and study any longer."

"I would love help," Blaine beamed. "I was thinking pizza and some salad?"

Once the pizza was in the oven, they both sat down at the kitchen table, digging into the salad.

"I'm surprised your group isn't getting together tonight to run through your performances before finals start next week," Blaine commented, taking a bit of salad.

"We were going to, but everyone put off their papers until the last minute, so we're hopefully rescheduling for later in the week and maybe once before the actual day." Kurt rolled his eyes. "I've got my part down and I know all of the non-group pieces are set, but this is why I hate group performances."

"I wish I could make it to your show."

Kurt shrugged. "Not your fault that you have a final that overlaps. Besides, you probably know most of it as well as I do with the number of times Andrew and I ran through it here."

Blaine's smile became a little bit forced. "Yeah, you two really seem to have it down."

"We better, we've practiced it often enough."

"Yeah," Blaine stabbed at a piece of lettuce. "I'm glad the two of you have hit it off so well."

"Really?" Kurt asked, eyeing Blaine critically as he refused to meet his eye. "Because you don't look all that thrilled."

Blaine shrugged, getting up to check on the pizza. "I guess I just feel bad that the two of you can't date because of me."

Kurt gave Blaine's back an incredulous look. "He has a girlfriend. And anyway, I don't feel that way about him."

Blaine let the oven door snap shut. "Wait, I thought he was gay," Blaine said, turning around to face Kurt now.

"Bi," Kurt shrugged.

Blaine smirked. "Did you flip out at him when you found out?"

"No," Kurt said slowly. "Why-? Oh." He blushed, looking down at his salad for a moment before glaring up at Blaine playfully. "I did not, thank you very much."

Blaine gave him a genuine smile. "The pizza should be ready in a few minutes."

"Guess what happened to me today?" Kurt called as he entered the apartment.

"What?" Blaine asked, voice coming from the kitchen.

"I was leaving NYADA," Kurt said, heading for his room to put his bag down. "And this guy - I think he was a junior? - came up to me." Kurt entered the kitchen, moving to sit on the counter next to Blaine who was chopping up vegetables.

Blaine paused, glancing over at him. "And?"

"He asked me out." Kurt peered over at the stove, trying to ascertain what Blaine was making.

"Oh." Blaine said softly, ducking his head, hand tightening minutely around the knife he was holding. "What'd you say?"

"I told him I was married," Kurt shrugged before hopping down from the counter and grabbing a carrot off the cutting board.

Blaine continued cutting, his back to Kurt. "How'd he respond to that?"

Kurt rolled his eyes, leaning against the counter. "He decided to make sure that I wrote him off for life." Blaine raised an eyebrow. "He said, 'I don't care if you don't.'"

"Wh- ow!" Blaine yelped, dropping the knife and bringing his finger to his mouth. Kurt's eyes widened and he passed him a paper towel before heading to get their first aid kit. "He said what?"

Kurt laughed. "I couldn't believe it either. You are okay, right?" he added as his hands landed on the first aid kit. "I don't need to bring you to the hospital or anything?"

"No," Blaine said, now rinsing his finger under the faucet. "It looks like a small cut."

"Come here," Kurt said, settling down at the kitchen table and pulling a chair closer to him. "Let me see."

Blaine held his finger out to Kurt, pouting as he sat down. Kurt rummaged around for Neosporin and a bandaid.

"He really said that?" Blaine asked while Kurt worked.

"Wh- Oh. Yup." Kurt stuck the band aid carefully onto Blaine's finger. "I nearly tripped him for it. What kind of a person says that in response to 'I'm married'?"

"Not a good one." Blaine smiled a little. "I was going to apologize to you for having to turn him down, but I think I helped you dodge a bullet there."

Kurt laughed. "You really did." He turned away, putting the supplies back in the first aid kit before closing it. "I probably would have said no anyway." He turned back in time to see Blaine's delighted smile morph into a more neutral expression.

"Why?"

Kurt hesitated, tempted to just say 'because of you.' Shaking himself of that notion, he instead decided to play it safe. "He wasn't really my type. He was wearing pinstripe pants and a shirt with horizontal stripes for god sake. My eyes hurt just looking at him."

Blaine chuckled, "How dare he even speak to you."

I know," Kurt joked. "I almost had to call my lackeys to drag him away."

After a moment of grinning at each other, Blaine made to stand up. Kurt pushed him back down. "I'll finish the vegetables and grab that sauce you were making. You heal."

"Okay," Blaine said quietly, a little smile crossing his face. "Use a different knife though."

Rachel: We're going out tonight before we're stuck in finals and you and Blaine aren't allowed to say no!

Rachel: We're going to that club you guys used to go to all the time. I've invited Elliott and Santana. Be there by 10

"She definitely said 10," Kurt grumbled, checking his phone again and sending another 'where are you?' text to Rachel.

Blaine sighed, signalling to the bartender for two more drinks. "Leave it to Rachel to be thirty minutes late to her own gathering."

"I like to be fashionably late!" Rachel said, squeezing between them.

"They were fighting over the bathroom when I showed up," Elliott supplied, sitting down next to Kurt.

Santana rolled her eyes, leaning against the bar. "I don't know why Berry needed it for so long, but I plan on getting laid tonight."

Rachel scoffed. "That's your plan every night." She stood up, tugging at Kurt's arm. "Come dance with me!"

Kurt allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "I'll be back," he told Blaine before Rachel tugged him on to the dance floor.

Throngs of people surrounded them as they danced, and Kurt was relieved to have the opportunity to unwind after a weird, stressful couple of months. He burst out laughing as Rachel jokingly grinded against him.

He was contemplating ordering his fourth drink of the evening when he felt someone press up behind him, hands pulling him back by the hips.

He startled, letting go of Rachel, who turned around. She smirked. "I'll leave you two alone," she laughed. "It's time for another drink anyway," she said with a wave, walking away just as Kurt realized it was probably Blaine who was behind him.

Kurt spun around to face Blaine. "Finally joining me?" he teased.

"Too many guys staring at you who don't know you're mine." Kurt's stomach thrilled at the possessive growl of Blaine's voice that shone through despite the alcohol slurring his words a little. "Elliott pointed out how many guys were circling you."

Kurt glanced around. He'd been so focused on just letting loose with Rachel that he hadn't noticed anyone looking.

"He tell you to-?"

"No more talking about Elliott." Blaine pouted, "I wanna dance."

Kurt was pressed up against Blaine's back, unable to help himself from grinding his ass against Blaine's crotch when he felt his hands tighten around him, pulling him impossibly closer. Kurt opened his eyes when he felt hands on his shoulders. He blinked, taking in the tall, muscled man dancing in front of him.

"I-" he croaked, mind foggy between the alcohol and dancing with Blaine.

He heard Blaine let out a noise that sounded like a growl before he was being spun around to face him. Looking down, he saw Blaine glaring over his shoulder.

"Just trying to have some fun," he heard a voice behind him yell. "Whatever."

Kurt was about to turn around to tell this guy off because he's married thank you very much, when Blaine rested his forehead on Kurt's shoulder.

"I know you're hot, but people need to back off," Blaine said drunkenly into his neck.

Kurt grinned, "Y-you think I'm hot?" he asked, his filter kicking in too late to catch the words before they were out of his mouth. This was still all for show ….right?

Blaine lifted his head up, eyes serious as he gazed up at Kurt. "So hot."

Then, to Kurt's utter disbelief, Blaine surged forward, kissing him. Between the alcohol and the dancing and the Blaine of it all, Kurt's brain short-circuited. He kissed Blaine fervently in return, ignoring the niggling voice in the back of his mind was telling him this was a bad idea.

Blaine's left hand swept down, pulling Kurt closer by the ass, while his right hand rested on Kurt's neck. All thoughts of anything except Blaine's hands and mouth were pushed from Kurt's mind as he slipped his hands around Blaine's waist, fingertips dipping below the waistband of his jeans.

The next morning Kurt woke with a raging headache, barely managing to make it to the bathroom before emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Eyes closed, he moved to lean against the cool tub, but instead found himself leaning on something warm and soft.

He cracked an eye open. "Blaine?"

There was a responding grunt and then a bottle of water was being pushed into Kurt's hands. he took a sip, swishing it around in his mouth before spitting it out in the toilet. He leaned back against the tub.

"What happened last night?" he asked eventually, trying to parse through his spotty memories.

Kurt heard Blaine take a drink from his own water bottle before finally opening his eyes, only to regret it immediately. His eyes zeroed in on a hickey on Blaine's neck, memories flooding back. Oh god. "We hooked up last night," he gasped.

At the same moment, Blaine sighed. "Things got a little hot and heavy on the dance floor." Blaine brushed a finger over Kurt's stomach. "Sorry about that."

Kurt looked down, just now realizing that he was dressed only in his briefs. "Wha-" his eyes widened at the sight of the dark purple mark on his stomach. "Did we have sex?" he screeched.

"Shh," Blaine whined. "Indoor voice."

"Did we have sex?" Kurt hissed, his racing thoughts making his head pound.

"I don't think so. I woke up in your bed, but I was half dressed."

Kurt sighed in relief. He wouldn't mind having sex with Blaine, but he'd prefer to remember it.

"Huh?"

"What?" Had he said that out loud?

"I thought I heard you sa- you were mumbling so I couldn't quite make-"

"Uh," Kurt's body sagged a little in relief. "I just said I was glad that we didn't have sex while black out drunk." There. That should work.

"Oh. Yeah. Me too," Blaine agreed. After a moment he managed to heave himself off the floor.

"Do you think we could get pizza delivered this early?"

Kurt clutched his stomach. "Please don't mention food."

"Sorry," Blaine shrugged, heading to the door.

Kurt struggled to his feet, intending on going back to sleep for a very long time. "I'm going back to bed." Hopefully he'd wake up to find out this had been a dream. He really didn't need an accidental hookup to add on top of studying for finals.

Even more importantly, he didn't want his heart to travel down the 'he made out with me because he likes me!' path. It would just result in hurt feelings. They'd been drunk and pretending to be a real couple. That was all it was.

Kurt emerged from his room around dinner time. His growling stomach combined with the smell of Blaine that lingered in his bed, had forced him to face the world. AKA Blaine.

"He lives!" Blaine cheered from where he was lying on the couch.

Kurt cracked a smile, unable to help himself. "I needed food."

Blaine shot him a calculating look. "About last night-"

"It's fine," Kurt sighed, trudging to the kitchen, clinging to the little speech he'd rehearsed in his room. "We were both drunk and we haven't hooked up with anyone in a while," Kurt tried to keep his tone casual, his head in the fridge.

"Oh. Yeah-" Kurt pulled a container of leftover chicken out, placing it on the counter. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Blaine apologized. "I-"

"Blaine," Kurt interrupted, grabbing a plate from the cabinet while willing the conversation to just end already. "You didn't make me uncomfortable," he bit back an exasperated sigh. "You didn't force yourself on me. If I remember correctly," he finished putting food on his plate and rinsed the now empty container out. "We were both enthusiastic, very drunk, participants."

"Speaking of 'enthusiastic,'" Blaine said. "I'm apparently not the only handsy drunk in this apartment." Kurt blushed as he walked into the room. "I have a very clear memory of someone sticking their hands down the back of my pants and-"

"Wow, please stop talking," Kurt said, looking around for something to hit Blaine with. "I was going to maybe join you, but-"

Blaine laughed. "Okay, okay," he held his hands up in surrender. "No more teasing." Kurt eyed him cautiously as he sat down on the opposite end of the couch. "So we're alright?" Blaine asked, nudging Kurt's leg with his toe.

Kurt sucked in a breath. "Yeah. Yeah, we are."

"Elliott sent me a 'congrats on the hot sex' text, so at least we helped our cover."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "He has no class."

"Good thing Santana left before it happened. We'd never hear the end of it if she saw."

"I don't even want to think about that nightmare." Blaine laughed, the air between them finally becoming lighter as Kurt joined in. Blaine picked up the remote. "What do you want to watch?"

The following week they didn't see very much of each other. Part of this was because of finals, but Kurt was also avoiding the apartment - and Blaine.

Even though they'd cleared the air between them the day after they'd hooked up, Kurt couldn't stop remembering the feeling of Blaine's lips on his, the way his hands felt against his skin, or the needy noises Blaine'd made when Kurt had put his hands in his hair. It also didn't stop Kurt from feeling as though the air between them had changed, everything seeming just a little bit different on the rare occasion that they were in a room together for more than a few seconds.

Despite his avoidance of Blaine, Kurt still sent him a text as he was on his way out the door for his group performances. His final final. He knew it was unlikely, but he hoped Blaine would somehow be able to make it. He was stressed out about it, and having Blaine in the audience always helped him relax a little. Some finals finished up early, right?

To Kurt's delight, his performances seemed to have been a success. The crowd had laughed in all of the right places, which was especially heartwarming when he considered the fact that most of them were in the audience for course credit.

After the show, Kurt went out to the audience, hoping to score some free food and maybe say hi to a few friends. He'd weaved through half the crowd when he came to an abrupt halt.

Blaine was standing in front of him. "You came to my show?" His eyes slid from Blaine's eyes to his lips before Kurt forcefully made himself focus.

"Of course I did, dummy. I ran over the moment I finished my final," Blaine said, pulling a bouquet of wild flowers out from behind his back. "Congrats," he leaned forward, kissing Kurt's cheek. "I know how hard you've been working on this."

Kurt allowed himself three seconds to bask in the affection, preening at the compliment, before coming back to reality.

"What did you think? I know my group wasn't perfect, but-"

Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand that wasn't the holding the flowers, cutting him off. "I thought it was amazing. There could've-" a throat cleared, and Blaine stopped talking. Kurt followed Blaine's gaze to the right, eyes landing on Andrew. Blaine's fingers tightened around his minutely. "Hello," he said, polite smile firmly in place. "You did a wonderful job up there."

"Thank you!" Andrew replied with a grin. He turned to look at Kurt. "Sorry to interrupt, but Professor Dunlap wants to talk to us."

"Oh," Kurt blinked, looking around for her. "Sure, yeah." He let go of Blaine's hand. He'd taken half a step towards Professor Dunlap and the stage when Blaine put a hand on his wrist, causing him to turn back around.

"Find me afterwards?"

"I'm not sure how long it'll take," Kurt said, shaking his head despite the little ball of hope in his stomach. "You don't have to wait around if you don't want to. I can just meet you at home," he offered.

"It's okay," Blaine fidgeted. "There are some people I'd like to catch up with. "Plus, if I wait we can take the subway home together."

Kurt nodded, smiling a little, "I'll see you in a bit then."

Blaine gave Kurt a small smile as he turned to follow Andrew.

Halfway across the room, Kurt glanced back to see Blaine slowly making his way to the refreshment table.

The conversation with Professor Dunlap was brief. She merely wanted to congratulate them all on their performances and to remind them that if they wanted to talk to her about them, she would be in her office all day tomorrow. He was back in the audience ten minutes later, weaving through some lingering groups of people to find Blaine (and to hopefully grab one of the cookies he'd seen on the refreshment table).

After grabbing a cookie, he spotted Blaine talking to- no. Being hit on by a guy Kurt vaguely recognized from the NYADA hallways. He pushed down the happy little thrill in his stomach as he noticed that Blaine looked uncomfortable about the attention.

Marching over to them, Kurt slipped a possessive arm around Blaine, "There you are darling." He aimed a falsely sweet smile at the other guy, "Who's your friend?"

"Owen. And you are?" Owen said, leveling him with a challenging look.

"Kurt," Kurt stuck out a hand to shake Owen's. "Blaine's husband."

Owen blinked, releasing Kurt's hand. "Blaine never mentioned a husband."

"I didn't exactly have the chance to," Blaine pointed out. He turned to Kurt, "You ready to head out, sweetheart?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Bye Owen," he added with a sarcastic wave, moving his arm off Blaine's waist so that they could hold hands.

They headed out the door silently, Blaine letting out a long breath when they were halfway down the street. "Thank you for rescuing me in there," he said, squeezing Kurt's hand.

"Well, as your husband, I was very insulted that someone would dare hit on you," he joked. He glanced over at Blaine, who had a wry little smile on his face. "As your friend, I was insulted that someone would hit on you when you so clearly wanted no part of it. We weren't even at a bar!" he added. "It was a school event!"

Blaine laughed, bumping Kurt's shoulder lightly as they walked. "I could have handled it, but thank you. It was nice to have someone swoop in and come to my rescue." He chuckled, "For a moment I was worried that you were going to exchange words with him and I was going to have to drag you out before any of the teachers overheard you."

"He wasn't worth the energy," Kurt said, smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Besides, I need to start packing for our trip to Ohio tonight, not spend the night walking around the apartment angrily."

"We don't leave for another two days!"

"I have a lot of outfits to figure out." He paused. "And I have to prepare myself for staying at your parents' house for a few days," he admitted.

Blaine shot him a quizzical look. "You have to prepare yourself?"

"I've barely spent any time with them!" he huffed. "And now I'm going to be spending a few days with them. I know I'll be fine," he assured Blaine. "I just need to mentally prepare myself to be around them for a few days in a row."

"Fair enough," Blaine shrugged as they headed down the steps to the subway. "Just as long as you know that my parents love you and there's nothing to worry about."

"I know," Kurt assured.

Blaine squeezed his hand before letting go to get his metrocard out of his pocket. "Good, because I'm looking forward to showing you more of Westerville."