A/N This took too long. I'm...just really really sorry.
No new warnings.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee

"Hey, Jeff?"

The blonde boy tensed, blinking a couple of times before drawing his eyes away from his dresser and instead focusing on the wall in front of him, distracted from his task of looking for a comfortable shirt to throw on. "Hm?" He hummed a response and forced his head down, as though still studying the items in the drawer in front of him, though he wasn't really looking at them.

Nick sat up on his bed, his eyes cast up to the ceiling in thought, then back to his roommate. "Do you remember…" his eyes narrowed slightly and he spoke slowly and purposefully, "…when we were ten?"

Jeff finally just grabbed a shirt and tugged it over his head, grimacing slightly at the odd feeling of some kind of coating, or extra layer of dirty skin he sometimes felt when he remembered everything that happened with Mr. Connors. He'd taken two showers that morning, but on days when he woke up just feeling violated at the memory, it seemed nothing could really help. At least he'd generally stopped getting sick.

Jeff waited for Nick to continue his statement, or elaborate, but when nothing came, he turned to glance at him briefly, catching his eyes for a moment before grabbing a comb and pulling it through his hair, facing away again. "Uh, yes. I recall that…year or so span of time… Anything in particular you're talking about?"

Nick pulled his knees into a crossed position and watched his roommate comb his hair for a moment before speaking. "I mean… That time we were ten and we were…walking home after school. When we missed the bus."

Jeff sighed quietly and his actions ceased, his mind wandering back over the past, thinking of the day Nick was referring to and blinking.

"The day it was raining," Nick supplied, wondering if his roommate wasn't catching on.

"I remember," Jeff said quickly, finally turning to face the dark-haired boy and giving him a tight, half-smile that didn't reach his eyes. He looked to the floor and shrugged, mumbling, "How could I not?"

Nick smiled half-heartedly at this, shrugging as well. His face then turned slightly more serious as he tried to catch his roommate's eyes. "I guess I just… Did you know then…? B-because, I didn't, and I wasn't trying to mess with you or anything, I was just… We were really young, you know…?"

"I know," Jeff responded very quietly, moving to his bed and easing himself back onto it, stretching out his arms and legs and letting out an airy sigh at the welcome, Sunday morning light streaming in and casting warmth across his body. He let his head loll to the side, and met Nick's eyes. "And no, I didn't know then."

The dark-haired boy nodded silently at this, waiting a moment before speaking. "Really, though. I wouldn't have done it if I knew."

Jeff closed his eyes, inhaling deeply and resting his head back into the pillows. "I know, Nick."

A few moments passed and Nick was just watching Jeff rest with intent eyes, hating that he was practically ignoring everything that had happened between them at the blonde's admission. Jeff had been trying to pretend as though nothing happened at all, even though it was obvious their connection and relationship had changed. Jeff could hardly look him in the eye anymore. It was starting to get frustrating, but Nick had been patiently trying to understand the best he could.

"Jeff…?"

The blonde stretched his shoulders and arms, stirring from his light doze he had been falling into. "Mmm… Yeah?"

"When did you know…that you're gay?"

Jeff sat up at this abruptly, then caught his reaction and tried to play off nonchalantly, shrugging and letting out a thoughtful hum. He turned to Nick and opened his mouth to respond, their eyes catching across the space of their beds. He felt his heart clench at the honest, open eyes he had looked into so many times.

It's always been him I've told things to first.

Jeff blinked at the realization.

Telling Kurt about Mr. Connors was the first time I told someone else a secret first…

His mind flew to a series of different memories, flooding through with mental images of times he'd shared things with the boy he was looking at right then, whispering quiet, hushed words he was afraid to speak aloud, letting himself be vulnerable and trusting Nick enough that he didn't fear the reaction.

"What! How'd you get a hundred on the test? It was so hard, I only got an eighty-two…"

Jeff smiled, slightly mischievous, and looked around where all the other kids were walking along with them to the bus stop, the second-graders from his class all holding their test papers they just got back. "Promise not to tell?"

"I promise!"

Jeff grabbed the dark-haired boy's hand, pulling him out of the main line of the student crowd. They stopped and leaned in close to each other, and Jeff grinned, one of his front teeth missing as he spoke in soft words. "I looked at Mollie's paper during the test!"

"Are you serious?" Nick's eyes were wide and disbelieving, but behind his expression was a smile.

"Yeah, she always gets everything right, so I just looked over because we were sitting right next to each other. Most of the ones I had were the same as hers, so I only changed the ones that were different."

"Oh my gosh, Jeff, I can't believe you cheated!"

"Shhh," the blonde warned, but with a smile and a giggle, holding his finger up to his lips. He looked up suddenly, jumping slightly. "Come on, we need to catch the bus!"

And the two boys ran off, getting to the stop just in time for the first bus to allow them entrance before driving away.

Jeff closed the door of Nick's bedroom behind himself when he entered, smiling slightly at his dark-haired friend.

"Hi, Jeff! Hey, you should come see this—my mom got me Mario Kart!" Nick smiled excitedly at him, waving him over to the game system he had set up in front of his television.

The nine-year-old blonde boy hesitated before going to sit on the floor next to his friend, watching silently for a moment as Nick set up the game.

"Okay, so you can play as all the characters—but I call Luigi because he's awesome—!"

"Nick."

The dark-haired boy looked over at his friend, his features turning slightly serious at the blonde's expression. "What?"

Jeff glanced at the door, through which Nick's parents could be heard talking in the other room. He leaned closer to the dark-haired boy, placing a hand on his shoulder, his voice getting very quiet—hardly audible—when he spoke. "Nick… I saw my mom kissing my neighbor yesterday…"

"What?"

"Don't tell anyone! My dad would be so mad if he found out!"

Nick nodded quickly, his eyes never leaving his friend's. "I won't, I promise," he pulled his lips to a line and rested his hand reassuringly over Jeff's, giving him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Jeff…"

"Nick…"

No response.

"Nick, are you still awake?"

There was slight shifting next to Jeff on his bed and he could just hardly make out the outlines of his friend's face in the dark room turning towards him, his eyes still shut. "Mmm…"

The thirteen-year-old blonde stayed silent for a moment, not entirely sure if his dark-haired friend was actually sleeping or not.

Nick hummed softly, bringing a hand up to wipe across his eyes, peeking them open blearily and scanning Jeff's face. "Wha's wrong?" he mumbled, his voice low and sleepy, getting his friend's attention. "…Can you not sleep?"

Jeff blinked a few times and turned over so they were facing one another, able to see each other only slightly as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Can I tell you something?"

Nick rubbed his eyes again, nodding through a yawn, though realizing the blonde might not be able to see him in the lack of light. "Yeah," he said lightly, attempting his voice for a tone of calm, of understanding and friendship, because Jeff did this.

He would build up to moments of complete selfishness—in the best possible way—moments of letting himself be the one getting the attention, opening himself up and being—exposed. Defenseless. He always asked. Asked if he could tell, could share or reveal a secret.

Because even after being friends for probably six years, Jeff was still like a lock.

He had so much inside, but needed a key.

Nick could be that. He could be the key. So he always let Jeff talk. Encouraged him to. Said 'yes', 'yeah', and 'of course' when the blonde asked him if he could tell him something. Because it seemed he wouldn't unless he felt an acceptance of the offer.

"My mom hit me this morning," and his voice was barely audible, cracking on a few words—not from emotion, but probably from straining to stay quiet—but Nick heard.

The dark-haired boy's eyes narrowed just slightly, and he always felt conflicted between getting upset at the things Jeff told him, and being a calm, comforting friend. He decided on the latter.

"I—I'm sorry… Are you okay? What happened?" His voice was still coming out slow and muddled with sleep, but he attempted to clear it as he sat up slightly, leaning on his elbow and resting his head on his hand, looking into the eyes of his best friend.

Jeff shrugged slightly, feeling himself getting choked up as his throat tightened. "Y-yeah. I mean… I was watching Chloe when my mom was getting ready for work and I wasn't looking for, like, one minute and she tripped over something and fell. She started screaming and my mom got really pissed."

Nick nodded, pushing a few stray dark hairs from his face. "Did she just—? Like, what did she…do, exactly…?"

The blonde licked his lips briefly, turning to avoid his friend's gaze for a moment, lowering his voice. "She… She just, like, hit me really hard across the face. Like, slapped me. A few times. Then she went to…calm my sister down and put her in her room. Then she came back out into the living room and started yelling and crap," he paused then, blinking, and sort of made a gesture with his hands as he spoke, "And she started—smacking me again, on my face and then on my shoulders and arms and stuff. And then she pushed me over into the table in the living room and just, like—walked out of the room."

At this, Nick couldn't help himself from reacting and getting upset, though still kept his voice a whisper, though sitting up slightly. "Holy crap. Are you serious? Shit."

Jeff nodded slowly. "Yeah. I mean—I don't think it's gonna bruise or anything, but it was just… It was weird. She's never done that before."

"Are you gonna tell anyone…?"

The blonde paused for a moment before responding, his voice barely audible. "I'm telling you."

Nick looked at him for a moment. "I meant, like…your dad, or something."

Jeff thought about it for a brief second, sort of rolling over to face away from his best friend. "No."

Jeff looked at his friend, then, remembering, knowing, he could tell him anything. That it'd always been that way for them. But something twisted in his stomach and he couldn't help but stray from the truth.

"I just…figured it out, Nick, okay?" He heard his voice coming out sounding defensive, but didn't care. Couldn't keep himself from putting on a face and turning away from the piercing gaze. Jeff saw the small disappointment and hurt flash across Nick's face, and he felt terrible, but couldn't force himself to apologize.

Nick scratched the back of his head absently, nodding. "Okay. Yeah—sorry. Stupid question, I was just wondering."

They sat like that, in silence that wasn't exactly comfortable or awkward, until both of their phones buzzed with messages, and Jeff snatched his up from his bedside table, looking at the text.

hey come over to thads—W

A message from Wes.

"It's from Wes. He says to go over to Thad's room," Jeff informed Nick quietly as he scooted off his bed, snatching a light hooded sweatshirt that had been lying on the floor and pulling it over his head.

The dark-haired boy glanced at his roommate as the blonde ran his hands through his damp hair, flattening and fixing it where the strands were sticking up due to the movement of putting on his hoodie. Nick grabbed his own phone, sliding off his bed as he checked the message, making sure it was the same text—which it was—and sighed deeply.

He had again unsuccessfully attempted a conversation with his best friend. He had again tried to bring up the big thing that had come between them, the one dent that had caused a flicker in their otherwise steady relationship. Friendship.

When Nick had convinced his blonde friend to help him steal a car, it had ended in a handful of tears, mostly laughs, and a four-year minimum sentence to a correctional reform school. And it still did nothing to hurt their friendship.

A confession of love was what it took to cause something to become wrong between them.

The two boys pushed gently on the already partially-open door, hearing a few varying voices speaking quietly as they entered Thad and Kurt's room.

Wes and David were murmuring to each other, seemingly lightly and casually, and Thad was on the phone, nodding and most likely listening to the person on the other end of the conversation. Trent was sitting near him, attempting to hear the other side of the line as well.

"Yeah, sure. And his—I mean—his memory's alright, then, I assume," Thad spoke suddenly to the person on the phone, gesturing Jeff and Nick inside with a wave of his hand. Thad crossed his arms then, his eyes shifting as he listened. "Will that change…? …Oh, okay… That makes sense. I—yeah, hold—yeah, Blaine, hold on a sec," he turned the phone into his neck and looked at everyone in the room. "I'm gonna put him on speaker," he announced and then pressed a button on his cell.

"Blaine…?" Trent asked hopefully, sitting up from his position on Kurt's bed, his eyes darting to make contact with Nick and David when rustling and background noise came from the phone's speaker.

"Hey. Yeah, I can hear you. How, um—how are you guys?" Blaine's voice came out crackly and soft from the connection, but still audible.

"Hey, yeah, we're pretty good over here—same, really," Nick supplied, smiling at the device in Thad's hand.

"Actually, your roommate got the shit kicked out of him," David remembered, shrugging slightly, grimacing.

"Really?"

"Oh, right… He's not too bad, though. It was something about money, I think," Wes added, nodding slightly.

"Jeff came out of the closet—you know—fully—"

"Thad. Really?"

"—only men, and all that."

"I—wow. Really… That's awesome, Jeff." Blaine sounded slightly like he was caught off-guard by the topic, but happy, still. Perhaps amused at the situation, though.

"How's Kurt?" Jeff asked instead, breaking the stream of the other topic. All the eyes in the room trained to Jeff, out of surprise at the suddenness of his question, and also because they were eager for the answer.

There was a pause then, and the background crackling seemed absurdly loud in their anticipation. Blaine's side of the line sounded with a few noises, like shifting and moving, until he spoke again.

"I already told Thad about this a little before…" He paused again, and the occupants of the room leaned slightly closer to the phone subconsciously. "But, he's doing… He's doing fucking…great."

The boys in the room let out breaths they didn't remember holding in the first place, shyly exchanging relieved looks. Wes coughed slightly through the small silence that followed, where they all might have pretended it wasn't such a big deal, even though more than one of them had lost sleep over it.

"That's awesome, B," the Asian boy admitted quietly, earning nods and hidden smiles from everyone in the room. "So, uh… What now? Is he—? Or, I guess, are both of you heading home now?"

Blaine let a hard, loud yawn escape him, and the speaker crackled as it hit the volume capacity. "Uh—yeah. Yeah, soon. Kurt's dad is sleeping right now—We were all up really late last night, I didn't even really sleep. Just, you know, staying up and waiting to see Kurt, and everything. But, yeah, so after he wakes up, and the nurses check Kurt again, he's getting discharged. Burt said he'd drive us both back after."

"Oh, okay. Cool," Trent said after a second of no one else speaking. They didn't know what to say, they just wanted the boys back to them.

"Mmm, yeah. Well, hey, I gotta go, someone's trying to talk to me over here. So… I'll see you guys soon."

There was a chorus of 'bye's and 'see ya's and Thad ended the call and they all sat in their same positions around the room, stilled in silence aside from the sounds of breathing and slight adjusting and shifting.

Finally, Thad sighed and stood up—somewhat abruptly—and folded his arms across his chest easily. "I should probably clean up all the shit over there," he spoke reluctantly and looked with a raised eyebrow to the side of the room that belonged to Kurt, where clothes and school papers completely littered the area. Clothes and school papers that didn't belong to Kurt.

David let out of soft snort at the sight, shaking his head slowly. "And probably the bathroom, too, man. I went in there to piss and there's stuff everywhere. I couldn't find the sink."

Thad drew his lips together into a tight line and tilted his head, staring intently at the bathroom door as though calculating his actions, blinking thoughtfully.

"Seriously, though," Nick piped up, looking around at the mess they were in, an amused expression present on his face, "how did you survive before Kurt came along to clean up after your sorry ass?"

At this, Thad's eyes wandered to the ceiling in thought, squinting, trying to think back to that time, what? Seven? Eight months ago? His lips betrayed him and split into a small grin, and he let out a small silent bubble of laughter, his head shaking. "I don't even fucking know. I've gotten attached to the kid."

Blaine gazed past the car window at the stream of light and colors. The buildings passing were anonymous pictures and sights, meaning nothing at all to him, but everything to someone else. He wondered what it'd be like to ever visit places outside of Dalton once he was able to leave.

"Kurt…?" He mumbled quietly in the direction of the backseat, a question on his lips. When the fair boy didn't respond, he leaned back slightly, twisting to look at him. "Babe—?" The pet name caught on his tongue, and his eyes flickered to the driver's seat, where Burt was steadily staring ahead at the road, then back to his boyfriend.

His sleeping boyfriend. Lying down across the seats in the back of the Navigator.

They had only been in the car for around 20 minutes, but it seemed the events of the morning and past weeks had worn Kurt out.

Blaine let out a gentle, understanding hum at the sight, letting his eyes linger for just a moment before twisting back around to face the front of the vehicle. He drew his hands together in his lap, wringing his dry fingers together slowly in thought.

"I imagine it'll take a while for him to get back on track. With his sleeping, and all," Burt told him, bringing him out of his light, dazed thoughts. "He has to start up class again tomorrow, though."

Blaine just watched the older man, nodding slightly. "…Kurt'll be fine, though. And he has Thad and all of us to make sure he gets to his classes."

Burt chanced a quick glance to the curly-haired boy before directing his attention back to the road. "His roommate," he said, referring to the name Blaine had mentioned, confirming. The teen nodded. "That kid, he…? He treat Kurt okay? They get along well enough?"

Blaine snorted quietly, and Burt gave him a questioning look, misunderstanding the reaction. "Oh, no—yeah, they get along fine. Thad's just kind of…a hardass a lot of the time. He likes fucking—er—messing with people a lot," Blaine shrugged, pausing and blinking before he continued. "It's funny seeing him getting worried about Kurt so much. It's not like him… He kind of treats Kurt like a younger cousin or something."

Kurt's dad glanced to his rearview mirror, catching just the slightest glimpse of his son in the reflection. "He older or something? A senior?"

"Uh, Thad? No. No, he's a junior, too. All of the…group… We're all juniors… Kurt's actually older than all of us, but… I don't know. I guess we all just take care of him," Blaine admitted quietly, glancing back again to his boyfriend. His voice was hardly audible, like he didn't often admit that there was a side of his friends that were overly protective of one another, even if it was clear it was there. "I guess we all kind of take care of each other."

There was a silence that followed, and Blaine briefly regretted stating his last sentence, as it hung heavy in the air during the time that no one spoke, and he wasn't sure whether or not it was uncomfortable.

"So, Blaine."

The curly-haired boy closed his eyes. This sounded like a bad start.

"I just… Well, when I first talked to Kurt after…he started at Dalton, I was pretty worried about him making friends with people at that school. They were…criminals, and even if he was one, too, it still wasn't easy to think about… Now, when he told me that you two were…well, involved, I was really worried. After everything that's happened to him…intimate relationships can be real tough."

"We're not—" Blaine cut himself off, his eyes wide, trying not to think about how he was having this conversation with his boyfriend's father.

"I know—" Burt tried gently.

"—fucking, or anything. We're not," Blaine continued, gesturing with his hands in the air, trying to assure him that he would never—never—take any kind of advantage of Kurt.

"Blaine," Burt warned, and the curly-haired boy stopped, his eyes falling shut.

What the hell is wrong with me? "F-fuck, I'm—crap—I'm sorry! I'm sorry."

The man didn't speak at first, and Blaine thought to himself. Perfect. Freaking perfect. First time I meet the guy we talk about my heroin addiction and fast forward to me blurting out things about fucking his son…

"Listen, kid. When Kurt first told me about you two, he told me that you hadn't, uh, well, been together yet. That way, at least. And I guess I'm glad to hear that's still the case," he raised an eyebrow and Blaine felt his face heating up and—

Why is this making me so embarrassed? I've had sex with tons of guys, yet him implying it between Kurt and I makes me feel like a 12-year-old virgin.

"But," Kurt's father took in a deep breath as they came up to a red light, and he turned himself towards the curly-haired teen, "after being able to talk to you, and see how much you care about him—about Kurt—I suppose I just wanted to say that I…" He paused and the light changed and he moved the car forward, the next words on the tip of his tongue. "I approve. Of you. Of you two together. I think if Kurt's going to have to go through being with someone after everything…you're mature enough to be able to help him through that."

Blaine's mouth dropped open, just the slightest amount, and he felt as though on autopilot as he felt his tongue slip out from his mouth to wet his lips. He almost said 'thanks', or 'cool', but realized fuck it, because he could be an adult about this and say what he felt, what he really needed to say.

"It really…means a lot to me. That you approve of me being with your son," he took a breath and spoke again in an airier tone, "so thank you."

Burt nodded slowly and sighed, his tone shifting when he next spoke. "Now, I would never say this in front of Kurt—Don't get me wrong, he knows this, but I just… Well, his life has turned out a lot different than any of us had ever thought. But something he doesn't know…is that I think he's a lot happier at Dalton than he would have been back at his old school."

The boy in question shifted and hummed softly in his sleep behind them in the backseat, and Blaine twisted to gaze at him, his eyes feeling heavy as they rested on the beautiful pale slumbering form. The air in the car felt thick with something, but Blaine wasn't sure what.

"His friends from home, they—they're nice. They do care about him, but," Burt paused blinking with thought, "they're also pretty selfish. They're kids. They didn't help him as much as he might have needed it, and I think if he had gone through everything he did and ended up with them instead of you guys… I don't think he would have been as well off as he is now."

Blaine bit his lip. "He might be…happy now, but…" He shrugged, thinking back to the recent months. "I sometimes think it was my fault he got so depressed. That I wasn't giving enough to him and helping him," he admitted, his voice quiet and muffled by the sound of cars buzzing around outside of the vehicle. Blaine cracked a couple of his knuckles nervously, and it seemed like the loudest thing he'd ever heard.

Burt was shaking his head back and forth, and Blaine cocked a curious eyebrow.

"What?"

"That's just it, kid. I said Kurt didn't know, but you don't either. I don't think any of you boys realize how much you saved him. Kurt was depressed, he was unhappy, yes. But…he got through it. He let himself rely on you boys, and based on what happened before he met you. With his PTSD and depression, and landing himself in jail, it's clear you've done a lot for him."

"I—" Blaine let out a brief, humorless laugh, "I sure hope you're right… I mean, we always try to take care of him and—and we tell him he can talk to us…" Blaine trailed off, suddenly thoughtful and worrying he hadn't done enough.

"Did you know that when he got arrested…none of his friends knew? About everything. Anything. It was only after his arrest that they heard what happened with the rape and depression and PTSD. And they didn't even hear it from Kurt," Burt added the last part with an eyebrow raise and glance in Blaine's direction.

Blaine nodded, breathing in deeply and breaking through the emotional haze that had swept up the space in the car. "We love him, I guess…" He let out a barely-there breathy laugh, then blinked, thinking, the smile falling to a small, delicate one. "I love him."

They sat in comfortable silence for a significant portion of the ride after that, Blaine's statement giving both of them some kind of content satisfaction.

As they neared busier streets, the noise from outside entering the car's interior increased, and at a stoplight, Kurt hummed and groaned, stretching to the extent that he could in the backseat of a vehicle as he began to stir. Blaine peaked around to the back, glancing as Kurt sat up messily, his hair completely flat on the side he'd been laying.

The pale boy leaned forward, wrapping his arms around the seat's headrest and around Blaine's chest, and he tucked his head into the curly-haired boy's neck. "Mmm. Hi, baby."

Blaine twisted to kiss him lightly on the head, sighing at the sensation. "'Morning, gorgeous. You really passed out, there, huh?"

Kurt laughed silently against his boyfriend's skin, nodding his head slowly. "That I did… Sorry about that…" He giggled again, smiling against the curly-haired boy's skin.

"Don't be…" Blaine glanced to Burt for a short moment, but he wasn't looking at them. He was watching the road. And maybe it was on purpose to give them privacy or maybe he was genuinely paying attention to his driving. He appreciated it either way. Blaine brought a hand up to gently brush across Kurt's fair cheek, resting there, near his neck. "Hey… I love you…okay?"

Kurt didn't move for a moment, but then nodded his head very slowly, his skin warm on Blaine. His touch across Blaine's chest perfect and hot and delicate. Intimate. And he nodded. Okay. Because of course Blaine loved him. And he loved Blaine.

"Kurt!"

The pale boy took in a quick breath, a grin breaking across his lips as he looked over to the door next to his, open and containing the dark hair of a certain neighbor. Kurt dropped the doorknob he was about to turn, his small duffel bag forgotten on the floor as he let Nick come forward to embrace him in the hallway, Blaine grinning by their side.

"How're you…doing?" Nick asked carefully as he pulled away, and Jeff must have heard him as well, for the blonde appeared suddenly in their doorway, his hair sticking up and messy, his lips curling into a slight smile.

"I'm… I'm good," Kurt shrugged, smiling, trying to think of words to use. "I'm… It's hard to explain, but… I'm…better," he let his eyes scan the two roommates in front of him, eyes falling on Jeff, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, watching Kurt with interest. "Come here, idiot," Kurt said through a laugh, holding his arms out.

Jeff's lips split into a smile and he took one long stride and clapped his arms around the paler teen, shuffling forward once in the hold, getting closer to Kurt and grasping him tightly, his eyes squeezing shut as he swayed them.

"Hey… How've you been holding up?" Kurt whispered into Jeff's ear, hardly-audible, so only the blonde could hear it.

Jeff's eyes blinked open and he tongued his lip ring briefly, shrugging as much as he could in the embrace. "I need to talk to you later," was his hushed response.

Kurt let out a hum loud enough for everyone to hear and pulled away, opening his mouth to speak, but hesitating, his brows furrowing and his lips quirking up. He grabbed Jeff's forearms and held him at arm's length, eyes scanning over his form with a cocked eyebrow. "Have you gotten taller?"

Jeff let out a short bark of laughter, shaking his head. "I, well. I don't know. I think so. Maybe not in the two weeks you've been gone, though…"

"I might've not…been in a place where I would have noticed in the past few months," Kurt admitted with a shrug, letting go of Jeff's arms and turning to glance at Blaine before returning his eyes to his blonde friend. "But honestly, Jeff. You seem taller." He raised an eyebrow teasingly. "How are any of us supposed to get men with you as competition?"

"Hey!" Blaine huffed from behind Kurt with a small smile and raised eyebrow, and the pale boy just laughed in response, reaching around to throw his arm around the curly-haired teen's neck, pulling him forward and more into the circle.

Jeff ducked his head at the compliment, but Nick raised a hand as though in protest. "Don't encourage him, Kurt. Jeff keeps saying he's had a growth spurt, but I know it's bull. He just stands up straight and pretends to be taller," he smiled at his roommate, but Jeff's face fell slightly.

They had a sort of ongoing joke when Jeff would continuously insist he had grown, and Nick would always deny it. It was usually lighthearted and good-natured, but with the tension going on between the two friends, Jeff suddenly didn't find it very funny. It made him wonder if Nick always had to go against him. If he had to deny what Jeff knew. If he had to bring up confessed feelings when Jeff was clearly choosing not to.

"Well," Blaine mumbled, catching Kurt's eye in the awkward mood that swept up the group, "I'm sure the rest of the guys probably wanna see you, Kurt," he tried quickly, wanting the tension to break.

"Oh, um—" Nick gestured vaguely towards Kurt's door, blinking, "—they're actually all in your room. Or—they were earlier. Probably still there."

Kurt raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled, moving to open his door, Blaine, Nick, and Jeff on his heels.

He was met by the sight of Wes, David, Trent, and Thad all crouched on his roommate's bed, staring intently at the screen of his laptop, seemingly very interested. At the noise of his entrance, the four all looked up and smiled, three of them springing to their feet after spotting Kurt, Thad closing the computer slowly and crossing his arms, smiling.

Wes, David, and Trent all sort of came together in a big hug, murmuring to Kurt greetings and hellos. The pale boy smiled to them, then shifted his eyes to his roommate, just watching them all interact with an almost-smug smile on his face, still on his bed. Kurt raised an eyebrow with attitude, a smirk falling on his lips. "No hug, Thaddeus?"

Thad teasingly scrunched his nose up at the name, sliding off the bed and approaching his roommate slowly, tugging Kurt somewhat-roughly into a hug, muttering, "Don't fucking call me Thaddeus, asshole," with a laugh and smile, holding the boy close to him, surprising both everyone and nobody at the same time.

They stayed like that for a while, and Kurt could swear he felt Thad's breathing coming out in slight stutters, and he brought up a hand to pat gently on his back, earning a sigh from the dark-haired boy.

"I—" Thad blinked, taking a breath and letting it out slowly, pulling his emotions back in, "I'm sorry I stole your laptop without asking you," are the words that left his mouth, sounding what could only be described as attempted-casual and nonchalant.

Kurt nodded against his shoulder, smiling at the idea of the whole thing. He thought back to when Thad hadn't believed he was at Dalton because of self-defense, and confessed to Kurt that he had a hard time sleeping the first night they shared a room because he wasn't sure if the pale boy was dangerous or not.

There was so much unsaid in Thad's statement, and Kurt knew that.

Maybe I'm sorry you got so depressed.

I'm sorry you had to go through electroconvulsive therapy.

I'm sorry I didn't notice enough when things got bad.

I'm sorry I didn't do more to help when things got bad.

I'm sorry this all happened.

Maybe none of those things, or perhaps all of them.

"It's fine, Thad," Kurt said softly, pulling away and giving his strange roommate a slight smile, exchanging brief glances with the others in the room, who all had subtle amused expressions on their faces.

Thad nodded, and when his gaze caught Blaine, he turned to the curly-haired boy slowly, his eyebrow raised in suspicion. "You're gonna need to tell us how you escaped and got back in without trouble, B…"

Blaine scoffed, shaking his head. "You'd be fucking shocked at how simple it was…"

David cleared his throat loudly and purposefully, interrupting their brief conversation, and everyone drew their attention to him. "Well, why don't we head over to Arts and you can tell us about it…?

Everyone sort of furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, exchanging glances, but nodding hesitantly nonetheless. At their expressions, David smiled, reaching into his pants pocket and retrieving a small plastic bag. Inside, a few nicely-sized buds were visible, and everyone in the room lit up with understanding.

"Hope none of you have homework to do tonight. This shit's amazing."

"Light it, then—yeah. Suck in… Keep sucking—okay. Now, pull out the slide," Blaine paused then, taking the lighter from Kurt's hand and watching him fumble slightly with the slide and tugging it from the bong. "Okay! Okay, now suck it in…"

Thad raised an eyebrow, watching his roommate intently as he moved to pull the bong away, choking out a hard cough. "Hey! No, get the rest of that. No one wants your fucking stale smoke."

Kurt shook with coughs as he attempted to suck in the rest of the smoke from the chamber, finally succeeding when it was clear. He gagged and choked, unable to control his coughing, placing the bong on the floor beside him. "Ho—holy sh-shit," he accepted the bottle of water Trent passed him, trying for a small sip between coughs. "I'm'unna—" cough, "—die."

"You okay…? Hey, come on…" Blaine smiled fondly, patting his boyfriend's back and running his hand up and down it slowly as the pale boy's coughing began to ease up.

"Okay, okay… I'm fine… I…" Kurt let out one more small cough, inhaling deeply afterwards. "I'm fine… I don't know why the hell you all made me go first…"

Blaine breathed out a light laugh as he picked up the bong, beginning to light it for himself, glancing to David, who shrugged with a smirk. "Rules, Kurt. It's your first time using a bong. First timers always go first. Also, always pass to the left."

"Always," Nick echoed, nodding his head slowly, his eyes shut.

Blaine blew out his smoke mostly smoothly, smiling, with only one good cough leaving his lips. He looked at Kurt's raised eyebrow and skeptical expression, a laugh escaping him. "It's true, babe. It's David's weed, so you gotta follow his rules."

Wes rolled his eyes, snatching the bong and lighter from where Blaine had left it. "Except for the one about first timers having to take the most hits. Don't follow that one. That's just him trying to be an asshole."

Everyone in the room wore confused expressions, and David snorted, shaking silently with laughter. "You were the only one I applied that rule to, Wes."

Wes huffed, passing the bong along to the left after he was finished. "Dick. I was so fucking high I was scared to move." Everyone laughed in response to this, but the Asian boy shook his head. "No. No, it wasn't funny. It was the first night we lived together and I smoked, like, ten hits because he kept telling me I had to do more than him."

At this, the boys in the room gave Wes varying looks of judgment and surprise. Also amusement.

"Bro…" Trent started, pausing, squinting his eyes at the Asian boy with a disbelieving face. "Why would you ever take ten hits…?" Wes rolled his eyes, not saying anything, so the bigger teen continued. "Like, was it from a joint, or—?"

"No, it was from this," David said, gesturing with his bong that had found its way to him in the circle, taking a long hit from it. After he blew the smoke out, he blinked, laughing loudly. "And it was hilarious. He tried to eat the same chip for 20 minutes."

"I told you. I couldn't move. I was fucking terrified."

The boys laughed at his serious tone, and even Wes breathed out a small giggle despite himself. And they passed around the weed, finishing most of it off, each of them reaching a surprisingly intense high.

Kurt sat on a couch, his eyes very narrowed and fuzzy. He thought back to the times he had gotten high during January, and even before, in December. Those times had been a kind of dulled mental state, an escape from his thoughts and an inability to really think of anything.

This time was different. He wasn't sure if it was because of the ECT, because he was feeling so much better in general, or if it was the fact that he smoked with a bong for the first time and had gotten extremely high. Either way, he felt as though everything was in freakish clarity, and his thoughts were running with themselves at a pace so fast it made him laugh in disbelief.

It was incredible. And it was something he was enjoying.

Kurt's bloodshot and glasz eyes caught a blonde head of hair across the length of the room, sitting on the floor with David as the dark-skinned boy talked slowly but animatedly, and it seemed Jeff was listening half-heartedly.

Jeff apparently was affected by smoking as much as he was—if not more. Kurt wondered how he was holding up.

That reminds me, Kurt thought blearily, blinking a few times to attempt to make a clear thought, I still need to talk to him about everything that's happened with Nick…

"Hey, sexy."

Kurt drew his eyes slowly to the form standing in front of him, speaking to him. He felt an automatic smile spreading across his face, his eyes crinkling up even more than they already were from the weed, the highs of his cheeks hurting from his grin. "Hi, baby," he greeted Blaine leisurely, tilting his head sideways as the curly-haired boy smiled in return.

"So… This morning, I—uh—"

Kurt yanked him down to the couch, pulling him forcibly on top of him and into a wet kiss.

Blaine let out an irrepressible laugh at this against Kurt's mouth, pulling away just the slightest amount. "May I help you?"

Kurt nodded, his eyes blurring as he did so, pulling his boyfriend close once again and leaning back so they were horizontal. "This feels amazing right now," he murmured, and connected their lips.

Blaine breathed out through his nose against Kurt's skin, making the pale boy shudder in excitement and emotions and sensations. It'd been too long since anything had felt this good.

Kurt let his hands wander on their own accord, not allowing himself to overthink anything or limit his touching. His fingertips found their way to the tightest curls at the base of his boyfriend's neck, and he tugged them slightly, feeling the skin of Blaine's neck heating up and prickling with goose bumps.

A long, quiet groan was let out from Blaine as he shifted his head, tilting it for a better angle to slip his tongue against Kurt's lips, past them, then, entering his mouth and against his tongue, against his piercing and tingling, shivering, vibrating from head to toe at the oversensitive amount of touching they were doing while being shamelessly blazed.

It was just that—slow, slow kissing. It was lazy and intimate and full of hot touches and gentle breathing that Blaine and Kurt spent an undetermined amount of time. It was hard to tell in their states of mind. It was soothing more than arousing. And delicate rather than sexy. It was perfect and what they needed.

The undetermined amount of time passed, the hour—late, probably, if the light of the day streaming in at a low angle was any indication. The air in the room was warm and somehow soft and the boys—all of them—had gravitated to the area near Blaine and Kurt, the area with the most couches, feeling the perfect amount of relaxation without falling asleep.

"B…"

The curly-haired boy pulled his lips away from the heat of his boyfriend's, reluctantly, and let his head fall in the direction of the voice that spoke his name, finding a droopy-eyed, smiling David. "Y-yeah, man?" He found his voice scratchy and cleared his throat.

"You never told us how you got back into campus."

Blaine blinked a few times slowly, heavily, and stared blankly for a moment before a few hard giggles left his mouth. "Okay…" He paused, giggling again. "Okay, so. We pulled into the gate, and we… Well, the security guard who let us in the gate didn't notice I wasn't supposed to be off campus… And we just went right into the office to check Kurt back in. It was us two and his dad…"

Kurt smiled at the memory, his eyes crinkling up at the corners when he grinned. He tucked himself behind his boyfriend where they were lying on the couch, slinging a hot arm over Blaine's stomach as the curly-haired boy continued talking.

"When we were in there, I just stood there, like… Like it was totally normal for me to have been there. And finally, the lady at the office there that deals with absences and stuff saw me and was totally staring at me for five minutes before she was, like, 'Blaine Anderson? You've been on level one of missing students since Friday. You've missed class, meals, and curfew checks.' And I was just like, '…I was sick?' And then she just, like, didn't even fucking question it at all and just…cleared me from my absences. I'm not even on probation."

It was probably the states they were in, but the boys in the room took a few moments of silence and comprehension before trembling with silent laughter for far too long, all collapsing back onto their respective spots on the floor and couches, sighing with relief again as the room fell into silence.

It wasn't until Jeff separated from the others, and slowly made his way to the bathroom about 25 minutes later, that Kurt removed himself from his boyfriend. Hesitantly, perhaps. He was immediately struck with a lack of warmth and felt an involuntary shiver run through him, and curled an arm around his front, pushing the bathroom door open with his free hand.

The blonde boy he was looking for was standing at the urinals, his hand against the wall, bracing his weight as he relieved himself.

As the door shut behind Kurt, Jeff turned to see who had entered, and gave a small half-smile as he zipped his pants up, nodding in acknowledgement before turning forward to flush.

As he made to wash his hands, Kurt leaned up against a near wall, momentarily distracted by how…swooshy all his movements felt.

"Hey, Jeff?"

"Hm?" He turned to him curiously, raising his eyebrows as he ran his hands down his jeans to dry them.

"I, uh… Well." Kurt let a small, tight smile grace his features. "Blaine told me," he tried lightly, his voice going up at the end and changing tone.

Jeff just furrowed his brows slightly in confusion, tilting his head, his arms folding to cross over his chest.

"About…you coming out. Uh…'fully,'" he specified with a small smile, watching Jeff's features closely for his reaction, his eyes feeling heavy and tired. When the blonde quirked up his lips slightly and nodded his head, Kurt's face fell to a softer look. "I…think it's fantastic, Jeff."

Jeff shrugged, ducking his head a little but nodding, his lips curling up. "I—yeah," he paused, and looked at Kurt, blinking, his eyes sincere. "Thanks."

Kurt nodded, and there was a beat of silence. "Look," he started and took a deep breath, his eyes finding the ceiling, "I know I've been a really shitty support system for you since this has all been going on—"

"You know I don't think that—"

Kurt held up a hand to stop him, and continued after a hazy pause. "I know you don't. But, I have been—well. I was… I couldn't… I mean—I tried, but, I wasn't there for you as much as I needed to be… This is a tough thing, Jeff, and…I'm really glad you had the guys to help, but… I just wish I had been able to help, too."

The blonde smiled, one shoulder coming up in a lazy shrug, his eyes droopy. "Kurt, come on. You help me all the time. It would be freaking insane of any of us to have expected you to…" he trailed off, trying to come up with the right words, a small breathy, humorless laugh escaping him, "focus on anyone else when you were in the state you've been in."

The pale boy bit his lip, shrugging slightly. "…So, what's happening with Nick?"

Jeff's lips pulled into a tight line and he exhaled loudly from his nose, rolling his eyes. "I—ugh… Pretty much the same since you left. He keeps trying to talk to me about it, but I don't want anything to fucking—change and get weird."

Kurt gave him a sympathetic look, tilting his head.

"Like—for example—a few days ago, he asked me if I wanted him to stop changing in front of me. Like, if it made me uncomfortable. Like—what the hell? I told him that nothing is different and he just keeps trying to ask me about it. He thinks I'm…mad or something, but I just want to drop it. I want it to go back to how it was before I screwed everything up like an idiot," Jeff had one hand tangled in the bangs of his hair, his eyes closed and frustrated.

"…Hey… Calm down, okay?" Kurt told him airily, his fingers slow as he reached out to grasp his friend's shoulder. "I'm sure he's just… It's Nick, right? He just wants everything to be okay. Maybe if you talk to him about it more, he'll…understand. He'll drop it."

Jeff nodded, gently, his head heavy and his tongue smoky. "…You're probably right. It's—hard. I just… I never actually told him about what happened with Mr. Connors. And I want to talk to him about that, but… I feel like it's just…an overload of shit."

Kurt let out an involuntary hiccup of laughter at the phrasing, and the blonde smiled. "I… I understand. But just remember he's your best friend, okay…? Um," Kurt stood up straighter, his head snapping towards the door of the bathroom. "We… We should probably get back to everyone… They probably think we're, like, exchanging stoned handjobs or something," he mumbled, grimacing at his own words.

The blonde snorted and began uncontrollably cackling, his chest shaking with laughter. "I'm so high—I don't even—I have no idea how long we've even been in here."

The boys both exited the bathroom, and found their way slowly into the main room, both trembling with silent giggles.

"Mmm," Kurt hummed in frustrated thought, his brows knitting together. "We're supposed to do number six, right?"

The lot of eight was splayed out in Nick and Jeff's room, at the blonde's private request to Kurt for some company in order to help ease the tension that seemed to fill the air between the two roommates these days.

It was Tuesday. And Jeff had taken Kurt's advice of attempting to talk to his roommate, but it was a failed try, and nothing between them had improved. If anything, it had worsened.

Kurt was currently attempting to catch up on all the assignments he had missed in the two weeks he'd been busy getting treatment, and his friends were helping him through the work.

"…Yeah. Two to nine," David replied absently, shielding the cigarette in his mouth with one hand as he tried to light it with a match. It finally lit and he took a puff, glancing to the pale boy on the floor beside him. "Need help with it?"

Kurt took a deep breath, exhaling and running a hand down his face tiredly. "I don't—Did you guys learn how to do this thing they're asking with the coefficients while I was gone?" He glanced to David who furrowed his brows as he leaned his head, looking at the problem. When the dark-skinned boy said nothing, Kurt flipped through a few pages in his notebook. "It's just—It's not in the catch-up notes she gave me…"

Wes made a humming noise from Nick's bed where he was finishing the Calculus homework as well. "No… Kurt, that was the stuff we learned, like…a few months ago. We're just reviewing it."

The pale boy's expression grew even more confused and he unconsciously bit the end tip of his pencil, deep in thought. "…Really? I don't remember doing this at all."

At this, Wes and David shared a glance, then turned to give Kurt a strange look. David tilted his head. "We had an entire section test on this… You helped both of us to study it because you really knew it." The pale boy got an odd look in his eyes, his head turning away from his friends. By this point, the other five occupants of the room had taken notice and aside from very slight, occasional scribbling, the air was silent.

"You got a pretty high grade on the test…" Wes added with a raised eyebrow, not sure what else to say.

Finally, Blaine stood from where he was sitting at Jeff's desk and walked silently and slowly to where Kurt was lying on the floor. He bent down beside him, taking in his frustrated, upset face, and sat down, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Um… Do—Do you think it's—?"

Kurt twisted his mouth and nodded subtly, not looking anyone in the eye as he stared down at his paper, his face falling to look expressionless. "Probably," he said, lightly, as though it wasn't the big deal that it was, his head turning up to meet his boyfriend's gaze briefly. "They said it could be like this after treatment," he said in a monotone voice, shrugging, shutting his Math book and notebook, instead opting to do some lab questions he needed to catch up on, "Just random chunks of my life that I can't remember."

Blaine mouthed words helplessly, finally just leaning down to press his lips against his boyfriend's head softly, exhaling from his nose, the breath ruffling a few strands of chestnut hair. Everyone was generally silent, and Kurt realized after a beat how his comment had sounded. Bitter, and probably ungrateful somehow.

"I mean, it's worth it, though," he shared after a moment, and the boys that had resumed doing their assignments turned to him, curious expressions in place. "Nothing else was working, and… I feel better than I have in…a really long time," he nodded slowly, thoughtful. "I wasn't always as depressed as I got—you know—these past few months, but…there had been a strong..." he trailed off, eyes narrowed in focus, "…tugging? A pull of some kind that could easily bring me to a bad place. And now, that's just… It's gone."

"…Do you feel, like…really different?" Nick asked him, leaning up on his elbows from where he was on his bed, lying on his stomach.

Kurt tilted his head, his expression a little fond and sweet as he nodded. "Yeah. I—well. Well, I feel similar to when I was in…good…times, back before treatment… The way I think about it sometimes is… Like a shirt with a stain on it, the…depression being the stain. And sometimes, it'd be huge, and you couldn't not notice it. It would be impossible to ignore. And sometimes, it'd be tiny, like, nobody would even see it, but you always knew it was there. And those would be my good times, but even if they were better, without constant sadness, the small feeling would never be gone… And now… I feel like there's nothing there. No stain or any pulling feeling at all."

Everyone just stared blankly at him, almost overwhelmed by the idea of always having a small spot of yourself that was sad.

"So, to answer your question," Kurt continued, a small smile on his face as he directed his statement to Nick, "I feel completely different than how I was these past few months. And I feel like a…better, different version of myself in general… Maybe without some of the Calculus skills, but," he shrugged, glancing to Blaine, who had smiled at him, "happier. Better."

Thad coughed a little purposefully, getting the pale boy's attention. "So. So, that's it, then? That's all it took to…fix it? I mean, are they gonna put you on any meds? Because…those didn't really work."

Kurt stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Well—no, they have me on a low dose of an SSRI antidepressant, which… Well, it's the one that I had the best results with at the time, and now that I'm at a good place, it's usually a good idea to keep my serotonin levels where they are. Also… I have to go in every two weeks for a while to get a maintenance ECT treatment."

"Wait. Bro, are you serious? You have to do that every two weeks?" Trent spoke quietly, surprise evident in his voice.

The pale boy shook his head quickly. "It's a single treatment, and it's an outpatient procedure… I'll drive out with my dad, or stepmom, and have it done and be back the same day. After a while, they'll have it down to one every six weeks. Then…eventually down to every few months. It's just to prevent a relapse."

Nick stared at Kurt, his face scrunched up in confusion and thought. He finally snapped back into reality and shook his head, training his eyes back down to the work in front of him. "Well, shit… Now my head hurts from thinking about that. And I still need to do math."

A few laughs were let out among the boys in the room, and everyone generally went back to focusing on their assignments.

"Jeff. What did you get for 12?" Nick murmured, his eyebrows knitting together.

The blonde, still uncomfortable speaking with his roommate and trying to not do so any time he could manage, didn't pick his eyes up from the problems in front of him. "Mmm… Ask Blaine."

Nick snapped his eyes up to Jeff, slight irritation present on his face. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't noticed his roommate's avoiding behavior, but sometimes it got on his nerves. All he was doing was trying to get things back to normal and have his god damned friend back.

"Jeff, Blaine isn't in our class."

The blonde casually glanced up, scanning the room, eyes landing on Trent, and moving back to focus on his work. "Trent is. Ask Trent."

"Dude, I'm not working on math."

"Jeff, just—what did you get for 12? It's not that hard to look," Nick said, and David and Thad let their gaze shift to him momentarily, hearing the frustration in his voice, which was nearly never present, especially regarding Jeff.

Jeff sighed, flipping his notebook page to scan the back of it, humming absently while looking for the problem. "9.3 percent," he answered, glancing up to Nick to see his confused reaction before continuing on the problem he'd been working on.

"Yeah, that's what I got, too, but it's wrong."

Jeff glanced at him, quirking an eyebrow. "…What? No, it's not."

Nick shrugged, flipping the pages of his Math book. "Yeah. It says in the back of the book that the answer should be 12.2."

The blonde rolled his eyes, an action not unseen by Nick, and sighed heavily, his shoulders moving up in a shrug. "Whatever."

Nick looked at him expectantly, tilting his head. "…Well, do you wanna work on it with me? We're probably doing a bunch of them wrong if we messed that one up."

His roommate glanced to him, attitude clear on his face. "Uh, no… I don't really care. I'm just gonna…pretend I never saw it. I just want to finish these problems."

Something in Nick snapped.

"You're pretty fucking good at that," he spat out, earning everyone's attention and shock, "pretending shit never happened."

Jeff put his pencil down eerily slow, turning his head to look at his roommate. "Really, Nick? Fucking right now, you want to get into this? God."

"Well, there really isn't any better time to talk about this! You've been making sure we're never alone, and you do your damn best to avoid talking to me!" Nick sat up on his bed, facing his roommate who was on his own respective bed, sitting against the headboard.

The blonde let out an exaggerated sigh. "For the love of—! Not everything I do is about you, you know? Stop being so freaking selfish and dramatic! You're such a fucking idiot sometimes, you know that? Just drop it and get over it."

Everyone in the room shrunk at the anger between the two members of the group that tended to have the most calm tempers.

Nick scoffed loudly and humorlessly, taking the supplies in his hand and tossing them onto the ground beside him, shifting to the edge of his bed to face Jeff more clearly. "I'm sorry I want to work shit out with you. And—oh, I'm a fucking idiot? Nice, Jeff. You're the one who's fucking in love with me. What does that say about you?"

He knew it was a low blow.

This was the first time they'd really fought at all, at least to this extent. And it wasn't going well.

Jeff's mouth hung open, along with a few of the room's occupants'. "Wow, Nick. Fucking throwing that back in my face? That—ugh!" He stood up angrily and paced the room before spinning back around to face him. "I fucking knew that would come back at me. You're so fucking immature, and yeah. I don't fucking know what was wrong with me! God knows what I see in your pathetic ass!"

"H-hey, you guys, come on," Blaine tried, his voice stern, putting his hand up to attempt to ease the yelling. "This is going nowhere, just—we have a lot of work to get done."

The two fighting friends, still huffing angrily with heavy breath, returned hesitantly to their work, Jeff slowly walking to his bed and sitting down, shooting Nick an annoyed look, hurt present behind his eyes.

"Okay…" Trent coughed a little awkwardly, holding up a small book and waving it. "We should all work on the essays. Because we have to edit each other's."

The boys in the room took it easily as a distraction, nodding in agreement, occasionally chancing concerned glances in the directions of the two roommates who had been fighting.

All eight students were rifling through their possessions, searching for their essay rough drafts.

"Thad, wanna do mine? We're kind of writing about the same thing," Wes asked the dark-haired boy quickly, glancing at him.

"Sure, I—"

"It's just…" Jeff cut their conversation off, a troubled look etched on his face, folding his hands together. He glanced at Nick, obviously ignoring everything that had happened and continuing from their argument, though his voice was void of anger and instead soft and careful. "It's just… I want to be back to how we were before. I don't want to mess us up…"

Nick stared at him for a long time, until sighing heavily. "We aren't messed up, Jeff. We're just…going through shit right now. And things can't go back to how they were. Our whole dynamic has changed—"

"But it doesn't have to!" The blonde all but shrieked, throwing his hands up. "That's why I just want to—ignore it. Because we really don't have to change anything. I won't gay out on you, or—or act any different—"

"But you already do act different, man. Jeff, you acted different before you even told me. I'm just fucking sick of you pretending nothing happened! If we talk about it, we can hang out more again…"

Jeff looked at him hard for a moment. "No."

"What—?"

"No. Screw it. I don't want to be some gay friend of yours that likes you! I want us to be friends like before, but I guess we can't have that!"

"Oh my god, Jeff! Just accept yourself and move on! You're gay!"

"I'm fine with that! I'm not fine with the fact that we have to act different now because of it!"

Nick shot up to his feet getting dangerously close to his roommate's face. "Fucking listen to me. I'm not treating you different because of your sexuality. Okay?" Jeff just stared at him, his eyebrows knitted in anger. "Do you fucking hear me?"

"Fine! Yes, I hear you!"

"Okay… God! I can't believe you'd think that about me, Jeff. Don't you know anything about me?" Nick spun around angrily, standing between their respective beds and facing away from the blonde.

"I just—Why do we need to talk, then? If nothing's going to change because of that, then what do we need to discuss, Nick?" Jeff huffed, his arms crossing over his chest, his face scrunched in anger and emotion.

Nick snapped back around to face him. "B-because! Jeff, fuck! Because we need to talk about the fact that I'm fine with you being gay! I'm fine with you—liking me that way! I don't care and you don't need to be uncomfortable around me! And don't say you aren't, because I've seen the way you avoid me and ignore me and try to get away from me all the time!"

Jeff's mouth fell open, his eyes blinking rapidly to attempt to clear the moisture and feeling that was threatening his emotional stability. "You… You think…? Fuck," he swore to himself, shaking his head, his eyes falling shut, the heat behind them too much to handle. "Nick. I don't think that…that you're not okay with me liking you. I never thought that."

The dark-haired boy narrowed his eyes and shook his head slightly in confusion, eyes catching the gaze of the other shocked occupants of the room, who had all stayed completely silent, then trained back to Jeff. "But… Then why—?"

"Because! Oh my god, because it's so fucking hard! …Jesus, Nick! I want to—to pretend I never said anything, because I want to go back to normal! A-and I want to go back to normal, because…" He paused, his voice going thick and eyes misty. "Because it's so fucking hard to be around you, you know? Knowing that this is some stupid pointless thing because you can't love me like that. I know you don't care that I feel this way, and you don't have to ignore it… But I want to. I need to ignore it because it fucking sucks!"

The blonde shook his head, coming to his feet and stomping out of the room, one hand up on his face covering his eyes.

Everyone turned to Nick then, whose face was pulled down in confusion and sadness, his lips moving, trying to mouth words.

"Well, that needed to get out," Thad mused quietly, shrugging when everyone shot him looks.

"You okay, Nick?" Kurt asked tentatively, peeking his head up to face the boy, his expression sympathetic.

The dark-haired boy let out a frustrated growl, tugging at his hair. He let out another noise and kicked the small table near his bed, some of the items on it falling to the floor, others rattling. "Fuck all of this! Fuck this shit! I fucking—! Ugh!"

He kicked the table again and stormed from the room, turning to go a different direction than Jeff had and down the hall, his hard footsteps echoing until he reached a far enough distance.

The six boys in the room all sat in the sudden silence, not speaking for what seemed like too long.

"This is weird," Wes finally muttered, twisting his mouth and looking around at everyone. "We're in their room."

Thad brought a hand up to scratch his head thoughtfully, before coming to his feet slowly, stretching his arms up. "Yeahh, we should probably go."

"Mmm… Can I—" the curly-haired boy stuttered out a breath, "take your shirt off?"

Kurt breathed a hot laugh against his Blaine's head, where his face was buried in the pale boy's clothed chest, and nodded. "Y-yeah"

Blaine backed up enough that he could peel the tight, sweaty t-shirt from his boyfriend's body, glad that they'd changed out of uniform earlier and that he didn't have to deal with layers.

Once the garment was removed, Blaine dragged his eyes up the expanse of pale, flushed skin, his mouth agape until meeting Kurt's face, then quirking up into a lazy smile.

Kurt sat up and shifted them back against the pillows, pulling Blaine along to rest between his legs. "Here," Kurt murmured, pulling him in close and pressing their bare chests together.

Blaine wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's back, causing him to arch up as he brought their mouths together, their wet lips sliding together and sounding loud along with their breathing and their shifting in the otherwise silent room.

"I—lemme just—" Blaine pulled away slightly, reaching his hands down between them to unbutton his own pants, tugging them down past his knees and kicking them off. He smiled and resumed his position against Kurt, placing a hot palm on one of the pale boy's clothed knees, spreading his legs open wider and pressing himself there, causing a hard shiver to run through him.

They stayed like that and began kissing hotly and wetly, rubbing their hard-ons together through a few layers of clothing. "Blaine," Kurt muttered, his eyes clamped shut and his forehead beaded with sweat as the curly-haired boy worked on the skin of his neck.

"Yeah?"

"Take my—take off my pants," he begged quietly, lifting his hips up and pushing them forward to press against his boyfriend.

He did as he was told and stripped the pants from the pale boy's long legs, revealing flushed skin damp with sweat. Kurt took the opportunity to also slip off his boxer-briefs, leaving only the thin layer of Blaine's underwear between their cocks.

It was then that Kurt pushed Blaine completely forward, causing him to land on his back with the pale boy on top of him, their heads now at the foot of the bed.

"This is better," Kurt mewled quietly, his naked body straddling Blaine, his dick resting heavily on his boyfriend's stomach, mostly hard.

Blaine's breathing hitched as he nodded frantically, his hands moving to rest on Kurt's hips, or touch Kurt somewhere, but hesitated and instead moved his hands down to his boxer-briefs. "H-hold on," and me made to tug them, but Kurt placed his hands on Blaine's stopping his movement.

"Let me," and the pale boy somehow said it so seductively that Blaine let out an obscene groan, nodding quickly in confirmation.

Kurt shimmied his way down Blaine's body, stopping when he was sitting on the boy's shins. He let himself trail small, delicate kisses down Blaine's chest and stomach, stopping at the waistband of his boxers. He slipped his fingers beneath the band and looked at his boyfriend's hard cock, pulsing and straining in the blue material. He tugged them down, Blaine lifting his hips until he got rid of the things entirely, and tossed them somewhere unimportant.

"Ah-h," Blaine stuttered out a breath as his erection sprung free from its restrains, watching with half-lidded eyes and an open mouth as Kurt began kissing up his legs.

Kurt stopped somewhat-suddenly when he realized he had basically begun nuzzling his nose into the dark, coarse hair that covered his boyfriend's crotch.

This was the closest he'd ever…well…had his mouth to Blaine's cock.

They hadn't done that yet.

And suddenly, he pulled away and stared at his boyfriend's hard penis, the skin of it darker and less pink than his. He hadn't exactly known or had any reference point to determine how gifted he or Blaine were. They'd really been the only penises he'd seen up close and personal, but Blaine had once confessed during some hot frotting that he was the biggest guy Blaine had ever been with. Kurt didn't know how many guys Blaine had been with, but he did know that Blaine was generally the same size as he was, maybe a little thicker, just the tiniest bit shorter, but still heavy and good in his hand. And suddenly, as he pulled away and looked at it, he felt the sudden urge to take it all in his mouth.

"You okay?"

Kurt flushed, realizing he'd basically been staring at his boyfriend's cock for probably a minute. He let out a breath and nodded, reaching his hands up to smooth over Blaine's thighs, "Yeah…"

Blaine looked at him, then, his brows furrowed as he panted heavily from arousal. "…You sure, babe? Is this—? I mean, it's been a while since we've done anything, really, and since you've been, well…you…"

The pale boy was nodding through his statement, still rubbing his hands along the boy's legs, eyes glancing down to the boy's still-hard cock, tempting and teasing his hormones. "I'm sure, Blaine, I… Can I try something?"

The curly-haired boy's cock twitched at his words and he nodded eagerly, lying his head back down and watching with intent eyes as Kurt moved back down, kissing his legs and moving up to his hips and began nuzzling again.

He'd never done this before.

Kurt heard Blaine's breath hold when he pressed a wet, open-mouthed kiss to the base of his cock, dragging his lips up the shaft and not hesitating before bringing out his tongue to lick on the soft skin there and pulling the head into his mouth, sucking softly.

"Mother of—fuck," Blaine sucked his lip into his mouth and bit down, a hand shooting out to lace into his boyfriend's hair.

The pale boy lowered his mouth down until he felt the tip of Blaine's cock hitting his throat and willed himself not to gag too hard. He pulled his lips tight and began a slow steady movement up and down, the taste of precum heavy and strong on his tongue. He let himself moan when he realized how full and hot his mouth felt, eliciting a deep sigh from his boyfriend.

Blaine continued watching his boyfriend's mouth, his half-lidded eyes fluttering as he rested his hand on Kurt's tousled chestnut hair, watching his tight lips working his cock. Up and down and up and down, tongue coming out and pressing against the underside as he sucked.

"Ugh babe, you—you're good at this," Blaine attempted to speak, his voice coming out in a strangled whisper.

Kurt picked up his pace, shooting his head down and pulling up in small bursts, his hand stroking the base of Blaine's cock where his mouth wasn't reaching.

He could tell Blaine was getting close by the loud, groaning, painful-sounding noises he was letting out, and he gasped finally, his eyes shooting open wide and finding the ceiling in his adrenalin haze. "K-Kurt, I'm gonna come."

Kurt didn't know if he should swallow—it was his first time doing this at all, but at the same time, he felt like he wanted to do this, like it was an intimate thing he wanted to share with Blaine.

So he hummed an affirmative response, nodding his head as he sped up, and Blaine twisted and shook, looking down at him, making sure there were no protests and watched Kurt continue bobbing his head, his eyes finally clamping shut as he couldn't contain himself any longer.

"I'm gonna—aahhnng—"

He came with a high whine, his body trembling and pulsing.

Kurt felt hot spurts of cum shooting down his throat and he swallowed, and after Blaine had rode out his climax, he sucked around his cock a few more times, cleaning him up entirely.

They sat in a brief silence, Blaine panting and Kurt breathing hard as well, curling up into his boyfriend's side. He felt wildly thrilled and terrified for what he just did. It was exhilarating.

Finally, without opening his eyes, Blaine panted out, "Kurt… That. That was amazing." At the pale boy's small scoff, Blaine opened his eyes, looking at his boyfriend with huge eyes, intense and blinking. "…I'm serious… You're really good at that."

Kurt looked at him, smiling lazily and leaning in to kiss him softly, only realizing what his mouth probably tasted like too late and pulling away. "S-sorry," he mumbled, placing a hand over his lips.

"No, come here," Blaine lifted his mouth into a half-grin, bringing their lips together and letting his tongue press into Kurt's mouth, tasting himself. "It's hot," he murmured against the boy's lips.

"Mmm," Kurt hummed, pressing his hard cock against Blaine's leg, seeing the curly-haired boy's dick twitch, already becoming aroused again. He smiled at this, and mumbled against his boyfriend's neck, "I've never done that before."

Blaine's breath hitched, and he sat up and pulled back a little to look at Kurt, his face incredulous. "What?"

Kurt knew he had heard him, so he just shrugged in response, and he could feel his face getting hot, high on his cheeks.

Blaine pulled back more then, his face soft. "Babe, you should have told me…"

"I wanted to do it… I'm glad I did it."

The curly-haired boy opened his mouth then, and he seemed almost shy when he spoke. "Well, if it's fair… That was my first blowjob." At Kurt's stare, he elaborated. "I've given them, but… I've never been with a guy that's…given them. I—well, I got part of one kind of…from that girl at that party, once," he grimaced, and they both laughed lightly, and when they did, they brushed against each other, their cocks touching. Blaine's breathing got heavy when he felt Kurt's arousal against him. "Can I—? I'd love to…return the favor."

Kurt's lips quirked up on one side, and he nodded slightly, his eyes never leaving his boyfriend's. He closed them, then, when Blaine began kissing down his neck. He gasped loudly as Blaine slunk down his body, and he felt hot, wet lips around his cock.

Later that day, Wednesday, the eight boys lounged in the common room, smoking, playing cards, and talking.

David leaned onto his back, bringing a hand up to take a drag on his cigarette. Wes was watching him, and tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes.

"David, when's the last time you shaved?"

The dark-skinned boy glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, his fingers rising to brush over his chin, in thought and for the purposes of feeling the scruff there. "I don't know. A week ago. I mean now that we have to go to nurse's and be supervised while we do it," he mumbled the last part, shooting a glance at Kurt cautiously, only to see him glaring at him teasingly.

"Well, I'm sorry how it inconveniences you. But really… Each and every one of you could go for a shave. Well, Jeff's isn't very visible," Kurt admitted, and the blonde brought a hand up to run over his cheek, shrugging.

"It's kind of visible…"

Kurt looked at the rest of the boys there, frowning at Wes. "I mean, that little patchy goatee you have there is really doing nothing for you."

Wes's expression was deadpan, and he flipped him off. "Ha, ha. Excuse me for my testosterone."

Nick laughed from one of the plush leather couches, throwing a card down into the middle stack and looking at Kurt. "You don't even have facial hair, do you?"

Kurt rolled his eyes, but shook his head even so, shrugging.

At this, Trent sat up, leaning on one elbow, staring at the boy. "Then… Why'd you have razors to begin with if you don't shave? I mean, like, did you get them just to…?"

Kurt sat up straighter, exchanging a brief glance with Blaine, both boys looking as though they were attempting to find words. It was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious snort from Thad.

"Oh, Kurt shaves…"

The pale boy's face reddened and he set his mouth into a tight line, his eyes narrowed as he looked to his roommate.

It took a moment before a loud gasp of laughter was let out from Nick. "Dude! You manscape?"

Kurt's face fell into his hand, and he sighed, "Oh my god… Thanks, Thad. I knew this would never stay in the room. Eight months. Eight months this has stayed private."

The dark-haired boy snickered around the cigarette hanging from his lips, shaking his head. "Aw, Kurt. Don't be embarrassed. It's all very neat and tidy looking, right Blaine?"

Blaine simply narrowed his eyes in Thad's direction.

Kurt shook his head slowly, rolling his eyes. "He seriously never lets me live this down, do you know that?" He asked no one in particular, sending his still-laughing roommate a glare. "Ever since he saw me naked for the first time… Every single time I leave the shower, it's 'Kurt, did you shave your balls?', 'Clog up the drain with your pubes, Kurt?', 'Hope you got it right, Kurt, it was uneven last time,'" he stopped, sighed and just stared at the boy, who was looking at him with a feigned-offended expression.

"Excuse me. Ever since you and B started hooking up, I sometimes also ask you if you and your boyfriend had fun trimming each other's dick hair," he shrugged, seeming to need to add his own comment.

The boys in the room laughed, and David turned to Blaine. "B, don't you manscape?"

The curly-haired boy seemed surprised at the question, and raised an eyebrow. "Uh… Kind of. I don't—" he glanced to Kurt, "shave or anything, but… I mean, it gets insane if I don't trim it, so…"

Wes cocked his head to the side. "Maybe it's a gay thing," the Asian boy glanced over to the boy sitting on the floor sitting a few places away from him. "Jeff?"

The blonde didn't remove his eyes from his cards in front of him, instead opting to flip him the bird.

"Nick, does Jeff manscape?" David laughed, asking the dark-haired boy teasingly.

Nick opened his mouth as though to speak, but a troubled look took over his features and he didn't say anything, just continued to look down at his cards.

Because they still weren't really talking, since yesterday.

"Well I don't," Thad announced loudly, shrugging, then glanced over to Kurt with a smile. "Hey, Kurt. Did the nurses at the hospital make sure to keep your pubes in the little triangle shape you have it in?"

Kurt knew Thad was being an ass to break the tension, but he couldn't resist leaning over to punch him in the arm, muttering a "Fuck you, Thad," with a smile.

"What?" Kurt spoke to himself, an eyebrow arched as he read a text message on his phone.

"What?" Blaine asked in response, looking at his boyfriend and dropping a light kiss to his head as he came to their lunch table, sitting in between Kurt and Trent.

"A couple of my…friends from home scheduled to come see me tomorrow…" Kurt's face was hard to read.

"Is tha' a ba' thing?" Nick questioned, food in his mouth making it hard to understand him well. Jeff blinked and looked up at his roommate, a short, fond, longing expression being sent his way before the blonde returned his gaze to Kurt.

"Well…no, I guess not. I haven't seen them in a while, but I think it'll be fine… I'm just surprised because they're off school for the summer already…"

Trent shrugged, glancing at his watch. "Well, it's the second of June already, bro."

Kurt blinked at this, seemingly surprised slightly at this information as well. "Right… And when the hell do we end classes?"

The boys all exchanged a few glances and Blaine turned to Kurt, shrugging. "July," he nodded, looking to David who nodded as well in confirmation. "I think July 3rd is our last day."

The pale boy looked scandalized. "What? Why?"

David sighed. "They string out our classes so we don't have as much free time… We actually have way less class hours every week than normal high schools."

Kurt shook his head. "That's…stupid. This place sucks."

Everyone laughed at this, and Kurt looked at them as though they were insane. "Really?" Thad asked him sarcastically. "What made you realize it? The corrupt schooling system, maniac students, or the sadist bastards that run the whole place?"

The pale boy laughed. He'd missed being able to enjoy his friends.

Blaine watched him with a curious expression, his pierced eyebrow raised. "What's wrong, babe?"

Kurt stopped his pacing, and turned to his boyfriend with a slightly frantic face. "I'm just nervous. I haven't seen them since…January," he mumbled out in a breath, sitting down on his bed next to Blaine, who was lighting a cigarette.

After blowing out the smoke once smoothly, the curly-haired boy ran his hand down his boyfriend's naked back, still damp from his recent shower. "When are they getting here?"

Kurt glanced to the clock on his bedside table, blinking. "In a half hour."

At this, Blaine's lips curled into a grin, and he took his cigarette and stubbed out the lit part, placing the mostly-new stick down in the mug beside Kurt's bed. "I can help you calm down," he offered innocently, brushing his hand very lightly over the front of his boyfriend's boxer-briefs, just hardly touching his cock through the material.

The pale boy sucked in a sharp breath at the touch, giving him a warning look. "We don't have time to do much of anything, Blaine…"

At his words, Blaine slid off the bed and settled between Kurt's legs, kneeling on the floor at the foot of his bed. "It won't take long…"

And okay. If they had gotten carried away giving each other blowjobs since they'd first done it that last Tuesday, well, it was hard to blame them. They were hormonal teenagers, after all.

Kurt was about to protest when Blaine dropped his head down, mouthing over Kurt's still-mostly-soft cock through the thin cotton of his underwear, eliciting a high whimper. "Nnnnnn, Blaine," he moaned out, looking at the boy when he turned his hazel eyes up to make contact, "once you offer, that's the end of it… You control me with your sex," Kurt whined, putting his arms behind him to brace himself and throwing his head back.

Instead of answering, Blaine just chuckled lowly, tugging the boxer-briefs from his boyfriend's body and down to his ankles, seeing the boy's cock was now mostly stiff.

He got to work quickly, bringing Kurt's dick into his mouth and wrapping his lips around it. He knew they didn't have time, his head bobbing as he wrapped his hand around the base, and his other hand cupping his balls, massaging them slowly.

It was a few minutes later that he pulled away slightly, teasingly, just pressing kisses to the head of Kurt's cock.

"Ahh—What are you doing? Don't stop," Kurt moaned, his hips pushing forward involuntarily.

Blaine grinned, his tongue coming out to flick against the slit, causing sounds to escape Kurt's mouth. "I'm not stopping… We have time, don't worry…"

He finally sunk back down onto the pale boy's thick cock, and Kurt jerked forward at the sensation, his hands automatically tangling into the boy's unruly curls, pulling him as close as he could. "Oh god, that—feels—ugh—"

Knock! knock!

"Kurt?"

And at that moment, he had no doubt in his mind who the voice belonged to, but it was too late, because the door was opening, and his only reaction whatsoever was tightening his grip on Blaine's hair and letting out some kind of intelligible noise, which could be interpreted in a few different ways in his situation.

Kurt snapped his head into the direction of the door, only to catch the faces of Finn, Rachel, Sam, Mercedes, Santana, Puck, and Brittany all poking their heads in the doorway, their reactions immediate as they saw the head of curly hair between Kurt's legs, bobbing around as he went to work.

"Oh my god!"

"Holy shit!"

"Oh, man!"

"Whoa!"

"Oh, dude!"

He wasn't sure who had said what, but it all happened at once and Blaine's head pulled away from his cock immediately and he tumbled back onto his back on the floor, eyes shocked and wide, screaming, "Shit!"

"Dude!" Finn said, probably again, and sort of turned to look away, but back again, his face matching the expressions of all the others: shocked and horrified.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL LOOKING—CLOSE THE DOOR!" Kurt screamed at them, bringing his hands down to cover himself, and someone did just that—closed the door.

He tumbled to his feet, only to trip over the boxers on his ankles, and rushed to the door, leaning against it. He didn't hear murmurs or talking from the hall, but he figured they'd still be out there. Scarred. Scarred for life, probably. "Uh, h-hey, guys… Just… Meet me down in the lounge, okay?"

He heard footsteps moving then, and figured they listened.

Kurt turned to Blaine, who was still on his back on the floor, but his expression of shock from before was replaced with a different face, this one much more amused and clearly attempting to restrain giggling. Kurt saw this and pointed at him, shaking his head, only causing the curly-haired boy to begin shaking with silent laughter. "Do not laugh at this, Mr. Anderson. This is not comical in any way!"

"Hello," Kurt greeted hesitantly as he approached the group in the lounge, seeing Thad, Wes, and David were also there, speaking with some of the Lima kids. Kurt's eyes darted between them as they all turned to him and Blaine, who was trailing behind him.

"Dude, that better be your boyfriend. 'Cause if not, he's gonna wanna know about what we just walked in on," Puck reasoned, nodding his head in Blaine's direction.

Of course Puck would skip the friendly greeting. The 'Hey, how are you?', 'Hey, how was your intense Electroconvulsive Therapy?', 'How were your last six months?'

And of course Puck would choose to not ignore walking in on a private sexual act and instead publicize the whole thing.

Before Kurt or Blaine could answer, though, Thad looked to Puck, moving from the floor to sit beside the mohawked teen on a leather chair and crossing his arms over his chest. "You, too? What'd you get an eyeful of?"

"Curly going down on Kurt. More gay sex than I like to expose myself to daily…"

Thad grimaced, then turned to the two boyfriends, his expression scolding. "Again, guys? Jeez. Excuse my roommate, he's overly hormonal. And the curly-haired one, too. He's just a slut."

Blaine stepped forward, his face offended, eyes narrowed. "I'm not—a slut, I—"

"Anyway," Kurt interrupted with a smile, guiding Blaine by the shoulders over to where the Lima kids were sitting, "You guys, this is Blaine. And yes, he is my boyfriend," he shot a glance to Puck at this.

They introduced themselves, aside from Finn and Rachel, who had met Blaine previously.

"And this is my roommate, Thad. And that's Wes and David. They live on my floor."

After brief pleasantries, they all sat down in a small area, as to be able to all converse with less difficulty. They ended up all talking easily, attempting to do their best catching up and filling each other in on what had happened since they'd seen each other last. At various points, different Dalton boys had joined them, until it was all eight of the group and the kids from Lima.

"So, we all let this idiot give us tattoos and piercings. And now I have Irony on my ass in Chinese letters," Wes had been saying, giving an annoyed, but fond look over to the pale boy, who just smiled in return.

"Not my idea," he said innocently, looking back to Blaine and shrugging.

"What did the rest of you guys get?" Sam asked them, his smile bit and enthusiastic at the idea.

The eight boys began moving to reveal their body modifications, Jeff and David simply gesturing to their lips. Nick showed his ankle, Trent rolled his eyes, showing his pierced nipple, Thad his wrist, and Blaine showed his chest, smiling delicately at Kurt as he did so.

"Come on, man. Show us yours," Puck grinned evilly, nodding at Wes.

The Asian boy huffed, standing up and unbuttoning his pants, tugging them down in the back, revealing the two small symbols in still-dark ink.

This initiated a round of laughter from the Dalton boys and looks of shock and incredulity from those of the New Directions.

"I can't believe you would allow someone else to alter your appearance. Your body is your instrument, and if you plan on performing at all in your life, tattoos and piercings aren't—"

"Rachel, please," Kurt scolded lightheartedly with a smile. "A few piercings and hidden tattoos won't do any harm…"

"We've done worse. Besides, what's leaving a correctional academy without some ink and rings, right?" David reasoned, and the boys all nodded, laughing along with the dark-skinned boy.

It took a moment, but the Lima kids all sort of got pulled under the same wash of feelings, watching Kurt, laugh and joke with his friends, in his new home, about things he was now okay joking about. Things they didn't really get or relate to.

Each time they saw him, they were constantly reminded of the fact that they really didn't know him anymore at all, and it was strange. Due to the fact that he was Finn's stepbrother, he was never let go completely, but watching him lie down and rest his head into his boyfriend's lap—the same boyfriend who they had just seen giving him oral sex—shocked them yet again.

Mercedes and Rachel shared a look as the rest of those in the room chatted about something or other, remembering the nights they'd have, over at one of their houses, watching movies, eating popcorn, whining nonstop about how they'd never meet the right guy. By the time Kurt got arrested, Rachel was with Finn, and Mercedes had at least gone on a few dates with that Anthony kid from the football team.

They'd known the extent of Kurt's lack of experience with boys—except for the forced attack no one was aware of at the time or counted as an act of sex—and seeing him now, comfortable in the area with his boyfriend and growing into a person they didn't know, was bittersweet.

They knew he'd grown away from them, which was always hard to see a friend do.

But he'd also grown. He'd grown up and changed and seemed happy, which was something wonderful to see happen to a friend.

"Hey, Kurt, guess what? Me and Santana are dating now," Brittany began a new topic, turning to the pale boy with a grin. Kurt only raised an eyebrow and smiled at the two, curious.

"Britt, I said I wanted to tell him about that," Santana scolded softly with a fond smile, nudging her with her elbow.

"No, you said you wanted to tell him that you're a lesbian now. You can still tell him that part," The blonde girl reasoned, smiling at her girlfriend. Santana just shook her head, her lips quirking up in a half-smile.

"So… What's all this?" Kurt brought their attention back to him, giving them amused and almost-accusatory smirks. "Not that I can say I'm entirely surprised, with the way you two have always been with each other."

The Latina turned to the blonde, shrugging and smiling. "What can I say? Britt was the best thing I ever had, I just didn't realize it until now."

"Wait…" Wes narrowed his eyes at Santana, darting them between her and Brittany. "Wait, you're a lesbian?"

The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow, giving him a look. "Now, I know you don't have a problem with that," she sassed at him.

Wes groaned, head tilting back and eyes reaching the ceiling. "Fuck, why?" He sighed, gaze coming back to the girl. "And, no, I don't have a problem with it."

"Wes is just bitter because he was probably going to try to hook up with you," David offered, shrugging, and Wes sighed, nodding sadly, causing the group to laugh.

A few topics came and went, and Kurt suddenly had a question. "So, Finn… How's my dad been? Since I've been back here?"

The tall teen seemed confused for a moment before answering. "It's been, like, five days, dude."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know that. I'm just wondering if he's been…stressed at all, because of the treatment."

Finn blinked a moment, then shrugged. "I don't think so… He seems fine to me."

And even if Finn wasn't the most observant individual, Kurt still sighed with slight relief, the answer satisfying him.

Because even if his relationship with his father had been confusing and on-and-off, he still cared about the man's health, because they all knew he had a predisposition for heart problems.

Finally, the Lima kids had spent their time, and needed to be on their way, so they all stood and hugged Kurt goodbye, even bidding their new friends from Dalton a farewell.

Mercedes was the last to hug the pale boy, and when she leant into him, clasping her arms around his back, she whispered, "I'm glad you've found your people," with a smirk, pulling away and leaving with the rest.

Kurt glanced to the lot of seven, smiling to himself at the idea.

He'd entered this realm, this world, this—different reality altogether, and had been completely alone. He had no idea that in the span of eight or so months, he'd find himself in a place with new friends, feelings, ideas and understanding and comprehension of himself and the world.

He had these seven idiots that took care of him and looked out for him. He had a connection with them like he'd never had with anyone else in his life, a bond that he'd never imagined he could have.

His people.

They were.